Disclaimer: Joss owns them, all I want is my very own naked Spike, preferably chocolate covered, but Joss won’t let me even if I asked nicely.

Author’s note: Massive huggles to my wonderful beta and friend, Bloodytearsoflife. Well this is the last chapter. Thanks to everyone who’s stuck around all the way to the end.
_________________________
Chapter 57: Wishes

Liz turned her head towards Buffy and her raised hand. The shaking of Buffy’s hand grew more noticeable with every second.

The Immortal, the rapist, murderer, demon, pain in her ass was dead. The wish that D’Hoffryn had granted her had come to pass. Liz took a step closer to Buffy and held out the head gingerly.

“Happy Birthday,” Liz whispered into the calm quiet of the room.

Buffy lowered her hand and reached out to touch the severed head of her enemy. Tactile sensation only added to her sense of bewilderment. The feeling of his cold dead skin made the thing she had longed for, for most of her existence, his death, more of a reality.

“Does this mean no more hiding?” asked Dawn, looking at her great, great, great grandparents.

Spike shook his head slowly, staring at the lifeless eyes before him. The Immoral was dead, dead and headless.

“You sure he won’t come back?” asked Dawn, not giving in to optimism so quickly.

“I guess we could set the corpse on fire,” suggested Liz.

“Good idea, pet,” agreed Spike. “It’s time we got out of here.”

Liz put the head into Buffy’s hands and wiped the blood off of her own, before taking Dawn’s hand and leading her towards the door. Spike stepped closer to his mate and offered her his zippo lighter. Buffy looked from the lighter to the head and back again, a wistful look on her face.

“The police will be here any moment,” he added.

Spike stepped forwards and grabbed a couple of bottles of alcohol that stood conveniently on a table. Taking the caps off the bottles, he doused the headless body of the Immortal before tossing the bottles aside.

“Let’s go, luv,” he urged.

With a nod, Buffy knelt before the body and flicked the zippo open, setting the Immortal’s body aflame, then slipping the lighter into her pocket. She backed up, watching the pretty fire for a moment, holding the Immortal’s head close. Spike took her free hand and led her away from the flaming corpse.

Buffy took a few steps closer to her family and opened a portal, leading them all in and escaping the bar that would soon be engulfed in flames, holding the Immoral’s head to her side.

The four beings stepped into Erixel’s lair in Arashamahar in silence. Dawn and Liz sat on the bed, staring at their surroundings, while Spike and Buffy stood off to the side, Buffy staring at the head.

“He’s not very good looking,” said Dawn, interrupting the silence.

“It was a struggle to keep from vomiting every time I had to talk to him,” noted Liz.

“It’s hard to keep from vomiting now,” added Dawn. “Ugh.”

“What are you going to do with the head, luv?” Spike asked.

“Oh I have plans for The Immortal. I have a friend that would love to have his head,” explained Buffy. “He juggles.”

“Who would want The Immortal’s severed head?” asked Dawn unaware that she’d already asked a very similar question once today.

“Believe me, it is disturbing, and I’ve been familiar with it for a century,” commented the demon. “I think it will be a good present for Krevlin though. I know he’ll be so proud of it, he’ll never let it out of his sight.”

“You have weird friends,” mentioned Dawn.

“What else is new?” Buffy responded. “Liz, the shower is through that door,” the demon motioned, the head still in her hands.

“Thanks, the blood is getting crusty.”

“Dawn, why don’t you pick out an outfit for your sister? I’m going to give Krevlin his present.”

“And what am I supposed to do while you go gallivanting all over Arashamahar, with the Immortal’s head?” asked her mate.

“Oh I won’t be gone that long, you big baby,” she patronized walking past him towards the door.

Suddenly he reached out and grabbed her elbow, forcing her around to face him again.

“I only just got you back. Don’t want you out of my sight,” he growled.

Buffy giggled at his possessiveness. If Dawn and Liz hadn’t been in the room with them, she might have taken him then and there.

“You wanna come with?”

Spike gave her a leer and did that curling of the tongue thing he did so well that made her want to melt into a puddle at his feet. Buffy whipped around and faced her great, great, great granddaughters.

“Spike’s coming with me. We won’t be gone long.”

“Yeah right,” Dawn mumbled.
_________________________
Hand in hand was impossible, given the fact that she was carrying a head in her hands, but their trek from Buffy’s lair to Krevlin’s was pleasant.

Arashamahar had no roads; they weren’t necessary given the fact that all natives of the dimension could teleport. Strangely enough all lairs and even the Vengeance Palace had front doors. Buffy had used them extensively while Christopher lived in Arashamahar. Spike and Buffy walked up to Krevlin’s lair and the vampire banged impatiently on the front door.

A startled Krevlin answered the door, his face lighting up into a smile once he recognised the visitors at his door.

“Erixel!” the demon beamed! “You’re back! Excellent! I was about to send out my invitations to my next party!”

Buffy looked over at her mate a second before turning back to the juggler.

“I am afraid I won’t be able to make it,” she apologized sweetly. “But I have a gift, to express my regret at missing your last party and this new one. Here.” Buffy thrust forward the head.

Krevlin looked down at the head and smiled. “Who’s was it?” he asked.

“The Immortal’s,” expressed Buffy casually.

Krevlin’s mouth formed a small ‘o’ in wonderment. His hands reached out, almost shaking. “It’s just such a thoughtful gift!” he exclaimed at last.

Smiling, Buffy was about to accept his thanks, to wish that the party went well, and that his guests would be thrilled with this newest acquisition, when she suddenly felt something. Krevlin turned his head suddenly as well, startling Spike.

“Anyanka wants you,” Krevlin explained, though Buffy knew instinctively that she had been summoned.

“Then we must go,” she admitted, grabbing Spike’s hand and leading him from the lair.

The walk to the Palace was brief, Krevlin had always been one of D’Hoffryn’s chief jesters and therefore had been given one of the best lairs, after Anya’s and her own, of course.

Anya’s court was full of sycophants and demons looking for favour. Naturally Anya was having none of the pomp and ceremony of her predecessor, even though the demons in the realm still expected it. Anyanka was sitting, reading Red Book magazine, her feet hanging over the side of the throne.

“Mistress Anyanka,” greeted Buffy curtseying low to her friend. She knew that Anya didn’t need the supplication, but the demons watching expected it and she didn’t just get her demon-hood back for scandal to rear its ugly head once again.

“It’s about time you showed up!” Anya exclaimed, putting her magazine down. “Did you walk here?”

“Well, ya, we did,” Buffy answered.

“Really? Okay, moving on. The Immortal is dead? And you didn’t tell me? Your best friend?”

“It only just happened!” Buffy defended herself.

“Krevlin knew!”

“I only just told him!”

“What are you getting at demon girl?” asked Spike, his voice quieting the demons of the court who had been twittering in the background. He was disrespectful of their Mistress, surely she would punish him. And that would be fun to watch.

“I’m doing my job, Spike!” Anya exclaimed. “Unlike some demons I know, I know what it’s like to have to do a job, first for a wage, like a good capitalist American and then as the Mistress of this realm I call home. I have a work ethic. I’m following up. Assuring customer satisfaction.”

“Following up on what?” the vampire asked.

“What do you think I’m following up on? A wish you…vampire…you! D’Hoffryn’s wish, that one of your descendants would torture and kill the Immortal, the one that violated Erixel,” Anya explained. She turned to her friend then. “So? Are you satisfied?”

Buffy nodded her head enthusiastically. “Yeppers, one very satisfied customer. That’s me, satisfactory in every way.”

“Every way?” Anyanka asked, a little turn of her head. “That was only vengeance against one person, you still have at least half a dozen vengeance wishes you can wish. Just ‘cause this one is done doesn’t mean you have to wait for the next time I’m feeling that I need to do you a favour you know.”

“And just whom would I want vengeance on?” asked Buffy curious, ignoring the look Spike was giving her.

“Angelus, for killing your family…”

“He’s saddled with an insane former nun for the rest of her existence. His soul won’t let him kill her or turn her. I think that’s punishment enough,” Buffy responded.

“Giles for abandoning you to those watchers…”

“He’s dead and he married a Travers girl, to which I say, yeeeeesh.”

“Liz for being a bitch and not letting you see Dawn…”

“I won’t wish vengeance on my family, Anya.”

“Spike for…”

Anya was cut off by a growl from the vampire in question, and Buffy who raised her hand.

“Don’t even go there,” stated Buffy.

Anya shrugged. “Hey, now no one can say I didn’t try. So when are you two going to get hitched, all human like? Xander wants to know when he can show me how dashing he is in his tux when he’s not sweating like a pig and taking back things he shouldn’t.”

Anya looked at Spike. Erixel looked at the wall. Spike looked at the floor.

“I see Xander isn’t the only man who can’t commit,” observed Anya earning a laugh from the throngs of on lookers.

“We should go,” Buffy interrupted the laughter. “Things to do, future to plan and all that.”

“Sure, leave me in this lonely splendour. Xander’s away on some mission for Giles in Africa, getting more Slayers signed up or whatever. Who knows when he’ll be back. I’ll have to go to Krevlin’s next party without him to make me laugh. Fine go!” Anya dismissed her friend with a wave.

“I hear Krevlin’s got a little something new to juggle this time ‘round, might be right exciting,” observed Spike as Buffy tugged him out of the audience chamber.
_________________________
Spike and Buffy walked back to her lair to find a newly cleaned Liz, sporting some of Buffy’s clothes and Dawn sitting on the bed engaged in earnest conversation.

The pair of grandparents startled the girls a bit, but their smiles indicated that it was not because they weren’t wanted.

“Liz wants me to come live with her in Rome,” exclaimed Dawn, unable to contain her excitement. “That’s okay, right?”

“Of course that’s okay, Nibblet,” Spike responded, when Buffy didn’t.

“You should be with your sister,” Buffy added.

“So you aren’t mad?” Dawn asked worried.

“Of course not! Why would we be mad?” Buffy wrapped an arm around her great granddaughter.

“You just got back, and Spike…”

“Oh I’ll make sure that Spike is kept very busy and won’t have time to miss having to worry about you all the time. I mean, sure he’ll still miss you, just I’ll keep him occupied in many fun ways.”

Dawn put her hands over her ears. “TMI! T..M..I!”
_________________________
Buffy waved good bye to her great, great, great granddaughters as the portal closed behind them. She turned to her mate with a smile. “So what do we do? Where do we live?”

Tenderly he took her hand and kissed it.

“Live, London.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “I think it’s time to move on, don’t you, luv?”

Buffy opened a portal and the two of them stepped into Noël’s house, the smell of lemon and pine permeating the house, evidence that the cleaners hired by Wolfram and Hart had finished their job.

“Well maybe not this house,” he admitted. “I was thinking my house actually.”

“Our house, actually,” she noted with a smile. “Even the lawyers acknowledge that little fact. And they didn’t ask me to strip naked. Do we keep this one?”

“Maybe the bit can use it when she’s done living it up in Rome. She wants to be watcher. She’ll need her own place.”

Buffy nodded. “I’ll call the lawyers and…”

Buffy was cut off by a puff of smoke appearing in the middle of the parlour. Buffy waved her hand in front of her face clearing the smoke, expecting to see Anya before them once again.

It wasn’t Anya.

“Hi,” came a small, slightly familiar voice.

Buffy did a double take and peered into the smoke once more.

“Who the bloody hell…” started Spike.

“Well I know it’s been a long time Grandpa Spike, but honestly I don’t look at all familiar?” the girl asked, her blond hair curled about her shoulders.

“Isabella?” breathed Buffy, not believing her eyes.

“See, I always knew who the smart one in the family was,” continued the girl who looked no more than fourteen, younger than Dawn.

“How are you even alive?” asked Buffy stepping closer to the granddaughter she had lost so many years ago.

“The baby of the family, still alive after her brothers, niece and nephew are dead? Yes, how is that possible?”

“Don’t you get smart with me, young lady,” snapped Buffy, her patience running out.

She wanted an explanation. She wanted to give her granddaughter a hug.

“Did you really think that none of your offspring would have demon qualities?” started the impromptu visitor. “Sure, you got a slayer and a key, but then Noël was a potential, did you know that?”

“Are you a demon then?” asked Spike.

“Well, duh!”

“You weren’t raised to say ‘duh,’” noted Buffy sceptically.

“So it’s okay for Liz and Dawn to say ‘duh’ but I can’t?”

The two grandparents were silent for a moment, possibly reassessing their double standards.

“Why did you never contact us?” asked Buffy perplexed.

“Henry and I left to keep out of the Immortal’s path; me being a demon wouldn’t have made that any different. I kept out of the way, watching over the family you couldn’t.”

“That’s why we couldn’t find your grave,” muttered Spike, “The bit and I, we found Henry and Elliot. Didn’t find you.”

“Not dead!” Isabella noted, throwing her hands up in the air.

“Me too, but does that stop people from all the jumping to conclusions and the rewriting of history?” agreed Buffy. “Was it you that left the clues?”

Isabella smiled and nodded. “Was it helpful?”

“A little bit…”

“Well that’s good then,” the teen noted with a resigned sigh. “Well, I wanted you to know, now that I can, that I’m alive. You might’ve wanted to know.”

“What? You are just going to leave?” squeaked Buffy.

“Sort of. You have a life to start together. You haven’t thought about me, except to find my grave, in years. I didn’t want to interrupt anything. Next time you have a family reunion, let me know, I’ll come. You should invite Hank too, he’d like that.”

“Beg your pardon?” asked Spike.

“He’s a little bit demony too. I begged him not to divorce his wife. It was just his reaction to finding out he was part demon. He’s not really as bad as you think him.”

“Have you been spying on us this whole time? All these years?” Buffy asked.

“Pretty much. Oh I averted my eyes at the appropriate moments. I didn’t see anything I didn’t want to. My virgin eyes were spared.”

“But where do you live?” Buffy continued taking another step towards Isabella.

“Spain. This is exactly what I didn’t want to do. I should have just stayed away,” moaned the girl.

“No!” Buffy took her granddaughter’s hand. “No! Never think that. I’m so glad I found you!”

Isabella stepped back and nodded, a tiny tear running down her face. “Then I’ll be back,” she whispered.

“Please do,” responded the vengeance demon.

A smile on her face, Isabella stepped towards Buffy and placed a small kiss on her cheek and repeated the same thing for Spike, before teleporting away.

It took only a second before Buffy found herself wrapped up in Spike’s arms. “She’s alive!”

Knowing what happened to her entire family gave her a comfort like she hadn’t felt in a long time. They were all safe now; safe from the Immortal. There was nothing now to keep their family apart. Isabella was right, they needed to have a family reunion.

But not just yet. She needed some time with the patriarch of the family. She leaned up and placed a kiss on his lips.

“We’ve got quite the family now,” she whispered, “and no one to keep us apart from them. It’s almost perfect.”

“Almost luv?” asked Spike.

“Well, it would have been good to have had the whole happy family thing this whole time, instead of the hiding, the fighting, and the so many other things that got in the way,” explained Buffy cuddling against his leather clad shoulder.

Spike looked off at the family portrait that hung above Noël’s fireplace, the happy smiles of his son, Christopher, his wife, Kristina, and Noël smiling down upon them. He smiled back, formulating the words that would change his unlife. This time he wanted to be conscious of it. The decision was his to make.

“I know what you mean, sweets. Wish we could have another chance, do this differently this time.”

Buffy gasped a little and looked back up at her mate, his blue eyes shining down at her. He nodded.

“Wish granted,” she breathed, the smile on her face radiant, as she took one of his hands and laid it on her flat stomach. “Wish granted.”
_________________________
fini