"I'm asleep, I have to be" mumbled Xander. "Somebody pinch me"
Dawn leaned over and complied.
"Ow" he screeched.
"Stop being such an idiot" scolded Dawn. "I think it's great" she squealed as she ran over and hugged her sister.
"I thought you might" smiled Buffy.
"I think its great too Buffy" smiled Willow. "He's quite an amazing guy, underneath all the vampireness I mean" she corrected, causing Spike and Buffy to laugh.
"Yeah, he is" she agreed as she leant over and kissed him again.
"Have you all gone completely insane" snapped Giles. "Spike is a vampire. Are you forgetting everything we went through with Angel?"
"You know what? Ever since I met Spike, I was always comparing him to Angel. But you know what I've realised, that's not fair. It's like comparing me and Willow. We're completely different people. And if you want to compare Spike to anybody, let's look at it this way. Angel has a soul, Spike does not"
"Exactly" interrupted Xander until Dawn hit him again.
"I wasn't finished" snapped Buffy. "What I mean is, if you're going to compare Spike to anyone, it should be Angelus."
"But compared to Angelus, Spike's a saint" argued Xander.
"Precisely" smiled Buffy. "It took me long enough to see it, but just look at everything he's done for us over the years. Even when I died, he stuck by you all, and lets face it, he didn't have to. He didn't have to protect you and keep Dawn safe, but he did. Why? Because he made me a promise. Hell, I was dead, he didn't have to keep it, but he did. And if you look back over all my previous disasters, Spike's the only one to ever stand by me no matter what. And I love him"
The girls all awed as Spike smiled softly at Buffy and kissed her. Xander and Giles looked on in disgust.
"Look, I know you're not happy with this" sighed Spike quietly.
"Too damn right were not" interrupted Xander again, earning another thump from not only Dawn, but Anya too.
"But I love her, and I'd rather stand in sunlight before I let anything happen to her. I'm not going to harm her; I promise you I will do my best to stop anything from harming her ever again. I just want the chance to be able to protect her. The chance to earn her love and prove to you all that I can be so much more than what you see in me"
"Well" said Giles finally. "It's not as if it's really our choice to make"
"Thank you" screamed Buffy, leaping off her chair. "Thank you, thank you, thank you" she cried as she hugged him.
"Let the poor git breathe love" laughed Spike before she let Giles go and sat back on Spike's lap.
"There's just one last thing I forgot to mention" smiled Buffy nervously. "Spike's kinda moving in with us"