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Author's Chapter Notes:
I just couldn't wait to update :) Thanks a lot for all the lovely reviews, and a special thanks to Cordykitten who noticed the wrong spelling of 'cup' in the last chapter. I really didn't notice that I wrote 'cops' instead! xD

Chriss came up with the name of this chapter which she has also beta'd. Thanks a lot hun!
Chapter 24 - Aftermath

“Buffy!”

Buffy turned around as she heard her name being called. A smile lit up her face when she saw the owner of the voice.

“Hello, Spike,” she greeted him as he came running closer. He was dressed in his dark blue bathing trunks with bare chest and Buffy could only enjoy the view of his muscular chest. But soon, her eyes were drawn to his face, to his blue eyes and the smile only became broader.

Spike grinned at her and mumbled a ‘hello’ before leaning forward and giving her a soft kiss. He broke away before it could escalade to something more since they, after all, were standing right in the middle of a parking lot. Instead he wrapped two strong arms around her and brought her closer to him. Buffy rested her hands against his chest as he glanced at her.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, slightly tilting her head. Spike couldn’t help but chuckle as he put a stray of hair behind her ear.

“What, you don’t want me here?”

Her eyes widened. “No! No, that’s not what I meant. I – “ One look into his eyes and all the tension she felt about his misunderstanding was gone as she saw the amused look in there. She let out an annoyed sigh and shook her head. But the smile that kept tugging on her lips was too strong and soon she was laughing.

“You’re mean,” she pouted. Seeing the pout that was playing on her bottom lip, Spike felt his heart swell and he was almost overwhelmed by what he felt for this girl he’d come to know during the last few weeks.

“You know it,” he smirked and placed a gentle kiss on her lips that promised so much more.

“You’re avoiding the question,” she continued, “why you’re here I mean.”

“’m surfing with the guys. Xander and Gunn,” he explained further when he saw her questioning gaze. “I’m meeting them here in a few minutes.”

“What about Wesley?” Buffy asked, wondering why the last member of the band wasn’t mentioned. Spike let out a chuckle.

“I’d like to see Wesley even get near the water, love. He’s terrified of getting soaked.”

Buffy glared at him a little. “Aren’t you a little mean to your cousin?”

“No more than he can take,” Spike answered. “So, what are you doing here then? Looking for someone maybe?”

She slapped him playfully across the chest with a smirk of her own. “You’re so full of yourself, Spike Giles. But no, as a matter of fact I was having a nice walk by the beach. As for the meeting someone part, I would just be lucky if I did, but no it wasn’t my intention.”

Buffy had to suppress a laugh when she saw him pout. “Aw, poor Spikey,” she teased, “did I hurt your ego?”

“Very much, think I need a kiss to recover.”

“Oh, you think?”

“Yep,” he said stubbornly with the look of a five year old boy that Buffy couldn’t resist. Shaking her head in amusement she touched his lips with hers. She let out a soft moan when she felt his teeth nip lightly at the swell of her bottom lip and Buffy closed her arms around his neck. Suddenly the moment was broken by someone clearing his throat behind them.

“Ahem, excuse me.”

Spike let out a little growl and let his forehead fall to Buffy’s neck. “Always the best bloody timing…” he cursed at the same time another voice let out a whistle.

“Man, that’s the girl that’s been keeping our lead singer away? Well, I have to say you’re excused.”

Spike pulled himself off Buffy with heavy movements and turned to look at his two friends with a glare that would kill. Xander wiggled his eyebrows and Gunn had a goofy smirk on his lips before he stepped forward and reached out a hand towards Buffy. “I’m Gunn, I believe we’ve met once but we didn’t really have time to say hello then.”

“Ah, that time,” Buffy said, blushing as she remembered how she rushed past Xander and Gunn in the corridor at the Wicca, after believing Spike were back together with Drusilla. “That’s something I’d most likely want to forget. Nice to meet you, anyway,” she smiled.

“You gonna surf with us?” Gunn asked.

Buffy shook her head. “No, I was just out for a walk when I ran into Spike here.”

Gunn exchanged a look with Xander before raising his eyebrows. ”Ah… Running into, I see.”

Spike let out a sigh. “All right, that’s enough. You two go, I’ll be with you in a sec.” He turned back to Buffy and gave her a ‘please-don’t-hate-me-for-having-extremely-immature-stupid-friends’ look. Buffy laughed.

“You go. I’ll talk to you later.”

“I have an idea,” Spike said, grabbing her arm. “Me and the guys were planning on going out tonight, Willow and Tara’s arranged one of their own ‘Friday-night-dances’ or whatever they’re called. Anyway, they wanted us to come.”

“Sure, that’d be great,” Buffy said smiling. “We’ll meet there or – “

“I could pick you up,” Spike said as he seemed to think about something. He clasped his hands together with a smile. “Or you could stay here and we could go together afterwards.”

“But I need to change,” Buffy said, gesturing her hands towards her jogging clothes. Spike waved it away.

“That’s no problem. I’ll drive you home afterwards.”

Seeing her mouth open to object he couldn’t help but let out a little ‘please’. Buffy shook her head. “You know I can’t resist that look,” she murmured before sighing. “All right, I could always take a swim meanwhile.”

“Or we could borrow a board from the – “

“No!” Buffy let out quickly, putting up her hand in a stopping gesture. “I think I’m done surfing,” she grinned.

“Your will is my command.”
* * * * * * * *
Buffy watched the three guys along with a lot of other people out in the water. She had just taken a swim and was now sitting with Spike’s towel wrapped around herself. It smelled like him and she couldn’t help but sniffle a little at it. She was surprised she didn’t even panic a little when Xander and Gunn saw them; she surprised herself actually. And, Spike didn’t seem to mind that they knew about their relationship, whatever it really was. She didn’t know that just yet.

It had been three days since Lily was driven to the hospital and she was now living with her aunt Maggie. Her wounds had started to heal but as the doctor though – it would take a lot longer for her to recover and she was not talking about the wounds.

After Mr. Simmons had been arrested and the police had arrived at the hospital, Lily had finally begun to tell them about what had happened. Buffy and Spike hadn’t left the room and soon after the police had showed up, Willow and Tara arrived to support her.

Apparently, Lily had been on her way out five days ago – the day it happened. Tony Simmons objected, from Lily’s point of view she could see he was drunk and probably high. He was acting strange, well stranger than usual as she put it. When Lily had tried to get out without his permission he snapped and grabbed her hard, sending her sprawling over the floor.

Mr. Simmons had screamed at her, telling her how useless and selfish she was. That she was worth nothing, nothing to him and nothing to anyone else. They started to fight and in the end, Lily had said something he did not like and he slapped her across the face. She tried to fight against him but it had only made him angrier and in his drunken / high state – he had started to hit her. Until she was unconscious.

Lily told them she woke up in her bed, barley able to move and she didn’t dare to either. She had been lying there until Buffy and Spike had shown up.

At the end of the story, Buffy had been crying silently while holding the girl’s hand. The police had kept Mr. Simmons in arrest during the night and they still were until the trial would begin. He was most likely going to spend years in prison for abusing his child.

The relief Buffy and Spike was feeling couldn’t be described. They’d spent the day with Lily, talking and just spending some time with her. She seemed to appreciate it and it warmed their hearts.

She got to go home with her aunt the day after and Buffy knew that she was going to see a therapist sometime during this week. She was glad Lily had agreed on seeing one, because she knew that her life was never going to be the same again. At least it was going in the right direction now.

Buffy watched as Spike was surfing on the waves, his eyes concentrating on the wave only. Xander and Gunn were waiting in the next wave and were currently sitting on their boards. Buffy smiled. She felt so at home here – and even with Spike’s friends she had only met once or twice before. And Spike…

Buffy had been slightly worried that after what happened to Lily they would be back on square one again with their relationship but she had been unnecessarily worried all along. It had affected their relationship, but not in a bad way. On the contrary; it had brought them closer.

They had spent the night of the incident with Lily at their respective houses but the night after that they had been watching some movies together at Spike’s place. She had been seated in Spike’s arms the whole night, watching the movie and time to time breaking out of it to kiss and just relax.

The only thing that was bothering her was the fact that she wouldn’t stay in Cornwall forever.

That was something they hadn’t talked about at all. It was a subject they avoided, none of them too happy about brining it up. But I still got a few weeks left, Buffy thought shaking off the feeling of unease, we can deal with that later. Right now, I’ll just live in the moment. It will be nice to go out tonight.

Buffy noticed she had kept her gaze on the ground and as she mentally shook herself she glanced up to see Spike looking at her. The warm smile he sent her went directly to her heart and she could to nothing but smile back.

None of them noticed the man standing above Buffy on the cliffs hidden by some rocks with a camera in his hand, each moment taking picture after picture.

A/N: I know it was a short chapter, therefore I will update the day after tomorrow. This was a chapter that was needed for the story's plot. In next chapter you will find out what's gonna happen at the Wicca. Thanks for reading!





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