Backfire - Spander Files

With his back slumped against the headboard, Spike sat on his bed in the factory.
This bed had seen so much passion. Dru’s fervor, commitment, and love. Xander’s
faith, warmth, and…hope? The bad memories were easy to forget.
Spike thought of his options. Stay or leave. But he couldn’t choose until he knew
for sure. One way or the other. The wait was terrifying. And necessary.
Something in his chest clenched when he heard the heartbeat. And smelled his boy.
Spike knew a lot. He knew what had happened long before the Watcher and other
white hats did. From the moment Giles had pronounced Xander still alive, Spike
had known.
Xander was cured. The vampire knew that Giles had already written the reason in
his Watcher Diary. Xander was brought to the brink of death. Instead of dying, he
woke up cured.
But Spike knew a lot. He knew more than the Watcher. So he sat in fear of what
he’d done. And how he was going to punished.
It had been six days since he had left his boy, drained and alive. Now, hearing,
smelling, feeling Xander’s presence, he wondered again how it had all gone so
spectacularly wrong.
Spike continued to flick the Zippo lid to hide his shaking hands. As the footsteps
descended the stairs, he honestly didn’t know if this was the beginning or the end.
Xander stood at the bottom of the stairs. He thought of the first time he had entered
this basement. However, now the only similarity was the darkness. It no longer
smelled of Drusilla, he wasn‘t horny as hell for Spike, and, now, even without light,
Xander knew his way around the room.
He stepped up to the side of the bed and closed his fingers around the Zippo in
Spike’s hand, silencing the room. Extracting the lighter, Xander walked confidently
around the basement, lighting all the candles.
When he turned back to the vampire, Spike gasped. Xander looked good. Really