A/N: There's one line in this chapter that I can't take credit for. I heard it the other day, either on a Buffy DVD or on a TV show but I can't place exactly where I've heard it before. You probably won't notice, but if you do I'm not plaigarising! I'd give credit if I could remember the source! Thanks for those of you who have been reviewing and like the story. The Spuffy relationship will start in this chapter.
Chapter Eight: Things Change
"They couldn’t have gotten far," Graham assured his agitated friend as they rushed through the halls of the Initiative.
"They shouldn’t be in here at all!" Forrest snapped. "This is all Riley’s fault!"
Graham knew better, but shot him a look anyway. "How’s that?"
"Getting involved with the slayer in the first place. She’s peculiar," he mocked his friend. "Shoulda known she was trouble."
As they turned the corner, going too fast to brace themselves, they slid on the floor much like Xander had only minutes before. They landed on their backs with a thud and matching groans.
Graham looked to his side, noticing the body of his boss lying next to him. "Professor Walsh!" He rose to his knees, grasping her wrist and checking for a pulse.
Forrest jumped to his feet, coming to stand next to Graham. Anger surged through his veins as Graham looked up at him sadly and shook his head. He cried out in frustration, cursing his friend for allowing it to get this far. "It’s her!"
Graham looked around, as if he was expecting to see the person responsible for murdering Professor Walsh. "What’s her?" he asked the other man, hoping Forrest hadn’t gone crazy.
"She’s responsible for this!" Forrest answered gesturing to Professor Walsh’s dead body.
"That’s impossible, Buffy’s locked away," Graham tried to reason with him.
"Doesn’t matter. It had to have been her friends. Look at the wound! That’s exactly how those freaks kill sub terrestrials," he told Graham before picking up his fallen weapon and turning to walk away.
"Where are you going?" Graham called after him.
"To get rid of what they came here for," he called back without turning around.
***
"Let’s go, mate, pick up the pace," Spike taunted Dr. Angleman with a smirk.
"You better be taking us to the right room," Xander threatened him. "Or Hostile 17 is getting a doctor shaped snack."
Spike grinned. "Now that you mention it, I am getting a bit peckish."
"How much further?" Xander asked, growing anxious.
Spike tuned out the doctor’s directions as his mind had it’s own debate. One part of him was positive he was only helping to save himself from being captured by the Initiative. Another, more annoying, part of him wasn’t so sure. So what if the slayer was bloody gorgeous? Didn’t mean a thing to him. No sir! He’d be lucky to never see her again after she was brought home safe and sound to her mum and pals. Yes, that was what he’d do. After this he’d leave Sunnydale and never be bothered by this infuriating group of wankers. Never mind if that meant leaving the slayer, leaving Buffy with her shampoo commercial hair and-
"Spike!"
Spike blinked a couple of times, focusing in on the whelp who was repeating his name to get his attention. He could see Xander and the doctor up a few steps ahead and realized he must have stopped walking. Holding the crossbow more forcefully, he strode towards them once again. "Well, carry on," he insisted letting them walk in front of him. He groaned inwardly as their attention shifted back to the task at hand. When this was all over he had a feeling he was going to be in some serious trouble.
***
Buffy tried to lift her hand, and found it difficult to even sigh in frustration. She had no idea how long she’d been lying there, but it seemed like years. Why hadn’t Riley or her friends come to rescue her by now? Sure, she hadn’t been spending as much time as she usually did with Willow, Xander or Giles but surely they’d realize she was missing?
And Riley. Poor Riley! They must have him locked up just like she was. And him, without the added strength of being the slayer, must be worse off. She needed to get out of this room and find him before neither of them had any chances of survival.
Professor Walsh’s words haunted her, but Buffy refused to believe that Riley was responsible for her current residence. Riley was sweet and caring, not a monster.
She heard the door open, and strained her eyes to see who was heading her way. Her hopes soared as she looked at the person who would be her savior. She was finally able to rest, knowing that everything was going to be okay. Together they would find Riley and get out of this place.
When he was close enough so she could make out his facial expression, her blood ran cold. His was not a look of compassion, but was one of cold cruelty and pain.
"The slayer," he started looking over the chart that was hanging from the foot of her hospital bed. He began to read from the first page. "Is surprisingly lucid....Has the same skeletal makeup as a human. This really is an interesting read."
That's because I am a human! she wanted to shout. These doctors and scientists knew nothing about the slayer line, and would never completely understand it. They were too far out of their element, and it was laughable that they ever thought they could.
Forrest turned to her, malice in his brown eyes. "Too bad they’ll never get a chance to finish their research," he mumbled to himself, his words having a double meaning.
To Buffy they only meant one thing. "Riley!" she hissed, hoping that Forrest’s loyalty towards his friend would stop him from hurting her.
"You think Riley still cares what happens to you?" Forrest snickered. "Riley forgot about you the moment he sent you to Professor Walsh."
Buffy didn’t want to believe what he was telling her. Riley had not abandoned her. He was different, he wasn’t supposed to leave. "No," she mouthed, unable to vocalize the word.
"Yes," Forrest replied with an evil grin. "And I bet no one’s going to care when I kill you. Isn’t that how the story goes? When you die, there’ll be another girl to take your place?"
Buffy felt a tear rolling down her cheek as Forrest took the pillow from underneath her head. He held it up over her face, allowing her the chance to take that final breath.
"Say goodnight, bitch."
***
"This is it," Dr. Angleman told them as they approached a door identical to every other one in that hallway except for the number painted onto it.
"Why don’t you come in and stay for a while?" Spike suggested swiping the card he’d stolen from Professor Walsh’s body and opening the door.
Xander pushed the doctor in ahead of him, making sure he didn’t try to run and leave them in an empty room. When he took in what was happening inside the room, he forgot all about the doctor and threw himself at the man suffocating Buffy.
Spike briefly noticed as Dr. Angleman made a run for it, but didn’t care as he rushed to Buffy’s bedside. She looked so frail in the large bed, it made him want to kill every pillock who’d kept her this way starting with her poofter boyfriend. He vamped out, ripping away the tubes connected to her arms and freeing her from them.
Xander was breathing fire and seeing red. He’d never been this angry before, but seeing one of his best friends lying there completely helpless at the mercy of a bunch of humans was drowning out the sensible side of him. Although Forrest was a much bigger man, he’d been caught off guard by Xander’s initial attack and had been at a disadvantage ever since then.
Spike lifted Buffy into his arms, surprised when she leaned into his chest. He looked over at Xander and could tell that his larger opponent would be fighting back twice as hard any second. "We’ve got her!" he yelled at him. "Let’s get the hell outta here!"
***
Spike had no idea if he was running in the right direction. He didn’t know where to find the others or any exits for that matter. "Do you have any idea how to get out of this blasted place?" he yelled to Xander over the sound of the blaring sirens. They seemed to be louder now, which wasn’t a good sign.
Xander shook his head. "Everything looks the same to me!"
Spike couldn’t help but agree with him on that one. Nevertheless he ran through the Initiative, carrying Buffy as though she weighed nothing, searching for a way out.
"Xander!" Anya cried as she ran towards them, ahead of Faith, Giles, Tara and Willow to embrace her boyfriend. "I was so worried, I didn’t know what happened to you!"
Xander hugged his girlfriend tightly. "I’m fine, and look! We found Buffy!"
Willow leaned into Tara’s side, tears of happiness forming behind closed eyelids. For once she was happy that Anya had been so stubborn and had caused them all to leave their sanctuary to search for Xander and Spike.
"Now’s not exactly the time to get all sentimental," Spike reminded them.
Giles nodded. "This way."
The group followed Giles towards the nearest exit. They entered the main floor of the Initiative on their path, and found a group of soldiers fighting to contain one large and scaly demon. When they were noticed by the soldiers, half the group turned their attack on the Scoobies, leaving the others to tend to the demon.
"Spike, run!" Giles commanded him, knowing Spike wouldn’t be able to defend himself against the soldiers and needing to get Buffy out of there safely.
As Spike broke free from the group, the demon took it’s opportunity to flee. It quickly fought off the remaining soldiers around it and ran towards the exit the same way Spike had. Noticing the demon in his way Spike vamped out, holding Buffy tighter, sending a powerful kick to the demon’s mid-section. The demon grabbed Spike’s foot in defense, spinning him around before making another run for the exit. Spike, dizzy from the multiple 360's, barely noticed when the soldiers took off after the demon. He sighed in relief that he wouldn’t have to fight while holding a weakened slayer in his arms and started running in the direction he’d been facing when he stopped spinning, the opposite way the Scoobies ran in when they decided to outrun the soldiers.
***
"These bleedin doors all look the same!" Spike cursed when he found himself once again lost in the Initiative. Should have those bloody maps like at the mall, he thought angrily. Spike took a breath, stopping to pull himself together and think of a plan. He’d obviously gone the wrong way or the Scoobies would have caught up to him by then.
"Spike?" Buffy called softly, her strength coming back to her little by little.
"Right here, pet," he assured her. "Just needed a bit of a break."
Buffy coughed, her throat dry and scratchy after not speaking for so long. "Put me down."
Spike did as she asked, sighing when he realized she would go back to her bitchy self. Was it wrong that he preferred her weak and needy? "I just need to find a way out and then we can get you back to your watcher." Spike stepped away from her, placing a hand to his forehead and pacing as he thought.
"You saved me."
Spike stood next to her again, nodding his head. "Yeah, we all did," he admitted.
Buffy nodded, looking into his eyes for the reason. There had to be a reason why her mortal enemy had banded together with people he can’t stand to save her. She blamed it on her groggy state of mind, but when she couldn't find one she leaned foward brushing her lips against his softly.
Spike was so shocked by her actions, he didn’t think to kiss her back until she’d pulled away.
"Buffy!"
They both turned to look at the person who’d interrupted their moment.
"Thank God you’re okay!" Riley gushed, embracing the slayer tightly. "I don’t know what I would have don’t if something had happened to you."
Buffy closed her eyes as Riley held her, knowing it would be the last time he ever did. When he broke away, he turned to look at Spike, silently questioning his reason for being with Buffy. The exertion of standing for only a few minutes already taking its toll on her, Buffy slumped against the wall. She held her hand out to Spike, waiting for him to help her stand once again.
He did, happy she’d asked for his help over Captain Cardboard’s. She braced herself against him for a moment before she felt strong enough again. Without warning, she approached Riley and punched him hard in the nose. Riley’s hands rushed up to meet the blood that poured from the injured appendage. Even in her weakened state, her punch was harder than any bodybuilder.
“Ow!” he screamed in agony as he staggered back into the wall. “I think you broke my nose!”
Her strength once again used up, Buffy fell back against Spike, grateful when he lifted her up into his arms. The rest of their journey was made in silence, neither of them knowing what to say in light of the newest development in their relationship. It was safe to assume there was something more to their relationship now than just the usual hatred between them.
Finally at the doors that would lead them to refuge, Spike could hear the others worriedly discussing going back for the pair. He sighed, knowing whatever could have been between himself and the slayer would never be known once she was back with her friends. Still, he walked through the doors hearing their sighs of relief as he did so.
As soon as he placed her on the ground, she was pulled into Willow’s tight embrace. The redhead began babbling, ecstatic that she had her friend back. Buffy looked past Willow at Faith in surprise and realized how much had changed while she was held captive. Looking over her shoulder at Spike she could see in his eyes the relief that he’d found her and something she didn’t want to have to think about just yet, and knew the biggest changes were yet to come.
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