With a Little Help

Chapter 16: Say Your Peace

As Spike walked out of Buffy’s hospital room, his feet felt like lead. Thud, thud, thud. The only thing keeping him from rushing back to Buffy’s side, the only thing keeping him moving away was the teenage bundle of energy pulling him down the hall. “Come on, Spike. If you’re going to survive this, you’ve got to trust Buffy. She’s as gaga about you as you are about her.” Dawn wanted to laugh at Spike’s comically shocked expression. “Don’t look so surprised, lover boy. Since she got shot, you two are soooo obvious. They way you look at each other. Ahhh. A five year old could read your signals. Anyway, she’ll do right by you, or I’m gonna kick her from now to Wednesday.”

Relieved to have someone on his side, Spike laughed at her vehement support. “Thanks, Nibblet. I needed a vote of confidence.” When they arrived at their first stop, the nurses’ station, Spike turned on the old reliable charm, while Dawn gave her best puppy dog eyes. They made a formidable team; both of their efforts this time aimed to glean more information regarding Buffy’s condition. And the strategy paid off. Not only did the nurse answer their questions, but they were also shown Buffy’s file, not that Spike and Dawn could read the medical lingo, but still. On top of that, the nurses told Spike and Dawn when the doctor made his rounds so they could catch and pump him for information before he could even make it into Buffy’s room. The plan was that once they had the doctor cornered, they could use the fact that Dawn was Buffy’s sister in order to get the doctor’s tongue to loosen up.

After Dawn and Spike solidified their plan about waylaying the doctor, the next stop on their agenda was the cafeteria. Instinctually divining where the food and drinks were located, Dawn pulled the reluctant vampire on the right path. Once in the cafeteria, they picked up a diet coke for Buffy and two cokes for her and Spike, and with an evil grin on her face, Dawn snatched two pieces of chocolate cake from the dessert offerings. When Spike paid with a twenty while still holding other bills, Dawn’s earlier speculations of the vampire’s financial resources were confirmed. Since he hadn’t been paid by the gang for anything in several weeks, Spike had to have a money source besides fleecing the Scoobies.

Next Dawn towed him outside in an heavily shaded area, and that’s when Spike balked but not at the daylight. “No Nibblet, we need to go back to your sis.” Dawn shook her head while opening their drinks and then took the cellophane off the two pieces of cake. “Nothing like chocolate to take your worries away.” She held one out to Spike. Suddenly stopping, Dawn looked from Spike to the slice of cake and then back. “You do eat food, don’t you? Ya know, Mr. I vant your blood and all.”

“Yes, I do, you cheeky bint. Especially little girls with long, brown hair who keep me away from their sister.” Spike gave her a low growl to go along with his threat.

“Like I’m so scared. Anyway, I think Buffy needs time with the guys. Talk, argue, talk. Plus I want to eat my piece of cake in peace. Get it. Piece. Peace.” Spike just rolled his eyes. “Anyway, out here no one is trying to snag a bite of my decadence. Cough. Xander. Cough. And, I’m guessing you need a cigarette fix by now.”

“Out of the mouths of babes. A smart babe, that is. So give me my cake before you start eating it, too.”

After they ate, Spike enjoyed a quick cigarette while Dawn told him about the boy in school she thought was hot. Spike chuckled at the simplicity of teenage crushes and relationships. If only he could ask Buffy to go steady and they could be a couple in public, go to the Bronze and make out in the dark, and steal kisses on the back porch of Buffy’s house. Nonetheless, Spike grilled Dawn about the boy’s behavior and advances, making note to check out the kid after Buffy got out of the hospital. He was surprised the slayer had not done so already, but of course, he had been taking up a good part of her time, some really well spent time. And what a good time it had been. So far. It took a second for Spike to focus back on Dawn’s beau. “If this poof does anything wrong, and that’s what your mother would think is wrong , I’ll scare him so that he will piss in his knickers so bad that he will hydroplane when he tries to walk.”

“It’s a deal, big bro vamp.w fiw finish that cancer stick so we can steal you some blood.” Surprised, Spike raised an eyebrow at her. Dawn rolled her eyes. “Hello, vampire guy, you’ve got to be hungry by now, and this opportunity is just too good to ignore. Besides you’ll have to be at full strength to go back and run the Scoobie gauntlet.”

“Right you are, Platelet. Let’s go see what flavor we can find.” Spike snubbed out his cigarette and tossed it into the trash can. “Surely this hospital has a bit of blood to donate to a starving vampire. Preferably A+.”

*****

Buffy knew Spike was hurt, and she was in turn hurt because he was hurting. She knew Spike thought she sent him away so that she could cover up their relationship, but she had tried to convey in a look, “Trust me”. However, she strongly suspected her look had fallen short of its desired affect, and considering how she had hid their relationship up to present, she had no one else to blame. Buffy wanted to get out of bed long enough to kick herself in the ass. Spike had the right to expect the worst. On the other hand, Beth was thankful that Dawn had left with him. When she had been rolled into her room after surgery, she was both relieved and touched that Dawn was already on good terms with Spike, and that her sister had come to terms about her relationship with the vampire. The last twelve hours were a good example of a disaster bringing people together, not to mention Spike’s incredible charisma no doubt helped win Dawn over. As a result, Dawn had helped Buffy get Spike out of the room so that she could talk to her friends. Undeniably, insults would be thrown at Spike, and he would answer in kind so he was better off out of the target zone. This way Buffy could get everything settled with her friends before Dawn and Spike returned. And then later, she would smooth his ruffled feathers by explaining why she had sent him away.

Willow, Tara, Giles, and Anya stood perfectly still before and after Dawn dragged Spike out of the room. Willow and Giles were frozen staring at Buffy, mouth hanging open, catching flies type of shocked. Tara looked bewildered but not blown away like her girlfriend. Anya looked like she could haveed led less about Spike being so friendly with Buffy. She was standing still, looking around the room and then crossed the room to look out the window. “Oh, look! You can see the top of the Magic Box.”

Well, that certainly broke the silence; Willow was the first to address the situations with the vampire. “Uh, Buffy…that was Spike.”

“Yes, it was.” Buffy gave her a smile that she hoped looked worry-free.

Willow blinked rapidly. “He was here in your room.”

“Yes, he was.”

“He was touching you.”

“Yes, he was.” Buffy nodded at her friend.

Willow’s red hair swung around her as she shook her head. “You didn’t beat him up for it. Not even a threat.”

“No, I didn’t because I like his touch.” Since Willow’s mouth was hanging open without moving, Buffy wondered if her friend’s jaw muscles no longer worked due to excessive distress.

Anya turned from the window and hopped up on the second bed in the room. “He looked a mess. Spike’s a very vain vampire. I think he spends more time on his hair than I do. And his shirt. Disgusting.”

“I didn’t know his hair was so curly.” That was Tara’s attempt to spring board off of Anya’s comment to help defuse the tense situation between Buffy, Willow, and the still silent Giles.

“Tara!” Willow was stunned by her girlfriend’s comment. “I can’t believe you’re talking about the…the…the blood sucker’s hair.”

“Why? I didn’t know his hair was so curly, and I think it’s kinda cute.” Tara gave Buffy a smile. No matter how angry and shocked Willow and Giles seemed to be, Tara had a feeling that Buffy was happy with Spike, and happy was always of the good. Not to mention that she suspected that Buffy was going to need an ally in this situation.

After listening to Tara’s horrific comments, Giles finally found his voice. “The words cute and Spike have no business being in the same sentence together. Ever.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “Buffy, I am sure you have a gooplanplanation for having a vampire, that particular vampire in your hospital room. With that said, why was Spike here?” Giles had every intention of ignoring the fact that the said vampire had not only been in the room but had also been touching his slayer. He thought he would just focus on his unwanted presence.

Willow jumped to follow Gilesad bad but went further. “And touchage from Spike! Acceptable touchage from Spike? Buffy!” Giles shuddered as the subject of touching was introduced into the conversation.

Buffy, on the other hand, thought the conversation was starting to get hard, but her determination was harder. “Yes, it was acceptable touchage. In fact, he…”

Not wanting her to explain her physical relations with Spike any further, Giles interrupted her. “Buffy, I think you need to explain yourself. I believe we are under the misconception that you and Spike are…er…have a different type of relationship that is permissible in the bounds of your calling.”

“Giles, you’re right. We are having a relationship.” Buffy waited for the heart attack, but it didn’t come. Yet.

However, her watcher still didn’t understand or really want to understand. He chose to be obtuse. “A slayer/vampire relationship?”

“No, Giles, a Buffy/Spike relationship.”

Buffy wanted to kiss Anya when she interrupted. “Yay me!! After I got back from the buying trip, I told Xander that you were too happy and must be having sex with someone. Xander went ballistic but then we had hard, bruising sex on the kitchen floor…”

“Anya…Anya, we get it, and we don’t need any further visuals.” Buffy wanted to laugh, anything to distract her from the present grillage.

Now Willow looked doubly shock. “Anya, we get it all the way to the moon and that’s where the visuals will hopefully stay.” Taking in a shaky breath, Willow looked back over to Buffy. “Buffy, this is Spike, William the Bloody. Emphasis on blood like from his victims over the course of the last century and more. Are you out of your mind?”

“I know who he is, Wills. And blood? Yeah, I’m out some blood myself, but my mind is present and accounted for.”

Giles stepped forward as he followed Willow’s line of thought. “Buffy that only proves our point on how dangerous he is even with the chip. Spike was with you, and you were injured, which caused you to almost bleed to death.” Giles was bemused when his slayer just nodded again and smiled. Little did he know that he slayer was hoping to avoid any discussion of Spike’s chip which he didn’t know that it was no longer working.

“In the true/false category that is all true, but let’s get to the short answer part of this exam.” For the next fifteen minutes, Buffy told the story of the last few weeks with Spike, leading up to her injury and minus the sex with the sexy vampire. And as for the injury, she told them that someone had been trying to kill Spike, but this time she was in the way. “Now, before any of you even think of blaming Spike for my injury, just swallow those accusations and I hope it tastes like cough syrup. Spike did not hurt me. The jerk, whoever he is, is the one who injured me. Blame him because I was exactly where I wanted to be which was in Spike’s arms, with some Spike kissage going on. And for the record, I am glad I took that arrow for him because otherwise Spike would have been dust.”

Buffy wanted to laugh when Giles took off his glasses and cleaned them with his handkerchief. Typical Giles when listening to something he didn’t want to hear.

Putting his glasses back on, Giles cleared his throat. “Buffy, maybe the problem is that you have been too close to this vampire. I think a good solution is for you to…ah…take a slayer vacation of sorts.”

“You must be an Giles-Bot. Slayer. Vacation? I didn’t know those two words were ever said together by a watcher. But your right, a vacation sounds yummy. Spike and I will have fun filled fun on a beach. Of course, I will be the only one getting a tan, but we can skinny dip at night.”

Traumatized, Willow stepped back while the stern Englishman vigorously shook his head. Instead of being cleaned this time, Buffy watched his head, wondering if his glasses were about to go flying out the door and down the hall. She had five bucks that the glasses with make it to the elevators. Giles’ words came out strained. “It’s Spike you must get away from or get him away from you. He will only cause you pain if you are lucky, or most likely death.’

Buffy decided she was tired and had more than enough. “All jokes aside, I understand what you guys are saying. I also understand that when you came in here and when you saw Spike, you were more concerned about Spike’s evil influence than my near fatal injury. Not one of you asked how I was doing. Why the hole in my shoulder is just fine. Thanks for NOT asking. So with that point made, you each get one more chance to have a say and then forever hold your peace.”

Giles gathered himself up. “Buffy, I don’t think you know what you are getting into. He is the slayer of slayers, he did come back to Sunnydale to kill you. This could just be a plan to somehow kill his third slayer. Lure you to your death somehow that his chip won’t even fire. Unlike most vampires, Spike is unpredictable as well as deadly.”

“Yes, evil Spike. Tricky Spike. Killer Spike. Got it. Wills, your turn.”

Before Willow could begin, Tara touched her on the shoulder, gained Willow’s attention, and whispered in her ear. Whatever the words that were said, they made Willow pause before speaking. “Buffy…I…err…I am going to fall back on gathering current, empirical data and see how things go.”

“English, Wills. I have a hard enough time understanding Giles’ lingo. Now don’t you start.”

“Wait, watch, and see how things go. All with an open mind.” She looked over at Tara, who was smiling at her.

“Thanks, Willow. Tara, you’re up. I know you don’t feel too comfortable talking at our meetings, but I really would like to hear your opinion in this.”

Tara stood slightly behind her lover, biting her lower lip before starting. “I have…er…I’ve watched your meetings for about a year now. Every one of you t…trusts Buffy with your lives without question. But you don’t…you won’t trust her with her own life, including ch…choosing her own boyfriend. I think this is a good time to start trusting h…her own instincts with her personal life.”

Buffy’s smile grew into a grin. “Wow and thank you.”

Anya raised her hand. “Mine’sy. y. Have fabulous sex and happiness or maybe it is the other way around, happiness first and then fabulous sex.” Anya turned uncharacteristically focused and serious. “Whichever it is, Buffy, do what you want to be happy. Your calling is a rough one, a short one, so grab happiness when you can and keep it as long as possible.”

Outside in the hall, Dawn and Spike approached the door to Buffy’s room. They gave each other conspiratorially looks when they heard Buffy b tal talking in a voice she reserved for commanding the troops to kill a big bad. With sneaky smiles on their faces, they put their well honed eavesdropping skills to use.

“Thanks, Anya, and I will take your advice. Now you have all had a final say, so it’s my turn. I could give you all the reasons why this between me and Spike has happened and why you should trust me on this. But in a nut shell, we have spent way more time together than you know in the last weeks. Some of the time was spent fighting demons, but most of it just being normal people having fun, like a night on the town or swimming in a pool. I know. Slayer and vampire normal? Well, as normal as we can be. Nevertheless, the fact that he saved me last night should have spoken volumes to all of you. He could have let me bleed to death. He could have sucked me dry through my wound after I passed out, but he didn’t. In fact, we were both covered in blood, and he didn’t so much as vamp out. Instead, his only goal was getting me here and saving my life. Ask Dawn, she can tell you how frantic he was worrying that I would even make it out of surgery. So I don’t think he was trying to get me killed, do you?”

Buffy took a big breath and looked all her friends eye to eye in turn before continuing. “Ok, sum it up time. My relationship with Spike is officially out in the open. That’s final. I hid this too long as it is. I trust him so you have to live with me being with him. And I warn you now; this is not a one night stand, a one week stand, or even a one month stand. I don’t know what he thinks because we have never discussed the future, but I think he would agree that this “stand” is going to last much longer. No, scratch that. I hope the “we” part of me and Spike lasts much longer.”

Dawn nudged Spike. “Heard enough?” Dawn laughed as the Big Bad tried to wipe the grin off his face back to his usual smirk. “I think that is a cue to go back in. And told ya. Buffy took care of everyone. Well, except Xander since he’s not here yet. That should be loads of fun. Not.” Dawn rolled her eyes.

When Spike and Dawn walked back into the room, he saw nobody but Buffy. Her last words went straight to his undead heart. Her last words were emblazoned there. He was sure he loved her, but now his hopes soared that she just might return his love. So when he walked into the room, he didn’t even spare a glance for the others. He had to be near her, touch her, and he didn’t give a rat’s arse who was in the room. She said, “much longer” and longer started now.

Spike first captured her hand in his own. “How are you doing, pet?” When she smiled and nodded, he looked away from her only long enough to check her monitors, and while he checked her lines, he let her know that her doctor should be by later in the afternoon.

“I’m fine, Spike. Relax.” She pulled him down for a quick kiss and gave him a sassy wink.

When he pulled back, her warm smile was too tempting. “The ‘we’ part, luv, will last longer and longer and longer. Promise.” He leaned down and stole a second kiss before he whispered for her ears only. “I can’t wait to get you healed up and alone and …”

That’s when all hell broke loose. Spike felt someone grab his arm and spin him around. Stunned, Spike wondered if he had finally pushed the Ripper too far?

TBC


Thanks so much to those who sent reviews; they’ve helped keep me going lately since it has been so quiet out there. I would love to hear from you.

Dana
(MadRog)