Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or it's characters.
Chapter 1,
Spike's POV
Beaten, burned, cut, unholy shifting of organs, and other things he would rather forget then remember; Spike laid in his crypt. He was trying to heal after all of the torture Glory put him through. He wanted to sleep, but his mind was still thinking about it all.
His Buffy-bot rushed to find him, but when she saw him in the elevator, she hesitated. She didn't really have a protocol for something like that. She just stood there for 13 seconds, staring at him, confused.
That, and he wasn't exactly sure why Xander and Giles has been kind enough to drop him home; considering how much they hated him. But that really wasn't much to dwell on right now. They'll probably return, or someone else might, to kill him soon, anyways.
That's what they all want, isn't it? None of them can really accept that Spike's feelings for Buffy were genuine. So, of course, they would believe he would rat Dawn out for being that stupid key nonsense.
The door opened and footsteps approached him. What's the point of fighting? He was too weak to defend himself, and he wasn't wanted by anyone. He hasn't felt this alone since he was a human.
"Spike, you're covered in sexy wounds."
He heard, and he turned and realized this was only his Buffy-bot, returning to him.
"Yeah." He grunted weakly, and he forced himself up.
"I feel real sexy." He retorted.
"Where you been?" Spike asked.
"I fell down and got confused. Willow fixed me. She's gay." Buffy-bot said and Spike thought that was strange.
"Wil fixed you?" He just couldn't believe it; why would she do that for him?
"I thought they'd melt you into scrap." He commented, mostly to himself.
"They were confused too. Do you wanna ravage me now?" Buffy-bot said with a perky smile. Then again, a lot of conversations with Buffy-bot were one-sided.
"Give is a minute. Got some bones that need mending." Spike said and Buffy-bot looked disappointed.
"Why did you let that Glory hurt you?" Buffy-not asked and Spike sighed a little.
"She wanted to know who the key was." He replied.
"Well, I can tell her, and then you won't-"
"No!" Spike shouted, but it was too much for him. He coughed and hated how difficult breathing came to him; but he had to get his point across.
"You can't ever. Glory never finds out." Spike insisted.
"Why?" Buffy-bot asked. Spike had no reason to lie to his robot. She's designed to love him, even though he's still in love with the real Buffy.
" 'cause Buffy-" oop, better not make her jealous.
"The other not-so-pleasant Buffy, anything happened to Dawn, it'd destroy her." He looked down. Even though he knows the robot will accept him, he still got hesitant with being emotionally raw with someone.
"I couldn't live, her being in that much pain. I'd let Glory kill me first. Nearly bloody did." Spike said.
He wasn't exactly sure what he expected next; what the robot would do. Would she want to hurt Buffy or Glory? Would she get jealous, or sexy, or try to fight him as they had before? Instead, she stepped forward, and gave him a sweet, loving kiss. He's kissed his Buffy-bot many times, but this one sent sparks straight through him. Almost like kissing the real-
Spike pulled out of the kiss and stared at the woman before him. It really was Buffy; and she kissed him of her own free will.
For a moment, his mind was completely blank. On one hand, he should feel like a heel for not realizing this was Buffy sooner, but... does that mean she cares for him? Or is she starting to love him back? Wait, no, she finds him disgusting, that's why he got Buffy-not to begin with.
"And my robot?" Spike asked as she started to leave and she turned around.
"The robot is gone. The robot was gross and obscene." Buffy said and Spike looked away.
"It wasn't suppose to-"
"Don't." Buffy interrupted him.
"That thing- it wasn't even real." She reiterated and Spike felt like a school boy being punished for setting himself in front of his whole class. Buffy was leaving again, and Spike was doing what he could to prevent himself from crying in front of her. Then, for some reason, Buffy hesitated.
"What you did, for me and Dawn- That was real." Buffy said, and Spike looked at her.
"I won't forget it." She looked back to say this, and then she left for good.
Spike wasn't even aware of how long he stared at the door, after she closed it. It felt like his heart was racing, even though he lacked a heartbeat. And though he was tired, broken, and weak, he was feeling something new... hope... which he hasn't felt for a long time.
Buffy's POV
The guy was so thrashed.
For some reason it was these words that kept ringing in Buffy's mind as she made her way to the crypt. It was actually Willow's idea to trade places with Buffy-bot to get Spike talking and learn the truth; like when she replaced her parallel vampire-self years ago. A part of Buffy wasn't even sure why she was bothering with this song and dance. Spike knows that Dawn is the key, and there is no way he didn't tell Glory. Spike was an evil vampire; always has been, always will be.
I kind of feel bad for the guy... the guy was so thrashed.
How is it, Xander of all people, would feel bad for Spike? Actually, why did it make her feel so guilty? It wasn't her fault Spike ordered a Buffy-bot. It wasn't her fault Glory's minions saw Buffy-bot and Spike getting it on and made a mistake. Regardless, she needed to know for sure if Spike tatted them out or not. If he did, she'll kill him and escape with Dawn to... who knows where. That's the only reason she's seeing Spike now.
God, I feel kind of bad for the guy. Gets all whupped, and his best toy gets taken away... Travesty, completely on board; it's just... the guy was so thrashed.
It's... the only reason. Buffy took a breath and entered the familiar crypt and went right over to Spike.
"Spike." She said, pretending to be the robot.
"You're covered in sexy wounds." Buffy said.
Actually, she intended to say this a tough faster, but she realized Xander was right... Spike was totally thrashed. The vampire turned toward the sound of her voice and started to sit up.
"Yeah. I feel real sexy. Where you been?" Spike asked.
"I fell down and got confused. Willow fixed me. She's gay." Buffy said and Spike furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head.
"Wil fixed you? I thought they'd melt you into scrap." Spike said.
"They were confused too. Do you wanna ravage me now?" Buffy understood that Spike was too weak to want any sort of sexual activity, but she still couldn't believe she was able to form the words so easily; even though it creeped her out.
"Give us a minute. Got some bones that need mending." Spike said and Buffy did her best to look disappointed.
"Why did you let that Glory hurt you?" Buffy asked, ready to get what she came for.
"She wanted to know who the key was." Spike replied simply.
"Well, I can tell her and then you won't-"
"No!" Spike shouted and then he coughed harshly. Here it comes. This is the moment where he confesses to giving Dawn up to save his own hide.
"You can't ever. Glory never finds out." Spike said.
"Why?" Buffy asked; half because a robot would ask and half because she needed to know.
" 'cause Buffy, the other not-so-pleasant Buffy, anything happened to Dawn it'd destroy her." Spike said and Buffy was taken back at this response.
"I couldn't live, her being in that much pain. I'd let Glory kill me first. Nearly bloody did." Spike finished and Buffy didn't know what to say.
For the first time, Buffy really did believe Spike, when he said he loved her. He truly loved her, with his whole soul, or whatever vampires have; and... it didn't disgust her. If anything, it made her feel loved.
Buffy walked over and gave Spike a soft kiss. The kiss itself was rather quick. It only took Spike a second before he realized she was the real Buffy instead of the robot; and then he pulled away to stare at her. The look on his face said it all 'Buffy? You kissed me?'. She stood there seriously. A small way of saying 'yes, I did'. Then Spike's was expression turned to 'why', to which Buffy had no real answer. So she turned and started leaving.
"And my robot?" Spike asked and Buffy couldn't believe he asked this... well, yeah, she could.
"The robot is gone. The robot was gross and obscene." She said sternly.
"It wasn't suppose to-"
"Don't. That thing- it wasn't even real." Buffy said and she turned to leave.
But as she was walking away, a small part of Buffy was reaching out to Spike. Whether that part was gratitude, guilt, or some sort of understanding that comes from knowing someone for so long... Buffy found herself concerned with leaving Spike this way; and the fact that he hadn't attempted to insult her or argue with her at all.
Why didn't he say something rude? 'Sure she was a robot, but she was more human then you' or 'Real? You're one to talk about real. I bet you dye your hair' or 'since when do you care about dating things? Look at the people you and your friends have liked, I'd hardly call any of them human'. But Spike remained silent, and it almost felt wrong in some way.
"W... What you did for me and Dawn..." Buffy started.
"That was real." She said. She felt Spike's one-eyed Starr on her, and she met his gaze.
"I won't forget it." She added, and with that, she left the crypt. She wasn't sure why he needed to know it, but she had to tell him. She just hoped that she wouldn't come to regret that, or the kiss.
The Parody
Buffy, pretending to be a sex robot, waltz into Spike's crypt and over to the beaten boy. She had caught a glimpse of him before, but now his bruises were starting to form and grow darker as other parts started to swell. He really did look terrible.
"Spike, you're covered in sexy wounds." Buffy said and Spike stirred at the sound of her voice.
"Yeah. I feel real sexy. Where you been?" Spike asked, too beaten to realize this was a trick.
"I fell down and got confused. Willow fixed me. She's gay." Buffy said, trying to sound perky without laughing at her own blunt words.
"Wil fixed you? I thought they'd melt you into scrap." Spike said, a tad suspicious, but nothing more.
"They were confused too. Do you wanna ravage me now?" Buffy said.
"Give us a minute. Got some bones that need mending." Spike said.
"Why did you let that Glory hurt you?" Buffy asked.
"She wanted to know who the key was." Spike explained.
"Well, I can tell her and then you won't-"
"No! You can't ever. Glory never finds out." Spike said.
"Why?" Buffy said, slightly impatiently.
" 'cause Buffy, the other not-so-pleasant Buffy, anything happen to Dawn, it'd destroy her. I couldn't live; her being in that much pain. I'd let Glory kill me first. Nearly bloody did." Spike said and Buffy didn't know what to say.
"Oh." She said and Spike looked away.
"Yeah." He muttered. Buffy turned her head and she saw Spike's fridge.
"Are you hungry?" Buffy asked. She's had to feed Spike before, so she was fairly experienced to make him something he'd like; even if it's just blood in a mug. Spike looked at her and hesitated.
"A little, but I think I'll eat later. Right now I'm just really tired. Come on, help me into bed and I'll tell you how I pissed off Glory." Spike said, reaching over and holding Buffy's soft hand.
Spike moved slowly, because of his injuries, so he didn't really notice the subtle way Buffy hesitated with following Spike to his bedroom. She opened the hatch and the two carefully descended the latter, and Spike leaned his weight into Buffy as they went to his bed.
"Alright, love, lets see." Spike started, as he eased onto the bed.
"Well, Glory didn't like me right away. See, her minions grabbed me because they saw us together and thought I was the key. How the hell did she figure out the key was a person? Last I heard, she didn't know what form it had taken." Spike said, weakly taking off his shoes as he spoke.
" 'can't even brain-suck a vampire', I tried to leave, but those ugly weirdos told her how you thought I was precious; so she decided to keep me around." Spike said and Buffy scoffed.
"I don't think you're precious." Buffy stayed and Spike looked at her.
"What?" He asked and Buffy paused. What would the Buffy-bot say?
"I think you're evil, Big Bad." Buffy said flirtatiously, which felt ridiculous. Spike eyed her a moment, and then he smiled at the dear girl.
"You're right, I am evil." Spike commented. He bent slightly to remove his socks, but then it put too much pressure on his body, and he started coughing.
"Here, Spikey, I'll help." Buffy said as perky as she could, though she hates the thought of doing that.
"Thank you, love. Where was I? Right. Glory wanted to take a peek at me, and I told her to sod off. She busted my lip and threw me across the room with a single punch." Spike said. Buffy did her best to hide her disgust of Spike's socks and then rubbed her hands on her dress a bit.
"Course then she threw me on the bed and somehow stuck her hand within my body without ever cutting me open." Spike said and Buffy blinked at his words.
"We should kill her." Buffy said and Spike smiled a bit.
"Good idea. But quite honestly that's really a job for the other Buffy. And, as much as I would love to stand by her side and help her fight the tramp, she has made it very clear that she does not need nor want my help." Spike said. Buffy sat on the bed next to Spike.
"You would still help her after everything Glory put you through?" Buffy asked.
"Are you kidding?" Spike asked and Buffy shrugged.
"I don't know, do I kid?" Buffy asked.
"I don't remember. You got the fighting, the knowledge, some banter, but K don't recall if you can or not." Spike said, disappointedly and Buffy tilted her head.
"So you would help her?" She asked again.
"Of course. Even after the stuff Glory put me through, what she put me through, and her friends... you know they even gave me a hard time about leaving flowers of dear Joyce. Claimed I was only after Buffy- well, excuse me if she was an amazing person, and I liked her... but at the end of the day, I'd always help Buffy if she wanted my help... she just doesn't." Spike said and when Spike spoke of her mother, she felt like crying, but resisted.
"Well, get to the part with you angering Glory?" Buffy said, wanting to move past that.
"Heh, for starters, I told her that Bob Barker was the key. She's not very bright, thought it would be worth a try, and I don't really like The Price I'd Right anyways; so two birds, you know." Spike said. He looked down at his torn shirt, sighed and tugged at the tear, so he could rip the shirt off his body.
"By that point they had my hands tied in chains above my head, and I noticed they were kinda loose. If I could get her to hit me, like before, I could slide out of the chains and escape." Spike said. Finally the shirt ripped, and Spike painfully shrugged it off his body.
"She realized I was lying though, and I laughed in her face." Spike smirked, which kinda made Buffy smile too. He shifted, laid down on the bed, and so did Buffy. He sighed deeply and Buffy laid beside him.
"I told her 'And guess what, bitch? I'm not telling you jack. You're never gonna get your sodding key, 'cause you might be strong, but in our world... you're an idiot." Spike retold, and part of Buffy couldn't believe that Spike could be so frustrating, even after being tortured like that. Spike softly grabbed Buffy's arm and gently wrapped it around him, so that she were holding him; a sensation she wasn't prepared for.
"I called her the God of bad home perms, which she haaated. 'Sorry; but I just had no idea that Gods were such prancing lightweights. Mark my words. The slayer is going to kick your skanky, lopsided ass back to whatever place would take a cheap, whorish, fashion victim, ex-God like you'. Heh... course then she kicked me, which hurt, but I was free. I fell down the elevator shaft, broke into the actual elevator, and I was prepared to fight off Glory's minions, or as I call them 'mini-God wannabes'. Course that's when the lot of you came in, and I knew I was saved... sort of." Spike said.
"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.
"Part of me knew I was saved, but another part of me was sure Buffy would stake me the second she laid eyes on me. See, unlike you, when she puts a stake against my heart, she would actually kill me." Spike said and Buffy tucked some hair behind her ear.
"That's not nice of her." Buffy said. Spike lifted her hand up to his mouth and kissed it sweetly.
"Relax, love. Besides, I know it's not in the slayer's job description to be nice... if anything, it seems to me, like Buffy... well... is more heartfelt and loving then the other slayers I've met... actually, she's more caring then most people I know." Spike said, unable to see the small blush which dusted Buffy's face. Did Spike always talk and act this way to his Buffy-bot? Or is it just because he's too weak to do anything.
"Like the people you knew when you were alive?" Buffy asked and Spike laughed at the response and then coughed from laughing.
"Excuse me. Ugh, those bleeding fools I knew when I was human MAY have had compassionate loving hearts; but no one, not a single soul, shared it with me. 'You know they call him William the Bloody because of that Bloody awful poetry. I'd rather have my head shoved into a railroad spike'. Well, they suggested it, I just did it. They insulted my writing, they insulted me, women I loved told me I was beneath them... I guess that's why it hurt so much when I tried to kiss Buffy and she told me I was beneath her. The second I collected myself, I went home, grabbed a weapon, and went straight over to Buffy's to kill her." Spike said, occasionally squeezing Buffy's hand when he got emotional.
"Even with the chip in your brain?" Buffy asked and Spike shrugged.
"I had decided that if I was so beneath her, then putting her six feet under was worth the two week headache it would cause me." Spike said.
"But you didn't kill her." Buffy said and Spike sighed.
"Nope." He said simply.
"Why not?" She asked and he hesitated.
"Well... I was on my way to kill her and everything, I got her house and she was sitting outside... I was gonna shoot her, and then... she lift her head, and I saw the tears all over her face. I don't know, suddenly I wasn't angry anymore. Suddenly I wanted to comfort her instead of hurt her. Suddenly it seemed more important to support her and be there for her instead of taking my petty revenge." Spike said, and for a moment they were silent.
Buffy recalled that Spike had a weapon in his hand that night, but she didn't really stop to think that he was gonna kill her. Since the chip prevented him from hurting humans, she had naturally believed that the weapon was for his new love of hunting demons and vampires; and somewhere between coming and going, he walked by her house.
Actually; now that she thought about it, she didn't really question Spike being there that night. He showed up, asked her what was wrong and how he could help. Really, they just say in silence together until Buffy was ready to go back inside. They didn't talk, or argue, or hold hands, or anything. They just sat, side by side, being with each other. Buffy would never admit it to her friends, but it did help.
After about 20 minutes, Buffy looked down at Spike and realized that he was asleep. He clearly needed a lot of rest while he healed, and Buffy figures that it was best to leave sleeping vampires lie. She gently pulled away from Spike, who gave a weak grunt in disapproval, but stayed asleep. She was prepared to leave without so much as a goodbye, but then she started to feel guilty.
In Spike's mind, he went to bed in the arms of his Buffy-bot, feeling whatever fake love and security anyone could possibly feel at the hands of a robot. Though wounded, Spike might try to get up and find her, leaving him vulnerable to the various enemies he's gained since that behavioral chip was implanted.
Buffy understood the reality that, if Spike left his crypt and risked his health and life for a cheap sex robot, then that was his own fault. And yet, despite Spike being evil, and obnoxious, and annoying... Buffy couldn't do that to him. She needed to do something to let Spike know that his robot was never coming back.
After an unmeasurable amount of time, Spike awoke. His head felt like it was full of lead and he could barely shift his body to it's side. But something felt off; not like the sensation was unusual after everything he's been through recently, there was something about his bed that seemed strangely empty.
Spike unwillingly opened his good and he saw Buffy had left. With a groan, he went up to his arm and hissed at the pain. She must have gone out slaying, like she had yesterday; how frustrating. Even if she slayed a vamp or two, she was damaged too; so who knows how well she can defend herself. Not to mention the fact that, if Buffy and her friends find her, they might try to melt her down anyways.
He sat up weakly and whimpered pathetically. God, it hurt so much, yet he was disgusted at just how fragile he felt. Spike looked around, and that's when he saw it. Within arms-reach, was a mug of blood and a note. Spike went ahead and grabbed both. He lifted the mug to his nose and inhaled the scent deeply, which caused his mouth to drool before he took a single sip. It was lukewarm, on the edge of cold, but Spike was grateful for it. He looked down at the note.
Dear Spike,
I hope the blood is ok. I made it extra hot, so that it would hopefully be warm by the time you woke up. I wanted to leave you a bit before I left, to tell you the robot it gone. The robot was gross and obscene, and it wasn't even real- Don't argue. But I'll tell you one thing. What you did for Dawn and I, was real; and I won't forget it.
Spike reread the note over and over, somehow hoping he had misread it, somehow. That really was Buffy? He was rather embarrassed that he told Buffy all that stuff last night... and yet... she actually took care of him, and let him fall asleep in her arms.
He had learned long ago that Buffy went on instinct, and she was full of surprises, but this...? This was something he never thought Buffy would do. Still, even though it was embarrassing, it also gave him a small sense of hope that... maybe... maybe Buffy could love him.
And, in a way, that's all he wanted from her.
Hope.