Lost and Found

Rated- PG13 (there might be some NC17 parts posted separately)

Spoilers- Buffy: Chosen, Angel: Soul Purpose

Summary- I’m fixing everything Joss messed up. How? With a spell, a ghost, some visions, an awakening, and a revised prophecy. Still don't know what this is about? Well, then read it and find out. B/S, A/X, A/C, D/C, and maybe F/W (that’s Faith and Wes. What do you think?)

Disclaimer- I don’t own Buffy or Angel. If I did I wouldn’t have to write this story

Cordelia Chase’s head was spinning. She didn’t understand anything anymore. Out for a little while and the world turns topsy-turvy. By the looks on everyone else’s faces, she suspected they were just as confused, though.

“Why is Angel head of evil incorporated? Why is Buffy here? Why is Gunn dressed like a lawyer? Why is Spike here and not trying to kill us? Why was Conner with Dawn?”

Spike pointed to the ex-cheerleader and then to Conner. “You know each other?”

Beside her, she heard Angel mutter, “She remembers.”

“I don‘t know any of you people,” Conner said. He stepped away from the group.

“Conner?” Cordy said.

Frightened, Conner kept backing away. He shook his head. “I don‘t think I want to.”

Hurt spread over Dawn. She reached out to him. He jumped back. Then he bolted, running through the building in search of an exit.

Angel started to follow the boy. “Conner!” he called. Then he slowed, coming to a standstill.

Cordelia came up behind him. “Why wouldn’t I remember him?”

Angel raised his gaze, startled.

“That’s right, I heard you.”

He looked off to where his son had vanished. “Because no one except me should.”

************************

Buffy barely acknowledged the Conner scene. She was too preoccupied by the bleach-blond vampire standing a few feet away. He had been paying attention to the scene before him, but after Conner fled his attention went to her. His crystal blue eyes were filled with innocent inquisitiveness.

“Buffy?”

There was nothing like him saying her name. That rich, British accent washing over her, soothing and warm. It sent shivers down her spine. She had forgotten the effect he had on her.

She took him in. Duster. Black shirt and jeans. Doc Martins. Slicked-back, bleach blond hair. Blue eyes. Oh God, those eyes. She absorbed all of him into her pores. Spike. It was Spike standing in front of her. But . . . How?

“You died,” she whispered. Her voice was low, but his vampiric hearing could detect it.

“That I did, pet.”

“Then . . . I don’t understand.”

He gave her his trade-mark smirk. “Don’t much myself. Thing of it is my essence somehow got trapped in the amulet. Was a ghosty for a bit, but I got better.”

There wasn’t much Buffy’s mind could process at the moment. The only rational thought she got was: Spike. It kept echoing in her head over and over. He was here. He was real. He was solid.

Spike.

He was still speaking. His mouth was moving, words were coming out, yet she didn’t catch any of it. The next thing she knew she had moved. She had somehow gotten herself the small distance that separated them. She threw herself into his arms. She heard him intake air that he didn’t need, and then he held her back. It was so right. She belonged here, in his embrace. They fit together, two puzzle pieces snapping together.

And then her brain began to work again. She backed away. Spike tilted his head, worried.

“Wait a second,” Buffy said. “How long have you been back?”

“Uh . . . Vampire here, not too sharp on the date.”

Liar! she silently shrieked. He had spent all summer counting the days she was away. He knew.

“How long?” she firmly reiterated.

Sheepishly, head slightly bowed, he said, “Bout three months after the Sunnyhell scene.”

Buffy let out a laugh. It was a wry kind of sound. She shook her head.

“You’ve been back for months.”

He winced.

“I’ve been dealing with your death everyday and you’ve been back for ‘months’!”

He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. She suspected he couldn’t deny it. He didn’t tell her he was alive, and he didn’t have a good reason either.

Fire flashing in her eyes, Buffy held up her right hand. “Don’t even try. You know what . . . I can’t do this right now. I . . . I need time to think.”

With that, Buffy stormed over to her sister. She grabbed Dawn’s hand. “Come on, let’s go,” she commanded.

Dawn wasn’t so compliant. “But-”

“We’re going!” Buffy insisted.

The teen looked back at Spike, giving him a message of how sorry she was.

“Buffy!” Spike pleaded.

She ignored him. A war was raging inside her and she couldn’t deal. Part of her begged for her to race right back and forgive him everything. Afterall, she had done far worse to him. But then again, she remembered all that time alone, pretending she was okay. Believing she was okay. But the pain had been buried inside her heart, despite the false happiness she had created. Those nights, reliving his death, and then seeing possible tragic outcomes dealing with a hot underworld.

No turning back. Just walk away.

Somehow she managed just that.

*****************************

Spike stared stunned.

She left?

What a git! He could have explained. He could have gotten her to hear him out. But no. He had to do the fish-mouth thing. Bloody hell.

“Spike?”

Spike’s eyes shifted. Somehow Willow and Faith had come over. They both had smiles on their faces, sympathetic and glad at the same time.

Willow caught him off guard by giving him a hug. When had the witch and he gotten so friendly? He thought back and couldn’t quite pin-point a time. Not that they’d ever disliked each other. Not even when he was evil.

Willow pulled back. “She’ll come around,” she assured him.

Faith punched him in the shoulder. Ow, he thought. That girl doesn’t know her own strength.

“Good to see you,” Faith commented. “There is one good thing about living in our world. It is full of surprises.”

Spike smiled at them both. He realized then that somehow he had developed friends. Was it his sacrifice that had done it? Or was it something else, something before? He didn’t know.

His smile faded after a moment, his gaze going back to where Buffy had left the scene. Figures. She was always running off when things got complicated.

**************************

Conner was greeted by his parents with open arms.

“We’re so glad to see you,” his dad said.

His mother gave him a kiss on the cheek. “We missed you.”

“So you aren’t disappointed then?” Conner asked.

His mother smiled. “Your father and I discussed things. If you were unhappy at Notre Dame then it is for the best that you left. All we want is for you to be happy.”

Conner hugged them both. “Thanks.”

He went to his room. It was exactly the way he had left it. He set the book bag down, and then plopped down on the bed. He gave a contented sigh. All thoughts of demons vanished from his mind.

He was home. With his normal family. In his perfect life. He intended to stay that way.

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I think I’ll change my plans slightly for Conner. After seeing last night’s episode I made some modifications on his future. But not too much.