seeking comfort: a second bed
by nutchick
As Spike walked back into the hospital room with his bag of clothes in hand he felt another flood of emotion hit him. Does she love me? Does she want to be with me? What if she thinks I was stalking her? What if she asks question I can’t answer?

Spike came up beside her bed and looked at her. Everything about her was still beautiful and perfect from the disheveled hairs on her head, down her abused body, to her perfect little toes that were now only bumps in the sheets. The urge to pick her up this second and take her away from this place she only could remember as painful and leave to another state, or even another country was suppressed by all the beeping monitors and tubes that made sure she stayed alive. She needed to heal before he rescued her.

“spike?” she asked quietly, obviously at the end of her strength for the night.

“Yes pet?” he slid into the seat and held her hand. The contact was so soft he felt as if he was holding a newborn baby’s hand. So smooth, he wasn’t sure if she was going to slip right out of his grasp without him feeling it.

“Oh. I didn’t think you were really going to stay with me. You’ve never shown that you care for me, not even a little, so I didn’t think that you would want to stay here all night and miss school.”

“I’ll be here until you get out luv. And even after. Is there anything I can get for you? Juice, coffee, um a doughnut, another pillow, anything?”

Spike wasn’t used to having so much emotion for another person displayed out in the open like it was for buffy, and it made him feel exposed. His heart kind of fell a little when she told him she didn’t think he would stay. He always made good on his promises to the best of his abilities. Though he new she was right, he had never shown much emotion for her or anybody here in the states for that matter, but he found he was falling deeper and deeper in love with her the more time he spent in this gray, hospital room.

“no, thank you though. I feel kind of okay, well except for the pain searing through my body every time I breath. I wasn’t kidding when I said you saved my life. And now…I am feeling kinda sleepy. Where are you going to sleep?”

This came as a shock to Spike, he hadn’t thought about where he was going to crash. Buffy was his first and most important issue of the evening. Also she should be worrying about getting herself better, not if Spike was going to sleep on the floor or not.

“Well, I didn’t have time to work that out in my plan of staying here. I just knew I was going to.” He looked longingly at her all snuggled up and cozy without him. He was still seated in his chair, which he just realized was lumpy and uncomfortable.

“I have an idea,” said buffy with a new rise in energy. She picked up a little control pad and hit the call nurse button. “I do love this. Watch.”

A nurse appeared soon after, it was Star, and buffy politely asked for another bed so Spike could stay with her. Star went to get it immediately and returned with a freshly made-up bed for him.

“You best not be keeping her up all hours of the night!” Star said. “She needs to get her rest or she will feel worse, her body need’s to heal. Am I going to need to check up on you two?” she smiled when they both shook their heads at the same time. “Alright then, goodnight Miss Summers, I will see you in the morning, until then if you need me just push the magic button.”

“Thank you.” Buffy said and snuggled into her pillows, trying desperately to get comfortable without hurting herself. So far she had done a pretty good job. Spike meanwhile had been getting comfortable himself next to her on the second bed that was brought in for him. He reached over and took her hand.

“Get some rest luv. You’ve had a hard day.” Spike said. Before he could repeat himself she was out like a light.

He watched her for hours, afraid that if he fell asleep, he might miss a second of her perfection. He stared at her beautiful closed eyes, her full lips and planted a kiss there. Buffy gasped in her sleep and no matter how much he wished it was from him, he knew that it wasn’t. He just didn’t see what Buffy felt. He was standing in the doorway watching Spike and his daughter.


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