The next time he woke it was around dusk. The sunlight that filtered into the room was now a soft pink and shadows were everywhere. The pain was only a dull ache in his bones.
The door to his room was close but he could still hear movement outside of it. Pots and pans clank together as Yin got the evening meal together. Spike brought a hand to his eyes and rubbed away the sleep that was still there. Gingerly he swung he feet over the side of the bed and sat up.
Tiny lights like fireflies flickered through his vision forcing him to clutch his head until the dizziness passed. When it did he stood and slowly got to his feet and made his way to the door. Opening it he looked both ways and found himself in a small hallway. To the Right, next to his room, a door to the bathroom stood open. At the end was a closed door that Spike figured was the master bedroom. To the left was an open doorway, through which Spike saw Yin moving around.
"Spike is that you?" Yin stuck her head through the doorway and gave a small smile. "Come in and sit down. Dinner is almost ready. I'm sure your hungry."
Spike's stomach gave an agreeing growl and he had the decency to look sheepish as he walked into the kitchen and sat down at the small table. It had been a long time since he had ever felt real hunger for human food. The hunger that drove him to drink blood was different then the hunger he felt now. Another growl came from his stomach.
"I made us some chicken wings and mashed potatoes. I hope that ok." She set a bowl of each on the table and went to the refrigerator. "What would you like to drink? I'm afraid that all I have is milk, water, or orange juice." She looked over at him.
"Water." Then at few seconds later he reminded himself to say please. "Please."
"Okay." She went to the sink and got Spike his water then poured herself a glass of milk. She came back with the glasses and the plates and silverware. She gave Spike his first. "Take as much as you want." Then she sat down and started to serve herself.
Spike did just that. He couldn't remember when food had tasted so good before. Even when he had been a vampire he had still stuck to the habit of eating human food but it didn't have the same appeal that it use to. His taste buds must have gotten changed when he was turned. Now though the wings and potatoes tasted like heaven.
He wasn't sure how many servings he had in all; he had stopped counting at three. He did, however, noticed that Yin actually ate very little. She spent most of the time keeping an eye on him. Almost as if to make sure he didn't chock on something or over stuff himself. Finally he had his fill and pushed the plate of wing bones away from him. Questions that he had put off during the meal now resurfaced full force.
"How the hell did I get here?" Yin didn't look surprised at his out burst; in fact she looked as though she had expected it sooner. She placed the spoonful of mashed potatoes she was going to eat back on her plate.
"I found you this morning as dawn was breaking. You were drained from the battle with Wolfram and Hart. As the sun hit you, you became as you are, no longer the vampire Spike but the human one." Spike just gazed at her. "You are the fulfillment of the prophecy."
That's when the dam broke and hysterical laughter emanated from Spikes throat. As laughs racked trough his body he fought to keep his balance on his chair. "Me fulfill the prophecy."
"It was your prophecy." Spikes laughter stopped immediately.
"That prophecy was never mine, it was always Peaches'. He practically lived, breathed, and worshiped the stupid thing." He paused. "And how in bloody hell did you know about the prophecy, or who I am for that matter." He fixed her with a glare.
"You tend to know things when you are part of the balance that keeps the universe running." She ate her spoonful of potatoes and returned the spoon to her plate looking thoughtful. She swallowed before continuing. "The fact that Angel lived, breathed, and worshiped the prophecy as you say, is the reason it was never his."
"What? He is the one who found it. He's had a soul longer then me, and he devoted his undead life to finding a way to make it come true."
"All the more reason why he shouldn't have gotten it." Spike gave her a puzzled look. "Who do you think is more of a hero, a man who is looking to be heroic or the one that only wants to live his life but must make some sacrifices to keep it?"
"Cryptic babble has never worked well with me." He forged confusions. In truth he understood where she was going, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
"Don't play dumb with me." She shook her spoon at him. "I know perfectly well you understand what I mean. Angel had a soul forced onto him and only then did he change his ways. He then found the prophecy that gave him hope that he could rid himself of the demon inside.
You on the other hand, fought for that soul out of love. You had been changing your ways long before you ever took the soul; the soul only advanced you on the road of that change. You only heard of the prophecy a short while ago, but never brooded on it or lost sleep over it. You continued on your road as if it didn't exist."
"That's because I thought it belonged to fucking Peaches." He shot up out of his chair and pointed a finger at her. "You don't know what it's like to live under his shadow. He was a vampire before me, he had Dru before me, He got a soul before me, he had the slayer before me…"
"He died before you." She looked away from him, out onto the street through the window.
"What?" He didn't believe what he was hearing. Everything he knew was changing so fast. The world that he had once lived in didn't seem to be there anymore.
"You were the only one that survived the battle. The battle wasn't suppose to happen yet but things have been unsettled for a while now. Angel's own carelessness didn't help much."
"Unsettled? Only one?" He fell back into his seat and put his head in his hands. "Bloody hell." He muttered over and over again.
"It wasn't in vain you know." The comment caused him to look up and see the look of pure sincerity on her face. "You guys won the battle, even though only you survived. The war may be brewing. Hopefully we can stop it first."
"That's why I'm human again, because no one else survived." A deep sense of lose filled him. He hadn't expected these feelings at the news of all the team being down for the count. He only now realized how close he had become to all of them while working at Wolfram and Hart; even Peaches had some how turn into a friend.
Yin's eyes narrowed sharply. Roughly she pushed back her chair and grabbed her plate while standing up. She marched into the kitchen to the sink and with a crash, set her dishes in it. Angrily Yin turned on the water. "You don't get it do you!" she said sharply. "Or are you just stupid."
She slammed the water off and went back for his plate. He didn't dare get in her way. A sense of uncontrollable power was rolling off her in waves and frankly it was giving him the heebie-jeebies.
She repeated the same process of crashing them into the sink and blasting them clean with the water, that she had shown her own dishes. This time after she had shut off the water she turned to him and gave him her full glare. "You didn't get the prophecy because you didn't die, you didn't die because you already had the prophecy."
"I –" He started to say but she didn't let him finish.
"Spike all your life you've never thought yourself worthy of anything. For once except this gift without question." She turned back to the sink and started to dry the abused dishes.
Spike truly didn't know what to think. He wanted to strangle the girl for thinking she knew so much about him and the world. He also wanted to believe that maybe the prophecy was his and that he did have some worth to someone up there. Always he had felt inferior to the world around him.
Before he had been turned he had been a weak, simpering, idiot. As a young vampire he had to hunt under the shadow of Angelus. Dru had left him because he hadn't been enough for her. Then Buffy… he hadn't been anywhere near worthy of Buffy. Yet she was still present in almost all his thoughts. She was stuck in his head and he wasn't sure he wanted her out.
"So we saved the world?" He asked in a weak defeated tone. Yin stopped and looked at him. A soft look came over her face.
"Yes, Spike, you saved the world again." She went back to drying. "Sadly the world is still under threat."
Spiked stared now at his heads. He could see the now living veins pumping his blood. He could even hear his own heart beat in his ears. "Hang it a second." His eyes flashed to Yin. Again she paused to look at him. "If I'm human why do I still have my vampire senses?"
Yin giggled at that. It wasn't something that Spike was completely ready for and it seemed like an action that wasn't taken often by the girl. "You can't be her partner if you aren't her equal."
"WHAT?" He had been asking that same question a lot tonight. This one however was more prominent then the last several had been. He also found himself once again leaping out of his chair. "What the hells that supposes to mean!"
"That, I'm going to let you muses over for yourself." The dishes dry she set them next to the sink. "Now I think it wise for you to get more rest. Your body isn't use to having to do the work anymore."
It was only then that He felt the truth of her words. While Spike had been distracted by the meal and then the conversation, fatigue had once again come to claim his body. Grumpy and acting like a spoiled five year old, he marched his way back to his room. Only calling back once before he shut the door. "Don't think this conversation is over yet, snippet."
Yin stood in the kitchen shacking her head still laughing silently to herself. Seconds passed and that laughter was replaced by a masked etched in sadness that she had been hiding. Finally she too decided it was time to go to bed. Tomorrow would be a new day with new possibilities.
TBC