“Willow! Go downstairs and find Giles and tell him to get back up here now!” Angel said, rushing through the door Dawn still held open. “What?!? How do you know where Giles is…” Willow’s voice trailed off, her frightened eyes glued to Buffy slumped on the floor. “I passed him walking with Xander in the lobby downstairs on my way up here. Who cares! Just go bring the Watcher back up here now!” Angel said forcefully watching a very worried Willow rush out the still open door of their hotel suite. Looking at Dawn and seeing the panicked look in her eyes, he decided to busy her with something to keep her from getting hysterical. “Dawn call 911 and tell them to send someone here right away and then call Faith and tell her what is going on.”

With that, Angel scooped an unconscious Buffy effortlessly into his arms, striding into her room in less than 10 steps. Sitting on the bed nuzzling her forehead with his cheek, he took a few deep calming breaths and promptly smelled blood. Cradling the sleeping woman in his lap with one arm, he used his free hand to turn her head to the side, looking over her features possessively. Finding a small but nasty looking bruise along her jaw line, he stared at the trickle of blood running down beneath her ear. Closing his eyes, Angel took a long slow deep breath, holding it, letting the scent awaken feelings within that he fought daily to keep at bay. Bending his head, he nuzzled her cheek, vanilla-sugar scented bath gel mingling with the scent that was purely Buffy, the coppery smell of her blood making him almost drunk and bending his head even further, rubbing his cheek against hers, he licked her. Groaning deeply, his eyes opened slightly, glittering gold as he blinked slowly and he could feel his demon battling to get out. Angel closed his eyes again, his breath coming faster and deeper, his brow furrowing as he licked her once more, his tongue lightly swiping at the blood oozing from the bruise on her jaw.

Relishing the heady flavour of the woman in his arms, he allowed the taste to linger on his tongue for a moment before he licked her again, firmly this time, lapping up the trail of blood running down her neck. His demon coming fully to the front, Angel resisted the urge to sink his fangs into the soft skin of her neck and drink deeply, instead fastening his lips to the small cut, nursing it gently without swallowing, trying to take as much of her into his mouth as he could without hurting her. Feeling her warm blood pool shallowly around his tongue, Angel lifted his head, rolling her blood around his mouth as if he were savouring a mouthful of the finest wine, when suddenly his eyes flew open, and he looked down at the still unconscious features of the small woman in his arms. Swallowing hard, his vampiric features frozen in shock, he tastes her, her blood running warmly down his throat. The familiar tang of Buffy was there, but stronger; the sweetly-spicy coppery flavour that was hers alone was more pungent, almost overwhelmingly so and with it, a hint of something else; something darker.

His features returning to normal, Angel lifted his head and looked away, feeling his un-beating heart rend in two as he realized the darkness that whispered in her blood was as familiar to him as the golden girl in his lap.

Swallowing again, the last vestiges of her blood trickling down his throat, Angel closed his eyes, inside him his demon was roaring ferociously wanting to re-claim the woman in his arms as he realized the darkness lingering on his tongue had a name.

Spike!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘Ugh! What in the hell?!?’ Buffy thought, coming to consciousness suddenly, wrinkling her nose in disgust and yanking her head back from the offending smell burning in her nostrils.

“Miss Summers? Can you answer me?” a voice asked from somewhere above her. “Buffy, open your eyes for me please.” The voice above her continued.

Opening her eyes slowly, a pleasant looking man with smiling blue eyes came into focus.

“Well hello there,” he said. “How are you feeling Miss Summers?”

Feeling the pain come rushing at her suddenly, Buffy groaned, closing her eyes as she lifted a hand to touch her jaw gingerly. “Well, I’ve had better days,” she croaked, her throat dry, wincing slightly as she talked.

“Yeah, losing consciousness and whacking your head on the way down has a way of doing that to a person. Miss Summers, I need to check your comprehension levels. I know it hurts to talk, but could you answer a few questions for me?”

Opening her eyes once more, Buffy looked into the rounded face of the paramedic kneeling over her, noticing the concern lining his light eyes and the gentle way he was unwrapping her arm from the cuff of the blood pressure monitor thingy. Nodding her head, she swallowed, trying to relieve the dryness of her throat.

“Miss Summers, can you tell me what day it is?” the EMT asked her, removing the ear buds of his stethoscope and pulling them down to lay curled around his neck.

“Uhhh, Saturday?” she replies, her voice cracking.

Looking over his shoulder at a frightened, hovering Dawn, he asks quietly “Could you please bring her a glass of ice, no water?” Looking back at Buffy he replies “Well actually it’s about 1am Sunday morning, but since you’ve been unconscious for a bit, we’ll forgive you for that,” he says smiling.

The EMT continued, asking a few more questions, even about the wound on her right side while Buffy sucked on ice cubes answering correctly, when her stomach groaned and growled loudly for all to hear.

Embarrassed, she blushed prettily when the paramedic commented on it, asking her when the last time she ate was.

“Umm, sometime Friday morning?” she said quietly, the flush of her cheeks warming to a bright pink under his scrutiny.

“Well in light of all your vitals, you’re stable and healthy. Normally in the case of losing consciousness, we would bring you to the hospital as a precautionary measure but you’re alert and comprehensive, understanding everything that I’ve asked you and replying in a responding manner. I think this is simply a case of going too long with too little food, so I will leave it up to you if you would like to come downtown with us or not.”

“No, no. In spite of my headache, and feeling like someone hit me in the jaw with a sledgehammer, I feel fine,” blushing again as he caught Buffy’s eyes with his own, “I do admit that I am kind of hungry though,” she said sheepishly.

“Well then, I suggest some Tylenol or Motrin for the aches you have. You’ve a smart lump on your jaw where the skin broke a bit that we cleaned, up so use an antibiotic cream on it for a few days and just keep it clean. My main recommendation is to get some food into you, maybe something easy like eggs with toast to see how your tummy handles it. After that, if you feel ok, maybe something more complex like pancakes and oj…”

“Or some Kung Pao Chicken,” Xander piped in, holding one of the cartons of Chinese takeout they consumed hours earlier, looking relieved that Buffy’s simple fainting spell had everything to do with lack of food rather than lack of anything else.

“Pancakes are complex?” Dawn asked, clearly puzzled as she sat down on the bed next to Buffy.

Cleaning up various wrappers and gauze pads, the paramedic stuffed them into a plastic bag, standing up to tower over Buffy’s prone form on the bed. Looking past them, she saw a very relieved Giles standing behind an equally relieved Willow. Just then the sound of a door being flung open and a husky voice calling out “What’s wrong? Where’s Buffy?” preceded a somewhat harried looking Faith as she blew into the room with the force of a simmering volcano.

“Hey B. What’s up?” Faith asked, looking pointedly at the paramedics before turning her tired eyes on Buffy. Her face devoid of all makeup and her hair scraped back into a ponytail, Faith looked more like she was Dawn’s age at 18, rather than the 25 year old Buffy knew her to be.

“Nothing really. I got a little dizzy because I forgot to eat. You know, I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen you with your hair up,” Buffy answered, not missing the tired shadows beneath the dark-haired woman’s eyes. “So, how’s Robin,” she continued quietly.

Blushing softly, Faith looked down, a bit uneasy still with the feelings roiling about inside her over the onyx-eyed man in question. “He’s doin ok, ya know, with the loss of blood and the infection and everything. He woke up about 2 hours ago, and the first thing he starts doing is complaining about me snoring, yo.” Her teeth flashing with her quick grin, she ducked her head, hiding her face behind the swing of her ponytail. “Like I wasn’t tired as hell and trying to sleep in that small uncomfortable ass box they try telling me is a chair,” Faith looked at Buffy once more and smiled, shoving her hands in the front pockets of her form fitting jeans.

“Well, we’ll be on our way Miss Summers. I hope you feel better, and don’t forget to grab a bite to eat,” and with that, the laughing-eyed EMT made his way out of the room, Giles following closely behind.

“Speaking of food, yo, I smell Chinese. Is there any left? I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse. That damned hospital should be fined for serving that crap they try to pass off as food. No wonder it takes people so long to get better and stuff, eating that bland junk 3 times a day,” Faith said, looking at the carton in Xander’s hand.

“Sure, there’s plenty left. Giles ordered like he was feeding 20 of us rather than just the 5 of us. Come in the kitchen and I’ll warm some up for you,” Willow said quietly, smiling at Buffy softly before walking out of the room, Faith and Xander following close behind.

“You sure you feel ok Buffy,” Dawn asked, still sitting next to her on the bed, her pretty face drawn up tight by the frown she was wearing.

“Yeah, Dawnie. I’m ok. Promise. I just need some food and a nap and I’ll be okey dokey,” Buffy replied, reaching up to rub her sister’s cheek with the back of her hand, smiling gently.

“Speaking of which,” Angel interrupts, appearing in the doorway and holding up a brown paper bag. “I come, bearing gifts.”

Turning back to the doorway, Buffy takes him in. Wearing a long-sleeved dark grey jersey that showed off expansive shoulders and charcoal coloured trousers, he looked casual but classy at the same time. His chocolate brown eyes locked with her dark green ones and Buffy smiled a small smile, taking in his perfectly spiked dark brown hair.

“Angel. Hi. What brings you here?” Buffy asked, drawing her cardigan closed, folding one side over the other and crossing her arms over it noticing the hungry look in his eyes.

“Well, I was here when you decided suddenly to take a nap and with the paramedics checking you and no-one else remembering whether you had eaten anything or not, I went out to grab you something so you wouldn’t be forced to eat reheated Moo Goo Gai Cat or MSG rolls,” he said softly, gesturing with the bag he was holding.

“Ok, well I’m going to go wash my face and stuff while you nosh on whatever Angel brought for you,” Dawn piped up. Leaning over, she kissed her older sister on her forehead before bouncing to her feet and strolling from the room, leaving the door open halfway and Buffy alone with the ex love of her life.

“Chicken chili and a grande cocoa,” Angel gestured with the bag again, making his way over to sit on the side of the bed Buffy was on.

Sitting up to lean back against the headboard, she asked “Whipped cream or marshmallows?”

“Whipped cream, but I think by now it might have melted and mixed in with the cocoa,” he said, opening the bag and taking out the capped Styrofoam cup before handing it to her.

I’m glad you’re here Angel,” and removing the lid from her cup, Buffy peeked over the rim, taking a whiff of the warm chocolately goodness inside before taking a tentative sip.

“So am I Sweetheart. So am I.”