Chapter 16
Buffy's head felt light. She didn't know what to believe. Angel, back? What could they mean? She had watched him dust herself. She knew he was gone. How could he be back? A mirage of him, or what?
When she hurried upstairs to the others though, there he was. Standing amidst them, looking about as befuddled by the whole situation as they were. He was back! Just like in her dreams of late. She pinched herself in the arm and was bruisingly notified that she was indeed wide awake. She looked at him, and he looked at her back, with those warm glowing eyes that she had lost herself in so many times in the past. "Angel. You're back!" She broke into a run, and threw herself into his arms. And nosedived to the floor, straight through him. "Well, not entirely, it seems." Wesley stated dryly. They all laughed heartily.
Wes folded out the paper he held in his hand, and pointed to it. "I much suspect this will hold the explanation to this strange incident." Buffy looked up at him, while rubbing her nose and scrambling off the floor. "What's that? You've reached to look up the right book on the matter already?" Wes eyed her with a hint of scorn, and replied flatly. "I'm afraid not. This was found while searching the jacket that our prime suspect was so kind to divest himself of while we chased him down tonight." He held it out and read aloud:
"To Wolfram & Hart:
As a token of my *all too deepfelt* appreciation after our long and fruitful relationship, I hereby present you, free of charge, what you have been craving for so long, the prize that made you assume it would be worthwhile to let go of my continued services: The precious soul of the Champion. Hope you enjoy it, for all eternity, like you wanted.
Yours truly,
Lindsay.
P.S: should you, in all your wisdom, deem that a mere demon-tainted soul is not what will get you the desired outcome of our anticipated final apocalypse, I'd advice you to remember the able-bodied employee, yours truly, who is now no longer at your service."
Before anyone could comment on the letter, a jeering voice entered the room, as Spike stepped forward, his finger pointing at Angel. "You're a…You're a bloody ghost!" Spike continued to laugh for another moment before looking at Angel matter of factly. "That's funny."
Angel gritted his teeth. "Spike. Glad to see you're doing better."
Spike smirked. "I would say the same to you, but, well…" Spike stepped forward and began poking his fingers through Angel's face with a big grin on his face "…guess there's not much to you. Not really sure it's much of a step up from what you were before."
Buffy gently pushed Spike back a step, already rolling her eyes. They had literally been in the same room for five seconds and it was already starting with them. This was going to be fun. "I'm just going to skip ahead a few insults and tell the both of you to shut up."
"He started it." Angel brooded, upset that he had been cut off before he was able to dish out his retort to the bleach blonde vampire.
"You two really are twelve", she muttered.
"So, this is really Angel." Wesley mused to himself. "It's just hard to believe, given the time you were gone. It was just starting to sink in..."
"Well, if it's not really him then it's a great poncy imitation." Spike stated observantly.
"Do you need to leave?" Buffy folded her arms with a glare.
"Probably." Spike responded simply, while making no move to do so.
Buffy sighed. She should have known that any kind of acknowledgement would only continue to encourage him. Though, selfishly, she was pleased, she realized. Annoyed, but pleased she could be annoyed with him. Even just yesterday he wouldn't have had it in him to be this much of a pest. Improvement. Buffy fought back a smile. That would really encourage him to keep going if he thought that she was enjoying his antics.
"So, this has been Lindsay's plan? The reason why he's in town? To deliver a necklace to Wolfram & Hart?" Willow inquired.
"Diabolical." Xander stated with sarcasm.
"I think it's more than that. It has to be." Buffy thought out loud." How did you get the necklace?" Buffy inquired.
"Lilah." Angel answered.
"And she is?" Buffy asked.
"She worked for Wolfram & Hart." Angel's questioning gaze landed on Buffy, waiting to see what she was getting at.
"Did she know Lindsay?" Buffy asked easily.
"They both worked together. They headed the same project at one point." Angel stopped talking for a moment as the dots connected. "You think she was in on the necklace?"
"It's the only thing that makes sense. He must have stayed in touch with her after he left town." Buffy reasoned.
"No, he couldn't have." Wesley's hushed voice spoke up.
"How do you know?" Buffy asked.
"Because Lilah's dead." Angel stated.
"So, a ghost gave you the necklace…" Buffy cocked an eyebrow.
"Revenge from beyond the grave. I could get along with this Lilah. What happened? Found your tortured hero act annoying too?" Spike leaned up against the wall, folding his arms in amusement.
Buffy rolled her eyes once more.
Angel managed to speak in an almost nonchalant, exasperated tone. "I'd hit you if I could."
"But you can't. Because you're a ghost." Spike grinned widely.
"Anyway," Willow spoke up, ignoring Spike's chipper outburst. The Spike they all knew, were strangely glad to see, needed to be gagged right now. "How could he have known about the necklace if Lilah didn't tell him?"
"He has to know someone on the inside then. I don't know how. Wolfram & Hart would kill him in a second if he knew that he was around, what with all the information he has on them." Angel explained.
"Well, he was about to make himself known in a big way. He must have a heavy duty protection plan on him." Gunn stated.
"So, he probably planned this necklace trap out a while ago, with someone in Wolfram & Hart, using Sunnydale as the perfect time to put that plan in action…" Buffy began.
"I'm wondering how Lilah got the necklace in her hands to give to you. How could, whoever gave it to her, make her care enough about Sunnydale to pass it on to you, so you could run off and save it." Buffy inquired.
"I assumed Wolfram & Hart didn't want The First taking over, overshadowing their own apocalypse." Angel shrugged. "This, we might never know the answer to. I'm betting they didn't know the necklace would dust me though. Someone had to have made them believe otherwise, so you're right, Lindsay has to have an accomplice on the inside."
"We can't know for sure until we find Lindsay. Either way, that's something we've got to do." Angel looked down at his ghost form. "Well, it's something you all have to do."
"That's the other thing." Buffy noted. "You can't stay this way."
Fred piped up eagerly, bringing herself forward in the crowd. "That I can get on. It's all a matter of science. Science is my thing."
"Thanks, Fred." Angel gave her a warm smile.
"I think the rest of us know what we have to do." Buffy paused as an intense look took over her features. "Find Lindsay."
"Weird." Fred pouted as she ran the scanner over Angel's form.
"Weirder than this?" Buffy questioned with almost amused uncertainty in her voice.
Fred, Angel, and Buffy stood in the back office as Fred ran her examination on Angel. She had spent all afternoon looking into the materials that she could possibly need to figure out the puzzle that was her friend and old boss. "I'm getting electromagnetic readings consistent with spiritual entities, but there's no ectoplasmic matrix." Fred explained.
"What does that mean?" Buffy asked, her own confusion showing on her face.
"Ectoplasm's what makes ghosts visible to the human eye. If he's a ghost, technically, we shouldn't be able to see him." She paused. "And I'm detecting brainwave activity. Also, ghosts generally absorb light and heat energy making the area around them a few degrees cooler. Angel's radiating heat."
"So, what am I?" Angel tried to ask without sounding impatient. He wasn't entirely sure he did a great job of that, but he was understandably antsy.
"I don't know." Fred sighed. "Whatever you are, you're tied to the amulet since it held your essence."
"I wonder why Lindsay kept the necklace for so long. You have been trapped in there for several weeks. Why wait?" Buffy questioned.
"We could ask a thousand questions and never know the answer. We have to find him if any sort of light is going to be shed on this. The one thing we do know for sure is that he was pissed about Wolfram & Hart making a deal with me to head their branch here."
Angel shook his head. Even after all this time, Lindsay was bitter. It wasn't the spirit that he had left Wolfram & Hart in, but, Angel couldn't say he was surprised. Lindsay always had a change of heart after doing the right thing. Always.
Buffy sighed. "I don't like not having all of the pieces." She looked up at Angel in warm concern. "Especially when it directly involves someone I care about."
Angel met her eyes, and mirrored her concern. "You should get some sleep." he commented. "You've been up all night and all morning."
"I can't." Buffy shook her head. "I have to work. I have to get to the bottom of this."
"What more can you do right now?" Angel questioned.
"Hit the streets. Try to find him in the day?" Buffy stated.
Angel shook his head. "You're not going to find him. Any kind of activity that is going to come from him is going to happen at night."
"Maybe if he was a vampire, which I can understand your confusion on time tables here given that you're a vampire yourself…or were a vampire-"
"I'm still a vampire." Angel cut her off. "You can just go through me…for now. He might not be your usual run of the mill demon and vampire, but that's the kind that he hangs out with. Lindsay isn't smart enough to have a plan all on his own. He's got to have at least one other person helping him out with this. When you've worked for years with different entities, you're going to do your dirty work at night."
"Maybe. But he has to be somewhere during the day." Buffy commented.
"Some dark and covert, and probably frequently changing, that you are not likely to track down today." Angel sighed. He forgot how stubborn she could be. "Buffy, even if you did find him, somewhere in the daylight, just getting coffee and taking a walk, you're exhausted."
"I'm still stronger than him." Buffy pointed out.
"Yeah, but we don't know what he's playing with right now. We don't know what he's up to. We have to be smart about this. You know that. You don't need to be told how to do your job. We all want to do this right. All I'm asking is you get a few hours' sleep before pursuing him." Angel implored her. "I know you want answers, but can't they wait a few hours?"
Buffy's body tensed up as she went to speak, her face displaying an emotion that Angel couldn't read, because she simply wouldn't let it completely come to pass. Her eyes landed on Fred and she forced back whatever it was that she was going to say. "You're right. I need to rest up for tonight. I'll catch up with you later."
With that, Buffy quickly left.
Fred stood awkwardly for a moment before placing the scanner down that she still held in her hands as she watched the scene unfold before her. "She's had a lot going on lately."
"Yeah." Angel said softly. "I figured that."
He wanted to go to her, but he couldn't. Not right now. She needed a good day's sleep first. Until then, he'd talk to his team, get them in order.
"How about we round everyone up. Well, our everyone that is. I want to talk to you guys alone."
"Oh. Okay." Fred nodded. "I'll go get them."
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"Given the changes that have obviously taken place since I left, could someone explain to me the new protocol?" Angel inquired.
Snort
"Did someone just snort?" Angel's brow furred.
"Of course not." Gunn snickered.
Angel glared out at the amused faces staring back at him, Even Wesley had his head tilted down and Angel expected it wasn't in serious thought.
"This is important." Angel folded his arms.
Fred cleared her throat. "We know. It's just…"
"Just what?" Angel scowled.
"We can almost see through you." Fred grinned.
Gunn snorted.
Wesley looked even closer to the ground.
"This is overwhelmingly mature." Angel muttered. "It's like being in the room with three Spikes."
"We're sorry. We're just so happy to have you back!" Fred explained.
"Sort of. Again. We can see through you." Gunn pointed out.
Laughter broke out.
Angel sighed. "Are you through yet?"
The team composed themselves, a few straggling laughs, and the room fell silent.
"Now, can someone tell me about the new set-up?" Angel requested, focusing on extra dense thoughts, and noting with relief that he grew a lot less translucent.
"It's not much different than before. It's Angel Investigations on a grander scale." Wesley began.
"I take it Buffy has taken point." Angel questioned, having already answered the inquiry for himself.
"Yes, given that they know where their strengths are best served, the transition was quite easy." Wesley added.
"Yet, still, with all our numbers we can't manage to locate Lindsay." Gunn rolled his eyes.
"I'd say my being here now, and not at Wolfram & Hart, says otherwise. You got close before, you can get close again. I take it Willow did a locator spell?" Angel asked.
"She did. It says he doesn't exist. We suspect a use of a spell to keep him off the map, though there's no way to narrow down which one." Wesley explained.
Angel nodded. "What about Wolfram & Hart?"
"What about them?" Gunn asked.
"They haven't given you any problems with Buffy hanging around these parts?" Angel furthered his questioning; bringing it into new territory, knowing anything about Lindsay that could be known had already been previously discussed.
Fred shook her head. "They've shown no interest since you've been gone. It makes sense if they've withdrawn their offer after you died, but Buffy has been taking to the streets the way you did…"
"She never personally waged war on them." Angel mused. "It's a lot easier for them to pull their schemes off without someone personally breathing down their necks."
"Living in LA, I'd say it was only a matter of time before she'd have to." Gunn stated.
"Especially with our history." Wesley expanded. "Of course Buffy's feelings have been that they'd come to her first. It'd give her the chance to get a feel for them."
"I'm not judging her. I didn't get involved with Wolfram & Hart right away either. From what I can tell she's done a good job." Angel commented. "Alright, I want you all to dedicate yourself to finding Lindsay, same as Buffy said before upstairs. Gunn, you'll take to the streets. Wesley, get on the phone with Lorne, let him know I'm back and see if he has any connections that might lead us to Lindsay. Fred, hit the books, see what you can do about narrowing things down, find out what spell he's using. If we find Lindsay, we'll find the answers we need."
Angel stood before them proudly, back in the game of good versus evil, finally able to take charge again. He was doing what he did best and he was going to make Wolfram & Hart pay for what they had done. They would see just how serious he was.
Laughter broke out again. Gunn, Fred, and Wesley practically holding their sides, the laughing actually hurting it was coming out so hard.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry…we're just…we're taking orders from a not-a-ghost!" Fred choked over her words.
"We can see through him!" Gunn added.
The uproarious laughter took complete control of the room.
Angel rolled his eyes.
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Her eyes, lit with determination and anger, stared down at Angelus. He was defeated. She had overpowered him. Her friends no longer by her side, gone and hospitalized, Spike having taken off with Drusilla, his interest in this matter having been met. There was only her. She had been enough. When it came down to it, it was her who had to make the difficult choices. It was only she who could save the world now, stop Acathla from sucking everything and everyone into hell, and the coldness of her heart could show no mercy. Buffy raised the sword, ready to take the head of her former lover.
He wasn't even that anymore. He was just Angelus, wearing the face of the man she had once loved.
Then, in eyes, she saw how they glowed. She saw his face soften as he dropped down to the floor. His eyes gazed up to her and her hand hesitated, the blade of the sword no longer prepared to drop into him as she had been ready to only moments before. She felt her heart warm once more, crying, a sign that it had come back to life.
"Buffy?" Angel stood up, looking sorely at her.
Buffy's immediately took a step back, unsure of what's going on. A flash, and then, could it be, was Angel really standing before her now?
"Angel?" Buffy questioned, her voice small.
"You're hurt." Angel observed, noticing her cuts. He came towards her, taking her in his arms. Buffy felt as the arm holding her sword went limp, allowing him to fold his arms around her. She felt her heart sobbing, his soul having returned. For months and months it was all she could hope for. He couldn't be gone! This monster couldn't be him! Not the man that she loved, that she had given her whole self to. He had to come back…and he had…he had! He had! He had!
Acathla's mouth began to open right at that second; a low rumble filled Buffy's ears, deep down knowing that this was coming. She gripped onto Angel tighter as the rumbling only grew louder the more the vortex began to open.
She pulled away, her eyes filled with passion, looking into his own before moving to kiss him, to show him the words that are to come when the kiss is finished. "I love you." She speaks quietly.
"I love you…"Angel returns her words affectionately.
"Close your eyes…"
Angel does as he's told and Buffy kisses his lips gently once more. Then, stepping back, she takes her sword and thrusts it into-
With a loud scream, Buffy sat up in bed, the nightmare having jolted her back from her deep sleep. She scanned the room, remembering where she was, The Hyperion. She laid back down and sighed. It felt so real. It had been real. A long time ago. She closed her eyes, willing the sharpness in heart, of a time since passed, to go away. After a few moments, she turns and looks at the clock, seeing that sleep had only stayed with her for no more than two hours. It wasn't healthy, but it seemed her noisy Slayer brain wasn't willing to shut off.
Frustrated, Buffy got up and sat on the edge of the bed, no need to risk any more bad dreams from coming over her. Dreams of this category had kept coming since she had let him die, again, down there on the Hellmouth. Now he was back, but not quite, this time. And she couldn't shake the feeling that it might somehow be her fault.
She'd get by though. It wasn't like it was a Slayer's dream. It was a restless sleep, her mind processing what she struggled to do with her eyes open. She was always being chosen, her work calling her. Although, it was up to her how to decide to save the world, she had to be the one to do it. No matter the cost. Up until now, maybe all roads had led to where she was. In L.A., with him. Her life tied to destiny, because a higher power had chosen her, just like it had found him. For the first time, she was free, and still here she was doing her work as though she didn't have a choice anyway.
She didn't have a choice. She was needed and she couldn't walk away from that. But she had more people on her side now. She could chose her missions more. She could focus on helping him, with good conscience. But…now that he was back after she had lost him again, but in such a fragile way that she couldn't feel sure to get to keep him this time either… her heart broke at the thought.
He was always gone, and he always came back. Someway. Somehow. She always seemed to have to witness it. Life always had a way of going on, taking her down her path, whether destined or chosen. She mourned, she moved on, he popped up once again and left her with a heavy feeling that she couldn't begin to figure out. She didn't know what her dreams meant. Perhaps it was just her anxiety when she looked back on her life and realized how deranged it all had really been due to this title of "Slayer." He had been there from the beginning, longer than she had even known about.
The one thing she did know for sure was that she didn't want to go back to sleep again. She would have to, after looking for Lindsay later. It wasn't healthy for her to be sleep deprived. It'd be of the bad for everyone else around her too. No good in a battle, they might have to watch their back around her in case her swings were off because of it. But right now, she couldn't bring herself to drift off. She wasn't up for self-analysis and suddenly she was having a strange understanding of the depressed exhaustion that Spike had been going through the past number of weeks.
Spike…
She couldn't bring herself to feel overwhelmed by the prospect of Angel and Spike being in the same room together while she was around. She didn't care. She found that her arms were wide open to the idea, in fact. She was glad that Angel was around again even for there to be messy fights between those two. More complication. More yelling at them. More telling them to grow up. It didn't matter. Angel was back. He wasn't dust. So antiquated nightmares be damned! Grumpy vampires and exhausted Slayers be damned! Angel was back. Again. He had come back to her. The world could dust him as many times as it wanted to, but it didn't seem to be able to keep him down. So, take that, destiny!
"Did you sleep?" Angel's voice rang out in the silent room.
Buffy jumped in surprise, her thoughts interrupted. She sighed when she saw him and stood up. "Don't do that."
"Sorry. I can't really knock anymore." Angel explained.
"Well, can't you, I don't know, shout on the other side of the door or something if you want to come in."
Angel furred his brow trying to come up with a response, but turned up empty handed.
"Forget it." Buffy moved her hand, waving it away. She sighed. "And yeah. I got some sleep. A little. It's kind of hard to keep my mind quiet enough for that right now." Buffy smirked. "Which has been the story my life for the past year."
"You need to take a break." Angel pointed out.
"Yeah? In the middle of yet another crisis. I'm sure that would go over well for the world." Buffy stated sarcastically.
"The world isn't in immediate danger right now-"Angel began.
"But you could be." Buffy quickly interrupted.
"What?" Angel looked at her confused.
Buffy pushed herself up off the bed. "You can't tell me that you haven't been wondering the same thing."
"You've obviously been wondering it." Angel gently pushed.
Oh, she so didn't want to go there. Why had she started this? Already, making with the emotions, the fears, if she just solved this then it wouldn't be a problem. She wouldn't have to have the fears and the emotions. Things could just go back to normal. This was better than it was before, but it wasn't the way that it was before. Right now, she'd give the world for her past to be her present. Then she would have dragged him out of that hellmouth kicking and screaming before he went down with it.
"Buffy, I know…" Angel began.
Buffy spun towards him, fresh tears coming down her face, an unexpected outburst unstoppable now. "What do you know, Angel? What do you know? You left me! You left me alone here! I lost so many people. I lost my home! I almost lost Spike, which, I know there's this really intense childish rivalry going on between you two always, but I swear if you roll your eyes at the mention of his name I will find a way to smack you!" Buffy looked up at the ceiling, willing herself not to see his scowl. "I didn't know what I was doing. I screwed everything up at pretty much every turn and we were in it together to help him, to help the world, and then you left me!"
A few moments passed, only hysterical sobs filling the room, sobs that she couldn't control. Suddenly, her dream made sense to her. There was a lack of choice, yes. An insecurity that had always quietly been a part of her from the beginning of this path she had been forced onto. More than that, she couldn't handle it. She couldn't handle him, losing him, her world having fallen apart again. She couldn't handle the weight of his death for a third time. Some part of her almost wanted him to be absent from her life and for everything to be the same, for her love to be that easily erased and ignored, and cut off from hurting. It wasn't working. It didn't work in dreamland. It wasn't working right now, in her actual reality.
"My God, Angel! Don't you get it! This whole thing, with you being here, this not ghost you, it has an expiration date before you move on. Before you leave me again and go wherever it is that not ghosts go!" Buffy shook her head, the tears not stopping, but her body calming as she looked him in the face. "How could you do this to me? How could you leave me? I need you, Angel. How can you leave me?"
Angel's soft eyes stayed on her. All he wanted to do was grab hold of her and hold her in his arms, and make her pain go away. He moved forward, his hand lifting slowly, aiming to touch her.
Woosh
His hand fell through her cheek.
Slowly, Angel let his hand fall to his side, the two of them staring at each other with shared sadness.
"I haven't left you again." Angel quietly corrected.
Buffy's green eyes turned baffled, unsure of what he meant. "What?"
"You said, 'how can you leave me', as if I was going to walk out that door and disappear. I haven't left you again." Angel quietly corrected once more.
Buffy's eyes filled up with tears again, a soft choke of words coming out. "But you will."
"I won't." Angel stated firmly.
"You always do." Buffy reminded him, the few tears falling down her cheeks. "You always have to."
***************************************************
Angel made his way down the stairs and into the front lobby. The conversation that he had with Buffy only hours before was still fresh in his mind. It wasn't exactly the type of reunion that he had in mind. Although, he knew that it would be emotional, he hadn't seen the outburst Buffy had coming. She wasn't the type that had too many of those. She kept herself guarded. The world had taught her that she needed to. It wasn't lost on him that he had been one of the first teachers in that lesson. Perhaps he had been right all those years ago, leaving her after her graduation, but he had known that it would leave a mark on her. He had been leaving marks on her long before that. Angelus, The First playing with his mind leading to his suicide attempt, and of course there was the simple fact that he was a vampire and all the hardships that came along with it. It was arguable which lesson in her life of loss and disappointment had been the worst, but sadly Angel knew that he was at the very least among the worst. Still, after all this, there was still love between them. There always would be no matter what was to come of it. She was still cookie dough though. He didn't know what the future held.
He did need to talk to her though. He had come to her with a different purpose in mind than just getting a full report on how she felt about having him back. He had thought about going to her now, a few hours after his prior attempt, with the hope that she was in a better frame of mind to converse with him.
He knew that she wasn't really mad at him. She was mad at the situations that kept knocking her down, forcing her to pick up the pieces, only to knock her down all over again. It thus broke his heart to have to deliver news of another person who had betrayed her. He couldn't knock her down now with this latest piece of information that he had for her, no matter how interested she would be in it. Like it or not, she cared for the bleach blonde pest. She'd care to know who had hurt him. But it'd hurt her to realize that he had been under her nose the whole time, fought by her side even after the condition that he had put Spike in.
As much of a pain as Spike was to him, he wanted to see this guy pay.
Buffy was off limits, but when he approached the front desk and saw Willow sitting with a book in front of her, he realized he could, at the very least, get the information out.
Willow jumped a little when she looked up, Angel suddenly in front of her. "Oh. It's just you." She took a breath. "I'd say you're a lot quieter now that you're dead…deader," she tilted her head to the side in question, "but you always had the ability to startle people when you walked into a room."
"I need to talk to you about something." Angel stated, getting the point.
"Okay…"Willow put her book to the side as she stood up and came around from behind the desk. "What's up?"
"It has to do with Spike." Angel replied.
"This isn't some weird jealousy thing over Buffy you have going on, is it? Because, I'm not so sure I can help you with that." Willow explained.
"No." Angel rolled his eyes. "It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with what happened to Spike." Angel leaned in, speaking in a hushed tone, as if letting her in on a great secret. "I know who did it."
"Wood." Willow responded without missing a beat.
Angel paused, somewhat disappointed to not get a gasp or any kind of reaction at all really. He had been gone a long time. It made sense that Spike would have told them by now, but still, he had remained somewhat silent over it when Wood had been with them before. Granted, he couldn't talk, but there were other ways he could have figured out how to communicate the truth to them. It seemed that whatever had been holding him back before was gone now. Had Wood died in the battle? That would explain it. So could Spike being back in his normal frame of mind. He wasn't exactly afraid of anything, no matter what was done to him it seemed.
"So, he told everyone?" Angel questioned.
"No. Just me." Willow explained further.
Now, Angel was really confused. Why would he tell Willow and not Buffy? The confusion very clear on Angel's face, Willow decided to jump in and help out with that. "He only told me recently. He's been…he's been having a hard time with what happened to him."
"And Buffy doesn't know? He only opened up to you about it?" Angel questioned.
Willow knew that wasn't actually his question. It did seem a little odd, Spike opening up to her and not the woman that he was in love with. If Angel had seen the way things had gone since they had gotten here, she was sure that it would make a lot more sense.
"Buffy has done her best with Spike. She really has, especially with everything else that she's had to deal with. But it hasn't always been easy with them." She paused.
"So that's why he confided in you?" Angel paused. He didn't know the whole story. He didn't know how bad things had been, but it was hard to believe that Spike would confide in Willow before confiding in Buffy, given how strong his feelings for her were. He had to figure that this didn't matter. It wasn't the point. The point was Wood. The point was what he had done to his grand-childe. "So, where is he?"
"Spike?" Willow asked.
"No. Wood. What happened to him?" Angel asked.
"He's still at the hospital. He almost died in the battle. You can imagine that fighting that many vampires and bringers would make his hospital stay a lot longer than your average Slayer." Willow explained.
Angel almost growled. The thought that he was still alive and nothing was being done about it! He was just going to walk free once he was released! He was not going to stand for that! Not after what he had done to Spike. No one deserved what Spike had been put through. He didn't care what his past without a soul looked like. He didn't care whose mother he had killed. It was his family, after all. He didn't have to like his family members, but if they had a soul he'd be damn sure that he was going to protect them regardless. His and Spike's messy relationship didn't come into play when it came to that.
"How much longer is he going to be in the hospital?" Angel asked, trying not to look like he was out for blood, but failing miserably.
Willow looked at him curiously; it all too clear that he was plotting in his mind. What could he really do? All Wood had to do was walk through him and he'd be safe. Right now, Willow was relieved that was true; otherwise, with the way Angel was looking, he might go against his "no killing human" rule just for this occasion. "He should be out soon, but, Angel, I don't think there' really a whole lot you can do about it."
Angel looked down at himself for a moment, remembering. Damn. She was right. He was harmless. "So what? You're just going to let him walk?"
"I can't tell Buffy." Willow began. She didn't have time to explain further, because it was just then that a voice came from the stairway.
"You can't tell Buffy what?" Buffy asked, taking a few slow steps forward, her arms folded as she joined in on their conversation.
"Oh. Hi, Buffy." Willow greeted her awkwardly.
"Hi." She greeted Willow flatly. "You can't tell me what?" She followed up.
Willow shifted uncomfortably. "Buffy, I want to tell you. I do. But I don't want to break Spike's trust."
"Spike?" Buffy raised both her eyebrows with intense surprise.
"Boy, this is really awkward." Willow muttered under her breath.
"Willow. What's going on?" Buffy's gaze was fixed on her. What could Spike have told her? He seemed okay today, but he had seemed okay in the past too, without that meaning much. What if what he had told Willow suggested otherwise?
"I don't want to break his trust. It's really important that he has people that he can trust right now." Willow pleaded. She didn't know what to do. After all, she really did want to tell Buffy what was going on. She didn't want Wood to walk free any more than Angel did. What could be done about it though? She didn't know, but if anyone would be able to come up with a suitable solution for it then it would be Buffy, right? Spike didn't see it that way. If he found that she had betrayed his trust, well, his mind was too fragile right now. She didn't want him to close in on himself when he had made so much progress lately.
"Willow, you have to tell me." Buffy interrupted her thoughts. "I have to know what's going on with him. If only to avoid the show that we got a few nights ago."
"What show?" Angel asked confused.
Buffy ignored him. "Willow, it's the right thing to do."
Willow shook her head. "It's not that black and white. I know you know that. Besides, it's not about anything that he's doing."
"Then what's it about? What would he want to keep from me again if it's not feelings?" Buffy questioned more confused than ever.
Angel stared with the same confused look on his face. It sounded like he had missed a lot. Spike seemed to have become been emotionally stunted around Buffy for whatever reason, Willow had turned into his go to person, and there had been some kind of a show that he had put on? "Do you guys mean that he put on a literal show or was it more of an outburst that he had?"
Buffy rolled her eyes. She so didn't have time to play catch up with Angel right now. Like Spike would want her to anyway. "Willow, please, just tell me."
Willow heard the desperate tone in Buffy's voice. It was wrong to tell her. She knew it was wrong to tell her. It wasn't her decision to decide if Wood got to walk or not. That was Spike's choice if he was going to allow Buffy to come up with some sort of punishment for him, but at the same time…
"I can't. I'm sorry." Willow decided. "Not without breaking his trust. Even if he is doing better. It's his right to decide who and who doesn't get to know the details of, well, any part of his unlife actually." Willow stated, standing her ground, even if it was somewhat shakily. She wanted Buffy to know, after all, there could be some kind of counsel punishment that Giles could make up, lock Wood away wherever they had planned on putting Faith. Something, anything, had to be better than nothing. It was nothing that was the only thing she really could bring to the table.
"I can tell her." Angel spoke up.
Willow shook her head. "That would be breaking-"
"No, it wouldn't." Angel cut her off, already knowing what she was doing to say. She had turned into a broken record at this point. "I had wanted to tell Buffy anyway. I already knew for myself. So, you're not giving anything away."
Willow sighed. "I get that and I'm not being unappreciative when I say this, but you know Spike doesn't want anyone else to know. "
"Well, then that's between me and Spike, isn't it? It's just one more thing to add to the long list he probably keeps, of reasons why he hates me." Angel decided.
"We know who hurt Spike." He announced to Buffy.
Buffy's eyes widened. "What? You know! How do you know? And…and how could he keep this from me!"
"Wood did it to get revenge on Spike for what he did to his mother." Angel furthered the explanation.
Buffy's eyes practically jumped out of her head. "Wood! After…after I warned him…and I fought…we fought with him! He did this to Spike and then he'd…he came to my house and he fought by our side! He was in the same house with Spike when he was recovering." Buffy put her hand on the counter, steadying herself, as nausea overcame her. "How did I not think of this?"
"Buffy there was no way you could have known. None of us knew." Willow reassured her.
"Wood. He tried to kill him once before, Willow. When Angel smelled a man down in the Initiative, I thought it could have been anyone. It couldn't have been anyone. There was hardly anyone left in Sunnydale by that point. How did I not put it together?" Buffy spoke, her mind fuzzy and only becoming fuzzier as she tried to work this out in her head more and more.
"Spike has a long list of enemies." Willow tried to reassure her once more. "Besides, Wood worked with The First. That pretty much ruled out anyone fighting alongside you."
Buffy nodded. That was true. Wood had gone after the First as eagerly as any of them, so of course she didn't put it together that it could be him that would do this. So, why did he work with The First? It didn't make sense. It wasn't going to make sense unless she talked to the people that were involved. Clearly, Spike wasn't an option. Not unless she was Willow, it seemed.
Buffy chose to place this anger back on the current vampire in front of her instead. "So, you knew it was Wood."
Angel sighed, having been waiting for this. He had known Buffy too long to think that she wouldn't demand an explanation for his silence. He also knew better than to believe that she would really accept his reasoning for it. "I figured it out when I first made contact with him. The scent matched. He knew I would be coming for him after the war. At least, I had planned to. But he knew that if I made it out of Sunnydale alive, I was coming for him next."
"Great. You threatened him. That doesn't explain why you didn't bother to tell me that one of my team members was closely associated with the exact thing we were fighting, not to mention, the small detail of what he had done to Spike!" Buffy practically shouted.
Angel took a step forward. "Be quiet. Vampire hearing is sensitive, remember?" He pointed upstairs, in the direction where Spike were currently, hopefully, sleeping.
"Fine." Buffy responded with contempt. "But you didn't answer my question."
It was more of a statement then a question, Angel's inner voice told him, but he kept that comment to himself. "We needed every person that we could get for the war. He's a good fighter. He was one of the better ones that we had until the Potentials were turned. We couldn't afford to lose him."
"Did it ever occur to you that he could have been working with The First even then? He could have done a lot more damage if it turned out that he had wanted more than just Spike." Buffy spat.
"I knew that he didn't. He was out solely for revenge on Spike. I kept an eye on Wood whenever he was around. It was fine. I had it under control." Angel explained heatedly.
"But why did you keep it from me?" Buffy threw her hands up in the air.
"The battle was coming down, fast, and you had enough on your mind already. I wouldn't burden you with more "
Buffy looked down, unable to accept this. It was just so typical Angel, trying to shield her from information she really needed to have. She should have been told. She had fought side by side with the guy who had ripped organs out of Spike. She had fought side by side with the guy who had tortured him for a month, strapped to a table, slowly turning skeletal from so little blood to eat. Just the thought of being strapped to a table for a month was torture enough, but…she couldn't think about the details. What did that say? Spike had to go through this for a month and it made her too sick just thinking about it. She had fought side by side with a man who was capable of doing acts that heinous.
"You should have told me." Buffy stated quietly before her eyes reached up, meeting Willow's. "How could Spike keep this from me?"
"He wasn't ready to tell you." Willow put it simply.
"Seriously!" Buffy felt the anger starting to rise once more. "No offense, but he could tell you? He hid this from me! I understood him not being ready to talk about it, but when he's finally ready…how could he exclude me from this? You don't keep this stuff from your friends and from the people that you lov…" Buffy's voice trailed off, all too aware that Angel was standing right there. Complicated, anyone?
Willow sighed. "It's not like that and honestly Buffy I think by now you should know that. I don't mean to blunt, but I kind of have to be at this point. Whenever Spike doesn't act the way that you think he's going to in a situation you get mad at him. You lash out at him. Be it the pills he wouldn't take or his suicide attempt, now, it's with Wood. I'm sorry, Buffy, but him keeping Wood from you probably has a little something to do with the other incidents."
"Spike tried to commit suicide?" Angel questioned, a deep hint of concern underneath what was meant to be a casual tone.
Willow and Buffy paid no mind, as Willow's words started to hit her. "You're right. God, I'm such an idiot!" Buffy looked up at the ceiling, an almost defeated tone taking over her voice. "I don't know what's with me. I have to earn the right for him to feel like he can confide in me." Buffy looked at Willow with somewhat sadness to her. "Did he say why he feels like he can't tell me?"
Willow thought back to the conversation for a moment before responding, "He doesn't think there's much that you can do about it anyway. Wood is human. There's not much more that you can dish out other than a slap on the wrist. He just doesn't want to deal with it. He was in a really deep depression when he told me this. Maybe he'll come around. I'm sure he'll start to see that you're doing better with the support."
Buffy nodded. "Yeah, so long as he doesn't hear about my little outburst right now."
Willow smiled softly. "My lips are sealed."
Ring. Ring. Ring
Buffy went around the corner picking up the phone. "Angel investigations…uh-huh. Yes. Okay. Great! I'll be by shortly." Buffy hung up on the phone.
"Who was that?" Willow inquired.
"The hospital. It seems that our final patient there is about to check out." Buffy stated.
"Wood is being released?" Willow looked surprised, talk about convenient timing.
Buffy only nodded, a small smirk on her face as the wheels in her mind began to turn. "Please, let me handle this?"
***************************************************
Wood stood in the lobby of the hospital. He was surprised to hear that Buffy was coming to meet him on his way out. Hadn't the vampire spoken up yet? Maybe, he had gotten really lucky, and Spike's injuries had been too serious and he hadn't been able to survive after all. He was still in pretty bad condition when the war had taken place.
Buffy walked through the doors. She was smiling, looking like the peppy woman that he remembered. It hadn't been easy, lying to her for the time that he had to. He liked her. If she didn't know the truth, he couldn't tell her, and he'd have to keep this charade up. In a way, it would be ideal, if Spike was dust and they could just move on. It was a secret that would hurt her less if she didn't have to find out. She was the type of person that he could imagine having as his friend for life, if only Spike was out of the mix.
"You look much better." Buffy smiled. "I'm sorry that I never got the chance to visit you. Things have been crazy at the hotel. There's always another big bad right around the corner and we seemed to have come to a city that has its own big bad operation."
"I'm looking forward to that." Wood responded sarcastically. "How is everyone?"
"They're good." Buffy smiled. "Xander is doing better. He's still one with the crutches, but he's moving around a lot better. Giles is in England with the potentials. Willow and Dawn and everyone are adjusting though. Of course, then there's Spike." Buffy's smile tightened. "He's back to his old self."
Wood felt a chill go down his spine as he heard Buffy say that name. It wasn't just that she said his name; it was how she said it, the tone, that smile. Of course, it was even the fact that she would bring him up.
She knew.
She had to know.
His body stiffened. "That's good. I'm glad everyone is adjusting. I can't wait to get back into the mix."
Buffy felt the tension pass between them, but she didn't mind. She wanted it there. She wanted him to know that she had put it there. "Great. We're looking forward to having you back. You should come over right now. I'll make some tea. We can talk."
"Sounds great." Wood replied easily.
***************************************************
Angel found that he was bracing himself before walking into Spike's bedroom. He had heard things about Spike that worried him to no end and he couldn't get it out of his mind. Suicide. Depression. Vulnerability. These weren't words he usually associated Spike with. Boisterous. Obnoxious. Rowdy. These were the words, lively words, that brought Spike to mind. What Spike had gone through hadn't been that long ago, He could see Spike lying in his arms, clear as night, disoriented and confused. They had seen a side of each other that rarely had surfaced before. An intense unveiled sensitivity. He had saved him from unimaginable amounts of torture, felt over it. So maybe it was the memory and realization, a true understanding of the depth of family he had felt, that gave him this strong urge to seek Spike out now. Or maybe it was just that Buffy was the one out to deal with Wood, and he couldn't do anything for his grand-childe in that regard.
Slowly, walking through the door, he saw Spike immediately look up from the book he was reading.
Spike raised an eyebrow. "Got turned around?"
"No, I was looking for you." Angel admitted.
Spike's eyebrows went up, his curiosity only strengthening. "Yeah?" A slow smirk formed at the corner of his mouth. "Oh. I get it. This 'bout Buffy, is it? Been away all this time. I'm the only vampire with a soul in her life, and you're starting to notice it."
"I didn't come here to start something over Buffy." Angel tried to steer clear of the prickly subject that got under both of their skins.
Spike's gaze spoke of disbelief but he didn't voice it. "You're bored then. Ghost got you down? Can't fight, can't shag, can't be taken seriously. I mean, who would bother taking orders from a Casper?"
His gloating was obvious. Angel huffed, the urge to smack Spike over the head coming over him again. He would if he could. "God, you are just as annoying as you used to be. How you've gotten all these people to bother helping you out is beyond me."
"I'm quite charming." Spike responded. "Good looking. Smart."
Angel laughed. "You are a lot of things. Charming… Charming isn't one of them."
"I'm three dimensional." Spike responded eagerly, not missing a beat. He hit himself in the center of his chest. "Real. Right here. You know, I'm actually useful."
"I saved the world, you know." Angel retorted.
"You wore a necklace." Spike snorted. "It did the job. You are not much of a world saver. Never have been."
"I helped kill the mayor and, uh, and Jasmine and—"
"Do those really count as savin' the world?"
"I stopped Acathla. That saved the world."
"Buffy ran you through with a sword." Spike corrected him.
"Yeah, but I made her do it. I signaled her with my eyes."
Spike was practically bouncing now. "She killed you. I helped her!" He pointed an eager finger at Angel. "That one counts as mine."
***************************************************
The silence of the Hyperion filled Wood's ears as he entered, the hotel that belonged to the other vampire with a soul. The quiet let him know that if anyone was around they weren't close by. For a Slayer, Buffy sure seemed to make friends with a lot of the undead. He truly hoped that he was correctly informed that this particular one was dust.
Buffy turned back and explained to him that the others were out searching for an old foe of Angel's, who had some new scheme going, so that he unfortunately couldn't meet up with them right now. She filled him in, very carefully, on the chitchat of how each and every one of them were doing. She served tea and cookies, and skirted around the elephant in the room as deftly as she could, buying time, afraid that Wood would want to leave too early if things got too hot here.
Then finally, she was running out of other topics to cover, and other people to get him updated on, and decided to skip to the chase. "And then there is Spike. He survived, and is recovering nicely." Her cold, challenging voice left no doubt that she knew everything, Their eyes found each other in a deep staring match, that she was the first to break.
"How could you do that? Day after day! How could you go in there and hack apart a man?"
"He isn't a man, Buffy! That's what you're not seeing. There's nothing human about him!" Wood insisted.
Buffy shook her head. "There's no point in explaining this to you, is there? I tried that already. I tried that the first time you pulled something like this. Spike aside, the type of person he is and isn't, he was a warrior in that war. We needed him!"
"Did we? We seemed to do just fine without him." Wood pointed out.
"That's because we got lucky at the last minute and had a hand from Angel. Besides, you had no way of knowing whether things would or wouldn't be okay, so the outcome is entirely besides the point. You risked the fate of the world for your own vendetta!" Buffy glared at him, sickened to look him in the face. Any kind of sympathy she once had for him and his position was gone, after what she had seen when walking down in that initiative lab, after nursing Spike back to health with the condition he had been in.
"I didn't realize the whole world rested on one vampire's back." Wood spat.
"We needed all the power we could get at that point and you know it." Buffy retorted.
"I did what you couldn't do. You couldn't see it. You still can't. You have too big of a bias." Wood explained.
Buffy gave him a glare that shot daggers. "What I can't see is how you could not only put him through what you put him through, but then could come to all the meetings that we held, how you could face me after pulling this through, and not feel anything over that."
Wood sighed. "It's not like it was easy for me to do that, Buffy. I didn't like lying to you. I don't have anything against you. In fact, I like you a lot. I respect what you do, but-"
Buffy's fist clenched, it took all of her might to control herself. The force of self-control certainly showed in her voice. "No! Don't you dare sit there and claim to respect me when you were doing something so vile behind my back! He felt everything that you did! He felt all the torture you put him through, breaking his bones, flaying him, cutting his lungs out." She took a deep breath, and tried to fight down the gag reflex and find her voice again. "And you were even torturing him afterwards, when he was rescued. Do you have any idea how much it hurts to regrow organs? I can't say for sure, but from what I was seeing, it didn't look like he was having a picnic! But, I'm sure that just gets you off, doesn't it?"
Wood glared at her now, his own temper starting to surface. "You know full well this wasn't about my pleasure, or, getting off!"
"No, you didn't enjoy it then? You had him down there for an awfully long time, keeping him under your thumb. Hell, you betrayed me to the point where you were working with The First, but then, I'm sure that was out of respect for me too!"
Wood shook his head, having no argument against that last part. He had worked with The First. He had gone behind her back there and this time it had nothing to do with the fact that she was blind. It was just the only way that he could get to Spike. He couldn't make her understand. Perhaps he had risked the world for his own vendetta after all. But would he go back and do it differently? Yes, but only in the sense that he would have killed Spike a little sooner. Not given in to that little soft spot inside that told him not to do it. No one would be the wiser of this and he would have fully gotten his revenge, no loose ends he'd have to take care of now. It was going to be a lot harder with Buffy watching him closely. "I'm sorry. I never wanted to work with The First. Believe me, it was only for Spike. I wasn't on its' side."
"But you were. Don't you see that? It clearly wanted something from you, though what that was exactly I don't know. Maybe just to get Spike out of the game. But, you helped it. You were working with The First through and through. You're as much a monster as you think Spike is." Buffy folded her arms.
Wood swallowed, keeping his temper in check. "What, when a vampire kills someone you care about-"
Buffy held up her hand cutting him off once more. "I've had people I care about die before. I've had friends have people they care about be killed before. This isn't how they deal. If they do go too far, they come back down to earth and they make it right. Guess what, sometimes those that do these crimes don't have souls themselves and still this isn't how we deal. We don't seek revenge. We seek justice. What you did, going after a man that doesn't exist anymore, and then taking him apart that way…" Buffy closed her eyes for a moment, reminding her stomach that it needed to stay down in the face of all of this. "…that was not justice. I think your mother would be ashamed."
Wood eyes poured into her, anger taking over. "Don't talk about my mother like you know her."
"You once said I reminded you of her. If that's true, if she's anything like me, she knew where to draw the line." Buffy answered hotly. "What you did breaches that line."
Wood's angry gaze remained fixed on her, when he spoke, he did so through his teeth. How he kept his temper as calm as he did, though he was practically shaking, he'd never know. "There are no lines with monsters. They're evil, and deserves only evilness in return."
Clearly at an impasse, he got up, and gave her a stiff nod. "I'll show myself out then."
"That'd be best." Buffy nodded.
Wood made his way towards the door before turning around. They may be on irreparably bad terms now, but still, he respected her. "For what it's worth. I am sorry. For going behind your back. We'll never see eye to eye on Spike, but for betraying your trust, I'm sorry."
Buffy didn't look his way. She didn't acknowledge that he spoke.
Wood watched her for a few more seconds and then made his way out.
Off in the shadows, Spike stood. It was right around the time that he always grabbed some blood out of the kitchen. This was when he had caught the tail end of Buffy's conversation with Wood. He felt his anger growing more and more inside of him as they spoke. She was upset, of course she was, there was no question of that. But the way she had just let him go, it was exactly what he had expected. It was exactly why he had never bothered to tell her, though how she had found out in the first place he didn't know. His mind jumped to Willow, it was the only explanation. She was the only one that he had told, in secret no less. He couldn't think about that right now. His eyes starting turn a golden shade; he knew what needed to be done. Buffy might have been willing to let Wood go, but he was not.
Spike eyed the darkened street before him, his eyes never leaving the back of The Principal's head. He kept himself quiet as he followed along, lurking in the shadows, and from the way Wood walked, carelessly engrossed in his own thoughts, it seemed to Spike that he didn't know he was being followed. Good. He didn't want anything to tip him off. He just needed to put enough distance between them and the hotel that no one he knew might see this. He wasn't interested in playing the same torture games that Wood had indulged in. This was his game now. By his rules. He smiled, a broad predatory smirk.
Wood felt a presence coming up behind him, and then strong arms grabbed him from behind. He didn't need to turn around to know who it was. Spike. He froze solid in fear, and cursed himself for being so preoccupied that he hadn't paid attention to what was happening around him.
Wood banged his head back to knock off his attacker, and made use of the split second that bough him to turn around and face the enemy. "You. You're back! Have you come to kill me?"
"Well, yeah, as promised." the bloodsucker in front of him answered matter-of-factly, though making no further move to do so just then. He merely stared at him, in the way Wood imagined a cat staring at a particularly juicy mouse.
Wood quickly reached into his jacket, pulling a stake out. Spike reacted just as fast, taking him by the arm and swinging him on the ground. Wood immediately jumped up, going to throw a punch in Spike's face, but Spike had his eyes already on it, ducking out of the way just in time. A moment later, he slammed his own fist forward, driving Wood back a few steps. "Now this! This is what a fair fight looks like. See, you even get to keep your weapon. Watch and learn."
Wood jumped forward, kicking Spike back towards a nearby building. "You want to talk about a fair fight? How about we talk about me hiding off while you were fighting my mother in the pouring rain?"
Spike and Wood exchanged blows, ducking each other for a couple of hits, before Spike slammed one into Wood's stomach, doubling him over. "I weren't interested in you that night."
"You would have eaten me if you had been given the chance." Wood stood up, angrily.
"Well, yeah, not arguing with that." Spike retorted. "Though it was mostly Dru who had a taste for children. Most likely, I'd give you to her instead."
Wood jumped in the air, kicking Spike in the face, knocking him to the ground. "Spoken like a true vampire, through and through, the soul doesn't matter."
Spike stood up, wiping the blood from his face. "Well, that was then" he corrected him. "I don't kill innocent people anymore. I don't go huntin' for snacks in the middle of the night. If I have a problem with an enemy, someone I have to take out, I make sure they're conscious when I do it. And I don't play everlasting games with 'em later."
More hits and kicks and punches. Wood reached down for the stake that had rolled away in the heat of it. "You're awake now. So, there's nothing unfair about what's to go." Wood charged Spike in that moment, the pointed edge of the stake headed right for his heart.
Spike moved to the side in that moment, sticking his foot out, watching as Wood slammed into it, and sent him falling to the ground. Spike stomped on Wood's hand that held the stake, putting all his weight into it, and heard the bone break beneath his shoe, Wood yelling out. "I really didn't want to do the torture, but, have to be honest, not goin' to lose sleep over causin' you a lil pain either."
Wood gazed up at him, trying to reach for the stake with his good hand once again.
Spike quickly kicked it away. "Let's not be hasty. Want to chat awhile. Tell me. What was your master plan?" Spike smirked. "How were you goin' to get me this time?"
"I wasn't going to do anything to you before you attacked me." Wood looked up at him. "I just wanted to go find a hotel and go to bed. That's it."
"Believe me, you'll be sleepin' soon enough." Spike grabbed Wood by his jacket, slamming him up against the nearest building.
Wood struggled against him, finding that it was no use, remembering how he hardly stood his own once Spike had been in his right mind during their first fight. It was how he knew he couldn't take him on his own, not a vampire that age. It was the only reason why he had agreed to The First's help. "Look, Spike, I know you have no reason to believe me, but I'm through. What I did to you, I lost touch with humanity, but we're even. We're more than even!"
"For your mother's life. I don't think so. This is comin' from a bloke who love his mother more than anythin'. Nothin' is even when it comes to that." Spike paused. "And even if you really were through and even, I'm not." he continued, with a malicious grin. "You could never win against me. Had to be bleedin' tranquilized. Could have respected you a lil bit if you had at least defeated me on your own. Coward, that's all you are."
"I was being resourceful." Wood glared.
Spike laughed. "With the ultimate evil? Don't think so. You're not a warrior. You're not fit to be on Buffy's team. You're pathetic. I may be a monster. You're probably right 'bout that, but I do the job on my own." Spike shifted features. "Now, I'm goin' to do that job on you."
"Spike! Wait" Wood saw the monster in front of him tilt his head, and let his amber eyes peruse him, now all the more like a very interesting mouse to eat. "Buffy! She'd be very mad at you if finding out that you were killing humans again."
"Sure." Spike admitted. "But you're not "humans" are you? You're one little creep, who deserves to become dinner." He licked his fangs visibly. "And besides, we're a good many yards from the hotel now, and she made it pretty clear that she was not gonna miss you when you left. So, I'm thinking the odds that she'll find out is pretty slim." With that, he grabbed Wood into a death lock, and sank his fangs deep into his neck.
The feeling of finally getting to drink that blood was indescribable. It poured through his mouth as rich and full and tasty as he had ever imagined it. All those moments down in the labs, where fantasies of this was all that had kept him up and given him the strength to go on… now the moment had finally come, and he was devouring it with his whole self. Holding this worthless little human in a lethal embrace, and feeling the power surge, as the life force left his enemy, and filled him instead.
He threw Wood's drained corpse to the ground, and jumped back in shock. There Buffy stood, taking in the scene before her, with an expression that was hard to read. Spike felt himself panic. She wasn't meant to see this. In fact, he hadn't thought much about Buffy up until this moment. What had he planned on telling her? Despites what he cockily had told Wood, he couldn't have kept something like this from her. It was one thing to hear about it, but it was another to see it with her own eyes. Wood was human. Spike knew that. He had a soul, in her eyes these weren't the actions that he should have resorted to, no matter what had happened to him.
"He was goin' to kill me." Spike felt himself hastily explaining his side to her before she could speak. "If I hadn't done this…he would have…he wasn't goin' to stop, Buffy. I wasn't goin' to be his bleedin' victim again! I wasn't goin' to be strapped down while he did whatever first came to mind. You weren't there! You might have seen what it looked like after, but you didn't experience it! He needed to be stopped. It was my life or his. I chose mine."
Buffy took a step towards him and looked him straight in the eyes. "I know." She said. "You're right."
Spike eyed her in shock. Had she just said what he thought she said? "I am?"
She nodded, and gave him a very warm smile, before she sent a cold look towards the corpse at their feet. "You know what I said to him, when we talked back in his garage in Sunnydale, after you had left?" Spike shook his head, and stared at her in wonder. "I said that if he ever tried something like that again, you would kill him. And more importantly, I would let you."
Buffy's eyes softened as she looked his way. "I can't lose you." She stepped forward. There was enough loss. There were too many people that she needed who weren't here anymore. She loved him. She had told him so. She wasn't going to let anyone take him from her. He was safe. He was safe for good now and that's what mattered.
Spike looked down, how could she feel that way? He had blood in his mouth, Wood's blood, human blood. His mind couldn't wrap itself around how she was down with that. She couldn't be. Not really.
As if reading his mind, Buffy tilted his chin up with her hand, coming closer to him. She stared into his stormy blue eyes for a moment before leaning into him, gently placing a kiss on his lips. Within seconds, he returned it, the kiss going from gentle and smooth to powerful and deep. And lasting for a long time.