It's the end of the road… and I think I just hit something.

Chapter 21: Fighting Fear

Hospitals. Possibly the least comforting places on earth. Hey, someone you love might be dying, so let's stick you in a room that makes you forget what exactly it is about the world that's worth living for.

Okay, so that might be a bit cynical, but Xander hated hospitals. He'd had to wait, not knowing, far too often. Buffy, Willow, Cordy, Anya, Tara, Buffy's mom… and the list went on. Mostly with Buffy's name repeated about fifty times.

Hospitals just made him edgy.

Which is why he was standing at the coffee machine searching for change. Nothing like a good dose of caffeine to take away the edgy and tense you up about three times over. Plus, Giles was doing that whole 'ruin a perfectly good cultural stereotype' thing again. There was no way he was going to miss the look on the Watcher's face when he drank coffee. The situation at the moment might be grave, but that expression wasn't one you saw every day.

Unfortunately, all he could come up with was a quarter. No coffee then. But it was enough for a phone call. It was long past time he called Buffy's place to let Anya know what was going on. He needed her to look for Willow and Tara, too. Dawn had been with them, but now they were nowhere to be found. He prayed they were all right. He'd had too many friends hurt that night.

He made the phone call, and got some relieving information. The witches had shown up at Buffy's house about ten minutes ago, slightly disoriented and out of their minds with worry, but otherwise okay. Anya had assured him that they'd be at the hospital as soon as possible.

Xander returned to where Giles was sitting to pass on the information. He just nodded, and went back to staring at his hands. Xander sat down beside him, and did his best to be comforting.

"You couldn't have done anything more," he began. "Glory's been stopped, and nobody's dead. We got beat up a bit, but hopefully everyone will be okay."

Giles looked up at him. "But we don't know. The doctor just told me that Buffy won't respond to anything, and apart from the bite, Dawn had two shallow knife cuts over her stomach. She still may not survive. She lost so much blood…"

Xander sighed. "And we're thinking that Spike did it?"

Giles shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe, but I can't understand why. Spike had been doing everything he could to help us. Why would he turn on Dawn like that?"

Xander shrugged. "Look, I know I'm usually 'miss the completely obvious' guy, so I wouldn't normally pick up on the subtlety behind something, but maybe Spike was trying to help." Giles looked at him in surprise, and Xander raised his hands defensively. "I know, I know. I'm not a big fan of Spike's, but you said he was hurt. Like, badly."

Giles took off his glasses and got out a cloth to wipe them. He'd taken Spike to the magic shop, ignoring the impulse that told him to leave him at the base of that tower. He couldn't be taken to the hospital, so Giles had checked Spike over himself. And from what he could tell, Spike had probably broken almost every major bone in his body. That led Giles to believe that he'd fallen off the tower, and by the way Dawn was curled up on top of him she'd probably fallen with him, and he'd prevented her death by taking the force of the impact himself.

But that then led him to question why they had both fallen, or jumped, off the tower. And Buffy had been up there with them. It didn't make sense. There were too many pieces, and none of them fit together.

Actually, they probably did, but he was too tired to think about it. It had been a long night, and he was too worried about Buffy and Dawn to bother with details at the moment. He rested his head back against the wall and closed his eyes.

Xander didn't notice that Giles hadn't responded. He was too busy with his own thoughts. He was still sore from being beaten around earlier that evening, but he ignored it. All he wanted was for a doctor to come out and tell him that Dawn was going to pull through. Normally, he wouldn't be worried. After all, she did have Slayer blood in her. At least, she did before Spike drank it all.

He looked up when someone sat down beside him and put an arm around his shoulders. He smiled slightly when he saw it was Anya, and then turned his head to see Willow and Tara. They looked like their eyes were having a bit of trouble adjusting to the light, but he shrugged it off. As long as they weren't hurt.

"Do you know if…" Willow began, but Xander shook his head.

"We're still waiting. Dawn needs a lot of blood, and Buffy's… well, we don't know what's wrong with Buffy."

"What do you mean?"

Xander sighed. "She's not hurt. She's just… I found her sitting at the top of that tower, staring into nothing. She hasn't responded to anything. It's like she just decided to ignore the fact that she's alive or something. The doctors are doing everything they can think of, but nothing's getting through."

Willow looked stricken, and Tara pulled her into a hug. Anya did the same for Xander, for once knowing that it wasn't a good time to say anything. Giles still had his head back and his eyes closed, and Xander wondered briefly if he'd even noticed that the others had arrived.

They sat together without saying anything until a doctor arrived. He smiled at them when they all looked at him, desperate for news. Everyone moved to stand, but Giles was on his feet first, and he waved everybody else back down.

"Are they okay?" he asked.

The doctor nodded slightly. "The younger girl, Dawn, will be fine. She lost a lot of blood, but her wounds weren't too serious. We've patched her up and given her a transfusion, and she'll be moved out of Emergency as soon as possible."

The group sighed with relief. "What about Buffy?" pressed Giles.

The doctor pursed his lips. "We don't know, I'm sorry. Physically, there's nothing wrong with her. My best guess is that something traumatising must have happened to her. Occasionally, when people can't deal with things any more, they shut themselves in their own minds. I think the best thing for her is for you to take her home, and keep her in familiar surroundings with people she knows."

"That's all?" exclaimed Willow in disbelief. "You can't do anything?"

The doctor shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I think it's really up to her."

"Can we see Dawn?" asked Xander.

"When she's moved out of Emergency," replied the doctor. "But you can take Buffy home whenever you're ready."

After the doctor was out of earshot, everyone started talking at once. Giles silenced them all with a wave of his hand. "I know you all want to see Dawn and Buffy, but there are other things that we have to do now that we know they're all right. Willow, Tara, I need you to go back to the magic shop and take care of Spike."

Willow tried to interrupt, but subsided when Giles glared at her. "Spike was hurt, badly. I don't know what really happened tonight, but he fell quite a distance. Right now, you need to help him. We can determine later whether he's still on our side."

"On our side…" asked Willow, confused. Apparently they'd missed quite a bit. "Okay, Giles. We can do that. Should we take Buffy with us?"

Giles thought for a moment. "That might be a good idea. Better than leaving her in here any longer. Knowing her, she'll probably stay locked in her mind to avoid the hospital."

Willow smiled weakly, and her and Tara went off to take care of getting Buffy out. Giles turned to Xander and Anya. "I want you two to stay here with Dawn. She'll need someone here when she wakes up, and if she feels up to it try and get her to tell you what happened tonight. I don't want to press her, but it might be vital to helping Buffy."

Xander nodded. "No problem. What about you?"

"I'm going to look for Ben. Buffy said she'd left him at the construction site. We need to know if he's alive, and if Glory can come back."

"And if she can?"

Giles didn't answer. Xander tried to ignore the chill that swept through him as he watched Giles leave the hospital.

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Willow held the door open for Tara to push Buffy through. The hospital had given them a wheelchair for her, since there was no way they could get her out of the hospital otherwise.

Buffy still hadn't responded to anything, and having her just sit there like she was dead was really unnerving. As Tara wheeled Buffy in, Willow walked over to the table to have a look at Spike.

Giles had laid him out carefully on the table, and to Willow, he looked dead. The whole 'not breathing' thing was really creepy. Giles had mentioned that he wasn't sure if Spike was actually alive. True, he should turn to dust when he really died died, but he was so close to human now that maybe he wouldn't.

Willow hoped that wasn't the case. But there was no way to tell until he woke up. Or didn't. This was so confusing. They'd find out if they rammed a stake through his heart, but that wasn't really an option.

Willow sighed, and got around to examining Spike's injuries. There was a thick bandage around his chest, and it was soaked with blood. Roaming her hands over his body, she felt for broken bones or dislocations.

She wasn't a doctor, but anyone could see that Spike was seriously hurt. He had so many broken bones that his body may as well have been crushed for all the difference it would have made.

Willow moved her attention back to his chest. She carefully unwrapped the bandages, and would have passed out if not for Tara's gentle hand on her shoulder. Spike had a huge gash across his chest, and it really wasn't pleasant to look at. Willow had no idea what to do for a wound that large, so all she could do was replace the old bandages with clean ones and pray for the best.

When she was done, she moved away from Spike, unable to stand looking at him any more. She turned her attention to Buffy, hoping that maybe she could do something for her. Tara had left her sitting near the counter, and not surprisingly, she hadn't moved.

Willow moved over to her and knelt down in front of the wheelchair. "Buffy," she began, "I don't know if you can hear me, but you need to come back. Everyone's okay. Nobody died, and we need you." No response. "Please, Buffy…"

Tara knelt down next to Willow and pulled her into a hug. "I don't think that's going to help, Willow."

A tear rolled down Willow's face. "We have to do something."

"Maybe… maybe we could try a spell, or something," Tara suggested tentatively. She watched as a look of determination settled on Willow's face.

"Let's do that."

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Hours later, Willow and Tara were still searching books for a spell to help Buffy. So far they'd come up blank, and Willow was beginning to get frustrated. She knew that she needed something to let her enter Buffy's mind, help her communicate, but everything they found was too dangerous. Not that she wasn't willing to take the risk for herself, but the spells they'd found could permanently damage Buffy's mind if she did something wrong.

She wasn't willing to take that chance.

Buffy may have been out of it, but she was only shut down. If they messed with her mind she might never recover. Willow slammed her book shut in frustration.

"This is useless. We're never going to find a spell to help Buffy."

Tara looked up in surprise. "You're giving up?"

"Of course not," Willow appeared shocked at the very thought. "I just can't stand not being able to help her."

Tara tried to give her a reassuring smile, but she wasn't able to make it too convincing. "We'll find something. We'll get her back."

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Dawn woke to find herself in unfamiliar surroundings. She panicked for a moment before she realised that she actually was somewhere she recognised. All too well, in her opinion. She'd spend far too long in a room exactly like this, keeping her mother company. How did she get to a hospital?

And why the hell wasn't she dead?

Not that she wanted to be, but she'd jumped. Even without the portal, and fall from that high would have killed her. And then there was the fact that the world obviously hadn't ended, so the portal must have closed, but didn't she need to be dead for that to happen?

What the hell was going on?

She felt weak, and there was a needle in her arm. Carefully shifting around so she could look at herself, she found that her midsection was covered in bandages, and so was one side of her neck. She felt a bit sore, but nothing seemed to be broken.

That didn't make any sense. She'd jumped off a damn high tower into a vortex between dimensions. If that doesn't kill you, nothing will. Hey, maybe nothing could kill her. No, that wasn't right.

She looked up when she heard the door open, and she smiled slightly as Xander and Anya walked in. When Xander saw she was awake he rushed over to hug her, but stopped himself just before touching her.

"Sorry," he said, fidgeting. "Don't want to hurt you. Happy to see you awake though. Really had us all worried for a while there." Anya just nodded, and Dawn was oddly grateful for being spared Anya's odd beside manner.

"Where's Buffy?" she asked. "Spike?"

Xander suddenly appeared to get really nervous. "Buffy's… well, she's alive, if that's what you're wondering."

"What's wrong with her?" panic was clear in Dawn's voice.

Xander gave her a weird sort of half-shrug. "We don't know. She's just… shut down or something. Maybe… can you tell us what happened? It might be able to help her."

Dawn nodded, a bit reluctantly. "I can do that, I guess. But first, what about Spike? Is he okay?"

Xander shrugged again. "Maybe. Will should be working on him right now. Giles said he was really hurt, like every bone in his body broken hurt, but he wasn't dust."

Dawn froze. Every bone in his… oh god. He jumped after her. She was falling, and he gabbed her and fell with her. Then something… the bandage over her neck. He bit her, he actually did it.

He saved her.

Dawn couldn't help it, she started to cry. Xander was at her side in an instant, carefully cradling her to him. "Shhh, Dawnster. It's okay. Everything's going to be okay, you'll see."

Dawn shook her head. "You don't get it. you can't…" she choked out. "He saved me. He jumped… he followed me, and he saved me."

Xander was confused. "Dawn, what happened?"

Dawn took a moment to compose herself, wiping some of the tears away. "Doc… he did the ritual, opened the portal. Buffy got there… she was too late. She threw Doc off the tower, but the portal had to be closed. My blood…" she paused, trying not to cry again. "It's her blood. We're the same. She jumped, but Spike caught her and pulled her up. She got really mad… they started fighting about who was going to get to die for me," Dawn had to stop then, and Anya handed her a box of tissues. After a minute she was able to continue. "I couldn't take it. I couldn't let them die for me, so I decided to jump before they did. But… they saw me, and Spike… he jumped off after me. We… we were falling, and" she raised a hand to her neck, "I think he bit me before we fell into the portal."

Xander swallowed, trying to find his voice. "Why?" he asked. "That's the bit I don't get."

Dawn tried to get herself under control. "It had to be my blood. I don't know what happened, but somehow it worked, and the portal must have closed."

"You don't know what happened to Buffy?"

Dawn shook her head as fresh tears started to fall. "Please. Get me out of here, I need to see her. Please."

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Xander somehow managed to convince the hospital to release Dawn earlier than they wanted to. Privately, he thought she should stay there for another day or two, but he knew that she wouldn't be able to take it. And the doctor had said that she should be okay as long as she took it easy.

Dawn let out a startled cry as they entered the magic shop, and she moved as fast as she could over to Buffy. Willow and Tara looked up from where they were buried in a pile of books, and smiled when they saw Dawn.

Willow stood up and gathered Dawn into a hug. "Thank god you're okay, Dawnie. We were so worried about you."

Dawn returned the hug, but her attention remained fixed on Buffy. "What's wrong with her, Willow?"

Willow shook her head. "We're not sure, exactly. But we're working on a spell to get her back."

Dawn nodded, then looked over to where Spike was lying on the table. "What about Spike? Will he be all right?"

Willow sighed. "We don't know. He's hurt pretty badly, but he's a vampire, right? He should recover quickly once he wakes up."

Dawn studied him for a moment, then turned her attention back to Buffy. Hopefully Spike would be okay, but she couldn't do anything for him. Maybe she could do something for Buffy. She had her own theory as to why Buffy had shut down, and hopefully she could help.

After all, if she caused it, she could cure it.

"Willow," asked Dawn, "Do you mind if I take Buffy into the training room for a bit?"

Willow looked uncertain. "I don't know, Dawnie…"

"Willow please," Dawn practically begged.

"Come on Will," chipped in Xander, "I don't see how it could do any harm."

Willow sighed. "Sure. Just… yell out if you have any problems, okay?"

Dawn nodded, and pushed Buffy's wheelchair into the training room and closed the door behind her. She wasn't sure what she was going to do, but there had to be something that Buffy would respond to.

She started by talking. Telling Buffy what had happened, that she was okay, that Spike was alive. When that didn't have any effect, she pulled Buffy to her feet and grabbed her in a crushing hug. It was more for her own benefit than Buffy's, but Dawn just felt like she needed the contact.

The hug made Dawn feel slightly better, but Buffy's condition hadn't changed. Thinking for a moment, Dawn made her sit down on the floor and seated herself across from her. Taking Buffy's hands in her own, Dawn began to talk again, hoping that eventually some part of what she was saying would sink into Buffy's mind.

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Somewhere in the deep recesses of Buffy's consciousness, things were beginning to happen. Nothing noticeable to anyone on the outside, but there was activity.

Buffy watched as images from her life flashed by. She watched, remembered, but she couldn't feel. It was like she was just a bystander in her own life.

The first time she fought a vampire. She remembered being scared, terrified, but now, there was nothing. Just detachment, like it didn't matter any more. It was a pivotal turning point in her life, but nothing she had felt then seemed real any more.

Meeting Giles. She'd been running from her calling, refusing to fight. Then, she'd been scared. Afraid. Hard done by. It wasn't fair, and she had rallied against the injustice of it all.

Her friends. Horribly thrust into her world, they stood by her. Fought with her, risked their lives. She was so afraid for them.

The Master. She'd been afraid to die at first. She'd tried to run away from her destiny again, but she couldn't go far. Drawing on her courage, she'd gone to face him, knowing she would die. Had she been afraid then? She couldn't remember.

Angel. She loved him, but she was so afraid she'd get hurt. He'd loved her too, but it wasn't enough. Or maybe it was too much. She'd stopped being afraid for one night, and he'd hurt her in the worst possible way. She had destroyed him by loving him, and he set out to return the favour.

Faith. Someone she could have been. But where was the difference? Faith was always running, so afraid to deal, afraid of her own feelings. How was Faith any different to herself?

Her Mother. Losing her was too much. It hurt too deeply, was so unexpected. How had she continued to live without her?

Riley. There was less fear there. She'd never allowed herself to really feel with him, so she wouldn't get hurt. She was so afraid of getting hurt.

Spike. He'd changed because he loved her so much. He'd defied who he was simply to be with her. He had fought against her, and then finally by her side. She loved him. She knew she did, but still, she was so afraid. Scared he would leave her, like every other man in her life.

And he had.

She watched as the memory assaulted her. Spike, saving her life. Spike, telling her she wasn't allowed to die, begging her to let him do it. Spike, jumping off the tower after her sister.

Dawn. Dawn wasn't real. She wasn't meant to be. But she loved her. More than anything, she wanted to protect her. And she'd failed. She'd failed because she was afraid. Without thinking, she'd jumped off the platform. That would have ended it, but Spike caught her. He hauled her up and made her think again.

The fear set in. She should have just hit Spike and jumped again, but she couldn't. He'd made her fear what her death would do to the others. To her friends that she loved so much, to Spike, to Dawn. She was suddenly afraid to leave the world.

And she'd lost her sister for it. Dawn hadn't been afraid. Dawn had jumped off the tower to save the world, and Spike had jumped after her. The two people that she loved most in the world, dead because she was afraid.

What sort of Slayer was she? What sort of person was she that she let her friends endanger themselves night after night, that she couldn't even protect her sister from one measly Hellgod and her sycophants?

She was flawed. The Slayer within her could have been perfect, if not for the overlying layer that was her. If she hadn't been who she was, Dawn might still be alive. Other people, people she never knew but couldn't save - they could all be alive if she had been more of a Slayer.

Images of people she'd failed to save began to flash through her mind, their accusing stares ripping into her soul.

It took some time, what seemed like forever, before Buffy realised that through all the guilt washing over her she could feel again.

She wished she couldn't.

The pain jabbed at her heart as she watched as memories of fights gone wrong, people she failed to protect. Mostly, it was images of Dawn and Spike that she saw the most. They were the worst, along with the fairly regular scenes of her friends getting hurt because they loved her.

She couldn't take it. All the guilt, the pain and anguish, was searing into her soul. She raged against the walls of her prison, but she couldn't beat them down. She tried to cry out as the memory of the night on the tower flashed before her again.

Somehow, while trying to avoid the pain the scene inflicted on her, she noticed something she'd missed before.

For a moment, just a moment, she hadn't been afraid.

She had been thinking before she jumped the first time. And in that moment, she remembered feeling something that she'd rarely known before.

Peace.

Something about what she had been going to do had just felt so right, like it was what she was meant to be doing. And she hadn't been scared. The first time, she had been scared to die. But in that moment, she hadn't been afraid. She had wanted to save Dawn, and she knew she could.

In that moment, she hadn't failed.

The memory faded, and images of the dead flashed all around her again. This time, she refused to let them hurt her. As each person paused at the front of her mind, she concentrated on the circumstances surrounding their deaths. It didn't help with the feeling that she should have saved them, but with each memory, there were pictures of people she had saved, people she hadn't failed.

Suddenly, noise filled Buffy's mind. At first, it was unrecognisable, but eventually she noticed it was a repeating pattern of some kind, and she concentrated harder. It sounded familiar for some reason, but still, she couldn't make it out. It seemed to be calling her, and she wanted to follow. She had to get out of this place that was torturing her.

With everything she had, Buffy latched onto the noise. It was drawing her out, and she watched in wonder as the walls of her prison melted away. She couldn't give up. She could never give up.

The walls finally disappeared entirely, and Buffy suddenly found that she could understand. The noise gradually became words, and the sound made Buffy's heart fill with hope. She concentrated, and tried to gain control of herself. She felt heavy, for some reason. Everything in front of her was blurry, but she moved something and everything swum into focus. After a moment, she realised that she wasn't trapped any more.

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Dawn had lost track of what she was saying, and now found herself simply repeating the words "I'm not dead, Spike's not dead, the world didn't end". Feeling slightly stupid, she was about to stop when she noticed something happening. Buffy hadn't moved, but something about her eyes…

There was a struggle going on in there, and it was closer to the surface than before. Dawn kept talking, pleading with her voice for Buffy to wake up. After what seemed like an eternity, Buffy blinked slowly.

Dawn couldn't contain herself. From her position on the floor she leapt at Buffy, pulling her down from her sitting position until they were both lying on the floor, wrapped in a crushing hug.

Dawn smiled as Buffy slowly moved her arms up to return the hug. Her smile widened when Buffy finally spoke.

"Dawn?" she asked, as if not believing her eyes.

Dawn tightened her arms and snuggled down into Buffy's shoulder. "Hey," she whispered, then giggled.

After a moment, Buffy sat up, pulling Dawn with her. She looked around, realising for the first time that they were in the training room at the Magic Box. "Dawn? Why are we… how did we get here?"

Dawn moved herself around so she could look Buffy in the face. "We're here because you freaked out and went comatose after I jumped off the tower." Hey, it was the truth.

Buffy suddenly remembered the events of the night. "Oh, god… Dawn, how are you… I mean…" she tried to come up with something tactful.

"How am I alive?" Dawn smiled. "Spike saved me. I don't know how it worked, but I think he bit me just before we fell into the portal." She fingered the bandage at her neck.

Buffy was silent for a minute. On one hand, she was pissed that Spike had fed off Dawn, but on the other, he had saved her life. But was he…

Dawn seemed to read her expression. "Spike's alive. He's just out there." She indicated to the main area of the shop. "But he's… he's really hurt. He hasn't woken up since the fall, and Willow said he's broken a lot of bones. I think he… I think he landed under me. The fall… I think he turned us around so he would hit first."

Buffy didn't say anything, and Dawn waited for it all to sink in. She suspected that Buffy had to be feeling a bit disoriented, and she knew that Buffy was probably going to get really mad at her later for doing something as stupid as jumping off that damn tower.

Finally, Buffy stood up, not letting go of her hold on Dawn. Dawn was just as happy not to move away either, and didn't complain. Without needing to speak, they headed out of the room and into the main area of the shop.

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Willow looked up from the pile of spell books in front of her when she heard the door to the training room open, and she almost fell off her chair. Buffy walked out into the shop, with Dawn doing a fairly good impression of a barnacle, and everyone was speechless.

Buffy looked around, and smiled slightly at their reaction. "What? No hugs?"

Xander was the first to recover, and he got shakily to his feet. "Buff… nice to see you," he said lamely.

Buffy smiled at him. "You too, Xander." She looked over to Willow and Tara. "What's with the research? Didn't we save the world enough already?"

Willow gaped a bit at Buffy's apparent good mood, and finally found her voice. "They were… uh, we were looking for a spell. To, you know, wake you up or something. So we can stop now, I guess, since you look like you're all fine again. Why are you? Not that I'm complaining or anything, great to have you back, but how'd it happen? You were big on the comatose before Dawn dragged you away a while ago." Willow realised she was babbling, and turned to Tara. "Can you stop me when I do that?"

Tara smiled. "I think it's cute. It's good to see you're okay again Buffy."

Buffy nodded. "Thanks guys. Not meaning to belittle the welcoming committee, but where's Giles and Anya?"

"Anya went back to your place to see what she could do about the damage to your house, and maybe get it cleaned up a little," supplied Xander. "And Giles went back to the construction site to see if he could find Ben."

"Anya voluntarily decided to clean up my house?" asked Buffy, surprised.

Xander shrugged. "Mystery to me, too."

"Ben?" asked Willow.

Buffy answered. "Glory was Ben. Sharing his body or something."

Willow just nodded. "Okay, whatever. I'll get filled in later," she paused for a minute. "Buffy, I hate to be blunt, but are you ever going to acknowledge that Spike is lying unconscious on the table?"

Buffy took a deep breath. "Truthfully, I was trying not to. I think I have serious issues with dealing with things."

Xander nodded. "That you do, little miss. Running away and comas. I think someone needs therapy," he smiled to show he was joking.

Buffy laughed and punched him lightly in the arm. He didn't say anything, but from the expression on his face it hadn't really been that light. Dawn smiled at him, but remained attached to Buffy.

Willow and Tara got up and began to clear away their magic books, since there was obviously no need for them any more. Buffy and Dawn finally approached the table, where Spike was lying, looking incredibly beat up and doing a good impression of dead.

Buffy found that she couldn't say anything for a couple of minutes. All she could do was look at him, and think about everything he'd done for them recently. Finally she found her voice. "He saved you, huh?" she said to Dawn.

Dawn nodded. "Yep. Big on the saving. Jumped off a tower for me." She stopped, unable to keep up the lightness of her words. "Do you think he'll be okay?"

Buffy exhaled heavily. "I hope so. He was in a wheelchair for ages when I dropped an organ on his head, and the fall from the tower is so much worse than that. Plus that staking wound in his chest," she shuddered. "That was ugly."

They both jumped as Spike groaned. "I'm sorry my insides aren't attractive enough for you, pet."

Buffy spluttered for a minute, then got herself under control. "Oh my god. Spike, you just scared me half to death. Are you okay?"

Spike growled at her, and Dawn laughed. "Stupid question. Got it. Can you move?"

"I'd really rather not," he replied, and she could hear the pain in his voice.

"Sorry, evil dead," called Xander from behind the counter, "but you're taking up valuable table space."

"Sod off," muttered Spike.

Xander opened his mouth to reply, probably with another jibe, but he was forestalled when Giles entered the shop.

Buffy was hidden from his sight by one of the shelves, and he was almost to the table before he saw her. He almost jumped a foot when he realised that it was Buffy and Dawn standing almost right next to him. Spike laughed a bit, and he jumped again, having not yet noticed Spike was awake.

It took him a moment to gather himself together again. "Yes, well… good to see you're all okay-"

"Okay?" demanded Spike. "I'm not bloody okay!"

Giles cleared his throat. "All right, good to see you're all alive-"

"Alive? Hey, I'm not-"

Giles cut him off. "Fine, Spike. It's good to see you not unconscious. Buffy, Dawn, I'm very glad that you're both awake and alive," he smiled at them. "Good enough, Spike?"

Spike just grunted, and Giles continued. "Anyway, I know this might not be the best time for this news, but.." he took a deep breath, "I'm sorry Buffy, but Ben didn't make it. I… I think he got hit by a falling piece of scaffolding or something when the vortex opened."

Buffy just nodded, and tried to work out what it was she was feeling. Ben had been a nice guy. It hadn't been his fault that he'd been bound to Glory. But with Ben dead, Glory was never coming back, and that did wonders for Buffy's sense of security. She never would have killed Ben herself, and she'd done everything she could to keep him alive, but… she couldn't help but feel relieved. She was sad, but she had to wonder if maybe it was better this way.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by Giles asking her something. "Uh, sorry. I kind of spaced out for a minute there. What did you say?"

Giles gave her a reassuring smile. "I was just asking if you were okay."

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, just thinking."

Spike spoke up. "Hey, Slayer? Do you think we could do something about getting me off this table?"

"We could use the wheelchair," suggested Dawn.

Willow nodded, and went to get it from where they left it in the training room. She returned a few seconds later, and wheeled the chair over to the table. They carefully lifted Spike off the table and into the wheelchair, trying to ignore his rather frequent protests about the pain. He actually passed out before they got him sitting properly, but considering the pain he was in it was probably a blessing.

"Do you mind if we head home now?" asked Buffy. "It's been a really long night."

Xander laughed. "Queen of the understatement."

Buffy scowled. "And you're King of the Idiots. What were you thinking pissing Glory off like that?"

Xander gave her a shaky smile. "That I wanted to have some fun before I died?"

"And was it fun?"

"It would have been if I wasn't so damn scared."

Buffy laughed. Hell, everyone was allowed to be afraid once in a while.

End In the Light of Day

Well, there you have it. I hope that ending makes sense to people, because honestly, I had no idea how I was going to finish this thing. I know the last chapter moves pretty fast, but I thought you might all try and kill me if I didn't finish this soon, and I wanted to make it light, and not so 'oh my god, we all nearly died and Spike's a paraplegic again'. I mean, how many times have I almost killed Spike in this fic? Oh, and I want to thank everyone who reviewed and emailed me, 'cause it really helps when you know people actually want to read what you're writing.