Spike had spent practically every waking moment for the past few months thinking about Buffy.
The months he had been in LA wondering about her, wanting to see her. He would’ve been happy with seeing her face on the sidewalk as she turned to look up at the moon. He knew he would have settled for anything, a glimpse was a world more than what he had been getting.
As he stared out onto the sidewalks of Italy, on his way to reach her, he felt his chest tighten up. His thoughts went back to their last night together, the way her hand had fallen against his chest and when Buffy kissed him, it was as if heaven was kissing him. He had spent all this time trying to forget that night, trying to forget that she had said “I love you” because he knew he never really had a chance. He always felt that she was right when she had told him he was beneath her. But he would never forget their last night together. His memories never left him and whenever he got a sniff of her delicate, flower like perfume, he would feel the recollections peak their glorious head out and made him regretful even burn with pain and frustration.
The taxicab stopped and Faith handed the cab driver a wad of money without waiting for change. She jumped out of the car as he opened the door and placed his black boots onto the cobblestone road. He closed the door and avoided getting hit by a passing car. “Bloody Hell” he pushed the door in and walked to the back of the car, eventually to the sidewalk. This was the Italy he remembered, dark and dank. His eyes roamed across the buildings; drug dealers gaining the respect of more clients. Not much had changed since the last time he had been there. The buildings still looked the same and people were always just people. The only thing that had changed, was the clothing the people wore. “Over here,” Faith yelled, breaking him out of his never-ending thoughts. She ripped through the crowd of people on the sidewalk and soon enough she stopped in front of a building.
They were in front of a building that stood out from all the rest. It was white while all the other buildings were red and brown and old in style. This one looked new, as if it had been built a few months ago maybe in even less time than that. “Have you been here before?” he questioned, his eyes treading over the area around them, worrying if Buffy was inside. She shook her head no. “No”. She turned to him; her eyes filled with worry and said, “Will you be able to get in?” He stepped forward, “Only one way to find out”. He began to step towards the building, knowing full well that The Immortal welcomed any Vampire, any demon, without any sort of spell keeping them out and before he even had to worry whether or not his thoughts were right he saw a sign saying, “all are welcome” and he couldn’t help but smile. “Look luv,” he smiled pointing at the sign. Faith turned her attention away from him and then laughed. “Well then” and they both proceeded into the open doors.
It wasn’t long before they were walking down a long hallway; their eyes wide open, looking for any sign of her. Then they heard a scream, a scream they both would’ve known in their sleep. “Buffy” they both said in unison and began to run towards the noise. But there was just a dead end. Spike became infuriated as he heard more screaming and began to punch a hole through the wall. They both squeezed through the puncture that had become larger each second he had placed his now bleeding fist through it. He could smell her now. It was faint, but he could smell her and he began to pick up pace and something told him Faith could smell her too because she had picked up the pace along side him. His duster looked like a black cape, very vampire-esc. “That way,” he said pointing to a break in the hallway. “I know,” she said and although the situation called for seriousness he couldn’t help but smile.
There was a door that was sealed shut but Spike wasn’t convinced that he couldn’t get in. The screaming was coming from inside and his patience were wearing thin. “Buffy!” Faith screamed her voice sounding panicked. There was silence on the other side of the door. “Faith?” Buffy answered somewhat calmly. “Yes, it’s me” and it was then that Spike knew there had been a change in their relationship. There was tenderness in both their voices and Buffy sounded relieved. “Oh my god! Don’t worry about me – there’s a door at the end of this hallway. He’s been building some sort of bomb that will kill every human being but keep every undead, demon alive you have to stop the bomb!” her voice rang in fear. Faith pressed the palm of her hand to the door feeling it brought her closer to Buffy. “How do I stop it?” It took Buffy a few moments to answer. “There’s a switch on the left side but you can’t flip it unless you cut the blue wire,” she answered.
Spike had been afraid to talk but he needed to ask, “Is there anyone else in the building?” Buffy silently gasped but believed she was only hearing things and that it was one of Faith’s boyfriends. “No, everyone left because of the bomb even if they couldn’t get hurt”. He shook his head and turned to Faith, his eyes wide with anticipation. “I’ll go—“ and she pointed to the end of the hallway. “Yell if you –“ he started. She cut him off, “I know” and she twisted around to give him a smile. “You just save the girl, will you” and she started to run. He began pounding at the door with his boots but it wouldn’t budge. So he looked around for anything that would get her out. It wasn’t until he looked straight down to the bottom of his boots did he see a key. He bent over, picked it up in between his fingertips and laughed a little, silently of course. The Immortal didn’t want her dead. He wanted her scared. He placed the key into all four locks and the door swung open.
It took him a few seconds to adjust to the fact that she was laying there, chained to the floor by heavy metal. Her eyes looked towards him and shock slid against her face. She moved her body but fell back to the floor. “Spike?” she said questioningly. Buffy couldn’t believe her eyes. She thought her mind was playing tricks on her. She couldn’t remember how long she’d been there, how long she had been chained to the ground. Spike moved closer to her without saying anything, not knowing what to say. He knew for sure now that if he had a heart it would be beating so fast it would jump out of his chest and scatter to the floor. “It’s me Luv,” he whispered while unchaining her. Her hand was free and she moved it away from him. He tried to keep his cool while unchaining the rest of her. “It can’t be. You’re dead” the words fell like splinters in the room. He sighed pulling her left ankle out of the chains. “Well I was always dead, undead you know.” She watched his every move as if she was seeing a stranger and he knew their reunion wouldn’t be as sweet as he had hoped or even imagined. But to his surprised once she was unchanged she looked into his eyes and said, “It is you.”
Her hand flew up in the air and reached for his face. He closed his eyes as she ran her fingers against his cheekbone and he kept his restraint and urge to touch her under wraps. He could smell her now, close up the scent reminded him of paradise and he wanted to buckle down and cry in her lap. Tell her all the things that had happened and what he had done but instead he touched her hand and slowly moved it away from his face. She looked at him, worried, maybe even confused. “But how?” was all she managed to pant out in the moment. He took her hand in his and helped her up. It was then he began to put pieces together. The Immortal had intended to kill her just as he had intended to kill him and Faith as well. He turned to look at her. She hadn’t taken her eyes away from him. “Who told you it was the blue one?” and he waited for the answer knowing full well what it would be. “The Immortal. I heard him talking. He said it was the blue one”. Spike was filled with rage and dread. “C’mon on” he said pulling her along as he ran out of the dark, damp room and towards the end of the hallway screaming, “Faith don’t cut the blue one” at the top of his lungs.
They came to the end of the hall and Buffy put aside her discomfort and confusion and ran to Faith who was standing in what reminded Spike of Fred’s lab at Wolfram & Hart. Faith was hovering over what was the ticking bomb. She looked up at the two of them. “I see you two have reunited,” she muttered looking back down at the bomb. “So don’t cut the blue one.” She put the paperclip down that she had formed into a long straight line to cut the wire. “No. He said that so that Buffy would think it was the blue one”. Buffy looked at him feeling rather ashamed for believing anything “The Immortal” had said. “We have five minutes,” Faith stated quite bluntly. “Take a gander” she moved away from the bomb, letting Spike move in. The red wire popped out like red blood and he knew that would be the obvious answer because red and “The Immortal” went together. It was too obvious. The only other color left was yellow. He looked back up at Buffy who was watching him with disbelief and he knew that he had to save her. That he had to stop the bomb from going off. “The way I see it. We have two choices. I cut this yellow one and hope it doesn’t go off or I cut the yellow one and we run”. Faith laughed. “Not loving the choices but I’m five by five either way it goes down,” He turned to Buffy to see her reaction. “Okay” she nodded her head.
Spike pulled the paper clip from the side of the table and began to slice the wire as best he could; eventually it was cut in half. “The switch. There has to be another switch Buffy”. She looked around the room. “I don’t know” Buffy crinkled her eyebrow looking for something that would signal the switch of the bomb. Then it caught her eye. It wasn’t even near the bomb. It was off to the side in the corner of the room. She ran to it. It was black with a light switch except the switch was sliver. “I think this is it” and without any reaction from the others she turned it off. Spike watched the bomb. It kept ticking. “It’s not turning off” he began to shake his leg. “I’m going to cut the red one.” And with a sharp movement and whisk of the hand he cut the red one with the torn up paperclip. It stopped. “Did it stop?” Buffy asked her eyes filled with questions. He nodded his head yes. “Now we have to get out of here. I have a feeling there’s something else in this building”. He grabbed Buffy’s hand as he flew out of the room. He knew Buffy would need help walking, running, and he knew he was the one to give it to her. Faith ran in front of them. The hallway seemed to get smaller and smaller as they made their way to the doorway.
He could feel her hold on him and his pull on her and he knew the bruises on her had been given to her by someone he disliked more than Angel. And that felt nearly impossible. They flew out into the open doors and stumbled onto the sidewalk. “Run” he screamed and they kept running. Buffy was having a hard time keeping up, having had her legs chained to the ground for so long. They were weak. The night sky was lit up with the moon’s gaze and he wanted to tell her it was for him, it was for her. It was for them. As they got farther and farther away from the building he realized he hadn’t told anyone else to run and he knew something was going to happen to that building. He stopped in his tracks. “Buffy” and he still held her hand in his and was well aware of how close their bodies were. She didn’t look confused anymore, concerned, worried even, but no longer mystified. Her questions faded each moment more she was with him. “I have to go back”. Buffy squeezed his hand before he let go. “I’m going with you,” she answered following suit as Faith stood back. “No,” he blurted out without thinking. “You’re a mess. You can’t run all the way back with me. Stay here” and he began to walk away. She followed. “I am not letting you do all the dirty work Spike. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know why you’re here. All I know is that you’re here and I can see you and touch you and you just saved whatever of my life is left and you want me to let you go.” She paused grabbing his arm pulling him around to face her. “You are not going back without me” there were tears in her eyes. He didn’t have to answer. He shook his head and they began to run back with Faith following suit.
A crowd had gathered around the building that had changed its color from white to red. “What the…” Faith trailed off staring at the building. Buffy looked equally confused. The night sky had grown from dark to pale, almost white. Spike watched the clouds fade away and turned his body to look in any direction where the sky might not look that color. He looked around at the people crowding around the building. “Buffy” he said pointing to the vampires who straggled behind the people. “You up for it B?” Faith asked. Buffy nodded looking up at the sky. “How many times do we have to save the world?” She laughed and moved forward following Faith to the crowd. Spike still stood watching the sky change color and grumbled with disdain. It felt like rain except it didn’t smell like rain, the way it always smells before raindrops to the ground. “Shit” he whispered gathering more pieces of the game. It was a game; everything was a game to “The Immortal”. He grabbed his silver lighter out of his pocket and looked around for something he could burn. He spotted a garbage can filled with newspapers. He grabbed a newspaper from the messy pile. Twisted his body around and found a liquor store.
Buffy and Faith moved the crowd of people away, breaking into a fight with the vampires who had then crowded around them. Piles of dust began to add up with a few more bruises for Buffy and some new one’s for Faith. Spike ran into the open liquor store and grabbed the first bottle he saw of vodka. “Sorry mate” and ran out of the store. He moved closer to the building, punching a vampire on the way. He wrapped the newspaper around the bottle, tucking in the end pieces to the other end chunk. Then flicked his lighter on and lit the top of the bottle and threw it into the building. The fighting stopped as the building began to go up in flames. The vampires that were left, ran, and the people who had been crowded around the changing colored building, started to run as well. “What are you doing?” Buffy asked throwing her hands in the air. “What’s going on?”
Spike shook his head. “See fire. Bad fire. Run.” He said. The street had grown quiet except for the flames quickly engulfing the building. It took Buffy a while to process what was happening but Faith had already started running up the street and as soon as Buffy started running Spike ran behind her watching the sky as he went. The sky was turning back to a normal blue-black color. The pale white, fading away as if it had never existed. As soon as they were safely away from the building, they turned back and watched the flames erupt and the building crash and then fade away. Buffy looked over at Spike. “So what happened?” her hands placed on her hips. “There was something else in there. Some sort of device that was having an effect on the sky. If I didn’t burn it then we sure as hell would’ve seen the world end”. She shook her head. “I still don’t get it”. “Me either” he said. “How did you know?” Faith questioned, pulling her hair back from her face. “Instinct, I guess, and the building changing color sort of represented all the levels of hell”. Spike looked back up at the sky. “The sky always looks a certain way when hell is about to be unleashed. You should both know that by now.” He winked. “And that building was changing bloody colors” he said again. “Now that just isn’t right.” Buffy smiled for a moment forgetting the weirdness of the situation and the questions that were slipping and sliding in her mind. “Well we just saved hell from being released” she paused, “once again”.
“Do you think it will ever stop? Or that those other slayers can start taking on the role?” Faith asked half joking. “I don’t think it will stop but we’ll get old someday” Buffy pushed her lips together looking up at the sky, watching Spike from the corner of her eye. “What happened B?” Faith crooked her neck to the side of her, glancing at Buffy. Buffy tilted her head away from the sky. “I walked into a trap, obviously. It was stupid”. Spike looked her over. “It happens”, he said with a small smile. “I just thought it was a dinner thing but I guess he found out about South America and me. He wasn’t too happy.”
The story began to sprout out of her. She had gone to his apartment, which was on the other side of town, close to her own apartment and she thought that she had everything under control, that he had no idea about her saving Faith but as soon as she got to his apartment he grabbed her and knocked her out. When she woke up she was in the building, chained up. He was staring at her with a gleeful expression and all she could think was, this is it. I’m going to die. He’s going to kill me. She had known about the bomb for sometime, but hadn’t known where it was located. She had heard him speaking of it numerous times on the phone while he thought she was in the shower or bedroom. But she didn’t know exactly what the bomb would do until two nights prior. She had called Giles for back up but hadn’t known when exactly it was going to go down. So she was just going to play it cool, which almost cost her her life. He didn’t tell her how he found out or if he had known all along and the only thing she had gotten from being chained up was that the bomb was going to go off while she was still in the building. She had come to the conclusion that she wasn’t going to live. She hadn’t told anyone where she was going and wasn’t expecting any type of help.
“When I heard Faith’s voice I knew that if she didn’t go turn the bomb off we had no hope of surviving along with most of the world, which was what he wanted in the first place.” Buffy finished. “I found a key though so he couldn’t have wanted you dead,” Spike blurted out, thinking out loud. Buffy contemplated the thought for a moment. “I don’t think he left it. There was this girl. I heard her voice and then I heard something drop and I’m assuming that was the key.” Spike immediately turned to Faith, becoming more consumed by the story. “That girl you were with. The slayerette” He said without question. “What about her?” Faith asked. “Who?” Buffy questioned. “Natalie” Faith turned to Buffy and then Spike with questioning eyes. “Who?” Buffy raised her eyebrow. “Natalie, you know. I got her in South America, brought her here” and then it hit her. “Oh shit.” “She was working with him” Spike said what they were all thinking. “She left the key”. “But why would she leave the key if she was working with him?” Buffy looked up at Spike. “She liked you” he shrugged. “Beats me”. “We really have to do more of a back check on these girls,” Buffy shook her head. They all turned away from the disintegrating show of smoke and began to walk away from it.