****************

Willow burst into the library breathlessly, with a guilty look on her face.
She was fifteen minutes late and there was a crazed demon, who had a one way
ticket to destroying the world and sucking it into hell again!
She skidded to a halt as everyone turned to stare at her.  Buffy, Xander,
Riley and Spike all sat around the table facing Giles, who was standing and
giving some sort of lengthy explanation of how to stop the demon from
sucking it into hell. Damn! She knew she shouldn’t have stopped for a peek
in the chatrooms. Her computer addiction. She was way, way, way beyond the
place of no return.
She smiled weakly, “hi guys. I...uh...didn’t realise it was so late. I came
as fast....” Willow faltered as everyone’s attention was swung away from her
and towards the slayer. Except for Spike, who seemed to be studying the
doorway behind her. <Probably bursting to get out of here>
Willow wasn’t to know but Spike was intently studying her. That he’d been
musing on where she could be as she’d been missing. The others had just
dismissed easily but he had kept getting images of vampires, demons,
thugs...
“So are we going to find this demon and kick his ass or what?” Buffy asked,
getting into slayer mode.
Willow quietly slid into a chair next to Xander as Buffy and Giles argued
tactics. The redhead silently stewed as she studied the table. <Didn’t even
let me finish my babble. So what, if I was embarassing myself yet again....
Don’t I deserve at least to finish my rambling babble.> Willow, so absorbed
in her thoughts, didn’t notice a certain vampire studying her with an amused
expression.
Spike couldn’t help watching Red’s emotions play across her face. As if she
was having her own animated conversation with herself. <Bloody slayer>, he
thought darkly. The bitch had interrupted what had seemed like a
particularly entertaining Willow babble. One of the best parts of coming to
the library was Willow’s babble, which of course wasn’t disturbing the
vampire in the least.
Meanwhile Willow was still deeply in conversation with herself. <Am I not
known to babble ceaselessly, when I become centre of
attention....Absolutely..... Therefore, I have the right to finish my
babble. Do I not?....Most certainly.....Well, then-> The redhead was jolted
from her thoughts as someone said, “we need to lure the demon out where we
have the most advantages.” Giles, she registered.
“Then we kill him,” Buffy said. The watcher looked at her, “yes. That would
be the general idea. “
“Then we’d need bait,” Spike said slyly. That’s when Willow’s neck snapped
around to look at the vampire. She HATED that word! Bait, like bait for
fishing where the poor little worm gets stuck on a sharp hook and gobbled by
the big fish, so that people could fry him up later in their fancy white
kitchens. But on the hellmouth, the bait usually had to be helpless, scared
out of her wits and usually had red hair. She did not like this plan one
bit.
“Nuh-uh, no way. Not again. I will not be bait.” Willow protested violently.
Spike frowned, “of course not, pet. You could get hurt but the boy, on the
other hand...” He left the sentence unfinished as he stared at Xander.
Xander shot out of his chair and stared wildly at everyone. “Bait,” he said
with a jerky laugh. “You’re kidding, right?”
*********************
Willow stared sullenly at the book in front of her. Ignoring a certain,
blonde vampire.
“Luv, stop being so stubborn. I only did it for your own bloody good. You
didn’t want to be bait in the first place.”
She slammed the textbook shut, there was nothing useful there. “Not at the
expense of having my best friend getting killed.”
Spike rolled his eyes. He didn’t see what the chit saw in the boy. He didn’t
see anything that was particularly worth worrying about. The slayer and
watcher would take care of it as usual. The worst that would happen, the
demon would take a little nibble. There’s no harm in that. But quite
sensibly, the vampire kept that bit of information to himself.
“And you talked them out of at least, letting me go with them!” She fumed
angrily. <Arrogant swine! She wasn’t so pathetic. She was a practising
wicca. She knew a couple of protection spells.>
“Red, you could’ve gotten hurt. It’s safer, if you’re out of the way and
anyway-”
“SPIKE!” She finally yelled. Willow angrily glared at him, “stop being so
patronising. Like I’m some little piece of china, that’s going to break if
someone touches me....You’re worse than Buffy!” She was breathing heavily
now but knew immediately that she’d said the wrong thing. Spike’s eyes had
narrowed and he was fuming. <Oooops! Maybe mentioning slayer was a stupid
thing to do. Uh oh!>
“He, he. Joke, get it!” Willow said weakly. Spike did not look amused.
“You not liking the slayer, like at all and umm....” This was one ramble,
she didn’t care to finish.
“Not funny, pet.”
“Oh.”
*******************