A/N : Thanx to everyone who wrote such wonderful reviews for me - you guys are the best. Here's the next chapter. Spike and the Scoobies talk in this chapter and then the next chapter will be Spike and Buffy.
(For disclaimer, etc - see chapter 1)
Chapter 5
The Scoobies; Dawn, Xander, Anya, Tara and Giles, 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"
"He's what?" Dawn's eyes were wide with shock as she took a step forward towards the man asleep on the sofa.
"Alive" Willow repeated, almost unable to believe it herself, but almost one hundred percent sure it was true.
Dawn moved forward, just watching Spike as he slept. Could it be possible that he was no longer a vampire but a real human again?
"This is extraordinary" Giles gasped, "And you are certain of this fact Willow?" he checked.
"He's got a heartbeat and a pulse and everything" she nodded, "He's warm, too hot actually even for a human, and he seems to be breathing more out of necessity than habit. He's alive" she said again.
"Well then, it is no wonder his was confused as Dawn said" the Watcher cleaned his glasses as he spoke, "To be brought back from, wherever he was and to be a human instead of a vampire, imagine the distress"
"Plus the whole digging out of the ground thing" Xander shuddered at his own thought.
"So, the spell worked but it went wrong" Anya was having trouble understanding, as usual. She was standing with Xander, holding onto his hand, with Giles and Tara on her other side. Dawn, who was now sitting on the edge of the sofa by the sleeping Spike, turned to answer her question.
"Well we got him back so yeah, the spell worked, but something weird happened"
Willow, standing between the other Scoobies and the sofa, shook her head.
"I don't know what happened, I mean, he was just supposed to come back the way he went - a vampire"
The gang just stood still, awe-struck by the whole situation when suddenly there was a sound, something like a moan from Spike.
"Spike, can you hear me?" Dawn asked him gently, "Spike, it's okay, it's Dawn"
"Nibblet" he whispered as is eyes fluttered open.
"Yeah, it's me" the girl smiled when she heard one of his many nicknames for her, "Don't worry, you're safe and you're gonna be okay"
"Make the noise stop, it's too loud, thumping" he rambled quietly his eyes flickering open and closed.
"It's okay" the young girl assured him, "You're back home now, whatever happened to you when you left it's over now"
"The heat, the noise, please make it stop" he begged, starting to struggle to get away.
"He must have been somewhere awful to be in that kind of state" Xander spoke quietly to Giles, "You think he's been in hell? Y'know with the heat and the noise?"
"No" the Watcher shook his head as realisation dawned on his face, "No, it's his body"
"Of course" Willow nodded in understanding, "Vampires are cold, now he's a human he's warm and he doesn't understand why"
"But the noise..." Tara started before realising, "Oh, it's his heartbeat, he's not used to hearing it"
"Spike" Dawn turned her attention back to the semi-conscious figure on the sofa, "Spike, it's okay, but you're alive now, not dead or undead anymore, you're alive"
He stopped moving completely and his eyes were suddenly wide open, boring holes into the girl who leaned over him.
"You have bodyheat like the rest of us now" Dawn continued quietly "And that sound you hear is your heart"
She smiled as she picked up one of the mans magically healed hands and placed it over her own chest and then over his.
"You see, you have a heartbeat like mine"
There was a moments silence as the ex-vampire stared up at her and the other Scoobies watched the almost completely one-sided conversation in amazement. Slowly Spike nodded, it seemed he was beginning to understand.
"How?" he asked in a low whisper and Willow knelt on the floor beside him.
"We don't know Spike, we were just trying to bring you back, to bring you home"
The man glanced over at the witch and then back at Dawn. He nodded again, his head was spinning but things were starting to make some sense.
He remembered waking up in the coffin and being scared. He felt claustraphobic and he dug his way out through the box and the ground until he reached oxygen. Breathing had been hard and he'd found he needed to do it too. Then it had hit him, the heat and the sound and it was too much. He was disorientated and confused and he had wandered through the graveyard for several minutes until he'd seen someone, a person. He'd thought it was Buffy, she looked like her, from the back and in the dark. He soon found out she fought like her too, but it wasn't Buffy. It had been Dawn, his Little Bit. She was alive and well and suddenly it all came rushing back to him, the day on the tower - his death.
"I'm sorry" he whispered. Dawn shook her head, she didn't understand and Spike looked up at her with visible tears in his eyes.
"I hurt my Nibblet, I bit you" he said in a shaky voice, he couldn't bare to face her eyes and he glanced away. Dawn put her hand on the side of his face and turned his head til he looked at her again.
"You did it to save my life" she smiled, "to save Buffy's life and to save the world. You don't have to apologise for that"
He nodded slowly, weakly, he understood.
"And I'm fine" Dawn smiled as tears slid down her cheeks, tears of joy at having Spike back, "We're all fine, look everyone's here for you" she gestured across the room and he turned to see the silent Scoobies.
"Welcome home, Spike" Tara smiled and he smiled back at the kindly witch, then at Anya who waved a little.
"I guess my calling you Evil Dead is over" Xander grinned, trying to bring some humour to the situation. Giles rolled his eyes, thinking the comment inappropriate, but Spike just smiled.
He was back, in the world he had died to save and surrounded by people that he had cared about. He'd told Buffy he'd cared about them all and as strange as it seemed it was true, even the whelp with his stupid comments. He'd missed them all in the place where he'd been, especially Buffy - where was she?
"Buffy?" Spike asked weakly, "Is she okay?"
"Yes" Dawn answered quickly, "Well" she considered what she'd said, "she misses you a lot"
'Understatement of the century' the entire room thought simultaneously.
"Where is she?" Spike tried to sit up, but found he had hardly any strength and fell straight back down.
"Upstairs, sleeping" Willow told him, "which you should probably be doing too"
"I want to see her, please" he begged, knowing he could do nothing but ask. He had to have their permission and their help if he was going to make it up those steps to his beloved girl.
The Scoobies glanced at each other and Xander spoke up.
"We brought you back for her, makes sense for you to see her now you're here"
"Something sensible from you Xander" Giles commented, "Two miracles in one night"
"Watcher makes jokes now" said Spike with a grin, causing the rest of the group to smile too. Their expressions soon changed to grimaces as Spike tried to climb off of the sofa. They could almost feel the pain he felt as he pulled his weary body to it's feet. Willow stepped toward him, encouraging him to lean on her.
"Thanks Red" he smiled and she felt tears in her eyes at the sound of the name she'd missed hearing, "And I mean for everything"
"Let's get you to Buffy" she smiled in response and they walked toward the stairs. As the reached the bottom, Spike grabbed the banister rail and let go of the witch.
"I can manage now" he told her.
"Okay" she nodded, "Er, Buffy doesn't know that we were going to bring you back"
"Why didn't you tell her?" he asked with a tilt of his head. He leaned his weight on the banister and looked over at the gang.
"She's not like she was" Dawn told him, "She hasn't been the same since you left"
"What's wrong with her?" he wanted to know, suddenly panicked and very alert.
"She's weak" Willow explained, "She hasn't been eating much and she doesn't like leaving her room. She says things, sort of to herself..."
"What kind of things?" he wanted to know.
"'Always remember - I love you'" Dawn quoted, "That's what she says most, sometimes I think she's trying to talk to you"
"No" Spike shook his head and then glanced up the stairs as he thought of Buffy, "No, that was what I said to her, the very last thing I..." he trailed off, suddenly starting to climb the stairs.
The rest just watched him go, hoping that all would be well now he was back. He was back as a human now and that would take some getting used to for everybody, himself included, but with any luck Buffy would get back to some normality soon.
To Be Continued...
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A/N 2 : I know that was a horrible place to stop but I'll try to get the next chapter done really soon. Also, I should be updating 'The Guy Next Door' either later today or tomorrow.
