An Unusual House-Guest
“Giles, what am I supposed to do with him?”
“He seems keen on protecting you. I suggest you let him help with patrolling.” He was careful to avoid mentioning that the bleached vampire had proven himself to be quite helpful the previous week. The bruise left by the vampire that Spike had killed had faded, but Giles knew the memory was still plenty raw.
“I don’t need a vampire helping me on patrol.” She wanted to sound confident, but came off a bit more petulant than anything else.
“Either way, I don’t see any purpose to keeping him here. He is clearly not a danger to humans and I don’t have the time or space to continue babysitting.”
She didn’t want to worry about him. “If we send him back to his crypt there is nothing to stop the commandos from simply collecting him again. He’d be helpless, Giles.” She told herself that she wasn’t really concerned about protecting Spike, that it was just the principle of the thing. Staking vampires was acceptable. Torturing them was another matter.
Giles frowned. “Perhaps there is somewhere else then.”
It wasn’t the answer she’d been hoping for, but it was the one she’d expected. Nodding, Buffy turned to Spike. “Come on.” She headed towards the door.
“Where are you taking him?”
“Somewhere else.”
Spike followed her quietly for a moment. “You don’t need to worry about me.”
“I’m not.”
“Oh.”
“I’m just making sure you stay out of trouble.”
He didn’t try talking with her again until they reached their destination. “Buffy?”
She turned to him angrily. “Do you have a better idea?” Without waiting for a response, she strolled up the walkway to 1630 Revello Drive. She opened the door and yelled out for her mother before turning back to the anxious looking vampire on the front steps. “Come in, Spike.” She didn’t make the words sound particularly welcoming, but the invitation worked anyway.
He’d tried to squelch the little flame of hope that had flashed inside when Buffy had brought him to her home, but couldn’t. Even as he sat and listened to her explain the situation to her mother in less than flattering terms, he wondered if maybe she had changed her mind again, if maybe she could love him again.
“Mom, you remember Spike?” Buffy gestured halfheartedly toward him.
Joyce was thrown slightly by his appearance, Spike could tell, but she gave him stern nod anyway. “William.”
“Right, so there are some kind of military-types catching demons and doing experiments on them.” Buffy explained quickly.
“Here?” Joyce made no attempt to hide the disgust she felt at the idea.
“Right here in Sunnydale.” Buffy shared her mother’s look of disapproval. “They got their hands on Spike and put something in his head. He can’t hurt people now. Like, really can’t hurt people. Xander could take him…while juggling with his other hand.”
“Oi! There’s no need to be so bloody cruel about it, pet!”
“Oh! That’s awful.” Joyce frowned. “Not the not hurting people, but…you know what I mean.”
Buffy nodded. “Yeah. I’m trying to track them down, explain that demon control in Sunnydale is my gig and that I say we stake vamps not turn them into lab rats. But in the meantime, Spike…is pretty much harmless. Annoying still, but…” She shrugged.
“What can I do?”
“I was hoping you wouldn’t mind Spike-sitting. Just let him hide out in the basement until I come up with a better idea.”
Joyce looked over at Spike in surprise. “I…well…”
“I know he’s a pain in the—but he’s been trying to be helpful and he sort of saved my life so I figure—”
“Buffy! What happened? Are you all right?” Joyce looked her daughter over quickly searching for signs of injury.
“I’m fine. No biggie—just a vamp got the better of me for a minute. I would have been able to get him eventually, but umm Spike lent a hand and saved me the trouble so I owe him a favor.”
Spike sighed. “Not why I did it.” The hope flame was barely flickering.
“Oh and he thinks he’s in love with me.”
Joyce’s eyebrows came together. “The lab guys made him think he loved you?”
“No, that was Willow.” Seeing only increased confusion on her mother’s face, Buffy hurried to continue. “By accident. We’re trying to fix it.” She sighed. “It’s complicated.”
“I see.”
“Can he stay here?” She turned and glared at Spike as she continued. “He’ll stay in the basement. I’ll drop off blood…if he behaves.”
“Buffy!” Joyce turned back to Spike. “Of course you can stay. With Buffy gone at school all the time, I’ll be glad to have some company.”
He gave her a small smile. “Very much obliged, Joyce.”
She was surprised at how quickly she’d gotten used to having a vampire living in her house, but Joyce supposed that had something to do with the quirky charm of the particular vampire. His manners were a touch rusty, but they were there. She knew that under all the bravado was a young man who’d been raised properly. It’s not that she forgot that he was a vampire or that she didn’t know that he’d killed before and likely wanted to again; Joyce was a practical woman. She simply accepted that it was a complex situation. Vampires needed blood and killed to get it; Joyce saw no reason to assume that this meant they couldn’t experience a full range of human emotions. She’d heard Giles and Buffy speak about vampires as though they were animals driven entirely by their urge to hunt, but most of her own experience with vampires had been with Spike and she knew he was driven by an entirely different need.
She watched him study the picture of her daughter hanging in the hallway, saw the almost reverent look in his eye as he raised a finger to trace the line of her face, and sighed. “You really love her.”
He didn’t move his eyes from the photo. “I do.”
Joyce considered her words carefully. “You know that I like you, William.”
He turned to give her a small grin. “But I’m not good enough for your daughter.”
She nodded.
“I’m not blind, Joyce. I know what I am. I know I’m a monster.” He turned back to the picture. “She’s beautiful. Gets that from you, I suspect.”
And there it is again, she thought fighting off a blush, the unexpected charm. “Do you want to see baby pictures?”
“That would put her panties in a tangle.” He saw Joyce’s disapproving frown and sobered. “I meant yes, please.”
“Come on, Buff. It’s not that bad. Kinda funny really.”
Buffy arched her brow. “What part of my having a psychotic vampire following me around with moon eyes is funny, Xander?”
Xander took a step back. “I just meant it could be worse. I mean he’s too busy worrying about you to, you know…worry about eating people.”
“My mother caught him writing love poems…to me. William the Bloody is living in my basement, writing poetry and watching soap operas with my mom. Who—by the way—thinks I should be nicer to the serial killer vampire.”
“There are poems?” Willow smiled. “That’s sweet…I mean, normally it would be sweet, right?”
“It’s Spike, Willow. Nothing about him is sweet.”
Willow wasn’t entirely sure that she agreed with Buffy there, but she was smart enough to know better than to disagree with The Slayer when she was in rant-mode. “Giles contacted some powerful witches from a coven in England. They’re going to try to help us. You just have to be patient.”
Xander sighed. “Are we sure we want to make Spike go back to trying to kill us? I mean this is big on the wiggy scale, but isn’t it better than him trying to…bite us?”
“It’s just…not right.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Since I have a back log of chapters for this one, I'm going to update often for the next week or so. :) I hope you enjoy it. It is a little different in style than most of my others, but I'd say it is still recognizably my fic. Thanks for reading.