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banner by dawnofme


Author's Chapter Notes:
Please take the time to review!!! It makes my day when I get one!! LOL
The next morning Giles paid Spike's medical bill wincing at its size.

"Couldn't have done this in England could you? Where the treatment was free." he thought as he paid.

Four hours and about eight properties later, Giles found the perfect house. It stood on a good sized plot in a secluded avenue. Two storeys high, lots of trees provided privacy and the back yard was surrounded by a high wall, so no neighbours could see in. He signed the lease on the spot. It was furnished sparsely but was clean and comfortable enough.

He found Andrew back at the hotel, he'd bought clothes for Spike and also all of the provisions they needed for moving in to the house.

ooooooo

For Spike the day passed slowly. Helen had called in before her shift but he'd still been asleep so he'd missed her. When the nurse came with his pills he'd pretended to take them but spat them out as soon as he was alone, so for the first time since the coma he was actually drug free. He was a bit nervous about not taking them but he felt things were finally dropping in to place and needed his head to be as clear as possible, so he repeated his subtefuge each time his meds were offered. Images still burned in to his mind but he'd started to slow them down and put them in order. The one thing he didn't think about if he could help it., was his heart. He just didn't know what to make of that.

Helen decided not to go to see Spike after work as she needed to get hold of the physiotherapist before he went home and get a list of exercises that Spike could do to improve his left leg and general fitness.

Spike was laying on the bed when he heard footsteps coming towards his room, accompanied by a strange squeaking noise, he sat up swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, bare feet dangling just short of the floor.

The door swung open and the first thing he saw was the explanation of the squeak, a wheelchair pushed by Andrew, with Giles and Jake following behind.

The doctor approached Spike,

"Well Spike, it's time for you to go. Are you still sure it's what you want to do?" he asked.

Spike nodded, not trusting himself to speak, without the drugs dulling his senses, he'd spent the afternoon feeling agitated and restless but made sure he didn't show it to any of the nurses. He'd had enough of the four walls of this room and longed to be out of it.

"You know you can reach me here at anytime if you're worried." said Jake, directing his words to Giles, he looked back at Spike, "Right all you need to do is to take your meds, don't worry they won't knock you out, get changed in to something a little more suitable and you can go. Everything else has been done."

"Damn it." thought Spike, "No way will I be able to spit the tablets out with Jake there watching. He reached out and took the little cup containing the pills and the glass of water. Resisting the urge to throw both back at Jake, he put them in his mouth and swallowed them down.

"Why the chair?" he asked, "I'm not a total bloody cripple." struggling to keep his voice even as he remembered the time he spent in one after Buffy caused a church organ to crash down on him and his then lover, the vampire Drusilla. He'd hated that bloody chair. Buffy! He swiftly put her out of his mind.

"Hospital policy," answered Jake, "Our rules mean we deliver you to the door in this."

"Oh, ok, suppose that's alright then."

Andrew stepped towards him.

"I got you some clothes. I hope they're ok. I mean they'll put you on 'til you can get out and about and get what you want."

He offered a couple of bags to Spike, who took them and put them on the bed.

"Thanks." he said, "Can I have some privacy then?" he added as the three men just stood there.

"Of course, of course." blustered Giles, and they left Spike alone.

Spike took hold of the heaviest bag and tipped it's contents on to the bed next to where he sat. Out fell a long black leather coat. It was battered and scuffed and it looked like there was still some of his blood on it. It had a tear on the left arm, which corresponded to where the break had been. He picked it up and held it close to himself. God the memories it evoked, all of a sudden he was glad he'd taken the drugs to blunt things down a bit. He's had it for thirty years and had barely a day since, without wearing it until now.

He put it back down on the bed and saw that there was a pair of black boots too, higher than ankle length, again familiar and equally as battered.

He opened the second bag, worried as to what Andrew might find suitable for him, but he needn't have. It held a pair of black jeans, a black T shirt and a black long sleeved shirt plus some underwear.

"Thank God for that." thought Spike, "I wouldn't have put it past the boy to have bought pink."

He changed in to his clothes, grunting with the effort of reaching to put the sock on his left foot, the injured leg not being able to bend far enough. He eventuall got it on and stood up, sliding his feet into his boots. He decided not to try to fasten them, appalled at how weak he felt. He picked up his coat and limped to the door, it was still ajar. He stepped through it and out on to the ward. Andrew hurried over with the wheelchair.

"Your chariot awaits kind sir!" he said with a theatrical bow.

Spike smiled at him and sat in it gratefully, knowing that the way he felt at the moment, he'd not be certain of making it to the door of the ward, let alone the exit door of the hospital.

Andrew pushed the chair and Giles walked beside Spike.

"You're ok?" he asked putting a hand on Spike's shoulder, feeling the bones sharp beneath the cloth of the shirts.

"Yeah." said Spike, hands fiddling with the coat on his lap, he was starting to feel a little woozy as the drugs kicked in.

They left the ward and walked along the corridors to the elevator, no one spoke, each lost in their own thoughts.When they got to the hospital's entrance, Giles left Andrew with Spike whilst he went to bring the car round for them.

Andrew prattled on, telling Spike about the house they were going to. Spike just let the words wash over him.

"Helen!" he exclaimed, cutting in to Andrew's diatribe, "Helen didn't come. Why didn't she come? I need......I want......"

"It's ok," soothed Andrew, "She's coming to the house tomorrow night, don't worry she hasn't abandoned you."

"Good." said Spike, his hand absently straying to the cheek she'd kissed the night before.

Giles appeared at the entrance with the car and got out to help Spike in to the back seat. Spike leant his head back on the rest and closed his eyes, the movement of the car and the flashing of the street lamps as they drove along making him feel nauseous.

Twenty minutes later they pulled up in the driveway of what would be their home for the next few months. Giles and Andrew helped Spike in to the house, he leant on them heavily as they walked up the three steps to the front door, his limp pronounced. They guided him to the sofa, he sank back in it's cushions gratefully.

"Are you up to telling us what happened to you before the hospital?" asked Giles, "Did you see what happened to the others?"

Spike visibly flinched as a sharp shaft of pain went through his heart, he was glad of the drugs anaesthetising effect as he remembered his lost friends. He and Angel had always argued but they'd known each other since 1880 and shared lots of times, good and bad.

"They're gone, they're all gone." he said quietly. "I don't know how the bloody hell I survived at all. I was sure I was in Hell laid there attached to those machines, feeling my heart beating. didn't know what to think and then I clocked that nurse and things got even more mixed up. I dunno whether it was the drugs or me, but the memories got the better of me and I guess I just kinda gave up." He looked embarrassed.

He went on to tell Andrew and Giles of Angel's plan to take on the Senior Partners knowing they'd wreak revenge on the team. He told them of the army of demons that fell on them in the alley. Angel being turned to dust by the dragon he tried to slay, Gunn down by a demon's axe, Illyria fighting like a wildcat, fuelled by her grief at the loss of Wesley, until the fatal blow was struck.

"Last I remember, " continued Spike, "I was fighting a Veragos demon who had a bloody great sword. He swung it at my head and that was it 'til I woke up in the hospital. What's going on Giles? I can't take much more. I've died in the Hellmouth only to be spat out as a ghost, than I'm corporeal again, now this! How come everyone else is dead and my bloody heart is beating? Why wasn't I a pile of dust if I was dead?" he sagged back in his seat, exhausted by the effort of talking.

"You weren't dead Spike an unconcious vampire would appear dead as no breathing or pulse. Your wounds weren't fatal." said Giles.

"I thought I was going to starve, couldn't really ask for some blood when I was in there now could I? Don't suppose you're got some? This vampire with a soul and now a bleeding beating heart needs sustenance."

"We've been thinking about that since we found you." said Giles, "I don't think you'll be wanting blood unless it's running out of a rare steak."

He handed Spike a small square object.

"What do you make of that Spike?"

With a puzzled look he took it from Giles, it wsa just a piece of wood in a frame.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Turn it over." replied Giles.

He did, his eyes widened with astonishment, hands trembled nearly dropping it.

"Well what do think now Spike?" asked Giles with a smile.

After a pause Spike replied.

"I think I need a bleeding hair cut, I look like a poofter!"

All three laughed. Once they's got their breath back, Spike , a grave look on his face, said,

"Does this mean.......?" he couldn't finish.

"You're human!" exclaimed Andrew, "We don't know how but that's what you are, you're human again."

"So how come you collected me at night then? If I'm all human, why didn't you let me go out in to the sun? Why did you make me stay there all day?"

"We weren't sure we'd get the chance alone to tell you and since they'd said you'd fought them rather than go in to a beam of sunlight we decided best not to do it there. Lets face it Spike you were acting pretty oddly in there." said Giles.

"Yeah, well you'd act bloody odd if you'd been unconscious for three months then you have everybody going on about getting your heart beating when it hadn't beat in 120 years! I thought I'd gone mad again, I suppose I did for a bit."

He couldn't resist looking at his reflection, he'd forgotten how intensely blue his eyes were. He'd bleached his hair since punk rock had hit the scene in the seventies, but had never seen it, now after three and a half months it grew in two tone unruly curls. His cheekbones accentuated by his hollow cheeks. He took in the scar on his forehead, he'd felt he'd had a scar in his eyebrow ever since he'd killed his first slayer but now the scar stretched from his left eye up to his hairline.

"So if I'm not so weak due to being starved of blood what's going on? Please don't tell me this is how all you human's feel?"

"Us humans." corrected Andrew with a grin. He couldn't believe it Spike alive, properly alive.

"I think," said Giles, "that perhaps some of the weight loss is due to the stress your body's been under, the metabolism probably went a bit haywire at having blood pumping through it's vein's after a century's break. You were badly injured Spike, and since you were in a coma your broken leg hasn't regained it's strength due to inactivity. Hopefully we'll get you a lot fitter than you are now, but it may take some time, you no longer have a vampire constitution that comes complete with speedy powers of healing. Now lets get something to eat and go to bed, you look exhausted."

"You're not wrong Rupe," said Spike, "look I know we've not always, well ever, seen eye to eye and I am glad of your help, but why are you helping me?"

"You died saving the world, I think some payback is now in order don't you?" said Giles, adding to himself, "and to make up for doubting you and trying to kill you."

Spike looked at Giles and Giles knew Spike knew exactly what he'd been thinking. They briefly nodded to each other and that was it. There'd be no further mention of past ills by either one.

Andrew had been busy in the kitchen for the past few minutes and soon reappeared with three huge steaks complete with salad, they rapidly polished them off. not long afterwards they retired to bed. Spike refusing a sleeping pill. Give him his due, when Spike set his mind on something he did it with determination, and he was adamant to get off the drugs once and for all.

tbc





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