Seven Stages to Clarity Chapter 7

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Chapter 7
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A/N: “I Was Made to Love You” (written by Jane Espenson), “The Body” (written by Joss Whedon), “Forever” (written by Marti Noxon) and “Intervention” (written by Jane Espenson)

From NIH: “Most aneurysms do not show symptoms until they either become very large or burst. Small, unchanging aneurysms generally will not produce symptoms, whereas a larger aneurysm that is steadily growing may press on tissues and nerves. Symptoms may include pain above and behind the eye; numbness, weakness, or paralysis on one side of the face; dilated pupils; and vision changes. When an aneurysm hemorrhages, an individual may experience a sudden and extremely severe headache, double vision, nausea, vomiting, stiff neck, and/or loss of consciousness. Individuals usually describe the headache as “the worst headache of my life” and it is generally different in severity and intensity from other headaches people may experience. “Sentinel” or warning headaches may result from an aneurysm that leaks for days to weeks prior to rupture. Only a minority of individuals have a sentinel headache prior to aneurysm rupture.”

~*~*~*~

A robot! A bloody robot! No wonder the pint-sized girl had tossed him through the window like he was a crumpled bit of paper! “Seems this could be helpful, love.”
Spike’s mind was working overtime. “Whoever built this thing has skills, mad skills. Could come in handy in the fight against Glory.”

“Yeah, you just want to track him down so you can have a dolly all your own for sick and evil purposes,” Xander sneered. “You can’t fool anyone, Spike!” He hated seeing the vampire becoming more and more accepted within the group. Even Giles had asked the Evil Undead his opinion on dimensions, for Pete’s sake!

Spike glared at the boy and then remembered what Joyce had advised. “Don’t project your fantasies on me, Harris. I’m thinkin’ this Glory bint is lookin’ for a key, right? Well, why not build her one?”

Giles looked up from his book with interest. “Just what do you have in mind, Spike?”

“Figure we have the bloke build us a robot and put just enough magic on it to make the hellbitch think it’s her Key. Get the Bit out of town, somewhere safe, and work it from there.”

Willow nodded, deep in thought. “You know, that might actually work. Glory will read the magic vibes and think it’s how those monks hid her Key.” She grinned. “That could really fool her for a while.”

“All the time we need to get Dawn somewhere out of her reach and figure out how to put the skank down for good,” Spike preened.

“According to what I’ve been reading here, there is a narrow window for Glory to open the door to her dimension with this Key anyway. Yes, it just might buy us enough time to thwart her plan entirely.” He blinked at the idea that they might have to thank Spike for figuring out a way to deal with this mess and was surprised that offering those thanks didn’t rankle nearly as much as he would have expected.

“I hope Buffy finds the guy soon, because who knows how long it would take him to build another robot as believable as the one we saw last night?” Tara squeezed Willow’s hand in excitement.

“Any thoughts on where we could send Dawn and under what pretext?” Giles wondered why none of them had though to move the girl from the onset.

There was silence around the table as each of them tried to think of the best plan.

“If I were still a vengeance demon I could send her to another plane,” Anya lamented. “Too bad you had to destroy my power center.” She glared at Giles.

“Angel,” Spike said and everyone turned to the door expecting to see his looming figure there.

“The old wanker isn’t good for much, but he could watch over the Bit, for a while at least. Not too far away, but just enough maybe to do the trick.”

“Yes, but would Angel be able to protect her properly?”

“Hopin’ it won’t come to that. Make Glory focus on the bot, meanwhile Dawn lays around in the LA sun and gets a nice tan.”

“It just might work.” Giles smiled.

~*~

Spike tossed the smoking blanket in the corner and called out cheerfully, “Joyce?” Nothing to perk up the patient more than knowing they were on to a plan to protect her youngest.

Joyce came into the room, clearly a bit unsteady on her feet. She leaned against the wall and tried to muster a smile at Spike. She had just vomited for the third time and her headache was even worse than before her tumor was removed. “I’m not feeling too well, Spike. Mind if I sit down?”

He moved in a flash to her side and tilted her head up to look at her eyes. They were dilated. “Need more than that, pet.”

He sat her down on the stairs and reached for the phone in what looked like one smooth movement. “Callin’ for the cavalry, Joyce. Think somethin’s not kosher in your noggin’ and the sooner we get the professionals on it, the better.”

He didn’t even bother with more than a short note as the paramedics loaded Joyce into the ambulance. Buffy and the rest would have to get the details at the hospital later.

~*~

Dr. Isaacs was grin but optimistic. “You should thank your lucky stars that your boyfriend was there at the time. The aneurysm was near to bursting and I doubt even immediate care from the paramedics could have saved your mother.”

Buffy was shocked and dizzy. First the robot, April, had pretty much died there on the swings and then she had returned home only to find a note to get to the hospital fast.
She had hoped all the worry over her mom was in the past, but clearly it wasn’t.
She didn’t even bother to correct the doctor’s assumption that Spike was her boyfriend. Spike’s quick actions had saved her mother’s life and that was all that mattered.

“What are her chances?”

“Pretty good, now that we know the problem and have her here. We can tie it off, a procedure called microvascular clipping. It’s likely that will do the trick, but if it requires more we can do a vascular bypass. Either way, your mom will be in surgery for a while yet.”

If anything, the gang all looked as pale as Spike as they waited for word. Dawn was cradled in Spike’s lap and had cried herself to sleep. For once, Xander didn’t have any snark to throw the vampire’s way.

Buffy looked at her sister and the vampire who was ever surprising her, often helping her and those she loved. She felt a pang in the heart region and wondered just what it all meant.

Why couldn’t her resident menace just go back to being his old, evil, uncomplicated self? Or be good like Angel? Spike had shown that he could be. Oh, yeah…no soul.
Still, Angelus with no soul never did any good. GAAAHHHH It was just all too confusing and making her a bit crazy.

She wished the bane of her existence would just pick a side and stick with it; either put on a white hat or grab up his old black one. How could she be expected to know how to deal with Spike?

One thing for certain though, Spike had earned a place in their lives and in their trust after this day. Life without her mother was unthinkable, unsurvivable. Buffy knew that she would never be able to cope with such a loss, especially not now.

“Thank you, Spike. You saved my mom.” Buffy let the tears fall.

“Think nothin’ of it, love. I’m just thankful I got there when I did.”

“That crumb you were talking about?” Buffy looked him straight in the eye. “You’ve got it.” She saw the awe on his face.

“Didn’t do it for that. Like Joyce and wouldn’t want you to lose her,” Spike admitted quietly.

“I know. That’s why you get the crumb….not a promise, mind you, but I’m open to see how things go in the future. For certain friends.”

The hours stretched until they all felt like screaming. By the time the surgery was over and the doctor came to give the good news, they were all on their last nerve.

“So Mom’s going to be okay?” Dawn had wakened, blushing to find where she slept.

“There is always reason for concern, but it appears we’ve managed to take care of the problem in the least invasive way. Your mother’s prospects look pretty good.” The doctor smiled wearily. The surgery had been long and delicate and all Dr. Kriegel wanted was a hot bath and some sleep, not a long counseling session with concerned relatives. “Come back in the morning to check on her and we’ll give you a better idea then. Your mother will be in recovery for some time and then will be needing rest.”

Spike looked out at the still dark sky. Not too long before dawn. “Got time to do a quick patrol before running from Mr. Sun. You lot head on home for some rest and I’ll handle it.”

Giles put a restraining hand on the vampire’s arm. “I was thinking that this might be a perfect excuse for Dawn’s absence. We can notify her school and her friends that she will be staying with her father while her mother recovers. Perfectly normal and to be expected. It shouldn’t raise any alarms with Glory.”

“Still think Sir Broods-a-lot would be a better choice,” Spike cautioned.

“Indeed and it is to Angel that we shall send her. The story, however, will be that she has gone to Spain to be with her father.”

Spike nodded in agreement. It was all looking more and more believable.

~*~

Angel arrived promptly at sundown over Dawn’s protestations.

“She’s my mom too, and I don’t want to go while she’s in the hospital.” She wore her most stubborn look and folded her arms defensively.

“You’ll do Mom a lot more good knowing you’re safe than just hanging around during visiting hours. Besides, as soon as she’s out of the hospital and can move, I’ll send her there with you.” Buffy looked hopefully at Angel, who returned the look with one of resignation.

“I’ll take care of them, Buffy,” he promised. He had plenty on his plate already, cleaning up the aftermath of Harmony’s visit, dealing with Wolfram and Hart, and more issues with Cordy than he wanted to even examine. Still, it was Buffy and she needed him.

Buffy sighed and relaxed into Angel’s hug. “It’s all been so…so…hard. I mean, Mom’s the one who holds all this together. I’m good at sticking wood into unbeating hearts, not running a house and watching out for Miss Teen Spirit there.”

“So Spike’s been of no real use. No surprise there,” Angel got in a dig with a sneer.

“Hey! Not like I’ve been just sofa surfing here. Been doin’ my part,” Spike railed. “Just need the Bit somewhere that’s not here.”

“’Cause you’re always so very helpful,” Angel began.

“Spike has been a great help. Without him, my mother wouldn’t even be alive. Angel, we called you to help, not come and pick fights with Spike.”

“Thanks, love, but Angel here thinks I couldn’t organize a piss-up in a bewery.”

“I’m not sure what that means, but I am sure he’s wrong.” Buffy smiled sweetly at Spike. “You’ve helped a lot, and not just by saving mom.”

Angel looked petulant. He couldn’t figure out just how the bleached menace had managed to work his way into a place in Buffy’s life and there wasn’t enough time to deal with him just then, but sooner or later he’d get it all sorted. Buffy would expect no less.

“We’re grateful you came and are willing to help,” Buffy tried to placate her former lover.

“I’m not!” Dawn rolled her eyes and grabbed her backpack, nearly knocking over the flowers her mom’s new boyfriend had sent after their date. “I’ll be in the car.” She stalked toward the door and looked outside. “What kind of a vampire drives a convertible anyway?”

Angel hugged Buffy again and glared at Spike. ”Guess there’s no reason for you to continue to stay here then, is there?”

“Suppose not, but that’s for Buffy to decide, not you.” Spike returned the glare. He was not backing down from this issue. Angel was Buffy’s history, and if Spike had anything to do with it, HE was her future.

“Thanks again and try not to let Dawn drive you crazy.” Buffy closed the door behind them and sighed in relief. She had to believe that Dawn would be safe at least for as long as they needed to fix the whole problem of Glory.

~*~

“What about my KEY?!” Glory was losing patience with her scabby minions. So far they had learned nearly nothing.

“Your Gloriously Softness, we have information from Ben that indicated that it was a person.” It had not been easy getting that slip from Glory’s human prison, but they had rejoiced at having some news to give their mistress when they did notice it.

“So…” She smiled in hope, “The Key is in human form!”

“We believe so, Most Magnificent, ahhh, Marvel,” Jinx replied and clapped his hands. It became harder and harder to think of praises for her gloriousness without repeating. She did love new praise all the time. “We feel it must be someone close to the Slayer, someone special to her.”

“Wonderful! Now bring me that human!” Glory growled.

~*~

The gang gathered at the Magic Box waiting for Buffy to return from her visit with the recovering Joyce. “So this Warren guy says he can’t make another one?” Xander had more than one fantasy about just what he could order from the robot builder.

“He left town while we were at the hospital waiting for news about Joyce,” Tara supplied.

“What happened to the robot he did make, the one Buffy said stopped working?” Willow really wanted a look at the mechanics and programming involved in the making of that little toy.

“It’s in the basement. Buffy didn’t have the heart to treat it as so much scrap,” Giles answered.

“Hey! I could poke around in it a little, maybe get it working again. I could even try to reprogram it so it could be our fake Key!” Willow was suddenly excited.

“That could work,” Giles brightened. “Best get to work on it quickly then. I fear we are running out of time.”

~*~

“So you’re back home in your crypt then.” Joyce still held Spike’s hand gently, much to his embarrassed joy.

“Back home. Got a bit of repair to do. Seems my ex, or both of ‘em actually, took out a bit of frustration on my things.” Spike winced. Between Dru and Harmony, there was quite a mess to deal with.

“Buffy told me about Dru coming to town. I’m glad she left before you had to kill her.” Joyce understood that even though Spike now loved Buffy, a part of him would always have a tie to Drusilla. “I thought you didn’t have any other girlfriends?”

“Didn’t really. Harmony thought she was mistress of the manor for some reason, even though I kept telling the silly cow that I didn’t want her.”

Joyce remembered the funeral for Harmony Kendall. The girl had been rather lovely but, according to Buffy, vapid. “I remember her. She was quite pretty.”

“All fur coat and no knickers, that was Harm.” Spike laughed at the look of confusion on Joyce’s face. “Means nothing but the pretty face there…no substance. Not like your girl.”

“You’ll still keep an eye on Buffy, won’t you? Even with Dawn safe and away she needs you to help her with this awful Glory person.”

“No fear, Joyce, I’ll keep your girls safe as houses.”

Joyce yawned and sank into the pillows. “’Bout time I let you get a bit of kip then, eh?”

Joyce smiled and waved as her nocturnal visitor left.

{dream sequence}
Joyce writhed on the bed deep in a dream.

Glory was menacing them and Angel was still Buffy’s dearest love. The group had done everything to try to stop the hellbeast to no avail.

Joyce watched in impotent horror as Angel crept up behind Dawn and broke her neck.
“It had to be done for the greater good. Now that the Key is gone, there is no danger at all.” Angel turned his sad eyes on them all in explanation.

“But Dawnie!” Buffy began to cry in his arms.

“Dawnie never was, Buffy. It was for the greater good. I knew you couldn’t do it and so I did it for you. It was the will of the Higher Powers to sever the Key.”

Joyce screamed silently, but no one in her dream heard her. “My baby! NO!”

Then the scene changed and it was Riley at Buffy’s side. He had fought with a bit less ability as they all held Glory off as best as they could.

Finally the hellgod grabbed Riley and left with him as Joyce looked on as if a ghost.
The poor boy didn’t look good, having been beaten and questioned. His military training had kept him from revealing everything from the beginning, but he was beginning to flag.
“Tell me who the Key is and I’ll let you go. I don’t know why you are being stubborn about this. It’s not like it’s a real human,” Glory whined.

Joyce could see Riley mull that over and come to a decision. “Okay. It’s Dawn, the Slayer’s sister.”

“Quick, bring me the brat!” Glory rushed out with her minions, the broken soldier forgotten in her haste.

Joyce watched as Dawn was captured and the gang pummeled Riley with questions. “Why? How could you tell her?” Buffy raged at her boyfriend.

“Buffy, it’ll buy us time. No matter what they do to Dawn, she’s not really your sister and they’ll leave us alone to have time to plan a way to stop her from opening the dimensions.” He looked determined to make them see his point. “It was the only thing I could do; it was the right thing. Human lives were at stake.”

Joyce wept in her sleep as she watched Dawn cringe in terror at the hands of Glory.
“Spike wouldn’t do that! He’ll keep my baby–both of my babies–safe.” Joyce woke in a cold sweat. She tried to calm her breathing as she reminded herself that Spike wouldn’t fold, nor would Dawn’s origins matter to him. He knew that Buffy and she both loved Dawn, and he loved the girl himself. He would never, ever dismiss Dawn as unimportant!

~*~

Spike looked up from his housekeeping to see Xander enter. “Oh, it’s you.”

“Look, I know you’re the hero of the hour right now, what with the Joyce save-age and all, but I’m here to warn you that we won’t let you use that as a way to get into Buffy’s pants.”

“Yeah? Can’t see how it’s any business of yours.”

“It is my business because Buffy is my friend and she’s been on an emotional roller-coaster lately, not thinking clearly. You’re taking advantage of that and of her.” He marched up to Spike and stared down at him, “Spike, Buffy has a lot of friends and we love her very much. We’ll do whatever it takes to protect her and if that means dusting you, well, then that’s just a bonus.”

“Slayer know you’re here?”

“No, but that’s not the point. The point is, we’re watching you. Don’t forget that.”

The stare-down was interrupted by the arrival of a herd of hobbits. “Gentlemen,” began Jinx in a sarcastic tone, “I’m sorry to interrupt but I wondered if I might have a moment of your time.”

Xander went down like a sack of potatoes after a kick to the chin by the surprisingly strong demon. Suddenly the crypt was alive with the little buggers and Spike did his best fending off the blows. Still, there were simply too many to keep control of the fight and he found himself restrained before he had killed more than half of them.

“Tie his hands! Glory will want him restrained,” Jinx ordered. “Take care, she will want the Key intact.”

~*~

Glory shot up from the sofa where she was window shopping from Vogue. “What the hell is THAT?”

“O Stunning One, we believe he is…THE KEY!”

“Really? Fantabulous!” She sniffed at Spike and gave her minions a dirty look. “And also impossible. He can’t be the Key, because the Key has to be pure.” She sniffed once more. “This is a vampire. Lesson one: vampires equal impure.”

“Damned right I’m impure.” Spike kept the quiver of fear out of his voice, to his pleasure. “I’m as impure as the driven yellow snow. Let me go.”

“But Your Holiness, we notice how the Slayer had this one living in her own home! The Slayer of Vampires has had him at her side nearly all the time since we first realized she held the Key. Surely there is no reason for the Slayer to host a vampire unless it isn’t really a vampire at all?”

Glory looked over Spike one more time with greater interest. “Maybe there’s something on the inside….” She ran a sharp fingernail over his chest, drawing blood.

“Sod off!” Spike gave her his best defiant look, one that always infuriated Angelus back in the day.

“Let’s take a peek at you, see what I can dig out.” She flung Spike across the room and onto her bed, following right after. Her finger was inside his stomach before he could so much as move. He screamed in agony as she rooted around inside. The pain was searing.

~*~

“I’m telling you he’ll sing like a canary.” Xander winced as Anya applied an icepack on his chin.

Buffy paced in agitation. Glory had finally struck. “But why Spike?”

“Because he’s a vampire and therefore evil. She likely realizes he is the best choice to give her the information she seeks.” Giles ignored Buffy’s frown of annoyance. “While I doubt Spike would have ever volunteered the information unsolicited, it isn’t unthinkable that he might well tell Glory what she wants to know given the right circumstances.”

“Like torture,” Anya nodded in agreement. “Vampires can take a lot of torture, but pain is still pain and when there is no pleasure to follow, most vampires don’t like it any more than any human does.”

“We have to get to him and kill him before he spills everything he knows.” Xander pushed Anya aside and headed for the weapons chest.

“There will be no dusting until we know what’s really going on, got that?” Buffy looked positively determined. “If it has to happen, I’ll do it, not you.” She just hoped her vampire was still of the undusty variety.

Willow looked nervously at her two best friends. “We don’t even know where to look.”
“I think I know where to start,” Buffy replied remembering the snake monster and the area it was headed when she stopped it.

~*~

Spike had not fared well. Every inch of his body was either broken, bruised or bloodied, and he was almost hoping her next trick involved a cylinder of wood meeting his chest. The crazy bint could give Angelus lessons in torture.

He hung from her ceiling from chains that were as strong and tight as any the Council might have used had they been lucky enough to get the drop on him. Glory drew a small dagger and made a deep cut in his chest as Spike yelled in pain. “Think I can do you in one long strip?”

Dusting was one thing, but being skinned and left alive was quite another. Spike had to get away or find some other way to goad the bitch into killing him. He coughed up a bit of blood. “Enough,” he said weakly, “No more. I’ll tell you who the sodding Key is.” He broke off in a fit of coughing, making any speech impossible.

Glory was so eager to get the information she gave him a sip of her wine to soothe the cough. “Better? Think you can talk again?” Spike nodded. “Good, because I’m tired of all these games.” She broke the wineglass and jammed it into his cheek for emphasis. “You’re a very needy little bloodsucker and that’s not very attractive.”

Glory’s voice at the last sounded a bit weak to Spike and he took heart. He watched as the hellgod swayed and clutched her head. “Not now!”

Suddenly there stood the young doctor who had comforted his Bit when she ran away, the one who had helped with Joyce. The doctor was Glory! Ever since they had learned that the hellgod was encased in a human prison, they had tried to think of how they could get her to reveal her more vulnerable self to them. Now she had and Spike wasn’t able to let anyone else know.

Her minions rushed to steady their goddess and the young man shoved them aside. “Don’t touch me!” He looked at Spike in bewilderment. “What’s my sister been up to now?” Before he could reach the chains binding Spike, the transformation came over him and once more Glory stood before the bleeding vampire.

“Where was I? Oh, yeah…” She grabbed Spike’s chin and squeezed. “So start talkin’.”

“Right, the Key. Here’s the thing…” He wracked his brain trying to think of a good stall or something guaranteed to get him staked. He tested the chains again and felt a slight give when he pulled hard. He worked it as he stumbled through a bluff.

“It’s that guy on TV, what’s his name?”

“On the television?”

“Yeah, that soap opera with the witch. Plays the doll, midget or something.”

Murk looked gleeful. “Passions, yes! We have seen this Passions. Josh Ryan Evans plays this Timmy you speak of!” Jinx clapped excitedly as Murk continued, “We will bring you the limp and broken body of this actor.”

Glory had had enough. “It’s not this Tommy. The Key is new to this world and this soap has been on for a couple of years,” She glared at a laughing Spike. “What, you think you’re the only one with free time to kill in the afternoon? The vampire is obviously lying.”

Spike mustered up a slight giggle. “Yeah, but it was fun and guess what, bitch?” He continued to loosen the chains on his wrists as he distracted her into fury. “I’m not telling you jack. You’re never gonna get your soddin’ Key. I had no idea that gods were such prancing lightweights. Mark my words, the Slayer is going to kick your skanky, lopsided ass back to whatever place would take a cheap, whorish, fashion victim ex-god like you.”

Her spin kick was brilliant and landed smack in the middle of his chest causing him to crash through the apartment door and out into the hall. “Good plan, Spike,” he half-congratulated himself.

Glory yelled for her shocked minions to retrieve the escapee as Spike limped his way down the hall to the elevator. He managed to pry it open and fall through just as Murk came around the corner and saw his escape route.

By the time the elevator had descended and Spike stumbled/fell his way out of it, the lobby of the apartment building was crawling with Scoobies. Spike was even glad to see Xander! He let himself just go with the pain and collapsed knowing he was not going to be of any help in this fight at all.

~*~

Buffy finished up the minions and tore through the now vacant apartment searching for the bitch-in-heels who threatened her family and now had done such damage to her vampire. Glory was nowhere to be found, however. Neither were Spike, Giles and Xander by the time she returned to the lobby.

“Where’d they go?”

“They took Spike out of here. Said they’d meet us back at the Magic Box,” Willow informed her. “Did you get Glory?”

“No, she got away.” Buffy sighed in exasperation. “I’m really getting tired of her and of all this.”

Buffy worried about Spike all the way to the shop. She knew that neither Xander nor Giles would dust him as they had threatened. She had made her views on that pretty clear. Besides, based on how he looked, he hadn’t given Dawn up.

Her head shot up as the bell announced the return of her Watcher and her friend. “What’d you guys do with Spike?”

“We dumped him back in his crypt,” Xander supplied.

Buffy frowned. He was in no shape to fight off more of Glory’s minions if they wanted him back.

“We did try to find out if he’d told her anything, but he was too badly beaten to make much sense,” Giles added.

“Of course he didn’t say anything! Why do you think he was such a mess? Besides he loves Dawn.” Buffy reminded them.

“I’m going over there to make sure Glory doesn’t get hold of him again. I’ll take him some blood. He looked terrible, from what I saw while fighting.”

~*~

Spike lay on the sarcophagus, looking like he belonged inside it. His face was swollen and he was covered in blood and injuries.

“Why didn’t you talk?” Buffy wondered aloud. This was a demon, one without a soul and yet he had taken this abuse with no reason to hope for rescue in order to protect her sister, to help her.

“If anything happened to Dawn, it’d be too much for you and your mum. I care about her too, but I couldn’t live with you bein’ in that much pain. I’d let Glory kill me first. She nearly bloody did.”

Buffy looked him over silently and knew in her heart that he spoke no less than the truth. Soul or no soul, his heart led him to good choices. She leaned forward and kissed him lightly on his swollen lips.

Spike looked at her worshipfully.

“What you did, Spike, I’ll never forget it.”

“Ta, love. You don’t owe me a thing.”

Buffy knew he spoke from that great heart of his and really wasn’t planning on calling in any favors or taking advantage. Her mom was right on many levels regarding Spike and she could see it for herself now.

“Spike, I’ve been thinking. Glory is in human form at times. We can’t seem to kill her or even hurt her much when she’s all hellgod mode, but maybe if we could get to her when she changes we could beat her then.”

“’Bout that, love, she changed while she was redecoratin’ my body. Got a good look at that human.”

“That’s great! What did she look like?”

“You know the berk. Name’s Ben somthin’, he’s a doctor at the hospital where your mum’s healin’.”

“Wait? You’re saying that the doctor Ben might know something about Glory?”

That began one of the strangest conversations of Spike’s unlife and given the many he had with Dru, that took some doing. Before too long he realized there had to be magic involved. No point in frustrating himself or Buffy by continuing this exercise in futility.

“Never mind, Slayer.” He had to chuckle, even though it hurt. “I’ll take it up with the whole lot of you later. Figure a way to get through. Meanwhile, we can work a plan to get rid of the human just like you were saying.”

Buffy blinked, having clearly forgotten all about his information about Ben being Glory. “Right. Anyway, I was thinking that you won’t be any help in dealing with the human because of the chip.”

Spike felt deflated. Now thanks to the bloody soldiers, he couldn’t even help in the endgame at all.

“So I think we need to look for a doctor to get it out.”

 

Originally posted at http://seasonal-spuffy.livejournal.com/430667.html