A/N – Thank you, thank you, thank you sooooo much to everyone who has read and reviewed!! I know I said thank you in my last author's note, but I didn't feel like saying it once truly showed my appreciation for everyone who has encouraged me to continue this story so…THANK YOU! Anywho, here's the next chapter! Please continue to read, review and hopefully enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I live in a tiny little dorm in a tiny little college in a tiny little Indiana town. Do you really think I own anything of importance? Don't Sue!!

The Visitor – Chapter 13

"Is he gonna be alright?" Dawn asked, taking a cautious step forward and lightly kicking Angel in the thigh. When the fallen vampire failed to react she merely kicked him harder. "I think he's dead. Like, really dead."

"He's not dead, 'Bit, be dust if he was. He's just unconscious. Gotta say though, in all my unlife I've never seen a vamp faint before. What a ponce! Bet I can wake him up…" Spike stepped forward and sank into a crouch next to Angel's head. With a slightly more evil than normal smirk, he reached out a pale hand and rested his palm on the elder vampire's head. For a moment it looked like he was going to attempt an old time revival healing before, with a sudden flick of the wrist, Spike plucked a single hair from Angel's coiffed tresses.

Everyone, excluding Spike, involuntarily flinched when Angel abruptly sat up, his hands immediately jumping to his hair in a frantic search to make sure everything was still in place. His worry for the state of his "do" would have been comical if the look in his eyes wasn't so murderous. "You've got six seconds, Spike. Six seconds to get as far away from me as you possibly can, because if you don't I'll…"

"You'll what?" Spike challenged. "Gonna smother me in hair gel?

"I should have dusted you the minute Drusilla brought you home. I knew you'd be trouble. But no, I just had to let her have her little lapdog. And what do I get for my generosity? You've been nothing but a disappointment for 120-fucking-years."

"How would you know what I've been for 120 years, mate? You spent roughly 90 of those years eating rats and crying in alleyways about how pitiful and tortured your existence is."

"That's enough, boy." Angel lunged at Spike suddenly, knocking the smaller demon on his back. Thinking quickly, Spike used the momentum of the fall to flip his elder over, catching him in the jaw with a quick but effective jab before scrambling to his feet and bracing himself for a counterattack.

"Up you get, Peaches." He said, bouncing restlessly on the balls of his feet. "I think it's about time me and you resolved some of our issues, don't you?"

"Buffy! Stop them!" Dawn cried, her worry for Spike a palpable entity.



The Slayer shrugged one shoulder in an act of feigned indifference although her own concern for the bleached vamp now rolling across the hotel hallway trading blows with her girlhood crush was readily apparent. "Meh, I'll step in if it looks like anyone is in danger of a dusty ending. Until then I think we should let them have their little pissing contest. It'll make our stay here much more pleasant if we don't have to listen to them snip at each other the entire time."

"I agree with Buffy." Giles nodded. "They're like pack animals fighting to establish an alpha-male." The Watcher polished his glasses disinterestedly and casually stepped out of the way as the warring vampires rolled in his direction.

"Oooh, we should make popcorn!" Anya suddenly announced, tugging excitedly on Xander's arm. "This is exactly like that stupid staged wrestling you watch on the television except it's real and the participants are much more attractive…and they're vampires…"

"How long do you think they'll keep this up?" Willow gestured to where Spike had Angel pinned up against a door, repeatedly punching him in the face.

"Two or three hours at least." Buffy answered, wincing when Angel broke Spike's hold and landed a lucky kidney shot. "I don't know about Angel, but Spike only gets more riled up the longer he fights. He loves it, says it's like dancing." A dreamy look crept into the Slayer's eyes as she watched her vampire fight, the corners of her mouth quirking upward when he dropped low and knocked Angel's feet out from under him.

"Maybe you should stop them now, Buffy. It's late and I'm ready for bed." Joyce said tiredly. She was leaning rather heavily on Dawn, her eyelids dropping in clear exhaustion.

"I don't know if she would be able to break them up at the moment." Giles, being a true English gentleman, took Joyce's elbow and led her to a decorative high back chair sitting outside one of the rooms. "They've given in to their basest demon instincts, currently nothing more than animals. They wouldn't respond to her if she called to them and I'm afraid if Buffy were to physically get in between them, she would be injured."

"Are you alright, Mrs. Summers?" Tara asked worriedly. "You look sort of pale."

"Mom?" Immediately Buffy was at her mother's side. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"I'm fine, dear. Just a little dizzy is all. And I've got a bit of a headache. Nothing to be worried about."

"Maybe we should go to the hospital just in case. Buffy?" Dawn fidgeted with the ends of her hair. "Just to be sure, yeah?"

Joyce swayed in her seat, quickly gripping the arm rests to keep herself upright. "I-I'm feeling a little faint."



"Alright, we're going. Giles, grab her other arm." Together Slayer and Watcher pulled the eldest Summers woman from her perch, supporting the majority of her weight between them.

"Buffy, this isn't necessary. I'll be fine." Joyce insisted although her voice sounded suspiciously strained.

"Dawnie," Buffy ignored her protestations, "grab mom's purse."

"What about Spike?" The teen questioned, hefting the tote high unto her shoulder.

"Oh, yeah." In light of her mother's apparent ill-health, Buffy had completely forgotten about the still tussling vampires. "SPIKE!"

"He's too far gone, Buffy. The fight is the most important thing to him now. Simply calling for him will be most ineffective for…" Giles trailed off as Spike landed a two-footed kick to Angel's chest, launching the other vamp down the hall before shaking off his vampiric ridges and turning towards the group huddled around Joyce.

"Slayer? What's wrong, Pet?" His face was cut and bruised and rapidly drying blood matted his brightly colored hair, but none of that mattered at the moment. Something was wrong with his girls and that just wouldn't do.

"Moms sick. We're taking her to the hospital."

"We'll go in my car. The backseats bigger so she'll be able to lie down if she wants."

The group began to make their way towards the stairs, Spike replacing Giles at Joyce's side. They were halfway to the exit when a bellow caused them to pause.

"Wait!" Angel ran to catch up. "What's going on? What're you doing?"

Spike was the first to respond. "We're leaving, you bloody ponce. What does it look like we're doing? Gotta get Joyce to the hospital."

"But…," Angel floundered, "our fight. We weren't finished. You can't just leave..."

"'m gonna have to take a rain check on that, Peaches. Got more important things to do at the moment. Don't worry though, I'll be back to finish kicking your ass in no time." And with that they left, Giles muttering softly all the while about unusual vampires refusing to follow their nature…

A/N #2 – Well, there it is. What do you think? Please read and review!!

P.S. The next chapter will contain the hospital visit, a long overdue talk with Angel, and an epiphany for our favorite Watcher…