A/N: Sap alert! I can't remember exactly how sappy the chapter is (and I'm not willing to re-read to find out lol) but I remember it's somewhat sappy, at least. Sorry!

Thanks for the reviews!


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“I don’t understand how this all happened,” Joyce said as she shook her head in disbelief. Everyone was sitting around her living room and she’d been repeating herself for the past 10 minutes. She turned to Dawn again, “Are you sure you’re ok, honey??”


“Mom, for the last time, I’m fine,” Dawn said in a reassuring voice, as she took her mom’s hand in a comforting gesture and gave it a squeeze. “I’m not the one we have to worry about…” Dawn’s worried look traveled over to the stairway.


“Don’t worry Dawnie. Wesley will help Buffy – she’ll be ok,” Willow said in a hopeful and reassuring tone, but her scrunched forehead showed her apprehension.


“They’ve been in there for nearly two hours now,” Anya commented impatiently. “She has slayer healing, right? How much longer is this going to take? The wait is unsettling!”


“Maybe we should all just leave,” Xander suggested. At annoyed looks he was getting from the rest of them, he jumped in, “Before you say anything, that’s not what I mean. I just mean that, maybe, we should give them some space. I don’t think that any of them are going to come out of Spike’s room and want to deal with us waiting here for answers.”


They stared at him in wonderment. That was probably the most considerate and non-spiteful thing he had said in a long time.


“What??” Xander asked in an offended tone. “I can be nice!”


Dawn rolled her eyes while the rest of them looked at him disbelievingly.


“And would this sudden consideration have anything to do with Spike threatening to ‘feed you to Leanna’ if you didn’t stop acting like a ‘ bloody wanker,’ as he put it?” Giles asked with an amused look.


Tara suppressed a smile and looked down. The others tried to hold back their laughs at the petrified look on Xander’s face when Spike had pushed him against the wall and threatened him.


“The bitch is scary, ok??” Xander exclaimed defensively. “And did you see Spike? I think I saw a vein pop in his forehead!” He crossed his arms and sulked at the deflating of his manhood.


He was right though. For the past two hours, Spike had been downright scary. He had practically bitten off the head of anyone who had spoken to him, including poor Wesley, who had made the poor choice of saying that the wound “didn’t look good.”


They looked up as they heard the door of Spike’s room open and close. They stood up and saw Wesley coming down the stairs with his bag of medical supplies, rubbing his neck and looking exhausted.


“How is she?” Dawn asked urgently.


He sighed. “Better. Her breathing is still weak, but it’s stable now. She lost a lot of blood, but I finally got the bleeding to stop. She also developed a really high fever. I gave her some medicine that should help,” Wesley replied.


“And how are you?” Giles asked, looking at Wesley rub his neck.


“Let’s just say I barely got out of there with my throat in tact,” Wesley answered. “I better get going before he comes down and demands that I stay here indefinitely.”


Everyone said their thank-you’s as he left. As Joyce shut the door, they all turned around to look at each other, wondering what to do next.


Joyce questioned apprehensively, “Shouldn’t one of us go up and check on them?”


They all quickly looked somewhere else, darting their eyes around, pretending to look at something on the walls.


------


Buffy’s breathing was reduced to a raspy whisper. Her distressed cries were replaced with the occasional whimper. The bandage wrapped around her stomach showed the red of her blood above her wound. Spike brought up the bed sheet to cover her bra-clad form, since they had to remove her bloody shirt to bandage her. She stirred and groaned slightly. Spike could tell she was uncomfortable - her skin was gleaming with sweaty perspiration.


With a frown, he moved to wring out the washcloth over the water-filled bowl, and brought it back to gently wipe Buffy’s face and neck. She let out a little sigh at the cool relief and drifted back into her quiet sleep.


Spike sat back down in the chair he had put next to his bed and buried his face in his hands. ‘It’s all my fault,’ he told himself pitifully. He felt like a stupid git. Why hadn’t he known that Dru would go straight for Buffy? And if he didn’t have that fight with Buffy earlier, she probably would have been with them the whole time.


All he knew for sure was that he had acted like a wanker. He didn’t know when, he didn’t know how, but somewhere along the way, he had started to fall for her - hard. And it had never been clearer to him than in the moment that he thought he lost her. The image of the knife piercing her stomach kept flashing into his mind, and it was as if he felt every stab in his own stomach.


A knock sounded from his bedroom door. Shooting his head up at the intrusion, he had an annoyed look. “Bugger off!”


“Spike, honey? It’s me,” Joyce’s voice could be heard muffled through the door. Reluctantly, he got up and went to answer the door.


Joyce waited patiently. When the door swung open suddenly, a very distraught and disheveled-looking Spike appeared. His hair was ruffled and he looked exhausted.


“Spike, is Buffy ok?” Joyce asked in a concerned voice.


He clenched his jaw and avoided her gaze, not answering her.


She saw the anguish in his eyes, and decided to quickly move on. “Do you need me to do anything? Bring you anything?”


“No, mum, thanks,” Spike said as he ran his hands through his hair.


“Do you want me to watch her while you get some sleep?” Joyce offered.


“No. Not sleeping.”


Joyce was about to argue, but she closed her mouth and decided against it. “Alright then. Call me if you need anything,” she said as she gave him a small smile and turned to go back downstairs.


He shut the door and went to sit on the edge of the bed next to Buffy. He sat there watching her, waiting to do something to help – anything. She stirred in her sleep and tried to roll over, eliciting a groan at the pain that shot through her. Spike quickly caught her by the shoulders and pushed her back down gently to lie on her back again. But she tossed her head around and muttered under her breath as Spike tried to keep her from moving off her back. Clearly she was having some sort of nightmare.


“Shhh,” Spike soothed, as he ran his hands over her cheek and pushed back her hair. She calmed slightly, as he continued to run his hands along her face and her arms, cooling her into a restful sleep.


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The Next Night…


The gang was gathered at the Magic Box. Everyone was uncomfortably silent, not really knowing what to say about everything that had happened yesterday. Willow was working on the computer and Tara was looking through the wooden book.


Anya looked around at everyone impatiently, but nothing came. “Ok, the silence is driving me crazy! When is everyone going to talk about what no one wants to bring up??”


Xander jumped in, “Anya’s right. Everyone keeps avoiding the subject. Do you guys know something that I don’t know?” He looked at Willow and Tara in particular.


Willow shook her head, “No, I just thought Spike was being nicer to her. I didn’t know he had feelings for Buffy.”


Xander turned to look at Tara in question. She looked sheepish and gave a meek smile. “I s-sort of knew,” she stuttered.


Giles asked, “How come you never mentioned anything?”


“It wasn’t my place to tell. A-and sometimes, we weren’t the nicest people to Buffy,” Tara finished. Everyone immediately shot their heads up to look at Xander.


“What??” Xander asked defensively. “She has no soul!”


“Hey Guys,” Willow interjected, not turning away from her computer screen. “Look at what I found!”


They went over to the table and hovered behind her.


“I searched for Rajendra Gem and found a bunch of sites on it. Most of them are bogus, but this one looks interesting…The Rajendra Gem is said to lie in the depths of the hidden caves of northwest India. Many have scoured the land in search for its legendary powers, but centuries of failure have turned it into a mere myth.”


“And then look, here’s a different insert about it,” Willow said as she pointed for the others to see. “The prophecy speaks of the manifestation of a goddess as the one who will successfully find this gem and use its powers to alter the world. Realities will switch until the reason for the alteration is eliminated. If the prophecy is fulfilled, the end of mankind will come before its time is due.”


“Oh dear,” Giles said as he looked perplexed. “I had rather thought that this whole gem business was just some magic trinket.”


“So what do we do next?” Willow asked, looking up at Giles.


“Well,” Giles began hesitantly, “I guess we try to find out somehow if the gem has been found.”


“How do we do that?” Tara asked. “That seems nearly impossible…”


“Have you looked through the whole book, Tara?” Anya asked as she walked over to it and began flipping through it.


“Nearly, and I didn’t see anything else besides what we already read,” Tara answered.


Anya tilted her head. “Well maybe it’s not in here anymore.”


“What are you talking about, Ahn?” Xander asked as he came up behind her.


“There’s a missing page,” Anya replied, as she pointed to the torn edge.


----------


Buffy woke up and an immense pain radiated throughout her body. She groaned for a minute before her mind started to clear. Unfortunately, the groggy feeling didn’t subside. She realized the pain was shooting out from her stomach. And someone was holding her hand. Opening her eyes a little, she turned to her right, to find Spike’s sleeping face inches from hers. Eyes widening, she realized he was sleeping right next to her, but not touching her, except for her right hand which was intertwined in his. She looked around her and saw that they were in her room. Her room, which she slowly realized wasn’t hers at all. Instead of her light pastel colors, the walls were covered with posters of the Sex Pistols.


She extracted her hand from Spike’s and instantly felt the comfort wash away from her. Frowning, she tried to push herself up a little, but was only rewarded with another shooting pain. She groaned as she clutched her stomach with her left arm.


Spike’s eyes shot open and darted around, still in a sleepy daze. “What? What?” Spike asked frantically. He realized he was on his bed with Buffy right next to him, who was apparently holding her stomach in pain. With a worried look, he asked, “Are you ok?”


Buffy turned her head to the side and looked at him, not answering.


“Right, sorry,” Spike replied. He shifted until he was sitting up. “What do you need, luv? I’ll get it for you. Lie back down,” he said as he gently pushed her shoulder down.


She moved her shoulder back from his grasp, confusing him. She looked at him and asked, “How did I get here?”


His forehead furrowed in confusion. “I carried you here. Why? What’s the matter?”


She looked down at herself, indicating her state of undress.


His eyes widened with understanding. “I took it off so Wesley could bandage you up. It was innocent, I promise.”


Buffy nodded her head, casting her gaze downwards. She paused in a moment of silence. “And Drusilla?” she asked.


“She’s dead,” Spike replied matter-of-factly, with no hint of malice or reproach.


Buffy’s eyes shot up at his tone. Confused, she starred at him, hoping to decipher what he was thinking. “Aren’t you angry?”


“Yea, of course,” Spike began. Buffy frowned, waiting the blow. He continued, “That bloody bint was crazier than I thought.” Buffy looked stunned at that.


He looked at her, eyes filled with remorse. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get to you sooner…” He reached out to grab her hand, but she pulled away, out of his reach.


Her mind reeled with confusion. She had been expecting anger and yelling – things she could deal with. But this –the worry etched into his features as he looked at her affectionately – she didn’t know how to deal with it. Emotions swarmed through her and she felt her heart constrict at the thought of Spike taking care of her all this time. She vaguely remembered someone soothing her with soft hushes and light touches. How could this Spike be the Spike she knew?


She looked up at his hurt look. “Why? I thought you loved her. Why did you bring me here?” she demanded.


Realization dawned on Spike. He looked surprised, “I thought it was obvious.”


“Explain it to me.”


“Buffy, I haven’t loved Dru for a long time,” he began. He reached for her hand again, and this time she didn’t resist. He held her fingers in his hand as he brushed his thumb lightly over her knuckles. “You know I care about you,” he said with sincerity.


Her chin trembled slightly. She shoved away that feeling – the one where she felt like she was a 16-year-old girl again. She looked at Spike defiantly. “So, what now? You suddenly want us to be some sort of couple?”


Her angry tone annoyed him. He was finally admitting his feelings and she wasn’t returning them. But he couldn’t get himself to start a fight with her – not now, not with her hurt like this. He sighed and replied with sincerity, “Yea, I do.”


Her stomach clenched at his words, but she snapped herself out of it and pulled back her hand from his. She started to try to get up, ignoring the pain.


“What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing!?” Spike yelled as he got up and rushed off the bed to her side. He grabbed her arms to support her as she winced in pain. His expression softened as he asked, “Why are you being like this?” He reached out to caress her cheek as she looked down, away from his gaze.


Trying to keep the emotion out of her voice, she look up at him and said, “I’m not interested in a secret relationship.”


She could practically see him thinking as his eyes scanned hers in brief confusion. And then he got it. “Oh, is that what you’re worried about?” he said as he gave her an amused smile.


She began to pull away as she said, “I’m not worried about anything. I -.”


He cut her off, “I’ll tell them right now if you want me to.”


Buffy stopped for a moment and processed what he said. As he bent down to kiss her lightly on the lips, her resolve finally broke. Her entire body relaxed in his arms. Exhaling, she buried her face into his chest as he wrapped his arms around her, careful not to hurt her wound. With her face against his shirt, she nodded and muffled, “Ok.”



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