Decisions
“Now, Mom, you know that the doctor said to take it easy,”Buffy said as she tucked her mother’s blanket in tighter.”And then you’ll be out in the morning, all safe and sound.”
“I know that,Buffy,”Joyce Summers said as she sighed.”And, I also know that you are aching to get out of here, so scoot.”
“You know that it isn’t because I don’t love you, Mom,”Buffy said hesitantly.”It’s just that-”
“That you don’t like hospitals ever since Celia, I know, honey,”Joyce said as she took her daughter’s face into her hands.”Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. It’s just a little case of a fractured rib. It’s all right, I’ll be fine. Go.”
Buffy snorted.”A little case of a fractured rib. Yeah. Right. The delivery man slips and loses his grip on the thirty pound painting of a what’s it and you get the same painting landing right on top of you while you’re under the gallery steps. Yeah, you’ll be all right. What if the painting hit you on the head instead of knocking you over?”
”It was a five by five painting, Buffy,”Joyce reasoned.”Not much larger than two poster boards stuck together.”
“And this large poster board could’ve killed you!” Buffy admonished. Joyce rolled her eyes.
“Buffy, the man was only two steps above me when he lost his grip, not twenty feet. I wouldn’t have been killed, honey, no matter how hard he might’ve tried,”Joyce joked paitently.”Now-”
“I still say the delivery man should have been more careful,”Buffy said firmly. Joyce made her daughter face her.
“I’m not arguing that. But, Buffy, I am not dead, nor did I nearly die. I was merely winded by a painting. I am fine, now. You’re being cranky, Buffy,”Joyce said firmly.”Now go home and I’ll see you in the morning.”
Buffy was about to speak when her mother held up a finger.”Now, sweetheart. And don’t worry, a night in the hospital won’t kill me. But if you don’t get out of this hospital room, I just might be tempted to spank you, dear.”
“All right, Mom. ‘Night,”Buffy said as she walked out of the hospital room and met the rest of the Scooby gang.
“Well, Buffy? Is she all right?”Xander ventured. Buffy shrugged and then looked at the closed hospital room door.
“She’s fine. She just needs some rest,”Buffy said as she held her arms wrapped around her.
“Buffy, you okay?”Willow asked, her warm brown eyes concerned. Buffy simply shrugged unwilling to talk about her dislike for hospitals.
“I’m all right, why don’t you guys go home, I’ll stick around a bit, just in case, you know.”
“Buffy,if you need...”Giles started, but she cut him off.
“Go Giles, I’m gonna stay here,”Buffy said firmly.”With Angel and all...I am not leaving my mother here, defenseless, in a hospital.”
After a few more futile arguments, the Scooby gang left the Slayer alone in the hospital corridor.
*****
Spike rolled into the hospital without any trouble, and smiled charmingly at the night nurse.”Hello, there Nurse Wells.”
The nurse looked up with a frown and then glared at her most troublesome paitent.”Mr. Smith! What are you doing out of your room?”
“I felt like a small roll,”Spike began when the nurse came behind him and started pushing him towards the elevator.”So I went for one.”
“Well, you should curb your impulses, Mr. Smith. You are much too weak to be rolling about at this time at night,”Nurse Wells admonished.”There are too many dangerous things that can happen to a charming man like you at night, Mr. Smith.”
“Don’t I know it,”Spike murmured as she rolled him into the elevator.
*****
Buffy walked around the hospital corridor before she decided to go to the cafeteria to get a bite to eat. < Better get some coffee, too. I think that it’s gonna be a long night. >
The elevator rang and opened its doors as the second elevator rang. She walked in absently as she heard voices coming out from the second elevator.
“Well, here’s my stop, Nurse Wells,”said a familiar accented voice.”I think that I can manage to get to my room now.”
< Spike! > Buffy’s mind exploded as the elevator doors closed on her.
*****
Buffy got out of the elevator at the next floor and then raced towards her mother’s floor, cursing herself the whole time. < Damn! I can’t beleive that I’d be so stupid as to leave Mom for a bite to eat! Is Angel here? Drucilla? How many vamps? Mom... >
Buffy came to a grinding halt as she stepped outside her Mom’s room, and then burst into it. Her mother woke up, groggy and startled.”Buffy? What’s wrong, honey?”
“I-ah-forgot to say that I’m gonna get Mr.Giles or Mrs.Rosenberg to help pick you up, Mom,”Buffy smiled. Buffy’s mother looked at her with a bleary eye, before she shook her head a little.
“And you couldn’t wait to tell me this because?”
Buffy gave her a weak smile.“Because I didn’t want to forget?”
Joyce Summers looked at her daughter, and then motioned her to come closer. Buffy apprached the bed warily.”Mom?”
Joyce moved over in her bed and created some space. She motioned for Buffy to sit on the bed. When Buffy did so, Joyce wrapped her arms around her little girl, and held her carefully against her breast. Buffy closed her eyes briefly, and took in the smells and feelings around her. The antiseptic smells of the hospital, faint odor of the flowers from Willow and Xander, stale scent of a bag of popcorn that Giles left, her mother’s perfume. Against her cheek, Buffy felt her mother’s warmth through the paper thin dress the hospital gave her and felt her mother’s arms.”Mom?”
“Go to sleep, baby. I’m not going anywhere,”she answered groggily as one hand held Buffy’s head against her collarbone. As her arms wrapped around her mother’s still form, Buffy smiled as she closed her eyes, briefly feeling safe in her mother’s arms. < Just for a minute. Then I’ll find Spike. >
Spike looked from the open door at the still forms of the Slayer wrapped in her mother’s arms, and then slowly rolled away. Fleeting thoughts of his own mother came and went. As well as memories that he had thought, long buried in his mind by the demon in him. He shook his head, he was a vampire now. A demon. And he was hungry. He was going off to feed.
*****
After pausing to hear her mother’s steady breathing, Buffy groggily unwrapped herself from her mom’s arms. And started to hunt.
After spending an hour looking through the paitients rooms, Buffy finally ran into the nurse that rolled Spike on to her mother’s floor.”Hi! Nurse...Wells? Isn’t it?”
The nurse frowned at Buffy.”What are you doing here,Miss? Visting hours are over.”
Buffy nodded enthusiastically.“Well, yes. I was just about to leave. But I was wondering, that man that was in a wheel chair...what’s his name?”
Nurse Wells suspiciously frowned at Buffy.“Why?”
Buffy gave her an embarrassed smile.”Because he looks like a guy that I had dated. My dad made me break up with him because he thought that he was, well, not for his daughter. Even though he was really sweet and charming. I think it was the bleached blonde hair and the scar over his right eye that set my dad against him. So he dumped me because I was fighting with my dad over him.”
Nurse Wells’s eyes softened.“And you still have a soft spot for him?”
Buffy managed to give the nurse her pout face. The one that always caused her mother and Watcher to give in.”Kind of...see, if it is him. So...”
“His name is William Smith, if you must know. And he is quite the charming Englishman,”Nurse Wells gruffly supplied.”He transfered here into the Intensive Therapy program not long ago. He was caught in a fire that crippled his legs. And he’s getting better every day. He is determined to walk again, so his room is near by the Gymnasium. On the same floor where we take the Blood Donations.”
Buffy smiled brightly at the nurse before she ran down the hall.”Thank you!”
*****
After sucking on the bag of blood, Spike looked at the stepping machine in distaste. Then he hauled himself up from the chair, grasping at the handles. Sweat beading on his forehead, he forced his legs to move. One step at a time. Thinking all the time how he hated Angel. How Drucilla stopped looking at him like a lover. And how Drucilla now looked at Angel.
Buffy slipped into the Gymnasium and saw Spike walk on the stepping machine with determination. His thin legs started going faster and faster on the machine, until he tripped and fell flat on his face on the steps. Buffy winced as the momentum slid him on to the mats. “Bloody Hell!”
Buffy could hear Spike’s ragged breathing as he turned himself on to his back, eagle spreaded on the mat.”Are you just going to stand there watching Slayer? Or are you going to help a poor defenseless crippled vampire back into his chair?”
Buffy walked over to him.”I would never call you a poor defenseless vampire, Spike.”
Spike opened one eyes as she stepped over him.”Just a crippled one then.”
Buffy kneeled over him, and smiled slightly as she looked into his game face.”Not for long. By the looks of it, Spike.”
Spike grunted.”Got that bloody right. What are you doing here?”
“Isn’t that my question?”
“I asked first.”
Buffy shrugged.”I saw you in the hospital, and rather than have you make a mean of the patients that can’t get away, I came to stop you. Little knowing that the charming Englishman Mr. William Smith is a registered patient in the Sunnydale General Hospital, who is well on his way to recovery. What’s up with that, Spike?”
“Bloody Nurse Wells,”Spike cursed.”Think I’ll eat her after I get better.”
“Spike, you can’t do that to a woman that’s smitten with you,”Buffy warned, then she winced as she muttered to herself.”I just used ‘smitten’? Damn it, I’ve been hanging around Giles too much.”
“I can damn well eat whomever I want to eat, Slayer. Smitten or not,”Spike snorted.”Besides, she’s the one that makes me eat that tasteless food around here, so why not?”
He winced as he tried to sit up, then simply laid on the mat. Buffy looked at him curiously,”So why are you here?”
“I’m trying to walk,”Spike ground out. At her questioning look, Spike snarled at her.”Look, Slayer. Vampires are demons. We prey on the weak, kill the weak. Taunt…the weak. We are not kind or good. We kill, we hunt. And we *don’t* have rehabilitation centers to make the weak strong.”
Dawning hit Buffy’s eyes.”Angel’s been taunting you, hasn’t he?”
Spike looked away from her seeing eyes. Buffy continued,”Angel’s been making your life hell since he’s...changed. Tormenting you since you can’t fight back.”
“So what if he has? At least I’m doing something about it! I’m biding my time until I can take him and get Dru back,”Spike yelled.”And I bloody will before she goes over to that damn Irish bastard!”
“Angel’s...after Drucilla?”Buffy hesitated. Spike snorted at her.
“Use your brains, Sherlock! Angellus was obsessed with her before the curse and now that the curse is off, he wants her again. Think, Slayer,”Spike snarled.”The Angel that you knew is *gone*. Angellus is in the front seat and he’ll take, maim, torture, and kill anything in his path. The Scourge of Europe is back, and that’s no lie.”
“So why do you want to fight him? He’s your sire! Because of Drucilla? Hate to tell you, Spike, but she might not be worth it if she’s encouraging Angel. Especially after all the TLC you gave her when she was weak,”Buffy said defiantly. Spike looked at her angrily.
“No one takes anything of mine! Not *even* my sire!”Spike gritted out as he pushed himself up. Then yelped in pain as the dead muscles in his legs cramped together. Buffy quickly pushed him down and flipped him on his back.”What the bloody hell are you doing?”
“I’m massaging your legs, you ninny,”Buffy said as her hands started rubbing his legs. Spike moaned softly as he felt her hands uncramp his legs.”I think that you worked your legs too hard, Spike. They need this.”
“Why are you doing this?”Spike moaned. < Damn, her hands feel good. >
“Call me a sucker for someone in pain or call me a strategist for wanting you to beat the crap out of Angel.”
Spike smiled into the mat.”Sucker it is.”
“Gee, thanks Spike. A compliment, don’t kill yourself,”Buffy chuckled. Spike gave a surprised chuckle at that. Enjoying the bantering with a Slayer, how low could he possibly go?
“I’m already dead,love,”Spike replied. Buffy smiled as she continued her massaging in silence, with an occasional groan from Spike. As her hands worked on a knot in his upper thigh, Spike grunted again,”Slayer, anymore higher and I’ll start thinking that you have roaming hands.”
He felt her hands pause, and then was astonished when he felt the Slayer give a few pats on his arse.”And you have such a cute butt, Spike.”
Spike looked over his shoulder to the Slayer’s red-face.”You’ve...been looking at my arse?”
Buffy rolled her eyes.”I’m a seventeen year old girl, Spike. Girls our age *always* notice cute guys and their butts. Remember what it was like when you were seventeen? Hormones? Opposite sex?”
“You think that I’m cute?”Spike stared. Buffy frowned at him and then continued her massaging.
“Don’t let it get to your head,”Buffy growled.”It’s another thing that girls always notice. Even if the people or things they notice *are* vampires. Now drop the subject, Spike.”
Spike, being no one’s fool, dropped the subject as he turned back down on the mat. He was ridiculously pleased that he had managed to get the Slayer’s approval. And her eyes on his arse.
After a while, Buffy’s hands stopped.”Better?”
Spike turned over and then pointed to his trench.”Want to get me a packet from it?”
Buffy brought it over with a frown.“You drink packets of blood?”
“They’re the only kind of blood that I can get these days. No legs,”Spike said as he vamped and downed the contents. He looked at her.”Eating someone in the hospital isn’t wise. You’d know and kill me in the blink of an eye. But before that, any vampire related death would alert Angel, and I need every advantage I can get.”
“What about the orphanages and foundling homes that you raided?”
Spike cocked an eyebrow at her.”Reading up on me,eh? I didn’t raid them. Drucilla did, I don’t eat children. Not enough blood. And gets people all riled up, makes mobs. Ready to hunt and kill hungry vampires.”
“I see,”Buffy said slowly.”Like they did in Prague.”
Spike nodded slowly.”Yeah. Like they did in Prague. Want to help me into the chair, Slayer?”
“Nope. You’re gonna walk,”Buffy said as she shook her head.”Work on those muscles, lazy bones. Besides you might be wanting something a bit warm to eat, and I don’t plan on being it.”
Spike chuckled.”Knew I couldn’t fool you, Slayer. Criminey, you’re better than the last Slayer I killed. It’d be a pleasure to kill you.”
“You can try when you get better, Spike,”Buffy whispered.”And I’ll kick your ass.”
Spike grunted as he pulled himself to his shaky legs.”You can try, Slayer.”
He made a few wobbly steps to his chair, and Buffy started to roll him out of the Gymnasium.”Count on it, Spike.”
When they reached the doors, Buffy stopped the chair, and kneeled down, making eye contact with him.”Get better, Spike. So that I can stake you.”
Spike lifted his cold hand to her warm face.”Word of warning, Slayer. Angel loves waiting games. It’s a way to torment his victims, upset him. Go after him. If you want to survive, Angellus has to die.”
Buffy nodded her head slowly.“And you’re telling me this because?”
“Call it respect for an old enemy. Or selfishness that you would kill my sire and not me,”Spike shrugged.”Or whatever you want to call it. But you have to face it. The Angel that you know is dead. Angellus rules and will do to you what he did to Drucilla. If you don’t want that...”
Buffy nodded.”Got it, Spike.”
Buffy rose and looked at the hallway.”Later, Spike.”
“Later, Slayer,”he called. Spike watched as the Slayer walked down the hallway. He then turned and rolled himself towards the opposite direction.
One thought roamed through Buffy’s mind.”Angellus rules...Angel is gone. Angellus has to die. But what about Angel?”
~Fin.