Spike's eyes blinked open slightly. It took a moment to focus on his surrounding, but the edges became sharper after a few blinks and he could see a tearstained face looming over him. He turned his head slightly and saw the L'acido lying dead a few feet away. That explained the smell. And the horrible burning from his neck to his abdomen. He looked back at the face.
"Nibblet?"
"Spike, are you OK? Let me know you're OK."
He nodded, "Just peachy." His eyes were heavy. The acid had gotten into his bloodstream and was making him drowsy. If he were a human, and the L'acido weren't dead, he's be a meal right about now, too foggy to fight back.
Dawn slapped him, "No! You can't go back to sleep! We have to get home and get you taken care of."
Spike nodded again, "Why're you crying?"
"You scared me, you idiot." She growled, wiping away her tears. Spike's mouth quirked up in a tiny smile. She was worried about him. But he didn't really have much time to think about that, because now Dawn was tugging him up by the arms.
"Ohhh. That's painful." He moaned, struggling to his feet.
"Well, you're gonna have to grind your teeth and bare it, cause we need to get home now."
They stumbled out of the cemetery, Spike leaning most of his weight on her, since he could barely walk. They stopped to catch their breath and Spike leaned his forehead against the top of her head, taking a deep breath.
"You smell like sugar plums. And jelly beans." He muttered deliriously, before blacking out again.
Dawn groaned and smacked him lightly a few times. He was still out cold. She stomped her foot, "SPIKE!" She slapped him hard, and his eyes opened again, "We have to WALK."
He moaned and nodded, and they started to stagger along. All Dawn could think was *Thank God home is just a block away.*
Having Spike so close, his arm clutching her waist, was making her shaky. *Oh no. No mooning over your...illegal guardian. Or whatever*
**
When Spike was thinking coherently again, he was shirtless and lying draped over the couch int he summer's living room. And Dawn was practically straddling him.
"Uh...Nibblet? What are you doing?"
"First Aid." She muttered, waving the antiseptic at him, "Now pass out again, cause this is gonna sting."
"I can handle a little sting." He said in all his macho glory. Dawn rolled her eyes.
"Fine." She winced as she poured the antiseptic over the acid burns.
"OW! BLOODY SODDING HELL!"
"I TOLD YOU!" She growled, holding him down, pinning his elbows to the cushions.
Spike panted as the burns sent searing pain through his body. "Just...get it over with."
Dawn sighed sympathetically and gently wiped some of the antiseptic away, then began to gently apply the burn ointment. "Thanks for saving my life, by the way."
"No problem." Spike said softly, still reeling from the sting of the antiseptic, "William the Bloody to the Rescue. Bloody hell, that's pathetic."
Dawn gave him a tiny smile as she taped gauze over the wounds, which covered most of his chest from his collarbone down to the middle of his rib cage. Thank God for vampire healing.
"It's not pathetic. I don't think so, anyway."
Spike snorted, "If my friends could see me now. They'd laugh their arses off."
Dawn added another gauze strip, not meeting his eyes, "Do you eve wish, you know, things were different."
"Different how?"
"Like, you were never chipped?"
"I got over that a long time ago, pet."
Dawn shrugged, "You wouldn't be stuck here. You never would have--"
"Wait," Spike interupted, "are you trying to ask me if I ever wish I wasn't here with you?"
Dawn nodded silently, taping the gauze down.
"Didn't I say the other day that I would be here, no matter what? When you and your mates were playing that game?"
"Yeah, but--"
"I meant it."
Dawn fell silent, then placed her hand over the gauze, smoothing it down, then let her hand rest over the left side of his chest, where there was no heartbeat against her palm, like there should be. Spike's cool hand covered hers.
"If I didn't want to be here, I would have left long ago. Chip or not, I'm an evil bastard, and I don't do anything I don't bloody well want to do."
