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Chapter 10 - One Thousand Light Years

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About an hour later, Xander stood before the house on 53 Orion. He’d watched as Buffy and then, Rigel and the little dog, left the house. Spike must be all alone now, he thought. The sky had clouded over and it began to rain. He placed his hand indecisively on the wooden gate and then pulled it back as a searing pain shot up his hand and arm. He glanced up and down the street and then, with a quick movement, he jumped over the fence. He tried the front door but it was locked. He went around to the back of the house.

* * * * *

Spike sat on the back porch and drank from a large bottle of whiskey. He’d made his way downstairs in the empty house and found his secret stash. He didn’t want to think anymore. He knew he had to make a decision about what to tell Buffy, but he just couldn’t face it. He’d tried to sort out his feelings and all he could think at this point was that he’d rather just end it all rather than be without her. He really didn’t want to leave her. But he also knew he couldn’t bear to have her constantly worrying about him.

“Stupid bloody mess. I should’ve just found a way to get the chip out and come back and killed them all,” he thought angrily. “Or better yet, never come back at all.”

He thought about her arms around him last night and the sweet kisses she’d given him, and he swore to himself.

“I’m bleeding trapped. No way out.”

He felt the wind rise and heard the sudden splash of rain against the porch roof. He stood up and stumbled out into the garden.

* * * * *

Xander watched as Spike walked unsteadily out into the middle of the rainstorm.

“Now or never,” he thought, and moved toward the blind vampire.

Spike collapsed next to the spring. “River of tears, right in my own backyard,” he laughed. “I’ll give you a river of tears…bloody damn cruel fate…nothing…” He paused, sensing the presence of another being.

“Xander, my friend! Here to finish the job? Care for a little nip? Perhaps you won’t miss this time,” he laughed.

Xander stood over the vampire. He didn’t speak. He was trying to really look at him. Trying to see, trying to feel the presence of a soul, of something different in the pathetic being, crumpled at his feet. He tried to remember what he’d decided to do, what his decision had been. But all he felt was cold and lost. And frankly, he felt just like Spike looked, at the moment. He flung himself down on the grass next to Spike and pulled the bottle out of his hand.

“Thanks,” he said and took a long pull off the bottle.

The two sat silently, side by side in the rain, and finished off the bottle.

Spike gave Xander detailed, and rather rambling, instructions as to where to find another one.

Spike lay on his back and let the cold rain wash over him. His hand was draped over the stone ledge of the spring’s pool, and he splashed his hand back and forth in the water. He rolled over to his side and submerged his head into the icy cold water. He felt the water slowly numb the pain in his head and eyes and he took a few deep gulps from the heart of the pool.

“So nice, so cool,” he thought, “Maybe, I can dive in. Just disappear into the center of the earth.” He started to slide himself into the pool.

Xander saw Spike lying with his head and shoulders beneath the water, slowly slipping into the pool. He rushed over to him and dragged him out of the water. Spike rolled back over onto his back and started laughing.

“Are you crazy?” Xander yelled.

“What’d you do that for? Stupid wanker. All my problems would’ve been over.”

“I’m sorry.” Xander said suddenly.

“Yeah…too late, mate. Doesn’t matter anyway ‘cause I’m outta here.”

“I’m sorry.”

Xander threw the bottle he’d been holding down on the grass next to Spike. “I know there’s absolutely no way in this world you’ll ever forgive me. But I’m sorry.”

Spike felt a strange tingling sensation in his veins, felt his body flush with light and an odd warmth. He struggled to sit up. He picked up the bottle and set it upright on the grass and tried to open the cap.

“You know, Xander. I know why you hate me. Strange. I know why you did it. And you know what’s so bloody awful about the whole thing?”

“What’s that?” Xander took the bottle from Spike and opened the cap. He took a quick drink and handed it back Spike.

“I would’ve done the same thing. If I saw you with Buffy. Only I wouldn’t have waited so long. Would’ve done it in a heartbeat,” he laughed. “If I had one…”

He took a deep drink and sighed, “Women. Are they demons?”

Xander shivered, suddenly cold in the rain, which was now pouring down in thick sheets.

“Woman I love is a sweet demon…not sure about Buffy, though she is awfully strong. You know one time…”

Spike and Xander reminisced, enthusiastically, if not a little incoherently, about their loves and the adventures they’d shared over the past years. They finished drinking the second bottle. And then Spike told Xander what he’d done to get his soul back.

“Must really love her,” Xander mused. “Never understood.”

“Yeah…well it hasn’t been a fairytale romance that’s for sure. I can forgive you for not understanding, mate. Most of the time I didn’t really understand myself. A vampire and a vampire slayer! Hah!”

“You talking to a man in love with a vengeance demon. Doesn’t get weirder than that.”

They argued drunkenly for several minutes about who had the stranger relationship. They were interrupted by a quick flash of lightening which illuminated the sky.

Xander jumped up and pulled Spike to his feet. “Come on. We better get inside. Before we both end up crispy critters.”

* * * * *

Rigel and Maisa waited at Willie’s bar until the rain stopped and then made their way back home. Rigel paused at the front door. He’d heard laughter coming from inside the house. He smiled to himself and opened the door.

“We’re back! With lots of food!” he shouted.

He went into the kitchen and found Xander and Spike sitting at the kitchen table. Xander was reading aloud to Spike from the book, ‘Are Humans really Demons?’ Xander was dressed in some of Spike’s old clothes and was wearing Spike’s black duster.

Rigel looked back and forth between the two and smiled. “Looks like you two have been doing a little traveling together. Light years. Just about a thousand light years from last night, I’d guess.”

Xander and Spike laughed.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Spike smiled.

“Perhaps I do.” Rigel set the heavy bags down on the table. “I think you fellows need something to eat. “Xander? Can you cook?” Rigel pulled out several jars of blood and a hug slab of beef from one of the bags. “I think the others will show up soon, so we better hurry.”

* * * * *

An hour later, a frantic Buffy rushed into the house, followed by Anya and Dawn. She found Spike on the couch in the sitting room.

“Where is he?” she demanded. “Where’s Xander? I’ll kill him!” She stood over the couch shaking with anger.

“Buffy…No! Please…don’t kill Xander…” Anya cried.

Dawn tried to grab the evil looking knife which Buffy held in her hand.

“If you kill Xander, we won’t get anything to eat. Rigel is a terrible cook,” Spike said in a cool voice, and tried to pull Buffy down onto the couch.

Buffy dropped the knife, knelt down, and flung her arms around Spike.

Anya left the room to search for Xander. Dawn followed.

* * * * *

They’d finished the meal which Xander had prepared and they sat around the somewhat battered dining room table staring at the empty plates. Maisa was sitting at Dawn’s feet happily chewing on the large bone which Dawn had slipped her when no one was looking. Rigel poured himself a glass of water and raised it up above his head in a toast. They picked up their glasses to join him.

“I’d like to make a little toast. Here’s to kindness. A good thing. Whether found in the heart of a human or the soul of a demon!”

* * * * *

After Xander and Anya left, Rigel settled Dawn down on the couch in a makeshift bed. Maisa jumped up on the couch and refused to move.

“I see you have a new friend. Bribed easily?” Rigel smiled.

“Maisa and I are the only two normal beings in this house. We need to stick together. Right, Maisa?”

Maisa gave Dawn’s hand a little lick and then gave Rigel a cold look.

“Abandoned. Oh dear.” Rigel turned out the lights and went into the kitchen to finish cleaning up.

* * * * *

Buffy led Spike upstairs. She made him sit on the edge of the bed while she undressed him.

“You seem to like doing this pet, right? Me all helpless here, and you having to dress and undress me.”

“Like undressing you best,” she whispered.

She removed his shirt and placed her hand against his chest. She ran it slowly across his soft skin, traced the hard curve of his muscular chest, down his stomach to his belt. She unhooked his belt, then unzipped his pants and knelt down and slipped them off. She placed her hands on the top of his thighs and slowly inched them up until they rested on either side of his now erect cock. She bent over and licked the tip of his cock with her tongue and then took his whole length deep into her mouth, sucking hungrily.

He settled back on his elbows and gave a deep moan. She released him and stood up to remove her pants. She straddled his thighs, rubbing the slick lips of her sex gently against his cock. She placed both hands on his chest again, and then ran one hand up along his collarbone to the base of his neck and then placed it against his cheek.

“You are the most beautiful being in the universe. I could just look at you for hours. So beautiful…” she murmured, and bent down to kiss his other cheek.

He turned his face quickly toward her and caught her lips with his own. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back over him onto the bed.

“How did you do that?” she gasped.

In a frenzy, he stripped off her shirt and rolled her over onto her back. He spread her legs apart with his knees and then thrust himself slowly, and deeply inside her.

His deep blue eyes blazed down at her as she lay moaning beneath him. “I could look at you for hours too, love.”

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Chapter 11 - Luminosity

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Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.

Hamlet. Act ii. Sc. 2 - William Shakespeare

* * * * *

Parallax - An apparent change in the direction of a stellar object, caused by a change in observational position that provides a new line of sight.

* * * * *

He was poised above her. His eyes shone with an inner light that she had never witnessed before. He pulled himself almost completely out of her, and hovered motionless over her body, as if waiting for some sign, a look or sound of acceptance from her.

She raised her knees, slowly slid her legs against his waist, down his hips and hooked them behind his back. She arched her pelvis into the tense muscles of his groin, and, flexing the muscles of her calves, she pushed against his buttocks and shuddered with pleasure as she felt the thick long length of him slip deeply back inside her.

He possessed her, claimed her with his motion, and nestling his cock in the tight heat of her womb, bathed in the warmth, of the very core of her being, he was fully captured by her, too. She wouldn’t let him move, wouldn’t let him pull out of her. With the firm pressure of her legs and the strong contractions of her inner muscles, she held him completely captive.

They stared intently into each others eyes, looking beyond the hazel and dark blue irises, searching the depths of black pools of pupils and the glitter of the tenuous substance of eye and nerve, deep into the center of each other’s souls.

“What do you see?” she asked.

He didn’t answer. He struggled a bit against the tight grasp of her legs and then surrendered, slowly collapsing against the soft skin of her stomach, melting against her breasts. He lowered his shoulders to rest above her, still never losing eye contact, his eyes still glowing with some strange inner light.

They lay perfectly still, in a standoff of sorts. His cool flesh began to warm and simmer with her heat, with the fire he felt deep inside her skin, relentlessly rising to consume him. The only movement she felt was his cock as it pulsed and throbbed to the rhythm of her hidden movements. She slowly tensed and contracted her inner walls and felt him surge and swell in response.

Still, they didn’t speak. Only the long look danced between them. Bound by their eyes questioning, searching, they sought for reasons or meanings beyond sound or movement. Her heart began to beat in rapid anticipation, and small beads of sweat formed at her temples and began to curl the soft hair curving over her ears.

He bent his head and delicately licked the salty beads from her skin, skimming the soft wet coolness of his tongue over her eyebrows and slowly down to the tip of her nose. She twisted her face away from him. He raised his head and she could feel his whole body tense as if waiting for a blow. They were frozen, in their heat. Frozen there in a terrible fire of unspoken longing and need. He lowered his eyelids until his long, dark lashes laced against his pale skin. He opened them slightly and his gaze was suddenly cool and distant, suddenly racing away from her, slipping back into some fathomless chasm, far, far away from her.

“What do you see? Do you see?” she begged him. She closed her eyes afraid of his answer, afraid of falling too far into his icy depths.

“A universe. I see a universe of fire.”

“But do you see me? Do you see me, Buffy?”

“I see love and desire, but is it for me? Somehow I don’t see you.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“I think I never saw you before. Who are you? What are you, that you love me so? Why? Why me?”

She opened her eyes and stared back at him in wonder. “Don’t you know?”

“You never really told me, love.”

He sighed and closed his eyes. “You never, ever told me.”

She unclasped her legs from about his hips, let them fall listlessly to the bed. He pulled away from her and rolled to the far side of the bed and lay on his back, with his hands lying palms up at his sides. Not touching her.

“You don’t know who I am, do you?” he said.

She pulled a blanket up to her chest, her body trembling, trembling with cold she thought at first, but then knew that she shook in fear.

“You’re Spike,” she said in a strangled voice.

And then she was angry. Suddenly full of rage at him. For almost dying, for letting Xander hurt him, for being blind. For making her feel vulnerable to his every mood. For lying to her about his chip and his soul and making love to Anya. For hurting her and leaving her for months without a word. And always, always pushing her away when he needed her.

“So what’s to know? You’re Spike. You lie. You lied to me about the chip. You lied to me about this soul thing. You push me, pull me. You make love to another woman. You disappear for months after trying to force yourself on me. And then… and then you expect me to …suddenly see the real you?”

“That’s right. You’ve never seen me. Why should I tell you anything?”

“What’s your problem? Do you want me to leave? Do you hate me?”

“You’re like the rain, love, blasting about me. Soothing me and then tearing me up. Do you know I feel the same now as I did then? That I have the same heart as I did then? And suddenly I have a soul and it’s all…well he has a soul and everything’s ok now. Spike can be with Buffy...what a sweet bleeding happy ending.”

He sat up on the edge of the bed and stretched out his legs. He stared down at his feet for a moment and then reached over and ripped open the blue curtains. The window stretched the full length of the north side of his small bedroom. The rain had stopped and the sky was clear and dark and filled with stars. She rolled over on her side and watched him as he gazed out the window. A frown crossed her face, and she raised her foot, placed it firmly against his back, and shoved him off the bed onto the floor. She flung herself off the bed and pinned him beneath her.

“Do you remember this position?” She swayed her naked hips against his body.

“Yeah…” He groaned and tried to shove her away.

“You were an evil, undead vampire then. A soulless vampire. Remember?”

“What’s your bleeding point?!” he cried, twisting beneath her.

“I loved you. I saw you!”

“You bloody well never told me.” He grabbed her wrists and wrenched them off his chest.

“I’m telling you now!” She ripped one of her arms out of his grasp and swung back and slammed her fist against his face. He turned quickly; her fist barely grazed his cheek and just missed his eye.

“Bloody hell, Slayer! Are you crazy?” He struggled to a sitting position, grabbed her around the waist and pulled her tightly against his body. Her fists flayed helplessly against his back.

“See me! See me! Tell me you can see me!” she sobbed.

He picked up her crumpled body and carried it back to his bed. He laid her gently on her side and then nestled next to her. Her body trembled and shook. He covered her with the warm blanket, slipped his arm about her waist and pressed his face and lips against the burning skin of her cheek. She still trembled. It was as if a bolt of lightning had pierced her and her trembling rose from inside, deep inside her. Her eyes were closed but tears streamed silently down her face.

“I’m afraid,” she whispered.

“I know.”

“I felt you looking inside me and then you left me. Left me.” She started to sob again.

“I don’t think I’ll ever know what love is, Spike.”

“Hush…hush…This is love.” He kissed her softly and gave her waist a tender squeeze.

“Don’t let me go…” She slipped her hand into his.

“I promise. And I promise I’ll never lie to you again or hurt you. And you…” He kissed her again. “You’ll always, always tell me when you’re afraid. Right?”

“Right,” she nodded.

“And never hurt me either?”

“Never. No more punches, kicks or waving of stakes. No more rough sex on the floor.”

“Well…let’s not get too carried away … ” He grazed his teeth lightly over her skin and gave her neck a soft nip. “I mean a vampire does have his little fantasies…”

She turned to look at him. Her eyes were full and dark, glistening with tears and vulnerable in the starlight.

“And what do you see now?”

“See a very brave woman, given the bad fate to fall in love with the likes of me.”

“Xander told me. What you went through for me. He said I was lucky.”

“Did he now? Probably trying to get on your good side. Didn’t fancy that sharp knife in his chest. You were looking very fierce when you came in tonight. It did come in handy, though, for carving the roast beef.”

“You saw me then?”

“Oh yes. It was just glorious. I’ll never forget how you looked swinging that blade over your head and shouting ‘where is he?’…as a matter of fact…reminds me of a dream I had.”

“So how long were you going to pretend that you were still blind?”

“Don’t know…you so enjoyed undressing me. Didn’t want to disappoint.”

“You are so bad!” She twisted around until they were lying face to face. “When did you regain your sight?”

“I think it was somewhere between the time Xander saved me from drowning myself in the spring and the brilliant argument we had about the relative merits of having demonish girlfriends. I won of course.”

“And what exactly did you tell Xander about me?”

Spike got a funny look on his face.

“Ah…Buffy…about that promise…I just made…do you think you might give me a bit of break? Just once?”

“Oh my god. I don’t even want to know…” she moaned. They both laughed.

“We’re quite a pair, aren’t we, love?”

“Yes, the sweet, innocent Slayer and her very bad vampire.” Then she whispered against lips, “And you are so very bad.” She slipped her hand down his chest and stomach and gently stroked his cock. “And so very hard.”

“Let me show you, love. Show you just how bad and hard I can be. Just for you.”

* * * * *

Five hours later they lay sprawled across the bed in exhaustion.

“Don’t think I’ll ever walk again,” she sighed. “But you know that thing you did…”

“Which thing?” He opened one eye and gave her a tired look.

“You know, with my legs like this.” She demonstrated the position he’d taught her.

“Oh bloody hell, Slayer!” He was instantly erect again and pounced on her and was soon thrusting furiously inside her. “Demon woman…my sweet, sweet love.”

* * * * *

"Aslant beneath the fore-body of the Bull is set the great Orion. Let none who pass him spread out on high on a cloudless night imagine that, gazing on the heavens, one shall see other stars more fair." Phaenomena of Aratus

* * * * *

Rigel sat on the back porch gazing up at the constellation Orion as it was about to set. His attention was focused on the Belt stars - Mintaka to the west, seemed to be dancing playfully away her from her two companions-Alnitak and Alnilam.

“Such a wicked woman,” Rigel sighed. “Perhaps she’s forgiven me by now…”

He thought of the two lovers upstairs, desperately trying to make their peace with each other. He wished they wouldn’t make so much noise. Just a reflection, or measure, perhaps, of the luminosity and magnitude of their passion, and the distance they needed to travel to find each other. But there you have it. Love follows its own course, like the stars.

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Chapter 12 - The Wish

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Look at the stars! look, look up the skies!

O look at all the fire-folk sitting in the air!

- The Starlight Night - Gerald Manley Hopkins

* * * * *

November 26th

Miss Lillian Mintaka arrived at 53 Orion in her ‘56 pink Cadillac on Thanksgiving morning. Mr. Nilam, wearing very large and thick spectacles, sat next to her in the passenger seat examining a large map.

“If you turn right on Sirius Street and then make another…” he wheezed.

“We’re here, you silly old fool. Put down the map and get that box out of the backseat.”

Miss Mintaka stepped regally out of the car and proceeded up to the front gate. She gazed around the front yard and gave a little sniff, and then muttered under her breath, “Oxygen.”

Buffy and Spike were arguing in the kitchen about what to cook for the holiday meal. Spike had forgotten to pick up the turkey Buffy had ordered from the supermarket and was explaining to her that the whole holiday dinner was a massive waste of energy and wouldn’t she just like to spend the day in bed, with him of course.

Dawn, Rigel and Maisa were out in the back garden planting daffodil bulbs around the spring. Rigel had bought a hundred pounds of the bulbs in bulk from the local nursery.

Maisa thought the whole exercise was one big game of hide and seek. As soon as Dawn or Rigel planted a bulb, she’d gleefully dig it up and then look around to wait for praise for her accomplishment.

“Bad dog!” Rigel shouted, finally frustrated at his fruitless attempts to keep the bulbs under the ground. He chased her around the corner of the house and then stopped short when he saw the pink car and its occupants. He dashed back around to the back of the house and sputtered to Dawn, “I’m not here.”

“You look here to me.” Dawn shoved her spade into the ground and turned over a large clump of dark soil. She dropped three bulbs into the hole, and patted the dirt down firmly.

Dawn gave Maisa, who had slunk back around the other side of the house and was now sitting next to her, a stern look, “Don’t even think about it.”

Rigel glanced nervously around the yard looking for a place to hide. He decided the attic would be the safest bet, and quickly scurried inside the house.

Buffy opened the door and invited Miss Mintaka and Mr. Nilam into the house. Mr. Nilam was huffing with the effort of carrying the large cardboard box. Buffy took it from him and held it effortlessly in one arm. She stared at the two strange visitors. The woman was dressed in a pale pearl grey silk suit; her white blonde hair was caught back into a severe bun and held in place with three silver, star shaped clips. Around her neck was a triple strand of plump, luminous pearls. She appeared to be ageless-thirty or ninety or perhaps even older. The elderly man was dressed in an old fashioned suit complete with a long tailed coat and a frayed and slightly yellow, formal white shirt and bow tie,. He reminded her a little of Rigel.

“Ah…who are you?” Buffy stammered. She set the box down on the floor.

“Tsk…Such manners,” Miss Mintaka turned to the old man. “Take that back into the kitchen, please.”

Buffy picked up the box before the old man could get to it.

“Spiiike! Get in here!” she yelled. “Just a minute,” she said to the visitors. She hurried back to the kitchen, rolling her eyes at Spike as she passed him in the hallway.

“This is your problem.” She gave him a mischievous smile.

* * * * *

Spike recognized Mr. Nilam immediately, and greeted him affectionately.

“Al, my friend! What brings you and this lovely lady here so early in the morning?”

“Spike. It’s my very deepest, and decidedly wonderful honor to present you to the most illustrious…”

“I’m your landlady, or employer, should I say?” Miss Mintaka interrupted. She raised her hand toward Spike, palm down.

Spike gave Miss Mintaka a quick look and then, taking her hand in his, raised it to his lips, and planted a discreet kiss on the top of her hand.

“My lady,” he said, “Please come in.” He ushered them into the living room.

* * * * *

“Who was that young ruffian who answered the door? Am I to believe that she lives here with you?”

“You mean Buffy?” Spike smiled. “She’s my…ah…my friend.”

“Don’t lie to me young man. She’s sleeping with you. Who else do you have living with you in my house? Other tenants weren’t part of your employment contract, you know. Trying to make a little money on the side, were you?”

“No…No. It’s not like that. Yeah…oh, well hell…let’s see, there’s Buffy of course, and her sister Dawn, and Maisa the dog. And Rigel. They’re not really tenants…you see…well they’re my…my family.”

He blushed, realizing at that moment that that was exactly what they were. His family.

“They’re my family,” he repeated, a little look of joy passed across his face.

“Rigel?” Miss Mintaka rose suddenly to her feet. “Blue? No teeth? White hair?”

“Well, yes. Do you know him?”

“I knew it! Send him to me immediately!” Miss Mintaka commanded.

She gave Mr. Nilam a withering look.

“Did you know this?” she demanded.

He shook his head and quickly followed Spike out of the room.

“Oh dear lord, it’s going to be such a fuss. She really doesn’t like to be crossed.”

“Well what’s the old bint doing here anyway? Why didn’t you warn me she was coming?”

“It was all so sudden. She just showed up and demanded we come here immediately. Something about a spring, and interfering around with other people’s fates. And oh dear, is Rigel really living here with you?”

“Yeah…what’s going on here, Al?”

“Miss Lily and Rigel. You might say they were old flames…they had a little…falling out.” He gulped. “I think I’ll just go help Buffy with that box.” He slipped away towards the kitchen.

* * * * *

Spike searched Rigel’s room and the backyard. He went upstairs and searched the second floor. Finally he crawled up the ladder into the attic and found Rigel sitting in a corner on the floor.

“Come on Rigel. Take it like a man. What’s this I hear about you and the flashy piece of skirt downstairs? And I had to listen to you for hours yammering on about not running away from love!” He grabbed Rigel’s hand and pulled him to his feet.

“You don’t know her! She can be very rough when she’s mad. She’s not what she appears to be!”

“Tell me about it, mate. I know exactly how you feel. But you don’t see me running anymore, do you?” He dragged Rigel down the ladder and downstairs and shoved him into the living room.

“Here he is. I’ll leave you two alone.” Spike closed the door on Rigel’s pleading face.

* * * * *

He found Buffy and Al in the kitchen unpacking Miss Mintaka’s box.

“Look, Spike!” Buffy exclaimed. “Food! It’s a whole feast! A huge turkey and ham and every sort of vegetable, fresh baked bread and pies. A sack of soup bones! Six bottles of Chardonnay and, what’s this?”

She pulled out a very large crystal decanter of thick red fluid.

“I believe that’s for me,” Spike laughed.

“She’s always very well prepared,” Al sighed.

* * * * *

They had a glorious Thanksgiving dinner. Clem and Willie showed up just as they started eating and Xander and Anya wandered in during dessert.

Miss Mintaka thrilled them with tales of her travels and described in intricate detail every observatory she’d visited. She sat next to Rigel, who glowed bright blue every time she touched his hand.

“And Hubble,” she said. “What can I say?”

Rigel and Al sighed deeply.

“Of course it’s not as good as the view from…” she stopped suddenly. “Well, I have been talking far too much here.”

“Not at all!” Rigel and Al spoke in unison.

She turned to Spike. “So Spike…what’s your plan? Are you going to let this lovely young creature slip through your fingers again?” She nodded toward Buffy.

Spike looked nervously around the table. At his friends, his lover and ex-lover, his partners in crime and his former enemy.

“You want me to announce something in front of this crew?” He turned back to Buffy. Her eyes were soft and she gave him a little smile.

“Not much to say. I love her. She loves me. I plan to keep on loving her…well forever!”

“Forever is a long time. And not everyone has forever, you know.”

Miss Mintaka stood up and looked down at Rigel and then over to Al. “Dishes!” she said.

Rigel and Al scrambled to their feet. The three of them marched out to the kitchen.

* * * * *

Rigel and Al and Lily, as Miss Mintaka had instructed everyone to call her, sat on the back porch sipping wine and watching the others finish planting all the daffodil bulbs.

“Isn’t it about time you came home?” Lily asked Rigel. “I don’t think they need you anymore. Remember what I always said about interfering with humans?”

“Spike’s not human.”

“Human, demon, vampire…What’s the difference? I miss you. And your little dog. I’m tired of all this gravity. And look at him.” She nodded toward Al, who was sleeping in his chair. “Nearly burnt out in all this oxygen. Let’s leave tonight.”

“Next Orionid. I promise. You go back. You take Al with you now. Let me and Maisa stay another year. I still have some unfinished business. What’s a year to you?”

“Alright, a year,” she sighed. “That’s all. And If I have to come looking for you again. Well…I hear there’s job openings in one of those southern constellations.”

* * * * *

They said goodbye to their guests. Before she left, Miss Mintaka handed Spike an envelope.

“Don’t open it now. Wait until next October 20th. I’ll know if you open it sooner.” She gave him a hard look.

“And you.” She went over and stood before Rigel. “You come back to me? Remember? I’ll be waiting.”

* * * * *

Later that evening Spike found Buffy sitting by herself next to the spring.

“What are you doing out here all alone?” he asked.

“Just looking at this little pool. Sometimes you can see the reflection of the stars. It seems so deep.”

Spike shook his head. “All the way down to heaven or hell, Rigel says. Come on, love, come inside with me.” He knelt down beside her and ran his hand through her hair.

“It was nice, you know. What you said at dinner.”

“What was that?”

“That you planned to love me forever.”

“Meant it. Truly.” He put his arm around her and buried his face in her hair. “I’ll always love you.”

“But we don’t have forever, do we? At least I don’t.”

“Don’t think about it now, love. We have this day. Lots of days ahead of us.”

“Will you miss me? Miss me when I’m gone?” She turned to him and gazed solemnly into his eyes.

“Buffy…” He pulled her tightly against his chest. She was suddenly fragile and so very human at that moment. He gathered her in his arms, stood up and carried her into the house and up the stairs.

* * * * *

He undressed her in silence. As he removed each piece of clothing, he caressed and kissed the soft skin that was slowly revealed to him. He carefully folded each garment and placed them in the old bureau. When she was completely naked, he gently placed her in the middle of the bed. He undressed and then sat down next to her, his thigh nestled against the flair of her hips. He traced his fingers along her face, over her lips, under her chin and down to the beautiful curve of her neck, rich and pulsing with her sweet blood. Her eyes were wide and heartbreakingly warm.

“So beautiful.” He slid his hand over her breast and cupped it lightly. “If I could never see you again…I would go mad.”

He bent over and kissed her breast. His lips found her nipple, and he took it between his lips, his cool tongue circling and teasing it until it stiffened in arousal beneath his touch. She cried his name softly.

He stood up, walked over to the window and opened the curtains. Moonlight flooded the room. He climbed onto the bed and, parting her thighs, he knelt between them. He bent over and placed a kiss between her legs, his tongue lightly tasting the musky wetness that glistened on the delicate lips, now flushed and swollen. He inhaled deeply, and shuddered as the strong, wild scent of her arousal washed through him.

He licked her contentedly, not rushing, but pleasuring her with long, slow strokes. “Lovely, lovely cream,” he sighed, as he explored her moist lips with his tongue, lapping and tasting each tender sensitive fold. He felt her shiver beneath him.

“Harder. Oh god. There.” She grabbed his head and held him in place.

He increased the pressure of his tongue and she began to tremble. He loved her like this-- all abandoned in her lust and wantonness, the moment just before she came. Her body tensed, her face flushed and her nipples erect and swollen.

She moaned deeply and pressed her knees against his shoulders. Her hips undulated mindlessly as she drenched his lips, tongue and face with the warm rush of her come.

“There’s my girl, my sweet girl, coming for me.”

He raised his head, and sliding up her body, rubbed his face against her stomach and the swell of her breasts.

He knelt back on his knees. She watched as his delicate hands and fingers slowly slipped back up her legs and kneaded the soft and yielding skin of her inner thighs. The moonlight fell across his body, calling into sharp relief, the subtle beauty of his face, the strong curve of his chest, his long firm arms.

He slid several fingers deeply inside of her, and then, removing them gently, rubbed them in languid movements down his long beautiful cock, which rose pale and hard from the dark hair between his thighs.

She could feel him aching to possess her. She could smell the feral need upon him, felt him holding back his animal, demon metamorphosis. She trailed her hand down his chest, and dragged her nails across the hard muscles of his stomach, and reached down to stroke him.

He clasped her wrist and pulled it away before her hand could reach its goal.

“Do you want me?”

“Oh yes,” she begged, and raised her knees and spread them apart in submission. She felt the deep ache rising again between her legs, moving swiftly up to the center of her body. She could feel his longing in every movement of his limbs, from the tips of his fingers to his pale, hard cock as he stretched exquisitely above her. And she cried out again out for him to take her.

He wanted her. Wanted hear, his golden skinned love, so fragrant and ripe. He wanted to lick and devour her, bathe her from head to foot with his tongue, taste her, savor her, drink the liquid fire that poured from her womb. Wanted to plunge inside her, fill her, make her cry out his name, feel her heat surround him. Move inside her fast and hard. But he held back, shaking with the effort of restraint.

He paused and stretched his arms and hands, in cat-like, almost predatory motions. He wanted to keep this moment forever. This delicious moment on the edge of ecstasy. Her wanting him, splaying herself before him, all wet and burning for the relief that only he could bestow. Here time was suspended, was non-existent.

He felt a sudden arc of electricity spring between them as she cried and arched her back and ground her hips greedily against him. And he was lost.

She clasped his hips forcefully with her hands, pulled him down to her. She closed her eyes as he plunged his cock inside her. She came again, gasping with the sweet relief of him stretching her wide, and filling her so completely. He rode her gently. He rode her wildly. He poured his cool seed inside her, and became hard again, over and over.

This was his sweet girl, his woman. This is what she needed from him now. For him to be inside her. Home, deep inside her. Deep inside her love always, making her come, over and over again, making her feel as if she would live forever.

* * * * *

October The following year

Dawn and Buffy moved into the house at 53 Orion. Maisa bore a litter of one on New Year’s Day. They named the puppy Sirius. Sirius had grown quickly over the past months and he now stood about two feet tall and was definitely no longer a puppy.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Spike complained. “Eats me out of house and home. Do you think he’s really a dog? More like a wolf, I reckon. And who’s his dad, I’d like to know?”

“Sirius is not a wolf. He’s a prince among dogs. A princely beast,” Dawn proclaimed.

“Would you ask his majesty to leave his bones outside, then?”

* * * * *

They became a family of sorts. A very strange family - the vampire, the vampire slayer, the key, the mysterious water spirit, and two dogs of unknown origin. Yet they had come together at this singular moment in time and space and had found solace and friendship and love.

In early February through March, the garden was thick with thousands of daffodils, all golden and creamy yellow, pale pink and deep orange.

Summer arrived and life was good, if not always happy. There were certain things about living with a Slayer that Spike felt he would never get used to. But eventually they came to an understanding that, though they loved each other deeply, they were very different, and in some things would never be of one mind. For example, he hated the way she expected him to pick up his things off the floor in the bedroom. ‘This is not a crypt’ she’d yell at him and he’d slink off up to the attic where Rigel would occasionally join him, if she’d gone on a rampage about the state of the kitchen.

“I think it’s a mental illness, this obsession for putting things exactly back where you found them,” Spike groused to Rigel, “An obsessive desire for control. I blame Giles, myself.”

But all in all, their life flowed smoothly along and they found that one day merged into another until October arrived. They noticed that Rigel was becoming a little secretive; he would disappear for several hours and come back strangely excited. They remembered the promise he’d made to Miss Mintaka and realized their days with him were slowly coming to an end. Rigel, however, refused to talk about his leaving. He’d quickly change the subject whenever anyone brought it up.

* * * * *

October twentieth dawned crisp and clear. Buffy and Spike had spent a very long night fighting some particularly nasty demons and were still asleep when Dawn pounded frantically on their bedroom door.

“They’re gone!” she wailed through the door.

Rigel hadn’t said goodbye. Dawn was upset the most. Especially as he’d taken the little dog Maisa. But he’d left behind the puppy, Sirius, two letters and a large package.

There was a brief note, attached to Sirius’ collar from Rigel in which he explained that Sirius was to be Dawn’s dog now. He gave Spike explicit instructions never to bite Sirius, no matter what he did…or chewed. He apologized again for what Sirius had done to Spike’s black leather duster.

The package was a gift for Dawn. A telescope and a very old and battered book entitled

Phaenomena. The book was in Latin, a translation of Aratus by Cicero.

“Guess you’ll have to learn Latin, Nibblet,” Spike smiled.

Spike opened the first letter and read it aloud.

* * * * *

My Dear Friends,

Time is not what you imagine. It’s like the water, which springing newborn from the earth, rushes heedlessly down to the sea, is tossed and swirled in bitter salt waves, rises hot and fevered to the stars, only to fall to earth again, sweet and pure, sinking deep into stone and there, simmering beneath the surface, it swells up once again, new and fresh. Time and water. If you understand these two things you’ll understand the universe.

I believe we shall meet again one day,

Your friend,

Rigel

P.S.

My dear Spike and Buffy, please take the second letter and drive up to the hill behind Sunnydale, you know the one I mean, Spike. It’s the one where we used to go and hide from Buffy when she was in one of her moods. Be sure you arrive before 10 p.m. and don’t be late. Inside the letter is a little surprise for the two of you. Open it when you get there. No sooner.

* * * * *

Spike and Buffy arrived on the hilltop at exactly five minutes to ten. They sat on a rock ledge and Spike opened the second letter and read it beneath the pale flame his lighter.

* * * * *

Elizabeth and William, this is a map for you, so you’ll always find your way back to each other. Forever together, not on this earth, perhaps, but somewhere in the skies.

Name: Elizabeth, 20Psi Ori

Magnitude: 0.8
Right Ascension: 5h10m33.3s
Declination: -7° 11'4"

Name: William, 21Omg Ori

Magnitude: 0.8
Right Ascension: 5h10m44.4s
Declination: -7° 11'3"

Name: Rigel, 19Bet Ori
Magnitude: 0.12
Right Ascension: 5h14m32.3s
Declination: -8° 12'6"
Notes: Variable

* * * * *

At 10 p.m. exactly, the Orionid meteor shower began. The sky glowed and hissed with a thousand streaks of light shooting down from the constellation Orion. They gazed in wonder at the sight above them, and so entranced with the beauty of the meteor dance, they didn’t notice two small, but brilliant points of light moving in the wrong direction. From the earth to the heavens.

* * * * *

An hour later they stood together in the darkness, still looking up at the sky. They saw a quick flash, much brighter than the meteor shower and watched as a star fell to earth.

“We must make a wish,” she said.

“Not me, pet. I’ve given up wishes.”

“No, no. You must. You must.” She turned in his arms and gave him a kiss.

“I wish you were a natural blonde, so you would stop stealing my peroxide,” he said.

She punched him lightly on the chest.

“That’s not a wish…that’s a…” She stared at him. “You were there. Snooping on me! You heard my wish..es…”

“So what’s your wish, love?”

She thought for a moment. “I wish… to fall asleep in your arms every night for the rest of my life.”

“Just sleep, love?” he laughed, and slipped his hand beneath her shirt.

She hit him again. “You are so very, very bad!”

He kissed her again.

* * * * *

The Letter from Miss Mintaka

Spike,

I’m giving you the house. No one would be fool enough to buy it. That very irritating Miss Branch will handle all the details for you. And for goodness sake, see to it that Buffy drinks as much water as possible from the spring. It’s surprising what a little water will do for one’s longevity.

Affectionately,

Lily

* * * * *

FINIS