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Author's Chapter Notes:
OK, here's the third chapter and the epilogue for you, I had to post them in the same chapter because the epilogue was too short to post by itself. So this is it, hope you've liked the story!

I don't own any of the characters, even if I want to.

Thanks to Nichole for all her help!
Three


“Hello?” Spike answered his cell phone on the second ring, not wanting Elizabeth, who was asleep next to him in the bed, to wake up.

“William?” He heard his father’s voice over the line.

“Hey dad. Something wrong?” Giles was in England for a couple of weeks, visiting his mother, Spike’s grandmother, who had been sick for a while.

“No, everything’s fine. I just called to check in. How is everything at the diner?”

“its fine, no problem. A lot of customers, it being summer and all.” Spike winced at the memory of the Fourth of July holiday the previous week. They had been completely swamped the entire weekend.

“I expected as much. How is Elizabeth?” Giles had been thrilled about Spike and Elizabeth’s engagement; he was very fond of the girl.

“She’s fine. Sleeping.” Spike looked down at Elizabeth in the bed, lovingly stroking her hair.

“Right, it’s the middle of the night over there. How silly of me, I never did get the hang of these time differences.” Spike smiled at his fathers rambling.

“It’s fine dad, really.”

“I’ll let you go now, anyway. Call me if there’s any problem.”

“Bye dad.”

“Bye son.” Spike hung up and put the phone on the bedside table and laid back down in the bed. He put an arm around Elizabeth, and she turned in her sleep, snuggling up against him. They had been engaged for five months now, and planned on getting married the following summer.

Every day he made little steps of progress in finding out about her past. She talked about her friends back in Sunnydale, her school, and even her dad at times. She had never mentioned her mother, though, or any boyfriends. She didn’t wear the ring around her neck anymore, but he had seen it in the drawer of her bedside table. He knew she would tell him when the time was right, and had resigned to the fact that he couldn’t do anything to rush it.

Pushing the thoughts aside, Spike pulled the cover around both of them, holding her close to him and drifted off to sleep.

*****

“No... no... please...” Spike was pulled out of a dreamless sleep by Elizabeth tossing and turning in the bed next to him, crying. He took her by the shoulders and shook her gently.

“It’s just a dream, love, I’m here, it’s OK.”

“Connor!” With a cry she opened her eyes, staring at him, and he could tell that she didn’t know who he was.

“Elizabeth, love? It’s me.” He sighed with relief as recognition dawned on her face. Then, tears started to form in her eyes again and he pulled her close, letting her cry. After a little while, she pulled away from him, drying her eyes.

“Sorry.” She got out of the bed and walked into the bathroom. He could hear the water running.

When she came out of the bathroom, he was sitting against the headboard of the bed, looking at her.

“Who’s Connor?” She looked at the floor for a moment before meeting his eyes again.

“My son.”

*****

“Your...” Spike didn’t know what to say. Whatever he had been expecting, it hadn’t been this.

“Yeah.” She walked through the room and crawled into the bed, wrapping the cover tightly around her. Spike put an arm around her and she leaned back against him.

“You wanna talk about it?” He could feel her shaking her head.

“No. But I have to.” He heard her take a deep breath. “I’m gonna start from the beginning, and I need you to not interrupt me, or I might not be able to finish.” She looked up at him. “I’ve never talked to anybody about all of this, you have to understand that.” He nodded and she continued.

“The driver’s license you found, that was from... before. That’s my real name, Elizabeth Anne Summers. I changed it when I moved here. When I was little, my parents called me Bethy. My little sister couldn’t say that, so she said Buffy. That’s how I got the nickname.” She paused for a moment, not sure how to go on.

“Have you ever heard of Summers Inc.?” Spike nodded. The company was one of the most well known in California, and had everything from hotels to oil rigs. “My dad was Hank Summers.” She let the news sink in for a moment.

“His father, my grandfather, Charles Summers, started Summers Inc. over fifty years ago. My dad inherited the company when his parents died in a plane crash in 1975. That was before I was born. Now I own it.” The meaning of what she had just said hit Spike. He had known that she had money, but had never imagined this.

“I was born in LA. When I was five, my little sister Dawn was born. The summer when I was seven, our nanny had to leave, so my mom took me and Dawn to work every day. She owned an art gallery. One day, she needed to go to the bank for something, I don’t remember what. Of course, me and Dawn went with her.” She turned to him again. “Have you heard about the robbery of the First Bank of California in LA in 85?”

“Yeah. The robbers took the entire bank hostage and killed most of them, right?” She nodded.

“I was there.” She had to stop for a moment, tears threatening to choke her. He wiped away some of the tears and kissed her, trying to calm her.

“We were standing in a line, me and mom and Dawnie, when the robbers came in. They told everyone to lie down on the floor, so we did. Mom put me and Dawn behind her, trying to shield us with her body. I don’t remember a lot of what happened, except for the crash when something came through one of the windows, I think it was the police storming the building. That’s when they started shooting.” Elizabeth closed her eyes as images of that day came back to her. The screams, the loud gunfire, the blood. She took a shivering breath before continuing.

“I was shot twice, here.” She paused as he gently touched the scars below her right shoulder and placed a kiss on each of the bullet shaped scars. “My mom and Dawnie... they didn’t make it. Dawnie was two years old.” Spike pulled her closer, trying to show her that he was there for her.

“After that, my dad and I moved to Sunnydale, there were just too many memories in LA and everything was good. I went to school, met new people, made new friends. Life went on. I started high school and met Angel. He was a sophomore, I was a freshman. We started dating. He was my first love and I thought we’d always be together. He graduated from Sunnydale high and went to UCS, so we could still be together. My dad was working a lot, he always did. It was his way of dealing with mom and Dawnie. For my eighteenth birthday, he was going to make up to me that he had been gone so much, so we rented a cabin in the mountains. It was beautiful.” She smiled a little at the memory.

“We had a couple of great days, skiing, hiking in the mountains, just spending time together. The last night there, I woke up at four in the morning. At first I didn’t know why I had woken up, but then I saw the fire. It was everywhere, including my bed. I managed to climb out through the window and the snow outside put out the fire that had spread to my pajama pants. I still got burns, though, they’ll never go away completely.” He remembered the scar on her thigh, imagining the pain the fire must have brought her.

“When I got out, I could see that the entire cabin was on fire. I ran to the neighbor and called 911, but by the time the firemen got there, there was nothing they could do. They found my dad in his bed. He hadn’t even woken up.” She dried the tears that had made their way down her face.

“I went back home. Since I was eighteen, I could stay on my own, and Angel moved into the house too. My dad had set up a fund in his will that gave me enough money to live, and when I turned 21 I would get everything. Things got back to somewhat normal. Three months later, we found out I was pregnant. It wasn’t planned or anything, but we were happy. It felt a little like something was given back to me, you know? That everything I had lost wasn’t for nothing, because now I had this.” Elizabeth closed her eyes for a moment, trying to regain control.

“I graduated from high school and ah and I got married. I kept my name since I was the last in my family. My lawyer managed to find some loophole in my dads will, so we got more money every month. In November, our son was born. We called him Connor because Angel’s last name was O’Connor, and Connor got my last mane. He was amazing, and I thought that maybe, this time, things would work out.” She laughed anger in her voice.

“You’d think I’d know better by then. Everything was great. For a while. About three months before Connor’s second birthday, we found out I was pregnant again. It was perfect. A week before Christmas, we went to get a tree. The day before we had found out that the baby was a girl. Angel was so excited, he kept coming up with names on the drive back from the tree lot. We got to an intersection, and stopped for the red light. I woke up three weeks later in a hospital bed. I don’t remember what happened, the last I remember is turning to check on Connor, who was asleep in his car seat behind the driver’s seat, when we stopped for the red light. The police told me what happened. There had been a truck, it hit us on the drivers side... the driver was drunk.” Spike remembered Elizabeth’s comment about not keeping beer in the house, and he understood why.

“I asked for my son, my husband, but the nurses just looked at me sympathetically. Finally, my doctor told me what had happened. They had both been killed instantly when the truck hit our car. I lost the baby, too. Apparently, it was a miracle that I was alive. It felt like a punishment.” She let the tears run freely now, not able to hold them back.

“I spent another two weeks in the hospital before I was discharged. My best friends, Willow and Xander, spent as much time as they could there, trying to cheer me up. But I was dead inside, and I didn’t want to be happy. A couple of days after I got home, my lawyer came to see me. My 21st birthday had been the week before, I hadn’t even realized it, and I was now the owner of my dads company along with our mansion and a beach house in Miami. That’s when I made the decision to leave. I had more money than I could ever spend, so I took it and I left. I came here, got my apartment, and got my job. And just existed for the next five years. That’s all I was doing. Existing. Until I met you. And I’m so scared that something horrible is going to happen, because it always does. I’m so afraid of losing you too.” She turned around in his arms, and he held her as she cried over the past. He felt tears streaming down his own face at the thought of how much she had been forced to deal with in her young life, more than anyone should have to go through in an entire lifetime.

After a while she pulled away, wiping her tears away.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered. “For not telling you sooner. I should have.” He shook his head.

“No, you had to do it in your own time. I understand that.” He kissed away a single tear from her cheek. “And I’m sorry for everything you had to go through. I can’t promise that nothing will ever happen, but I can give you my word that I will do anything to keep you from getting hurt again.” She nodded and let him comfort her, and for the first time in a very long time she felt like maybe she could be happy again.



Epilogue


“Hi baby.” Elizabeth kneeled on the grass and touched the cold tomb stones. “It’s mommy.” She put the bouquet of daisies in the plastic vase next to the smaller stone and looked at the inscription.

Connor Liam Summers
Our little angel
1996-1998

There was a teddybear next to the text. She hadn’t seen the stones before, having still been in a coma on the day of the funeral. When she woke up, it had seemed too painful to go to the cemetery. Angel’s parents had taken care of all the funeral arrangements.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been to see you before. I was in New York; you know where they have all those yellow taxis.” Connor had had a model of a New York taxi; it had been his favorite toy. Elizabeth smiled through the tears at the memory.

“I miss you baby. Every day. And I promise I will come and see you a lot more, OK? We’re gonna live here now, so I’ll see you every day, OK?”

She turned her attention to the larger stone.

Liam ‘Angel’ O’Connor
Darling son
Beloved husband and father
1976-1998

“Hi.” She whispered. “It’s me. It’s been six years today. I’m OK, happy. I’m with someone now; I know you would want that. I’m finally able to live again.”

Spike watched from a small distance, not wanting to disturb her. He heard every word she said, and at the last sentence, he smiled.

Elizabeth had decided it was time for her to face her past. When his father revealed that he had just bought a diner in Sunnydale, Spike took the job as manager. They had come down a week before Christmas so that Elizabeth could go to the cemetery on the day of the accident. They were moving into the old Summer mansion, leaving almost everything behind in New York. He knew that Elizabeth needed this to be able to move on, and he didn’t have anything against the town. In fact, he had found that, the last few weeks before the move, he didn’t feel comfortable in New York anymore. The city felt too big, with too many people and too much noise. So he was happy with the move.

“Buffy?” Elizabeth looked up at the sound, and Spike followed her eyes. A few feet away a red headed woman was standing, a bouquet of white roses in her hand. “Is it really you?”

“Willow?” Elizabeth got off the ground and threw herself into the arms of her friend who hugged her back just as desperately. After a few moments they pulled back.

“Is it you?” Willow asked again, not quite believing her eyes. Elizabeth nodded.

“It’s me. I’m so sorry I didn’t... I just had to...” Willow saw her friend’s tears and pulled her back into an embrace.

“It’s OK sweetie, I understand.” She stroked Elizabeth’s hair, joining in her tears. “We all do.”

“Xander?” Elizabeth got out through the sobs.

“He’s fine, everyone’s fine.” Willow pulled away a little, putting an arm around Elizabeth’s shoulder and leading her away from the graves. Spike quietly nodded at the woman, who smiled a greeting. He led the way to a table he’d seen earlier, and Elizabeth and Willow sat down.

“How are you?” Willow examined Elizabeth’s tear streaked face.

“I’m good.” At Willow’s doubtful face, she smiled. “Really. I’m good, very good.” She looked at Spike, who was leaning against the table next to her. He took one of her hands in his and gave it an encouraging squeeze. “This is Spike, my fiancée. Spike, Willow.” She introduced.

“Really? That’s great, I’m so happy for you.” Willow gave her friend another hug. “How long have you been together?”

“Only about a year. We’re getting married in June.” Elizabeth smiled at her best friend. “Here. And I would be so happy if you would be my maid of honor.”

“I’d love to!” Willow said excitedly. “Does that mean you’re moving back here?”

“Yeah, we are...”

Spike decided to leave the two old friends alone, and wandered back through the cemetery, stopping in front of the gravestones they had left a few minutes earlier.

“I’ll do everything to make her happy, mate. I promise.”





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