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Author's Chapter Notes:
I would like to dedicate this chapter to my good friend, Jen. Have a wonderful birthday!
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CHAPTER 54: Set me free

It was a day like any other day at the Californian prison of Sunnydale. The sun shining bright over the outside world, and the atmosphere as gloomy as ever between the well guarded walls that kept the good citizens safe from society's malevolent rejects. Just an ordinary day for the prisoners, like any other ordinary day. Same time as every morning, the guards announced the opening of the cells. A loud click, the bars automatically sliding open and letting out a flow of grumpy and rowdy men spilling out of their holding quarters.

Just like every morning before, and every morning after for most of them, they made their way to take their daily shower, then invaded the cafeteria one small group at a time to line up and collect a tray full of insipid food.

But for one man, things were about to take a different turn.

Spike was bringing back his empty tray while chatting casually with his friend Charles Gunn when he was approached by Rupert Giles and two other guards. The expression on the three men's faces was unreadable and Spike automatically assumed he was in trouble.

He smirked. "Good morning wankers. Isn't it a little early for me to get myself in trouble? What the bleeding hell did I do this time?"

"William." Giles greeted with a nod. "Would you follow us to your cell, please?"

"And miss 'The View'? I love watching those neurotic birds chatting all at once. Bleedin' entertaining it is."

Giles narrowed his eyes in warning. Even after the new development concerning William, the man could still get on his last nerve.

Spike sighed. "Fine. Gentlemen, lead the way."

The four men made their way to the holding cells. The guards silence and the decorum they were using was starting to make Spike nervous. They stopped in front of the cell he shared with Snyder. Giles opened it and stepped aside.

"William, would you collect your belongings and come with us, please?"

The prisoner was walking into his cell when Giles said the words. He stopped and turned to face the older man, a startled look on his face. "Why? Am I being transferred?”

“In a matter of speaking, yes.” Giles said cryptically, but couldn’t help the smile tugging at his lips.

“Hold on just one bloody minute. Do you mean... Did it work?” Spike asked in awe, not quite wanting to believe what was happening, for fear that he might have misunderstood what was going on.

Giles understood the question and nodded, his smile widening. “I believe it did. Get your things and I’ll explain on the way.”

When Spike stood frozen on the spot, Giles put a gentle hand on his shoulder and urged him to turn around and walk into the cell.

Spike's hands were shaking badly as he gathered his meager belongings, his heart beating wildly in his throat. Even while getting ready to leave the cell he despised with all his soul, he didn't want to let himself believe what was happening. If this wasn't real, it would kill him. A part of him kept expecting the three guards to start laughing and say: "Gotcha!". But it never happened.

He was in and out of the cell in a matter of minutes since almost everything he owned was the things Buffy had given him for Christmas. Spike followed Giles, the two other guards trailing behind them. The silence was slowly driving him out of his mind.

"Rupert? What's going to happen?" He hated how small and insecure his voice sounded. For bloody God's sake, he was Spike... A tough son of a bitch. He shouldn't be so terrified. But what if he had jumped to conclusions too quickly. Maybe he misunderstood and wasn't being liberated. After all, no one had said the words yet.

"I was hoping to tell you this in a more official setting, but I understand it would be cruel to make you wait any longer. Someone else confessed to the murder of the woman you've been accused of killing. You're not free yet, but it's only a matter of technicalities. I have good reason to believe you will be sleeping in a warm, comfortable bed tonight, William."

Giles turned his head to smile brightly at an ashen faced Spike. The prisoner's eyes were glazed and he looked on the verge of hyperventilating.

"Are you quite all right, William?" Giles asked with concern.

Spike nodded numbly.

"Good." Giles resumed the short walk to security where the transport was waiting. "Your lawyer is waiting for us as we speak. She'll be briefing you on all the details."

"I have a lawyer?" Spike asked incredulously.

Giles chuckled. "And a fine one at that. Thanks to her, the process that could have taken weeks will all happen in a matter of hours."

Spike blinked, then shook his head to try clearing his fuzzy mind. "What do you mean?"

"Lilah Morgan is a very influential lawyer working for the best law firm in the country. I don't know what strings she pulled, but she convinced a judge in Los Angeles to clear his schedule for the afternoon and have a hearing with you. I'm hazy on the details, but she will explain it more clearly. The way I understand it is that they already have all they need to incarcerate the real murderer, but they still need your version of what happened again. Then the judge will officially declare you not guilty and someone from the Governor's office with also offer you an official pardon. I believe you might have a very long day ahead of you."

Still speechless, Spike nodded his understanding.

Giles smiled encouragingly at the obviously shocked, soon to be ex-prisoner, then pushed a door open. He thanked the two other guards who walked away without a word, then he ushered Spike inside the room.

Still in a zombie like state, Spike took in his surroundings. It was a fairly large room with doors that led to the inside yard. He could see a transportation van through the windows in the doors. Spike remembered being here once before, the day he'd been brought in. On his left, he could see the guard station through another window. Two guards were in there drinking coffee and chatting away, not paying any attention to what was happening in the room. On Spike's right were a few plastic chairs along the wall. A woman was sitting there. She was dressed in an expensive looking gray suit, pencil skirt, form hugging jacket, classical black pumps, her chestnut hair pulled back in a French twist.

When she saw the guard and the prisoner walk in, she gracefully uncrossed her legs and stood up to greet them. She walked up to Spike with an air of confidence, her hand extended in greeting.

"Mr. Rayne? I'm Lilah Morgan. Nice to meet you."

He shook her hand on autopilot. "Nice to meet you."

Lilah looked him up and down appraisingly, a small smile on her glossy red lips. "And now it all makes sense." She commented, chuckling with amusement.

Spike gave her a slightly puzzled look. "What do you mean?"

She waved her hand dismissively. "Never mind that. Let's get down to business, shall we?"

He took a seat next to the lawyer while Giles busied himself signing transportation forms.

"You're a very lucky man, William." Lilah started saying, obviously not paying attention to how distressed the man sitting next to her was. "I can call you William, right?"

"Uh... Sure."

"I understand this is a touchy subject so let’s call her your 'benefactor', she had me waiting and ready to start the procedures in case this happened. So I called in a few favors. Everything should be over tonight if we're lucky. But I have a good feeling about this. Not only did Liam McAlister confess to the crime, but in his anger, he revealed all the details of the crime during further interrogation at the police station. Honestly, the McAlisters both made things a lot worse for themselves last night. So things should go smoothly today."

When Spike didn't say anything, she continued. "I have to warn you though. We might not see them, but Liam and Darla will be at the court house. Their hearing date is not for a few weeks, but they have procedures to go through today."

Spike finally got his voice back. "Why... Why are they not going to a court house in Sunnydale? Isn't it where they got arrested?"

"I understand you don't want to see them, but the court house in Sunnydale doesn't usually take care of murder cases. Sunnydale is a suburb, high profile cases and complicated murder cases are transferred to Los Angeles."

Spike nodded. "Yeah. Makes sense I guess."

He hesitated so she waited for him to keep talking.

"Can I ask you a question?" He finally asked.

She smiled coolly. "At the rate I charge, you can ask me any question that goes through your mind."

"Why go through all this trouble? Why did you agree to take on my case?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sure someone as busy as you have much more high profile cases you could be working on."

"A case like yours is the best thing that could happen to me right now. It will do a lot of good for my reputation and for Wolfram & Hart. It's the perfect, touching story that will prove that we don't only take care of rich criminals."

Spike laughed unexpectedly at that. "Glad to see you care so much."

Lilah smiled. "Oh honey, of course I care. I'm paid to care."

Giles walked up to them. "Ready?"

Spike stood up. "Bloody hell, I think I've been ready for almost a year. Let's go."

Giles pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "I'm sorry, it's procedure for transportation. But it should be the last time. I hope you understand."

Spike presented his wrists. "Not like I have a bleedin' choice in the matter. I just want this over with. Put them on so we can leave this god forsaken place."

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Buffy was standing in a corner of the hospital room, waiting for the doctor and nurses to finish their exams. Willow was awake, but groggy. The pain killers they had given her made her a little loopy and she was weakly trying to push away the nurse taking her blood pressure.

Buffy was hugging herself tightly. Guilt was tearing her up inside no matter how many times Willow had repeated that it wasn't her fault. It didn't matter; she still blamed herself.

The door opened and Joyce Summers walked in with a worried frown on her face, closely followed by her youngest daughter.

"Buffy? Oh honey..."

In the blink of an eye, Buffy was buried in her mother's loving embrace, letting go of her tight control on her emotions.

"Mommy." She said in a childish, muffled voice, reverting to a kid the way people sometimes do in their parents' presence.

Joyce was caressing her daughter's head comfortingly when her eyes landed on the tiny red head on the hospital bed.

"My God, what happened here? Is Willow all right? It's not too serious I hope."

Buffy shook her head before disentangling herself from her mother's arms. "She was lucky. The wound is superficial and no organs were damaged. They're keeping her here under observation for possible internal bleeding or infection until tomorrow."

"Buffy, what in the world happened?"

"It's a very long and crazy story, mom."

Dawn snickered from her spot by the bed where she was holding Willow's hand, now that the hospital staff had left the room. "She's not lying, mom. That story is wicked crazy and it might take a couple hours to tell."

"Well it all works out perfectly then," Joyce said sternly, her eyes darting between her two daughters "because you got me so worried after that phone call earlier that I canceled all my appointments for the next couple of days. So you better start talking, missy."

Buffy suddenly looked very nervous. "Okay. Uh... Maybe you should sit down?"

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It was getting late. Spike had spent all day signing legal papers, retelling his story, answering questions and waiting. He was physically and emotionally exhausted. The day had drained him of his energy and it was not over by any means. He was currently sitting on an uncomfortable chair in a hallway, his lawyer going through paperwork next to him. They had been waiting for nearly an hour now and he was getting antsy. He was desperate for a cigarette.

Giles had gone to get coffee for everybody. Spike suspected the older man only wanted to get away from him and his relentless questions about Buffy's well being. He had assured Spike that she was fine, but nothing short of seeing her would do the trick. Spike knew that after going through all this trouble, she'd at least want to be there. The fact that she wasn't worried him beyond words. Being alone with his thoughts only made it worse.

Spike was looking down and didn't see a door open and the police officers walking out, escorting the tall, dark haired man, until he heard the hated voice.

"YOU!? You stupid SON OF A BITCH! I should have known you were behind this."

One of the officers pushed Angel to keep him walking. "Shut up and keep going!" The guard said angrily. But Angel dug his heels in.

"You're gonna pay for this, you hear me? You and that little whore of yours!"

Seeing Angel again made Spike feel like he was back in time. Back when he was poor pathetic William. It didn't last though. Memories of what this man had done to him filled him with rage. He knew he should just ignore the bastard and stay where he was, but he couldn't fight the urge to shut him up. Lilah tried to stop him from standing up but failed.

Spike smirked at the man who had made his life miserable. "I'm bleedin' shakin’ in my boots. Really, I am. What the hell do you think you're gonna do to me from where you're going, you pathetic hair gel addict wanker? Send me hate mail?"

"I'm gonna KILL YOU, that's what I'm gonna do. I don't need to do it myself. I know people. The both of you better sleep with one eye open."

The same officer shoved Angel forward. "I said SHUT the fuck up. Simple command if you ask me. Keep walking."

The other officer in front of MacAlister grabbed him by his shirt and forced him to move.

Both Spike and Lilah watch Liam McAlister disappear, hopefully forever.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah..."

"Good. Let's go."

The rest happened in a blur for the still badly shaken man. That is, of course, until he heard the words that would change his life.

"... By the power invested in me by the state of California, I hereby declare you not guilty. Mr. Rayne, you are a free man."

The words that should have been said almost a year ago echoed in his mind.

Free man


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