A/N.- This is chapter Fifteen of the ENOUGH series. Thanks to all who have read this story and reviewed.
Disclaimer.- You all should know this belongs to Joss Whedon and the parties involved in getting this show on the air.
Feedback.- As you wish.
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Home, Sweet Home.
Buffy and Dawn headed home after they had witnessed the final breakdown of the vampire. They had found a very disturbed Tara in the porch, having wakened up and found no one in the house. Once inside, the three girls discussed what could be going on with Spike. Buffy told them what Spike had said to her and that tiny detail that he had been slightly lobotomized. They agreed that it could be the reason why he was behaving so strangely. And yet, they also agreed that the way they had all treated him could have had something to do with his reaction.
Then, they came to some interesting conclusions.
"What will you do to him, Buffy?" Tara asked. Buffy fidgeted a bit and looked at her sister, whose eyes clearly pleaded for mercy.
"I won't kill him," Buffy answered, and both Tara and Dawn smiled at that, "but I have to look after him. After all, he's still a vampire."
"Yes," Tara said, "maybe with a little help he'll finally manage to stop the blood thirst and proving that even without a soul he can be good."
"I know he can," Dawn said, "but he needs to be here, which leads us to the next problem. He wants to leave Sunnydale, how can we stop him?"
They thought about it for a while. He had said goodbye to Dawn and Tara, in a very civilized way. But with Buffy it had been a tad more violent.
"I can't approach him so suddenly," Buffy said, "he'll go wild on me and he won't let me explain."
"Maybe if I go with you?" Dawn asked. Buffy thought about it. Spike would never harm Dawn in any way. She was sure about that.
"It's an idea, Dawn," Buffy said, smiling, "tomorrow morning we'll go and search for him."
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Spike shook hands with Clem, as he finished loading his stuff into his motorcycle.
"So, you won't be coming back?" Clem asked shyly at his vampire friend.
"Nope," Spike said, "I had already told you that."
"And it's necessary what you'll do?" The smiling demon asked. Spike didn't look at him; he only stared ahead.
"Yes," he answered, "Sorry."
"No prob, man." Clem answered. "If they should come looking for you...?" He tried to ask.
Spike looked at him.
"Tell them the truth," Spike said, "that I said goodbye and that I'll never come back."
Spike then placed on his helmet, waved goodbye at the demon, and began his travel.
Clem stood there waving his hand until the taillights of the motorcycle died in the distance.
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The next day, Buffy had allowed Dawn to skip the last two classes in order to go as soon as possible to Spike's crypt. She wanted to have a relaxed talk and she knew that she had to do it on daylight. If not, he could run away into the night and she'd miss him completely. In fact, she'd have to cut his access to the tunnels if she wanted to close any root of escape. However, she felt as if he wasn't the one who'd need an escape root.
Both sisters were somewhat happy about the fact that they'd be able to offer a solution for the vampire's dilemma. And they were certain about the fact that they didn't want him to go away. They were so immersed in their talk that the loud noise took them off balance and made them fall to the ground. They had been a block away from the cemetery and the noise had been that of an explosion. They ran and found the last thing they had expected to find. Spike's crypt was no more.
It had been blown off the ground.
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A few blocks away, Clem was walking hurriedly, covered with a long overcoat and a hat. He had in his hands a small remote control, which he had used to fulfill the vampire's request. He had been against the idea but since Spike had been so weird, he decided to go along with it. Yet, he didn't understand why those places and objects had to be blown away. The crypt was a perfectly inhabitable spot and now it was gone. And he was so confused about why the vampire wanted that abandoned building blown up as well.
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Buffy dropped on her knees. What had happened here? A few hours ago she had been on the crypt, arguing with Spike, on the lower level, fighting with him. Now there was nothing. The explosion had leveled the whole structure and then it collapsed into the lower level. Everything that was Spike's home was now a smoking crater in the middle of the graveyard. Soon, a lot of curious bystanders gathered around and began asking questions. Both Buffy and Dawn were shocked. And they didn't want to think about the possibility of Spike being trapped in the explosion.
Then they heard yet another explosion. They all turned around and saw the wave of smoke rising into the air. A building had been destroyed this time. Buffy took Dawn's hand and began running to where the smoke originated. When they were a few yards away, Buffy stopped and saw what building had been destroyed. Her face fell and she looked at Dawn.
"What is it, Buffy?" Dawn asked, "It was only an abandoned building, what's the fuss about it? In case you didn't notice, Spike's house is a smoking crater back there!"
Dawn's voice was threatening to break down. Two explosions in one day, and one of the places destroyed was the house of her friend.
Buffy knew what the destruction of that building meant. Inside that building was where she and Spike had sex for the first time. His crypt, and now this building. What was going on?
The firefighters arrived and tried to suffocate the fire that had appeared after the explosion. Dawn kept asking things to Buffy but she was so confused and was trying to think about what this meant.
And then something came to her mind. What if it was Spike who was destroying those places? What if Spike was trying to physically erase what he and Buffy had done? Then it meant that the Doublemeat Palace and the Bronze were in danger as well. She once again ran and dragged her sister behind her. Dawn was screaming something but Buffy was slightly more concerned about what could happen if the Doublemeat Palace exploded at that time of the day. They arrived and noticed that the place was still standing. Buffy doubled and went to the back, where she and Spike had been that night. She found no explosives but there was a big, red "X" sprayed with what seemed to be blood in the exact same spot in which their passion took place. Buffy then knew that it was Spike who was doing such things. And she was sure that if she ran to the Bronze she'd find a similar mark in the upper floor. She sighed and her throat closed a bit. Spike was destroying or tarnishing the places where they had been together.
"Now could you tell me what is going on?" Dawn said, panting because of the long run.
Buffy didn't know how to tell the story to her sister. If Dawn knew about their affair, then she'd surely blame Buffy for Spike's behavior. In a way, it was her doing. Spike went to the extremes when it concerned Buffy. And this time was no different.
"Dawnie, I..." Buffy was about to confess when someone interrupted her.
"Buffy?"
She turned around, and saw Clem with his hat and his coat wrapped around him. She silently thanked God for getting her out of explaining things to her sister.
"Hi, Clem, what's up?" She asked, but she also noticed that Dawn was still thinking that she was keeping something from her. Buffy was still not off the hook.
"Well, I was not supposed to meet you, but hey, you caught me."
Buffy smiled at him.
"So, what you doing?" Buffy asked.
"Nothing, guess I'll also have to look for another place to live." Clem said, shrugging.
"Oh," Buffy said, "you saw what happened to the crypt." Buffy stated.
Clem seemed nervous and fidgeted a little. He then opened his right fist and she saw the remote control. Buffy and Dawn frowned and looked at Clem.
"He told me to do it." He softly said. Dawn and Buffy were shocked and once again stared at the remote control.
"But, why?" Dawn asked.
Clem smiled sadly.
"He wanted to destroy those places. He said that they kept awful memories." Buffy winced internally but remained still. "He also wanted to burn the Doublemeat Palace and the Bronze, but he assumed that there'd be a lot of people in there."
"Where is he, then?" Buffy asked. She really wanted to talk to him right now.
Clem looked down. Dawn and Buffy noticed this and walked near to him.
"Tell us, Clem, where is he?" Buffy repeated the question. He then looked up and stared at them.
"He left town last night."
The news shocked the two girls deeply. Dawn just exploded and turned at her sister.
"I told you we should have talked to him yesterday!!" Dawn shrieked, "And now he's gone and I don't know if I'll ever see him again!!"
Buffy didn't know what to tell her sister. A look of panic took over her face and she had to ask Clem about it.
"Where did he go, Clem?" She asked, her voice on the brink of cracking.
"I don't know," Clem sadly answered, "he wouldn't tell me."
That was it. Spike had left. Buffy then shut herself and heard nothing more. She just looked around and saw Clem trying to say something comforting to Dawn, who was now crying. She stared at the big "X" sprayed on the wall, and then she stared at her hands. Those hands that had hurt Spike. But then she realized that she hurt him more with her words than with her body.
And yet another man in her life had left, and this time it was her fault.
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The road had been uneventful. He kept replaying in his mind the things he had done in the past 48 hours. Getting rid of the chip. Stealing bodies from the morgue. Blaming it on the geeks that troubled the slayer. Stealing the explosives and placing them strategically. Leaving town.
Spike arrived at L.A. in no time and he proceeded to do what he had planned. He sold the motorcycle and headed to the airport. He bought a ticket out of there. He wanted to leave California and never return. He hopped in the plane and tried to sleep a bit. It'd be a long trip. He'd have to make scales but he assumed that he'd be home in a day or so.
He'd finally return home.
He wondered how changed England would be.
End of Chapter.
