This lovely banner was created for me by the amazing Tamakin84!! Thanks so much, love!!!




The Slayer and the master vampire stood there for a long moment, glaring daggers at each other over the unspoken challenge that lay between them, before they seemed to simultaneously come to a decision.

They both cared about Spike, and he had been through a terrible ordeal. He was going to need a lot of support and caring and protection – and he was not necessarily completely out of danger yet, as long as the person who had done those things to him was still out there free.

For the moment – each decided that the other was not exactly the person they needed to be fighting.

“So – I still don’t get why he freaked out when he came down the stairs,” Buffy sighed, breaking the intense gaze she had been sharing with Angel and looking at the two men seated on the couch. “I mean – what could have caused that?”

“Vampires have very acute senses of smell, Buffy,” Angel pointed out thoughtfully, his own dark eyes fastened on Riley and Xander as well – but with a much greater suspicion in his gaze. “He hadn’t even looked this way when it happened – so my guess would be he either smelled something familiar – or heard a familiar voice – that frightened him.”

Buffy frowned, puzzled for a moment – and then her eyes widened with obvious dismay as she looked at Angel again. “You’re not saying that you think it was someone here who…”

“Five minutes ago it didn’t seem so strange to you,” the vampire muttered, rolling his eyes as he turned slightly away from her, obviously still a bit offended by her earlier suspicion.

Buffy deliberately ignored his behavior, which bordered on pouting, and replied instead, “But – I don’t think…”

“Or, it’s possible that he just heard the sound of an *unfamiliar* male voice,” Angel suggested, an odd look in his eyes as he held Buffy’s gaze. “Or smelled that there were men here – because men smell different than women, you know…and if it was a man that did it to him…it could have been enough…”

Buffy nodded slowly, not quite catching on to Angel’s attempt at wordless communication. “He’s only been with women since we found him. Just me and Dawn and – me and Dawn…so…maybe that’s all it was…”

Angel nodded, seemingly satisfied. “That’s probably all it was,” he agreed.

Buffy let out a weary sigh – which changed to a yawn halfway through – before smiling apologetically at her friends. “Hey, guys, I’m not trying to be rude – but it’s been a really long day, and I really think I ought to check on Spike. I just think it might be best if everybody just went home for now – okay?”

Xander looked troubled, glancing up the stairs before meeting Buffy’s eyes with resignation. “Okay, Buffy. Whatever you think is best,” he agreed quietly.

Seeing the concern on his face, Buffy stifled her annoyance at his obvious – and typical – suspicions. “Xander – he can barely walk down the stairs on his own…he’s not dangerous.”

“Did I say he was dangerous?” Xander retorted mildly, giving her a conciliatory smile of resignation as he headed for the door. “You owe me a rein check on movie night, Buffy,” he reminded her as he left the house.

“I don’t know, Buffy,” Riley said, stopping at the base of the stairs on his way to the door, glancing up them with undisguised distrust. “I know you don’t think he’s dangerous – but he’s like a wounded animal, Buffy. Totally unpredictable. Are you sure you don’t want me to…?”

“I’ll stay if Buffy needs someone to stay,” Angel cut him off coldly, glaring at the ex-soldier with clear disdain.

Buffy had no intention of Angel’s staying, either – but if it would help to get Riley to leave…

“See?” she smiled up at him with false gratitude. “Thank you, Riley – but I’m okay, really. You can go.” Silently, in her head, she added, **Please* go!*

As soon as Riley had reluctantly shut the door behind him, Buffy turned to face Angel.

“Please go,” she stated firmly, giving him a serious look. “I mean – I appreciate this, Angel, I really do – but I think it’d be better if it was just us right now…”

Angel was silent for a long moment, taking in her expression, obviously wanting to argue. Like the other two before him, he glanced uncertainly up the stairs – but the look in his eyes was one of compassion and worry, rather than hatred and suspicion.

“Buffy,” he said finally, meeting her eyes again. “I really wish you’d let me stay. I think I can help. But – if you won’t…at least listen to what I have to say.”

Buffy was silent, her expression not changing, as she waited for him to go on.

“I don’t think you should trust those guys…”

“Xander and Riley?” she said incredulously. “Angel, you can’t be serious! Do you honestly think that one of them could have done something so horrible?”

“Yes,” he stated simply.

She stared at him for a moment, before shaking her head emphatically. “No,” she argued insistently. “No, Angel, I *know* them – and I know that they’re not capable of…”

“You *never* know what someone is capable of,” he pointed out intently, his dark eyes blazing with a fierce, passionate need to make her see the danger that he could see. “Until they get the reason and the means to do it – you never know what someone can do.”

Buffy lowered her eyes, having no argument for what he was saying, besides her faith in her friends. “You said it could have just been…”

“I know what I said,” Angel cut her off gently. “And I wasn’t lying. But – it’s much more likely that it was a *specific* scent or sound, to set him off that badly. I just – didn’t want to give too much away…if it *was* one of them, and they know that you’re starting to suspect them – well – they’re around here a lot – it might not be…*safe*. For Spike.”

Buffy stared at him blankly for a moment, before what he was saying became clear in her mind.

“Are you saying that whoever did this might try to hurt him? To shut him up, before he can recover enough to tell me who did this?”

Angel’s silent gaze was answer enough.

“Okay, first of all – it couldn’t have been Xander or Riley who did this. And secondly, I don’t care if they *did* do this, *nothing* is going to happen to Spike while he’s here with me! I’m going to make sure that he’s safe – and at least until he’s gotten a *lot* better, there is no freakin’ way that I’m letting him out of mine and Dawnie’s sight!”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Angel answered after a moment’s silence as he considered her words. “Please be sure that you don’t.” He turned and opened the door, pausing just before stepping out into the night, looking at her pensively over his shoulder, “This is my childe we’re talking about here, Buffy. The last thing I want is to see him hurt any worse.”

Buffy was quiet for a moment, considering what to say – and then replied with an unmistakable note of reproof to her quiet, calm voice, “Nice of you to come to that conclusion -- *now*.”

Stung by her harsh words, Angel turned to go.

“Angel.”

He stopped on the porch, without turning, not wanting her to see the tears of guilt and hurt in his dark eyes.

“Please – don’t leave town.”

Surprised, he turned to face her, wanting to see the expression in her eyes – which immediately softened as she saw the unmistakable emotion in his eyes.

“I – we might need you. I’m *sure* we’ll need you,” she relented softly. “It’s just – for tonight – I want some time with him. To make sure he’s – calm – and feels safe…reassured. Okay?”

“Okay,” Angel agreed simply, as he turned and headed off into town, to find an available room for the next few nights…or weeks…

**********************************

Dawn was lying on the bed next to a badly shaken Spike, who was just starting to calm down a little, at the same time that Buffy and Angel were arguing about his fate downstairs. As the sound of raised voices reached their ears – and Dawn realized that he must have heard them long before she did – Spike flinched slightly, burying his face in her shoulder with a soft little whining sound.

“It’s all right, Spike,” she whispered soothingly, her slender arms holding the physically larger creature close to her – though at the moment he hardly seemed larger at all. Maybe a bit taller – but he had lost so much weight (and so much confidence) that he hardly seemed the greater of the two of them at the moment. “Me and Buffy aren’t gonna let anything bad happen to you, ever again…okay? I promise,” she whispered.

The way that her friend clung to her – the way his soft, pleading sounds seemed to die away as she held him and spoke softly to him – seemed to suggest that he understood at least a little of what she was saying…and Dawn suddenly remembered what had happened on the stairs just before they had come up to the bedroom, with a little thrill of excitement at the thought.

A sudden inspiration hit her, as she heard her sister’s angry voice raised again, and felt Spike flinch against her again. His keen vampire hearing did not seem to be allowing him to relax, no matter how hard she tried to get him to. Every angry word drifting up from downstairs seemed to make him tense up again, obviously reminding him of the abuse he had suffered, making him instinctively expect to experience more of the same.

What they needed was a major distraction – and fast.

She sat up suddenly, gently pulling Spike up with her, and placing a few soft pillows between his back and the headboard, before guiding him back to settle against them. He was watching her intently, a silent question in his luminous blue eyes. They were so clear, his gaze so piercingly expressive – Dawn found herself wondering if the second meal he had had that morning was already kicking in, and his vision had improved even since then.

His eyes *did* seem to be more focused on her, darting to follow her every movement as she shifted to sit cross-legged on the bed facing him.

“Wanna play a game?” she asked with a bright, encouraging smile.

**********************************

As Buffy trudged wearily up the stairs to her room, she found herself almost dreading what she might face when she walked through her bedroom door. Judging by how terrified Spike had been when she had sent him upstairs, and having only her little sister and her very limited experience in the realm of comfort…

Well, she did not expect it to be pretty.

Cautiously, she edged the door open, glancing inside before entering – not just throwing the door open as Dawn had done earlier. She did not want to do anything to frighten Spike unnecessarily.

Dawn did not seem to have heard her yet – but Spike was sitting on the bed, facing the door, very still as he looked intently toward it…and Buffy remembered what Angel had said about scent. Even if he could not quite see her through the crack in the door, it was likely that Spike already knew she was there.

*That’s a good thing, in this case,* she thought gratefully. *No surprises. He doesn’t need any more surprises right now…*

Satisfied that she would not be causing another major freak out by doing so, she opened the door and slipped quietly inside – finally alerting her sister to her presence, as well as Spike. Dawn turned around on the bed, beaming up at her with excitement.

“Buffy, you’ve gotta see this!” she announced exultantly. “Come sit over here and watch what Spike can do!”

“You’ve been teaching him already?” Buffy was surprised – and pleased.

“I thought it might be a good time to start,” Dawn said softly – and the look in her eyes made her reasoning clear to her older sister.

Buffy was *very* impressed.

Dawn just kept surprising her with the way she was handling this situation. She couldn’t say that she would have thought of it herself – but judging by Spike’s state of relative calm at the moment, Dawn’s attempt at distracting the nervous vampire seemed to have worked.

At least – until Buffy got close enough for him to catch the slight scent of the guys on her from downstairs.

He flinched slightly, pulling back against the headboard, looking at her, and around the room, over and over in confusion – as if he could not understand why he could smell what he perceived to be his enemy, and yet could not see him anywhere in the room.

“It’s okay,” Buffy soothed him gently, moving up to the head of the bed and carefully sitting down beside him, wrapping her arms around him and allowing him to nestle into her warmth, resting his head on her shoulder. “It’s just me – nobody here but just us…okay? Nobody’s going to hurt you, Spike…”

He seemed grateful for her nearness, desperate for the security that he was coming to associate with her – and yet still very confused by the scent that he could not quite place.

Noticing his obvious discomfort, Dawn decided to take charge of distracting him once more.

“Watch this, Buffy,” she repeated, meeting her sister’s eyes with a knowing look. “Spike is such a fast learner. I’m so proud of him!”

Though he could not understand all of the words, Spike glanced up at her at the sound of his name – a fact Buffy noticed with a thrill of joy, at this new and vital progress – and then smiled cautiously at the sound of approval and pride in her voice as she looked at him, talked about him.

“Spike,” Dawn said clearly, and he raised his head to look at her expectantly. “Where’s the *bed*, Spike?”

He hesitated just a moment, before lowering a hand to softly pat the mattress beside him, his eyes watching hers uncertainly for her response.

“Good!” Dawn exulted – and the vampire’s shy little smile grew just a tiny bit wider. “Now where’s the floor?”

Spike’s hesitant hand pointed in the correct direction seemed a cause for genuine celebration for the Summers’ girls. The new words he had learned seemed so simple, so basic – and yet, each new success gave them a fresh hope, with the reassurance that he *could* learn again – could eventually regain all that he had lost.

Because while he had had all his knowledge taken from him – he was *not* stupid.

“You’re doing good, Spike,” Buffy whispered to him, running a tender hand through his hair, careful to keep her touch to the top of his head. “Good – very good, Spike…”

She felt a little tremor go through him at her words, and tilted her head slightly forward to search his expression with concern – and was thrilled to see the beaming smile on his face as he gazed up at her with adoration in his hopeful blue eyes, as he thirstily soaked up the praise and affirmation that had been withheld from him for so long.

“Spike,” Dawn continued, drawing his gaze back to hers, this time with obvious excitement in his eyes to continue the game. “Who’s Dawn?” Her sapphire eyes twinkled playfully as she raised her hands in an exaggerated shrug, as if to suggest that she did not know.

He gave her a knowing look that resembled a look the old Spike might have given her, had she ever treated him so patronizingly, as he reached out a hesitant hand to briefly touch hers, before quickly drawing it away with a shy, uncertain tuck of his head as he leaned it back on Buffy’s shoulder.

“Good,” both girls said almost at once, as Buffy cuddled in closer to him, more than content just to sit there and hold him, for as long as he wanted. She glanced up at Dawn with a grateful smile. “Dawnie, honey, you’re doing so good too,” she informed her. “He’s picking up so much – and you’re really helping him a lot.”

“We need to teach him your name next,” Dawn stated with a self-satisfied grin.

“He may already know it,” Buffy observed softly, glancing down at him. “He already knew yours before you started teaching him. He recognized that I was talking about you downstairs.”

“Spike,” Dawn tried to get his attention again, though it was obvious that he was beginning to drift off to sleep in the Slayer’s warm embrace.

He had had a very traumatic little experience that evening, following a relatively long day, and was ready to rest again.

Still, he dutifully opened his sleepy eyes and looked at her again, waiting for her cue.

“Buffy – where’s Buffy, Spike?”

He was perfectly still for a moment, not moving at all – before he slowly looked up at her, his face nuzzling in close to her neck in a sort of primitive gesture of recognition and affection.

“I think he gets it,” Dawn muttered good-naturedly, rolling her eyes. “Good,” she said to Spike. “Buffy. Good.”

And then – Buffy heard it.

A soft, barely audible sound that was barely more than a vibration against her throat. It might have been no more than a breath of air expelled by the vampire’s dead lungs.

But somehow – she knew it was more.

Gently she pulled back from him a little, and he looked up at her uncertainly, but immediately reassured by the affectionate, encouraging smile on her face.

“Buffy – what?” Dawn had not caught it, and she frowned, puzzled.

“Shh,” Buffy gently instructed her, her eyes focused on Spike. “It’s okay, Spike – try it again…”

Dawn’s eyes widened, as the vampire’s lips just barely moved, and she realized what was happening.

“Come on, Spike – you can do it…try it again…” Buffy gently urged him, running a hand gently across his cheek and tilting his head slightly upward, causing his mouth to open just a bit wider. “Come on…”

A barely audible sound left his lips once more, as he struggled to do as he knew she wanted him to do.

“B-bu…”

“Good – that’s good, Spike…you can do it…*Buf-fy…come on…”

“Buf…Bu…”

“Buf – fy…come on, Spike,” she gently pressed him, speaking her own name slowly and clearly, trying to show him how to form the sounds.

Spike was indeed a *very* fast learner.

In the next moment, after months of enforced silence, forbidden and unable to speak a word – Spike finally spoke, a word that had meant more to him in the years that he now could not remember, possibly than any other.

“Buffy.”