A.N. Sorry it took so long for this new chapter, but in order to make up for it I made it longer, so... here it is. Hope you like it. Plz review! :)


Ch 10. Toe


"Ow, Owwww!"

"Do you want me to stop?" asks the doctor.

"Yeah!"

He stops. He unattaches the clips of his patient's foot, and turns off the apparatus.

"That really hurt."

"It's supposed to."

Spike smiles, "This is good, right?"

"Very good." replies Dr. Dillard.

"I felt something!" he says ecstatically, "It was painful, but nonetheless I felt it! Right there on my toe!" he points towards the tip of his wounded leg. "I love that toe!"

"I'm glad to see you progressing, David. In good time you'll be able to feel your entire right leg."

"I hope so."

Dr. Dillard writes his collected data in his files, as he begins poking his toe.
"Okay David, this will end out session today. We'll meet again on Thursday." says Dr. Dillard, as he heads out.

"Listen Doc, Um… I just wanted to say thank you. Very Much. You have no idea how much this means to me." He says sincerely.

"Just doin' my job."

`````````````````````
Meanwhile at Buffy's house, the girls are at home and Xander comes over.


"Hey Xander, how've you been?" says Buffy.

"Pretty darn good, flowing in my MOney." Xander says.

"MO-ney?"

"Yeah, ya know like that song? MOney, MOney. It sounds better than just plain muh-ney." he says.

Buffy smiles at him, "You're so silly."

"More like corny." Dawn says under her breath. Xander turns and looks at her, & she quickly grins exaggeratedly wide at him.

"So they paid the construction workers pretty generously for rebuilding the school, huh?" says Buffy.

"That they did."

"So when are they reopening it?" asks Dawn.

"They're gonna begin enrolling students by next semester." He answers.

"A new generation of kids getting the privilege of attending high school on a hellmouth, how peachy." says
Buffy, lightly sarcastic.

"So Xander, has Buffy told you about the new man in her life?" says Dawn.

"What? A new man? I thought I was the only man in your life, I'm devastated." He says, humorously.

Buffy throws a pillow at Dawn, but she misses. Buffy turns to Xander, "It not like that, it's just this guy, David, whom I met at the hospital, and we've become pretty friendly."

"What you and I…" , Dawn points to herself & Xander, "… need to figure out is just how friendly."

"You nerd." She throws another pillow at Dawn, that hits this time.

"So when do we get to meet this guy, David." asks Xander.

"Um… I dunno, whenever you want I guess. He's doesn't get a lot of visitors, plus I've already told him about ya'll, and he wants to meet you all, too."

"What have you told him about me?" asks Xander.

"Everything." answers Dawn, " She's also told him everything about me, Willow, Giles, Anya… the whole kit'n caboodle. And also…"

Buffy picks up another pillow, "Dawn! Do you want another?" she flippantly threatens Dawn.

"If what Dawn says is true you must really like this guy, Buffy." says Xander.

Buffy rolls her eyes, "The only thing, is that there are some things about him that are a little off."

"Like what?"

"Just a bunch of little things. I dunno, like sometimes he gets this like, blank look on his face, or he occasionally says something… it's just weird. And the other day I found he suffering from amnesia."

"He has amnesia?" asks Dawn.

"Yeah. And at first I thought, that explains the occasional blankness and why he didn't tell anything about himself. But then I was like, well why didn't he tell me about it? If he doesn't remember anything, then what's he hiding? I dunno…"

"Have you talked to him about it?"

"No, I haven't gone to see him since last week, when I found out."

"Then you need to go see him, he probably thinks you're blowing him off." she says.

"Well, I've been busy lately. They're been working me extra shifts at the Doublemeat. But I'll stop by the hospital later today. If you want we can all go on Friday, and ya'll can see him."

"Totally. I'm dying to meet him."

Buffy elbows Xander, "Maybe you can invite Anya?"

"Yeah well, we'll see about that."

"I can't wait to see him."

"Oh wait ." says Buffy, "There is something I should warn you about before you actually see him…"

```````````````

Later that day…

"Hey David." says the nurse, as she walks in the room to check on him.

"Hey Alyssa, poke my toe!" he says, and she set down her files & pokes it.

He winces but grins, "I felt that!"

"I take it you leg therapy with Dr. Dillard went well today?"

"Yeah, he used this stimulating contraption thing on my toe today, and it worked, it hurt like hell… but it worked!"

"I'm so glad." she says.

"Yeah, me too. I was getting kinda doubtful about my leg since we hadn't been making any progress. But now… I can feel my toe." he says, almost giddy.

"But it hurts?"

"Uh huh, but not as much at first, though. Now it's just sore. Kinda feels like I'm poking a bruise."

"But the point is your feeling something now." Alyssa says.

"Yeah." he beams.

Suddenly, there's a know on the door, as it begins opening. It's Buffy.
She walks in, "Hey."

"Buffy." He says, slightly surprised.

"Um, I can leave you two alone?" offers the nurse.

"Thanks, Alyssa." He says, and she leaves.

Buffy looks at him. "Hey poke my toe." he says, while pointing to it..

She gives him a strange look, "Is this some sort of 'pull my finger' thing?"

"No, just touch it."

"Um, okay." She lightly dabs his toe.

"I barely felt that." he says, "But the point is, I felt it."

"Really. That great." she smiles, "Can you feel your whole leg?" she touches his cast.

"Naw, not yet." he looks up at her, "So how've you been, you haven't come in like…"

"Yeah, I've been kinda busy. Besides the whole 'toe revelation', how have you been doing?"

"Pretty good."

She nods & decides to get right to the point, "So David, last time you told me you'd tell me some of your stories…" she sits down, "Well?"

"Uh…" say says nervously, "Heh, Heh… um okay."

Buffy smiles at him composedly and waits, I've gotta see this…

He sighs, "Well uh, there was this one time I told this girl I really liked, a fib."

She shrugs, "Who hasn't?"

"It wasn't really a lie, more like I was hiding something kinda important from her, and I think eventually she found out because she didn't really wanna hang out with me anymore or at least she wouldn't like before. Anyway I guess it kinda bummed me out."

She looks at him warily, "You have amnesia?"

"Yeah." he says.

She sways her head to the side. "Nice story."

"I'm sorry I never told you."

"It's okay."

"I did want to but… I dunno. I guess I wanted you to know me first." He says.

"I understand." Buffy says.

He exhales. "That's a load of my chest."

"So… you really like me, huh?"

````````````````

"Hey Colin.", a man in his early twenties, nudges his friend, in a hallroom dinner party.
"Yeah?", Colin answered.
"Who is that?" he points to the brunette woman, on the other side of the room.
"I believe that's Marie Cecily Parris."
"She's beautiful." He stares at her.
"I suppose she does have a nice set of breasts." Colin said, indifferently.
"She's amazing." He continues to gaze at the lady, "Look at the way she walks, so gracefully."
Colin gives his friend a look. "William? Snap out of it! You need to quit gawking at her, do you realize who she is? That's the Duke L'Toinette's niece. She's way out of you league."
William doesn't seem to be paying attention, "What?"
"Don't even consider thinking about courting her. She'll laugh right in your face."
"But I don't think…"
"Just drop it, William, okay? Why don't you go for the daughter of a blacksmith or something?"
"You're right, I dunno what I was thinking." He said and looked down dejectedly. Then continued to go about with his business. But he kept on stealing glances at her every so often.