Author: Hieiko (spikey@otakumail.com)

Disclaimers: I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel the Series, or any of the characters in these shows. I only write about them.

Distribution: If you want this, go ahead. Just email me and tell me where it's at. Thanks.

Spoilers: Set Post - BtVS: Chosen and Post - AtS: Destiny. AU after that.

Pairings: Hints of S/B, A/C, and B/A. Eventually S/C.

Rating: PG-13 for language, violence, and sexual situations. Nothing you won't see on the show.

Feedback: Would love that, pet. Send 'em off to spikey@otakumail.com

Summary: Spike finally goes to see Buffy in Italy, but their reunion does not go as well as he'd hoped. Cordelia Chase wakes up from her coma, and finds out that her friends are now working at Wolfram and Hart. She leaves the City of Angels and starts a new life elsewhere. The blond vampire and the part-demon seer find love once again, in the people they never would have expected.



TURNAROUND
Chapter 2



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January 18, 2004
Rome, Italy
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He'd thought he would go out and get drunk 'til he passed out.

He'd thought he would run out into the night and kill things, preferably rip them apart with his bare hands.

He'd thought he would scream and rage and then sob like a pathetic git.

And he would. He was sure he would. Just not right now. This lack of feeling, this numbness... he'd savor it, because it wouldn't last. Not for long. This was just holding off the inevitable. William the Bloody was nothing if not passionate.

Right now he was calmly sitting on the bed in his motel room, and he gave the common reply to the ridiculously common question posed by the teenage girl, no, young woman, sitting in front of him.

"'M alright, platelet."

She was a smart girl, though, his Nibblet. He was far from alright, and she could see it clearly, but she also knew he couldn't (that's right, couldn't, not wouldn't) talk about it.

"You're leaving tonight?" Dawn asked. Part of her wished that he would say no; that he would stay forever and ever, watching over her and her sister.

"Yeah."

Briefly, Dawn wondered in what other ways his soul had changed him. Because, this, this LEAVING, was something soulless Spike would not do. At least, not for long. He ALWAYS came back. But now, despite being indifferent towards him for all of last year, she was gripped by fear that she would never see him again. And there was that horrible word. NEVER.

"Will we ever see each other again?" Dawn was surprised that she was able to keep her voice steady.

Spike wanted to say yes, that maybe he'd pop round for a visit every once in a while... but he loved his Bit and he owed her the truth.

"I don't know, Bit. Can't make any promises. 'M not exactly good at keeping them."

Dawn shook her head. "Spike... don't think like that, okay? You've always done your best. Please, Spike?"

Spike nodded. "But I still won't promise anything."

A second later, he found his arms full of mystical-Key-turned-human-girl. She buried her face in his chest and kept mumbling over and over again, but even with his vampire hearing, he couldn't make out the words.

Spike adjusted their positions so that he leaned back on the headboard, as Dawn curled against his side.

"I missed you," she whispered. He heard her clearly this time.

"Missed you too, Nibblet," he answered, running his fingers through her shiny brown hair. The movement was supposed to calm her, but since he had always been hesitant to touch her in the past, she was afraid of what his lack of hesitation now meant. That didn't mean she wouldn't enjoy the sensation as much as she could, though.

Still, she wanted him to tell him something. "No, Spike. I mean, I really missed you. Every time you weren't there. When you weren't around much after Buffy came back. When you left after... to get your soul back. When you were living in our basement, but I was too stubborn to talk to you. And when you were gone...after..."

The tears came. Spike held her, comforted her, much as he did in the days after Buffy died. Dawn remembered that Spike had cried then, too. He had grieved, had hurt as much as she did. There had been times when she had been the one doing the comforting, but those were rare. And she realized now that here she was again, being comforted, when it was HE who was hurting the most.

Dawn looked up, and sure enough, there were silent tears running down his cheeks. He didn't want to leave them; they were his girls. But it hurt too much for him to stay. And here she was being selfish, wanting him to stay and to always be around, and be her best friend again. What kind of best friend was she if he was always the one having to make sacrifices for her?

*We could still be friends, right? Just... long distance.* Dawn thought.

Her decision was made. She would let him go. She loved him enough to do it.