Be A Man

Sitting in the waiting room of the hospital, Buffy was surrounded by her friends. The Scoobies had all come together, everyone except Anya who had the shop to run had volunteered to stay with Buffy throughout the afternoon, Joyce’s tests and their pending results being the only thing that mattered at the moment.

Spike sat opposite Buffy and Riley, his concern for Nibblet and Buffy almost overpowering the desire to pick a fight with the soldier. Almost.

Seeing the doctor emerge from the double doors, Buffy jumped up, her need to feel anything but helpless abating.

“So?” She asked eagerly, “How is she?”

Shaking his head at the young girl’s naïveté, the doctor proceeded to tell Buffy how her mother was faring now that the tumour had been removed from her skull. Warning the assembled group of his patient’s delicate situation, he invited the immediate family members to spend some time in Joyce’s private room.

Riley was held by Xander after Spike took Dawn in after Buffy to see Joyce. How dare he assume he was family! He wasn’t even a person!

Xander felt strangely calm, holding Riley back had been tough, convincing him that Buffy would be back to hating Spike as per usual when her mom was better was enormously gratifying. He himself had been wondering what was going on between the blonde pair, especially as Buffy’s intense hatred of Spike had mysteriously stopped these past few days.

He had been told by Anya to cut Spike some slack. He had taken it upon himself and was apparently completely changed. And if Joyce believed him and Anya, Willow and Tara believed in him, then that was enough to convince him to step back and see what was going on instead of charging in with his mouth open like he’d been told that he was prone to doing.

Seeing the threesome emerge from the room Joyce had been moved to, the group stood, waiting for any news. Shaking her head dismally, Buffy sank into her chair, her head resting on top of Dawn’s as they sought comfort from one another.

Taking the available seat next to his girlfriend before anyone else could, Riley eagerly asked if there was anything he could do to help. Shaking her head in the negative, Riley turned away discouraged. He just needed to be wanted. If Buffy paid him half as much attention as she did to Spike he’d be happy.

The attention she gave was rarely positive but nevertheless it was attention. Attention that was being diverted from him by the bleached monster. Seeing Spike leave his position against the far wall, Riley stiffened. An invincible vampire was not something he actually wanted to get in the way of.

Sinking down onto his knees, Spike waited until Buffy acknowledged him before speaking.
“Pet?” He waited until she answered him, “Anything that you need?”

“Dawn.” Buffy said softly, her tear tracked face making Spike’s heart wrench. “Take Dawn back to yours?”

“But Buffy?” Willow asked gently, seeing her friend in so much anguish and not being able to do anything about it was simply heartbreaking. She was confused about the situation and didn’t want to push it too far so Tara’s squeeze of her hand encouraged her to continue. “Is that wise? What if your mom wakes up?”