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.
Since I have already stolen Drogyn and hopefully given him a better death than Joss did; you won’t be all that surprised that I am playing with the Angel timeline. I’m just borrowing one more character. But I promise to give him back in the same condition I got him in.
 
Dialog taken from “No Place Like Home” by Doug Petrie. Dialog taken from Triangle, written by Jane Espenson. Spike’s speech is taken from “Touched” by Rebecca Rand Kirshner.
 
Many thanks to my beta No_Promises. The wonderful banner is by 3hours.

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Kaledena screamed as she flew threw the air. In a last ditch effort to stop her fall she grabbed onto Spike’s leather coat dragging him with her towards the open hellmouth. Buffy stared in shock the scene moving in slow motion in front of her. Kaledena was dragging Spike with her as she fell into the gateway. The sound of bones breaking shook Buffy out of her stupor. Anya and Joyce stood next to a freed Spike. Joyce had a hold of him and Anya had her bat in her hands.
 
Anya responded to the puzzled look on Buffy’s face. “She already got her claws into Xander. I wasn’t going to let her take Spike from you too.”
 
The sudden clang of the seal closing had Buffy and the gang looking at the hellmouth. The Eye of Horus was still visible but as they watched it was slowly fading back to the goat head symbol that graced it before.
 
Buffy ran to check on her mom and Dawn, seeing that they were uninjured she made her way over to Spike. “Are you okay?” Seeing the cut over his eye Buffy wiped the blood away to examine it further.
 
“I’m fine luv. Just a scratch.”
 
“Good.” Reaching down Buffy placed her hand in Spike’s and gave it a little squeeze.
 
Kaledena’s followers quickly snapped out of the spell they had been under. The Sunnydale denial factor was in high gear as they shook off the confusion and started making their way to the surface.
 
A groaned, “Not another vampire.” announced that Xander was back to his old self. Anya dropped her bat and ran over to her boyfriend planting kisses all over his face. “I’ve missed you! You owe me lots of orgasms mister. How could you let that evil woman take you over?” Yanking him to his feet Anya started leading him from the cavern. “I’m sorry I broke your arm, but I couldn’t let you hurt Tara. You didn’t have sex with her did you?”
 
Tara started giggling at Anya’s statement and the rest joined in. “Tara! OMG baby are you alright? I’m so sorry!”  Willow launched herself at her girlfriend, horrified at the spells she had used against the girl.
 
“I’m fine Willow. Let’s go home.”
 
Dawn was torn between rushing over to make sure Spike was okay and helping Wesley up. When Giles came to offer a hand to Wes Dawn made a beeline over to the vampire. “Are you okay? What happened? You fell on the seal! You weren’t supposed to fall on the seal!” She started slapping the vampire on the arm and the head in her worry.
 
“Didn’ plan it Bit. I’m alright, feel a bit off but I’m fine. No worries yeah?”
 
“I would like to discuss what spells you used and how you planned all this.”
 
“Not now Giles, I need a shower and to sleep in my own bed for a change. We’ll do the post apocalypse run down tomorrow okay?”
 
Looking around he could see the rest of them were equally tired. “Yes, well tomorrow then.” Glancing over at Wesley Giles offered him the use of his couch for the night.
 
Buffy ushered her mother and Dawn out of the room and followed still holding Spike’s hand. The group made their way over to Revello Drive.
 
                                                                        §
 
When the quartet arrived at the Summers’ home they were stunned by what they found. The house looked like a tornado had hit. Papers were scattered everywhere, furniture was tossed around, and drawers had been ransacked. “Oh my..” Joyce looked at her house in horror.
 
“Who did this?” Dawn raced upstairs to her room to see it was in the same condition as the rest of the house.
 
Spike waited until Dawn had come back downstairs before offering his opinion. “Kaledena. Must’ve had her followers trash the place looking for clues.”
 
“Should we call the police?”
 
“Dawn the police can’t do anything. Kaledena is gone, besides what could they have done against her? And most of them worshipped her.”
 
“That may be true but I can’t afford to replace all this. So I am going to file a police report and then an insurance claim. But we can’t stay here tonight.”
 
Buffy looked at the tired faces of her mom and Dawn and made a decision. “Back to the cave?”
 
With resigned nods the four trudged back to their home away from home.
 
Joyce had wanted to speak to Buffy about her relationship with Spike but seeing the tiredness on her daughter’s face she decided to leave it for the night. She knew Giles and her friends would have something to say about it and she wanted to offer her support if Buffy needed it dealing with them. They were all exhausted and tomorrow would be a hectic day. Kissing Buffy goodnight Joyce took Dawn into one of the bed chambers and the two quickly fell asleep.
 
“Why don’t you go relax in the shower for a bit pet. I’ll do a quick sweep make sure there’s no nasty’s about.”
 
“I could use a shower. At least this time I didn’t have any demons explode on my clothes.” With a quick kiss to the lips Buffy grabbed a robe before heading to the shower.
 
As soon as he heard the water turn on Spike used all his vamp speed to run down the tunnels. Barely pausing he launched himself straight up into the hole in the ceiling. Vamping out to see better in the dark chamber Spike started to go through the treasure. “I know I saw that ring here some where.” Finally spying the ring he sought Spike grabbed it and brushed the dirt and dust off of it, revealing a one carat diamond surrounded by smaller emeralds in a silver setting. Securing it in his jean’s pocket he grabbed some of the smaller items and put them in his duster.
 
Figuring Buffy was almost done in the shower Spike made his way back to the main room.
 
A few minutes later Buffy came out of the bathroom wearing a robe. “Let’s get some kip slayer.” Spike said as he led Buffy to the room they had been sharing. Silently the two undressed and slipped into bed. They laid there on their backs for a few seconds before Buffy rolled over and grabbed at Spike. She was shaking and tears were falling from her eyes.
 
“’S alright pet.” Spike murmured as he stroked her hair.
 
“Almost lost you. When I saw you fall I thought the seal would kill you. Then that bitch tried to take you with her.” Crying in earnest Buffy clutched at Spike leaving bruised impressions on his arms from her hands. “You can’t leave me. I love you and you can’t leave me.”
 
Spike knew what he heard. He was just having a hard time believing it. “Buffy, luv.” When she realized what she had said Buffy stilled. “You listen to me. I've been alive a bit longer than you, and dead a lot longer than that. I've seen things you couldn't imagine, and done things I prefer you didn't. I don't exactly have a reputation for being a thinker. I follow my blood, which doesn't exactly rush in the direction of my brain. So I make a lot of mistakes, a lot of wrong bloody calls.” Spike brushes a hair off her face before continuing.
 
“A 100+ years, and there's only one thing I've ever been sure of: you.” Catching a tear on his thumb Spike pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Hey, look at me. I'm not asking you for anything. When I say, "I love you," it's not because I want you or because I can't have you. It has nothing to do with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You're a hell of a woman. You're the one, Buffy.”
 
Oh! That’s what love looks like! Spike’s eyes were an open book. She could see the love and desire shining in them. Take a deep breath Buffy gave into what she had been feeling the last few weeks. “I love you.”
 
“I love you too. So much.” Rolling them over so he was on top Spike lowered his head to kiss Buffy.
 
“How much?”
 
Spike stopped with his mouth just inches from Buffy’s lips. “Huh?”
 
“How much do you love me?”
 
“I thought I explained all that already. I love you more than anything or anyone in my life.”
 
“Enough to claim me?”
 
Spike pulled back in surprise. Levering himself up he rolled off of Buffy and sat next to her. “Where’d you hear about claims?”
 
“Anya she mentioned them awhile back. I asked her about them a few days ago.”
 
“And what did demon girl tell you?”
 
“She said that it’s a marriage for vampires. But it works if one of them is a human. Anya said she even met a mated slayer and vamp. She even told me the words to use.”
 
Spike was quiet, so quiet that Buffy started getting nervous. “I… it’s just when I saw you fall I thought it was over. But you got back up. Then when Kaledena grabbed you. Everybody leaves me Spike. My boyfriend in LA, Dad, Angel, Parker and even Riley. I thought I was going to lose mom.”
 
Snuggling next to Spike she wrapped her arms around him. “From what Anya told me I’d be able to feel you even if we aren’t standing next to each other. Maybe even in time we might be able to communicate through the claim. To know that you love me, to be able to feel it, feel you all the time. I…. it’s something I want.” “You can do it right? The chip won’t stop you will it? Or the wish?”
 
Spike wiped away the tear that had rolled down his cheek. “Nah, these bites aren’t to cause pain luv. They won’t hurt. You’re sure about this? You can’t change your mind later once it’s done it’s forever luv.”
 
“I love you Spike. This past month, you were exactly what I needed when I needed it. This is what love is supposed to be. Riley used me to try to further his career. I thought he really cared about me you know? But I don’t think he ever understood. It’s like he thought I was this little girl with superpowers. That I could kick demon butt, but somehow he still needed to protect me, that I was helpless somehow. Angel wasn’t much better. Once he came back from hell and we knew what the loophole was for the curse he didn’t even try to find a solution. We couldn’t have sex so he ran. Was that all it was for him? Was our whole relationship about sex? I could have gone without. I just wanted him with me, but he said it was too much of a temptation to be around me.”
 
Spike growled at the mention of her ex’s. “They were idiot’s luv. They had you and they left. If you love someone you stay.”
 
“So stay.” Buffy whispered as she tilted her head up to kiss Spike. Without breaking the kiss Buffy pulled Spike down until they were lying on their sides facing each other. Pulling back from his lips to catch her breath Buffy started placing small kisses along his jaw and down his neck. When she reached his siring scar she bit down hard causing Spike to grunt and grind his hips against hers. Taking a large sip of his blood Buffy lifted her head, “This is my chosen mate, to love and cherish always. I promise this till the end of time.”
 
Pulling back Buffy offered Spike her neck. Spike took a moment to look deep into her eyes. Apparently he found what he was looking for because he kissed her deeply before shifting into game face. Sinking his fangs into the spot where her shoulder met her neck he took one deep pull of her blood before completing the ritual. “This is my chosen mate, to love and cherish always. I promise this till the end of time.”