Summary: It's two years after the final battle from NFA and Spike is sent to Cleveland to fight evil.. completely unaware of a very much familiar blonde being there. This story is mainly based around the characters Buffy, Spike, Faith, Robin Wood, Rhona, and a few more newer characters. There will most likely be appearances of other characters such as Willow, Xander, Angel etc. If you're a fan of Faith, too.. I'm pretty sure you'll like this a bit.
Pairings: Buffy/Spike, a little bit of Faith/Robin, and maybe some other accidental pairings. Oh! And there may be just a LITTLE bit of Spike/Angel-ness.
Genres: Romance/Action/Horror/Comedy/Angst
Ratings: Rated M, just to be on the safe side for swearing, sex, and violence.
Feedback: Reviews are GREATLY appreciated.
Note: I do NOT own Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel: the series, or any of the characters. Joss Whedon and the other creators own it all. Thank you.
BETA NEEDED ! I would really, really love it if somebody could beta for me? Cause' I know I've got a few errors in here, if not... then a lot. If you're interested then email me at Thanks!
Two years after the final battle in L.A...
"You should go on home now, love," Spike insisted as a drunk, middle-aged woman sitting across from him gulped down a shot.
"But I don't wanna!" she pleaded as she slammed the glass back down on the bar next to about six other empty glasses.
"It doesn't matter. I own this place and I bloody well don't want you to get even more trashed," he explained as he began cleaning up the shot glasses off the bar.
"I miss it. When I was a child, don't you? Those damn yankees!" the drunk woman babbled as she wobbled on the bar stool.
"No need to go all nostalgic on me, pet. There's no need to change the subject either. I'm going to close up soon so you're best to just leave and sleep in your nice, comfy home," he urged as he finished setting the shot glasses into the sink.
"You're no fun. No fun at all! You know, with your bleached hair, you'd think a guy like you would get out more!"
"Oh honey," Spike chuckled as he leaned forward, " if only you knew." And with that, she hopped off of the bar stool and stumbled out of the door with about the same amount of coordination as a newborn deer. The bar was then finally empty and Spike just smiled to himself as he wiped the counters up with a wet rag. He hummed calmly to the music playing as nothing else stirred in the room. He skimmed the bar looking to see if there was anybody left to boot out. No one. Spike sighed as he took a seat in one of the bar stools. He took a look up at the stage and then closed his eyes.
The bar reminded him much like the Bronze. Hell, it even smelled like the Bronze. Or maybe that was just the familiar scent that the heat of the dancing humans left earlier. Whichever it was, it made Spike's soul burn for all of the thoughts on the Bronze reminded him of only one girl. Sure there was a flash of Drusilla in his head but Buffy outdid the memories of Drusilla. Even if Spike had known Drusilla longer. Fuck that bint. Speaking of being 'nostalgic'...
The memories reminded Spike of the final fight when he was with Angel's crew, too. There was the big battle with all of the demons and the dragon. The thoughts made Spike cringe for he didn't really want to bring back the memories. He missed Fred and even Gunn and Wesley for that matter. Angel survived though. Spike smiled at that. Even if Spike and Angel have loathed eachother over the years, it all just turned into an act that last year together. They had become more like bestfriends or brothers like the times when they were both evil except now they're fighting the good fight. They're champions. With souls.
After the battle, Illyria left right away. Angel and Spike haven't heard a word from her since. Wolfram and Hart was completely destroyed and abandoned after Angel and Spike had successfully annihilated the demons. No, they didn't kill them all by themselves for Angel had different plans... with useful explosives. Spike and Angel agreed to be partners and to continue fighting in California. After a couple of months of working together, Angel and Spike received news that the hellmouth in Cleveland was brewing with evil and wasn't getting the amount of help it needed.
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FLASHBACK.
"That's why I want you to go do it," Angel insisted as Spike sat across from him in his office. Spike looked down for a moment and then his eyes shifted back up to Angel.
"Fine," Spike nodded, "I'll do it."
"Okay, you need to understand that there will be some Slayers there. If you run into them, then help them I guess. They need all the help they can get," Angel explained as he sat back in his chair.
"Right then. And... where am I gonna stay?"
"I have a set-up there for you. With the money that we've had from the remains of Wolfram and Hart, I'm pretty sure you'll do fine. There's a bar there. It's all yours. There's also a secret place inside the bar for you to live. It's pretty cool actually.
"Well then, I guess that's good enough for me. When the bloody hell did this all get set up?" Spike cocked his scarred brow.
"A couple of months ago. Wesley had a feeling that we'd maybe have to go to Cleveland at some point. So, he sent some people to go set it up for us. There's a guy there... who's running it right now. His name is Allen? Uh... Adam? I don't really remember but yeah, all you have to do is kick him out and run it yourself."
"Great," Spike muttered.
"If you don't want to take this offer, Spike, then-" Angel started as Spike quickly interrupted him.
"No, don't get me wrong. I do. I've got it. It's just uhh... do I get to bring the X-Box along?"
Angel rolled his eyes at Spike's gesture, "man, I was starting to like that thing, too. Whatever, Spike. I guess I'll buy a new one."
"Goody," Spike smirked as he stood up from the chair, "well it was nice doing business with ya, peaches." Angel just nodded as Spike once again shot his overused sarcasm. Spike stepped half way through the door of Angel's office.
Angel folded his arms, "oh, and Spike?"
"Yeah?" Spike mumbled as he glanced back at Angel.
"Try not to die," Angel demanded across the room and then in a hushed, sad voice said, "we've had too much of that going around lately."
A moment of silence.
"Same to you," Spike replied quietly as he slowly stepped out of Angel's office.
Later that week right before Spike departed from L.A, he handed Angel a present wrapped with black wrapping.
"What's this?" Angel questioned.
"You'll see. And don't think I've gone all soft after this either. It's just to show my appreciation, I guess. Since there's been such a lack of it over the years with you. Bye peaches," Spike said a bit embarrassed but with dignity as he stepped into the airport.
Angel unwrapped the present eagerly and finally saw what was inside.
A new X-Box. Angel smiled.
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Spike never did kick Allen out of the bar. He made Allen run it so Spike didn't have to. Spike was much too busy doing other things like fighting, sleeping, and nonetheless brooding. This was only one out of a few nights that Spike did actually run his bar. Allen called in sick and although it took Spike a long time to agree to fill his spot, he did it. Allen was a short, introverted guy. He'd barely talk unless he really had to. Since Spike didn't know many people, he'd mostly talk to Allen if he could even get anything out of the almost mute man.
Some nights they'd have a few beers and just talk about things. Spike would talk about his demon days and Allen would mostly just listen or reply with a "really?" or a "keep talking". As much as Spike would talk about the days back in Sunny-D, it'd never compare to how many words came out of his mouth about Buffy.
At first, Spike would never say a word of the petite blonde. Allen had to pry it out of him one night while they were brooding with bottles of alcohol and sitting on a street curb. Spike kept warning Allen how he didn't want to go there but Allen finally got it out of him. It was quite easy for Allen to get it out of him hence the fact that he was so intimidating to Spike when he actually did speak. When Spike finally came out and told Allen about the girl, Allen became completely curious and Spike never stopped talking about her since. He needed somebody to open up to like that, anyways.
Spike sighed as he slowly opened his eyes. The whole bar was quiet and motionless. It took him a second before he could get himself out of memory lane. Therefore he stood up from the stool and flicked off all of the lights. All he needed to do was lock the doors and then he could get his rest. He made his way to the entrance doors and locked them tight. He forgot to patrol tonight but he thought that maybe the Slayers that he had never seen had it under control. Besides, he was too tired and mopey. He needed to rest his vampire eyes.
The hairs from the back of his cold neck stood up. He was half asleep but he could still feel it. Demon? Ah, might as well ignore it, mate. Spike barely fell back into sleep when all of the sudden a jolt of hot, electric shivers jolted through him.
"What the bloody hell?" Spike shot up from his bed. He was shirtless and his muscles twitched as his senses poked at him. He look at his arms and noticed the hairs sticking up as he touched them with a shaky hand. His senses were tangling.
"Okay, my guess is that there's a demon near by because I my senses haven't tingled like this since..." Spike muttered to himself. He shook the thoughts off as he tossed the white sheets off of him and got out of bed. The curtains were covering the windows but Spike could tell it was the afternoon. He checked the clock which sat on a nightstand next to his bed. 4:34 PM.
"A shower would be good about now," Spike mumbled as he paced out of his room, still a bit shaky.
"Buffy, wake up! We're here," Faith shook Buffy gingerly. No success. Buffy still slept in peace as drool started coming out of her mouth. Faith couldn't help but grin as Robin grabbed their luggage from the top shelf above the airplane seats. "She aint budgin', I'm gonna have to slap her or somethin'," Faith smirked as Robin handed her her's and Buffy's luggage. Faith poked Buffy as the blonde let out a small moan. Faith chuckled naughtyly. "Ey Robin, it sounds like she's dreaming about something nasty!"
"Well, I'm afraid you're gonna have to wake her ass up. We have to get off, people are waiting behind us, you know," Robin forewarned as Faith glanced back at Buffy.
"Well, I guess it's time to take extreme measures," Faith said with a touch of amusement in her voice. Before Robin could push Faith anymore, Faith slapped Buffy across the head. Not too hard but just enough to get her awake. Buffy's eyes opened slowly. She looked up at Faith, still a bit disoriented.
"Hey..." Buffy wiped off the drool with her sleeve.
"Time to get a move on, B," Faith demanded as she forced Buffy's luggage into Buffy's arms.
"Thanks," Buffy yawned as she grabbed the luggage and stood up quickly. Buffy then shot a glance up at Faith, "did you just slap me?"
"What? I had to do something to get you awake! Besides, I felt a little bad that I had to get you out of that sexual dream you were havin'," Faith laughed as the three walked down the aisle of the plane.
"What!"
"Oh, you know what I'm talking about. So who was it about?" Faith prodded behind Buffy as they made their way out of the airplane.
"Faith, I wasn't having a 'sexual' dream. There was no sex. N-not even touching! I- I wasn't even dreaming," Buffy tried to get her way out of it practically knowing that she wouldn't be able to. Not with Faith, anyways.
"Don't be ashamed, Buff," Faith said with a smile forming her lips. Robin just walked ahead of the two Slayers, pretending that he wasn't listening. As the three stepped out of the airplane, Faith whispered in Buffy's ear, "you can tell me about it later." Buffy just rolled her eyes as Faith and Robin walked ahead of her. She paused as she looked up at the sunny sky and inhaled the Ohio air,
" Nothin' like good ol' Cleveland."