Author's Chapter Notes:
Betad by the lovely seapealsh and dawnofme. Banner by dawnofme.
Thomas rolled his open-topped sports car to a stop as he got to the Welcome to Sunnydale sign. The warm breeze ruffled his dark hair that fell in waves almost to his shoulders. He pulled off his top of the range Rayban sunglasses and looked up at the bright blue cloudless sky.

“Should have done this years ago,” he murmured softly.

The weather was a pleasant change from Chicago at that time of year. The sun was hot against his alabaster skin. He was wearing jeans and a leather jacket but his chest was bare beneath it.

“Yes, this is going to be fun.”

He put his shades back on and floored the car, its rear end shimmying a little as he sped away.

*~*~*~*

Spike was asleep, or more accurately, trying to sleep, but despite the copious amounts of Jack Daniels that he’d drunk before flopping onto his bed, he kept waking up. He didn’t know which was worst: the dreams he had when he was asleep or the constant waking up. Either way, he felt exhausted.

“Bloody Slayer,” he muttered, rolling over to get back to sleep.

He knew that as soon as he did succumb, she would fill his dreams once more. It had been like this for weeks and it was slowly driving him insane – he was certain of it. Sure enough, he was thrown back into the dream as if he’d never roused from it. It followed the line that they all did - meeting up with her in a cemetery, much swapping of snarky comments, a big fight with lots of demons getting killed, and then the falling into each others’ arms and tearing off of clothes.

“God, Buffy, I love you.”

“I love you too, Spike,” Buffy sighed, gazing into his eyes.

“Shit!” roared Spike as he woke up yet again. This is too much. I’m just gonna tell her how I feel and be done with it. What’s the worst that can happen? he thought as he sat up and leant his head wearily against the wall. Oh yeah, that’s right, she could stake me.

He was starting to think that even that would be preferable to feeling like this. Even that daft bint, Harmony, had left him because of his strange obsession with Buffy Summers. Spike reached down for the bottle of Jack, looking at it in disgust; it was empty. He threw it against the wall opposite, where it shattered with a crash.

“Sod it!”

A knock on the door of his crypt interrupted Spike as he contemplating what to do – was it worth trying to sleep, or to get up and hope that Passions would be on TV soon. For a moment his heart soared; could it be the Slayer come to ask for help? Though seeing her in the flesh drove him even more crazy than his dreams he still yearned to be near her.

No, he thought sadly. She would’ve just come right on in and would be yelling something at me by now.

So who would be polite enough to knock at the door to a crypt where a vampire lived? Puzzled, he pulled on his black Levis, pushed his bare feet into his boots, and walked up to ground level. He avoided the patch of sunlight that beamed in through a hole in the wall. When he got to the door he morphed his features into those of his demon and drew upon the enhanced senses that the change brought.

No! It can't be. He shook his head gently as his features returned to human. Just what I sodding need.

With a sigh, he pulled open the door, being careful to avoid the sunlight, and glowered at the person standing in front of him.

“Hi Cous’,” said Thomas, with a broad smile that revealed perfect white teeth.

“I’m not your bleeding cousin." Spike scowled.


Thomas’s smile didn’t dim one iota. “Still the same old grouchy Spike. Never were much of a daytime person, were you?”

“You don’t say,” said Spike sarcastically. “Maybe something to do with the fact that it wants to make me spontaneously combust and turn into a big pile of dust?”

Thomas ignored his comments. “Can I come in? I came as soon as I heard.”

“Heard what?” Spike reluctantly opened the door wider to allow Thomas inside.

“That you were sick.” Thomas looked around the crypt with distain. “Not surprised, living like this. Couldn’t you get a nice basement apartment?”

“I like it here." Spike's voice low and threatening. “And I’m not sick.”

“Oh? Really? That’s good news because I heard that you weren’t killing anymore and so I figured that you must be ill.”

Oh, great! Bloody everybody knows about the bleeding chip in my skull, thought Spike sourly. “How come my eating habits are so interesting to everyone?”

“When the legendary William the Bloody goes all soft, it’s big news.”

“I haven’t gone soft, you pillock." Spike snarled and lashed out with his left fist, hitting Thomas on the nose.

“Ow! Hell, Spike, that’s not necessary,” yelped Thomas, wiping the slightly pale, pinkish blood that dripped from his nose with the back of his hand.

“Yeah, well, touchy subject, mate.” Spike walked over and flopped in his armchair with such force that a cloud of dust flew up from it.

“Want to talk about it?” asked Thomas, sitting on the edge of a tomb.

“Not really." Spike slumped deeper into the chair.

Thomas looked at Spike with concern. Life for a vampire of the Court that Spike belonged to was so much harder than the life of a White Court vampire such as he. It looked like Spike had something fairly bad going on to be so down. In all the times that he’d met Spike, he’d never known him to be anything but cocky. As much as he wanted to try to help his friend, the thought of staying in the gloomy crypt until dusk was just too unappealing; he was on vacation, after all.

“Look, Spike, how about I leave you to sleep, or watch crappy daytime soaps,” said Thomas as Spike turned the TV on and smiled as he heard the theme tune to Passions. “I’ll call back at dusk and we’ll go out on the town and find a couple of girls. Getting laid will cheer you up.”

Thomas grinned at Spike, unaware how his words had cut Spike to the quick. The only girl Spike wanted would never be his.

“Shh, I’m missing what’s happening to Timmy,” replied Spike. “Go on, go out, whatever.” He waved a hand in the direction of the door.

Thomas shook his head. Something was definitely wrong with Spike

“See you later,” he said as he stepped back out into the bright sunlight, closing the door behind him.

“’S all right for him,” grumbled Spike. “He’s got everything, he has. Can even go out in the sun, lucky git.”

Spike thought of how he’d love to be able to be with Buffy when she was bathed in sunlight, walk with her, hell, just be with her like a normal man. Mind you it wasn’t like Thomas was a normal guy, but he was as near to normal that vampire could get.

TBC


Chapter End Notes:
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