A strong set of arms are wrapped around my waist but I fight against them, clawing and kicking but they don't let go. I just want carry on hurting this intruder. I fight against my captor but they're not letting go. I try everything to shake them off but they only hold on tighter.
After a few more minutes of useless struggling I hear it. "Snap the bloody hell out of it Slayer, that sodding Bringer is dead already luv." My body shuts down at his voice and I go limp. I'm not given any warning when the arms around me suddenly move position and swing me up into their arms so they're carrying me. And it's then, when I'm lying in his arms that it hits me, the warm familiar smell of leather, cigarettes and alcohol. Spike is home.
Tears spring to my eyes instantly. "I didn't know if I would ever see you again" I sob into his chest, grabbing handfuls of his shirt at the same time as the whole day just comes crashing down on me. He lowers us onto the sofa and I stay there curled up against him. "Shh pet, it's alright now, I'm here" he whispers in my ear, pulling me closer to him and running his hand down my hair. He murmurs reassurances to me, telling me he'd help in me in whichever way he can. The comfort he gives me soothes me in a way no one else before him can besides when my mom was alive.
Andrew thankfully vacates the living room after a look from Spike and we sit in silence for a little while as I try to contain the small sobs still escaping from me. Spike knows me enough not to ask me any questions just yet and I'm more than thankful.
Eventually Spike wipes away the last of my tears with his thumb and smiles down at me. "Come on then pet, tell me what got you in such a state" he says gently, tucking my hair behind my ear. I heave a huge sigh and slide away from him so we're sitting side by side. "I'm an awful person." Spike snorts and I turn to glare at him. He backs his hands up in a motion of surrender and smirks at me.
"I don't think I can do this anymore Spike, my Slayer batteries are dead and my Buffy ones just don't exist anymore. I quit." I say it seriously, looking at nothing in particular but Spike just laughs.
"Since when do you quit luv, you're not foolin' me?" he says taking my chin and smiling at me.
"Since my sister, Watcher, best friends and thirty other girls tried to throw me out of my own house a few hours ago, that's when. So watch, see, quitting" I say, knocking his hand away. The playful look on his face falls and he stares at me curiously.
"They all voted for Faith to be in charge now, they didn't want me" I whisper. Spike looks angry now. "Say the word and she'll be a footnote in history. I'll make it look like a painful accident.." he says waggling his eyebrows at me. His actions do nothing for my mood though and I sit there stony faced still.
"I'm standing down Spike. That's the end of it" I say, bringing my knees up to my chest.
"Buffy, no. You were their leader and you still are. This isn't something that you gave up; it's something that they took. This'll change your tune though. I came here 'cause I got somethin' to tell you: You're right. You've been right since the beginning" he says, a smirk on his handsome face.
"Caleb is protecting something from you. And I think you were spot on all the way; I think it's at the vineyard." I roll my eyes. I wasn't the one he needed to tell that information to though, I already knew I had been right about the Vineyard, a Slayer gut feeling. "No" I answer him slowly. He slides down on to the floor and kneels in front of me. It instantly reminds me of a time when Spike had done something similar with me. Back when I had first re-joined the land of living last year we had sat in an almost identical position. He seemed to have a way of really seeing what was going on with me.
"You mean no as in, eventually?" he says, looking me straight in the eyes, "You can get them back."
"Can, maybe. Should? I don't know, I'm so tired..." I say looking away from him. I take a quick glance at his face and I can see he knows what I'm thinking about. "There's always casualties in a war" he states calmly.