Xander
shivered violently as an icy-cold wind blew across the cemetery and right
through them. One of his hands held a crossbow, but he shoved the other in the pocket
of his coat, as though that might make him feel warmer. As he was wearing
gloves, he did not notice much of a difference at all. He glanced over at Spike
who most certainly did not look any warmer than Xander felt. "Thought this
would be over a long time ago," he said.
Narrowing
his eyes in confusion, "It's only December, Luv.
Still got a few more months of winter ahead of us."
"I meant stalking
cemeteries in the middle of the night. I didn't escape Sunnydale
and come halfway across the world just to wind up babysitting fresh
gravesites." The wind was impossibly quick in its return, and Xander shivered
again. He noticed Spike did likewise, and frowned at the sight.
"I dunno," Spike said with a shrug. "I kind of like it,
actually. Sort of back to basics. Feels like old times again." As soon as he
was done answering, he clenched his teeth to keep them from chattering. Then he
closed his eyes and brought his hand up to his face. "Hhh'Schikkhhhh!"
Xander frowned
again, but decided his frowning wasn't solving the problem. He took his hand
out of his pocket and set the crossbow down. "With one exception," he said,
watching the new Spike shiver and sniffle. He walked the few steps over to
where Spike stood. Xander unwrapped the black scarf from around his neck and
offered it to Spike.
He may not
have been the old Spike, but he refused the scarf just like the old Spike would
have. Well, maybe not just the same. The
old Spike probably would have reached his level of impatience long ago and
snapped Xander's neck by now.
With the
way Spike was glaring at Xander for offering the scarf, however, Xander could
guess how close the former vampire was to that action. Still, he knew Spike far
too well to let that stop him. He draped the scarf around Spike's neck and then
wrapped it around several times. "You need to keep warm. I told you to bundle
up before we headed out here. You're going to get chilled and catch cold again."
Spike still
glared at him, but softened a little as he started to feel a little warmer
already. As Xander pulled the scarf into place, both ends trailing down over
Spike's brown, fleece-lined coat, Spike leaned forward and caught the man on
the cheek with a kiss.
Xander
pulled back, smiling. "Make that two exceptions."
Spike's
return smile was brief, as his eyes widened. For a moment, Xander thought it
was because of another sneeze. And, an instant later, Spike's breath hitched
and Spike's hand flew up to his face. But the real reason, Xander realized a
moment too late, was that the fledgling vampire had dug his way out of the grave and was
standing right behind Xander.
Xander
heard the sound of a smack and felt the side of his face sting. Nonetheless, he
dove for the crossbow, recovered it, and fired up at the vampire, missing its
heart by an inch. He caught sight of Spike out of the corner of his eye and saw
the man double over with another strong sneeze. "heyyKTChhhhh!" The sneeze left him vulnerable to the not-as-yet-dusted vampire,
and Spike suddenly found himself trading punches. Xander's crossbow picked
possibly the worst time ever to jam, so he pulled out the thick, wooden arrow,
gathered his strength, and came at the vampire from behind, while it was
engaged with Spike.
One strong
stab was all it took for Spike and Xander to be looking at each other through a
cloud of dust which settled on the ground between them, along with a beautiful
emerald ring. Xander dropped the arrow and picked the ring up, holding it in
the palm of his gloved hand as he examined it. "This makes five, right?" Spike
nodded and rubbed at his nose with the cuff of his coat. "Excellent. Then
crisis averted. World saved. Time to go home." He grabbed one of the ends of
the scarf and used it to pull Spike along. They headed straight for the front
of the cemetery where they'd parked the motorcycle.