Chapter 5: January 2017
Giles hadn’t wanted to entrust anyone with picking Spike and Wesley up at Heathrow. With careful planning, even vampires could fly. It just had to be timed right. Still, he was their contact with the Council, now that he was head of all field personnel.
There was also the issue of Spike’s request. Giles hated to think that he might lose the vampire, since Spike’s abilities were nearly legendary. He understood why Spike was doing this. He had to admit that it made sense.
The crowds drifted apart just enough so that he could see them coming. Neither Wesley nor Spike had brought anything more than a carry-on, used to traveling lightly by now. This trip was also not supposed to be a long one. If all went according to plan, both men would be on their way home in a week or less.
“Giles,” Wesley said, greeting his superior with a firm handshake. “You’re looking well.”
“As are you,” he replied with a smile. “Spike.”
The vampire’s lips twisted into a half-smile. “‘s good to see you again, Rupert.”
The strange thing was that it was nothing but the truth, and the feeling was mutual. If it wasn’t for the sunlight issue—as well as the need to have blood on hand—Giles could forget that Spike was a vampire. He just seemed so human these days. “You too. How was the flight?”
“Borin’ as ever,” Spike replied. Sitting still for hours on end had never been his favorite activity. “An’ the in-flight movie sucked.”
“It was a chick-flick,” Wesley explained briefly. “No violence and no nudity.”
Giles smiled. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
Spike rolled his eyes. “You try listenin’ to that garbage for hours on end. Can’t even shut it off these days.”
“You could have brought a book,” Wesley pointed out.
Spike frowned. “Didn’t think I’d need to. Besides, ‘m not plannin’ on doin’ much reading, where we’re going.”
“Then you’re set on your destination?” Giles asked. “You know, Spike, if Willow couldn’t do the glamour, you could have the coven try. That would have taken care of the problem.”
Spike shook his head. “Red offered, an’ I declined. It only takes care of a part of the problem. Best to do it this way.”
“Don’t try,” Wesley advised when Giles opened his mouth. “You know how stubborn Spike can be.”
“An’ it’s served me well,” Spike said, not bothered by Wesley’s statement. “It’ll get me through this mess too.”
Giles wasn’t so sure about that, but he wasn’t willing to argue the point either. “So you leave tomorrow?”
Spike nodded. “Catch a flight from here to Morocco , an’ then on to Uganda . Shouldn’t be too hard to find the place.”
“Maybe you should wait,” Giles suggested. “The coven—”
Spike shook his head. “Can’t do much. We’ve talked about this, Rupert.”
“It’s why I’m going as well,” Wesley said quietly. “If both of us go…” Wesley trailed off, leaving his thoughts unspoken. If he went with Spike, and something went wrong, someone would know about it.
And if things went right, Spike would have company on the way home.
Giles sighed and nodded. “I suppose you’re right. So you’ll go through the trials, and then what?”
“I make a wish,” Spike said. “It’s as easy as that.”
Giles raised an eyebrow. “A wish? Is that wise? Wishes are notoriously difficult.”
“All I want is to be mortal,” Spike replied. “An’ that’s exactly what I’m goin’ to wish for.”
When Giles opened his mouth to protest, Wesley’s hand stopped him. He and Spike had already been over this, more than once. This was what Spike wanted—to gain his mortality, and he wanted to earn it.
Spike always did like to do things the hard way.
“I thought we might have dinner at my place,” Giles suggested, neatly changing the subject. “If you’re hungry, that is.”
“I’m famished,” Wesley replied. “And I know Spike hasn’t eaten since we left L.A. “
“I could stand to eat,” Spike replied. “You think we could get a curry though? Nika’s is good, but ‘m dyin’ for something spicy.”
Giles sighed and shook his head, reflecting on Spike’s oddities once again. He would never understand. “Wesley?”
“Curry is fine,” Wesley replied, not bothering to say that he’d go along with pretty much whatever Spike wanted. To refuse his request would be like refusing a condemned man his last meal.
Besides, he liked a good curry as much as the next bloke.
~~~~~
Buffy picked up the phone on the first ring, instinctively knowing that it would be Spike. He had promised to call from Giles’ place, before he left for parts unknown. “Hello?”
“Hey, pet.”
His voice was cool, almost distant, and Buffy cursed herself for not making certain they parted on good terms. She knew he expected her to be angry, and she hated that he was expecting her to give him grief. “How was the trip?”
“Boring,” he replied. There was a pause. “How are you?”
“I miss you, but other than that I’m good.”
“Buffy—”
His voice held a note of warning, and she continued, cutting him off. “I know you have to do this, Spike. I’m not angry.”
He was quiet, obviously not knowing what to say. Neither of them was very good at talking to each other on the phone. It would have been better if they could have made contact.
Or maybe it wouldn’t have been. Contact had been sporadic and painful these last few months.
“How’s Meg?” Spike finally asked, sticking to a safe subject.
Buffy bit back a sigh. “She misses you too, but she’s fine. She wanted me to let you know that she got an A on that paper.”
“Good.” Pride warmed his voice. “Knew she could do it.”
Buffy hesitated, then asked, “What time are you leaving tomorrow?”
“Just after sunset,” Spike said. “Don’t know when I’ll be able to call.”
“I know. That’s fine. Just—when you can.”
“Of course.” There was another awkward pause. “I should go. Don’t want to leave Rupert with a huge phone bill.”
There was a time when he wouldn’t have cared, Buffy knew. There was a time when he would have talked to her for hours, just to hear her voice. “Be careful,” she said.
“I will. Careful as I can be,” he replied quietly. “See you soon, luv.”
“I love you,” Buffy said a little desperately.
“Love you too.”
And he was gone.
~~~~~
Enid smiled as Davey and Will came hurtling through the door, chattering on in Welsh. “What’s gotten into you two rascals now?” she asked.
“That would be me,” Hannah said wryly, with a fascinated Sam in tow behind her. “They’ve decided to try and annoy me to death.”
The older woman grinned. “And is it working, cariad ?”
“Oh, they’re getting there. If you guys don’t knock it off, I’m going to hurt you!” Hannah called after the twins, who were now singing “Sam and Hannah sitting in a tree…” at full volume, in Welsh. “This, by the way, is Sam. Sam, this is Enid, also known as Nain .”
“Nice to meet you,” he said, looking around. Hannah’s story fascinated him, not least because he loved the idea of having so many people around all the time. Sam only had one younger brother, and the rest of his family was depressingly normal.
Enid smiled at him. “Would you like to stay for dinner, Sam?”
“That would be great!” he said enthusiastically.
Hannah bit back a sigh. It looked like she wasn’t going to be getting rid of him anytime soon. “Do you want to see my room?” she asked. “I’ve got some homework, so—”
“That’s cool,” Sam replied quickly. “I’ve got some calc problems to work on.”
Hannah looked hopeful. “Did you understand this last chapter? Because I really don’t. Math is so not my thing.”
“Yeah,” he said. “It’s no problem. We can work through it together, if you like.”
Enid smiled as she watched them head off to Hannah’s room, glad that the girl was finally starting to make a friend. Sam was the first person she’d brought home with her, and Enid thought it was a good sign. The girl was as dear to her as any of the other children, and Enid worried about her tendency to keep to herself.
She closed her eyes and said a prayer for the others so close to her heart that were so far away.
~~~~~
Meg concentrated on the picture she was drawing, the charcoal clutched in her left hand. Her dad always said that lefties had the advantage because most people were right-handed. When you got into a fight, no one expected a left hook.
Of course, her mom had been furious that Spike had even mentioned fighting, which Meg thought was ridiculous. Hannah had taught her that a girl needed to be able to look after herself.
She missed him already. The house seemed emptier with Spike gone, and Buffy was obviously miserable. Spike was the one that brightened everything up, who made life exciting. Meg was scared to death that he wasn’t coming back. She knew how dangerous his job was.
Of course, Meg knew that Spike wasn’t her real father. About a year before, there had been a story in the newspaper about a senator from New York who had an illegitimate daughter by one Buffy Summers. Both of her parents had been furious, as had the senator in question, but for very different reasons.
They had sat her down and explained that Spike wasn’t her biological father, but that he’d chosen to be her dad, and that Buffy had wanted him there. Meg had been happy knowing that she didn’t have to go live with strangers, and that Spike wasn’t going to leave.
Meg understood why Spike had to leave better than anyone gave her credit for. She’d heard the comments that her teacher made, and she’d seen her father’s face when he overheard them. The careless comment would have completely freaked her out if she hadn’t already known the truth. Her teacher was wrong for sure—Spike was definitely old enough to be her father.
Actually, he was old enough to be her several times great-grandfather.
It probably should have had her completely wigging out, but it didn’t. Her dad was her dad, whether he was a vampire or not. As long as he came home, Meg didn’t particularly care where Spike had been, or whether he’d been trying to shed that pesky immortality.
Just as long as he came home.
~~~~~
Morocco was warm, even after the sun had gone down. Wesley had forgotten just how warm Northern Africa could be. Tomorrow they would catch a flight to Uganda , and from there—well, there was no telling what would happen after that.
He had gotten a chance to speak with Nika earlier, as well as the boys, and he recalled their conversation with longing. Nika had said that she missed him and that Hannah had brought a boy home. That didn’t sit well precisely, but at least the young man in question had been breathing.
Davey had come home with a note from one of the teachers saying that he was failing social studies. Wesley sighed. He wished he could have been there to provide backup for Nika. It wasn’t that she needed it, but he knew his voice sometimes carried more weight. They would have to crack down on the boy again, and Wesley couldn’t help but wish that Davey was a little more like Will.
Carwen was just fine, and was as sunny as could be.
Oh, how Wesley missed them all.
Wesley watched as Spike smoked one cigarette after another as he stood out on their tiny balcony. It was barely big enough to stand on, but it allowed the vampire to have his smoke, which kept him calm. Well, calmer anyway.
He knew Spike was worried about what was coming. They had no guarantee of the outcome, that it would be what the vampire wanted. Wesley knew that Spike didn’t particularly want to be human, but he did want to be mortal.
Spike wanted the certainty of change.
Wesley stepped outside, squeezing in next to his partner. They might as well have been brothers, for all their physical dissimilarities. The bond between them was that deep. “How are you?”
“Fine.” Spike stared out into the night sky, the stars winking down on the both of them. “How’s Nika?”
“Good,” Wesley replied. “Apparently Davey’s failing a class again, and Hannah’s started seeing someone.”
Spike raised an eyebrow. “We leave, an’ it all goes to hell in a hand basket.”
“It would seem that way,” Wesley agreed. “Are you ready for this?”
“You ready to die?” Spike countered.
Wesley sighed. “We can still turn back, Spike. We’ll call this a vacation, and then head back home.”
“‘m not goin’ to change my mind,” the vampire said stubbornly. “You know how important this is to me.”
“I know.” Wesley leaned back against the rail. “Are you doing this because you’ve decided it’s the answer, or because you’ve made up your mind to go through with it?”
Spike’s lips twisted in a sardonic smile. “You know me too well, mate. ‘m pigheaded, sure, but that’s not what this is. Seems like this is the only choice here.”
Wesley nodded slowly. “It might be.”
“Or I could go back, get Red to do the glamour, an’ watch everything I love die.” Spike flicked his cigarette butt out into the night. “You explain how that’s the right thing to do.”
“I can’t,” Wesley said quietly. “I think I’d do the same in your position.”
“I’ve been thinkin’ ’bout this for years, mate,” Spike said quietly. “This is the only thing I could come up with that would keep everybody happy.”
“Except for Buffy,” Wesley said wryly.
Spike rolled his eyes. “When the bloody hell is the Slayer ever happy?” He sighed, looking out into the darkness. “You know, I may be evil an’ all that, but ‘ve never really done anythin’ for me. It was always about Dru or Buffy, or someone else. For the last fifteen years, ‘ve done everythin’ anybody ever asked of me. The Big Bad changed diapers, an’ took care of scraped knees, an’ all that. I loved every minute of it, Wesley, but this is for me. I need this.”
Wesley really couldn’t argue with that, which was why he was in a hotel in Morocco , waiting to accompany a vampire in his quest to get rid of his immortality. Wesley went because Spike was his friend.