Subject: [Beautiful_Mind_Post] ABM- Chapter 4 Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2004 03:35:33 -0000 From: "Julianne" Author: Shadow Eyes, AotB Story Title: A Beautiful Mind Rating: This chapter: PG, but will go as high as R Spoilers: Sometime in S6, none of the Willow magic abuse happened, except for her bringing back Buffy. Spike and Buffy were still together, and still broke up, but everything is getting better in her life now Disclaimer: Joss, James, ME, Fox.... Archiving: Just let me know. I'd be honored to have my story posted anywhere on the net. Chapter 4: It Doesn't Matter Sometimes he would leave just to be out of there. Being in there too long did things to him. Too many dark thoughts and memories there. And the cold... it was strange to think that any place in northern California could be so cold while outside it was so hot. On nights like this he would wander around until daybreak letting himself think he belonged to this world. Each time he contemplated for just a little while what it would be like to just stay there, see the sun rise and be done with it all. But there was still so much to do here. Tonight, he walked by on the docks. It was only ten minutes from his crypt on bike. Here, he could close his eyes, listen to the surf hit the shore and pretend everything was perfect. He could close his eyes and pretend it was light here. She was waiting for him at the end of the dock, smiling, glowing. He could walk to her, touch her face, and smile back. She wouldn't be out of grasp, she wouldn't fly away from him. But when he opened his eyes, all he saw was darkness. It was becoming harder and harder to open his eyes. Spike walked along the old wood and leaned over the edge looking down at the water. Reflected there was the railing of the dock and the moon. Nothing more. Almost like he wasn't there to begin with. And sometimes he would wish just that. For a while he stood there, watching the moon shiver the way it did in the ocean. His mind cleared and he got to, for once, just enjoy being alone. When he tore his eyes away from the moon in the sea, he saw on the far end of the dock, maybe thirty feet off from the shore, something large floating softly in the water. He walked slowly to the other side of the dock, carefully because as well as he knew land demons, sea demons were a different story and he was not keen on becoming too familiar with them. But as he got closer to the end of the dock, he saw what was really floating in the water. He ran to the end and looked down the ten feet it was to the surface. There in the shimmering moonlight, but almost hidden by the beginning of the dock, was a woman. Spike assumed she could not have been any older than twenty one, if that. Her hair was dark and her face was soft, eyes closed but mouth open and taking in shallow but steady breaths. Spike took off his coat and shirt and threw them to shore, proceeding to dive into the cool water. He swam through the black waters until he reached the drifter. She was floating on an old and rotted piece of surf board that was barely large enough to hold her. Spike put his arm around the woman, discarding the surf board back to the sea, and swam steadily to shore. When the water became shallow enough for him to stand up in, he waded though the water. Climbing through the sand, he carried her to the place where he had thrown his shirt and jacket. His hearing found a fairly strong pulse, but upon inspection, she was not in a good way. Her neck was bleeding steadily, but the wounds there were not caused by a vampire, but something else. Apparently it had thrown her in the ocean to die but she found something to float on before passing out. Spike collected his shirt and coat, putting his shirt back on and wrapping the coat around the woman. He then picked her up, one hand under her knees and one under her back, and carried her to his motorcycle. He set her up behind him, wrapping her hands around his waist and using one hand to hold them there while he started the engine. During the ride back to the cemetery she came to for a moment "Don't worry luv. Found you on the beach and I'm just taking you to get fixed up." Spike slowed the bike to a stop, laid her on the nearby bench, and pushed his bike into the fenced off area behind the old maintenance building where tractors and lawnmowers would have been stored. When he returned to the woman he saw her looking around the cemetery with groggy eyes. "My place is a bit unorthodox, hope you don't mind." The woman nodded gently and wrapped her arms around his neck as he lifted her up once again. The responsibility that he felt toward this woman was the same as he would have felt toward Dawn or Buffy, should they be in this situation. She was a human who had a family and a group of friends like the Scoobies who cared about her, and maybe someone as lovesick as he was who, upon hearing the news of his love's death, would have been just as distraught as Spike himself was when Buffy died. Spike could no longer imagine inflicting that amount of pain on any other living being. Yet, even as he carried this helpless person to a place where he could wrap her neck and address the rest of her wounds, he felt he was betraying her. The woman trusted him. She rested her head on his shoulder as if he was her salvation. Not five years ago, this action would have meant the death of her. If she knew what he was, the people that he had killed, the fact that she was probably better off with the demon that bit her throat than she was with him... He knew if she found out what he was, she would have tried to run. It felt like cheating to let her think that he was just a normal guy. Yet, he felt himself holding her close to him, reassuring her that she could trust him to take care of her. He would take care of her. And then he would send her on her way.