Little Bitty Puzzle Pieces

By PJzallday

Ready

After kicking back, trying to think of anything but the difficult decisions that would have to be made in the coming days and eating take-out food in Faith's suite, Buffy walked Dawn to her room. "We'll work this out," Buffy assured her sister. "Try to get some sleep." With a hug, she said, "Good night," then turned to go back to take the stairs down to Spike's room.

The room was quiet and dark when she crept in. Not wanting to wake Spike, Buffy went straight to the bathroom to ready herself for bed. Having brushed and flossed her teeth and changed into her tank top and sweats, she slipped into bed to spoon against Spike's warm back. Contentedly, she slid an arm over his side to rest against his chest and as she did so, she could feel his breath hitch. "Spike?" she cooed softly.

He took her hand in his. "Yes luv."

"What is it?" she asked, shifting herself to lean over him to try to see his face.

"Been thinkin' is all," he replied vaguely.

"About?"

"Oh, nothin'," said Spike, before giving her hand a squeeze. "Just glad you're here." He took a deep pensive breath. "So, did you lot figure out what to do?"

"No. Not really." She settled back down onto her pillow and explained with a note of sarcasm, "The only thing we could agree on was Thai over Mexican."

"When you do this thing…" He swallowed the nervous lump that formed in his throat. "…this time travel thing; it'll be like none of this ever happened."

"I know. That's true."

Drowned in his own melancholy, he couldn't tell that she shared his sadness.

It was late and they were both tired — too tired to think any more about the future; too tired to dwell on the past. With several deep breaths, they drifted off to sleep.

***

He found her in the darkness; she'd come… looking for him?

"Buffy," he said with a mix of relief and awe.

She was suffering; it was plain to him through the sadness in her eyes. Even in the shadows, he could see her pain. "I do remember what I said; the promise... to protect her. If I'da done that ... even if I didn't make it ... you wouldn't've had to jump." It was hard, terribly hard for him to meet her eyes. His heart was so full of regret at his failing, so overwhelmed by her return. "But I want you to know I did save you. Not when it counted, of course, but... after that; every night after that. I'd see it all again... I'd do somethin' different. Faster or more clever, you know? Dozens of times, lots of different ways…" He drifted off but he needed her to know, "Every night I save you."

***

"Oh… No… Not the world without shrimp!" Buffy shrieked as she shook herself awake. "Weird dream. I shouldn't eat spicy food before bed." She noticed Spike leaning against the wall looking out the window. "Spike?" Buffy yawned. "Is something wrong?"

"No. Buffy…" With a sad smile, he explained, "I just remembered something."

***

"I don't like it," Buffy told the group who'd gathered in the boardroom at Wolfram and Hart.

With arms folded across her chest, Dawn added her own protest, "I don't either."

"I should be the one to fix this," insisted Buffy.

"But Buffy, Spike's right," said Willow. "If this doesn't work- if we send him to the wrong dimension or whatever — not that we're going to do that," she tried to assure, "but… we're going to need you here."

"And Dawn, you can't go back," Fred noted. "That would only increase the odds of Glory being successful in finding you and opening up the vortex."

"The four of us are the only ones here that know what happened back then," Willow explained. "We're the only one's that have any real experience dealing with Glory and who know our way around Sunnydale."

Buffy looked at her friend.

"Oh, I can't go," Willow stated. "For the spell to have its best chance of working, I need to be grounded to channel the energy. And it's going to take a lot," she added with a heavy sigh.

"And… um… we don't really want to… tip off the Senior Partners," Gunn interjected, "so we can't offer that much of the firm's power."

"So you see, Spike really is our best hope to correct this problem," Wesley concluded.

"Would you excuse us a few moments?" Buffy asked.

"Certainly. You can use my office," offered Wesley.

***

Briskly, Buffy blew across the lobby forcing clients and firm employees alike to clear a path as Spike sauntered along behind her. Standing sternly at Wesley's open door, she scowled at Spike who refused to be intimidated. Once he was inside, she stepped in and slammed the door. "This is not going to happen." Buffy stomped her foot to emphasize the point.

"Buffy, look-"

"I won't let you do this by yourself," she declared. "Do you honestly think you're the only person to ever feel guilty about something you did? Or didn't do? What about me?"

"Well…" He smirked, holding his chin high and looking down at her. "I felt guilty first."

Buffy's eyes widened, stunned by his arrogance. "I walked away," she argued. "No. I ran away and left you to die in the Hellmouth."

"Guess we got lucky there then," he joked. "See: not dead." He stood with his arms spread widely. "Quite the contrary-"

"That's not the point!" Frustrated, she rolled her eyes trying to fight back the tears stinging in them. "I left you! I… left you…" She was shaking. "I don't know… Maybe part of me believed you'd find a way… a way to get out. Maybe after all those times that you went away and came back again, I just assumed you'd do it again. I…"

"I stayed true to form then."

Buffy glared.

"Buffy… luv. Regardless of whether you go, or I go-"

"Or we go together," Buffy growled.

"If the plan works, all o' this… between us… it'll be gone." He turned to the window, putting his back to Buffy. "The only reason you ever paid me any mind… is because you died; because Willow and the others dragged you back; because-"

Defensively, she grabbed his arm, forcing him to face her then she protested, "That's not true!"

"You came to me because you wanted to punish yourself," he said bitterly, his eyes intensely fixed on hers, "for… whatever you figured you needed to be punished." He shrugged her off and turned back to the window. "You don't die; you don't get resurrected; you don't come to me; I stay an evil soulless demon." As he spoke, his voice had become increasingly fragile until he cleared his throat and chuckled. "Probably die some meaningless death when that chip explodes in my 'ead." Then he turned back to her, his eyes pleading. "You have to let me do this. I need to at least think I got some purpose left in my life."

***

"OK, so we think we've cracked most of the elements to do the spell," Willow announced to the group who'd reassembled days later in the Hotel office.

"It wasn't really all that difficult, actually," Fred said. "Opening portals is pretty straightforward — when you know what you're doing." The physicist grinned proudly. "And we think we've figured out how to supersede the time-space continuum. Of course, we… um… won't know for sure until we try it," she muttered, losing some of the confidence with which she'd begun, "and we can't actually try it, since this is pretty much gonna be a one-time thing, so… um…"

"All we need now is to finalize the time and who's going to go," said Willow nervously glancing from Buffy to Spike, who had been very quiet and reclusive the past couple of days.

"Oh, and we could use an item that might have been around back then," Fred added. "It's not essential, but it could simplify the process. If none of you Sunnydale folks have anything, I thought maybe we could look through… um… Angel's things for something."

"No Fred," Buffy blurted. "Use these; I've had them for years," she offered as she unhooked her tiny hoop earrings. "Hardly ever take them out. I was wearing them when I fought Glory."

"So we've got the focus item," Willow noted. "What about the time frame? And the travelers?"

***

"So what's this then?" asked Spike, opening the narrow rectangular box.

"Oh those are a collection of ortho-mystic micro-processors and meta-psychological stabilizer units," said Knox, the keen young man assisting Fred as they pulled equipment from boxes in the Hotel lobby.

"Sorry, I don't speak loo-" He stopped himself. "They're what now?"

"They're mini computers that'll help you once you've made the trip back in time," explained Fred as she bustled between a large crate and the front desk. "It's not uncommon when travelling inter-dimensionally to get disoriented, but as long as you keep the units on you, they'll help to stabilize your thought processes and memory."

"Look like dominos to me."

"Indeed, and they will to virtually anyone else who sees them," said Wesley. "But you see, each of these units serves a specific function and will aid you in achieving your objective."

"May I?" asked Fred, reaching for the box.

"Sure."

The young scientist removed a couple of the small black tiles which had green dots and held them for Spike to see. "I did a little tinkering with these ones. They'll provide a distortion wave at instant tellers and stuff like that so you can get money for whatever basics you need while you're there."

"Just don't get carried away," Willow cautioned. "You don't want to draw attention to yourself."

Then Fred pulled out a pair of tiles with red tabs. "These are my favourite," she stated with a wide grin. Looking around to the others, she grimaced and added with a serious tone, "But they're only for absolute emergencies."

After some instruction on how to use each set of devices, Spike let out a heavy breath. "Right then." He leaned back against the lab table and crossed his arms. "When do we do this thing?" he asked, trying to maintain his resolve.

"We can start whenever you're ready," Fred said, "but… wouldn't you like to… have some time… to say goodbye to Buffy?"

"Why would he have to 'say good-bye to Buffy'?" the Slayer demanded as she roared down the stairs.

Fred scowled at Spike. "I thought you said you talked to her about this."

"I did." His lip curled in a half-grin. "Didn't say she went along with it," he explained quietly, hardly moving his lips. Turning to Buffy, he covered, "Fred here just thought, well, in case… something goes wrong with this bit o' scientific hocus pocus, that we might want some time together; last request of a dying man and whatnot." He waggled a distractingly lascivious brow at Buffy. "But I think the sooner we do this, the better," he concluded with an almost sad tone.

Anxiously, Fred asked, "If you're sure?"

"I am."

Moments later, Spike and Buffy stood in front of the opening of a large plexi-glass chamber as Fred and Knox did a final scan of the portal field. Willow sat on the floor in the small adjacent private office, clearing her mind in preparation for her incantation. Wesley was leaning against the front desk with a clear view of both Willow and the time-travel chamber when Gunn appeared with Lorne.

"You think this'll work?"

"It has to," Wes said simply. Seeing Willow's nod of readiness, he announced, "It's time."

Buffy took Spike's hand. They saw the portal open.

He squeezed her hand then, as he released it, he entered the chamber.

As Buffy stepped forward, the portal closed. "What the-?"

***

After a flash of bright lights and screeching sounds, Spike opened his eyes. "Home… sweet… home."

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