Chapter 35: “In Too Deep”
Giles
had taken it upon himself to exit the den where Angel and Buffy were still
having their chat so he could check on Spike.
Despite his distaste for the wounded vampire he still felt the need to
make sure he was alright. He was after
all the father to his slayer’s baby, the very girl that was like a daughter to
him. He was worried for her as well. Angel had been right in his assessment that
something was changing between Spike and Buffy. Buffy was becoming careless in her actions and
her duty as a slayer was being buried away in the process.
Giles
stepped into the bedroom just as Spike was coming to from his spot on the
floor. Both men locked eyes before
glancing in a different direction and busying themselves.
“Buffy
will be alright you didn’t hurt her,” Giles told him while he watched the
injured vamp get up off the floor.
Spike
once again locked eyes with Giles and scoffed, “Don’t rightly remember asking
if she was okay. Don’t rightly care.”
“She
came over as soon as she heard something happened to you last night,” Giles
went on, pretending not to have heard Spike’s comment. “She seems to feel that your accident last
night was her fault. Why she feels this
way I’m not sure, but she does. I think
it would make her feel better to know that you will heal.”
“Would
you stop you’re yakking already,” Spike pleaded finally getting himself back
over to the bed. “Did you not just hear
me say I could care less what the Slayer wants?
Her bloody poof of a boyfriend did this to me. Let her deal with that.”
In
two strides Giles was pinning Spike down on the bed by the neck, his other hand
placed gently over the fresh wound in the vampires chest. He pushed on the wound with one finger
bringing forth a look of intense pain from Spike, who was gripping at the wrist
of the hand wrapped tightly around his neck.
“Don’t
you dare mock her distress,” Giles spat out, pressing on the wound a little bit
more. “Angel may have missed but I can assure
you that I won’t.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“He’s
not controlling me,” Buffy whispered over the lip of her tea cup.
Angel
had stopped talking after they both realized Giles was no longer in the
room. For some reason his lack of
presence made them both feel vulnerable, open.
They both needed that third body to prevent them from admitting the
truth to each other, the truth that was nagging both of them since Spike had
become a big part of her life. The truth
that both of them had drifted apart, that they were no more.
“What
did you say?” Angel asked drawing his attention away from the empty hallway he
had been glancing down.
“I
don’t know what is going on between me and Spike, but I do know that I still
have some control over my actions,” Buffy spoke up a little more clearly. “He isn’t going to kill me. I won’t let him.”
“How
can you be so sure Buffy,” Angel argued, wanting so badly to believe in her own
confidence. But, his distrust for Spike
was leading him in a different direction. “He has killed a Slayer before.”
“Why
don’t you believe me? Why are you
turning your back on me now when I need you most? I still don’t have all the answers; I am not
sure why this is happening or how to fix things.”
“Maybe
you aren’t supposed to know,” Angel reasoned.
“I
know that my life is different,” Buffy stated.
“I have known this since I was told my destiny of being a Slayer. But, I want to know about this,” she pointed
to her belly. “I want to know what is to
become of this, what this baby means. I
think I have earned that much.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Giles
tossed the old, bloody bandage into the waste basket. His aggressive behavior had caused Spike’s
wound to reopen and the bleeding to start anew.
When the vampire had passed out from all the pain Giles positioned him
back onto the bed and changed his dressing.
He was just about done watching his hands in the bathroom when he heard
Spike stirring on the bed.
Giles
came back into the room carrying a towel with him as he dried off his
hands. He studied Spike for a moment
before removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes with his palm.
“You
are to stay away from her,” Giles instructed to Spike still rubbing at his
eyes. He really didn’t get a wink of
sleep last night and already he was feeling its effects.
“She
doesn’t need any of your tricks right now,” he added. “None of us do.”
Spike
groaned a little as he tried to sit up in the bed. This was not an easy thing to do seeing as
how his left side felt completely numb from all the blood he had lost.
“W-why,”
Spike managed to cough out through the dizziness he was feeling. “Why don’t you tell her all this,
Ripper? Seems to me that she keeps
coming back for more, she keeps bloody begging for it. Bloody pathetic if you ask me.”
Giles
gently set down the towel he still held in his hands on the nightstand. He replaced his glasses back on the bridge of
his nose and softly cleared his throat.
Spike
grunted when he felt Giles push him back down against the bed, all the pressure
on his left shoulder where most of his pain could be felt.
“You
forget that we are in a room alone,” Giles reminded him. “I will stake you despite the risk I take knowing
Buffy will hate me. I am willing to do
it because I know that over time she will forgive me.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johnny
stared, enthralled by the tiny object he held in his hand. Apparently Dru had found it in one of the
abandoned rooms of the mansion. He had
caught her playing with it, shaking it in front of Miss Edith. Now the damn thing was in his possession and
he couldn’t seem to let it go now.
“Hey.
Johnny?”
Johnny
growled at the unwelcome intrusion.
“What is it?”
The
minion cleared his throat quickly.
The
minion stepped further into the room and made his way to the sofa chair Johnny
managed to occupy most of these days.
He caught sight of the rattle twirling on Johnny’s finger and laughed
without even thinking.
“What
the hell do you want?!” Johnny growled a second time, glaring at the lowly
minion whose name he could not remember.
Not that it mattered much anyway, gave him more of a reason to kill the
bastard without consequence to his plan.
“You
asked me to tell you when Dru was in one of her trances.”
“Yes?” Johnny sighed impatiently, waiting for the
minion to get to the point.
“She’s
been running in and out of all the rooms looking for something.” The minion spoke. “It’s starting to bother some of us.”
“Have
you even bothered to listen to what she might be saying?”
“You
know how it is Johnny. Half the things she
says when she isn’t in a trance never make sense
anyway.”
Johnny
threw the rattle against the wall causing it to crack and fall with thud onto
the floor. He whirled around on the
minion and lifted him up by his shirt collar.
“I
didn’t come all the way to Sunnydale so you idiots could have a vacation. Dru is trying to tell me something,
something big that is happening with the Slayer.”
“I
understand Johnny.” The minion choked
out, trying hard not to show how scared he was.
“Do
you?” Johnny wondered. “Do you really? I think maybe I need to use you as an example
to the others about how serious I am taking this.”
“What
do you mean Johnny?”
Johnny
curled his lip and chuckled. “Let me
show you what I mean.” He finally
replied pulling the minion with him out of the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Why
does this have to be happening?” Buffy
moaned, running a hand through her hair.
“I am so tired of all the questions everyone keeps throwing at me and
yet no one has answered a one of mine.”
“It
will take time Buffy,” Angel offered.
Buffy
laughed. “Like I have
all the time in the world Angel.”
She set down the cup she still held in her hand and glanced down at her
stomach. “I’m not even showing you
know.”
Angel
watched her as she smoothed her shirt over her stomach, showing how flat it
still was. “How far along are you
supposed to be?”
“Four
months.” She looked up at him. “Don’t women start showing a little at four
months?”
“You’re
asking the wrong person.”
“I
really want this Angel,” She confessed to him, softly laughing at how silly she
sounded even to herself. “As insane as that
sounds but it makes me feel more normal than I have ever felt in a long time.”
Angel
made his way around the couch that he had been standing by to get closer to
her. “You are normal Buffy. You are the all-American girl living in
She
smiled and nodded. “With
a baby on the way. I guess I do
fall into the larger percentage of teenage girl statistics with that one.”
“I
don’t bloody well care what you think watcher.”
Both Angel and Buffy heard Spike yell before appearing from the hallway
in front of them.
Spike
saw Buffy and growled low in his throat.
Angel heard this and positioned his body between the two of them to stop
Spike in case he tried to do anything.
“Are
we back to making googily eyes at each other
then?” Spike scoffed leaning his body
against the wall for support. He was
still feeling a little weak from the loss of blood the night before and the
beating he just got from Giles. As bad
as he hurt though he was not willing to stick it out at the watchers house just
so he could get better faster.
“Pathetic.”
“Where
are you going Spike?” Buffy questioned, walking around Angel and closer to
Spike. She ignored the snarls that came
from him as she got closer and closer.
“Away
from the lot of you like I had been planning last night until the poofter over
here decided to interfere.”
“You
aren’t going anywhere Spike.” Giles
commented from behind him. “Considering
your state right now and the fact that it is light outside you wouldn’t make it
more then 10 feet before collapsing or burning.”
Spike
rolled his eyes before pushing himself off the wall he had been leaning on and
started to walk towards the door. He
stopped in his tracks when Buffy placed herself square in front of him. He tried to walk around her the other way but
she stopped him again.
“Don’t
make me hurt you Slayer.” He warned.
“I’d
like to see you try.” She challenged
before remembering what he had done in the bedroom earlier and adding. “Again.”
“Why
don’t you give your Slayer the same advice you gave me,” Spike suggested to
Giles over his shoulder.
“Buffy
I think it would be best if you left right now,” Giles commented placing his
hands in his pocket before looking up at her and finishing what he had to
say. “You’re being around Spike right
now is not helping the situation that he is in.”
Buffy
started to argue with Giles but was interrupted by the door swinging open and
slamming into the wall. Xander rushed in with Cordelia slowly walking
in the door behind him, a look of annoyance on her face.
Xander
opened his mouth to speak but halted when he saw the state that Spike was
in. “Not that I really care about him
but what the hell happened to Spike?”
“Angelus
tried to kill me last night.”
Xander
swung his attention to Angel and held his hands out beside him. “Come on Angel, where was my invite? I thought we were both on the same boat when
it came to Spike.”
“Xander!” Cordelia yelled rolling her
eyes. “Will you please just tell them
about the thing that
“Right,” Xander said getting
his thoughts back on track. “But it
would be better if I show you.
“Can
“She
could but then we would have to lug all the books again and….”
“And
I am not breaking another nail for you.”
Cordelia piped in.
“Fine.” Buffy finally relented. “How are we going to get Spike over
there? Its
light outside.”
“Never
said I wanted to go.” Spike mumbled
under his shallow breath.
“I
will stay here with Spike,” Angel offered.
“Giles can go with you and come back here to let us know what you guys
found out.”
Buffy
nodded her head. Giles got together some
of his notes and they all filed out the door leaving Spike and Angel standing
in the den both watching the door as it closed shut.
“Along again. How about another go at trying
to kill me?”
