Remember Me

Chapter 12 - A Friend in Need

Spike was pacing in the lobby when his friends arrived. The rush of
relief he felt at seeing them had him lightheaded. None of them
smiled, they all had identical expressions of grim determination on
their faces. Although once they finally reached him, Tara put her
arms around him and tried for a shaky smile. "Don't worry, we'll find
her. I'm sure she's fine."

"Thanks, luv." He kissed her on the cheek and then greeted the rest
of the gang. "Thanks for coming."

"What, you thought we wouldn't?" Xander asked, surprised.

"No, 'course I knew you'd be h I I guess I'm just...relieved
that...Bloody hell! It's been hard to be here alone." Spike pushed the
words out in a rush. Embarrassed he turned away.

The others nodded, but didn't issue a response. They knew what he
meant, and were glad that they could be there to help. They were all
worried about Buffy. But they were worried about Spike as well.
They could only guess how he must be feeling, not knowing where
Buffy was or if she was uninjured.

They checked in, each couple getting their own room. Spike had
arranged from them all to be on the third floor with him. After they
dropped their luggage off they all met back up in Spike and Buffy's
room. He explained to them all of what had been done so far in the
search, what little there was. Then he sighed and was silent for
several minutes.

Just when Willow was about to say something, anything, to break the
tense silence, Spike spoke again. He didn't look at any of them, didn't
meet their eyes. His voice was low and husky, and Willow bet that if
he did look up there would be tears in his eyes.

"I know you all know what's been going on. That Buffy thinks that we
really are engaged. That she thinks she loves me, and that I love her.
The truth is...I *do* love her. I have for as long as I could remember."
He sighed again and shook his head, almost as if he wanted his
jumble of thoughts to fall into proper place. "A lot has happened
since the accident. Between us, I mean. I don't know how she'll react
once she gets her memory back. But I know I can't deny it anymore."
He stood and walked toward the balcony. The others ignored the wet
cheeks of his reflection in the sliding glass door. "God, I want her
here. I need her safe, with me." The words whispered from his lips
were tainted with a kind of aching hollowness. "It's been almost a full
day."

Xander stood, as did Wesley and Lorne. They formed a kind of half cle cle of support behind Spike, not touching but quietly lending
stre. ". "We'll find her." Xander's words were firm and sure.

Just then there was a soft knock on the door to Spike's suite. He flew
toward it and flung it open. A bellboy stood on the other side looking
slightly surprised but quickly snapped to attention. He held out an
envelope to Spike. "This was dropped in the inter-resort mail slot sir.
It's addressed to you." The bellboy shrugged. "We don't normally get
mail for other guests. It's usually reserved for inter-office mail,
but...You are William Huntington aren't you?"

Spike nodded absently, still standing at the door staring down at the
envelope in his hands. Wesley came to stand beside him he cleared
his throat attracting the bellboy's attention. "Thank you, young man."
Wesley handed over a tip and then quietly closed the door for Spike.

"What is it?" Cordy asked, impatient now that the bellboy was gone.
"Open it."

Spike ripped open the envelope with shaking fingers. What did he
expect to find? But he had a bad feeling, and when he unfolded the
letter he knew the feeling was justified. He let out a small whimpering
cry and nearly dropped the letter. But Wesley scooped up the slim
page before it hit the ground, quickly scanning the words, his face
grim. "Xander call the police." He looked up at the others eyes alight
with anger. "It's a ransom note."

***

Buffy heard the front door click open and then shut. She waited, her
adrenaline surging, until Angel stepped back into the room.

"Well, your little lover-boy has probably gotten my note by now."
Angel smiled at her. "Have you been having fun here, *kitten*?

Buffy shivered at the use of Spike's affectionate nickname for her.
How long had Angel been following them, watching them? Or was it
pure coincidence that he used that name? She doubted it. The
sarcastic inflection he used was too much of a coincidence.

Angel saw the shiver and his smile grew. This was a much better
way to end his night. He'd been forced to take Harmony out to
dinner, and she'd expected even more when they'd gotten back. He
obliged, though sex with Harmony had gotten about as boring as sex
could possibly get. He left her, asleep in their bed, and came here.

"Please, I still have to use the restroom." Buffy ignored his earlier
question. In fact she was surprised that she hadn't yet wet herself.
"Please." She hated begging, but she was getting desperate. She
didn't want to sit here for days smelly and unclean.

"Well...since you asked so nicely." Angel leant down and began to
untie her. Before he was even finished with the first knot he bent
closer and kissed her full on the mouth. Buffy let out a startled yelp
and tried to turn her head away, but Angel wouldn't allow it. He
kissed her hard, forcing his tongue in her mouth. Buffy, unable to
move away from him, instead bit down hard.

Angel let out a pained cry and retreated. "Shouldn't have done that,
Buffy." His voice was harsh. "I'm the only thing keeping you alive
right now." He warned her.

She stared back up at him, chin tilted defiantly. "I'd *rather* be dead."
She'd rather death than let him touch her. She shuddered at the
thought of having his hands on her. And for a long moment she
thought she'd just sealed her fate. He stared down at her, brows
drawn together, anger evident in every line on his face. Then
suddenly he threw his head back and laughed.

He was still chuckling as he untied her. He made her sit up on the
bed; he left her legs free, but retied her hands together in front of her.
"The bathroom's in there." He gestured with his head towards the
door on the right.

Buffy scrambled off the bed and through the door. She breathed a
heavy sigh once she was finally able to relieve herself. God, it had
been hours! Afterwards she turned the sink on, scrubbing her hands
as best she could. Then she scooped some cool water and tried to
rinse out her mouth. She could still taste the awful mix of alcohol and
heavy spice that Angel's kiss had left in her mouth.

She left the water running as she glanced around the room. The
window was way too small for her to crawl out of. She looked
beneath the sink to see if there was anything useful she could grab as
a weapon, but all she found was extra toilet paper and some
toiletries. Her heart sank. What was she going to do?

Shutting off the water she stepped back out of the room. Angel had
his back to her, but heard her as she entered. "Get back on the bed."
He stated, not even bothering to turn around. God, he was big. He
probably didn't think she was any kind of threat. She was so small
compared to him.

Quickly looking around she grabbed the lamp off the night stand
pulling the plug out of the wall with a tug. She ran full throttle for him,
swinging as she went. The lampshade shattered as it made contact
with the back of Angel's head. He fell to the ground with a groan, and
Buffy sprinted across the room and into the main suite. She was
almost to the front door when he tackled her from behind.

They both landed with a hard thud, all the breath knocked out of
Buffy. She kicked at him, and with incredible luck hit him square in
the groin. He groaned again and rolled ofr. r. Scrambling to her
feet Buffy made for the door again, but when she tried to open it she
realized that the dead bolt had been thrown.

Before she could get her hands around the lock, she felt Angel's arms
wrap around her middle. She screamed but was already flying
through the air. Angel had literally picked her up and tossed her back
toward the bedroom. The throw was powerfnd snd she found herself
hurling through the air. The wall was coming fast and she only had
time to close her eyes before she impacted, hard. She crumpled to
the ground without even a whimper.

***

"This is all my fault." Spike had his head in his hands, his palms
diggingo hio his eye sockets.

"Fuck that, sweetie." Lorne spoke up. "The only person at fault is the
bastard who took our lovely."

"No, he wants *my* money. He's trying to get back at me." Spike
shook his head, his voice shaky. "If I hadn't asked her to come, if
everyone didn't think she was my fiance...this never would have
happened."

The police had left, taking the note with them. They were going to
dust it for prints, but Spike doubted they'd find anything besides his
and Wesley's. The kidnapper had to have worn gloves he wasn't
stupid. At least he'd planned properly so far it seemed.

The note had asked for half a million dollars. The drop off was
supposed to be tomorrow night, midnight. It stated that there would
be instructions and directions in the lobby at that time. Spike, and
therefore the police, had no idea where the final drop off destination
was supposed to be.

So this guy wanted Spike's money. He'd taken Buffy to insure that he
got it. Fuck, no matter how he looked at it, Spike knew that Buffy was
in danger quite possibly in pain, because of him. He wanted to cry.
He wanted to scream. He looked up at his friends, silently pleading
with his eyes that they somehow make this better. Somehow bring
Buffy back to him, safe and whole.

Wise to the fact that nothing they could say would lessen Spike's
guilt, Wesley told him to get some sleep instead. "It's obvious you
didn't get any sleep last night. Get a few hours now, while Xander
and I take a look around. We'll go down to the luau site to see if we
can find anything. We'll talk to the hotel staff, and a few guests.
Don't worry, we won't be idle." Wesleassuassured him.

Spike nodded, acquiescing. He knew he wasn't about to get any
sleep, but his friend's wouldn't allow him to step foot out of his hotel
room unthey hey thought he'd gotten some rest. And he did know that
Xander and Wesley would do their best to find anything that might
have been missed earlier.

Spike had already called his bank and the money was being wire
transferred over to the local bank here. He'd pick up the cash in the
morning to be ready for the delivery that night. There had never been
a question in anybody's mind that he would pay the ransom. The
police had insisted that he shouldn't give in to the kidnapper's
demands, that there was no guarantee that Buffy would be released
afterwards. But Spike couldn't take the chance that not following the
orders would get Buffy hurt, or worse. So he'd made the calls and
arranged for the money.

The kidnapper had been extremely smart to ask for a half a million
instead of something ridiculous. A half million was easy to get his
hands on. He didn't have to liquidate anything, in fact the money had
been in one of his accounts already, just sitting and accruing interest.
If it had been much more he would have had to go through several
hoops to get what he needed in cash, as it was, Spike thought it was
almost too easy.

He sighed heavily as he closed the door behind his friends. The girls
had offered to stay with him, but at the moment he just wanted to be
alone. He knew that none of the others agreed that it was his fault,
but he couldn't shake the feeling. He'd been the one who put Buffy in
danger. He was the reason she was gone. And his wealth would
forever put anyone close to him in that same danger. Could he do
that to Buffy? Once she was back and safe, could he continue to be
with her knowing that she could be someone else's target once
again?

God, he ached for her.

He loved her. He'd planned to tell her, to make sure that no matter
how mad she was once she'd regained her memory, that she at least
knew that his love was real. But now, knowing that loving her put her
at risk, maybe that wasn't such a good idea. Maybe what he really
had to do, if he truly did love her, was to stay away from her. Damn,
he could already feel the burn that type of self enforced separation
would bring. Knowing that he could be with her but wasn't?

He lay down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He'd spent the last
few nights doing the same thing. Lying awake, staring up at the
cng, ng, but this was the first night he'd done it alone. The regrets hit
him full force, like a punch in the gut. He should have been with her
while he'd had the chance. He should have taken what she offered.
Even if her love was temporary, he would have at least had that.
What if he never saw her again? His eyes burned, and he swiped at
the moisture that pooled and then spilled down his cheeks. No! He
wouldn't, couldn't think that way. He *would* see her again. He had
to.