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Chapter Five

A short, tense ride later and she and Dawn were following a nurse into the room where her mother was propped up in bed, looking very worried.

“Mom?” Buffy’s body was rigid as she waited for her mother to tell her everything was fine. Instead, Joyce sighed and gestured for her daughters to come closer. With Dawn on one side and Buffy on the other, she put her arms around her two most precious possessions and hugged them tightly.

“It looks like I’m going to need a....procedure...tomorrow.” When she felt Buffy’s body stiffen, she quickly tried to soft-pedal the situation. “There’s a small tumor on one side of my brain and that is what has been causing the headaches. They’re going to take it out tomorrow, sew me back up, and I’ll be back on my feet in no time.”

“Is....is it...?” Dawn couldn’t finish the question that was hanging over all their heads.

“We won’t know until it’s out, Dawnie,” her mother said as she tried to comfort her youngest daughter. “They’ll biopsy it right away and they tell me they’ll have an answer for us within a few hours.”

Buffy felt the adrenaline flooding her body and the urge to kill something was almost overwhelming. She fought down the totally inappropriate response she was having to the situation, and tried to concentrate on what her mother was saying.

She nodded her head as her mother gave instructions for running the household for the next several days, and gave a start of surprise when the older woman asked, “Is Spike here?”

“No, Mom. It’s 10:00 in the morning. I’m sure he’s sound asleep in his crypt by now.”

“Oh,” her mother sounded vaguely disappointed. “Well, you’ll just have to talk to him tonight then, “ she said firmly.

“Uh, okay. Why?”

“I need to see him about the gallery. He knows all about the shipments coming in this week and I was hoping he could unpack them one evening and get them out on the floor for me. I’d ask you to do it, but you won’t know what to do with them, and you’ll be busy patrolling, and with school and Riley.....”

“I’ll ask him,” Buffy said shortly. “Between the two of us, we’ll get it done. Don’t worry about it.”

She wasn’t sure if she was more surprised that her mother intended to rely on Spike, or that she obviously didn’t feel she could rely on her own daughter. Not for the first time, she was reminded of how much her calling interfered with her relationships and her life.

(Even my mother knows I can’t have a normal life. She doesn’t even expect it of me anymore. I wonder why I do?)

Leaving Dawn to keep her mother company, she walked out into the waiting room to find it full of Scoobies all anxious to know what was going on. She filled them in as best she could, relaxing a little as their obvious concern and sympathy helped to boost her spirits.

The doctor came out and asked which one was Ms Summers. Buffy responded quickly, anxiously barraging him with questions. The attractive young doctor smiled at the pretty blond and offered to explain what was going on over a cup of coffee. He introduced himself as the resident assigned to her mom’s ward and asked her to call him Ben.

When Buffy came back from her lengthy coffee-cum-explanation time with Ben, she was surprised to find Riley waiting with Giles. He immediately got up and swept her into a warm hug as he murmured a combined apology and offer of support.

He insisted on spending the rest of the day with her at the hospital, and offered to come with her on patrol that evening. She tried to discourage him from that as she knew she was going to have to find Spike to pass on her mother’s instructions. However, in spite of the fact that his hovering was beginning to make her feel smothered, she was too embarrassed at having spent so much time with Spike recently to reject her anxious boyfriend.

She did mange to convince him that she would be better off patrolling on her own and having the opportunity to work out some of her fears in a physical way. After watching her wade into a large group of fledgling vampires and throw them all over the graveyard before she staked them all, he swallowed his pride and went to wait in his SUV. There was something about the glee on her face as she punched and kicked her way through the crowd that made him slightly uncomfortable.

It wasn’t the first time he’d come face to face with the fact that Buffy didn’t need his help to do her job; but it was one of the more emphatic lessons.

As Buffy got further into the cemetery, she felt the tingle on her neck that meant Spike was somewhere close by. Sure enough, when she paused to look around, he stepped out of the shadows, hands in the pocket of his duster and a cigarette dangling from his mouth.

“Slayer,” he said pleasantly enough, but without the undercurrent of affection she was used to. “A little hard on those poor fledglings, weren’t you, pet? I thought you were gonna kill them all twice for a while there.”

She smiled at him tentatively and said, “I had some issues to work out.”

“Feel better now, then?”

“Oh, much. Or as much as I can anyway,” she finished, her shoulders slumping as she remembered her mother.

“She’ll be fine, love,” he said firmly, once more seeming to read her mind. “They’ll get it out and that’ll be it. Say, do’ya suppose I could slip in there and get m’chip out at the same time?”

“Don’t joke about that, Spike.” She snapped, then sighed and touched his face gently in apology. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m wound a little tight tonight. How did you know about the...tumor?”

“I stopped off to see your mum. She told me all about it and also about the gallery shipment. I’ll go by there tomorrow evening and see what’s what.”

“Oh. Thank you, Spike. I can’t tell you how—“

“No need. Got to take care of my girls, don’t I?” His soft look and shy smile suddenly vanished and in their place was the cold, immobile face of a corpse. The only thing alive about it was the flashing in the amber colored eyes as Riley strode into the clearing.

“Buffy,” he called, not having seen the vampire. “You’ve done enough for one night. Let’s get home and go to bed. You’ll need to be up early tomorrow to be there before your mother goes in for her surgery.”

Buffy whirled back around just in time to see an expression of complete agony go across the vampire’s face. She remembered what he’d said about multiplying her reaction to Lydia by a hundred and cringed at Riley’s words. Before she could say anything, he vanished as quickly and completely as only a master vampire could.

She looked around carefully, but she could tell he was no longer there. The feeling she got when either Spike or Angel was nearby was completely gone. Biting her lip, she turned and walked back to the car with Riley.


All the way back to the house of Revello Drive, all she could do was think about Spike and his reaction to Riley. Between worrying about her mother, and worrying about Spike’s state of mind, she could barely follow what Riley was saying about being there for her and leaning on him whenever she needed to.

When she realized he was beginning to plan the rest of the week for her, including her taking time off from slaying, and his moving in to the house until her mother came home, she held up a hand and stopped him.

“Riley, I appreciate all this thought. I really do. But let me figure out where and when I need you, OK? I think Giles has the paperwork all covered; Willow and Tara will be helping me with Dawn; Mom has already made arrangements for coverage at the Gallery; and of course, Xander and Anya are there if I need anything else.”

(OK, I think I got through that all right. Managed to not mention Spike and still made it clear that he’s not making the decisions here.)

The big man’s face was still for a minute, then he said bitterly, “So, what you’re saying is you don’t really need me for anything. Is that right, Buffy?”

Buffy looked at his closed, hurt face in dismay. “No, no, I didn’t mean that at all. I just meant that we...that I...was already handling most of those things and you don’t have to worry about them.”

She wrapped her arms around herself and tried to think of how she could avoid hurting this man who so obviously loved her. She put a tentative hand on his arm and said softly, “I do need you, Riley. It’s just that I need you to ask me what I need- not make that decision for me. Can you understand that?”

He sighed and touched her hand where it rested on his arm. “I’m trying to, Buffy. But where I come from, a girl like you would expect her man to step in and...”

Buffy withdrew her hand slowly so he wouldn’t think she was angry, and answered before he could finish, “Riley, where you come from there ARE no girls like me.”

There was nothing to say to that, and they drove in silence the rest of the way to her house.

They entered the well-lit house to find Willow and Tara waiting with Dawn. The two witches were anxious to return to the dorm, and wished everyone a good night as soon as Buffy came in. Dawn looked at Riley curiously and turned to Buffy to ask, “Where’s—ow!“

A sharp look from Buffy, accompanied by a quick pinch, prevented the awkwardness that she knew would follow any inquiry about Spike. Fortunately Dawn picked up on the silent message very quickly and she nodded her head at her sister before turning to go upstairs.

“I’m going to bed now. Wake me up when you’re out of the bathroom in the morning, Buffy. G’night, Riley.”

“Good night, Dawn. See you in the morning.”

Dawn shot her sister a startled look, but wisely made no comment as she went on up the stairs and into her room.





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