Hello to everyone who's reading again! :)

This is a continuation of my alternative universe I established in Part 1 of Buffy's Ultimate, where Spike did manage to contact Buffy after he came back from the dead (again). As it was before, this is a Spuffy-centered story, but other characters will appear. This time, since we go further into the future, I leaned slightly on some events happening in the comics, but I haven't actually read them yet so you don't have to, either, to follow my story.

Warning: There is (sort of) a character death happening in this story. But it's still the Buffyverse so who knows if it's really permanent...

I hope you enjoy it and if you do, please leave a review!


Chapter 1:

Glasgow, Slayer Headquarters, Five years after Spike's resurrection:

Their house more resembled a castle. It held enough rooms for Buffy, Spike, Dawn, Xander and for a dozen Slayers in training. The first wave of new Slayers who fought with them in Sunnydale had similar headquarters all over the world and Giles, although mostly based in London, traveled around to visit them and teach the new Slayers about their legacy. Willow stayed with Kennedy and went wherever she was needed.

They have all spread out over the years but they haven't lost contact with each other.

During the day Buffy, Dawn and Xander maintained simple jobs to uphold appearances mostly. Spike stayed in and trained with the Slayers who were living with them at the time. Gyms and training equipment was generally located in the basement, although, Spike loved the fact that the Scottish weather was much more vampire friendly so sometimes he relocated to the garden.

At night they went on patrol. Like they always did. Evil continued to lurk everywhere.

The four of them were a great team, but Buffy and Spike always remained in the center of all action. Fighting together like they were made for it. They could do it blind and wouldn't step on each others toes. Dawn and Xander both had to admit, it really was like watching them dance. And the stage was all theirs.

Unaware of something significant happening elsewhere in the world, Buffy rolled around in bed to snuggle closer to Spike's cool, half-naked body. Her skin contact warmed him but not much. Buffy didn't mind. She squeezed her arms around him and he sighed as he woke up and squeezed her back, kissing the side of her head.

She opened her eyes to look at him and they smiled, knowing that they didn't have to get up yet. It was a slow morning. Only six Slayers waited for training downstairs, but Xander promised to take today for a lecture on running, hiding and choosing one's moment, as he put it.

Buffy leaned up as Spike leaned down. They met for a kiss on the lips that went deeper gradually until Buffy rolled herself upon him with an easy smile. She just wanted to lean down again to kiss him once more, but Spike asked her to wait.

Stilling her with his hands on top of her legs, he smiled and gazed at her, drinking her in. He propped himself up so he was able to stroke his knuckles along her rosy cheek and into her hair, entangling his fingers in it. His smile widened and he moved closer until he could rest his forehead against hers.

"You're beautiful." he whispered into the still morning. She smiled back, holding on to his head, running fingers through his bleached hair. "Every morning I realize how lucky I am and how grateful I should be that you still want to be with me."

Buffy tilted her head, kissing his smooth jaw. "And every morning when you say this I think it's going to have to sound lame by now, but you still manage to make me believe you."

Their lips met again, hands winding around their bodies. Slowly, Spike rolled them over, never ceasing to kiss her soft-smelling skin.

"I love you." she hushed unexpectedly into his ear.

Spike paused to look at her, feeling like he could explode with happiness. "I love you, too." he promised, wanting to go down for another kiss.

This time Buffy stopped him, one finger on his lips, looking sheepish. "Will you… will you recite one of your poems for me?" she asked and he playfully rolled his eyes.

"That's really one of your kinks, eh, Goldilocks." he teased. "You're awfully soppy, you know that?"

Buffy shrugged her shoulders. "So are you. Please, William…" She batted her eyes at him, knowing full-well that he couldn't tell her 'no' when she called him that. It's the closest he ever felt to being normal and human and he loved that feeling.

Sitting back, caressing her skin and holding a blazing blue eye-contact, Spike started to sing with words. Describing her. Describing his love for her and the lengths he will go to make sure she was happy.

As he ended his poem they were silent for a beat and Buffy pulled him back down over her as they were losing themselves in another passionate kiss.

But then it happened.

Suddenly, Spike flinched back, breaking the kiss. First, he just paused and Buffy looked at him with concern. "Spike?" she asked. And then his whole body convulsed and he barely managed to keep an agonized scream in. "Spike!" she called again, sitting up and trying to hold on to his arms as he rolled himself onto his back, limbs tense and pulled towards him as if to protect himself from outside forces.

"Spike, what's wrong? What is it?!" Buffy demanded to know, aware that he was in too much pain to answer but refusing to give in to idle helplessness. Something in her mind told her what this probably was. It was all too similar to what happened once before to be anything else, she thought. Back when Angel was truly happy his soul got ripped away from him.

"B-Buffy," Spike rasped out, trembling. "S-Something's happening t-to m… ah…"

"No, no, Spike, listen to me," she shook his shoulders lightly, putting a hand to his cheek and getting as close as his twitching body would let her. "You have to fight it!" she told him desperately. "Your soul is yours alone; no one can take it away from you, you hear me? Please, Spike, please, I love you. Don't leave me, too!"

He struggled to breathe and then he screamed again, arching his back off the mattress and forcing Buffy away. He slumped back down, the tenseness of his muscles suddenly gone and his eyes opened wide. He gasped. Sucking air in and out. Like a fish on land. In. And out. Something trembled within him. An echo in his ears. Rushing. Spike clenched his fists into the sheets beneath him as he recognized the sound.

Buffy next to him was trying to hold tears back. Afraid to get closer, afraid to see what he had become, she forced herself to get ready for a fight she didn't want to fight. She waited.

His breathing eased a little. As if he got used to the feeling of air around him. "Buffy." he gasped, still paralyzed with fear. "Buffy?" Panic increasing.

"I'm here, Spike. I'm with you." she hurried to answer, crawling a bit closer. "Are you with me?"

"Buffy." he said again and suddenly, quick as lightning, he grabbed one of her wrists. She tensed, refusing to let him move her hand as he tried to pull her towards him. Spike turned his head, looking into her eyes. She saw him; he was still himself and he was scared. "Buffy… m-my, my heart…" he wheezed disbelievingly. "It's beating!"

She blinked. "What?" It was one second of perplex confusion, but it was enough for her fighting stance to crumble a bit and for him to pull her hand to the middle of his chest.

Spike was still sucking in heaving, unpracticed breaths, making it hard for her to feel anything but the erratic movement of his upper body. But then she recognized it.

The thumping against her hand. So strong and fast-paced. As if it wanted to break its way through his chest.

A beating heart.

So unfamiliar under his cold, smooth skin.

Wait, no, it wasn't cold. His skin wasn't cold! He radiated heat! The panic that had grabbed him made his heart race, made him sweat.

Their eyes met in shock. Her undeniable fear unsettled him further. His breathing picked up even more.

Finally, Buffy recognized the approaching panic attack for what it was. She freed herself from his tight, scared grasp, getting closer and putting her hands to his shoulders instead. "Spike, it's okay. Calm down or you'll pass out." She cupped his face, stroking his cheek that felt a tiny bit rougher than it did just a few minutes ago. She took a quick glance at his hair. The gel had cracked. His hair was curled and dark at the roots as if it had suddenly decided to grow an inch. She ignored it for now, looking back into his fearful blue eyes.

"Spike, just breathe normally. In and out. Slowly. Like me." Buffy showed him how she meant and his eyes hung at her lips, trying to match every breath.

Gradually, he managed to calm down. Following her breathing as if he feared he would forget how to do it when he'd look away. Spike didn't have to breathe for so long. He just did it out of habit sometimes or when he was smoking. But not because it was necessary!

What the bloody hell was happening to him?

He spoke the question that echoed in his head aloud. "Buffy, what's happening to me!?" His voice was trembling, his whole body shaking as he quickly pulled himself up to sit.

Buffy kept holding onto his hands. "I don't know, but you have to stay calm. We'll figure it out. Are you still in pain?"

Spike looked into her eyes as she talked, anchoring himself to her so he wouldn't freak out. "I… no, not anymore. I think." He was breathing normally now. "It's just… so loud. I never realized having a heart is so lou-" He suddenly jumped and cursed as he moved his head and found someone else in the room, looking back at him.

Only at second glance he realized that this someone was moving just as he did. "What the… bloody hell, I have a reflection!" he exclaimed, pointing at the mirror in the room. They both watched the reflection as Spike slowly put his hands to his face, running his fingers down his cheeks hard, to make sure he was real, and then grabbing his hair, pulling at them and finding the dark roots that had grown out.

"Is that what your hair used to look like?" Buffy questioned carefully.

Spike stared for a while longer. "Yeah… yeah, it did. Angel… well, Angelus said I looked too soft for a monster. So I went for the peroxide helmet. It's a killer look, you have to admit, right?"

Buffy shrugged, fingers tousled in his hair, too. "I guess. It suits you." she said contemplatively.

Spike looked away from the mirror and down to his chest, touching it, still in awe. He could still feel it. He could hear the rushing in his ears as blood flowed through his cold, formerly empty veins. It was a miracle. A proper miracle.

He looked at Buffy, fearful but amazed. "What do you think this means? Am I…" he paused, too scared to believe it. Too afraid that once he said it out loud it would be taken away from him again. "Do you think… I-I'm… mortal?"

She gaped at him as her brain quickly provided her with all the implications a human Spike would bring and what this could mean for them as a couple. Moving slowly as she still figured things out in her mind, she pulled Spike from the bed. "Well… I guess there are ways to test it…"

He balked as she pulled him towards the window. "Bloody hell, woman. Do you want to get rid of me? Why don't we start a bit less instantly lethal?"

Embarrassed, Buffy blushed. "Sorry. You're right. It was just the first thing that came to my mind." She paused to think, then went to her bedside table. After a bit of rummaging she found a hair pin, holding it up. "W-We could… uhm, see if you really have a normal circulation again."

Spike tilted his head, then shrugged. "Yeah, okay. That could work." She came closer and he held out his hand. With a small, apologetic look she took it in hers and quickly pricked his index finger with the pin. He flinched and pulled back, but then froze in amazement as a drop of light-red blood oozed from his finger.

They exchanged another staggered glance. "Do you… I don't know… feel the urge to taste it?" asked Buffy.

Spike rolled his eyes. "It's my own blood, pet. And you know I could bleed as a vampire, just not all that much and it always healed quickly."

"So what do you suggest?" Buffy shot back sarcastically. "Slash your wrists open and see if you heal before you bleed out?"

He sighed, giving in. "Alright. Fair point. So we'll see what a bit of Highland sun can do to me."

Buffy went over to the window, peeking outside. "Sun's out, for a change." she said, putting her hands to the curtains ready to pull them open. Spike stepped a bit closer and then to the side, so that just a sliver of his body would be caught in light. "Ready?" Buffy asked with an insecure wobble in her voice.

Grounding his jaw and clenching his fists, Spike nodded. "Ready."

Buffy slowly pulled at the curtain. Spike squeezed his eyes shut, expecting the burn on his pale skin. He wanted to scream just by default, but he realized… he wasn't hurting.

Cautiously, he opened one eye, peering at the window, making sure the sun was really still there. Weather could change quickly up here. But there it was. A beam of warm sunlight, streaming into the room, making dust glitter and dance. And there he was. One side of his body caught in the light.

And he didn't burn!

Buffy stared at him in shock. Stared at his body and then into his flabbergasted face. "Oh my god…" she whispered. "How?" They both uttered at the same time and Buffy swallowed to hold back tears. "H-How does it feel?" she asked then.

Slowly, Spike walked closer to the window, hands stretched out, feeling the rays of sunshine on his skin. "It's…" He paused and cowered a bit just before the light would blind his eyes… then he took the last step and he stood fully in the sun. "It's…" he tried to speak again, but emotions suddenly clogged his throat, too. "It's w-warm, Buffy. I-I feel… warm."

He looked at her in awe and she smiled at him, a tear rolling from her eye after all. She moved closer, one hand to his beating heart. Then she hugged him, putting her ear over his chest, listening to the sound it made. "It's a miracle." she whispered breathlessly.

Spike wrapped his arms around her, holding on tight as tears began to fall. He couldn't hold it back. He felt warm. He felt alive! "I'm human." he sobbed into her hair.


Yay, so Spike is mortal now! But why and for how long...?