Turning the Helical Gear

Author: Nickeltaffy

Disclaimer: These characters are Joss's. I don't own them, never did and never will. Thanks for the loan.

Everyone surprised by Spike's latest transformation – a four year old Spike. The only one who seems to taking it well is Spike and he's up for a little fun.

…..

Chapter 1

The doors burst open. Angel walked into the room with a small struggling figure under his arm. His mouth was tense as he readjusted the figure who was doing their best at wiggling free. Turning the small body, so the kicking legs were flailing uselessly in the air, he walked directly into the room with a purpose. He strode directly over to the bed,as his body language stated that this subject was not up for discussion.

"I DONN WANNA TAKE A NAP!" declared the struggling small blonde.

Angel set the small figure on the bed in Angel's bedroom. He stood back with his hands on hips staring down at the new smaller version of Spike. The look in Angel's eyes sent the message that he would not be denied in this matter.

Finding himself sitting on the bed, Spike slowly looked up at the giant standing over him. He opened his mouth to voice his objection to be treated thusly. As his eyes met Angel's, he suddenly felt small and vulnerable. He shut his mouth and looked away. With a huff, Spike crossed his small arms across his chest, in a gesture that small children use to comfort themselves. His lower lip stuck out in defiance and stubbornness.

"No…no….*gulp" muttered Spike, not daring to look up but not wanting to let Angel know he was intimidated.

He was sitting a little over a foot away from the edge of the bed, but his feet were sticking straight out over the edge. His legs were not long enough to even bend toward the floor. This was very different from how the day had started.

….

It was a typical morning at Angel Investigations. Everyone gravitated toward the main conference room. The morning meeting was held to discuss the status of current and upcoming cases. Angel was already in the conference room slowly cursing Spike's name under his breath as he was looking over the report from last week's case regarding a Sarkadi demon that had taken up residence in a local candle factory. It was a particularly nasty sort that liked to slowly crush it victims before consuming them entirely in one swallow. Angel had sent Gunn, Wesley and Spike to take care of it.

"What is this note regarding a room filled with wax?" Angel asked Gunn as he came into the room.

Gunn explained that the Sarkadi demon had a tough outer shell. Spike and Gunn had discovered that the body blows they were raining down upon the demon nor their weapons were having very little effect. Spike and Gunn retreated while Wes pulled out heavier artillery. Even Wes' battery of explosives were not deterring the demon from progressing toward the men. That's when Spike vaulted up the wall, wedging himself between the wall and the vat of hot wax used for making candles. Pushing with his legs, the vat began to tilt toward the demon pouring hot wax over its' body and spreading across the room. The wax had softened the armor, so Wes' next grenade finished the job. Leave it to say, the factory owner was less than pleased to discover his entire holiday inventory had been destroyed in the demon's destruction. The report included a letter of complaint that the factory would have to cut a quarter of their workstaff since they could not support the holiday orders due to lack of inventory. The letter threatened a nasty letter would be sent to the BBB.

"Wasn't there another way that this demon could have been taken care that would have been less… appocolyptic? Leave it to Spike to make a huge mess." Angel asked

"He swung the battle our way. Man, I don't know what would have happened if he hadn't done what he did." Said Gunn as he shrugged his shoulders.

Angel grumbled something indecipherable about Spike. Trouble was second nature to Spike. He was always creating trouble..even when it was unintentional. Angel didn't know what he could do, but somehow Spike was going to have to show some respect for authority.

Spike was out in the lobby, stopping by Harmony's desk to look at the morning mail. Wes was just entering the conference room. Spike put down the mail and was walking toward the room when Fred came bubbling across the lobby. She brightly said good morning, as Spike held conference room door open. She was holding an object tightly wrapped in cloth close to her chest, clutching it to her in her excitement, as an high pitched hum came from her.

As everyone took their seats, Angel picked up the report and dropped it down in front of Spike. Spike looked up puzzled. Leaning over Spike, Angel addressed the group that no unsanctioned actions that destroyed property would be allowed such as what happened at the candle factory. Angel set down his cup of blood on the table and stood back

"After all, they were supposed to help the helpless, not put them in the poorhouse" expounded Angel as he sauntered around to the other side of the table.

Hey, whot are you talking about. Were we supposed to be midnight snack for the beastie? I did what was needed to be done to kill the bugger. I would like to see you do any better. " blurted Spike

"Spike, As part of the AI team, you are expected to follow my directions in these matters." Angel stated firmly as he leaned across the table.

"I will as soon as you start making sense. Poof." Said Spike standing up from his chair.

"Spike…"

"Hey guys, let it go. There's no way that 100 years of this can be resolved in this meeting" said Gunn as he stood up to put himself between the two men.

"Really, I think Fred has something she wants to share with us" Said Wesly as he was watching Fred literally bounce in her chair.

The intensity of glares passing between the two men finally began to die down.

Alright, we'll talk about this later, Spike." Said Angel as he stood up straight, removing his hands from the table.

"Righto. Looking forward to it, Peaches." Said Spike as he sat back down in his chair. He casually lifted his feet to place them crossed upon the conference table with a dismissive turn of the head away from Angel.

Angel make a small noise of annoyance and turned to go back to his chair. As he pulled out his chair, Angel addressed Fred.

"So, what has you so excited this morning, Fred?"

Carefully unwrapping from the cloth, Fred placed a mottled color stone in the middle of the table. It was a soft green color, with streaks of dark iridescent crystals running through it. The soft shape bespoke of a time when the rock had obviously been underwater. Everyone leaned in to take a closer look at the object that had gotten Fred so excited. Fred stood back triumphant. Spike took down his feet to get a better look at the object before him.

"Gentlemen, I would like to present to you an actual piece of the Quavolchan stone." Announced Fred.

There was quiet in the room. As the men slowly peered at the 5 inch rock sitting on the table.

"Fred, what's a Quavolchan stone?" Asked Angel looking to see if anyone else knew.

"This is a very rare and powerful object. I would hear them discussing it when I was in Pylea. I am just amazed that there was a piece in our dimension. You can't imagine the readings that I have been getting off it this morning in the lab."

"It looks like a rock you would find in a fountain. It doesn't look so special to me" said Gunn

"What does it do?" Said Wesley as he tilting his head looking at the stone.

"That's the thing, there's not much written about what it actually does. The texts in this dimension are so garbled, that they don't seem to make much sense. As far as what I am getting from my readings, it appears to refine energy."

"Is it dangerous? I mean to humans?"Asked Spike as he looked over to Fred's face.

"It is not harmful,….but nothing inclusive yet, I am just handling it with cloth till I get the full read out. I don't want to handle with bare skin till I know what we're dealing with. I am so excited! This is something of legend and I get to be the first scientist to have at it. Just imagine- I could get a Nobel prize! My parents would be so over the moon!" Fred said with a wide grin. She bounced a little bit as she said it. Her leg bounced against the table spilling the cup of blood that Angel had set down, mere inches away from the stone.

The cup tumbled over sending a rush of blood to the stone. With a quick reflex, Spike swept up the stone at the precise moment the blood touched it. The crystals suddenly took fire in the stone. A clear blue line shot out along the veins in the stone onto Spike's hand. It spread quickly up his arm and engulfed his entire body. It suddenly became so bright that everyone else in the room shielded their eyes. The room was enveloped in a blinding light. Suddenly the light died, as the stone rolled across the carpet. Blinking and tearing eyes followed the motion of the stone as it finally came to a stop. The eyes went back to the chair where the stone had started its' motion.

"Spike?"

….

What happened? Thought Spike.

He was just sitting in a meeting, when Angel's stupid cup spilled. He automatically grabbed the rock , thinking the blood would ruin Fred's pet research project. Then the blasted thing lit up in his hand. He tried to drop it, but he couldn't get his had to move. Suddenly, he was surrounded by fire. Everything just lit up in front of his eyes. There was no defined sound, just the ringing that you get in your ears when you sit too close to the speakers at a rock concert. Fire, huh? It wouldn't be the first time! Well, it didn't feel as bad as the fire back in Hellmouth. It was actually kind of refreshing. Can that be? A fire that is refreshing? It has traveled through the core of his being, but instead of destroying it, it had somehow…somehow…Well, something happned- just not sure what.

The light finally subsided from his eyes. Whatever that stone had done, it had really taken him for a ride. He could feel the energy slowly leaving his body, leaving it quivering in its' wake. He tried to shake off the effects, but hHis body did not, would not obey him. Whatever he had gone through, he had survived but at what cost. He was in some type of aphasic state. He was lying on his back looking up at the ceiling, he seemed to not really care what was going on.. He couldn't move at the present. Even to focus his eyes, seemed to take immense effort, he could only focus for a moment before his eyes blurred again. He was aware of muffled sounds coming around him. He was a passenger in his own body, not at the steering wheel anymore. If this had happened to anyone else, they might have panicked; this was just another experience in the stream of experiences that had been happening to him in the recent years. Spike could no longer be surprised.

Oh Bollocks! I better not be a bleeding ghost again!

He was suddenly aware of shapes in front of eyes. There was a general muffled sound of words being spoken. He could not make out the words. With a huge effort, he just make out the shape of someone standing over him. From the outline of the hair, he knew it was Angel bending over him. His last coherent thought was why this had to happen in front of HIM. Then the grayness took over as he just slipped away.

….

Everyone was staring at the small figure lying across the seat of Spike's chair. The clothes swallowed the tiny form lying so still.

"Oh, no" a small worried sob slipped from Fred's lips as she looked at the chair. She had been tossed out of her chair by the light explosion, she had pushed up and twisted around to look at Spike's chair. "Please let Spike be alright" she thought. She couldn't bear the thought of the generously giving person that was Spike was now injured as a result of her actions. She should have never brought that stupid rock into the meeting. She should have kept it under lock and key back at the lab. No, she had to have stupid show and tell! She beat herself up to think she had allowed pride to overrule simple scientific method. A Nobel prize- she would be lucky to just have Spike be okay.

Angel rushed over around the chair looking down at the small form. He stopped abruptly, stunned at what he was seeing. What? How? Spike was suddenly physically a small child. "Spike?" He said softly. Hoping to hear a typically Spike curse come back at him. There was no response. The eyes were fixed on the ceiling. There was a pulsating energy coming off Spike. It was almost like a humming vibration. Holding his hands around Spike, He was afraid that his touch would cause pain. "Spike." he tried again, no response. At one point, it seemed like there was a sudden movement behind Spike's eyes but it vanished just as quickly. He turned to Wesley and Gunn , "Get help."