A/N : Well, here is the penultimate chapter. The final chapter should be done tomorrow, it won't be very long but it will be that happy ending you've all been waiting for! Thanx to all who reviewed; bherycherry, SpuffyGal03, SpIkEs AnGeL, Spikes Bint, SouthernRain, fictionfreak2, spike wuvs buffy, RoboShiflo, Azrielle, LunarFaerie, tinkerbell42, Atterb, Spoiler Babe - I can't believe so many people are still reading and enjoying this fic, but I'm glad you all like it! :-) Hope I didn't miss anyone off the list this time! Now, can Willow and Xander make Spike and Buffy see sense? Keep reading to find out...

(For disclaimer, etc - see chapter 1)

Chapter 23 - What Friends Are For

Xander rushed to the car and jumped inside, heading for Spike's apartment as fast as he could to see Buffy. She would be in a terrible state by now, not only because Angel was dead but more-over because of Spike. Those two were his best friends, after Willow, but they drove him crazy! He wanted her, she wanted him, but never at the same time and when they did they wouldn't admit it to each other! With any luck him and Will would be able to sort them out before the day was through, at least Xander hoped so.

When he knocked on the front door of the apartment, it opened in seconds, and he saw a disappointed and tear-stained Buffy on the other side. She'd been expecting Spike, of course.

"Hey Buff" her brunette friend tried to smile, but she didn't even attempt to smile back as she collapsed into his arms, sobbing her heart out. Xander took her back to the couch and sat her down, keeping an arm around her whilst she cried. When her sobbing started to die down he tried to talk to her.

"Hey, I'm pretty sure the guy you're supposed to be crying on is English" he joked, "bleach blond hair, leather coat, currently looking a little down at my apartment?"

"Oh Xander, what have I done?" Buffy asked, looking over at him with red-rimmed eyes.

"It's not just you Buff" her friend assured her, about to explain, but she didn't give him a chance.

"I love him, I really do" she choked out, "I'm in love with him and I thought maybe he..." that was as far as she got as sadness took her voice away and Xander was kind of glad to get a word in.

"Buffy, listen for a sec, okay?" he tried to tell her and when he seemed to get her full attention, he smiled, "He loves you too, Buff, seriously, madly, deeply, the whole thing. When you tried to kiss him before, he didn't know how you felt about him, he still doesn't, he thought you were gonna use him and lose him...like last time" he added uncomfortably, he didn't want to make her feel bad about what she'd done before but it was truth time and she had to hear it.

"He loves me?" she gasped, as if it were the biggest of shocks, to her it seemed it really was, "Like I love him?" she checked.

"Yes, you big idiot" Xander all but laughed at the absurdity of these two people! "So why don't you tell him that you love him too and then you can live happily ever after, right?"

Buffy shook her head and Xander started to wonder if her and Spike would make it to couple-dom before they reached retirement age.

"But I hurt him Xand, really bad, I know I did" Buffy was close to crying again and her friend sighed.

"Y'know what?" he said seriously "You're right. You did hurt him, and yeah, it was bad" he told her, much to her shock, but he wasn't done yet "but he still loves you, and all you're achieving now by not being honest about how you feel is you're hurting him more"

She nodded that it did make sense but she had a bad feeling that she just couldn't shake and it was fear.

"I'm just, I'm scared Xander" she told the man beside her "He's my best friend, he always has been and after last time...I couldn't lose him, I just couldn't"

"And you won't" Xander promised, holding onto her hand "Look Buff, you've come this far, if you still love each other now and have for all this time, nothing's ever gonna break you two apart" he squeezed her hand in his and they both forced a smile.

"I hope you're right" she sniffed, wiping her tears with the back of her hand.

"Hey, I know I'm right" Xander grinned his goofy grin and almost made Buffy laugh.

"Thanks Xan" she said honestly, hugging him tightly.

"No problem" he replied as he hugged her back, before gently pushing her off "now get into that bathroom and clean yourself up, so you look at least semi-attractive when Spike gets home" he mock-ordered and she jumped to it immediately. As she made to leave the room for the bathroom, she saw Xander head for the front door and frowned.

"Where are you going?

"To send him home" the brunette answered without thinking, "he's with Wills and... "

"You set us up!" Buffy gasped in shock "You were working on me and Willow was working on Spike!"

Xander looked suddenly nervous as he shuffled his feet and looked longingly at the door he wanted to escape through.

"We just want you to be happy" he said in a small voice and Buffy couldn't help but smile.

"I know" she nodded "and I love it that you care so much, if it weren't for you..." her voice cracked a little and her eyes teared up all over again as Xander interrupted.

"If it weren't for us nothing, you two would have figured it out on your own eventually. We just gave you a little push is all" he smiled.

"No-one had to give you a push, did they?" Buffy smirked, "I'm glad you and Wills are happy together too"

"How do you...?" Xander began to ask, but Buffy had already disappeared into the bathroom. The brunette decided it really didn't matter how his friend knew that he was in love with Willow and her with him, he was just happy that everyone else was happy or at least would be soon.

As Xander was explaining to Buffy how much Spike loved her, he was equally as shocked to find out from Willow that Buffy loved him. He'd taken some convincing but he was just now starting to believe it, which actually presented a problem...

"I've spent all this time trying to tell myself I don't have feelings for her, now I don't know what I really do feel" he told the red-head beside him and Willow sighed.

"You can't switch off feelings, Spike" she shook her head for emphasis "believe me, I know, if you loved her before then you still love her now" she said confidently, before adding "...right?" in an unsure tone.

After a moments silence, Spike nodded his head positively.

"Yeah" he almost laughed "y'know I don't think I could stop even if I wanted to, well, I did want to" he realised "I tried to hate her or at least dislike her, but I failed miserably"

"Too much miserable has been the problem with you two lately" Willow mock-scolded "You need each other" she told him "just like me and Xander need each other" she explained, having already confessed to her relationship with the brunette a little while before, Spike of course already knew just as Buffy did.

"Is need enough?" the bleach blond frowned a little and Willow was getting tired of excuses for her two best friends not being together!

"You love each other too" she reminded him "Come on Spike, give up being the manly man and fess up!" she demanded, much to his amusement.

"Me? The manly man?" he almost burst out laughing at that "These days I'm ashamed to say I'm closer to the girly girl what with the real manly tears and all" he turned away from his friend, embarrassed that he'd even mentioned the possibility of himself crying.

"Tears don't make you weak Spike, they make you human" his friend explained and he nodded.

"I s'pose" he conceded, sighing "God, how did I get into this mess?"

"Love's a funny thing" Willow said with one her quirky smiles, what else could she say?

"That it is, Red" Spike smiled at her attempts to cheer him up and sort out the mess that was his love life.

When silence reigned, Willow felt he needed another push.

"So, what are you gonna do now?" she prompted.

"Go and see Buffy I s'pose" he decided, getting to his feet "something's gotta get done about this"

"Something good?" his friend asked hopefully and he smiled as he looked down at her sitting on the edge of the sofa.

"Yeah, something good" he promised, before turning toward the front door. He was two steps from it when he turned back to say something else and found Willow reaching for the phone. "Oh and Will...Who are you calling?" he asked her.

"Xander" she answered sheepishly and at first he thought nothing of it, but then it occurred to him that the man had made a pretty fast exit when he'd arrived and where was he now...?

"Hey, you didn't arrange this did you?" he demanded to know and Willow did a good impression of being shocked and affronted by such an accusation.

"What? No, no arrangements" she shook her head violently as Spike re-closed the front door and turned back to her, arms folded over his chest in mock-annoyance.

"So while you're here tellin' me what's what, Xander isn't having the same conversation with Buffy?" he checked, and he watched as her defences crumbled.

"Well..." she was about to make an attempt at bending the truth but he didn't give her a chance to try.

"Can't lie to me Red" Spike smirked "I know you too well"

"We thought it was a good idea" Willow sighed, annoyed at being caught and a little worried she might have upset the man by lying.

"It was a good idea" he admitted "it is, God knows we need someone to sort us two out, can't seem to do it our-bloody-selves, can we?" he said as she rose from the sofa and came over to him to give him a hug.

"I think you can now" she told him as their arms fixed around each other for a moment.

"Hope so" Spike sighed as they stepped away from each other again and he opened the front door "Wish me luck?" he said just before he stepped out.

"You don't need luck" Willow shook her head "you have love"

There was a genuine smile on her friends lips as he walked away from Xander's apartment and began the journey back to his own. There was a feeling inside of him that only love could cause and he couldn't wait to get home to Buffy.

To Be Continued...