Chapter 14
“Was there a time when dancers with their fiddles/In children’s circuses could stay their troubles?/There was a time they could cry over books,/But time has set its maggot on their track./Under the arc of the sky they are unsafe./What’s never known is safest in this life./Under the skysigns they who have no arms/Have cleanest hands, and, as the heartless ghost/Alone’s unhurt, so the blind man sees best.” Dylan Thomas “Was There A Time?”
Wesley knew why Buffy had stationed him outside. It made perfect sense, really. He just hated being the look-out. He was worried that he was going to miss something.
His eyes widened when he saw the lights in the windows of the dorm blink out. “Oh, bugger,” he muttered, trying to figure out what to do. He could see the soldiers entering the building, like shadows detaching themselves from the surrounding night. There were nearly half a dozen. They had obviously shut off the power to give themselves the advantage, and although he had meant it when he told Buffy that he’d use the gun he carried, Wesley preferred to avoid that. It would draw too much attention, and presented too great a risk of harming an innocent bystander, especially when shooting in the dark.
On the other hand, Wesley had grabbed a flashlight on his way out the door, along with his gun. He’d thought it might come in handy if they had to go underground, but if the soldiers had cut off the lights, there was every reason to think that they were equipped to see in the dark.
Wesley went in through the door. He didn’t have to worry about groping his way to Buffy’s room since it was easy enough to hear the sounds of a struggle. There were masculine shouts, and although he didn’t recognize their voices, it boded well for how Buffy was likely doing.
When he got close enough to the soldiers, Wesley turned on the flashlight, hitting the nearest one right in the eyes. The soldier cried out in pain, putting his hand over his night-vision goggles.
“Get her out of here!” Buffy called out to him.
Wesley could just make out the Slayer in the beam of his light, and it looked as though she had her hands full with Spike. He caught sight of Willow and pulled his gun, using the butt on one of the soldiers who tried to get in between them. He hit another in the eyes with the light again and heard another cry of pain with a sense of satisfaction.
“Here,” Wesley said, handing Willow the flashlight, grabbing her free hand.
There was a hiss as one of the soldiers hit the fire extinguisher Buffy held with the taser darts, and Wesley welcomed the cloud of gas that filled the hallway. He hurried Willow through the confusion, keeping his head down.
Wesley didn’t stop until they were outside, and he turned to see if Buffy was behind him. She had a firm grip on Spike, who looked like he was ready to topple over. “We have to get Spike out of here.” They were surrounded by milling students who had either heard the commotion from outside and had come to gawk, or who had been inside and hadn’t felt safe. Wesley found himself grateful for the crowd. It was less likely that the soldiers would try again with so many witnesses.
“Where are we going?” Wesley asked.
Buffy glanced at the vampire. “Do they know where you live, Spike?”
“Don’t think so. Bunch of idiots. They didn’t even bother checking my wallet.”
Wesley released Willow and went over to Spike’s side. “We need to hurry.”
“I agree,” Buffy replied. “But we should drive.”
“If my car didn’t get towed, it’s close. Just a couple blocks off campus,” Spike said.
“Let’s go,” Buffy said.
Willow looked back at the dorm. “Are we going to be able to go back tonight?”
Buffy shook her head. “We’ll worry about that later. I imagine that once they clear out, they won’t be in a hurry to come back. They’ll probably want to keep their identities a secret.”
Wesley began to lead Spike off through the crowd of students. “As long as they don’t know ours. I don’t want to find out how far they would go to bring Spike back into custody.”
“Let them try,” Buffy replied, her eyes locking with Spike’s. Wesley could hear the promise in her tone, and he knew it was for the vampire’s benefit. “They’ll find out what the Slayer’s all about.”
~~~~~
“I know you’re hurt.” Buffy’s voice was low. She could hear Wesley in the other room, talking to Giles on the phone, and Willow was in the bathroom. She didn’t know why Spike wouldn’t tell her what was wrong, but she didn’t have any trouble with prying the information out of him. “You have to tell me, Spike.”
He wouldn’t meet her eyes. “They roughed me up a bit, that’s all.”
“You’re bleeding,” Buffy insisted.
Spike glanced down, seeing the stain in the middle of his chest. It was difficult to see on black fabric, but the Slayer had an eye for this sort of thing, so he wasn’t surprised that she’d noticed. “Buffy—”
“Spike, please.” Her hand traced the line of his jaw. She noted the shadows under his eyes, the fear and the madness that lurked within. Buffy understood both better than Spike might give her credit for—she had some idea of what being caged again would mean to him.
After all, she’d witnessed one or two of his nightmares.
With a sigh, Spike pulled up his shirt, wincing when she gasped.
“Why?” she finally managed to ask.
“Overheard them saying that they knew I hadn’t been feeding off of humans,” Spike replied. “That changed their plans for me. Don’t know what they would have done otherwise. Think they might have done some scans while I was out, but they said something about a chip not being picked up. They were sure it was in there, so they cut me open and fiddled around for a while.”
Buffy’s jaw tightened. “I’ll kill them.”
A half-hearted smile tugged at Spike’s lips. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I don’t want them knowing about you.”
“They don’t have to know if I don’t leave any witnesses,” she joked. When Spike tried to pull his shirt down, she stopped him gently. “I don’t think we can leave it like that.”
He looked away, giving a bitter laugh. “Yeah. I figured.”
“You’re going to need more blood,” Buffy said, nodding at the empty mug that sat next to him. “And that’s going to require a trip to the butcher’s. Your chest, though…”
“You might want to let me take care of it,” Wesley offered from the doorway.
Buffy gave him a skeptical look. “Not that I’m doubting your abilities right now, Wes, but are you sure?”
“Who else is going to do it?” he asked. “Giles and I have had training in first aid and that did involve learning how to stitch someone up.”
“And Rupert’s not here,” Spike said. “Wes can do it, luv. Why don’t you take Willow with you? I don’t think they’ll be watching the butchers, but—”
“Be careful,” Buffy finished for him. “I will.” She leaned down, giving Spike a gentle kiss on the lips. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Turning to Wesley, she said, “Take care of him.”
Wesley and Spike were both silent as Buffy called to Willow, and then both girls left. When the door closed behind them, Wesley sighed. “Do you want me to get the whiskey?”
“Oh, yeah,” Spike replied.
It was an awkward job, to say the least. The stitches the scientists had put in were large and uneven, and several had torn. Spike hadn’t begun to heal yet, which meant that the ugly black threads were about the only thing keeping his insides on the inside.
In the end, Wesley waited until Spike had drunk most of the remaining bottle of whiskey. The alcohol took the edge off the pain as Wesley carefully began sewing the skin together, removing the other stitches as he went.
“I want that gem, Wes.”
He kept his focus on the task at hand, knowing what Spike was referring to, as well as why the vampire had changed his mind. The last time they’d talked about it, Spike had still been hesitant to go after the Gem of Amara, even knowing that they would have the time to go after it in the near future.
“As soon as you’re ready, we’ll go after it,” Wesley promised. “You’ll need to heal a bit first, and it might be a good idea for you to keep your head down for a while. They’ll be looking for you.”
Spike was quiet for a moment, and then he said, “They won’t take me again.”
Wesley just nodded and kept stitching.
~~~~~
“What are you going to do, Buffy?” Willow asked as they made their way back to Spike’s house. The butcher’s shop had actually had an order ready for the vampire, and all Buffy had needed to do was to mention his name. Apparently he had a running tab that he paid up every month or so. Buffy had been uncharacteristically silent the entire trip, and Willow was beginning to get concerned. The Slayer had a tendency to be a little irrational when her boyfriends got hurt.
“Do about what?”
“About Spike and the soldiers.”
“I don’t know.” The admission sounded as though it had been dragged out of her. “Will, they cut him open for no good reason. You should have seen it. They knew he hadn’t been feeding on humans, so they cut him open because they wanted to know why. They could have just asked him!”
Willow nodded. “So what are you going to do about them?”
“I don’t know,” Buffy repeated. “I want to hurt them, but this is even bigger than the Mayor. I might not be able to fight these guys.”
“Not head on,” Willow agreed. “But there are other ways, Buffy. What about the Council? Surely Giles still knows people, and they could find out what’s going on. We definitely need more information.”
“We’ll see,” Buffy replied. “If I need to do that, I will.” She gave her friend a wry look. “Are you really that worried that I’m going to go on a rampage?”
Willow raised an eyebrow. “Uh, Buffy? Remember the last time somebody hurt Spike really badly? She’s still in a coma.”
Buffy winced at the reminder. “That was different. That was one person, I knew who was responsible, and it was my battle to fight.”
Willow didn’t know what to say to that. Buffy was right. There were too many unknowns at the moment, too many ways that things could go wrong. “Are we staying at Spike’s tonight?”
“I am,” Buffy replied. “I think it’s probably okay for you to go back, if you want to. Wesley might be able to give you a ride unless you want to stay.”
Willow rather thought that Buffy and Spike would want their privacy. “No, that’s okay. All my stuff is there anyway.”
“Thanks for all your help, Will,” Buffy said. “I know you’ve been missing Oz recently, and…”
“No, Buffy!” Willow was quick to protest. “It was good to help. It’s a good distraction, and I like Spike, too. I don’t want to see him hurt any more than you do.”
“Thanks,” she repeated. “I have a feeling we’re going to need you in this.”
Willow laid a hand on Buffy’s arm. “Say the word, Buffy. I’m your girl.”
“I know.”
~~~~~
Buffy was grateful that Wesley agreed to take Willow back to the dorms without an argument, and she told him to go home and get some sleep. He looked like he was ready to collapse, which was probably why he acquiesced so readily.
Spike was asleep when she went back into his bedroom, and Buffy put the mug she’d warmed down on the nightstand. Although the Y-incision was still ghastly, after Wesley’s efforts it looked much better.
His eyes blinked open. “Any trouble?”
“No. Here,” she handed him the mug. “You need to keep eating.”
The fact that Spike didn’t even protest told Buffy everything she needed to know about his state of mind. She watched as he swallowed convulsively, and then she set the mug back down. Even though she knew it would probably be a good idea to rinse it out, she didn’t want to let him out of her sight again.
Buffy lay down next to him, careful not to hurt him. Sensing her concern, Spike pulled her closer. “You aren’t going to hurt me.”
“I missed you.”
“Missed you, too.”
She clung to him, the realization that she might have lost him sinking in as the last of the adrenalin wore off. “I’m sorry, Spike.”
“For what, pet?”
“For not getting you out of there sooner,” she replied. “If Wesley hadn’t realized that you had gone missing, I wouldn’t have even known. I should have—”
“Hush,” he commanded gently. “Wasn’t your fault, luv. Should have been more careful. I was stupid enough to get caught.”
She smiled. “I won’t argue with you.”
“Very funny.” Spike stroked her hair, feeling exhaustion beginning to set in now that she was here beside him. They were both safe for the moment.
“Go to sleep,” Buffy whispered. “I’ll stay awake.”
Spike allowed himself to drift off. “Love you, Buffy.”
“I love you, too. Always.”
~~~~~
Willow wasn’t terribly surprised when she didn’t see Buffy the next day. She was a little concerned about psychology, though, since Professor Walsh didn’t like students taking absences. She had already kicked Oz out of her class, and Willow was a little hesitant to explain that Buffy was out for a family emergency.
She didn’t have to say anything, though, because Riley stopped her as she was leaving. “Where’s Buffy today?” he asked. “She’s been pretty good about coming.”
Willow winced. “Her boyfriend had to go in for emergency surgery yesterday. She was in the hospital with him all night.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Riley replied. “She’s got to come to class, though. Professor Walsh doesn’t make exceptions.”
“So I’ve heard,” Willow replied dryly. “I’m sure Buffy won’t miss any more classes after this.”
Riley gave her a smile, and Willow left, thinking about Spike and his situation. There had to be something she could do to make things easier.
Or maybe just to make it harder for the soldiers to find him again.
The message light on the machine was blinking when Willow returned to the room, and she hit play, thinking that it was probably Buffy. Giles’ voice greeted her, however. “This is Giles. Please call me back when you can.” He left a number that Willow didn’t recognize, and she wondered where he was calling from.
The phone rang several times before he answered. “Oh, hello, Willow,” he said once she identified herself. “I was wondering if you would mind giving me a hand today. Xander has agreed to help, as well as Joyce, but I didn’t want to bother Spike or Buffy after what happened.”
Willow frowned. “Help you with what?”
“The shop? My opening is in just a few days.”
Willow wracked her brain, trying to remember if Giles had said anything about opening a shop of some kind. “What shop?”
There was a long silence. “Didn’t I tell you?”
“I don’t think so,” Willow replied. “I haven’t talked to you since Oz…” She trailed off. “You know.”
“I’m so very sorry,” Giles apologized. “I meant to tell you, but after, well, after everything happened, I didn’t want to bother you. Would you mind giving me a hand today? I wouldn’t ask, but I’m on something of a tight schedule.”
“No, I’ll be right over,” Willow replied. “Where do you want me to meet you?” She scribbled down the address that Giles gave her and set the phone back in its cradle. This might work out for the best, since she would have a chance to ask Giles if he had any ideas. Surely he would know something she could do to help.
And if Giles didn’t know…
Willow bit her lip, trying to remember the number that Spike had given her last night. With some hesitation, she punched the number in, feeling relief when Wesley’s voice greeted her. “Hello?”
“Wesley? It’s Willow.”
“What can I do for you?”
“Giles wants some help with his shop, and I was wondering if I could get a ride over there and maybe pick your brain,” she replied.
There was a pause on the other end. “About what?”
“Something to help Spike,” Willow replied. “Maybe something to prevent the soldiers from finding him? I don’t really know, and I can’t ask Buffy. This isn’t really her thing. She’s the one who beats up the bad guys, not the one who figures out what spell to use.”
“Alright.” Wesley sighed. “I’ll be over as soon as I can.”
Willow realized that she’d probably awoken him, given how tired he’d been when dropping her off the previous night. “I’m sorry. I woke you up.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he replied. “I’ll be over in half an hour.”
Willow put the phone back, thinking that Wesley really was a nice guy.
~~~~~~
Wesley wasn’t particularly happy about being dragged out of bed. Although, to be fair, he’d been mostly awake. He just hadn’t wanted to get up.
Thoughts of what the soldiers had done to Spike, as well as the vampire’s professed desire to search for the Gem, plagued him. Not that Wesley blamed him in the least, but it worried him nonetheless. Spike’s desire struck him as the beginnings of an obsession, not the rational decision to retrieve something that might prove to be of use. It didn’t matter why Spike wanted it, however. Wesley would help him get it, then he’d just hope that Spike didn’t go on a rampage.
After all, an invulnerable vampire could do quite a bit of damage.
He took a quick shower but didn’t bother shaving. It wasn’t worth it when he’d only be helping Giles get his shop set up. There was no one there who would care how he looked. Wesley took Spike’s car again, knowing that the vampire would call him when he wanted it back.
When he picked up Willow, he caught her staring at him. “What?” he asked, not sure how to take the look on her face.
Willow, for her part, was a little surprised. She’d been too focused on finding Spike the previous day to pay much attention to Wesley or how he looked. Today, however, she realized that he still hadn’t shaved, his hair was disheveled, and slightly wet from the shower, and he wore jeans and a sweater.
All in all, he looked really good. Willow hadn’t been expecting that. “You, uh, didn’t shave.”
He ran a hand over his face self-consciously. “I didn’t think anyone would care.”
“I don’t care,” she was quick to say. “I mean, you look fine. Shaving is a personal choice, and I try to respect other people’s choices.”
His lips twitched. “You wanted to talk about Spike?”
“Is there anything we can do to keep the soldiers from seeing him, or noticing him, or knowing that it is him?” Willow asked. “I’ve been thinking about it, and I want to help, I just don’t know what to do. I know I’m not very good with the spells yet, but I thought between the two of us, and with Giles’ help, we might be able to figure something out.”
“We might,” Wesley replied. “I haven’t given it much thought. Spike wants to go after the Gem of Amara, which will make him a much tougher target.”
“What’s that?” Willow asked.
He shrugged, maneuvering the car easily. “It’s a vampire’s Holy Grail, in a way. It’s supposed to render them invulnerable to all the things that would normally kill them—holy water, crosses, wooden stakes, sunlight.”
Willow blinked. “That’s probably better than some spell I could do.”
“Your idea isn’t a bad one,” he was quick to assure her. “The Gem of Amara is probably more for Spike’s peace of mind than anything else.”
“Why would he need a spell if he had that?”
“Because it might not just be Spike who ends up needing the spell,” Wesley replied. “This may end up being a threat to all of us. It would depend on if these are reasonable people we’re dealing with.”
“And if they’re not reasonable?” Willow asked with some trepidation.
“Then they may not draw much distinction between demons and their friends, and less distinction between demons who are on the side of right and those that present a danger.”
Willow hadn’t quite thought about it that way before, but she thought Wesley might be right.