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Spike would have been dust just seconds after Buffy saw them.<br />
The scene played out like this. Buffy saw the blood. Xander’s left arm was a mess<br />
of flesh and muscle. There was a tear at his neck that looked to any casuallyobserving-Slayer<br />
to be a messy bite mark gone wrong. The vampire himself was<br />
gripping both of Xander’s hands, enduring the fingernails that were digging into the<br />
backs of his hands. Spike was whispering something into Xander’s ear as Xander<br />
panted heavily. They were both naked.<br />
The stake was inches from Spike’s chest before Giles had a chance to grab her arm.<br />
She fought her Watcher so hard that he had to use all his strength to throw her<br />
across the room, just to get her attention. When the Slayer’s blood-lust was curbed,<br />
Giles laid a hand on Spike’s shoulder, startling him out of his focus on Xander. The<br />
vampire hadn’t even noticed how close he had been to dust.<br />
“Let us help,” Giles told the obviously distraught vampire. It took a full minute for<br />
Spike to fully comprehend that there were other people in the room and<br />
acknowledge that they were his boy’s friends. And he needed their help.<br />
“He won’t stop scratching,” Spike told Giles, and the Watcher nodded, plans<br />
already formulating in his head on how to make it better.<br />
Buffy stood up from her confusion on the floor as understanding penetrated her<br />
anger. She stepped up to the other side of the bed and slowly extracted one of<br />
Xander’s hands from Spike’s, allowing Xander’s fingernails to dig into her and<br />
giving one of the vampire’s hands a chance to heal.<br />
Willow stood behind Buffy, trying to get Xander’s attention. But Xander sat, the<br />
perfect model of a catatonic. Eyes open, but vacant. Hands twitching lightly in an<br />
attempt to be released from their strong hold.<br />
The next half hour was spent cleaning and bandaging Xander. If Spike or Buffy let<br />
go of one of Xander’s hands for even a moment, it would immediately go to the<br />
ugly tear at his neck. The Angel-scar wasn’t even visible anymore. Xander had<br />
managed to rip the skin completely open before Spike had woken up.<br />
Giles assigned Willow the task of cutting Xander’s nails. They were never really
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