Spike stood in the doorway for a few minutes, unmoving. He took these minutes to wallow in the quietness. The house was usually bursting with sound; often loud, high-pitched voices which seemingly only served to attack his vampire senses. For now, the only sound being made was that of Buffy breathing. She echoed around the room, sending nothing but sweet music to his ears. As his eyes further adjusted to the darkness, it hit him that she wasn't even asleep.
"I hope you're not planning on making this a habit."
Her voice broke his reverie. Unfortunately, his dream-like state had left him completely unaware of any words she had recently spoken.
"Huh? What? Sorry, luv, I was..." Lost for words.
"Don't worry." her tone wasn't that of annoyance and her face showed even less trace of that being the case. She was simply smiling. "What are you doing here?"
"I was just passing and I thought I'd stop by, y'know the drill, pet." He shifted from one foot to the other, hands interlinked.
"That's the drill for..." her gaze shifted to her alarm clock and then back to him, eyebrows raising slightly, "...2AM?" After receiving nothing in response, Buffy decided that it was downright rude of her to be still in bed, so she kicked off her covers and tentatively walked over to him. Something wasn't right. Her arms snaked around his waist and she pulled him into a hug. "What's up?"
As her embrace tightened, the reason for his visit made itself known and he had to swallow back a yelp of pain. "You smell good." Spike said quickly, trying to cover up the flash of a grimace which couldn't be kept at bay. Instead of lightening the mood, it made Buffy even more suspicious.
"Spike? You're acting strange." She snuggled closer to him, her head resting on his chest.
At the added pressure on his injured ribs, which were by now screaming out for attention, he pulled back. "Sorry, pet," he apologised, not wanting her to think he didn't want to be close. "I went and got myself pretty banged up."
"Oh!" She exclaimed, eyes opening wide. "I was hurting you with my clinginess?"
He nodded briefly, but opened his arms again soon after. "Don't worry, it's not that bad."
Buffy made towards hugging him again, but instead grabbed his hand and pulled her towards the bed.
"Well, if that's the way you want to play it, luv..." the vampire smirked playfully, not putting any resistance into her pull - mainly because it would likely just provide another lever for the pain.
Buffy rolled her eyes as he made contact with the soft mattress. "I want to check you over. You must be hurting pretty bad if you're pulling away from snuggles. What happened?"
Spike shrugged as she helped him lay down. He didn't want to tell her just yet... the idea was to get patched up beforehand, so she didn't have the opportunity to burst out laughing and leave him to take care of himself.
Sensing the discomfort on his behalf, she smiled slightly. "How about we start with an easier question. Where does it hurt?"
"Ow!" He gasped as she set about finding out for herself; pressing against his seemingly shattered ribcage with her fingers. "Fancy being a bit more careful?"
The slayer bit her lip in silent apology. "I think your ribs are broken. A vast majority of them too, it seems..." Guilt rushed over her for clinging onto him so tightly earlier - but, still, he had practically asked for it.
"Thanks for the diagnosis, Nurse Summers." Spike responded, catching her hand in his as it moved to pull up his shirt. "Seriously speaking here, Buff... it's not all that bad." Lies. It hurt like all hell. He knew Buffy knew it too, but she was just playing it as he was: the hard way.
Suddenly, her expression changed to accomodate a look of lust and a wicked smile spread across her otherwise angelic features. "Well, Spikey..." she cooed, "If you're fine, then we can get down to business."
With that, she practically jumped into a straddling position, purposely digging into his ribcage.
Within seconds, a loud, faltering yell bounced off the walls, courtesy of Spike. He felt broken ribs grate against each other and turn inward, spitefully jabbing into soft (perhaps vital) insides. Pain flooded his senses and as soon as the agonising wave of fire ceased slightly, he forcefully shoved the petite blonde away from his injured body, not caring as she tumbled to the floor. He needed to think about himself right now, about how much of a mess his body was in. Gritting his teeth together, both arms cradled his torso in an attempt to ease some of the pain. It did little to help, and a few silent tears made their way down his cheeks and onto the pillow underneath his head.
"Spike?!" Buffy exclaimed, slightly winded from the suprise fall. She had known his injuries were worse than he was willing to admit, but she just hoped that her actions hadn't caused them to worsen.
"Yes, my ribs are broken." He hissed from his position on the bed, still not making any effort to move. "Like seeing me in agony, pet?" The sparks of white-hot pain had ceased, but the pain was still there. He raised an arm to brush the tears away from his face, but even that was a tough feat to accomplish and the pain soon overwhelmed him again.
Through the guilt she was feeling, instinct told her that his ribs needed to be tended to as soon as possible. From her position on the floor, she reached underneath the bed and pulled out a large first-aid box. "We better get your ribs wrapped," she said quietly, pulling herself and the box up onto the bed.
Spike knew she hadn't intentionally caused him pain just to spite him - he was stubborn, they both knew that. She cared about him more than anybody else on the planet did. Whatever she did had a purpose.
Sifting through the box, Buffy pulled out a large roll of bandages and a pair of scissors. Thankfully Giles kept it well stocked for her, just incase of emergencies like these.
"Think you can sit up for me?" She questioned, meeting his gaze again. The pain was still there, but he nodded grimly. As he shuffled into an upright position, she propped him up with a couple of her pillows.
"So, what did happen to you?"
Tenderly, she unbuttoned his black shirt and gently eased the thin material over his wide shoulders. The dark, heavy bruises scattered around his ribcage caused her to grimace. He did the same as her fingers lightly grazed the skin.
"It's not a very heroic take I'm afraid, pet." He admitted, shifting slightly to give Buffy more access to his battered ribcage. "Got myself jumped by a couple of other vamp's. Bastards stole my cigarettes and booze."
"I'll buy you some more tomorrow." She smiled, leaning down to start winding the bandages around his torso.
Her breath was warm against his skin, hot and alive. Sometimes he wondered why he was allowed to live, but it was moments like this when he knew he belonged here. As Buffy lightly brushed a kiss across his bare shoulder, it was obvious she wanted him to belong here too.