Chapter Twenty-Eight
It was almost two hours before Spike began to stir. In that time, Buffy had only left her perch on the stool to visit the bathroom. The coffee that Craig had brought down to her sat forgotten and cold on the floor near her feet.
Spike’s right foot began to twitch and Buffy leaned forwards watching him intently. His left joined the right in its dance, before violent tremors took over the whole of his body. They were so violent that he was in danger of falling off the cot. To Buffy’s relief, although anguished moans escaped from Spike’s lips, he didn’t scream.
“Oh, please.” She closed her eyes and willed it to have worked. “Come back to me, Spike.”
Unable to sit still, Buff slid off the stool and paced around the metal cage that surrounded Spike. Its bars were so close together that even her slim hand and wrist would struggle to get between them.
The shakes subsided, and Spike fell silent – so silent that she thought he’d lost consciousness. He startled her by rolling off the bed and huddling beside it on the floor.
“Spike?” She crouched down and peered at him through the bars.
His face turned towards hers but he avoided eye contact and hugged his knees to his body.
“Spike? Are you okay? Do you hurt?”
There was a slight shake of his head.
Damn, which does he mean? Buffy tried again. “Are you okay?”
This time Spike didn’t move.
“Are you in pain?”
Slight shake.
No pain. Right. That’s good.
“Spike? Look at me.”
After a pause, the vampire raised his head and managed to meet her eyes.
“Do you remember me? Do you know who I am?”
Spike glanced off to the side and once more shook his head.
Fighting back tears she said, “Can you talk? Do you know your name?”
That seemed to stump Spike for a while but eventually he glanced at her face, licked his lips a couple of times before opening his mouth and closing it again and shaking his head.
Buffy’s heart clenched. Something had gone wrong.
“You’re Spike.” She forced a smile, though her heart felt like it had upped and left. “I’m Buffy. Think really hard, are you sure you don’t remember?”
“I don’t…” Spike looked down at his body, still covered with blood and dirt. He gasped and shuffled backwards. “Did I…? Was I bad?” He dipped his head and moaned.
“Hey!” Buffy moved closer to the bars. “You weren’t bad. Just calm down, okay? No one is going to hurt you.”
His eyes moved to the pod, which bizarrely seemed to make him relax. Keeping his eyes averted he said, “I was in there.”
Biting back a sob, Buffy said, “I know. I’m sorry but we had to keep you in it until we stopped your head hurting.”
He rubbed at his temples and then met her eyes. “I remember it hurting. I rememb…” He brought his hands away from his head, sat up a little straighter and scowled. “Do you…? Am…?”
“What, honey?” Buffy bent down so she was on the same level as him.
“Do you own me?”
“No!” She stood up so abruptly that the sudden movement caused Spike to flinch and hunch up again. “Look, don’t be afraid, okay. I don’t own you.” She ran a hand through her hair, wincing as it snagged in a knot. “Well, technically, I suppose I do, but no need to get into that right now. We rescued you. You’re free.”
Despite his obvious confusion, Spike huffed at that statement and looked at the bars of the cage.
“Uh, yeah…well…you’re only in there until we’re sure that you’re not going to try to kill us.”
“Oh, shite, I was bad!”
“You weren’t bad!” Buffy took in a deep breath and counted to three before she let it out again. “Look, Spike. You were kidnapped, okay? Some people did some terrible things to you and we’re going to make sure that you get back to normal.”
“Back to normal,” Spike said, in a voice that clearly showed he had no idea what normal meant.
When his hand strayed to the healing wound in the centre of his chest, Buffy could take no more. Before he could begin to ask her what had happened, she fled, calling out, “I’ll be back soon,” as she ran up the steps.
His fingers touched the still raw wound and he closed his eyes. He could almost remember something. With a snort of frustration, he opened his eyes again. It was no good, whatever it was, it was just out of reach.
Putting a hand on the bars he pulled himself to his feet and swayed dramatically. His head might not actually hurt but it felt weird. Sort of like his brain was rattling around inside his skull.
“Spike,” he said, trying the name on for size.
It sounded unfamiliar to him. Turning his head towards a clanging noise made him lose his balance and he fell heavily to his knees, the metal one ringing out loud as it hit the ground.
“What the hell…”
Spike struggled to sit on the bed and then stretched his legs out in front of him, pulling up the leg of the loose fitting pants he wore. One knee joint was completely metal. How could that be? Rubbing his hand over it, he froze for a moment before slowly raising his hands to eye level.
More clanging then the rattle of a door being opened distracted him from his hands. He lowered them onto his knees as he watched a boy in a wheelchair, a redhead and the blonde who’d said she was called Buffy, walk towards the cage. Another boy was pushing the wheelchair.
Feeling like an exhibit in a zoo, and intimidated by the number of them, Spike glared. “What did you do to me?” Holding his hands up. “Why?”
Buffy blanched. “Oh, God…I can’t do this.”
“Sure you can,” said Willow, squeezing her friend’s hand.
Cam glanced up at Craig, who nodded and pushed him closer to the cage.
“Hey, Spike,” he said softly.
Spike shifted on the cot but said nothing.
“Mom says you don’t remember us.”
A shake of Spike’s head confirmed this.
“Do you remember anything?”
The vampire’s gaze moved from one person to another before settling back on Cameron. For some reason, the sight of this person didn’t scare him half to death.
“Just you,” he said.
“What do you mean?” Cam frowned.
“Just you. If you want to talk, it’s got to be just you.”
“Okay,” said Cam. He twisted as well as he could to look at the others. “I’ll come up when I’m done.”
Buffy hated the thrill of relief that rushed through her. She’d coped with Spike, coming to terms with what had happened once and didn’t know if she could deal with it again.
Bending so his mouth was near his brother’s ear, Craig whispered. “Do you want me to move you anywhere? Or is here okay?”
Cam jerked his head back and stared at Craig, eyes wide.
“I know you’re getting worse”
“I’m n—”
“Cam, it’s me. Quit lying.” He dropped a cell phone in his brother’s lap. “In case you can’t use the elevator on your own.”
Vampire and boy stared at each other. Waiting until the others had left via the stairs.
“Um…so do you remember anything?” said Cam, breaking the silence.
“Why am I here?” countered Spike.
“Mom, told you, didn’t she? That you got kidnapped?”
Spike nodded. “But I don’t understand.” The word ended with a growl.
“Look, tell me what you do remember and I’ll fill in the blanks, okay?” Cam said. “I mean, you know you’re a vampire, yeah?”
Cam almost laughed as Spike sneered and raised his eyebrows in what had always passed as rolling his eyes for him. But the sight of one eye’s movement and the other staring straight ahead sobered him to the extent that he felt a little queasy.
“So I’ll take that as a yes.” Cam said. “What else?”
Spike closed his eyes and shuddered.
“Being blinded.”
Cameron worried that he was going to throw up as bile rose in his throat.
“Tracking,” said Spike, his eyes drifting to the pod. “I liked tracking…even though I couldn’t see. Following the scent…I – I felt free.”
Spike had never spoken of his time in the Initiative, not even to Buffy and Cameron felt awkward to hear it now.
Swallowing hard, Cam said, “Do you remember anything about before being a tracker?”
“No. First thing I can remember is being blinded.” He cocked his head on one side. “How can I see now? Why do I remember being blind when I’m not?
“Um…they did blind you. It was routine back then…”
Cameron began to tell Spike of his time as a tracker, of how he’d lost his thumbs as a punishment, and of how Buffy had rescued him from imminent retirement.
“But…she’s the Slayer…why would she do that?” Spike said, holding his head in his hands. It was too much to take in.
“There is more than one slayer now. They worked out a way to activate the next potential. They stopped Mom’s heart and a new one was called. Then they repeat it with the new one.”
Spike moaned, softly.
“What is it? Do you remember something?”
“Dunno…not really…just when you said they’d stopped the Slayer’s heart I almost could…but it’s gone.”
Mom did say how freaked you were when they did it – you’d been with us for a while by then.”
Cameron resumed his account of what had happened to Spike, ending with his disappearance from home and how they’d come to find out that he had been taken rather than dusted.
Fat tears rolled slowly down Cam’s face as he told of how he’d found the dust and of how he’d seen what had happened to him since his recapture. Spike was silent throughout this, the only indication that he was listening at all was the occasional tensing of his body in response to some parts of the telling.
In the silence that followed the end of Cameron’s account, Spike said, “I can remember a boy.” He touched his chest. “He shot me with one of those.” Spike nodded towards the crossbow, still on the floor beside the stool. “Was that you?”
Cam sniffed a couple of times and smiled. “Yeah, that was me. It was an accident.”
“Right. But you were…”
“I was. This is new.” He tapped the chair. “They did it to me when they discovered that I’d found out you weren’t dust.”
Spike leapt to his feet, snarling. “I’ll kill them! I’ll tear them limb from limb!”
The effect of his words was muted a little by the fact he was swaying dramatically, and looking like he didn’t really know why he’d reacted so strongly.
“There’ll be payback, Spike. Don’t worry about that. We’ve got to do something otherwise they could just come and get you again.”
Sitting back down with a thump, Spike met Cameron’s eye and said, “Stake me.”
“What? No!”
“Why not?”
“’Cause I love you!” Cam’s chest tightened. “We all love you – we want you back!”
“Seems to me that everybody is thinking about what they want and not about what I want.”
Cam gasped and shook his head.
“I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t controlled. You say I lived with you, but all I remember is you shooting me! How do I know that what you say is true? Why would anyone want to live when all they know is pain and following orders? Get the Slayer back down here and tell her to use that bloody thing and end it!”
Beginning to wheeze, Cam shook his head. “She couldn’t do it, Spike. She loves you – you were lovers.” He slumped forwards in his chair and for a moment Spike though he was going to tumble out of it.
“Cam?”
“Can’t…m-move…can’t…breathe.”
“Help!” Spike screamed at the top of his lungs, not sure why the boy’s plight should affect him so much, but the thought of him dying struck fear into Spike’s unbeating heart. “Somebody!”
Unbeknownst to him, the basement was soundproofed, and his voice merely echoed around the room. Spike spotted the cell phone resting on Cameron’s lap.
“The phone! Use the fucking phone!” Spike strode to stand in front of Cam. Growling with frustration as even his thumbless hand couldn’t fit between the bars.
Cam’s fingers twitched and he managed to flop his hand into his lap. Unable to raise his head to see the handset, he fumbled until he managed to press the redial button. He heard it ring twice before Craig picked it up.
“Ready to come up, little brother?”
Seeing that Cam couldn’t draw enough breath to speak, Spike called out.
“Get down here! Now!”
“Spike? What’s happened?” Spike heard Craig’s reply.
“Your brother…he’s…” Luckily Craig hung up before Spike had to say what he feared was happening.
The door to the basement flew open and a wild-eyed Craig burst inside.
“Cam! Oh God, no!”
He eased his brother’s body upright and Cam’s eye’s fluttered open.
“What do I need to do, Cam?”
Cam mouthed the word, “Sorry.”
“Sorry? What do you mean?” Craig glanced at Spike. “What’s he mean?”
“Let me out!”
“What? No! I’ve got to help Cam.” He straightened up. “I need to get help.”
“I’m the bleeding help!” Spike banged his hands on the bars. “Let me out – he’s dying for fuck’s sake.”
Cam’s breathing stopped. Craig ran to the shelf on the wall near the door, grabbed the key and fumbled as he tried to get it in the lock.
“Come on, come on!” Spike urged, listening to Cam’s unsteady heartbeat.
If the boy’s heart stopped beating there was nothing he could do.
As soon as he heard the lock snick open he pushed the cage door open, knocking Craig to the floor, and raced to Cameron. He lifted the boy from the chair and laid him on the floor, cradling his head. When he bit deep into the wrist of his left hand, he noticed Craig slowly picking up the crossbow.
“Use that and he’ll die.”
“Don’t turn him,” said Craig. “Please.”
“Haven’t bitten him, have I?” Spike said, pressing his bleeding wrist to Cam’s lips.
“What are you doing?” Craig stepped closer.
Ignoring him, Spike stroked Cam’s throat with his free hand. “Swallow it. Drink it down, Cam.”
Just when Spike thought it was too late and that Cam wasn’t going to be able to take the blood, the boy swallowed, coughed weakly as his breathing kicked back in, and then swallowed again.
Spike smiled when Cam’s lips began to suck eagerly at the wound. “That’s it. Take all you want.”
Felling not a little grossed out at his brother suckling down the blood, Craig sank to his knees.
“What’s happening?”
Glancing at Craig, Spike said, “My blood – it heals things.”
“But how? Is it something that they did to you in the Initiative?”
“No.” Spike shook his head, and looked down at Cam. “Vampire blood cures humans.”
“How come I’ve never heard of it? Mom never told us that.”
Spike snorted. “And precisely how long do you think we’d last if humans knew this? I’m guessing those bastards in there know now, but it’s always been a closely guarded secret.”
“Will it…will he be able to walk?” The crossbow clattered as Craig let it fall.
“Eventually – probably – I don’t know.”
“I thought you told us you couldn’t remember anything.”
“I don’t know how I know this, okay? But I do. Trust me.”
Cam brought his right hand up and gripped Spike’s wrist, his teeth worrying the wound to increase the sluggish flow.
“Go get your mum now if you want.”
Craig glanced at him and Spike could see the uncertainty in his eyes.
“Look, he’s the one chowing down on me – not the other way around. Go get your mother,” said Spike, adding once more, “Trust me.”
“’Kay.” Craig stood up and on unsteady legs ran to get Buffy.
Spike could feel the weakness spreading through him as the boy drank. “That’s it, lad. Take all you want. Let old Spike help you, yeah?”
When Spike’s eyes closed and his body slumped beside Cam’s, the boy just held onto the vampire’s wrist more firmly to make sure he didn’t drop it.
Buffy was the first one back into the basement and she skidded to a halt when she saw her son, sucking at Spike’s wrist.
“He says it’ll heal Cam,” said Craig at her shoulder.
Willow pushed her way between them. “Can’t you see that if he takes much more Spike will dust?”
Jogging over to the pair, Willow knelt down, put a hand on Spike’s arm and one on Cam’s head and pulled them apart.
“Uh…What? Aunt Willow?”
“Shh, sweetie, just lie there a while.” She turned her attention to Spike. “He needs blood and quickly!”
Craig turned on his heels and headed back up to the kitchen. Watching him go, Buffy sank to her knees beside Spike.
“You gave your blood to save my son. Now I’ll give you mine.”
She grabbed the bolt from the crossbow and used the sharpened tip of it to slice through the veins in her wrist. When her blood dripped onto Spike’s tongue, he moaned and swallowed eagerly.
“Don’t give him too much at once, Buff, ‘cause we haven’t got any blood we can give you if you lose too much,” said Willow.
“I won’t,” said Buffy.
“What happened, Cam?” asked Willow.
“I’ve been getting worse and when we were talking I suddenly couldn’t breathe, then I’m not sure,” said Cam, letting Willow help him to sit up. His eyes widened as his foot moved. But when he tried to move it again, it remained stubbornly stationary. “Aunt Will, did you see…?”
“I did, Cam. I did.”
“If I had more…?”
Willow smiled at him and hugged him to her chest. “I don’t know, Cam. I’ve never heard of this before.”
“But I might walk?” Cam remembered Mark’s words in the Initiative.
She eased her grip and let him pull back until their eyes met. “You might.” She let go of Cam completely and leaned over to rest a hand on Buffy’s shoulder. “That’s enough, Buffy. Now put him in the cage before he comes round completely.”
“Don’t lock him up!” Cam’s voice was shrill.
Buffy took her wrist away from Spike’s mouth. “Willow’s right. We need to keep him locked up until we’re really sure what’s going on with him. The chip’s gone remember.”
“But he saved me.”
“I know he did.” She dragged the vampire into the cage by his arms. Lifted him onto the cot and then walked out, locking the door behind her. “But his memories are gone – who knows what he might do once he’s strong again? We need to be sure of him before we let him out. For his own sake as much as ours. If he escaped I’m sure the Initiative would soon recapture him.”
Craig ran into the basement, a bag of blood in his hand. “Uh…” He spotted the wound on his mother’s wrist. “Took too long, I guess.”
Seeing her son standing there, all crestfallen and with the bag of blood in his hand struck Buffy as funny, and she smiled. “Yeah, a little. Toss the packet in with Spike. He’ll need more than the bit I gave him. Then let’s get your brother back upstairs.”
“Okay.” Craig managed to squeeze the hospital blood bag between the bars and then helped Willow lift Cam back into his chair.
The catheter in Cam’s urethra had come out when Spike took him out of the chair, and Willow said, “I’ll have to put it back in, Cam. I’ll sterilise it first.”
“I need a pee,” said Cam.
“I know, sweetie, but like I said, I need to get the catheter in first.”
“No. You don’t understand. I know that I need a pee.”
They all stared at him.
Blushing, he said, “So…um…can Craig take me to the bathroom, please?”
Willow, Buffy and Craig all began to speak at once. Delighted at the improvement in Cam’s condition.
Raising his voice to ensure he’d be heard above the cacophony, Cam said, “Like now!”
Craig laughed at his brother’s now scarlet face, and grabbed the wheelchair. “Sure thing, little brother.”
As the service elevator rattled its way to the upper floor, Buffy let out a sob and clung to Willow.
“Do you think he’ll recover fully?”
“We can hope so, Buffy. Blood is a powerful thing.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Banner and beta by dawnofme - any mistakes are mine!
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Thank you for reading and please take a moment to comment - I would really appreciate it.