Demon's Breakthrough
Disclaimer: I own Mike but the rest of them I just wish I owned.
Summary: Realization and comfort.
Reviews: Yes please. Readers Rock but Reviewers RULE!
A/N: WayWard Childe! Dude! I miss you more than you know. I dedicate this chapter for you because it fulfills one of your wishes for this story. Hope it doesn't suck too much.
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In the basement…
Xander and Joyce watched Drusilla carefully, wondering why the vampire was gazing up at the ceiling while her Childe trembled in the corner. His chains were clanking softly with his tremors. Xander thought over the outpouring of words that Spike had released. 'Punisher.' There were men whose job was to punish demons? Xander shivered slightly at the thought. He hated vampires and demons just plain terrified him but he couldn't see himself purposely inflicting pain on one just because someone told him to. 'Slay 'em and forget 'em' that was Xander's personal motto concerning demons. He distractedly continued to run a hand soothingly down Joyce's back while she soaked his shoulder with her tears.
"Shhhh, Shhhh." Xander murmured. "It'll be all right."
Joyce pulled back and wiped some of the tears from her face. "How? How can we fix this? Oh God, Xander, what they did to him…"
He considered that for a second. 'What they did to him.' Not what Xander had done. He wasn't a 'Punisher'. He gazed thoughtfully at the terrified vampire. Maybe there was something he could do. Drusilla chose that moment to turn around and look at the humans. Her icy blue gaze caught Xander's whiskey-hued one and she nodded. Putting his mouth close to Joyce's ear, he whispered his plan. She jerked her head back far enough to lock her wet, startled hazel eyes on his.
"What if he…." Xander was shaking his head before she could finish forming the question.
"He can't hurt me. Look at him." Xander nodded toward Spike, shivering in his corner. "We can't leave him there thinking I'm here to punish him. It has to be me. As long as he associates me with that place, he won't feel safe." Xander gulped at the implications of that statement. 'God, he must have been so fucking terrified every time I came down here. No wonder he was in tears with relief that one time.' He thought to himself. He gently pushed Joyce away from the comfort of his arms and turned resolutely to face the vampires.
Drusilla smiled serenely when her Kitten squared his shoulders and stepped toward the cot. "Yes." She murmured, pleased. She looked behind the carpenter and smiled at Joyce. "Mum, would you please go prepare some blood for my William?" The Slayer's mother nodded shakily and fled up the stairs. Dru looked at Xander again as he slowly approached Spike.
It felt to Xander as if the short trip across the basement floor had taken an hour when in fact it had only been a few seconds. He stopped directly in front of Spike's bare feet. He gulped and glanced back at Drusilla again. At her encouraging nod, he crouched down until he was at eye level with the frightened vampire or would have been if Spike's face hadn't been buried in his knees.
Xander took another deep breath. "Spike." He spoke sternly and winced when the emaciated figure in front of him started. "Spike, look at me." He commanded.
Slowly the two-toned head rose until wide blue eyes peeked over the threadbare black denim. Xander kept his face as calm as he could while he let his eyes hold that blue gaze. Belatedly remembering his training, Spike let his eyes drop. He jerked when Xander spoke again.
"I said look at me."
Spike's tremors grew in intensity as he tried to keep his gaze on the man in front of him. The longer he looked directly at the human, the worse the punishment. He knew this, it had been beaten into him. Terror flooded him as Xander held his gaze.
"I'm not going to hurt you." The calm voice did little to ease the vampire's fear. He'd been told that before. It had always been a lie. That was one thing he'd learned very well, humans lie. He waited. Xander stretched out his right hand and put his fingers lightly on Spike's bare foot. It quivered under the touch but he didn't withdraw it, to do so was guaranteed to bring ever worsening punishment. "Spike, smell me. I'm not a punisher."
"Punisher hurts, breaks, starves, hurthurthurt. Sorry, sorry, won't do it, won't talk, won't think, please, no more." The quiet pleading made tears prickle at the back of Xander's eyes. He moved his hand up from the slender bare foot and put in directly on Spike's knee.
"Spike." This time the name came out more commandingly. "Smell me. I am not one of them."
This time a frown creased Spike's human features. 'Smell him?' He thought. He took a cautious sniff. He hated the scent of those people nearly as much as the odor of the not right blood they fed him. Confusion rapidly began replacing the fear in his tormented mind.
"That's right. Take a good whiff. I'm not one of them. You don't have to be afraid. You're safe here. No one knows where you are." Xander held very still while he watched the terror fade from those huge blue eyes.
'Familiar. Not one of them. Not punisher.' He looked at the hand on his knee and then back up to the calm face before him. "Not Punisher." The two words whispered out involuntarily.
"No, Spike. Not Punisher." Xander confirmed with a small smile.
The vampire took another curious sniff. He frowned, trying to place the human's scent. He felt he should know but trying to remember was making his head ache. "Safe?" His trembling began to ease as understanding started to filter through his mind. "Home?" He looked around the basement for the safe female. His frown deepened when he failed to see her.
Upstairs….
Michael grinned widely when he heard Xander get through to Spike. "He's got it." He crowed gleefully. "He understands. Hot damn!"
Buffy glared at the soldier and stalked into the kitchen to check on her mother. She'd heard the older woman come up the stairs and had only stayed long enough to make sure Xander would not be in danger left alone in the basement with both insane vampires.
Giles was surprised by the level of elation that he felt as he listened to Spike finally understand that he was safe. He looked over at the triumphant face of Drusilla's new companion. He wondered why this human cared so much about this particular vampire.
"Why do you care?" The Watcher asked out loud.
Mike glanced over at the older man and stood up. He began pacing back and forth in the small room. "Why do I care?" He mused to himself quietly. He went to run his fingers through his hair, dislodged the camouflage cap he'd forgotten he was wearing and caught it before it got past his shoulders. Giles gaped at the speed of his reaction. It was nearly vampiric in nature.
Mike turned to pace back the other way and caught a glimpse of the expression on Giles's face. He tilted his head. "What's wrong?"
Giles smiled ruefully. "My job is to figure things out and make the Slayer's job easier. I can't figure you out." He admitted.
The soldier stopped and thought about that for a moment. "I'm not special." He remarked. "I don't know why Miss Drusilla wanted to 'keep me'." He smiled and spread his arms invitingly. "I'm an open book. Ask me anything."
Rupert sat up straighter as questions began churning in the inner working of his intellect. "You said you graduated two years early. That would make you what? 22?" He began.
Mike admitted. "I'm 20." He blushed at the open mouthed amazement at his confession. He felt compelled to explain. "I skipped grades in high school and graduated at sixteen. I got into accelerated classes in college and got a four year degree in two years. I was eighteen when I joined the Army."
"Incredible." Giles muttered.
Mike chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the side of his nose with a forefinger. "I'm kinda smart."
In the kitchen…
Joyce took a few minutes to compose herself before she made her way over to the refrigerator. Mechanically removing several bags of blood, she carried the cold plastic over to the microwave. She wiped tears from her face as her eldest daughter stalked into the room.
"Mom? Are you all right?" Buffy asked, fingering a stake idly.
"Put that thing away. I'm fine." Joyce's voice was steady despite her prior upset. "You are not killing anyone or anything in this house."
Buffy blinked at the order but stuck the stake back into her pocket. "I was listening. Why does Spike feel safe with you?" The slayer asked suspiciously.
Joyce took a deep breath as the microwave beeped. "He used to come over to visit before the last time he left to find Drusilla." She began stacking the warmed blood on a tray. She reached into a drawer for her small safety scissors and then pulled a plastic mug from the cupboard to add to the set up.
"He did what?" The question came out amazingly controlled considering the rage that coursed through the petite blonde.
The older woman crossed her arms across her chest and faced her daughter. "You heard me. Spike is my friend. He used to come over for tea or hot chocolate and we'd talk. I like him."
Buffy gaped at her mother. "He used to come over for tea?"
Joyce nodded as she picked up the tray. "I don't see why you and Mr. Giles have such a problem with that. William is a very nice, very intelligent young man."
"Giles knows?" Buffy's voice rose. "Mom, he is not a nice young man. He's a vampire."
"Well, he's also my friend. So get over it." Joyce swept through the basement door, leaving her Slayer daughter doing her best fish impersonation.
In the basement….
Spike looked up as footsteps made their way determinedly down the stairs. Xander watched carefully as recognition bloomed in the dark blue eyes. The human glanced over his shoulder to watch Joyce as she walked steadily over to the cot. A sharp inhalation brought Xander's head back around to see what was wrong.
Spike watched the safe female carry a tray of not wrong blood across the room. He gasped as he remembered who she was. 'Joyce.' The name flew out of the recesses of his memory and flooded his body with relief. He was safe. He was in Joyce's house. This was where he'd longed to be for so many long months. "Home." He whispered.
Joyce heard the word clearly as she carefully placed the tray on the chair. She smiled mistily at the thin vampire. "Yes, Spike. You're home."
Xander heard the gulping sob as it broke from Spike's throat. "Hey, now. No need for that." He chided gently. He straightened and held his hand out. "Come on. That corner can't be comfortable."
Spike gazed warily at the outstretched hand. "Like it here." He muttered, folding his arms tighter around his legs. He huddled back a little closer to the cement wall.
Xander glared at the stubborn vampire. "Out of the corner, Spike." He ordered. He jumped, startled when golden eyes blinked up at him. A hiss sounded from behind the worn denim.
"Like it here." The blond reiterated sullenly through his fangs. "Safe." He returned to his human features, much to Xander's relief.
Drusilla decided she's been the spectator long enough. "William." She said gently. "You need to feed. Do you want to do it from there?" She drifted closer to where Xander was still standing in front of her reluctant Childe. The human shifted way from her skittishly, moving back toward the stairs with an idea of swift escape.
Spike peeked up at her. "Like it here." He repeated, a little less sullen but still resolute.
She studied him for a few more seconds before she nodded. "Very well, Luv." She glanced at Joyce, who picked up the hint and repositioned the tray so it sat at the end of the cot within easy reach of Spike.
"There you go." She murmured. "Eat all you want. There's plenty more."
Spike gazed up at her with huge solemn eyes. "Joyce." He whispered; the word hoarse with the memory of months of anguish.
Tears welled in her hazel eyes. "Yes, Will. I'm here." She slipped past Dru and crouched in front of her friend.
A crystalline tear threatened to fall from tormented sapphire eyes. Joyce hesitantly reached over and threaded gentle fingers into tangled two-toned curls. "I'm here." She repeated tenderly.
He broke at her touch.
Joyce landed hard on her knees as his bony shoulders began to shake with the force of his sobs. Her arms wrapped around him lovingly as she pulled him closer to her. She shifted into a sitting position so she could tuck his face onto her shoulder. He released his legs and let them fall as he let her tug him into place. He twined his arms around his own waist and leaned against her while she crooned soothingly. Tears of her own rolled down her face as she held him close and ran her slender fingers through his hair.
Dru looped an arm through Xander's, causing him to jump. "Come with me, Kitten. He wouldn't want to know you to saw this." She whispered.
Xander dragged his stunned gaze from the couple on the floor and let the vampire pull him up the stairs.
Upstairs….
Mike stopped and stared at the monitor as he heard the exchange between Joyce and Spike. He extended an elegant hand and switched the device off just as the vampire's hoarse sobs began to echo in the suddenly silent living room.
Buffy had returned to the small room to question her Watcher about her mother's shocking revelation. She frowned at Mike's action. "Why did you do that?"
The soldier turned astonished blue-gray eyes toward the Slayer. "He deserves a little privacy, don't you think?"
She shook her head. "He deserves staking." She stated viciously then turned back to Giles. "You knew he visited her and you didn't tell me." She accused.
"I found out just the other day." He defended himself. "I'm appalled. I fail to understand how a woman as intelligent as your mother could so foolish."
Mike stared at the two of them. "After everything I've told you and everything you've heard here tonight, you still don't get it." He shook his head despairingly. He strode over and sat down on the coffee table facing the two on the sofa. He twisted his fingers together and stared at the floor for a few long seconds. "I get that you kill demons." He snorted. "Professor Walsh thinks that the Slayer is a myth. I heard some of the creatures they were holding talking about you and they were scared. Almost more scared of you than they were of us but that changed really fast when they got a good taste of her particular brand of hospitality." He chuckled dryly. "Not Spike though. Lord have mercy, the rants he'd go into when someone mentioned the slayer. But then he'd get really quiet like he was missing someone." He sighed heavily. "Sometimes after a 'training session' he'd be in his cell recovering from the drugs, experiments and torture, he'd talk in his sleep. I think I'm the only one who ever heard him, at least I hope so. Everyone else tended to ignore the captives. He wanted so badly to be out of there and safe. To Spike, safe meant here, safe meant home and home meant Joyce. I didn't know who Joyce was until tonight. He's not an ordinary demon. He's more human than most of the humans I've worked with the past ten months. You heard what they did to him. It turns my stomach to think of it. They have to be stopped."
"All I heard was a bunch of words that could mean anything. I don't get it. You've seen the kinds of monsters out there. They're a threat to humans. An organization that gets these things off the streets is all of the good to me." Buffy stated stubbornly.
Mike growled in frustration and shoved his fingers through his hair roughly. "Try to get this through your bleached brain. Not all demons are bad just like not all humans are good. How many times have you watched the news about supposedly ensouled humans committing the worst atrocities imaginable? Hitler was human and had a soul. You did study the Holocaust, right? So many of them." He shook his head sadly as he wrapped his fingers around the edge of the table he sat on. "Did you know that the origins of the Initiative go back as far as the Nazis? As far as I'm concerned the people running the current version are far worse than that. Back then, it was all about vampires. What if they decide that certain humans are a threat? What if they find out that witches are real? Witches are human, aren't they? Do they deserve to be drugged and tortured?"
"No." Xander yelped as he and Drusilla entered the room. He'd heard Mike's last three questions. "Buffy, listen to him. Giles was right. What if they decide to do that to you or Willow? Where would it stop?"
"What they are doing is wrong." Drusilla floated in after Xander. She smiled at Michael. "Have they been nice to you, my Pretty?" She cooed. "My thrall wore off. You are a strong one. So much like my William."
"I've been getting that a lot tonight." The soldier observed wryly. He smiled up the lovely vampire who'd turned his life upside down.
Dru beamed at him. "As you should. You share his spark." She closed her eyes and swayed slightly.
"Share his spark?" Mike asked with a slight frown. "I don't understand."
"Burning baby fishes, swimming round and round. They don't see, don't understand. So smart, beautiful flame. My William was brilliant, my dark knight." She opened her eyes and looked deep into Mike's smoky depths. "I will not make the same mistake with you. I see your spark and it's wonderful. I will not extinguish it."
The puzzled soldier nodded hesitantly. "Okay. Um, thank you, I guess." He glanced around at the others. "Anybody know what she's talking about?" Blank stares met his query. "Uh-huh." He grimaced as he brought his gaze back to Drusilla. "What do we do now?"
"It is time to rest. William is in good hands. Mum will help begin his healing." Dru smiled as she ran her hand down Mike's arm.
Buffy blinked and looked around; just then realizing her mother was still in the basement with Spike. "What do you mean by that?" She pulled out her stake. "Did you leave Mom down there for him to kill?"
A trill of laughter spilled from Dru's ruby lips. "No, silly Slayer. Spike would never hurt her. She is home." She pinned Giles with her knowing gaze. "You will take us back to your house." She commanded.
Downstairs….
Joyce rocked Spike gently as he shook in her arms. She carded the fingers of one hand through his hair over and over as she held him tightly with her other arm. Nearly ten minutes later, his shudders eased and he tried to pull away. She tightened her grip. "No. Stay right where you are. I need to hold you a little longer." She blinked when that last slipped out. She hadn't meant to say it out loud. She felt him nod under her fingertips. They sat quietly for several more minutes.
"Are you hungry?" She asked softly, not wanting to speak too loudly. He shook his head against her shoulder. He was, it seemed as if he was always hungry, but just didn't want to move. "Okay." She said. She rested her cheek on his tousled head as she let her hand slip through his hair to rest on the side of his neck. She could feel the tremors that continued to course intermittently through his too-thin body. "I'm so sorry." Joyce murmured sadly into his curls.
"Not your fault." His unneeded breath hitched as he relaxed further into her embrace.
She shivered on the cold floor. "I know you like your corner but can we move to the cot?" He nodded and shifted away to allow her to get up. She moved the tray back to the chair and pushed the pillow against the wall, using it to cushion her back. As soon as she got settled, she held her arms out in invitation. He barely hesitated before resuming his prior position. They sat that way for long minutes before he began to feel the effects of his emotional storm. She felt rather than saw him yawn against her neck. His drooping eyelashes tickled her skin.
"Are you sleepy, Honey?" She kept her voice quiet and gentle.
"Yeah." The weary word was halfway between a whisper and a sigh.
She smiled softly, then pressed a light kiss on the top of his head. "Then go to sleep. I've got you. You're safe."
TBC