A/N : I apologise for this chapter being so short but I promise the next one will be longer. Thanx to everyone who reviewed the third chapter - I appreciate it a lot.
(For disclaimer, etc - see Chapter 1)
Chapter 4
"Oh my God, Spike, it worked! It's really you!"
Dawn shrieked with delight as she helped Spike up off the ground and made to hug him, but he pulled back and shook his head violently.
"I'm sorry if I hurt you" she said quickly wondering why he seemed so desperate to escape her grasp.
"No, no, no, too hot, too hot and too loud" he rambled, wandering back and forth and shaking his head.
"Spike, it's okay" Dawn tried to calm him down and she reached for his hand. She was shocked when she saw blood.
"What happened to your hands?" she asked him but he wasn't making sense, still repeating words like 'hot' and 'loud' and seeming completely disorientated.
"Look, let's just get you back to the house" the young Summers tried to get him to listen, "Spike for Buffy's sake, please"
"For Buffy" Spike echoed, suddenly still and quiet.
"Yes, for Buffy, come home with me"
Spike just nodded and Dawn led him by the arm, through the graveyard and back to the Summers house, only glad they were not too far away and that hopefully either Willow or Tara would be home by now.
"Too loud, too hot, oh god please help me, make it stop" Spike continued to mumble to himself and Dawn was getting scared as she entered the house and sat him down on the sofa. He didn't seem at all aware of where he was or what was going on.
Willow came down the stairs when she heard someone at the front door. She had been checking on Buffy while the rest of the gang were at the Magic Box, researching the demon from earlier.
"Dawnie?" she called as she entered the living room. She jumped back several feet when she saw Spike on the sofa with Dawn kneeling in front of him.
"Willow, I don't know what to do with him" the teen said as calmly as she could, and the red-headed started to edge forward towards Spike.
"Oh my God, it worked, he's back" she said in amazement. She'd been so convinced their spell had failed when he didn't appear immediately.
"Yeah, but something isn't right" Dawn sighed as Spike writhed on the sofa, half standing then sitting again and rambling madly still, "I found him in the graveyard like this - and look at his hands"
"Oh God, the graveyard..." Willow put her hand over her mouth and went deathly pale. It all added up to something frightening.
"What is it Willow?" Dawn didn't understand.
"We brought him back" she said quietly, sitting down on the coffee table opposite the frantic man as he seemed to tire of thrashing around, "We brought him back right where we left him"
"Oh my God, you mean in the ground?" Dawn felt sick at the realisation.
Willow nodded, swallowing hard as Spike seemed to get calmer, almost lying flat on the sofa now, speaking less and not shaking so much.
"How did he get out of the coffin and the grave?" Dawn whispered, almost afraid of what she was asking.
"I guess from the state of his hands he dug out. No wonder he's such a mess"
"But he would have done that when he first became a vampire" Dawn thought aloud.
"I don't think it's something you get used to Dawnie, it's still gonna be traumatic" Willow spoke quietly as Spike finally slept. She stood up and took Dawn aside.
"Go and fetch the others, tell them what happened and bring them back here" she told the younger girl, "Tell them to be quiet when they come in, we should let him sleep, maybe he'll be better when he wakes up again. I'll try to clean his hands up while he's sleeping"
"Okay" Dawn nodded, going to fetch her jacket.
"Oh Willow" she said to her friend before she left, "What about Buffy?"
"She's asleep too and it won't help her to see him like this anyway" the Wicca explained.
Dawn nodded in agreement as she opened the front door.
"And Dawn" he friend called to her, "be careful"
The young girl left the house and Willow went to fetch bandages and other supplies to clean up Spikes hands. She sat on the coffee table as she had before and reached out to clean the blood from his fingers. He flinched in his sleep and Willow realised it was never going to work. She sighed, glad she was a witch and with a few simple words and the pointing of her fingers, the cuts on Spikes hands cleaned and sealed themselves.
Willow smiled at her work and went to out the medical supplies back in the kitchen cupboard. Spike was back, a little worse for wear mentally right now, but she was sure he would be alright. Okay, maybe she wasn't sure, but she hoped. If Spike was okay then Buffy should be too and things could get back to normal.
A sound from the living room interrupted her thoughts and the red-head rushed back to see Spike moving slightly and moaning in his sleep. She moved cautiously towards him and saw he was sweating too.
Willow put her hand on his forehead and found him to be very hot and feverish. 'How is that possible?' she thought to herself, 'Vampires are cold' She placed her other hand on his head instead, checked again, thinking she was going crazy. No, she was right, he was very hot. He seemed to be calming down again and she pushed his hair out of his face as he slept quietly again. It was then she noticed something, underneath her hand, a strange movement like a pulse, but it couldn't be, not a real pulse.
Willow carefully moved her hand from Spike's head to his chest. A regular thump was there, a heartbeat. She drew her hand back fast as if it had burnt her.
Body heat, a pulse, a heartbeat and, she checked, yes, he was breathing steadily, out of necessity. Realisation dawned within her mind just as she heard the front door open.
She turned as the Scoobies; Dawn, Xander, Anya, Tara and Giles, as they piled into the living room. They all glanced at Spike in wonder and then at Willow. They knew he was back but actually seeing him there, asleep on the sofa was a shock. Willow half smiled, pleased but confused by her discovery.
"Guys" she said, slowly "Spike's back and...he's alive"
To Be Continued
