Chapter 2
The sun was setting as the gang was gathering at the Summer's household to go to the Bronze. Xander, who still wore an eyepatch due to his lost eye, and Anya had arrived a few minutes earlier.
Amanda had arrived before the two, owing to the fact that she lived closer to the house than they did. Amanda was now a good friend of Dawn and also attended the rebuilt Sunnydale High. She had told her parents about being a Slayer, and they had accepted it, pretty much. Amanda had spent a lot of time at the house on Revelo Drive because Buffy was the best-trained, most experienced and oldest living Slayer. Buffy had gladly taken Amanda in for extensive training. Both Dawn and Amanda were pleased at Buffy's dealing with the training of Amanda, because it involved Dawn patrolling and honing her already good fighting skills.
Faith was not there because she had gone to Cleveland to watch over the new Hellmouth there. She had taken on the responsibility of being a Slayer with ease, even when the earthquake that had been caused by Spike defeating the First had looked as if it had taken Buffy's life. She now was heading up her own training facility, with the help of Kennedy. Buffy had sent Kennedy with Faith, much to the dislike of the new Slayer, because she was too much of a control freak. The young Slayer had attempted to take control of a band of Slayers to train over a Hellmouth, which led to Buffy sending her with Faith. The once-rouge Slayer could teach the younger one a lesson or two about respect of authority. Willow had seen that much, which is why she wasn't too upset when Kennedy had left.
Andrew stuck around because he didn't have anywhere else to go, also due to the fact that he had finally become a valued assest of the team, being very useful with the reasearching, as well as the maintance of the house, cooking and the orgainzation of Slayer training. He had also become another close friend of Dawn's through the ordeal against the First. The two found friendship in the oddest of places, through simple nerddom. Buffy hadn't rejected their friendship, since Andrew had, and still was, helping out. She found it fit that Dawn be close to a guy, especially since Spike had died.
Giles had gone off to England to restart the Watcher's Council, a process which allowed him to uncover the extensive amount of money that the previous Council had stored away in its accounts. Buffy now received a steady income from there. He had also begun the process of finding and training Slayers, something Buffy was all too happy to get out of. The Watcher had a training facility, where Rona headed up training. The facility also doubled as a school and as headquarters for the new, improved and heavily changed Watcher's Council. With the help of Wesley, the rogue Watcher had managed to get in contact with many people the previous Council had had it's eye on for Watchership.
Those Slayers who had survived through the First, with the exception of Amanda, who, Buffy felt, would probably take over management of Sunnydale's protection, had gone off to help fight demons and locate new Slayers. Any Slayer that was discovered was sent Giles's way. He was currently training maybe a hundred new Slayers. Each experienced Slayer took care of the training of several newer ones, except Buffy, who only had to train Amanda and Dawn, who had picked up several of her fighting techniques from Buffy. Willow, Dawn, Amanda and Andrew were currently sitting in the living room when Xander and Anya arrived.
"Hey guys!" Xander said, after he had cracked one of his usually corney pirate joke, which everyone groaned at because they had heard the jokes far too often. "Let's get goin', or else the Bronze is gonna fill up."
"Buffy's not down yet," Andrew said, looking towards the stairs, hopeful that the petite, blond Slayer, who had willingly taken him in, would emerge.
"Oh."
Willow said, "I'll go and check on her, okay?" The group nodded their consent to her request, knowing that the Slayer's best friend could break through her crusty, mopey outer shell.
Upstairs, Willow found Buffy in her room, sitting on her bed. "Buffy? You ready to go? Everybody's here…"
"Go.
I'll catch up later, okay?" Buffy told her red-haired friend.
Willow nodded before heading downstairs to relay the message to the
entire group. Buffy heard the front door close a moment later.
Only
when they had gone, did she cried. She cried because of Spike. She
cried because she knew that she would be alone. She cried because it
helped to calm her down. Buffy couldn't get rid of the feeling of
guilt when she thought of Spike and remebered what he had told her
before he had sacrificed himself. But remembering him made her cry
even more. Most of all, she remembered that last good-bye from Spike.
She really, and truly, missed the one she had known as a friend. She
mourned at the thought that she had never told Spike how she felt
until it was too late for them.Buffy closed her eyes trying to shut
out the tears and memories. But she couldn't. The tears still came.
A hand touched her shoulder. A voice whispered her name. A voice she knew well, very well. Spike's. It was just a memory. She tried to shake away the memory, the voice, the touch, but it was all too real.
The voice said again, "Buffy. Open your eyes, it's me!"
Buffy whispered, "No…" Tears spilled out. She felt a hand brush them away. "This can't be real! Spike's…dead," she whispered, quietly, to herself.
"Buffy! I'm not dead anymore, I've come back. I'm here, now. Please, open your eyes," the voice pleaded, more urgently this time.
Slowly, she obeyed. She opened her eyes, to see Spike, or someone who resembled him. He was different, but still the same. His face resembled that of the Spike she knew, but his hair… His hair was brown, not the bleach blond that she was so used to. His cool blue eyes sparkled in a light that she only knew was because of her.
For a moment, she didn't want to believe that he was really there, but what she saw in his eyes told her that he was really there. She saw his emotions. She saw joy, sorrow, worry and…love. There was something else in his eyes, something she hadn't seen before, some sort of sparkle.
"Spike!" Buffy whispered, not daring to believe that he was sitting next to her.
"Yeah, it's me, luv. I've come back. Buffy, I'm...human." Buffy blinked when his eyes met hers. What she saw in him was…life, itself! She had seen the sparkle of life in his eyes! The sparkle that saw only her. They sat in silence for a moment, neither daring to speak.
Finally, Buffy said, "I won't ask you how it happened, or why. I don't know what the others'll think, or what they'll say, but I'm glad to have you back. I missed you so much."
"Glad to be back. An' I missed you too. Look, Buffy, I don't expect that you'll allow me back completely. I came back because I didn't want you to worry about me. I wanted you to know that I was okay."
Tears came again to Buffy's eyes. She did not cry because of mourning, she cried for happiness. She cried because Spike had come back to her. He had come because he was worried about her. Spike got up to leave. But, Buffy caught his arm.
"Don't leave yet. I'm not ready to not have you here. These past few months have been a living hell for me, honestly. All the new Slayers, the low demoninc activity, Xander and Anya getting engaged, again. Wood constantly asking me out on a date, everything. I only got through because of the memories of you. You kept me going, but…" Buffy said. Spike saw her sorrow and sat back down next to her. He hugged her.
"Don' cry. S'okay, I won' leave yet. At least, not 'till I'm sure yer ready to have me gone," he said.
Buffy looked up at him. "I don't want you to leave. I don't want you gone. Please stay." Spike smiled. She rested her head on his chest and sighed. After a moment, Buffy looked up at Spike through narrowed eyes.
"What?" he asked.
"You know, I never thought of you with brown hair before. It's kinda cute. I like it that way," she said, blushing. "Don't change, at least for now. Spike, you wanna go to the Bronze, everyone else is there."
"What if Xander trys to kill me?"
"I won't let him. I'd kill him first," she boldly said. Spike smirked at her statement. He saw the Buffy he knew and loved. He leaned in to kiss her. She stopped him.
"No, not yet," she said.
"Why not?" he asked, stubbornly.
"I don't want to rush things. I want to wait, until the moment is right. I want it to be perfect."
"Okay, Buffy…An' we were goin'?"
"Oh, yeah, right. Let's go." He stood up and offered her his hand. She took it and stood up. Buffy asked, eyeing him, quirkily, "A real gentleman, now, huh?"
"I do try."
A minute later, the two were walking down the street to the Bronze. Buffy took Spike's hand in her own. Buffy first filled Spike in on what had happened in Sunnydale while he was gone. Spike, having listened with great intrest, then told her about being given a second chance and about how upset he was to see her crying, especially over him. He didn't tell her, though, about keeping his immortality or her gift, just to be safe, and to have it be a surprise.
As they approched the Bronze, Spike turned to Buffy and said, "I've got some business to take care of. Go, I'll catch up with ya soon."
Uphappily, Buffy said, "Okay. But don't take to long. I'll be waiting."
"Save me a dance, will ya?" he asked.
"Okay." Giving him a warm smile, Buffy turned to go into the Bronze, leaving Spike to go about with whatever he needed to do. With a new spring in her step, she entered the Bronze.
