A Perfect Fit

Chapter Eighteen ~ Googley Eyes and Gifts



It took some doing but the three of them were able to get him on his back. He was fighting like mad. Whatever was in that purple ball, Angelus knew he didn't want it.

“Okay, this is important,” Willow told them. “Whatever you do, don't get in the way. I have no idea what would happen if I smashed this into one of you instead, but I don't want to find out. Plus, we'll lose Angel forever.”

“Angel is gone now!” Angelus struggled to be free.

Candy was struggling to hold her part of him down. She wasn't sure this was a good idea. She suggested that maybe they should chain him back up to the bed.

“Good idea,” Buffy said through clenched teeth as she moved to avoid Angelus' sharp fangs. “He was easier to hold down when he was on his stomach.”

They held him down while Willow locked chains to his hands and feet once more. Then they fought to get him back on the bed. It was much easier when he was out cold the first time. Spike suggested they knock him out again, but Willow insisted that he be awake when she did her thing. All through the ordeal, a vamped out Angelus snarled, cussed, growled and threatened. They had to reposition the chains so that his chest was free and he was able to wiggle around a bit.

Willow and Buffy sat down to catch their breath after they had him trussed up as well as they could. Candy and Spike stood guard over him. A trussed up Angelus was eerily quiet and glared at Willow.

Willow caught one glimpse of Angelus and looked away. It was time to get this done. Buffy helped her drag the little round table closer to the bed and she pulled things from her bag. First the little wooden box, next were white and dark purple candles, and then a small pewter bowl with a bottle of water. She pulled out four incense holders with long thin incense sticks and then a handful of small zip lock bags with dried herbs. Last to come out was an ancient book with yellow post-it notes sticking out and a spiral notebook.

“Why all the stuff?” Spike gestured at the table. “I thought you spent all that time in the other room with it.”

“This stuff is for a very complex cloaking spell,” she told him. “Remember when we brainstormed over the phone about all the possible things that could go wrong?” When he nodded she continued, “I thought about the gypsies who put the curse on him later. They had Ms. Calendar watching him but after he killed her, I think they went to using magical trackers. Like right now, I am sure they know that his soul is gone. They will know when it’s back in too.”

“And this is a problem, why?” Buffy asked.

“I am not sure it is a problem, but just in case they could tell if some one had tweaked their little curse, I want to cloak it. You know, make it so they can't tell that things are different. All I want them to see on their end is that the curse has been restored. We don't want them coming back and undoing all of my work. The good thing? This spell only takes five minutes.”

Angelus started protesting again, but they ignored him. Candy offered to help with the spell, but Willow kindly turned her down. It was very important, she told the vampires, that they touch none of the stuff for the spell or even the sphere that held the soul. They were impure, even with their souls. She asked them to stand back by the door.

The incense had a strong, sweet odor and Candy had to fight the urge to plug her nose. Willow poured some water into the bowl and sprinkled pinches full from each baggy into the water. She used a blunt stone instrument to grind the concoction together. When the candles were lit, she placed in a loose circle. She then placed her finger on a spot in the book and began chanting. She signaled for Buffy to begin waving the smoky incense over Angelus.

She stuck her hand in the bowl and came up with a palm full of the pasty stuff. To her great satisfaction, Angelus flinched when she flung her hand at him and the liquid goop splattered over his chest.

She raised up the middle purple candle and continued to chant. She tipped it and small drops of wax dripped onto his torso. He hissed but smiled at her. “Well if I knew you just wanted to get kinky with me, baby, I wouldn't have fought so much.”

She blew out the candles and wiped her hand across her forehead. “Well that's done. Now for the fun part.”

Willow carefully opened the box and looked at her observers. “Here we go. Say your last words to Angelus.” She wiped her palms on her skirt and picked up the sphere.

“Don't have anything to say, ‘cept maybe good riddance,” Spike said quietly.

“Well Angelus, I'd ask you to say some last words, but you've been doing that all day. So let's just get this over with,” Willow told him.

Angelus opened his mouth to talk, but Buffy said, “We know, we know. You are going to torture us all, kill us and feed on us. Yada yada yada.” Spike snorted and Candy suppressed a giggle.

Willow held up the purple ball and said a few words in Latin then told him, “This is for my fish, for hurting my friends and for Ms. Calendar.” She said another phrase in Latin and slammed the sphere down on him. The glass broke against his skin with a muffled cracking sound that was anticlimactic. They all watched to see what would happen to Angelus. Blood slowly seeped from the cuts he now had. Willow gently pulled pieces of glass out. “Oh, I'm sorry,” she told him.

Angelus jerked up and back and sighed. His pupils glowed for an instant and he blinked rapidly. He looked around confused. “Buffy, you didn't have to hit me,” he told her in a hurt voice.

“Angel!” Buffy jumped up once and then flung herself on him, not caring that she was getting blood on her workout sweats.

“Hurry, get him untied,” Willow ordered as she started undoing a foot.

“Wait!” Spike sprang forward and stilled her hand. “Not yet. Let's make sure.” He eyed Angel with suspicion.

“Come on, Spike. Get these chains off me.”

“Answer a few questions first.” Spike smirked when the chained vamp glared at him. “What is Buffy's middle name?”

“Anne.”

“Where is Illyria right now?”

“A-down in the lobby guarding the basement doors?”

“Where is Wesley?”

He got a pained look. “I hope resting peacefully in some heaven somewhere.”

“Who is Connor?”

“Angelus would know that,” Angel protested. When Spike just crossed his arms he answered, “He is my son with Darla. Right now he's somewhere on the UCLA campus. Most likely, with Dawn, who is Buffy's sister. And, he just loves his Uncle Spike. There are you satisfied now?”

“Nope, one last question. What is the combination to the safe in your office?”

“How would you know if I was telling the truth? You don't know it. And-for the last time, I'm never telling you,” Angel told him.

“It's him. Untie him.”

They quickly went to work on the chains. When he asked, Candy went across the hall to Dawn's room and got his clothes for him.

They were all waiting for him when he came out of the bathroom freshly showered and dressed. Buffy walked up to him and put her arms around him. “Do you feel any different?”

“No, I don't. Should I feel different, Willow?” He didn't want to take his eyes off Buffy. It felt so good to touch her when he wanted to, like it was in the beginning. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her close to his side.

“I'm not sure. I am sure it worked, because nothing funny happened like it does when I mess up a spell. The only way to know definitely is if we test it.”

Spike watched them make googley eyes at each other. It was like old times. “I think they are more than ready to take the new anchor for a test drive.”

“Shut up Spike,” Buffy said.

“We are not ready to test it,” Angel told him indignantly.

Buffy gave Angel a saucy look. “Oh we are so ready to test it.”

“And that folks,” Willow said, “is our cue to leave.”

The three of them stood in the hallway. “I'm going to gather my stuff in that room and try to clean it up a little,” Willow told Candy and Spike.

“Thanks Red for coming out and doing this for them.”

“I'm so glad you called me.”

Candy and Spike looked at each other. Candy asked him, “So, what do you want to do now?”

“I don't know, luv. What do you want to do?” He raised an eyebrow.

Willow smiled and shook her head. With all this love going around, it made her even more anxious to be on her way to Peru. She missed Leeza. As soon as she was done cleaning up, she was going to call the airline and book her flight and hopefully she could leave tomorrow.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

The sun was setting the next day when Spike and Candy decided to get dressed and see how things were. They had a blissful twenty-four hours for rest and recreation all alone. Candy had exhausted him and for a time after, he just stared at the ceiling. He kept thinking Willow was going to come knocking any minute with news that Angelus was on the loose, but once he fell asleep, Spike slept like the dead.

Spike was anxious to get going. He tossed the remote onto the coffee table and leaned back. Candy was taking a long time. Women. He smiled at the thought of her. She might be taking her time, but he was sure the end result would be worth it. The evening news was on and it was the same old thing. Murder here, criminals caught on tape there, wars and dumb celebrities.

She came out of the room looking beautiful as always, but she was walking kind of funny. She was trying to keep her front to him with her hands behind her back. He cocked his head slightly. “You look gorgeous, luv, but what's that you got behind your back?”

Candy smiled sweetly at him, “You have no patience at all do you?”

“Nope, let's see.” He got up and she backed away.

“Not yet, you. Sit back down.” He did as she asked. “You really do love me don't you?”

“Sweet, you know it. You are my goddess and I'm a slave to your every whim. I'll do whatever it takes to make you never doubt it. I love you,” he said with conviction.

“I never doubted it. I just wanted to hear you say it again. I have something for you.” She pulled a box wrapped in shiny blue paper around and handed it to him. “I love you so much and I just wanted to get you something.”

Spike was speechless. No one ever gave him stuff. He stared at the box and then at Candy. It didn't matter what was in the box, she was the most amazing creature. He looked up at her with moist eyes.

“I've had that for a while, but just wanted the right time to give it to you. It seems to me that you were due a gift.” When he looked confused she told him, “What you did for Buffy and Angel. That was a gift and you asked for nothing back. You amaze me and if there is any worship going on, I'm the one on my knees.”

She kneeled before his spread legs and put her head on his stomach. He was holding the box over her head and so he put it down beside him, lifted her up into his lap, and kissed her soundly. He was up for going a little further, but she pushed herself off his lap and sat on the love seat across from him. “Unwrap it,” she insisted.

“I'd rather unwrap you,” he said with a hot look even as he started to pull the brightly colored paper off. He was looking at her and not really paying attention as he lifted the lid off the box.

“Well?” she asked.

He looked down and his eyes got wide. There in a bed of red tissue paper was a shiny new pair of black Doc Martens. “Oh...wow.” He pulled them out of the box and turned them from side to side.

“Try them on. I hope they fit. I had to do a little creative measuring. Your old ones are so worn that I couldn't find a size marked anywhere.”

She watched as he took off the old ones and carefully put on the new ones. “They are a perfect fit, luv,” he told her. “It will take awhile for them to be as comfortable as the old ones, but I love them.”