Buffy's heart began to race as she locked eyes with Spike, he was here. A million questions raced through her head, had he come for her? How did he know she would be here? And lastly because Angel's words still taunted her, did he want to see her? He's here - thats a start.
The line of disembarking passengers was getting irritable behind the pretty blond girl. She had stopped dead still in the line, her eyes locked on a young man who was walking towards her.
Spike began walking towards her in total disbelief, it was Buffy and she was here. It had to be a sign.
"Miss, Miss. Are you okay?" An elderly woman gently touched her shoulder. Buffy never took her eyes off of Spike, "Yes, mam."
The woman turned to look at Spike, "Is that your young man then, come to meet you?"
Buffy never answered as she began walking towards him, her feet moving of their own accord. Their eyes never leaving each other.
If Spike had still had a pulse it would have been racing ninety to nothing, she was here not ten feet away from him, and she was walking towards him. She didn't seem angry to see him, that had to be another good sign.
They walked towards each other deliberately and suddenly nothing Angel had told them mattered. What mattered was that they were both here, now.
When they finally met, neither could speak only smile and stare at the other. Buffy finally tentatively put up her hand and touched his face, "It's really you."
He reached for her then, placing his hand on her cheek, "And it's really you."
"How? How did you know I'd be here?" Buffy asked leaving her hand on his face, he was solid and real and she didn't want to let go.
He gave a short laugh, "I didn't know. I was here to catch a flight."
Spike noticed Buffy's face fall slightly, he dug in his duster pocket and pulled out his ticket, handing it to her, "I was coming to find you."
She laughed softly as she took the ticket, "You were coming to London."
Warm tears began to run down her cheeks, "You were really coming to me."
A rude voice interrupted them, "I'm sure this is a very touching reunion, but you two are holding up traffic, could you move to the side." A gruff looking man in a business suit barked at them.
Spike glared at the man and gently steered Buffy out of the way to a group of chairs, "Of course I was coming to find you. You know I'm selfish and stubborn, didn't care what Angel said. I wanted to hear it from you." He could feel his own eyes watering.
He sat down in the chair beside her, "He told me that you didn't want to see me, pet. Said you were starting over. " He placed one finger under her chin and looked into her watery eyes, "If thats the truth, just tell me now."
She shook her head as fresh tears appeared, "He said you didn't want to see me. That you wanted a fresh start, too. I wanted to come as soon as he told me you were back."
"I knew it!" Spike's voice raised enough for the other passengers to turn and stare at him. He calmed himself pushing thoughts of Angel torture out of his mind for Buffy's sake, "Come on, lets get out of here." She took his hand and held on tightly as he grabbed her bag from the carousel.
*****
Angel paced his office several times before going to find Fred. He had not seen Spike this morning and wondered what the bleached wonder was up to. Yesterday, he had known something wasn't right.
"Fred, have you seen Spike today?" He asked casually as he walked into the lab.
"No, not today. To be honest, I'm worried. He was acting strange last night when he left, like maybe he wasn't going to come back? You don't think he did something stupid do you?" She replied worriedly.
"This is Spike, of course he's done something stupid. He'll probably ignore the phone as usual so I'll just go drop by his place. Thanks, Fred."
"I hope he's okay." She told him as she went back to her work.
*******
They walked to the parking garage still hand in hand as if the other would dissappear if they lost physical contact.
Buffy was scrubbing at her face with her jacket sleeve, "I want to hate him for it! But knowing Angel he has probably convinced himself that he had a good reason."
Spike opened the door to the Viper for her, "I got no trouble hating him enough for both of us, Buffy. You're right though, he's probably figured out some way to make this a big noble sacrifice on his part."
He handed her bag to her and got behind the wheel, "No more tears now, okay. Can't take your tears. I'm here and you're here and we're gonna sort it all out."
She sniffed once, "Yeah, we are." She sat down in the luxurious seat."Spike, these windows aren't blackened and where did you get this car?" Buffy asked as he turned the key.
"Special glass and it's Angel's." He gave her his familiar smirk.
"Does he know you have it?" She giggled softly.
"What do you think?" He raised an eyebrow at her as they took off for his apartment.
"Where are we going?" She had turned herself in the seat so she could look at him better.
"My first thought was we could go beat Angel to a pulp, but I thought it might be better if we talked first." He replied with a small sigh.
"I still can't believe you're really here." She reached over and touched his duster sleeve.
"I don't plan on going anywhere, luv. You want to fill me on what happened after my flambe act?" He asked as he pulled into the underground garage at his apartment building.
"We came to LA first, Angel helped us get things sorted out," She frowned as she said Angel's name, "We got the Potentials back to their families, Dawn and I even saw my dad."
"I know, remind me I owe your dad a pint." Spike led her to his door.
"You talked to my dad?"
"I was desperate, thought he might be my last chance. He's the one who convinced me to go to London. He told me you were upset about losing your friend Spike, I told him that Spike wasn't dead, he said I should tell you right away, because he knew it would mean a lot to you." Spike smiled, "That's when I began to suspect that maybe Angel wasn't completely honest."
"Dawn figured out something was fishy when Harmony told her that she and I were on a list of people who weren't allowed to talk to you."
Spike let them into his apartment,"A list? He made a list of people who couldn't talk to me?"
He clenched his fists angrily, "You want something to drink, hold on and I'll be right back." He walked to the kitchen calming himself, "Here you go." He handed Buffy a soda.
"Yeah, he made a list. Listen, Spike I know he was wrong, but right now, I don't want to think about Angel, I want to talk about us." She told him as he motioned for her to have a seat on the couch next to him.
"Us?" Spike asked hopefully, the fact that she was here still didn't put aside his fears of rejection.
"Well, if you want an 'us' ? Do you? I mean I dreamed about what I would do if I had you back and now that you're here, I'm ....doing this all wrong." Buffy sighed.
"Us is good." He smiled at her taking her hand in his, "Now tell me what you did when you dreamed of me being back?"
Her voice was serious, "First in my dreams you believed me when I told you I loved you in that cave."
He lowered his eyes, "Buffy I didn't want you committed to those words under those conditions."
"They were true then, Spike, and their true now. In my dream we somehow meet in some romantic garden and it's moonlit and you approach and I know it's you before I turn around. And we rush together and we kiss and we cry and we make it work this time around." She blushed shyly, "I know it's stupid."
"No, love, it's not. We don't have a romantic garden now, but we've had some tears, no kissing yet," He smirked," but if we talk it out I think we can make it work. I want to." He held both of her hands in his.
"First off, Spike. We have to quit being so uncertain of each other, you back in the cave and both of us believed Angel. He couldn't have manipulated us so easily if we weren't insecure to begin with. " Buffy held his hands tightly.
"You're right, luv. We both had some bad luck in our past, but if we're gonna do this, we have to totally believe and trust in each other and in us. And if you don't think that your friends will accept it and if that's going to be a problem you have to tell me now." Spike sounded wistful as if he may have pushed too far.
"It's not a problem, Willow told me to be happy, Dawn is ecstatic, oh..oh.. I have to call her!" Buffy sat up on the couch and leaned forward for the phone, she knocked over her soda in the process soaking her blouse. "Great, I left my bag in the car."
"It's okay, I'll get you a shirt. You call Niblet." Spike walked into the bedroom and sighed. She didn't mention Giles or Xander knowing.
"Dawn, I'm here.....Yes, you won't believe how it happened, he was at the airport Dawn. He was coming to find me.....Yeah, it is romantic......I think we're really going to try this time....." Buffy
spoke excitedly.
Spike returned to the livingroom black tee shirt in hand and quietly handed it to her.
"You okay?" She mouthed the words to him.
He nodded his head.
"You have to run..Giles just came in." Buffy nervously twisted the phone cord, "Let me talk to him, I promise you'll get to talk to Spike soon. I love you."
Spike's interest was piqued, she's going to talk to Giles? Probably make up something to cover up where she was.
"Giles, this is Buffy. I found Spike..... he's well. We're talking.......and you might as well know now, we are going to try to work it out between us. I'm calling Xander later, I want it all out in the open this time and if you don't like it, I'm sorry, but it's what I want...............You mean that?...Thank you, Giles....Bye." Buffy was sniffling again when she hung up the phone.
Spike was dumbfounded by what he had heard, "You told Giles about us? Just like that?"
She looked surprised,"Yes, I told you I wanted to do it right this time, and he said he wanted me happy."
"I just never thought." He laughed softly.
"I'm going to change and I'll be right back."
"Bathroom's that way, washcloths under the counter." He pointed down the hallway.
"Spike," She called from the bathroom as she dampened a cloth and washed the sticky soda from her chest.
"Yes." He called to her as he walked down the hall.
"I know you won't agree but maybe we shouldn't beat Angel to a pulp over this as you suggested." She slid his tee shirt on and turned to find him in the doorway.
"Buffy....it's still about Angel isn't it?" He shook his head, "Unbelievable."
"Spike, it's not that." Buffy leaned against him, "It's that us being together is the best revenge, despite everything he did to keep us apart we found each other again."
"I still want to kill him. But you're right this is the best revenge." He looked down at her wearing his shirt suddenly picked her up in his arms, carrying her back to the livingroom.
She giggled, a beautiful sound to his ears, "What are you doing?"
"I think it's time for the kissing part of the dream." His lips met hers in a tender kiss which led to another and another until they were interrupted by the doorbell.
Spike kissed her again, "Ignore it."
Buffy deepened the kiss.
Then the heavy knocking began.
"You better get it." Buffy sat up trying to make herself presentable.
"Fine." Spike grumbled as he stood and went to the door. He opened it, "Angel," was the only word he got out before a little blond rushed passed him and gave the man in the hallway a good right hook.
Angel fell back into the hallway, holding his jaw. His eyes wide at the sight of the angry Slayer in front of him.
Spike looked from Angel to Buffy, "Pet, I thought you said we shouldn't do him any violence."
Buffy looked sheepish, "I guess I was angrier then I thought."
Spike's laughter filled the hallway.
TBC
The line of disembarking passengers was getting irritable behind the pretty blond girl. She had stopped dead still in the line, her eyes locked on a young man who was walking towards her.
Spike began walking towards her in total disbelief, it was Buffy and she was here. It had to be a sign.
"Miss, Miss. Are you okay?" An elderly woman gently touched her shoulder. Buffy never took her eyes off of Spike, "Yes, mam."
The woman turned to look at Spike, "Is that your young man then, come to meet you?"
Buffy never answered as she began walking towards him, her feet moving of their own accord. Their eyes never leaving each other.
If Spike had still had a pulse it would have been racing ninety to nothing, she was here not ten feet away from him, and she was walking towards him. She didn't seem angry to see him, that had to be another good sign.
They walked towards each other deliberately and suddenly nothing Angel had told them mattered. What mattered was that they were both here, now.
When they finally met, neither could speak only smile and stare at the other. Buffy finally tentatively put up her hand and touched his face, "It's really you."
He reached for her then, placing his hand on her cheek, "And it's really you."
"How? How did you know I'd be here?" Buffy asked leaving her hand on his face, he was solid and real and she didn't want to let go.
He gave a short laugh, "I didn't know. I was here to catch a flight."
Spike noticed Buffy's face fall slightly, he dug in his duster pocket and pulled out his ticket, handing it to her, "I was coming to find you."
She laughed softly as she took the ticket, "You were coming to London."
Warm tears began to run down her cheeks, "You were really coming to me."
A rude voice interrupted them, "I'm sure this is a very touching reunion, but you two are holding up traffic, could you move to the side." A gruff looking man in a business suit barked at them.
Spike glared at the man and gently steered Buffy out of the way to a group of chairs, "Of course I was coming to find you. You know I'm selfish and stubborn, didn't care what Angel said. I wanted to hear it from you." He could feel his own eyes watering.
He sat down in the chair beside her, "He told me that you didn't want to see me, pet. Said you were starting over. " He placed one finger under her chin and looked into her watery eyes, "If thats the truth, just tell me now."
She shook her head as fresh tears appeared, "He said you didn't want to see me. That you wanted a fresh start, too. I wanted to come as soon as he told me you were back."
"I knew it!" Spike's voice raised enough for the other passengers to turn and stare at him. He calmed himself pushing thoughts of Angel torture out of his mind for Buffy's sake, "Come on, lets get out of here." She took his hand and held on tightly as he grabbed her bag from the carousel.
*****
Angel paced his office several times before going to find Fred. He had not seen Spike this morning and wondered what the bleached wonder was up to. Yesterday, he had known something wasn't right.
"Fred, have you seen Spike today?" He asked casually as he walked into the lab.
"No, not today. To be honest, I'm worried. He was acting strange last night when he left, like maybe he wasn't going to come back? You don't think he did something stupid do you?" She replied worriedly.
"This is Spike, of course he's done something stupid. He'll probably ignore the phone as usual so I'll just go drop by his place. Thanks, Fred."
"I hope he's okay." She told him as she went back to her work.
*******
They walked to the parking garage still hand in hand as if the other would dissappear if they lost physical contact.
Buffy was scrubbing at her face with her jacket sleeve, "I want to hate him for it! But knowing Angel he has probably convinced himself that he had a good reason."
Spike opened the door to the Viper for her, "I got no trouble hating him enough for both of us, Buffy. You're right though, he's probably figured out some way to make this a big noble sacrifice on his part."
He handed her bag to her and got behind the wheel, "No more tears now, okay. Can't take your tears. I'm here and you're here and we're gonna sort it all out."
She sniffed once, "Yeah, we are." She sat down in the luxurious seat."Spike, these windows aren't blackened and where did you get this car?" Buffy asked as he turned the key.
"Special glass and it's Angel's." He gave her his familiar smirk.
"Does he know you have it?" She giggled softly.
"What do you think?" He raised an eyebrow at her as they took off for his apartment.
"Where are we going?" She had turned herself in the seat so she could look at him better.
"My first thought was we could go beat Angel to a pulp, but I thought it might be better if we talked first." He replied with a small sigh.
"I still can't believe you're really here." She reached over and touched his duster sleeve.
"I don't plan on going anywhere, luv. You want to fill me on what happened after my flambe act?" He asked as he pulled into the underground garage at his apartment building.
"We came to LA first, Angel helped us get things sorted out," She frowned as she said Angel's name, "We got the Potentials back to their families, Dawn and I even saw my dad."
"I know, remind me I owe your dad a pint." Spike led her to his door.
"You talked to my dad?"
"I was desperate, thought he might be my last chance. He's the one who convinced me to go to London. He told me you were upset about losing your friend Spike, I told him that Spike wasn't dead, he said I should tell you right away, because he knew it would mean a lot to you." Spike smiled, "That's when I began to suspect that maybe Angel wasn't completely honest."
"Dawn figured out something was fishy when Harmony told her that she and I were on a list of people who weren't allowed to talk to you."
Spike let them into his apartment,"A list? He made a list of people who couldn't talk to me?"
He clenched his fists angrily, "You want something to drink, hold on and I'll be right back." He walked to the kitchen calming himself, "Here you go." He handed Buffy a soda.
"Yeah, he made a list. Listen, Spike I know he was wrong, but right now, I don't want to think about Angel, I want to talk about us." She told him as he motioned for her to have a seat on the couch next to him.
"Us?" Spike asked hopefully, the fact that she was here still didn't put aside his fears of rejection.
"Well, if you want an 'us' ? Do you? I mean I dreamed about what I would do if I had you back and now that you're here, I'm ....doing this all wrong." Buffy sighed.
"Us is good." He smiled at her taking her hand in his, "Now tell me what you did when you dreamed of me being back?"
Her voice was serious, "First in my dreams you believed me when I told you I loved you in that cave."
He lowered his eyes, "Buffy I didn't want you committed to those words under those conditions."
"They were true then, Spike, and their true now. In my dream we somehow meet in some romantic garden and it's moonlit and you approach and I know it's you before I turn around. And we rush together and we kiss and we cry and we make it work this time around." She blushed shyly, "I know it's stupid."
"No, love, it's not. We don't have a romantic garden now, but we've had some tears, no kissing yet," He smirked," but if we talk it out I think we can make it work. I want to." He held both of her hands in his.
"First off, Spike. We have to quit being so uncertain of each other, you back in the cave and both of us believed Angel. He couldn't have manipulated us so easily if we weren't insecure to begin with. " Buffy held his hands tightly.
"You're right, luv. We both had some bad luck in our past, but if we're gonna do this, we have to totally believe and trust in each other and in us. And if you don't think that your friends will accept it and if that's going to be a problem you have to tell me now." Spike sounded wistful as if he may have pushed too far.
"It's not a problem, Willow told me to be happy, Dawn is ecstatic, oh..oh.. I have to call her!" Buffy sat up on the couch and leaned forward for the phone, she knocked over her soda in the process soaking her blouse. "Great, I left my bag in the car."
"It's okay, I'll get you a shirt. You call Niblet." Spike walked into the bedroom and sighed. She didn't mention Giles or Xander knowing.
"Dawn, I'm here.....Yes, you won't believe how it happened, he was at the airport Dawn. He was coming to find me.....Yeah, it is romantic......I think we're really going to try this time....." Buffy
spoke excitedly.
Spike returned to the livingroom black tee shirt in hand and quietly handed it to her.
"You okay?" She mouthed the words to him.
He nodded his head.
"You have to run..Giles just came in." Buffy nervously twisted the phone cord, "Let me talk to him, I promise you'll get to talk to Spike soon. I love you."
Spike's interest was piqued, she's going to talk to Giles? Probably make up something to cover up where she was.
"Giles, this is Buffy. I found Spike..... he's well. We're talking.......and you might as well know now, we are going to try to work it out between us. I'm calling Xander later, I want it all out in the open this time and if you don't like it, I'm sorry, but it's what I want...............You mean that?...Thank you, Giles....Bye." Buffy was sniffling again when she hung up the phone.
Spike was dumbfounded by what he had heard, "You told Giles about us? Just like that?"
She looked surprised,"Yes, I told you I wanted to do it right this time, and he said he wanted me happy."
"I just never thought." He laughed softly.
"I'm going to change and I'll be right back."
"Bathroom's that way, washcloths under the counter." He pointed down the hallway.
"Spike," She called from the bathroom as she dampened a cloth and washed the sticky soda from her chest.
"Yes." He called to her as he walked down the hall.
"I know you won't agree but maybe we shouldn't beat Angel to a pulp over this as you suggested." She slid his tee shirt on and turned to find him in the doorway.
"Buffy....it's still about Angel isn't it?" He shook his head, "Unbelievable."
"Spike, it's not that." Buffy leaned against him, "It's that us being together is the best revenge, despite everything he did to keep us apart we found each other again."
"I still want to kill him. But you're right this is the best revenge." He looked down at her wearing his shirt suddenly picked her up in his arms, carrying her back to the livingroom.
She giggled, a beautiful sound to his ears, "What are you doing?"
"I think it's time for the kissing part of the dream." His lips met hers in a tender kiss which led to another and another until they were interrupted by the doorbell.
Spike kissed her again, "Ignore it."
Buffy deepened the kiss.
Then the heavy knocking began.
"You better get it." Buffy sat up trying to make herself presentable.
"Fine." Spike grumbled as he stood and went to the door. He opened it, "Angel," was the only word he got out before a little blond rushed passed him and gave the man in the hallway a good right hook.
Angel fell back into the hallway, holding his jaw. His eyes wide at the sight of the angry Slayer in front of him.
Spike looked from Angel to Buffy, "Pet, I thought you said we shouldn't do him any violence."
Buffy looked sheepish, "I guess I was angrier then I thought."
Spike's laughter filled the hallway.
TBC
