Disclaimer: see chapter 1

10: SOMEDAY

Buffy woke up to a nearly empty room. Only Angel sat in a chair against the wall; the others had either gone to watch Spike or Dawn or carried on with their ordinary lives. Buffy's mind was filled with the sort of elusive memories that are the remainders of dreams: she remembered Spike holding her, kissing her, shouting her name...

"Buffy...You're awake."

The Slayer groaned as she twisted and stretched in the bed. "Yeah...ugh. Tired. You look kind of tired yourself, Angel."

"It's nothing. Going into your head just took a lot out of me."

Oh. So it was him, not Spike. Buffy smiled distractedly. Why wouldn't Spike be here, to help me? The Spike I remember would have stopped at nothing to save me...Maybe he's decided he doesn't want to be around me anymore...

"Do I have...real clothes somewhere?" Buffy asked, looking at her hospital gown. Angel gestured to the pile on a chair near the bed. There was an awkward silence as Buffy stared at him, but then Angel finally understood and left the room, closing the door. The Slayer could tell he was pacing outside. She quickly changed, ran her fingers through her tangled bed-hair, and joined Angel outside.

Angel smiled at her. "Nice to see you back among the conscious. Not to mention back in America. How long are you planning on staying?"

Buffy shrugged, focused on some unintelligible point in the distance. "I have a ticket back to Italy for this Thursday. So staying?...Not so much."

Angel nodded.

A blonde vampire approached Angel and Buffy. She brushed her long hair behind her ear. "Hey bossie! I'm here to tell you that, um..." she glanced at a memo, "the younger Miss Summers is conscious and waiting in the lobby for the Slayer, as soon as she's...Well, now, I guess."

Buffy raised an eyebrow, surprised at the new, professional and useful Harmony. "Thank you, Harmony," Angel told her, and he began to lead Buffy to the lobby, the Slayer's mind completely on a different blonde vamp.

As soon as Buffy walked into Angel's lobby, her sister rushed at her and hugged her fiercely. "Buffy!" screamed Dawn, "You're all right! We were so worried!"

Buffy smiled. "So am I. What were you doing being unconscious?"

"I went into your mind to help you out, stupid. Seriously, you've got issues, scolding me for saving your butt."

Images of Dawn running, Dawn speaking, and Dawn opening a sturdy, old- fashioned door flashed through Buffy's mind. I remember her, and she was there. What if he was too?

Suddenly Buffy's attention was focused on the people wandering through the lobby. There were all types: scaly or drippy demons, humans, vampires, shamans...The Slayer's eyes searched for a black-clad figure, topped with pale blonde hair.

Spike. Spike, are you here, somewhere? Did you hear what I wanted to tell you?

Wesley's eyes never left the form of the unconscious vampire. The ex-watcher had been shocked by the risk the demon had chosen to take, and Spike's survival was suddenly very important to Wesley.

Spike stirred. Then he rolled over and produced a groan. Gunn elbowed Wesley.

"Spike?" asked Wesley tentatively.

Spike's blue gaze fixed upon the human. Wesley got up out of his chair and came closer to the vampire's side.

"How do you feel?"

"Like I got myself completely knackered, wandered through a meat grinder, and woke up with one hell of a hangover. But apart from that..." He groaned again.

"Sounds...absolutely smashing," commented Wesley unconvincingly.

Gunn nudged Wesley again. "Wes, Harmony says the Summers ladies are awake. Think I'm gonna go welcome them back to the wakeful world." Wesley nodded and watched the other man leave.

Then he turned back to Spike. "Spike..." Wesley looked into Spike's face, trying to draw his courage to say what he wanted to say. "What you did, back there...Was incredibly valiant. I-I had not expected you to take such a risk, and I'm...Well, I must say I'm impressed." Spike raised an eyebrow. "I mean, you're a vampire, and – "

"I love her," was all Spike said.

Wesley nodded thoughtfully.

"Buffy?" Dawn was smiling up at her.

Buffy groaned. "Dawn, you have beg-face. What is it?" Dawn, a sweet smile plastered on her face, began to beg to go shopping with Harmony. After establishing that the vampire had invited her sister, Buffy reluctantly agreed. She wasn't in the mood to bicker with Dawn – every second she didn't see someone resembling Spike made her more and more disappointed.

I guess he really isn't here. He just doesn't want to see me. Not that I wouldn't get that...I was such a bitch to him...But I want a chance to tell him I'm sorry. And yeah, it's selfish, but I want a chance to be forgiven...

"Oh!"

Spike looked at Wesley, in confusion. "Oh?" he repeated sarcastically.

He deserves a favor, after what he risked for Buffy. "Come out into the lobby...Tell the nurse that I said you can leave, if she offers you any trouble. I'll be...I'll be in touch with you later."

Wesley left the room and made his way to the lobby. He didn't completely understand his actions; after all, Spike had helped Buffy, but what did that have to do with Wesley? Why was the ex-watcher helping a vampire?

You're daft, he told himself. Of course he did something for you.

Wesley navigated his way through the throngs of Buffy's well-wishers to the Slayer herself, inventing a story. Wolfram and Hart wanted Miss Summers to wait in the lobby for them to return some possessions to her. Yes, that would do it, nice and vague.

Wesley would make sure Spike could meet Buffy. It was a favor to the vampire, because Wesley now looked at the world a little differently. He now had hope.

Spike wandered into Angel's lobby. The crowds had thinned, but there were still more people than Spike really liked to be around. It was funny; he had changed so much. The old, pre-chip, pre-soul Spike would have felt ecstatic about a heavily populated Bronze.

First he smelled her. The scent wasn't strong and it was nearly drowned out by the smells of the many other people, but he caught it and he knew she was there. He scanned the faces for a single visage that was easily the most beautiful sight he'd ever laid eyes on.

He'd always found her gorgeous, even in the days when he wanted nothing more than to kill her. She'd always been perfect, whether she was a perfect foe or a perfect woman with perfect flaws.

The vampire approached her nervously. He knew where she was and he knew how she felt and he was still nervous.

Her eyes were sifting through the masses, searching for something. When she found it, her eyes locked on his, and she watched him approach. Never looking away, she continued her conversation with the people around her, waiting for him.

"Buffy."

He was right in front of her now. "Yeah?" she asked casually, with slight smile.

Nervous, he fidgeted like a high school boy in love. "So, she's back in the States." He looked her up and down. "Planning on staying a while?"

"My ticket's for Thursday. But...Not sure I'll use it." Spike and Buffy's hands somehow found each other, running their fingers across the skin.

"I see. What a good use of your money," he assessed, voice dripping with sarcasm. "What would your dear old Watcher say about that?" The hands settled on holding each other, warmly nestled just where they wanted to be.

Buffy laughed, her eyes twinkling and her mouth smiling. "Probably not much. He'd clean his glasses. But Anya would throw a..." She backtracked, having been torn from her mirth-filled world. "Or, you know, would if she were still..."

Spike squeezed her hand comfortingly. "She might be, luv."

"Yeah. Miracles happen," she grinned up at him.

"So anyway, I've got myself a nice place, wager you've seen it." His thumb massaged her wrist.

"Lame-ass bed."

"You...feel free to drop by...Any time between now and...Thursday,"he pronounced with sly understanding.

Between now and forever. She grinned, and Spike was overjoyed to notice an expression very much like one of his own smirks. "We'll see."

"Buffy...Remember that Cassie bird? Remember what she said to me?"

"No." Their hands shifted, coming palm to palm and the fingers enlacing, creating a shape the hands both remembered well.

"'Someday she'll tell you.'"

Buffy's lips spread into a full-out grin as she looked up at her vampire. For the first time since she'd clawed herself out of her grave, she felt whole again. She looked directly into Spike's eyes. "And she did."

THE END

Except for the epilogue...