“I’ve got him, let’s go,” Angel called out as he came hurrying through the doorway, carrying a barely conscious Rowan. He stopped in his tracks when he spotted Buffy and Spike with their arms around each other on the floor. “You might wanna save the canoodling for later,” he all but growled, the irritation evident in his voice.
Having been too caught up in each other to notice Angel appear, startled, the couple immediately pulled apart. Buffy’s eyes widened in shock as she took in the destruction around them. She opened her mouth, but a weak moan from Rowan cut her off.
“Is he going to be okay?” she asked, her voice trembling.
Looking almost as shaken as her, Spike quickly got up, gently pulling her to her feet. Their eyes met, and Buffy knew they were both remembering the night back in Sunnydale when the two of them had started out fighting in an abandoned house, and ended up tearing the whole place down.
That was the night they slept together for the first time, and things had gone downhill pretty fast after that. She had been at a really bad place back then, using Spike’s love for her as a temporarily escape. Thinking about it now left her with a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach. Thankfully, a lot of things had changed since then.
Oblivious to the disturbing memories rushing through Buffy’s mind, Angel headed for the front door. “He needs medical attention. We have to get him to the hospital right away.”
“What about the-“ Spike stopped and his eyes narrowed as a large crack appeared in the wall. “Bloody hell! The house is really fallin’ apart.”
Rowan started coughing violently, almost causing Angel to drop him. Buffy’s hand slipped into Spike’s, and they shared a brief look before following the dark-haired vampire out of the house. Neither of them looked back until they reached the car. From a distance, one couldn’t tell what was happening on the inside. Not yet, anyway. Soon, though, there wouldn’t be much left.
“Careful,” Angel mumbled as he lowered Rowan down in the backseat. “Don’t try to talk, you’ve inhaled a lot of smoke.”
Shaking his head, Rowan’s hand shot out to weakly grab Angel’s arm. “It’s over,” he croaked. “Morou’s gone.”
“That’s good.” Angel was unable to keep the relief out of his voice. “But you should save your strength. We’ll be at the hospital in a few minutes.”
But Rowan didn’t let go of him. Instead he struggled to raise his other hand, shoving a small object towards Angel. Frowning, the vampire looked down at the familiar silver lighter in his hand. His eyes went back to the blond, questioningly, but he didn’t get any explanation. Rowan had passed out.
~ ~ ~
Twenty minutes later, Angel left the small hospital room and returned to the waiting area, where he found Buffy and Spike. He made his way over to them. “Well, it looks like Rowan’s gonna live. He’s got a mild concussion, and the doctor warned there might be internal bleeding. And they’re still not sure how badly damaged his spine is.” Angel ran his hand over his face. “At least he’s alive.”
“That’s a relief.” Buffy bit her lip, glancing at Spike. “Someone should call the others, tell them what happened. They must be worried.”
Angel let out a tired sigh. “I’ll do it. Do you guys plan on sticking around for a while?” Buffy looked at Spike, who nodded in response. As he was about to leave, Angel suddenly remembered something and turned to Spike. “Oh, before I forget. Here. Unless I’m mistaken, this belongs to you.” He pulled out the zippo lighter from his pocket.
The blond vampire looked confused for a moment, then his face broke into a grin as he accepted the precious item. “Thanks, mate. Thought I’d lost the damn thing.”
“You did. Rowan found it.” Angel looked like he was about to say something more, then clearly decided against it and left.
“So...” Buffy looked after Angel for a brief moment before turning back to Spike, smiling as his arms immediately went around her. “Rowan actually made it. Morou’s dead, and we’re all still here. It’s really over.”
Spike raised a brow, suggestively. “If you wanna celebrate, I have a few ideas.”
“Of course you do.” Buffy couldn’t keep from smiling. Then she suddenly became serious. “Wait. I just jinxed us, didn’t I, by saying it’s over? Why did I have to say that? Now I just know something horrible’s going to happen. Oh God, what if L.A gets hit by a meteor? Or there could be a tidal wave-“
“Buffy...” Spike interrupted her ramblings, a hint of amusement in his voice. “Don’t think you’ll have to worry ‘bout meteors and tidal waves tonight, luv. Besides, even if something like that would happen, there’s really not much you can do about it.”
She rolled her eyes. “Gee, thanks, honey. That makes me feel so much better.” They were both quiet for a moment, until Buffy spoke up again, carefully, “So, are you very disappointed?” He raised a brow, looking a little confused, so she went on, “You said you wanted to watch Morou die. It didn’t turn out that way.”
“Yeah, well...” He shrugged. “When have things ever turned out the way I’ve planned, eh? I know he’s gone; that’s enough for me.”
To tell the truth, Spike was actually a little relieved. He would deny it if anyone asked, but the moment he had stepped through the door to Rowan’s house, all the memories of being trapped, blind and helpless had welled up inside him. And he hadn’t liked it one bit.
In all honesty, he wasn’t sure he would have found the courage to walk down those stairs again, even if Angel hadn’t insisted on going alone. It made him feel beyond pathetic, and the mere thought of admitting his weakness to Buffy, or Angel for that matter, made him cringe. Still, he had a feeling Buffy could see right through him.
But if she did, she didn’t say anything about it. Instead she gave him a soft smile. “Same here. I kind of didn’t want you to go down there again, anyway.” When he didn’t respond, Buffy decided it was time to change the subject. “You know, I’ve been thinking. About us.”
“Yeah? What about it?” Spike crossed his arms protectively over his chest, trying desperately to keep his sudden self-consciousness from showing and firmly telling himself that Buffy wasn’t suddenly having second thoughts about the two of them.
“Well, it’s just...” Buffy hesitated. “With everything that’s happened, we haven’t really been able to talk about, you know,” she lowered her eyes, “our future.”
Spike gave her a wary look. “Right. Um...” He cleared his throat and looked down at his feet. “Just so we’re clear, we do have one, yeah?” Glancing at Buffy, he immediately felt like an idiot as he saw her incredulous expression. “Just checking,” he mumbled, silently cursing his stupid insecurities.
“We are so not having this discussion again,” Buffy stated, sounding annoyed. Seeing how he opened his mouth, she quickly raised her hand to stop him. “Just listen. I’ve been thinking about this a lot, lately. I think maybe we should consider leaving L.A.”
Unable to hide his surprise, Spike cocked his head to the side. “You serious, pet?” Buffy just nodded, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, uncertain about his reaction. “Where would we go?” he asked, sounding interested, and she let out the breath she had been holding.
“I don’t know. I guess we could go wherever we want.” She gave him a sheepish smile. “As far away from here as possible?”
He grinned, deciding he definitely liked the sound of that. “Sure, pet. I’d follow you anywhere.”
Buffy got a thoughtful look on her face. “You know, it would be nice to get a break from the slaying for a while. We could go someplace where there’s absolutely no evil. Wouldn’t that be great?” Seeing Spike’s skeptical expression, she pouted a little. “I know, I know. I don’t really believe such a place exists, either. Just wishful thinking.”
Spike snorted. “Yeah, right. Two days without slaying, and you’d be so bored you’d bloody beg me to pick a fight with you, just for the sake of it.”
“I would not!” She tried her best to look offended, although she suspected he was probably right. Still, she wouldn’t say no to a night off from fighting evil every once in a while. Surely she and Spike would be able to find something else to keep themselves occupied.
A sudden thought occurred to Spike and his eyes lit up. “Hey, can I be the one to tell Angel we’re leaving?”
Buffy rolled her eyes. “Sure, honey. I bet you’ll get a real kick out of it.”
“Bloody right I will.” He smirked. Then he remembered something and changed the subject, “You know, I believe I still owe you a date. Dinner at my place, tomorrow night?” He gave her a hopeful look.
She smiled at him, sweetly. “Sounds great.” Giving it a moment’s thought, she then added, “Just don’t get any stupid ideas about leaving again. I don’t care what happens; the world could be ending for all I care. This time, I won’t let you out of my sight.” Spike chuckled. He really didn’t have any problems with that.
Angel chose that moment to return, walking up to them. “I talked to Wesley. They’re on their way. And the doctor said Rowan’s awake. I thought I’d go check on him,” Angel said, “You guys wanna come?”
Buffy gave Spike a questioning look. He considered it for a moment, then turned to Angel. “They’re keeping him here for a while, yeah?” Angel nodded in response. “Tell him we’ll stop by tomorrow.”
The dark-haired vampire nodded again. “All right.” Then he turned around and left.
Spike held out his hand and she took it immediately. “Come on, luv. Time to go home.”
TBC
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Author's Chapter Notes:
I've finally finished this story. Yay! The final chapter will be up some time next week. Thanks to those of you still with me!