Altered Perception

Hard Truths

“LA?” Spike repeated weakly, why in the many layers of hell did it have to be Peaches’ city? Still he reasoned, this might be a good thing. Last he’d heard Peaches had that other Watcher fellow working with him, plus the cheerleader that Xander had briefly been with. Plus he had some sort of link to the Powers that Be, maybe if they did this right he might help them, after all he knew Xander, OK so they seemed to hate each other but Peaches was one of the white hats, forced to fight for and save the innocent in search of his redemption and all that bollocks, and God knew that Xander was one of the innocent.

Giles looked apologetic, “yes I’m afraid so Spike, I know that you and Angel have had your… differences, but I had hoped to enlist his and his team’s assistance. The longer Xander remains in this state the more convinced I am that there may be some mystical forces at work, perhaps a malevolent entity preventing him from returning.” Removing his glasses he started to polish them “relocating temporarily to LA may provide us with invaluable assistance, as well as ensuring that in the meantime Xander’s needs are met.” Deciding to put Giles out of his obvious misery Spike nodded, “Yeah I get it Rupert, LA’s a good idea and Peaches’ people might be able to help, s’just, well like you said me and Peaches, don’t exactly play well together. But I can get past that if it means Xander getting better.” Giles looked relieved, “well that’s settled then, Willow and Tara will be staying here to take care of Dawn, run the Magic Box in my absence and keep an eye on events here” fixing both witches with a stern look he said “there is to be no patrolling whilst we are gone, it’s too risky to send the Buffy-Bot out alone and I will not have either of you in danger whilst we are gone, is that understood?” When both witches nodded in agreement he continued “should you become aware of anything whilst we are away I want you to contact us immediately and if necessary one of us will return.”

After promising Giles 14 times that they wouldn’t do anything to endanger themselves whilst he and Spike were in LA the witches left to meet Dawn, she would be home from school shortly and they knew she would want to visit Xander again before they left for LA. She had been stopping by each morning before school and then whenever the witches could bring her by in the evenings. Whilst they were alone Spike decided to find out what Giles still wasn’t saying, the only reason he hadn’t pushed it before now was the sense that Giles wasn’t keeping something from him, more that he didn’t want the witches to know. “So, Rupert, you gonna tell me what’s got your knickers in a twist?”

Giles sighed “you really don’t miss much do you? It’s nothing really, or I should say it’s nothing that anyone can do anything about. I spoke to Xander’s insurance company yesterday, did you know I was his medical proxy? And that he has a living will? I never thought that he had given much thought to the future, but he’s had the paperwork in place since graduating from high school. He hides so much from us all…” he trailed off sadly, one hand gently resting on Xander’s foot and staring sadly at Xander’s peaceful face, “as I was saying, his insurance company informed me that his policy does not cover long-term care. I have a not-inconsiderable amount put away, enough to cover at least 3 months in the hospital we are taking him to in LA. As much as I want to think that he is going to be back with us well before that time is up I need to consider what to do if that is not the case. I believe that if I sell my house, there is a small living space above the Magic Box that with a small amount of work would more than meet my needs then the fixed income from the Magic Box and the proceeds from the house would be sufficient to secure a more long-term arrangement if necessary.”

Spike stared at the man in front of him, a man who had given up everything to defend the world from the forces of darkness. No wife, after all who would marry a man whose priority would always be another woman? A younger, beautiful woman with super-powers? No children or other family. Few friends, it must be hard to have a social life when your evenings were filled with slaying. Funny, he’d never really thought about how much a Watcher gave up, sure the legends spoke of a girl, chosen to defend the world and everyone thought it was a rough gig, but the Watcher had it worse really. Same hours, same danger and worst of all, when a Slayer died, as they inevitably did they were the ones left behind.

No blaze of glory for them, instead an empty life with no idea how to fill it. Spike suspected that if Xander, Red, Dawn and Glinda were not part of the equation, if he didn’t love them as much as he had Buffy then Giles would likely have drank himself to death or gotten himself killed in some impossible fight with something bigger and badder than him within a month of Buffy’s death. Then again, if Xander and Red hadn’t been around all these years, if Buffy hadn’t been a different Slayer to all the others, surrounding herself with family and friends, securing herself to this life so firmly that she had died the way he had known she would, protecting one of them. Then the odds were she would have died years ago, hell he had heard from Angel during his brief return as Angelus how Xander, ‘the Slayers White Knight’ he had sneered, had saved the Slayer, forcing Angel down into the Master’s lair and bringing the dead Slayer back to life.

Shaking off maudlin thoughts he was pleased that this was something that he could at least help with, “no need to worry about money Rupes, I’ll sort it.” He laughed out loud at the look of shock on the Watchers face, “what? How? What? Bloody hell!” he slumped into a chair and continued to stare at Spike. “It can’t be all that surprising Rupert, I know Angelus was, well insane, when you met him but before that he was actually pretty bloody smart. Wouldn’t do for his favoured childe to have no money would it? There’s dozens of accounts across the world in the Aurelius name and more than a few of them are mine. S’just, well I need Angel for the details and honestly, things have never got bad enough for me to contact him for cash before. But, well s’not for me now is it? ‘Sides, m’gonna have to speak to him soon anyway, might as well get something out of it.”

Giles slowly shook his head, “Spike, you were almost starved when you showed up on my doorstep after the Initiative, you know as well as I do that a few more days and you would have been close to dust. You mean to say that despite that you still wouldn’t go to Angel for help? You instead turned to people who you must have been 90% sure would just stake you on sight?” Spike frowned “when you put it like that it sounds crazy”, “yet you would ask for Xander” Giles’ voice was soft, “yeah, well…” Spike wasn’t sure what to say to that. “You’re in love with him aren’t you? I mean, I knew it already but I couldn’t be sure it wasn’t an infatuation of some sort, it wouldn’t be the first time, or even the third that Xander has attracted a demon. But, you truly do love him.” Spike shuffled his feet and glanced at Xander’s motionless form on the bed, “yeah, yeah I do” he said and he hoped that Giles would hear the sincerity in his voice. Giles stood and crossing the room he awkwardly embraced Spike, “if, when we get him back tell him, make him know how special he is, every day” before pulling away with suspiciously wet eyes and mumbling something about having paperwork to deal with and being back in an hour or so he left the room.