Chapter 23
 
A nurse wheeled Xander down the hall to Radiography. When he disappeared around the corner, Buffy reluctantly took out her phone to call Anya as she’d promised, since Xander said he’d listed her as his next of kin.
 
“Miss? You can’t use that in here,” an E.R. nurse said, tapping Buffy on the shoulder. “It could interfere with the equipment.”
 
 “Oh, sorry. I knew that.” Buffy turned and headed for the main exit.
 
Outside, she found Spike sprawled on the bench on the small patch of lawn beside the footpath. His face was turned towards the lowering sun, his eyes closed and his smile beatific.
 
As she approached, without opening his eyes, he asked, “Got Harris squared away then, pet?”
 
“He’s gone up to X-ray.” She slumped beside him on the bench and pouted resentfully at her phone. “Any idea how I should break the news to Anya?”
 
“She struck me as a forthright type of girl. I reckon plain, honest facts would be best.”
 
“Right. Plain, honest facts. I can do that,” Buffy muttered as she navigated her contacts list for the Magic Box number.
 
“Hi Anya, it’s Buffy,” she said when she could break into Anya’s annoyingly perky answering spiel. “Um… I’m sorry, but Xander’s been hurt…”
 
Anya went into a long panicked rant. Eventually, Buffy managed to make herself heard over Anya’s somewhat dramatic monologue. “Yes, Anya. I’m afraid we might have broken Xander, but I don’t think it’s very serious. We’re at the hospital and he asked me to...” She broke off when she realised that the line had gone dead.
 
“She hung up on me! I can’t believe she hung up on me!”
 
Spike shrugged. “You told her all she needs to know. She’s probably already on her way. We gonna go get the treasure now, then?”
 
“I guess we ought to stick around until Anya gets here. Plus, since Xander was hurt helping us, I want to wait ‘til we find out how badly he’s injured, so I know how guilty I need to feel.”
 
She grabbed Spike’s hand and examined the ring. “It’s a bit… flashy, isn’t it?”
 
Spike scowled at it. “Yeah. Soddin’ girly bauble.”
 
“It’s certainly not Big Bad-y. I wonder…”
 
“What?”
 
“Well, if it’s just the jewel that has the mojo, perhaps we could have it reset in something a little more masculine?”
 
Spike turned his hand this way and that, thoughtfully. “Of course it would be best if it wasn’t on view at all. Just one demon has to see me out and about in daylight and word’ll get around…”
 
Buffy’s eyes widened in alarm. “And they’ll try to take it! Oh! That would be majorly of the bad!”
 
“Have to find a way for me to keep it on me, but out of sight.”
 
“I’ll get Willow onto… Oh. Well, normally I would. Perhaps we could ask Tara, or even Giles?”
 
“Yeah. Sooner the better.”
 
With time to kill, Buffy hit the speed-dial button on her phone to see if she had any messages.
 
“Buffy!” Tara sounded flustered. “Oh dear. You’re not p-picking up. Uh… Look, I don’t think it’s urgent, at least I hope it isn’t, but p—please could you call me when you get this? I’ll be at Terri’s all afternoon.”
 
“Wonder what’s got the Wicca’s knickers in a twist?”
 
“I don’t know, honey,” Buffy said as she dialled Tara’s number. “And stop thinking about Tara’s underwear.”
 
 
~*~*~*~
 
 
Spike spotted movement out of the corner of his eye, which drew his attention to the doorway to the waiting room, but it was only a nurse and she walked straight past.
 
“How much bloody longer?” he grumbled.
 
A small hand rested on his knee, stilling his leg which was bouncing with pent-up energy. “We need to give them time do their job, honey. It always takes longer than you think, and the time always passes more slowly than you’d like.”
 
Spike realised that this had to be only one of many visits to the hospital for Buffy, most recently during her mother’s illness. He picked up her hand, interlaced his fingers with hers and squeezed gently. “Sorry, love. Sitting here waiting can’t be much fun for you either.”
 
Buffy heaved a sad little sigh. “You could say that.” She leaned towards him, rested her head on his shoulder and whispered, “I so hate hospitals.”
 
They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes until Spike was alerted to Anya’s arrival by the shrill sound of her voice approaching. “Builder’s bird’s coming, love.”
 
Buffy just had time to sit up straight and smooth back her hair before Anya burst into the waiting room.
 
“Where’s my Xander? What did you do to him? I keep telling him he shouldn’t help you; he’s too breakable!” She promptly burst into tears.
 
Buffy leapt up and patted her awkwardly on her shoulder. “It’s not bad, I don’t think. The roof caved in and a rock landed on his shoulder. They’ve taken him to be X-rayed, it shouldn’t be long now.”
 
Buffy had just managed to get Anya calmed down when Giles arrived.
 
He was a little out of breath. “You could have waited until I’d found a parking place, Anya. What happened to Xander? Is he badly injured? Have they told you anything yet?”
 
They were saved from going through the whole explanation again for Giles’ benefit when a doctor came in. He glanced down at the folder he held and then peered around the room. “Is there an Anya Jenkins here?”
 
Anya jumped up and rushed him, grasping his arm. “Yes! That’s me! Where’s my Xander? How badly broken is he?”
 
When the doctor winced and took an alarmed step back, hampered by Anya’s crushing grip, Giles gently but firmly unclamped Anya’s hand and returned it to her, then squeezed her shoulder and left his hand there in a reassuring manner.
 
He made a wide gesture to include the whole group and addressed the doctor. “We are all Mr Harris’ friends. What can you tell us of his condition?”
 
The doctor said, “Well, I’m happy to say your friend is a very lucky young man. There was a possibility that he had multiple fractures, but upon further examination, we have determined that apart from some severe bruising, his only injury is a total dislocation of his left shoulder. We gave him a mild sedative so that we could safely manipulate the joint back into place. He should be back with you shortly, once his shoulder has been immobilised. If he continues to wear the sling and restricts his activities, undergoing physiotherapy as instructed, he should be fully healed in a few weeks.”
 
“Thank you, doctor.” Giles said.
 
“Yes, thank you,” Anya echoed with a sob. She shrugged off Giles’ hand and lurched forward to give the doctor a stiff hug.
 
Once he’d extricated himself from her arms, the startled doctor slipped a piece of paper from his folder and held it up warily. “This is a prescription for painkillers which he’ll need for a while; you can fill it at the hospital pharmacy.” As soon as Anya had plucked it from his hand, he hurried out.
 
Between them, Buffy and Giles got Anya settled again. She immediately began to express her concern about how long Xander’s arm would need to be ‘immobile’, and how this would impact upon their sex life.
 
Spike immediately tuned out the excruciating conversation. He had accepted that Harris was a decent bloke, but he had no interest whatsoever in speculating about the nature of his sex life.
 
His mind drifting, he didn’t realise that his gaze was focused on Buffy until his attention was drawn by movement when Giles leant over and deftly plucked a pebble which was caught in her pony tail scrunchy, and dropped it into her hand with a little smirk.
 
She frowned at it for an uncomprehending moment then her eyes widened in alarm. Dropping the pebble, she jumped up and turned to look at her reflection in the window. “Oh my god!” she cried.
 
Her hands fluttered over her head and shoulders, brushing dust and rock debris away. Suddenly she stilled. Her head swivelled and her eyes narrowed as she glared at Spike.
 
“Spike? Why didn’t you tell me I’d gone out in public with half the cavern roof all over me?”
 
Her tone was eminently reasonable but Spike instantly understood that he was in deep water. How could he have forgotten how much value she placed on her perfect appearance, particularly that glorious shampoo commercial hair, painstakingly maintained even under the worst of conditions? All he could think of to deflect her ire was to turn it around on her.
 
He shrugged. “Well, you were there, love, when the roof caved in on us. I figured you’d realise some of it fell on you as well as on Harris an’ me.”
 
Buffy huffed and then deliberately turned her back to him and strutted towards the door. She calmly announced, “I’m going to the ladies’ room to clean up. Please could someone come get me if there’s news about Xander?”
 
With her hand on the doorknob, she paused and scowled back at Spike. “You’d better hope that you were telling the truth when you said that shower never runs out of hot water. I’ll be putting that to the test when we get home.”
 
As soon as she’d disappeared down the hall, Spike looked at Giles and said, “You right bastard. You just couldn’t resist doing that, could you?”
 
“I couldn’t leave her in ignorance,” Giles said. With a twinkle in his eye, he added, “It wouldn’t have been gentlemanly.”
 
Taking in the watcher’s smirk, Spike muttered, “Something tells me you’re not always the perfect gentleman.”
 
He pondered the method by which Buffy might try to get even for his oversight. He blinked as his mind played back the words she had spoken as she left the room.
 
Had she called that draughty old mansion home? Surely not. Slowly, a smile spread across his face. It was him. He was her home. And she hadn’t even realised what she’d said.
 
He sat back, a smug grin fixed in place.
 
Anya leant forward and spoke across Giles. “Your shower never runs out of hot water? How?”
 
“’s electric, pet. Water heated as it’s needed. No tank.”
 
“Well, that’s interesting,” she said. “Very efficient and economical. Thank you, Spike.”
 
She sat back then after a few moments, her little tear-splotched face popped out from behind Giles again. “This doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you for getting Xander hurt,” she declared.
 
“’Course not, pet. Never thought you had.”
 
Shortly, Buffy reappeared. Her face and hands were pink and freshly scrubbed, her hair once more smooth and largely debris-fee, although by no means as immaculate as usual. She totally ignored Spike. Walking with her nose in the air, she went to sit at the other side of Anya.
 
The long wait resumed in a slightly uncomfortable silence.
 
Luckily, it wasn’t long before Xander hove into view. He was riding in a wheelchair, pushed by an orderly. He was slumped to one side in the chair, his left arm strapped into a contraption which held it at what appeared to be an extremely uncomfortable angle.
 
Spike hung back while the others all dashed forward to greet him. While Anya began fussing over him, Buffy nodded knowingly. “I see they’ve given you the good drugs, Xan.”
 
“Yeah…” Xander slurred through a distinctly loopy grin. “I totally feel no pain.” He struggled into a more upright position while Anya fluttered around him, ineffectively trying to help.
 
Xander said, “Hey, Buff. When you’re done down in the tunnels and you’ve loaded all the equipment back on the truck, give my friend Richard a call. He’ll take it from there. Remember, it all has to be back where it came from before seven Monday morning with the batteries recharged, or I’ll be screwed.” He handed her his phone so that she could copy Richard’s number into her own.
 
While the girls fussed over Xander, discussing the best way to proceed, Giles edged over towards Spike. “I gather that you’ve found the treasure?”
 
With his attention firmly on Buffy and her effusive apologies and offers of help, Spike absently said, “Yeah.”
 
Giles pointedly looked at the window behind Spike, through which the setting sun was throwing a golden ray of light directly onto Spike’s shoulder. “And am I to understand that you’ve also found a magical artefact?”
 
“Huh?” Spike looked around and noted his position then rolled his eyes when he realised that he had effectively given himself away. He regarded Giles warily. “Yeah. What of it?”
 
Giles whipped his glasses off and took out a large white handkerchief to polish them. “And does it do anything other than give you immunity to the sun?”
 
Since Xander already knew and would be only too willing to tell all, Spike decided he might as well come clean. “Uh, yeah. Gem of Amara.”
 
“The Gem of… but that’s not real. It’s only a legend; a vampire equivalent of the Holy Grail!”
 
Spike smirked, deliberately moving so that the strip of sunlight fell full on his back. “If you say so, watcher.”
 
After a thoughtful pause, Giles quietly said, “And Buffy trusts you with it.”
 
Spike shrugged. “It was her idea. Soon as we found the scroll in that demon’s lair and I told her what it was supposed to do, she insisted I had to have it.” As far as he was concerned, that said it all.
 
After a tense moment, Giles put his glasses back on and said, “Do you think there might be other magical pieces among the treasure?”
 
“Never thought of that.” Spike frowned. “The scroll didn’t mention anything else.”
 
“Perhaps it would be wise to have Willow test everything you’ve found, just in case.”
 
Spike snorted in disgust. “Not having that bitch anywhere near Buffy and me with her spells. Might ask the Turtledove if she’d have a look though. There’s something else we want to speak to her about anyway.”
 
“The turtle…? Oh, you mean Tara. Yes, she should be quite capable of determining whether something has mystical qualities.”
 
Spike could see that the watcher had more questions, but he didn’t get a chance to ask any because just then, Buffy grasped the handles of Xander’s wheelchair and pushed him towards the door.
 
“Giles, bring the car to the entrance,” Anya said, walking beside Buffy. “I want to get Xander home. I’m going to stay with him so I won’t be back to the store today.”
 
Giles blinked in surprise but followed without protest, and Spike fell in behind.
 
 
~*~*~*~
 
 
Buffy watched the little red sports car ease into the traffic and turned to link her arm with Spike’s. “Treasure time!” she announced excitedly.
 
They’d taken only a few steps towards the DeSoto when Spike stopped her and drew her attention to Tara, who was on the opposite side of the road, waiting for a break in the rush-hour traffic so that she could cross.
 
“Oh! You should have reminded me that Tara said she’d meet us here.” Buffy jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.
 
“Your watcher said we should get her to look at the stuff we’ve found in case there’s anything else with mojo.”
 
“Oh! That’s actually a good idea. Perhaps if she has time, she could come with us now?” Buffy said as Tara finally arrived at their side.
 
“How’s Xander?” Tara said. “And come with you where?”
 
“It’s gonna take a while, but Xander’s gonna be fine,” Buffy said. “His shoulder was dislocated but they’ve fixed it and he’s already gone home.”
 
“Oh, that’s good.”
 
“Why were you so eager to meet us?” Buffy asked.
 
“I-I really have to talk to you both, but if you’re too busy…?”
 
Buffy opened her mouth to speak, but Spike got in first.
 
“Never too busy for you, pet.” He said with a twinkle in his eye.
 
Seeing Tara blush slightly, Buffy threw Spike a glare for flirting and added, “Well, we are a little busy, but we wanted to talk to you too, Tara. About a couple of things, as it happens. If you’ve some time to spare, why don’t you come along with us to the treasure cave?”
 
“I don’t have anywhere I need to be. Treasure cave? This sounds exciting!”
 
Buffy hooked her arm through Tara’s and set off again, with Spike on her other side.
 
Spike reached over and relieved Tara of her bag which she was struggling to hold with her free hand. Finding it heavier than he’d expected, he staggered for effect. “Bloody hell, woman! What you got in here? Rocks?”
 
Tara smiled her lopsided smile. “No. Just some books. And crystals. And herbs. And candles. And incense. And some sand.”
 
“You’re getting ready to do a spell?” Buffy asked anxiously. “What’s happened? Is there something wrong?”
 
Tara looked down at her feet. “I-I don’t think so. I hope not. It’s just…” She took a deep breath. “When Giles told me that Willow had helped him do a spell to hide Dawn…”
 
“Wait! They did a spell on Dawn?” Buffy burst out angrily. “What…?”
 
“Oh! No, Buffy! A good spell! They figured out how to hide her keyness from the Knights and the crazies so everyone would stop coming after her! Don’t worry, I tested it. It really works and Dawn is perfectly okay!”
 
Buffy heaved a relieved sigh but then frowned. “And Giles couldn’t tell us what he thought we should do? Doesn’t he understand what we’ve gone through with spells done on us in secret?”
 
“He probably didn’t want to wait.” Tara paused for a moment and then continued, “Anyway, I wasn’t too concerned then, but later when Anya made an offhand comment about a few things being missing from her inventory, I began to wonder…”
 
Buffy’s heart sank. Spike opened the car door for her and she slumped into her seat. “Oh god. Willow’s doing another spell on us.”
 
“I-I don’t really know. It’s just…” Tara patted her bag which Spike had dumped beside her in the back seat. “I’ve prepared some protection amulets, just to be safe, but I need to check that she hasn’t already done something before activating them and linking them to you. See, this is mine.” Tara showed Buffy a small, sweetly scented muslin sachet pinned inside her top, over her heart.
 
Spike slid in to the driver’s seat and turned to regard Tara warily. “So you want to do a spell on us to find out if Red has put a spell on us? And then you’re going to do a spell on us to stop her from putting a spell on us?”
 
“Yes. Well… no. Not exactly. This isn’t really a spell as such. Buffy, it’s what you did when you found out about Dawn. Remember?”
 
“Oh! Yes. Old Silk Knickers and his stinky incense!” Buffy patted Spike on the arm. “It’s okay, honey. Tara’s not going to do a spell on us. If anything, the spell will be on her. She’s going to go into a trance so that she can see traces of any spells on us.”
 
Tara nodded. “All spells leave a trace signature, and if I can shift my perception just right, I should be able to see if anything’s affecting you. And then the spell to link the pouches to each of you is completely harmless. But you must remember, to be completely safe, you should keep them on you at all times.”
 
Spike looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded. “Fair enough; that sounds as if you know what you’re doing.” He started the car, muttering, “Unlike some people.”
 
Buffy turned and gave Tara the thumbs up and an encouraging smile.
 
“Hey!” Spike cried. “Giles said we should ask you to check if any of the treasure had its own mojo. Would you be able to see that at the same time?”
 
Tara’s eyebrows went up. “Uh… I don’t see why not. I guess it’s worth a try.”
 
 
~*~*~*~
 
 
“So, what do you think?” Buffy asked as they neared the cavern. “I know we won’t even know kind of place we can afford until we know how much the treasure’s worth, but when we find one, would you like to be our room-mate?”
 
“I think I’d like that.” Tara smiled shyly. “But it all depends upon how much rent you’d want me to pay. The dorms are…”
 
“The rent is simple,” Spike broke in. “Watch the babe while we’re patrolling, cook the occasional meal so that our culinary-challenged Slayer doesn’t have to live entirely on cereal and pizza, and we’ll call it square.”
 
“We wouldn’t need you to look after Annie every night,” Buffy quickly qualified. “If you have a study group, or a date, or you just need some time for yourself, we can just bring her to mom’s or ask Dawnie to babysit.”
 
Tara brought them to a halt at the entrance to the cavern. It was still lit by the floodlights, although when Spike turned off his flashlight and helmet lamp, he noticed that they weren’t quite as bright as they had been.
 
“Oh, wow!” Tara breathed. She looked up at the big hole in the roof and then anxiously regarded the pile of rubble around the scaffolding. “Are you sure it’s safe in here?”
 
Spike looked at the scene and tried to see it from a fragile human’s perspective. “Hmmm… For you? Probably not. I’ll go up and get the treasure. Best you and the slayer stay over here to the side.”
 
“But if it’s not safe for us, it’s not safe for you!” Buffy protested.
 
“If it goes again, being buried in a rock fall isn’t gong to kill me, love. Worst that could happen is a few broken bones. Nothing I haven’t had before. ’Sides, if I do get buried, I’m gonna need you safe away from it so you can dig me out.”
 
“Weeell, okay,” Buffy said. “While you’re up there, I’ll help Tara get set up for her trance. I can do the spooky sand circle. Be careful!”
 
Spike turned his flashlight back on, swarmed up the scaffolding and pulled himself up into the crypt. He hastily grabbed every single item that looked as though it might have any monetary value at all. Before he’d got half way around the room, he’d filled the box he’d left there so he dropped down into the cavern with it and grabbed a second box.
 
He threw a quick glance over at the girls in the corner. Tara sat cross-legged in the centre of a ring of bright orange sand while Buffy circled her, lighting four sticks of incense.
 
He gathered up the rest of the loot. Just as he was leaving, he spotted a couple of fragile-looking scrolls which had been tucked behind a decorative plaque, and snapped them up. When he descended, Tara was sitting motionless and breathing deeply while the smoke from the incense rose in steady columns in the still air.
 
Buffy was busy arranging the items from the first box into neat rows on the ground. She had the diamond tiara perched atop her head, several rings gleamed on her fingers and there were three necklaces dangling around her neck. When she stretched to place the pair of daggers off to one side and her jacket sleeve rode up, Spike saw she was also wearing a bangle and a couple of bracelets.
 
She looked up when he approached and whispered, “I thought this might make it easier for Tara to see at a glance if anything had mojo.”
 
“Good idea, love.” As he bent to add the new items to the others, Spike pointed to her head. “Fancy playing Princess, then?”
 
“Huh?” With a puzzled little frown, Buffy reached up and felt her hair, dislodging the tiara. She gave him a sheepish smile. “Oh. Um… yeah. Pretty, isn’t it?” She carefully placed it with the rest of the treasure and then shed all her other adornments in turn.
 
When the display was complete, Spike looked over at Tara. Nothing seemed to have changed; her heartbeat was still slow and steady, as was her breathing. “How long do you reckon she’ll be?”
 
“I’m not sure. It took me a few hours, but I’ve never been much good at the meditation thing.”
 
“Might as well get on with dismantling the scaffolding while we wait, then,” Spike said. “Now she’s under, the noise shouldn’t disturb her.”
 
It turned out that taking the scaffolding apart went much more quickly than setting it up. When they’d finished and Tara still hadn’t roused, they began carting all the equipment back to the entrance and loading it on the truck.
 
After about an hour, they returned to the cavern yet again to find Tara crouching by the treasure. She’d already set several pieces to one side and was turning the jewelled short sword over and over in her hands.
 
She finally nodded to herself and added it to the pile at her side. She briefly passed her hand over each of the remaining pieces before looking up to see them.
 
“Oh, Goddess!” she said, her grey-blue eyes going wide. “I’ve never seen anything like that before!”