CRADLE
Disclaimer,etc. as on first chapter.
RATING: PG-13 again for language and more bloodshed…
A/N: Continuing right from where we left off. Let's just pray Xander and Spike don't end up killing each other… Prepare for angst and drama. Oh, and some minor Spuffy, too ;)
(By the way, I know that technically Spike would have beaten Xander to within an inch of his life before now… but I'd just like to point out that Xander's running on pure rage and adrenaline, and it can make a person do bizarre things, not to mention give them bizarre strength. And anyway, a fight where Spike hits Xander once and knocks him down isn't really very much fun, is it?)
Cradle
Chapter Sixteen
Anya probably would have remained engrossed in her book had Willow not stirred and distracted her; this in turn led her to wonder what had disturbed the redhead. She closed the large tome carefully and placed it on the pile at the end of the bed, then got up, casting a brief glance at Willow as she headed to the door.
"What…?" she asked, groggily, sitting up.
"Sh," whispered Anya, putting an ear to the door. There was an almighty crash from downstairs. "I think we might have a burglar…"
"Oh, God…" Willow dragged herself off the bed and went to stand behind Anya at the door. She'd gained a lot of strength since her 'meeting' with Tara and could now walk on her own again. "And Buffy's not back yet, either…"
"Nope…" There was another loud bang. "But it sounds like Xander's fighting him."
"Oh," said Willow, perking up. "Yay for Xander!" They both flinched as something that sounded expensive broke. "D'you think we should go help? O-or maybe we should call the police…"
"Or maybe we should just stay in here… We're the womenfolk; we're meant to be weak, and barricaded until help comes."
Willow looked at her strangely. She was about to disagree and go through the door ahead of Anya, but then there was an even louder crash and she thought better of it. She didn't feel like getting into the firing line. "Maybe you're right…"
Downstairs, the living room (and, in fact, adjoining parts of both the kitchen and the dining room, as well as the stairs) appeared to be in a state of utter carnage. Ornaments were broken, furniture was either bent or broken beyond redemption, and there were even a few spools missing from the banister of the staircase. There was also a significant amount of blood on the floor.
Xander and Spike were still at it and showed no signs of stopping, now determined to fight to the death. Bruises were getting bruises, and bones were beyond broken, but still their war continued. They were blissfully unaware of the destruction they'd created, hell-bent on killing each other before the night was out. They'd re-used every insult and taunt four times over just to keep themselves going, knowing exactly what to say to make the other hurt. After all the years they'd spent swearing to be the cause of each other's demise, the time finally seemed to be upon them.
Spike threw Xander as hard as he could into the stair-rail, breaking another spool off. Xander hit the floor in a heap and struggled to get up. "Gettin' tired yet, Whelp?" he taunted, grinning.
"Not even close," coughed Xander, grabbing onto the broken spool just so he'd have something to use as a weapon. On closer scrutiny, it had broken off in such a way that the end was pointed. Xander realised with sudden clarity that he could win this – he had a makeshift stake in his hand, and with the right aim and accuracy, he could end it.
Spike realised this at the same time as Xander, and his only thought was that he had to either disarm him, or kill him, before he got himself dusted. They'd both slowed down considerably since the start of their fight, but, unfortunately, they now knew each other's moves far too well, and time was now definitely of the essence. Spike had a pretty good idea how Xander was going to attack, and if he could just-
Oh, shit… For a human, Xander could move incredibly fast when he wanted to. He seemed to running entirely on adrenaline alone, because there was no way he'd have been able to get from the floor to Spike in his current state. Spike suddenly found himself pinned to the floor, with Xander's improvised stake held mere inches from his heart, poised for the kill.
The blond vampire struggled, but it was futile. Xander had both his arms trapped and he wasn't strong enough to break free, having been winded when he hit the floor. This wasn't fair… if anyone was going to stake him, he'd wanted it to be Buffy, not Alexander Harris. "So, this is how it all ends, is it?" he asked, rhetorically. His tone was almost comical, as if he couldn't quite believe he was going to die like this.
"Save your breath for a last request, Spike…" Xander raised his arm high; he was going to enjoy this.
"It's gone very quiet," whispered Anya. "Perhaps it's safe to go down…"
Willow nodded in agreement. "I just hope it was Xander who won and not the evil criminal guy…"
Cautiously, Anya opened the bedroom door, and the two young women tiptoed down the corridor. They could hear distant voices, but the fight did appear to have finished. At the top of the stairs, they stopped, taking in the wreckage with curious horror, then very slowly made their way down…
Spike flicked his eyes between Xander's own and the stake in his hand, not sure which he was currently more scared of. The stake was a very real manifestation of his impending death, but Xander's eyes were full of blind rage and murderous calm, the likes of which he'd never seen in him before. He knew it had gone beyond the point of reasoning with him; he wasn't strong enough to fight him off, either..
Xander moved the stake a little higher as he readied himself. He couldn't believe it – he was finally going to be rid of Spike, for good. Of course, explaining it to everyone would be tough, but they'd come around to his point of view eventually, when they saw he'd done the right thing. In just a few short seconds, William the Bloody would be nothing more than a pile of dust.
Anya and Willow stopped dead at the bottom of the stairs when they saw the scene. It was like something from their worst nightmare – Xander, about to murder Spike, right in Buffy's house… with Buffy not around to help. The pair seemed oblivious to their audience, otherwise Spike probably would have shouted something. Words wouldn't form. Both of them merely froze, unable to move forwards and terrified of trying to intervene in case Xander accidentally hurt them. Anya, especially, was appalled… the last thing he'd promised her was that he'd 'play nice', and he'd quite blatantly broken that promise.
They could do nothing but watch in cold terror as Xander brought the stake down.
Suddenly, the front door slammed open. "What the Hell is going on?!"
Buffy stood on the threshold, and she did not look impressed. From her perspective, she saw only that her house was in tatters, and that most of the destruction seemed to be centred around the two bloodied figures on her living room floor. Willow and Anya were clearly in too much shock to explain, and she doubted they knew what had occurred, anyway.
She strode purposefully towards the middle of the room. "I said, what the H-" Buffy stopped stock still when she reached them. The scene looked like it had been frozen in time. Xander, still straddling Spike's torso, had one hand clamped firmly on the vampire's arm to prevent him moving, and the other hand clutching his makeshift stake. The stake was sticking sickeningly out of Spike's chest. The pair stared at each other with unblinking eyes.
Slowly, it registered to Buffy that Spike wasn't turning to dust. On closer scrutiny, she could see that Xander had missed his heart, just barely; she'd burst through the door in the nick of time and surprised him enough for his aim to be off. Then, it registered that Xander had been trying to kill him, and, if their bruised and battered bodies were anything to go by, it had been a mere fluke that Spike hadn't killed him first.
She felt betrayed by them both, and tears sprung to her eyes. "Oh, my God…"
Willow and Anya shared a look, having both recovered from the initial shock and similarly realised that Xander had missed. They started to approach, not entirely sure what they were going to do. Willow went first, reaching a hand to Buffy from her position some distance away. "Buffy…?"
"Stay back," she ordered. "Just stay there…" They obeyed, standing close together. Neither Spike nor Xander had moved, and the latter's breathing was slow and uneven. He seemed to be in shock at what he'd nearly done. Spike was evidently dealing with the fact that he could see the stake in his chest, but oblivion had failed to seize him. Buffy knew she had to get Xander out of there before she could do anything. "Xander…"
He seemed to snap out of it slightly, turning slowly to look at her. "Buffy. I…"
"Save it," she said, overly harshly. "Just let go of the stake, Xander." He looked back at it as if he didn't know what it was, or how he'd gotten hold of it. "Let go." The words failed to translate in his brain. Buffy reached over and forcibly prised his fingers from the wood, then worked on wrenching his other hand from Spike's arm. Once she'd managed that, she got up and physically pulled him off the vampire.
From the new perspective, Xander finally looked at what he'd done and completely snapped out of it. "Buffy, I… I'm sorry, I… he… we…" An explanation plainly refused to form in his mind. He didn't remember plunging the stake into Spike's chest, nor did he remember most of their fight. Looking around him, he was surprised at the amount of damage they'd done to the house. "I don't-"
"Xander, get out of my sight," said Buffy, darkly.
"But-"
"I will talk to you later about this… but I suggest you get out of here, before I do something I regret…"
He nodded. She was angry, too angry to be logical right now, so he wisely made his way to the back porch. He passed Anya on the way, and remembered what he'd promised. "An…" He reached out a hand in apology but she shrank back from it.
"I believed you," she said. "I trusted you…"
"I know, I-"
"What… on Earth…?" said a distinctly British voice from the doorway. Giles had returned with Dawn, bearing many pizza boxes. Spotting his Slayer on the floor near Spike, he decided she would probably know what had gone on in his absence. "Buffy, what happened here?"
Not tearing her gaze from Spike, trying to ascertain if he was even conscious, she said, "Why don't you ask Xander…"
"Well?"
"It was… a fight… we… we fought, and… that happened…" he mumbled.
"What happened?" asked Dawn. Xander didn't have to answer, however, because she'd spotted Spike. "Oh, God. No!" She dropped the pizza boxes she was carrying and started to run over, but Buffy intervened.
"Giles, keep her away!"
He did as asked, tugging gently on Dawn's shoulder to stop her. She'd seen enough, though, and she burst into tears. "You…" she said to Xander. "You did this…"
"Dawn, I-"
She cut him off by slapping him soundly across the cheek, not caring about the fact that he probably had a broken jaw as it was, then instantly collapsed into Giles' arms. He moved her away from the scene, into the slightly safer haven of her room. Her sobs could still be heard, muffled though they were, through the closed door. Xander turned back to Willow and Anya. The former wouldn't meet his eyes, but that didn't surprise him; the latter merely stared back, looking utterly betrayed. Before he could say anything else, she vanished into midair, teleporting herself out of there.
Conceding defeat, Xander limped painfully through to the back porch, where he sat and waited for Buffy and the horrible conversation he knew was coming.
Back in the lounge, Willow and Buffy were alone with a skewered and silent Spike. Sensing that her friend probably needed help, Willow approached and knelt on the other side of him. She breathed in through her teeth when she saw the stake. Buffy seemed at a loss as to what to do next. The stake was very close to his heart and she didn't trust herself to remove it; her hands were shaking too much. Apart from this, she still hadn't managed to elicit any response from him.
Willow noticed, but didn't mention, that Buffy was gripping one of Spike's hands firmly in her own. She decided it was best to stay silent and wait until Buffy asked for help, rather than trying to take over.
Buffy hovered her other hand in his field of vision to see if it might bring him round. Nothing happened. She moved the hand to his hair, smoothing it back from his forehead. Still nothing. Finally, as a last resort, she leant close to his ear. "Spike? Can you hear me?" Again, nothing happened. Buffy repeated the question over and over, getting desperate. Finally, Willow could bear it no longer and did the same in Spike's other ear.
It wasn't working. Spike blinked, once, and that was all. Buffy looked across at Willow as she straightened up. "Will… what do we do?"
"I… I don't know, Buffy…"
"D-do you think we should move the stake?"
Willow examined it. "M-maybe."
Buffy nodded slowly, then, letting go of Spike's hand, she took the stake in both hands and pulled. It moved about a millimetre, then Spike suddenly moved. Buffy let go of it and fell back, shocked, as did Willow, giving him space. He blinked rapidly, shaking his head to clear it, then focussed on a very worried-looking Buffy. When he spoke, he was obviously back to normal.
"Who died, pet?"
She smiled in spite of herself, relieved. "You nearly did, you big doofus…"
"Eh?" Then, he spotted the stake from the corner of his eye and realised what she was talking about. He eyed it nervously. "Did you do that?"
"No…" she told him. "Will, can you help me sit him up?"
Her friend nodded and between them they managed to get him almost upright, very carefully, and propped him up against what was left of Buffy's coffee table. Willow perched carefully on the arm of the now-creaking couch. Spike looked around, horrified. "Bloody hell… did Xander and I do this?"
"Yeah," said Buffy, her relief at his coming around turning back into anger at Xander, and now slightly at Spike, too. "The next time you guys decide to fight it out, can you not total my living room?"
He looked sincere and apologetic. "I'm really sorry, Buffy… honestly. I… I don't even know what happened. I came over like you asked and Xander wouldn't believe me… I didn't even provoke him that I know of, but next thing I knew he'd punched me in the face, and then…" He gestured to his bruised body and the mess they'd left. "I admit, we both completely lost it… fightin' to the death, we were. Never thought he'd actually try to dust me, though."
"Me neither," admitted Buffy.
Spike reached up for her hand. "That honour's reserved for you, love… You know that."
Why, all of a sudden, was that simple statement, something she'd known without him having to tell her, like poetry to her ears? Since his return from Africa, he suddenly had an incredibly irritating ability to say the most mundane things and make them sound beautiful. Buffy wasn't quite ready to deal with how he was making her feel lately, and nearly losing him at the hand of her best friend had only made it worse. Now, he was looking at her That Way, with the small smile that told her he loved her without him needing to say anything.
She broke free of his grasp, and crouched to his level. "I need to talk to Xander. I'll leave you with Will. That okay with you both?" Spike looked at Willow to make sure she was comfortable with the plan, and when she indicated that it was fine, he nodded. "Good. Willow, look after him, okay?"
"I will. I'll go get the First Aid box, if it's still intact…" She headed to the kitchen, where she knew they kept some supplies, leaving Buffy alone with Spike for a few minutes. She stayed with him while Willow hunted.
Spike laughed a little bitterly, and also slightly amused. "Can't believe I'm sitting here with a bleedin' stake sticking out my chest…" Buffy couldn't believe it either. Apart from that, he seemed relatively intact. The wounds from the trials were bleeding again from Xander's punches, he was bruised, and he had a split lip and a small cut on his forehead. Another bruise was forming on his cheek. "I… I want you to know… if it'd been the other way 'round, I wouldn't have killed him."
She smiled and put a hand to his cheek. "Yeah, you would…"
"All right, I would… but I wouldn't have been happy about it afterwards…"
Buffy heard Willow coming back and removed the hand. She looked serious. "I'm not going to let him get away with this, Spike. I promise. Best friend or not, he's gonna learn not to mess with my business… or yours…" Spike smiled gratefully. Before she got up, Buffy leaned over, being careful to avoid the stake and his split lip, and gave him a chaste kiss, not unlike the one she'd granted him after his ordeal with Glory. She pulled back and stood up, and was rewarded with a curious, but happy, smile, just as Willow came back with the First Aid kit.
The red head sat herself on the floor near Spike and started unpacking the contents of the box. Buffy cast one final knowing glance at Spike, then headed outside to talk to Xander. This wasn't going to be pretty…
To be continued…
Two very long and very different conversations coming in Chapter 17, which should be up tomorrowish. These last two and the next one were all meant to be one chapter, but it ran away from me. Anyway, at least I get more reviews this way ;) Keep 'em coming, please!
