Spike caught her before she hit the floor and laid her down gently on one of the couches. He sat down at the table and glanced up expectantly. "So, Angel... how was hell? I see you got a tan." Angel stayed in the doorway. "Hello, Spike. May I come in?"
"Sure, sure," Spike gestured expansively around as if it were a mansion. "So you still need an invitation, do you?"
"Not really. I was being polite," Adam responded with a half-smile. He came in and sat across the table from Spike.
"First time for everything, I guess," Spike commented.
"Spike, what's going on?" Adam cut right to the chase.
Spike gave him a sharp glance. "What, do I look like I owe you anything? I rather think you're the one with all the explaining to do!"
A rustling sound behind Spike told them that Buffy was starting to return to herself. Spike got a bottle of water from the little refrigerator and went to her. "Here, pet," he said as she opened her eyes. "Feeling better?"
She groaned. "Spike, is Angel -"
"Yeah, he's here, luv," Spike told her grimly. "If you feel up to joining us, we were just about to start story hour."
Buffy caught sight of Adam sitting calmly at the table and straightened. Her eyes took on that measuring expression she wore when she hunted. "Yeah, I'm fine." Her voice, like her expression, was hard. She took a third chair, carefully choosing the end of the table away from Adam's right hand. She was familiar enough with Angel's fighting patterns to know that he always struck with his right fist first.
"Buffy," Adam said softly. "It's good to see you again." His eyes shone with strong emotion, but the rest of his face was expressionless and his body was relaxed. He took in her new "look" and filed it away mentally to ask her about later, maybe on their way back to Sunnydale and safely away from Spike. Her hair was flat and brittle-looking above pale skin. He might have seen her in the sun today, but he'd bet she didn't see much of it. There were dark circles under her eyes and she was very thin. The skin at her wrists was almost transparent; the veins were visible and blue. Her arms - he raised his eyebrows - her arms were covered with needle track marks!
"Thanks," she said shortly. "So, story hour, huh? Can't wait. You go first."
"Buffy, what -" Adam started to ask, but Spike interrupted.
"Tsk, tsk, you heard the lady, Angelus. You go first." His eyes were threatening. "Maybe you can start with what you're doing here... with a heartbeat."
Adam sighed. Fine, he'd play it their way. He gave them a quick summary of his experiences. He explained how his soul had been in torment and his body burned away, when Giles, Willow, and the rest had called his soul out of hell and given it a new, human body to inhabit. He told about his baptism and his new name, and ended his tale with Giles' direction to find the slayer and bring her home. "So that's why I'm here," he finished. "It was pure luck that I saw you in the park just now and followed you here."
"Yeah. Sure was lucky!" Buffy muttered. She glanced at Spike who seemed, somehow, even paler than usual. "Your turn. Tell him."
Spike's usual bravado was gone. In a dull, flat voice he told his story. He addressed his story to Adam, but kept his eyes mostly on the slayer. "I had made a deal with the slayer to help her kill you, in return for letting me go free with Dru. I'd had enough of watching you and her together; also, I didn't really want the world to end. So..." and he told about his shock upon seeing Buffy on the airplane, of Drusilla's death, of the agreement that he wouldn't hunt in New York as long as Buffy kept him fed. "And that's the way it's been until a couple of days ago, when I realized I'd fallen in love with her."
Adam was thunderstruck. This he hadn't expected. "You - you love her? The slayer?"
"Yeah, what of it?" Spike said irritably. "You did, after all."
Adam looked at Buffy, whose eyes were locked to Spike's. She took Spike's hand in hers for a moment, then looked at Adam with expressionless eyes. Adam sighed. "Yes, I did," he said, watching her. "Buffy, there's a flight leaving in two hours out of LaGuardia. If you pack your things now, we can be in Sunnydale by tomorrow morning."
Buffy had been examining Adam while he talked. Now she spoke. "So Cordelia made the body for you, huh? She certainly is..." her eyes raked up and down his frame, "...observant." Her voice had a bit of a jealous edge to it.
"I've no complaints about it," Adam said, smiling. "It's close enough to the one I had that I barely notice the differences. Also when I get a sunburn now, it only turns pink instead of to ashes!"
Spike muttered "Show-off!" under his breath.
Adam either ignored his or hadn't heard. "Do you need any help packing?" he asked Buffy.
"Listen, Angel, aren't you rushing things a little? What makes you think I'm going back?"
Spike smiled; she really was his kind of girl. He chimed in, "Yeah, 'Adam,' at least give the lady a choice! Why don't you take your sunburn and your soul and your bloody heartbeat back to Sunnydale and leave us alone!"
Buffy rounded on him. "And what makes you think I'm staying here? You guys are both such, such, guys! At least give me a choice!"
"That's what I said, pet!" The tension of the discussion had finally gotten to Spike. He stood up. "But then, there's really not much of a choice, is there? Gee, does the slayer stay in a strange city with a bloodsucking demon-fiend, or does she go with her old boyfriend - who is NOT a bloodsucking demon-fiend anymore - back to her friends and family and do what she's good at? Oh, the dilemma! Which one should she choose?" He pushed violently past Adam's chair and left the room.
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