Spike slowly clambered to his feet, picking up the giggling Slayer as he did, not wanting to go without her for even a second. Faith bounded over and wrapped her arms around both blondes as she laughed her own victory joy.

"B we did it!"

Buffy laughed in return, hugging the woman back hard. Above their heads Angel and Spike grasped forearms and grinned at each other as well, their relief and joy just as strong as the women's.

Groaning caught their attention finally and they turned as one to see Willow on all fours as she battled to get to her feet. Dried and flaking blood covered the lower half of Willow's face and the skin above was pale and clammy. She shook violently and slumped back to the cobblestones, her shoulder striking Giles as she collapsed.

Angel stepped towards the two, resignation crossing his face as he went to assist.

But before he could take another step, a whirlwind swept up the dust and a human shape appeared.

Both Buffy and Angel groaned loudly at the sight of the small man to had appeared in the midst of the mini whirlwind.

"Do they pay you at all Whistler? I'll swear you are wearing the exact outfit last time we spoke" Buffy quipped. "Maybe look at updating your look sometime." Whistler grimaced at the joyous Slayer and beaming Vampire as he adjusted his hat.

"Hey, I like my look. Better than valley Girl." He snarked back with a squinty grin. Spike huffed out a quiet bark of laughter and then blinked innocently at the mock glaring Slayer. "What?" But neither could hold the pretence and giggles could be heard as they deepened their hug.

Whistler rolled his eyes and turned to look at the now moaning duo laying on the floor.

"Centuries of service and what do I get? Babysitting duty. Again." He went over and not so gently kicked Giles' back. "Wakey wakey old man, time to start your sentence." Giles merely rolled onto his front and curled into a pain wracked ball. Whistler sighed again. "God I hate my job some days."

With a pleading look towards the four champions, he soon had everyone back in the conference room that had seen the beginning of this incredible journey.

This time, instead of a standoff between Watcher and Faith, the still moaning Watcher and silent Willow were dropped unceremoniously in the corner while, Whistler, Faith and Angel sat at the conference table and Buffy situated herself firmly on her mate's lap, arms tightly around each other. As soon as all five were seated, buffy cleared her throat and looked meaningfully at the Messenger of the PTB.

"Whistler, I'm guessing you're not here for the After Party and while I know a lot, my head is still swirly with the over info. So get with the 'splainly please."

Whistler grimaced and nodded.

"Yeah, that should settle soon and I dunno how much you're gonna remember either. Humans, even super powered ones, aren't built for housing the PTBs."

He leant forward and the table was suddenly covered in hot, steaming foods and drinks, to which Buffy and Faith fell onto with exclamations of joy as they picked out their favourite foods. Even the vampires got steaming mugs of blood and a plate of Blooming Onions and buffalo wings appeared in front of Spike.

"Get comfy, it's a long one."

"The basic rules are this - balance. Everything has to balance. Good and evil can't outweigh each other, that's why there this is constant battle to keep it even." Angel nodded, remembering Jasmine. "So when those guys made the first slayer, the balance that the PTBs made was that she had to have a mate that complemented her. Strength, power, all that. But it got all messed up, what with the greed and control issues you humans seem to thrive on. But balance, right? It sometimes works itself out."

Giles' moan interrupted his telling and he glanced at the shifting head Watcher. "Hmm, he's gonna be awake real soon." He muttered, distaste making his lip curl and he glanced at Angel. "You had to go and stuff it up, didn't you? Now I gotta watch the watcher as punishment." Angel blinked at this revelation and Whistler sighed again. "Oh... yeah. I made the call to bring you in when we did and when you went the way you went, I got my ass kicked for it. So here I am, stuck babysitting for the next however long." He looked mournfully over at the watcher and witch and sighed again. "Fun times." he muttered.

"Look, that's all well and good here mate, but get to the part that I'm interested in. Mates?" Spike snapped even as he wrapped his arm protectively around his Slayer. "I didn't know vamps could mate with humans."
Whistler nodded.

"They can't not really. But Buffy isn't strictly all human. The Slayer's power come from a demon and with everything that Buff went through here, she doesn't classify as purely of the human no more. But the thing is, even if she was just a run of the mill slayer, she could still bond with a vampire. Balance, remember?"

The group gawped at Whistler. "Gees guys, did you all get head injuries to be this slow?"

"Forgive the lack of understanding due to extenuating circumstances Hatboy and just get on with it." Faith snapped as she bit savagely into another mini meat pie.

But Buffy nodded, her understanding clear and she blushed slightly.

"No, I understand. I figured this out after Riley left and finally really got it once the Life Time Flashbacks started." She glanced at the vampire whose lap she sat on. "Demons are the only ones a slayer could be with. Humans are breakable." And everyone at the table spent the next few moments avoiding eyes and eating and drinking.

"So, you said all this info in my head will just 'poof' away?" Buffy broke the silence. Whistler shoved another bite of food in and the women shuddered.

"Yeah, some will stay, but I'm guessing the info overload will fade away, so anything you think is important, my advice is write it down asap." Buffy nodded and got the courage to look at the odd messenger. Without a word, he knew what she was asking.

"You and Spike are Mated. It's more that the human marriage thing. You guys will be connected on a much deeper level, only you two will know how and it can never be broken. Death is the only thing that ends it."

Buffy snorted.

"That will be mine then, and I won't be seeing old and wrinkly either. You know, as I don't have the whole undead thing going on…" She looked at Whistler in sudden fear. "I..I don't, do I? I'm not suddenly going to be craving blood?" She looked at horror at the steaming mug of red by Spike's elbow.

"Nah Slayer, balance remember? Light/Dark, Life/Undead." Buffy sagged in relief. At Spike's reassuring hug, she gasped and turned to her vampire." Not that I think vamps are yucky...well, I do.. But you, not you.." Spike sniggered at her word vomit and quieted her with a soft kiss.
"Shush up Slayer, you know how I feel about all this. 5 years, 50 years, I'll be there the whole way." And she did know. She could feel him inside her, her heart and her mind seemed to be wrapped around his somehow. When she concentrated, she could feel a connection between them, like thin threads stretching and wrapping around them. Vague feelings could be felt and she could feel a pressure in the back of her mind, a warm comforting presence that she instinctively knew was Spike.

When she had accepted Spike's claim, it had sealed the half claim made the night before and triggered something the Council had been guarding against for a millennia.

As the power flowed into her, so had the knowledge of all the Slayers before her. Centuries of history, battles, triumphs, losses, betrayals, love, death, life, all of it flowed from each Slayer gone before and all funnelled into the Slayer who had finally joined with her True Mate. Now that information flooded her overwhelmed mind and she sagged against her mate. But one piece of information forced it's way forward and with a start, Buffy spun to face the messenger.

"If I'm not a vampire, then why am I getting some information about 'immortal'?" She frowned, trying to get the information to some out of the confusing jumble in her mind.

"That's cause you are." Whistler explained around another spilling mouthful of food "Can't very well bond you to an immortal creature and then end it after a few short years, where's the sense in that? Also, it cuts down on the temptation by the other half to turn a slayer." All four heroes sat there stunned. Immortal?

"I'm...immortal?" Buffy croaked, her eyes drifting to Spike's in hopeful wonder.

"Yeah. You're not like unkillable or anything. But you're kinda the living version of a vamp now. You still need all the normal stuff like food and sleep, but you're gonna find that you're a little faster and a bit stronger too now. Wounds will heal quicker than before too. The PTB haven't shared all that much with me, I'm guessing that you guys are gonna have to figure out what the changes are. I'm guessing that it's because of a mix of vampire and slayer. You're a Master Slayer for want of a better word." He turned to Spike. "And I was told to tell you that you get some 'gifts' as well." Spike snarled. Gifts from the PTB are never freely given.

"Sodding great. What am I gonna do to pay them back?"

Whistler stared at the vampire in bemused shock.

"Dude, they just made your mate immortal AND tougher and you are bitchin about it?"

Spike snorted. "Magics never work for those that want them to." Was all he said as he sipped at his blood. Whistler shook his head and continued.

"Yeah well, prepare to be proven wrong here. No cost involved… mainly because you already paid it I guess. But anyway. You can't very well be a full mate to a True Slayer if you two can only hang out 12 hours of each day."

With that, Whistler sat back in his chair and smirked.

Buffy stared at Spike and then back at Whistler.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Whistler smirked some more. "Spike's been sunproofed."

After that, the conversation spiralled out of control for a while, whilst the group worked through their shock and wonder at all that had happened. Questions were asked and answered and eventually conversation turned to other things and the night crept on. When the sun was just beginning to touch at the wooden blinds covering the conference windows, Willow sat up and saw the group sitting comfortably at the conference table. She hurriedly shook Giles' shoulder in an effort to rouse the silent Head Watcher and startled the entire group by wailing her grief at the feeling of the corpse lying beside her.

Buffy felt the tears well in her own eyes. Giles had been the loving father she had desperately needed when she was younger and she could once again remember the loving and supportive man he had been before their experiences had hardened him.

But a wave of a hand caught her attention. Whistler was watching the crying redhead with bored eyes.

"Willow Rosenberg, I wouldn't do tha..." But his words came too late as Willow uttered another cry, her hands grasping her head as she sagged to the floor as blood once more dripped from her nose. Whistler answered the unspoken question in the four heroes' eyes.

"The PTB were serious when they punished her. No magics allowed. Any attempts and she gets a whack to the brainpan. She can't even read the love spells in Cosmo any more. It's gonna be a long hard lesson for that one. Better tell the kitchens to stock up on iron infused foods for a while." All four heroes jumped at the moan that apparently came from Giles at that very moment.

"But I thought he was dead?" Faith queried.

Whistler laughed. "Oh he is and this is the best one yet! Buffy, when you asked that they not send him to a Hell dimension, you threw a spanner in their plans. They can't have someone like him running around with his own little super powered army and they couldn't just leave him in charge as he was. So, they fixed it."
The four turned to Giles as he forced himself upright and turned to look at the gasps that had followed. Buffy and Faith both leapt to their feet, hands reaching for stakes that were no longer within reach.

"THIS? THIS is the Powers That Be great fucking choice?" Buffy snarled in rage.

From Giles face was now covered in a bumpy forehead and had a mouthful of razor sharp teeth.

Whistler was cacking himself fit to burst and only just managed to rein it in enough to gasp out at the approaching Slayers.

"Nah nah, he's cool Slayers. The PTB want him to stay and teach the girls, no point wasting all that knowledge if they have to keep him here. Soul, he's still got his soul and a leash too." Buffy and Faith halted in their advance and stood there looking at the shocked duo still on the floor. Giles' hands were running over his face as he looked in terrified horror at Willow sitting beside him, who was shaking her head in fear.

"He's stuck here until the last Slayer made during that spell of yours dies. He can't die in the usual vampire ways, but he can't do much else either. "
"Huh and again, huh?" Buffy asked lost.

Whistler elaborated.

"Angel syndrome with a Spike Chip Addition. Weighty soul, not like his old one, double helping of guilt and a just for fun, a mystical, much better version of the Initiative chip. If he even thinks about double crossing the new Council or any of the girls, or tries to get out of his punishment, he gets a dose of what Rosenberg gets. So he has quite a few years to think about what he has done and maybe change the outlook of his future." Buffy stared down at the man that had come to mean so much in her life, both good and bad. And shook her head. It really was a fitting punishment.

And as she looked around the conference room of the Watcher's Council, she felt her heart sink. She didn't want to be here anymore. She had, unsurprisingly enough, enjoyed her year of freedom from the crushing pressures of slaying and council rule and the thought of having to come back, to fulfil the PTB edict of running the damn council…. She felt the rage that had been quiet start to bubble.

Spike, sensing the rising rage, was by her side in a blink of an eye. Hand caressingly wrapped around the back of her neck, he pulled her close and rested her head on his shoulder, before hugging her to him tightly.

"Buffy, what is it luv?" He whispered into her ear, shielding her from the curious eyes in the room.

But she shook her head, unwilling to voice the dread that was rising, but apparently Whistler was a mind reader as well as a messenger.

"Summers, chill. You ain't who the PTB had in mind for this place. That's one benefit to you picking the Watcher. The slayers here will run this place with a bit more democracy, all with the voting and all, Giles and the witch will help to guide and teach, with limited actual power - hence MY punishment of babysitting. You are to head off and do what you two do best. Save the world. Together."

Buffy's head shot up and she glanced at the man in happiness and then hugged her mate to her.