TITLE: As Flame to Smoke, 7/7

RATING: FRAO, Adults only,

PAIRING: Liam/William

SUMMARY: In Answer for Ghostsforge's challenge #13 for Forging_Ghost- While investigating a series of brutal murders, Vice Detective Liam meets, and becomes infatuated with a prostitute called Spike...

SPOILERS: None. Completely human AU.

E-MAILS: Salustra: goddess_salustra@juno.com ; Malea: justmalea@tmail.com

Distribution: Various lists, Wierd Romance Yahoo Group- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WierdRomance ;

My livejournal - http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=salustra ; and the website Weird Romances- http://www.salustra.vague-disclaimer.org . Anyplace else is fine, just let us know where it's going.

DISCLAIMER: We adore playing with the pretties, but we're just having fun. No money made, don't sue us!

FEEDBACK: Yes please.

Length: 2,186 Words.

Link to worksafe manip by Salustra-

http://weblogimages.com/static/clP476413sF4.jpg

"One sin, I know, another doth provoke.

Murder's as near to lust as flame to smoke."

-William Shakespeare, Pericles

A few nurses come up as Spike is being wheeled in, and the security guard perks up, seeing two blood-spattered men coming into the ER. "What's the problem, Sir?" One of the nurses asks.

"His chest is cut really deep, I can't get the bleeding to stop," Liam says sharply. "Just help him."

"Come with me," the nurse says as two orderlies lift Spike onto a gurney. She barks to the orderlies, "Trauma Room Two." She looks back at Liam. "What was he cut with?"

"Scalpel," he answers shortly, raising his hand to touch the lump on his head that's beginning to throb as the adrenaline starts to wane.

"Come on, big guy, we need to look at you too. Get in the wheelchair."

"I'm not leaving him," Liam says firmly.

"Well he's headed to Trauma Room Two, so I'll take you there. You'll need to answer questions anyway."

Liam looks at her skeptically but then nods, sitting down in the wheelchair. "All right. I'm a cop, I need to call my Captain. Can I use my phone in there or do I need to use one out here?"

"There's a phone in the trauma room, you can use that."

"Thank you," Liam says softly, leaning back against the wheelchair. "What do you need to know?"

"How long ago was he cut?"

Liam rubs his hand across his face. "Shit, I'm not sure, maybe half an hour, an hour at the most? Everything just happened so fast."

"What's his name? He's in shock, we need to try to get him focusing on something."

Liam hesitates, not sure what name to give them. "Uhhh, Spike. Let me talk to him, I can get him to focus. Please," Liam says, looking up at her with an expression that tells her he needs to be there, that Spike is more than just a friend.

She nods and pushes the wheelchair towards the trauma room. There are a couple of doctors and some nurses circled around him, one pressing a large bandage against his chest, another taking some blood, a couple of others wrapping him in some odd-looking blankets. Spike's head lolls on the table, and he's shaking violently.
Liam stands up out of the chair and touches Spike's face. "It's okay, you're going to be okay," he says softly. "These people are going to make everything better, I swear it," he says giving the doctors a look that says they damn well better. He has a thought in the back of his head that tells him to call Giles, but he can't seem to care about anything but Spike right now.

Spike nods weakly. A nurse comes back in with a bag of blood, threading in an IV needle and starting the bag of blood going into him. The doctor half-shouts towards Liam as he tries to get the bleeding to stop, "He shouldn't be in shock this bad from this blood loss. Something else happen?"

"Yes, fucker tried to kill him," he growls, not looking up from Spike's face. "Come on, William, stay with me," he says softer.

Spike looks at Liam. "Please kiss me, Liam. I'm so cold, I wish you could hold me."

Liam doesn't hesitate as he leans down, kissing Spike tenderly, his hand caressing Spike's face gently. "It's all gonna be okay, baby boy," he says softly, tears welling up in his eyes. Spike sighs quietly, blinking back his own tears. The doctors work on, shouting at each other and the nurses. There are several shots into the skin and then both doctors start stitching on his chest. "See, almost done now," Liam says softly, his eyes locked on Spike's, his hand stroking softly over Spike's cheek and neck, touching as much of him as he can without getting in the doctor's way.

Another doctor walks up to Liam. "We need to look at you now. That's a nasty head wound."

"It's nothing," Liam says dismissively, not wanting to leave Spike's side.

"How about you let me be the doctor? I've got the badge and all."

Liam has the decency to blush slightly at that. "Just don't make me leave him, okay?"

"We'll do the best we can. Now let me see that head wound first. Then we'll look at your calf."

"My calf?" Liam asks, not realizing the leg of his jeans is completely caked with blood.

"Yes. Between the two you're lucky you didn't go into shock yourself." The doctor starts her examination with a cool professional touch while a nurse cuts away the jeans leg from the knee down.

"Oh," Liam says softly. Now that he knows Spike is okay, he does have to admit that he does feel a little bit dizzy. He starts to waver a little bit and grabs the arm of the wheelchair.

"Get a gurney!" the doctor calls and a nurse rushes out of the room.

"Shit," Liam says softly before falling down, pulling the wheelchair over as he drops.

Two large orderlies come in and lift him onto the gurney, wheeling him out of the room. "Trauma One!" the doctor calls out.

"No, can't leave..." he moans, reaching his arm out to where he thinks Spike is.

"We'll open the blinds, you can see him from there," the doctor says as they keep pushing him over. Another doctor rushes in and they begin to work on him.

Liam feels his eyes roll back and everything turns dark, the last thing he sees is Spike through the glass.

He wakes up sometime later in a hospital room, the soft beep of a monitor going off in the background. Captain Giles is sitting in a chair by the bed. Liam licks his lips and tries to sit up, groaning. "Where is he?" he asks, looking over at Giles, his eyes still a bit unfocused.

"Spike's over in the next bed. They've got the curtain drawn right now because they're bathing him."

Liam nods and lets out a relieved sigh. "Sorry I didn't call you, Captain," he says softly.

"Perfectly understandable, given the circumstances." Giles sighs. "I found out how Finn found you. The safe house is FBI, he has a friend in the Bureau. He managed to con the information out of him. I'm terribly sorry."

"Damn. That figures. It's all right, Sir. I don't really see any other way it would have ended anyway," he says softly. "You know it was a good shoot, right Cap?"

"Yes. Given your injuries, and Spike's... There will be the usual investigation for the files but I don't foresee any problems."

"Investigation doesn't worry me, I just wanted to make sure you knew it," Liam says, pushing himself up to sit. "You know, given our talk and all."

"Yes, well." Giles coughs. "I'm sure there will be questions. They processed the whole house, and of course, in the master bedroom..."

"Shit," Liam says, rubbing his hand over his face. "It's not what you think, Captain, I swear it. I love him," he says softly.

"You that serious, so quickly?" Giles seems skeptical.

Liam looks up into Giles' eyes and nods. "I am."

Giles nods. "Then I'll try and make sure things don't get too unpleasant in that area. There will still be a lot of sharp questions from IAB, you know how they are. But as long as Spike's account concurs with yours, it shouldn't be a problem."

"Won't be any problems there, I don't have anything to hide," he says confidently. "I mean, I could have thought of better ways to introduce him to you, but..." Liam shrugs, giving Giles a small smile.

Giles nods as the curtains around the next bed are drawn back. Spike is lying there, sheets drawn over him. He looks over at Liam. "You just getting up?" he asks with a cheeky grin.

"Look who's talking, you're the one laying down being all lazy," he teases, smiling. "You okay?"

"Much better now. The docs said you were actually worse off, just too big and stubborn to go into shock like I did."

Liam chuckles, "Big and dumb and worried about you, I guess," he says with a smile. "I'm so glad to see you smiling."

"I'm a lot better now. And you're here."

"How long have I been out? You're acting like it's been days or something," Liam teases, sliding out of the bed, careful not to tangle his IV line as he stands.

Giles makes a disapproving face. "The doctors don't want you up. And it's been almost two days."

Liam's jaw drops. "Are you serious?" he asks Giles. "And I'm not getting up, I'm just switching beds," he says, limping over to Spike's bed.

Giles tsks. "I think that's my cue to leave. I'll let the doctors read you the riot act when they come, I don't get paid enough for that."

Liam chuckles and sits down on the edge of Spike's bed. "I'm not in good enough shape to do anything naughty, Captain. You've got a gutter mind," he teases. "Thanks for looking in on us though."

Giles smiles slightly. "It's no problem. I'll see you both later," he says as he leaves the room.

Spike beams up at Liam and lifts a hand to cup his face.

"Hey you," Liam says softly, laying down next to Spike, sliding an arm under his back as he notices the bandage around his wrist, holding him gently.

Spike sighs happily, scooting over closer to Liam. "I was so worried about you."

"And here I was worried about you. I'm sorry I was out so long," Liam says softly, kissing Spike's forehead gently.

"They said you had a concussion on top of the shock and blood loss."

"Guess he worked me over, huh? What about you, did they fix you up?" he asks softly, gently stroking the edge of the bandage on Spike's chest.

Spike nods. "Once they got it stitched up, and they got blood back into me, all I really needed was some rest. They say there shouldn't be much of a scar."

"Good," Liam says. "I have a feeling my calf isn't going to be so lucky," he says with a chuckle.

"I asked. The knife was pretty sharp, so there was less damage than there could have been."

"That's a relief. I'd be pissed if I got stuck on desk duty."

Spike smiles at him. "Yeah. I hope you're not in too much trouble, I couldn't help but hear. Everyone's gonna know, aren't they?"

Liam shrugs. "They would have known at the Christmas party anyway," he says with a small smile. He takes a deep breath and looks into Spike's blue eyes. "Look, I love you. I hope you still feel the same way and it wasn't just an imminent danger thing. I'm with you, I want to be with you, I want you to move in with me, I want you to go to school, I want to give you everything," he says, his voice cracking slightly, betraying the vulnerability he's trying to hide.

Spike nods, reaching up to cup Liam's face again. "I didn't know how you'd feel... after everything. But I want to be with you more than anything."

Liam closes his eyes for a moment, leaning into the gentle touch. "After everything?" he asks.

"After you had to shoot Finn. After me putting you in all that danger."

Liam opens his eyes and pins Spike with them. "Quit it. You didn't do shit. He was a sick fuck, honestly one of the worst I've seen. You didn't do ANYTHING to cause all that has happened. You know I tried to take him down, but he wasn't going to stop, I had to do it, it was a good shoot," he says, adding the last to reiterate it more to himself than to Spike.

"Thank you." Spike presses his lips to Liam in a soft kiss. "You really believe in me, don't you?"

"Of course I do, William," Liam says softly, leaning in to kiss Spike a bit deeper.

"No one's ever really believed in me."

"Extreme fuckheads," Liam teases, rubbing his nose against Spike's, touching their foreheads together. "I believe in you. I love you. You're such an amazing man."

Spike smiles at his teasing, and places his hand over Liam's heart. "So are you. I love you so much."

Liam smiles and wraps his hand over Spike's, holding it against his chest. "I'm ready to take you home. When do you think they'll let us out of here?" he asks. "We can get all your stuff and tell your landlord to shove it."

"Probably another day or two, if I understood the docs." Spike's expression is dreamy. "You really mean it, move me in with you and all?"

Liam nods. "I don't say stuff like that if I don't mean it. I mean, I've never lived with anyone before, but I just can't imagine even spending a day without seeing you."

"Me either." Spike moves in closer, wrapping his arms carefully around Liam. He's safe, really safe at last, and, best of all, finally loved.

Kerri/Salustra. Slash ho, especially for Spike
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