Chapter 34
It was days later and there was still no sign of Buffy waking up.
Spike remained by her side and would hardly ever leave the hospital room.
Giles finally talked him into getting something to eat and agreed to stay with Buffy.
Spike didn’t feel like arguing, so he placed a kiss on Buffy’s forehead and went to get something from one of the vending machines. He put his money into the machine and waited for the bag of chips to fall out, but nothing happened. He let out a sigh and couldn’t even seem to care, when he heard a voice behind him.
“You need to give it a kick.”
Spike turned around to see an unfamiliar boy standing there. He was probably a few years younger.
“This one gets stuck a lot, but that should do the trick.”
Spike nodded and took the kid’s advice. He gave the machine a kick and the bag of chips finally fell out. He took it and gave the boy a grateful smile. “Thanks,” he said.
The boy nodded as well and noticed how tired he looked. “I’m Matthew, have you been here for a while?”
Spike nodded again and rubbed his eyes. “Feels like it’s been a lifetime. I’m Spike,” he introduced himself.
“Cool name, your parents punk rockers or something?”
Spike laughed for the first time in what felt like forever. “It’s just a nickname. So, you here visiting someone?”
Matthew shook his head. “No, I’m a patient here. I have leukemia, just getting some tests done,” he said like it was no big deal.
“Sorry about that, mate. I didn’t realize.”
Matthew shrugged off his concern. “No problem, I’m used to it. Why are you here? You look like you haven’t slept in a hundred years.”
Spike sighed and decided that it might make him feel better to talk about it. “My girlfriend was brought in about a week ago. She…She had an accident,” he said and realized that maybe he wasn’t quite ready to go into the details.
Matthew gave him a look of sympathy. “Sorry, that has to suck. I hope she’ll be okay.”
Spike silently agreed.
“This place isn’t so bad. It’s practically my second home. The doctors are really great here. She’s in good hands.”
Spike smiled now and was really trying to believe it, but he wouldn’t be convinced until Buffy woke up. “Thanks, I appreciate that. I should probably be getting back to her room now.”
Matthew nodded and figured that he should do the same. His parents would wonder what was taking him so long. “It was nice to meet you. I hope everything works out.”
He nodded as well. “Yeah, same to you.” Spike watched the boy walk away, starting to feel a little better.
* * * * *
Spike saw his father talking to the doctor when he made his way back to Buffy’s room, then noticed that someone was standing in the doorway of her room. He didn’t know who it was, until he got closer and realization came to him. It was the man that shot Buffy outside of the Bronze. He would recognize that face anywhere.
“Son of a bitch,” he said to himself, then all he saw was red. This was the man that put Buffy in the hospital, and he had the nerve to show his face around her? Spike didn’t even care where he was at the moment. He only knew that the bloke had to pay for what he did. “You bloody bastard!” he yelled out loud this time.
The man turned around to look at him. His eyes widened when he recognized Spike. He then held up his hands in surrender. “I just wanted to see how she was doing. I know I have no right to, but I feel really bad about what happened. I never meant to hurt anyone.”
Spike could have laughed if the situation wasn’t so serious. “Oh, you feel bad? Do you think that’s just going to make everything better? That girl is a bloody angel! She’s the best person in this whole world and she’s lying in a coma right now because of you! Because you got greedy and picked the wrong two people to try and rob. You made one very big mistake with that.”
The man gulped and waited for what he had to say next.
Spike got closer to him and knew that he wouldn’t be able to control his anger for much longer. “You didn’t shoot me instead,” he finished harshly, then punched the man in the face. He went down and Spike didn’t even wait for him to get back up. He grabbed him by his shirt and started to rein punches on him. “I’m going to kill you! You should die for what you did to her!”
The man tried to shield his face from the hits, but it was no use.
Spike then felt someone pull him away, but he kept struggling. “I’ll bloody kill you!” he continued to yell.
“William, calm down. I know you’re upset, but this isn’t the answer.”
Spike heard his father say, but still tried to get free. “He’s the one that shot her. I can’t let him get away with it,” he said after he calmed down a little.
Giles nodded and noticed the doctor help the man up off of the floor, then notified the police that were already in the building. They came and took him away, while Giles still tried to comfort the distressed young man.
Spike broke down after that, tears falling freely down his face.
Giles held him tighter.
Spike cried into his chest like he sometimes would when he was a child.
Giles just patted him on the back. “It’ll be all right, son,” he said a few times and hoped that Spike was listening. He had never seen his son so broken before, and it was really starting to worry him. Staying at the hospital was slowly making him crazy and Giles tried to convince Spike to go home and get some real rest. That he would be no help to Buffy in this condition.
Spike was beyond tired at this point and finally agreed.
Giles took him home because he figured that Spike was in no position to drive himself.
Spike remained silent the whole drive there and went right to his room when they finally got home. He couldn’t even bring himself to look over at Buffy’s house because it was too painful. He closed the blinds and lay down on his bed. The view outside his window was of Buffy’s room and he couldn’t even look at that right now. It wasn’t the same without seeing her in there. He finally closed his eyes and got some much needed rest, with dreams of his golden goddess in his head.