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3 Inches - Part 8
As promised here is another new part of 3 Inches. Enjoy!
This part is especially dedicated to
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mygothangel!
button by
vampirellabites*hugs and cuddles you*
beta'ed by
joolzmp7 and mygothangelthanks to both of you, hugs!
previous parts
Part 08
Xander sets Spike back down on the workbench, where the vampire starts to pace, unsure how to react. Xander rummages around in the drawers under the workbench and comes up with a few slim wooden boards. Some have rectangles in different sizes in them; soon Spike realizes the rectangles are cut out to set in windows and doors. The slim boards are going to be the walls, floor and ceiling to his new home. Snorting, Spike stomps his feet, shakes his head. “This is ridiculous! Bloody ridiculous!” Spike spits frustratedly and Xander stops short. He looks at his shrunken friend cluelessly. “What now?”
“You’re gonna build a fucking doll house for William the Bloody! To live in! To bloody LIVE in!”
“It’s going to be good. I promise. I’ve built a few already and not one came down again. I’ll give it special care since it’s for you and unlike having dolls, inside you could really be injured when it’ll come down, which it won’t but well, you never, but I know, I do good work, Broum says so, customers say so…” Xander stumbles in his babble since it seems to make Spike even angrier. The former praise from the vampire feels worthless all of a sudden. Sadly, Xander turns the boards in his hands, unsure how to continue.
“No! You bloody idiot! It’s not your work. You do a fabulous job with these toys!” Spike yells, outraged that Xander doesn’t get the point. “You’re building toys! Toys! Think I ever wanted to live in a toy house – even if it’s the best you can get on the market? I am a vampire. Vampire as in big, bad and bloody!” Frustrated, Spike slumps down on the comfortable mini-recliner. “I can’t believe this is happening to me!”
Xander stays silent and joins the handmade boards together so that a room is formed, one wall missing. In a doll house the back wall is always missing so the kids can set furniture in the rooms or play with the little figures inside. The youth is unsure how to handle just this situation again. Spike sits on the recliner, elbows on knees, face in hands. Is he crying?
After setting the board that builds the ceiling for the room so that the construction stands on its own, he gently reaches out towards Spike. With his pointing finger he softly pats the vampire on the back. “It’s not for forever, Spike. It’s just for a night or two, to give you some space of your own while you’re this… I mean… while you’re this size. I promise, tomorrow we’ll go over to Giles’ general Scoobie meeting at the Magic Box, we’ll get them all to work on it and find a solution. This house only gives you a safe place to sleep in. Can’t keep you in the top drawer of the nightstand since the nightstand does not have drawers at all.”
Helplessly, Spike shrugs his tiny shoulders. He feels so vulnerable, actually is. Some bloody cat could kill him. At least, the house would be a good hiding place. “But I want a back wall. Not gonna give you a damn freak show!” Spike grumbles and Xander nods quickly. “Of course! I’m gonna close it all around. Just one door which you can open from inside downstairs so you have a way out at all times.”
“Downstairs? So there’s more than one floor?” Like a child, interest piqued again, Spike looks for the first time at the half-ready construction.
“Two floors. Downstairs to sleep. Upstairs two rooms: one living room and one room with only a gigantic tub in. What do you think?”
“Doesn’t sound so bad.”
Xander is relieved to see a small smile back on Spike’s face.
As promised, a couple of hours later, Xander finishes the general set up of the doll house, edition ‘Spike’, just when Garld comes in.
“Hey boys, hope you are playing nice and nobody’s naked this time?” Xander chuckles, Spike grins salaciously.
“I brought you some food, the Chinese left-overs. You’ll take care of William’s other needs later, won’t you?” She addresses Xander directly, who nods quickly.
“Course I will.”
Before Xander can protest, Garld shoves him onto a nearby chair, Chinese food boxes thrust in his hands. Garld turns back to the house and minutes later, girly screams can be heard from Spike. Garld has set up Spike’s house with the dark mahogany collection, including the recliner Spike sits on. She even adds a couple of dark red rugs handmade by her to make the bedroom right cosy.
“See there, William. Fine place to stay in for a while. First class hotel with your personal 24/7 Xander-concierge. Any more wishes?” She beams at Spike.
“Telly?” Spike grins.
As if on cue, Broum comes in, carrying a small TV which Xander recognizes from the front area.
“Thought you could use this until you get your own.” Broum says, ignoring the surprised, open-mouthed face of Xander.
“Wow, that’s… You shouldn’t have… I can’t really…”
“’Course you’ll bloody accept this. Boy needs a telly. I need a telly, bloody boring otherwise, staring at the blank wall in your cosy living room.”
*
It’s late that evening when Xander and Spike are finally upstairs. Xander feeds the vampire just like the day before: dripping a small amount of his own blood into a spoon. Spike’s still delighted that Xander is so kind as to share his life’s essence with him. Grinning, the red-faced and red-handed shrunken vampire lets out a burp, he is so sated, he’s ready to burst.
Xander set up the doll house on a stool from the workshop, just beside the bed. Spike’s inside in his living room on the recliner. His feet are propped up on a packet of paper tissues.
The telly sits on another stool from the workshop so Xander can see it from the bed on which he’s lying already and Spike can see it from his recliner comfortably. They watch an episode of the new old Enterprise, lazily fighting about who the better Captain is: Archer, Kirk or Picard?
It could have been just another normal night in Xander’s basement but, well, it isn’t.
Xander feels himself dozing off again and again, so he puts the remote on the floor of Spike’s living room. Spike can zap, but he has to get up every time and change the channel by jumping on the button of the remote. Kinda supersedes the use of a remote. After a few times of ‘channel jumping’, Spike is annoyed and exhausted, he decides to go to bed, too.
Xander sleeps soundly and Spike watches the youth for a few moments. He is bloody thankful that Xander is such a white knight at heart and is helping him. Could have gone completely differently altogether. Tentatively, friendship for the boy builds in Spike’s heart.
Friendship, Spike muses, is the most ridiculous kind of relationship; it relies on nothing but trust and sympathy. No all-embracing passion, no mind-numbing love, no insular fervidness of hate – just a stupid ‘I like you and you like me’. Too often though, this bond of sympathy is not in the least as strong as those calling each other friends think. Whatever, doesn’t stop the heart from making new friends anyway. Which is of the good. Wouldn’t want to miss out on a friend ever, would you?
Xander kept his word, putting a back wall to the ground floor of the dollhouse and when Spike jumps down, ignoring the make-shift-ladder, he finds himself safe – at least from the sun and smaller animals. Spike strips off his clothes, folds them and carefully lays them at the end of the bed. Funny, how much worth things can get when they’re the only things you have. Been like that with his duster. It’d been with him for nearly thirty years and he plans to keep it quite a while longer. Glad the whelp brought it with him, first from the cemetery to his place and now even to his new place. He crawls into the fine bedding. Tomorrow, he hopes, the Scoobies will find a solution to his problem. Hopefully, they’ll handle his problem just like any other problem that comes up: solve it. He dreads meeting them, dreads Buffy’s malicious glee as much as Willow’s irritating pseudo-penitence. Gonna be a hard time for the boy, his loyalties colliding in open argument. He turns from one side to the other, unable to fall asleep. After a while, he starts listening to Xander’s breathing and to Xander’s regular strong heartbeat and it calms him. Soon after, he sleeps just like Xander, his newfound friend.
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Marie
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L
J
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Thank you!!
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And sorry but I must go...... *whimpers* I had to read it and now I'm late for meeting my sister, ooophs (Mad sister on war path images, eeek!)
Bad Bad me!
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*bounces*
I already told you how much I like it, didn't I? (I can dimly recall some whining and begging on my part...)
never mind, I'll tell you again - *thank God* you decided to finish it :-)
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Can I have more? *kitty eyes*
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(More is already posted, heee.)
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There should also be a great number linked in darker_spike memories and some in mine.
Also go to Sexymermaid's LJ for her "Gardner and the Fairy"
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