Chapter 3
In the Bronze, Xander spotted Buffy walk in. He waved. Buffy smiled and waved back. She walked over to where they were sitting.
"Hi guys," she said, happily.
"You seem better now. What happened?" asked Dawn, smiling up at her older sister. The teen was happy to see her older sister smiling again. She could see a reminder of the sister she once knew.
"Let's just say a little angel smiled down on me," Buffy said with a little smile of her own and a blush. She plopped down next to Willow on the couch.
"So, what's up, Buff?" Xander asked. "You're finally not so upset about, you know, Spike."
"I'll tell you sometime later. Let me enjoy my oh-so-happy day," Buffy replied. She looked up and saw Wood walk in. "And suddenly, my day doesn't look so happy anymore." Wood spotted the group and walked over.
"Hi, there room for one more?" he asked.
"Yeah," Willow said, moving over to one end of the couch. Wood sat down between Buffy and Willow.
Wood said to Buffy, "I need to talk to you. A new class has been created, a self-defense class, and I think that you're the best person for this job, you want it?"
"I don't know, Robin. Can you give me some time to think about it?" Buffy asked, avoiding his eye and moving her hands to a spot convieniantly located on the armrest that was on the side opposite of him.
"Let me know soon, I would like to start the class when school lets back in after Christmas."
"Don't worry, you'll know soon enough," Buffy said. She turned back to look at her friends, but something caught her eye. Spike had just walked in and he was standing by the bar. He smiled over at her, and waved a small, two-fingered wave that only she would notice.
To her friends, Buffy said, "I'll be back in a second, I'm gonna get a drink." Her friends nodded and she got up and walked to the bar, near Spike. As he walked closer to her, she ordered a drink for herself. He leaned next to her as the bartender fixed her drink.
"What'd Wood want?" he asked, eyeing Wood with a glare that would have burned a hole through just about anything.
"Just wanted to know if I'd like to teach a class, self-defense," Buffy replied, looking over at him with a slight smile. He returned her smile. They both knew that Spike would kill Wood if he tried to make a move onto Buffy. Buffy was appreciative of it. She, the oldest living Slayer, the protectors of the human race, now had a protector of her own; it made her grateful.
"Did you accept?"
"I didn't turn it down. I wanted to get your opinion on it," she said, looking up at him.
"Go for it, luv," Spike said.
"You know, I was thinking. Now that you're human, we could do the class together. I mean, you are the only other person I know who knows my fighting technique well enough to fight with or against me," Buffy suggested, looking up into his eyes, faint traces of her infamous puppy-dog pout evident, the pout that could get her just about anything she wanted and was a surprise attack to all those who didn't know how convincing it was.
"Flattered, but how're ya goin' to tell Wood?" Spike asked, smiling down at her, reassuring her that he wanted to do it.
"Dunno, it could be a bit hard," she said. The bartender handed her the drink she ordered. She payed him before turning to face the dance floor, leaning against the bar, looking out at the dance floor. She sipped her drink.
"You'll figure somethin' out, Buffy. You always do," Spike said.
"Since when did you start flattering people?" she asked sarcastically, smiling, slyly up at him.
"Dunno. Somethings change, somethings don't," he answered with a smirk of his own.
Buffy looked down at her drink. She had finished it. Putting down on the bar, she heard a slow song come on. "You wanna dance?" she asked, looking up at him.
"Sure." She lead him out onto the dance floor. She slid her arms around his neck. While they were dancing, Buffy got caught up in her thoughts. 'I can't believe! He's really back! He's really here with me!' Buffy looked up with him. He smiled down at her with a smile that was so pure with love that she couldn't help thinking, 'He's has THE cutest smile in the entire world!' She could bearly surpress a small giggle. She returned his smile as they danced together.
Shw could feel the eyes of her friends on them, watching them dance. She knew that Xander and Wood were most likely glaring daggers at Spike, even if they didn't who he was. Buffy blocked out the thoughts of Xander's and Wood's dislike of Spike for the rest of the song, enjoying the presence of Spike, letting his essence wash over her. Buffy was finally at peace with the world.
The song ended quietly and they broke apart. Spike slipped his hand into hers and squeezed it, giving her the strength she knew she needed to face down her friends. The couple made their way to the couches on which the Scooby gang sat. Looks of confusion changed to masks of shock, surprise and, in the cases of Wood and Xander, complete and utter horror.
"What-why isn't he dead?" Xander asked, mixed feeling flooding into his voice. He was slightly upset that Spike was back, because he still couldn't get over the fact that he majorly dislike the ex-vampire. Still, the one-eyed carpenter was grateful at Spike for saving the world. He also knew that Buffy was the happiest when she was with Spike.
"Spike's been sent back to us, to me, by the Powers. I don't know how or why, but I do know that if ANY of you try and stop me from loving Spike, I will kill you myself," Buffy lectured, looking at her friends, one at a time. She looked at them hard and long, making her point extremely clear. She was daring them to challenge her.
Dawn was the first to rise. She moved slowly to her older sister and the ex-vampire. Gazing up at Spike, she decked him firmly and strongly in the nose.
Spike's face contorted in pain as he cupped his hand around his beaten nose. "What'd you do that for, Bit?" he asked, as he tried to rubbed the pain away.
"I wanted to make sure you were Spike, and not the First," Dawn answered him, smiling triumphantly. She hugged him. "Thanks for coming back to Buffy."
"Yer welcome, Bit," he said with a smile. Buffy sat down on the couch that was opposite of Wood. The high school principal glared at her, obviously upset that his chances with her had seriously decreased. Sensing the tension between Buffy and Wood, Spike sat down next to her, giving her some confidance.
"Oh, Robin," Buffy said, looking at the principal, a sneaky grin slowly creeping its way acrossed her face, "about that self-defense class you wanted me to teach next semester."
"Yes, Buffy?" he asked, coolly, noting her sly look.
Giving Spike a sideways glance, she answered happily, "I'll take it, and I've found myself someone very reliable to help teach the class."
Seeing where the discussion was headed, he said, "No, I will not have Spike teach at Sunnydale High." Wood glared at the now ex-vampire with his usual contempt. The black man was inwardly seething at the thought of Spike teaching a class that he had thought up solely for Buffy.
"Why?" Buffy asked. "'Cause I turned you down, or 'cause you don't like Spike, or 'cause he's knows my fighting style very well."
"Maybe," Spike said, "he doesn't want me teaching because he thought that you would ask him to teach with you. His mother was a Slayer, remember. Or, maybe he still hates me for killing his mother, which, as I've said at least a hundred times, I am sorry about."
"That's true, too," Buffy responded, throwing Wood a stern, Slayer look. "Well, Robin, take it,.or leave it. I will only teach a self-defense class at Sunnydale High, if, and ONLY if, Spike is there to help me teach the class."
Wood sighed once. Both Buffy and Spike were giving him very hard looks. They were looking at him in such a way that told him that he would not get what he wanted, not matter what the consequences to themselves might be. He had realized that he could only make one answer to this demand, as much as it killed him to do so. Sighing one more time, he looked at the Slayer and her Champion. Slowly, but reluctantly, the high school principal gave them a nod.
