Buffy snuggled closer to her bedmate, and sighed contentedly. Sure, she and Angel couldn’t do much of anything other than cuddle, but that was fine with her. It was the closeness with him that she missed. Just being with him, she knew he could tell exactly what she was feeling, and she was getting better and better at reading him. Since he’d left Sunnydale the first time, he’d become much more expressive.
“What are you thinking?” Angel asked her gently, placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head.
“I was thinking about how nice it is to be with you.”
“That’s a good thing to be thinking,” he replied, tightening his arm around her.
They lay in silence for a few more minutes.
“So do you think Faith and Spike will get back together?” Buffy said. Angel sighed loudly. “What?” Buffy said defensively. “You can’t tell me you don’t care. Spike’s your family.”
“Thanks so much for that reminder,” Angel muttered. He sighed again, and Buffy pinched him gently. He winced, then glared at her. She met his gaze full on. “Fine. I don’t know if they’ll get back together.”
“But do you want them to?”
“I don’t know.”
Buffy paused for a moment. “I do.” He looked at her. “Well, I just want everyone to be as happy as we are. Only…we can’t be that happy.” She took a deep breath, wanting to take back those last words. So she kept babbling. “It’s just, They’re my friends, sort of, and they’re so obviously in love, and they’re just being stubborn. Neither wants to admit that they’re in love, so they stay apart.”
“You think they’re in love?” Angel said after a moment. “Spike doesn’t have a soul. And Faith’s still really messed up.”
“I know. But in their way…they’re in love.”
“Then I want them to get together again, too,” Angel said after a moment. Buffy sighed happily. Then the lovers drifted into sleep.
*~*~*
Willow lay rigidly on her back in her bed with Tara curled on her side, facing her. Tara was sleeping, though not deeply yet. Willow couldn’t sleep.
She knew there was more to the prophecy. Giles had been cleaning his glasses a lot when he’d told them what it said. And Spike had looked especially bored with the whole ordeal. Overly bored, like he was trying to look bored. And while Giles and Spike had been translating it, Angel had stood, stone-still, listening to something. Willow suspected that he’d heard the goings-on with his vampiric hearing, and also knew what was going on. She wondered who else knew her fate and wasn’t telling her.
She sighed. That wasn’t fair. But it was! This was a prophecy about her! They should at least tell her what it said. If it said she was going to die, fine. At least she’d know, and she could do all the things she never had. She could go skydiving! Or buy a motorcycle! Or any of those other things people did when they only had a week to live and wanted to live life to the fullest.
Who was she kidding? She couldn’t afford a motorcycle. And she’d never been on a commercial airline before, let alone jumped out of a plane. And how safe could that be, anyway? She lived on a hellmouth. Luck wasn’t really her middle name.
She sighed again. She wouldn’t be sleeping tonight. Not only was her mind babbling along of its own accord, but truth be told, she was afraid to fall asleep. She didn’t want to have another explosion dream. She wished Tara was awake, but the blonde witch only sniffed in her sleep, and let out a small whimper before stilling again. Willow carefully left the bed and dressed. She grabbed a stake and put it in her purse, because she was in Sunnydale, and she left the dorm room.
Out in the night air, Willow’s mind didn’t clear. She knew what she’d like to be doing. Years ago, when something was bothering her, she’d go see Xander and they’d play scrabble into the night. She’d always win, but then they’d bring out monopoly, and he’d beat her there. They would play board games until the sun rose, and then Willow would go home and sleep for an hour or two, before getting up for school. She’d be refreshed for the whole day.
But that was in junior high and high school. Back before they’d grown up, and Xander was living with Anya and Willow was in love with another woman. Back when they were kids, it was so much easier. There was no slayer, no prophecies, and the biggest problem Willow had to face was her choice of university.
The comfort hadn’t been one-sided. Often, Xander would come to her house, and throw pebbles at the window until she came down, and they’d go to her backyard, in the tent, and talk all night. Those were the nights that his parents were the worst, and Willow never said a word about it.
Willow was jolted from her memories by a rustle in the bushes. She grabbed the stake from her purse and stood very still. A figure emerged from the bushes, carrying a long, flat box. Willow stared for a moment, then wrapped the man in a fierce hug.
Xander smiled, and hugged her back. He almost dropped the Scrabble box, but held fast. Then he draped an arm around Willow’s tiny shoulders, and began to walk with her.
“Thought you might wanna join me in a game of Scrabble?” he asked gently.
“How did you know?” Willow asked.
“Because I am the mighty Xander, who knows all and sees all.” Xander puffed up his chest. Willow looked up at him, a gentle smile playing at her lips. Then the lower lip started to tremble.
“I’m scared, Xander,” she said, almost inaudibly. He immediately wrapped her in a strong, warm hug, letting the Scrabble box clatter to the ground, letters flying everywhere. And he just held her while she cried.
*~*~*
“Bloody hell,” Spike muttered angrily, shifting uncomfortably on the rug. Granted, he’d slept on far more uncomfortable surfaces than this, but that didn’t make it any better. And dammit, he was cold.
“Shut up,” Faith said sleepily from across the room, where she was curled on her side on the couch, in the fetal position. Spike sat up and rested his back against the wall. He wasn’t really all that tired, but he had nothing better to do. So he studied the people in the room.
Faith and Cordelia had claimed the two couches, and Wesley was curled up in the armchair. Gunn sprawled on the floor, in a seemingly vulnerable position. But Spike knew that the young vampire hunter slept with one eye open. Any suspicious noise and the man would be up and ready to fight in a flash.
Spike looked back at Cordelia. She was graceful even in sleep. Her back was straight, and her feet were crossed daintily, her hair not even mussed. Of course, she was snoring loudly, which ruined the picture of elegance she portrayed. A smile played on Spike’s lips, despite the annoying quality of the sound.
His glance strayed to Wesley. In sleep, the thin man was much more comfortable in his own skin than when he was awake. The insecurities seemed to flee, and he slept soundly, with the permanent frown he wore strangely absent. Apparently it was thought that made him frown. Interesting.
Finally, Spike looked back at Faith. She was in a fetal position, still. She looked like she was shivering, but she had three blankets on her. She always slept that way. Like she was scared, or trying to melt into the bedclothes. Disappear. He stared at her some more. For such a tough girl, she slept like a four-year-old trying to shrink away from the monster in the closet. He knew there was baggage, and they’d even discussed some of it, but he’d never pressed for the earlier stuff. All he knew was her history starting from Sunnydale. But that was plenty colorful, without knowing what had happened in her life while growing up in…Boston, was it?
“I swear, Bleachboy, if you don’t quit starin at my ass, I’m gonna tear you a knew one,” Faith said, steel in her voice. He knew she’d just awoken, because her breathing had changed, but she sounded as though she hadn’t slept at all. Her voice was clear and conscious. He chuckled softly, and shook his head before laying down on his back once more, and drifting to sleep. Just before he drifted off, an unbidden thought sliced through his clouded mind. //Wish Faith was curled up next to me//.
*~*~*
“They found the prophecy,” said the old woman, her tongue slithering like a serpant’s.
“I imagined they might,” said the man sitting at the table that the old woman had moved closer to.
“Aren’t you worried? Don’t you need to find the book before the Witch and her friends?”
“Goodness, no. I couldn’t get to it, even if I knew where it was. Why do you think I wanted them to find the prophecy?” The man sighed. His seer was old and stupid, but she saw what he needed to see, so he put up with her. “They’re gong to lead me right to the book. Then I can rid myself of them. And the book will be mine.”