Fandom: BTVS
Pairing: Spike / Xander Harris
Rating: PG
Summary: Spike holds a midnight vigil. (Season 4)
Notes: Part of the Slash Advent Calendar -2003
Spike leaned back against the tree and took a deep drag of his cigarette. He felt the heat flow through the filter and almost burn his cold fingertips. Glancing briefly at it, he flicked it to the ground to join the growing pile of butts that lay at his feet. As he pulled his duster tighter around him, trying to ward off the chill of the night, he wondered, once again, what he was doing out here.
The answer, of course, lay about 5 yards away, sleeping, under a worn khaki pup tent. Xander Harris had decided to camp outside on one of the coldest nights of the year, rather than sleep snugly on his creaking foldout bed in the semi-warm basement. This would be the same basement that he had kicked Spike out of earlier in the day.
It had been a half-hearted fight, as if the whelp hadn’t really had the energy to give him a decent row. Perhaps that is why he had come back here to spy on the boy instead of enjoying his newfound freedom. He had half expected to see Xander shagging the demon bint with whom he had a on and off relationship. Instead, the basement was quiet and dark and Xander was in the backyard curled up in a tent.
Spike lit another cigarette and played with his lighter, flicking it on and off in the dark. He wondered if the boy had a death wish, sleeping outside, unprotected on one of the longest nights of the year. They were both aware of the things that went bump in the night, and the danger Xander courted out here. What had possessed him to do something so dumb?
Even now, well after midnight, he could hear the drunken fighting spilling out from within the house. It was loud and raucous, but not really anything new. Spike had heard similar goings on most of the nights he had stayed here. If the boy really needed to get away, why didn’t he go to one of his friends? Spike knew that they had grown apart his year, but they still cared about each other. He almost envied their friendships. Even he could get sentimental at the holidays.
That was why he stood vigil, over the young man who intrigued him so. In some ways, they were kindred spirits on this night. Neither had a place to belong. They both felt helpless and purposeless. His may have been the result of the chip, but he understood, nonetheless. That is why he was so hard on him, why he teased and goaded him so much. Xander was the kind of person who would do something just because you told him he couldn’t. He would do anything to protect those he cared about, and was a lot stronger than he or anyone else suspected.
He watched over the boy – young man – who defied all of the odds and survived. Spike made a vow that he would keep him safe. If Xander could do it, if he could find the strength to keep on fighting, than so would he. Maybe, he would even get a good tussle out of it, if anyone did decide to bother the boy. He could always hope. It was Christmas, after all.