Making Things Right

Disclaimer: Don't own them. No money being made.

All the other stuff is the same.




That's when it clicked for Angel. He had harmed Spike in the past. Wes had even gone after him once or twice. Lorne looked too much like a demon to do any good, but Fred had never done anything but love him. Angel motioned for the others to back off and they continued to watch.

Fred touched Spike on his arm where he could see the contact and he allowed it. She began to whisper to him softly, hoping to talk him into understanding where he was.

Angel thought about Cordelia's words. How dare she tell him to put him out of his misery. He smiled at Wes and Lorne. "It's going to be hard, but we have a lot of work to do. I'll never stake him. I swear to both of you that day won't come. Even if my entire undead life for all of eternity is devoted to caring for him and being his nursemaid...I'll do it."

Lorne smiled and Wes grinned in response. They were pleased to hear that his friend wasn't going to give up. As the men began to discuss how to handle the situation they heard Fred gasp. They turned around to see Spike surrounded by a faint glow. Cordelia appeared behind him and smiled. "I knew it, Angel. I knew you wouldn't do it. It was a final test. Either Spike was going to recover with you or with me. I guess it's you. Are you really ready for what this entails?"

"What do you mean?"

"He's being protected right now. This was just to see what you'd do. He's a mess, Angel. What you're looking at is his mind, not him. In his mind he's closed off to everyone...and he might not let you in ever. Can you do that? Can you respect him enough to let him go?"

Angel was grateful suddenly that he had backed off allowing Fred to be with him even though he had wanted to hold Spike in his arms. "Yes. I'll care for him and when he decides that I'm not who he wants...I'll leave."

Cordelia nodded and disappeared, along with Spike and the bed. Fred scrambled to her feet. "Angel! What happened?"

They all directed their gaze toward Angel's bedroom as a thud could be heard behind the door. He looked at the others. "Stay back. Cordy was just trying to expose us a little at a time. It's worse than we thought..."

He walked into his bedroom and didn't see anything but his comforter had been pulled off the bed from the other side. He walked around the bed and stumbled backward as if struck. Spike was lying on the floor pulling at the comforter. He must have attempted to get to the bed and then fell. That was the thud he heard. He didn't seem to have any physical injuries short of extreme weakness, but that was enough. He was naked and his legs seemed useless and he was acting as if his mind was addled in some way.

Angel walked forward and scooped Spike up, pleased that he wasn't any lighter than he was before. Obviously his hunger was not ignored while he was in captivity. Spike didn't struggle and just went limp. Angel figured that Cordelia meant that Spike's mind was so far buried that there was nothing to do except care for him until they chiseled through to the real Spike.

He laid him on the bed and covered him up, making sure he was nice and snug. Spike closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Angel walked out and told the others what had happened. They were all saddened that he wasn't responsive and tried to stay optimistic, but it became difficult.

A few months passed and Spike had to be bathed, fed, changed, and cared for as if he were an infant. He never complained, never walked on his own, and never spoke. He was like a big doll. Fred finally had enough of his hair and cut it. It hadn't blended on his physical form. It has sprouted and was dark on top and blonde on the bottom and hung to his shoulders. She gave him a haircut that Angel would love and Spike would hate, but she thought it suited him for now.

After all of this time, Angel had finally needed to set him down while he ran his bath. Spike tried to hold himself up and Angel smiled. "Ah...so you can walk. You just like being carried around." He tried not to cry when he didn't even get a smirk in response.

It was only a month of intensive work after that before he was walking again. Angel and the others had thought it was progress, but it only made their job more difficult. He was into everything and wandered everywhere. Angel had tried to restrain him once, but couldn't bare the thought of it in case Spike's mind snapped into reality only to find himself tied up.

So Angel packed away everything breakable and everything that Spike could hurt himself with and Lorne thought he might start covering the walls with mattresses.

"No, Lorne...I can't find a way to keep them up on the wall..."

Lorne rolled his eyes. "I was joking, AngelCakes..."

Things continued and Angel taught Spike to eat by himself. He found out the chip was gone, but didn't want to get him back into the habit of feeding from humans so he stuck with the blood packs and the microwave.

It was on one of the days that Wes was watching Spike that something interesting happened. Wes had put the blood into the microwave, grateful that he no longer had to spoon feed Spike when he heard a noise at the door to the kitchen. He turned to see Spike. It was normal for him to wander aimlessly and enter a room, walk around the furniture and then walk right back out so he ignored it.

When he heard Spike stop, he turned and saw that the vampire had paused to watch the mug in the microwave rotate. He tilted his head and just watched it. When it beeped, he jumped and then started tapping on the glass.

Wesley was thrilled. "Spike! Do you know what this is? This is interaction...You're interacting!" Of course Spike didn't even look at Wes and the incident was celebrated only by Wesley and nobody else. He mentioned it to the others, but it was so fleeting. What was the point?

Another few months went by with some things catching Spike's interest, but not for long. Television seemed to hold it the longest. Sometimes for ten whole minutes. Angel knew that his mind would emerge soon enough, but he was also afraid of what that would mean.

One year after Spike reappeared, everything changed. Spike was watching television and Angel had taken the day off to celebrate. He had wanted to have a private dinner, but knew that it would be pointless and he also wanted some conversation. He wouldn't get it from Spike.

The others arrived and he began setting out the food. Drunken chicken had always been one of Spike's favorite sins and Angel had worked hard to get everything perfect.

Dinner went quickly and everyone retired to the living room afterwards. Angel helped Spike sit on the couch and enjoyed the company of his friends. About midnight, they all decided it was time to leave.

Angel walked them out and didn't realize that Spike had learned how to make the TV come on. He turned it on to see a movie channel playing American History X. The prison rape scene filled the screen and Spike's eyes widened at the screams. He never knew when the character's screams stopped and his began.

TBC...

Sorry this is so sucky, but I wanted to get something written to get me to the next part.