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He heard himself moan and his head was throbbing. Ack, and that taste in his mouth. Did he drink some rancid blood? Cheap booze? Why did he feel so disconnected from his body? He sniffed the air before trying to open his eyes. A mixture of aromas: disinfectant, antiseptic, a few pungent demons and…Giles? He moaned again and tried to open his eyes. The lids were so heavy, like they were being held down by something but he finally opened them and blinked, feeling like they were crossed, he couldn't focus on anything. The lighting was dim but still very bright to his sensitive sight.

He heard a shuffle nearby. Giles. Spike knew he was there. What the hell had happened? Last thing he recalled he was sitting in the comfort of the Summers' home, writing in his notebook. Oh yeah, the blinding, searing pain, but nothing after that.

He wanted to sit up, but again the heaviness weighed him down like a ton of bricks were sitting on top of him. He even tried to raise his arms with no success but suddenly he felt the bindings around his wrists and ankles. He was tied to something, being held captive.

"Giles, there better be a bloody good explanation," he mumbled. "Why am I tied up? Oh, god, no. Did I do something? Something bad? Did I hurt someone? Can't recall, why can't I remember? Giles, please, talk to me."

"Sshh, keep your voice down, William. Explanations can be made later. You think you can get up and walk out of here?"

"William? Did you just call…?"

"Yessss, William.” Giles hissed without retort. “I would feel ever so much better discussing our plans in the car, on the way back home. Are you capable of sitting up and walking?"

"You're gonna have to help me."

"I can do that. Let me undo the restraints first then you can slowly sit up."

He did just as Giles said, slowly rising up to a sitting position. His head swam but as soon as it settled, it began to throb and he held his head in his hands, groaning in pain.

"I feel like I've been on a binge."

"I can assure you, you haven't. How are you holding up? Ready to try standing?"

"Give us a minute. There, ok, the swaying has stopped. Ready."

Giles hooked his arm under Spike's armpit and slowly hauled him up into a standing position. His legs felt like rubber and they were trying their best to give out on him so he grabbed the side of the bed and forced himself back up. Giles pulled Spike's arm around his shoulders for better stability.

"Are you ready to try this?"

"Lead the way, mate."

Slowly, but surely, they made it outside and to Giles' car without any incident. Spike growled when Giles helped him into the passenger side of the vehicle.

"Bloody hell," he grumbled. "Feels like I've been walloped good."

"I'm sure you do."

He slammed the door shut, causing Spike to wince from the loudness. Giles cringed and apologized then quickly walked to the other side of the car. Once in and engine revving, he threw it into first and hastily made their getaway. The tension Giles was holding in seemed to melt and he released a breath he never realized he was holding.

"Wait a tick, it's nighttime. How? Did I black out? Did I…aw, I'm such a stupid git. The chip is out, isn't it?"

"Presumably so. I rather think you might be a bit miffed at me, but I had no other choice. It, the evil thing, had you in their control again. You tried to harm Willow so we knocked you out with a tranquilizer and I brought you to the facility. They didn't even have to put you under. Dr. Slovich said he thankfully had the right equipment for the procedure. It was quick and…well, somewhat painless."

"Not for me it wasn't. This bleeding hurts. Well, at least I didn't go all 'Frankenstein's Monster' on you." He chuckled. "Yet."

Giles snickered nervously, but stopped suddenly. "That is not funny. You better be on your best behavior or else."

"Yes, dad. Hey, wanna try something?"

"What?"

Spike curled his right hand into a fist and punched Giles' arm. Giles grabbed his upper right arm and gave Spike an alarmingly disgusted look.

"Bloody hell, that hurt!"

Spike smirked. "No, it didn't."

**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**

Willow and Dawn waited anxiously for the two guys to return that night. Every ten seconds or so, Dawn had her nose pressed against the front window, peering out into the dark street. She would then commence her announcements to Willow that they were still not home. After fifteen minutes of this, Willow took matters into her own hands and taking Dawn by the arm, sat her down on the couch in front of the TV to watch a movie. About half way through it, a set of headlights shone through the curtains and both girls jumped up and ran to the door.

Giles was helping Spike out of the car as Willow stepped in to lend a hand, or rather a shoulder, to distribute his weight evenly. She noticed right away how much more pale he looked and could tell he was in excruciating pain. Dawn made him up a comfortable spot on the couch that they slowly lowered him onto. At that very moment, Dawn noticed he wasn't wearing any shoes.

"Spike, where are your shoes?"

"Hmm? Don't rightly recall, nibblet," he answered quietly.

"Um, if I seem to remember, you didn't have any on when you left out of here." Giles answered the question to the missing shoe mystery.

"Oh, and while we're on that subject; I'm really sorry, Red. I hope I didn't frighten you, or worse yet, hurt you."

"No, no. You were fine. Not quite a perfect gentleman, but the pain was minimal. I was just glad the tranquilizer took. Wasn't sure how much would knock a vampire out. I've only had to shoot werewolves before. Oh, oh and I know the same amount of dosage will knock a human clean out for hours. Right Giles?"

Giles moaned. "Don't remind me of that particular incident."

Willow snickered as Spike looked on, baffled.

"Are you saying the old Watcher has been bitten by a tranquilizer dart? Who was the perpetrator?

"Buffy", Giles moaned again.

Now everyone was laughing until Spike groaned and grabbed his aching head. Giles patted him on the shoulder lightly.

"Get some rest. It should wear off soon enough for you. We will talk later."

Spike would have answered him if he had not dozed off suddenly. Giles pulled the afghan over him and they left him to his peaceful rest and recuperation.

**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**

Morning came too early. Thank goodness someone had remembered to shut the heavy drapes tightly. After all that he had gone through the previous night, it would have been a shame to wake up and find yourself scattered around, mingling with the dust bunnies. Not of the good.

Someone was already up and moving around in the kitchen. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee permeated the air and mmm, cinnamon. He loved certain human aromas, the kind that made him feel good, feel safe and at home, the kind that brought back pleasant memories. His thoughts moved to Buffy. He shouldn't be feeling this way when she was God knew where having to endure God knew what. He berated himself because he knew something had to be done and done soon.

He sat up slowly and was surprised he felt pretty good for having "brain" surgery less than 12 hours prior. Vampire healing, always a good thing to have. He pushed himself up to a standing position, a little off kilter but steadied himself just as fast. Ok, now to move those legs forward. There we go.

Giles was sitting in the kitchen reading the morning paper, waiting for the coffee and whatever delectable pastry was baking in the oven. He looked up as Spike came to sit across from him.

"How are you doing, Spike?" Giles sympathetically asked.

"Better than being stuck in the eye with a hot poker iron, I presume."

"Uh, well, I guess that is, uh, favorable then. Coffee's finished unless, of course, you want tea or the, uh, other beverage."

The timer went off a few seconds later and Spike virtually jumped up with excitement to run over to the oven, almost sticking his hand in it without a mitt. He peered in and smiled. His favorite; cinnamon rolls. He wanted to be helpful so he iced them right away. Actually he wanted to eat one right away but he looked at it as being helpful. He did get one out of the pan for Giles, though.

Willow walked in with bed head in tow, yawning and still looking like she was asleep. Pouring a cup of coffee, she sat next to Giles and laid her head on the table. Her head snapped up as she stared at Spike diligently. He was too entranced with the gooey warm pastry to notice.

"Spike?...Oh, um, how're you feeling today?"

He took a huge bite out of his cinnamon roll and smiled.

"Ine an andy," he mumbled around bits of iced breading.

"Ohhhh," she yawned. "…good. I actually needed to talk to the both of you. I tried to yesterday until you turned all fangy and grrr on me, but I had another dream yesterday. Tara spoke to me and said that you, Spike, are the one to bring Buffy back."

Giles cleared his throat. "She said Spike specifically?"

"No, but she said the one that lost her."

"Willow, we all lost her. Could mean any one of us really." Giles tried to sound understanding.

"No, it's him. She warned me to watch out for him because they still had him under their control."

"Did she say how?" Spike was a little wary especially if this duty involved any magic.

"No, no she didn't. Just that…she said…"

"What? Just spit it out, Red. What did she say?" Spike was feeling nervous.

"That you would lose something to gain her freedom."

They all sat around in silence.

"Well, then, I guess we better get cracking those resourceful books of yours, Watcher. We've got us a slayer to bring home. "

"Yes, yes I suppose we should." Giles felt a twinge of fear hit him as an icy shiver ran up his spine.

TBC





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