ONE NORMAL LIFE / TWO EXTRAORDINARY LIVES

CHAPTER 170 - VAMPIRES DON’T WEAR SHORTS...

NOVEMBER 18, 2009
TUESDAY
4:00PM

William slowed the car down as he turned onto the road leading up to the house, fumbling in the glove compartment for the remote. He hit the button as he neared the gate, and it opened. It always struck his as ingenious how it just looked like the road dead-ended in a stand of trees. until they moved, revealing the road beyond.

"This is it," he said, taking a deep breath, as the cabin and her car came into view. He pulled up behind it, and was just getting out, as Clem came hurrying out of the front door. They looked at each other in surprise.

“Spike?”

Hesitantly, William waved to him, as he walked to the porch, feeling guilty for what he perceived to be Clem’s nervousness at seeing him again.

“Hello, Clem. How have you been?” he asked, as he walked up the steps.

"I'm glad you came, maybe you can find her," Clem said, at the exact same time.

William looked at him in confusion, "What are you talking about?"

"Aren’t you here because you talked to Dawn?" Clem asked.

William shook his head. "No, why?"

"Dawn called me a couple of hours ago. School was called off for the rest of the week all over San Diego County because of the flu outbreak, but Buffy was supposed to call Mrs. Carpello today to talk to her, and she never did. She called Dawn to ask if she'd heard from Buffy, because Mrs. Carpello said another teacher said she wasn't feeling well at all when she left yesterday afternoon."

"But her car is here," William said dumbly, looking back at it over his shoulder.

"I know, man. But I've been all over the house, the barn, even the trails, and she's nowhere.”

William brushed past Clem, hurrying into the house. “Elizabeth!” he called out, as he went through all the rooms. At the side of her bed, he saw the bucket, and it’s remains.

“She’s not here, Spike. I’ve been through here twice. She’s just not here.”

William turned to look at him, a combination of intensity and fear in his eyes. Clem backed up.

“She’s sick, Clem. Elizabeth’s here somewhere and she’s sick.”

“How do you...? Oh,” Clem said, screwing up his face as he looked into the bucket.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After checking out the barn and loft for himself, William decided they should hike up the second trail. They ran up the longer trail, both calling her name frequently, then stopping to listen for a reply. As they got to the tree, William turned toward the smaller trail leading to the outlook. Fear coursed through him, as he neared the edge, remembering the dream he’d had.

“Please don’t let her be here,” William whispered a prayer. Forcing himself to disregard his own fear, he walked to the edge and looked over, then got onto his stomach to look underneath the overhang, an area he couldn’t see otherwise. Relief flooded through him.

“She’s not there,” William said, relieved.

They walked further down the trail, until William suddenly stopped, shaking his head. Something was bothering him, and whatever that something was, he was sure it wasn’t out here.

“I’m going to go back to the house.”

“Do you want me to go with you or keep looking?”

“I don’t think she’s here, but if you want you can keep looking.”

“I think I’ll just finish walking the trail. It’s not much farther, and since I’m already here...”

“Okay. I’ll meet you back at the house then,” William said, taking off at a jog in the opposite direction.

William came off the trail, and started towards the house, then changed his mind, and headed towards the barn. He kept looking at the outside of the house, but there was something about the loft that was drawing him there.

“Elizabeth!” He called, immediately heading up the stairs, ignoring the main floor.

Once again, he checked behind and between cartons stored there, behind the workout mats stacked against the walls, and in all the corners.

“Where are you?” he asked, coming to a stop in front of the loft’s window. As he was looking down at the house and yard, his gaze went upward and locked on something. Something he’d seen before, yet hadn’t really seen - the shutters to the annex were all open.

William flew down the stairs and across the yard to the back door. “Elizabeth!” he yelled, running through the house, straight to the spare bedroom, and up the stairs to the annex.

There she was, lying in a fetal position on her side in front of the couch.

“Oh God! Elizabeth!” William said, falling to his knees in front of her. He shook her but got no response, and for a moment he feared she wasn’t alive. Except that her skin was warm. Hot, actually. He felt her pulse, and put his head on her chest. Her heartbeat was fast and thready.

Louder he called to her, shaking her a bit harder. “Elizabeth! Please luv, you have to wake up now. Talk to me!”

Buffy’s eyes fluttered open for just a second, just long enough to see the platinum blonde hair of her beloved, her vampire, her champion. “Spike?” she said weakly.

“That’s right, luv,” he answered, without regard for the name, “I’m here; going to get you all taken care of,” he said, as he picked her up to carry her downstairs. He couldn’t help but notice that she didn’t seem to weigh anything; not that she’d ever weighed much, but it pained him how much thinner she now seemed.

He was laying her down on the bed, just as Clem came in from outside.

“Spike?”

“In the bedroom!”

Clem walked into the bedroom. “I still couldn’t find Buffy, I looked all...” he stopped in the doorway, “Oh! You found her! Where was she?”

“She was in the bloody annex the whole time!” William said, through gritted teeth.

“Oh, man. I’m so sorry. I should’ve thought to look there...”

“It’s not your fault. I didn’t even think of it myself, and I...never mind all that. Bring me the thermometer. I saw it on the bathroom sink.”

Buffy lay on the bed, starting to shiver again. William covered her up.

“Luv, need to take your temperature. Can you put this under your tongue?”

She made a moaning noise, but let him glide it into her mouth.

“What else can I do?” Clem asked.

“Fill up a pan with some cold water, and bring me a washcloth.”

“How cold?”

William looked at him, frustrated. “What? I don’t know. Medium cold!”

“Okay, okay,” Clem muttered, walking off to the kitchen.

“And bring a bottle of water!”

He put his hand on her head, to brush away the hair from her forehead. Her eyes opened, and he was frightened by how helplessly ill she looked. “Gonna be alright, Elizabeth,” he said softly, forcing himself to smile at her.

The thermometer beeped, and he gently slid it from her mouth, just as Clem was just walking back in with a pan from the kitchen filled with water. He put the water down on the floor next to the bucket she’d thrown up in, then went to get a washcloth.

“What’s her temperature?” Clem asked.

William handed him the thermometer, watching Clem’s face, as he read the numbers. Clem looked up at him, his eyes huge.

“Holy...” he started, until William shot him a warning look, not wanting Elizabeth to be alarmed; though they both clearly were.

“Call Dawn,” he whispered, “I need to talk to John.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

5:00PM
LOS ANGELES

“...I see. Well, if you think it’s that important, then I’ll arrange it. Day after tomorrow, then?”

“Yes, thank you, Wesley. I knew I could count on you,” Giles said.

“And the needed documents?”

“I’ll send them to you overnight, forthwith.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

5:30PM
JULIAN

“Come on, let go, luv,” William said, as he tugged on the blankets Buffy was clinging onto for dear life. “John says we got to get you into the tub in order to get your temperature down.”

“Co...co...cold,” Buffy said, her teeth chattering.

“That’s because every time you start getting these chills, your temperature’s going up, and it’s too high now.”

“Don’t!” she whimpered, as he struggled to divest her of her clothes, and started carrying her toward the bathroom. She clung onto him, shivering.

William hated having to do this, but he knew he couldn’t leave her be with a temperature like this.

The tub was already filled with lukewarm water. John had warned it could be dangerous for her if the water was cold; she was so hot, it would seem cold to her anyway. William bent over to try to put her into the tub, but she clung onto his neck, and wouldn’t let go.

“Come on, Elizabeth; got to let me do this for you.”

She shook her head, refusing to relinquish her hold on him.

“Going to get you in this tub one way or another,” William said, and with one hand, started undoing his pants. He kicked them out of the way, and stepped into the tub. He removed the arm that was holding up her legs, and turned her around, so that her they went down in front of her. Holding onto her firmly, he pushed her legs out in front of her, and quickly slid down behind her, holding onto her.

Crying out when the water made contact with her hot skin, she tried to scramble out, causing water to slosh over the edge and all over the floor, but William held on tight.

“Don’t fight me, luv. Got to do this,” he repeated, as he struggled to keep as much of her body under the water as he could. She was weak, and it wasn’t much of a fight, but he didn’t want her exerting what energy she had left. He sunk down into the tub, pulling her down with him, his legs wrapped around hers to make sure they were in the water as well. He grabbed a nearby towel, and pulled it into the bath, covering up the parts of her that were out of the water, all the way up to her neck. As soon as it would warm up from her body heat, he would swish the cooler bath water over it. For the first few minutes she shivered violently against him, but then the shivers seemed to recede somewhat, as he felt the water itself warming up.

“Sorry to have to do this, since I know you’re probably a bit more comfortable now,” William apologized, as he sat up, pushing her up along with him, as he reached around her to turn on the cold faucet for a couple of seconds, cooling down the water’s temperature, again. Buffy groaned, and shivered a bit, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been at the beginning.

Reaching over the side of the tub, he reached the water bottle he’d brought into the bathroom, and uncapped it.

“Here, need to drink this, too,” he said, holding it to her lips. She drank about a third of it, before reaching out to hold it herself, gulping it down gratefully.

“Better take it easy,” he warned. She nodded, handing him back the bottle.

Buffy finally felt like she was coming to her senses, as the fever began to break. She turned around to look at William solemnly. “You’re all wet,” she said, looking at his shirt.

William grinned at her. “That I am, so are you,” he said, reaching down to kiss her forehead. Buffy turned back around, and closed her eyes, settling her head against his chest.

“Think we’d better get you out,” William said as the water’s temperature cooled. He sat up a bit, pushing her along with him.

“Sit up a bit more, if you can,” he said. She did, and he pulled the wet shirt over his head, tossing it over the faucets.

“Usually one does that before one takes a bath,” she said, with a little smile as she looked over her shoulder at him.

He arched his eyebrows at her. “Not if one is holding onto a feverish, um...make that hot lady, who won’t get in the tub alone,” he replied, glad she was feeling better enough to joke.

“I’m sorry about that.”

“That’s okay, you couldn’t help yourself; would’ve done the same thing in your state. You stay put, while I get myself sorted out first, okay?” he said, standing up. She nodded, and watched as a pair of briefs plopped down next to her in the tub, missing the faucets.

As he was stepping out of the tub, he noticed her shoulders starting to quake.

“Elizabeth, what’s wrong?” he asked alarmed. She looked up at him, and that’s when he saw it; she was laughing!

“What’s so bleedin’ funny? You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

“It’s a white flag...” she guffawed, holding up his shorts.

“Glad to give you a chuckle at my expense, luv,” William said, scowling at her, as he wrapped a towel around his waist with as much dignity as he could muster.

“Vampires don’t wear shorts, or float...”

“Now I know you’re bloody well delirious from the fever! Come on, let’s get you out of here,” he said, reaching over and pulling her up.

“...But I tried to teach you how to float in the hot spring. You remember, Spike?” she asked, lost in her own memories.

“Drop ‘em, would you for God’s sake?” William said, of the dripping shorts she still had in her hand. Buffy looked up at him, surprised, as if really seeing him there for the first time, and her eyes filled with tears. The shorts made a splashing sound as they hit the water.

“Please don’t cry, luv. Everything’s going to be alright,” William soothed, chagrined by the sudden change.

Buffy was still unsteady on her feet, as he wrapped a towel around her, then picked her up and carried her back to the bedroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

6:30PM

“You get some rest now, you need it,” William said, feeling her head once more, and straightening up the covers for her.

She looked at him, questioningly.

“I’ll be here.”

She nodded, closing her eyes, then opened them again. “How did you know?”

“Know what, luv?”

“That I was sick? That I needed you?” Buffy asked, searching his face.

William felt a stab of guilt, remembering the actual reasons he had come over today. He took a deep breath, as he looked into her hazel eyes. “Think it’s best we talk about that tomorrow, yeah? Important thing is I’m here now.”

Slowly she nodded, and closed her eyes.

“I won’t be far, just out in the kitchen for a bit. I’ll be back in to check on you in a little while.”

“Thank you...William,” she said softly, just as he was opening the door.

William felt an unexpected lump in his throat from the sound of his own name. Up until then, he’d realized that she’d been mostly delirious when she’d called him Spike, and made references to vampires. Still, he couldn’t help but feel that delirious or not, Elizabeth had named the person she most hoped would be at her side. It had been Spike, and that he, William, had come up wanting.

He cleared his throat. “You’re welcome.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

7:00PM

“How’s Buffy feeling?” Clem asked, as William came walking into the kitchen.

“Better; she’s resting now. Fever’s down quite a bit, and I got some 7-Up and water into her.”

“That’s good. I made some Jell-O while I was waiting. It’ll be ready for her to eat in a few hours.”

William looked at him gratefully. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“Clem?”

“Yeah, Spike? Um...do you mind if I call you that?”

“Either name is alright. I just...I wanted to thank you for taking care of Elizabeth, and also to apologize for how I treated you when I first found out about...everything,” William said, looking down at the floor.

“Hey, it’s alright,” Clem said, making a soft tsking sound.

William shook his head, “No, it really isn’t. I don’t have much in the way of excuses, except at first I was shocked, to say the least. That doesn’t hold much water now though, does it?”

“I understand, really I do. You were just...”

“No, don’t make excuses for me. I...I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate all you’ve done for me and Elizabeth. Especially, how you looked after her, after I...when I was gone all those years.”

“We looked after each other.”

“Still,“ William insisted, “Elizabeth told me all you did, and I just wanted you to know that I’d still be honored and humbled to call you my friend.”

“Aw geez, Spike. Of course we’re still friends,” he said, giving him a pat on the back, then pulled him into a quick but strong bear hug.

William pulled back after a moment, embarrassed, but relieved none-the-less.

“Um, so...” William said, pulling back after a moment, embarrassed, but relieved none-the-less.

“So...” Clem echoed. “How have you been?”

END CHAPTER 170