Title: Fluffy Helpless (Ep 37 of The Fluffy Files)

Author: Hilary

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Everything I have borrowed from Joss.

Author's Notes: From now on I won't be taking the episodes in chronological order. If you want to vote for which episode is done next then go here http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FluffyPolls/join As always assume the episode has run as normal up until the point I start writing.

Dedications: As always to Becca for being a great beta.

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Spike couldn't help but smile as the Welcome to Sunnydale sign appeared in front of his car. Why was it that no matter how many times he knocked it down they put it back up again. With a wry chuckled he swerved, hit the sign and then reversed over it for good measure. Maybe when he was done in town he'd take the sign with him as a souvenir.

It had been a couple of months since he'd last been in town and he grimaced as he remembered the state he'd been in when he'd arrived. A drunken, pathetic mess who spent all his time weeping, wailing and giving Angel a good run for him money on the brooding scale.

Things were different now. He'd managed to track Dru down in Brazil and they'd had a long talk. Well, mostly he'd yelled and screamed until he'd finally realised that he didn't actually need her. If she was going to keep playing the field then he was probably better off without her. So he'd left and decided to have another shot at doing what he did best.

Killing the Slayer.

* * *

Buffy reeled back as the vamp she was fighting dealt her a kick to the jaw. He was only new and she was still having problems fighting him off. Maybe patrolling hadn't been such a good idea after all. She'd felt a little off when she'd left the house that night but had just put it down to tiredness.

With a surge of energy she lunged forward, putting the vamp on the defensive. As she rained down punch after kick she pulled a stake out of her pocket and readied herself for the kill.

"Now, if we can just-"

She suddenly stopped as everything began to swim in and out of focus around her. For a brief moment she thought she was going to faint and she closed her eyes as she willed the spinning sensation to stop. Unfortunately the vamp she was fighting wasn't willing to wait for her to get her focus back and he charged forward, tackling her to the ground and attempting to wrestle the stake away from her.

The dizzy sensation having now passed Buffy struggled to regain the upper hand a little shock she realized her hands weren't doing nearly the damage that she was usually capable of. Something was seriously wrong. As the two of them continued to struggle Buffy managed to get both hand on the stake and twist it away from her own heart into that of her opponent. As he exploded into dust on top of her she could only lie there gasping for breath and feeling the adrenaline surge through her as she realised how close to death she'd just come.

After a few minutes she dragged herself to her feet and braced herself on a nearby bench as another attack of dizziness hit her. As before it only lasted a few minutes and she then began the slow trek home.

About halfway back her senses began to tingle, indicating to her that someone was following her. For the first time she could remember since being called she didn't know what to do. The Slayer in her was telling her to stop and fight, whereas the girl was telling her to run.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately she was prevent from making a decision when a figure slipped out of the shadows and came to stand in front of her. She couldn't help but groan.

"Spike, what the hell are you doing here? You just don't give up do you?"

His eyes raked up and down her body, causing her to shiver ever so slightly. Why was it that whenever he looked at her she felt like he was looking inside her?

"You know me, pet." Spike drawled with a lazy smile as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "Never been one to take no for an answer."

She sighed, trying not to show that she was actually a little nervous. If a mere fledgling had nearly been able to take her down...

"What do you want, Spike?"

"What do you think I want?" He replied, exhaling a plume of silver smoke into the night air before crushing the cigarette butt beneath his boot. "I want to dance."

Buffy realised she didn't have any other choice than to fight him. If she tried to run she wouldn't make it past the first block before he caught up to her, and even if she did managed to get away he knew where she lived. For the first time it occurred to her that maybe she should have had Willow do the de-invite spell after the last time he'd just let himself into her house. She'd just been lucky that all he'd done was talk to her mom. It could have been a lot worse.

With a resigned sigh she pulled her stake back out of her pocket and formed a fighting stance.

"I should have dusted you last time you came back."

Spike shrugged. "I should have killed you months ago."

Buffy didn't wait to make any retort back. Instead she threw herself at Spike, hoping desperately to get the upper hand. She should have realised then that it was a bad idea. Spike was nowhere near as slow or stupid as the younger vamp she'd fought. He merely sidestepped her attack and dealt her a kick to the back, which sent her sprawling face first to the floor.

"Bit sloppy tonight, aren't you Slayer." Spike grinned, not waiting for her to get back to her feet. He was at her side in an instant, rolling her onto her back and straddling her so that she was pinned to the ground. He let his demon face come forward and grinned as she struggled beneath him.

"Didn't think it would be this easy."

He leaned down, ready to take a bite out of her neck when Buffy managed to get one of her hands free. She punched him as hard as she could.

"Ow!" They both yelled at once, Buffy shaking her now rather sore hand.

Spike frowned after a second, his human face sliding back into place. "Hang on a second, not ow."

"Speak for yourself." Buffy grumbled, momentarily forgetting that Spike was supposed to be trying to kill her. Spike seemed to have forgotten this too because he let go of her other wrist and felt his jaw. It wasn't even tender, never mind bruised. He looked down at Buffy who was now rubbing her sore hand now that both were free.

"What's going on?" He finally asked, the fight apparently forgotten for good now.

"I don't know." Buffy snapped, the seriousness of the situation finally starting to hit her. "Now, if you're not going to try and kill me can you get off me."

Too surprised to argue Spike did as he was asked, sliding off Buffy and reaching down to help her to her feet. Buffy reluctantly took his hand, groaning once she was upright and her body objected to the sudden change in position. As her vision began to fade she reached out blindly and grabbed hold of Spike's arm, clutching at him until the dizziness passed.

She blinked a couple of times and then looked up at Spike, only to see something akin to surprise and worry in his eyes.

"What happened to you?" He finally asked softly, all traces of his previous cockiness gone. He was having problems adjusting to the fact that someone so strong could be reduced to someone so weak.

"I don't know." Buffy finally said, too tired to maintain the hard shell she put up when he was around. "I felt a bit weird when I left the house tonight and I just seem to be getting weaker."

Spike looked thoughtful for a moment before taking a step forward. "Come on, I'll take you home and you can get your Watcher and the Scoobies to make with the research."

Buffy looked at him with surprise. "I thought you wanted to 'dance'."

Spike shrugged. "I do. But I want it to be a fair fight. No fun in dancing if I know I'm gonna win. You get yourself well and we'll do this again some time."

Too tired to argue Buffy merely nodded and side by side the two enemies made their way back to her house.

* * *

"Buffy, is that you?" Joyce called as she heard the door open.

"Yeah." Buffy replied as she headed into the kitchen, plopping herself down on one of the stools.

"How was patrol?"

Buffy sure as hell didn't want her mom to know what was happening to her. It would only mean she'd worry.

"It was fine." Spike answered for her, joining the group in the kitchen. "She ran into an old friend."

Joyce looked a little surprised at Spike's appearance, given that the last time she'd seen him and Buffy together her daughter had threatened to stake him with a wooden spoon. She smiled though; glad to see that Spike looked a lot happier than he had last time.

"How are you, Spike?" She asked.

He shrugged, looking more than a little embarrassed. "I'm alright. Sorry 'bout last time, me being all weepy and all."

Joyce smiled. "It's ok. How about I fix us all up some hot chocolate. Buffy, do you want some?"

"Might do you some good, pet." Spike added.

Buffy nodded and rose from the stool. "I'm going to change into something a bit less Slayery."

"Might want to call your Watcher while you're up there, pet. Let him know how it went tonight."

Buffy smiled at him gratefully for not betraying her secret and headed upstairs.

"So, what brings you back to Sunnydale?" Joyce asked as she began to get the hot chocolate ready.

Spike shrugged, moving over to get some mugs out of the cupboard. "Things didn't work out with Dru so I thought I'd come back and see what was happening here. Ran into Buffy just after I arrived."

"Well, it's nice to see you two are getting along a bit better this time."

Spike merely smiled and set the mugs down on the kitchen counter.

* * *

"So what did your Watcher have to say?" Spike asked once Joyce had left to go to bed, leaving them alone in the kitchen.

Buffy sighed. "He said he'd look into it and that I should take it easy for a few days."

Spike raised an eyebrow. He knew as well as she did that this probably wasn't something that a little rest was going to cure. Buffy yawned at that moment.

"Tired, pet?"

She nodded. "Guess I should head to bed. I have school tomorrow."

Spike stood up. "I'll be off then."

Buffy nodded again, still coming to terms with everything that had happened that night. Not only did she appear to be losing her Slayer powers, but she was sat drinking hot chocolate with Spike of all people.

"I'll be around." He said as he headed out of the back door and into the night. Buffy wasn't sure whether she should take that as a warning or to take comfort in it. With all her confused thoughts jumbling around in her head she headed upstairs and quickly fell into an exhausted sleep.

* * *

"What's this?" Buffy asked as she headed into the kitchen after school. She'd had a really rough day and at the moment she just wanted to curl up and sleep for a week. As the day had passed she'd found out that not only had her strength gone, but also her co-ordination, balance and everything else that marked her out as a the Slayer. Now she was just like a normal girl, the thing she'd wanted to be for so long. Only now she had it she wasn't so sure she wanted it.

"Buffy." Joyce said, a look on her face that told her bad news was coming.

Buffy ignored her mom and moved over to the large bunch of flowers and balloons that sat on the kitchen counter. Tucked in amongst the flowers were two Ice Capades tickets and a small card in her father's handwriting.

"He says he'll make it up to you next year." Joyce said apologetically.

Buffy nodded sadly and headed back into the living room without another word. Joyce sighed sadly and made a start fixing dinner. A moment later the back door opened and Spike waltzed in as though he lived there.

"Evening Joyce." He grinned, closing the door behind him. "How are you today?"

Joyce sighed. "I'm alright. But Buffy isn't doing so good."

She gestured to the flowers and Spike walked over to have a look, reading the card before putting it back and heading into the living room. Buffy sat curled up on the couch with a cushion clutched to her chest.

"How you doing today, pet?" He asked, taking a seat beside her. "Your Watcher figure out what's going on yet?"

She shook her head numbly and quickly swiped at a tear that was slowly making its way down her cheek. Spike sat there in silence. He really didn't know what to do. He was used to a strong Slayer who wanted a fight, seeing this more human version of the girl kind of threw him.

"Listen," he finally said. "I know this is going to sound crazy but why don't I take you. I mean I know I'm not your dad or anything but-"

He stopped when he realised she was staring at him, the tears having dried from her face and a look of total surprise on her face. He suddenly found himself feeling very self-conscious and he shifted on the couch for a moment before jumping to his feet.

"Forget it, it was a stupid idea and-"

"I'll go." She whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear.

He stopped his rant and looked down at her, not really sure if he'd heard her right. "What."

"I'll go." She said a little more loudly, a small smile on her lips this time. "If you still want to take me."

Spike returned her smile. "Why not, sounds like it might be fun."

Joyce wandered in to see what she was missing and was surprised to see that Buffy now actually looked happy.

"Spike's gonna take me to the Ice Capades." Buffy smiled.

"Good." Joyce smiled, looking from Buffy to Spike. "I'm sure you'll both enjoy yourselves."

As she disappeared back into the kitchen Spike took a seat besides Buffy again. "Never imagined I'd find myself taking the Slayer out."

The words on a date hung unsaid in the air as the two of them lapsed back into silence.

"Maybe I'm not the Slayer anymore." Buffy finally said. "Maybe that's why this is happening to me"

Spike shook his head. "Never heard of that happening before. I'm sure your Watcher will figure it out, whatever it is."

Buffy smiled, grateful for the comfort no matter how awkward it was or that it was coming from Spike.

"Buffy, dinner's ready." Joyce called from the kitchen.

"Coming!" Buffy called as Spike climbed to his feet.

"Pick you up at seven tomorrow?" Spike asked.

Buffy nodded. "See you then."

* * *

"She'll be here soon." Joyce tried to soothe as Spike looked at his watch for about the tenth time in the last minute. "I'm sure she just got held up with Mr Giles."

Spike wished that could reassure him but with Buffy's strength gone there was a chance that anything could have happened to her. What made it worse was that this actually bothered him. More than he'd like to admit. He'd come to town with the intention of killing her and now here he was taking her out and worrying about her safety. He was beginning to see why she'd lasted longer than any Slayer before her.

A knock at the door brought him out of his thoughts as Joyce moved over to open it.

"Buffy?"

At the sound of the Slayer's name Spike hurried to Joyce's side as she reached down to the figure on the ground who was wrapped in Buffy's coat. Spike immediately knew something was wrong; the smell coming off the figure just wasn't Buffy's.

"Joyce, no!" He called, but his warning came too late. The figured rolled over to reveal the grotesque face of a vampire.

"Mother." He grinned toothily as his hand grabbed hold of her wrist. As Joyce screamed Spike grabbed hold of her, yanking her back into the house with every ounce of strength he had. The two of them tumbled to the floor, Joyce hitting her head hard on the floor.

"Stay here." Spike said, hoping she was conscious enough to hear him. He then climbed back to his feet and charged outside, ready to take on the vampire.

* * *

With an exhausted sigh Buffy pushed open the door to her house. She was still no closer to finding out what was making her weak and Giles just didn't seem to be concerned about it. They'd spent the evening training as usual and it had left her feeling drained and tired, not something which happened normally.

She wandered into the kitchen to get herself a drink and her bag suddenly dropped from her hand to the floor with a thump. Her mother sat on one of the kitchen stools, and ice pack pressed to the back of her head.

"Oh my god! Mom, what happened?"

Joyce winced as Buffy's apparently loud voice rang through her already pounding head. "I'm alright, Buffy."

"What happened?" Buffy repeated.

"Spike..." Joyce began.

Buffy's eyes blazed. "I'll kill him. What did he do to you?"

Joyce shook her head and winced again. “No, it's not like that. There was a vampire....another one. He tried to attack me and Spike saved me. I hit my head on the floor when he pulled me back into the house. He didn't mean to hurt me."

Buffy looked doubtful for a moment until she realised her mom had no reason to lie.

"Where is he?"

Joyce bit her lip, her eyes filled with worry. "I don't know. The last thing I remember is Spike going out to fight. When I woke up they were both gone.”?

A sick feeling twisted in Buffy's stomach. What if Spike had been killed? It's not like there would be a body or anything. How would she ever know?

A knock at the door caused them both to jump and Buffy's heart leapt into her throat. It was Spike, it had to be. Without a word she ran to the door and threw it open only to find the porch deserted.

"Spike?" She called hopefully, praying that he was playing some sort of joke on her.

Then she saw the polaroid.

It was Spike, his face bruised and bloodied, tied to a chair with the other vampire leaning over him. The look of pain on Spike's face told her that he was being tortured. She turned over the photo and pursed her lips together at the words she saw written.

* * *

As she heaved her weapon filled bag onto her shoulder she almost fell over with the sheer weight of it. A small part of her brain told her that this was crazy. She had no strength and she was charging off to rescue one vampire from another. But she knew she had to do this. Spike had saved her mother's life and she just couldn't leave him to be tortured like that. Besides, if her lack of strength was going to be permanent she was going to have to deal with it.

"Buffy be careful." Her mother said as she came down the stairs.

Buffy gave a small smile, her mom not realising just how much danger this was going to be.

"I love you." She said, as she opened the door. Hoping this wasn't going to be the last time she saw her.

"I love you too." Joyce called as the door closed behind her daughter.

* * *

As Spike struggled against his bonds he knew he had to get out of there. The vampire that had captured him, Kralik, had tortured him for hours until another vampire had come in and informed him that the Slayer was on her way. Spike couldn't believe it. In her weakened state she wouldn't stand a chance against the obviously insane vampire. Why the hell was she coming?

"Slayer's coming to rescue you." Kralik laughed, apparently reading Spike's thoughts. "The Slayer rescuing one vampire from another. Amusing."

Thankfully he could feel the ropes starting to give way. They had clearly been designed to hold a human, not a vampire. Now he just had to hope that he could free himself before Buffy got there.

* * *

Cautiously Buffy pushed the door to the old boarding house open and was thankful when it didn't creak. She imagined that whoever had taken Spike was expecting her but at least she still sort of had the element of surprise on her side. She wedged the door open so that it wouldn't bang shut behind her and took a moment to check out exactly what she was getting herself into.

The lobby area seemed quiet, a set of stairs at the back of the room and a couple of doors opposite each other. She'd do this methodically. Check each room until she found Spike and try not to get herself killed in the process.

A noise behind her caused her to spin around and she barely caught sight of the vampire before he tackled her to the ground. Unfortunately she landed right of top of her bag, preventing her from getting to any of her weapons. As she struggled she knew it was futile. He was stronger than her. He leaned down for the kill and she did the only thing she could think of. She bit him. Hard.

See how you like it, she thought. Too scared to actually verbalise the quip

The vampire yelped in pain and the distraction was enough to enable her to slide out from beneath him and make a run for it. She didn't get far, however. The vampire caught hold of her ankle, causing her to fall. Reacting instantly she kicked him in the face with everything she had. It felt like kicking a block of stone and she hoped her foot wasn't broken. The vampire let go, though and she jumped to her feet once more. This time she ran behind a bookcase in the centre of the room and leant as heavily as she could on it. Thankfully it was enough and the bookcase toppled over, right on top of the vampire, pinning it to the ground.

Hoping that would be enough to hold him for a while, Buffy hefted her bag back onto her shoulder and quickly checked the two other rooms. They were both empty. She headed back into the lobby and froze when she heard someone moving down the stairs. Then she heard a voice.

"Hide and seek.....hide and seek."

The voice chilled her and somehow she knew this was the vampire that had captured Spike. She quickly reached into a bag and grabbed and stake and some holy water which she placed in her pocket and a crossbow which she loaded and pointed at the doorway.

When the vampire appeared in sight she couldn't help but gasp. He was unbelievably tall and broad. His body seeming to fill the entire doorway. Buffy fired her crossbow and winced when the bolt missed, hitting the wall instead. The vampire grinned and stalked forward, batting the weapon from her hands and wrenching the bag from her shoulder. He peered inside and smiled again.

"How nice of you to bring toys to my home."

He tossed the bag into the far corner of the room and lunged at Buffy. Thankfully his size made him a little slow and she managed to duck beneath his arm and dash out of the door. She bolted for the stairs and was halfway up when she felt a meaty hand cutch her leg. She fell hard, smashing her head on the edge of one of the steps. Pain exploded behind her eyes as she felt the sticky blood start to run down her face. She tried to kick herself free but it was no use. The vampire yanked hard and she tumbled back down the stairs and landed on her back, stunned.

Kralik grinned again, picking her up by the throat so that her legs dangled uselessly beneath her. Buffy began to choke and wheeze, her struggles weakening with every moment that passed. As her vision began to fade she knew she'd been beaten.

The next thing she knew, however, she'd been dumped on the floor and the grip on her throat was gone. She sat there for a moment, unable to do anything other than gulp in huge amounts of air. When she finally became aware of what was going on, all she could do was stare in surprise. It was Spike, still a mess from his torture, pounding on his captor with everything he had. Unfortunately his ordeal had apparently left him weak and his blows weren't doing much more damage than her own had. She had to help him.

Climbing to her feet she ran into the other room and retrieved her weapons bag. She returned to the lobby just in time to see Spike thrown against the wall where he slumped to the floor, unconscious. Kralik bent down to finish the job and she used that moment to make her move. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out the stake and drove it into his back before he'd even realised she was there.

As he exploded into dust Buffy sank to the floor, the exhaustion replacing the fear and adrenaline in her system. With the last of her strength she crawled over to Spike and knelt beside him, brushing her fingers over his battered face.

"Spike?" She whispered through her bruised and swollen throat. "Wake up."

Nothing for a moment, then his one unswollen eye opened and focused on her.

"Buffy?" He croaked. "You ok?"

She nodded and gave a weak smile as he propped himself up. She then helped him to his feet and the two of them leaned on each other for support as they stumbled out into the night and back to safety.

* * *

To her credit, Joyce didn't ask any questions when the two wounded people staggered into the house. Instead she merely sat them both down on the couch and tended to their injuries with the professionalism of any mother. Once they were both cleaned and bandaged she fixed Buffy some food and headed out to get some blood for Spike, leaving the two of them alone.

They sat there in silence for a moment, both trying to digest the events of the evening. They had saved each other.

"Why did you come after me?" Spike finally asked.

"Why did you save my mother?" Buffy countered.

Spike shrugged and then winced when it aggravated his wounds. "She's a decent woman. That and she makes a good cuppa."

Buffy smiled. "Well, all attempts to kill me aside, you're not bad yourself. Not many vampires would take a weakened Slayer out when her dad stood her up."

Spike grinned. "Yeah, well I'm not like most vampires."

"I kind of noticed."

She lowered her eyes and smiled shyly.

Seeing her like that Spike couldn't help himself. In spite of the pain his injuries were causing him, he leaned over and kissed her ever so softly on the lips. Buffy's eyes widened in surprise for a moment and then they drifted shut as she kissed him back. His arms moved up to slip around her waist and for the first time since she'd lost her powers she felt safe.

And loved.

* * *

"Sorry it took so long." Joyce called as she came through the front door. "You have no idea how hard it is to find a butcher that's open all night. I had to-"

She stopped as she entered the living room, a small smile curling on her lips. Spike now lay stretched out on the couch, his boots set neatly on the floor beside him. Buffy lay beside him, her arm draped over his waist and her head resting on his chest. Both of them were sound asleep.

Seeing that the exhausted couple clearly needed their rest, Joyce went into the kitchen and placed the blood she'd bought for Spike in the fridge. She then went back into the living room and draped a blanket over the slumbering pair.

As she looked down at them Joyce couldn't help but feel at ease. As long as they were there to look out for each other she had a feeling that everything would be all right.

The End