Twining Vines (COMPLETE)

A screaming silence took over the room but her words still echoed loudly in his ears. He stared, wide eyed at the now seemingly small creature lying on the bed, wrapped up in a thin white sheet. She didn’t move, simply looked up at him, a mixture of fear and anticipation swimming in her ebony eyes.

He opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, like a fish out of water, trying to find the words, but they escaped him as the memories, now clearer, continued to rush him.

“Are you just gonna sit there and stare at me all day? Cause it’s really starting to scare me.”

She regretted the words the moment she spoke them. She had intended to put an end to the nerve-racking silence that engulfed them, but failed miserably. She had meant to sound cool and calm, but the faltering of her voice testified her unease. Nervously, she fingered the edge of the sheet that covered her, patiently waiting for him to say something, but he never did. He seemed to be in a daze. Colleting his memories, trying to make sense of what was happening.

“Well, I think I’ll go to the bathroom, since you-“ She started to move, her legs swinging to the other side of the bed, when she felt a cold hand on her arm.

She waited a few seconds before looking at him, under hooded eyes.

“H…” He cleared his throat, swallowing hard when he realised he wasn’t able to say the word. “How?”

“A lot of exercise and a very healthy diet make you live longer.” She attempted to joke, but the look on his face told her it wasn’t the time for gags. Even so, she added, tilting her head: “A very, very healthy diet?”

“Quit with the funnies Samara and just tell me.” He said in a grave tone.

“Don’t call me that. I’m not her anymore.” She spoke seriously for the first time, pulling herself free of his grip and looking away from him.

“How?” He tried to calm down; the word coming out in a whisper.

A few moments passed before she was able to look up at him. With a ghost of a smile she spoke:

“I guess those kids were right. I am a freak, except I’m a good kind of freak.”

He wanted to ask so many questions, to put an end to all the doubts that now clouded his thoughts, but he decided it was best to let her take her time.

“I’m not that little redhead, freckled girl that you used to pick on when we were in school. I haven’t been her in ages.” A soft smile settled on her lips as she remembered those long forgotten days. She glanced at a rebellious strand that curled its way over her shoulder and took it between her pale fingers. “Ok, so I’m still a carrot head…” Her hand travelled over her nose. “And I might still have a few freckles.” She frowned a bit, pausing and then a smirk lit up her face. “You know, I never thought I’d say this but... I miss those days. I mean, not the name-calling and bigotry of all the other kids, but… the small things, you know? Like…” she paused when she remembered a specific moment in time. “Like smashing the blackboard on you head when you called me carrot top and pulled my hair.”

That last sentence made him chuckle and instinctively his hand reached for the back of his head and massaged it.

“Like watching you drooling over Cecily, even though she never gave you a moment’s notice. I told you she would never get over the whole different social classes thing.” She saw the painful look on his face and decided to quickly change the subject. She sighed audibly and started to speak: “Anyway… To make a long story short, I guess I really was special, I mean, not in a Jewish kid in an entirely protestant neighbourhood kind of way but in a potential otherworldly being kind of way.” She tried to joke about it.

“What?!” Spike asked dumbstruck.

“I-“

She started to explain when a light knock was heard at the door. Spike didn’t even turn to look at whoever had interrupted them, he simply growled:

“Not now. Go away.” He could feel the person behind him take a deep breath to say something, but he cut her off. “Later!”

Next thing he heard was the familiar clicking sound of a door being closed.

“You were saying…” He spoke calmly.

Sam frowned a bit and then asked:

“Are you two love birds fighting again?”

“What? No, I just want to know what happened to you.” He explained.

“Well too bad, pal. Cause I’m not saying anything until you go out there and apologise to her.” Sam stated matter-of-factly, crossing her arms over her chest.

“What? No!” He insisted.

“Forget it. Not a word.”

“You’re just doing this because you’re afraid to tell me something Samara. I know you.” He protested.

“Maybe. Or maybe I’m just doing this because I don’t want you ruining the one good thing you’ve had in... Oh, lets say… forever! over such a stupid thing. I can tell you later. Now go out there and apologise already.” She finished her little speech with a deep frown and settled her mouth in a straight line in a clear sign that she wasn’t planning on changing her mind… ever!

Reluctantly, the vampire stood up and dragged his feet across the room, a pout on his lips.

“Spike!” She called out and he turned to face her. “The pouting thing…” she pointed at his mouth. “not working on me anymore. It took about a hundred years, but I’m no longer under its evil thrall.” She gave him a wide smile.

He shook his head and reached for the doorknob when he heard her calling him. He turned to face her with an annoyed look on his face.

“I’m hungry. Bring me some food when you’ve finished grovelling.”

He sighed audibly and prepared to turn the knob when…

“Oh, Spike! One more thing.”

“Am I ever gonna leave this room?” He asked exasperated.

“Eventually… Maybe.” She smiled at him. “Bring me chocolate. I need chocolate.”

“What is it with you and chocolate?” He asked with a frown.

“I never got to eat it when I was a kid. I’m compensating.” With a wide grin and a wave of her hand in a sign of dismissal she shushed him. “Now go! Shush! Go grovel!”

Finally, Spike was able to leave the room and his his way down the stairs. He froze as the conversation from the living room reached his ears before he made his presence known.

“So you think Sam is causing this?” Anya’s voice questioned.

“I don’t know. But we can’t discard that option.” Giles explained as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “What do we know about this girl? All we know is that all this started to happen when she showed up. We have to-”

“No one’s going anywhere near Sam.” Spike’s voice hovered into the living room and everyone turned to stare at him. The only people missing were the two witches.

“Spike, we don’t know who or what she –“ Giles started but was soon cut off by the vampire that remained frozen in place.

“I know her.” He stated simply. “And she’s not the one causing this.”

“You know her?” The ex-librarian enquired.

“We’ve only known her for a couple of weeks you can’t-“ It was Buffy’s turn to be interrupted.

“I’ve known her longer than that, believe me.”

Everyone in the room frowned and waited for the bleached vampire to elaborate, but he never did.

“What do you mean?” Xander spoke.

Spike’s facial muscles contracted as he pondered which words to use. His jaw clenched and unclenched repeatedly, enhancing his chiselled cheekbones, pale lips being pushed together in the process. After a few moments and a loud sigh he started:

“I’ve know Samara since I was five.”

“What?!” Giles almost choked.

“Samara? She’s Samantha.” Anya spoke up.

“She was a neighbour of mine. Only Jewish family in a not so friendly Protestant block. Especially not back in the 19th. Long story short, she was an outcast, I was an outcast, we stuck together.” He folded his arms over his chest as he finished his small narrative.

Everyone stared at him in disbelief. Giles was the first to ask the question that drummed in everyone’s mind:

“How is it possible?”

“I don’t know.” Was Spike’s immediate response.

“You’ve known this all along and didn’t tell us?” Buffy questioned, a hint of anger boiling up in her tone. “When were you planning on telling us? When you’re little girlfriend destroyed all of Sunnydale and killed us?”

“My little girlfriend, as you put it, just saved our asses a few hours ago.” Spike snapped back. “And I couldn’t remember her up until just a minute ago.”

“You couldn’t remember her?” Buffy asked unconvinced.

“No.” Was his simple reply.

“Well, maybe she was the one who orchestrated this whole thing from the beginning. Ever think about that? Either thatshe she has some ser ESP ESP, considering she was able to predict the exact moment when it was going to happen.” Buffy fought back.

“She has a point.” Anya piped up.

“She’s not the one causing this.” He hissed between clenched teeth. “And you know it Slayer.”

Buffy winced at the use of her title. She hated when he did that, but she swallowed hard and snapped back as she stood up from her place and crossed the room towards him:

“No, I don’t know. I don’t know anything about her. Where she comes from, what she is. Nothing!”

It, who had remained quiet during the entire conversation, winced as the two blondes now stood head-to-head, staring each other down, Buffy’s first clenching and unclenching.

“No fight.” It squeaked.

“Shut up!” The two blondes shouted in unison, not even bothering to look at the skinny little creature.

“You say that she’s a good old friend from back in the day, but you can’t explain what she’s doing her, or how it’s even possible that she is here.”

“She would have told me if you hadn’t butted in like you always do.” He growled as he towered over her small form.

“I’m the Slayer. It’s my *job* to butt in when lives are at stake.” She looked up at him shooting daggers from her eyes.

“Being the Slayer doesn’t give you the right to stick your nose in other people’s personife.ife.”

“Reality check Spike, you’re *not* a person, and for all I know neither is your buddy upstairs.” She hissed. “And speaking of that…” she started to move around him to head toward the stairs when she felt herself being yanked back into place by a cold, strong grip.

“You stay away from her, Slayer.” He spoke in a low tone, which sent chills down everyone’s back except for the fired up blond that stood before him, tilting her head upwards in a defying stare.

“Or what?” She said between clenched teeth.

The vampire was about to answer, when loud stomping footsteps were heard down the stairs and soon two breathless witches were standing in front of them.

“Tara found something.” Willow spoke between deep gulps of air.

Everyone in the room froze, including It.

“She did a tracking spell. Someone’s been using some serious Magic, right here in Sunnydale.” The redhead continued to explain to the silent audience.

“We-we think it’s what’s causing all the chaos.” Tara piped up.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, Giles. Tara almost got knocked unconscious when she tried to track it down.” Willow spoke, throwing a supportive glance towards the taller witch.

“It doesn’t make sense. Something that big… the demons would have picked up on it. Spike would have picked up on it.” Giles argued.

“Maybe that’s just something else Spike’s been hiding from us.” Buffy hissed in a low voice, earning a cold look from the vre wre who still stood next to her.

“No. We think that whoever or whatever is doing this is being really careful about covering its tracks. That’s why Tara couldn’t track it down. It’s using some kind of spell to hide the magic.” Willow explained.

“Can you find a way to break it?” Giles asked, standing up.

“I-I don’t know. Maybe. But it’s gonna take some time and I-I need some things from the Magic Box.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do.” Giles decided as he started to head towards the front door.

“What if shifting happens again?” Xander asked causing Giles to stop in his tracks.

“I don’t think it will.” Willow offered. “The last shift was really strong. It took a lot of magic to cause it, I don’t think whoever or whatever is doing it can pull it off again anytime soon.”

They were about to move again when Anya asked:

“What about Sam?”

The ex-librarian pondered for a second and then spoke:

“Anya, Tara, Willow and Xander come with me. Buffy and Spike stay here and watch her.”

Buffy was about to protest, but didn’t even get a chance as the ex-watcher turned his back and left the household; the rest of the group trailing behind.

The two blondes stood in the middle of the living room, looking at each other in disgust for a few moments until Spike let out a deep sigh and headed up the stairs:

“I’ll check on her.” He mumbled under his breath, leaving Buffy behind.

“Fine.” She yelled up at his retreating form, crossing her arms over her chest and plopping onto the couch.

In the corner of the room, It scratched its slimy head, frowning a bit as he squeaked:

“And me?”

Buffy sighed loudly, glancing towards the scrawny creature but said nothing.

~+~

Spike walked into the room and closed the door behind him.

“Sam, we need to-“ He stopped in mid sentence as he turned to see her slumbering form curled up into a little ball on the bed.

He smiled lightly, coming closer and sitting on the edge of the mattress. He sat silently for a long time, just looking down on her, watching her chest rise and fall in a monotonous rhythm.

~+~

“Will you stop walking around in circles? You’re making me nauseous.” Buffy grumbled from her spot on the couch.

It finally came to a halt, turning to face her, a deep frown over its eyes.

“Me hungry!” He grumbled in a high-pitched voice.

Buffy sighed audibly as she forced her body to stand and walk into the kitchen. She leaned on the refrigerator door, staring at its contents. Reaching in, she grabbed a crunched up pizza box and set it on the counter. Her nose wrinkled up instantly when she opened it and saw the three day old pizza laying inside. Without a word she picked the box up and walked over to the garbage disposal.

“No!” It squealed, quickly making its way towards her in his ET way of walking. It was just so strange.

It’s long, scrawny arms reached for the box and before Buffy could even say anything, the red carton was in It’s mouth and making its way to the strange creature’s stomach.

“Oh, that’s disgusting!” Buffy mumbled as her facial muscled crunched up in revulsion.

It simply licked its lips and tapped its belly in a clear sign of satisfaction, but…

“More!” it squeaked looking up at the blonde with huge, pleading eyes.

“What? You just ate half of a family sized pizza. Granted it was rotting, but it’s still half of a family sized pizza.” Buffy protested.

“More!” It shrilled again, its lower lip jutting out in the cutest little pout.

It took all of Buffy’s strength to stop herself from going: “Aw!”. Instead, she opened the fridge once more and took out a Tupperware.

“We’ve got-“ Before she could finish her sentence, It’s arms reached out in a flash, took the box from her hand and dropped it into its mouth which acquired the rectangular shape of the Tupperware.

“Hey, give me back my Tupperware.” Buffy cried out reaching for the creature, but it slipped away.

Soon, the two were running around in circles in the kitchen, a mad Slayer chasing a starved Khind’Ara demon.

“Give it back!” she cried out when she finally managed to grab a hold on him by its skinny arm.

But it didn’t last long as he slipped away, running a few feet before stopping and turning to face her with a triumphant grin that exposed part of the box that was still in his mouth. Moments later a loud gulping sound was heard in the kitchen and It was running into the living room.

“Why you little… I’m gonna-” The Slayer cried out starting to chase after him when she bumped into someone coming down the stairs. She tumbled to the floor, landing on her behind, and looked up to find a very pissed vampire staring down at her.