Disclaimer: All the characters in this fanfiction universe belong to Joss, the WB television network and everyone else who holds copyright to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series and the Angel series. No copyright infringement is intended.
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Xander went down the short wooden steps, turned and locked the door to the on-site construction headquarters. He been working late getting some paperwork on the new building they were doing and hoped Anya wouldn't be too angry when he got home. She'd been pouting since he been pulling some long hours on this job, but the prospect of getting more money mollified her a little.
He walked over to unchain the gate so he could drive out into the alley, and heard the sounds of a fight. He stepped out into the alley was shocked by the sight of a gang kicking and beating somebody who was down on the ground.
He yelled out "Hey!", startling the young toughs who quickly scattered into the night. Punks he thought to himself before remembering he was not a heck of a lot older then them. He ran over to the man lying in the trash heap. He knelt down and turned the man over and was stunned to find out that it was Spike. His hair was a mess and so was his face. There was also a definite aroma of alcohol around him.
Xander thought Spike got drunk and stupidly picked a fight with the wrong people and paid for it. Since Spike couldn't defend himself, he got himself pretty thrashed. Well, I'll just drop him off at his crypt. He thought as he went back for his car. He parked close to Spike, got out, opened the passenger side and started manuvering Spike into the car. Xander noticed that Spike didn't seem that heavy, like he lost weight. Vampires lose weight? Nah, shaking his head. He slammed the door shut and drove out to the cemetary.
He drove as close as he could to the place where Spike's crypt was and got out. Xander noticed right off that something was wrong. The crypt door was torn off. Leaving Spike in the car, he carefully walked into the crypt, thinking there might be some demon squatters living there.
The crypt was in a worse mess than Spike. Empty liquor bottles littered the place. Stuff was lying around broken. Even Spike's television was smashed to bits. Xander couldn't leave Spike in there and wondered what the hell he was going to do now?
>Mr. G. Xander thought, he'll know what to do. Getting back into the car, Xander drove to Giles' place. Spike moved and moaned a little bit beside him. At least he's still undead he said to himself as he approached Giles apartment.
He got out and got Spike out of the car. Spike was conscious enough to be able to stand on his own, but just barely. Xander managed to get them both up to Giles' door and knocked on it. Giles opened the door and a look of confusion swept over his face.
"Can we come in Mr. G?", Xander said.
"Of C-Course, please do" standing back and giving Xander a hand with Spike. They dragged him over to the couch and put him there.
"I was getting off my job, you know, at the construction site. Spike was being worked over by a gang of teenagers", Xander said. "He also been hitting the sauce pretty heavily".
"Why bring him here? You could have dropped him off at his crypt". Giles, said with a perplexed look.
"I don't think so. I was just there and it is not even fit for the dead, let alone the undead. I think Spike's in a lot more trouble that just being beaten. I've got all these weird deja-vu things coming at me. My old man spent a lot a time in the same drinking/getting beaten boat. "
"Well he can stay just for tonight and we'll figure out what to do with him in the morning", said Giles.
"Can I use your phone to call Anya? I wanna let her know what's up. " Xander asked.
"Go ahead", said Giles, indicating the phone.
While Xander made his call to Anya, Giles got a wet towel and went over to Spike. He didn't want to have bloodstains all over his couch if Spike was going to be sleeping there all night. He went over to Spike, who was lying on his back stretched out on the couch. Giles gently moved his head and started washing off the blood. As he did so, he noticed something strange. Bruises were starting to appear, but some of them looked to be old ones. Vampires were supposed to heal fairly quickly and any previous bruises should have been gone by now. Perhaps Xander was right.
Xander got off the phone and asked "What's up Doc?"
"Something disturbing" Giles said in a serious tone. "This isn't the first time Spike has been beaten and some of the bruising is still there"
"How's that possible? Aren't vampires pretty good self-healers?"
"Normally, yes. But something is definitely wrong with Spike. Lets get him into the spare bedroom. I want to get a closer look at the rest of him."
Xander helped Giles move Spike into the bedroom and put him on the bed. With some difficulty, Giles removed Spike's black shirt and jeans . Spike was definitely a lot thinner now. The chest also showed some black and blue bruises. His ribs were more visible and Giles felt that he had at least one fractured rib and another one that seems to have not healed properly.
Giles thought Spike was either seriously ill or he simply was not getting enough blood to eat. Both ideas appeared ludicrous if Giles hadn't seen the evidence of it.
"Well, I think he'll be fine physically, but I don't know what he'll be like when he wakes up." Said Giles who stared polishing his glasses.
"When who'll wake up?", said a young voice at the door.
It was Dawn. She stood in the doorway pushing her long black hair back on her face, which had a questioning look on it. She was currently living with Giles after the court granted Giles guardianship over her. The court had declared Hank Summers to be an unfit father and awarded custody of Dawn to Giles. Giles relationship with Dawn was not an easy one. Both had considerable guilt over Buffy's death. But Giles felt Dawn was his responsibility now and Dawn was happy not to be in some orphanage or foster home.
Dawn walked further into the room and looking around Giles was shocked to see Spike there. Before Giles and Xander had a chance, she ran over to him not realizing until she was at the beside that Spike was naked. A blush crimsoned on her face and she spun around, her fists clenching at her sides. Giles and Xander quickly got Spike under the covers.
She turned around and asked "What happened?"
Giles and Xander looked at each other. Giles said. "We're not quite sure, Xander found Spike being beaten by a gang and brought him over here.""
"Will he be okay?" Dawn said, struggling not to cry. After the death of her mom and Buffy, she didn't know if she could take another one. Like Buffy once said, Spike can be gross and obscene, but he helped her out a lot of times and treated her like a normal girl, not a freak.
"I believe so, with time" Giles said cautiously, not entirely sure he should tell Dawn that Spike was worse than he looked.
"The evil undead will be fine Dawnie" Xander said, giving her a hug. "You can't keep a bad vampire down. Well I've got get back to the missus. Will you be okay Mr. G? I'll come back tomorrow and see how things are going."
"Thanks, Xander I-I'm sure it will be fine. Good night", Giles said in a slightly distracted voice.
Xander gave Dawn a kiss on the head and let himself out of the apartment. Dawn stood next to the bed and kept looking at Spike. She turned her head and asked "Can I stay with him tonight?"
Giles cleared his throat, preparing to object when he saw the pleading look on his face. He relented, "Well since it is Friday. You can stay up just for tonight. If Spike wakes up, promise me you'll get me immediately. I'll be sleeping on the couch."
Dawn promised and pulled up a chair so she could sit next to Spike. Giles left, leaving the door opened. After a while, Dawn got up and closed it slightly. She sat back on the chair and continued to look at Spike. Dawn felt that there was something that Xander and Giles weren't telling her. She seemed to have a sixth sense about stuff like that.
Dawn was afraid that Spike must be worse than Giles said. She nervously picked up the bedsheets that covered Spike chest and pulled them back. She gasped a little to see how thin Spike looked. She immediately knew that Spike wasn't eating. She was like that for a while after Buffy died. She refused to eat, refused to talk to anybody and shut herself up in the room all the time. It took her a long time and the persistance of the scoobies before she could 'live' again. Spike must have loved Buffy a lot and missed her enough to start hurting himself.
She wanted so much to help Spike, but she didn't know what to do. Dawn sat there thinking, when she saw Spike beginning to stir. He must be coming out of it, Dawn thought, wondering how he would react when he saw her. Dawn had a feeling of Deja Vu., something about Angel. Suddenly she had an idea. She crept out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. She saw Giles on the couch with a blanket over him, gently snoring. She quietly looked into to the silverware drawer, got a small knife and crept back into the bedroom.
Spike was moving around some more and Dawn knew that she didn't have much time. Bracing herself, she made a shallow cut across her left wrist and pressed it to Spike's mouth. Spike, with his eyes still closed and partially unconscious, automatically began sucking on the wound. His vamp face appeared he grabbed her wrist and continued sucking.
A weird feeling came over Dawn, the cut was painful but the sucking wasn't. She could almost feel the blood being drawn out of her. This was the most bizarre thing she has ever done, but it felt right somehow. She knew Giles would be horrified at what she had done and hoped to keep this a secret. She started to feel dizzy and knew she couldn't let him do this for much longer before she passed out. With a great struggle, she wrenched her wrist from Spike's grasp. He suddenly opened his eyes, sat bolt upright, fully awake. There was a little trickle of blood on his mouth.
It took him a few minutes to become aware of himself and his surroundings. "What happened, where am I?" Spike said looking around in a daze.
"You're in Giles' bedroom. Xander picked you up after some kind of gang beat you up. Are you okay?" Dawn said, stopping the bleeding from her wrist with her other hand. She felt a little light-headed but alright.
He vaguely remembered what had happened tonight at the bar. He had been on a long bender that he hardly drank anything but alcohol. Still orienting himself, he notice Dawn's bloody wrist and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He was shocked to see blood there and knew what happened. He became angry with himself. He would have never done that to Little Bit when he was awake. At the same time, he remembered how good the blood tasted. He blinked back tears as it had been so long since he had warm, living blood. He felt ashamed that he had gotten so bad that Dawn had to bleed herself to save him. Spike forced his face back into it's normal human one.
Dawn watching the different emotions come and go over Spike's fact and noticed that the bruising he had on his face seemed to be disappearing almost before her eyes. "Spike, what's happening to you?, the bruises are going away!"
Spike saw that himself. The black and blue areas were shrinking and he felt his ribs healing. He lifted the covers and saw the same think happening to the rest of his body. He wondered what could have caused this and then it hit him. It must be Dawn's blood. Her blood still possessed the energy of the key. It was that energy that was now in his body that was causing it to heal.
"It must be your blood, platelet, or that stuff that's in your blood." Spike said in a wondering voice.
Dawn had never thought of that. She thought that once she had been bled to open the portal, that the energy was no longer 'work' anymore. She became elated. Finally, she was actually able to do some real good to someone she loved. Now that she was able to make Spike better, she felt a whole lot better herself.
"Want some more?" Dawn asked, foolishly.
"No, Bloody Hell, No" Spike said, horrified at the thought. "I'll be okay."
Dawn felt dizzy and felt herself unable to sit on the chair. Spike grabbed her, steadying her and pulling her on the bed without falling out of it himself. Spike managed to get her on the other side of the bed.
"Stay there, I'll be back" Spike said as Dawn nodded groggily and closed her eyes. Spike arranged the pillow under her head and she dropped off almost immediately. Spike used the opportunity to get out of the bed and get dressed. He went to the bathroom and got some bandages. When he returned, he gently cleaned Dawn's wrist and wrapped it in the bandages.
He sat on the chair that Dawn was sitting only a few minutes ago. He remembered his promise to Buffy to
protect Dawn and silently renewed that promise to himself. Spike saw that Dawn had a smile on her face
and she still had that smile when the new dawn came.