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Author's Chapter Notes:
Please just bear with me on this one…remember I only like happy endings… and just pretend that it was past the flammable hour of the day when the hellmouth was collapsing :)

And some dialogue taken from "Chosen" by the way :)


PS I don't own Buffy!
“We dreamers have our ways
Of facing rainy days
And somehow we survive

We keep the feelings warm
Protect them from the storm
Until our time arrives

Then one day the sun appears
And we come shining through those lonely years

I made it through the rain
I kept my world protected
I made it through the rain
I kept my point of view
I made it through the rain
And found myself respected
By the others who
Got rained on too
And made it through

When friends are hard to find
And life seems so unkind
Sometimes you feel afraid

Just aim beyond the clouds
And rise above the crowds
And start your own parade

'Cause when I chased my fears away
That's when I knew that I could finally say”


“I made it through the rain” by “Barry Manilow



Another one gone… but still so many more to come. The number of them just seemed to keep increasing. She realized she and all the other slayers had killed so many already, but the battle was not over yet. Other she thought to herself. She never imagined that she would ever say those two words in one sentence together. But she did. She changed history for the good of the future. Well, to be accurate, Willow did the actual changing, but it was her idea…

When the First came to visit her, she knew it was just trying to scare her, throw her off, and kill any team morale she may have managed to muster, but… something it said helped do exactly the opposite. She never liked rules… never followed them much either, not in school, not with Giles, not with anyone really, so… why did she have to now? She didn’t. And also the idea came from something Spike told her…


“We’re gonna change your destiny, pet.”

The sentence kept ringing around in her head… until it finally clicked. She informed the others about her idea and a deep sense of satisfaction overtook her… she knew that they would win. But now, looking at the scene before her, with so many of the young used-to-be-potentials-now-young-slayers scattered at her feet, unmoving, it saddened her to think of them, and what this battle had cost, but she knew she had to keep going. Keep fighting. She couldn’t give up, that’s not what slayers do.

She killed another one, and spared a look around at everyone else. She could see Spike fighting a few at once, Faith was right next to her, and Angel was over in the other corner, wrestling with another one. She was in the middle of killing what felt like her thousandth uber-vamp when she heard it. The one thing she was dreading, more than anything else. She loved to hear that voice, but at the moment, with what was at stake (no pun intended) she desperately did not want to hear that heart-splitting voice, the one thing that could make her feel scared.


“Buffy!” Spike shouted anxiously.


“Spike!” She shouted back, fear gripping her heart.


Buffy quickly dealt with the uber-vamp and sprinted over to Spike. When she saw him it took her breath away. He was standing there, backed against a wall, with a big bright light engulfing him. She could see the light had already taken out all the uber-vamps on the top level where they were fighting. She heard Faith rounding everyone up, telling them to get out, but it seemed like she was three thousand miles away. She couldn’t keep her eyes off one vampire.


“Spike, you’ve done enough, take off the amulet, let’s go!” She said urgently.


Before Spike could say anything, Angel interrupted.


“Spike, this has to finish now,” Angel said fiercely, shouting to be heard over the falling debris.


“No Angel,” Buffy shouted back just as fiercely, tears in her eyes. “He’s coming with me, come on Spike we’ve got to go!” She tried to pull him away, but he wouldn’t budge.


“I know,” Angel said, looking down. “But this has to finish now… Spike, give me the amulet.” He raised his eyes to meet his with determination.


“What?” Buffy said, confused. “No, let’s all just go, we can still make it.” She pleaded desperately.


It was obvious whoever wore the amulet was not going to be walking out of the hellmouth, and even though she was still mad at Angel, she didn’t want him to die.


“Angel, you don’t have to do this,” she said, looking him in the eye.


“Yes I do, Buffy… Spike, hand it over now. Come on man, what are you waiting for?” He shouted furiously. “You’ve got the best thing in this world right in your grasp, just waiting for you, get outta here already! You’ve got so much to live for, don’t let your pride get in the way of this. She needs you…” he finished quietly.


All the while, Buffy was standing there, tears running freely and uncontrollably down her cheek. ‘Why is this happening? WHY? He promised he wouldn’t let it… but… it doesn’t look like he’s going to stop it.’ An awful, torturous pain tore at her insides and made her feel dizzy. She knew this was going to happen, she shouldn’t have let him even touch that amulet. It was about to ruin her life… just when she realized she was in love, someone was trying to take it away from her… she hadn’t even got the chance to tell him yet…she never got to say… he would never know… ‘No…Spike… I need you… please… don’t do this,’ the negative thoughts just wouldn’t leave her head. She imagined a glimpse of what her future was going to be like without him in her life, and decided that she was not going to leave him here… when she noticed the blinding light fade for a moment…


Spike could feel it… he could feel his soul burning in his chest. He looked at Angel, and knew what he was offering to do for him… for them… he remembered his promise to Buffy, “I’m not gonna let it hurt me.” But there was still something inside him that didn’t want to give up the amulet though, something about doing this made him feel good. Made him feel needed. Useful. He tried to tune back into what Angel was saying… and realized that for once, Angel was right. “She needs you…” He was needed… not here… but somewhere else… somewhere outside of this hellmouth… someone who was standing right in front of him needed him to be with her, and he couldn’t do that if he was buried under a hellmouth.


“You’re right,” he said softly. He pulled the amulet over his head, the light stopped glowing for only a moment, before it lit up again as it came into contact with Angel’s chest.


Buffy blinked through her haze of tears and noticed that the amulet was now hanging around Angel’s neck.


“Angel…” she said softly. “Why? Just, just let it go… we can all still make it out of here…”


“No… we can’t… if this isn’t cleaned up now… it won’t end…” he said in a sad, painful voice. “And… Spike’s life has so much more value in it than mine…” he added softly. “You’re right… he is the better man for you… you need him more than you need me… this is the least I can do…” he finished firmly. “Now go! Get out of here before this whole place collapses.”


Spike looked at him in wonder… finally that soul of Angel’s had paid off somehow, and all the years of torment and all the years of hatred fell away, and all he saw was the man who had just given him the most valuable thing in life. Freedom. After this he was free to live his life with Buffy, with no more apocalyptic worries… well, not for another year anyway…


“Angel… you don’t know what this means to me… I’ll never forget you,” she said tearfully. She placed a kiss on his cheek, looked at him one more time, and then stepped back to let Spike say goodbye.


“Thanks… Angel,” Spike said sincerely with a small smile. He put his hand on his shoulder. “I…I… thanks.” He stayed there for a moment before he gave him a final nod, then turned away, grabbed Buffy’s hand and ran up the stairs, dodging falling rocks and debris as they went.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



As the bus came to a stop just on the outskirts of what used to be Sunnydale, everyone climbed out of the back door. Dawn gave Buffy, and then Spike a warm hug, which they both returned eagerly.


“I’m so glad you two made it,” Dawn said, tears starting to shine in her eyes.


“It’s alright, Bit, we wouldn’t let you down,” Spike said reassuringly.


“You’re just lucky you made it out, you would’ve been in so much trouble if you weren’t standing here right now,” Buffy said seriously.


“Yes, Buffy, I don’t know what I’d do without you either,” she replied with a smile.


“What did this?” Giles asked as he walked closer to get a better look at the giant crater that was Sunnydale.


“Good ole Angel,” Spike replied somewhat sadly.


“Angel? Well, I… I don’t know what to say. I guess he did redeem himself after all.”


“No more Hellmouth,” Xander said slowly


“Yep, looks like it’s officially closed for business,” Faith said walking forward to join Giles.


“Hmm… I like the sound of that,” Willow said cheerfully.


“There is another one in Cleveland. Not to spoil the moment…” Giles said casually


“We saved the world,” Xander said slowly in amazement.


“We changed the world,” Willow said with a smile as she walked up to join Buffy and Spike who had all moved closer to the edge of the crater. “I can feel them Buffy. All over. Slayers are awakening everywhere.”


“We’ll have to find them,” Dawn said boldly


“We will,” Willow replied.


“Yes, because the mall was actually in Sunnydale, so there’s no hope of going there tomorrow,” Giles said matter-of-factly.


“We destroyed the mall?” Dawn asked, shocked. “I fought on the wrong side.”


“All those shops… gone… The Gap, Starbucks, Toys “R” Us… who will remember those landmarks unless we tell the world about them?” Xander said softly


“We have a lot of work ahead of us,” Giles said seriously.


“Can I push him in?” Faith asked mock-seriously


“You’ve got my vote,” Willow joked.


“I just want to sleep, yo, for like a week,” Faith said tiredly


“I guess we all could, if we wanted to…” Dawn said casually.


“Yeah… The First is scrunched, so… what do you think we should do, Buffy?” Willow asked.


“Yeah... you’re not the one and only chosen anymore. Just gotta live like a person. How’s that feel?” Faith asked teasingly.


“Yeah Buffy. What are we gonna do now?” Dawn asked.


Buffy grabbed Spike’s hand and looked up at him, losing herself in his eyes. She thought about how close she had come to losing him… how it could easily be him buried underneath all the rubble. And knew for sure that she was in love. Nothing else could come close to what she was feeling now, and the pain and anguish that went through her merely at the thought of him not being here.


She smiled at Spike, who grinned back, his thoughts only occupied with one thing. Buffy. Now they could be together, just relax and get to know each other. He could show her all the things she had been missing out on, take her out on dates without some “big bad” distracting her, treat her properly, and show her why he was so different from anyone else. He knew she’d always want to be a slayer, but now there were many others upon whom she could rely on to go patrolling and protect the world, so she could go out and have a good time for once, but still get in a good round of slaying when she felt like it. ‘And hopefully one day mate, she’ll love you as much as you love her.’ He was just so happy that she was giving him a chance. A chance to love her. Nothing else mattered.


‘This is it!’ She thought excitedly. ‘It’s over now… it’s all over… I’m free to do… anything I want... be with anyone I want…be with the man that I love and live the rest of my life without the burden of being the only slayer. Without all the worries, without all the stresses and all the decisions. It’s not only up to me anymore.’

She looked back to face the others, Andrew, Robin and the rest of the slayers had gotten off the bus to have a look at what they’d all been fighting for.

They all took a moment to remember the loved ones and friends that were left behind. Angel, Anya and many of the young slayers would never see the world that they had just died to save.


After a moment’s silence Buffy looked over into the faces of her friends, and found them all staring back at her quizzically. She realized all of a sudden that she’d been so distracted with the upcoming battle that she had forgotten to tell them of one major change to her life.


“Buffy, why are you and Spike holding hands?” Dawn asked shyly, but a grin was starting to spread on her face as she guessed the answer.


Spike quickly let go of her hand and took a step backwards, all of a sudden fascinated by the ground. Although he knew Buffy promised not to keep him a secret, he knew she was giving him the chance he wanted, he couldn’t control his subconscious telling him that he wasn’t supposed to show affection towards Buffy in front of her family and friends.


It was in this moment that Buffy realized just how fragile Spike really was and she felt a stab of guilt hit her heart. She slowly and purposefully stepped closer to him and took his hand again, all the while looking at him, trying to catch his eye.


“Everyone, I have something to tell you,” Buffy said softly. “Spike and I are-"


“Ooooo you guys are going out, aren’t you!” Dawn said quickly, unable to hide her excitement.


“Yes Dawnie,” Buffy said, a slow grin overtaking her face.


“For real now? As in, not just with the secret, wild, sexcapades, but actually boyfriend, girlfriend, kissing in public, going on dates, kinda way?”


Spike looked up expectantly. Buffy met his eyes, and put her hand up to caress his cheek.


“For real,” she confirmed.


To say what happened next surprised her, would be the understatement of the millennia.


Xander stepped forward, and for a moment Buffy thought he was going to hit Spike, but…


“I just want to say… congratulations Spike.” Xander held out his hand awkwardly.


Spike looked on in amazement, but slowly held his hand out and shook Xander’s.


“Ok, so… not that I’m not loving this reaction, it’s just that… it has a lot less violence and noise than I was expecting…” Buffy said slowly.


“Well, if it wasn’t for Spike pulling Caleb off me, I’d be needing a guide dog instead of an eye patch,” Xander said simply.


“Yes,” Giles piped up, somewhat nervously. “I… I think some of us, particularly me… have treated you as less than what you deserve. With all the times you’ve helped us, protected Dawn, and fought to save the world, you… you deserve a little respect. And I… I apologize. Somehow Buffy saw beyond what the rest of us could… and… and well that’s not important now, I just wanted to say I’m so sorry. Buffy is… well, she’s quite grown up now, and she’s old enough to make her own decisions concerning her life, and if she’s chosen you, well, I’m… I’m not going to stand in the way.”


“Thanks Giles,” Buffy said, her eyes tearing up. This meant so much to her to have her friends’ acceptance. Not that she was going to let it get in the way, but it was so much easier this way. “I.. I didn’t want to exclude you guys from my life, but Spike… he means so much to me, I need him, and I’m just so glad you guys understand. I only realized a few days ago that I needed him, I should’ve chosen him a long time ago, but... that doesn’t matter now,” she said wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “Because I choose him now.”


Spike stood there, and felt as though his chin was on the ground. He didn’t think he’d ever been more shocked in his entire life. First Xander and his blessings, now Giles too with the apologies… and then Buffy’s heartfelt words… he felt so… so… happy, and… and he felt like he actually belonged for once in his life.


Spike shook his head to clear his mind. He quickly tried to recover from his shock and held out his hand, which Giles shook.


Everyone else nodded their heads in agreement with Giles, and wished Buffy and Spike all the best, except for Dawn who ran and embraced Spike and Buffy so hard, that he thought she might have been one of the newly called slayers.


“Easy on the ribs there, Nibblet,” he said good naturedly.


“Sorry, I’m just… really, really happy for you two!!” She smiled.


After Dawn had released them Spike squeezed Buffy’s hand, a smile overtaking his lips. He felt his self-confidence return in truck loads. He was utterly amazed and still a bit shocked by everyone’s reactions, but his happiness and love for the girl in front of him outweighed anything else. He turned to face Buffy. He couldn’t believe this was really happening, his heart felt like it could explode, and he was so excited he could just kiss-


Before he could even finish the words in his head he felt Buffy’s arms around his neck, and her lips on his. He felt her tongue press against his lips, and opened his mouth, enjoying the feeling of her pressed so close against him. He never thought it could feel this good. Sure he’d kissed Buffy before, but… never like this, not in front of her friends, where it wasn’t just the kiss that was making him feel important; it was the meaning behind it. He poured all his passion, love and happiness into the kiss, and for awhile almost forgot that there were a whole bunch of young girls and Scooby’s watching them.


“Alright, alright, we may be sorry,” Xander said jokingly. “But we’re not that sorry, break it up you two.” He smiled good-naturedly, he could tell his friend was genuinely happy, and the idea that she was happy with Spike, well; it wasn’t such a scary one for him anymore.


They pulled apart, smiling. Everyone knew. Buffy let that sink in a bit for her. Everyone knew. And the part that she loved the most about that was that she wasn’t scared. All of her friends, plus her sister knew that she and Spike were an item, and Buffy couldn’t have been happier if she tried. The only thing to complete her day would be to tell Spike how she really felt about him. She was scared before, but now she knew that she wanted everyone to know, she wanted to tell the whole world she was in love! But first she had to tell the man in question. She thought about telling him right now in front of everyone, but thought against it. It was such a big thing… only three little words, but, she knew how much it was going to affect Spike, so she wanted it to be a personal moment. She wanted to treat it as the private and intimate moment that it was, so she decided to wait, even though her heart felt like it was on fire, just from all the passion and love she felt for the person standing in front of her. Even though she felt like she could scream it to the whole world right now. She decided to wait until tonight, when they were alone. For now she just decided to settle for a hug.


“I think it’s about time you started getting some action B,” Faith said teasingly, and gave Spike a wink.


“I reckon…” Spike said in a low voice. He grinned back at Faith, and placed a gentle kiss on Buffy’s forehead.


“So… what are we going to do next?” Dawn asked again


“Well, I guess the first thing will be to find a place to stay for tonight, and then start thinking about what we want to do in the future,” said Giles, suddenly returning to serious mode again. “We can’t exactly just go back home to Sunnydale.”


“Well... uhh… we could go to England and start up a new Watcher’s council,” Willow suggested.


“Yeah,” Xander said, enthused. “And we could buy a big mansion, and we could all live in it together!”


“Yeah… and that could be our little “head quarters” where we can train all the new slayers,” Willow said with a big grin. “What do you think?”


“Oh, I… well…I guess that’s a good plan for the future, but that doesn’t sort out where we can stay tonight…”


“Ahh... you think too much G-man, let’s just hit the road, and see where it leads us,” Xander replied coolly.


“Yes, we should at least get going, shouldn’t we, I’m sure we’ll be able to find a motel or someplace to stay the rest of the night, and day I guess,” Giles said, remembering Spike’s allergy to the sun. “Then we can catch a plane to England, I know a place where we’ll all be able to stay temporarily until we get our own place sorted out… as long as everyone’s happy to do that?”


He looked at the small group in front of him.


Everyone nodded and looked around nervously, still slightly shocked from everything that had happened, and still grieving friends that they had lost.


“It’s not like we have anywhere else to go,” one of the slayers said.


There were murmurs of agreement, and Giles took that as a yes, that everyone did want to go to England.


“Well, I guess that’s settled then… and Xander,” Giles said, a bit wearily. “Please don’t call me that.”


“Why not?” Xander questioned. “Come on, G-man, lighten up… if my name started with a “G” I’d let you call me G-man…”


Giles just glared at Xander and started walking back towards the bus.


Buffy stood in Spike’s embrace, not wanting to move a single muscle.


“I guess we should get going, luv,” Spike whispered gently against her ear.


“Hmm… it’s so hard to move away though,” Buffy replied, snuggling deeper against his chest.


“Alright then, have it your way.”


Before she could protest he bent down and picked her up effortlessly.


Buffy giggled a bit, but didn’t even begin to protest. If Spike wanted to carry her and let her snuggle against his chest some more, who was she to argue!


He found a seat unoccupied on the bus and sat down, all the while carrying Buffy. He felt her reposition and cuddle closer to him, a feeling which he could never get enough of. She placed her head on his chest and closed her eyes, preparing to catch a bit of sleep as the bus engine roared to life, preparing to start the journey towards their new lives.







To be continued....





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