Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me, unless you don't recognise them in which case they probably do. Spike, Buffy, Angel, the Cheese Guy (not that he's in this...or IS he?) etc all belong to Joss Whedon and I don't want them. No way.

Summary: Sequel to "Reunion". If you haven't read that, you probably should. Angel and Spike are newly human. How will they deal with it? How will Buffy deal with it? And, now that things have changed so drastically, just who will she choose to be with?

Living, Learning, and Losing

Spike sometimes wondered if he had imagined his whole life. It was beyond extraordinary, it was fantastical. A poetry geek saved from Victorian England to live his life as a big, bad, mean vampire who lived over a century long, got a soul and fell in love with a tiny little blonde girl know as the Slayer. The stuff of fairytales. Of course, he meant the proper fairytales. The dark ones. Not the ones all sugared–coated and brightened up for the little'uns.

There was nothing bright about his life.

Nothing but one girl in all the world.

Spike could hear her voice as he drifted in and out of consciousness. Could feel her small hand gripping his own. Couldn't stir himself awake, though. Far too exhausted. Just needed some rest. After he slept he'd be fine. Buffy would be there, and she'd smile, and he'd smile and then it would all be fine.

It didn't matter that he couldn't feel his legs. It didn't matter that the sharp, throbbing pain in his head was threatening to burst some blood vessels in his eyes. It certaintly didn't matter that his lungs were burning, even though he hadn't felt any sensation from them in years.

As long as she was alright, he was alright.

Spike held onto that thought as he let himself slip entirely into the darkness.

A week later

Buffy walked through the doors into the hospital. The bright sunlight from outside followed her in for a few moment before the heavy metal doors slammed shut behind her. The Slayer walked briskly down the corridor.

The nurses at the station knew her by now, having seen her every day for the past week. They had persuaded her to go home for a little while to sleep and shower. Well, not so much persuaded as threatened. They had said if she didn't go home for a little while they'd ban her for seeing them. Buffy had, of course, threatened to pound their heads in.

The nurses didn't like her much. Nevertheless, they beeped her in without a word and she hauled the security door open, slipping through silently.

It had been Dawn who had actually persuaded her to take a short break from the bedside vigil. She had promised to keep a close eye on both the vampires. Except...they weren't. They weren't vampires anymore.

They were human.

Buffy still hadn't fully comprehended that yet.

Now, filled with renewed vigour from her two hours sleep, in an actual bed, and the hot shower, Buffy was ready to take up her place perched between the beds of the two men that meant most to her.

She paused outside of the door to the room, took a moment, a deep breath, then entered. Dawn was still there, as promised. She was looking out of the window, seemingly in deep contemplation.

Spike and Angel lay in their beds at opposite sides of the small, sparse room. Both still asleep. They hadn't woken since it had actually happened. The doctors had assured Buffy that neither were in a coma. In fact, the deep sleep thing was good. It was helping their bodies cope with the drastic change of going from being the undead to the not-so-undead.

The hospital was owned by Wolfram and Hart; they had had both mystical and regular doctors checking them over. All they could tell them was that they would wake up when they were ready.

Angel and Spike had started out in different rooms, private rooms. The nurses had decided it was better to move them into one room when they got fed up of Buffy constantly dashing between both rooms.

It wasn't just her, of course. The other's had visited. Nina had kept Buffy company for many a night. With the two blonde women sitting close to their respective boyfriends, a bond of sorts had grown. Buffy liked her. She was nice; they had even managed to make each other laugh a few times. It was still a tentative friendship, forged over a crisis, but it had kept Buffy sane for the first few days.

Angel's friends had stopped by a lot too, but they still had Wolfram and Hart to run. After the Kraal invasion there was a big clean-up needed. The plan to destroy the law firm was put on hold until Angel was back on form.

Buffy glanced over at the dark-haired man. She wondered when he would wake up. Being the CEO of Wolfram and Hart, the company had had a fair bit of trouble after he was made incapacitated. Several sects of demons, and such, had tried to take over seeing the lack of a leader as the weak link they had been looking for.

It had been decided that Wesley would act as CEO until Angel was up to it. If he ever was.

She let her eyes rove over his peacefully sleeping face. His hair was tousled cutely by the pillow, strands sticking in all directions, his eyelashes fluttered briefly as if he were about to open his eyes. Buffy didn't get her hopes up. She'd made that mistake a lot over the past week.

"Hey," Dawn said softly, finally noticing her sister "That wasn't the five hours we agreed"

Buffy shook her head slightly "As if I could sleep for five hours. You're lucky you got two"

She sighed "Fine, fine. Nothing new. Both still sleeping as soundly as newborn kittens"

"Yeah, I bet they'd love that comparison" Buffy laughed, softly.

The Slayer turned and walked slowly over to Spike's bedside. She looked down at him, he was sleeping contently. Buffy wanted to slip under the covers and snuggle next to him. As it was, they weren't encouraged to get too close. Any infection, even a common cold, could drastically affect their now very-much-needed immune system. They'd even been put in quarantine for a short while.

She reached out and brushed a stray lock of hair from his forehead, "How's my guy been?"

"Little restless," Dawn told her, coming up to her side "Like he knew you'd gone"

Buffy spoke to her sister, but her eyes remained on Spike "Maybe he did. Maybe he's aware of everything. The doctors said it was a possibility"

She looked him over. His brow was creased slightly, as if he were worried. His hair was curling softly over his forehead; she could see his chest rise and fall. It was bizarre. This man, who had always been the very epitome of vampire, was now human. She wondered how he'd cope. He'd probably scoop her in his arms, kiss every inch of her, and want to dance in the sunlight. Buffy smiled just thinking about it.

"...Buffy..."

She froze. It took her a moment to fully process who that voice belonged to. The Slayer turned slowly, disbelieving. Yet it was true.

Angel was awake and he was looking right at her, with his hand outstretched.

A/N: Feedback be nice.