A/N : Thanks to the latest reviewers; Moonjava, Daniel Wesley Rydell, SlaYeRGiRLkaL, lil-leti, Bridge, amberblood, Hellmouth2, Dark Drusilla, Spuffy6, Spuffyfan4eva, spikes-slayer29590, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Magick, spikes4everangel, Freezyboncoolipants, Aisling-Siobhan, Mony19, Arisluv, Demonica Mills, SpikeLovesMe, spuffy4eva, Lady Nightspike, Anigen, Brunettepet, funkydevil206, Rowan Rice, Moluvsnumber17, KaiNscara, Crazy4mySpike, pixiecorn, LuckyGal91, CommaSplice, MaidenRo. I love writing this fic and it's great to know you're loving reading it, but it is almost over! In the meantime, hope you enjoy this new chapter.
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 17

"Oh, Willow" Joyce was surprised to find the young red-head coming out of the house as she and Rupert arrived back. The witch was equally surprised to note that Buffy's Mom was holding hands with Giles!

"Mrs Summers, hey" she managed a smile, "Giles, I am so sorry about what happened..."

"Yes, I should think that you are" the Watcher said with a slight annoyance in his voice, and Willow looked at her feet like a naughty school kid who'd been thoroughly shamed, "Nevertheless I don't suppose any major harm was done" Giles conceded, "and indeed some greater good did come out of it" he smiled at Joyce as he squeezed her hand and Willow glanced between the two of them uncertainly.

"You two are all...coupley?" she guessed, not really sure how one was supposed to deal with this kind of situation.

"Yes, Willow, I suppose you could say that we are" Joyce couldn't shift the grin from her face. She and Rupert had worked things out during there trip into the town and back. Both admitted they had deep feelings for the other, that may very well be love, and it was something they were both interested in exploring further. Joyce was so grateful that Buffy had understood and only hoped her daughter could find a way to get along with Spike, maybe even admit her true feelings for him. The two of them were impossible to be around as things stood.

"Er, Willow" she asked the girl who was about to leave, "Are Buffy and Spike okay?"

"Sure" the red-head nodded, the smile on her face far from convincing.

"Willow?" Giles prompted her to tell the truth and she sighed.

"They kinda yelled and slammed some doors" she admitted, "but nobody got bloody or dusty, so it could have been way worse"

She left then and Joyce shared a look with Giles as she put the key into the door.

"I think they were easier to deal with as kids" she told him as she let them both into the house, "At least they were honest about their feelings then"

"Feelings?" the Watcher frowned slightly, "You're not suggesting that Buffy feels anything other than hatred for Spike, I hope" he checked as he helped Joyce carry her groceries through to the kitchen.

"Rupert really, you must have noticed what's between them" she rolled her eyes, "Nobody fights like they do without having some kind of attraction..." she trailed off when she found Spike half hidden in the refrigerator, "Hello, Spike" she greeted him as his head appeared from behind the door.

"Sorry, Joyce" he apologised, "Was just looking for something to...well, there's sort of a lack of blood" he admitted.

"Oh, yes" she remembered suddenly digging into one of the bags on the counter and handing him a container, "Here, I didn't forget"

"You are an absolute star, Joyce" he smiled and thanked her.

Despite the fact his demon was just about ready to scream from frustration, he took the time to pour the blood into a mug, though he didn't bother warming it before he drank it down. He even had the good grace to turn his back so she didn't see his game face as he gulped down the red substance he craved.

"Where is Buffy?" Giles asked suspisciouly as Joyce put away the groceries.

"Upstairs" Spike answered shortly, "Doesn't favour my company so much now we're back to full-size"

The way he said it, the pain it seemed to cause him, Giles was quite astonished to realise that perhaps dear Joyce was at least correct about the vampire's feelings for Buffy, if not hers for him. It ought not to be possible for a demon such as Spike to have real feelings of love for anyone, but Giles had learnt that much like people, vampires could not be labelled and sorted into sets. Angel was an anomaly and he was beginning to wonder if perhaps Spike was too. In fact it begged the question, were any of the vampires along the blood-line of Aurelius altogether average or normal...?

"Spike, honey" Joyce said gently, placing a hand on his harm, "You know how stubborn my daughter can be, and I happen to know you can be just as bad" she told him with a look, "You just have to work at it, I'm sure she'll come around"

Although he did hear all that she said and appreciated her concern, Spike's mind had got a little stuck at the term of affection, honey. He had pet names for everyone, but the only names applied to him were those related to evil and badness, until now.

"Thankyou, Joyce" he said sincerely, putting his hand briefly over hers. Of course she had no idea just how much he really meant that, "but I think it'll be best all round when the sun gets down low enough that I can vacate your premises" he smiled sadly.

"Well, you're welcome back anytime you want" she assured him, as Giles looked on, a little amazed.

Spike just nodded gratefully, before glancing over at the clock.

"If it's alright with you, I'm gonna catch the rest of Passions" he said, getting up from the stool and going through to the living room to watch TV. Joyce sighed as she turned back to the refrigerator and finished putting away the things she and Giles had bought.

"It's incredible" the Watcher said, almost more to himself than to her, "You've tamed him, a vicious vampire and he's...he behaves so much like..."

"Like a human being?" Joyce supplied as she closed the door and came to sit beside him by the counter, "Rupert, he is. I know there's a demon in there too, his need for blood and 'allergy' to sunlight contest to that but...with what the Initiative have done to him he's no threat to anyone, all that's left is the normal boy he used to be" she explained, "Maybe I saw it faster than the rest of you because I don't entirely understand how the whole evil thing works" she admitted, "but I think Buffy saw it, under that spell, and it's real. He can love people Rupert, and I'm almost certain he loves my daughter"

"And you believe she feels the same?" Giles checked.

"I do" she agreed with a nod, "and of course it'd be so much simpler if she didn't, if she could have a 'normal' boyfriend" she air-quoted just as Buffy would, "but the world isn't perfect, Rupert, you know that"

"Indeed I do" he sighed, taking her hand in his, "Although I do feel as though it has improved a great deal, since you agreed we could, well, date I suppose would be the correct term"

Joyce smiled at that, before leaning in to kiss him briefly.

"I think maybe I should go talk to Buffy" she told him afterwards, "You promise not to get into a fight with Spike whilst I'm gone?" she checked with a hint of a smirk.

"I promise" he told her as she left the room, wondering how all that had happen had actually come to pass.

It seemed ridiculous to think how everything had changed so much in just a few days, but if time could be rewound and everything started again, Giles felt he would let it be exactly as it was. Buffy and Spike as a couple was something he may have to deal with, and that was definitely not something he relished but, he had Joyce to help him through any troubles he might face and he would willingly put up with a great deal to keep her at his side.


"Buffy?" Joyce called as she tapped on the bedroom door and the opened it, "You okay, honey?" she checked as she came into the room and found her daughter sitting on her bed with a cardboard box on her knees.

"I'm fine" the Slayer said quickly, shoving the box under the bed. Joyce frowned as she came over to sit beside her daughter, pulling the box back out. In it there were notes in unfamiliar handwriting, some photographs, a silver cross and a claddagh ring.

"It's not...I mean, I don't..." Buffy stumbled over what she meant to say, before taking a deep breath and starting over, "I couldn't throw it out, any of it" she admitted, "I loved Angel so much, and I know after he lost his soul he did some terrible things but..."

"But that didn't stop a part of you loving him?" her mother guessed. The younger blonde nodded and Joyce sighed.

"Buffy, sweetheart, it's perfectly natural" she explained, "Love is something that can't be constrained by good and evil or right and wrong. You know your father isn't a saint, he did things that hurt me but to this day there's a corner of my heart that can't fully let him go. He was my first love, my husband, and the father of my beautiful baby" she smiled fondly at her daughter, a hand on her cheek, "but in the end you have to find a way for the rest of you to get up, dust yourself off, and move on"

"That's just it" Buffy sighed sadly, "Am I moving on? If I...say there was a guy, with the potential for being either good or bad, and I chose to start something with him...is that good moving on or bad?" she wanted to know, "Because it could all go wrong again, just like with me and Angel"

Joyce knew why her daughter was so worried. It was quite clear she was talking about Spike and the potential dangers of starting a relationship with another vampire. Though she understood the pitfalls of the situation, Joyce had a different way of looking at things to the rest of there Scooby gang, having been kept out of that inner circle for so long.

"Buffy, everybody has potential for both good and evil" she pointed out, "Human beings are born with souls but it doesn't stop some of them committing terrible crimes. At least you know that Spike no longer has the ability to harm anyone..."

"Who said I was talking about Spike?" the Slayer snapped, "I, I never said I was talking about Spike? What does Spike have to do with this?"

Joyce closed her eyes and expelled a breath, before getting up and placing the shoebox of Angel memories on the bed.

"Come on" she said, encouraging Buffy to follow her downstairs. She did so, though a large part of her thought it was a bad idea to go where Spike would be.

"...yeah, but see the problem is his mother doesn't know yet, and if she finds out..." Spike suddenly stopped explaining the intricacies of a certain Passions plot-line to Giles when Joyce and Buffy came into the room.

"I wasn't watching it" the Watcher insisted, getting up from the chair as Spike dutifully got his feet down from the coffee table, "Spike just insisted on telling me about this ridiculous soap opera"

Joyce frowned a little at that.

"Passions is far from ridiculous, Rupert" she pointed out as she rummaged in her purse, "In fact if this episode wasn't a re-run, I would be quite happy to join Spike in watching it"

Spike shot a self-satisfied smirk in the Watcher's direction, shutting off the TV anyway since it seemed something more important was going on right now.

"Here" Joyce smiled as she handed a packet to Buffy, "I got Anya to drop the film off at the twenty-four hour place when she left here yesterday, and here they are"

The Slayer flipped open the packet and following a few random snaps of the gallery and her mother's birthday she found what she was clearly supposed to be looking at. The first was a picture of herself in her throwback five-year-old state, complete with pink Hello Kitty dungarees and hair in pigtails. After that the photos were not only of her but of Spike too, plus Giles and Joyce in the final one. She flicked through them quickly, hating to be reminded of how happy she'd been and how awful she felt now.

"They're great Mom" she said, in a shaky voice.

"May I see?" Giles asked her, interested to know what he'd missed and how Buffy and Spike had looked as the children he had only actually heard and not seen.

The blonde didn't say a word as she pushed the pile of pictures into the Watcher's hands and practically ran towards the front door.

"I'm going for a walk" she said, sounding emotional and before anyone could say anything else she was gone.

"Oh for heavens sake" Joyce sighed, flopping down into the armchair Giles had recently vacated, "Great matchmaking skills of a middle-aged mother" she complained to herself. Spike looked a little suspiciously at her as he got up and stood by Giles to see what the pictures were actually of. The Watcher handed the first one to him.

"This is what got the Slayer so upset?" he frowned, "Photos of her as a Little Bit?"

"I don't believe it was the photographs of just herself that troubled her" Giles pointed out, holding out the next picture to the vampire. In it he saw a miniature version of himself, which was quite disturbing since he only had a vague memory of his own looks, especially as a child since it was over a hundred years ago, and he never had his hair this way back then! What really got his attention was the fact he looked so ridiculously happy, as did Buffy whom he had his arm around in the picture.

He sank back down onto the couch, a smile forming on his lips as he traced his finger over the two figures in the photo. They'd been so insanely happy when they were together, just running around or watching cartoons and drawing those ridiculous pictures of each other and their little 'family'.

Joyce watched his expression shift through happy and sad, with an occasional touch of frustrated anger.

"The sun is setting" she told him with a pointed look, "Won't be long before it's completely down"

Spike looked up at her and then behind him through the gap in the drapes. She was right, another five minutes and it'd be safe enough for him to go find himself a home, or go after Buffy, whichever he chose. Question was, which would he choose?

To Be Continued...

A/N2 : Just one more chapter and then it's all over. Hope you liked this chapter, reviews are very much welcome as always.