When Buffy regained consciousness, she couldn't believe she wasn't dead again. Unless dead looked like the underneath of Spike's crypt and meant being wrapped in sheets caked in blood. Her head throbbed when she tried to sit up and forced her back to the pillow.
"You should be more careful, Slayer. Almost got yourself killed."
"It caught me off guard."
"Bollocks! You were ten feet from the house and you lured it over to you on purpose, let it punch you first with no attempt to block it. What are you playing at? That thing was three times your size!" He tossed his cigarette into a cobweb filled ashtray; he needed it so he didn't kill her himself right now. Screw Tara's no smoking rule. For all he knew she was already dead.
When Buffy did not try to deny or reply at all, he sank his fangs into her neck, assuming he could because Buffy was being kept alive through demonic energy. She didn't even try to fight him off. Terrified more than Edith made him for that second, he pulled away from her. His expression asked all his questions for him.
And she finally replied. "I thought you'd jump at the chance to kill your third Slayer. You don't love me. You want to own me. Conquer me. Well go ahead, don't go all yellowbelly on me now."
The word yellow conjured all these images of Willow chained up down here and bleeding. The coagulating pool in the alcove had the same shape. Flashes of her naked and riding him, Spike thrusting into her and calling her Buffy. "What did that bitch do to me?" The question was too loud. But a memory came back that he'd been offering to feed her like that. He'd do that for Buffy, fuck a woman he was attracted to less than he'd been to Harmony. Because Willow was as close as he had to a confidant, he hadn't thought of her of as a potential lover since that night in her dorm. Clem didn't even match what he'd gotten from Red. The first after Dawn to defend him, but she still called him out on his shit.
When Buffy fell trying to crawl up the ladder, he snapped out of it and scooped her up. "Don't be an idiot. You're not going anywhere until you've healed up. And I'm not letting you out of here until I know you won't try to kill yourself again."
"Why don't you just kill me since you can hurt me without your head splitting open?" Every other word sprayed him with spit as he lay her back on the bed. She was belly up and exposed.
"Because I could never do that to you. I only wanted to give you a scare. Make you realize you want to live. But since you don't, we will be here for a while. Good thing Red supplied me with a couple days worth of dinner." When she tried to get up again, he didn't have to use any strength to hold her down. "Unless you need to use the loo, you aren't moving."
"Do you even have a bathroom?"
"Carved it out of that tunnel over there myself. Kept me from killing myself last year after you revoked my invitation." Spike leaned his back on the headboard. "You know, realized after I fucked that up, I didn't just mess up my chances with you. But I had somehow come to think of all you Scoobies as family. When you came to get me to drive the Winnebago from hell, I was two seconds away from walking into the sun. I'd lost everything I ever wanted. A family to belong to, be a part of. Dawn's like a little sister, Xander's the obnoxious brother that will never let me forget what a screw up I am, Giles is more a comrade in arms, but that's no less family. And Red. She's been there for all of us, and she never judged me. Tara got me to quit smoking like a proper mum, and Anya kept it real being so bloody honest."
A glance at Buffy told him she was listening to every word he said. "And then the other day, when I was fighting off those Hellions with a knee busted out by Dawn, I realized something. I don't want to kill anyone anymore. No one innocent anyway. I find fighting off hordes of demons more challenging. More fun. And I'm more needed keeping the family safe than I ever have in my existence. More needed than when I had to cure Drusilla after the mob in Prague. Or even caring for my mum when she got ill." He sighed and shook his head. "I will always love you Buffy, but I will put this ragtag family before even you. And that means keeping you breathing no matter what you may want. No matter if it would send you back to the peaceful bliss I know you deserve. I can't do that to Dawn, or Giles, or even Xander. And I won't let Red's sacrifice be for nothing. So you might as well get comfortable, 'cause there's only two ways you're going to walk out that door. You either kill me or stop wanting to kill yourself."
He pushed off the bed and rifled through the dresser looking for the spare sheets. Buffy remained silent. She seemed to taste words on her tongue and never liking the flavor they left, so she kept them to herself. Spike tossed the sheets at her. "I doubt you want to sleep in crusty demon blood, so make yourself useful and change the sheets." He didn't bother to wait for her to comply, he knew she would. She wasn't so far gone as to not care about sleeping in disgusting demon blood.
Buffy watched him climb the ladder and fumed. He expected her to clean up his messes? It wasn't her fault he tortured some demon down here. But the stiff sheets were grody, and that spot wasn't red, so what was changing a set of sheets? But there was no way he would become her shrink.
"Have you seen Buffy?" Dawn asked Giles when he staggered in unsteady on his new leg as she drummed her fingers on the kitchen table.
"No. Didn't she come home from patrolling last night?" He asked as he sat across from her.
"I don't know. Her bed's a mess, but she wasn't here. Spike's not here either. I'll look for her." Dawn stood up, gave him a one-arm hug, and walked out with purpose in every movement.
The first place Dawn looked was the crypt, since she found Spike there last time, she thought it the best place to start. When she opened the door, she found Spike sitting on that creepy concrete coffin thing reading a book. "Morning, Bit." He set his book face down on the slab. "Wanna help your sister out?"
"So you know where she is?" Dawn's frantic question subdued into crossing her arms over her chest and glowered at him. "Are you going to tell me anything?"
"I'm hurt. Dawn when was the last time I kept anything important from you?"
"You weren't going to tell me about Willow."
"Only because she didn't want me to. But right now your big sis isn't doing so hot. She's depressed and being a right git about it. Almost got herself killed last night, so I'm keeping her here until she feels better. I need you to get her some spare clothes, food, and her hygiene products. Can you do that?" He rubbed Dawn's shoulder.
With a nod Dawn sucked up another threat of tears. "Can I see her?"
"Sure. She's downstairs sulking at the moment. But she should be glad to see you, not saying she will be though."
Dawn climbed down the ladder into the candlelit cavern below the crypt. They never had cleaned it out, so the bed and other furniture was still there. Buffy sat on the bed, back against the headboard with her knees pulled to her chest, head resting on them as she stared at the wall.
"Buffy?"
No response, so Dawn sat next to Buffy, mimicking her position. Having had some suicidal issues after Buffy jumped off the tower, Dawn didn't want to pressure her sister to do anything, not even talk. Sometimes just having someone there helped. For Dawn it had been Willow and Spike, so she wanted to do that for Buffy, if she needed it.
They sat there silent and moving only to change position for hours. When Buffy got up to use the bathroom, Dawn got up too. She leaned against the wall until Buffy walked back into the main room. With a hand on Buffy's shoulder, Dawn said, "I've got to go. You need your stuff and something to eat. I'll be back later, okay?"
Still no response.
When Dawn got up to the crypt proper again, she chewed her lip and didn't leave right away. "Do you think Willow needs to eat more? Is Buffy like this because she's not getting enough from Willow's meals?"
"If it is, it's not all of it. But if you drop by the Magic Box, you can let Red know your theory. She's been staying in the loft. And let Giles know that this Edith character spent time as Drusilla's favorite doll, Miss Edith. Said she got trapped like that. And the bitch is evil. I could feel it. There's nothing good there." Spike crossed over to the chair and picked at a hole in the upholstery. "Do me a favor?"
"Sure."
"If you ever see Edith, you let someone know right off. Tell us every detail. We need to crush this thing. Trust me, Edith is a thing. A bit human-looking but not human at all."
"I can do that." She gave him an awkward smile. "I'll be back as soon as I can, but you should be down there with her. Like you stayed with me. It helps."
When Dawn left Spike, he did as requested and went to sit with Buffy.
"Xander!" Giles rubbed his forehead as the tension spread through him. When he heard Xander coming down the stairs, he got his coat.
"Need something?" Xander asked as he stepped off the last stair.
"Dawn's been arrested. We need to get her." Giles stumbled and if it weren't Xander he'd have ended up on the ground again.
"Why don't you stay here. I'll get her."
"But you can't drive my car."
"Let me remind you that I not only work in construction where everything's a manual, but that you can't drive anything right now." Xander slipped his shoes on as he talked. "It'll be fine. I've had nothing to drink today. Wanna be sober when Anya get's back. Don't worry, I'll get Dawn." Grabbing his coat and keys, Xander left Giles behind again.
The holding cells at the Sunnydale PD looked like they were straight out of a movie. And Dawn braided the frayed ends of the mattress waiting for Giles to secure her release. An arrest for trespassing at the Magic Box felt like an insult. If they were going to arrest her, at least make it for something she stole, or reckless endangerment or something she actually did wrong.
When someone came to release her she gave them a smug smile and hugged Xander for coming to her rescue. "Thanks, Xan."
"Let's get you home, Dawn." He hugged her back and then led her out of the station and around the corner to the car.
His hand shaking as it rested on her back worried Dawn. "Something wrong?"
"I'm not fond of the SPD. Gives me the jitters being around those idiots." He opened her door, and she slipped into the passenger seat.
"I drive better than you. Why sit me on the sidelines?"
"Because you don't have a license and we're leaving a police department." He closed her door as she buckled up.
Xander got in, started the car and pulled out. The ride was spent in silence, Dawn looking out the side window planning the rest of the day around needing to get Buffy everything she needed. Willow wasn't at the Magic Box, so she could be anywhere. A locator spell was out of the question. Those couldn't be done more than once in such a short window of time. So she contemplated the most likely places for Willow to go since she was still banned from the-
Metal crunched and glass shattered as a pole from the truck Xander slammed into impaled Dawn's shoulder. Her scream died when she passed out. Xander broke his nose on the airbag because he hadn't used his seatbelt, and he couldn't see through the blood in his eyes. Trying to rub it away didn't help, and the world swayed under him then nothing else.
"Of course we need to go to the other side of the planet." Anya sighed as she rested her arms against the railing and looked down through the Well. "What's faster? Going through here? Or taking a plane?"
"The Well's mystical." Tara sighed. "It has to be. The center of the Earth is hotter than the sun or something. So it has to be mystical."
"Doesn't answer my question."
"We don't have much money left. If there's more to do after talking to Osiris, we need to have funds available."
"Then it's a journey to the center of the Earth, and then to the other side." Anya slung her pack over her shoulder. "Great, more walking."
"How much of that potion do we have left?" Tara put on her backpack.
"A bottle and a half. Let's just pray it's enough, not that I know who to pray to these days." Anya grunted as her ankle twisted on an uneven board.
"You okay?" Tara asked as she supported Anya.
"Just a twinge." Anya pulled her hair up in a messy ponytail as she got her legs back. "Lead the way, Griff."
The keeper of this side of the Deeper Well, a mute monk named Griffin, bowed his head and led the way.
"Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, It's off to work we go." Tara sang to keep their spirits up.
Anya flashed teeth, "I love those dwarfs! Snow White was an idiot for picking that so called prince over the dwarfs. Dwarfs are very sensual and she could have had seven of them fawning all over her."
Tara giggled. "I never thought about that."