Chapter 2
September 25, 2001
"How long?" Dawn asked quietly. She was pretty sure that the little incident in the foyer was the first time the blonde couple had done anything like that before.
Buffy turned to her little sister and said just as quietly, "Since that first Halloween when we all turned into our costumes."
"What? I think we would remember something like that, Buffy," Xander sputtered. He attempted to move towards the Slayer and the vampire, but he was stopped when Anya grabbed his arm.
"Not if someone did a spell to break the claim and make us forget about it, Xander," Buffy announced, "It's also why we all hated Spike so much. They did several spells on all of us."
"They who, Buffy?" Willow asked, but she had a niggling in the back of her mind that she knew exactly who had cast the spells. Back then there were only one or two people capable of casting such powerful spells, and she knew she wasn't one of them.
"I think it'd be easier if we found a reversal spell and you guys remembered for yourselves," Buffy answered. She smiled up at Spike who grinned back at her as he pulled her close against his side.
"I don't think I have the ingredients to do a reversal spell here. Not to mention, finding the right one," Willow said as she racked her brain trying to remember what she had stashed around the house. "I think we should go to the Magic Box."
"You came back from that hell dimension wrong, didn't you, Buffy?" Xander accused the Slayer. The other Scoobies rushed to admonish him, but he ignored them and glared at Spike as if the vampire was directly responsible.
"I wasn't in Hell, Xander," Buffy whispered. She leaned into her mate as she felt him mentally soothe her. Buffy knew Spike's memories wouldn't totally return until the reversal spell was cast, but his total acceptance of what she now knew to be the truth went a long way in boosting her self-confidence.
"So you were in heaven?" Dawn asked gently. She moved to the other side of Buffy and put her hand on her skittish sister's shoulder.
"No, I was in ... I guess, a limbo where I suddenly knew things." Buffy closed her eyes as she rubbed her face with the hand that wasn't attached to Spike's.
"I don't understand. If the spell was meant to break the claim, how..." Dawn began to ask. She dragged her eyes away from her sister and the vampire as Anya interrupted her.
"Not all claims are the same," Anya announced. She shrugged when Xander and Willow gave her a strange look. "Look, I was an 1100 year old vengeance demon. I know things. It's not my fault you all treat me like I'm stupid just because I'd rather talk about money and orgasms."
"Is that what happened guys?" Dawn questioned. She looked again at Buffy and Spike.
"Yes, Nibblet. They never asked what kind of claim we did." Spike smiled down at his blond mate and tightened his arm even harder around her. "The spell covered it, but it couldn't break it." Different bits of memory returned to him. He wanted to know the whole story, and he wasn't about to wait for the Scoobies to talk the situation to death. He wanted action. "Okay, let's get to the Magic Box and get this over with."
Spike, Buffy and Dawn moved into the foyer. When Dawn opened the door she gave out a little shriek. The entire gang moved into the hallway from the living room to see what frightened the teenager. Standing there, ready to knock on the door, was Cordelia Chase. Cordelia opened her fist and gave the group a little wave.
"Hi guys. I ... um ... I had a vision that Buffy was alive and that there was some weird mojo going on up here in Sunnydale," the ex-cheerleader announced.
"Ya, we found out that Spike and Buffy got together and did the horizontal mambo back when Ethan Rayne did that spell on Halloween," Xander screeched. He moved towards the vampire in question, but he was held back by Anya and Willow.
"It was more than that, Whelp. Vamps don't go claimin' everyone they shag," Spike barked, "Now let's get a move on it. Darkness is burning and we've a spell to break." Spike hustled Buffy and Dawn out the door and towards the Magic Box, not caring if the others followed or not.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Okay, okay, I think this is the best one we can find. It's very similar to the one I used to break the 'My Will Be Done' spell," Willow announced. She studied the big tome on the table in front of her. Suddenly the crack of thunder was heard and lightening flashed through the sky. The lights flickered off and on several times before settling off.
"Anyone besides me gotta light?" Spike asked. The sound of several cigarette lighters was heard in the room, and the flickering flames cast weird shadows into the room.
"Reminds me a bit of the cheeseman dream," Willow muttered.
"I have some flashlights behind the counter for just such emergencies." Anya hurried over to the counter and began to rummage around behind it. She emerged a few minutes later with flashlights in each hand. Anya handed one to Buffy and the other to Willow.
"Okay, here goes nothing. 'Let the healing power begin. Let the spells bound upon these persons be removed: Willow Rosenburg, Alexander Harris, Cordelia Chase, William the Bloody, Rupert Giles, Angelus, Dawn Summers, and Daniel Osbourne. As these words of peace are spoken, let this harmful spell be broken." Willow finished the spell. The memories rushed back to the group.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
October 31, 1997
The door of the warehouse burst open, and two teenage girls spilled into the building. Spike didn't recognize the brunette, but he knew the redheaded girl was his mate's friend. He smirked at the girls as he felt Buffy awaken, and her body temperature rise when she became embarrassed.
"Buffy, we have been looking all over for you and here we find you boinking..." Cordelia trailed off as she attempted to identify the hunky male specimen laying next to the Slayer.
"Spike," Willow filled in the blank for Cordelia. She watched in amazement as her embarrassed friend stared at the ground and then at the vampire through her eyelashes, but the Slayer never moved away from him. In fact she seemed to lean into him. That's when Willow realized that the vampire was naked, and she was soon as red as her hair.
"Spike!" Cordelia screeched, "The same Spike that came to the school and caused me to be locked in the closet with you?"
"Yep, that would be him," Willow answered. She gasped when Spike suddenly stood up in all his naked glory. Willow whirled around so she wasn't looking at him. Cordelia, on the other hand, looked the vampire up and down until she heard the Slayer growling at her. Then she turned around, too.
"Is he gonna to kill us now that our backs are turned?" Cordelia asked
"No, he isn't, and keep your eyes off my guy, Cordy." Buffy reached her hand out to Spike who helped her up. The pair began pulling on their clothes, and soon they were dressed.
"We've been looking all over for you, Buffy. The shop where we got our costumes belonged to some old friend of Giles's and that guy did a spell to make us turn into our costumes," Willow informed the Slayer. Once she realized that her friend and the vampire were dressed, she turned to study them. Spike was being a gentleman and buttoning up the back of Buffy's dress. This was something that seemed, at least to Willow, very out of odds for the bad boy persona he exuded.
Cordelia noticed the bite mark on Buffy's neck when the Slayer turned her head to smile shyly at the vampire behind her. "Whoa there, Buffy. What happened to your neck?" Cordelia asked, "I think that's gonna freak Giles out."
Buffy put her hand to her neck and blushed even redder than before as Spike got the biggest grin on his face. Much to Buffy's dismay her mate stuck his thumbs in the waistband of his pants and splayed his outstretched fingers across his groin. She reached back to smack him on the arm when she realized that Willow was embarrassed again, and Cordelia was enjoying the show.
"Suppose we should go check in with Giles." A thought occured to Buffy before she moved towards the door. "Oh no, Dawn got her costume from the shop, too. Do either of you know who's group she was in?" Buffy asked Willow and Cordelia anxiously.
"Who's Dawn, luv?"
"My pain in the butt little sister. She dressed up as a furry little gremlin creature. Last time I saw her was at the high school." Buffy snapped her fingers as she remembered who Dawn had been with. "She was in Jonathon's group."
"It's okay, Buffy. She's already back at the school with Giles," Willow assured Buffy.
The group of four moved out of the warehouse into the street. Buffy grabbed Spike's arm as the walked down the street. They skirted a van parked in the alley before the service door of the Bronze banged open, and the sound echoed off the buildings.
A short redheaded boy slipped out the door, his arms full of stereo equipment. He set the load in the van. It was then that he noticed the foursome standing next to his van.
"Hey Cordelia," he greeted the cheerleader amiably, "Who's your friends?" The boy's eyes lighted on Willow and refused to move.
"Hey Oz. This is Willow and Buffy. The 80's reject is Spike. Guys, this is Oz. He's the lead guitarist for Dingos Ate My Baby," Cordelia introduced the others. Willow and Buffy gave little waves while Spike just arched an eyebrow and dug around in his pockets for his cigarettes and lighter.
"Hey, need a ride?" Oz asked. He moved to the open door of the Bronze, closed it and then closed the van door.
"You two go ahead," Buffy told Willow and Cordelia, "I think Spike and I need to talk before we get there. So we'll walk." The other two teenage girls nodded, and they climbed into the van with Oz. The Slayer and the vampire watched the van pull away.
Now that the others were gone, Buffy was a bit nervous. Things had happened in the warehouse so fast. She hadn't had time to analyze her actions yet. Buffy played with her necklace as she watched Spike finish his cigarette, drop it on the ground, and use the heel of his boot to ground it out.
"What happened in there, Spike? What was with the sex and the biting? Why the hell did I understand what you growled at me?"
"Thought I was goin' to shag you and drain you, Slayer. The set up was perfect, but then ... I don't know what happened. For some reason my demon and I wanted more. Maybe it was because you weren't scared of me before or after you got your memories back." Spike watched the young girl beside him process what he had said.
"You have never scared me, Spike, not even before mom thumped you with the axe. So where do we go from here?" Buffy asked. She noticed that they had started walking towards the high school without even realizing it.
"Haven't a bloody clue, luv. I don't think that a master vampire mating with a Slayer is in the Slayer soddin' brochure, right along with Slayers with friends and family. You, my luscious peach, are one of a kind," Spike muttered. He stopped up short when they reached the outer doors of the school.
"You're not playing with me are you? I don't think I could handle that," Buffy whispered. She looked down at her the flounce of her skirt. She didn't want to see the look on Spike's face if he was just using this to get close to her for some other evil purpose. Buffy eeped when Spike grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him, enclosing her in his arms.
"No, pet, mating isn't playing with someone. Vampires are very serious when it comes to taking a mate, and ours was no normal claiming, Slayer. Humans say 'until death do us part' ... won't be happening with us." Spike buried his face in Buffy's hair, inhaling sharply to memorize her scent. "The claim we initiated was an Eternity claim, pet. You are mine even after we die or dust as the case may be."
"Mine forever? Never leave me?" Buffy asked, her voice uncertain. She leaned into the vampire, and she hugged him tightly.
"Forever, luv. Never leave you willingly. I'll always return to you, no matter what," Spike vowed solemnly. The magic of the vow zipped through the couple, neither of them realized how important it would be in the future.
"Okay, we better go inside. I'm sure everyone will be waiting to pounce on us. Giles and Angel won't be happy, you know," Buffy muttered. She pulled away from Spike to open the heavy door into the school.
"Let 'em be unhappy. We belong to each other. There's nothing they can do to tear us apart, luv." Spike smiled. For once Spike felt secure that his Grandsire couldn't interfere. He brushed the back of his hand down Buffy's cheek in reassurance. Spike continued the path down her neck, where he brushed his claim mark, and was he pleased with her shudder of pleasure. Then he moved on across her shoulder, gracing his fingers down Buffy's arm until he captured her hand in his.
The two supernatural beings strolled down the school hallways, their hands entwined. When they got to the library, Buffy stopped to take a big breath, before she pushed the swinging doors open.
"Buffy, you're okay." Dawn rushed to give her sister a hug. When the spell had broken, the little girl had been quite frightened, and she was grateful when her sister's Watcher found her.
"I'm fine, Dawnie. Spike found me and took good care of me," Buffy assured her little sister as she hugged her in return.
"So you're Spike, huh? Buffy was right. You are a hottie," Dawn exclaimed, much to her sister's embarrassment. "Well, you didn't tell me it was a secret!" Dawn flounced off as only a prepubescent girl can and flopped into a chair at the research table.
Spike chuckled, and he curled his tongue behind his upper teeth. It was nice to know he hadn't been the only one affected by the prior fight between himself and the petite Slayer. Spike lead Buffy over to the table, and pulled a chair out for her to sit in. Once the Slayer was setttled into her chair, he sat between the two Summers's girls. Spike leaned in and whispered to Dawn, "I think your sis is a hottie, too."
Growling from the other vampire in the room, interrupted anything else that Spike was going to say to Dawn. He was about to open his mouth to say something when he felt Buffy's small warm hand on his arm. Spike looked at her pleading face, and knew he was already Slayer-whipped so he just settled for saying, "You got something to say, Peaches. Spit it out."
"What kind of sick game are you playing?" Angel growled. He stood in the shadows, arms crossed, and glowered at his grandchilde.
"I don't play sick games, Angelus. You seem to have mistaken me for yourself," Spike announced. He felt the waves of calming vibes from his mate flow through him.
"You had sex with her. I can smell it from here, and you bit her. What else could it be other than a sick game?" Angel asked, his voice getting more irate.
"I did more than bite her. I made her mine. Nothing is going to change that." Spike smiled down at his mate. He ghosted his hand across Buffy's cheek as she returned his smile.
"What about Dru, William?" Angel questioned. He didn't like what he was seeing, but unless Buffy allowed him to take over the claim he wasn't sure he could do anything about it. So at this point, all Angel had to work with was his words.
"What about Dru?" Spike questioned back, sarcastically, "She was never my mate. Her heart's reserved for one vampire only, and that's you. If you are so bloody concerned about her, you'll find her at the factory."
"I will not have my Slayer wooed by an evil, soulless demon," Giles snarled. When Willow and Cordelia had shown up with Oz a few minutes earlier and announced that they had found Buffy with Spike in a warehouse, Giles's heart fell. It was one thing for her to be involved with Angel, at least he had a soul. Now knowing his Slayer was now connected to Spike in such a base manner, Giles knew he needed to break the connection as soon as possible.
"The wooing's already done, Giles. Spike issued his death threat. I issued mine back. We fought, and found each other..."
Giles interrupted Buffy before she could finish her thought, "This will not do, Buffy. The Council does not condone such behavior from the Slayers."
"I don't care what the Council condones, Giles. I picked Spike for my mate. I can see something in him that makes him different than the other vampires I have come across." Buffy jumped to her feet, knocking over the chair she had been sitting in. "He never hid who or what he was, unlike some people in this room. Come on, Dawn, we need to get you home." Buffy grabbed Spike's arm, pulled him out of his chair, and left out the library doors.
Dawn glared at Giles and Angel before she too left the library. The rest of the Scoobies took in the fierce expressions on the two older men's faces, and they decided that leaving was the best thing for them, too. They all hurried to catch up to Spike, Buffy and Dawn. If the Scoobies were surprised at how happy Buffy appeared to be with Spike, none of them let on. In fact, they all gladly piled into Oz's van and went to Buffy's house for a post-Halloween get together. Luckily for them, Joyce had a showing that night at the art gallery. So Spike's presence didn't need to be explained.
The next week proved interesting, to say the least, for the Scooby gang. They were each surprised to find that Spike could be as charming as he could be evil. This surprised them more than once about by differences in the two master vampires in their midst.
While Angel continued to brood and lurk in the shadows, Spike somehow managed to sway each of the Scoobies into his corner. With his mate and her younger sister, it was the easy way he seemed to fit into their lives that struck a chord in everyone. In the evenings, just after dark, Spike would show up at the library to visit with Buffy. He helped Dawn with her homework, and soon he had several nicknames for the young girl, including: Nibblet, Platelet, and Bit. Then, he sparred with Buffy. He pointed out her weak spots, and he helping her correct them.
With the other two Scooby girls, their acceptance came when several vampires attacked the library while Willow and Cordelia were there alone, studying for a test. Spike was early for his usual meeting with the Summers girls when he came upon Willow and Cordelia holding off a gang of vamps with crosses and crossbows. Spike jumped into the fray with wild abandon, dusting the minions left and right until he got to the last one. This last one he held by the throat, and he issued an order.
"Tell all the vamps in town that the Slayer and her friends are protected by William the Bloody. They are not to be touched," Spike growled. He threw the minion towards the library doors. It scrambled away, and ran for its life. "You two girls gonna be alright?"
Willow and Cordelia both nodded before heaving sighs. They threw their weapons down on the table before returning to their studies. Spike prowled the library, brassed off that minions had dared to touch those who belonged to him and the Slayer.
With Xander, the acceptance came one evening at the Bronze. Buffy and Dawn were having dinner out with their mom, so Spike went out for a quiet drink away from his Sire and minions. He had been sitting quietly at the bar, sipping on a beer, when he noticed that Xander was playing pool by himself. Before Spike could stand up to join Xander, five of the jocks came over to harrass the boy. Spike watched with grudging admiration as Xander attempted to stand up to the jocks, all of whom were bigger and stronger than him. That's when Spike knew why Buffy kept the Whelp around. What the boy lacked in strength and brains, he made up in courage.
Spike sauntered over to the pool table. "Hey, Harris, glad you kept the table warm," Spike drawled. He faced a nearby table, set down his beer mug and took off his duster.
"Nice coat, dude. Think I'll take it after we beat you to a pulp," one of the jocks announced.
Spike went into game face, and he whirled on the unsuspecting teenager. "Like to see you try."
The jocks all screamed like little girls. They fell over themselves trying to get away from the scary, deformed man. The rest of the people congregated at the Bronze laughed at the sight, and the next day the jock's credibility took a nose dive as the tale of their hilarious retreat was told and retold around the high school.
"So, wanna play, Harris?" Spike asked. That's what Willow, Cordelia and Oz found the master vampire and the teenager doing ten minutes later; playing pool and trading half-hearted insults.
While all this bonding was going on, little did the Slayer, her vampire and the Scoobies know there was plotting going on between the other vampire and the Watcher. Giles had scoured his magic books looking for a spell to break the claim. As he watched the growing comeraderie between Spike and the teenagers, he also began to look for a forgetting spell combined with a hatred spell.
~~~~~~~~~~~
September 25, 2001
"Bloody Hell. Well, that explains why I couldn't keep away from Sunnyhell and Buffy," Spike exclaimed. He pulled the cigarettes from his pocket, but his hands were trembling so badly he couldn't get one out of the pack. Spike watched with love glazed eyes as his mate calmly took the pack, tapped out a single cigarette, and handed it to him. He leaned into her as she flicked his Zippo. Once the cigarette was lit, he took a few calming puffs.
"What do you mean, Spike?" Willow asked. Each person had gotten their portion of memories, but she was unclear what he was talking about. Her gasp was lost among the others when Spike's eyes lit upon the petite Slayer, all of his love showing for the first time.
"Made a vow to never leave her, always return to her and because of the claim I was bound to keep it," Spike whispered. His hand reached out to ghost Buffy's cheek. Spike smiled slightly as her luminious hazel eyes shined up at him in the glow of the flashlights.
"We've read about claims. No where did it say anything about that," Willow exclaimed.
"I told you back at the house not all claims are the same, didn't I?" Anya jumped up and flounced over to the bookcase. She touched a hidden button, and a secret panel popped open. She reached in to remove a big leather covered tome. "We got this book in a shipment a few months ago. I was worried Giles would destroy it, so I hid it from him. It was actually written by a vampire several centuries ago. So I am pretty sure the information is accurate."
"Do you get many things that you hide from Giles?" Dawn asked, intrigued by the secret panel now.
"This was the first thing, actually." Anya flipped through a few pages, studying the words carefully under the glare of the flashlight, "Ah-ha, here it is. 'One claim is held above all others. It is known as the Eternity claim. Vampires initiate such a claim because they hold their mate to be equal, and in such high regard, that they wish to extend the claim to reach beyond dust. One of the most common aspects of the Eternity claim is that when one mate vows something to the other, not even death can break the vow.'"
"So if this claim thingie means that mates follow each other into death, why didn't Spike dust himself when Buffy did her swandive?" Cordelia asked.
"Because he vowed to protect Dawn until the end of the world," Buffy whispered as her love filled eyes stared into Spike's. She gave a dry little chuckle before continuing, "Explains a whole hell of a lot, too." She explained all the pieces of the puzzle from the last two years that now fit. "The way we have always has some sorta innate communication, the way that the only time I have staked Spike and he let me was when he was protected, and the way Willow's little spell mess up made us feel complete. Of course there's also the insane jealousy over our 'significant others'. Although on my part I thought my jealousy of Dru was because of Angel and I hated Harmony in life. Her being a vampire just heightened the hate."
"I was so pissed when I discovered Peaches'd returned from Hell that first time I came back. Dru knew, maybe not conciously, but she knew. Nattered on about how I was covered by the Slayer, that Buffy was floatin' all around me. She kept asking me why I couldn't push her away." Spike arched an eyebrow in memory.
The group sat in silence until Xander finally said in total disbelif, "I can't believe I was friends with Captain Peroxide here."
The lights popped on just at that moment. It caused the room's occupants to jump just a little, including the vampire. The phone rang. After a minute the answering machine turned on, and a familar voice filled the Magic Box.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
In the Season 2 memories, I am including Dawn, because the monks were damned good. And I am not ignoring Lie To Me, just pushing it back a little along the timeline. And as always, Thanks to my wonderful beta, Tasha. If you havent read her story Duty and Destiny, you should. It's fab!!