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Author's Chapter Notes:
This is the final chapter of Book One. I will be starting Book Two straight away. I'd like to thank everyone who has supported me during the writing of this story. I have to thank Tam from her wonderful beta skills and Karyn for her brilliant banners. I must mention Maryperk who has always been there for me and whose love and friendship have meant more to me than I can say. A special mention must go to Redwolf50...it was his challenge. The details of the challenge itself will be posted at the completion of the series. Thank you all again, I can't begin to tell you what your kind words have meant to me.

The bonding Ritual used here is a slightly altered version of an ancient wiccan bonding ritual that I changed to fit the scene. The wiccan ritual was based on an even older Egyption celebration re-enacting the union of Hathor and Horus.
Chapter 51

“You know that none of this is gonna happen, right? I mean, after my, um, our birthday, will you even remember it?” Buffy asked curiously, really not understanding the reason her older self had chosen to tell her about the whole Angel and sex is a seriously bad thing.

“I remember having this conversation now, so that means that even though it won’t happen, we’ll always remember how evil Angelus is,” Joan tried to explain her reasoning. “I also had another reason.”

Buffy considered the older blonde suspiciously. She had a feeling she wasn’t going to like what she was about to hear, but knew that Joan was going to say it anyway. “Okay…spill.”

“William and I have never, um, well, made love and I, ah, want to kinda change that on my birthday. I want to be able to bask for a while…you know? I was hoping that you and Spike would hold off for a while; that way both of us get to experience our first time with our vamp.” Joan blushed as she spoke, really not comfortable with the subject, even if, technically, she was talking to herself.

Buffy giggled in response, relieved that it wasn’t anything bad.

“Chill, it’s fine. Spike and I are so not ready to get horizontal. Feel free to bask in the salty goodness that is William…but, um, let’s not share…’Kay? ‘Cause - uber weird!”

~*~*~

Unbeknownst to William, Joan made all the arrangements. After the joint birthday party at Revello, Spike would stay at Giles’. She asked her mother to send William on a last minute errand so she could set up the bedroom. All that would be needed when they returned was for Joan to light the candles.

~*~*~

Joan stopped at the door to their bedroom and turned to her love. “I spoke to Wolfie and he told me about the ritual,” she quietly told him, blushing at her own forwardness.

William tilted his head to the side and smiled gently. “What ritual, pet?”

Opening the door so that he could see the prepared bedroom, Joan whispered her answer, “The bonding ritual to become mates.”

The room was awash with the muted light of tall, vanilla scented pillar candles. The black satin sheets stood in stark contrast to the blood red rose petals that littered the bed in decadent beauty. A soft melody emanated from the stereo.

The vision of love and seduction that the room symbolized was lost on the pure vampire. All he could see was his love and all he could hear were her words. His eyes darkened in desire as he reached to gently caress her cheek. “Are you sure, luv? There’s no going back from this, you know?”

Smiling softly she answered him, “I love you, and I want this more than anything. I only have one request.”

Drawing her into his embrace, he asked her what she wanted.

“Tonight we’re alone. Tonight we’re ourselves. Buffy and Spike.”

“Buffy,” he murmured reverently before claiming her lips as he had already claimed her heart.

Moving further into the room they slowly and silently undressed each other. Two sets of eyes darkened with desire. Spike changed guises, his wings billowing dramatically. Golden orbs looked down on pools of ocean green.

With his first word they felt the faint tendrils of eternal earth magic surround them. “I claim you as my eternal mate. I belong to you. I offer my life for you. I give to you my protection, my allegiance, my heart, my soul, and my body. I take into my keeping the same that is yours. Your life, happiness, and welfare will be cherished and placed above my own for all time. You are my mate, bound to me for all eternity and always in my care.”

“Yours, eternally; as you are mine. I belong to you. I offer my life for you. I give to you my protection, my allegiance, my heart, my soul, and my body. I take into my keeping the same that is yours. Your life, happiness, and welfare will be cherished and placed above my own for all time. You are my mate, bound to me for all eternity and always in my care.” Buffy returned the claim fully.

“Eternally, yours.”

With the completion of the ritual words, Buffy offered her neck.

Spike drew her pliant form to him, laving her neck with soft swipes of his tongue, gentle licks and soft nibbles, slowing pulling her blood to the surface to her symphony of pleasure-filled moans. His hands drifted up and down her sides in lazy strokes, stoking the fire within them both. As she lifted her arms to encircle his neck, his hands rose to firmly grasp her shoulders. His wings embraced her as his razor sharp fangs sank home.

As his first mouthful of warm liquid ambrosia was swallowed, Spike was pleasantly surprised and aroused as hell to feel his mate decimate Drucilla’s mark with her own strong bite.

After three strong pulls of each others blood, their stained lips met. Carefully slicing her tongue on his fangs, Buffy moved back to her mark and licked it, sealing the bond. Spike moved to do the same.

As their combined blood mixed, the marks closed and both felt the bond snap into place. Their lips met to complete the ritual. Wind whipped around them, lifting them from the floor and gently spinning them as swirling bright pin points of lights caressed their bodies. The lights faded as the magic and wind receded and the newly mated pair drifted back to the floor.

Without releasing her lips, Spike shifted back to human guise, lifted his mate into the cradle of his arms, and moved towards the bed.

Mouths fused together in passion, they fell onto the bed together. Soft silk sheets combined with the velvet touch of the rose petals teased the nerve endings of Buffy’s already sensitized flesh.

Limbs intertwined until it was impossible to tell where one started and the other stopped. Each touch elicited a heightening of their inner fire. A need to be joined completely compelled them both.

Buffy reached for his turgid length. “I need…Spike, please…” she begged almost incoherently.

Spike covered her face in kisses as he moved to cover her. “I need you, too, my goddess, my beautiful golden girl.”

As he entered her, Buffy was overwhelmed with the feeling of completion. He filled her in a way that no other man had. Angel, Parker and Riley faded into obscurity; a forgotten memory.

“Oh, God…you’re so tight…and warm…you’re burning me up, kitten,” he whispered reverently as he started to move within her. “You feel like home.”

Buffy moaned in agreement; her body matching him thrust for thrust, mentally berating herself for waiting so long. This was heaven; she felt warm, safe, loved.

She reached for his lips, desperate for more of his bone melting kisses. The intensity of their coupling soared, at odds with the sensuously slow pace they maintained.

Breaking free from his sinfully soft lips to breath, Buffy kissed along his jaw to his neck, licking, sucking and nibbling her mark.

Spike purred in delight, before moving to his own mark and showing her exactly what she was doing to him, all the while keeping up the slow rhythm of his strokes.

With each swipe of his tongue, each gentle suck on his mark, her passion intensified and her inner fire reached new heights. With his gentle bite, she felt her world explode around her, automatically biting down on her mark and bringing on his own powerful release.

Moments of euphoria seemed like hours as they basked in the aftermath of their combined orgasm. Shifting slightly to the side, Spike drew his love into his firm embrace and softly kissed her lips. “I love you, Buffy.”

“I love you, too, Spike.”

As they moved together, their passion renewed, Buffy was struck with an irrelevant thought, ‘guess that breaks the Buffy birthday curse once and for all.’

~*~*~

The next few weeks flew by. Sadly, they had not been quick enough to stop Oz from being bitten by his cousin, but at least this time they had been able to tell him what was going to happen before he changed for the first time. This meant that he was safely within the library cage when the full moon rose, and the werewolf hunter was never alerted to his presence.

Joan and William had a permanent cage built in their basement, giving Oz a place to go that wasn’t quite as public as the library. Joan warned him about Veruca and told him of his future self’s journey to Nepal to gain some control over his wolf. Willow was his staunchest supporter, helping research his condition and all the possible avenues of help that he could utilise.

When Xander told the group that he’d witnessed Amy’s use of magic, Joan suggested an intervention of sorts; inviting the young witch to join Willow and Jonathon in their magic lessons with Jenny. The senior Slayer fervently hoped that all three witches would learn at least that magic had consequences.

Jenny informed Giles that she would be following Angel to L.A. when he finally moved there and Joan suggested that the watcher contact his old friend Althanea to arrange for a mentor. She argued that if the new teacher came soon, the three witches would have just over a year to learn to trust their new advisor. She was terrified that the loss of their teacher would have a detrimental effect on trio.

Jenny’s decision left Giles at a bit of a loss, but his developing friendship with Joyce allowed him to weather the break-up with the Gypsy with far less grief than Joan’s Giles had.

William spent much of his time with Wolfie and his wife, learning how to utilize his new skills and powers.

When Buffy was hospitalized with the flu, she was able to recover in peace as Joan and William dealt with der Kindestod, and Spike stayed by her side.

Life on the Hellmouth ran relatively smoothly, until Sadie Hawkin’s day and the arrival of the ghosts of James and Grace...and Angel.

~*~*~

Buffy walked into the kitchen, happy to leave all discussion of the ghosts that were inhabiting the school to her older self. At least Joan knew what was going on. As she grabbed a soda from the fridge, she thought about the tragedy of the love story. She could kind of understand where Grace was coming from, being in a relationship with someone that the world considered wrong for you. She knew without a doubt that the Council would never approve of her relationship with Spike, even if they knew that he was totally on the side of good. Bottom line; he was a vampire and she was a vampire slayer.

Try as she might, she couldn’t understand James. He had killed the woman he loved because she broke off with him. That was a selfish kind of love, wasn’t it?

As she continued to think about things, she absentmindedly placed her hands in her pockets and felt the scrape of paper. Lifting it out she saw it was a Class of '55 Sadie Hawkins Dance flyer. Placing the flyer on the kitchen counter she felt overcome by lethargy as a faint female voice whispered to her, ‘I need you.’

Moving like an automaton out the kitchen door she neither saw nor heard the three that followed her.

As she reached the school, the swarm of wasps that had covered it parted and the doors opened for her. She didn’t notice Joan, William, and Spike darting in behind her at supernatural speed.

Joan had wondered which of them the spirits would approach, but given that she was mated to William she had believed it more likely that Buffy would be called. Her only fear was that since so many changes had been made, things might not go the same way they had for her.

Following her younger self, she realised something else; in her time she’d been taken over by James, but Grace had taken over Angelus. If he wasn’t here, who would be acting in his place?

~*~*~

In front of the school trophy case, a blinding light shone. As it receded, the naked body of a male stirred where he lay.

~*~*~

Joan look on in shock as Angel – a very naked Angel – played out the part of James. Last time, she’d been James. She’d been the one to shot Grace in the body of Angelus. This time Angel would be the one with the gun, and Buffy wasn’t bullet proof!

Crap!

Spike knew he had to let things play out, but it took every ounce of self control not to rip the poof a new one when the bastard grabbed his Buffy as she tried to walk away from him. He knew that Buffy wasn’t in the driver’s seat, but that was only a small solace.

Angel/James took a step back from Buffy/Grace and lifted a revolver, cocked it and aimed. “Love is forever. I'm not afraid to use it, I swear! If I can't be with you...”

“Oh, my God!” Buffy cried as she turned and ran from him.

Spike chased his girl even as Angel screamed at her from behind. “DON'T WALK AWAY FROM ME, BITCH!”

Spike kept as close to Buffy as he dared. With a gun in play, all bets were off.

Joan and William followed Angel as he ran after Buffy onto the balcony, yelling for her to stop; to not make him shoot her.

Buffy begged him to calm down and give her the gun and Angel became more upset, telling her not to patronize him.

The gun seemed to go off on its own.

Spike darted forward, in front of Buffy, taking a bullet in the chest. The power of the blow sent him spinning into Buffy, causing both of them to tumble over the balcony to Buffy’s shocked cry of ‘James’.

Angel silently walked to the edge of the balcony, James only seeing Grace. Closing his eyes in defeat, he walked away.

With William’s assurance that Buffy’s heartbeat was strong, he and Joan followed Angel to the music room.

Buffy/Grace stirred first. Spike’s body had broken her fall.

As Buffy moved away to finish the final scene between the two ghostly lovers,

Spike groaned and pulled himself up. ‘Bloody hell, I hate getting’ shot!’

As he stumbled into the music room Spike witnessed the poignant kiss of two lost lovers.

A bright light appeared in the ceiling as the spirits of James and Grace moved on.

As the light faded, Buffy and Angel opened there eyes and broke their kiss.

“Buffy,” Angel whispered huskily.

“EWWWW! Angel lips! Lips of Angel!” Buffy yelled in disgust as she threw herself away from him.

~*~*~

It was soon discovered that William couldn’t touch Angel without burning him, so it was a very pissed Buffy and Joan that were forced to help the newly returned, weak as a kitten vampire out of the school and back to his apartment.They ordered him to stay there and told him that they would be around to help him recover.

William got Spike home, removed the bullet, and then bandaged him. Buffy arrived after she’d showered to get rid of Angel germs and brushed her teeth several times. She really didn’t want to be stuck with Angel breath while she nursed her guy.

~*~*~

Once everyone had been brought up to date on the events that had transpired, Joan asked the Scoobies to get samples from the school’s steam room. When Willow produced positive results from her tests for contaminants, Joan anonymously sent a copy of the results, a sample, and the internet repost that Jenny had managed to discover relating to experimental steroids the Russians had worked on to the Sunnydale Board of Education, the Police, and Child Protection Services.

She was pleased when Coach Marin was removed and charged. At least this time he didn’t die.

When the statue of Acathla was discovered and brought to the Sunnydale Museum, Joan got Xander to put his new commando skills to use and let him come up with a plan to destroy it.

News of Kendra’s death in Jamaica came on the heels of the successful lets-destroy-the-big-ugly-statue mission. Changing events had ensured that Joan didn’t remember the Island Slayer, but she did remember Faith, and a quick phone call by Giles to the newly called slayer’s watcher warned them of the danger of Kakistos. Joan hoped it would be enough, but just in case it wasn’t, she, William, Buffy, and Spike found and destroyed the Glove of Myhnegon. Gwendolyn Post would just have to find some other way to get her power fix.

The addition of Joan and William into their lives gave Buffy the chance to grow into her calling and to accept it. The long summer gave them all time to learn to work together as a well oiled machine and plan for the upcoming year where they would have to deal with the mayor, a newly healed Angel, and perhaps Faith, but at least this time, Buffy would not go into her senior year broken.

To be continued in Book Two.





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