__Just Walk__
By Greyangel
Silence dominated her ears, save for the occasional scuffle from the other side of the room, but her brain was too preoccupied with keeping basic thought to worry about rats or any similar problems. She felt warm despite the cold, and her head throbbed with a heat that was beyond painful. Her senses swam, and she did her best to maintain focus, until soon, it became too difficult and she let her eyes drift closed. She soon found herself on her feet being shaken brutally.
“Tara, stay awake! You must keep your eyes open, please, keep your eyes…”
His voice drifted into a mumble of sounds and phrases that sounded like they were in another language all together. She blinked before her knees gave out, and she felt herself fall and keep falling, as if she had leapt from a cliff face. The falling sensation continued for a moment, then stopped suddenly. She gasped deeply and shook, feeling as though she had just struck concrete, despite the fact he'd caught her before she hit the floor. He tightened his grip on her, holding her shoulder to his chest and cradling her injured head against his heart, ignoring the ever-swelling red stain on his blue shirt. She finally stopped shaking, and glanced with bleary eyes up at him. “I… tell-W-willow I…”
“Shhh,” he stroked her head gently. “You can tell her yourself, when we get out of here.”
“Bloody hope so.”
He glared over to his unwanted companion who sat in a bloody heap on the other side of the room. A large gash across his forehead dribbled blood over one eye and had stained the front rim of his bleached, white hair. A third man sat opposite him, glaring also.
After several moments he lifted himself from his seat and strode past the injured Tara, placing his hands on the rocky walls as if measuring them.
“What, you're thinking of moving one of those big boulders with your superhuman strength, Sparky? Oh, wait; you don't have any super powers. Mistook you for Shaggy the Vampire Slayer, or some bit.”
“Shutup, Spike,” the older man growled from his seated position, cradling the girl.
“Make me,” the vampire protested, wrapping his arms about his legs. “You listen to me, and you listen good, we're stuck in this damned hole and we're gonna die in it. Well, you are.”
“We can always kill you first.” The dark-haired man on his feet offered.
“Seeing as how I don't see any wood nearby, I don't fancy that's an option.” The vampire growled. “At least when you lot die I have something to keep me going for awhile…” He lowered his voice to just below a whisper. “Unless I get hungry sooner.”
The dark-haired man paused at this, and looked around. He'd been the only other one to hear it, apparently. Sighing, he removed his hands and turned, kneeling by their injured companion. “How is she faring?”
“Not bloody good, by the looks of it.”
“Shutup, Spike,” he growled over his shoulder, before turning back around and lifting his brow at the older man who cradled the girl's head.
“We need to get her to a hospital.” He said flatly, running a hand through her hair.
“We need to get out of here, 's what we need.” Spike insisted, pulling himself to his feet and examining the wall.
“It's pointless,” the third man stood once again and moved to where he had previously sat and slumped against the wall. He cursed under his breath at his stupidity, and cast a worried glance her way. It was his fault – the whole thing. He held a hand to his forehead and tried not to let his anger overwhelm him. There had to be another way to contact the outside. He closed his eyes and leant his head back, running his mind over the day's events.
Four Hours Earlier
He shifted uncomfortably, staring up at the printed sign above the shop itself. After a few moments pause he reached out and tried to open the door, finding it to be locked. The lights inside were still clearly on, so he knocked, expecting to find an old friend behind the door as it swung open. He was rather surprised when a complete stranger stepped into view.
“Can I help you?”
“Uh, erm…” he looked up to the sign as if for reassurance, then back down to the stunning young blonde who'd opened the door. "I'm, uh, looking for Rupert Giles and Buffy Summers.”
She looked over her shoulder nervously, and it wasn't until Giles moved to her shoulder that he finally felt the embarrassment that had been creeping up on him vanish. Giles placed a hand on the young girl's back reassuringly, and nodded with a quizzical smile. “It's alright.”
She moved away from the door, which Giles held open for his old friend to step through. “Wesley. What brings you back to Sunnydale?”
It had been just over a month since an incident with his former slayer had brought Wesley and his former employer, Angel, to Sunnydale. He recalled the incident with slight sadness before his mind alerted him to the fact he'd not yet entered the shop. He stepped forward awkwardly, allowing Giles to close the door behind him. “I, uh,” he thought carefully about what he intended to say, casting a glance over to the young blonde woman before his eyes finally fell on Buffy, another of his former slayers. “Hello, Buffy.”
She nodded. “Wesley. What's up?”
He sighed. “We've come across something,” he decided to get straight to the point. “Angel informed us of the information you gave him regarding the government program, the Initiative. We have reason to believe some government forces are planning a revival of that program here in Sunnydale.”
This set Giles expression into fret, and Buffy's into anger. “What? H-how? What?”
“My thoughts exactly,” Giles removed his glasses. “What leads you to that conclusion?”
Wesley produced several documents from the bag he'd been carrying, slung over his shoulder. “These all outline a plan to retrieve an important government device, something that I believe may be in the possession of a vampire somewhere in the area. If the vampire managed to escape, they seemed to believe he'd be heading to LA. We discovered these in the possession of a commando working through Los Angeles sewer ways, setting up a secondary base.”
“That would explain the smell,” Buffy held her nose to emphasize her point.
Wesley scanned the room quickly while the others examined the documents, and smiled slightly at the little red-haired Wicca seated beside the young blonde girl that had opened the door. She noticed his gaze, and smiled back. “Hiya, Wesley.”
He nodded, slightly embarrassed, before turning back to Giles, who had finished examining the documents. “What I don't understand,” the newly re-appointed watcher began, “is what they could possibly want to retrieve?”
“What's this?” Buffy pointed to a series of numbers and letters.
Giles looked over her shoulder and read aloud: “Objective, extraction. One dash two one dash zero one, H seventeen.”
Buffy blinked. “Seventeen?”
“What were those numbers again?” Willow asked, curious.
Giles looked back down to the paper. “One dash two one dash zero one.”
“One two one zero one.” Willow repeated, scrawling the numbers on a piece of paper. “That's today's date.”
Giles eyes immediately re-examined the paper, looking for further clues.
“H seventeen.” Buffy repeated. “Hostile Seventeen.”
They all sat, dumbfounded, for several moments before Willow looked down to the paper and said in grave tones: “Objective… extraction.”
“Dear God,” Giles drew a sharp breath. “Spike.”
“The chip.” Buffy was already moving, gathering supplies and stakes.
“Did I miss something?” Wesley inquired, confused.
“I'll explain on the way,” Giles insisted, gathering his coat and rushing out the door behind his slayer.
Willow and Tara weren't too far behind, locking the door behind them.
Giles tried his best to explain the situation with Spike and the initiative, and soon Wesley realized he was talking about the crude bleach-blonde vampire he'd encountered on his last visit. While more agreeable than most vampires, he'd been somewhat… intriguing in his methods.
“Where are we heading?” Wesley finally inquired of Buffy, who cast a quick glance over her shoulder.
“The only Initiative stronghold still intact.”
“The initiative caves,” Willow filled in. “They had a secret base down there.”
Wesley nodded, still slightly confused, but continued on after the others.
Once they'd arrived at the caves he examined the area for any possible side attacks, something he'd picked up from watching Angel.
They entered the caves cautiously, moving as quietly as they could. Wesley occasionally cast a glance back and Willow and her friend, then returned his focus to the dimly lit caverns. The darkness was beginning to hamper their ability to navigate the caves properly, and Buffy indicated to Willow that she could use some help.
Rummaging through the small bag she'd grabbed on her way out, Willow produced a small object and cast it towards the ground, uttering something Wesley recognized as Latin.
A faint glow surrounded them, and with a satisfied nod, Buffy continued on. Wesley dropped back to inquire about the spell.
“It's just a little trick we picked up,” Willow grinned, “We've been wandering through these caves before. It was actually Tara's spell.” She indicated her young friend, who smiled shyly.
“Tara?” Wesley lifted his brow.
“Oh,” Willow made large gestures in the air as she spoke, “Tara this is Wesley, Wesley, Tara.”
Tara smiled and nodded slightly, and Wesley was unsure whether to shake her hand or just keep to his side of Willow. He decided on the latter, and smiled uncomfortably.
“Shh,” came Buffy's irritated command from up front, and all conversation stopped as she lowered herself to the ground. The others followed suit, but waited behind as Buffy crept forward to the edge of rock that led around a sharp corner, one that was quite camouflaged against the rest of the rock and could only be found with prior experience in the area. She peeked around, and was soon brought to her feet by a large, powerful hand.
Kicking out, she freed herself and scrambled backwards, quickly readying herself for a fight.
Several men poured into their chamber one by one, all dressed in khaki clothing and wearing large black initiative masks. As the fight began, Willow and Tara immediately pressed themselves to the wall, gathering ingredients to find a spell that might aid those fighting.
Giles and Wesley both rushed to Buffy's aid, taking on two of the half-dozen soldiers that had attacked them. Buffy managed to side-step and throw one of the commandoes over her shoulder before reversing and driving her heel into the gut of the next, knocking the wind out of him. A gunshot rang out, and Tara screamed, but Willow quickly pulled her attention back to the spell once she realized no one was hurt, yet.
Wesley managed to knock the gun out of his opponent's hand and get him on the ground, picking up the large weapon and using the base of it to knock the commando out. He quickly leapt to his feet; ready to face another, when he discovered they were already unconscious, sprawled about the room. Buffy sighed angrily, picked up a gun, and marched into the next room. Giles and Wesley quickly exchanged a glance before rushing after her, followed by Willow and Tara, who had concocted a small energy charge that they could fire for some time before their energies would grow tired.
The next room was, as Buffy had expected, the base of operations for the small initiative party. Against the far wall rested a large, bulky console of what appeared to be one of the initiative's examination machines. Buffy faintly recognized it from her visits inside the main complex of the initiative the previous year. While it was close to impossible that this was one of the original consoles, it was highly likely the blueprints and design schematics for such machines were still in the government's possession.
Surrounding the console were several men in white coats, obviously initiative doctors and professors, who glanced up apathetically, then let shocked looks cross their faces as they viewed the intruders.
Several more of the commandoes had noticed their presence as well, and were already moving to stop any further intrusion.
Buffy took out the first two quickly, then came around to face any others. Giles and Wesley also faced off with two more of the soldiers, while Tara and Willow focused their energies and aimed it towards the closest soldier, releasing a bolt of red light and knocking the man unconscious.
In between opponents, Buffy managed to glance over to the professors, who were now frantically working on their subject, a man who was tied down to a bed, his back slightly elevated and his head pushed forward with a surgery blanket over his face. He was bare-chested with a pair of black jeans clinging to his lean hips. Without thinking carefully, Buffy knocked her next opponent to the floor and rushed over to where the professors worked, throwing one of them aside and ripping the restraints from the man's wrists, memories of Riley and his implant rushing to mind.
Nobody should ever have to live through that… she insisted inside herself, turning to face one of the commandoes that had rushed to stop her.
Several cords were clearly hooked up to the subject's neck, and she wondered if they were playing with his central nervous system, like they had with Riley, or with his spinal cord.
Tara came about, keeping as far from her opponent as possible, before she and Willow focused another ball of energy and aimed it to their enemy.
He ducked just in time to save himself from being knocked out, and the ball of energy struck the machinery behind, sending sparks in every direction.
“Dammit!” Willow cursed, grabbing her girlfriend and ducking for cover. Tara's eyes were focused on the other side of the room where Giles was facing off against one of the commandoes, and another was aiming a gun.
“Giles, lookout!” she screamed, and he ducked just in time for the bullet to catch the other commando instead of its intended target.
Wesley, momentarily distracted by Giles situation, was knocked back and caught by Buffy. He looked over his shoulder. “Thanks.”
She nodded. “No problem. Can you keep those two off my back?”
He looked to where she'd indicated, and confirmed, moving away from her and retrieving a tazer from one of the unconscious soldiers. He managed to tazer the first quickly, but the second was proving a problem.
Buffy moved to the subject's side and broke the other restraint, which also tore some of the cords and wires away. The subject convulsed, and the blanket was thrown from his face. A large explosion threw Buffy to the ground, and the subject fell from the bed, breaking the last of the hookup wires. A second explosion caused a loud rumble to sound above, and suddenly rocks began to fall. First small stones, then suddenly huge rocks the size of watermelons came crashing down, followed by larger boulders.
“Everybody, out!” Giles commanded as loud as he could manage, disposing of another commando as he reached out and took Buffy by the waist, reefing her out of her combat situation. She let out a squeal of protest before realizing what was going on around them, and stopped, causing Giles to pause with her as she scanned the room for Willow and Tara, who were pulling each other along. “Quickly,” she cried out, then remembered the initiative subject. “Giles, wait!” she commanded, trying desperately to see through the falling debris.
Her watcher pulled her out of the path of a large falling rock and shook his head. “We're going, now.”
“I've got him!” Wesley cried, helping the young man to his feet and rushing after the others.
Satisfied, Buffy continued on their desperate rush to get out, and Giles let her go, pausing to make sure the girls were alright. He let the two wiccas past and looked around for any sign of the former watcher. “Wesley!?” he cried.
Wesley looked back at the initiative subject, who had broken free of his grip and retrieved a brown leather jacket from the console. A flashing sign struck Wesley's vision, and he peered through the falling debris and broken glass to one of the main panels, which displayed two words flashing in red.
“Temporarily inactive?” he said to himself, puzzled by the large red dial that appeared to be counting down from what appeared at first glance to be five hours.
The young man rushed past him, grabbing his shoulder as he went, and suddenly Wesley recognized him. “Spike? Of course,” he remembered what Giles had explained about Hostile Seventeen and wondered why he hadn't realized it was Spike on the operation table.
Scrambling from the debris, they moved into the next chamber down just as the previous collapsed behind them, and soon realized they weren't going to make it. Suddenly, Wesley felt himself fall, and soon everything was engulfed in darkness.
* * *
Dust and pieces of rock crumbled down the small incline as he pulled himself up to sit upon a flat rock, wincing from the pain in his shoulders. After establishing that he wasn't fatally injured or bleeding, he looked warily around the cavern, trying to find any sign of life.
Several moments passed before a figure stirred, and dust fell along with little pebble-sized rocks and one large one the size of a tennis ball. The figure groaned and shook himself, blinking. “What … happened--?”
Scrambling over to his side, Wesley took his arm and helped him up. “Are you alright?”
“I'll live,” Giles assured him, reassured to find his glasses were still intact for once. Wesley, however, wasn't as lucky.
A soft noise from the other side of the room alerted them to another presence, and they moved quickly to her aid, lifting small rocks up off her and helping her up.
“Are you injured?” Wesley asked, alarmed to have found someone else trapped with them.
She thought for a moment, then shook her head. “I d-don't feel … I-I feel sore, but n-nothing else.”
“You'll be fine.” Giles reassured her before yet another flicker of movement caught his eye and a rather large rock rolled slightly.
“Argh. Ungh.”
Giles and Wesley exchanged glances before slowly approaching the boulder.
They looked over the top of the large rock to see the blonde vampire sprawled out on the ground, one of his legs clearly trapped beneath the boulder.
After a few moments of squirming, he paused and stared up through the gloom to where two figures loomed above him. Peering through the dust, he blinked, the rolled his eyes. “Oh, bloody hell.”
Giles lifted his brow. “With that boulder on your leg, I'm rather surprised you're not happy to see us.”
“Really?” Spike propped himself up on his elbows. “Lean on the boulder a little more, maybe I'll get lucky and bleed to death.”
“You're a vampire, you can't bleed to death.” Wesley insisted.
Spike collapsed back down. “Blast.”
Giles sighed, and knelt. Wesley followed suit, and took up the best grip he could gather on the other side of the large rock. They managed to shift it enough for Spike to slide out from underneath.
The vampire dragged himself to his feet, dusting himself off and retrieving his brown leather jacket from under a small pile of rocks and dust. The vampire dusted the jacket and pulled it over his shirtless body, and Wesley folded his arms, sighing slightly. “You're welcome.”
Spike stared blankly before his brow lowered. “Don't think I'm going to bleedin' thank you, Sparky. Could have gotten free just fine by m'self.”
“I'm sure.” Wesley conceded sarcastically before placing his hands on his hips and looking around the room. “Well, it would appear we're trapped.”
“Figure that one out all by yourself, did you then?”
Giles glared at Spike before moving to examine the walls of the cavern they were apparently trapped within. He moved until he found some loose rocks, and began to remove them until, in a shower of dust, a small hole made itself apparent. Giles looked over his shoulder at the others, and Wesley moved up beside him to aid in the creation of a possible way out. It wasn't until they had cleared a hole big enough to crawl through that they discovered it only lead into another closed off cavern. After sliding through and examining the second chamber, Wesley returned with a hard expression. “There's no clear way out. The boulders are very large, I couldn't lift one if I tried.”
Spike limped over. “Get out of the sodding way.” He crouched down and slid into the hole, his face contorted in pain as his bad leg slid slightly sideways and hit the side of the small hole. Tara gasped softly at the sight of his vampire face, but she contained herself as he pushed himself the rest of the way through. After several moments of loud grunts and groans coming from the other side of the wall, he returned and peered through the hole. “They're too bloody big,” he growled, “I can't lift them.”
Giles lifted himself to his full height and looked around the room, one hand to his head. “We have to get word to the outside that we're alright.”
Wesley blinked, then brightened. “Oh, I forgot,” he exclaimed, reaching into his coat pocket and producing his cell phone.
Giles rolled his eyes and took the phone from him, quickly typing in the number for his shop. The small digital readout flashed briefly, and he cast it back towards Wesley with an annoyed expression. “It says there isn't any service.”
Wesley sighed. “Typical.”
“Wh-what does that mean?” Tara asked, confused and nervous.
Wesley looked over his shoulder, and his face softened slightly. “It means that we can't ring them…” He thought for a moment. “But they can ring us.”
“How is that possible?” Giles asked, also confused.
Wesley pressed a few buttons on the phone and it made a slight beeping noise. “I'm right. It hasn't got a good enough reading to send the signal, but it can receive one.”
“But then we only have one problem.” Giles folded his arms.
“What's that?” Wesley asked, his excitement momentarily dampened by Giles tone of voice – he'd heard that tone before.
“They,” he pointed to the rock wall, indicating the people outside, “don't know your phone number.”
Wesley's shoulders slumped, and he almost jumped at the noise of crumbling rocks until he realized it was just Spike, pulling himself back through the hole.
Tara, who had taken up a seat on the ground leaning against one of the smoother rocks, tried her best to remain as quiet and calm as possible. She hadn't really been in any situation like this before – especially not with this many strangers. Or, well… men.
She glanced up at her three unfortunate companions and pressed her lips firmly together. Spike frightened her, she admitted to herself, and although she didn't know Wesley, she was pretty sure he wouldn't hurt her in any way. Giles presence was the only thing making her feel safe at the present time, and while her nerves were holding up, she worried for how Willow was coping on the other side…
* * *
Muffled noises came from the loose rocks, and Willow lifted her head, sighing gently as a small mouse scrambled out from under the debris.
Night had quickly set in, and while she'd panicked as soon as she realized Tara was on the other side of the rock wall, she was grateful to have Buffy there to calm her down. They had run back to town as quickly as possible to retrieve Xander and Anya, and now were back at the caves, mostly standing around, trying to find a way in or a place where the rocks were the weakest or the lightest, for Buffy to lift.
Sadly, to no avail.
Willow sat in the dark, holing a small torch aimed up at the rocks while Xander and Buffy almost examined the wall rock by rock. Anya had a look of hopelessness on her face, and kept quietly babbling, mostly of her concerns for Giles' safety, but also wondering if she'd be the owner of the magic shop if they didn't get him out. Willow resisted the urge to thump her, and simply continued to shine the torch.
* * *
“If you have to eat each other to survive, the blood is all mine.”
“Shut up, Spike.” Giles muttered, still examining the walls for any form of exit.
“We need to find a way of breaking through here without causing another cave in,” Wesley suggested, moving up behind Giles and examining the wall.
Giles nodded, his mind elsewhere.
Tara cast a glance up to where the two British men stood before blinking the dust from her eyes and looking over to the vampire, who's eyes she caught, and quickly cast hers downwards, shivering slightly.
Spike caught the girl's eyes and smiled slightly, unsure of why, but she looked down too quickly to see, and so he didn't dwell on his strange reaction.
After a few moments of silence, Giles left Wesley by the wall and returned to sit near Tara. He looked sideways at her, realizing she hadn't spoken. “Are you alright?”
She nodded, her lips pressed tightly together, concealing all most of her emotions. But Giles knew she was afraid. “It's going to be alright, we'll find a way out.” He insisted, folding his arms and leaning back against the wall.
“O-or Willow and B-Buffy will… find a way i-in.” She offered.
Giles smiled slightly. “That's a little more likely.”
She returned his smile.
“Not to intrude on happy hour,” Spike interrupted. “But how the hell are they going to get in if we can't get out? Slayer may be strong, but so am I and I can't lift any of these bloody boulders.”
Tara's face dropped, and Giles glared over at their vampire companion. “Spike,” he said in a tone that was far from friendly.
“Buffy will find a way in,” Wesley insisted, seeing Tara's expression. “She is clever, resourceful, and knows what she's doing. She'll find a way.”
Tara looked up at the young Englishman and let a smile creep to the side of her mouth. He smiled in returned, and Spike rolled his eyes and sighed loudly. “Great. Bloody fantastic. About to get my goddam chip removed, then you lot come barging in and now where am I? Stuck in the bloody smiles and support center, I am. Bloody great.”
“Shutup Spike,” Wesley turned, moving to examine the wall once again when his foot struck something hard that made a slight clanging noise. He paused, then cast his eyes downwards.
“What is it?” Giles asked, confused by Wesley's sudden expression.
The former rogue-demon hunter dropped to his knees and started digging with his hands, throwing back handfuls of dirt, which coincidentally landed on the already irritated vampire.
“Bloody sodding-” he cursed, rolling out of the way and spitting out dirt.
Wesley finally found what he was looking for, and cleared the dirt away from around it. He looked over to Giles, “Help me.”
Giles was already on his feet and by Wesley's side. He knelt and took hold of the long, metal object, and both men put all their weight into dislodging it. Finally, the object came free and both men went flying backwards.
Tara rushed to help them out, while Spike merely chuckled at the sight from the back of the cavern.
Wesley blinked, embarrassed, and pulled himself to his feet, lifting the object.
“Well worth it, then,” He nodded and lifted it so Spike could see. “Might be able to get out of here after all, then.”
Spike lowered his brow.
Giles took the long shovel they'd found off Wesley and examined it. “Or maybe not.”
Wesley was confused. “What?”
Indicating the end, Giles threw it down. “Blunted shovel. We could get about a foot down, maybe less, and hit dirt too hard to move by a shovel twice as sharp. Or by anyone twice as strong as him.” He inclined his head toward Spike, who sat with a smile on his face.
“Out of here in no time, Sparky. Yeah, good one.”
Wesley glared briefly at the vampire before sighing and holding his brow. “There must be some way out of here.”
Tara picked up the shovel while Giles took up a seat against the smoother rocks. She looked at the end of the face of the shovel – Giles was right. With a sympathetic look towards Wesley she lowered the shovel. “But at least we have something now.” She offered, getting his attention. “We could, um… use it as a lever,” she made a motion with the shovel as if sticking it between rocks and pushing down on the end, causing the rocks to split apart.
“It'd probably cause a greater cave in, I'm afraid.” He looked to the wall.
Tara's expression fell, and she lowered her head, handing him the shovel. “Oh… I, well…”
“But it was a good suggestion.” He smiled gently, and she gifted him with an upturning of the corner of her mouth in return.
“I don't think I can take much more of this.” Spike held his forehead.
“I don't see any thrillingly bright ideas coming from your corner, Spike.” Giles growled.
Spike looked up through his hands. “Yeah, well, we seem to be lacking bright ideas all round.”
Wesley blinked, and lifted the shovel, examining the end. “Unless…”
Spike watched the young man's expression, and slowly his mouth turned to a smile. “I think Sparky just lit up the whole cavern…”
Wesley exchanged a smile with him and pointed. “Come with me.”
Spike was on his feet and following him in moments, and he watched as Wesley slid the shovel through the hole in the wall that lead to the next cavern, indicating that Spike should go through first. The vampire crouched and pushed himself into the hole, while Wesley knelt and prepared to follow him.
Giles curiosity got the better of him. “Wesley?”
He stopped, and looked back over at Giles.
“Where are you… lit up the cavern? What are you doing?”
Wesley smiled slightly. “I think I may have just had a very bright idea.”
* * *
It had been close to a half an hour since Spike and Wesley had vanished through the hole, and Giles was still confused as to what Wesley could possibly have come up with. It wasn't until he heard the sound of metal upon rock that he realized something might have gone wrong. After exchanging a worried glance with Tara, they both shuffled over to the hole.
“Everything all right in there?”
“Fine,” Wesley called back, wielding the shovel once again. The same pattern of clanging noises rang out, this time a little slower.
“What exactly are you doing?” Giles called out.
Spike stuck his head back through the hole and Giles jumped slightly.
“Some strange poncy code. Trying to tell Slayer what Sparky's mobile number is.”
Giles narrowed his eyes. “In Morse code?”
“That's the one.” Spike acknowledged, pulling himself the rest of the way through the hole and slapping Giles on the shoulder. “Tag.”
He proceeded to shuffle to the other side of the room and sit in a great heap, grumbling. “Looked like he'd just invented a damn flying machine, he did. Bleedin Morse bleedin code, he tells me. Bloody lot a good that'll do us.”
Giles ignored Spike's complaints and knelt, looking through the hole to where he could make out Wesley's figure, taking up position to tap the code out again. “Wesley,” Giles called through the hole.
“Yes?”
“It's highly unlikely anybody on the outside would know what Morse code is let alone how to understand it.”
“You mean Buffy doesn't?… she wasn't… You didn't teach her Morse code?”
Giles brow lowered. “Because old war codes are imperative to a Slayer's training? Of bloody course not.”
Wesley sighed, lowering his shovel.
Giles shifted away from the hole, and back over to sit down when he realized Tara had gotten up. He watched her move over to the hole and slide through to the other side, curious of why she was going through to see Wesley. In Giles experience, Tara rarely spoke to strangers.
Wesley examined the rock face with an angry expression, and turned swiftly, expecting to find Giles there to tell him how stupid his idea was. Instead he found Tara, gazing shyly up at him. He stammered for a moment before deciding to shut up instead, lowering his head and looking down with flushed cheeks.
She looked to the rock wall, then back to Wesley, who was clearly blushing. She felt color rise in her own cheeks, and folded her arms around herself. “It was a good idea,” she reassured him, a look of sympathy on her face.
“No,” Wesley threw the shovel down. “No, it was a bloody stupid idea.”
She looked down as if she'd been scolded.
He cocked his head. “But, thank you.”
She rolled her eyes up to look at him and let the corner of her mouth turn up a little. “We'll find a way out, don't worry.”
He laughed softly. “Aren't I supposed to be telling you that?”
She shrugged. “You looked like you need a little bit of hope.”
Thinking about what she said he looked up to the seemingly invincible wall of rock and sighed. “That I do…”
* * *
Buffy waited and listened, wondering if the clanging would return. Willow scampered back towards her with Xander and Anya in tow from where they'd made a makeshift campsite. “What is it?” Willow asked.
Buffy lifted a hand for silence.
The clanging rang out again, this time a little louder, and she narrowed her eyes.
A look of panic crossed Willow's face. “Wh-what if Spike got the chip out an-and they're being eaten in there! Oh, God! They're calling for our help!”
“Shh, Will,” Buffy threw an arm around her shoulder. “It's alright, I think…” she looked back to the rocks, “I think they're trying to send us a message.”
Xander paused with an intrigued expression. “Morse code.”
Buffy blinked. “What?”
“Soldier Xander sense from Halloween way back, it just kicked in for a minute. That's Morse code, I think.”
Buffy lifted her brow. “G-Giles or Wesley would know Morse code.” She nodded to Xander. “Do you know what they're saying?”
Xander shifted closer and put his ear to the rocks. The clanging rang out again, slower this time. He thought for a few moments before looking up to his girlfriend. “Pen and paper,” he said, and she nodded briefly before scampering off to the campsite.
He listened intently until she came back toting a pen and a napkin, and he began to scribble down some numbers. When the clanging stopped he looked at what he'd written. “I only got the last few numbers… but they're definitely numbers.”
Buffy examined the five digits on the napkin. “We'll wait for them to do it again…”
Silence hung about for close to fifteen minutes before Xander let out a deep sigh. “They've stopped…”
Buffy lowered her head. “Maybe they thought it wasn't working.”
“Oh, oh!” Anya scrambled back to the campsite and found the small shovel they'd brought with their supplies. She hurried to Xander's side and handed it to him. “Send a message back.”
Xander blinked, then thought for a moment. “Okay, stand back.” Waved an arm, indicating for the three ladies to step away from the rocks.
He took a step backwards and then took a swing with the shovel, beginning a pattern that he barely understood, but knew exactly what he meant.
Buffy folded her arms, praying that they could hear them.
* * *
“But then Angel has to go back to the bar, and he has to get up on stage and sing, right.”
Tara laughed aloud, drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. She sat beside the former watcher with their backs against the wall and the shovel leaning against the rocks beside them.
“Because he needs to find out his destiny from the anagogic demon,” she nodded. “I get it.”
“Yeah, and you'll never believe what he sang.”
“Um… Blue Suede Shoes.” She guessed, leading Wesley into a fit of laughter at the thought of his vampire friend doing any kind of Elvis impression.
“No,” he said through chuckles. “But close.”
“What?”
“Mandy.”
Her laughter rang out again, and she shook her head. “Barry Manilow? This is Angel – the one I keep hearing about, like, black leather savior of the night, Angel.”
“Yup, big dark vampire.” Wesley agreed, a wide grin on his face. They exchanged glances and both broke out laughing once again.
Once they'd both calmed down she cast a glance sideways.
“So is he a good singer?”
“No, he's bloody horrible actually.”
They broke out laughing once again.
Spike's voice rang out from the other side of the hole. “There's got to be a bloody stake around here somewhere…”
At this, their laughter increased until finally they calmed down. Wesley looked over to the shovel, then narrowed his eyes. “That really was a stupid idea, wasn't it?”
She looked over at the shovel, then shook her head. “No, no it was a good idea. We just need to find a way to let them hear it, and –”
He held up a hand for quiet, and listened carefully. A clanging noise was coming from the other side of the rocks.
Tara and Wesley exchanged amazed looks as he clambered to his feet, shuffling himself closer to the rock.
When the noise stopped, Tara looked up at Wesley, who'd taken up the shovel and was stepping away from the rocks. She pulled herself to her feet and moved away from the wall “What did they say?”
Wesley took a swing. “They said 'again'.”
Wesley beat out the pattern again, and when he was done he lowered the shovel. The rocks had begun to rumble slightly, and Tara looked up with a worried face. “Maybe we should get back to the other cavern.”
Wesley looked over to her and took up position again. “Just one more time.”
He began to beat out the pattern one more time when several rocks began to tremble and fall, and a rumbling noise began to sound from above.
“Wesley!” she cried.
“What the-?!” came the cry from the other side of the hole, and soon Spike pushed his way through the hole.
So focused on his task, Wesley had barely noticed the falling rocks, until he found Spike's hand on his arm, pulling him back. “Sparky, quit it before you cause another avalanche.”
“Cave in.” Wesley corrected.
“Whatever.”
“I have to finish the pattern.” He turned back to the wall and continued striking out the code.
“Paging Mr. Deathwish, the roof is starting to come apart. Side note, this is not a good thing.” Spike reached out again and pulled on his arm, but Wesley pulled away and continued to strike his pattern.
“Please, Wesley. Listen to him. You have to stop.” She pleaded, a worried expression on her face.
“I'm almost finished – if they can hear me, and they get this code, they can call us – we can get out.”
“We can't get out if we're sodding pancakes, now come on!” Spike pulled on his arm and tore the shovel from his grasp, casting it towards the back of the cavern.
An angry and alarmed expression on his face, Wesley turned to retrieve the shovel just several larger rocks fell around him. He stumbled to avoid one, and cast his eyes around the cavern. Tara was struck with a large rock, and let out a cry as she fell to her knees. Spike immediately knelt to aid her, looking up to see where Wesley was.
The former-watcher had pulled himself to his feet and was still searching for the shovel. Guiding Tara to the hole in the wall, Spike saw Giles on the other side, ready to help them through, after realizing what was going on.
“Come on, Sparky.” Spike moved to Wesley's side and took his arm once again.
Wesley struggled for a moment before allowing himself to be pulled away. Just as he turned around he felt himself get knocked back as Spike fell to the ground. Confused and alarmed at the speed with which the rocks were now falling, Wesley reached down and tried to lift the vampire to his feet. Spike shook his head, a large gash across his forehead sending blood down his face, temporarily impairing his vision in one eye. He half limped, half-dragged himself over to the hole where they found Tara sprawled in a heap, with Giles arms reaching through to try and pull her from any further danger.
Wesley left Spike's side, and the vampire fell without the support. He moved to Tara's side, and took a deep, shocked breath at the pool of blood that was forming beneath her head. Lifting her, he tried to position her to slide through the hole where Giles was waiting. She had blocked the hole when she fell, and he was unable to pull her through without injuring her further, but with Wesley's help they managed to maneuver her unconscious form through.
Wesley wheeled around and reached out, taking Spike's hand and pulling him out of the path of another falling boulder. The semi-conscious vampire was able to shift his legs properly to pull himself through, and was finally able to glide through the hole, closely followed by Wesley, just as another huge boulder fell and blocked the entryway.
A cloud of dust spurted from the edges of the newly blocked hole, and Wesley turned quickly to make sure they were in no further danger.
“This cavern is stronger than the other one…” he said after several moments of uncomfortable silence.
Silence reigned once again, and his mind was a jumble of thoughts and feelings after their most recent brush with death. He was trying to comprehend what had just happened… and then realized he had caused what just happened. And for nothing – he didn't finish the pattern, the hole was now blocked, and there was no way they could be heard from a cavern this deep.
With an angry sigh he slumped against the rock face and held his brow. After a few moments he looked over to Spike, who was sitting, eyes closed, against the wall on the other side of the cavern, his leg and forehead still bleeding. He cast his glance towards Tara, who was lying on her back, still unconscious, while Giles attempted to clean up her head wound. He avoided Giles eyes altogether, refusing to receive the angry, disappointed look he knew was coming at some point.
And as the night pushed on, over four hours since he'd arrived in Sunnydale, he found all his hope slowly diminishing by the moment.
* * *
Buffy examined the blueprints that lay out on the desk. They'd returned to the Magic Box to use the phone as they were sure now that the number they'd been given was a cell phone number.
“If they're in there, then they'll be here,” she said, pointing to a cavern on the sheet, “or here,” she pointed to the cavern next to it.
Xander, receiver at his ear, looked to where she pointed.
She looked up. “There's a small tunnel at the back of this cavern,” she pointed to the first. “It should be big enough for even Giles to crawl out of. It should lead them clean out of the caves, to here.” She pointed again. “They just have to get to it.”
“They just have to know about it.” Willow glared with sadness in her eyes at the mapped out cave system.
Xander sighed heavily and replaced the receiver. “Another wrong number.”
“Maybe it wasn't a phone number.” Willow offered. “What if it was, like, the number to a security code or something, or one of those boxes in the airport that you have to get the money out of or the bomb will go off.”
Buffy and Xander exchanged a worried look before she picked up the receiver again. Xander placed a hand on Willow's shoulder. “We'll get them out, okay. I'm pretty sure this is a phone number, but we've got two halves and we're probably missing a middle number.”
Anya inspected the piece of paper. “If you ask me, there are way too many threes. Three's are ugly, aren't they? All round and bulgy. Sixes are much nicer, sleek…”
Her voice faded into the background as Xander snatched the receiver from Buffy and tapped out a number. Buffy watched with a confused expression, until Xander's eyes shot up.
“Hello?”
* * *
Wesley lifted his head, the events of the past four hours fading from behind his eyelids as he opened his eyes. He sighed and looked back over to Tara, who still lay, now semi-conscious. Spike was grumbling not too far away, while Wesley remained in a miserable heap pressed against the wall. Giles had been silent for sometime, but Wesley didn't particularly want him to say anything. Every word his said had a deeply disappointed tone to it, and he visibly cringed whenever the older Watcher spoke.
Suddenly a computerized tune beeping along with a buzzing noise made Wesley leap from his seat. He thrust his hand down into his pocket and retrieved the small cell phone, quickly pressing a small green button and placing the phone to his ear. “Hello?”
“Hey? Wesley?”
A huge smile spread across Wesley's face. “Xander? My god, its' good to hear your voice.”
Spike leapt from his seat and rushed over to the phone, leaning in close to hear the voice on the other end.
“Easy, tiger.” Came Xander's reply. “Are you all okay?”
Spike growled as he turned away, heading back to his seat against the rock. “Let me see, we're trapped between four huge walls of rock, not to mention a rock ceiling that could probably fall at any time. We're bloody great.”
“What was that?”
“A platinum pain in my ass,” Wesley replied. “We couldn't ring you, because we have a bad signal. Even now, you're faint.”
“If we're right there should be a second cavern beside yours, to the east. At the back of that cavern, there's a tunnel that leads out. It's made of heavy metal and is small, but should be big enough for you to crawl through.”
Wesley sighed heavily. “The cavern caved in after we beat out the number with a shovel, it caused the cave in.”
Xander held his hand to his forehead. “Well, uh…”
“Wait a minute. East?” Wesley asked.
Wesley heard Xander confirming the directions with Buffy. “Yeah.”
“Can't be. The other cavern is west of us.” Wesley insisted.
“We have the plans for the initiative caves, Will found them on some encoded disks we still have left from the big fight. The girls say it's east.”
“No, this could be good.” Wesley moved to the back wall. “Which way is the tunnel once in the cavern.”
“Should be right up the back, in a corner.” Wesley stopped and handed the phone to Giles as Xander continued his directions.
Giles, confused and still holding Tara to his chest, received the phone and put it to his ear, hearing Xander's voice softly on the other end.
He looked over to where Wesley had begun to remove some smaller rocks from the back corner of the cavern. Soon he reached rocks he couldn't move, and looked over his shoulder to where Spike sat, still grumbling.
The vampire pulled himself to his feet before Wesley had the chance to ask and moved over to where the former watcher was working, kneeling and lifting the closest boulder and shifting it away from the corner. After a few moments, Giles got their attention. “They're gone.” Giles lowered the phone. “The signal broke up until it gave me an engaged signal, then just stopped.”
“It's alright, we should be out of here soon.” Wesley smiled as Spike removed another boulder and the metal frame of the small tunnel was finally in sight, protruding from the rock face. After they'd cleared the entrance, Wesley turned back to Giles. “Well?”
Giles shifted, lowering Tara carefully to the ground. He made his way over to the tunnel and inspected it. “We should send somebody through to scout, see if it's safe.”
After a moment they both looked to Spike.
“Yeah, how did I bloody guess?" Spike lowered himself and looked down the dark tunnel. “What if there's a cave in down there? What if the tunnel system is broken at some point and I get lost? What if—”
“Shutup, Spike.” Giles growled.
“Look,” Wesley moved towards the entrance. “I'll go first. It's better if we split in half, anyway. Somebody should stay here and take care of Tara.”
Giles nodded as Wesley lifted his brow before turning to the tunnel entrance and lowering himself to his hands and knees. “Spike, you're with me.” He said before entering the tunnel. The vampire sighed and lowered himself to enter the tunnel, glancing back at the injured girl with a sad expression.
Seeing this, a confused expression crossed Giles face. “Spike…?”
The vampire almost jumped at the sound of his name. He lowered his brow. “Alright, alright, I'm going.”
“Damn it.” Came the echo of Wesley's voice from the tunnel.
“What is it?” Giles asked, moving towards the entrance.
“Just a rock. I should be able to roll it out of the way. The metal is a bit crushed here, like there's been a cave in just above it.” Wesley cried back.
“Wesley, wait, don't move it. If you move it you might cause the rocks above to—”
A deep groan followed by a rumble was heard beyond the next wall, along with a loud cry from inside the tunnel.
“Wesley!” Giles dove into the tunnel, moving quickly down. He could smell rising dust, and faintly see the outline of the other watcher just up ahead. Rocks and dust were rapidly building up in the tunnel, and he managed to squeeze past a couple to reach Wesley, just as a large rock struck his back and knocked him down.
Spike scrambled in a few moments after him, but was stopped by a large rock in his path. Cursing, he returned to the main chamber and collapsed to knees, his head throbbing as the blood began to seep from his wound once again. Why wasn't he healing properly?
He held his forehead, the smell of the blood making him a little dizzy from hunger. He licked his hand, and wiped his forehead once again. It was the vampire equivalent of soda water, drinking your own blood, but it was all he had.
“G-Giles?”
Spike froze. He lifted his head and looked over to where she lay, barely able to prop herself up.
“Wesley?”
Cocking his head, a look of deep worry crossed Spike's face.
Finally her sight re-focused and she looked around the empty cavern until her eyes fell on the vampire. She gasped softly. “Wh-where did they go?”
Spike didn't reply, he merely sat back against the wall.
She was shivering slightly, and managed to push herself back and prop herself up against the rocks behind her. Fear was written clearly in her eyes, and Spike saw it.
Terrified, Tara pressed herself with all her strength against the wall. The tunnel across the room lay open, and all at once she knew Giles and Wesley had gone through it. Why hadn't they come back for her? Why would they leave her with Spike?
His eyes flickered to the wound on her forehead, and she trembled slightly, staring at the open end of the tunnel as if willing herself towards it. She knew if she tried to run for it, she'd overbalance, faint or be stopped by Spike…
And all at once she longed for Wesley or Giles to come back through the tunnel and save her…
* * *
The flicker of torchlight was all he needed to realize they were close to free. Reaching out his hand, he found a boot and heard a shriek. After a few moments he managed to pull himself all the way through and knelt to help his companion the rest of the way.
“Not a snake, just Wesley…” Xander paused, then half-smiled. “Man, a couple of years ago that thought I just had would've made a very funny quip.”
Anya relaxed somewhat at the sight of the two of them and looked down at her foot. “I don't like very frightening things touching my feet in the middle of the night.”
She hadn't heard her boyfriend, as she was too busy launching herself at her employer. “You're alive! You're alright!”
Giles was unsure whether to laugh or cry, so he merely grimaced from the pain her extensive hugging was causing his already sore back. “Anya, it's alright. I'm fine. Please… air…”
She let him go, but held his shoulders. “No! It's not alright! I thought you were dead! Do you know how much extra work that would mean for me at the shop? I couldn't handle all that. You're the boss, you're supposed to be there with your books and your—”
“Anya!” she turned around and looked to her boyfriend.
“What?”
He shook his head, and she blinked, turned back to her employer and gave him one last strong hug before returning to Xander's side.
Willow was looking around frantically. “Wh-where's Tara?”
Wesley looked down. “We found the tunnel, but there was another cave in.”
Her face went deathly pale, and Buffy took her arm.
Giles placed a hand on Willow's shoulder. “We believe they're still alright, they're just trapped back in the cavern.”
“They?” Buffy examined her Watcher's expression.
Giles face went hard. “Tara and Spike.”
Willow's eyes widened. “She's in there w-with S-Spike?!”
“Will, it's okay.” Buffy turned her best friend around to face her. “Spike is harmless. We just need to find a way in.”
She let her friend go and lowered herself to her knees, inspecting the entrance to the tunnel. “I'll go through and see if I can move the rocks.” She announced, looking back up at the others. “Don't worry, I'll find them.”
Wesley watched her vanish down the hole, before looking over to Willow, pondering for a moment why she was so very terrified. His mind wound back, and he wondered briefly what Spike had meant… Unless I get hungry sooner…
Then he suddenly recalled the flashing red words on the initiative readout. He cocked his head and narrowed his eyes, repeating to himself. “Temporarily inactive.”
His eyes grew wide. “Dear god…”
* * *
The sound of rock upon rock, shifting and crumbling down the slight incline caught their attention. Wesley and Giles both knelt by the entrance, and found the shape of a figure slowly emerging from the hole. Buffy's voice could faintly be heard not too far down the tunnel. “Help me, she's almost unconscious.”
As Tara's semi-conscious form slid through the tunnel opening, Giles was able to lift her up into a cradled position. Wesley reached down the tunnel to aid Buffy through, and didn't realize until the light from Xander's huge torch flooded the area that Spike was already out, and standing quietly aside while Willow followed Giles to Xander's car and the group quickly piled in. Wesley moved to catch up with them, but realized there was no room. “We have to get her to a hospital.” Giles insisted to Xander, who climbed behind the wheel with Anya in the passenger's seat. Willow and shifted to the middle of the back seat, lifting Tara's knees onto her lap with tears streaming down her face. Looking back she saw Wesley and Buffy and paused.
He waved his hand. “Go, get her to hospital. I'll find my own way back.”
“That goes for me too, Will.” Buffy insisted.
Willow pulled the door closed as they sped off into the night, and after a few moments Wesley turned around and found Spike had vanished.
“What happened?” he asked, turning to Buffy.
She shrugged. “The rocks weren't hard to move.”
“When you got in there, what did…? I mean,”
“Was Spike looking at Tara like an all-you-can-eat buffet?”
Wesley nodded.
She smiled and shrugged. “No. But that's not the weird part. I get in there, and they're holding onto each other in the corner like it's the end of the world. I mean, she was almost completely out, and she seemed perfectly content. He acted really strangely, for Spike, anyway… I suppose I should go thank him, but I might give it a few days. He usually doesn't want to see anybody after he's done anything remotely noble. Bruises his bad-guy ego.” She looked to her former Watcher. “I'm heading home.”
He inclined his head. “I have to make my way back to LA as soon as possible. I'll see you next time.”
“No offense, but considering the consequences that usually bring you down here? I'm hoping for no more next times.”
He smiled and watched her head off. After a few moments alone in the faint light of the moon, he turned and headed back towards the main body of Sunnydale, hoping his memory served him well.
* * *
The vampire shook himself slightly, feeling jittery and uncomfortable. He threw his jacket off, ignoring the bloodstains along the lapels and the shoulders. He'd probably just steal another one later…
Despite the chill he threw himself down into his chair without finding a shirt. His eyes drifted closed, and he fought against the urge to cry.
“Why didn't you?”
He leapt from his chair, anger and tears in his eyes.
Wesley tried to pretend he didn't notice.
“Sparky,” Spike slid out of his emotional mood instantly and replaced his expression with a smirk as he retrieved a bottle from his side table, “What can I do for you before you go back to your magnificent poof of a boss.”
“He's not my boss anymore. He works for me.” Wesley corrected, his expression dark.
Spike paused, then laughed aloud. “I don't know what's better – the fact that he works for you, or that you knew exactly who I was talking about.”
Wesley half-smiled to himself.
A moment of silence passed, and Wesley watched the vampire. He had bloodstains across his bare chest, and Wesley was willing to bet that it wasn't vampire blood.
“You didn't answer my question.” Wesley pushed his hands into his pockets, something he rarely did. “Why didn't you?”
“Why didn't I what?” He asked, uncorking his bottle.
“Bite her.”
Spike paused, mid-swig. Brandy began to dribble from the side of his mouth, and he quickly lowered the bottle. He composed himself. “I can't sodding bite her, can I? Bloody stupid question.”
“I think you can.” Wesley insisted. “Or, at least, you could have.”
Taking a deep breath, the vampire shifted in his seat. “How'd you know that?”
“I saw the console after Buffy broke you away from their machines. It said 'temporarily inactive', which, I'm assuming, means your chip has an on off switch.”
Spike paused, then nodded. “I felt it turn off.”
“And?”
“Felt it turn on about five minutes ago.”
Wesley looked down. “Still doesn't answer my question.”
“Why didn't I?”
The former watcher looked back up. “Buffy said she found you holding her.”
“I was about to. Picked her up, figured why the hell not, when Slayer comes in all high and mighty about to save us and I had to make it look innocent, right? Slayer would've killed me if I'd been making a meal of it.”
“I don't believe you.” Wesley interrupted.
Spike lowered his brow. “That's not my problem.” He took another swig of his bottle and leant back.
Wesley paused and looked down. After a few moments, he raised himself in his chair. “Until next time, Spike.”
The vampire remained still, and didn't speak a word. Wesley turned and made his way to the door.
“Alright, you want to know the real reason?”
Wesley turned and regarded the vampire with admiration. “I do. I wouldn't be here otherwise.”
“This never leaves this crypt.”
Wesley paused, then nodded.
“I'd never drink the blood of an angel.” He paused, then half-smiled. “With maybe one exception.”
Wesley let out a breathy laugh.
There was a moment of silence before Wesley inclined his head. “Get a shirt on.”
“Why?”
“I have something to show you.”
The vampire pulled on a black shirt and grabbed his duster, following Wesley out of the crypt and into the chilly night. After a short walk they found themselves at a large white building.
Spike shot Wesley an unsure expression.
“Just come with me.” Wesley reassured him, and they entered the building, making their way through to where Willow was seated. Wesley approached her.
Her eyes lifted as they approached, and she half-smiled. “Hey.”
Wesley smiled back, and looked over to the small, curtain-room. “Is she in there?”
Willow nodded. “She asked me for a moment alone. But she said she thought that you might come, and to send you in when you did.”
“Thank you, Willow.”
Spike paused, wondering why Willow didn't object to his presence, especially in a hospital.
They moved towards the curtained room, but Willow caught Wesley's arm. “Wesley.”
He looked back at her.
“Uh, you looked a little… confused, back at the caves. I just, though you might want to know that, Tara and I, we're—”
“I know.” He said gently.
She stopped, and regarded him with a quizzical expression.
“I kind of figured it out, but thank you. For telling me.”
She let a small smile creep to her face. “You got a crush on my girl?”
He laughed. “I though I might have but,” he looked over to where the blonde vampire waited, glancing awkwardly around the hospital room. “I don't think you have anything to worry about.”
Willow smiled, mostly to herself, and let go of his arm. He wandered over to where Spike stood and pulled back the curtain to Tara's room.
She rolled her head to the side, looking over to see who had come in. She managed a smile as they approached.
“Hey.” Wesley said gently.
“Hey.” She replied, looking to him, and then to Spike.
She motioned for Spike to come closer, and Wesley remained by the curtain.
Uncomfortable, Spike shuffled towards the bed and stopped. She let out a slight laugh and motioned closer. Again, he shuffled a little closer.
“Thank you, for what you did.” She said gently.
He paused, and swallowed what felt like a tennis ball in his throat. “I… don't… thank me. I didn't… well, I…”
“I genuinely believe you've never been thanked for anything before.” Wesley added from the back of the room.
He glared over his shoulder. “Can it, Sparky.”
Looking back to the figure on the bed, he swallowed again. “I… please, don't tell Buffy what happened. The truth of it. Don't let them know, or they'll never see me as the big bad ever again. My reputation is edgy as it is, I don't need any mushy stories going about, you know? I mean, if the demon community gets a hold of this, I'm done. Last thing I need is a soul brigade like master poofta Angel and all, and—”
“Spike.” She cut him off.
He stopped his rambling and stared at her.
“Shut up.”
Wesley grinned.
Spike paused, then smiled. “Sure thing, pet.”
Tara smiled back, before her eyes slowly started to drift closed. Wesley moved forward and placed a hand on Spike's shoulder. “She needs to rest. We'd better go.”
Spike nodded and moved away from the bed, following Wesley out of the hospital. Once on the street, the looked to the former-watcher he walked with.
Chilly mist emerged from Wesley's mouth, and Spike paused, trying to create the same effect himself.
“You're a vampire, you have no breath.” Wesley tried not to laugh aloud after he realized what Spike was up to.
“Worth a try, every once in a while.”
There was a long silence as they walked, and while they were both totally clueless as to where they were heading, they were both happy just to have the company.
After a while, Wesley looked at his companion. “Why not the blood of an angel?”
Spike looked to him. He thought for a few moments before a meaningful expression crossed his face. “I'm going to hell for a lot of things. And I don't mind. Honestly, I don't mind that I'm going to hell. I'm a demon, it's where I belong. But… there are certain levels of evil. Angelus crossed that line. He got off on destroying innocence. I… don't.”
“Maybe you have a soul in there, somewhere, after all.”
Spike pulled a face. “God, no.”
Wesley laughed aloud, and Spike smiled at the reaction.
They regarded each other for a moment, smiling, before Spike stopped and looked around. “Where to now?”
Wesley looked around. “How about… that way.”
Spike cocked his head. “That way's my place.”
“Just walk.”
With a wicked smile on his face, Spike fell into step beside the former Watcher as they made their way into the cold autumn night.
* * *