Chapter 5

Seeley watched as Buffy avoided looking in his direction and suddenly, she stood up, saying, "We should have something to eat" before heading off to the kitchen. Taken back by the change in conversation, Seeley took a quick look at the time, he was surprised to note that it was almost lunch time. He could hear Buffy rummaging around in the fridge, he couldn't believe how fast the time went when he was in her company.

Soon after he could hear the beeping of the microwave, telling him that the food was ready, Buffy came into the room holding a tray which contained, two plates of spaghetti carbonara, two glasses of water and his meds. Buffy handed him his pills, "Here take these first, you know that you have to take these before you eat", Seeley took the pills from her and swallowed them and took a sip of water from the glass that Buffy was holding out for him. Buffy then arranged the tray in between them on the couch, handing him a plate once he put the glass of water down, Buffy settled back down on the couch with her plate and the two of them silently ate their meal.

Buffy started to think about the last time the two of them had sat down and ate together was after the fight with the First. She remembered how the group of slayers and the scoobies had been welcomed by the AI team and Angel had given each of them a room so they could recover. Once everyone had been given first aid, bandaged the slayers and the scoobies headed to bed along with the rest of the AI team until the only ones left were Angel and Buffy.

She recalled how without saying a word the two of them headed to the kitchen where Angel made her some mac n cheese and she got blood out of the fridge and warmed it up for him. As soon as the food was ready Angel placed it on the tray and carried it in one hand and placed one hand around Buffy's shoulders. He led her down to his room, where they settled down onto his bed and she told him about the battle against the First inbetween eating her food and him drinking the warmed-up blood. She remembered how her food had been abandon to the side and the rest of the night was spent kissing Angel, the two of them knew that they couldn't go any further no matter how much they wanted to. The next day she, the scoobies and the rest of the slayers left heading to surviving branch of the Watchers Council.

Seeley looked at Buffy, she looked lost in her thoughts, he couldn't help but wonder what was going through her head. Unable to help himself he asked, "What are you thinking about?"

Buffy shook her head slightly and looked at him with a soft smile and said, "Just remembering the time we sat and ate together after fighting the First". Seeley grinned at her as suddenly the memories of exactly what they got up to that night came to the forefront of his mind.

Once they finished eating, Seeley stood up to put the plates back in the kitchen, Buffy grabbed the tray and shook her head, "Not a chance, you rest and I will clean this up. Then when I get back, we will finish our talk". She took the tray of empty plates into the kitchen to wash up.

Fifteen minutes later Buffy walked back into the living room and sat back down on the couch and Buffy looked at Seeley and continued her explanation about how Seeley and Conner were alive, "When Conner defeated the dragon, the reast of the group were able to kill most of the demons, vampires and giants. The ones that weren't killed, had fled. Whistler came to me, once your soul reached Limbo. I sent a group of slayers to help with the aftermath and another group to go after the demons and vampires that fled. Then Whistler took me the Powers that be".

Seeley tensed up, he knew how manipulating the Powers that be could be, but he came back to himself and tightened his grip on Buffy. Buffy ignored the tightening arms around her waist and continued, "The Powers that be gave me a choice, the first option was that you could return back to the person who you were and be their champion again. The second option was that your soul finishes its journey and it goes to heaven. The third option was that your soul goes to another universe where you can be a human and have normal life. You won't believe how much I wanted to choose the first option; I can't imagine living in a world without you".

Seeley kissed the crown of Buffy's head, "Having my memories back I can tell you I do understand that, I barely survived when you died. If I had been given the same choices, I would probably would have chosen the first option too".

Buffy stretched up and pressed her lips to his and his hand came up and held her cheek. She slowly swiped the bottom of Seeley's lip with her tongue, Seeley opened his mouth allowing Buffy to push her tongue in and the two of them fought for dominance. Buffy and Seeley pulled back out of breath, and she leaned up a bit higher placing her hand on his shoulder to keep her balanced, and she whispered into his ear, "I love you".

Seeley smiled and kissed her, "I love you so much" he whispered against her mouth. They both pulled away and Buffy leaned back against Seeley's chest and Seeley placed his arm back around her waist and said "Sorry I interrupted you".

Buffy let out a small chuckle before carrying on, "Yes you did. But anyways as you can guess, I didn't chose the first option, before I could make the choice Whistler pulled me to the side and told me the news about Conner's death. I knew then what choice I had to make, I chose the third option where your soul would be sent to a universe where there were no demons or vampires. You would be a human who would live a normal life, even if it was without me", she shrugged lightly.

But Seeley knew how much this decision must have hurt her, before he could say anything, she carried on talking. "I bargained with Powers that be for Conner to also be sent to this universe with you and give you a chance to raise your son, something you once had to give up. It took a while but the Powers that be finally agreed".

Hearing this Seeley couldn't help but think that he was falling even more in love with Buffy than he thought was possible, he noticed that she hadn't mentioned what she had bargained with for Conner to come with him.

"Before you ask, do you remember how Dawn came in to my life? Well Whistler came to this universe and he brought me with him. He cast a spell on the Booth family building memories of you, and making emotional connection to you. The spell also worked so that when they came in contact with some from their past or people who were intimately familiar with the family, it would build memories of you and he did the same thing for those people who would you worked with". Seeley opened his mouth to say something.

But Buffy quietly shook her head and continued explain, "Your body was built again and the memories of the past were stored into your depths of your mind and the new set of memories were placed in your mind. While Whistler was doing that, I bought this flat, essentials, sorted out your medical and work information", Buffy explained quietly hoping that Seeley would understand Whistler and her actions.

Seeley looked amazed at the information that he had just been given, "You did this all for me?" Seeley asked with amazement colouring his tone.

"How could I not?" she shrugged, "You deserve this, I know that when Spike came back there was a small niggling doubt in the back of your mind about whether the Prophecy referred to you or Spike. You need to remember is that you have spent decades repenting and suffering for the actions of the demon that took over your soul. Whereas Spike has only just received his soul and it will be decades before he will receive his reward".

Seeley wanted to say something that could try to convey how much he appreciated her and the choices that she made for him. he wanted to tell her how much he loved her but, in his heart, he knew that he would never be able to convey it to her, he decided that he would spend the rest of time that he has with her showing her how much she means to him. Buffy and Seeley both knew that there were still a lot of things that still hadn't been covered in their talk and the once Conner went to bed, they would need to continue their conversation. But for now, they had to head out to pick up Conner from school, seeing as Bea would still be in class.