Chapter 4
Wham!
Buffy is thrown into a wall. She has caught up to the Ugreda Demon well before the three idiots and is already getting her ass kicked. This demon is large and very strong. But Buffy has rage. Lot's of it. She pushes herself off the wall, levels her eyes at the demon and stalks toward him as her mouth slides up into an evil grin. He's going to be her therapy.
She spins around and kicks the demon square in the face, sending him flying. She goes after him immediately, but by the time she reaches him, he is standing again and socks her in the stomach with his club-like fist. Buffy doubles over and the demon makes a noise that sounds a bit like laughter. Evil laughter, of course.
"Oh you think that's funny?"
She bounces up and opens fire with her fists, battering his head violently from side to side. He's a little stunned by her strength. And now he remembers her from last night's battle.
"I don't hear your soggy ass laughing now!"
The demon lashes out, just trying to get her to stop hitting him for a second. He manages to connect, hard, and knocks her away from him. She stumbles a bit, but doesn't fall. As soon as she gets her balance, she turns and is about to lay into him again when Angel pushes her out of the way and starts wailing on the demon, himself.
Buffy seems annoyed. "What the hell are you doing?"
Angel stops punching and turns to her, confused. "Helping you! Oof!" He gets nailed in the side of the face by Mr. Ugreda and is sent sprawling.
She looks down at him with a blank expression. "Thanks."
Spike shows up just in time to see Angel get knocked on his ass. He is extremely amused. Xander brings up the rear, out of breath but ready to fight. Buffy ignores them all and starts going to work on the demon again. Angel gets up and tries to get in on the fight, but can't seem to find an opening.
"Leave her be, Angel. She's a big girl now, she can handle herself." Spike leans against a wall and watches Buffy, proudly.
Angel can see the unmasked adoration in Spike's eyes and doesn't like it one little bit. "So what did you come for? The view?"
"I'm here in case she needs me. Oh, but I guess you're not familiar with that concept, are you?"
Oooh. That cut deep. Just as Angel looks about ready to tear Spike's head off, they hear Buffy cry out in pain. The demon has kicked her hard in the side when she wasn't protecting herself. Xander is already there to help but get's knocked out of the way quite easily. Spike moves to step in but Angel pushes him roughly against the wall. "She doesn't need YOU." He turns toward Buffy, ignoring Spike's stunned expression.
"Buffy! Are you all righ--" Buffy turns to look at Angel and the demon uses the distraction as an opportunity to kick her again in the same spot.
"Oh, you asshole!" Buffy screams, pain standing out on her face. It's not clear if she's talking to Angel or the Demon.
Now Angel is pissed. He attacks the demon with brute force, punching and kicking and growling like a bull dog. The demon falters but does not fall. Buffy and Spike exchange a look.
Struggling, but angry, and getting increasingly desperate, the Ugreda demon slams his fist into Angel's jaw, hard enough to knock him right out of vamp face. Angel is surprised. He tries to shake it off but Ugreda is on him. He's not fast but he hits hard and Angel can't seem to figure out how to take back the advantage. Suddenly a calm, conversational voice interrupts all the snarling.
"It's not that disagree with you, necessarily, but my partner seems to have something against you killing this wanker. So, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave off."
Both Angel and the curious demon turn to see Spike standing there with his axe slung over one shoulder. Ugreda gives Spike the once over and emits that low Jaba-the-Hut-like chuckle again. Spike grins in response. Suddenly, the demon lunges at him but Spike is lightening fast and whacks him across the face with the side of the axe. The force of it spins the demon around so that he is now standing face to face with Buffy, who is also grinning. She holds up her hand and Spike deftly tosses her the axe which she swings hard and swiftly chops off the Ugreda demon's head. It rolls for a bit, finally coming to a stop at Xander's feet. It's wide, surprised eyes stare up at him.
"Don't look at me, you brought this on yourself," Xander tells the head before stepping over it to join the others.
Buffy hands the axe back to Spike. "Thanks."
"You all right?" Spike asks softly.
"I'll live," she responds, holding her side.
Xander walks up with a bloodied lip and Spike looks him over. "What about you? You've gotten a bit of an ouchie for your troubles."
"I think my tooth is loose." Xander opens his mouth and presses at one of his bottom teeth. "Auk!"
Both Buffy and Spike squint at it. "Nah, you're fine," Spike knocks him good-naturedly on the shoulder. The boy is a nuisance most of the time, but he sure has balls. Spike can respect him for that. He'll never tell him, of course. "You lasted almost three seconds that time. Very impressive."
"Kiss my ass, fang." Xander's rancor is only halfhearted. He can't hate the guy forever. Can he?
Angel is looks on, trying to absorb it all. He's pretty shocked by how well Buffy and Spike fought together. It seemed like they didn't even have to talk to each other. They just... trusted... that the other would be there at the right moment with the right move. When and how did this happen? Suddenly, Angel's mind flashes to a time when their impressive teamwork helped buy him a round trip ticket to hell. If they could do that as enemies, what must they be capable of now that they're... He pushes that thought away and then realizes that Buffy is looking at him. "What?"
"I said are you all right?" Buffy's tone is still cold and Angel is starting to feel very much like an outsider.
"I'm fine." He walks toward her but can't help staring at Spike who is back to reassuring Xander that his tooth is not going to fall out.
Buffy notices him looking and pulls Angel aside. "Look... he's changed a lot. I don't know what you heard from Xander--"
"I heard it all. More than I wanted to hear, trust me."
To her own surprise, Buffy is not ashamed. "Well, a lot's happened since you left."
"I kinda got that." Uncomfortable silence. Angel can't look into her eyes. "So... I mean, what's the deal? Do you..." She tenses, knowing what question is coming. "Do you love him?"
"You still here?" Spike's voice startles them both. Buffy exhales. Angel suspects the interruption is no coincidence.
"I'm not leaving till I find out what happened to you."
"Got a soul," Spike says flatly.
"It's not possible."
"Why? Because it's not YOU? Can you possibly get over yourself for five seconds? I'd have thought you'd be glad to have another convert walking around, taking some of the pressure off of you and this whole solitary atonement bit you've got going... or maybe..." Spike peers at Angel, trying to read him. "What, are you jealous?"
Angel laughs bitterly. "Jealous of WHAT? So you went and got yourself cursed. Congratulations, you're in the club."
Spike's lips curve up into the softest smile, he's going to enjoy this moment forever. "It's not a curse, Angel."
"What?"
"Not. A Curse."
Spike pauses and lets it sink in. There is nothing but confusion on Angel's face.
"Turns out... they'll hand out a soul to any bloke can withstand a few bothersome tests."
This is the first Buffy is hearing of this, so she is wildly interested. Xander, less so, but he's listening and ready to debunk. "What kind of tests?"
Spike shrugs. "Couple a' demons, a guy with fists of fire... bugs."
"Bugs?" Buffy's winces.
"Yeah." He realizes how intently she's listening. It shames him to think he's bragging about it in front of her. He never even wanted her to know this part of the story. He goes on, but without the swagger. "Yeah, the bugs were the worst. They crawled up my nose. That's... I didn't like that."
Angel is completely silent. He can think of absolutely nothing to say.
Xander can. "Wait a minute... so you're saying there's no curse? That you can... I mean, if you... it won't... there's no..."
"Xander, everything you're about to say is inappropriate." Buffy warns. She sounds okay but her mind is reeling. She had just assumed it was some form of the same curse. He never told her...
Xander backs off, shifting his eyes from Spike to Buffy and back again, a worry line forming on his brow.
Angel is way past worry. "It's not true. It can't be. I would have known about it."
"Why? Did you look for it?"
Buffy and Xander both look at Angel. He doesn't respond.
Spike already knows the answer and it infuriates him. "Did you even try? It took me two hours and quarter tank of gas on the bike to get the information I needed."
Angel glances at Buffy. She's watching him very closely.
Spike's voice cracks with emotion. "She loved you so much! You had her heart, you had everything! Did you do everything you could to hold on to it? Or did you just give up on her and sulk off like the tragic waste of space that you are, without even bothering to look for another option?"
There is no response.
"How could you just walk away?! You bloody imbecile!"
"Okay, that's enough." Xander grabs Spike by the arm but he pulls away, roughly.
"Get off!" He turns his attention back to Angel. "If she loved me even half as much as she loves you, I would--"
Angel hauls off and clocks Spike in the face, knocking him back a few steps. Spike was waiting for this. He grins and comes after Angel, fists flying. Angel vamps out and lashes back, reopening the cut above Spike's eye. Spike just laughs and vamps out himself before ramming Angel face first into the wall.
Angel jerks his head back and knocks Spike off of him with a hard thocking of skulls. He turns and throws Spike to the other side of the tunnel. Spike lands hard but gets up with the help of the wall behind him. He's too angry to notice that he is now bleeding from several different places on his face. Angel, fairly bloody himself, starts to charge toward him. Spike is simply waiting for him, "That's right, Peaches. Come and get me."
Before Angel reaches Spike he is pushed violently to the ground by Buffy. It effectively stops the fight. Angel looks up at her with hurt-filled eyes until he realizes he is still in vamp face and turns away abruptly.
Buffy just shakes her head at him, disgusted, then looks over at Spike who is also still in vamp face. Her eyes are full of pain. He realizes how much he has just hurt her and feels like dying. "Buffy... I'm... I'm sorry.. I..."
"I'm going home."
She turns to leave, but gets only a few steps away before passing out from the intense pain of her badly broken ribs.
***
Slowly, the world is coming into focus. Her house. Her room. Dawn's face.
"How's the patient?" Dawn chirps.
"Dawn? What... ow." Buffy decides not to sit up after all. "What time is it?"
"Nine."
"In the morning or at night?"
"Morning," she laughs. "Those must be some good drugs the doctor gave you."
"Doctor?" Buffy thinks a minute. She remembers the broken ribs, the emergency room, the three men fighting over who would carry her there. "Ohh yeah. Where are they?"
"Pacing the living room like you're gonna have their baby or something." Dawn giggles.
Buffy frowns. "Dawn. So not funny."
"Sorry. Couldn't resist. Which one do you want to see first? Oh. And be careful who you choose because it might start another brawl."
Buffy squeezes her forehead, the drugs are making it harder to think. "Have they been fighting all night?"
"Pretty much, but I act all innocent and childlike, so they keep the violence to a minimum. Nothing got broken."
Buffy inhales deeply and then gasps out what would have been a sigh if not for the sharp, jabbing pain in her side. When's the slayer healing going to kick in, dammit!
"Help me stand up."
"The doctor said you shouldn't walk around too much."
Buffy gives Dawn a look.
"Okay, but don't blame me if you pass out again."
Very slowly, Dawn assists Buffy to her feet and helps her put a shirt on over her tank top. They are about to go downstairs when Buffy catches sight of herself in the mirror. "HOLY GOD!" Her hair is standing on end, her make up is smudged everywhere and it looks like her eyes are swollen. "I can't go down there like this! Dawn, why didn't you tell me?!"
"You're going down there to break some hearts, I figure it'd be easier on them if you looked ugly." Dawn struggles to keep a straight face.
There is a stunned pause before Buffy breaks out into a short, but painful laugh. "Oh! Oh! Don't make me laugh. Just help me." She gently sits at her vanity while Dawn grabs a brush.
TBC
Wham!
Buffy is thrown into a wall. She has caught up to the Ugreda Demon well before the three idiots and is already getting her ass kicked. This demon is large and very strong. But Buffy has rage. Lot's of it. She pushes herself off the wall, levels her eyes at the demon and stalks toward him as her mouth slides up into an evil grin. He's going to be her therapy.
She spins around and kicks the demon square in the face, sending him flying. She goes after him immediately, but by the time she reaches him, he is standing again and socks her in the stomach with his club-like fist. Buffy doubles over and the demon makes a noise that sounds a bit like laughter. Evil laughter, of course.
"Oh you think that's funny?"
She bounces up and opens fire with her fists, battering his head violently from side to side. He's a little stunned by her strength. And now he remembers her from last night's battle.
"I don't hear your soggy ass laughing now!"
The demon lashes out, just trying to get her to stop hitting him for a second. He manages to connect, hard, and knocks her away from him. She stumbles a bit, but doesn't fall. As soon as she gets her balance, she turns and is about to lay into him again when Angel pushes her out of the way and starts wailing on the demon, himself.
Buffy seems annoyed. "What the hell are you doing?"
Angel stops punching and turns to her, confused. "Helping you! Oof!" He gets nailed in the side of the face by Mr. Ugreda and is sent sprawling.
She looks down at him with a blank expression. "Thanks."
Spike shows up just in time to see Angel get knocked on his ass. He is extremely amused. Xander brings up the rear, out of breath but ready to fight. Buffy ignores them all and starts going to work on the demon again. Angel gets up and tries to get in on the fight, but can't seem to find an opening.
"Leave her be, Angel. She's a big girl now, she can handle herself." Spike leans against a wall and watches Buffy, proudly.
Angel can see the unmasked adoration in Spike's eyes and doesn't like it one little bit. "So what did you come for? The view?"
"I'm here in case she needs me. Oh, but I guess you're not familiar with that concept, are you?"
Oooh. That cut deep. Just as Angel looks about ready to tear Spike's head off, they hear Buffy cry out in pain. The demon has kicked her hard in the side when she wasn't protecting herself. Xander is already there to help but get's knocked out of the way quite easily. Spike moves to step in but Angel pushes him roughly against the wall. "She doesn't need YOU." He turns toward Buffy, ignoring Spike's stunned expression.
"Buffy! Are you all righ--" Buffy turns to look at Angel and the demon uses the distraction as an opportunity to kick her again in the same spot.
"Oh, you asshole!" Buffy screams, pain standing out on her face. It's not clear if she's talking to Angel or the Demon.
Now Angel is pissed. He attacks the demon with brute force, punching and kicking and growling like a bull dog. The demon falters but does not fall. Buffy and Spike exchange a look.
Struggling, but angry, and getting increasingly desperate, the Ugreda demon slams his fist into Angel's jaw, hard enough to knock him right out of vamp face. Angel is surprised. He tries to shake it off but Ugreda is on him. He's not fast but he hits hard and Angel can't seem to figure out how to take back the advantage. Suddenly a calm, conversational voice interrupts all the snarling.
"It's not that disagree with you, necessarily, but my partner seems to have something against you killing this wanker. So, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave off."
Both Angel and the curious demon turn to see Spike standing there with his axe slung over one shoulder. Ugreda gives Spike the once over and emits that low Jaba-the-Hut-like chuckle again. Spike grins in response. Suddenly, the demon lunges at him but Spike is lightening fast and whacks him across the face with the side of the axe. The force of it spins the demon around so that he is now standing face to face with Buffy, who is also grinning. She holds up her hand and Spike deftly tosses her the axe which she swings hard and swiftly chops off the Ugreda demon's head. It rolls for a bit, finally coming to a stop at Xander's feet. It's wide, surprised eyes stare up at him.
"Don't look at me, you brought this on yourself," Xander tells the head before stepping over it to join the others.
Buffy hands the axe back to Spike. "Thanks."
"You all right?" Spike asks softly.
"I'll live," she responds, holding her side.
Xander walks up with a bloodied lip and Spike looks him over. "What about you? You've gotten a bit of an ouchie for your troubles."
"I think my tooth is loose." Xander opens his mouth and presses at one of his bottom teeth. "Auk!"
Both Buffy and Spike squint at it. "Nah, you're fine," Spike knocks him good-naturedly on the shoulder. The boy is a nuisance most of the time, but he sure has balls. Spike can respect him for that. He'll never tell him, of course. "You lasted almost three seconds that time. Very impressive."
"Kiss my ass, fang." Xander's rancor is only halfhearted. He can't hate the guy forever. Can he?
Angel is looks on, trying to absorb it all. He's pretty shocked by how well Buffy and Spike fought together. It seemed like they didn't even have to talk to each other. They just... trusted... that the other would be there at the right moment with the right move. When and how did this happen? Suddenly, Angel's mind flashes to a time when their impressive teamwork helped buy him a round trip ticket to hell. If they could do that as enemies, what must they be capable of now that they're... He pushes that thought away and then realizes that Buffy is looking at him. "What?"
"I said are you all right?" Buffy's tone is still cold and Angel is starting to feel very much like an outsider.
"I'm fine." He walks toward her but can't help staring at Spike who is back to reassuring Xander that his tooth is not going to fall out.
Buffy notices him looking and pulls Angel aside. "Look... he's changed a lot. I don't know what you heard from Xander--"
"I heard it all. More than I wanted to hear, trust me."
To her own surprise, Buffy is not ashamed. "Well, a lot's happened since you left."
"I kinda got that." Uncomfortable silence. Angel can't look into her eyes. "So... I mean, what's the deal? Do you..." She tenses, knowing what question is coming. "Do you love him?"
"You still here?" Spike's voice startles them both. Buffy exhales. Angel suspects the interruption is no coincidence.
"I'm not leaving till I find out what happened to you."
"Got a soul," Spike says flatly.
"It's not possible."
"Why? Because it's not YOU? Can you possibly get over yourself for five seconds? I'd have thought you'd be glad to have another convert walking around, taking some of the pressure off of you and this whole solitary atonement bit you've got going... or maybe..." Spike peers at Angel, trying to read him. "What, are you jealous?"
Angel laughs bitterly. "Jealous of WHAT? So you went and got yourself cursed. Congratulations, you're in the club."
Spike's lips curve up into the softest smile, he's going to enjoy this moment forever. "It's not a curse, Angel."
"What?"
"Not. A Curse."
Spike pauses and lets it sink in. There is nothing but confusion on Angel's face.
"Turns out... they'll hand out a soul to any bloke can withstand a few bothersome tests."
This is the first Buffy is hearing of this, so she is wildly interested. Xander, less so, but he's listening and ready to debunk. "What kind of tests?"
Spike shrugs. "Couple a' demons, a guy with fists of fire... bugs."
"Bugs?" Buffy's winces.
"Yeah." He realizes how intently she's listening. It shames him to think he's bragging about it in front of her. He never even wanted her to know this part of the story. He goes on, but without the swagger. "Yeah, the bugs were the worst. They crawled up my nose. That's... I didn't like that."
Angel is completely silent. He can think of absolutely nothing to say.
Xander can. "Wait a minute... so you're saying there's no curse? That you can... I mean, if you... it won't... there's no..."
"Xander, everything you're about to say is inappropriate." Buffy warns. She sounds okay but her mind is reeling. She had just assumed it was some form of the same curse. He never told her...
Xander backs off, shifting his eyes from Spike to Buffy and back again, a worry line forming on his brow.
Angel is way past worry. "It's not true. It can't be. I would have known about it."
"Why? Did you look for it?"
Buffy and Xander both look at Angel. He doesn't respond.
Spike already knows the answer and it infuriates him. "Did you even try? It took me two hours and quarter tank of gas on the bike to get the information I needed."
Angel glances at Buffy. She's watching him very closely.
Spike's voice cracks with emotion. "She loved you so much! You had her heart, you had everything! Did you do everything you could to hold on to it? Or did you just give up on her and sulk off like the tragic waste of space that you are, without even bothering to look for another option?"
There is no response.
"How could you just walk away?! You bloody imbecile!"
"Okay, that's enough." Xander grabs Spike by the arm but he pulls away, roughly.
"Get off!" He turns his attention back to Angel. "If she loved me even half as much as she loves you, I would--"
Angel hauls off and clocks Spike in the face, knocking him back a few steps. Spike was waiting for this. He grins and comes after Angel, fists flying. Angel vamps out and lashes back, reopening the cut above Spike's eye. Spike just laughs and vamps out himself before ramming Angel face first into the wall.
Angel jerks his head back and knocks Spike off of him with a hard thocking of skulls. He turns and throws Spike to the other side of the tunnel. Spike lands hard but gets up with the help of the wall behind him. He's too angry to notice that he is now bleeding from several different places on his face. Angel, fairly bloody himself, starts to charge toward him. Spike is simply waiting for him, "That's right, Peaches. Come and get me."
Before Angel reaches Spike he is pushed violently to the ground by Buffy. It effectively stops the fight. Angel looks up at her with hurt-filled eyes until he realizes he is still in vamp face and turns away abruptly.
Buffy just shakes her head at him, disgusted, then looks over at Spike who is also still in vamp face. Her eyes are full of pain. He realizes how much he has just hurt her and feels like dying. "Buffy... I'm... I'm sorry.. I..."
"I'm going home."
She turns to leave, but gets only a few steps away before passing out from the intense pain of her badly broken ribs.
***
Slowly, the world is coming into focus. Her house. Her room. Dawn's face.
"How's the patient?" Dawn chirps.
"Dawn? What... ow." Buffy decides not to sit up after all. "What time is it?"
"Nine."
"In the morning or at night?"
"Morning," she laughs. "Those must be some good drugs the doctor gave you."
"Doctor?" Buffy thinks a minute. She remembers the broken ribs, the emergency room, the three men fighting over who would carry her there. "Ohh yeah. Where are they?"
"Pacing the living room like you're gonna have their baby or something." Dawn giggles.
Buffy frowns. "Dawn. So not funny."
"Sorry. Couldn't resist. Which one do you want to see first? Oh. And be careful who you choose because it might start another brawl."
Buffy squeezes her forehead, the drugs are making it harder to think. "Have they been fighting all night?"
"Pretty much, but I act all innocent and childlike, so they keep the violence to a minimum. Nothing got broken."
Buffy inhales deeply and then gasps out what would have been a sigh if not for the sharp, jabbing pain in her side. When's the slayer healing going to kick in, dammit!
"Help me stand up."
"The doctor said you shouldn't walk around too much."
Buffy gives Dawn a look.
"Okay, but don't blame me if you pass out again."
Very slowly, Dawn assists Buffy to her feet and helps her put a shirt on over her tank top. They are about to go downstairs when Buffy catches sight of herself in the mirror. "HOLY GOD!" Her hair is standing on end, her make up is smudged everywhere and it looks like her eyes are swollen. "I can't go down there like this! Dawn, why didn't you tell me?!"
"You're going down there to break some hearts, I figure it'd be easier on them if you looked ugly." Dawn struggles to keep a straight face.
There is a stunned pause before Buffy breaks out into a short, but painful laugh. "Oh! Oh! Don't make me laugh. Just help me." She gently sits at her vanity while Dawn grabs a brush.
TBC