Immaculate Heart School for Girls, about 15 minutes later
Spike parked the red car in front of the main entrance to the school and he climbed the steps that conduced to the front lobby, fully prepared to break the front door only to be surprised that when he turned the knob he found it open. Without bothering to be particularly stealthy and giving thanks to whoever might be listening that it seemed like his luck might actually be improving, he came into the school and ran upstairs towards the second floor until he reached Buffy’s room.
Once he got there and before turning the knob to get into her room, he took a deep breath while hoping that she’d still be there and then he opened the door, letting a relieved sigh escape his lips once he saw Buffy sitting on her bed. She seemed to be alone and completely lost in thought as she stared at the floor, so he walked over to where she sat until he was in front of her.
Buffy let out a startled gasp when a pair of combat boots came into her line of vision, her eyes quickly going upwards until they fell into the adoring gaze of her Spike. She threw herself into his arms once she realized it was really him that stood in front of her. “Oh, Spike. I was so worried for you,” she said, carefully running her hand over his bruised cheek. “How did you get here? Are you okay?”
Spike smiled at her and cradling her face in his hands, he answered, “Yeah, now that I’ve found ya, I’m great, luv. ‘Ow are ya?”
“I feel like I-I’m dreaming, I can’t believe you’re here,” Buffy said. “But you are, aren’t you?”
“I am, sweetheart. ‘N I’m not gonna leave you again,” he vowed, kissing her deeply.
“I’ll be back. I’ll just leave her robe in the room,” they heard Willow say as she came into the room. They separated a bit from each other and Willow blushed realizing that she had interrupted them. “Hmmm, sorry. I’ll be back in a minute, okay?” she said, smiling at them and leaving the room.
“It’s okay, she’s my best friend,” Buffy said as Spike nodded and moved nervously towards the window and checked outside for any suspicious movements near his car and when he was convinced there was no immediate danger he walked back towards Buffy. “Spike, my parents are coming to get me today,” she added almost in tears as she sat back on the bed.
“Listen to me, kitten,” Spike said as he kneeled in front of her. “Remember the place I told ya about? The one I wanted to take ya to?” Buffy nodded. “I’m gonna go there ‘n live ‘n I really want ya to come with me.”
Buffy smiled widely, cleaning her tears with her hand and throwing herself into his arms again, “Of course, I’ll go with you.”
While they filled two duffel bags with some of Buffy’s toiletries and casual clothes, Willow returned to the room. “Hmm, hi again,” she said, smiling sheepishly. “Are you leaving?”
“Hi, Will. Yes, we are leaving,” Buffy smiled at her. “Spike, I want you to meet my best friend, Willow.”
Spike stopped what he was doing at the moment and extended his right hand towards Willow, “I’ve ‘eard quite a few things about ya, Red, all good by the way ‘n not all of them were from Buffy,” Spike winked at her and Willow looked at him quizzically for a second, only to blush y when she remembered that the boy from the dance, Xander, had told her Spike was his best friend.
Buffy giggled when she caught the reference to Spike’s friend and Willow’s flustered expression, bringing the redhead’s attention back to her, “So, erm, yeah. T-this is for you two,” Willow said handing an envelope to Buffy.
Buffy opened it and when she looked inside, she paled, “No, Willow, this is too much. I-we can’t accept it.”
“Pbbbbtttt, of course you can. And it’s not just from me, all the other girls contributed, too, and you know they’ll be offended if you don’t take it,” she said. “Inside the envelope you’ll also find Spike’s dad new address and my e-mail addy. Promise me that you’ll find a way to let me know you’re alright?”
“Thank you so much, Will and I promise I’ll keep in touch,” Buffy said. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Anything, you just ask and consider it done.”
Buffy took a folded paper from her desk and said, “I need you to give this to my parents and please tell them… that I l-love them,” she said as she started crying. “A-and that hopefully someday they’ll find it in their hearts to forgive me.”
“Aww, Buffy. I’m sure they will. Don’t you worry,” Willow said as she pulled her friend into a tight embrace. “I love you, Buffy. I wish you both lots of happiness in your future.”
“Love you, too, Will,” Buffy said returning the embrace. “I’ll miss you.”
“And you, mister, remember, if you hurt her, I will beat you to death with a shovel. A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend,” Willow said to Spike as she smiled sweetly.
“Don’t worry, if I ‘urt ‘er, I’ll ‘and ya the shovel,” Spike winked and taking the duffel bags in one of his hands, he headed towards the door extending his hand to Buffy. “Time to leave, luv.”
Buffy hugged Willow once more and took his offered hand, beaming at him. “Off to begin the rest of our lives then, baby?”
“Definitely, my love,” Spike said, bringing her hand up to his lips and kissing her knuckles.
“Bye, Will,” Buffy said as they went through the door and into the hallway.
They had just gotten outside the room and were about to head out towards the main entrance when they saw two nuns coming through the French doors. Buffy and Spike exchanged a look before they turned backwards and started running through the hallway towards the back staircase.
“Elizabeth!” One of the nuns shouted as she pulled the fire alarm on to alert Keats that he was needed.
When the rest of the girls heard the shout and then the alarm ringing, they came out of their rooms to see what had happened. Quickly assessing the situation, a group led by Willow blocked the pass to the nun that was trying to go through them to catch Spike and Buffy and while two of the girls locked her in one of the rooms, the rest ran after the two blonds down the back staircase. Meanwhile, another group of girls led by Amy ran behind the nun that had triggered the alarm, trying to stop her before she reached Sister Victoria’s office.
Buffy and Spike had just gotten off the staircase and were about to run outside the school when they saw a very disheveled Keats coming out of his room, holding a shotgun in one of his hands while trying to adjust his pants’ suspenders with the other.
“Hey, you! Stop, right there!” he shouted when he saw them.
Spike looked at Buffy and they both kept running until they got out of the building. Keats started running after them as fast as he could, but the rest of girls had finally come down the stairs and were trying to impede his advance as hard as they could.
Spike and Buffy made it to the car and were about to get into it when Keats appeared suddenly on the door pointing his gun towards Spike.
“No!” Buffy yelled, when the guard was getting ready to shoot Spike, but one of the girls pushed his arm upwards and the bullet deviated towards the sky.
“Run, Buffy, run!” Willow shouted at them as they climbed into the car and Spike sped towards the main gate.
Sister Victoria heard the gunshot from her office and alarmed she walked towards the window to see what the problem was and almost fainted when she saw Elizabeth Summers climbing in a red car with who she imagined to be the juvenile delinquent they had caught her with. So she did the only thing she could think of to stop them at such short notice by pushing the button to close the electrical main gate. A wry smile graced her lips when she thought they would never make it out of the school in time.
Spike and Buffy noticed the slow closing of the gate and they turned to look at each other.
“Shit!” Spike exclaimed. “’old on tight, pet.”
Buffy shrunk in her seat, closing her eyes as they got closer and closer to the gate, thinking there was no way they’d make it in time. But Spike just kept speeding, managing to go through the gate just in the nick of time; the car swerving into the main road as Spike and Buffy escaped towards their new life.
tbc