Secrets and misunderstandings
They had defeated the First but was it necessary to choose all those girls. The amulet had done most of the work, well Spike had. When she thought about the night Angel brought it to her, she wondered, whether it was the right decision to give it to Spike. If Angel would have worn it, there wouldn’t have been any guaranty at all that they would have all made it out. And there was this other thought: What if he is in heaven now? He had done a lot of good over the last few years, he fought his demon and finally gotten the soul. She had seen his soul, standing in the cave under the high school, it was shining in bright colors, he would have said: “effulgent”. She would always wonder why he didn’t believe her when she finally found the courage to tell him how she felt.
The remaining Scoobies and the Slayerettes stayed a few hours more, lost in their reveries, then they climbed into the bus and travelled off to other places of the world.
5 months later, Los Angeles
“I’m going! And I am going NOW!”
“No you won’t!”
“You know, she really will get better after seeing me!”
“She moved on. She is dating someone else, and she…” Angel didn’t know if he should say the next words but he didn’t have much choice to think it over.
“What?”
“She is pregnant.”
“She is WHAT?”
“She is having a baby in a few months.” Now that he said it, the whole thing felt kind of real, and it worried him. There was this feeling of finality that crept at the edge of his hope. He didn’t like it one bit.
“That was rude. Take it back!”
“I wish I could.” He silently thought. Out loud he said “No Spike, it’s the truth, after the Hellmouth collapsed, thanks to you by the way, she was seeing someone called Greg or something and now she is pregnant.”
“I don’t believe that. This isn’t right. She told me she loved me, when we were down in that cave. I told her she didn’t, but I knew she told the truth, I believed her but I had to get her out of there. She had to live.”
“Is this my fault?”
“Well, you, you brought that bloody amulet to Sunnyhell! And…”
“WHAT?” The constant questioning got on his nerves. He wanted to be over and done with it. He wanted to be left alone so he could think about things.
“Anyway I’m going to see her, see it myself. I need to talk to her.” He gathered his few belongings in a bag while sauntering through the apartment. He felt caged. He had to get out of here and far away from Peaches, or else he couldn’t guaranty for anything.
“Fine, if you wish to embarrass yourself I won’t hinder you, but leave me out of this.”
“Allright then, See ya Peaches.”
“Don’t call me that!”
But he was already gone, black leather coat swirling behind him.
Watchers Council, London, same time
“Buffy, are you ok?”
“Well, yeah, just need some time on my own. Need to make decisions, need to take care of myself.”
“Ok, but there will come better times, you know.”
“Perhaps, but not now! He’s gone and then again he’s not. Angel believes the child is Greg’s and I don’t want that to change. But when I give birth to the child, he’ll know who the father is and that frightens me. You know how he can get, and he still thinks there’s a chance for the both of us. This is entirely my fault. I shouldn’t have given him that stupid cookie dough speech. I was already done baking a while ago but I wouldn’t admit it and now…”
She slowly left the conference room, leaving Giles to think about her words and clean his glasses.
Meanwhile in the lounge of the Watchers Council, Dawn picks up the phone
“Hello. Watchers Council, London base.”
“Ah, hello. May I speak to Willow Rosenberg, please?”
“Hello…, who is speaking?” Dawn wanted to put down the phone but then she recalled the voice on the other end of the line and couldn’t believe her ears.
“SPIKE??” She tentatively asked.
“Niblet?”
“This can’t be real. You are dead, well deader than usual. Sorry.”
“Well, yes I was but now I am back.”
“What? Why do want to talk to Willow?”
“Since you picked up the phone it doesn’t matter now. Don’t tell Buffy. I plan to visit you.”
“What, when?”
“Pretty much boarding Peaches’ stupid private at the moment.”
“Peaches? You’re with Angel? I don’t believe it.”
“Well, yeah, was but we have to stop talking now, don’t tell anyone, but make sure that she is at home tomorrow morning. I need to talk to her.”
“Sure, wait. Do you know where we live?”
“Yes, he told me. All right then. See you tomorrow. Bye Niblet.”
“Yes, see you tomorrow. I can’t believe you’re back from the dead.” She reluctantly got off the phone and went home. Buffy was already gone, Giles told her. It would be a hard night, she was good at hiding things but she didn’t know how to hide her happiness about knowing that he’s back.
5 am, next day, front porch, Buffy and Dawn’s apartment
Spike is standing in front of the house, which address was scribbled down on the little slip of paper he got from Angel and pondered going inside.
“Bloody hell, well now I’m here. There’s the bell. Alright, what am I waiting for?”
Finally he got the courage to walk towards the door. In the same moment, Buffy opens her front door to bring out the garbage and throws said door right into his face.
“For god’s sake woman, are you trying to kill me?”
Buffy gives him a strange look and finally realizes who is standing there in front of her. She immediately faints but before she falls to the floor, Spike catches her and cradles her unconscious body in his arms.
In the house Dawn is worried what took her sister this long to come back in. She goes looking for her. “Buffy how long do you need to take out the garbage? What are you….?”
“Spike?”
“Hello Niblet.”
“Could you hold the door open while I carry your sister inside? Apparently she fainted as she saw yours truly.”
“Sure, come in Spike.”
They went into the apartment and he gently laid her down on the living room couch. When she didn’t wake up on her own after half an hour, he proceeded to wake her up. He gently stroked her cheek and put a loose strand of her golden blond hair behind her ear.
“Buffy, wake up! Pet you need to wake up!”
“Spike?”
“Yes it’s me.”
“How?”
“Long story, but it’s really me.”
Several hours and a lot of talking later
“So, are you gonna tell me who the father of your child is? … Peaches wouldn’t know, he said it’s a guy called Greg, that you were screwing him right after I died.”
“Angel doesn’t know. But there was this guy called Greg you mentioned, he wanted me to be his wife, wanted to be the child’s father!”
“Wanted to be? As in he isn’t?”
“Yes, exactly and I didn’t screw him, as you so eloquently
put it.”
“What, you mean there was another one?”
“Yes.”
“Buffy, I thought you loved me, why?”
“Wait a minute! You believed me?”
“Sure, I did.”
“Then why did you say these words to me?”
“To get you out of there, would you have gone if I’d have told you anything other than that?”
“That’s great!” She sarcastically replied.
“So I thought you really didn’t believe me! But there was a reason I had to believe that you didn’t mean it.” At that he looked up at her, tilted his head in this special way of his and asked.
“What was that then?” Lost in his eyes she gathered the strength to tell him the truth.
“Your child!”
“My what? You mean…? That’s not possible! You know as well as I that…”
“I know it shouldn’t be possible but then again, I can feel it and there hasn’t been any other guy since that night in the basement.”
“I still can’t believe that this is my child.” He took her in his arms and hugged her tight. He was happy, truly happy.
“Well, I can’t believe that you’re back, so we’re even then.”
“If you want to put it this way,… then yeah.”
“I love you.”
“I know.”
“Hey, what does that mean again?”
“Well, it’s better than “No you don’t, but thanks for saying it!”” She smiled sweetly and looked at him.
“Are you going to hold on to that until I finally die?
“Yes…. What until you die?”
“Uhmm, I’m kind of mortal since I came back, but still got the strength though, don’t really know how that works…”
“You’re staying with me here?”
“If you want that, I’ll stay as long as you want me.”
“That’s great, then I’m finally getting my happy ending.”
“Well happy ending? Do you remember a certain spell gone wrong?”
With those words he knelt down in front of her and looked into her eyes.
“Wha…?
“Buffy, marry me? And make me the happiest man on earth?”
“Yes, Spike, of course it’s yes! I love you.”
The End
Author's Chapter Notes:
This is another take on what would happen after Chosen. It can be seen as a sequel to "You are in my heart" but it can also be read on its own. :)