Summary/Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
*****
Chapter 18
Dawn was surprised to actually be woken by her alarm. It wasn't that she had to be somewhere that surprised her, it was a Saturday. It was the fact that usually it was the persistent knocking of Spike on her door when Buffy had woken up and needed to be dressed that woke Dawn up in a morning. She decided that Buffy and Spike must be sleeping in this morning so she made as little noise as possible when getting dressed.
She made her way quietly down to the kitchen and made breakfast for herself, Buffy and Spike. After she had eaten hers she took the other two breakfasts upstairs in order to give her house mates breakfast in bed.
When she entered Buffy's room however, she did not find the two sleeping in the bed. In fact the bed was made. On top of the bed was a note with her name neatly printed on it.
She reached out and carefully opened the letter and read through it.
*
Nibblet, Clem phoned last night, he's still not found anything that could help Buffy. I'm tired of waiting Bit, I need to be out there finding a way to help. Plus, the name William the Bloody still carries some respect with demons, they may be more willing to open up to me than to Clem. It's a bit of a long shot but at this point I'm willing to take it.
Don't worry about Buffy, I've got her and you know she's safe with me.
Don't know how long we will be but it may take a while.
See you as soon as possible, Spike.
PS: I've phoned Glenda, she'll be staying with you 'till we get back.
*
Dawn reread the letter to make sure she had seen correctly. There may be a way to cure Buffy? If there was then she knew Spike would try his best to make sure Buffy got it.
She got up off the bed to go and phone Tara to see when she would be coming over.
*****
"I knew it! I said he had done this, now he's kidnapped her! God knows what he's doing to her or where he's taking her. Tara, you can do a locating spell on them then we can go and get them back."
The blonde witch angrily looked at Xander, who was pacing around the room. This surprised Xander as he had very rarely seen Tara angry.
"I'll do no such thing Xander!" Her usual timidness and stutter had disappeared from her voice. "Buffy is safe with Spike and if anyone can find a way to help her it's him. Spike phoned me last night and told me what he was doing, if I wanted to stop him I would have done it then. At least this way there is a chance of getting Buffy back to normal."
The rest of the gang, save Xander, nodded in agreement. Xander took on a look of pure rage and stormed out of the Summers house. Dawn turned to Tara.
"You don't think he'll try to go after Spike do you?"
"I don't think it would matter if he did, Spike has got a century of experience when it comes to moving around unnoticed, Xander won't be able to find him."
*****
Nearly two months had passed since Spike had disappeared with Buffy.
Xander had indeed tried to locate Spike but had only got as far as LA when the trail went cold. With no clue as to where Spike had gone from there, Xander was forced to abandon the search.
As planned, Tara moved into the Summers house and helped Dawn in any way she could. She wasn't so much a surrogate parent figure, more like a really cool room mate who listened to Dawn's problems. That was what Dawn needed right now.
Dawn was surprised to realise that she missed Spike more than Buffy since they disappeared. It wasn't that she didn't miss Buffy, it was just that even when she was there now, it wasn't really Buffy was it? She didn't miss Buffy as much because it wasn't really Buffy who had left. Buffy had been missing long before Spike went away.
*****
"I'll get it!" Dawn called to Tara who was in the kitchen. She crossed to room to the ringing front door. She never expected it to be the people on the other side.
"Hey Dawnie."
"Buffy? Oh My God you're better!!" As she went to hug Buffy she noticed Spike standing next to her sister, leaning on her for support. He looked weak, like he had been severely beaten up.
"Buffy? How are you better and why does Spike look like shit?"
"Cheers Bit.." The vampire in question sounded very tired.
"Very good questions, I'll answer as soon as we get in the house and get everyone together, I only want to tell this once."
*****
Once Spike had been moved onto the couch he almost instantly fell asleep.
Calls were made and soon all the Scoobies were gathered in the front room. After initial greetings everyone wanted to know the details of how Buffy was sane again. Everyone gathered around Buffy as she started her tale.
"Well it turns out there's this cave in Africa....."
*****
"He really took all that pain so that you could be better?" Dawn was on the edge of breaking down into tears and Buffy was not far behind her. After Buffy had finished her story the gang had gone back to their respective homes and Tara had gone up to bed, leaving just the Summers women with a sleeping Spike.
Buffy looked down at the vampire that had looked after her and had saved her from a life of insanity.
"Yeah, he did. I got the impression that he was willing to die to cure me."
Dawn suddenly thought of something.
"So can you remember everything from when you were ill?"
"Yeah, it's weird, it was like being trapped inside myself, but at the time it felt perfectly normal." Dawn yawned and Buffy told her to go to bed.
"What about Spike? Are we leaving him here?"
"No, we shared a bed before this happened, we'll do it again now." With that Buffy picked Spike up and carried him upstairs to her room.
*****
Buffy woke to the quiet but panicked murmuring of her name. She looked across at Spike laying next to her and saw he was having a nightmare. She gently shook him awake.
"Shhh Spike, it's just a dream." Spike was fully awake now.
"Sorry 'bout that luv."
"No worries. Was it about the tests?"
"Yeah, I dreamed that I passed the tests but they couldn't help you." Buffy pulled Spike close to her and stroked his cheek as he started to drift back to sleep.
"Night Spike." She softly said.
"Night Buffy, love you."
"Love you too."
~~~~~ Short Epilogue to follow ~~~~~
AN: That's nearly it! Just the epilogue then this story is finished!
I'm really glad that you lot have actually read my story and my fullest thanks to all of you who have reviewed it.
The epilogue will be up tomorrow.
Review! Please!
*****
Chapter 18
Dawn was surprised to actually be woken by her alarm. It wasn't that she had to be somewhere that surprised her, it was a Saturday. It was the fact that usually it was the persistent knocking of Spike on her door when Buffy had woken up and needed to be dressed that woke Dawn up in a morning. She decided that Buffy and Spike must be sleeping in this morning so she made as little noise as possible when getting dressed.
She made her way quietly down to the kitchen and made breakfast for herself, Buffy and Spike. After she had eaten hers she took the other two breakfasts upstairs in order to give her house mates breakfast in bed.
When she entered Buffy's room however, she did not find the two sleeping in the bed. In fact the bed was made. On top of the bed was a note with her name neatly printed on it.
She reached out and carefully opened the letter and read through it.
*
Nibblet, Clem phoned last night, he's still not found anything that could help Buffy. I'm tired of waiting Bit, I need to be out there finding a way to help. Plus, the name William the Bloody still carries some respect with demons, they may be more willing to open up to me than to Clem. It's a bit of a long shot but at this point I'm willing to take it.
Don't worry about Buffy, I've got her and you know she's safe with me.
Don't know how long we will be but it may take a while.
See you as soon as possible, Spike.
PS: I've phoned Glenda, she'll be staying with you 'till we get back.
*
Dawn reread the letter to make sure she had seen correctly. There may be a way to cure Buffy? If there was then she knew Spike would try his best to make sure Buffy got it.
She got up off the bed to go and phone Tara to see when she would be coming over.
*****
"I knew it! I said he had done this, now he's kidnapped her! God knows what he's doing to her or where he's taking her. Tara, you can do a locating spell on them then we can go and get them back."
The blonde witch angrily looked at Xander, who was pacing around the room. This surprised Xander as he had very rarely seen Tara angry.
"I'll do no such thing Xander!" Her usual timidness and stutter had disappeared from her voice. "Buffy is safe with Spike and if anyone can find a way to help her it's him. Spike phoned me last night and told me what he was doing, if I wanted to stop him I would have done it then. At least this way there is a chance of getting Buffy back to normal."
The rest of the gang, save Xander, nodded in agreement. Xander took on a look of pure rage and stormed out of the Summers house. Dawn turned to Tara.
"You don't think he'll try to go after Spike do you?"
"I don't think it would matter if he did, Spike has got a century of experience when it comes to moving around unnoticed, Xander won't be able to find him."
*****
Nearly two months had passed since Spike had disappeared with Buffy.
Xander had indeed tried to locate Spike but had only got as far as LA when the trail went cold. With no clue as to where Spike had gone from there, Xander was forced to abandon the search.
As planned, Tara moved into the Summers house and helped Dawn in any way she could. She wasn't so much a surrogate parent figure, more like a really cool room mate who listened to Dawn's problems. That was what Dawn needed right now.
Dawn was surprised to realise that she missed Spike more than Buffy since they disappeared. It wasn't that she didn't miss Buffy, it was just that even when she was there now, it wasn't really Buffy was it? She didn't miss Buffy as much because it wasn't really Buffy who had left. Buffy had been missing long before Spike went away.
*****
"I'll get it!" Dawn called to Tara who was in the kitchen. She crossed to room to the ringing front door. She never expected it to be the people on the other side.
"Hey Dawnie."
"Buffy? Oh My God you're better!!" As she went to hug Buffy she noticed Spike standing next to her sister, leaning on her for support. He looked weak, like he had been severely beaten up.
"Buffy? How are you better and why does Spike look like shit?"
"Cheers Bit.." The vampire in question sounded very tired.
"Very good questions, I'll answer as soon as we get in the house and get everyone together, I only want to tell this once."
*****
Once Spike had been moved onto the couch he almost instantly fell asleep.
Calls were made and soon all the Scoobies were gathered in the front room. After initial greetings everyone wanted to know the details of how Buffy was sane again. Everyone gathered around Buffy as she started her tale.
"Well it turns out there's this cave in Africa....."
*****
"He really took all that pain so that you could be better?" Dawn was on the edge of breaking down into tears and Buffy was not far behind her. After Buffy had finished her story the gang had gone back to their respective homes and Tara had gone up to bed, leaving just the Summers women with a sleeping Spike.
Buffy looked down at the vampire that had looked after her and had saved her from a life of insanity.
"Yeah, he did. I got the impression that he was willing to die to cure me."
Dawn suddenly thought of something.
"So can you remember everything from when you were ill?"
"Yeah, it's weird, it was like being trapped inside myself, but at the time it felt perfectly normal." Dawn yawned and Buffy told her to go to bed.
"What about Spike? Are we leaving him here?"
"No, we shared a bed before this happened, we'll do it again now." With that Buffy picked Spike up and carried him upstairs to her room.
*****
Buffy woke to the quiet but panicked murmuring of her name. She looked across at Spike laying next to her and saw he was having a nightmare. She gently shook him awake.
"Shhh Spike, it's just a dream." Spike was fully awake now.
"Sorry 'bout that luv."
"No worries. Was it about the tests?"
"Yeah, I dreamed that I passed the tests but they couldn't help you." Buffy pulled Spike close to her and stroked his cheek as he started to drift back to sleep.
"Night Spike." She softly said.
"Night Buffy, love you."
"Love you too."
~~~~~ Short Epilogue to follow ~~~~~
AN: That's nearly it! Just the epilogue then this story is finished!
I'm really glad that you lot have actually read my story and my fullest thanks to all of you who have reviewed it.
The epilogue will be up tomorrow.
Review! Please!