Part 10

Buffy sat on the bed looking at Spike's seemingly comatosed form.
But not for much longer, she thought happily, just a few more hours.

When she came into the house, the girls were all asking why she was
smiling. She told the what Riley had told her. They, of course,
were ecstatic, for all had taken a certain liking for the vampire,
especially Dawn, who, as everyone knew, was particularly attached
to him. They all quickly informed the rest of the Scoobies by phone.
They all agreed to meet at the location once Buffy got the call.

So now, all she could do was wait. She hated waiting. It was a
waste of time. And time was something Spike didn't have much of.
She shook her head. She would not think about that. Spike was
going to make it. He had to. There was no 'but' about it. She
looked at Spike then back at the phone she was waiting desperately
to ring. She sighed and closed her eyes.


She must of have dosed off. She was startled when the phone rang.
She grabbed the receiver. "Yeah?"

Riley's voice filtered through, "Okay, he's ready. We'll meet you
at the emergency entrance of Sunnydale Memorial."

"Got it. Thanks."

They both hung up without saying goodbye. Buffy looked at Spike,
"Well, Spike, let's go get that chip taken out."


Buffy drove her mother's SUV into the driveway of the hospital.
She couldn't help but wonder how Riley and the doctor manage to get
an OR without raising suspicion among the rest of the doctors and
nurses. But now wasn't the time to think about it.

Riley and the doctor were waiting for them with a gurney. Buffy
put the vehicle in park and exited the driver's seat. She then
opened the back door and Will got out, trying to be careful not to
jar Spike too much. Riley came up and together he and Buffy managed
to get Spike out of the backseat and onto the gurney.

Buffy turned to the doctor, "I want to thank you for doing this on
such short notice, Dr..."

"Stapp," the doctor supplied, "And, really, it's no big deal."

Buffy nodded.

"Now, before we proceed, I feel I should warn you of the consequences."

"What consequences?" Buffy asked, suddenly wondering if Spike was
going to come out of this well and good at all

"Because of the location of the chip, there is the possibility that
Mr. Spike here will suffer some brain damage. How much? I'm not sure.
There's even a chance that should something go wrong, he could be left
a vegetable."

No worse than he already is, she thought. "I understand the consequences,
Dr. Stapp, but I think we should go on with the procedure."

"Well, let's get started," Dr. Stapp said and Riley wordlessly pushed
the occupied gurney behind the doctor with Buffy and Will following
behind.


Buffy paced the room restless. They've been waiting for nearly two
hours. What could possibly be taking so long?

"Buffy, could you please sit down or something, you're making me
queasy," Xander said. He and the rest of the gang sans Tara and
Dawn showed up shortly after Buffy, Will, and Spike did. Tara
stayed behind with Dawn who had fallen asleep waiting for the call.
Buffy just didn't have the heart to wake her. And Tara had been
such a doll when she offered to stay.

Buffy stopped pacing to look at her friend. She didn't quite
understand why Xander was there anyway. He never liked Spike.
Why would he care if he lived or died anyway? "Why are you here?"

Xander looked confused, "Huh?"

"Well, everyone knows you and Spike aren't exactly best of pals so
I was just wondering why you were here."

"Because you asked me to be."

"If I asked you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?"

"Oh, don't go jumping off a cliff, Xander. I wouldn't want you to,"
Anya interjected.

Xander gave her a small smile before returning his attention to
Buffy, "Okay, seriously? I don't like Spike enough to consider him
a friend or anything, but I don't hate him enough to want him to die.
He's not that bad when he's not being the cocky, egoistical vampire,
which isn't that often."

Buffy didn't get a chance to respond because Dr. Stapp entered the
room. She immediately went to him.

"Well, he did fine during the procedure. But if there's any damage,
we won't know when and if he wakes up," the doctor said.

"I need to see him."

Stapp nodded, "I don't see anything wrong with that." And he led her
to Spike.


Spike was so still, laying there on the hospital. Buffy quietly sat
down on the hard plastic chair next to the head of the bed. She reached
for his hand and grasped it in hers.

"Come on, Spike. You need to wake up. You have to wake up. Please."

Nothing. Not that she was really expecting anything so soon after
the operation. She studied the huge bandage on his head, Upon closer
examination, she noticed that the doctor had to shave away a portion
of his hair to get to his scalp. Buffy knew that when Spike woke up,
he was going to be pissed off about that. But it would grow back soon.
No big deal.

She looked at their clasped hands. "Spike, I know you probably can't
hear me or anything, but I need to tell you something. I've been
afraid to tell you because I wasn't sure of it myself. But since this
whole incident with the chip malfunctioning and everything, I realized
what I thought I was feeling for you was true. I love you, Spike. I
really do." She reached up and placed a small gentle kiss on his lips
before settling back in the stiff chair.

She felt his hand moved. She quickly looked up at his face, "Spike?"

He groaned and opened his eyes. His eyes darted across the room,
genuinely confused. "Okay, where the bloody hell am I?"

"Spike?"

"Slayer?" Spike looked at her.

She cracked into a smile and Spike couldn't help but smile back,
"What are we smiling about?" he asked her.

"You."

"Really?"

She nodded before resting her head next to his.

"So...you really love me?"

She laughed, "I didn't think you could hear me."

Spike shrugged. Buffy gave him a kiss on the lips which he wasn't
no time in deepening. After they had to pull away because of Buffy's
necessity to breathe, Spike whispered, "I love you."

"I love you, too."

He grinned and reached up to scratch his head. "What the hell
happened to my hair?"

Buffy laughed.


Outside the room, looking through the window, stood Riley. Xander
came up next to him.

"So, if you hate Spike so much and love Buffy so much, why'd you do
it? Why'd you help them?" Xander asked.

Riley looked at the carpenter, "I know a lot's changed since I left.
And it was kinda stupid of me thinking we could pick up right where
we left off. I still love her so much. But, she doesn't love me.
Maybe she did at some point, but not anymore. And I helped her with
Spike because I wanted her to be happy. That's all. I'm just afraid
to tell my superior what happened."

Xander nodded. That was all he needed to hear.


The End :)

A/N: You didn't really think I was going to kill off Spike, did ya?
Not my precious platinum baby. :) Anyway...I know the last couple of
parts are a little rushed...or at least they seem that way to me. I
guess I was in a hurry to get it finished before my family come down
to finish...with twin toddlers...I would have never got time to write
anything. So anyway here's my first long fic.

I want to thank all of you who stuck with me til the end. :) You
guys rock.

Stay tuned for my next long fic. It's called 'Something Effulgent.'
Spike is haunted by memories of his past life when an old familiar
face shows up. Not sure when the prologue will be up though. (Kinda
have to write it first... :)

Oh, and finally, some shameless self-promotion. :) I just finished
putting together a website (okay, it's not really finished; it's
still under construction, but it finally has a few pages on it)
Anyway, come check it out.
http://www.geocities.com/my_favorite_marster