A/N : Slightly different style this chapter, hope you approve. Thanx to the latest reviewers; Mr Lennox I pressume, Elizance, Xtremely-Canadian, scarletibis, spikeswife1. If anyone is reading and not leaving a review could I ask that you take a little time just to say that you read it and whether you like it or not. Thanx, it really does help me :-)

(For disclaimer et. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 13

2 years ago

"Oh, sorry pet, didn't see you" the stranger said as he took hold of the girls arm to keep her from falling. She'd run down the stairs and out of the door so fast she found she couldn't stop even when she saw someone stood in her path.

"I know you" she told him as she took in his appearance. Bright blue eyes, bleached blond hair, sharp cheekbones, gorgeous body evident through tight black T-shirt and jeans, "You walk past here every morning and every night" she said and he nodded slowly.

"I do" he agreed, "I work just round the corner" he said, eyes fixed on her face. She was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen in his life, contrasting pale skin with raven hair, and large dark eyes a man could drown in.

Neither the man nor woman seemed to notice they still held onto each other now.

"What's your name?" she asked him with such childish innocence and he smiled when he answered.

"William Blood" he told her, "though my mates call me Spike these days...and who might you be, luv?" he asked.

She turned troubled eyes back to the stairway she had come down and he wondered what sort of distress she might be in.

"I am to be yours" she told him as she turned back, "and you will be my saviour"

- - - - - - -

As a child, William had been taught by his father that men did not cry unless they were poofters and nancy boys. When that great man had died and he'd been sent to live with his mother in the cruel harsh environment of downtown Los Angeles, showing emotions was simply not an option. It was kill or be killed, take your bloody pick, and William soon had a reputation that you didn't want to question. Still, he'd never taken the killing to be anything more than an expression, not until a few months ago.

Now here he sat, bawling like a baby into his empty coffee cup as Buffy moved to sit beside him, her hand on his back rubbing circles and trying to soothe him. The story he told, a re-telling of past events that ended so tragically, it was tearing him apart, but he knew he must go on.

"Spike, I'm sorry" Buffy told him, tears on her own cheeks at the sight of his pain, "I know this must be so hard but..."

"But you have to know the truth" he choked out the end of her sentence for her, "I understand that, I do" he sniffed and tried to regain his composure.

"It's okay" the blonde told him softly, "In your own time, I'm not going anywhere, you take as long as you want"

The sun was beginning to rise, the pot of coffee had long turned cold, and yet the story had only just begun...

2 years ago

"Drusilla" Spike echoed, "Beautiful name for a beautiful woman" he told her and she smiled, ducking her face behind her hair.

"You will make a gallant knight, sir" she said when she looked at him again. He wasn't sure what to say to that but this woman really did intrigue him, and not in the same way others had done. She was different, less forward and brash than a lot of girls that came onto him in such clubs as the one they sat in now. She didn't look like she was dressed for a party or a night out, but she was beautiful nonetheless and a mystery so far.

"What I'm not understanding, pet, is how you see me every day, but I've never seen you" he said as the drinks he'd ordered from the barman finally arrived and he paid for them.

"I watch from the window" she replied, swirling her drink around in the glass so she didn't have to look at him, "Watching the world go by but never allowed to be a part of it" she said sadly and Spike wondered what she meant by that.

Knowing what he did about this part of LA and it's people, he knew only too well the horrors the girl might suffer. Was she kept prisoner by her parents, or a husband perhaps? Did they hurt her or just not look after her? How could anyone ever want to deny this woman anything or want to cause her harm? He couldn't understand at all, but then she had said he was to be her saviour...

"And I'm supposed to, what? Save the princess from the tower now, am I?" he asked, half joking, testing the water as it were to see what he reaction might be.

"I think someone must" she replied, tears forming behind her eyes, "If Mummy marries the Big Bad Wolf, I am certain to be eaten whole"

- - - - - - -

"Angel?" Buffy guessed that's who was being referred to, "He married Drusilla's mother?"

Spike shook his head, wiping a further stray tear from his cheek.

"Never actually got wed, but he made Darla think they would" he explained, swallowing hard, "She was just desperate to be wanted. Dru's Dad was nearly twenty years older, havin' a filthy affair with her until he found out she was pregnant...she was only seventeen years old when she had Dru"

Buffy didn't have words to reply to that. When she was seventeen she was still in High School, a virgin who had only really had one semi-serious boyfriend, and her biggest worries were flunking Math and having last month's hair. She couldn't imagine what it must be like to be Darla. The mistress in a sordid affair, and abandoned by her man when she found she was carrying his child.

"She treated her badly?" Buffy's guess was met my a sad nod from Spike.

"She resented her I s'pose" he said, staring at an invisible mark on the table top, "The way Dru told it, by the time Darla realised she was pregnant and that Luke didn't want it or her anymore, it was too late to get rid" he paused as he re-counted the days when Drusilla would cry so much and tell him all the trials and tribulations her mother had gone through, and then of her own meaningless existence.

"Luke'd send enough cash Darla's way so she wouldn't show up and wreck his marriage. Dru was more dragged up than brought up, since Darla spent most of her money on drink to dull the pain" he laughed painfully at that, "I got to learn how that feels" he said sadly.

"Spike, I don't understand" Buffy admitted, "I know it's hard for you but you have to tell me more"

He nodded and tried to concentrate as he continued his narrative.

18 months ago

"Spike?" Drusilla called into the darkness of the alley, shrieking first with shock and then with laughter when he grabbed her from behind, swung her round and pressed her back to the wall, "There's my boy" she grinned before he kissed her til she was breathless.

"More trouble than usual gettin' out tonight, pet?" he asked when they finally broke for air. She nodded sadly.

"Mummy cried for her bottle but Step-Daddy wouldn't give it to her til she played his games" she shuddered involuntarily at the thoughts of what went on behind the bedroom door. She heard things, things she didn't like to think about but was forced to hear through walls as thin as paper, the front door bolted to prevent her escape.

"I found the key and got out but Mr Giles saw me in the hall" she explained, referring to her neighbour. He was a kindly English man, a little rough around the edges but then you had to be to live in that part of town. Dru had looked to him as almost a father figure as a child and Spike presumed her strange mixed accent came from growing up with an Englishman close by.

"He asked if I was okay, again" she said, glancing away. Spike knew she was far from okay with her situation at home, living constantly in fear and terror, but what was to be done about it?

It seemed clear to him that Darla stuck to Angel for the money he seemed to always have and him to her for sexual favours on demand. Lately though, another factor was coming to light. Though it was only ever a clue here or there in passing, it seemed to Spike as if Angel was making advances to his girl.

A man could not be blamed for unknowingly hitting on Spike's woman, since no-one really knew they were together. Drusilla had been screamed at and even hit by her mother for the lesser crimes than sneaking out of the house. If she knew it was all to be with a guy like Spike, Drusilla was convinced her mother would kill her. Though Spike wondered if that might be a slightly far-fetched statement, he dare not argue. He couldn't lose Drusilla, in the past months he'd fallen so head over heel in love with her. He promised to get some money together, do whatever it took, so they could leave LA together. He worked three jobs and saw Dru whenever he could, living for their time together and the future he planned for them.

"I have to go back, Spike" she said sadly as he held her tight, "Before they know I'm gone"

"I hoped we'd get longer than a few snatched minutes tonight Dru" he sighed, "Being away from you so much is killing me, and these moments are sweet torture"

"Soon, my love" she told him, running her fingers through his hair and down his cheek, "Soon, I'll be free to be yours" she smiled, before kissing him soundly.

Spike watched a moment later as she ran back into the building, hoping for her sake that she managed to get back inside before her mother and the git emerged from the bedroom and found her gone.

- - - - - - -

"She made it that night" Spike said shakily, "but there were times when she got caught...the bruises she had, the way her mother treated her and I couldn't..." his voice disappeared to nothing as the emotion overtook him once again and he cried.

"Did Angel hit her too?" Buffy asked him, hating that he was going through so much pain right now but desperate to know the truth so she could at least try to fix some of the mess that had been made.

Spike shook his head in the negative, still crying and Buffy told him to take his time A few moments later he could speak again.

"He'd never hit her, was never violent back then" he explained, "She was why he stuck with Darla, even though she was older and almost always drunk..." his eyes snapped up to meet Buffy's then and she shivered at the severity of his gaze, when he said "He wanted Drusilla to be his"

A/N2 : Please review and let me know if you're still reading this. It really does encourage me to write more and I do need the support with this fic. It's different to anything I ever wrote before and s I really do need to kn ow if it's good or not. I'll update again as soon as I can, and in the meantime, I have also updated 'Your Big Day' tonight, for those who are interested :-)