Chapter Nine: The Guest
"Uh hi?"
The entire room stared at the stranger at the door. Jack was the first to recover. He didn't know what was going on. "Hello? Can I help you?"
"I uh... I'm here for her," He said nodding at Buffy. Ugh, he didn't sound so much like a stalker when he had been practicing what to say in his head.
"Who are you?" Jack asked suspiciously.
"Spike," Dawn's voice was barely audible. She went to her husband's side and stood in front of the ghost.
"Nibblet? Dawn?" Spike looked at her in amazement. His bit had grown into a full fledged woman.
"Spike!" Dawn exclaimed throwing herself at him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed him tight. "Oh my god!"
He hugged her back. "Easy there, bit," he said.
She let go. "Oh sorry, are you hurt? Where've you been? How are you alive? Oh my God, come in."
Jack held the door open and Dawn took him by the hand and had him sit in a chair. "Do you want anything?" Everyone, still in shock, gathered around.
"Am I the only one who sees him?" Xander asked.
"Yeah, we're all pretty drunk," Kennedy said.
"Pinch me," Xander said. Spike reached over and pinched Xander hard. "Ow-ow!" He glared at Spike and rubbed his upper arm.
Spike smirked, "Awake enough, wanker?"
"Um," Jack raised his hand. "Not to interrupt this reunion, but... Who is he?"
Dawn gave him a Look. "He's Spike. You know, the one I told you about."
"Oh, but you said he died in Sunnydale."
"That's right, he did! Why are you back?" Xander asked.
"Guys, guys, give him some breathing room... or whatever," Willow said. "BUffy? Are you okay?"
Buffy who hadn't moved at all nodded. Her eyes glazed over. "I've gotta go," she said and ran out the back door.
"Buffy!" Spike stood up to go after her but Faith held him back.
"Let her be. This is pretty damn traumatic for her," she told him. He sat back down reluctantly.
"Right. So, who's up for a big story? Spike, I believe you have the floor," Xander said.
Spike rolled his eyes. "What do you want to know?"
"Everything!" Dawn exclaimed. "Like where you've been? How you got back? Why you're back?"
He shrugged, "Not much to tell. I died, again. Woke up, found myself in the Sunnydale crater. Got out. Found Angel and been workin' for him."
"What is that? The Cliff's Notes version?" Faith said. "We need details."
"There aren't any," he said.
"Then why'd you come here? How'd you find my house?" Dawn asked.
"I had seen her the other night. Told me to come tonight. She wasn't home, so I asked a neighbor for direction's to your house. Told her I was your cousin." He replied.
"Wait, Buffy told you? You mean, she knew you were alive?" Xander asked.
"I saw her in L.A 'bout two years ago. Her husband had died," he replied.
"David died and she went looking for the vamps who killed him," Dawn said.
"She never told us anything," Willow added.
He shook his head, "She wouldn't." He stood. "Listen, much I'd love to chat. I really want to talk to Buffy." The group nodded and he disappeared outside.
"Wow," Willow breathed. "Spike's alive."
"And human," Robin added.
"I can't believe Buffy knew about this for over two years and never said anything," Dawn said shaking her head.
"Spike's right, though. She wouldn't have said anything," Faith replied.
"Why? I'd have thought she would've been happy. You know the whole 'my boyfriend's back from the un-dead' thing?" Kennedy pointed out.
"Maybe he didn't die," Andrew spoke up.
"What?"
Andrew swallowed. "Uh... there's this prophecy. Shanshu. It tells of the Champion sacrificing his life and coming back human."
"Human?!" Xander's eye bugged out.
"How do you know?" Robin asked.
"I still do research for Buffy when she needs. She asked me about this... about two years ago?"
"Two years ago," Willow whispered. Realization hit. "Oh. That's why she didn't say anything."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Buffy?" He found her sitting on the swing set in Dawn's backyard. He walked over and sat in the swing next to her. "Are you okay, pet?"
"Stay away from me," she grumbled.
"Not this time."
"I'm serious Spike. I've been drinking and I might throw up on you." She told him. She glared up at him. "I probably should though."
"You're a mean drunk," he said.
"Why are you here?" She asked him quietly.
"Aw, Buffy not again," He groaned. "I'm not going through this again."
"I want to know."
"I told you. It's that Shanshu nonsense..."
"No," she interrupted. "Why are you here?
Spike frowned at her. He didn't understand what she was asking. He was here because of her, because he gave himself for her, and was rewarded. Not much a prize so far. He wasn't with her. He rolled his eyes at himself. "Oh." He brushed her hair back away from her face. "You. I'm here because of you." She looked at him and he sighed. "You are the reason I'm alive. You made me a man. When I saw you, that night, I couldn't breathe. I was drowning in you. All those nights and days away from you, I yearned for you.
"Then why'd you stay away so long?"
"Why did you leave that night? He countered. "I had made up my mind not to leave you again, but that time you left."
"I was scared." She confessed. "Scared that it was a dream. That if I woke up in that motel room and you weren't there, I wouldn't be able to handle it anymore. I would've given up right there. Then I thought of Hope. I remembered my little girl. So, I left. I let you rest." She said.
"I don't believe that. That was just an excuse."
"You're right, it was. But an excuse was all I needed. How many excuses did you come up with not to come to me?"
"Just one. Hope. You had a chance at a normal life."
"Yeah a chance," she scoffed. "Somehow being the slayer always gets in the way of that."
"Of course it does. It's the card you were dealt."
"Are you just another card?"
"That's all I am to you? Tell me this, Ace or King?" He said trying to make her smile. A smile crept out unwillingly from her lips. God, he lived for that smile. "Knew I could get a smile." He reached into his pocket and pulled out that label from the bottle of pills. "You were taking these?" He showed it to her.
"You went through my stuff?"
"What? You're surprised?"
She rolled her eyes. "I was supposed to be taking them."
"And you didn't."
"Nope."
"I stopped smoking. And drinking."
"You did?"
"Yep, until I saw you again. The first time and this last time."
"I'm bad for your health."
"Don't I know it."
"You should stay away from me, again."
He shook his head. "Stop with the pity song already. Listen to me, I admit it I shouldn't have stayed away from you. But you can't blame all this on me just because you're pissed off at yourself. It doesn't work that way anymore. I'm not your whipping boy. I hurt you and you hurt me, that's what's called a relationship."
Tears were streaming down her face and her head hurt. "A relationship? Based on what? We can't be together, look at what it's doing to us. We hurt each other too much."
"I told you before Buffy. You always hurt the ones you love."
"Not this much Spike. It's too much."
"Damn it, Buffy!" He roared. "When are you going to stop these excuses and admit that you love me?"
"I did admit it!" She spat back. "And you didn't believe me." He looked hard at her.
"I did believe you. I told you I did." He was hurt. She dared looking back at him. He was staring off into the night. "You were right when you said I was in love with pain. I was. I was demon and you made me feel. How can you think I love you any less now? I didn't even have a soul then and I loved you. And I figured out why."
"Why?"
"Because you were my soul."
She reached over and took his hand in hers. "I love you."
"No you don't."
"Yes I do!"
He shook his head. "I just got you all hot and bothered with those fancy words."
She let go of his hand and knocked him off the swing. She straddled him and placed a firm, passionate kiss on his lips. "I love you Spike."
He smirked. "I know."
(To Be Continued...)
