Disclaimer-I do not own, or claim any of these characters. They are the property of Joss, ME, and a few other entities that I always forget the names of... Thanks for letting me in your universe.

This story is about what happens when the slayer gets old, and what happens after that.

This is only a thread and I am considering this finished.

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Spike walked down the hall. I hate the smell of this place, he thought. It smells like old shoes and urine and growing old. He wrinkled his nose in distaste.

He turned into the room at the end of the hall. He had been assured it was the best, that it was filled with sun during the day. Now at night, the windows only reflected the room, like a ghost dimension just outside of reach.

The lone occupant of the room lay in the bed gazing at him with a frown on her face. When he walked over to her she became agitated. He saw that the restraints had been put on. Well, at least the nurses have gotten one thing right.

For just a moment he looked at the wizened figure in disgust, but the moment passed and he was again looking down at the woman who had been his on again, off again lover for 50 odd years. She was no longer the blond goddess as she had been when they first had met, nor the self assured middle aged woman he had escorted around Europe. Now she was just an old woman who was forgetting more and more of herself every day. The doctors had said that it would not be much longer before she died. She had stopped feeding herself last month.

"So my pet, what have the nurses left for me to feed you today?" He sat down next to the bed and uncovered the plate that had been sitting on the bedside table. "Ah, some nice red jell-O and pressed meat nuggets and chips." He picked up one of the nuggets and offered it to the woman who violently bit down and started chewing as if she were angry at the food. He knew it was his presence that set off the violence. The body remembered what it was supposed to do even when it no longer let the woman recognized herself in the mirror.

There was a small noise and Spike looked up to see Dawn standing in the doorway. She, too, had aged, but was still active. Spry was the word that people associated with her. Her hair had long ago gone to silver and had been cut short to frame her face.

"How is she today?" she said nodding in Buffy's direction.

Spike pursed his lips in thought. "I think that she is having the best day she can have under the circumstances." He wiped some stray crumbs from his charges face. "I know it's awful to say but sometimes I think it would be better I got here and they told me she'ad died. This dying by long stages and not knowing yourself is for the birds. I hope you find yourself a much better way to go."

Dawn walked across the room and sat in the chair on the opposite side of the bed from Spike. "Here, if you'd like I'll take over for you."

"No" said Spike, spooning a mouthful of red jell-O into the petulant mouth, "this is the least I can do for her. She's been my...friend for a lot of years now. I know if something had happened to me she would have taken care of me, staked me good if needed it. I can do this for her. And the nurses 'ave said I'm the only one that can get her to eat." He popped a small chip into the gaping mouth deftly avoiding the snapping teeth. "So, how's the kids doin'? And the hubby?"

Dawn looked across to the never changing face of her long time friend and protector. Oh, the hair had changed, it was back to the original brown and now the vampire sported a pair of glasses, just as a fashion accessory. Other changes were not so subtle but were much harder to detect as they dealt more with the man and not the cosmetics.

"You aren't here to talk about the family."

"No," said Spike. "I asked you to come here tonight because we need to talk about the investments. I put everything in your name. Figured that you could divvy it up the way you saw fit."

"Did you keep some for yourself?" asked Dawn.

"Buffy always insisted that I pay m'self so ,yeah, I got a bit put aside. I'll be comfortable. No more drafty crypts for me, luv."

Dawn smiled at the reference to his first home in Sunnydale. "You'll be leaving soon then?"

Just then Spike had to pay attention to the greedy mouth that had bit one of his fingers. Buffy had stopped eating the food he had continued to offer her and was doing her best to bite him now. Dinner was over.

"Yeah. I'll be leaving tomorrow. I just wanted to say goodbye to you." Spike got up and walked around the bed to offer Dawn his arm. "Walk with me a little?"

The two walked in companionable silence through the halls and out into the warm California night. Dawn settled herself on the bench in the small garden and watched while Spike pulled out a cigarette and lit the end.

"Where will you go?" she asked after a few minutes had passed.

Spike stopped his pacing and went over to sit beside Dawn. He reached out and picked up her hand and began absently tracing the veins with his thumb.

"I don't know. I haven't given much thought to where I want to go...I only know I can't be here for, you know, the end. Quite cowardly of me." He looked up then into Dawns face. "Do you understand why? If you need me to be here for you, I will stay..."

Dawn smiled and patted his check with her other hand. "No, it's not necessary. You don't have to protect me anymore. I've had a long full life thanks to you and her. I've called the security people, they will be gone tomorrow."

Spike ducked his head. "You know, I always thought I would be the one to get her, to have the one good day. Now, of all ironies, it will be someone sent by the watchers."

"Are you still planning on tracking them down?" asked Dawn with a frown. "I know what they are going to do is wrong from my point of view but I understand the reason. They can't have a senile slayer, and as long as she is alive there won't be another. They did have a lot of balls coming to my house to ask if it's alright if they kill my sister. You know, the bastard actually acted offended when I threw him out of the house." Dawn smiled a grim smile for Spike, "But I know you will take care of him."

Spike returned the smile. "You know I will, Bit. I got the list of the members who were at the meeting. I'll be checkin' my list, checkin' it twice, gonna' find out who's naughty or, well, they're all naughty now, aren't they?"

Spike stood and looked at his watch. "Come, now and give me a hug. I've got a plane to catch to get me to Chicago before the sun comes up. Can't turn crispy critter at this point."

Dawn stood and gave her friend a hug and watched as he walked away into the night. She knew it would be the last time she saw him. There was nothing left for him here in Sunnydale anymore. She and Buffy were the last of the Scoobies. They had a long run and now it was time for her to let Spike to move on and let the last of them die.



Epilog



The California coast slid under the wing of the plane, the division between ocean and shore delineated starkly with light versus darkness. It had been years since the man had been through this part of the world. Perfect recall had made all the loses experienced here fresh for many years beyond what a human would have remembered. He tried to pick out the valley where Sunnydale had been but the sprawl that had been Los Angeles had now moved up and down the coast devouring the small quaint cities and leaving just one large megaplex of humanity.

The plane touched down and taxied to the corporate terminal where a limo was waiting. William had been anticipating and dreading this meeting ever since the watchers had set it up. The door of the limo opened and he stepped inside.

"Angel."

"Spike, oh, er, William. Good to see you. This is James Worthington, the watcher. I think you two will work well together."

"Well, that would be a first now, wouldnit?" said Spike with a sneer. The sneer changed to a grin and he reached across the gap to give a bear hug to Angel. "So you bloody ponce, what have you been up to these past few decades?"

"Not much." replied Angel with a grin. It was always good to see someone after a few decades if a fight had not been left to fester. "I hope you are up to this. Did the watchers explain anything to you?"

"Na. They just tol' me that there was a new slayer that needed breaking in. I thought I'd give it a go. Not too much else to keep me busy these days."

"I think you should know..." started Angel, but the watcher James interrupted.

"The council requested that Spike come as we, er, they thought it may be a catalyst, the catalyst to ah, get things moving as it were. They thought it would be best to, um, let him decide after he's met the slayer rather than before."

"What is this tosser nattering about?" asked Spike.

Angel shrugged his shoulders and sat back in the seat. "He's right. Maybe you should just wait until we get there."

The ride continued in silence. Spike was starting to have second thoughts about the summons. He knew the watcher council had forgiven his rampage from a few years back. One of his men watching the council had told him that the watchers had briefly considered inviting him to join. More sober heads had prevailed in the end and the invitation was never issued. Spike had gotten a lot of grins out of that. Imagine, William the Bloody on the watcher council.

The limo pulled to a stop in an alley behind a business. Spike was the first out of the limo. "Well, will you look at this place. Looks just like it did long time ago. Almost expect the scoobies to be inside."

James rushed to stand in front of the back door that led to the training room. "Ah, er, well, you see, we did our best to have things be the same, but some things just had to be different. You know, some parts were missing..." He trailed off as Angel moved him from his station in front of the door.

"Times up." said Angel. "You should have thought of this a long time ago when you council first thought up this crazy thing."

Spike pulled the door open and went in. There were six young people in the room. One was the slayer he knew, he could feel the pull of the slayer blood. They stood with their backs to him, but still there was something familiar about the grouping. He walked further into the room.

Finally, the young blond turned around. "James, I didn't think you'd know what to get me for my birthday, and yet here is the perfect present. A vampire for me to slay, all for my very own." She glided across the room, stake in hand toward the unmoving vampire in the center of the training floor.

The other five had turned around when Buffy had left their circle and it was all Spike could do to keep from running from the room. It just couldn't be. All of them were dead, all gone to dust over fifty years ago, and yet here they were. Just like in the old days. Xander, Willow, Dawn, Cordelia, Tara and Buffy. The slayer seemed to be stalking him and the years of experience kicked in and he dropped into a fighting stance.

"The names Spike, pet"

"The names Buffy, not pet." The watcher must be crazy bringing in a vampire here. It was strange enough with the first one, though she was only half convinced that the first vampire had a soul. This one was all demon, she could feel it in her blood.

Buffy lunged forward hoping to make a quick end to this cocky vampire here on her home territory. Spike easily caught the wrist before the stake could descend. "Slayer," he said as his other arm went around the waist of the diminutive blond and pulled her close. He gave her a quick kiss on the nose, then thrust her back away from him slamming her into the wall. "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."



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My apologies for stealing a line from Casablanca, although since I have not seen the movie in about 5 years I may have only paraphrased it. No, I own no rights to that either.

This is as far as I am going in this tale. The end is set some one hundred years after all the seasons and I speculated that the watchers council might just be up to cloning. What better way to keep you favorite and best slayers? If anyone would like to continue this thread, be my guest. Just let me know so I can read it too.