Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Beta'd by Leon Stryfe. Banner by nmcil12, thank you I love it!

---

---

Once Spike had won, Angel was forced to concede defeat. Almost immediately Whistler, a messenger from the Powers That Be, appeared and the news that he shared was stunning. Now that Buffy and Spike had mated, and the only threat to that mating had been defeated, Whistler was allowed to share the fact that the Powers were quite happy with the pairing. Upon hearing this Angel immediately left town.

Once Angel had gone, Whistler shared some other information with us. The Powers claim that Dawn was not created solely from Buffy but that she was also made from Spike as well. They are, in essence, Dawn's parents. Upon reflection it becomes clear, as Dawn has Spike’s eyes and she can seemingly call upon his snarky attitude at will. Spike has always displayed an unusual affinity with her and at times is the only one who can reach her. We knew that Dawn had been crafted from Buffy and the way that Buffy loves her has always seemed to me to have been more the kind of love a mother has for a daughter. But knowing that the Powers made Spike her father was a shock to most of us. It does however make sense, if you take the monks' point of view into consideration, as Spike and Buffy are the strongest of our group and the most capable of defending her.

The final two pieces of news left us speechless. We knew that Spike's existence as a vampire makes him mostly immortal and Buffy as a human isn’t. We were informed that both will live long lives and be rewarded in the afterlife. There was however a caveat to this information. Both must remain warriors for the side of the light. While he wasn’t allowed to provide much information he implied that the pair would face hardships and trials during their life and the temptation to stray from the good fight would be great at times. I have the utmost faith in Buffy’s willingness to fight for the side of good. And remarkably I have faith in Spike’s love for her keeping him on the straight and narrow. We all face challenges in our lives such as we have already endured but I believe that they will face these challenges much the same way they have and be victorious.

Whistler informed us that the supernatural healing that is part and parcel of being a slayer slows the ageing down considerably as a slayer reaches adulthood, a useful piece of information for future slayers as well. That is not to say that she is impervious to injury or even death. Both of them can perish but with Whistler’s news we all hope that it will happen far in the future.

I know the problem of Buffy ageing was a great concern, not only to Buffy but to Spike as well. Spike told me that he found the thought of living after Buffy was gone too terrible a thought to endure. Buffy was concerned about ageing when Spike would not and that possibly in the future he might stop loving her as she grew older. I know that Spike was also concerned that he would not end up in the same place as Buffy after death. Now that that concern has been handled, the two have a much brighter outlook on the future.

Whistler’s last announcement was met with shouts of joy and a look of relief on Spike’s face. Whistler informed us that by taking a potion that he then provided Buffy and Spike, the couple could have children. They would be limited to only four doses with a short window of effectiveness, but the children would be of their own flesh and blood. I know Spike was considering other options in an attempt for them to have a baby; he despaired of giving Buffy children of their own but was determined that if Buffy wanted children she would have them. He had been looking into adoption and sperm donors. Buffy, having found out, was adamant that if she could not have children with Spike then she didn’t want any children at all. Whistler’s news helped heal the last dark spot in the couple’s lives that was created inadvertently by the arrival of Connor into our lives and the attachment both Spike and Buffy felt towards the child.

Joyce and I married a few moths after Whistler’s visit. Dawn splits her time equally between our house and Buffy and Spike’s home. Xander and Anya are doing well and Xander is in now charge of the construction of the new high school. We were thankfully able to petition the town to build it on a new site and not over the Hellmouth. Anya is doing an admirable job running the day to day business of the Magic Box. The two are considering purchasing a house in the near future as both want children. Willow and Tara held a lovely commitment ceremony and are currently living together in the dorms while they finish college.

Buffy is continuing her education also. She is considering becoming a high school guidance counsellor. Spike took it upon himself to start his own business; he opened a self defence school. So far his business has been successful. Both he and I insisted that Joyce and Dawn take classes despite their protests.

All in all life is going well for all of us. Dawn has been complaining that between Buffy, Spike, Joyce and I she will never be allowed to date. I admit that after the incident at Halloween we all became more vigilant regarding her whereabouts. Dawn and her friend Janice had crept out without permission to go out on dates and, unbeknownst to them, their dates were vampires. Once we found out about their ruse we raced to where we thought they might be and Dawn was forced to dust her date as he went for her throat.

This time Spike was not the one who was able to talk to Dawn. He was enraged at the events of the night and Buffy made the decision to talk to Dawn herself. Life gradually went back to a normal routine after that.

But as fate would have it our lives were to be disrupted once again. This time the disruption came in the guise of a high school principle. Robin Wood seemed like an average high school principle, but we shortly learned that he was anything but average. One night while Spike and I were patrolling we ran across the principle in a cemetery. Spike and I were fighting a group of vampires that tried to set themselves up here in town.  They were apparently unaware of the fact that a slayer lived here. During the fight Robin joined in and after the remaining vampires were dusted he attacked Spike. Spike fended him off and Robin tried to again stake Spike.

It was at that point I interceded. I was able to convince Robin to talk with me and tell me why he had targeted Spike specifically. His tale was a sad one; Robin was the son of a slayer, a slayer that Spike had killed in 1977. He had spent most of his adult life finding out who had killed his mother and he was here for revenge. It took many conversations with Robin by all of us before we were able to convince him that Spike had changed.

He eventually agreed that he would no longer try to exact revenge upon Spike but he stated he couldn’t live in the same town with his mother’s killer and tendered his resignation at the high school.

End of Volume 1