Side By Side


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There was something very surreal about playing happy couples with Spike but then they had shared everything else in the gamut of human experience, why shouldn’t they have this? Sometimes it would seem like the most natural thing in the world but at times, she would be struck by just how far they had come together.

Coming home from a day out to find Spike cooking dinner was still something that her brain struggled to cope with: it was so domestic, so very like old-marrieds. When she mentioned it to Spike though, he gave her a very active demonstration of how very unlike old-marrieds they were. And of course that was the best thing about this apartment: Spike on tap. And after a six month drought, she was making up for it whenever she got the opportunity. Not that this relationship was just about the sex, because they had been there, done that. Well, she had anyway.

That was the most surreal thing about this: curling up with Spike on the sofa in the evenings and watching television. It was just so very… normal. But she wouldn’t change it for the world: she had been miserable after Sunnydale and now she was happier than she had been in a long time. She noticed it in her appearance: her eyes were brighter, her hair shinier, and she no longer had bags under her eyes. Which was a little surprising with the lack of sleep she currently enjoyed, but for much better reasons. She couldn’t ask for anything more.



And adding Dawn to the equation had gone even better than she had thought. When she had returned to Rome and explained the situation to her sister, Dawn had been outraged at the vampire but then her yearning to see him in the flesh had grown and she had finally shyly asked if maybe she could come visit. When Buffy had explained that there was a spare room for her, she had lit up and they sat down to organise when she could get out.

Her sister’s reunion with the vampire had been almost as emotional as her own and for a moment, when Dawn had entered the apartment and caught sight of the vampire, she had feared it would be much more violent. But after a full few minutes of staring at him, Dawn had rushed the vampire and thrown her arms around him. She had railed at him for being an idiot and not calling them, but she could clearly see her sister’s joy at seeing him again. She knew her sister had always regretted not making her peace with the vampire and now, they both seemed to be doing better with the past behind them.

She was even surprised by how close they grew in the space of a few weeks. When she caught them in the middle of a particularly sibling-like moment, it made her smile and she wondered if this was what they had been like when she had been dead and buried in the ground. She felt a small pang of guilt for keeping them apart but Spike dismissed her guilt, as always defending her, even against herself.



Luckily for her, she had an ally in her sister in one important area: being angry at Angel. She had confronted him after their return from San Francisco and he had been taken aback at her vehemence.

“How could you do that to me?” she cried, “You knew what he meant to me. Why do you always think you know what’s best for me?”

“I only wanted you to be happy, Buffy.”

“If you wanted me to be happy, you wouldn’t have kept Spike being back a secret. I saw you right after the battle and you knew how I felt.”

The vampire had the good sense to look abashed and luckily for him, before she could continue her tirade, Spike interrupted, one hand on the small of her back.

“He just wanted you to live your life, love,” he soothed, thumb stroking over her back.

She didn’t know who was more surprised by his comment, her or Angel, but both were dumbfounded. She looked up at him with wide eyes and he smirked.

“He was wrong, but it was my fault for listening to him in the first place.”

“Well, that’s true,” she conceded, frowning at Angel and turning her gaze back to him, “You’re both idiots.”

He laughed and drew her close, pressing a kiss to her temple. She wasn’t completely ready to forgive the older vampire though and was glad she could spend a good few hours bitching about him with her sister.



All in all, life here in LA was turning out well. But that didn’t mean they didn’t have their fair share of drama. As well as the day-to-day drama of living with a teenager, supernatural activity was always present in LA. Even for a semi-retired Slayer, there was plenty of work, even if Wolfram & Hart did have a monopoly. Despite Spike’s attempts at persuasion, she simply refused to work for Angel but she would help occasionally on big projects. During these, she got to know the people Angel had been working with and more than any, Fred, who had reached out to her on that first day. If it wasn’t for Fred, she wasn’t sure she would ever have got up the courage to go to Spike and would most likely have continued to think him indifferent.

Needless to say, she wasn’t the only one that mourned when the sweet girl was killed and her body invaded with some sort of hell god. Not exactly having had good experiences with hell gods before, she was more wary of Illyria than the others. She missed Fred and she knew Spike felt the same. When he had found out, he had been so unusually quiet and it was only when they were in their room later that she realised the true extent of his grief. At first she had been astonished by his silent tears, but then she had wrapped her arms around him tightly, crying with him for the sweet Texan. It was even harder to see the god prance around in her body, occasionally mimicking her mannerisms. But she seemed to have been accepted into the group, if not for her fighting skill at least.



Not long after Fred’s death and Illyria’s arrival, they were all summoned to Angel’s office and something in her knew it was not good news. She looked around the familiar faces and got a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. Fingers twined tightly around Spike’s where he leant against the wall next to her, she watched Angel intently. She knew that look too well: he had something planned.

“I want to take out every member of the Black Thorn,” he announced suddenly, his voice echoing in the large room.

She hadn’t been here long, but long enough to know that what he was proposing was a suicide mission, probably even more dangerous than her own fight against the First Evil.

“You need to decide if it’s worth dying for,” he continued.

Not quite the line she would have gone for, but maybe it would work. She looked around at the faces surrounding her and suddenly, her heart jerked as she felt Spike’s hand slip from hers. She knew what he would say almost before he said it.

“I’m in.”

She turned to him in horror and could feel all eyes on them as he turned back to her.

“Do I even get a say in this?” she asked, trying hard to keep a voice from shaking.

He said nothing but she knew it was no good. Dragging her eyes away from him, she stormed out of the office, her heart thrumming in her ears.



As she had expected, Spike caught up to her halfway down the corridor and grabbed her, pinning her against the corridor and forcing her eyes to his with firm pressure to her chin.

“Buffy…”

“You’re just throwing yourself straight in there. It’s suicide, Spike. You really think I can lose you again?” she whispered, her voice breaking on her last words.

He stepped closer, his body brushing against hers, his mouth coming to rest against her forehead.

“This is what we do, love. We’re made to fight. You think I’m gonna sit by and watch my friends go into battle?”

She sighed and grasped at his arms, fighting back the headache and the tears.

“I can’t lose you again, Spike.”

“You won’t. Not if you’re fighting by my side.”

She raised her eyes to his and knew that he was right. They were made to fight, it was in their blood. They would be at Angel’s side on judgement day because it was what they were made to do, champions both.

“I love you,” she whispered.

“I love you,” he answered, dipping his head and kissing her softly.

There was no stopping the motions of the impending fight, but come what may, this was what was important: love.


THE END


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A/N: Well, we've come to the end. And with exams looming, this may be the last you hear from me for a while... then again, with my supreme powers of procrastination [see 'I'm Your Baby Tonight', 'Taking The Edge Off'] who knows... Thanks to you all for reading!