Chapter 11: February 2005
“You have to admit it was funny, Spike,” Nika said, trying to get through the vampire’s macho front. “I know I heard you laugh a couple times.”
“I did no such thing,” Spike replied indignantly, though with a small smile. “It was a bloody stupid movie, an’ he was a complete ponce.”
Nika laughed. “That was supposed to be part of his charm!” she protested.
“No one is charmed by a ponce,” Spike replied, a hint of seriousness coming through his voice. “They get laughed at. Consistently.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I found him charming.” She gave him a naughty little smile. “In point of fact, I find you charming.”
Spike’s eyes widened. “Take that back! ‘m not a ponce!”
“Oh, no?” Nika replied coyly. “Prove it then.” She started running, giggling madly. Spike wasn’t working too hard at catching her. They’d decided to go out to the movies together, not a date, just a night out. Nika had wanted some entertainment, and since Wesley didn’t seem to be making any moves in her direction, she’d gone for the next best thing and asked her best friend.
Spike loved to see Nika happy and laughing like this. It was all too rare an occurrence to see her acting like a giddy school-girl. She was usually so calm and controlled. So he was happily engaged in her merry little game when pulled up short by a demon coming in front of him with a wooden pike.
“Nika!” he called. The vampire was rewarded in a few moments by her appearance, flanked by two more demons of the same species. One was chattering away at her in a language Spike didn’t recognize, and he had no idea what he was supposed to do. There was no way to get to her without being impaled. “What—”
The pike jabbed him in the chest, and Spike took a step back, away from Nika and the demons. “No, it’s okay,” she said, reaching out to grab the arm of the one threatening him. “He’s a friend.” They said something else, and she frowned, insisting, “No, really, it’s okay.”
She looked at Spike. “I need you to get Wesley. I can understand them a little, enough to know they want me to come with them and help deliver a baby, but I need his language expertise.”
Spike sighed. The demon had put down his very long stake and was regarding him with suspicion. “Are you sure, luv? This lot doesn’t look very friendly.”
She shrugged. “They’ve been watching for me all evening, and then they saw a vampire chasing me. What would you think?”
“Then where are they takin’ you, Sweet?” Spike asked. He took a step towards her, but the demon raised its pike again. They weren’t a bad looking lot, if not very friendly. Mostly humanoid, with bluish skin and purple eyes. But they had Nika, and so Spike wasn’t feeling very comfortable.
Nika grimaced. “I’m not really sure. But if you can get Wes here in the next thirty minutes, they’ll wait for him. I hope.”
He hesitated for another moment, and then took off.
Spike would have given anything for a cell phone as his feet pounded pavement and grass. In the face of more people and more traffic, he practically flew up the side of a building using the fire escape and went by roof-top the rest of the way. With his vampire speed, going full out, it took him fifteen minutes to reach the ex-Watcher’s apartment. Too much time.
He pounded on the door of 105, waiting a few seconds, and then pounded frantically again. “Wesley! Open up!”
The door swung open to reveal a rumpled looking man in hastily thrown on jeans and a sweater. “What the bloody hell do you want, Spike? And will you keep it down? The neighbors will call the police otherwise.”
“It’s Nika,” Spike said, ignoring his irritation, and moving on to the important topic. “We went to a show and got stopped on the way home. She says they want her to deliver a baby, but she doesn’t speak the language an’ if we don’t get back there in—” He checked his watch. “—ten mintues now, they’re gonna leave without you.”
Wesley didn’t hesitate once he understood the seriousness of the situation. Quickly pulling on a pair of shoes, he grabbed a jacket and an ax, and followed Spike out the door. They took his motorcycle, since Wesley couldn’t move at vampire speed, and Spike was limping badly from the exertion.
It was a mark of Spike’s worry over Nika that he didn’t even protest the pink helmet. They made it to the park in ten minutes by virtue of some very scary driving by Wesley, but Nika and her demon escorts had already gone.
Both of them nearly tumbled off the bike in their haste to get to her. Spike took a deep whiff of air and homed in on the direction they had taken with little effort. “That way.”
A hundred yards deeper into the park, and they spotted the little group. Spike called out to Nika, and the demons spun, weapons at the ready. Nika called out to both of them. “No, it’s really okay.” She looked at Wesley in relief. “Please tell me you know their language.”
Wesley hesitated briefly, and then began speaking in the same odd click-clack language that the demons had been chattering on in earlier. The one with the pike replied quickly, brandishing his weapon and looking menacingly at Spike. The ex-Watcher nodded, and finally sighed. “Apparently, one of their seers told them to expect a healer tonight, and told them she would be with a vampire. A member of their clan is in childbirth, and it isn’t going well.”
Nika nodded. “That’s what I thought. Are they going to let you come along?”
“I think they might, especially as I can speak the language. Spike is going to have to stay behind, however.”
As Wesley had expected, his announcement was greeted with a vociferous protest from the vampire. “Not on your life, mate! ‘m not lettin’ them just take her like that.”
“They promise not to harm her, Spike,” Wesley explained patiently. “But the Lidraki don’t like vampires, and they’d sooner stake you than let you see where they live. I’m sorry.”
“Spike, really, it’s okay,” Nika assured him. “Wesley can stay with me. I’ll be fine.”
He let out a growl of frustration, his eyes sparking yellow. “Bloody hell,” he muttered.
Wesley passed over the keys to his bike. “Take the motorcycle back to Nika’s,” he instructed. “That leg of yours is in no shape to be walking home right now. I’ll make sure she gets back safely.”
Spike hesitated, and then sighed. It was a mark of his trust for the other man that he acquiesced. There weren’t many people that he trusted to look after those he cared about, but he trusted Wesley. The ex-Watcher would look after Nika and see her safely home, or he would die in the attempt. From the looks on the other demons’ faces, they would make sure Spike was dust before they let him come one more step closer. “Meet you back there, then. Take care of her.”
Wesley watched him stalk away, the effect only slightly muted by his limp. He could see the tension in the lines of Spike’s shoulders, and relaxed as the Lidraki lowered their weapons and motioned for him to walk with them. Placing a supportive hand on Nika’s elbow, he moved close to her. “Alright there, Nika?”
“I’m okay,” she replied softly. “Though, I was a bit nervous until you showed up.”
Wesley smiled. It felt good to be relied upon, to have a friend say she felt safer when he was near. “How did you know I would be able to speak their language?”
Nika smiled. “I didn’t know there was a language you don’t speak.”
She was exaggerating, but not by much. Wesley’s linguistic skills were outstanding to say the least. “There are a few,” he replied, slightly embarrassed by the implied compliment. They walked along silently after that, the demons murmuring to each other softly, Wesley’s hand at her elbow, then her back.
Nika felt the fear drain out of her. It was difficult to be afraid with Wesley walking so close, his unruffled competence radiating out of his lean form. Nika had always gotten the sense from him that there was little to worry about if he were taking care of matters. Really, that was why he and Spike made such good partners. The vampire’s impulsiveness kept the ex-Watcher on his toes. Wesley’s almost preternatural calm often got them out of trouble.
In a situation such as this one, Nika couldn’t help but be grateful for his presence. She stole a glance at him, and he caught her eye, smiling in a reassuring manner. She moved just a little closer in response; they might have been lovers out for a walk. No gap could be seen between their bodies, and his hand pressed just a little more firmly at her back.
Eventually, they found themselves in front of a dilapidated old apartment building. The brick-work was crumbling, and there was grafitti in the front entrance, but the demons seemed to relax as soon as they entered. “It’s the demon Projects,” Nika murmured, and was rewarded by a quirk of Wesley’s lips.
The demons led them up a set of rickety stairs to an apartment redolent with the scents of blood, herbs, and other matter that was best left unknown. A female Lidraki came up to them, chattering away. Wesley listened intently to her drawn-out explanation, finally turning to Nika. “She says that the mother did not perform the proper rituals in the last month, and that’s why she’s having problems with the birth.” He hesitated slightly and then added, “She also says that the baby’s father was not Lidraki, and it’s having trouble fighting its way out of the birthsac.”
“Where is she?” Nika asked, becoming all business. Wesley translated the question, and the female led them through a curtained doorway. There was a blue-skinned, pregnant Lidraki on a mattress that lay on the floor. The room was hardly what she could call clean, and certainly not the ideal place to give birth, but Nika knew she would have to work with what she was given.
She knelt down by the mother, wordlessly asking permission with her eyes. The demon nodded, and Nika felt along her abdomen, feeling the contractions rippling across the taut skin. It wasn’t terribly different from a human mother, and Nika was oddly reassured by this. “Wesley, what do you know about these rituals?”
He had squatted down on his heels next to her, watching with an intensity that it seemed only Wesley and Spike could ever produce. “Not much, I’m afraid,” he replied. “However, from what the woman said, Lidraki use the rituals to soften the placenta—for lack of a better term—as it is unusually tough. The rituals, whatever they might be, coupled with the outgrowths on the backs of their hands, help the baby fight its way out into the world.”
Nika’s face softened. “Poor kid. No rituals and a half-breed means that he’s having trouble.”
“Something like that,” Wesley agreed. His eyes met hers. “What would you like me to do?” He looked so capable in that moment that Nika found herself more than a little bit in love with him. She had loved her husband, but he’d have turned green and run in a situation like this.
“Have you ever been present at a birth before?” she asked.
Pain flashed across his face, then he went stoic again. “I know a little bit about delivering a child, yes.”
“You know a little bit about everything, don’t you?” Her tone was amused, and Wesley looked up at her sharply, trying to decide if she were making fun of him. But her face was admiring, and he could tell she found his seemingly endless store of knowledge reassuring, rather than annoying.
He shrugged. “I try.”
“Ask her if she’ll bring clean, hot water and a sharp knife. Or maybe like a big knitting needle. If the birthsac needs to be broken, we’re going to have to help the child out.” Nika looked at the laboring Lidraki. “I don’t know that we’ll be in time to save the baby, but if we don’t do something soon, we’ll definitely lose the mother.”
Wesley asked for what they needed, and the other demon left the room, leaving Nika to continue her examination. Over the next few hours as they both worked to deliver the unborn child, she found herself thankful for Wesley’s presence. He fetched what she needed, translated her questions and reassurances, and comforted the mother tirelessly.
When she found herself with both hands busy and sweat dripping down her nose, he pulled a clean handkerchief from somewhere and wiped her face. At no point did he show an inclination to run, nor any kind of impatience.
Finally, Nika managed to guide a blue-skinned baby out into the warm air. Normally, that kind of color would have alarmed her, but as the child—obviously a male—began to scream, it seemed that he would survive. The baby was noticeably more human-looking than his mother, and Nika couldn’t help but feel a pang. Danny had been a half-breed as well.
Wesley took the child from her, wrapping him in a blanket that the older female gave to him, placing him against his mother’s breast. The whole time he was murmuring something in that click-clack language that she’d be willing to bet were assurances that her baby was large and healthy and remarkably attractive. There was awe and wonder and a hint of longing in his eyes that tugged at Nika’s heart.
Now that the child was born, there were female Lidraki streaming into the room, hovering about the mother and beginning to chant and chatter, cleaning the mother and child and making both more comfortable.
The female Lidraki who had greeted them now ushered them out the door, chattering in what was obviously relief, pressing something into Nika’s hands. She looked down at the present and saw a necklace that glinted with what was obviously precious stones and metals. “Oh, no, I can’t,” she protested, thinking of the squalid surroundings.
Wesley grasped her arm, stilling her words, smiling and speaking in the demon-language. He looked over at her intently. “The child you just saved was important to them, more important than what you hold. To refuse it would be a grave insult.”
Nika nodded, closing her fingers around the necklace again. “Tell her thank you, then, Wesley.”
He did so, the words tripping off his lips so easily it amazed her. Nika thought about the first time he had spoken to her in Welsh, the familiar words of her childhood flowing so readily. She thought perhaps that was the moment she first began to fall in love.
Wesley led her quickly out of the apartment building, and both of them could see the first fingers of dawn thrusting up into the sky. “I’ll walk you home.”
“I would hope so. You have to get your bike anyway, right?” Nika paused thoughtfully. “Maybe you should stay at my place today. You’re tired. I’d hate for you to fall asleep on your way home.”
Wesley seemed to freeze, become terribly still under her fingers as though her suggestion were terribly improper for some reason. And then he relaxed slightly. “Alright. That’s probably wise.”
He seemed to have forgotten that there was no more danger, offering her the support of his arm as though she still needed it. Wesley could feel her warmth even through the double layer of shirt sleeve and jacket, smell her—a mixture of faint perfume and sweat. It wasn’t unpleasant.
“So what were you and Spike doing when the Lidraki found you?” he asked quietly, striving for pleasant small talk and hopefully keeping the jealousy out of his voice.
“We went to see a movie,” Nika replied with a smile, thinking of her and Spike’s teasing on the way home. “It was one of those sappy romances; I made him take me.”
Wesley smiled in return, but there was a hint of pain there. “That’s good, that you have someone to take you to a show.”
In spite of his efforts, Nika caught a hint of emotion in his tone that didn’t belong there. “We didn’t think you’d want to come, Wesley,” she admitted. “You’ve both been so busy lately, I thought you could use an evening to yourself without the two of us around.”
“I don’t mind the two of you around,” he admitted in a low voice, as though she’d dragged the confession out of him. “And—and I don’t mind just…”
As he trailed off, Nika reached over and grabbed the hand that had been at her waist, giving it a squeeze. “When the bloody hell will you realize that we like having you around?” she demanded. “It’s no chore to be with you, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. Whatever, or whoever, put that idiotic idea into your head ought to be shot.”
His lips twitched in amusement at her vehemence. “Is that right?”
“That’s absolutely right,” Nika replied, a touch of anger still in her voice. “Wesley, you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. And, just so you don’t need to ask, Spike and I were not on a date tonight. We’re very good friends, and that’s it.”
“But you and he…” Wesley stopped, not wanting to give away the fact that he’d actually asked the vampire what his relationship with Nika entailed.
Nika rolled her eyes. “Yes, we did, and it was a long time ago. It was just the one time, and it happened because we were both lonely and needed some comfort. I told you when we first met that’s what Spike’s relationship to me was. Misery and comfort.”
“And then?” Wesley couldn’t help but ask, a bit of bite in his tone.
She smiled. “And then we discovered that we didn’t just understand each other, we also liked each other. Not unlike you and him. Or you and I.”
Wesley recognized the kindness—and the truth—in her tone, but he wanted something more from her than that. He wanted to be more than understood and understanding, more than liked. He’d been slowly coming to care for Nika, but tonight had clinched it for him. She wasn’t beautiful in the traditional sense, but she was pretty, and brave, and compassionate. The way she had helped that Lidraki mother, even though she was a demon, even though Nika must have been frightened—Wesley was struck by it. By her heart, in every sense of the word.
After he had lost Fred, after she had chosen Gunn, Wesley had promised himself that he wouldn’t go there again. He didn’t want to fall in love. Lilah Morgan had been perfect for his needs—there was sex, but not enough true attraction to keep him. Perhaps eventually there might have been more, if either of them had been able to bend just a little, to move just a little closer together on their continuum of gray.
Nika was a bad bet, though. Wesley was absolutely certain that if he made a bid for her affections, he would find that she’d fallen for Spike. They had a closeness that he envied, a closeness that he could never hope to match.
As if reading his thoughts and the tension they engendered, Nika’s arm slipped through his, holding on firmly. “I’m glad you were with me tonight, Wesley,” she said softly, and again almost reading his thoughts, added, “And not just because you speak the language either.”
She sighed. “You make me feel safe.”
Wesley wondered if she understood what a precious gift those words were to him.
~~~~~
Spike was waiting inside for them, as the early morning light made it difficult for him to keep watch from the porch. He stood as they entered, watching the both of them with wary eyes, relief creeping in when he saw they were unharmed. He couldn’t smell any human blood, and he felt the worry seep out of his bones. Wesley had kept her safe, as he’d promised.
“Get the little nipper all safely delivered then, Nika-luv?” Spike asked. He saw a tightening of Wesley’s jaw when he used the endearment, and filed that observation away for future use.
She smiled at him. “It was a boy. Wesley was a huge help.”
“More help than I would have been,” Spike admitted cheerfully. “Don’t know the least bit ’bout deliverin’ babies. Good job he went with you then.” He could be tactful when he wanted to be.
“See my payment?” she asked, holding out the necklace to him.
Spike, who was a near-expert at identifying and appraising treasure, whistled under his breath. “This is a fair treasure, Sweet. My guess, it’s something along the lines of a family heirloom.”
“They said the child was important, but not why,” Wesley said, his voice hoarse with exhaustion.
Spike threw him a worried look, and then took a closer look at the both of them. They were clearly tired and covered in birthing fluids and grime. “You both need to get cleaned up and get to bed.” Turning to Wesley, he said, “You can use my shower, mate. Couch downstairs folds out.”
Wesley blinked. He was still unused to these little gestures from Spike, the marks of caring that belied his often callous, brash attitude towards those around him. Every so often Spike would act more like a nursemaid than a vampire, and it shocked the hell out of him.
“I have some clothing you can borrow,” Nika said, her words punctuated by a huge yawn. “I’ll grab them for you, but then I’m going to take Spike’s advice.” She went into her bedroom, coming out a few moments later with a bundle of clothing, which she handed to Wesley. Much to his bemusement, she leaned up and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, cariad.”
The ex-Watcher stood there for a long moment, not quite knowing how to respond to that. He felt Spike’s hand on his shoulder, steering him towards the basement stairs. “Time for all good boys to be in bed,” the vampire rumbled, obviously amused. “And next time, mate? Turn your head a bit. You’ll catch her on the lips.”