Getting him back to the house had proven to be difficult but no where near the challenge that getting him to sleep had proven to be. It was nearly sunrise before he finally passed out on her bed though, after hours of ramblings and mood swings. She stands in her dark and empty kitchen with a cup of coffee in between her hands. Her mind keeps going over the previous night and his mood swings, one minute he'd be the Spike she was used to; confident to the point of arrogance. The next minute he was almost like dealing with a child, as he cowered in the corner of her room with his knees hugged to his chest and rocked himself back and forth.
She shakes her head as she carries her cup of coffee into the living room and sitting down on the sofa, she pulls the afghan from the back laying it over her lap. She stares out into the fading night through the slight gap between each side of the curtains that would only allow a sliver of light to come through when the sun finally showed himself. She'd been careful, before she'd gone to get her coffee she'd shut every curtain Spike could possibly come into contact with to protect his irritating ass from become a pile of dust on her floor.
She had become so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't even realize Spike entered the room until she felt the movement on the sofa beside her as he sat down on the opposite end, the sliver of golden light becoming a tangible line he can't cross between the two of them. He's the first to speak. “So where's Red and Glinda?”
She doesn't look at him as she asks quietly, “What makes you think they aren't just upstairs sleeping? It's a bit early for anyone to be awake you know.”
He chuckles softly, “Vampire, pet, remember? Their scent's not strong enough for either of them to be here.”
“Well you're right, they aren't here. Willow's due back in a few days though...” Her voice fades as she sucks her bottom lip between her teeth. That very thing is something they're all nervous about, but at the same time she's more than looking forward to having her best friend home.
“Where are they?” His brows knit together in confusion, something was off and he knows it, he can hear it in her voice.
“There's been some changes during your disappearance, Spike...” Slowly she pulls her gaze from the window to look at him.
“Care to fill me in?”
“Well in the interest of time I'll give you the short version.” She sighs softly as his silence gives her the space to continue without interruption. “I'm sure you remember the leader of the nerd trio; Warren, right?” When he nods in silent response she goes on. “Well he got mad that I put a stop to his idiocy one too many times so he showed up here at the house with a gun, fired off a few rounds and managed to actually hit his mark with one; me. A stray bullet went through their bedroom window though, Tara was killed instantly...”
“I'm sorry, pet... I liked Glinda, a lot... She was one of the best of your lot.”
“She was. But I can't even imagine what it was like for Wil.” She pauses tilting her head in thought for a moment, she doesn't say it but in the back of her mind she thinks but maybe you can. “Her pain and her determination made sure that I didn't join Tara though, but she went after Warren for revenge and lost it after that. I'll leave the details of that mess out though but by the end of things Dawn and I found ourselves in a hole in the ground being attacked by the dead re-animated after Xander abandoned us to save the world.” She chuckles slightly seeing the wide eyed bewildered expression on his pale features. “She tried to end the world and with his love he saved her and saved us all. So now she's in England learning how to get a hold of her powers and get well. Dawn and I have been working on getting closer over the summer with our almost empty house, and now she attends the same high school that spent three years trying to kill me, but then again I work there now too.”
He's silent for a minute or two as he stares into her olive green eyes, his ocean colored eyes taking in every detail of her features as they have a million times, his voice seems almost sad when he finally finds his voice again. “I'm glad she saved your life, Buffy. If you ever repeat what I'm about to say to any of your friends I'll deny it and I swear I'll find a way to silence the entire lot for good and all; but I'll be grateful to them both until I'm dust that they preserved your life.”
The intensity of his voice and the words he'd spoke stuns her into silence so she's grateful when her sister breaks into the conversation all together by entering the room. Her arms are folded over her chest in true stubborn teenage irritation as she smiles a little too sweetly towards her older sister. “I'm done in the shower if you want to take yours so we're ready when Xan gets here. Don't want to be late for work do you?”
Buffy arches a brow slightly observing Dawn's stance as she stands to her feet leaving the blanket on the sofa where she'd been sitting. “Is it safe to leave you two alone or do I need to separate you two first?”
Dawn rolls her eyes, almost identically to the way Buffy had done at the same age. “I promise to behave.” To Dawn's surprise her sister just nods to both and heads up the stairs, her exhaustion showing only slightly.
She turns towards Spike, her gaze threatening to burn him to ash, her hand moves so fast he doesn't even realize she's slapped him until the sound echoes in the silence and his cheek burns in the aftermath. She doesn't give him a chance to respond before she's speaking, her voice like ice dripping venom. “If you ever hurt her again I'll stake you myself, or set fire to you as you sleep. Also, if you ever leave like that again I'll hunt you down and do the same, are we clear?”
“Bloody hell, Niblet!” His stunned exclamation was a combined reaction to the slap and her words. “I won't make the mistake twice, I swear to you. I'm sorrier than you could ever understand for what I did... tried to do.”
“Was she really as bad to you as she said?” Dawn had, over the summer, gotten Buffy to confess to a great deal of the treatment Spike had received from her. Buffy had been trying, in a sideways manner, to defend his actions but at the same time say they were wrong and try and instill the lesson that Dawn should never allow a man to force himself on her.
He waits until Dawn's sitting down in Buffy's recently abandoned place to answer her, his gaze peering down at his calloused hands in his lap as he tried to find the words. He stumbles over himself no matter how hard he's obviously trying not to. “Dawn, your sis... She... Oh bloody hell!” He sighs, his hand rubbing over his face before he looks up at her frowning deeply, “She was hurting, Niblet. She's got the weight of the world and then some on her shoulders, pet, and dusting my kind helps but it isn't enough because it's part of the problem.”
She tilts her head to the side when realization hits, in her mind she could see him clear as day when he'd been a beaten bloody mess and he had told her... Well she couldn't quite remember his cover story, she's realizing only now that's all it was; now she knows it was her sister that had beaten him near to death. Sure they'd beaten each other time and again in the past, but that had been different. When she'd seen him he looked like one of those battered boyfriends or husbands you'd find in a shelter running from the abuse they were suffering. But he didn't run, did he? No, he came back for more time and again. She shakes her had, “You may be a demon, Spike, but I've learned that nothing is black and white. Just because you're a vampire and she's The Slayer doesn't mean what she did was right or justifiable. You love her.” It wasn't a question, it was a statement of fact. Swiftly she changes the subject not wanting to see him try and react to her statement, or get caught here by Xander. While she could forgive his moment of demonic weakness as it seemed her sister could also, Xander is another story entirely and would love a chance or even excuse to dust him. “Look, Xander is going to be here soon so get to hiding. We've got to get to the school anyway.”
“Something's wrong at that bleedin' school, I don't like you two being there unprotected. Look, tell your sis I'll be there if anything happens. I'm going to sneak on out of here now and get back to my place for a spot to eat then I'll take the sewers and be in the basement for the duration you two are occupying the campus, let her know if there's any trouble to find me there. Okay?”
“You know she's going to storm down there the first chance she gets and rip you a new one, right?”
“Might be right, Niblet, but if it gives me a chance to help keep you two birds safe I'll take the risk of her wrath.” He stands nodding towards her a moment before slipping out of the room without a sound, using the afghan from the sofa to protect himself from the sun's deadly rays as he makes a run for it to his crypt only five minutes before Buffy finished getting ready and Xander arrived to take the Summers' girls to the high school.