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Chapter Eighteen



The sun was rising the next morning when Spike finally had to leave for work. They’d spent the whole night talking about every detail of their lives over the past five years, and about times even before then. Buffy yawned as she walked Spike to the door.

"Can I come over later?" Spike asked standing in the doorway. He wanted so much to spend her last night in L.A. with her.

"Sure," Buffy agreed. She had a look on her face that told him there was something on her mind. "Spike..."

"Yeah, pet?"

Buffy sighed. "I’m just wondering why," she started. "Are you coming back tonight for me? For Sarah? For both of us?"

Spike was silent for a moment, trying to read her eyes. He wished he knew what she wanted to hear so he could give her that answer. He knew he was coming back to spend time with her, but also to spend time with the little girl he’d fallen in love with in such a short amount of time.

"Both," he assured her, closing the distance between them. He cupped her cheek with one hand while the other rested on her arm. "I want us to be together."

Buffy smiled up at him, tilting her head upwards as he leaned down to capture her lips with his. The kiss they shared was intense, as if they were letting out feelings that had been pent up for almost five years.

Spike pulled back slightly out of breath. He knew without her saying anything that she felt the same way. Her kisses told him everything he needed to know. Leaving her with one last lingering kiss, he was out the door and heading down the hallway.



"Good morning, Mr. Giles," his secretary greeted him.

"Good morning," he replied cheerfully. "I know, I’m late. Hank hasn’t been looking for me has he?"

"No, Mr. Summers is out of the office today," she replied. "You have quite a list of phone messages, though." She smiled at him suggestively. "Your girlfriend’s been trying to reach you all morning."

Spike beamed at that. "Thank you, I’ll just take these into my office and call her back right away.” His secretary raised an eyebrow at his eagerness. "I mean, I guess I’ll call her when I have a chance."

Before his secretary could see the embarrassed blush that was creeping up his neck, Spike hurried into his office and closed the door behind him. As soon as he was at his desk, he searched through his messages to find the many Buffy had left him.

He was puzzled when he didn’t find a single one. Instead, he had about fifteen from Drusilla. Your girlfriend, you prat! Spike groaned. Last night with Buffy had caused him to completely forget about Drusilla. Not that choosing between them was a very hard choice, but it was certainly going to be hard to explain things to her when Drusilla had obviously formed a serious attachment to him.

"Bollocks," he cursed himself before reaching for the phone. He had to end things with Drusilla, and the sooner the better.

Spike forced a cheerful tone when Drusilla answered. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have any feelings for her, but his feelings for Buffy were so much deeper. He felt like a total jerk for what he was about to do to Drusilla, but if he wanted to be with Buffy he’d have to get over it.

"Hey, Dru," he greeted. "Listen, we have to talk..."



"Spike’s coming over?"

Buffy looked up from the meal she was preparing to see Dawn leaning up against the small sink. "How’d you know?"

"Well apart from the fact that you're actually glowing, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you even attempt to cook a meal like this," Dawn replied with an evil grin. "So, I guess you guys talked through your problems?"

"You could say that." Buffy had a secretive smile on her face.

Dawn’s grin turned into a beaming smile. She was ecstatic to have played a role in reuniting Spike and Buffy, even though she hoped they would have come together on their own eventually. She’d just helped speed up the process.

"So I guess this means another night of me, myself, and I in my room." Buffy looked at her apologetically, but Dawn waved her off. "No big," she replied automatically. "You and Spike have a lot of time to make up for."

Buffy broke into another smile as her cell phone started ringing. One look at the caller ID and she had her phone flipped open. ‘Spike,’ she mouthed at Dawn who rolled her eyes at Buffy’s giddy state.

"’Lo , luv, I’m just leaving work now-"

"Okay, what time will you be here?" she interrupted. "I figured we could have dinner. I’m making roasted chicken, you do like chicken don’t you?"

Spike remained silent on the other line before clearing his throat. "Actually, I have something to take care of before I come over. It might be a bit after dinner time, though."

Buffy’s face fell, and Dawn noticed. ‘What?’ Dawn mouthed.

Buffy shook her head and turned away from her sister. "Oh, that’s okay. I have to feed Dawn and Sarah anyway, it’s no big deal."

"I’ll be there as soon as I can," he promised before hanging up.

Dawn watched as Buffy ended the call and went back to check on the chicken. "He’s not coming?"

Buffy remained standing with her back to her sister. "No, he is."

Dawn grabbed Buffy’s shoulder, whirling Buffy around to face her. "Then what’s with the bipolar episode?"

Buffy sighed, knowing she was probably overreacting. "I don’t know," she admitted. "He said he had something to take care of." Dawn’s expression was blank, as if to say ‘yeah and?’. Buffy tangled her hand in her hair before continuing. "This is going to sound stupid, but I can’t help but wonder if that ‘something’ is really someone." Dawn still wasn’t quite following. "Drusilla!"

Dawn shook her head in disbelief. "No way!" she argued. "You are totally overreacting! He probably has something to take care of for work." Buffy, however, wasn’t convinced. "I bet he called up goth girl as soon as he left here this morning and told her they were over. He’s definitely not ditching you to see her."

Buffy nodded. Dawn’s words made sense but she wished she could shake away the feelings of doubt fluttering around in her stomach.



Spike walked into the restaurant and noticed Drusilla already seated at a booth in the corner. Taking a deep breath, he made his way over to the booth and slid in across from her. Her face immediately lit up with a smile as she greeted him. A pang of guilt shot through him for what he was about to do.

Drusilla handed him a menu which he didn’t bother open, he didn’t intend to stay long enough to eat anything. Instead, he placed it in front of him on the table and took another deep breath.

"What did you want to talk about?" Drusilla asked oblivious to his solemn mood.

"Actually, it’s about Buffy." Drusilla’s eyes narrowed at the mention of the other girl’s name. "You remember her daughter Sarah?" Spike took a deep breathe and filled Drusilla in on what he’d found out about Sarah being his daughter.

"That nasty bitch never told you?" Drusilla cried out. "You’ve got to get even with her. Take her to court." She put her hand over his reassuringly. "We’ll think of something."

Spike shook his head, extracting his hand from underneath hers. "It’s not like that," he replied. Spike briefly explained the circumstances that prevented him and Buffy from finding each other five years ago. "Things shouldn’t have worked out the way they did."

"What are you saying, Spike?" Drusilla spoke through gritted teeth.

"Buffy and I are going to try again. I want to get to know my daughter and see if Buffy and I still have a chance," he blurted out quickly. "I’m sorry, Dru, but they mean a lot to me. It’s something I have to do."

Drusilla didn’t speak for several moments. Spike was afraid she was about to cause a scene, but he couldn’t really blame her for wanting to. "She’ll never love you like I do," Drusilla told him finally in an eerily calm voice.

"Dru-"

"I won’t let her have you that easily, Spike," Drusilla warned him. "I’ll never let you go."

Spike stood from the booth, momentarily taken back by her threats. He might have been worried if Buffy didn’t live thousands of miles away from Drusilla’s crazy mind. "Goodbye, Dru," he said softly before leaving her alone in the booth.



The hotel room door opened to reveal a tired looking Buffy. "Is it too late to see Sarah?" Spike asked quietly entering the room. He took in the surroundings of the room and noticed the kitchen piled with dirty pots and dishes and lots of leftover food. Even though he didn't believe it, he hoped that Buffy would have made such a big dinner even if she hadn’t been expecting him.

"No, she’s in bed waiting for you to read her a story," Buffy answered, trying to stifle a yawn.

Spike reached out to kiss her forehead. "Just one, them I’m all yours."

Buffy smiled despite the doubts she’d been feeling earlier. Surely if Spike had seen Drusilla tonight he would have told her. As he retreated into Sarah’s room, Buffy made herself comfortable on the couch. Idly turning on the first thing that looked appealing, she rested her head against the couch arm and waited for Spike to return.

Spike exited Sarah’s room minutes later. It had been much easier to get her to sleep tonight since she’d already been dozing off when he began reading. "Sound asleep," he called softly to Buffy. "And so are you," he added with a chuckle at seeing Buffy sleeping against the arm. He sat down next to her, wrapping his arms around her and laying them back so they were sprawled across the couch. She didn't wake up, but shifted slightly to place her arm across his chest. He couldn’t think of a better way to spend her last night in L.A. together than by just holding her.





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