Nothing But The Truth

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PART THREE

"Spike! Spike!!" The young teen shook him several times, then looked up at her mother. "Mom! He's not moving! I think he's dead!"

Xander looked at her and shook his head. "Dawn, he's a vampire. He's already dead."

"Well... Deader than usual, then! He needs help! We need to DO something for him."

From the front door, Buffy said offhandedly, "He's a vampire, Dawn. I'll take him back to his crypt later, he can heal up there."

"Buffy Anne Summers!" Joyce looked at her in shocked surprise. "You may not like him, but Spike just saved your life. I didn't raise you to be cruel, and you're certainly not going to start now. Xander and Anya, please bring him into the house. I'll get some bandages."

Just as Xander and Anya awkwardly managed to get Spike into the Summers' house, a police car pulled up in front of the residence. As the officers got out of the car, Joyce whispered to Tara, "Go inside and make sure Spike's out of sight." Tara nodded and went in the house.

"Well, then, people, what happened here?" asked the older policeman.

"We're, umm, not sure, officer. We think it was some sort of, of..." Giles glanced at Joyce, then away again, temporarily at a loss for words.

"Gang initiation," the older woman chimed in. "We saw a lot of them when we lived in L.A."

"Your door is broken. Is anybody hurt?"

"Just a, a little, officer. One of them knocked me against a tree." Buffy added her bit to the explanation.

"Yes, that's what happened. Buffy was coming home from the college library, and... and two men broke into the house. They ran when they saw that there were several people inside, and one of them knocked her into a tree as he left."

"How injured are you, ma'am? Your head's bleeding. Do you need an ambulance?"

With a glance at Giles and her mom, Buffy answered, "Nooo, I think I'm just bruised. I scratched my head on the tree bark when I hit it. I promise, I'll have someone take me to the hospital if I feel worse."

"Well, alright then. Now, sir, if you'll just give us a little more information for our log..."

Joyce took her daughter into the house while Giles remained outside to help the police finish their report. The blood from Buffy's scalp wound continuously dripped down her face.

The Slayer was surprised when Anya met them at the door with a small bowl. "Here, Buffy. Drip into this so that you don't get more blood on the floor."

"A bowl, Anya? Wouldn't a towel be better?"

"Oh, no, Buffy. It'll be much harder to feed Spike with it if we use a towel."

"It'll be harder to do WHAT!?"

Dawn appeared in the doorway. "It was my idea. Spike needs blood to heal, right? And you're bleeding, right? Why let it go to waste?"

"Dawn, I am _so_ going to kill you when I can use both hands again."

Joyce thought for a moment. "You know, I think she's right, Buffy. Spike WAS fighting against Glory, after all. That makes him our responsibility until he gets well again. And if human blood will make him heal faster, I think we can all donate a little bit to him."

"What's that, Joyce? Donate blood? To Spike?" Giles had come up behind them quietly. Joyce explained again.

"Well, that's... that's terribly generous of you, but I think we ought to let each of the others decide for themselves."

"I've already decided, Rupert. Would you get me a paring knife and the turkey baster from the kitchen, please?"

Giles left the room muttering under his breath. "Feeding the bloody pollock, what will she think of next? Now I know where Buffy gets it from."

In the den, Willow, Tara and Dawn were doing what they could for Spike. They had washed off the worst of the blood that covered him when Joyce and Buffy entered behind Anya.

Xander stood to one side, watching them. "I still say this is a waste of time. We should just dust him."

Joyce gave the boy a scathing look. "You're in my house now, Alexander Harris, and I'll thank you to keep a civil tongue in your head. I told Buffy, and now I'm telling the rest of you. Since Spike got hurt helping Buffy, he's our responsibility until he's well." Turning towards Giles as he walked back in, she said, "Thank you, Rupert. I'll go first. You'll have to do it for me, I'm afraid," and Joyce held her hand over the bowl.

Willow looked puzzled. "What are you doing, Joyce?"

"Spike needs blood to heal. Rupert is going to cut my hand so that I'll bleed into the bowl. Then we'll feed my blood to Spike. I'd like it if each of you were to do the same. Especially you, Buffy. Giles has told me that a Slayer's blood is more powerful than ordinary human blood."

"What! I mean, what!? This is Spike! Evil, undead thing?" Xander was astonished that Buffy's mom would even suggest such a thing.

"Regardless of what he is or was, he just saved my daughter's life. I'm going to return the favor."

Dawn stood up and walked over to where her mother stood. "I'll be next. I don't mind Spike having some of my blood if he needs it. It's kinda like a transfusion, isn't it?"

Each of the girls volunteered without hesitation, except for Buffy. One at a time, Giles cut their hands slightly as they held them over the bowl. It looked at first as though he himself would refuse, but a glance around the room showed him that everyone else (well, ALMOST everyone) expected him to contribute to the growing red puddle. Before he could change his mind, Rupert cut his own hand, and let his blood join with the rest.

"Buffy? You should go ahead and donate some blood so that Rupert can take you to the hospital. From the way you're holding your left arm, I'd say it hurts more than you're letting on." Joyce was concerned. *But surely, if she was _really_ hurt, she'd have said so before now.*

Her daughter sighed. "All right, let's get this over with. The sooner he heals, the sooner he'll be out of the house." Holding her hand out to Giles, she didn't flinch when he cut her, and she let a good amount of her rich red blood flow into the bowl. "Will you drive me to the hospital now, Giles? I think my arm is broken."

"My god! Buffy, why didn't you say something sooner? Yes, yes, I'll take you straight away."

As Buffy and Giles left the house, Willow, Tara, and Anya all turned to look at Xander. Willow started. "Well, Xander? Are you going to give some blood for Spike?"

"Actually, Wil, I was thinking I would sit this one out."

Tara was next. "But he saved Buffy's life! Isn't that worth something?"

"Of course it is. It's just not worth my _blood_."

Anya threw her two cents in. "Xander, please! It'll show what a wonderful person you are."

Before Xander could reply, Dawn jumped in. "The Xander _I_ know would do it. Maybe you're just not who I thought you were." And she turned her back to him.

The dark-haired boy threw his hands up in the air. "All of you... ganging up on me... what's a guy to do?" He sighed. "OK, hand me the knife."

When Xander had contributed his share, all together there was about a cup and a half of blood in the bowl. Joyce carefully filled the baster from the blood, then motioned to Willow and Tara. "You girls need to help me get it down him. Just hold him steady. I don't want him to move and waste any of this."

The two girls held tightly to Spike's arms as Joyce slowly squeezed the baster, rubbing Spike's throat from time to time to make sure he was swallowing it properly.

"Xander, I would appreciate it if you and Anya could go by the butcher's tonight and get some more blood for our patient. Dawn, please go get me my wallet." Joyce glanced at Xander for a moment. "You'll probably need to pay for it."

* * * * * * * * * *

The next day, everyone met at the house on Revello Drive to discuss what had happened the night before.

Joyce met Willow and Tara at the front door. "You two will be glad to know that our efforts weren't in vain. Spike is awake, although he's still in a lot of pain." Buffy's mother led them into the living room.

Spike lay on the couch, and all the curtains were tightly closed to prevent sunlight from entering. Buffy sat nearby, her left arm in a cast. Giles, Xander, Anya, and Dawn were already present, scattered around the room.

Giles looked up as they entered the room. "Oh, good, you're here. Now we can get started. I think what everyone wants to know most is, where did Glory go, and how. Since it was your idea, Willow, I'll let you explain."

"First of all, I want everyone to know that I never would have thought of it without Spike's help." A murmur of sound ran around the room as the others made questioning noises. "He's the one who suggested keeping the Dagon Sphere close to Dawn, and told me that the Sphere could amplify spells. Spike also found out that Glory wasn't really a name, but just something her minions called her. Short for Your Gloriousness; kinda like calling somebody Maj instead of Your Majesty."

"I remembered that Giles said the Sphere repelled 'that which cannot be named'. Since Glory didn't really HAVE a name, and the Dagon Sphere showed up when she did, I kinda figured they were connected."

"Then Spike made a comment about sending Glory back where she belonged, I got Tara and Giles to help me alter the spell we used to send the troll back to the troll dimension, and POOF! No Glory, no morey." The redhead giggled at her own pun.

"OK, Wil, that explains where Glory went. But why did she turn into Ben? And more important: where does Spike come into this? WHY does Spike come into this?" Buffy was both puzzled and angry about Willow's actions.

"We didn't know she and Ben were connected, but Spike DID find out that Glory sometimes turned into a man. So we worked that into the spell we did, to make sure that both parts of her went away." Willow smiled, pleased with the way the things had turned out.

Dawn spoke up hesitantly. "I... I think... that time I ran away, and you found me at the hospital, I think Ben... turned into Glory. I think they were the same person."

"Turned into Glory?? You didn't say anything about it then, Dawn."

"Nooo. I didn't really remember. I think maybe Glory did something to make me forget." The teen looked miserably at her sister.

"It's OK, Dawn. Nobody blames you." Tara moved closer and put her arm around the young girl's shoulders. "None of us realized it either."

"OK, that takes care of Ben. What about Spike?" Buffy gestured at the silent vampire on the couch.

"OK, well, don't be mad, Buffy, but... After you told us what happened between you, Spike, and Drusilla, I was as mad as you were. But later, I got to thinking, that no one had given Spike a chance to tell his side of the story."

"You mean you didn't believe me," the blond Slayer said flatly.

"See, you're getting mad, and I didn't want you to get mad. I only wanted to be fair to both sides." Willow stared glumly at the floor. "So Tara and I went to see Spike."

Giles interrupted, "And of course, you could trust EVERY WORD that SPIKE said. You do remember how he caused trouble last year, don't you?"

"Of.. of course! That's why we cast a truth spell, first, so we could believe him, and he could believe us." The witch turned towards her best friend. "Buffy, we were just trying to help! I could see that it was bothering you, a LOT, and I just .. just wanted to find out the truth." Her voice trailed off uncertainly.

"And they found out that I was right," proclaimed Dawn. "Spike really does love you."

"And that's why he was going to let Drusilla kill me, right? Because he loves me?" Buffy said disdainfully.

"Remember what you said to me last night? You were mad at me because I wanted to help Spike, and you said you were going to kill me when your hand worked again."

"Dawn, you know I didn't mean it! You're my sister, I love you!"

"Spike loves YOU, and HE didn't mean it either. No diff!"

Giles sighed, took his glasses off, and rubbed his eyes. "I'm forced to admit, Buffy, that your sister does have a point. From time to time we all say things we don't really mean when those we love irritate us." *And Buffy can be _very_ irritating, even to her Watcher.*

"In my own defense," the till-now silent figure on the couch spoke up, "the Slayer had just asked me, in a nasty tone of voice, why she should CARE that I loved her. What was it to her?" He sighed. "So like some bloody idiot I threatened to let Dru kill her. But that's all it was, a bloody empty threat." Spike didn't look around to see if anyone believed him. He just kept his eyes shut so he wouldn't have to see the hatred on anyone's face - especially HERS.

Joyce asked, "Before we go any further with this, Willow, didn't you say you and Tara had a truth spell you can cast?" Willow nodded slowly. "Then why don't you two do that now, and then there won't be any doubt if someone is lying."

Giles quickly agreed, "Yes, that would probably be best. We can clear this up once and for all." His tone implied 'and then Spike can LEAVE once and for all'. "And please explain to us how this spell works."

"Well, everyone will be surrounded by a soft blue light to start. Telling the truth makes the blue light brighter; telling a lie or even thinking about telling a lie makes the light turn red. Deliberately holding back information will turn the light yellow. Kinda like a traffic light," Willow said with a glance at Spike, remembering that he had been the one to liken the spell to a traffic signal.

Tara and Willow quickly cast the truth spell once more. Everyone in the room began to glow with a soft blue light, with one exception - Buffy. The petite blond was lit up like a neon sign, surrounded by brilliant crimson light.

Giles lifted his eyebrows and looked at Willow. "I thought everyone was to be surrounded in blue first?"

Willow shrugged her shoulders. "Our psychology professor would probably say that Buffy is having denial issues. I don't really know, it worked on everybody else. Let me test it. Xander, lie to me. How old are you?"

With a grin, Xander replied, "75. But I look young for my age." The light around him had promptly turned red, then back to blue when he finished speaking.

"OK. Buffy, how old are you?"

"20." The Slayer's answer was short and sullen. "And I want Spike OUT of my house." The light around her turned blue while she stated her age, then quickly went back to bright crimson.

Willow looked at Giles and shrugged again. "I don't know."

"Very well, then. We will ignore it for the time being. Spike, I believe you should start."

The blond vampire sat up slightly. "All right, then." He went over the events again - Dru's return - the trip to the Bronze - his feeding from the dead girl, and why - finding Buffy at the crypt - Dru using the cattle prod on her - knocking Dru out - tying up Dru, chaining Buffy - telling Buffy he loved her - his offer to prove his love by staking Dru - Buffy's response - the fight with Harmony - Drusilla getting loose and attacking Buffy - pushing Dru away and freeing Buffy - Buffy punching him - following Buffy home, only to find out he'd been uninvited.

When he'd finished, everyone was quiet for a moment.

"And why exactly did you say you chained Buffy up?" queried Giles.

"Well, if one of you want to talk to her, and she doesn't want to listen, you lot can grab her by the arm to stop her from leaving. I don't have that option, this bloody chip in my head won't let me. I chained the Slayer up so that she'd have to stay put while I was talking to her, that's all. I wasn't going to hurt her. I COULDN'T hurt her." (then softly) "I can't even let someone else hurt her."

"What's that? Someone else? What are you talking about, Spike?"

"Remember when witch-girl over there did the spell to keep you lot from seeing demons? The Slayer was trying to fight one of the Lei-ach demons in the training room, but she couldn't see the other one behind her. I went there to watch the fun, but... I couldn't help m'self. I took the second one down when it was going to attack her. Chopped it to bits. I bloody... _protected_ her."

Xander spoke up. "I hate to say this, but... when we were cleaning up the shop afterwards, there _were_ demon bits in the training room. We thought that Buffy..."

"No. I couldn't see it to hit it with anything." Once again, the light turned briefly blue as Buffy spoke.

"What about the wall that had all the pictures of Buffy on it? What was that all about?" Anya asked next.

Surprisingly, Dawn broke in before Spike could answer. "That? That's just one of those things we do when we like someone. Buffy had pictures of Riley up - until he left. And I always put up pictures of people that I really, really like, like the Backstreet Boys or Jason Behr on 'Roswell'.

"And, and Willow and I had a Jonathan picture wall. You know, when he did that spell to make us all like him?" Tara blushed slightly as the others looked at her.

Joyce gently prompted, "Spike?"

"Like the others said, Joyce. I loved her, and I... wanted to be able to... 'ave part of her around. I didn't really think I had much of a chance with 'er, but a fella's gotta try. I know I'm saying this badly, but... I've only been in love the once before. I don't 'ave much experience at it." From the tone of his voice, if Spike could have blushed, he would have.

"Buffy? Honey, you're not saying anything. Now that you KNOW that Spike loves you, how do you feel?"

She shrugged. "Same as before, Mom. Like I _really_ don't like Spike and I _really_ wish he weren't here." The crimson light surrounding her never even flickered.

Giles sighed once again. *This must be part of my punishment for being Ripper in my youth.* "Buffy, I think it's fairly obvious to everyone here that, regardless of how WE feel, you do not - dislike - Spike as much as you say you do. I think that it's time that you were honest with us, and with yourself."

Xander chimed in, "Yeah, Buff, you can lie to your friends, you can lie to your family, and you can even lie to yourself - but you can't lie to Willow's truth spell."

As she listened to Xander, Buffy felt that odd echo effect again. *I can fool Giles, and I can fool my friends, but I can't fool myself. Or Spike, for some reason.* The words she had used to tell Angel that she couldn't see him anymore. *That last sentence - All along Spike has been telling me, in various ways, that he knows me like no one else does. For some weird reason, like no one else can.*

"The truth? The truth is - Spike and I are not friends. We'll never be friends." The glow around her turned blue while she spoke.

Spike looked sharply at her. He remembered when he'd told her that about her and Angel. He remembered what else he'd said, too. *You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other till it makes you quiver, but you'll _never_ be friends.* Could this mean...he might have that chance after all? "Well, if we're not friends, pet, then what are we? Enemies? Allies? Inquiring minds want to know."

"We're not... exactly.... enemies, either. Or I would have killed you a long time ago." The aura of light turned green.

"Buffy," reminded her best friend, "Everyone can SEE whether you're being truthful or not. That green light means you're only telling _part_ of the truth. You're still holding back."

"But he's a demon! I can't just love an evil, undead killer vampire without a soul!" The light flared red once more.

Tara looked at her thoughtfully. "Buffy, when my family wanted to take me away, you stood up for me - and you thought _I_ was a demon. You didn't even know what kind, I could have been some... some terrible horrible monster. And the spell I did... I almost... almost killed you all."

Joyce gave her daughter one of those "we'll talk about this later" looks when she heard 'almost killed', but didn't say anything.

"That was different! You and Willow were obviously in love."

"Oh? I thought you told me that demons can't love! It must be just ME that don't 'ave any feelings, is that it?" Spike glared at the Slayer from where he lay.

"Nonsense, Spike. Buffy knows that demons have feelings. I'm an ex-demon, her first roommate at college was a demon, Cordelia and that half-demon in L.A. were in love - well, before he died." Anya turned to Buffy. "How could you POSSIBLY think that Spike doesn't have feelings?"

Xander murmured to his girlfriend, "Enough, Anya. I think you got your point across."

Dawn decided it was her turn again. "Look, sis, you had to know _something_ was up. You told me about the times you found Spike outside watching the house, and the time he came in when that thing - the Queller - attacked Mom. And when I ran away, Willow told me that you paired off with Spike to look for me. I mean, what's that about? If you didn't like him, why would you want him with you to search.? It's not like he could hurt any of the others. And the day I was hanging out at his crypt, where's the first place you came? Where's the first place you always seem to go, when you need help with something?"

Dawn's words continued, but Buffy didn't hear them anymore. She hid her face in her hands as her sister rattled on. *And there was the time I didn't tell her about - the time when Spike showed up in my bedroom with 'something to show me'. Not going there, Summers, not now. It's true - I've always turned to Spike. Oh, god, it's true.*

In a strangled voice, she said, "You're right."

Dawn stopped in mid-sentence, "... and if you wanted him gone, you could've STAKED him instead of un-inviting him... What did you say?"

The blond lifted her head. "I said, you're right. I DID know that Spike was - interested - in me. But I thought - hoped - that I was imagining things. I was trying to have a _normal_ life" *Or at least as normal as life gets on the Hellmouth* "with a _normal_ boyfriend. The kind of life I've always wanted." *The kind of life Angel wanted me to have.* "The Slayer and a vampire - it isn't exactly normal."

"Neither are you, Buffy. Not only are you the Slayer, but... you are certainly not average or normal even _for_ a Slayer. None of the other Slayers have done as much good as you have done. That's one of the reasons that the Council wanted you back." Giles spoke to his Slayer gently, as the light around her fluctuated back and forth between blue, purple, green. The girl was generating a rainbow all by herself.

"Buffy, what are YOUR feelings for SPIKE? You're going way around the block to avoid the house next door, if you know what I mean. It's not like you'd be having the only 'unusual' relationship around, you know." Willow glanced at her lover, then at Xander and Anya. "Nope, in this bunch, unusual _is_ normal. And you did want to be normal, right?"

Everyone in the room laughed at that, even Buffy.

"You're right there, Wil." She sighed. "All right, I admit that... I have some interest in having a relationship with Spike." Her aura turned blue and stayed that way this time as she continued. "I even mentioned to Riley once, that... if I wanted someone to be with who was as strong as me.... I'd be dating Spike."

At this admission, Spike sat up partway and, with some difficulty, kept from smiling. *She actually said that?! And to Captain Cardboard, at that. Well, well...*

"I'm...not sure what it is I feel for Spike. We're not friends, we're not enemies, and we're more than allies. But... it's too soon. I mean, I want to be sure. Sure that it's not just because... Riley's gone, and I'm lonely - sometimes - and Spike is handy."

The blond vampire spoke gently. "Tha's all I was asking for, pet. Just the chance.... If I have a chance, I can wait until you're ready." He lay back down.

"And nobody is goin' to stake me by 'mistake', right?" He looked hard at Giles and Xander as he spoke. Those two had been the most vocal in his condemnation, most especially the Watcher.

"Right, not as long as Buffy says not." replied Xander.

"Very well, if that's what _Buffy_ wants." Her Watcher spoke in a long-suffering tone. "And as long as you work on _our_ side, not against us."

"My word on it, Rupert." Spike grinned as he heard the other man mutter "Bloody pillock!" under his breath. "Now, Red, if you two will just cancel this light show, we can all be about our business. There must be _something_ to do now that Glory's gone."

Willow giggled, but canceled the spell. "Yeah, I think we _might_ have other things to do. Classes. Jobs. Other unimportant things."

As the others left, Spike asked Buffy, "So.. Does that mean you won't kick me out of the house at least until I'm better, then?"

"Oh, I think I can promise you THAT much, at least." Buffy grinned at him, and kissed him lightly on the mouth as she left, too. *Strange how admitting that I have GOOD feelings for Spike has made me feel... better. Lighter. Like I'm not carrying the weight of the world by myself anymore.*

Spike called out behind her, "A little more encouragement like that, and I'll be up and around in no time."

The End