Chapter Ten

As I slip

Down in

I think of us some place

High on a mountain

Smoke clears

Fog lifts

Little by little

We rebuild again

Till then...

~'Everybody Out of the Water' by The Wallflowers

She dreamed of the two of them making love. Moving together in a dance that was older than time itself.

And she dreamed that she had gotten to the cemetery sooner. And he would have been there now...

Buffy didn't wake up because of the sunlight filtering into her room. In fact, no sunshine was even in her room. She was awaken by someone brushing aside a lock of hair.

"Spike?" she whispered even though, sadly, she knew it couldn't be him.

He was gone.

"I'm right here, luv."

Her eyes snapped open with the sound of his voice. She saw him kneeling at the side of her bed. He looked like he had been to hell and back, a nasty black eye and split lip marring his features. But it was the most beautiful sight she ever saw.

"Spike?" she whispered, too afraid she was still dreaming.

"Yeah, it's me."

A sob escaped her and she threw herself in his arms. He groaned in pain when she squeezed too tightly, aggravating his ribs. Instantly, she pulled away, going into 'nurse mode' as she pulled his torn shirt over his ribs. She ran her fingers over the dark bruise forming, causing him to flinch.

"Sorry," she whispered.

"It's okay," he said just as quietly.

She caught sight of the twin puncture wounds on his neck. Brushing a finger over them, she asked, "How did you kill it?"

"Funny story, that," he said, smiling. "Apparently, the thing doesn't do too well without its head."

She chuckled. But the laugh quickly became a sob and she buried her face into his chest. He wrapped his strong arms around her.

"I thought I had lost you," she cried.

"Now, now. For years, you've been trying to get me to leave town. What makes you think something as small as this is going to make me go away?" he asked with a small smile.

She gave him a smile despite the tears, "You're right. What was I thinking?"

He pulled away to look at her face. "I love you," he said with sudden seriousness.

"I love you, too."

He leaned in and kissed her. She moaned against his lips, running her fingers through his blond locks. He ran his hands across her back as his tongue entered her mouth to dance with hers.

Buffy laid back, pulling Spike on top of her. He groaned as his ribs protested.

Breaking the kiss, he said, "As much as I'd like to, other parts of me have other ideas."

She leaned up to give him a quick kiss before saying, "I just want you to hold me tonight."

He nodded and rolled off her, pulling her close.

"Do any of the others know you're here?" she asked, laying her against his chest.

"No. Everyone was asleep when I came back."

She nodded slowly, exhaustion suddenly overtaking her. "We'll tell them in the morning."

"You bet, luv."

End Everybody Out of the Water

A/N: Okay, first, let me say how sorry am I about the looooooooong delay. Real life has a way of interfering with the creative flow. And now, I'm gonna vent... I'll be honest...I'm not really pleased with how this story ended. For a lot of reasons. I feel like I didn't explain the whole story (like the Potentials, for example). But, I'm gonna give myself an out on that by saying this story was about Spike, not the Potentials or anything else, really.... But towards, the end, I just got to where I was having a hard time getting into the story enough to finish it properly. So, I guess I'm gonna have to learn to leave it at things, since I'm not really wanting to rewrite it or a sequel. *shrugs* Oh, well.