SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1TITLE: "Wounds of Choice"
CATEGORY: Spike/Dawn friendship
SUMMARY: Spike is confronted by a mysterious figure who claims he has the power to neutralize his chip, but there's a price. Is the price too high?
RATING: PG-13 for violence, mild swearing, and mild sexual innuendos.
DISCLAIMER: The characters of BTVS are owned by Joss, A.K.A GOD, and M.E. and...well you know the drill.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I would like to give my deepest gratitude and appreciation to Jackie, who guided me, offered ideas and suggestions, and all in all stuck with me through the many, many months it took me to write this, and the long nights of me yanking the hair out of my head in frustration. THANKS JACKIE I COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FEEDBACK: feedback would be greatly appreciated. The good, the bad, the ugly, I can take it. Comments, questions, suggestions, opinions, and constructive criticisms are welcomed and encouraged. You can Email me at: AmorFati323@cs.com
"WOUNDS OF CHOICE"
"I fear I have nothing to give.
I have so much to lose here in this lonely place,
Tangled up in our embrace.
There's nothing I'd like better than to fall,
But I fear I have nothing to give."
"I just can't do it. It's hideous!"
"I know this may be shock for a bird your age to see, but you've just gotta face it and give it your all." Spike said encouragingly to the overwhelmed 16 year old.
"But look at it!" she replied desperately, lines of terror appearing on her face.
"It's a nasty bugger, I know. I haven't seen one this ugly for a good hundred years or so. But the trick is not to let it intimidate you. You've just gotta tackle it straight on. Frustration will only give it the upper hand."
Dawn sighed with disgust, slamming the pen down onto her notebook.
"I hate Trig. Why do they call it a right triangle anyway? Is there like, a wrong triangle somewhere? And if there is, who decided which was which? Besides, I can't even tell if I have the paper right side up." She pouted. Spike picked up the piece of graph paper riddled with overlapping shapes and points of various kinds, and spun it around to examine from each angle with a look of hopeless confusion.
"Oh, bugger it." he said a few moments later, realizing that he knew nothing what so ever about trig. "It's not like you're ever gonna use this rubbish in the real world anyway." He reasoned matter of factly to the eagerly agreeing girl, but then, noticing Willow's glare from the doorway, decided on a better approach. "Except for when you're...ya know...applying it to all those...vital ...life skills...that you need...for...life." He finished weakly, looking towards Willow for approval. Dawn stared at him from across the table with an eyebrow raised in doubt. Spike only sighed, and placed the math problem back in front of her. "Why don't you give it another go Nibblet." She rolled her eyes up into her head and picked up the pencil, vigorously erasing as he left the table.
"How's the homework goin?" Willow asked sympathetically.
"Well, that eraser's seen better days." Spike replied, watching Dawn growl at her paper with anger. Willow chuckled in agreement.
"It's been hard for her..." she became solemn, looking on the girl with compassion. "First her mom...then Buffy...her dad off God knows where..." Spike nodded, looking awkwardly at the floor.
"If you guys are gonna talk about me, could you at least do it in a room that...I dunno...I'm not in?" Dawn asked with annoyance at their hushed voices. She couldn't decipher what they were saying but she knew it was about her. She has grown used to the fact that when people were talking in low voices in this house, it was either about her, or about something they did not want her to hear.
"If you don't quit your snivelin and do your work, that arithmetic's gonna be the least of your worries. Got it?" Spike advised sternly.
"Got it." She grumbled, turning back to the task at hand.
"Anyway," Willow continued. "We were thinkin about taking the Buffy-bot out tonight...ya know, test her responses, see how she handles without back up. Giles thinks it'd be a good idea to see if she's able to patrol with out us, incase some apocalypticie goodness arises and we cant be there to pick up the slack."
"Not a bad thought." he replied, peeking into the livingroom at Xander, Anya, and the Buffy-bot herself, who was being debriefed by a very exhausted looking librarian.
"So, you up for a little Dawnie-sitting? It's probably gonna be a late night." Willow asked.
"I suppose I could snag a bit of time outta my busy schedule of watching the tomb stones erode for that, yeah." he said, following her into the living room. The Buffy bot spotted Spike as they entered, and before he could process what was happening, she had run to him, flinging her arms around his waist enthusiastically, and nuzzling him with her programmed love.
"Oh, Spike!" she cried with desperation. "I missed your rock hard, and wanting body while it was gone! And I'm so aroused now that you're here in my arms! Would you like to touch my--"
"Get away from me!" Spike shouted, wrenching away from the robot's cold grasp and coiling back several feet, as though touched by some revolting entity that would spread its disease. Everyone jumped at the outburst, staring at him with alarm. Spike looked around the room as if he'd just noticed that people occupied it, and then stormed angrily up to Willow, grasping her arm. His cold fingers bit hard into her flesh. "That thing doesn't so much as look at me till you get all that bloody garbage out!" he demanded staring coldly into her eyes and pointing a shaking finger in Buffy Bot's direction.
"O-ok Spike. It's ok. I mean I'm still learning the code that Warren programed into her, but I'll take a look at it tomorrow...alright?" She said, trying to calm him down as everyone else looked to the floor. Shooting one more fuming glace around at the others, he stalked out of the livingroom, slamming the door behind him.
"Spike?!" The bot called his name in utter devastation, and ran towards the door, but willow grabbed her back. "Why is Spike angry at me?! Have I done something wrong?" She implored to Willow in pitiful shock, like a loyal dog who had just been thrown out onto the streets by it's indifferent master. "Is my outfit not attractive enough?! Should I go change into something that would please him better?" her mechanical lip trembled with painful confusion. Willow only stared at her, her jaw moving up and down in a loss of any feasible explanation the robot could comprehend.
"Uh, no...no, it's not you." Giles said soothingly, walking over to rest an uncomfortable hand on her shoulder. She whipped her head around to search his eyes, hair flying in golden locks around her throat.
"I don't understand!" She cried.
"You didn't do anything wrong Buffy-bot." Willow said reassuringly. "Ya see he...uh...the thing about Spike is...he's just..."
"On his period." Anya declared with irritation, rolling her eyes into her head.
"Anya!" Willow cried in disgust.
"What?" she exclaimed defensively. "It's not like you weren't all thinking it."
"Period?!" The bot cried frantically, looking from Giles, to Anya, and to Willow. "Males do not have the required biological organs or hormonal capabilities to produce a menstrual cycle!" she exclaimed in sorrowful protest, her eyes watering with saline tears.
"What Anya means is," Xander interjected, coming up in front of her. "that Spike is just...having a really bad day....the way vampires tend to do."
"Yes!" Giles reinforced, rounding up the back. "He's just in a terribly bad mood because..."
"He didn't sleep well." Willow concluded. The bot looked relieved and a little hopeful. "I promise, by tomorrow he'll be...bad as new." The group looked around at each other with nervous eyes and plastered smiles, praying that she would buy the excuse.
"What happened?" Dawn asked, walking in the room and interrupting the moment. "What's up with Spike?"
"He went to take a nap." The Buffy bot answered cheerfully. The others let out the breath they had been holding. Dawn looked at the others quizzically.
"It's nothing Dawnie." Willow answered shaking her head. "He'll be back later."
"Back, and hopefully much less psychotic." Xander said.
"Xander, please." Giles said reproachfully, removing his glasses and wiping them compulsively on his sweater. "I's not as if we can't empathize with his reaction."
"Yah." Anya agreed. "I mean, imagine if I were to die, and all you had was this machine, who looked like me, and felt like me, and wanted nothing but mad, passionate, fantasy filled sex with you over, and over, and over, until your legs were like milky white pudding...but she didn't have any of the other things that made me...well...ya know, me."
"And I can sign up for this where?" Xander replied jokingly to a thoroughly disgusted Giles. Anya swatted him in the back of the head. Dawn surveyed the members of the house hold with raised eyebrows. Buffy-bot watched the interaction with dumb, enthusiastic interest before calling out:
"Go-Go-Gadget STAKE!"
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