The slayer walked slowly through the cemetery before stopping for a minute and looking back at the crypt…it looked so peaceful, nobody would have guessed that there had just been a fight inside those stone walls…

And then it exploded…

"You sent Buffy over to Spike's crypt, whilst she was majorly off?"

"Yep"

"And it didn't occur to you that things might be said that aren't meant?"

"Look, she just needed a little more confidence…"

Willow and Faith where sat in the living room arguing about whether the brunette slayer had done the right thing by letting an unstable Buffy go and talk to Spike,

"Oh well," Willow said, "If she doesn't come back tonight we'll know they made up..."

Buffy froze; she couldn't do anything but stare in horror at the blaze of flames and bombs in front of her. Then she snapped,

"Spike!" she screamed, running up to the crypt and dodging pieces of falling stone as she did so, everything around her was on fire,

"Oh God Spike…" she entered the burning crypt, covering her nose and mouth with her scarf, walking briskly, she closed her eyes and jumped blindly down to the lower level,

"Spike!" she coughed, this was it, this was how she was going to die…Buffy the vampire slayer, dying saving a vampire's ass…again. It seemed funny and she smiled weakly into her scarf before she finally saw him and a wave of relief rushed through her body. He was slumped unconscious against the wall near the bed…there was no sign of Kathryn.

Thanking God for her slayer strength Buffy hoisted him up over her shoulder and managed to climb clumsily up the ladder with him, burning her hands on the hot metal as she did so. Running as fast as she possibly could with him over her shoulder she managed to make it to the far end of the graveyard and sat him down against a tree and kneeling next to him. She said a silent prayer of thanks as she watched the crypt explode once more, there was no way she would have survived that.

She gently stroked the side of his burnt face with her trembling fingers,

"I don't know what I would have done if you'd have died then…" the slayer whispered lovingly, placing a soft kiss on his forehead before hoisting him over her shoulder again and carrying him home.

Buffy slowly opened the front door to the house and hobbled in, the unconscious vampire still over her shoulder,

"Hello?" she called and Dawn came down the stars,

"Oh my God what happened?" the younger Summers' sister shrieked when she saw Spike,

"There was an explosion, back at the crypt…I saved him" Buffy explained and Dawn looked down at the floor,

"What about…"

"I don't know where that bitch is and right now I don't care, just…help me with Spike, okay?" Dawn nodded,

"Okay, the basement?"

"Yeah" The two of them carefully carried Spike down to the basement and laid him gently on the cot, they looked at his peaceful form for a moment before Dawn asked,

"Is he gonna be okay?" Buffy looked at her sister and smiled,

"He'll be fine, vampire healing and all. Yeah he should be back on his feet in no time" Buffy looked slightly disappointed at this statement,

"What's wrong? Isn't that a good thing?" Buffy sighed,

"I guess…it's just…"

"Just what?"

"…He'll go straight back to her" Dawn looked confused,

"But, she wasn't there when you saved him right?"

"Right…"

"So maybe...maybe she didn't make it, the explosion could have killed her" Buffy couldn't help but smile at Dawn's words,

"You think so?" she struggled to keep the pure glee she was feeling from showing in her voice, Dawn was about to answer when Spike stirred and opened his eyes, scanning the room before finally resting them on Buffy. Dawn took this as her que to leave the room.

"There was an explosion" Buffy said quickly before Spike could speak, "At the crypt, I got you out" he smiled at this,

"Thanks slayer"

"You're welcome" There was a moment, after Spike sat up. The two of them just stared lovingly into each others eyes and Buffy felt like the rest of the world had melted away, leaving just the two of them. It was Spike that broke the spell,

"And Kathryn?" Buffy sighed and didn't bother to hide the jealousy from her expression,

"I don't know what happened to her" Spike looked down at the floor and Buffy moved over to the cot and sat next to him,

"Spike, I'm sure she'll be fine" she lied through her teeth, seeing Spike upset was like torture for her and if avoiding that meant that she had to lie to him, then so be it.

"Yeah" he nodded, "She's tough" There was a short silence before Buffy spoke up again,

"Listen, Spike…I'm sorry for what I said to you in the crypt, I was upset and I didn't mean a word of it. Please, just…don't hate me" A ghost of a smile appeared on Spike's face as he shook his head,

"I could never hate you Buffy, you know that" Buffy was relieved and shifted closer to him,

"Do you… um…do you still…?"

"Love you with all my un-beating heart? Yeah, yeah…goes without saying slayer I though you would have realised that by now"

"But what you told me in the crypt…"

"Was lies Buffy, just like what you said to me. I love you"

"And I love you, Spike why? We would be so great together…" Buffy now reminded Spike of a child whining for the parent to buy them something. He took Buffy's hands and kissed each of them tenderly,

"No" he said, breaking the moment and causing Buffy to yank her hands away from his, "I'm sorry Buffy but Kathryn means the world to me"

"And I don't"

"You know you do, but Kathryn is at my level…you can do so much better than me"

"I…" Buffy began, but Spike cut her off,

"I'm a nasty piece of work Buffy, I'm a murdering, and cheating, vicious… do I need to go on?" Buffy shook her head, stood up, and began to pace the room.

"Oh my God!" she practically screamed, "I love you! Do you get that? You're not any of those things, not anymore! You are the kindest, sweetest, strongest man I've ever known! Okay, you have this thing where you have to keep reminding me what you where like before the soul, but that is the one thing I don't like about you, that's it…" her voice softened and she sat next to him again and took his hand in hers,

"…everything else about you I love, why can't you see it?" Spike shifted uncomfortably and his blue eyes met her green ones.

"Well if you'd just said that in the first place…" she smiled and playfully slapped him on the arm, he was sarcastic,

"Oh well now you've slapped me you can…" he was cut off by her lips on his. He froze for a moment before deepening the kiss with as much passion and love that he possibly could. Her hands slid around the back of his neck, pulling him closer as he pulled her onto his lap. She broke the kiss for air and rested her forehead on his, and they looked into each other's eyes lovingly. Spike frowned when he noticed a lone tear making its way down Buffy's cheek. Automatically, he leant in a gently kissed it away, before pulling back again,

"What's wrong luv?" she smiled weakly, gently toying with the blonde curls that where at the back of his neck,

"Nothing, just emotional…that's all. Kiss me again?" He smiled back at her and then claimed her lips with his own.

"You failed" The first was wearing Buffy's guise now as it sneered at Kathryn at the vineyard.

"I'm sorry, but how was I to know that the slayer was going to save him?"

"Don't argue with me Kathryn! I gave you an assignment and you failed, and you know what happens to those who fail me…" Kathryn was clearly frightened by this remark and began to tremble,

"Please, just one more chance and I'll kill him, he trusts me so it should be easy" The first grinned and walked over to the vampire,

"If you haven't killed Spike by the end of this week…" it threatened, "You will know the true meaning of the word pain, understood?"

Kathryn nodded, and silently walked away.

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Yutsuko 