TITLE: A Pigeon Named Spike
AUTHOR: Ragna (writinggoddess@aol.com)
RATING: FRC
CLASSIFICATION: Spike POV, mentions of Spike/Drusilla relationship and Spike/Other friendship.
SUMMARY: Spike explains why there's a famous pigeon named after him.
SPOILERS: Set in any season after BtVS season 5 or A:tS season 5 that you want it to be set in; mentions an oft alluded to piece of Spike/Dru history.
DISTRIBUTION: Any sites with my fic up; you all have unspoken permission. I write it, you can post it.
Everyone else just keep my name on it and let me know.
DISCLAIMER: If you don't recognize it, chances are it's my own creation. If you do, I don't own it. Joss Whedon, Kazui Sandollar, The WB, UPN, et. al. most likely do.
FEEDBACK: Please send it offlist and let me know it's feedback; I do rapid delete on my account due to a lot of spam.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Answer to a challenge from Elsa Frohman on the BA_Gutter list (of which I'm no longer subscribed to, but I kept the e-mail about the challenge). It's short and hopefully all who read it will enjoy it. And I'm pretty sure I read about homing pigeons being used in WWII England; if it isn't true, I apologize for the historical inaccuracy.

***

"People don't think of a pigeon as being anything more than a rodent on top of a building,’’ said Pat Avery of Newalla, Okla., who runs the National Pigeon Association and loves to recount decades-old exploits by famous military pigeons such as "Spike" and "Big Tom."

***

So, yeah, there was a bloody war pigeon named after me. Not for the reason you might think, mate. This wasn't a pigeon that went attacking people with railroad spikes for a bit of torture...no, there's a very simple and very interesting explanation for this.

Back during World War II, Britain was trying to draft every person they could find. Not that they needed to; I had never seen more British men willing to die for their country. American chaps, too. The ones who wouldn't get taken by the Marines or the Army stateside came to jolly old England, looking for their time in the war.

But not everyone came looking. Met this one chap, named Christopher, who was a pigeon trainer. He'd come to England to travel with a circus and show off his pigeon act when the war hit hard. He got trapped in London...and so did I.

He was a well fed boy, unlike most of the people depending on the rationed food. And he was so tempting to take home to Dru. At that point, well, we were still in our mostly dysfunctional relationship. All the bombs scared her because she thought the sky was falling. So I went out for walks. A lot.

And on the day I ran into Christopher, I was very hungry.

But...well, he showed me what some of his birds could do. At first I feigned interests, but then I became impressed. These birds were bright bloody things. Finally, I agreed to meet with him the next day, and then when we were done talking that day, we agreed to meet up the next day and so forth.

It was about a week and a half or so into our meetings when I took a liking to one of the birds. He was young, maybe a few months. He was little, but he was vicious. Bit my hand the first time I picked him up. But I have to say, the bird warmed up to me eventually.

He was like my own little, and thankfully silent, best friend.

Course, then the war had to intrude again. Finally got Christopher in the service, and so he and his pigeons went away. Then me and Dru, we hightailed it off to the States. Easier there, for a little while.

Then one day, I pick up the paper while we were in one of those military towns on the coast of California...Oceanside, I think it was. Lo and behold, there's Christopher with his pigeons! Told his whole life story, and how the pigeons were messengers during the war since people didn't consider them more than rodents.

And then the reporter asked how he named them. He was pointing out various pigeon and saying why he named them, and then he pointed to one and said, "This little guy bit the hand of a friend I had in London. The guy went by the name Spike, so...well, now that's the pigeon's name, too."

I was shaking my head and laughing. And if all my stuff hadn't been burnt up by angry villagers in Prague a few years later, I'd still have the article, too.

Now I'm sort of glad I didn't eat the chap when I had the chance. See, even a vampire can help make the world a better place without his own death being involved.

Later, I heard, Christopher joined the CIA and began developing those pigeoncams. You know, mini cameras mounted on the pigeon's head. And you'll never believe it...

Turns out the original Spike was a girl. So when she had babies, one of them was named Spike, and he got mounted with a camera. So, in a way, I've helped the Brits in WWII and the CIA in being peacekeepers.

Yeah, I know it's not vampiric, but I'm damn proud anyway. So there.