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“He can’t hurt us, you know,” Willow whispered, leaning her head back just a little so that the back bumped against the back of Xander’s head.
“I wish his chip agreed with you. Apparently it has no problem with him kidnapping us and tying us up as long as he doesn’t plan to, you know, kill us.” Xander pulled at his restraints, but the ropes bit angrily into his wrists and the rough legs of the chair scraped at his ankles.
Willow wiggled her bound hands and caught hold of his index finger. She squeezed it reassuringly.
“Buffy’ll find us sooner or later.”
It was the wrong thing for him to say and they both knew it. They’d helped out the slayer for enough years to know that Buffy would probably come to their rescue, but it would have been nice to be able to get out of a situation without her help. Maybe if Willow’s witch abilities were stronger or if Xander… had powers of any sort… they wouldn’t be in this spot.
“Oh, I’m counting on it,” came a smooth, British voice. Footsteps on the stairs. A flash of bleach-blond hair. And a glint of silver. Spike sauntered in, repeatedly flipping a coin. “Which one of you will be first?”
“Just choose one and get it over with.” Xander braced himself and closed his eyes.
“Having trouble choosing at the moment. Not even sure a coin flip’ll help.” He traced a finger down Xander’s cheek. “You…” Then he stepped around and touched a finger to the tip of Willow’s nose. “Or you.”
“Spike,” Willow whispered, pleading.
Spike flipped the coin and let it fall with a decisive ping upon the floor. Neither Willow nor Xander could see how it landed, but Spike chuckled softly as it made up his mind for him. “Right then. We don’t have much time before Buffy finds us.” He slid a knife down between their two chairs and cut their bindings. “I’d better have you both at once.”
Xander’s eyes were still closed when Spike squatted down and kissed him. At the same time, Willow pressed her lips to Spike’s cheek and felt herself drawn into the vampire’s embrace.