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PART 3

2 Days Later

Buffy didn’t know why, but something within her heart told her it was right to come back to Sunnydale, although the only place that was still whole was the beach.
In fact, she had stopped there to have some rest, after arriving at the nearest station to Sunnydale the night before.
“ You are very much the egoist, don’t you know? You saved the world all alone…” she exclaimed, speaking to Spike as he was there with her, crouching at the shore, throwing stones into the water.

***************************************
Spike was taking his first steps in sunlight: his wish had been granted since the very first day, but he, dreading it wasn’t true, had decided to try only that morning, really, really cautiously.
When he had finally assured there were no flames on his body, he had chosen to take a walk in the beach.
He still couldn’t believe he had come back to his existence, he still couldn’t believe that now he could stay in sunlight as much as he pleased… and he couldn’t believe that Nikki had prevented him from leaving Sunnydale.
He began kicking the sand nervously.

< Since when the bloody hell do I take orders from a Slayer .. well.. * another* one? Bugger what she had told me! Why wish me coming back here if I can’t go to her? I’m gonna leave, I’ll sniff the air and I’ll find her, no matter how much time… >

-- You are very much the egoist, don’t you know? …. --

Spike started: that voice.
That voice he would have been able to recognize among thousands of other ones.
It was *her * voice. And she mustn’t have been far from him.
He followed the sound, until he saw her from far, approaching her bit by bit, without making her notice his presence.
Buffy laid there, sitting in front of the sea, her arms wrapping her legs, and she had an absent gaze, staring at a dot on the horizon.
And she was talking to him, nonetheless.
“… I should have been the Champion, not you! After I jumped into a whirlpool of energy from a very high tower, what could have been for me burning alive? Instead, you have sacrificed yourself for all of us, it’s not right!”

Spike couldn’t resist any longer: he wanted to show up.

“ You know what? We have no memories here, we had lots in my house, in your crypt, at the Bronze, at the cemetery… but now all those places are just a mound of rubble… We hadn’t ever had a chat, an argue… or a fight, here. Spike, did you like the sea? I don’t even know, there’s so much I don’t know ‘bout you; but now you’re gone and I miss you so much it hurts, I..”

“ I’m here, pet…”

Buffy started, risking a heart attack.
She turned as slowly as she could, afraid to see no one standing behind her.
Yet, she couldn’t have just imagined it: that was his voice!
When she finally saw him, she got up, not to run into his arms, as he expected.
In fact, the girl gave out a hysterical, sad and empty laughter.
“ Here we go again with the hallucinations! This must be the thirtieth time in two months. I’m seriously going crazy!” she exclaimed.
“ Buffy, it’s me. I’m real…”
“ I don’t know why, but the fact that you are in full sunlight doesn’t convince me that you are real. You are not. You can’t be here. And if I hug you, if I touch you… you’ll fade out…”
“ No, I won’t!”
“ You always do. And I don’t want to delude myself once more. I couldn’t stand it… not this time…” she sobbed, backing off, ready to run away.

But he was faster and he prevented her from doing it, taking her hands.
In her green eyes, now reddened and swollen due to the weeping, he could read all the amazement, the incredulity and most of all the joy she felt, feeling him holding her hands without fading out, as she dreaded.
They stayed that way, without a word for a very long time, but that silence was worth more than thousands words.

“ Buffy, do you believe in miracles? Now I do!” he exclaimed, letting a hand flow through her soft hair.
“ I missed you so much, my Goldilocks!”
“ Spike!” she exclaimed once she regained the ability to talk and utter the words.
“ How can it be? You should be dead, you were dead…”
“ Well, you know me, don’t you? I didn’t stay dead the first time I was killed; why should have I done such a thing the second time?” he smiled, but her expression made him realize that wasn’t the moment to joke.
“ Buffy, I’m here, with you, and I’ll never leave you again! Does it really matter how I managed to come back? Or why I am in the sunlight without burning?”
This time she was the one smiling, shaking her head slowly.
“ No, nothing matters anymore!”
“ Fine, ‘cause you wouldn’t believe me anyway: I have still trouble believing it myself! Let’s just say that …someone up above is rooting for us!” he explained, skimming her hand.
She passed a trembling hand (she was still shocked by the strong emotion) through his hair, going down to his face.
“ Ninety-nine!” she exclaimed, half closing her eyes.
“ Ninety-nine what?”
“ The days you were gone: ninety-eight yesterday, ninety-nine today, except that today doesn’t count, does it?” she said with a sweet smile, quoting purposely the same sentence he used when he had seen her again, after her resurrection.

Spike was more than joyful: not only she had showed him how bad she had missed him and how much he was in her thoughts; but she had also counted the days of his absence.
“ Take two from ninety-eight!” he smiled.
She questioned him with her eyes.
“ The mysterious someone I mentioned before brought me back three days ago and this someone also ordered me not to go looking for you… and now I understand why: you were already coming here!” he explained.
She had said nothing, stroking his face with an unprecedented sweetness.
He had heard her heart racing madly since he had started holding her hands. This news had accelerated its rhythm again, and he was going to increase it even more.
“ Pet, from now on you’ll have to count the years, too!”

TBC





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