Come Back to Me
by Spikesdeb
Chapter 13
Spike vanished -- and for the briefest
instant undisguised glee lit up Angel’s face, swiftly masked with apparent
concern. Giles and Wesley exchanged
a look; maybe this was the big plan, the evil within the evil.
Buffy’s strangled sobs stirred them into action.
“Ahem!
Well, Wesley and I will get to work on the scroll.
We’ll be in the library. As
for the rest of you, I’d say that until we know what we’re dealing with,
there’s not much you can do. I’d
suggest you take the opportunity to get some rest.
We’ll let you know as soon as we have something solid.”
Angel smirked.
‘Too bad it’s never gonna be a solid Spike…’
“Yeah, you all go.
Don’t worry, I’ll look after Buffy.”
All eyes turned to watch as he moved to
her and drew her gently to his broad chest; she instinctively turned to the
comfort and buried her nose in his soft cotton shirt.
Her shoulders shook with her efforts to control her emotions, as Angel
stroked her hair and made soothing murmurs.
The room rang with Faith’s angry words.
“Fuck this!
I’m outta here!” She
marched to the door and wrenched it open, slamming it back into the wall with
enough force to shed plaster, and stalked off. Slayer strength played havoc with
masonry.
Angel stroked Buffy’s back consolingly
and hugged her closer, relishing the press of her body against him, completely
unaware of the chill atmosphere and wary looks being cast his way.
One by one the others left the room, leaving Angel and Buffy alone. They stood for some time until the tears finally stopped.
Buffy sniffled and looked up. Suddenly
realising just who she’d turned to for comfort, she scooted backwards -- a
little uneasy at his closeness. Angel
bit back the stinging words he wanted to say as he saw her shut him out.
He could wait.
“I’m…I’m sorry, Angel.
I was just shocked. I’ll
go sit with Dawn until Giles figures all this out.
Thanks for trying to help.”
She walked towards the door, wiping her
tears away with the back of her hand.
“Buffy.”
She turned back, hand on the doorknob.
“I’ll make sure Dawn’s taken care
of. She’ll be awake soon.
I give you my word.”
“And Spike?
Angel, what about Spike? I
can’t lose him now. I won’t
lose him.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that
Spike’s taken care of too. You know how I feel about you, Buffy. I can’t lie and say I like seeing you two together.
But I’ll do whatever it takes if it makes you happy.
You deserve it.”
She gave him a watery smile, nodding in
acknowledgement as she made her way out of the room.
“Oh, I’ll take care of Spike, Buffy.
Don’t you worry…” Angel laughed softly, this little fancy she had
for lame dogs would soon be history – you only had to look at the bunch of
losers she hung out with to know she’d be a lot happier without the lot of
them. God he was so looking forward
to the mayhem to come.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Wesley blinked to try to clear the
grittiness from his eyes. They’d only been working for a couple of hours and were
doing remarkably well. The language
was a bastardisation of Klothor demon and was actually unravelling quite easily.
Exceptionally so.
He started to drum his fingers on the
desk, the rhythm eventually penetrating Giles’ concentration and earning him
an irritated sigh.
“Wesley, do you have to?”
“Oh, sorry…it’s just…
Don’t you think this is all too neat, Giles?
I mean we’ve been at it no time at all and we’re nearly done the
whole thing. I mean… I know
we’re good, but it’s a little unusual that it should be quite so simple.”
The older Watcher sat back in his chair.
Unconsciously he removed his glasses, and patted his pockets in search of
a handkerchief. Wesley supplied
one, which Giles took with a murmured ‘thank you’.
“Agreed.
It’s far too pat for my liking. I’ve
a suspicion that this is the plan that Angel’s been working on.
And if that’s true, and it’s what we suspect…it’s going to
destroy Buffy.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The dim lights in Dawn’s hospital room
grew fuzzy to Buffy’s tired and puffy eyes.
She was exhausted – numbed by the emotional roller coaster that her
life had become, and now this latest theory was the final straw.
Would she really be faced with such a choice?
God, what was she going to do? She
couldn’t lose either of them. She
wouldn’t. There had to be another
way.
She’d always fought on the side of
good; and it was time somebody cut her some slack.
Sheesh! Over the years
she’d lost her first love, her mom, friends, along with anything resembling a
normal life – all gone, despite her ‘chosen’ status.
Wasn’t she due some happiness? Suddenly
overcome with self-pity and in an agony of loss and uncertainty, Buffy bowed her
head onto her arms, her hand still clutching Dawn’s, and wept.
A shimmer of light off to one side drew
her attention, and she turned her head, peeping through the veil of hair.
As Spike’s outline began to appear, she sat up, gripping her sister’s
hand fiercely. The air crackled
around the vague form, electricity rippling from him and earthing itself to the
metal fittings of the room. His
face contorted in agony, eyes squeezed shut against some unknown pain.
A feral scream filled the room and suddenly Spike was standing in full
game face at the foot of the bed bathed in light.
As the light and the crackles of power
faded, Spike slumped to his knees; the pain he’d suffered was obvious in his
bowed frame and the way that he was panting, gulping needless air.
With a final glance back at her sleeping
sister, Buffy rushed to his side. She
touched his shoulder and a sizzle of electrical energy threw her backwards
across the room to land against the wall. Spike
cried out her name and rushed to her.
“Buffy!
Love, are you alright…what the hell was that?”
Trembling, Buffy got to her knees and
faced him, hesitantly raising her hands to touch him again.
The tingle she usually felt when she encroached on his aura was stronger
now; the resistance where she pushed against his outline making him seem almost
solid. Spike reached out to try and touch her; his hand pressed
against her cheek and she actually felt it!
“Spike!
I can feel you…more than before, like you’re becoming solid!”
“I know, pet.
But it’s bloody painful; if this is what it takes, I think I’ll give
it a miss.”
They smiled, both knowing that he’d do
whatever it took to come back to her.
“Are you alright though?
Where do you go to…when you leave here?”
“It’s not anywhere really…it’s
like being in limbo or some such. At
first I wasn’t even conscious. Now
though, now it burns…”
Buffy listened, her eyes pricking with
more tears despite the gallons she’d shed earlier.
The thought of him in pain hurt her heart and she seized his hand,
interlocking their fingers, as their eyes never left the other’s face.
Neither was aware of the flames that flickered where their hands joined.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Angel stared at the monitors showing
Spike and Buffy cuddled up together. His
features hardened into a cruel smirk.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes, Mr Angel sir.
We can start immediately. Although
with them being in the same room, I’m not really sure if that’ll affect what
happens.”
“Just shut up and get on with it.”
“Right away, sir.”
The mystic nodded to his team of robed
assistants. Angel watched avidly on
the monitor, desperate not to miss any part of his triumph.
A chant went up among the circle, a purple mist materialising above the
six seated on the ground. The air
thickened, powerful waves of energy zinging into the bowl placed in the centre.
It rang with a clear, high note as it filled with light.
Angel watched as Buffy and Spike nuzzled
at each other. To the uninitiated they seemed like any other couple, unable
to keep their hands off each other. To
his vampiric sight, it was obvious that there was a space between Buffy’s
hands and the place where Spike’s body should be.
Miniscule, but still there nonetheless.
He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but both had tears on their
cheeks.
Angel nodded in the affirmative to the
mystic’s enquiry. Time to turn up the heat.
++++
Suddenly, both blond heads whipped round
to where Dawn lay in her bed. They
jumped to their feet and made their way over to where the teenager was moaning,
head thrashing about. Buffy grabbed
at her shoulders while calling for the nurse.
Spike looked on, anxious to do something but feeling completely useless. The sound of running feet heralded the arrival of the medical
team, and Buffy stepped back to allow them to do their work, hugging herself as
they crowded around the bed. A buzz
of contact shivered through her as Spike put his arms around her, whispering
soothing words in her ear.
“Don’t worry, pet.
They know what they’re doing. She’ll
be fine.”
“But will she, Spike?
Will you?” Softer now,
almost inaudible… “Will any of us?”
She looked back at him over her
shoulder, her face wet with tears. It
tore him up to see her so upset, helpless to do anything other than just be
there. Hell, he couldn’t even do
that for her, thanks to the psychic bungee cord that was just waiting to yank
him back to oblivion at any second. He’d
promise anything if it would help her -- he never broke his word, but how could
he swear something when he didn’t know how long it’d be before he was
snatched away? Smiling, he opted to place a kiss against her golden hair,
hiding the doubt in his eyes as he hoped she’d take his actions as
confirmation.
“Miss Summers?”
Buffy sprang forwards when the doctor
spoke, the medics parting as she reached the bed.
Familiar blue eyes blinked up at her
from the wan face on the pillow. Cracked
lips parted and a hoarse whisper was heard… “Buffy?”
“Dawn…” Buffy wrapped her sister
in her arms, only releasing her when she started to cough.
“I’m sorry!
Dawnie…do you need a drink? Nurse…”
The nurse was already there, placing a
cup of ice chips in Buffy’s outstretched hand.
She looked into the cup, puzzled.
“She’s not used to swallowing right
now. Just give her a little at a
time.”
Still shaking, Buffy brought the cup to
Dawn’s lips, raising her a little to help her take some of the chips into her
parched mouth. As Dawn lifted her
head, she noticed the shadowy figure at the bottom of her bed.
It looked like…
“Spike?”
Incredulity cracked her raspy voice.
Spike came forwards, eyes drinking in the sight of his Bit all awake and
seemingly fine. He walked
around to stand at Buffy’s side, the smile he reserved just for his girls on
his lips.
“High time you woke up, Niblet.
I know teenagers like their beds but this is a bit much, don’t you
think?”
“But…when…how?”
Dawn couldn’t quite vocalise the
thoughts running through her head. Seeing
Spike was just…too much. The last
thing she remembered was sitting with Buffy in the café, wondering where they
would end up; Buffy hadn’t seemed to care, as wherever it was wouldn’t
matter without Spike. And now he
was here.
Buffy and Spike exchanged a look.
When, they could answer: how…not so much.
“Seems I dropped in on Peaches round
about the time you did a Sleeping Beauty, love.
But as for the how, not a soddin’ clue.
Rupes and the other watcher bloke are looking into it, Willow too -- oh,
and the giggly Texan bird, she’s on it. And
she’s got a brain the size of a planet… or so I’m told.”
Dawn shot him a wobbly smile.
She’d kept her distance since his return to Sunnydale but now seeing
him here when she’d had to come to terms with losing him, hating herself for
never having fixed things between them… well she wasn’t going to waste this
second chance -- wouldn’t let Buffy either.
“Spike…I…”
“Hey now, none of that – you don’t
have to say a word, we’re all good. Just
happy to see your baby blues ‘stead of your eyelids.
Everything’s gonna be fine.”
Buffy felt her heart swell with
happiness, all her doubts melting away as she watched Spike talk quietly with
Dawn. It would be fine; she knew
it. Dawn would be well, Fred and
Willow would work something out to anchor Spike, and she’d finally get to do
the thing she should have done a long time ago.
She’d show Spike how much she loved him… every day, by word and deed.
Life was suddenly very, very good.
“What happened to me?
Why am I in bed…and all this machinery… am I sick or something?”
Buffy stroked the long brown hair back
from her sister’s forehead. “You
collapsed, Dawn, in the café. Nobody
knows why, but you’ve been in a coma since then.
Everyone’s been trying to help, Angel even had the entire resources of
Wolfram and Hart dedicated to finding out what happened.”
She ignored the possessive growl from her vampire at the mention of
Angel’s name. “And now – it
doesn’t matter, because look! All
better!”
Dawn tried not to look worried, but
surely it couldn’t be good that she’d collapsed.
She frantically tried to avoid thinking of her mom -- she’d had a
sudden collapse too. Maybe it was
hereditary. And yeah, so she
wasn’t actually born a Summers, but she sure had Summers’ blood.
The exact same thoughts had run through
Buffy’s mind during the days and nights of bedside vigil.
But faced with a wide-awake Dawn, her newly returned lover at her side,
she banished it all to the back of her mind.
Now was what mattered, now and the future.
++++++++++
“That’s enough.
She’s had the pleasure of them both… just enough for her to get
complacent. Remove one – and make sure it’s convincing.”
The terrified mystics did as they were
bid; the chant changed and the bowl in the middle of the circle vibrated with
energy. A haze of blue hovered
above their shaven heads as Angel returned his gaze to the monitor.
+++++++++++
Spike ached to touch Dawn, just to
reassure himself that she was really there.
But he couldn’t and didn’t want to freak her out when he did the
ghost thing to her. He hadn’t
reckoned on Dawn suddenly grabbing for his hand and gasping when her fist closed
on nothing.
“Spike!
What’s happening?”
“Don’t panic, Bit.
Just a tiny complication from me being mojoed back, and the girl genius
and Red are working it through as we speak.
Nothing for you to worry about.”
Buffy’s hand was resting lightly on
Spike’s arm and she followed Dawn’s puzzled gaze down to where she felt the
resistance of Spike’s aura against her skin.
“Oh, yeah.
That’s a Spike and Buffy special.
Everybody else gets the ghostly walkthrough, but I get the tingle and
buzz of electrical charge. It’s
kinda neat.” Buffy smiled at her sister.
Everybody was getting the Buffy smile now, no sullen pouts allowed.
Spike nodded.
“It is that, pet. Told you
we were special.”
The lights around the room flickered,
buzzed, and then popped. Emergency
lighting came on and Buffy shot an anxious look in Spike’s direction,
expecting him to disappear. Hearing
Dawn’s cry of pain, she looked back to her sister, her heart lurching as she
noted the tongues of electricity playing over her arching body.
Spike’s howl had her whipping her head round to see him too wrapped in
writhing stripes of what appeared to be blue flame.
“Noooo…” she cried, unable to
accept what her eyes told her. “Why is this happening?
Can’t you leave us alone?” she screamed to the world in general.
Her perfect moment was being ripped to shreds as she watched the two
people in the world she cared most about jerking and spasming in agony.
As suddenly as it started, the surge of
power left; Spike collapsed to the floor as his limbs failed him, curling
himself up into a ball as he tried to recover.
When he was able to lift his head, he sought out his love’s face.
No, this couldn’t be right…
Buffy stared in shock at the still and
silent form of her sister, lying there with blood running from her nose.
It was a nightmare; it had to be. No
way would the Powers be that cruel.
The alarm monitors kicked in and once again the medics shoved her out of
the way as they attended to their patient.
Spike dragged himself to his knees, ignoring the pain deep in his bones.
Limping over to Buffy, he threw his arms around her to gather her to him
and she buried her head on his chest and sobbed.
It took them both a few seconds to realise that the arms around her were
solid.
“What the fuck?”
Buffy
didn’t care how it happened; right now she needed him to never let go of her.
++++++++++++++++++
“Nicely done, boys.
Now it’s time for the final phase.”
The relieved and exhausted warlocks
gathered up their paraphernalia and headed for the door.
“Oh…you spill even a whisper of this
and you’re dead. Just so as you
know the score.”
Angel’s grin reinforced the message.
That was fun.
Now to get it through her Valley-girl skull that she could have one or
the other, but not both. Whistling,
he took the lift to his penthouse suite to freshen up.
Wouldn’t be long now.
+++++++++++++++++++
Willow’s eyes returned to their normal
green, her streaming white hair now still and red.
Kennedy approached her gingerly; she wasn’t used to this magic stuff
and although she knew that Willow wouldn’t hurt her, it took some getting used
to, having a Goddess as a girlfriend.
Still, Willow shoving her away and going into trance mode without warning
was pretty freaky.
With grim determination on her face,
Willow looked up into Kennedy’s brown eyes.
“Get Giles, Ken.
Get him now. I know what
Angel’s doing.”