With a Little Help

A/N: Memory Redux is up for Fantastic Story in the Eternal Devotion Awards. This is a reader’s pick award. I looked, and Memory Redux way behind in the tally. So please vote. Get a friend to vote also. (Hint, hint) Yes, I'm groveling, but what better reason to grovel than when it is about Spike! Thanks, I really appreciate your support of this story. http://shippy.karma-hotel.net/awards/main.html


Chapter 15: Wielding Words

By the time the frantic vampire raced into the Emergency Room in the Sunnydale Hospital, both Spike and Buffy were covered in her blood. His new emerald t-shirt, which Buffy had bought for him to replace all his damaged ones, was now turned to black with the mix with dark red. He rushed up to the desk where an alert nurse was already calling for a gurney before she even asked what had happened. The vampire only revealed the bare facts on what was the third attempt to kill him, but Buffy was the one that now might die. “We were in the woods when she was struck by an arrow. I picked her up and brought her here.”

A man and a woman both in scrubs came out rolling a gurney. As soon as Spike carefully laid Buffy down on the padded surface, the vampire only had time to brush the hair out of her face before they whisked her away into the back through double doors that swiftly closed behind them. His last image was of her pale face and her blood seeping out onto the sheet, red covering the gurney’s surface.

Still staring at the doors, Spike gave the nurse Buffy’s name, address and anything else she asked for that he knew. Spike gave her any answers he d thd think of while most of his brain was overrun with worry for the slayer. “The doctors can save her, right?”

The nurse easily recognized love and devotion when she saw it, and she saw those emotions in the blonde, young man. Immediy, hy, her heart went out to him. “Truthfully, I don’t know any more than you do right now, but when I find out any news, I’ll tell you straight away.”

For the first time since Buffy was whisked away, Spike pulled his eyes away from the doors tsepaseparated him from the slayer. He gave the nurse a little smile. “Thanks, pet. I’ll take any crumb you mifindfind that I can nibble.”

With nerves teetering on the edge of the Grand Canyon, Spike began pacing. What he really wanted to do while waiting was smoke and pace, but no way this spick and span hospital would allow that. He knew that the nurses at the desk probably thought he looked like a windshield wiper turned on the highest setting but sitting down and calmly waiting was just not an option for this vampire.

When he couldn’t stand the wait any longer, he approached the nurse who he had spoken to when he first brought Buffy into the ER, “Ah, pet, could I go back and be with her? Hold her hand or something. Anything.”

The nurse gave him an apologetic smile. “Maybe, and I mean maybe later.” Looking at the blonde, she hoped that her husband was at least half as devoted to her as this man was to his girlfriend. Giving him a wink, she sat down at her computer. “Let me see what room they put her in.”

Spike tapped his fingers impatiently on the counter until she looked back up at him with “I’m so sorry” written all over her face. “You can’t go back there right now. Actually, she’s in surgery, but I will let you know when she is out.”

Frustrated and eaten up with worry beyond reason, Spike wanted to charge through the double doors to see Buffy for himself, but the only thing keeping him back was that he knew the doctors didn’t need a frantic vampire rushing into the operating room right now.

Trying to be helpful, the nurse offered a suggestion. “Maybe there are some friends or relatives of hears you would like to call. There is a phone you can use over on the wall to your right.”

“Thanks, luv.” He gave her a smile to convey his thanks for her help and understanding before heading for the phone. He knew Joyce was out of town on a buying trip for two weeks, so when he called Buffy’s house, he wasn’t surprised to hear Dawn’s voice. “Hello.”

“Hey, Dawn.” Not the best opener but better than, ‘Hey, kid. Your sis is in the hospital and may die.’

Shock and confusion were evident in the teenager’s voice. “Spike?”

He didn’t really know Buffy’s little sis, but what he did know, he liked. However, Spike still felt like a complete stranger to Dawn, making him unsure of what to say. “Yeah, it’s me. Listen, your sis…huh…had an accident and was nicked bad enough that I brought her to the emergency room.”

“What? Is she ok?”

“Right as rain as far as I know.” What a lie, Spike thought, but he prayed that it would turn out to be true. “Pet, can you call the other Scoobies and let them know so they can come down. I think she would want you and her friends here.”

Now her voice sounded shaky and panicked. “I’ll do it. But Spike, you’re freaking me out. Buffy must really be bad off to go to the hospital. Really. Tell me the truth. Is she okay?”

“I’m sure she will be, Bit. Now make those calls, and I’ll go pester the nice, little nurse for more info. And I promise I won’t try to sneak back to her recovery room until you get here.”

“Promise?”

“I promise, Little Bit.” Spike hung up the phone and looked down at his bloody shirt, thinking that he was far from convinced the slayer was going pull through.

*****

Eventually Spike gave into his need for a fag, and he paced and chain smoked outside the entrance to the emergency. No doubt his relocation was a relief to the nurses inside. So now he was now driving the shrubbery crazy with his constant movement and rhetorical questions to the foliage. In fact, when Spike saw Dawn running up, he was relieved to have someone he could help, could take care of, do something or anything productive. If he couldn’t help the slayer, at least he could lend his support to her baby sis.

Slowing down, Dawn started firing some questions of her own while pausing in front of the glass doors. “Spike, what happened? Is she alright? Can I go into see her?”

Before she made it past him through the doors, the vampire caught her arm and pulled Dawn over to the side of the entrance. “No, Nibblet, she’s still in surgery so nobody can go into see her yet, but the nice nurse at the desk promised that she would come out here and get me as soon as there is any news. Personally, I think she was trying to relocate my pacing somewhere else.”

That earned Spike a small smile from the girl before worry return to Dawn’s expression. “How did she get hurt?”

“The short of it is your sis was hit with a crossbow’s arrow, and now she is in surgery. There is not much information from the doctors yet, but they did say that the arrow entered on the right side just above herg.” g.” Until Buffy successfully made it out of surgery, Spike’s first instinct was to keep the rest of the information to himself, but Dawn deserved the truth. The Bit was Joyce’s daughter, so he suspected that she could take it. “The arrow nicked an artery, and she lost a lot of blood. But the docs are operating on her now, and I’m sure she will be fit and fighting vampire ass in just a few days.”

Dawn stared into the vampire’s eyes, leaving Spike suspecting that he was being judged. At that moment, to him Dawn appeared to be much older. The look in her eyes implied maturity beyond her age.

Dawn searched his, trying to see into his soul or essence in this case since Spike had no soul, and she didn’t see a master vampire or a monster. Instead, she saw a man who cared about her sister and was genuinely worried just as she was for Buffy. She didn’t wonder how or ask herself why she read him so quickly and so clearly. Dawn just accepted and brushed aside any concerns involving Spike. Any speculation on his relationship with her sister would have to wait. That was a juicy little tidbit was too good to let go altogether.

By the changed look on her face, Spike couldn’t tell what her judicial ruling was going to be, but he was blown out of his knickers when his bite sized judge stepped up and wrapped her arms around his waist. Both a pardon and a reward.

No longer caring that he was a demon, she rested her cheek against his chest with her tears soaking the front of his shirt and her sobs filling his ears. After a moment of indecision with his arms hovering close but not touching Dawn’s back, Spike wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin atop her head. This small girl reminded him of how much he adored all the Summers women. He loved Joyce like a mum, loved Buffy as his lover, and after this night, he knew he would love Dawn like a sister.

After her crying abated and they reluctantly pulled apart, Spike set about filling in all details of Buffy’s accident. The only bit he nixed was his intimate relationship with the slayer. As he talked, Dawn watched Spike smoke cigarette after cigarette, lighting the next with what was left of the last cigarette. This was Spike who was all grouchy, grhh, pissed off, “I’m the Big Bad” attitude. However, now she was uber confused by him helping Buffy. Both her sister and the vampire took every opportunity to threaten to kill the other. So the question was when had their relationship between them change? Yeah, the Scoobies paid him to fight against other demons, but he still didn’t have to help for money. Dawn had no doubt he could steal whatever he needed such as fags as he calls them or liquor. For his dinner, Dawn could imagine him robbing a blood bank and then storing the big supply away in a cold hidey hole in the cave system around Sunnydale. But the Spike before her wasn’t grouch, wasn’t grhh, wasn’t the big bad. This vampire acted way worried. Way huge worried. This new and improved Spike acted like a man whose friend was in surgery.

Dawn sat on a bench watching as the undead chimney continued to pace and pace and pace and pace. She needed a distraction for them both. “Spike…Spike! Tell me a story.”

That stopped the vampire in his tracks. “Nibblet, I thought you were the brighter one of the Summers sisters. So you should have sussed out that vampires don’t do beddy-by tales.” iviniving a stern look, Dawn put her hands on her hips. “No, I meant your like ancient. You have got to have zillions of stories.”

“Hey, I’m only one hundred twenty-nine.” She just laughed when he glared at her.

Tilting her head to the side, Dawn gave him a “you got to be kidding” look. “Like I said. Ancient which means loads of tales to tell.”

Spike lifted an eyebrow in return. “Fine. If I’m so OLD, you pick a decade, and I’ll try to keep the gore to a minimum, but know that most of my stories aren’t meant for the eyes of young lads or lasses. But of course, I could just eat the tikes after the tale.”

Dawn rolled her eyes, clearly telling him that she didn’t believe a word, especially the part about him eating kids. “Noooo. The more gore the merrier. Like a horror story, but it happened, or a really cool history lesson, a “you were there” documentary except you actually were there.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you then.” Spike settled on a short wall opposite the bench Dawn was sitting on.

“Yeah, yeah. You’ve done the official disclaimer bit. Pick a decade? How about the 1890’s? You were turned by then, weren’t you?”

“Yes, platelet. Dru had turned me by then.” Spike gave a wicked smile, thinking about what stories he could tell about Angel, since the poof had still been with him, Dru, and Darla at that time.

*****

“Then the girl whipped out a cross. Hearing the sound of a crowd on his heals and that was the only part of the poof that was covered, Peaches had no choice but to run, which was a hard task with his breaches around his ankles…” The tale was left unfinished when Spike’s attention was drawn to the nurse waving for him to come back inside. Both made the ten meter dash to the counter in record time before skidding to a stop. Dawn noticed that Spike was breathing hard as if he was out of breath from his running inside the lobby. ‘What a freaky vampire! Maybe he should give up smoking.’ She smiled at the non breathing, never getting cancer immortal next to her.

When the nurse told them that Buffy was out of surgery and doing fine, Dawn breathed a sigh of relief but then went back into a panic mode of a lesser degree when she realized that she hadn’t called the others. “Oh, no. Oh, no. I am uber stupid. I forgot to call everybody else. I can’t believe…” Putting an arm across Dawn’s shoulders, Spike calmed her down with a light squeeze. “It’s ok, Nibblet. Just as well they weren’t here to do nothing but worry with us. Besides, I’m not sure the lenses of Rupert’s glasses could stand that much polishing.” Holding her shoulders in each hand, Spike turned her around, and before he gave her a little shove, he whispered in her ear, “Now, go over to that phone on the wall and give the others a jingle. I’ll turn on the charm here and see how we can manage to sneak to your sis.” She threw him a smile over her shoulder, and she raced over to the phone.

As Dawn started dialing numbers across the lobby, Spike started asking the questions. “Did the docs fix all the broken parts? Is she awake? Is she in pain? Where is she now? Where will they take her next? When can we be with her?” Spike ran one question into another while he ran a hand through his hair, mussing it up even more than he already had over the past three hours.

The nurse had to take a moment just to process all his rapid fired questions, and then she breathed deeply before answering. “Yes, the surgery was a success. Yes, she’s waking up right now. No, she shouldn’t be in any pain with the amount of painkillers that they have given her. Now she’s in recovery. As soon as she wakes up, they will take her to a room that will be assigned to her soon. When she’s settled, they will let me know and then the pair of you can go up and see her.”

Spike glanced back over to Dawn, who was still on the phone, and then with a sigh, he turned back to the nurse. “How long will that be, pet?”

When she heard the heart breaking disappointment in his question, again the nurse wished her husband would act towards her more like this young man. She hadn’t missed that he asked to be with her instead of asking to see her. That slight difference went straight to her heart. He wanted to comfort, not gawk. “Tell you what, I will go back to recovery myself and find out what room they will send her. You can be there when they wheel her in.” She patted Spike’s hand and gave him a smile before heading through the double doors. With the smile the blonde had given her in return made all the hospital’s rules fly out of the door. That smile of his left no doubt in her mind that she was doing the right thing not for the hospital, but right for the boyfriend and the patient’s sister.

By the time Spike lost sight of the nurse, Dawn rejoined him at the counter. “I got hold of everyone except Xander. Anya was at the Magic Box and is coming with Giles. She said she wasn’t sure where Xander was at the moment but was going to leave a message on their answering machine for him. So, what’s the medical story now? Can we see her yet?”

*****

Twenty minutes later, Spike and Dawn were in Buffy’s room. They made idle chit chat, the kind that wouldn’t be remember an hour later. They both fell silent when Buffy was finally rolled into the room. Not waiting for the gurney to stop rolling, Spike was at Buffy’s side, gently holding her hand. Spike knew he had been climbing the walls with worry, but what he hadn’t realized was how much he needed to touch her and feel her warm skin which assured him that she was still alive. Refusing to move away from her side, he helped the orderlies settle her into the bed closest to the door. The vampire only stepped away from the slayer’s side to allowed the nurses so they could make sure all the equipment was working properly and to take Buffy’s vitals.

When she finally could make it through all the people, Dawn hugged her very fuzzy sister as best she could while avoiding the monitors and her IV lines. “I’m so glad you are alive.” Her voice was choked with tears.

Enjoying her sister’s hug, the corners of Buffy’s mouth formed a groggy smile . “I’m ok, Dawn. I’ll be guarding my clothes from you in and making Spike’s unlife miserable in no time.” With that tease, he squeezed her hand. “I’ll hold you to that, slayer.” When Dawn finally pulled back, Buffy reached for one of Dawn’s hands, held on tight and moved over so that she could sit on the side of the bed. Thus situated, she turned her head and up at Spike as he stood beside the bed. The look on his handsome face and expressive blue eyes had changed from concern and relief when he first saw her into something she didn’t understand. She asked him with a tentative voice, “Spike, what’s wrong? You have mystery casserole face. The dish looks questionable, but you know idea what is inside. So, fang face, spill.”

Evenwingwing that she and Dawn were scrutinizing his face, Spike continued to stare at the slayer, and as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t make himself look away. When Buffy had been safely ensconced in the room, his fear for her life turned to thoughts about the attempts on his unlife. This latest so called assassination attempt by some cowardly wanker had turned out to be a bloody nasty cause of Buffy’s brush with death. The only brush with death Spike wanted the slayer to experience was her body brushing against his dead one. “That arrow was meant for me, luv. We both know that. Damn, slayer, if the arrow had been a few inches to the left, for that matter if you hadn’t been with me, you would have been safe and sound cud upd up in your pajamas sleeping.”

Buffy squeezed his hand tighter, using her hold to draw him closer. “You are right. The arrow was meant for you, and no, I wouldn’t have been hit by that arrow if I hadn’t been at your crypt with you. But I was there, and I was hit. But I could be repaired, and if I hadn’t been Shield Girl Buffy, you would have been dust blown away with a strong wind. But Spike, the end may have been a little too…intense, but I don’t regret the day at all. Any of it. Even lying here with a little stitching, I wouldn’t have changed a thing. Not just tonight but any part of the day.” The slayer to vampire pep talk worked. Spike gave a small smile at the mention of their other more enjoyable activities earlier that day.

“You know I would have willingly taken that arrow so it wouldn’t have hit you, don’t you, pet?” It wasn’t a question but a statement of fact.

“Stop beating yourself up with should of’s, could of’s, and would of’s. Apology Spike gives me the wiggins. Besides, I can see that hole in your shirt above your heart. That was from the arrow hitting you also, wasn’t it?” Spike answered the question with a reluctant nod. “I know you would have taken an arrow for me, but also remember that I was happy to take an arrow for you. Now, put those cool lips on mine and kiss your worries away.”

Spike fully smiled for the first time since she had been rolled into the room. “I never miss a chance to kiss a beautiful woman, especially you.” He leaned down and placed a chaste but lingering kiss on her lips.

Reminding the pair that she was still there, Dawn’s voice broke the intimate moment. “Geez, you two. Mushy much? I’m gagging here.”

*****

Shortly after Dawn and Spike helped Buffy get more comfortable in her non-comfy hospital bed, the Scoobies began to arrive. Spike stepped back into the shadowed corner but still near her bed, and Dawn hopped up to sit on the other bed in the hospital room as Willow and Tara were the first to arrive. Willow immediately rushed to the bed and hugged Buffy as well as Buffy’s injury allowed. Next Giles and Anya arrived. Blunt as usual, Anya asked if Buffy was dying or not. Giles came over to stand next to the bed, trying to keep up a good British, stiff upper lip, but his concern was still obvious in his questions concerning his slayer’s health.

As her four friends moved back some, Spike and Dawn moved back in. Dawn scooted onto the far side of Buffy’s bed, laid her head on the pillow next to her sister’s head and idly stroking her sister’s hair. On the other side of the bed, Spike retrieved a chair and moved it so that he could hold Buffy’s hand. He made no effort to hide their clasped hands or that his thumb was brushing across the back of her hand in a steady rhythm, which didn’t look to the others like it was going to stop anytime soon. He looked up at the Scoobies, daring them to make a comment, and noting that Buffy backed him up by not pulling her hand away. When Spike glanced at her, she gave him a quick smile. After nearly losing the slayer, Spike didn’t care one bloody bit what any of the buggers had to say. Just like Dawn, all he wanted to do was he touch her to reassure himself that she was still alive and fine.

Not surprisingly, her friends gawked at the vampire stroking the slayer’s hand, and that the slayer letting him. All conversation was stilted due to seeing Spike touching Buffy in that manner. And the four had a hard time wrapping their brains around the fact that Buffy was accepting the caress with a warm smile. Their reactions were mixtures of varying degrees of shock with a pinch of horrified thrown in. Horrified by how Spike and Buffy were treating each other and how comfortable each were with intimate contact. They were also shocked at Spike’s ruffled appearance, curls, and lack of his duster. His t-shirt soaked in blood, which wasn’t even his usual black, was hanging out from his pants with the front. For this vampire known for his vanity his appearance was astonishing.

Spike tried to not care what Slayerettes were thinking; instead he focused his efforts on trying to comfort the slayer with presence by her side, and even though he had not said the words out loud, he tried to convey his love for her though his touch. The cat was out of the back about the severe change in their relationship. In fact, it was a full grown tiger instead of a someone’s little sticstic kitty cat. But for now, he pushed away any thoughts of the undoubtedly forecoming confrontation with one or all of her friends. Let them hate him even more than they already did. What they didn’t know was how devoted he was to her and that he wasn’t going to give her up no matter what the goody-goods say.

Buffy could feel the tension in Spike go up several notches under the scrutiny of her friends. Before they had arrived, he had been somewhat tense, but she knew it was born of worry that she had come so close to death. But now, he was radiating concern for her along with uncertainty of what was going to happen next with her friends added to the mix. She could also sense a possessive streak running though him and what he didn’t know was that possessiveness was reciprocated and enjoyed. She hadn’t told him yet, but she loved him so he should trust her. Latching on to an emerging plan, she pulled on his hand so he would look at her again. “Spike, would you and Dawn find me something to drink. I am so thirsty, but I am so sick of water. Maybe a coke or something?”

“Oh, oh, and some food,” Dawn interjected. “I’m a growing girl and need to eat, don’t I?” She knew what Buffy was doing, getting Spike out of the Scoobies line of fire, and she didn’t blame her sister at all. But just seeing them together for the last half hour, she had already made up her mind that they made a great couple and that y bey better not mess things up.

Even though he was willing to do anything that Buffy asked, Spike reluctantly agreed and hid his reluctance. “Sure, pet. I will hunt far and wide to find just the right drink you and food for Little Bit’s stomach. And…I promise to actually pay for it, too.” That brought a smile to Buffy’s face. he she stood up, Spike tenderly tucked a stray hair behind Buffy’s ear before turning to leave. Dawn was laughing at his joke when she took Spike’s arm and dragged him out of the room.

Spike recognized that Buffy didn’t really want a drink. What she wanted was to get him out of that hospital room. The only problem was he wasn’t too sure that he would be able to get back in that room. When her friends finally picked their jaws up off the linoleum floor, they were sure to hurl at her word after word such as evil, killer, sneaky, manipulative, user, thief, traitor and even thrall. That last one would of course come from the watcher. All the flying words would hit their target, Buffy’s ears, with the sole purpose of getting Buffy to send the evil vampire packing. So, those simple words could be strong enough to bar him from the slayer’s hospital room. Or at least they could try. If so, the Scoobies greatly underestimated his determination to return to Buffy’s side. So blah, blah, blah, on their part, but he had a few soddin’ words of his own that would burn their ears.

TBC


Again, thanks if you voted for Memory Redux for Fantastic Story. If not, you can go to his addy to vote: http://shippy.karma-hotel.net/awards/main.html

Thanks for your support.

Dana (MadRog)