Joss and the WB own all that you know and love. I merely created a playmate and a plot for them to frolic with and in.
Author's Note: After Becoming. Between my two stories, Evening in Los Angeles and Not Too Late.
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Part Five
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"JOYCE!" Spike screamed as he saw her waver to the ground. His left arm shot up, trying to catch her before she would crash into the sewer floor. She swayed near him, and with his free arm, tried to soften her fall, but she fell ungraciously into the rocks that covered him. Cursing, he grabbed at her right arm and shook it."Joyce!"
Joyce's head shot up the second Spike touched her arm, and she let out a blood curdling scream as she yanked it away from him. That proved to be a big mistake for it caused the throbbing in her head to increase from the sudden movement. She cradled the arm like a wounded animal would, and glared at Spike balefully."What?"
"Are-are you all right? You were...you looked as if you were about to faint there,"Spike said slowly. Joyce relaxed a bit when the throbbing in her head eased slightly.
"My head...hurts.I think that I might have gotten a slight concussion from the two falls that I had, along with the broken arm,"Joyce said weakly. She looked at the trapped vampire."Now you know why I refuse to let you die, my friend. I want you to be as miserable as I am."
Spike barked out an involuntary laugh."All right, so then let's dig me out then."
Joyce gave him a slight nod, and resumed digging with her left arm. It was after half an hour of pushing away the debris from Spike that Joyce again started to feel weak."Are you all right, Joyce?"
"No. My head used to hurt me from certain movments, but now it's hurting all the time. And all I want to do right now is sleep,"Joyce said as she pushed a huge rock away from Spike's head."And that's the most dangerous thing of all."
"Why?"
"Because I may never wake up from it. Concussed people without medical attention should not sleep,it's a fact that you learn from first aid. You have to keep them awake, and I'm having trouble doing that just now,"Joyce replied sleepily."Talk to me Spike, tell me anything. Just keep me awake."
"What do you want me to say?"Spike asked slowly. He didn't like the faint breathing that he was hearing from her.
"Tell me about England. How you remembered it. Your family. Your mother. Anything."
"My mother?"Spike repeated before he looked at the sewer ceiling. It was a moment before he could resume his digging. He could still see her, sometimes, even though it was a long time ago.
"Yes, your mother. What did she call you? What did she look like? Did she like to do things? Spike, I have to keep awake."
"My mother...she called me William, after her father. He was a huge knight that had loved her well...and stood by her when my father tricked her into bedding him. He died as a result from the duel that he did with my father. It was the year after I was born, that he died. And my mum called me Liam, after him,"Spike said slowly.
"What was your mother like?"
"Mum was...beautiful. She loved to laugh, and dance with me around the room when she was sad. I brought her and Nanna flowers from the garden whenever I heard them fight with my uncle,it made them happy,"Spike smiled. Then his face hardened."He wanted me out of the house. A little bastard like me shouldn't be allowed where the respectable people should be, and a whore like my mum should taint his future daughters."
"Sounds like your uncle was a real prince,"Joyce whispered. Her hand faltered on the next rock. Spike looked at her, and started digging faster. Joyce shook her head."I remember you telling me about your grandmother? You lived with her a year after your mother had died?"
"Yeah, Mum caught a fever from the summer rains, and my uncle refused to get a doctor for her. She died the next morning, Nanna made uncle bury her in the family crypt rather than the church cemetary, and then Nanna died a year later, from a carriage accident. Uncle threw me out of the house the morning that the will was to be read, with only the clothes on my back and only enough money to get to my father's house in London,"Spike spat."I found later, that my grandmother and mother had left me a sizable income, and my uncle with nothing but the house. The bastard."
Spike threw a rock sullenly into the other side of the sewer. "Enough about me for the moment, what about your life?"Spike asked as he pushed a huge rock away, freeing his other arm. Joyce looked at him bleary eyed.
"Me? I thought that I answered most of your questions the last time we saw each other."
"Nope. You ended at becoming adopted by your mother's cousins and fast forwarded to being the manager of an art gallery. So, what were your adopted parents like?"
Joyce grunted as she moved another rock with her left hand, Spike helped her push it away."They were...not the most emotional people that I've known. They were well into their forties when I came, and both were academics and serious intellectuals in their fields. They were people to be admired."
"But they didn't care about you, did they?"
"In their own way they did. It's just they couldn't relate to me, nor I them. Mother help a degree in anthropolgy and sociology, Father held several degrees in archeology, linguistics and art. They tried to share that with me, but.."Joyce shrugged."Tell me about your grandfather, your father's father."
"He was a good man. My father, his heir, wanted nothing to do with me, but he made the mistake of throwing me out the door and into his arms by accident. My grandfather took one look at me, then at my father, then banned him out of the house after he heard my story. He was...an amzing man. He didn't care that I was a bastard, only that I was his grandson,"Spike said softly. Joyce smiled absently as she realized something about Spike's quietness. Joyce coughed.
"You okay, Joyce?"
"Dust,"Joyce replied."Can you pull yourself out from there now? Your upper torso is free now."
Spike tried to pull himself from under the debris."Nope, not yet. We have to dig a little more."
"Okay, but you have to continue talking, I'm feeling a little woozy."
"What more do you want to know?"
"Anything. How did you become a vampire? Where did you get the name Spike?"Joyce replied. Spike resumed digging quietly.
"I don't think that you want to know, Joyce,"Spike warned her."I...It's not a story that's fit for ladies."
"Oh, but why not Spike? It's good for somethin', ain't it?"called out a voice in the darkness. He stepped closer to the couple, and revealed his game face."Well,well...who do we have here? Hello, there Slayer's Mother. Nice ta be meetin' you again."
"Who are you?"Joyce asked confused. She peered closer at the vampire, not recognizing him.
"Rickster,"Spike growled.
* * *
"All right officer, thanks for your help,"Giles said as he walked away. He shielded his eyes against the bright sunlight to search for his friends. It was...devastating, all around him. The waterfront was completely destroyed, and few buildings were standing. The rest of the city fared better, but here, however. How were they going to find one woman in all this mess. His eyes rested on a small emergency station, and then looked at the little group of people he was responsible for. He saw them working around the emergency station, being helpful. Buffy looked up, stopped what she was doing, and headed to him first.
"Mom?"
"No sign of her yet, Buffy. They're still trying to clear the debris from the sewer tunnels,"Giles said gently."But there seems to be another problem here."
"Big surprise, an earhquake just razed the waterfront. There are people trapped in the tunnels of the sewer system. What else?"
"How about a maniac and vampires on the loose?"Xander asked. Buffy looked at him and Oz in confusion, then at Giles.
"What did you find out?"Giles demanded of the two young men. "What did the coroners say?"
Oz looked at Buffy, then at Giles."They didn't say anything, but we saw the boddies that they were pulling out from the sewers. Some had their necks gnawed on, drained of blood, with seaweed all over them, while others..."
"Others had two puncture wounds in their necks, totally drained of blood,"Xander finished with a grimace. Buffy's eyes were wide open.
"Mom..."Buffy started to look wildly around her. Willow stoped her with a touch of her hand.
"Remember prophecy? Remember?"Willow urged. Buffy calmed slightly and nodded."O.K. This is what we found out from the locals around here. There's been a rash of gnawed on necks, ever since this Amaru Pier was set up six years ago. At first it was sporadic, not a real big thing, until a year ago."
"Yeah, that was when the place was totally set up and more asian stores were made, and a bunch of them decided to create an underground mall complete a rock garden with a stream. You know, to bring in the tourist dollars,"Cordelia added."But since the murders, the whole waterfront is beleiving that there's a curse. Others more scared said that they angered the water gods, and thus the deaths."
"So then we have what?"Oz asked."What's the common denominator to all this? What are we missing?"
"You mean other than Buffy's Mom?"Xander quipped. Willow hit him in the stomach.
"Two different modes of killing,"Giles mused."Two demons?"
"One vampire, that we know and love,"Buffy said slowly."And another...water demon? That's having fun with the population?"
"It seems so,"Giles mused."But what water demon? And where?"
"That's your department, Giles. But I need all that you know, because I plan to go hunting this afternoon,"Buffy ordered. She looked around her."I'll find my mom even if it kills me."
"And how do you plan to kill a water demon? Water's everywhere here in the waterfront, especially now that the earhquake has spread water all around the sewer tunnels!"Xander demanded.
"I'll find a way,"Buffy stated flatly. She looked at her friends around her."Or die trying."
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