Was It Worth It?
Chapter 3
by Miss Binks & Richess
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Xander gently carried Buffy's body up the stairs. Joyce was close behind, whimpering softly. He felt strange holding Buffy like this. Her body was so cold and fragile. Her pale skin began to look translucent as the non-working veins turned dark.
"Careful, Xander. Put her down gently." Joyce said, looking at her.
Xander put her down and Joyce began to cry again as she grabbed her daughter's hand and rubbed it, as if it would wake her up and she'd be fine. Xander turned his back toward her and went down stairs as he heard the door slam. He saw Faith and Giles talking in hushed and hurried voices. Xander knew what they were doing.
Xander's mind was spinning with implications, he needed Willow.
Willow would know what to do. He called her phone and got her answering machine. He tried to talk but his voice wouldn't cooperate. He silently prayed that the words he had just heard were wrong.
"No, you are not going to stake her."
Faith and Giles turned around to see Xander glaring at them.
"Xander, you must know what is going to happen to Buffy when she wakes up." Giles said sadly.
"Yeah, and who knows how B is going to be when she wakes up. She's going to be Super vamp, the strength of a Slayer and a vampire. Sunnydale doesn't need one of those around." Faith said causally, hiding her emotions.
Xander stepped toward Faith and smacked her across the face. His handprint marred her cheek. Her head snapped back from the blow and a single tear ran down her tender cheek. Joyce descended the stairs to see the events unfolding.
Faith slapped Xander back, knocking him to the ground.
"Xander! Faith!" Joyce asked shocked as she rushed to his side, helping him up.
"They want to stake her, Joyce. They want to treat her like she's some mangy vampire. They want to..." Xander froze as he looked at Faith's eyes. He saw a glimmer of emotion and immediately felt guilty for his actions.
"No, you are not getting anywhere near my daughter." Joyce yelled hysterically.
"Joyce you don't..."
Spike slowly crept into the Slayer's bedroom to see her lying peacefully. When he heard no heartbeat, he realized what must have happened. "Angel turned her."
A slight smile broke on Spike's face as he crept closer to her. He turned her head to see the bite marks and he nearly did a back flip. This was going to be even more fun than killing her.
Spike remembered hearing of only one another Slayer that became a vampire; she didn't survive too long. Her demon tried to destroy everything and just ended up getting staked by the next Slayer. Spike was going to make sure that it wasn't going to happen this time. Not with his Slayer.
Spike could hear their conversation with his vampiric hearing. First he heard the whelp.
"Willow could give her back her soul before she awakens." He pleaded.
"You sound just like Angel. Nothing is that easy." Faith argued.
"Yes, Faith it is." Joyce cried. "She's my baby. I refuse to believe that it won't work. She's all I have left."
"She still has at least nearly twenty hours before she awakens. But I think her soul can be restored," Giles said hopefully. "We should get supplies and get a hold of Willow."
"Really? You think she will be ok?" Faith asked softly, not wanting to reveal how much this was affecting her. A flurry of emotions flew through her mind. Part of her was happy that Buffy was gone; now she was the special one. Another part of her was sad that the closest thing to family she had was dead, the one person who understood what she goes through night after night was dead, and something she might have to kill again.
"I think it can work but only Willow knows the spell, enough to pull it off." Giles replied.
"Good then call her." Joyce said quickly. She smiled slightly, briefly believing in a happy ending and then her face crumpled as tears marred her face. She looked at Rupert standing in the corner, his eyes staring at the floor and the wary look on his face. Joyce could see his pain and felt the need to comfort him, even as her own heart was being ripped apart. As his hands trembled, she instinctively reached for him and held his hand. His eyes slowly meeting hers and a single tear spilling from his eye. Joyce pulled him close into an embrace. They stayed locked together in each other's arms as they openly wept. Faith, unable to deal with the emotion in the room, turned and walked into the kitchen.
Xander tried Willow's number again.
Spike gently lifted her body; he knew that it would only be a matter of hours before she woke up. She would reawaken a lot quicker than an average human would. He held her tiny body close as he left through the bedroom window.
"Ok, Oz. Drive safely." Willow kissed her boyfriend before he left into the cool night air, the snow had made the roads dangerously sleek and she wanted him to stay but he needed to get equipment ready for The Dingoes' next performance from Devon's.
Willow walked toward the phone just about to turn the ringer back on. She saw the answering machine flashing, but a knock on the door slowly jolted her. "What have you forgotten, Oz?" Willow asked as she flung open the door to see Spike standing there, looking smug.
The red head stood on the other side of the threshold just as smug. "Spike what do you want? Why are you in town?"
"I'm here to give you a chance to save your friend Buffy." Spike held onto a small platinum chain with a diamond and platinum cross that Willow had given her has a Chanukah present.
Willow gasped on the verge of tears, "What have you done to her?"
"Nothing yet, Pet. It's your Angelus that you have to worry about not me."
"Angelus? There's no way..." Willow's eyes opened with fright. "Angel would never hurt her."
"Well, he must have changed his mind. Guess all that sexual frustration finally pushed him over the edge."
Tears spilled down her face as she realized Spike's implications.
"Angel wouldn't..."
"But he did, pet. Called in me LA. Somehow he tracked me down, invited me in on the 'torture the Slayer' fun." Willow's eyes snapped up to his. "Not really my style."
He nearly smiled as she sighed in relief. This was gonna be easier than he thought. "So, is she still...there with..."
"No, pet. I might be a monster but even I'm not as cruel as Angelus. I clunked him over the head and took the Slayer to a safe place. I know the rest of you chums would stake me on sight, not knowing the whole story, that's why I came to you. She's gonna need you when she wakes up. She's in pretty bad shape." Spike lowered his eyes pretending to care.
"But why? Why did you help her?"
"I hate Angelus more than I hate her. Look at what he did to Dru, and now he's trying to do it to her. So, are you coming with me, pet? I know it's hard for you to understand or to trust me but for once you have to."
Willow looked at the sincerity in his eyes, grabbed her purse, coat and shoes, not even caring that she was in her pajamas, and left with Spike.