Betad by Carol and dawnofme


Banner by dawnofme


Disclaimer: the characters do not belong to me - they are used purely for fun and not fiancial gain




Chapter Thirty-Three



A Bad Break


“Spike? Spike, can you hear me?” Willow’s voice floated into his mind.


“Yeah, Red, I hear you,” replied Spike. “You all still OK?”


“Yes, just letting you know that we’re on our way out. Xander’s able to walk now. Have you found Buffy?”


“Yes, I’ve got her and she’s all right,” answered Spike, noticing how she refrained from asking about Giles, and correctly guessing that he’d been present when she’d had all that stuff done to her. “Just get back to Revello Drive. Get Dawnie or Xander to run a protection spell round it for you if they can.”


Ooooooo


Spike hitched Buffy up in his arms; she was still unconscious. He decided to get Buffy and Giles out and leave Adam and closing The Initiative down for another time. He couldn’t risk Buffy waking up inside here whilst still under the murderous influence of the Lorac Bug.


He paused. What had he heard? He gently lowered Buffy to the floor. There was a corner ahead and his senses were going into overdrive. He walked tentatively towards the corner. Just as he got there, he heard something from behind, and he glanced back to check on Buffy. Before he turned back, he bumped into something and was then hurled into the air, landing on his back on the floor some ten feet behind Buffy.


He looked up but he knew exactly what he’d see and he was right – Adam. Spike scooted backwards, trying to get up. Adam strode towards him.


“Oh, bollocks,” muttered Spike.


It was just like his dream, apart from the fact he was wearing the stolen pants. He closed his eyes as Adam raised his foot, bracing himself against the inevitable excruciating pain of his right leg being snapped like matchwood. Perhaps part of the future was fixed after all?


Instead of pain, there was a shifting of air and a thud. He opened his eyes and saw that Adam was down. He took advantage of that and leapt to his feet. He looked towards where he’d left Buffy, but she was gone. Spike spun back to Adam and saw Buffy attacking him, her face contorted with fury. Adam got to his feet, brushing her aside as easily as if she were a feather. Adam flexed his Polgara demon arm and the bone skewer shot out of it; its wickedly sharp point about two feet clear of his wrist. He ran at Spike, his intent obvious, to run him through with it.


Adrenaline coursed through Spike. His strength and speed were still at full power thanks to all the blood he’d taken, and the adrenaline heightened them even more. Spike dodged Adam, lashing out with his foot, and the bone skewer snapped off. Adam roared with pain, thick blood oozing from the wound. He went for Spike again and this time, caught him. He put his hands around Spike’s throat and lifted him off his feet until their faces were level. Spike kicked and clawed at him but Adam ignored his efforts.


“Where’s Mother?” asked Adam.


“OK, what answer do I give? Don’t think the whole ‘she’s a big pile of dust’ story will go down too well,” thought Spike. “And why do the bad guys always ask you questions when they’re bloody strangling you?”


Luckily, before he had chance to croak out his reply, Adam dropped him as the bone skewer from his arm tore its way through his torso. Adam looked down at it and calmly went to pull it out, but as his fingers touched its point, it was pulled out of him from behind.


“Get away from him,” screamed Buffy.


“Oh, thank God, she’s back to normal,” thought Spike.


Unfortunately, Adam chose to ignore her and went to get Spike, who punched him in the face with all his might, wincing at the pain in his left hand when it struck Adam’s jaw. Adam took a couple of steps backwards. Buffy ran him through with the spear again. It slowed him down but not by much. Adam kicked Spike across the corridor. As he bent to pick him up again, Spike lashed out with his foot. It connected with his face but again, it only unbalanced Adam for a moment. Buffy pulled out the skewer and ran between the two of them.


“Go for his eyes, Buffy,” yelled Spike, realising that would be the best place to attack.


“Where’s Mother?” repeated Adam.


Spike had had enough. “She’s fucking dead and I killed her.”


Adam stood still. “She’s dead?”


“Now would be a really good time to stab him again, Buffy!” roared Spike, willing her to take advantage of Adam’s reaction.


Adam’s face changed from one of shock to one of pure hatred; it was a terrifying sight. Up to that point, Adam had only ever appeared impassive. He lashed out and hit Spike in the face, sending him reeling away.


“I told you to stay away from him,” shouted Buffy. “He’s mine.”


She jumped up and thrust the skewer into his right eye with all her considerable might. For a second, he stood there and then slowly crumpled to the ground – dead.


Spike staggered to his feet. “Nice work, pet,” he said with a weak smile.


Buffy turned away from Adam and looked at Spike. She smiled.


“Hang on a minute,” said Spike. That smile wasn’t a pleasant one. “Are you OK? You said I was yours, remember, and I am, love; I’m all yours.”



“Maggie told me to kill you. I can’t let somebody else do it,” said Buffy, her voice an eerie monotone.


Spike backed away a few steps. “OK, so what? You saved me from Adam so you could kill me yourself?”


“Yes,” said Buffy, advancing.


“No.” She stopped.


She put her hands to her head and dropped to her knees. “Christ, Spike, help me.”


“Buffy, I’m here. I always will be here. Fight it. She’s dead. It’s only the Bug you have to fight. She can’t give you any more instructions. It’s just relaying her old messages,” said Spike, moving towards her.


She put up her hand to stop him.

“Don’t come any closer,” she said, tears falling down her face. “I still feel the need to kill you. I don’t want to, but it’s hard and I’m afraid I can’t stop it.”


“You’re always wanting to kill me, nothing new there, love,” said Spike with a bit of a grin. “Just keep fighting it; it’ll get easier. Come on, let’s get out of here and work on getting that thing out of you.”


Buffy got up and the two of them walked along the corridor. Buffy stayed to one wall and Spike the other; Spike keeping a watchful eye on her in case she succumbed to Maggie’s orders. He could see her tense every now and then as she fought the Bug’s influence, but she kept resisting.


“Now that you’re back with me, I’ve got an idea of how we can finish this place off once and for all. We just need to go and get Giles, then we’ll do it.”


“Giles,” said Buffy through gritted teeth.


“Yeah, he’s up here in the operating room. I got the others out; they’re all OK,” he said.


Buffy briefly closed her eyes. “Dawn,” she whispered.


“Yeah, got Niblet, Red and Xander out. They’ve done some weird shit to Red, but we’ll sort it out.”


They got to the room containing Giles - he was slumped down on the chair where he’d been tied. Spike walked towards him.


“Rupert? You all right? Feeling any different now that Maggie’s dead?”


He didn’t respond in any way at all. He just kept sitting there, vacantly staring straight ahead.


“Oi, Rupert, snap out of it,” said Spike, slapping him gently across his face, trying to get his attention.


Rupert turned to stare at Spike, then his eyes widened as he saw something over Spike’s shoulder. Spike spun around. Buffy was wielding a piece of wood about the size of a baseball bat. She was bringing it down with full Slayer force at Giles’ head.


“No!” screamed Spike.


He kicked Rupert’s chair over, causing the wood to hit his right leg, mid thigh, with a sickening thud. Spike collapsed on the floor, howling in pain, with his leg obviously broken.


Horrified, Buffy dropped the wood and knelt beside him on the floor. She reached out to touch him, blinking back tears as he cowered away from her. Then she was hit by an almost irresistible urge to finish the job - to kill him.


Spike saw the look on her face. “If you’re going to kill me, Slayer, make it quick,” he gasped. He closed his eyes and whispered, “I love you, Buffy.”


The words hit their mark and Buffy sobbed. “Spike, I’m not going to kill you. It was Giles I wanted to kill. He betrayed us all.”


Spike opened his eyes and looked at Buffy. “It’s not his fault. They implanted a Bug into him, same as you except humans can’t fight it at all.”


Again, Buffy had to quell the desire to kill the fallen vampire since he presented such an easy target. She shook her head to clear her thoughts.


“But I’m human and I can resist her orders. It’s there, that voice telling me to kill you but I’m fighting it.”


Spike groaned again as another wave of pain hit him. “Slayers have a bit of demon in them…that’s what makes them slayers…demons can resist.” His voice was weak.


Buffy stood up, needing to put a bit more space between them. The urge was so strong.


“So what now?”


Spike pulled himself up into a sitting position, leg at an awkward angle, reminding Buffy of how he’d held it in her bedroom whilst in the throes of a vision.


“You get Giles out, but for God’s sake, don’t kill him. Get him to work on whatever they’ve done to Red. I reckon he was there when it was done so he should know how to reverse it.”


“What about you? I’m not leaving you.”


“Yes you are. I’m gonna hold you up - make you too slow. If you don’t get Giles out, I’m not sure we can help Red. You haven’t seen her Buffy; it’s bleeding horrible. I’ll get out. It’ll just take me a bit longer, that’s all. Need you to do something first, though.”


“What’s that?” asked Buffy.


He nodded towards the wood that she’d hit him with. “Need you to tie that to my leg as a splint.”


“OK,” she said. As she stood up, she remembered poor Giles tied to his chair. She pulled him upright, but his head lolled on his chest. “What’s wrong with him?”


“Not sure, must be because of the Bug. I don’t reckon she did anything else to him. Need to get those sodding things out of the pair of you.”


“How come I’m managing to resist it and you couldn’t? Well, you did just enough to warn me but you would’ve still killed me if you hadn’t been chained up.”


Spike closed his eyes at the memory. It had been worse than when the chip had been active, as there was no part of him left uncontrolled by that. When the Bug had been in him, he’d been aware of what he wanted to do but almost totally powerless to prevent it.


“I was weak, pet; starved. I tried but it was stronger.”


Buffy stroked his face, pulling her hand away sharply as she felt the need to grab his throat and crush it. She untied Giles, who didn’t respond, and carried the straps and the wood back to Spike. She laid the splint against the outside of Spike’s leg. It was obvious the fracture was displaced, the angle not possible. Buffy looked at Spike. He had beads of sweat on his brow; his normally pale complexion had a greyish tinge to it.


“You’re gonna have to straighten it, Buffy,” he paused, “but…”


“It’ll hurt?” she supplied.

He nodded.


“Ready?” she asked, gripping his thigh.


The slightest touch of her fingers felt like daggers were being stabbed into his leg. He nodded again. She increased her grasp and pulled, each hand going in the opposite direction, trying to pull the two ends of the bone back so that they were in line with each other.


Spike screamed.


“Oh, Christ! I can’t,” sobbed Buffy.


“Do it,” groaned Spike. “Don’t stop.”


She renewed her efforts, feeling the muscle or ligaments, whose spasm had pulled it out of place, tear as finally the two ends realigned with a stomach turning crunch. Spike flopped down so he was laying flat out, eyes closed. He gasped and panted with the pain. Buffy quickly strapped the splint to his leg, pulling the straps tight so that it wouldn’t move.


“Thanks.”


Spike opened his eyes. Buffy was standing over him holding a splinter of wood that had broken off the splint. It was aimed at his heart.


“Buffy!” he yelled.


She started and looked down at her hand. She dropped the wood and took a few steps back.

“Oh my God” she murmured. “It’s getting harder to resist. Why’s it getting harder and not easier?”


“It’s because I’m hurt, love. I’m an easy target. That’s why you’ve got to leave without me. You’ll be able to concentrate on getting Giles home. If I’m there, you’ll be busy focussing on me, and it’ll probably get us all killed,” said Spike.


Buffy started to protest but then stopped, knowing that he was right. If he hadn’t shouted her name, he would have been dust by now.


“How will you get out? You can barely move.”


“I’ll get out; it’ll just take a bit of time. Just go and get Giles back with the others. I promise you, I’ll come home to you,” said Spike quietly.


“No heroics? You’ll just make your way home?” she asked.


“No heroics,” he replied, not letting her see his crossed fingers.


She pulled Giles to his feet and prodded him into moving, and then offered Spike her hand to help him get up. He shook his head.


“I’ll get up in a minute,” he said.


She looked into his amazingly blue eyes and saw the real reasons behind his refusal. He didn’t trust her not to make an attempt on him if she touched him, and also he knew it would hurt and didn’t want to let her see it. She leaned down and kissed him briefly on the lips, using all her will power to walk away from him, leaving him unharmed. She wiped away a tear.


“If you’re not home in two hours, I’ll come back and I will give in to the urge to kill you,” said Buffy.


She took hold of Giles’ arm and led him away. They walked out the door. She didn’t look back. Spike was glad of it as he quickly blinked back tears of his own. Would that be the last time he ever saw her?


“Right, Spike,” he muttered. “Let’s get this job finished and close this place down. OK, so when you had this plan you had two legs that worked. Still sure it can be done?”


He didn’t know the answer to that.


To be continued…