This story idea bugged me so much that I woke up at about 5AM and started writing this. Non-betaed because my muse wants this out NOW. Also, I kind of changed the hammer Buffy uses, but I explain how she got it.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

"I will allure her

I will lead her into the desert

There she shall respond as in the days of her youth

when she came up from the land of Egypt

I will espouse you to me forever

in light and in justice

love and in mercy" - Danielle Rose, "In the Silence of the Heart."

###

Buffy recognized the guide. It was the First Slayer, staring at her from across the fire.

"I know you. You're the first Slayer."

"This is a form. I am the Guide."

"I… um… Okay. I have a question. This Slayer thing. What about…love? Not just boyfriend love-"

"You think you're losing your ability to love," the First Slayer said.

Buffy folded her arms. "I didn't say that." She paused and looked away. "Yes."

"You're afraid that being the Slayer means losing your humanity."

"Does it?"

"You are full of love. You love with all of your soul. It's brighter than the fire, blinding. That's why you pull away from it."

"I'm full of love? I'm not losing it?"

"Only if you reject it. Love is pain and the Slayer forges strength from pain."

"Yes."

All of a sudden, the guide changed, taking on the form of a short, Chinese woman, dressed in black.

"Xin Rong?" Buffy asked.

The Chinese Slayer nodded. "I was raised for one purpose and for one purpose only: to defend my homeland against the vampires and demons. I was only allowed to see my mother. No other family and no friends."

"And then Spike killed you."

"Death is inevitable for all Slayers, Buffy. Most of us died when we were younger than you are now."

The guide changed again, taking on the form of a tall, African-American woman in a black leather duster.

"Nikki Wood," Buffy said.

"I lasted longer than the Slayers of the past," Nikki said. "I had a son around the age of 18. I loved my son and for a while, he was the reason I kept fighting."

"So what happened?"

"At some point, I felt like the mission came first. I knew that my Watcher would take care of my Robin. I felt tired of the fight and I wanted everything to stop. Most Slayers get this tunnel vision of one battle after another and it never stops until you want it to."

Buffy remembered the times that she lamented having to save the world instead of living a normal life. She watched as the guide changed again and took on a more familiar face.

"But you are different, Buffy," Kendra Young said.

"You've told me that, Kendra," Buffy said, smiling at her old friend.

"I always thought that the Slayer was better when she fought alone. But I missed out on a lot of things. Other clothes, for example." The two Slayers chuckled. "But I also missed out on having friends. And boys."

"Yeah, well, I haven't had much luck in that department."

"That is because you lack balance," Kendra said. "When I knew you, you were able to do well in battle and have a normal life. Something threw you off balance."

Without even thinking, Buffy spoke the answer. "Angel."

Kendra nodded and then changed into Faith Lehane. "You're holding yourself back, B."

"And I supposed you would know something about that?"

"Angel and I are a lot alike. Evil Angel embraced being a vampire all too well and me, well, I just loved the violence and the highs of being a Slayer. It's kind of funny how I didn't really feel sorry about killing the deputy mayor in spite of me having a soul. But I digress. You remember when we switched bodies, B?"

"How could I forget? You slept with my boyfriend!"

"Once a cheater always a cheater. Face it, B, I think you're afraid to fully love somebody ever since Angel shook you up. Have you ever noticed that Riley and Angel are a lot alike?"

Buffy nodded.

"Why did you go for such an Abercrombie Ken Doll anyway?"

"Because I thought...I thought I'd be better with somebody normal. Angel would never give that to me."

"But he did, Buffy."

Faith pointed to the fire and showed Buffy the day that Angel took back and the choice that Angel made when he realized that he couldn't hold his own in a fight.

"That overly-gelled, brooding jerk!"

"The word you're looking for is poofter, pet," a familiar British voice said. Buffy looked up and saw Spike. "I also called him Peaches. Or Liam, when I really wanted to wind him up."

"Why are you here, Spike?"

"I'm part of this guide thing, luv," he said. "Remember what I told you? About death being your art?"

"Yeah. You also said that you wanted the honor of killing me yourself."

"Still do. Vampire nature and all that. But I'm not here to talk about that. You need to know some things about Angel."

"Like what?"

"Just remember that I'm still the guide here. I'm not going to lie to you."

Buffy sat down and folded her arms. "Fine. What do I need to know about Angel?"

"Angelus was a big influence in me becoming the man I am today. But he always had to do things a certain way. He acted really weird after eating that gypsy girl in Romania and I never saw him again until the Boxer Rebellion."

"But he had his soul then…"

"Yeah and all he did was try and save some missionaries. Darla got to them, of course."

"Wait a minute. He told me that the Powers called upon him to help the Slayer. He could've stopped you from killing the Slayer?"

Spike nodded. "Truth was he didn't know what that loophole was until…"

"Too late," Buffy said.

"Now let's imagine for a second if Angel really loved football."

"Like the Super Bowl?"

"No no! What you Yanks call soccer. Bloody awful name, if you ask me."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Continue."

"Let's imagine that Angel is wandering around some alley in Europe, eating rats, and he happens upon a scummy pub. On the telly, the boys in green are taking on Spain in the world cup. Being Irish, old Angel boy, he holds back his breath as Hamilton passes across the middle. It's blocked, but oh my God, Armstrong is there to put it in, Angel feels it's all incredible, and POOF, he loses his soul and everyone in the pub is dead before you can say Bob's your uncle."

Buffy couldn't help but laugh.

"It's funny that Angel never sought a Slayer to help after he lost his soul. Instead he waits for some kind of half-demon hybrid to lead him to the steps of Hemery High School." Spike gestured for Buffy to look into the fire. Disgust filled her face as she saw the raggedy Angel staring at her fifteen-year-old Valley Girl Barbie self.

"Fell in love with my heart my ass!" Buffy said. "You fucking pervert! And he still didn't want to be with me even after becoming human!"

Spike nodded. "I know what it's like to be emotionally scarred by first love. Heck, I danced around going back to Dru. But I wanted you more."

"Bullshit!" Buffy said. "Demons can't-"

"Love without souls?" Spike gestured to the fire again and Buffy saw the Judge.

"You reek of humanity," the Judge said. "You share affection and jealousy." Then it flashed to when the Judge tried to kill Angelus, only to find that he didn't have any humanity in him.

Buffy's face fell. "I can't believe it."

"You'd bloody well better believe it, Slayer," Spike said. "Have you ever thought about if Angelus was different from other vampires? Most of us vamps, we still have an echo of humanity in us. We may not have a soul, but we have hearts. Angel boy here, though, was different."

Buffy was silent for a while, taking in all that she saw. "You're right, Spike."

Spike nodded and then changed form. In Spike's place stood a girl about Buffy's height. She had blonde hair, like Buffy did, but with blue eyes instead of green. And there was something familiar about the way she stood and tilted her head.

"I feel like I should know you," Buffy said.

"You don't know me yet, Buffy," the young girl said. "But you will. Right now, though, I need to give you what you came here for. So tell me what you've learned so far."

Buffy nodded. "Loving my friends and my family has kept me alive. I've outlived most Slayers because I love everyone in my life so much. But I lost so much along the way…"

"Oi! Don't go down that negative path!"

Buffy raised a confused eyebrow. The young girl huffed. "I know that you lost your mother. And if things go wrong, you could lose your sister and even yourself. But somebody once told me that the hardest thing to do in this world is to live in it. You need to be brave and keep on living, Buffy. Embrace the love that you have. Love will lead you to your gift."

"And what is my gift?"

"It's not what it is, Buffy. It's what it will be." The young girl giggled, but all of a sudden, she collapsed.

"What's wrong?"

"You have to grab hold of me, Buffy. You need to save him! He's in danger!"

"Who?"

"The one who will lead you to your gift."

The young girl extended her hands. Buffy grabbed them and watched the guide disappear as they teleported. Buffy landed inside a gaudy room. "I will help you fight her," the voices of the guide said.

Buffy looked inside the room. Spike was chained, his body covered in open cuts and bruises. Glory was standing on the opposite side, conspiring with her henchmen. Realizing what Glory was after, Buffy immediately ran to beat the hell goddess to a pulp. Glory's henchmen ran to the her defence with weapons, but Buffy kicked an axe out of the hands of one henchman and used it to slice another one in half. She knocked aside another henchman while the other ran for the hills in fear. Finally, Buffy knocked Glory across the room. With the power of the past Slayers, Buffy used all her strength to beat Glory down and knock her out.

Without a second thought, Buffy turned her attention to Spike. She freed Spike from his chains. "Let's get you to Willy's. You're gonna need some blood. And not the animal kind"

After getting some blood from Willy's, Buffy took Spike back to his crypt, healed his wounds and gave him some blood to drink.

"Don't know why you're being so nice to me, pet," Spike said. "Last time we talked, you said I was beneath you and you locked me out of your house."

Buffy sighed. "That was a mistake. I was scared when I said that you were beneath me. Scared of dying. And I was scared when I disinvited you from my house. I was afraid that you would hurt me and everyone I loved. But I was wrong. Glory tried to get you to talk about Dawn, didn't she?"

"Couldn't tell her. Didn't want to."

Overwhelmed by Spike's resolve to protect Dawn at all costs, Buffy kissed him. For a moment, the face of the young girl flashed in her mind and a warm feeling enveloped her. As Buffy let go of the kiss, she smiled at Spike. "Thank you."

###

The Tower at the Quarry

Ben managed to get Dawn under the pretense of protecting her from Glory. It wasn't until too late that everyone realized that Ben was Glory. The Scooby Gang followed Ben and Dawn to a quarry outside of Sunnydale where a large tower of scaffolding was built. Dawn was tied up at the top of the tower.

Down in the quarry, the Buffybot threw the Dagon Sphere at Glory and Willow drained some of Glory's power from her mind, giving Buffy the chance to beat the hell goddess up with Mjolnir, the hammer that Thor lent to her as an apology on behalf of his knights going after Dawn. The God of Thunder was surprised that Buffy was able to wield the hammer so easily. Buffy raised Mjolnir to the sky to strike Glory down with lightning as the hell goddess ran up to the tower to Dawn.

Meanwhile, Dawn screamed in fear at the sight of Doc, who appeared at the top of the tower from out of nowhere. The man held a knife in his hands, ready to begin the ritual. Down on the ground, Spike ran to Willow.

"Red, could you teleport me up there? I think someone's going after Dawn."

"I'll try," Willow said. She grabbed Tara's hand and held Spike. With the combined power of the two witches, Spike appeared in front of Doc.

"You don't come near the girl, Doc," Spike said.

"I don't smell a soul anywhere on you…" Doc snarked. "Why do you even care?"

"I made a promise to a lady." Spike kicked the knife out of Doc's hands and grabbed the man, turning him around. The bleach blonde vampire twisted Doc's arms until they broke and threw him off of the tower.

"Let's get you outta here, Niblet," Spike said.

"Don't even try!" Glory said.

Glory took a slow step towards Dawn, holding the knife that fell down from the tower, only for Buffy to whack Glory on the head with Mjolnir, knocking the hell goddess out. Blood dripped from Glory's nose and as it fell to the ground, the interdimensional portal began to open.

"It was her blood all along!" Giles said from down below.

Up on the tower, Spike untied Dawn.

"What do we do?" Dawn asked.

"If she wants to go to hell so much," Buffy said, "I say we oughta give her what she wants."

Buffy and Spike looked to each other and threw Glory into the portal. The energy crackled and consumed the hell goddess before disappearing completely in a bright flashing light.

As Spike, Buffy and Dawn walked down from the tower, Spike hid his face as the sun rose, only to find that he was not affected by the incoming sunlight.

"Um, does anyone want to tell me when Captain Peroxide turned into the new Daywalker?" Xander asked.

Giles sputtered and thought things over for a minute. "There was something I read," Giles said. "Something Wesley sent me to translate. It was a prophecy that said 'On the eve of the apocalypse, when the sky is shrouded in darkness, and demons overthrow the earth, during humanity's last stand, our champion will be a demon with the face of an angel. And the champion will live.' We both assumed it meant that Angel would fulfill the prophecy and be rewarded with humanity."

"But we just averted the apocalypse," Willow said. "Granted, it wasn't the first time."

"We'll have to go to LA to find out more," Giles said.

The other members of the Scooby Gang continued to discuss and theorize. Dawn, however, stood aside as Buffy kissed Spike passionately and couldn't stop kissing him, even when everyone else realized what was going on and gasped in shock.

###

In the days that followed...

The Scooby Gang went to LA to look further into what Giles and Wesley called the Shanshu Prophecy. Wolfram and Hart kept it secure because they believed that the prophecy related to their plan of opening the Circle of Black Thorn. However, Dawn was able to translate the prophecy correctly. The prophecy actually had to do with Glory and her inevitable opening of the hell dimension she came from. Since Spike helped to defeat Glory, the powers granted him with humanity and the strengths he had as a vampire: the super strength, the agility, the speed, but no bloodthirst and no weakness to sunlight or holy relics.

Buffy and Spike couldn't keep their hands off of each other, even when Angel tried to break them apart. They spent many a night in LA enjoying each other's company and in the ensuing weeks, Buffy found herself pregnant.

As Buffy fell asleep one night, the young woman she saw out in the desert appeared to her again.

"I think I know who you are," Buffy said. "You are the gift."

The young girl giggled. "Indeed I am."

"How?"

"A greater power, the Omniscient One, was behind the magic of the Guide. You saw past, present, and future in order for you to be led to your love. And in a matter of months, I will come as your gift."

"And I take it that the Omniscient One is the reason you're in my dream?"

"Yes. And this will be the last time I appear in your subconscious...Mom."

Buffy smiled at her daughter as the young girl faded into the night.

The End

Spike's hypothetical soccer-game situation was taken from The Passion of the Nerd's analysis of the episode "Innocence." Watch his Buffy videos on Youtube. He's awesome.

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