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Spike opened his eyes slowly, his surroundings blurry and unfamiliar. "What…where…"

"Shh…Don't try to talk," a voice told him. "Just rest some more."

Spike nodded, his eyes closing again. It was good advice, and furthermore, it was advice he didn't think he was physically capable of ignoring at the moment.

He didn't know how much time had passed when he gained consciousness again, but this time things were clearer. He was in a bed, in a hospital. The room was silent aside from the steady beep of the heart monitor.

Wait a bloody minute… Spike glanced to the side, staring at the device he was hooked up to. He raised his hand, verifying that that was indeed where the wire was connected. He stared at the tiny digital heart blinking on the monitor, at the lines that were anything but flat.

"Yeah, that's yours."

Spike looked sharply, seeing Buffy sitting in a chair beside his bed. "I've got a heartbeat?"

"Among other things. You're, well, as far as we can tell you're alive."

Spike frowned. "How did that happen?"

"I don't know. We were…talking…and then you just hit the ground. When I went to see if you were all right, your heart was beating. We tried to wake you up, but we couldn't. The healers had their hands full with the injured Slayers, so we brought you to the hospital just to have you checked out."

"We?"

"Angel's in the waiting room."

Spike rolled his eyes. "I bet he's so worried for my well-being."

"Yeah, well, whether he is or not, I am." Buffy reached up, placing her hand on Spike's forehead. "You're warm. And you look a little flushed. I'm going to get the doctor to come take a look at you."

"I don't need a doctor," Spike muttered. "You're probably just so used to me being cold and pale that I seem warm and flushed."

"Nice try. I'll be right back."

Buffy ignored Spike's further protests as she walked out of the room towards the nurses' station. Angel approached her almost as soon as she was in his line of sight. "I need to talk to the nurses," she said, trying to push past him.

"Tell me how Spike's doing first."

"He's awake, but I think he has a fever. I need to get a doctor."

"A fever, huh? So he's still…"

"Alive. Yes. Now please, get out of my way."

Angel didn't move. "I don't like this, Buffy. It's clearly mystical."

"Mystical? I hadn't thought of that! Thank you so much Angel for telling me that a vampire suddenly coming back to life is mystical. What would I do without you?" Buffy hissed.

"This isn't a time for Slayer sarcasm."

"No, it's time for you to get out of my way before I knock you out."

"Still automatically resorting to violence and threats, I see."

Buffy threw her arms up in the air. "God, you are completely unbelievable sometimes!"

"Is there a problem?"

Buffy turned to the nurse who had approached them in order to head off any disturbance in the hospital waiting room. "No. I just came out to tell someone that the patient in room 212 is awake."

The nurse flipped a page on the clipboard she was holding. "212. Summers, William. I'll go find a doctor to take a look at him."

"Thank you," Buffy replied. As the nurse walked away, Buffy turned to go back into Spike's room when Angel grabbed her arm. "You checked him in under your name?"

"Yeah. What did you expect me to tell them his full name was, William T. Bloody? Besides, they tend to leave you out of the loop if you're not a relative."

"So you told them what, you're his sister?"

"Wife, actually."

"What!"

"Angel, lower your voice. This is a hospital, not a stadium. Pretending to be his sister after, well, everything we've, um, shared would just be ookie, and I wanted enough leeway to be able to stay with him, okay?"

"No, it's not okay. You told people you were married to Spike. How could you do that?"

"Oh god Angel, grow up." With that, Buffy snatched her arm away from him and went back into Spike's room, leaving a fuming vampire behind.

*** *** ***

"Your husband is going to be just fine, Ms. Summers," the doctor told Buffy as they discussed the tests they'd run on the now-conscious Spike. "We can't find any traces of any sort of physical damage to have caused his attack, neurological or otherwise. We'd like to keep him here one more night for observation, but barring any unforeseen complications, he should be fine to check out in the morning."

Buffy smiled. "Thank you. Can I go in and see him now?"

"Of course."

Buffy went into Spike's room, finding him sitting up in the bed, picking at a tray of hospital food. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"I'm thinking I must be human, because this stuff has a lot of taste to it. Sadly, it's bad taste. Also feel like a soddin' pin cushion with all those tests. That one nurse out there—the brunette with the grip o' steel—so would've bitten her if I still had fangs. Bint. And what's with everyone calling me 'Mr. Summers'—and referring to you as my wife?"

Buffy blushed, looking down at the floor. "I sort of told them we were married. Just, you know, so I could stay in here with you."

"Uh huh. When am I getting out?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"Bloody hell. I hate this place. Well, I guess if I have to be here, at least I have the telly. Be a dear and hand me the remote? It's over there on that dresser."

Buffy nodded, getting the remote. After she'd handed it to him, she sat back in the chair she'd been in when Spike had woken up. The only sounds in the room for a while were the heart monitor and the murmur of the television until Spike spoke again. "You hungry, Buffy? Most of this is crap, but the jell-o is almost tolerable."

"No, I'm all right. I ate while they were running those tests on you."

Spike nodded. "Bit likes jell-o," he said after a moment.

"Yeah, she does."

"I've missed her, you know. You said that I wasn't thinking about her, but I was. I just…well, I figured she didn't care what happened to me after…after what I did to you."

"Spike, about that."

"Oooh, look. Gilligan's Island. Wonder what those wacky castaways are up to this week."

Buffy rolled her eyes, knowing full well that Spike didn't give a damn about Gilligan's Island. "Fine. If you don't want to talk about things, we won't."

Spike sighed. "It's not… I just… My head hurts, all right?"

"All right. But I do want you to know that I don't hold anything that happened in Sunnydale against you."

"That mean you hold other things against me?"

"Still less than thrilled with you for not even calling me."

"So is your oh-so-cheery ex still brooding up the hallway, or did he storm off yet?"

"Just so you know, I'm only letting you change the subject because you're in the hospital. And Angel left. He had some things to see to."

"Is he out of job now that Wolfram and Hart is rubble? I heard about a bloke selling his forehead on e-Bay as advertising space. I'm sure Angel could make a pretty penny that way."

Buffy rolled her eyes again. "You're incorrigible, you know that don't you? And he's talking about starting back up Angel Investigations. He kept the Hyperion, so all he'll have to do is move back in."

"How bloody convenient."

"So you need anything?" Buffy asked. "Want me to take that tray?"

"Would you? This stuff even smells bad."

Buffy took the tray, putting it on a small table by the chair. "Better?"

"Yeah."

"I could go out and get you something else if you want. Maybe find a place around here with Buffalo wings?"

"Thanks, pet, but I'm all right. Stomach's sort of flippy anyway." Buffy suddenly grinned, and Spike raised an eyebrow. "What, happy to hear that I'm still feeling a bit ill?"

"No, it's not that at all. It's just, well, you called me 'pet.'"

"Yeah, so? Not like I've never done that before."

"I know it's just, well, that's the first time you've called me any of your pet names since I showed up in LA. I guess I missed hearing them."

"What, The Immortal doesn't have any names for you? No Cuddle Cakes or Honey Bunny? Pookie, maybe?"

"Stop it," Buffy said, although she was smiling a little. "And I didn't mean I missed being called pet names in general, just, well, that I missed yours."

"Thought you hated mine. They made you chop off all your hair."

"Please! I didn't do that 'cause of you. Ego much?"

"Denial much?" Spike replied, mimicking her accent. "You go and hack off all your hair right after I tell you how much I love it and say I'm going to start calling you Goldilocks? That's not a coincidence, luv."

"For your information, I had been considering a new look for quite sometime."

"Uh huh. Sure."

"I had!"

"So which one is it?"

"Which one is what?"

"Delusional or pathological liar."

"You know, I'm starting to think my whole resolution to be nice to you while you're in the hospital."

"This is you being nice?"

"Spike!"

Spike chuckled. "All right, all right. I'll let you live in your fantasy land."

Buffy gave him a triumphant smirk. "Thank you." After a couple of minutes of quiet between the two, Buffy said, "Giles is coming over from England tomorrow. He wants to see if he can figure out why you're suddenly among the living."

"Great. I get to be the Rupert's lab rat. All my dreams have come true."

"We do need to know what's going on, Spike. Vampires don't just suddenly become humans."

"I know why I did, pet. Shanshu Prophecy."

"Shana-whata?"

"Shanshu. It's a prophecy that said a vampire with a soul was going to become human. Ask Angel about it. Wanker figured it was his. Guess not so much."

"So you think this prophecy made you human?"

"Well, I don't think the prophecy made me human exactly, but it has to be connected."

"Even if it is because of this prophecy thing, there still has to be a reason. Something had to cause you to become human, Spike. Vampires don't just randomly develop heartbeats."

Spike shrugged. "Angel seemed to think it was some sort of reward. Guess I won the lottery. Not too hard when only two folks are holding tickets and one of 'em is a complete and total wanker." He yawned. "I know I shouldn't be because I was out for most of the day, but I'm knackered. Mind letting me get some shut-eye, Slayer?"

"No, go right ahead. I'm going to go for a walk, stretch my legs."

"Going to call Angel and ask him about the Shanshu?"

Buffy tisked. "No." She helped him turn off the television and lower his bed. "Get some rest, and we'll talk more later, okay?"

"Okay. Night, Buffy."

"Night, Spike."

Buffy walked out of his room and straight to the payphone. She put in her money and dialed Angel's number at the Hyperion.

"Hello?"

"Angel, it's Buffy."

"Hey. Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. I just wanted to ask you about something Spike was talking about."

"It didn't have anything to do with a werewolf did it?"

"Huh? No. It was about some prophecy. Um, Shine Shoe?"

"Shanshu."

"Yeah, that's the one. He said you'd know about it."

"It talked about a vampire with a soul becoming human after an apocalyptic battle. But it was really unclear, and the texts have been tampered with in the past. I wouldn't put much stock in it."

"Yeah, well, there's a vampire with a soul turned human in a hospital room right now that makes me think otherwise."

"Buffy, this is Spike we're talking about here. If this Shanshu thing really did mean something, you don't think he'd be worthy of it? Come on."

"Actually, Angel, I do. I watched Spike change, and I know what kind of person he's become."

"Look, whatever made Spike human, it was not divine intervention, okay? It's something bad."

"How do you know that?"

"Because it has to be! Look, I have a lot to deal with right now. We'll discuss this later, when Spike's out of the hospital, and we can really sort everything out."

"Fine. Good bye, Angel."

"Bye Buffy."

Buffy hung up the phone and then took the walk she'd told Spike she was going on.

*** *** ***

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