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Banner by the Awesome C.C.


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Buffy reached into the bag and pulled out the tube. “Come on.”

“I’m fine. Don’t need that.”

“Spike.”

“Whatever happened to that whole ‘humans can go out in the sun’ bit?”

She shrugged. “Skin cancer. You’re gonna get burned.”

He held out his arm but continued to mumble. “Sittin’ in the bloody shade and wearing a shirt…no reason to…”

“Other arm.”

He held out his left arm obediently.

“It’s not like you have a base tan.”

“Probably just freckle.” He said disgustedly.

Buffy smiled. “Freckles could be cute.” She scooted around behind him. “Here I just want to get the back of your neck.”

“You do realize that I took care of myself for a hundred plus years right…don’t need you goin’ all mother hen on me.” He was talking a good game, but loving the attention.

She squeezed a dollop of lotion on her fingers and stretched up on her knees to rub it on his neck. Once again she was startled by the scars she found. She recognized these, knew he’d gotten them from a vamp, or maybe several. There were a lot of scars, faint and small, but definitely fang marks. Absently, she began tracing them with her finger. “You have…you were bitten here.”

He pulled away, sure she was disgusted by the reminder of what he’d been.

“I didn’t mean…Are they from when you were turned?” She’d moved her hand to his arm and now softly caressed his wrist.

He looked at her for a second before dropping his chin to his chest. He shook his head. “No, Dru always went for the jugular. Pretty sure hers all healed up anyway.”

“So how did you…” She trailed off. He hadn’t looked up at her once. “I’m sorry; you don’t have to tell me.”

He sighed. “Just not sure you really want to know.”

“So it was Angel.”

He looked up then, startled by her slip. He knew that she considered Angel and Angelus two entirely separate beings. “Angelus, yeah.” When she didn’t say anything he continued. “William was a bit too human for Angelus, had to rid him of it.” He grinned. “Also I’m a brat.”

She smiled. “I’m aware….So he would bite you?”

She said it like it was something she’d never considered, which surprised him. She was the slayer, surely she knew more about vamps than that. “Only when I was too slow.”

He was grinning, so she smiled back. “Are you hungry? I also grabbed sandwiches. I figure first day in the sun calls for a picnic.”

“Sounds good pet. Have to admit, daytime in the park is a bit of a disappointment.”

Buffy looked up, her forehead creased. “Why?”

“Too many people. Rather it be just the two of us.”

“We can come back at night if you want.”

“Do a bit a patrolling.”

“Umm…I’m not sure if you…I mean…I haven’t been…patrolling…here.”

“All the more reason to start, we can’t have the nasties getting too comfy right?”

Buffy turned away. “Right”

She had no intention of taking him patrolling, but really didn’t want to tell him. She’d been down this path with Riley. She couldn’t do what she had to do if she was worrying about him getting hurt. But she knew he wasn’t going to like the news. She figured she would be able to distract him from it for a few days, but eventually she would have to tell him that he was sidelined. She loved him too much to let him get hurt.

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

Giles pulled their bags from the trunk of the cab and walked to the door with Willow.

“Here goes.” She said with forced cheerfulness.

“Right.” He pulled out the key.

They’d caught the first flight after talking with the seers. Willow had tried calling once but had not gotten an answer. Giles wasn’t sure that his Slayer was going to be thrilled with the surprise visit; she hadn’t even wanted to talk with him for the past couple of months. The situation however had been too serious. They needed to know what they were dealing with.

He opened the door and heard Buffy’s voice.

“Left, no higher, yeah…that’s it that’s good…no faster, faster…”

“Give a bloke a chance, bossy chit…I’m doing it.”

“Well do it faster.”

“I ought to make you do it yourself.”

Willow took one look at Giles and decided she’d better go in first. She stepped inside calling out “Hey Buff…Ummm surprise…are you guys…decent.” She looked up to see Buffy and Spike starring at her like was completely nuts. Buffy was sitting in his lap, but they were both clothed and apparently playing a video game. “Giles you can come in.”

Buffy hopped on to her feet and walked over to give her friend a hug. “Hi Wil, it’s good to see you.”

“You too. Had us worried you know.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“That’s ok, you seem better…now, are you?”

Buffy glanced over her shoulder at Spike and back at Willow. “Yeah, I guess I am.” She grinned.

Giles stood watching the girls for a moment. She looked good, he thought, three days with Spike and Buffy looked better than she had in years. She was almost the girl she had been, the girl that hadn’t lost her mom and her whole town, the girl who hadn’t died. He decided to hold back his reservations for the moment. “Buffy.”

She turned to him. “Giles.” She smiled and hugged him as well.

He patted her back awkwardly. “You look…you look wonderful my dear.”

“I’m good Giles.”

He nodded.

Spike stood up but didn’t come any closer.

Giles turned to him awkwardly. “Spike”

“Rupert”

Willow walked between the two men. “Hey Spike, how are…how are you doing?”

Spike raised an eyebrow at the unexpected concern in her voice. Of course, he thought, she was always a bit of a softy. She’d even tried to cheer him up after the chip. “Aside from the standard humiliations and limitations of humanity…” He shrugged “fine.”

Willow nodded and the group stood for a moment unsure of how to proceed. Willow suddenly broke the tense silence. “Something smells really good.”

Buffy’s head went up. “Oh my god, I almost forgot…the cookies.” She hurried into the kitchen.

Willow watched her with a look of amazement. “You baked cookies?”

Buffy opened the oven and grabbed the potholder; she pulled out the cookie sheet as she responded. “Actually I mostly supervised while Spike…”

Willow and Giles both turned to Spike.

“What? Had to do somethin’; that girl gets any skinnier we won’t be able to find her.”

Buffy left the cookie sheet on the stove and came back to the loving room. “Oh and you’re one to talk.” She poked him in the side. “What they don’t have blood in L.A.?” She turned back towards Willow and Giles. “They need to cool for a minute, then yummy chocolaty goodness for all.”

“Right. Then perhaps this would be a good time…that is we have some information about your…situation.”

Buffy shrugged. While the whole thing was odd, Spike seemed fine, and she just wasn’t too concerned anymore. She couldn’t help but think that maybe they’d just finally had some good luck. She followed Giles and Willow over to the couch and sat down.

Willow started. “Umm…I guess first off…Spike is definitely human now, there is nothing of the demon left so…”

Buffy looked over at Spike. He’d sat back in the chair and was looking down as though the conversation didn’t concern him. She was confused by that for a moment before realizing that it wasn’t that he was uninterested in the conversation so much as that he didn’t expect to be a part of it. Too many times they’d made decisions about him without his input. She stood up, walked over to him and sat on the arm of the chair. Taking his hand she looked back at Willow. “But otherwise he’s ok?”

“Yeah…pretty much.”

Buffy frowned. “What does that mean…pretty much?”

“Oh it’s nothing sweetie, just remembering something one of the seers said.”
“And?”

“Oh something about allergies and a…umm” She fought back a grin. “Tendency for nose bleeds, like that guy in Mr Hines Chemistry class remember Buffy, he was always all arghh and then with the tissue and we joked about how all the blood on his clothes probably attracted vamps, and…”

Buffy giggled and looked at Spike. “You were the nose bleed guy?”

“Ah nooo…I was…am…oh bloody hell.” He shook his head.

Buffy bit her lip and looked back at Willow. “Ok, aside from apparently being a nerd…all normal?”

Spike growled at her remark and yanked her down onto his lap.

Buffy batted his hand away when he tried to tickle her, but made no effort to get up.

“Yeah…he should do all the normal human stuff now.” Willow turned slightly to speak directly to Spike. “Sorry?”

Spike shrugged and kept Buffy’s hand in his. “Could be worse.”

Willow nodded as she watched the two of them. She remembered noticing that they were closer than she’d ever realized that last year. It had kind of surprised her at the time. She’d known that Buffy had slept with Spike, but it wasn’t until after she’d gotten him back from the first that Willow had considered the possibility that she also talked with him. And then there had been lots of little things; shared jokes and small smiles. But back then it had all been quiet like a secret everyone knew but didn’t really talk about. This was different. Now they looked like a team. Hell, she thought, they were even dressed alike in their blue jeans and blue tees. Since when did Spike wear blue tees? Willow pushed away the little wisp of jealously; she used to feel like she was part of Buffy’s team. Buffy’s voice broke through her thoughts.

“But I got the impression that he couldn’t…I mean if his soul is …Can he die?”

“Not exactly…but…I don’t think he can really heal anything that a normal human couldn’t.”

Giles finally broke in. “Yes this is one of the things we need to discuss.”

“So if he was hurt…like really hurt… he would…”

“Stay that way, yes.”

“But…”

“If you finalize the claim his…soul will be bound to yours for eternity…it will not be able to leave his body until you die.”

Buffy was overwhelmed for a moment. She was horrified by the possibility that Spike could be stuck in a body that couldn’t heal. She didn’t even notice the other thing that Giles had mentioned. Spike did.

“What do you mean finalize…thought it was done.”

His words caught Buffy’s attention. “Malach didn’t say anything about finalizing or anything, it was just do you accept or relinquish…yada yada.”

“Yes, well perhaps he had hopes that you would not discover that you had to and someone else would be able to claim…erm…well claim Spike’s soul.”

“So how do I do it, finalize it?”

Willow broke in. “It’s not hard…I can get the stuff tomorrow…”

“Yes but certainly it should be discussed first…there are ramifications, this is not something to be taken…”

“I’ve already made the decision Giles; I’m not going to…we don’t know where he…I…made the decision.” She stood up suddenly. “I think the cookies are cooled.” She walked into the kitchen.

Giles followed her in. “Buffy there are things we don’t know. This is not a natural state. Being…well responsible for two souls, it might drain you or it might upset the balance. This is not a thing that is supposed to occur…”

“Giles that’s the story of my life; I was 15 when I was called. My sister is a mystical key and my friends brought me back from the dead, twice. I am not…Giles, I love…”

“Buffy I ask that you try to remain rational about this. Have you realized that you cannot be separated? The best estimate our seers have is that Spike is physically unable to be more than a dozen miles away from you.”

Buffy took a deep breath before answering quietly. “I don’t want him to be away from me.”

“Buffy, we are talking about eternity. You must be sure that you are not confusing gratitude, however well-earned it might be, with something more. I know that you have… lost a lot of people. I can certainly understand how appealing it might be…to be with…to have someone who cannot leave…but if you do this you will be…”

Giles was cut off by the sound of the front door shutting.

“Spike.”





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