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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks so much to all the readers who have hung in there through this story's long hiatus. I appreciate all the chapter comments and emails -- you're the reason this tale is still rumbling along. As always, thanks to nnaylime and beanbeans for the fabulous betas.
Disclaimer: Buffy and Spike belong Joss, and I thank him for their creation. I merely take them out and play with them occasionally.

Chapter Twenty-Four – Somewhere Other Than the Night

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The tapping of a woodpecker woke Spike. The muffled sound coming from the stand of woods was the first signal of dawn, and he opened his eyes to see the night’s darkness broken by light streaks of purple and pink.

Buffy was snuggled in next to him, her warm breath on his neck and her arms flung possessively around his waist. He tightened his arms around her; the last thing he wanted was to wake her, but he knew if they were to have any hope of catching up with Katie, they needed to get an early start. "Buffy." His voice was hoarse from sleep, so he cleared his throat and tried again, a bit louder. "Buffy?"

She stirred in his arms, her nose nuzzling into his ear, and at last peered up at him through tousled hair.

"Morning, luv."

She sat up, pushing her hair from her face, and the blankets he'd drawn over them earlier that night fell to her waist. "Morning," she mumbled. "What time is it?"

Spike reluctantly pulled his gaze from her bared breasts to squint at the brightening horizon. "Five-thirty, maybe closer to six."

Buffy's eyes darted from the rising sun to Spike. "It's amazing that you can do that—tell the time just by looking at the sky."

"Yeah, funny that." He continued to watch the sunrise. "Haven't been able to watch this since. . . well, feels like forever. But some things, you just never forget."

"Yeah, well, it comes in handy." Buffy flopped back, pulling the blankets up to her chin, watching him intently. "You come in handy, actually."

Spike looked at her then, an eyebrow quirked. "Bet you say that all the cowboys." A blush spread across her cheeks, and he leaned down to kiss her. She turned her head at the last moment, and he pulled back to look into her eyes. "Second thoughts?"

Buffy sighed, closing her eyes. "Second thoughts? I'm up to two-thousand nine hundred and forty-two now."

Spike's jaw tightened and he started to pull back, but her hand curled around his neck, keeping him close. When her eyes opened, he didn't see the glare of rejection he’d expected—just confusion.

"Guess this was a turn of events neither of us planned on, eh?" He pushed a tendril of hair from her face, his fingertips lingering on her temple.

"What part of this entire situation could we have planned on? Look, I’m notoriously bad at this."

Spike chuckled, sitting back, and running his hand down her arm, to twine his fingers with hers. "From where I was sitting . . . and laying . . . and standing, you seemed very, very good at this."

Buffy blushed again, but she didn't pull her hand from his. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah—" He nodded. "But I think what happened—you know, us—what happened between us, was just nature taking its course."

"Nature? A slayer and a vampire?"

"Hey, you said it yourself: neither of us are what we used to be. Here, I'm just a man—"

"A man very much at home," Buffy sighed. "This time—it fits you, Spike. You fit in here. And I don't."

"I lived in this time, Buffy." He squeezed her fingers before releasing them to run his hands through his disheveled curls. "Might have been a long bit ago, but I know what this time feels like, what it requires."

"Yeah, you do." There was a pout on her face and resignation in her tone. "As hard as this is for me to say, I don't think I could have done this without you. I mean, I know we’re nowhere near home, but I'm sure I would’ve been dead, like, five times without you."

"You're doing okay." At her skeptical look he continued, taking her back into his arms. "No, really, you are; you're doing great. You could handle this whether I was here or not. Hell, Buffy, you can handle anything that's thrown your way. If anyone knows that, it's me. Thrown enough your way and watched you dodge it, only to come back and kick my arse."

Buffy laughed. "Yeah, well, that's the truth."

Spike couldn't resist returning her smile. "But I have to be honest and tell you it is kind of nice to be the one pulling your arse outta the fire, to be my own man here. Haven't been that in a long time."

Buffy's smile faltered. "Since you were turned, you mean?"

"Yeah, then, but also since I got this damn chip in my head."

Buffy tensed in his arms. "That chip didn't take away anything but your ability to hurt people."

"Might seem that way to you, but I look at it a bit differently. Don't think I even realized how much it took from me until I ended up here."

Buffy relaxed in his arms, resting her cheek against his chest. "It's being human. You've got a soul now, Spike; that's what you were missing."

Spike took a deep breath, not wanting to the break the moment by arguing with her. But he knew, deep in the brand new soul that had been hoisted on him, that it wasn't all he'd been missing. Yeah, it was part of it, but not all. Knowing right from wrong, having a moral compass that worked without a jolt of electricity to his brain, was certainly a benefit. But even more than that, he appreciated getting back some respect. Hell, even feeling needed. Chipped, he was useless – thrown in with a group of humans that barely tolerated him. He didn't even have Dru to make him feel needed any longer. She might have been as loony as they came, but she was his loony. She'd relied on him to be her knight in tarnished armor, to make sure she was safe and protected.

Now he was regaining some of that respect. The other men on the wagon train relied on him, knew that he was capable of handling whatever was thrown at him. In this time, he was able to be Buffy's protector— keeping her safe and helping her through what was, to her, unfamiliar territory. And it felt good – like nothing had felt for him in a long, long time. And for the first time he wondered how bad it would really be just to stay here.

Buffy's voice drew him from his thoughts. "We've just got to focus on catching up with Katie. I know that coin is our ticket home. I hate to think about what might be happening while we've been gone, with no Slayer on duty. The sooner we find that coin and get things back to normal, the better."

"Right," Spike murmured, slipping his arm from about her and rising to his feet. He flipped the blanket over her. "Gonna go fetch our clothes, Slayer. When I get back, I'll make you some coffee, and then we can hit the trail."

Buffy sat up, clutching the blankets to her breasts. "Spike?" He turned back to her, and she smiled. "You okay?"

Spike's gaze held hers for several long seconds before he nodded. Before she could say more, he turned and walked towards the lake to retrieve their clothes. "Back to normal," he whispered.

To Be Continued





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