This is a short summary of what's going to be happening and in what dimension and how that dimension differs from the Unexpected!Universe. Read it before starting the story to make it less confusing (I hope!).

This story involves jumping dimensions to the Universe where Angel and his team work for W&H - where Buffy visited before and sent Spike to Rome to be with the Buffy in that dimension. In lieu of calling it the "EvilJoss!" Universe, which is what I normally call it in my own mind, I'm calling it the "Rome!" Universe.


Where characters cross over (where the same character from both universes are in the story), I will differentiate the ones from the Rome Universe by calling them Rome!Spike or Rome!Buffy, for example.


If, however, only one of the characters is present, then I won't make that distinction ... I hope it doesn't get too confusing. If it does - please email me and let me know so I can change it in future chapters.


I know that, in canon, this time frame is after NFA on AtS … Things changed in the other universe, too, when Spike left for Rome.

**

Keep in mind the following:

Rome!Spike was sent away from W&H and to Rome by Buffy before the following happened:



1. Lindsey attempted to take down Angel and W&H by releasing the demon and, in the process, losing his tattoos that kept him hidden from W&H.

2. Fred’s body was taken over by Illyria

3. In the new Rome!Universe, Wesley didn't have to take Illyria's power to control time away ... she wasn't sparing with Spike (as she was in canon on a daily basis), so the power overload didn't occur. (That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!)

**

Ok, was that a long enough "Summary"? Sorry!



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

{{{ this is just filler to get the word count high enough for the system to allow me to add this Prologue}}

Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman, Bryan Adams

To really love a woman
To understand her - you gotta know it deep inside
Hear every thought - see every dream
N' give her wings - when she wants to fly
Then when you find yourself lyin' helpless in her arms
You know you really love a woman

When you love a woman you tell her
that she's really wanted
When you love a woman you tell her that she's the one
she needs somebody to tell her
that it's gonna last forever
So tell me have you ever really
- really really ever loved a woman?

To really love a woman
Let her hold you -
til ya know how she needs to be touched
You've gotta breathe her - really taste her
Til you can feel her in your blood
N' when you can see your unborn children in her eyes
You know you really love a woman

When you love a woman
you tell her that she's really wanted
When you love a woman you tell her that she's the one
she needs somebody to tell her
that you'll always be together
So tell me have you ever really -
really really ever loved a woman?

You got to give her some faith - hold her tight
A little tenderness - gotta treat her right
She will be there for you, takin' good care of you
Ya really gotta love your woman...

Then when you find yourself lyin' helpless in her arms
You know you really love a woman
When you love a woman you tell her
that she's really wanted
When you love a woman you tell her that she's the one
she needs somebody to tell her
that it's gonna last forever
So tell me have you ever really
- really really ever loved a woman?

Just tell me have you ever really,
really, really, ever loved a woman? You got to tell me
Just tell me have you ever really,
really, really, ever loved a woman?





Ok - let's go!

TIME LINE:


Spans:
Sunday, June 19th, 2004 – Saturday, June 26th, 2004
**
History:
Joshua "JJ" Harris was born on April 21st, 2004
The twins (Danielle, "Dani" and William, "Billy") were born on February 12th, 2004
Annie turned five on February 14th.
Spike and Buffy have been married five years in February. (seems longer, doesn't it?)
Buffy turned 23 on January 19th.

All the Potentials were endowed with full Slayer power in February 2003.
Buffy and Spike learned of the other dimensions in May, 2003.

**

Sunday, June 19th, 2004 :


“Is this what you want?” Buffy cooed as she licked her way from Spike’s knee, up his inside thigh to his balls; sucking each one in turn into her hot mouth.


“Fuck yeah . . .” Spike moaned, pulling against the scarves that bound him spread-eagle on the bed, but they didn’t give.


“What about this tidbit? … Mmmmmm … sooo hard for me – does he like this?” Buffy continued as she trailed her hot tongue up the length of Spike’s thick shaft.


“Christ… fuck yes!” Spike exclaimed, his hips bucking up against her involuntarily as he raised his head up to look down his body and watch her.


“Ah, ah, ah … bad boys don’t get any treats!” Buffy warned him. “And I know you’re going to want your treat…”


Buffy licked slow circles around the swollen, mushroom head of his cock causing Spike to moan and struggle to remain still, lest he be denied his treat.


Buffy sucked the head of Spike’s cock into her mouth, swirling her tongue round and round and licking lightly across his slit, tasting his pre-cum as Spike struggled to remain still. “Tell me how that feels,” Buffy whispered to him before resuming her ministrations of his cock.


“Bloody wonderful … God, Buffy – you have no idea, luv. Ahhhh, God, FUCK! You’re killin' me!”


“Tell me what you want…” Buffy insisted in a low voice.


“You … always you, Buffy … kill me, pet – just make it slow and torturous then bring me with you to heaven …” Spike told her, his voice deep with desire.


“Mmmmm … that could be arranged,” Buffy smiled before sucking down slowly further and further on his cock, hollowing her cheeks and squeezing his stiff rod tightly between her lips – her hand stroking what wouldn’t fit into her hot mouth with slow, deliberate movements.


“Fuck, Buffy! God – yes … more, pet… please more!”


Buffy smiled around his cock, loving to hear him beg her for more, and started to increase her pace, sucking up and down faster and harder when someone banged on their bedroom door.


“Nobody’s home! Go away!” Spike shouted, but the banging continued.


“Fuck!” Buffy exclaimed, jumping up off the bed and flinging the door fully open to confront the interloper.


“WHAT?!” she screamed as soon as the door was open.


“Buffy! Oh – ummm … sorry to interrupt, luv,” Spike told her, dropping his eyes to the floor and away from her nude body. He rubbed one hand on the back of his neck as he studied the floor.


“I ….umm … had sumthin’ for ya.”


“Spike?” Buffy looked back at the bed, Spike was still tied up there, waiting for her to return … she looked back at the doorway where another Spike was standing looking more than a little uncomfortable. An old commercial played in her head, Double your pleasure, double your fun, and Buffy smiled at the new arrival.


“Why don’t you come on in, big boy, and show me what you’ve got for me,” she murmured seductively grabbing his arm and yanking him through the door.


“OI! Bloody hell! What about me?!” the Spike on the bed protested, pulling at his restraints.


“You wait! I’ll get back to you in a minute!” Buffy pointed a finger at him before turning back to the new arrival.


“You’re a bloody vixen, woman!” the Spike from the doorway told her, looking up at her, then quickly dropping his eyes back to the carpet. “Bloody hell – can you get some soddin’ clothes on?”





“I have a better idea, let’s get your pesky clothes off …” Buffy growled, dropping her hands to his belt and tugging on it.


“Buffy! Bloody hell, stop … I need to talk to you! Here I brought something for ya – see?” the clothed Spike told her as he stilled her hands with one of his and held an envelope out to her with the other, struggling to keep his eyes down on the carpet.


Buffy sighed and took the envelope from his hand, pausing a moment to turn his left hand over in hers, looking first at his palm, then the back of his hand. “You’re from Rome – you’re the other dimension’s Spike,” she said, more to herself than him when she didn’t see the scar that was left there from when her Spike had removed the burning amulet from around her neck in the Hellmouth.


“Yeah … do you think we could … umm, talk … alone … and maybe not completely starkers?” he asked her.


“Shit, Spike … this was a really good dream!” she told him, stomping her foot and folding her arms across her chest. “Why don’t you interrupt me when I’m dreaming about changing diapers?”


“Sorry …” Rome!Spike repeated, his eyes now glued to the floor.


“Fuck,” Buffy said, disappointed, looking back at the Spike still tied up on the bed. “That was a really good dream …”


Buffy stepped out of the bedroom door and into a scene from a Monet painting. She was suddenly dressed in a long, flowing Victorian gown and held an open parasol above her to block the mid-day sun. Buffy walked leisurely along a red brick path which cut through a field of freshly cut, green grass before it turned and hugged the shoreline of a crystal blue lake. There were birds singing in the trees, ducks quacking happily in the water and a soft breeze blowing, which cooled her skin.





Rome!Spike caught up with her a few seconds later and fell in step beside her. “Really sorry, pet …” he said again.


“It’s ok…” Buffy told him with a sigh. “Shall we sit?” she asked him, motioning to a bench beside the water.


“Yeah, brilliant,” Rome!Spike said, motioning for her to sit first and then joining her on the bench.


Buffy closed the parasol and laid it down on the bench beside her then opened the envelope that Rome!Spike had given her. Inside was a wedding invitation.




Elizabeth Anne Summers
and
William Weckerly
look forward to sharing with you
the joy and memories
of their wedding ceremony
Saturday, the twenty-sixth of June
two thousand and four
at five o'clock in the evening
~*~
Wolfram & Hart
Los Angeles, CA



“Oh, Spike!” Buffy exclaimed as she pulled him into a hug. “That’s so great! Congratulations!”


“Thanks, luv. Didn’t quite know how much postage to put on it to get it across dimensions,” he told her with a smile. “Been trying to get it to ya’ for a couple of weeks…do you ever sleep?”


Buffy laughed. “No, and neither will you when you have kids!”


“Well, don’t know ‘bout that … not really in the cards for vamps, now is it, luv?” Rome!Spike pointed out with a little frown.


“Keep the faith, Spike … it can happen – it happened to us – more than once!”


“What was the last one, pet? Boy or a girl?”


“Yep!” Buffy smiled at him. When he looked at her with confusion she laughed and clarified, “Twins – a boy and a girl!”


“Bloody hell! That’s fucking brilliant! Congrats all ‘round!” Rome!Spike exclaimed, pulling her back into a hug.


“You’re getting married in L.A.?” Buffy asked when he released her.


“Yeah … wanker won’t come to Rome…” Spike explained.


“You don’t need Angel to get married,” Buffy pointed out.


“No, but you need him to do the claim … he’s still the bloody clan leader,” Spike told her.


“The claim?! She’s doing the claim?!” Buffy asked, with wide eyes. Of course, she’s doing the claim – you did the claim! she thought, but it still surprised her.


“Yeah, amazin’ ain’t it?” Rome!Spike confirmed, with a small smile. “I owe you my life … in so many ways, Buffy – I don’t know how to ever repay you for whatcha did for me, sending me to Rome when I didn’t want to go. I hope you can come to the weddin’… you’re both invited.”


Buffy turned the invitation over in her hands, looking at it – next Saturday…that shouldn’t be a problem. They’d only be gone a few hours at the most. Lorne could watch the twins…Annie could go to the Magic Box with Giles. Buffy’s eyes settled on the front of the card … “Two Souls Intertwined,” it read. Two souls…intertwined souls…intertwined…souls…


Buffy’s eyes went wide. “Yes! We’ll definitely come – on one condition.”


“Anythin’,” Rome!Spike told her.


“You let us borrow Angel for a while to perform the claim on us, too.”


Rome!Spike’s eyebrows shot up. “Where’s your Angel? Tell me you dusted his ass! NO, wait! Tell me you dismembered him slowly, piece by piece and pulled his guts out and used ‘em for garters… THEN dusted his ass…” Rome!Spike said with a smirk – looking at her hopefully.


Buffy laughed. “Well, fun as that would’ve been – no – it’s kind of a long story, just suffice it to say he’s unavailable at the moment.”


“Ah piss,” Rome!Spike moaned, disappointed. “Do ya think it’ll work – our Angel’s not technically your clan leader…”


Buffy shrugged and held the invitation up for him to see. “‘Two souls intertwined,’” she read aloud. “I could find you in the other dimension through the bond – through our souls. It’s worth a shot.”


Rome!Spike shrugged. “Reckon so. Hey! We could do a double claim ceremony … God, that’ll frost the poofter’s balls!”


Buffy laughed. “I don’t want to intrude on your day…” she started.


“NO! No, it’ll be fucking brilliant!!”




**~**


Saturday, June 26th, 2004, 2pm:


“Ok, sweet girl – now you be good for Uncle Giles while we’re gone,” Buffy told Annie, kneeling down in front of her so they were eye to eye. “We’ll be back tonight to tuck you in, ok?”


Annie nodded. “I’ll be good! I’m playing Crash Bandicoot! I’m up to level twelve and have three gems!”


“Wow!” Buffy said, raising her eyebrows in awe. “That’s … really good …” Buffy told her, looking at Spike for help – she had no idea if that was good or not.


“Bloody brilliant,” Spike confirmed, picking Annie up and giving her a twirl in the air before setting her back lightly on her feet. “Love you, Niblett … you’ll have ta show me how them gems work when we get back, yeah?”


“Ok, I will! Bye! See you later!” Annie called, waving a hand at them as she hurried to the back of the Magic Box and the Play Station that waited there.


“I don’t know if I like her playing those games so much,” Buffy commented.


“It ain’t hurtin’ her – develops hand-eye coordination, motor skills and stuff like that,” Spike assured her.


“Yeah, so do things like – oh, I don’t know – playing catch! Whatever happened to playing catch out in the fresh air?”


“Nuthin’ wrong with this air … fresh air’s overrated,” Spike protested as Buffy waved to Giles before they turned and headed back down to the sewer entrance of the store. Spike was partial to Annie playing indoors … indoors he could spend time with her – he couldn’t play catch with her outside in the daylight, but he could play Crash Bandicoot with her on the Play Station.


They had left the twins in the care of Lorne and Tara – Willow was meeting them at the high school with the vials of Annie’s blood to open the portal that would take them to the other dimension where Buffy had gone before. The one where Angel worked for Wolfram & Hart and Spike and Buffy lived in Rome and trained new Slayers for the Council, which was now headed by Giles.


Willow wanted to come with Buffy and Spike – she’d been the Maid of Honor at their wedding and the original claim ceremony – she really wanted to be part of this one – kind of like a renewal of their vows, and Buffy was ecstatic over the idea. Buffy and Spike really hoped this would work to get the bond back … they both missed that feeling of being totally connected.


Rome!Spike told Buffy in the dream that the claim ceremony was going to be a private affair, just him and Rome!Buffy and Angel … Buffy hoped they wouldn’t mind Willow being there, too.


Willow was sitting on the stairs that led down from the main level of the high school into basement, when Buffy and Spike emerged from the tunnel that connected to the sewers.


“Hey, Wills – ready to go?” Buffy asked as they approached.


“Yep – got the vials,” Willow said, holding up four vials of blood. She handed Spike and Buffy each one and tucked one into her purse.


“Why so many?” Buffy asked Willow, holding the vial up that she’d given her.


“Just in case …” Willow responded as she stood up and started walking towards the room where the entrance to the Hellmouth was located.


“Just in case…? In case of what?” Buffy asked, as she and Spike followed her.


“In case – I don’t know, we get separated or one of the vials gets broken,” Willow shrugged. “It just seemed like we should each have our own way back – just in case. We are dealing with Angel, after all.”


“Red’s got a point there, Buffy – just ‘cause he’s all high ‘n mighty lord of the damned and whatnot over there, don’t mean he ain’t still a git,” Spike said, backing Willow up.


Buffy stopped walking and turned to face Spike. “Do you think we shouldn’t go?”


Willow stopped and turned to look back at the pair as they talked.


Spike pursed his lips together and considered her question. “Have ya had any Slayer dreams ‘bout it?” he asked her.


“No …” Buffy responded. “But that doesn’t seem to mean anything lately.”


Spike shrugged. “We both want the bond back, even if we dig Angel up out of his watery grave, he ain’t gonna do it … we’ve searched for months to find another way – this seems like our best chance,” Spike conceded. “Just watch your back … Angel may say he’s over you … or her … or whoever – but he’ll never be over ya’, luv. Pillock’s got a long bloody memory.”


Buffy nodded and they all started walking again.


“‘Course, he could do sumthing to give us an excuse to dust his sorry ass…” Spike pointed out with a smirk.


Buffy shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Let’s try to remember that we need him … at least for a while, ok?”


**~**

Nearly as soon as Buffy, Spike and Willow stepped through the portal that led into the offices of Wolfram & Hart in the other dimension, they were met with an invisible force that held them firmly in place – not allowing them to move or talk. Security guards ran scanners up and down their bodies and confiscated the vials of blood, as well as stakes from both Buffy and Spike. Assured that all contraband had been removed from their ‘guests’, the trio were released from the invisible jail.


“What the fuck was that!?” Buffy confronted the security guard that appeared to be in charge. “That’s ours – give it back!” she told him, holding her hand out towards the stakes and vials of blood that had been confiscated.


“Sorry, ma’am,” the guard told her. “Strict rules – no weapons and no human blood allowed on the premises. Zero tolerance. It’s for everyone’s safety and protection.”


“PFFFTTT!” Spike snorted. “It’s for Angel’s bloody safety and protection! What ‘bout our safety and protection … bloody rude if ya ask me!”


“You can keep the stakes,” Buffy said, trying to bargain with the guard, “but we need those vials back – they’re our ticket home.”


“Then you can have them back when you’re ready to go home. No human blood is allowed …” the guard started.


“Yeah, yeah … I heard you the first time,” Buffy interrupted him.


Buffy looked at Willow and Spike and asked, “What do you think?”


Willow and Spike both shrugged. “We haven’t found any other way to get the bond back, Buff,” Willow reminded her. “We’re already here …”


Buffy turned back to the security guard. “I’m leaving – give me mine back,” she said, holding her hand out.


“Buffy!” Spike and Willow both exclaimed at once, but Buffy held a hand up behind her back towards them telling them to wait.


The guard escorted her to the other side of the ‘security check’ and gave her one vial and one stake back. Buffy looked at Willow and Spike and shrugged – apparently they were telling the truth – they would give it back when they left.


“Ok – here, I changed my mind,” Buffy handed the contraband back to the guard and stepped back through the ‘security check’ to where Willow and Spike were waiting for her. “Let’s go,” Buffy said as she started walking towards what she knew would be Harmony’s reception desk.


“Buffy!! Gosh, look at you! You look … really … healthy!” Harmony told her, jumping up and coming out from behind her desk. “Spikey!” Harmony exclaimed when she saw Spike trailing behind Buffy.


“No, Harm, not Spikey,” Buffy told her, stepping in front of Harmony and blocking her path to Spike.





Harmony stopped and put her hands on her hips. “I wasn’t gonna break him, geez Buffy – you’re a bitch no matter what dimension you’re from.”


“It’s genetic,” Buffy told her. “The other Buffy wouldn’t let you get your fangs on her Spike, either, huh?”


Harmony just made a face and rolled her eyes. “They’re in there,” she told Buffy, waving her arm towards one of the conference rooms before turning around and going back behind her desk.


Buffy looked where Harmony had pointed. There was conference room on the other side of the large lobby, but all the blinds were drawn and the door was closed. The lobby was decorated for the wedding, with folding chairs set up in rows and an altar at the front with huge sprays of red roses mixed with white calla lilies on either side.


Buffy took Spike’s hand and they made their way over to the conference room with Willow trailing behind them. “Can you hear anything?” Buffy whispered to Spike when they got next to the room.


Spike listened a minute and nodded. “It’s them. Peaches ain’t in there.”


Buffy nodded and knocked on the door. Although she had mentally prepared herself to meet herself, it was still a shock for her when someone who looked almost exactly like her opened the door. Both Buffys stood perfectly still, not breathing, not moving, just looking at the other for what seemed a long time, their brains trying to processes the sight of themselves in real-life, three-D Technicolor.


“Breathe, luv,” Spike leaned down and whispered to Buffy and she snapped her head to the side and looked at him, as if she’d forgotten he was there, or anyone else was there, for that matter.


“Right!” Buffy said shaking her head as if to clear the cobwebs. Looking back at Rome!Buffy, she said, “Thanks so much for inviting us and letting us crash your claim ceremony.”


Rome!Willow had stepped up to the door to see what was going on and put a hand on Rome!Buffy’s back. “Buffy – breathe …”


“Breathing… I’m breathing!” Rome!Buffy told Rome!Willow before opening the door wider and stepping back to allow Buffy and Willow to enter the conference room. “Ummm … the guys are over there,” Rome!Buffy told Spike, pointing to a different room a couple of doors down. “We’re gonna be changing in here,” she pointed out.


“Nothing I ain’t seen before,” Spike said with a smirk as he started to follow Willow in.


“Spiiike!” both Buffy’s admonished him and Buffy pushed a hand against his chest, pushing him back out the door and towards the other room. “See you later,” Buffy told him as she turned him around, pointed him towards the other room and then closed the door behind him.


“This is weird, huh?” Buffy asked Rome!Buffy.


“Uh, yeah … like Twilight Zone music should start playing any minute …” Rome!Buffy agreed. “I understand I owe you … well, I owe you everything.” Rome!Buffy said with a small smile, pulling Buffy into a hug.


“It’s ok … it was my pleasure – I know… I know what you went through – I know what he went through, you guys had it tough on the Hellmouth – you deserve to be happy now,” Buffy told her, returning her hug.


As Rome!Willow and Willow talked in one corner of the room, the two Buffys talked about the past that they both remembered and about a past that only Buffy knew – she told Rome!Buffy about their children, about how their daughter was the Key and asked Rome!Buffy how Dawn was.


Buffy often wondered how Dawn from the dimension that didn’t have either Buffy or Spike in it was doing, but didn’t know how to find out. The portal to that dimension opened, along with the one to this one, each time they spilled Annie’s blood on that spot in the Hellmouth where the realities split, but how long it would take to find Dawn once in that dimension was completely unknown, she could be anywhere in the entire world.


She hoped that the weasel PTB messenger Whistler was telling the truth when he said that her friends would take care of Dawn in that dimension … surely they would, but she’d still love to know how that Dawn was doing. Had she stayed out of trouble? Was she doing well in school? Did she have a boyfriend? Had she fallen in love? Gotten her heart broken? There was no way to know.


Rome!Buffy told Buffy that her Dawn was doing well in school in Rome, she was really a whiz at picking up all kinds of languages, including demon languages, and was a real resource to the Council in transcribing ancient tomes. She sometimes made more money doing that than the Council paid her and Rome!Spike for training the new Slayers.


Everyone else was doing okay. Giles was happy to be back in England and felt really fulfilled being able to put the Council back in order properly. He had gotten back together with Olivia and they were planning on getting married next spring.


Giles had been leery about coming to L.A. and especially to “Evil, Inc.” headquarters for the ceremony, but Rome!Spike had assured them that Angel and his team were working from the inside to change W&H for the better. Angel would always be a pillock, but he was still on the side of good, at least he was the last time Rome!Spike saw him, before Buffy sent him to Rome.


Rome!Xander was still helping locate and retrieve new Slayers. He worked alone, mostly in South America, but had spent some time in Africa and Asia, as well. He was devastated and angry with himself and the world when Anya didn’t make it out of Sunnydale with them.


He regretted abandoning her at the altar even more after that … he’d hurt her so badly and now he could never make it up to her. Her mortal life was cut so short and he felt like he’d only brought pain into it, when he should’ve been the one to bring her joy and happiness.


Rome!Xander seemed to be getting better little by little, but he’d never forgive himself for breaking Anya’s heart … he wished he could tell her that he loved her one more time. He immersed himself in the work, but rarely came back to England himself, preferring a life of relative solitude. Rome!Buffy and Dawn tried to talk to him on the satellite phone at least once a week to make sure he was ok. When Rome!Buffy told him about her engagement to Rome!Spike, Rome!Xander wished them well.


“Do you love him?” he’d asked her on the phone when she told him the news.


“Yes, Xand … I do love him … I know, I know you don’t like Spike …” Rome!Buffy started.


“No, Buffy – if you love him, I know he loves you – I wish you both nothing but happiness. You deserve to be happy, Buffy – life’s too short to not be happy,” Rome!Xander advised her.


Rome!Willow was just getting over a bad breakup with Kennedy … they’d been together through some very stressful times, but when things settled down, it turned out they didn’t really have that much in common, after all.


Rome!Willow had caught Kennedy cheating on her in Rio de Janeiro a couple of months ago. Rome!Willow left Rio and came back to England, heartbroken and feeling more than a little betrayed and unsure of herself.


Now she worked with the Coven there helping to tutor young witches, and was especially interested in helping young women who had gotten addicted to magicks. She hoped she’d be able to help them learn how to practice magicks without falling prey to its wiles. The Coven was especially happy to have her in that role, since she could relate so well to these young women, having gone through that herself not so long ago. It seemed to be helping Rome!Willow get her confidence back and raise her spirits. Often helping others is the best way to help yourself.


Andrew had moved to England from Rome not long after Rome!Spike arrived, and was working on documenting the Council’s history and current activities for future generations. He was taking what few old tomes, Watcher’s diaries and other documents they could salvage after Caleb blew up the Watcher’s Council Headquarters, and scanning it all onto digital media. He then made sure it was stored on several different servers all over the world, to keep it safe from sabotage.


Yeah, he was still the King Geek of Geeksville, but he was contributing to the greater good and staying out of Rome!Spike’s hair. Rome!Spike and Rome!Buffy traveled to England for about three days every month, which was about all that Rome!Spike could handle of Andrew at a time.


Rome!Buffy asked Buffy about the claim and how the bond worked and Buffy went over it with her in detail … she assured her she wouldn’t be sorry for doing it.


As the time approached for the wedding ceremony and the guests began arriving, the two Buffys peeked out of the blinds in the conference room to see who had arrived. There weren’t a lot of people that Rome!Buffy still knew here, other than Angel’s crew, but there were some Slayers and Watcher’s in the area that she’d invited and some old friends she knew from when she lived in L.A. and some of her Mom’s family.


In addition, Giles had come over from England to give her away and Andrew insisted that he couldn’t miss this – he was videotaping it for them “for posterity” he’d said, and, of course, Rome!Willow was here as her Maid of Honor. Dawn had wanted to come, but was in the middle of finals and Angel wouldn’t allow Rome!Buffy to move the date back, so Dawn wasn’t here.


“OH MY GOD!” Buffy exclaimed as they peeked out of the blinds at the arriving guests. Buffy turned to Rome!Buffy, dropping the blind closed with a loud snap. “You invited RILEY!?” she asked with wide eyes.


Rome!Buffy rolled her eyes and peeked through the blinds as Riley Finn and his wife, Samantha, took a seat on the ‘bride’s’ side of the aisle. “I didn’t invite Riley, Spike invited Riley,” Rome!Buffy told her, shaking her head; she couldn’t believe he’d actually come.


“Oh, God – that’s … priceless! Spike must love being able to rub his nose in this! Man, you should hear what happened with Riley in my dimension … Oh, never mind – you don’t want to know that,” Buffy told Rome!Buffy with a sigh, sure that Spike was, at that moment, taking delight in telling Rome!Spike exactly what happened with Riley in their dimension right then, down to the last detail – she didn’t need the bond to know that.


**~**


Spike walked over to the room Rome!Buffy had indicated, knocked on the door and waited. When the door opened, he was greeted by Rome!Giles – who looked a bit older than their Giles, there was more grey in his hair and more worry lines on his face.


“Watcher,” Spike greeted Giles, extending his right hand.


“Spike,” Giles said, taking his hand in a firm handshake.


“Is Buffy with you?” Giles asked, looking behind Spike.


“Yeah, and Red. Went in with the girls … they kicked me out,” Spike told him as Giles backed up and allowed Spike entry into the office.


“Spike … let me introduce you to, well – Spike …” Giles said as Rome!Spike approached them.


The two vampires studied each other – it would’ve been like looking into a mirror, if either of them actually had a reflection in a mirror – they looked almost exactly the same. If it weren’t for Spike having let his curls grow out a bit for Buffy, and the lack of a scar on the left hand of Rome!Spike, they would’ve been indistinguishable.


Rome!Spike extended his hand and said, “I see your Buffy likes the curls, too …”


“Yeah, I’m love’s bitch,” Spike told him, shaking his hand.


“No shame in that now, is there?” Rome!Spike asked him with a smirk. “At least you’re man enough to admit it.”


“OH MIO DIO!” Andrew exclaimed, dropping his video camera onto a chair and running up to the two Spikes. “There’s two! Two Spikes! It’s Spike in stereo!” he cried, as he put one arm around each Spike’s neck and pulled them both into hugs at the same time.


“And I believe you know Andrew,” Giles interjected sarcastically.


“Bloody hell, Andrew!” both Spikes exclaimed as they unwrapped his arms from their necks.


“Oh this is too much… I think…God…” Andrew started, his voice breaking, before pressing a hand to his mouth, closing his eyes and shaking his head slowly back and forth.


“What the bloody hell is wrong with you, Andrew?” Rome!Spike asked him. “You knew they were coming.”


When Andrew opened his eyes, they were glistening with emotion. “I’m just…overwhelmed…two of you…two golden, hard bodied heroes – in love with your mortal enemy… the vampyre and the Slayer of the Vampyres, a preordained love … Two creatures of the night, willing to sacrifice everything to be with her and keep her safe … true rebels… now living in the light of love…”


“Bloody hell, will you please stop!” Rome!Spike admonished Andrew.


“… bravely fulfilling your destiny to save the world time and time again, to keep us mere mortals safe from the ravages of the demons, to bring light to the creatures of the night, happiness to the forlorn, love to the loveless… now meeting across time and space … well, across dimensions, anyway…”


“ANDREW!” both Spikes yelled at him, Rome!Spike grabbed him by the shoulders and shook Andrew to get him to snap out of his double-Spike induced trance.


“Oh…sorry … I just got a little overwhelmed…” Andrew stopped and looked at Spike for a long moment. “Love the curls,” he told him.


Spike rolled his eyes. “Just bloody fucking wonderful,” he muttered to himself.


“Don’t you have to go film something, Andrew?” Rome!Spike asked him. “You know – out there?” he asked, waving his arm at the door.


“Well, it’s not actually film, you see, it’s digital …” Andrew started but was stopped by the annoyed look on Rome!Spike’s face. “Oh, yes, of course! Silly me! Yes, I should get ready, film the guests arriving and make sure everything is ready for the ceremony…excuse me,” Andrew told them as he went and retrieved his video camera and headed for the door.


Andrew stopped when he got to the door to turn around and gaze dreamily back at the two Spikes who were now talking quietly off to the side of the room. “Two Spikes! Could the world get any better!?” he exclaimed with glee, bouncing up and down slightly on his toes, before opening the door and heading out into the lobby.


**~**


As the time grew near for the wedding ceremony, Buffy, Willow and Rome!Willow helped Rome!Buffy get dressed. She wore a simple white, strapless, floor length satin gown. Her hair was pulled up in a twist at the back of her head and adorned with baby’s breath and she had on simple ruby stud earrings which matched the red roses that she would carry in her bouquet.


“Something old,” Rome!Willow announced holding out the skull ring that Rome!Spike had given Rome!Buffy so many years ago when they were under Willow’s “my will be done” spell.


Rome!Buffy laughed and took the ring from Rome!Willow and slid it on the ring finger of her right hand.


“Your dress is something new,” Rome!Willow pointed out before continuing the ritual, “Something blue … the traditional garter.” Rome!Willow smiled holding up the frilly, blue garter to Rome!Buffy, who took it and slid it up her leg above the knee.


“And something borrowed,” Buffy said, stepping forward and removing her ruby and diamond necklace that Spike had given her for Christmas just before the battle with The First Evil. “William’s heart,” Buffy told her as she placed the necklace around Rome!Buffy’s neck and fastened it in the back.


**~**


Buffy and Spike stood at the back of the room as the ceremony unfolded in front of them. It was more than a little surreal, basically watching themselves get married. Spike stood behind Buffy and held her against him with one arm across her collar bone and the other around her waist as they listened to Lorne, the Lorne from this dimension who also worked for W&H, perform the marriage ceremony for Rome!Buffy and Rome!Spike.





“We have come together here in celebration of the joining together of Buffy and William. As their souls have been intertwined, so now shall their love and their lives be joined by the bond of marriage. Without love, life is nothing; without love, death has no redemption.


“Buffy, is it true that you come of your own freewill and accord?” Lorne asked, looking at Rome!Buffy.


“Yes, it is true,” Rome!Buffy said with a small smile.


“With whom do you come and whose blessings accompany you?” Lorne asked.


“She comes with me, her Watcher and her friend, and is accompanied by all of her family's and friend’s blessings,” Giles responded.


“Please join hands with your betrothed and listen to that which I am about to say,” Lorne began and Rome!Spike and Rome!Buffy faced each other and joined hands.


“Above you are the stars, below you are the stones, as time doth pass, remember...


“Like a stone should your love be firm, like a star should your love be constant and bright. Let the powers of the mind and of the intellect guide you in your marriage, let the strength of your wills bind you together, let the power of love and desire make you happy, and the strength of your dedication make you inseparable.


“Be close, but allow freedom. Possess one another, yet never be possessive. Have patience with one another, for storms will come, but they will pass as long as you believe in each other and in your love.


“Be free in giving affection and warmth. Have no fear and let not the ways of the unenlightened give you unease, for you are each other’s strength.


“William, I have not the right to bind thee to Buffy, only you have this right. If it be your wish, say so at this time and place your ring in her hand.”


“It is my wish,” Rome!Spike said, looking into Rome!Buffy’s eyes and handing her a plain gold wedding band.


“Buffy, if it be your wish for William to be bound to you, place the ring on his finger.”


Rome!Buffy slid the band onto Rome!Spike’s left ring finger, keeping her green eyes locked onto his blue.


“Buffy, I have not the right to bind thee to William, only you have this right. If it be your wish, say so at this time and place your ring in his hand,” Lorne continued when Rome!Buffy had finished sliding the ring onto Rome!Spike’s hand.


“It is my wish,” Rome!Buffy affirmed, her eyes still locked on Rome!Spike’s as she pressed her wedding band into his palm.


“William, if it be your wish for Buffy to be bound to you, place the ring on her finger,” Lorne instructed.


Rome!Spike took the gold band that Rome!Buffy had handed him and slid it gently onto her left ring finger.


“William, please take your vows,” Lorne instructed when the ring was on Rome!Buffy’s hand.


Rome!Spike took a deep breath before beginning his vows, but never broke the bond their eyes had formed as he recited the vows they had written together.


“I, William Weckerly, by the love that resides within my heart, take thee, Buffy Summers, to my hand, my heart, and my spirit, to be my chosen one. To desire thee and be desired by thee, to possess thee, and be possessed by thee, without sin or shame, for naught can exist in the purity of my love for thee. I promise to love thee wholly and completely without restraint, in sickness and in health, in plenty and in poverty, in life and beyond, where we shall meet, remember, and love again. I shall not seek to change thee in any way. I shall respect thee, thy beliefs, thy people, and thy ways as I respect myself.”


**~**


“Oh God, it’s so beautiful…” Andrew said to Buffy and Spike as he stood at the back of the room next to them, dabbing at his eyes with one hand and holding a video camera with the other. “I helped them write those vows…” he told Spike and Buffy.


Spike and Buffy looked at him with raised eyebrows; Spike knew very well that he’d never let Andrew help him write his wedding vows.


“Well, maybe helped is too strong a word…” Andrew admitted under their scrutiny. “But I typed them up for them … copied them off the napkins they wrote them on … it was no easy task!” Andrew defended. “The napkins were all covered in spicy Buffalo wing sauce and beer…”


**~**


As Rome!Spike finished, Rome!Buffy also took a deep breath to steady her nerves before beginning her vows to him.


“I, Buffy Anne Summers, by the life that courses within my blood, and the love that resides within my heart, take thee, William Weckerly, to my hand, my heart, and my spirit to be my chosen one. To desire and be desired by thee, to possess thee, and be possessed by thee, without sin or shame, for naught can exist in the purity of my love for thee. I promise to love thee wholly and completely without restraint, in sickness and in health, in plenty and in poverty, in life and beyond, where we shall meet, remember, and love again. I shall not seek to change thee in any way. I shall respect thee, thy beliefs, thy people, and thy ways as I respect myself.”


“By the power vested in me by the State of California, I now pronounce you husband and wife.” Lorne announced. “May your love so endure that its flame remains a guiding light unto you.”


Rome!Spike and Rome!Buffy seemed to be in a trance, held captive in the depths of each other’s eyes, neither one moved or seemed to have heard what Lorne had said.


“You can kiss her now, Spikester,” Lorne whispered to him, touching Rome!Spike’s arm lightly, which broke the trance he was in. Rome!Spike looked at Lorne when he touched him and Lorne widened his eyes and tilted his head towards Rome!Buffy. “Kiss her now,” he repeated.


Rome!Spike smiled and pulled Rome!Buffy into his arms as he took her lips in a passionate kiss which Rome!Buffy returned as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

{{
Hear the song at the following YouTube Link:

"Mendelssohn’s Wedding March", performed with a twist
}}





Music seemed to come down from the heavens and surrounded the couple as Mendelssohn’s classic “Wedding March”, from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer’s Night Dream”, began to play, with a small, Spikey twist – it was an electric guitar / metal version of the 1842 composition. All the guests stood up and showered the couple with fragrant, red rose petals as Rome!Spike and Rome!Buffy, now Mr. and Mrs. Weckerly, made their way, hand in hand, back down the aisle.


When they reached the back of the room where Spike and Buffy were standing, Rome!Spike grabbed Buffy’s hand and pulled her and Spike along with them as they went into one of the conference rooms that had been set up for the private claim ceremony. The two Willows followed them into the room and shut the door behind them.


Angel was already there waiting for them. He was sitting in a chair and looking out the window with his back to one end of a long conference room table. He spun the chair around and stood up when they entered the room, their good mood and smiles in sharp contrast to the broody and dark look on his face.


“Buffy … uh… Buffys,” Angel started, looking from one to the other of the Buffys in the room. “Are you sure you want to do this?”





Buffy stayed silent, she knew that she wanted to do this, but she didn’t want to answer for her counterpart from this dimension.


“Angel …” Rome!Buffy started softly, moving towards him. “I’m sorry. You were my first love, I’ll always love you – but when I lost Spike, I thought my soul had been ripped out of my body – I felt empty, I felt utterly alone, I wanted to die – if it weren’t for Dawn … well, I don’t know what I would’ve done. As much as it hurt losing you, this was a thousand times worse. I know now, Spike and I were always meant to be together – he’s my destiny. This is what I want to do.”


Angel took a deep breath and nodded slowly. He reached down and picked up an ancient tome from the table and waited for the two pairs of lovers to ready themselves for the claim ceremony. Both Spikes stripped their coats and shirts off as the two Willows handed their respective Buffy a ceremonial dagger.


When everyone was in place and ready, Angel read the claim ceremony from the torn and tattered pages of the book.


“At rector of prosapia Aurelius , EGO, Angelus, exspectata Buffy Anne Summers-Weckerly, The Slayer. Suus hostilis es nostri quod nostri es ipsa, suus pugna es nostri quod nostri es ipsa. is est iam of dominus versus , quod porro ut versus William the Bloody. Cruor ut cruor sic vadum is exsisto.”


As if they’d rehearsed it, both Buffys moved in tandem, using their daggers to cut a deep slice just where their Spike’s neck and shoulder met.


Spike pulled Buffy to him, brought the demon up and buried his fangs into her neck as she clamped her mouth over the bleeding gash in his. Willow retrieved the dagger from Buffy’s hand as Spike’s fangs pierced his wife’s skin. Neither were aware any longer of the other people in the room, not of Willow or Angel or their counterparts from this dimension – they were aware only of each other, the coppery taste of the other’s blood as it flowed into their mouths and the feeling of euphoria that inevitably came with it.





Spike’s arms encircled Buffy as he relished the sweet taste of her Slayer blood flowing over his fangs and across his tongue. He could feel her body respond to him as her legs quivered and her knees began to give. He held her body tightly against his, widening his stance and supporting her full weight as he sipped at her bounty and felt her sucking passionately at his neck.


Spike’s erection strained against his dress pants and pressed against Buffy’s hip as he held her to him, determined to do what he hadn’t done during the first claim ceremony … bring her to climax right there – there were no Watchers or mothers here this time.


Buffy sucked at Spike’s neck, the feel and taste of his blood was as intoxicating at that moment as the feel of his fangs and lips sucking at her own blood. Buffy felt her legs quiver and her knees begin to buckle and she wrapped her arms around Spike’s neck for support. She could feel his strong arms around her, holding her body against his and she knew where he was taking her – to their little piece of heaven, and she didn’t fight it.


Buffy’s orgasm built quickly as Spike held her against him, his fangs were an aphrodisiac to her, just as her blood was to him. Buffy felt her climax building from deep within her. Like a symphony orchestra filled a music hall with anticipation and suspense as it built to the dramatic crescendo, Buffy’s orgasm did the same in her body. Flowing out from her core, from her very soul, and slowly building … building higher, building louder, until it filled her with the music of a thousand symphony orchestras all reaching a crescendo at once.


Buffy lost all ability to form a coherent thought as the music of her climax engulfed her with its beauty and power. She withdrew her mouth from Spike’s neck to draw in a deep, ragged breath before allowing the music that resonated through her to escape her body in a long, soulful scream as Spike continued to suck softly at her neck and support her fully in his arms.


Buffy’s body bucked and trembled against his and her scream of release filled the room … but it wasn’t alone…Rome!Buffy’s screams joined hers and together they encompassed the whole room, and everyone in it, with their passion for Spike.


As Spike felt Buffy coming down from heaven, he morphed back into his human face and licked her wound gently to stop the bleeding and close it. As soon as she was able to think clearly again, even before her knees regained their strength, Buffy concentrated on opening the bond as she’d learned to do before.


Spike? Did it work? Can you hear me? Buffy sent to him.


Bloody brilliant! It worked! God, Buffy, it’s back! Spike replied back to her.


As Buffy’s legs started working again, she pulled herself back up to standing on her own, her arms still around his neck and Spike’s arms still holding her against him. Buffy pulled herself up onto her toes and captured his lips in a passionate kiss. Spike picked her up until her feet lifted off the floor and returned it with just as much joy and zeal as he felt from her.


I love you, Buffy … Spike told her through the bond.


“I love you, too, Spike,” Buffy mumbled aloud against his lips before recapturing them with hers. More than words could ever say …


**~**


{{
Hear the song associated with this chapter at the following YouTube Link:

"More Than Words" by Extreme
}}

NOTES (These are the same notes that are on the main story page, so if you've read them there, you don't have to read them again here):

This story takes place in the Rome!Universe (where Angel and his team work for W&H - where our Buffy visited before and sent Spike to Rome to be with the Buffy in that dimension. It was canon up until Buffy did that)

Where characters cross over (where the same character from both universes are in the story), I will differentiate the ones from the Rome Universe by calling them Rome!Spike or Rome!Buffy, for example. If, however, only one of the characters is present, then I won't make that distinction ... I hope it doesn't get too confusing. If it does - please email me and let me know so I can change it in future chapters or try to clarify.

(In case you've forgotten, the Angel and Giles here now are from the Rome!Universe as are all of Angel's people)

**

Keep in mind the following:

Rome!Spike was sent away from W&H and to Rome by our Buffy before the following happened:

-Lindsey attempted to take down Angel and W&H by releasing the demon and, in the process, losing his tattoos that kept him hidden from W&H.

-Fred’s body was taken over by Illyria

-In the new Rome!Universe, Wesley didn't have to take Illyria's power to control time away ... she wasn't sparing with Spike (as she was in canon on a daily basis), so the power overload didn't occur. (That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!)

(I know all that stuff is on the main page, but I just added it here as a reminder)

**

Saturday, June 26th, 2004 in the Rome!Universe


As both pairs of warriors kissed after the completion of the claim ceremony, the whole room they were in was suddenly surrounded in a swirling white light. When they looked up, a partition that divided the room in half, which had been closed when they entered the room, was now open. On the other side of that now open partition stood several people…or demons, it was hard to tell with the swirling lights behind them casting their faces in shadow.


“What the fuck, Angel?” Buffy asked, pulling out of Spike’s arms and moving towards the dark vampire.


“It’s a glamour,” Angel informed her. “It won’t hurt you.”





“And what’s it supposed to be hiding and from who?” Rome!Buffy asked, moving with Buffy towards Angel.


“Whom,” Angel corrected her.


“Huh?” both Buffys asked him with confusion.


“Hiding from whom,” Angel clarified, stressing the “m” on the end.


“What are you hiding with the glamour and from whom?” Rome!Buffy repeated, stressing the “m” as he had, her hands going to her hips.


Buffy looked around at the people who were now sitting at the conference table. There were people she knew: Lorne, Wesley, Gunn and Lindsey … Lindsey!? What was he doing here? Wasn’t W&H after him in this dimension? Now he’s working for … for W&H and for Angel?


Buffy furrowed her brow and set those questions aside for the moment as she continued to scan the faces at the table. There was a blue woman dressed in leather – she looked like a dominatrix who catered to people with a blue fetish – what do you call people with a blue fetish? … but she also looked familiar … FRED! It was Fred, but … not. More questions popped into Buffy’s mind and she kept pushing them aside as her eyes settled on the last person to take their seat at the table.


The last person was a blonde woman who sat next to Lindsey, but Buffy couldn’t see her face because her head was turned towards Lindsey and her hair hung down, covering most of her features. The woman was whispering something in Lindsey’s ear. Buffy noted that Lindsey had laid his hand over hers as she rested it on the table – Lindsey’s girlfriend? Wife?


When the woman turned back to look towards the head of the table where Angel was standing, Buffy felt her heart jump into her throat. “Darla!?” Buffy exclaimed with wide eyes.


All the people standing on Buffy’s side of the table turned to see what she was looking at. The room was suddenly filled with surprised gasps from the Willows, “Bloody Hells” from the Spikes and a “What the fuck?” from Rome!Buffy.


Darla smiled sweetly across the table. “Nice to see you all again, too,” she started. “Although, William, I must say … I thought we raised you better, dear boy … The Slayer? Where’s Drusilla?”


Neither Spike answered her question, instead, Rome!Spike said, “See you’ve come up in the world, Darla … not far, though … traded Angel Boy for Tattoo Boy, have you?”


Darla tilted her head, keeping a sweet smile on her face and laying her free hand on top of Lindsey’s where it covered hers on the table. “Well, I guess things have changed for all of us, William.”


Buffy turned back to face Angel. “Would you like to explain this now? Or are you just going to play Grammar Police all day?” she asked, her hands going to her hips, matching Rome!Buffy’s. “I think there are a few things here that need explaining.”


“Please sit down …” Angel told them, waving his arm at the empty chairs on the opposite side of the conference table from where his entourage sat.


“We’ll stand,” Rome!Buffy told him, folding her arms across her chest.


The two Spikes and two Willows had moved up next to their respective Buffys and they all looked suspiciously at Angel, awaiting his explanation.


Angel sighed and leaned forward against the back of a chair as he stood at the head of the conference table. “Fine,” he started. “Since you don’t want to sit, I’ll make this short. We’re taking down evil … you’re going to help us.”


Rome!Spike stepped forward past Rome!Buffy until he was within arm’s reach of Angel. “I think I know just where ta start with that mission, gramps,” he said with a smirk as he drew a fist back and swung at Angel, catching Angel in the jaw and sending him staggering back against the windows behind him.


In a second, the blue-Fred was on Rome!Spike. She grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him back against the far wall where he hit with a loud thud. Rome!Buffy advanced on her and blue-Fred tossed her back to join Rome!Spike on the opposite side of the room.


“You cannot defeat me. I am an ancient one, a god, I am Illyria … you are nothing but ants. Do not attempt harm on Angel again or you will feel my full wrath,” blue-Fred told them.


“Whatsa matter, Peaches, can’t fight your own battles anymore? Gotten old and soft sittin’ behind a desk, have ya?” Rome!Spike asked Angel as he struggled back to his feet. “Why don’t you put your pit bull back in ‘er cage?!”


“We’ve fought and won against gods before,” Buffy informed Illyria. “They’re not so tough, you just have to know where to hit,” Buffy said as she moved forward quickly, dropped down and swung her leg out in a sweep kick to knock Illyria off her feet.


Illyria waved her hand and slowed time … everyone in the room moved in slow motion as Illyria stepped easily away from Buffy before time resumed its normal speed. Without making the contact that Buffy was anticipating, she sprawled on the floor as time sped back up.





“Oh ho ho!” Spike exclaimed. “The Blue Baddie is a trickster! Didn’t your mum ever teach you that cheaters never win?” he asked as he spun with a roundhouse kick and connected with Illyria’s midsection. Illyria didn’t move or even flinch when Spike hit her, but tilted her head to the side and watched him as he also sprawled on the ground, as if he’d just kicked a brick wall.


“When the world met me, it shuddered, groaned. It knelt at my feet …” Illyria informed them as Spike got to his knees and started to stand back up.


Spike looked up at her, bleeding from the mouth. “Dear Penthouse, I don't normally write letters like this, but …”




Illyria punched Spike in the face, sending him back down onto his ass. By now, Rome!Buffy and Rome!Spike had gotten back up and, along with Buffy, they were surrounding Illyria. Buffy helped Spike back up to his feet and the four warriors stood in a circle around the ancient one.


“You can’t defeat her,” Angel informed them, leaning back against the glass windows and folding his arms across his chest. “You might as well stop before you get hurt … you’re no good to me if you’re hurt … or worse.”


Buffy turned back towards Angel. “What the fuck kind of game are you playing?!” she asked him, moving back towards him. Illyria waved her hand and slowed time again as she stepped easily in front of Buffy, blocking her path to Angel.


When time resumed, Buffy stopped short to keep from running into the ‘blue baddie’. “Fred … Fred, are you in there?” Buffy asked Illyria looking closely at her face.


“She’s not Fred, Buffy … Fred’s gone,” Wesley informed her from where he sat at the table.


“It’s not a game, Buffy …” Angel answered her original question, pushing up off the wall of windows and moving to Illyria’s side where Buffy could see him.


“Then what do you call it?” Buffy asked, incredulous. “Fred’s all blue and godly … Darla’s all un-dusty … Lindsey’s all un-hidy … this isn’t just another dimension, it IS the fucking Twilight Zone!”


The other warriors joined Buffy and waited for Angel to explain himself.


“I call it saving the world … again. But this is the big one, Buffy … the apocalypse to end all apocalypses … that’s why I need you.” Angel stopped and waved his hand out to encompass not only Buffy, but the whole room and everyone in it. “I need all of you to help with this one – we’re taking down the Black Thorn … we’re basically taking down evil.”


“OH – you want us to help you get that Shanshu bugaboo!” Rome!Spike accused. “You want to be a real boy! Well then, pardon my French, but you can suck my balls! We ain’t helpin’ ya’!"





“Nooo,” Angel responded as if talking to an insolent child. “That’s got nothing to do with it.”


“Did you forget who beat your ass out for that, old man?” Rome!Spike continued, ignoring Angel. “Me! You ain’t got what it takes to Shanshu! Why don’ you give this whole thing up and let everybody go back to their own lives?”


“Spike, first of all, you beat me out for a swig of warm Mountain Dew in a fancy cup! Second of all, this has got nothing to do with the fucking Shanshu!” Angel replied angrily. “It was a vision from the PTB, from Cordy … it’s about doing what’s right – or did that soul of yours not come with an instruction manual?”


Buffy narrowed her eyes, her hands clinched and unclenched at her sides as she listened to Angel and Rome!Spike talk. When Angel paused, she said, “This is NOT our fight, Angel … we,” Buffy waved her arm at Spike and Willow, “aren’t even from this freaked-out dimension … we have our own fights, our own apocalypses … apocali … whatever.”





“I didn’t know you were coming until it was too late to stop it, Buffy. It doesn’t matter – you’re here now, you’re staying. Welcome to the Hotel California.”


Buffy was past Illyria before Illyria knew she was moving, grabbing Angel by the throat and shoving him back against the glass windows. As Illyria turned to defend Angel, the two Willows held their hands toward her in unison and ordered, “Somnus!” and Illyria dropped to the floor, unconscious.


Buffy banged Angel’s head against the glass, attempting to break it and let unfiltered sunlight into the room, but the glass was reinforced and wouldn’t break. The rest of Angel’s people jumped up from the table when Illyria dropped to the ground and rushed towards Buffy and Angel, but Spike, Rome!Spike and Rome!Buffy stepped forward and blocked their path.


“We have a fucking family! We have children!” Buffy screamed at Angel as she continued banging his head against the glass windows. “This is NOT OUR FIGHT! We are leaving NOW!”


“Dust me … and … you’ll … never … leave,” Angel told her in the moments his head wasn’t banging against the glass. “We can … win … you … can … go … home … after.”


“WOOD!” Buffy screamed back over her shoulder to Spike. “GET ME A FUCKING STAKE!”


Buffy stopped banging Angel’s head against the glass and shoved him down onto the floor. Still holding him around the neck, she moved on top of him and pinned his body down with her hips. “You have no idea what happens to people that fuck with my family,” she told Angel with a deadly calm voice. “She,” Buffy said, tilting her head back towards Rome!Buffy, “may still love you, but I don’t.”


After scanning the room for anything wooden that would serve as a stake and not finding anything, Spike smashed his fist down on the end of the conference table, splintering it. He retrieved the largest piece and handed it to Buffy over her shoulder.


“Dust me and I assure you, you’ll never see your family again,” Angel repeated as Buffy pressed the make-shift stake against his chest. “You think I didn’t take precautions? You know me better. The only way back is forward, through the fight … walk through the fire, Buffy … it’s the only way home.”


Rome!Buffy stepped forward and placed a hand on Buffy’s shoulder. “If he says he took precautions … he did,” Rome!Buffy told Buffy softly.


Buffy, it’s Angel … he can work a plan, luv … he’s the fucking king of planning … he could make a fortune givin’ bloody seminars! Spike sent to her mentally as everyone in the room held their breath and waited.


Buffy drew the stake up above her head, she could feel Spike through their bond … half of him seemed to be cheering her on – dust his sorry ass … the other half was worried that if she did, they’d never get home, never see Annie, Dani or Billy again. Buffy smashed the stake down, veering off to the right at the last second, driving it into Angel’s shoulder with all her strength.


“I won’t fucking miss next time,” she whispered to Angel as he screamed in pain and clutched at his shoulder. “You better be telling the truth or you’ll wish with your entire heart and two-bit soul that I had dusted you.”


**~**


With the glamour still in place around the room, the warriors, along with the witches, as well as Giles, who had come in to see what was taking so long, sat across the conference room table from Angel’s inner circle, including Illyria, who had awoken from the magick induced sleep that the two Willow’s had put her in. They listened while Angel told them what had been going on, about a vision that Cordy had given him just before she died and about the Black Thorn.


“So,” Buffy asked when Angel finished talking, “This Black Thorn thingy is the Senior Partners? You’re talking about taking down Wolfram & Hart and the Senior Partners?”






Lindsey leaned forward in his chair and answered her question. “The Senior Partners are on a different plane of existence - untouchable. Down here...it's the players in the circle, in the Black Thorn, that make things happen. Angel’s been given the keys to the chocolate factory … he’s in the circle.”


“And just how did our fine boy Liam manage such a feat?” Rome!Spike asked, looking at Angel.


“I had to convince them that I was evil …” Angel started.


“PFFFTT! That wouldn’t a taken too much actin’ on your part, lucky for you,” Spike interjected.


“You know, Spike, one of you is bad enough, but two of you put me in a really bad mood …” Angel told Spike with a glare.


“Ah, well, we wouldn’t want that, now would we? Angel all dark and broody … tsk, tsk …” Spike retorted.


Rome!Buffy held her hands up to quiet everyone before Angel could respond to Spike. “Answer the question – how exactly did you convince them that you were evil…assuming you’re not – which at this point, I’m not so sure about,” Rome!Buffy informed Angel.


“You know what happens when you assume, luv … ya make an ASS outta U and ME …” Rome!Spike muttered under his breath.


Rome!Buffy put her hand on Rome!Spike’s arm and gave him a look that quieted him, before turning her attention back to Angel.


“He’s done some questionable things the last few weeks … since getting the vision and the realization of how to take the Black Thorn down,” Wesley answered Rome!Buffy. “We plan to make those things right and kill as many of the Black Thorn brethren as we can before…” Angel shot Wes a look that stopped him from saying any more.


“Before…? Before what?” Buffy asked Wesley. “Before we all die? Before the Senior Partners come after us with lightning bolts and fire and brimstone rains down from the sky? Is that the kind of thing we’re trying to get this done before?”


“Possibly…” Wes answered quietly.


“You bloody pillock! You knew this was a suicide mission when you invited us here – that’s why we couldn’ change the soddin’ date! You had this all planned, didnchya?!” Rome!Spike accused, standing up and moving towards Angel. “Just couldn’ stand the fact that we’re together and happy … that’s really what this is all about innit?”


Buffy put a hand out and grabbed Rome!Spike’s arm as he passed her, pulling him back away from Angel. “If anyone’s gonna dust Angel, it’ll be me …” she informed Rome!Spike as she yanked hard on his arm and sent him back towards his chair.


“So, tell me, Angel, this fire that you want us to walk through to get home … that would be literal fire, then, I suppose …” Buffy asked.


Angel shrugged. “We don’t know … when the Senior Partners figure out what’s going on, we aren’t sure what they’ll rain down on us … fire, brimstone – possibly … the armies of hell, more likely.”


“So, remind me again why I shouldn’t just dust you right now and fuck this whole thing?” Buffy asked Angel, folding her arms across her chest.


“With your help, it doesn’t have to be a suicide mission – with two powerful witches, two Slayers and … well … two annoying vampires, in addition to us,” Angel waved his arm at his people to demonstrate the ‘us’ he was talking about, “I think we can win.


“If that’s not enough to convince you, then keep this in mind: It’s already begun … the first stone has been cast … and these people already have their assignments,” Angel said, sweeping his arm again to encompass his group, “and they will carry them out.


“The Senior Partners know you were here – they’ll assume you were involved no matter if you were or not … going back to your own dimension will only lead them to your family and friends back there … not only will you die, but so will they.


“So,” Angel continued, “you have two choices … you can dust me now and find a way to get back to your dimension without your cute little vials of blood and hope you don’t bring the wrath of hell back with you, or you can help me finish this, take the Black Thorn down and beat back whatever the Senior Partners throw at us, and then go back to your dimension without bringing their wrath down on your family.”


“I believe you’ve neglected to mention a few scenarios in that list,” Giles interjected.


“Yeah, like we dust you and all walk away and the Senior Partners bake us a cake and give us a bloody medal,” Rome!Spike interjected.


“The Black Thorn and the Senior Partners believe Angel is fully on their side … they will not be pleased if he’s harmed,” Wesley pointed out.






“Actually, the other scenarios I was speaking of are that we all die attempting to take out the Black Thorn … or perhaps we all die trying to ‘walk through the fire’ as you put it …” Giles clarified.


Buffy rested her forehead in her hands and closed her eyes as she tried to think of a way out of this …


Ok, THINK! she admonished herself. We can use Dawn’s blood to open the portal … except Dawn’s in Rome … and what if Angel’s telling the truth about the Senior Partners sending the armies of hell after us even if we do get home … can we take that chance? Maybe we could go somewhere else … hide from them –to the coven in Canada… we can’t stay there forever, though…


Buffy looked across the table at Lindsey and asked, “Why are you here?”


“Got screwed over … just a little payback,” Lindsey told Buffy.


“But, aren’t the Senior Partners looking for you? And you’re right here in their house … how’s that possible?” Buffy pressed him.


“Got a little mojo, keeps me hidden from view,” Lindsey told her.


“So, why can’t we get that same mojo and just go the fuck home?” Buffy asked, looking between Lindsey and Giles.


“It took years to do … it’s not something you can just ‘get’ – it’s not a pill you can take,” Lindsey told her as he unbuttoned and removed his shirt to expose his runic tattoos. “See these? Every needle that went into my skin was infused with magic … powerful magic known only to a small tribe in Nepal. There are trials you have to complete before each new tattoo – fights to the death; it took years to complete the trails and get the all the magic tattooed into my skin. These are the only things that keep me cloaked and safe from the Senior Partners.”





Buffy sighed and closed her eyes again, shaking her head side to side slowly as she continued to try and figure out how to get them home.


“Let the Slayer and Red go home now and I’ll stay ‘ere and help you,” Spike told Angel.


“NO!” Buffy cried, her eyes flying open as she turned to face Spike. “We all go or no one goes!”


Buffy … be realistic, he’s not gonna let us go … if I stay, the Senior Partners will figure it’s just me involved – they won’t follow you. One of us has to live through this – you need to go … Spike told her through their bond. The babies need you, luv.


They need you, too … I need you. I won’t leave you behind to die here in this fucked-up place.


“Buffy, would you please listen to me for once? You know I’m right,” Spike said aloud, taking her hand in his. “You have to go.


“Will you let her and Red go? I’ll stay – I’ll fight with ya,” Spike asked Angel again.


“No, you all stay … the more we have the better our chances of taking these guys down and making it through this,” Angel told him.





“You bloody pillock!!” Spike growled at him as he jumped up and dove at Angel across the table, hitting Angel in the chest with his whole body and knocking Angel, and the chair he was in, to the floor.


Angel hit out at Spike, but his punch didn’t hold much power since Spike was atop him and Angel's shoulder was injured. Spike grabbed Angel by the shirt and began picking his upper body up and slamming him down on the floor.


“Did you ever really love that woman!? Have you ever loved anybody other than your own sorry ass!?” Spike screamed at him as Gunn, Wesley and Lindsey pulled him off Angel and held him back away from the downed vampire.


“Answer the fucking question!! You never loved Darla … you never loved Dru … you never loved Buffy – have you ever really loved a woman, Angelus?! Ever once!?” Spike screamed at him as he struggled against the men holding him.


Angel picked himself up off the carpet and faced Spike, his hands clenched in fists. “I’ve loved – you aren’t the only one who’s capable of love, Spike!


“I love Buffy … even now – but she doesn’t want me, does she? She wants you for some bizarre reason. I loved Darla – I had the sorcerers in this firm bring her back into this world, cure her and give her her life back, but you don’t see her here by my side, either, do you?!


“The only woman who ever stood by me through thick and thin was Cordelia. I loved Cordy … and she loved me, and now she’s dead – my chance to find happiness with her is over. The last thing Cordy did before she died was give me this message … give me this vision. I will NOT dishonor her now by ignoring it or doing a half-assed job of taking these guys down,” Angel informed Spike with an angry glare.





“You will all stay. You will all help me, or so help me God I’ll make certain that the Senior Partners think this whole thing was your idea and they’ll take your family out before you can even think about getting home,” Angel threatened. “And don’t for a minute think I can’t do it … just ask Lindsey about his friend Eve …”


All eyes turned to Lindsey, except for Spike who was still trying to get free. “Let me go!” Spike demanded, pulling against the men holding him.


“You gonna behave?” Lindsey asked Spike.


“Ain’t got much choice, now, do I, Butch?” Spike retorted angrily.


Lindsey nodded and he, Gunn and Wesley let Spike go. As soon as he was free, Spike ran at Angel again, tackling him around the waist and driving him with all his strength back against the windows in an attempt to send him through the glass. But Angel had reinforced the glass when he took over W&H, remembering all too well how easy it was for him to send Russell, a W&H client, out the window a few years ago when he first arrived in L.A.


“Fuck!” Lindsey exclaimed and started towards Spike again, but Buffy had already jumped up – she knew what Spike was going to do possibly before he did – and she beat Lindsey to Spike.


“Spike! Stop!” Buffy yelled, as Spike pummeled Angel’s face with his fists when he realized he wasn’t going to be able to find out if ‘Angels’ really could fly or not. Buffy pulled Spike off his grand-sire and pushed him back away from the group at the conference table as Wesley and Gunn helped Angel back into a chair.


“What the fuck, Slayer!” Spike yelled at her as she continued pushing him back away from the others, past the place where the partition had been and to the other side of the room.


When his back hit the opposite wall, Buffy pulled Spike into a tight hug, wrapping her arms around his waist and laying her head against his hard chest.


“I need you to hold it together, Spike,” she whispered to him.


“I’m holdin’ together jus fine … Angel, on the other hand, was ‘bout to come apart at the seams,” Spike told her softly, as he wrapped his arms around her and returned her hug.


Buffy pulled back and looked into Spike’s eyes and gave him a small smile. “We’ll find a way out of this – we’ll find a way back – both of us together, but I don’t think beating the shit out of Angel is helping our cause any … although it certainly looked like a lot of fun.”


“Well, it made me feel better … for a minute there,” Spike admitted, returning her small smile.





Buffy and Spike walked back over to the group and Angel stood up from his chair at the head of the table.


“This discussion is over … you can be pissed all you want, but the sooner you figure out that working with me is the only way for you to get back to your families, the better off we’ll all be,” Angel informed them.


“So, you have some grand plan you’d like to share with the boys and girls at home?” Rome!Spike asked.


Angel looked up at the ceiling in exasperation, before looking back at the group. “Yes, I have a plan, Spike … if you’ll shut up for once in your life, I’ll enlighten you.


“First, Wes is going to betray me …” Angel started.


“Damn … I wanted that job – I’d be so good at it, too,” Rome!Spike interjected with a smirk.


“Can we at least deny you three times?” Spike added with a smirk of his own.


Angel just glared at the two Spikes and continued. “Wes will go after Vail, the sorcerer of the bunch – Wes gets in the door by playing the betrayal card. I’d like Willow … or Willow – to back him up,” Angel said, looking from one to the other of the Willows at the table.


“I can do it,” Rome!Willow volunteered, looking at Rome!Buffy and Rome!Spike. Rome!Buffy frowned slightly, but then nodded slowly.


“Good, Willow number one will back up Wes,” Angel concurred.


“Illyria will take out Izzerial, the Devil, and three other members of the circle that dine together almost every night. I think we can all agree that Illyria doesn’t need any backup …” Angel continued.


“Gunn will take out Senator Brucker. Her campaign office is in west L.A. and she tends to surround herself with lots of vampires. I’d like Buffy and Spike to back him up,” Angel said, looking at Rome!Buffy and Rome!Spike.


“Fine,” Rome!Buffy agreed.


“Lindsey will be taking out the Sahrvins, Lorne will be backing him up,” Angel continued.


“Lorne!?” Buffy asked indignantly. “No offense, but Lorne’s not a fighter … he’s a … lounge lizard! Spike and I will back Lindsey up.”


“No, that’s not the plan … my house, my plan, Buffy,” Angel informed her.


“Oh, we play by your rules or you’re gonna take your ball and go home?” Buffy asked him, folding her arms across her chest. “You have two of the oldest Slayers in history here, two Master Vampires and two powerful witches and you’re gonna send Lorne to back Lindsey up?”


Angel drew in a deep breath and let it out in exasperation. “Fine – but you can’t both back him up, I need one of you, along with the other Willow, to take on the legion of the Fell Brethren. They have a baby that needs to be returned to his mother and the foster family needs to be dismantled.”


“And just exactly what are you doing all this time?” Buffy asked Angel.





“I’ve got Archduke Sebassis. He has over 40,000 demons at his command. The other members of the council fear him. He's the key player, so he's mine,” Angel informed her.


“Fine, how about Willow backs Lindsey up and Spike and I get the baby?” Buffy acquiesced.


“Fine,” Angel agreed reluctantly.


“And when does all this happen?” Rome!Buffy asked.


“Tomorrow night at sundown we begin …” Angel told them.


“So I guess we're not coming back to the office after this,” Gunn threw out to the room.


“No. We meet at the alley just north of the Hyperion. Everyone know where that is?” Angel asked, looking at the people at the table that weren’t part of his crew. Both pairs of Buffys and Spikes nodded, along with the Willows and Giles.


“Can Giles and Andrew go home?” Rome!Buffy asked. “Or at least, go somewhere else?”


Giles started to object, but Rome!Buffy put her hand on his arm and shook her head. “If we don’t make it, you have to take care of Dawn … you have to make it,” she told him with a solemn look and Giles lowered his eyes and nodded agreement.


“Yeah, they can leave,” Angel told her.


Giles hugged Rome!Buffy and shook Rome!Spike's hand. "Please do be careful ... both of you," Giles admonished them.





"I love you Buffy ... and I've grown unexplainably fond of Spike, as well," he told her before reluctantly turning and leaving the room.


“If you don’t need me, then I think I’ll go with them,” Lorne said, standing up from the table. “Buffy’s right … I’m not a fighter, I’d much rather be a lounge lizard – I’m better at it and there’s more alcohol involved.”





Angel nodded. “Thanks for everything, Lorne … You’ve been a good friend and ally.”


“Good luck, Angelwings. … I hope you all make it safely through the fire,” Lorne told the group before he turned and left the room.


“Yeah, me too,” Angel agreed in a low voice. “Me too.”


**~**


Hear the song associated with this chapter at the following YouTube Link:

"Hotel California, The Eagles

~~~

The Eagles - Hotel California


On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
'This could be Heaven or this could be Hell'
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say...

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year (Any time of year)
You can find it here

Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

So I called up the Captain,
'Please bring me my wine'
He said, 'We haven't had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine'
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say...

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
They livin' it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise)
Bring your alibis

Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And she said 'We are all just prisoners here, of our own device'
And in the master's chambers,
They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can't kill the beast

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
'Relax,' said the night man,
'We are programmed to receive.
You can check-out any time you like,
But you can never leave!'

Time Line:
June 2004 in the Rome!Universe
**
History:
Joshua "JJ" Harris was born on April 21st, 2004
The twins (Danielle, "Dani" and William, "Billy") were born on February 12th, 2004
Annie turned five on February 14th.
Spike and Buffy have been married five years in February. (seems longer, doesn't it?)
Buffy turned 23 on January 19th.

All the Potentials were endowed with full Slayer power in February 2003.
Buffy and Spike learned of the other dimensions in May, 2003.

**~**

Saturday, June 26th, 2004 :


After Giles and Lorne left the room, Buffy turned back to Angel and asked, “Ok, what’s the rest of the plan?”


“That’s it,” Angel told her.


Buffy’s eyes went wide as her eyebrows shot up. “That’s it!? THAT’S IT!?? I thought you were the King of Planning! That’s your whole plan?”


“Yeah …” Angel admitted.


“Well, you better go back to the drawing board, ‘cause that’s not good enough!”


“Buffy, I can’t plan for every possibility … I don’t know what the Senior Partners will throw at us – we need to be ready for anything and everything, but there’s no way to plan for anything and everything …” Angel informed her.


“Oh, so now we’re going with the ‘Spike’ plan? Hit it hard and hope?” Buffy asked Angel, folding her arms across her chest.


“OI!” came in stereo from the two Spikes in the room, but Buffy ignored them, keeping her gaze locked on Angel.


“No need to get insulting,” Angel told her, before shrugging and rolling his eyes. “Yeah, that’s kinda the plan …” he admitted.


Both Buffy’s snorted softly and rolled their eyes while both Spikes smirked.


“That’s bloody brilliant,” Rome!Spike told Angel. “You bring us all here for your tea party and you forget the bloody crumpets!”





Everyone in the room looked at Rome!Spike with wide eyes. “Oh, get your minds out of the soddin’ gutter! Where were you people raised, in a bloody brothel?”


“I think what Spike meant is, you said you weren’t doing this half-assed, but you only have half a plan …” Rome!Buffy interjected.


“Well, deal with it … that’s what we’ve got – the second half of the plan is to improvise, adapt … hit it hard,” Angel said, rebuffing their verbal attack.


“Now, I suggest that you use the rest of tonight and tomorrow to do whatever makes you happy … ‘cause I’m sure that starting tomorrow night at sundown, none of us will be very happy for a good while,” Angel instructed them.


“There are rooms set up for you here … all within the glamour. I don’t have to tell you that you shouldn’t speak of any of this outside the glamour or that fire and brimstone could arrive sooner rather than later,” Angel continued, looking around the room for concurrence. When everyone nodded, he got up from the head of the table and headed to the door. “See you all tomorrow night. Darla, are you coming?”


Darla leaned over and gave Lindsey a soft kiss. “I’ll be back later, darling,” she whispered to him before standing and following Angel out.





When the rest of his people stood up to follow Angel out, Buffy grabbed Lindsey by the hand before he could get away from the table and said, “Could we have a word with you?”





Lindsey shrugged and he sat back down while Gunn, Wesley and Illyria left the room.


“What the fuck is going on?” Buffy asked Lindsey.


“Regarding?” Lindsey asked with a furrowed brow.


“Regarding … well, let’s start with Darla and then, maybe you can enlighten us as to why you’re working with Angel and Wolfram & Hart again,” Buffy clarified.


“It’s kind of a long story …” Lindsey started.


“It appears that we aren’t going anywhere …” Buffy pointed out.


Lindsey sighed. “You know about Connor, right?”


When everyone looked at him with blank stares, he continued, “Angel and Darla’s son? Connor?”


“What!!??” came from all the Buffys and Spikes and Willows.


Lindsey rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair, oh yeah, this was going to be a long story!


Lindsey explained how W&H had brought Darla back a couple of years ago and, well, to make a long story short, Lindsey fell in love with her, but she hooked up with Angel and the PTB blessed the two vampires with a son who had vampire strength and speed, but was human. His name is Connor. In order to give birth and life to the baby, Darla had to dust herself … leaving their newborn child in the care of Angel.


“Wait right there!” Rome!Buffy said, stopping Lindsey. “If Darla got dusty … again … then how was she sitting right here a minute ago making googly eyes at you?”


“I told you it would be a long story … give me a chance!” Lindsey told her, before starting back where he had left off.


Lindsey went on to explain that Connor was kidnapped and grew up in a hell dimension, but his memory of that was erased by W&H at Angel’s request and he was now living a normal life, with a normal family and attending college. Angel and Darla were going to visit him tonight, just in case they didn’t make it through the apocalypse, to answer any questions he had about his past and say goodbye.


“So, he’s like a boy Slayer … is that what you’re saying?” Rome!Buffy asked, interrupting Lindsey’s story.


“Yeah, I guess you could say that…” Lindsey agreed before continuing his story...


November 2003, about 8 months ago in the Rome!Universe…


“I’m not asking for your opinion, Wes, I just want to know if it’s possible and, if so, can she be cured. I don’t think Holland Manners actually did everything that could’ve been done – I don’t think he wanted her to live that long; just long enough to drive me insane or happy my soul out of me,” Angel told Wesley across the desk in his office at Wolfram & Hart.


“Angel … I know you don’t want my opinion, but what purpose would bringing Darla back serve?” Wesley asked him.


“I owe her, Wes … I was with her for a hundred and fifty years and I couldn’t love her, when I could finally love her – could give her what she deserved, she was taken from me by Lindsey and Dru and by her illness. She gave up her life for our s … ummm … she didn’t have to die like that. Just please look into it and let me know, ok?” Angel explained to Wesley.


Wesley nodded slowly and stood up. “I’ll check the old records and see what was done … or not done, and get back to you,” Wes told him before leaving the office.


December 2003, about 7 months ago in the Rome!Universe …


Wesley picked up the phone and dialed. “The sorcerers are ready, Angel …”


Wesley listened a moment before speaking again. “Yes … they’re quite sure that she can be cured … she could’ve been cured before if she’d just been given the antibiotics immediately when she was … reanimated.


“Yes, everything’s set. See you upstairs then ...” Wesley said before hanging up.


The sorcerers that worked for W&H were quite sure they could bring Darla back again … and the doctors that had examined her records from before were equally sure that, if she had been given a simple antibiotic treatment immediately when she was brought back the first time, she could’ve been cured of her syphilis before it became life threatening.


Angel had been right, Holland Manners didn’t want Darla living that long … her ‘employment’ with W&H was temporary, her mission short – drive Angel insane or bring him perfect happiness … either outcome would be fine, according to the old files. Neither had worked for them.


Lindsey falling in love with the former vampiress hadn’t been in the plan at all, and his intervention into her welfare: locating Dru and having her save Darla by turning her, was tantamount to treason. But love makes you do crazy things – like throw wrenches into the plans of the Senior Partners.


April, 2004, about 2 months ago in the Rome!Universe ….


“We've got a big problem,” Eve spoke in a low voice into the phone from the W&H offices.


“Yeah, tell me about it – Spike’s gone! That goddamn Slayer sent him off to fucking Rome!” Lindsey agreed, pacing back and forth in the now empty basement apartment where Rome!Spike had lived.


“Cordelia Chase is awake,” Eve continued, ignoring Lindsey. “She's talking about some vision she had. She’s steering Angel right to you.”


“Well, now... I guess this calls for a change of plans. I’ll just have to go in sooner rather than later …” Lindsey told her over the phone. “You need to get out; I’ll be there shortly,” Lindsey instructed before punching the ‘end’ button on his cell phone.


Lindsey looked around the empty apartment he had set up for Rome!Spike and sighed. Rome!Spike was gone and Lindsey wasn’t sure if he could get him back; he was sure he’d never get him back in time now that Cordelia Chase had awoken from her coma and was having visions again. He’d just have to handle Angel himself and quickly.


The Senior Partners gave that eurotrash vampire everything I'd worked for. So Spike’s gone – that doesn’t change anything, I can still get to the fail-safe and take Angel and his barrel of dead monkeys out, Lindsey thought as he left the small basement apartment and headed to the street.


**~**


Lindsey walked undetected into his former employer’s offices and headed towards the door that he knew would lead him to the fail-safe in the bowels of the large building – the fail-safe that would take Angel out of everyone's misery.


As Lindsey was passing through the ‘hospital’ section of the building, he heard Angel’s voice coming from down the hall.


“Just humor me, Cordy … get checked out. Wesley’s looking for the meanings of the symbols from your vision. It would make me feel better if you’d just let our doctor’s look you over …” Angel was saying.


Lindsey heard Cordelia start to object, but didn’t stick around to hear more, ducking into the first door he came to to wait for the pair to pass. Once inside the dark room with the door closed, he leaned his ear against the door to wait and listen for Angel and Cordy to go past.


“Lindsey?” a familiar voice called from the other side of the room.


Lindsey spun around to face whoever it was that had recognized him, hands coiled into tight fists, ready for the fight, but the room behind him was completely dark; he couldn’t see anything.


“Who’s there?” Lindsey asked and suddenly a bedside lamp was switched on, casting a low light across the large room.


“Lindsey? It’s Darla …” the voice said as a woman moved further into the light cast by the lamp.


“Darla?” he asked, confused. “How’s that possible? What’s this, some kind of trick?”


Lindsey had worked hard to get Darla out of his heart, out of his mind, and out of his dreams since she left him heartbroken all those years ago. Yes, he was upset about her sleeping with Angel, but he really blamed Angel for that. Lindsey was sure he and Darla could’ve gotten past it … right after he beat Angel to a bloody pulp and dusted him – but that hadn’t worked out, either.


But he and Darla never got a chance. She left and he couldn’t find her, and he had tried…for months he tried in vain to find her, but never could. Since then, he’d put his energy into forgetting her … burying those feelings deep down within him – away from the light of day. But the sound of her voice now brought them all flooding back to the surface … could it really be her?


“No…no trick. I wish it were sometimes, but no,” she told him softly, moving slowly forward towards him.


“Then what … how?” Lindsey asked, reaching out to touch her face to assure himself that it wasn’t just a dream – a dream that he’d had too many times over the last years.


“They told me you were … gone,” Darla said, closing her eyes as Lindsey’s hand cupped her cheek tenderly. “I thought it was lawyer-speak for dead …”


“No, not dead … just gone a while. But you … you’re warm, you’re human … how?” Lindsey questioned.


“Angelus … Angel … brought me back … again,” Darla told him with a sigh. “They cured me … cured me so I could live a dull and dreary life with the weight of this soul in my heart. The life I was cheated out of before, he told me – Angel’s guilt really gets to be annoying sometimes, don’t you think?”


“Well, his guilt will be over soon,” Lindsey assured her. “God, Darla … I never thought I’d see you again … I … you know I … love you. You didn’t have to leave … we could’ve worked it out.”





“I did, sweet boy – I had to leave. I couldn’t be what you needed, not like that. You were the only one who ever believed in me – who ever really loved me and I … I just couldn’t appreciate it. I wasn’t capable of returning your love, Lindsey … not then,” Darla admitted, raising her hand gently to his face.


“And now?” Lindsey asked softly, searching her eyes for the answer he longed for.


Darla smiled softly. “Now … now I belong to Angel … I wish I didn’t, but he seems to think we have an epic love – honestly, I think Spike haunted him too long – got in his head, gave him some kind of illusions of romantic grandeur.”


“C’mon,” Lindsey told her, grabbing her hand and leading her towards the door. “We need to get you out of here … Angel won’t have any illusions about anything very shortly … but I need you to be safe first.”


As Lindsey reached for the door handle, it turned, seemingly on its own, and the door swung open.


“Darla, it’s me …” Angel started before pulling up short when he saw Lindsey standing there.


“Lindsey!” Angel exclaimed in surprise.


“Angel, how nice of you to stop by to check on your prisoner,” Lindsey remarked calmly, stepping back and keeping himself between Angel and Darla.


“What are you talking about!? What are you doing here?!” Angel questioned, moving towards Lindsey.


“Surprised I could get in so easily?” Lindsey asked as he backed Darla away from Angel.


“Not really – people are breaking into this building on a regular basis. This place might as well be a bus station!” Angel informed him.





“I am curious as to why you'd come back after I told you not to … Oh, I know! You didn’t get your ass kicked enough the first time, or the second time … or the third time – came back for more?!” Angel quipped, moving forward slowly.


“Yeah … I’ve learned a thing or two about ass kickin’ since then,” Lindsey informed Angel.





“You shouldn’t have come back, Lindsey,” Angel retorted.


“What can I say? I missed you,” Lindsey told him as he pushed Darla back into the farthest corner of the room behind him before spinning and hitting Angel in the stomach with a round-house kick which sent the vampire flying back against the furthest wall, where he hit with a hard thud and slid down to the floor.


“C’mon, Angel! You just gonna lay there and bleed? Or has workin’ here turned you all soft and lawyery?” Lindsey taunted, moving quickly across the room towards the downed vampire.


Angel was just getting to his knees when Lindsey reached him, grabbed two handfuls of shirt and pulled him back to his feet.


“C’mon, big guy … I’m waiting for my ass kickin’” Lindsey informed him, as he drew one arm back and punched Angel in the jaw, snapping Angel’s head to the side violently.


Angel vamped out and roared in anger, he wrapped his arms around Lindsey’s waist, like a middle linebacker tackling a running back, and drove with his legs until Lindsey’s back hit the wall, momentarily knocking the breath out of him and bloodying his mouth. Lindsey slumped down and doubled over, trying to get air back into his lungs and stop the searing pain.


“What was that about ass kickin’?” Angel gloated, standing back up and wiping blood from his nose. “You never change …”


Lindsey said something under his breath that even Angel couldn’t hear and waved his arm in a wide sweeping motion across the room. Suddenly, the room was filled with crosses of every size and shape imaginable; they were on the walls, on the floor, on the ceiling – covering every surface.


“Neither do you …” Lindsey retorted as he sprung up and tackled Angel, driving him down to the floor and pinning him down on the crosses. Every spot where Angel’s skin touched the floor began to burn as he screamed in pain and struggled to get Lindsey off him. Angel was finally able to kick Lindsey up and over his head and jump up off the cross-covered floor.


“I love the smell of burning vampire in the morning …” Lindsey quipped with an evil smile as he picked himself up off the floor and turned back to face Angel.


“Cute trick … so you went and got yourself a little mojo …” Angel surmised.


Lindsey ripped his shirt off to reveal his tattoos. “Little something I picked up in Nepal … you like?”





“You’re not really my type …” Angel retorted. “I mostly go for blondes … with the occasional skinny brunette thrown in for variety.”


Lindsey snorted. “You won’t be going for anything very shortly …” he informed Angel as he lunged forward and tackled Angel again, shoving him back against the wall and more crosses.


The two men fought … each taking as much as they gave … for what seemed like hours, but was in fact perhaps only about fifteen minutes… fifteen of the hardest minutes either of them had ever lived through.


Darla stayed back in the corner and out of the way of the battle as it unfolded in front of her. There was a time that she would’ve jumped into the fray … but Lindsey was right, she was a human now – not a vampire. Not that she didn’t still have a few tricks of her own … but, as long as Lindsey was holding his own, she saw no need to intervene.


Angel bent over at the waist, his hands on his knees as he tried to recover from the battle … his face, hands and now chest and back – where his shirt had been ripped off during the struggle, were covered in cross-shaped burns and blood flowed freely from his nose and mouth.


Lindsey sat on the floor, his back against one wall as he breathed hard, trying to draw in oxygen to his depleted muscles. He had cuts and bruises covering his body … blood flowed from the places where Angel had sunk his fangs into his skin during the fight and he was pretty sure his nose was broken.


“Well, are you two boys just about finished with the floor show?” Darla asked, finally daring to move out of the corner where Lindsey had placed her.


Both men looked up at her tiredly as she stepped between them.


“As much as I’d like to think this fight was about me … I’m pretty sure it wasn’t. So, who’d like to share just exactly what this fight is about?” she asked, looking from one to the other of her amours.


“It’s about you … it’s always been about you …” Lindsey told her, still trying to catch his breath.


“Oh spare me!” Angel said, standing back up straight. “This is about payback … payback for so many things. Meet any nice cops on your way out of town, Lindsey?”


“Fuck you, Angel,” Lindsey retorted, using the crosses on the wall to pull himself up to his feet. “You’re so blind … do you even know what love is? Love is holding on when all hope is gone … love is caring more for someone else than you do yourself … love is forgiving mistakes and moving forward and it’s never giving up and never forgetting – no matter how hard you try.


“You took that chance away from me … from her,” Lindsey told Angel, sweeping his arm towards Darla. “You’re nothing but a selfish ass hiding behind that tortured soul routine – admit it! You don’t even know what love is! You’ve never really loved a woman!”


Angel glared at Lindsey. “That’s. Not. True,” Angel said through gritted teeth, his hands curling back into fists at his side.


“Who did you love, dear boy?” Darla asked softly, turning to Angel and meeting his eyes with hers. “It wasn’t me … I know it wasn’t me …” Darla informed him, keeping her voice soft.


“Oh – the little cheerleader … what was her name?” Darla realized, brightening slightly as she tried to recall the name.


“Cordy,” Angel supplied quietly.


“Cordy? No … Butty … Betty … Buffy!” Darla thought aloud. “Wait! You loved Cordy? That bitchy brunette with the big mouth?!”


“She’s not bitchy … she’s candid … honest … forthright …” Angel started.


“Bitchy …” Lindsey supplied.


Angel folded his arms across his chest and glared at Lindsey. Lindsey just shrugged. “Call ‘em like I see ‘em.”


“So, I was right … this fight isn’t about me,” Darla continued, turning her back on Angel and facing Lindsey. “So what is it really about? Lindsey?”


Lindsey sighed. “It’s so much about you that it’s not even funny …” he started. “But, yeah … it’s also about the Senior Partners giving this halfwit what’s rightfully mine.”


“You came back to apply for a job?” Angel asked, incredulous. “I think we have an opening for a crash test dummy in the auto industry division …”


“Cute … too bad you sold that soul of yours, huh? From Champion to pathetic corporate puppet in just a few short months … You used to have fire in your heart … now, you just have it on your skin,” Lindsey told Angel, his own hands clenching back into fists. “Spend enough time here and eventually you can’t wash the stench off …”


“Lindsey, why are you here?” Darla interrupted him as she stepped within arm’s reach of him.


“To take down Wolfram & Hart … and Angel in the process,” Lindsey admitted quietly.


“Then you should meet your new best friend … CEO of Wolfram & Hart’s L.A. division,” Darla told him, waving her arm behind her towards Angel. “You two should really talk … you know, guys just don’t share enough. Why do you suppose that is – are you just scaredy cats? Afraid someone will think you’re gay or something?”


“Pffffftt,” Angel and Lindsey both snorted.


“Right, that’s what I thought …” Darla said, rolling her eyes. “Why don’t you boys stay here and have a nice chat … I’ll be back in a little while to check on you,” she told them, as she stepped past Angel towards the door to the room.


Darla paused and turned back to the two beaten and bleeding men. “The Senior Partners will win if you keep trying to kill each other instead of focusing on the real threat here,” she told them. “I suggest you get your testosterone under control and start thinking with your heads … the ones atop your necks.”


“I mean it … no more fighting,” Darla warned them as she stepped out the door. “I still have a few tricks of my own … I can kick both your asses if I have to.”


After the door closed behind her, Angel and Lindsey stood glaring at each other for several long moments. “So…” they each said at once.


“Go ahead …” they both said, again in unison.


Finally, Angel rolled his head back to look at the ceiling. “Think you could, you know … nix the new décor in here?” Angel asked Lindsey, dropping his head back down to look at the other man.


“Yeah … yeah, I could probably do that,” Lindsey acquiesced before waving his arm across the room and removing the crosses.


“Now, about the Senior Partners …” Angel started as he dropped down heavily into a chair.


Lindsey sat down in a chair across from him. “About the Senior Partners …” he began.


**~**


Back to present day, late evening, Saturday, June 26th, 2004 (Rome!Universe):


“Turned out, our agendas were pretty much the same … make the Senior Partners pay for what they did to me … what they did to Darla,” Lindsey told Buffy and the others as he finished his story.


The Buffys, Willows and Spikes sat in silence for a few moments, absorbing the whole story … from the realization that Angel and Darla had a son to Angel bringing Darla back from the dead ... to Lindsey and Angel working together to bring down Evil, Inc.


“Does Angel have a son in our dimension?” Buffy asked, looking at Spike.





Spike shook his head. “Not that I’d ever seen or heard from his groupies …” he told her. “Wouldn’ bloody surprise me, though – soddin’ PTB always liked the wanker best …”


Buffy sighed and looked back at Lindsey. “So … what are we gonna face after we chop down the Black Thorn bush?”


Lindsey ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know … no one really knows – we need to be ready for anything, it won’t be pretty,” he admitted to the group. “Most likely, none of us will make it …”


“I don’t accept that!” Buffy exclaimed, standing up and beginning to pace back and forth across the room.


“We have the resources of Wolfram & Hart, at least for now … we have powerful witches and … you – you’re what, a warlock or something now?” Buffy stopped looking at Lindsey.


“No … just borrowed magic,” Lindsey told her, touching one of his tattoos.


“Ok … still, we need a plan – other than hit hard and hope! I will not walk into this blind!” Buffy told the group. “What’s the worst they could send at us?” she asked, looking at Lindsey.


“They’re on a different plane of existence … they could open portals to any of a thousand different dimensions and rain any number of hell-hounds down on us,” Lindsey informed her.


“So how do we get to them before they get to us?” Buffy questioned.


“You can’t get to them … my friend, Eve … she was the liaison between the Senior Partners and Angel,” Lindsey started. “Not even she could see them – the closest she could get was the white room.


“When I told her I was going to work with Angel … and be with Darla, she freaked out … started threatening to turn me in. Angel made it look like she was twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag; like she alone was the threat to the Senior Partners. They whisked her away from here quicker than a virgin busting his first nut …”


All the women looked at Lindsey with raised brows, while the Spikes smirked at his analogy.


“All I’m saying is … you can’t get to them – so I suggest you just do what Angel said … spend some time … do what makes you happy, ‘cause no matter what our fearless leader says, we’ll be lucky to live through this…” Lindsey informed them, as he stood up from the table and left the room.


**~**


Buffy stopped pacing and sat back down at the table. “Buffy … God that feels weird …” she started, looking at her counterpart from this dimension. “Buffy, can you get Dawn on a plane over here … like now?”


Rome!Buffy looked at her with wide eyes. “No … Dawn’s not coming over here! I just sent Giles and Andrew away – you think I’m gonna bring Dawn over here into this? No way,” Rome!Buffy told her with a shake of her head.


“We need that blood…Buffy, Spike – you know we don’t belong here – even if we stay and fight … if we do live, we’re gonna need that blood to get home,” Buffy reasoned. “What if something happens to Angel … who knows how long it would take us to find a way home …”


“If that happens, Dawn can come over then – I’m not bringing here anywhere near this place until this is finished, one way or the other. Would you bring your daughter here now? No,” Rome!Buffy answered her own question. “And I’m not going to bring my sister here.”


Buffy sighed and looked at the clock on the wall, 3:00am, they should’ve been home hours ago … their friends must be thinking they were having so much fun at the party that they’d lost track of time.


“We’re gonna go see about these rooms Angel’s set up,” Rome!Buffy said, standing up and pulling Rome!Spike by the hand. “See you tomorrow.”


“Yeah …” Buffy said unenthusiastically. When Rome!Willow stood up too, Buffy stopped her. “Could you teach Willow that dream jumping thing you do with Spike?” she asked the witch. “We’d like to be able to say goodbye to our friends … to Annie,” Buffy explained.


“Sure, it’s not hard – just need a few ingredients to make a magical tea. I’m sure they must have them around here somewhere …” Rome!Willow told Buffy. “C’mon, I’ll show you …” she said to Willow as she stood up from the table and headed for the door.


As Rome!Willow opened the door she stopped short and her eyes went wide. “Tara!” she exclaimed before losing consciousness in a dead faint and falling into a heap on the floor.





“Oh Goddess!” Willow exclaimed, kneeling down next to her to make sure she was alright before looking up at Tara who was standing in the doorway with Harmony.


“She said she’s with you guys …” Harmony said to no one in particular. “Is she, or do you want me to kick her out?”


Buffy and Spike had gotten up and gone to see what was going on. “Leave ‘er be, Harm … she’s with us,” Spike answered her as he bent down and picked Rome!Willow up and carried her over to a couch in the corner of the room.


“Tara, Oh, Goddess!” Willow exclaimed, pulling her girlfriend into a hug, when Spike moved Rome!Willow out of the doorway.


“W-w-what’s going on?” Tara asked. “They took the vial of blood from me…”


“Oh, what’s NOT going on would be a simpler question … what’s not going on is us going home …” Willow answered her as she backed up into the room and Tara followed her in.


Willow, Buffy and Spike explained to Tara what was going on and Tara listened intently, interrupting them only occasionally with questions.


When they were done, Tara asked, “Why did she faint?” indicating Rome!Willow. “Her aura went completely black and she just fainted when she saw me! Did I do something bad to her in the other dimension … err … this dimension?”


Buffy and Spike looked at each other and Buffy sighed. “Tara, she fainted because … well, you’re not in this dimension anymore. In this dimension you …” Buffy blew out a long breath and breathed back in deeply. “…you died – when you got shot here, you died in her arms.”


“Oh Goddess!” Willow exclaimed putting one hand on Tara’s shoulder and one on Rome!Willow’s arm. “That’s … wow, Buffy, you never told us that!”


“Well, there’s more …” Buffy told Willow and Tara about what happened after Tara was shot and how Rome!Willow had gone crazy with grief, how she’d flayed Warren alive and nearly ended the world.


“Wow …” Willow and Tara both muttered, looking at Rome!Willow who was still unconscious on the couch.





After about half an hour, Rome!Willow woke with a low moan and Tara sat down on the edge of the couch next to her. Willow stood a few feet away, far enough to not intrude, but close enough to offer support, if needed. Tara laid her hand over Rome!Willow’s as she slowly focused her eyes on Tara and Tara gave her a small smile.


“Are you alright?” Tara asked her.


Rome!Willow reached up and touched Tara’s face. “Not a ghost … not The First … how … Tara?”


“I’m from the other dimension,” Tara told her. “We got worried when Buffy, Spike and Willow didn’t come back, so I came to see what was going on. I have to say, I expected to find a big party going on, maybe they drank a bit too much … not that they’d been taken hostage by an apocalypse.


“Are you ok?” Tara asked Rome!Willow again.


“Oh God, Tara …” Rome!Willow cried as she sat up and took Tara into a strong hug. “I’m so sorry … I’m so, so sorry. It should’ve been me … never you. You never hurt anyone, you loved everyone – helped everyone – it should’ve been me. I’m so sorry.”


Tara hugged Rome!Willow back but wasn’t sure what to say to her. After a few moments she pulled back and looked at Rome!Willow, both women had tears in their eyes. “She loved you … you know that, right? And she wouldn’t have wanted it to be you – never in a thousand years.”


Rome!Willow shook her head. “But you didn’t deserve that … I … I lost it, afterwards, I totally lost it, ya know? You believed in me and made me believe in myself, you made me a better person, and then you were gone and all I could see was red … blood, hate, fury – it was horrible; I was horrible.”


Tara shook her head as tears rolled down her face. “I can’t imagine what you’ve been through … but you could never be horrible …”


“You’re wrong … ask Buffy, she’ll tell you … I was evil … uncontrollable … I murdered a person in cold blood, a human being – I was no better than he was – a heartless killer!” Willow admonished Tara.


“Please forgive me … Tara, I’m so, so sorry. I love you so much – I miss you every day … please forgive me for being so weak. I know it’s not what you would’ve wanted me to do … I just couldn’t stop myself. I didn’t want to stop myself. I held you in my arms and you slipped away and I couldn’t stop it …


“Some days I don’t think I can take one more breath … my soul aches for you … I miss you so much,” Rome!Willow told Tara as tears streaked her face.


Tara pulled Rome!Willow back into a tight hug. “Shhhh … I know, she forgives you, honey … trust me, she forgives you. She loves you, too.”


**~**

{{
Hear the song associated with this story at the following YouTube Link:

"Avril Lavingne, "Slipped Away" (I Miss You)
}}



Avril Lavingne, "Slipped Away" (I Miss You)

Na na, na na na, na na
I miss you, miss you so bad
I don't forget you, oh it's so sad
I hope you can hear me
I remember it clearly

The day you slipped away
Was the day I found it won't be the same
Ooooh

Na na, na na na na na

I didn't get around to kiss you
Goodbye on the hand
I wish that I could see you again
I know that I can't

Oooooh
I hope you can hear me,
cause I remember it clearly

The day you slipped away
Was the day I found it won't be the same
Ooooh

I had my wake up
Won't you wake up
I keep asking why
And I can't take it
It wasn't fake
It happened, you passed by

Now you are gone, now you are gone
There you go, there you go
Somewhere I can't bring you back
Now you’re gone, now you’re gone
There you go, there you go,
Somewhere you’re not coming back

The day you slipped away
Was the day I found it won't be the same noo..
The day you slipped away
Was the day that I found it won't be the same oooh...

Na na, na na na, na na
I miss you

Early morning hours, Sunday, June 28th, 2004

After Rome!Willow got over the shock of seeing Tara and calmed down a bit, she and Tara and Willow went in search of the ingredients to make the magical tea that she used to help Rome!Spike communicate with Buffy across dimensions in their dreams, leaving Spike and Buffy alone in the conference room.


Spike led Buffy over to the couch in the corner of the room and pulled her down to sit against him as they waited. Buffy snuggled against him, resting her head on his shoulder as he wrapped a strong arm around her and held her tight to his side.


“Buffy,” Spike started quietly, “when this dream thing is done, you need to leave here,” he told her, his free hand coming to her lips and his fingertips pressing against them softly to stop her from objecting.


“Listen, luv. I’ve been alive a bit longer than you, and dead a lot longer than that. I don’t exactly have a reputation for being a thinker. I follow my blood, which doesn’t exactly rush in the direction of my brain, so I make a lot of mistakes. A lot of wrong bloody calls, but this isn’t one of them. You need to leave – go somewhere safe, out of the line of fire. One of us has to survive this, luv … you have to survive this for our family.”





Buffy shook her head slowly as Spike spoke, tears threatening her eyes and she closed them to fight the flood back. Buffy pulled his hand away from her lips and held it in hers before opening her eyes and looking up to meet his.


His eyes were just as blue as that first night they were together and she still felt like she could lose herself in them. She wished she could just dive into their depths and drown in those deep pools of azure at this moment and escape the impossible situation they were in. She sighed … wishes and horses …


“We both need to survive … the best chance of that is if I stay and fight, too. We’re always better when we’re together … we can watch each other’s back …” Buffy pointed out.


Spike shook his head slowly. “No … you need to go, get to a safe place until the fight is over … then find your way back home. Don’t look for me – if I make it, I’ll find my way back to you. I’m like a moth to your flame, Buffy – I can always find you, luv.


“The babies need you, Annie needs you … our family needs you to get home to them. I told Faith once that I was your willin’ slave, and I am … but you need to do this for me now. I need your word that you’ll leave and take care of our babies – you and them – that’s all that matters to me – you are my world. Please do this for me, Buffy.”


Buffy closed her eyes and buried her face against Spike’s chest as tears fell from her eyes. “Come with me … we’ll both leave – we’ll find a way back after …”


“No, Peaches would never stand for that … he’d send the PTB or the Senior Partners or the bloody Terminator after us if we both left. … I can get him to see reason ‘bout you leavin’ – I’ll make my scary face – he’ll come ‘round,” Spike argued.


“Spike, I don’t think I can do it without you … please, please come with me,” Buffy begged him.





“You can do it – you’re stronger than you sometimes think, luv. You’re the Slayer … she who stands alone against the demons … you can stand alone against the PTA, too, pet … although, that’d probably scarier than the demons …” Spike quipped, trying to get a smile from her and it worked.


“Can’t slay the PTA …” Buffy pointed out with a small smile.


“Well, maybe you could just take out one or two of ‘em … bet there’s more than a couple that are actual demons …” Spike told her with a smirk.


“I love you, Buffy,” Spike said softly, changing to a serious tone. He touched his fingers to her chin, lifted her face to his and took her lips in a soft kiss. “You and Annie, William and Danielle – you are all I have – over a hundred years of walking this earth and our family is the one thing I’ve done that I’m proud of. When I get to the Pearly Gates and St. Peter asks me why he should let me in, I’ll point to our family and hope he has a bloody short memory …”


“I don’t think they actually ask you … I don’t remember being asked … I don’t remember any gates, at all …” Buffy informed him in all seriousness.


“Couldn’t just let that go, huh? Let me have my little fantasy ‘bout that …” Spike asked with a sigh.


“Sorry … I’m sure … I’m sure you’re right. Now that I think about it, there were gates – big gates – all white and shiny – like alabaster, and this long, golden bridge! And this old English guy goes, ‘Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, ‘ere the other side he see,’” Buffy informed Spike.


“Did he now … and what were the questions?” Spike asked cocking one brow.


“First he asked what my name was,” Buffy informed Spike. “Then he asked what my quest was … then he asked for the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow …”

“Ahhh, I see.... And what did you tell ‘im?” Spike questioned with a smirk.





“Well, of course, I asked him if it was an African or European swallow …” Buffy told Spike with a small smile. “Then he just let me in…”


“Uh-huh … and this old man, he wouldn’ve looked like the bridge keeper in ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail ', now would he?” Spike asked with a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.


Buffy shrugged. “Well … maybe,” she admitted returning his smile. Buffy hugged tighter against Spike’s side and laid her head back down on his shoulder as her smile faded. “Please, let’s not find out … please come with me,” she whispered to him. “I love you so much. Please, let’s just run …”


“Buffy, it won’t do, luv … you know it – you know I’m right. Make me this promise … you have to make it now,” Spike admonished her.


Buffy nodded her head sadly as tears flowed down her face anew. I promise, she told him through their bond and Spike dropped a soft kiss on the top of her head and held her tight as they sat in silence and waited for the witches to return.


**~**


“Ok,” Willow told Buffy and Spike later, “you just drink this and think about the person you want to contact – which would be Annie, of course. I say the spell and you’ll go into kind of a hypnotic state and wake up in Annie’s dreams. When you’re ready to come out, you wake yourself up by just saying the words ‘wake up now.’”


Buffy and Spike nodded and drank down the astringent liquid that Willow had made in one fast gulp before they both laid back on the couch. Spike laid on his back and Buffy on her side, laying half on him and half on the edge of the couch, her head resting on his shoulder. When they were comfortable, Willow recited the spell that Rome!Willow had taught her. As soon as the last word was out of her mouth, Buffy and Spike were both instantly asleep.


**~**

Buffy and Spike walked hand in hand through a playground, but it wasn’t a normal playground … everything in it seemed to be made of chocolate. It was like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory merged with Nestlé and had exploded onto the playground.


The grass under their feet was made of chocolate shavings and it crunched with each step they took; the monkey bars were made out of chocolate coated pretzel sticks; there were “tire” swings, made out of Reese’s cups that had the centers eaten out of them, leaving just the outside ring of chocolate and little bit of the peanut butter and they hung on one of the few non-chocolate things there … Nerds Rope Candy.


In the center of the playground was a fountain, which had … of course, Yoo-Hoo chocolate drink in place of water and Cadbury chocolate coated marshmallow fish swimming, jumping and playing in it.





“This is definitely your daughter’s dream …” Spike remarked to Buffy as they continued walking past a large Hershey’s chocolate syrup lake where living animal crackers were sailing on rafts made out of Kit-Kat bars and past a flower bed where each flower was actually an iced cookie with colorful M&M’s on top …





“Not a bad dream …” Buffy remarked as she reached over and picked one of the flowers and took a bite. “Mmmmm … homemade chocolate chip cookies with butter cream icing and M&M’s! God, why don’t we just stay here!?”


Spike smiled at her and used the pad of his thumb to wipe some of the icing off the corner of her mouth. An image of them skinny dipping in the chocolate lake flitted briefly across Spike’s mind as he licked the icing from his thumb and he sighed. Perhaps another time … now that they had their bond back, they could share their dreams again – he was pretty sure this place would be in Buffy’s very soon.


A dark shadow seemed to cross his expressive face as he thought of what they’d gone through to get their bond back and how short-lived the victory would be as they faced Angel’s impending apocalypse. It seemed that Angel in every dimension was always conspiring to bring them down, cause them pain or kill them … or all three.


“What are you thinking?” Buffy asked as she finished the cookie.


“Nuthin’ … Where do you suppose our daughter might be?” Spike asked, looking around and hoping to distract her from her original question.


“I don’t think Angel’s doing it to spite us, Spike,” Buffy told him. She didn’t need the bond to know what Spike was thinking at that moment – the expression on his face was enough to tell her.


“Pffffttt,” Spike snorted. “I wouldn’ put it past Angel to start a bloody apocalypse just to spite us! That sounds like sumthin’ the wanker would do!”


“He thinks he’s doing the right thing … and maybe he is,” Buffy defended. She wasn’t sure why she was defending him, she had been fully prepared to stake him just a few hours ago. Spike rolled his eyes and started walking again and Buffy fell into step beside him. “I’m not saying the way he’s going about it is right … he had no right dragging us, or even the Buffy and Spike from his dimension into it, without asking … but he thinks he’s doing the right thing for the world by bringing down the Black Thorn.”


“So, the end justifies the means?” Spike questioned her; the question coming out perhaps a little more harshly than he intended. “As long as evil suffers, it’s ok that we have to suffer, too … as long as evil dies, it’s ok if we’re dust in the wind with it?”


“No …” Buffy started. “That’s not what I mean. I’m just saying, I think that Angel thinks he’s doing the right thing for the ‘greater good’. I don’t think he did it just to fuck us over.”


“Six o’ one … half dozen o’ the other and you still get the same thing, luv. We’re fucked,” Spike pointed out. “And he didn’t even put on any lipstick – just bent us over and buggered us in the …”


“Ok – I get it, Spike,” Buffy interrupted him – not really wanting a visual of Angel with lipstick doing what Spike was getting ready to describe.


“There she is!” Buffy exclaimed, happy for something to change the subject. “Under that pavilion!” Buffy told Spike, pointing to a large pavilion that was filled with rows of picnic tables. The structure appeared to be made of chocolate Lincoln Logs and it jutted out over the chocolate lake.


Buffy took off running towards the pavilion, sending chocolate shavings flying up off the ground and into the air with each step, and Spike took off after her.


“Annie!” Buffy yelled as she approached the pavilion and Annie looked up from a large picnic table that was covered with every type of chocolate dessert imaginable.


“Mama!” Annie cried and ran towards Buffy, meeting her just at the edge of the pavilion. Buffy scooped her daughter up into her arms and twirled her around before pulling her into a tight hug and raining kisses down on her face as Annie giggled and squirmed in her grasp.


“Papa! Help!” Annie exclaimed when Spike got there a second later.


“Oh no, Niblett … Big Bad’s gotcha … there’s no hope for ya now!” he told his daughter with a laugh. Buffy planted one last kiss on her daughter’s forehead before she handed her to her father.


Spike pulled Annie into a tight hug against his chest. He closed his eyes and fought back the tears that threatened him as he buried his face in his daughter’s long, dark, curly hair. She smelled of Johnson’s Baby Shampoo and Tutti Fruiti bubble bath with a touch of lavender thrown in, the last probably added by Tara before she’d left to come find what was keeping them.


“Come see all the food!” Annie told them as she wiggled to get down out of Spike’s grasp. Spike set her down on the ground and Annie grabbed a hand of each of her parents and pulled them into the pavilion and over to a picnic table that was covered in chocolate decadence.


“Wow, Niblett … did you make all this?” Spike asked as he surveyed the table. There were cakes and torts and brownies and cookies of every description … puddings and mousse and ice cream and glasses of regular and chocolate milk to drink.


“Noooooo,” Annie told him, rolling her eyes and putting her hands on her hips. “I’m not old enough to cook.”


“Ahhh, ‘course not …” Spike agreed as he sat down on the picnic bench facing out. “We need to talk to you a minute, Niblett,” Spike told her as he picked her up and sat her down on his lap, her back to his chest.


Buffy sat on the bench across the aisle from Spike and Annie, leaned forward, took one of Annie’s hands in hers and looked into her child’s big blue eyes. Buffy looked up from her daughter’s face to Spike’s … the eyes were the same color blue, the high cheekbones her daughter had were undeniably Spike’s, as was her curly hair.


Buffy could see her own nose and mouth reflected back to her from her daughter’s face. The monks hadn’t lied … she was made from them both and the older she got, the more evident it was – not only in her looks but her mannerisms, her sense of humor and wit and her smarts … which Buffy figured she must have gotten from William … ‘cause it she was sure that they certainly didn’t come from her.


“Annie, sweet girl,” Buffy started, looking back into her eyes, “you know we love you very much, don’t you?”


“I love you, too,” Annie said with a smile as she nodded.


Buffy smiled sadly at her daughter. “We know you do, honey. Now, you need to remember something for us, ok – it’s very important. Do you think you can do that?”


Annie nodded with a serious look on her face as she concentrated on what her mother was telling her.


“Annie, I want you to remember that we are so very proud of you, that we love you with all our hearts and we would stay with you forever if we could,” Buffy told her daughter. “Will you remember that?”


Annie nodded solemnly.


“You need to be good to Dani and Billy, ok? Don’t pick on them because they’re younger … you need to watch out for them, protect them and love them 'cause you're the best big sister in the world. Can you do that?” Buffy asked her daughter.


Annie nodded again.


“And you need to mind Aunt Anya and Uncle Xander, ok? You treat them just like they were us … ‘cause they love you just like we do. They’ll do everything to protect you and make you happy and give you a good life … so you be good to them and respect them, ok?” Buffy instructed her daughter as tears spilled from her eyes.


“What does that mean?” Annie asked quietly, looking between Buffy and Spike with questioning eyes.


Buffy dropped down to her knees in front of her daughter and took both her hands in hers. “Honey, it means that …” Buffy’s voice broke and she closed her eyes to fight back her emotions. She felt her bottom lip quiver and tears flow out of her eyes, despite her best effort to stop them.





“It means,” Spike picked up for Buffy, “that you and Dani and Billy may need to stay with them for a bit … and, while you’re there, you need to mind them and love them jus’ like they were us,” Spike told her. “But your mum will be back to get you soon, Niblett.”


Annie considered this a few moments before looking up into her father’s glistening eyes. “But where will you be, Papa? Aren’t you coming back?”





Spike dropped is head backwards, pursed his lips together and took a deep breath before looking back into her eyes. “I’ll do everything I can to come back, sweet girl … ‘cause I love you and your mum and the babies more than anything … you know that, yeah?”



Annie nodded as tears welled in her eyes. She turned in Spike’s lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Don’t leave … please don’t leave,” she begged him as he wrapped his arms around her and held her in a tight hug. “We missed you when you left before … Mama cried all the time and I tried not to … but I couldn’t help it. Please, please don’t leave. Promise you won’t.”


Spike had no idea how he could make that promise to her … and he had no idea how he couldn’t – but he couldn’t lie to her, not about a promise. He’d broken his promise to Buffy once before and he vowed to never do that again – not to Buffy and certainly not to Annie. If she couldn’t depend on his word, then what could she depend on? If there was one thing he wanted his daughter to remember about him, it was that he kept his word, because there are times when that’s the only thing you have.


Buffy laid a hand on her daughter’s back, dropped her forehead onto Spike’s knees and sobbed as her daughter begged him not to leave them – something Buffy had been doing for the last couple of hours herself. She prayed that he would promise Annie he wouldn’t leave … if he made that promise, then Buffy knew that he would keep it. It seemed strange that the only person she knew with 100% certainty would keep his promise was a vampire … a vampire with a soul … a vampire with a poet’s heart.


“Listen to me, Niblett,” Spike started, pulling Annie back so he could look into her eyes. “I. Love. You,” he told her empathically. “Don’t you ever forget that – no matter where I am, that’ll never change. You can be sure that I’ll do everything possible … and a few things that are impossible, to get back to you … that I promise you.


“Now, you promise me sumthin’,” Spike told her. “You promise that you’ll remember that I love you and I would never leave you if there was any way I could help it … and you promise to be good for your mum and you give her hugs everyday – one for you and one for me if I’m not there, yeah? Is that a promise?”


Annie nodded slowly, the meaning of his words not lost on her. Tears fell from her eyes and her bottom lip quivered as she tried to hold them back.


“I love you, Papa,” Annie told him softly. “I’ll take care of Mama for you while you’re gone … but please come back soon.”


**

{{
Hear the song associated with this story at the following YouTube Link:

"Def Leppard, Promises”
}}


Last night I was blown away
I said a million things I'd never say
I was knocked right down, it got to me
Gonna get me some of your chemistry

You want me to promise you
That everything is true

I won't make promises that I can't keep
I won't make promises that I don't mean
I'll even mean the things I tell you in my sleep, yeah
I won't make promises babe, that I can't keep

Oh my my, I lost control
I told you everything, I said it all
You came right out and said to me
Gonna get me some of your honesty

You want me to promise you
That everything is true

I won't make promises that I can't keep
I won't make promises that I don't mean
I'll even mean the things I tell you in my sleep, yeah
I won't make promises babe, that I can't keep

You want me to promise you
That everything is true

I won't make promises that I can't keep
I won't make promises that I don't mean
I'll even mean the things I whisper in my sleep
Oh, let me tell you
I won't say a single darling, that you can't believe
You gotta believe me

I won't make promises that I can't keep
Oh baby believe me now
I won't make promises that I don't mean
Oh why won't you believe me now
I'll even mean the things I whisper in my sleep, yeah
I won't make promises that I can't keep
Baby, you gotta believe me

Time Line:
June, 2004 in the Rome!Universe
**
History:
Joshua "JJ" Harris was born on April 21st, 2004
The twins (Danielle, "Dani" and William, "Billy") were born on February 12th, 2004
Annie turned five on February 14th.
Spike and Buffy have been married five years in February. (seems longer, doesn't it?)
Buffy turned 23 on January 19th.

All the Potentials were endowed with full Slayer power in February 2003.
Buffy and Spike learned of the other dimensions in May, 2003.

**

Early morning hours, Sunday, June 28th, 2004, in the Rome!Universe:


Buffy and Spike spent a long time with Annie in the dreamy chocolate playground. They played on the swings, Spike pushed Annie and Buffy higher and higher on them until they actually made the full circle around the top bar with shrieks of joy and laughter; they caught marshmallow fish with their hands out of the fountain and borrowed some Kit-Kat rafts from the animal crackers and had a race across the lake and back – Spike let Annie win.


When a candied orange slice began to rise in the sky, peeking up over the hills in the background, it turned the fluffy clouds that dotted the sky shades of pink and green and all Spike could see were Buffy’s eyes in them. Those eyes that he wanted nothing more than to dive into and drown in … eyes that he wanted nothing more than to see every morning when he woke up and every night before he fell asleep.


As the orange-slice sun rose further, the sky turned the most beautiful shade of blue … the blue of his daughter’s eyes, and Spike realized that he’d likely never see those eyes bright with new love … never see them glisten with emotion as she took her vows to love a man forever … never see the joy in them as she held her own babies. He knew what he was about to do was the only option … running away with Buffy was so tempting, but Angel would track them down, he had no illusions about that – one way or another doing that would only put Buffy and his family in greater danger.


He was sure he could convince Angel that letting Buffy go was only fair. Somewhere in that bulky, broody vampire there had to be a small piece that still loved Buffy and wouldn’t want any harm to come to her … Spike just had to find it and use that to convince the wanker that letting her leave, and not trying to track her down, was the right thing to do.


Spike and Buffy, with Annie nestled between them, sat on a bench made of Mounds bars and watched the candied sun rise over the hills and the lake. It felt warm against Spike’s skin, but luckily didn’t seem to be melting any of the chocolate in the playground.


“Anne Joyce Summers-Weckerly,” Spike said quietly and Annie looked up at him with wide eyes. Her mother never used her full name unless Annie had done something wrong … and her father never used it … ever.


“You know,” he told her, “that’s a fine name. Your grandmums … both of them … are looking down on you now and thinkin’ how proud they are that you have their names.


“Anne was a beautiful woman … she was kind and loving and strong … you woulda liked ‘er. She made the best biscuits…. uhhh, cookies – had them waitin’ for me when I got home from school every day … and plum puddin’ at Christmastime …” Spike told his daughter as his mind went back in time. “And Joyce … there’s no finer woman ever walked the earth than Joyce Summers. She had a way about her that made you want to do your best … she could make you more than you thought you could be – she had a fire, just like your mum, just like you have, Niblett.”


Annie watched Spike’s face as he spoke … his voice had changed … his accent softened as he reminisced, just like it did when he read her stories. “Wear those names with pride, Anne Joyce … because two beautiful, strong women wore them before you and they’ll always be watching over you, guiding you and making you more than you thought you could be, too.”


Buffy listened to Spike as he talked to his daughter and tears flowed freely down her face as she pictured young William coming home from school and having cookies, just like she’d done when she was young … just like Annie did now. Spike didn’t talk about his mother much and never mentioned his father other than to say that he’d died when he was young.


Buffy was glad they’d at least had this time with Annie … time to share things that otherwise might not have gotten shared - but the reason for the sharing wasn’t far from her mind. It was even more clear now that Spike thought he wouldn’t make it through the battle, and Buffy’s mind raced around that thought … circling it like a shark circled prey, trying to find a loophole – a way to make it not so.


“Now, you remember your promises, yeah?” Spike asked Annie as he picked her up and sat her in his lap facing him.


Annie nodded solemnly. “You remember yours, too …” Annie told him as her blue eyes met his and seemed to penetrate deep into his soul.


“I do, Niblett … I’ll never forget a promise to you,” Spike told her as he drew her into a hug. “I love you.”


Buffy slid over and put an arm around her daughter and Spike, leaning against him and holding them both close.


“I love you too,” Annie told him softly and she was suddenly gone – vanished into thin air, leaving just Buffy and Spike on the bench in the chocolate playground – their arms empty.


“Guess she woke up…” Spike said as he pulled Buffy against him and held her tight.


“Yeah …” Buffy agreed. “Guess we should, too …”


“Wake up now,” Spike said, and he was gone.


Buffy sat alone on the bench, her mind still circling their situation like a shark … moving in and out … trying to see all possible weaknesses … any possible opening – any chance for escape or victory.


**~**


Spike woke with a start … Buffy laying half atop him on the couch in the conference room at W&H. He half hoped that he’d wake up back in their bed at home to find that it had all been a nightmare, but it wasn’t.


Willow and Tara jumped up from where they’d laid down on the carpet to wait for Spike and Buffy to wake up, and they stood over them now.


“Did it work?” Willow asked Spike.





“Yeah … like a charm,” Spike told her groggily and Willow gave him a small smile. She was glad she could give them that time with Annie, at least.


“What’s wrong with Buffy?” Tara asked, looking at her still sleeping form.


“Nuthin was wrong … shoulda been right behind me,” Spike muttered as he shook his wife gently. “Buffy?”


“You won’t be able to wake her … she has to do it,” Willow informed him.


“Probably drinking her fill a’ chocolate syrup and eatin’ M&M flowers and marshmallow fish …” Spike surmised, and Willow and Tara looked at him like he’s lost his mind.


“You sure you’re ok?” Willow asked him, concern furrowing her brow.


“Yeah …” Spike answered her absentmindedly, his attention on his still sleeping wife. “Buffy … c’mon now, luv … you can’t eat it all,” he whispered into his wife’s ear, but got no response. After a few minutes, when it was clear that she wasn’t waking up, Spike slipped out from under her and stood up. He began pacing back and forth across the floor in front of the couch where she lay, still asleep.


“What the bloody hell, Red?” Spike asked Willow. “It worked fine for me – why ain’t she waking up?!”





Willow shrugged before saying, “I’ll go ask Willow … umm – you know the other Willow … if she knows.”


About the time Willow got to the door of the conference room, Buffy woke up with a jerk.


“Bloody hell, Buffy! Are you ok, luv?” Spike asked, kneeling down next to her.


Buffy looked around, trying to get her bearings … then she remembered – it wasn’t just a dream after all. “Yeah …” she replied to Spike in a groggy voice as she sat up. “Fine.”


“Christ, woman … you scared the bejesus outta me!” Spike chastised before taking her into a hug.


“Sorry …” Buffy told him, returning his hug. “Just got … sidetracked.”


Willow cleared her throat behind them and said, “Ok, so we’re gonna go lay down a while … you guys may want to, you know, get some real sleep, too … I have a feeling tonight’s going to be a long night.”


Buffy and Spike released the hug and they both stood up. “Yeah, brilliant … thanks, Red,” Spike told her.


**~**


Spike and Buffy found the room that Angel had set up for them within the glamour and stepped inside just as the sun cleared the horizon in the east. Buffy went into the bathroom and turned on the water in the double walk-in shower and waited for it to warm up as Spike looked out the window at the sunrise. He knew it would likely be his last … he wanted to feel the sun on his skin one last time, and this was as close to that as he could get, behind the necro-tempered glass of the office building.


Buffy had shed her clothes and walked up behind Spike as he gazed at the sun rising up over the hills and buildings of L.A. and felt the rays of light work their way up his body through the glass. Buffy ran her hands up under his shirt and Spike raised his arms, allowing her to take it off him. When it was off, Buffy wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her warm body against his back, laying her head against a bare shoulder blade.


Spike closed his eyes as he tried to memorize this feeling … the feeling of his lover’s body warming his back and the rays of the sun on his skin – it was, perhaps, as close to heaven as he’d ever get. He was pretty sure the bridge keeper would ask him what the Capital of Assyria was … and he'd be catapulted into the Gorge of Eternal Peril, or more likely a Hell dimension, when he didn’t know. Maybe he should get Red to check on that for him, just in case…


After several minutes of standing in silence, Buffy whispered, “Shower’s warm … want to wash my back?”


“Love to …” Spike answered her as he turned in her arms and took her lips in a tender kiss. Her hands went to his belt and tugged it loose before starting with the top button and zipper. Spike broke the kiss to tug his shoes off and slide his dress pants down and kick them off.


Buffy took his hand and led him back to the now steamed up bathroom. The water sprayed hard and hot from each end of the double shower, so no matter which way they turned or where they stood, the hot water would pound down on their tired bodies.


Spike squeezed out a generous portion of the Sandalwood and Cinnamon soap from the bottle and lathered it into suds in his hands. He turned Buffy to face the wall and the water sprayed her front as he started massaging the soap into her skin, beginning with her neck and shoulders, where all the tension of the last twenty-four hours was most evident.


Spike ran his fingers along the sides of her spine from the base of her skull down to her shoulders, squeezing and massaging with strong hands all along those tight muscles, as Buffy moaned and dropped her head down. She closed her eyes and just let his fingers and hands take her stress and worry and cast them aside for the time being. For now, there was nothing but his strong hands on her skin … there was no apocalypse, there was no Angel, there was no Black Thorn – there was just Spike and Buffy – nothing else existed, nothing else mattered.


Spike ran his hands further down her back, massaging the hard muscles along her spine then rubbing small circles over her skin with the fragrant soap.


“So beautiful you are, Buffy,” Spike whispered to her as he reached her round butt and ran his hands lightly down the swell of her hips and back up the curve of her ass, trailing soapy bubbles in their path.


Buffy turned around to face him and Spike stopped breathing, stopped moving … stopped thinking about anything but his wife, his lover, his best friend … his soul mate. Nothing else mattered; nothing else existed outside this small room – nothing but his love for her and her love for him.


Buffy squeezed out some of the soap into her hands and began to lather it on Spike’s shoulders and down his arms … when she reached his left hand, she pulled it up to her lips and kissed the wedding band he had there – the wedding band that she’d slid onto his finger what seemed like a lifetime ago … the one that he never took off, not even when she died.


Buffy let go of his hand and started back at his shoulders, this time trailing the suds down his hard chest … she never could get over how soft his skin was … always in such contrast to the hard muscles it covered.





Spike watched her, mesmerized, as she trailed her hands further down his body, to his six pack abs, where she outlined each one with the tip of a finger before moving down further still to his slim hips. Buffy trailed the tips of her fingers and the suds lightly down from his hip bones, following the ‘V’ that formed below his abs, to his pubic bone and now hard cock.


The hot water pounded down on both of their backs as they stood in the center of the shower facing each other. Buffy trailed her soapy fingertips up and down the length of his hard rod … pausing at the tip to circle it lightly before starting back down with feather touches, causing Spike to moan and drop his head back.


Buffy pressed her body against his, wrapping her arms around his neck and Spike brought his head back up to look into her eyes. His wet hair fell in soft curls around his face as their eyes met and they held each other captive, green locked on blue.


“Make love to me, William,” Buffy whispered to him before pulling herself up on her toes and sucking his lower lip into her mouth softly. Spike wrapped his arms around her and pulled her body harder against his, lifting her feet up off the floor as he returned her kiss, keeping it slow and tender, as he slipped his tongue into her mouth, tasting her … exploring her mouth like it was their first time; memorizing the taste, the feel, the warmth of her like it was their last time.


Spike kept a tight hold on Buffy and stepped back under the hard spray of the shower behind him, taking her with him, so it covered their bodies and rinsed all the soap off, before reaching behind him and turning the water off.


Spike bent down, scooped Buffy up into his arms, and carried her out of the shower and bathroom and to the freshly made bed in the room and set her down gently on the edge of it. Spike knelt on the floor in front of her, sat back on his heels and ran his hands up from her calves, past her knees to her thighs and back down again.


Buffy’s hands rested lightly his shoulders as she watched his eyes move over her wet, golden skin, following the movement of his hands. She never tired of seeing that look in his eyes … it was a look of awe, of wonder … of love … and so much more. It made her feel beautiful, desirable, wanted – it made her love him even more.


“So beautiful you are, pet,” Spike said in a voice deep with love and desire. “From your Passion-Apple Red toenails to your green eyes …” he continued.


“Apple Passion,” Buffy corrected him with a small smile.


“What’s that?” Spike asked, looking up from her legs to her eyes.


“Apple Passion, not Passion-Apple,” she said again, her smile growing. “You’d think you could remember that, since you wore it for two weeks after Annie and I painted your nails that time …”


“Right you are, luv … Apple Passion – I remember now. Got me into three fights at Willy’s, that did,” he told her, his eyes dancing with the memory as a small smile tugged on the corners of his mouth.


“Why did you keep it on so long? … Annie offered to take it off or paint over it with black …” Buffy asked, tilting her head and looking into his eyes – her hands still resting on his shoulders.


“Because … m’ girls gave it to me … I knew … I knew with certainty at that moment – you were back. I missed you so much … not just those hundred and forty-seven days but after, when you were here with me, but not really … I think I missed you even more then,” Spike told her with a sad smile. “You started living again on New Year’s Eve…but when you laughed that day … then I knew, I knew I had all of you back.”


“That girl I love … the silly girl who dances in the kitchen and sings in the shower when she doesn’t think anyone can hear – except she forgets she’s married to a vampire, and jumps on the bed with her daughter like it’s a bloody trampoline … that girl was back that day.”


“You can hear me in the shower!?” Buffy exclaimed, her eyes going wide as she pulled her hands back from his shoulders and covered her mouth with them.


Spike laughed and came up off his heels, but stayed on his knees in front of her. He leaned into her, his body pressing between her thighs, as he pulled her hands away from her mouth and held them in his. Spike leaned his mouth in close to her ear and sang softly to her, repeating what he’d heard her sing in the shower.


♫“It must have been cold there in my shadow,
to never have sunlight on your face.
You were content to let me shine, that's your way.
You always walked a step behind.”


“OH. MY. GOD!” Buffy exclaimed, falling backwards onto the bed and pulling her hands away from Spike to cover her face. “I’m so embarrassed!”


Spike laughed … she was so cute when she’d been caught doing something soooo “un-Buffy”. Spike grabbed her wrists, her hands staying plastered on her face, and pulled her back up to sitting. He tilted his head to the side and drank her in. Her neck and what part of her face he could see, was tinged in pink from embarrassment and she shook her head slowly in disbelief, her still wet hair leaving droplets of water on her tan shoulders as it moved.


Spike pulled harder on her wrists and she let her hands drop away from her face. “Hello, cutie,” he whispered to her when her eyes met his; he leaned in to take her lips in a soft kiss and she leaned down to meet him. His lips just barely touched hers as he trailed his tongue along her bottom lip – he loved that pouty lip – and it was definitely pouty now.





Spike wrapped his arms around her and deepened the kiss, his tongue delving into the depths of her hot mouth and swirled around her tongue in a slow, sensuous dance. Buffy wrapped her arms around Spike’s neck and responded to his kiss – she wanted to remember this, too. She wanted to make sure she memorized everything about him, from how his soft lips felt on hers to how his heavenly devil-tongue swirled around her mouth, to how he tasted and how he smelled and even how he breathed, even though he didn’t have to.


Buffy pulled back to breathe and rested her forehead on Spike’s, her arms still around his neck. “You are my hero, Spike … you really are the wind beneath my wings,” she whispered to him, before adding, “… even though you do eavesdrop on people in the shower.”


Spike smiled and pulled back to look into her eyes. “I love you, Buffy Anne Summers – don’t you ever forget.


“I love you when you paint m' nails blood red while I’m asleep; I love it when you break your own house rules and steal brownies off the counter; I love it when you sing sappy songs in the shower. I love the Slayer, I love the woman, I love the girl – don’t ever change – you’re perfect just the way you are, luv.”


Tears welled in Buffy’s eyes … how was she going to do this without him? God, please … I know I ask for a lot … but please, please don’t take him away from me, she prayed silently as Spike kissed her tears away. Spike dropped soft kisses all over her face, moving slowly, tenderly as his hands caressed the wet skin of her shoulders and upper arms with feather touches, sending chill bumps over her entire body.


Buffy twirled her fingers in his wet curls as Spike slid his mouth down her neck, kissing and licking and flicking his tongue over her skin before finding that spot behind her ear that made her crazy, and teasing it with light swirls of his tongue. Buffy moaned and tilted her head to the side, letting her hair fall away from her neck as he continued to tease her skin.


Spike could feel her respond to his touches and he drank it in…every moan, every shudder, every quiver, and every chill bump made him want her more. Spike slid his tongue down her neck, past her collarbone, as he cupped her breasts lightly in his hands. When his tongue reached the first hard nipple, Buffy’s body jerked as electricity shot out to every nerve ending in her body.


Spike circled the darker skin of her areola with his tongue before sucking her nipple into his mouth and teasing the hard nub with the tip of his tongue, causing Buffy to moan his name and arch her back – pressing her body harder against his mouth. Spike teased the other nipple with his fingers, circling it lightly before rolling it softly between his thumb and forefinger.


“Oh God!” Buffy cried as he increased the pressure of his mouth and fingers on her sensitive breasts. Her pussy ached for him … tingled and throbbed in anticipation, as he made love to her breasts with his mouth and hands until she thought she couldn’t stand not having him inside her for one more second.


Spike could feel her desire building higher as he lavished his attentions on her beautiful breasts. He could hear her heartbeat quicken as her blood pulsed powerfully through her veins; he could hear her breaths become shallow and ragged; he could smell her arousal, her juices flowing from her sweet quim and he just had to have a taste of that ambrosia one more time.


Spike trailed his hands down Buffy’s sides, past her hips to her thighs and down to her knees. Pulling away from her breast, he lifted her legs up and Buffy fell back onto the bed as he pressed her knees up towards her chest and spread them wide to reveal her sweet pussy to him.


“God Buffy … you have no idea what you do to me …” he whispered to her as he dipped his head down and pressed his tongue between her folds to taste her. They both moaned deeply as Spike’s tongue slid up her slit, tasting and teasing her … bringing her to the edge of heaven.


Buffy held her legs open for him and Spike moved his hands down to join his tongue at her decadent table … Annie may dream of chocolate … but this is what Spike’s dreams were made of. Spike opened her pussylips wide to reveal her throbbing hole and hard clit to him. He teased her clit lightly with just the tip of his tongue as he slid one finger in her dripping channel.


“Oh God!” Buffy screamed as her hips bucked up against him – begging for more. Spike moved his finger slowly in and out of her as his tongue circled her clit and flicked lightly over the top of it. Buffy’s legs quivered and trembled … if she’d been standing, her knees would’ve buckled.


“Open the bond, luv …” Spike instructed her, his voice deep with desire. “Let me feel what you feel.”


Buffy concentrated on opening the bond … it wasn’t easy – her brain wasn’t working very well at that moment, but then she felt him – she could feel his love and his desire – it flooded into her mind and seemed to fill her whole body with warmth and light and passion – it was like she could feel his soul.


Spike gasped as he felt the bond open … he could feel her fear of losing him … her shattered dreams for their future, but also her love, her devotion to him and to their family, and below that he could feel her desire.


He knew how much he always desired her …how much he loved making love to her, being one with her, taking her to heaven – but he never knew with such certainty that her desire matched his perfectly. He loved her passion, but he never realized just how intense her passion was, and feeling that now filled him with even more love and desire for her, if that was possible.


Spike licked his tongue hard across her clit and Buffy screamed out, her body bucking under him, as she took another step towards that cliff that fell into heaven. Spike pressed another finger into her tight hole and began moving in and out at a faster pace as he sucked her burning nub into his mouth and ravished it with his teeth and lips.


“Oh God … Spike! Yes!! Yes! God, baby … harder! More!” Buffy demanded of him and he could feel her starting to fall. He slid another finger into her and began to slam his hand against her harder and harder as he sucked and licked and nibbled on her clit with a fervor fueled not only by his desire to take her to heaven, but by her own desire to go there.


“YESSSS! God yes … fuck Spike … Arrghhhhhhhhhhh … Yesssss!” Buffy screamed as she came. Her body bucked and spasmed under his touch and Spike felt like he was falling into heaven with her … floating for those moments in the clouds, as her orgasm rolled out in wave after wave of pleasure from her core to encompass her whole mind and body in total bliss.


Spike had to pull back mentally to keep from cumming himself as he felt her climax through their bond. When he felt her floating back down to earth, Spike slowed his fingers and pulled out of her. Now dripping with her cum, he slid a finger down to her puckered hole and teased the sensitive skin around it before pressing lightly against her.


Buffy gasped when his finger slid into her tight ass and raised her hips up higher to give him easier access to her body. She loved what he did to her … how he could take her to heaven every time – he always seemed to know what she wanted, what she needed … what would take her there, even without the bond.


Spike dropped his mouth to her dripping cunt and sucked and licked the cum that flowed out of her with the hunger a condemned man has for his last meal. He started fucking her ass slowly with his finger, causing Buffy to moan and writhe against him as the new sensation started the cascade of ecstasy all over again.


Spike began fucking her slit with his tongue as his finger fucked her ass and he could feel her starting to soar back into the clouds. Cum for me, Buffy … I love your cum … so bloody hot … so sweet you are, pet … Cum, Buffy … cum for me, his mind begged her through their bond, and Buffy’s body obliged him.


She felt like she’d no sooner touched back to earth than Spike was taking her back into the clouds … back to heaven. Chill bumps raced across her skin … emanating from where Spike’s mouth and hands were touching her and washing over her like soft waves on the sand.


Her skin tingled as the waves began to creep further and further up her body, until her whole being seemed to quiver and tremble. Then the waves were crashing down on her harder and harder – engulfing her again, and lifting her past the clouds and up to fly amongst the stars in heaven.


Buffy screamed as her orgasm overtook her … she couldn’t think, she could only feel – feel the waves of ecstasy washing over her … feel the stars as they flew by at warp speed – they seemed to burn her skin as they passed – but it felt sooo good.


Spike’s tongue delved into her hot, wet hole … harder and faster, and his finger in her ass matched it. He could feel her flying higher and higher until there was no coherent thought remaining … no worry, no fear, no sadness, no shattered dreams … just bliss – just the moon and the stars and the heavens surrounding them. Only them – only they mattered … only they existed in the universe at that moment.


Her feelings of utter joy overwhelmed Spike … maybe opening the bond wasn’t such a brilliant idea, he thought as he pulled his hands and mouth away from her, stood up, and pressed his hips down against her, sliding his cock into her burning hole as she continued to cum under him.


“FUCK! Buffy! So fucking tight… so wet for me … Ahhhh, God, Buffy!” Spike exclaimed as the head of his cock entered her. Her channel squeezed him tighter than he thought possible as she writhed and screamed in rapture. Buffy wrapped her legs around his waist, digging her heels into his ass, and pulled hard … slamming his rod into her in one forceful stroke.


Buffy screamed even louder when she felt his cock buried to the hilt in her burning womanhood… the head kissing her womb, his balls against her ass. “Fuck me!” she demanded of Spike and he began moving, his hips and balls slapping against her harder and harder as he drove his cock into her with the force no mortal man could ever match. And still she demanded, “harder, faster!” from him as she put her hands below her heels on his thighs and pulled him deeper and deeper into her with harder and harder strokes.


“Fuck! Slayer! God … Buffy … Jesus fucking Christ!” Spike yelled as he grabbed her hips and slammed violently into her. He could feel her passion … her need to be one with him … her unbridled lust and desire for him and he felt the same. He loved being inside her, enveloped in her heat, her sugar walls hugging his cock tighter and tighter as she rose higher and higher into the stratosphere.


This isn’t how Spike had envisioned this night … soft, tender lovemaking was how he’d seen it in his mind’s eye. He’d intended to go slow, to savor every moment, every touch, every breath … but this is what they were at their cores – both of them: warriors.


Whether on the field of battle or in the bedroom, they were always warriors deep down, and their passion for each other brought that primal self out into the open.


They could be that with each other, there was no one else they could really be themselves around with no reservations – warrior lovers – primal beings – demons. One dark, the other light … yin and yang … but both demons at their core – and neither had to hide their true nature from the other … they both understood the other perfectly.


“Bite me …Spike! Now! Now! NOW!” Buffy screamed at him, moving her hands up to his shoulders and pulling him down atop her as she raised her head and neck up to him, turning her head to the side to give him free access to her neck. Spike couldn’t have stopped if he wanted to … her demands for him to drink from her were beyond his power to defy.


The demon rose as Spike’s face reached Buffy’s neck and he sank his fangs into her without preamble … no kissing, no licking … the primal need to have her blood overwhelmed him.


“YESSSSS!!!” Buffy screamed as his fangs entered her and her Slayer blood flowed into Spike’s mouth and across his tongue. He knew how it made him feel to have her blood flowing into him, but now he felt her orgasm explode through her entire body, engulfing not only her, but him, as well, with its power and brilliance.


Buffy could feel Spike’s passion, his primal need for her blood, for her body, through their bond, and when her blood hit his tongue the feeling was beyond description.


It was what a person lost in the desert must feel when they find an oasis. They run towards it – through the scorching sun and heat, across the dry sand, their mouth and lips cracked and their skin burnt. They dive into the cool, clear water … drinking deeply of the sweet, wet, life-giving liquid – feeling it cool their burning skin, feeling it flow down their throat and give them hope, give them life, where a moment before there was no hope, no life.


Spike slammed his hips into her harder and faster and he felt her pull him with her as they hurtled up past the clouds, past the moon, past the stars and straight towards the sun. Spike couldn’t hold back any longer, and his cum filled her channel as her blood filled his mouth. Their bodies felt like they were on fire as the flames of the sun licked at their skin – flaring and waning and then flaring back again as they flew closer and closer to its burning center.


Buffy’s scream of ultimate bliss and ecstasy filled the room, and possibly the entire Wolfram & Hart building, as she clung to Spike - her nails drawing blood on his back and her heels bruising his ass cheeks, as she climaxed. Spike pulled off her neck as his own orgasm flooded him with that same bliss. His head jerked back as he howled at the ceiling – his roar joining her screams, vibrating the walls and windows of the small room and engulfing them both in rapture.


As they descended back to earth from their trip past the dark side of the moon and around the sun, Spike pushed Buffy back further on the bed and collapsed down with her, half on her and half on the bed beside her. She tried to breathe in enough oxygen to allow her brain to function again as Spike leaned across her and licked and nuzzled the wound on her neck to stop the bleeding and seal it.


When he pulled back, Buffy pulled his head down and kissed him, she could taste her blood in his mouth, on his lips, but now it tasted differently to her than it had before … now it tasted like that sweet, clean water in the desert oasis. She understood what it tasted like to him – what it truly meant to him to have her offer it to him. “I love you,” she mumbled against his lips. “Do you know how much?”


“I love you, Buffy … just as much,” Spike whispered back to her. “Which is why you need to go soon … before anyone gets here – you need to go, get away – take care of our family.”


“Can you just hold me … just a little while more?” she asked him and he rolled onto his back and pulled her against him. Her leg and arm across his body and her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly to him.


"I would hold you forever, if I could..." Spike told her. “Don’t forget your promise …” he begged as he dropped a kiss on the top of her head.


“I haven’t,” she whispered back, snuggling closer to his side.


Buffy lay still, memorizing the feeling of being in his arms … memorizing his body, his scent … everything about him … until she felt him relax next to her. When she looked up, his eyes were closed … he had fallen into an exhausted sleep.


Tears stung her eyes as she slid down out of his embrace, careful not to wake him. She found some clothes on a chair near the bed – jeans, t-shirt, socks and boots…Angel had, apparently, thought of everything, including the fact that they wouldn’t be able to fight effectively in the dress clothes they’d worn to the wedding.


She pulled on the clothes and shoes and fished Spike’s wallet out of the pocket of his discarded dress pants. She opened it and ran a finger across his driver’s license. Buffy smiled sadly at the birth date it showed … he was thirty-three years old now according to that. Buffy sighed heavily and took some cash out of the wallet and stuffed it down into her pocket – traveling money. Then she laid his wallet on top of the other pile of clothes in the room – black jeans, black t-shirt … even a black leather duster … yeah, Angel had thought of everything.


Buffy stood for a long time and looked at Spike as he slept. Tears of frustration and fear ran down her face as the battle within her raged … stay or go … she promised him she would go … she wanted to stay – to fight, to be with him come hell or high water.





Buffy dropped to her knees, laying her forehead on the edge of the bed, she closed her eyes and prayed silently. Please, please, please … I know Angel’s your pet project … but Spike’s a Champion … can’t you see? You have the power to keep him safe, protect him from harm … please don’t take him away from me … away from us. You’ve helped us before … please help us now …


Mom! Mom, can you hear me!?? Please, if you can hear me, tell them! Tell them about Spike! Mom, I need him … you know! Our family needs him … Mommy, please, please tell them …


Buffy fought back her tears, fought back her fear and pushed her worry away as she stood up next to the bed and her sleeping husband. She watched him as he lay still and unmoving in the bed for another long while, until finally, she bent down and dropped a soft kiss on his lips.





“Please don’t be a hero…please don’t be you,” she whispered to him before she turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her softly, as tears flowed down her face.


“Please forgive me…” Buffy whispered as she leaned her back against the closed door, guilt weighing heavily on her heart.


**

Hear the song associated with this story at the following YouTube Link:

"Wind Beneath My Wings, Bette Midler”


Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
It must have been cold there in my shadow,
to never have sunlight on your face.
You were content to let me shine, that's your way.
You always walked a step behind.

So I was the one with all the glory,
while you were the one with all the strength.
A beautiful face without a name for so long.
A beautiful smile to hide the pain.

Did you ever know that you're my hero,
and everything I would like to be?
I can fly higher than an eagle,
'cause you are the wind beneath my wings.

It might have appeared to go unnoticed,
but I've got it all here in my heart.
I want you to know I know the truth, of course I know it.
I would be nothing without you.

Did you ever know that you're my hero?
You're everything I wish I could be.
I could fly higher than an eagle,
'cause you are the wind beneath my wings.

Did I ever tell you you're my hero?
You're everything, everything I wish I could be.
Oh, and I, I could fly higher than an eagle,
'cause you are the wind beneath my wings,
'cause you are the wind beneath my wings.

Oh, the wind beneath my wings.
You, you, you, you are the wind beneath my wings.
Fly, fly, fly away. You let me fly so high.
Oh, you, you, you, the wind beneath my wings.
Oh, you, you, you, the wind beneath my wings.

Fly, fly, fly high against the sky,
so high I almost touch the sky.
Thank you, thank you,
thank God for you, the wind beneath my wings.

TIME FRAME:

Spans: (In the Rome!Universe)
Early morning hours - the late evening of Sunday, June 28th, 2004

**
History:
Joshua "JJ" Harris was born on April 21st, 2004
The twins (Danielle, "Dani" and William, "Billy") were born on February 12th, 2004
Annie turned five on February 14th.
Spike and Buffy have been married five years in February. (seems longer, doesn't it?)
Buffy turned 23 on January 19th.

All the Potentials were endowed with full Slayer power in February 2003.
Buffy and Spike learned of the other dimensions in May, 2003.

**~**

Early Morning, Sunday, June 28th, 2004


Buffy leaned her back heavily against the closed door of the room where Spike lay sleeping and closed her eyes, trying to stop the tears.


“Where are you going?” Harmony asked Buffy, walking across the lobby of the office to where Buffy was standing against the door.





Buffy took a deep breath and opened her eyes.


“I mean … sounds like you’ve been around the world in there … but where are you going now?” Harmony clarified, stopping in front of Buffy and putting her hands on her hips.


“Where I’ve been and where I’m going aren’t really any of your concern,” Buffy told her, as she pushed off the door and started to walk past Harmony. “Don’t you ever go home?”


“I’m assisting Angel on a very important project … getting paid overtime, too!” Harmony informed Buffy, raising her chin into the air.


“And, sorry to say, where you’re going is my business … Angel gave me strict orders …” Harmony started as she put a hand out to stop Buffy.


Buffy whirled on her, caught Harmony’s hand as she reached out and twisted it behind her back.


“Stop!! Owwww…that hurts!” Harmony whined.


“I can make it stop hurting … How about I just stake you now? … or I could rip your head off – which would you prefer, Harm?” Buffy asked her through gritted teeth as Harmony struggled to get away from her.


“Is that a trick question?” Harmony asked as she kept pulling, trying to get free of Buffy’s grasp.


“Yeah, Harm … it’s a trick question –the trick is, I don’t care which you want, I’m gonna do what I want either way.”


“You don’t have to do that. We’re friends … right? I mean, we’re practically sisters, what with sharing Spike and all … you can go … I won’t tell Angel,” Harmony offered.


Buffy twisted harder on Harmony’s arm and lifted it higher up behind her back. “We don’t share Spike,” Buffy informed her angrily. “You were nothing more than a distraction … and he doesn’t need any more distractions. Am I making myself perfectly clear?”


“Excuse me for breathing! … or well, really not … since you know, vampire …”


“Harmony!”


“Yes – clear! Crys-tal” Harmony whined as Buffy increased the pressure on her arm.


“You can do one thing for me,” Buffy told her, easing off on Harmony’s arm slightly.


“You name it!” Harmony said brightly – anything to get the Slayer to let go.


“Tell me where Giles, Andrew, and Lorne went.”


“No way! I can’t tell you that!” Harmony said defiantly.


Buffy pulled Harmony’s arm back up further behind her back.


“Las Vegas!! Lorne took one of the company cars – he has a friend that works at The Dunes,” Harmony told Buffy, caving instantly.


“Where do I get one of those company cars?” Buffy asked Harmony as she released her hold on the receptionist/vampire.


“C’mon … I’ll show you,” Harmony said brightly, rubbing her arm and shoulder as she started walking towards the elevators. “Any preference?”


“Blue,” Buffy answered as she followed behind Harmony.


**~**


Spike woke when Buffy closed the door to the room and rubbed a hand tiredly across his eyes. She was going to do it … she was going to keep her promise. Thank God, he thought, closing his eyes again. Then he heard Harmony come up and he worried that Buffy would balk … but she didn’t. When he heard the skirmish between the two blondes start, he jumped up and pulled on his pants in case he had to help. He wanted to make sure Buffy got out, but as he reached the closed door to the room he realized Buffy already had the situation under control.


Spike listened and had to smile when Buffy informed Harmony that he didn’t need any more distractions. Buffy had to know that he had no desire for Harmony, never really had … but it filled him with pride to have his wife warn the bimbette off him. Spike chuckled when Buffy requested a ‘blue’ car … not a fast car, not a reliable car, not an automatic or an air conditioned car … a blue car.


Spiked stepped away from the door when he heard them leave … his heart torn in two. He was the one that insisted that she go, made her promise that she would, but at the same time, he wanted her to stay with him so badly. She had been right – they were always stronger when they were together … and he felt invincible by her side. But that was his emotions talking and this time he had to listen to his head … the big one … and it said she had to get to safety. One of them had to survive this and that one had to be her.


Spike leaned down and picked up Buffy’s discarded dress off the floor, pulled it to his face and breathed deeply of her scent as he made his way back to the bed. Spike flopped down tiredly onto the bed, still holding her dress to his face. He lay on his side, drew his knees up to his chest and curled into a ball.


Spike closed his eyes as the vision of Buffy’s shattered dreams that he’d felt through their bond, washed over him. He wished he could make her dreams come true – all of them, forever and ever, but he held no illusions; those would never be realities now. They would just be broken shards of painful hopes lying at the bottom of her soul – reminders of a life she didn’t have; a life stolen from her by her Calling, by her choice of a vampire for a husband, by Angel, by the Powers That Be… by circumstances beyond their control.


“I’m sorry, luv,” Spike whispered to no one as the tears that had been threatening fell from his eyes.


**~**


After finally falling back into a fitful sleep, Spike awoke with a start a couple of hours later when the door to the room crashed open and Angel rushed in.


“Where the fuck is she, Spike!?” Angel demanded as he grabbed Spike around the neck and lifted him out of the bed.





“Don’t … know,” Spike answered as he tried to get Angel’s hand off his throat. Failing to dislodge Angel’s grip on his throat, Spike vamped out, kicked backwards hard and caught Angel in the gonads with his foot. The larger vampire dropped Spike to the floor as he doubled over and screamed in pain.


Spike scrambled to his feet and faced Angel, ready to continue the fight. “She’s long gone … just let ‘er go!” Spike informed him. “I’m here … you don’t need ‘er.”


Angel sat down on the edge of the bed, still writhing in pain and holding his crotch. “You always did fight dirty, Spike,” he told him with a grimace.


“Yeah, had a bloody good teacher, didn’ I, Angelus?”


Angel looked up at Spike with narrow eyes. “You really love her, don’t you?”


Spike stood up straight, coming out of this fighting stance and shaking the demon down. “Yeah …” Spike told him simply.


“You know…” Angel started. “… a few years ago, I was a real boy for a time … spent the most incredible day with Buffy … we were really in love, you know? She really loved me. She was perfect. Life was perfect…”


Spike looked at him with suspicion and confusion. “You Shanshued?”


“No… it was … it was something else. I had the PTB take it back, erase her memory of it … turns out, as a real boy I was a liability to her – I would’ve gotten her killed,” Angel explained.


“You’re a bloody idiot,” Spike informed him, his hands going to his hips as he looked at Angel and shook his head.





“Yeah …” Angel agreed as he got up from the bed and headed towards the door of the room. “You’ll have to handle the Fell Brethren on your own … I don’t have anyone to back you up.”


“’S ok … I’ll handle it,” Spike told him as he watched Angel leave the room.


**~**


“Open Mic 4pm – 7pm,” the sign by the stage read. Darla had invited Spike to come with her and Lindsey to the bar. Lindsey wanted to sing one more time before …


No one wanted to say before what; before they died, before they were struck down by fire and brimstone … or worse, so it was just ‘before’.


Any talent was welcome … some people sang, some read poetry … some people stood on their heads and drank shots upside down … whatever your talent was, you were welcome to show it off during “Open Mic”.


Lindsey and Spike signed up for the Mic and the three got a table and some shots with beer chasers and waited their turn, making small talk about nothing as they watched and listened to the other performers.


Lindsey was called first. He took his guitar out of its case and took the stage …





{{ Hear the song at the following YouTube Link:

"A Different Kind of Knight, Christian Kane }}


♫ “Can I cut in on a dance?
You ain't gonna find what you're lookin' for
In that little Mexican
You can't mix your tears
With those from an agave plant
You see I've danced with him myself
And he's never been a friend


♫ “You go believin' in your Lancelot
Well it's all in vain
And you're chasin' picket fences,
There's always hell to pay
I met many a girl in here
With the same story line
All them boys on those white horses
Don't know how to ride


♫ “But I got a paint outside with enough giddyup
To be free
I got a faint smell of cheap perfume
And a hint of gasoline
See I'm a different kind of knight
You're gonna find your fairy tales are lies
I don't have a white horse
But you can come along for the ride


♫ “She said, "I'm tired of living life in a romance book,
I think chivalry's dead
And I ain't gonna look
For them roundtable boys on the white horse
That can't get the story right."


♫ “I said, ‘As luck would have it
I was tossed by the throne
I let my Marian down
Some years ago
And I traded my coat of arms
For a guitar and some broken yellow lines.’


♫ “But I got a paint outside with enough giddyup
To be free
I got a faint smell of cheap perfume
And a hint of gasoline
See I'm a different kind of knight
You're gonna find your fairy tales are lies
I don't have a white horse
But you can come along for the ride


♫ “She kinda shifted in her seat a little bit
The thought of every eye on her bee-stung lips
And she raised that glass and the lime
And she kissed them goodbye


♫ “She said, ‘Promise me you'll take it slow
And swear no talk of tomorrow
And when you feel me tighten around you
Well you can let the hammer down.’


♫ “And I got a paint outside with enough giddyup
To be free
I got a faint smell of cheap perfume
And a hint of gasoline
See I'm a different kind of knight
You're gonna find your fairy tales are all lies
I don't have a white horse
But you can come along for the ride”

Spike clapped appreciatively…he knew Lindsey didn’t sing the kind of music he preferred … there was no real head-banging to be done, but in any dimension, his songs were good. They were from the heart and they held personal meaning to the ex-lawyer turned good guy … and nearly everyone could relate to his words at some level.


A ‘different kind of knight’ definitely seemed an appropriate analogy for the three of them … there were lots of chinks in their armor: William the Bloody and Darla … two of the deadliest vampires in history, behind only the great Angelus … and an ex-lawyer – the man who had been on the fast track to the top of Evil, Inc. before giving it all up and walking away.


Spike was pulled out of his thoughts as he heard his name being called and his throat closed up. He could face demons; he could face Slayers, he could face apocalypses … but he suddenly wasn’t so sure that he could face a room full of drunken poetry critics …


“Breathe, William …” Darla advised him, leaning in nearer to him and laying her hand on his shoulder. “Here, drink this,” she said, handing him a shot of whiskey. Spike took the glass and downed it in one gulp and handed it back to her.


“Breathe,” she advised again and Spike took a deep breath. “Here, one for the road … or the stage …” Darla said as she handed him what had been Lindsey’s beer and tilted her head in the direction of the stage.


Spike took it from her hand, stood up and walked slowly towards the stage. There was still time to escape … he could just keep walking. Who would know? Who would care? No one … but him. This was it – this was his last chance. He’d either be redeemed or crucified … but either way, it would be the last time.


Spike took a seat on the stool, lifted the microphone off its stand and held it to his mouth, but nothing came out for a long moment. The audience sat in silence … waiting, watching as Spike battled William’s fears and insecurities. Spike took one more deep breath and said, “This is for my wife … this is for Buffy.”


Spike met Darla’s eyes across the room and she smiled sweetly at him and nodded, encouraging him to continue. Spike took a drink of the beer and another deep breath before he started to recite the poem he’d written earlier that day for his wife …





“Your golden light surrounds me,
With warmth and love and mirth,
But dying this time will set me free
From the bindings of this earth.


“My love for you will never pass,
Not with death nor dark nor dust,
Because you’re the one that fills my glass,
With the sweet nectar of your trust.


“Only you can make me feel,
Alive and brave and strong.
With you I know, that it’s all real,
And for your happiness do I long.


“I wish your dreams would all come true,
I would stay to make them so,
But this is the thing that I must do,
It’s come my time to go.


“Don’t cry for me … don’t mourn my loss,
I’ll watch over you until your dying day,
Count the smiles, don’t count the cost,
I love you more than words can say.


“And so, my love, I bid adieu,
But you’ll see me every day,
In our sweet babies’ eyes of blue,
I’ll never be far away.”


When Spike finished the bar was deafening with its silence – no one seemed to be moving or talking or even drinking. Spike drank down the last of the beer and steeled himself for the boos that he was sure would come, but when he looked up, what he saw were the men dabbing at their eyes and the women weeping openly.


Finally, one big biker dude with a “Born to Kill” tattoo stood up and began clapping, and the rest of the bar followed him.


“More!” some of them yelled and Spike looked around in amazement before standing up and taking a bow. “More!” came from other patrons and Spike began eating it up … Big Bad came out of hiding and he pursed his lips together and smirked as he quieted the crowd with his hands.





“This next one’s called ‘Apple Passion’,” he announced. “It’s for two a’ my girls, Buffy and Annie …”


**~**


“Ok, you’ve all got your assignments … you all know what’s at stake here,” Angel said as he paced back and forth across the floor near the splinted end of the conference room table.


Angel surveyed the group at the table … Gunn, Wesley, Lindsey, Darla and Illyria – his core group all nodded. On the other side of the table were two Spikes, two Willows, Tara and Rome!Buffy … they all mostly glared at him. “Right!?” he asked them pointedly and they all nodded in resignation.


“Ok … sundown is in…” he looked at his watch, “… ten minutes. I suggest we get going.”


Everyone stood up from the table but stopped and looked back at Angel when he started talking again. “This is important … it’s something that will make a true difference for the world – for the people in the world,” he told them. “Fighting demons one by one … it hasn’t gotten us anywhere – THIS … this will make a difference.”


Everyone nodded slowly and headed out of the conference room and to the cars in the underground garage.


As Spike walked along the row of company cars, he noted with a small smile there were no blue ones … when he got to the Viper he stopped. “Sweeet,” he muttered under his breath and climbed in.


Spike pulled the directions to get to the Fell Brethren’s ‘monastery’ out of his pocket and read them over one more time before starting the car with a loud, “Vrrrrrmmmmm!!”


Spike turned the paper with the directions over and looked at what Willow had written on the back of it for him:


Ancient Assyria:
First capital was Assur
Most well known capital was Nineveh.
The religious capital in the hearts of the Assyrian people was Caleh.


Bugger! Spike thought as he shook his head … yeah, he would most definitely be taking that catapult ride …


Spike set the paper down on the passenger seat and looked around the car … no backseat … no baby seat … Bloody Hell! Spike shrugged and shifted the car into first, let the clutch out and took off out of the garage with squealing rubber.


"Sod it!"


If the baby can survive the rescue, Spike was relatively sure he’d survive the drive back to his parent’s without a car seat.


**~**


Wesley and Rome!Willow stood before the sorcerer, Vail, in the foyer of his opulent home, trying to convince him that they doubted Angel’s motives and they were ready to betray him.


“I'm curious. What makes you think I won't kill you where you stand?” Vail asked them.


“Because you're smarter than the others. Smart enough to have your doubts about Angel, and rightly so. He's...unpredictable, and worse, he has a conscience,” Wesley informed the sorcerer.


“Well, you make a very persuasive argument,” Vail admitted.


“Wait. It gets better,” Wesley told him as he reached a hand behind his back and began to form a fireball in his palm.


“Your influence on this world is over. The rest of the Circle will wither and die...like you're about to,” Wesley said as he threw the fireball at Vail, knocking the sorcerer and his concoction of IV bottles to the ground and shattering them.





“You don't know who you're dealing with, do you, boy?” Vail asked menacingly as he rose magically back to standing.


“Actually, I think it’s you who don’t know who you’re dealing with,” Rome!Willow interjected. “Irretite! Ensnare!” Rome!Willow commanded, raising her hand towards Vail and suddenly the sorcerer was held motionless in a large spider web.


“Oh please!” Vail exclaimed. “I mean, really! I crap better magic than this. Now then, let me show you what a real wizard can do.”


Vail began to say a spell in Latin to release his bonds and Rome!Willow commanded, “Silentium!”


Vail’s words faded to near a whisper, but didn’t stop and the spider web holding him began to unravel.


Rome!Willow’s eyes turned black with magick as she held her palm to face the sorcerer and fought his magic. “Silentium! Irretite!” she commanded again but the magical spider web continued to unravel as Vail’s chant continued.


Wesley threw another fireball at the sorcerer, temporarily giving Rome!Willow the upper hand and the web ensnaring the sorcerer tightened again, but his chanting continued and the web began to deteriorate just as quickly.


“We'll just have to do this the old-fashioned way,” Wesley muttered, seeing that Rome!Willow was getting weaker and would soon lose control of the sorcerer.


Wesley pulled out a switchblade and moved quickly towards Vail with it. As he moved, Wes formed another fireball in his free hand and threw it at Vail, slowing the sorcerer’s efforts at escape and giving Rome!Willow the advantage back for the moment.


When Wesley reached him, he thrust the blade into the sorcerer’s lower abdomen and began to pull it up towards his chest when magic exploded out of the wound and blew both Wesley and Rome!Willow back against the far wall.


Free of Rome!Willow’s magical hold, the spider web that had been holding Vail dropped away.


“Yes... I suppose we will – sometimes the old-fashioned way is the best,” Vail agreed with Wesley as he summoned a large knife from the wall and moved towards his fallen assailants.


Wesley tried to clear his head, but the room was spinning and he couldn’t get his bearings. Rome!Willow raised up weakly and commanded, “Irretite!” with as much power as she could muster … but it only slowed Vail’s approach slightly as he closed on the pair.


“Irretite!” Rome!Willow commanded again before collapsing from exhaustion onto the hard marble floor … but this time it had no effect at all on Vail.


Vail raised the knife above his head and came down towards Wesley with it, but before he could plunge it into the ex-Watcher’s body, he was knocked backwards by a powerful blow to his abdomen.


Illyria looked down at Wesley and Rome!Willow … tilting her head and considering them a moment before speaking. “I killed all mine … you seem to be … un-victorious.”


Wesley shook his head again and finally focused on Illyria standing over them. “We were simply toying with him …” Wesley quipped holding his head in his hands as he tried to get the room to stop spinning.


“I do not think that was Angel’s intention …” Illyria pointed out.





“Perhaps you’re correct…” Wesley agreed groggily. “Would you care to take over?”


Illyria tilted her head from side to side considering Wesley. “If you’d like,” she said as she turned to face Vail.


“Ahhh, another player,” Vail smiled as he recovered from the blow Illyria had delivered earlier and moved towards her. “And what do you have, blue girl … perhaps a whip to go with all that leather…”


Illyria swung her fist at Vail’s head before he could utter another word and his head exploded into a thousand pieces … the magic that was left in his body rolled off Illyria like water off a duck’s back.





Illyria turned back to Wesley and Rome!Willow, who had both finally made it back to their feet. “I believe we should go now … the others will be waiting,” she told them. Wesley started to take a step but nearly fell and Illyria caught him.


“Perhaps just a moment more,” Wesley requested as he sank back down to the floor.


“Thank you for coming,” he told Illyria as she knelt beside him on the floor.


“I was …” Illyria started, searching for the correct word.


“Concerned?” Wesley supplied.


“I think so … I do not understand these human emotions – they are foreign to me,” Illyria told him.


Wesley nodded. “You’ll get used to them in time … perhaps even grow to enjoy them … if we live long enough.”


Illyria tilted her head to the side and considered Wesley. “Yes, perhaps you are correct.”


**~**


“So,” Willow asked Lindsey in a whisper as they stood outside the door of the Sahrvins’ club, “do you have a plan?”


“Yeah .. CWA,” Lindsey told her just as quietly.


“CWA?” Tara questioned.


“Gonna open a can o’ whoop ass on ‘em,” Lindsey clarified as he twirled the sword he was holding in his hand before kicking the door open and rushing in.





Willow and Tara stayed back waiting to see if Lindsey needed their help taking out the Sahrvins.


“What are you gonna do?” Tara asked Willow as they watched Lindsey fight the demons with the skill of an expert swordsman.


Willow looked back at the car at the curb and at Darla who was waiting for them in the passenger seat. “I don’t know…” Willow admitted.


Her mind went back to the conversation Angel had with her earlier that day …


**~**

“Willow, I need you to do something for me – it’s not going to be pretty – it’s not going to be easy, but it’s necessary,” Angel told her.


Willow looked at Angel with a furrowed brow. “What is it?”


“If Lindsey survives the Sahrvins, I need you to kill him,” Angel said flatly.


“WHAT!?” Willow exclaimed, jumping up from the chair in front of his desk. Willow began pacing back and forth in front of Angel’s desk in his office. “Why?” she asked as she stopped pacing and looked at him.


“He’s a wildcard – he could go either way. We can’t trust him. I can’t take the chance that he’ll take over W&H when I’m gone and not turn right back into the corporate whipping boy that he was …” Angel explained. “He has to be taken out – you’ll have the only clear chance at that.”


Willow looked at him with wide eyes. “He’s … he’s human!” she exclaimed. “We don’t just go around killing humans – especially for something they might do!”


“Believe me, Willow – he’s done enough in his life to justify it … and I understand you’ve killed humans before,” Angel told her, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms across his chest.





Willow furrowed her brow and frowned … What is he talking about? Then she realized … he didn’t know that it was the other Willow who had killed Warren after he shot Tara … or didn’t realize their realities were different.


“Right …” she said softly. “It just seems like we have a lot of wildcards here … you, for example,” Willow argued. “If we kill all the wildcards, we may not have anyone left to fight the apocalypse.”


Then Willow’s eyes went wide with a realization. “This is about Darla, isn’t it?! He took Darla from you and you’re getting even!”


“Willow,” Angel started, leaning forward and resting his arms on his desk, “this has nothing to do with Darla. Lindsey can’t be allowed to take over W&H … it could make this whole apocalypse meaningless …”


“Or it could make it all worthwhile … if he does what he says he’ll do and use the power and resources for good … like you’ve done,” Willow pointed out.


Angel shook his head. “We can’t take that chance … it’s better to not have anyone with the kind of experience with evil that Lindsey has running this office …”


“Oh… I suppose you don’t have any experience with evil, then, do you, Angelus?” Willow retorted.


Angel just glared at her. “Name’s Angel … just Angel now.”


Willow could see she wasn’t going to win this argument with Angel. She nodded slowly and simply said, “Okay, I get it,” before turning and leaving his office.


**~**


“Willow?” Tara questioned, pulling Willow out of her thoughts.


Willow looked back at Tara and gave her a sad smile. “Maybe you should wait in the car with Darla …” Willow suggested as she looked in to see how Lindsey was doing – it looked like he had taken all but one of the demons out.


“Noooo,” Tara said, dragging the word out. “Whatever you do, I’ll do with you … what are you going to do?”


Just then, Lindsey stepped out of the door. “Those guys were chumps,” he informed the witches.


“You’re pretty good with that thing,” Willow said, nodding towards the sword in his hand.


“Yeah … did a little training in the off season,” Lindsey said, twirling the sword again. “Heard anything from the rest of the team?”


“No,” Tara told him. “We may be the rest of the team …”


“It’s weird to be on a team…a real team where your teammates aren’t constantly stabbing you in the back … literally,” Lindsey told them. “It’s a pretty good feeling, really.”


“You helped Angel out before, though – right?” Willow asked Lindsey. “When you were working for Wolfram & Hart?”


“Yeah … a time or two … we had a love-hate relationship … we loved to hate each other,” Lindsey answered with a smile. “Still kinda do…”


“And … now what?” Willow questioned him. “Where do you go from here?”


Lindsey looked at her with a furrowed brow. “Figured we go open another can a’ whoop ass in the alley behind the Hyperion … was there somewhere else we were supposed to go?”


“Actually,” Willow started. “Angel asked me to … ummm … well, he wants to make sure there’s someone here to take over Wolfram & Hart after the smoke clears. He thinks it should be you – so, yeah – you and Darla are supposed to head out - leave town for a while.”


“Funny he didn’t say that to me himself …” Lindsey observed, looking at Willow with narrow eyes.


“Yeah, Angel – he’s a funny guy – not, you know, the ‘ha-ha’ funny … just, weird-funny,” Willow covered.


“So, we’re supposed to just leave?” Lindsey asked again, waving his arm towards Darla who was waiting in the car.


“Yeah …” Willow affirmed. “Leave now and when you come back you can say we forced you to help – that you tried to stop us … you’ve still got those lawyery words in your brain, I’m sure you can tell the Senior Partners something and get back in … Then it’ll be up to you – what you do from there will be on your shoulders.”


Lindsey nodded slowly. “Yeah … I could really end up making a difference … I might make it onto the PTB’s radar after all.”


“Do you want us to drop you?” Lindsey asked the witches as he headed towards the car.


“No … you should really go – we can walk, it’s only a few blocks,” Tara told him as she and Willow stood and watched him get in the car with Darla.


When he had driven off, Tara turned to Willow and hugged her. “I knew you’d do the right thing,” Tara told her.


“I hope I did …” Willow whispered, hugging Tara back.





**~**

“Boo!” Spike called, stepping out of the shadows as Gunn, Rome!Buffy and Rome!Spike came into view. Cold rain poured down on them in sheets as they stood in the alley behind the Hyperion.


“Anyone else?” Rome!Spike asked him.





“Not so far. You lot do ok?” Spike questioned.


“Yeah – buncha gits … couldn’ fight their way outta bloody paper bags. Embarrassin’s what it is – they call themselves vampires!”


“Too true!” Gunn interjected, spinning his homemade battle-axe in his hands. “I probably could’ve taken them all myself! I was on fire! My game was tight!”





“Yeah, Charlie-boy mighta been a Slayer in another life …” Rome!Spike agreed.


“You feel that?” Rome!Buffy asked the group.


“Yeah, it's comin’,” Rome!Spike acknowledged, looking around. “Finally got ourselves a decent brawl… and not a broach, necklace, pendant, or pin in sight.”


Willow and Tara came running into the alley from the opposite direction. “I think the fire and brimstone brigade is following us!” Willow informed them as the witches reached the group.


“How many?” Rome!Buffy asked raising the sword in her hand.


“Uhhhh … lots of many…?” Tara told her with a grimace.


“Where’s Tattoo Boy…and Darla?” Spike questioned the witches.


“Uhhh … they aren’t coming,” Willow answered Spike, shooting him a look that told him to not ask any more questions.


Suddenly Illyria dropped down from the chain link fence on the side of the alley and joined the group as the rain continued to pour down on them.


“Anyone hear from Wesley and Willow?” Rome!Buffy asked.


“They are on their way here now … I could not abide the red witches’ driving … so I came ahead on my own,” Illyria told Rome!Buffy.


“Willow drives okay …” Rome!Buffy pointed out.


“Everybody drives okay compared to you, luv,” Rome!Spike told her. “Red can’t get out of a gnat’s way … bloody slow is what she is.”


“Hey! That’s not true! I drive fine … tell them, Spike! There’s nothing wrong with my driving!” Willow defended her other dimension’s self.


Spike raised his brows and looked around as everyone looked at him. “Uhhhh…did I ever mention how good you are at bakin’ brownies, Red? Bloody brilliant, you are!”


“Spike!” Willow exclaimed, exasperated. “Fat lotta help you are …”


“It’s getting closer,” Rome!Buffy observed as the sounds of a demon army, sent by the Senior Partners to take their revenge, grew louder. “And where the hell is Angel? He gets us into this and he doesn’t show up for the grand finale!?”


“Well, I reckon, as usual, it’ll be up to us to clean up the wanker’s mess …” Spike intoned as the demon army came into view at the end of the alley.


“OK,” Rome!Spike called to Spike as the group started moving towards the approaching demons, weapons at the ready. “You take the 30,000 on the left …”

TIME LINE:
Spans: (In the Rome!Universe)
Early morning hours through the late evening of Sunday, June 28th, 2004


**

History:
Joshua "JJ" Harris was born on April 21st, 2004
The twins (Danielle, "Dani" and William, "Billy") were born on February 12th, 2004
Annie turned five on February 14th.
Spike and Buffy have been married five years in February. (seems longer, doesn't it?)
Buffy turned 23 on January 19th.

All the Potentials were endowed with full Slayer power in February 2003.
Buffy and Spike learned of the other dimensions in May, 2003.

**~**

(Going back in time several hours)
7am, Sunday, June 28th, 2004


“Sir, I know this sounds crazy … it would be crazy if we worked in any other branch of the army … but we deal with demons and magic all the time,” Riley Finn told his superior officer, Captain Ellis.


“But a dream? … Finn – even for us that’s a little farfetched …” his Captain told him.





“Graham … tell him – tell him about Buffy and Willow – you know what they’re capable of …” Riley admonished his friend.


Graham shrugged. “We saw a lot of … unusual things in Sunnydale, sir. It’s possible what Finn’s saying is true.”


“Isn’t she the one that just married Hostile 17?” the Captain questioned, crossing his arms over his chest and looking at Finn. “I mean, how stable could she be?”


“Spike’s … I mean, Hostile 17’s ….” Finn started and stopped, sighing heavily. “Look – Buffy may have unusual taste in partners, but she’s not unstable or some kook off the street. She’s The Vampire Slayer …”


“Married to a vampire …” Ellis pointed out.


Finn looked to Graham for help. “It wouldn’t hurt to check it out…send a couple of squads into the field …” Graham offered.


“The way Buffy talked, we’d need a platoon, at least – a company would be better,” Riley insisted, looking back at his Captain.


Captain Ellis mimicked picking up the phone. “Yes, Colonel? I need a company of men deployed to downtown L.A. … Why? Because my screw-ball First LT had a dream …”


“Fine!” Riley said, raising his hands in the air in surrender. “But when downtown L.A. is destroyed and the Colonel finds out that you could’ve stopped it, how do you think he’ll react? When he finds out you had advance warning and you did nothing you'll be busted back to a Buck Private and on KP duty peeling potatoes until retirement - if you're lucky!


“Buffy wouldn't have come to me and told me about this if it wasn’t true! I don’t care that it was in a dream – it was Buffy, she was completely lucid, and this is real!”


The Captain sighed. “That’s extortion …”


“It’s only extortion if you know I’m right …” Finn pointed out.


**~**

(Back in time about an hour)
The Night of Sunday, June 28th, 2004





“Let me say this as clearly as I can. You cannot beat me. I am a part of them. The Wolf, Ram, and Hart. Their strength flows through my veins. My blood is filled with their ancient power,” Hamilton told Angel as they fought in the lobby of the Wolfram & Hart building in L.A.


The others had left for their missions, the building had been evacuated completely, not one security guard or secretary remained – even Harmony had finally left … her recommendation from Angel in hand.



Angel smirked as he stood in the lobby of W&H and faced Hamilton alone; all the other warriors had left earlier to complete their missions. When he and Darla visited their son Connor the day before, Connor knew something was up … but Angel and Darla convinced him that they could handle it – he needed to stay as far away from L.A. as he could.


“Can you pick out the one word there you probably shouldn't have said?” Angel asked the bulking liaison.





Angel vamped out and launched himself at the liaison, his fangs sank deep into Hamilton’s neck and the blood, filled with the ancient power, flowed into Angel’s mouth. Angel had tasted Slayer blood before – more than once, but this – this was beyond that – a thousand times more powerful.


Hamilton punched Angel and finally peeled the vampire off his neck, but the power of that blood, the ancient power of the Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart, was coursing through Angel now. Angel started back towards Hamilton, feeling more alive than he had since … well, since he had actually been alive.


“You don't really think you're gonna win this, do you? You don't stand a chance. We are legion. We are forever,” Hamilton informed him as Angel reached him and they began to fight anew – each giving as much as they got from the other until, finally, Angel got the upper hand.


“Then I guess forever...” Angel began, punctuating his words with blows to Hamilton’s face. “...just got a hell of a lot shorter.”


Just as Angel punched Hamilton with the final, killing blow – Angel felt the entire building begin to shake and shudder and a portal open behind him. Angel turned away from Hamilton’s motionless body, ready to take on the new threat, when Giles emerged from the portal.


“I understand you have something that belongs to us,” Giles told Angel as he walked up to him, crossbow in hand.





Angel looked at him with confusion as Faith emerged from the portal and walked up behind Giles with Buffy’s scythe in her hand … and behind them even more Slayers with weapons of every description, flooded out of the portal in a seemingly never-ending stream.


“You need to get out of here!” Angel told Giles and Faith as columns began to fall around them.


“We aren’t going anywhere without them! Where are they?” Faith questioned Angel, pushing the stake end of the scythe against the vampire’s chest.


“Who?” Angel asked looking between Faith and Giles.


Giles raised his eyebrows. “Just how many people are you holding against their will?”


“None!” Angel retorted.


“Eeennnnttt!” Faith exclaimed, sounding like a game show buzzer, and she pressed the stake harder against his chest, breaking the skin. “Wrong answer!” she announced as the building continued to shake and come apart around them.


“Where are Buffy, Spike, Willow and Tara?!” Giles demanded, ducking a piece of plaster that fell from above them.


“Not here …” Angel hedged. “We need to go!”


“Eeennnnnttt!” Faith yelled again, pressing the stake until it hit bone. “Wanna try that again?”


“Ok! Fine … I don’t know where Buffy is … she left this morning. Spike and the witches are on missions … in fact, they’re probably waiting for me now in the alley behind the Hyperion. We really need to get out of here!”


“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it, Angel?” Giles asked, stepping to the side and waving is arm out, inviting Angel to lead the way as Faith lowered the stake.


“There’s more…” Angel said as he started walking towards the stairs. “…probably lots more than them waiting there.”


“Well, that’s why we brought some friends along…” Faith told Angel as they all followed him to the stairs.


“How did you know?” Angel asked Giles as they descended out of the building while it continued to shake and crack under their feet.


“Buffy – she came to me in a dream last night … said you were planning an apocalypse, among other things …”


**~**

(Back in time to when Spike and Buffy were in the dream with Annie)

Early morning hours, Sunday, June 28th, 2004

“Wake up now,” Spike said, and he was gone.


Buffy sat alone on the bench made of Mounds bars, her mind still circling their situation like a shark … moving in and out … trying to see all possible weaknesses … any possible opening – any chance for escape or victory, when she suddenly had an idea.


If they could visit Annie in her dreams just by thinking about her, why couldn’t they visit other people’s dreams, too?


Buffy closed her eyes and concentrated. Giles, Giles, Giles, Rupert Giles she repeated to herself. When she opened her eyes she was in the library at Sunnydale High.


“Giles?!” she called, walking from the stacks and down the stairs to the main lobby of the library.


“Buffy!” Giles exclaimed, coming out of his office. “Is it time to train already?” he asked, looking at the clock.





“No … Giles, listen to me – we’ve got a problem, I need your help …”


When Buffy had finished filling Giles in on what was going on in the Rome!Universe, she closed her eyes again and concentrated. Riley Finn, Riley Finn, Riley Finn… oh, I should say the other dimension’s Riley Finn … not mine… c’mon magic, you know what I mean! Riley Finn…


When Buffy opened her eyes she was in an Army barracks – everything was dark and soldiers were sleeping in bunks that lined each side of the aisle. Buffy saw a light coming from a partially open door at the end of the long room and walked towards it.


When she got to the door, she pushed it completely open. “Finn?” she called as she stepped inside.


“Oh my!” Buffy exclaimed as she took in the room.


Riley Finn was standing in front of a large desk, dressed only in his olive green t-shirt and boxers.


Sitting behind the desk was Spike, dressed like General Patton in army issue khakis and riding boots. His booted feet were propped up on the desk, he was smoking a pipe and idly slapping a riding crop against his leg. Spike was in the middle of instructing Finn on the proper way to lick a superior’s boots.


“Ummm … Excuse me… General, umm, Spike – but could I borrow Riley just a minute?” Buffy asked looking between Spike and Riley Finn.


Spike tilted his head and furrowed his brow. “That’s not regulation attire, soldier,” he informed Buffy.


“Yeah, I know … I just need to talk to Finn a minute – then you can have him back,” Buffy told him.


“Sir,” Spike corrected her.


“Excuse me?” Buffy questioned, becoming irritated – she didn’t really have time for these games.


“Then you can have him back, sir,” Spike clarified.


Buffy’s eyebrows shot up as she looked at Spike. “Sir, my ass …” Buffy started and Finn stepped in front of her.


“It’s best to just humor him … he gets cranky and makes you clean out the latrine if you don’t,” Finn told her in a low voice.


Buffy bit her bottom lip and nodded. Putting on her best ‘army’ demeanor like she'd seen in the movies, she addressed Spike again.


“Sir! Riley Finn needs to come with me, sir. He’ll be back forthwith, sir. Sir, yes, sir!” Buffy told Spike, standing up straight with her feet together and shoulders back.


“Much better, soldier … but that’s still not regulation dress … I think you need to remove all that non-regulation attire,” Spike told her with a smirk, taking his boots down off the desk and leaning forward in his chair.


“Riley!” Buffy exclaimed looking at Finn.


Riley held his hands up in surrender. “I didn’t say it, he did!”


“It’s your dream!” Buffy pointed out, but Riley just shrugged.


“Well, you can forget that, sir!” Buffy told General Spike. “You just stay here – I’ll send Riley back in a minute!” Buffy said as she grabbed Riley’s arm and steered him out of the office, closing the door behind them.


“Riley, listen to me. I know this is going to be hard to believe, but it’s real and it’s true. I need your help …”





When Buffy finished telling Riley about the apocalypse, she closed her eyes and concentrated again. Giles, Giles … the other Giles, this dimension’s Giles … Giles …


When Buffy opened her eyes she was back in the library at the old Sunnydale High School and she thought for a moment that it had brought her back to her Giles. She walked out of the stacks and down the stairs, just as she had before, but when she got downstairs she found Giles and Olivia sitting on a couch that had never been in the library before … they were making out!


Buffy cleared her throat before walking up to them and they looked up at her.


“Buffy… don’t you know it’s rude to interrupt other people’s dreams?” Giles asked her, putting his glasses back on.


“Really sorry about that…” Buffy told him. “But I have a plan and I need your help …”


**~**

(Back to the present)

The Night of Sunday, June 28th, 2004


The group in the alley, two Spikes, Rome!Buffy, Willow, Tara, Gunn and Illyria charged towards the oncoming mass of demons.


The sheer number of them was overwhelming … add onto that the fact that there were demons here that none of them had ever seen before or had any idea how to kill, and that made the situation that much more hopeless. But it didn’t matter, they were all Champions, warriors and they would fight to the end. To go out fighting would be better than simply fading away.


Spike sent what he knew would be his final message to Buffy through the bond, Buffy? Are you safe?


Yes … safe – please be careful … please don’t be a hero. I love you, Spike, Buffy sent back.


I love you too, Buffy … give Annie and the babies my undying love … never let them forget that I love them…and you, with all my heart. Spike sent back to her before closing the bond as he vamped out and swung his sword at the first demon that came within reach.


Willow and Tara began a chant and fireballs began forming between them, spinning in fast circles then sling-shotting out at the demons. They couldn’t make the balls too large, not like their magical sun, because of the two Spikes, but the fireballs frightened some of the demons, slowing them down, and killed some outright. The faster they chanted, the faster the fireballs formed and flew out at the line of oncoming hell-beasts.


Rome!Spike and Rome!Buffy stood to either side and a few feet in front of the witches, swiping their swords across anything that looked like a neck on the demons they faced and trying not to let any get past them. When it was clear that they wouldn’t be able to hold the throng off any longer, Willow and Tara changed tactics and began commanding, “Somnus!” and the demons that were in range of their magick dropped like stones – unconscious on the ground.


Spike and Gunn joined Rome!Spike and Rome!Buffy in guarding the witches and dispatching the fallen demons as Willow and Tara continued switching back and forth between throwing fireballs to commanding sleep of the oncoming horde. When Wesley and Rome!Willow arrived, they also joined in the fray – with Rome!Willow helping with the magick and Welsey with the slaying.


Meanwhile, Illyria took on the other 30,000 demons herself. Fighting on the other side of the alley, she dispatched three and four demons at a time with god-like blows from her fists and feet and by using her time-altering powers to slow them down.


When a demon would slip by the group or get the upper hand against one of the Champions, the others would come to their aid … it didn’t matter what dimension they were from – they were all comrades … they all fought as one. They would win together or die together … there was no choice now.


**~**


Angel, Giles, Faith and the thirty other Slayers that Faith had brought with them from the other (Unexpected) dimension, got to the alley after the fighting had begun and circled around to catch the demons from the rear. They entered the alley several blocks down from the Hyperion, and caught the throng momentarily off guard as they attacked the demons from behind.


Soon, the demons were waging the war on two fronts … one against the Champions on the north end of the alley behind the hotel and the other against the Slayers, Giles, and Angel, at the south end of the alley.


Faith used Buffy’s scythe to behead the demons that came within reach of her; the powerful scythe cut through them like a warm knife through butter. Her fellow Slayers, along with Angel and Giles, weren’t as lucky – having just regular swords, battle-axes, knives, stakes and crossbows, but they guarded each other’s backs and there were many more demons falling than Slayers.


Without warning, a third front opened up on the demon horde. Army helicopters flew overhead and rained rockets and bullets down on the demons below as a company of specially trained men and women marched on the alley from the west. They intersected the long line of demons halfway between the other two fronts and began to cut a swath across the mid-section of the snake-like mass of monsters.


Suddenly, a flying dragon began attacking the helicopters, breathing fire on them and sending the choppers plummeting wildly out of control to the ground. Pieces of the helicopters flew in all directions as they bounced off the pavement…killing more demons, but also raining shrapnel down on the Champions and Slayers that were fighting in the alley.


The demons seemed to view the newcomers as the biggest threat and many of them turned and began attacking the soldiers and their machines. As the demons turned en masse to face the new attackers, the Slayers and Champions followed them, attacking from behind and moving closer and closer to the center of the horde … and closer and closer to each other.


The three witches stayed behind the fighters, they were all soaked to the skin and beyond, if that was possible. The freezing rain had never let up, but they seemed oblivious to it – their adrenaline and fear made the rain barely noticeable.


Suddenly, one of the demons that appeared to be dead sprang up and attacked Gunn, slicing a deep wound across his chest and abdomen. Spike ran to his aid and dropped the demon with one angry blow as Gunn slumped onto the dirty pavement.


Spike knelt beside him, holding Gunn’s head up off the hard ground. “You're supposed to wear the red stuff on the inside, Charlie boy,” Spike told him – knowing that the wound was mortal – Gunn wouldn’t live another minute at the rate his blood was pouring out.


“It’s always … about the … blood … with you fang-boys,” Gunn told Spike with a small smile as he tried to breathe. “You should…really think about…branching out…”





“Yeah, should do that …” Spike agreed as Gunn’s heart stopped beating and he went limp in Spike’s arms. “Sorry, Charlie boy … save me a seat,” Spike told him softly as he laid Gunn gently down on the ground. Spike picked his sword up, got back to his feet, and began to attack again with renewed vigor.


When another one of the helicopters fell from the sky, everyone instinctively turned their backs and ducked as shrapnel flew at them. In that instant, a large, multi-armed demon with long, razor-sharp claws, jumped over the fighters and lunged at the trio of witches, heading straight for Tara, who had her back turned to it.


Rome!Willow jumped up just as the demon thrust its razor sharp claws at Tara. “NO!!” Rome!Willow screamed as she stepped between the demon and Tara and the demon’s claws sliced into her, punching five holes all the way through to her back and instantly covering her abdomen, chest and back with blood.


“WILLOW!” Tara screamed as Rome!Willow collapsed onto the wet ground, holding her stomach – her eyes wide in shock, pain, and terror.


Willow commanded, “Somnus!” just as Rome!Spike and Rome!Buffy turned to see what had happened. Rome!Spike decapitated the demon with one blow while Rome!Buffy rushed around it to check on Rome!Willow.


Tara was sitting on the hard, dirty pavement holding Rome!Willow in her arms. The cold rain pounded down on them as Rome!Willow’s blood poured out, mixed with the rain, and ran in red rivers down the alley.


Rome!Buffy knelt beside her, but then heard Rome!Spike calling for her … she didn’t want to leave her friend, but the demons had turned back and were attacking them in force again.


“Take care of her?” Rome!Buffy asked Tara and Tara nodded sadly as tears welled in her eyes.


“I’m … fine,” Rome!Willow told her between shallow breaths.


“SLAYER!” Rome!Spike called again as he tried to defend not only his area, but hers.


“I know you are … you’ll be fine,” Rome!Buffy told her as tears welled in her eyes too. “You have to be … I need you … how will I ever finish college without you to help me?” Rome!Buffy asked her with a sad smile.


Rome!Willow coughed and blood came out of her mouth, spattering her face. “You … can do it …” she told Rome!Buffy. “You’re … a smart … girl.”


“SLAYER!” Rome!Spike called again as he was getting pushed back by the horde of attacking demons.


Rome!Buffy leaned down next to Rome!Willow’s ear. “I love you, Willow,” Rome!Buffy told her friend, taking her hand in hers.


“I …love…you…Buffy,” Rome!Willow told her between shallow breaths. “I’m…fine…”


“BLOODY HELL! SLAYER!” Rome!Spike screamed as a demon cut a large gash across his chest before he could dispatch it.


Rome!Buffy gave Rome!Willow a tender kiss on the forehead before jumping back up and joining her husband on the frontlines.


Willow knelt down next to Tara as Tara tried to shield Rome!Willow’s face from the rain.


“Why? Why!” Tara asked, looking up to the sky - her tears falling unseen as they mixed with pouring rain on her face. “It should’ve been me!! Why!?”


Rome!Willow reached a bloody hand up to Tara’s face. “Have you … ever really… loved a woman?” Rome!Willow asked her – her voice barely a whisper, her breathing shallow and labored.


“Yes … yes, but,” Tara started to answered her through her tears.


Rome!Willow pressed her fingers to Tara’s lips, silencing her. “Then…you…know…why…” Rome!Willow told her – her speech slow and labored as she tried to breathe.


“You … were … the best … part of me … Let you down … too much … not again … never … again,” Rome!Willow explained as she coughed and more blood came out of her mouth and nose.


Rome!Willow looked off to the other side and away from where Tara was holding her.


“Tara’s here … can you … see her?” Rome!Willow asked, reaching a bloody hand out into seemingly empty space.


Willow and Tara looked where Rome!Willow was looking and saw a ghostly figure moving towards them. It floated right through demons and Champion’s alike, as it made its way to the witches.


When it got near it was clear that Rome!Willow was right … it was Tara. She was dressed in a white flowing dress…her hair was pulled up on top of her head with just a few ringlets hanging down around her face and she was bathed in a warm, golden light.


Ghostly Tara reached out and took Rome!Willow’s hand in hers.


“Tara …” Rome!Willow called softly as she went limp in Tara’s arms.


“NO!” Tara screamed as she pulled Rome!Willow against her chest and rocked back and forth. Willow put her arms around Tara and held her tightly as Tara continued to hold Rome!Willow’s broken and lifeless body against her chest and chant, “No, no, no …”


“She’s gone,” Willow told Tara softly. “She’s with her love now … she’s with her Tara.”


**~**


Angel and Giles stood shoulder to shoulder as they fought the horde that the Senior Partners had sent up from hell – Slayers of every description to either side of them, all fighting for their lives. It was clear that Giles was getting exhausted … he was a shopkeeper now and rarely even worked out with Buffy any more – fighting an unending line of hell-beasts wasn’t exactly in his repertoire at the moment.


Angel tried to take up the slack and stepped ahead of the ex-Watcher to take the brunt of the attack himself. He knew this wasn’t the Giles that he had known in Sunnydale … but he was sure they had the same soul … the same commitment to Buffy and to the fight, so it didn’t matter. He would do what he could to protect him, because, despite everything Angel, as Angelus, had done to Giles, Giles had ultimately forgiven him – and that was saying a lot.


A demon got past Angel and swiped a claw at Giles before Giles could defend himself. Suddenly, Giles’ shirt was stained with a long line of red and he dropped to his knees. Angel turned and thrust his sword into the beast’s back, killing it. As Angel called for help from one of the Slayers and tried to move Giles back away from the frontline, another demon attacked, knocking Angel down with a violent blow from behind.


Angel rolled to his back and saw the beast raise a sword-like hand above his neck and start down with it … there was no time to react, no time to move or defend himself … this was it – Angel knew in that instant what it was like to be mortal, he was sure he would be dust within a millisecond and he instinctively closed his eyes to await his fate.


After several seconds, when nothing happened, Angel opened his eyes and looked up … Lindsey was standing over him – he’d taken out the sword-beast and was fighting back more demons as they continued to attack, swinging his sword with expert timing and accuracy.


Lindsey stole a look back as Angel scrambled to his feet and picked his own sword back up from the pavement.


“Never tried fighting flat on my back with my eyes closed,” Lindsey told him as Angel came up next to him and began fighting again. “How’d that work out for ya?”


“What are you doing here, Lindsey?” Angel asked through a clenched jaw as he fought.


“Apparently, saving your sorry ass!” Lindsey pointed out as he continued fighting, as well. “What, you thought you’d keep all this fun to yourself? All these pretty girls with weapons … tsk, tsk, Angel! You’re a greedy mother-fucker…”


**~**


The battles raged up and down the cold, dark alley. Many hundreds of demons fell, but there always seemed to be one more to take their place. The Champions, the Slayers and the soldiers were beyond cold, beyond wet, beyond exhausted, but still they fought.


The Champions had lost Rome!Willow and Charles Gunn, Faith’s group had lost two Slayers with three more badly injured. Giles had a deep gash across his abdomen, but seemed to be stable for now; they’d stopped the bleeding and field-bandaged his wound the best they could. The soldiers had lost innumerable men and women and three helicopters before finally taking out the fire breathing dragon with a surface-to-air missile.


Just when it appeared that the demons were about to gain the upper hand and squash the remaining Champions, Slayers and soldiers, a fourth front of attack opened up on them with fresh fighters.


Buffy, Rome!Giles and Andrew led Slayers from this dimension and came in from a side road, attacking from the east … directly across the alley, but down one block, from the soldiers – closer to the hotel.


Buffy looked in vain for Spike … but they were too far away and there were still too many demons to be able to see him. She thought of opening the bond … telling him that she was here, but was afraid it would distract him … so she kept the bond closed and simply concentrated on killing anything that was between her and her husband.


Yes, she’d promised that she would go…she hoped that Spike would forgive her for not keeping her word – but she couldn’t leave him to this fate without knowing that she’d done everything in her power to save him … to save them all.


She was THE Slayer … Spike had told her that enough times. It wasn’t in her nature to run away … it wasn’t her Calling to hide from the demons – it was her Calling to face them – alone if necessary, with a little help from her friends, if possible.


And so her plan was formed as she sat alone on the bench in Annie’s chocolate dream world. She’d always had friends and family to help her fight the demons, that’s what had made her the longest living Slayer in history. But this would call for more than the Scoobies … more even than the group that Angel had assembled, if there was any hope of winning – and not winning was not an option; losing Spike was not an option.


So, after Spike woke up and left the chocolate dream world, Buffy made a few dream visits of her own … to Giles, to Riley Finn and to Rome!Giles, and she recruited them all to help – to bring as many Slayers or soldiers as they could gather quickly and meet at the Hyperion hotel this night as close to sunset as they could manage.


Rome!Giles called in Slayers from California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and even a few from Mexico, to fight. It had taken longer than they’d hoped to get back to L.A. from Las Vegas and meet up with the Slayers … Buffy hoped that it hadn’t taken too long. She kept wanting to leave Rome!Giles and Andrew to handle getting the Slayers rounded up and here, but Giles insisted that she stay with them.


“You won’t do your family or Spike any good if you’re dead, Buffy,” Rome!Giles had told her. “And that’s what you’ll be if you run head-long into that battle with no back-up.


“I may not be your Watcher, but I’m still a Watcher, and I must insist that you wait for us all. I know you’re probably not used to following direction … if you’re anything like our Buffy…but you need to heed my advice on this matter.”


And so, Buffy waited impatiently for them to gather all the Slayers they possibly could and get them organized and here.


As the rain continued to fall, Buffy led the thirty Slayers from this dimension into battle against the devil’s army. No sooner had they begun fighting, than a series of loud explosions erupted from the alley knocking everyone to the ground – demons, Slayers, Champions and witches alike.


Buffy lay on the wet ground and covered her head and ears with her arms as the explosions continued for what seemed a lifetime. The soldiers had begun launching concussion grenades at the demons – and they weren’t stopping.


Buffy could feel shrapnel, made out of pieces of demon bone, scales and claws, flying over her head and heard girls behind her scream out as pieces of the demon debris hit them. Then she felt a sharp burning pain in her leg and she screamed into the pavement as a piece of razor-sharp claw lodged in her upper thigh. Buffy reached down instinctively to cover the painful injury and felt hot, wet liquid covering her thigh…blood - and lots of it.


“Fuck!” Buffy exclaimed as she pulled the disembodied claw out of her leg and pressed her hand hard against the bleeding wound in an attempt to staunch it.


Finally, the bombing stopped and the alleyway went perfectly still and quiet. Buffy tried to sit up to look at the wound, but as she did, she got dizzy, lost consciousness, and collapsed back onto the pavement as her blood continued to flow out of her body and join the blood of a thousand demons on the dirty ground of the alley.


**~**


Buffy’s unconscious mind spun and twirled and suddenly she was hanging by one hand high above the alley – she looked up to see Spike, holding their baby daughter to his side with one hand and holding Buffy’s hand in a steel grip with the other, trying to pull her back onto the fire escape.


Buffy looked down, but instead of Glory hanging onto her legs, it was Angel trying to pull them all down.


“You didn’t keep your promise, luv,” Spike told her through clenched teeth as he struggled to pull her up and keep his hold of Annie at the same time.


“I’m sorry … I thought … I thought I could save you,” Buffy told him as she kicked her feet to try and get Angel off, but all that kicking just pulled Spike and Annie further over the edge of the fire escape.


“You gonna give up this time, Slayer?” Spike asked her, game face on, as he struggled to stop sliding further off the fire escape.


“I can’t do it without you,” Buffy told him with tears in her eyes.


“And our family can’t make it without you, Buffy,” Spike told her as he slid further off the platform. “Keep your promise.”


Buffy took her free hand and clamped it over Spike’s where he was holding her, but instead of peeling his fingers off, she held on tighter and tried to pull herself, along with Angel, back up.


Spike slid a few inches more and stopped … his belt buckle caught on the small lip along the edge of the platform. Buffy pulled harder, gripping his arm and pulling herself up until she could reach the platform with her hand. Buffy continued to climb and to struggle against Angel, who was pulling and twisting her legs and trying to pull them down, until she’d finally gotten her chest back up onto the platform.


She climbed over Spike, pulling on anything she could reach, the platform or him, until her whole torso was back on the fire escape.


“Bloody pillock!” Spike cursed as he drew back his now free hand that had been holding Buffy and swung at Angel, but Angel let go of Buffy, caught Spike’s hand in mid-punch and yanked hard, pulling Spike down with him.


When Angel let go of her, Buffy easily scrambled the rest of the way onto the platform. She turned around just in time to see Spike push Annie away from him as Angel pulled him off the fire escape.


“SPIKE!” Buffy screamed, grabbing Annie with one hand and reaching for her husband with the other. Buffy’s hand caught on Spike’s boot momentarily, but his momentum was too much and he slipped out of her grasp.


Buffy pulled Annie against her as her empty hand reached over the side of the fire escape towards her husband. When she looked over the edge, there was nothing but darkness below …


**~**


“Buffy …. Buffy, are you with us?”


Buffy’s eyes fluttered open and she saw Andrew kneeling over her, pressing down hard on her thigh and the wound there.


“Thank goodness! You totally scared me there for a minute! I had a flashback to the brave and foxy Lt. Tasha Yar being cut down in the line of duty by the malevolent entity, Armus, on Vagra 2 in ST:TNG season 1, episode 22, 'Skin of Evil',” Andrew lamented as he continued putting pressure on her wound.


“Spike …” Buffy moaned, her hand going to her head as she tried to get it to stop spinning. She tried to figure out what Andrew was saying. Was he actually speaking English and she was too light-headed to understand him or was speaking some other language … she really wasn’t sure.


Andrew looked behind them at the mass of still bodies – all the demons were either dead or dying … there was very little movement of any kind coming from the alley.


“I don’t know … no one’s seen him,” Andrew told her sadly. “We haven’t seen anyone else …”





Hear the song associated with this story at the following YouTube Link:

" With A Little Help From My Friends, Joe Cocker”

**

What would you do
If I sang outta tune
Would you stand up
And walk out on me?

Lend me your ears
And I'll sing you a song
I will try not to sing outta key
'Be outta tune'

'Oh baby high, without no key'
(High with a little help from my friends)
'All I need is my buddies'
(High with a little help from my friends)
'I say I'm gonna get even higher, all I want'
(High with a little help from my friends)
'Whoa-oh whoa-oh, oh yeah'
(Woo-ooo-ooo)

What do I do when my love is away
(Does it worry you to be alone?)
'No-no'
'How do I feel at the end of the day?'
(Are you sad cause you're on your own?)
'l can't, don't even say it no mo'

(By with a little help from my friends)
'Gonna get by without a friend, with a little tune'
(High with a little help from my friends)
'Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm gonna'
(Try with a little help from my friends)
'People there that I know of'
(Woo-ooo-ooo)

(Do ya need anybody?) (Do ya need any money)
'I need someone to love'
(Could it be anybody?)
'All I need is someone to love'
'Won't you try, oh yeah'
'Some love between your soul, now'

'Baby'
(High with a little help from my friends)
'Say I'm gonna beg you as my friends, with a little help'
(By with a little help from my friends)
'Whoa-ho, I wanna keep on tryin, with a little
(Try with a little help from my friends)
'I'm gonna keep on tryin', now and then'
(Woo-hoo-ooo)

(Would you believe in a love at first sight?)
'I'm certain it happens all the time, yeah'
(What do you see when you turn out the light?)
'I can't tell ya, but it sho' feels like mine'
(By with a little help from my friends)
'Don't you know I'm gonna make you a lot happier'
(High with a little help from my friends)
'I'm gonna sing about good-byes'
(By with a little help from my friends)
'Said I'm gonna try and love her too, Lord)
(Woo-hoo-hoo)

(Do ya need anybody?)
'Whoa-ooooh-ooooh, yeah, yeah, yeah'
(Could it be anybody?)
'Oh, it's gotta be someone like you'
'Going to be, but not your lies
Someone better babe, to choose
'Whoa, yeah, yeah'

(By with a little help from my friends)
'Said I'm gonna get by without prayers, little girl'
(Try with a little help from my friends)
'Oh, never want a cheater with lies
(By with a little help from my friends)
'Keep on talking about friends, oh Lord'
(By with a little help from my friends)
'Whoa, you never know it's got no hope'
(High with a little help from my friends)
'I'm gonna keep on trying'
(By with a little help from my friends)
'Gettin' high, I wanna make time, oh Lord'
(Ooo-ooo-ooo)
'Gonna get by with my friends, yeah'

'Whoa-oh, I'm gonna get on by'
'Yes, I'm gonna get on by, girl'
'I won't sit alone, alone and cry'
'I won't tell you I'm lonely, girl'
'Can't hear me, now'

'Thought you were lookin' at the way I feel
And the warning sign in my eyes'
'Whoa, I'm gonna take my friends along with me'
'And then away we go'
'Everywhere we go we're gonna be on the same road.

The Night of Sunday, June 28th, 2004

Andrew was finally able to get Buffy’s leg to stop bleeding, but every time she tried to move, it would start again.

“This is ridiculous!” Buffy told Andrew as he tried to stop the bleeding yet again, which had begun anew when she tried to stand up.

“I think it might have nicked an artery or something,” Andrew opined.

Buffy tried to look for other survivors as she sat on the ground, Andrew pressing the palm of his hand against her upper thigh. Rome!Giles, and any uninjured Slayers that had been with them, were tending others that had been hit by the demon shrapnel – but Buffy couldn’t see over the mass of demons that littered the alley to see if anyone else had survived.

She tried opening the bond with Spike, but got nothing – it was like a blank slate – she remembered the feeling well – it was like when he’d been knocked out and taken by the Initiative. She took comfort in the fact that at least she had that … she wasn’t sure what it would feel like if he was dust, but she was pretty sure it would feel different – like a chasm in her soul.

“Fuck this, Andrew!” Buffy exclaimed as she reached for Andrew’s belt and started undoing it.

“Buffy! W-w-what are you doing?! What are you talking about!? What about Spike!?” Andrew asked with wide eyes, as he sat down on his ass and started scurrying back away from her.

Buffy rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. “Give me your belt so I can put it around my leg and stop the bleeding … unless you want to walk around with me, holding your hand there … when we find Spike, I’m sure he’ll understand.”

“Oh … oh, yeah… ummm, right, I knew that’s what you wanted … of course,” Andrew stammered as he took his belt off and handed to her. “Oh!! This is just like in that book, ‘It’ … when the guy got stabbed in the leg with the letter opener …”

Buffy looked at Andrew like he’d lost his mind. “You read a book called ‘It’?”

“It’s by Steven King,” Andrew defended before shrugging. “Giles doesn’t have much of a selection in novels … it was either that or ‘Heidi’… and he doesn’t even have a TV!”

“Sounds dire,” Buffy told him sarcastically as she tightened the belt around the wound. It hurt like hell, but she had to get up and find Spike … and any other survivors.

Obviously, the soldiers had no idea what those concussion grenades would do to the demons. They normally use those to prevent injury to ‘friendly’ personnel in close quarters … but they had a completely different effect on the otherworldly demons than they would on humans – turning them into hell-beast shrapnel instead of just dropping them in their tracks.

Buffy pushed herself up, using Andrew’s shoulder to steady herself, and tried to get her bearings and her balance. Her head was still spinning slightly from the loss of blood, but the tourniquet on her leg was holding.

Buffy closed her eyes and concentrated on finding Spike through the bond … he still felt blank, but she could feel him – he was near the hotel. Buffy opened her eyes and looked around for her sword. When she saw it lying on the ground on the other side of Andrew, she snapped her fingers and pointed at it.

Andrew bent down, picked it up and handed it to her. “This harkens back to days of yore, when a knight and his faithful squire would go …" Andrew started.

“Andrew!” Buffy exclaimed, stopping him.

“What?”

“Shut. Up.”





“Right,” Andrew said, twisting his lips to the side and rolling his eyes.


Buffy started walking gingerly, putting as little pressure as possible on her injured leg, towards the hotel.


“Do you want me to come with?” Andrew asked pensively.


“No … you help Giles … I’ll be back,” Buffy told him without turning around.


“I’LL BE BAAAK,” Andrew repeated her words in as deep a voice as he could muster, mimicking Arnold Schwarzenegger from ‘Terminator.’


Buffy turned back and shot him a look, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. “You’re such a geek, Andrew,” Buffy informed him before she turned and started walking again.


“Thank you …” Andrew called after her, a proud smile on his lips. “Give Spike a hug for me when you find him …”





Buffy tried to walk around the mass of dead and dying demons in the alley, but there was no way to – they covered every inch of real estate between her and the hotel, so, she just started walking on top of them. The rain had finally stopped, but everything was still wet and slick – covered in water and blood and … ewwww, what is that?


She fell more than once, trying to step from one dead demon body to another, cursing under her breath with each step and each misstep, as pain shot up from her thigh and seemed to cut through her like a knife. She used her sword like a ski pole, sticking it in the nearest demon and using it to steady herself as she went.


Buffy stopped periodically and concentrated a moment, adjusting her trajectory across the sea of blood and guts and scaly demons, to head directly for where her senses told her Spike was. She was soaked to the skin, her hair plastered to her head, her clothes were covered with blood and…and that ‘ewwww’ stuff. She tried to brush her hair back away from of her face and out of her eyes with the back of her hand … the only part of her that at least didn’t have that stinky, unidentifiable grunge on it, as she continued to move slowly towards the hotel.


As she stood atop a particularly large demon and closed her eyes to concentrate again, the demon began to growl and move under her feet. Buffy’s eyes flew open and a frown creased her brow as she raised her sword up over her head and came down hard on what appeared to be the demon’s neck.


“Shut up! Can’t you see I’m concentrating here?!” she yelled at the demon as it slumped lifelessly back to the ground. “God! I get no fucking respect,” she muttered to herself as she closed her eyes and concentrated again. He was close … she could feel Spike’s presence strongly now.


Buffy began to move faster, ignoring the pain that shot up her leg as she jumped from beast to beast towards her husband. Then she saw it – the black duster, almost buried between piles of dead demons – and she nearly flew the last ten feet to him. He was laying on his stomach, seemingly curled over something beneath him. The back of his duster was covered in holes from the demon shrapnel and blood covered his whole back and ran down to the ground, forming a puddle beneath him.


“SPIKE!” Buffy screamed as she reached him. She was afraid to flip him over, so she began pulling the dead demon bodies away from where he lay and hurling them back so she could get room to get down next to him.


“Spike … Spike … God, Spike …” she cried as she got an area around him cleared. Buffy got down on her hands and knees next to him and put a hand on his shoulder – then she noticed what it was he was covering – it was her … or not her, but her counterpart from this dimension.


“Oh God …” Buffy exclaimed. “Spike … Spike can you hear me?” she asked him, her mouth near his ear as she felt under him to find Rome!Buffy’s wrist and check her pulse. “Spike, please …”


“Buffy …” he moaned, his voice barely audible.


“Baby, I’m here … I’m here. It’s ok, it’s over…” she assured him as he put a hand on her leg and tried to push himself up. Then she saw it … his hand … his left hand … it didn’t have the scar – there was no scar! This wasn’t her Spike!





“Buffy …” Rome!Spike moaned again as he rolled onto his back and screamed in pain as the shards of shrapnel in his back got embedded deeper.


“Spike! God!” Buffy cried, as she moved around and helped him sit up.


Rome!Spike looked up at her … his eyes unfocused, his mind dazed and confused … then he looked down at Rome!Buffy on the ground. He tried to listen for her heartbeat … but couldn’t make it out. “Is she…is she alive?” he asked, looking back at Buffy.


“Yeah … she’s alive – knocked out, I think. I don’t see any wounds…” Buffy assured him.


Rome!Spike leaned forward and put his hands over his ears and closed his eyes. “What’s that bloody racket?” he asked as he covered and uncovered his ears, trying to get the sound that was pounding in them to stop.


“What racket?” Buffy asked, looking at him with confusion. Other than a demon moaning now and then, the alley was perfectly silent.


“That bloody pounding sound! Donchya hear it?” Rome!Spike asked, looking back up at her.


Buffy shook her head slowly back and forth, looking at him with a furrowed brow. Maybe the grenades had ruptured his ear drums or something.


“What does it sound like?” Buffy asked him, laying a hand on his neck and leaning in closer to see if she could see anything wrong with his ears.


“Ba-boom… ba-boom … ba-boom …” Spike mimicked the sound pounding in his ears.


Buffy’s eyes went wide as her hand touched the bare skin of his neck. “You’re … you’re warm!” Buffy moved her hand to his carotid artery … he had a pulse! “Oh my God! You Shanshued!” she told him, her eyes wide with surprise. “That sound is your heart beating!”


“Bloody hell …” Rome!Spike muttered as he put a hand against his chest … sure enough – he could feel it … his heartbeat. Strong and steady – something he hadn’t felt in over a century. He pressed a palm against his forehead … it was warm. “Bloody hell …” he muttered again. “I’m the signified monkey, after all …” he said with awe, looking at Buffy.


Buffy smiled at him as tears welled in her eyes and she nodded slowly with a small smile. “You’re a Champion, Spike …”





Rome!Spike started to stand up and Buffy helped him to his feet. He climbed up onto a tall pile of dead demons and stood atop them, like the king of the hill.


“FUCK YOU, ANGEL!” he screamed to the sky, holding his arms up in triumph, his voice echoing down the silent alleyway. “AND THE BLOODY HORSE YOU RODE IN ON!”


**~**


Emergency vehicles from the Army had started arriving and the alley was beginning to fill with people. The Army was trying to get the demon bodies removed from the alley before any reporters arrived … but it was an impossible task, so they just cordoned off a five block radius – not letting anyone in or out, except to transport the wounded to their hospital.


Rome!Spike told Buffy the last time he saw Spike he was over near the hotel – under the fire escape. Buffy’s throat tightened and she looked up the fire escape, afraid that she’d see Spike falling from it at any moment – but he wasn’t on it.


Buffy closed her eyes and tried again to sense him, but all she could feel was what she now knew was Rome!Spike. Even though he had Shansued, their souls were still intertwined – his presence still tingled down her spine, and she could feel him through the bond. So, she started walking towards the fire escape from her nightmares … she hoped that wasn’t an omen.


Buffy found Willow and Tara further back from what had obviously been the frontlines. Other than some superficial wounds, and being pretty traumatized by the events of the day and night, they were alright.





As Buffy continued moving towards the hotel and the fire escape, she came across Illyria and Wesley. Wesley had been badly injured … a deep gash covered his chest and he looked like he’d been beaten with a baseball bat from head to toe.


Illyria was holding him, trying to give comfort to the one person that had tried to help her adjust to this world, despite the fact that her presence here meant heartbreak for him. Buffy knelt beside them and checked the gash on his chest and his pulse before standing up and looking around for some of the medics that she’d seen earlier.





“I’ll get help,” Buffy told Illyria when she spotted a couple of medics over near Willow and Tara. “But you better leave … these Army guys don’t see in shades of grey …”


When Illyria didn’t move, Buffy knelt back next to her. “He’ll be ok … he’s just unconscious … lost some blood, but he’ll be ok,” Buffy assured the ex-god. “You really should go … go in the hotel and stay there … I’ll make sure Wes knows where you are.”


“You are an unusual being,” Illyria told Buffy, as she passed Wesley over to her. “A Vampire Slayer that sees shades of grey … such a thing is frowned on, is it not?”


“Yeah, well … I’m the James Dean of Slayers …” Buffy told her with a small smile.


When Illyria just tilted her head and looked at her blankly, Buffy said, “James Dean …‘Rebel Without a Cause’? Never mind …


“I’ll take care of him – he’ll be ok, trust me,” Buffy assured Illyria holding her arms and taking Wesley from her.


“I do not know this James Dean, but I would like to meet him,” Illyria told Buffy as she stood up. Illyria jumped easily up onto the second floor landing of the fire escape and disappeared into the hotel.


Buffy stood up with Wesley in her arms to take him over to the medics, when she felt something inside her leg rip. She collapsed as her leg gave way and blood began pouring out of her wound again. Buffy tried to keep her eyes open … but her head was suddenly spinning and she thought she might throw up. The last thing she remembered was Rome!Spike picking her up before she lost consciousness.


“Florence bloody Nightingale …” Rome!Spike muttered as he hurried her to the medics. “Gotta save every git in the bloody alley, dontchya?”


**~**

Spike ducked and covered his ears when the concussion grenades began going off. The demons began rushing, en masse, towards the Champions who occupied the north end of the alley behind the hotel, as they tried to get away from the dangerous bombs being lobbed at them by the soldiers. Spike backed up and pressed himself against the wall of the hotel, under the fire escape, trying to keep from being trampled … but then he saw Wesley, trying to fight his way through the hellish stampede.


“Watcher!” Spike called to him, but Wes couldn’t hear him. He was being knocked around like a ball in a demon pinball machine – bouncing off demons as they rushed past. Then grenades began landing behind the Champions, driving the demons back.





Wesley was knocked to the ground, and the hell-beasts trampled his body, their clawed feet cutting and slashing him as they rushed past.


Spike pushed off the wall, his sword in hand, slashing his way through the demon horde as they ran away from the explosions.


Demon shrapnel filled the air and hit Spike in the back, arms and head as he made his way towards the ex-Watcher, turned rouge demon hunter, turned corporate librarian. When Spike reached him, he hefted Wesley over his shoulder with one arm, defending them with his sword in the other, and began to make his way back through the gauntlet to the safety of the fire escape.


They were spun around, hit and slashed over and over as Spike made his way back to the building, but Spike kept hold of Wesley and managed to stay upright until they were within a couple of feet of the wall. Suddenly, a large demon arm swept at them, knocking Spike headfirst into the brick wall of the hotel. He and Wesley slumped down to the ground against the wall; Wesley unconscious and Spike barely holding on.


Spike heard the explosions stop and the alley went deathly still … he tried to sit up, but his head began spinning from the blow he’d taken and he collapsed back against the wall with Wesley’s limp body half atop him. Spike struggled to remain lucid and awake … but he was losing the battle.


The last things he remembered before passing out were someone picking Wesley up off him, then Spike felt like he was being dragged along the ground by one arm. He tried to pull away from whatever it was, but he had no strength left in his body; he tried to see what it was, but he couldn’t get his eyes to open; he tried to send a message to Buffy through their bond, but he couldn’t get his brain to focus, and then everything went dark.





**~**


Buffy’s eyes fluttered open and she squinted against the bright light of the Army hospital room as she tried to look around and get her bearings. Her eyes stopped when they saw Tara sitting in a chair next to her bed and Buffy reached a hand out towards the witch.





“Buffy!” Tara exclaimed, when she realized her friend was awake. “You really scared us!”


“I seem to be doing that a lot lately …” Buffy quipped, but it came out as barely a whisper.


“Spike?” Buffy asked Tara and Tara shook her head slowly as tears welled in her eyes.


“We couldn’t find him … Giles said if … if he … well, that there might not be anything to find …” Tara told her, taking hold of Buffy’s hand.


Buffy closed her eyes and nodded as tears welled behind her lids and slipped out the corners of her eyes. She concentrated hard on getting a message to Spike or sensing him, but she was still getting that feeling of darkness…which didn’t really make sense – if that was the other Spike she was feeling, since he had seemed okay the last she saw him – she shouldn’t be getting a feeling of empty darkness from him.


Buffy took a deep breath and pulled herself upright in the bed and her head began to spin again. Buffy closed her eyes and breathed deeply, willing the nausea and dizziness away.


“You shouldn’t move, Buffy – you ripped your artery open … you have stitches … inside and out!” Tara warned her.


“I have to go back. Get me some clothes,” Buffy told her as she pulled the IV out of her arm and the monitoring leads off her skin. All the machines in the room started beeping and nurses started rushing into the room.


“I’m leaving now,” Buffy informed them as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and slid down to the floor. When Buffy’s wounded leg took her weight, it nearly buckled under her and Tara had to grab her around her waist to keep Buffy from crumpling to the floor.


“You’re in no condition…” one of the nurses started before Buffy shot her a death-ray look.


“Get. Me. Some. Clothes,” Buffy insisted through gritted teeth.


Tara looked at the closest nurse with pleading eyes. “Please?” Tara added, as she helped Buffy stand up straight and Buffy began testing her leg to see what it could withstand.





The nurse nodded and turned to leave, taking the rest of the nurses with her. “Take me a minute,” she informed them as she stepped out the door.


“How’s everyone else?” Buffy asked as she tried walking on her own across the cold floor.


Tara took a deep breath, walking next to Buffy in case her leg gave way again.


“We lost Charles and Willow …” Tara began and Buffy’s eyes went wide.


“Willow!? I saw you with Willow – she was fine!” Buffy exclaimed, turning towards Tara.


“The other Willow…this dimension’s Willow,” Tara hurried to explain.


“Oh God … Buffy, Buffy must be ...” Buffy couldn’t even think of a word that would encompass what she would feel if her best girlfriend had died in the battle.


“She’s pretty upset – in shock, really …” Tara agreed as tears welled in her eyes again at the memory of Rome!Willow dying in her arms.


“Faith lost several Slayers … and Giles, our Giles, was badly injured,” Tara continued, fighting back the tears. “But he’s okay ….” she hurried to say. “He’ll be okay, Willow’s with him.”


“There are lots of others injured …. I don’t know how many soldiers died. They seem to be taking good care of everyone here, though,” Tara assured her.


The nurse came back in and set down a pile of army fatigues on the chair along with a pair of boots. “I think these’ll fit you …” she told Buffy. “But you should really …”


“I’m leaving,” Buffy interrupted her as she sat down and began to change into the clothes the nurse brought. “But first, I want to see every patient you have from the battle … every male patient,” she told the nurse.


If Rome!Spike had Shansued, perhaps hers had too – maybe he was here, in the hospital right now, unconscious and unidentified.


**~**


Spike opened his eyes, but the room he was in seemed as dark as the space behind his eyelids. His head ached, his body ached … his flesh burned where the demon shrapnel had pierced it, but he couldn’t feel the shrapnel any longer – had someone removed it?


Spike vamped out so he could see in the darkness … he was in a small, windowless room, laying on a bed and covered by a sheet. His clothes and boots had been removed and it looked like he had been cleaned up – his wounds were bandaged, confirming that someone had removed the shrapnel from his flesh.


He swept his eyes around the room. It looked like old hotel furniture … two overstuffed chairs in a gaudy floral pattern and a small, round, Formica covered dining table were to one side of the bed; on the other was a bedside table with a lamp on it and a dresser. Spike drew in a sharp gasp of air when he saw what was atop the dresser: dolls … lots of small, plastic baby dolls.


“Buffy was right … there were no gates – straight to hell, with Dru …” Spike muttered with dismay, sitting up in the bed. But he knew this wasn’t hell; they’d never clean and bandage his wounds in hell – someone was obviously fucking with him … his money was on Angel…


“Welcome home, my darling boy … you’ve been veerry naughty,” Dru told him, as she came from the darkest corner of the room, walking silkily towards him.





“Mummy’s going to make it allll better, now…”

**~**

{{
Hear the song associated with this story at the following YouTube Link:

"Shades of Grey”, Billy Joel
}}

The Morning of Monday, June 29th, 2004





“Drusilla!” Spike exclaimed, rolling to the other side of the bed away from her and standing up. “But … you’re … I … dusted …” Spike stammered, before remembering he wasn’t in his dimension; Dru was still alive…or undead, in this one.

“My baby’s not happy to see his Mummy?” Dru whined with a pout. “And I came so far to find you again … and daddy and grandmummy are near … soon, we’ll all be a family again. Don’t you want that, William? Our family back?”

Spike pursed his lips together, grabbed the sheet up off the bed and wrapped it around his waist, tucking one end in to secure it. “Dru … I’ve changed … things are different now…”

“I know, my sweet boy, I can smell that wretched soul …” Drusilla told him, running her hands over her red and black, lacy dress and down her body. “Mummy will fix it …”

“No … you don’t understand …” Spike began. “Dru, listen … I’m not even from this bloody dimension – I’m not your Spike.”

“I know exactly who you are, my sweet … it’s you who’s forgotten yourself … lost yourself in that Slayer,” Dru retorted.

“Dru, Buffy and I have…” Spike started.





“Nothing! You have nothing!” Dru informed him, cutting him off.

“That Slayer tramp’s gone … you never need to think of her again, my pet,” Dru told him, as she moved closer to where Spike was standing.

“What did you do!?” Spike demanded, moving towards her quickly, grabbing her by her arms with a steel grip and shaking her. “What. Did. You. Do!?” he asked again, punctuating every word with a hard shake of the thin brunette.

“I didn’t have to do anything … she left you … left you to die all alone in that horrible place. I could feel your pain – I still feel you, my Spike – do you still feel me?” Dru asked him, looking into his eyes.

“You know I don’t – being in your head is like ridin’ the Tea Cups while on a very bad acid trip … spins your bloody head, it does,” Spike informed her, dropping his hold on her arms and twirling one finger around in circles near his temple.

“And she didn’ leave me – I sent her away … as if it’s any of your bloody business,” Spike continued as he backed away from her and started looking for his clothes. “Just give me m’ clothes and boots back, and I’ll be on m’ way …”

Dru stepped in front of him and looked into his eyes. “Be in my eyes, be in me …” she started.

Spike smirked. “You can’t thrall me, I’m still a vampire, you barmy bird …” he informed her.

“I can thrall anything with a soul, my sweet William,” Dru informed him. “You’ve been under her spell since you first set eyes on her … took my deadly boy away from me, she did – I’m taking you back…”

“Pffffttt,” Spike snorted as he started to step away from her.

“Be in my eyes, be in me …” Dru said again, pointing two fingers at Spike’s eyes and then to hers before he could move away from her. “See from the past, your heart is mine.





“We're moving back... back... back in time, unweaving the tapestry as we go. Cutting the threads,” Dru continued as she held Spike’s eyes with hers and made a scissoring motion with her fingers. “No more Sunnydale - no more Buffy. Memories of the Slayer are alllll gone.” Dru changed her hand motion from cutting to making small circles in front of Spike’s eyes in a counter clockwise motion, as if turning back the hands of a clock.

“Going further back now - no more Prague. No wicked mob ever broke and weakened your dark goddess.”

Dru continued to hold Spike’s eyes captive with hers … she knew it was working, she knew that he was going back in time with her by the glazed look in his eyes. She would have her deadly boy back again very soon; she could virtually hear the ticking of the clock as it turned backwards for Spike – back before Dani and Billy, back before Annie, back before Buffy … back even before they had ever even heard of Sunnydale.

“Now we can begin anew and pick up the stitch juuust before things went bad, when you and I were the center of the universe, bashing and slashing and loving from sundown 'til sunup.

“Be in my eyes, be in me … your heart is mine,” she repeated, sealing the spell, and Spike’s expression softened as he looked deep into his sire’s eyes and fell utterly and completely under her thrall.

“My sweet, ripe plum,” Spike growled, taking her by the arms again, pulling her to him, and capturing Dru’s lips in a hungry kiss.




**~**

“That’s all of them?” Buffy asked the nurse.

“Yes, that’s it,” the nurse confirmed.

They’d looked at all the men that were brought in from the battlefield, but Spike wasn’t among them. She and Tara had checked on Giles and Wesley, too … they were both hurt badly, but in good spirits, considering. The doctors said they would both make full recoveries.

“Ok, I need to get back out there, then,” Buffy said, looking at Tara. “We need a ride … or a car …”

“I don’t think they’ll let you back in …” the nurse informed her. “They’re pretty hush-hush with the whole thing.”

“They’ll let me back in,” Buffy informed her as she started walking towards the elevators, Tara following closely behind.

**~**

In front of the hospital there was a long line of ambulances, Jeeps and trucks of every description. Buffy watched a soldier get out of a Jeep and leave the keys in it; when he’d gone inside, she jumped into the driver’s seat and turned the key – nothing happened.

“You have to press the clutch in,” Tara instructed her from the passenger seat.

Buffy furrowed her brow and looked down at her feet … manual transmission.

“You do know how to drive a stick, don’t you?” Tara asked.

Buffy raised her eyebrows and looked at Tara with a twinkle in her eye. “I think so, Spike’s never complained …”

Tara’s mouth dropped open and her eyes went wide. “BUFFY! That’s not what I meant!” Tara exclaimed as her face turned red.

Buffy gave the witch a little smile before turning her attention back to the Jeep. “Spike showed me once … you push in the clutch …” Buffy began, pushing in the clutch, and turning the key. The Jeep rumbled to life.

“Then you put it in first,” Buffy continued, looking at the gear shift to find where first gear was and moving the stick to the proper position. “Then you let the clutch out and push on the gas. Easy!”

The Jeep lurched forward, nearly giving them both whiplash, before the engine sputtered and died.

“Why don’t you let me drive,” Tara offered. “I learned how to handle sticks … umm, manual transmissions, back home.”

**~**

Dru wrapped her arms around Spike’s neck and pressed her body against his as she returned his kiss. Spike pulled her harder against him with strong arms as his tongue delved into her mouth, tasting, exploring and dancing with hers.

But something was wrong … Spike suddenly stopped and stepped back away from Dru, pulling out of her embrace. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.

“What’s wrong, my Spike?” Dru asked him.

“Somethin’ … feel like I’ve forgotten somethin’. Like a dream you’re in the middle of and you wake up and try to remember, but it just slips through your grasp like wisps of smoke,” Spike told her rubbing a hand across his eyes.

“Feels like it was something important … and now I can’t think what it was …”

Dru moved back against him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m sure it wasn’t important, my Spike … if it was important, you wouldn’t have forgotten it.”

“Yeah … yeah, I suppose …” Spike acquiesced. “Feeling a bit peckish … maybe it’s just playing with my mind. Can't remember the last time I ate.”

Dru smiled. “Would my baby like a little snack? There’s a lovely French bistro not far … they have the most delicious waiters … and we can get there through the tunnels,” she suggested, stepping back away from him.

Spike looked at her, tilting his head and furrowing his brow, her meaning clear – they could eat a waiter or two. But that didn’t sound right, either. Certainly that’s what they did; humans were just happy meals with legs … so why didn’t that sound right?

“Do you remember Paris, my sweet?” Dru asked him with a smile, pulling Spike from his thoughts. “We dined on the Champs-Élysées – a cute young couple, they were … then danced under the Arc de Triomphe … I miss Paris, don’t you, Spike?”





Spike smiled and his eyes smoldered as the memory of their time in Paris returned to him. “Mmmmm … I do remember. I ravaged you high above the city at the top of the bloody Eiffel Tower … we had the lift operator for dessert, as I recall…” he reminisced, taking her back in his arms and swaying his hips from side to side with hers in a slow, silent dance.

“We can do that again … we can go anywhere, do anything,” Dru whispered against his ear. “You were always meant to be my destiny …” Drusilla murmured before taking his lips in a soft kiss.

My destiny … my destiny … The words rang in Spike’s head as Dru wrapped her arms around his neck and sucked his lower lip into her mouth. The words were so familiar, yet seemed so far away … something deep inside felt wrong. He couldn’t touch it, he couldn’t pin down what it was … it was like a ghost that he couldn’t quite see, but could feel fleetingly, as it moved through his mind.

“I … I don’t know – maybe I should just lay down a while. Probably this bump on m’ head … musta rattled my brain a bit …” Spike suggested, pulling away from her and touching a hand to the painful bump on his head as he moved back towards the bed.

“You rest, my love … Miss Edith will keep watch over you,” Dru told him, as she moved to the dresser full of dolls and turned one so it was directly facing the bed. “Your princess will bring you a lovely little snack. I am your princess, aren’t I, Spike?"

Spike smiled at Dru. “You are,” he confirmed. “You’re my deadly, dark princess …”

Spike laid back down on the bed and Dru slipped out the door of the dark room, leaving him alone. Spike laid his left arm across his eyes as he tried to remember what it was that he’d forgotten. Out of habit, his thumb went to his left ring finger and started fiddling with … nothing.

Spike held his hand up and looked at it … something was missing – it just felt funny … it felt wrong, but he couldn’t remember what was missing. He saw the scar on his palm and turned his hand over and back again … examining it from both sides. He should remember how he got that … but no matter how hard he tried, it seemed just beyond his grasp.

**~**

Tara parked the Jeep about a block away from the cordoned off area around the Hyperion near a sewer entrance.

“You wait here,” Buffy instructed Tara. “Just in case I need to get bailed out of jail … or the brig or whatever the Army throws people in that are caught playing in their sandboxes.”

“Be careful,” Tara advised as Buffy dropped down into the sewer through the manhole next to the Jeep.

“Always,” Buffy affirmed before Tara slid the heavy cover back over the hole.

Buffy wasn’t really familiar with the sewers in L.A., but she knew that the Hyperion had several that led into it … that’s how Angel had always gotten around when he ran A.I. from there, so she started walking in the general direction of the hotel.

She doubted that the Army would even think of guarding the sewers, and she was right. The Army certainly had enough trouble above ground to keep them busy without adding the tunnels to their agenda. She figured she could come up into the Hyperion, maybe find Illyria and see if she’d seen Spike. If not, maybe now Buffy could sense him, now that Rome!Spike wasn’t near enough to be sending conflicting signals. Barring that, she’d just have to start looking – he couldn’t be far away, and she was sure he wasn’t dusted … she’d know if he was dust, somehow, she’d know.

**~**

Spike got up out of the bed, turned on the only light in the room, and started looking around. He found his clothes stuffed behind some boxes that were piled in the corner of the room. They were covered in blood and dirt and ewwww, what is that? It was evident that he’d been wearing them not long ago, the holes in the shirt and duster matched the bandages on his body. He tried to remember how he got those … it had to have been just a short time ago … but he couldn’t recall it.

As Spike examined the clothes, he found a wallet in the pocket of the jeans and pulled it out. Inside, he found his driver’s license … when had he gotten a driver’s license and why?

William Weckerly, it read … huh, born in 1971 … “pfffffttt,” Spike snorted quietly as he examined the license … it listed Crawford Street in Sunnydale, California as his address.

Sunnydale … Sunnydale … Sunnydale, Spike ran the word around in his mind then said it out loud a few times. “What the bloody hell is going on …” he muttered to himself - unable to figure out why he had a driver’s license or why it would list someplace called Sunnydale as his home.

“A vampire living in Sunnydale … that would be bloody ironic …” he observed quietly, before sliding it back into the wallet.

Spike looked through the rest of the wallet and found an ATM card – now THAT would be useful … if he knew the bloody PIN number that went with it … and about fifty dollars in cash.

When Spike picked up his boots from behind the boxes he noticed some pictures lying on the floor underneath them and picked them up.

The first was a picture of a girl, perhaps five years old, who looked strikingly familiar. She had long, dark, curly hair framing an angelic face with high cheekbones and crystal blue eyes. She was sitting in front of a Christmas tree and smiling into the camera, her big blue eyes twinkling as she hugged a doll against her chest. Spike rubbed a hand on the back of his neck as he looked at the picture. The girl looked like … like him.

Spike shook his head and looked at the next photo; it was of two tow-headed babies, obviously twins. The both of them together wouldn’t have been enough for a bloody snack…

Where had the pictures come from? Were they in the wallet when he nicked it? Or left in the room from some other ‘tenant’? Probably they didn’t have anything to do with him at all.

“Bloody coincidence is all…” he muttered, trying to figure why the dark haired girl looked so much like him.

The last picture he found was of him … but it had been ripped in half … whoever else that had been in the picture was missing. He looked around the floor for the rest of the picture, but didn’t find it. Finally, near the bed he found the rest, ripped into even smaller pieces, in the garbage bin.

Spike laid the pieces out and lined them up … it was a blonde woman – attractive enough – they appeared to be at a party or something … they were both smiling and obviously close. Spike stared at the picture for a long time, trying with all his might to remember the woman, to remember the party.





She looked familiar, he felt like he should know her … but no matter how he tried, he could only get flashes of recognition that skittered across his mind too fast for him to grab onto.

Spike took all the photos and put them in the wallet … just in case they meant something – he wasn’t sure what they would mean, but his mind wasn’t particularly clear at the moment.

Not finding any other clothes in the room, he pulled the dirty jeans on, slid the wallet in his back pocket, pulled his boots on, and headed for the door. Someone, somewhere had answers – he’d find Dru and then figure out what was going on. Maybe a trip to this Sunnydale place was in order…

**~**

Buffy pushed open the heavy door that she was sure led to the Hyperion Hotel, based on her Slayer senses, uncanny sense of direction, and ability to judge distances … and the fact that there was sign painted on it that said, “Angel Investigations, We Help the Hopeless, (Cash, Checks & Credit Cards Accepted).”

Buffy rolled her eyes. Some things never change – Cordy and Anya would’ve gotten on famously … as long as you didn’t lay a dollar down between them with a sticky-note that said, “Free” on it. Suddenly a picture of Anya and Cordy wrestling over a dollar came to Buffy’s mind; she smiled and shook the image out of her head … Xander would like that, he’d probably add Jell-O and string bikinis into the mix, though …

Buffy walked down a narrow passageway and through another door and stopped in her tracks. There was a huge swimming pool there … Angel had a huge swimming pool in the basement of the hotel! Buffy shook her head … Angel was just full of all kinds of surprises. The pool had obviously seen better days … the water was green and slimy … but at one time it must have been all the rage.

Buffy was still looking at the pool when her spidey senses started tingling up and down her spine … Spike – no doubt, it was Spike. She looked up and saw Spike descending a set of stairs on the far end of the large room.

“SPIKE!” she screamed as relief washed over her and she took off running towards him at full speed.





Spike looked up when he heard his name and saw someone in Army fatigues barreling at him – something in the deep recesses of his mind told him that was not a good thing; Army = danger.

When Buffy got close, she threw herself at Spike, intending on taking him in a bear hug, but he stepped to the side and she sailed past him and landed hard on the concrete floor.

“What the fuck!?” Buffy exclaimed as she managed to turn onto her back, but Spike was on her in a second, straddling her hips with his and pinning her down with one arm pressing hard across her throat.

“Spike … it’s me,” she managed to get out before her airway was cut off. “Sp…i…ke,” Buffy croaked out as she pushed against his arm across her throat.





When it was clear that he wasn’t letting up, Buffy kicked him up and over her head. He landed on his back with a hard thud behind her. She sucked in a long breath and started coughing as she struggled to sit up and turn to face him.

Buffy rubbed a hand across her throat as she got up off the floor and faced him. Spike had jumped up and was looking at her … his body language said he was ready to attack again at any moment – she’d seen that look too many times before during their training sessions.

“Spike,” she tried to talk calmly, but it came out more of a gravely whisper, “it’s me … it’s Buffy.”

“Don’ know no Daffy,” Spike told her as a realization hit him. “You’re a bloody Slayer! No Army brat could do what you just done!”

“Spike … it’s me! Buffy!” she said again, her voice stronger. She didn’t take her eyes off him, though; he hadn’t relaxed his stance, if anything, he’d gotten more tense, ready to spring at any second. “Your wife? Buf-fy!” she repeated, enunciating her name slowly.

“What the bloody hell are you on about? Ya know, Slayers shouldn’t smoke that wacky weed – make’s ya daft,” Spike informed her as he began circling to the right.

Buffy followed him, circling to her right, as well, and keeping a safe distance between them. What the hell is wrong with him? she wondered silently as they continued to move, slowly circling one another.

Buffy looked him over – he had on his jeans and boots – they were all covered in blood and crud, just like hers had been … but the rest of him was clean. His bare chest and back, face and arms – all clean, and he had bandages on his back. Could this possibly be yet another Spike from yet another dimension? But surely any Spike from any dimension would at least know who she was … wouldn’t they?

Spike watched the Slayer closely as he began circling her … if he could get her back to the pool, he could charge at her and have the advantage in the water – she had to breathe, he didn’t. He watched her watch him and saw a range of emotions run over her face from concern to confusion. This was definitely the daftest Slayer he’d ever faced … this’ll be like shooting fish in a soddin’ barrel.

Spike stopped, closed his eyes, and shook his head a moment as he heard a strange woman’s voice in his head … You know, I never understood that saying . . . if you already have the fish in a barrel, why would you shoot them? Wouldn't that put a hole in the barrel? Why would you shoot fish in the first place? Who shoots fish, anyway?

Buffy watched Spike as his expression changed from stalking and sizing her up to confusion, as he closed his eyes and shook his head as if to clear it. Then she noticed a large bump on his head … had he gotten hit in the head during the battle and was suffering from amnesia now? But certainly he knew what a Slayer was … he just didn’t seem to remember her…maybe she could jog his memory.

“Spike … are you alright?” Buffy asked him, her voice soft and full of concern. Spike’s eyes shot back open – he’d almost forgotten about the Slayer being there, so lost was he in trying to figure out what that voice was and why it seemed so familiar.

“Perfect,” he retorted. “You, on the other hand, will make the third notch in my belt very shortly.”

“Spike … look at me – don’t I look familiar to you?” Buffy asked, standing up straight, out of her defensive stance and holding her arms out to the side.

“Seen one Slayer, seen ‘em all, pet,” Spike told her, but in truth, she did seem familiar somehow – in fact, it felt like he had just seen her somewhere recently, but he couldn’t place where or when.

“Spike, I’m your wife – we’re married. Don’t you remember? We have kids – Annie, William and Danielle. Surely you remember them!”

“Pfffffttt!” Spike snorted. “Everyone knows vamps don’t make babies, Slayer. And a vamp married to a Slayer, that’d be even more ironic than a vamp living in a place called Sunnydale!

“Where are they getting Slayer’s these days? From the bloody loony ward? The nice young men in the clean white coats selling nut jobs to the soddin’ Council, now?”

Spike stopped again and closed his eyes as he heard his own voice echo in his head, I’ve been seriously considerin' thinning the Slayer herd a bit; they’re driving me round the sodding bend! The nice men in white coats will be comin' to haul me away any bloody day now.

Spike covered his ears and concentrated, trying to hear more – to see who it was he was talking to – what he was talking about, but the memory faded as quickly as it came, leaving nothing but emptiness in its place. One thing was certain, this Slayer was definitely gonna drive him ‘round the bend if he let her keep talkin’ … nuttier ‘an a fruit cake, she is.

“Spike, please listen to me … you got hit on the head. Let me take you …” Buffy tried to think where to take him – she was gonna say ‘home’, but ‘home’ didn’t exist in this dimension, and she wasn’t sure yet how they were getting home. Then she thought about the hospital, but that would definitely be interesting when they tried to take his pulse, “… somewhere safe,” she finally decided on, “where we can get help and get you better. Maybe Angel …”

“Angel!?” Spike exclaimed, looking at her with suspicion and loathing. “What’s this, a bloody conspiracy … first Dru wanting Darla and the wanker back and now you?!

“Ain’t seen the git since he tossed me off that bloody sub in the middle of the fucking ocean and suddenly he’s everybody’s friend!?”

“Dru!?” Buffy asked, her eyes going wide. “You’ve seen Dru?” This is worse than I thought, not only has he lost his memory, he’s hallucinating, too.

“Yeah … and if you look behind ya’, you’ll see ‘er, too,” Spike told her with a smirk, standing up straight and hooking his thumbs over his belt buckle.

“Spike, you’re hallucinating, Dru’s…” Buffy started as she turned around to show him that no one was behind her, “… here!”

Buffy instinctively stepped backwards, right into Spike, as Drusilla reached for her. Spike wrapped his arms around Buffy, pinning her arms, and holding her against him, as Dru walked slowly up to them.

“I see my sweet boy has been hunting without inviting mummy … bad William!” Dru admonished him, pointing a finger at him. “You must learn to share. ‘Share and share alike’ is what my mum always taught me … what did your mum teach you, William?”

“Ladies first …” Spike told Dru with a smirk as he held Buffy captive in his arms.

“Spike! Let me go! Spike!” Buffy screamed at him. She struggled to get free of his hold as Drusilla stepped closer. Buffy could feel Spike vamp out and see Drusilla do the same as the raven haired vampiress got within arm’s reach of Buffy.





Buffy leaned back against Spike’s chest, using his arms around her as leverage, and lifted her legs, kicking Drusilla in the chest with both feet and sending Dru stumbling backwards. When Buffy’s feet came back down to the ground, she bent over quickly and flung Spike over her head, but he kept a hold of her and pulled her down with him.

Buffy did a half somersault and landed on top of Spike, his arms still pinning hers and holding her back against his chest. Buffy raised her head up and slung it back quickly, hitting Spike hard in the nose with the back of her head. He screamed in pain and let go of her with one of his arms as his hand went instinctively to his now bleeding and broken nose, allowing Buffy to roll off him.

As Buffy began to stand up, Spike roared in anger and launched himself at her, tackling her around the waist and landing them both in the deep end of the pool. Spike kicked his feet, driving them down deeper and deeper in the murky water of the long abandoned swimming pool.

Spike had knocked the air out of her when he tackled her and Buffy had inhaled a huge gulp of water when they hit in the pool. She struggled to get free of his grasp, kicking her legs and trying to push her arms against him – she had to get back to the surface – she had to get air. At the same time she tried not to cough, which she knew would only bring more water into her lungs, but she was unable to stop the automatic reflex.

Buffy lifted a knee, hitting Spike in the groin, and his hold on her loosened slightly, but it was enough for her to pull free. Buffy began kicking and swimming wildly up to the surface – her need for oxygen the only thing driving her. But Spike reached out and grabbed her feet as she went past him and pulled her back down with a jerk. He wrapped his arms around her again, pulling her body tightly against him … her face just inches from his and he began driving them down again.

Buffy’s body continued to cough despite her best efforts to quell it, trying to expel the water from her lungs. With each cough, more and more water came in and she could feel all her strength drain out of her muscles as they struggled to get oxygen. She felt her back hit the bottom of the pool, Spike’s arms still wrapped tightly around her, pinning her down as the last bit of air escaped her lungs and floated slowly up towards the surface.

Buffy’s lungs burned as the murky water filled them … she could see the air bubbles floating up and away from them - almost like a dream, and could feel Spike’s strong arms around her. Her body felt heavy, leaden – she couldn’t fight any longer, she had nothing left.

She always assumed she would die in Spike’s arms one day … but this isn’t exactly how she had envisioned it. She’d drowned once before in her life … it suddenly seemed fitting that the last vampire in the Master’s line would be the one to drown her again, almost like destiny.

Buffy could barely see Spike’s face above hers in the dirty water … she longed for his blue eyes, but could only see the golden eyes of the demon.





You were always meant to be my destiny … I still love you, William … I’ll always love you, Buffy sent to him through their bond before her eyes closed.

The blue eyes of their babies danced across Buffy’s mind, first Annie then Billy and Dani … then morphed into Spike’s.

Suddenly, Buffy’s mind had her hanging high above the alley behind the Hyperion, Spike’s hand held hers in an iron grip as she looked up into his bluer than blue eyes. Spike smiled at her, a sweet, loving smile, and released his grip on her hand. As Buffy fell backwards towards the dirty pavement below, Spike’s face receding from view, her mind went dark.




**

Hear the song associated with this chapter at the following YouTube Link:

"Destiny”, Jim Brickman

What if I never knew
What if I never found you
I'd never have this feeling in my heart
How did this come to be
I don't know how you found me
But from the moment I saw you
Deep inside my heart I knew

Chorus:
Baby you're my destiny
You and I were meant to be
With all my heart and soul
I give my love to have and hold
And as far as I can see
You were always meant to be my destiny
I wanted someone like you
Someone that I could hold on to
And give my love until the end of time
But forever was just a word
Something I'd only heard about
But now you're always there for me
When you say forever I believe

(chorus)

Maybe all we need is just a little faith
'Cause baby I believe that love will find the way

Baby you're my destiny
You and I were meant to be
With all my heart and soul
I give my love to have and hold
And as I far as I can see
From now until eternity
You were always meant to be my destiny

The Night of Monday, June 29th, 2004:

Spike watched the Slayer’s face as he pinned her to the bottom of the pool. There was always a moment when the Slayer knew it was over, when their fear and panic turned into peaceful resignation, as they realized their life, and their fight, was over. He’d seen it before and it had always given him a fantastic rush – it made him look forward to meeting the next Slayer, just for the chance to see that look again – for them to know that William the Bloody, Slayer of Slayers, had bested them.

But as Spike watched this Slayer’s face, the rush didn’t come – he saw her relax under him, give up – as her fate became clear … but that feeling of utter triumph, of joyous victory, didn’t come. Something felt wrong – there was pain and sorrow … and an emptiness that he couldn’t explain. He couldn’t ever remember feeling this empty before, not in life or death … but he couldn’t figure out why … where were these emotions coming from?

Then a voice rang in his head, You were always meant to be my destiny … I still love you, William … I’ll always love you, and he realized it was her voice.

A thousand images poured over him through the bond, flashing through his mind like snapshots of a life … of a life forgotten. Images of him breaking shackles apart that held her hands captive; of sliding his mother’s engagement ring on her finger and of him, in a fit of rage, pulling Angel off her; then her looking like an angel from heaven as she descended the stairs towards him in a wedding gown and her in a hospital bed with an infant in her arms. Then she was crawling through an air duct, he could barely hold onto her, too weak to walk, or even crawl, himself … then he was holding her hand – his arm stretched to its limits as she dangled high above the ground. He could see her prying his fingers loose from her hand as she told him she loved him …

Spike’s hold on her relaxed as the images continued to flood his mind – images of their life together – of fights and of fun, of tears and laughter, of fear and strength, of heartache and love, of babies and brownies. He tried to understand, to process what he was seeing, what he was feeling – maybe it was a trick – some new thing the Council had invented to keep their Slayers alive longer … but it didn’t feel like a trick, it felt real. What the bloody hell …

Spike let go of the Slayer as he tried to sort through the images and emotions that engulfed him. Suddenly, he was gripped by the shoulders and yanked up and away from Buffy. He was tossed up from the bottom of the pool, out of the water, and hit the wall to the side of the pool with enough force to crack the plaster, before sliding down onto the hard concrete floor.

Illyria grabbed Buffy and jumped up through the murky water from the bottom of the pool, landing easily on the concrete floor that surrounded it. Illyria held Buffy by her feet and shook her lightly as water poured out of the Slayer’s lungs.

Illyria had watched the exchange through a hole in the floor one story above the pool, where she had been hiding from the Army personnel and waiting for Wes, as advised by Buffy, since the previous night. She’d made her way to the lower level of the hotel and had been in the long abandoned ballroom, just above the pool, when she heard the voices coming from below through the hole in the floor.

Not completely sure of all the customs of a Slayer and a vampire, Illyria had been hesitant to interfere, but when neither Buffy nor Spike had surfaced after nearly four minutes under the murky water of the pool, she knew something was wrong. Humans needed air … her own new body taught her that – and they couldn’t get air if they were under water.

Dru moved to Spike and tried to help him back to his feet, but Spike pushed her off as he rubbed a hand over his eyes and forehead, trying to clear his thoughts. He was still trying to sort out all the images in his mind … trying to figure out what was real and what was illusion.

It all felt real…he’d been with Dru for a century; that certainly was real. He was sure of that. He remembered the early days with Angelus and Darla … Angelus taught him what it meant to be a vampire, what it meant to be a monster, as they traveled across Europe, killing and pillaging as the desire struck them. That was real.

Then to China, where he’d killed his first Slayer – the taste of her blood was still fresh in his mind. He was sure that was real.

Then it was just him and Dru for the longest time … back across Europe, then on a boat to South America for a while, up to North America and the United States, where he killed his second Slayer in New York, then back to Europe…London, Paris, Amsterdam, Bonn, Vienna … then …

Then – then what? What had happened next? They were obviously back in the United States now … the Slayer was a Yank … his driver’s license said he lived in California … which he was relatively sure was still in America. How had they gotten to America and when?

Then the Slayer’s final words crept back into his mind, You were always meant to be my destiny … I still love you, William … I’ll always love you.

Spike shook his head, flinging droplets of water off his curls in all directions as he tried to clear his mind, and suddenly he could hear his own voice in his mind, I’ve never regretted meetin’ up with Dru. I wouldn’t be here with you if I hadn’t of. My life with you has outshined anything I could’ve ever had as William – my whole life has been leading me to you. You are my destiny.

But Spike couldn’t see who it was he was talking to … he tried to focus on it … but the harder he tried to capture that memory, the more elusive it became until it seemed to vaporize, unraveling into nothing.

Spike looked up when he heard the Slayer begin to cough and gag –a blue demon had been holding her upside down and shaking her lightly, but now she was lying on the wet concrete, the blue demon blowing air into her lungs. The Slayer … what did she say her name was? Daffy? Her parents musta had a helluva sense a humor … was coughing and gasping for air now, the blue demon helped her sit upright as she coughed more water out of her lungs and drew in deep breaths of air.

Spike saw Drusilla start to move towards the Slayer and blue demon and he jumped up … he needed some answers and he needed them now!

“STOP!” Spike yelled as Dru neared the pair. “Everybody just bloody STOP!”

The three women looked at him, Buffy still trying to breathe and cough the rest of the water from her lungs as Illyria knelt next to her, but Dru continued to advance on the pair.

“I bloody well said to STOP!” he yelled again, moving forward towards them, and Dru stopped in her tracks and looked at him with a pout.

“What’s wrong, my Spike?” she asked him. “You said ladies first…”

Spike held his arms out in front of him, his hands up like a policeman trying emphatically to stop traffic. “Just wait a bloody minute. I’m gonna get some answers from you lot if it kills me … more.”



“You!” he pointed to Illyria. “Who and what the bloody hell are you?”

Illyria looked at him, tilting her head to one side then the other before standing up and facing him. “I am the ancient god Illyria – but you know this already, vampire,” Illyria informed him.

“I’ve never seen ya before, Blue … but a god, huh? … good, that – that could be helpful…” Spike half muttered before looking at Buffy. “And you! What the bloody hell did you say your name was?”

“Buffy … Spike, it’s me, your wife, Buffy,” Buffy croaked out hoarsely through her burning throat, still coughing intermittently.

“Just answer the bloody question – don’t start with that load of bollocks again,” Spike instructed her.

“Do you know her?” Spike asked Buffy as he pointed to Dru.

“Yes,” Buffy answered and stopped.

“And??” Spike asked, impatiently.

“You said to just answer the bloody question! I answered it!” Buffy retorted, her voice getting stronger as she reached a hand up towards Illyria and Illyria pulled her to her feet.



Spike rolled his eyes, his hands going to his hips. “And how do ya’ know ‘er?” he asked Buffy.

Buffy rolled her own eyes, her hands matching his on her hips. “She’s your sire … a crazy loon of a vampire named Drusilla … she’s Angel’s childe … although how she’s managed to stay un-dusty this long is beyond me …”

“That’s not polite …” Dru commented with another pout. “Make her play nice, Spike – all the children in the playground should play nice or there will be no cakes for them today.

“You know what I miss?” Dru continued. “I miss daisies … do you miss daisies, Spike? I plant them, but they always die …”

“Dru! Enough! It’s bloody hard to argue with her when you prattle on like that!” Spike informed her harshly, taking another step forward towards the women.

Another image flared up in Spike’s mind … he was taking batteries out of a doll … ‘Prattles on like Dru,’ he heard himself mutter before handing the doll back to a young girl with long, dark curls and blue eyes … she looked familiar to him … where had he seen that girl before?

Dru covered her ears and cowered away from him with a small whine.

“I’m sorry, kitten … I didn’ mean nothing by it. I’m a bad, rude man,” Spike told her apologetically, stepping towards Drusilla as the image of the girl faded from his mind.

Buffy stepped forward into his path and folded her arms across her chest. “Why don’t we just keep playing twenty questions…” she suggested, glaring at Spike. “… and not worry about your poor kitten. Pretty sure she has claws of her own.”

Spike stopped in his tracks and closed his eyes again as flash of yet another blonde woman that he didn’t recognize crossed his mind, Oh my god! Someone's blondie bear is a twenty-question genius!

“You bloody women are trying to drive me insane! That’s it, innit? It’s a sodding conspiracy!” Spike exclaimed, backing up away from Buffy and looking from Dru to Buffy to Illyria.

“What have I done to you lot!? Did I steal the covers? Wouldn’t let you drive m’ car? Hogged the remote? Left wet towels on the soddin’ floor? TELL ME! Tell me what I’ve done to you!” Spike screamed at them as he hit the palms of his hands against his forehead.



“You know, everything always used to be so clear. Slayer. Vampire. Vampire kills Slayer, sucks her dry, picks his teeth with her bones. It's always been that way.

“I've tasted the life of two Slayers ….but with YOU...” Spike exclaimed, pointing a finger at Buffy. “You tell me I’m your destiny … that you LOVE me as what shoulda been your last thought on this earth!? What the hell kinda Slayer are you?! How the bloody hell did you get in my head!?

“And I … I felt … felt, something – something like … remorse? Pain? Sadness? It isn't supposed to be this way! What the bloody hell has happened to me!? Everything is different now! What have you done to me?” Spike demanded, wishing someone would explain what was going on.

“Spike … please, listen to me,” Buffy started, speaking softly and moving towards him.

Dru stepped into her path, stopping Buffy’s advancement towards Spike. "Bad dog!” Dru said as she moved between Buffy and Spike. “Rrrufff! Rrruuff!” Dru barked at Buffy before snapping her jaws and baring her teeth like a bad dog.

“I won't let you take what's mine, Slayer," Dru informed her, looking into Buffy’s eyes.

“Be in my eyes, be in me …” Dru started.

Thrall! Buffy’s mind screamed at her. Buffy bent down and charged at Dru, picking the thin vampire up and driving with all the strength she had until Dru’s back hit the wall and they both tumbled to the floor.

Both women began rolling and wrestling for the upper hand on the floor, moving further and further away from Spike and Illyria.

Spike looked at Illyria. “Does your blue godliness know what the bloody hell is going on here?” he asked her with frown.

Illyria looked from him to the two women who were fighting on the floor and back again. “It would appear that your wife and your sire are fighting,” Illyria stated matter-of-factly. “I do not pretend to understand the human race or such matters of the heart.”



Spike snorted a sarcastic laugh. “That makes two of us… Wait! What!? My who!?” Spike asked, suddenly realizing what she’d said.

“Are you all very stoned?” Spike questioned Illyria – as he looked between her and the two women wrestling on the ground a few feet away.

“I am fairly certain that I am not …” Illyria answered after considering his question for a moment. "No creature would be foolish enough to dare cast stones at me."

Spike rolled his eyes. “THAT…” Spike told her, pointing towards Buffy, “… is The Slayer.”

“Yes,” Illyria agreed.

“I am a vampire,” Spike pointed out.

“Yes,” Illyria agreed again.

“So, who is that?” Spike asked Illyria, pointing towards Buffy again.

“Your wife,” Illyria informed him.

“Arrrrgggghhhh! NO! NO! NO! That’s bloody wrong! That’s beyond wrong … it’s absurd, preposterous, and, quite frankly, laughable! And I’ll prove it to ya’ right now …” Spike told her, starting towards the pair.

**~**

Dru and Buffy rolled around on the cold, wet concrete that surrounded the pool, Buffy being especially careful to not allow Dru to get her near the water or stop moving long enough for Dru to work a thrall on her. Buffy remembered too well Giles telling her about how Dru could thrall someone – fool you into thinking and seeing things that weren’t actually there. It was how she’d gotten the key to awakening Acathla from Giles and how she got the upper hand on Kendra and killed her.

They crashed into some wooden Adirondack chairs at the other end of the pool – breaking them into pieces. Buffy grabbed for a piece of the wood, but Dru knocked it out of her hand and dove on top of the Slayer, trying to get the opportunity to look into her eyes and put Buffy under her thrall or simply kill her, outright.

Dru had Buffy pinned down on the floor when Spike walked over to them. Buffy was punching wildly at her and trying to kick the dark vampire off her while at the same time trying to avoid looking into her eyes.

“Pardon me, luv, may I cut in on this dance?” Spike asked Dru as he lifted his sire up off Buffy and set her lightly on her feet to one side.

Dru giggled manically and clapped her hands together as she bounced up and down on her toes. “Kill her for me, Spike! Kill her for me!”

“All in good time, luv,” Spike told Drusilla with a smirk.



When Dru was lifted off her, Buffy jumped back up to her feet and now stood half bent over, her hands on her knees, facing the pair. Her muscles ached, her body was near its breaking point, and she struggled to breathe – still occasionally coughing water out of her lungs and sinuses as she tried to breathe deeply and get oxygen back to her exhausted muscles.

“Now then … Buffy, is it?” Spike asked looking at the exhausted Slayer.

“Spike … please just listen to me,” Buffy begged him, standing back up straight.

“NO! I don’t know what kinda game you’re playin’, but it ends now!”

“It’s no game…William, you’ve got to believe me,” Buffy pleaded with him.

William, can you hear me? Can you feel me? I love you … can’t you feel it? Buffy sent to him silently through their bond.

Spike shook his head and hit his forehead again with the palm of one hand as he heard her voice even though she hadn’t spoken.

“STOP THAT! Stop doing that! Stop saying that! Get the bloody hell outta my head, Slayer!” Spike demanded, moving towards her and grabbing Buffy’s upper arms and shaking her.

Buffy closed her eyes as he shook her and concentrated on opening the bond wider. He could hear her … there was still a part of him that she could touch … his soul. She just had to reach it, break it out of whatever prison that was holding it captive.

Buffy opened the bond as wide as she possibly could, trying to pour her entire heart and soul into him. More and more images flooded Spike’s mind … images of them: dancing, laughing, training, fighting side by side … images of them at home, at the beach, at Big Sur, at the Coven’s cabin in Canada. Then there were images of Annie, playing and laughing and standing in the grocery store convincing Spike that chocolate milk was just the same as regular milk and that Cocoa Puffs were a grain … and then Spike was singing a soft lullaby to Billy as he rocked him gently and he was in the hospital with Dani, crying and telling her how strong Summers women were.

When feelings and emotions started pouring across the bond along with the images – unconditional love, adoration, devotion, and passion – Spike dropped his hold on Buffy and fell to his knees. He held his head in his hands and closed his eyes as Buffy allowed everything in her heart to flow across the bond to him.

Spike knew better than to show such feelings around Angelus or Darla or even Dru. Angelus taught him early on that those feelings and emotions were a sign of weakness – so Spike had learned to repress them – hide them from the world, but here they were and he was drowning in them.

So strong were the emotions that tears began falling from his eyes … he couldn’t remember ever feeling so much love, true, honest unconditional love, before. Love that wasn’t given with any ulterior motives, love that was given fully, completely and without expecting or asking for anything in return. He was sure that he’d never felt that before. It was intoxicating; it was overwhelming; it was terrifying.

When Spike fell to his knees, Dru started to move back towards him, to find out what was wrong – why wasn’t he killing the Slayer like she’d asked him to? But Illyria stopped her, grabbing Dru by the arms and holding her back away from the pair. When Dru started reciting her thrall, Illyria punched her in the jaw and knocked the raven vampiress out cold and dropped her to the floor.

Spike … let me in … let me all the way in – trust me … I can help, please let me in, Buffy begged him, going down to her knees in front of him and laying her hands on his shoulders.

“What have you done to me?” Spike whispered, his face still covered with his hands.

“I just loved you. I let you in and gave you my heart. You hold my love in the palm of your hand … it’s yours to crush or to return – it’s up to you,” Buffy told him, leaning her forehead against his.



“Let me in … open the bond all the way, Spike – I’m not Dru; I won’t hurt you,” Buffy pleaded. “Everything is different now; can you feel it? Can you feel my heart? Please trust me – let me help you.”

“Is this a trick? Some kind of mind-fuck?” Spike asked softly, drawing back and looking into her eyes. “’Cause if it is … I’d rather you just stake me now …” he told her, picking up a piece of the splintered wood and handing it to her.

“No … it’s no trick – I promise you,” Buffy told him as she pushed his hand with the stake in it down and brought her other hand up to his face, laying it gently on his cheek. “See with your true heart and you’ll know …”

Spike could still feel the love she’d sent to him through the bond … it felt like sunshine on his heart – it warmed him, made him feel like he belonged, like he mattered. He still wasn’t sure that it wasn’t some kind of trick … but what if it wasn’t?

Wasn’t this what he’d always wanted to feel but never allowed himself? Wasn’t this what he had always craved most, as both a vampire and human, to be loved wholly and unconditionally? As bizarre as the situation was, he'd never felt such adoration directed at him by anyone before. He had no choice but to trust her … he couldn’t turn his back on these emotions now that he’d had a taste of them.

It had been so long since Spike had opened the bond with Dru that he barely remembered how to do it … he searched his mind for the long hidden and locked door in the darkest recesses of his mind.

When the bond opened, Buffy felt like she was being sucked into a black hole. The love she normally felt from Spike wasn’t there – it was empty, a huge void where once there was love and faith and passion and joy … now there was simply nothingness.

She’d never felt so cold … so totally alone … so unbelievably frightened, as she did at that moment – and it was all coming from Spike. All his bravado was nothing more than a smokescreen that he could hide behind. His apparent love for, and devotion to, Dru was nothing more than a frightened child clinging to the one thing that was familiar in a world full of pain and strife.

Buffy closed her eyes as she again leaned her forehead against Spike’s, still kneeling on the hard concrete around the pool. She had to find a way to his soul … it was still there, otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to reach him … she had to find where it was being hidden and set it free.

**~**

Buffy walked through the darkness of Spike’s mind, searching for something – what, she didn’t know – something, anything, to lead her to his soul. She finally saw a small window high above her and she jumped as hard as she could, catching the window ledge with her fingertips. She struggled, kicking her legs and pulling with all her strength until she finally got her chest through the window … with one final kick of her legs, Buffy fell through and landed a few feet down on the other side.

The room was bright, bathed entirely in a clear, pure, white light – the walls were white, the ceiling, the floor – everything shone brilliantly – as if bathed in light straight from the heart. When she looked around, she saw tapestries… there were hundreds of them hanging from the ceiling. Each tapestry was a different scene, like stolen moments from their life: Spike and Dru arriving in Sunnydale; Spike watching Buffy dance with Willow and Xander in the Bronze; Joyce hitting Spike over the head with an axe in the high school; Spike helping Buffy escape from Angelus’ shackles and stop Acathla; Spike and Buffy’s wedding; Annie being born…

They seemed to go on forever – as far as the eye could see in all directions. They were all different, but all had one thing in common … the bottoms were unraveling, the threads were cut and hanging loose – as if the weaver had walked off halfway through and never came back.

Buffy sighed, unsure what to make of this. She reached out and touched one that was from the night Spike proposed to her in the garden and, suddenly, the tapestry began weaving itself back together. Buffy touched another one and it did the same thing … but there were thousands of them… maybe tens, or even hundreds, of thousands – she couldn’t really tell how many … it would take forever to touch each one …

Buffy tried clearing her mind to let their bond guide her – to tell her what to do next. When she opened her eyes, she turned in the opposite direction and began walking down the long, unending room full of the tapestries of their life … touching each one she passed and watching it begin to weave itself back together.

**~**

Spike could almost feel her physically in his mind – he could certainly feel her fear and how cold and empty she felt at first … he was all too familiar with those feelings … then confusion and determination flooded him and suddenly snippets of a life forgotten started to coalesce in his mind.

They were just flashes – unconnected scenes … like one of those pictures where each dot has a number and you have to connect the dots in the proper order to see the full picture … but the dots weren’t connected and they weren’t in any apparent order. They were confusing and confounding, but the feelings they held seemed so real and so right.

He embraced each one … some brought tears to his eyes, others laughter to his lips … still others burned him with a passion and desire he couldn’t recall ever experiencing before. He longed for them to be real … but it was all so bewildering. He wondered again if this was some kind of trick … but to what end? If she wanted to dust him, he’d given her the opportunity … or was she just as barmy as Dru and just enjoyed taking him on this rollercoaster ride of human emotions … so many of which he should’ve lost the ability to feel over a century ago.

**~**

After a time, Buffy came to a trapdoor in the floor of the room. She bent down and pulled the heavy door open – the hinges creaked as she pulled on it with all her strength … nearly dropping it more than once, before she got it past the halfway point and let go of it … letting it fall open with a loud clang. Buffy looked down but couldn’t see anything – compared to the brightness of the room she was in, the room below seemed pitch black. She felt around the opening for a ladder, but couldn’t find one. She stood back up and looked around – there were no other openings that she could see. She could spend hours walking around this room only to find that is the only one … she felt compelled to take it.

Buffy took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and jumped through the opening in the floor feet first. She felt like she was falling forever and in slow motion … long enough for her to open her eyes and look around. She seemed to be falling through Spike’s memories … layers and layers of them, opened up to her like rooms in a dollhouse, one on top of the other, surrounding her on all four sides, but just out of her reach. There was what she knew must be young William, returning from school with a book under his arm – his mother greeting him with a cup of tea loaded with cream and sugar, and a plate of cookies.

Buffy found if she spread her arms out, she could slow down even more and watch the scenes unfold. Many of them looked similar as she watched William grow … he and his mother in the sitting room in front of the fire … William would read to her from a book, glasses perched on his nose as he strained to see in the lamplight.

In others, William would be writing at a table with a fountain pen … he’d stop periodically and think, then continue writing again. Buffy wondered what he was writing, but couldn’t get close enough to see. Usually his mother was nearby, near the fire or a lamp doing needlework and softly singing a very familiar lullaby… “Early one morning, just as the sun was rising…”

Then there was a memory of a twelve or thirteen year old William at school … the bullies and cads were teasing him for wearing glasses and his role as ‘teacher’s pet’.

“You make the rest of us look like gits,” one of the boys told William, as a group of thugs surrounded him in the schoolyard.

Another of the boys pulled William’s books out of his hand; tossing the textbook into a nearby puddle. William reached for the other book … his composition book, but another of the bullies held him back by the elbows.

“Give it back!” William demanded, struggling against the larger boy’s hold.

“Make me!” the one with the book taunted as he opened it and began to read aloud.

“‘The curve of her smile, the sweet scent that she wears, her kindness and beauty, are beyond compare…’”

The boys roared in laughter and began pushing William across the circle from one to the other, tossing the composition book around at the same time as he continued to reach for it. Finally, the biggest bully held the book up in the air and everyone stopped moving. William, bruised and winded from the skirmish, stood in the center of the ring.

“This is what happens to the bloody teacher’s pet!” the biggest bully told William as he began ripping the pages out of the book and tossing them into the air. “You’d be wise to learn to keep your bleedin’ mouth shut!” he advised William as the last of the pages were torn from the book and scattered in the wind.

Buffy frowned and tears stung her eyes as she watched young William get humiliated and beaten up for being nothing more than what he was – a brainiac with a poet’s heart. No wonder Spike rarely showed his true self to anyone – rarely stepped up and let his intelligence show. He’d learned at an early age that bad things happened when you stood out from the crowd like that. Buffy lowered her arms and began moving faster again … images flashed by her as William grew up. He learned that perhaps the only person he could trust to show his intelligence and poet’s heart to was his mother.

He longed for someone to love – a woman that could take all the love in his heart and find that it was what she’d always been seeking … a soul mate. He’d taken women out before … to the theatre, to the finest restaurants, for long, romantic walks along the Thames … but it seemed that every woman wanted only what his family name and money could give them – status, a certain amount of wealth and comfort – but none wanted what he could give them, none really loved his heart.



Buffy slowed when she saw a scene she recognized from her dream … the party where he told Hallie … or Cecily, that he loved her. Buffy felt a lump of fear in her throat … she knew what happened after this from her dream – Dru happened after this. Dru and Darla and Angelus … William the Bloody happened after this.

Buffy tried to move back up, swimming her arms in the air and kicking her feet, trying to go back up the long line of memories, but no matter how hard she tried to go back up, she kept slipping further down the narrow shaft … surrounded by William’s life … and soon to be surrounded by Spike’s unlife…

Everything would be different now…

**~**

Hear the song associated with this story at the following YouTube Link:

"Everything Is Different Now”, Don Henley


I hate to tell you this, but I'm very, very happy
And I know that's not what you'd expect from me at all
I'm not the kind to smile and bow out gracefully
I always wanted to take it to the wall

But I found somebody with a heart as big as Texas
I found an angel with the gold-en wings
She saw me down here in the dark somehow
And everything is different now

Yeah, I miss the old crowd sometimes
And the wild, wild nights of running
You know, a starving soul can't live like that for long
You go around in circles that just keep getting smaller
You wake up one morning and half your life is gone

I got so tired of that, I got so lonely
I dropped down and I called out to Heaven
"Send me someone to love."
And Heaven shot back, "You get the love that you allow."
And everything is different now

Oh, and it's sweet to know
The wisdom that living brings
Since I got a telegram from the god of simple things

She said, "I don't care what you do for a living.
I don't care what kind of car you drive."
All I want to know right now is what do you believe in
And what it means for you to be alive.
Will you stand here in this fire with me?
Are you ready for another life?"
I bit that bullet, I took that vow
And everything is different now
Everything is different now

The Night of Monday, June 29th, 2004

Buffy tried to move back up, swimming her arms in the air and kicking her feet, trying to go back up the long line of memories, but no matter how hard she tried to go back up, she kept slipping further down the narrow shaft … surrounded by William’s life … and soon to be surrounded by Spike’s unlife…

Buffy continued to fall slowly through Spike’s memories … she knew what lay ahead now … William the Bloody, Angelus, Darla, and Drusilla and their reign over Europe beginning in the late 1800s … still, she was unprepared for what awaited her.

Buffy wanted desperately to close her eyes … to not look, not see this – but she wasn’t seeing with her eyes, she was seeing with her heart, with her soul, with the bond she had with Spike. Now that she’d started down this path, she couldn’t turn back and she couldn’t close her eyes to it.

She knew, of course, about his history – he didn’t get the moniker ‘William the Bloody’ just from gits who mocked his poetry. And certainly the name ‘Spike’ didn’t come from his ability to play volleyball …

Spike had told her before that he’d seen things she couldn’t imagine and done things he’d prefer she didn’t. Now Buffy was going to have a front row seat to those things that he preferred she not see … not imagine.

**~**

Spike and Buffy knelt on the cold, hard floor near the pool, each taking as much support from the other as they gave, as Buffy’s mind delved into Spike’s, searching for the key to get his memory back … the key to getting her husband back.

Suddenly, the images that had been forming in Spike’s mind, images of a life he couldn’t remember … of a life that he wished was real, stopped coming, and all he could feel was Buffy’s emotions through the bond as she moved through his memories.

He could feel her heart expand, as she watched his youngest childhood years, feel her heart break for him when she watched him take the ridicule from the bullies and then feel her fear when she realized that she was about to enter the world of William the Bloody.

Spike tried pulling back from the bond … tried to shut it down, when he felt her fear – but he couldn’t get that door to close. Normally, feeling fear from a Slayer would’ve sent him soaring joyously through the clouds, but for reasons he couldn’t explain, he didn’t want this Slayer to be afraid … he suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to protect her … to keep her safe, and that made this whole experience even more confounding to him.

Unable to close the bond, Spike did the next best thing … he wrapped his arms around the Slayer, sat back down on his butt and pulled her to him – holding her cool, wet body against his – wishing he could give her some warmth … but having to settle for what little comfort his cold touch could provide. So lost was Buffy in his mind, that she didn’t even realize he had moved or was now holding her.

**~**

Buffy watched as William told Cecily that he loved her and then watched Cecily rebuff him, telling him that he was beneath her, and sending him, heartbroken, out into the dark streets of London. It didn’t take long for what she knew would happen next to appear … Dru.

Buffy watched as Dru drained William and offered her blood to him … changing him forever from the boy the bullies picked on to the one the bullies feared.

Buffy pulled her arms in and folded them across her chest, trying to at least start moving faster … but that just made the images flash into her mind at an alarming rate … it didn’t stop them; it didn’t minimize them; it didn’t skip over them.

She could feel what William was feeling … the strong emotions seemed to hit her physically, knocking her from side to side – spinning her first one way and then the other, until she wasn’t sure which way was up any longer. She felt his love for, and his devotion to, his mother, then terrible, heart wrenching pain when the demon he created turned on him and he had to stake her; she felt his love for Dru … how strongly he felt she was his destiny, that they were forever … then his heartbreak when he realized that to her, he was just a ‘playmate’ … one of many, including Angelus … and The Immortal.



It was then that Buffy felt William change into Spike … to prove to Dru, that he could be just as menacing, just as deadly, just as fearless as Angelus … to gain her love and adoration for himself – to gain her fidelity and loyalty … but it never worked. Angelus taught him well – showed him how to be a vampire, how to be a monster, and Spike worked hard to live up to what he thought Dru wanted … what he thought would keep her at his side forever.

Buffy felt the love and tenderness that had been in William’s heart get pushed further and further down as he transformed himself into Spike. Any compassion, any kindness … any humanity that was left within him was tied up and locked away in the deepest recesses of his mind … they would be of no use in this new life and this is all he had now – all he wanted was for Dru to love him and only him, completely, unconditionally, and for eternity.
When Angelus told him about Slayers, Spike knew then – that was what would make Dru love him forever … and he was obsessed with finding them and killing them from that point forward.

Buffy continued to be pummeled with images and emotions from Spike’s unlife – she felt like a hummingbird caught in a hurricane … being blown from side to side, twisted and turned this way and that as she fell down the deep well of Spike’s mind. Buffy would recoil from one image only to be slammed in the face by another – blood, torment, death … it was a way of life for Spike now – it was simply what he did – how he lived; how he survived.





More than once Buffy felt physically sickened by what she saw and more than once she screamed out at the horrors of Spike’s life with Dru, but the visions kept coming … pounding her brain like a prizefighter smelling blood and going for the knockout.


It was surreal seeing her husband doing these things – the same person that read bedtime stories to their daughter, the same person that rocked their son to sleep and sang lullabies and made sweet love to her and loved his family with his whole heart … doing monstrous, horrible things and taking pleasure in them with no remorse, no guilt, no second thought. Tears fell from Buffy’s eyes as the memories kept coming in a seemingly never-ending stream as she continued to fall slowly through his life.

She watched as Spike killed his first Slayer in China – his scarred brow that Buffy knew so well, coming to life in full color as the Slayer cut him with her sword. She could feel him swell with pride as Drusilla bragged to Angelus and Darla about him killing the Slayer … but it still wasn’t enough to get and keep Dru’s undying love.



**~**


Illyria watched from a distance as Spike held Buffy, keeping a watchful eye on the unconscious Drusilla. It was clear that Buffy and Spike were going through something, but she was unclear what it was. Since they appeared to be in no immediate danger, Illyria decided that simply observing would be her best course of action.

**~**

As Spike held Buffy on the floor, the emotions he felt from her through the bond physically rocked him. There was fright and disgust and sorrow and an underlying feeling of helplessness that he felt from her.

Buffy couldn’t stop the voyage, and she couldn’t do anything to change the memories – they were there; they were real and they were just as much a part of him as singing lullabies to their babies. She wanted so badly to reach out and tell him it would be ok – he didn’t have to do these things … he didn’t have to keep trying to please Dru – she wasn’t his destiny, after all … but what was done was done, and nothing Buffy did now would change that.

Spike had the same feeling of helplessness as he held the Slayer to him and felt her pain. He’d given up trying to fight the feelings that she stirred in him … he’d fought his feelings for over a century and was good at keeping them hidden, keeping them in their dungeon … but this girl, this Slayer, seemed to have the key to releasing them, no matter how he tried to keep them down.

So, Spike sat on the floor and held his mortal enemy to him and rocked her and wished he could take her pain away and wondered what would become of him now. A vampire that felt sympathy … that wanted to take pain away instead of inflict it – well, that wasn’t really the raison d'être of a creature of the night, was it?

He momentarily thought that he should be worried about Dru … but somehow checking on Dru’s welfare seemed less important than what he was doing at the moment: letting a Slayer in for no other reason than that she asked him to; trusting a Slayer for no other reason than that she promised she wouldn’t hurt him; and undeniably falling in love with a Slayer for a hundred reasons … not the least of which was the love and devotion he’d felt from her and her bravery and willingness to endure what she was now for him. No matter how crazy her words seemed, he couldn’t argue with the feelings that came from her – they felt too real and he longed for them to be real.

**~**

The further Buffy went, the more she understood what Spike meant when he told her that Dru may have turned him, but it was Angelus that had taught him to be a monster. It was abundantly clear that not doing as Angelus said met with severe punishment and, despite Spike’s ever increasing skill at all things physical, Angelus had over a century of experience on him and more than a few pounds; Spike could never win a physical fight with Angelus.

Then, suddenly, Angelus and Darla were gone and it was just Spike and Dru … and sometimes just Spike alone for long stretches of time. Then Dru would return and Spike would inevitably forgive her and take her back and they would travel together again until she found someone else that sparked her interest.

But Spike never wavered from his belief that they were meant to be together forever, that Dru was his destiny. If he could just be that much better … that much stronger, that much more wicked or evil, then Dru would never leave again … but he never could reach that star – no matter what he did, it was never enough.





Buffy watched as Spike fought with, and ultimately killed, his second Slayer, Nikki Wood, in New York City. Buffy thought of the man that had brought her the duffel which ultimately helped them defeat The First, her son, Robin. Of course, Buffy knew that Spike had killed her, but tears still stung her eyes as she thought of the young boy left without a mother.



She thought of Annie, Dani and Billy – waiting at home for her, for both of them, to return. Suddenly guilt overwhelmed her – guilt for being so selfish to put herself in danger when she’d promised Spike that she would leave, that she’d find her way home and take care of their babies. She simply couldn’t stand the thought of doing that without him – she couldn’t stand the thought of running away from the battle as he charged into it; and it had nearly cost her her life twice already.

God, Spike … I’m so sorry … I’m so sorry I couldn’t keep my word… I just love you so much – our babies love and need you so much, Buffy told him through the bond as tears fell from her eyes and she continued falling slowly down through time, but now all she could see were their children waiting at home for them – waiting for parents that may never return.

She didn’t know if she could get Spike back – if she couldn’t – then what? Would he try to kill her again? Would she have to dust him in order to keep her promise that she’d get home to take care of their family? With the PTB’s apparently love of irony, she couldn’t discount that possibility.

**~**

Spike felt unbearable heartache coming from the Slayer … tears fell from his eyes as he held her tighter to him and began rocking gently back and forth, his face buried against her shoulder. Then he heard her words through the bond, God, Spike … I’m so sorry … I’m so sorry I couldn’t keep my word… I just love you so much – our babies love and need you so much.

Suddenly, images of a family … a dark-haired girl and two tow-headed babies, filled his mind and he recognized them as the same children she’d sent him images of earlier and the same children that were in some of the unconnected images that had popped into his mind just a few minutes ago. The words and the images were so confusing … did she expect him to believe that not only did she love him and they were married but they had children, too?

He was beginning to wonder if this Slayer had escaped from a nuthouse, after all. There was no doubt that she believed it – he could feel her love, her heartbreak, her longing to get back to those children and her love for him through the bond. But, just because she believed it didn’t make it true … after all, Dru thought she could see the stars when they were inside a bloody building for Christ’s sake… deranged minds can believe all kinds of deranged stuff… Hell, she might’ve met Dru in a mental ward for all he knew.

Spike couldn’t really understand why he continued to hold this obviously delirious girl … why he continued to hope that what she was showing him was real - it just felt like the thing he should do, like the only thing to do. He didn’t know what else to do.

**~**

Lost in her own mind, Buffy didn’t even notice the floor below her approaching quickly until she hit it with enough force to crumple her to the ground.

“Fuck!” Buffy exclaimed as picked herself up and looked around.

She was standing at the bottom of a long shaft … Spike’s memories towering above her like skyscrapers on all four sides. The last rooms on the bottom were void of images like the others held – there were no victims, there was no blood, no gore, not even a mundane memory of him locking his keys in his car or nicking “Never Mind the Bollocks” from the music store.

Instead, the rooms that surrounded her now were full of clocks. There were clocks of every size and shape and type imaginable – wall clocks, coo-coo clocks, alarm clocks, grandfather clocks, even pocket watches and Swatches and Rolexes … you name it and it was here, and they all seemed to be stopped – as if frozen in time – all at the exact same time.

Unlike the other ‘rooms’ of memories, Buffy found she could enter these bottom rooms and she picked up one of the clocks to examine it more closely. It looked like just a normal clock … in fact, it looked exactly like the one they had in the kitchen at the mansion – right down to the spaghetti sauce stain on the face.

Buffy shook the clock and turned it over to see why it wouldn’t run, but didn’t see anything wrong with it. Perplexed, she set the clock back down and walked back out into the shaft she’d been in to look back up at what had happened just before the clocks.

It looked like a town in Europe with fountains and bronze statues and old cathedrals … it definitely wasn’t Sunnydale or California or even the United States. Spike and Dru seemed to be strolling through the town square, looking for their next meal … not doing anything out of the ordinary, for them, anyway.

What the fuck? Where’s Sunnydale? Where are the rest of his memories?

Buffy went back into one of the clock rooms and picked up the clock from their kitchen and smashed it on the floor. The whole floor trembled like an earthquake had struck when she did that and seemed to slide down a few inches further than it was before, but then all the remaining clocks ticked in unison one time and the floor rose back up again to where it was before.

When the clocks ticked, the sound was deafening. Buffy covered her ears but it was too late – her ears rang and her head felt like it might explode from the sound, dropping her to her knees as she clutched at her head, trying to stop the pain.

Buffy reached out from where she was on the floor and broke another clock, and the same thing happened. She held her hands over her ears and watched the clocks when they ticked – they all ticked forward once then backwards … counterclockwise.

Even with her ears covered, she could feel a pounding in her head from the vibration of all those clocks ticking at once. She sat back on her heels, leaning her body down until her head touched the floor as she folded her arms over her ears, trying desperately to shut out the deafening noise that threatened to make her brain explode.

Buffy struggled to just breathe, the pain was so intense in her head, but it finally subsided back to a dull ache and she pulled herself back up to her feet. She looked around at the hundreds and hundreds of clocks just in this one room – and there were four rooms of them … how could she smash them all and not have her head literally explode, she didn’t know. What she did know was that she had to try – this was it – this is what was keeping Spike from remembering her – this was the key.

Buffy began smashing clocks in rapid succession, one right after another – sometimes doing two or three at once – stomping them, smashing them against each other or throwing them down on the floor or against the walls.

As each one smashed into bits of plastic and springs, numbers and hands, the floor beneath her trembled and shook and dropped, then all the remaining clocks ticked and the floor rose back up. By smashing so many, so fast, the floor beneath her became like one of those crazy floors in the funhouse at the fair, going up and down and side to side and shaking beneath her feet as she tried to remain upright and fight through the pain in her head.

The ticking of the remaining clocks was just as deafening as the first time – making her head pound and ache and her eyes feel like they may explode out of their sockets. It felt like a stampede of horses, with hot pokers for feet, was running ‘round and ‘round in her brain while electric eels chased them – but she persisted, tears staining her face from the pain – screaming out with each tick of the clocks as a new wave of pain hit her; she was determined to do all she could to get Spike back.

**~**

Spike felt her heartache change to confusion and he pulled back and wiped the tears away that now stained her face with the pad of his thumb. He wondered what had happened that made her mindset change so quickly, but he was glad for the reprieve from the rollercoaster that she’d been taking him on.

Suddenly, Spike screamed in pain and held a palm to his head – his head felt like it was going to explode for a few moments – like someone was sticking him in the eye with a hot poker that had been dipped in electricity … it lasted several seconds before the sensation passed – leaving him with a dull ache where the sharp pain had been.

Spike rubbed his forehead, trying to dissipate the pain and wondered what had caused it…had she done it to him or had she gotten hurt and he was feeling her pain? He really was having a hard time distinguishing the difference anymore.

Then the pain returned in force … worse than before, it was unrelenting and he had to drop Buffy from his arms as his hands shot up to his head and he screamed out. His head shot backwards and all the tendons in his neck looked like they might snap as he fell back onto the floor behind him, screaming and writhing in agony. He could barely form a coherent thought, but one thing he knew – he had to get her out of there! She was killing him from the inside.



Spike again tried to shut the bond down … each time the pain subsided slightly he tried to push her out, but he couldn’t get it to stop – he couldn’t get her out. He saw her body, now lying on the floor near him as it also convulsed in pain … What the bloody hell is she doing!?

Unable to get her out of his mind, he changed strategies and dove into hers through the bond. She was in a room full of clocks and she was smashing them – and every time she smashed one, the pain would return and push him back away from her. Finally, at one lull, Spike dove at her, screaming at her to stop, tackling her around the waist, driving her against the far wall and breaking even more clocks in the process.

Both warriors thrashed about on the floor, screaming in pain and holding their heads as all the remaining clocks ticked backwards and the floor below them shifted up and down and trembled like an earthquake. When the pain finally subsided, Buffy lay on the floor holding her head, trying to breathe and trying to figure out what had hit her. Then she heard Spike moaning and felt him move beside her and she managed to open her eyes to see him in the same position she was, holding his head and trying to get the pain to stop.

It hadn’t occurred to her that it would be hurting him, too …

“Spike! Spike, I’m sorry! Are you ok?” she asked him sitting up and laying one hand on his shoulder – her other hand staying glued to her head.

“What the bloody hell are ya doin’, Slayer!?” Spike croaked out hoarsely as he held both hands over his eyes, pressing his palms against them hard and hoping they didn’t pop out when he took his hands away.

“Didn’ know you Slayer types were into torture … Angelus could take a lesson from you,” he informed her, finally daring to open one eye and sit up, leaning his back up against the wall and pulling his knees up close to his chest to lean his arms and head on – being careful not to break any more of the clocks, while he was at it.

“Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Mistress of … Time Torture?” he asked her, turning his head as it rested on his arms and looking at her with the one eye he’d opened. “That’s a new one on me … and that’s sayin’ a lot.”

“Spike, God, I’m sorry - I didn’t know it was doing the same thing to you,” Buffy told him, as she leaned back against the wall with him, keeping a hand pressed against her forehead.

“Oh, so, masochist is it? I could probably help with that, pet,” Spike offered, closing the one eye he had opened and turning his head back so it was facing down against his arms.

Buffy would’ve rolled her eyes, if she wasn’t afraid of them falling out of their sockets … so, instead she pushed one hand against his shoulder and said, “You’re a trip. Making jokes while our heads are about to explode…”

“Who’s jokin’?” Spike questioned, not moving or looking at her.

“Yeah, yeah … I know, you’re a tough guy … all deadly and vampirey – I know what you’ve done … I’ve seen what you’ve done. I also happen to know you a little better than that, Spike. You forget, we’re married – have been for over five years,” Buffy informed him.

“Ya know, I wish you’d quit with that load of bollocks … it makes my head hurt worse than your little clock adventure,” Spike informed her, finally turning his head back towards her and opening both eyes.

“It’s not bollocks – and you know it or you wouldn’t have let me get this far,” Buffy retorted, standing up and pulling on his arm. “C’mon – gotta show you something …”

Spike moaned but let her pull him up and followed her out to the shaft in the center of the memory rooms.

“Where is that?” she asked him, pointing up to the memory that was just above the clocks. “Prague?”

Spike looked at what she was pointing at. “Never been to Prague, luv… that’s Vienna … it’s in Austria … that’s on the Continent … you know, Europe?” Spike told her.

“I’m not an idiot – I know where Vienna is - it’s where those little sausages come from,” Buffy asserted. “And you have been to Prague … in 1997 you and Dru were attacked in Prague – Dru was nearly killed … or more killed … you don’t remember that, either?”



Spike was still pondering the Vienna sausages thing, and didn’t answer her.

“Spike!” Buffy exclaimed, snapping her fingers in front of his face. “Try to focus here!” she demanded. “What do you remember after Vienna?”

Spike pursed his lips together and frowned at her. “No need to get shirty!” he told her before taking a deep breath and rubbing a hand over his forehead. “Don’t remember much after Vienna …” he admitted.

“Well, let me fill in a few blanks,” Buffy started. “You and Dru came to Sunnydale, California – that’s in the United States, by the way, you know, the Colonies? … A totally different continent … to find her cure… turns out, the key to her cure was Angelus … you cured her. I put you in a wheelchair for a while … you got better and helped me stop Angelus from ending the world and got re-ensouled in the process.

“We fell in love, we made a baby and we got married … we tried to kill each other a few more times – neither of us succeeded, obviously … we saved the world a few times … made more babies … and lived happily ever after, until we came to this Twilight Zone dimension and Angel fucked us again.

“You lost your memory somehow … either in the battle or maybe Dru did something to you. These clocks are the key to getting your memory back – we have to destroy the clocks!” Buffy exclaimed, waving her arms around at the clocks and finally taking a much needed breath.

“You’ve lost your bleedin’ mind! You’ve gone completely sack of hammers, Slayer!” Spike informed Buffy, backing away from her. “You expect me to believe that rot?”

“Spike, who could make up something that crazy?” Buffy questioned. “It has to be true … it’s too crazy not to be true and I can prove it!”

Spike cocked a brow and folded his arms across his chest. “Can you now? Then prove it.”

“Do you recognize this?” Buffy asked, holding her left hand up so he could see her ring. “You gave it to me … it was your mother’s.”

Spike looked at the ring with a furrowed brow. “That don’t prove nothing. I haven’t seen it in a century – Angelus has it – he might’ve given it to you, or you stole it from him,” Spike asserted.

Buffy did roll her eyes at that. “Fine – how about your wallet, do you have your wallet?” Buffy asked, holding her hand out.

Spike fished the wallet out of his back pocket and handed it to her. “I know how much cash is in there…so don’t even think of nicking any from it.”

“We’re in a community property state, so half of it’s mine …” Buffy muttered under her breath as she opened the wallet, pulled his driver’s license out and held it up to him so he could read it, but she couldn’t. “See this? Sunnydale, California – Crawford Street. That’s where we live – you and me and our kids …and … and a few other people.

“What did I say before? I told you about Sunnydale before I ever looked at your license,” Buffy pointed out. “Your real name is William Weckerly. Your birthday is August 20th … you’re a Leo, which means you’re an extrovert, faithful, loving, loyal, and self-sacrificing … it also means you’re bossy, impulsive, quick tempered, stubborn, and sometimes sensitive to a fault. Your birth year is listed as 1971, but we both know that’s about a hundred and twenty years off…don’t we?

“How’m I doin’ so far?” Buffy asked, taking a breath and poking the driver’s license into the front pocket of his jeans.

“And this,” she said, pulling out the picture of Annie, “is our oldest daughter, Anne Joyce – named after your mother and my mother.”

Spike looked at the picture – it was the same girl that he’d seen in the images that Buffy had sent him … the same girl that appeared in the disconnected visions he’d had.

“Does she look the least bit familiar to you, Spike? She should, she looks just like you … sans the peroxide…” Buffy pointed out.

“She fancies chocolate …” Spike mumbled as he took the picture from Buffy.

Suddenly, several clocks exploded from the rooms around them, sending them both ducking and covering their heads in anticipation of the pain that would follow. The remaining clocks ticked forward, then backwards, but then forward again. The floor shuddered and dropped, but this time didn’t rise back up.





Spike dropped to his knees, holding his head and screaming out in pain. Buffy knelt down in front of him and put her hands on his shoulders, trying to help. The ticking clocks didn’t hurt her this time, but she wasn’t sure why. Because she hadn’t been the one to destroy them? Because Spike did it by remembering something that was beyond their barrier?

When Spike’s pain finally subsided, Buffy sat back on her heels and confirmed, “Yeah … she’s fond of chocolate…apparently, that’s the gene she got from me … along with her love for her father.”



Spike looked at Buffy with a furrowed brow and then looked back at the picture of the girl. “Got your mouth, your nose …” Spike muttered, shaking his head, still trying to process what she was telling him – trying to believe it, wishing it to be true, but still terrified that it was some kind of trick – that all this pain was some new tactic for … for … for what he didn’t know.

Buffy pulled out the picture of the twins. “These are our twins, William and Danielle …” she told him, holding the picture up to him.

Spike had seen these babies before, too … one in a hospital … what was it he had said to her? Summers women are tough…

“Girl was in the hospital …” Spike mumbled reaching for the picture, but before he could take it from her, several more clocks exploded from the rooms around them. They both ducked the flying clock ‘viscera’, but, just as before, the pain only hit Spike when the remaining clocks ticked forward, backwards, and then forward again, the floor dropped more, and didn’t rise back up.

“Your name is Summers,” Spike muttered when the pain had subsided, looking up from the picture to Buffy’s face.

“Yes … Buffy Anne Summers-Weckerly,” she told him softly.

“Summers…” Spike repeated under his breath, shaking his head as he tried to absorb everything.

“And this…” Buffy continued, her voice growing softer as she went, “… is us.” She pulled out the pieces of photo that had been ripped up and laid them out on her palm.

“Not sure how it got ripped – my guess is Dru. She never really cared for me too much… actually, the feeling’s mutual…but that’s beside the point…



“Point is, that’s me … and that’s you …” Buffy asserted, pointing a finger at each of them in the picture. “We were at the Bronze … it was an engagement party for our friends, Xander and Anya… our friend, Willow, took the picture … she had to snap it quick ‘cause the DJ had just put on a song by the Ramones and you wanted to dance …”

Spike looked from the picture to Buffy’s face … it was her in the picture, and it most certainly was him. “They have a whelp name a’ Joshua … The Joshua Tree …” Spike muttered almost to himself as another of the scenes from the tapestries came back to him.

As the memory materialized in his mind, more clocks exploded and the floor beneath their feet dropped what felt like twenty feet, sending them both falling through the air and landing hard when the floor stopped dropping. Spike screamed and writhed on the floor, pain ripping through his head as the remaining clocks struggled to tick backwards, but could only tick forward.

Buffy reached out to try and help him, but there wasn’t anything she could do. Tears welled in her eyes as she watched her husband thrash about in agony, holding his head and screaming as the pounding and electrical shocks she knew all too well continued for longer than ever before.

When the pain finally subsided, Spike laid perfectly still on the floor, his palms pressed against his eyes as he took deep breaths of air to try and calm down and recover from the onslaught.

When Buffy looked up at the memories above them, it wasn’t Vienna any longer, it was Prague … at least she assumed that’s where it was.

“Dru was beaten by a mob in Prague … said we needed to go to California … Miss Edith told her that was where we could find her cure …” Spike told Buffy in a gravelly voice, his eyes still closed and covered with his hands, as he remembered Prague clearly … and remembered arguing with Dru about going to California – notwithstanding what Miss Edith had whispered to her; but he could never tell her ‘no’.

“We have to get rid of the rest of these clocks … that’s the only way,” Buffy told Spike softly. “Please believe me. Please trust me.”

“Smashin’ ‘em will kill us both, Slayer …” Spike pointed out as he finally sat up and opened his eyes to look around at the multitude of clocks that remained unbroken.

“Me rememberin’ seems to do the same thing an’ only affects me,” Spike observed. “Help me … help me remember more.”

“Spike … it’s too much – it hurts you too much,” Buffy argued. “If we do it together then maybe it will only hurt each of us half as much …”

“No … if what you say is true then … well, then I wouldn’t do that to you if there was another way - and there is another way, yeah?” Spike told her. “Help me remember more…”

“Spike …” Buffy started with exasperation.

“What did you say before? Bossy, was it? Stubborn? Don’ argue with me – do as I say,” Spike demanded of her.

Buffy sighed and looked in his wallet for anything else.

“Your ATM card … the PIN number is my birthday – month and day. What’s the PIN number, Spike?” Buffy asked him, holding the card up in front of him.

Spike looked at the card and tried concentrating on it, but nothing came to him. Then he closed his eyes and tried digging deep in his mind to find the number … finally he let out a long scream, holding his head with his hands in exasperation.

Spike jumped up to his feet and started pacing as far as he could back and forth in the small area before exclaiming, “I don’t bloody know!” and dropping his hands to his sides in frustration before turning back to look at her.

“I don’t bloody know …” he repeated quietly, looking into her eyes.

“Ok, that’s ok … something else,” Buffy assured him, digging in his wallet further, but there was nothing else in there other than a few dollars.

Buffy watched Spike rub his forehead with his left hand …

“Where’s your ring?” she asked him, standing up in front of him.



Spike held his hand out in front of his face and looked at it. “Dunno … haven’ seen one,” he told her. “Don’t know where this bloody scar came from either.”

Buffy furrowed her brow then unbuttoned the top couple of buttons of her shirt to reveal her matching scar from the amulet.

“You got that scar,” Buffy started softly, taking his hand in hers and outlining the scar on his palm tenderly with one finger, “saving my life … we saved the world that day – and you saved me. Do you remember? You were stubborn and bossy and self-sacrificing … even more than me, that day …”

Buffy took his palm and laid it flat against the scar on her chest, the two starbursts that had been burned into their flesh matched each other perfectly.

“You told me to go … to take care of Annie,” Spike told her, looking deep into Buffy’s eyes.

Buffy nodded slowly, tears welling in her eyes. “You wouldn’t leave me there alone … just like I couldn’t leave you here alone. You are my destiny … I’m your destiny, Spike.”

“You said you loved me … I yanked the amulet off your neck,” Spike started as the memory clicked in place like a Rubik’s Cube in his mind and suddenly hundreds of clocks started exploding and the floor beneath their feet dropped out from under them.

Spike grabbed Buffy, pulling her to him to shield her from the flying clock entrails, as they fell through his mind. Memories of their life … of Sunnydale, of Angelus and Dru and Acathla and the first time he saw Buffy dancing, and the first moments of their love, and of making Annie, and everything that followed flooded Spike’s mind as they fell.

Spike tried breaking the bond … he didn’t know what would happen when they hit at the bottom – but Buffy resisted, clinging to him mentally – not leaving him to face it alone.

We’re stronger together, she told him through the bond as they continued to fall for what seemed a lifetime … in fact, it was more than one lifetime … Annie’s lifetime, Dani and Billy’s lifetimes.

The images and memories of their life hit Spike hard … each second they fell added to the tapestry of a life dreamed of but never dared … a life he wished for, but never thought possible …

But here it was – a passionate, beautiful, strong woman who loved him unconditionally, children who he adored, friends that trusted and respected him, and the freedom to be himself. With Buffy he didn’t have to hide his poet’s heart … didn’t have to prove himself, didn’t have to always be Big Bad … sometimes he could let her be Big Bad and that was fine – that was perfect, that was love.

Spike and Buffy landed with a ‘sploosh’ and were both immediately immersed in thick, brown goo. Buffy inhaled some of the goo when they hit and her mind immediately flashed back to the feeling of drowning in the pool … but Spike was there and he put his hands on her waist and began pushing her back up through the thick liquid towards the surface.

They both used their arms and legs to swim through the gooey substance towards what they hoped was air and freedom. When they finally surfaced, wiping the goo off their faces and out of their eyes so they could look around, they realized they’d landed in Annie’s Hershey’s chocolate syrup lake.

They both started laughing as they looked around and saw the animal crackers happily sailing their Kit-Kat rafts across the lake. Spike wrapped his arms around Buffy and drew her body against his as he took her lips in a soft, chocolaty kiss.

Spike pulled back and looked at her, his eyes soft, full of love. Buffy’s hair was covered in chocolate syrup … it dripped down into her face and she kept wiping it off and then licking her fingers.

“What’re you lookin’ at?” she asked him with a smile.

“My chocolate covered girl,” Spike informed her with a smile.

“You’re pretty full of chocolaty goodness, too, mister,” Buffy informed him, kissing the chocolate off the tip of his nose.

“I love you, Spike …” Buffy mumbled against his lips as she licked the chocolate off them.

“Your love is like nothin’ I’ve ever known … or ever dared to dream, Slayer. I’d forgotten how … how …” Spike started.

“Alone … frightened … cold,” Buffy supplied softly as she remembered the feelings she got when she entered his mind. Buffy wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head against his shoulder as they tread water … or chocolate syrup.

“Empty,” Spike filled in, “my life was before you. You give me strength I never knew I had … you give me hope – you give me love – you’re in my heart forever – you know that, yeah?”

Buffy smiled, lifting her head off his shoulder and looked into his blue eyes as chocolate syrup continued to drip off his curls and run down his face. “You’re in my heart forever, too, William.”

Buffy motioned towards the shore with her head. “C’mon … I’m takin’ you home …”
**~**


Hear the song associated with this story at the following YouTube Link:

"Taking You Home”, Don Henley

I had a good life
before you came
I had my friends and my freedom
I had my name

Still there was sorrow and emptiness
till you made me glad
oh in this love
I found strength
never knew I had

And this love, this love,
Is like nothing I have ever known
Take my hand, love,
I’m taking you home
Taking you home

There were days, lonely days
When the world
Wouldn’t throw me a crumb
But I kept on believin’
That this day would come

And this love, this love,
Is like nothing I have ever known
No, no baby
Take my hand
I’m taking you home
I’m taking you home
Where we can be with the ones who really care
Home
Where we can grow together
Keep you in my heart forever

Oh and this love
Is like nothing I have ever known
Take my hand, love,
I’m taking you home
Oh and this love
Is like nothing I have ever known
Take my hand
Taking you home
Taking you home

Yes I am

Tuesday, June 30th, 2004

After getting Spike’s memories back and coming back to their own minds and bodies on the hard floor surrounding the basement pool at the Hyperion, Buffy went back and found Tara and told her they were just going to stay there at Angel's hotel and get some rest for a while. She asked Tara to get the stuff she’d need for the dream-jumping tea so they could tell Annie that they’d both be home soon and alleviate her fears.

Buffy was surprised to find that the Army had already finished removing all the demon debris from the area and had opened it back up. The military was frighteningly efficient at covering things up; they'd obviously had lots of practice! Since the area was open again, Tara suggested to Buffy that she have everyone meet back up at the Hyperion later so they could figure out what to do next. Buffy agreed and Tara took off for the Army hospital to let everyone know, while Buffy returned to the Hyperion where Spike was waiting for her.

When Buffy got back to the hotel, Dru and Illyria were gone. Spike was sitting in one of the Adirondack chairs that hadn’t gotten broken, his head back and eyes closed … he looked like he could’ve been sitting on the beach sunbathing with his bare chest … his jeans and boots didn’t quite work with that image, but it still made Buffy smile thinking about it.

Spike opened his eyes as she approached and gave her a smile. “All set?” he asked her.

“Yeah, Tara’ll be back with the stuff soon … everyone’s gonna meet up here so we can figure how to get home,” Buffy told him as she sat down in his lap and leaned back against his hard chest. Spike’s arms encircled her waist and he tilted his head against hers with a sigh.

“Where’s Dru?” Buffy asked softly, laying her hands over his where he held her.

Spike sighed deeply and hugged Buffy tighter against him. “Sent Big Blue off with ‘er,” he told her.

“So, you didn’t dust her … you let her go …” Buffy clarified, trying to keep her tone neutral.

“Yeah … I just couldn’ do it - despite everything, it’s still Dru … I’m sorry, luv,” Spike admitted softly.

“You loved her for a long time,” Buffy observed. “She didn’t love you … not like I do.”

“I know … I know that now – but …” Spike started…his voice trailing off, unsure just why he couldn’t dust her after what he now knew she had done to him; how she tried to steal him away from his true love … away from his destiny.

“If not for her, we would’ve never met …” Buffy offered, trying to be understanding. After all, how many times had Angel deserved to be dusted and she couldn't do it?

“Yeah,” Spike agreed. “I do owe her for that, at least…

“Buffy … what you saw – I never wanted you to see that … ever – that’s not me …”





“It’s what made you you … It’s what made you ‘Spike’, not just William,” Buffy pointed out. “It was hard for me to see. I never want to think about where you were before Sunnydale, before me … but you lived a whole lifetime – two whole lifetimes before me – and I think it was time for me to realize that what you are now isn’t what you’ve always been.”

“Can you still love me … now that you know everythin’; now that you’ve seen everythin’?” Spike asked, closing his eyes and waiting for her to tell him that she couldn’t be with him anymore … that the things he’d done were just too horrible to forgive.

Tears welled in Buffy’s eyes as the memories of Spike’s life before her raced through her mind again and she closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip, to try and fight the emotions back. Buffy finally swallowed the lump in her throat and sat up slightly so she could turn and see Spike’s face. He opened his eyes and they met hers when she turned, as he awaited his judgment … his fate.

“I saw my husband killing innocent people … I saw his velvet hands turn to steel as he broke the neck of a Slayer with a young son …

“I saw him offer the blood of another Slayer to his sire and make love to her right there where the Slayer he killed still lay in the dirt …

“I saw him turn, and then stake, his own mother.

“My husband … the father of my children, did these things,” Buffy told him solemnly as she looked into his eyes.





“I’ve been down every road you’ve been. I saw your first kiss, I saw your first love … your first heartbreak – your first kill and every one after that...”

Spike knew it was over … she could never forgive him for what he’d done – he didn’t deserve to be forgiven – he never deserved her love in the first place. Spike nodded slowly and released his hold on her. He reached down beside the chair and picked up a sharp piece of wood from the chairs that had been broken earlier and offered it to her.

“I’m sorry … I’m sorry for what I’ve done; I know that doesn’t mean anythin’. I know you don’t think I think about it … but I do. Late at night they haunt me – the Slayers, the mothers, the sisters, the daughters … they all haunt me.





“The only thing that keeps me on this side o’ the loony-bin wall is you – your love. Knowin’ that you’re beside me makes me strong enough to face ‘em. I can’t face it without you, Buffy…please don’t ask me to,” Spike pleaded with her as tears stung his eyes.

Buffy took the stake from his hand and pressed it against his chest as tears flowed from her eyes. She looked up from the stake and met his crystal blue eyes with hers. “What you don’t know is that I not only saw those things … I felt them, too,” Buffy admitted, her voice cracking as she fought back tears.

“I felt your fear of Angelus, I felt your love for Dru, I felt your heartbreak, your dreams, your hopes and your wishes and I felt you take all that, wrap it up in a demon, and do the best you could with it.

“Then I saw those hands of steel turn back to velvet as you held me when I cried for Angel that first night and I felt that love you had for Dru change as you realized that she wasn’t your destiny after all … that I was, and I felt your love for our children and how you would protect them with your last breath, and I felt your willingness to sacrifice everything so I could make it home for them and, you know what? No matter how much I love William, he’s not Spike – and I need Spike. I love Spike.”

Buffy held the stake up in both hands and broke it in two before dropping the pieces on the floor. Tears flowed down her face as she looked at her husband and she laid a hand softly on his face, tracing the scar on his brow with one finger. Spike sat in stunned silence trying to process what she’d said. The lump in his throat kept him from speaking as he stared at her, dumbfounded by her words.

“I said, I love you, Spike,” Buffy repeated softly.

“I … I …” Spike stammered.

Buffy smiled at him. “‘I love you too, Buffy’ would be the proper thing to say now …” she told him softly.

“I love you too, Buffy,” Spike repeated, a look of utter confusion still on his face – he was so sure she’d never be able to forgive him – never be able to love the monster inside the man now that she’d really seen how monstrous he’d been.

“‘You are my destiny,’ would be good …” she suggested, as a smile tugged at her lips.

“You are my destiny,” Spike repeated.

“‘You are the boss of me … I’ll never question you again – anything you say goes and I’ll always pick my wet towels up off the floor,’” Buffy prompted, her eyes dancing in amusement.

“You are the boss of me … I’ll never … uhhh … wait just a minute there, Slayer,” Spike started and Buffy burst out laughing.

Buffy leaned in and took his lips in a soft kiss and Spike wrapped his arms back around her and pulled her body against his as he returned her kiss.





Buffy pulled back and laid her hand on the side of his face. “Show me the demon,” she requested quietly, looking into his eyes.

Spike narrowed his eyes considering her a moment before bringing the demon up. Buffy ran her fingers lightly over his wrinkled forehead, across the even more prominent scar above his eye, and down the side of his face before leaning in and taking his lips in another tender kiss.

“I love you, Spike,” she murmured against his lips before slipping her tongue between his sharp fangs and into his mouth to taste him. Spike swirled his tongue around hers, their tongues dancing dangerously close to his fangs, as he sent her a silent message over their bond, I love you too, Buffy.

He still couldn’t believe it … she forgave him, she loved him … she loved the monster and the man. She really was his destiny – and their love really was eternal.

**~**

Buffy and Spike walked along the edge of the Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup lake, Buffy tucked in next to his side. He held her to him with his arm around her shoulders and she wrapped her arm around his waist, as they watched the MoonPie set in the western sky and the candied orange slice rise over the lake in the east.





They had spent time with Annie, assuring her that they would both be home soon and she was more than a little relieved to hear that. Annie loved Anya and Xander, but she really wanted to come back home to her own room, Miss Kitty Fantastico, Bert and Ernie the hermit crabs, and her family of witches, demons and kooks, and the Slayer that tried to keep them all in line.

But now, it was just them in Annie’s chocolate world. The candied orange slice sun lit up the sky and warmed their skin as they stopped near the lake and watched the sun rise slowly into the sky. Spike loved the feel of the sun…even one made out of a candied orange slice, on his skin. It warmed him and made him feel less like a monster and more like a man.

He’d missed this feeling of having Buffy at his side in the sun – ever since they’d lost the bond and lost the Gem of Amarra, as well. And this day’s sunrise was made that much sweeter by the hell that they’d just walked through – emerging from the other side with hope and a renewed appreciation for the special love they shared.

Buffy turned to face Spike and pushed him backwards and down onto the ground behind him. As he rolled back onto the ground, suddenly the chocolate shavings below them turned into a pad of thick, green grass covered with a soft cotton quilt. Buffy followed him down, straddling his hips with hers and leaning her body down over his chest. Their eyes locked, green on blue, and each seemed to penetrate down into the other’s soul – holding each other captive for many long moments before she took his lips in a tender kiss.





“Make love to me, Spike,” Buffy whispered against his lips as he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

Make love to me, Spike … Spike, the words echoed in his head … usually when she said that, she asked for William. Now she asked for Spike to make love to her – she asked for the monster she loved to use velvet hands and make sweet, tender love to her.

Spike ran his hands lightly down her body, over the clothes she was wearing and back up again and suddenly their clothes were gone. Her skin felt softer than anything he could ever remember feeling before as he skimmed his hands up and down her back, to her round butt, her thighs, and back up again as she sucked on his full bottom lip, holding his face tenderly between her hands.

Buffy slid down his body, trailing her tongue down his neck, sucking lightly on his Adam’s apple before continuing down to his collarbone, then down his hard pecs before swirling her tongue first around one nipple then the other, causing Spike to moan and tangle his hands in her long hair.

Her hands followed her mouth down his body as she moved slowly across his abs, savoring the hard muscles under his silky skin and trailing her tongue down to his bellybutton. She licked a small circle around it before dipping her tongue down into it.

Buffy squealed and pulled back, her hand covering her mouth, as her tongue hit chocolate syrup in his navel. “How did you do that!?” she questioned, licking the chocolaty goodness off her lips with a smile.

Spike laughed. “It’s a dream, luv…can do anythin’ we want. Thought you might like a little … treat … ya’ know, an extra treat other than my hot, tight little body.”

“Oh, how considerate of you,” Buffy told him with a smirk. “But if you’re gonna do it, do it right …” she informed him as she waved her arm and a huge wave of chocolate syrup rose up out of the lake and crashed down on both of them.

“Now … that’s what I call a treat!” Buffy exclaimed as chocolate dripped from her skin and hair and joined the syrup that covered Spike’s hot, tight little body.

“Anyone ever accuse you of overkill, luv?” Spike asked with a smile as he wiped chocolate syrup off his face.

“No such thing as too much chocolate…” Buffy informed him as she went back to licking the sweet treat out of his bellybutton, circling it with her tongue and savoring the sweetness that covered his soft skin.

Buffy slid down further, running her tongue down along one side of the “V” that formed below his abs, then back up the other side. Spike moaned in frustration as she neared his rock-hard, chocolate covered cock but didn’t touch it and Buffy smiled to herself…loving the power she had over him…loving to hear him moan for her – he’d be begging soon if she kept on – she had no doubt.

Buffy skipped down and started licking up from his knee to his balls along his inside thigh. Spike’s legs jumped and his hips jerked as she got near his sensitive jewels, but didn’t touch them … instead starting back down the other side, slurping and sucking the yumminess from his skin as she went. Spike’s legs jumped again when she passed over his inside thigh and he reached down to pull her back up to his cock.

“Ahh, ahh, ahh,” Buffy told him, “…my treat … I get to eat it how I want.”

“Christ, woman! You’re killin’ me!” Spike exclaimed trying again to pull her up his body and away from his thighs as she licked and sucked on them … nibbling now and then with her teeth and swirling her tongue around in small circles. Spike’s legs twitched and jumped each time she touched him until finally he screamed at her to, “STOP! Bloody hell! Stop it!”

“What’s the matter, sweet boy?” Buffy cooed. “You aren’t … ticklish there, are you?”

“No! ‘Course not!” Spike exclaimed. “You’re driving me bug-shaggin' crazy!”

“Really?” Buffy questioned as she nibbled on his inside thigh again and he jerked his leg away from her. “I think you’re ticklish… why didn’t I notice that before?” she wondered.

“‘Cause you never did it that bloody long before!!” he admitted. “I can stand it just so fuckin’ long! Christ!”

Buffy laughed and started tickling the inside of both of Spike’s thighs with feather touches using her fingers.

“Arrrgghhh! Stop!” Spike exclaimed, his legs and whole body jerking away from her as he tried to grab her hands with his.

Buffy let him grab her hands and pull her up his body so she was lying on top of him … chocolate syrup squished out from between them as she laughed and dropped a gooey kiss on his lips. “Big Bad is ticklish in a very sexy place,” Buffy cooed, raising and lowering her eyebrows as a smile played on her lips.

“A hundred and twenty plus bloody years and you’re the only one who’s ever found that spot …” Spike told her with a smirk. “I’m gonna have to kill ya’ now, you know that, yeah?”

“Not until I finish my treat, I hope,” Buffy said in a low voice, running her tongue slowly across her top lip as she slid back down Spike’s body and settled between his legs. Buffy took his shaft in her hand and slid slowly up and down his hard length, causing Spike to moan – her hot hand squeezing and releasing up and down his cock felt like heaven.

“Since this will be my last meal,” Buffy started, “I should make it good.”

Suddenly Spike’s cock was covered with whipped cream, colorful sprinkles and there was a bright red cherry on top. Spike looked down his body and watched her pick the cherry up by its stem, tilt her head back, and slowly lower it into her mouth. She licked all the whipped cream off it as she sucked it in and out of her luscious lips before pulling the stem off and biting down on it, sending drops of red cherry juice flying in all directions.

Spike’s cock jumped, growing even harder, as he watched her give the cherry a blowjob and then turn her attention back to him. Buffy licked up from his balls along the underside of his shaft, sucking up the rich, sweet, whipped cream as she went. When she reached the head, she swirled her tongue around it, cleaning the cream and sprinkles off, before starting back down to his balls.

Spike moaned and called her name as he watched her clean every bit of chocolate and whipped cream and sprinkles off his cock and balls. Her tongue flicked over his cum slit … his pre-cum mixing in with the sweet treats and making her pussy ache for him. Finally, Buffy took the head in her mouth, her lips squeezing him tightly. Her tongue swirled and licked down his length as she took more and more of his cock in her mouth and Spike sighed in utter bliss.

Buffy moaned in pleasure as more of his pre-cum leaked out and covered her tongue. When she moaned around his cock, Spike thought he might lose it right then … he had to lay his head back and close his eyes to keep from cumming.

His hips rose up to meet her as she started moving faster and faster on his thick cock…her tongue licking up and down his length as her lips devoured him. Buffy used a hand to pump what wouldn’t fit in her mouth, squeezing his shaft hard as she sucked and moaned around him.

“Fuck! Buffy! God… so fucking good! Christ … arrrgghhh… gonna cum… Fuck, Buffy! Yessssssss!!” Spike exclaimed as his hips thrust against her mouth.

He tangled his hands in her hair as his cum boiled up and shot into her hot, heavenly mouth. Buffy continued licking and sucking and moaning against his sensitive glans as Spike came. She loved hearing him scream her name … she loved seducing him … giving him such pleasure – it made her that much more hungry for him – made her want him that much more.

When Buffy felt him relax under her, she swirled her tongue around the head of his cock, licking up every drop of cum, before flicking it lightly across his cum slit and making his hips jump under her.

“Fuck!” Spike exclaimed as his body jerked and trembled as she continued to tease him with her tongue. “Nothin’ left, Slayer …” he informed her. “Give us a minute ….”

Buffy sat back on her heels and licked her lips, wiping cum off her chin where it had dribbled out of her mouth and sucking it off her fingers. “Mmmmm…Marshmallow Fluff!” she announced with a grin as she continued licking her lips.

Spike put his hands behind his head and watched her – he could look at her all day … even covered in chocolate syrup from head to toe, she was a vision.

“January nineteenth,” Spike said, out of the blue. “Capricorn on the cusp of Aquarius.

“Independent and individualistic … she who stands alone against the demons. The Sea Goat. They start from the sea and ascend to the highest mountain tops. Determined to succeed … not afraid of a challenge – they always persevere; fight for what they believe in … fight for what they love.”

Buffy tilted her head to the side and watched Spike with loving eyes as he told her about her birthday, herself, her sign, as she had done him. A date he couldn’t remember only a few hours before.

Spike sat up and pulled Buffy into a passionate kiss, wrapping his strong arms around her body as she wrapped hers around his neck. His tongue delved into her mouth, swirling and teasing and tasting; tasting the sweet chocolate and whipped cream and … Marshmallow Fluff!?

Spike pulled back and laughed, leaning his forehead against hers. “I love you, Slayer,” Spike whispered to her softly. “There’s no one else in the world quite like you … you’re one of a kind … and I’m yours – heart and soul, Buffy.”

Buffy kissed his lips and pulled him with her as she lay back on the quilt beneath them. His body covered hers, her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms around his neck as she continued kissing his soft lips. Buffy pulled away, looked into his eyes and whispered, “Wake up now,” and suddenly she was gone.

When Spike woke up a second later in the bed they had commandeered at the Hyperion, he rolled over onto his side to face her.

“I love you, too, Spike,” Buffy whispered to him as she rolled onto her back and pulled him with her. “I’m yours, heart and soul.”

Spike lay atop her body … the heat from her warmed him through-and-through as he kissed her sweet lips. Buffy wrapped her legs around his hips and her arms around his hard back. “Make love to me, Spike,” she requested again as she tilted her hips up to take him into her core.





Spike rose up with strong arms on either side of her and tilted his hips to line his cock up with her wet pussy. He pressed into her slowly … their eyes locked, as if hypnotized by the depths of the other.

Buffy gasped as he entered her, her pussy walls stretching to take him in and then hugging tightly against his hard rod as he pressed into her ever so slowly. Spike fought to keep from plunging into her … he wanted her so badly – he wanted to be buried deep within her core – engulfed in her heat, surrounded by her strength, but he wanted to savor this feeling, too.

He loved how she felt with her legs and arms embracing him and her tunnel trembling and squeezing around his cock. “Always so wet for me, you are,” he whispered to her. “So hot, so full of passion … you always make me feel so alive, Buffy.”

When Spike was buried to the hilt in her heat, they both stopped moving their hips. Spike dipped his head down and licked a slow circle around one nipple, then the other, and Buffy’s back arched up, pressing her breasts against him as he sucked one hard nipple into his mouth.

“Ohhhh …yes, Spike …” she moaned as she ran her hands up and down along the hard muscles of his arms and back. Spike began pulling out of her just as slowly as he’d entered; his pace unhurried, gentle – his movements deliberate, as he trailed his tongue up from her breast, past her collarbone and up her neck to her ear. He bit down lightly on her earlobe before swirling his tongue in slow circles on the spot behind her ear that drove her crazy.

Buffy felt chill bumps start from the spot where his tongue was teasing her neck and sweep across her whole body as she moaned his name and her eyes fluttered closed. A small orgasm passed through her as he pushed back into her, his tongue still working its magic on her neck and his strong muscles undulating under her hands as he struggled to control his body’s urge to go faster.

Spike came down to his elbows, allowing his body to rest on hers, as he kept the slow pace of their lovemaking going. He watched her face as ripples of pleasure passed over her every time his cock pressed in, every time his pubic bone ground down slowly, but deliberately, on her clit. He loved the feeling giving her pleasure gave him … never mind how wonderful it felt to be enveloped by her heat … knowing that what he was doing was making her moan and tremble and rise up towards the heavens, meant everything to him.

Buffy’s eyes fluttered back open and were met with the most beautiful blue she’d ever seen as Spike gazed down on her – she saw love and adoration and desire in those eyes and it was all for her. It made her heart swell to see him look at her like that. She couldn’t imagine that she could love him any more than she already did…but somehow her heart always found a way to expand just a little further when he looked at her like that.

“Let’s go to heaven, baby …” Buffy whispered to him as she began raising her hips up to meet his in ever harder thrusts. Spike rose back up onto his hands and increased his tempo to match hers. Their bodies began slamming together – cool skin meeting hot, hard meeting soft, a creature of the dark meeting an angel of light.

“Talk to me, Spike …” Buffy whispered. She loved hearing his voice – she loved it all the time, but when they were making love, she loved it even more. Deep and rumbling and full of lust and passion … it alone seemed enough to send her to heaven at times.

“I love you, Buffy … God … you don’t know what you do to me … so fucking hot! So wet … so tight … so sweet you are! Let me take you to heaven, pet … come with me … fly with me …”

“Yes! Spike! God, yes! Take me there! Take me!” Buffy yelled at him as Spike pounded down on her, grinding hard against her clit and burying his cock deep in her hot, wet pussy. Buffy pulled her legs up further … away from his hips and nearer his shoulders to allow him to slam into her harder, to bury his cock into her deeper.

Spike growled as she opened herself to him completely, allowing him complete control. He pushed her legs up higher, folding her nearly in half and hooking her feet over his shoulders as the demon came up and he slammed his hips down on her with renewed force.

“YES! Yes Spike!! Take me! Take me … fuck yessss!” Buffy screamed at him as he plowed into her harder, deeper, and faster. Her back arched and her whole body began to shudder and tremble under him as her words turned into long, blissful screams escaping her throat. Buffy felt like she was flying – gliding, dipping, diving and then riding the air currents back up towards the clouds.

She could almost feel the wind in her face … the freedom of soaring high above the earth on golden wings as Spike took her with him above the clouds. All she could see surrounding her was an azure sky, the color of Spike’s eyes, as she flew higher and higher.

Spike felt her orgasm starting even before her words turned into the screams of ecstasy that he so loved. Her channel tightened around him, squeezing his cock harder and tighter, pulling him deeper into her and then shuddering around his shaft until he couldn’t hold back. Spike’s roar of release joined Buffy’s screams as his seed spilled deep into her core; he topped the summit of the highest mountain and soared off the cliff – joining her high above the earth.

They danced far above the planet; falling up and down, climbing and plummeting, circling and banking off the winds as they held on to each other and dared the world to intrude. They both flew through the air like eagles … graceful and powerful – raptors, fighters … primal and elegant; at once dominant over the earth and insignificant compared to the universe above them.





They clung to each other as they drifted in slow circles back down to the earth…back to their bodies and the world that seemed to want nothing more than to destroy them … to destroy their love and take their destiny away. As they re-entered their bodies, Buffy slid her legs off his shoulders and Spike morphed back to his human face and lowered himself down, covering her body with his, as she held him to her with quivering arms and legs.

Buffy’s chest heaved, her breathing ragged and irregular, as she tried to get oxygen back into her body, but didn’t want to let Spike go to make breathing easier. Her skin was flushed and a thin layer of perspiration covered her body as she clung to her lover, her husband, her best friend – her destiny.

The heat coming off her felt like fire to Spike … like the flames of love engulfing him, burning him in the best possible way – with desire and passion and an understanding that only someone who’s been down every road you’ve been could possess.

How she could forgive him for his past now that she’d seen it, he still didn’t know; how she could love him so completely, he’d never understand; how she could desire him – take him soaring above the clouds with her every time, he couldn’t fathom… but he was thankful to whoever it was that brought her to him. Without her, his life would still be empty … he would still be an empty shell of a man … waiting for someone to come along and fill him with love.

Spike pulled his head back and looked at Buffy’s face and she opened her eyes and smiled at him sweetly…her breathing finally returning to normal.

“Forgive yourself, Spike …” she whispered to him. “I give you permission to let the ghosts go…we don’t have to go down those roads anymore.

“You don’t have anything that you don’t deserve … including my love,” Buffy assured him, her voice low and soft as she looked deep into his blue eyes. “We have all eternity in front of us … new roads to travel, new heavens to discover – come with me, I’ll take you there.”

**~**
Hear the song associated with this story at the following YouTube Link:

"Take Me There”, Rascal Flatts



There's a place in your heart where nobody's been.
Take me there.
Things nobody knows, not even your friends.
Take me there.
Tell me about your momma, your daddy, your hometown, show me around.
I wanna see it all, don't leave anything out.

I wanna know, everything about you.
And I wanna go, down every road you've been.
Where your hopes and dreams and wishes live, where you keep the rest of your life hid.
I wanna know the girl behind that pretty stare.
Take me there.

Your first real kiss, your first true love, you were scared.
Show me where.
You learned about life, spent your summer nights, without a care.
Take me there.
I wanna roll down mainstreet and backroads like you did when you were a kid.
What makes you who you are, tell me what your story is.

I wanna know, everything about you.
And I wanna go, down every road you've been.
Where your hopes and dreams and wishes live, where you keep the rest of your life hid.
I wanna know the girl behind that pretty stare.
Take me there.

I wanna roll down mainstreet.
I wanna know your hopes and your dreams.
Take me, take me there.
Yeah.
I wanna know, everything about you.
And I wanna go, down every road you've been.
Where your hopes and dreams and wishes live, where you keep the rest of your life hid.
I wanna know the girl behind that pretty stare.
Take me there.

It was late in the night when Tara got back to the Army hospital and found everyone. They were all still there… some under the care of the staff, while many others, like most of the Slayers that had been gathered, simply waited for further instructions. Tara let everyone know to meet at the Hyperion, that Buffy and Spike would meet them there in the morning.

**~**

Wednesday, June 31st, 2004

Despite having not gotten much sleep over the last few days and nights, Rome!Spike woke at dawn the next morning in the room they’d taken at the Hyperion, per Tara’s instructions. Rome!Buffy was cuddled against his side, her head on his shoulder, her long, soft hair fanned out across his hard chest, one of her bare legs curled around his like a golden snake and one of her hands rested on his chest, just above his beating heart.

He thought she looked like an angel and still couldn’t believe that it was real. That she was his … that he was hers – not her dirty little secret, but her husband, her mate and now, not even her vampire, but her man. Rome!Spike laid his hand over hers on his chest and could feel his pulse and hers, their hearts beating in time to an unheard melody - a melody of love and passion and triumph. Triumph over not only the Black Thorn and the Senior Partners’ army of hell, but over their own reservations, fears and doubts … triumph over insecurity and inaction.

When Rome!Spike thought of those months he’d been in L.A. … alive, but frozen with fear of rejection, he knew how close he’d come to never realizing this dream. If not for Buffy coming from the other dimension and not only reassuring him but also kicking his ass into gear, he never would’ve taken the chance – he may have never told Rome!Buffy that he was still alive and never given her the chance to prove that her words in the Hellmouth were true. She did love him.

Rome!Spike slipped out of Rome!Buffy’s embrace and slid out of the bed. He pulled on his jeans and silently left their room. It had been so long since he’d felt the sun on his skin…he just had to feel it now – now that he’d Shanshued and was a ‘real boy’. That was the second thing he’d wanted to do as a human … the first he’d done most of the previous night, and that was to make love to his wife. Embrace her with warmth, feel his heart pounding in his chest and feel his lungs urgent for air as she called his name, clung to him and enveloped him in her love and passion.

Rome!Spike was happy to find that the PTB hadn’t turned him back into William when he Shanshued … in fact, he felt just as strong as he had as a vampire. It was like the PTB knew that Rome!Buffy needed more than just a mortal man … more than William, she needed ‘Spike’. They apparently left a little monster in the man … perhaps like Lindsey had described Connor to them – like a male Slayer. It appeared that even the claim had stayed in place; he’d been able to join Rome!Buffy in her dreams after they both fell into a content, but exhausted, sleep just a couple of hours ago.

Rome!Spike made his way up to the roof of the hotel as the sun cleared the tall buildings to the east. He watched and waited for the tingling on his spine to warn him of the danger … but it never came. He felt his heart beat faster and adrenaline rush through his veins as the sunlight crept slowly towards him – his urge was to run from it … go back inside, to find cover. He’d hidden from it for so long, it was hard to fight that urge. His mind knew that it wouldn’t hurt him now, but his instinct was shouting “Danger!” at him.

Rome!Spike held his breath and stood firm as the sunlight slid up his denim covered legs and finally touched the bare skin of his stomach and hands – kissing him with its warmth and bathing him in a golden glow. There was no fire, no burning, no smoke … just sunlight on skin.

I wonder if I’ll freckle … Rome!Spike thought with a sly smile as the rays slid slowly up his abs, caressing his chest and making his skin tingle with its warmth, before covering him completely with its once deadly energy.

Rome!Spike closed his eyes as the sun bathed him in light, turning his face slightly this way, then that, wanting to feel its power on every bit of his skin.

Rome!Buffy had awoken when he left their room and now walked up behind him, wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head against a bare shoulder-blade. “Look at you, all un-dusty in the sun,” she said quietly as she hugged closer to his back.

“Yeah,” Rome!Spike agreed, laying his hands over hers where they held him around the waist. “Look at me… You know what that means, don’t ya?”

“Hmmmm…I’m thinking Coppertone 45,” Rome!Buffy replied with a smile.

Rome!Spike smiled and turned in her arms to face her. He lifted her chin up and kissed her softly on the lips, then pulled back and looked into her eyes. “It means, you can have a normal life … we can be normal.

“Live in a house with a white picket fence and geraniums in the winda’ boxes and rug-rats in the yard. You don’ have to be The Slayer … the world’s full of bloody Slayers now.

“You can be Buffy, you can be Mrs. Weckerly … you can be whoever you bloody well want to be – president of the garden club, futball mum, head of the soddin’ PTA! You could teach ice skatin’ or gymnastics or you could stay home and watch Passions and be naughty with me all day … You can do anythin’. WE can do anythin’!

“Wishes are horses today, Buffy,” Rome!Spike told her, his eyes full of love as he watched the emotions his words stirred in her dance in her eyes and tug her lips into a small smile.

Rome!Buffy laid one hand on Rome!Spike’s cheek as her eyes wandered over his face before finally settling back on his deep, blue eyes. “If I stay home and be naughty with you any more than I already do, then it won’t be long before the yard is overrun with rug-rats,” she said with a smile.

“Not that it’s not tempting …” she added, giving his ass a light squeeze with one hand.

Changing to a serious tone, Rome!Buffy said, “You and I, we’ll never be normal, Spike … it’s just not who we are. We’re ‘Abby Normal’,” she told him with a smile.

“I used to want ‘normal’ more than anything in the world … but I realized a while ago that what I’ve got is special.

“We always want what we don’t have, don’t we? We have brown hair, we want blond, we have curly hair, we use a bottle of hair gel every week to keep it straight …” Rome!Buffy observed with a smirk and Spike rolled his eyes.

“But you know what?” she continued, her tone soft and serious. “Since the day you got off that plane in Rome, wishes have been horses for me … I don’t need normal – whatever normal is – I just need you.

“As long as you’re with me, I’m good, I’m happy … I’m riding a horse,” Buffy said, then her face twisted up, her eyes went wide, and she quickly said, “Not literally, of course … I meant, you know … ‘wishes and horses and beggars would ride’ … I’m not saying you’re a horse … of course … well – I’ve seen some horses less well endowed and with less stamina, but … I didn’t mean …

“God! Could you please stop me from talking now?” she begged, her face scrunched up in horror at how terribly wrong that conversation went.

Rome!Spike laughed and leaned down, taking her lips in a kiss and pulling her against him. His heart beat in his chest until he thought it might break it as he held her against him and tasted her, deepening the kiss as their tongues swirled and danced together. Her words echoed in his mind, Since the day you got off that plane in Rome, wishes have been horses for me … I don’t need normal – whatever normal is – I just need you.





Yes, wishes really were horses for them now …

**~**

About mid-morning, Buffy and Spike came down to the lobby of the Hyperion to find a large group gathered there.

From their home dimension there were twenty-five Slayers, including Faith, plus Willow and Tara and an injured, but ambulatory, Giles. Six Slayers from their home dimension had died in the battle as they fought alongside Angel at the other end of the alley from the group near the hotel.

From the ‘Twilight Zone’ (aka the Rome!Universe) dimension they were currently in, there was another Giles, who was currently on the phone in Angel’s office, trying to get in touch with Riley to get the bodies released from wherever the army had taken them, Andrew, and their counterparts, the newlyweds, Buffy and Spike, in addition to Lindsey and Darla. Wes was still in the hospital and Angel had stayed there with him. Illyria had taken Dru to the docks and put her in a hold of a ship headed for Antarctica, then joined Angel in Wes’ room at the hospital.

Rome!Willow and Charles Gunn had perished in the battle, along with two Slayers from this dimension. Rome!Giles had sent the remaining Slayers that he’d called in for the battle back to their regular posts that morning.

Buffy took a deep breath as she and Spike walked down the stairs from the second floor landing. What do we do now? she thought to herself as she surveyed the group gathered in the large lobby.

There were Slayers sitting and laying all over the floor – some had bandages on injuries … some were sleeping, others were playing cards, still others were sharpening weapons.

Empty fast-food wrappers, pizza boxes, and Chinese food containers littered nearly every free surface along with soda cans, water bottles, and some coffee cups. Andrew buzzed around the group, trying to clean up the worst of it and bringing more drinks and food in for everyone.

Willow and Tara were working on getting more rooms ready for the Slayers so they could all get showers and some decent sleep, since it was unclear how long they would be stuck here.

Faith, Giles, Rome!Buffy, and Rome!Spike were standing near the doorway of Angel’s office listening as Rome!Giles tried to get through to Riley and get the human bodies released … which included Rome!Willow as well as Charles Gunn and Slayers from both dimensions.

Darla and Lindsey were in the small kitchenette off to one side of the lobby mostly trying to keep to themselves and away from the Slayers, many of whom weren’t particularly happy about the situation or anyone that had anything to do with them being here in the first place.

Buffy and Spike walked up to where Rome!Buffy and Rome!Spike were standing near the door of Angel’s office and Buffy drew her counterpart into hug as tears stung her eyes.

“Tara told me what happened, I’m so sorry,” Buffy told her.

Rome!Buffy wiped tears from her eyes as Buffy released her and nodded her head. “Me too… she’s been my best friend for so long … what do I do without her?”

Buffy shook her head; she didn’t know what to tell her. Buffy had no idea how she’d deal with losing Willow … or Tara, for that matter. They were part of their family – the old picture that Annie had drawn of their family popped into Buffy’s mind … Willow and Tara, Spike and Buffy – they’d all come to depend on each other and love each other like family – how do you deal with losing someone like that?

“I don’t know …” Buffy told Rome!Buffy as she drew her back into another strong hug.

“Just don’t shut Spike out,” Buffy advised her quietly. “He can help …”

Rome!Buffy nodded against Buffy’s shoulder and pulled back, giving Buffy a sad smile. “Some honeymoon!” Rome!Buffy remarked, wiping tears from her eyes. “Where did you go for your honeymoon?” Rome!Buffy mocked. “Oh, we went to hell … wanna see the pictures?”

Buffy smiled at her. “Well, I went to the hospital and had a baby for our honeymoon…” she told her. “It’s sort of the same, only you get a present to bring home with you. Word of advice … if they offer you an epidural – take it!”

Rome!Buffy laughed through her tears. “I’ll remember that.”

All eyes turned to Rome!Giles as he slammed the phone down in the office. “Bloody pillocks!” he exclaimed before looking up and realizing he had an audience. “Ummm…what I mean is … they won’t connect me to Finn, they don’t know anything about anything that may or may not have happened in L.A. recently and they bloody well don’t have any civilian bodies in their morgue.”

“They said ‘bloody well’?” Rome!Buffy questioned.

“No…I added that,” Rome!Giles admitted, standing up from the desk and walking out to the group.

“I could go find Cap’n Cardboard in the flesh and have a little chat with ‘im,” Rome!Spike offered with a smirk.

“I could help …” Spike interjected brightly.

“NO!” came from both Buffys.

“I’ll do it,” Rome!Buffy told them. “Do we have any idea where to start looking for him?” she asked looking at Rome!Giles.

Rome!Giles shrugged. “Perhaps Willow can …. Oh, dear Lord … I mean …oh my,” Rome!Giles said, removing his glasses and blinking back tears of his own as the realization hit him again that Rome!Willow was gone.

“Maybe Andrew could…” Buffy suggested softly.

“Indeed … yes... Andrew. I’ll go talk to him, see if he can locate anything about where Finn may be … and what they’ve done with…” Rome!Giles let his voice trail off as he walked away to find Andrew – everyone understood his meaning.

**~**





“Ok, everyone, gather ‘round,” Andrew announced as he sat at the computer a little while later. Rome!Buffy, Rome!Giles and both Spikes gathered around him to see what he had. Buffy, Faith, and Giles were checking on the Slayers that Giles had brought with him from their dimension, making sure all the bandages were clean and secure and everyone had ample food and drink.

“I had to hack into the army’s mainframe … that, of course, was like … duh! …” Andrew started, rolling his eyes. “A twelve character password … and all lowercase alpha-numeric! Don’t they even read their own intelligence reports!?” Andrew asked rhetorically before continuing. “But, there wasn’t any info on there about a battle in ‘L.A.’ … then, I figured out they aren’t calling L.A. ‘L.A.’, they’re calling it ‘Finn’s Foray’ … so, then, I cross referenced that with casualties and, well, that wasn’t very easy … because they don’t call casualties ‘casualties’ ….”

“ANDREW!” Rome!Spike exclaimed, covering his ears with his hands to stop the sound of Andrew’s voice from entering his brain. “Get to the bloody point! Did ya’ find the wanker or not!?”

“Silly, handsome superhero,” Andrew started, rolling his eyes. “Of course I found the wank … uhhh … Finn … and I found where the morgue is.”

“You better get to the point, Andrew. You know Spike has the attention span of a gnat," Rome!Buffy teased, cutting her eyes at Rome!Spike with a sly smile.

"And the chiseled body of a Greek god," Andrew added under his breath, turning his eyes back to the computer screen innocently.

“I can still hear you!” Rome!Spike pointed out, rolling his eyes and taking his hands off his ears.

"Is he always like that?" Spike asked Rome!Buffy, referring to Andrew.

"No, not always ... sometimes he's asleep," Rome!Buffy admitted, rolling her eyes.

“Get on with it then! Where’s the enormous hall monitor hidin’?” Rome!Spike demanded of his 'biggest fan'.

It turned out that the army had set up a base in the warehouse district by the docks, taking over several of the empty warehouses there to use as research facilities/morgues for the demons and humans. Since it was Riley’s dream that had given them the heads-up about the battle, he had been put in charge of the operation. Andrew printed out a map and directions from MapQuest and handed them to Rome!Buffy.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come?” Andrew asked with a slight whine in his voice. “I could help, you know, with Finn …”

“You don’t even know Riley,” Rome!Buffy pointed out.

“Well, I know what Spike told me about him! He sounds like a total jerkwad and I have experience with jerks – just look at all the time I spent with Warren!” Andrew defended.





Rome!Buffy rolled her eyes. “Andrew, stay here and make sure everyone’s comfortable … If Angel shows up, make sure Buffy and Spike know about it and don’t let him leave until they talk to him. I’m sure your ‘jerk experience’ will come in handy …”

Andrew brightened considerably; he loved being able to throw Buffy’s weight around – and doing it with Angel would be a bonus. “Excellent … excellent plan! I’ll keep a vigilant watch for the dark vampyre! Nothing will get past me … he’ll never make it in here without me sounding the alert …”

“And, if he gives you any lip, stake him,” Rome!Buffy called over her shoulder as she and Rome!Spike followed Rome!Giles out of the hotel to the garage – directions to the army’s temporary HQ in hand.

“Where are you going?” Rome!Buffy asked Rome!Spike when she realized he was tagging along behind her.





“With you,” Rome!Spike told her, as he sauntered past her and continued following Rome!Giles.

“No … I said I’d handle it,” Rome!Buffy pointed out as she trotted behind him and grabbed his arm.

“And I say, I’m goin’ with ya,” Rome!Spike insisted. “You don’ know what you’ll find … you don’t know what you’ll have to do to even get the wanker to talk to ya. You think Rupes is gonna be able to help if ya have to fight your way in?”

Rome!Buffy sighed. “Spike, you aren’t a vampire anymore … they have guns … guns can kill you now. We need to handle this with a certain amount of … tact.”

“I got tact … I got tact out the ass! I invited the wanker to our weddin’, didn’ I?! How much more civil could I be?” Rome!Spike argued. “And guns can kill you too, Slayer …” Rome!Spike pointed out. “I’m going with ya.”

Rome!Buffy sighed and started walking again towards where Rome!Giles waited by a rental car. “Fine … let’s go then, Mr. Tact,” Buffy acquiesced.

“Not letting the Watcher drive, though … he can’t remember what side of the bloody road to drive on half the time!” Rome!Spike told her as he approached the driver’s door and held his hand out to Rome!Giles for the keys.

**

About three hours later, Angel came in through the sewer entrance and headed for the stairs. Being ever vigilant, Andrew stopped him before he got halfway across the lobby floor.

“Spike and Buffy need to talk to you,” Andrew informed Angel.





“Yeah … well, it can wait,” Angel replied tiredly as he pushed past Andrew and continued across the lobby.

“I have permission from Buffy to stake you!” Andrew called after Angel as he ascended the stairs.

“Get in line,” Angel retorted without turning around as he continued walking up the stairs.

Andrew looked around the lobby and finally found Spike talking on the phone in Angel’s office. He walked up to the door and listened …

“Yeah, that’s right, twenty bloomin’ onions, ten orders of spicy wings … make that three mild, three medium, two ‘3 mile island’, and two ‘911’ … yeah … and, what do you have for dessert? ….. Ok, good – send five key lime pies, five caramel fudge cheesecakes and five … no, six chocolate mousse cakes …. No, not slices – whole!

“…. Yeah, yeah … how much? Yeah, that’s fine – we have an account with you … Yeah, Angel Investigations? … Brilliant … Oh – and be sure to add on a 30% tip for the delivery guy … yeah … You’re very welcome! Be sure to tell your friends, ‘we help the hapless.’ ”

Spike smirked as he hung up the phone and gathered up all the menus from on top of Angel’s desk and shoved them back in one of the drawers.

Andrew cleared his throat and Spike looked up. “I think it goes ‘we help the hopeless’,” Andrew pointed out, picking up one of the business cards off the desk and handing it to Spike. Spike rolled his eyes and ignored him.

“Got more food comin’ … good food, none o’ that fast-food crap – courtesy of Angel Investigations,” Spike informed him. “Should be here within the hour they said. May need to run out and get some beer, though … look what I found! Angel’s American Express Card … he shouldn’ve left home without it…” Spike quipped, waving the credit card in the air.

“You went through his desk,” Andrew accused.

“’Course!” Spike exclaimed, standing up and pocketing the credit card. “Wanker kidnaps the lot of us for his bloody apocalypse … least he can do is foot the bill for some soddin’ decent takeaway.”

“Well, he’s back … he went upstairs. Buffy … my Buffy, said to tell you when he got here. I tried to stop him, but he kept going. Buffy gave me permission to stake him if he gave me any lip!”

“C’mon Andrew … I’ll help ya with that,” Spike offered with a smirk, picking up some chopsticks from one of the Chinese food containers someone had left on the desk.

“What are ya gonna do … poke his eye out?!” Andrew asked Spike as he went to the computer desk, reached into a duffel bag on the floor under it and pulled out a ten inch stake. “Now, that's a stake!” Andrew drawled in a poor imitation of Crocodile Dundee, waving it at Spike.

“Give me that ‘fore you hurt someone who matters…namely me!” Spike reprimanded as he grabbed it from Andrew.

“I have more…” Andrew offered, leaning back down towards the duffel bag.

“Only need one …” Spike told him, grabbing Andrew’s arm and pulling him away from the weapons and shoving him in front of him towards the stairs.

Spike followed Angel’s scent to his room … it wasn’t hard since it was the room that Spike and Buffy had commandeered the previous evening … Spike had chosen it especially for that reason.

Andrew started to knock, but Spike just opened the door and let Andrew enter in front of him. Angel was standing in the middle of the room looking at the disheveled bed with a fairly disgusted look on his face – he looked up at Andrew when he stepped through the doorway.

“Angel,” Andrew began, his voice confident as he carried out Buffy’s order. “Spike and Buffy need to talk to you immediately.”

“I don’t think …” Angel started.

“Well, you better start thinking harder, oh, dark creature of the night! I have permission to stake you from Buffy herself!” Andrew warned him.

Angel narrowed his eyes at him and moved towards him. “You and who’s army?”

“That would be the army of Spike!” Andrew announced, stepping to the side of the doorway to allow Spike to come in behind him.

“I was hopin’ you’d be a pillock! Been waitin’ a long time for this…” Spike said with a smirk as he started towards Angel with the stake Andrew had given him.

“If you had let me finish,” Angel started. “What I was going to say is I don’t think you’d have any problem finding me – since you slept in my bed last night!”

Spike stopped moving forward and smirked at his grandsire. “And it was juuust right, papa bear.”

“Why don’t you grow up, Spike!?” Angel retorted, his hands curling into fists.

“It’s more fun not to … you know what fun is, don’t cha? Oh, no – I forgot … Angel can’t ‘ave any fun … he’s the bloody Martyr of the Aurelians!





“Why don’ you get over yourself, Peaches?! Nobody gives a rat’s ass ‘bout shit that happened two hundred bloody years ago! Nobody but you!” Spike informed him, using the stake in his hand to point at Angel for emphasis.

“Poor Angel … got such a tortured soul … all those people he killed haunt ‘im! Well, guess what! You aren’t the only one with ghosts!! You’re just the only one who can’t come to grips with the fact that what’s done is done – you do the best you can today but nothin’ you do now is gonna bring a single one of those people back!

“What makes you think you’re the ‘Lord of the Damned’ is beyond me! You got no right doing what you done! Pullin’ us all into your little game!” Spike told him angrily.

“Is that what this is to you, a game!?” Angel fumed. “It’s not a game! It’s about doing what’s right! It’s about the greater good!”

“Good, schmuud!” Spike quipped. “Why don’t you tell the truth for once in your worthless life, Liam! You had a bloody soul for a century and never felt the need to do anything for the soddin’ ‘greater good’ … not ‘til you saw Buffy! That’s when everythin’ changed, innit?”

“That’s not true … I did things! Lots of things before that!” Angel defended.

“Name one,” Spike challenged, folding his arms across his chest and cocking a brow to await Angel’s reply. “And goin’ to Barry Manilow concerts … while undoubtedly torturous, don’t count.”

“I…well, I … rescued that sub during the war for the Allies!” Angel finally managed, pointing a finger at Spike’s chest.

“Oh pleeease!” Spike rolled his eyes. “You did that to save your own sorry ass … you forget – I was there! There wasn’ any bloody greater good in that! That was the 1940’s version of gettin’ a chip shoved in your brain by the Demon Research Initiative – you did what you had to do to survive – end of story.

“Face it, Angel,” Spike continued. “Everything you do, no matter how you try to coat it in ‘greater good’, is for one purpose: to get in a girl’s pants.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Angel retorted. “You are, as usual, delusional!”

“No, Spike’s right,” Andrew said, stepping forward and up next to Spike. “I’ve transcribed all the written history on Liam and Angelus … and, I have to say … ewwwww! … but there’s no mention of you doing anything for the PTB until you saw Buffy.”

“See, even the little ponce knows! You’re pussy-whipped by a pussy you’ll never get any closer to than sleepin’ in those sheets,” Spike told him, motioning his head towards the bed he and Buffy had shared the night before.

“She don’ want you – in any dimension. She don’ love you no more – nothing you do is gonna change that. Dustin’ me ain’t gonna change that. Bringing the fucking demon army down on us ain’t gonna change it, and sending Dru to kidnap me and erase my memories ain’t either!”

“What are you talking about now, Spike!?” Angel asked with a furrowed brow and narrow eyes.

“Oh, don’t deny it!! How else would she know that Darla was here? Darla’s human now … Dru wouldn’t be able to sense ‘er any more than I could – someone woulda had to’ve told her!” Spike pointed out. “Someone like you.”

“You know, Spike, you really shouldn’t have eaten all those hippies in the 60’s … all those drugs affected your brain,” Angel contended.

“She got the wrong one, by the way. Barmy as she is … she didn’t care,” Spike continued, ignoring Angel.

“We have a family – we have a life beyond your fucking world. Other Spike’s shanshued…that’ll mean they can have a family one day, too,” Spike pointed out. “And I, for one, am bloody sick and tired of you fucking with all of us …”

The words were barely out of Spike’s mouth before Spike drew back the stake and thrust it at Angel’s chest with all his strength. Angel blocked the stake with his forearm, but before either vampire could do anything further, they’d both been pushed backwards away from each other, the stake pulled out of Spike’s hand as he stumbled and tried to keep from falling.

Buffy had come looking for Spike to tell him Rome!Buffy and Rome!Spike were back and she had been listening in the hallway. She could feel Spike through the bond and knew what he was about to do before he did it. She stood now, stake in hand, facing Angel, who had caught himself on the dresser at his back.

“What the fuck, Slayer!?” Spike exclaimed as he fell against Andrew, nearly knocking them both to the floor. Andrew grabbed onto Spike’s belt at his back to keep from falling as Spike caught his balance and righted himself. As Andrew pulled himself back up using the waistband of Spike’s jeans, he couldn’t help but let his other hand slide up Spike’s hard back, before pulling his hands away and standing up on his own; trying to feign a completely innocent look.

But Spike didn’t even notice, so focused was he on Buffy and the fact that she’d stopped him from dusting Angel – again.

“I said it before, if anyone’s gonna dust Angel, it’ll be me,” Buffy replied to Spike without taking her eyes off Angel, who had now stood back up fully and was facing her. “Plus, what if we need him to get home?” she questioned.

“Pffftttt!” Spike snorted. “If we needed ‘im to get home, wouldn’t matter if he was dust or not … he’d be just as much bloody help.”

Buffy ignored Spike, keeping her attention on Angel. “Is all that true?” she asked Angel – stake poised at the ready in her hand.





“Yeah, it’s true that Spike’s delusional!” Angel exclaimed, waving his hand at Spike. “What would I have to gain now? Nothing!” Angel insisted.

“Maybe in the beginning, yeah – what I did I did to help a girl … get to know a girl,” Angel started.

“Get in a girl’s pants,” Spike interjected from behind Buffy.

Angel glared at Spike a moment and then looked back at Buffy. “But not now – not for a long time. You’ve all made it very clear that he’s your destiny,” Angel said, raising his hands and making air-quote signs with his fingers on the word destiny. “I have my own destiny.”

“Yeah … to cause us as much pain n’ sufferin’ as you can,” Spike threw in.

Buffy narrowed her eyes at Angel. She could feel the rage boiling off Spike from behind her without even using the bond – Spike was nothing if not insightful into the human … or vampire, psyche, and she knew that he believed everything he’d said about Angel.

Buffy’s eyes scanned the room, Angel’s room, quickly and came to a stop on a familiar trunk in one corner. It was the same trunk that Spike had shown her that first night – the trunk that held Angel’s secrets.

“Andrew, go get that trunk and bring it over here,” Buffy instructed, tilting her head to where the trunk sat.

“That’s mine – it’s private!” Angel objected.

“Yeah, I know,” Buffy assured him with a fake smile.

Andrew bent over and pulled on the handle of the trunk with one hand, but it didn’t budge. Then he put both hands on it, bent his knees and leaned back to use his legs and whole body weight to move it … it moved a few inches before he fell on his ass.

“Bloody hell,” Spike muttered as he strode purposely past Buffy and Angel. He lifted Andrew back up to his feet by the nape of the neck like a puppy, before putting his booted foot on the back of the trunk and pushing it across the floor to Buffy.

Andrew rubbed his ass. “It’s not my fault,” he whined. “Angel’s privates are really heavy!”

Buffy rolled her eyes and ignored Andrew. “You want to open it?” she asked Angel. “Or shall I?”

“What’s in there has nothing to do with anything! It’s mine – it’s private,” he insisted again.

“Sod private!” Spike exclaimed, walking up to them. He yanked on the lock and broke the hasp off the trunk, before turning it towards Buffy and opening the lid. The contents of the trunk looked very much like it had in their dimension all those years ago when Spike had showed it to her, only now it was nearly filled to the top.

She could see the old blood-stained clothes – her clothes, or her counterpart’s, actually, and the lilac pages folded atop them that he’d taken from her diary. The pages were now worn with age and from being folded and unfolded many times – he’d obviously read them over and over again through the years.

Buffy knelt down and picked up the diary pages and stuffed them into her back pocket; she’d give them back to Rome!Buffy later. Buffy handed the stake back to Spike as she picked up a handful of photographs from one side of the trunk. The pictures showed her and Spike in places that she’d never been … in Rome. They were all obviously taken with a telephoto lens from some distance, some through windows where blinds and curtains hadn’t been fully drawn.

“I can explain …” Angel started.





“I’ll bet you can,” Buffy mumbled as she looked through the photos, some showing the pair in compromising positions. “Let me guess … you were gonna sell them on eBay to finance the apocalypse,” Buffy quipped as she stood back up and met Angel’s eyes with hers.

“I was making sure she was ok … that Spike didn’t hurt her – that she was safe,” Angel defended.

Buffy nodded her head slowly as she continued flipping through the stack of photographs. “Yeah, it looks like he’s hurting her … she’s in real danger of getting a splinter in her ass on this one,” Buffy observed, holding up a picture of Rome!Buffy and Rome!Spike having sex on a wood floor inside what Buffy assumed was their apartment.

“And they could’ve gotten arrested for this one,” Buffy remarked, holding up a picture taken at night of the pair in the throes of passion in a cemetery. “Good thing you were looking out for them so you could bail them out of jail …”

“Oh! Wait! You weren’t looking out for THEM … you were stalking HER!” Buffy exclaimed, slapping her forehead as if just hit by an epiphany.

“You’ve watched every breath she’s taken, every move she’s made, since before she was even Chosen, one way or another!” Buffy accused.

“You know, I really hate two-faced, lying sons-a-bitches,” Buffy told Angel, her voice deadly serious. “I can never decide which face to pummel first.”

Buffy dropped the pictures back in the trunk before pulling an arm back and punching Angel in the jaw with a right hook. Before he could recover from the blow, she did the same with her left and Angel stumbled back against the dresser again.

“You better hope that we need you to get home,” Buffy told Angel in a low voice before turning on her heel and heading out of the room. “Bring that trunk,” she instructed Spike as she hit the hallway, “and don’t dust him … yet.”

Spike smirked as he walked past Angel with the broody vampire's 'trunk of privates' balanced on his shoulder ... "Yet," he muttered as he passed his grandsire and followed Buffy out of the room with Andrew following closely on his heels.

**

Hear the song associated with this story at the following YouTube Link:

"Every Breath You Take”, The Police



Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I'll be watching you

Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I'll be watching you

O can't you see
You belong to me
How my poor heart aches with every step you take

Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I'll be watching you

Since you've gone I been lost without a trace
I dream at night I can only see your face
I look around but it's you I can't replace
I feel so cold and I long for your embrace
I keep crying baby, baby please

Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I'll be watching you

Wednesday, June 31st, 2004

Downstairs, the main group was gathered in Angel’s office waiting for Spike, Buffy and Andrew. Spike dropped the trunk behind the receptionist’s counter before following Buffy and Andrew into the crowded office and closing the door.

“Sorry for the hold up …” Buffy started, looking at Rome!Buffy. “What’s the news?”

“Well, lucky for us, Spike didn’t have to use any of his tact for us to see Riley,” Rome!Buffy started. “Riley had our people …umm … cleaned up ... he's got corner's reports and whatever – they're ready to be transferred to funeral homes. We just need to tell him what to do. I got his direct line, so we don’t have to play ‘I-Spy’ with the phone operator anymore.”

“What are you going to do … about Willow?” Buffy asked Rome!Buffy softly.

Rome!Buffy sighed and Rome!Spike laid a hand on her back for support. “Well, I’d love to bury her in Sunnydale next to Tara …but … no Sunnydale. Her parents moved to Norway to work at the university there … I have to try and contact them, I guess…” Rome!Buffy told the group as she blinked back tears.

“Maybe we could have a memorial service in Sunnydale,” Tara suggested quietly. “Where her body is isn’t as important as where her spirit is … her spirit’s with Tara …”

Rome!Buffy wiped tears away and nodded her agreement. “Yeah … we can do that. That would be nice,” she said as she tried to keep her voice even.

“So….any idea how we’re getting all our asses back to our own dimension?” Faith spoke up, changing the subject. “We have the vials of Annie’s blood that we brought with us hidden between here and the W&H building, but that building wasn’t looking too 'five by five' the last we saw it.”

It hadn't occurred to Buffy that, of course, Giles and Faith would've brought vials of blood with them, as well - and there was no one left in the W&H building when they arrived to take it away from them. It was a relief to not have to rely on Angel to give them the blood back...or to have to get Dawn flown over from Rome.

“Do you think it’s safe to go back there?” Buffy asked looking at Giles.

Giles sighed and shrugged. “That’s difficult to say, Buffy … even if the building is still standing, are the Senior Partners … or any of their proxies, monitoring it? Who would know the most about them? Angel?”

“No … Lindsey,” Buffy told him. “I’ll go get him.”

**~**

Lindsey scratched his head and ran his hand through his hair as he stood in front of the group gathered in Angel’s office. “The spot where that building stands has ancient power – it wasn’t chosen at random, and they won’t simply abandon it because they lost this battle. The war is far from over … millennia from being over,” Lindsey started to explain to the group.

“They may be regrouping … licking their wounds, assessing the damage and not paying attention to it right now. On the other hand, they may have a hundred demons waiting inside guarding it. The only way to know for sure, is to send someone in to check,” Lindsey told them.

“I vote we send Angel,” Spike spoke up immediately, raising his hand. “All in favor?”

Rome!Spike raised his hand quickly, as did Faith, Willow, and Tara and both Giles’. Both Buffys just rolled their eyes.

“Motion passed. Angel it is, then!” Spike announced. “Won’t he be tickled? Number one draft in the first round!”

“OH!” Andrew exclaimed. “Do it again! I forgot to raise my hand!”

“Too late,” Spike told him. “Shall I go get ‘im and tell him the good news?” he asked, looking hopefully at Buffy.

“Hang on a minute …” Buffy started. “If we send him in and he doesn’t come out … how will we know what happened to him? He could go in and just sneak out the back door and we’d never know …”

“Why would he do that?” Lindsey asked, looking confused.

Buffy rolled her eyes. “Long story – just trust me, he might.”

“OH! OH! OH!” Andrew exclaimed, holding his hand up like Horshack on ‘Welcome Back, Kotter’.

“What, Andrew!?” Rome!Spike asked him, his hands going to his hips.

“I’m the answer to your prayers!” Andrew exclaimed.

“I seriously doubt that,” Rome!Spike told him with a smirk.





“No! Angel!” Andrew explained. “I can hook up a small camera on his shirt … he won’t even know it’s there! It’s called a button-cam and we can see whatever he’s seeing!”

“Brilliant!” Spike exclaimed. “Why don’ we have an Andrew?” he asked, looking at Buffy.

“You know why … ‘cause I was home with you instead of saving his sorry ass on Prom Night,” Buffy reminded him.

“Hey! I was just about to suggest the same thing!” Willow interjected. “I can do button-cam’s, too, ya know!”

“Sorry, Red …” Spike told her, looking away so she couldn’t see him roll his eyes.

“Ok, so, that’s a plan, then,” Buffy summarized. “Andrew, you do the button thing; Faith, why don’t you take some of your Slayer’s and go retrieve the blood to open the portal in case we can get in the building; Willow and Tara, we probably need to start thinking about getting more food for the girls … ummm, I don’t have any money left though …”

“I do,” Spike volunteered, pulling Angel’s American Express card out of his pocket and handing it to Willow. “No credit limit … lobster tails, Dom Perignon, and filet mignon all ‘round!”

“Are you serious?” Willow looked wide-eyed between Buffy and Spike.

“As a heart attack … oh, and get some more bloomin’ onions, too,” Spike told her.

“And some “911” spicy wings from Hooter’s,” Rome!Spike added.

"And some chocolate," both Buffys put in at once.

“Cool!” Willow exclaimed and she and Tara headed out to make the arrangements for dinner, Angel’s credit card in hand.

Buffy looked at Rome!Buffy and spoke softly. “When do you want to have that service like Tara suggested?”

Rome!Buffy sighed and shrugged. “Tonight, I guess … we can all drive down to what was Sunnydale, then come back and send Angel into the lion’s den …”

“Ok,” Buffy agreed. “Listen, we need to talk to you two about Angel a minute … alone,” Buffy said, looking around and silently asking everyone else to leave.

When the remainder of the occupants of the office filed out, Spike went out and brought Angel’s trunk in and dropped it down heavily on Angel’s desk. Buffy pulled the pages of the diary out of her pocket and handed them to Rome!Buffy before opening the trunk and explaining the significance of it all.

“So, Angel’s a … stalker?” Rome!Buffy asked, still not quite able to believe it, when Buffy had finished talking.

"Bloody wanker!" Rome!Spike exclaimed, leafing through the pictures and stuffing the 'best' ones in the pocket of his duster.

“Yeah … pretty much,” Buffy agreed with Rome!Buffy.

“What did you do about it in your dimension?” Rome!Buffy asked Buffy.

Buffy sighed. “Not enough … he just kept coming back and coming back … no matter what I told him or what he said, he’d never stop fucking with us. I finally dropped him to the bottom of the ocean … Faith wanted to dust him…I probably should have.”

“Thanks,” Rome!Buffy told Buffy as she closed the lid on the trunk, still in a daze as she tried to absorb the fact that Angel had been stalking her since before she was even called and had continued do so even up until the last days before she and Rome!Spike had left Rome to come to L.A. for the wedding and claim ceremony.

Buffy knew the feeling well. It had taken her a long time to come to grips with the fact that Angel really was nothing more than Angelus with a thin muzzle on him in the form of his soul – one that he could break out of if he tried hard enough. After all, he had Liam’s soul, and as Spike had told Buffy many times, Liam wasn’t the most upstanding citizen to start with.

"What are you gonna do?" Buffy asked her counterpart.

"I don't know..." Rome!Buffy responded, her mind still whirling, trying to process it all.

"Dust the wanker," Rome!Spike suggested. "I volunteer ..." he said as he started for the door.

Rome!Buffy laid a hand on his arm and stopped him. "Let's see what happens with the Wolfram & Hart mission ... maybe the decision will be made for us."

**~**

Spike, Buffy, Rome!Spike, Rome!Buffy, Willow, Tara, Andrew and both Giles’ made the trip to what used to be Sunnydale later that evening. They arrived a little after sunset and pulled their cars up to the crater that had once been their town. The headlights of their cars shown off across the nothingness where their world had once stood and the light was quickly swallowed up by the emptiness that remained.

The only ones that had actually seen the crater that had formed when Rome!Spike and the others had defeated The First and closed the Hellmouth were Rome!Buffy, Andrew, and Rome!Giles. Even Spike and Buffy, who had the memories of their counterparts from Sunnydale in the deep recesses of their minds, hadn’t seen the destruction since the Spike and Buffy whose memories they had been given, had both burned up in the Hellmouth.

They all stood in silence at the edge of the crater, trying to really comprehend that this was Sunnydale. In this dimension, this was all that was left of it. Their houses were gone, the high school was gone, the college was gone … all the cemeteries where they’d spent so many nights patrolling, fighting, talking, crying, laughing, and growing up were gone.

Buffy was doubly glad that Spike had pulled that amulet off her neck in the Hellmouth in their dimension when she scanned the barren wasteland that remained. Even if, as in this dimension, she had been re-animated in L.A. with Angel and had left there to find Spike, Sunnydale would’ve still been gone – and there were so many memories here that would’ve been nothing more than clouded shadows buried under the rubble.

Even though Buffy had lived in L.A. for many more years than she had in Sunnydale, it was in Sunnydale that she’d really grown up. It was here that she fell in love, gotten her heart broken, learned that life’s not fair. It was here that she met Giles, Willow and Xander, Anya, Tara… and Spike. It was here that her mother died and was buried … it was here that she had been buried when she died, here that her babies had been born, and it was here that she’d learned what her true destiny was. To be part of a kooky family of witches and demons who sometimes saved the world … sometimes argued over wet towels on the floor, sometimes didn’t follow all the house rules … but loved each other all the time and had each other’s backs without question or hesitation.

Rome!Buffy pulled everyone from their thoughts by lighting a candle and setting it down on the rim of the crater. She went down on her knees in front of the candle and hung her head as tears fell unhindered from her eyes.

“Willow … I miss you already. I don’t know how you think I’m going to do this without you around. You’ve always been there – right from the very first day,” Rome!Buffy started, speaking softly, almost to herself.

“Always there in my crazy life, helping me to make sense of my calling, of my life, of love and heartbreak … of algebra. I wish we could bury you with Tara, I know you would’ve liked that - I know she would’ve liked that, too …

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough or fast enough to save you; I’m sorry that you got dragged into my fight yet again. It’s never been fair – all my friends just want to help me and they all get hurt or killed for it … Tara, Anya … even Xander, he’s not the man he was before … and now you.

“With friends like me, who needs enemies?” Rome!Buffy quipped through her tears as she stared blindly at the flame that danced atop the white pillar candle in front of her.





“I love you, Willow… I’m so, so very sorry,” Rome!Buffy cried as she covered her face with her hands and sobs overtook her. Rome!Spike knelt down beside her and pulled her to him and Rome!Buffy wrapped her arms around his neck and cried against his shoulder.





Rome!Giles lit his candle and set it on the rim next to Rome!Buffy’s. “Willow Danielle Rosenberg was a girl when I met her. Eager to learn … hungry for knowledge – a true and loyal friend who gave up a life of limitless possibilities and chose to remain on the Hellmouth – to fight evil in all its forms. She grew into a beautiful woman and learned many hard lessons in her too short life – her wit and fire will be sorely missed. She had so much left to give this world … the world will be a more barren place for the loss.”

Rome!Giles backed up away from the candle and the rim of the crater, removing his glasses and wiping the tears from his eyes as he moved to the side and allowed Tara to take his place at the makeshift altar.

Tara lit her candle and set it down with the others on the rim. She extended her hand behind her towards Willow and Willow took Tara’s hand and stepped forward, lighting her candle from Tara’s and setting it down next to it.

“I love you, Willow,” Tara began, looking at her girlfriend. “I know we say those words a lot, but it’s true. Those three little words mean so much…much more than you’d think three words could mean.

“They mean you’re my best friend. They mean you’re my lover, my confidant, my teacher, my student, my soulmate … my dreams come true. You make me laugh and cry, make me scream and sigh and make me thankful for every day we’re together.”

Tara turned towards Rome!Buffy before continuing. “Willow loved all her friends … she loved you Buffy … and Spike, Giles and Xander – with all her heart. And she loved Tara. Know that she’s with her love now … she’s with Tara and she’s watching over all her friends, just like always.

“When you feel a breeze on your face, but the wind isn’t blowing … that will be Willow. When you feel a gentle hand steering you when you’re unsure of what path to take, that will be Willow, and when you laugh for no reason at all … that will be Willow. Keep her spirit in your heart and she’ll be with you always.”

Willow drew Tara into a hug. “I love you, too,” Willow whispered to Tara as she hugged her tightly. “Grow old with me. Marry me.”

Tara pulled back and gave Willow a small smile. With tear-streaked cheeks, she nodded. “Yes ... yes,” Tara whispered back and pulled Willow back into her arms. “I love you.”





Buffy and Spike stepped forward and lit their candles from Willow and Tara’s and set them on the rim of the crater and Giles did the same, then they stepped back. Willow and Tara released the hug and moved back as well as Andrew stepped forward and lit his candle from one of the ones rimming the crater and set it down with the others.

Andrew stood back up, looked out over the dark crater and took a deep, shuddering breath before beginning. “We are assembled here today, to pay final respects to our honored dead. And yet, it should be noted, in the midst of our sorrow, this death takes place in the shadow of new life. She did not feel this sacrifice a vain or empty one, and we will not debate her profound wisdom at these proceedings…”

“Andrew, what the bloody hell are you on about?” Spike asked, walking up next to him. “We ain’t sending Spock out the soddin’ torpedo chute!”

Andrew pouted and looked at Spike. “But what she did was the same,” he whined. “She gave her life so others could live … ‘The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few … or the one,’” Andrew reminded him, raising his chin and looking away from Spike and back over the empty crater.





“Of my friend, I can only say this: of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, hers was the most... human,” Andrew concluded before reaching in his pocket and pulling out a pair of plastic, pointy, costume Vulcan ears and laying them down next to the burning candles. “Live long and prosper…” he whispered as he stood up and backed away from the crater.

Everyone stood in silence for a long while, lost in their own thoughts. Only sobs and occasional sniffles broke the silence as the flames of the candles danced in the breeze.

Finally, Rome!Buffy pulled away from Rome!Spike and nodded for him to go. They both stood up and Rome!Spike moved forward, lit his candle and set it down with the others.

Rome!Spike stood for a long time looking out over the crater that was once his home, his prison … his downfall and his redemption. Finally, Rome!Spike smiled sadly as tears glistened in his eyes and said simply, “I'd bite you in a heartbeat, Red.”

Rome!Buffy moved up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist and he hugged her to his side and dropped a kiss on the top of her head.

Suddenly, a strong wind came up from nowhere and blew all the candles out … but the light remained. A ghostly Willow stood before them, bathed in brilliant glow and hovering over the deep crater. She smiled at them and was joined by a ghostly Tara before they both turned and floated gently away, down into the deepest depths of the crater that had been Sunnydale, until the light was gone completely. Then, just as suddenly as they had gone out, all the candles reignited, casting a soft glow over the people that had become Willow’s family – the people that she called true friends.

“Goodbye, Wills,” Rome!Buffy whispered. “I love you.”

**~**

Thursday, July 1st, 2004, (Early morning hours)

Later that night, the entire Hyperion hotel had cleared out – all the Slayers, the Champions, the warriors, the witches … and Andrew … stood on the sidewalk a block away from the W&H building behind another skyscraper – out of the direct line of sight from anyone or anything that may be in ‘Evil, Inc.’s’ crumbling headquarters.

Spike and Buffy were at the front of the group and they ventured a look around the corner of the building they were behind. The W&H building looked like it was about to fall down … most of the windows were broken out, they could see girders buckled and broken and fallen concrete and glass covered the street. The city had closed the roads near the building and plastered big, red “Condemned – NO ENTRY” signs on it.

Buffy and Spike ducked back behind the building where everyone else was waiting. “Well, the building is still there, such as it is,” Buffy started. “Now, we just need to find out if there’s anything waiting for us inside.”

“Angel, are you ready?” Buffy asked, looking at the broody vampire.

“I still say Lindsey should go – the Senior Partners can’t see him!” Angel argued.

“Ahhhh, but you were voted in … all fair and square like,” Spike reminded him. “This is America, after all. Home of the free and land of revolving credit.”

Angel rolled his eyes and started to walk past Spike and Buffy towards the building, resigned to his fate. “Wait!” Buffy said, stopping him. “Put this on …” she instructed him, handing him a jacket.

“Why?” Angel asked, looking at the brightly colored jacket with distaste.

“It’s the latest style …” Spike opined.

“Spike!” Buffy admonished her husband, before turning back to Angel. “It will help keep you hidden from the Senior Partners. Willow and Tara put some mojo on it …”





Angel raised his brows and looked at Willow and Willow nodded in agreement. He sighed and took the jacket and put it on before turning and heading down the street towards the W&H building.

“Is that the best jacket you could find to put the button-cam on, Andrew!?” Buffy asked him in hushed tones. “He almost balked at that!”

“Well, yeah … on short notice and in ‘size Angel’ … It is the latest style,” Andrew defended. “The lady at the Goodwill store told me so!”

Buffy rolled her eyes and motioned with her hand for Andrew to open his laptop computer and show them what was going on with Angel.

Angel walked cautiously up to the front doors of the W&H building listening for any sounds or signs of life coming from the building, but he didn’t hear anything. Both Buffys and Spikes, along with Rome!Giles and Lindsey watched the computer screen over Andrew’s shoulder to see what Angel was doing and what, if any, demons he encountered.

Angel ducked down and stepped through a broken plate-glass window – glass and debris crunched under his feet, announcing his arrival and he cringed inwardly. Stealthy! he thought, rolling his eyes as he stood back up and stopped just inside the first floor lobby. Angel waited a minute, and when nothing happened, he started moving again. When he reached the stairwell, he pulled on the door, but it wouldn’t open. He pulled harder … nothing. The building must have gone into emergency lockdown mode after they had left it.

“Break the bloody door down, wanker!” Spike advised in a stage whisper as he watched the computer screen.




“Those doors are triple reinforced steel,” Lindsey informed them, keeping his voice low. “He can’t break it down. He needs to enter his override code on the keypad … which will probably send a signal directly to the Senior Partners …

“We need to get some climbing gear, some grappling hooks and climb up to at least the fifth floor … the doors from there on up aren’t reinforced,” Lindsey suggested.

Buffy sighed. “Ok, Lindsey – go get Angel and tell him to come back and wait. Faith … where’s Faith?” Buffy asked looking around and finally spotting the other ‘senior Slayer’ sitting on the curb a few yards away smoking a cigarette. Buffy walked over to her and Faith stood up.

“We up already, B?” Faith asked, dropping the cigarette to the ground and crushing it out.

“No, not exactly … we need some climbing gear – how do you feel about a ‘want, take, have’ mission?” Buffy asked her.

“I’m five by five!” Faith responded with a grin. “What do we need?”





“I’ll tell ya on the way … let’s go,” Buffy told her as she started walking in the direction of an REI store she’d seen a few blocks away.

**~**

When Buffy and Faith got back with the climbing gear and tried to give it to Angel, he just looked at it. “Did you steal this?” Angel asked accusingly, looking between Buffy and Faith.

“Nooo… that would be wrong!” Buffy told him, rolling her eyes. “We left your American Express card as payment … for the supplies and damages.”

“What!? What damages? Where’d you get my American Express card?” Angel asked them, incredulous.

“Take a pill, big guy! That’ll be nothing compared to the bill for dinner …” Faith assured him with a grin. “That Dom sure tickles your nose.”

“WHAT!?” Angel started again before rolling his head back to the sky and sighing deeply. “I guess I deserved that…” he said, resigned.

“And so much more….” Buffy told him with a smirk. “Now, go make like Batman and climb up the building like a good vampire. We’ll wait here.”

“Great …” Angel said with a sigh as he took the ropes from Buffy and headed back towards the building.

“He’s gonna wake the fucking dead with all that racket,” Lindsey commented, watching Angel unsuccessfully try to get the grappling hook to catch. Angel threw the grappling hook up and tried unsuccessfully to hook it on one of the supports of the fifth floor four times.





Lindsey sighed and left the relative protection of the building they were waiting behind and ran over to Angel as he tried for the fifth time to throw the hook up and get it to catch.

“Give me that!” Lindsey said in a stage whisper through gritted teeth, taking the rope and hook from Angel’s hands. “You’re holding the rope too tight … see?” Lindsey showed Angel. “It takes a light touch … pretend you’re touching a woman … not a rhinoceros!”

Angel rolled his eyes and waved his arm out, inviting Lindsey to try. Lindsey shook his head and rolled the excess rope up in one hand, then began swinging the hook like a lasso over his head, letting out more and more rope as he went until he had enough momentum to take the hook far enough up the building. At just the right moment, he let go of the rope, allowing the momentum of the hook to pull the excess rope easily from his other hand as it flew through the air towards the building.

The hook wrapped around one of the window supports on the sixth floor and caught. Lindsey pulled down hard on the rope to make sure it was secure and then swung it at Angel.

“Think you can handle it now, big guy?” Lindsey asked with a smirk, as he turned and walked back towards where the others were waiting.

Angel climbed up the rope and went into the sixth floor of the building. There were no demons in sight as he went to the stairwell and kicked open the door and waited … but nothing emerged from the stairs or converged on the noise.

Buffy, Spike and the rest watched Andrew’s computer as Angel made his way up the stairs to the floor where the portal opened – the floor where his office had been located. They all held their breath as Angel opened the door cautiously and looked out … nothing. Angel stood up straight and walked out into the lobby where he’d fought and killed Hamilton.

Hamilton’s body was gone … but there didn’t appear to be anyone or anything there waiting for them. Angel took a deep breath and let it out as he looked around. Everything looked just as it had when they fled the crumbling building a couple of days ago … except for Hamilton being gone.

“It looks alright,” Buffy observed, as she watched the computer screen. “What do you think?” she asked, looking at Lindsey.

Lindsey shrugged. “Maybe we hurt them worse than I thought. It would’ve taken a lot of energy to get all those demons here … not to mention losing the Black Thorn members …” he commented. “They may have to regroup, recharge.”

Buffy turned to Rome!Buffy. “I guess we better get while the gettin’s good,” she told her. “I’m really sorry about Willow,” Buffy told her again, pulling Rome!Buffy into a hug.

“Thanks … thanks for everything. Not sure if anyone would’ve made it without the extra help you brought,” Rome!Buffy told her as she pulled back out of the hug.

“And thanks for this, too,” Rome!Buffy said as she reached behind her neck and undid the clasp on the necklace she wore – the necklace Buffy had given her to wear as the ‘borrowed’ part of her wedding ceremony, and held it up. Buffy turned around and lifted her hair out of the way and Rome!Buffy fastened the thin, gold chain that held ‘William’s heart’ back around Buffy’s neck.

“We have one other thing for you guys,” Buffy told Rome!Buffy and Rome!Spike. Spike pulled some papers out of the pocket of his duster and held out to the newlyweds.

Rome!Buffy opened them and her eyes went wide. “Oh my God! A real honeymoon!? How!? How did you manage this?”

“Luckily, Angel’s American Express ain’t got no spendin’ limit,” Spike smirked as Rome!Buffy hugged Buffy’s neck.


”It looks beautiful!! Where is Maldives, anyway?”
Rome!Buffy asked, looking between Spike and Buffy.


“Off India,” Spike told her. “Gotcha the whole honeymoon package - ten days and nine nights a’ white sand, blue water, and sunshine – no news, no shoes. First class airfare there and then back to Rome. Includes the whole works - all expenses paid!”

Rome!Buffy shook her head in disbelief as she looked at all the papers in her hand. First class airline tickets to India then private plane tickets to Maldives and a private speedboat to the resort they’d be staying at. All meals, drinks, tips ... everything they could want, was included.





Tears glistened in Rome!Buffy’s eyes as she leaned back against Rome!Spike’s chest and let him look at the brochure and tickets over her shoulder. “We were gonna stay at the Comfort Inn near Universal…” Rome!Buffy laughed. “It was the cheapest … God! This is unbelievable! Thank you so much!” Rome!Buffy pulled Buffy back into hug and then hugged Spike.

Rome!Spike hugged Buffy and shook Spike’s hand. “Take care of that family o’ yours,” he told them.

“We will, don’t worry. You’ve got some catching up to do,” Buffy told him with a wink and a smile.

“I’ll get right on that,” he replied with a smirk.

It was so hard to say goodbye. Buffy knew they needed to go, but she knew she’d miss their counterparts when they were separated again. And now she wasn’t sure how they’d ever be able to come back since the only portal they knew of for certain came to this dimension landed them in the middle of Wolfram & Hart … and the Senior Partners had a pretty long memory.

“I love you,” Buffy told Rome!Spike as she hugged him one last time. “Take care of each other.”

“I love you too, Slayer,” Rome!Spike told her before releasing her and backing up for Rome!Buffy to hug her one more time.

“Talk to him, Buffy,” Buffy advised her counterpart. “He understands more than you think.”

Rome!Buffy pulled back and smiled and nodded as she fought back tears. “Be careful,” she advised them as she stepped back next to Rome!Spike and wrapped her arm around his waist.

Buffy nodded and took a deep breath. “Ok, let’s get this show on the road!” she announced and Faith, along with her Slayers started moving towards the building. Faith went up the rope first, followed by Tara and Willow and the Slayers Faith had brought with her. They carried the bodies of the Slayers that had perished in the battle with them so they could be given a proper burial in their own hometowns, in their own dimension.

When they were all up, Buffy helped Giles get up the rope as Spike held the rope steady below them, then it was his turn. Andrew took the rope from him to hold it steady. “It was good working with you,” Andrew told Spike as he tried to remain professional. “I think we make a good team.”

“The brawn and the brains, yeah?” Spike agreed. “Next time, you get to be the brawn … deal?” Spike asked Andrew with a smile, extending his hand to him to seal the deal.

Andrew shook Spike’s hand a little more enthusiastically than was required and smiled wide. “Deal!” he agreed before pulling Spike into a hug. Spike rolled his eyes and, after a moment, pushed Andrew off.





"Gotta go, Sluggo ... Take care o’ yourself,” Spike called back as he started up the rope.

“You too!” Andrew replied as he watched Spike climb the rope, noting how the muscles of his arms and back strained against his t-shirt as he moved easily up the side of the building. “Body of a Greek god …” Andrew sighed to himself as Spike disappeared into the building above.

**~**

Everyone was gathered near where they knew the portal was when Spike, Buffy and Giles made it up the stairs and into the lobby.

Angel stopped Buffy and Spike as they came out of the stairwell. “I really am sorry that you got dragged into all this…” he started.

“OH, PLEASE! Spare me!” Spike retorted. “Why don’t you tell that load of bollocks to someone who don’ know you!?”

Buffy laid her hand on Spike’s shoulder to quiet him and turned to Angel. “You really need to find a way to move on, Angel. Trust me when I tell you, the course you’re on will only lead to badness.”

Angel nodded solemnly and stepped back out of their way. Buffy looked at Faith and nodded and Faith poured a vial of Annie’s blood onto the spot. Light swirled brightly, getting larger and larger until the opening was large enough for them to fit through. The Slayers started stepping through single file when suddenly the whole building began to shake and tremble.

“FASTER!” Faith yelled at them waving her arm in a helicopter motion and the Slayers began running through the opening as the floor below them shuddered and began to crack. Plaster, glass, and drywall started falling from above them as they made their way to the portal and the ironic safety of the Hellmouth on the other side.

“GO! GO! GO!” Faith screamed at them as they dove through the portal.

When the Slayers were through, Faith jumped in, followed by Giles and Willow. Then Buffy and Spike jumped through together.

In all the confusion and rush to get out of the crumbling building, no one noticed that Tara hadn’t come through. She had been right behind Spike, but her foot caught in one of the cracks in the floor and she’d fallen, short of the portal.

“Angel!” Tara yelled, looking at the dark vampire as she tried to yank her leg free. “Help me! I can’t get out!”

Angel rushed up to her and began trying to pull her leg free of the hole it had gotten stuck in. When he couldn’t get it out, he banged down on the concrete surrounding her leg with his fist and it started to crack. After several more blows, it had opened enough to allow her to pull her leg free.

But, suddenly, just as Tara was standing up, the floor dropped six feet, leaving the portal suspended in midair. Tara and Angel both fell down when the floor dropped and they both struggled to scramble back to their feet as it continued to heave and shudder under them. Finally, Angel got his balance and helped Tara back to her feet. She reached for the portal – she could get her hands on the bottom of it, but she was struggling to pull herself up into it.

Angel started to lift her up into the portal when suddenly she turned in his arms and he felt something sharp press against his ribs. Angel’s eyes went wide as he looked down and saw a stake in Tara’s hand. Time seemed to come to a crawl as he watched Tara push the stake against his chest with all her strength, piercing his skin, splintering his ribs and threatening his heart. There was a moment, as if frozen between life and death that Angel knew what was happening, but was powerless to stop it.

Tara watched Angel's face and his aura as she pressed the stake near his heart. She hadn't planned on getting caught in the crevice in the floor, but had known, since Willow's memorial service, and finding out about Angel stalking Rome!Buffy and Rome!Spike, just like he’d stalked Buffy in their dimension, what needed to be done.

She hoped that she'd have an opportunity without involving either of the Buffys. Despite everything, sending Angel to hell with Acathla was still one of the hardest things Buffy had ever done and Tara knew that it would still be hard for her to dust the person she once considered her first true love, no matter how much he deserved it or how much better the world would be for the loss.

Tara didn't want to involve Spike, either ... Spike would've been more than willing to do it or help her, but he was Buffy's husband now ... both Spikes - and dusting Angel could cause an irreparable rift between him and Buffy. Faith may have been able to help ... she was certainly ready and willing to do it back in their dimension if Buffy hadn't stopped her, but, Faith was almost a stranger now, she'd been gone so long; Tara was unsure if Faith would tell Buffy and ruin her plan. That left Willow ... Tara had broached the subject with her in the past, when Angel from their dimension had been haranguing them, but Willow had been noncommittal ... preferring to defer that decision to Buffy.

So, that left Tara - her idea, her plan ... she'd face the consequences, if there were any, alone ... just as she now faced Angel alone.

Tara looked into Angel's eyes as they widened in surprise and fear. His aura remained constant, though - lots of red and black - just as it always was, whether he was reading a book or fighting a demon; it never changed - he never changed. He'd never leave Rome!Buffy and Rome!Spike alone ... he'd most likely never leave Lindsey and Darla alone, and he'd always find ways to drag everyone back into his 'greater good' missions - no matter the cost.

"You'll never change," Tara told him, her voice determined. "Even the PTB know you aren't the Champion here ... Spike got the prophecy, he got the Shanshu ... This is for Buffy and Spike, Lindsey and Darla, and all the Slayers and soldiers that you just killed in the name of the 'greater good' ... and, oh yeah ... for Willow,” Tara said, her voice strong and her face resolute, like a lioness protecting her young, as she shoved one last time on the stake and Angel dissolved into dust under her.

Tara fell back to the ground, dust rained down on her and the stake, which had been embedded in Angel’s torso, clattered to the ground next to her. She scrambled back to her feet and jumped towards the portal, but the floor had fallen more … the portal was out of reach, easily eight feet above her.

The whole building shook and more debris rained down on her, the floor below her was cracking and large chasms were opening in it. She looked around and grabbed a chair, but the floor was shaking so much that she couldn’t keep her balance on it and she fell back down again as the portal moved further and further away from her and started to close.




“Tara!” Lindsey exclaimed as he came out of the stairway and ran towards her. When the building started shaking and crumbling further, he'd come up to see if he could help ... if perhaps they were under attack. He was surprised to see Tara sitting alone on the floor under the portal.

Tears of frustration streaked her face as she looked up at the portal, but didn’t move to get up … it was too far – she’d never be able to get home now.

“Get your ass up!” Lindsey screamed at her, pulling her to her feet.

“It’s too late,” Tara told him.

“NEVER! It’s never too late as long as you’re breathing!” Lindsey insisted as he braced one leg out, bent at the knee. “Step here,” he told her, indicating his thigh,” “then here,” he told her, indicating his shoulder. “I’ll help you! C’mon!”

Tara grabbed Lindsey’s hand and put one foot up on his thigh as he helped her balance, but she couldn’t get her other foot up to his shoulder from there. The floor was still shaking, debris raining down on them; it was no use. Tara dropped back down on her ass on the floor.

“GET THE FUCK UP!” Lindsey yelled at her, grabbing her arms and pulling her up. “AGAIN! TRY AGAIN!” he screamed and Tara shook her head but tried again.

This time Lindsey crouched down further and helped her get her foot up onto his shoulder and boosted her up. Tara reached for the portal, but was still short, even standing on Lindsey’s shoulder.

Suddenly, Spike’s head appeared in the portal. “TARA!” he called, before seeing her below him. “BLOODY HELL!” he exclaimed when he saw her reaching towards him, towards the portal – unable to reach it. He dropped down to his stomach and leaned his torso out, grabbing her hands in his and pulling her up towards the rapidly closing opening.

Faith and Buffy pulled on Spike’s legs, pulling both Spike and Tara up and into the Hellmouth as Spike held on to Tara’s hands with a steely grip.

Lindsey watched as she lifted up off his shoulder and finally disappeared into the portal just before it closed and he breathed a sigh of relief. He looked around for Angel … but didn’t see him. The building was crumbling around him faster and faster … he couldn’t look for Angel any longer. Lindsey took off down the stairs, making it down the rope and clear of the building just as the whole thing imploded in on itself. Dust and glass, papers and plaster filled the air as the building collapsed.

Tara rolled onto her back in the Hellmouth as the portal closed behind her, trying to get her breath and calm her racing heart.

“Tara!! God! What happened!?” Willow exclaimed kneeling down and pulling her into a hug. “I thought you were right behind us!”

“Just … had … to do … one last…thing,” Tara told her between deep gulps of air, wrapping her arms around Willow and dropping her forehead against her girlfriend’s shoulder as tears of relief replaced the ones of frustration.

When she’d finally got her breath back, Tara pulled back and looked into Willow’s eyes. “You did the right thing … with Lindsey? You were right.”

Willow looked at her with a furrowed brow, questioning her silently, but Tara just smiled at her softly and started to stand up. “Let’s go home…”

**~**

Buffy and Spike took the sewers to Anya and Xander’s house where they knew Annie, Dani, and Billy would be. It was early morning, but the southern California sun was shining brightly.

Xander had linked in a passage between the sewers and the basement of the house for Spike a few months ago. He’d gotten tired of having Spike streak across the lawn from the manhole in the road, coat over his head, smoke billowing – stomping on Anya’s flowers and anything else that was in his way, to make it to the front porch before he burst into flames. Xander had already had to replace Anya’s zinnias, poppies, and geraniums three times and the neighbors were beginning to ask questions about it, too.

Buffy entered the kitchen from the basement door first and Annie spotted her immediately from where she was sitting at the counter eating breakfast. “MAMA!” she squealed, jumping down from the stool she was on and throwing herself at Buffy.

Buffy scooped her up in her arms and hugged her tight, burying her face against Annie’s hair and closing her eyes as she breathed in the scent that was Annie; Johnson’s Baby shampoo and Tutti-Fruitti bubble bath.

Anya and Xander turned away from what they were doing at the sink when Annie screamed. “Buffy!” they both exclaimed with surprise and relief as they started towards her.

Spike stepped through the door a second later and pulled Buffy and Annie into a hug, squeezing Annie tightly between them. Tears of joy and relief threatened his eyes and he closed them to fight them back. He really thought that he’d never be here again … never have them in his arms again…never smell Tutti-Fruitti bubble bath again…

Buffy leaned her forehead against Spike’s shoulder and wept … there were many times over the last days she also never thought she’d be here again, reunited with her children, her friends, her family. “I love you,” she whispered to Annie and Spike.

“I love you too, Mama,” Annie replied to her as she kept a tight hold around Buffy’s neck. “Please don’t go away again …”

Buffy smiled and pulled back from her daughter. “We won’t … we’re gonna stay here and make your life just as miserable as any parents could. How’s that sound?”

Annie clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes before laying her head back on Buffy’s shoulder. “Good …”

**~**

Anya, Xander, and Buffy brought Dani and Billy back to the mansion while Spike and Annie took the sewers home. It was nice to be back home … their family back intact. Lorne was there waiting for them and welcomed everyone home with open arms, hugs and tears of his own.

After spending time telling Xander, Anya, and Lorne about their adventure in the other dimension, Buffy and Spike headed upstairs for a much needed shower and sleep.

As Buffy picked Spike’s clothes up off the bathroom floor where he dropped them and started to put them in the hamper, she felt something in the pocket of his jeans and pulled it out.

Opening up the folded paper she found nine tickets to Disneyland and five pre-paid rooms at the Disney Grand Californian Hotel and Spa for ten days and nine nights; enough for the entire gang to go. Reading through the reservations he made, she saw that they included one ‘family’ night in Cinderella’s castle and one ‘honeymoon’ night there for them, as well as honeymoon nights for Xander and Anya, and Willow and Tara.

After her shower, she walked into their bedroom holding up the tickets and room reservations. “What’s this?” she asked, waving them at Spike, who was laying in the bed waiting for her.

Spike smirked. “Vacation…courtesy of Angel Investigations,” he told her. “It’s not Maldives…but Annie fancies it.”

Buffy laughed. “You think they’ll work here?”

Spike shrugged. “One way to find out, innit there?”

Buffy laughed and laid the tickets down on the dresser before sitting down on the edge of the bed next to Spike. “You’re one crazy vampire,” she told him with a smile, laying one hand on his chest.

Spike pursed his lips together and narrowed his eyes at Buffy, suddenly looking very serious. “Are you sorry ‘bout that?” he asked her. “The vampire part … other Spike Shanshued … Do you wish it had been me?”

Buffy tilted her head and shook her head slowly. “No,” she said softly, a small smile on her lips. “I love you just the way you are. You’re perfect - you’re exactly who I need, what I need … what I want and what I love. Don’t ever think you need to change …”

Spike smiled at her, laid his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her down to him. “I love you, Buffy,” he whispered against her lips.

“I love you too, Spike,” she murmured back before capturing his lips in a soft kiss.


**~**

Hear the song associated with this story at the following YouTube Link:

"Mother and Child Reunion, Paul Simon


No I would not give you false hope
on this strange and mournful day
but the mother and child reunion
is only a motion away,

Oh, little darling of mine.
I can't for the life of me
remember a sadder day
I know they say let it be
but it just don't work out that way
and the course of the lifetime runs
over and over again.

No I would not give you false hope
on this strange and mournful day
But the mother and child reunion
Is only a motion away,

Oh, little darling of mine
I just can't believe it's so

though it seems strange to say
I never been laid so low
in such a mysterious way
and the course of a lifetime runs
over and over again.

But I would not give you false hope, no
On this strange and mournful day
When the mother and child reunion
Is only a motion away

Oh, the mother and child reunion
is only a motion away
oh the mother and child reunion
is only a moment away.

Saturday, July 3rd 2004

Faith and the Slayers she’d brought with her stayed one night in Sunnydale before heading back to their homes. Buffy thanked her friend profusely and told her to be sure to come back soon for a real visit – maybe one that didn’t include an apocalypse or breaking and entering.

Although being back in their own homes and beds was wonderful, the gang agreed that getting away to Disneyland would be a fantastic way to put the whole Rome!dimension/Angel Apocalypse behind them, so they all headed out on Saturday morning for the land of Mickey and Minnie.

The clerk at the resorts finest hotel was perplexed, to say the least. Their computer didn’t show any reservations for the group and couldn’t find the credit card transaction, even though Spike had a receipt. Buffy started to pull out one of her credit cards so the clerk could run it ‘again’, when Spike suggested she just re-run the card number that was on the receipt.

“Angel Investigations?” the clerk asked him.

“Yeah, that’s me … Angel in the flesh,” Spike told her with a smirk.

“Ok – you’re all set, Mr. Angel,” the clerk told Spike after running the charges again. “I’m really sorry about the mix-up.”

“’S ok – no worries,” Spike told her. “And, it’s just ‘Angel’ … kinda like Madonna … only sexier,” Spike said, curling his tongue over his teeth and grinning devilishly at her.





The clerk laughed and blushed and Buffy rolled her eyes. “Let’s go, Angel … before someone spontaneously combusts…like you.”

**~**

During the summer, the park was open late into the night. There were big fireworks displays every night and concerts from rock legends, including Pat Benatar, REO Speedwagon, and Styx, plus ‘tribute bands’ including tributes to the Eagles, Chicago, and U2. Anya was particularly happy for the last one and immediately recruited everyone to commit to attend that concert. She wished it was the real thing, but she’d take what she could get.

**~**

The gang ebbed and flowed … coming together sometimes and going their separate ways on others. They all tried to meet up at breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant to make plans for the day’s adventures, including making side trips to movie studios, water parks, and beaches in the area or taking advantage of the Spa in the hotel.

Annie was particularly smitten with the Disney Princess Fantasy Faire (“Where ‘happily ever after’ happens every day”). There she got to meet Cinderella and Snow White, along with more current princesses, and attend gala balls as well as defeat evil sorcerers.

Since that attraction wasn’t open at night, Buffy had to take Annie there during the daytime … everyday of their visit, while Spike stayed in the room and watched the babies. The first day, Annie came back to the hotel with a princess dress, a tiara, and a magic wand that Buffy had bought her (after much begging, whining, pouting, and promises to clean her room without complaint for the rest of her life). Annie didn’t want to take any of it off and went to bed still wearing the dress and clutching the tiara and magic wand.





Spike looked in on her as she slept and smiled at his princess. He wondered how he’d ever gotten so lucky as to deserve not only her, but Buffy, Dani and Billy. He worried still that Buffy would’ve rather that he had Shansued, despite her contention that he was perfect as he was. If that had happened, he could’ve been going with them to the Princess Fantasy Faire every day. On second thought … it was probably just as well, after all.

On the fourth day, Annie came back to the hotel with a pair of princess Mickey Ears on her head… her tiara perched haphazardly on her head with them.





She ran up to Spike, holding something behind her back, a huge grin on her face.

“We got ya something!” Annie announced. “Bet you can’t guess what!”

Spike sat forward on the couch where he’d been relaxing and watching TV. “Hmmm … is it bigger than a breadbox?” he asked his daughter.





Annie frowned…her face twisted in concentration as she thought hard. “I don’t know what a breadbox is …” she finally admitted, looking at him with questioning eyes.

Spike laughed. “Of course you don’t, Niblett … Ok, is it something from Disneyland?”

“Yes!”

“Is it something your mum bought or did you find it on the street?”

Annie clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. “Bought,” she informed him.

“Ahhh … ok, so not used chewing gum… hmmm, is it a tiara?” Spike asked her with a grin.

“No,” Annie giggled.

“Darn … I really wanted one of those! Hmmm… did your mum have apoplectic fits when she saw the price?”

“No,” Annie told him, getting antsy and starting to jump up and down in front of him, keeping his surprise hidden behind her back.

“Shoot … Not that tricked out Dodge Charger they had on Main Street…” Spike surmised.

“Don’ know, Niblett … ya got me!” Spike told her with an amused grin.

Annie pulled a pair of Mickey ears from behind her back and plopped them down on her father’s head. “We match!!” she announced with a giggle as she turned back to look at Buffy, as Buffy had instructed her to do.





Buffy snapped a picture on her iPhone of the two of them with their Mickey ears on. The happy grin on Annie’s face in sharp contrast to the annoyed look on Spike’s when he realized that not only was he wearing Mickey ears like a ponce, but Buffy had a picture of it.

“Arrgghh … you bloody women!” Spike growled, snatching Annie up off the floor as he stood up and headed for Buffy to get her phone away from her … but Buffy was too fast – she’d been fully prepared and had already emailed the picture to everyone before he even got to her.


Annie squealed and shrieked in laughter, holding her ears and tiara on her head with one hand, as Spike carried her with one arm wrapped around her middle, holding her back against the side of his hip and headed across the room to Buffy, who was doubled over in laughter. Spike grabbed the phone from her hand and started to delete the picture when he realized that she’d already emailed it to the rest of the gang.

“You bloody well didn’t! You cheeky wench!” Spike exclaimed as she continued to laugh uncontrollably.





“But … but …you’re sooo cute!!” Buffy told him between bursts of laughter. “And I got one too!” she said, pulling out a set of Minnie ears and putting them on her own head.





“Perfect! We’re a bloody family of rats now!” Spike growled in mock anger, setting Annie back down. He had to admit that Buffy did make a cute little rat in those ears…

“You can’t take ‘em off!!” Annie informed him as Spike started pulling the ears off his head. “It’s bad luck!”

Spike looked at her with wide eyes. “EVER!?” he asked, stopping his hand from its quest to remove the offending ears from his head.

Annie giggled. “Not until Mama says we can …” Annie told him. “She’s the head cheese!”

“Big cheese,” Buffy corrected with a laugh. “I bought them, so I get to say when we can take them off … and I’m thinking not for a while. I think you’ll be adorable in them at the party tonight.”





“Bloody hell,” Spike moaned. He had almost forgotten that tonight was the kid’s party at the castle.

“Yay!! It’ll be fun!” Annie exclaimed, jumping up and down and holding her ears and tiara on her head.

“Bad word …” she stopped suddenly and informed him, holding her hand out for his penance.

“I’m allowed to say bad words whilst wearing mouse ears,” Spike insisted and slapped her hand lightly with his – foregoing his normal payment to her ‘bad word’ trust fund.

**~**

Spike was a big hit at the kid’s party with his mouse ears. He was the only father there with them on and, despite feeling like a ponce, all the kids there seemed to love it. Of course, Xander and Giles couldn’t help but get in some good natured ribbing, but Spike took it all in stride … only threatening to kill them three or four times during the evening.

Annie was so excited getting to meet all the Disney characters at the party, she especially liked that all the princesses from her favorite attraction came too. They all knew her by name now and she got to introduce them to her father – the cool guy with the mouse ears on.

When the party was over, the overnight guests were shown to their rooms in the castle while the other party guests headed back to the hotel. Lorne had graciously agreed to watch the twins for them tonight so they could lavish Annie with their undivided attention.

Spike lifted Annie up over his head (and mouse ears) onto his shoulders and carried her piggyback as he and Buffy followed the ‘cast member’, who was dressed like a Victorian livery hand, up a the long staircase to their room.

Their overnight bags had been brought up when they arrived at the party and everything was ready for them in the Cinderella suite. Two bedrooms, divided by a shared bathroom, were decorated in pastels with flowing curtains on the windows and canopy beds, deep, plush carpet on the floor and small, soft, twinkling lights edging the ceiling. Everything a princess could want or need in a room.

The windows looked out over Main Street and further over the lagoon where the fireworks display was set to begin shortly. Spike, Buffy, and Annie went out on the balcony and sat down on the posh couch there to await the start of the night’s fireworks display.





Spike held Annie in his lap and Buffy leaned against his side, tucking her feet up and under her, as they watched the bright lights of the fireworks explode over the water in the distance. Annie would exclaim soft “ooos and ahhs” when a particularly beautiful or large one would appear, and clap her hands when any had her favorite colors of pink and purple in them.

Spike’s and Buffy’s eyes met many times as they watched the fireworks and Annie. The memory of Angel’s apocalypse wasn’t that far from their minds. How close they’d both come to losing this … to never making it back to their children, back to each other, made sitting here with Annie as she ooo’d and aaaah’d the fireworks that much more meaningful.

**~**

A while later, Spike and Buffy sat on each side of Annie’s princess bed and tucked her in for the night, her tiara and princess mouse ears back on her head after her bath.

“What story do you want t’night, Niblett?” Spike asked her.

“Tell me about my name,” Annie said, looking at her father expectantly.

“Ahh, well – a fine name you have, Anne Joyce,” Spike began. “Named after two beautiful women … and you’re just as lovely; two kind women, and you’re just as caring … two strong women, and you’re just as remarkable.”

“And they’re watching over us …” Annie prodded.

“Indeed they are, Niblett … their love guides us always back to each other – no matter how dark, they’ll always be there to light a candle.”

“You scared me when you told me about my name before…” Annie admitted. “You wouldn’t promise to come back…”

Tears threatened Spike’s eyes as he looked into the sad eyes of his daughter. “I promise now – I’ll never leave ya’, sweet girl.”

“What about Mama?” Annie asked, looking between Spike and Buffy. “You won’t leave her, either, right?”

Spike smiled and looked at Buffy. “Well, depends on how long she makes me wear these bloody ears …”

Looking back at Annie his tone and eyes turned serious. “No … you’re all stuck with me - forever.”

Annie smiled. “Good!”

“Ok, sleep now, Princess Anne … tomorrow’s another big day ‘round the kingdom,” Spike told her, dropping a kiss on her forehead before standing up.

Annie sat up and whispered something to Buffy. Buffy looked at Spike and smiled before nodding solemnly to Annie. “Good night, sweet girl,” Buffy told her, giving her a kiss and tucking her covers back around her.

**~**

“What did she tell ya?” Spike asked with a smirk when they got back into their own room and shut the adjoining door.

“What, you’ve suddenly gone ‘Helen Keller’ on me?” Buffy questioned with a sly grin.

“Try not to eavesdrop on private conversations …” Spike said with a shrug.

Buffy took Spike in a hug and dropped a soft kiss on his lips. “She said …” Buffy started with a smile, moving her hand up to his head, “that I should let you take the ears off …”

Buffy pulled the mouse ears off him and tossed them in a chair near the bed.

“Did she now?” Spike smirked, his eyes dancing with amusement.

“As if you didn’t know!” Buffy accused, rolling her eyes.





“Well, I’d like you to keep yours on … you’re quite fetching in them … ‘course the rest of the outfit can go …”


Buffy laughed and pressed her body against his as he captured her lips in a hungry kiss and wrapped his arms around her.

**~**

The next morning, Buffy, Spike, and Annie met the rest of the gang at the hotel for breakfast, as usual. Annie gushed to everyone over the castle and the fireworks and all the fun she’d had the previous day.

Suddenly Annie turned serious and leaned in near to Tara, who was sitting beside her, and whispered in a not too quiet voice, “Do Mama and Papa seem okay to you?”

Everyone at the table looked up from their food and looked at Buffy and Spike … who both seemed fine.

Tara looked, as well, and looked back at Annie. “Yes, they seem fine, honey … why?”





Now everyone had stopped and was listening to Annie. With their luck, Spike’s and Buffy’s bodies had been taken over by Cruella de Vil or one of the wicked stepmothers that Disney was so famous for. Spike and Buffy also stopped what they were doing and looked across the table at her.

“Well, last night … Papa was going ‘UH-UH’ and Mama was going ‘OH-OH’,” Annie told the group, making her voice deeper on the UH-UHs and higher on the OH-OHs.

“Oh God …” Buffy muttered under her breath, covering her eyes with one hand. They had tried to be so quiet, knowing that the room wasn’t sound-proof and that Annie was right next door.





Everyone smiled and looked back and Buffy and Spike. Spike just rolled his eyes, but Buffy’s face was turning red.

“How did it go?” Xander asked Annie with a grin.

“UH-UH, OH-OH, UH-UH, OH-OH,” Annie repeated, raising and lowering her voice to mimic them.

“Oh, dear Lord,” Giles muttered, not really wanting to hear any of this.

“And how long did it last?” Xander prodded, his grin widening.

“Forever!!” Annie exclaimed, looking somewhat worried that it could mean something bad.

“Forever?” Anya questioned, looking at Spike with raised brows. “Really?"





“Not forever …” Spike clarified. “Just a few hours,” he told them with a smirk.

“Then Mama screamed like a girl!” Annie informed the group.

“Dear Lord,” Giles said again taking his glasses off and polishing them furiously, wishing he was anywhere else right then, even the Princess Fantasy Faire would be preferable.

“Oh God,” Buffy repeated, shaking her head and keeping her face covered with one hand.

“Wait … can we get back to the ‘forever’ and ‘few hours’ thing?” Anya asked. “Is that an English thing or a vampire thing …”

“Ahn!” Xander admonished her.

“Well, you asked questions! I don’t see why I can’t ask something!” Anya defended.

“Well, your Mama is a girl,” Tara pointed out with a small smile, ignoring Anya and Xander.

“Yeah, but then Papa screamed like a girl, too!” Annie informed them all with wide eyes.

Xander broke out laughing and turned to Spike whose smirk had faded quickly.

“BOLLOCKS!” Spike exclaimed. “Don’t scream like no girl! I growl … like a bloody lion!”

“Oh, Spike … you manly man you,” Xander started, raising his voice several octaves, primping like a love struck teenage girl, and batting his eyelashes at him.

“Sod off!” Spike told Xander. “’S not true, anyway.”

“Yeah-huh,” Annie argued. “’UH-UH, UH-UH … Aaaaaaaaggghhhh’” Annie mimicked lowering her voice on the UH-UHs and raising it on the scream at the end.

“What does it mean?” Annie asked, looking around the table.

Buffy just continued to shake her head in disbelief.

“Honey,” Anya started. “It just means that after a few hours of UH-UHing … everyone has the right to scream like a girl. It’s perfectly natural.”

“Don’t scream like no girl!” Spike insisted again. “Tell them, Buffy!”

Buffy’s eyes went wide and she raised her head up to look over her hand that had been covering her face to find everyone except Giles looking at her with amusement.

Giles couldn’t bring himself to look at her … he didn’t want to know anything about any of this – not with Buffy. She was still that young girl who walked into the library and told him she was “way sure” she didn’t want any “vampyre” books and what she knew about Sunnydale was that it was two hours on the freeway from Neiman Marcus.

Buffy cleared her throat and took a drink of juice. “Ummm … well...normally, no …”





“Bloody hell, Slayer!”

“Spike … I’m sorry – you were trying to be quiet and it, well … you did sort of scream like a girl last night …” Buffy informed him, her face turning a deeper shade of red as everyone at the table (except Giles) snickered.

“I still say, after a few hours, everyone has that right,” Anya contended. “Spike, could you please teach Xander how to scream like a girl?”

“AHN!” Xander exclaimed, looking at his wife with disbelief.

Anya shrugged and rolled her eyes. She’d be happy to put up with a guy screaming like a girl if it got her a few hours of the rough and tumble…

Now it was Spike’s turn to snicker. “What’s the matter, Xan? Having trouble with stamina? Perhaps a little Red Bull … a Viagra or two…”

“That’s quite enough!” Giles exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.

“Annie, your parents are fine … well, as close to ‘fine’ as they get – there’s no need to worry … they were simply … playing a game,” Giles informed the child, convincing himself at the same time. “A very loud game, it turns out … one that I’m sure they’ll be more careful with in the future.”

“Oh … ok - good,” Annie accepted his explanation without another word and went back to eating her cherry, chocolate, and whipped cream covered waffles.

**~**

The following night was the ‘honeymoon’ celebration and stay over at the castle. Disney provided childcare for all the couples, which included about twenty ‘honeymooning’ couples, including Anya and Xander, Willow and Tara, and Spike and Buffy. As much as the other party was all about the kids, this party was definitely all about the adults.

There were several tables set up with two or three couples per table. The friends had requested they all be placed at the same table, so they were able to converse freely without worrying about saying anything other people may consider ‘odd’.

Everyone was dressed to the nines; the men in classic tuxedos and the ladies in sparkling dresses. Buffy had on a low-cut, form-fitting, short, black dress with sequins on it in random patterns. She’d come to love her more curvy body and she knew Spike loved it, what anyone else thought about a mother of three wearing that dress didn’t really concern her.

They were served course after course of gourmet food … it was definitely a test of her “Miss Manner’s” knowledge to remember what fork to use when. Sometimes she waited and watched Spike to see which one he used and followed his example. Despite his wanton ways, he always knew the proper fork to use.

There was a small orchestra playing background music during the meal – it made a nice backdrop to the evening, not too loud or too soft, and the friends thoroughly enjoyed themselves as they ate and talked and laughed through the meal.

When the baked Alaska had been served and promptly devoured, and everyone had been served an after dinner drink and/or coffee, the orchestra ramped up a bit more and began by playing a waltz. Spike stood up and extended his hand to Buffy.

“May I have the pleasure of this dance,” he requested, sounding more like William than Spike.

Buffy looked from him to the empty dance floor and back. “To that? That’s elevator music!”

Spike laughed. “It’s a waltz, luv …” he informed her, dropping back to his typical Cockney accent.

“And you know how to waltz?” Buffy asked, her brows knit in confusion.

“I wasn’t born yesterday, luv … there was life before The Beatles …” Spike informed her, extending his hand towards her further.

“But not for me, there wasn’t …” Buffy pointed out. “In fact, there wasn’t life before … oh, say, The Bee Gees…”

Spike rolled his eyes. “The Bee Gees started in 1958, luv … C’mon … you’ll love it – I’ll show ya. You can count to three, yeah?”

“Last I checked …” Buffy admitted with a sigh as she took his hand and stood up … there still wasn’t anyone else on the dance floor and butterflies started flying around in her stomach. It was one thing if it had just been their friends, but the place was packed with people – people she didn’t know and she had no desire to be made a fool in front of.

Buffy followed Spike to the floor and he silently coached her on the way. It’s easy, luv, just follow me. It’s a three count box step. Step back on your right, then left to the side, then slide together – then do it coming forward to make the box … one, two, three; one, two three … I’ll add in a little more with turns and moving ‘round the floor, but you just follow me and do that step … you’ll be perfect.

Yeah, right … easy for you to say Mr. Life Before The Beatles … Buffy shot back at him as all eyes in the place turned to watch the blonde couple take the floor. As they got to the floor, the orchestra changed to a Viennese Waltz … the music was faster and Buffy felt her stomach start to flop around more.

{{

Click to see a Viennese Waltz on YouTube
}}

“Relax,” Spike told her softly as they reached the dance floor and he turned her around and positioned her arms on his body properly for a waltz.


Spike started off with the basic box step, keeping time with the ‘one, two, three’ rhythm of the music, then, when he could feel Buffy relax with it, he started gliding them around the floor. Buffy followed his lead, keeping with the basic steps but whirling at the same time. Soon they were flying across the floor, smooth and graceful, as if they’d practiced it a hundred times.

**~**

Anya kicked Xander under the table.

“Oww!” he exclaimed, leaning down to rub his shin. “What was that for!?”

“Why didn’t you ask me to dance?” Anya whined as she watched Spike and Buffy float across the floor.

“Because life didn’t begin before the Doobies?” Xander suggested. He would’ve said the Bee Gees, but Spike had already ruined that … 1958? Seriously?

Anya sighed and folded her arms across her chest. “First ‘a few hours’ and now this … We need to whip you into shape Alexander LaVelle Harris! When we get home, you’re going on a strict diet and training program … including dance lessons!”

Xander gulped. He hated it when Anya got some kind of improvement plan like that in mind for him – it usually meant broccoli and bean sprouts – his only real food coming from sneaking out from work to the Doublemeat Palace at lunch.

“To go ‘a few hours’ I’ll need more than broccoli and bean sprouts …” Xander pointed out. He didn’t mind working out (too much), and wouldn’t really mind dance lessons, but he hated to diet. “Spike eats spicy wings and blooming onions,” he offered.

“Hmph! That doesn’t sound like a very healthy diet …” Anya pointed out. “Do you think that’s the key?” she asked Xander hopefully.

“Definitely!” Xander brightened. “I definitely think spicy wings and blooming onions are the key.”

Anya nodded and turned her attention back to the couple on the dance floor. “Good … we’ll do that, then.”

**~**

As the song came to an end, Spike finished by leaning Buffy back in a graceful dip, before pulling her back up to him and capturing her lips in a soft kiss. The whole ballroom erupted in applause as the warriors embraced on the dance floor.

“I told ya you could do it,” Spike whispered to her with a smile.

“Well, I had a good partner,” Buffy beamed at him before taking his hand and leading him back to their table.

“Wow, Buffy!! How did you learn to do that!?” Willow asked when they got back to the table.

“I have no idea …” Buffy smiled, looking at Spike with amazement. “I guess life did begin before the Bee Gees … or the Beatles.”

“Spike, do you think spicy wings and blooming onions are the key to your stamina?” Anya asked as Buffy and Spike sat back down. “I mean, just how many hours is a ‘few’? Usually, a few is more than a couple … but less than several … so, what, about five?”

“Ahn!” Xander admonished her.

“What!? I’m trying to get some useful information here!” Anya defended. “Annie’s not here … neither is Giles,” she pointed out.

“So, what do you think … is it the wings and onions?” Anya repeated her initial question.

Spike looked between her and Xander. Xander was behind Anya nodding his head vigorously in the affirmative.

“Oh, no doubt,” Spike told her with a smirk towards Xander that said he was gonna owe him big time for that.

Xander blew out a long breath of relief. He was happy to hear just a ‘normal’ slow song start and see lots of couples take the floor. “Dance with me, Anya …” he requested, standing up and offering her his hand. Anya smiled and took his hand and they headed to the dance floor, talk of Xander’s new training program and diet temporarily forgotten.

The couples danced and drank and laughed and talked for hours that evening. Finally, near the end of the night, a little before midnight (when, presumably, their carriages would turn into pumpkins) the conductor of the orchestra made a special announcement.

“I have a special request from Mrs. Weckerly … would Mr. and Mrs. Weckerly come out to the floor, please?” he announced over the microphone.

Spike looked at Buffy with confusion but Buffy just smiled, stood up, and led him out to the floor. When they reached the center of the wooden expanse, the conductor passed the microphone to Buffy and the entire room went silent.

Buffy cleared her throat and turned to face the audience. “For those of you who don’t know us, we’ve been married a little over five years,” she said into the microphone. “In that time, my husband’s never taken off his wedding band for anything … not until a few days ago when it was stolen from him.”

The whole audience moaned at the thought of someone mugging the handsome young man (who could dance like Fred Astaire) and taking his wedding band.

Spike watched her with confusion, standing in the center of the floor in front of dozens of people, most of whom they didn’t even know, as she related a highly edited and toned down version of their trip to the other dimension.

Buffy turned and faced Spike before continuing. “I thought I had lost you and I’ve never been so scared in all my life,” she said to him softly. “I find myself loving you more with each passing day … each challenge we face together just makes us stronger. Together, we can overcome any obstacle. You are my lover, my best friend, my soul mate, and my hero.”

Spike wasn’t sure what to do or say … so he just watched and listened to her in silence, swallowing back a lump in his throat as her words echoed perfectly his feelings for her.





“The ring is a circle,” Buffy began reciting her wedding vows, holding up a new gold wedding band in her hand. “. . . an ancient symbol of eternity and completeness, so perfect, with no beginning and no end, just like my love for you. I give you this ring to wear with love and joy as I still choose you to be my husband forevermore.”

Buffy lifted Spike’s left hand and slid the ring on his finger before bringing the microphone back to her mouth. “I promise to love you unconditionally, to believe in you, to honor and respect you, to laugh with you and cry with you, and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live and beyond.”

Tears stung Spike’s eyes as he watched her slide the band on his finger. He looked up and met her eyes with his … emerald and azure, locking on each other, enthralled with love. There was no danger in this thrall, though - they could fall under the thrall of the other with no fear … no reservations, no hesitation. They could put their heart out in the open and trust that the other would care for it, hold it secure inside a gentle embrace and never break it.





"I love you, Buffy,” Spike said at last, pulling her into his arms and taking her lips in a gentle kiss. The orchestra started playing the music to “Baby, I Love You” and Spike laughed. Buffy gave the mic back to one of the assistants there and fell into step with him, dancing to the song like they had as their first dance as husband and wife.


Spike sang the words softly to her as they danced … he could remember them clearly – it was still one of his favorite songs and it had more than a little sentimental significance to him.

{{

Click here to hear "Baby, I Love You" by The Ramones on YouTube
}}

♫Have I ever told you
How good it feels to hold you
It isn't easy to explain

And though I'm really trying
I think I may start crying
My heart can't wait another day
When you touch me I just gotta

Baby I love you
Baby I love you
Baby I love you

C'mon baby n-n-n-n-now

I can't live without you
I love everything about you
I can't help it if I feel this way

Oh, I'm so glad I found you
I want my arms around you
I love to hear you call my name
Tell me baby that you feel the same

Baby I love you
Baby I love you
Baby I love you

My heart can't wait another day
When you touch me I just gotta
Baby I love you
Baby I love you
Baby I love you


As the warriors danced to their song, the dance floor filled up with couples … some just starting their lives as husband and wife … others on silver anniversaries, and still others, like Willow and Tara who were just in the planning stages of their life together. The love filling the room was undeniable, every girl felt like the luckiest girl there … every guy felt like the luckiest guy, but Buffy and Spike knew how lucky they were to be there at that moment – to be able to dance and laugh and love. They really were each other’s lover, best friend, soul mate, and hero and no amount of interference by the rest of the world would ever change that.