Usually, Drusilla and Angel were smart enough not to wander the streets of Sunnydale after dark without their Slayer. But with his car in the shop, they figured two stakes, a bottle of holy water, and a cross on Dru’s neck would be sufficient armor against any threat that stood between them and their homes, which happened to sit directly across the street from one another.
“So I said, look Darla, I get that you’re PMSing---“
“Angel! You don’t say that to a girl!”
“Even if it’s true?”
Drusilla rolled her eyes at her lifelong friend as he continued his description of the most recent argument that prompted the cheerleader to break up with him.
“And I said, it really shouldn’t have to be this hard, right? I mean, if you love someone it should be a lot easier than this.”
“Not really,” Dru said softly, clutching the stake in her pocket a little tighter. “I don’t think true love is supposed to be easy. That’s what makes it worth it.”
“But you hate Darla.”
“That’s not the point. If you actually love her, Angel, then yeah, you should fight for her. Some people don’t get that chance.”
Angel opened his mouth to reply as they turned the corner onto their street, but from behind a hedge three male vampires moved into their path.
“Oh look, it’s the Slayer’s little lapdogs,” the largest of the vampires said woodenly, as if trying to intimidate them with taunts and failing miserably.
“Maybe we should put them down,” another vamp replied, equally un-intimidating with his metaphorical threat. “So they don’t get in the way tomorrow.”
Dru utilized every trick Buffy had taught her to fight the vampire that leapt at her suddenly. She breathed deeply, suppressing the adrenaline of fear and drawing instead on her inner strength, dodged his grasping hands, casting a small spell to flash a bright light, and tripped him with one foot.
He hadn’t expected her quick move, and fell hard to the ground. While he was prone Dru glanced quickly to the side to see Angel holding his own with another vampire, yelling proudly when he sunk a punch into the demon’s nose.
After briefly wondering where the third vampire had gone, Drusilla returned to her foe and dumped her holy water on his face. He screamed, his hands flying to the burning flesh of his cheeks, leaving his chest open for her plunging stake.
She smiled happily at her performance, sure Buffy would have been impressed. Angel dusted the other right after her, muttered about his torn shirt as he dusted himself off.
“My mom gave me that shirt,” he groaned, kicking at the pile of dust by his feet.
She then realized the third vampire was nowhere to be seen.
A familiar shiver ran from her throat to her stomach.
“Dru? Earth to Dru? Let’s get the hell inside before more show up,” Angel hissed to her as she stared out across the empty street, clearly not realizing that one of their attackers had never been fought.
“Right, right, okay,” she nodded. He grabbed her hand and dragged her down the sidewalk to her front door, and she quickly unlocked it and they headed inside.
“Nice moves, Dru”, Angel said as he peeked out the living room window and relaxed when he found the yard still empty.
“Thanks, I’ve been practicing,” she replied faintly, breathing hard from a combination of fear and excitement as that shiver still coursed through her.
“Dru, is that you?” Her mom called from the kitchen. “Is Liam dearest with you?”
“Yeah, Mom!” She giggled. “Liam dearest is right here.”
“I just took dinner out of the fridge, he’s welcome to stay.”
“Thanks, Edith!” He yelled back, then turned to Dru. “Your mom’s cooking rocks, I’ll go set the table. Maybe you should call Buff and let her know what happened?” He sauntered off to the kitchen, as relaxed and comfortable in this home as he would have been in his own.
Drusilla moved towards the cordless phone on the couch and picked it up slowly, eyes searching the front yard for the source of her tingling nerves.
Almost without thought, she clutched the phone tightly to her chest and ran to fling open the door, stepping just up to the frame next to the invisible barrier that would keep out any danger.
“Xander?” She called out softy, the near whisper carried easily by the slight breeze into the yard. There was no response. “Xander, I know you’re here again.” Still there was no sound in the night but that of the silver truck driving past. “Thanks, I guess. I’m guessing that third vampire was killed by you? We could have handled it, you know. I don’t need you following me and protecting me all the time.” Painful silence. “I can’t…I can’t pretend I don’t see you, feel you. It’s too hard.”
There was still no noise from the shadows, where she knew someone was watching, listening, feeling the same ache she felt. “Goodnight, Xander.”
She moved back into the house, shut the door, and leaned against it on unsteady legs, thin body shaking with the force of her emotions.
“What’d she say?” Angel came back into the room, speaking around a mouthful of garlic bread.
“Oh…I haven’t called her yet,” Dru glanced down at the phone in her hand as if she’d forgotten it was there.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” She wiggled the phone at him. “I’ll call her now, go on back to the kitchen Liam dearest.”
“I hate when she calls me that,” he groaned, and left the room again, while Drusilla quickly dialed.
Outside, Xander emerged from the shadows, watching the front door intently and straining to hear her voice.
The phone was ringing when Buffy and William entered the house, and she dodged his grasping hands and ran for the kitchen, giggling.
“Hello?” She said happily into the phone. Her face fell as she listened. “Oh God…Are you alright?...Are you sure?...Okay, well that’s good…Stay safe, okay?...Bye.”
“What happened?” William asked curiously from the doorway.
“Dru and Angel got attacked by two vamps,” Buffy explained worriedly. “They were supposed to get them out of the way for tomorrow, I guess. Spike, I can’t let either of them get hurt!”
“It’s okay, kitten.” He wrapped his arms around her tightly and nuzzled into her hair, inhaling the faintly fruity scent of her shampoo. “They’re fine, yeah?”
“Yeah, but they could have...” Buffy realized she was near to tears, and buried her face into William’s strong chest as she fought them back.
“What’s got you so upset, love?” He gently lifted her and set her on the counter so he could look straight into her reddening eyes. “Just a couple of vamps, they’ve faced a lot worse.”
“I know, I know,” she worried her lip with her teeth and tried to figure out how to explain why she was acting this way. “It’s just…they’re good people here. They’re my friends, and I like them so much…but I still can’t seem to separate them from who they are back home—my other world. And I just want---“
“You can’t separate them from who they are at home?” William asked softly, taking a step away from her and removed his hands from her thighs.
“No, I can, I just---“
“So you still can’t separate me from…that’s why you still call me Spike,” he dropped his gaze to the floor to prevent her from seeing his rising anger.
“That’s not what I meant!” Buffy jumped off the counter and stood right in front of him, her panic reaching the breaking point. “Please, don’t take it like that, I just don’t want there to be two universes full of my dead friends!” Her voice broke on the last word and she turned away to wipe frustrated tears from her eyes.
He looked back up her worriedly. “What do you mean?”
“Nevermind, I’m just being stupid and why am I crying again?“
“You’re not being stupid. Explain it to me.” He grabbed her shoulder and spun her back around to face him.
She took a deep breath and chose her words carefully, not wanting to upset him more. “I don’t know if I really understand this whole two worlds thing, and how many more there could be…if they’re the same people who just ended up with totally different lives? I want them to be here and happy and safe, because…they aren’t, somewhere else, and I know I’m not making sense---“
“You are, love. I understand.”
“You can’t, because I don’t even understand!” Buffy allowed herself to be folded into William’s arms and burst out with the thoughts that had been plaguing her for days, the worries that she wouldn’t even admit to herself. “I don’t understand how I can remember…It’s like I’m two people, and you’re all two people, and they’re so different and horrible back home…but the same, still. Like you…”
“Me?” He prompted her softly after a moment of silence.
“You’re William. My William, and I know that and I would have never kept calling you Spike if I thought you didn’t like it. But you’re still…your eyes. I mean, the second I saw your eyes I thought you were Spike because I could never in a million years forget those eyes…not just the color, but the way you look at me…”
“How do I look at you?”
“Like…like you’re completely focused on me, like you don’t see anything else. Like a bomb could go off and you wouldn’t notice. And I know it sounds crazy, but Spike…well vampire Spike, he looks at me like that too. Now, granted, he’s so fixated on me because he wants to kill me---”
“Which I don’t want to do, just in case you were wondering,” William joked, the pain in his heart slowly fading away as she spoke.
“Well, good.” Buffy then pushed her emotions down, pulled away and laughed awkwardly. “Wow, don’t know where that came from. So, birthday presents?”
“Kitten, I don’t---“
“Please not tonight…William? Can we…can we just skip that part for now and deal with it tomorrow?” she steadied her gaze and repeated her plea firmly. “Please not tonight?”
He took a deep breath and nodded, slightly relieved to shelve the terrifying conversation temporarily. “If you want, love. Whatever you want.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Yay for being back on a decent posting schedule! Go me. Many, many thanks to whoever nominated this story at the Spuffy awards for Best General Saga and Best Buffy Characterization! I'm happy as a clam! Chapter title from Depeche Mode. (Gotta love Depeche Mode).