Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
"Spike?"
"Yeah?"
"How long was I gone?"
"A hundred and forty-seven days," He revealed, staring at the floor. "Hundred and forty-eight today."
She was absolutely baffled. And not only because she had just clawed her way out of her own grave, but because he counted the days she'd been gone.
He actually counted.
The last thing she had been expecting when she came back was Spike, of all people, being so torn up about her death-
Death.
It was like the thought had only just hit her.
She had died.
How did she come back? How was she here, now, in this terrible rat-race called life? What evil had summoned her?
She was at peace.
She was happy.
She had no idea how the supernatural stuff worked, but as far as she knew, she was in Heaven.
And she had just been torn out of it.
Out of her sanctuary.
Her resting place.
Buffy stared blankly ahead of herself, dazed and completely out of it.
So many thoughts were dancing around in her head that- No. Not dancing. Dancing meant being happy, and she was not happy. She had to be the farthest thing from it.
So many thoughts were swimming around in her head more like, and it gave her a sick, dizzy, nauseating feeling in the pit of her stomach.
What was she to do now that she was back in a vicious, cruel world, having nothing but death itself to look forward to?
As she continued to ponder her thoughts, staring blankly ahead of herself, she absentmindedly asked the one question she never thought would be of any importance to her, or that she would even dare to ask;
"Did you miss me?" she mumbled quietly, voice barely audible.
Her brows were scrunched together, and her eyes were damp with what would soon be fresh tears, leaving her with a sad, broken expression.
Although a little heart-broken at the sad, battered, Buffy Summers before him, Spike looked at her, brows raised, in surprise.
Did he hear her right? Was his mind playing tricks on him? Was she so dazed and confused that she couldn't think clearly? Had going to Hell and back been her wake up call, and she'd finally admitted her feelings for him? Was this just some sick, twisted joke for him to walk into? Or had she really just uttered the one question he thought she wouldn't ever care to ask?
Truthfully, he didn't know. But he was willing to fall right into whatever presumed trap she had for him, if it meant making the Slayer's life at least a tad more bearable.
He gently reached for her bloodied hands, and took them in his own. Then he gave her the most sincere, genuine look he could possibly give.
"The most, Luv," he confirmed, a smile tugging at his lips. "Out o' the whole lot, I missed you the most."
