A/N : Although Spike and Buffy are now together in this story, it is not over. There is more to come, though I'm not sure exactly how many chapters, it all depends on how it goes when I'm writing it!
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 20

Buffy was a little worried when she woke and found she was alone in the bed. For a brief moment she wondered if she had only dreamt the evening in which Spike had arrived at the party. The talking, the dancing, confessions of feelings she'd hidden too long, before they finally made love together. Could she really have made it all up in her imagination... again?

"Spike?" she said softly, pulling herself up.

"I'm here, luv" he told her from his position by the window, dressed in just the hotel supplied robe, his back to Buffy even when he spoke to her.

"Is something wrong?" she asked as she climbed out of bed, pulled on her own dressing gown and joined him by the window. She sounded almost scared and Spike hated that, he never meant to frighten her at all.

"No, pet, nothing's wrong" he promised her, turning to her at last and pulling her into his arms, dropping a kiss on to the top of her head, "Reckon that might just be the problem"

"I don't understand" she admitted, frowning slightly when they parted, "I thought everything was okay now"

"'S better than okay, Buffy" Spike told her, "This is what I want so much, you and me together. You have no idea how much I love you"

"And I love you" she assured him.

"Yeah" he smiled, "Reckon that's what my problem is, you sayin' that" he admitted, "Keep thinkin' any minute now I'm gonna wake up, and all this will have been a beautiful dream" he told her, his hand going to her face and pushing her hair back behind her ear.

"You're not dreaming" Buffy smiled, "This is real, what I feel for you is more real than anything else I ever felt"

"Reckon I know what you mean, pet" Spike nodded, before leaning in to kiss her tenderly.

"Come back to bed" she whispered against his lips, hand slipping into his as she pulled him back with her, and their passion and love ignited once again.

"Wow" Cordy sighed as she fell back against the pillows beside her boyfriend.

"Took the word right out of my mouth, sweetheart" Doyle smiled as he pulled her into is arms and she happily snuggled up beside him.

Cordelia had been so worried about Spike and Buffy, and in all honesty the pair had been on Doyle's mind a lot too. It would be such a tragedy if things couldn't work out between the two blonds, it brought home to Cordy and Doyle just how lucky they were to have found each other. They were in love and they wanted to show it, and with Spike out of town it meant they wouldn't be disturbed when they got back to the guys' apartment.

"What are you thinking?" Cordelia asked as she turned to look at Doyle.

"Would you kill me if I admitted... Buffy and Spike?" he said, preparing for some kind of attack, after all it was unlikely any woman would be flattered to hear that another woman and a man were on her boyfriend's mind so soon after they'd been together for the first time.

"I should be mad" Cordy told him, "But I can't be, since I was kinda thinking about them too" she sighed, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Worrying about those two has become a full time occupation" her boyfriend sighed, "Would've been easier on everybody's stress levels if they'd just got it together from Day One, but then it took us a while didn't it, princess?" he smiled.

Cordelia went a little pink at that.

"I can't help it" she told him, "I liked you, obviously, but it was kind of weird. I wasn't used to being around people like you and Spike and everybody" she explained, "And it bothered me a little, that I could fit into this other world that I thought was so bad"

"But now y'see, it's not so bad?" he guessed and she smiled up at him.

"Not at all bad" she assured him, "I love you" she said as their eyes met and he leaned in to kiss her softly.

"And I love you" he promised her, not at all offended when she yawned a second later. It had been a long day, they were both ready to sleep now, comfortably in each others arms.

"Er, y'know, 's not going to do wonders for my ego, you laughing after what we just did" Spike told Buffy as she lay in his arms in the hotel bed, giggling at something as yet unknown.

"That is so not what's funny" she promised him, going instantly seriously as she looked up at him, "You know this is not a joke to me, right? I love you" she told him again, making sure he understood, and finding it was much less scary right now than it had been before tonight.

"Glad to hear it, pet" Spike said softly as he kissed her, "Love you too, so bloody much"

Buffy smiled at that, pushing herself further into his embrace and just loving the feeling of being close to him like she'd wanted for so long. She was wondering now why she'd ever denied her feelings.

"I was just thinking about everybody back in Sunnydale" she giggled once again, "Half of them will be all 'I told you so' about us, and the others... well, I'm not sure my old friends will deal too well"

"Bother you does it?" Spike asked her, kissing the top of her head absently.

"I thought it would" Buffy admitted, "but honestly, right now, I don't care" she said, looking up at him once again, "I have you, you're all I want. I don't care what anybody else thinks or says, not anymore"

"'S all I wanted to hear" her boyfriend told her, gently pushing her blonde hair off her face, "Ought to get some sleep now, luv. Long drive back tomorrow, and I've got work to do" he told her, "Right tyrant of a boss I work for, wouldn't do if I fell asleep on the job" he said with a smirk, earning him a playful smack in the chest, which briefly turned into a mini-fight before more romantic feelings took over again.

"I don't think sleep is going to happen tonight" Buffy smiled when they were forced to stop kissing in order to breathe, "I know it's awful, but I keep thinking if I go to sleep, maybe in the morning it'll be different"

"What do you mean?" Spike asked her, frowning slightly. He didn't understand at all.

"Tonight has been perfect and romantic and everything I imagined and better" she told him, her hand at his cheek as she looked into his eyes, tears forming in her own, "I just keep thinking, it can't feel this good forever, nothing can. Tomorrow, in the light of day..."

"In the light of day" Spike took over her sentence before she could say anymore, "I will love you just as much as I do now" he swore to her, "Buffy, I've never felt like this about anybody in my whole life. You're all I think about, all I want" he told her, planting kisses on her face as punctuation to his sentence, "Nothing and no-one is going to spoil this, I promise you"

"How can you?" Buffy asked, a single tear escaping from her eye, "How can you even want me after the way I've treated you?"

"Wasn't exactly a saint myself, pet" Spike smirked, wiping her tear away with his thumb, "We both have our faults, neither of us is perfect, and I can't promise we'll live happily ever after and never fight or what all" he told her, "but I don't want to imagine my life without you in it. I can take whatever's thrown at me if I know I have you"

"Me too" she said softly, emotion taking her voice away. With words becoming such an issue, Buffy decided to show Spike what she felt instead and kissed his lips, trying to pour all the feelings that were coursing through her into that moment. Of course he already knew how she felt, because he was experiencing exactly the same emotions.

"Gonna have to thank Faith for this" he smiled when the kiss ended and it was Buffy's turn to frown.

"Faith?" she checked, "The Faith that hates me?"

"Faith doesn't hate you" Spike said firmly, "Or rather, Faith hates everybody and not exclusively you" he amended with a smirk, "Point is she saw what was between us before even I was sure" he explained, "She was the one who made me see what a fool I'd be if I let you go" he said, running his fingers through her blonde hair, "She was so right"

"I'm so glad you showed up here tonight" Buffy told him, going back into his arms and holding him tight, "It's all just perfect"

"It is at that, pet" Spike agreed, holding her body close to his.

No more words were spoken, and soon he realised she'd fallen asleep, her head against his chest as he stroked her hair. She looked like a fallen angel with her blonde hair splayed out around her head like a halo. This pleasant thought led to others that were less welcome.

Though Buffy was no longer engaged to the great ponce known as Angel, she was technically dating him. He'd have to be told at some point that she was now with someone else, and Spike couldn't see the git taking it well. Clearly Buffy's father didn't approve, and then there was her mother who's reaction could be anything from joy to despair, Spike had no clue which since he'd never met the woman at all. His mates he was sure would all do the 'I told you so' bit but ultimately be happy for them, something that Buffy seemed to be more worried about than he himself really was.

For Spike, the biggest deal was realising that this was all real. He was in love, for the second time in his life, though the memory of what he'd shared with Drusilla was paling in comparison to what he was currently feeling when he was with Buffy. She was beautiful, she was smart, she had a temper and an attitude to rival his own, Spike doubted there was another woman in the world that he could love more than he loved Buffy.

As she rightly said, it couldn't always be this perfect, but he'd take what he could get. Right now he was the happiest he'd been in years, and it would appear Buffy felt the same. Tomorrow was another day, no-one could say what would happen, but for now he was content to fall asleep with the woman he loved in his arms, and no reason to need to dream anymore, because he had everything he wanted.

To Be Continued...