Disclaimer: Ack.. who cares? If they wanna sue me they can try and find me.
AN: All work and no play makes Izzy a dull girl……. Grrr.. Late nights plus writers block, plus no sugar makes a very very bad combination. But I did it finally. I'm already working on the next chapter.. hopefully it'll come out a hell-of-a-lot faster than this one. Oh! And Angel the Embraced? Should be up soon after this one. Thanx! And Enjoy!
By the way… I'm terrible at fight scenes, so, bare with me.
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Hyperion-
Waiting was all there was left to do. Buffy left less than an hour ago and the Bat Pack had done close to nothing. Wesley was anxiously reading a decrepit book, Gunn was silently falling asleep on the sofa in the lobby, and Cordy was trying to read her magazine. She was having problems focusing on the famous faces and the juicy tid-bits about them, because the thought of both Buffy and Spike in town looking for Angel meant something was up, something bad. After all the last two times Buffy was here Angel was almost killed.
-That girl just attracts bad news- Cordy thought. Not only did she think the appearances of her two, ahem, foes, was strange but also the interaction between them. Spike was almost casual with Buffy, as if they did that on a regular basis. Now they were out looking for Angel. What if they both find him? What will happen? Will Angel be okay? The thoughts were keeping her from having any fun, but she couldn't ignore them. They were about her friend, one of the few people in her life who supports what she does. She suddenly slapped her hand on the desk, at which she was standing. Gunn nearly fell off the couch.
" Where are they?" she said impatiently.
" Cordelia, you know it can take days to track this kind of demon." Wesley said matter-of-factly. " We can't possibly now where they are."
" You could have just said 'I don't know'." Cordy rolled her eyes. " I just have a funny feeling about this."
" Funny feeling? Is it a vision?" Wesley came up to her. But she pushed him away.
" Do you see me lying on the floor, clutching my head, and drooling? I think not."
" What kind of funny is it?" Gunn asked, stretching. "Funny 'ha-ha' or funny 'peculiar'?" Cordy rolled her eyes at him and turned back to Wesley.
" No, it's just that I feel like there's that something bad is going to happen to Angel."
" Why would you think that?"
" Well, let's think, last time Spike was here he nearly tortured our boss to death. Oh, yeah, neither of you were here for that." Cordy looked sad for a moment, thinking about Doyle. She shrugged it off and continued talking.
" And the last time Buffy came here Angel was left dangling on a helicopter, and fell five stories off a building, into the clutches of the police. Does that sound like a happy visit?" She had a point, Wesley admitted.
" I mean this is Buffy and Angel we're talking about. I seem to remember Angel missing a soul because of her. The least she could do is stay away." Cordy stopped. She realized just how she sounded. Like a jealous girlfriend. She knew there was nothing she could say that would make it sound any better.
" I'm just worried."
" It's understandable Cordelia. He is our boss-"
" No," she cut in. " he is our friend, and I don't want to see my friends hurt." She went to her chair and grabbed the stylish leather coat that was lying there. She put it on and started out of the Lobby.
" Where are you going?"
" I'm going to see if my friend is okay. You two can do what every you like." She said harshly to them as she opened the front door. She almost collided headfirst with a very irritated Slayer.
" God! Watch it!" Buffy said.
" Buffy? I was just coming to look for you." Cordy stuttered. Behind Buffy she saw a blonde head dodge a meaty fist. Buffy spun around and tried to stop the fistfight.
" Boys!" she yelled over the struggling. "Stop it!" The men locked arms and Buffy punched Spike.
" Hey!" Cordy said when Buffy slugged Angel as well. This made the vamps unlock arms, each holding their own injury, allowing Buffy slip in between the two. Immediately the two men tried to get back at each other, squeezing Buffy between them. Her back was pressed against Angel's front and she was pushing on Spike's chest with her feet and her hands. The men glared at each other over her short blonde head. They didn't try to hit one another for fear they would hit Buffy.
Cordy could see she was pushing both men with all her slayer-strength. She decided to help. Cordy went behind Spike and wrapped her arm around his throat. She put her full weight on her arm, choking him. He didn't move a muscle because he didn't need to breathe. She paused and twisted her leg around his leg and placed all her weight back on his throat. But this time, instead of squeezing his neck, she pulled him back. He wasn't prepared for her pull and fell. Cordy wasn't expecting him to move she lost her balance and went flying with Spike.
" Angel," she heard Buffy say. Cordelia expected to feel the hard ground beneath her, but she didn't. Instead she felt a soft cotton shirt on a hard cold chest. Spike had caught Cordy midair and turned both of them so he landed on the ground.
Looking up she almost was at the end of a hard fist. She ducked into Spike's chest, clutching his shirt. Buffy was screaming at Angel, trying to get him away from Spike. Cordy suddenly felt a cool hand under the bottom of her shirt touching her spine. She looked up. Clear ice-blue eyes gazed back at her, full of humor. She dug her elbow into his side and slapped his face simultaneously. Spike laughed and groaned at the same time. When Cordelia tried to get up Spike hung on to her shirt for a second. Angel saw it and went into a rage. He came charging at the pair.
" Angel! Stop!" Cordy screamed, alarmed. Angel stopped dead in his tracks. It helped that Buffy was trying to pull him back. Angel looked at Cordy, his rage making his usually soft brown eyes hard. It scared her to be in front of such a glare. She heard Spike stand up behind her. Angel was moving again.
This time, instead of Buffy, Cordelia was now caught between two angry male bodies. She didn't try to push then away. She just simply looked into Angel's eyes and asked for him to stop.
" Angel," she said quietly. " Please stop this now. Before I get hurt." She knew that would get a reaction out of him. Without looking down to her he backed off.
Wesley and Gunn came flying out of the Hotel, late as usual.
" What happened?" Wesley asked, slightly huffing for his run.
" Male Bonding," Buffy muttered. She then shrugged, wrapped her arm around Angel's arm and led him into the hotel. Spike snickered behind Cordy.
" Someone had to put the leash back on 'em didn't she?" Cordy spun around and gave Spike a look that would have set him on fire.
" You *ever* touch me again, I'll not only let Angel loose on your sorry ass, but I'll help myself to a certain member of your body. Got it?" Spike could only nod. He was surprised at her attack, and a little scared. She really looked like she meant it. She spun around and left Spike alone with Gunn and Wesley. They looked at him with a mixture of sympathy and curiosity.
" You *touched* her?" Gunn asked, more mad than he thought.
" What do you care?"
" Cordelia is my friend. I don't care for two-bit soulless vampire to be touchin' her."
" Whatever," Spike muttered and entered the Hotel.
Three hours later….
Spike was not happy, but then again, neither was Buffy or Angel. As he looked around the ruined lobby of the Hyperion, he had to chuckle. Plant pieces where all over the stained carpet. Papers were everywhere from when Spike got behind the desk and Angel pursued him. Spike wasn't really sure why he hadn't told Angel, - other than I hate him- he thought. But the proposition of causing damage was just too fun to pass up.
They had just tied him up with help from the rest of the group. It made Spike mad that they now had a prime and unfair opportunity to play 'kick-the-Spike'. But they surprisingly didn't hit Spike. The Bat Pack, Cordy, Wesley, and Gunn, said goodnight to Buffy and Angel and left. Buffy asked if she could stay with him for the night. With a look of apprehension Angel agreed and showed her a room.
Then they turned off all the lights. Spike could see just fine with his preternatural eyesight, but it just pissed him off that they would just leave him here. He strained against his bonds; there was no room for escaping. He could get out of his rope-cuffs tied tightly around his wrists if he broke his wrist and a few fingers. For a moment he contemplated doing just so. But he wasn't about to break his own wrist.
" Oh, Bloody Hell," he said aloud. He relaxed back in his chair. He looked around before continuing. " Bloody Slayer. Makes me come all the way here, almost killing me, to what? Beat the snot out of me?" He snickered.
" I think not. She just wants me to tell the poof about my dreams. She thinks it'll help, that I'll help. What do I care that past nasties are going to come and kick his ass? My dreams are mine. I can stand it if she sees me vulnerable for one instant, but him? There is no way I'm going to tell him. First thing the bloody prat does to me when he sees me is throw me up against a wall." He wished he could be standing and pacing.
" Hell, I never talked to myself before… before Buffy." he couldn't say it aloud. Well, not easily in any case. " C'mon mate, you know you don't have a chance with her. Even if ya did, would you take it?" he asked himself.
" No, I wouldn't. I'd stand idly by watching her get hurt watching her. Caw, I'm not better than Brood-boy. At least had the opportunity to hold her, touch her. She never hated him for what he is. Damn it, Spike, stop thinking out loud!" And there he stopped for a long while. He tried to get out of his bonds but it proved impossible. But suddenly, they loosened considerably. He caught the scent of something familiar. When warm hands touched his own, he knew who it was.
" Nibblet?" She came around front and kept untying his ropes. " What are you doing here?"
" Mom, Buffy, and Dad." Dawn answered.
" Is something wrong?" Spike became alert and took the rest of the ropes off himself. She shook her head and grabbed his hand. She started giggling and ran towards the door, dragging Spike along with her. At the door she stopped and turned quickly to Spike. She put her hands gently on the sides of his face. She smiled as she stood on tiptoe to kiss him. When their lips met Spike was sent into another realm.
Blindingly white light flowed all around him. It seemed to breathe, and flow as if it was living. Then he saw a black cloud hovering over this beautiful being, nearly engulfing it. For some reason it hurt Spike's heart to see this. Suddenly the dark being vanished. He watched as the shimmering white being was formed, molded into a human shape. He saw the memories that were being shaped into this thing. The he saw its face. It was Dawn.
Lips parted and the world was returned.
" See?" She whispered, still close to him. " I'm nothing, but everything, my love." She looked over her shoulder, out the door. " Someone is looking for me. I must go."
" Your sister will be worried sick, Nibblet."
" She's not my sister. I'm nothing Spike, you of all people should know what it means to be nothing." Her words hurt. She kissed his lips quickly and let go of his face.
" Don't go out there Nib- Dawn. It's dangerous. Please don't, the- the sun. Dawn!" She opened the door and went out. Instinctively he followed. Light burned his eyes, but didn't harm him in any other way.
He looked around. He was in an expensive apartment. Clothes were thrown in various places. Off in another room, maybe, he heard screaming. Cautiously, he followed the sound. He looked into a bedroom, there was a woman on the bed writhing in agony. Her body contorting and twisting in different directions. Some short demons pushed their way past Spike to the woman. In their clutches they had an unconscious man. The woman grabbed this man and threw him on the bed with inhuman strength. She pressed herself to him and sank her hands into him. Not just a little bit but her hands were completely inside this young man. Suddenly, the woman stopped moving. The young man, though, stood up out of the bed and addressed the demons.
A flash and a second later, Spike saw Dawn in chains screaming. He tried to go to her but he couldn't move. Xander came into the room. Dawn pleaded with him to let her go, but Xander just smiled and slapped her. This sent Spike into a rage. He tried desperately to hit Xander, but he couldn't seem to touch him.
" You're my little key aren't you?" He heard Xander say.
" No!' Dawn screamed.
" Don't play with me. I've had a lot on my mind and this new body isn't fitting so well. You are going to get me back to hell. And you," He turned to Spike. " I have no need for anymore. Bye, Bye."
With that Xander pushed Spike out a window he never knew was there. While falling he burst into flames. Spike could feel his skin boil and peel. His blood was no longer cool, it was burning him. Searing him from the inside. He felt his nails chip and crack open in the heat. His insides came bubbling out through his charred skin, bursting into flames themselves. He screamed as he never had, before his head became mere dust in the wind.
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He wanted to take one last look around the bright world in which he was falling. He opened his eyes, hearing the crackling sound they made. The light hurt, but it wasn't the pain he had known. Buffy was there, staring at him. He had to smile. It figured she'd be the last thing he saw before departing form the world.
- She seems so real – he thought. He reached out a burnt hand and tried to touch the soft face. He sucked in an unneeded breath when his fingers brushed her face, followed the curve of her jaw. Her hazel eyes were confused, almost sad. Everything seemed so silent. No more cracking, no more boiling. There was just Buffy. Spike didn't care about anything, not even dying. But this was lasting too long. Some thing was wrong.
Or, terribly right. Maybe this was Heaven. His own Heaven. But it was all shattered when Angel broke the spell. Spike returned to reality. This was no Heaven, it was Hell, a world full of torture for him.
Angel broke them apart. He couldn't stand watching Spike caress his ex- that way. The sensitive, loving way he slid his fingers gently across her skin. Angel vividly remembered that skin. Spike was in love; Angel knew it from the innocent gesture. And Angel was going to kill him for it. If it weren't for Buffy he would have.
Buffy lifted Spike up from where he had knocked himself over. He was still tied tightly to the chair. She leaned down and looked at him levelly.
" Okay, you either fell and hit your head very hard, or, you had another dream. Which is it." She said without a hint of threat. He pointedly glared at Angel. Buffy sighed and turned to Angel.
" Angel, could you excuse us?" Angel wasn't looking at her. He was glaring right back at Spike. Trying to say with his eyes 'I know, and I'll use it against you some how'. He handed her a glass of water and nodded in silent fury. He left the room. Spike, unfortunately, caught the message in Angel's look.
" Well? Did you have another dream?" Buffy asked. A little alarmed by the panic in his expression.
" Oh, bloody hell. I died again." He said realizing now that it wasn't a memory, just a dream.
" What happened? Was Angel in it again?" Spike expression went completely blank. He didn't want to talk to her now. His jealousy rose instantly, but since the dream wasn't about him it backed down.
" No your poof didn't make a guest appearance in my dream. But a few familiar faces did."
" Like who?" She sat on the floor in front of Spike. He had to look down to catch her eyes.
" Xander, and Nibblet."
" Dawn?" She asked, easily interpreting his pet name for her. " What happened?" She was afraid, even more so than when he told her of Angel. Spike told her in detail all he could remember. By the end of it, she had her knees up to her chest and her face resting on them. For that moment Buffy didn't look like the Strong and powerful Slayer he knew her to be. She looked like a normal twenty-year-old who was just told a strange story.
" So," she began, trying to sort this all out. " You saw Dawn and she told you she was The Key. And then you saw Glory suck something into Xander and he chained up Dawn?"
" Uh, Yeah, just about. Don't forget I died." He failed to mention he kissed Dawn in his dream. He didn't think it was really wise to say that, seeing that he was tied up and the slayer threw mean punches.
" What's this Key?" Spike asked. Buffy sighed and went into the long explanation that the monk had given her, along with the shortened version of what Giles had been able to find out. It surprised Spike that Dawn could be so powerful. There were so many memories that flooded his head where Dawn was involved some how. It boggled him completely. He wanted to stand and pace while he was thinking, but he was still tied down. Buffy was absentmindedly sipping from the water she had set down.
" Mind untying me?" he said quietly. Buffy had gone into her own thoughts, as Spike did, but she came out of them and obliged him. He immediately stood.
" What should we do?" He muttered.
" We? I don't believe it's your problem." She said.
" What? How can you say it's not my problem?"
" Glory is *my* problem. And Dawn is *my* sister." She pointed out.
" So? These are *my* dreams, so that makes it *my* problem. And Nibblet is *my* friend. Got it Slayer?" Spike stopped pacing for a second. He didn't mean to say that. He didn't even think about until now, but over the past year Dawn had become his friend. He smiled to himself. It had been over a century since he had a friend, a true friend like Dawn.
" Friend?" The Slayer was incredulous. When had Dawn become Spike's friend? She never even talked with him. Well, that much at least.
" Yeah, friend." He dropped it. – If she doesn't like it who cares? – he thought. – Nibblet knows what it feels like to be left out, and intimidated by the Slayer. She knows me for me. And now I know what she is as well. – He thought warmly about the Slayer's little sister. He knew he would give his life protecting her. Just as he would give it for the Slayer. But his love for Dawn was different from his love of Buffy. Where as he wanted Buffy, he needed Dawn. Buffy was his true love all right, but Dawn was his companion, his confidante. To put it yet another way, Buffy he was to love and Dawn he was to lean on in times of pain.
" Fine," she said. " Then I think *we* should call Giles and see what's up." She looked at her watch. " In about three hours." She finished.
" It's a little after 2am now. Damn," she cursed. She yawned and leaned back on the chair Spike used to be tied to. Spike seemed to remember something she had said when he was tied up last, in Giles' apartment.
" A sleepy Slayer is distracted Slayer. Pllleeeaaassseeee Giles! I need sleep! Sleep. Good." She had said. Now she really looked tired. With no conversation came silence, and with silence came sleep. Spike watched as Buffy's head sank with sleep, her hand fell on to her lap, and a little drool came out the corner of her mouth. In a moment she was about to crumble onto the floor. Against his better, smarter, judgment went to her and picked her up. Luckily, she was too sleepy to protest and slipped her arm around his neck. He just wanted to sit and hold her like this, but he knew that if she woke up he would have more than a world of hurt.
" Angel?" she muttered, then falling deeper asleep. Jealousy flared, but was overridden by her warmth and scent. He carried her up the stairs. He followed the way he saw Angel and Buffy go earlier. She left her door open and Spike entered easily.
She was humming in her sleep when he put her down on the bed. When he let go of her she instantly curled into a little ball. He smiled as he covered her with the blanket. He stood back to watch her. Watch her like he never had the nerve to in Sunnydale.
" Having fun?" Angel whispered. He was standing at the doorway. His arms crossed, in a casual stance. " I'd like to speak with you, William." Spike gritted his teeth. He hated that name. Spike rose and went to Angel. Without looking at him Spike moved past him and down the hall. He heard Angel shut Buffy's door. Placidly they went down to the lobby.
Silence fell heavily on them.
" Is there something that you'd like to tell me?" Angel said with barely controlled anger.
" Like what?" Spike looked at his nails, mentally reminding himself to paint them when he got home.
" Like what the hell was that scream about?" Angel leaned on the front desk, gripping the edge. "And what the fuck you think you're doing with Buffy."
" Well, mate, I had a dream, that's all. And Buffy, it's nothing. Just something to confuse her." Angel didn't believe him, not a word.
" William, I'm not as profoundly stupid as you may think. Might you remember that I was in love with her?" Spike nodded.
" Well, believe me I know how you look at her. How you steal touches. I know how you fell also. I went through it too."
" You wouldn't understand, Angelus. She loved you always. She can't see past what I am. She can't see who I am." He had no choice but to admit it. Angel knew this heartache, but it didn't help the fact that Angel was going to kill Spike.
" Damn you. Why do you think you love her? Because she's pretty, because she's smart, compassionate? No, William, you 'love' her because she's danger, a quick thrill that you *have* to tame. Aren't I right?" Angel's words wounded Spike. It wasn't true.
" Couldn't help but follow in my footsteps again could you, Boy?" he spat the name. Spike immediately took a warring stance after taking off his coat.
" I have never followed in *your* footsteps Angelus. My feet were always too big." Angel charged at him. Spike easily kicked him down. This fight wasn't playtime like the last one. This was to the death.