Title: Blue (The Peacemaker Prophesy, pt 21)

Author: Nimue

Rating: PG-13

Feedback: Yes, please

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, UPN, Fox... Just Borrowing.

Summary: Buffy returns from the ether, leaving Spike with a choice to make. A friendly face returns to help Buffy understand.

Blue

Buffy awoke, curled in her bed, wrapped around Spike, as she had been every day since Emma was born. Her arm was draped over his naked chest, her leg thrown over his thighs. Somehow, he had been dressed in a pair of deep royal blue silk pajama pants. Buffy looked at him oddly for a second, wondering where they had come from and who had cleaned him up and redressed him. She scanned herself, now wearing the blue top that matched his pants and her underwear. Ok, she thought, her brow furrowing. The idea of someone, hopefully two different someones, seeing them in various states of undress was a little creepy. Suppose it was nothing to worry about, she thought.

Besides, she kind of liked how the blue pajamas looked. How they draped

over him and clung in all the most glorious spots.

Buffy shook her head, deciding shallow might be better left until later.

She pressed her nose to his cheek and felt his warmth. Spike groaned,

rolling over and trapping her under one strong arm and pressing himself

against her legs. Shallow was returning with a bang.

Still, her relief at the feel of his warmth, the slow, steady rhythm of his heart, *knowing* he was just sleeping the sleep of the dead but not actually *dead*, made her whole body sigh with gratitude. Buffy craned her head from under his wrestling grip and scanned his chest. A thin, silver line threaded delicately where the wound had been, but no other trace of the battles were visible. She sank back into the pillows, scooting herself in tighter and feeling his body shift to accommodate her.

A soft rap came at the door. Buffy sighed, exasperated, disentangling

herself from the heaven their bed had become. "Hang on," she whispered as loudly as she could without being rude to the sleeping Vampire in her bed. She freed herself, grabbing a pair of shorts from her drawer and nearly tripping over herself while trying to put them on and walk at the same time.

Buffy opened the door with an exaggerated air of annoyance. Just want to go back to bed and... In front of her stood Giles with Emma balanced on his hip.

"Giles," Buffy squeaked, still trying to whisper. She threw her arms around both of them at once. He wrapped his free hand around her, patting her back softly.

"Hello, Buffy. Sorry to interrupt but I thought.."

"No, I'm glad you're here," she bubbled, relieved at the sight of the man she saw more as a father than as a Watcher.

"Not to mention," Giles continued, "I thought you might want a visit." He lifted Emma and handed her softly to Buffy. Buffy enveloped the baby in her arms, cuddling her close and raining kisses on her soft head.

"How long have I been out?" Buffy asked, stepping back into the room and moving over to the chairs against the wall, near the window. Giles followed hesitantly.

"About ten hours."

"Ten hours?" Buffy gasped. "My poor girl. You OK?" she asked Emma,

raining more kisses on her face and arms.

"I arrived just as ... as it was ending. As soon as you came back, she just returned to normal," Giles said, wiping his glasses. He scanned the room nervously. "Buffy, are you sure you wouldn't like to talk elsewhere?" he asked, nodding at the bed.

Buffy thought for a moment. "I don't want to leave him," she answered

quietly.

Giles nodded. "Understandable."

"So, what happened?" Buffy asked. Giles smiled at her.

"Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing."

"You first," Buffy quipped, returning the smile.

Giles repeated the story that Willow had told him. About Spike collapsing into Buffy's lap and Buffy's spirit disappearing with him. Willow trying to help him. Angel coming with the news. Then Emma. The blood and the mercury and silver thread. Giles told her he arrived just as the shimmer was fading and Emma was returning to her human self, absolutely unchanged except for being exceedingly sleepy. Soon after, Buffy flickered to life long enough to look at Dawn and her daughter and then fainted back into the carpet.

"Nice and super strong Slayer-y of me," Buffy joked, yawning.

"It was a long journey. All three of you should be tired." Giles

commented.

"How did, well.. how...?" she asked, pulling at the pajamas.

"Not long after I arrived, Tara came with a doctor. The doctor checked

Spike and said he was asleep."

Buffy had to chuckle. "Bet he charged an arm and a leg for that

brainstorm."

"Taken care of," Giles said quietly. "None the less, he carried Spike

upstairs and I carried you."

"Did you.." Buffy asked, sheepishly.

"*Heavens* no," Giles answered, blushing. "Dawn came up and dressed you in Emma's room, then she moved you next to Spike herself."

"Dawn?"

"It's not as though you are very large," Giles quipped.

"And I slept through all of this?"

"As did Spike. As did Emma."

Buffy was quiet, mulling it over. "You know Emma was there. With me and

Spike."

"I had figured as much," Giles answered, sinking back into his chair. " I am assuming that your souls, well *your* soul, was in ether."

"Our soul," Buffy said oddly. "Well, almost."

Giles leaned forward, clasping his hands over his knees. "Buffy, what did you learn?"

Buffy recounted every detail that she could remember from the time that a nearly grown Emma appeared in the ether, to the story, to the little she said about the Council and the future. And of course about the One.

The Watcher sat, looking pensively at his charge. "Emma," he whispered,

gesturing at the half asleep baby on Buffy's lap, "knew all of this?"

"Yes," Buffy replied. "Like she'd been there."

"Buffy," Giles sighed tentatively, "The Peacemaker, if the prophesy is

correct, is older than this dimension. Her human form, Emma, is mortal, but her... well... her essence... is part of the Powers themselves. A direct connection, so to speak."

"So what she said ... it was true?" Buffy stuttered.

Giles thought about how to answer. "It is more accurate than any prophesy. A prophesy is that which men write about powers to come. Her knowledge is the power of which they wrote. It is truer than the story."

"So then I know, I need to... he won't...," Buffy riddled.

"What is it that you are *not* telling me, Buffy?" Giles asked, reading her nervous gaze.

Buffy fidgeted with Emma's loose socks, pulling them up, tugging them

straight. The baby thrashed and thudded into a dead sleep against her

chest. Sleeps like Spike, she thought.

"Buffy?"

"What do you know about the One? Besides what I told you," she asked, her head cocking in interest.

"Frightfully little," Giles replied. "Only that the two together were the single most powerful mortal force in creation. Had they not been separated and tampered with, they'd have likely been the driving force in unification."

"So they were good?"

"No way of knowing. But they were a gift of the Powers and demonic forces saw them as a threat rather than an ally, so I would say that, in your terms, yes."

"In my terms?"

"Buffy, you have a very simplistic view of good and evil. You've had to in order to stay alive. Only Spike has budged you even the slightest bit."

"Which brings me back to the not telling part," she said, deciding not to take offense at Giles' comment. Mostly because he was right.

"What is it, Buffy?"

"The Peacemaker.... Emma... said that the convergence is just beginning.

Spike has done everything. Embraced the light, I think she said. Anyway, he's done. But I..."

"You what?" Giles asked, trying to coax it out of his charge.

Buffy went back to her nervous adjustment of Emma's socks. "She said I

needed to accept the beast to truly even the scales and return the One."

"Accept the beast?"

"Love not just the man, but the Vampire. I thought... I thought I did,

Giles."

"But you don't know?" Giles asked, watching her closely.

"There's no doubt I love Spike, but I haven't... I never. He's never like that around us. Not unless he's fighting and even then it is *so* not happening anymore."

Giles thought a moment. "How do you set it right, according to the

Peacemaker?"

"Let him claim me. Drink," Buffy whispered. "Love the demon."

A chill tore through the Watcher. He had grown to trust Spike in his own

way, and even to respect his opinions and his judgement. Entrusted the girl who meant the world to him, the *girls* who meant the world to him, into Spike's care. Still, the idea of encouraging this, even letting it happen, repulsed the Watcher. He thought about what Buffy had told him. Pulled the story together in his head. "Love the demon," Giles muttered, "and the demon will be gone."

"What?"

"Part of the scroll. The Slayer gives herself both to the man and to the beast with only love. With no fear. Then the beast and the man are one. The evil is undone."

"Would he lose the strength of the Vampire? The senses?" The stamina?, she thought to herself.

"In a way, yes," Giles answered, "But he would gain a power much greater. As would you. No longer would you be simply Vampire and Slayer. You would both gain the strength of the other. There would still be a difference in your personalities, but your souls.... Buffy, do you understand that by reuniting the halves, you must give him half of your very soul?"

Buffy was silent, cradling Emma closer, listening to her tiny snores.

"Haven't I already?" she asked, watching her daughter breathe.

Giles looked at Buffy. "Think about this. It isn't about starry-eyed

soulmates. This is about the yin and the yang. One whole with two distinct halves. If may sound very romantic, but it is very permanent and very real."

"I'll think about it," Buffy agreed, still studying Emma. Giles knew that her reaction meant that her decision had been made.

"I'd like to talk to Spike about what happened in the ether before you make any rash decisions."

"Why?" Buffy asked, raising her eyes to her trusted Watcher.

Giles chuckled. "You have never been known for your startling attention to detail."

Buffy smiled back. " I should be offended," she said, yawning like a cat, "but I think I am too tired."

"Well," Giles began, slapping his knees and standing, "I am going to my

hotel and was feeling rather generous, so, if you don't mind, I'd like to take Dawn and Emma with me."

Buffy looked at the Watcher in shock. "Why? What's wrong?" Her entire

body tensed, wondering what was coming for them this time.

"Not everything is apocalyptic, Buffy," Giles answered, smiling. "You need to rest and so does Spike. Babies can be.. unpredictable."

"What do you know?" Buffy joked affectionately.

"Which is *exactly* the reason that I am taking your sister as well.

Assuming that she has the requisite helping skills," Giles answered, very professionally.

"Old pro," Buffy commented. "But I really don't know if I want to be away from her now."

"You will be *much* more use to her after a good," he looked at his watch, "day's rest. I'll bring her back tomorrow. I promise." Giles stretched his arms forward towards the little girl in Buffy's lap.

Buffy turned Emma, beginning to hand her to Giles when she caught sight of it and gasped. Giles lurched forward, steadying Buffy's hands. "What is it?" he asked in a worried rush of words.

"Her... her neck," Buffy stuttered. Giles slowly eased the baby from her shaking grip and Buffy stood, pulling down the neckline of Emma's pink pajamas. On the nape of the child's neck was a tiny star, burned into her flesh. Giles inspected it carefully, as Buffy's face contorted into a sad grimace. "What..what happened to her?"

"It's the mark."

"The mark Gwydion talked about?"

"I am not sure, but it was expected," Giles answered, letting his fingers brush the star. The little girl did not flinch.

"The Prophesy?"

"Yes."

Buffy was on the verge of tears. Anger and compassion for her baby were

fighting it out in her mind. "Will it.. does it.. hurt her?"

"She doesn't seem to be in any physical pain, but I really don't know much more," Giles answered.

"Will you... can you find out?" Buffy asked, nervously running her delicate fingers over the tiny mark.

"I promise," he answered, tugging up the girl's pajamas and cuddling her

close to his chest. Emma's head plunked onto his shoulder, obviously

feeling utterly safe.

"Alright," Buffy said, calming a bit. "Take care of her. Call me if..., " she pleaded, kissing Emma's cheeks.

"We've got it all taken care of," Giles said, reassuringly, patting Buffy's forearm. "Please rest." He started for the door.

"I'll try," Buffy answered, yawning and stretching like a cat. Giles smiled back at her, pulling the door closed.

Buffy slid the shorts to the floor, climbing back into the bed next to

Spike. He shifted again, groaning, his body drawn to hers like a magnet.

"Buffy," he muttered in his sleep as she eased in next to him.

"Go back to sleep," she whispered, her mind still on the star. Her arms

wrapped around his neck and he rolled onto his side, face to face with her. Slowly, she felt the fear and anger melt away. Spike was still fast asleep, but knowing he was there just made it better. Made everything better.

Always had.

"Love," he said softly, eyes still closed tight. She moved closer, brushing her lips against his, pressing her body to his so that they touched at every point.

"I'm right here."

To be contd.