As they moved towards the ballroom together, Buffy and Spike got caught up in the flow of people. Buffy quickly laced her fingers through his to make sure she didn't lose him in the crowd.

Rationally she knew she was being silly, it was only about 35-40 people, but she just had this feeling that if she didn't keep a tight hold on him she would look up to find him disappearing right before her eyes.

As they neared the doorway, they had to move closer to each other as the guests filed back inside. Spike felt an electrical current running through him every time she brushed against him. He couldn’t wait until they were alone and he could just have her in his arms without being interrupted by any nosy Watchers, or friends. He inhaled deeply, just to savor the scent of her.

Buffy leaned farther back into him, when she felt him sniff at her hair.

As soon as they were through the doorway she pulled him off to the side, out of the way of the other guests. He saw her grin at him impishly for a second, before she leaned forward and kissed him deeply. His surprise only lasted mere moments before he kissed her back hungrily.

Just as quickly as she attacked him, Buffy pulled back, turned and started pulling him farther into the ballroom. Spike was too shell shocked to do anything, but follow her dumbly.

“I just realized that I can do that anytime I feel like it.” When she looked back at him her eyes were dancing.

Spike’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Anytime? He immediately began to look for a darkened corner he might be able to entice her into.

When Buffy glanced at him again she saw the evil glint in his eyes as they prowled the ballroom, searching for something.

"What are you up to?" Buffy paused to let him catch up to her so she could ask him quietly. "Not planning on tormenting the stuffy old Watchers, I hope." She had felt their eyes on her since they had entered the room. Most of them weren't even bothering to hide the disgust on their faces at the sight of a Slayer holding hands with a vampire. All in all it made Buffy think an adolescent gesture was necessary, like making out with said vampire in the middle of the floor. She bit her lip and her eyes lit up at the thought of kissing him again. Spike's voice interrupted her little fantasy.

"Not too concerned with what a bunch of stuffed shirts think, luv. I was actually jus' thinking’ about pulling you off in a dark corner while everyone else is listenin to Rupes." He gave her his best sexy look, running his tongue over his teeth and raising an eyebrow at her.

He was really only teasing her to get a rise out of her, he knew Buffy would never agree to something like that.

"Actually, I know where the back staircase is that leads right up to my suite." She told him, imitating his look down to the eyebrow.

Spike stopped short and turned to her. She was willing to skip out on all this Watcher junk to be with him? The images it conjured in his brain had his demon growling within him.

"I mean who stays after the speech? Especially one of Giles'. We can always catch the highlights later from Will and Xander. Probably be way more entertaining." The fact that he wasn't saying anything was starting to make her a little bit nervous. Maybe he wasn't as anxious as she was for them to be alone together.

Except this was Spike, he always wanted her didn't he?

Was she being to pushy?

Then he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close to him and she could immediately tell how much he liked the idea of being alone with her.

She really was loving these dress pants.

The close contact took her breath away and immediately drove out any of the doubts that were floating around in her head.

"Why, Slayer, are you actually suggestin' we sneak out of this nice Watcher shindig?" He spoke low and deliberate right in her ear.

"Just so I can see if you actually wore any knickers under your fancy suit." She answered him right back, running her fingertips along the waist band his pants. She felt him shiver at her words and was delighted in the power she had over him.

Spike pulled back and was about to tell her to lead the way, when he caught sight of Riley. He was moving farther into the ballroom, glaring right at the two of them standing there.

Now it was Spike's turn to resist an adolescent urge; he wanted nothing more than to thumb his nose at Riley or yell ‘Nyah, nyah‘.

'He never could have gotten the Slayer to sneak off with him,' he thought to himself.

'No, Riley wouldn't have ever thought of something like that. He wouldn‘t have ever tried to pull Buffy off into the dark with him.’

Spike wasn't sure where that thought had come from, but it was like a glass of cold water was poured over him. He thought back to the night in the Bronze where he told Buffy she belonged in the dark with him. He had been so wrong.

He pulled out of Buffy's arms determined to do the right thing. He promised himself he would be a good man for her. Sneaking off to have illicit sex was not being good. It didn’t matter whether or not she loved him now, it wasn’t the right thing to do. He had to be good for Buffy. He had to be worthy for Buffy.

Inside him the demon started screaming, the torment of being close enough to touch her, to smell her, to have her willing and yet still be denied was winding it up into a fury.

He tried to calm down and get himself under control before he wound up vamping out in the middle of the Watcher’s. He never had so much trouble controlling the demon inside of him.

Spike heard the crying again in his head, Buffy yelling ‘no‘. She was hurt. He had hurt her.

The demon retreated immediately, the image of hurting Buffy enough to give Spike the edge he needed to control it.

The dizziness he felt outside returned, only stronger this time. He swayed for a moment before regaining his balance.

"Spike?" Buffy's concern brought his attention fully back to what was going on around him. "Spike are you Ok? What's wrong?" She sounded so nervous and scared.

Spike forced a polite smile on his face. "Its nothing pet, just been a long day I guess."

The playful smiled returned to her face and he felt himself relax slightly at the sight of it. "Then I believe its time for us to get out of this place and put you to bed." She said teasingly.

His smile faded, as he remembered again the promises he made to himself. "Maybe we should stay and hear the Watcher. Its the right thing to do.”

Ok now Buffy was confused. One minute he couldn’t wait to be alone with her the next it seemed like he was afraid to be alone with her. Since when had Spike ever cared about what was the right thing to do, especially when it came to the Watcher's Council?

Unsure of what was going on, but not wanting to push this issue right now, Buffy relented. She stopped rubbing on him and stepped back away from him, noting that he relaxed slightly when she backed off.

"I guess we could stay for the speech, that way we won't miss anything." She hesitantly reached for his hand, feeling slightly better when he took it immediately and squeezed it. However, the look of relief on his face when she said they could stay there made her heart ache.

There was something wrong here, Buffy was certain of it. She just didn't know what it was. However, the unsettling feeling inside her that she was losing him, was growing.

Just then Willow came up to the two of them and bounced nervously.

"Hi guys. How ya doin?" She asked them.

"Uh, fine Will, how are you doing?" Buffy asked while watching her friend bounce on her heels.

"Pet, have you noticed every time one of your mates or family start bouncing like that one of your ex's appears." Spike asked her, both of them now watching Willow as she bounced nervously. Willow seemed to have forgotten they were even there.

"Yeah, but I'm out of ex's now.” Buffy considered for a minute. “Hey, maybe Will got in touch with Harmony?"

The look Spike shot her was so full of horror she had to laugh out loud. The noise seemed to remind Willow where she was.

"So Buffy, I'm sorry about the whole Riley thing. I didn't mean for that to happen. I know how awkward it is when your ex shows up right when you are trying to rebuild your relationship with your girlfriend. Who you love very much, by the way."

"Hey, who you calling a girl, Red?" Spike asked her, indignantly.

Buffy just looked at them both confused, then she saw him walking up to them and it all made sense.

"Oz, Oh my god." Buffy quickly walked up and hugged him. Since her back was to Spike she never saw his eyes start to glow, nor did she hear his warning growl to Oz.

Willow noticed and jumped back away from him towards Oz.

“Buffy?” Willow asked her she tapped Buffy’s arm to get her attention.

"Buffy, its good to see you. You look good, for one of the formerly dead." Buffy just laughed at the typical 'Oz' compliment. She turned back to Spike to reintroduce them, she hadn‘t noticed Willows agitation yet.

"You remember Spike don't you, from all the times he tried to kill us? Don’t worry, he's all soul having now. Only his is more permanent than Angel."

Oz's eyes glowed for a moment before he lowered his head indicating he had no desire to challenge Spike.

Again Willow was the only one who noticed since Buffy was now facing Spike. The two men nodded at each other in understanding.

"I didn't know you were coming tonight, Oz." Buffy commented turning back around to face Oz, but her eyes landed on Willow for a second. Long enough for Willow to understand the unasked question.

“Well, Willow e-mailed me and invited me. I liked the idea of seeing you guys again.”

Spike could hear Willow’s heart beating a mile a minute. Spike hoped it was because she was nervous about seeing her Wolf Boy again and not about what she had seen him do.

When Oz had first walked up and Buffy had gone to hug him, Spike's demon came forth with out him even having a chance to try and stop it. It felt threatened by the Werewolf touching what it considered HIS mate. Thankfully, Oz seemed to understand and instead of making an issue of it, just placated Spike’s demon by acknowledging it as a Master.

Spike knew Willow had noticed their little display, but he didn’t want to explain in front of Buffy. He didn’t want to give her any excuse to think he couldn’t be trusted. He had to be good for her.

Inside his head was pounding, he never knew it was possible for vampires to get stress headaches, but all of this was beginning to take its toll on him. He had no idea it was going to be this hard to be right for Buffy.

"Buffy, luv. I need to go get a drink." Spike said, feeling the need to get away for a few minutes and clear his head.

"Ok, I'll come with you." She told him. He fought the urge to sigh.

"Great." He said. "Nice to see you again, mate. Red."

With that they turned and walked off to the bar.

Willow immediately turned to Oz.

"Um, Ok what was up with the little 'Grrr' display?" Willow asked confused.

"Vampires, like werewolves mate for life, or unlife in their case. However, if the demon chooses its mate, but hasn't had a chance to claim her yet, it tends to get slightly possesive of any males that could challenge it for the female."

"Mating? So is mating like siring or turning? Should I be worried about him with Buffy?" Willow was already worried.

Oz hastened to reassure her. "Its not a bad thing. Its like a marriage in the truest sense of the word. You share your life with someone else completely. There is a psychic connection that comes with it too. I’m told its similar to the sire-childe bond, only mates are much closer because they actually choose to be together."

"So is he going to have to bite her to mate with her?"

"With two vampires, they bite each other to mark each other. Since Buffy is a human, well, not a vampire anyway, I don't really know how that would work."

"But wait, Angel already marked Buffy a long time ago, remember when Faith poisoned him and he bit her?”

“Yeah, but she didn’t return his claim, right?”

“No, he left right after that. He broke her heart by just walking away from her like that.”

Willow found herself staring in Oz’s eyes remember the feelings she once had for him. She remembered all the little things about him she found so endearing. The best part of being with Oz was that he loved her for all her little quirks, as well.

Willow looked down at her hands nervously to break that train of thought. "So, uh, do werewolves get this psychic connection too?"

"Yeah. One old couple I met in Siberia barely spoke out loud to each other they just didn't need to. They had been the elders of their tribe for almost 70 years. They always said their love made them strong."

Oz looked at Willow trying to get her to meet his eyes. Finally he just sighed.

"You know since YOU invited ME here, I kinda thought you would be, I don’t know, Ok with me being here."

"I am ok with you being here. Its just that I e-mailed you and e-mail you isn't really like you, you. I just didn't realize the in person you would be so you, you."

Oz just raised an eyebrow at her questioningly.

Willow whimpered slightly, she couldn‘t even begin to explain her way out of that one, it was time for a tactical retreat.

"I need to go find Kennedy before she thinks I've run off on her. Not that she would ever think that because we are happy together."

Oz still didn't say anything, although his lips twitched slightly.

Just then a strange looking waiter approached the two with a tray of sliced cheese. He held his tray in Willow's face. "Cheeese?" He asked, seeming to draw out the word cheese longer than necessary.

Willow's brain tickled with a long forgotten memory, but she couldn't pull it to the surface.

"No. Thank you." Her tone implied the 'Go Away, you creep me out' she was too polite to say.

After watching the strange cheese man walk away she looked over at Oz and felt a shiver run through her. A shiver that no good lesbian should have for someone not a girl.

"I have to go now." Willow said determined. "I have to go find my loving girlfriend, who I love in return." With that she turned and marched off to find her loving girlfriend, Kennedy.

Kennedy, her loving girlfriend, who she loved in return. It would all be ok if she just kept telling herself that.


"Yep she wants you."

Oz turned his head to see a large demon that kind of reminded him of a big, tan dachshund.

"What makes you say that?" Oz asked him curious.

"Well, you see, with these Scooby women, the more they yell at you and insist they don't want you, the more they actually do want you."

"Is that so?"

"Believe me I've seen it before. Now Willow was still pretty calm so she isn't head over heels yet, but you are definitely under her skin." When the demon nodded his head his ears flopped all over.

"Well, we'll see what happens won't we?" Oz said partially to himself and partially to the demon next to him.

Oz had figured after his last trip to Sunnydale he and Willow were done for good. However, he loved getting her e-mails, they were one of the highlights of his days. And it felt so good to see her again, he hadn’t realized how much he missed the sound of her voice rambling on nervously.

He turned back to the Dachshund Demon. "I'm Oz, by the way."

The demon shook his hand vigorously. "Clem. Nice to meet you."

"I didn't expect to see any demons here tonight." Oz commented.

"I'm a teacher, here at the school."

Clem puffed up whenever he told people that he was a teacher. He still couldn’t believe he had a real job, just being himself, his mother would be so proud of him!!

"Really? What do you teach?" Oz asked.

"Demon Behavior."

"That makes sense."


Spike and Buffy had just gotten their drinks when Giles started to speak over the microphone.

“Attention, Attention. Everyone, if I could have your attention please, I promise to be brief.”

Somewhere off to her right Buffy heard Faith and Xander start laughing at that.

“If you give me your attention, I promise this will only take a few moments.”

Everyone finally began to quiet down and give Giles their attention.

“Thank you. I tried to write a speech for tonight. I wanted to say something to give you an idea of all that we have accomplished and endured for the last seven years. It finally occurred to me that it simply wasn’t possible to adequately describe the past seven years with mere words.

I can tell you that I have been blessed, unlike any other Watcher in history, I was able to watch my Slayer grow from an impulsive and willful young girl to a beautiful young woman.
I also had the good fortune to work with some truly extraordinary human beings. Even though they had no demon hunting experience, they never once backed down from a fight. This small group of people saved the world for time and time again. I know there were times they wanted to quit just walk away and pretend none of this existed, but they always came through in the end.
It is to these people that we owe a debt of gratitude.

Willow, Xander, Buffy? Would you three come up here please?”

Buffy gave Spike a quick peck on the cheek before moving forward to meet Xander and Willow on there way. All three looked nervous and embarrassed to be singled out like this.


They stood behind Giles looking uncomfortable.

“These are the true heroes from the Sunnydale Hellmouth.” Everyone in the room burst into applause.

Buffy and Willow turned red while Xander took a bow, then feeling silly the girls started bowing as well.

“Would any of you like to say anything?” Willow shook her head ‘no’ emphatically. Xander took the microphone from Giles and smiled winningly at the crowd.

“I would like to thank Big Bird for teaching me that sometimes those imaginary friends you have aren’t so imaginary. I would also like to thank my first dog Pepe, for teaching me…”

At that point Giles took the microphone Xander ignoring the shouts of protest from the younger crowd as he did. “Yes, thank you for that Xander. Buffy, did you have anything you wanted to say?”

Buffy looked uncertain for a moment, before stepping forward and taking the mike. She looked out into the crowd in front of her. She could see all the younger Slayers looking at her, waiting anxiously to hear what she was going to say. She could see the Watcher’s getting out their notepads to make sure they got it all down. She saw Faith off to one side making faces at her in attempt to make her laugh.

Buffy took a deep breath and began. “Someone once told me…” She stopped, that wasn’t right.

She scanned the crowd again, searching. Then she spotted him standing towards him towards the back. She didn’t know how she could’ve missed him with that bright white hair. He gave her an encouraging smile. She smiled back at him and began again.

“Spike once told me that the reason I lasted as long as I did was because my friends and family kept me here. As Giles already pointed out my friends helped to save the world time and time again, even before they had any special abilities.
They did more than that, however. They made me laugh, when I needed to. They were there for me, for no other reason then they were my friends and they wanted to help me. They stood by at times, when I didn’t even want to stand by me.
Its pretty easy to be a hero when you are a Slayer, that’s what we are made to do. They chose to risk their lives, to me that makes them much more heroic.

We also need to take a moment and remember those who couldn‘t be with us today, but are no less heroes.” Buffy slowly recited the names to the crowd. “Jenny, Kendra, Tara, Anya, and my Mother.”

Buffy stopped for a moment and wiped at the tears threatening to run down her face.

“Its thanks to all these people, and several more who I didn‘t mention, that I am able to stand before you. They’ve given much more than my life, they’ve helped give me the opportunity to LIVE my life.

Thank you, guys.”

With that Buffy started crying. Willow and Xander quickly ran up and hugged her. Dawn also ran up on the stage and hugged her sister tightly. Giles stood off to the side, tears running down his face as well before Dawn and Buffy pulled him into their group hug.

The potentials burst into applause, shouts and whistles. Some of the Council members even joined them in the accolades.

As the applause died down people seemed to sense that the speeches were over. Most of the young girls started leaving and heading back to their respective dorms. While school was out for the summer, most of them had to get early tomorrow for training.

People surrounded Buffy and the Scoobies, some were old friends, others were strangers just offering their congratulations. Buffy looked everywhere for a glimpse of Spike. Then again she knew he wasn’t too big on the whole group hug concept.

Buffy began to edge her way out of the crowd, when Giles grabbed her.

“Buffy some former members of the Watcher’s Council would like to meet you.”

“Do I have too, Giles? Don’t I get any brownie points for actually STAYING for the speech.”

“Yes, you get oodles and oodles of brownie points, but you still must come meet these gentlemen.” Giles lowered his voice so only she could hear him. “These gentlemen were some of the Senior Officers on the Watcher’s Council. They were removed to safety as soon as it became apparent that the Watcher’s were under attack. Having their support would mean a great deal of difference to our cause.”

“Not too mention the fact you would finally be able to show up the guys that never invited you to their secret meetings?” Buffy asked him.

“Well, yes there is that.” Giles answered with a small smile.

“Lead on, Giles.” Buffy briefly thought about finding Spike and letting him know where she was going, but then she realized there was no way Giles was going to let her go at this point.

She followed Giles out of the ballroom and down the hallway to the Library.

Giles paused before they entered. “Buffy, do try and polite.”

“I’ll try, but I still think they are scary and horrible.”

As they entered the library every hair on the back of Buffy’s neck stood up. She went on immediate alert.

None of the Watcher’s that had joined the school ever made Buffy feel like this. The men before her watched her closely as if she were a lab rat.

“Hello Miss Summers. So nice to finally meet the legend.” A small distinguished looking Indian man gestured for her to sit across from him at a table. Standing behind him were two younger Indian gentlemen, who Buffy assumed to be his body guards.

“Buffy, this is Mr. Isaac Milton. His family has been with the Council for almost 250 years now.”

“I guess that save on those ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ questions?” Buffy said, not sure how else to respond to that. Mr. Milton didn’t seem to be too offended. He just laughed.

“Quite. Please do sit down.” Again he gestured to the chair. Buffy smiled and eased uncomfortably into the chair indicated.

“So you are the Oldest Slayer on record. Are you teaching your techniques here at the school now?” He asked her.

“Um, no, I’m really not doing anything here with the school. I’m kind of taking a break from the whole ‘Slaying’ gig.”

“I would think your expertise would be invaluable to these young girls.” He pressed her.

“Possibly, but Faith is more than capable of teaching them. She is actually much better at dealing with the girls than I am.”

“So you are going to school, then, learning some sort of skill?”

“I tried a couple of different types of schools. I didn’t do so well there. I had trouble relating to your typical college student.” Buffy kind of shrugged and looked embarrassed.

“I see. Well then, Miss Summers do you have any plans for the future? Or is the Council just going to support you for the rest of your retirement.”

“Mr. Milton, I assure you the Council is not just supporting Buffy. She has made great contributions to this school. And lets not forget that without her there wouldn’t even have been a school.” Giles interrupted trying to stick up for Buffy.

“Actually,” Buffy spoke up hesitantly. “I was thinking about traveling. Giles was always telling me about the different fighting styles there are around the world. I was hoping I could go train in some different places and see the world.”

For the first time he regarded her with something other than bored disinterest.

“So this ‘break’ you are taking? You are planning to continue on with your training?”

“Sure, training, sight seeing, shopping.”

Mr. Milton chuckled dryly. “Are you planning on taking your vampire with you when you go?”

“If you can’t even be bothered to call him by his name I don’t see what business it is of yours.” Buffy’s voice immediately got cold.

“Really? The most experienced Slayer the world has known, running off with the only vampire to ever kill two Slayers, isn’t my business?
Go ask Mr. Finn, Miss Summers, if the American Government would let its best CIA agent just disappear with a member of the KGB.”

“Ok. Newsflash. We aren’t the government and you chose not to be a part of our Watcher‘s Council, so I don‘t have to tell you anything.”


“You are right, you don’t. Well then, Miss Summers, as I said earlier, it was nice to finally meet you. I don’t want to keep you any longer.”

Buffy and Milton stared each other down, before she nodded her head. “Fine. Giles, I’m sorry, I tried.” With that Buffy walked out of the library.


Mr. Isaac Milton turned to look at Giles. “Sit down Rupert, we need to have a chat.”