Chapter Seven 

It had taken awhile but Giles finally had everyone seated on either a chair or the floor around the blonde couple, who intermittently smiled shyly at the other while continuing to clasp their hands together.  A small patch of skin, the ultra soft padding beside her thumb, was becoming so sensitised by Spike’s own stroking thumb that she thought very soon she would moan.  It made her want more, and she relived that kiss from earlier with a gentle sigh of yearning.  Her skin almost rose to meet his caress and she wondered how she ever lived without that kind of feeling.

 

Buffy couldn’t think.  On one hand she was aware that everyone was staring at her and that her friends wore horrified expressions of fear of the unknown, while Tara and Anya shook up the mix with their own smiles of understanding and lack of interest.  Anya, of course, contributed the latter. On the other hand, despite all this confusion, Buffy didn’t feel that what she was doing was wrong.  She felt the most overwhelming sensation in the pit of her stomach that she was acknowledging something that had been under wraps for far too long.  That she would be committing a grave error and insult to the vamp beside her if she did not offer him public comfort and support.  It was bewildering though, as she had never before entertained any romantic or friendly feelings towards Spike, other than that strange claim to family. Oh, and the fact that she had always thought he was the sexiest man she had ever seen.

 

Giles cleared his throat in aggravated purpose and everyone looked toward him to begin.

 

“Right, then.  I guess I will take up from where I was interrupted.  We have had a call from Cordelia.  Xander, do not open your mouth.”  Xander closed his mouth.  “Cordelia, it appears, receives visions from the Powers That Be, and she told Angel to come here, as Buffy would need some help with Spike.  Instead of finding out all of what she had to say, Angel came tearing in here, and waited for Buffy to haul Spike over the threshold.  Now, before any of you ask, Angel detected that Spike has a soul…”

 

“Oh boy…” Xander began but Giles rushed on.

 

“And that is why he is not tied up.  Also, quite incredibly, Buffy seems to be sharing some kind of bond with him.”  Buffy blushed under the scrutiny of the room and Spike squeezed her hand once before letting her go.  Immediately she felt cold and alone.  The difference was suddenly frightening and Spike’s nose twitched in confusion at her sudden scent of fear.

 

“Now, I have a little information from Cordelia, but I am very interested at the timing of when all of you decided to be in dire need of research.  Has something happened?  Maybe it is related in some way?”

 

The four newest arrivals looked at each other, with Tara ducking shyly behind her hair. 

 

“Something really weird happened, Giles.  Not frightening weird, ooh, but sorta, I mean a little scary, right?”  Willow asked Tara who very avidly nodded her head.

 

“I’ll definitely go for weird, in a ‘don’t ever want that freaky Friday happenin’ in my parental basement abode ever again’, kind of weird.”  Anya smiled flirtatiously at Xander, winking and looking him up and down. He flushed and quickly looked down.

 

“And what pray tell, was so weird to have you all rushing over to my home at this time of night?”

 

“Well, um, Tara and I were doing a spell.  Sort of an astral projection thingy, well, as I got to the end, my hair went white.”

 

“L-l-like a G-Goddess,” Tara contributed.

 

Giles raised his brows in thought.

 

“Hmmm, that is very interesting.  And nothing happened to Tara?”

 

“Nope, nada.”  Willow smiled at her friend but no one noticed as they all looked to Giles for his interpretation.  Without offering any ideas, he passed on to Xander.

 

“What happened to you, Xander?”

 

“Oh, well, it was sort of more Ahn than me,” Xander started but was interrupted by Anya.

 

“We were having sex,” she told them all confidently.

 

“Good for you, luv, though you’re pretty enough to not scrape the bottom of the barrel.” Spike leered at her, receiving a sexy, suggestive smile from Anya and a death glare from Xander.  Too late he remembered Buffy and how she may have interpreted that comment.  His nervous glance at her found her looking away from him in obvious hurt, and he went back to feeling guilty and bad all over again.  It may never have occurred to him to carry a torch for the Slayer before, but after that earlier kiss he was kicking himself for risking further physical, soft episodes. 

 

Xander decided to ignore the bleached vampire. “She had this big cut appear from her neck on this side,” and he indicated the left side of his own neck, “to her waist on the other side,” and he made a diagonal slash across his front. “The wound started bleeding, then she fainted.  I freaked because I thought  she was dead.”  Xander was obviously still affected by the event as he offered no jokes or levity in his inflection, but added as an afterthought, “Oh, and my eye started to sting really bad and I couldn’t see from it at all until Anya became conscious again.”

 

“How incredibly fascinating. Oh, and yes I’m sure that it was rather frightening for you, Xander.  How remarkable that all that happened around the same time.  I am thinking Spike received his soul and Buffy seems to have become, well, smitten…” His eyes widened as he realised that he had earlier walked in on his Slayer kissing another vampire, another with a soul.  He had ignored the moment then, a feeling of ‘let it be’ overtaking his better judgement, but now he felt the full effect of his alarm.  He decided to continue ignoring it for now but resolved to speak to Buffy about it later.

 

“So nothing happened with Tara, and nothing happened with me…”

 

“Um, Giles,” Angel interjected, thinking over the past few hours.  “I think it might be possible that something might have happened to you earlier.”

 

Giles took in Angel’s hesitation and wondered why he seemed so nervous. Then he remembered his earlier almost overwhelming anger and hatred for the vampire, and couldn’t for the life of him work out why he had felt so violently toward him.  When Angel had left Sunnydale the previous year, they had been almost back to tentative if not friendly terms, and the fact that he was leaving Buffy, although upsetting for her, was the greatest act he considered the vampire had ever done.

 

“Oh,” he answered in understanding.  “I guess I suddenly felt a very intense hatred for all things vampire with a soul.  S-S-Sorry about that, Angel.”  Angel sighed in relief, ending his sojourn into memory, trying to work out what he had done to set the Watcher off.  Nothing at all apparently.

 

“So Giles, what’s the what?”  Buffy had been silent up to now, hoping that everyone would forget that ‘smitten’ remark, and still hurt that Spike had flirted with Anya while right next to her.  Her confidence had taken a jab and she wondered if he actually liked her at all, despite this compunction they had to touch each other.

 

“Cordelia said that Spike had acted like a Champion and the Powers that Be were allowing him his heart’s desire as a reward. She also said that this was from the future Spike, not a different dimension.  Judging by what Anya and Xander experienced, I’m tempted to think they suffered war wounds.”

 

“Buffy told me she saw me turn to dust,” Spike offered and Giles looked to the pair swiftly in surprise.

 

“Did she?  I suppose that was when you first held his hand, Buffy, and they burst into flame?”

 

Buffy nodded, but said nothing further.

 

“And what exactly is my heart’s desire?”  Spike quirked a brow and tilted his head to the side, giving Buffy a look which made her shiver.  She refused to look back at him and Spike understood that he had really hurt her by appearing interested in the other woman.  He remembered returning to Sunnydale, after finding that she hadn’t passed the Gem of Amara on to Angel during his lengthy torture session, to rip out her heart and send it in a box to his Sire.  Not only did he feel queasy now at that thought, but he suddenly felt the need to apologise to Peaches, particularly after that speech earlier about never having hated him.

 

“Sorry about the torture las’ week, mate.  You know I didn’ mean it right?”  Spike aimed a hopeful smile at Angel and received a delighted laugh.

 

“Spike, I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t forgive you for that.  Angelus taught you well.”

 

All eyes suddenly narrowed at both vampires and they shared an awkward and guilty moment as they squirmed in their seats.  Right then, don’t mention the poof’s alter ego, or torture methods.  Check!

 

“She didn’t know that part.” Giles pulled the rooms attention back to the previous question.  “The actual reward, but I think it must have something to do with Buffy.”  Giles turned to Tara.  “Do you have any idea what might have happened, Tara?”

 

Tara blushed at being asked something so consequential in front of the whole gang, but nervous though she might be, she was confident in her abilities and interpretation.

 

“I saw the joining of their souls.  They belong together.”

 

“That’s impossible.”

 

“No way.”

 

Xander and Angel both stood abruptly and shouted at the witch. She shrank back, afraid that she had said something terrible.

 

Giles stared at the two, resigned to his belief that Tara was indeed right in what she saw.  He knew something had changed.  He just didn’t know what.

 

“Buffy, do you have anything to add?”

 

Buffy felt angry at Spike, but even more importantly, she felt angry with herself. She didn’t understand what had come over her since coming across Spike’s collapsed form under the tree, but it would obviously be a mistake on her part if she let it take over her now without further attempts to understand what had brought the soul to Spike.  She felt slowness was not only needed, but imperative if she was to keep her heart whole, and she could not forget, no matter how hard she tried, that he didn’t believe her love at the end anyway.  It felt like a rejection, and that, teamed with his come hither smirk at Anya, had hurt her and put her on the defensive.

 

“I saw some kind of battle, sorry Wills, you guys were nowhere in sight.  Oh, but I think I did see Faith,” she remembered with a gasp.  Buffy started to feel a desperation to get her account over and done with so she could get out of there. “Anyway, Spike suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree, told me that he could feel his soul, and then turned to dust from the sunlight as the building around us collapsed.  Oh!” She jumped in her seat excitedly.  “It looked like the Hellmouth, and there were these really, really ugly vamps turning to dust all around us.  Also, there were a couple of dead girls lying on the ground- they had weapons- and Giles,” she looked to him questioningly.  “They looked like Slayers.”  She was done.  Buffy refused to say any more.  The love stuff was personal, and she wasn’t going to put herself on the line or in the line of fire for anyone, man or vampire.  If there was anything there between them then she would work it out with Spike, if she ever decided he deserved to speak to her again.  That kiss was obviously just a fluke. Besides, he wasn’t ever getting that close again.  Just like that she could feel the walls around her heart rebuild, and she was glad for it.  She had been in danger of falling for her enemy, and it was about time she remembered who she was.

 

She was, after all, the Vampire Slayer.

 

Xander and Angel had not resumed their seats during her explanation and despite the friendly remarks the two vampires had exchanged earlier, Angel was obviously not willing to allow anyone in the room, particularly the bleached vampire, to believe his soul was anyone’s but his own.  Oh no, no soul attaching to Buffy.  If anyone’s soul belonged to Buffy, it would be his.

 

“In my vision, it was pretty obvious that Spike was my champion.  If Spike hadn’t sacrificed himself then I believe we would have lost the war.  He saved us.”  Her voice held no enthusiasm, no praise, and she continued her refusal to look at Spike.

 

“Oh, and Spike said that those commando guys I’ve seen around kidnapped him and did something to his head.  I vote we check into it tomorrow.  I’m going home.”

 

Without looking at the dumbfounded expressions on everyone’s faces she got to her feet and headed to the door.  “Willow, come with?  And Tara?  Are you on campus to?”

 

At the pretty blonde’s nervous and confused nod Willow rose to her feet.  “Sure Buff, we’re right behind you.  Bye.”  Willow gave a little finger wiggle wave and the two girls were out the door after Buffy.

 

“Well, that was confusing,” Anya stated.  “Though I think she has the right idea.  Come on Xander, I think we should also go back to bed!”  Xander jumped up with a funny cough and raced to the door with Anya’s hand in his, and like the girls before him, they were gone.

 

“Right.  Don’ suppose I could get some more blood, Watcher.  Right knackered, I am.”  Spike had watched sadly as Buffy left, knowing that he would have some ground to make up, even though for the life of him he couldn’t work out why he felt it was so important to prove to Buffy that he wasn’t interested in Anya.

 

“Y-yes.  I’ll just go get that for you, shall I?”

 

Two vampires were left alone in the room.

 

“Don’t even think about it Spike.  She deserves something better than the both of us.”