DISCLAIMER: The characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer belong to Mutant Enemy, Joss Whedon, the WB, Fox, and Kazui enterprises. I do not own them, nor do I make any profit from their usage. No copyright infringement is intended.
RATING: PG for violence?
SETTING: AU S5, no Anya, No Glory. Spike and Xander are friends who may have mutual undisclosed feelings for each other.
SUMMARY: Xander gets a dose of demon poison, Spike takes care of him.
FEEDBACK: Sure, welcome. Please. I gotta have it. Oh come on! Don’t make me beg!!
A/N: Mucho thanks and lots of snogs go to angelofrapture for an awesome beta. You rock chicky!

Xander stood back among the shadows of the trees surrounding the cemetery, watching as Buffy and Spike dispatched a new clan of demons. These were a particularly nasty breed, or Spike had said, which meant that the less enabled members of the scooby gang - himself, Willow, and Tara included - had to hang back to avoid permanent injury. Which in this case meant, staying with Giles at the Magic Box. Xander could accept that, honestly he could. Didn’t mean he had to like it, and that was why he was standing under the trees, observing this fight alone, instead of pacing the shelves at the shop waiting for Spike and Buffy to return.

The frown settled firmly on his face when it became evident that The Plan wasn’t working. Buffy’s idea to divide and conquer was shaping up to be an abysmal failure, because no matter how strong a slayer was or how fast a 120 year old vampire was, two cannot divide and conquer 30. So. Xander did what Xander always does. He grabbed up his ax and headed into the fray. And he was doing pretty well, if he did say so himself, for all of about 10 minutes. And let’s face it folks, ten minutes in a battle with 6 huge scaley violent demons who only want to eat your eyes is a mighty long time.

But after that ten minutes? Human stamina began to give way. And the offensive moves turned into defensive and soon, it took all he had just to keep the demon claws away from his face. His shouts of angry fear finally reached the ears of the vampire embroiled in a fight with the last of his group of demons. Twisting the head off the last opponent with a satisfied smirk, Spike turned around to see Xander down, arms thrown up to protect his face as demons clawed at every other part of the boy’s body.

“Oh bollocks!” Spike whispered to himself in genuine fear. When one of Xander’s attackers got in a good swipe along Xander’s ribs, Spike let out a roar and nearly flew over to help his boy. He tossed the offending demon into the air, then snatched it out of its descent to break its back along his thigh. The satisfying crunch of bone had him grinning in sheer delight.

He called out to Buffy, “Slayer, get over here! One got Xander!” and watched as the tiny blonde fought with renewed strength. One of her friends was hurt and that wasn’t allowed. She quickly dealt with her remaining demons and headed over to take on the last five that were inching their way to Xander, who lay bleeding heavily on the cold wet ground.

Leaving Buffy to deal with the last of the demons, Spike lifted an almost unconscious Xander and carried him to the safety of the trees again, setting him down softly in the damp grass there.

“Spike?”

“Yeah, pet. ‘S me.”

“Am I dead?”

“Not yet.”

“Will I be?”

Spike laughed a little. “Not from this injury mate, but you’re gonna be sick for a while. Poison claws, ya know. Thought the Slayer and I told you lot to stay behind?”

“Hmm. There is that, but I wasn’t about to. The Plan? Looked like a bust to me, Spike.”

“Well, true, pet. But ain’t no way I was leaving you today. Slayer neither. So you got hurt for no reason.”

“Umm. Ok. Can I sleep now? Are you safe? Both of you?”

Spike looked back to check on Buffy and saw that she had just killed the last of the demons, and he thought he heard “And that’s for hurting Xander!” which made him grin. “Yeah. Slayer just finished em off.” He turned back to Xander, who looked frailer than he had two minutes before. “You want I should take you home now, Xander?”

Xander opened weak eyes, growing dim with the effects of the poison. “Yeah.” he sighed. “Yeah, home would be good, Spike.”

“Alright then.”

Xander felt himself lifted and heard Buffy asking Spike what was happening. The vampire’s reply was lost to him, as was the trip home, because Xander’s brain chose that moment to shut his body down. He floated home on a wave of unconsciousness and dreamed of blue skies and rich earthy smells.

~~~~~~~~~~

Spike sighed in relief when Xander passed out. He looked over to Buffy as they walked back to Xander’s apartment. “Whelp’s right you know? The Plan? Kinda stupid, like I said.”

“Yeah, well, the demons are dead, and we’re all alive.” Buffy’s pragmatism flowed from her voice like a cold current.

Spike sighed, exasperated. “Have you ever noticed that we fight better when they’re around?” He waited for her to turn her questioning eyes to him. “You and your friends are a mean tag team, Slayer. If you hadn’t had them, you’d have been dead the first time we fought. But they give you an edge, a confidence - no, a real reason to fight. Me? I just like to impress.”

“They do. I realize that. But I can’t protect them all the time. I need to be able to do my job without worrying about them.”

“Well, you nearly lost one tonight, because you don’t want to worry about them. Your friends make you better, Buffy,” she startled at his use of her name. “You shouldn’t leave them behind. It makes you weak.” He frowned and shifted Xander’s weight. “Damn. Wish I had a smoke. Arms kinda full though.”

“Want me to carry him for a while?”

“No.” Spike again shifted Xander closer to him, cradling him along his body. “I’ve got him. Besides’ he’s nearly twice your size. You might be able to carry him, but it’d be awkward. And I don’t imagine he’d fancy knowing he was carried home by a girl.” The smile escaped before he could stop it.

“True.” They reached the turn to the shop where the others were waiting. “Alright, Spike. I’ll think about what you said.” She laughed at his shocked look. “I know, will wonders never cease, a Slayer listens to the undead. But you made sense, so I’ll think about it. But take care of Xander?”

“Course, luv. I always do.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xander woke up to find himself in his own bed, covers drawn up tight around his neck, and the shades pulled down low over the windows. He was alone. And a little afraid. The world looked a little green to him, and he knew that wasn’t right. His room was, in reality, a rather dull beige that all apartment rooms were. So he knew green was wrong. Also wrong was the way his body shivered violently under the covers, but felt like an inferno inside. His body hurt in ways he never thought of. Even drawing a deep breath burned, so he was left taking shallow breaths that left him lightheaded and slightly nauseated.

His head seemed to be stuffed with cotton, making everything seemed muffled and dim. And god! His tongue felt as though someone had sucked all the moisture out of his body and left the fuzzy contents of the vacuum cleaner in his mouth. And wasn’t that a lovely image. He vagley remembered Spike helping him last night before he passed out. Hoping the vampire hadn’t left him alone in this condition, he tried drawing a deep breath to call out to him, but it hurt. Instead he gave a shallow shout, which came out as a dry whisper that didn’t even reach his own ears. Somehow, though, Spike heard him.

The door to the bedroom opened slowly, and Spike peered his head inside, smiling at the awake form in the bed. He stepped fully into the room. “Ahh, awake are we?”

Since Xander’s voice wasn’t cooperating, he simply nodded. Spike walked over and sat next to him on the bed, touching his forehead lightly and looking him over. “You still look like hell, mate. Not letting you out of bed anytime soon.” He noticed Xander’s shivering and tucked the covers down tighter around him. “That should help in a bit, pet. Did you need something?”

“Water?” The raggedly whispered word traveled to Spike’s ears through sheer determination on the part of Xander.

Spike nodded. “Ok.” And reached to the nightstand where a pitcher of ice water stood next to a small glass. He held the half full glass to Xander’s lips and tilted it so he could get a drink. Xander swallowed carefully, not wanting to spill any and look like a complete idiot, but being so weak he couldn’t help the couple of drops that escaped his lips. He frowned. But Spike simply leaned over and wiped them away before they could trail down his neck.

“Well, I guess I’d better let you know. You’re gonna be like this for a while. Watcher and Red are looking to find some way to shorten the length of the sickness, but it ain’t promising. You’ll live, but you’re going to be sick a while.” Spike sighed, as though reluctant to tell the rest, but forging on anyway. “And Xander? You’re gonna be...different.”

Bleary honey eyes looked up into blue ones. They asked “why? How?” and Spike heard the question just as sure as if it had been voiced.

“You’ll be sensitive to light, for one thing. Really sensitive. You’ll smell things differently, not necessarily better, but differently. You’re going to see a haze on things.” At Xander’s rolled eyes, he said, “Ah. Already do, I take it?” and caught Xander’s ironic nod. “One last thing, pet. You’ll be more sensitive to other people. I think it’s called empathic? I mean, you already are, as far as I can tell, but you’ll feel what others feel. It’s a component of the demon that the poison comes from.”

Ok, I can handle that. Spike nodded his response to the thought he heard. “Yeah. I believe so, too. But for now? Weak as a newborn kitten.”

You’ll take care of me? “Absolutely, pet. Long as you need me to.” He held the cup of water to Xander’s mouth again, and again wiped up the couple of drops that spilled free and threatened to roll down the boy’s chin.

Xander hated being weak and under anyone’s care. He hated the shivering and fever. He noticed something else under the sickness, something that had him feeling more than weak. How long had he been asleep? And why did he feel so empty? Oh.

I’m hungry. Spike laughed. The boy’s body may be weak, but his appetite is indomitable. “Course you are pet, you’ve been in bed for three days!”

WHAT?! Xander’s eyes widened in disbelief and fear. What about my job? Even food worries could be chased away by the thought of no money.

“Took care of that. Had the Watcher forge a doctor’s note and called you in for the next two weeks, I did. You’re even getting sick pay.”

Gratitude shown out from Xander’s tearfilled, worried eyes. Thank you, Spike.

“Hey. No problem. But you owe me.”

Yeah, right. Chocolate eyes rolled in exasperation. Umm, Spike? Really startin to get hungry here.

“Oh right. Hang on.” The vampire left the room and Xander thought about the situation. Lucky for him that Spike seemed to be telepathic? Because he was pretty sure that he hadn’t spoken a word for the last ten minutes, but he had carried on a conversation with Spike as though speaking normally. Huh. Weird. He heard a noise at the door and turned to catch Spike coming in with a bowl of soup and some crackers and - oh thank the gods - coffee.

Xander tried lifting his arms to take the tray of food but they wouldn’t work. Oh hell no. You have got to be kidding me! Paralyzed?

“No, not paralyzed, ya git, just weak. I’ll feed ya.”

I’m so hungry I won’t take offense to that. At. All. But a frown marred Xander’s smooth brow. “Aww, cheer up pet. You’re gettin breakies in bed. Fed to you by a Master Vampire. What more could you ask for?”

Hah! Umm, the use of my arms perhaps! To not have been stabbed by demons?

“Shut up and eat, whelp.” Spike grinned at him to take the sting out of the insult and held out a spoon filled with soup which Xander gladly took. Spike fed him the whole bowl that way, and Xander found it odd, but they continued their conversation, even with his mouth full. Unique experience, if he did say so himself. The soup and crackers finished, Xander began a mantra in his head, grinning like mad, or so he thought. The grin actually looked like a sicky weak smile, barely lifting the corners of his mouth.

Javajavajavajavajavajava.

“Oi, quit it! Here! Have some damn coffee!”

You sure you want to take care of me now, Spike?

Spike rolled his eyes and laughed. “Yeah.”

The coffee, more than the soup, finally moistened Xander’s mouth enough that he could finally speak. “Thanks, Spike.” The sound was gravelly, and nearly silent, but at least he could talk again.

“Hey. No problem. You just let me know if you need anything, k?”

The raspy voice sounded again, “Sure. Might even do it with my new telepathy. And isn’t that cool?” He looked at Spike again, gazing over the vampire’s human features, finally meeting the blue eyes that smiled back at him. But losing them as they faded to black when he eyelids fell.

Spike noticed Xander’s eyelids drooping again, and cleared away the breakfast dishes. “I’ll leave you to get some more rest, then pet.” He started toward the door, but froze when he heard Xander whisper, “You’re very pretty. Green is a lovely color on you.”

When he turned back to gape at Xander, he saw the boy’s sleepy face and closed eyes. He laughed outright. “Thanks pet. Always wondered if I looked good in green.”

He turned back to the door, saying, “You need anything, just give a thought.” as he headed out.

Eyes closed, and mouth again too dry to talk, Xander gave a quiet Yeah, ok,Spike. G’night. thought and promptly fell asleep.

“Yeah, pet. Sweet dreams.” Spike let the door fall closed behind him.