It was never meant to go like this, not ever – in any alternative universe or in this one. Destiny had made a royal fuck up while writing the scripts for personal lives, and the consequences of not writing in pencil instead of permanent ink were pretty drastic. It was going to make things difficult for him and for her, and the friends that she worked with.
It had been unexpected by both parties, both brains and both hearts, but it had still happened. Everything went askew from that moment they met in the graveyard, both of their worlds had been shaken out of orbit and collided into one another.
The amazing full moon had been pouring light down onto the Hellmouth generously, lighting up every available point, but leaving the shadows black as the thick darkness that blanketed the sky. The cemeteries were especially creepy that night, because there were mystery vibes exuded from each grave, tree and statue that filled its spaces.
Spike had returned to Sunnydale in order to retrieve some lost dignity and destroy that damn Slayer. She had seen him as loves bitch, which was, technically, what he was. He was loves bitch and he could admit it to himself and anybody else who happened to pass. But the Slayer knew it, that Slayer. Buffy. He hated her, despised her. She had been the bloody thorn in his side since he arrived on the Hellmouth, and she had caused him to lose Dru by sleeping with Angel and making him lose his soul. What made his hatred even stronger was that he had no Drusilla. He had blown it with her for once and for all – because of Buffy. He hated her so bloody much. He wanted her dead and he wouldn’t be at peace again until that time – until she was six feet under the ground.
He lurked around the cemeteries at night, waiting for her to appear. Half of the time, her little white hat friends or that jerk off Angel was with her and he didn’t have a chance to kill her. He wanted to do it alone, he wanted her alone, and vulnerable and without friends to help. He wanted her utterly helpless and he was willing to be patient until that time.
Faith had opted for patrol each Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday night usually, but it was this particular night that Buffy had to revise for a test the following day. She had volunteered to do some sweeps of the Hellmouth graveyards while Buffy did her reading, writing and revision galore, only this particular Wednesday wasn’t the best of nights to go to Restfield.
Her attitude wasn’t exactly tip top for slayage, because she had endured a terrible day with Giles the Was Once Watcher man. He was a royal pain in the ass when it came to training, because he had made her study a load of shit slaying rules and what not. She had failed, because she had refused to write anything. She had sat at the research table for a full on 90 minutes doing nothing but sitting and staring. She was, admittedly, shattered – not angry, but incredibly tired because studying had overworked her brain. In the end she found that she had studied for jack squat because she did nothing in result of its effort. Giles was obviously pissed off for all the right reasons, and he had told her to release some energy on kicking some vampiric ass. Except she had no energy – none that she knew of at least, and the last thing she needed was some adversaries to face. And when were Slayers *that* lucky?
Faith finally arrived at Restfield, her last cemetery of the night and she was impatient to go home, shower and sleep. It was something like 4:00 in the morning, she had started late so she was obviously going to finish late. She was looking forward to waking up and feeling better at 4:30pm in the afternoon.
But there was fighting to do before that time to come around.
The dark slayer was attacked from behind and she fell to the ground with a loud thud cracking her ribs at the contact. She cried out in sudden pain and her anger flared up inside of her. Her assailant turned her over and was growling down at her, baring his ugly fangs. He went straight for her neck, only to feel the girls hand wrapped around his. A second later – and he was flying into a tree trunk.
Spike was watching from the shadows, 'rette in his mouth and human appearance calm and collected. He had seen this other girl around before, he didn’t know exactly who she was, but he guessed she was a Slayer. He remembered Dru had bagged a Slayer the year before, just a day before they left the Hellmouth. That must have triggered off the when a Slayer dies another is called cycle again. It had never been that way before the whole Buffy/Kendra turn out. Or he hadn’t seen an occurrence like it. While he had been around it had been one Slayer each time, not two. He had always preferred it being one Slayer, but in this case his perspective was changed to a different POV.
That Kendra chick had been a major pain in the ass. Real bad because when she first arrived, he had been planning to kill Angel to cure his beloved Dru of her weakness. Didn’t work. That confused accented 'I’m thick as fuck' Slayer had joined Buffy’s team and prevented such luck happening – without fault. Dru had been cured, he had been harmed. Mixed fate had stuck him in a wheel chair for weeks on end, and he had to endure being called 'Sit and spin' by Angel boy.
Faith kicked the vampire hard in the gut and reached out to grab the collar of his shirt. She pulled him to her and glared into his nervous yellow eyes.
"I’m tired, I’m grouchy, I’m a Slayer of bastards like you – is there anything good in this fight for you?" She threw him backward. "I don’t think so."
Spike smiled, inhaling from his cigarette. She was good, really good, at slaying. She mid fight bantered, that was always something he liked in a woman because it was a characteristic he had himself. He had that in common with her.
He remembered fondly when Buffy and Kendra interrupted the ritual for curing Dru. The blonde bitch had said, "Two Slayers," to which Kendra added, "No waiting". He had actually found that funny, in a sick male brained way.
Faith stamped down on the vampires stomach and reached up her jacket sleeve for a stake. She raised it high, looking down at the vamp. She slammed the weapon down into the vampires chest and he exploded into dust beneath her foot. She slipped the stake into her sleeve, breathing hard and still looking down at the dust left by her latest slay.
Spike felt something push him, not literally, to step out into the moonlight. He held the cigarette firmly between his lips and stepped out, applauding and whooping his congratulations to the dark Slayer.
Faith spun around to see a tall, bleached blonde haired man clapping and cheering for her – or at her. She frowned, confused by the strangers sudden appearance.
"Now that was great," Spike said enthusiastically. He saw Faith reach into her sleeve and retrieve her stake. He stopped clapping and took the cigarette from his lips. He smiled modestly. "Oh, don’t tell me that wasn’t great!" The vampire took a seat on the top of a headstone and flicked his cigarette ash. "God, s’been decades since I saw a Slayer pull some real moves like that." Faith held her stake high, standing eight to ten feet away from the unfamiliar person.
"Who the hell are you?" She asked with an attitude. Spike waved his free hand dismissively at the stake as he inhaled from his fag again.
"Put that away, pet," he said casually, "don’t need it. I’m not here to cause trouble." Faith gave the man an unsure, slightly nervous look and he gave her a smile. "Cross my heart and hope to die." He chuckled. Faith reluctantly slipped the stake up her sleeve again, but held the end of it tightly in her fist.
"What do you want?" She asked, trying to sound as fierce as she could through her fatigue. Spike shrugged a little.
"To talk," he said. His mind was whirring at that thought. What was there to talk about? This girl was a Slayer – a vampire Slayer none the less – but he hadn’t failed to notice that she was an attractive young thing. "You’re, uh, friends with that other Slayer, Buffy right?" he asked, a little pressingly. Faith blinked at the mention of her co-Slayer and her curiosity expanded, mixing in with the little instinctive fear she had in her right then. This guy didn’t look harmful, not mildly threatening. He *was* incredibly handsome though, and his accent wasn’t of the bad.
"How do you know Buffy?" Her tone was cold. The night was interrupted by the sound of Spikes raucous laughter. Faith frowned, not taking her eyes off of the guy. "And what is so goddamn funny?" She felt some rage flare up inside her, but it died down almost immediately. Spike took a few unneeded breaths to calm himself down, trying his best not to continue laughing.
"How do I know Buffy?" He asked himself thoughtfully. "How do I know Buffy?" he looked at the Slayer, who he noticed had taken a step closer. "Well, how long you got?" Faith furrowed her brow.
"Well, I’m actually kinda tired," she noticed something that resembled pleading in his eyes, "but I guess I can sleep when I’m dead." Faith sighed and approached a wooden bench. Spike followed her and they both sat down at opposite ends. Faith didn’t have a clue why she was going to listen to this guys how I know Buffy explanation. She didn’t even know the guys name for Christ’s sake. She watched him as he lit up another cigarette.
"Right, well, it all started when me and Dru arrived in this god awful place," he leant back against the bench, "she was weak, I was hungry to destroy. You know how it is. Anyway, we – not including Dru – ambushed her school during this, this parent teacher thing and we were well on our way to causing major havoc when that stupid bitch and her mother stops me. Bloody hell, it was horrible. She hit me over the head with an axe," he looked at Faith, gesturing with his hands, "an axe, thank god it was the blunt side or my brains would’ve been all over the corridor." Wheels were whirring inside Faith’s head. She recognised the name Dru, she had heard Xander and Willow talk about her and this guy called Spike on numerous occasions. She continued to listen as the guy continued to talk. "Then there was a whole load of crap that happened in between until I got Angel."
"Angel?" Faith automatically echoed the vampires name, and Spike nodded snarling a little.
"Bastard had to date a bloody Slayer, didn’t he? Date a Slayer, have an ally, easy bloody way out. I mean, since he was Dru’s sire he was the only one who could make her strong again, I mean, turn her back to the old Dru. She’d always been an insane little madam – temper tantrums when she didn’t get her own way, tears before bedtime and all that – it was wonderful, really, but I wanted her strong." He glanced at Faith, who was nodding her understanding. "We got Angel, got half way through the ritual when that Slayer and her little lap dog friends showed up and ruined everything. And you know what made it worse?" Faith shook her head. "There were two Slayers, that’s right, two. And do you know what it’s like? I had no chance against them. They got their beloved Angel and I ended up crippled for months – or at least I faked it for some weeks."
He chuckled at the memory, making Angel think he was disabled when he could walk. "Ritual worked though, Dru got better. It wasn’t long later that we decided to call on The Judge." He saw Faith’s confused expression. "Oh right, you don’t know him. Well, not much to tell really. He was this big blue bugger, who we thought couldn’t be destroyed. He burned out peoples humanity, it was a right load of fun watching that. There was this one guy, Dalton, right pain in the ass with a right Einstein brain, and Judge boy burned out everything. It was great!" He was laughing at that point, but Faith was still blank over the humour. "Dru started stamping her feet screaming do it again, do it again. She loved to see that sort of thing more than anybody." Slowly, he calmed down and became serious again. "We thought everything was gonna be a right bottle of fun, didn’t go that way though. Angel boy got pelvic with Buffy girl and he – "
"Lost his soul, yeah, I know that part." Faith said, interrupting. Spike looked at the girl, with a look of disgust crossing his face.
"Makes you sick, doesn’t it?" He asked, screwing up his nose. Faith nodded, wholeheartedly agreeing with the guy about that statement. "Anyway, Angel came crawling back to us wanting some of the action. I mean, I understood that. Really. And maybe I was even happy to see the guy without a soul, but then he started pulling the moves on Drusilla – my girl – and that was it. I hated him all over again. I wanted him dead." Spike’s game face emerged out of anger and Faith startled. She jumped to her feet and held the stake out again. Spike sighed exasperatedly. "What did I tell you? I’m not here to cause trouble."
He gestured to his face. "This is a habit – something to do with getting pissed off, its hard to control – like when you can’t stop biting your nails." He patted the seat next to him. "Sit, I’m far from finished." Faith hesitated, and Spike morphed back into human appearance. Faith felt something inside her ease up a little, but not enough to sit down. She had pretty much worked out who this guy was from what he had told her. He was Spike, the vampire that had done a whole lot of shit that she was actually interested in hearing more about. Xander and Willow had held back on the details when it came to their adventure stories, and she wished they didn’t. Still, what she had heard about Spike had set off her Slayer warning alarms.
"What makes you think that I won’t stake you now I know, for sure, what you are?" She asked, gripping her stake tightly. Spike rolled his eyes.
"Because I’m of no threat to you," he sighed, "listen love, I’m free and willing to get down and dirty with you, but I’m not in the mood for fighting right now. I’d rather talk." He patted the seat again, and Faith looked at it unsurely. She sighed softly and relented enough to sit down on the bench, still on the opposite end. She kept the stake up though.
"Any sudden movements – "
"and you’ll turn me to dust, right. Got it." Spike sniffed and scratched his eyebrow, his eyes on the stake. "Angel was a right pain in the ass, and he eventually got Drusilla infatuated with him again. Caused some damage to that Slayer’s mentality I heard and I – you know what?" He grabbed the stake and tore it from Faith’s hand. "I just can’t concentrate on telling you this if you got your stick in my face." He threw it behind him, and Faith found herself without weapons. Spike smiled. "That’s better."
He moved along the bench and sat closer to the Slayer. "Now, that bastard lost his soul because of Buffy, he took Dru from me because of Buffy, he ruined my life – or existence – because of Buffy. The last thing that happened was when we found Acathla – or stole him. Angel was intent on getting the world sucked into hell, and I wasn’t too keen on that. Dru?" Spike chuckled softly. "She was more excited than I’d ever seen her. I guess it made me jealous. Everything Angel did made me jealous because everything he did made Dru love him more." He snarled again, but fought back against his game face. "And when he said he wanted the world sucked into hell, that was the last straw. I went to Buffy, made a truce with her."
"A truce?" Faith arched her eyebrows at that. Spike snorted.
"Yeah, I know." He said. "Disgusting, right? Well I wasn’t too happy on the idea of going to hell – you see I like this world, there are things here that make me happy – I explained that to her. Dog racing, Manchester United . . . and people. Billions of people walking around like meals on legs." Faith grimaced.
"Thanks for the imagery." She said. Spike laughed a little, continuing with his story.
"The point was that if she killed Angel, Dru and I would leave town." He scratched his jaw. "It wasn’t easy though," he admitted, "I had to make Dru unconscious to get her to leave and she was none too happy when she woke up. You know the first thing she said?" he looked at Faith. "Do you?" He was raising his voice and making the Slayer nervous. She shook her head. "She wakes up, I’m driving and she says where’s Angel? Where’s my Angel? And I say, not here love, and she’s looking around all panicky, ‘why not’, she says, ‘didn’t bring him’, I says. And she starts squealing and hitting herself like the mad cow she is and I’m trying to stop her while driving on the highway with one hand. I had to brake in the middle of the bloody road and stop her hurting herself. I’m shouting at her, ‘forget him, forget him love’ and she’s still crying ‘I want my Angel, I want Angel’ . God, I got so pissed off I grabbed her and smacked her head on the dashboard. She was out for about nine hours." He looked at the Slayer and saw her concerted expression. She was interested. She was *interested* in his story.
"What happened after that?" Faith asked, propping her elbow up on the back of the bench. She rested her head against it, looking at Spike. The vampire did the same, facing Faith.
"Well, we get to Brazil right, and she is, well, she’s just different, you know?" Faith nodded. "I mean, it was the truce with Buffy that did it, right? That changed her. I mean, I’m strolling through the park one night, looking for a meal and guess what I find? Dru making out with a chaos demon. A *Chaos* demon. Have you ever seen one of them?"
"Antlers, slime, just plain ugly?" She asked. Spike clicked his fingers, nodding enthusiastically.
"That’s the one," he let out a quick sigh, "and she was making out with one! She did it to hurt me, you know? So I told her, ‘I am not putting up with this anymore’, and she says, ‘fine’, and I say, ‘ fine, do what you like. I’ve got an unlife you know,’ and she tells me I’ve gone soft, that, that I’m not demon enough for her, and I tell her that the truce meant nothing, that I was thinking of her the whole time, but she says it’s not gonna work and she says . . . she says," Spike dropped his head, and his voice was weak, "’we can still be friends’. It hurt like hell. Friends."
He looked up again. "That was just plain cruel, and she didn’t even do anything – she just left. She wouldn’t kill me, I mean, she could’ve cut my head off, or set me on fire or something, you know? Just a sign to show that she cared but oh no, she just leaves. And that’s when I came back here, to get revenge on poof boy. I was in this store, right, this magic place and I’m asking her if she’s got any spells for boils and stuff like that when she goes off to serve someone else, and I see that its Willow. She was getting this witch craft crap for love spells or something and then I thought, ‘hey, I’ll get her to do a spell on Dru to make her love me again’, and so I kidnap her when she’s at her school one night, with her little friend." Spike frowned, trying to think of his name. He described him to Faith, "Dark hair, wears woollen jumpers, tries to be brave."
"Xander."
"Right, him, well – I take them back to the factory right, and I’m telling Willow about Dru and I tell her, you do a spell for me, and she’s like , I need supplies, and I say, what do you need, and she’s saying she’s left the book at her school and the ingredients are in that. So I go, heading to the school to get the bloody book when I pass Buffy Summers house, lights are on and I think, I wonder if mummy’s home, so I go look. Joyce is on the phone when I get there, right, but she hangs up especially for me and she listens to me gripe about Dru. The woman gives me hot chocolate, man, now that’s hospitality. Have you met Joyce?"
"Yeah, I went to Buffy’s for dinner once," Faith smiled, "she’s a cool mom." Spike agreed wholeheartedly, nodding his head.
"Hell yeah, and she listens," he said, "but we get interrupted by Angel boy, and he’s like invite me in Joyce, let me in, cause he’s not invited and I’m behind Joyce, mocking what he thinks I would do, like biting her neck and I say, you’re a very bad man, and Joyce isn’t happy about him being there. Angel really thought I’d hurt Joyce. Me hurt Joyce? It’s like killing my own mother – which, technically, I did, but Joyce is cool – I’m proud to know her." Spike smiled wistfully, remembering the hospitality Joyce had shown him – she listened to him, like this Slayer was listening to him. Sometimes he loved humans. "Anyway, that Buffy bitch comes in and she invites Angel and she threatens me with a wooden spoon and I shout ‘Willow’! I tell her about that and we go to get supplies and the bitch tells me I’m pathetic and I say, ‘you’re one to talk’, and she’s all ‘what’re you talking about’, and I enlighten the whole you and poof boy will never be just friends deal. It was funny seeing their faces like that cause they’re such puppies, I mean, I tell them ‘I may be loves bitch, but at least I’m man enough to admit it’, and they’re all sad and gloomy. Then these old guys who used to work for me come out and we fight and one of them, this right bastard, calls me soft and that just really pissed me off making me fight. It was just the cure and I decided that the only way to get Dru back was to treat her how I used to, tie her up and torture her. I left, went looking for her and I found her in Prague – making out with a Gurion demon." Faith screwed up her nose.
"Oh no, that must’ve been real sucky." She said sympathetically. Spike nodded, eyes wide.
"Bloody right, pet." He said. "I tell her, ‘I’m back’, and she said, ‘I told you we’re over’, and I said, ‘but I’m bad again’, and she said, ‘you’ll never be bad as John here’, and I’m like, ‘who’s John’, and she said, ‘this is John’. And I’m all shocked, I mean, a Gurion demon called John?! It’s sickening. So I said, ‘you know what, fine’, and she said, ‘fine’, and I said, ‘fine’, and she said, ‘fine,’ and I said ‘I can find someone better than you’, and she said, ‘you got eternity to find her’, and I said, ‘that’s right’, and she said, ‘fine’, and I said, ‘fine’. And I left and I came back here because I want to get that bitch back for ruining my unlife."
Spike rubbing his eyes with his fingers for a moment and then looked at Faith. "I’m just so alone," his voice was weak again, "I need somebody to keep me company, you know? I’ve never been so lonely before. I’ve always had Dru there, by my side, all the way and now?" Spike lowered himself and laid his head on Faith’s lap. The Slayer looked down at him, wide eyed with slight worry. "I just want to get everything back together again, I feel so abandoned." Faith hesitantly lowered her hands, her right to Spikes head and the other to his back. She stroked his gelled back hair and leather clad back soothingly.
"Um, it’s okay," she said, discomfort lacing her voice, "it’s okay." Spike rose his head, sniffing. He slowly moved up until he was smelling Faith’s hair. The Slayer swallowed hard, not scared at the situation but not happy about it either.
"Musk," the vampire stated, "Dru used to like that smell," he inhaled the Slayer’s scent deeper, "it was her favourite – after blood." He moved his head back a little and Faith saw he was in game face. Spike grabbed the Slayers throat and looked deep into her eyes. "You got such a … beautiful face, pet," he said softly, "how do you feel about eternal youth?" Faith’s grabbed Spikes hold around her neck and easily threw him back. He stumbled backwards, into a large granite statue. Picking up her stake, Faith ran at him and held him hard against the sharp stone. Spike snarled as Faith held the stake to him, point on chest.
"You broke your promise," she stated. Spike chuckled.
"My, aren’t you the observant one?" He said. Faith pressed the point of her weapon harder against Spike’s chest and his chest disappeared.
"You’re lonely, right? You need a friend – I’m here for you. For some strange reason I feel like I can relate to you, in a sick, nauseating way." Faith gripped Spikes neck hard, digging her fingernails into his cold flesh. "You need to talk, just call me, you want company to see a movie, just call me, but if you want an eternal toy girl to play with - you can friggin well go elsewhere to find one, get it?" Spike’s eyes were looking down at the stake and he was trying desperately not to move.
"Alright," he said carefully, "we’re friends." He morphed out of game face and returned to his handsome, humane appearance again. Faith eased up as soon as he did, and let go of his neck. "Ahem." Spike pointed at the stake, and Faith pulled it away. The vampire straightened his jacket. "I was only joking, you know." He said, in a matter of fact tone. Faith gave him an incredulous look. "What? I can joke!" Faith couldn’t help the smile that creased her face. She glanced down at the watch on her wrist and sighed.
"You better split," she said, "it’s 5:30, sunrise is at 6:00." She looked up at the vampire, who was lighting up another cigarette.
"Right," he said, "I’ve never been all that keen on extra crispy." He grinned briefly as he stuffed his lighter into his jacket pocket. The Slayer rolled her eyes and turned to leave, only to be called back. "Hey." She turned around and faced Spike again. "I never caught your name." He said. Faith laughed. After the prolonged conversation they had just endured, they had not even been on mutual first name basis.
"Faith." She said. Spike nodded, averting his eyes for a moment.
"Well, I feel better now I know that," he said, "okay doke, I’ll see you around, *Faith*." He smiled briefly and turned his back on the Slayer. They split up, both heading different ways, both going to different habitats – both thinking the same thing. About each other.
Their encounter had been unexpected, unpredicted but not unwanted. Spike had revealed almost everything about himself to Faith. He was a vampire, he was an incredibly handsome undead guy, he had and will always love Drusilla, he hated Angel – a vamp with common sense – , he hated Buffy, he was miserable, he liked leather and he smoked.
Spike knew next to nothing about Faith - other than that she was gorgeous – but he was prepared to find out more about her. He felt that their meeting that night would not be the only one, far from it. There were many more encounters like and not like that one in the future. The fact that she was a Slayer and he was a Vampire meant nothing to him right then, because he knew that friendship was a rare opportunity in his life. He liked friendship – he liked friends, he thought Faith was perfect for both.
Faith knew that Spike was intent on doing something of the evil sort, but she also knew that she had better stay out of it. What was gonna make life more difficult was hiding her knowledge of his presence on the Hellmouth. It wasn’t gonna be easy.
Spike knew that Faith was friends with Buffy, and that she was one of the white hats but he knew that he had better stay out of that. What was gonna make his unlife more difficult was that he was going to battle Buffy, knowing that Faith was on her side. It wasn’t gonna be easy.
It was never meant to go like this, not ever – in any alternative universe or in this one. Destiny had made a royal fuck up while writing the scripts for personal lives, and the consequences of not writing in pencil instead of permanent ink were pretty drastic. It was going to make things difficult for him and for her, and the friends that she worked with.
It had been unexpected by both parties, both brains and both hearts, but it had still happened. Everything went askew from that moment they met in the graveyard, both of their worlds had been shaken out of orbit and collided into one another.