Title: Tender Lie Chapter Title: How much more damage Summary: Its the last few seconds of Spike's life and Buffy promises him one last thing. Disclaimer: The idea is mine, but the characters are of course Joss Whedons. The SongTender Lie by Restless Heart
As you walk away,
As we say goodbye.
What I wouldn't give,
For a tender lie.
Say you'll never stop loving me,
Just as if it were true.
How much more damage now, unto me,
Could one tender lie do?
Buffy grabbed Spike's hand once again. She couldn't let him go still. She didn't love him, and he knew it. But right at this moment, when he was sacrificing himself for, for what, she felt a closeness she had never felt before. He was doing this all for her. She was the one for him and though she would never admit it lately she'd been feeling the same way. "I can't believe this is the way its ending" she whispered into his lips. He shook his head, feeling the warmthness coming from her open lips. He took his last bit of strength and gently kissed her on the lips. "Just promise me one last thing," he whispered quietly, "never forget this moment. Never forget my love for you and don't forget how you feel about it. Never lie." Tears began to fall from her eyes, but she promised. His whole body was now streaming light and the walls were beginning to crumble. "Go now!" She just stood there for a few more seconds. "I once asked Giles to lie for me Spike, and it helped me get through everything I was going through, so I'll do it for you now. I love you Spike. I really do. I don't even know if it is a lie or the truth but its all the same because I'll never be able to say it again." He smiled through his tears "Thank You." She began to run and then turned one more time to look at him.
When we fall so far,
Are we wrong to try?
To fight off the truth,
With a tender lie?
Say you're gonna come back to me,
And I'll believe that it's true,
How much more damage now, unto me,
Could one tender lie do?
Buffy heard Spike's final words as she was running through the empty halls of the high school. "Ill be back, luv, don't worry." She saw the bus speeding away and quickly jumped onto the back holding on for dear life until finally about 20 minutes later it stopped and she turned around again to see the hole that was once Sunnydale. She quickly jumped off the back and all her friends surrounded her. They asked about Spike, asked about the end. All she could do was smile, wishing that what Spike said could be true. Hoping he'd come back to her one day. Suddenly as if Spike were truly back, memories of him began to play in her head. Maybe this was the way he meant it. She could see it all..
When we loved before,
Do you still deny,
Keeping out the truth,
With a tender lie?
Say you'll never stop loving me,
Just as if it were true.
How much more damage now, unto me,
Could one tender lie do?
Her mind raced back to when they met. When he had tried to kill her. Then suddenly she remembered all of the tender moments they had, had. She saw him wrapping her up into a hug and letting her cry on his shoulder when she found out her mother had cancer. Then her memories flashed to when he tried to save Dawn from being sacrificed and she herself had to do it instead. She had come back from that, hadn't she? What if he could too. When she had come back she had felt all alone, but Spike was there for her, understanding, trying to help. Love was something she had thought he was incapable of, but now she understood it had been her. She had never really felt love for anybody, not until this moment. Not until it all came rushing back to her. She had been lying to herself the whole time. They were in love. She promised she would never forget.