| TITLE: Growing Up on the Hellmouth pt 15/? AUTHOR: Faery E-MAIL: [email protected] FEEDBACK: It gives me a happy...honest, I really look forward to it :-) DISTRIBUTION: If you've already asked me, go ahead and take it. Anyone else...I would be honoured, just let me know first. PAIRING: Spike/Dawn RATING: PG-13 for this part DISCLAIMER: Joss owns all. Joss rules all. But if he ever wants to give up Spike I'd be more than happy to play with him for a while. AUTHOR'S NOTE: The timeline is a little out of wack, but canon does make an appearance every once in a while DEDICATION: To everyone who has been sending me feedback...I thank you all. SUMMARY: Spike escapes Glory and tries to patch things up with Dawn Ben looked at the bloody figure chained to the chair in front of him. "Who are you?" Ben said accusingly. "I'm Glory's new chew toy," Spike said sarcastically. "Who the hell are you?" Ben ignored his question, and instead began to stare Spike down, slowly pacing a circle around the chair. "You get your kinks in a weird way," he said, hoping to divert attention from himself and his sudden appearance. "This coming from the man in the dress," Spike said, his eyebrow arched. "But hey, I'm a man of the 21st century...you get your jollies dressing up like a girly, it's no problem of mine. I've known sicker...hell, I was raised by sicko myself." "Hey! It wasn't my *choice* to be dressed like this!" "Ah, so the evil fairies tied you up and *forced* you to dress in female attire," Spike replied, deciding not to let on that he actually *saw* Glory's transformation. If the boy was none the wiser, he wouldn't be the one to educate him. Ben was silent for a moment, then he ducked his head, pretending to be embarrassed. "It was a fraternity prank, ok? *Believe* me, I don't enjoy waking up and discovering I'm in a mini dress and heels." "Well, how's about this, mate. Untie me, and I'm gone...never a word to anyone. See, this Glory chick, she got a bit mad when I didn't feel like playing her games. Tied me up and left me to rot she did. Anger control issues, I wouldn't doubt. But as you can see, she roughed me up right proper, and I'm hurting in a major way. Let me go, and we can both crawl off to our respective holes to recuperate." "Sure, whatever," Ben replied, relieved that he didn't seem to remember any connection between him and Glory. As soon as Ben undid the chains, Spike was out of there without so much as a "thank you, mate." Once outside, he was off like lightning in the direction of the hospital. Eventually, he realized the futility of trying to run the whole way there. Moving like the predator he was, Spike stalked down a drunk dressed in leather outside a bar. He followed him to his vehicle, grabbed him from behind, and took a quick drink before robbing him of his motorcycle keys. For some strange reason, he felt himself compelled to not kill the man. Not having the time to ruminate on the kinder, gentler Spike, he hopped on the bike and sped the whole way to the emergency room. Spike stormed inside, and strode up to the nurses' station. The nurse's jaw dropped at his fierce look. Summoning her courage, she stood up and said, "Sir, I'm certain you want to see a doctor as quickly as possible, but I'm going to have to ask you to fill out some form first, unless your situation is life-threatening." "I could care sod all about some doctor," Spike spat out. "And the only life being threatened here is yours, got that? Now be a smart human and tell me where Dawn Summers is before I rip your esophagus out and hang you with it!" The nurse that had been so resolute in shutting Giles down just earlier that night, found herself slack-jawed at the sight of the vampire in front of her. As his eyes flashed yellow, she mutely pointed in the direction Spike needed to go. Not waiting for further instructions, Spike took off. His eyes were half-closed as he moved through the halls, guiding his way to Dawn nearly by scent alone. Finally he found his way to the room where Dawn and Buffy had been moved. Inside he could hear the sisters and the Watcher all happily chatting. He stood in the doorway for a second just observing the tender scene before striding in. "Miss me?" he asked sarcastically. Dawn shrieked when she heard Spike, turning around to greet him. Then she shrieked again when she saw him, this time in horror. Bruises covered nearly all of his normally handsome face, and under the tatters of his clothes, more cuts and bruises could be seen. "Dear Lord, Spike, what happened?" Giles asked in surprise. "I had a run-in with our favourite psycho-god. I'm afraid I didn't fare so well." "Glory...Glory did this to you?" Dawn asked, slowly reaching as if to touch him before pulling her hand back sharply. " `Fraid so, little bit. She was keen on finding out who the Key is. The bruises are in response to me telling her to go to hell." Spike reached out and stroked Dawn's hair. "I'd die before I ever let her hurt you, nearly did, truth be told." Tears were running down Dawn's face, and she stood on her tip-toes to give Spike a gentle, lingering kiss, uncaring of who was watching. Spike groaned and leaned into the kiss, cupping the side of her face as he pulled her closer. "I love you," he whispered so only she could hear. "Ahem," was the sound that came from behind the couple as Giles and Buffy both coughed politely, trying to get their attention. "As touching as this is," Giles said tersely, "have we forgotten the one simple fact that Spike is a complete sod?" "Such language," Spike said, in fake shock. "Is this the thanks I get? I did you all a good turn. The only guts I spilled to Glory were the literal sort." "But you tortured *my* Slayer!" Giles said possessively. "Well, *your* Slayer tortured *me*. Eye for an eye and all that. Now if you want any chance of beating this Glory lady, we'd best call a truce. If she could do a number like this on me, just imagine what she could do to your wrinkled body, old man." "I should stake you myself," Giles growled. "Giles, no!" Dawn exclaimed. Buffy groaned and climbed out of bed, stepping between the feuding males. She put a hand on each of their chests to keep them from lunging at each other. "Now boys," she said calmly, "I think we've had enough injuries for one night. As much as I hate to admit it, Spike's right. We will need all the help we can get in the battle with Glory." She turned towards Spike, and looked him in the eye. "What you did tonight was a good thing, and I appreciate it. Think we can forgive and forget?" "Whatever," Spike shrugged. "Truce, then?" Buffy asked, extending her hand. Spike just stood there staring at Buffy, and Dawn elbowed him in the ribs. "Yeah, truce," he said, shaking her hand. Buffy turned to go back to her bed, and she swooned slightly after the first step. "Buffy!" Giles exclaimed as he caught her and helped her ease into bed. "You must rest. It will only endanger you further if you attempt to fight while not at full strength." "Wow, I guess I really did get hit hard on the head. Pretty soon I will be able to challenge your title as King of Concussions," Buffy teased. "Yeah, right," Spike muttered. "Ponce needs to learn how to fight." Giles pulled out a vial of holy water and uncorked it. "Another word and this becomes the proverbial salt in your wounds." "Spike was just leaving, Giles," Dawn said as she pulled him towards the door. "We're gonna go take a little walk...be back in a bit." Before anyone could protest, Dawn ushered Spike out the door. "So where we going, luv?" he asked. "Well, I can't have you being all bruisy, so I thought we could go find you some blood. That should help you heal, right?" "I'm always up for a pint," Spike said nonchalantly. "I've filched blood from this place lots of times. C'mon, I'll show you the way...just in case you ever get the urge for A+ or something." "Eww...gross," Dawn replied, but she still followed quickly behind Spike, always up for an adventure. Once they found where the blood was stored, Spike hungrily devoured four bags of blood. Growls rumbled in the back of his throat as he finished off the blood. He grabbed a set of scrubs to wipe the excess blood from his face, and there was already a noticeable decrease in the amount of bruising. "Wow...you're like Wolverine in the X-men." "Come again, luv?" "You know, X-men, the comic? Wolverine is a mutant, and his special ability is to heal quickly and in the movie they made from the comic Rogue is really young and she likes him so it's kind of like us in a way except that you like me back...oh, nevermind," Dawn said, ducking her head bashfully as she saw the bemused look on Spike's face. "No worried, pet," he said, stroking her check. "You somehow manage to make babbling look sexy," Spike leaned in to kiss her, but just then, they heard voices coming from outside the room. Quickly, Spike grabbed Dawn's hand and led her out the back exit to the room and up a set of stairs that led them to one of the X-ray rooms. The room was empty, but up on the view screen were several pieces of film showing the inside of a person's head. "Wow..." Dawn said in a hushed tone, "it's like seeing into someone's mind." She was just reaching up to touch one of the slides when Spike doubled over in pain behind her. "Spike!" Dawn yelped, rushing to his side. "What is it?" Spike had his hand pressed to his stomach, and when he pulled it away, his fingertips were red with blood. "I guess fist-sized puncture wounds take a bit more to heal up...running up stairs probably wasn't the smartest move" he groaned. "I might know how to help," Dawn said, an idea forming in her mind. "How's that?" "You said my blood was all powerful and stuff, right?" "Those words might have crossed my mouth," Spike said cautiously, fearing where this was leading. Dawn pulled her hair to the side and offered up her neck. "Feed from me," she said. "Thanks for the offer, luv, but no thanks. You're weak as it is. You keep all those red blood cells to yourself." Dawn stepped closer to Spike, trying to look seductive but uncertain of whether she was succeeding. "Please..." she practically begged, her eyes wide and pleading. She took his one hand and slowly licked the blood off of the fingers. "Please..." she repeated. Spike's resolve crumbled as he pulled her into a rough kiss. He nipped and sucked at her lips before moving down to her neck. As always, he was careful when he bit into her, not wanting to cause any more pain than was necessary. Dawn moaned and closed her eyes, letting the sensation of him suckling her carry her away. Spike lowered the two of them to the ground, and bracing himself over her, he continued to gently feed, but as quickly as it had begun, it was over. Dawn sighed with disappointment as Spike's fangs slid out of her and he turned to lay next to her on the cold tile floor. "That was...wow, like always," Dawn smiled. "I feel all tingly." "That might be lack of blood flow to the extremities, luv. I really shouldn't feed off of you so much." "No complaints on this end," Dawn giggled. Spike allowed Dawn to cuddle next to his side for a few minutes before insisting they should go back to the room so she could rest. As they were about to exit, a pair of doctor's came in. Spike quickly pulled Dawn into the shadows as they observed the two. "Thanks for coming to look at this," the first doctor said to his companion. "I wanted to be absolutely certain on this diagnosis." The other doctor looked at the slides closely and came to a quick conclusion. "I hate to say it, but what we have hear is definitely a malignant growth of some sort. You see where the growth is pushing in on the brain tissue here," he said, pointing to a section of the picture. "Well, if it expands, this person is going to begin experiencing some serious problems. I would operate as soon as possible." The first doctor sighed heavily. "That's what I was afraid of. I just don't know what I'm going to do. This woman's whole family is in the hospital. Her two daughters were both admitted this very night. Let's just hope the mother has her daughters' gift for rapid recovery." "If you'd like, I can come with you when you tell them. What's the patient's name?" "Summers. Joyce Summers." Dawn's grip on Spike tightened as she listened to the doctors' conversation from her secluded corner. "Oh God, Spike!" she cried, muffling her tears in his shirt. Faery I hope you liked this part. :-) |