Memory Redux

Chapter 19: Reminder

A month passed and no sign of Buffy memories or abilities floated up to Beth’s consciousness. Spike let the muscles at the back of his neck relax, but he was still tense and wary. Especially on this day. Today he didn’t want a bleedin’ hitch. Not one miniscule glitch. He wanted to enjoy every single, solitary moment. All revolved around one person, and for once, it wasn’t Beth. Today he was meeting mum for the second first time, at least twice in his memories if not in Joyce’s.

When he and Beth had finalized the plans on the phone the night before, Beth had sounded ecstatic, and if she had been listening close, she would have heard his own excitement.

Many times Beth had invited him to visit Sunnydale, begged in fact, and he had wanted to say yes and drive there as if chased by the hounds of hell, all carrying a blow torches. But the whole memory clause had kept him away. He just wasn’t willing to chance Beth seeing him in those surroundings and trigger the Buffy memories. He had wondered if it wouldn’t be like putting a stake in her hand. A big, sharp, pointy reminder.

Now it was Saturday, and Beth rode in the car up from Sunnydale with her mother. He was meeting them at the hotel, a hotel with, of course, an enclosed parking garage. When Spike had found out that Joyce was coming into town for a buying trip, he had been quick to offer to take Beth and Joyce out to lunch. When plans were solidified, Spike carefully picked out a cheerful, Mexican restaurant, a place where they could sit and talk for as long as they wanted. He was thankful for this incredible chance to be with Beth and to see Joyce alive once more, and he wanted their time together to last as long as possible. They were to have lunch together, and then afterwards Buffy would go with him while Joyce went shopping on her own for artwork to be sold in her gallery.

All plans were made, and it was time for the implementation. Spike was now fidgeting in the lobby like a young school boy waiting for his mum to pick him up from school. Of course, it wasn’t his mum that he was waiting to see, but Beth’s. But that didn’t matter one fig. It had never mattered to him, and if in the past he had read Joyce right, it hadn’t mattered to her.


On Beth’s part, when her mom had mentioned that she needed to go to Sacramento, she had jumped at the chance to have her meet William. Joyce had been happy to agree, looking forward to an opportunity to check out the older man her daughter was so crazy about.

Embarrassingly anxious for a man and especially for a usually blasé vampire, Spike had been so oblivious to the world around him, Spike showed up an half an hour early. Good thing though since Spike hadn’t counted on all the mirrors that were usually hung in hotels’ lobbies. And this hotel had their fair share. After scouting a good location, Spike was now doing his best to pace and still avoid mirrors as much as possible, all the while waiting for the women to come down to meet him.

Spike had just turned to head back to the elevators when someone tapped him from behind on the shoulder, startling him. Before he could turn around, he heard a perky greeting, “hi.” Spike turned sharply around and looked down. “Bloody hell, Nibblet. You nearly scared the piss out of me.”

Dawn tilted her head, and her brows came together, displaying her confusion. “Huh? with a side of eeww.” To add to her confusion she watched him take a step back, mouth drop open, and eyes grow to the size of bowling balls as shoeplaeplaced surprise. “Geez, jumpy much? I thought you might be my sister’s boyfriend. Are you William?”

She continued to watch him as he slowly nodded but didn’t make a sound. “Earth to astronaut William, I’m Dawn, Beth’s sister, and what’s with the nibblet thing? I’m not feeling very corn-y today.”

“No, no…huh…yes…yes, William…Yeah, I’m William.” Spike had no idea of what to say or do. This was one hell of a curve ball. More like a comet curving in to knock him to Saturn. He definitely could remember Beth telling him that she didn’t have any brothers or sisters when they ate dinner together for the first time. All Spike could think was that Dawn wasn’t suppose to be alive. She wasn’t supposed to be standing there talking to him in her own adorable way. She hadn’t existed in Beth’s world after Buffy’s wish. “You aren’t supposed to be here.”

“I know. I snuck out. I guess you *are* Beth’s boyfriend. Your hair’s kinda a give-away. And gawd, you use more hair dye than Beth does.” Dawn looked him up and down again and then smiled. “Beth was right. You’re a hottie.”

“Well, I see that you’ve met Dawn.” Beth rolled her eyes at her sister before turning to her side, “and this is my mother, Joyce Summers.”

The next twenty minutes passed in the Mexican restaurant he had picked out, with Spike in a daze, functioning on autopilot, hearing little and saying even less. He was both shocked and euphoric. He was sitting in the restaurant watching Beth, Joyce who was no longer dead but alive, and Dawn, a magical mystical entity who belonged to the past reality, debating what they were going to order. And judging by how many times Beth asked if he was alright, his face must have shown his bewilderment.

Shaking himself out of it, he realized that he was now a very happy man that was not only was met by his mum again but also his little sis. He prayed that he would stay on the good side with the Powers That Be and that their reunion would last.

*****

If a vampire could go to heaven, Spike was undoubtedly within the gates all day. Spike would have done anything to spend more time with Joyce and Dawn. Just as years before, the Nibblet and mum took to him straight off; well, not counting the axe Joyce embedded in his head. During lunch, Spike shocked all three women when he announced that he wanted to go shopping with them, and covering his macho image, he explained that he didn’t want to keep Buffy from the shopping spree. From the looks on their faces, they didn’t look like they would believe him until he entered the first store to give a “man’s opinion.” He’d make believers out of them. He suggested a quaint mall with wood floors, varying levels, and small, unique shops. It also housed a brewery restaurant that would make a good place for dinner.

As the day went on, Spike’s mood took a very slow nose dive. As he figured, he was on borrowed time. In fact, he knew he had to accept that this would be his last weekend with Beth. Before she planned with him to come back for another weekend, he would have to think up some reason to sever their relationship. And sever was the best word. It would feel like he was cutting his heart from his chest, leaving him as a pile of dust on the floor. Spike took Dawn’s appearance as a final warning, “stop or else.” The choice was a no brainer decision for him. He would stop. He would enjoy the day with them and then break it off tomorrow morning. She would hurt, but she would still have her normal life.

The last day with Beth, Joyce and Dawn went well. How could it fail? He was with his three favorite women. Around four o’clock, Spike and Dawn slipped away into a high tech arcade with virtual reality games, some three stories high.

That’s where Spike received a fright such that his white blonde hair turned pure white. Bit Size was cheeky as ever. She had waited until there were stuck in a long line, making sure he was a captive audience. “So like, are you going to marry my sister or what?”

Spike’s head jerked around to look at her face to face. Was this question for real or a joke? Hopefully the latter. “Where the bloody hell did that come from?”

“It came from that you should.” Dawn rolled her eyes as he had seen her do so often in Sunnydale. “Do you love her?”

“Of course.” Same Dawn. Direct as ever.

“And she’s off the scale with love for you. So you get married.” She shrugged with a smug smile.

Being a vampire, he had never considered marriage. Claming and mating, yes, but not a human marriage. Vampires don’t stand in front of some poncy preacher. Nevertheless, not his brain cells but his emotions reached out and wrapped around the idea. “Hi, this is my wife, Beth,” sounded like a verbal delight. But reason kicked emotions out. Beth living with him twenty-/sev/seven was asking for a bloody train wreck. With those conditions, how could he keep his vampiric nature under wraps? Emotions tip toed in again. Before he dismissed the idea out right, he just wanted to think it over as if it were a possibility. “Well…I…It’s not that easy.”

‘It’s not that easy’ was as good as a maybe to Dawn, making that one of two thumbs up. All she had to do was push the second thumb up. “Also, you should because you two are way perfect for each other. You make such a great couple.”

Spike was saved by the virtual reality game starting up. Hell, he had already been to two realities. Why not a third?

******

On the ride back to his flat, convinced that it would only make things worse, Spike promised himself to not ask any questions concerning any new Buffy details that were now meshed with Beth’s life. If the night in the club when Buffy made such an impressive visit, then this day had been scary. Joyce had been fine. She had been mixed in this reality from the beginning, but not Dawn. Dawn in the current reality scared him all the way down to his Doc Marten shoes. But why are promises so hard to keep in this new reality. The only promise he had made concerning Buffy that he had kept was to not do anything to bring back Buffy’s memories. He had held true, but Beth hadn’t helped. It was like he had his own personal mechanic of life methodically throwing every soddin’ wrench he could find into the works of his life. Spike groaned. ‘To whom it may concern, I’d like to take my car to a different mechanic, who belongs to the Happy Ending Union instead of the Doom and Gloom Union.’

Despite Spike’s wishes for change, he had to dig deeper into this new school bus sized surprise he fondly called Niblett. “Beth, I thought you said you didn’t have a sis.” There it was. He broke a soddin’ promise again. Was it really a shock?

With a dramatically sad look on her face, Beth slowly shook her head. “I may have said I *wish* I didn’t have a sister. I’ve even tried to give her away, but no one will take her. Well, there was this circus, but they gave her back. Mother won’t even apologize for having her.”

Relieved, Spike chuckled. Just typical sister inter-family bickering. More importantly, no slayer or mystical key.

Silence fell over the car as they continued across town to his flat. Beth chewed her lip, twirled a lock of her hair around her finger, and her eyebrow that was visible to him slanted down, causing wrinkles across her forehead. Judging from her profile, Spike assumed that she was sussing out something serious.

“Kitten, penny for your thoughts.” Her serious look fled when she glanced over and flashed him a 500 watt smile. Her eyes were focused on him, but her look was far away and dreamy. That peeked his interest even more. He hoped those thoughts were about him. “Ok, a kiss for your thoughts. A purr-for-me kind of kiss.”

“Deal.” Beth leaned over and hastily pressed her lips to his. “See, I even made it easy for you. You can give me the purr-y one later.” Buffy settled back into her seat. “I was thinking about my annoying, little sister. Dawn thought you were the best, you know.”

It was Spike’s turn to smile with dreamy eyes when he thought about spending the day with Beth’s sister. He nodded as he answered. “The nib…Dawn is pretty wonderful herself.” The Nibblet’s nicknames were hard to suppress.

“Well…umm…uh…Dawn said that she asked you if you were going to marry me.” With her hand hidden beside the car door, she crossed her fingers.

“Yes, she did.” Spike feared where this conversation was headed. Probably off the white cliffs of Dover.

“She is always finding ways to embarrass me.”

“She’s a little sis. That’s her job to embarrass her big sis. She is only living up to her job description, pet.” If he were lucky, they were just going to discuss the Bit, not the marriage issue.

“Well?”

Spike could hear her heart racing. There was that cliff again. Her heart was racing him off the cliff into an abyss. “Well what?” That’s it. Play ignorant and hope the marriage thing goes away. Yeah, ignorance is bliss.

“Are you…This is not a proposal or anything but would you marry? I mean someone like me?” She rushed to cover up her embarrassment and fears. “I don’t mean right this minute, but maybe if you were with that person say a year or two…and then possibly in the future you would do it?” Beth chewed her lower lip, wondering if she had made a huge, King Kong size mistake.

Spike momentarily closed his eyes. Ignorance just got slapped down by knowledge. With the other hand, King Kong just batted him into Nevada. What does a man say to a question that he wanted with every cell of his being to answer yes, but had to say no. Bugger. Bugger. Bugger. Bugger it all to hell; he had to break things off with her tonight to save her new life.

Near his flat, fate took a hand, or maybe it was a fist to his stomach. Tonight, fate was in the form of a figure running through the farthest reaches of his head lights, unseen to a human but not to a vampire.

They had been driving on the side of the cemetery opposite from the funeral home when the man crossed their path. The trouble was that Spike’s senses were tingling. Spike stopped and snapped off the headlights. Luckily the figure was on the driver’s side of the car so that he could turn his head away from Beth and shift from blue to yellow eyes. Nevertheless, he didn’t want to see what he saw.

Having seen nothing, Beth was confused. “What did you stop for? Did you see something?”

“Nothing, luv. Just imagining creepy crawlies.” He turned the car’s lights back on, and since Beth was with him, Spike tried to push what he had seen out of his mind. No such bleedin’ luck. Before he could start the engine again, two more figures dragging a man crossed through the fare reaches of the light. Again, far enough and light so faint that Beth couldn’t see the vampires and their meal.

TBC

I am again pleading for your vote. This links takes you right to the ballot. If you have already: thank you, thank you, thank you. If not, please vote. You might want to read the instructions. It’s a tad tricky.

http://www.flesh-for-fantasy.com/SpuffyAwards/vote.html

These are the categories with my stories nominations:
Best General Saga – Who is Who/Relentless Revenge
Best General Fluff – With A Little Luck
General “We missed the Bed Again.” – Memory Redux . Relentless Revenge is also nominated but I love the scene in Memory Redux
Best General Humor – With A Little Luck

Thanks for your support.
Dana