Tim took a step closer, his hands clenched tightly. Spike tried to retreat again, walking backwards until he was at the edge of the shade. "You don't… you don't understand. I didn't…" He brought his palms up, trying to defend himself without seeming as a threat.

"Tim! You need to get over here, he's alive." Jayde yelled as she leaned over Lucas. The ambulance pulled up, the lights reflecting in her wet eyes.

"You should leave, I don't want to kill you in front of your friends." Tim whispered angrily, "but if he dies, I will hunt you down and destroy you."

"No." Spike growled back. "He saved my life as much as his own. I didn't bloody well abandon him in there, I won't out here."

Tim gapped at him, "What are you talking about?"

"I couldn't break the chains, wasn't strong enough. Lucas cut himself open so I could eat and get us out." Spike responded quietly, watching the paramedics race to three unconscious young people on the ground.

"He… he did that to himself?"

"I couldn't bite him, I tried." Spike sighed, and shook his head. "He knew it was probably the only way we could get out. What they had planned for us was worse than possibly dying. He wanted to at least make the attempt."

Tim scoffed in amazement, "I should have known. Lucas is…"

"Too brave for his own good?"

"Yeah, something like that." Tim nodded, and started to walk away. "Get out of the sun." He stopped and looked over his shoulder, "and thank you."

"My pleasure," Spike muttered. "They won't know what happened… they won't know how to help him."

After a sigh, Tim turned completely. "He was injured as you both tried to escape, and nearly bleed to death, that's all they need to know."

"He didn't do anything wrong." Spike hissed, "neither did I."

"Will they see it that way?"

Spike didn't have an answer, and Tim left him there, crossing back to the scene on the other side of the street. The paramedic working on Lucas looked up as he approached. "Do you know what happened?"

"He and others were abducted by him." Tim gestured to Warren angrily. "They got out fine, but he was held longer and injured trying to escape." Jayde glanced at Tim questioningly after his explanation, but Tim just shook his head to quiet her. "Will he be ok?"

"The profunda femoris has been cleanly severed and he lost a lot of blood, once we get him to the hospital, we'll know more. But we're kind of experts on blood loss. At least the makeshift bandage helped, he would be dead without it." The paramedic watched his partner with Willow as Tara and Dawn spoke to him quietly. "And her?"

"She was electrocuted while we were trying to rescue him."

He grunted and shook his head. "All connected to that guy?"

Tim nodded, "yes, his name is Warren Meers. I think he's just knocked unconscious. But he caused a lot of problems."

"I'll inform the police as soon as we're loaded up." He started to ease Lucas' body onto a backboard, and Xander and Jayde silently crouched to help.

"Will the police even do anything?" Tim asked sardonically. "I've been told they… stay back from a lot things here."

The paramedic finished tightening the straps on the board and glanced at Tim, then further on to Spike, who was still lurking under the tree. "We see a lot of strange stuff here, but something like this, a simple kidnapping, they can handle."

Xander watched Lucas and Willow being loaded into the ambulance, he could hear another siren approaching. He walked to Tim. "What did you mean before? Did Spike bite him or something? I'll help you kill him if he did."

"No…" Tim shook his head. "I… I thought he did, but Lucas just got hurt."

Xander stared at him for a few seconds. "How?"

"Blame Warren, Spike said he and Dr. Kerchum were willing to torture them to get what they wanted." Tim said shortly, before angrily walking away.

One of the paramedics held open the door, "we're ready to go, and there is room for one more to ride, two if you don't mind being tight. The other bus will take the guy who started this, they're in no real hurry."

"You… you should go with Lucas, Tim and Jayde, he's your crewmate." Tara started hesitantly, looking longingly at Willow.

"No, I want to make sure Warren doesn't disappear before he's arrested. You go." Tim stared at the remaining person laying on the ground, resisting the urge to kick him. "Take Dawn, We'll be right behind you."

Tara swallowed and hugged Tim tightly. "Thank you," she whispered, before hurrying to the waiting ambulance.

Xander grimaced when the second team of paramedics came on scene. "Oh shit, they're gonna make sure he's ok." He offered a dark smile to Tim. "Want to throw him against the wall a few times before they get to him?"

Lucas groaned at the annoying beeping noise from the monitor beside him, and squinted open one eye in the dimly lit room. Jayde was perched on a chair next to his bed, her head resting on drawn up knees. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing evenly. "I need to stop waking up in hospitals." He sighed, and closed his eyes again, comfortable in the knowledge that he and everyone else was probably in safe hands.

The soft sound of a throat being cleared caught his attention. Lucas whipped his head toward the direction of the noise. Spike stood in the doorway, looking uncomfortable. "I… um… just wanted to check on you before Timmy-boy kicks me out again." He explained quietly, stepping into the hospital room.

Lucas smiled as he rested head on the pillow again, He wrinkled his face in confusion. "Why doesn't Tim want you here? You saved my life."

"I don't think he likes me much, thinks I'm a bad influence on you or some such nonsense."

Lucas bit back a laugh, not wanting to wake up Jayde. "So it worked? Did you Hulk out?"

"Yeah, you could say that. Warren's been arrested, but Kerchum disappeared. It took them a while to get back into his hiding place." Spike looking over his shoulder. "I better go, they're all with Willow now, but I'm sure Xander will back soon."

"Wait, Willow? What happened to her?"

Spike shrugged, "not sure, they've been just giving me dirty looks all day. No one wants to talk to me."

"Why?"

"Well, partly because of the nearly draining you dry, I think. Tim told them it was something else, but I keep getting death glares, so, they know." He smiled mischievously, "and Dawn saw me pocket a bag of blood, I don't think that helped matters."

Lucas snorted, "they just need to accept that you're a vampire and move on."

"I've been trying to tell them that for years." Spike said dryly. He looked behind him again. "I'll talk to you later. Get some rest, and heal up, I might need a snack later." He agilely dodged the pillow thrown at him, and left the room laughing.

He nearly walked into Xander, who was standing in the hallway with his arms crossed over his chest. "I thought Tim told you to leave him alone."

"Look, I was just checking on him. If this is about the blood bag thing, it was just something to mix with the pig's blood, hides the taste." Spike told him defensively.

"No," Xander spat, "this is about turning my friend into your breakfast."

"I got him out. Stop prattling on about it."

Xander snorted, "yeah, but we were coming, we could have helped without almost killing him. Did you wait until he was sleeping? Or did you let Warren open up the vein?"

Spike's eyes filled with rage. "Why don't you ask Tim what really happened? He seems to be your new leader now."

He turned to walk away, but Xander caught his arm. "What do you mean? Tell me yourself what happened."

"Lucas did it himself. I tried to talk him out of it, but it was the only way to save him." Spike said, after shaking the hand loose.

Xander's jaw dropped, then snapped shut as an angry expression crossed his face. "Do you expect me to believe you didn't suggest it? That you didn't get anything from it?"

"Believe what you want. I don't care what you lot think, he's safe."

"Why do you care about what happens to him so much? You think it's funny when I get my ass kicked."

Spike stared at the floor. "I like the kid, ok? He's got guts and he makes me laugh. And he isn't half as annoying as you are."

He turned to leave again, and Xander watched him go in amazement.

Author's Note: I probably won't have anything up for a few days, the husband is off of work and he makes me actually sleep a little. But everyone is safe... for now. Mua ha ha ha ha!