OMG I'm so sorry to all of you guys! I haven't updated in like...ever! It's just I've been so stressed with school and soccer and other problems and-nevermind. No more excuses...enjoy! Don't forget to review!

Chapter seven - All That Matters

"Buffy, wake up!" Spike almost screamed as he shook Buffy. But the Slayer just lay there, still unconscious. Spike became paler and paler by the minute. If that was even possible. He was not about to lose her. Not again. "Come on, luv" he pleaded.

"Is she-" Dawn started to say.

"-she's still alive"

"How do you know? You didn't even check"

"Vampire hearing, nibblet. I can hear her heartbeat"

Dawn just nodded and knelt down beside Spike. "I lost both Mom and Dad, Spike. I can't lose her too" she said softly.

Spike couldn't say anything. He knew no words could comfort her. No promises because anything could happen right now. So he just hugged her hoping that Buffy would be fine.

Just then, Jamie walked inside the room. "Buffy? Dawn?" she called out. Then she saw the scene before her. "Oh my god, what happened to her?" she asked, worried.

"She just collapsed all of a sudden" Dawn answered after pulling out of the hug Spike gave her.

"Who is she?" Spike asked Dawn.

"Um, excuse me? "She" is standing right here you know" Jamie said, instantly annoyed.

Spike was about to retort when Dawn cut in. "Jamie this is Spike. Spike this is Jamie" Dawn interrupted before things got hairy. Both the slayer and the vampire shook hands.

"Jamie's a slayer and uhh, well…Spike's a-"

"-vampire" Jamie finished for Dawn in a flat tone.

"Good Vampire" Spike corrected.

"He has a soul" added Dawn.

"Huh. I see"

No one said anything for a while thus causing the awkwardness. Fortunately or unfortunately, Buffy started twisting and groaning in her sleep. "What's happening?" Dawn asked, alarmed.

Spike was trying to steady Buffy but she just kept twisting around. "Peaches you better get your bloody ass here" he muttered.

And as if on cue, Angel came rushing through the door with a couple of doctors trailing behind.

"Over there" Angel pointed out to the still flailing Buffy.

The doctors lifted Buffy onto the stretcher and almost as quickly as they got here, they wheeled her away.

"Where are they taking her?" asked Dawn.

"We have medical rooms here. We're going to – wait, who are you?" he asked Jamie.

"Jamie Scott. I'm a slayer. Nice to meet you" she shook hands with a confused-looking Angel. "Go on with what you were saying" she said with a smile.

"Right" he said, still looking at Jamie. She walked around the room looking at the stuff around her. Her eyes settled on a book.

"As I was saying, the doctors are going to run tests on her and clean up her wounds. Basic stuff. How'd she get those wounds anyway?" he asked looking stressed.

Jamie raised her hand. "I can answer that. She was patrolling or whatever. Came across a demon. She got hurt. Almost killed. I came in, saved her. I almost died. She saved me. Then she sliced the demon's head off nice and clean" the slayer said, complete with appropriate hand gestures.

"Yeah. Thanks for the imagery. How'd it look like?" Spike asked, getting impatient.

"Uhhh" she said as she flipped the pages of the book she was looking at. "Like this" she said while handing the book to Spike.

" 'The Regontre Demon'" Spike read. " 'Uses its ability of mind control over its victims and… can poisons its victims with its claws"

"What? That sounds familiar. Let me see that" Angel said and got the book from Spike. His expression became grave after he finished reading. He cleared his throat. "This is the same kind of demon that" he cleared his throat. "…killed Mr. Summers"

Everyone quiet for a moment each thinking the same thing. Dawn wouldn't look at anyone.

"She wanted revenge" Dawn said quietly.

"I should've known" realized Angel.

"We all should have" the bleach-blond vampire added.

"Not to be rude or anything but, brushing aside all that, what's gonna happen to Buffy?" asked Jamie. "Why with the commotion?"

"Well, based on the book there's a possibility that she was poisoned"

"So what are we saying here?" Dawn asked.

"I don't know. Maybe we're just worrying too much. For all we know, it could be nothing," Angel said trying to convince everyone including himself. But it was not working.

Beep…beep…beep……beep……

Buffy opened her eyes to the blinding light of… a hospital-like room. Groaning she shut her eyes and shifted her head to the side. She then opened her eyes slowly.

"Hey" Dawn said who was sitting beside her.

"Hey"

"How're you feeling?" asked Dawn.

Buffy groaned. "Like someone's chopping my stomach to pieces and banging Olaf the troll god's hammer on my head"

"Oh. Ow." Dawn commented.

"What happened anyway? Where am I?" asked Buffy.

"You just sorta collapsed all of a sudden. Angel had doctors here so you're still in Wolfram & Hart. Figured the doctors in normal hospitals would ask lots of questions" Dawn said and Buffy nodded. "The doctors ran some tests on you but nothing's come up yet"

They sat in silence for a while. The only sound in the room was Buffy's heartbeat on the monitor beside her.

"Dawn I, well, I don't know if I was delusional or something but is…is…Spike really back?" Buffy asked softly.

"Yes" Dawn sighed. "He is. And just before you passed out, you guys were having a fight"

"Yeah. That part I think I remember." She muttered to herself. "Where is he?" she asked Dawn.

"I don't know. When I checked in on you he had just left. He's been beside you for almost three straight hours. I only got here about an hour ago"

"Well, I need to talk to him" Buffy said. "Possibly with yelling." She added. Just then the door opened to reveal the bleach-blond vampire himself. Damn coincidences. Buffy thought.

Angel was worried. With a dash of anger. He paced the around the room in record time, waiting for any update from the doctor about Buffy's recovery or lack thereof. He looked out the window and into the night sky. The sheer blackness of it made his skin crawl. It was like nature knew what was happening and decided to join in. Or maybe it was foreshadowing something about to happen. Something bad. A voice in his head echoed. No. He shouldn't think like that. He wasn't about to lose her. They didn't even know what was wrong with her. If something at all was wrong with her for that matter. What ever would happen, he vowed not to let her get hurt. Especially not after what happened to Cordelia. He was not about to lose someone he cared about, again.

Sighing, he sat down on his chair, head in his hands just as there was a knock on the door.

Angel looked up to see the doctor come in. Immediately, he stood up. "Well? What do you have?"

"Not much really, but its enough to go on. After running some tests on her, we've discovered something in her blood. Poison. And after researching about the demon that hurt her, we realized it was the poison from the said demon" the doctor answered.

"What's going to happen to her?" Angel asked dreading an answer he knew may come.

"The poison will go straight to her heart then soon spread all over her body. Then it will intoxicate all of her internal organs and which will soon end up-"

"-killing her" Angel finished.

"I'm afraid so"

"Is there are cure?"

"That sir is where our problem is. There is no cure"

Angel's blood froze. "What do you mean there's no cure? There has to be a cure" he said, voice rising out of fear and anger.

"I'm sorry sir but there just isn't. All accounts of cases like these have said to have been no cure. Either we keep looking for one or try making one. Both of which are difficult and will take time. But I'm afraid time is an issue here"

"How much time does she have left?" Angel dared to ask.

"At the most, four days"

He was here. With her. This could not be happening.

"Spike" she said, acknowledging him.

"Buffy"

They stared at each other in silence. Lost in each other's mere presence.

She looked into his clear piercing blue eyes.

He stared back into hers.

Neither of them noticed Dawn slip away from the room. They stayed that way for a few minutes till Spike couldn't take it anymore. Someone had to say something.

"I'm sorry" he finally said.

Buffy said nothing. She looked down at her fingers and seemed to have a particular interest in them.

"I know."

Spike for a moment just stared at her blankly. "'I know'? That's all you can say?"

"Well what do you expect me to say?" she asked, still looking at her hands.

"I actually expected you to either cry or yell at me. Or maybe both"

"I won't" she paused. I just don't know what to do" she said. "This whole thing is exhausting and I just want it to be better" she finally looked him in the eye. He nodded, still a little surprised. This wasn't like her. He sat down on a chair next to her bed and motioned for her to go on. "Can we just skip this whole thing?"

Spike gave a small smile. He took a breath as he sat at the edge of her bed. When she didn't pull back or hesitate, he shifted his legs and lay beside her. This whole thing was fine for the both of them. She didn't yell at him and Spike took that as a good sign. They were taking a little step at a time. Things were starting to look a little bit better. But both of them knew it wouldn't last. It never did.

"I thought you said you wanted to talk" Spike asked after a while.

Buffy thought for a moment. "Well, yeah I do. Just not right now" she said softly, slowly falling back to sleep.

"Ok. Whatever you want, luv"

Buffy was about to protest about how she didn't want things to be up to her. How if she would do all the deciding, things would end up like before. She, being selfish. He being used. It would destroy whatever relationship they had left, again. But who's to say that they were getting back together again? No one said anything about anything. So it was useless to get worried and hyped up about things…right?

She quickly pushed those thoughts away as she continued to slowly fall back asleep. She lay there contented that Spike, her friend, her comrade, her former lover, was back. At that precise moment, that was all that mattered.

Hope you all enjoyed it! I'm going to REALLY try and update sooner, so yeah. Once again, feel free to bug me so that I can update sooner. Reviews will make me update faster hint hint Till next time, (which hopefully wont be in 7 months)

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