Title: Written In The Stars, Part 1 – Thank You Miss Edith.

Author: Xanfan

Rating: R/NC-17 for future chapters

Pairing???

Summary: Response to challenge from Sparky. Xander and Spike become friends after Spike gets the chip, they are both hurt and Dru rescues them and brings them to Angel to heal.

Spoilers: BtVS up through season 4 and Ats 1st season. I may however take some liberties with the exact timeline, so, any season from either show is fair game.

Warnings: Possible Slash

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Original Challenge: Spike has been chipped and taken in by the Scoobies. Just as he and
Xander are beginning to become friends, something, their both hurt and it's up
to Angel to save and care for them. The twist is its Dru that saves them
and brings them to Daddy.

A/N: I may make take some liberties with timelines from both shows. And Anya was just a onetime thing.

Words in Italics indicate thoughts.

Spike awoke slowly, fighting the fog that surrounded his mind, for consciousness. He quickly became aware of three things. One, his hands were tied in front of him. Two, He was sitting on a dirty floor, leaning back against an equally dirty wall. Three, someone was leaning up against his shoulder. Oh, and four, Spike hurt, a lot.

He looked at the dark head resting on his shoulder and realized that it was Xander, whose hands were also tied in front of him.

Xander was still unconscious, and that concerned Spike a bit. He shifted the boy down, so his head was resting on Spike's lap.

Spike tried to remember how they had gotten there.

Spike had been living with Xander, off and on, for two months. Sometimes it felt like two years, make that two hundred years.

Okay, so it wasn't all that bad. Maybe, not really bad at all. The two of them actually got along pretty well, much to the amazement and consternation of the rest of the scoobies.

Their maturity level was actually pretty similar, i.e., outwardly they showed very little maturity, but, inwardly, they both had been forced to grow up too fast, by circumstances out of their control.

Not to say they didn't have their disagreements or all out battles, but they were mostly on the level of sibling teasing and bickering, instead of real animosity.

So, even if they didn't admit it to anyone else, they were actually becoming pretty good friends.

Buffy and Willow, when they took the time to notice, were not pleased with this development. Buffy was mad because Xander had always been mean to Angel because he was a vampire, but, was making friends with Spike, even though he didn't have a soul. Willow was mad because her best friend had a new friend, that he spent more time with than he spent with her. (It didn't matter that she didn't really have time, with school and everything, to spend with Xander outside of Scooby meetings)

Giles was more bemused by their growing friendship than anything else, but mostly, he was just glad Spike was no longer living in his bathtub.

Xander and Spike liked to be paired together on patrols. For Spike, he found the boy's snarky comments to be entertaining and enjoyed verbally sparing with him. Xander liked the whole verbal sparing thing too, but mostly, he liked that Spike let him help fight the bad guys, without telling him to stay out of the way like Buffy and Willow did. And, Spike was showing him some fighting techniques, so he was actually getting pretty good.

So, they were out on patrol one evening and Spike was giving Xander a lecture on why the Sex Pistols were one of the greatest bands ever. Xander was trying to ignore the lecture. They were in a cemetery on the south side of town and it was a pretty slow night.

Xander turned to say something to him and just then, he saw the boy's eyes go wide and his mouth open to shout an answer, when he felt a sharp pain on the back of his head, before his world went dark.

So here he was in a dank, windowless room. He looked down at Xander and realized the boy had bruises and cuts all over his face and probably under his clothes too. What had happened to the boy? He didn't have those injuries before Spike had been knocked out.

Spike evaluated his own condition and concluded that his head throbbed with pain and the rest of him was covered in cuts and bruises. Had he been regularly feeding on human blood, the wounds would probably have already been on there way to healed. But, he had been bagging it, and on pig's blood no less, for some time now. So, his vampiric healing abilities were slow, he probably wouldn't heal much faster than the Whelp. And speaking of Xander, the boy must have fought with whatever had hit Spike, and fought hard from the looks of him. Spike was once again reminded of the loyalty and fierce protectiveness Xander showed for people he considered friends. Spike was honored to be in that category.

Spike was startled when he felt a familiar presence was near. Someone from his vampire family was near, more specifically, Dru was near. What was his Dark Princess doing here? Was she part of what happened to them?

There were sounds of fighting and death from outside the room they were in. Spike could not tell who was winning or losing, or even who was fighting. But, if he knew Dru, she was involved somehow.

The door to their room/dank whole/dungeon suddenly opened and a familiar figure walked through.

"Spikey, the stars told me you were in trouble; Miss Edith said I should come help you. She also said the Kitten was with you and that he had tried to protect you and was hurt, that I should help you both." Drusilla said, with the usual vague air about her. "Oh, and I can't eat the Kitten either."

She leaned down and tore the bindings from their wrists.

"Give Miss Edith and the stars my thanks. Now, let's get out of here. I'm pretty sure I could walk, but, I can't carry the boy." Spike was trying to figure out the logistics of getting them both out, not sure that he could trust Dru, especially with the Whelp, but, not really seeing any alternative.

"Don't worry Spike. I'll take care of you both. You need to save your strength." With that, Drusilla picked them both up, one over each shoulder and turned to leave the room. "You know how testy you get around Daddy, especially when he has that yucky soul."

"What do you mean? Is the Poof here?" Spike was annoyed at being carried like a sack of potatoes and in more than a little pain from his injuries. Okay, he was in a great deal of pain and he wasn't sure that being upside down was helping his head injury. He struggled to stay conscious and focus on Dru's words.

"No silly, I'm taking you to see Daddy so he can take care of you and Kitten. The stars and Miss Edith agree. He will take good care of you both."

Spike began to loose consciousness, but, not before Dru's words hit him. Oh, Bloody Hell!