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Blinded -- by Echo
Rating: PG
Description: Angel dreams of Willow and Spike.
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon made them up. They're all his. Wish he'd share.
He could see them running. Shadowy figures. She was falling behind. The thing chasing them grabbed her. She screamed, but he couldn't hear the sound. Her companion lunged at the creature. It threw her to the ground. The man ripped out the thing's throat. Then he held his hand out to her. She rose slowly, her eyes on his. Then the observer REALLY saw them. Platinum blonde and redhead, right as they were about to kiss.
Angel jerked awake. He'd seen something he didn't like, and he felt dirty. It had seemed so real too. It made him uncomfortable. The two of them? He reached for the phone.
Giles couldn't find his cordless. He could hear it ringing, but he couldn't figure out from where. "Anya where did you leave my bloody phone?"
The brunette peeked out of the kitchen. "Couch."
Then he saw it wedged between the cushions. He grabbed it. "Hello?"
Angel's voice came through the phone. "Giles, am I interrupting?"
"Angel?" Giles' brow wrinkled. Anya looked up.
"Yes."
"I'm sorry what?"
"I asked if I was interrupting. You took a while to answer."
"No, not at all. Anya just hid the phone."
"I did not!" Angel heard her through the phone.
"What prompted you to call, Angel?"
"This is going to sound a little strange."
"You realize where you phoned, don't you?"
Buffy was stretched out on her bed. PRETTY IN PINK was on TV. Someone knocked. "In!" The door swung open and Spike walked in. He looked at the TV in confusion.
"What are you doing?" She held up a hand to shush him. He looked again. "What's this then?"
"PRETTY IN PINK"
"How ironic."
"Why?"
"That's the most hideous dress I've ever seen. And keep in mind I was around in the seventies."
Buffy laughed. "What brings you here before sunset? And how?"
"I have my ways, Cutie." He sat on the floor at the foot of her bed. "I felt like company and since Xander doesn't like me..."
"I don't like you either."
"Yes, Pet, but at least bugging you is fun. Xander gets so pouty when I pick on him."
"Ok, but I'm not changing the channel."
"Ok, but I will do my version of Mystery Science Theatre 3000."
"You watch MST3?"
"I watch a lot of things on the telly."
Willow pounded on Giles' door. She was supposed to meet Anya fifteen minutes ago, but it had taken her longer than expected to get Riley to let her borrow his car. She'd practically had to swear on every pagan god that she would be careful and even then he wouldn't let go of the keys.
Giles flung open the door. "Willow, do come in. I'd like a word with you." Willow sighed. She knew that face. She walked to the couch and sat down.
"What is it, Giles?"
"Are you involved with Spike?"
"Involved?" Then she got it. Willow started laughing. She couldn't help it. Spike? Mr. Bottle-in-face-gonna-bring-you-back-to-be-like-me? It was too funny. "Oh yeah, Giles. 'Cause being kidnapped to perform witchcraft and being attacked in my dorm room are such turn-ons. Just attack Willow. Smack her around and growl a lot. That's the key to her heart." She went into another peal of laughter.
Anya walked out of the kitchen. "I told you, Giles." He glared at her.
"Why did you ask that ridiculous question anyway?" Giles didn't know what to say. Angel must have been mistaken.
"Well, Angel called and got our Mr. Bookworm all worked up about the imaginary couple, Willow and Spike."
Giles glared at her. "Thank you, Anya."
Willow's brow wrinkled. "Angel? He's in LA. Why would he even care?"
"You know how he is about Spike, Willow."
"Look, the closest Spike has come to being 'involved' with any of us is when he and Buffy were engaged during the whole 'my will' spell debacle."
Anya started giggling. She couldn't help it. Every time she thought about that night, she thought of the looks of horror Buffy and Spike had on their faces when the spell wore off, and they were still kissing. She laughed harder. Giles glared at her.
"He was just concerned."
"Yeah, well, unfounded. Totally."
"Well, that is a relief."
"Yeah. Come on, Anya, let's go. I only have Riley's car for a few hours. Bye Giles." The two girls hurried out of the apartment.
Anya and Willow were leaving the mall. They'd shopped and talked for four hours. They'd picked out clothes for each other. Anya really had an eye for what looked good on Willow. She'd picked out the prettiest dress for Willow. It was a very pale green with little blue and purple flowers on it. They'd talked about all sorts of everything. They'd talked about Xander. Anya had asked what he was like before they met. Willow had told her everything, but Anya liked the stories from the first year they'd known Buffy best. That's the year their lives had changed forever.
It was getting late. Willow wanted to hurry, but she'd promised to drive carefully. It was already dark. Riley was probably pulling his hair out. They were almost to Riley's when Anya spoke.
"What's so wrong with Spike?"
"What?"
"Spike. Why's he not even considered?"
"Anya, please. He's so, so Spike."
"Yes, but he's very cute."
"Ewe. Gross, Anya."
"Don't tell me you've never noticed how his hair sets off his eyebrows making those blue eyes of his look that much more intense."
"Can't say that I have."
"And those jeans he wears, he must pour himself into them. It borders on sin."
"Anya, Xander!"
"Oh, no, Xander's still the one who makes the butterflies slamdance in my stomach, but Spike is eye candy. Admit it."
"He's sorta nice looking, I guess."
"Oh, come on, Willow. You can do better than that."
"Well, he does have the man-hands."
Anya giggled. "What are the man-hands?"
Willow blushed. "Hands that, when they're on you, you know without a doubt they belong to a man."
"Oh, that's much better."
He could see her again. She was asleep in her bed. The blonde walked to her slowly. He stroked her red hair and caressed her cheek. She opened her eyes.
Cordelia stopped washing the dishes she'd dirtied when she heard Angel growl. She crept from the kitchen into his bedroom. He was asleep. She walked to the bed very slowly.
He watched the blonde pull her out of the bed by her arms. She stared at him sleepily. "Why do you want this?"
"I just do."
He bit into her neck viciously. She screamed.
Cordelia was about to shake Angel awake when he stiffened. She jumped back. His hands were gripping the sheets. A low growl started in his throat. Cordelia felt a shiver go down her spine.
He was draining her. He lowered her to the bed. The room faded from Angel's eyes. Images flashed before him. Spike attacking Buffy on her campus in daylight with the Jewel of Amaura on his hand. He was ruthlessly beating her. Spike hitting Xander up the side of his head with a microscope knocking him out. Spike threatening Willow with a broken bottle. Spike fighting Kendra. Spike holding off Doyle and Cordelia while he'd been tortured. Spike throwing Willow onto her bed viciously. Violence, all of it. The images blurred together and faded out.
He was standing alone in a large space. It seemed undefined. The air was hazy, and a fine fog rolled slowly across the ground he couldn't even see. Someone was walking towards him. As the figure got closer, he sucked in an unneeded breath. He felt a pain in his chest as he stared into the eyes of Jenny Calendar.
"What's seen is not always what is. Things can be twisted, Angel. Know what your heart tells you." She started to fade. "Trust your heart. It won't lie to you." She reached out to him.
Angel jerked awake. Cordelia jumped.
"What are you doing in here?"
"Boy, someone's cranky when he wakes up from a bad dream. I was in your kitchen, and I heard you growling in your sleep. I thought something was wrong."
"Something is."
Willow walked across campus thinking about what Anya had said earlier. What was so wrong about Spike? Ok, yeah, sure, vicious killer. And he did have 'the Bloody' tacked onto his name. You don't get his rep by helping little old ladies across the street. Actually, he probably did, right before he drained them dry. He was twisted like that. He WAS twisted. WAS. Now he was as much a part of the slayerettes as she or Xander. He picked on them. They picked on him. Like friends. They hung out. They patrolled. She just didn't get why Angel thought Spike would be interested in her of all people. They had a big zero in common as far as she knew. She didn't seem like his type of girl either. She was sane. She only knew swear words in English, and she didn't even use them much. He, on the other hand, knew all the good swears in many, many languages and used them often. He could never sit still, while she could meditate for hours. His first impulse was to crush, hers to question. He was dead. She was very much of the living. He had tried to kill her, quite a few times, but he was over that now. Or at least she hoped he was. So why was Angel so worried about it? What if she had liked him? What was so bad about it?
Spike was walking towards Stevenson Hall when he saw her. She looked a little out of it. He ran up behind the redhead and grabbed her around the waist to scare her. She squealed.
"Hello, Pet."
Willow had been thinking so hard she hadn't heard him until he grabbed her. His arms were holding her tightly, and he'd spoken right into her ear. She stiffened. He immediately let go of her. She spun around to yell at him.
"Sorry. You're not mad, are you?"
"You, you just.... I'm......" Willow couldn't make the words come out, and then she looked at his eyes. They were intense and studying her with confusion. Her eyes moved to the scar above his left eye. An imperfection. It only made his stare that much more attractive. He was without his leather duster, so she looked at the arms peeking out of the sleeves of the T shirt. Not beefy, but far from scrawny. She could see the veins in them. They were strong arms. She studied his chest and then moved on to his jeans. She sucked in air. He WAS poured into them. Why had she never noticed this before?
She was staring at him strangely. She seemed dazed. Spike didn't know what to do, and then her eyes seemed to rest on his crotch. She was looking him over! <Bloody hell! What is the witch thinking!> He took a step closer to her.
"Willow?"
She reached up and put a hand on his cheek. He backed away. She had to be under a spell or something. This wasn't right. No human had touched him like that in his entire unlife. It felt like a whisper it was so soft. She was looking at him like she wanted to throw him to the ground and have at it. She must be crazed. He'd threatened to kill her! Many times! That was the sort of thing that was only attractive to Dru. He'd worried about a lot of things when he'd teamed up with the slayer and hers, but he never in his wildest dreams thought he'd have to worry about this. He jumped when she grabbed both sides of his face.
"Hold still. I'm looking."
"For what?"
She was about to answer when Spike heard the demon's growl. He grabbed Willow's arm and took off running. He needed to lure the thing to an isolated spot.
"And I'm telling you, Angel, she laughed in my face when I asked her about it." Giles glared at the dark vampire. He couldn't believe some little nightmare had Angel this worked up. He further couldn't believe he'd driven all the way to Sunnydale because of it.
Angel couldn't believe Giles was treating this so lightly. He never dismissed Buffy's dreams. He'd driven all the way to Sunnydale. Didn't Giles realize that meant it was serious? He'd explained everything. Well, everything but the Jenny part. The former watcher just wasn't reacting the way Angel had hoped he would.
Willow was falling behind when she felt the demon's arms wrap around her. She screamed. Spike turned and lunged at the demon. It recognized Spike as the real threat and threw Willow to the ground. Spike grabbed the demon and ripped its throat out with one fluid movement. Normally, Willow would have been grossed out by this, but he had just looked so graceful doing it. Like a beautiful wild animal.
Spike turned to her and expected to see horror or revulsion. He only saw warmth. She was smiling at him in a way that made him feel Godlike all of the sudden. He held out his hand to her. She took it, but her eyes never left his. She rose slowly. He didn't release her hand right away. He leaned in to her, and she closed her eyes.
"We should go."
Willow's eyes flew open. He was staring at her. He dropped her hand. Willow nearly whined. <Wait a minute, Spike, my former enemy, didn't kiss me and I'm disappointed? Ok, Willow.> He walked her to the steps of Stevenson Hall.
"Goodnight, Red."
"Goodnight, Spike." She had a good view of his ass in those jeans as he walked away.
She hadn't been able to sleep, so she'd slipped out of the dorm. She told herself she was just going out for some air, but really she was looking for him. She could never remember which crypt he liked to hide in. She wasn't sure why she needed to see him. But she did. Something had changed in her. She'd been so blinded by the vampire, she hadn't noticed the man.
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