This Kind of Lonely

Disclaimer

I own NOTHING (except for the plot*smile*)! Anything in this story that falls under existing copyrights belongs to their respective owners.

A/N
Thank you all so much for the reviews. I really like them and try to answer each one of them. Check back at the review section to see the answers. I also want to thank Kimber for telling me how dead Buffy actually is. I tried to fix it this chapter, I hope she’ll survive. ;) Again I’d like to thank my lovely Catlin who keeps kickin’ my butt so I keep writing. Thanks again hon’. I hope you like your doses of Spuffy (although there isn’t much in this one!) Thanks to everyone who actually reads the story and to everyone who took the time to write me a few lines. Enjoy the chapter.
Hugs to all!

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Previously on “This Kind of Lonely”:

Buffy and Spike arrive at Spike’s home and Buffy meets Cordelia. She takes care of the injured woman and leaves only to return in the morning. Spike helps Buffy out in the night and she finally tells him why she hates him so much.

This Kind of Lonely


Chapter 5: The hard way

Spike woke slowly from his uneasy sleep. He instantly remembered his conversation with Buffy in the night and his mood hit rock bottom in a blink. He contemplated to take a shower to get his motor running but decided against it to get some coffee first. Nothing better than a nice hot cup of coffee to kill some bad morning mood.

So he got up from the bed and fetched his jeans from the chair standing in the far corner of the master bedroom. He entered the hallway and pulled up the zipper of the trousers. As he passed the door to Buffy’s room he stopped for a second and tried to listen. He thought he had heard something and held his ear near to the door. As he couldn’t make out anything specific due to the heavy wooden doors he cracked the door open and tried to see something in the barely lit room. He couldn’t make out anything specific by view but he now definitely heard Buffy crying as silent as possible. He took a few long and fast strides and instantly knelt next to Buffy’s cowering form.

“Buffy?” he queried softly.

She seemed a bit startled when she turned her head to look into his face. He saw her red eyes swollen from crying and the miserable look on her face.

“What’s up, pet, tell me how can I help you…” Spike tried to coax her into talking.

“My…my back” she said between sobs “it hurts.”

Spike tried to straighten her as good as possible in her current state to relax the cramping muscles in her back. When Buffy started wincing he stopped and started to knee the offending parts of her back to loosen them up. She relaxed a bit and Spike continued until he felt some of the tension subsiding although it wouldn’t stop completely.

“Is there anything else that hurts Buffy, is there anything else I can do for you?” he asked, all anger he had felt towards her when he woke up flown out of the window due to her current state and his sympathy for the injured girl.

“The w…wound” she had a hard time talking “it itches and burns…” she couldn’t continue when she had to bite her lip to keep herself from crying out loud as another cramp entered her back.

Spike saw that he himself wasn’t able to help her out of her misery so he picked up the phone from the bedside table and dialled a number he had memorized for years.

Buffy didn’t know who he was talking to and she couldn’t listen to anything said due to the fact that she still tried to not pass out from the immense pain.

“Rupert?” Spike queried into the receiver.

“Yeah I have an emergency here at my house, I need you to be here immediately. And I suppose you bring every equipment you can get a grip on…”

“Yeah…”

“Yes, thank you old friend” Spike said and disconnected the call before he turned his attention back to Buffy. He tried to comfort her as much as possible in his position although he somehow had the feeling that it wasn’t helping all that much.

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Fifteen minutes later the doorbell rang and Spike nearly ran to the front door and opened it only to find the face of one Cordelia Chase.

“If I would’ve known that you would be so delighted to see me, I would have picked something more aggressive to wear” she smiled at him.

“You can’t even start to imagine how you are not the person I want to see right now” Spike returned her smile when he saw Rupert Giles, his personal doctor, coming up behind her.

“Hey if you don’t want me here I can as well go. I could think about some other things…” she couldn’t finish her sentence when Spike left her standing by herself to greet his old friend. Cordelia turned around to yell something into the direction Spike was leaving when she recognized Giles for the first time.

“Hey Giles” she spoke after both men had shaken hands “long time no see.”

“Well, the people seem to like it better that way. At least when it’s about my profession as a doctor” he smiled in response.

“Cut the small talk children, we have a patient” Spike interrupted their reunion impatiently.

“Err yes…” Giles answered when he was finally able to tear his eyes from Cordelia’s more than luscious cleavage.

Cordelia, Giles and Spike entered the house immediately after Giles had fetched his equipment from the trunk of his car. Spike led Giles to Buffy’s bedroom and Giles’ face immediately darkened with concern for the hurting blonde girl.

“Hello” Giles greeted Buffy with a warm smile. She tried to return it but failed miserably as the pain still hadn’t lessened a bit.

“What is your name sweetheart?” Giles tried to comfort her with his words as much as possible.

“Buffy” she answered through clenched teeth.

“Can you tell what happened Buffy? Tell me where the pain is worst?” Giles continued to question her. But Buffy wasn’t able to answer any more questions when the pain seemed to intensify and somehow took the knowledge of speech from her.

“I’ll fill you in” Spike started “she had an accident with me. Err… not in the way it sounds” he blushed a little at his faux-pas” I hit her with the car. She went to the hospital and needed to go into surgery. When she woke up the doc told her that she would be temporarily paralyzed and that she had a small internal bleeding that had to be stopped in the surgery but that she couldn’t stay in the hospital because it was too frequented at the current time.”

As Spike kept on talking Giles’ face hardened and darkened even more. He had a slight suspicion who that poor excuse for doctor could have been but wouldn’t have wanted to say anything without proof.

“Do you know the name of that irresponsible doctor that sent her home with that serious kind of injuries?” Giles’ queried, anger now clearly shown in his voice. But Spike only shook his head while Giles gave Buffy an injection probably against the pain Spike assumed.

“Okay thank you, please leave now, I have to examine her and see what has to be done” Giles prompted Spike to leave Buffy’s bedroom.

Spike gave a small understanding nod to the elder man and left the room for the kitchen to finally get the cup of coffee he had promised himself earlier.

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Spike entered the kitchen and found Cordelia cleaning the coffee pot.

“You haven’t just emptied my first cup of coffee into the drain, have you?” Spike queried, his voice slightly angered.

“No, I have I killed the liquidy thing living in your coffee pot” she answered.

“I wanted to drink that” Spike whined and took the coffee pot from her hands to prepare some new coffee.

“Ah, now I see, the Master hadn’t had his morning coffee. Therefore the bad mood” Cordelia smirked at the bleached Brit.

“If only…” Spike muttered while switching on the coffee maker.

“So the climate between you and Buffy is still frosty?” Cordelia dug a bit deeper.

“She told me why she hated me last night” Spike turned his head downwards. He felt kind of embarrassed whenever he thought about the conversation.

“Care to share?” Cordelia gave him a warm smile. True, she liked to mess with him at any given possibility but she wasn’t cruel. She wouldn’t use emotional pain for a joke. And Spike was also one of her closest friends and so she would offer help whenever he needed it.

Spike recognized the change in her behaviour and started to pour his heart out the same way he poured the fresh coffee into his cup.

When he had finished his story Cordelia thought a few moments about what she had heard over the last minutes. She looked at him and saw that he needed some kind of answer from her.

“I can understand both of you. I can understand why she is mad at you, and I can understand that you wouldn’t have known anything about it and by that be angry when she makes you responsible for it. But I have to say due to the fact that I can and want to understand both opinions I can’t give you any advice and I won’t take anyone’s side in that. The two of you will have to get that out of the world by yourself” Cordy finished and saw Spike’s disappointment in his eyes although he gave her a small nod.

Giles entered the kitchen and both, Cordy and Spike, knew from the look on his face that everything was far from right.

“So, what is wrong with her?” Spike queried.

“What is wrong?” Giles turned around infuriated “the bloody bastard of a doctor, also known as Ethan Rayne, pushed someone out of his hospital that needs close watch for at least a week. Greedy son of a bitch” he finished, taking his glasses from his nose to polish them.

Giles and Cordelia both were taken a bit aback by Giles small outbreak. Normally Giles always was the calm and reasonable kind of man although Spike knew that Ethan Rayne always seemed to pull some kind of trigger inside the old man’s head. Someday something needed to be done against that irresponsible bugger.

“Okay” Spike drawled “after we stated that the doctor is a stupid prick, which by the way I already knew, what do we have to do?”

“Well first of all” Giles, now more calm, answered “she needed an IV, which I gave her, that puts steroids in her back to counter the swelling before it cuts off the nerve endings and cause permanent paralysis. Next we need to take care of her surgery wound. If it isn’t treated carefully she will get an infection and also a nasty looking scar. If everything goes fine the stitches need to be out in about ten days. And last but probably most imported she needs physical therapy to get her legs working again” Giles finished and looked into the blank faces of Cordelia and Spike.

Spike thought a moment about what Giles had said and tried to understand everything which sounded far more easy than it really was. He wasn’t a doctor but he knew from Giles‘ way of telling that it wasn’t that well at all.

“We also need somebody to help her get dressed and washed…” Giles continued only to be interrupted by Spike.

“I want the best. I want you Rupert to be her doctor and I need you to find the best physiotherapist. I want her to heal as fast and as good as possible. Could you do that?” he looked at the elder English man something resembling a plea in his eyes.

Giles contemplated what Spike had said for a few seconds before he nodded at him.

“We still need somebody that takes care of her with clothing and other activities” Giles said.

“I will do it” Cordelia spoke up. Spike and Giles turned their heads and stared at her.

“You…you aren’t examined to accomplish that kind of a job” Giles said visibly irritated by Cordy’s offer.

“Well, it’s no biggie, you are here to take care of all the medical details and I will take care of the women details” Cordy smiled. When she saw both men staring at each other she knew she had won.

“Okay the only thing left is the physiotherapist” Spike said while looking Cordelia in the eye thanking her with a look.

“I have somebody in mind” Giles entered “I’ll leave now and see if I can get him to come here today.”

Spike nodded in agreement and thanked Giles again for his efforts. When only Cordelia and Spike remained in the kitchen after Giles had left the house, a small smile slowly crept over Cordelia’s face as she looked at Spike.

“What?” he asked slightly annoyed.

She only shook her head as she started to laugh.

“What?” he queried again now visibly annoyed by her behaviour.

“Well” she had to catch her breath “either you have the mother of feeling guilty inside of you or you have a serious crush” she had to laugh again and ran out of the kitchen when Spike started to advance on her an evil glint in his eyes.

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Buffy woke sometime in the afternoon. After she had gotten the injection from Giles she had finally been able to find the well needed sleep. She opened her eyes and found Cordelia sitting next to her bed in a chair reading in a magazine.

“Good morning sleepy head” Cordy smiled at her.

“Morning” Buffy answered giving Cordelia a small smile herself.

“How are you feeling?” Cordelia asked.

“Better thank you.”

“Good to hear. I was kinda scared for you after what Giles told me earlier” honesty showing in the brunette’s voice.

“Yeah it seems that I’m not in my best shape right now” Buffy tried to joke. She winced when she tried to sit up in the bed and her surgery wound told her not to try such a stunt again.

“Wait” Cordelia said “I’ll help you.” She went over to the bed and helped Buffy to sit up slightly supporting her injured back with some pillows.

“Where’s Spike?” Buffy suddenly queried. Not that she was really interested in his whereabouts but she wondered why he wasn’t here. He always seemed to be around when she woke up.

“Since when do you want to know anything about Spike?” Cordelia queried hiding a knowing smile from Buffy. She somehow felt the ice inside of Buffy melting. She hoped she would warm up a bit and give Spike at least a chance.

“Well…” Buffy had a hard time articulating her thoughts “not that I am interested, I just wondered where he was as he always seems to be around when I wake up.”

“Well I told him that you probably wouldn’t want to see him anyway and that he would only upset you again so I told him to get lost” Cordelia answered. She could barely hide her amusement anymore.

“Ah…thank you…I guess” Buffy stuttered. Somehow it didn’t seem that this was what she wanted but she wouldn’t admit that to anyone. No she had to hate Spike for everything he had done to her.

“I personally think that you are giving him to much of a hard time but it’s your decision so I will keep my hands out of this one” Cordy had to turn away from Buffy’s face to stop herself from laughing out loud. So she went over to the huge windows and opened one of them to let in some fresh air.

“He has to learn it the hard way that what he did to me isn’t to be forgiven. You wouldn’t know that, you don’t…”

“I know” Cordelia interrupted Buffy with that simple statement “he told me earlier that day. And although I still think it isn’t right to treat him that badly it is still your decision” she finished.

Buffy contemplated what Cordelia said for a minute in her head. She seemed to have found the right answer in her mind and inhaled to answer the brunette only to be cut off by a knock on the door. Cordelia moved back to sit next to Buffy’s bed and told the knocker to enter.

“Oh my God, look at that delicious piece of man” Cordelia whispered to Buffy.

“Definitely eatable” Buffy whispered in return a smile creeping over her face.

“Hello” the man now stood in front of Buffy’s bed “my name is Riley, I am the physiotherapist.”

Upcoming: Chapter 6: Melting Ice