MEMORIES (1/1)
 

Spike slid his duster off, folding it neatly before he sat down. He took
a drag from his cigarette as he looked at the stars. Unlike Dru, they
didn't sing to him. All they did was twinkle every now and then. Willow
had told him once that she believed each star represented someone's
soul. When you died, your soul went to heaven and became a star. He
remembered that as he watched them.
 

Willow always had little theories about everything. He and the others
would complain about them, but they knew that they loved to hear them.
He always loved to hear her talk...babble as she called it. He took a
drink from his bottle, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He
had fallen in love with her because of that babble. Well, it wasn't the
only reason. Her mind...her beauty...her heart...her soul...all of it
made her the woman he loved. He had known when, instead of irritating
him, her babbling made him smile. He wasn't suppose to smile. Not at one
of the slayer's friends.
 

That had been March, two years ago. They had such great times together.
He had been surprised that they had been accepted so readily. The slayer
had given him a warning before smiling and telling Willow she hoped she
would be happy. The slayer wasn't too bad after all. He remembered
Willow in his bed, her face flushed, her eyes dazed with passion. She
had made him feel. He had loved her for that. Now, he hated it.
 

It had been a year since she had left. He took a deep drag from the
marlboro. He couldn't say left. Since she had been taken. It was a night
like any other. They had been walking back to their apartment with the
slayer and the others. Vampires had attacked. Willow had been hurt
trying to save him. He had held her in his arms as she had died. Her
last words speaking of her love for him and her need for him to go on.
 

It had taken the slayer and the boy to get him to let go of her. He
hadn't wanted to lose her...the only woman who had ever loved
him....whom he had truly loved. They had buried her at night so that he
could be there. He had stood silently watching them lower his fire into
the ground. No one had dared speak to him. They could see what he was
going through. For two months, he had barely survived. Each day, her
face came to his mind. He saw her everywhere. She was still with him.
 

It had been the slayer that had forced him to move on. She inisisted
that it was what Willow wanted. She too had heard Willow's last words.
She had promised her dying friend to not let Spike go bad again. Over
time, he had started helping them again. He took out his loss on the
vampires they fought. Each one he imagined being the one that had taken
his Willow.
 

He took another drink, letting the bottle fall. He put his head back,
feeling the cold marble behind him. He missed her more every day. Time
could not heal his heart. Nothing could replace her. She had been one of
a kind. His for such a short time. She'd only been 19 when she died. Too
young. He wiped a tear from his cheek.
 

He moved his head slightly, his eyes running over the words on her
tombstone. He traced her name with his finger, whispering  it aloud. He
spoke to her softly, of what had happened recently. He told her of
Xander and Anya's marriage. Of Buffy making the dean's list. Of Giles
getting a new position with the coucil. Then he spoke of his emptiness
that her death had brought. Of how horrible it was to face each day
without her beside him.
 

Spike kissed her name before looking back at the sky. He saw one star
twinkle brightly and smiled softly. Maybe that was her. Maybe she knew
that it was time. He closed his eyes, memories running through his mind
like an old movie. Their first date...their first kiss...the first time
they'd said those three words...When he opened his eyes again, the
sorrow was gone. It had been replaced by hope. He stared at the sky as
the bright colors of the rising sun chased away the night. It was a year
ago today they had been separated. It was now time to rejoin her.
 

Buffy walked to the grave slowly. She saw the folded up leather
duster....the clothes laying across the ground. She picked up the
duster, tears in her eyes. A year. He had fulfilled his promise to
Willow. She had known when they hadn't heard from him what he had
done...where he had done it. She kneeled down, spreading the ashed over
her best friend's grave. Now, maybe they could be together again. Be
happy.
 

She looked up at the sky, tears falling down her face for all that had
been lost. She saw two stars that appeared to be touching. She smiled
through her tears as they almost winked at her. Memories of Willow's
theory came to mind. Funny thing about memories. They never let you
forget the important things. She softly said goodbye to the stars before
standing, the duster in her arms. The stars twinkled as the blonde girl
left, memories of a red head and a vampire that had found true love
flowing through her mind.
 

************THE END********************
 

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