Rebound

Willow entered Xander’s house with a plateful of warm oatmeal chocolate chip cookies the next day. Both of the vampires had ‘helped’ her make them. Of course, they were more of a hindrance than help but she appreciated the company. Spike kept wanting to change the recipe. He suggested ad-ins like M&Ms or some O positive (for that gamey flavor). Angel wanted to follow the directions to the letter, he measured out items precisely and put them into the mixing bowl in the order suggested on the recipe. She had nearly pulled her hair listening to the two vampires bicker.

She had left the two immortals watching movies. They had selected The 10th Kingdom miniseries, the elder vampire said it was an excellent choice because it was long and they wouldn’t have to speak to each other while she was gone.

Angel had stubbornly refused to leave her house while the other vampire still resided there which irritated Spike. She allowed Angel to sleep in her parents’ room down the hall while she moved Spike out of her room and into the guest bedroom. The younger vampire had sent a murderous glare Angel’s way after she told him, but she had stood firm knowing that Spike’s continued presence there would only cause more fights. Thank Goddess her parents were still out of town.

Willow still didn’t know what to do. She still had feelings for both vampires and was no closer to making a decision between the two of them. Willow decided that this would be the last time she ever made a bet.

“Xand?” Willow called from the stairway that lead down to his basement apartment. She held out the dish. “I got a plate full of chocolatey goodness just for you.”

There was a muffled moan and then a shriek from Xander’s bed. A tousled Xander poked his head out from under the covers. “Wills! Hi. . .uh, got a situation here. Thanks for the. . .oh!” He was trying hard to focus. “ Um. . .the round-shaped thingies. . .uh, cookies.”

Willow turned her back, lest she be scarred for life by some unspeakable sexual act. She didn’t even want to know what those two did in there. “Glad to see you guys, er, kissed and made up. I’ll just put these on the kitchen table. See you at the meeting tonight!” She raced up the stairs so fast she nearly tripped. *******

That evening, Willow sat down on Giles sofa, mentally preparing herself to deal with the latest ‘big bad’ who had come to town. The Watcher hadn’t said anything yet but he looked very somber. That wasn’t a good sign. Xander came over and sat down beside her, there was a large hickey on his neck and his face looked. . .goofy. He had obviously came directly from the ex-demon’s bed. Yuck.

He hugged her with one arm and whispered in her ear. “Everything’s fine now.”

She turned to face him on the couch. “I’m glad. So, we’re good now?”

“Yep.” He smiled his best smeary smile. It was pure Xander.

“You’ll keep my secret, then?’

“You mean the wild vampire orgy that’s going on at your house?” He said in a moderately loud tone, he never could resist a chance to tease her. Especially about a situation like this, you couldn’t pass up these kinds of opportunities. Not like Giles payed attention to what he said anyway.

“Xander!” She cried out in a very loud voice.

Giles who was in the kitchen, dropped his tea cup on the floor and shattered it into twenty pieces. He hastily ran to the doorway. “Good heavens, what’s going on out there?” Noting nothing of a hellmouthy nature, he fixed Xander with a glare. “What did you do to her?” “Nothing! Why does everyone blame me for Wills-“

”It wasn’t his fault!” Willow smiled. “I was worried for him. . .uh. . .there was a rat on the floor. It was gonna nibble on his toes.”

“Willow, I don’t have rats.” He blinked once and crossed his hands over his chest.

“My mistake.” Her eyes skittered to the floor.

Giles sighed loudly and went to clean up his floor, all the while shaking his head and muttering about “young people these days”.

“Good save, Wills. He probably thinks we’re nuts now.”

“Like Buffy and Riley and Anya don’t? “

”Speaking of your situation. . .want some advice?’

“No.” Willow rolled her eyes.

“Too bad. Gonna get some anyway.” He chuckled. “And I do mean ‘get some’.” She glared. “Hey, you’re the one dating two dead guys. Buffy only dated one at a time. Seriously, what about Bleach boy? Why don’t you date Spike?”

“What?” she said, speaking in a hushed voice. “Did my best friend just tell me to date a demon?” Xander didn’t know the details of the stupid bet she’d made with Spike. And he never would --- she’d take it to her grave! Finding out would probably give Xander a heart attack. But he did know that she had feelings for both vampires.

“Yeah, he’s much funnier than Deadboy and non-bitey. Good qualities in a vampire, I think.”

“Uh, ‘kay.” Maybe all the sex he was having had damaged his brain. She expected Xander to demand that she stop seeing both vampires. Or make sarcastic comments and tease her about them mercilessly. Not plead one vampire’s case. She grinned at him suddenly. “Maybe I should take your advice, you do know a lot about that subject.”

“I haven’t dated that many demons.”

“I would think one is enough for anyone, but you’ve-”

“Be quiet.”

Buffy and Riley came in holding hands and giving each other lingering looks. Willow’s breath caught. The soldier must be more important to Buffy than she had thought. She hadn’t seen her this caught up in anyone since Angel. Besides, Riley wouldn’t have been invited into the ‘inner sanctum’ if he wasn’t special. It gave her hope, if she were over Angel. . .but what about Spike? Damn.

Giles sat down in his chair and regarded his youthful charges carefully. “We have a ghost problem.”

Willow was relieved. Ghosts weren’t that big of a deal. Say some words, light some candles, and suck it into another dimension. No big whoop. Then she could go home to the set of ‘ My Two Vampires’. Similar to ‘My Two Dads’, only with blood.

“Where is it. . . the ghost, I mean?” Buffy asked, trying to control her shudder of revulsion. She remembered all too vividly the night a spirit possessed her in the high school. She had actually kissed Angelus that night.

“My old school chum, Nigel, called me yesterday. It seems the spirit is living in his home. Normally, we don’t do this sort of thing, a house call as it were, but the specter is becoming more dangerous. It could quickly get out of control and cause more damage.”

Willow spoke up. “So, you and I can head over and do the banishing spell. No big, right?”

“Unfortunately-“

”I hate it when you say that, G-Man.”

“I know, Xander, and don’t call me that again. Ever. But I digress, Nigel is a wizard. Quite a powerful one I might add. He has tried several spells on the ghost but it has a tight hold on this reality as well as his home. He’s invited us to stay overnight at his estate tomorrow. The spirit should make an appearance during the wee hours of the morning.”

Willow winced, she’d have to leave Angel and Spike alone. “Why don’t I call my friend, Tara? Remember her? She helped us with The Gentlemen.” Everyone nodded. “She’s a witch too. Much more powerful than me. ”

“Excellent idea, Willow. This might be a difficult task.”

“Can I take Anya too?”

“Shouldn’t you stay to watch Spike?” Giles said.

“Spike?” Yikes, they all thought Spike was still living with him. He really did want to go to the mansion. “He’s like a house plant. A blood drinking one. I’ll just give him a couple of blood bags and tie him to a chair -- he’ll be fine. It’s only for one night anyway.”

Giles nodded, Spike should be alright for one night. He needed them to get blood so he’d stay for the meal ticket at least. “Fine.”

“So, can I take Anya?”

“Oh. Does she have some, uh, experience with ghosts?”

“Yeah. I mean she’s been around for a millennium or two. I’m sure she’s contacted a few, um, dozen, yeah dozen or so . . .” Everyone gave him a pointed look. “No, just thought that she and I might. . .fight the ghost together. Yeah. Fight the ghost.” They continued to stare. “Oh, come on!”

Giles grimaced, he’d read between the young man’s dirty little lines. “No. This isn’t a vacation Xander, we’re there to get rid of this presence. It doesn’t matter that we will be staying at a fantastic mansion.” He looked down at the schematic of the structure in his hands whist fulness seeping into his speech. “We shouldn’t be thinking that it has four fireplaces, an Olympic size swimming pool, an incredible wine cellar, and a library that rivals any private collection in the world.” He shook his head, sobering himself. “We’re only going there to fight evil, not have a holiday.”

“But Buffy gets to bring her boyfriend!” His face twisted. “Not that I want a boyfriend cuz I have a girlfriend. And we have sex. Often.” He looked at Riley and spread his hands. “I’m heterosexual.”

Riley, the psychology major, rolled his eyes. Ignorance about homosexuals was rampant. “I don’t care either way because gay men-“

He was interrupted by the pointed clearing of Buffy’s throat. “Back on topic guys. We need to make a plan, Giles.” The Watcher began talking about his ideas on the matter. Buffy smirked at Xander and squeezed her boyfriend’s hand. There might be a little ‘holiday’ for them. Luckily, Riley was a card-carrying member of Team Scooby. Riley bent over and kissed Buffy’s lips softly. Xander turned away from the couple ,crossed his arms and let out a long-suffering sigh. ******

“I’m not watching anymore of this!” Spike declared, folding his arms.

“And why not?”

“It’s about a reddish-haired girl and a werewolf. I mean, at first it was fun, I thought she was going to beat him or something. I thought a dashing blond vampire would eventually appear. But the silly chit actually likes the flea-bitten mongrel!”

“They don’t have vampires in fairy tales, Spike.” Angel said dryly, eyes still focused on the screen. Truthfully, he was enjoying the movie. The hero was dark- haired and dark-eyed, had pale skin, and wore black clothing.

“Hey! Are you daydreaming about shagging the stupid wolf?” There was no response from his sire. “Uh, peaches?” Nothing. “ Are you listening to me, poof?”

“Stop that.”

“Stop what?”

“Calling me ‘peaches’ and ‘poof’. My name is Angel.” He took on a teacherish tone and began to spell it. “ A-N-G-E-L. Now, say it with me. A-”

“Poof.” Spike made an exaggerated “f” sound and crossed his arms. His look said “what’re you gonna do about that?”.

“What did you say?” Angel said, black eyes shimmered with a touch of yellow.

“Poof. Poof. Poof!”

Angel stood to his full height, looming over the other vampire who was still reclining on the couch his face rippled into it’s demonic state. “What was that again, William?”

Spike vaulted over the back of the couch and faced Angel from behind it. “Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof!”

Angel reached over and grabbed Spike by the lapels of his duster and lifted him until the other vampire’s feet were dangling off the floor. “Care to repeat that?”

“Peaches!”

“Say it.”

“Peaches!”

“Say my name.” He smile was a mixture of equal parts menace and bemusement. The other vampire looked mutinous. “Want me to slap some sense into you?”

“Are you trying to intimidate me or ask me out, Angel?”

Angel growled dangerously but his human features reappeared and the skin around his eyes crinkled with subdued mirth. Spike burst out laughing at his sire’s expression. The dark-haired vampire loosened his hold on his grandchilde letting his feet touch the ground before releasing his lapels. They smiled at each other warily. *******

Willow entered her house slowly. The movie was still playing but the two vamps were nowhere in sight. “Spike? Angel!” There was no answer. She heard a muffled thud from the second floor. This was followed by a crash and another thud. As she approached her bedroom door, low growling could be heard. Oh no. They’re going to kill each other. And my room is going to be all dusty!

She through open the door as sire and childe looked up at her in horror. She covered her mouth to stop the gasp of surprise. “Oh my Goddess!” Of all the things she had expected to see, this was not one of them.

“Oh, hello luv.”

The two vampires were on the floor helplessly entangled with each other. They were both breathing hard and looking self-conscious.

“What are you doing?”

“Playing Twister.” Angel said, looking at a point on the wall over her left shoulder.

She stared at the entwined vampiric arms and legs on the bright spotted mat and started to laugh. She wrapped her arms around herself, nearly choking on her giggles. They quickly drew apart, if they could’ve blushed they would have.

“I thought you guys. . .” another gush of laughter. “we’re trying to kill each other. But you’re playing Twister.” Both vampires stared at their feet. “Are you trying to tell me something? You two need to be alone?” She started to giggle again. Tears were streaming down her face.

“Bloody hell, now she thinks we’re a couple of poofters.” Spike rolled his eyes.

“We were bored, darling. Spike refused to watch the movie. And he cheats at Memory! Then, he took all the Monopoly money.”

“We could have played Trivial Pursuit if you didn’t have to show off, answering all the questions in a row, you. . .you. . . show off! ” Willow noted that their wasn’t that familiar ‘bite’ in Spike’s remarks. He seemed to be teasing the other vampire, not trying to wound him.

“Well, that Operation game would have lasted longer if you didn’t rip out all the man’s internal organs!” He chuckled.

Spike smiled. “I miss disembowelment. I was so good at it.”

She sighed as the hilarity subsided, leaving that sense of contentment that follows a good laugh. She held out her arms.

Spike and Angel both embraced her, enfolding the red head in a two-sided hug. Willow sighed as she buried her head in Angel’s chest and felt Spike’s fingers comb through her hair. This felt right somehow.