Author: enigmaticblue <enigmaticblue@yahoo.com>

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters below, although I wish I'd thought of them first.

Archive: Anywhere that already has my stuff. Anywhere else, just ask.

Summary: A response to Helga Von Nutwimple's Vamp-in-the-Box Challenge. Wolfram & Hart make a slight error, and bring Drusilla back instead of Darla at the end of Ats S1. Drusilla heads straight to Sunnydale and Spike, and in the process throws a monkey wrench into Buffy's thinking. Oh, and Riley left after "Restless."

A/N: I don't particularly want to post the rules right now because it will give away too much of the story. Therefore, they will be posted at the end, and you all can decide for yourselves how well I did answering my first challenge.
 

Chapter 2: Love Is Pain
 

Joyce quickly fixed Drusilla a sandwich, and the ex-vampiress devoured it rapidly. The food seemed to bring some lucidity back. "Oh, I'm sorry. That was terribly rude, wasn't it?"

"That's fine," Joyce replied kindly. She was rapidly coming to feel pity for this woman. "You must have been very hungry."

"Spike wasn't sure what I would like," Drusilla whispered conspiratorially. The vampire in question was on the back porch having a smoke. "And he can't cook."

Joyce smiled. "Well, I'm glad you liked your meal. Do you have a place to stay tonight?"

Alarm came into Drusilla's eyes, and sanity was replaced by madness. "I'm staying with my Spike," she said, sounding as though she expected Joyce to object. "He takes care of me."

"I'm sure he does," Joyce replied soothingly. "Would you like me to get him for you?"

Drusilla's eyes darted around, wild. "Daddy will be coming. He'll be terribly angry with me. I've been a very bad girl." Tears started to flow down pale cheeks. "Very, very bad." She held out her hands. "Can't you see the blood?"

"There's no blood there, Drusilla." Joyce kept her tone as gentle as possible.

Drusilla shook her head. "There is. I'm covered in it. I'll never be clean." Her voice kept rising, and Joyce wanted to get Spike, but she didn't want to risk leaving the other woman alone, even for a moment.

And that was the situation that Buffy walked into.

~~~~~

Movie night had turned out to be a major bust. It might not have been so bad except for the fact that Buffy felt like a fifth wheel. Maybe if Giles had made it things would have been different, but it was Xander and Anya, Willow and Tara. And Buffy.

She was the fifth wheel again now that Riley had left. In the long run, it was probably for the best, but it had still hurt. Between the offer to take up his old role in the Army—without the shady tactics—and Buffy, Riley had chosen the Army.

The Slayer couldn't really blame him. If Riley had stayed in Sunnydale, the only thing keeping him there would have been her. He needed a stronger purpose than that, and he was intelligent enough to know it. Buffy hadn't been terribly surprised. After Xander had revealed how exactly Angel had lost his soul, a great deal of tension had marred their relationship.

Riley had a black and white view of the world. Buffy knew better.

Besides, she had loved Angel, with the kind of blinding passion that was only possible at sixteen. Possible only because it was then that the whole world revolved around a person. And it was possible to completely disregard reality.

So Buffy knew that Riley was wrong about some things at least. Although she and Angel couldn't be together, she didn't regret loving him. Not really. Not most days.

She sighed. She had excused herself after one movie, since both couples looked ready to get amorous, only holding back because she was there. Maybe her mom would want some company.

Buffy heard the voice as soon as she walked through the front door. There was only one person she knew who had that accent—the voice was forever burned on Buffy's brain, and now Drusilla was in the house with her mom.

She dashed into the kitchen, freezing as she took in the sight. Drusilla stood in the middle of the kitchen, wailing, while her mother tried futilely to calm her down. The strange thing was that Buffy's vamp sense wasn't even tingling, and Drusilla hadn't eaten her mother.

"Mom! What—"

Joyce turned to look at her daughter. "Oh, Buffy, would you get Spike? He's—"

She didn't have a chance to finish her sentence, since Spike was suddenly there, surrounded by the scent of cigarette smoke, pulling Drusilla into his arms. "'s okay, pet, I'm here. 'm not goin' anywhere. You're fine. 's gonna be just fine."

The Slayer was struggling to take in the scene. Spike and Drusilla were standing in her kitchen, no one had been hurt, and Spike was being—sweet.

If you could disregard the fact that Drusilla was an insane vampire who had killed a Slayer.

"What is Drusilla doing in my kitchen, Spike?" Buffy asked in a deadly tone. She was strongly considering dusting him for that. Tricking her mother into allowing Drusilla into her home was definitely a stakeable offense.

"She needed help," Spike replied defensively. "Knew Joyce would be up for it."

Buffy took a step forward. "Well, you can just take your vamp-ho and get out of here. She's not welcome in this house, and neither are you, for that matter."

"Too bad you forgot to revoke my invitation, then, isn't it, pet?"

"Don't call me 'pet!'"

"Buffy, she's human." Joyce interrupted the snarking, mostly because she knew they could probably go on all night. "I didn't invite her into the house, she just walked in."

Buffy frowned, wanting to argue, ask if her mom had felt for a pulse, but the expression on Spike's face suggested that Joyce was speaking the truth. "What happened?" she asked, her tone flat.

"Dunno," Spike said, and there was the sound of defeat in his tone "She showed up late last night like this. I didn't know what else to do for her."

He sounded bewildered and at a loss, and for a moment Buffy felt nothing but pity for him. She checked herself in the next moment, remembering who and what Spike was. Even if Drusilla didn't fit into the category "evil undead" anymore, Spike certainly did.

"Well, I suppose we can help," Buffy said grudgingly. "But you can't stay, Spike."

"'m not leavin' her!" he shot back, tightening his grip around Drusilla.

The dark-haired woman clung to him. "I won't leave. You can't make me." Drusilla looked at Spike intently. "She'll tell Daddy I'm here, she will. And he'll come and hurt me again. He'll hurt me and hurt me—" Her voice broke off when she buried her face in Spike's shoulder.

"'m not leavin' her," he said fiercely, looking like a lioness protecting a cub. "And you won't be callin' Peaches. Dru's scared to death of him right now."

The very fact that Buffy had indeed been contemplating calling Angel freaked her out just a little. Even though the Slayer had known about Drusilla's mental powers, it was more than a little wiggy to have her mind read like that.

"Of course both you and Drusilla are welcome to stay here tonight," Joyce said, before Buffy could make a reply. "We'll figure something out tomorrow."

"Mom!" Buffy protested. "Spike is not staying here tonight." She really didn't care about Drusilla. If the woman was human, she presented no threat the Slayer couldn't easily counter.

With Spike—well, it was the principle of the thing. She didn't want Spike under her roof.

"If Drusilla needs Spike to stay here, then they can both stay," Joyce replied reasonably. "I already promised I would help."

Buffy shot her mother an anguished look, and then glanced over at Spike, who had a rather self-satisfied smirk on his face. "Yeah, Slayer. Your mum already promised."

"You. Come with me," Buffy said, pointing at Spike.

She watched as he sat Drusilla back down at the kitchen counter, murmuring to her quietly. Buffy could just catch his softly spoken words. "Don't you worry, luv. I'll just be in the next room. Not far at all. Nothin's gonna hurt you while you're in the Slayer's house. I can promise you that."

She nodded, seeming to calm down a bit. "Hurry back, my Spike."

"Back before you know it, luv," Spike replied patiently, touching her cheek in a tender gesture that touched Buffy in spite of herself.

So yeah, Spike was an evil vampire, but at the same time she couldn't help but be a little jealous. Buffy wished she had a guy who was that devoted.

"This isn't going to work, Spike," Buffy said without preamble once they'd made it into the living room. "You can't stay here."

Spike scowled. "I know that!" he snapped. "But I had to do somethin' with her." He ran a hand through his hair distractedly, and Buffy noticed with some disbelief that it was curly.

Spike had curly hair. No wonder he always gelled it. No one believed in a Big Bad with curly hair.

The Slayer sighed. She didn't like Spike; never had, never would. But that didn't change the fact that Drusilla was now human, and whatever had done this to her had to be fairly powerful. It might, in fact, pose some threat. "Okay, Spike," Buffy said, moderating her tone slightly. "What are we going to do?"

He stared at her in disbelief, blue eyes wide. "What do you mean?"

"What are we going to do?" Buffy repeated. "Look, you and I both know that whatever happened, it was big. They might come after her here. In that case, we need some idea of what's going on and what we're going to do about it."

Spike was still blinking stupidly. The Slayer kept saying "we" like they were working together. They never worked together. On the other hand, he needed her help, much like he had after he'd gotten the chip. This time, however, it was Drusilla who would suffer if he didn't accept Buffy's help. It galled, of course, but that was nothing new.

"She's been in an' out of it," Spike finally said, sitting down on the couch. Buffy suddenly realized how tired he seemed. "Before, she was never lucid for more than maybe a second at a time. Now, 's almost like she's comin' back to herself. From what 've been able to pick up, whoever did this to her were after Angel. Other than that, all she keeps nattering on about is blood. Blood on her hands, blood on her dress." He sighed deeply. "Was a time when she'd have liked that," he muttered.

Buffy decided to ignore that last comment as irrelevant. "I need to talk to her, Spike."

"Not unless I'm there with her," he replied, sounding almost angry. "Not leavin' her with anybody."

The Slayer sighed. "Fine, Spike. I won't talk to her without her lawyer present."

Spike's head shot up and he gave her a sweetly rueful grin. "Sorry, pet, but she's my girl."

Buffy regarded him silently for a moment. "I can see that, Spike."

~~~~~

Buffy stood, arms crossed, watching as Spike tried to calm Drusilla a bit. She had her hand clasped in his and didn't look as though she would be letting go any time soon. "The Slayer wants to help, luv," Spike said quietly. "So we need to know what you can tell us 'bout what happened."

Drusilla looked up at the Slayer with huge eyes, wide with fear. "You'll help me? Even though I'm all bloody?"

"Yeah, Drusilla," Buffy replied as gently as she was able. "I'll help."

She also needed to call her Watcher, but Buffy had decided that it would be best to wait until morning. Giles would want to talk to Drusilla himself, and the woman was overwhelmed as it was.

"There was a man and a woman," Drusilla began earnestly. "Black as coal, the both of them. They'll never get clean." In spite of her cryptic words, she sounded almost sane. "They wanted to use me to get to Angel, but I wasn't going to let them." She smiled slyly. "They didn't believe I was a clever girl."

"Wankers," Spike said fondly. "You're the cleverest."

"So I left to find my Spike, because he would take care of me."

"'course I will, luv," Spike said gently. "Do you know who the man and woman were?"

Drusilla scrunched up her nose. "Smelled of dusty books and tomes. Always tryin' to find the little holes to wriggle out. Like mice," she declared, obviously proud of her analogy.

Spike frowned thoughtfully, but Buffy was becoming impatient. "That doesn't tell me anything."

When Drusilla looked as though she was about to cry, Spike glared at the Slayer. "Tells you everythin' you need to know, Slayer," he nearly snarled. "Man, woman, enemies of the Great Poof, an' they're lawyers. It's easy enough."

Buffy honestly had no idea how Spike had gotten that information out of Drusilla's garbled and cryptic explanation. She did have to admit, however, that it was pointless to push for more facts. The other woman wasn't capable of being pushed right now. "Fine. Lawyers who are after Angel. You know this means I'm going to have to call him, Spike."

Drusilla's eyes widened. "You can't! Mustn't tell him where I am. Daddy will punish me. I've been a very naughty girl," she whispered confidingly.

Buffy was inclined to agree with her, but one look at Spike's face shut down whatever glib comment she had been about to make. "I'll just call and ask," she soothed. "Angel doesn't have to know anything."

"Sure he doesn't," Spike muttered. "Mark my words, you call him an' he'll be here soon's he can to see for himself." That comment started Drusilla off again, and Spike hastened to comfort her. "Won't let him get to you, pet. He won't hurt you this time around, I promise."

The Slayer sighed. "Look, Spike, why don't we let this go until after I can talk to Giles at least? You both look like you could use some sleep." This last was said in grudging admission that they would both be staying under her roof that night. There was a small, spiteful part of Buffy that wanted to insist on Spike being tied up if he was going to stay, but she knew that it wouldn't be worth it. Tying Spike up would most likely result in Drusilla getting really wild, and the vampire being unable to do anything about it.

Buffy certainly didn't want to be in charge of the crazy woman.

Spike gave her a rueful look, the expression almost causing her to forget that he wasn't human. "Probably won't sleep," he said quietly. "Dru's been havin' nightmares every time she closes her eyes." He shrugged. "Might be best to be in the basement so we're not wakin' your mum all night."

She noticed that Spike didn't say anything at all about waking her all night, but it impressed her that he gave her mother so much consideration. "The basement's a mess," she replied reluctantly. "Maybe we'll get lucky and she won't have a lot of nightmares."

"Or maybe we try something else," Joyce suggested from the doorway. She held out a bottle and a glass of water to Spike. "Benadryl," she explained. "It's harmless, but it will help her sleep. It's possible that it might keep her from waking constantly."

Spike hesitated, obviously unwilling to drug Drusilla. Buffy had to admit that she was impressed. If it had been her call, she'd have the woman drugged constantly to maintain her own sanity. "She could get sick if she doesn't sleep, right?"

"That's right," Joyce replied. "Trust a mother, Spike. This will help."

He nodded, then looked over at Joyce. "You got a place I can get her cleaned up? She doesn't have anything to change into, of course, but maybe..." Spike trailed off, placing the back of his hand against Drusilla's cheek. "She always did like bein' clean."

"You can use the bathroom upstairs," Joyce replied gently. "I'll see if I can find her something to wear."

Buffy watched with envious eyes as Spike swept Drusilla up into his arms, whispering something into her ear that made her laugh. She, in turn, rested her head against his shoulder, and murmured. "My brave knight, my lamb."