Chapter 2:
Of all the monsters that roamed the world, Spike never thought he’d label a Slayer as one of them.
Buffy laid her head down back on her pillow and stared up at the ceiling. “When the nurse said your friend came by earlier…appearing to be Dawn, I thought it was one of the Slayers coming after me. I mean, I knew it couldn’t be Dawn.” Buffy shook her head slowly.
“How so?”
Buffy turned her head and looked at Spike; she almost sneaked out a small smile when she realized she knew something he didn’t. ‘Because she couldn’t fit through the door being 5 stories high’ the words were on the tip of her tongue, but she didn’t have the energy to go through the long tale of how Dawn plus sex equaled Godzilla girl.
“I…I just knew it wasn’t her.” Buffy muttered and looked away from him and towards the door. Her poor sister has been in the state of bigness ever since the winter after Sunnydale collapsed, and instead of desperately helping her she always ran off to another country to attend to some other matter.
Through the tiny rectangular window she saw nurses and doctors passing by. ‘I’ll tell him later’ Buffy told herself.
“Why would your own team attack you?”
Buffy turned to him and saw that he was thinking really hard to find the right answer.
“It’s not that crazy…” Spike raised his head up and looked at her as if she was crazy. “Every since Sunnydale turned into a big crater in the ground I haven’t exactly been looked at like a hero. The United States government is thinking I’m a terrorist.”
“For saving the world?”
“For destroying a town.”
“Not to have any disrespect to your hometown love, but I don’t think it’s a huge loss.”
Buffy gave him a loving smile and looked at him a little bit more closely. He hadn’t changed much since the last time she saw him, but she didn’t really expect him to being a vampire an all.
‘I love you…’
‘No you don’t, but thanks for saying it’
Those words seemed so far away now, nearly almost forgotten. Sure, months after the Hellmouth was destroyed she often thought of those last moments with him. Late at night when she all alone in her bed, and couldn’t find sleep, or heard someone say ‘I love you’ to someone else, she often thought of Spike’s response to her confession. She thought about all the things she wanted him say back inside of denying her.
“What else have I missed?” he asked her.
‘Hmm…well lets see there’s Mega Dawn, Faith betraying me…again, Giles betraying me…again, my trip back in time, my trip in the future…’
“Nothing much…saw Dracula again. Quit the charmer he is.”
Spike snorted, “Take away the thrall and he’s got nothing love.”
“What about you? See you have new little group...new friends…” Buffy recalled the mention of a girl named Melanie.
“Illyria is not really a friend, more of a…well…an acquaints. And Mel…well I guess she’s like a friend.” Spike shrugged.
‘Friend you slept with?’ the question was on the tip of her tongue but she didn’t dare ask it. She didn’t have the right to anymore…who was she kidding, she never did have the right to even back in Sunnydale.
Spike did as he pleased. It has been four years and he needed to find his pleasures.
“I think you’ll like her.” Spike said.
‘I think not.’
“She’s a Slayer, so you already got something in common.”
‘What is it with this guy and Slayers, huh?’
“She’s young…only 18.”
‘Perfect…just great…’
“And no I didn’t sleep with her.”
‘Oh and that’s—huh?’
“Huh?!” Buffy froze and turned to look at him.
“I didn’t sleep with her if that’s what you’re wondering…I don’t have a thing for Slayers, Buffy.”
“I never said—“
“You were thinking it. Admit it, you were curious if I did.”
‘Man knows me better than I know myself…he could have been useful these last few years when I felt like I had no clue where I was going or what I was doing.’
“You don’t have to answer to me Spike…you’re entitled to whatever you want, whoever you want, whenever you want.” She looked down at the hospital comforter as she babbled on.
Spike narrowed his eyes at her and paused before saying, “You don’t always have to put on a brave face…”
She peeked up at him and watched as he got up from his seat and left the room.
******
A few hours later Buffy was surprised that Spike did not come back to see her. No, not even a note or message from a nurse or anything…but he did send Melanie in for him. She explained to Buffy that Spike had to go out for a little bit and would return at nighttime. ‘He said I should keep you company’ Melanie shrugged with a smile and sat down by Buffy’s bed.
‘How nice of him to suggest this’, Buffy thought with sarcasm.
The two girls sat in silence for several minutes before Melanie decided to speak up.
“So....how would you like to be remembered by?” Melanie asked.
Buffy turned to the brunette and was speechless, ‘Kind of random question there?’
“Just making chit chat” Melanie said off of Buffy’s confused look.
“You writing a college essay or something?” Buffy raised an eyebrow. No one really asked questions like that unless it was for some sort of writing assignment or if someone just died. And since no one recently died...that she knew of…
“Just a thought that popped it my head.”
Guess Melanie didn’t need a reason to ask.
“I don’t know…it’s pretty much already published what people will remember me as.” Buffy shrugged.
“How so?”
“Well there is Watcher Diaries and my friends…people who knew me long after I’m gone.”
“Watcher Diaries?”
“Ya…umm…you, you don’t have a Watcher do you?”
“Am I suppose to?”
“Well…that’s the thing with this new ‘Potentials are Slayers now’ business. Not enough Watchers for individual Slayer’s.” Buffy explained, “Giles, umm he’s my old Watcher, he had the bright idea of having four or five Slayers per Watcher…kind of like a group thing.”
Melanie shrugged, “Sounds okay.”
Buffy shook her head, “I don’t know…I kind of liked it the way it was—one Watcher to one Slayer. Now it’s more like a fight to see which girl gets more attention, who is the favorite. It’s all very middle school cliquey.”
“Why did you do it?”
“Huh?”
“Make us Slayers…”
“Spike didn’t tell you?”
“Not really…I mean, I never asked. After I became a Slayer I sort of just learned as I went along. I knew I had power that other girls didn’t have, but I never knew how or why.”
Buffy felt so ashamed of herself. She was suppose to be a leader, suppose to make slaying better for these girls—better than what she went through. When she started out at least she had Giles, Melanie had no one.
“I’m sorry.” Buffy whispered, “I’m sorry you had to do it alone.”
“I’m not blaming you.”
“You should, it wasn’t suppose to be that way for you.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself Buffy. You gave a great gift to girls everywhere.”
“Did I? I mean look at me, beat up by my own. Left for dead because of what I did to them. Those girls didn’t treat their power like a gift; they treated it like a curse.” Buffy shook her head, thinking about how naïve she was to think Willow’s spell could solve everything.
“Things don’t turn out the way you thought they would.” Melanie said.
“All I wanted to do was win that war against the First…I was out of options, out of ideas, nearly out of hope. Hell, Spike saved the world that day more than the spell that turned Potentials into Slayers.”
“He what?!” Melanie’s eyes grew wide.
Buffy smiled and let out a little giggle, “He didn’t say?”
“Noooo!” the young Slayer shook her head.
“Huh, thought he would brag about it ever chance he got.”
******
“Oww!” Spike held his arm in pain when he received a punch by Melanie, “What was that for?” ‘She spends one hour with Buffy and she’s already learning the game of ‘Kick the Spike’”
“How come you never told me you saved the world jackass?” she hit him again in the arm.
“Ow…” he muttered again. “….and that’s the thanks I get?”
“Sorry…”
“Buffy tell you that?” he asked.
“No, Nurse Bitch did. Of course she told me…among other stuff.” She crossed her arms and smirked at him.
‘Uh-oh…’ Spike thought when he saw her evil smile, ‘What stuff? Buffy-Bot? Church organ? Randy Giles? When I was a bloody ghost? When puppet boy beat me up in an elevator? Wait…those last two were things Buffy never heard about…I think. I hope.’
“What stuff?”
Melanie waved her hand and let out a giggle, “Nothing bad. I was just messing with your mind thinking I knew something.”
Spike rolled his eyes and relaxed.
“She did say you got a soul for her.”
“Oh well…” Spike muttered, stuffing his hands in his pockets and started to look around the hospital hallways, anywhere but at her. It was a private matter and even though he was glad Buffy was proud of him for doing it, he kind of wished she didn’t tell everyone she meets about it.
“Knew you had heart, but never thought you to be romantic.” Melanie smiled.
“Well how did you think I got it?”
“I don’t know…won it at the carnival.” She shrugged.
Melanie squealed as he grabbed her and gave her a noogy.
TBC....