The Snapping Thread
Willow opened her eyes with effort.
She was lying on the floor. Where? She slowly began to recognize her surroundings. Buffy's living room. Her head was burning. She felt strange. Her skin was too tight. Then something cool was at her lips and she began to swallow water.
"Easy," Ath's voice said, the goddess hand under the Wicca's neck. "Easy."
Willow's sight cleared and she looked up at the twins with a wondrous expression.
"What happened?" she asked.
"You went for a ride," Calor smiled. "You haven't fully come back yet, but don't worry. In an hour you'll feel normal again."
"I don't know if I'll ever feel normal again," Willow said, sitting up with the help of Ath. "That was... the most amazing thing I've ever... seen or felt or..."
Ath smiled.
"But it won't be the last most amazing thing," she reassured. "And the next time, I'm positive it'll be all you."
¤
The concealed entrance to the Initiative lay less than a mile from the caves Adam had used. The Slayer burst through it with her muscles burning. The toll the past half hour had taken on her was making itself known as the pressure was lessening.
"He's dying," she said as she saw Riley's head loll forward. "God, he's dying."
Spike took Giles' place at that before catching Buffy's gaze. She understood what he was doing and made Xander give her his spot.
"Go back to the house," Spike said.
Giles exchanged a look with Xander, and then the Slayer and the Vamp began to run. They were soon out of sight.
Xander touched his forehead, bringing his hand away he looked at the blood glistening off his fingertips.
"You alright?" Giles asked, beginning to walk, he was halting slightly.
Xander observed him, then followed.
"I've felt worse," he said. "You?"
"Oh, this is nothing," the Watcher shrugged.
They stopped at the same time, looking to their left.
There, illuminated slightly in the light of the sun filing peacefully through the trees, stood a bench.
They exchanged a look.
"Maybe just a short rest," Giles said.
"Yeah, I could go with that. As long as it's short," Xander nodded.
¤
"We need a doctor!" Buffy yelled as they entered the ER.
Spike was falling back, smoking from the sun and wanting to dodge wondering eyes.
A nurse had spotted the blood covering both Buffy and Riley and was coming down the corridor with a gurney. A doctor soon joined her and Buffy helped place Riley on the rolling contraption.
"I'm Dr. Alvarez," the doctor introduced himself. "What happened here?"
"He hurt himself," Buffy replied, sight blurry from tears again.
"He did this?"
"Part of it... He was in a fight... Will he be alright?"
"It's much too early to tell, Ms...?"
"Summers. Buffy Summers."
"Ms. Summers," another nurse stopped her. "I'll need you to give me some information."
"But..."
"You won't be permitted in there," the nurse said, seeing that Buffy wanted to go with Riley. "You'll have to wait. Please, I need some information."
Buffy relented, giving the nurse all the information she had on Riley Finn, including the fact that he was an army employee. Spike joined at her side, having cleaned most of the blood off himself. His neck was still throbbing, though. He hadn't thought much of it, but now it struck him as unusual. Pain had never been a problem for him because it didn't linger. This seemed awfully persistent. The worry on Buffy made him forget about it.
He slid one hand into one of hers and she looked at him. She seemed exasperated, but she stepped into him with a grateful expression in her eyes, wrapping her arms around him as he did the same to her, holding her close.
"He can't die," she murmured and he softly stroked her hair.
"He won't," he said, trying to forget any animosity he might still harbor toward the human. "He won't," he repeated with more feeling.
When she pulled back she saw the blood residue at the side of his throat. She furrowed her brow.
"You badly hurt?" she asked and he shook his head.
"Scratch," he assured.
She smiled a little and they walked into the waiting area, sinking down in the uncomfortable chairs.
They were quiet for a while, then she smiled again, looking at him.
"Well, this isn't exactly where I'd pictured us sitting," she said.
"Oh? And where did you picture us?"
Her smile faded slightly and he reached out a hand, sliding it behind her neck and pulling her close again. She leaned against him, closing her eyes.
"It'll be okay," he mumbled, kissing the top of her head.
The fact that he stayed with her through the grueling hours they had to wait meant the world to her. He didn't leave her side for a second, and though they barely spoke, having him there told her everything she needed to know.
¤
At seven fifteen the doctor came out to speak to them. He said that Riley Finn had lost a lot of blood. That Mr. Finn had come within inches of his life. That Mr. Finn had been saved by nothing less than divine intervention because his heart had stopped for three minutes. But Mr. Finn would live, and would live fully restored to health. It might take a while, but he would be fine.
Buffy wrapped her arms around Spike, crying with relief, the tension finally lifting.
They were permitted one brief visit, but Spike declined.
"The last thing he'll wanna see is me," he stated.
"But...you'll be here?"
"I'll wait right here," he promised and she kissed him briefly before heading down the hall.
She stepped into the room and tried to keep any sign of being troubled off her. There were just so many things he was hooked up to. And a heart monitor was beeping at the side of the bed. She swallowed the tears, walking up to him and placing a light kiss on his forehead.
His eyes opened heartbreakingly slow.
"Buffy?" he got out.
"Don't talk. The doctor said you shouldn't talk. I just... wanted to say hello." Her voice broke as the tears welled over. "You're going to be fine," she added, grasping the hand of his closest to her in a soft grip.
He smiled a very small smile, his hand squeezing hers back before his eyes closed again.
"You're gonna be fine," she repeated.
Spike rose as she came back out. She allowed herself a yawn and he smiled.
"We should head home," he said.
"I'm not sure," she murmured.
"Friends 'll be worried about you," he disagreed. "We'll leave your number at the desk, ask them to call if there's any change."
She was uncertain, but when she met his gaze she knew that he was right. So she nodded, left her number with the attending nurse, and was thankful for the arm Spike put around her as support as they headed for the exit.
¤
Everybody was gathered in the living room when the Slayer and the Vamp arrived at the house. Willow rose, coming up to her friend with an anxious expression on, as well as an empathic one.
"Hey," she said.
Buffy tried a smile, but it didn't quite take.
"Hi," she said, returning Willow's hug.
"You okay?" Willow asked Spike, who nodded, offering her a smile as well.
The whole group was weary with the strain of the battle they had just won, and the shock of the injuring of one of their fellows. The sweetness of victory was late in setting in. It had all happened so fast, and hadn't been given the proper chance to settle as reality.
"Alright, Riley's in the hospital, but he's gonna recover completely," Buffy said. "I can't commend all of you enough for... everything you did today. Without all of you I never could have done this." She met Ath's and then Calor's eyes with her own and they both smiled. "I'm... barely able to stand here," she added. "I'm gonna try and get some sleep. I think we could all use it."
Xander eyed her and Spike. Giles noticed it and when Xander opened his mouth to speak the Watcher placed a hand lightly on his arm, stopping him. Xander clenched his jaws together.
¤
Spike closed the bedroom door, Buffy crawling onto her bed and then laying so she could watch him slip his duster off his shoulders. He paused as his eyes rested in hers, then smiled, coming up to the bed and placing himself alongside her. Her hand found his cheek, and her face seemed to darken for only a moment, before it lit up from within with a light that warmed him. She smiled lovingly.
"Thank you for staying with me," she said, voice low.
"Where else would I have gone?" he asked, her smile widening.
She carefully entwined one hands fingers with his, resting her cheek against his shoulder.
"Is it really over?" she asked.
"We'll see tomorrow," he said, sliding one arm under her and pulling her nearer.
She closed her eyes, putting her right arm across his chest. Had she not always slept here? In this space between his arm and chest? Secure? Had she really been the crazy image of a woman not feeling what she felt now? No, she hadn't. She'd been the crazy image of a woman refusing to admit to feeling what she felt now. When had she fallen in love with him? For how long had she fought this with teeth and claws? She really was an idiot, when she could have enjoyed this for all these excruciating weeks.
Worry for Riley rose quickly as she couldn't quite let go of the fact that she hadn't only been deceiving herself, she'd been deceiving him.
But then she nuzzled her nose into Spike's chest and all that could bother her slipped away. She was with him. And she was happy.
Spike let his fingers play with a stray lock of her hair. His head was filled with her scent, his heart still not sure if it was true, if she was lying there next to him, falling asleep in his arms. Then a smile settled on his lips and he closed his eyes.
She was.
¤
Ath stepped out onto the porch, closing the kitchen door and drawing a deep breath of the evening air. She wrapped the blanket she had brought around her, and sat down on the second step, looking out over the yard and then tilting her head back to stare into the infinity of the night sky.
She hesitated, then came to a decision and let her mind search for Jonathan.
She found him in his room. He was sitting on his bed. He wasn't angry anymore, she could feel the core of his emotions waft at her and go straight through her. Defeat, puzzlement, disbelief. Sorrow. He wasn't crying, but she could tell he had been.
He was looking intensely at something in his hands. Finally she could make out what it was. A box of ready-to-bake brownies. She frowned.
"Oh, Jonathan," she whispered, smiling to herself. "That's beneath you."
She concentrated until she had moved her essence to sit beside him on the bed. Invisible to him, though she knew he could feel her if she wanted him to.
She had to let him go.
But she couldn't help placing a gentle kiss on his cheek.
He turned his head to where she was, one of his hands rising in the air, beginning to reach out for her.
In a blink she was back in her human body.
Calor was seated beside her.
"Saying goodbye?" he asked.
She nodded.
"Yeah," she murmured. "He isn't finished yet... His role... it has barely started. I'll see him, I know I will. When he's done. I just wish it didn't hurt so much."
Calor touched her hand and she gave him a flicker of a smile.
"It's almost time," Calor said and Ath nodded again.
"I'm curious, myself, to see what father has to say."
Calor wasn't curious, because he thought he knew what he would say. He wanted to get it over with, though he regretted not having said a proper goodbye to Buffy.
¤
The room in which Ath played Dwindle was empty of any sign of life, and so was the library where knowledge was in constant change as the human race evolved. Ath looked at Calor with slight disappointment.
"I wasn't expecting a fanfare and release of doves at our homecoming, but I thought there would at least be someone to greet us," she said.
Calor smirked.
The sun shone through the great hall of the gods' home. Outside stretched a black and foreboding space, where stars had hung as the only ornate decoration for eternity's eternity. Each time one was extinguished, one was born in its place, and to watch the birth of a star was one of the greatest pleasures in the divine community. At this time, unbeknownst to Ath and Calor, one of these rare occasions was about to take place.
They heard the unmistakable sound of a gong, both of them exchanging an excited glance at the realization of where everyone were. The gong was only used to bid silence in the auditorium, and the only time silence needed to be bid in that place was when the event people had gathered for was too grand to shut up about.
Ath and Calor quickly made their way to the extensive space, where those they had known their entire existence were all gathered, gazing up into the vast universe above, below and around them.
The twins found their father at his honorary seat, and took their own on either side of him.
"Calor," he greeted. "Athania."
"Father," they said in one voice.
"How was your journey?"
"Educational," Ath replied.
"Profound," Calor mumbled and his father turned his eyes on him. "I have learned humility, and found it a great lesson. I believe I understand why you sent me there."
Bortha smirked, not replying.
"And what was your lesson, child?" he instead asked Ath.
"To lose – and not despair," she answered slowly. "I see now why hope is man's most formidable ally."
Bortha's smirk widened.
They were silent, looking up at the gathering of commotion above their heads. Small fire balls were rushing all around them, making a good imitation of fireflies gone berserk. Their trail all led in a wide circle upwards, to the epicenter of all the activity, where they glowed together in fusion.
"Did you send us on a fool's errand on purpose?" Calor couldn't help but ask.
Bortha resisted answering for another minute, then replied:
"The wisdom of Life cannot be had without living. You must be inspired, if you expect to inspire, am I not right? You are the forms of intelligence, of bravery, and indeed, of hope. People carry on because they believe. They believe in themselves, or the world, or God. They believe in a purpose in all they do. If they lose that belief, there is no more hope. They cannot make themselves move forward. They begin to die. I wanted you to understand what it is we have sworn to protect. A small amount of that belief. The Slayer is a testament to man's ferocious struggle against darkness, against evil, against all that will never stop to smite their belief right out of them. I did not send you on a fool's errand, my son."
"But you knew..." Calor began, unsure of whether he should go on. His father looked inquisitive and so he continued: "You knew that there was nothing we could do to stop them."
"And why should you have stopped them?"
"You sent me there... sent us there..."
"Yes, yes, I sent you. I said nothing about stopping them. My concern was for Spike deciding to leave Sunnydale for good. Love was always predicted between them, it did not worry me that it had arrived a little early. Fate, as you so eloquently put it, will not let herself be tampered with that easily. But what would have happened if love's hold was not strong enough, if he left town, as he nearly did...? He might have gotten killed. He might not have been there to push Buffy on when she needed it. And if either of them died prematurely, all would have been lost. The Seventh is coming and will come, with or without the most important pieces for the forces of good. And so I am very pleased with you both."
"But we didn't do anything," Ath remarked.
"You did plenty more than you think. Rookie mistakes some would call it, but many of which led to the union now so gloriously unfolding between them." He placed either hand on one each of his children's shoulders. "I knew you would do the right thing. What you needed was a good kick in the behind to get you going. Falling to the earth from billions of light years away will do that to you."
Both Ath and Calor smiled at that.
"What will happen to them now?" Ath asked quietly.
"There is turmoil ahead of them," Bortha stated. "But they have grown used to it by now, and will move through it as though the water was barely ruffled, as though the river was never wild... They'll become quite inseparable, I fear."
"Fear?" Calor wondered, thinking it an odd word choice.
"The pattern has been altered. The balance has shifted. What I have prophesized will still come to pass, but changes are up ahead... In the end she may choose another path."
"What do you mean?" Ath asked, feeling alarm rise.
"She will see the world already has been blessed with her kin, and in abundance. When he asks her to go, she may not. She may stay with him."
Calor's eyes widened.
"What are you saying? That she... that she'll die?"
"The fabric we weave is a fragile thing, my son. You altered its appearance and now, to not rip, it may have to alter with it. Sacrifices have always been made."
"She will die with him. As he saves the world?" Ath asked. "And you're saying... it will be her time, when it happens?"
Bortha gave a slow nod, gaze fastened on the explosion of light occurring high above.
Neither Ath nor Calor took any notice. They were both too shocked to think of anything but what they might have done.
"But she may choose to live," Ath said.
"There is always the choice," Bortha confirmed.
Ath and Calor exchanged a worried look, both of them struck with a sudden longing to go back, if so only for one day, knowing they would never get the chance again. All they could do now was wait patiently, and hope that Buffy would know to make the right choice... Whatever that might be.
¤
The Slayer and the Vamp were sleeping. Curled together on her bed. They slept most of the next day and Buffy didn't rouse before the sun had already set. She blinked, stretching before she turned her head up and saw whom she was with.
There was a rush of butterflies everywhere within here whenever she acknowledged her love for him. They brought a smile to her face, and that smile widened simply because it was permitted audience on her mouth. She reached up a hand and placed it on his cheek.
His eyes slowly opened.
He returned her smile, pulling her close.
She held onto him, not wanting anything else than this. It was as though the thread that once had held her back had snapped and thus released her straight into his arms. And he would never let her go.
Her hands slid through his hair to the back of his head, and then she frowned, pulling them away and staring uncomprehendingly at her fingers. They were gleaming red. Her heart stopped as she fastened her gaze in his. At first he looked as surprised as her, and then his face contorted into a mask of pain right before he screamed, his body stiffening tightly against hers.
"Oh, my God, what's happening!" she exclaimed, trying to relieve the hurt somehow, her hands running over his arms, his shoulders, his jaw and hair. "You said you weren't hurt!" she added, almost accusingly as he began to still.
"Didn't think I was," he murmured.
She made him turn on the side so she could glance on the pillow where his head had rested. It was caked with blood. He must have started bleeding a while ago. Her heart jump started itself and began pounding in her chest.
"It's the chip," he said. "It's the only thing that hurts that bleeding much... Has to be the chip. Soldier Boy..."
"What about Riley?" she asked, feeling Spike begin to grow rigid again and knowing another jolt of pain wasn't far away.
"Hit me," Spike got out before he screamed again.
"God damn it!" she yelled, getting to her feet on the bed and jumping off it, beginning to pull her clothes on.
She had just gotten her sweater on when Xander and Giles came through the door, both armed.
"Put those down," she huffed, shaking her head at them.
"What's wrong with him?" Xander wondered as Spike once more grew relaxed, his fists slowly unclenching and his eyes meeting Xander's, who was bravely ignoring the fact that the vampire was clearly stark naked under the sheet covering him from the waist down.
"Malfunction in the noggin'," Spike replied in Buffy's stead. "No sodding worries, mate. Soon I'll be right as ra-..."
But the word turned into another scream, even louder this time, and Buffy ran up to him, grabbing his hands and holding them tightly, waiting until the seizure stopped.
"I'm going for help," she said.
"Where? What bloody help is there?"
She merely gave him a look and he wanted to protest, but didn't know what good it would possibly do him to keep the chip in like this. It would turn him into more of an invalid than he already was, probably drive him insane as well.
"I won't be long," she promised, kissing him softly on the mouth before stepping back, turning to Xander and Giles. "I need you to look after him," she said. "Try and dress the wound and just... make him stay still."
"Where are you going?" Giles asked.
"The hospital," she replied, walking passed them out of the room.
Xander followed her.
"Is this a good idea?" he asked.
"Is what a good idea?"
"What you're doing."
"And what is that?"
"Saving him."
"I thought it was obvious why I'm saving him," she replied, reaching the foot of the stairs and turning to him. "Please, don't do this. Not now."
He stared at her.
"How long?"
"It just happened. Or... a month ago, depending how you look at it."
"Buffy..."
"I don't have time to argue with you, Xander. It's my personal life, and as my friend I'm asking you to back the hell off. Accept it, or don't. But if you want to see me happy, Xand, really, very happy, then you'll go up there and stay by him until I come back."
She touched his arm gently, then turned and ran out through the front door.
¤
She managed to get into Riley's room after minutes of deliberating with the head nurse, leaving the Slayer wishing she could strangle mortals slowly. She closed the door behind her and approached the bed. He was sleeping, and she knew she couldn't upset him, not for anything. So, would she have to choose? Between Riley and Spike? Again?
But Riley opened his eyes then, meeting her haggard appearance with a slight smile.
"Wearing the official Slayer ensemble, I see," he murmured. "Clothes inside out and a frantic expression."
She smiled.
"I'm here on unofficial business," she replied gently, taking his hand. "How are you feeling?"
"I guess I could choose the trite reply of 'Like someone beat the crap out of me', but that's pretty close to the truth so I might stick with it."
Her smile widened, then she felt the urgency of the situation and said tentatively:
"I come for a favor. A big, big favor. And I need to ask it of you right away. I wouldn't, if it wasn't important."
Riley eyed her, then said:
"His chip?"
She clenched her jaws together, then nodded.
"I suppose he told you it was my fault?"
She nodded again, her grip on his hand hardening unconsciously. He smiled again.
"It was Adam who wanted the vampire dead, not me."
"I know," she said. "Just... Can you help?"
"I can't answer that right away," he mumbled. She could tell he was drifting off. "Just... wait a little while."
"How long does he have?" she asked, eyes building up with suppressed tears.
But Riley was gone. She brought her hand up to her lips and kissed it gently before placing it back at his side, carefully. Leaving the room she let hope flow through her veins, and the faith she had in Riley came with it. He had never let her down before, he wouldn't start now.
¤
Spike's screams met her when she came through the door, Willow soon appeared, coming from the dining room with an apprehensive look on her face.
"What did he say?" she asked as she joined Buffy in walking up the stairs.
"That he'll try. But, Will, he's badly hurt... I don't know what he can do."
"He probably has something in his tooth that he can bite and send a signal that he wants to speak to someone from the government," Willow calmed. "They'll come."
"I don't know if I want them to," Buffy grumbled. "I don't know if I trust them."
"Trust Riley," Willow said. "He won't let Spike be harmed."
"I guess he won't," Buffy agreed.
She stepped into her bedroom and felt a smile grow onto her lips at the sight of the two men sitting at a chair each, keeping watch over the vampire. She caught Xander's gaze and held it with all the appreciation and gratitude she felt for him in that moment. He smiled very slightly, but it was enough to make her feel even calmer. It would be fine. It all would be.
They seemed to have struggled a pair of pants on Spike, and Buffy kept her smile from broadening.
Giles and Xander rose, heading for the door as Buffy walked up to the bed. She touched Spike's forehead.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Giles murmured from the doorway and she turned her head to him, then she smiled another smile.
"I know what I'm feeling, that's enough for me," she answered.
He didn't look particularly approving, but she didn't mind it. He'd come around. He didn't hate Spike, she knew that. He didn't trust him, but he'd barely had reason to yet. Someday soon, he would.
She sat down next to Spike, who was looking at her through a haze of pain.
As long as she was there, he could endure anything.
"They're coming," she said, placing her lips at his brow and closing her eyes as he did the same, one of his hands finding one of hers. "They're coming," she repeated.
¤
And three hours, fifteen minutes and thirty-six seconds later they came.
"Buffy!" Willow yelled right before the door to the bedroom opened.
Buffy turned to it from where she'd been sitting on the edge of the bed. Two men came into the room, wearing army clothes and distinctive sour expressions.
"We were sent by Colonel Adams. The specimen..."
"If you call him that just one more time I'll show you what sort of specimen I am," she stopped them, rising.
"You're to come with us," one of the men stated. "There's nothing we can do for him here."
"Fine. As long as I have insurance that nothing's going to happen to him," Buffy replied.
"Riley Finn is in charge of this operation. You'll have to take that up with him."
Buffy couldn't hold back a smile of relief, turning her eyes in Spike's. He didn't look quite as comforted, but her expression soothed him. The two soldiers put him on a gurney and carried him outside, into the waiting transportation – a green painted ambulance with a red cross on the side.
Buffy wasn't far behind, taking a seat next to the vampire.
The ride didn't take more than forty minutes, but Spike was continually worsening and Buffy went from despair to complete belief that everything would be alright and back to despair again. She focused on keeping him calm, and felt it calmed her at the same time.
The air was filled with dust as they entered a stretching dirt road. It was closing in on midnight and the moon stood full in the sky, impregnating the lonesome landscape with its bluish glow until the leaves turned silver and the sand glistened seductively.
The lights of the base came into view and within ten minutes they were stopping in front of a large building.
"I never knew this was here," Buffy said.
"And when you leave, you'll forget all about it," the taller of the two soldiers warned before they brought Spike out, carrying him inside.
Colonel Adams was an imposing character, stout and wearing a cropped beard he came up to the operation table where the men placed Spike, looking the vampire over with a disapproving frown and turning to her.
"I don't believe agent Finn knows exactly what he's asking of me, but since he just came out of a life threatening situation with a heap of information vital to the closing of the Initiative..." Buffy's eyebrows rose and the Colonel cleared his throat before continuing: "Well, I feel I owe him. Now, I have a question for you."
Two doctors and three nurses entered from a side door, all wearing white. Buffy felt her pulse beat against her temple.
It'll be alright, she told herself. It'll be alright.
She looked at the colonel, wonderingly.
"We can either repair the chip, or remove it," he explained. "Agent Finn said it was up to you."
Buffy turned her gaze to Spike, and a small smile placed itself on her mouth.
¤
"Here comes the bread," Joyce said, coming into the dining room with a basket full of hot rolls.
Everybody ooh- and aaah-ed and she smiled, placing it on the table.
It was ten o'clock the following morning.
In the Summers dining room were gathered Giles, Xander, Anya, Willow, Tara, Joyce, Buffy and Spike. Breakfast was laid out and beautifully so, having been prepared by Joyce, Willow and Tara.
"I think the best one is when the fox tries to kill the bird with a stone," Anya said, following up on the topic of conversation which had reigned for the past ten minutes.
"He's not a fox, dear, he's a wolf," Xander corrected. "And it's not a stone, it's a very big rock."
"Well, excuse me," she muttered, then smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek. "It's quite the wonder I still love you, when you have such a diverse passion for animated short-films."
"I love how you phrase it, though," he smirked and Spike smiled as well.
"I always liked Scooby-Doo," Buffy said. "Pass me the bread, honey."
Spike did as she asked, receiving a kiss on the nose for the effort.
"Yes, it's good in its way," Xander nodded. "But it doesn't quite live up to the standards of say Tom and Jerry."
"Oh, come on!" Buffy disagreed. "That cat and mouse stuff is so obviously a metaphor for men chasing women. And the mouse always wins, figure that."
"What are you talking about, love?" Spike asked, affronted. "Tom and Jerry happens to be about friendship. Overcoming obstacles. Even when those are one wanting to kill the other."
She smirked at that, giving him a kiss on the mouth.
"I always liked the Smurfs," Willow said.
"Classic, classic," Xander nodded. "Just like you not to let us forget something so important."
She smiled.
"And what about the Carebears?" Buffy asked. "I know someone who's said to always have wished to meet one when he was... a week ago," she teased and Xander threw a piece of bread at her.
"They're so smart," he rebuffed. "If everybody watched the Carebears and nothing but the Carebears, I'm telling you, this world would be a better place."
"I could retire," Buffy said, leaning into Spike who put an arm around her.
"We all could," Xander remarked.
There was a lapse of silence, then Tara said hesitantly:
"I really liked the Flintstones."
"Oh, I forgot about that one," Willow said.
"That's a good one," Spike agreed.
"I never really saw that one," Buffy pouted.
"Yabba-dabba-doo!" Xander exclaimed, all of them laughing.
Joyce exchanged a look with Giles.
"Did you follow that?" she asked and he shook his head.
"We're getting too old for this," he smiled and she smiled back, nodding in concurrence.
¤
That night Buffy came down the stairs, wrapping a large scarf around her. Spike was waiting outside.
"Buffy," Willow said, noticing the scarf. "You going out?"
"For a walk," Buffy confirmed.
Willow smiled a little.
"You happy?" she asked and Buffy mirrored the smile.
"I think I really am," she replied.
Willow stepped up on the first step as Buffy walked up to the door, then the Wicca turned to her friend and said:
"When we were doing the spell, it was like I tasted something of my future... It was really weird."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine! It was just... weird."
"What did it taste like?"
Willow thought for a moment, then replied:
"Bitter strawberries."
Buffy smiled slightly at that, her hand on the doorknob when Willow had one more question.
"They... went home, didn't they?"
Buffy felt a sting. She had thought Ath and Calor would at least have gotten the change to say goodbye, but she guessed she'd been wrong.
"Yeah," she then replied. "They did."
The night air was crisp when she stepped outside. And there was her man. She smirked a little at the thought, though it was growing more familiar by the minute. She walked up to him, linking their fingers together and beginning to stroll at his side.
They both had they eyes on the starry sky, looking at the endlessness of it all and feeling quite small in the big schemes of things. Buffy wondered if it was with good reason, or if they should feel larger than life after what they had accomplished two nights ago. They had beat the Big Bad again. They had saved many people form death and destruction, perhaps even the earth. She was thankful they would never know just how powerful Adam's army could have gotten.
Suddenly two shooting stars appeared, and Buffy felt her breath catch. Then she smiled, knowing that the Powers were ever working around her. Be it in the shape of God or nature or faith or love, they were always present, and always would be.
Goodbye, she thought, adding: for now.
Neither Spike nor she spoke, but they didn't need to.
It was enough to be there, next to one another.
They arrived at his crypt without realizing it.
As slowly as they had undressed two mornings earlier, as slowly did they undress now, before each others eyes. Their pale skin stood out against the harsh dark of the cave as they melted together once more.
¤
"Tell me why you took the chip out," he asked of her a few hours later, their limbs entwined comfortably on his bed.
"Because Willow was right when she said that it isn't my choice or anyone else's to try and control you. You need to make that choice for yourself. And I know it'll be hard for you. But I believe in you."
He smiled a little.
"Do you really?"
She moved her head up to lock her gaze with his, then replied firmly:
"Really."
She smiled as his widened, then kissed him deeply before pulling back and asking:
"There's something I've been wondering. I think I know the answer, but..."
"What?"
"Well, when I was younger you told me that you thought the reason Drusilla left you was because of your alliance with me... against her and Angel."
He cocked an eyebrow, but of course he knew what she wanted to have said.
"Yeah?" he asked, not wanting to make it too easy for her.
"Well... the way you said it made it sound like you were wrong. That there was... another reason."
He looked at her with a blank, uncomprehending expression, then he smirked and she did as well.
"Am I being... nosy?" she asked.
"Full of yourself, more like," he remarked. "What do you want, a five page confession?" he then asked and she laughed.
"Just tell me."
"Alright, fine. Drusilla said that all she could see when she looked at me – was you, I told you that. And I fooled myself into thinking it was because I betrayed her that she was seeing it... but I needed you. Even then, I needed you. It was a wanting that brought me back here. It was you, and everything else was just bloody poor excuses, weren't they? But I couldn't see it. Wouldn't let myself."
"You don't say?" she asked, then smiled again.
She was happier now, if that was possible. She had heard what he had told her mother about Drusilla, after all. He would always hold some form of affection for her. And maybe it was silly of the Slayer to believe that affection could ever come between the one he held for her. But now she was even more convinced it never would.
"I love you, William Thackary Kingsley," she stated with sudden tease in her green eyes and he winced at the sound of his human name, looking baffled and wondering that she knew it. "I've been reading up on you, Sir the Bloody. Giles has some pretty interesting journals in his possession."
Spike looked shocked, then grabbed her and turned her on her back.
"I'll burn them before you learn any more of my secrets."
"Now, 'Thackary', is that from your mother's or your father's side?" she giggled as he tried to wrestle her down, not really succeeding.
Finally he caught hold of her wrists and brought them over her head, pinning her down and resting his eyes in hers.
"I really do love you, too, Ms. Summers," he murmured, before sealing his words with a kiss.