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1357 BtVS Season 7. Shortly after “Dirty Girls” Spike & Xander Rated G Some
time ago (Dec. 17, 04) I asked for some inspiration items.
Lord
Nelson Xander sat alone at the big kitchen table. His pain
medication had evened out the throbbing from the socket where his eye had once
been, he’d managed to grab three full slices of pizza for himself, and he was
reasonably content. As a bonus, the smell of cookies baking hung in the air. In
an attempt to block out the chaos and too many breasts of the young girls
crowding the Summer’s home, he was working on his depth perception. The doctor
had recommended handling small objects, so he was painstakingly stacking the six
sided dice from his Dungeons & Dragons gear. He had just captured his seventh
one and balanced it on the top of the stack, when one of the blondes came out of
the kitchen hotly perused by one of the black haired girls. Something was said
about the last soda, and one of them bumped the table, sending his carefully
constructed stack tumbling. “That’s it!” Xander
exploded. “I can’t even find a quiet corner to… to… to do anything!”
He stood and glared at the girls who froze at the rare ire from normally quiet
and supportive Xander. “We’re sorry,” the blonde
ventured. More girls and Giles appeared in the doorway. “Honestly, Xander. Delicate…
work like that can’t be…” Giles started. “Playing. Delicate playing. Go
ahead and say it. Silly Xander never does anything helpful.” “I wasn’t about to…”
Giles started when Willow burst in to the room. “Okay! Now, Xander. I’ve got
an idea. There’s a perfectly good table in the basement and Spike’s not
likely to bump it, okay?” As she spoke, Willow swept the dice into their Crown
Royal bag and press it into Xander’s hands. “Go on down an I will personally
fight to save you both some cookies, okay? Before he could protest, Xander
found himself shoved through the basement door and it closed behind him. With a
sigh, he took firm hold of the railing and felt his way down a careful step at a
time. “Harris, what brings you to
the dark depths?” Spike asked from where he lounged under blue sheets, half
his pale, bare chest visible. Xander glanced over at his several-times roommate
and hoped the vampire was dressed under those sheets, then turned his attention
to the table. He sat down on the rough bench
and dumped out his dice once again. To calm himself, he sorted them by color and
number of sides. He picked up the transparent blue twenty sider and fondly
thought of many long nights gaming, or just goofing off, with Willow and Jessie.
With a sigh, he started his stack. In the calm and relative silence of the
basement, after several tries he was able to stack up to eight before they
tumbled. He jumped when the door opened and the scent of cookies proceeded
Willow down. “There’s no more soda, but I
found a couple of root beers.” She carefully sat down the drinks and the
half-dozen cookies. She waggled her fingers at Spike who uncoiled himself from
the cot to revel himself to be merely shirtless. “Thanks Red.” He took a
brown bottle and twisted off the cap. As Xander reached for the other one, his
sleeve brushed the tower, bringing it down. A babble of voices broke out up
stairs and Willow rolled her eyes. “I have to play den mother again. I can’t
promise any more cookies, but I’ll see what I can do. I had to threaten to
make one of the girl’s hair fall out to claim these.” With a determined
sigh, Willow left hem alone. Her stern voice floated down from upstairs. Spike chuckled and sat on the
other bench from Xander who only hooked a finger on the plate and dragged it
closer to himself. Eating a fresh cookie with one hand, he began to stack again.
He was aware of Spike watching him, but refused to acknowledge his company. “You ever hear of Nelson?”
Spike said after two towers had been built and tumbled and two cookies eaten. “Sure. He was stranded on the
Satellite of Love and forced to watch bad movies,” Xander answered, not
looking at Spike. “Not Mike Nelson, Lord Admiral
Horatio Nelson.” Xander shrugged. “There’s a statue of him up high somewhere in London, isn’t there?” “Right. That’s all that’s important about
him. Trafalgar Square.” Spike sighed. “Lord Nelson was a navel hero. He lost
the sight in his right eye in battle. He continued to serve and go up in rank. As
a commander at the Battle of Copenhagen he ignored orders to cease action by
putting his telescope to his blind eye and claiming he couldn't see the signal.
In 1798, he destroyed Napoleon's fleet and bid for an overland trade route to
India.” Xander
peered up at Spike. “That’s pretty cool.” He slid the cookie plate toward
Spike and started a new stack. “Working
on depth perception?” Xander nodded. “You’re
good at that,” Spike observed. “Spent
hours doing it while playing D & D.” He added another cube. “You know a
lot about Nelson.” “He was
my favorite,” Spike mumbled. “Favorite
what?” “Hey! I
know something good for depth perception!” Spike hopped up from the table and
dashed over to a set of metal shelves. After rummaging for a few minutes, he
returned with a battered blue and red cylinder. “These are perfect!” Xander
pushed the dice aside and opened the tube. “Tinkertoys? Spike, how did you
know there were Tinkertoys down here? And why are they down here?” Xander
dumped out the collection of red wheels and worn sticks. “Wow. Wood ones!” Spike
picked up a wheel and turned it over and over. “I think they were Joyce’s.
And, well, I’ve spent a lot of time in this basement. Over the summer when I
was watching Niblet and stayed some days here. There’s not a box I’ve not
gone through.” Xander had
to grin at Spike. “Doesn’t seem like wooden sticks would be a good thing for
a vampire to play with.” “These
aren’t sharp, and well, you get bored, you know.” Xander
nodded and said softly, “yeah, I know.” He picked up a wheel and a stick and
put them together after a moment’s try. “This is good, Spike. Thank you.” Spike
shrugged. “Joyce would have liked it.” After a
few minutes, Xander looked at Spike, pointing to the unbandaged side of his
face. “Thanks for saving this, too.” “How
could you look out for me if you couldn’t see at all, huh?” Spike reached
out for another cookie, only to have Xander pull the plate away. “I’m
not that grateful, dead guy.” Spike
chucked and tried his own hand at stacking dice. “Favorite
what?” Xander asked after a while. “Toy,”
Spike mumbled. “Boy?”
Xander asked, having heard Spike perfectly. “T. Toy.
Lead soldiers. I had a whole fleet of ships and little lead figures for the
crew. I read all about Nelson.” Xander had
a mental image of a little, skinny boy with long curly hair and wearing lace. He
snickered. “You must have been a beautiful baby. What happened?” “Ha, ha,
Harris. That’s the problem these days, no respect for the past.” Xander
smiled and pushed the remaining cookie toward Spike. “Hey, I respect you.” Spike
grabbed the cookie before Xander could change his mind. “No, you don’t.” The humor
was gone from his voice. “I do, Spike.” The vampire looked into the tired
brown of Xander’s remaining eye. “For all your horrible past. You keep your
word. You’re a strong fighter who is on our side. Once you decide you like
someone, you protect them as best you can. Hell, you’ve got loads of smarts.
Had to in order to stay alive so long, didn’t you?” Xander looked back to
his toys. “I respect you, Spike.” Spike
studied the dark head and strong hands for a minute. “I respect you, too,
Xander.” Xander’s
grin wasn’t completely hidden. “Shut up and eat that cookie before I take it
back, Fangy.” The two
played with the toys and shared stories until the sun set and the battle was on
again. |
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