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A Spred fic! Not nearly enough of those, even if the ones that do exist rock. This one's colab, and we're working on the third chapter now. Here's chapter one, for your reading pleasure (or pain, depending on your reaction...). *g*
Blood and Tacos
Chapter 1: Damned Dirty Apes and DVDs
By
The Uncanny R-Man and ScarletAngel
Disclaimer- We don't own anything. Angel and Co. belong to Joss Whedon.
Wolfram & Hart-
Spike stood at the reception desk of Wolfram & Hart, bemoaning his current state as a ghost. Well, as near to a ghost as an incorporeal vampire could get.
"And another thing!" he grumbled irritably. "I can't even watch the bloody telly. As soon as Passions is on, the great big poofter changes it to the hockey."
Harmony just rolled her eyes and continued filing her nails. Spike noticed this and frowned slightly.
"...Which is when I had the pterodactyl head transplanted onto my arse."
"Yeah, sure," Harmony replied nonchalantly. "Pteroduckie head, whatever...."
Spike cursed under his breath and decided to go annoy Angel. At least that was always good for a quick laugh.
Angel's office-
Angel sat at his desk, sorting through a few rather colossal heaps of papers when Spike stepped silently through the wall behind him. He reared up, preparing to jump at Angel.
"What do you think you're doing, Spike?" Angel asked, not even looking up from his paperwork.
"Oh, bollocks," Spike muttered, slumping his shoulders. "At least Fred had the decency to pretend to be scared. Not fooling anyone, am I? Being a sodding ghost is a pain in the arse."
"Great. Now go be a pain in someone else's 'arse'. I have too much work to do to bother with you today."
"What? No witty exchange of insults? No ruthless continuation of that century-old grudge we've had against each other? Just a casual brush-off, dismissing me like so much rubbish!" Spike ranted, placing one hand over his heart as if wounded, and throwing the other arm up in the air dramatically. He stole a look at Angel to see if he'd elicited any reaction.
Angel continued to sort through forms.
Spike huffed. "Fine, then, know when I'm not wanted..."
Angel nodded absently. "It was nice we could have this talk," he replied, still engrossed in his paperwork. "Now get out."
Spike rolled his eyes and was about to walk back through the wall when he paused, as if struck by an idea, and turned about abruptly.
"Don't you want anything doing?" he asked. "You know, random demons getting roughed up...or maybe I could get you some coffee?"
Angel finally looked up from his paperwork to stare incredulously at Spike.
"You can't touch anything," he said skeptically. "...And why the hell would you want to get me coffee?"
"Well, I was going to spit in your coffee," Spike admitted. "But if you're gonna be like that, you can just shove it."
Spike proceeded to give Angel the two-fingered salute and leave the way he came, through the wall. Angel just shrugged and went back to his paperwork.
Fred's lab-
Fred was pulling on some goggles, preparing to work on her latest project, when Spike walked through the wall behind her.
"Hey, luv," he said. "Whatcha doing?"
Fred gave out a squeak of surprise and spun around to face Spike. "Spike, what're you doing here?"
"Boredom struck," Spike replied. "Not in the mood to annoy General Grumpypants upstairs anymore, so I thought I'd come to see what my favourite science nerd was up to."
"Only a little project- I'm trying to find an antidote to Fyarl mucus, and then just a few routine experiments for the day," Fred replied. "Nothing too complicated."
He snorted. "Right, because rocket science is so simple."
She sighed and rolled her eyes. "It is not rocket science. This is pretty easy once you learn it. And it's really interesting!" she said, pulling off her goggles to see him better.
"Right, fascinating, I'm sure."
"It is, if you just gave it a chance."
"All right, fine then. So...what does this thing do?" Spike asked, picking up a small yellow box. "Ooh, let me guess, the top opens up and lets you gain access to a parallel reality, where brightly-coloured socks rule."
"Not...exactly," Fred replied with a wry grin. "It's a pencil case. You know, for storing pencils and stuff in? I'm sure you've heard of them..." She held out her hand for it.
"Er...riiight. Of course," Spike sighed, handing her the pencil case. "So you don't have anything fun in here at all, do you?"
"That depends on your definition of fun," Fred replied placing the goggles and pencil case on the counter. "Not all of us go for the random bloodletting of hoards of demon folk."
Spike tilted his head. "And what's your definition of fun, luv?" Spike asked, leaning closer to Fred with a glint in his eye. Fred blushed slightly at the closeness of Spike's face.
"W-well, I quite like watching Charlton Heston movies," she stammered. "That, and eating tacos."
He seemed to consider this for a moment. Suddenly, he said, "So, do you wanna go watch some movies? Maybe we could have tacos," he added, grinning. "Or rather, you would have tacos and I would watch," he added sardonically.
"That sounds like a lovely idea..." She looked regretful. "...but I've got a bunch of work to do. And I'm still trying to find out a way to turn you corporeal, remember? I was planning on working on that some more today."
"Yeah," Spike sighed. "I remember. Though I wish I didn't. Damn amulet, should've just burned me up and left me like that."
Fred reached out to touch his shoulder comfortingly, but dropped it suddenly, obviously remembering her hand would have gone right through him. "Don't say that! And don't worry," she said with forced cheerfulness. "We'll have you back in no time. I'm almost seventy percent on the way to a solution!"
"As much good as that'll do," Spike muttered to himself dejectedly as he walked back through the wall.
"Oh, Spike wait!"
He popped his head back in, presenting the fairly comical appearance that his head was mounted to the wall. "Yes?"
"Well, maybe we could get a TV and VCR and we could watch a movie here...."
Spike's foul mood seemed to lift as quickly as had come. "Really?" He stepped into the room all the way. "Thank God, I was getting so bored." Suddenly he raised an eyebrow. "And how will you get a television around here? I doubt law firms just keep them kicking around in the storage closet, for their mad scientists to watch a movie on while they're supposed to be working...."
She laughed at him. "I will be working! Just, you know...multitasking. The TV will be in the lab, and I can work while watching it. As for getting hold of a TV...you'd be surprised at what Wolfram & Hart has. You ask for anything, you can almost guarantee they'll get it for you. In fact, I bet you I can get a TV and VCR in here in ten minutes!"
He crossed his arms. "Right, ten minutes. It's a bet, then. If I concentrate hard enough, maybe I'll be able to shake your hand to seal the deal, hm?" He held out his hand, but she waved it away.
"Pfft. Whatever. Not like we have anything to bet. I'll be back in ten minutes."
"And how are you going to get a hold of them and carry them here before ten minutes are up?"
She lifted her chin defiantly. "You'll see," she said haughtily. With that, she strode out of the room.
Eight minutes and forty-three seconds later, Fred sauntered in with an armful of videotapes and DVDs. She dumped them on the counter near where Spike was leaning casually against it, and leaned against it next to him. "Ha."
"Ha, yourself. I don't see a television." He smirked at her.
She simply smiled brightly back, and turned her head to the door. "Hurry up, slowpoke!"
There was a grunt from outside before Angel staggered into the room, carrying an enormous television with a DVD player placed precariously on top.
The small smirk Spike had immediately morphed into a huge grin. "Got you wrapped around her little finger, eh?"
"Shut up, Spike."
"Just put them on the counter, please. Oh wait, no! I still have some work to do on the counter. Um...hold on, I'll be back in two seconds- no, don't put it down, you'll never be able to pick it up again, I'll only be a minute." With that, Fred dashed into the lab's storage room. It was quite large, if the sounds of Fred's rummaging through it were anything to go by.
Angel and Spike were left in the room.
Spike raised an eyebrow as Angel struggled to keep hold of the television. "Time was when Angelus could throw three men across a room and not break a sweat. Been putting on the flab, there? Or just getting weaker in your old age?"
"I'm not. This is just hard to get a grip on!" The TV almost slipped out of his hands, and he had to do a bizarre twisting balancing act to get it back. When Fred exited the storage room wheeling a small black cart, she found Angel, leaning far back, the television against his chest and him resting his chin on top of the DVD player so that it wouldn't fall off, grumbling at a laughing Spike.
Spike was pleased to see she had to bite her own lip to keep back her smile. "Thank you so much Angel! Just put it on this cart." Angel did so, wondering out loud why she didn't get it out in the first place so that he wouldn't have to 'carry the damn thing all across the building'. She tactically ignored him, instead giving him a charming smile. "You're such a good friend. Thanks for helping out!"
"Uh, it was no problem." He departed, shooting Spike a decidedly venomous look when Fred looked away. Spike only stuck his tongue out at him.
"Oh, that's mature."
"Huh?" Fred asked, but Angel had walked out the door. She turned to Spike. "What's mature?"
"Nothing, luv. Angel was just being a big baby. How'd you talk him into carrying this monster all the way here?" he asked, eyeing the massive television.
"Well...I told him if he did, you would lose a bet," she said with a sheepish smile. Spike snorted, and she laughed a bit. "Well, let me get this plugged in!" She went behind the TV and fiddled around with some wires. After about half a minute of waiting, Spike walked around as well.
"Fred, pet, I hate to sound rude, but what the hell are you doing?"
She glared at him irritably. "I'm plugging in the thing! It has...lots of wires, okay? Go away!"
"You seem to be plugging them in into random places," he pointed out.
"Fine, yes, I am! Go in front and see if one of them makes the TV go on..."
"Aren't you supposed to be a genius?"
"Just check."
Peeking around the television so he could see the screen, he told her, "It's on, but it's all static."
"Um. Okay. Let's pick a movie first!"
She quickly popped up from behind the television and went to the pile of movies.
"Which one?"
"I don't care what we watch." Spike replied. "Just as long as it isn't one of those stupid vampire films. You'd be surprised how many historical inaccuracies there are in the damned things. It's pathetic. Unless it's got Christopher Lee in it- he was the only Dracula that I believed."
Fred looked at Spike incredulously.
"What?" He blinked at her. "Like you don't watch sci-fi films and nitpick about how impossible time travel is and stuff."
Fred just smiled good-naturedly at Spike and continued to fiddle with the wires at the back of the TV. Spike looked at a random DVD.
"Hey, what about this one?" He asked. "Planet of the Apes."
"Charlton Heston original or crappy Mark Wahlberg remake?" Fred asked.
"The original." Spike replied. "Tim Burton ought to be strung up and shot for ruining such a classic."
"Are you a Charlton Heston fan then?" Fred asked.
"Who isn't?" He grinned.
"Pass the disc over here." Fred said. She then realized what she had just said, and apologised quickly before putting the disc into the player herself.
"All right, then." Spike said. "Think you can handle plugging that DVD player in?"
Fred sniffed. "Of course I can!" Marching behind the cart on which the television sat, she stared at the back for a moment. "Are there any directions?"
She went poking around and experimenting with random wires, obviously trying to ignore Spike's "helpful" comments ("Put the blue thing in that other thing, and connect it to that!"). She finally got it to work, and triumphantly placed in the tape.
"There! Finally. That was a lot harder than it should've been. Charles used to be able to do that in like, two seconds. Now, I have work to do! You just settle in and watch; I've seen this movie millions of times. It's one of my favourites."
She picked up her goggles and pulled them on, and put on a pair of gloves before returning to the work she'd put off when Spike came in. Spike did as she said, leaning against the counter where she was working so that he could make comments on the movie at the moments he thought them fitting.
"It's a mad house, a mad...house!"
"Get your hands off me, you damned dirty ape!"
"Damn you! You blew it up! Damn you, damn you all to Hell..."
By the end of the movie, Fred had abandoned her work to give the movie her full attention. It was as if it were the first time she'd ever seen it. As the credits rolled, he glanced over at her and she finally blinked. "Wow! I haven't seen that in so long...what a great movie. Charlton Heston is really good," she said, grinning at him. She took a fleeting look at the clock, and then did a double take. "Oh my God! I wasted three hours!"
Spike gave her a mock-hurt look. "Wasted?"
She winced, and gave him an apologetic smile. "Not wasted, exactly, but I was planning to get that antidote started in those three hours. It takes a while to figure these things out..."
"Hey, guys! Whatcha up to? So, Boss, did you get that Fyarl antidote figured out yet?"
She closed her eyes. "Not exactly..."
Spike turned to look at Knox, who had come into the room. "She was taking a much needed break, mate. Been working like a dog, this one!"
Knox grinned. "Good idea!" He spied the mound of movies. "Hey, is X-Men in there?"
Spike gave Fred a smile as Knox proceeded to rummage through the pile. "Looks like my work here is done. Just declare it a day off," he whispered. "You're the boss, aren't you?" In a louder voice, he announced, "Well, I think I'll be going. Maybe Angel's ready in the mood for some pointless bantering. Didn't seem to want my company much, earlier..."
"Gee, I wonder why," Fred laughed as he walked out of the room.
Outside -
Spike was walking along the corridor outside Fred's lab. "Nice girl, that one," he mused. "Looks like I've finally found a friend in this God-forsaken place, eh?" The thought cheered him, and he continued down the hall in a decidedly better mood than he had been that morning...
* * *
Ha, there. ^_^ Er...opinions would be appreciated, as there are like, practically no reviews on ff.net, lol. Concrit welcome.
Blood and Tacos
Chapter 1: Damned Dirty Apes and DVDs
By
The Uncanny R-Man and ScarletAngel
Disclaimer- We don't own anything. Angel and Co. belong to Joss Whedon.
Wolfram & Hart-
Spike stood at the reception desk of Wolfram & Hart, bemoaning his current state as a ghost. Well, as near to a ghost as an incorporeal vampire could get.
"And another thing!" he grumbled irritably. "I can't even watch the bloody telly. As soon as Passions is on, the great big poofter changes it to the hockey."
Harmony just rolled her eyes and continued filing her nails. Spike noticed this and frowned slightly.
"...Which is when I had the pterodactyl head transplanted onto my arse."
"Yeah, sure," Harmony replied nonchalantly. "Pteroduckie head, whatever...."
Spike cursed under his breath and decided to go annoy Angel. At least that was always good for a quick laugh.
Angel's office-
Angel sat at his desk, sorting through a few rather colossal heaps of papers when Spike stepped silently through the wall behind him. He reared up, preparing to jump at Angel.
"What do you think you're doing, Spike?" Angel asked, not even looking up from his paperwork.
"Oh, bollocks," Spike muttered, slumping his shoulders. "At least Fred had the decency to pretend to be scared. Not fooling anyone, am I? Being a sodding ghost is a pain in the arse."
"Great. Now go be a pain in someone else's 'arse'. I have too much work to do to bother with you today."
"What? No witty exchange of insults? No ruthless continuation of that century-old grudge we've had against each other? Just a casual brush-off, dismissing me like so much rubbish!" Spike ranted, placing one hand over his heart as if wounded, and throwing the other arm up in the air dramatically. He stole a look at Angel to see if he'd elicited any reaction.
Angel continued to sort through forms.
Spike huffed. "Fine, then, know when I'm not wanted..."
Angel nodded absently. "It was nice we could have this talk," he replied, still engrossed in his paperwork. "Now get out."
Spike rolled his eyes and was about to walk back through the wall when he paused, as if struck by an idea, and turned about abruptly.
"Don't you want anything doing?" he asked. "You know, random demons getting roughed up...or maybe I could get you some coffee?"
Angel finally looked up from his paperwork to stare incredulously at Spike.
"You can't touch anything," he said skeptically. "...And why the hell would you want to get me coffee?"
"Well, I was going to spit in your coffee," Spike admitted. "But if you're gonna be like that, you can just shove it."
Spike proceeded to give Angel the two-fingered salute and leave the way he came, through the wall. Angel just shrugged and went back to his paperwork.
Fred's lab-
Fred was pulling on some goggles, preparing to work on her latest project, when Spike walked through the wall behind her.
"Hey, luv," he said. "Whatcha doing?"
Fred gave out a squeak of surprise and spun around to face Spike. "Spike, what're you doing here?"
"Boredom struck," Spike replied. "Not in the mood to annoy General Grumpypants upstairs anymore, so I thought I'd come to see what my favourite science nerd was up to."
"Only a little project- I'm trying to find an antidote to Fyarl mucus, and then just a few routine experiments for the day," Fred replied. "Nothing too complicated."
He snorted. "Right, because rocket science is so simple."
She sighed and rolled her eyes. "It is not rocket science. This is pretty easy once you learn it. And it's really interesting!" she said, pulling off her goggles to see him better.
"Right, fascinating, I'm sure."
"It is, if you just gave it a chance."
"All right, fine then. So...what does this thing do?" Spike asked, picking up a small yellow box. "Ooh, let me guess, the top opens up and lets you gain access to a parallel reality, where brightly-coloured socks rule."
"Not...exactly," Fred replied with a wry grin. "It's a pencil case. You know, for storing pencils and stuff in? I'm sure you've heard of them..." She held out her hand for it.
"Er...riiight. Of course," Spike sighed, handing her the pencil case. "So you don't have anything fun in here at all, do you?"
"That depends on your definition of fun," Fred replied placing the goggles and pencil case on the counter. "Not all of us go for the random bloodletting of hoards of demon folk."
Spike tilted his head. "And what's your definition of fun, luv?" Spike asked, leaning closer to Fred with a glint in his eye. Fred blushed slightly at the closeness of Spike's face.
"W-well, I quite like watching Charlton Heston movies," she stammered. "That, and eating tacos."
He seemed to consider this for a moment. Suddenly, he said, "So, do you wanna go watch some movies? Maybe we could have tacos," he added, grinning. "Or rather, you would have tacos and I would watch," he added sardonically.
"That sounds like a lovely idea..." She looked regretful. "...but I've got a bunch of work to do. And I'm still trying to find out a way to turn you corporeal, remember? I was planning on working on that some more today."
"Yeah," Spike sighed. "I remember. Though I wish I didn't. Damn amulet, should've just burned me up and left me like that."
Fred reached out to touch his shoulder comfortingly, but dropped it suddenly, obviously remembering her hand would have gone right through him. "Don't say that! And don't worry," she said with forced cheerfulness. "We'll have you back in no time. I'm almost seventy percent on the way to a solution!"
"As much good as that'll do," Spike muttered to himself dejectedly as he walked back through the wall.
"Oh, Spike wait!"
He popped his head back in, presenting the fairly comical appearance that his head was mounted to the wall. "Yes?"
"Well, maybe we could get a TV and VCR and we could watch a movie here...."
Spike's foul mood seemed to lift as quickly as had come. "Really?" He stepped into the room all the way. "Thank God, I was getting so bored." Suddenly he raised an eyebrow. "And how will you get a television around here? I doubt law firms just keep them kicking around in the storage closet, for their mad scientists to watch a movie on while they're supposed to be working...."
She laughed at him. "I will be working! Just, you know...multitasking. The TV will be in the lab, and I can work while watching it. As for getting hold of a TV...you'd be surprised at what Wolfram & Hart has. You ask for anything, you can almost guarantee they'll get it for you. In fact, I bet you I can get a TV and VCR in here in ten minutes!"
He crossed his arms. "Right, ten minutes. It's a bet, then. If I concentrate hard enough, maybe I'll be able to shake your hand to seal the deal, hm?" He held out his hand, but she waved it away.
"Pfft. Whatever. Not like we have anything to bet. I'll be back in ten minutes."
"And how are you going to get a hold of them and carry them here before ten minutes are up?"
She lifted her chin defiantly. "You'll see," she said haughtily. With that, she strode out of the room.
Eight minutes and forty-three seconds later, Fred sauntered in with an armful of videotapes and DVDs. She dumped them on the counter near where Spike was leaning casually against it, and leaned against it next to him. "Ha."
"Ha, yourself. I don't see a television." He smirked at her.
She simply smiled brightly back, and turned her head to the door. "Hurry up, slowpoke!"
There was a grunt from outside before Angel staggered into the room, carrying an enormous television with a DVD player placed precariously on top.
The small smirk Spike had immediately morphed into a huge grin. "Got you wrapped around her little finger, eh?"
"Shut up, Spike."
"Just put them on the counter, please. Oh wait, no! I still have some work to do on the counter. Um...hold on, I'll be back in two seconds- no, don't put it down, you'll never be able to pick it up again, I'll only be a minute." With that, Fred dashed into the lab's storage room. It was quite large, if the sounds of Fred's rummaging through it were anything to go by.
Angel and Spike were left in the room.
Spike raised an eyebrow as Angel struggled to keep hold of the television. "Time was when Angelus could throw three men across a room and not break a sweat. Been putting on the flab, there? Or just getting weaker in your old age?"
"I'm not. This is just hard to get a grip on!" The TV almost slipped out of his hands, and he had to do a bizarre twisting balancing act to get it back. When Fred exited the storage room wheeling a small black cart, she found Angel, leaning far back, the television against his chest and him resting his chin on top of the DVD player so that it wouldn't fall off, grumbling at a laughing Spike.
Spike was pleased to see she had to bite her own lip to keep back her smile. "Thank you so much Angel! Just put it on this cart." Angel did so, wondering out loud why she didn't get it out in the first place so that he wouldn't have to 'carry the damn thing all across the building'. She tactically ignored him, instead giving him a charming smile. "You're such a good friend. Thanks for helping out!"
"Uh, it was no problem." He departed, shooting Spike a decidedly venomous look when Fred looked away. Spike only stuck his tongue out at him.
"Oh, that's mature."
"Huh?" Fred asked, but Angel had walked out the door. She turned to Spike. "What's mature?"
"Nothing, luv. Angel was just being a big baby. How'd you talk him into carrying this monster all the way here?" he asked, eyeing the massive television.
"Well...I told him if he did, you would lose a bet," she said with a sheepish smile. Spike snorted, and she laughed a bit. "Well, let me get this plugged in!" She went behind the TV and fiddled around with some wires. After about half a minute of waiting, Spike walked around as well.
"Fred, pet, I hate to sound rude, but what the hell are you doing?"
She glared at him irritably. "I'm plugging in the thing! It has...lots of wires, okay? Go away!"
"You seem to be plugging them in into random places," he pointed out.
"Fine, yes, I am! Go in front and see if one of them makes the TV go on..."
"Aren't you supposed to be a genius?"
"Just check."
Peeking around the television so he could see the screen, he told her, "It's on, but it's all static."
"Um. Okay. Let's pick a movie first!"
She quickly popped up from behind the television and went to the pile of movies.
"Which one?"
"I don't care what we watch." Spike replied. "Just as long as it isn't one of those stupid vampire films. You'd be surprised how many historical inaccuracies there are in the damned things. It's pathetic. Unless it's got Christopher Lee in it- he was the only Dracula that I believed."
Fred looked at Spike incredulously.
"What?" He blinked at her. "Like you don't watch sci-fi films and nitpick about how impossible time travel is and stuff."
Fred just smiled good-naturedly at Spike and continued to fiddle with the wires at the back of the TV. Spike looked at a random DVD.
"Hey, what about this one?" He asked. "Planet of the Apes."
"Charlton Heston original or crappy Mark Wahlberg remake?" Fred asked.
"The original." Spike replied. "Tim Burton ought to be strung up and shot for ruining such a classic."
"Are you a Charlton Heston fan then?" Fred asked.
"Who isn't?" He grinned.
"Pass the disc over here." Fred said. She then realized what she had just said, and apologised quickly before putting the disc into the player herself.
"All right, then." Spike said. "Think you can handle plugging that DVD player in?"
Fred sniffed. "Of course I can!" Marching behind the cart on which the television sat, she stared at the back for a moment. "Are there any directions?"
She went poking around and experimenting with random wires, obviously trying to ignore Spike's "helpful" comments ("Put the blue thing in that other thing, and connect it to that!"). She finally got it to work, and triumphantly placed in the tape.
"There! Finally. That was a lot harder than it should've been. Charles used to be able to do that in like, two seconds. Now, I have work to do! You just settle in and watch; I've seen this movie millions of times. It's one of my favourites."
She picked up her goggles and pulled them on, and put on a pair of gloves before returning to the work she'd put off when Spike came in. Spike did as she said, leaning against the counter where she was working so that he could make comments on the movie at the moments he thought them fitting.
"It's a mad house, a mad...house!"
"Get your hands off me, you damned dirty ape!"
"Damn you! You blew it up! Damn you, damn you all to Hell..."
By the end of the movie, Fred had abandoned her work to give the movie her full attention. It was as if it were the first time she'd ever seen it. As the credits rolled, he glanced over at her and she finally blinked. "Wow! I haven't seen that in so long...what a great movie. Charlton Heston is really good," she said, grinning at him. She took a fleeting look at the clock, and then did a double take. "Oh my God! I wasted three hours!"
Spike gave her a mock-hurt look. "Wasted?"
She winced, and gave him an apologetic smile. "Not wasted, exactly, but I was planning to get that antidote started in those three hours. It takes a while to figure these things out..."
"Hey, guys! Whatcha up to? So, Boss, did you get that Fyarl antidote figured out yet?"
She closed her eyes. "Not exactly..."
Spike turned to look at Knox, who had come into the room. "She was taking a much needed break, mate. Been working like a dog, this one!"
Knox grinned. "Good idea!" He spied the mound of movies. "Hey, is X-Men in there?"
Spike gave Fred a smile as Knox proceeded to rummage through the pile. "Looks like my work here is done. Just declare it a day off," he whispered. "You're the boss, aren't you?" In a louder voice, he announced, "Well, I think I'll be going. Maybe Angel's ready in the mood for some pointless bantering. Didn't seem to want my company much, earlier..."
"Gee, I wonder why," Fred laughed as he walked out of the room.
Outside -
Spike was walking along the corridor outside Fred's lab. "Nice girl, that one," he mused. "Looks like I've finally found a friend in this God-forsaken place, eh?" The thought cheered him, and he continued down the hall in a decidedly better mood than he had been that morning...
* * *
Ha, there. ^_^ Er...opinions would be appreciated, as there are like, practically no reviews on ff.net, lol. Concrit welcome.