Breaking And Healing
Disclaimer: Don't own them. Wish I did.
Summary: It's a secret. Read it to find out.
Reviews: Yes, please. Extra hungry for warm fuzzies. Readers Rock but Reviewers RULE!
A/N: Huge hugs and extra O-pos for Wayward Childe, whose continued support is invaluable.
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Giles hung up the phone and replaced his glasses. He turned to the waiting young people and sighed. His green gaze roamed over his audience. Xander and Anya had joined the rest of the Scoobies shortly after Faith had left and Dawn had come in as soon as she got out of school. Of the entire group, the youngest Summers was the only one who'd been even remotely concerned over the absence of the blond vampire. But after the first couple of times Dawn had asked her sister to look for her friend, she'd given up. Buffy flatly refused to waste any of her attention on 'an evil soulless fiend'. The result was that the teenager was not speaking to her sister any more than she had to.
"Well? Was she lying?" Buffy demanded.
Giles slowly shook his head. "No. She wasn't. She is out on parole. Angel and Wesley both appealed to the parole board on her behalf. As long as she stays out of any serious trouble she will stay out of jail. Angel had convinced her to come up here and make amends for her past misdeeds toward all of us. I believe we owe her an apology."
Numerous protests met his statement.
"But, G-man, she tried to kill me." Xander exclaimed.
Anya's jealousy reared its head. "She can't have my Xander. He's only allowed to share orgasms with me."
"Not an issue, Sweetheart. Trust me." Xander told her.
"She tried to take over my whole life." Buffy put in.
Willow tightened her grip on Tara's hand. Tara winced and tugged. The redhead glanced at her love, loosening her grasp at the expression on the blonde witch's face. "Sorry, Baby." She murmured. "She's never done anything good, why should we trust her now?" Willow asked the watcher.
Dawn crossed her arms across her chest mutinously. "Cause everyone deserves a second chance." She grumbled. 'Like Spike.' She added to herself. She would have gone to check on the vampire herself but her sister had her on such a short leash it was a wonder she was allowed to hang out at the Magic Box. Forget having any friends, it just wasn't happening.
He held up his hand for silence. "She has made an effort. The least we can do is acknowledge it. Go home and think about it." Distractedly he ushered all of them out of the shop, locking up after the last one had gone. He needed time to think. Assured of his solitude, he unlocked the drawer to his desk and pulled the file out of its hiding place. He opened it and read the information again. He shook his head in bemusement. Never in a million years would he have guessed the truth.
Making his decision, he left the shop.
Spike's crypt…Faith and Clem looked at each other in dismay. Faith knelt down in front of Spike. With exquisite gentleness, she tugged one of his hands out of hiding. She whistled softly as she inspected the damage to the slender artistic hand. Spike watched her out of dull blue eyes as she caressed his fingers. He knew they were healing in such a way that they would be useless but couldn't bring himself to care. She tenderly tucked his hand back where she'd found it and stood up. Faith tilted her head toward the door as Spike turned his attention back to the television.
Once outside, they walked a short distance away. Faith was positive Spike knew what needed to be done. "How did that happen?" The brunette asked.
Clem studied the ground. "He was upset when he got home last night so I didn't ask him what happened. He went straight downstairs and I heard him start pounding on the walls. I thought that whatever damage he'd do would easily heal by today. He must have been at it most of the night."
Faith winced. "They're half-healed. If he ever wants to use his hands again they'll have to be re-broken and set properly."
The peaceful demon shuddered. "Will you help?"
Faith's attention was already directed back towards the crypt. "Yeah, I think I have to." She said softly.
"We should do it now, I guess." Clem mused. The slayer nodded. The unlikely allies went back into the cool confines of the old crypt.
Spike's eyes were closed and he appeared to be asleep. His eyes snapped open when Faith knelt in front of him again.
"Spike. You know what needs to be done, right?" Her voice was unusually gentle.
A slight nod answered her question. "Will you trust me to do it for you?" Lackluster sapphire met sympathetic dark brown. An infinitesimal nod answered her.
"Okay. Clem, can you help him sit up again? Then I'm gonna need you to stand behind him and hold him still." Faith instructed. "Spike, I need you to be absolutely still. This is gonna be really painful."
Clem eased the blond back into a sitting position. The slayer thought of something. "Are there any bandages?" Clem nodded and fetched Spike's meager stash of first aid supplies. Faith pulled out two bandages. "We'll need more." She noted. Clem nodded; he'd take care of it.
The larger demon grasped Spike's slender shoulders while Faith took one mangled hand between her two super-strength hands. A sickening series of cracks sounded as she quickly re-broke all of the misaligned bones. Spike's body convulsed violently. His feet kicked out, knocking the coffee table away. His mouth opened in a silent scream as fire raced up his arm from his now re-shattered hand. He panted needlessly as Faith quickly straightened his fingers out and bandaged them so they would heal in working order. Tears streamed down Faith's face as she moved to the other side to do the same thing to the other hand. Clem strengthened his hold on his best friend's shoulders. There would be bruises, he knew but they were unavoidable. Again, there was the loud, sickening cracking sound. Spike bucked once again, his mouth trying to release a scream from the stretched out throat muscles before he mercifully passed out. Faith was openly sobbing as she finished wrapping the second bandage around the reset fingers. Clem released his punishing grip and let the too-thin body fall over slowly.
They were so intent on their task that they failed to notice the observer standing just inside the door. Giles had knocked but no one had answered so he pushed the door open just enough to slide through. He heard the coffee table being kicked as he entered. At first he'd thought that the younger slayer and the unknown demon were torturing Spike. But before he could intervene, Faith had switched sides and Giles had seen the tears spilling down her face as she'd taken the bruised, grotesquely deformed hand and broken it. Bile had risen in the back of the watcher's throat at the sound of the bones breaking. He watched her quickly straighten and reset the broken digits before binding them in a bandage. He noticed with shock that while Spike was giving the appearance of screaming, no sound left the straining throat. He slipped back out of the crypt and crouched a short distance away, breathing deeply in an attempt to control his nausea.
Faith burst out of the crypt moments later. She dashed to a tree and leaned against it as she retched. She turned away and staggered over to a headstone. She fumbled a cigarette out of a pocket, cursing as she dropped her lighter. She collapsed in tears as she leaned over to pick it up, landing on her knees. Her head bent down as sobs shook her petite form.
Giles walked slowly over to the upset slayer. Her head snapped up as she heard the slide of his shoes on the ground.
"What?" Faith asked harshly. Her hands shook violently as she lit her cigarette.
"What happened to his hands?" Giles asked softly.
"He beat them into submission on his own bedroom walls." Faith answered bitterly.
"Why?" The watcher needed to know.
Faith swiped at the tears that still flowed from her eyes. "Because I refused to stake him."
Giles nodded. He removed his glasses to clean them. "Why wouldn't you do that? It is your job after all." The questions came out mildly.
Her breath hitched painfully. "Because he couldn't fight back. He can't speak. I don't know how or why but he can't speak and he can't fight back. How could I kill someone who can't even defend themselves against me? He knelt down on the ground in front of me and waited for me to do it. It was wrong." She sobbed.
He knelt down next to her and placed a consoling hand on her shoulder. "You did the right thing. I'm sorry I doubted you earlier." He murmured.
She scrubbed her face dry. "I need to patrol." She said huskily.
Giles understood her need for violence. "I'll see to Spike. I'm assuming that is his friend that was helping you?"
Faith nodded as she got up. She threw her spent smoke away. "That's Clem. He's the best. He's been taking care of Spike so no one would find out he can't speak."
The watcher processed this information. "I'll see if there's anything he needs."
The slayer nodded and took off. Giles made his way back to the door of the crypt. He pushed it open again and entered the gloomy room. Spike was still unconscious. The loose-skinned demon he'd noticed earlier was keeping watch from an easy chair. He stood up and moved in front of the sofa to protect his unaware friend.
"It's okay. I'm a friend of Faith's." Giles said softly. "Is there anything you need for Spike?"
"You're the slayer's watcher, aren't you? Not Faith. The other slayer." Clem said. He glanced at Spike as the vampire stirred.
Giles inclined his head in acknowledgement of his status. "That's not why I'm here." He stated quietly. "How can I help?"
Clem watched Giles silently for a moment. A sharp inhalation from Spike drew both their attention. Clem swiftly went into the kitchen to get a bottle of alcohol and a packet of blood. Rupert took advantage of Clem's short absence to approach the sofa. He knelt next to the awakening vampire. Pain-glazed blue eyes opened slowly and widened when the watcher came into view. The wounded blond sat up and pulled himself into a tight huddle in the corner of the cushions. The lean features tightened and grew remote turning away to watch the still flickering television screen. Clem came back with an open bottle of Jack Daniels, offering it to his best friend. Spike automatically reached for it and drew back his bandaged hands as he made painful contact with the bottle. He scowled in anger and pain before tucking his hands back up to his chest and withdrawing once more. Clem attempted to coax the stubborn vampire to drink the large mug of warmed blood. The blond turned his head away and closed his eyes.
"Spike, you need to feed. You're never going to heal if you don't. I'll hold it for you. It won't take long. Come on, buddy." Clem pleaded.
Spike shot a hate-filled glare at Giles and shook his head.
"It's human. Willy got some really fresh stuff and gave me first dibs on it." The demon tried again. Lips clamped tightly closed, Spike shook his head again.
Giles decided that he didn't want to know how Willy had gotten the 'really fresh stuff'. His sober gaze rested on the one being other than Angel that, at one time, he would never have willingly helped. The events of the past year had drastically changed his opinion of the chipped vampire. He'd put his own welfare on the line numerous times for all of them. Granted he'd wanted full credit and payment, at least at first, but he had been useful. His absence the past few weeks had driven home to Giles just how helpful the vampire actually was.
"Maybe it would be best if I left." The human suggested. Clem nodded reluctantly. He walked with Giles to the door and followed him outside for a moment.
"Is there anything I can get for you? Do you need any money?" Giles offered.
"I'm good. He might eat now. Is there anything you want me to tell him?" Clem asked.
Giles shook his head. "When did he lose his voice? Was he injured?"
Clem glanced back at the crypt and lowered his voice. "It just stopped working one night about three weeks ago. He's been going downhill since. You know how he is. He can't not talk. It's been driving him insane. If you can help with that…" He stopped.
Giles nodded. "I'll do what I can. One of our group is a witch maybe…"
Clem interrupted. "He didn't want anyone to know. Can you not mention names?"
"I'll try." Giles patted the demon on the shoulder and left. There was something very familiar about Spike's situation. If he could just remember what it was.
Later…Faith let herself back into the crypt. The light from the television was the only illumination in the gloomy space. She could see Clem snoozing lightly in the easy chair. Spike was huddled in the corner of the sofa blankly staring at the television.
"Hey, Clem. I'm back if you want to go home and get some real sleep. I'll stay with Blondie." She shook the big demon gently.
Clem glanced at his friend tiredly and nodded. "Thanks. I'm sorry I doubted you."
"A lot of that going around. Don't sweat it." She smiled. "Go. I've got it."
"I'm leaving now Spike." Clem told the vampire. A bandaged hand waved briefly. He turned to Faith at the door. "I'll get some more blood and bandages tomorrow. Can you get him to eat? He's refused everything I've offered."
"No problem, Big Guy." The slayer smirked grimly. She'd formed her plan while patrolling. Spike would be up and about sooner than Clem expected.
She locked the deadbolt behind him and sauntered back to the sofa. She sat down next to the wary vampire and studied him intently. She reached over and pried one of his arms away from his chest.
"Let's see the digits." She watched his face carefully as she slowly bent his fingers at the knuckles. He winced and pulled his hand away. "I can fix that for you." She almost whispered.
His puzzled blue eyes never wavered from her face. She flipped her long dark hair over her shoulder and away from her neck. She shifted closer. "Isn't slayer blood the most powerful food a vampire can take in?" She asked rhetorically, her voice low and husky. Spike unconsciously licked his lips before shaking his head and turning away.
Her small, powerful hand grasped his lean jaw and turned his head back around to her. "You know you want to." She purred. "You won't hurt me." She moved even closer and swung over his lap, settling on top of him. He watched her with widening eyes, fascinated. He kept his mouth stubbornly closed. She'd been prepared for his resistance. She lifted the small pocketknife she'd hidden in the palm of her hand. Before he realized it, she raised the blade and made a small cut on the side of her neck. The rich smell was more than Spike's demon could resist. He vamped and fastened his fangs on the cut, nuzzling it open further and gulping several large swallows. He stiffened and pulled back, eyes wide and gold. His demon face faded, the gold changed back to sapphire and he stared at the woman sitting on his lap. Her eyes were fastened on his face and she watched as he licked a drop of her blood from his lip. Her dark eyes dilated and she slammed her mouth onto his.
