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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thank you to BuffyandSpikeForever, Seraiza, Luxferi and Heaven for reviewing! And as always to Brat42 and Caitie for betaing this chapter for me.
Chapter 12, Part 1

All the way up the mountain to get to the cabin, Buffy’d been teasing Spike mercilessly over how caring he’d been with the DeSoto when he covered it, and asking him over and over if she should be jealous; all the while she’d kept a very fast pace, while he could hardly answer her without some very heavy panting in between words. Something didn’t seem quite right with that picture for him. He’d expected her to be a little less… hmmm, athletic, maybe? Sure she was toned, but where the hell had she gotten the experience to scale as she did if she’d been in a boarding school most of her life? Especially if she was helping him carry about half of the provisions he’d bought.

‘No fair,’ Spike thought as he pouted, after having to stop for a minute to catch his breath. ‘I feel like my chest is burnin’ ‘n my legs are about to give up ‘n she looks as fresh as if she is takin’ a walk in the park.’

“P-pet?” he said shakily; Buffy stopped her ascent and turned towards him, trying to keep a straight face as she noticed how cute he looked all confused and pouty. “Luv, t-this isn’t the first time ya’ve done this, is it?”

“This?” Buffy asked, feigning ignorance even when she knew perfectly well to what Spike was referring to. “As in…?”

“As in you seem to be an expert in climbin’ mountains,” Spike said.

Buffy smirked at him. “Ah, that. Well, that’s for me to know and for you to find out,” she replied teasingly. “Come on, we don’t have all day, baby, or is the big bad too out of shape to continue?”

“I’ll give you out of shape,” Spike grumbled under his breath, still panting. “As soon as we get to the cabin, I mean.”

Buffy just smiled brightly at him, before turning around and resume her grueling pace up the mountain. “Promises, promises.”

*~*~*

Somewhere in Northern California

*ring, ring*

“’Ello?” a male voice said.

“Good afternoon, may I speak with Josh Taylor, please?” Hank Summers asked.

“This is Josh Taylor,” the man answered. “Who’s this?”

“My name is Hank Summers and you don’t know me, but I’m calling you to talk to you about your son… Spike?”

“Spike? Where did ya meet ‘im? Do ya work for the Council? His mother ‘n I ‘ave been tryin’ to get in touch with ‘im through the damned ‘onor Council but it ‘as been in vain so far.”

“Hmmm, no, I don’t work for any Council and well, to be honest… I don’t really know your son,” Hank responded. “But we really need to talk to you. Do you think maybe my wife and I can meet you at your house and talk there? I don’t feel that comfortable talking about this over the phone.”

“Well, ’m not sure if I should…”

“Please, Mr. Taylor, I promise my intentions are good and as soon as we talk with you, you’ll understand everything.”

“Okay, then. ‘Ow long do ya think it will take you to get ‘ere?”

“Hmm, half an hour tops.”

“We’ll be waitin’ for ya, then,” Josh replied before hanging the phone and turning to his right to address his ex-wife. “That was a man claimin’ ‘e knows somethin’ about our son. ‘E ‘n ‘is wife will be ‘ere in about thirty minutes. ‘E sounded sincere, but I think it might be a good idea to contact Ms. Goodday at the Council to see if they’ve found out anythin’ about William?”

“Certainly, Josh,” Anne Taylor worriedly nodded before taking her address book to look for the Council’s number and dialed it.

“Good afternoon, may I speak with Rachel Goodday, please? ... Yes, I’ll wait… Miss Goodday? This is Anne Taylor, William’s mother? … Yes, I wanted to… You were about to call me? Why is that? … He what?! No, I-we… It’s just that… Why? … N-no, this can’t be happening…” she cried at the phone and Josh picked the conversation from there.

“Ms. Goodday, I’m Josh Taylor, William’s father, can ya please tell me what … Are ya absolutely sure about that? … Well, a man just called us ‘ere at ‘ome ‘n said ‘e ‘ad to tell us somethin’ about William … ‘is name? ‘Ank Summers, I think… Really? … Well, I guess that’s the reason ‘e wants to talk to us then… Please can ya call us as soon as ya find out anythin’ else ‘n I promise to do the same after we talk with Mr. Summers… Yes, we’ll be ‘ere… Okay, talk to ya later, then… Same to ya, bye,” he hung up the phone and turned towards his ex-wife, who was trying to contain the tears that were already rolling down her face.

“Oh, Josh, what are we going to do now?” Anne threw her arms around her ex-husband, who immediately hugged her tightly, trying to comfort her somehow.

“Don’t worry, luv. Miss Goodday said they’re already tryin’ to locate them ‘n that she’ll be in touch with us as soon as any of their leads pans out.”

“Them?”

“Yes, well, it seems that when William escaped from the camp ‘e took a girl along with ‘im. ‘N it might seem that this girl is Mr. Summers’ daughter, so I imagine that’s why they want to talk to us. I’m just very curious to know ‘ow ‘e found out about us if ‘e ‘asn’t been contacted by the Council yet,” he shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out soon ‘nough.”

“I completely ruined my son’s life by letting Jake take him to that camp, didn’t I?” Anne said before dejectedly sitting on the sofa.

“Now, Anne, we don’t know that…”

“I do know, Josh. I know that I should have been a better mother and I just pray that I have the chance to correct all the mistakes I made with him… and with you.”

“If anyone is at fault ‘ere, it’s me, Anne. You think I don’t regret ‘ow things ‘appened? I keep thinkin’ over ‘n over, day after day, that maybe if I ‘adn’t moved us to the States, if I ‘adn’t spent so much time workin’, if I ‘ad shared more of my free time with ya, if I ‘adn’t left ya alone so many times, broken so many promises, maybe then ya wouldn’t ‘ad fallen for Jake when ‘e appeared, leavin’ with him ‘n takin’ William with ya…” his voice broke and he swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat, as he tried to gather his bearings, it wouldn’t do to fall apart now, not when Anne and William needed him. After he felt more in control of his emotions, he sat next to his ex-wife on the sofa and took her hands between his, gazing into her blue eyes. “I know we’ve both made mistakes, but hopefully we’ll have a chance to rectify them, yeah?” He smiled when he noticed Anne smiling slightly as she nodded heartily. “’N whatever happens, whatever this man ‘n ‘is wife tell us, we’ll find the way to make it all better for William ‘n for us; if we’re together I just know we can make it.”

*~*~*

Back on the mountain…

Spike exhaled a relieved sigh when he finally saw the cabin from afar. He hadn’t said anything to Buffy, but he’d been scared at first of what they’d do if the cabin hadn’t been there anymore. He was prepared to camp outdoors, as he had done so many times before when he’d went camping with his dad, but he hadn’t known that Buffy would be in her element out in the wilderness, even more so than he ever had been. She was truly amazing, she hadn’t nagged or complained, never asked for a rest —unlike him, but he imagined it would have been much worse if he hadn’t stopped smoking after he met her at the pond. In fact, she’d been beaming that gorgeous smile of hers at him whenever she’d seen him struggling to keep up with her.

He was still panting heavily when they reached the cabin’s door, asking her to wait a bit while he checked if the cabin was in conditions to be habited. Luckily for them, it was. There even was a good provision of logs for the fireplace, which was providential since he knew firsthand how cold it could get there at night. He brought their things into the cabin, tidying it up a bit and starting a fire after checking that the fireplace was in working order, before going outside to get Buffy.

Buffy was standing a bit away from the cabin, seemingly awestruck by the view of the sunset and the marvelous play of colors reflected in the sky as the day began giving way to the night, and she started a little when he embraced her from behind and pulled her to him, before turning in his arms to press a kiss on his lips.

“Thank you,” she said.

“For what, luv?”

“For not leaving me behind,” she replied, burying her face in his chest.

“As if I would ever do that, luv.” He pulled her away a little and putting his finger under her chin, he lifted her face to his. “I couldn’t live without ya now, Buffy; ya’re in my blood, ya’re in my mind, in my ‘eart, everywhere.”

“Oh, Spike, that’s so beautiful.” She beamed at him. “I feel the same way, you know?”

“Yeah?”

“Hell, yeah! I imagine escaping with you should have clued you in on that, though,” she said as she lifted one of her brows at him. “Didn’t it?”

“It did, I just like messin’ ‘round with ya.”

Buffy pouted at him and he couldn’t resist the pull that attracted him to her like a magnet. “Oh, look at that lip, gonna get it…” he trailed as he captured her lips with his in a short but passionate kiss. He pulled away too soon though, before they had a chance to get too carried away, smiling when Buffy protested when he stopped, before surprising her by putting one of his arms under her knees and the other around her upper back, effectively lifting her from the floor, saying, “Okay, princess, are ya ready to enter your palace?”

“Our,” she said.

“Our palace, yeah, that sounds just about right,” Spike responded, crossing the threshold with her in arms. “Someday I’ll do this again, sweetheart… the day we marry,” he added after she threw him a confused look.

She smiled brightly at that, responding, “Can’t wait for that day. Oh, Spike,” Buffy said as he put her down in the floor and she appraised the cabin. “It is so much better than I expected. Oh, and look at the fireplace, I’ve always wanted to have a fireplace. Can we eat in front of it tonight?” She looked at him expectantly.

“Yeah, ‘f course we can, everythin’ ya want, luv,” Spike answered, very relieved by her enthusiasm.He truly hadn’t expected it from her. He was sure she had never been in a place like this before, but she was being an incredibly good sport about the whole thing, he just hoped that didn’t change as time passed by.

tbc


I hope to update with Part 2 of this chapter on Friday or Saturday, just in time to celebrate the New Year with some Spuffy loving. ;)





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