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Author's Chapter Notes:
OK, I got a total of one review (from 129 reads) but I'm still posting chapter two. I hope you like it, and if you want the Spuffyness, review (I know, I'm evil).
I don't own any of the characters.
Thanks to Nichole for all her help.
2 Conversations


Fifteen years later


Buffy sighed as she closed the door to the empty house. She had been working for twelve hours straight at the doctor’s office where she had managed to get a secretary position a couple of years ago, and she was exhausted. She thanked God that Will was over at Xander and Anya’s and wouldn’t be home in another hour or so. She needed some peace and quiet.

She went into the living room and picked up one of her photo album. This was one of her favorite things to do, looking through her photos. This particular album was from Will’s ninth birthday and a couple of months after that.

Buffy wondered where the time had gone. It seemed like just yesterday she was holding her baby boy in her arms, and now he was in high school. Thoughts of Will as a baby brought, as always, thoughts of Spike, and Buffy really wasn’t in a mood to think about him at the moment, so she kept flipping through the album.

She smiled at one of the pictures, it was of Will and Savannah, Xander and Anya’s ten-year-old daughter, who was four in the picture. Xander and Anya had finally gotten married thirteen years earlier, and their son, Alex Jr. had been born nine months later, followed by Savannah when he was two. Now they were expecting their third child, and couldn’t have been happier. Xander had a management position within one of the city’s most well known construction companies, and Anya stayed at home with the kids, every now and then filling in at the Magic Box.

Buffy continued flipping through the album, stopping on a picture of Willow and Tara. She missed them. Willow had been accepted to medical school after finishing college, and now she and Tara lived in LA where Tara ran a branch of the Magic Box. It wasn’t far, and they came to visit every weekend, but it wasn’t like having them in the same town.

Another turned page and Buffy found her favorite photo of her sister. Dawn wasn’t aware she was being photographed and the picture was full of spontaneity. Dawn had ended up at UCS, majoring in art, and had gotten a job at the gallery Joyce had worked at. She and Jeff, who was a surgeon at Sunnydale Memorial, had gotten married six years earlier, and their twins, Hayley and Jordan, were four.

Next to the picture of Dawn was a picture of Giles with his ‘grandchildren’. Will and Alex were sitting next to him, and Savannah was in his lap. Giles had taken very fondly to being a grandfather, and the children adored him. He was running the Magic Box with some help from Anya and was still living in an apartment five minutes from Buffy and Will.

Buffy was pulled out of her thoughts by the door bell, and went to answer the door. When she did, she froze.

“Hello, pet.” Spike gave her the smile that was so Spike, and Buffy couldn’t help but return it. Then she remember why she was still mad at him, and the smile disappeared.

“What are you doing here?” She asked in a pained voice, looking at her feet.

“I was just around, and thought I’d stop by.” Spike replied. “Guess it was a mistake. I’ll just... go.” Buffy grabbed his arm before he had a chance to leave the porch.

“Don’t you dare take off again.” She pulled him inside and slammed the door behind them. “Where the hell have you been? It’s been almost sixteen years.”

“Around.” Spike started. Buffy crossed her arms in front of her chest in a demanding pose, and he continued. “Went to Africa first, stayed there for about a year. Then I was in Europe for about five, and after that China for a few months. Stopped in Australia for a little while and then spent some time in South America. Came back to the States about a month ago, and then I suddenly found myself driving back into Sunnyhell. Wasn’t planning on coming back here.”

“You were just gonna stay away forever? Do you hate me that much?” Spike could see tears in Buffy’s eyes, and realized that no matter how long he had stayed away, he would always come back to her.

“No, love, don’t think that. I love you. Always have, always will.” He said, wiping her tears away. “You know that.”

“Then how could you just leave? I thought you were different.” The pain had been replaced by resentment, and she pulled away from him.

“After what happened... I had to leave.” Spike mumbled. “I couldn’t stand to see the pain in your eyes and know I was the one who caused it.”

“That went well, don’t you think?” Buffy said sarcastically.

“I’m sorry, OK. Not just for leaving, for everything.” Spike said, giving Buffy a look full of regret. For a moment, she almost caved in.

“You think you can make with the apologies and everything will be fine?” Buffy asked. “It’s gonna take a little more than that.”

“Whatever it takes. If you want me to leave, say so and I’ll be gone by morning.” Spike offered.

“No. You don’t get to take the easy way out again.” Buffy replied.

“OK, then I’ll stay. Tell me what you want me to do, and I will.” Buffy met his eyes, the eyes she knew so well, and saw that he was serious.

“OK. But don’t expect too much, there’s a lot to work through here.”

“I know.” Spike kept eye contact with her and moved a little closer. Buffy felt the familiar emotion that pulled her to him, and took a step closer. Just before their lips met, the back door slammed and they jumped apart.

“Mom, you home?” Sounded through the house, and before Buffy could react, the front door had closed with a bang and Spike was gone.

*****

Will used his key to open the kitchen door and walked into the house, Xander following behind him.

“Mom, you home?” Will called after Xander closed the door. They heard the front door slam, and exchanged a look before making their way through the living room and into the hallway, where they found Buffy, staring at the door.

“Hey, mom, what’s up?” Will asked and Buffy snapped out of her trance. She gave Will a hug and a kiss on his cheek.

“Nothing baby, everything’s fine.” She smiled, but it didn’t convince Xander.

“Hey, Will, why don’t you go upstairs and get ready for bed, you’ve got school tomorrow.” Xander said while keeping his eyes on Buffy.

“OK.” Will agreed, heading up the stairs, yawning. “Night mom, night uncle Xan, thanks for helping me with my homework.”

“Night, kiddo.” Xander replied and waited until he heard the door to Will’s room close before he ushered Buffy into the living room and down on the couch. “What’s going on?” He asked in a demanding voice.

“Huh?” Buffy looked up at him as if she saw didn’t know he was there. “What do you mean?”

“I mean what’s with the whole weird acting?” Xander responded. “You were practically in a trance or something when Will and I got here.”

“Will? Where is he? Is everything OK?” Buffy looked around the room, trying to find her son.

“He’s fine, I sent him upstairs to get ready for bed.” Xander said. “I don’t think he noticed anything.”

“What am I going to do?” Buffy buried her face in her hands, and Xander put a supportive arm around her shoulder.

“Wanna tell me what’s going on?” He suggested. “It might help.”

“Spike’s back.” The two words were all Xander needed to hear, he got up and headed for the door. “Where are you going?” Xander turned at Buffy’s words.

“I’m going to go beat some sense into my favorite vampire.” Xander replied through gritted teeth. “Show him that he can’t just walz back into town and expect...”

“He doesn’t know about Will.” Buffy cut him off. “We were talking and then you two got here, he heard the word ‘mom’ and took off. I don’t know where he went. God, he probably thinks I’ve...”

“Moved on?” Xander suggested. “Which you should have done, a long time ago.”

“Xander, please don’t start again.” Buffy’s voice was tired, and Xander decided to let it go.

“Why don’t you head up to bed?” Xander said. “You look exhausted.”

“No, I have to find Spike, I have to explain.” Buffy grabbed her jacket and opened the front door. “Can you stay with Will til I get back?”

“Why don’t I go look for Spike?” Xander suggested, and Buffy raised and eye brow. “I’ll just talk to him, get him to come see you tomorrow. Now, you need to sleep.” Xander took Buffy’s jacket and hung it back up on the hook, and Buffy gave him a grateful smile.

“Thanks. I really am exhausted.”

*****

Xander took a chance and went to the crypt where Spike used to live, but without any luck. The place had been boarded shut for the past five years, so even if Spike had found his way back there, he couldn’t have gotten in. After thinking for a while, Xander decided to check Willie’s. On the way he called Anya to tell her that he might be out for a little longer.

The moment Xander stepped into Willie’s, he knew that he was in the right place. Even from where he was standing, just inside the door, he could hear Spike yelling at the bartender.

“What’s a vamp gotta do to get a decent drink around here, ey? I specifically asked for O negative, and you give me what? This crap? I can tell blood from blood, you know, I’m not stupid.”

“Actually, I think the jury’s still out on that one.” Xander said as he sat down on the barstool next to Spike.

“Oh, she send the cavalry now?” Spike smirked and took a gulp of the blood. “Must say, you were the last I expected.”

“Well, I was the one who were available.” Xander explained.

“Oh, I bet you were.” Spike mumbled into the glass.

“What’s that suppose to mean, bleach boy?” Xander asked suspiciously.

“Oh, nothing, just saying. After all, you and demon girl broke up, wouldn’t put it past you to make a move after I left.” Spike shrugged. “So, tell me, you the one who knocked her up too?”

“Is that your business?” Xander asked, getting mad and forgetting that he was supposed to get Spike to talk to Buffy.

“Guess not. Could’ve been.”

“Yeah, you’re right, it could have been.” Xander countered. “Before you tried to rape her and then walked out on her, it could have been. Now, it’s not.”

“Yeah.” Spike stared into thin air for a moment before speaking again. “Guess I’ll just take off, leave this hell hole once and for all. Nothin’ for me here.”

His words pulled Xander back to his ‘mission’. He had watched Buffy being almost happy for the past sixteen years, and he wanted more for her. If that included Spike, he could learn to live with it.

“Wait, man.” Xander grabbed Spike by the arm as he made for the door. “This wasn’t why I came here.” Spike gave him a suspicious look, but sat back down.

“Then why? To stake me?” He asked, eye brow raised.

“No, believe it or not, that’s not it either. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to, but Buffy wouldn’t like it.”

“Somehow I doubt she would care much.” Spike said. “One less vamp in the world.”

“You’re not a vamp. Well, I mean, you are, technically, but Buffy doesn’t see you as just that, and you know it.” Xander said.

“Don’t know what she sees me as anymore.”

“Well, maybe if you had stayed around, you would.” Xander snapped.

“OK, I got it, shouldn’t have left.” Spike surrendered. “But I couldn’t stay after...”

“Yeah, I get that.” Xander agreed. “And it’s probably a good thing you didn’t, cause no matter what Buffy had said back then, I would’ve staked you.”

“Maybe you should have. A long time ago.” Spike sighed. “All I ever did was hurt her. She couldn’t love me, I knew that. Still, I let her come back time after time, pulling her deeper into the darkness, even thought I knew it was hurting her.”

“It wasn’t all bad.” Xander said.

“Yes, it was.” Spike argued. “I had to leave, before one of us killed the other. Nothing good would ever come out of it.”

“Well, something did.” Xander almost bit his tongue. He hadn’t planned on saying anything about Will, wanting to let Buffy tell Spike.

“What’d you mean?” Spike asked.

“I would love to tell you, but it’s not my place.” Xander stood to leave before he said too much. “Go see her tomorrow. She gets off work at seven. She really wants to talk to you.”

Spike sat at the bar, watching Xander leave, and wondered what had just happened.





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