A/N: So, here is a big part of the story, hopefully it isn't too confusing.  Or too unrealistic.  What am I saying?  I turned Buffy into a stripper and I'm worried about my story being unrealistic?  Yeesh. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 25: His Angel

Willow awoke slowly, in deference to the tap dancing women wearing spiked heels in her brain.  Her mouth felt like she swallowed a sponge wrapped in sandpaper.  She swallowed a few times.  No help.  Cautiously opening her eyes, Willow assessed her situation.  She appeared to be in a hospital room.  Looking down, Willow saw that she wore a hospital gown.  Interesting, how did I end up here?  Oz's bright blue hair caught her attention.  She smiled at him, asleep and holding her hand.

What the hell happened to me?  Willow wondered.  The memories of the night before began to rise to the surface, slow at first then quicker and quicker.  Willow remembered being up onstage, dancing.  She was on her last set, excited to be done because she was meeting Oz after work.  Then, screams. Willow vaguely remembered people screaming.  And fire. Willow remembered feeling like she was on fire.  She sat up to inspect her body for burn marks. 

The contraction of her muscles rekindled the searing pain in her stomach.  Willow moaned loudly and fell back to the bed.  Oz awoke at the sound of her moan.  He yawned and looked up.  Willow's tight, smiling face stared back at him.

"Willow?" he asked in wonder.  Standing up, Oz stretched as he looked her up and down. Seeing nothing wrong, he bent down and kissed her.  "How do you feel, baby?"

"Like an elephant just stepped on me," she replied dryly.  "How did I end up in a hospital?"

Oz took a deep breath.  "Sweetie, you were shot last night."

Willow's eyes widened and she sucked in a breath.  "Shot?  As in a gun and bullets and ow, ow, my spleen, shot?"

Oz nodded his head.  "You were up onstage when someone started shooting.  You got hit in the stomach…"

Oz's voice cracked and his usually calm behavior broke.  Tears sprung to his eyes as he recounted the rest of the story ending with her surgery and prognosis.  When he finished, Oz had regained some control, but emotions continued to sweep through him when he thought about how close he had come to losing her.  

Willow's eyes were as big as saucers.  When Oz finally finished, Willow tried to wrap her brain around his explanation.  Someone had shot her!  Why would someone shoot her?  It didn't make any sense.  Unless…maybe it had something to do with Buffy.  Pondering this, Willow felt something in her mind stirring, but she couldn't quite grasp it.  No matter how hard she tried, the memory remained just on the periphery of her consciousness.  She shook it off; it would come to her eventually.  Right now, all she wanted to do was lay in bed with Oz.  Even if that bed happened to be a hospital bed. 

Willow pulled back her covers and scooted over.  "Wanna jump in?" she asked with a grin.

Oz smiled back.  He shucked his shoes and bailed in next to her on the small bed.  Being careful not to jar any wires, Oz pulled Willow to his side and wrapped his arms around her.  Spooning, they slept.

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Buffy frowned.  Her pillow kept moving beneath her.  Sighing, she shifted her body.  Hmm, something funny here, why is my pillow hard and kinda lumpy?  Yawning, Buffy opened her eyes to investigate the matter.

Spike's baby blues were the first thing that Buffy saw.  "Wow, I could get used to this," Buffy said with a smile.  She yawned and stretched, reminding Spike of a happy and conceited cat. 

Spike smiled back at her.  He had been awake for a little while, watching her sleep.  His angel.  Flights of fancy and half finished phrases extolling her beauty flew through his mind, begging to be transformed into verse.  Spike ignored them as he had done for most of his life.  His father caught him writing once, that was all it took.  The pain and embarrassment that he suffered was indelibly etched in his mind.  Xander was the only person who encouraged him to write.  Now that I think of it, where the hell has Xander been lately?

So lost was Spike in contemplating the whereabouts of his friend, he didn't hear his front door open and shut.  "Well, isn't this nice and cozy," a voice boomed from behind the couple. 

Spike cringed.  He knew the owner of the voice, and his instincts told him that one hell of a fight was the order of the day.  Spike gently lifted Buffy off of him and turned around.  "Good morning, father.  Thing's going well, I hope."

Buffy turned to ice.  That's Spike's father?  This is so not of the good.  "Good morning, Mr. Giles," she said meekly.

Edward didn't even spare Buffy a glance.  "So, I see the rumors are true.  Cavorting around with a stripper and I have to hear about it from a client.  Who was pretty damn smug about it, too.  William, you're not giving me much of a choice here, I warned you what would happen if you continued this common behavior.  Now, not only are you an embarrassment to the family, but your latest harlot has embroiled herself in some sort of sex scandal.  This does not reflect well for our family."  Edward shook his head.  "All of this has stressed Drusilla so much that she miscarried, did you know that?  You made your fiancée lose her child.  How does it feel, knowing that?"

Buffy shrank back against the couch.  Spike glanced at her and saw the tears swimming in her eyes.  Lifting her hand, Spike kissed her knuckles.  "Luv, why don't you go take a shower?  I'll be up in just a minute, okay?" 

Buffy nodded and silently padded out of the room.  When she was out of earshot, Spike prepared to face off against his father.  "Just what the hell are you doing here?  You are neither invited nor welcome in my home, ever again.  You stand there and fling around accusations and insults like you're a bleedin' saint.  Let me clue you in on something, Edward, Drusilla's child was not mine.  I've got the test to prove it.  Oh, and another thing, she came by the office yesterday and enlightened me on a few items that might interest you.  Ethan Rayne is responsible for this scandal you accused Buffy of starting."  Edward shook his head, as if to deny the words his son spoke, but Spike was on a roll and not about to be thwarted.  "Oh, yes he is.  Your golfing buddy and best friend instigated this whole fucking mess, along with the DeLucas." 

A light went on in Spike's head.  He gave himself a mental head slap.  How could I have been so blind?  "But then, you already knew that, didn't you?  Ethan Rayne doesn't even associate with DeLuca, but you do.  You put him up to this, didn't you?  You're the one who assigned me Parker's case in the first place.  No way of winning and now big man DeLuca is pissed.  He comes to you, man to man, father to father.  What can he do?  What do you know, you've got a plan, one that is slightly illegal, vastly immoral, but will produce results.  Bring your wayward son back under control, save face for his son, and scare away the girl, no permanent damage done.  Even better, you go through Rayne, Drusilla and Liam, no way of tracing it back to you.  Right?" 

Edward shook his head forcefully.  "No, no, no, that's not true.  I would never..." 

Spike cut him off.  "Save it, Edward.  I know you did, it just fits.  I couldn't figure out why Rayne cared what I did with Buffy.  He didn't, but as a favor to his friend, he agreed.  Right?"  Still more denial from Edward.  Spike continued on heedless of his father.  "Rayne's got his stepdaughter, who I supposedly knocked up, and the man who actually did knock her up, the very same man who absolutely hates me.  And, best of all, he dated Buffy.  That's how they got the information on Buffy.  You gave them the info on me and voila, perfect scheme to right the wrongs.  But, things didn't go so well.  The hit man is out of control, so Drusilla and Liam try and divert my attention and get Buffy out of the picture.  Break us up, then perhaps things will go back to normal on their own, Dru and I continue on and Liam gets a nice big bonus and his choice of cases.  Call in the police and give up the hit man, because after all, no one supposed to get hurt, physically.  But, even if she does, no skin off your ass, right?" 

Spike couldn't contain his disgust.  All of this because of a lost case and a broken relationship?  No, that didn't make sense.  "Why, Edward, why did you do it?  Is it that big a deal 'bout Dru and I breaking up?"

Edward gave a cold harsh laugh.  "You think you're so fucking smart, don't you boy?  No one gives a flying fuck about you and Drusilla being happy or in love.  Shit, she screwed around on you so much I began to think that it was a turn-on for you.  No, the big deal is the power.  The power these two firms could have if merged.  Legally, we can't but if a marriage should occur…then it would be within legal boundaries.  We would run the city.  Mayor, police chief, anybody we wanted to name to those positions.  And once you own the police, you own the city.  From the city to state..."

Again, Spike cut his father off.  "And from state to federal influence.  Jesus Christ, did you actually think that would work?" he asked in amazement. 

Edward's smile was smug.  "Already did.  All we needed was the merger and everything would have been fine.  But nooo, you had to finally open you pathetic little eyes.  So Dru cheated on you!  Big fucking deal!  You get over it and you continue on.  We thought the pregnancy would tie you down, keep you connected to Drusilla.  But, oh no, had to have a paternity test, didn't we?  Had to throw a hissy fit and then hook up with a damn stripper.  Blow our plans to hell.  You arrogant little prick."

Spike looked at his father with loathing.  "Get out.  Now.  I never want to see or hear from you again.  Oh, and I quit." 

He turned to walk up the stairs.  Edward cursed and then left, slamming the door behind him.  The window's rattled with the impact.  Spike sat on the first stair and stated at the floor.  It was all too unreal.  His own father triggering this whole entire mess because of the power and the merger.  Just bloody amazing.  My own fucking father.  The pain was there, but it was dull and throbbing.  His father was never really much of a father at all, why should he consider his own son anything more than an investment?  Still, it hurt to know that he was the reason Buffy was a target, he was the reason Willow was shot and he was the reason a psychopath was on the loose. 

Hot tears burned Spike's throat and threatened to spill.  A noise caught his attention.  Buffy stood a few stairs up from him, her eyes bloodshot from crying.  "I guess you heard it all, didn't you, pet?" Spike asked softly.

Buffy nodded.  She move down next to him and wrapped her arms around him.  "Oh, Spike I am so sorry," she said quietly.  Gently, she rocked him, unconsciously lulling and soothing his pain and fears. 

The tears spilled down his cheeks.  "Luv, how can you even stand to look at me?  Knowing what my father did, the consequences of it, everything that's happened?  Why aren't you running in fear?"

He spoke the words, yet clung to her like she was his lifeline.  Which she was, actually.  "Hush Spike, you know the answer to that.  How could I leave you?  This strong man who showed me a whole new side to life?  You brought me in and you bet your ass you're gonna bring me out.  Together.  I thought I made it clear to you.  No way in hell you're gonna shake me that easily." 

Spike smiled in relief and held her.  She soothed away his tension, his fears and his doubts.  His angel. 

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A/N: So, what do you think?  Too unbelievable?  Don't you just want to kick Edward's ass?  I know I do.  Anyway, be sure to drop a note and tell me what you think.  Until next time, my pretties.