Chapter 11
Buffy stumbled over the threshold, Spike’s arm looped over her shoulder. Her arm rested around his waist, carefully placed to avoid the crossbow bolts the vamp goons had used to incapacitate him. Barely a word had been spoken all the way back; Spike had been uncharacteristically subdued, still trying to work out what had happened. Buffy had been thrilled to have him back and she had focused her entire being on him as they had staggered back to Revello Drive, unaware of their surroundings.

As she helped the unresisting Spike upstairs to her room, Buffy didn’t notice the silence in the house and the sense that it had been unoccupied for a while. All she was focussed on was that Spike was in her arms, undusty and back in her life.

“Huh…weird.” Buffy jiggled her door handle and wondered why her bedroom door was locked. “Wonder if Willow did it before the spell?”

Spike raised his head. “Red’s spell? What the hell have you birds been up to?” He swayed slightly, the loss of blood beginning to weaken him. “It’s got consequences, y’know. Has to be a balance, paying the toll and what all.” He slurred slightly as he slumped into her hold a bit more. “So, what did she do this time?”

“Nothing.” Buffy avoided his eyes and twisted the handle and broke it -- she figured she could get Xander to fix it later. Buffy helped Spike into the room and face down onto her bed. It barely registered in her frazzled mind that the mirror was gone and the spell stuff Willow had laid out on the floor had been cleared up. She mentally shrugged, figuring that Willow must’ve covered her tracks before Tara got home. “Stay there while I get the First Aid box.” She helped Spike further up the bed and vanished out of the room, flicking the light switch on before she left.

Spike groaned into her pillow. Her scent was so faint on it that he wondered if his nose had been bashed when the Teeth’s minions had grabbed him, dulling his sense of smell. Spike gritted his teeth and tried not to scream the house down as the pain ricocheted around his body from the beating and the bolts in his back. His back muscles were throbbing around the arrows and his head ached something fierce. As for the confusion of the grim faced Slayer saving him and the other just fading away as she did, he was flummoxed. Then she brought him back to her place and was being nice to him. He settled on the idea that he’d fallen asleep and was having a nice dream, except the pain in his back reminded him he was wide awake. Spike decided to wait and see what the hell she was up to. He wasn’t about to ignore the gentle touch of her hands; the kiss in the alley had changed everything for him. He loved her and wanted her. Spike grunted as he turned his head to the side and then frowned at the changes to her girly boudoir. It was now somewhere he could be right comfy in.

“Slayer, when did you redecorate?” he hollered.

“When you were dead and I realised that I was an idiot” She reappeared with the First Aid box in her shaking hands. “Spike, a lot happened since I last saw you.” She pressed a finger on his lips and shook her head. “Let me talk while we get you fixed up, okay?”

Spike’s blue eyes were wide and dubious as they stared adoringly up at her; he drank in the welcome sight of her sweet face and frowned at her gauntness. “You given up eating for Lent of sumthing?”

Buffy laughed through her tears at his confusion, he looked like a lost little boy. She dropped the tin box on the bed and shrugged out of her coat. “I need to pull these out.” She gestured at the arrows. Her face apologetic and her hands hesitant, Buffy tried to push the tears aside and focus on helping Spike.

Spike nodded and braced himself. “Go on, m’vamp enough to take ittttttttttt!”

Buffy ignored the unmanly squeal that escaped his lips and grimly pulled out the other two arrows and threw them on the floor. “Sorry…” She rested her hands on his back and felt him panting in pain. “Almost over. We just need to get the duster off. Did I tell you I missed you?” Tears swam in her eyes as Buffy stared at him hungrily; she’d forgotten that Spike wouldn’t be on the same page as her.

“Have you gone completely off you trolley, Slayer?” He eyed her with concern, wondering if the whole heaven and return to the Hellmouth had tipped her over the edge of sanity into Druland.

Then she began to speak, filling him in on everything that had happened since she failed him as she pulled off his duster, briefly lifting it to her face to inhale the scents embedded in it. Placing it carefully on the floor, she carried on her story. Buffy ripped the blood soaked t-shirt and tugged it out from under his torso. ‘Oh, pretty vampire on my bed with the sexy nekid body.’ Buffy’s hands floated over the sleek muscles, avoiding the sluggishly bleeding wounds and instead tickling their way around his sides and pressing against his stomach. Spike’s brain went into overload and he nearly wept; his body automatically pressed into her warm hands and he sighed.

“Spike, they took Dawnie away and gave her to my dad. She cried and cried. I couldn’t help her and now she’s with him.”

Spike gingerly turned onto his side and reached for her. He tucked her thin body half under his and cradled her. He was still in shock at the revelation that Teeth’s goons had dusted him and that the golden morsel of sunlight shivering against him had mourned him. He didn’t know what to say. It was all too much for him to suss out and he needed some time. “Love, hush your tears. Come on, gimme a pretty lil’smile, yeah?” He ignored the soggy snot rubbed on his chest and returned her tentative smile. As he shifted to embrace her, Spike winced.

Buffy slithered out from under him, anxiety colouring her face. “Oh, Spike. I’m sorry. Lemme tape you up.” She reached for the bandages and helped him sit up. “Can you rest your hands on my shoulders?”

“Yeah.” Spike nodded and laid his hands on her slender shoulders. He took a deep breath, sighing as he watched her carefully wrapping his chest up and covering the wounds. “Love, about the Bit …we’ll get her back. She might’ve bollocksed stuff up, but we’ll sort it. I promise.” He shivered as her fingers smoothed the tape down, securing the bandages. She refused to look up, but nodded her head slightly.

Spike tightened his fingers on her shoulders and finally caught her gaze. He gasped at the look of love in her eyes and the trust that beamed out of them. Before she could say anything, his stomach grumbled loudly.

“Sorry…bit peckish, what with the seeping wounds and all,” he muttered, feeling a little foolish and more than a little pissed off with his body for ruining the moment.

“I don’t have anything in the house…oh wait!” Buffy leapt up and began to rummage through her desk draws.

Spike’s head jerked up at the scent of her blood. He smelled it often enough when she was injured on patrol. But this time it was stronger-- his eyes flashed amber and he growled. “Love, what are you doing?”

Buffy turned to face him and held her bleeding wrist in front of her as she walked towards him with a sultry sway of her hips. “Drink me.” Her eyes brooked no dissention from him as she stalked towards him. The intoxicating aroma of her blood filled the room and Spike gulped. He had never in his wildest dreams ever imagined this his Golden Slayer asking him to drink form her.

And he did.

Buffy’s knees trembled under the soft swipes of his tongue and the brushes of his lips against the delicate skin on her wrist. She knelt on the bed and lulled against him as he sipped carefully from the open wound. Spike pulled her tight and rumbled happily as her rich blood began to fill his starved system with its healing power and heady arousal. His fangs dipped in and out of her delicately, as if he were hesitant to bite her but couldn’t resist the lure of her blood. His body shook with purrs of contentment that were muffled against her thin wrist. Buffy shivered all over and curled up in his arms with a happy sigh as slowly all the tension of the last month began to seep out of her.

“Spike, every night I tried to work out a way to save you. I cried over your journals, trying to find you in them and I did. They helped me realise how much I love you. Your words – they saved me.”

Spike tensed slightly at her mention of her reading his words, dreams and poetry, and then relaxed. Of all the beings he had met, she was the only one who he trusted with his private thoughts and hopes. God he was starting to sweat, though. She knew everything about him and yet his Slayer was still here in his arms. He could feel his wounds closing, both the ones in his heart and the ones on his back. He kissed her wrist and pulled away, licking his lips clean. He ducked his head, suddenly feeling shy and busied himself dressing the wound on her wrist before he dared to look back up at her.

“You love me?” Incredulity coloured his voice.

Buffy took a deep breath and nodded, then reached up and kissed him. Pulling away from his soft lips, she licked hers and found she wasn’t grossed out by the faint coppery taste of her blood on his. She ran her fingers over his much missed features, relearning the curves of his cheekbones, finally able to touch him without guilt or worrying about what her friends would say. She could care less about their undoubted disapproval that they would rain down on her, but, it was her life and she was living it the way she wanted to.

She’d sacrificed enough – lost enough, and now she was hanging onto what made her happy. And that was the blond vampire cuddling her to his chest and for the first time since she let him dust, Buffy felt at peace.

“I love you, Sp…” The door crashed open and interrupted their quiet moment.

“Buffy? Spike? Oh my god! How? When? Where? You’re here alive, well you are and he’s not blowin in the wind! Buffster, I missed you…hell I missed you too, fangless!”

Xander stood framed in the doorway with a massive grin on his face. He dropped the axe he was carrying on the floor and rubbed his hands together in glee. “I knew something was up when I saw your bedroom light was on. I swing past every night on patrol to check out the ol’Summers homestead since Tara took Willow for a visit to that coven Giles hooked them up with.”

“Xander? What are you doing here?” Buffy blinked at the sight of him and the axe that was now embedded in her rug. Before either of the two blonds could disentangle themselves from each other and face him, Xander launched himself at them with a whoop and wrapped them both in a bear hug.

“Buffster, I missed you,” Xander sighed.

“Gerroff!” Spike’s body was rigid with shock at the hug from his erstwhile tormentor and butt of his best quips and jibes. Manly touches were not his cuppa – well not since the time that he -- and well there was a reason he called Angel Peaches and there was no way he was sharing with the kiddies!

“Come on, Spike ol’buddy, give us a kiss,” Xander teased he puckered up, then pulled back from the group hug and ruffled the shocked vampire’s hair.

“Xander, are you okay?” Buffy squeaked in surprise from the friendliness that was Xander.

His happiness faded a bit and he sank back on his heels. “Been better, Buffy. Where did you go? What happened? It’s been so long?”

“Long?” Buffy frowned and then really looked at Xander. He had fine lines etched around his eyes and there were grey hairs here and there in his brown hair. “Xander, what happened to you?” The three of them sat facing each other on the bed and the silence was heavy between them.

“You realise I haven’t seen you for almost three years, Buffy?” Xander’s eyes never left her face; he drank her in like a man parched.

“Are you on crack?” Spike stared at the Whelp in shock.

“I wish…would’ve made life easier,” Xander snorted. “What’s the last thing you remember, Buffy?”

“Stepping through the portal to get Spike.”

“Yeah, well something went wrong,” he sighed. “Always did when Willow was all with the magics,” Xander added with more than a slight hint of bitterness in his voice.

“Xander? Where is Willow? You said Tara took her to a coven.” Buffy frowned in confusion. Her hands clutched at Spike’s, trying to anchor herself.

“Yeah, well, Tara got home just after you must’ve gone through. She found Willow all with the not so sexy Queen of the Damned makeover and the magics she invoked all out of control.” Xander stared at the foot of the bed, recalling the mess he’d witnessed. “Hey, where did the mirror go?”

“It wasn’t there when we came back. Actually we didn’t come back here, we were outside Restfield where it happened. Where Spike got dusted.” Her throat tightened at the thought and she felt Spike press against her side, trying to reassure her and Buffy smiled radiantly up at him. “Xander, make with the splainy cos I am starting to freak over here.” Buffy was starting to get really confused.

“Huh, Tara thought that might happen. Something about imprinted memories and returning to where it happened rather than through the portal. I didn’t really get it.” Xander shrugged. “But hey, bonus is the freaky ass swirly mirror is gone! Wonder if it’s back in your closet?” Buffy grabbed him before he could go check.

“Xander focus, where is Dawn? Tara and Willow? What is going on?” She wanted to slap him for taking so long to tell her about her sister.

“Sorry. So Tara got back and managed to get Willow out of the circle. This stinky black smoke was pouring out of her mouth and Tara realised something major had gone down. She could see stuff in the mirror-- you and Spike-- but she didn’t know what to do, so she pulled Willow outta the room.” Xander took a breath and continued. “It was a mess. Willow was magically fried…nada…and she’s kinda different now, slower, you know…so Tara looks after her and the house. We all were waiting for you to come back…Dawnie too. And here you are!” He tugged at the grey hairs, “ And these, well Willow kinda freaked us all out of about ten years of our lives. That and you going missing.”

“Here we are, all back safe and sound.” Spike wrapped an arm around Buffy’s shoulders, instantly aware that the guilt in her was boiling up to a fever pitch.

“Oh my god…Wills, is she okay?” Buffy whispered.

“Believe it or not, she is. I think the magics burning her out actually did her and us all a huge a favour. She’s back to being Wills from before the whole Sabrina stint. She and Tara are good.Willow kept saying you’d be back and that she had faith in you. That’s why we just cleaned up and left everything as it was in here so you would be able to come home to us.” Xander ran the back of his hand over Buffy’s face,savouring the softness of her much missed face and rolled his eyes at the growl that emanated from Spike. “No worries,Vamp Boy. We realised she was yours when she went back to save your scrawny British ass.”

“Really?” Spike couldn’t help but ask.

“Yeah…even I got it.” Xander shook his head and laughed. “Kinda hard to avoid once the girls kept at me. I gets that Spike wuvs Buffy and she loves him.” He giggled at the glower he got from Spike for teasing him and it was filled with joy, stress and relief. “Sorry guys, but I just have to.” He reached over and hugged Buffy and then slapped Spike on the shoulder. “Man is it good to see you both.”

“Xander, you didn’t say much about Dawn – is she okay? Where is she?” Buffy clutched at Spike’s hand, nerves starting to get the better of her. Spike was a solid presence in the mess of her new life and she clung to him.

“She’s good, missed you both like hell. Oh man. Buffy, you would be so proud! She’s studying at Stanford--ancient languages and History. She comes to visit when she can and she’s a knock out!” Xander’s face was filled with glee as he talked about the youngest Summers girl.

“Stanford?” Buffy’s eyes were huge and filled with pride.

“Yeah, she’s turned into a mini Watcher. Anya and I went up to visit her last month. Oh hey, we have to call her!” Xander scrabbled through his pockets searching for his phone.

“Wait, where’s Giles and Anya?” Buffy stopped him. She wanted her first talk with her sister to be private. Her head was spinning. So much had happened. A pang of guilt ran through her about Willow’s fate and she wanted to puke her guts up. She also felt so proud that her baby sister had managed to pull her self out of the mess she had gotten into with the stealing and skipping school and was now at College.

“Giles, well he never came back. He’s in England doing watchery stuff. He sold his half of the Magic Box to Anya and well, we got married.” He flashed his wedding ring sheepishly at the stunned blondes.

“Oh my god! You guys are married?” Buffy squealed. Her eyes were filled with happy tears and she hugged Xander and then snuggled back into Spike’s arms. Her eyes dropping tiredly, she managed to suppress a yawn as her head nodded against Spike’s chest. Xander and Spike exchanged a look and nodded.

“Okay, Buffster. I’m gonna go get Anya. Why don’t you have a nap and then we can all have a catch up.”

Buffy tiredly smiled her thanks up at Xander.

“Spike, look after her.”

“S’all I ever wanted to do, mate.” Spike shook Xander’s hand and watched bemused as the Scoobie practically skipped out of the room. “Bit disturbing that, innit love?” He pointed to the skipping Scoobie.

“Mmmhhh.” Buffy yawned tiredly and snuggled into him. Her eyes dropped shut, the events of the evening finally catching up with her as a faint sigh slipped past her pouting lips. Spike settled back on the bed with a groan. He cradled Buffy’s dozing form in his arms and sighed, content for the first time in years.

“Spike?”

“Yeah, love,” he rumbled.

“We’re okay? No regrets?” Her voice was paper thin and worried.

“Had a few…but not anymore.”

It was a brave new world they had come back to, but they would survive the changes. They had each other.