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Chapter 23
“Buffy?” Giles immediately rushed to embrace her, but she quickly held a hand up and flinched a step back. The dramatic reaction froze him in place, but he couldn't contain his relief at finally seeing her. "Buffy?"

"Just…just give me a little bit. Please?" She asked.

"Of course, Buffy, of course. I'm just so relieved to see you," He finished with a smile. “Judging from Spike’s outburst when he returned this evening, I had feared we might never see you again!”

“Well, Spike said something that got my attention.” Buffy looked squarely into Spike’s eyes.

Spike racked his brain. Hell, he’d said a lot of things. The last of which was….

“No.” Spike’s jaw ticked as his face lit up with anger.

His simple statement was parroted by both Buffy and Giles, who were both seemingly confused by his response.

“No. You can’t have him.”

“I can’t….” Buffy fished for a moment before she appeared to realize what he meant, and her expression turned to steel. “What do you mean I can’t?”

“Know why you’re here Buffy. You think I’m going to let you tear his world apart to spite me, you've got another think coming.”

“Spike, let’s just calm…” Giles interposed.

“You can’t stop me!” Buffy asserted.

“Buffy, please, let’s all…”

“Try me.” Spike was now nose to nose with Buffy.

“If everyone will just shut up for one moment…”

“He’s my son and you can’t keep him from me!” Buffy’s voice dripped with venom as she returned Spike’s daggered stare.

“He’s my son too!”

“He’s NOT your son!”

“He IS my son!”

“HE’S ANGEL’S SON!”

“ANGEL MADE HIM MINE!”

“Oh dear…”

Buffy blinked, stumbling back a step or two. After a second, Spike’s brain finally processed the Pandora’s Box he’d unwittingly opened.

“Bloody, buggering, fuck…” Spike breathed out, his eyes opening wide in shocked realization.
For several interminable seconds, no one spoke.

“What?” Buffy’s question was followed by silence. “What do you mean, ‘Angel made him yours?”

More silence.

Spike stared at the floor, never looking up at her. No answer seemed forthcoming. Giles was staring at the ceiling, as if reading something written there.

“What…do…you…mean?” Buffy ground out each word as she menacingly imposed herself in Spike’s personal space.

“He means just what he said,” Dawn broke the silence from her position halfway up the stairs. She now had the undivided attention of all three adults in the foyer.

“Dawn, perhaps it's best if…” Giles began.

“Yeah, cause that’s working out really great.” Dawn’s eye roll punctuated the mock assertion.

“Best if what? Why won’t anyone tell me what the hell Spike is talking about?”

“Because they never planned to,” Dawn replied. At the apparent shock sent her direction from Giles and Spike, she quickly added, “Hello! Teenager. You don’t want me knowing something; don’t write it down in your diary.”

“It’s a Journal, not a diary.” Spike indignantly answered.

“Whatever.”

“What? Look, if someone doesn’t start speaking English…”

“That would be me. Because apparently I’m the only one here who can act like an adult.” Dawn asserted. “Angel gave Spike the twins. I believe the words were, ‘They’re yours now. Take care of them.’, though I’m pretty sure that included you as well.”

“I…I don’t understand. How? Angel was… was killed instantly. That’s what everyone said. He couldn’t have…he couldn’t have told Spike that.”

Buffy was obviously becoming confused and panicked. Apparently this was not quite the homecoming she’d been expecting.

“Buffy, perhaps we should all sit down a moment.” Giles suggested as she visibly wavered and began shaking. She looked to be a moment away from collapse.

“Giles, what does she mean? Angel died instantly, you said so!”

“I will tell you everything, just please, come sit down.” Giles pleaded.

“Spike?” Buffy’s eyes spoke volumes to everyone in the room. They visibly pleaded with him to confirm the story. Make everything clear. Put everything back into the perspective it had been when she first walked back in the door.

“I’m sorry,” His only urgent reply to her pleading, searching, stare. “God, what have we done?” He asked no one in particular, his hands fisting through his hair. “What have we done?”

**********

Buffy numbly made her way to the couch. It’s warm familiarity welcoming her. For a moment, she could forget the world and drown in the memories of this couch. The games played while sitting there. The arguments that took place by it. The stories shared. The kisses stolen. The hugs given. All held within its deep comforting softness.

“Buffy, what do you remember of that day?” Giles began.

“We’ve been through this before.”

“Yes, but I’m old and I forget, please tell me again.”

Buffy sighed heavily, and pulled on memories she’d tried to forget, and hold onto deeply, at the same time.

“It was foggy. Really foggy. Jenny was complaining she couldn’t see a thing. Traffic was at a standstill. We couldn’t move at all. Angel and I were in the back seat. I was so tired, and Angel suggested that I lie down and take a nap. He said he would wake me up if we started to move. I told him… I told him I was going to forgive Spike. I can’t even remember why I was mad at him, now. But I told Angel that I was going to forgive him. He said that would make him happy. And that’s the last thing I remember. I fell asleep in his lap. The next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital.”

“You are certain you don’t remember anything else?” Giles prodded.

“No! I don’t remember anything else! Everyone asked me a hundred times then and I'll tell you the same thing now…I don’t remember anything else!”

Giles held his hands up in acquiescence.

“Very well, I just wanted to make sure what you remembered before I tell you the rest of what happened.”

“The rest of what happened?” Buffy echoed haltingly.

“Buffy, you should know that however misguided I might have been, I only meant to shield you from further pain. When you awoke with no memory of what happened, I alone made the decision that you would never know what I’m about to tell you now…”





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