“Watch for anyone coming. And get Xander here, now!” Spike barked, pulling Buffy’s body closer towards him. Multiple bruises decorated her face, her shirt was slightly torn, and she was unnaturally pale and shivering. He bit his own lip so hard he drew blood as he stared down at the fragile woman in his arms. The sound of Drusilla wailing loudly from inside the house ceased, and he glanced up to check for any of Angelus’s men coming to find their missing hostage. “What did he do to her?”
“She said he gave her some of Walsh’s drug.”
“Bloody hell.”
Xander crept up behind them, gun drawn. “Oh man, is she okay?”
Spike wouldn’t let himself voice his fear that she might not be. “Let me get her out of here,” he begged.
“No!” Gunn snapped, his own weapon at the ready. “You stay with me, that’s the deal, and I have to make sure they don’t get away.”
“Fuck the sodding deal,” Spike hissed, barely containing the urge to take Buffy and run, possibly to Mexico. “You won’t let me have a gun and you won’t let me take care of her. What fucking good to you am I?”
A loud yell came from up the driveway, and Gunn swore under his breath. “You’re no good to me. Xander, give me your gun, and take Buffy. NOW.” When Spike didn’t move right away, he continued, “Be a man, let her go, unless you don’t want her to get to safety.”
Xander passed his weapon on, and Spike reluctantly relinquished Buffy after pressing a kiss to her forehead and murmuring his love in her ear. He then moved to crouch closer to the car, watching as the cop took his girl around the corner, and only once they were gone from sight did he return his focus to the house.
“We just have to keep them here for a bit longer,” said Gunn quietly. “I see three, maybe four.”
“Let me go talk to them,” Spike earned himself a surprised glance. “I know them all. I can stall them. I’m exactly who they’ve been looking for.”
“That’s dangerous.”
“So?”
Gunn sighed, “Okay, go.” Spike moved just an inch before he was stopped by a hand on his elbow. “Take this, I guess. Just in case. Don’t you dare tell anyone I let you have a gun.”
Spike nodded his gratitude and slid the proffered weapon into the waistband of Xander’s too-big pants, and sauntered up the front walk. From the porch, Forrest let out a shout, and Angelus came bursting out the door.
The sirens sounded closer, now.
“Well well well, look who’s come to visit!” Spike crowed, stopping fifteen feet away from the door, giving himself plenty of time to draw his weapon if they rushed him.
Angelus glared at him. “Spike. Didn’t except to see you here. What, did you knock your head too? Lose your common sense?”
“Nope, the head’s fine, just got that extra hole in my stomach.”
“Left side or right? I’ll make you symmetrical.” His hand traveled to his pocket, where the outline of a pistol was clearly visible.
“Now, now,” Spike shook his head. “Bet there’s at least one person within seeing distance, yeah? I’d keep…everything you’ve got, in your trousers, unless you want another murder added to your rap sheet.”
Forrest and another, shorter man made their way purposefully down the porch steps, but Spike quickly backed up a foot. “Don’t be shy, come on inside,” Angelus growled.
“Nice invitation, but I think I’m fine out here.”
“Where’d she go, Spike?”
“Where’d who go?”
“Don’t play with me, boy. You know I have ways to make you talk. You’ve experienced them before, if I recall correctly. As little Buffy now has.”
“Fuck you,” was the growled response. “What did you do to her?”
Angelus laughed. “Oh, come on Spike. You know exactly what I did. You’ve done it yourself.”
“Not for a long time.”
The sirens were loud and close enough that even the distracted Angelus finally heard them.
“We have to go, boss,” The man to Spike’s left insisted as Angelus furrowed his brow in thought. When he finally nodded, the man leapt for Spike, but was floored by a swift punch.
Spike groaned as pain erupted in his stomach due to the quick movement, but still moved forward to stop Angelus’s mad dash to his car. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Gunn rushing up to tackle Forrest, who hadn’t even seen him coming.
Angelus reached one hand out to directly hit his opponent’s damaged side, but a quick spin out of the way kept Spike safe for now. He landed two quick punches to the taller man’s jaw, punches packed with raw power and fury. Another person rushed down the porch steps towards him, but he managed to trip the man and knock him to the ground with a kick.
Spike turned to find his enemy running like a coward, almost to his car. As a police cruiser pulled up to block the driveway’s exit, Spike caught up and grabbed the back of Angelus’s shirt, slamming his head into the car door forcefully, then letting him fall the ground with a thud.
He glanced over at Gunn, who was keeping Forrest in a chokehold and staring at him imploringly. Spike understood, lifted the gun out of his waistband, and casually dropped it on the ground beside him. He ignored the other man’s grateful smile as a cop rushed up to him, yelled for his surrender, and fastened his arms with handcuffs.
He spit down on a groaning, whimpering Angelus, then allowed himself to be pulled to the waiting police car, head down. Halfway there he began to sway, and only then noticed the blood soaking through his shirt.
Buffy stirred a short while later, and found herself in the back of a parked ambulance.
“What?” she mumbled, struggling to sit up, but was stopped by the EMT next to her.
“How’re you feeling?” Gunn asked from her other side. Her eyes came into focus, and she became aware of where she was and what had happened.
“Kind of like I’ve been hit by a truck. And really really loopy still,” Buffy groaned.
The EMT said, “You’ll be fine, you’re just coming down. No broken bones or serious lacerations. These fluids will help you perk up a bit.” Buffy winced as the woman slid an IV into her arm.
Gunn squeezed her hand comfortingly. “Do you think you need to go to the hospital, or are you—“
“No,” Buffy said firmly. “I’m good. Just a little wigged.”
“Yeah, I would be too.”
Neither spoke for a moment, and Buffy focused on looking out the ambulance’s open doors to the bustling activity. A crowd of spectators watched as dozens of cops swarmed the house. She waved weakly at Xander, then let loose a giggle as she saw Forrest swearing and attempting to pull away from the policeman holding him. “Asshole.”
They both smiled, then Gunn said, “Look, Buffy, I’m sorry.” She was quiet and picked the threads dangling from her torn shirt. “Look, I know you didn’t kill Giles. I shouldn’t have…I made a mistake, okay? I should have trusted you.”
“Yeah, you should have. But thanks.” She smiled tentatively, but that smile quickly faded. “Gunn…how did Fred know who we were?” His guilty expression told her all she needed to know. “What did you do?”
He dropped his head in his hands. “I fucked up.”
“Clearly.” When Gunn stayed quiet, she snapped, “Explain, please. Or else despite my weakened state you’re going to get a fist full of Buffy anger.”
“Fuck, I didn’t know, okay? Didn’t know she’d run to Angelus. After you told me you thought she and Spike were planning something, I talked to her, and she confirmed it. So I told her…I told her who we were.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to make sure it was true, make sure you weren’t being set up, or you weren’t lying.”
“So you would believe what she said over me?”
“She…I don’t know, I thought she and I maybe had something. Nothing happened, but…”
Buffy tried to suppress her resentment but finally spat out. “You’re a hypocrite.”
“Yeah.”
“You lied to me?”
“Yeah.”
“She killed Giles, you know that, right?” From Gunn’s shocked and broken face, she realized he hadn’t. “She told Angelus she got rid of him, I can only assume that’s what she meant.”
“But why?” He whispered.
Buffy shrugged, the slight movement sending a jolt of pain down one arm. “We’ll have to ask her.”
He nodded. “Snyder’s not exactly your biggest fan right now, but I’ll talk to him, get you in on the interrogations. I mean, you’re the reason we managed to track Angelus down at all.”
“Yeah, me with my amazing skills of getting kidnapped.”
He laughed awkwardly. “Well, they recovered all those disks in the house, Angelus was stupid enough not to have destroyed them yet.”
“Good,” Buffy said softly. “At least there’s that.” She finally gave in to the question that had been plaguing her, and asked, “Do you…please tell me you know where Spike is?”
“Huh?” Gunn asked. “You just saw him.”
“What?” She asked in surprise, finally struggling to a sitting position.
“You don’t remember? When you first came out of the house, Spike was there. You talked to him.”
She choked back a sob of relief. “That was real? So…so he’s not dead?”
“No.”
“Where is he?” She asked desperately. Her partner was silent. “Gunn, where is he?” She repeated louder.
“Snyder took him back into custody.”
“He’s honoring the deal, right? He’s not going to—“
“I don’t know.”
“I need to find him, I need—“ She struggled with the IV in her arm, but Gunn reached out and grabbed her hand, and the EMT barked an order to stay still.
“Buffy. Stop. You’ll see him when we get back to the station, okay?”
She opened her mouth to protest, when Xander climbed up into the ambulance. “Hey, Buffster. How’re you feeling?”
“Peachy. I want to go see Spike.”
Xander and Gunn exchanged a quick glance. “You’ll see him later, okay? He had to get patched up too.”
“What?”
Gunn groaned. “He pulled some stitches, Buffy, it’s not a big deal. He’s fine.”
“You knew?” She shrieked.
“Okay, both of you, out,” the EMT commanded, pointing at Gunn and Xander. “You’re getting my patient all worked up and it’s not good for her. Get out before I throw you out.”
“We’ll see you later, okay?” Xander quickly jumped back out, followed closely by a guilty looking Gunn. “Sorry, dude, I thought you told her…” The voice traveled back to Buffy’s ears as they walked away.
“One more bag of these fluids and I’ll clear you to go, if you just calm down and try and rest. My name’s Jenny, by the way.”
Buffy smiled weakly and sighed. The determined look on the woman’s face let her know she wouldn’t be getting out of here unless she gave in. So she reluctantly closed her eyes, and replayed that one moment with Spike in her mind, the moment she was sure she had only dreamed.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thank you thank you thank you to whoever nominated me for the Sunnydale Memorial Fanfiction awards! In addition to specific nominations for both my stories, I was nominated "Best New Author". Thank you SO much, and make yourself known so I can thank you again! Thanks to everyone else who's reading, and reviewing, and enjoy the chatper!