“I know you.” Olaf gave Spike a smug look as he jumped back to avoid a blow.
“Seriously doubt it, mate.” Spike silently cursed when Olaf’s fist suddenly hit him straight in the face, but he didn’t even flinch.
Olaf looked a little surprised when Spike showed no sign of pain, but quickly covered up. “You don’t have a chance, you realize that, right?”
Spike blocked another punch, rolling his eyes. “Do we have to talk when we do this?”
Olaf shrugged. “I’m gonna be nice and offer you a chance to walk away. I suggest you’ll take it.”
Raising a brow, Spike let out a laugh. “Never walked away from a fight in my life. Not gonna start now.” He took Olaf off guard and punched him on the nose.
Letting out a furious cry of pain, Olaf brought his hand up to cover his bleeding nose and glared at Spike. “When I’m done with you, you’ll wish you’d walked away when you had the chance.”
Spike snorted. “Yeah, okay. Remember what I said about not talking? Should try it, you’re really starting to annoy me.” He managed to hit Olaf in the face again before the other man got the chance to protect himself, and Spike soon had him trapped against the brick wall where Xander had been earlier. A final kick, hitting him hard in the stomach, and Olaf slid down to the ground with a loud groan. Spike took a step back. That had been almost too easy.
“Spike!”
He spun around at the sound of the familiar voice and noticed the blond girl in the middle of the parking lot. “Buffy?” He took a step towards her, but stopped when she pointed at something behind him and yelled something he couldn’t quite make out. Frowning, he turned around but it was too late. The sharp pain when the bottle hit him in the head made him gasp for air and he dropped to his knees, cursing himself for not noticing Olaf getting up and sneaking up behind him. He struggled to get back on his feet but a wave of nausea came over him. Then everything went dark.
Buffy had just left the club and was on her way to get her car when she heard the sound of fighting. Nervously looking around, she kept walking, not wanting to get in the middle of something. Then she saw the two men fighting and immediately recognized one of them; the bleached blond hair and the black leather duster making it pretty clear who it was. She hesitated, not sure of what to do, but was relieved when she realized that Spike seemed to have the upper hand. A moment later, the man he was fighting went down. For a moment she just stared at them, then she snapped out of it. “Spike!”
He had backed away from the fallen man and turned around, looking at her in confusion. “Buffy?”
Spike started towards her, and that was when Buffy saw the other man jump to his feet. The empty beer bottle in his hand seemed to have appeared from nowhere and she let out a cry of warning, desperate to make Spike aware of the danger, but it was too late. She let out a scream when the bottle hit him in the head and rushed over to him, ignoring the fact that by doing so, she could get hurt as well.
The man who Spike had been fighting with stared at her, dumbfounded, and without thinking she quickly reached into her pocket and held up her cellphone in front of her. “I’ve called the police! They'll be here any minute!” She silently prayed that he would buy it, not wanting to think about what he would do to her if he didn’t. The large man; he seemed vaguely familiar, opened his mouth, then closed it again and his eyes widened. Then he started to back away, much to Buffy’s relief. She watched him turn around and quickly leave the scene, hurrying over the parking lot, and she let out the breath she had been holding.
She closed her eyes for a moment, her heart beating loudly in her chest. Then she heard a groan, coming from Spike, and snapped out of the shock. She dropped to her knees beside him, reaching out her hand towards his face but pulled it back when she noticed the blood. “Oh my God, you’re hurt!”
Spike tried to sit up, then immediately regretted it as another wave of dizziness hit him. “Yeah, well, I just got hit in the head with a bloody bottle!”
Buffy looked taken aback, then actually pouted a little. “You don’t have to yell at me, I’m just trying to help.”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t bother, pet. If you hadn’t distracted me, I wouldn’t be lying here.”
For a moment she was speechless, then snapped out of it and stared at him, outraged. “Are you kidding me?! How dare you blame me for this, I tried to warn you!”
“Yeah?” Spike ran his hand over his face, staring at the blood for a moment, then glared at her. “Good for you.”
She slapped him then, hard on the face. He didn’t flinch, but Buffy gasped in shock when she realized what she had done. “God, I…” She swallowed. ”I’m sorry, I…”
“Don’t.” Spike let out a sigh and looked away. “I deserved it.”
“No… Well, yeah.” Buffy hesitated. “But I shouldn’t have hit you, you’ve just…” She looked away as well, ashamed.
“Buffy…” Spike finally looked at her, and for a moment he looked sad. “I’m not a nice person, pet, you should know that by now.” She opened her mouth to object but he went on; “I mean it, luv, m’a bad man, you should stay away from me.”
“Uh huh.” She reached out her hand and gently ran her fingers over his bleeding eyebrow. “You’re gonna get a scar.”
He pulled back, abruptly, and she found it a little weird that he hadn’t even reacted when she’d hit him but this gentle touch made him flinch. She looked at him but he suddenly refused to meet her eyes. Instead he just shrugged. “It’s nothing. Had worse.”
Buffy frowned, waiting for him to say something more, but he didn’t. Then she got up, offering him her hand, which he took after a moments hesitation and allowed her to help him up. He took a step, swayed a little, and she immediately grabbed his arm. “You should have someone look at that, you may have gotten a concussion.” She paused. “My car’s right over there, if you want I’ll give you a ride to the hospital.”
He shook his head, grimacing a little. “No, I’ll be fine.”
She hesitated, then nodded. “All right. But at least let me give you a ride home then.” He started to object but she interrupted him, a firm look on her face. “Really, Spike, I want to. You helped me the other night, remember? Now, let me help you.”
Spike looked at her for a moment, and she was certain that he would turn her down. Then he finally nodded. “Fine. Lead the way.”
TBC