Changing Fate (24/30)
Sooner than I thought here's the next part for you. Hope you enjoy it.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Wesley didn’t know how long they’d been standing there on Bonwell Street, right in front of Spike’s old home, lost in each other’s arms. They’d been exchanging soft kisses and not sparing a single thought on the outside world. But eventually Spike broke the kiss, cocked his head slightly and frowned: “Did you hear that, luv?”
“Huh? Hear what?” Wesley had trouble forming coherent words, his mind was still lost somewhere on cloud nine.
“Thought I’d heard…” Spike’s eyes flickered briefly to the house at the end of the street, the one they’d seen Henry enter earlier. “Something.”
“Something?”
“A struggle,” Spike clarified and, taking Wesley’s hand in his, he started pulling him along the pavement. Together they walked up to the house and Wesley noticed that it looked much the same as every other on this street, an ancient brick building from the Victorian Era.
Wesley threw a quick look back to Spike’s former home before his eyes fell on his lover again. Spike had meanwhile stepped through the iron front gate and was now making his silent way over to the nearest window. Wesley suited up to him.
“Spike, I don’t think…” Wesley broke off when the lights were suddenly turned on inside. Hasty footsteps followed and then someone screamed.
“Noooo! Emily!”
Spike exchanged a short glance with Wes before he quickly hoisted his slim body up onto a ledge in the wall. His feet found some leverage, his hands gripped the windowsill and he pulled himself up until he could throw a glance through the window.
“Spike,” Wesley whispered urgently, “what is it? Vampires?”
“No,” Spike jumped back down to the ground. The noise was muffled by the thick snow underneath. “Humans, two of them.” He began striding up to the front door and stopped at the first of five stone steps leading up to the entrance. “Least I think so. One is holding a young woman who’s struggling. Don’t know him but from the looks of it I bet he’s a watcher. The other, old fellow, is pointing a crossbow at Henry, holding him at bay.”
Wesley watched Spike climb up the stone steps and quickly followed. “Spike, you can’t enter,” he reminded him.
“I know,” the vampire threw a dangerous smirk his way. “Still can break down the door for you, can’t I? You go in, distract them and get Henry to invite me in. Then I’ll take care of these wankers. Shouldn’t be too hard.”
Before Wesley could do so much as protest Spike threw himself against the wooden front door. It didn’t budge. Spike, recognizing his mistake, frowned briefly and then gripped the door on its hinges and pulled.
Wesley had just enough time to jump out of the way before Spike and the loose door tumbled backwards down the stone steps. A muffled groan emanated from the vampire buried underneath the heavy wood. Then the door flew away and Spike sat up in the snow. He shot Wesley a glare.
“What are you waiting for? Go in already!”
Wesley gulped down his fear and, with one last look at his lover, rushed into the brightly illuminated entrance hall of Henry’s home.
He had no idea how to distract the intruders, he had no weapons and, honestly, even if he’d had one he wasn’t sure he’d know how to use it anyway. Not against humans. Humans who surely must have heard the noise of the front door breaking and who’d know he was coming.
Wesley gulped again and slowly scooted over to the only door on his left, the one leading to the living room where the threat had to be.
No noise whatsoever could be heard from the inside.
He found the door ajar and tried to glimpse through the small gap. His eyes fell onto the window Spike had looked through earlier. Friendly light curtains framed it and to one side stood a highly polished cupboard with glass doors and a porcelain tea set inside.
Wesley moved a little to see more of the room. The floor was covered in a thick dark carpet that fitted the cream colored walls perfectly. In the middle of the room he could make out a sturdy looking round dining table and four chairs upholstered in the same cream color as the walls.
‘Nice,’ Wesley thought and, bracing himself for the last time, shoved the door open and stepped into the room. His eyes fell immediately onto a young woman with long brown hair. She was clad in a baby blue bathrobe that stretched tightly over her swollen stomach. She was pregnant, and currently struggling in vain against strong arms pressing her into a tweed clad body from behind.
Wesley didn’t know the man that was holding her but Spike had been right earlier, he had to be a watcher from the looks of it.
“Let her go!” Wesley ordered with more bravery than he felt. The man didn’t seem to listen, he just kept on smirking at something over Wesley’s shoulder.
Wesley turned around and there, hidden behind the door he’d come through, he saw Henry, a purple bruise on his right cheek, shock and anger visible in his bright blue eyes. He stared at Wesley in surprise but Wesley only spared him a brief glance. His shocked gaze had immediately been drawn to the man that stood behind Henry, a crossbow in his steady hands and a condescending look in his cold eyes.
“Hello Wesley,” he said, voice calm and void of any emotion.
“Fa… Father,” Wesley stuttered in shock.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seconds passed in which Wesley’s eyes flew from his father’s calm face to Henry and back. They stared at each other in silence. Wesley felt his heart beat like mad until he thought it would jump out of his chest. He hadn’t been prepared for this!
He had no idea what his father was doing here, threatening Henry with a crossbow and… threatening his girlfriend (or was it his wife?).
“Father, what are you…?” Wesley tried to get his racing heart in check.
“Wes,” someone suddenly bellowed from outside and Wesley instantly remembered that Spike had to be standing there, waiting with badly suppressed impatience for someone to invite him in already. Wesley’s eyes found Henry’s and from the look he got Wesley knew that the other man had recognized the voice at once.
“Come in,” Henry shouted and at the same time whirled around to face Wesley’s father. Roger Wyndam-Price quickly raised the crossbow but before he could move so much as a finger to pull the trigger Henry crashed into him and pulled the older man to the ground.
Wesley stared at the struggling men for a second, wondering where and when Henry had learned to fight like that, before he swirled around to where the other watcher was still struggling with the pregnant woman in his arms.
Wesley rushed up to help though he had no idea how he should manage to pry her out of the strong grip. Thankfully the woman, Emily if he remembered correctly, chose the moment Wesley had reached her to throw a surprisingly forceful kick at the man’s shin.
He yelped in shock and immediately bent down to rub at his throbbing leg. Feeling the grip loosen around her midst Emily took the chance to throw herself to the side. And Wesley chose that moment to finally exercise his attack. His balled fist connected painfully with the man's jaw and he sagged to the ground, out cold. Wesley stared down in shock, amazed that he’d managed to actually defeat someone in a fight.
And then Spike suddenly burst through the door. He took one look around and, quickly assessing the situation correctly, jumped in to help Henry overpower his opponent. The crossbow was kicked out of reach with one well-placed boot and then Spike tore Henry away from the older man to deal with that wanker himself. He hadn’t gotten a clear look on the man’s face yet and that’s why, when Henry finally let go and Spike grabbed the older man by his tweed lapels to haul him upright and slam his back against the wall, the vampire’s eyes flashed up in shock.
“Bloody hell,” he exclaimed and shook the man, “well, well… look-y here. If this isn’t daddy himself!”
“Certainly not,” Roger Wyndam-Price frowned with as much disdain as he could muster in his current predicament. “As far as I know you have terrorized this world far longer than I have been alive. William the Bloody!”
He nearly spat the name into Spike’s face and then his gaze went over the vampire’s shoulder to where Wesley had by now helped Emily up from the ground. Henry had rushed over to them as well and pulled the girl into his arms.
“Are you hurt, dear?” he asked with a worried look towards her belly.
“No, honey. I’m fine, really,” she replied with a relieved smile and leaned up to meet Henry’s waiting lips.
Spike turned back to the man in front of him but let his eyes sweep over Wesley first. His lover seemed to be in complete shock by the sudden confrontation with his father. Spike remembered immediately what the Wesley from his own time had told him about their rather dysfunctional relationship. Seeing this younger version now, shock and fright visible on his pale face, touched a spot inside the vampire’s dead heart that he hadn’t known even existed. It made him mad and for a second there Spike was tempted to just snap the old watcher’s neck and be done with it.
But instead he just tightened his grip on Wesley’s father’s coat and glared at him from under his nearly closed eyelids.
“Well, as touching as this moment is,” Wesley’s father cleared his throat and unsuccessfully tried to pry Spike’s hands from his tweed suit, “I think it is time for me and Thomas to be going.”
“Not so hasty, Pop!” Spike shook the man slightly and leaned closer into his personal space. “First I wanna know what you were doing here!”
“I don’t see how that is any of your concern, vampire!”
“He’s a vampire?” Emily’s shocked eyes sought out her husband’s. “You invited a vampire into our home?”
“I, well… yes,” Henry stuttered, “but it’s not what you think, dear.”
“She knows?” Spike frowned. “I always thought you watchers were all tight-lipped and you were all trained to keep your spouses in the dark about us. Or about anything really.”
“Yes, normally we are,” Emily answered promptly and took a step closer to Spike. “But since I work for the Council myself…”
“Oh,” Spike looked rather chagrinned, “right. I should have bloody known. Well then,” he turned back to Wesley’s father, “let’s get back to the matter at hand, shall we, watcher? What were you here for?”
“He wanted to know why Wesley contacted me,” Henry provided immediately. And, turning his gaze on Wesley, he continued: “Why you came back here, why now, and what you’d asked of me tonight.”
Wesley threw an incredulous look towards his father and motioned for Spike to let him go. Very reluctantly Spike complied and, pulling a chair out with one foot, pushed the older man onto it. Then he stepped back to stand next to Wesley.
“And you didn’t think of asking me directly, father?” Wesley addressed his father. “You had to break in here, threaten them…”
“Of course I did not think of asking you,” Roger replied evenly. “You’ve been nothing but a mere disappointment to me, Wesley. And, further more, to the Council. When you didn’t come home after your spectacular failure in Sunnydale I knew you would end up in a bad crowd. I just hadn’t realized how bad it would actually get.” The last words were accompanied by another glare meant for Spike and the vampire opened his mouth as if to defend himself (or Wesley more likely) but Wesley’s hand on his arm prevented him.
Spike and Wesley shared a look, silently communicating, and then Wesley sighed and turned back to his father. “Father, I…”
“Wesley,” Henry suddenly interrupted and came closer. “Perhaps it would be best if you would confide in your father, tell him…”
“What?” Wesley couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Henry couldn’t be serious, could he? He’d certainly not tell his father the true purpose for his trip to England. His father, of all people?
“You cannot… Henry, I thought I could trust you!”
“Oh, but you can, Wesley!” Henry’s eyes bore into Wesley, smoldering and blue. “Trust me on this one, please! If you are seriously looking for a way back into the Council, this is it.”
Spike watched the two humans stare at each other in silence and suddenly he understood. He got it, that look… Spike sought out his lover’s eyes once more and tried to make Wesley understand it, too. ‘Watcher’s got a plan, go with it, luv!’ his look seemed to beg and eventually Wesley seemed to grasp onto the situation. He motioned for Henry to continue.
“Sir,” Henry addressed Wesley’s father directly, “I know that you don’t think too highly of Wesley’s previous actions as a watcher.”
Wesley’s father let out a disdainful snort at that understatement and sent his son a level glare before he looked back at Henry.
“But I am sure that… look, the truth is: Wesley contacted me a few days ago to ascertain my opinion on his chances of getting back into the Council’s… good graces.”
Wesley’s mouth shot open to voice a protest but a sharp look from Spike and Henry alike made him shut it quickly again. Wesley’s father merely waited for Henry to go on.
“I told him that it wouldn’t be easy for him,” Henry shrugged, “and that it would take a truly convincing reason he’d have to offer to the Council. Some very valuable piece of information perhaps or...”
“No piece of information could ever be valuable enough to outweigh the tremendous failure he’s been, I think. But,” Roger eyed his son once again, “I am feeling generous enough to be willing to listen for now. What, do you think, is important enough to the Council that it would make us want to take you back?”
Wesley tried to speak around the disappointment, shame and rage that had closed up his throat listening to his father’s words but before he could come up with anything Spike had suddenly stepped up and, fire burning in his blue eyes, growled but one syllable.
“Me!”
Everyone stared at the vampire, different kinds of shock visible on their faces. Wesley’s father simply raised an eyebrow.
“You?”
“Yes,” Spike nodded, “he’s offering me.”
The silence stretched uncomfortably until the older man suddenly let out a snort again.
“You truly thought that bringing in a vampire, chipped and harmless as it is, would ever make the Council reconsider its low opinion of you?” Wesley’s father glared contemptuously at Wesley. “I fail to see the point in that.”
“Then let me make it clear to you, you utterly bastard!” Spike growled and in one swift movement pulled Wesley’s father up from the chair. He propelled him away until the man’s back hit the wall behind in a forceful crash and then Spike was directly in his face.
“First of all, if I had a chip in my head I wouldn’t be able to do this,” his fist connected with the man’s jaw, “and enjoy the hell out of it. See? No skull-splitting migraine on my part here,” Spike smirked devilishly and took a moment to stare at the blood seeping from Roger’s split lip. He slipped easily into game-face and his golden eyes met wide-eyed watery blues.
“And secondly, he’s not offering some common vampire from the street to you wankers. He’s giving you me, William the Bloody,” the game-face turned back into Spike’s smirking human expression, “the only known vampire to ever have offed two of your precious Slayers and lived to tell the tale.”
“I… I see,” Wesley’s father managed to wheeze out through tight lungs. But Spike wasn’t finished yet. His eyes brightened and a smug smile grazed his features when he added almost casual: “Oh, and did I mention I’ve traveled through time as well?”
“Ugh, I beg your pardon?”
“I’m from the future and I could tell you secrets you’d die for knowing. A few apocalypses here and there, all of them prevented by the Slayer you chose to abandon of course, prophecies like the sodding Shanshu rot… possibly Angelus’ return… the Slayer fighting a true Hellgod and winning… and last but not least the sodding Watcher’s Council blown up and destroyed completely. I could tell you about that… and more.”
The iron grip on Roger’s throat was released and Spike took a step back to let his words sink in.
“What do you say, Pop? Wanna know the exact day you die?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was nearly morning by the time Wesley and Spike finally returned to their hotel. Wesley opened the door, switched on the light and then he turned to the vampire behind him. Shaking his head in stunned disappointment, the ex-watcher voiced what had been weighing on his mind ever since they’d left Henry’s house earlier.
“I still can’t believe what you did, Spike! I mean…”
“Oh come on, Wes,” Spike exclaimed and plopped onto the shabby bed, “get over it already! I didn’t tell him anything useful and by the way, I had to lure your dad in somehow, didn’t I?”
“Well, yes, but…” Wesley sighed and sat down next to Spike. “Offering information about the future to the Council… offering yourself… Spike, you don’t know…”
“It did the trick, didn’t it?” Spike raised an eyebrow, completely ignoring Wesley’s distress for now. “He believed me eventually and that’s all we need. I got us a nice, civilized appointment with the wankers’ council tomorrow. So we’ll have access to the bloody Archive and…”
“And what?” Wesley shook his head again. “You think you can walk in there, tell them what they want to hear and then ask for a stroll around the Archive in return? Spike…”
“Who said anything about asking, pet?” Spike smirked but when he noticed Wesley’s genuinely concerned expression he sobered up immediately. Wesley was truly worried for him, he got that. Spike took an unneeded breath and placed a tentative hand onto the man’s thigh.
Wesley shook him off, stood up and started pacing. “Spike, you’re deluded, or delirious, if you think that this got you anything but a nice, civilized appointment with a stake tomorrow!” He couldn’t understand how Spike could be so calm about this! “Don’t you grasp the seriousness of your situation? You’ve just agreed to walk to your own execution for God’s sake!”
“Oh, bollocks, Wes!” Spike stood up as well and stepped into his lover’s way. “It’s gonna be nothing of that sort. I’m not gonna let these buggers get the better of me, okay? They’ll let us walk in all right and that’s all we need. Then we’ll somehow shake them off, get to the Archive and look for the sodding lost words.”
Wesley looked suspicious but didn’t resist Spike pulling him into his arms. His hands came to rest on the vampire’s shoulders and he buried his nose in the bleach blond hair, inhaling his lover’s unique scent.
“And how are you planning on shaking them off, Spike?” Wesley whispered after a while.
“Oh, well…” Spike turned his head and started nibbling lightly at the taller man’s throat. “We’ll think of something in the morning, luv. Stop worrying now, we’ve got better things to do.”
“Do we?” Wesley’s words came out a little breathless. He could feel Spike’s body pressing into him from head to toe and a particular hardness poking into his thigh.
“We do,” Spike purred and walked them backwards until Wesley’s knees hit the bed. The couple fell onto the mattress in a tumble of limbs and hands groping around to get their clothes off.
Spike pressed closer to the hard body underneath and captured Wesley’s lips in a bruising kiss. One hand coming up to pull Wesley’s glasses off his nose, the other already struggling with opening the man’s fly, Spike groaned into Wes’ mouth and let his tongue explore every last inch of it.
“To many… clothes,” Wesley moaned back and tugged at Spike’s shirt. His troubled feelings about tomorrow slipped to the very back of his mind and for the next few seconds all Wesley could think about was the quickest way to get his hands onto Spike’s delicious body.
And once that problem was solved and the two men writhed on the bed naked and sweating, their guttural moans the only sound filling the nightly air, neither of them could think of anything, much less say something, beyond ‘God’ and ‘Yes’ and ‘More’.
And even those words ceased to come out when Spike occupied his mouth with sucking Wesley’s cock balls-deep into his throat and Wesley passed out from the ecstatic orgasm surging through his shaking body.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning found Spike in one of the most wonderful settings he’d ever woken up in: He was lying in a soft bed, his lover’s strong arms closed tightly around him from behind and he felt warm and loved and content. His dead body was completely engulfed in heat, it was radiating off Wesley in spades, and seeped through his skin and flesh and bones and made him feel more alive than ever before.
Even when he’d been human, especially then, Spike had never felt like this. He’d never had someone who’d made him feel… cherished and loved… there’d never been anyone.
Never anyone like Wesley.
He made him feel alive and… more, as if he actually deserved it.
With Wesley it was more than just the borrowed, stolen warmth you got from sex, from sleeping with or even next to a human being. It was way more than that with Wesley.
It was love.
Even with Buffy, whom he’d truly loved and in a way ever would, Spike hadn’t felt like this. His love for Buffy had been… complicated. Twisted and sprung from something so damaged, so tarnished and on so many levels wrong, that it could never compare to what he felt for Wesley.
His love for Wesley… it was good. It was true and deep and honest and… the real thing. The only real thing Spike had ever had.
And he would have given his soul away in a heartbeat to be allowed to keep it this way.
But he couldn’t.
Keep it.
This wonderful thing they had, this love… Spike knew it would end today.
One way or another, no matter how this day would turn out… no matter what they’d encounter in the Council’s Archive, no matter what those lost words would reveal about his destiny…
This would end today.
Spike let out a soft sigh and pulled Wesley’s arms closer around his cold body. These were the last few moments they’d have, this morning in bed, together…
This moment was their last.
The last chance to make love, to say everything he needed to say, the last chance to feel the warmth, the love he had inside.
Spike turned around in his lover’s arms, careful not to rouse him from his happy sleep, and tenderly stroked his love’s face. His fingers slid over the slight stubble on Wesley’s chin, around the nape of his neck and carded through the soft hair.
Spike watched Wesley’s full lips form a content smile in his sleep and brought a finger up to softly trace it, his touch feather light and unnoticed.
And the rest of the time till Wesley roused Spike took his last chance to watch his lover sleep.
And silently say goodbye.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TBC
Note: Sorry for this rather sad ending but I had to make sure that you'd grasp the seriousness of the situation. The next chapter will have Angel and Cordy again, in case you missed them. And Henry as well. And perhaps Wes' father (I guess you noticed that I don't like him much, right? Though we've never seen the real one, all we got was a mean robot-hybrid-thingy in Season Five). Anyhow, look out for the next chapter to come soon, I'm back in the swing.
next chapter