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Author's Chapter Notes:
And here it is! The epilogue. Thank you to everyone who has read and commented on this fic. I've loved reading all your reviews and thoughts. Your support has been wonderful. Thank you so much to Sotia for beta reading this last year - you're amazing!

I've posted the picspam at my livejournal and you can see it here: Closer to Midnight Isle of Wight Picspam.
Epilogue

August 2012

Like always after a storm, the day washed clear and bright. Fluffy clouds scudded across an azure sky, and pale yellow sunshine made everything look fresh and new.

The beach was empty; the last of the families on the island for the Bank Holiday had gone home the day before, back to their lives on the mainland.

Somewhere in the distance, a seagull squawked and the sound made Buffy jump—so intent had she been in her task. The final seashell completed the last letter of the name, the myriad colours of the stones and shells standing out starkly against the orange-yellow of the Bembridge sand.

“All done,” Buffy said, and pulled Rose onto her lap. “See what that says, Rosie? That’s your name.”

The baby clapped and smiled, babbling happily until she twisted away from Buffy’s grip and reached her arms out. “Da! Da!”

Buffy turned to look down the beach and, sure enough, saw Spike coming towards them. He was dressed in dark blue jeans and a white t-shirt, and held a brown paper-wrapped parcel in his hand.

When he reached them, Spike tossed the parcel down onto the picnic blanket before bending down to pick up Rose. He brushed a kiss to the top of her head and then sat down himself. “There it is,” he said, and gestured to the parcel.

“You didn’t open it?” Buffy asked, leaning across to kiss him softly on the lips. “And morning, by the way. I barely had time to say hello before you rushed off at the crack of dawn.”

Spike ducked his head. “Sorry, love. Got a bit excited about fetching that from Simkins.”

Buffy looked at him expectantly. “Well? Open it!”

Spike let his daughter crawl from his lap and towards the stuffed bear at the edge of the blanket. He reached for the package and with a deep breath tore open the brown wrapping.

Buffy, with a glance to Rose to make sure she was all right, slid over to sit next to Spike. She slipped her arm around his back and watched as he pulled a plain cardboard box from a thin film of plastic wrap.

Spike squeezed Buffy’s hand lightly before picking at the end of the tape holding the box closed. He tore it off and scrunched it up in his hand, the noise attracting the attention of Rose who crawled over to investigate.

“Da?”

“Look what John’s sent us, Rosie,” Spike said.

“John.” Rose confirmed solemnly, before turning away to play with the discarded brown paper.

Spike opened the sides of the box and held his breath as he peered inside. He took out a few foam packing peanuts from the top of the box to reveal the contents. Leaning against his shoulder, Buffy watched as he pulled four items from inside: three books and a small wooden box.

“So strange to see them again,” she murmured, reaching out a shaking hand and picking up the first of the books. “I kept them with me all those years…”

She opened the book to the first page, tracing the familiar words with her thumb. The ink was faded but still legible, a tidy cursive spelling out verse that she knew almost by heart. She closed her eyes, remembering the last time she had seen these objects: in the drawer of the bedside table at her house in California, 1960, two days before she had died.

Buffy, and Spike too, no longer thought of themselves as separate from William and Elizabeth. Their past-selves were definitively a part of them, and it hurt almost physically to think of them in any other way.

The last two years had been at times confusing, at times disorientating, but, most importantly, they had been happy. A whirlwind engagement preceded a springtime wedding at the Botanic Gardens, their friends and family thinking them crazy for marrying so soon after meeting. Buffy had laughed it off; even the few months’ preparation for the wedding seemed too long after having waited one hundred and twenty years to be together.

Spike had been almost obsessive in recreating the honeymoon Elizabeth had dreamed of in those last few moments of William’s life. He took her dancing and to the opera, they went sight-seeing along the Thames despite each having lived in London for years. It had been a magical time.

A chuckle from Spike pulled her from her memories, and she opened her eyes. He had Rose seated on his lap once more and was paging through one of the other books. “What’s up?” she asked, sliding closer to look over his shoulder again.

“Just strange to think I wrote some of these,” he said. “I was a bloody awful poet.”

“I liked them,” Buffy replied with a shrug and a squeeze of his hand.

Spike snapped the book shut and set it down on the picnic blanket. He gave Buffy a quick smile before reaching for the final object from the parcel, the small wooden trinket box. “Can’t believe we finally have this,” he said. “Can’t believe John was able to get it.”

“Open it, then,” she replied.

“Give us a sec. Savouring the moment.”

“You’re silly.” She nudged his shoulder. “Come on! You know I’m not patient-gal.”

He opened the box slowly, his face breaking into a smile when the contents were revealed to him. The diamonds set into the gold band winked and glistened in the sunlight, and Spike pulled it from its bed of satin cushioning carefully.

“It’s still beautiful,” Buffy commented. She felt a lump form in her throat when Spike took her left hand and slipped the ring onto her fourth finger. He kissed her gently on the lips and his whispered I love you made her eyes fill with tears.

“Worth waiting for?” Spike asked. He had been bemused when Buffy had adamantly refused an engagement ring, insisting that, with Simkins’ help, she would be able to track down some of Elizabeth’s possessions and the ring William had originally proposed with. She had been right, although it had taken longer than they had thought to find.

Buffy nodded. She held her hand out and admired the ring, before she turned her gaze to linger on Spike and Rose. “Definitely.”

-END-


Chapter End Notes:
Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you thought. :)



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