Title: Shift
Author: Joy
Email: SleepingBeauty2@ziplip.com
A/N: Okay my experiment in tolerance worked. Buffy fans crack me up. No one had a problem with Angel (who died in his mid-twenties and has been alive for a couple hundred years) watching Buffy from afar as a fifteen year old like a stalker and that he 'fell' for. However I drew the picture of Gunn as being twenty-one or twenty-two and you people get upset. I laugh in your general direction… It was a good image of the relationship Angel and Buffy had and now they have to watch it from another direction. I never said this was going to work or even continue… You will just have to wait and see.
"Remind me why you didn't come with us?" Wesley said in his polished accent to Angel as Cordelia, Fred, and Wes carried Spike's dead weight into the lobby.
Angel retrieved his child from their arms to take him to his room. "Because I wanted to be here for Buffy's arrival."
"And has she arrived?" Cordy asked.
"Conference room."
Tara came out of Spike's room as Angel brought him in. The three other members of Angel Investigation stared at the blond. "Hi…I'm Tara."
"Our witch for this evening…" Gunn said from behind her.
"Watch it… I can make things uncomfortable for you," she said not looking back.
Gunn's face fell. "How'd you do that?" Cordy asked.
"Do what?"
"Make him shut up."
"Thanks Cordelia!" Gunn said getting touchy.
"I'm back," Lorn announced.
"Wow," Tara and Lorn said in unison. "S/He care read auras…" they each said pointing at each other.
"Okay…that's freaky," Cordy commented.
Buffy came to the door with a weak Dawn. "Who's that?" she whispered to her sister.
"That is Lorn…the guy who's doing the mind meld with Spike."
"Let me rephrase that…what is he?" Buffy asked.
"Hell if I know…but you sing and he can tell you 'your path' or crap like that. Everyone made Spike do it because of how mood swingy he's been about you this week."
"What'd he say?" the slayer asked like a teenager.
Tara finally noticed them standing there. "Come on out guys… I need somebody I know in the room."
Buffy smiled. "I'm guessing you're Fred."
"And you're Buffy," Fred responded.
"Yeah… So can you tell me what's wrong with Spike?"
"We reset the bones in his legs and they've already started to mend themselves. Wesley says he thinks it's because of Dawn's blood… The crack in his skull has been mending itself faster then the swelling in his brain has reduced…so that could explain why he's still under."
"And the chip?" Buffy asked carefully.
"Is it damaged?" Dawn asked next.
"I don't know… But it does appear to have moved a short distance in his brain itself. It looks like they attached it to his impulse control section of his brain. It's still in that section but it appears to have cut into the tissue and traveled an inch or so. I wouldn't have even known if I didn't see some irregularity in the tissue…" Fred bit her lip and then continued, "I know what it does and I know what kind of guy everyone says he was before the chip, but it won't last forever. The circuitry will break down and could make him brain dead… I think we should get someone to take it out."
"NO!!!" was the general cry in the room.
Dawn looked around and said, "What if we don't tell him?"
"What?" Buffy looked at her curiously.
"He believes he can't hurt humans… Why not let him continued to believe that? You know that whole idea that a mouse won't keep hitting the bar if they get shocked. He doesn't try to hurt humans because it hurts him. Let him think the surgery was for his injury," she offered. "Keep the chip and in a few days we'll know."
"He could eat a school bus of kids by then," Cordelia snapped.
Dawn walked right up to her, "You saw him with me this week. You saw him take care of me with blood running down my arms. Never one flicker of vamp, yet Angel had yellow in his eyes... I don't register as human on that chip and he has never hurt me."
"What are you talking about?" Buffy asked.
"His fangs cut me in the car and in the conference room…no jolt… There is no reason to believe he hasn't changed and tons of reasons to believe he has… Object one: my sister. Spike hasn't killed her and he can. He killed two slayers in the past and even though he knows the chip doesn't work on her, he hasn't killed her or tried to… Though god knows for what she put him through I'm surprised."
"Thanks Dawn," Buffy glared.
"Don't mention it."
"So you're saying neither of you register on that thing and you're both still here?" Cordy asked.
"That's what I'm saying… Not tried to kill Angel either… Angel isn't human. He could have tried there too."
"I can always put a suppression spell on him so that if while he's waking up he's won't be more animalistic we'll be protected," Tara offered.
"You can do that?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah… I was trying to research different ways to decrease his…feralness… when it came to Dawn…that mother protecting its cub thing was in full effect before they left."
Dawn walked over to Lorn, "When you read Spike you saw a lot of stuff that you didn't mention to us…some you mentioned to him. Do you get an idea of what would happen if we took out the chip?"
"Some idea but I can find out," he said and headed for the bedroom. Buffy, Tara and Dawn followed suit.
Spike lay unbearably lifeless on the bed, his legs and head bandaged. Buffy's stomach sank and choked back a sob. "It's okay Buffy," Dawn said sweetly. Her older sister turned around in her arms and received a hug.
Dawn nodded to Lorn as he sat down on the bed. He placed his hands on Spike's head and neck to read the vampire. Lorn was flooded with images and thoughts belonging to Spike, none of the glory of the massacre of innocents. Only images of Buffy, Dawn and another woman with the girls, he assumed to be Joyce, their mother. There were images of fighting but with Buffy against demons rather then with demons against Buffy. He did see the occasional stray thought of snapping someone's neck…but that was no worse then many humans. Primarily Lorn felt Spike's amazing sense of himself once he was given the role of Dawn's guardian. He was a man in need of definition, a role… a part to play, without that he was lost. Spike liked being a caregiver. He did it with Dru their whole relationship. It was where he felt the most comfortable. As long as Spike could take care of someone he loved he wouldn't get lost in mayhem.
Lorn opened his eyes and breathed out. "Take the chip out."
"What?" Buffy said simply. That was the last thing she expected. She knew she trusted Spike with the people he loved and she loved but in the world she didn't believe he would be able to resist the temptation.
"Oh ye of little faith," Dawn mocked.
Lorn smirked, "Your boy just needs the boundary that comes for caring for another. He killed humans to feed himself and Dru. He liked to kill and fight, but he can still do that on the other side. It's the fight that drives him…not the death. He didn't know where he belonged so he fought it. You have no idea the peace he feels now that he is in charge of Dawn. He has a place as a caregiver again…he cherishes that. The irony here is as long as he is allowed to care for someone he loves he'll be fine living in the shadows of the light."
"Are you telling me that by nature Spike is a caregiver?" Buffy looked at him quizzically.
"He had siblings he helped raise. When he was turned, it was by a sire that was crazy and needed constant attention and care. Losing her was more then he could bear. Taking care of Dawn this summer gave him purpose again. Being her guardian now gives him a defined role in the world," Lorn spoke smoothly as if he had known Spike his whole life.
"SEE!" Dawn chastised. "I told you."
Buffy looked at Lorn through hooded eyes, "Will you tell them? I don't know if they'd believe me."
"Sure," the host replied.
"What's the verdict Lorn?" Gunn asked simply.
"Take it out…" Wesley looked at Lorn hard. He just shrugged, "He's become the ultimate rebel…fighting against his own kind."
"That's not good enough," the Brit said clipped.
"No thoughts worse then a human. Very satisfied with his roles as guardian and gets his violence fix from fighting with the White Hats… In other words he'll probably test the boundaries of being without it…" Lorn turned to Buffy, "There's some guy in your group that verbally goes after Spike a lot. He needs to worry about getting knock around a bit. Here's the big 'But' folks. But he'll be otherwise satisfied to know he's not toothless. He couldn't cause Buffy or Dawn the pain of knowing he failed them. That's the way he would see feeding…as failing them."
"Your telling me the man I spent years with and massacred with isn't going to do just that when this piece of hardware is removed?" Angel asked spitefully.
"Just cause your demon's an ass doesn't mean Spike's is!" Dawn snapped. Angel blinked rapidly. "You racked up a huge body count in Sunnydale while you were Angelus. Spike had been there what three or four months before you turned. He came to heal Dru, not massacre and that is what he did."
"What about the Judge?" Angel snapped back.
"Oh please…Dru and you know it," Buffy got in on the act. "Spike liked the world and wanted it to continue. That's why he switched sides. You just wanted to suck it into hell."
"Hey…Not me…Angelus," Angel corrected.
"Whatever… Point is things changed when he came to Sunnydale. He's self serving yes…but he isn't out to destroy the world like some demons I know," Buffy countered.
Tara interrupted the annoyed stare off, "I'm glad I wasn't around when you two dated."
"You have no idea," Cordy quipped. "It was pretty much duck and cover."
"And then death and destruction," Dawn added. "Got to love those good old days," she smiled at Gunn.
"Back to Spike," Fred ventured. "I may not trust Spike but I trust Lorn. If he's read him and believes its safe, that's good enough for me."
Gunn nodded, "I've seen him with my girl and she with him. He would die to protect her."
" 'My Girl'?" Cordy asked.
"Another topic," Buffy stated shooting up a warning glare at Gunn that said, 'not now!' "What do you think Cordy?"
She considered the slayer for a minute, "I know it wasn't long ago that he had Angel tortured…but I have to admit that over all Faith did more damage to the human population then Spike since I've known them both." Cordelia turned to Angel, "You had no problem giving her a second chance."
"She's human," Angel argued back.
"With the Power of the Slayer and walking in the dark… I think Wesley would agree his scars aren't any less real because she's human. Besides you slipped right down the slippery slop last year as Angel not Angelus and we didn't stake you," Cordy stated. "And when you regress to your baser self on occasion we don't dust you… I'd say as far as acceptance of former murders we're pretty good…" When he continued to huff she said, "Angel, he got dressed in a suit and tie to take down Hank! That has nothing to do with the chip and you know it."
Angel stared at the room in defeat, "Wesley?"
"I don't like this anymore then you do but I can't rationalize not extending the same grace to him that we do to others… We'll take precautions and go from there," the watcher replied.
"Wes and I both went a little Shining on Fred earlier this year. Under the influence or not, evil lurks in the hearts of all men," Gunn said simply.
Angel sighed. "Where and when?"
Fred looked at him, "The teaching hospital downtown. I've told a coroner I know we have a cadaver with a computer chip in his brain. He's willing to remove it."
"You did this when?" Angel asked.
"At the office. I could see enough damage in the brain that prolonged exposure would make him a vegetable. I just thought it was cruel to doom someone to an eternity as a vegetable…" Fred said with sad eyes. She then turned to Buffy, "We can take him over now if you like."
"Let's go…"
TBC…