MY MUSE IS ALIIIIIIIIIVE! And I'm updating soooo quickly!
Anyway, thankyou to all you guys who said that last chapter could have been crappier, I wuv you. Ah, good mood today, doesn't it show!
flyerfan3588: I'm glad you didn't think it was crap! Thanks!
MrsBrood: I put you in detention? Sorry!!!!!!! I couldn't really fit droolage in this chapter… but I will make next one extra drooly just for you. Thankyou!
rocks and glass: well I hope this chapter convinces you to keep reading… thanks for the review!
redrider6612: haha good point, and thanks for the sympathy :). I made this one loooonger.
uskohakuchan: glad you liked it – and thankyou.
This chapter is much, much better than last chapter (I bloody well hope) and longer too. Yay. By the way, I couldn't resist stealing that line Spike says in 'Pangs'. It's just so weird and wonderful.
Enjoy!
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It was Saturday morning, and the Scoobies had gathered once again. For once, they were discussing not battle plans, but wedding plans. Xander was absent, as were Angel and Doyle, and Oz had left early for band practice, meaning that Giles had gone to make a pot of tea quite a while ago, and not returned. As the conversation had now turned to the clothes that would be needed at the wedding, the Scooby girls doubted he'd be returning anytime soon.
"I'm still deciding on bridesmaid dresses," said Cordy, who was flicking through an enormous planner on her lap. There was a heap of bridal magazines at her feet, which Buffy was planning to steal as soon as no one was looking. "I can't decide between fuchsia or rose… Buffy, what do you think?" All eyes turned to Buffy, who was jerked out of a wedding daydream.
"Wha-? Oh, rose. Definitely go with the rose." She sat down suddenly, starting to worry about her own wedding. She had bridesmaid dresses to worry about too, and there were so many colours to choose from. Just looking at the colour pallet on the table, there were probably about 50 varieties of light blue, from 'ice blue' to 'sky blue'. She was dragged out of her stupor by a knock on the door.
Xander swaggered in, looking a little dishevelled but with an enormous grin on his face. He sat down on the sofa, the grin not sliding off at all as it previously had every time he saw Cordy. If Buffy hadn't been so wrapped up in wedding fantasies, she would have been able to tell that he had not spent the previous night alone.
"Hi," said Cordy, eyeing him suspiciously for a moment before continuing her bridesmaid rant. "So I need another bridesmaid. I have you, I have Willow… I tried contacting Harmony, but she's never home. I don't know how to get hold of her."
"She's a vampire," piped up Willow, "she's dating Spike now. Isn't that right, Buffy?" Buffy nodded vaguely, not listening at all. Cordy shrugged.
"My wedding's going to be indoors anyway. Doyle has hay fever." Cordy sighed, considering. "I'll give her a call," she said with an air of finality, "being dead is no reason to be rude." Willow looked a little worried at this, and looked sideways at Xander, who was still grinning like a lunatic, but whose mind was clearly elsewhere. Willow was starting to feel a little like the only one in the room – mentally at least.
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Spike turned up at Angel's at about one o'clock in the afternoon. He ran in, screaming, covered in a blanket. Angel burst in, saw him, and calmed down.
"Oh. It's you." It took him a moment to realise how ridiculous Spike's presence was at this time of day. "What are you doing here?" Spike pulled the blanket back from his face and Angel started. He looked pale and drawn – quite ill, really. He clearly hadn't fed for quite a while.
"Spike had a little visit to the the vet," he stammered, shifting from foot to foot, "and now he doesn't chase the other puppies anymore." Angel rolled his eyes, and dragged Spike into the kitchen, thrusting a packet of pig's blood into his hands.
"Drink that, and shut up." He folded his arms and waited for Spike to comply. The packet was drained within seconds, and the initial satisfied look on Spike's face was replaced by one of disgust, as he came to his senses.
"Urgh!" Spike spat onto the floor. "Pig's blood! That's disgusting." Angel glared at him.
"I just saved your life. Again."
"I was not dying. And I could have broken out myself."
"You haven't fed since then, have you?" Angel was aware of something in his voice – concern? He shook it off, trying to sound irritated. "You could have gotten serious brain damage – not that it would have made much difference." Spike glared at him.
"Those government people did something to me. I can't hurt people… it hurts if I do." He held his head, as though it was injured. Angel raised an eyebrow. Hurts?
"How does it hurt? Do you feel guilty… or ashamed?" He stepped closer to Spike, trying to see if there was any noticeable change.
"No, you ponce! It hurts. It hurts my head. I get a blinding migraine, not a pathetic sense of remorse! I don't have a soul!" He rubbed his head, and went over to sit on the couch, sighing. Angel stared at him, but was spared having to say anything more by Buffy entering.
"Angel," she said in a carrying voice as her heels clicked along the stone floor towards them. "Cordy had these bridal magazines and I thought I'd take a few – the dresses are incredible." Spike gaped.
"You're getting married?" He started to laugh, just as Buffy stepped into the room.
"Spike? What are you doing here? Wow, you look ill."
"Spike can't kill humans," said Angel flatly. "The military organisation which captured you both did something to him, to make it physically hurt him if he tries." Buffy gasped.
"Wow, they can do that?"
"Hey! It's not impressive! It's. Wrong." Spike was now looking as though he wished he'd gone somewhere else for help. Buffy was looking at him with mild interest, Angel with mild annoyance. He got up to leave, but noticed the bands of sunlight streaming into the room.
"You can stay here until the evening," said Buffy. Angel opened his mouth to protest, and she held a hand up to continue. "As soon as it gets dark, we're taking you to Giles'. We need to figure out what they did to you."
Angel was pretty annoyed by Buffy's suggestion – he'd wanted to throw Spike out as soon as possible so that he could spend the rest of the day with Buffy. Watching daytime soaps was not his idea of fun, and Spike was clearly not enjoying spending time with him. The only one who seemed to be enjoying herself was Buffy, who'd placed herself between them to ensure that there was at least no physical violence.
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Giles surveyed Spike with a look of surprise mingled with deep dislike. The bleached-blonde vampire had said everything about his 'condition', and he had evidently never heard anything like it in his life.
"Well he's clearly not a threat," said Giles slowly to Buffy, when spike had finished whining. "He is incapable of harming any living thing, as far as we know, without experiencing… extreme physical pain." Buffy sighed. She had been hoping to spend the night patrolling with Angel. Of course, patrolling always led to other, far more interesting things. She mentally shook herself out of her naughty fantasies, half returning to the present situation. Spike was smirking at her, and she wondered if he could tell what she'd been thinking about. She had to think of something to say.
"So what do we do with him?" She glanced over to him again, where he was sitting, inspecting Cordelia's wedding file, looking a little confused.
"We should monitor his behaviour closely," said Giles, "if it becomes clear that whatever they did to him is wearing off, he should be…" he trailed off, but Buffy got the message. She didn't know how to say that she couldn't bring herself to kill Spike, that it was almost as though they were related now. Well, she thought, remembering the dream she'd had when she was turned, and Dru addressing her as a sister, that's going a bit far. Vampire families are a liiiittle creepy. She glanced back at the wedding file, which Spike had now tossed aide in favour of Blood Rites and Sacrifices. She sighed, absorbed again in a world of lilies and white lace. And should I invite Spike to the wedding?
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Hope you enjoyed – I like it mucho mucho better than the last one. Cordy's reaction to vampire!Harmony was a little silly... but oh well.
Please review!