Day 1 {Xander}
Work… focus on the project
Total focus
Bury self in the work.
Twists the ring…
Once… twice….
{Spike}
Cold apartment
Colder meetings: flagging intentions, determining needs.
Update on stories – the muse is… black and in mourning
Stories are angst ridden, Emails are worse.
Doesn’t feel like home anymore.
Day 2 {Xander}
The reminder, the guarantee, the ring…
And twist…
Three hundred and fifty seven.
And twist…
Three hundred and fifty eight…
And twist…
Phonecall was too short
Bed without dinner
Not hungry…
Not any more…
Not without … you…
Where are you now Spike?
What are you doing?
Are you alone?
I feel… cold… Are you cold?
I could still warm you… if you were here
You always feel the cold…
It is loneliness isn’t it…?
Grrrrrr
Twist
Twist
Twist
Three hundred and sixty two… sixty three… sixty four
Day 3 {Spike}
Board meetings
Bored meetings…
… Imperatives, initiatives, exchange rates, global ventures…
… Medium term gain
… Long term advantage
International venture capital
Core business
Local property collateral
Leverage
Percentage….
Focus and finish
‘Investment of a lifetime’… whose lifetime? Mine? How are you at the post 3K investment
Spike felt as he had for a century… mildly satisfied but detached.
Day 4 {Xander}
Found Spike’s blood in the freezer… by mistake! It was tucked behind what would normally have been my microwave mid week meal… He knows me too well!
I heated up one of the small bottles I’d found in the microwave, then rang his number as I began to sip the precious fluid…
{Spike}
Phone calls and Emails…
Notification of a successful takeover,
Approval of his investments in Sacramento,
Excited accountant confirming tax break for philanthropic support of the ‘The Summers-Giles International Academy.’
Day 5 {Xander}
Project finishing, everyone pleased…
And twist
Four thousand, two hundred and eleven
And twist
Four thousand, two hundred and twelve
And twist….
And … Alone… Alone…
Phonecalls too short
Emails too cryptic
Thirst overwhelming
Rationing the precious blood
Missing
Alone… Alone… Alone…
Sends Email… MP3 for Spike…. Knows it will make him cry…
“Just lay it all down. Put your face into my neck and let it fall out.
I know
I know
I know.
I knew before you got home.
This world you're in now,
it doesn't have to be alone,
I'll get there somehow, 'cos
I know I know I know
when, even springtime feels cold.
But I will learn to breathe this ugliness you see,
so we can both be there and we can both share the dark.
And in our honesty, together we will rise,
out of our nightminds, and into the light
at the end of the fight...
You were blessed by a different kind of inner view: it's all magnified.
The highs would make you fly, but the lows make you want to die.
And I was once there, hanging from that very ledge where you are standing.
So I know
I know
I know,
it's easier to let go…
“Nightminds” by Missy Higgins 2004
Day 6 {Spike}
Another tiny jolt through the link – confirms he drank my blood…. My boy… I can feel him again… wish I could smell him… touch him.
Plot in online story takes same twists and turns as tumultuous moods… muse is not happy.
Day 7 {Spike}
William Aurelius… dealing, all day – and for the last five – the tough, discerning, enigmatic, successful ‘man’. Rumor amongst the women have it that he has regular surgery to keep his looks. No one believes that. Several men in the broker’s office also drool.
Lite-laptop in hand, pony tail, earring, and striking ‘vintage upmarket’ fashion, the ‘young’ investor William Aurelius strode into his evening meeting. Others at the meeting noted his preparedness to listen, but find he is *very* well informed and has frighteningly insightful and intelligent questions. He rarely attends, so many are surprised by him. He looks far too young, it throws some of them. His usual advisors are pleased by his attendance. In the end, even the most experienced of banking advisors are in awe of the depth and breadth of his understanding of his own portfolio, particularly the understanding of its history, his shrewdness when it came to deals, and his eye for the long term. They bowed to his apparent ‘youthful’ wisdom.
William eventually ‘left the building’, the Aurelian fortune continued to grow, Angelus would be pleased.
Returns to the basement… Alone… always alone.
Day 8 {Xander}
Warmed up some of the precious blood from the freezer… and how odd is that? Go the Scooby with the Spiked blood habit! But this *is* different …Spike’s blood… warm from the microwave… Blood of the master… Not much left…
Day 9 {Xander}
Chatting… in passing… conversation regarding work, Jim, apartment, basketball… anything! Ends up with phone sex… Frustration 101... inadequate and unprompted… tears and desperation after the call and a private shower for completion. And now… twists the ring… four thousand seven hundred and twenty eight…. Twist… four thousand seven hundred and twenty nine….
Day 10 {Xander}
Phonecall then online chat consists of nothing important and everything unsaid…. The last of the blood consumed while talking. Over stimulated erection dealt with in bathroom after the call… Spike in mind.
Spike sounded… agitated… The consort spent the night feeling like a fifteen year old with the ‘first love’… Spike rang again, the link would wane without blood… The call had ended with both being ‘teenager insecure’ but not willing to admit the same.
Day 11 {Xander}
Open Email at home…
“Hey Pet
for F@#k sake just play this
Need you… just… need… you…
Love you
Will/Spike”
– MP3 attached
You won't talk me into it next time,
if I'm going away your hearts coming too.
'Cos I miss your hands I miss your face.
When I get back let's disappear without a trace.
'Cos it's been ten days without you in my reach,
and the only time I've touched you is in my sleep.
But time has changed nothing at all -
you're still the only one that feels like home.
I've tried cutting the ropes,
tried letting go but you're still the only one
that feels like home….
(10 Days - Missy Higgins 2004)
Day 12 {Spike}
Another dark day… time on the net… reader thank you’s and the writer replies. Home in the basement… alone… always alone… Call to the boy (inadequate). Phone sex good but…frustrating. Send package to his consort.
Day 13
Impromptu meeting Jim: new project in San Fransisco traveling well.
Courier delivers a sign for package to Xander. Jim grins and excuses himself. What the….?
Contents: 1 business class ticket to Boston dated tomorrow lunchtime. 1 list of things to bring – including passport. 1 poem original. 1 letter from Jim to Xander giving permission for the ‘honeymoon’ and wishing William and Alexander well… starting tomorrow night. Spike had put in the request… to Jim via Sandy.
Finds Jim and sincerely thanks him.
Day 14
{Xander}
Jumpy all morning, repacks twice. Apartment cleaned until spotless, twice. Accepts ride to airport from Andy, thanks his best friend. Alone on the plane… only a few more hours. Twists the ring… nineteen thousand six hundred and twenty eight…
{Spike}
It’s late. He watches his boy walk from the plane. He’s pale, worried. Spike melds into the crowd and wanders up behind him to take his ‘luggage’ arm.
“Can I help you with that sir?” He cannot help himself and purrs at the contact with his beloved.
Xander is distracted, Spike may not be here, Xander knows his address, so… maybe the ‘can I help you’ guy is a limo driver… that would save finding a cab.
The consort turns but the jolt of recognition is too much.
Spike catches him on the way down, eases him into a waiting seat and pets the missed features until he recovers enough to embrace.
“Hey there lover.” Sparkling morning sky eyes meet the tired and teary brown one.
“Oh…. Spike!” The embrace is long and awkward, airport seating designed for individual occupancy and a minimum of touching it seemed.
“C’mon pet… let’s get you home – we’ve only got a few hours and we’ll be back here.”
“What???”
“Your idea luv, remember? England, time away, blahh blahhh…. Well we’re crossin’ the pond tomorrow. And before you open that gob o’ yours… Yes, I’ve talked to Red. And they’re expectin’ us at bloody slayer central, so if I start vibratin’, you’re gonna need to deal.”
“But I haven’t… Oh, Spike!” Xander could no longer hold himself together. Elation at seeing his partner, relief at feeling the bond so close again, surprise and worry over their pending trip to England and seeing friends… Tears streamed from his good eye, he kissed the vampire passionately, not caring that several hundred fellow travelers might see. The ring twisted… and came off, and he returned it to its rightful owner without breaking the kiss.