Buffy opened her mouth, but before she could ask another question the man disappeared and Spike appeared crouched over, head facing down in her living room.
“Spike.” She said it quietly, still not sure she could believe her own eyes.
He looked up. “Buffy?”
She froze for a moment her eyes locked on his. She saw his confusion, his fear, his pain and the smallest flicker of hope. For a second she could swear she saw his soul twinkling behind the blue of his eyes.
She watched as his eyes suddenly closed and his body dropped to the floor. “Spike!” She ran to his side and dropped to her knees. “Spike?” She pulled his head on to her lap and watched his eyes blink open again.
“Buffy the others, someone might still be…you have to…” His hoarse voice trailed off when he saw the tears on her face. “Buffy?”
She shook her head. He didn’t remember, she realized. He thought that the fight was still going on.
“All of them?”
She nodded.
“But...how am I? Buffy how am I not dead? I remember Angel was…there was a dragon… I tried to…How did I not? What happened?” He tried to sit up and winced.
“You’re hurt.” Buffy looked down and gasped. She hadn’t even noticed. He was mess, covered in blood and soot and a variety of slime-like substances. His clothes were torn and burned. She couldn’t even tell where his injuries were. “Do you think you can walk if I help?”
Spike clenched his jaw against the pain and sat up. “Buffy, luv, what happened?”
“It’s complicated, let’s get you fixed up and then we can talk. Can you….can you make it upstairs?”
He nodded and Buffy helped him up. Slowly they made their way across the room and up the stairs with Buffy holding up as much of Spike’s weight as his pride would allow. When he swore weakly halfway up, Buffy had to fight off the urge to just pick him up and carry him.
“Spike?”
“I got it luv, just… slow…” He trailed off as though out of breath.
“Right here Spike.” She nodded and angled them towards a door.
Walking in the room, Spike knew immediately that this was where she slept. It was her room. She had brought him up to her bedroom. It was not a place he had ever even hoped to be in again. He tried to play off his awe with a joke. “Not sure I’m up to that just yet pet, might have to give me a few minutes to get to rights.”
“What?” Buffy followed his gaze to the bed got his meaning. She knew he was teasing, but blushed just the same. “The bathroom is through here, we’ll get you washed up. Then I can see…then I can see where you’re hurt.”
Spike was tempted to tell her that he hurt pretty much everywhere, but didn’t want to lose face any more than was necessary. He was trying to figure out what his injuries were, what could make him feel as weak as he currently felt when he got hit with a wave of nausea and swayed. Buffy kept him on his feet, but barely, she quickly lowered him onto a chair just outside the bathroom door.
“Spike?” She started to pull off what was left of his coat and shirt, checking for a serious injury. “What is it? Are you bleeding too much?”
“Don’t know…feel…wrong…I’m…”
Buffy got the rest of his shirt off and scanned his chest and abdomen, he was pretty scraped up, but nothing seemed to be too serious. Certainly she’d seen him in worse shape before. But maybe the injuries are more internal, she thought. She laid her hand on his chest and gasped. “Warm. Spike you’re…” Her eyes widened as she moved her hand across his chest to where his heart was absolutely beating. “Heart! Spike, your heart.”
Their widened eyes met for a second before he pushed out of the chair and into the bathroom. He barely made it to the sink before he began vomiting, violently retching the contents of his stomach into the porcelain bowl.
Buffy followed behind him, catching him with an arm around his waist when he slumped from the exhaustion brought from his actions. She reached across and turned on the water.
Spike watched the blood and tequila that had been his stomach’s only contents wash down the drain and tried to clear his head. What happened? Gathering his strength he lifted his head and saw himself in the mirror. He fell back at the shock of it.
Buffy pulled him tighter against her. “I think you need to lie down.” Without waiting for a response she led him back into the bedroom and helped him on to the bed. When she started to turn away, he grabbed her wrist.
“Why?”
“Spike, let’s…”
“Did you do it? Did you make me…”
“No…maybe” She shook her head. “I don’t know, Spike I…please let’s just make sure you’re all right and then we can talk.” She pulled away again and went to the bathroom.
“All right, how can I be…I’m...what the hell am I?”
Buffy returned with a cloth and a bowl of warm water. “We’ll figure it out.” She began to wipe the worst of the dried blood and grim from his face. “Are you?” She stopped unsure of what she should ask. “Maybe we should take you to the hospital.”
He shook his head no. “Don’t really know if I’m something that doctors like to see yet do we pet?”
Buffy rested her hand on the side of his face. “Spike, I think you’re human now.”
Spike gave a single weak nod. “Maybe, don’t reckon I quite remember what that’s...but how Buffy?”
She looked down at him for a moment, trying to figure out how to answer that question. It was so strange to see him like this. He looked scared and weak and hurt. He was shivering she realized with a start. “You’re cold.” She placed her hand on his arm for a second before turning to reach for a blanket. “Maybe you should just try to rest.”
He nodded. “Buffy?”
“I’ll be right here when you wake up. We’ll figure this out.”
He nodded once more before the exhaustion overtook him.
[Reviews - 113]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | 
Chapter or Story
Has been viewed 5499 times
- Text Size +
Banner by the Awesome C.C.
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story - Text Size +
Banner by the Awesome C.C.Author's Chapter Notes:
Reading is lovely-Reviewing is bloody brilliant.