Title: Warm and Safe2 Wheaton College Employee Wheaton College Employee 2 129 2001-10-16T16:30:00Z 2001-10-18T15:56:00Z 2001-10-18T15:56:00Z 3 1123 6405 Wheaton College 53 12 7865 9.3821

Title: Warm and Safe 3

Name: Joy       

Email: SleepingBeauty2@ziplip.com

Rating: PG-13

            "Lil' Bit," Spike said turning to Dawn as he gathered her in his arms. "Thank you."

            "What'd I do?" she asked still not understanding what had taken place.

            Spike looked to Casey skeptically. "Dawnie… You remember how I told you, you were able to affect different planes and dimensions…" Casey asked. Dawn nodded. "You opened the Ether for Spike. You called out his soul… That was the flame of life you gave him."

            "Wow…" she mumbled.

            Buffy reached for her sister smiling. "See, your destiny will be greater then mine… Just think what Casey could teach you."

            "Does this mean she can remove the curse from Angel?" Willow asked slowly from the curtain. The four inhabitants of the room turned to the four outside.

            "No… The curse and his soul were given through magic. Dawn does not do magic. I would prefer you not teach her magic…" Casey said quietly.

            "Why?" Willow asked.

            "Magic has a tendency to corrupt the soul. It isn't intentional, but when those who practice magic do not guard against the seduction of power, it can destroy. Dawn has a gift that needs to be fleshed out rather then hurried with shortcuts," Casey said plainly.

            "You believe I'm corrupted?" Willow half asked half stated.

            "Yes… You are."

            "How can you say that, when I saved Buffy from the Hell you were leaving her in?" Willow spat.

            Casey turned to Buffy. "You must tell them. She will never acknowledge her wrong unless you tell her. She will always feel justified."

            Buffy looked at her shoes. Spike came behind, her allowing her to lean her weight on his chest. He felt Buffy sigh with difficulty. "Tell her, pet," he whispered. "It's the only way she'll believe."

            "I…" Buffy began. "I lied…" Buffy's eyes looked up and found Willow's. "I wasn't in hell, Will. I was some place warm and safe… I was in Heaven." Willow stumbled back as if in pain. "I lied," Buffy continued, "because you needed me to tell you I was grateful to be home… but…"

            "But she had completed her time here as the Slayer," Casey interjected. She approached Willow gently and careful as not to startle her. "If you had believed that we would take care of our own, you would have known we never would have punished Buffy for doing what was right," she said softly putting a stray hair behind Willow's ear. "Now own what you did and all will be forgiven."

            "I can't…" Willow said desperately.

            "Willow… just tell her what you did for me and it will be behind you," Buffy stated.

            "It will never be behind me."

            "Only if you don't forgive yourself…" Casey said quietly. "Everyone in this room understands how much you love Buffy and what you would do to protect her from a perceived threat… Just let it go. You know deep down you've wanted to get it off your chest."

            "I already know Willow… You don't need to worry about me forgiving you," Buffy said coming close to Willow so she could see her sincerity.
            "I can't… I did what was right… We need you!" Willow said defiantly and left the room. Casey hugged Buffy with the knowledge that things were getting darker in
Willow all the time.  

After a few minutes of comforting and talking, Spike sidled up to Buffy and grasped her fingers lightly. "Can we… go… for a walk or something?" He expected hesitation or even a "I don't think that's a good idea." He didn't expect a huge smile and a head nodded while she tightened her fingers around his.

They walked in companionable silence as Spike tried to figure out his opening line… "So…"

"So…" she responded.

"How do you feel about all this?" Spike said not making an explicit reference to his recent acquisition of his soul.

"All what?" Buffy answered not allowing him to skirt the issue.

"Well… How do you feel about the truth being out there?" Buffy stopped in her tracks a looked at Spike with a raised eyebrow. "Alright… How do you feel about me being re-souled? I'm not asking for undying love here… or at least not yet…but does it change things?" Spike finally stated.

Buffy smiled, "Two hundred years and you still get tongue tie talking to a girl."

"You're not exactly any girl and you know it, Slayer," Spike responded. Buffy began to blush slightly. "What?"

"I don't know, I guess I like the way you call me Slayer. It's endearing. I've never had the title be endearing before," she explained with a minimum of fuss. "And I like it when you call Dawn 'Lil Bit.' I know I'm just being a sap… Riley tried but we were having so many problems that any affection he had for Dawn was a by-product of me. You really like her and enjoy playing with her. It's nice."

"They would have let me get my soul back because of Dawn too… At least that's what Casey said," Spike said as he kicked a stone. "I would have done it for her in a heart beat… Show her more love then I could before…"

Buffy stopped walking again. She stood in front of Spike for a moment. "What is it, pet?" he whispered. Buffy leaned in and kissed his lips lightly. "What was that for?"

"For loving my sister and for what ever this is between us… Angel loved me and left. Riley loved me and left. You loved me, I died, and you still didn't leave. That goes a long way in my book," Buffy said looking up into Spike's face.

"Do you know how psychotic this seems?" Buffy asked as they started to walk again. "I mean we've hated each other… We've tried to kill each other and now…"

"Thin line between love and hate." Spike stated simply.

"Yeah but I was under a spell once and planned a wedding with you… That was just scary. We did some serious making out… And then there's the fact that you've slept with the Buffy-bot."

Spike stopped this time, "None of those things matter… Not any more. Not since I have my soul back. I can't change the past… I apologized to you even then about the Buffy-bot thing… What matters now is how you feel about me- William?"

Buffy rolled her eyes, "I can't call you that… That just isn't you. I like calling you Spike… It suits you… Though I guess when it's just the two of us I could maybe call you Cotton."

"My mum called me that… It would be too weird if you were to call me that when we're… never mind," Spike halted his comment.

"When we're what? What were you thinking?" Buffy asked with a smirk of pure sin.

Spike's eyes met Buffy's directly, "You know very well what I was thinking about… It involved a great deal of energy and … passion." He moved closer to Buffy so he could feel her breath on his face. "I may have gotten a soul…but I'm still no saint."

"I should hope not… I would really hate it if you stopped our verbal duels," she responded.

"Oh there are other duels I want to get into with you now," Spike stated while Buffy raised an eyebrow. He cupped her chin in his hand and began to kiss her methodically, brushing her mouth at first and then dueling her tongue as the kiss continued.

When Buffy came up for air, she felt thoroughly taken. "Wow… I forgot how good that feels," she said leaning her forehead on his chin.

Spike caressed her hair and laughed a bit as he kissed her forehead. "Life is good…especially with you in it…I'm hoping to give you enough of heaven for the trip back to be worth it."

"That's about the nicest thing anyone's ones said to me since I've been back," she whispered into his chest as he hugged her. "I could get used to this."

"Yeah?" he asked

"Yeah…"

"Well good… because I have every intension of giving you everything in this world to make you happy. Lord knows you deserve it… I'm finally moving past the 'saving you in every possible way and direction' dreams each night. I know this place isn't heaven but I intent to make it far less harsh and violent if I can help it."

"I like the sound of that," Buffy said before kissing Spike lightly again.