“I thought his body looked familiar,” Buffy muttered.
“And what would you know about his body?” Cordelia asked.
“Well, remember when Buffy had that nervous breakdown when she came back from the dead? She slept with Spike,” Anya informed the dark haired beauty-queen.
“You slept with Spike?” Cordy cried, whirling on Buffy.
“Temporary insanity! It was only one night!!”
“Did you ever tell Angel?” Cordy replied.
“No, and neither can you!” Buffy begged.
The girls argued some more, but Xander continued to stare at the curtain that Wil – Spike – had disappeared behind. He couldn’t believe it. Spike. Spike was here, in L. A., dancing at a strip club. Spike had left a year after Buffy had come back from the dead, and none of the Scooby Gang had heard from him since. Except Dawn. She got the odd post card from him, but she never let anyone see the address or read what he’d written her. Not that they’d been clamoring to do so. Xander couldn’t believe how hot Spike was naked. Of all the men for him to be utterly attracted to…
An evil smile spread across Cordy’s lips. “We should see if we can get in the back and talk to him.”
“Are you nuts?” Buffy asked. “Why would we want to see Spike?”
“Well, I know I’d like to hear about how he became an infamous stripper,” Anya piped up. “And he is incredibly sexy.”
Xander continued to stare at the curtain.
“Xan?” Buffy asked tentatively.
“Gah!” Xander cried, startled. “No I don’t!”
The girls stared at him for a moment. “”No you don’t what?” Cordy said suspiciously.
“N-nothing. Nothing. Let’s go.”
“You thought he was hot!” Buffy cried gleefully, glad to be out of the spotlight.
“What?! Pfft. No,” Xander said, too casually.
“Yes he does. Xander’s turned on. I know what that looks like. Xander must think Spike is incredibly hot,” Anya replied. Xander blushed.
“That settles it. We’re going backstage,” Cordy said. Xander blanched.
“What?!”
“Oh, don’t worry. We won’t tell him we think he’s really hot. We just want to tease him a little, maybe get a message to bring home for Dawn,” Anya answered.
“I’m in Hell. Somebody killed me and sent me to Hell,” Xander muttered under his breath as Buffy and Anya grabbed his hands and followed Cordelia back toward the employee entrance.
“We’d like to see Wil,” Cordelia told the bouncer confidently. He raised his eyebrows at her.
“Nobody gets to see Wil after the show,” he told her. “None of the dancers get visitors without authorization.”
“What if I told you that we knew Wil back when he was Spike and living in Sunnydale?” Cordelia told him.
“Doesn’t mean anything to me, Miss,” he replied shortly.
“Just go tell him we’re here, and we want to talk to him about Dawn,” Buffy said, stepping forward. Xander looked intently at the floor. The bouncer motioned to another bouncer down the hall, and whispered something in his ear. The second bouncer nodded and went down the hall. He came back a few moments later and opened the door wide enough for the foursome to enter, then showed them to a simple black door. He knocked once, and Spike called out “Yeah.” The bouncer swung the door open, and the foursome stepped inside, shutting the door behind them. Spike was rooting around in a closet, wearing a black terry cloth robe, his back turned to the door.
“So what’s this I hear about you wanting to talk to me about the Little Bit?” he said before turning around. He stopped suddenly. “Oh, bloody hell.”
The five people stared at one another for a few moments before Spike growled in frustration. “Can’t I get AWAY from you people?” he said angrily.
“Hi Spike,” Buffy said sweetly.
“What the hell do you want, Slayer?”
“We thought we’d bring Xander here to a strip club,” Cordelia started. Xander wanted to sink into the floor.
“He’s gay now,” Anya piped up, making Xander want to sink even more.
“And we saw your….show. Gotta say Spike, you’re good at your job,” Buffy teased.
“So the whelp here fancies blokes, and you decided to come back here and give us a howdy? Have a spot of tea and crumpets? Think not, luvs. Bugger off.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t you have time for old friends?” Cordelia said, smiling winningly.
“Friends? Friends?!” Spike said, laughing a little. “Are you insane? Let’s see. The last time I saw you, Princess, you were trying to kill me for torturing your boss for the Ring of Amarra. Last time I saw the Sunnyhell crew I was givin’ them the one-fingered salute on my way the hell out of town. What the hell do you people want?”
“We just want to know how you came to be a stripper, and if Dawn knows about it?”
“Yeah, Dawn knows. She didn’t tell you? Thought she would, really, just to see your faces. Not that I woulda minded seeing your faces when you realized it was me, mind you,” he replied with a grin. “I got into this because I need dosh. Gotta buy blood, folks. Don’t bloody well let anyone ever tell you that American craftsmanship has flaws. Bastard chip hasn’t given me a lick of trouble in seven years. Are we done now? Will you leave?”
“Come on. Please? We want to stay and hear about your stripping adventures. And I can tell you some stories about Angel so the next time you see him you can bug him. It’ll be fun,” Cordelia grinned. Spike gave her a sideways look.
“Give us a half an hour, okay?” Anya answered. Buffy put a comforting arm on Xander’s back, sensing his distress. Spike looked incredibly hot, and Xander couldn’t help but be turned on by the sight of him, snarky vampire or no.
Spike stared at them for a moment. “Then you’ll leave?”
“Without another word.”
“I bloody hope,” Spike said, then sat down heavily. “Id offer you some drinks, but I don’t like you much.”
“That’s fine. We’ve consumed quite a bit of alcohol already tonight,” Anya answered.
“Even Buffy? Last I checked, Slayer, you couldn’t hold it.”
“I had enough,” Buffy told him.
“So tell me about Dawn, then. How’s she doing? Any life-or-death situations since last week?”
“Actually, no. Sunnydale’s been incredibly quiet. That’s why we could take the night off and come up to L.A.” Buffy replied.
“And you left Red and Glinda to hold down the fort?”
“They can handle it.”
“I’ll bet,” smirked Spike.
And so the conversation went, for forty-five minutes. Xander didn’t say much, but he spent a lot of time looking at Spike, studying his body, and his face, and his eyes. The group had an actual pleasant conversation. Within fifteen minutes, Spike offered them all a drink, and they accepted. They talked for another half an hour, and then Anya yawned and blinked.
“You all look a bit knackered,” Spike told them. “Should call a cab, go back to where ever you’re staying, sleep off the booze and all that.”
“You’re probably right,” Xander said, looking at the sleepy girls. He was tired, too, but not as tired as they were. “Got a phone we can use?” Spike gestured to the wall phone, and Cordy got up to call Angel to come pick them up and take them back to the hotel.
When Angel arrived to pick them up, The girls said their goodbyes to Spike, telling him not to be such a stranger, and to maybe drop them a line as well, and not just Dawn. Spike nodded, and clasped Xander’s hand in a handshake before closing the door behind them. They walked out to the car, and rode back to the hotel in silence, still a little dumbfounded at the amount of fun they’d had talking to Spike. It wasn’t until Xander was in his room, about to undress for bed that he unclenched his fist and looked at the small note folded into his palm.
Call me, pet. Anytime. 387-555-2651
Xander gulped.
