Chapter 3

“Gotcha, that makes three points for me.”

Spike groaned as Buffy jumped off of him, running his fingers through his hair. “We haven’t fought in a while, I’m a little rusty.”

She rolled her eyes. “That is such a lame excuse; you still fight other vampires on patrol all the time. I should be no different.”

“You’re very different,” he explained.

“You can’t worry about hurting me, Spike; I’m a lot stronger now. I want a real sparring session, no holding anything back.”

He grinned. “As you wish.”


* * * * *


“Okay, I think it’s time for a break,” Buffy said as she limped over to one of the chairs in his crypt and took a seat.

“You all right?” he wondered in concern, hoping that he wasn’t too rough with her.

“Yep, that was great, but even I have my limits.”

Spike took the seat next to her. “How’s your mum and sis? They don’t hate me for what I did, do they?”

Buffy could tell how genuinely worried he was at the thought of her family hating him; she had to wonder if that was why he hadn’t stopped by in days. “No, it was hard for them at first, but they’re grateful that I’m still here. You can come by if you want; I promise that my mom won’t throw you out. She’s thankful that you saved my life.”

He scoffed. “And knowing that I’m also the one responsible for ending it? I find that very hard to believe.”

“I didn’t tell them that. I just said that you found me bleeding to death on patrol. You made a mistake, Spike; I don’t want you to be punished for it.”

Spike didn’t know what to say, he never would have expected her to lie for him. “I love you,” he blurted out, regretting it when he saw the embarrassed look on her face. “I don’t expect anything in return, you’ve already given me more than I deserve. I just wanted you to know.”

She smiled. “Thanks, a girl needs to hear that every now and then. I should get going; we’ll do this again tomorrow.”

He watched her walk away, wondering if he ruined things between them.


* * * * *


Buffy didn’t tell Spike, but the pig’s blood wasn’t doing it for her anymore. She needed something stronger, but there was no way she would feed from anyone. Instead, she found herself outside of the hospital, thinking of how she would get human blood without being detected. A commotion came from the parking lot, since she was still the Slayer; she decided to check it out, not prepared for what she saw. Buffy gasped at the sight of Glory yelling at some scabby looking creature and before she knew it, the hell god turned into a man before her eyes. It looked like he worked at the hospital, once he took off back inside and left the scabby demon alone, Buffy finally remembered what the Council told her. This changed everything.


* * * * *


“And you’re sure of what you saw?”

Buffy rolled her eyes. “I didn’t just imagine it. She turned into a man; the Council said that Glory lives inside of a human host. Killing him is the only way to stop her.”

Spike nodded. “Okay, problem solved then, I’ll go to the hospital as soon as the sun sets and take care of it.”

“You can’t kill him, Spike.”

He growled. “Are you willing to just let him live because you can’t bear the thought of me killing again? I know you have a soul, but I would think your family would still come first. He may be human, but he’s hardly innocent. Please, love, let me do this for you.”

She shook her head. “I mean you can’t kill him because of the chip. It goes crazy when you even point a fake weapon at someone, if you actually kill, your head could explode. I was an accident, you weren’t really pointing the gun at me, but there’s no telling what could happen if you intentionally kill someone. That’s not a chance I’m willing to take. No, this is something I have to do.”

“Taking a life changes you, even if it means saving the bloody world. I don’t want that burden on your shoulders, love.”

“I can handle it,” Buffy explained. “If it means saving my sister, there’s no choice to make. No one else knows about this, I can’t go to Giles. He would never understand, I’ll tell him once the threat is over. I still don’t think he completely trusts me.”

Before she could leave, Spike pulled her back by the arm, planting a passionate kiss on her mouth that would have left her breathless. “Just be careful,” he told her.

Buffy was stunned, nodding when she came back to herself and making her way out of the crypt. It was time to end this.


* * * * *


She watched him talk to a distressed woman, giving her kind words in her time of grief. He was just an intern, but Buffy could tell how well liked he was around the hospital. She found out that his name was Ben, other than that, Buffy didn’t want to know. She followed him to the parking lot during what she supposed was his break, knowing she had to do this before he reverted back to Glory.

“Excuse me, are you Ben?”

The dark haired man turned to look at her. “Yes, who are you?”

She shrugged. “That’s not important. I just want you to know that this isn’t anything personal, but I don’t have another choice.” Buffy could see the confusion in his eyes and before he could respond, she snapped his neck, letting his body fall to the ground. She stepped back, getting out of there before anyone could spot her. Once she was safely in the cemetery, she finally let the tears fall.


* * * * *


“It’s done.”

Spike glanced up from his book, seeing the distraught Slayer standing before him. It was obvious that she had been crying, he was afraid of that. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, pet.”

She wiped her eyes, sitting down beside him. “Doesn’t matter, it had to be done. Could I stay here tonight? I really don’t think I’m up for going home right now.”

He nodded. “Of course, you can stay for as long as you need to.”

“This is the first time since being turned that I wished I didn’t have a soul, it wouldn’t hurt so much if I didn’t.”

“I think it would,” he told her. “Soul or not, you’re still Buffy. It’s going to take some time, but your family is safe now. That’s the only thing that matters.”

Buffy knew he was right, but that still didn’t make the ache any less.