Chapter 15
"Yeah, definitely, pervert. It is Quentin
Travers isn't it?"
"Yeah, I take it you met him when you met
Ronnie?"
"No, not as such, pet. Just second hand
reports, none of them exactly glowing. We are talking about
the same bloke though. The one I've heard about's supposed
to be in his sixties?"
"That's the one. Like I said dirty auld
pervert."
"But Ronnie thinks he's just bein' friendly?"
"Mm-hm."
"So how long has this been goin' on for?"
"Must be getting' on fer a year now. Ever
since he made her his research assistant. Meb-be a month
or two after she came back from America."
Their conversation was halted by the sound
of the flat's outer door opening.
"Hi, Ronnie. Ye've got a visitor. Ah'll
go stick the kettle on while you two get reacquainted."
Spike stood up to meet the new arrival,
bouquet in hand.
She seemed to look him over from the feet
up, taking in the new boots, the tight black jeans, the
ultramarine silk shirt and leather jacket. She stopped in
her tracks, when her eyes travelled up to meet his. "W— W—"
"Will. Yeah, I told your cousin it would
be a bit of a shock."
Spike was quite shocked himself. He remembered
a tweedy frump with thick black glasses obscuring much of
her face. Instead he seemed to be confronted by a fairly
pretty young woman, even if her body language intimated
that she wasn't brimming with confidence. She wore faded
blue jeans, form fitting at the top but flared at the bottom,
boots with a small heel and a white peasant style top with
pink embroidery. She had been in the process of taking off
a blue denim jacket when she recognised her guest and the
old glasses had been replaced by a much lighter pair not
unlike Giles'. Her hair hung loose in waves and Spike was
reminded of Buffy's before she had it cut. "These are for
you. I just happened to be over here for a while, and after
our last little talk, I thought I'd look you up." Spike
did his best to reassure the startled watcher. "I'm doin'
a bit of research and I thought you might be able to help.
Here, pet, sit down, you look like you've seen a ghost.
I'm not that scary, not anymore."
He moved in the direction the other girl
had taken, calling out as he went, "Isobel, luv, d'you think
you could find a vase for these? I think I've sent your
cousin into shock. If she doesn't start speaking again soon,
I'm going to have to get her to sit with her head between
her knees."
By the time he returned to the living room,
the watcher seemed to have recovered somewhat from her surprise.
"W-What are you doing here?" Her voice was barely above
a whisper and Spike found that he too lowered his voice
in reply.
"Take it easy, pet, it's just like I said,
I'm doing a little bit of research and I remembered you
from when you came to talk about Buffy. I thought you might
know something about what I'm looking for and it might save
me a bit of legwork. I'm still buying my meals at the butcher's
so you don't need to worry on that account. Just relax.
I told your cousin we met when you were over in America,
so when I was over here I thought I'd look you up. If you
act like you're having a panic attack, you're going to get
her all worried, and you know I'm harmless." All the while
he talked to her, he maintained a steady eye contact. Drusilla
may have been able to manipulate people's minds with her
eyes, but Spike's eyes had magic of their own. By the time
he finished his speech, he knew he had the watcher's trust.
"What is it you need help with? Mr Giles
should have been able to get you most information you might
require assuming you are continuing to assist the slayer."
"Giles has his uses, but this particular
enquiry falls more within your realm of expertise. How much
does your cousin know about what you do? Can we speak freely?"
"She doesn't know anything about the Council,
just that I work as a researcher."
"Have you eaten tonight, pet?"
"Not yet, we were going to get take-away."
"Right then, pick a restaurant that'll
let us in wearing jeans and that we won't need a reservation
for and dinner's on me."
She moved over to the phone and pressed
a single button, before engaging in a conversation in Italian.
"We have a table for one hour from now.
They will send over Isobel's takeaway later. It's a fifteen
minute walk so that gives us time to have tea before we
leave."
"So, you know the contract I'm talkin'
about."
"Oh yes. It came up for auction just after
word got out about your incarceration. It went for a fraction
of what it would normally raise, but then no-one expected
you to escape, and it was widely supposed that you would
be killed."
"But do you know who bought it?"
"Of course. I did."
It had taken Buffy most of an evening to
read through the letters that Lorne had written on Spike's
behalf. Apparently after Spike came round the first time
Lorne had adjusted his chains so that he could move his
hands more freely, and after that he had been able to spend
a lot of the time reading. For a week or so he'd suffered
from delusional spells, but these had gradually tailed off,
and finally about two weeks after the operation, he'd been
ready to fly to England.
The day after the letters arrived, Dawn
was just home from school when the florists van arrived.
She knew it wasn't anyone's birthday or anything, so it
took her a few seconds to work out why the deliveryman was
carrying two huge bouquets, but once she saw that one was
made up almost entirely from bright scarlet roses she knew
who they were from. She rushed to open the door. As she
had thought the red roses were for Buffy, and the second
bunch, which was made up of mixed white and purple flowers,
was for her. She could barely wait until she signed for
the delivery to open the card.
Hi
pet,
Just
a little something to let you know I miss you.
Spike.
She rushed to the kitchen and sorted out
the flowers into vases, taking hers up to her room, since
Spike had obviously chosen them to match the colour scheme
there. Buffy's bouquet had to be split between two vases,
as they didn't have a single vase that was big enough on
its own. She left them on a table in the living room, tucking
the card underneath one of the vases. Hey, and she did it
all without dropping anything, spilling anything or cutting
herself when she was trimming all the stems. She could barely
wait for Buffy to get back from work.
It was mid-evening before Buffy finished
work at DMP. Rather than going home, she decided to take
a quick circuit round the cemeteries. If she did it now,
she could spend the rest of the night at home with Dawn
when she did get there. It wasn't quite dark yet, but the
sun had slid down past the horizon so she figured she was
just as likely to run into vamps now as later.
She was just over halfway round her patrol
route when she came to the cemetery where Spike had his
crypt. Vampires or any other nasties had been so few and
far between as to be non-existent, and she was beginning
to wonder if she was going to have to do a later patrol
anyway. As she stood outside his home she noticed the blast
marks on the door. She knew that if he hadn't warned her
to stay away she would have gone in and sat on his sofa
or lain on his bed. She would have spent a few minutes just
to absorb what she could of his essence.
He'd been there for so long despite her
efforts to make him go, that it had never occurred to her
that she could possibly miss him now he was gone. She'd
never suspected that she would feel incomplete without him.
She couldn't believe she had become so used to him acting
as back-up on patrol that fighting without him seemed strange.
Even when he wasn't supposed to be there he seemed to show
up whenever she was outnumbered, or outclassed or in danger
of being hurt. She missed the way she'd been able to talk
to him when she first came back, or even just sit together
in silence. She hoped that when he came back they'd manage
to reclaim that ease they'd once had.
She was so preoccupied with her thoughts
she didn't notice the demon coming up behind her until he'd
almost drawn level with her. She pulled her stake from her
pocket and spun to face her opponent.
"Clem. It is Clem, right?"
"Hey, Buffy."
"Whatcha doin' round here?"
"Just thought I'd see if he was back. He's
been gone a few weeks now."
"Nah, still busy places that aren't here.
Don't think he's even on this continent any more, if all's
goin' to plan."
"You've heard from him then, how's he doin'?"
"Don't tell anyone, but he got his chip
out. Which way ya headed?"
Clem pointed back the way he'd come. Buffy
decided that seemed like as good a direction as any for
her to patrol in. She strolled in that general direction
and Clem ambled alongside.
"He'll be pleased."
"What makes you say that."
"Well, he never thought you would trust
him unless he could prove it was his choice not the chip."
"So you think that's why he had it done?"
"It's why he wanted it."
"So the whole cult of assassins some of
whom are human, didn't have anything to do with it."
"Not when he first mentioned it to me."
"So you talk about all this stuff when
you're playing poker?"
"Nah, sometimes we get a drink afterwards
or sometimes I come over if there's something good on TV."
"So would you say you know him pretty well?"
Clem shrugged. The mismatched pair continued
their conversation as they headed back towards Clem's home.
By the time she finally arrived home, she
was tired and she was even prepared to admit she was missing
him. She decided to forego the pleasure of cooking. She
called up to Dawn as she took off her coat. "Hey, Dawn,
what type of takeout d'ya." She paused as Dawn came barrelling
down the stairs at full speed. "Want tonight? If I knew
you were that hungry I'da picked something up on the way
home."
"Not hungry." Dawn covered her sister's
eyes before steering her through to the living room and
flicking the light switch. "Surprise!" She removed her hand
letting her sister see the flowers on the table. "The card's
underneath the vase. Open it."
Buffy moved forward as if in a dream and
pulled the card out.
Hello Love,
I know I shouldn't have, but it's the only
money I've got and I couldn't resist spoiling you just a
bit. I'll make it up to you when I get home.
I love you
Spike
"What's he say?"
Buffy smiled, hiding the card from her
sister. "Hey! Personal. Did you sort out all the vases and
stuff?"
"Mm-hm. And I did mine, come see, I've
got them up in my room." She towed Buffy up the stairs behind
her. "Anya called. He sent a bunch to her at the Magic Box
too. Yellow roses. Yellow roses are for friendship, right?
Anya said that all the different flowers used to have different
meanings and people would know them, but it was sort of
a Victorian thing and it died out, but her and Spike are
both old enough to remember. Mm. Chinese, I think, and look
aren't they gorgeous."
"Thanks, Dawn. They're lovely and it's
really nice that everything was all fixed when I got in."
"No problem."
'And thank you too Spike wherever you
are and however you paid for them.' Just when she'd
been feeling lost without him, he'd sent something to show
he cared and he was still thinking about them. Not to mention
making Dawn this happy.
"Why don't you get creative with a menu
and a telephone. I'm going to go sit in the living room
for a while." She picked the coat up off of Dawn's bed as
she left the room. When she got downstairs she sat on the
couch with her knees up and the coat draped over her like
a blanket, just looking at the flowers he'd sent.
She stayed that way till she had to get
up to pay the deliveryman for the food.
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