Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise (Character wise)

A/N: I just wanted to know something. On a lot of fanfics, I see Elizabeth Summers and I do not remember who that is or even if I know who that is so if anyone does know, could they please tell me in a review. Thanks.

Chapter 5: The Pain of Healing

Buffy, Xander and Willow sat at the coffee shop drinking hot chocolate and just enjoying each other's company without the constant interruptions of little sisters, needy vampire's and highly tactless ex demons. Buffy smiled happily and said. "It has been too long since the three of us sat together and just talked. I miss this. Just us original three, don't you?"

Willow nodded. "Yes, but technically, there were four originals."

Buffy's face fell and Willow realised the mistake that she had made. "Oh Buffy, I'm sorry."

She didn't stay sad for long though. Smiling, she said. "Don't worry about it Will. Giles was right, I needed to make things on my own for a while and its not like I'm never going to see him again. He always comes back."

Xander nodded through a mouthful of doughnut. "I don't think he's going to be pleased to hear about the walking annoying though."

Willow stared condescendingly at her childhood best friend. "Oh don't worry about it Xand, I think he's gotten over the initial shock of Anya by now."

Xander ignored her and turned to Buffy. "Buffy, my only best, and female, friend in all the world. How is life?"

Buffy smirked. "If I am your only female friend, you really need to get out more. Shouldn't Anya be your friend too?"

"Nah, she's my bedtime buddy."

Willow laughed. "Careful Xander, her lack of tact is rubbing off on you."

Buffy twirled her spoon between her fingers. "Come to think of it guys, Spike's been getting shooting pains in his left knee. And apparently it kills. I think he's getting the feeling back in them. That's good news right? At least it means that he won't be under my care for much longer. I already have one kid to look after."

"Teenager!" A voice said, just as a body dropped itself in the vacant chair between Buffy and Willow.

"Hey Dawnie." Willow said, smiling.

"And you don't look after me Buffy. You live with me. Spike's in the shower at home, sitting down. He does have extraordinary upper body strength. He said that he didn't trust going to the bath when there was only me in the house so I offered to leave if I would help him. I think that he thinks that I would peek!" Dawn cried as she stole one of Buffy's doughnuts. "mmmm, definitely not good for you."

Buffy raised a mocking eyebrow. "No, I'm sure you wouldn't peek Dawn." She snatched her doughnut back just as Dawn was about to take a bite from it. "Mine."

"Hey!" Dawn shrugged "Besides, I like having Spike there."

"That makes the one of us."

"Shut up Buffy."

Xander stretched. "Well, I have to be getting to work ladies. Thanks for the time out. Cya this evening."

All three girls nodded. Willow then excused herself as she needed to get to college.

Dawn turned to Buffy. "Seeing that you love Spike so much and you stole my doughnut which I stole from you, I'm going to leave you with Spike for the rest of the day."

Buffy started to protest before she realised that her sister had to get to school. Muttering to herself, she made her way back home. 'God, I mutter to myself too much nowadays!'

She opened the door and looked down the hall, there was a lot of steam coming from the bathroom. It wasn't surprising. It was broad daylight outside so Spike had to keep the blinds drawn and it wasn't like he could use it in the evening because there were just too many people around after sundown. Thank god the walls weren't papered.

She headed into the kitchen to start the dishes that Dawn a Spike would obviously have left, they never cleaned up after themselves. She knew quite well that Spike couldn't at the moment but it was nice to be able to blame him. She had never actually invited him to stay after all.

Buffy was caught up in listening to her music and washing the dishes so she didn't hear the bathroom door open. She only realised that someone was there when she saw the light from the refrigerator reflecting off of her. She spun around quickly, ready to attack the person who had dared enter her house and barely controlled herself when she saw that it was Spike. It wasn't like he was trespassing after all.

"What were you planning on doing Slayer? Fighting me with soap suds?"

Buffy cocked an eyebrow and returned to her dishes. "There's no more bloody left Spike. If you want any, you're welcome to go down to the nearest butchers and pick some up for yourself."

Spike narrowed his eyes at her. "Sure, I'll wait for a more flammable time of day though. Make sure it works out right."

Buffy nodded in agreement. "You do that."

Spike sighed, shook his head slightly and wheeled himself back into the living room, thinking, 'she is so bloody hopeless!'

Buffy finished the dishes and decided that she wanted to watch the TV. She knew that Spike would be watching it and that made it all the more entertaining. Walking in, she saw him sitting there, a pained expression on his face and both of his legs twitching slightly. The TV was on but he wasn't watching it. His eyes were closed.

Buffy grabbed the remote and changed the channel over to MTV and settled down beside him. Spike groaned in pain but Buffy ignored him, she wanted to see her music. It took Buffy a moment to realise what she had seen when she had walked into the room, Spike's legs were moving slightly. She gazed a little to her left so that she could see better and sure enough, they were moving but the look on Spike's face told her that it was not voluntary. "Want some painkillers?"

"No…blood…flow!" He gasped out.

"Does it really hurt that bad?"

He nodded slightly.

Buffy looked up at him face. There was none of the usual sarcastic looks or smirks. Just a face filled with pain, only pain but he kept silent about it.

Spike's breath was coming out more laboured, it looked like the pain was getting worse, not better. Buffy didn't know what to do and she had certainly never seen him like this before. It was different.

"Is it just in the one leg?"

"Both."

Buffy winced; it was obvious that it was in both because they were both twitching. She turned the TV off and gave her full attention to the vampire. "I never thought that I'd be helping you of all people."

Spike shot her a look. It was blank with absolutely no emotion behind it. If he hadn't been in this kind of pain and thinking straight, he would never have said it but that wasn't the case. "Don't you think that you've helped enough?! You're the reason I'm in this amount of pain now!"

Come morning, he would put it down to her sarcasm and shunting but right now, he didn't care how much he hurt her. He didn't mean it, he couldn't, but he was suffering. That is what he was thinking about, and the look on Buffy face, when he passed out. She looked hurt; she didn't have a right to be.

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Buffy didn't have time to feel angry or upset about the word that had come from his mouth because even tough he had passed out, he was still shaking and the look of pain was still evident across his face and besides, he had been right. If there was one thing that she knew, it was that Spike had never lied to her.

Buffy laid him flat across the couch, it took time because he was heavy and a passed out body was a lot heavier than a sleeping one. She sighed from the exertion and had too take a few deep breaths to make up for the ones she had lost. There was nothing that she could do for the pain. Making him as comfortable as she could, she left the house. Some blood would probably help with the pain.

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Buffy returned half an hour later to find Spike, exactly the same as when she had left him but there was now sweat glistening on his face. She went into the kitchen to get a cloth and to heat the blood up. He was going to have to wake up, whether he liked it or not.

She wiped his face and sat him up straight in less time than before, and shook him. "Wake up Spike. You can pass out all you want after you've had your blood."

Spike groaned and opened his eyes. "Passing out…is better."

"Just drink it!" Buffy glared and shoved the straw into his mouth. Spike shrugged with the resignation that once he was done, he could return to his state of painful oblivion.

He finished the blood in record time, with Buffy holding the mug for him. He had begun to sweat again. He let the straw drop. Buffy handed him the cloth to wipe his face with and returned to the kitchen, allowing him to slip back to unconsciousness to him hearts content.

Spike shivered for a long time but gradually, he settled back down. Around the same time that Dawn returned. She saw him on the couch and went into the kitchen. "Did something happen to him?"

"Pain attacks. Very painful it looked like. How is he doing now?"

Dawn shrugged. "He seems fine. He's just covered in a lot of sweat."

Buffy nodded. "I suggest that we leave him as is for now."

Dawn nodded and went into her room. Casting one last, worried, look at Spike.

Buffy walked to the stairs and watched Dawn go up, just as she was turning, the door opened and Tara walked in. "Oh, hey Tara."

Tara nodded a welcome but her expression immediately changed. "He's been in pain, hasn't he?" She indicated Spike.

Buffy looked at her friend confusedly, she hadn't even looked at the vampire yet she knew that something was wrong.

"How do you know that?"

"It's radiating from him in waves. His essence isn't quite calm." She walked over to him. "But that's good, it means he's healing. He's been in so much pain because his spine is healing too and that hurts a lot. Its how most people get paralysed. I suppose that in humans, when a spine is damaged, it can never heal properly so the legs stop working. He's not human so it'll heal, but not without a fight. He'll be good as new when it's through though."

"Oh great!" Buffy sighed. "The old Spike. What fun."

Tara shot her an amused look. "Let him sleep for now. He being a vampire, the healing won't take long. Is Willow home?"

Buffy shook her head. "College only let up a little while ago so I'm not surprised that she's not home yet. Probably doing some extra curricular work to get more brownie points."

Tara smiled fondly. "Is there any food left?"

"Oh yeah, I ate in the kitchen because I didn't want to disturb him. It's in the fridge, stick the food in the microwave for a few minutes."

"Thanks."

Buffy went back into the living room and picked up the cloth that Spike had set on the end table. She wiped the sweat off of him again and sat on the floor, leaning against the couch much like Dawn did when Spike was asleep, resting or watching TV.

She turned the TV on; making sure that the volume was really low and watched her taped episode of 'Dawson's Creek'. It was the only thing worth watching at the moment. All the other shows had ended for the year.

It was half way through when she felt a stirring above her head. She cocked her head and saw Spike on the verge of waking up. She turned back to the TV. He'd be awake in a few seconds and sure enough, soon she felt the couch moving a lot more as he tried to sit up without the use of his legs.

"How does it feel?" She asked, her eyes still fixed on the TV.

"Like legs should, after an atomic bomb has been dropped on them and my lower back is not much better for wear."

Buffy nodded. "Want blood?"

She heard the snarky tone in his voice. "I wouldn't want to put you out."

Buffy decided that now would be a good time to stop watching TV. "No big deal." She got up and went into the kitchen. Spike sighed and sunk into the couch, letting it hold his shape. He tested his legs and like he had thought, he could move them about two inches. It wasn't enough and there definitely wasn't enough strength in them to hold him up at the moment. He had to hand it to them though. They were improving by the day. Soon he would be able to get out of there and kill himself properly.

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The End

(Of that chapter) Did I get anyone worried?

Please review and no flames please. Thank you. I was hoping to get this chapter up sooner but my computer f***ed up big time so I replaced the hard drive and not only that, my Sky did too so I missed Angel (Season 2 episode. I won't b able to c Season 5 till January coz I live in the UK).

Pure-HP