Her Saving Grace, 7/?, Spike/Fred, R

[authoressnebula.livejournal.com]

Title: Her Saving Grace
Rating: R
Pairing: Spike/Fred, mentions slight Fred/Wesley
Spoilers: Angel S5
Chapter: Seven of ?
Prompt: #26 - The Great Unwashed for tamingthemuse
Warnings: Character death (not the permanent variety)
Summary: An accident one night changes Fred's entire world. Shunned by the people who should care the most, she turns to the one person who does care, and finds something beyond friendship.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Seriously. Not even my mind these days.

Word count: 2627



Pretty by garnettrees

Previous parts here





Pretty by spikeshunny

Chapter 7: Run Those Fast Food Pounds Off Today

From her vantage point in the bedroom, she could easily hear everything Spike was doing. From the clanking of the silverware, the water rushing on high speed, and the way it ran through the pipes, she knew he was washing dishes. And from the creaks as he stepped to and fro on the tile, she knew exactly where he was standing. She'd gotten used to the sounds from the flooring all across the apartment already.

Of course, there was the still very odd factor that she was in a room with the door closed and two rooms away at that, yet she could easily hear every single thing like he was standing next to her.

What was possibly even odder was that she was beginning to accept it.

Even odder still, she was beginning to forget what being a human had felt like in the first place. She accepted her new vision, hearing, and smelling so well now, that she couldn't remember what it had been before, besides severely lacking. Ironically, she'd never felt more alive than she did now, when she was dead.

She still remembered her heart beat and the warmth her body had provided; that was so vivid sometimes she could swear she felt the blood coursing through her veins, felt her heart hammering against her ribcage. Of course, the heart hammering only occurred with Spike, but...

She leaned back on her heels, allowing herself to ponder what had happened two days ago. She'd giggled and grinned and basically flirted with Spike at her apartment, and she really hadn't known how she'd felt about it at the time. She still didn't know, but at this point, it wasn't causing any tension between her and Spike, which was good. The one thing she WAS sure of was that she didn't want to get separated from him, physically or emotionally. He was her protector, her rock, the one she could depend on.

Where her heart was concerned...she didn't really know. Once upon a time, a young girl by the name of Winifred Burkle had crushed on two men who acted like boys whenever they were around her. They'd stayed by her side, had changed a bit through the years, but were still her constants, her little boys that she adored.

Now, they were men, business men, men who seemed to have no recollection of their fun days of reading books and sharing grins at the texts and meanings, or the lazy days of eating at the diner by the coast with pancakes and smiles just as sweet as the syrup. Wesley especially seemed to have lost his youthful innocence, but she didn't really know why. Every time she tried to recall, she lost the memory. It was...strange, and not really in a good way.

She'd changed too, though. From the young girl with a stammer and a blush to a young woman hiding behind her lab coat to...whatever she was now. A vampiress? The change had been made physically. Mentally, she'd grown, but at the same time, she was still Fred, the same Fred she'd been when she'd defended her tree house and danced with Spike in the lab.

Her heart was still the same. She still crushed on and loved her boys, even as they grew into men who were now hard as stone. She hoped that somewhere, deep down, the two boys she'd met once upon a time were still in there.

The question was, did she have a crush on Spike, too?

“You all right, pet?”

Fred blinked and turned towards the door. Spike was drying his hands on a dish towel, leaning against the doorway as he gazed at her with a slight amount of concern. He looked so relaxed, so handsomely striking in that pose, and she definitely could say that yes, he was crushable material, and yes, she had a crush on him. How could anyone not? He was charming and cute, sharp and sweet, all at once.

She turned back to her original task, putting her clothes away into the dresser that Spike had graciously let her have. “Just getting lost in thought again,” she said, giving him a smile. She seemed to do that a lot these days.

Spike returned the smile, relaxing even further against the doorway. If he relaxed any more, he was going to prove osmosis beyond what any scientist could've dreamed of. He wouldn't probably be very happy with wood in his chest, though, so he might not want to. Or maybe he'd become the wood, and he'd be safe.

Why was it that her mind always went off on these tangents whenever he was around?

“You make the cutest faces, you know that?” he said, pulling her back from her thoughts to his very amused gaze.

Her smile perked back up and broadened, and the first thought that crossed her mind was He must like me back! Why else would he say that?

The second thought was I feel like such a schoolgirl. He could just be saying that. I don't really know how he feels about me. Just a sweet moment in the lab, a kindness he showed in taking me in, a heated moment two days ago, and words now that might mean something more. But he really might be just saying that.

“You hungry? I figured we'd eat out again, since we hadn't in awhile,” he said, twirling the towel in his fingers.

Fred raised her eyebrows at him. “And this has nothing to do with the fact that you finished washing up all the dishes, and you don't want to do it again, right?”

Spike gave her a sheepish grin, answering her question better than any words could've. She giggled and rose to her feet. “Well, you don't need to ask ME twice. I'm always good for cheeseburgers or tacos or whatever you have in mind.”

“Grease sounds delicious,” he said, holding out his arm, the towel still in his hand. She stepped forward, hesitating only a moment before looping her arm through his. He spun the towel once more, before slinging it over his shoulder like a jacket, causing her to giggle again. “Shall we?”

“We shall,” she said, and the two headed for the door.

It wound up being cheeseburgers and Coca-Cola to wash it down. The french fries were so good, they bought some more on the way out, and shared the single container as they walked down the street. Fred discovered two things while they walked, and the first was that Spike was a salt-oholic. Every time she'd say something, he'd take the chance to reach in and grab three more, giving her an innocent pout whenever she called him on it.

The second thing was something she realized when she began to dig for the last fries, playfully fighting him for the final pieces of salty goodness: his fingers felt good against hers. Every brush, every teasing nudge, every careless grasp of their fingers made her want to forget about the fries completely and wrap her fingers around his. Or maybe she'd let her fingers just linger for an extra moment or two, the hint of something more hanging above them and making them both wonder at how it could be, only to have them return to the safe haven of whatever they were doing before.

She wound up doing neither of those things, though they buzzed through her head like a hive of busy bees. Back and forth, each time adding another sweet thought to her original two ideas like bees and their honeycombs. She liked her bee analogy; it fit.

The last fry was pulled out by her fingers, and she quickly munched it down as Spike continued to search. When he finally turned the container upside down and gave her a sideways glance, she simply blinked, as if to tell him, “I have NO idea what you're implying”.

When he continued to give her the look, the corners of her lips began to turn up, and she started to giggle helplessly. Spike just shook his head, sighed, and tossed the container in the nearest trash bin.

“You're a very domestic vampire,” Fred said, grinning. “You do dishes, you don't litter...”

“Says the baby vamp who folds clothes, towels down the damp floor after the shower...”

“It's good hygiene,” Fred protested. Spike began to chuckle, then stopped at the screeching of tires behind them. She whirled around when he did, eyes widening when she caught sight of a black sports car paused at the other end of the street.

Behind the wheel was Angel, with Wesley in the passenger seat. There was a shadow in the back, one Fred couldn't make out even with her enhanced vision. She watched as Angel's gaze narrowed when caught sight of them, before he slammed down on the accelerator.

Spike grabbed her hand, yanking her into the alley beside them. “Run!” he yelled, and Fred did just that, better than she thought she could. The last time she'd run, she'd felt uneasy still with her newfound powers, frightened of both them and Angel. Lately, though, she'd started getting used to them, and now?

Now there was no fear. No hesitation as her feet soundlessly hit the pavement, her eyes set on the visible darkness ahead of her. No hesitation whatsoever with her scent as she inhaled the alleyway, Spike, and the smell of gasoline from Angel's car as it sped past the entrance to the alley, her ears still picking up the engine rumbling as it moved past them and hung a right, parallel to their movements. She could still feel the fear growing within her, fear for the man she'd once called friend, the first man she'd fallen in love with. But Angel wasn't that man anymore.

She wanted to ask Spike why Angel was being so persistent, but didn't want to waste her breath that she needed for running. She rolled her eyes at herself a moment later and asked her question.

“Who knows what gets his knickers in a twist,” Spike muttered, turning left and pulling her sharply with him. Strangely enough, her feet turned and kept up with his easily, causing her to stay with him and not wind up with her shoulder pulled out of its socket. Being a vampire had perks when you were running with one.

“But...”

“I didn't really think that the ponce would come after us this fast,” Spike said, almost apologetically. “He thinks we're a threat not just to him, but to the city. A master vampire 'raising' another vampire, one he had emotional connections with...he's doing the only thing he knows he can do.”

The fear surged forward, and Fred forced it down. “Taking us out,” she said, and there was enough fear still present to put a quaver in her voice.

He squeezed her hand briefly, before pulling her to the right, across a well lit street. They were almost back at the apartment. “If you were in his position, believin' what he does, wouldn't you feel the same way? Seein' it from his point of view doesn't make it any easier, I know, but...”

“But it does make sense,” she admitted quietly. “For him. He doesn't understand that I'm still me, won't understand.” She paused her thought, her feet still hitting the pavement silently and quickly. She could hear the engine rumbling louder, and knew Angel was still on their trail. She couldn't feel the stinging on the back of her neck, and she didn't really want to. That would mean that he was too close for comfort.

“Maybe...maybe we can get him to see that I'm still me,” she said, trying not to put all of her hope into her voice. “That I'm still the science loving girl he rescued from the cave in Pylea.”

“Not now,” Spike said, and she immediately shook her head.

“No, not now. But later. Give him time to see we're not snacking on the population, and make him realize that I would never do that anyways.”

Spike was silent for a moment, and Fred let her senses roam to the world around her again. It was hard to imagine that she was still running, her muscles effortlessly rising to the task again and again. She wasn't tired in the slightest; in fact, she'd never felt more energized.

The irony that had hit her earlier of feeling more alive now than ever before was still very much apparent.

“Maybe,” Spike finally said, and she turned her gaze for just a moment to his face. His lips were pursed, and for all the world, he looked angry, and Fred would've felt upset if she didn't see the visible worry and fear in his eyes. For her.

Thoughts of her crush loomed again in her mind, but there was something else with them, another feeling that she wasn't sure she was really feeling. Her crush on the sweet and handsome vampire had been easy to figure out. Her feelings for the man who feared for her, worried for her, were a little harder to discern.

As they came out of the last alley, with the side street for the apartment in front of them, Angel's car suddenly came around the side, tires squealing again as he headed for them. “Unfortunately, I don't think Angel wants to wait and see if we'd snack on the Great Unwashed,” he said. “Think he just wants to stop the possibility all together.”

Spike pulled her this time to the point where her shoulder did feel like it was coming out, but she didn't care, because she could feel the tingling starting at the bottom of her neck, getting more intense as the car came nearer. It was a race to see who would get to the side street first, and Fred knew that she and Spike would win.

Unfortunately, Angel would know exactly where the apartment was, then. He'd know where Spike was. He'd know where she was.

Spike suddenly pulled her to the left, and she gasped as they darted through someone's garden. She could hear the rumbling of the engine, smell the gasoline it burned more intensely as Angel turned the car down the side street. Spike pulled her to the right, and they were out of the garden and in the back of the apartment building, hurrying towards the emergency exit.

He let go of her hand briefly to pull the handle, his other hand quickly grabbing the latch that would sound the alarm. “Get in,” he murmured, and Fred dove into the building, with Spike right behind her. The latch was set again, and he took her hand once more as they raced down the hallway to the apartment.

The engine turned off, and Fred swallowed, her fear surfacing once more. She was helpless to quell it now, and as Spike quickly dug for his keys to open the door, she thought she'd shake apart. Their door opened at the same time as the front door of the building did, and she knew they were out of time.

Footsteps raced up above them to the second floor, and another headed to the second stairwell. Just as Spike pulled her in, a third set of footsteps hurried down the stairs to their floor, and Fred turned to catch a glimpse of Angel as he came at them, except what she saw made her stop and stare. Spike's hand froze as it was closing the door, and the person in front of them blinked in shock.

Fred glanced at Spike, then back at the person in the hallway. Spike swallowed and whispered hoarsely, “Buffy?”

< --- >



I haven't done a decent cliffhanger in a long time. Live with it. And pray that this week's prompt will go into the next chapter, or you'll have to wait even LONGER. *insert evol cackle here*

~Nebula