DISCLAIMER: Buffy belongs to Joss, I grovel at his feet! The fairies are mine.

The Song was written by the talented Delta Goodrem.

NOTES: Thanks for your patience and the kind reviews!

FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

"What's that, pet?" he looked back at her again, over his shoulder. He hadn't really listened, lost in his own thoughts. Looking at her standing there, Spike realized how forlorn she suddenly looked, how fragile and dainty. He had not meant to make her feel bad. They were in over their heads anyway with those fairies. No use dragging all their issues out into the light right now.

It's the last night on earth

Before the great divide

My hands are shaking,

Time was never on our side

There's no such thing as a beautiful good-bye

On an ordinary day I pray for you a thousand times

Buffy looked at her feet for a moment, closing her eyes to draw a deep, shuddering breath. This was it, she knew it. This was the moment she had tried to evade, tried to postpone for so long, until the silence and the tension between them had made things awkward. She really had no right to criticise him for thinking of leaving ….she had not been of any help. She had not known what to do ….the words had slid out; right there in the cave when she thought she had lost him. He had not believed her, but that had made matters worse not better. She had thought she had lost him and when he had crawled from the rubble hours later, when it was all over……when he had still been there, Buffy had not been able to stop crying. Still the words had been uttered and he had not believed and they had been doing a dance around it all that would have to stop, now, tonight …..Or she might really loose him. And she couldn't ….she just couldn't ….but she was so afraid, still…..so afraid it might all turn to ash just as so many times before. His feelings for her had not changed, she knew that ….

"How can the one thing you hate so much, that you spend all your life fighting it with every breath, the one thing you spent all your time trying destroy, become the only thing that matters?" she whispered, swallowing hard past the rapidly beating pulse in the throat. "How can that one thing become the only thing you need, the only thing you want against reason and sanity? How could you have become the one thing I cannot do without?"

It's never enough

No matter how many times I try to tell you

This is love

If tomorrow never comes

I want you to know right now

That I, I'm gonna love you until the day I die

Spike turned to stare at her in surprise. Then he scoffed, shaking his head, burying his hands inside his coat. "Beats me, love. And I've been grappling with that concept a whole lot longer than you!"

She looked up, taking a cautious step towards him, then another before she basically flung herself at him. Her small hands fisted into his duster, pulling him closer as she hid her face against his chest.

"You can never leave me." She whispered. "Not anymore, you can't …I can't do it without you." She whispered harshly as his arms came around her, pulling her even closer into a crushing embrace. Spike drew an unneeded breath, leaning down to lean his forehead onto the top of her head. Her hair smelled of vanilla and apricots, just like he remembered.

"Needn't worry about that anymore, slayer. You'll never get rid of me now." He chuckled, feeling her warmth seeping into his cold skin.

And if tomorrow falls asleep

Can you hold me fast?

I'm gonna love you like it's the last night on earth

Buffy looked up into his blue, blue eyes that glinted with that special light in the dark. She shook her head. "I will not be Selena", she said quietly. "I will not wake up one day and realize that I have lost it all because I waited too long, because I was afraid and because I could not forget. That was what she meant, the first slayer…..when I saw her on my quest….Love, give, forgive. I had to move on. I will not be afraid anymore ….I meant what I said; I love you. I can say that now, finally I can say that and not have it scare me to death."

There was emotion in his face that Buffy was sure she had never seen before as they just looked at each other. She was waiting for one of his quick remarks, but none came. He just looked at her, lifting a hand to push a few wayward strands of hair from her face.

"God, you are so beautiful…"

He had been waiting long, so long for her to say these kinds of things to him that now, he was speechless. So she just leaned in, pulling him towards her to kiss him; a slow, deep, lingering kiss that held a promise of things to come.

Your fingers on my skin

Only you can hear my fear

Only can help me heal

I see forever with you here

It's never enough

No matter how many miles stand between us

This is love

She could feel his arms around her, his hands climbing upwards across her back, her shoulders. She breathed in deep, revelling in that unique mixture of leather, smoke and mystery cologne that was Spike. She really did love him and it did not matter what had been, that when they had sat out on this journey together they had stood on different sides, hell bent on killing each other ….it simply did not matter anymore how they had come to be where they stood now. All that mattered was that they were there …now.

It's never enough

It's never enough

I'm gonna love you until the day I die

I'm gonna love you like it's the last night on earth

"Excuse me …" the velvety voice of the banshee cut through the night air. They broke their kiss, turning around to find her standing a few feet away basked in pale moonlight that reflected in her dark eyes. Siobhan arched an eyebrow, looking at them with an almost amused expression. "Your presence is called for …. Inside"

They were arguing as Buffy and Spike re-entered the spacious living-room. Selena had changed into black clothing that clung to her lithe body like a second skin, pants and shirt made from a soft material unlike any Buffy had ever seen before. For a moment the slayer wondered where the fairy acquired her clothing. She was walking back and forth between the armchairs like a trapped animal.

"The whole perimeter, the house, the park …everything is heavily warded. The moment we set foot on her grounds, she'll know …" Len said.

"It is not her magic!" Selena stated angrily, pursing her lips. "Io never had the gift or the stomach for powers like that. Whatever warded her place does not sleep or dream at the court of fairy….it is not our magic. She had somebody else do it, paid someone much more powerful to ward her home."

Liath still leaned against the wall, shrugging his shoulders. "It matters not who did it; we cannot attempt to rescueCay like that. We need to find another way."

"I looked for the smallest breach, there is none, milord." Len replied.

"We need to get her out of the house. It will be easier …she takes part of her guard with her where ever she goes. She would never go anywhere alone."

Buffy arched an eyebrow, feeling the light squeeze from Spike's hand, his fingers still intertwined with hers. "Doesn't that still leave us short one entryway?" she asked into the silence.

The fairies looked at her in surprise, and then Liath's lips curved into a devious smile.

"Maybe ….maybe not. There might one thing she has overlooked just like wehave ..until now.

"Meaning?" Spike asked, cocking his head sideways.

"The golden child is after all a very, very vain woman…"

The slayer looked at the white haired man who stood against the wall, marveling again at how ageless he appeared. She could feel her forehead crease up as she tried to discern the meaning of his words. He could see what he meant, Iolanthe sure as hell did like to look at herself...with all those mirrors in very room they had crossed. Buffy´s eyes widened in understanding. But he could not be serious. "Whoa …can you guys really walk through mirrors?"

Selena threw her cousin a glance, shaking her head in exhaustion. "No…at least most of us cannot. And Io has a knack of making enemies. She would ward off the mirrors first for fear of what might creep through to get her while she is admiring herself."

"Ahh, but there are powers even the most powerful magic could not deny passage if they meant to pass through…" Liath responded. They exchanged looks again while Siobhan curled up on the couch again like a tired kitten, watching them all with those big black eyes. For the first time since Buffy had met the fairy, Selena looked unsure of what to do.

"What is going on again?" she finally demanded to know, shaking her head in annoyance. "I'm really getting tired of listening to you two talking in riddles and insinuations, keeping us in the dark for most of the time. You wanted my help. Well, here I am helping you, but I can't do it …we can't do it if you don't share your information with us."

Selena looked at the slayer for a moment, her multicoloured hair catching the light where it fell over her shoulders.

"My cousin is right." She answered after a while, her voice soft and sweet like honey. "Even if Iolanthe has warded her mirrors with magic to close them off so they cannot be used as window or door to her realm, there are those who could open them anyway, for their power over the mirrors supersedes all magic Iolanthe could buy or borrow."

"That would mean dragging another party into this." Spike added.

"Why don't I think that is a good idea?" Buffy asked.

"Because you are a very smart young woman." Selena said.

"There is only one I can think of who could open the mirror for us ….and lucky as we are, that person might be the one being that hates Iolanthe with even more ardour than you right now, my fair cousin." Liath turned his head to look at her, his eyes more serious than they had ever been. His voice dropped to a new low, nothing morethan a whisper slithering through the room like the first gust of snowy wind. "The white lady Cathane, the unseeing eye, consort of Thean, who walks amongst the mists, ruler of the netherworld."

"Cathane, the betrayed…." Selena whispered with a mixture of awe and regret in her voice,"Io´s sister…."

Buffy's gaze wandered between the lord of snow and Selena. She still felt the reassuring pressure of Spike's hand around hers, his thumb moving over the back of her hand in comforting touches. A look at him told her, that most of the time he wasn't even aware of doing it and the thought almost made her smile, warmed her heart. But there were other things she had to deal with now ….business to finish, so they could go home.

"Another fairy?" she asked suspiciously. The slayer had to admit, she did not like the thought. They were already knee-deep in fairy- politics, and that was a lot deeper than Buffy felt comfortable with. "Why would she help us break into her sister's house…?"

Selena turned her head to look fully at Buffy, her lips curved into that careful half bitter, half sad smile. "Some might say that what I stand to loose to Io is nothing compared what Cathane lost because of her sister so many years ago. She was not always the white lady, the mists´s companion. When she began her existence she was Fionula Cathane Jenaái, the shining one, lady of spring and flowers. Her beauty and grace were said to rival her elder sister's."

Buffy gave a snort, shaking her head. Even she could see where this was going. "Let me guess, your cousin Iolanthe does not take kindly to competition….especially if it derives from inside the family."

Selena gave Buffy an appraising nod. "You would have guessed right. But there was nothing she could do, for Cathane´s character held neither her sister's vanity nor her malice. She was the most sweet-tempered, gentle soul."

"And it has made her the perfect victim to her sister's malevolence." Liath said his voice not entirely friendly.

"How?" Spike asked with narrowed eyes.

"Shall we say ….Cathane planted the seed of her affection into ...not so safe ground." He closed his eyes, leaning his head back as though he was trying to remember something, his voice evening out, flowing in a rhythm that was faintly reminiscent of a bard telling an ancient tale. "On a bright, sunlit day the grey lord saw her dancing in the fields; a child of light and spring and his heart longed for her laughter and her warmth, and her beauty made him weep to be loved so. Where she would set her feet flowers would bloom, but where he dwelled nothing could grow. And so on this day the flower child Cathane, mistress of spring, laid eyes upon the pale lord who walked among the mists, and her eyes found there was nothing to fear, for she saw him proud and strong and valiant. And though she was all that he could never be, Cathane opened her heart and her arms to him."

"Thean, the grey lord, the pale lord as we call him …is neither alive nor dead, in a way he is more kin to your vampire, than to us ….never the less he is a part of the fairy. He is allowed into the summer lands because he rules those who belong neither to heaven nor hell, he rules the netherworld, he leads what is known in your world as the wild hunt. The only way to reach the netherworld if you are not one of the lost is through a broken mirror. Thean gave Cathane a special mirror as a gateway to his realm. Cathane would come and visit him there. For fear of losing her Thean gave his love a roll of red string that would always lead her back home through the mirror, for he did not want her to get lost in the mists, in the corridor between the summer lands and the netherworld." Selena explained with a far away look in her eyes, as though she was reliving history. "Io found the mirror her sister used as a gate and destroyed it, scattering the glass all over the world and cutting the string, trapping her sister in the corridor between the worlds, neither here nor there …to wander in eternal darkness, unable to find her way home."

Buffy's eyes went wide, staring at Selena. "What a bitch!"

Selena chuckled at her words, giving Buffy a very amused smile to show how much she enjoyed her reaction. Then she nodded. "Indeed. But Iolanthe had neither foreseen Thean's persistence nor his devotion to Cathane. More than a hundred years he searched without rest until he hadgathered all the scattered pieces of Cathane´s mirror and put it back together, so he could free her from the dark."

"But by then … Cathane had gone blind, her eyes had lost their light in the darkness" Liath added, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "She had lost her sight, her skin had paled and her golden hair had gone white from sorrow, she had been cast out of the summer lands too long so that the land and all that grew no longer answered to her call. She had lost all her powers, so she made her home in Thean´s realm. He made her his consort to rule by his side and he gave her dominion over what once been her prison. Till this day the white lady rules the ghost roads that lead from one mirror to the other and no one can deny her passage."

"She never sat foot into the summer lands again for pain over what she had lost." Selena said, her voice breathy, filling with sadness. "That is why they call her Cathane, the betrayed."

"If I were here, I'd jump at the opportunity to repay that dept to her sister!"

"Yes ...but whether to ask her is the question …" Selena mused. "We would have to contact the pale lord first and..."

"Words of your dealings might travel back to your father." Liath said, pursing his lips.

Selena nodded, taking a deep breath. "Thean is …ruler of the netherworld he might be, but he is also still the king´s justice. My father´s executionier..."