Her Saving Grace, 23/25, Spike/Fred, R

[authoressnebula.livejournal.com]

Getting closer to the end now...

Title: Her Saving Grace
Rating: R
Pairing: Spike/Fred, Buffy/Xander, mentions of previous Fred/Wesley
Spoilers: Angel S5
Chapter: Twenty-three of Twenty-five
Prompt: #49 - Aladdin 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.

Previous Parts Here

Word count: 2205


Pretty by mentalme85





Pretty by kitty3101

Chapter 23: Thinking of You

“Hey, Wills? It's Buffy. How are things in Brazil?”

Peachy? Good; now get your ass over to LA, Spike thought, his foot tapping anxiously against the floor. He could feel time slipping through his fingers, feel Fred slipping through his fingers, and he didn't like it. They needed to get her back fast.

“Listen, I need your help. We need to find someone really fast. Do you remember Fred? Fred Burkle, the girl with the long brown hair who's been helping Angel?”

Long wavy brown hair. She'd forgotten the wavy part of it. If Fred ever tried to straighten it, Spike would be a mess. It was beautiful, the way it hung down her shoulders and back and flew when she moved. It looked like a crown on her head, and it always smelled like fresh flowers and sweet things, and all he wanted to do was hold her close and bury his face in that hair just to inhale the scent and know that she was with him and she was okay.

“It's a long story, Willow. But someone nasty, like the Big Bad type of nasty, has her. She's been missing for two days now, going on three. And we don't know how to find her. Can you do a spell and track these guys down? And then, you know, we'll take them down the rest of the way. But we need to find them first.”

Buffy paused, then frowned. “Hello? Willow?” she called into the cell phone. She pulled it away from her ear, her frown deepening. “It just cut off,” she said, glancing around at everyone. “I-”

There was a sudden pop in the room, and all eyes swiveled to the middle of the living room, where Willow was now standing. “Sorry,” Willow said, smiling sheepishly. “I need to be a bit more hands on to help out with something like this.”

“Wills!” Buffy exclaimed, hurrying over with a big smile. Xander wasn't far behind her, and the two enveloped their friend in a hug.

“I missed you guys too,” Willow giggled, making a show of needing to breathe as she pulled away. She turned her gaze to Spike, and her smile only widened. “I missed you too, Spike.”

Spike allowed a brief smile to cross his face, because he honestly hadn't thought that the Scoobies would think of him at all after Sunnydale, let alone miss him. “Missed you too, Red,” he said, before stumbling backwards as she hit him with a hug. After a shocked moment, he put his arms around her, returning the gesture.

She pulled away, frowning slightly as his smile faded. “What's...” she started, before stopping herself, her eyes widening. “Oh. I'm so sorry, Spike. We'll get her back.”

Spike blinked. “Um, 'splainy?” Buffy said. Xander blinked in time with Spike. “How did you...?”

“I, um, sort of took a peek in your thoughts,” Willow said, shooting Spike an apologetic glance. “It wasn't, you know, a deep probe or anything, not that I probe, but just a glimmer on the surface, and I didn't mean to do it without your permission, it's just sort of habit now to take a quick peek at everyone I pass, and can I tell you that I pick up on some very interesting conversations that way, but I didn't mean to...”

“Whoa, whoa, breathe Wills,” Xander said, and Willow clamped her lips shut. “I don't think Spike minded; we just wanted to know what was up with your sudden Sixth Sense thing.”

“Seventh sense at this point, actually,” she said. “Teleporting is the sixth. I'm working on an eighth: projecting thoughts. But I really didn't mean to, Spike,” she said, turning back to him.

“No harm done, and truth be told, I didn't even feel anythin',” Spike admitted. “We're just fine, Red. I promise.”

Her relief was instantaneous. “Oh good. It kind of freaked Kennedy out. Well, one of the things that freaked her out about me.” Her face fell for a moment, before she shook herself. “No worries about that anymore; it's over and done.”

“You and Kennedy...?” Spike asked, splitting his hands apart.

Willow nodded. “It's been for the best, really. She's in France now with some guy, and she sounds really happy. Which is good.”

“Wills, I'm so sorry,” Buffy began, but Willow glanced over at her friend with a grin.

“I'm actually the one who set her up with the French guy, so no worries. I'm really fine.”

“Oh,” Buffy said, blinking again. “Okay.”

“Can we get back to findin' Fred?” Spike asked, trying not to sound as anxious as he felt. It was like the worry had turned into bugs crawling across his skin, digging into him, setting every one of his nerves on edge as he tried to stay focused and stay calm. Calm for him just wasn't happening right now. He needed Fred back, and then he'd be calm.

Angel stepped forward, giving Willow a small smile. “Do you need anything for this spell?”

“No,” Willow answered, swiveling before returning the small smile. “I just need a map of LA. It's, um, good to see you.”

“You too,” Angel said, and the ensuing silence felt awkward.

“Okay!” Xander said loudly, clapping his hands together. “Map of LA. I think we've got one of those around. You can find these Black Thorn guys with just the map, right?”

Willow shook her head. “If the Black Thorn is your Big Bad, then no, I can't. I'm not even going to bother trying. I know nothing about them, you guys don't seem to know very much either, and therefore, I've got nothing to go on.” She caught Spike's eye as his face began to fall, and she smiled gently before saying, “But I can pinpoint Fred's location, no problem. I've been in contact with her, know some things about her, and I've got the best focus for finding her right in this very room.”

All eyes turned to Spike. “Not really sure what I can do to help, but if it gets her back, then yeah, I'm definitely all in,” Spike said. What the hell good was he? He'd already gotten her kidnapped, and now Willow expected him to be able to be the thing that helped find her? He'd botch it up.

It's Fred, he thought, and all self-doubt faded away.

“Found the map,” Buffy said, closing one of the kitchen drawers and coming back into the room. She laid down the Chinese take-out menu, which did indeed have a map of all LA on the back, showing their many locations for convenient ordering. Willow lowered herself to the floor, taking the map with a raised eyebrow. “Will it do?” the Slayer asked.

“Yeah, it'll do, but I have to wonder about your eating habits,” Willow muttered, setting the map down on the floor.

Buffy frowned. “It's Chinese. What's the matter with Chinese?”

Willow shook her off, then beckoned Spike closer. “Do I need to touch the map, or...?”

“No,” Willow said. “I just need you to concentrate on your thoughts, and think of nothing but Fred. That'll give my magic an idea of what to search for; the more things you think about, the more precise I can be.”

Spike nodded and closed his eyes. Think of Fred; yeah, that was hard to do.

Not.

He thought of where she would be right now. Locked away with who knew what, probably wondering where Spike was and if he was coming to get her, hurt, scared, dus...

“Okay, those types of thoughts? Not gonna help me or you,” Willow said, causing him to open his eyes. She gave him her resolve face that he knew there was no arguing with. “Think happy thoughts.”

“And I'll fly?” he snapped, but he closed his eyes again anyways. Happy thoughts. Right.

He forced himself to think back to when he'd met her. That was a happy thought, right? Or the night he'd found her down in the lab. He smiled at the memory of her in her lab coat and glasses, still looking as adorable as she could be. Dancing effortlessly, feeling weightless in his arms when he'd lifted her.

Ordering Chinese with her and seeing her smile every day. Helping her do dishes and sort through her things. Her infectious giggling as she'd played with her suitcases, and her laughter as he'd chased her down the apartment hallways.

Her tears after the brush off from Wesley at the club. The feel of her in his arms as he'd held her all night long. The look in her eyes in the morning as the rain had come down outside. Her lips as she'd told him later that evening that she loved him. Determined, honest, loving.

He felt a shimmer in the air, and opened his eyes to see a small red dot blink on the map of LA, before disappearing. “That's it?” Buffy asked.

“They've obviously got magic wards up,” Willow said. “I'm actually surprised that I got through at all, but I had some really powerful thoughts to go on.” She glanced up at Spike and smiled, and he gave an honest to goodness smile back.

“You know where she is?” he asked.

“We'll find out fast enough,” Angel said, rising. “Wesley headed back right before you showed up Willow, going over everything again to see what he could find. I'll go help him, now that we've got the area. We'll scan it, see what we can come up with.”

“I'll go with you,” Willow said, rising from the floor. “I know what you'll be looking for. With all three of us on it, we'll find the place in no time.”

They headed off to the door, and the awkwardness that had been between them before was fading into nothing as they talked, the conversation slowly but surely building. After hearing about Kennedy and Willow's “just fine” statement concerning the pigheaded Slayer, Spike was more than sure that they'd have things in common to help each other with. They'd both lost so much: the Cheerleader, Tara, Buffy, and now Kennedy. They'd be good friends for each other.

The next half hour was tense but busy. Buffy cleaned up and picked up and was practically the opposite of a tornado: everywhere she went, things got put away with lightning speed.

Xander's lone duty was handing weapons to Spike, who would either decide they were fit to come for the expected fight, or would hand them back to Xander to be placed away once more. The weapons he did select were set in a pile, and once they'd gone through them all, the two men set to cleaning and sharpening blades.

“Anything else we can do?” Buffy asked, wiping her brow. She didn't look winded, though, and the place looked better than it had in ages.

“Apartment wise, no. Weapons wise, no. Fred wise...”

“We'll get her back,” Buffy said, gently but firmly. There was no doubt in her tone, and that alone went miles towards making Spike feel better. When Buffy set her mind to something and said it'd be done, it got done.

A hand fell on his shoulder, and Spike glanced over at Xander. “She's right, you know,” he said, grinning. “Fred's as good as yours again.”

Spike managed a small smile. “Feel a hell of a lot better once I've got her in my arms,” he admitted. Everything would go back to right once he had her and he knew she was okay.

The door opened, and Willow stepped back inside with a piece of paper and a bright smile. “We've got our location,” she said, peering down at the white sheet in her hands. “One Cyvus Vail, a big time honcho of some type as far as Wolfram and Hart's concerned, pretty much owns that block the spell pinpointed. Big old place right on the corner. He must be part of the Black Thorn.”

“Car's waiting downstairs,” Angel said, stepping in behind her. Behind him was Wesley, who held a sword with grim determination. “We all set?”

“More than,” Buffy said, grabbing an axe.

“Can't you just teleport us in there?” Spike asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Anything to get him to Fred faster.

Willow gave him a look. “Um, no. Not with those wards up. Unless you want to come out the other side with your arm growing out of your head.”

Spike gave her the same look right back. “Then can't you teleport us outside the buildin'? Nearby? Or can't you fly us there?”

“Do I look like I've got a magic carpet stashed somewhere?” Willow asked incredulously. “I'm not Aladdin, Spike. I'm a witch. And I'm saying that the car is the fastest way there, and the more time you spend arguing with me...”

“Then let's go,” Spike said, his best sword already in his hand. He strode out the door, already knowing that Willow's eyes would be rolling in her head, but he didn't care. He knew the others were right behind him now.

And he knew that Fred was going to be in his arms before the night was through, no matter what it took.

And I'm posting well before midnight! Woot! *is very happy*

*collapses into bed*

~Nebula

Comments

[lilithbint.livejournal.com]

yay!
great chapter and so nice to see everyone working together.

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Yay! I love this chapter! Willow to the rescue!!!


Gabrielle

[ex-dark-ami.livejournal.com]

Excellent chapter!

[umbralillium.livejournal.com]

Yay! More HSG! *dances* Willow! ^____^ Glad to see the gang all there, save Giles, with no character bashing.

[mentalme85.livejournal.com]

Woot! More HSG Whooooooooooooooo! Another great chappy love *snuggles*

[jesterlady]

Hmm, with Willow's arrival, I wonder if I spy something? But it's great to have her there, definitely all witchy with new power and I'm glad the calvary's off and running!