Innocence

Disclaimer: Want to own them all, don't though.

Summary: At last they meet. Will he remember?

Reviews: I got a hundred of them on this fic! WOOHOO!! Thank you sooo much! You guys are the best! Readers Rock but REVIEWERS RULE!!!!!

A/N: Was going to wait a bit before posting again but once more the fingers typed and the people craved the attention.

WayWard Childe: Dude! Can I have a Bloody Bear? Trade you some good luck bears and a small Eeyore. Those elves sound a bit scary though.

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Wesley and Susan huddled together in a secluded booth in the back of the café. They faced the door so that they could see anyone who came in. Fairly certain that they were safe, they made plans. Wes made a quick phone call and turned to Susan.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

She nodded, her chestnut hair swinging across her back. "Let me call Jake and warn them." Wes nodded. She pulled her cell phone out and pushed the speed dial.

"Hello?"

"Jake. How's Will?" Susan asked her cousin.

"He's in the basement thinking, which also involves beating up the punching bag. He's having some difficulty coping with the whole 'saving the world' thing." Jake said quietly.

Susan frowned. "He doesn't think it's true?"

"It's not that. He just doesn't think he's worth all this fuss that's kicking up over his being alive." Jake explained.

"I guess we have to change his mind." Susan declared.

"How?" Jake shoved his fingers through his straight hair.

Susan paused. "I'm going to bring him some company. I'm bringing Wes, Dawn and Buffy up. He said he wanted to meet them. Do you want to tell him or should we surprise him?"

"I'll tell him. I don't think he can handle too many more surprises." Jake decided.

"We'll see you in a while." Susan deliberately didn't mention how long it would take to get there.

Wes paid their check while Susan brought her Jeep around. He got in and they quickly left. He guided her on a circuitous route to Buffy and Dawn's apartment. He kept a sharp eye out for anyone following. He knew that Wolfram and Hart still didn't know that their amulet had returned bringing with it a bonus vampire. He'd filled Susan in on their conversation with Lindsey and she had agreed that they couldn't be too cautious.

As agreed, Buffy and Dawn were waiting by the curb. It only took a few seconds for the sisters to pile in and Susan to put the car back into motion. Dawn was nearly beside herself with joy.

"We're really going to see Spike?" She asked excitedly. "God, Buffy! It's true. He's alive and we're going to see him. I can't wait. Isn't Angel going?"

Wesley turned to look at the girls occupying the back seat. "No, Angel isn't going. The mention of his name gives Will a migraine. Angel and I decided it would not be a good thing right now. When we find out why Will has that reaction then Angel will see him. Will doesn't know he used to be called 'Spike'. He does know, however, that he did save the world and has a soul. He's having a little difficulty coping with this new knowledge. For some reason he feels he's not worth the fuss that's being made over him. He's had a very quiet life for the past four months. He watches television, plays the guitar, reads and works out in the basement gym. He's content with animal blood and has no desire to snack on humans. He's stated that activities vampires normally indulge in like torturing and killing people actually make him nauseous."

Buffy's attention was caught by one small detail. "He reads?" She asked disbelievingly.

Dawn shoved an elbow into her sister's ribs. "Yes, he reads. He's wicked smart. He used to devour books. During that summer you were gone, he read every book he could get his hands on. I'm not going to tell you what he prefers. I don't want you making fun of him."

Wes's blue eyes met Dawn's in a conspiratorial glance. He smiled.

Buffy thought about that for a while. She remembered something she'd seen once while they were indulging in their ill-fated affair. She burst in on him once while he was reading. He'd set the book aside and she'd forgotten about it until now. She gotten a quick look at the title just before she'd left him, it had been a book of poetry. She'd been startled but had quickly forgotten about it as yet another crisis popped up to make her life difficult.

"I saw him reading once. It was poetry. I didn't think too much about it at the time. Something came up and I forgot." Buffy mused. She got offended. "I wouldn't make fun of him! I love him. I think it's sweet."

Susan kept an eye on her passengers while she drove. She was hoping with all her heart that she wasn't making a mistake taking these people to see her innocent Will. They knew things about him he didn't know. As much as she wanted him to have his memories back, she was afraid of what those memories would do to his peaceful soul.

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Jake opened the basement door and called out to his housemate. "Will!"

"Yeah, Mate?" The vampire came up the stairs two at a time. "What's up?"

"Suzy's on her way back." Jake told him.

"Great. I knew she'd come right back for those new portraits. Be here in a couple of hours right?" Will moved gracefully over to the refrigerator and got out a beer. Popping the top, he settled at the table.

"Yeah, she will." Jake got himself a cold beer and joined the vampire. He studied the wood grain of the tabletop for a moment.

"What's going on?" Will asked when the silence stretched out.

Jake looked over at his friend. "She's bringing those girls with her and a guy. He works with that vampire. Some things have come up and we decided maybe we should let them come and visit you."

Will nodded. "That's good. I'm interested in hearing what they have to say. I need to know." He looked at the table. "But I'm scared to. You know?"

The artist gazed at Will in sympathy. "The unknown is always scary. Just remember, it's not really the unknown, it's your life. Your past. Everything is buried in that head of yours, we just have to bring it out. I just hope…"

Will brought his gaze up sharply. "Hope what?"

"I just hope that it doesn't hurt you. You weren't always this way. You didn't always have a soul. I don't what the memories of how you used to be to cause you pain." Jake explained carefully.

"I'm thinking that I may have come to terms with however violent my past may have been. I just want to know how I got to the point that I was saving the world." He shook his head. "A vampire that saved the world, how messed up is that?"

"Not as messed up as it may seem." Jake tried to assure his friend. "Now, how about we go see how bad Manchester United is getting stomped?"

"There's a game on? Why the Bloody Hell are we in here wasting time?" Will stood up to move into the living room. "And I'll have you know that Manchester U never gets stomped."

He turned the television on and quickly found the proper channel. "They just have bad days when they don't score as much as they should." He finished as he noticed that his favorite soccer team was indeed losing their current match.

"Riiiight." Jake drawled as they settled down on the sofa to watch, happy he'd managed to distract the vampire from his impending visitors.

After the game, Will decided he needed to clean up before Susan got there with the visitors. He'd worked out hard in the basement and wanted another shower. The game had distracted him and he'd lost track of time so Susan, Wesley, Dawn and Buffy arrived with he was still in the shower. Jake figured that was a good thing.

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Susan drove for almost two hours, stopping only once for an extra large order of chicken wings. Finally, she pulled off thehighway onto a long winding gravel road. She stopped at a set of gates that blocked the entrance. Touching a remote, she waited as the electric motor pulled the massive gates open. Wesley observed with interest the ten-foot wrought iron fence with its sharp spikes that seemed to meld with the forested property. It seemed as secure as a fort. As soon as she drove through, she stopped and pushed the remote again, making sure the gates were completely closed and no one had followed her through before driving on. All of the guests noticed the snow covering the ground around them. It appeared that Spike now lived at the top of a mountain, secure on a secluded property surrounded by fencing fit for a castle. The road contunued to wind for several miles up the mountain until they saw a large rambling house nestled among the snow-covered evergreens.

Jake was getting dinner together when they arrived. He turned as they came through the door. He got the impression of cool British reserve from the man Suzy introduced as Wesley. Gangly arms and legs, big blue eyes and boundless joy was how he perceived Dawn. Buffy gave off the aura of delicate strength. He could tell she was not a normal girl.

Susan finished the introductions and looked around. "Where's Will?"

"In the shower. He wanted to clean up after his 'thinking' earlier. While we wait do you want to see the new paintings?" He asked, gesturing toward the studio.

"Oh! I do." Dawn was quick to agree. Buffy merely nodded, her green eyes scanning her surroundings as if memorizing how her vampire was living.

"Yes, please. That would be lovely." Wesley told him.

They were struck speechless at the sight of the last portrait. Jake had titled it 'Innocence'. In the portrait Will was outside in the middle of the yard, his arms outstretched, head thrown back in pure joy. He had his duster on and it swirled out around him as he spun in a delighted circle. He was standing in the middle of a snowstorm and the huge smile on his handsome face was blinding in its own right. The large heavy snowflakes falling all around him provided stark contrast to the black of his clothes and his coat. The sky was heavily overcast making it safe for the vampire to be out in the late afternoon. Tall snow covered evergreen trees surrounded the yard and provided a backdrop for the vampire. The simplicity of the green and white background made the figure in black stand out sharply. The painting was breath taking.

Jake broke the awed silence. "Right after I took the picture, he threw snowballs at me. He's got a wicked arm on him."

The others laughed at the image of Spike in a snowball fight.

Dawn noticed the other canvas. "That's just how I remember him. He spent so much time doing just that when Buffy was gone." Her huge eyes drank in the sight of her favorite vampire.

Will interrupted their contemplation of the portraits. "Hey, Suzy-Cutie I heard your Jeep pull up. Did you bring my wings?" He called from the kitchen.

Dawn pushed past everyone and ran into the other room. She skidded to a stop three feet away from him and held out the bag she still had in her hand. "I've got them." She said softly.

Will stared at the teenager in front of him. He took in the heart-shaped face, the big blue eyes and the long chocolaty brown hair. Her scent made its way to his nose and he inhaled, sparking a memory. His sapphire eyes caught her crystal gaze. A word swam its way to the front of his mind. He knew without a doubt the word had something to do with the pretty girl before him. Time seemed to stop as the others made their way into the kitchen. He took a deep unneeded breath while everyone else held theirs.

"Niblet." He whispered.