Pack and Something More

Pack and Something More
Word Count: 2,469
calikocat

A/N: So I’m thinking this might take place right after the episode doomed. Only Spike is not leaving the basement, at least not without Xander and Jessica.

XXX

The water was warm and a comfort to her tired body as she stood under the spray relishing the liquid heat. She’d gotten the last of the shampoo from her hair a few minutes ago, but her mind was still racing, jumping about, barely able to sift through all that she had learned, and all that was yet to come. With a sigh and a shake of her head she turned the water off and reached for a towel.

So…my pup knows about the Hellmouth, and has for a few years now. He’s best friends with a slayer, a slayer that he revived after she died, and now he’s got a vampire staying with him. She wrapped her hair in a towel and grabbed another to dry the rest of her. And he’s got the hots for the vampire, William the Bloody of all demons. Jeeze, can my boy pick’em or what? A giggle followed her inner monologue and she hurried to stifle it, aware that either the demon or her offspring could hear it.

After wrapping the second towel around her body she moved with slow grace to the attached bedroom but she stopped suddenly as something occurred to her. She’d told Xander about her life…but he’d hadn’t done the same. Oh god. He’d just given her a few basic details, best friend a slayer, primal possession, Watcher without tweed. She giggled again, this time not worrying about them hearing her and stumbled to the bed. There was no telling what sort of secrets he’d kept from her because that’s what you did when you’d seen what was really in the dark. You kept secrets to keep your loved ones safe.

“But he won’t have to do that anymore.” She whispered to herself as she fumbled to open the drawer of the night stand. Her fingers touched the smooth photograph and she pulled it out. I’ll have to show him this. Jesus Nathan, I never saw any of this coming. Care to give me a hand? A sign maybe? She looked longingly at the snapshot of the two of them. She looked so young and happy with Nathan’s arm wrapped around her. He had always worked the rebel look without a flaw. Ripped jeans so thin they looked molded on accompanied by a beaten up leather jacket.

“What would you think about your son wanting to jump a vampire, and not just any vampire either; our boy wants William the damned Bloody!” She traced the familiar face in the snapshot, and chocolate eyes looked back at her, twinkling with mischief behind the long black hair that threatened to cover his face. She remembered when the photo had been taken, the day had been windy and Nathan hadn’t pulled his hair back.

A soft smile graced her face and a tear made its way down her cheek. She’d always loved him best like that, smiling with his hair moving in the wind. Like something wild, sometimes he was almost like a wolf, no other man would run with her, hunt with her, howl at the sky and moon with her. Nathan had been her pack, her whole world.

But now she had a new pack…maybe. She definitely had Xander and he would always be pack, and if her pup played his cards right Spike might end up being pack too. After all he already smelled like he belonged.

A snort escaped her and she imagined Nathan meeting Spike. God, the two of them would have gotten along fine. And wasn’t that a scary thought.

xxx

After Jessica had gone upstairs to shower Xander gave Spike a look before heading to the basement. Not sure what the look meant made him a curious vampire. And curious vampires are predictable creatures, so he followed. Though slowly as the aches from the beating Tony had given him were still giving him trouble. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he nearly stumbled in shock. The boy was bleeding and the scent of fresh human blood was nearly overwhelming, it had been too long since he’d had a taste.

“Xander?” He looked around the room, eyes wide and wild. If that boy has hurt himself…

“Over here.” Xander was sitting on the bed a knife in his right hand and blood slowly flowing from his left wrist.

His jaw nearly dropped but he was still able to growl at the boy’s foolishness. ”What are you doing? Have you gone mad? You’re Mum smells the blood and she’ll be down here right quick.”

Xander rolled his eyes and put the knife down on the bedside table. “I doubt it, she’s trusts my judgment and if you bite me I’ll bite you back, wolf remember?” He gave Spike a grin and patted a spot on the bed beside him. “Sit.”

“Barmy brat.” But nevertheless Spike made his way around the bed to sit on the other side. He eased onto the mattress and looked at the boy. “Well?”

Xander blushed and held out the bleeding appendage. “I uh—haven’t gone down to the red cross yet this week so…”

“Wondered where you got the good stuff from. Been breakin’ in?”

Xander snorted. “Please, like I’d do that when I can get the stuff for free anyway.” He moved his wrist closer. “I know you heal better if you’ve had human, just drink a little. I’ll go by tomorrow and get the good stuff.”

Not wanting to turn down a good snack Spike took hold of Xander’s arm and leaned down to run his tongue along the cut. The boy’s taste nearly exploded in his mouth and his taste buds nearly cried at the liquid treasure. It had been too long since he’d drank right from the source. But this was unlike anything else. This was given freely. He drank only a mouthful before running his tongue over the cut again to help it heal.

“Bloody hell boy, do you live off chocolate? I can taste it in your blood.” He blinked. “Strong stuff too…need to lie down for a bit.”

Xander gave him a smile. “Not stopping you.”

“You’re insane.”

“Probably.” Xander moved to sit on the floor, giving up the fold out to Spike. Spike laid down facing Xander, his own face showing how uncertain he was. “What is all this then?”

“What is all of what?”

“You and your Mum acting like things are just keen and neither of you are objecting to a vampire in the house. And what’s all that rot about me being pack?”

Xander looked thoughtful for a moment. “To tell ya the truth I’m not sure what’s going on. I think Mom’s just glad to be herself again and since you smell like pack she doesn’t mind you being around.”

“All right fine, I’ll accept that the too of you are a little out there when it comes to logic. But this pack thing, how do you know…” Spike stopped and closed his eyes for moment. “God your blood is rich pet.” He opened his eyes again, the dizziness fading. “Why do I feel like pack to you?”

Xander gave a shy smile from beneath thick lashes. “You always protect pack…that’s what I did a couple of weeks ago when we narrowly stopped the end of the world. The building was coming down on us and I just reacted and well, you were there.”

Spike nodded. “You kept me from getting smashed up…thanks for that.” Xander nodded his face a light pink. “So, let me get this straight, ever since you saved me from the rubble I’ve felt like pack?”

“Pretty much…but sleeping in my bed probably helped...I mean I could smell my scent on you and…damn, there’s just no way to get that sentence out safely.”

“I think I get it. Staying here meant I smelled like home yea?”

“Yeah.”

“Nothin’ wrong with that then.”

Xander blinked. “There’s not?”

“Nah, it’s been a long time since I had someone to hunt with, could be an experience to have a pack.”

Xander looked wistful all of a sudden. “I haven’t run since graduation night. I miss it.”

“How fast can you change? What triggers it?”

Brown eyes locked onto blue and in a moment instead of Xander sitting on the basement floor, there was a wolf. It was huge, bigger than any domestic dog Spike had ever seen. The wolf’s fur was a dark brown, a chocolate to match the laughing eyes. And the wolf was laughing at him, its eyes were twinkling with merriment and it’s tongue lolled out of its mouth in a crazy smile.

“Bloody hell that’s fast, didn’t even see you change…you can still understand me right?” Xander plopped a huge front paw on Spike’s shoulder and tilted his head to the left, as if to say duh!

“Right then.”

Xander made a deep rumble sound in his throat before jumping over Spike and onto the bed. On the far side of the bed he lay down with his head on the pillow and looked at the vampire.

Spike smirked at him. “I could go for a nap, here, don’t hog the pillow.” Spike settled down next to Xander and gazed into the wolf’s eyes. The flecks of green were there at the edges, but it was obvious, to any who really knew Xander that this was no ordinary wolf. Red could probably have recognized him right off, if not after a few crazed antics that only the boy would do.

He raised a hand to pet the thick fur at Xander’s neck, gentle and slow at first as he didn’t know how the boy would react. But Xander just lay there, every now and then rising up into the hand that traced through his ruff.

“Like that?” Another rumble was Spike’s answer and he laughed and continued to pet Xander until the wolf’s eyelids grew heavy and closed. Eventually Spike’s hand slowed till it was barely moving and he found himself slipping away into slumber to the sound of Xander’s deep breathing.

xxx

When she opened her eyes it took a moment for the room to come into focus in the fading daylight. The Sun was going down…but she couldn’t remember why that was important…something to do with vampires and wolves…Pack! Jessica shot up off the bed, moving faster than she had in years, sleep falling away along with the towel that had beenl wrapped around her body, leaving her naked and quivering in anticipation.

She remembered. They were going to hunt tonight, as a pack, a small pack, but a pack nonetheless. She laughed softly and headed toward her bedroom door…but stopped short and decided to slip something on. Xander would appreciate her clothed state before they shifted.

A shirt and pair of shorts later found her making her way down the stairs quietly. The silence was natural, as much a part of her as breathing and she reveled in it.

The basement door was open and she slipped passed it and down the steps, avoiding the loose one entirely. The sight that greeted her in the dusk of the room made her smile. Boy and vampire lay facing each other, the vampire’s hand rested on her son’s neck. Xander’s breathing was deep, natural compared to Spike’s deathly stillness. She took a step further into the room and they both twitched. She watched them as them they opened their eyes and locked gazes before looking at her.

It was dark now, the sun was down for the day and the night lay ahead of them.

“Ready?”

Spike started to move his hand from Xander’s neck but the boy caught it and gave it a squeeze before rolling off the bed. He gave the vampire a smirk.

“Well? Are we ready Spike?”

Spike grinned at him. “Sure.” He glanced past Xander to where Jessica stood. “Lead the way Mum.”

xxx

Buffy shivered as another howl rang out through the night air. The stupid dogs were scaring away all the baby vamps. She and the Initiative boys weren’t getting anything done.

“Maybe would should call it a night?” Riley asked, the other men dressed in black looked disappointed but nodded. The monsters weren’t coming out tonight.

“It doesn’t make sense.” Buffy grumbled. “It’s the wrong time of month for werewolves to be out.”

Riley smiled at her. “Could just be regular wolves Buffy. Even hostiles should be wary of wolves, they hunts in packs and can bring down prey much larger than themselves.”

“I guess. Still, can’t believe we wasted all that time. I could have been studying.”

Riley chuckled and nudged her arm. “Wasn’t a total loss.”

She smiled at him and took his arm. “True.”

xxx

Spike grinned as they ran, an inhuman laughed escaping his throat as the fledge they were hunting tried to outrun them. The creature was exceptionally young, so young it still smelled like grave dirt and flowers. It felt good to truly hunt again, to feel the wind rushing past, his feet pounding silently over the ground.

Xander let out another howl. He was running alongside the fledge now, taunting it, letting it know that it was only a matter of time. Jessica answered her son’s howl with one of her own and the fledge scrambled to a stop. She had circled around them to cut off the vampire’s escape. The pathetic thing trembled as he gazed from mother to son, from the black wolf to the brown. He made an attempt to scramble back words but stopped when he bumped into Spike.

“Going somewhere?”

“Why?”

Spike didn’t bother with an explanation, sure that the fledge wondered why another vampire was hunting him, why one of his own kind chased him. But in a moment of clarity Spike didn’t feel like a vampire, and he threw his head back and howled at the sliver of moon high above.

His pack joined him. And the fledge knew his time was up.

xxx

Giles finished his glass; the cognac burned a slow trail on the way down. He needed the burn, welcomed it. The night was too eerie, even for the hell mouth. The howls brought up old memories, old promises, and the faces of dead friends. The alcohol lessened the haunted feeling that tried to overcome him.

He refilled his glass and carried it to the window and looked up at the sliver of moon. “Here’s to you old man.” He smiled a bitter smile and toasted a man long dead. And for a brief moment he thought he could hear the man’s voice. He’d been crazy like that, howling at the moon like a lunatic. Nathan always was a crazy bastard. Giles snorted and made another toast. “Hope your having a better time than I am.”

XXX