Chapter 7

Joyce paced restlessly beside the army jeep that was hidden away just outside the entrance to The Initiative tunnels. “Where are they?” She whirled around to face the soldier, “Shouldn’t they be out by now?”

Graham glanced at his watch, the group inside had a little under a minute before the charges he had set would reduce the underground facility to nothing more than a hole in the ground. “Mrs Summers, maybe you should get in the vehicle.” He tried to urge the increasingly frantic woman into the jeep with the idea of getting as far away from the blast sight as possible.

“No!” Joyce rounded on him fiercely, “We are not leaving anybody behind.”

Suddenly the door to the secret entrance burst open revealing three figures. “Buffy.” Joyce rushed forward to help her daughter, her eyes growing wide with concern when she noticed the weariness that surround the three. “Let’s get you all into the jeep.”

“Mom, you get Dawn and Spike in. I’m going back to help Xander with Giles.” She whirled around to run back into The Initiative.

“You’ve got twenty seconds and then we have to get out of here.” Graham shouted after her. “You two get into the jeep and buckle up, it’s going to be a rough ride out.” He opened the rear door helping Spike into the back as carefully as he could and onto a thin mattress that he had laid out ready for the injured vampire. “Sorry but it’s the best I could do.”

“Thanks mate.” Spike murmured his thanks, groaning as his back hit the hard mattress. The soldier had destroyed his career and put his life in jeopardy in order to help him and Dawn, this had not only earned him Spike’s gratitude but also his trust; something not given lightly by the vampire. Whether he liked it or not Graham was now a part of Spike’s fledgling family, as mismatched and unlikely as it was. That it consisted of a Master vampire, a mystical Key housed within the body a teenaged girl, and a renegade soldier, meant little; it was still the beginnings of a new clan. “How long they got?”

Graham glanced at his watch. “Ten seconds.”

Spike concentrated on the entrance, faint sounds of running feet tickling at the edge of his vampire hearing. “Leave the door open soldier boy, and go get the engine running. They’re gonna have to make a dive for it so be ready to gun it as soon as I yell.”

Graham nodded, never questioning that it was an order. “I’ll be ready.”

Time seemed to still as Spike kept watch, blocking the sounds around him he focused on those coming from inside the tunnels. The sounds of feet meeting hard packed earth, the voice of the slayer urging the others to go faster, in his mind he heard the faint tick as each second passed. Five, four, three… the door flew open with such force that it buckled on its hinges- two- “Slayer get your arse moving,” he yelled – one.

A low rumble seemed to start deep within the earth, growing in intensity as the ground began to shake and groan around them. Buffy seemed to lift the two males off their feet as she made a desperate lunge towards the rear of the jeep. “Now,” he yelled even before the momentum of the three flying bodies had stilled. As the vehicle jerked forwards he threw a leg sideways, bracing it against the far wall and preventing Xander from falling back out as the vehicle lurched suddenly into motion. He clenched his teeth against the pain that was shooting through every nerve in his body, “Get the door.” Xander leant forward, increasing the pressure on Spike’s already aching leg, and finally, after several attempts, he managed to grab the swinging door and pull it shut with a loud bang.

Spike groaned with relief as Xander sat back; the sudden release from pain causing him to finally lose consciousness.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Buffy paced around her living room; upstairs lying in her now-darkened room was a vampire who she had spent the last few years fighting against, a vampire who had until now been firmly placed in the bad-guy category.

Except now it wasn’t the demon who had been the evil, it had been humans who had caused so much pain and death. During her escape from the initiative she had not missed the cells holding various demons, every one bearing signs of some kind of torture or experimentation. She had felt like she was in some surreal Frankensteinish world.

She glanced around her living room which now held a group of physically and emotionally exhausted people sprawled over available surface. Dawn had wanted to stay by Spike’s side but Buffy had been hesitant to leave the two alone. The teenager had therefore contented herself with curling against Joyce and throwing Buffy venomous looks whenever their eyes would meet.

“I told you before. You can go up when the others get here and only if I’m with you.” Buffy couldn’t believe how much Dawn could get under her skin, she had only been in her life for a few days and already she was firmly entrenched in her home and her mother’s affections. Buffy felt like pouting, it wasn’t fair, after all the girl could be evil for all they knew and everyone else just seemed to accept her new place in their life lives without question.

Dawn watched Buffy carefully, she wanted to be upstairs with Spike, and she knew that what she had to tell them was going change their world dramatically. She wanted Spike by her side when she finally admitted who and what she was, and what she could do. She needed his strong, reassuring presence near her; she knew that no matter what Spike would protect her if the people around her suddenly decided that she was a threat. Eyeing Buffy again Dawn began working on a plan for when she was finally allowed to visit Spike. She would have to get him to feed almost immediately and she knew that the Slayer would have a big problem with that; Spike too as he was going to have to take more than usual. Ever since he had woken up about ten minutes ago she had been telepathically arguing with him about his using her blood to heal himself.

‘I said no Niblet, the usual amount will heal the worst of ‘em and the rest can fix themselves over time.’

‘You need more than normal. I saw what they did to you, remember? You need to get better fast, not hope that the stupid hell cow won’t send anyone until you’re better or that the little band of white hats that you insist will help don’t try something of their own.’

‘I know the Slayer and her little band, Dawn, I’ve seen they way they work.’

‘Yeah, yeah know your enemy and all that stuff.’

‘They’ll help Dawn, They might fight it all the way but they’ll always do the right thing.’

Dawn worried her bottom lip as she thought, there had to be some way to convince him to take a little more of her blood. ‘What about the chip? Graham told me about it, and what it does. You can use the extra to work on disabling it or something.’

‘Dawn…’ Spike’s voice seemed to be wavering in her mind.

Dawn went in for the final blow; she just wished he was in front of her so that she could perform at her best; bring into play the quivering bottom lip and tear filled doe eyes. Spike always caved in record time when she pulled those puppies out. Dawn mentally pictured her little-girl-lost persona before continuing, ‘But what if they send more humans after us. They could hurt you again; take you away from me forever.’ Dawn focused on letting her internal voice quaver with uncertainty, making it sound small and helpless. ‘What would I do if I lost you, who could protect me, look after me?’ She let her voice drift even quieter, ‘who would love me?’

Dawn could almost feel the moment when he finally gave in, ‘Niblet,’ the voice in her head almost sighed.

‘Please, Spike.’

‘Just one more sip, though, no more than that,’ he begrudgingly acquiesced.

Dawn almost let out a victory cheer, settling for a little song and dance in her mind instead.

‘Pleased with yourself aren’t you...Dawn.’

“Dawn!” Buffy could feel the frustration welling up inside her. “Dawn!”

“Huh? What?” Dawn seemed to snap out of her daze and looked up at the annoyed Slayer with confused eyes.

“I’ve been talking to you for the past five minutes and you’ve just completely ignored me.” Buffy threw her hands up in exasperation.

“Sorry, was thinking,” Dawn covered.

“I was saying that Anya, Willow and Tara are back with that Dashy book thingy.”

“Dasnmahel,” Giles, Dawn and Anya corrected simultaneously.

“Whatever it’s called it’s here and little Miss Dawn has some explaining to do.” Buffy was tired and cranky and she just wanted today over with.

“You promised I could see Spike first.” Dawn crossed her arms across her chest, “and I’m not doing anything until I have.”

“God you are such a brat.” Buffy was rapidly losing patience with her new ‘sisters’ behaviour.

“Buffy!” Joyce interrupted before the two girls started squabbling. “Dawn is right, you did promise her she could see Spike when the others got back. So why don’t you take her upstairs so she can put her mind at ease and I’ll make us some snacks so that when you get back down we can all talk. Nicely,” she warned, “this is not going to become an interrogation.”

“Oh for goodness…..” Buffy huffed, “Come on then, you get five minutes and that’s it.” She reached forward and pulled Dawn to her feet.

“Five minutes?” Dawn stared at the blonde. “Gee why don’t you just throw the door open for a few seconds.”

“Don’t tempt me,” Buffy muttered as she stomped upstairs to her bedroom.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Spike shifted in the bed, trying to ease the ache that seemed to invade every inch of his body. The soft cotton sheets brushed lightly against his skin as he moved, he wished he could shift his position more; however the Slayer had tied his ankles and wrists to the bed. He tugged at his bindings, wincing when the rope pulled against his ankle, glancing down he grimaced at the swollen purple mess that was his foot. Sighing he closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of the Slayer and his girl marching upstairs; he was just too tired to bother escaping at the moment. He would do that later, he decided.

Buffy flung the door open in a fury, she fought demons and vampires on a nightly basis, hell she had defeated the Master and yet this little girl that she now had to call ‘sister’, got under her skin in a way none of the others ever had. Well except for one annoying bleached pest who was currently ensconced in her bed. Buffy let her eyes flick across the figure in the bed, the smooth taut body was now marred with the signs of his torture. She shuddered at memories of the small amount of brutality she had witnessed, recalling the feelings of disgust and, surprisingly, protectiveness that had filled her.

Dawn wrenched her arm out of Buffy’s grasp and flew towards the bed. “Spike?” She pulled up short, torn between the desire to throw herself into his arms and the fear of hurting him further.

“Dawn?” Spike smiled up at her, gritting his teeth against the expected pain as he broke the bonds that secured his wrists and held his arms out to his girl.

Dawn gave a small squeal before burrowing into his embrace, tears spilling from her eyes as his strong arms closed about her.

A wide smirk split Spike’s face, “What? Didn’t think that a bit of rope would hold me, did ya, Slayer?”

Dawn began to fuss about the bed, “Are you comfortable? Do you need another pillow?” She plucked and plumped until her hand fell across something small and furry, half hidden by the pillows on the bed. Tugging determinedly she managed to pull free a small stuffed pig, Dawn grinned as she remembered seeing Buffy carefully placing it near her pillow a few nights earlier. Now this she could use. “Eww what’s this?” Dawn wrinkled her nose in mock disgust before winking at Spike and tossing the small animal past Buffy and into the hall.

“Mr Gordo!” Buffy whirled around to follow the pig’s flight, here eyes widened in horror as she realised that he was headed for her mother’s favourite vase. Throwing herself forward she snatched the small pig from the air, tucking her body into a ball and rolling away from the breakables in the room and crashing noisily into the wall.

“Now.” Dawn flung her arm in front of Spike, “That should give us a minute.”

Spike grinned proudly at his girl’s antics, “It’s her pig; she’ll spend the next five minutes making sure you didn’t get a hair out of place on the bloody thing.” Carefully he let his fangs slide down, tenderly piercing the flesh of the proffered arm and suckling gently as he pulled small sips of blood into his mouth.

Buffy blew hair out of her face as her hands frantically tracing a path across the toy’s surface; searching for signs of injury at Dawn’s rough handling. She didn’t even hear the footsteps that were thundering up the stairs.

“Buffy?” Giles cried in alarm as he took note of his Slayer’s dishevelled appearance, “what happened?”

“I told you she was a demon.”

Giles’ eyes widened in alarm, “Do you know what kind? What did she do?” He began to search the hallway for something to use as a weapon, stopping as he realised that Buffy was holding something small and pink aloft.

“She threw Mr Gordo,” Buffy thrust the pig forward again, waiting for the cries for retribution to emerge from the others who were slowly gathering in the hallway.

Giles stared at her incredulously. “Buffy, do you mean to tell me that all this noise is because Dawn threw your toy? I thought that Spike had broken his bonds.”

Buffy gasped, realisation suddenly washing over her, “He did.” She jumped up rushing back into her room in time to see Spike raise his head, his tongue darting out to catch a droplet of blood that was tracing down his chin.

“Get away from her!” A voice shouted from behind her. Buffy turned her head in time to see Xander push past her and grab at Dawn, roughly pulling on the girl’s arm and dragging her away from the bed.

“Oww,” Dawn cried out as Xander continued to pull her by the arm that Spike had just fed from.

“Xander, don’t.” Buffy tried to stop her friend from doing something monumentally stupid. Spike had risen from the bed, breaking the bonds around his feet easily as he prepared to defend his girl. He braced himself, preparing to be attacked by the others even as he reached for the dark haired boy, who only hours before had been an ally. None of that mattered though, and as Dawn’s mystical blood coursed through him healing his injuries and returning his strength, all he could see was someone hurting the one person in this world he would give his life for. Dawn’s soft whisper of, “Don’t hurt him” was the only thing stopping him from snapping the boy’s neck.

Spike held Xander firmly against the wall by his throat; the pressure of his hand carefully measured so that it caused no real damage, merely immobilising him while Spike growled his displeasure.

Buffy had gone to grab Spike when she stopped short, watching in fascination as his ravaged body began to repair itself. Cuts and tears closed together in seconds, dark black and purple bruises seemed to fade to nothing, leaving only pale unblemished skin in their place.

“Oh my.” Giles moved to stand beside Buffy, his mouth agape as he watched the vampire’s body repairing itself.

“Well there’s something you don’t see every day.” Anya stood watching the transformation her eyes occasionally roaming appreciatively over the vampires’ naked body.

“What’s happening?” Willow pushed her way forward in order to see. “Eep,” she squeaked; blushing a deep shade of red as she realised that Spike was still very naked. “Naked Spike!” she exclaimed as she spun back around to bury her head in Oz’s waiting chest.

At Willow’s words, Buffy’s eyes immediately dropped downwards, a soft pink blush settling over her as they came to rest on his naked buttocks.

“Wha?” Spike smirked at them all, unable to resist taunting them a little, “Struck dumb by the sight of my tight, athletic body?” He ran his free hand down towards his groin, grinning as Buffy’s blush deepened.

“Really, Spike!” Dawn rolled her eyes as she threw a sheet at him, “You so need to get over yourself.”

“Hey.” Spike turned to banter with Dawn, releasing Xander as he wrapped the sheet around his waist. “’m just speakin’ the truth.” He tickled her making her squeal loudly as he tackled her onto the bed.

“How’s the head?” Dawn tapped playfully at his skull.

“All fixed,” he told her happily.

“You sure?” Dawn was a little worried that her plan hadn’t worked.

Spike shrugged before leaning forward and grabbing a few strands of Xander’s hair and yanking them out.

“Ouch.” Xander glared at Spike, suddenly wondering just why he had thought it was a good idea to rescue the annoying vampire.

“Yep, all better.” Spike inspected the few strands of hair he held up, “But I could hit him if you want to be sure.” He laughed as Xander began to back-pedal out of the room

Buffy seemed to snap out of her stupor. “Huh? What? No! There will be no hitting Xander,” she admonished, shaking a stern finger at him. She almost giggled as Spike’s face fell, disappointment clearly written across it., She shook herself mentally ‘It’s Spike,’ she reminded herself. ‘Evil monster, tried-to-kill-you type Spike. Not helpless-Spike with his blue eyes, and those cheekbones, and that body….’ Buffy turned and rushed out of the room, removing herself from temptation before she could let her thoughts take her in a direction that was so not of the good. “Ok, everyone downstairs, NOW! And for goodness sake would someone get Spike some clothes?”

Beta'd by Always_jbj

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