Her Last One… Secret

Disclaimer: Still not mine, still fun to play with.

Reviews: Yes please. Readers Rock but Reviewers RULE!

A/N: A huge THANK YOU goes out to everyone whose loyalty to my insanity prompted them to check this story out and to all those brave enough to review this unique concept. I'm glad you all liked it.

It was brought to my attention that after chapter one I forgot to thank my wonderful friend and helper WayWard Childe. I'm so sorry for the oversight Childe. You help me so much. Letting me bounce ideas off your head, telling me when something's out of character and pointing out little mistakes. Without your input some of my stuff would be unreadable babbling. I'd like to point out to everyone that WayWard is an incredibly imaginative author and you should all go read his work. Hugs and smooches to you Partner.

This is the last chapter of this little fic. Hope you enjoyed it. It's a different pairing than most people are used to but I think it worked well. As promised, the contest requirements are listed at the end of this chapter. It was interesting getting all the components in and believable.

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For the most part, it was a silent trip back to the house on Revello Drive. Joyce immediately went into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee, heating a package of blood for Spike while she was at it. She called him into the kitchen.

She held the mug up to him. "Here. You haven't had any since this morning. It's been a long day." She began to set up a tray.

Spike gulped down the nourishment and risked a glance at the seemingly seething woman. "Thanks, Luv. Um… Are you mad at me?"

Joyce paused with the refrigerator door halfway open. She looked at him in shock. "What? No! Why ever would I be mad at you?"

Spike shrugged, still uncertain. "You just seem angry is all." He explained.

She pulled the cream out of the refrigerator and placed it on the tray. She added the sugar bowl and thought for a few more minutes. They were just about the longest minutes of Spike's unlife. Finally, she looked at him again.

"I'm angry about the way Rupert and the Council teach Slayers that demon equals evil and must be killed. I'm angry that the Initiative had the same mentality and that it led to the chip in your head." She saw he was about to speak and held up her hand.

"Yes, I know that without the chip you wouldn't have slowed down enough for your better qualities to come out and we would never have happened. For that I am grateful. But it's still an intensely cruel thing to do, to take away your ability to feed and defend yourself against even the smallest human. That's unfair. Besides, I could tell you were different when you helped Buffy defeat Angel." She moved closer to him and took his empty mug, placing it on the counter behind him. She slid her arms around his waist and leaned against his chest. "I'm angry that Buffy automatically assumed that Rygar had harmed me."

He nodded his understanding as he hugged her. "Well, class is about to be in session, wanna be my teacher's aide?"

She chuckled. "I'd rather be the teacher's pet."

"You already are, Luv." He kissed her forehead and released her. "Dare I hope that one of those lovely pies is mincemeat?" She nodded.

He grinned. "Damn, I've got good taste in women!"

In just a few minutes, everyone was settled at the dining table with coffee, milk in Dawn's case, and a hefty slice of pie. They ate in silence for only a couple of minutes before Anya couldn't contain her curiosity any longer.

"Spike, how did you do it? How did you meet and become friends with Rygar?" She asked.

Spike smirked. "It was Rygar who used the spell book seventy years ago. He and his brother were trying to find a nice vacation place for their families. The humans in this dimension made that impossible. They couldn't allow themselves to believe that anyone who looks like that could possibly be peaceful. I take it you know who he is, then?"

Giles spoke up. "I'd like to know who he is. I think I've seen pictures of demons like that but can't remember right now what kind they are."

"Rygar is a Tal-reh demon. In fact, he's the leader of their species. He rules the dimension they live in. What I don't understand is why they needed the book for the portal. I know that Tal-reh demons can inter-dimensionally travel." Anya answered before Spike could.

"They didn't need the book for the portal. Rygar can go anywhere he wants but his reception in this dimension has been less than friendly so he stays pretty close to home anymore. In fact, he put a ban on travel to this dimension throughout his entire species. The spell puts the barrier with the portal, it's supposed to be a protection spell keeping the travelers safe from intruders but, as I said, it's a trick spell book so the consequences for spells out of that book are never deadly, just not what you expect. Rupert, I would suggest you put the thing under lock and key." Spike explained.

"But how are you going to go visit them if the spell doesn't work right?" Dawn asked.

Spike smiled down at her. "I have my ways." He said with a wink.

"What did Rygar do to humans to make them hostile toward him and his brother?" Buffy asked.

Spike frowned. "Why would you automatically assume they did anything? Humans decided that just because they're big and blue and don't fit into a neat little slot that they're automatically dangerous and evil. Lesson the first, Slayer, Farmboy, is this. Just because you don't like the way something looks, you can't just decide they're evil and have to be killed. What if the government decided that all redheads were children of Satan and had to be destroyed? Would you just turn around and put your sword through Red?"

Buffy sputtered. "N-no! Of course not! That would be insane."

Riley turned red in the face. "That's not fair and you know it."

Spike nodded. "Ok, here's one I know the Watcher will recognize." He held his left hand up. With his right hand, using the tines of his fork, he traced fine silvery scars on his knuckles. "See these? I'll bet Rupert knows what caused them."

Giles paled. He nodded hesitantly.

"Go on then, tell the class." Spike encouraged. "You know they won't believe me."

The Watcher took a bracing sip of coffee, wishing he had something stronger. He knew where Spike's 'lesson' was headed and although it went against everything he'd been taught at the Watcher's Academy, the vampire had a very valid point. "The scars on Spike's left hand are the result of a misguided theory held by the Catholic Church and certain public schools that left-handed children were the spawn of the devil. They believed that those children had to be 'converted' into being right-handed to get them back into the good graces of God. Unfortunately that theory is still in use in some of the older schools."

"But that doesn't explain the scars." Xander protested. Several people at the table rolled their eyes at him.

"Who wants to tell the Whelp how I got the scars?" Spike asked, using his best 'teacher' voice.

Willow hesitantly held up her hand. Spike nodded with a smirk. "My older cousin married a Catholic guy who's left-handed. He's got the same scars. The nuns at his school used a metal ruler on his knuckles whenever they caught him writing with his left hand."

"Go to the head of the class, Red." Spike said. "Here endeth the lesson."

Joyce picked up the scarred hand that Spike had put back on the table beside his plate. "How old were you?" She murmured.

"Pet, it was a long time ago." He shook his head. Her hazel eyes flashed up at him.

"How old?" She repeated fiercely.

Spike ducked his platinum head, suddenly wishing he hadn't used the analogy. "Six."

There were gasps from most of the females and muttered curses from at least one male. "My mum pulled me out that school in less than a week. It never happened again." Spike hastened to add. She hadn't, it had been what Americans call a boarding school and she hadn't found out until Christmas break, but they didn't have to know that. The expression on Giles' face, though, told Spike the lie hadn't worked on him.

A sweeping inspection of the faces around the table told Spike that while he'd managed to get his point across, it would take a lot more to convince Buffy, Riley, Giles and Xander. He decided to let it drop, hoping he would continue to avoid the staking he knew the foursome wanted to administer.

Spike finished his pie in silence and stood up. Joyce stared up at him in surprise. "Pet, it was a wonderful dinner and I had a lovely time. But I've imposed enough. Time for me to go home."

Joyce stood up with a look at the others that dared any of them to object. "I'll see you out."

She followed him out to the front porch. She watched as he shrugged into his duster. "It's cold out, Luv." Spike gazed at her in concern.

"I'm fine. Give me my good-bye kiss." She slipped her arms around his waist and raised her face.

"Thank God I love bossy women." Spike sighed as he obeyed.

After a long hug, she pulled away. "Now that they know, don't stay away." She pleaded.

"I won't. I promise." Spike pulled her back into his arms and breathed the promise into her ear.

She nodded and turned to go back into the house. "Be careful." She told him softly. He nodded and left because he couldn't trust himself to say anything else. If he did, he'd be on bended knee begging to be allowed to live in the basement.

An hour later, Giles' apartment…

Rupert let himself into his home with a heartfelt sigh of relief. It had been a very long day. He glanced down at the spell book and noticed the title for the first time. Shock flooded his face when he realized he was holding something believed to have been lost centuries ago. It was a book historians believed that if it had in fact existed it had belonged to Merlin. It had been long rumored that the greatest wizard in history had grown tired of lesser magically inclined beings attempting to steal his secrets and had written a spell book designed to cause the intentions of the spell-caster to backfire upon themselves. The book Rupert held in his hand was beyond price and it had been in the hands of children.

With a shudder over what might have happened, he carefully placed the book in his safe. Moving to the bookshelf dedicated to old Watcher's diaries, he searched for the one from seventy years ago. He knew he had a copy of that one as he used it for research comparing the Hellmouth in Paris with the one in California.

A glass of Scotch in one hand and the diary in the other, he settled into his favorite chair to search for the part of the book that covered the events Spike had told about. It took just over half an hour but he found it.

'An impossible cloud of smoke has encircled the building housing the Hellmouth. All attempts to dispel it have failed. A goodly number of demons have gathered to witness the phenomenon. My slayer has given up trying to take on the demons and has gone into hiding until something could be done about the smoke.'

Giles snorted at the spinelessness of that long dead slayer. He read on.

'A mysterious woman who has given her name as Drusilla approached me with the most outrageous suggestions. Her companion who refused to reveal his name but was referred to by Drusilla as 'her sweet boy' told me to make sure I wrote down every word she said or, as he put it, 'I might not live to regret it'. I fear that the couple may be vampires but without my slayer, I hesitate to confront them.'

Another snort and a "Cowardly wanker" slipped out before he took another sip of his drink.

'She gave me these phrases to write down. They make no sense to me but I will record them and continue to monitor the situation.

"Play the music soft and slow. Couples dance but to no avail. Column of smoke thick and dark, you can't go through it, you can't go under or around it. Only the right couple shall make the smoke go away. They must love truly and honestly, fated to be together for as long as destiny decrees. Their time may be a century or a few short months, but their hearts will know each other. The dark knight whose love is as pure as the stars will lead his fair lady in the dance and the smoke will waft away in the wind."

At her direction, the local couples all took their turns dancing in front of the smoke but none were successful. Drusilla pulled her companion into her arms and they danced. It seems they were apparently the right couple for the task as the smoke dissipated and drifted away. The vampire couple disappeared into the building and no one saw them in the area again.'

Very carefully, Giles put his glass on the coffee table. What had seemed like aimless rambling to the long-ago watcher made distressing sense to the current one. A chill settled deep in his stomach as he re-read Drusilla's words. 'a few short months, but their hearts will know each other.' If the diary was to be believed, then Spike and Joyce would only have a few months together. He picked up his glass and swallowed the rest of his drink. With deliberate movements, he got up and refilled his glass. He sat and stared at the old diary for a very long time. When he was done thinking through all the possible courses of action he had at his disposal, he made one of the most difficult decisions in his life. He would do nothing. He rose from his chair and picked up the journal. It joined Merlin's lost text in the safe where none of the children could find it and read it. He knew they would be curious about Drusilla's 'cryptic little bits' and he planned to tell them he no longer had that particular watcher's diary. None of them would be allowed to know what he'd found. It was the hardest secret he would ever decide to keep.

Finis

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A/N: Here are the story guidelines contestants had to work with. It definitely was a challenge!

A FEW STORY REQUIREMENTS:

1. Story takes place round the Thanksgiving Holiday
2. NO AU fiction (meaning all human, not canon)
3. 1000 word minimum no limit but MUST be complete
4. Spike and any female pairing
5. Genres may include humor, romance, dark
6. Fiction must be new original work and may not
have been posted anywhere prior to the contest.
7. Fiction may be set in any season of BTVS
and Season 5 of ATS.

STORY MUST INCLUDE AT LEAST FIVE OF THE FOLLOWING:

1. Blood sausage for Spike's Thanksgiving meal
2. Spike and Dawn watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day
parade together and engage in running commentary and
critiquing of the performers and floats
3. Xander announces that he's in love with a demon
and wants to have his children
4. Sunnydale High becomes surrounded by a cylinder-like
cloud of smoke and is impenetrable
5. There is a dance (any kind of dance you want)
6. Argument takes place at the table about
a) Football vs. Soccer which ends in a fist fight OR
b) whether Spike's sausage is hot enough OR
c) who gets the wishbone