As the next couple of days passed, Buffy and Spike spent a lot of time together, trying to rebuild their friendship and ignore what had happened between them in London. Even though it was hard to wipe the slate clean, they did their best to move on and enjoy their time together until he had to return home.
Buffy drove Spike to the airport and remembered when she had done the same thing months before, feeling the same sense of anxiety that she had felt back then as they waited for his flight to be announced, sitting in the same spot that they had been in when he left the first time.
“So, any progress on the gallery situation?” Spike asked casually, looking at her.
“Not really,” Buffy answered. “Mom’s still pretty upset that I tapped into some of my inheritance money. But, in my defense, I don’t think Dad would be too angry about it if he was still alive. He knows how much the gallery means to both Mom and I.”
“I’m sure things will work out,” he replied. “Have some faith, luv.”
“I have plenty of it,” she said, sighing. “It’s Mom that lacks it. That place used to be her life- I don’t understand why she seems so okay with shutting it down.”
“I’m sure the thought saddens her, too,” he said, taking her hand in his and lacing their fingers together.
“Do you really have to go?” Buffy asked, looking at him and pouting. “It’s nice to have you here, keeping me sane.”
“It’s nice to be here, keeping you sane,” he replied, smirking. “But all good things must come to an end.”
His flight number was called overhead, which prompted them both to stand from the hard plastic seats and slowly head towards the terminal. When they got close to it, Spike turned to Buffy and studied her sad expression before hugging her to him.
“I’ll be seeing you soon, Goldilocks,” he said. “You can count on that.”
“I hope so,” she replied. “Have a safe trip… and take care of yourself.”
“You, too, Buffy,” he said, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. “This isn’t forever, you know- one day we’ll be together again.”
“I know,” she replied, giving him a small smile. “Bye, Spike.”
“Bye, kitten,” he said, their eyes locking for a long moment before he turned and walked away, handing a flight attendant his ticket before going through the terminal and disappearing from view.
It’s not forever, she reminded herself. I know I’ll see him again… I need to.
* * * * *
The day after Spike flew home, he went to the magazine’s main headquarters and took an elevator up to his boss’ office. He wasn’t surprised to see Andrew sitting behind his desk, playing with Star Wars action figures and talking to them. When he saw Spike standing in his doorway, he cleared his throat and tried to indiscreetly shove the plastic figurines into one of his desk drawers.
“So, I see you’re back,” Andrew said, feeling his face flush from embarrassment.
“I see you’re keeping yourself amused during your downtime,” Spike said, smirking.
“Did you bring the money you owe me?” Andrew asked, holding out a hand expectantly.
“Every pound you asked for,” Spike said, giving him a stack of dollar bills. “Do you have a preview of what I’m paying for? I’d like to see the finished product before it goes public.”
“Of course,” Andrew replied, opening one of his drawers and extracting a folder, pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to Spike.
He perused it for a moment before smiling and giving it back to Andrew.
“It’s perfect, mate,” Spike said. “Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome,” Andrew said. “Anything to help you get your girl back.”
“This isn’t about getting her back,” Spike replied. “It’s about making her happy.”
* * * * *
As the following days and weeks passed by, Buffy and Joyce continued to argue about the future of the gallery. It was around a month later when they began to notice an upsurge in the amount of online purchases.
“I don’t know where it’s coming from,” Buffy said as she walked in one morning with Anya at her side. “Not that I’m complaining- it’s wonderful- but it’s very odd. I mean, we’ve had the website up for a while now with a fairly good amount of people buying art, but it seems like there are ten times as many purchases this week than usual.”
“Maybe one of your guardian angels is looking over you,” Anya suggested, smiling. “Or maybe you’re finally getting a break.”
“That’d be nice,” Buffy replied, stopping in front of her office when she saw her mother seated at her desk. “Fancy seeing you here so early. I didn’t think you’d come in until this weekend.”
“The weather isn’t conducive to going outside and being productive,” Joyce said. “If we have one more day of clouds and rain, I might need to take a trip. I hear Europe is a nice place to visit.”
“It can be,” Buffy said, confused when she saw pages of paper going through the printer. “What are those for?”
“They’re all purchases,” Joyce answered, waiting until the printer stopped to grab the stack of papers. “Have you looked at the locations of the buyers, dear?”
“No,” Buffy said, looking at Anya for a moment. “I let Anya do all of the packaging and shipping.”
“I’m sure you’ve noticed a trend, haven’t you?” Joyce asked, looking at the other young woman.
“I might’ve,” Anya said, averting her eyes when Buffy looked at her, crossing her arms. “I was told to keep my mouth shut.”
“About what?” Buffy asked, becoming angry. “What ‘trend’? Who told you to keep something quiet?”
“The British hottie,” Anya said sheepishly, taking the papers from Joyce and holding them out to Buffy. “I’m sure you can figure things out for yourself.”
“What have you been hiding?” Buffy asked as she stared at the print-outs Anya had handed her.
“I’ve only been doing what Spike asked me to,” Anya said. “Just look at where the buyers generally are from- I’m sure you can figure it out on your own.”
Buffy began to skim through the words on the pages in front of her, flipping through the stack for a moment before raising an eyebrow and handing the sheets back to Anya.
“Will you two excuse me for a moment?” Buffy asked, moving to sit down on the edge of her desk.
“He just wanted to help you without you ever finding out,” Anya said as she walked out of the office, Joyce following her.
Buffy took a deep breath and collected herself before grabbing the phone and dialing a number, impatiently tapping her fingers along the wooden surface next to her as she waited for Spike to answer.
When he did a moment later, she cleared her throat and tried to keep her emotions from surfacing as she asked, “What did you do?”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
The amount of reviews for the last chapter astounded me- I've never gotten that many for one chapter before, so thank you very much! I'm happy that people are sticking with the story and seem to be enjoying it still, and I hope that it continues to be interesting to you all! :) Sorry for taking so long to update, but I hope this chapter is worth the wait!