Chapter Thirteen
 
Buffy awoke the next morning to find that she’d squirmed around during the night and was now curled against Spike with her head on his chest and her arm across his body. He seemed deeply asleep and unaware of the sunbeams creeping across the floor. Sunbeams that sent Buffy scrambling to pull the curtains more tightly closed and to throw the bedspread on top of Spike.
 
“Not gonna let myself go up in flames in your bed, love,” he said, his voice drifting out from under the cloth covering his face.
 
“I was afraid you wouldn’t know it was morning until it was too late,” she said, sitting beside him and tugging the spread down far enough that she could meet his soft gaze.
 
“I’m an old vamp, Slayer. I always know when the dawn is coming—” he paused, cocking his head—“or Dawn, in this case.”  As he finished speaking, Dawn pushed open the door and stuck her head into the room.
 
“Buffy, what time do we—Spike!  Spike’s in your bed! You told me there’d be no boinking!”
 
Spike raised an eyebrow and sat up, throwing off the bedspread so that Dawn could see his fully clothed body. “Boinking?” he asked. “What the bloody hell is boinking – and what do you know about it?”
 
“I’m fifteen,” Dawn sniffed, “I know stuff.”
 
“Go get dressed, Dawn,” Buffy said. “You can shower first if you don’t use up all the hot water. We should leave as soon as we can if we want to see Mom before they take her into surgery.”
 
Dawn nodded and went back to her room, making a point of leaving the door ajar.
 
“I don’t think she trusts us,” Spike said. “Why is that?”
 
“Because she’s a brat?”  Buffy spoke loud enough for Dawn to hear her as she went into the bathroom and slammed that door. “Or maybe it’s because of the look on your face,” she continued in a much softer tone. 
 
“What look would that be?” he said, licking his lips. “The one that says you’re the sexiest thing I’ve seen this morning?”
 
“I’m the only thing you’ve seen this morning,” she said. “And I’m all rumpled and messy and I have bed-hair and morning breath and—”
 
“And you look delicious,” he murmured against her neck as he pulled her onto his lap and slid his hands under her tee-shirt. He fastened his lips on his favorite spot and began to suck, his happy humming almost drowning out Buffy’s soft whimpers.
 
“D...Dawn,” she managed to gasp out as he fell back against the pillows and pulled her on top of him. 
 
“Can hear her perfectly,” he said. “There’s no way she can sneak up on us.”
 
“Mmmfff,” Buffy said as he began kissing her. “Morning breath!”
 
“Buffy breath,” he replied, biting her lower lip.  “Don’t mind it. Need to feel you, near me, on me, around me. As he spoke, he was pushing down her sleep pants with one hand, and unzipping his jeans with the other. “I’ll be quick,” he coaxed as he lifted her onto his cock. “Promise.”
 
Buffy whimpered again, too distracted by how good it felt to have him inside her again to worry about her sister’s reaction to seeing them.  While Spike held her hips down and arched up into her, his fingers were doing amazing things that soon had her falling against his chest and biting his shoulder to keep from crying out.  As soon as he felt her teeth on him, Spike gave his own muffled cry as he found his own release. 
 
They had only a few moments to regain their breath before he stirred, saying, “Bit’s out of the shower, love. Best get up and be waiting for her.”
 
“I’m not sure I can walk yet,” Buffy said, sitting up but not moving off his body. Spike’s appreciative laugh as he set her to one side made her glare at him before she pushed herself off the bed and pulled on her pants.  “And you need to hide that thing!” She pointed at his only partially relaxed cock.
 
He laughed again and tucked himself away before swinging his legs over the side of the bed and grabbing his boots.
 
“Go take your shower and get dressed,” he said. “I’ll take the sewers and meet you at the hospital.”
 
“I was kinda hoping you could drive us, but I guess you can’t now that the sun’s up.”
 
“Watcher is coming to get you.” He glanced at the clock on the dresser. “In about twenty minutes.”
 
“Should I be offended that you and Giles seem to be making decisions for me?”
 
“You should be happy that we both love you enough to want to make your life easier,” he said, kissing the tip of her nose. “See you soon.... You too, Bit,” he added as he stood walked to the door and pulled it the rest of the way open.
 
Dawn tossed her head and continued into her own room to get dressed while Buffy followed Spike into the hall. 
 
“We’ll see you at the hospital,” she said, one hand on the bathroom door.
 
“That you will, love.”
 
XXXXXXXX
 
 
Although they were allowed to see Joyce briefly before she was rolled into the OR, she was already half out of it from the pre-anesthesia shot and just smiled at them and made a kissy face.  As she was pushed out of the room and through the swinging doors, Buffy and Dawn stood together, hands tightly clenched.  When they could no longer see their mother and the doors had stopped swinging, they gave matching sighs and walked out to the waiting area.
 
Where they found, not just Giles, but Tara and Willow already there.  Anya and Xander were only a few minutes behind, and they came bearing doughnuts.  They all settled in with something sticky and sweet and something to drink from the vending machine. Their attempts to appear unworried and relaxed for Buffy’s sake lasted only until Ben put his head in the door and looked around the room.
 
Before Buffy could say anything to him, his eyes got wide, he gasped and disappeared down the hall.
 
“Well, that was weird. That’s what he did before. We were talking and then he just ran off and Glory came. “
 
“Maybe there was an emergency,” Willow offered. “He probably has a pager in his pocket that we couldn’t hear.”
 
“Or maybe Glory’s here again!” Buffy leapt to her feet, dropping her doughnut. “Don’t let Dawn out of your sight!”  She ran to the door and scanned the hallway, catching a flash of red heading for the OR area. 
 
“Oh God, Mom....” she murmured as she tore down the hall after Glory, skidding to a halt when she almost ran into Ben.  She grabbed his arms and shook him. “Where is she? Where does she go, and how do you know she’s going to be here?”
 
His face twisted in anguish. “I can’t tell you!” he said.  “I can’t stop her... she’s....”
 
Buffy gasped as his head twisted in an impossible direction before flopping forward onto his chest after an audible crack.  Standing behind him and holding Ben’s now dead body up, Spike was exposed to Buffy’s horrified gaze. Blood was pouring from his nose and ears and he was swaying on his feet.
 
“Spike... what... how... I was going to make him tell me....” She held her head and moaned.  “Oh my God. You killed him.”
 
Unable to speak, Spike dropped Ben’s body and slumped against the wall, holding his head. His eyes were unfocused as he tried to speak, but failed.
 
Giles came running down the hall saying, “Buffy! I understand what Spike was saying. Glory’s host is— dead,” he finished, looking from the body, to Spike, to Buffy’s stricken face.
 
“Go back to the waiting room,” he said to her. “We’ll take care of this.”
 
He gestured with his head toward the fire stairs, With sudden understanding, Spike struggled to his feet and began dragging Ben’s body into the stairs. With help from Giles, he tossed it down the stairwell. The thump when it struck bottom was audible to them both, and to Buffy, who had not moved from the spot.
 
“Are you all right, Buffy?” Giles asked, taking her arm and leading her toward the waiting room. Spike followed slowly, unsteady on his feet and shaking his head occasionally as if to clear it. He snagged a towel from a laundry cart and tried to mop up the blood still trickling from his eyes, ears and nose.  When he could finally speak, he faced Buffy with obvious apprehension.
 
“Please tell me with that wanker gone the spell is broken and you remember.” When Buffy just stared at him blankly, he continued, “Think, Slayer! What did you see when Glory stopped the police cars? What did you see just now?”  Spike’s voice was getting higher as he watched Buffy shaking her head from side to side in denial. When she didn’t respond, his face fell.
 
He was already turning away, shoulders slumped in defeat when she whispered,
“I remember now. I saw Glory turn into Ben, and I saw Ben turn into Glory and back again.  I just... you killed him. Right in front of me!”
 
“You wouldn’t have done it,” Giles said. “If Spike had not, we would all still be at the mercy of Glory in her true form.”
 
“I watched you kill a man.” Buffy paid no attention to Giles, but continued to stare at Spike. “I watched you kill a man, right in front of me, and I didn’t stake you.”
 
“Was kind of hoping you’d consider it justified. Guess I was wrong.” His back was still to her, but he’d stopped moving away.
 
A passing nurse got a glimpse of Spike’s blood-soaked towel and head. She gasped and ran to him. “What happened? Sit down. Let me get a doctor for you—”
 
“I’ll be fine, luv. Just need a bit of a wash-up. If you’ll show me where I can....”
 
She led him away, clucking over the blood, but agreeing that it was no longer flowing as he assured her it was just a “spell” and that he would consult his doctor immediately.  Spike smiled and thanked her as he entered the men’s room she’d pointed out.  “It’s fine, pet. I promise you. I’m not going to die in your hospital. Appreciate the help, though.”  She eyed him dubiously, but nodded and continued to where she’d been going when the sight of a blood-soaked man distracted her.
 
XXXXXXXXX
 
Spike cleaned up as best he could, pulling his duster around himself to hide the bloody shirt. He left the men’s room and paused, wondering if he should just leave.  He walked toward the elevators, hesitating when he reached them. He was leaning his forehead against the wall and just touching the down button when he heard Buffy’s voice.
 
“Are you leaving? Don’t you want to know how Mom is?”
 
He whirled and stared at her across the elevator lobby. “Of course I do! But it I’m not feeling very welcome here, so I was going to—”
 
She walked over to him and looked up into his still bloodshot eyes. “I believe you,” she said. “Ben was Glory. I know that. And I know that it would have been very hard to get rid of her by myself. And Giles is fine with it... what you did.”
 
“But you aren’t,” he said, searching her face for some indication he was wrong.
 
“I need to think about it.  I need to think about it a lot.”
 
He pushed the button. “You’ll let me know when you’re done thinking, alright?”
 
She grabbed his arm. “That doesn’t mean I want you to go!  I... I need you. Don’t you want to be here for me?”
 
“Bloody hell, Buffy! How can you ask me that? I thought you were saying you couldn’t be around me till you’ve made up your mind what you want to do about....”
 
Her eyes filled and she blinked back the tears before responding.  “I don’t know what I— I can’t think about that now. My mother is in danger from something I can’t fight, and I need my... I need you.  I only want to deal with one bad thing at a time. Right now, it’s my mom.  Later... I don’t know,” she said meeting his gaze with honesty. “And I’ll understand if you don’t want to wait around with me, knowing I might... but I want you here.  Right now, I want you with me.”
 
She waited, her eyes on his face as he absorbed what she was saying. With another shake of his head, he turned her around and began following her back to the waiting room. “I’m here, Buffy. For as long as you need or want me. I’ll be here.” With her back to him, Buffy couldn’t see the effort he was making to remain upright.
 
He sat down beside Buffy, one arm resting on the back of her chair, and reached for the last doughnut. His eyes were still half-shut in pain, but he said nothing.
 
Xander broke the tense silence. “So, Ben the doctor was actually Glory?”
 
Spike rolled his eyes, but nodded. “Looks like the spell broke when he...” He glanced at Giles. “...he fell down the stairs. Now you all can remember what you’ve seen and heard.”
 
Willow studied Spike through narrowed eyes, then turned her suspicious gaze on Giles before asking Buffy, “Did you see him change into Glory?”
 
Buffy nodded silently, than said, “I saw Glory change into him, too. Twice. Once last night and just now when I was chasing her down the hall.”
 
“Well, then I guess it’s a good thing he ‘fell down the stairs’, huh?  And that nobody else got hurt—” She stopped and stared at Spike’s bloodshot eyes and what she could see of his shirt.  “Oh.” Willow turned her gaze to Buffy.
 
“Somebody did get hurt,” Buffy said curtly. “It remains to be seen how badly.”
 
Only Spike understood the full meaning of what she was saying, although Giles frowned at them as he picked up the undercurrent.
 
Spike closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall behind the chair. Buffy’s whispered, “Are you okay?” brought a shrug and a reassuring pat on her shoulder, but his eyes never opened.