shipperx | Fire and Ice (4 of 4)

Title: Fire and Ice (4 of 4)
Spoilers: Post-NFA
Genre: Spike-centric AtS, Gen
Rating: R-ish
Disclaimer: Not mine. Never mine. Never been paid and never will be.
Written For:

noel_of_spike
Summary As Christmas rolls around, Spike finds himself without plans... so he heads to Canada to atone for an old crime, confronts an ex, and faces down a dragon. He'll need whiskey in his egg nog after this.

Author's Note: I know that Christmas is over. Sorry for the delay. Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

IV

Spike groaned and found himself pinned by the wreckage of the waterfall, unable to pull himself free of the ice.

He searched the cliff for the cave, but there was nothing there. No dragon or beautiful girl, just a wall of rock. He was stranded. Alone.

When he looked toward the sky he saw the first pink blush of dawn and wondered whether it was possible for a vampire to burst into flame while trapped in ice.

“There!” someone yelled.

Anne.

“I thought I saw something,” she said breathlessly.

Dressed in a heavy jacket and jeans, she waded through the snow. To Spike’s shock, when Anne reached him, she smiled. “We’ve been looking for you.”

She began pulling the mountain of ice off of Spike, but no way could she pull off enough to free him before the sun rose. “Angel!” She yelled. “I found him.”

Seconds later, the brusque vampire with a grim expression on his face, emerged from the woods, followed by a blue-streaked Illyria and a grinning Gunn. In their wake walked Marvin-Diego, still wearing his ridiculous cape.

“We’ll have you out of there in a minute,” Gunn reassured as he patted Spike on the shoulder. “We’ve been looking for you for days.”

“Because you’re an idiot,” Angel said in a surly voice. With one shove, he removed the bulk of the weight pinning Spike. He offered his hand. And, after a moment, Spike accepted it. Once on his feet, he and Angel stood staring at each other.

Angel glanced away. “You okay?” he asked.

Spike shrugged. “More or less.”

The older vampire looked up at the lightening sky. “Might need to go home.”

The motley crew made their way over the ice and snow, down the hill towards the hotel, reaching its wood-paneled lobby before the Christmas morning sun burned bright enough to make two weary vampires worry about impending incineration.

Gunn explained how Anne had phoned them about what had happened. They had flown to Canada and had searched for close to three days. Having survived at least two deaths, they had told each other that Spike could survive one more.

“And here you are,” Gunn said as he propped his feet up by the fire in the après-ski lounge.

Angel muttered something under his breath.

And Spike said, “He’s only cranky because it’s Christmas.”

Illyria studied the Christmas tree that the hotel had placed in the lounge. “The green. They have trapped it inside. It screams.” She looked back at Gunn and Spike sitting on the sofa. “I like it.”

Anne, who had disappeared an hour ago, came into the room carrying a gingerbread house. “Don’t ask me how I got it.” She set it on the coffee table in front of Spike and Gunn. “It just never feels like Christmas without one.”

With her hands folded in front of her, she explained how it had always been a tradition in her family to make a gingerbread house, and for the entire family to share it on Christmas morning.

She smiled at Spike. “You want to break off the first piece?”

He stilled in surprise.

Gunn shot him a look and grinned.

Angel grunted. “Do it already.”

Spike reached out for the candy-coated construction of spice and flour. As he broke off a corner of the roof, he heard Anne say to him, “Thank you.”

~finis~

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Sorry I was so behind schedule!

noel_of_spike was awesome.

Great gobs of thanks go to