Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Joss Whedon.
This is the final chapter. Thanks for sticking with it!
 
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The phone woke Buffy the next morning. Blearily, she looked at the alarm clock. It was almost ten. She fumbled around for the phone and grabbed it. “Hello?” she mumbled sleepily.
 
“Good morning, Ms. Summers, it’s Ms. Davis. I hope I didn’t wake you?”
 
Buffy tried to shake her brain into functionality. “No Ms. Davis, just enjoying my usual Sunday paper,” she lied.
 
“Well,” continued the social worker. “The paperwork is almost done. We’ll be bringing Dawn home around three o’clock.”
 
“Really!” cried Buffy, sitting bolt upright in her excitement. “Thank you! Is there anything else I need to do?”
 
“You’re all set. We’ll set up a follow up meeting for two weeks from now to review how things are going, but based on what I have seen there should be no problems.”
 
Thanking her again, Buffy hung up. Spike had woken up next to her and was smiling at her, feeling her joy echoing over the claim. “So, we’ll have to start behaving now, hmm?” he said, raising a suggestive eyebrow.
 
“Well, at least until she goes to school,” Buffy leered back. “But for now, get up. We need to reassemble the living room, and I was thinking of inviting a few people over to welcome her back.”
 
They once again showered together, lingering much longer this time, such that it was nearly noon by the time they were downstairs. They ate a quick meal and then set to work straightening up the wreckage. “Who are we inviting over, pet?” Spike asked as they righted the coffee table.
 
“Well, Janice and her mom, a couple of Dawn’s other friends.”
 
“Do you think we should invite Tara?” Spike asked. Buffy stopped for a moment, and Spike went on, “She and the Bit got pretty close last summer – closest Dawn had to a mom while you were gone. She’s been trying to run interference with the other Scoobies, and she…”
 
“It’s ok, Spike. I agree.” She had reached out and felt what Spike was getting at. His concern about Tara being alone, his gratitude for the way Tara helped fix the consequences of Willow’s spells, and a genuine respect for her and her rooted use of magic.
 
Spike gave her a look of utter awe. Never going to get tired of this claim business, and that’s a fact. “Makes it so much easier to figure each other, doesn’t it?”
 
“Definitely,” Buffy agreed.
 
After they finished straightening up and calling up the guests for this impromptu party, Buffy decided to bake some cookies. Spike sat on the counter and watched her as she assembled ingredients and preheated the oven. “Look at you, coming over all domestic-like now that we’re mated,” he ribbed her, curling his tongue behind his teeth.
 
“Watch it Mister…” Buffy stopped for a moment and turned to him. “How is it that I’m effectively married to you and I don’t know your full name?” Buffy felt the embarrassment coming through their link. They couldn’t quite read each other’s thoughts yet, but she was certain that he would be blushing if he could. “Oh come on, how bad could it be?”
 
Spike sighed. “I was born William Henry Pratt,” he said finally.
 
Buffy tried her best not to giggle. “Isn’t a prat some sort of British insult or something?”
 
“Unfortunately, yes,” Spike growled. “Don’t you dare laugh at me you bloody woman! Had enough snickering over my name as a boy to last four centuries, thank you very much.”
 
Buffy held up her hands in surrender. “Hey, you’re talking to someone who’s had to spend her whole life explaining that, yes, Buffy is my given name.”
 
“No shit?” Spike asked. “I always thought you were an Elizabeth for real.”
 
“Nope,” said Buffy, returning to her cookies. “Mom liked some folk singer by the name of Buffy and decided that’s what I was going to be.”
 
“Real flower child your mum was,” Spike laughed. “Buffy and Dawn – straight out of the 1960’s. But she made a damn good cup of cocoa, so I guess we’ll have to forgive her for her choices of names.”
 
“And there are worse names than Pratt,” said Buffy, putting the cookies in the oven and turning to stand between Spike’s legs. “It works for me.” She pulled him into a kiss that lasted until the oven timer beeped.
 
They prepared a bunch of sandwiches and poured out some snacks into bowls before the guests started arriving at 2:45 or so. Buffy introduced Spike to Janice and her mom as “My boyfriend, William.” Spike used his smooth British accent to charm the socks right off Janice’s mother, causing Buffy to have to hide her giggles from time to time. Various other teens arrived, whose names Spike never entirely sorted out, but who made a beeline for the snacks and drinks.
 
When Tara showed up, she hesitated for a moment on the doorstep. “H… hello, Buffy,” she stammered out finally.
 
Buffy took her hand and gave her a little hug. “Thanks for coming, Tara. Dawn will be glad to see you. How are you doing?”
 
“I’m ok. It’s been a little hard. Willow really wants to get back together, but I’m n…not quite there yet.”
 
“How’s she been with the magic?”
 
Tara shrugged. “Not sure. But at least I haven’t noticed her trying to throw any spells my way, and I think she got the message to leave you alone, so maybe there’s hope.” Tara paused, not sure if she wanted to mention Xander.
 
Buffy saw her hesitation and guessed what she was thinking about. “Look, I know that I lost control with Xander. But he nearly killed us! I just went into Slayer mode automatically.”
 
“I know,” said Tara sympathetically. “Anya and I were talking. He’s going to be ok. You broke his nose, and I think he lost a tooth, but he’s going to be ok. And Anya has pretty much told him that she’s going to move out if he doesn’t start paying more attention to her and spending less time obsessing over you and Spike. I think that got the message across even better than the punch in the nose.”
 
“Remind me to thank Anya sometime,” Buffy began. Then she heard a car pull up. “She’s here!” Buffy called excitedly.
 
Dawn got out and took her suitcase out of the back seat. She made it about halfway up the walk before her sister met her and swept her into a hug. “God I am SO happy to be home!” Dawn cried as she clung to Buffy happily.
 
Buffy looked at her with shining eyes, then turned to Ms. Davis. “We’re having a little party to celebrate. Would you like to join us?”
 
Ms. Davis shook her head gently. “I think you two have some catching up to do on your own. It’s been a pleasure meeting you both, even under these trying circumstances. Best of luck to both of you.” With that she got back into the car, waved, and drove off.
 
“A party? Is there sugar? Cause let me tell you, Ms. Langely was big on the broccoli, short on the chocolaty goodness,” said Dawn as Buffy picked up the suitcase and hugged her shoulders.
 
When the sisters entered the house they were greeted with cheers from all. Dawn hugged everyone, spending an extra moment to whisper, “Thank you, Spike,” to the vampire.
 
“No problem, Bit,” he whispered back before releasing her to go hug Tara.
 
They spent the rest of the afternoon eating and drinking. The teenagers put on loud music and danced in the living room, laughing uproariously at each others’ antics. Tara and Janice’s mom turned out to both be interested in psychology, and chatted amiably about that in one corner. At one point, Buffy went into the kitchen to refill the bowl of pretzels, and smiled as Spike wrapped his arms around her from behind.
 
“Nice little shindig, love,” he purred, nibbling lightly on her neck.
 
She put down the bowl and turned to face him, kissing him softly and tenderly. “It’s you who made it all possible. You brought me back.”
 
“Ah, the witches did all the hard stuff,” Spike said lightly.
 
“No,” Buffy said with conviction, fixing her eyes on his. “They gave me a body. But you gave me back my life.” And the rest of the world disappeared as they kissed, man and woman, demon and ghost.
 
The End