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Chapter 7
“So, let me see if I have this straight,” Spike started after watching Wes pour over endless tombs for what must have been an eternity. “You don’t know what’s going on, you don’t know why it’s happening, and you still don’t know anything about Illyria?”
“I’m going to need more time, Spike.”
“Well, it seems we have that in great supply.” Spike paced the room. “I don’t like standing around like this…”
“How do you think I feel?” Wes snapped.
“I don’t care…I mean, I don’t know. How do you feel, Wesley?”
“Maybe we should call Giles.”
“No.”
“No? Why not? I know the Council was blown up, but there are still quite a few texts that were saved and…”
“We have more resources than they do.”
Wes shrugged. “We need all the help we can get. It’s worth a shot.”
“He won’t help you.”
“He will.”
“Right. This is the man who thought so little of you all that he sent Andrew to do his dirty work,” Spike reminded him. “Besides, he didn’t help last time we called. But by all means…”
“You called him before?”
“Yeah, and he really wasn’t interested.”
“Even though he knew Fred was dying?” Wes’s voice was low and incredulous.
Spike shrugged. “Maybe he thought she had it coming for working here.”
“Really?”
Spike kept his lips from twitching into a smile. Wes had his hackles up, and his eyes were burning. Spike thought he could wind Wes up, face him in the right direction, and turn him loose. Not that he still held a grudge against Rupert…but the idea of Watcher Death Match 2004 was far too appealing to pass up.
“Really,” Spike confirmed, leaning against Angel’s desk and casually lighting a cigarette. “So, like I said, calling him won’t do us any good.”
Wes silently reached for the phone and dialed a number from memory. Spike was nearly bouncing with excitement. Finally, a bit of entertainment. The phone rang three times before Giles answered it.
“Rupert? It’s Wesley Wyndam-Pryce.”
Spike could easily hear the entire conversation. Giles bypassed the greeting completely. “What are you calling for?”
Wes seemed surprised by Giles’s curt response, but Spike wasn’t. “I’m calling because we need help.”
“With what?” Giles asked coolly without any real interest.
If this enraged Wes, he hid it well. His voice remained even and his tone polite. “We’re having a bit of an emergency here…”
“I’m sure it’s nothing you can’t take care of,” Giles interrupted.
“Actually, we can’t. I was hoping you could look up a few things for me. You have volumes that we do not…”
“I doubt that very much,” Giles said. “Very much. I know the sort of resources Wolfram & Hart has access to. In fact, I’m sure there’s nothing in our library that you don’t have.”
“Rupert, people are dying because of this. I’m sure you could put aside our differences long enough to save lives.”
“They’re probably dying at your hand.”
Spike lifted an eyebrow. He wasn’t surprised by Giles’s reaction, but Spike thought he’d pretend to be polite for a little while before cutting to the chase. It was a pointed barb, and Wes winced but didn’t hang up the phone.
“I understand that you don’t agree with what we do here,” Wes started.
“Don’t agree? I am horrified and disgusted at the choice you made. You of all people should have known better.”
“Don’t lecture me,” Wes snapped. “I know what we did and we have to live with that, but we’re in the middle of a disaster here, and if you keep the moral high ground and lord it over us, it would behoove you to help save lives.”
“We have our own problems without cleaning up after your mistakes.”
Spike thought that would be the end of the discussion. It wasn’t the fireworks he had hoped for, but so few things were.
“Rupert…you’re right. We have resources like you would not believe. Why, just yesterday I authorized the hiring of twenty new employees. They’re Satjet demons. You have heard of Satjet demons, I’m sure. They look like humans, and in some ways, are completely indistinguishable from humans. They mostly work for the military as snipers and assassins…”
“What your point?” Giles asked, bored.
Wesley ignored the interruption. “They have several ingenious ways to kill their prey. They are quite adept at using weapons, of course, but they prefer hand-to-hand combat. They aren’t big on prolonged torture. The objective of death is more important than pain. Having said that, they’ve elevated it to a true art form. I hired these twenty demons because they’ve perfected a technique…”
“Wesley--”
“They’re not in for torture, but they’re not above pulling your guts through your mouth. It’s been nice talking to you, Rupert. If you change your mind, feel free to call.”
“Well…I didn’t know we had Satjet Demons around here. And twenty? Where are they living?” Spike asked.
Wes rubbed his eyes and slumped in his chair. “I hired an old retired Satjet as a consultant last week. He’s a pacifist.”
Spike snorted. “That was a good show. I can just imagine ol’ Rupes’ face when you threatened to rip his guts out.”
A smile twitched on Wes’s face. “He’s probably getting ready to come after me even as we speak.”
“Probably gathering all his slayers,” Spike agreed.
“We’re a menace to society and must be removed.”
“Sharpening the weapons…”
“Making battle plans.”
“Probably plan to attack the offices at high noon.”
They both sighed at the thought of dozens of slayers coming after them. For Spike, it wasn’t an altogether unpleasant thought, though it should have been horrifying.
“What if they don’t want to come after us at all?” Wes asked.
“What?”
“As you pointed out, they sent Andrew here…what if they don’t take us seriously enough to attack us?”
“What? Does that make you sad?”
“I like my threats to have some weight behind them.”
“Fair enough. Now what?”
Wes stood up. “I don’t know.”
“Hey, where are you going?” Spike asked as Wes walked to the door.
“I’m going to go check on a few things. You can stay here…in fact, don’t go anywhere. I don’t want to try to track you down later.”
Spike rolled his eyes and collapsed on Angel’s chair. “I’m just staying here because I don’t have anywhere better to go.”
Spike fiddled around Angel’s desk again in boredom after Wes left him. There wasn’t anything interesting. He took the weapons off the wall, one by one, and examined them all carefully. They were fine weapons, but without anything to kill with them, Spike wasn’t terribly interested. He grabbed the remote and turned on Angel’s big TV, and finally settled on Sponge Bob.
The phone rang shrilly, but Spike ignored it. It wasn’t his job to answer the damned thing. That’s why they kept Harmony around, after all. After about a dozen rings, it stopped and Spike sighed with relief.
Just one minute passed before it started ringing again. This time it didn’t stop. Spike rolled his eyes and picked the handset off the cradle and then dropped it. Almost immediately it started ringing again.
“Bloody hell,” Spike sighed, picking it up again. “What?” He barked into the phone.
“Spike?” She sounded incredulous and surprised and so sweetly familiar that it almost made him ache.
“Yes?” He replied casually.
“Spike? Is that really you?”
“Yes, Buffy.”
“What…how…I thought you were dead? You died. What…?”
“Well, yeah, I did. But I got better.” Spike didn’t elaborate.
“I…Spike, what the hell is going on?”
“Oh, me and Angel are stuck in a time loop, reliving the same day over and over. It’s very interesting.”
“What? Let me talk to Angel.”
“Why?”
“Because Wesley just called and threatened Giles and I…”
“Oh. That. Well, Wes killed Angel this morning after Angel snapped Fred’s neck. Like I said, interesting. Now he’s holding me hostage in Angel’s office. If I leave, he said I’m next. Normally I wouldn’t be afraid of the Watcher, but he’s got a few dozen demons on his side, and besides, Angel’s office is nice.”
“What? Spike, I don’t understand any of this. Start at the beginning.”
“Is Rupes going to help us or what?”
“No.”
“Thanks for calling. It’s been great chatting with you again…”
“Spike! Wait…”
“What?”
“Why haven’t you called me?”
She didn’t sound angry with him. Concerned, confused, worried, bewildered, but not angry. He didn’t want to talk to her. If he talked to her, he would just spill his guts because he always did. And then what? The day would be gone, and everything he said would be burned in his mind and everything she said would be burned in his heart, and there was nothing he could do about it. Except do it again. Once would be enough.
Spike sighed. “It’s been busy here.”
“So you work there now.”
“I wouldn’t say I work,” Spike scoffed.
“I can’t believe you work with Angel.”
“Look, Slayer, I don’t have time to chat with you.” Which wasn’t true. He had a lot of time to chat. Almost an eternity. He could tell her everything. But what would be the point of that?
“You don’t have time to chat with me?” She sounded extremely shocked.
“No, I do not. Angel is dead, and Fred is dead, and Wes probably won’t be happy until he’s killed most of W&H, I’ve got things to do.”
“Oh. Look, Wes can’t just call and threaten us…”
“I’m sure next time he won’t be considerate enough to call first.”
“Spike, why do you sound like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like…wrong.”
Spike sighed and resolved never to answer the phone again. I sound wrong because I miss you and I don’t miss you. I love you but then sometimes I don’t. I want to go to you, but I’m scared to see you again. Oh, and let’s not forget the entire world is completely fucked up. “I’ll call you later,” he promised.
“Really?”
“Yeah…Angel has your number. I’ll call and explain everything, ok?” Someday. Tomorrow. Next month. When you’re an old woman. Someday. “Now…are you guys going to be able to help us or what?”
“I…I don’t know.”
“Great, call me when you do!” He slammed the phone down, and ripped the cord out of the wall. He picked the phone up from the desk and threw it against the wall for good measure.
Hearing her voice had affected him more than he liked. He felt light headed and a little sick, and aggravated, and very annoying. She couldn’t help? It wasn’t an emergency for them, of course. Why should it? Spike tried to temper his anger, but it didn’t work. The more he thought about it, the more it enraged him. People had died. People who mattered, who were important, who she was charged to protect, and she didn’t know if they could help.
And he was mad at himself, because he didn’t know how to talk to her. He didn’t know what to say to her. He didn’t even know if he wanted to talk to her. And he didn’t have the time to worry about it because there were things to be done, things to research…and fuck it. Wes had that under control. He’d go find a poker game, or maybe just pick a few fights, blow off some steam.
Anything would be better than sitting in Angel’s office, waiting for Wes to find an answer that was impossible, or waiting for another phone to ring so he could have another painfully awkward, pointless conversation.
Besides, how many chances would he get to celebrate Angel’s demise? Spike slammed the door behind him and set out with grim satisfaction.
“So, let me see if I have this straight,” Spike started after watching Wes pour over endless tombs for what must have been an eternity. “You don’t know what’s going on, you don’t know why it’s happening, and you still don’t know anything about Illyria?”
“I’m going to need more time, Spike.”
“Well, it seems we have that in great supply.” Spike paced the room. “I don’t like standing around like this…”
“How do you think I feel?” Wes snapped.
“I don’t care…I mean, I don’t know. How do you feel, Wesley?”
“Maybe we should call Giles.”
“No.”
“No? Why not? I know the Council was blown up, but there are still quite a few texts that were saved and…”
“We have more resources than they do.”
Wes shrugged. “We need all the help we can get. It’s worth a shot.”
“He won’t help you.”
“He will.”
“Right. This is the man who thought so little of you all that he sent Andrew to do his dirty work,” Spike reminded him. “Besides, he didn’t help last time we called. But by all means…”
“You called him before?”
“Yeah, and he really wasn’t interested.”
“Even though he knew Fred was dying?” Wes’s voice was low and incredulous.
Spike shrugged. “Maybe he thought she had it coming for working here.”
“Really?”
Spike kept his lips from twitching into a smile. Wes had his hackles up, and his eyes were burning. Spike thought he could wind Wes up, face him in the right direction, and turn him loose. Not that he still held a grudge against Rupert…but the idea of Watcher Death Match 2004 was far too appealing to pass up.
“Really,” Spike confirmed, leaning against Angel’s desk and casually lighting a cigarette. “So, like I said, calling him won’t do us any good.”
Wes silently reached for the phone and dialed a number from memory. Spike was nearly bouncing with excitement. Finally, a bit of entertainment. The phone rang three times before Giles answered it.
“Rupert? It’s Wesley Wyndam-Pryce.”
Spike could easily hear the entire conversation. Giles bypassed the greeting completely. “What are you calling for?”
Wes seemed surprised by Giles’s curt response, but Spike wasn’t. “I’m calling because we need help.”
“With what?” Giles asked coolly without any real interest.
If this enraged Wes, he hid it well. His voice remained even and his tone polite. “We’re having a bit of an emergency here…”
“I’m sure it’s nothing you can’t take care of,” Giles interrupted.
“Actually, we can’t. I was hoping you could look up a few things for me. You have volumes that we do not…”
“I doubt that very much,” Giles said. “Very much. I know the sort of resources Wolfram & Hart has access to. In fact, I’m sure there’s nothing in our library that you don’t have.”
“Rupert, people are dying because of this. I’m sure you could put aside our differences long enough to save lives.”
“They’re probably dying at your hand.”
Spike lifted an eyebrow. He wasn’t surprised by Giles’s reaction, but Spike thought he’d pretend to be polite for a little while before cutting to the chase. It was a pointed barb, and Wes winced but didn’t hang up the phone.
“I understand that you don’t agree with what we do here,” Wes started.
“Don’t agree? I am horrified and disgusted at the choice you made. You of all people should have known better.”
“Don’t lecture me,” Wes snapped. “I know what we did and we have to live with that, but we’re in the middle of a disaster here, and if you keep the moral high ground and lord it over us, it would behoove you to help save lives.”
“We have our own problems without cleaning up after your mistakes.”
Spike thought that would be the end of the discussion. It wasn’t the fireworks he had hoped for, but so few things were.
“Rupert…you’re right. We have resources like you would not believe. Why, just yesterday I authorized the hiring of twenty new employees. They’re Satjet demons. You have heard of Satjet demons, I’m sure. They look like humans, and in some ways, are completely indistinguishable from humans. They mostly work for the military as snipers and assassins…”
“What your point?” Giles asked, bored.
Wesley ignored the interruption. “They have several ingenious ways to kill their prey. They are quite adept at using weapons, of course, but they prefer hand-to-hand combat. They aren’t big on prolonged torture. The objective of death is more important than pain. Having said that, they’ve elevated it to a true art form. I hired these twenty demons because they’ve perfected a technique…”
“Wesley--”
“They’re not in for torture, but they’re not above pulling your guts through your mouth. It’s been nice talking to you, Rupert. If you change your mind, feel free to call.”
“Well…I didn’t know we had Satjet Demons around here. And twenty? Where are they living?” Spike asked.
Wes rubbed his eyes and slumped in his chair. “I hired an old retired Satjet as a consultant last week. He’s a pacifist.”
Spike snorted. “That was a good show. I can just imagine ol’ Rupes’ face when you threatened to rip his guts out.”
A smile twitched on Wes’s face. “He’s probably getting ready to come after me even as we speak.”
“Probably gathering all his slayers,” Spike agreed.
“We’re a menace to society and must be removed.”
“Sharpening the weapons…”
“Making battle plans.”
“Probably plan to attack the offices at high noon.”
They both sighed at the thought of dozens of slayers coming after them. For Spike, it wasn’t an altogether unpleasant thought, though it should have been horrifying.
“What if they don’t want to come after us at all?” Wes asked.
“What?”
“As you pointed out, they sent Andrew here…what if they don’t take us seriously enough to attack us?”
“What? Does that make you sad?”
“I like my threats to have some weight behind them.”
“Fair enough. Now what?”
Wes stood up. “I don’t know.”
“Hey, where are you going?” Spike asked as Wes walked to the door.
“I’m going to go check on a few things. You can stay here…in fact, don’t go anywhere. I don’t want to try to track you down later.”
Spike rolled his eyes and collapsed on Angel’s chair. “I’m just staying here because I don’t have anywhere better to go.”
Spike fiddled around Angel’s desk again in boredom after Wes left him. There wasn’t anything interesting. He took the weapons off the wall, one by one, and examined them all carefully. They were fine weapons, but without anything to kill with them, Spike wasn’t terribly interested. He grabbed the remote and turned on Angel’s big TV, and finally settled on Sponge Bob.
The phone rang shrilly, but Spike ignored it. It wasn’t his job to answer the damned thing. That’s why they kept Harmony around, after all. After about a dozen rings, it stopped and Spike sighed with relief.
Just one minute passed before it started ringing again. This time it didn’t stop. Spike rolled his eyes and picked the handset off the cradle and then dropped it. Almost immediately it started ringing again.
“Bloody hell,” Spike sighed, picking it up again. “What?” He barked into the phone.
“Spike?” She sounded incredulous and surprised and so sweetly familiar that it almost made him ache.
“Yes?” He replied casually.
“Spike? Is that really you?”
“Yes, Buffy.”
“What…how…I thought you were dead? You died. What…?”
“Well, yeah, I did. But I got better.” Spike didn’t elaborate.
“I…Spike, what the hell is going on?”
“Oh, me and Angel are stuck in a time loop, reliving the same day over and over. It’s very interesting.”
“What? Let me talk to Angel.”
“Why?”
“Because Wesley just called and threatened Giles and I…”
“Oh. That. Well, Wes killed Angel this morning after Angel snapped Fred’s neck. Like I said, interesting. Now he’s holding me hostage in Angel’s office. If I leave, he said I’m next. Normally I wouldn’t be afraid of the Watcher, but he’s got a few dozen demons on his side, and besides, Angel’s office is nice.”
“What? Spike, I don’t understand any of this. Start at the beginning.”
“Is Rupes going to help us or what?”
“No.”
“Thanks for calling. It’s been great chatting with you again…”
“Spike! Wait…”
“What?”
“Why haven’t you called me?”
She didn’t sound angry with him. Concerned, confused, worried, bewildered, but not angry. He didn’t want to talk to her. If he talked to her, he would just spill his guts because he always did. And then what? The day would be gone, and everything he said would be burned in his mind and everything she said would be burned in his heart, and there was nothing he could do about it. Except do it again. Once would be enough.
Spike sighed. “It’s been busy here.”
“So you work there now.”
“I wouldn’t say I work,” Spike scoffed.
“I can’t believe you work with Angel.”
“Look, Slayer, I don’t have time to chat with you.” Which wasn’t true. He had a lot of time to chat. Almost an eternity. He could tell her everything. But what would be the point of that?
“You don’t have time to chat with me?” She sounded extremely shocked.
“No, I do not. Angel is dead, and Fred is dead, and Wes probably won’t be happy until he’s killed most of W&H, I’ve got things to do.”
“Oh. Look, Wes can’t just call and threaten us…”
“I’m sure next time he won’t be considerate enough to call first.”
“Spike, why do you sound like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like…wrong.”
Spike sighed and resolved never to answer the phone again. I sound wrong because I miss you and I don’t miss you. I love you but then sometimes I don’t. I want to go to you, but I’m scared to see you again. Oh, and let’s not forget the entire world is completely fucked up. “I’ll call you later,” he promised.
“Really?”
“Yeah…Angel has your number. I’ll call and explain everything, ok?” Someday. Tomorrow. Next month. When you’re an old woman. Someday. “Now…are you guys going to be able to help us or what?”
“I…I don’t know.”
“Great, call me when you do!” He slammed the phone down, and ripped the cord out of the wall. He picked the phone up from the desk and threw it against the wall for good measure.
Hearing her voice had affected him more than he liked. He felt light headed and a little sick, and aggravated, and very annoying. She couldn’t help? It wasn’t an emergency for them, of course. Why should it? Spike tried to temper his anger, but it didn’t work. The more he thought about it, the more it enraged him. People had died. People who mattered, who were important, who she was charged to protect, and she didn’t know if they could help.
And he was mad at himself, because he didn’t know how to talk to her. He didn’t know what to say to her. He didn’t even know if he wanted to talk to her. And he didn’t have the time to worry about it because there were things to be done, things to research…and fuck it. Wes had that under control. He’d go find a poker game, or maybe just pick a few fights, blow off some steam.
Anything would be better than sitting in Angel’s office, waiting for Wes to find an answer that was impossible, or waiting for another phone to ring so he could have another painfully awkward, pointless conversation.
Besides, how many chances would he get to celebrate Angel’s demise? Spike slammed the door behind him and set out with grim satisfaction.
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From:
no subject
*dies*
I hired an old retired Satjet as a consultant last week. He’s a pacifist.
*dies again*
Great chapter!
From:
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From:
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I love the conversation with Buffy. I'm such a hopeless Spuffy, it just about broke my heart. In the good way. ::happy sigh::
From:
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I'm sorry, I can't help it!!
From:
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Spike's conflict and struggle with his feelings here is so perfectly outlined - great job! The great watcher stand-off was keenly done too, especially with Spike's little thought about *not* holding a grudge...
I don't always comment on every chapter, but I'm excited every time I see an update, and I hope you continue :)
From: (Anonymous)
no subject
Mandy
From:
UH HO!"