Render the Extra Mile
Disclaimer: These characters are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. They do not belong to me.
…..
Chapter 7
Everyone looked uneasily around the living room as they tried not to stare at Spike. As Dawn magnanimously smiled at the roomful of people, it was hard for everyone's eyes not to slip over to regard the vampire sitting next to her. The room was deadly silent for a few moments, as everyone stared at Spike. This Spike was so different from the Spike they all knew, that it was like having a stranger come into their little group. No one was willing to jar the precarious grip that the blonde vampire was holding onto reality by saying the wrong thing. Not knowing what to do next, Buffy looked over to the other Scoobies. Only Giles did not seem uncomfortable as he sat in the chair, lost in his study of Spike. Buffy raised her eyebrows at the witches, conveying that someone should say something. With a small sound of sudden awareness, Willow nodded and leaned forward.
"So, Spike, long time, no see. How are you?" she artificially breezily asked the vampire
Spike raised his eyes briefly to look at the two witches across the coffee table. He quickly turned his head and looked away. His mouth opened and then shut as he seemed to be summoning some control. He moved his head back jerkily as he briefly met Willow's eyes.
"I'm…I'm fine." He uttered to the room, convincing no one. Everyone's eyes traveled down to his hands where his fingers were busily plucking at each other.
"He's doing great." Dawn said as she momentarily leaned her shoulder against Spike. Turning her head, she decided to turn the attention away from Spike the best she could. "Anya, how was business at the Magic Box today?"
That's all it took. Anya broke from her fascination with Spike, when she realized that someone was asking her about her favorite subject: money. Anya was never a wallflower when it came to the discussion of money, she could give a keynote address. It was that simple question that sent Anya in long tirade against the concept of window shopping and the need to stamp it out.
"I cannot believe that practice is actually condoned. It seems to me that it is, at least, just common courtesy to buy something in a shop that you enter. It is like showing up for a dinner party and not bringing a bottle of wine. It's just plain rude. I don't know how the Founding Fathers ever put up with such a thing. It's the kinda thing that you should write your congressman about. How on earth is the economy supposed to improve, if no one is willing to separate from their money? It's absolutely un-American." Anya fumed. "Immoral, that's what it is."
"Wow, Anya, tell us how you really feel." Xander joked, as he gave her a friendly squeeze around the waist. "That's my girl! Trying to improve America's morality, one dollar at a time."
Blocking out the ex-demon's diatribe regarding Sunnydale's shopping community, Giles studied the vampire across from him. He was particularly interested in what had happened to the vampire after he disappeared in the portal. Hearing that Spike's hair was now naturally white was indeed interesting. In humans, a harrowing experience can make the hair become white. He couldn't imagine the degree of an ordeal that a vampire would have to go through to achieve that effect. His eyes traveled over the Spike's form, noting the spiritless hunched posture as he sat next to Dawn. Where was the swaggering brash vampire of a few months ago? To casually look at Spike, one would think that the vampire was not responsive. However, on closer inspection, Giles noted that Spike seemed timid to respond to anyone with the exception of Dawn. She was the only one with whom he willingly had interaction.
As the conversation sputtered to a halt again, as everyone watched Spike's eyes begin to rise from the rug he found so fascinating. Spike seemed to be taking in the room as his unneeded breath quickened. Spike turned his head toward the entrance, then his eyes traveled over the ceiling and then over to the fireplace. It gave him the impression of a little boy at church examining the stain glass windows during a lengthy sermon. Giles could see an awareness click behind his eyes. The vampire blinked his eyes several times and now looked around at the people surrounding him, as if he was looking for someone in particular. Everyone became silent as they watched the vampire. Dawn shifted around on the sofa a little bit, so she could put her arm behind Spike.
"Spike? Is there something you wanted?" Dawn asked, gently as she leaned toward Spike.
The vampire's eyes searched the room again with pained eyes, desperately flitting around the room. A few beats later, Spike asked
"Joyce?"
"Oh, Spike. She's gone. She died last year." Dawn said, surprising herself with the ease that it came out. It seemed that having Spike returned to her fortified her spirit, so she was able to say her mother's death without the intense degree of pain that usually accompanied it.
"Oh. Oh, right. Right." Spike said, twisting his mouth to a corner as he sank back a bit. He did not move for several seconds before he twisted his head to her and guiltily whispered. "Sorry."
"It's alright, Spike. Dawn said as she smoothed the side of his head with her hand. "We all still miss her. I am sure she would be glad to see you're back."
Spike gave a slight nod as his eyes flitted up to look at Dawn out of the corner of his eye for a moment.
"Spike, do you remember us?" Tara asked as she leaned forward slightly. "It is alright if you don't."
"I remember." Spike uttered, tightening the grip on his hands and not looking at Tara.
The sound of the doorbell cut through the silence catching everyone off guard. With a gasp, Buffy stood up from the arm of the sofa where she had been sitting, watching the scene unravel in the living room.
"Oh, my gosh! I forgot I ordered pizza. I hope everyone is hungry." As she dashed toward the front entry. A few minutes later, she returned with several large pizza boxes stacked in her arms.
"Come on, everyone!" She called as she moved toward the breakfast table, toting the pizza boxes.
The call of pizza seemed to clear everyone out of the living room with the exception of Dawn, Spike and Giles. Giles had not moved from the chair and seemed to be pondering his next action about the vampire in front of him.
"Dawn, I was wondering if I could speak to Spike alone." Giles asked, his eyes never leaving the vampire who hadn't moved.
"I don't know, Giles. This has already been quite a day for him." Dawn answered as she looked from Spike to Giles. "Maybe, tomorrow…"
"I promise I won't tire him. It is just a few questions." Giles countered, still pressing for time with the vampire as Buffy returned to the living room to fetch them.
"Spike, do you feel up to answering a few questions for Giles?" Dawn turned to ask the vampire directly. She leaned in toward Spike and whispered. "It is okay, if you don't want to."
Spike looked away from Dawn and then over to Giles. He slowly nodded.
"Good! Now that's all settled. Come on, Dawn. You can grab some pizza while the boys are talking." Buffy announced, standing there with her hands on her hips, looking at her little sister expectantly.
"I am going to stay here. Maybe, you could save me a couple slices? Okay?" Dawn said with a look in her eyes that echoed a stubborn finality as she looked at Buffy.
"Oh come on, Dawn. It is not like Giles is going to thrash him or anything." Buffy said as she leaned over and grabbed her sister's arm to pull her away from the couch. "I am sure Giles is going to be extremely careful with Spike. It's only a few questions. You can come grab a piece of pizza and watch from over there if you're so worried. "
"Dawn, I give you my solemn promise that I won't do anything to distress Spike any further." Giles promised Dawn as she paused by his chair.
"Well..Spike, I am going to be just over there. Okay?" Dawn said, turning back to the vampire and pointing to a spot not too far way. Spike raised his head and looked up at Dawn. "Just look at me and I'll come right back."
"Really, Dawn. Do you have to be that dramatic? You make Giles sound like the scary Nazi interrogator with the large scar running down his face." Buffy said, as she patted her sister's back as Dawn made her way toward the pizza.
"You don't have a scar, do you ,Giles?" Buffy joked as she winked at the watcher over her shoulder as she too went to go get pizza.
Dawn marched over to the table and pulled out a large slice of pizza from the closest box. With her hand balancing the pizza, she moved to a corner of the room where she could watch Giles and Spike. Her protective instincts were ablaze as she jammed the corner of the pizza slice into her mouth.
"Ugh! Who ordered the meatball, pineapple and anchovy pizza?" Dawn announced as she wrinkled her face as she stared at the pizza in her hand.
"Oh, that's Xander's. You're the first person I've ever seen willingly take a piece of it besides him." Willow commented pulling a slice of veggie pizza away from her mouth
"Oh, come on! It is like a fine wine! You gotta let it breathe" Xander said, taking offense at the slur of his favorite pizza combination. "You just don't know what you're missing. It is a multi layered flavor explosion"
"I do. I obviously have regrets." Dawn moaned as she suddenly dashed toward the sink to rinse out her mouth. "Oh Lord, the taste is coming back!"
"Xander, you shouldn't leave that out where anyone could just get a hold of it." Tara lectured the construction worker as she gave Dawn a compassionate look over her shoulder.
"Somethings are never appreciated in their own time." Xander extolled to the room as he happily pulled another piece of the said pizza.
….
Giles got up slowly from his chair and walked around the coffee table to sit on the sofa. He gingerly sat down a few feet away from Spike who had not moved. He leaned slightly forward toward the vampire who did not look up at him.
"Spike? I just have a few questions." Giles slowly asked, his voice low and soothing, so not to agitate the distressed vampire.
There was no movement on the part of the vampire. Giles wasn't sure that Spike had heard him. He was very surprised that a few beats later, Spike turned his head slightly away and gave a slight nod.
"Spike, do you know who I am?" Giles peered over at the vampire waiting for a response. He wanted to get a baseline started on which to build the more intense questions that he planned.
"W..Watcher." Spike stuttered as he looked down at the rug again.
"Do you remember what a Watcher is?" Giles asked, trying to measure Spike's cognition of the situation.
Spike nodded.
"Spike, do you remember the battle with Glory?" Giles decided to start with simple basic questions of the most recent events.
Spike nodded and fidgeted with his fingers again.
"Do you remember what happened on the tower?" Giles asked, tying to curry a more complete response.
There was no response from the vampire. Giles wrinkled his brow as he studied the vampire. Finally seeing no response was forthcoming, he decided to prompt him to get him to reply.
"Spike, during the battle, you went up the tower to rescue Dawn. Do you remember?" Giles stated expectantly. He pulled off his glasses and started to clean them, as he waited for Spike to respond.
He was surprised to see Spike twist his mouth in emotion as the vampire sat there. He knew that Spike was a unique being, but he had never witnessed a vampire express sadness or remorse. Sure, Spike was always spouting off that he loved Buffy, but that wasn't to be believed. It was never documented that vampires had access to a full range of emotions. It was an accepted fact that the Council considered vampires to only be associated with the lower base emotions such as anger and revenge. This vampire seemed to be disproving those theories. He could hear a choking sound before Spike cleared his throat. Giles was sitting there, fixated on watching the vampire that he almost missed it. It was so low, that it barely carried to the end oe sofa. Spike brokenly whispered.
"Too late. Blood flowing."
Giles was surprised that Spike had actually spoken a few words strung together, he almost dropped glasses to study the vampire.
"Yes, that's right. Dawn was cut." Giles stated, calmly.
"My fault." Spike confessed as he turned his head to look toward the fireplace away from Giles.
"What do you mean?" Giles asked, wrinkling his brow and cocking his head as he looked at Spike.
"Should have been quicker." Spike wrapped his arms around his torso and bent forward as he started to speak to himself. "No time."
"Spike, I don't understand." Giles exclaimed, confused by the vampire's reaction.
"Promise to a lady." Spike muttered as his voice seemed to carry a slight pitch of hysteria.
"What? Spike, tell me what you're talking about." Giles said as he sat up a little straighter.
"Had to..Had to." Spike continued the litany to himself. "Don't think. Do it."
"You had to what?" Giles said, looking over to the table to see if Dawn was watching. Giles expected her to come marching over and end the interview any second. Luckily, she was nowhere in sight.
"Had to…bite." Spike gasped as his hand came up shakily to his head.
"Yes, you bit Dawn." Giles confirmed as he looked at the vampire. "Your chip! Your chip should have gone off. Did it?"
"Pain, pain, pain. Keep biting." Spike said, holding his head as he rocked forward.
"If it fired, it must have been excruciating." Giles sounded surprised as realized the cost the vampire had paid in those moments up in the tower to save Dawn.
"Had to. Had to bite. No time. Protect her. Till end of ..world." Spike explained, sounding as if he was explaining it to himself.
"My God." Giles breathed as he bounced the earpiece of his glasses against his lower lip and looked away from the vampire.
"I remember." Spike said with almost an air of achievement. He tilted his head over at Giles and asked. "Bit's alright, yeah? "
"Yes, she's fine." Giles stated, putting his glasses back on.
Spike's hand suddenly flashed across the sofa, capturing Giles' wrist. Giles jumped as he felt the steel grip enclose his wrist. He looked up at Spike whose eyes were now focused on Giles.
"You're here?" Spike simply asked, looking for confirmation.
"Yes, Spike. I'm here." Giles answered as he peered at the vampire in confusion.
"How..How long?" Spike asked as he struggled to get the question out.
"What? How long were you gone?" Giles asked, perplexed as he looked at the vampire.
Spike nodded
"Let's see it. It was almost April and it is September now. So I would say it about a little over 5 months, about 21 weeks. 147 days." Giles answered as he computed the numbers in his head. "How long was it for you?"
"Longer."