Disclaimer: I blame Kennedy on Joss.

Author’s note: Some Dialogue taken from ‘End of Days.’ Once again, much huggles to Bloodytearsoflife for the wonderful betaing. You rock my socks!
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Chapter 48: Late Night Conversations

Inside the house, the research on the fun scythe thingy was continuing with interest. Those research inclined were gathered around the dining room, comparing, reading, debating and jotting down notes.

Buffy and Liz were clearly not researchy people. Taking a calm moment on the back porch, their conversation turned to Dawn. Dawn had a future Liz wasn’t willing to give herself, and that fact was just a little more depressing than Buffy wanted to think about.

“You agree, we have to keep her safe?” asked Liz of Buffy, as they sat on the back porch steps.

Buffy sighed. She didn’t like the conversation she was having with Liz, but she could see the point of it. “She’s not going to like it, at all.”

Liz nodded. “I don’t want her hurt. You can pop her to New York, or London, or wherever she’s going to be safe.”

Buffy nodded. The idea of sending Dawn away and far from the battle was appealing. There was a factor that Buffy had to consider though. Any ‘safe’ place for Dawn was one of her or Spike’s homes around the world. The Immortal knew about them all. He even had inroads to Arashamahar. The safest place for Dawn was with a Slayer, Vengeance Demon or Vampire, someone that was going to take care of her and had the ability to keep her safe.

Buffy agreed that it was the best course of action to get Dawn away, but she needed someone to go with her. And it wasn’t going to be the carpenter like Liz suggested.

Buffy nodded her head to Liz’s suggestion and put her hand on Liz’s arm. “I’ll do it,” Buffy finally said. “I’ll put her somewhere safe, but not until the last minute.”

“This is the last minute!” Liz declared.

“No, it’s not,” countered Buffy. “I’m also not sending her alone. I will not send her away without someone to protect her. Someone who can protect her from the Immortal.”

“No Xander, huh?” asked Liz.

“Nope. If you want him safe then you have to work that out for yourself. He’s not on my radar.”

“When, then?” Liz questioned as Buffy stood up from her place on the step.

“I don’t know, but I’ll know when. I won’t let anything happen to her. I give you my promise.”

Buffy opened the back door and stepped into the kitchen. Spike was standing by the microwave waiting for blood to heat. His blue eyes caught her green ones and instantly knew that something was up. In a blatant disregard for the condition of the linoleum tile, Buffy grabbed Spike’s hands and led him into a portal.

Stepping into Arashamahar, Buffy let herself be embraced by her mate and leaned forward to meet his waiting lips. The tension that had built up in her since her discussion with Liz melted away as they kissed.

He broke the kiss and held her at arms length, his eyes staring into hers. “Tell me,” he ordered.

“She wants me to take Dawn away, keep her out of harm. The trouble is, that there is nowhere safer for Dawn than with her family.”

Spike nodded at that.

“Liz is right. Dawn does need to be away from the battle, but she needs someone with her. I need you with her,” Buffy continued.

She looked up into Spike’s face and knew at once that he didn’t think that this was good idea. “I want to be in the thick of things, Buffy,” he explained. “I’m not a nursemaid.”

Buffy glared at her mate for a moment. “She’s sixteen. She’s not in nappies.”

“Besides the point, luv,” continued Spike. “I want to be in the fight, not put out to pasture.”

Buffy snorted. “I’m not putting you out to pasture. Nothing even close to it! I want you and Dawn to make sure that I get vengeance on the Immortal. I need Dawn safe to do that. I want you there when it happens. Just in case…”

“In case of what?” asked Spike incensed. “You’re immortal Buffy, you can’t die.”

“No, I’m not immortal, not in the strictest sense. I could die Spike. It’s harder to kill me, but I’m not immortal. One lucky strike, sever my head and I’m done. This battle is scarier than anything I’ve imagined. I want to make sure that Dawn is alive and well. And I need you to make sure of that. Please?”

Spike held his mate close once again and rested his head in her blond locks. “I don’t like it,” he commented, but his voice was resigned. “When?” His voice was resigned.

“Don’t know yet. But thank you,” she whispered.

“I can’t deny you now, Buffy,” he conceded.

She chuckled to herself as she ran her fingers over his leather clad arm. “I think I waited long enough for that. Show me?” she asked leading him towards the bed.

The bed hadn’t been used much since they had taken up residence in the basement of 1630 Revello Drive, but it was a soft and welcome location. The mementos of Buffy’s life were carefully placed around the room, clothes from by gone eras, portraits of people long dead, knickknacks from her house of birth; everything had its place and its memories.

As Spike lowered her onto the coverlet, their lips brushing against the other’s, Buffy couldn’t help but notice that she had no visible reminders of the man who had dominated her life and her emotions from her human days. Nothing of his had survived. It was something she had to make right, before she didn’t have a chance to change it.

Spike pushed her hands above her head and ran his hands down her arms, his fingers pressing into her skin.

It was a terrible idea, leaving him. Deep down though, she thought it was inevitable. She’d done her part for evil, and she was destined to die a Slayer. What better way to go? It would make Giles, her Giles, happy. There was no way in Arashamahar that she was going to let Liz die when she could help it, even if she had to die herself.

She’d had enough of dying before her offspring. She’d had enough of the immortal life she’d been living. It was truly time to be a slayer again. It was time for Erixel to exit stage right and for Elizabeth to take the stage again. Yep, it was a corny analogy. William was the poet in the family.

Buffy rolled over and toyed with a blond curl on Spike’s head. It reminded her of Christopher’s hair when he was a boy. She wondered if Liz had had blond curls when she was born. With a groan, Spike rolled towards his mate and planted a kiss on her neck, on the bite marks that lived there.

“It’s time to be getting back to the house,” he said with a hint of regret.

With a sigh, Buffy nodded and stood, gathering her clothes. “We should patrol. Liz is probably in research mode, neglecting the baddies roaming in the cemeteries again,” noted Buffy.

Only a few minutes later, Spike and Buffy were walking one of the various cemeteries of Sunnydale, hands clasped. Suddenly Spike stopped, and stood motionless as he sniffed the air.

“What?” asked Buffy.

“Angel’s here,” came his response.

“Great,” Buffy commented sarcastically. “Do we have to talk to him?”

“Probably not, luv,” he said seriously. “He’ll be here for Liz. Star crossed lovers those two.”

“Ewww,” noted Buffy. “He’s way old for her.”

Spike looked at her funny.

“Oh come on! Dru was only seventeen years older than you. You are only ten years older than me. Angel’s like two hundred years older than Liz.”

“And Anya was only 1000 and some odd years older than the boy,” observed Spike.

“Hey, no one said I was all happy about that match either. Besides, Angel’s got Dru to look after. He doesn’t have time to dally with Liz.”

“The big poofter probably thinks he’s offering help or some such thing. Never knows when he’s not needed.”

Buffy and Spike resumed their trek and passed closer to a pyramid like structure.

“He went down there,” noted Spike. “Liz is down there too.”

Buffy pulled him away from the pyramid. “I don’t want her thinking we are stalking her.”

“Not stalking luv,” corrected Spike, raising his eyebrow. “Checking up on the poofter.”

With a shrug, Buffy followed her mate down into the temple and stopped just behind a pillar. The sounds of fighting filled the air. Buffy stepped forward as if to join in, when Angel’s voice cut through the sound of kicks and punches. Spike pulled her back behind the pillar.

“You are so gonna lose.”

Buffy didn’t have to think hard on just whom Liz was fighting. She gritted her teeth and cursed herself for not doing away with the preacher man when she had a chance in the vineyard.

“God, I’ve missed watching this,” noted the elder vampire.

Buffy watched as her mate rolled his eyes at Angel’s comment. She could tell that he really wanted to make a comment, but doing so would give them away.

There was a loud thump.

“See?” came Liz’s voice. “Under control.”

Buffy turned to her mate and wished that she was elsewhere. There was no reason to intrude on Liz’s Angel time.

“Well, at least you could tell me you’re glad to see me,” chastised Angel.

The sounds of kissing filled the temple. It was really time to go, Buffy thought, but Spike was standing planted to the spot. With a tug, Buffy pulled him from behind the pillar and out into the night air.

“I can’t believe you are just going to let them go at it!” raged Spike. “He’s probably been shaggin’ Dru for months and here he is in all his hair gelled glory, gonna shag Liz.”

“I may not like it Spike, but I am not going to dictate who she can love if she wants. It’s not my business. Do you think I like the idea that Liz is kissing someone who killed my father? Or the thing that made the thing that turned you? I don’t like it, but the last time someone said to me that I couldn’t love someone, I fell in love with him anyway. From what I know of Liz, it’s the same way.” Buffy stepped away from her mate and walked further into the shadows. “I just hope she finds out about him by herself.”
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tbc..