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“Buffy! What are you doing here?” Angel came towards me, arms outstretched as if he wanted a hug. When he got close enough, I extended my hand, placed it on his chest, and moved him off to the side, my eyes never leaving Spikes’. I walked to him and looked up into his ocean blue orbs. Andrew was right; he was more beautiful than ever. I reached up and ran my fingertips along his cheekbones and across his full lower lip.

“Why?” I whispered. “Why did I have to dream about it to find out you were here? Why did I have to learn from someone else that you’re alive? Why didn’t you tell me?” My voice had risen to a trembling near shout as I finished. The only sound in the room was my ragged breathing.

Spike wrapped me in his arms and hugged me to his chest, stroking my hair. “How could I, pet? I died a champion, a hero, and now I’m here. Reincarnated in an evil law firm. Was I supposed to call you? Can you imagine how the bloody phone call would have gone? ‘Hello, Buffy. It's Spike. I didn't burn up like you thought. How are things?’ It would have been slightly awkward, yeah?” His voice was husky with emotion.

I smiled into his chest. “It’s ok. I seem to have gotten the message anyway. God, you even smell the same.”

He looked down at me and smirked. “You don’t. I mean there is the normal Buffy smell and over that I can smell ink, leather, smokes, and,” he took a deep breath and cocked an eyebrow, “bourbon.”

“Leather, smokes, and bourbon? You mean she smells like you?” Dawn snickered.

Spike’s head snapped up and turned towards the other people standing in the room as if he had forgotten they were there. Then he turned back to me with a confused look on his face. “Ink? Did you get a tattoo?”

I pulled back from his embrace and winked at him. Then I turned and walked to the conference table and addressed the two people I had yet to meet. I held my hand out to the green skinned demon. “Hi,” I said brightly. “I’m Buffy.”

He brought my hand to his lips and kissed it lightly. “Enchanted, darling. I’m Lorne. Spike told me you were beautiful, but I’m afraid his descriptions scarcely did you justice. Effulgent indeed.” His effeminate bubbly nature was comforting and fun. But I couldn’t stop the blush from crawling up my cheeks.

“So, Spike’s mentioned me, then?” I asked quietly while winking at Fred.

“Only all the time! I tell you, if I thought I had a shot with you, I’d be a very happy Pylian. But since you are obviously spoken for…” He shrugged good-naturedly.

I turned teasingly to Spike. “What have you been telling people?” I turned back to Lorne. “Spike and I haven’t been in a relationship in a long time. Of course, I’m not sure it was a ‘relationship’ anyway. Can mind blowing sex be construed as a ‘relationship,’ I wonder?”

“It can if you do it enough times,” came Spike’s sardonic response.

I caught a glimpse of Angel; whose face was red and hands were making fists at his sides. This was mean, and I knew it, but in all fairness, he should have called to tell me about Spike, regardless of his feelings about the two of us, out of respect for me. I was still pissed about it. I intended to stay that way.

I smiled at the last stranger in the room. He rose from his chair with a wide smile and held out his hand. “Charles Gunn,” he said.

I shook his hand smiling vibrantly at him and moved to the empty chair between Fred and Wesley. “Is anyone sitting here?” I smiled as she gestured for me to sit. I took off my jacket and fished a battered pack of cigarettes out of the pocket. I pulled a silver Zippo out of my pants pocket and sat down. After I had lit my cig with practiced ease and blown a plume of smoke over my head, I laced my fingers behind my head. I heard Spike’s breath catch. I knew instinctively he had seen the tattoo. I looked at him to see his tongue curled behind his teeth, an amazingly sexy gesture that always tightened things low in my body.

Fred leaned over to me. “I thought you were going to wait in the lobby,” she giggled.

“I was going to, but when I heard Andrew say that he and Spike saved the world and I helped a little, I mean, come on! The timing there was perfect. I just couldn’t help myself.” I grinned.

Angel walked to the table staring furiously at me. He grabbed my left arm and extended it under his gaze. I watched him lazily and took a drag from my cigarette. His eyes hardened as he looked at my tattoo, then he dropped it as if it had burned him. “What has he done to you?” he hissed at me and turned his back.

I shook my head. “Nothing. Now isn’t the time to discuss this, Angel.”

He whirled around as he shouted, “You don’t owe him anything!”

Under my breath, I muttered, “One owes respect to the living. To the dead, one only owes truth.”

Wesley turned to me, a shocked look plastered on his face. “Voltaire. I’m impressed,” he said in a quiet voice. He gave me a shy smile.

“Well, I did have six uninterrupted weeks of grieving. Think of how dark I would have gotten given more time.” I joked.

My chair spun around and I was face to face with a very angry Angel. “Look at yourself!” he raged at me. “You look like you haven’t eaten in a month. You’ve got a tattoo of a railroad spike on your arm and you’re smoking! What the hell are you thinking Buffy? You’ll get cancer or something!”

Dawn scoffed at him. “No, she won’t. See, she fulfilled this prophecy…”

I wrenched my chair from Angel’s grasp and spun to face my sister. “Dawn! This isn’t the time for that.” I turned my anger darkened eyes to Angel. “There is a psychotic girl out there with superhuman strength. If you want to have this discussion, we will. We’ll have a reckoning or whatever, but not now.” He nodded grimly and sat down on Wesley’s other side as Spike sat down across from him, next to Dawn.

Wesley stood. “We were just about to bring everyone up to speed on slayer mythology.”





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