A/N: The Last Chapter. Ooh! Ahh!

22

Buffy had been up hours before everyone else in the Sanctuary and that was mainly because she hadn't slept at all, hadn't been able to since Angel had left. The morning it was extremely sunny so much so that as Buffy walked through the building she was constantly blinded by the bright sunlight streaming in through various windows. It was hot too and the Slayer dressed accordingly in a light gray drawstring pants, sneakers and a crimson vest – her hair was pulled up in a tight ponytail and scraped back from her head.

She was down in the basement training and getting generally stinky and sweaty when Xander came down the stairs with a goofy smile on his face. Buffy continued to pummel the punch bag and then glanced at him and frowned but did not stop hitting.

"What's up Xander? Did the new issue of The Amazing Spiderman arrive?" Buffy smirked and hit.

"No," He walked up close to her "Hey, Buff, looking extremely sweaty and, well, the body odor is leaving a lot to be desired as well"

Buffy shrugged "It happens, I'll grab a shower"

Xander let out a bubble of hysterical laughter and he actually doubled-over "Oh, man are you gonna wish you had already taken that shower!"

Now Buffy did stop hitting the bag, she wiped her hand over her forehead and looked at her friend with her brow furrowed "Seriously, Xander, what are you talking about?"

He smiled easily "Buffy, I want you to know something, okay? I want you to be happy and, well, now you have the chance. So, I just want you to know that I love you and I want the best for you. And if this is the best...well, I never would have thought it but there it is"

"Um...okay," Buffy frowned she grabbed up a towel and mopped her face with it then started toward the basement stairs.

Xander jogged up in front of her and blocked her way "Wait, Buffy. I need to tell you something...Willow and Jack are back"

"Hey, that's great" She smiled "How about you get out of my way so I can go say hi?"

"Okay but...they're outside. In the bright sunshine" He looked at her with his one eye and something in it sparkled.

Buffy nodded slowly "O-kay, Xander. I get the point. Willow is back. She is outside. It is sunny. All is right with the world. Can I go now?"

"Sure. Go ahead" Xander gave her a last excited smile then stepped out of her way.

Buffy's eyebrows lifted and then she ascended the stairs to the basement slowly, throwing the towel over her shoulders she continued to rub at her face and neck with it. Xander followed close behind her and she could hear his heavy footfalls on the wooden steps.

Buffy pushed the door open and froze when she saw pretty much everyone, no definitely everyone was lined up in the foyer on either side of the wall and all turned and looking at her. Those furthest away from the two wide open front door were the girls that Buffy knew less well and as she walked uncomfortably closer to the door she saw that the closer she got were the people she knew better. She saw Giles and Dawn, Robin and Faith. Faith gave her a wicked grin and slapped her on the back in encouragement whereas Robin gave her a nod that said he too was encouraging her for something. Xander moved up to stand between Dawn and Giles. Buffy's mentor gave her a kind smile and Dawn's eyes buzzed with excitement. On the other side of her stood Andrew and Buffy noticed that her sister stood closer to him now. Dawn gave her a smile that told her that she knew it was Andrew and she wasn't entirely unpleased about it. The Slayer gave her a 'I'm happy for you' smile but she still wondered why everyone was looking at her as she approached the door where Willow and Kennedy stood both blocking her view out of the door. Jack stood to one side and looked at her, gave her a warm, friendly smile that she still couldn't fully return.

Buffy reached Willow and smiled "Hey. How did it go?"

"We found what we were looking for," Willow's grin threatened to reach her ears.

The Slayer looked around "Oh, hey, that's good. So, where is it?"

Willow and Kennedy both stood aside and Willow motioned out of the door with a sweeping gesture of her arm that reminded Buffy a little of a theatrical entrance, when the introducer pulled back the curtains and showed the performer. As the two women stood aside the sun blinded Buffy painfully and she held her hand up above her eyes to ward off the rays.

Buffy stepped outside a couple of steps and blinked at the beautiful sunshine that filled their garden and even though it was unkempt and in a state of disarray the light made it look like some beautiful meadow with exotic wild flowers and tall grass, like something out of a dream. Buffy first noticed that the gates of the Slayer Sanctuary were wide open and she secondly noticed the man standing in the middle of the garden with his back to her and his arms outstretched on either side of him.

Even with his back facing her Buffy knew who it was. Even with the different clothes - the long sleeved white T-shirt, black jeans and dark brown boots Buffy knew who it was. However the fact that Spike was dead made that a little impossible but didn't stop the Slayer from freezing on the spot.

He turned on his heel to face her and he smiled and it was most definitely a Spike smile on a most definite Spike face. The white T-shirt was a V-neck and it exposed his pale Spike skin. Everything was telling her this could not be Spike. He was dead.

Spike's smile dropped and he looked her in the eyes, cocked his head "What, no hug?"

"What..." Buffy clenched her fist "What are you?"

"Well, you're not gonna believe this, luv, but I'm a born again human" Spike chuckled and took a step toward her.

She put her hand out in a 'stop' gesture "This isn't real"

"Think you'll find it is" He stopped like she had asked "Just ask Red"

"Willow?" Buffy heard herself say it in a somewhat desperate tone.

Her friend stepped up behind her "It's true, Buffy. Angel realized when you found the talisman in Spike's coat that the reason he had been brought back was because of the spell I did to retrieve the talisman. So, Jack and I took a trip out to the stadium where Spike got dusted and did the spell but it was harder to bring him back the second time and we failed a lot"

The Slayer felt herself take a step toward Spike then stop "His arm?"

"Angel had buried it when it got..."

"Lopped off" Spike remarked bending down to the flowers, picking one and smelling it.

"Yeah," Willow said slowly "So he dug it up and we took it with us...which was really weird. So, when we finally managed to get Spike back Jack had come up with a way to reattach his arm magickally. It was amazing, Buffy! I had never heard of this incantation but it could do a lot of good to a lot of people, it was...breathtaking"

"Itched a little" Spike shrugged.

Willow placed her hand on Buffy's shoulder and leaned in, whispered "And then Angel remembered something else too. The blood of a Mora demon spread into an open cut of a vampire made it turn human, so..."

"You made Spike human" Buffy said but the words didn't make sense to her.

It made her flashback to the night before when Angel had said, "If only he had been human, then he would have been perfect" and she thought about Angel about all he had done to ensure that this had happened. The talisman, the arm, the demon blood it really was incredible but it made her wonder why he did not use the blood to turn himself human. He still felt like he had an eternity of demon fighting to do, she supposed.

"Yeah, that she did" Spike looked her in the eyes and started walking slowly toward her "So, now I'm weak, liable to die in fifty measly years, probably get skin cancer from all this sun and – oof!"

Buffy had leapt down from the steps and jumped on him knocking him backward and nearly making him fall. She clutched on tight though, her hands gripping his shirt as she pulled him into a hard embrace. Her arms slid around his waist and her head leaned against his chest, feeling his heart actually beat. His skin was warm, both his arms curled around her and he lifted her off the floor apparently not that weak. Spike laughed in warm bubbling laughter into her ear as he swung her around and gripped tighter.

Buffy jumped out of his arms abruptly "Oh god!"

"What?" He froze looking terribly worried.

"I smell!" She cried looking down at herself "I need a shower!" Buffy turned to go.

The former vampire grabbed her hand and pulled her back to him, his arm going loosely around her waist and resting his hand on her lower back "Trust you to trivialize my transformation from vampire to human with your body odor. Although, even without vampire smell sense, you do reek luv,"

"Told you you'd wish you had that shower!" They both heard Xander call.

Buffy looked into the pale blue eyes of Spike "You're back" She whispered intimately

"Yeah, I'm back baby," He grinned "And since I got the whole sun proof thing going on how do you feel about going on a little trip?"

She frowned but then smiled again still mystified with him being here "What?"

"You. Me. A borrowed bike. The golden coast. How do you like the sound of that?" Spike tilted his head, looked at her deeply.

Buffy ran a hand down his face and smiled "Sounds good..." Then her smile dropped "But I have responsibilities here and I can't –"

The Slayer was interrupted by Spike catching her mouth with his and planting a deep, word stealing kiss on her lips. Her hands went to his biceps, still she felt the warmth of him through his clothes, and she marveled at it. His arms encircled her and pulled her close so that their hearts beat together in a strange yet wonderful bass. They both pulled back as they heard cheering and clapping and in unison turned to The Slayer Sanctuary – the core gang stood in the doorway, big goofy grins on their faces. Buffy looked at Willow and Kennedy with their beaming smiles and whistling, Xander with his wry smile and wriggling eyebrows, Dawn and Andrew standing very close together both giving them wolf whistles, Faith with a wicked grin and a wink and then Buffy turned to Giles. The two of them looked at each other and he gave her a slow nod of approval and a slight but very meaningful smile.

"So, you comin' or what?" Spike took her hand and started pulling her toward the gates.

"Giles?" Buffy questioned somewhat letting herself be pulled but still looking back.

Her Watcher chuckled "Buffy, it's about time you lived the life you were previously deprived of. We have more than enough Slayers now, take as much time off as you like"

"Write us a postcard!" Dawn called grinning.

Buffy turned back to Spike and they had reached the gates she saw the shiny black Harley Davidson "Whose bike is this?"

"Jack's"

The Slayer looked back at the Sanctuary "Thanks for the bike, Jack"

He smiled "I want it back sometime!"

"Not too soon though, mate" Spike grinned and climbed onto it "I'm takin' Buffy on a much needed holiday, hey luv?"

She smiled and climbed on behind him wrapping her arms around him, she whispered "Shouldn't we wear helmets what with your now humanness?"

"We'll make an exit, stop at the end of the street then helmets," Spike whispered back "Honestly, Slayer, you have no sense of style"

"Hey," She kicked his shin "I can see this holiday is gonna be a short one" Buffy grinned wryly.

Spike kick started the bike "Not a chance, my love. I'm gonna take my time with you"

Then the Slayer and her newly human again boyfriend roared off down the road toward the horizon and the golden coast without ever looking back. Except for the small pit stop at the end of the road to procure headgear. Then it was smooth riding the whole way...between Buffy and Spike? Nah. But that's what real love is – a bumpy ride.

The End

A/N: Well you may have guess that's the end. Pleasure writing for you (and me), Reviews please!