| The Worlds Revolve by Dark Eyed Seer |
| Chapter #4 - Kryptonite |
| A full week passed with no further sign from the Hell god. Buffy was already busy with midterms and tried to put the whole situation out of her head. She didn't see Dawn at all and that made it easier. Until the hysterical phone call during Psych 208. Spike had gotten them all cell phones over the summer and Buffy had had a great time picking out a bubblegum pink one and all the accessories to match. The ring tone for an unknown number was 'Pop Goes the Weasel' because she had forgotten to get Spike to change it. She had forgotten because she almost never got an unknown number. She had also forgotten to turn her phone off before class. She had to leave the room, red-faced and fuming to answer the phone. “B-B-buffy?! It's Mom! She passedoutinthekitchenand Ihadtocallanambluenceandwe'reatthehospitaland-“ “What? What! Dawn slow down I can understand you. What happened to Mom?” Buffy dropped her bag, fingers nerveless and tingling. A low sniff and sobbing breaths were heard, “Mom was in the kitchen making tea and she turned to me and asked me who I was. She said I wasn't her daughter. Then she just fainted or something. We're at the hospital.” “Calm down. I'm coming.” Buffy clicked the phone off and immediately called Spike's phone, hoping fiercely that he was out of the water and near it to answer. “'Lo.” His gruff response was the sweetest thing Buffy had ever heard. “Spike, something happened to Mom. Can you pick me up at school? We need to go to the hospital.” “Be right there.” * * * Buffy's heart pounded in her ears as they ran-walked into the emergency room of Sunnydale Memorial. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom, was the only thing running through Buffy's mind. Dawn was sitting with a young man in green scrubs and a lab coat. Buffy and Spike screeched to a halt on the over-polished floor. Dawn leapt up from the plastic chair and threw herself at them both. Buffy left Spike to comfort her sister- No. Not my sister, she reminded herself darkly. And went to speak to the doctor. “You must be Buffy. I'm Ben. Your mother had a little episode this afternoon and we're running some tests. I'm sure she's going to be just fine.” He had a clean cut charm and seem to be trying to put it to good use. Buffy couldn't care less, “Can I see her?” * * * Spike soothed Dawn, rubbing her back and sitting down with her. The feel of her young body against his was curiously familiar and strange at the same time. According to the false memories, he and she were very close and he often hugged her. He tugged her down until she was sitting on his lap and wrapped her up I his duster, “Hey now, Nibblet. Mums going to be just fine. Everyone has a bit of a dizzy spell every now and then. Did I ever tell you about the first time we got your sister smashed?” Dawn sniffed and giggled, “No. Tell me!” Keeping on eye on the doorway to the room Buffy had disappeared into, Spike launched into the tale. “Well, it was early July and on the way to the Gaia Festival. We took the coastal route so we ended up in this little dive in New Mexico asking for directions. Buffy wanted some of those zucchini stick things she likes and they did have a blooming onion, so the place wasn't all bad. We ordered some food and Tara wanted a margarita, and then Willow wanted one. And when they came, Buffy liked the look of them and asked for a strawberry one. That was mistake number one of the beginning drinker. Never start with something that tastes really good, you drink too much too fast. I know you won't make that mistake, platelet. But Big Sis never listens to old Spike like you do. Down the hatch went the first margarita, and the second, and the third. And Big Sis has gained some weight and it looks good on her, but back then she was still on the skinny side. All that tequila and she was swaying on the barstool like an AA member just fallen off the wagon. She couldn't walk straight, she could barely stand up, and by the end of the night I knew my trusty old Docs were headed for the rubbish bin. Nothing gets Slayer sick out of good leather. “S' ok though, I got this nice pair in a shop in Albuquerque.” Dawn was in stitches when Buffy and Joyce came out, ready to go. Buffy gave them a tolerant smile, “What are you telling my sister?” “All ready to head on home then?” Spike asked, neatly changing the subject. Buffy looked at Dawn, who was smirking in a decidedly superior way. “Oh, yes, I'll be glad to get out of this place.” Joyce remarked, “I hate hospitals. They didn't have to go through so much trouble. I was just a little dizzy.” Spike ushered everyone towards the door. On the way out himself he got a good look at the young doctor as he came over to say goodbye. And stopped in his tracks. A shimmer of magic so fine that it only flickered in the very edges of his vision made Spike squint and strain. A flash of something moved past so quickly that it was indistinguishable, Spike sucked in an unnecessary breath. He felt very cold suddenly. Something was very wrong here. “Spike!” Spike turned away from the smiling face of the man in the lab coat, “What is it, pet?” “I've been yelling at you to come on for like, five minutes!” Dawn whined, “Come on, we're ordering pizza when we get home.” Spike glanced back, but the mysterious 'Ben' was gone. He licked his lips and followed Dawn, still wrapped up in his coat, to the trusty Desoto. His mind was a hundred miles away. He drove toward Revello drive on automatic pilot. Should he be worried about this? Did it have anything to do with what was going on the Hellmouth or was it just some demon using a glamour to blend in and function in the human world? Dawn kept talking to him and he had to briefly abandon his line of thought to tend to other responsibilities. He had so many of those. * * * |