Looking at Dawn’s happy smile, Buffy regretted her decision to invite Spike to stay at the house for what had to be the thousandth time. It was only a matter of time before her sister and the Scoobies would have found out, but she wished she would have had more time to think about what she had done before she had to attempt to explain her actions to them. She didn’t know why she had opened her big mouth! He had already said he was going to stay in his old crypt. So it wasn’t like he was out on the streets! The words had just come out of her mouth before she could even realize what she had said, and now there was no way to take them back.
“I can’t believe you asked him to stay at the house!” Dawn cried happily, obviously pleased with the way things had worked out. She had been so afraid that her sister would throw a fit when she found out that Spike had been invited to the wedding, and now they were going to be living together! It couldn’t have gone better if she had actually planned it that way!
“Dawn, it’s no big!” Buffy insisted her sister’s happy tone grating on her nerves. She knew exactly what Dawn was thinking, and the fact that Spike was staying with her did not even come close to what she was hoping would happen! “He’s a houseguest and nothing more!”
“And nothing more?” she repeated. “Come on, Buffy, I’ve seen how you acted every time I got a letter from him. You missed him, admit it!”
Buffy shifted under her sister’s gaze. Yes, she had missed the annoying, blond vamp, more than she’d like to admit, but she wasn’t going to tell Dawn that! “Sure, I missed him,” she confessed, but then continued quickly after Dawn’s pleased expression, “but as a friend, Dawn. He did a lot for us when Glory was around, and I did come to think of him as a friend. It’s not more than that. Besides, I’m not looking to get involved with anyone, and it’s been eight years. I’m sure he’s found someone else.”
Had he? She asked herself silently. For some reason the idea of Spike moving on hurt. Some of the things he said to her outside had inferred the opposite, but he’d always been hard to read. Just because he sounded like he still cared, didn’t necessarily mean he still did. He hadn’t actually said he did, did he? Buffy rolled her eyes in frustration. Why was she even thinking of this in the first place. Just as she had told Dawn, he was a friend, nothing more!
To Buffy’s surprise, Dawn began to laugh after her last statement. “What?” she asked. This was not exactly the response she had expected.
“Nothing,” Dawn laughed. “It’s just that I know how much you hate to have to eat your words.”
The heat of the jungle was oppressive, not that it bothered him anymore. After the events of the last eight years, very little bothered him anymore. Well, that wasn’t completely true. There was one thing, one person that annoyed him immensely!
He gazed down at the body at his feet. Its breath was coming in heavy gasps, and its body trembled with fear. Not quite dead yet, but it soon would be. He never killed outright, not since those first few clumsy kills. He had found it rather pleasant to watch them lie at his feet and die on their own.
This kill was not as pleasing though. They hadn’t been not for the last five years. He had come to the jungle with only two things on his mind killing some demons and her. At first, it had given him incredible pleasure destroying every demon he had come across all the while it was her face he had pictured in his mind. He hadn’t been there long before he had come on a nest of vamps. He knew what his orders were, but the pull had been too strong. It had been weeks since he had felt the pleasure of being bit. That also being her fault. Hers and that pathetic neutered vamp that had led her to his little hideaway! It was only moments before they were on him. He offered no resistance when their fangs plunged into his body, and it was only a few more moments before he was reborn.
Even though he wasn’t, he had never felt so alive than he had at that moment. His strength had returned, and he felt like his old self again. How did he ever let her convince him to let that doctor reverse what Dr. Walsh has done? Yet another thing he could hate her for. Surely, it was utter jealousy on her part. He had been strong, just as strong as she was, but she had to be the one. The Chosen One. Couldn’t stand to share the spot light!
No one had realized the change when he had returned to the camp. That was until it was too late. He had managed to change his entire company before they even knew what hit them. They had rebelled against him at first, hanging on to the government programmed ideas that vampires were evil. They weren’t evil. They were just superior. He was superior.
He gazed down at the slowly dying boar at his feet. He didn’t feel all that superior at the moment though. It had been a long time since he’d had the satisfaction of human blood. He and his comrades had managed to wipe out every village in a good ten-mile radius. Those they hadn’t managed to plunder had quickly packed up and moved to safer areas. The natives avoided the area at all costs saying it was cursed. He smiled as he remembered the natives whispering about curses and demons, they were right. Demons were among them, but he was far from cursed. He had so much power now. There was no way he was cursed, far from it! This was a blessing if there ever was one!
It had been fairly easy to keep the government aware of there status—not their true status, of course. It had been so easy to keep their true nature a secret from their superiors in Washington. They were their best and brightest. They never thought that anything could have gone wrong with their assignment. Even if the worse had happened, of course, their men would have known their duty and sacrificed their own lives before they would have crossed over to the other side.
It had been and still was so easy to make them believe they were simply continuing their mission. The area was such a hot bed for demon activity that even after eight years, they were still needed in the Amazon to destroy its population. They had no clue that there men had actually become a part of it. Thanks to their still close ties to the government, they could leave at anytime.
Gazing down at the now still body of the boar, Riley knew it was time to return. He would make her pay for everything that she had done. Perhaps, he wouldn’t kill her outright. He could change her, watch her come to the full knowledge of what she had become, let her feel the power she had denied him when she had burned down that warehouse, and just when she came to that realization drive her own stake through her heart. That thought caused him to smile broadly. Yes, that would be wonderful to see! The decision was made. It was definitely time to return to California. But before they arrived in Sunnydale, he had a little business to take care of in Los Angeles.
“Come on, Buffy,” Willow laughed as she attempted to pull her friend from the chair. She had been sitting there sulking for half an hour after she talked to Dawn, but now it was time for her to join in and have some fun “It’s time to catch the bouquet!”
“No, Will,” Buffy shook her head as she was forced to follow Willow and Tara onto the dance floor and join the other girls already assembled there. “I’m too old for this!”
“You’re twenty-eight!” Tara reminded her.
“Technically that’s old for a slayer,” Buffy pointed out.
“And technically, Tara and I aren’t single,” Willow added. “Now quit being a party pooper!”
Willow was right. This was Dawn’s wedding. The least she could do was pretend she was having a good time, rather than sit around obsessing over a vampire that meant nothing to her! Buffy’s thoughts were interrupted as a flash of color went past her eyes and an armful of blossoms were pressed tightly against her chest as she caught the bouquet without even thinking. She looked down at the bouquet. This was so what she did not need. Her mind repeated that fact, as she caught Spike’s glance as he joined the men to fight for a chance to catch the garter.
Buffy watched as the caterers began the slow process of cleaning up after the reception. There were still a few lingering guests chatting in various spots about the room. Dawn and Andrew had long since left, and the rest of the Scoobies hadn’t stayed much longer after the departure of the happy couple. Buffy had chosen to linger for as long as she could really not ready to head home and be alone with Spike. After the garter belt incident she wished that she could think of a way of uninviting him completely, but that would have only emphasized the fact that she had been bothered by the whole incident! Then again, she had every right to be bothered by what had happened!
It was fairly obvious that magic had played a large part in her catching the bouquet. She hadn’t even been paying attention when Dawn had thrown the flowers! Being the Slayer she was able to sense a lot of things other people could not, but sensing danger when a vamp was sneaking up on you was totally different than sensing approaching flora! She had even stood towards the edge of the dance floor leaving the girls who actually wanted a chance at catching the flowers to crowd onto the middle. Dawn had already turned around when Willow and Tara had forced her to join them. Dawn had studied magic for a while with Willow before she had graduated high school. It had not continued for long, mostly due to Buffy’s insisting that after the Glory incident that they should attempt to make what was left of Dawn’s childhood reasonably normal. Her little sister was far from proficient in the craft, but she did have enough knowledge to make sure that Buffy was the one “lucky” enough to catch her bouquet.
It wasn’t much of a surprise that Spike had been the one to catch the garter belt, and Buffy was convinced that magic was involved there also. There had been nothing that she could do about it really other than paint a smile on her face and pretend to enjoy it! What could she do? Insist on a ‘do over’ since her sister had cheated and used magic? That would have gotten her out of it right away, and probably into a nice padded cell. So instead, she had just sat in the chair while the newlyweds’ family had gathered around to watch while Spike had crouched down before her with the garter hanging around his wrist and wrapped his slender fingers about her ankle and pulled off her shoe. She had to admit the feel of his cold fingers grazing her skin had sent a tingle through her body, and she had forced herself to sit still. It had been what had come next that had made her wish they had been alone in his crypt like old times so she could had beat him senseless without disrupting her sister’s wedding day! She knew the tradition was the higher the garter the more good luck the couple would have. Well, if that tradition were true, thanks to Spike, Dawn and Andrew would never have to worry about any bad luck! Her cheeks had flamed impossible shades of red as his fingers grazed up the inside of her thigh. From the glint in his cold blue eyes, and the broad grin on her sister’s face she knew that her embarrassment was far from unnoticed.
“Ready to go, Slayer?” Buffy forced herself not to jump when she hear Spike speak from directly behind her. It wasn’t too hard to see that she had been deep in thought, but she really didn’t want to give him an excuse to ask what had kept her mind so preoccupied. Turning her head so that she could see him, her lips curled into a smile as she took in the fact that he had gotten their coats. Now covering his updated wardrobe was his black leather duster. He smiled back at her when he noticed what she was looking at. “Hey, you can’t expect me to give up everything!” he told her. “It may be a little weathered, but it’s still fine quality leather.”
“It’s almost thirty years old,” Buffy reminded him not really caring to remember how he had originally come to possess the coat. Although she had reminded Dawn of Spike’s past many times when she was younger mostly in an attempt to open her little sister’s eyes when it came to her hero worshipping, now, especially after he had taken care of Dawn during her “absence” Buffy really didn’t want to think about what he had been in the past. It was still true that he could find a way to get the chip removed at any time and go back to being the vampire he was when he had first come to Sunnydale, but after all these years, even though the majority of them had been spent apart, she preferred to think of him as just Spike, and not as a past and possibly potential killer.
“Okay, so I like to hold on to things I’m fond of,” he admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. “Now, unless you want to hang out with the caterers for the rest of the night. It’s time to go home.”
Buffy sighed as she took her coat. She wasn’t thrilled at the aspect of being alone with him, but she really didn’t have any excuses that weren’t petty and childish. One thing she knew was that he wouldn’t hesitate to point that fact out either, and she was really too tired too argue with him over her maturity and/or lack of it! She followed him to the door not even thinking about the fact that they didn’t have a way home. Giles had driven her and Dawn to the wedding, so unless Spike had also driven they were in for a long walk. She couldn’t stifle a groan at the sight that greeted her when they walked out to the parking lot.
“I told you, I liked to hold on to things,” he reminded her as he opened the Desoto’s door and climbed inside. “Besides, it’s a classic.”
“It’s an antique,” she couldn’t help but mutter as she walked around the care to the passenger side.
The ride home was a fairly quiet one. Spike’s driving had not improved over the years, so Buffy was too busy hanging on to the armrest of the old car until her knuckles turned white to actually worry about conversation. She had battled vampires, demons, and even a god, but his driving had managed to terrify her.
Relief flooded her body when they arrived at her home and she stepped from the Desoto on shaky feet. She fought hard to steady herself as they stepped up the porch, refusing to let him see that he had gotten to her in anyway. Because of her trembling fingers it took a few minutes to unlock the door, and as she entered the house she could hear him laugh under his breath. “Well, if you didn’t drive like a…” she scolded whipping around to face him, but stopping when she saw him standing patiently at the threshold. “What?”
“You know the rules, Summers,” he replied.
Seeing him standing in the doorway reminded her of the last time she had seem him in that same spot. It was a night that she tried to avoid thinking about. The night you died on didn’t tend to give one the warm fuzzies. “You don’t need to be invited, Spike,” she told him forcing the images of that night from her mind.
“Still can’t bring yourself to uninvited me Slayer?” he teased as he brushed past her and into the house.
Buffy cringed at his tone. The fact that she hadn’t bothered to ask Willow to do the spell after all these years spoke volumes. When Spike had first left Sunnydale, she had thought about giving Willow a call, but quickly changed her mind, maybe down deep she had hoped that he might return. Besides it was rather pointless to uninvited him when Dawn wouldn’t have hesitated to reinvite him!
“Just never bothered,” she growled. “I’m going upstairs to change.”
Spike watched as she climbed up the stairs. The dress was even more flattering from that angle. He continued to watch until she disappeared from sight, glad that she hadn’t looked over her shoulder before entering her room to see him standing there gazing up at her like a lovesick puppy. The way she blushed when he teased her made him think perhaps she wasn’t completely immune to him. She had acted that way towards him eight years ago when she had come back, and look where that had gotten him. He might have learned to live with the chip in his head, but that didn’t mean that he was going to put himself through that again. If she wanted him, she was going to have to say it first, and if that didn’t happen he’d just head out for parts unknown again.
Giles placed his glasses on the table and rubbed his tired eyes with his fingers. It had been a long night, and although he hated to admit it, he was exhausted. Walking Dawn down the aisle had made him extremely proud, but it had also reminded him that he wasn’t getting any younger! The excitement of watching his youngest daughter—after Joyce’s death and Buffy’s brief absence he had quickly come to think of her that way—getting married had been more than enough to tire him out, but it was Buffy that had him worried. The tension she felt knowing that Spike was there was so strong it was almost a tangible thing. He had made it even worse with his lecture during their dance, but it had to be said.
Giles still didn’t one hundred percent trust Spike, but what he had done for Dawn and Buffy eight years ago, and the fact that he hadn’t made any further attempts to remove the chip went a long way in improving his view of the vampire. Buffy needed someone now that Dawn would be leaving home. After Spike had left, she had settled into a steady routine of slaying and taking care of Dawn.
He smiled remembering how frustrating it had been for him to get her to take her duty seriously those first few years. Now, it seemed the roles had been reversed. She was getting older, extremely old in terms of the Slayer, she needed more in her life than just slaying, and at this point Spike seemed like the perfect candidate. He was obviously still in love with her—Dawn had shared that much with the Watcher—he knew about her nightly activities, and he could take care of himself when it came to the things that go bump in the night that might possibly follow Buffy home.
The blaring ring of the telephone filtered in from the living room over the sound of the music droning out of the stereo. The phone ringing at that hour of the night never boded well, and in Sunnydale that usually turned out to be an understatement. With a sigh, Giles pushed himself out of the chair and made his way to the living room. The insistent ringing making him wish he had gotten that answering machine Dawn had suggested.
“Hello?” Giles asked his voice scratchy from just being woken up.
“Giles?” the sound of Angel’s voice on the other end of the line was enough to jerk Giles awake. He hadn’t heard from him in years. Between that fact and the tone of urgency in his voice, Giles knew that something had to be terribly wrong. How Giles wished he could just answer the phone and have it be someone trying to sell him long distance like normal people!
“Angel, what’s wrong?” he asked. He really didn’t want to ruin Dawn’s wedding day with yet another catastrophe, but as usual when something pleasant happened in Sunnydale something to counteract that event wasn’t too far behind.
Giles could hear Angel’s ragged breathing coming across the line. Even though Angel had yet to speak, Giles could sense whatever had happened was significant, and whatever it was, it hadn’t angered him but instead distressed him. Giles felt as if the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees as he waited for Angel to speak.
“Giles, Faith is dead…”
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