Gods And Monsters

Chapter Sixty-eight:

"Depressing." She answered simply.

"Surely it can't be so bad. You've got all the time in the world to do whatever you want."

"You haven't lived long enough yet to understand."

"Enlighten me, then."

Hel opened her eyes and bowed her head. She trailed a slender finger trough the froth of green apple-scented bubbles bobbing on the surface of the water. "Immortality isn't living forever, that's not what it feels like. Immortality is everyone else dying."

Spike fell uncharacteristically silent.

She sat upright, rising from the water.

He immediately spun to face the other way, his back to her as she stood up and out of the bathtub.

Hel dried herself off with a towel and gently squeezed most of the moisture from her hair before donning her lacy black undergarments. Tugging a black, window-pane checkered mini-skirt up over her bare hips, she quickly realised that she would have trouble with the back zipper. "Spike?"

He turned around. At the sight of her half-naked upper body, his jaw clenched. Her tight little skirt sent the most obscene of thoughts racing through his mind.

"Do you mind?" She asked softly.

He swallowed. "Not at all."

Approaching her tentatively, Spike reached for the zipper of her skirt. His fingers trembled as he gently guided it upward along the tiny teeth. Unintentionally, his hand lightly grazed her bare back in the process.

He took a step backward, a flush of heat prickling his skin. "There. All done."

She turned back around.

There was a deep, resonating click when their eyes met, and the silence between them grew heavy with the weight of unspoken words.

Hesitantly, he closed the small gap separating them, parting his lips to speak. "Hel, I—"

A sudden knock on the door startled them both. "Hey, how much longer are you going to be in there?" Xander called out. "There are other people who need to use that bathroom, you know."

Clearing her throat, Hel backed away from Spike and retrieved her dark grey, knitted pullover sweater from the wall-mounted coat hook beside the sink. She promptly yanked it on over her head, then side-stepped Spike to unlock the door.

The door swung wide open to reveal a clueless, none-too pleased Xander.

"Finally." He huffed. "What were you two doing in there, anyway?"

Without a word, Hel skirted around him and headed straight for the stairs.

Sighing at Xander's lack of tact, Spike stared after her longingly.

Xander recognised the look in his eyes, the unmistakable affection with which he regarded her. "Well, I'll be damned."

Frowning, Spike glanced back at Xander. "What?"

"Oh, come on. It's obvious."

"What is?"

Xander's eyebrows shot upward. "And I thought I was oblivious."

Rolling his eyes, Spike passed by Xander and went in pursuit of Hel. He located her in the living room and lingered in the doorway, uncertain of whether or not to approach her. Rather than joining her on the couch, he observed her from a distance. She was curled up on the middle cushion, her long legs tucked beside her and slender arms folded across her abdomen.

He shoved his hands into the front pockets of his black jeans, contemplative, and brought an end to the silence: "I was thinking we could have a movie night, if that's alright with you."

She threw him a cursory glance, but quickly averted her eyes. "I have no objections." Her hands were still trembling slightly from their encounter upstairs, and her pulse continued to thrum in her ears. His presence alone had an effect on her body that words couldn't possibly hope to describe.

Ambling over to the television set, his eyes skimmed the shelving unit for films they had not yet watched. After a moment of careful consideration, he then plucked out two DVD cases and turned around to display them. "Which would you like to watch first?"

"I shall entrust you with that decision."

"Alright." He dropped onto one knee, retrieving the 'Back To The Future' disc from its plastic case. Clicking a button on the DVD player for the disc to be inserted, he stood up and joined her on the couch while the movie loaded.

Without hesitation, Hel leaned against him and exhaled contentedly. In response, his arm instinctively slid behind her back to encircle her waist. In spite of their circumstances, and the impending doom they faced, she was happy. Truly, blissfully happy, for the first time in her life. In that moment, she knew that she would do whatever it took not to lose that feeling.