TITLE: WITH A LITTLE HELP
AUTHOR: emg
RATING: G
ARCHIVE: It's all yours, just let me know.
FEEDBACK: Please! jgar319113@aol.com
SPOILERS: Starts after Season 6, Grave.
DISCLAIMER: The characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. I'm just playing with them.
SUMMARY: Take one soulful vampire and a conniving wrinkle-skinned demon, mix well. S/B, C/S (Hey that's Clem and Sophie! What did you think it meant?) Please R&R.
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WITH A LITTLE HELP
The blonde vampire tossed restlessly on the bed. He struggled against the straps that bound his arms. The young woman stood and watched him for a moment as he groaned and thrashed his sleep.
"Spike." He didn't hear her, so she repeated in a louder voice, "Spike, wake up." She shook his shoulder.
He woke up suddenly, his eyes wide with fear. He struggled for a moment, then sank back into the bed.
"Spike, I brought you some blood."
He turned his head slowly and frowned at her, puzzled. "Do I know you?" His voice was soft.
She smiled. "I'm Sophie. We met at Buffy's birthday party. Remember?"
"Buffy." The memories were beginning to return.
She was prepared. "Here, drink this." She held up his head with one hand and stuck the straw in his mouth. Almost by reflex he began to suck and when the blood filled his mouth, he closed his eyes. The room was silent as he fed.
"Would you like another?"
His mind was more focused now, but it was obvious that he was confused. "Where am I?"
"You're home. Here in Sunnydale, here in your crypt. Clem and I are taking care of you."
Tears started to flow down his cheeks. "I don't deserve" He started to struggle, his hands becoming claws, trying to rake his chest. "It hurts. I didn't know it could hurt so much."
"Shhh. We put a little medicine in your blood to help you sleep."
"How did I get back?"
"Clem brought you home. When we heard you won your soul, he brought you home."
"Buffy?" For a moment, Spike dared to look hopeful.
"No, she doesn't know you are here."
"Oh, God! Buffy."His Slayer, her face drawn and tear-streaked, "Ask me again why I could never love you."
"Buffy, my god, I didn't-"
She wrapped the gray robe tightly around herself "Because I stopped you." Her voice grew quieter "Something I should have done a long time ago."
He had stared at the woman he loved, the woman he had bruised and violated. He had always believed that he would never hurt her, that he had changed. But now he knew that he was a monster, whose very love was vile and degrading.
The faces were returning. The voices of the people he had murdered.
"I'm so sorry." He writhed in agony.
"Spike," she grabbed his face, fighting to regain his attention. "Spike, she needs you."
That seemed to reach him. He struggled against the guilt to listen to her. "She needs me?"
"Her sister Dawn."
"Dawn?" The medicine was affecting his concentration. "I'll protect her till the end of the world." His voice slurred slightly. "Even if that happens to be tonight."
"Buffy is taking Dawn patrolling. She will need back up. Having her sister with her distracts her."
"Little Bit is patrolling?"
"Yes and Buffy is going to need more muscle. They will be facing another apocalypse. No matter how much you are hurting, you have to survive. They will need you. Do you understand?"
Spike was silent. It was as if he was emerging from madness as profound as Drusilla's. "They need me?"
She nodded.
He was clearheaded for a moment. "I thought if I had a soul, she would love me. But I have so much blood on my hands. How can she even stand to look at me? She'll never trust me. She'll never let me help." He closed his eyes, bowing his head, drowning once again in soul-crushing guilt "You should have let me die in Africa."
"They need you. You can't give up, no matter how much it hurts. Do you promise." He had started to sink into a restless slumber. She shook him. He mumbled, then managed to rouse himself.
"I promise. Till the end of the world." He sighed and fell asleep.
Sophie smiled and covered him up. She felt a wave of tenderness and brushed the hair out of his face. He looked so vulnerable, almost handsome if you liked tight skin.
She slowly climbed up the ladder to the upper chamber. Clem was still on the phone. She smiled and went to the refrigerator and started on the salads.
When the call was finished, Clem came over and poured the wine. They went over to the couch he had installed during Spike's absence. It could be pulled into a bed but for now they were happy just sitting, eating fresh salads, drinking fine wine and listening to Clem's latest opera CDs.
"How's he doing?"
She sighed. "He's in bad shape. Not as bad as when you first brought him back from Africa, but it's still pretty intense."
Clem sighed. "I hate seeing the guy hurt, but it was time to make him a full-time white hat. Besides, by the time I dropped my oh-so-subtle hint about a shaman in Africa who could do resurrection spells, he was ready for a change."
Sophie kissed one of the floppy ears and watched him squirm. Demons had such interesting erogenous zones. When his eyes uncrossed she whispered, "You, my love, are a manipulator."
"How about you? Taking a sabbatical from the University to research the 'Business Culture of the Fast Food Industry' and convincing the Slayer that you are a brainless fry-cook. I couldn't believe you at her birthday party." His voice went deadpan, "Hey. Uh, my mom told me to say thank you right away, 'cause, otherwise I usually forget. So, thank you. And, also, um, I can't have any, any chocolate, or, or peanuts or egg yolks. A-and sometimes dairy." He laughed at the memory. "Does she really think you're that stupid?"
"Duh! But now that we're best work buddies, she was willing to listen to me when I told her that there were rumors that the high school would be hiring community aids. We should have her settled in a decent job before I have to go back to teaching at the University. By the way, I still haven't figured out why she forgives you for taking her sister to Rack's place."
"She thinks Dawn manipulated me and I was too dumb to resist." When Sophie gave a snort of laugher, "I wandered around with Dawn, pretending I couldn't find Rack until the Slayer was close by. Then I let Dawn enter and ran out and found Buffy." He smiled. "It certainly taught her that she couldn't leave her sister behind with strangers. It forced her to start taking Dawn with her, and now she needs back-up."
"Which means that she will need our friend. She always turns to him to protect Dawn."
"Right. And this place should have enough bad memories for Spike that it will be no trouble persuading him to move over to the tunnels beneath the high school where he can accidentally meet up again with Buffy. It should be interesting when she discovers his shiny new soul."
"How long do you think that he'll continue using the bed? Not that I'm getting anxious or anything, but"
"I figure by next week, he should be up and around for a bit. Then its good-bye to opera and vegetables and back to pretending to like junk food and Knight Rider. And Passions." He let his normally intelligent expression revert to the idiotic, good-natured Clem face he always wore around Spike and the Scoobies.
Sophie finished the salad and collected both plates. "By the way, who was on the phone?"
"My old buddy Whistler."
"How's he doing?"
"Well aside from having his assignment dumped into the bottom of the sea by his delinquent son, just ducky. The detective agency has had one member leave and sleep with the forces of evil. And another member has decided she's heaven bound and gone floating. And a third has become a Las Vegas lounge lizard while the remaining forces are wandering around LA giving each other," he made a gagging noise, "'pancake kisses.' Not a good showing for the Powers-That-Be."
"Not everyone is at good at their assignment as you." She rejoined him and they split the last of the wine bottle. "So do you think your Powers-That-Be project is going to work out?"
Clem grinned. "The way things are going, I think those two crazy kids have a real shot at happiness. With a little help from some friends."
Meanwhile, in the lower chamber, a troubled vampire with a soul slept. And healed.
The End