William paced the front entryway for twenty minutes before grabbing his crossbow and heading out into the night. Buffy should have come home a half hour ago, and he felt deep in his gut, in his soul, that something wasn’t quite right.
He headed towards the nearest cemetery, keeping eyes and ears peeled for a sign of his Slayer. As he passed by the park, he heard a distant pained cry. He spun around and caught sight of Buffy being pushed to the ground, the three most feared vampires in the city surrounding her. William could feel his heart leap into his throat.
Breaking into a dead run, he aimed and fired his crossbow at Xander. The bolt hit him in the shoulder and he roared in pain and vamped out. All three vampires spun around to face the newcomer, who pulled a cross out to guard himself with. He fired the second loaded bolt of the crossbow into Willow’s thigh before she could move to avoid it, and she growled at him, oblivious to the Slayer leaping up from the ground to kick her brutally in the stomach and face.
Ripper leapt for William, but was stopped immediately by the cross pressed into his face. All three vampires began to back up as Buffy and her Watcher stood to face them in fighting stances.
“Let’s go,” Ripper sighed, gingerly touching the burns on his cheek.
“What? No!” Xander protested, yanking the arrow out of his shoulder and grimacing. “We can take them.”
For the first time, the older vampire’s voice lost it’s relaxed, conversational tone. He menaced, “I gave you an order, and you better bloody well obey it.” Ripper spun and walked off, Willow close behind, favoring her injured leg. Xander shot the Slayer and her Watcher one last murderous gaze, and reluctantly followed them.
Once they disappeared completely from sight, William turned to fully assess Buffy’s injuries. He didn’t have time, however, as she collapsed unconscious into his arms.
William lifted her easily, biting back a furious scream as he took in the bruises beginning to darken her soft flesh and the blood trickling from her mouth and nose. He got her to the house safely, sending up a quick prayer of thanks that no demons or beasts had smelled the Slayer’s tantalizing blood and come to find them.
Buffy stirred as he carried her upstairs, her body began to shake, and she let out a soft moan as he laid her down on her bed.
“How are you feeling, love?” He asked as her eyes fluttered open, his horror subsiding now that she was at least awake.
“Ow,” was all she could say, wincing as she attempted to lift her head.
“Don’t move, I’ll be right back.” He ran to the bathroom and grabbed their well stocked first aid kit, and some painkillers, returning to Buffy’s side before she could even take two shaky breaths.
She watched him with half closed eyes as he began to clean up her blood, wrap her wrist, and bandage her wounds. A muscle in his jaw was twitching, his eyes were narrowed, and he was radiating anger and violence and danger. He was clearly barely containing his fury.
He reminded her of Spike in that moment. But it warmed her heart to know that his rage was on her behalf, not directed at her.
“Hey, don’t look so glum,” she said weakly. “I’m fine. A little shaken, pretty embarrassed, but fine.”
“Embarrassed?”
“Yeah. What Slayer needs to be saved by her Watcher? I mean, really.”
He didn’t laugh at her attempt at a joke, just tightened his jaw more and tentatively lifted the hem of her shirt. “I think some of your ribs are broken, and you have a cut on your stomach,” he said slowly. “I need to…” He tugged gently on the fabric.
“Oh, okay,” she said weakly, closing her eyes and blushing a bit. He gently lifted the shirt so it was only covering her breasts, baring her stomach to his eyes.
Sex was the last thing on his mind, however, as he took in her battered torso. He carefully cleaned and bandaged a cut on her lower belly. His touch was gentle, soothing, as he felt around her sides. She cried out as he hit a tender spot.
“Sorry,” he murmured, choking back a dry sob.
“William? It’s alright,” Buffy soothed, her hand reaching to settle on top of his. She laced their fingers together. “It’s really not that bad, I have super healing, remember?”
“Bloody hell, they could have killed you, Buffy,” he said softly, his grip on her hand tightening. “If I hadn’t shown up, they would have.”
“Maybe,” she smiled. “You did save me, and thank you. But maybe I was all ready to jump up and take them all down. You don’t know!”
She was trying to lighten the mood, trying to rip that horrified look off his handsome features, but in her heart she knew how close she had come to dying that night.
Once again, he didn’t respond to her humor, but continued to hold her hand as he began to clean the blood off of her face, eyes shining with unshed tears.
“Is this…is this the most hurt you’ve ever seen me?” she asked. He nodded, avoiding her gaze.
“This dimension must have a better version of me,” she said sadly. “A tougher version.”
“No, Buffy,” William said firmly. “The last time you faced those three you just ran, which honestly, you should have done tonight.”
“Probably.”
“Definitely.”
They were quiet as he finished cleaning her forehead. He reluctantly pulled his hand from hers and used it to tape a piece of gauze over the gash above her eyebrow.
“There,” he said, surveying his handiwork. “All bandaged up.” He handed her the pills and went to fetch a glass of water. When he returned she swallowed her medicine, and William began busying himself with packing the first aid kit back up.
Buffy blurted out, “They said something that’s probably important. Menithea?”
“Menithea?” He frowned. “Demon I remember reading about years ago. I’ll research it.”
“After you finish translating that Greek book, right?” Buffy asked hopefully, then shrank back as he glared at her.
“Don’t be daft.. I rather think a demon mentioned by three master vampires who just almost murdered you is a little more important.”
“But—“
“But nothing, Buffy,” William snapped. He was aware his fear over her injuries, his confusion over her memory loss, and his frustration with his own actions towards her were melding together and emerging as anger, but he could do nothing to suppress the emotion. “We will ultimately figure out how to get you back wherever the hell you came from, but you are still the sodding Slayer, and you have to deal with the problems in this world even if you don’t want to be here.”
“Okay,” Buffy agreed softly, struggling to sit up so she could turn away from him and hide her upset face. She let out a whimper when a shooting pain started in her side.
“Buffy, Buffy I’m sorry,” he said quickly, anger evaporating as he saw her weakened state. He sat down next to her and reached an arm under her shoulders, lowering her back to the bed so her back was pressed to his front as he continued to murmur his apology. “I’m just…crazed. Seeing you like that…”
Buffy relaxed into his hold, resting her head on his strong chest. “I know,” she sighed.
“We’ll do both. We’ll research both, okay?” He felt her nod. “Good. You need to rest now. Heal, yeah?”
He shifted a bit, as if to get up but Buffy said softly, “Please don’t go?”
William didn’t. He settled back against the pillows and wrapped his arms around her. Her body next to his felt so natural, so heavenly, that he had to close his eyes so savor the moment, not sure if it would ever happen again. If he’d ever let it happen again.
They were quiet, and Buffy became aware of the fact that they were breathing in unison. She smiled faintly and let the feeling of his body next to hers soothe her, and tried to block out the pain in her head, in her ribs, in her entire body. It was so strange. So strange how comfortable she felt lying with this strange man she didn’t know, not really, so strange that she felt safe, so strange that she had hardly thought about Angel, her Angel, the other, evil version of Angel, all evening. So strange that this man, William, Spike, was holding her as if she was something fragile, but precious. Strange, all around.
“What is this, with us?” she asked quietly after a few minutes.
William didn’t say anything, and she was afraid he’d fallen asleep. But he finally answered. “I don’t know.”
“But…it’s something?” She gathered her courage. “Do you…you like me?”
He slid her over so she was resting on the pillows, and shifted his body so he was looking down at her. “I’m not really sure we should be talking about this, pet. Not when…not when you don’t remember.”
“You mean because I’m not your Buffy. You liked the other Buffy.”
“No,” he said firmly. “I do. You are.” She looked confused, and so was he. “Kitten, some of what I’ve translated so far is about identity, and multiple copies of the same person. I’m not done, but what I think it means as that each…version, I guess, of a person is exactly the same. I think what happened to you is just that your memories were…replaced, with the ones you have now, there was just some sort of…switch. You’re here, and not at home, or what you think is your home…I know that doesn’t make sense but… I don’t think you’re a different person at all. You just have different memories.”
“But...but my life, those memories, all that stuff, isn’t that who I am? Doesn’t that MAKE me who I am?”
“In a way.” He took a deep breath and spoke quickly.” But…your smile. Your eyes, the way you laugh, your sense of humor. It’s all the same. There’s nothing about you that isn’t the way I remember it, the way I like it.”
Her breath caught in her throat.
“You…you are Buffy. In every way. Maybe you don’t remember, but, yes, alright? I have feelings for you. And…I was starting to think you did too. Before you forgot about me.”
“Spike—“
He stood up suddenly. “Let’s forget we talked about this, yeah? It’s a bad road to go down.”
“No, Spike—“
“That’s not my name. Not anymore. And…you shouldn’t even know that.”
Knowing she couldn’t follow in her broken condition, he moved towards the door.
“Yell if you need me, yeah? I’ll be downstairs.”
He spun on his heel and left quickly, and Buffy stared at the empty space where he had been, stunned.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
I had a burst of creativity this weekend, and this fic reaped the benefits. Thank you all so much for your sweet reviews, I'm so happy everyone is enjoying the story! I'd love to keep hearing what you think, in a review or drop me an email. Chapter title from a song by Fiona Apple.