[A/N, I do not own the characters, I'm just borrowing them.
This is the prologue of what will be a series involving Willow's recovery, with the help of Spike. S/W? Just wait and see!]
Spike was wandering the streets under the light of a quarter moon when a sound behind him. Turning, he saw a figure standing a few feet behind him, their frail form shaking in the warm night.
"Hello?" he said to the person, walking towards them. When he got closer, he could see the face clearly. "Red?"
Willow was standing in the street, her eyes red, as if she had been crying, but there was no sign of any tears, in fact, her eyes looked completely dry. Her lips were cracked and blood was starting to form, and her hands shook wildly. Spike stepped right in front of her, but her eyes just looked past him, as if she was watching something behind him.
"Willow?" he said softly. Her eyes moved slowly to land on his face, but he could tell she wasn't registering his presence. Her breath was coming short and ragged now. Finally, she seemed to register what was going on.
"Spike, I don'tI can't" as her mind fought to pick the right word, her body gave out on her, and Spike caught her before she hit the ground.
An hour later, he watched her sleep in his crypt. Every now and then she whimpered and kicked off her sheets, but then she'd start shivering and Spike would cover her again. Her fitful sleep was keeping him from getting in touch with Buffy, someone he should have called first. He began to pace his crypt, contemplating what to do with her. She was obviously going through a bad withdrawal from the heavy magic she had been playing with and needed help, but he doubted any doctors or hospitals would know what to do.
"NO!" she screamed suddenly. Spike whipped around to see Willow sitting bolt upright, breathing fast and sweating. She looked around her, and her wide green eyes finally rested on Spike who was watching her. "Spike?"
He moved to her, sitting on the edge of the bed, "how do you feel?"
She hugged her knees close to her body before replying, "I thought I was going to die. Every part of my body was on fire, but icy cold at the same time. What's wrong with me?"
"You're going through withdrawal, from the magic. It's heavy stuff and it stays with you even if you've left it. We're going to help you though, we all will."
"Where's Buffy?" Willow asked, realizing for the first time that she was alone in the crypt.
"I didn't get a chance to go find her, I wanted to be here in case you woke up and needed something. Do you need anything?"
"Water?" she asked, looking up at him. Spike nodded and got off the bed.
"I'll go grab some and stop by Buffy's if you want, let her know where you are" his voice trailed off as she shook her head.
"Don't tell her what happened. Tell hertell her I'm here, but don't tell her why, alright? She'll worry and I don't want her to worry. She's got too much on her mind I think. She's been somewhere else recently but I don't know why."
A smile tugged at Spike's lips but he kept it to himself. So the slayer had him on her mind, no surprise there. Instead, he nodded to Willow before walking outside.