Author’s Note: And so I begin to wind things down. Thanks to Kar for her beta work and to all my readers and reviewers. Feedback is always appreciated.


Chapter Eight

The genie, who really did look like a totally normal woman in her early twenties, gave Buffy an expectant look. Buffy hopped to her feet and looked the mystical creature over a few times. “You granted me a wish,” she pointed out.

Jean grinned. “Well, yeah. Thought the idea was to share though. Looks like you’re hoarding.”

“Shush!” Buffy ordered, holding up a hand and preempting most of the comments from the Spikes. There were still a few snorts of laughter at her expense. “Why did you grant me a wish?”

“Duh. You saved my life. That’s how it works. You save me, I give you three wishes. Don’t you watch television?”

“Why not just save yourself, if you’ve magical abilities?” Giles asked calmly.

Jean gave the gathered crowd an exhausted look. “If I just ‘pwinged’ myself away every time I was in peril, I couldn’t grant wishes.”

“So… you want to grant wishes?” Buffy asked, feeling increasingly confused.

“It’s my calling, you know. Plus… grant enough wishes and I get to move on out of this dreary little realm.” She blew an enormous purple gum bubble. “So, you get two more, slayer gal. Make them good!”

Buffy was sure that any further wishing was probably a bad idea. “I’d really like to pass, thanks. As it is, I’m not real thrilled about the first wish having been granted.”

“You can wish to undo it!” Jean replied brightly. “That’s popular. Or wish you’d never met me. Also a common request.”

“What did your last, er, rescuer wish for?” Buffy asked.

“A night of passion with some starlet or other. Turns out he wasn’t as big a Mel Gibson fan as he thought, and her lawyers weren’t thrilled about the whole thing either.” She pointed her finger at Buffy. “Look, you summoned me, so I assume you want something.”

So, tricky and impatient. Not a good combination in a demon. “Just… don’t go anywhere,” Buffy instructed. She motioned for Giles and the Spikes to follow her into the kitchen. “Okay, I have to word this really carefully.”

Giles removed his glasses. “Wouldn’t wishing the whole thing had never occurred be most prudent?”

Buffy gave Spike a sidelong glance, thinking about everything else that wouldn’t have happened if she did that. Wish the whole thing undone and that would mean going back to sulky silence, and she didn’t want that, not ever again. “No. I don’t want her screwing with my life any more than she already has.” Which sounded like a reasonable enough excuse.

“What then?” human-Spike asked. “Ask her to put us back where we belong?”

“Not specific enough,” grabby-Spike warned. “Way too much room to get creative. Could all end up in some sort of hell dimension.”

“Thanks ever so,” muttered dragon-slayer-Spike.

“Well, what if you wished us back where we came from?”

“No good,” Spike insisted. “Could end up with the lot of us in merry ‘old.”

“Giles?” Buffy pleaded. “How do I do this?” She had a bad feeling that if she got this wrong, the Spikes could end up anywhere. Or nowhere.

“Wish for us to be put back exactly when and where she got us from,” grabby-Spike suggested. “Might be the wisest.”

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“Where’s the fun in that?” the genie huffed.

There was a ripple of discontent among the Spikes. Buffy folded her arms. “You know, unless you want another pack of angry demons chasing you down…”

“Fine,” she sighed.

“Well,” Buffy started to say to the Spikes. “Thanks for--” When she blinked, there was no one there.

Except Spike.

Just the one. The actual Spike, the real local Spike. Who might actually someday be her Spike again.

“That should have worked,” Jean grumbled.

“Oh, he came by corporate jet,” Buffy explained with a little smile.

Jean smiled beatifically. “Well then, what’s your last wish going to be, mistress?” She looked Buffy over carefully and took slow steps forward. Buffy closed her eyes when the genie placed a warm hand on her stomach. “I can do almost anything.”

Fresh raging grief coursed through her and she almost said yes, almost wished for it. But… how was that different from what she hadn’t allowed Willow to do? What if the genie decided to get imaginative? The fact was, her child was gone.

“Step away from her now.”

There were warm hands on her shoulders. She’d forgotten how deadly Giles could sound when he was furious. Forcing herself to open her eyes, she glared at the genie. “No. Just… show me that you really did what I asked. I want to see them.”

The genie just shrugged and picked up the television remote. On the screen, human-Spike carried the paper and his bag of pastries into the house. A little blonde girl careened down the stairs and shouted something they couldn’t hear. Buffy felt Giles’s grip on her shoulder tighten.

The scene changed and there was William, tucked into silky red sheets. He turned to watch a door open, and through it stepped Angel. When the older vampire started unbuttoning his shirt, Spike shot the genie an evil look and she obediently waved at the screen.

Another Spike flushed a cigarette down a toilet and wandered down a hall. He poked his head into a room where two breathing boys slept. Too late Buffy remembered his comment about donations. She figured he was just talking about sperm banks, but maybe he had been trying to drop a bigger hint. Then again, it wasn’t like she and Spike were on anything like baby-making terms at the moment, so… She pushed the thought aside and watched a lush version of herself greet grabby-Spike in an outfit that appeared to consist of leather, lace, and some sort of magic that kept it suspended on her body.

Jean changed the image again before things got any more revealing. An irritated looking Spike stomped into what Buffy figured was Angel’s office. The two vampires shouted at each other for a while, getting all up in each other’s face until Angel put a hand on dragon-slaying-Spike’s shoulder and then they really were in each other’s faces. Or at least their tongues were.

“That’s good, thanks,” Buffy informed the genie.

Jean nibbled her lip. “It seemed like there were more.” Off Buffy’s look, she added, “Guess they weren’t to your liking.” With that she nodded, tilted her head, and vanished.

“Well, that was fascinating,” Giles concluded. “And slightly alarming. I should organize my notes while my thoughts are fresh.”

Buffy thanked her Watcher for all his help. Then it was just her and Spike standing in her living room with the morning sun beating against the drapes.

“Reckon I could make it to the school if you’ve got a blanket to lend. Could rouse the girls for a morning workout. Since they’re so anxious to see yours truly.”

“That sounds good,” Buffy agreed, handing him the afghan from the couch. “And maybe later, we could, I don’t know, get a drink or something.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You asking me for a date, slayer?”

Buffy squared her shoulders. “Yeah, I think I am.”

Spike gave her a solemn nod. “Right then. That means you’re buying.”

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Thanks for reading. The next part is with Kar now. And since a few of you have mentioned your fondness for him, I’ll divulge that not-Spike will have a scene in the next and final chapter.