Chapter 3

Giles was awoken abruptly by a pounding on his front door. He went to answer it, only to have a small blonde bound inside the apartment.

“Buffy, it’s the middle of the night. Is something wrong?” he wondered.

“Where is he, Giles?”

Giles rubbed his tired eyes. “He’s resting right now.”

Buffy took on a look of concern. “What’s wrong with him? He was acting weird ever since we got back from patrol. I know something has to be wrong if he decided to come here.”

“It’s not my place to say.”

Buffy walked away from Giles and into the living room, where she found Spike passed out on the couch. She got a closer look at him and gasped when she noticed that he looked a lot paler than usual. She placed her hand on his forehead to feel that he was warm, which was odd for a vampire. She looked back up at Giles, unshed tears in her eyes. “What’s wrong with him?” she asked again, her voice coming out in a whisper.

Giles decided that there was no use hiding the truth from her. She was bound to find out anyway. “The demon’s claws were poisonous. He said that it was hazardous to vampires.”

“He’s going to be okay, right? I mean, there has to be a way to get him better.”

Giles shook his head. “I’m working on finding a cure. I can’t seem to find anything about that demon in any of my books, but I won’t give up. You have my word on that.”

Buffy nodded and gazed back at Spike. She ran her fingers through his hair, which caused him to open his eyes and stare right at her.

“Buffy?”

The tears were streaming down her face now and she wrapped her arms around him, resting her head against his chest.

Spike rubbed her back in comfort. “It’s okay, baby. It’s going to be okay.”

She looked back up at him. “How can you say that? Were you even going to tell me about this?”

“I was going to, but I didn’t want you to worry.”

Buffy shook her head. “You can’t keep protecting me from everything, Spike. I need to know these things. We have to be completely honest with each other.”

He nodded. “You’re right; I’m just new to all of this. I’ve only ever been with Drusilla. I didn’t even have a girlfriend when I was alive. It takes some getting used to.”

Buffy leaned closer to him and planted a kiss on his lips. “You’ll be okay. There’s a lot we haven’t done yet. I’m still hoping for you to take me to England. I’ve always wanted to see it.”

He smiled and caressed her cheek. “As soon as this is over, we’re out of here. I think we both could use a vacation.”

Buffy agreed, giving him another kiss.

Giles watched them a while longer. He couldn’t remember ever seeing Buffy so in love before, not even when she was with Angel. He was now more determined than ever to find a cure, but he had a feeling that the answer wasn’t in any of his books. He hated to even think about it, but he knew that the Council would have more knowledge about rare demons than he would. He would have to call them, even though he dreaded how that would go. Giles was out of ideas at the moment.


* * * * *


“It should have been me.”

Spike shook his head. “No, I made the right decision. I would do it again if I had to.”

Buffy looked up from her position beside him on the couch. “You don’t even know if the poison would have affected me at all. You knew what it would have done to you.”

“I still couldn’t risk anything happening to you, Buffy.”

She let out a sigh, deciding to change the subject. “Do you remember when we first met?”

He nodded. “How could I forget? That’s when everything changed for me. Do you want to know what I thought when I first saw you?”

“Should I be worried?”

Spike laughed, shaking his head. “It’s not bad. I walked into the Bronze and saw you dancing with your friends and the first thing that went through my head was how beautiful you were. You were so young and full of life, different from any other Slayer that I’ve seen. I knew that you would be a challenge, but I also didn’t want to kill you. I’ve never thought that about a Slayer before, but I had a feeling that you would surprise me. I was right about that.”

Buffy smiled. “When I first saw you, I thought you were incredibly gorgeous. I remember feeling upset that you were a vampire, knowing that I had to kill you. I’m kinda glad that it never happened.”

“Yeah, I’m with you on that one.” He paused. “As much as I love having you here, I think you should get to class now. I wouldn’t want you to miss out because of me.”

She shook her head. “School’s not important right now. I want to stay here with you.”

“Sweetheart, you’ve been with me all morning. I’m not going to fade away just because you decide to go to a few classes. I’ll still be here.”

Buffy knew he was right, but it was still hard to leave him. “I’ll be back in a few hours, okay?” She kissed him on the cheek and got up, making her way over to the front door. “Tell Giles I’ll be back later.”

He nodded and watched her walk away, then lay back down. He started to feel better when Buffy was there, but now the weakness seemed to be coming back. He shut his eyes tight and hoped that the dizziness would pass. When he opened his eyes again, he saw that Giles was standing next to him. He sat up at the concerned look on the man’s face. “I take it you didn’t find anything.”

Giles cleaned his glasses, which was never a good sign. “Actually, I did find something. I knew that I wouldn’t get anywhere with my books, so I decided to call the Council.”

Spike raised his eyebrows. “And they were actually helpful?”

“In some ways, but I’m afraid what they told me was nothing good.”

“Did they find a cure?” Spike wondered.

Giles took a deep breath. “It seems this venom is similar to the one that Faith poisoned Angel with last year.”

Spike’s eyes grew big. “Are you saying that the cure is Slayer blood?”

Giles nodded. “I’m afraid so.”

Spike shook his head. “No, there has to be another way.”

“This is the only way, Spike.”

“I won’t believe that.”

Giles knew this would be a hard conversation. “Spike…” he didn’t get to finish that sentence.

“What? Do you actually want me to drain your Slayer? It’s not happening. I don’t care what happens to me, but I won’t hurt her.”

“I'm not happy about this either, but I don't see any other choices. You won't have to drain her. Angel managed it without causing much damage.”

Spike gave a humorless laugh. “Yeah, he would. I’m not bloody Peaches. I’m not going to feed off of the woman I love just to save myself. I would rather die.” His voice softened as he looked at Giles. “This world would be fine without me in it. I’m just one more vampire, but Buffy is a true hero. The world needs her and I won’t risk her life.”

“What about what I need?”

They both turned at the sound of Buffy’s voice in the doorway.

Spike knew that there would be no going back now.