A/N: Chapter two -

6.15pm

Buffy had remained outside on the porch even after Faith had gone back inside. She stood leaning against the pillar that supported the house, looking up into the dark sky. A rare peaceful moment, she watched the trees sway and the stars shine up in the sky and realised that even in the face of damnation the Earth remained still, peaceful, unworried. As if it had faith in their abilities to protect it. Buffy only hoped that was the truth.

She didn't know how long she had been standing there but she knew that soon she would go inside and carry on with her fix-it mission.

"Buffy"

She turned. It was Dawn. Her sister. Her family.

"Dawn," Buffy said "It's cold; you should put a jacket on"

"Like you, you mean?" She indicated the lack of said item of clothing.

The Slayer turned away and smiled, leaning back against the pillar of the house, she hugged herself and ran her hands down her arms. Now that she thought about it did feel a little chilly. Dawn walked up and stood beside her looking out into space much as Buffy was doing. They had grown a lot closer this year once Buffy realised coddling Dawn would not be good for her.

Her sister glanced at her from the corner of her eye "Heard you've been doing the rounds. Saying little speeches to everyone. So, I figured I would wait patiently till it was my turn. But, hey, I'm sixteen and patient isn't in my vocabulary"

"Dawn" Buffy smiled "I was saving the best till last"

She looked touched "Aww, that's so sweet…but screw that! I want my emotional moment now!"

Buffy rolled her eyes and turned to face her little sister. Sure, Dawn was taller than her and was definitely becoming more "woman-sized" as Faith would put it but to Buffy she was still a baby. Well, maybe not a baby but she was still too young to have seen the things she had seen and experienced the things she had experienced. Buffy had been even younger when she was called as a Slayer so she knew the detrimental effects growing up too soon could have on a kid.

Dawn had become strong because of it and that wasn't a bad thing but Buffy just hoped she didn't end up like her – someone who found it hard to give out love to those who had earned it.

"Look, we both know tomorrow is gonna be…" The Slayer trailed off.

"The apocalypse?" Dawn finished for her "We're gonna beat it"

"But if we don't you know I love you, right?"

"Right"

"You know I'd die for you?"

"Seen it with my own two eyes"

"Then you know that I will do anything to protect you"

"Yep"

"Okay" Buffy nodded "Glad we cleared that up"

Dawn frowned "That's it?"

"Yeah….wait one more thing" Buffy stepped into her, put her hands on the girl's shoulders "Don't get killed"

"Will do" She saluted.

"Good, now get inside and keep everyone's spirits up"

"What are you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna stay here for a few more minutes then I have one more person to see"

"Who – oh. Never mind"

Dawn kissed her sister on the cheek and then went inside as she had been asked to. Buffy let out a deep breath.

7pm

Buffy stood outside of the basement door listening to the Potentials talking excitedly and fearfully in the living room. The Scooby's were playing Dungeons and Dragons and had asked her to join but she had politely refused, informing them she had something she needed to do. They all seemed to understand implicitly what that was.

So, here she stood facing a door and taking a moment to regain some composure and sort through in her head what she was going to do. It was no use; she was just going to have to use instinct. It was time to face the inevitable.

Buffy turned the door handle and then pulled it open. She slowly descended down the steps closing the door shut quietly behind her. She looked into the basement as she was walking down and saw him there sitting on hit cot with the amulet dangling in his hand. He was looking at it very intently and Buffy would have given anything to know what he was thinking at that precise moment.

As she reached the floor Spike looked up, saw her, and stood quickly, putting the amulet down by his side.

They stood facing each other with the vast spanning basement floor in between them.

This would be an infuriatingly good place to fade to black Buffy couldn't help thinking Well, if this was TV or the movies, anyway.

But real life never faded to black and you had to live the next moment and the one after that to get to the good heart-stopping, pulse pounding moments that defined the very art of being alive. Buffy figured that if it could all fade to black right now it would be a lot easier but far less invigorating.

"Buffy," Spike said after a minute of silence.

She looked at him, without distraction "Spike"

Again they waited in enraptured silence for one or the other to say something profound or do something meaningful. Buffy knew that sometimes the anticipation of an act could be more electric than the act itself. It was all in the waiting. Patience was a virtue. Good things come to those who wait.

Buffy found herself strolling across the basement towards him and he looked rather shocked. He was not sure what she was going to do but the purpose in her eyes was enough to keep him standing there as still as a statue in relative awe of the figure striding towards him.

It was not often that Buffy felt special, it was even less often that she felt she was deserving of such attention and unbridled emotion directed towards her from within those blue eyes. So as she stepped into his body she wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her face against his chest. For a moment Spike seemed rooted to the spot. His cool body was unmoving.

Buffy began to think he might push her away, or worse, not respond at all.

Then his arms closed around her and she let out a sigh.

"It's so hard" Buffy murmured after a while.

"Oh, sorry about that" He cleared his throat and attempted to step back.

Buffy looked up at him and frowned, then she looked down and her eyes widened "Uh, no. Not that. Although…"

She felt her face turning bright red and Spike smiled softly, a little embarrassed, pulled back from her a step and sat down on the edge of the cot. He patted a space beside him cautiously as if he thought she might get the wrong idea. Whatever the wrong idea was.

Buffy smiled graciously and sat down next to him, their thighs touching "What I meant was this constant battle is so hard. With The First, with the Potentials, with myself…" She sighed, bowed her upper body so that her forehead was almost touching her knees.

She placed her hands on top of her head and closed her eyes. A moment later Spike's hand rested softly on her back.

"What do you want now?"

"What's the matter? Is…Is there anything I can do?"

Buffy was remembering another time, a few years ago. Buffy realised it had become a bad habit of Spike comforting her like this. Then she corrected herself. How could comfort ever really be bad? Solace was a universally needed thing. To deny any being solace would be to deny them any comfort from their pain and that was inhumane.

Okay, getting a little too deep Buffy realised. Her part to play, after all, was the blonde Californian girl who could kick ass and quip. Sweet girl, not so bright.

"You're doing a good job, Buffy" Spike said, his voice raspy "And I think you've done a grand job of teaching those girls"

"With your help" She turned her face to look at him.

The vampire shrugged "I was just your practice dummy"

"Not true" Buffy sat up straight, keeping eye contact "You were there to give them a vampire's perspective and…well, I don't know if I'd have held it together without you there"

Spike waved a dismissive hand "You didn't need me"

"I wanted you"

Spike looked at her and Buffy's eyebrows shot up, a comical look plastered itself on her face and a flush was creeping up her neck.

"Uh, what I mean is…" The Slayer's face was an atrophied mask of embarrassment.

Spike burst out laughing.

Buffy frowned, looking at him. He just continued to shake uncontrollably; his face creased up with laughter lines and…yeah…there was a tear trailing out of the corner of his eyes. Spike's laughter was infectious and soon she was carried away by it too. It reminded her of Giles and herself last year, except this time it was Spike and he was a different matter altogether.

Buffy quieted first "Have we ever done this?"

"What?" Spike asked, wiping his eyes, still smiling.

"Just laughed," She said quietly, looking at him "Just smiled, without…without the tension, or the emotion, or the sniping? Have we ever just laughed together?"

Spike turned serious again "I doubt it, love"

"So, I guess that means we're really friends now" Buffy said slowly, as if mulling it over "Friends with a sordid past but…friends?"

He leaned forward, nodded slightly "I can handle that. In fact, it's more than I deserve"

"No, it's really not" Buffy smiled, reached a hand towards him but it halted in mid-air.

Spike looked at her hand, hovering near his arm and his eyes were fixated on it. Buffy let it drop and she saw his face fall but only for a second before he regained his calm and concentrated face – the one he had worn for most of this year, when he wasn't, well, crazy or being controlled. The Slayer wanted to get rid of that mask and see the real Spike again. She wanted the good points in both the old Spike and the new one. This was most likely impossible, she knew.

Buffy stood and turned to look down at him "This…might be our last night on Earth"

"Could be" He nodded.

"That's all you've got to say about it?"

"Not much of a word man, myself" He shrugged "Not so good at the grand proclamations"

She smiled "You sell yourself short"

Spike smiled back, genuinely complimented, then he slapped his hands together "I'm thinking you have a plan of action? Something to kill some time"

"Maybe," Buffy said coyly, "I mean, I have some things I've always wanted to do but you might not want to be roped into them"

He stood "Hmm, let's see – a night with the Slayer or sit her in a dingy basement waiting for the inevitable death to come. Tough choice"

"Hey! My basement is not dingy" She protested.

He arched an eyebrow.

She shrugged "Okay, maybe a little. So, you up for getting outta this place?"

"Thought you'd never ask"

8PM

Buffy took a deep breath and braced herself. This was one of the hardest challenges she had ever faced in her life but she was ready. She had to be. There was no going back.

"Does he love me I want to know? /How can I tell if he loves me so?" Buffy belted out the song into the microphone.

The crowd at the Karaoke bar went wild, cheering and clapping as they were serenaded with one of their favourite songs. These guys had braved the apocalypse for more Karaoke, go figure. Buffy began to smile, she could really enjoy this. Buffy nudged her partner with her elbow.
"Is it in his eyes?" Spike sang, rolling his eyes as he gripped the microphone and tried to look put out instead of totally mortified.

"Oh no, you'll be deceived" Buffy replied back, turning to face the vampire as she sang, a grin on her face.

"Is it in his eyes?" He still looked grumpy and he sung with a dull voice.

"Oh no he'll make believe /If you wanna know if he love you so, it's in his kiss" Buffy was in a full blown smile-fest now and she grabbed Spike's hand and began to swing it around.

"That's where it is" Spike sang, a smile starting at the corner of his lips. "Is it in his face?"
"Oh no, that's just his charm" Buffy laughed, swaying her hips to the rhythm of the music and pulling Spike along the stage with her, holding his hand tightly.

"In his warm embrace?" Spike chuckled into the microphone.
"Oh no, that's just his arms/If you wanna know if he loves you so, it's in his kiss"

Buffy pulled him in close and then rested her hand on his chest. She ran her hand down his chest and the audience, which was mostly made up of camp men, began to cheer.
"Oh, Oh, Oh, hug him/Squeeze him tight/To find out what you want to know/If it's love, if it really is, it's there in his kiss" Buffy sang and Spike put his hand on her waist, pulled her into a very dramatic embrace.

The crowd went wild again.
"How 'bout the way he acts?" Spike sang, leaning in closer to her face.
"Oh no, that's not the way/You're not listenin' to all I say /If you wanna know if he loves you so it's in his kiss" Buffy rested her forehead against his.

"That's where it is"
"Oh, Oh, it's in his kiss"
"That's where it is"

"Oh, it's in his kiss"

"That's where it is"

Spike and Buffy smiled at one another, looking each other in the eyes.
"Ooh, it's in his kiss/Ooh, it's in his kiss/Oh, it's in the kiss" Buffy sang the song to a close.

There was silence in the bar for a minute. Then it erupted with cheers and whistles and calls for an encore. The Slayer took Spike's hand again, turned herself and him to the crowd below and bowed, pulling Spike with her.

They kept getting calls for more encore's but Spike was having none of that was pulling her off the stage as she blew kisses to her adoring fans. They made their way to the actual bar area and Spike slid into the bar stood and ordered two beers.

"I don't know how I got duped into doing that" He pointed at the stage.

Buffy grinned, still flushed from the performance, as she slid onto a stool next to him "I used my feminine charms. You enjoyed it really" She nudged him with her elbow in the ribs.

Spike made a non-committal noise and then when the beer was delivered to him he sunk a long gulp down in one moment "It's bloody hard work that"

"Mmm hmm" Buffy sipped her beer, arched an eyebrow "Maybe you just don't have the stamina anymore"

The vampire smirked "Want to test that?"

She smiled slowly, sipped some more beer "Not such a good idea"

"Sometimes it's right to be wrong" He remarked, looking away over at the stage where some guy was slaughtering Power of Love "And sometimes it's just plain wrong. That git is giving me a headache"

"Not everyone can have such smooth vocal chords as you, Spikey" Buffy teased.

"Damn right" He nodded "So, that was your life's ambition? To sing in front of a bunch of...extremely drunk blokes? You need to get you a life, Summers"

"Oh, there's more where that came from" Buffy grinned, a light in her eyes.

A/N: More Spuffy to follow.