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Author's Chapter Notes:
Okay, unbeta'd as usual. Sorry for being late updating, but exams and an epic case of laziness prevented me from writing. Also, I won't be online from Monday to Thursday any more. So, sorry if my updates become few and far between!
Also, if some of this seems sorta sketchy, I have a mild concussion from where a metal bar smacked me on the head in Art class today! Ouch, for sure.
So, anyway, this is the next chapter, hopefully better than the pittance that came before!
ENJOY!
A cold breeze rustled over the Slayer’s cheek, and she sat up, groaning as pain tore through her side. Lying beside her was an unconscious Spike. He was unmoving, still as death, which unnerved Buffy.

“Spike?” She asked, frowning. She gave him a shake. “C’mon, Spike, wake up already?”

Suddenly, she remembered the demon that had attacked them. She jumped to her feet, pain forgotten, and glanced all around the darkened lawn. There were no lights coming from the house, and the car that she’d been flung into was still in the driveway.

But the demon had vanished.

She returned her attention to the lifeless vampire, kneeling down beside him. She jostled him, but Spike remained unmoving, bearing an eerie resemblance to a corpse.

“Don’t be stupid,” she rebuked herself. “Of course he looks like a corpse! He’s a walking corpse. A walking, annoying, chain-smoking, British corpse…” Biting her lip, she rested her hand on his chest.

“C’mon, Spike,” she murmured, softly this time. She found herself running her hand up his neck, curving along his jaw, his cheek. She caressed his face gently. “Stupid vampire, wake up!” She whispered.

Looking around herself, she spotted a pay-phone across the street. She got to her feet, and hurried over as fast as her injuries would allow.

She grabbed the phone, rooting in her pockets for some coins, which she then jammed into the slot. She punched her home number quickly.

“C’mon, c’mon…pick up…”

“Hello?” Dawn’s perky voice came over the line.

“Dawn, it’s me, it’s Buffy…”

“Hey, what’s up? Did you find Warren and his guys yet?”

“What? Oh, no… Uh, is Xander still there?”

“Yeah, why? Are you okay? You sound kinda…distracted…”

Buffy paused for a moment, looking across the street at the motionless vampire. “Just get Xander, please.”

There was a rustle and a pause at the end of the line as Dawn left to fetch Xander. Buffy curled the cold metal cord of the phone around her wrist anxiously.

C’mon…

“Hey, Buffster. What’s up?”

“Xander!” She cried in relief. I need you to drive over to one of the houses on Willow’s list. Hold on…” She pulled the page out of her pocket again, and scanned down the page. “723 Franklin Avenue. Please, I need your help.”

“Sure, no problem. What happened, Buff?”

She ran a hand through her hair, wincing as it pulled at some tender patch on her temple. “I don’t know. I was about to knock on the door, and suddenly there was this demon. God, it was so strong, Xan, I couldn’t…”

“Well, where was the Bleached Wonder?”

It was amazing how quickly Spike’s kind words had been forgotten to the land of Denial once the weight of his prejudice had set in once more.

She rolled her eyes. “Spike and I had a …disagreement… He left, but he came back, and tried to help me fight. But, it was just so strong. You’ve gotta come soon.”

“Are you hurt?”

“No, not really, well, kinda. But, it’s Spike. He’s…well, I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but he’s not moving. It stabbed him with something…”

There was a pause. “What was that address again?”

“723 Franklin Avenue.”

He repeated it back to her. “I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

“Thank you,” she replied softly, hanging up the phone.



Fifteen minutes later, Xander’s car pulled up across from 723. Looking over, he saw the darkened figure of Buffy kneeling on the grass, crouched beside the unconscious form of the bleached vampire. The Slayer was, as he could already see, beaten badly. An ugly gash split her forehead, and even from where he sat, the bruises swelling her cheeks were visible. By the way she was holding her arm across her chest, he assumed her face wasn’t the only injured area.

He got out of the car and headed over to her. “Jeez, Buff, what happened?”

She looked up at him. “A demon, a strong one. Really strong… I couldn’t…” She looked down at Spike.

He gestured to the vampire. “Wanna put him in the back of the car?”

She looked up at her friend in confusion. When had he ever willingly wanted to help Spike? When had any of them? But tired and worried, she swallowed her questions, and nodded. Wrapping her arms around Spike’s torso, as Xander raised his legs, they carefully carried Spike to the car, placing him into the back. Xander walked back to the front car, and sat down in the driver’s seat, waiting for Buffy to take her seat beside him. When she didn’t, he looked back to see her sitting in the back. Spike’s head sat in her lap, as she gently smoothed stray platinum curls from his forehead, murmuring soft things that he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear. The sight of his best friend cradling the sleeping vampire in her arms stirred thoughts from the past that he resolutely pushed away. All the same, the familiarity of the image unnerved him.

Switching on the radio, Xander didn’t speak, and Buffy didn’t offer any conversation to him, as she continued to comfort her - the - vampire in her lap. He concentrated on getting them home, ignoring the niggling thoughts in his mind that voiced things that he didn’t want to face.


Chapter End Notes:
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