Big Hugs to Megan for betaing.


Chapter 14: Urban Cowboy.


Buffy stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around her torso and then moved into the bedroom of her suite. The bedroom door was ajar just enough that she could hear the movements of her guest. Dressing quickly in a comfortable sweat suit, Buffy wrapped a towel around her head and sat down on the edge of her bed.

Picking up the telephone, she began dialing a familiar number but hanging up before the last digit could be pressed. Taking a deep breath, she dialed a different number and waited whilst it rang, looking at the clock and calculating the time difference. It should be almost 9am in London now.

A minute passed without an answer and she moved to hang it up when a voice suddenly spoke on the other end.

“Hello?” The line sounded hollow, which was probably due to the fact that it was an international call.

“Will, it’s Buffy.”

“Buffy, hey! So we heard you caught her?” Willow’s voice was chirpy as she spoke, happy to hear from her friend.

“Yep. Took her down with that tranquilizer you packed for me.” Buffy scooted further onto the bed and leaned back against the pillows. Her ribs were a little sore and she would probably need to have them checked out once she returned home, and they’d definitely be strapped for the flight. But that wasn’t the only reason for her exhaustion. A certain bleach blond vampire had spent several hours wearing her out the previous night and it was finally catching up with her.

“What’s with the gloomy face?” Willow asked when she heard the tone of Buffy’s reply.

“How do you know I’ve got gloomy face?” Buffy inquired, trying to perk up her voice. “I think you’re hearing things. Or maybe it’s the line?”

“Or maybe you’re not telling me something,” Willow persisted. “If you won’t tell me, your best friend, then I’ll just have to get Andrew to snoop around a little and be extra questiony before your flight home.”

Buffy sighed. There was going to be no getting around this, she should have known better. “Spike’s…alive,” she blurted out.

Buffy could almost imagine the frown on Willow’s voice when she voiced her confusion. “Come again? Maybe you’re right about the phone line because for a moment there it sounded like you said that --”

“Spike’s alive,” Buffy repeated more clearly.

“Spike? Spike? By Yoda it can’t be true!” came a delighted squeak from the other room.

Buffy nodded at the eager young man standing at her bedroom door. “Yes, Andrew, I said Spike. He’s alive.”

“How is that possible?” Willow’s voice questioned at her ear.

“From what Angel told me --”

“Angel knew? And he didn’t tell us?” the red head accused.

“Angel?" Andrew repeated, sounded as astounded as Willow.

“Hang on, Will,” Buffy instructed. Fiddling with the phone for a moment, she finally figured out what button to press and hung up the receiver, Willow now on speakerphone. “Too many conversations at once,” she explained. “You’re on speaker, Will.”

“Hello, Willow?” Andrew beamed.

“Back on topic,” Buffy directed. “Yes, Angel knew and he didn’t tell us.”

“Why?” Willow and Andrew asked simultaneously.

“Cookie dough,” Buffy mumbled as she shook her head, speaking a little louder. “Jealousy, Sire grandchilde rivalry, ego. Will, you know. Angel always thinking that --”

“…he knows best,” Willow finished.

“Exactly,” Buffy agreed.

“Back to Spike,” Andrew interrupted. “So you two bumped into each other?”

“Sort of…” Buffy drawled slowly.

“Was there singing? I imagine there would be singing. Or fireworks,” Andrew continued rambling. “I bet he saw you and swept you right off your feet and the two of you strolled off into the sunset walking hand in hand.” He frowned before adjusting his assumption, “Only not really in the sunlight because then there would be a flamey death involved because of the sun. Oh dear god! He died again, didn’t he? But we only just got him back! The irony! Damn you cruel world!”

Andrew’s expression turned to one of horror and remorse as he shook his fist at the ceiling. Looking at Buffy, he took hold of one of her hands and patted it gently in a manner that was supposed to seem consoling, his own eyes misting with tears.

“Andrew, no. There was no sunset, no flaming. Spike is still very much alive. Undead. You know what I mean,” Buffy reassured.

“Oh thank the gods!” With a sweep of his brow, Andrew rose to his feet and began moving towards the bedroom door. “After that shock I am in need of some refreshment. Zima?”

“No thank you,” Buffy smiled.

With a parting smile Andrew left the room, closing the door behind him.

Buffy lifted the receiver, taking the call off speaker.

“So… what happened? Was there feet sweepage as Andrew suggested?” Willow probed.

“Not exactly…” Buffy drawled slowly. “I kinda hit him. In the nose.” She ducked her head in shame.

“Buffy!” Willow was aghast. “Why?”

“I didn’t know if he was real! And then I realized he was and I just got mad at him for not calling me. I was hurt!” Buffy explained, her tone indignant.

“I know, I remember.” Willow sighed. “Then what?”

“Then…”

“Yes?”

“Then… I-got-drunk-and-went-back-to-his-apartment,” Buffy blurted out all in one long stream.

“OH!” Willow gasped. “You, you didn’t!? Well did you… no. No you didn’t, you wouldn’t...”

“I did. Many, many times.” Buffy’s face fell to her hands, knowing exactly what Willow had been alluding to.

“Oh, Buffy,” Willow sighed.

“I know. I feel so guilty about it. Not the it-it, but the it where I technically have a boyfriend.” She sighed. “I didn’t want to be one of those girls who does that, and now I am!”

“No you’re not, Buffy,” Willow said gently. “There were extenuating circumstances!”

“Such as?” Buffy asked dryly.

“True love coming back from the dead. I think that’s extenuating enough.”

“Will, I don’t know…”

“Well I do,” her friend replied firmly. “If you could see me right now, you would be met with my resolve face, and we all know what my resolve face means, don’t we?”

Buffy laughed despite herself. It tapered off a few moments later, a question she already knew the answer to falling off her tongue before she could stop herself. “What do I do, Willow?”

“That parts simple. Grab a hold of him with two hands and don’t let him go.” Willow hadn’t been Spike’s biggest supporter… like ever. But things had begun to change and she had looked on him in a different manner that summer when Buffy was… gone. He looked after Dawn, he helped them on patrol, he was always there. And then when Buffy had come back, it was he who had been the only one who was able to talk to her.

Sure there had been that time where he’d pushed things too far… but he had redeemed himself. He’d gone out and won back his soul. He could still be a major pest, and that final year in Sunnydale he’d caused his fair share of harm, but he undoubtedly was the major reason they even got out of there alive. Spike sacrificed himself so that they may live. He sacrificed himself for Buffy. And he loved her.

“Will, it’s not that easy,” Buffy mumbled. “He has a life here now, and mine is in London…”

“So ask him to come with you.”

“I… I can’t do that.”

“Yes, you can.”

There was silence for a long moment before finally Willow spoke again. “Call Juan,” she instructed gently. “Deal with that first, then go see Spike.”

“You’re right.” Buffy nodded in an attempt to convince herself. “You’re right, I can do this.”

“You can,” Willow agreed.

“Alright. Goodnight, Will.”

“Morning for us,” Willow chuckled. “We’ll see you both soon.”

“Yes,” Buffy nodded again. “Hopefully… bye.”

She replaced the receiver in its cradle, taking a few deep breaths before lifting it again and dialing the number of her soon-to-be ex boyfriend.

~~~

“Angel’s Shanshu?” Spike repeated. “If I’m not mistaken, the champion the scroll refers to wasn’t named.”

“Spike, you don’t really think that yo--” Angel began.

“Why the blood hell shouldn’t I?” Spike demanded. “I fit the requirements. How much hero type work ‘ave you been involved in of late?”

Angel dropped his head in shame.

“That’s right,” Spike nodded as he continued. “I’m the one who’s been out helpin’ the helpless. Seems to me that if the Powers were going to chose someone to make a real boy, I’m a more likely candidate.”

No one spoke to contradict him. It was true; Spike had been the one fighting on the streets whilst Angel had been making deals with the not-so-clean members of society that Wolfram and Hart represented.

“Doyle seems to think so as well,” Spike added.

Angel’s gaze became fierce as he looked up at Spike. “What name did you just say?”

“Doyle, has an in with the Powers That Whatsit. Gets these visions that point me in the right direction,” Spike informed matter-of-factly.

“But I thought that Doyle—” Wesley began gently, looking to Angel for confirmation. “Doyle… was dead?”

“He is,” Angel muttered. “I was there.”

“Maybe it’s a different guy?” Fred suggested, knowing even as she said it that it was a bit of a stretch.

“Anything else you know about this guy?” Angel demanded, hoping that somehow Spike’s intel would be able to give them something to work from.

Spike thought about it for a moment before describing, “Not much. Average size. Dressed like an urban cowboy. Got his hand chopped off once.”

Wesley cleared his throat. “That kind of sounds like…”

“Lindsey,” Angel growled.

~~~

Harmony sat at her desk filing away at her nails. Now that the secret was out and she no longer had to keep track of Spike’s whereabouts, she found that she had a little more free time on her hands. Especially when it was after normal business hours. She wished she could just go home already, but she had to wait until Angel was finished for the day.

The elevator dinged and she looked up to see Eve walking into the lobby, cell phone pressed to her ear. Whoever she was talking to it was obviously about something important, judging by the myriad of expressions that were flickering across her face. Feigning ignorance of her presence, Harmony continued to file away at her nails as she stretched out her vampire senses to eavesdrop on the conversation.

Angel didn’t like the link to the Senior Partners, and if Harmony could somehow ascertain some information that would be of use to him then there might be something in it for her.

“Linds…” Eve began, only to be cut off by the person on the other end of the line. She looked around the room to make sure no one was nearby as she continued. “No, it’s alright. I’m telling you he bought it.”

Harmony frowned, straining to hear the words clearly. What she heard next really made here ears perk up to attention.

“I am so getting that raise!” Harm bounced excitedly before she jumped up from her seat and hurriedly walked towards Angel’s office.

~~~

A few minutes later Spike had been filled in on Lindsey and his past with Angel.

“It would seem you’ve been duped,” Wesley suggested as he turned to Spike.

“So it was you who cut off his arm?” Spike mused, leaning back against the armchair with his arms folded across his chest, a big grin stretched across his face. “No wonder he’s tryin’ to mess with you.”

“For someone who’s just found out that they won’t be turning into a ‘real boy’, you’re taking this pretty well, Sweet Cheeks,” Lorne pointed out.

Spike shrugged his shoulders. As far as he was concerned, becoming human would just have been the icing on the cake. He wasn’t dead, he wasn’t a ghost anymore, and he had Buffy. What more did he need?

With a pointed look at Angel he answered, “Yeah, but I got the girl.”

A bright smile stretched across Fred’s face at this little tidbit. She was happy for Spike—thrilled even. She knew how much he loved Buffy and how being apart from her had nearly killed him. It only seemed fair that if the Shanshu Prophecy was about Angel, that Spike should at least get to have happiness.

Shrugging off the glare that Spike received from Angel in response, he turned on his heel, intent on renewing his search for Buffy.

The doors to the office burst open and an excitable Harmony half-skipped, half-ran towards the congregating group.

“Boy do I have news for you!”



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A/N: Hope you guys like!