Spike looked at the huddled form in disbelief, "Oh god!"

He knew her voice, he heard the fear and uncertainty, damn, and he could even smell it.

Blue had smelled just like that, like blueberries and water, but this… she smelled like country grass and that lemony disinfectant wolfram and hart used to clean the labs.

"Fred?"

"Spike, what the hell is going on?"

The bleached demon made a soothing sound in the back of his throat and helped his trembling friend to sit up. "Shhh, it's alright, luv."

After a moment of tense quivers and jerky movements Spike enveloped Fred in his arms and held her as tears came and went. Nothing was making sense to her, it was as if the world had changed – she had changed, and all she could do was cry. She relaxed, eventually, into Spike's arms and leaned her head against his chest… and in doing so nearly screamed.

"Spike – what? How?"

They drew apart as Fred looked in horror at Spike.

"What is it, luv? What's the matter?"

"A heartbeat," she gasped accusingly, pointing at his chest. "I heard a heartbeat!"

Spike's face skewed up in confusion and he went still, as though to listen to see if she was right and Fred stood, shakily, to her feet.

"You're not supposed to Shanshu – that's for Angel! Angel's supposed to get to be human, why… oh God! If you Shanshu'd then there's been an apocalypse, hasn't there? And if you got to Shanshu and not Angel… Oh God…. He's dead," Fred began freaking out, torn between grief, despair, and fury.

Spike jumped to his feet and stepped towards her, about to say something, but she cut him off before he could start.

"What happened, Spike? Tell me now… where's Lorne and … a-and Wesley."

His heart was breaking for Fred, but the cockney vampire couldn't bear to tell her the terrible truth of what had happened.

"Luv… calm down! Shhh – it's okay. Don't worry," he gave her a reassuring smile that completely hid his true despair. "I'm sure they're fine – and don't have kittens just yet."

"Angel and Gunn are dead, how is it okay?"

"Wow, now – who said they were dead?"

Fred looked at Spike with disgust, "I saw Gunn's body, he's out in the alley right now."

Spike grimaced and ducked his head.

"But who says that Angel is dead?"

"You Shanshu'd, you big blonde idiot," Fred shouted. "How dense are you?"

"Well, I guess pretty dense, then eh? Maybe if you'd calm down like a good bird you'd listen to me when I'm telling you this… I didn't go all humany."

Fred stopped dead.

"What?"

"See," grinning, Spike morphed into his demon face and back. "Still dead."

"Oh… then why did I hear a heart beat?"

Spike smiled sadly and spread his arms out open to catch a hug from the confused, former dearly departed scientist. She hesitantly accepted his embrace, then melted into it against his chest. Again she could her the heartbeat, but this time Spike was prepared.

"Do you hear that, sweets?"

Fred nodded, though not quite understanding what was happening.

Spike smiled and kissed the top of her head.

"That's your heart. You can hear it beating strong from within… it's you."

Slowly Fred began to cry again, this time not out of grief, confusement or sorrow, but for that wonderful joy that comes when someone realizes that there is still one thing left in the world for them.

Hope.

Sorry – I know it was really, really short, but I'm in the middle of a few essays, midterms, and final exams.