In Your Eyes


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“Miss a soppy love scene, did I?” he asked sarcastically, inwardly seething with jealousy, as soon as Angel returned to the office. Angel just rolled his eyes and settled into an armchair.

“She’s sleeping now.”

“She needs to. Doesn’t look like she has for a few days.”

He fell silent, frowning.

“She didn’t look well at all,” he continued, “Looked tired… and not the least bit happy.”

“Maybe life in Rome wasn’t so good for her,” Angel suggested, staring out of the window.

“Maybe,” he murmured half to himself, wondering just what had brought his beautiful Slayer so low. He was lost in his thoughts, remembering Buffy’s words to him just minutes ago, when there was a knock at the door. Both vampires looked up and smiled affectionately when it opened to reveal Fred.

“Hey guys! What y’all doing?” she asked with a smile.

Angel shrugged and she frowned, turning her gaze to him, brown eyes searching his.

“What’s up with you two? Did you have another fight?”

Before he could make any sort of sarcastic answer, Angel spoke up.

“Buffy’s here.”

“Oh,” Fred intoned, her expression turning serious, “What’s she doing in LA?”

“He means she’s here in the building,” Spike explained and the girl mouthed another silent ‘oh’, looking between them both worriedly.

“You’re not going to start, like, mud-wrestling for her affection or anything?”

He laughed but Angel just glared at her and she gave him a wide grin.

“Wow, the famous Buffy. I can’t wait to meet her.”



Fred’s wish was fulfilled about three hours later when there was a knock at the office again and Buffy entered, flashing a weak smile – her eyes avoiding his. Fred had returned not five minutes before and rose to her feet now, smiling widely at the other girl.

“Hi, I’m Fred! You must be Buffy.”

She stepped forward and shook the stunned Slayer’s hand.

“It’s so good to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you!” she gushed, smiling widely.

“Erm, thanks? It’s, err, nice to meet you too… Fred?”

“It’s short for Winifred.”

“Oh.”

The room was plunged into awkward silence but he couldn’t for the life of him spark up a conversation. All he could do was stare at his Slayer, studying her face intently. Finally, awkwardly, she spoke up, directing her question to Angel.

“So, erm, does this place have food? Some of us have only had plane food in the last twenty-four hours.”

“Sure,” Angel answered with a smile, “There’s a canteen downstairs. I’ll-“

“Let me!” Fred interrupted, turning to Buffy, “I’ll take you. Leave these boys to, you know, important things.”

The look on Buffy’s face showed an interesting mixture of surprise and amusement – clearly she wasn’t too convinced that they had anything important to do. She acquiesced though, turning to the brunette and murmuring a quiet ‘great’. With a wide smile, Fred ushered the slightly bewildered Slayer out of the room, leaving the two vampires alone.



“Don’t know what she’s playing at,” he grumbled.

“I guess she wanted Buffy to feel a bit more relaxed. Not surprising, with the way you were staring at her.”

“Like you weren’t staring too,” he retorted with a sneer, “Making moon eyes at her.”

Angel surprised him then by laughing.

“You can hardly throw stones, Spike. You looked like you were ready to drop to your knees and declare your love.”

He growled lowly at his grandsire and pushed himself out of the chair.

“Just give her some space, will you?” he snapped, leaving Angel’s office and slamming the door shut around him. He stormed off down the corridor, not really sure where he was going but just knowing he needed to get as far away from his poncy bloody grandsire as possible before he started throwing things at that stupid large forehead of his.

He growled to himself and found his feet leading him towards the canteen. Just like old times, he mused – stalking the Slayer in a desperate attempt to get close to her without getting body parts chopped off. Not that he thought she could take him in a fight, with how tired she looked at the moment. She needed a good looking after – he scolded himself before he could even go down that path. She may not have really been with The Immortal but she had still moved on, that much was obvious. She had a new life in Rome and she seemed, if not happy, then settled.



With a sigh, he reached the door of the canteen and lingered by it, scanning the crowd for that familiar blonde hair. He spotted her at a far table, sat side-on to him, smiling absentmindedly at whatever Fred was saying as she picked at her food. The little Texan was prattling away no doubt and he couldn’t help but smile affectionately. Her cheer didn’t seem to have infected her companion though and Buffy looked no livelier than she had in his and Angel’s presence. She almost looked ill, he thought with a frown.

Just at that moment, she stiffened and before he could hide, she turned her head in his direction and met his gaze. He was frozen, unable to make any kind of gesture of greeting, unable to move anywhere; all he could do was hold her gaze across the room, wishing he could run over there and take her in his arms. His girl wasn’t one for public displays though. Especially with him. And she wasn’t even his girl, he reminded himself. But she was looking at him with those big hazel eyes, tinged with sadness, and all he could do was stare back, trying to pour every emotion he had ever felt for her into his gaze. Suddenly, she seemed to jolt back into the present and she looked away quickly, her gaze moving to the table in front of her.



Turning on his heel, he fled from the canteen as swiftly as he had come, dodging an oncoming Gunn and striding all the way to the elevator, blind to anything happening around him. He descended to the basement, where he stole Angel’s beloved Viper and sped out into the darkening streets of LA. He needed to get away from her, clear his head before he did something stupid like beg her for her affection, for her forgiveness – for anything she might want to give him.

He growled and thumped the steering-wheel, pulling over by the side of the road and resting his head against the wheel. He had believed he was free of this, that he was no longer Love’s Bitch but it looked like he had never really been free. He wanted her as much now as he had ever done. He was distracted from his musings by the sound of a distant scream and with a sigh of relief and a silent thanks to the Powers That Be he jumped out of the car and headed out into the darkness.