Buffy wandered through the graveyard. It was a slow night. Only the occasional vampire. She couldn't focus on slaying. She kept on thinking about Angel. It drove her crazy knowing that as soon as she slept with him, he lost his soul. Was she really that inexperienced? She rounded a corner and saw Drucilla walking towards her. "Slayer," Dru sneered.
"Dru," Buffy returned in the same sneer. Dru looked into Buffy's eyes. No matter how hard Buffy tried, she couldn�t pull her eyes away. Buffy started to sway slowly from side to side, as if she were slow dancing with herself.
"Come!" Dru commanded and turned around to walk back to the mansion. Buffy followed willingly. Dru succeeded, Buffy was under her thrall.
"Where is she?" Willow asked. "She should've been back two hours ago!" She paced back and forth in the library. The gang was there.
"Why don't you go look for her?" Giles said as he cleaned his glasses. "Yeah and die ourselves. Sorry, not in the mood." Xander said, leaning back in his chair. "No but we should. She's our friend and she needs us!" Willow argued. "Yea, it could be fun!" Cordelia stroked Xander's cheek. She looked around at the others who were gaping at her. "What?" she asked. "It's not like Buffy hasn't saved my butt too. Besides, it could be romantic. Xander jumped up, "I'm in!"
"Sit." Dru commanded, pointing to a chair. Buffy did as she was told. Two minions came up and tied her arms and legs to the chair. Dru walked up to where Buffy sat and ran her nail across Buffy's cheek, drawing blood. "You've been very cooperative. Good girl." Buffy seemed happy at the praise. Seeing her reaction, Dru burst out laughing. This is too perfect, she thought happily. The slayer is happy to hear my praise. "I have quite the plan for you, my pet. It is almost time for the ritual to begin." She bent down and licked the blood off of Buffy's cheek. She nodded to the minions to come to her.
"Yes, mistress?" They asked eagerly.
"Take the Slayer to the altar and prepare Angel.
"Yes, mistress." They picked up the chair and walked up the stairs to where the altar was.
Darla sat by Angel's bed and stroked his hair lovingly. "It will be alright. I promise." She stood up when two minions entered the room.
Spike walked in the mansion. He saw Dru dancing around in circles and went to her. "Hi luv." He said, kissing her softly.
"Spike!" she exclaimed, breaking the kiss. "I was hoping you'd be in time!"
"In time for what, luv?"
"We are getting Angel back!"
"Oh really? How?"
"He's going to drain the Slayer."
"She's here!?"
"Yes, under my thrall."
"Good work, my luv."
"I'm so happy Angel will be returned to us!" She danced up the stairs, Miss Edith in tow. That's all she can think about, her precious Angel! Spike thought angrily. He began to pace the room.
"God, where did she run off to?" Oz asked impatiently. "She better not have left town."
"Maybe she's at the mansion." Cordelia stated as if it were obvious.
"Of course!" Willow exclaimed. "Let's go!"
"Whoa, hold on there," Xander started nervously. "If she is there, that would mean that there are very strong vampires and minions there. I don't think we can take them!"
"Don't worry. I'm a witch, remember? We'll be fine!" She grabbed Xander's shirt and dragged him in the direction of the mansion closely followed by Oz and Cordelia.
Angel leaned his head down to Buffy's neck. His fangs slid out and he tasted her blood. Sweet, warm blood slid down his throat. He drank until the power and energy that the Slayer once had overwhelmed him. He fell back, gasping for unneeded air. Darla looked impressed. "She's that good huh? I think I'll have a taste." She bent her head down and resumed where he took off. Her body soon went limp and sagged in the chair. Angel watched her drink and drink, his blood beginning to boil.
"Stop!" he yelled in a voice so chilling it could've frozen hell over. "You let her go, now!" he watched Darla slink away from the lifeless body, her body shaking with fear. He walked over to Buffy, a pain ripping through him at the sight of his ex-lover. Her blood must've given me a soul, he thought. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he pulled a lock of hair out of her face.
Spike heard Angel yelling as he cautiously walked up the stairs. The sod is crying over Buffy�er�the Slayer. I shouldn't be calling my mortal enemy by her name. How could I think that, he thought. To his surprise, he felt sorry also when he saw Buffy. He suppressed tears and walked over to where Angel stood. "If you want, I can help her." Spike said softly.
"You can?" Angel asked hopefully.
"Yeah I can. I need to get her out of here though."
Angel nodded in understanding. He grabbed a knife off of a nearby table and cut the ropes, which had held her to the chair. Spike picked her up gingerly and walked to the stairs when Dru stepped in front of him, blocking his path. "Dru," Angel called. "Get out of his way!" Dru looked back and forth between Spike and Angel. She reluctantly stepped aside and watched Spike continue on his way.
Spike walked quickly to the hospitals emergency room. He shifted her body in his arms so that he could take her pulse. He felt one; faint, but a definite pulse. He quickened his pace when the hospital came into view.
Oz climbed a tree outside the mansions window, followed by Willow then Xander. "I'm not climbing a tree in this outfit, sorry, not happening." Cordelia hissed as she watched them ascend into the branches.
"Fine, but don't blame us if you're dead when we come back." Willow hissed back.
Cordelia looked around nervously before scrambling up the tree after them.
"Are you family?" A nurse asked Spike in the waiting room.
"I'm all she has left, if that's what you mean."
"Right then." She looked him over. "Follow me." Spike followed the nurse down a long corridor. She was plump with rosy cheeks and green eyes. Her red hair was piled up on the top of her head in a messy bun. Her hair had long since lost its luster and had stray, broken wisps of hair frizzing out in all directions. They turned into yet, another hallway when she stopped outside a door. "Here she is." She nodded in the direction of the door.
Angel was sobbing. How could he have done that? To Buffy, his ex-lover! True when they slept together, he had lost his soul and has done horrid things to so many innocent people. How could he have hurt them? What did they do to deserve torture and death? Nothing, absolutely nothing. But how could he hurt Buffy? The one person the safety of the world depended on. Without her, the world would've ended years ago. But she almost died tonight. Wait? How did he know she wasn't dead! For all he knew, she was dead when Spike carried her out of here. How could he let Spike take her away! If she wasn't dead when she left, she probably was now. You could never trust Spike. Just then Oz, Willow, Xander, and Cordelia burst into the room. "Where's Buffy?" Willow demanded, surprising herself with the strength and determination in her voice. Angel didn't reply. He just sat there sobbing in a crumpled heap. "Where is Buffy!" Willow's eyes clouded over and you could almost feel the temperature rise with her anger.
"I don't know!" Angel gasped between sobs. I almost killed her� and then� Spike took her�"
"Spike did what!" Xander exploded. "Where! Where did he take her!" Xander grabbed Angel's shoulders and shook them vigorously.
"I�I don't know." Angel started sobbing even louder. "I almost killed her. It's all my fault. All my fault."
"Come on," Oz said, grabbing Xander's arm. "He's not much help to us. We need to find Buffy before something happens to her." Xander reluctantly stood up and yanked his arm away from Oz. He stormed down the stairs and the heard the front door slam shut.
"Hey you," Spike said softly.
"Spike, what are you doing here?" she demanded groggily. "What am I doing here? What is this, where is this? This better not have something�"
"Calm down, pet." Spike cut her off. "This is the hospital."
"Hospital, what am I doing in a hospital?"
"You were under Dru's thrall. Angelus and Darla almost drained you dry, I think Angelus got his soul back or something 'cause he was crying like the sodding git he is when I took you away from his precious mansion."
Buffy reached up to feel her neck. "Angel did this to me?" she whispered with tears welling up in her eyes.
"Hey, come on, don't," he walked over to her and took her hand. "It wasn't soul-boy. You can�t blame him. He would've never want to hurt you. In fact, as soon as he got a soul, he started yelling at everyone to back off."
"Really?" Buffy asked, a small smile showing her white teeth. God, Spike thought incredulously. She's even beautiful when she cries.
"Maybe she's at the hospital," Willow said hopefully. They had checked all of the crypts, their places, bars, parks, graveyards, and any other place they thought he might have gone first. They hadn�t found a trace of him or Buffy.
"He better!" Xander seethed. "If she's not there�"
"Look!" Cordelia said, pointing at the hospital doors. They saw Spike lighting a cigarette.
They hurried over to where he stood and Xander slammed him into the wall. "Where's Buffy?"
"She's in there." Spike said, motioning towards the door.
"If you did anything to�"
"If I did anything to her, why would I've brought her to the hospital."
"He has a point," Oz said.
Xander released him harshly. They four walked through the sliding doors to make sure that Buffy was okay.
Buffy stared up at the ceiling. She kept thinking about what she and Spike had talked about. He was right that she couldn't blame Angel for his demons actions, especially without a soul. But she was the reason he didn't have a soul. Spike told her that she couldn't have known that he would've been evil once she slept with him. Spike comforted her. Spike. Of all people to be nice to her and help her, it had to be her mortal enemy. When the nurse came and said that his time was up he kissed her. He kissed her forehead and told her that he would be back the next day and left, without turning back. Just left, disappearing into the night leaving her alone. All it did was make her want him more.
Xander, Willow, Oz, and Cordelia walked up to the nurses' station. "Hi, we're here to see a Miss Summers." Xander said.
"And you would be�?" the nurse inquired.
"Distant cousins," Cordelia stated. "Why?"
The nurse gave them a skeptical look before saying, "Right this way."
Angel packed all of his things. He told Dru, Darla, and their many minions to go to Las Vegas, have a vacation. They agreed easily and disappeared in a matter of moments. He rubbed his eyes, puffy from crying. He decided to skip town and go into L.A. just one more place where there are many evil vamps and stuff. He gave his apartment one last look-over before saying goodbye to the mansion.
The four Scoobies crowded into the small hospital room. Buffy looked at them happily, "Hi guys."
"Hi!" Willow returned cheerfully. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. If you can call being bitten by your ex okay."
"That sucks," Oz said plainly.
"Yeah� how'd you guys find me?"
"Well, we pretty much covered every place you could've been. So, we figured you were either taken out of town, or ended up here. And here we are." Xander said.
"Here you are." Buffy agreed. They talked for a few minutes more.
"Well, it's late. We're gonna go." Willow said.
"Okay, bye." Buffy said softly to an empty room. She sighed and went to sleep.
Buffy opened her eyes. It was almost pitch-black in the room. She groaned and pushed herself up into a sitting position. When her eyes got adjusted to the darkness, she saw a slumped figure sitting in a chair at the foot of the bed. She reached to push the light button on her watch, but touched skin. She turned her arm over so that the palm was facing the ceiling and traced an IV needle disappearing into her skin. She cursed a little louder than she meant to, "God Damn!"
"I hope she's okay." Xander said.
"I'm sure she's fine," Willow said. The gang had gone over to Angel's mansion, but found it deserted. They headed over to Giles. They needed to report their night's experiences for the Watcher's Diary.
"Slayer, what the hell are you doing?"
She fumbled around on the small table on the right side of her bed. "I'm trying to find my watch!" Spike got up and flipped on the light switch. "There it is!" She was going to put it on when she remembered the needle in her arm. "Do you think they'd get mad if I pulled out this needle?"
"Yeah, I think they'd get mad." He said in a matter-of-fact tone.
A doctor walked in. He picked up her chart and leafed through the pages. "Good news, Ms. Summers. You can go home today."
"Does that mean I can take the needle out of my arm?"
"Yes, it does!"
"Yay, and I get to take all of this other stuff too?"
"Yes siree Bob!" He watched her pull out the needle and breathing piece, and every other piece of medical equipment that was on her, except for the gown.
"Umm, where are my clothes?" she asked sheepishly. He motioned towards a small heap of clothes in a nearby chair. "Thanks."
"You can walk to the nurses station when you're ready to leave." She nodded in response and watched him walk out of the door.
She slid off the bed and onto the floor, her bare toes touching the floor first. "Aaahhhh," she brought her arms up to shoulder-level, as if she were wading through waist-deep water. After getting a strange look from Spike, she added, "It's really cold!" He nodded his understanding and she waddled over to her clothes. She pulled her pants on under the gown then looked expectantly at Spike. "Are you going to turn around now or what?" she demanded.
He looked at her with amusement. He turned around and faced the wall while she changed into her top. "Are you done yet, Slayer?"
"Yeah, I'm done." He turned around and saw her putting on her sneakers. "I just wanted to thank you, for helping me and all."
"Don't mention it. Shall we?" he opened the door.
She nodded and followed Spike out into the hall. "Spike?" she asked shyly. "You wanna do something tonight? I mean like a drink or something like that. I mean if you're not doing anything, but if you are, or don't want to�"
"I'd love to� Buffy."
"Really?"
"Yeah." He took her hand and entwined it with his.