Daymare
by Kirasmommy

"It came around here!" Xander called out.

Spike looked over at him and grimaced. The Whelp was running to the opposite
side of the platform. What was he even doing here, yeah all was apparently
forgiven and they had let him help out again. But why was he even here?

They were very high up on the platform and he looked over the rail. A
concrete floor was at ground level and there were many machines. He had no
idea what they did, but they were large and were working without any humans
about. The factory appeared to be mostly automated. He held onto the rail as
he made his way over to the others. {Tara shouldn't be here, not in her
condition. If something spooked her she could fall over the side before any
of us could catch her.}

Tara muttered to herself over and over again as Willow led her by the hand.
The mad god known as Glory had destroyed Tara's mind. He shook his head.
What a waste, she had been such a promising witch. All that was left now was
a shadow of what she had once been. {It is going to break the little red
witch's heart to have to restrain her some bad night.}

Xander called out again. "HURRY! It is getting away!"

{What are we chasing again?} Spike wondered as he slowly made his way across
the slick feeling platform.

Buffy ran past him and he turned to tell her to slow down. She smiled at him
and told him he worried about nothing. She went through a door at the end of
the platform following the witches.

"Spike hurry up!" Xander said backing up.

"No!" Spike started reaching out a hand.

Xander lost his footing and went over the side.

"NO!" Spike felt his knees go out from under him as he heard the sickening
thud from below.

He couldn't move. He wanted to check to see if maybe somehow Xander had
survived the fall but he also didn't want to see. Didn't want to see the
body he knew was lying there dead.

He covered his eyes as he felt the grief well up.

He sat up gasping for unneeded air. {Oh god, that was bad.}

Laying back he tried to close his eyes but every time he did he could see
Xander fall and hear the thud. {Bloody hell that should be a good dream.
What the...}

He dressed quickly grabbing his blanket and wrapping it around his head. He
didn't even remember the drive as he stood in front of Xander's apartment.
He knocked hesitantly feeling foolish. {It was just a bad dream.}

Xander opened the door bleary eyed. "What the hell do you want Spike?"

Spike opened and closed his mouth uncertainly.

Xander started to close the door.

"I just wanted to see if you were all right." Spike blurted out.

Xander rubbed his tousled hair absently and yawned. "You woke me up to see
if I was okay? Why?"

"I had...a bad...dream." Spike played with the edges of the blanket.

"Well I'm fine." Xander told him. "Surprised you care."

"So...so am I." Spike whispered.

Xander's face softened. "Must have been pretty bad to shake you up this
much."

Spike nodded once.

"Well I'm just fine. See no problems." Xander smiled shyly reaching out and
taking Spike's hand. "See all in one piece."

Spike squeezed Xander's hand and smiled back. "Sorry I woke you Pet."

"No problem." Xander turned around to go back in his apartment.

Spike moaned as he saw the blood dripping from Xander's head. He tentatively
sniffed the air and smelled nothing. {This is a dream...oh god this is just
a dream!}

Spike sat up abruptly. "Just another fucking dream!"

Spike kicked off the covers and stormed out of the crypt. He stumbled over a
headstone he didn't remember being there.

Alexander Lavelle Harris

Spike felt the dirt under his hands. "No, no, no, no...oh god no!"

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"Poor Spike." Tara said quietly. She tenderly reached out and touched his
head.

He flinched away and continued to mutter. "Don't fall pet, don't fall...long
way down. Flat as a pancake pet..."

Willow brought the ice pack over and placed it gently over his eye. "Glory
really did a number on him."

"Xander are you sure you will be okay taking care of Spike?" Giles asked.

"Yeah I'm sure. It is the least I can do for him. I mean the reason he's
like this is because he didn't give us up to her. He protected the key. What
kind of monster would I be to turn him away?" Xander sat down next to the
broken vampire. "Besides I kind of have a soft spot for him."

Buffy knelt in front of Spike, "Spike can you hear me?"

Spike smiled and reached for Xander's hand. "We have to hide the key. Poor
Tara. Hide the key. Tara isn't the key. Hide the key."

Xander put his arm around Spike. "He must really love you. Not many people
would survive that kind of torture..."

Buffy nodded. "I didn't believe him. I feel so bad now."

Spike squeezed Xander's hand. "Love...love is important. Don't fall down
Pet! Glory's hands."

"Will he ever get better?" Dawn asked tearfully.

"We don't know, we just don't know. Vampires are amazingly resilient. He may
come out of it." Giles told her gently.

Anya shrugged. "Drusilla is pretty nutty though."

"What?" Anya asked as everyone in the room glared at her including Xander.

Xander gathered Spike up as Giles handed him a cooler of blood. "It has been
drugged to keep him calm. You may have to restrain him at night. If you
notice any improvement please call..."

Xander nodded.

Spike frowned. "Her gift is death. I was wrong I don't want her. I don't
want death. I want life."

"Yeah Spike, I would love to see what is going on in your world." Xander
said sadly.

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the end