Determined

Title: Relentless Revenge, Chapter 12
Author: MadRog@ev1.net
Distribution: Would love it! Just let me know where…

Author’s Note: Don't you just love Buffy/Spike central!!! Boo, hiss to Fanfiction over the NC17 ruling. Like kids can’t find the stories anyway. They search on the internet better than adults do most of the time.
Anyway, sorry for the delay on this chapter, but I think it has turned out well worth it.

**Special Note: I have to give some big, huge thanks to Isis for volunteering to be my beta. She has been excellent, and her thoughts and suggestions helped this chapter greatly!!!!!



Chapter 12: Determined

After Spike and Dawn left for the movie, Buffy fell asleep curled up watching TV in what was fast becoming her favorite chair. Buffy woke up to an out of breath, sobbing Dawn rushing into Spike’s apartment.

“Dawnie, where’s Spike?” She couldn’t make out a single word spilling out of her younger sister. “I’m sure he can explain in a language I can understand.” Expecting Spike to come bounding through any second, Buffy glanced over at the stairwell. However, now Dawn was repeating Spike’s name over and over while shaking her head no.

Haven shaken off her sleepy haze, Buffy started to get a serious case of the wiggins. Instead of Slayer business, something more personal was wrong. It was not a ‘slayer’ kind of foreboding, but a ‘something-is-really-wrong’ kind of sick feeling.

“Dawnie. Where. Is. Spike? Did something happen to Spike?” The only thing stopping Buffy from panicking was the fact that one of them had to stay calm. “Dawnie…Dawnie, if you don’t calm down, I’m gonna…” Well, she wasn’t sure what she was going to do. Slaps always worked in the movies but she couldn’t imagine her sister appreciating such an action later. However, Buffy didn’t get a chance to find out if a slap worked in real life. Instead, the severe shaking she was giving her sister unknowingly must have done the trick.

“Ok…OK. Stop shaking me already!” Dawn took a deep, steadying breath, “These guys came into the theatre and took Spike…” All speech deteriorated again at the mention of the vampire’s name as she started crying again. After a moment, Dawn haltingly continued. Nonetheless, Buffy could only make out a few words, but those few words began telling quite a story. “Spike saved me… made sure I got away … but took him …and…”

Buffy finished Dawn’s thought for her, “…and sacrificed himself for you.” That was their Spike, never giving the least thought to his own welfare in tight jams involving Dawn or herself. Buffy was immediately up, heading for the phone.

*****
Spike, however, didn’t wake up in a nice warm comfy chair as Buffy had. His first coherent thought was that his sorry ass was having some nasty flashback to his short time of captivity with the Initiative. As with the soldier boys, his current cell was sparse and annoyingly white. The room just yelled for a nice can of black or red paint. However, his new home must be a new and improved version, because this time he was chained to the wall instead of free to pace the cell. Spike tested the chains but just ended up reluctantly impressed by its strength. “Thorough lot, these wankers. Bloody Hell! Just one bleedin’, boring day.” Spike slumped against the wall. ‘Sit in front of the telly, drink my blood, and occasionally shag the slayer.’ Spike smirked at that thought. ‘Shagging Buffy was never boring. Maybe a tad painful at times, but never boring.”

*****
By the time Xander and Willow received the call and met up with Buffy and Dawn at Revello Drive, Dawn was calm and ready to tell her story. With grim determination written clearly on the Slayer’s face, Buffy incessantly paced in silence while Dawn told Willow and Xander everything she could remember about the ordeal at the movies. The facts were still somewhat jumbled, but Willow and Xander made out a fair picture of the situation. As soon as Dawn had made it out the theater’s door and saw the people in the lobby behaving normally, she had deduced that it had all been a trap. Apparently, some guy named Jacob made everyone believe that there was a fire in the lobby of the theater and that everyone in Spike and Dawn’s movie needed to leave out the back exit. Then another meanie, Father, came in the exit door. When Father mentioned something about Spike and the deaths of his two sons, Spike made Dawn leave. She left but then went back when she realized that nothing was really on fire and went back to look through the crack in the door. She missed some of the conversation but made it back in time to see Spike lunge at Father and go down as Jacob stuck the vampire with a syringe. After that, all Dawn could remember was that the meanies were catching a plane immediately because Father wanted to get Spike to his lab for study. When they took Spike out the back of the theatre, Dawn had raced out the front, headed to Buffy as swiftly as her legs could move. It wasn’t until Dawn was half way back to Buffy when the shock of it all started to wear off and worry for Spike started to set in. As she ran, the silent tears coursing down her face gave way to hear wrenching sobs when Dawn finally made it back to her sister.

Buffy stopped pacing and gathered her baby sister in her arms when Dawn was completely tapped out all the information she could remember, “I’ll rescue Spike for you, Dawnie. No matter what it takes, I’ll get him back. Back to both of us. I promise, Dawnie.”

Xander felt compelled to state what he thought should be obvious but needed to be said regardless, “But Buffster, this could be a trap. It’s not like you hide your relationship with the bleached, dead boy anymore. It sounds like these guys have done some research and could possibly be expecting us.”

“Us?” Buffy loosened her grip on Dawn to look over at her two best friends, loyal almost to a fault. “No, neither one of you have to go. All I need you to do is find out where I need to go and then watch Dawnie while I go get Spike.”

Xander looked hurt, “No, Buffy. I’m not exactly the president of the Spike fan club or even a member for that matter, but I said us, and I meant us.”

Willow had her determined face on also, “We’re Scoobies. It’s an all of us or none kinda thingy.”

Deeply touched, Buffy smiled her thanks. “It’s all then. Alright, wanna be Musketeers, time to research. A destination for this road show is needed.” As everyone started to settle down to work, Buffy was struck by the irony of Willow’s words. They had echoed Spike’s “all or nothing.” Well, that was her life in a crazy, mixed up nutshell. That’s fine, Buffy thought. She had chosen the all option to life, and she was ready to fight for the future no matter how bizarre it seemed at times.

*****
The time passed in a haze for Spike. Over the course of the last several hours, he had been poked, prodded, and tested. His personal favorite was when they took blood samples. “Take your fill, you silly gets. Not like it was mine to start with anyway.”

Hell, these doctor types must not want him to wither away. When Spike had initially refused to drink the blood provided, Father had come to have a little personal tête-à-tête. “My, my, William. They tell me you are refusing your meals. As a fellow Brit, I would have thought you would have been much more practical.”

“Well, color me rude then but drugged blood just isn’t my cup of tea, Dad.”
Bugger it, how was he to know that the stuffy bloke had no sense of humor? Now Spike was strapped to a gurney with an IV jammed in his arm hooked to a pump to make sure he got his blood regularly. They had even strapped his head down, restraining his movements since he had vamped out and tried to bite one of the guards. Now he couldn’t turn his head at all, only able to stare up at the ceiling and think. Thought about how in the hell he was going to escape, thought about ripping the head off the next bloke that came in the room and thought about sinking his teeth into the next git that stuck a needle in his arm. But then Spike would think about his glorious slayer and thought about how much he hoped Buffy would do her usual white hat act and come to his rescue. But then he would vacillate to the other far extreme, berating himself for being a silly fool and hope that Buffy would stay home, not risking her neck for a mere vampire. Regardless, his thoughts would eventually lead him back to the same place. Sod all else, Spike wanted Buffy and Dawn to be safe.

*****
Back at Revello Drive, only three hours later into the emergency research session, Willow looked up from her laptop, “Gotta ‘cha. He’s in England. You gotta love the information highway.”

That brought Buffy running in from the kitchen with Dawn close at her heels. Xander who had been sitting at the dining room table with Willow got the first word uttered for everyone else. “Huh?”

“Yeah me! I figured out that Spike is in England. You see, I started looking up…”

All business, Buffy interrupted impatiently, “Wills, are you sure he’s in England?”

Willow nodded enthusiastically, “As sure as I can be without actually being there to look at the undead guy.”

“Good. Your word is good enough for now. Fill me in on the rest when we are on the way.” That was all Buffy needed to set everyone into motion, preparing to leave as soon as possible. Using the last of Buffy’s back pay from the council, Willow booked the flights. Buffy called Giles to bring him up to speed on the emergency du jour and coordinate their arrival in England. Xander and Dawn were left to pack and tie up any other details before they left.

Within twenty-four hours of Spike’s kidnapping, the Scoobies were on a plane headed for England. Willow had her laptop out on her pull down tray and her research notes and various print outs scattered over Buffy who was sitting next to her, chewing her bottom lip and staring into space. Dawn was on the other side of Buffy next to the aisle watching the in-flight movie, and Xander was across the aisle sound asleep. His mouth hanging open was a dead give away.

Even though Buffy’s feelings and emotions didn’t show on the outside, Buffy was frantic on the inside. So much could have happened to Spike since Dawn had seen him last. On top of her worries, so many questions ran through her mind. ‘How dare someone take Spike? How dare he let himself get caught? Was he ok?’ She needed something to work with here. Now safely in route to rescue Spike, Buffy was ready to try to relax a bit and find out more details. “So Wills, what do we know so far?”

Hearing Buffy talk for the first time since they had boarded the flight, Dawn pulled off her head phones and instantly perked up. She had been expecting a meeting since the plane had taken off. Even though she was sure they were going to save Spike, Dawn was way more interested in finding out how they were going to find Spike than the lame movie showing on the screen in the front of their cabin.
“Ok, here’s the Cliff Notes. Spike was kidnapped by the Father who looks to be out for revenge due to the death of his two sons. And...”

Buffy tried not to frown, “I knew all that. What I want to know is something you know but that I don’t know. Uh, you know what I mean.”

“Sorry. I know…ugh…You’re right. Well, this guy had two sons which would make them brothers, right? I know, duh! But that led me to wonder what two brothers Spike have encountered lately, which in turn led me to think about Alpha and Beta.

“Ok, I’m on the same road with you so far, but how does that get us pointed to England?”

“We found Beta at the *Zeus* Fertility Clinic, right?” Willow looked at Buffy and Dawn expectantly.

Dawn started to catch on. “Oh, I get it. Father as in Zeus, the father of so many of the Greek Gods.” Dawn stuck her tongue out in a mock pout. “Ha, we studied mythology last year in English, and I even paid attention. I pay attention anytime a God is mentioned just to make sure they are not after me.”

“Right, Dawnie. He is their Father and that’s why they refer to him as that. You see, the Zeus Clinic is one f several for women, human women, to help them get pregnant. However, I think the clinics are just money-making fronts for Father’s true business. So I traced the Zeus Clinics to the main research facility located in England near Oxford University, which also does genetics research. The focus of this lab is genetics and fertility, but much more secretive, less public. Ergo - the weird demons we saw with Alpha.”

“Huh? You lost me around that last sharp bend in your logic highway.”

“Ya know, Oxford does genetics research… Ok, you don’t know.” Willow shrugged off Buffy and Dawn’s blank stares and plunged on with her explanation. “Take my word of it. Anyway, what if this father is doing genetics research and experiments with demons? Remember after you fought Alpha and I asked Clem about Alpha’s demon buddies not being pure breeds but a mix of demons and humans? What if Father is mixing and matching his own mini-me’s? To do that, he would need some genetic material and where better to find eggs full of demon DNA than at the Hellmouth. After Buffy killed Alpha, I think Father changed from collecting demon eggs to collecting slayer eggs, incorporating revenge to his plans. He must fertilize the eggs with his own sperm to make Alphas and Betas.”

“So this father idiot wanted eggs from demons in Sunnydale and my eggs specifically to make his own demons?”

“Voila! Homegrown demons and what’s better than a super strong slayer for a mommy?”

“And him as the daddy? Big eew.” Buffy looked a little pale and a lot disgusted. “I’m so grossed out.”
Dawn got up and headed for the bathroom. “Double Eew. Excuse me while I go heave.”

*****
Boring with a soddin’ capital “B.” Be careful what you wish for, mate, and Spike had asked for one boring day. All his worrying was for naught, though. In fact, Spike thought it might have been better if the blood his captors gave him had been drugged. At least the Initiave supplied some happy juice for its captives to pass the time. After the initial injections of sedatives for his transportation to the lab wore off, time moved incredibly slow especially for a hyperactive vampire. But here in this lab, he didn’t even have cracks or ceiling tiles to count. All he had was one light fixture and a smoothly plastered ceiling to stare up at.
Instead Spike had to content himself with verbally antagonizing the blokes that came in to take his samples or
administer tests. The most amusing of these gits had been the psychologist that was sent in to try to crack his nut, so to speak. Lots of luck there, mate! Spike did a splendid imitation of Hannibal Lector, describing in vivid detail how he had once eaten a psychologist with nothing as sophisticated as Chianti but with bare fangs. Spike would have gone into further detail with his description but his pesky soul got in the way again, making him feel guilty and what not.

Couldn’t William and his morality just sod off for a while? After that, he made up bits and pieces so the head shrink left sickened but not make Spike feel guilty about his past. It was only make believe after all. However, the blighter had a weak stomach and fled Spike’s cell just as the fictitious tales of terror was getting juicy. Light weight!
Next they made the mistake of sending in a female doctor to run one of their tests. With his voice pitched low and dripping honeyed tones, Spike had her unlocking the first cuff when a guard interrupted. Much to Spike’s disgust, the guard ushered the bint out of the room and came back to give the vamp a shot of punitive discipline. The lummox’s tazer jolt had been worth a chance at escape, but Spike was now thoroughly disgusted with the gag he had to wear as a result of his attempt. Things could truly get worse after all. Back to the bored, Bored, BORED. Now he was a hyperactive vampire that couldn’t even complain about his bloody situation out loud.

*****

“Willow, what’s this?”

Willow glanced up from her notes to see what Buffy was showing her. She instantly recognized the piece of paper Dawn had lifted from Spike on his first trip back from London, but Willow thought she would leave the whole Dawn stealing part of the story out of her explanation. Dawn would owe her one. “Oh, that. A pseudo-prophecy that Giles had once thought referred to Angel, but now he thinks it’s about Spike. I have been looking into what it could mean.”

Buffy read over it aloud:


A warrior begins a dark journey and quest
But a defining choice must be made in what way to go next
Through struggles and trials to a loftier station
With guidance will rise above demon predestination
But he alone must make the final decision
Watch over, protect those of light or sink back into perdition.


When she had finished reading, Buffy sat staring off into space. “Oh.”

Willow didn’t know what she had expected Buffy to say, but “Oh” was a little anticlimactic. Over the airplane’s rumble, she imagined that she could hear the wheels turning in Buffy’s head. “I thought it may have something to do with the present situation. I would think being kidnapped would classify as a struggle. Might help. Who knows?”

Spike had told Buffy some about his trip to Africa, which had certainly sounded like struggles. She had assumed from the intentionally vague explanations that Spike had undertaken some demon‘s trials, and presto, no more chip-head Spike anymore. As for the guidance, she had always thought of Spike as the master of his own ship. But now when Buffy thought back to his emails with Dawn and Willow, she was reminded of all the references to Giles. The Watcher had been a good guide for a slayer trying to find her way. So why not for a vampire trying to change his ways? Buffy focused back on Willow and voiced the rest of her thoughts out loud. “No, I don’t think so. Spike’s already made his own choice. He chose to help instead of kill, and chose to watch over the helpless instead of feeding off of them. I think he was slowly working towards this for a while, and we just didn’t want to see or accept it.”

After a few thoughtful moments, Buffy quietly spoke again. “Angel didn’t really make a choice to turn away from evil. Instead, it was forced on him with a curse. Spike, however, chose his new path on his own. And I don’t think we made his way any easier for him.”

Willow digested Buffy opinion for a moment. “So he went through all this to end up a lab rat. Well, we finally saved Amy, the rat girl, didn’t we? We can save Spike, too.”

“Willow, let’s not even go there on the whole Amy issue.”

*****

With a click of the door lock, someone came into the cell. Spike couldn’t see this person, but he could smell the new scent and suspected it was a man. However, the vampire was slightly thrown off by the intense clinging odor of incense. After a few still moments, Spike could tell that the man finally stepped closer but was still intentionally staying out of his range of sight. Now Spike could smell the sweat of this man’s nervous tension. The first the frustrated vamp saw of this mystery man was his hands slowly skimming around just above his head. Eventually, those hands came together above Spike’s face causing him to instantly vamp out. The vampire remained gagged, but he could still flash his fangs, extending them around the cloth. As a result, Spike received the small satisfaction of seeing the hands jerk back in obvious alarm but then the hands steadied and moved back, changing direction down over his chest. At least now Spike could make out the bloke’s face. The man was tall, thin with thick glasses that magnified his eyes. Those dark brown, nearly black eyes briefly focused on the vamp’s yellow glare before glazing over again, looking towards Spike’s body but unfocused. Spike shifted back to his human face when he realized the man was no longer seeing him but lost in his own stratosphere.

In hushed tones, the slim man began to speak, “Interesting. I’ve never read an aura like yours.”

Spike groaned the best he could from behind a gag. “That just makes my friggin’ day. They’ve sent in a bloody psychic!”

“Your aura is like a beautiful, iridescent silk. Made of two different colors, the threads are weaved perpendicular to each other. Depending on which way you look, you see a different hew. One thread of the cloth clear and bright yellow while the other thread is a murky red.” The man pulled his hands back, and with a tilt of his head, focused his eyes on Spike’s face. “You’re not the typical vampire, are you? Father will be pleased with this remarkable information.”

Spike didn’t like where this was headed one bit. Shifting back into game face, he struggled in vain, trying to put some distance between himself and the psychic wanker.


TBC!

I am adding the next chapter soon. Promise! The first draft is already written, and I am working on it today. Watch for it soon.

Thanks so much for the reviews. They are great! This story only has one or (maybe) two chapters to go - so let me know what you think!

What Next?

Title: Relentless Revenge, Chapter 13 - Now complete
Author: MadRog@ev1.net
Distribution: Would love it! Just let me know where…

****Author’s Notes: Thanks again to Isis for beta-ing the chapter for me. I can’t begin to tell you how much it has helped!!


Chapter 13: What Next?

Ignoring Spike’s struggles, the psychic git Father had sent in to try to read the vampire stepped back and rubbed his pale, thin hands together. Spike thrashed against his restraints, trying desperately to free himself but also snarked, “Get the hell away from me, you crazy bugger. Isn’t there someone’s palm that needs to be read? I’m sure a poodle needs to tell a tale of woe to its owner.” Or that would have been what the psychic would have heard if Spike could get his gag out.

Seemingly mesmerized at the site of his own hands moving rapidly against each other, the psychic paid no attention to the vampire’s vain efforts to put distance between them.

Spike was unnerved by the bloke’s ability to focus so intensely but the vamp became even more wigged out when he could actually feel the heat from the friction caused by the ponce’s hands from two feet away. When the psychic stepped up again close to Spike’s side and lowered his hands a scant inch from the vampire’s chest, Spike was shocked at the intense stillness, and then after a brief moment, he felt more heat. It was the heat that increased, radiating from the man’s hands that finally brought a temporary halt to Spike’s thrashing.

After a moment, the psychic’s face changed expression from inquisitive to amazement as the heat spread through out Spike’s chest. “You aren’t just one, vampire. There are two inside that dead shell, a demon and a man. The demon is full of anger, but the man is gentle by nature. Each is sharply contrasted by the other , but they have established their own balance. A tenuous peace of sorts.”

Behind him, Spike heard the door open but took little notice; instead staying focused on the git with the heat lamp hands.
The psychic also ignored the newcomer and continued with his observation, “The two of you coexist, not really in peace but within the framework of a precarious working relationship. The man in you wants…”

In a split second, Spike a fist flew into the vampire’s view, connecting with the psychic’s head. The new bloke knocked the nancy boy out in one, hard, well placed punch and then stood over him, shaking his head. With laughter evident in his voice, the pint sized Lennox Lewis spoke his first words. “You’d think the jerk could recognize a bumpy, fanged faced vamp when he saw one.”

Standing in the psychic’s place, Spike was now looking up from the table he was still strapped to at a short man, barely over five feet tall, wearing a white lab coat. The man just smiled, going to work forcibly yanking off Spike’s monitors and tubes and disgustedly tossing the bag of blood and its pump across the room. As blood splattered on the pristine walls, the strange little man leaned in, pulled off Spike’s gag, and planted a kiss square on the lips of an astonished vampire. “Ya know, Spike, this is taking the whole bagged blood concept a little too far.”

‘Pillock must have a death wish,’ Spike thought while spitting with disgust. But before Spike had a chance to recover, the git was kissing him again. Spike tried to wrench his mouth free, but the pushy bugger succeeded in shoving his tongue in past Spike’s lips. The kiss only stopped when Spike vamped out and the perv cut his tongue on one of his sharp canines.

The fellow pulled back a few inches but showed no fear. Instead the bloke just smiled, “What’s a matter, fang face? Not happy to see me?” That was when Spike noticed the hazel eyes. They were not the eyes of some stranger. Spike recognized those beautiful eyes shining down at him, “Buffy?”

Having finished untying the rest of his restraints, the short guy headed for the door while Spike struggled to sit up and stare with his mouth gaping open. “Buffy?” Now his keen sense of smell kicked in, telling him that it was indeed the slayer, but he was still looking at a male he had never seen before.

Stopping with a hand on the door handle, his rescuer looked back at him and gave him a sly wink. “Didn’t I mention I was really a man? My bad.” Then the man rolled his hazel eyes in a distinctly Buffy-like mannerism. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours, but later. Get a move on, Blood Breath. The gang is waiting, and Dawn is a basket case already with worry for you.”

Like a man sleep walking, Spike moved stiffly towards the door while Buffy poked her head out the door and then stepped out into the hall, motioning for Spike to follow. When Spike stepped out, he wasn’t overly surprised to see Xander standing over the body of an unconscious guard. In fact, Spike thought he was just all surprised out for the night.

“Hey, walking undead. Glad that was the right room and not the bad guy lounge. Buff, we need to get outta here. This whole Butch-Buffy deal is way freaking me out.” With that, Xander led the way with Spike following behind and Buffy watching their backs. The trio made their way quickly to an exit that was being guarded by Willow.

Before Spike could get a grip on the swiftly changing situation, the little group had made it out of the building and through a fairly large grove of trees. Images flashed by Spike as he ran, but his mind didn’t have time to process them. What the bloody hell was going on? As they had run out of the building, they were passed by heavily armed commandoes dressed in all black swarming in and around the research facility.

As they cleared the trees, Spike first saw Dawn pacing beside a dark green van. Giles and Anya stepped out of the vehicle to greet Spike when Dawn shouted with glee, hugging the beloved vamp. Well, people probably heard her all the way to London.

Buffy laughed at the pair but addressed the Watcher, “Giles, I think you can undo the spell now. Spike is so not taking my new look very well at all. Go figure.”

Before Giles could fulfill the request, Spike came out of his shock induced stupor “How the hell did you guys get into that lab and who were those soldier boys going in?” In fact, he was starting to warm up in temperament, if not temperature. “And why the friggin’ hell aren’t we inside instead of out here. I can’t very well cut Father’s head off and smash his skull all over that obnoxious, white cell from all the way out here, now can I?”

Stepping past Buffy, Giles cleared his throat to answer the irate vamp as calmly as he could, “Well, I believe I can answer those questions for you. I placed a spell on Buffy that allowed her to walk in the front door unrecognized. You see, we suspected that they were looking for her so we went with a disguise. Once inside, she was to make her way to a designated exit to let in Xander and Willow. As Willow watched the exit, Xander and Buffy were to locate you and facilitate your escape. I assume all went as planned. As to your second question, those men dressed in black you saw going into the lab work for the Council and will subsequently take care of Father for us. No head smashing necessary this time, I’m afraid.”

Willow applauded quietly, “A plan that worked perfectly. Way cool!”

Also proud of the plan, Xander put his arm around Willow, squeezing and smiling, “Wow, that maybe a first for us.”

Catching everyone’s attention, the small man punched Giles lightly in the arm, “Great plan, but Giles, the spell already. I don’t want to get stuck in this and end up all permanently boy toyish.”

“Oh, right, of course. My apologies, Buffy.” Giles mumbled a few words and the man melted away, shifting into a very recognizable Buffy. Spike felt relief rush through his body and then euphoria at at the sight of his slayer until the reality of the possible dangers in the Scoobies’ plan sunk in. “Bloody Hell, Slayer. What were you thinking? ‘The plan worked!?’ What rubbish! It was a trap, you silly bint, and you walked right into it. Watcher, you’re just as bloody bad. You helped her walk right into it. And why is…”

Touched by his concern, Buffy smiled up at her lover,. Typical Spike, not worried about his own escape but about her safety. Buffy laid a hand on his forearm to try to gain his attention. “Spike, I love you, too.”

Not paying attention, Spike ranted on, “…you feather brained bird, you could have gotten not only yourself killed but also the Nibblet, Red…Huh?”

“I said, ‘Spike, I love you, too.’ Isn’t that why you are wiggin out right now? Because you love me and were scared for me? Message received but couldn’t you just kiss me instead?”
Working his jaw a couple of times, Spike couldn’t think of anything to say so he took her up on her suggestion. Their kiss left everyone slightly embarrassed, like they were peeping into someone’s bedroom window during a particularly private moment. When they finally broke apart, Spike said the only words that his scrambled brain could think of, “I love you, Buffy”
“Spike, I … “

Recovering fast, Spike stopped her. “No, no wait.” Turning her around to face away from him and placing his hands on her shoulders, Spike moved her over to stand in front of Dawn. “First tell Lil Bit.”

“I love Spike.” Buffy would have been mad, but he was grinning like an idiot. A very cute idiot.

Dawn rolled her eyes up dramatically, “Duh! Like you were the last to figure it out, sis. Well, except for Xander, of course.”

Next the cocky vampire guided her over to stand in front of Giles, “Now, Slayer, tell your Watcher.”

Buffy would have preferred to have told Giles over a not so face-to-face phone call, but she settled for giving him an ‘I’m sorry look.’ “I love Spike.”

Shaking his head slightly, Giles knew she was more nervous than he was unsettled so refrained from polishing his glasses. “Sorry to disappoint you two, but I have to agree with Dawn. To be perfectly honest, I’ve had my suspicions for a while now.”

Now it was Buffy’s turn to roll her eyes as Spike guided her over to stand in front of Xander. “I love Spike.”
Xander took it surprisingly well. “Ugh, I forgot to snag one of those barf bags from the plane, and I’m tying to keep my cookies down.” However, Xander’s crooked smile took any sting out of his words.

Last to hear Buffy’s official decree was Willow. Buffy smiled at her friend, “I love Spike.”

Willow shrugged her shoulders, “Kinda already knew that but thanks for the official announcement.”

Buffy thought Spike was finished, but next he jerked opened the back door of the van and pulled Buffy in with him for a little privacy from the nosy, gawking Scoobies. Buffy listened to him cuss the dark until he located a light switch on the ceiling. “Oh, love, you don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to hear this, and I want to see your gorgeous face when you say it.” Spike tenderly cupped Buffy’s face in the palms of his hands, kissing her on the tip of her nose, “Again, love. Tell *me* this time.”

Before Buffy was fighting hard to hold back her laughter at the happy vamp, but now she was suddenly shy. “I don’t know what you are…” Spike just growled.

“Ok, no hedging. I love you, Spike. I LOVE SPIKE.” When Spike leaned in to kiss her lips, Buffy pushed him back. “Wait, let me finish. I told you that I didn’t love you before but I kinda lied. I was headed there but the frost bite on my toes got in the way. Cold-feet Buffy. That was me but no more. I love you.”

“Buffy, I love you, so much.” Their kiss was long, hot and delicious to both. Spike pulled back to let Buffy breathe. Tilting his head to the side, he raised his scared eyebrow, “Didn’t you offer to show me yours? Let’s be a mite more specific on what parts of ‘yours’ you’ll be showing.”


*****


Instead of a Scoobie meeting, the gang was having a Scoobie celebration at dinner the next night. Everybody was there, and even though Xander and Anya were civil but didn’t talk much, the conversation was light hearted and boisterous.

Thoroughly enjoying himself, Giles gazed affectionately down the table at the Scoobies, and that gang now included Spike. This was one of those times that the Watcher pondered an overwhelming sense of awe at the paths life takes. He supposed that many people looked at life in a linear fashion, a straight path leading into the unknown with a fork or two in the road to spice things up a bit. But sometimes life threw in some substantial curves and even circles. The last few years and a certain vampire had provided an excellent example of his theory. As his gaze fell on Spike sitting at the other end of the table between Buffy and Dawn, he was struck with the sudden insight that Spike’s unlife had come full circle, not once but twice already. Of course, the vampire had had a considerably existence so far. The first circle meandered a bit from London to Europe with Drusilla on eventually to Sunnydale and the Slayer, twisted and curved around more to Africa and then completed the loop back to London. Then the circle had started again, taking a more direct route to the Slayer but here the vampire sat in London once more.

After the bill was handled, Giles put the receipt in his pocket to get reimbursed from the council. It had been a meeting with his Slayer and partners and therefore a business expense, at least by Anya’s way of thinking. Giles took his dinner knife and tapped lightly on his water glass to gain everyone’s attention. All but he and Anya would leave for Sunnydale tomorrow night. Not wanting to wait for another crisis to bring everyone together again, Willow set a date for their next reunion. “I’m ready to have one of these meetings at a beach or something. The least demony place on earth. Well, except for Spike, of course. He can be the only demon.”

Giles tapped on his glass again. “I, ugh, would like to explain why I chose this particular restaurant for tonight. I wanted to tell a little anecdote concerning this establishment. You see, Anya and I were here eating hereone evening when I glanced out that very window. I caught a glimpse of bleached blonde figure that looked quite familiar, striding briskly down the street, dressed in all black and with a smoke trail disseminating in his wake. Little did I realize I was beginning our newest adventure.” Giles glanced around the table at all the curious faces. “The next night I followed him to a small private cemetery around the corner. Tonight I thought we could take a little stroll there, if that’s is ok with Spike, of course.”

Dawn turned to Spike, “Please, I want to see the cemetery where Giles found you. Pleeease…”

“Nibblet, twas not like I was a lost puppy or something.” Glancing at the Watcher, Spike was sure Giles was actually asking his permission for the gang to visit his mother’s grave and delve into his past. Oh, what the hell. “S’pose it’s alright, mate. I wouldn’t want to ruin your outing.”

The happy group talked, laughed, and bantered on the way, but Buffy noticed that the closer they got to the cemetery, the more uncharacteristically subdued Spike became. Giles continued his story of how he followed Spike to the cemetery, recounted their adventure with the vampire’s impersonator, and about their subsequent business arrangement and the cases that followed.

Since Spike hung back a few paces, Giles lead the way over to the specific grave involved in his story.

Ever curious, Willow asked, “Who’s this?” She was pointing at the headstone of Elizabeth Winthrop.

Anya helpfully supplied the answer, “That was Spike’s mother.”
Dawn moved over to the next one. She read out loud, “William Winthrop, beloved son and poet. Poet…William? Spike, is this your grave?”

“Yes, Lil Bit, that’s where William, the sappy poet, was buried and Spike the vampire was born.”

“Good.”

Buffy was horrified by her sister’s callousness, “Dawnie!”

Dawn shrugged her big sister off. “I said good, and I meant it. Buffy, if Spike had never been killed and become a vampire, we would have never met him. Hello, 2002 here. 1888 there.” Dawn swung around to look at Spike. “Hey, I’m sorry, Spike, that you got killed but I’m not sorry you’re here with us now. You are staying with us, right?”

As Dawn hugged the vamp, Spike smiled at his honorary little sis. “Right, Bit. I am stuck to you and your sis like crazy glue, not to be pried away. Or maybe it’s that I’m crazy to stick with you.”

Willow walked over and placed a hand on top of Williams’s headstone, rubbing across it pensively. “Spike, what happened to William’s soul. Is it still here? Did it go on to Heaven?”

“Funny that you ask that, Red. His soul is here, just not in that grave. Ok, Kiddies, why don’t you all find a comfy spot and let me do the story telling for a bit.” Straddling the cement bench in front of his mother’s grave where Giles had found him originally, Spike settled Buffy to sit in front of him, feeling much more secure with what he had to tell these people with his arms wrapped around Buffy. Drawing from her strength, Spike began, “This escapade started last May in Sunnydale, goes to Africa and then London. But all roads lead back to Sunnyhell.”

Dawn sat down, resting her back against Spike and Buffy’s legs, “I thought you went to Africa to have the chip taken care of.”

Spike rested his chin on Buffy’s shoulder, “Actually, the chip getting fried was just a perk from my little jaunt. No, I went to Africa to get this Lurky demon bloke to grant a request. That is if I passed the pillock’s trials.” He quickly told the group of his challenges and subsequent victories, starting with the bloke with the fiery fists all the way to the swarm of beetles.

Dawn shuddered at the visual, “Gross. So if you didn’t ask for the chip to come out, what did you ask for? Money? New duster?”

Spike smiled fondly at the Bit, grateful for the joke to relieve some of his tension, “You were partly right, Platelet, Originally, I went to ask for the chip to be removed but my mouth got ahead of my brain. Instead I asked to get what Buffy deserved.”

Buffy had been sitting on Spike’s lap listening to his story but whipped around to look into his eyes of her vampire lover when she heard his reply. “What I deserve? Ugh. Don’t tell me. A swift kick in Buffy’s ass?”

“No, love, ole Lurky gave me my soul. And before you ask, there are no clauses of any kind attached, especially not one of those friggin’ happiness clauses.” Spike raised his eyebrows suggestively, “A little to late for that anyway.”

“Oh…OH!” Buffy started to blush, but then Buffy’s eyes grew very large as the light bulb in her head turned on. “I get it now. That’s why that whimp I knocked out in your cell at Father’s lab called you a man instead of a vampire. He was talking about the man inside of you. He was referring to your game show grand prize, a soul.”
Showing concern, Dawn said, “So, William’s soul is now in you *with* the demon?”

Spike nodded, “Yeah, now you know why I didn’t go back to Sunnydale ASAP. This whole soul thing was not what I had been expecting and turned out to be tricky to manage. So I needed time to figure out how to handle the demon and William running amuck at the same time. I was just getting the knack of this bloody balancing act when Giles tailed me here. Sitting here, talking to mum helped.”

Xander was still stuck on the first part, “You were a poet? All ‘How do I love thee?”

“Shut up, brick layer,” Spike growled. “My mum had that poet rubbish inscribed.”

Before the banter could build up steam, Buffy abruptly cut it off, “Dawnie was right.”

Dawn was ecstatic, “Yeah me! But what about?”

Buffy squeezed Spike’s hand. “I’m not sorry either that your were killed and brought back as a vampire. That’s what eventually led you to us.”

Picking up his other free hand, Dawn added, “I think what we’re trying to say is that we are glad you are a vampire so you would live 120 years to get to us. Buffy, can we keep the cute vamp his time?”

“Yeah, Dawnie, we can keep him. As long as he is house trained…Spike? Hello?”

The vampire was pensively staring at his own headstone, “That’s the strange part, love. I think William has always been with me just shoved in some back closet, unable to come out. I think Lurky just made it possible for William to get up on equal footing with the demon.” Spike looked back at Buffy, “Remember, love, when I told you vampires like to talk big over a pint of blood? Well, demons are just as bad. Like that Barnum bloke, give you an elaborate show to make a bugger think he’s received more than the git actually got.”

Buffy smiled in return, remembering the time Spike had first told her that. She had been trying to deal with Angelus when Spike had come to her with a truce and a plan. She should have known then that “I like this world” Spike wasn’t the complete Big Bad he pretended to be. She kissed him on the cheek, “I’m glad you got one, but soul or no soul, I still love you.”

With Buffy in his arms and the Nibblet leaning against his leg, Spike thought he had been given the whole, bleedin’ world that he like so much.

As Buffy, Spike and Dawn talked quietly, the rest of the gang wandered further around the small cemetery. After a few moments, Xander called back to Spike, “Hey, poetry boy, who’s this one next to your…uh…Williams…uh…grave?”

“Which? That was my sister, Victoria. We looked more like twins than just sister and brother.”

Willow pointed at another grave, “And this one? Edward?”

Spike raised his voice to make sure Giles heard also. “That’s one of my relatives through Victoria’s line, her great grand son. Black sheep of sorts, he was. He became a Watcher. In fact, he was the one who wrote that stupid prophecy Dawn nicked from me.”

Dawn had the good sense to look ashamed, “Oops, sorry.”

Giles made his way over to the grave Willow was inspecting. “What? I can’t believe I missed that. Let me see…”


*****


“I love Spike!...What?...I said I love Spike. Have a good day.” For Buffy, the trick was yelling out the window while not letting much of the sunlight into the room.

From the darkened part of the hotel room that safely remained in shadows, Spike watched as Buffy happily yelled and waved out the open window down to the bustling streets of daytime London. Sprawled across the bed, Spike would have loved to be able to see the faces and hear the replies of the passerbys, those on the receiving end of Buffy’s calls, but he contented himself with listening to her side of the bizarre conversations and admiring the view she provided. What was not to enjoy? The slayer loved him, shouted it to the heavens, and all she was wearing was his t-shirt as she leaned over the window sill.

Spike didn’t think he would ever tire of hearing her declare her love for him, but he was ready to put his hands back on her delectable body. “Buffy, love, why don’t you crawl back in bed with me? I think everyone in the surrounding blocks have heard you enough this morning. Beside, you wouldn’t want me to become a big pile of dust because I couldn’t resist your charms and come after you.”

“Oh, hush and enjoy the show.”

“No doubt that is what I’m doing, love, but I’m ready to see you up close and personal.”

No matter how much he sounded like he was teasing, Buff knew that Spike would eventually be true to his word and come after her, sun or no sun. To her that was one of his more endearing traits. He never let any pesky, little detail like sunlight get in his way of what he wanted.

So Buffy just laughed as something Spike couldn’t make out caught her attention from the left. However, he could figure out what had happened when heard her next words. “Oh, hey, Xand-man!...Ok, I’ll zip it for now. See ya later.” Buffy pulled back in the room and shut the window, closing the curtains carefully shutting out all light. She looked back on the bed enjoying the luscious view Spike provided sprawled out, naked and rumbled in the bed. “No, I don’t think I would like it if the vamp I love got sucked up into the maid’s vacuum.” With a flourish, Buffy pulled off the t-shirt and headed towards the bathroom. “But I think I’ll take a shower now.”

As she darted close, Spike lunged lightening fast off the bed, dragging Buffy back towards him by her right ankle. Spike purred, “You don’t look dirty to me, my love.” With the tip of his tongue, he tasted his way up her leg. “You don’t taste dirty to me. Got an idea. Let me get you all sweaty first and then I’ll join you in a shower, pet.”

“Mmm, sounds like a good plan.”

As Spike made his way up her body, Buffy pulled Spike’s head back to look into his blue eyes, “Now you tell me.”

Spike confidently smiled into her eyes, “Easy. I love you, Buffy. Now let me show you again just how much.”

“Sounds like an even better plan.”


*****


Later that day, outside the sun was setting. Inside their hotel room, Buffy had just come out of a long and enjoyable shower with Spike and was frantically packing to leave when she thought she heard a knock on the door. Rushing to the door, Buffy assumed that it was Dawn from across the hall. Rather than looking at her sister, Buffy swung the door open to see a girl approximately the same age as Dawn but with crystal blue eyes and sandy blonde hair instead of brown and brown. This girl certainly wasn’t her sister, but Buffy still thought she seemed familiar in a remote cousin that you have never seen before but know their parent sort of way. “Uh, Hi. Can I help you?”

Before the girl could answer, the door behind her opened up and Dawn stepped out in the hall, “Hey, Buff. Who’s that?” Tilting her head to the side, Dawn spoke Buffy’s thoughts. “She looks kinda familiar, doesn’t she”
“Ditto. Gimme a sec, and I will find out who she is.” Buffy looked at the girls expectantly.

The blond girl’s blue eyes were traveling back and for the between the two sisters whose stares were making her increasingly nervous. “Good evening to you both. I’m Vicky Thompson, and I am looking for a relative…I think…”

Buffy smiled in response, “Cool, I thought you looked familiar, but I didn’t think I had any relatives in England.”

Dawn’s eyes slowly widened with suspicions and a healthy dose of astonishment, “Who is this relative your hunting?”

“Why Mr. Giles, I believe you know him, told me that I could find a distant cousin here. William Winthrope?”

“William?” Buffy started to catch on.

Dawn was grinning like a fool, now noting the girl’s distinctive high, pronounced cheek bones. Never taking her eyes off the girl, Dawn raised her voice to call into the door, “Oh, Uncle Spikey. There’s someone here to see you.”

All Buffy could utter was a very choked, “Oh, my gosh!” before she was yelling back into the room. “Spike, get your dead ass out here!”




The End