Subject: [Beautiful_Mind_Post] ABM- CHAPTER 5 Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 23:11:06 -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 5: Finding Beauty Spike set the woman gently on his chair, who, completely subject to the whims of unconsciousness, struggled to get better comfort, wiggling her shoulders just a bit to sink further into the soft fabric. Meanwhile, Spike was busy pulling his comforters and pillows off of the bed downstairs, dragging them up the ladder and making the stone slab in his "living room" a hospital bed for her. Pulling the woman from what would probably have been a deep sleep, Spike moved her to where he had set up the makeshift bed, ignoring the way she cuddled in to his arms the way she had with his armchair. The clear white liquid created a thin smooth stream down her neck and what once would have been a delicious combination of booze and blood was now a rosy pink stain on his comforter. The woman, at the moment deep in her own mind, didn't notice the alcohol running down her neck, nor did she react from any pain it may have caused her. The only movement on her part was the gentle roll of her eyes behind her eyelids and the slow movement of her chest with ever breath she took. Taking gauze and a long bandage, Spike carefully lifted the woman's limp head and wrapped the bandages slowly around her neck, coming to a stop and taping the fabric in place. As he lowered her head, some of her hair fell into the rosy puddle in the comforter. Beyond anything else, beyond killers or lovers, vampires were creatures of senses. A sight, a smell, a taste in a vampire can evoke powerful, vivid feelings and memories, a quality unequaled by any other race. It had happened many times before. When tasting Dru's blood for the second time, the liquid copper in his mouth brought him back to the night she had sealed his fate in that dingy alley. The smell of chocolate always hit him hard with a bright image of Joyce smiling at him. When Spike pulled this stranger's hair out from under her head the dark locks weaved in between his fingers and he was brought to another place so vivid that he lost his grip on reality and lived there for a moment. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Deep, heavy breaths filled the air. His hands were in her hair, his lips on her face. The bed sheets were pulled over them and the air around them was saturated with dark. Yet he could make out ever expression on her face, every cry, every gasp, every single thing. Things were soft. Every touch, ever caress, soft. A product of their environment he later supposed. But it fooled him just enough. In the moment where everything was perfect, where his arms were wrapped around her and her body pressed against his, everything fell into place in the world he had created. He let his head fall into her shoulder and trailed his cheek along hers. The feeling of euphoria was consuming. Everything as it should be. He leaned down and whispered his girl just how much he loved her. His mind was free of the darkness that had been sucking the hope from him since he fell in love with her, and everything was so clear. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pulling out of the momentary internment, Spike jerked his hands away from this woman's hair, afraid that the nerve endings would fire once again and create a relapse. He dragged the bottle of vodka to the floor with him taking deep swallows of burning relief. That night, he had finally convinced her to be with him in his bed. He led her there and got to kiss her and touch her the way he had always wanted to. To him it was a dream. For just a moment he could imagine that they were in a soft place where she could see in his eyes that it meant everything to him. He knew what it meant to her, thought, because after that night it never happened again. The sound of the clear glass of vodka shattering explosively against the far wall didn't even echo. The walls just absorbed the sound, like a vacuum, bringing the world too quickly back to silence. Whenever Spike would light a candle, the darkness seemed to push on it until the little light it produced was smothered by thick black air. He had long ago stopped even trying to see this place. The light of early dawn didn't reach his corner of Sunnydale. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was strange to watch someone trust Spike the way that woman had. To Buffy, he was a loner. She had never taken the time to find out what it was he did while alone, but seeing him carry the woman from his bike to his crypt sparked her interest. She had been patrolling longer than normal tonight, spending time enjoying the lack of having anything to fight. There hadn't been any sort of demons for a long time, so now, on her hunts, she took her CD player and listened to music while enjoying everything she had missed for over half a year. In the months since their relationship ended things had gotten a lot better, but not for him. She could see that every time they spoke. She didn't think it was fair that she got out of their relationship for the most part unscathed and he hadn't. Buffy sat outside, watching Spike watch the wall. As it got lighter outside, it got harder to see through the dead ivy of the small windows at the base of the crypt, but it wasn't for lack of trying. The woman lying in the room with him reminded her of Juliet, lying on the tomb, seemingly dead. And Spike was Romeo, weeping at her side. Please, please leave feedback! Jules