Chapter Two: Reunions and Reasons
“How is he?” Giles asked Buffy when he saw her exit the bedroom and make her way to him and Angel.
Buffy looked at her watcher and former lover. They both looked at her, and she could have sworn that she actually saw concern in both their faces, but that couldn’t be right. They both hated him last she checked. She shrugged. “He’s still unconscious. Willow’s tending to the worst of his injuries.”
“Good, good,” Giles replied. Angel nodded, crossing his arms over his chest and looking to the ground.
Buffy turned her gaze to Angel. “How?” It was a simple question but the answer was no where near that simple.
Angel crinkled his eyebrows, confused by her question. “I…thought you knew.”
Buffy sighed. “I only know what Andrew told me and that wasn’t much. Just that Spike was back and he was helping you.”
“Yes, well, why did you never tell anyone about this, Buffy?” Giles said, pulling his glasses from his face.
Buffy looked down. She shrugged. “I don’t know. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it when Andrew told me that Spike didn’t want him to tell me he was back. I guess a part of me didn’t want to believe that he wouldn’t come to me, so I just let it go.”
Giles seemed to accept this answer and let it drop…for now anyway and turned his attention back to Angel. “How exactly did Andrew find out anyway?”
“When you sent him to LA to pick up the slayer,” Angel answered. “Spike was there then. But for the details on the how, I…don’t think that I should be the one to tell you,” he said. “’Cause, honestly, I really don’t know where to start.”
“Can you at least tell me when he came back? Andrew was a little less than forthcoming with that.” Buffy asked, wanting to know something, anything.
“Probably…about,” Angel thought for a second. “A few weeks after you guys…Spike…closed the Hellmouth.”
Buffy’s eyes widened. “That long? You mean to tell me, that he‘s been back from the dead for almost a year? And he didn‘t tell me?” The hurt in her voice was apparent to both Giles and Angel.
“I’m sure he had a good reason not to, Buffy,” Giles tried to reassure her. If he was being honest with himself, he, too, was surprised at the length of time and lack of communication.
“He did,” Angel said, somewhat surprising himself (and Buffy and Giles) by defending Spike. “There were lots of factors involved, and I’d tell you myself, but he should be the one to.”
“He damn well better. Stupid vampire,” Buffy muttered, crossing her arms over her chest.
Giles looked at the souled vampire. “Well, I best return to the rest of the slayers and make sure they know not to stake you or Spike.”
Buffy and Angel watched Giles leave in silence. When he was gone, Buffy turned to the vampire. “So you and Spike hung out for a year and managed not to kill each other? I’m impressed. Thought you two hated each other.”
“And we do,” Angel said, letting her know his hated of the blond vampire was still present. “We just tolerate each other now. But…I can’t believe I’m saying this, but…Spike has actually proved helpful.”
They fell silent. A minute passed before Angel suddenly found himself with an armful of Buffy. She had jumped on him and now had him in a hug. He awkwardly returned it, confused.
“I’m so sorry we ever doubted you,” Buffy told him. “Can’t believe that I ever thought that you would slip away.”
“Hey,” Angel pulled her away. “It’s okay,” he reassured her. “I doubted myself at times, as well. Let’s just put this behind us.”
“Okay,” Buffy said with a smile. She tip-toed and gave Angel a chaste kiss on the cheek. “All put behind.” She bounced back and looked at him with curious eyes. “So what happened the last year…asides from the apocalypse.”
Angel allowed himself a smile. “I met a girl.”
*******************************
Nina sat at the vanity in the dressing room of the hotel suite, staring at her reflection in the mirror. She didn’t like who stared back; a heartbroken girl. It wasn’t her. Slowly, she reached up and put one earring on. She, her sister and niece were going out to play tourist in one of the most gorgeous cities in the world.
“Hey, Nina,” her sister poked her head in the bedroom. “What’s taking so long? London’s not going to wait for us. Amanda’s getting impatient.”
Nina turned to face Jill. “Sorry, it’s just…”
Jill entered the room and took a seat on the bed. She looked at her sister, sympathy on her face. “You’re thinking about him, aren’t you? The guy you‘ve secretly been dating? This…Angel.”
“Wha-? No, no,” Nina said, refusing to admit it.
“Yes, you are. Don’t try to deny it,” Jill said, trying to cajole Nina into telling her something…anything. There were too many secrets between the two of them, she knew. It took months for Nina to finally admit what she had become. Jill didn’t believe for herself until one night, on a full moon, Nina told her that if she wanted proof, she should come with her to Wolfram and Hart. There she met Angel and noticed the looks, the familiarity that passed between the two of them as he led them to the cage that Nina spent the three nights of the month. Jill watched from the safety of Angel’s office as a video camera recorded the transformation as it took place. It was then that Jill learned that things were not always as they seemed.
Nina looked at her sister, her fear on her face. “He sent us here…to protect us. From something big.”
Jill looked at her, confusion on her face. “Did he say what?”
Nina shook her head. “I just hope he’s okay.” She took a deep breath. “I just wish he’d come to me.”
*******************************
Buffy re-entered the room they had Spike in. The good thing about moving the Council to a huge mansion, you didn’t have to stay in hotels on long visits. There were plenty of rooms throughout for all of the Scoobies and then some. Willow looked up when she heard the door open.
“Hey,” she greeted, giving Buffy a smile, noticing the grin on her face. “What’s up?”
“Angel,” Buffy said. “He met someone. And she made him a vase,” she said, humor in her voice. “He sounded like a love-struck teenager talking about her. It was quite cute, actually. Oh…and get this. She‘s a werewolf.”
“Wow…that’s…well, that’s good,” Willow said, pleased and surprised at the same time. “It’s about time he decided to move on.” She turned to the sleeping vampire. “Now, if we could just work on this one,” she whispered.
If Buffy heard Willow, she decided to ignore her, instead turning her attention wholly to Spike. “How is he?”
“His body still requires rest to completely rehabilitate,” Illyria spoke up from her spot in the dark corner of the room.
Buffy looked at the blue demon, seemingly surprised that she was there. Willow registered this and said, “She refuses to leave his side.”
Buffy looked at the demon in the dark, staring out the window through the gap in the curtain as though she had never seen the sun; as though everything to her was new. Buffy figured in a way it probably was. She decided to let her be and turned to Spike.
It was odd to see him there. After a year, she almost got used to him not being there. Almost. Sure, at first she terribly missed his presence at her side; she missed his eyes, his accent, his humor, everything, but mostly his eyes. But…after a while, she decided that she couldn’t dwell on it forever. He wasn’t coming back and he would want her to move on.
But he did come back. Apparently had been for almost a year. She had known that. Been told as much anyway. Whether or not she believed it wasn’t a part of the equation now, was it? It was true. And it was laying on the bed in front of her. She couldn’t help the questions running through her head. Why didn’t he tell her himself? Did he not want to see her again? No, Andrew made it clear that Spike did want to see her. But why didn’t he? Had he moved on since Andrew last saw him? Why didn’t she go to LA to see him when she found out?
“Buffy, are you okay?” Willow broke Buffy’s reverie, concern in her voice.
Buffy looked at her friend. “Yeah, just weird seeing him after all this time. I forgot his eyes were that blue.”
Willow looked at her friend and then at the still sleeping vampire. “Buffy, his eyes are closed.”
“Huh?” she snapped her attention to Willow, a questioning look on her face.
“Never mind,” she replied, shaking her head.
The two stood in silence watching the unmoving Spike. Buffy cast a glance towards her friend, and for the first time, realized that someone was missing. “So, uh, Will, where’s Kennedy?”
Willow snapped her attention back to Buffy. She shrugged. “Back in Brazil. We decided that she needed to stay behind and watch the other slayers…Actually, we kinda broke up.”
“Oh,” Buffy said, somewhat surprised that Kennedy would pass up a big battle to babysit and that they broke up. “Are you okay?”
Willow nodded. “Yeah, we just kinda drifted apart. We’re still friends, though, just not in the dating sense.”
Buffy nodded and the two once more fell into silence.
“Hey, B,” Faith’s voice broke through the room as she entered. “Sorry, I’m late. Couldn’t get Andrew to hurry his ass up and winded up at the airport late.” Faith looked towards Buffy’s direction and her eyes widened. “And I’m guessing we missed the fireworks.”
Buffy gave the other slayer a small smile. “Just a bit.”
Faith took a step closer to the bed. “I thought he went out like a Roman candle.”
“Yeah, so did I,” Willow replied, casting a glance toward Buffy. Faith picked up on it and looked to Buffy curiously.
“You knew he was back, B?” Faith asked confused.
“Yeah, Andrew told me, but he said that I wasn’t supposed to know and that if Spike found out, he’d kill him, you know how dramatic Andrew can be,” Buffy said once more. She really was getting tired of the questions. Maybe she should’ve just stayed silent. “But we won’t get the whole story ‘til he wakes up. Angel won’t tell us anything.”
Faith’s face brightened up. “Angel’s here?”
“I’ll take you to him, and we can all explain what you missed,” Willow said, noticing the girl’s eagerness to see the souled vampire.
“Sure,” she replied, then turned to Buffy. “I want details after he wakes up,” she said, indicating that she wanted the tale of the great return as well.
Buffy nodded. “You got it.” She smiled as she watched the witch and brunette slayer leave. If anyone ever told her that she would eventually consider Faith a friend she would have laughed at the mere thought, but apocalypses tended to change things.
“Buffy?” she heard a familiar British accent ask.
She looked down at the vampire on the bed and smiled. “Hey. Nice nap?”
He groaned. “I feel like hell.”
“Well, that’s to be understood. You were practically gutted. Willow had to do a little magic to start it healing again. She couldn’t do much though. Magic barrier.” Spike nodded. “You want some blood? I could get Xander or someone to go get some.”
Spike shook his head. “No, thanks, love. Don’t think I could keep it down at the moment.”
“Have you even had some since…this?” she asked, indicating the large wound in his abdomen.
Spike reached up to rub his head. “Couldn’t keep anything down. I’ll try later.”
Buffy nodded, letting it go. “Okay.”
“How long have you known I was back among the undead?” Spike asked, peering up at her through hooded eyelashes.
Buffy shrugged. “A couple of months. Andrew ‘accidentally’ mentioned you one night and when I drilled him he spilled. He didn‘t give me a lot of details, just mainly that you were back.” She paused, taking a deep breath. “I didn’t want the details. I didn’t want to believe it.”
Spike sucked in a breath. “Right,” he said, averting his eyes from her, stung. “Sorry to disappoint.”
“No, no, Spike,” she quickly replied. “I didn’t mean it that way. God, I’m so horrible with words. I just meant that I didn’t want to believe that you didn’t want me to know.”
Spike slowly returned his eyes back to hers, reading her expression and saw that she really didn’t mean it. The sting from her earlier comment faded as a small smirk formed on his face. “I bet you want the whole explanation, huh, pet?”
Buffy nodded, and looked at the vampire. “Only if you’re up to it.”
“It’s a bit of a story, actually. Ghost story, really.”
“Ghost? There were ghosts involved?” Buffy asked.
Spike smirked. “Actually, one. Me. The amulet you gave me…well, somehow, I got caught in it; my essence, as Percy put it, was sucked in.”
“Percy? Oh…Wesley,” Buffy picked up on the nickname for the late Watcher. “So, you what, reappeared?”
“Yeah, all ghost-like. Quite an odd experience. Anyway, I tried to go to you then, but, uh, couldn’t. Apparently I was tied to Wolfram and Hart. Long story short, I got recorporealized and spent the last several months helping Angel and his,” Spike cut the story short, suddenly not wanting to go into details.
“Why do I get the feeling you’re leaving a lot out?” Buffy asked, eyeing him.
Spike shrugged. “Maybe cause I am. Don’t really know how explain things right now. I’ll tell you the rest later.”
“Can you at least tell me why you never bothered to tell me yourself?” She asked, trying to keep a neutral voice but falling short of her goal. Instead, she let her hurt color her voice.
Spike let his eyes wander around the room, trying to avoid her penetrating gaze. “Oh, love, I wanted to, honestly, I did. But…how exactly could I explain it? Just showing up at your door didn’t seem right. I just…I was scared,” he quietly confessed.
Buffy eyes softened as she gazed intensively at him. “Why?”
Spike sighed and brought himself to look into her eyes. “I went out in a blaze of glory, to save you and your friends and whole bloody world. Then, the next thing I know, I’m back in the world, less than what I was. And I don’t know why. Why the bloody hell they couldn’t leave me alone. I wasn’t sure how you would take me barging back into your life. I just wanted you to live.”
Buffy tore her eyes away from his and looked to the ground, suddenly not wanting to talk about it anymore. Spike watched her through hooded eyes, trying to gauge the feelings running through her. Maybe it was best they stop the conversation. She wasn’t ready to go into detail and he could understand that. It had to be a shock to her, to actually see him again. It was to him as well. He hadn’t realized he missed her so much. He tried to think of some way to switch topics but she beat him to it.
“Does she ever move?”
Spike followed her gaze to the dark corner. Illyria was still there, standing as still as a statue, staring out the window. He allowed a small smile cross his lips. “You should see her talk to plants,” he said, a teasing tone in his voice.
Illyria snapped her head in Spike direction. “I do not.” She sounded a little slighted at the statement.
Spike raised his eyebrows. “I seem to remember a time when you did,” he continued his teasing. Illyria narrowed her eyes. “I’m just teasing you, blue,” Spike explained.
Illyria tilted her head, and opened her mouth as though she was trying to come up with something to say but nothing came. She looked at the Slayer and vampire and then turned to leave the bedroom. Buffy looked to Spike, a questioning look on her face. “She does that sometimes,” he explained. Buffy nodded, understanding.
Spike looked at Buffy. “So…you and the Immortal, huh?”
“Andrew told you, didn’t he?” She asked.
“He didn’t really have to.” She gave him a perplexed look. “Love, you’re the Slayer, word spreads fast when it comes to you,” he answered.
“That and you two came to Rome,” she said, not accusingly.
“We were worried about you…that, and we had a head to obtain.” Buffy scrunched up her eyebrows in disgust. “Long, painful story, love. Still, you could do better. He doesn’t strike me as your type.”
“What do you mean he’s not my type?” Buffy asked. “He’s dangerous with a gentle side, gorgeous, and, oh, immortal,” she replied, grinning. “Definitely my type.”
Spike returned the smile, glad to see her happy, even if he wasn’t exactly the cause. “Well, I didn’t see Mr. Immortal around…”
“Marco’s flying in later,” Buffy explained. Spike snickered and she looked at him. “What?”
“’Marco?’ His name is Marco?” Spike kept chuckling. Buffy glared at him and he quickly sobered. “Sorry…it’s just…Marco. Never would’ve pegged him for a Marco,” he finished and began to chuckle again and soon Buffy joined in, finding his laughter contagious.
*******************************
Illyria studied the room she found herself in. It was full of books of all kinds. Old musty books. She walked over to the bookshelves and ran her hand over them, examining the worn binds and frayed edges.
“What are these books of?” She asked the room’s occupants, Dawn and Xander. They were in the library studying various demons at Giles’s request, and much against their wishes.
“Some are on demons, actually most of them are,” Dawn replied, looking up from her book.
“And the others?” Illyria continued glancing over the shelves.
“Prophecies, lots and lots of prophecies. Oh, how I hate them,” Xander told her.
Illyria nodded and reached out to pull one of the books off the shelf. “Wesley would’ve liked to have seen these,” she whispered, remembering his fondness of books.
*******************************
When the sun set, Nina decided to go out for a night on the town. She felt like she needed some time for herself. She needed to go over some things and it was difficult to do with her sister hanging over her head.
So, she found herself in a park that was fairly close to the hotel. She didn’t want to wander too far for fear that she wouldn’t be able to find her way back. Nina found a bench and sat down.
She took a deep breath and looked around the park. A twig snapped behind her and she jumped. She quickly turned around.
“Sorry,” a familiar voice spoke. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Nina squinted her eyes to get a better look at the man in the dark. “Angel?”
“Yeah it‘s me,” Angel replied and stepped where she could see him.
She looked at him, almost as though she was in disbelief that he was there. “You came…”
“Yeah, Nina, I came,” he told her, a smile on his face. She let the breath she was holding and returned the smile.
“I’m glad,” Nina said, making her way toward him.
Angel looked down at her. “So am I.”
A/N: Thanks so much to those of you who have reviewed…They make me happy. :)
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