Brace Yourself by Enigmaticblue

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Chapter 18: A Time to Kill

"When the rain comes, it seems that everyone has gone away/When the night falls, you wonder if you shouldn't find someplace/To run and hide/Escape the pain/But hiding's such a lonely thing to do./I can't stop the rain/From falling down on you again./I can't stop the rain/But I will hold you 'til it goes away./When the rain comes, you blame it on the things that you have done/When the storm fades, you know the rain must fall on everyone./So rest awhile/it'll be alright/No one loves you like I do..." ~Third Day, "When the Rain Comes"

Bracken looked at Spike. "May I ask a question?"

"What's that?" Spike asked, sounding distracted as he watched Willow and Tara begin the spell that would hopefully both locate Buffy and open a portal—all at the same time.

"Are these men you want me to kill?"

Bracken was perfectly serious. In his own world, there were people who were disposable, and those who were not. He knew that he fell into the "disposable" category; although his parents and some of his siblings might miss him, they would not mourn for long. Life was too short and too brutal to waste tears on the dead.

But there were also those who could not be killed without grave repercussions; Bracken had a feeling that most humans fell into that category in this world.

Spike looked at him, startled, and then he slowly nodded. "Yeah. They make a move toward you or any of us, and you take them out. No hesitation." He looked over at Xander. "Same goes for you, Harris."

"If it's them or Buffy, I have no problem with that," Xander said evenly, but Bracken picked up on the note of anxiety in his voice.

Bracken thought it was a little odd that Xander would be so squeamish about killing a human when he had no problem killing non-humans. Bracken didn't see much difference between the two, at least in the way that Dawn and the others seemed to.

This was a backwards world, where humans were in control.

"Good," Spike said, satisfied. "You got the weapons you need?"

Xander held up a heavy bat, and Bracken nodded. When Giles had asked him what weapon he preferred, there had really only been one choice. Bracken was very good with a knife, and so had been happy to accept a set of Buffy's throwing knives. He'd never used another sort of weapon—unless he included a cudgel, though.

Well, he'd used a bow and arrow in the past, but they would be in close quarters, and there wouldn't be room to get off a shot like that.

Bracken watched as Dawn sliced her left palm with a knife, letting the blood drip down into the center of the circle. Willow and Tara would use her blood as the focus of the spell, and as soon as they had the location fixed, Dawn would open the portal.

From what he understood, the spell would work or not on the basis of timing. All three women had to be perfectly in sync, and Willow would be directing them telepathically.

There had been an undercurrent there earlier that Bracken hadn't quite understood, although he'd picked up on it. Dawn had told him in an undertone that Willow and Tara had been "together" at one point, but they had broken off their relationship due to some misconduct on Willow's part. It was another one of those things that Bracken had a feeling that he would never quite get, just like so many things about this group.

On the other hand, Bracken felt more accepted here, among strangers, than he had among his own family. From Spike, who had willingly given him a place to stay, to Tara, who had fed him, to the others who had been kinder than nearly anyone else he'd ever known.

Dawn had promised him that there was room enough for him in her world; Bracken was beginning to believe her.

~~~~~

The more time went by without knowing where Buffy was, or what was happening to her, the more on edge Spike became. There was no question in his mind that Buffy was about as capable and competent a Slayer as he'd ever run across, but because this was the Council; they were unlikely to underestimate her.

Although he was pretty sure that Buffy was the only Slayer ever to become pregnant with a vampire's child, there was a good chance that this wasn't the first time the Council had taken matters into their own hands. And even though they had badly mishandled Faith, that simply meant that they weren't likely to try the same tactics again.

No, they were likely to ensure that they retained complete control over Buffy, and that's what had Spike worried.

The wind from the portal began to blow, whipping their faces and hair. Spike steeled himself and sensed Xander and Bracken do the same on either side. Normally Spike wouldn't have considered taking Harris along, but the man had grown on him in the last few months, and he knew it would be nearly impossible to convince him to stay.

Once the portal was up, Willow spoke. "I think we can give you fifteen minutes, tops, so you might want to hurry."

Spike nodded and led the way, jumping into the whirling energy, and feeling his stomach drop as he went from one location to the next, nearly instantaneously. The room he found himself in looked a lot like a hospital room, with bare, white walls, and a single bed. Buffy lay there in a hospital gown, pale and unresponsive, and he rushed to her side.

Xander was next through the portal, and he went to Buffy's other side without being told, beginning to loosen the restraints on her wrists and ankles.

Spike cursed softly, doing the same, nearly paralyzed with fear that they'd harmed her irreparably. He glanced over his shoulder to see Bracken standing by the door, obviously on guard. It was good thinking on the boy's part, and another reason why Spike didn't mind the kid being around, even if his Nibblet was enamored.

Buffy began to whimper slightly, and Spike put a hand on her face to comfort her. "Hey, luv. It's just the cavalry." When that didn't seem to calm her, he added, "It's Spike an' Xander, Buffy. Just hang on an' we'll get you out of here."

Her eyes fluttered open and fixed on him, although her dilated pupils told Spike that they had her doped to the gills. "Spike?" she whispered, her voice raspy.

"That's right. It's me."

"I'm here, too, Buf," Xander said. "We're getting you out of here."

She clutched at Spike, and he scooped her up, relieved when she put her arms around his neck; she had the strength for that much at least. He was about ready to send Xander through the portal when the door burst open, and two men in black entered, flanking another man in a tweed suit.

Spike didn't recognize the man in the center, although he had his suspicions as to his identity—suspicions that were soon borne out by Xander's hissed, "Travers."

"Put the Slayer down, vampire," Travers ordered. "She's ours."

"Last I heard, you didn't own her," Spike shot back, adding with a leer, "An' I sure haven't seen your name on her anywhere."

Buffy had her face buried in his chest, and she held on tighter, her fear apparent.

The two men raised their guns, pointing them at Spike and Xander. Bracken appeared to be unarmed, so they obviously weren't considering him a threat. "Spike," Xander said in an undertone. "Maybe it would be better not to piss off the men with the big guns."

"You won't leave here alive," Travers warned him. "I have no problem killing her to ensure that her child does not live. Leave her with us, and they will both remain alive."

"Go to hell," Spike snarled. "You're talkin' about my bloody fiancée."

"I'm talking about the Slayer," Travers corrected him, then gestured to the gunmen. "Shoot them."

Spike knew that he didn't have a prayer of getting to them in time, not with Buffy in his arms. He couldn't protect Xander and Bracken, not without dropping her, and they—

His options ran through his head in a split second as he considered and discarded every scenario. In the end, Spike didn't have to make a choice, because a knife was suddenly buried to the hilt in Travers' throat, and another appeared in the first man's chest. Xander took advantage of the second gunman's surprise, taking two steps forward and swinging the bat at his head.

The man ducked, but Xander had used the first swing as a feint, and he swung low, hitting the man across the kneecaps. The gunman howled, and Spike yelled, "Get out of here!"

Bracken was first through the portal, and Xander waved at Spike. "Go, get Buffy out. I've got the rear."

Spike jumped through, more relieved than he would like to admit when Xander followed immediately. Apparently, Bracken had warned the others, because they were all standing away from the portal, except for Dawn, who was feverishly working on closing it.

As soon as the portal closed, Spike found himself surrounded by the others, as concerned as he was for Buffy. She had lapsed back into unconsciousness at some point during the chaos, and Spike tapped gently on her cheeks, hoping to bring her around. "Come on, luv," he muttered.

"We have to get her to the hospital," Giles said.

"An' tell them what?" Spike demanded.

"I'll make a phone call," he replied. "There's a doctor there that I've dealt with in the past."

Spike nodded reluctantly, knowing that the Watcher was right; they needed to know what Travers had used to keep her unconscious, and whether it had harmed the baby. He stroked her hair out of her face tenderly, not paying much attention to what Giles was saying, his explanation to the man on the other end.

"Let's go," Giles said. "Doctor Wilkes will be waiting for us."

Spike frowned. "Can we trust him?"

"The doctor is a woman, and yes, we can trust her," the Watcher promised. "But we need to get Buffy to the hospital."

Spike picked her up, ignoring the others as they crowded around. "Xander, can you drive the others?" Giles asked. "Dawn, you can come with us."

Dawn slid into the passenger seat while Spike climbed into the back seat of Giles' car with Buffy. She hadn't even stirred, and his fear was overwhelming. "What happened to Travers?"

Spike ignored Giles' question, focusing his attention on the still form of the Slayer.

"Spike!" The man's sharp tone forced him to look up. "I need to know if I should be preparing for Travers to show up."

"He's dead," Spike replied, turning his attention back to Buffy.

"What happened?" Dawn asked. "Spike..." She twisted in her seat, reaching back to touch his arm. "She's going to be okay. Tell us what happened."

Dawn's voice brought a little sanity, reminding Spike that there were others with just as much interest in making sure that Buffy was okay. "We went through the portal, found Buffy strapped to a table. She came to briefly, an' I think she recognized me, but she wasn't terribly lucid. We freed her, and Travers an' a couple of his goons came busting through the door. He ordered them to shoot us, an' Bracken took out Travers an' one of the men with a couple of very well-placed knives. Xander got the other across the knees with a baseball bat, an' we came back."

"Good," Giles sounded highly satisfied. "That does make things easier."

Dawn frowned. "Bracken killed them?"

"I had my arms full of Buffy, so yeah," Spike said, regretting that fact just a bit. He'd wanted to bathe in their blood; he still did, when you got right down to it.

Giles pulled up in front of the emergency room doors. "Bracken seems to be a highly capable young man," he observed, opening the door for Spike.

Spike didn't respond, focusing on Buffy, who still hadn't roused. Her continued unconsciousness worried him. He made sure that the gown covered everything it needed to, and carried her inside. There was a doctor waiting for them, and she went to meet Giles immediately, her hand outstretched. "Mr. Giles? This must be the patient."

"It's a pleasure to meet you finally, Dr. Wilkes. This is Buffy Summers," Giles responded. "Nigel told you what was going on?"

"She's with the Council?" Spike inquired sharply. "You didn't tell me that."

"Please, I'm a doctor first," the woman said. "And I know enough about Buffy's special—needs to be of more use than anyone else on staff here." Dr. Wilkes waved at one of the orderlies, who quickly brought over a gurney. "I promise we'll take good care of her."

"I'm not leavin' her side, not for a second," Spike snarled, refusing to let go of Buffy until he knew she'd accede to his demand. "You can't deal with that—"

"You can stay," Dr. Wilkes agreed, glancing over at Giles and Dawn. "You will both have to remain in the waiting room, however. There isn't room enough for everyone."

"That's fine," Giles responded, putting a comforting hand on Dawn's shoulder. "Spike, I promise that you can trust her."

Spike finally laid Buffy down on the gurney, following as they began wheeling her down a hallway, every sense alert for traps. He didn't trust these strangers, not after what the Council had done—or tried to do.

They brought her to a private room, and Spike moved to her side as soon as the orderly got out of the way, taking her hand in his.

"I'm just going to take a blood sample to find out what kinds of drugs she's been given," Dr. Wilkes said, beginning to check Buffy's pulse and blood pressure herself. "We'll wait for the results to find out if we need to do an amniocentesis, but as soon as I've done that, we'll hook her up to a monitor, and do an ultrasound to make sure the baby is okay."

Her movements were brisk and efficient, and her stream of commentary about what she was doing reassured Spike slightly. She was obviously competent, and so far hadn't made any threatening moves.

Of course, now that the chip was out, Spike didn't much care if the good doctor did try something. He'd rip her throat out.

~~~~~

Dawn looked up to see the others as they came through the emergency room doors, but she had eyes only for Bracken. She immediately went to him, hugging him. "Thank you."

"For what?" he asked, sounding bewildered, although he tentatively returned her embrace.

"For killing them," Dawn said in a low, fierce voice. She didn't want their conversation overheard, but she wanted to be sure he understood how grateful she was. Travers had almost succeeded in taking her sister from her again. Bracken's actions had ensured that he'd never have another chance.

Bracken's arms tightened around her briefly. "They were going to shoot us," he said mildly. "And Spike said that's what I should do if they threatened to harm us."

"You did exactly the right thing," Giles said quietly, having come up to them. He looked over at Willow and Tara. "The spell was well done."

Willow shrugged modestly. "Dawn was the one who did the hard work. The locator spell isn't very difficult."

Dawn blushed at the compliment. "I wouldn't have been able to find Buffy without you guys."

"It was a team effort," Tara said firmly. "I'm glad it worked as well as we hoped it would."

Xander frowned. "When can we see Buffy?"

"The doctor allowed Spike to go back with her, but no one else," Giles replied.

Dawn raised her eyebrows. "You mean that Spike didn't give her a choice."

Anya looked intrigued. "I'll bet he's feeling very dissatisfied by now. Xander told us that he didn't get to kill anyone."

"He wouldn't have been able to kill anybody," Xander objected. "Since they're human."

Dawn saw Willow's guilty expression, as well as Tara's frown. "Unless he doesn't have the chip anymore," she observed.

Giles frowned. "How would—" He saw the look on Willow's face. "What do you know about that, Willow?"

"It was for the best," Tara responded, stepping in to defend the other woman. "Spike asked us to help him, and we agreed that it was a good idea."

"He's not going to go out and kill anybody," Willow added. "And he said he'd already talked to Buffy about it. Between the Council and Ray, not to mention the nerds last year, it's pretty obvious that demons aren't our only problem."

Giles cleared his throat. "Yes, well, I think you should have talked to me first. If Spike—"

"He's not going to do anything that would hurt Buffy," Dawn interrupted, glaring at him. "If he killed anybody, Spike would lose Buffy and the baby. Besides, he's different now."

Dawn watched as Giles bit his tongue, and Anya elbowed Xander as he was about to say something. She had a feeling that Buffy was going to hear from both of them later on, but she almost felt sorry for the two men. Dawn knew that Buffy was unlikely to hear anything bad about Spike, or to allow them to get very far with their warnings.

Chances were, they'd be getting a dressing down from the Slayer; Dawn had gotten one or two of those herself, and she knew how painful they could be.

~~~~~

Buffy awakened slowly, first noticing that her mouth was dry, and then that her hands were free. Well, one of her hands was free, the other was being held tightly by a cool, long-fingered hand that she recognized immediately. "Spike."

"Right here, Buffy," he replied, his hand stroking her forehead as her eyes fluttered open. "How are you feelin'?"

"Okay. Thirsty," she said, hearing how raspy her voice was.

He pulled back, reaching for something just out of her line of sight, and a moment later put a straw to her lips. One strong hand supported her head as she tried to sit up to take a drink, and Buffy nearly whimpered at her apparent weakness. "Easy," he said quietly. "Doc says you've got half a dozen compounds in you, an' it's goin' to take some time for it to wear off."

"The baby?" Buffy asked, fear making her heart skip a beat.

Spike shook his head, the muscle in his jaw working. "They don't know yet, but so far it looks alright. Heartbeat's strong, an' there aren't any other obvious problems. We'll have to wait on the rest."

Buffy's foggy brain couldn't quite come up with what "the rest" referred to, but she knew enough to know that it might be really bad.

"Have to tell you somethin' luv," Spike said softly. "I know now isn't the best time, but I don't want to be accused of hidin' anything from you, an' it's gonna come out sooner or later."

"What is it?" she asked, searching his face, her trust in him complete. Whatever had happened, whatever Spike had done, Buffy didn't care.

"Got the chip out," he admitted hoarsely, his voice low. "Willow an' Tara did it, with a spell. I couldn't stand to think of those Council wankers havin' you and me unable to do anything about it. Reckon the others will find out, but—"

Buffy didn't have much strength, but she had enough to raise a hand to his lips, stopping his rambling explanation. "It's okay. We talked about this."

"Yeah, we did," he replied. "But that didn't mean you'd be okay with it once it was done."

"I trust you," Buffy said simply. "Where's Travers?"

"Dead," Spike said. "'m sorry I couldn't do it myself, an' make it last a good long while, but I had my arms full of you at the time. Bracken did him for us. Put a knife into him pretty neatly."

Buffy smiled in relief. "We'll have to get him a medal," she murmured. "I really hated him."

"So did I," Spike said, his hand resting on her forehead. "Go to sleep, luv. That's the best thing for you right now, an' I'm not goin' anywhere."

"Dawn?" Buffy asked, not wanting to succumb to her exhaustion until she knew that everyone was okay.

"She helped find you, an' she's with Rupert an' the others. It's alright, Buffy. Go to sleep."

Comforted by Spike's steady voice, Buffy let herself drift off, still holding tightly to his hand.

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