Dawn looked worse than Buffy. Her face was a mass of bruises of all kinds of colors. His demon growled deep within him at the smell of her blood. She was bleeding from somewhere but it didn’t seem to be a cause for concern. Her arm was in a cast which he assumed meant that Angelus broke her arm. Angelus liked to torture his victims, especially young girls. He knew Dawn would be no exception. He sat next to her and picked up her left hand, gently, being careful not to hurt her worse. This visit to the hospital was much worse then when Buffy died. He hoped it would be his last visit where it concerned his girls.
“Nibblet? I’m here. Should have been there before. Should have known something was wrong. Come on. Open your eyes and let me know you’re okay.” Spike put her hand to his forehead and sighed. He had cried enough when he saw Buffy; tears weren’t going to change the reality of the situation.
Dawn squeezed his hand and if he had been human, the strength of her grip would’ve broken his hand, painkillers or not.
“Nibblet?” Spike asked, hopefully.
Dawn opened her eyes and they filled with tears. “Spike?” She rasped with a dry throat.
“Shhh. I’m right here and I’m not leaving.” Spike brushed a lock of her hair back.
Dawn flinched at his touch, and he pulled away quickly.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he whispered. His heart broke at the thought that she thought he would hurt her. He never had in the past, but Angelus had his ways. Spike couldn’t wait to get his hands on his sire but he pushed that thought to the side for the time being.
Dawn knew that but it didn’t really matter to her. “I know and I’m sorry,” she said sadly. “Can you just sit with me and not touch me?”
“Yeah,” Spike said softly as he slowly sat next to her on the bed so that he didn’t scare her. He didn’t touch her but he didn’t want to be away from her. “Buffy is uh…she’s in the room next to you.”
“Is she okay?” She asked.
“Yeah. I won’t let anyone hurt you. Never again,” Spike vowed. “But you should get some sleep.”
Dawn snorted bitterly. “I should,” she muttered. “Doesn’t mean I will. But you’ll stay with me, right?” She bit her lip nervously, afraid that he would say no, so that he could be with Buffy. Buffy was always strong and didn’t have to act like a baby every time things got bad.
Spike nodded and got up to move the non-cushy chair over next to her bed. “Yes,” he said. “I’m going to stay.”
Dawn relaxed slightly as he laid his head on the mattress. She couldn’t deal with his touch right now, but she did need him close to her. “Just . . . please don’t touch me right now,” she pleaded.
Spike nodded and looked up at her. “I won’t,” he promised. He wanted to hold her but he knew even if she let him touch her, he couldn’t do that. He at least wanted to hold her hand or do something to help her forget what Angelus did to her. He wondered how long it would be, before he was allowed to comfort her again. “I’ll make sure no one else does, either.”
After a while, Spike’s fatigue caught up with him and he dozed. His senses were still alert and he was between Dawn and the door. So if anyone tried to come in, they would wake him in the process. Dawn, however, couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t get Angel and the pain that he caused her out of her mind. Her first time was supposed to be beautiful and gentle with someone she loved, not with some monster who just wanted to hurt her. She shuddered in her hospital bed and tried to sleep, but it was a long time before she was able to close her eyes without seeing his face.
Spike woke after what felt like minutes, and Dawn was still sleeping. There was a little bit of sun streaming under the heavy drapes, causing Spike to curse himself for not paying attention as closely as he should have. He looked down at her, taking her face and trying to see how bad she was hurt. The bruises on her face had faded a little bit but she didn’t have the slayer healing abilities that Buffy had, it would take some time. He rubbed his face, and got up to stretch his legs. His emotions were conflicting with each other. The concern for his girls was very strong and out weighing his urge to go and kill Angelus. He didn’t think Buffy would be able to stop him, no matter what Angel meant to her.
The doctor came in shortly after but he had the decency to be quiet enough not to wake the sleeping girl. “You must be Spike,” he said, softly, as Spike stood in front of Dawn protectively. “The older man that was here with Buffy Summers said that someone named Spike might be around. You fit the description that he gave me.”
“Yeah, I am,” Spike muttered, crossing his arms. “I don’t like her and her sister being left alone.”
“Well, that’s why I suggested I move in here,” Buffy announced softly, as she was wheeled in to Dawn’s room. Her bed was put right next to Dawn’s. Her face looked better; her slayer healing had taken care of the purple bruises over night. The smell of her blood didn’t hit Spike like it did the night before, only Dawn’s blood met his nose.
“How are you feeling?” He asked worriedly as he went over to her. At least he was allowed to be near her without her flinching away. He slowly reached out to touch her hand and didn’t get much of a reaction but no reaction was better then a bad reaction.
“I’m okay. I’m better now that I’m with Dawn,” she said, reaching out to touch Spike’s cheek. She looked at the doctor with a raised eyebrow. “Can we have some time alone?”
The doctor went over to Dawn and gave her another sedative. “I think you and Dawn should rest,” he said, softly. “Without visitors. Dawn will be asleep for a few more hours but you should sleep as well.”
Buffy sighed and bit her lip. “Trust me,” she said, looking back at the doctor. “Spike won’t prevent us from getting sleep. I promise.”
The doctor sighed. “I’ll back in a little bit to talk to you and your sister,” he said, putting her chart on the door. “Try not to let your blood pressure rise. I want you as calm as possible. Same with Dawn.”
“They’ll be fine,” Spike finally growled as he got annoyed. “Tell me what happened?” Spike asked, as the doctor left.
Buffy sighed and wrung her hands nervously. She was hoping to avoid this conversation for a little bit longer, but now that Spike had brought it up, she knew he wouldn’t let it go. “Angelus… he kidnapped me and Dawn. I remember waking up… I was chained to the bed and I think Dawn was in the bed next to me. We…were blindfolded but he was doing something to her. She was crying and screaming in pain. I couldn’t break my chains. I just couldn’t get to her. I don’t know what he did to me, but had I been myself I would have been able to break them easily. But I couldn’t. I was just helpless.” Buffy spat out the last word and clenched her jaw at the memory of being so powerless, a new feeling for the Slayer. “I think she passed out after a couple hours,” she whispered.
“I sensed him coming over to me. I braced myself. He slammed in to me and he… went further than I thought possible. When I struggled, I just made it worse.” Tears flowed down her face as she remembered Angelus laughing at her. She had just left Spike’s crypt and she was covered in his scent. Angelus had called her a whore and a lot of other things that Buffy had tried to tune out. She thought he’d never let her go. “I promised myself I wouldn’t scream, but he…he bit me. I lost so much blood.”
Buffy paused to collect herself and wiped her tears. She looked over at her sister and kept her voice low and very calm. “He fed from me a lot, so I was delirious. When I woke from passing out, we were chained from the ceiling. He was… he was doing something to her again. It seemed like he was doing it to torture me because he knew I was helpless. He was doing it for hours and she screamed herself hoarse. She screamed so loud that I felt the walls rattle. After a while he stopped, let me loose, but I couldn’t do anything but fall to the floor and he took Dawn,” she whimpered, as she finished.
“He dumped her in an alley. I’ll kill him,” Spike said, looking at Dawn, with a clenched jaw. His sucked his cheeks in as he unconsciously growled, but Buffy’s voice made him calm down.
“Spike,” Buffy whispered, pleadingly. She had to admit that she felt a little better that she told him. He always knew what to do but this had to be tearing him apart inside. She tugged on his sleeve to try to get him to lay with her and to get his attention off of Dawn. There was nothing they could do for her at the moment but let her sleep. No reason for Spike to be upsetting himself more then he already was.
Spike climbed in bed with her and she curled up against him. “She looks bad,” she sniffled.
Then Angel came in the door.
Moving at inhuman speed, Spike had him up against the wall in the hall. “Don’t EVER come near my girls again or I’ll kill you,” he growled, in a deadly voice. “I should kill you right now.”
“Get out of my way, boy. I got my soul back,” Angel said. “I need to talk to Buffy.”
“You’re not going anywhere near them. Look at what you did to them! To Dawn! Do you know how old she is?” Spike snarled, angrily thrusting him up against the wall again. He really didn’t think Buffy would let him kill Angel in front of her, not without having a go at him first.
“Angel, I don’t want to see you right now,” Buffy said desperately from her hospital bed.
“We have to talk,” Angel said, struggling against Spike. “It was my fault and I’m sorry. It was a spell gone wrong. It wasn’t supposed to get out of control like this. We need Angelus for something and he escaped. But I didn’t think he would even think about you or Dawn.”
“I don’t care,” Buffy said, closing her eyes. Her head throbbed as a headache began to develop. “I don’t want to talk about this now. Spike, you can let him go, for now. Please.”
Spike released Angel roughly when he heard the plea in her voice. “She doesn’t need you,” he said, going back into the room.
Angel sighed; he had never seen Spike that angry. He wasn’t going to fight with him at the hospital but he would be back. He left in his usual broody manner and headed to a hotel. He had to figure out what happened while he was Angelus. His memories of what had happened were very vague. He had to make Buffy understand what happened. What was Spike doing there anyways? The last he knew, Spike and Buffy were enemies, or at least hating each other. Of course last time he saw Spike, his childe was having him tortured. Buffy choosing Spike over him was not something he wanted to get used to, regardless of his tension with Buffy. He would talk to Buffy when his pig-headed childe wasn’t around. He needed to call Cordelia and check on Connor. He didn’t think he would be going back to L.A. for a few days and he didn’t need a search team coming to look for him.
Dawn stirred shortly after Angel left and her eyes fluttered open. “Buffy?” she rasped, seeing her sister next to her.
“Dawn,” Buffy whispered, trying to get up.
Dawn tried to get up as well but she was in too much pain.
Spike went over to Dawn slowly in case she was still frightened and wanted space, his anger for Angel having dissipated when Dawn woke up. “Nibblet, you okay?”
“I want to go home,” Dawn whimpered.
“I know you do, but I don’t think the doctor’s gunna let you.”
“Nice to see you’re both awake,” the doctor said as he came in. “Dawn’s painkillers were supposed to have worn off right about now. Someone alerted me of a commotion as well. Is everything alright?”
“Things are okay now,” Buffy sighed, her head still throbbing. “Doctor, we want to go home.”
“Dawn needs to get more rest before we can release her,” the doctor said. “Neither of you have been here very long. You should stay for at least one more day. Dawn hasn’t healed enough to be moved but I’m curious as to why you have healed as much as you have.”
“I heal fast,” Buffy said, simply with a tone that said not to argue.
“I’ll rest better at home,” Dawn said. “I’m more comfortable there and if there are any complications Buffy or Spike will bring me back.”
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