A.N- I know this isn't my best fic, but please review!!! Anyway, I just wanted to see what it would be like for Spike to be stuck in this situation. Please review!!!! :)

Chapter 1 - Human

It was dark. There were voices; lots of them. He recognised them but they were speaking in some garbled tongue. He didn't understand. He didn't care.

There should be pain. There wasn't. He was numb.

There was another noise which caught his attention; a thumping noise. And a ringing in his ears, mixed with the loud sound of shallow breaths....and then the voices. He was spinning in a sea of noise and dark and confusion.

Suddenly a white light shone on his face, bedazzling him regardless of the fact that his eyes were shut. He was sure his eyes were shut. The noises faded with the light and he blacked out....

Spike had awoken and become aware that he was alone. He had also become aware that he was lying down...in a bed. The curtains in the small white room were drawn and the sunlight was pouring in, his first instinct had been to sheild himself from the deadly rays, but to no avail - he had found that he could not move his arms much higher than a few inches.

"Bollocks."

It was about then that it had dawned on him that he was not burning anyway, he decided that the window must have been glazed with that nifty glass Angel had had in his fancy office. The bloody great soddin'....

Spike huffed and attempted to bring himself into a sitting position. Still no luck. He then tried to look about, this he found he could do. He suddenly became aware, rather alarmingly, that he was surrounded by bleeping machinery. There were little flashy lights, the familiar buzzing sound of electricity,...tubes. Tubes?! There were bloody tubes everywhere, tubes and wires and god-know's what else, most of which, Spike found to his horror were sticking into him!

"What the bloody hell?!"

Now in somewhat of a panic Spike found himself hyperventilating. The room started to spin and he soon felt himself blacking out. Whether this was a good or a bad thing Spike wasn't sure, but at least he would be unconscious!

The next time Spike awoke, it was to find himself in the same place, in the same condition, with the same little beepy instruments surrounding the bed.

"Bugger."

He decided to sit and try to work it out rationally. If that was possible with all these infuriatingly beeping machines and tubes and wires and whatever-else.

Possibly he'd been caught by the Initiative again. But no, he'd been in their clutches only a few short weeks...months? Ago and they'd helped him - grudgingly - so therefore, not the Initiative. Possibly another Nazi overrun? Alas no, Nazi's don't put their hostages in beds. Perhaps a new demon-hunting group of Wannabe Scoobies had caught him unawares and...no that was just stupid. That's it! He'd been captured by deranged little green men from planet Zorg here to find out about vampires!

"I've been spending too much time with nerds and geeks." Spike sighed, disgarding the last thought.

It was then that Spike's thoughts were suddenly halted by the small figure in the doorway. The girl stood there, standing unsteadily and staring at him. Spike blinked, the girl blinked back. It was Buffy, she was here and he was here and they were....Bloody hell it was Buffy!

Spike suddenly remembered that the Slayer had every right to be hoppin' bleedin' mad at him for not telling her that he had been alive (in a sense) and well (mostly) and helping Angel for the past year.

Buffy still stood, staring at him. Spike wasn't really that sure what to say. Luckily it was she who broke the silence. A smile spread slowly over her face and she stepped forward and said in a voice choked with feeling,

"You're alive."

Spike cleared his throat and tried to sit up - didn't quite manage. Buffy ran over to his side and laid a hand on his arm,

"Don't." she whispered.

Spike looked at her, still confused,

"I'm alive." he stated, shocked and quite annoyed at how quiet his voice was. "I've been alive for a while." he said, "Was gonna tell you. Probably should've...but..."

Tears ran down Buffy's face and threw herself on him in a tight hug. Spike groaned with the sudden pain that jolted all over and Buffy quickly stood up, apologised and pulled across a rather uncomfortable-looking seat.

"Don't be sorry." she said finally, "Angel told me all about how you came back."

"Angel's here?"

Buffy shrugged, "He was. We all were. When we heard."

Spike was still in the dark, "Huh? When you heard what?"

Buffy stared at him, "You don't know?" she asked, disbelief in her voice.

Spike didn't say anything, he would've shook his head, only he found that he couldn't seem to do this.

Buffy took his hand again, Spike looked down and suddenly realised that there were about three tubes from the chemical drips at the side of the bed going into the back of that arm alone. Buffy lean't in close and said quietly,

"Spike, you're human."

The first thing Spike did was laugh, and pathetic though it was, it was a laugh.

"How stupid do you think I am?!" he demanded.

"No!" Buffy shook her head, "It's true, look the window's open look at the sunlight." she glanced around looking for more proof and noticed the many bleeping machines surrounding them, "and listen, here the beeping? It's a heart monitor, Spike."

Spike wasn't exactly sure what to do, or how to react. He would've gladly stood up, had he the strength.

"How?" was all he could say.

"We're not sure. Angel just, " she paused.

It suddenly dawned on Spike that if he was human that mean't surely Angel was human too.

"Where's Angel? Off enjoying his tan-able skin, no doubt."

Buffy swallowed and let go of Spike's hand, "He's not." she said, "It was only you. We don't know why."

"I bet I do." Spike said darkly to himself, then suddenly realised that he was hungry "So what's on the menu for a newly human guy?" he asked excitedly thinking of the ability to eat other things for sustenance rather than just blood. He threw a dark, partially disgusted glance at the drip-packet full of blood that was now attached to his arm, wondering why it still made him hungry.

Buffy smiled and pointed to the door where there stood a woman, whom Spike had not noticed.

"Who's she?"

"The doctor. Dr. Whyte." Buffy stated, standing up.

"I'm afraid there won't be anything to eat for you for quite a while yet." the woman said, flicking a bit of paper over on her clipboard.

"Bugger." Spike groaned, "What then? You just gonna starve me?"

"Only until the operation." the woman said coming over and checking his pulse and doing other doctor-like things.

"What? Sod off! What soddin' operation!"

"Now, don't be a baby, you've already had one, this one'll be a doddle." the woman said shining a not-so-friendly torch into Spike's eyes.

"I've had a what now?" he demanded searching the room for Buffy, but Buffy had left.

"You've undergone surgery already." the doctor said writing something on her clip board and placing it on the bed, at an angle Spike couldn't read it from.

"You've recovered well." she said.

Spike scoffed, 'well?' He was lying in a hospital, how far-from-well could you be?

"Heart surgery's a very tricky business."

Spike froze, heart surgery? Surely they had to have your consent before they went digging into your chest?

"Heart surgery?" Spike asked, voicing his complaint in the loudest, strongest voice he could muster, which he had to admit was pretty pathetic.

The woman brought out a syringe and loaded it with some very shifty looking gunk, "Now calm down, William." she said, Spike cringed at the name, "The worst is over. We'll explain it all to you when you're a little better. Now rest now." and with that she pushed the needle into his arm, none-too-gently either.

That's it. Spike thought before he blacked out again, she calls me William, she operates on me without my consent, she speaks to me like a ten year old. She has got to go.