Rating: PG
Pairing: W/S
Summary: Spike is caught in the act of turning Willow, and it leads to a very complicated situation.
Spoilers: Series begins just after ‘Lover’s Walk’, now a couple of years have passed, and we’re now at the very beginning of season seven.
Disclaimer: I did not build the Buffyverse that would be Joss, it is merely my playground.
Distribution: If you want it, fine by me, just drop me a line first.
Special Thanks: Kat for checking over my ramblings, Aden for always being happy to see me, and all the super cool people who send me feedback!
Feedback: Pretty please with sugar on top!
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Xander entered the bedroom, afraid of what he might find. He had been woken only moments before by a loud crashing noise above him. As soon as he realized that Spike was no longer out cold on the entry way floor, the dark haired man rushed upstairs, terrified he was already too late. Still, he wasn’t prepared for the sight before him.
There, on the bedroom floor, was a naked Spike clutching a naked Willow to his chest. Her body was hanging limply against him, and even from a distance he could see multiple injuries marking her flesh. When he saw the blonde vampire bite into his wrist and hold it above her mouth, he knew Spike was in the process of turning her, and something inside him just snapped. Grabbing the chair from the nearby desk, he swung it in an arc, bringing it down squarely against the vampire’s head, rocketing him to the side and away from Willow.
“You monster! I’ll kill you!” Xander screamed, blinded by rage. “I’ll fucking kill you!”
The next blow came across Spike’s back, breaking two of the legs off the chair. Xander scooped up one of the broken pieces of wood and positioned himself for the death blow over Spike’s prone form. He was so caught up in his own vengeance, that he didn’t notice the small pale hand reaching toward her lover’s, or the soft words of Latin that were being whispered. However, Xander did notice being thrown across the room as the stake connected with some sort of energy barrier that had suddenly gone up around Spike.
Willow clutched at the hand she held, weakly pulling his bleeding wrist to her mouth, even as she felt her own body dying. Her mouth convulsed on the wound, gulping down the life giving nectar. Xander sat up, dazed for a moment, as he saw Willow feeding off her lover. Relief flooded him as he realized she wasn’t yet dead, but there wasn’t much time.
Grabbing the comforter off of the bed, he tossed it over her and yanked her into his arms, rushing down the stairs. Grabbing the keys to Willow’s Honda off the counter, he rushed her to the car, and off to the hospital, running countless lights along the way. Willow had lost consciousness once again, and Xander feared that she was in fact dead as he ran, carrying her body, through the emergency room doors.
“Help me! She’s lost most of her blood!” he screamed, as he quickly passed her off to an emergency room physician.
Immediately they went to work on her. They attached I.V.’s and started pouring units of blood into her. However, with such blood loss and extensive damage to her body, it was more than her delicate form could handle, and she went into cardiac arrest. Xander kneeled on the floor in the outer hallway, praying like he had never prayed before, for god to spare the life of his friend. Fat tears were rolling down his cheeks as he watched them bring equipment into the room to rapidly infuse the blood, catching a glimpse of them using paddles to try to shock her heart back to life. The flat line on the heart monitor screamed in his ears for more than twenty minutes before someone finally switched it off. He heard the doctor pronounce the time of death, and began to weep openly. She was gone. Just when he had gotten her back, she was gone again.
Xander pushed his way past the exiting staff and into the room. Her naked body had been discreetly covered by one of the remaining nurses who had stayed behind to fill out some forms that would go with the body to the morgue. When she saw the grief stricken man come into the room, she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, telling him she would give them a few minutes alone.
He seemed to fold in on himself, becoming smaller in his grief, like a child again. He thought back to the first time he had seen death when he was eight, and his grandmother had died. She had been the only person in his family to ever give a damn about him, and at her funeral he had sobbed like a baby. His father, who was drunk like most of the other relatives, told him to ‘suck it up and be a man, instead of a little girl.’ Xander had tried to be strong, but his heart was broken. It was Willow who had found him hiding in another room, crying and shaking, afraid of being found. She had put her arms around him, and cried with him. She didn’t feel the loss of the old woman like her friend did. Hers were tears of sympathy that her friend was in so much pain and she couldn’t fix it. They held each other and cried, both of them losing a part of their innocence that day.
Now, looking down on his Willow’s lifeless body, Xander was sobbing again, but there was no one there to share his pain this time. She looked so violated with an intubation tube sticking out of her mouth, and I.V.’s still attached to her arms. Her whole body was covered in bruises and abrasions. He held her hand gently in his as his body was racked with grief. He knew there was a good chance she would rise again, and when that happened, Buffy would stake her. He couldn’t bear the thought of it. He just held her hand in his and cried with such raw anguish that he couldn’t imagine things ever being right again. And then he felt it.
The slightest flex of fingers around his pulled him out of his mourning with a jolt. If she had been turned it would likely take three days for her to rise, or at least full dark. He had read in countless places while doing research that the first rising only happened at night, like a self preservation failsafe. Xander lifted a shaking hand to her throat, feeling for a pulse, and it was there, faint but there.
“Somebody! I need help! She’s alive!” he screamed, bringing doctors and nurses in with a rush. They checked her over, and sure enough they found a pulse and breath sounds.
“I don’t believe this! She’s been down for more than thirty minutes,” a sandy haired doctor said as he pulled his stethoscope away from her chest.
“She’s a miracle, my Willow,” Xander said softly, brushing a stray lock of red hair from her face.
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The Scoobies were assembled in the hospital lounge, waiting for the doctor to fill them in on Willow’s condition. They all seemed to be in shock. Xander had told them what happened, and they were quietly discussing what should be done about Spike. Giles had suspected that when the lovesick vampire left town it was to find someone to remove the chip from his head, and now it looked as if those suspicions had been confirmed. The general consensus was to stake him, but unfortunately Buffy had already gone over to the house to do just that, only to discover that the spell protecting him was still intact. Amy and Tara had agreed to work on a counter spell to make him vulnerable again, but in the meantime, they were all more concerned with Willow’s wellbeing. Just then, the sandy haired doctor who had treated her from the beginning came into the lounge looking tired and discouraged.
“Are any of you Miss Rosenberg’s family?” he asked and watched as several nervous glances were exchanged, followed by several nods.
“I am Willow’s uncle;” Giles lied softly, “Her parents are out of town at the moment. Please, how bad is it?”
“Well, as her friend here may have already told you,” he said, indicating Xander, “your niece was clinically dead for several minutes. We really can’t explain her unexpected revival, but the fact remains that her brain and heart were deprived of oxygen for quite some time. Her heart seems to be undamaged, although in time this may change, but her brain…um…I’m sorry but we’re reading no higher brain functions at this time.”
“Are you saying she’s in a coma? Because she was in a coma once before, and she came out of it a little while later. Remember guys?” Xander asked in desperation.
“Yes, she is in a comatose state, but what I’m trying to say is that Miss Rosenberg is brain dead. I am very sorry, but I don’t see any possibility of recovery. Perhaps it would be best to track down her parents, to see if they want to keep her on life support. Until then we’ll keep her comfortable. Do you know by chance if she intended to be an organ donor?”
“What are you, some kind of ghoul? My best friend is lying in there, and you’re talking about taking her body parts?!” Xander yelled while everyone else looked at the floor uncomfortably.
“Xander, please. He didn’t mean any harm. I will try to contact her parents again. I’m not sure what their wishes or Willow’s were for handling such a situation.”
“Of course, please be sure I meant no offense. Just let me know when you hear something, and again I’m very sorry for your loss.”
“She’s not dead yet,” Xander said through clenched teeth.
The doctor gave him a slight nod and a sad smile before turning and walking away.
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Drusilla had had the most terrifying dream. Something was very wrong with the little tree and her Spike, and she didn’t have much time to remedy it. The dark vampire slipped out of the Hyperion just after sunset, flagging down a cab to take her to the train station. She hated traveling alone, but at least she had Miss Edith for company. Besides, Drusilla loved riding trains. Always so many tasty people with nowhere to escape to, plus it had that lovely whistle. By the time she had reached the Sunnydale station, there were only a couple hours till dawn. She would have to hurry.
Xander was sound asleep in the chair next to Willow’s bed. The others had tried to convince him to go home and get some rest, but he just couldn’t leave her. He was emotionally exhausted and had fallen asleep quickly, but his subconscious was still alert, and registered an unwelcome presence in the room with him. He opened his eyes slowly, looking up to see Drusilla towering over him.
“Sorry, pretty pretty, but my poppet needs rescuing from this shiny prison,” she said, smiling sweetly, before hitting Xander over the head with a bedpan, knocking him out.
She quickly detached Willow from all the tubes and wires that were coming off of her body, setting off her heart monitor and an alarm in the nurses’ station. But as they were rushing toward the dark haired woman carrying the small redhead, Drusilla flashed her vamp face at them and they immediately backed off.
Drusilla arrived at Willow’s house with only moments to spare. It hadn’t been easy tracking down the place using only her bond with Spike, but she had done it. She paused at the door, unsure how she would cross the threshold without an invitation. She kicked the door open, and then felt around the edges to see where the barrier began. To her surprise, there wasn’t one. Drusilla was confused by this because she could still clearly hear the girl’s heartbeat, and if she was alive the barrier should be intact. Still, she didn’t ponder it for too long; hopefully there would be time for that later.
She quickly carried her up the stairs, towards the bedroom where she knew Spike was waiting. But first there was another hurdle to get over, in the form of a very startled and angry watcher waiting at the top of the stairs holding a crossbow.
“Drusilla, I don’t know what you are doing here with Willow, but I want you to set her down very carefully and back away.”
“You’re the watcher, the one my daddy brought home to play with,” Drusilla said, turning her head to the side with the recollection.
“Yes, I am the one that you and your ‘daddy’ TORTURED! Now put the girl down!” Giles said, stepping closer, hoping for a better shot. As it was he couldn’t risk going for Drusilla’s heart without possibly hitting Willow.
“I can’t, silly; she’s sick and needs to be with her sire if she’s going to get well.”
“Spike is NOT her sire. Willow is still alive, still human, but very sick. You MUST put her down, NOW.”
“You’re right about her being alive, ducky, but she’s not human, not anymore. And if you don’t get out of the way she won’t be anything but dead.”
“What are you talking about ‘not human,’ of course she’s human,” Giles said, feeling his grip on reality slipping away.
“There is no time to chat about it, pet. She needs to be with her daddy, now before it’s too late.”
“And why on god’s green earth would I trust anything you have to say?”
“Because she’s my little tree, and I love her,” Drusilla pleaded with him, “Please, please don’t let her die.”
Giles didn’t know if it was the air of desperation in her voice, or the way she held the redhead in her arms protectively, but he believed her. Moving out of the way so she could pass, he noticed that she didn’t even look behind her to see if he would shoot her in the back. Her sole concern was for Willow. Who knew, maybe she could still be helped. It couldn’t be any worse than living as a vegetable.
Drusilla gently laid her friend on the bed, before scooping Spike up off the floor where he was still lying unconscious, and placed him on the bed next to his mate.
“How did you…” Giles started, motioning at Spike’s limp form.
“Tree’s little spell wasn’t meant for me, it was to protect him from those who would do him harm.”
Giles watched as the dark vampire positioned herself to spoon against Spike’s body, before pulling a dagger from her handbag and using it to slice open his wrist. The display was fascinating, but when she placed his bleeding wound against Willow’s mouth, Giles lost his cool, and moved to stop her.
“No, don’t interfere. She needs his blood; she’s not strong enough yet. Without it her mind will be left all muddled, worse than a minion.”
Standing there watching the scene before him, Giles knew it was a betrayal of everything he believed in not to stop this, not to kill these monsters. But he too was desperate. He had already failed Willow miserably. If there was any chance that this could help her, he had to let them try.
Spike felt the world swimming back to him, swirling painfully around his consciousness. His head was killing him. He felt a body curled around his, and turned his head, expecting to see his new childe, Willow. However, Spike’s eyes found Drusilla instead. She let out a small giggle at the look of shock on his face, and then gently turned his head the other way so he could see the redhead laying next to him, suckling his wrist. He inched his body closer, to wrap himself around her, and was startled to find she was still warm. He listened closely and could clearly hear her heart beating.
“Dru, baby, what’s happening?” he asked in confusion.
“I’m not sure exactly. The stars told me that poppet was in danger, and that only you could save her. She needs her daddy to make her strong again.”
“The stars talk to me too now, you know,” he said, touching Drusilla’s face lightly.
“That’s because you were naughty and went and got cursed like daddy,” she admonished.
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Willow woke feeling cold naked bodies pressed on either side of her. For a moment she thought she was still back with Angelus and Drusilla, but when she finally opened her eyes, she saw she was in her house in Sunnydale. She lifted the covers to see who was next to her, and saw Drusilla, snuggled down low, clutching her dolly. The redhead assumed then that it could only be Angelus behind her, but when she turned her head, she was relieved to see Spike, sound asleep, nestled against her. For a moment she wished she could stay like this forever, safe, content, surrounded by the people she loved, but her bladder had other plans. So, reluctantly she pulled herself from the bed, moving quietly so as to not wake either of them.
After taking care of her urgent needs, the redhead moved to the sink to brush her teeth and wash her face. She expected she would look terrible, but aside for being a ghostly white, she looked pretty good. She had vague memories of her earlier encounter with Spike, but could find no evidence of her physical injuries, which made her wonder exactly how long she had been out. Looking again in the mirror, she could swear that her skin almost glowed, her hair was more vibrant, and her lips full and red, her eyes blazing green and slightly dilated. ‘Damn,’ she thought, ‘I look good!’
She walked back into her parents’ bedroom, stretching as she went, and feeling delicious. She walked over to the shade to peek out, hoping the sun had gone down so she and her vampires could take an evening stroll. She pulled back the edge of the of the heavy fabric, letting in a single beam of light, but the moment it fell across her naked skin, Willow shrieked in pain, jumping back.
Both vampires on the bed bolted up to see what was the matter, and were startled to find Willow standing naked in front of them, a thin line of smoking flesh marring her perfect form. Her eyes were wild with pain and shock as the pair of them rushed to her side, pulling her down to sit on the foot of the bed with them. They were soon joined by Giles who had bolted into the room, panting heavily, face full of concern.
“What’s happened?!” he asked as he was coming through the door, then spying Willow, his eyes flew wide, “Good lord, Willow! You’re awake!”
“Course she’s awake, stupid git. Now be a good lad and get some burn cream and bandages, she’s hurt,” Spike said forcefully.
Giles didn’t argue he was too in shock. He simply went to the bathroom to search for the necessary supplies. Meanwhile, Drusilla and Spike tried to soothe Willow, who had begun to shake uncontrollably.
“What’s happening to me? I mean I thought before that Spike was going to turn me, but then I went to pee and I had a reflection, and I can’t have a reflection if I’m a vampire. Plus I have a pulse!” she said, grabbing her wrist, “And dead people do NOT have pulses! It’s a rule, you know. So I can’t be dead. And if I’m not dead then I can’t be a vampire! That’s also a rule, I think. So why did I do the human torch thing when I opened the curtain? I mean the whole sunny day combustion thing is strictly a vamp deal, right? Right?!”
“Baby, we don’t know exactly what is happening yet,” Spike said, brushing her hair behind her ear, “but we’ll figure it out, I promise.”
“Please, just tell me,” Willow asked softly, fat tears rolling down her cheeks, “what am I?”