Chapter Twenty-Seven
Cameron woke early and pulled himself up until he was sitting with his back against the headboard. Glancing over at Craig, he saw that his brother was still sleeping, with one foot sticking out from beneath the covers. As he watched, Craig moaned and pulled the foot out of sight, causing a pang in Cam’s chest. His own feet remained as if they were no longer part of him. He was impatient to get back to the computer but hated the fact that if he were to get out of bed, he’d need someone’s help as the chair wasn’t even in the room, let alone within reach.
Raising his hands, he winced at the pain in his shoulders. To his horror his fingertips felt numb.
Oh, crap. I’m getting worse.
To prevent himself from falling even deeper into despair about his condition, he concentrated on Spike. Before he’d fallen asleep, he’d been pretty sure that he knew how to reverse the wipe he’d done, but whether Spike would be able to process it only time would tell. There was a very real possibility that permanent brain damage had been done, or would be inflicted when the wipe was reversed.
He flexed his fingers a few times and decided that he’d have to wake Craig up. His stomach growled as he spotted the sandwich his brother had left for him the night before. With a moment’s hesitation, Cam picked up the sandwich and bit into it. The bread had gone a little stale but he didn’t care. He was starving and knew that Craig was right in what he’d said. He couldn’t help Spike if he ended up passing out. It took him a couple of attempts to open the bottle of Coke, his fingers feeling rubbery and not quite his own.
After gulping the sugary liquid down, he burped loudly, managed a smile at that, and then wiped his hand across his mouth. He tried not to think of how long it would take for the food to work its way through his digestive tract.
“Craig?”
He raised his voice, knowing how deeply his brother usually slept. To his surprise, Craig’s head immediately left the pillow.
“What? I’m up!”
His brother’s bloodshot eyes told Cameron just how little sleep he must have gotten that night.
Blinking and rubbing his eyes, Craig sat up. “Need some help?”
He said it so matter-of-factly that tears stung Cam’s eyes. Maybe, no matter what happened, he’d be able to learn to live with his disability with his brother’s support.
“Uh…yeah. I need to get back to the computer.”
Craig grinned, and if it didn’t quite reach his eyes, both pretended not to notice. “Should have known, huh? How are you doing with it?” Craig couldn’t look at Cam as he swung his feet to the carpeted floor and stood up.
“I think maybe an hour or so and I’ll be ready to do it.”
Turning to face Cam, Craig struggled to pull his t-shirt over his head. When his tousled hair finally found the right hole, and the shirt was pulled on, he said, “Wow, man, you really are smart.”
“Yeah,” Cam glared at him. “Real smart, getting caught and…”
They both stared at his legs.
Craig coughed. “Um…you know what I meant.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“No, Craig, it’s not. And if I wasn’t like this you wouldn’t say that would you?”
“Oh, jeez, what do you want me to do? Pummel the bit of you that still freaking works?” Craig’s eyes widened and his ran a hand over his face. “Oh, Cam…I’m—”
To his surprise Cam interrupted his words with a snort of laughter. Their eyes met and soon both were laughing helplessly.
“Just treat me as normal, if you can. I need to feel that I can be me – even if I-I’m stuck like this.”
“I think I can do that, little brother.” Craig smiled, this time it showed in his eyes, and clipped Cam lightly around the head. “So less of your mouth, okay?”
“Okay.” Cam nodded. “So will you take me downstairs, please?”
“Yeah, will do.”
Without making a fuss, Craig disconnected the tube to the makeshift container and then scooped the still fully dressed Cameron off the bed and carried him down to the study.
“Look, I’ll bring you some toast, okay? And if you need help…with anything – just yell.”
“Thanks, Craig.”
Both were a little relived when Craig walked away.
*~*~*~*
Willow continued to search for healing spells, but magic is a funny thing and not all things can be simply wished away. She wasn’t holding out much hope of finding a cure as if one was readily available then there would be someone somewhere making millions by healing the crippled. Maybe that was why such magic seldom worked? Somehow nature knew that such a gift would be abused. But it didn’t stop Willow silently cursing the Goddess for not helping her mend such a worthy young man.
Wandering restlessly around the house, Craig was unable to go outside for fear that the Initiative would spot him. The wards only cloaked the house and not its ample grounds. At one point, he found himself staring at the pod. Willow had repeated her sleeping enchantment on the vampire and the lid of the pod was open. From time to time, the feeding tube vibrated as more blood was pumped into Spike’s stomach. The bullet wound was already healing. He reached out and touched the mark, glancing at Spike’s face as if he expected the vampire to leap out and attack him.
Even after Spike had joined the family, he’d never really questioned the morality of using the vampires as the Initiative did. All he’d really thought about was how he saw more of his mom since the Trackers and Hunters took over. He cringed as he thought of how, with a young boy’s curiosity, he’d tried to get Spike to talk about his job. It never really occurred to him that the vampires were essentially enslaved and not willing participants. As he’d gotten older, he’d known the score but Spike was with them and happy and so he’d pushed any disquieting thoughts away.
Knowing what he did now, and seeing the evidence of the Initiative’s callousness both in this brother and in Spike, he wondered how on earth Spike had managed not to actually dust himself once he was free. They’d taken his eyes for Christ’s sake! Craig ran his fingers feather-light over Spike’s eyelids. They opened and he pulled his hand away with a gasp. Spike’s right eye followed the movement and he hissed at him.
“Oh, crap! Er…I’ll get Aunt Willow, okay?”
Spike bared his teeth and growled, his face contorting with the effort.
Craig fled the room.
Crashing through the door into the kitchen, Craig caused Willow to jump, he hand flying to her throat.
“Good Goddess, Craig! Don’t do that.”
Smiling sheepishly, Craig said, “Sorry. It’s just that I was checking on Spike and he woke up.”
Willow glanced at her watch with a frown. “Hmm, that was supposed to last for another fifteen minutes.”
“Losing your touch, Aunt Will?”
“Remember what I said I’d do if you caused trouble when your mom came to stay with me?”
Craig dropped a hand to cover his crotch. “Uh…yeah.”
“Well…I think your brother being kidnapped constitutes trouble, don’t you?”
“But…er…” Craig swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing nervously. “You—”
Willow chuckled. “Men! You’re all the same.”
“That’s so not funny!”
She wagged a finger at him. “Manners, young man, or there could be a hoppy toad in your future.”
“Craig!”
Cam’s voice rang out.
“Coming!” Craig smiled at Willow and added, “Perfect timing.”
“It is.” Willow stood up and followed him to the door. “I’ll go and see to Spike.”
They went opposite ways down the hallway.
Cam was waiting at the bottom of the three steps, impatiently rocking the wheelchair backwards and forwards. His teeth worried at his lower lip, trying not to be freaked out by the fact that he was using the palms of his hands to move the wheels because his fingers were no longer strong enough to grip the rims.
“I’ve got it! Take me down to the pod. Get the others – I’ll need help to set it up.”
“Yes, sir!” Craig raised his eyebrows at Cam’s tone.
Dropping his gaze to his knees, Cam muttered, “Sorry. Just channelling the doctor a bit.”
“Doctor? I always knew you were a geek.” Craig jumped the three steps in one leap. “So what? You’re Doctor Who now?”
Despite everything, Cam chuckled. “No, you idiot. I meant the doctor whose memories they stuffed my head with.”
“Christ.”
“Yeah…it’s weird. It’s like he’s in there locked in a…” Cam waved his hand trying to think of a way to describe the feeling, “a cage, but sometimes he shouts through the bars.” He glanced up at his brother. Craig’s eyes were wide with horror.
“Christ.”
“Eloquent as ever.”
“Cam…how can you—”
“Go tell Aunt Willow and Mom we need them,” said Cam, patiently.
Craig nodded his head but it still took him a moment to make his feet obey him, unable to really process what his brother had just told him. His fury at the Initiative ratcheted up a notch higher if it was possible.
Spinning his chair around, Cam went back into the small study and began to gather up the things he’d need. While his mom had been retrieving the computer, he’d been garnering things like electrodes and, even though it made him shudder, a gag. The last thing he wanted was to have Spike bite into his tongue during the process.
By the time the three arrived at the doorway, Cam’s lap was piled high with equipment.
“Here.” He offered the things up to Buffy. “I need all this.” He looked up at Willow. “I’ve got the program on a memory stick – can I use your laptop, please? Otherwise I’ll need the computer down there.”
“Sure,” she said. “I’ll go get it.”
He turned to Craig. “I’ll need my chair down there. Will you help me down to the floor then you can take the chair first?”
“I can take you in the chair,” said Craig, shaking his head. “This is a Council house, remember. They store all sorts of nasties in the basement, so there’s a service elevator. How do you think we got the pod down there, braintrust?”
“Oh, right. Come on then!”
“Man, when this is over I’m so gonna bust your balls about your attitude!”
Cam forced a smile. He was too afraid of what might be in his future to say anything. Once in the basement his mouth went dry at the sight of the pod. The lid was open and he could see Spike’s gaunt face.
Oh, Spike. I hope I do this right.
Pushing away his doubts, he cocked his head to the side as he concentrated on listening to the voice of the doctor. His voice had a slightly different quality to when he spoke.
“I need the electrodes fitting. I can’t reach.”
“Where do you need them?” Willow stepped forwards, turning to get the equipment from Buffy before looking to Cam for instruction.
“Here.” Cam touched his right temple. “And the other side.” He watched intently as she did as bidden and then touched behind his ear. “Here and the other side.”
Willow carefully attached all the electrodes and then passed the wires to Cam who attached them to a small black box. The box had a single cable and he plugged that in to a USB port on the laptop.
“Mom. Can you gag him?”
“What!” Buffy’s eyes got big. “No! I can’t do that.”
Cam rolled his eyes. “It’s for his benefit! He might chew off his fucking tongue!”
“Hey!” Craig said, bending low to Cam’s ear. “You might want to rein in that doctor, or I’ll knock you out of the chair. Don’t you dare speak to Mom like that.”
“What?” Cam blinked several times. “Uh…sorry, Mom.” His voice sounded more like his own. “But it is for his own benefit, I promise.”
“Okay.” Buffy’s hands shook as she put the gag into the sleeping vampire’s mouth and cranked it open a couple of inches.
“Aunt Willow?”
“Yes?”
“He’s got to be awake.”
All three faces staring at him blanched.
“I’m sorry, but there’s no other way.”
Cam had waged a war with the doctor’s memories when he’d discovered it, worried that it was just the sadistic side of the implanted personality, but he became convinced that Spike had to be aware of the process.
Willow muttered the reversal to the sleeping spell and as soon as her words stopped, Spike’s eyes flew open and his right eye rolled to stare at them. He tried to move his head enough to dislodge the gag and worked his tongue furiously trying to push the metal out.
He hissed at them, and then Cam pressed the sequence that would start the procedure on the keypad, concentrating hard to make his numb fingers strike the correct letters.
Despite being paralysed and unable to draw in much breath, Spike’s screams soon echoed around the basement. Ten long minutes later, the vampire lost consciousness.
“Oh, God, I don’t think I can take much more.” Buffy walked on unsteady legs to a stool against the far wall. She looked from Cam to Willow and back again. “What happens now?”
“We’ll know whether it has worked when he wakes up,” said Cam, before glancing at the computer screen and frowning.
“What is it?” Craig moved so he could look over his brother’s shoulder.
“I’m not sure.”
Cam closed his eyes and tried to let the doctor’s memories come to the fore. He didn’t notice how the others were staring at him when he reopened his eyes, just began tapping at the keypad.
“I don’t understand it,” he muttered. “That shouldn’t be happening.”
“What shouldn’t?” Buffy stood up again and strode over to him.
“See that?” Cam pointed to a red line on the screen. It resembled the display on a heart monitor, and it rose and fell in rapid peaks and troughs.
“Yeah, what is it?” Willow asked as she peered at the screen.
“The pain chip. It’s still firing.”
“Crap, is it firing every time that line jumps?” said Craig, tracing it with the index finger of his left hand.
“Yes,” said Cam.
“But that means—”
“It’s almost continuous .” Cam provided the end to Craig’s sentence.
There was a pause as they all digested this fact.
“Can you fix it?” Buffy’s voice held a tremble.
“I don’t think so – not without cutting into his brain. They did something to the chip so it fired and only stopped hurting him if he killed or fed, but from the look of this readout, something’s gone wrong and it’s just hitting him with full strength shocks no matter what he’s doing.”
“So,” said Craig, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You’re all docorified – you can do it.”
Cam twisted round to look at him. “Are you insane? You think I should go in and cut it out?”
“Well…yeah. Just let the doctor take charge.”
“Doctor? What doctor?” Buffy bent down to look Cam in the eye, but it was Craig who answered for him.
“He said earlier that he can sort of feel inside his head, the guy whose knowledge he got pumped full of. All I’m saying is that he should let the good doctor out to play for a bit.”
“No!” Buffy, Willow and Cam all said at the same time.
Cam blinked back tears. “I can’t do it – what if I can’t put him back in his cage?”
“You don’t need to,” said Willow, her tone adamant.
All eyes swivelled to her face.
“I can do it. Without cutting into his brain,” she added rapidly. “It’s fairly easy for magics to make technology fail. What? Haven’t any of you read the Dresden Files? Butcher wasn’t wrong when he said strong magic and tech don’t like each other, though it does take a bit of concentration.” She waved a hand in the air. “Total bullshit about wizards living for centuries of course.”
“But—if you short it out, won’t it hurt?” said Cam. “How do we know it won’t cause brain damage?”
Willow sighed. “Honestly? I don’t know, but whatever happens he’ll be pain free.”
As if in response to her words Spike began to moan quietly, the volume increasing until his anguished screams made them all shudder.
“Just do it, Will!” Buffy ran to the pod, hands gripping the edge of it as she stared at Spike. “Spike? Do you know who I am? You’ll be okay.”
Spike didn’t react to her voice, just kept screaming, eyes squeezed shut.
Willow pulled the electrodes off his head so they wouldn’t be damaged, and then put her left hand on the top of Spike’s head. She glanced up, silently offering a prayer up to the Goddess, before returning her focus to Spike. Static electricity charged the air and Cam shut down the computer, to keep it from being affected.
Spike continued to yell. Willow’s right hand joined her left and a drop of blood oozed from Spike’s nostril as his cries faded.
“Oh, God! You’re killing him! Stop! Willow!” Buffy reached out to pull her friend’s hands away, but found herself gripped by Craig.
“Let her do her job, Mom. If it doesn’t work he’s dead anyway.”
She let out a sob and then buried her head against her son’s chest, knowing that she’d hear those cries for as long as she lived.
Tears ran down Cam’s face as he watched helplessly as Spike finally fell silent.
Pulling out of Craig’s arms, Buffy turned to Willow. “Did it work?”
“I think so. I’ve made him sleep again. I think we should take him out of the pod.”
Cam wheeled himself forward and deactivated the spinal clamp. Then between them, Craig, Buffy and Willow, lifted Spike from the pod, and carried him to a cot positioned against the left wall of the cage. Once he was laid on his back, Buffy eased him into the pants from a scrubs suit that they'd stolen. Then helped wheel the pod out of the cell and locked the door.
“I’m going to watch over him,” said Buffy. She drew up the stool and sat on it, facing the inert vampire.
The others nodded, knowing that she would want to do it and do it alone. Craig helped Cam into the service lift. When the boys had gone, Willow walked to a cupboard, took out a crossbow, primed it with a bolt and placed it at Buffy’s feet.
“Just in case it didn’t work.”
Buffy nodded. She would use it, if he was still in pain. She couldn’t take seeing him like that any longer.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Beta and banner by dawnofme. Sorry I missed Friday's posting but I was feeling ill and RL is playing havoc at the moment.
Chapter End Notes:
Thank you for reading and a comment would make my day :D