Disclaimer: Not mine blah blah blah
A/N: Well it looks like there's a little interest in this story so I'm going to see how it goes for a while. Thanks for the reviews, I appreciate them all.
Chapter 1: The hospital
"I already told you what happened!" Insisted Spike as what felt like the hundredth police officer sat in front of him to 'ask for a few details'.
He really didn't see what the big deal was. The story he'd told was actually quite simple: Walking along the waterfront, spotted something in the water, realised it was a person, dived in, dragged them back to the docks, did CPR, brought her to the hospital. What more could there possibly be to tell? He huddled further in to the itchy blue blanket some orderly had thrust at him when people had complained that he was dripping on the floor. He'd told them he would have been happy to go home and dry off there but he hadn't been allowed. They'd insisted on keeping him in the crowded waiting room until someone could check him over 'just in case' and the police could take a statement.
"I know that son." The seriously past it officer in told him in an overly polite voice that made Spike roll his eyes. "But I don't think you've quite told us everything have you?"
"Look," he snapped, growing rapidly more impatient to just be gone. "I was just out for a walk – you should be thanking me, not accusing me of something!" Spike really wished they would leave him alone. His teeth began to chatter. He was exhausted and in desperate need of a hot shower. He was also hoping that no one found out about this. He seriously doubted that if it somehow got back to the security guards who had chased him to the docks where he'd found the girl that they would be able to put two and two together – they hadn't seemed particularly bright – but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Spike breathed a sigh of relief when officer cream puff shook his head in resignation and stood to leave. His relief was short lived however when he saw a familiar head of honey blonde hair crash through the door and run to the reception desk, a haggard looking spectacled man in tweed tagging along behind her out of breath.
"William Summers?" The woman asked frantically. "I was told he was here." Spike watched the ditsy receptionist try to calm the irate woman at her desk with a hint of amusement before he decided to put her out of her misery.
"I'm over here mum." He called.
At the sound of his voice, Joyce Summers' head whipped around, scanning the crowd for her little boy...well not so little anymore, he was eighteen now after all. As soon as she spotted him she ran to him and grabbed him in a fierce hug, not caring if she embarrassed the hell out of him as she wept. "Oh God. When they called and told me you were at the hospital I was so scared! Oh baby are you ok?"
"I'm fine mum." He reassured her, patting her back awkwardly, uncomfortable with the manhood threatening display of affection. Fortunately his discomfort had not gone unnoticed.
"I'm sure he's fine Joyce." Rupert commented. "But the poor boy does need oxygen."
"Yeah mum." Spike supplied "Ripper's right."
"How many times have I told you not to call me that William?" asked Rupert in a falsely sweet voice. Spike simply smirked at him as his mother reluctantly let him go.
"About as many times as I've told you not to call me William." He replied.
"Touché" Rupert smiled.
Spike had a grudging respect for his stepfather, not that he'd ever admit it. Rupert had done a lot for he and his mother since they had married five years before. Most men would have been scared off by the surly teen that did nothing but cause trouble for the couple when Rupert had begun dating his mother back in London. As a young, and he could admit it now, selfish thirteen year old, he hadn't understood how his mother could be with anyone but his father. He hadn't understood that as a foreigner in London where she had moved to be with her husband, Joyce had had very few friends once her marriage had crumbled around her and had been very lonely. All he'd known was that this new man was taking his mother away.
Looking back Spike was ashamed of some of the tricks he'd pulled in an effort to get rid of Rupert. And now in his more adult years he could not help but admire the determination of the man who had stood by his mother no matter what her tearaway son got up to. He obviously loved her very much and Spike knew that she deserved that. After the distillery stunt two years ago had cost Rupert his job yet had not caused him to give up and leave Spike had had to admit that this one was a keeper. So he's put his destructive tendencies to better use...not that he didn't wind Rupert up whenever he could. The problem was he was such a good sport about it all!
"Can we take you home yet?" Joyce asked, eager to have her boy home.
"Not yet." Spike sighed regretfully. "They won't let me leave until they're sure I haven't caught pneumonia or something!"
"Well it's better to be safe than sorry." Rupert commented, taking a seat beside Joyce...
"Well mister Summers it looks like your fine to go now." The doctor informed Spike after a quick examination. Spike was slightly disgruntled – they keep him hanging around for hours and then let him go after a five- minute check up. Something didn't seem quite right with that. Never the less he was glad to be getting out of there. He'd always hated hospitals. However there was something he wanted to know before he left.
"Is she okay?" He asked. "The girl I brought in?" He wasn't sure why he cared, but he just wanted to know that she was going to be alright. A girl with eyes that mesmerising didn't deserve anything bad to happen to her.
"She'd going to be fine." The doctor reassured Spike. "She's not woken up yet though...would you like to see her?"
Spike was about to say no, to say that as long as he knew she was alive he was happy to walk away and never think about this night again. Instead however, he found himself nodding and following the doctor as he led Spike to a private side room. There was a single bed in the room with a small bedside table and one chair placed next to the bed. It was a small room, tiny by most accounts; yet it seemed to dwarf the petite girl lying in the bed. Spike found himself staring at the sight in front of him, unable to tear his eyes away. He barely even noticed when the doctor's pager went off causing him to leave the room and a kindly looking female nurse to take his place.
The girl looked to be about Spike's own age, her pale skin even whiter than his – despite living in California he had never developed a taste for sunbathing. Her blonde hair splayed around her head on the pillow in a strange imitation of a halo. Spike smiled at the imagery that invoked. She seemed too skinny though, the skin around her closed eyes to dark. And the frown on her pouty lips as she slept was not an indicator of pleasant dreams. She seemed a perfect contrast of beauty and frailty as she lay there, and Spike wished she would open those lovely hazel eyes he had only glimpsed for a moment to complete the picture.
"You're the one who bought her in aren't you?"
Spike was snapped out of his daze when the nurse beside him spoke. Even as he nodded though, he did not take his eyes off the girl.
"She's such a pretty little thing." The nurse observed quietly, Spike could only agree with her.
"Who is she?" He asked at length.
"We don't know." The nurse said sadly. " She had no identification with her, and nobody recognises her as a local. We were hoping you'd be able to tell us. Did she say anything to you when you found her?"
Spike shook his head. "No, she was only awake for a minute. She didn't say a word. She just stared at me then passed out."
"I guess we'll be calling her Jane for now then." The nurse muttered.
"Jane?" Spike asked, still not taking his eyes away from the bed. He titled his head as he studied her face. She didn't look like a Jane. Jane seemed like too much of a normal name this heavenly creature.
"Jane Doe." The nurse replied. "It's what we call all the girls who come in her without names."
Spike nodded his understanding, taking one last look at 'Jane' before turning to leave. Before he opened the door he looked at the nurse. "Do you think I can come and see her again?" He asked quietly, trying to keep the unexpected hope out of his voice. The nurse smiled kindly and nodded.
"That would be nice." She told him. Spike smiled awkwardly in return and left to find his mother so he could finally go home and get that shower.
A/N: Still interesting? Let me know what you think! Love you all!
A/N: Well it looks like there's a little interest in this story so I'm going to see how it goes for a while. Thanks for the reviews, I appreciate them all.
Chapter 1: The hospital
"I already told you what happened!" Insisted Spike as what felt like the hundredth police officer sat in front of him to 'ask for a few details'.
He really didn't see what the big deal was. The story he'd told was actually quite simple: Walking along the waterfront, spotted something in the water, realised it was a person, dived in, dragged them back to the docks, did CPR, brought her to the hospital. What more could there possibly be to tell? He huddled further in to the itchy blue blanket some orderly had thrust at him when people had complained that he was dripping on the floor. He'd told them he would have been happy to go home and dry off there but he hadn't been allowed. They'd insisted on keeping him in the crowded waiting room until someone could check him over 'just in case' and the police could take a statement.
"I know that son." The seriously past it officer in told him in an overly polite voice that made Spike roll his eyes. "But I don't think you've quite told us everything have you?"
"Look," he snapped, growing rapidly more impatient to just be gone. "I was just out for a walk – you should be thanking me, not accusing me of something!" Spike really wished they would leave him alone. His teeth began to chatter. He was exhausted and in desperate need of a hot shower. He was also hoping that no one found out about this. He seriously doubted that if it somehow got back to the security guards who had chased him to the docks where he'd found the girl that they would be able to put two and two together – they hadn't seemed particularly bright – but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Spike breathed a sigh of relief when officer cream puff shook his head in resignation and stood to leave. His relief was short lived however when he saw a familiar head of honey blonde hair crash through the door and run to the reception desk, a haggard looking spectacled man in tweed tagging along behind her out of breath.
"William Summers?" The woman asked frantically. "I was told he was here." Spike watched the ditsy receptionist try to calm the irate woman at her desk with a hint of amusement before he decided to put her out of her misery.
"I'm over here mum." He called.
At the sound of his voice, Joyce Summers' head whipped around, scanning the crowd for her little boy...well not so little anymore, he was eighteen now after all. As soon as she spotted him she ran to him and grabbed him in a fierce hug, not caring if she embarrassed the hell out of him as she wept. "Oh God. When they called and told me you were at the hospital I was so scared! Oh baby are you ok?"
"I'm fine mum." He reassured her, patting her back awkwardly, uncomfortable with the manhood threatening display of affection. Fortunately his discomfort had not gone unnoticed.
"I'm sure he's fine Joyce." Rupert commented. "But the poor boy does need oxygen."
"Yeah mum." Spike supplied "Ripper's right."
"How many times have I told you not to call me that William?" asked Rupert in a falsely sweet voice. Spike simply smirked at him as his mother reluctantly let him go.
"About as many times as I've told you not to call me William." He replied.
"Touché" Rupert smiled.
Spike had a grudging respect for his stepfather, not that he'd ever admit it. Rupert had done a lot for he and his mother since they had married five years before. Most men would have been scared off by the surly teen that did nothing but cause trouble for the couple when Rupert had begun dating his mother back in London. As a young, and he could admit it now, selfish thirteen year old, he hadn't understood how his mother could be with anyone but his father. He hadn't understood that as a foreigner in London where she had moved to be with her husband, Joyce had had very few friends once her marriage had crumbled around her and had been very lonely. All he'd known was that this new man was taking his mother away.
Looking back Spike was ashamed of some of the tricks he'd pulled in an effort to get rid of Rupert. And now in his more adult years he could not help but admire the determination of the man who had stood by his mother no matter what her tearaway son got up to. He obviously loved her very much and Spike knew that she deserved that. After the distillery stunt two years ago had cost Rupert his job yet had not caused him to give up and leave Spike had had to admit that this one was a keeper. So he's put his destructive tendencies to better use...not that he didn't wind Rupert up whenever he could. The problem was he was such a good sport about it all!
"Can we take you home yet?" Joyce asked, eager to have her boy home.
"Not yet." Spike sighed regretfully. "They won't let me leave until they're sure I haven't caught pneumonia or something!"
"Well it's better to be safe than sorry." Rupert commented, taking a seat beside Joyce...
"Well mister Summers it looks like your fine to go now." The doctor informed Spike after a quick examination. Spike was slightly disgruntled – they keep him hanging around for hours and then let him go after a five- minute check up. Something didn't seem quite right with that. Never the less he was glad to be getting out of there. He'd always hated hospitals. However there was something he wanted to know before he left.
"Is she okay?" He asked. "The girl I brought in?" He wasn't sure why he cared, but he just wanted to know that she was going to be alright. A girl with eyes that mesmerising didn't deserve anything bad to happen to her.
"She'd going to be fine." The doctor reassured Spike. "She's not woken up yet though...would you like to see her?"
Spike was about to say no, to say that as long as he knew she was alive he was happy to walk away and never think about this night again. Instead however, he found himself nodding and following the doctor as he led Spike to a private side room. There was a single bed in the room with a small bedside table and one chair placed next to the bed. It was a small room, tiny by most accounts; yet it seemed to dwarf the petite girl lying in the bed. Spike found himself staring at the sight in front of him, unable to tear his eyes away. He barely even noticed when the doctor's pager went off causing him to leave the room and a kindly looking female nurse to take his place.
The girl looked to be about Spike's own age, her pale skin even whiter than his – despite living in California he had never developed a taste for sunbathing. Her blonde hair splayed around her head on the pillow in a strange imitation of a halo. Spike smiled at the imagery that invoked. She seemed too skinny though, the skin around her closed eyes to dark. And the frown on her pouty lips as she slept was not an indicator of pleasant dreams. She seemed a perfect contrast of beauty and frailty as she lay there, and Spike wished she would open those lovely hazel eyes he had only glimpsed for a moment to complete the picture.
"You're the one who bought her in aren't you?"
Spike was snapped out of his daze when the nurse beside him spoke. Even as he nodded though, he did not take his eyes off the girl.
"She's such a pretty little thing." The nurse observed quietly, Spike could only agree with her.
"Who is she?" He asked at length.
"We don't know." The nurse said sadly. " She had no identification with her, and nobody recognises her as a local. We were hoping you'd be able to tell us. Did she say anything to you when you found her?"
Spike shook his head. "No, she was only awake for a minute. She didn't say a word. She just stared at me then passed out."
"I guess we'll be calling her Jane for now then." The nurse muttered.
"Jane?" Spike asked, still not taking his eyes away from the bed. He titled his head as he studied her face. She didn't look like a Jane. Jane seemed like too much of a normal name this heavenly creature.
"Jane Doe." The nurse replied. "It's what we call all the girls who come in her without names."
Spike nodded his understanding, taking one last look at 'Jane' before turning to leave. Before he opened the door he looked at the nurse. "Do you think I can come and see her again?" He asked quietly, trying to keep the unexpected hope out of his voice. The nurse smiled kindly and nodded.
"That would be nice." She told him. Spike smiled awkwardly in return and left to find his mother so he could finally go home and get that shower.
A/N: Still interesting? Let me know what you think! Love you all!