Coming Through
Chapter Two – I Need a Shower
Buffy stumbled out of the portal, panting with exertion, and sank to her knees in the damp grass. She looked down at herself and swiped at the green slime covering her coat then shook a glob of slime off her hand, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "God, why do huge, stupid demons always have to explode?" She noticed that her gloves had gone missing at some point then swiped another glob of slime off her coat and whined, "Guess this coat's another casualty of my life as the Slayer. And I really liked it too. Stupid demons." She pushed a stray strand of hair out of her face with a slime covered hand and shuddered. "I really need a shower. Or three."
She climbed to her feet and started walking slowly out of the cemetery, stretching her neck and trying to work some of the soreness out of her shoulders. "I really should start carrying a sword or something. Tearing the heads off ten huge demons is murder." She giggled silently to herself as she realized that, aside from the aches and pains, she actually felt good. Almost happy. 'Demon killing therapy. Better than valium or vodka. A world of better.' She wandered aimlessly through the headstones, not really thinking about much of anything as she enjoyed the quiet.
When she reached the cemetery gates, she paused as the real world reasserted itself. 'Warren. Got to find him and stop whatever crap he and the nerd herd are planning then get his murdering butt tossed in jail. Need to talk to Dawn, find out what's going on with her. She seems so angry all the time. I guess she's right, though. I haven't really been around much since I came back, but she's wrong about me not wanting to be around her. Even though she can be completely annoying sometimes, she's my sister, and I'm all she's got. Xander's wedding. God, that hideous dress Anya's going to make me wear. And Willow. On top of everything else, I've got to keep a magic junkie from falling off the wagon.'
She stepped through the cemetery gates and onto the sidewalk with an exhausted sigh, her previous good feelings fluttering away like leaves on a breeze. She turned toward home, walking slowly as she looked blankly at the quiet street and dark buildings, lost in thought. Blue eyes and razor sharp cheekbones flashed across her mind and she stopped. "Shit! Spike!" 'Perpetual pain in my ass. At least that's one thing I can count on never changing.'
She sighed again as she looked around, finally noticing the lack of people and activity on a street that had been bustling with both when she'd entered the graveyard a little while ago. "Where'd everybody go? It's not that late, is it?" She turned around and started walking quickly back the way she'd come. 'I hope he made it back to his crypt.' The image of his battered face flared in her mind and she cringed. 'God, why did I hurt him like that? He was only trying to help me… in that backwards, do everything wrong way of his.' She stopped and stared wide-eyed at the empty street. 'Yeah, he tried to help me by dumping a body! That's his idea of doing the right thing. He's evil, Buffy! Why are you even worrying about him?' His battered face floated to the front of her mind again, and this time no amount of blinking and trying to think of something else would make it go away. She growled, "Aaaagh! Stupid vampire!" then started stomping down the sidewalk.
She veered across the street and stopped when she reached the mouth of the alley outside the police station. 'He's not here. Guess he's ok then, or ok enough to get home, anyway.' She stared thoughtfully at the spot she'd left him lying in then started chewing on her bottom lip. 'Should I go check on him? Make sure he's ok?' She turned away from the alley and started in the direction of his crypt then stopped. 'Stupid vampire. He's way more than old enough to take care of himself. He doesn't need me babysitting him.'
She turned toward home and actually made it three steps before she stopped again. 'Yeah, but I hurt him pretty bad. And he didn't even fight back. What is up with that? He might have a concussion. Can vampires get concussions? Well, something's got to be wrong with him. Stupid not-fighting back even though I'm whaling on him pain in my ass. I should go see if he's ok.' She started stalking off in the direction of Spike's crypt even though she still wasn't exactly sure why she was going. Her footfalls echoed off the buildings and she muttered under her breath the whole way, "Stupid pain in my ass vampire."
She listened outside Spike's crypt door as she debated with herself whether she should knock or just kick the door in like she always did. 'He might be asleep or something. Maybe I'll be quiet this time. I really don't want to fight with him right now and if I wake him up, he'll just start running his mouth and I'll probably end up punching him in the nose… or something… and I just want to make sure he's ok so I can go home and get all this gross slime off me.' She slowly pushed the door open, flinching then freezing when the hinges emitted a loud squeak. She listened for movement from downstairs then let her breath out in relief when all she heard was silence. She stepped lightly into the crypt and stood for a moment to let her eyes adjust to the darkness.
'Where'd all this furniture come from? This wasn't here yesterday.' She stepped quietly around a large sofa then skirted a fairly new-looking recliner on her way to the hole in the floor that led to Spike's bedroom. The hole was covered by the slab of granite and she knelt down and tried to push it back, but it wouldn't budge. Her brow knitted in confusion as she stared at the slab, then her eyes lit on a set of hinges at the back. 'What? He put hinges on it? When?' She shrugged and lifted the heavy slab, leaning it against the sarcophagus, then peered into the hole. There was a faint light emanating from Spike's bedroom and she climbed quietly down the ladder, stopping dead with her mouth hanging open when she stepped around the corner and the full room came into view.
All of Spike's old, salvaged furniture and piles of rugs were gone and in their place was a new-looking, king size, four poster bed. The bed was accompanied by a matching bedroom set and several lit candles in sconces along the walls. There was another recliner tucked into the corner next to her, and in front of it sat a shelf full of DVDs with a large flat screen television on top. A large, wrinkly, lightly snoring demon was lying in the middle of the bed, covered in kittens and clutching a fuzzy kitten in each hand. A few of them raised their tiny heads and blinked sleepily at her as she goggled at the drastically different room.
'Clem? That demon from the poker game? What the hell is he doing in Spike's crypt? And when did Spike get all this nice stuff? How long was I in that other dimension? A week? Two? Did Spike win the lottery or something while I was gone? And again… what the hell is Clem doing here?' Her head suddenly started pounding and she raised her fingers to massage her temples, cringing when the slime coating her skin squeaked under her fingers.
'What the hell is going on? Where is Spike?' She was looking around the bedroom, trying to get a sense of how much time had passed, when a horrible thought occurred to her. Her insides clenched and she almost retched all over the recliner. 'God, did I kill him? Did someone else come along and dust him after I just left him laying there all hurt and bleeding? There's no way he could've fought back, not in the shape I left him in, especially if a human found him. It looks like Clem lives here now and I don't think he would've moved in here unless Spike was gone.'
Gone. The word reverberated around her brain as she backed away from the room in horror. She turned and climbed quickly up the ladder then rushed out of the crypt, slamming the door behind her. A leaden ball of guilt sat heavily in her belly as she sprinted through the cemetery and down the street, not slowing until she was on her own lawn. The thoughts she'd been trying to outrun caught up and crashed into her as she stumbled up her front steps and leaned against the door frame, panting and shaking. 'I think I killed Spike.' A quiet sob wrenched itself from her body and her eyes widened in surprise as more sobs joined the first. 'I killed Spike.'