Title: Mending the Future

Author: Jade Hunter

Disclaimer: None of the characters or the properties of Buffy the Vampire Slayer belong to me.

A.N: What can I say? I'm on a Spike/Drusilla kick, and it doesn't seem like it's gonna stop any time soon. This starts towards the end of Crush, but then moves…ah, well, you'll see.

"talking"

thoughts

emphasis

flashback

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There was a gap between them that no bridge could be built.

Drusilla noticed it now, for the very first time, because the bridge was physical as well as spiritual, plain for her to see.

Spike, her Spike, her William, stood across the room from her, his eyes sad and wary as they gazed at her, his chest heaving, lungs drawing in air they did not need. Next to him, panting for breath, was the Slayer.

Absently, she placed a hand on her cheek, stunned by the realization – Spike attacked me…to save the Slayer.

Never, in all their days together, had Spike done much more than raise his voice with her, even when she had turned to the chaos demon in anger at his betrayal of her, of Angelus, of what vampires stood for. True, he had caused her little damage, but it was her heart that pained her now. She wanted to scream, to cry, to have a fit, and to have him come and hold her and rock her as he had done when she was ill – but she knew he wouldn't.

"Poor Spike," she whispered, gazing at him with new eyes. "So lost."

She saw it, clearly, and wondered how she could have missed it before, the knowledge that her boy was no more. In place of him was a new creature, yearning to be a man. Her Spike would never have wanted to be a human again, not for anyone, and her Spike would never have loved a Slayer.

Tears welled up, but Drusilla fought them off.

"Even I can't help you now," she said mournfully.

With that, she turned her back on him.

And she walked away.

*****

Her eyes shot open, her chest working to take in heaving breaths.

Drusilla began to wail her anguish to the stars.

The door slammed open, and a familiar figure rushed in, his face in demon visage, his feral eyes wild with concern, black duster flapping behind him.

"Dru, what is it?" he asked after a moment, not seeing anything that could have caused her the pain she had been expressing only a second earlier. He came to her, reaching out to her, "What's wrong, love?"

She stared at him from her laying position on the bed.

"Spike?" she managed to ask, and was surprised to find that her voice was weak.

A hand came up to brush some of her hair away from her face, another familiar gesture, and Spike gazed down at her with tenderness.

"Yeah, poodle?"

Searching his eyes, his expression, Drusilla struggled to sit up, and was baffled by how much energy it was taking her. Immediately, Spike helped her up, his strong arms coming around her. She watched him as he lifted her effortlessly into a sitting position, and somehow knew…

…this was her boy.

She gazed at him wonderingly, "What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, shooting her a puzzled but affectionate glance. "I'm taking care of you, love."

"No," she shook her head, weakly. "No. My Spike left me. Left me for the Slayer."

He started. "What're you talking about, baby? I've been here the whole time – never left you, never will, especially not for some Slayer. Besides, the only Slayer I know about is in California, in LA."

"Lost," she whimpered. "So lost, my boy, gone into the light, and I cannot help him."

Although he didn't understand what Drusilla was muttering about – and that alone surprised him a bit, since after over a century together, he had gotten to be quite talented at understanding his dark goddess and her desires – Spike knew that she was upset. He did the only thing he could; he gathered her up in his arms and began to rock her back and forth.

"I'm here, pet," he whispered. "I'm here, don't worry. Must have been a nightmare, that's all."

Disturbed as he was that she had dreamt of him leaving her, for some of her dreams were visions, Spike couldn't help but be a bit pleased that she had been so frightened at the prospect of being without him. There were moments of remembered insecurity when he was afraid that Drusilla did not love him, and it was times like these that her love – that their love – was plain.

The encompassing comfort of Spike's embrace did much to reassure the female vampire, but she still could not help but feel lost herself. She put her hand to her cheek again.

"Spike – he attacked me, to save the Slayer," she murmured wearily, tired out by her grief.

"I would never raise a hand against you, pet," Spike claimed vehemently. "You know that, don't you, love?"

Drusilla stared up at him, her eyes – lovely eyes, can't help but be drawn to them, he thought, a bit possessively – becoming clearer.

"Yes. Yes, I see you now, my boy," she said. "My William, my darling."

"Always," he replied, planting a gently kiss on the inside of her wrist.

She smiled, tiredly, and he recognized the signs of her weariness. Lifting her again, he gently slid her into her former laying position, then lay down next to her, his arms still around her. Normally, she would lie still, but this time, she surprised him by putting her own arms around him and burrowing herself nearer to him. Pleased, Spike held her closer, and was answered with the tightening of her own arms.

I see now, she thought to herself, tucking her head under Spike's chin. Yes. That was all a dream, nothing more. Her eyes darkened. But also a vision, from the stars.

She breathed in the familiar scent of Spike, of her Spike, and sighed in contentment.

No worries, she told the stars, the moon, and Miss Edith. I know what must be done.

Plans whirled inside the insane vampire's mind as she closed her eyes.

To her Sight, the future was an open book, but it had never taken her so far into the future before. Drusilla knew that it was a warning. Do things as they had been done, and Spike would be taken away from her, just as he had been in the vision.

She would fix it.

I know.

Fix everything.

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~Jade Hunter~