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Chapter 8.

“Gotta say...that boy’s got style!” Lorne was the first to break the stunned silence that followed the blond duo’s dramatic exit.

“Hell yeah. Way to make a statement Spike!” Cordy added appreciatively.

“Nobody pisses him off quite like Buffy,” Dawn grinned at the group.

“Yes...well...I suppose we should be discussing some of the things we’ve learned. Perhaps see if we can come up with some suggestion on what to do about Mr. Holtz?” While attempting to pull everyone’s attention away from the two who had just left the room; Giles nervously proceeded to remove and clean his glasses.

“Nuh uh...I’m off to the kitchen to listen in on the dynamic duo!” Cordy replied as she followed words with actions. She was quickly followed by Dawn, Lorne and Anya. Giles, Wesley and Tara watched the mass exodus, looked at each other, then followed quietly after the rest.

*******

Placing his hands at Buffy’s waist, Spike lifted her up off his shoulder and carefully set her down to stand in front of him. Taking a step back, he crossed his arms and waited. His expression set, grim with determination.

Buffy quietly allowed herself to be manhandled. Head down, hands behind her back, one foot shyly kicking at the dust on the floor. Buffy looked up at him through her eyelashes. She flinched slightly at the look on his face. ‘It’s definitely time to pull out the big guns’, she thought to herself.

Buffy pouted.

Spike narrowed his eyes.

Buffy opened her beautiful green eye’s wide, displaying a picture of sad innocence.

Spike stiffened; his body tense.

Buffy’s bottom lip trembled.

Spike widened his eyes, in panic.

Tears pooled in Buffy’s eyes.

Spike rushed to gather Buffy into his firm embrace, “Come on kitten. Don’t cry…it’s not that bad, we’ll suss it out.”

‘Ha! And she’s still the champ’, Buffy thought, smiling inwardly and snuggling deeper into his comforting embrace. “But pet, if you think ya just got away with that little performance, you got another think comin’!”

Buffy scowled.

*******

“Well they’re definitely not having sex...we’d be able to hear them if they were!” Anya observed.

*******

“Did you mean it?” Spike quietly asked. His voice filled with insecurity.

Buffy leaned back, looking directly into his expressive blue eyes; “With all my heart.” She replied fervently.

Moving out of Spike’s embrace, Buffy held out her hand to him, leading him to his bed to sit down. Leaning against the headboard, he maneuvered her so that she lay within his firm grasp, her head resting comfortably on his chest. “The Powers told me of another consequence to Willow’s spell that I haven’t mentioned yet.” She began hesitantly.

“What’s that, luv?” He asked, cocking his head to the side.

“When Slayers die, they become warrior angels or guardians. When Willow bought me back, she not only bought back Buffy, but the Guardian rather than the Slayer. The main difference between a guardian, that hasn’t accessed their powers and a slayer, is that one’s immortal and the other, isn’t.”

“You’re immortal?” His face inscrutable, as he asked; “And how do you feel about that, pet?”

“Torn. Part of me is sooo angry at Willow. I mean, what if the Powers hadn’t told me…how long would it have taken me to find out? You died Spike: In the battle against the First. You sacrificed yourself so that I could live in the sunshine. We won because of you. You told me to live. What if I had done just that?! Lived the normal life with the normal guy. How long would it have taken to realize he was growing older and I wasn’t aging at all! What emotional damage would there have been.

Then there’s this other part of me, that’s jumping up and down with joy…I have this second chance. I don’t have to live without you; I don’t have to grow old while you stay young. I don’t have to watch you worry about my early expiration date. I get to spend eternity with the man I love.” She smiled shyly at him.

“Say it again.” He whispered huskily, his lips hovering over hers.

“I love you, Spike.” She replied, without hesitation.

“I love you too, Buffy,” and his lips found their way home.

They allowed themselves a few moments to wallow in the soft exploration of their first true kiss. Not magically induced kisses. Not a kiss given in gratitude. But a kiss shared in mutual love. For Buffy, it was a revelation.

Reluctantly pulling back from Buffy’s lips, Spike gently stroked her cheek as he, with adoration clear in his eyes, asked her softly; “So, what now pet?”

“Um…well…there’s still some stuff everyone needs to know, and some decisions that should really be made as a group. Then, after you’ve got all the relevant information, you have to decide whether you want to do this: Actually choose to become my mate. If you say yes, we have to decide when we’re going to do this and what happens after;" Buffy explained, just as quietly.

He took a moment to gaze into her eyes; then, taking an unnecessary breath, he got them both up and stated with finality, “well then, we’d best be off to finish the meeting.” Grabbing her hand, they made their way back upstairs.

*******

“Let me guess…it was the need for fluid refreshment that brought you all in here…and not the desire to hear a private conversation.” Buffy commented dryly, arms folded; eyebrow arched.

“Oh no, I wanted to hear the conversation.” Cordelia replied. Anya shrugged. "I wanted to hear if there were going to be any orgasms. Since I'm not getting any I might as well live through others who are getting them. And from what I've heard in the past, Spike gives very good ones." Anya's blunt remark caused a pause followed by a tension relieving laugh from the rest of the group.

“Come on people, let’s get a move on. Got things to do; a woman to ravish.” Spike leered lasciviously at Buffy.

“Shut up, Spike” Buffy laughed, swatting his arm playfully and heading back into the living room.

“Okay, let’s just recap, shall we.” Buffy looked around the room for agreement. “The Nerds; I know how to deal with them, but Giles can you make a note to get back to me on that. We need to discuss the possibility of helping two of them.” Making a quick note for himself, Giles urged her to continue. “The First – I’ll get back to in a sec. Prophecy baby. Okay, we know its coming; we know Darla will dust herself so the baby can be born...”

“Why would she do that?” Wesley interrupted.

“What? Dust herself?” At Wesley’s nod, Buffy replied. “Could you ask a question that’s harder to explain?” She asked, rhetorically. “Okay...I’ll try...here goes...um...well you see, the baby has a soul, and Darla will start to be affected by it or maybe she already is...um...well anyway, in the end she’ll decide that she loves the baby and she won’t be able to love it without a soul, so she’ll dust herself to protect the baby.” Buffy smiled, as if proud of herself. “Clear, Wes?”

“Oh, yes. Quite.” He assured her.

“Okay. Prophecy baby. Darla dust. Warned you about Holtz. Found solution for time traveling demon. Cordy’s safe. That leaves us the First, Wolfram and Hart and Angel.” Buffy recited, as if ticking off an internal list. “Okay, the First and Wolfram and Hart.”

Taking a moment to clear her thoughts, Buffy began; “To understand this you first have to understand the power structure of all dimensions. Imagine a ladder. Humans are on the first rung. On the next rung up you have supernatural beings; you have your magic users, your seers, your slayers and your demons. On the next rung you have those individuals that can communicate with the powers as well as receive communication; like Whistler or the Oracles. Now you need to go up a couple of rungs and you have the Powers. A few more rungs up and you have the Guardians and finally at the top you have the All Power or the Balance.

It’s important that you realize that the Powers represent good, evil and neutral, and the First and the Senior Partners of Wolfram and Hart are actually part of the evil faction of the Powers. The thing is; evil already has such a large place in this dimension that it was necessary to send me here in order to deal with it.”

“Buffy what are these guardians and All Power?” Giles asked, intrigued.

“Um...well a guardian would be what I am and the All Power what I call boss.” Buffy’s weak smile was greeted with silence.





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