Full Circle

Less than thirty seconds later…


Xander ran to the phone, all the while chanting what would probably become his own personal mantra, 'Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit...' Skidding to a halt when he reached it, he picked up the receiver from the wall with a shaky hand, punching the speed dial to Giles' shop while the freaked boy tried to take in what he had unwrapped in the bathroom.

"Come on G-Man, be there already?" Listening to the phone ring while he paced back and forth, Xander let his mind drift back to what was lying on the bathroom floor. He had seen beaten to a pulp before, mainly thanks to the 'Punch and Judy' shows that his parents liked to display both to him and the immediate neighbours, but he had never seen *anything* like the extent of Spike's injuries.

Whoever or whatever had aked ked the chipped vampire had been vicious in the beating department. Sure, Xander conceded, Spike had probably more than likely provoked the attack himself, but from what Xander could tell, the retribution had gone waaay overboard. Judging from the number of bones sticking from the shredded skin of Spike's right hand, the injury had taken a few tries from the attacker to be so bad and Xander wasn't even about to start thinking about the vampire's mangled foot and ankle. Chasing the unpleasant thoughts out of his mind for time being as he heard the phone connect, Xander started to speak but was almost immediately overridden by Anya.

//Yes?//

"Anya, it's me, Xander! Can you please go get Giles for me, I *really* need to talk to him?" stated Xander, groaning inwardly as he listened to the all too obvious annoyance in Anya's tone of voice.

//Xander!//

Cursing the Fates for deciding that the already bitching ex-demon would be the on pic pick up the phone, Xander continued. "Yes, now go get Giles."

//Orgasms. You remember those Xander, remember what you *promised* me last night? Because if you don't, you can ask Willow, she was there and heard your promise.//

Oh My God, thought Xander, cringing as he did indeed remember Willow's face going red as Anya had forced him to agree to the promise. "Anya, not now! Can you please... please go and get Giles. I found Spike and he's at my house, I need help."

//So, // came the icy reply. //You would rather hang around with that disgusting creature in that horrible hovel you call home than live up to your promises, giving me the orgasms you owe me and you're going to ask Giles to help you with the hanging?//

Open-mouthed at her question, Xander barely registered the brief scuffle on the other end of the line only to be instantly relieved to hear Giles on the line.

//Xander, what's happened?// asked Giles, an exasperated tone to his voice.

"Oh, thank God! Don't you know by now to keep her away from the phone?"

//What... Oh, yes. Yes I should know that *all* too well by now// stated Giles as annoyance crept into his voice. //Now, what's happened, are you hurt? Did you do something?//

"Me? Why do you always think that I've done something and no, it's the former Big Bad. Something or someone has really beaten the proverbial shit outta him. It's serious Giles, too much for me to handle on my own and... and uh, where some of his bruises are... well..." admitted Xander, rolling his eyes as Giles sighed on the other end. Emitting his own heavy sigh, Xander hung up after Giles promised to come around as soon as possible with more blood and first aid supplies.

Angered by Anya's attitude and her obsession with *her* pleasure, Xander found himself cringing again, more in embarrassment for Giles than himself. Even though Giles had tried to muffle the sound as much as possible, Xander had still been able to hear Anya demanding that Giles find out when her orgasms would be arriving. Still cringing, Xander decided once and for all that, no matter how good the sex was with Anya, he just couldn't take the hassle and constant embarrassment that his girlfriend directed his way. With that thought, he vowed to talk to Anya as soon as possible.

Somewhat reluctantly, he walked back towards the bathroom and Spike, leaning against the wall and sliding down beside the tarp. Drawing his knees up to his chest, he waited for Giles to arrive as he stared at the multitude of injuries that had been inflicted on the once pale body. Xander couldn't help but shudder a little as he saw that the most obvious of them all were the broken left ankle and right hand. Mentally gagging, he leaned forward, taking in the broken ribs on each side as he avoided staring at Spike's relatively unmarked genitals. A hint of a blush stained his cheeks as noticed the size of Spike's penis before his gaze came to rest on Spike's thighs.

Gagging for real now, Xander was shocked to see that the blackness between the inner thighs was severe bruising, dragging his vision along Spike's twisted limbs, he realised that almost all the discolouration covering Spike wasn't dirt from the crypt floor as he had first thought. It was a soft whimper from Spike that snapped Xander out of his contemplation, forcing the unwilling boy to continue to catalogue the vampire's injuries. His gaze dragged from Spike's purpling and swollen kneecaps to Spike's face, Xander saw a line of finger sized bruises covering the jaw line, from ear to ear. Almost absently, Xander noted that the bruises looked to be human sized.

With an unbelieving shake of his head, Xander let his head drop back against the tiled wall behind him as he wondered if the fact that he felt pitiless towards Spike made him a bad person. Quickly deciding that it didn't and that whoever it was had just beaten Spike at his own game, Xander was jogged out of his thoughts by someone knocking at the basement door. Knowing it would only be Giles, Xander bounded up the stairs to let him in, warning the older man about the mouldy step as he led Giles down into the basement and towards the bathroom.

"Bleedin' Hell, what happened to him?" questioned Giles as he joined Xander in staring at Spike.