Her Saving Grace, 25/25, Spike/Fred, R

[authoressnebula.livejournal.com]

Did you think this day would ever come? Epilogue to be posted shortly, when Astra will speak to me again. I went over her on this one, but I didn't like how she had the ending written. So I went back and rewrote it, and she hasn't spoken to me yet. Phooey on her.

Title: Her Saving Grace
Rating: R
Pairing: Spike/Fred, Buffy/Xander, mentions of previous Fred/Wesley
Spoilers: Angel S5
Chapter: Twenty-five of Twenty-five
Prompt: #60 - Leathery for tamingthemuse
Warnings: Character death (not the permanent variety)
Summary: An accident one night changes Fred's entire world. Shunned by the people who should care the most, she turns to the one person who does care, and finds something beyond friendship.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Seriously. Not even my mind these days.

Previous Parts Here

Word count: 2040



Pretty by spikeshunny




Pretty by kitty3101

Chapter 25: Taking It All Back

The few moments after Spike spoke were filled with a blur of activity, namely Willow and Cyvus. The other Black Thorn members moved to take on Angel and his team, but it was Willow and Cyvus who were doing the most dangerous fighting. Willow had already thrown a few spells that were taking out parts of the wall behind Cyvus, and Cyvus was hefting some fairly worrisome ones back at the redhead. For his leathery face and the drip bag he usually hauled with him, he was fast and accurate with his magic.

A demon that looked exactly like the Satan usually pictured in the books came at Fred, and with Spike's help (chiefly his elbow), he went down. Not permanently, though, and not before his tail caught Fred's leg, dragging her down with him. Spike hauled her back up, firmly but gently, then pulled a sword and an axe from the folds of his duster. He slid the axe into her hand, pulling her close when she took it. “Be careful,” he whispered. She could see the concern on his face, the worry and panic that had obviously been there for awhile as he'd tried to find her. With it, though, she could see the urge to fight, his demon pulling his emotions into a fury and rage that he'd unleash on the Black Thorn.

Fred wasn't any sort of demon psychologist; she could feel her own demon urging her to turn her own feelings into an emotional weapon. “You too,” she replied, then hefted the axe and swung around, catching a member of the Black Thorn as they went after Wesley. She could hear Spike fighting with the member they'd thrown down, and she immediately went to help Wesley and Gunn with a blonde housewife.

No wonder they hadn't been able to find the Black Thorn: they were obviously too demonic looking to venture out, or too human for them to pick up on their radar.

A cry was heard over the battle, and Fred turned in time to see Willow get thrown into a pillar. “Wills!” Buffy yelled, shoving off a pale skinned demon to hurry to her friend.

“Halt!” Cyvus shouted before Buffy could get too far, and Fred realized with a start that everyone was halting. Even the Black Thorn. Huh; Cyvus had to be the lead boss, then.

Cyvus wasn't paying attention to Buffy, though, and it took another moment for Fred to see why. His gaze was locked on Angel, who had a nasty looking demon by the throat. One swift move, and the demon would have a broken neck. From the panicked looks the demon was giving, it probably couldn't survive it anymore than a human could.

“If you kill one of us, I'll break the deal,” Cyvus hissed, his grin bordering on feral. Angel's glare slid into shock, and held a tinge of fear, if Fred was reading her friend right. What deal? she wondered, glancing over at Gunn and Wesley. Both looked as confused as she felt. Great. “All those memories, the real memories? I'll send them right back to where they came from.”

Memories. Suddenly all her scattered, lost thoughts she'd tried so hard to hold on to made ten times more sense than before. If Angel had made a deal to erase their memories, then they probably hadn't been good. The little glimpses Fred tried to hold on to that kept slipping away told of a time that had been chock full of pain. She was almost afraid to find out what had really happened.

But Angel was hesitating now, his grip on the demon's neck weakening, and Fred knew what she had to do. “Do it,” she said, bringing Angel's attention to her. “Don't let him bully you, Angel.”

Angel's face twisted into helpless sorrow. “Fred, you don't want the memories,” he said painfully. “None of you would want them. There's a reason I made the deal.”

She glanced over at Gunn and Wesley, and found the same determination she could feel inside of her. She was still scared; hell knew what the memories would hold for any of them. But as she moved her gaze around the room, from Wesley, Gunn, Buffy, Xander, and finally Spike, she began to smile. “We'll manage,” she said, and Spike nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. He'd helped pick her up so far; whatever happened next, she knew he'd be right beside her to help her up again.

She turned back to Angel. He nodded once, then pulled his arm sharply, snapping the neck of the demon. Cyvus snarled and pulled forth a glowing lantern-like box from his robes, holding it high for everyone to see. A second later he turned his hand over and threw it to the ground, despite Willow's attempt to rise and stop him.

The memories hit the moment the box flew into a thousand tiny shards on the floor. Fred gasped as everything flooded back. Everything. Connor, Cordy, the Beast, Jasmine, Wesley and the baby, the false prophecy, losing the baby, getting back a young, angry warrior, her fear as she'd hidden from her friends, the only one who could see through Jasmine's veil -

It hurt. It hurt. The pain from then felt as real as it had a year ago, and tears sprang to her eyes. She blinked them away, Spike beginning to move towards her. She shook her head but sent him a grateful smile, then turned to Wesley when most of her tears had vanished.

He looked hollow and shell-shocked, and for a second she thought he was going to collapse. His gaze reached Angel, and his lips parted, shaking, but Angel shook his head. “It's long done, Wes,” Angel said gently, smiling. “Connor's safe. You're back, and I'm glad for both.”

Wesley didn't look convinced in the slightest. “Wesley,” Fred called, and he turned pain filled eyes to her. She locked gazes with him, sending him every thought she could. It's okay, we're okay, we made it through that, we can make it through this, I'm still your friend, I still care, it doesn't matter what happened then, we're okay now.

And some of it must have gotten through, because he pulled himself up straighter, his lower lip sliding into a grateful, watery smile. Fred gave him a more solid smile, then turned into the battle as he did.

“Guess time-out's over now,” Spike said, shrugging and rolling his shoulders, then punching the demon he'd been sparring with. The housewife behind Fred surged forward, and Fred nimbly spun out of the way. Who said ballet couldn't be useful?

Buffy was helping Xander in the corner, where they had another demon backed up, and Wesley had taken out the housewife look-alike. That left the demon Angel was tumbling with, the pale one Buffy had been fighting earlier, the red horned demon Spike was fighting – well, not anymore, thanks to a well placed sword lunge – and Cyvus Vail, who was facing off Willow again. This time, however, the witch seemed to have the advantage. Having been thrown into a wall hadn't seemed to slow her down at all. If anything, she was stronger now, pressing time and time again, barreling two spells at a time down the hallway at Cyvus.

Fred really should've seen it coming. Especially with the sudden realization that she had no one behind her anymore; everyone else had moved to different spots in the room, leaving her by herself, wide and open. Besides, if Cyvus was mad at anyone, it was bound to be her. She hadn't done what he'd wanted from her, and now the Black Thorn was in shambles.

So when Cyvus pushed everything he had at Willow to hold her at bay for just a moment, then threw his right arm with a cry of rage at Fred, she was surprised for half a second. The other half a second was spent watching as the spell formed and flew at her, black and red and deadly. She slid to the right, knowing it was going to hit her on the left, no matter how fast she spun or how quickly she tried to move out of the way. There was nothing except knowing that Spike was somewhere in the room, and he was going to have to watch this, and she would've done everything to spare him –

Then she was being shoved to the left which made her frown at the change in direction, then land with an “Oomph!” on the floor, Spike on top of her. The spell blasted through the wall above her, and she again thanked whomever had created vampires in the fact that she didn't have to breathe. She would've had the air knocked out of her otherwise, and she remembered for a fact how much that hurt.

“You all right?” Spike asked, still on top of her. He was bracing his arms on the floor to push himself up, but she grabbed around his chest and hauled him right back on top of her, pulling an “Oomph!” out of him this time. Good.

“I'm good now,” she said, his nose brushing against hers. He smiled, she couldn't help but return it, and only then did she glance over at Cyvus.

A sword was sticking straight out of his skull, and she made a face as his body dropped to the floor. “Not a bad throw, Spike,” Xander commented, pulling Buffy to her feet. Fred hadn't even noticed when she'd gotten knocked down, but she looked okay. “Diving in the air and managing to hit the bastard head on, no pun intended...not bad at all.”

“Thanks,” Spike said, turning back to face Fred. Her nose bumped against his when she moved her own head, and she couldn't help the giggle that escaped. With it was all the worry and tightness her chest had been feeling since she'd been taken. She was finally okay, and Spike was right there, quite literally. Life was very good. Well, unlife. She wasn't technically 'living' anymore, since she didn't have a heartbeat or a single breath, though she could breathe if she wanted to, but she didn't need to breathe to live, or unlive...

“Fred? Luv?” Spike's eyes were lighter now, matching his knowing grin. “Don't babble in your head where I can't hear it. It's not fair.”

“How'd you know I was babbling?” she challenged, but she couldn't stop smiling.

“You make the cutest little face. Nose scrunches up and everythin'.”

“Are we done here?” Willow asked, sounding a little winded. “Did we get them all?”

Fred glanced around again (boy did everything look weird when you laid sideways on the floor) and found that everyone she knew was standing. On the floor were the bodies of the Black Thorn. “Think this is all of 'em?” Gunn asked.

“Don't know,” Spike said, pushing himself up easily and reaching a hand out for Fred. He had her standing in one fluid motion, and Fred absently wondered how good he'd be at dancing. “And I find myself not really carin'. That work for you, Peaches?”

“For now? Yes,” Angel said, pulling a sword from a demon and wiping it on its clothing. “I'm more than ready for a shower and some downtime. How about you, Wesley?” he asked, his voice taking on a softer tone.

“Agreed,” Wesley said, and his eyes met Fred's. He still looked battered, both outside and inside, but he was standing strong, and he looked more like the Wesley Fred remembered from Pylea. The Wesley she'd been in love with, once upon a time. The Wesley who'd been her friend. It was good to have him back.

“Back to the law firm?” he asked, glancing over at Angel for confirmation. Angel nodded, and the group headed out the doors.

No one said anything about Fred's hand tangled up in Spike's shirt, or Spike's hand clutching her around the waist. They weren't going to be separated for a good long while. She had the man who'd saved her in more ways than one, had him holding onto her just as tightly as she was holding onto him.

Fred smiled.

Ba-dum-pish.

~Nebula

Comments

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

It is so great to see more of this, but I am sad to see it end. Still, this was a nifty, action-packed finish and there is the promise of that epilogue...


Gabrielle

[lilithbint.livejournal.com]

Yay!
dramatic fight, Spike being heroic,
doesn't get much better than this.

[jesterlady]

Hey she already knows he's good at dancing! The prologue proved that!

I'm so glad everything ended up well and everyone did their parts and Spike was really cool at fighting and everybody's still happy even though they know everything and Wesley is all strong!

Congrats luv! You finished it!

[umbralillium.livejournal.com]

*cuddles up with this chapter* Mmm. Of course the good guys win with no casualties! It's you! *giggles* Can't wait to read the epilogue. *bounces* It will have kissing in it, right? *hopeful look*

[samson28.livejournal.com]

Great fight and action! Only the epi to go though. :(