[Reviews - 93]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 3557 times

- Text Size +




Chapter 17

“What’s wrong with her?” Spike asked, sitting at Buffy’s bedside. “She just…she was talking to me, and then…nothing.”

“It appears that she’s slipped into a coma, but the babies appeared healthy. It has to be a side effect to whatever mystical energy impregnated her.”

“So this is my fault, is it?”

“It’s the Senior Partners,” Angel seethed. They’re the reason I had the necklace, aren’t they? They’re the reason I brought it to Sunnydale.”

“Any way you can get in contact with them?” Fred asked. Getting a glance from Angel, she sighed. “Stupid question.”

“Not even Gunn’s been able to reach them.”

“Giles will be here soon. We’ll wait for him…”

“What if she’s dying?”

“I’ll try and contact the senior partners, but I can’t guarantee…” Something in Angel's words hit a nerve with Spike.

“Wait a sodding minute.”

“Spike?”

“This is your fault.”

“What?”

“You came prancing into Sunnydale on your big white horse with that shiny little trinket. You brought that to us. I wore the bloody thing, and the next thing I know, I’m floating around haunting the rooms of your sodding company!”

“Spike,” Fred said softly, “Angel didn’t know.”

“He knew something big and nasty would come of it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have offered to stay and be the big hero. Had to be noble, didn’t he?”

“Spike, shut up,” Angel said angrily. “I didn’t know what was going to happen. I’d have gladly been the one to…”

“Yeah, so you could be with her now, eh? You don’t even know her. You might have known the girl she was, but I know the woman she is now.” Feelings of anger that he’d tried to hold back for the past century had boiled up to this very moment. He’d never hated Spike more than he hated him now. Lunging forward, he took the other vampire by the throat, pinning him to the wall, a reverse of earlier.

“You don’t know anything about me and Buffy. Don’t even start trying to tell me you know her better than I know her. I might not have her heart now, but I know it. I know how she smiles, how she laughs. I know how she loves. You might have that part of her, but I’ll always be in her heart.”

“Sure, mate,” Spike said with an angry smirk. “But she’ll never love you like she used to. She loves me.”

“Can we stop with the macho demonstration, please?” Fred asked. “Buffy might be able to hear you, and I’m sure that if she can, she’s trying to roll her eyes right now. Get over yourselves! This isn’t about you. It’s about her. She loves you both, but she’s made her choice. Angel, you have to accept that. Spike, you have to accept that Angel’s always going to have a place in Buffy’s life.” Wesley, having not even attempted to stop the two before, walked over and gave Angel’s arm a little tug.

“We have work to do.” Angel and Spike’s mutual glare held out another few seconds before Angel backed off and left with Wesley.

“You need to work together, Spike,” Fred said quietly, checking Buffy’s pulse. “I’m not a doctor, and I’m not a very good nurse. None of us are. Buffy needs you both, but if we can’t help her out of this, we need to take her to someone who can.”

***

Spike was finally alone with her. Everyone had cleared out to research, but his mind wasn’t on books. It was on the Slayer. Her hand was so small in his, and the fact that she was so pale frightened even him, a vampire. It wasn’t until he saw how pale she was now that he realized how different they must look together on a normal day.

“I’m here, luv,” he whispered, stroking the back of her hand. “Feel like a bloody fool. Don’t know which way is up. Can’t do a sodding thing to help you.” He cocked his head to the side and gazed at her. “Never thought in a million years I’d be sitting at a slayer’s bedside, holding her hand, willing her to wake up. Funny things we do for love, eh?” With his free hand, he rubbed at his temple. Vampires might not be able to die without direct sunlight or a nice little stake through the heart, but they could feel unbearable pain, and while this headache was nothing compared to the pain in his soul, he wished it would just go away.

It was quiet. He could see the slight rise and fall of her chest, and it was enough to keep him going. He wondered if she could hear him. Could she feel him? Not even twenty-four hours ago, they were tangled up in each other’s arms, neither one thinking about the future, and now, that was all he could think about.

It was easy not to care before he got his soul. It was easier before he knew her. When he’d gotten the chip, he’d hated her, wanted nothing more than to kill her, but it hadn’t taken long for him to see her; for him to start changing. When he’d fallen, it killed him to know he’d never have her. She hated him. He’d seen to that. He’d tried to make it worse, make her hate him more, after she rejected him. But then Joyce had gotten sick, and all he could do was feel a twinge in his dead heart. All he could do was the one thing his instincts told him to do. Comfort her. His instincts had changed. The one thing that made him a killer; made him evil. Sure, he still longed for the taste of warm, fresh blood once in a while, but it was nothing compared to the way he felt when he was holding her, loving her, while she was loving him back.

Look what love’s done to you, mate. It’s turned you soft. Turned you into a bleedin’ fool. He shook his head. But there was no place he’d ever want to be. Not now. Not after everything they had been through. Vampire or not, he was going to do right by her. He was going to make her happy; make her well again.

“I know you deserve better than me, and God knows why you love me. But I’ve seen it. You don’t look at me the way you used to. You look at me like…like I’ve never seen you look at anybody. Not even…him.” He nodded toward the door, toward Angel, wherever he was in the building. “I don’t understand it. I don’t deserve it. I don’t even think you understand it. It’s real, isn’t it? I’m not imagining?” He shook his head. What was real right now, anyway? She was unconscious, in a coma, because of his children. Children he never expected he’d ever be able to have. Children he still couldn’t believe existed. He sure as hell never expected it.

“We’ll figure this out, Slayer. We will. It just might take a little time.” Time. It’s all he had. But it wasn’t enough when it came to her. It was never enough.

“Anybody home?” Spike looked over at the door, hearing a familiar voice, followed by a knock. Willow peeked in, seeing Spike sitting at Buffy’s bedside. A lump rose in the girl’s throat.

“Spike?”

“Hey Red,” he said quietly. “Surprised to see me?”

“Well…not really. Giles filled me in. But, yeah…still not expecting to see you, you know, after you…”

“Yeah,” Spike replied quietly.

“Um…Harmony directed me up here.”

“Oh. Yeah. You seen Angel?”

“No, I thought he’d be here. I haven’t seen anyone familiar…well, except for you.”

“They’re researching.”

“Oh,” Willow said slowly, moving closer to the bed, seeing her friend lying there. It still startled her to see Buffy pregnant. Even more pregnant than she’d been the last time they saw one another. “How is she?”

“I don’t know. It’s like…it’s like she’s hibernating or something. Her breathing and her heart rate…they’re so slow. But she’s alive.” Willow nodded.

“And the baby?”

“Babies,” Spike corrected her. Willow looked up at him in alarm.

“What?”

“Wesley…he did an…erm…sonosound…ultragram thing.”

“Ultrasound,” Willow muttered with a nod. “Two? The prophecy…”

“I’m starting to think this prophecy is bollocks. They’re off researching, and I’m starting to wonder if we should just take her to a sodding hospital already.” Willow, realizing exactly why she was there, nodded.

“Right, but just to be safe…” She pulled out a spell book.

“What’s all this?”

“I know how to fix it.”

“What? How?” Willow thought back to the piece of Lethe’s bramble she’d found, and she smiled sadly.

“Let’s just say I had help from an old friend.”

“How’s it work?”

“It’ll take care of the prophecy. From all angles, I think.”

“So…” Spike turned his attention back toward Buffy. “What do you have to do?” There was a pause from Willow, and then:

“I have to kill Buffy.”





You must login (register) to review.