Seasick: Drunk on love
by adraztea
----------------------------------------

The last rays of the sun coloured the sky a deep shade of red as Buffy made her way down from the main deck. Her muscles ached as she sat down in her hammock. Spike muttered angrily as he joined her beneath deck a couple of minutes later.
“The captain really is evil,” he said. “Another night stuck on this ship! Can you believe it?!”
“I’m too tired to do anything anyway,” Buffy answered and collapsed back into her hammock.
“Well, I’m bloody not!” Spike growled. “Two nights in port, and I haven’t even seen my girl yet! And on top of that, that stupid wanker of a captain put me on guard duty.”
“He put me on it as well,” Buffy said. “Morning shift.”
“I’m on right now. Bloody hell, there’s at least a thousand of other things I’d rather be doing. Getting my right arm amputated with a rusty blade would be one of them.”
Buffy didn’t answer. Spike continued to mutter under his breath as he rummaged through his bag in search of a warmer sweater to put on. He found one and pulled it on, his movements suddenly still before he slowly pulled it all the way on and turned around to look at Buffy.
“Hey,” he said and Buffy looked up at him. “You have the morning shift.”
“Yeah, that’s what I said,” Buffy answered a bit hesitantly.
“Good! You’ll let me back on the ship in the morning, then.”
Buffy sat up in the hammock, ignoring the pain that shot through her.
“No! You’re not sneaking of the ship!”
“Yes, I am! It’s perfect, don’t you see? Right after my shift, I get off, go and see Drusilla, and come back at dawn.”
“Where I look the other way while you get back on? Great plan, Spike, except that the captain will find out and then we’ll both be thrown off the ship.”
“He’ll never suspect a thing, kitten,” he said, sitting down next to her. “Unless you tell him, that is.”
“Of course I wouldn’t tell,” Buffy started and Spike got up.
“Thanks, pet,” he said and gave her a quick kiss on the top of her head and before she had any further chance to protest, he was gone. With a groan Buffy threw herself back into the hammock. He was hopeless!

The mist almost seemed alive. It moved and twisted, even though it seemed to be no wind there to disturb it. Slowly, it went from an ink black mass to liquid silver. Buffy’s hair hung damp around her face, and she had to tuck it behind her ears to keep it from falling into her eyes as she peered into the mist. She was leaning over the railing closest to the dock, trying to see if anything was moving down on the dark shape.

She could hear him before she could see him. He was whistling as he was strolling closer, every now and then loosing his key, stop, and let out a low laugh before he continued. Anxiously, she looked around her on the deck, but in the thick mist it was impossible to tell if she was all alone, or surrounded by every man on board.

When he showed up in front of her on deck, she jumped and let out a yelp.
“Buffy!” he exclaimed, lifting her up and twirling her around before she had time to react. With a laugh he put her down again.
“Spike! Shush, be quiet, or someone will hear you.”
“Does it matter if anyone does?” he smiled. “I’m back on the ship, and no one could prove that I haven’t been here all night. Maybe I just woke up early, wanting to have a small chat with my pal Summers here.”
“You’re drunk,” Buffy said and Spike laughed again.
“Only on love, luv,” he said, grabbing a hold of the mast and using it as support as he spun around it. “Only on love, and it’s the sweetest drink I ever did drink. You should have seen her, pet. My beautiful dark princess. That dark hair that spills down over her shoulders, and her glistening eyes, and that dark red mouth that’s perfect for kissing. And her bosom! Ah, her bosom! Those perfect breasts that are made for me to hold.”
He cupped his hand as if he as still in bed with her, still holding on to her. He looked up at Buffy as if he only just remembered that she was there.
“She was waiting for me, pet,” he said to her. “She knew I had come. When I walked through the door, she threw herself right into my arms, kissing me and wrapping her legs around me even before the door could close behind me. God, I wanted her! I couldn’t wait to have her, to be inside...”
He interrupted himself, looking almost embarrassed as he smiled at her again. Buffy sure knew she was embarrassed. She could feel her cheeks practically burning up, and she knew she had to be beet red. Spike looked away, staring into the mist as his smile grew wider.
“It’s love, pet. I lover her, and she loves me. She’s my dark princess, and I’m her prince. Together, we are perfect. We are meant to be.”
Buffy swallowed hard, trying to get the big lump in her throat to go away. Spike didn’t even notice her discomfort. He was lost in thought.

At the end of the week, they had finally unloaded all of the cargo. Spike had continued to sneak off the ship every night, but for the rest of them this was going to be the first night off the ship in months. Spike had talked about the inn where his Drusilla worked and convinced most of the crew to go there. Buffy wasn’t really looking forward to it, but she had to go. She had to see the girl that had wrapped Spike around her little finger.

She wasn’t sure what she expected to see, but the woman that had turned up at Spike’s side as soon as they had stepped inside the inn sure wasn’t it. There was something… strange about her. Buffy felt as if Drusilla looked straight through her when their eyes met, and it made her uneasy. While the others drank beer and laughed and talked, Buffy just sat there. She really couldn’t understand what Spike saw in that woman. Every now and then, Buffy glanced at the couple, Drusilla sitting in Spike’s lap and kissing him. Buffy really whished they would stop.

It could almost be described as a good night, Buffy thought to herself. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, but even though she tried not to, Buffy found herself staring at Spike and Drusilla. They never noticed, because they were too wrapped up in each other, and Buffy studied them. Spike seemed to be in love, and the way he looked at her made Buffy feel strange. It almost felt as if… No, she couldn’t describe it. Suddenly, Drusilla turned around, and met Buffy’s stare. For the first time in the whole evening, it seemed as the woman Spike was so crazy about actually saw Buffy. Her dark eyes almost seemed to glow, and Buffy had to fight not to show how uncomfortable it made her feel.
“Look at that,” Drusilla said. “Look at that one, trying to hide in plain sight.”
Buffy’s heart almost stopped beating. He had told her! How could he? Drusilla stood up, leaning over the table to get a better look at her. She held her hand up in front of her, pointing at Buffy with two fingers in a way that made it seem as if she was trying to poke her eyes out.
“Sunshine in the darkness! What a strange thing! Like small, lonely candle, fighting in the storm to stay alive. The stars told me about the storm, you know. The storm that had the sunshine all covered in dark water.”
Drusilla threw her head back and let out a chilling laugh that made the hairs on the back of Buffy’s neck stand up. Spike got up from his chair, grabbing Drusilla around the waist and pulling her tight to him. Just as sudden as the laugh had started, Drusilla became quiet. She turned around and leaned against Spike, hiding her face in his chest.
“You listen to the stars too much, pet,” he told her and stroked her hair.
“But the stars told me,” she whined. “I don’t like the sunshine. It hurts my eyes!”
“Let’s get away from here, then. Come on.”
Spike turned around, meeting Buffy’s eyes for a second before he left together with Drusilla.

Nobody around the table spoke as the couple made their way to the door. The silence around the table was made even more painfully obvious due to the noise surrounding them. Drunken sailors were brawling and laughing, and the serving girls were laughing with them one minute and telling them off the next. Buffy could feel her heart beating hard in her chest. This was it. She was sure that Drusilla’s words had made them all take a closer look at her, and now they knew. Now her secret was out. She felt sick. Tim cleared his throat before taking another swig from his beer.
“Well, wasn’t that interesting?” he said when he put the mug down.
“Sure was,” Giles answered.
“That Spike fellow sure has a strange taste in women. Last time we were here she had that doll, do you remember? Miss Beth or something?”
“Miss Edith! Yes, and she had poked her eyes out!” Tim exclaimed. “Why did she do that, again?”
“Because Miss Edith was a bad girl,” Giles mocked, imitating Drusilla so perfectly that everybody roared with laughter. Even Buffy managed to smile a bit.
“She’s completely off her rocker, that girl,” Tim said. “To me, it wouldn’t matter if the girl had the best body in the whole world if she was that crazy. Did she scare you, Ben?”
“Nah, not really,” Buffy said, trying to sound more confident than she felt. “I just thought she was strange.”
“That she is,” Giles agreed. “Let’s get another beer!”

It was almost dawn before Spike returned to the ship. Buffy had been back for hours, but she hadn’t been able to sleep. When Spike stumbled in, she sat up and glared at him.
“Had a good night?” she asked. Her icy tone went completely unnoticed by Spike, who smiled dreamily.
“It was amazing. She’s something, my girl!”
“Yeah, she’s really something,” Buffy spat. “She nearly told the whole crew about me! I can’t believe you told her!”
Spike twitched, and turned around to look at her with a frown on his face.
“What are you talking about? I haven’t told her anything.”
“So she just knew then? She just happened to understand I was hiding something? Right, Spike, like I would believe that!”
He just stared at her without answering. Buffy looked away, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable with the whole situation. She had been so sure that he would apologize, maybe even beg her to forgive him for giving away her secret. There was supposed to be regret and hugs and maybe even a few tears; not this. Not this silence. He turned around, fixing his hammock and getting in it. When he finally spoke, he spoke very slowly, like he would do if he was trying to explain something obvious to some of the more dim-witted crew members.
“I told you,” he said, “that she knows things. She sees things that others don’t. She speaks to the stars, and they tell her things. She always knows when I’m in port, and she knows it even before the ship has arrived. She has a second sight.”
“Do you really expect be to believe that?” Buffy tried, not feeling so sure anymore. Spike snorted.
“Then believe this: I don’t spend my time with her talking about you, Summers. In fact, we don’t spend our time talking.”
Buffy blushed in the darkness, and tried to blink away the tears in her eyes at the same time. Nothing had turned out the way she had thought.

The ship stayed in Cadiz for over a month before it was time to sail back to England. Buffy did her best to stay out of Spike’s way, and since he seemed to avoid her too it wasn’t so hard. He even moved his hammock away from its usual place, finding a new place to sleep on the other side of the ship.

When they set sail, Buffy climbed the rig to find her favourite place at the very top of the mast. From there, she could follow everything that went on down on the deck. She tried to tell herself that she wasn’t really looking for Spike, and that it was only his bright blond hair that caught her attention. It wasn’t as if she was spying on him, not really. She kept an eye on him, and after a while she noticed that she couldn’t look away. He seemed a bit twitchier than normal, often looking up at the blue sky. Buffy lifted her eyebrows in surprise when she saw him walk over to the captain. She had never seen Spike talk to him before. Giles was working on something not far away from Spike and the captain, and as soon as Spike left, Buffy climbed down and walked over to Giles.
“What was that all about?”
“What?” Giles asked, the surprise clearly written on his face. “What was what about?”
“Spike!” Buffy hissed. “He was talking to the captain.”
“Oh, that,” Giles answered, returning to his chores. “He was asking for a change in his work shifts.”
Buffy’s heart dropped. They had worked together on the same shift ever since they left Canton. If he wanted to change that, he really hadn’t any plans on talking to her again. She had hoped they could work through it once they were out on the open sea again, Drusilla left behind.
“So, when does he start his new shift?” she asked gloomily.
“What? Why is this such a big deal for you, Ben?” Giles asked, still sounding surprised. “You’re acting strange, you know. Anyway, he doesn’t. The captain said he was better suited for the shift he was already on. Besides, the night shift’s already full.”
Buffy stared at Giles as he continued working. Spike had asked for the night shift? He really didn’t want anything more to do with her!

Over the next couple of weeks, Buffy saw Spike talking to the captain almost every day. A couple of times, she even heard them arguing, Spike insisting he wanted the night shift. The captain always told him no, and every “no” seemed to make Spike’s twitch worse. He acted as if the sky could fall down on him any second. Buffy thought about it, not understanding why he wanted it so bad. He was still very successful in avoiding her, and she hadn’t tried to approach him either, so it couldn’t all be about staying out of her way.

When something finally did fall on Spike, it wasn’t the sky itself. One of the sailors had been climbing the rig when he lost his grip. Instead of falling straight to the deck and a certain death, he had managed to get a hold of a couple of ropes, tearing them in the fall before he landed right next to Spike, almost hitting him. Buffy hadn’t been on deck when it happened, but from what the others told her it seemed as if it had been a really nasty fall, and that all of them had thought it would kill them both. The sailor who had fallen down was rushed off to the crew quarters, and when Buffy made it to the deck Spike was standing in the middle of the deck, looking up at the rig. She rushed to his side, and at the last second she managed not to throw herself at him to hug him. Instead, she couldn’t stand still, and when he looked at her and their eyes met she smiled widely. He smiled back.
“So you heard I almost got squashed?”
“I heard. I’m glad you didn’t.”
“Me too, actually. Look, that guy managed to destroy some of the ropes up there. We should fix them. Grab those pieces of rope over there, and we’ll climb up.”
He was already half the way up when she caught up. The broken pieces were almost at the top of the rig. It really was a miracle that he hadn’t died the instance he hit the deck. They worked together in silence for a while, but then Buffy stopped and looked at Spike.
“Are we friends again?”
He looked up at her, and gave her a smile that made her warm again.
“Of course.”
“Can I ask you a question, then?”
After hesitating for a while, he nodded. She took a deep breath, and then she let it out.
“What’s the matter with you, Spike? You’ve been acting really strange since we left Cadiz. Like volunteering for the night shift! Even fighting to get it? I thought you hated that shift?”
“I do,” he admitted and winced. “It’s just… Fine, I’ll be honest. It’s just something Drusilla told me right before we left. You know she’s second sighted?”
“Yeah?” Buffy said hesitantly. Even though Drusilla seemed crazy, maybe her visions were real. If she had seen the ship being pulled under by some enormous sea creature, or the ship being attacked by pirates, Buffy wasn’t so sure she wanted to know about it.
Spike sighed and looked up at the blue sky, peering at the sun. He lifted his left hand and gestured at it.
“She told me to stay away from the sunshine. Bloody easy to do when you’re on a ship! I figured the graveyard shift would be the only way to do it.”
Buffy followed his gaze and felt the warmth from the sun on her face.
“That really doesn’t make any sense, Spike. She’s… special, you know that, right?”
“You mean she’s bloody crazy,” he said with a laugh and she smiled at him.
“Pretty much.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said. “Her visions are pretty vague at their best. But hey, I told her that I would try, and now I’ve tried, right?”
“Now you’ve tried,” she agreed. “It’s all she can ask, really.”
“It sure is. Now, if we’re ever going to get this rig fixed, you better hand me that rope, kitten.”
----------------------------------------


This story archived at: The Slayer\'s Fanfic Archive
The Slayer\\\\\\\\'s FanFic Archive - http://www.slayerfanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=17419