The morning sun shone through the living room window when Buffy opened her eyes. She sat up and shrugged her shoulders a bit to get the stiffness out. She was short, but the couch was still not the most comfortable bed.

She turned the coffee maker on as she walked through the kitchen and down the hall to the bathroom. She looked in the mirror and ran a brush through her hair before opening her bedroom door. Spike was still asleep, he must have really been through a lot. She walked quietly in the room and got her clean clothes so she could shower. She stopped beside the bed and for one brief moment she almost shook him awake. She could hear herself demanding to know why he had not bothered to let her know he was back, after she had left him in that cave. Instead she let out a small sigh and walked away.

"Morning." A groggy voice called as she walked towards the door to leave.

She turned to see Spike struggling to sit up in the bed. "Morning. How are you feeling?"

He reached for his shirt lying on the chair next to the bed and retrieved his cigarettes and lighter. Lighting up he took a long drag, "Feel like four vamps beat me up. Thanks for playing nurse for me." He smiled then a little bit of the old Spike showing , "Wish we could have played under different circumstances though - you in a little white uniform could be interesting."

She rolled her eyes at him, "I had wondered if it was really you - but you just proved it is." She smiled back at him as she sat on the edge of the bed. "Do you feel like answering a few questions?" She asked her voice soft and serious.

"What do you want to know?" He looked around for a place to put out his cigarette. She handed him an empty coke can from the small trashcan.

"Why are you here? Were you looking for me?" She tried to cover the hopefulness in her voice.

"Buffy, luv. If I had known you were here I would have stayed far, far away." He shook his head.

"Well, thanks for that, Spike. You're so welcome for the first aid." She stood up then and crossed her arms angrily.

"Didn't mean it like that. I'm glad to see you." He reached for her hand.

She backed away out of his reach, "Yeah, it really sounds like you're glad to see me. So sorry, you couldn't have been beat up and thrown out to burn up in the morning sun on another hospitals parking lot."

"Buffy…" He tried to interrupt.

"No let me finish. That way you wouldn't have had to be in the same town with me!" Her voice sounded shrill even to her own ears.

He sighed as he tried unsuccessfully to hide his pain when he reached for his shirts lying on the chair next to the bed.

Even in her anger, she noticed his pain and reached for the shirt, "Let me help you." She frowned as she helped him pull the familiar black tee over his head.

"Buffy, look at me." He held her chin in his hand gently. "I wouldn't have come to wherever you were ,because I don't want to put you in danger. I've been running since LA. A few remaining monsters from Wolfram and Hart want some good old fashioned revenge."

"Oh." She was quiet for a moment gathering her thoughts, "So, are those vamps that beat you up part of Wolfram and Hart?"

"Figure they're working for them, not sure how they found me in Memphis. But they jumped me in an alley behind a bar and those two drunk rednecks stumbled around there making all kinds of noise calling out that there was someone getting beat up out back. Guess they decided it wasn't worth having the whole bar come out there to check it out so they left me there. Of course no one in the bar bothered to check out the fight, so those two guys drove me to the hospital in the back of their truck and that's where you found me. What are you doing in Memphis?" He stood up carefully.

"We aren't in Memphis."

"I was in a bar in Memphis, last night. Where am I now?" He looked confused.

"You're in West Memphis, Arkansas." She watched him pull on his button up shirt over the tee shirt, "It's right across that big bridge over the river going out of Memphis. I'm not sure why they brought you here, but one of them did mention something about not getting in anymore trouble - guess they thought it was safer here."

"Okay. So what are you doing in Arkansas then? Is there a vamp problem here?" He looked around for his boots.

"No vamps, you're the first I've seen since I've been here." She pointed to his boots in the corner, "What are you doing?"

"I need to leave before they find me." He struggled to bend over and pick up the boots, "I don't want you involved in this mess."

"Spike, you can barely move. You need to heal up some first and if you didn't remember I'm a vampire slayer, I can handle myself." She plucked the boots from his hands and put them in the closet.

"I'll be fine." He frowned at her, "Now give me my boots."

"No, you're not fine. Look, the cut on your head is bleeding again and those ribs are still very tender." She placed her hand on his chest and pushed him gently back into a sitting position on her bed. Her fingers automatically went to the bandage on his head pulling it back to examine the cut again.

He pushed her hand away and tried to stand again, "Buffy, I really don't want you involved in this, it's not your fight this time." He sighed heavily as she stilled his struggle to get up with her hand on his chest again..

Her brow furrowed as she finished her exam of his wounds . When she spoke her voice was full of concern, "Spike, I'm not the only one who came back wrong ,am I? You should have done a lot more healing by now? At least this cut should have been closed enough to stop bleeding. Your vamp healing isn't working like it should is it?"

"That's stupid, of course I'm healing." He replied unconvincingly.

"No, you aren't. Is there anything else wrong?"

Her voice was so tender and sincere that he felt compelled to tell the truth, "Okay, since I came back my healing isn't quite the same, strength is good but not what it was and for some reason a good rare steak seems to do me as well as blood most of the time. Down to pig swill just once a week or so. Not sure what the deal is." He took her hand and placed it on his heart, "Still a monster though, see no heartbeat."

"You haven't been a monster for a very long time." She said softly before she took her hand from his chest. "Now, I'm going to trust you to stay here while I shower. If you'd like there's coffee in the kitchen. I'll be right out and I'll fix some breakfast." She nodded as she left the room.

He lay back on the bed for a moment. He should really go, just take off while she was in the shower. She'd be mad but she'd be safe. Only trouble was she was right ,he was weak now and in all honesty - he didn't want to leave her. He wanted nothing more then to wrap his arms around her and enjoy this safe and warm feeling. A day or two here couldn't hurt could it?