Spike pulled his duster tightly around him as the snow whipped him in the face. Vampires didn’t usually feel cold, nevertheless, he felt like an icicle. He hoped his girls were okay, but the trek from his crypt to their house was a slow one. No plows had come through and the snow was up to his ankles. His jeans were getting soaked, but he would worry about that later. The raging blizzard that was taking place was weird enough.
Spike busted though the front door of the Summers’ house. “Buffy! Dawn!” He yelled.
Dawn came down from upstairs, in a long sleeve sweater and a sweatshirt. “Spike, I don’t know where Buffy is; she left a while ago, and she has been gone for hours.” Dawn cried frantically.
“What the bloody hell was she thinking?” Spike asked, running a hand through his hair. What was wrong with that girl?
Dawn shrugged. “I don’t know. She said she wouldn’t be long and the snow wasn’t coming down this hard when she left.”
“Are you okay here?” Spike asked.
Dawn nodded. “I’m fine,” she said. “I don’t think any demons are going to wreak havoc in the middle of a blizzard.”
“Okay. I’m gonna go find your sis. Don’t go anywhere,” Spike ordered. He headed back out into the snow to find Buffy. Stupid girl was going to get herself killed and drive him nuts.
Spike ran to his crypt, but the door was frozen shut. He pushed and hit it before throwing his whole body into the door and it creaked slightly. He kicked it and it creaked again, but it was no use, the frozen door wasn’t about to open anytime soon. “Bloody hell!” He flared and stormed off to see if he could get in through the sewer entrance.
He had to dig through the snow to get to the manhole cover. His hands were frozen by the time he was done, but once he jumped down into the sewers, it took him about three minutes to get to the lower level of his crypt, and Buffy was huddled on his bed, frozen. “Buffy!” he said, running to her side.
Buffy looked up at him. “S-S-S-Spike,” she whimpered through chattering teeth. Her lips were blue, and her skin was whiter than usual.
He stripped off his coat and bundled her up, before scooping her into his arms. He wouldn’t be able to help raise her body temperature, but his jacket should help a little bit. On second thought, he figured he should probably double layer it. He wrapped her up in his thick comforter and grabbed some extra clothes for himself once he got to Buffy’s house. “Let’s get you home, love,” he said.
“I’m s-s-so c-c-ccold,” Buffy shivered. She buried her face in his jacket to ward off the cold as he ran quickly through the tunnels and even quicker through the blizzard. Who knew that a little snow and a little wind would do this much damage to a southern California town? Buffy couldn’t see anything. She couldn’t really move her head to look but all she saw was swirling snow. It felt like a thousand knives were stabbing her face every time the wind hit her.
“Why were you at my place?” Spike asked, trying to keep the snow from whipping in their faces to little avail.
“You weren’t here, and I-I-I waited for a few minutes. [Th-then] The door wouldn’t open,” she finished. She trembled violently in his arms, and she couldn’t seem to stop. Spike was starting to panic about her condition. He was starting to think that she needed a hospital. He didn’t know if she was beyond just his help. He felt like someone was squeezing his heard right out of his chest as his worry got worse.
Spike barged into the house and kicked the door behind him before he took Buffy upstairs to her room. “Dawn!”
Dawn came into the room. “Oh my God, Buffy!” Her sister’s lips were blue and she was shivering violently. Dawn had seen cases of hypothermia on TV in health class and her sister was [looked] dangerously close.
Spike looked at her. “Dawn, find her warm clothes and blankets,” he said gently.
Dawn nodded and dug around in Buffy’s closet. She gave Spike some of her sister’s winter sweaters and then went to find something to keep her warm.
Spike took the clothes and quickly put them on her. “Buffy, can you feel anything?”
Buffy nodded. “Yeah. Still cold.”
“Dawn!” Spike called.
Dawn ran back into the room. “What happened to her?”
“You lie in bed with Buffy so we can keep her warm,” Spike ordered.
“She was at my place.” He left the room to gather the blankets off the rest of the beds. Once the girls were snug in bed, he called Giles. He was amazed when the call went through.
Giles expressed his concerns over Buffy once Spike told him what had happened to her and told him to keep her warm. Spike would have to make her something warm to eat when she woke up. Spike asked about her mates, knowing she would be wondering and Giles said they were fine. After they said their goodbyes they hung up.
Spike turned all the lights off and locked the doors. He went upstairs and found Buffy still awake, with Dawn asleep beside her.
“Spike?” she called softly.
He turned his head to look down at her. “Yeah, pet?”
”I don’t think it’s a good idea for you try to get home in this weather,” Buffy said. “You’re welcome to stay with us and stay warm.”
Spike raised an eyebrow and look of bewilderment appeared on his face once she lifted the comforter with still trembling hands.
Spike took off his boots, as he brought his hands back up though, he felt how soaked his pants were.
“Think it’d be wise for me to change, Love”, he said with an awkward smile, and dimly, Buffy realized this was the first time she’d ever seen him look less than sure of himself around her.
“There should be spares in the airing cupboard in the bathroom”, she told him, her voice cracking from the cold that was still reducing her to violent spasms of shivers.
Spike nodded, and with a brief look over his shoulder, eyes raking over her face as if to reassure himself that she would manage for the two minutes it would take him to locate and change into the spare clothes, left the room.
When he came back into her room he was dressed in loose, dark gray sweat pants and his normal black, torso hugging T-shirt. He got into the bed and pulled the comforter up to his chin. Buffy was facing Dawn so he spooned against her back, unsure of what to do with his hands, eventually resting one hand against her stomach and the other under his head.
“Get some sleep, pet,” he whispered, as Buffy stirred slightly, cuddling deeper down into the blankets.
It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep, leaving Spike wide awake in the darkened room, listening to the sound of the two girl’s breathing, Dawn’s deep and steady and Buffy’s sounding slightly shallow, though nowhere near as worrying as it had done just half an hour ago.
He tightened his hold slightly against her stomach, breathing in the faint scent of her shampoo and wishing that the most perfect moment of his life had not been preceded by one of the strongest grips of fear he had ever felt.
squawks
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!