Chapter fifteen
Buffy turned in Spike's arms, pressing her body closer to his, wanting to prove to herself that he was really there. She laid a hand against his chest and felt a small bump, exploring with her fingers, she realized that it was a ring on a chain.
"It's yours you know" Came Spike's voice, Buffy was about to answer when she realized that he thought she was asleep, so she kept quiet, listening as he spilt this new facet of his soul.
"The ring I gave you when you told me that you could never love me, that I was beneath you." Buffy's brow creased in confusion, he had never given her a ring.
"I've known all along, who you were. I could never quite figure it out. How you could be there and here at the same time, but after spending time with you, I realized nothing was impossible." Buffy tried to quell the suddenly frantic beating of her heart. He remembered me, he knew, everything.
"You tore my heart out that was the only reason I went running into Drusilla's arms. The only reason I could ever stay with that whack-job for so many years was because I was convinced that if I ever left her, no one would ever love me again." He laughed coldly, full of self-disgust.
"Pretty pathetic, don't you think? One woman has the power to hold sway over my entire century alive, but then again, you were never like anyone else." Spike began gingerly running his fingertips over Buffy's arm and Buffy marveled at the innocence and affection behind the action, despite the self-loathing laced in every word.
"I just, I hated you for what you did to me, you made me weak, turned me into something every vampire hates. You made me feel, made me love. That's why I was always so vicious towards you; I couldn't function, knowing that you were prancing around, happy, alive while I was still suffering from what you did to me." Spike tightened his arms around Buffy, perhaps intending to prove to himself that she was real, that she was in his arms.
"But I realized I couldn't hide from you, from how I felt. I love you, I always have, and I always will. I'll do anything for you, Buffy" Buffy's heart broke for the former poet clutching her in his arms; this man had been through more than anyone should ever go through, but he made it through, for her. Several moments passed, it could've been seconds, it could've been minutes, Buffy couldn't tell, but she knew what she had to do.
"I love you, Spike" Buffy whispered. When Spike didn't answer, Buffy chanced a look upwards at him. His cobalt eyes were shut, his sharp features softened by sleep. Carefully, the petite blonde Slayer traced his defined cheekbones with a shaking finger.
"I love you"
T.B.C