NOTE: Still looking for a beta reader here. Can someone please help me out?
TITLE: "Normal again" (4/?)
AUTHOR: Richard Bachman
EMAIL: bachman_rchard@hotmail.com
SITE: nope
FEEDBACK: Give it to me luv, you know you want more of this!
DISTRIBUTION: Do whatever you like poodle. As long as Richard is mentioned I'm fine.
RATING: NC-17 Humor/angst
PAIRING: B/S
SUMMARY: Got this wonderful idea after watching normal again. Instead of Buffy, Spike gets a dose of demonic goodness inserted into his system. As his consciousness is transported to an AU where he finds Sunnydale is no longer the good old Sunnyhell he despises and knows so well, things are getting a bit surreal for the poor bleached wonder.
WARNING: This fic describes scenes of rape, and is dark and ansty but I suppose that we kinda got used to it after watching whole bleedin S6.
THANKS: To anyone for reading my senseless dribble. Love you guys. You truly make me waste my weekends worthwhile!
CHARACTERS: Spike and Dawn interaction (Which is always good), and AU Buffy is struggling with an unconscious William.
ACT 4; Being subjected to sudden seizures of blackouts in combination with consuming large quantities of odd flavoured milkshakes means pretty much that you're a hazard to yourself and your direct environment.
SCENE 1
It was quiet in Joyce's bedroom. Even the old, rudely loud clock hanging on the wall above the vanity mirror seemed to have improved on his behaviour. Dawn hardly noticed the time ticking by. She sat on her mother's bed, carefully watching a well-attended vampire.
It might have been imagination, or her own craving to see him getting better, but there seemed to be a slight change in his features which had been deadly motionless for over hours now.
Spike's eyelids were trembling.
"Spike, can you hear me? It's Dawn!"
She wondered if he was dreaming. Can vampires dream anyway? She made a quick mental note to ask him as soon as he got better. The teenager was one hundred percent sure he would. Buffy and the others won't let him just slip away like this. She wouldn't either. Not after everything what he had ever done for her.
Dawn reached out her hand and toughed the vampire lightly on his cold cheekbones. Her fingers travelled up and halted when they reached the now perfectly still eyelids. Hesitatingly, she lifted one of them, receiving a blinking reflex from him as a pleasant surprise.
"Spike!"
She jumped up and did exactly what her older sister had done a couple of hours ago; she planted her hands firmly on his chest and shook him feverishly, trying to get him snap out of his comatose state.
"Spike! Wake up! Wake up! It's me Dawn!"
The eyes-fluttering thing intensified. A soft moan escaped the vampire's parted lips.
"Oh please wake up now!"
She was rocking the vampire so vigorously that he almost rolled over to one side. Dawn didn't care, Willow had told her that his flesh wounds would heal, but if he didn't regain his consciousness within a couple of days, he might never wake up ever again. The teenager didn't want to lose his vampire friend. He was immortal. He was supposed to be the one who would always be there for her.
"Spike! Please!"
A wave of relief washed over her when his eyes opened reluctantly. Blinking at the harsh light of the ceiling lamp.
"Spike! You're awake!"
He gazed around, disorientated, and found the little girl sitting next to him on the broad double bed. Knees and shoes resting on the sheets, staring back at him with an almost crazed out happiness shining in her eyes.
"Dawn? What are you doing here?"
His voice cracked, worn out like an old leathery shoe. As a matter of fact, his throat felt so awfully dry that he wondered if he might have accidentally swallowed one.
"Buffy and Willow asked me to take care of you. You're in my house right now, in mom's room."
"Buffy? Is she still here? An-and Giles, where did they all go?"
Dawn gazed back at her vampire friend, worried.
"Buffy went to get the demon that did this to you. But Giles is still in England. Do you want me to call him? "
"Oh. No. No don't." His head was spinning again, nausea welling up in his throat like bitter bile. "I don't want him dragging the bloody poof with him."
Dawn was seriously getting nervous now.
"Spike? What are you talking about? Are you feeling all right?"
"I'm fine lil' bit." Lying between his gritting teeth. "Let me straighten up my mind a bit before I ramble any further and start to freak you out completely here."
Dawn helped the vampire up and placed a soft cushion behind his back to support him into a sitting position, reasoning that it was much more difficult to doze off like this then when lying all stretched out on the comfortable bed.
"What happened?" She asked with a voice full of concern while she handed him a glass of water.
Spike took a couple of grateful gulps. The coolness helped to get the to him more then horrifying traces of the nightmare out of his system.
Dawn waited impatiently till the vampire had finished his drink and handed her back the empty glass. She put it aside and squatted next to him, staring at him as long as it would take till he spilled out the beans.
"Your big sis and I were ambushed by a pissed off demon. Was just a sec too late to dodge away from his stabby arms." He shrugged. "Put up a good fight though."
"I know about the demon. Willow did some research using Buffy's descriptions and found out that it was a glarkul cashmajick or whatever."
"It's glarghk guhl kashma'nik." He corrected her. "Stick with me Nibblet and you might actually learn something here."
Dawn managed to smile a little. It was good to hear him joke around again. Hopefully this was a sign that his condition was really improving.
"Anyway, that's not what I meant. I wanted to know why you were asking for Giles."
~ And that comment about someone being a bloody poof needs some clarification too. Although I might already have an idea who you are referring to. ~
The vampire didn't answer her as easily as she had expected, but asked a question himself instead.
"Red found out? Did she tell Buffy about the antidote?"
Dawn nodded enthusiastically. "Yes she did. As I said they went to collect the demon who did this to you."
"So your big sis didn't kill it yet?" he asked hopefully.
"Well, she did, but Willow reassured us that if the corpse was still fresh and intact, we could use it to extract the antidote."
"And how exactly did Red define the word intact?" Spike had a very bad mental picture forming that suited the Slayer thrashing the kashma'nik soundtrack from his memories far too well.
"Uh, I think she meant with intact that all the body parts must still be attached?"
Spike flinched.
" But you know, Buffy wouldn't –"
"Oh balls, I'm really done for this time."
"Hey! Don't say that! Buffy is the Slayer, not some psycho serial killer! When she does her job the worst thing she will do to them is break their necks in a very clean and not too distressing kind of way. That should leave all the body parts on their places. Right?"
"Is that what she tells you? Bullocks! So now what? There is an official board now for National Demon Healthcare that makes sure she doesn't inflict too much pain on them before she finishes them off? Hand me over the number Nibblet cause I sure want to make a few complains about her myself."
"All I was saying was that she doesn't enjoy killing living creatures. Or hurting them as a matter of fact. She has morals."
"Yeah well, I don't think your big sis sees the need to apply them on demons though."
They both fell into an uncomfortable silence. Dawn noticed that Spike wasn't at ease talking about her sister. His last remark sounded rather bitter and hurt. Perhaps it was time to shift their conversation into a different path.
"Um, You know it can take a while before they are back. Maybe we should get you downstairs and we can watch some TV together. Passions is up in half an hour and I can make you some of my famous banana-weetabix peanut butter milkshakes?"
A thin smile appeared on the vampire's lips and Dawn felt relieved to be able to break his peculiar mood.
"Sounds just peachy Nibblet. And who knows, I might be able to crawl downstairs before the end credits starts."
"I'll help you."
She took his right arm and swung it over her shoulders, then supported him back to his feet. Although swaying a bit unsteadily under his weight, she managed to inch him towards the stair foot by foot.
"I was thinking, that milkshake of yours could use a bit extra to give it some texture. Do you still have those little chocolate coated marshmallows?"
Dawn looked up at his vampire friend and gave him a radiant smile.
"Lemme have a look once you're settled."
SCENE 2
"William? William! Please snap out of it!"
Crouching beside the passed out young man still sitting on his chair, Buffy rubbed the skin where she had injected a second dose of anti-narcotic into his arm till it was turning scarlet.
~Oh come on, I can't give you more than this. You really have to do it on your own now. ~`
"Buffy, um, don't you think the Butanal needs a little time before it's activated in his system? Crushing the arterioles beneath his skin is not really going to help the drug distribute itself anymore efficiently."
"Oh, I guess not. Sorry."
She let go of his heavily abused left arm. It fell limp beside him and dragged his whole body down, launching him to one side with his head heading towards the floor.
"Oh no! You're not going anywhere!"
She stopped his fall just in time, slipping underneath the comatose patient and holding him back with her head and hands. She ended up looking rather comical, like a mechanic who got caught underneath his car when the jack broke down.
"Guys? I can really use some help here. B'cause, you know, heavy?"
Both older males in the room had been caught up in a serious conversation and the sudden interruption by the senior assistant made both man turn their heads towards her in surprise.
"Oh sorry. Here let me get him."
Liam grabbed his unconscious brother by his arms, lifted him up and allowed Buffy to crawl underneath her heavy package.
"Perhaps you should take William back to his room Buffy. I don't think it's going to do the patient any good to let him just sit here and tumble off the chair every ten seconds."
Buffy dusted off her uniform and gazed at her mentor with a pleading look on her face. Lips ready to pout.
"But he's coming around any second now! The Butanal has got to work, believe me, twice of 400mg of that stuff is more then enough to even get an unconscious elephant back on his feet!"
"Buffy."
" He can sit here quietly and I promise to keep him steady."
~ OK I know I've screwed things up for you Giles. But give me chance to make it all better. Please don't make me look like the complete overeducated but totally incompetent med student in front of that cute Liam guy. ~
"There is something Mr Byron and I need to discuss rather urgently. But I trust William to be well attended for in your hands."
"But –"
The stern and annoyed look on her mentor's face told her that he was far beyond the but-phase oft their conversation for now. She rolled her eyes.
"Fine. I'll go."
"Good, now as I was saying mister Byron, one cannot dismiss the facts here. You're brother displays clear indications of unreasonable fear and anger towards your imaginative alter ego. Now as a professional and dare I say expert on my field, I can only conclude from my observations that William may have some serious trust issues."
"Well a big DUH, and he's really not the only one."
Giles turned around and saw Buffy still standing near the door.
"Oops, did I say that one out loud?"
The practitioner gave her a very nasty look, and she decided wisely that it was about time to leave the two gents on their own.
"Um, I go see if Mike is still around to give me a hand, you guys have a nice chat."
SCENE 3
Dawn was finally losing her guard on the wounded vampire till she came back from the kitchen and tried to shove the third serving of super creamy- frosty marshmallow milkshake into his hand, and found him winching on the sofa as though he was in serious pain.
She spilled half of the milkshakes over the carpet.
"Oh-My-God! Spike! What's wrong?!"
"Get away from me with that bleedin needle, I don't want to wake up in your crackers reality!"
Dawn slammed the tall glasses on the coffee table and grabbed him by his shoulders. The vampire's face was still flinching and his eyes were held shut tight.
"Spike? What are talking about? What's going on?"
She shook the vampire, his body flung back and forth like a old ragged doll.
"Oww! That bloody hurts!"
The delusional vampire launched himself forward, clasping his left arm with his right hand as if he was stung and ended up banging his head on the coffee table, knocking over the milkshakes.
'Spike!"
"Get away from me!" His voice was muffled, as his face was buried underneath his arms that he folded over the back of his head protectively. "Get the bleedin hell away from me! I don't want to be normal! I don't want you to hurt me again!"
Dawn stood beside the vampire, frozen in shock. This was really bad. Willow told her that Spike might wake up suffering from hallucinations, but everything went fine till she got the boneheaded idea to leave him alone for a couple of minutes to get the stupid shakes. If he's going to continue to freak out like this there was no way she could stop him from hurting himself. She would have to wait till the others came back.
"Please Spike, calm down. There's no one here who wants to hurt you. You're safe."
Hesitatingly, she kneeled beside the vampire who was still huddled into a tight heap.
"Spike?" She whispered softly, and tentatively patted his hair, running her fingers through his short blond locks. "Please stop this. You're scaring me."
"B-Buffy?"
"Buffy is not back yet, but it's me, Dawn?" The sickening notch that her stomach was tight into after his friend's unexpected seizure relaxed a bit. At least he was still conscious.
"Nibblet?"
"Yes! I'm here." She administrated a hopeful but wavering smile.
"What happened here?" He raised his head and struggled up from the tabletop, which was now a complete slippery mess. Disorientated, he gazed around finding himself away from the sofa seat that he had been comfortably settled in while watching his favourite soap opera. A drop of thick white liquid ran down his cheeks and the vampire caught it distractedly by sticking out his tongue. He tasted it, licked his lips, and gazing at Dawn in confusion.
"And why I'm all covered with chocolate marshmallow shake?"
TBC
TITLE: "Normal again" (4/?)
AUTHOR: Richard Bachman
EMAIL: bachman_rchard@hotmail.com
SITE: nope
FEEDBACK: Give it to me luv, you know you want more of this!
DISTRIBUTION: Do whatever you like poodle. As long as Richard is mentioned I'm fine.
RATING: NC-17 Humor/angst
PAIRING: B/S
SUMMARY: Got this wonderful idea after watching normal again. Instead of Buffy, Spike gets a dose of demonic goodness inserted into his system. As his consciousness is transported to an AU where he finds Sunnydale is no longer the good old Sunnyhell he despises and knows so well, things are getting a bit surreal for the poor bleached wonder.
WARNING: This fic describes scenes of rape, and is dark and ansty but I suppose that we kinda got used to it after watching whole bleedin S6.
THANKS: To anyone for reading my senseless dribble. Love you guys. You truly make me waste my weekends worthwhile!
CHARACTERS: Spike and Dawn interaction (Which is always good), and AU Buffy is struggling with an unconscious William.
ACT 4; Being subjected to sudden seizures of blackouts in combination with consuming large quantities of odd flavoured milkshakes means pretty much that you're a hazard to yourself and your direct environment.
SCENE 1
It was quiet in Joyce's bedroom. Even the old, rudely loud clock hanging on the wall above the vanity mirror seemed to have improved on his behaviour. Dawn hardly noticed the time ticking by. She sat on her mother's bed, carefully watching a well-attended vampire.
It might have been imagination, or her own craving to see him getting better, but there seemed to be a slight change in his features which had been deadly motionless for over hours now.
Spike's eyelids were trembling.
"Spike, can you hear me? It's Dawn!"
She wondered if he was dreaming. Can vampires dream anyway? She made a quick mental note to ask him as soon as he got better. The teenager was one hundred percent sure he would. Buffy and the others won't let him just slip away like this. She wouldn't either. Not after everything what he had ever done for her.
Dawn reached out her hand and toughed the vampire lightly on his cold cheekbones. Her fingers travelled up and halted when they reached the now perfectly still eyelids. Hesitatingly, she lifted one of them, receiving a blinking reflex from him as a pleasant surprise.
"Spike!"
She jumped up and did exactly what her older sister had done a couple of hours ago; she planted her hands firmly on his chest and shook him feverishly, trying to get him snap out of his comatose state.
"Spike! Wake up! Wake up! It's me Dawn!"
The eyes-fluttering thing intensified. A soft moan escaped the vampire's parted lips.
"Oh please wake up now!"
She was rocking the vampire so vigorously that he almost rolled over to one side. Dawn didn't care, Willow had told her that his flesh wounds would heal, but if he didn't regain his consciousness within a couple of days, he might never wake up ever again. The teenager didn't want to lose his vampire friend. He was immortal. He was supposed to be the one who would always be there for her.
"Spike! Please!"
A wave of relief washed over her when his eyes opened reluctantly. Blinking at the harsh light of the ceiling lamp.
"Spike! You're awake!"
He gazed around, disorientated, and found the little girl sitting next to him on the broad double bed. Knees and shoes resting on the sheets, staring back at him with an almost crazed out happiness shining in her eyes.
"Dawn? What are you doing here?"
His voice cracked, worn out like an old leathery shoe. As a matter of fact, his throat felt so awfully dry that he wondered if he might have accidentally swallowed one.
"Buffy and Willow asked me to take care of you. You're in my house right now, in mom's room."
"Buffy? Is she still here? An-and Giles, where did they all go?"
Dawn gazed back at her vampire friend, worried.
"Buffy went to get the demon that did this to you. But Giles is still in England. Do you want me to call him? "
"Oh. No. No don't." His head was spinning again, nausea welling up in his throat like bitter bile. "I don't want him dragging the bloody poof with him."
Dawn was seriously getting nervous now.
"Spike? What are you talking about? Are you feeling all right?"
"I'm fine lil' bit." Lying between his gritting teeth. "Let me straighten up my mind a bit before I ramble any further and start to freak you out completely here."
Dawn helped the vampire up and placed a soft cushion behind his back to support him into a sitting position, reasoning that it was much more difficult to doze off like this then when lying all stretched out on the comfortable bed.
"What happened?" She asked with a voice full of concern while she handed him a glass of water.
Spike took a couple of grateful gulps. The coolness helped to get the to him more then horrifying traces of the nightmare out of his system.
Dawn waited impatiently till the vampire had finished his drink and handed her back the empty glass. She put it aside and squatted next to him, staring at him as long as it would take till he spilled out the beans.
"Your big sis and I were ambushed by a pissed off demon. Was just a sec too late to dodge away from his stabby arms." He shrugged. "Put up a good fight though."
"I know about the demon. Willow did some research using Buffy's descriptions and found out that it was a glarkul cashmajick or whatever."
"It's glarghk guhl kashma'nik." He corrected her. "Stick with me Nibblet and you might actually learn something here."
Dawn managed to smile a little. It was good to hear him joke around again. Hopefully this was a sign that his condition was really improving.
"Anyway, that's not what I meant. I wanted to know why you were asking for Giles."
~ And that comment about someone being a bloody poof needs some clarification too. Although I might already have an idea who you are referring to. ~
The vampire didn't answer her as easily as she had expected, but asked a question himself instead.
"Red found out? Did she tell Buffy about the antidote?"
Dawn nodded enthusiastically. "Yes she did. As I said they went to collect the demon who did this to you."
"So your big sis didn't kill it yet?" he asked hopefully.
"Well, she did, but Willow reassured us that if the corpse was still fresh and intact, we could use it to extract the antidote."
"And how exactly did Red define the word intact?" Spike had a very bad mental picture forming that suited the Slayer thrashing the kashma'nik soundtrack from his memories far too well.
"Uh, I think she meant with intact that all the body parts must still be attached?"
Spike flinched.
" But you know, Buffy wouldn't –"
"Oh balls, I'm really done for this time."
"Hey! Don't say that! Buffy is the Slayer, not some psycho serial killer! When she does her job the worst thing she will do to them is break their necks in a very clean and not too distressing kind of way. That should leave all the body parts on their places. Right?"
"Is that what she tells you? Bullocks! So now what? There is an official board now for National Demon Healthcare that makes sure she doesn't inflict too much pain on them before she finishes them off? Hand me over the number Nibblet cause I sure want to make a few complains about her myself."
"All I was saying was that she doesn't enjoy killing living creatures. Or hurting them as a matter of fact. She has morals."
"Yeah well, I don't think your big sis sees the need to apply them on demons though."
They both fell into an uncomfortable silence. Dawn noticed that Spike wasn't at ease talking about her sister. His last remark sounded rather bitter and hurt. Perhaps it was time to shift their conversation into a different path.
"Um, You know it can take a while before they are back. Maybe we should get you downstairs and we can watch some TV together. Passions is up in half an hour and I can make you some of my famous banana-weetabix peanut butter milkshakes?"
A thin smile appeared on the vampire's lips and Dawn felt relieved to be able to break his peculiar mood.
"Sounds just peachy Nibblet. And who knows, I might be able to crawl downstairs before the end credits starts."
"I'll help you."
She took his right arm and swung it over her shoulders, then supported him back to his feet. Although swaying a bit unsteadily under his weight, she managed to inch him towards the stair foot by foot.
"I was thinking, that milkshake of yours could use a bit extra to give it some texture. Do you still have those little chocolate coated marshmallows?"
Dawn looked up at his vampire friend and gave him a radiant smile.
"Lemme have a look once you're settled."
SCENE 2
"William? William! Please snap out of it!"
Crouching beside the passed out young man still sitting on his chair, Buffy rubbed the skin where she had injected a second dose of anti-narcotic into his arm till it was turning scarlet.
~Oh come on, I can't give you more than this. You really have to do it on your own now. ~`
"Buffy, um, don't you think the Butanal needs a little time before it's activated in his system? Crushing the arterioles beneath his skin is not really going to help the drug distribute itself anymore efficiently."
"Oh, I guess not. Sorry."
She let go of his heavily abused left arm. It fell limp beside him and dragged his whole body down, launching him to one side with his head heading towards the floor.
"Oh no! You're not going anywhere!"
She stopped his fall just in time, slipping underneath the comatose patient and holding him back with her head and hands. She ended up looking rather comical, like a mechanic who got caught underneath his car when the jack broke down.
"Guys? I can really use some help here. B'cause, you know, heavy?"
Both older males in the room had been caught up in a serious conversation and the sudden interruption by the senior assistant made both man turn their heads towards her in surprise.
"Oh sorry. Here let me get him."
Liam grabbed his unconscious brother by his arms, lifted him up and allowed Buffy to crawl underneath her heavy package.
"Perhaps you should take William back to his room Buffy. I don't think it's going to do the patient any good to let him just sit here and tumble off the chair every ten seconds."
Buffy dusted off her uniform and gazed at her mentor with a pleading look on her face. Lips ready to pout.
"But he's coming around any second now! The Butanal has got to work, believe me, twice of 400mg of that stuff is more then enough to even get an unconscious elephant back on his feet!"
"Buffy."
" He can sit here quietly and I promise to keep him steady."
~ OK I know I've screwed things up for you Giles. But give me chance to make it all better. Please don't make me look like the complete overeducated but totally incompetent med student in front of that cute Liam guy. ~
"There is something Mr Byron and I need to discuss rather urgently. But I trust William to be well attended for in your hands."
"But –"
The stern and annoyed look on her mentor's face told her that he was far beyond the but-phase oft their conversation for now. She rolled her eyes.
"Fine. I'll go."
"Good, now as I was saying mister Byron, one cannot dismiss the facts here. You're brother displays clear indications of unreasonable fear and anger towards your imaginative alter ego. Now as a professional and dare I say expert on my field, I can only conclude from my observations that William may have some serious trust issues."
"Well a big DUH, and he's really not the only one."
Giles turned around and saw Buffy still standing near the door.
"Oops, did I say that one out loud?"
The practitioner gave her a very nasty look, and she decided wisely that it was about time to leave the two gents on their own.
"Um, I go see if Mike is still around to give me a hand, you guys have a nice chat."
SCENE 3
Dawn was finally losing her guard on the wounded vampire till she came back from the kitchen and tried to shove the third serving of super creamy- frosty marshmallow milkshake into his hand, and found him winching on the sofa as though he was in serious pain.
She spilled half of the milkshakes over the carpet.
"Oh-My-God! Spike! What's wrong?!"
"Get away from me with that bleedin needle, I don't want to wake up in your crackers reality!"
Dawn slammed the tall glasses on the coffee table and grabbed him by his shoulders. The vampire's face was still flinching and his eyes were held shut tight.
"Spike? What are talking about? What's going on?"
She shook the vampire, his body flung back and forth like a old ragged doll.
"Oww! That bloody hurts!"
The delusional vampire launched himself forward, clasping his left arm with his right hand as if he was stung and ended up banging his head on the coffee table, knocking over the milkshakes.
'Spike!"
"Get away from me!" His voice was muffled, as his face was buried underneath his arms that he folded over the back of his head protectively. "Get the bleedin hell away from me! I don't want to be normal! I don't want you to hurt me again!"
Dawn stood beside the vampire, frozen in shock. This was really bad. Willow told her that Spike might wake up suffering from hallucinations, but everything went fine till she got the boneheaded idea to leave him alone for a couple of minutes to get the stupid shakes. If he's going to continue to freak out like this there was no way she could stop him from hurting himself. She would have to wait till the others came back.
"Please Spike, calm down. There's no one here who wants to hurt you. You're safe."
Hesitatingly, she kneeled beside the vampire who was still huddled into a tight heap.
"Spike?" She whispered softly, and tentatively patted his hair, running her fingers through his short blond locks. "Please stop this. You're scaring me."
"B-Buffy?"
"Buffy is not back yet, but it's me, Dawn?" The sickening notch that her stomach was tight into after his friend's unexpected seizure relaxed a bit. At least he was still conscious.
"Nibblet?"
"Yes! I'm here." She administrated a hopeful but wavering smile.
"What happened here?" He raised his head and struggled up from the tabletop, which was now a complete slippery mess. Disorientated, he gazed around finding himself away from the sofa seat that he had been comfortably settled in while watching his favourite soap opera. A drop of thick white liquid ran down his cheeks and the vampire caught it distractedly by sticking out his tongue. He tasted it, licked his lips, and gazing at Dawn in confusion.
"And why I'm all covered with chocolate marshmallow shake?"
TBC
