Something Gray chapter 12/26

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Chapter 12

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Giles was already asleep when the girls brought Spike to the door and began to knock rather loudly.

“Yes, Spike, I am coming! Good Lord, I let the fiend stay here in safety and he insists on going out all hours flaunting his presence, then doesn’t even bother to take the key I so generously let him borrow,” he muttered in irritation. The Watcher was feeling decidedly put upon by his unwelcome houseguest. “Really, if he feels safe enough to carouse all night, it’s high time he find another place to live.”

That thought brought a smile to his face as he shuffled to the door. He was still grinning as he pulled the door open. His smile quickly faded as he took in Buffy, covered in blood, her arm around an unconscious Spike. Indeed, he was so upset he did not notice Anya there at first.

“Giles, the very least you could do is take Spike from us and let me get home to Xander,” the forced Samaritan said. “Really, there is a reason they call it dead weight, you know. I don’t have Buffy’s Slayer strength and am quite sure Xander wouldn’t approve of my helping in this situation anyway.”

“Yes, yes, of course, come in, come in. Just place him on the sofa and I’m sure we will do just splendidly without your continued assistance. Feel free to return home to Xander in all due haste, Anya,” Giles said with some annoyance. “Buffy, my dear, are you quite all right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just got pulled into saving Spike’s undead ass from a gang of drunken frat boys. At least that’s what this girl said happened. It was all over by the time we got to the Bronze.” Buffy helped lower Spike onto the overstuffed sofa and continued, “this kinda nervous girl came running up to Willow–I think she’s in a class with Will or something–and said there was a guy murdered in the alley. It was Spike and he was unconscious. I didn’t tell…um, Tara was her name, anyway…I didn’t tell her that if Spike was murdered in an alley, it was in the last century. I didn’t think she wanted to know about vampires and demons on top of all the rest she’d seen tonight.”

“No, of course not. Civilians have such trouble believing anyway and there is no need to further alarm the girl,” Giles agreed. “You say Spike was set upon by a group of college lads?” He looked on in discomfort at the condition of the vampire on his sofa.

“Yeah, I haven’t really looked too closely yet, but I think they really did a number on him. This Tara said that Spike had come to her rescue in some way, if you can believe that. I don’t really know what happened, to tell you the truth. I figured I’d better get his sorry butt out of the alley before those commandos stumbled on him and we lost our chance to find out what they are all about,” Buffy said.

“Well, I’m headed to the dismal basement Xander calls home since my services aren’t needed here,” Anya said. She didn’t exactly rush out, however, as it was whites day with the laundry and the tiny apartment would reek of bleach.

“I must say that I would never have believed a group of mere humans could inflict such damage on a master vampire. It appears he was not exaggerating when he said this chip prohibits his doing any harm to human beings. This has to have been quite a blow to his ego, as well as his body,” Giles said. He looked at the bruised and broken body of the once fierce vampire and felt an unexpected surge of sympathy for his plight.

“Now we know he really is neutered, I guess,” Buffy said. She looked at Spike more closely and winced at the sight of the damage that had been done to him. ‘I hope not literally,’ she amended to herself.

Buffy frowned. “He makes me crazy a lot, but I wouldn’t have done this to him. Stake him, sure…beat him half to death, no. Giles, these guys couldn’t have known he’s a vampire. They must have thought they were beating up another human being. God, they had to have thought they murdered some guy and just left his body there! Maybe that girl is right and some kind of justice needs to happen. I mean they might do something like this again when someone pisses them off and really kill someone,” she reasoned.

“Until he regains consciousness, we won’t know what happened or who was involved. That, of course, is provided that we can be sure his story will be the truth in any form,” he sighed. “Let’s get him cleaned up and try to stop the bleeding before my sofa is thoroughly ruined. He’s going to be in a great deal of pain for some time, I fear. And I had so hoped to get him to move on. Ah, well, after he heals up, he can shop about for some nice nest or tomb or something other than my home,” Giles mused.

“I think I’m gonna’ pass on the whole cleaning Spike’s body show, if you don’t mind, Giles. I don’t think I wanna see all the parts that need fixin’.” She pushed down the heat that flushed her body at the thought of what parts might be revealed and what those might look like. They had certainly felt wonderful under Willow’s spell. Buffy had given THAT far too much thought already without a visual. “I’m gonna head back to the dorms and check on Willow and that Tara girl. Maybe I’ll hear some more on what happened tonight.”

“Yes, do that, Buffy. Naturally, I wouldn’t expect you to, ahem, assist in any unseemly way with tending to his injuries. Perhaps this girl can offer some more information on what occurred. At least we will have another source besides Spike for the whole story,” he said softly. “Would you mind heating up some blood before you go, however. He’s going to need quite a bit if he’s going to heal properly and I’d like to start that process as soon as possible.”

“Sure thing,” Buffy said with a quick smile. “One thermos of Piggy Dew coming up,” she quipped. “Do you have enough, or should I stop by Willy’s?”

“I believe we have enough for tonight. Thank you, Buffy.”

Buffy heated the blood and left Giles to the job of tending to Spike’s many injuries.

“How the mighty have fallen,” Giles thought to himself as he began to pull away the clothing from the fallen vampire’s wounds. Giles was sure he’d seen worse beatings, but he couldn’t remember when as wound after wound was revealed.

Originally posted at http://seasonal-spuffy.livejournal.com/198367.html