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Author's Chapter Notes:
Ok so here it is everyone, the first meeting. Please review!

As always special thanks to Dorians Kitten for her wonderful beta work.

Special thanks to Xaphania for her absolutely exquisite banner!
Chapter 4

“Hey Giles.”

An unmanly scream rang through the library halls as Giles looked upon a very familiar face that he had not seen in years. Cordelia stood in the HQ library, an utterly board expression on her face.

“Cordelia… What on earth… How did you…” Giles face suddenly turned to stone and he reached for the crossbow he kept near him at all times.

Since they had been overrun with demons from Wolfram and Hart, HQ had been on lockdown while Faith and Willow had been searching around the clock for the urn of Zolric hoping for a way to reverse the Apocalypse that Angel had brought down on them. “You’re not real.”

“Oh please.” Cordelia snorted at the crossbow that was now pointed at her. “Put the crossbow down. Really, do you think if I was some uber evil, I would have even waited to kill you?”

Giles looked at Cordelia incredulously. “Point noted, but if it’s all the same to you, I think I’d rather like holding on to it, considering that you’re supposed to be dead.”

“Suit yourself.” Cordelia then shrugged. “Whatever makes you feel manly.”

“So what, pray tell, are you doing here?”

“The powers have sent me here to give you a message.” She paused, “Buffy is alive and she’ll need your help soon. Oh and the urn has already been destroyed.”

“What? How do you know? Where is she?” Giles was astonished. Willow had barely made it out of the chopper alive. She had teleported herself out at the last second and was adamant about no longer feeling Buffy anywhere on this plain of existence.

Cordelia rolled her eyes. “Powers, Giles… Hello! Alternate dimension, ring any bells?” She huffed. “Look, all I know is that you have to give Dawn…” She then walked up to the stack of books on Giles desk. “These.” She then picked out three of the books and handed them to him. She turned, walked over to left side of the wall of books, and picked out two more. “And these, Willow will know what to do. The powers need to close the gateways on this world and only the key can do that.”

Giles eyes widened with realization. “If the Powers need these closed, then it’s over, we’ve lost.”

“Well, really it depends on how you look at it.” Cordelia then smiled “You see this world is, but there is still hope for the others. If you can get the gateways closed there is a chance at stopping Wolfram and Hart from entering them.” Cordelia then revealed a cloth Giles hadn’t noticed she was carrying. “You are to give Dawn the books and translate this.” She then handed Giles the cloth which turned out to be very old animal skin. “Then I will come for you.”


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Buffy didn’t know how long she had been walking before she started to feel her slayer senses go into hyper drive. She knew immediately that it was Spike. The feeling was so intense; it had never been like this before. The closer she got, the stronger her senses got and she realized, as she went to push a large branch away and it snapped into kindling, that she was stronger. If she concentrated she could feel the slayer right below the surface trying to break free.

Buffy saw him then, huddled over what was left of a deer carcass, and the slayer inside her purred in delight upon finding her mate..

As she got closer though she saw he was covered in bruises from head to toe. Cuts ran the length of his back and across his abdomen. He turned one gold eye towards her, his other was swollen shut. His hair, which should still be a bleached white, was tousled brown and she could see blood caked in it. The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, “Spike… What happened to you?”

His savage, anger filled, eye turned on her and the snarl curling his lips exposed his glistening blood smeared fangs. He advanced on her then, charging at full speed, and she barely had time to blink before he was on her, fangs at her neck. She heard him snarl and felt the fangs prick the surface of her neck. She couldn’t have moved if she wanted to, her whole body was in shock.

Suddenly, his body stiffened and she heard a whimper tare from his throat. She felt his fangs recede and his face change. His tongue swept across her throat, lapping at the small amount of blood his fangs had drawn and his whimper got louder. She felt him sniff her hair and then her neck. Spike then laid his head on Buffy’s shoulder as silent tears ran down his face.

“He has been searching for you for a long time.” A male voice said from behind a tree.

Buffy had been so wrapped up in Spike that she didn’t feel the other vampire approach. Her eyes surveyed her surroundings trying to locate where the sensation was coming from. She really didn’t have time for a fight, not with Spike in the condition he was in. “Who’s there?”

“We mean you and your mate no harm, we have been expecting you. My name is Edward.” Buffy watched in awe as a creature you only read about in novels stepped out from behind a tree. A young girl huddled protectively behind him.

“And this is Bella.” Edward said gesturing to the girl who was currently studying the wounds on Spike with such sadness and sympathy it made Buffy’s heart expand.

“What happened to him?” Bella asked in a trembling voice.

“Hell happened.” Buffy answered, gently wrapping her arms around Spike’s waist as he burrowed his head into her neck as if he was trying to hide. She felt him inhale deeply and assumed her sent was comforting him.

“He’s afraid to speak, he thinks if he does, he will wake up and still be there.” Edward spoke flinching at the memories he saw flashing through Spike’s mind.

“How do you know what he’s thinking?” Buffy asked trying to comfort Spike as best she could. He had so many cuts and bruises she was afraid to touch him too much.

Bella stepped completely out from behind Edward then slowly approached the couple. She felt drawn to the woman as if she were her sister. “He can read your mind” she answered for Edward.

Buffy’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Actually, I can’t read your thoughts. Curious, I can’t read Bella’s either.” Edward said furrowing his brow in contemplation.

Must be a slayer trait, Buffy thought to herself. She had sensed the girl’s power as soon as she saw her.

Buffy turned her attention back on Spike, raising her hand and lightly rubbing Spikes shoulder. “Spike, I need you to look at me now, please.” Buffy said in a soft soothing voice.

She felt him shake his head.

“Please.” She pleaded in the same soft tone.

He stood very still for a moment and then she felt him gently raise his head. She looked upon his swollen face and into his one good eye; she read the fear and the uncertainty on his face and her composure completely broke.

“I’m so sorry.” Buffy sobbed. “I meant every word. I wasn’t lying,” tears were streaming down her face. She raised her hand and cupped Spike’s cheek lightly and looked him in the eye. “I love you. Spike… I love you, and only you.”

Spike looked at her then with a look she had seen on his face many times. He was completely awestruck. “Please tell me I’m not dreamin.” He said in a raspy voice. “An’ if I am, please don’ let me ever wake up.”

Buffy smiled through her tears “You’re not dreaming.”

Spike’s knees almost buckled from the emotion he saw swirling in her emerald depths. She had never looked at him like that before, he had seen but a glimmer of it in the Hellmouth, but with the look she gave him now there was no denying her feelings. She loved him, she actually loved him, at his realization the unneeded breath was sucked out of him and he fell painfully hard on his knees, bringing Buffy down with him. All they could do at that moment was weep together in happiness.

Edward and Bella had been watching the exchange with wonder and fascination.

“What’s happening?” Bella whispered to Edward. He had explained some of the vision Alice had had. She knew the small blond was supposed to be a great warrior and that the beaten vampire was her mate, but he hadn’t told her much else, except that they were supposed to help protect them. She felt like she had missed all but the end of a beautiful movie.

“A happy ending,” Edward whispered. “He thinks the powers took pity on him and sent him to heaven and, if this is not heaven, he thinks it is close enough.” A slight smile curved his lips, “He is quite poetic when he thinks of her.”

Buffy heard the hushed whispers of her audience and it broke the spell. They had not moved in several minutes, holding each other while they cried. But their tears were dry now and she needed to get Spike patched up. Tears welled in her eyes again as she assessed the damage. She shut her eyes as she tried to push past the onslaught of emotion that she could feel bubbling under the surface.

Spike saw the action and felt Buffy’s body tense. He knew her well enough to know what it was about. “Oh, Kitten, please don’. I’ll be okay, I promise.”

Buffy nodded and swallowed the large lump in her throat. She then turned to the vampire who she assumed was part of the family she was supposed to protect. Her slayer knew because there was something that made the difference clear in his eyes. She would find out her answers later. Right now, Spike, and getting him healed, were all that mattered. “Can you walk?”

Spike nodded. “With help, I think my knee and my left ankle are busted,” He said, grimacing in pain as he realized he was still putting pressure on said knee.

Buffy turned her eyes to the couple watching them with awed and sympathetic expressions. “Is there a place I can take him to dress his wounds and get him cleaned up?”

“Yes,” Edward answered. “As I said before, we have been expecting you. There is a room ready at our home, and my father is a doctor.

Buffy studied the vampire for a long moment. “He’ll need blood as well, preferably human, to start with.”

Edward’s eyes widened, but Buffy held up her hand forestalling his reply. “I mean bagged blood, of course.”

“Oh, well yes, we can probably work that out.” Edward answered.

“How far is it to your home?”

“Farther than it is to our car.” Edward smiled, and led them in the direction of his vehicle.


Chapter End Notes:
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