gaining

Different Rules

Disclaimer: Characters and Premise are borrowed from the show "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel".

Seconds after the Plymouth had bounced to a stop in Pylea's sun filled meadows Spike scrambled out of the car, only to collapse in a heap a moment later.

"For the love of…" Wesley exclaimed irritable. "I told you the sun can't hurt you here."

Willow knelt beside Spike. Gently, she laid a hand on his shoulder and was shocked to find that he was shaking. "It's really okay. You're not burning or anything," she reassured him.

As she leaned closer to the blond vampire, Willow began to make out words under his ragged panting. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Spike was practically crying.

"Spike?" Willow's voice rose in concern. "Something's really wrong with him." She pulled him into a sitting position, forcing him to meet her eyes. "What's wrong?" She asked him.

Wesley watched the vampire with a thoughtful frown while Cordelia fidgeted impatiently in the car. Xander and Gunn had been left in LA to deal with a case that had come up at the last minute.

"Get it out of me!" Spike demanded in a panicked voice.

"Get what out?" Willow asked.

"Get it out!" Spike repeated clutching at his temples, digging his nails into the skin until blood was drawn. "Make it quit!"

Willow grabbed his wrists and forced his hands down before he could do any further damage.

"That's disgusting," Cordelia commented, wrinkling her nose at the bloody furrows Spike had clawed into his flesh.

"We'll fix it," Willow promised and Spike collapsed into her arms sobbing.

"Cecily, Richards, so many others, killed 'em, killed 'em all." He sobbed. "So many bodies, bloody, torn, pathetic bodies. Dru liked it when I make them scream for her, when the blood ran freely and made pictures for her."

"What's wrong with him?" Willow asked, rocking Spike soothingly.

"I have a theory," Wesley said. "In Pylea Angel could walk in the sun and see his reflection, but when he changed he became something totally inhuman, not only in appearance, in mind as well. What if there were equal mental changes in his human state? Do to the curse, it wouldn't have created an obvious change in his behavior."

"You think Spike has a soul here?" Willow realized.

"It seems to follow from what we've seen," Wesley said.

"So what do we do with him?" Cordelia asked. "He's going to slow us down if he's going to keep acting like that."

"We can leave him with the car," Wesley suggested.

"No!" Willow exclaimed. "He might hurt himself. Look, I've got an idea."

_____________________________________________________________________________

"There's something wrong with me," Angel said seriously.

Fred's huge dark eyes filled with concern.

"I guess the sun here isn't harmless after all," Angel continued. "I don't know how bad this is going to get, but I feel like I'm burning, even in the shade and my skin's slowly turning to dust." Angel gestured to the painfully red and peeling skin on his nose, cheeks and shoulders.

Fred sighed with relief. "Angel do you remember what happened when you stayed outside too long as a kid?" she asked, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from giggling.

Angel shook his head. Her reaction eased his fears; if Fred was laughing at him it couldn't be as serious as he'd believed it to be.

"It won't get any worse," Fred promised. "You just go a little sunburned."

Angel stared at his reddened skin for a few moments in the surface of a pool of water then looked back at Fred. "This is a sunburn?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Uh-huh," Fred nodded, still fighting the giggles.

"It's not fatal?"

"Nope, course we should find you a hat or something," Fred replied. "Sunburn is extremely unpleasant."

"I've got a sunburn," Angel said with a huge grin. "And it didn't involve bursting into flames." Fred, seeing that Angel wasn't worried anymore, gave in to her impending giggle-fit.

"Do you think I could get a tan?" Angel asked hopefully and Fred simply howled with laughter.

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