Chapter 43: ‘Bye, Bye Hellmouth!’


The cordless phone by her side of the bed rang shrilly and out of pure habit, Buffy picked it up.

“Buffy?” Angel greeted her from the other side of the line.

‘Oh God!’ Buffy sighed, ‘what was I thinking and how the hell did he know I was here?’ Then it dawned on her, Maggie or Jenny had called him, Angel, and informed him of his wife’s present where abouts.

‘Probably Jenny,’ Buffy realized finally, ‘in fact, Jenny had probably been the one who backed Angel all along. Why she had not figured that little fact out in the first place irritated Buffy, but no matter, she would get rid of Angel quickly.

“I’m just on my way out, Angel,” she stated evenly, “don’t worry, I didn’t take anything you want. I am taking the Camaro, but I’ll take over the payments immediately and I’ll even repay back payments. Otherwise, I don’t want a damn thing from you, just a divorce.”

Angel broke in when she had mentioned ‘divorce’ again, “look Buffy,” he sighed, “it doesn’t have to be this way. Can’t we talk about this, I mean face to face? I don’t want a divorce Buffy, I want you and a life together. But, if that’s impossible, can’t we at least be civil about this? Come to my office, right now and we’ll work something out, something that everyone can live with, please? I mean for God’s sake Buffy, six years of marriage and we can’t even talk in person?”

Buffy had to give her husband that much, they had been married six long years, there was so much history between them. Besides, if she went to his office complex, Buffy could check with Andrew, the law clerk, and get a good reference for a divorce Lawyer. It certainly couldn’t hurt, but when Will got wind of this, he’d throw a fit.

“Let me think about it, Angel,” Buffy finally answered carefully, “I’ll call you right back on your cell phone. Just stay where you are and don’t come home, if you come anywhere around while I’m here, I’ll leave and you won’t see me until we are in a courtroom. Do you understand?”

Angel agreed to that and the minute she hung up the phone, Buffy pulled out her cell phone and dialed Will.

“Buffy!” came his anxious voice, “where are you? Just get out of there, please, baby,” he pleaded, “I’ve got a bad feeling.”

She smiled into the cell phone, ‘you’re such a worrier,’ she thought lovingly. “I’m fine, Will,” she assured him tenderly, “Angel called, but he’s going to leave me alone here. He does think we, he and I should meet at his office, though and discuss divorce proceedings. Isn’t that great! Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.”

Spike felt the air leave his lungs in a gust, he felt afraid again, “no,” he said gruffly, “you are not going anywhere near that fuckhead, Buffy!”

She was silent for a moment, “Will it’s okay. If we meet, Angel and I in his office, I’ll be as safe as can be. What’s he going to try with his law partners and staff around? I’m thinking that he may be wise to all of the information you and Clem have been leaking to the police, he’s beginning to run scared, I can tell. I’m pretty sure that Angel’s self preservation instinct has kicked in and he’s more concerned about the legal trouble he might be in then saving our marriage. If I go to his office, today, right now, get him to agree to a simple divorce, then we’re free of him. He’s on his own to get himself out of this legal mess. Good riddance, I say. Besides, I’m a big girl, honey, I’ll be fine, especially in such a public place.”

He could tell that Buffy had made up her mind, Spike would not be able to persuade her to not meet with Angel in public.

‘Maybe it’ll be okay,’ he thought, trying to remain calm and sure of everything.

“All right,” he relented, “but I’m going with you,” his voice was determined.

Buffy gasped, “you can’t sashay into the Firm with me, Will! Do you know what Angel will do if he even thinks….”

Spike chuckled, “I know, sweetheart, I mean I’ll follow you there, wait in the parking lot. I don’t think your asshole husband has the parking structure staked out, do you?”

She giggled in relief, “no, even Angel isn’t that paranoid! Okay, I’ll call him back, tell him I’m on my way and to make damn sure Anya and the other staff members are around and in my view. How does that sound?”

Spike nodded, lit another cigarette and took a deep breath, “okay Princess,” he agreed in a quiet voice, “we’ll do this your way. But, you call me on your cell phone if there’s any problem and when you step out of that fucking office. Okay?”

Buffy assured him that she would call him the minute she was done securing her freedom from Angel Travers.

Buffy grabbed her little overnight bag and the car keys, “bye bye Hellmouth,” she called to the bedroom as she exited it for the last time.

When she got downstairs, she went into the kitchen and told Maggie goodbye. The loyal cook didn’t look all that surprised when Buffy explained that she was leaving Angel, for good, in fact, she looked relieved.

“It’s for the best, Mrs. Travers, I’m sure of it. I’ll miss you though, it was you I liked working for.”

After she hugged Maggie goodbye again, Buffy went in search of Jenny. She found her in the living room, staring out the front window.

“Jenny?” Buffy approached her carefully, “I’m leaving Angel. I won’t be back, but I’m sure he’ll keep you and Maggie on.”

Jenny turned to her, tears in her brown eyes, “I’m sorry Mrs. Travers, really. I don’t know why I listened to your husband, told him things, checked up on you for him. Like I told him, you were a Saint, he never should have doubted you, hurt you like he did. It pushed you away from him and I know you won’t be coming back. Please forgive me?”

Buffy took Jenny’s hand and squeezed it gently, “I forgive you, I do. I know how persuasive my husband, or should I say my soon to be ex-husband can be, Jenny. I’m sure he made everything he asked sound perfectly reasonable. Please, take care and be happy.”

Buffy picked up her bag and left through the front door of the house. Even as she walked through the door, for the last time, she realized that this residence had never really been a home. Her place, her home was with William.

 

Chapter 44: ‘Facing Off!’



A/N: Okay, this is a very hard chapter for me. I don’t want this to end up gratuitous, or too offensive to anyone. Please believe me when I say this: I am trying to write the characters, in this chapter, somewhat on canon of the show. If this chapter offends or upsets anyone, then I’m sorry. Thanks, Luv, Spuf


Buffy drove slowly to her husband’s law firm. She had always felt uncomfortable about going there, even before she caught Angel and Cordelia screwing up against the antique desk she had so carefully picked out for ‘him’ a couple of Christmas’s ago. Why? She couldn’t even answer that one.

However, this time, Will followed her in his old car, the one Buffy loved so much, to her destination.

‘My bodygaurd!’ she thought with a giggle, ‘I love you so much Will. I just wish I would have figured you out for the good guy years ago!’

When Buffy arrived at the parking structure of her husband’s office building, she felt a sudden rush of euphoria.

“It’s almost over,” she sighed out loud, wishing Will was in the Camaro with her, just so he could hear her relief. William waved at her, somewhat half-heartedly, alerting Buffy to the fact that he was still not quite on board with her facing off with Angel now, or ever for that matter.

Spike followed Buffy’s Camaro to a priveledged parking space in the structure, one that only the wife of a big shot Lawyer could possibly have.

‘I can’t give her this,’ he thought sadly, ‘I can’t give her the things she’s used to or once wanted.’

It then struck him, much like a lightening bolt, that Buffy didn’t necessarily want what she ‘once wanted’ and all. The trappings of the Travers’ fortune or legacy; she wanted him, William ‘Spike’ Giles, finally, and forever.

Not only was it a sobering thought, it was an epiphany that Spike finally ‘got’ once and for all.

“We belong to each other,” he said out loud in awe, although he’d actually realized it for some time, “we’re two sides of the same coin and not complete without the other one.”

By the time he had parked two spaces down from Buffy’s Camaro, Spike was feeling pretty confident in himself and this whole situation, once again. Spike smiled at Buffy, a somewhat false smile of bravery to be sure, but one that he hoped would give her the encouragement she needed to face off with the evil fuck that was Angel Travers.

Buffy hit the ‘up’ button of the parking lot elevator, hoping that she as giving off a braver front then she really felt. It helped to have Will here with her, but then again, she herself had insisted that he stay in the parking lot, not accompany her up to Angel’s office. As she rode the elevator to the office building lobby, then grabbed the elevator up to Angel’s office, Buffy actually felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

When she got to Angel’s floor, Buffy was not feeling as strong or as ‘I am woman; hear me roar’ that she had when she first got to the building. Something, deep down inside of her felt off, way way off and Buffy wondered briefly if she shouldn’t have brought William with her, appearances be damned.

When Buffy stepped inside the reception area of Angel’s office, she saw Anya slouched behind her desk in her ergonomic chair. Anya’s head was lowered, her chin in her right hand, elbow on the desk.

“Hey, Anya,” Buffy greeted softly, unsure of the reaction she would get from the other woman.

“Hi, Buffy,” Anya looked up and gave her a half smile. “Angel is expecting you, but…..” Buffy cocked her head to one side and studied the other woman intently, “is something wrong, Anya?” she asked quietly.

Anya stood up and slipped around her desk, closing the space between her and Buffy. “I don’t know, Buffy,” she explained nervously, glancing around at Angel’s office door. “Angel’s been holed up in there for hours and frankly, I think he’s been drinking and I don’t mean Gatorade. I guess I shouldn’t be telling you this, but your husband actually screamed at me earlier. Told me I was a worthless piece of shit, like most women, and should probably look for another job. I hate to lose this job, Buffy,” Anya whimpered, “I’m not trained in much. Don’t know what I would do if…”

Buffy took Anya’s hand in hers, “don’t worry, honey,” she consoled her, “Angel is just pissed that I’m leaving him, or something anyway. He’ll get over it. Promise.”

Anya gave Buffy a knowing look then glanced back at her boss’s office door, “maybe you better just go in, Buffy,” she advised, “get this over with.” Apparently, Anya was on to the Traver’s marital problems and wasn’t too surprised by Buffy’s admission.


Spike sat in his car, not slouched actually, but sitting up straight and tapping on the dashboard in time to the music he played on the radio station. “I should be there,” he grumbled as he tried to concentrate on the music, not his cell phone that was not ringing from Buffy’s call.

“I should be up there with Buffy, fuck Angel and his entourage of bought bloody patsy’s and minions!” He listened to the music that played, even as he smoked another cigarette:

‘whenever I’m alone with you, you make me feel
like I am home again; whenever I’m alone with
you, you make me feel like I am whole again’

‘I never felt whole until Buffy was in my life, totally,’ Spike reasoned.

‘whenever I’m alone with you you make me feel
like I am young again; whenever I’m alone with
you, you make me feel like I am fun again’

‘I haven’t been fun since High School, not until Buffy came back into my life and made me ‘fun’ again. And young? When was I young? Oh, yeah,’ Spike surmised, ‘I was young back in high school; when I let Riley Finn kick my arse and pretended to be beat down. Buffy was sick with worry, she hovered over me and begged for me to be all right. I wish I would have ignored her slip of the tongue, forgot she ever mentioned that prick Angel’s name. She didn’t mean it, she loves me, not him. Buffy’ll always love me the most.’

Spike watched the clock in his car pass the time as he lit another cigarette. “I have got to stop smoking so God damned much!” he chided himself. “If I want to be around for Buffy, our kids, grandkids.”

‘whenever I’m alone with you, you make me feel like
I am free again. Whenever I’m alone with you, you
Make me feel like I am clean again.’

‘I haven’t been clean since I started to work for that fuck Angel. Buffy made me clean again, I’ll never be clean without her; never feel free unless she’s with me.’

“Hurry Princess,” he whispered as he waited for Buffy to reappear from her husband’s office building, a guarantee of a divorce from him in on her lips, in her eyes…in her hands. Spike watched the clock in his old car tick the minutes away as he nervously waited for Buffy’s call on his cell phone, the one that would signal that she was free from Angel forever.

Buffy shuffled into Angel’s inner office, a little afraid but trying to keep a brave front going.

“Hello babe,” Angel greeted as he sat in his huge chair, his back to her. “Have a seat.”

She complied with his wishes, sitting in the chair just opposite his desk and waited with baited breath for him to turn and face her.

‘Buck up!’ she ordered herself, ‘you can face this man. You shared a bed with him for over six years, he’s a man, a male human, not a God, or a monster, well, not a real monster anyway. Not like Dracula or the Wolfman, or even the Mummy.’

She noticed an empty tumbler on the desk, a trace of some kind of liquer left in the glass, “God, Angel,” Buffy sighed sadly, “it’s not even 11:00 in the morning and you’ve been drinking?”

Angel turned to face her, his face a mix of many emotions, some Buffy couldn’t quite name, but she did see a sense of loss in his brown eyes. Loss, perhaps some remorse (?) and definitely slight anger in the depths of her husband’s dark eyes.

“Let me ask you something, Buff,” Angel leaned sat back in his chair, his face was a stoic mask of undefined emotions now, “what gave you the balls to actually ask me for a divorce?”

Buffy was rather caught off guard by this question, although she shouldn’t have been. With a shrug, she glared at Angel and sat up a bit straighter then before in her chair, “I guess I just had enough, Angel,” she responded honestly.

“Guess I couldn’t take anymore of your cheating, lies, crap in general. In other words, I am threw with you, your family and the whole fucking charade that our marriage has become.”

She knew she sounded smug, even sarcastic and a part of her wished she had not come across so crass at the moment, but, Angel needed to know she meant business. Now, Buffy realized, was not the time to back down or get wishy-washy. Their marriage was over, no point in screwing around about it any longer.

“So,” Angel sighed, “you’re not even going to try and work this out? We’re over, six years of marriage, our mutual assets, the house and future together? Over, just like that?”

Buffy stared, shocked at him and his nerve, “just like that?” she gasped. “Jesus, Angel, I catch you with Cordelia, you admit to Faith, God knows who else you’ve been doing for the last year or longer? What do you want from me?”

Angel got up from the chair and walked over to his wife slowly, “what do I want from you Buffy?” he asked with a smirk. “Well, how about the truth, babe, just once. The truth from one of us? Starting with you, then maybe I’ll give you some eye opening facts. Sound good?”

Buffy began to feel a bit ill, her head started to hurt, her tummy got uneasy, but she tried to keep it together. “What truth, Angel?” she asked sadly, “your truth or the real one?”

Her husband sat on his desk, right in front of her and slumped down until he no longer looked quite so tall or intimidating.

“Maybe we’ll start with your truth, Buffy,” he stated, reaching for a bottle of some alcohol and offering her a drink.

“Why don’t we start with ‘who’ exactly you’re running off from me for?” She shook her head and met his gaze in sympathy, “I’m not running off from you for anyone else, Angel,” Buffy murmered, “I’m running off from you for ‘my’ self-preservation. The only person I’m escaping from ‘you’ for is ‘me’ and no one else, not really.”

Angel nodded numbly, “okay, so I’m supposed to believe that you are giving up everything I’ve given you for some solo life. A simple spartan existence that doesn’t include four manicures a month and your hair being highlighted every four weeks? Oh for fuck’s sake Buffy, give it a break! If there wasn’t a guy somewhere out there to take up the financial slack…you wouldn’t even be considering this run for the border from me!”

Angel Travers was starting to get more then a little upset, he was getting quite angry. Buffy was beginning to feel more then uneasy, she was getting quite intimidated and near frightened by her husband’s slipping calm.

“There’s no one taking up the financial slack, Angel,” Buffy assured him, but unable to meet his eyes with hers, “I’m leaving because I simply no longer love you, period.”

Angel looked at her like a man who had been betrayed, other then the one who had betrayed her first, totally. “You don’t love me anymore?” he whimpered like a small child.

Buffy gave her blond head a strong shake of no, trying not to overwhelm him with her confirmation of the contempt and lack of love she now felt for him. He stood again, slowly and began to pace around the office, finally stopping long enough to scrutinize Buffy with his narrowed eyes.

“If I gave up Cordelia, Faith? Would you stay with me?” She didn’t even hesitate, thinking of Will waiting for her in the parking structure below, “no,” she answered firmly.

“I want a divorce Angel. Nothing is going to change that now. But let me ‘ask you’ this. Why not give me an easy divorce, give you a free and clear road to Cordelia Chase. If you and I divorce, you can marry Cordy and have the perfect trophy wife you and your family have always wanted for you. I can’t believe that Cordelia Chase would choose Riley Finn over you, Angel.”

‘After all, I’ve had Riley myself, sorry to say, and even you are better in bed then he is!’ She was more then ashamed of this thought, but it was the truth after all.

“Cordy will never marry me, Buffy,” Angel hung his head sadly, “but that’s not really the point right now is it? We were talking about your betrayal of me, not mine of you, right?”

Buffy groaned out loud, “my betrayal! My betrayal, Angel?”

Angel leaned down on his knees in front of the chair Buffy sat in, placing each of his huge hands on either side of the her. In this way, he virtually trapped her in the chair and from any escape, for the moment that is.

“Buffy,” he sighed loudly, “have I taught you nothing about what betrayal, from anyone or anything means to me? What I’d do if and when I find out about it?”

She leaned back in the chair, suddenly frightened again by the look in her husband’s dark eyes. “Wha…what do you mean, Angel,” she stammered fearfully, more then ever sorry she hadn’t just dragged Will with her up there.

“I’ll explain, babe,” Angel chuckled inanely, “but you won’t like it, not at all. Of course, low class trash like you couldn’t be expected to understand or accept anything we higher beings do or ‘can do’ in the end. Sit back, baby, I’ve got a lot of history to catch you up on.”

“Here,” Angel handed Buffy a glass of some kind of alcohol, “you’ll need this, Gorgeous.”

Buffy took a sip and made an ugly face over the hot burn of the liquer, but one look at Angel’s cold expression caused her to take a more even attitude and try to look interested in what he had to say. In the end, she would be more then interested in it. It would turn out that Buffy would be horrified.

“It’s like this, babe,” Angel began non-chalantly, “I’ve never taken to betrayal kindly. But you, of course, should know that, right?”

She nodded wide-eyed and unable to respond vocally.

“When I was about thirteen-years-old,” he continued, “I had this dog. A Pit Bull/Rotweiller mix that I just loved beyond reason.”

Buffy had no idea that Angel owned any kind of dog or pet for that matter, at least not until she had come into the picture and become his one living possession.

“I loved that fucking dog like a human sibling,” Angel grinned evilly as he sat down on the desk again. “I was the only one could tame old Gunner, my dog,” he sighed wistfully. “I was the only one the mutt would really let order him about. Then one day,” here Angel frowned, “the little moron bit me. Well, nipped me really, but he betrayed me all the same. I was fucking furious with the shit and beat his ass until he couldn’t sit down. For some reason though, that wasn’t enough so I did one better.”

Angel winked at Buffy as if this was all a funny joke, even though she was feeling so queasy that she was about to throw up.

“I duck taped the fucker’s mouth closed so he couldn’t eat or bark and left him in my folks unused garage. After about three days, I went to check up on old Gunner and found him deader then a door nail, stiff as a board. Buried him in the backyard of my folk’s house, they never even knew or cared what happened to him.”

Buffy sat frozen stiff in horror, her mind was reeling with images of the poor dog, hungry, suffocating in the empty lonely garage, no one there to hear or care about him.

‘Just like a damn serial killer,’ Buffy thought to herself, ‘like a horrible Dahmer or Manson before they started on humans. Angel was a walking nightmare before anyone knew it.’

The thought terrified Buffy, but she tried to show a brave front as she sipped her drink again, never letting her defiant gaze leave his.

“Not scary enough for you baby?” Angel asked in his sing-song voice as he grinned like an idiot. “Well, let’s take it up a notch, shall we?”

Buffy tensed, ‘that wasn’t bad enough?’ she wondered, confused more then ever, but she said nothing, just let her husband ramble on.

“How about we talk about your precious cousin, Celia?” he asked in smug triumph.

Buffy gasped and had to control her urge to fling herself at Angel, her finger nails scratching and tearing at his tormenting face.

“Leave Celia out of this, Angel!” she commanded, “poor girl was emotionally fragile. She has nothing to do with this!”

Angel grinned again at her, his usually handsome features appeared distorted, like a demons’ and his smile was twisted in a grotesque smirk.

“Poor girl?” Angel chuckled evilly, “emotionally fragile? Well, yeah, after she fucked me over and made me do what ‘I’ had to.”

Buffy said nothing, just stared at the man she thought she knew for so many years. This silence seemed to spur him on to relay his sordid tale of betrayal, one that would burn it’s brand on Buffy’s mind for eternity.

Celia had been her favorite cousin, heck she had been her only cousin and family beside’s her Mother and Aunt Lilah, Celia’s Mother. Always a bit innocent, Celia had spiraled off into an emotional melt down when she was about eighteen, just like poor Drusilla, William’s sister. In fact, the two young women could have been cut from the same cloth.

“You remember when poor, precious Celia went gaga, Buff?” Angel asked with a wicked grin. “Just after you and me married, wasn’t it, honey?” Buffy stared at the desk in front of her, the one she’d picked out with so much care just two years before. Her threatening, hot tears burned in her green eyes.

“I think you asked me why I didn’t divorce you and marry Cordelia Chase, didn’t you, baby?” Angel purred. “I’ll tell you, once and for all, give you all the dirty little facts and maybe you’ll shut you’re fucking little trap once and for all, okay?”

She nodded dumbly, never looking at her husband’s cold, dark eyes while he ranted on.

“Cordelia Chase,” Angel began coolly, “who by the way is a better lay, woman and lady then you could ever hope to be, won’t marry me for one simple reason. She wants children, Buffy dear. And I, well, I can’t have children. I’m sterile, shooting blanks to put it delicately.”

Buffy felt like fainting, not because she cared that Angel couldn’t father children, but because she had the most sickening feeling. About just what he was going to reveal to her next.

“When,” Buffy rasped out unevenly, “did you find out that you couldn’t have children?”

She asked reluctantly, like a driver on the 405 freeway who passed by a horrible accident. One of those catastrophes that you shouldn’t look at, but you couldn’t help but stare at. Morbidity, that was what a Shrink would call it. Morbidity.


Angel chortled in glee, like a mad man on crack, “when I fucked your little beloved cousin, Celia, the first time that is. It was an hour before our wedding, remember Buffy dear. She was one of your bridesmaids and I fucked her little innocence right out of her, I did. She wasn’t reluctant, not at all and I never could pass up a chaste little creature like Celia. Of course, who knew she would turn out to be a fucking little cunt that would lie, deceive and betray my shall we say, confidence, the way she did? She writhed and slithered like a little whore, the whore she was at heart that is. And, sadly, a couple of months after our wedding, she shows up at my parents’ house, claiming to be pregnant with ‘my’ child. What could I do, babe?”

Buffy looked out the window of Angel’s office, never responding, trying to think of anything but his place, this space that seemed to become smaller and more claustiphobic by the second.

“Well,” Angel continued with a sly glance at Buffy, “I, of course, wanted to save our marriage, yours and mine, so I offerred to pay for the bitch’s abortion. Problem was, I had some doubts, don’t know why, that the little bastard was mine to begin with. So, I insisted on a DNA test and lo and behold, I found out I couldn’t sire a fucking potatoe, much less a human child. But,” Angel grinned proudly, “I magnanimously decided to go through with it. Pay for your slut cousin’s abortion and move on with our life together. Yours and mine.”

“However,” he slithered up close to Buffy and ran the fingers of his right hand down her face, now frozen in horrified shock. “I made sure,” he continued evenly, that my money would help little Celia keep from playing fast and loose with any other unsuspecting males.”

Angel’s countenance was pure manelovence by this time. “I made sure that the little bitch, Celia, would never be able to claim a pregnancy again. My Doctor friend did a little rearranging of Celia’s insides. During the abortion ‘I’ paid for, that is.”

Buffy gasped loudly and now stared into the face of her evil husband, horrified.

“Then I had a certain friend of mine, name of Doyle, that’s enough of a name for now. Doyle insured that Celia would not be a problem again for any of us. He rather antagonized the poor little bitch until she kind of lost all sense of her reason.” Angel chuckled, evilly and neared his wife once more.

Buffy stifled the desire to puke all over Angel’s stupid face and shoes, “did you push my cousin off that bridge, Angel?” she asked seriously, almost afraid of his answer. “Or did you have your butt monkey, Doyle do it? You sick, twisted fuck!” She spat the words at him, outraged, but Angel only smirked in response.

“Nah, babe, your loony cousin, Celia, took a nose dive all on her own. Off the Vincent Thomas Bridge and into the Los Angeles Harbor. No one had to push her, sweetheart, she chose to jump,” Angel added, with an indifferent shrug of his massive shoulders.

“Might make everyone in Sunnydale wonder if insanity runs in your family, don’t you think babe? “ Angel sighed, deeply, in mock sorrow. “I mean, your hippy-dippy Mother? Her little sister and the fruit cake she bore? Now you and your insistence to leave me? Who, in their right mind would leave me, precious? Unless, of course, you have another man? Do you my sweet, do you have a little fuck buddy to keep your bed warm?”

Buffy stood up and glared defiantly into her obscene husband’s now ugly face, “you should know,” she retorted in her Buffy goes all defiant stance! “You’re the one that had Spike follow me. What did he say?”

Angel stared at her, puzzled for just a moment’s time, “I never told you I hired ‘Spike’ to follow you,” he hissed, gruffly.

 

Chapter 45: ‘He’s More of a Man Then You Are!’


“I never told you that it was Spike Giles that I had follow you,” Angel hissed at Buffy.

‘Just like a freaking snake,’ Buffy shook her head, trying to clear away the horrible visions she now had of her husband. ‘Worse then a rattlesnake, you are a huge, ugly monster of a reptile, Angel.’

Angel just stood, staring at Buffy like the insane deviant he had become, or had exposed himself to be all along.

“You and Spike?” he finally asked in shock, his brown eyes wild with some emotion that Buffy could not quite place.

“I didn’t say that I’m with William,” Buffy retorted softly, never meeting Angel’s eyes.

“You didn’t have to, you fucking little whore!” her husband snarled as he closed the few feet between them. He stopped inches from her, his hot, angry face right up into Buffy’s, “oh, this makes perfect sense now, doesn’t it?”

Angel was bright red with anger, or jealousy or some male thing that Buffy wanted to ignore but couldn’t. “I hire that Billy Idol wanna' be to check you out and he moves in on you. He always wanted you, no surprise there, but you? Wanting him? I can’t get into that one!”

Buffy cringed involuntarily and pulled back from Angel, suddenly afraid of her huge, angry bull of a husband.

“No wonder the little fuck told me you were chaste as a Nun!” Angel hissed at Buffy, the hatred radiated off of him. “He’s been fucking you all along, hasn’t he?”

She met his glare, but said nothing one way or the other, immediately ashamed of her own weakness and fear, but trying to be careful not to bring Will’s name back into it.

“Tell me!” Angel shouted loudly as he grabbed Buffy by her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. “You been fucking that little freak babe?”

With a deep breath for courage and jutting her chin out defiantly, Buffy again met Angel’s deranged gaze with hers, “Freak?” she repeated to her husband about her lover.

Buffy had had enough, no one called her Will a freak and got away with it!

“William Giles is more of a man and less of a freak then you or anyone you know could ever be, Angel. Xander Harris, your little butt monkey, Riley Finn, your lover’s fiancé, anyone of your lackeys, your Father or mine? Will is better then any of them. I only wish I had realized what a real man was back when I was younger. I wasted a lot of time and effort on you, Angel, you weren’t worth it, but Will? He was the only worthwhile man in my life.”

‘There,’ Buffy thought with a smug smile, ‘stick that up your ass Angel Travers and sit on it!’

Angel didn’t hesitate, he doubled up his meaty fist and hit Buffy right across her right cheek bone. She heard and felt the crack that his smack had elicited as she fell back out of the chair and onto the plush carpeting of Angel’s office floor.

From the other side of the closed office door, Buffy heard Anya cry, “What the hell’s going on in there? Andrew, come here, please, something’s wrong!”

Buffy vaguely heard Angel curse then grab some kind of a remote from his desk drawer, clicking a button on it. A clattering at the office door informed Buffy that Anya and maybe Andrew were trying to get inside the office area, but failing.

‘The remote,’ Buffy reasoned through her dazed condition, ‘it’s an automatic door lock.’

Angel glared at his wife, flung out on the floor like a rag doll, her eyes hazy from pain, the wheels of her mind spinning wildly.

“I, I have to go,” Buffy whispered, trying to pull herself together.

“I have to go and meet….”

Angel roared like an animal, “you’re not going anywhere you traitorous little slut!”

He stormed over to Buffy’s prone body and grabbed her roughly, “get your lovely little ass up here, Babe,” he hissed as he flung her back into the chair she had been knocked out of, “you and me have a lot to figure out!”

Angel sat down heavily on his desk again and gulped his new glass of whiskey down, “let me guess,” he began with almost a purr, “it’s Spike that’s been giving the cops information on me, isn’t it?”

Buffy just stared at him, wide-eyed and with such hatred that it even scared her. “Or,” Angel paused thoughtfully and met her hot gaze, “is it you, loving wife of mine?”

Spike was getting more and more antsy as the minutes went by, “she should have been out by now,” he said to the empty air in his car.

“Something’s wrong, I know it.” Turning off the ignition and silencing the nerve wracking radio music, Spike threw the DeSoto door open and leapt out of the car, slamming the door as he moved.

“I’m coming, Baby,” he shouted as he sped past the parking lot onlookers who were staring at him as if he’d grown two heads.

“Fuck you,” he screamed at the parking attendants and other patrons that milled about. Buffy was in trouble, Spike had no doubt and no one, not some wanna’ be rent a cop or any scandalized bystander was going to keep him from his girl.

Buffy sat dazed in the chair, watching her husband, warily, pacing around his office.

“What?” he asked angrily, glaring at Buffy, “do you think I’m going to let you run off to Spike? Leave me alone and looking like a fucking fool? Come on, Babe, you know me better then that by now.”

Chuckling, Angel looked over at the office door where Anya and Andrew continued to knock wildly and try to open it.

“Angel,” Anya cried out, “open this God damned door now! What’s going on in there? Buffy, are you okay?”

Buffy called out hoarsely, her voice pained by the blow Angel had inflicted, “no, I’m not okay, Anya. Angel’s gone insane, completely. Please Anya, get me out of here!”

She could hear Anya and Andrew talking excitedly, “I’m calling the police,” Buffy thought Andrew said, but she couldn’t be sure. Angel swore again, under his breath this time, and hurried to the door, opening it with the remote.

After he slipped through it, he locked it again behind him and Buffy heard him begin to yell at his two employees.

“Fucking bitch, you and your loser boyfriend are fired! Get the fuck out of here!”

Anya seemed to say something like ‘I quit’ but Andrew just laughed loudly, “I work for Misters Snyder and Levison, Mr. Travers. Not you, go fuck yourself!”

Buffy giggled through her dazed vision, ‘Andrew turned out to be quite a tough one,’ she thought almost drunkenly, the pain vibrating through her head and face.

Reaching around, blindly for her purse, Buffy pulled out the cell phone and dialed Will’s number quickly, “Buffy!” came his beloved voice.

“Will,” she groaned weakly, the pain of the Angel’s hit overwhelming her again, “stay away, please, honey,” she warned fearfully.

Buffy said it again, “please, baby, stay away. Anya, Andrew, they’ve called the police. Angel, he’s lost his mind, what was left of it anyway. Please, Will, just stay put? The police will come soon, get me out of here….I love you.”

Will roared wildly, “police! Get you out of there? Fuck Angel! I’m on my way, Princess,” he shouted angrily.

Before Buffy could warn her lover again, he had clicked off the cell phone. That’s when she heard Anya’s terrified cry, “oh my God, Angel. Put the gun away!”


 

Chapter 46: ‘Black And White Reel/Slow Motion’


A/N: A short, short chapter. Angst, no question, but please keep with the story, I promise it’s almost done. Luv, Spuf


Even in her dazed, pain induced haze, Buffy heard what Anya had said just outside the locked door, “oh my God! Put that gun away, Angel!”

A gun, Angel had a gun and Buffy was locked inside his office. Will was on his way up the elevator, right at that moment and had no idea that Buffy’s lunatic husband was brandishing a gun about.

She, Buffy, remembered that Andrew had threatened to call the police and could only hope he had, but just in case….”

Stumbling over to Angel’s desk, still dizzy from the pain, Buffy began dialing 911 on her own. She accidentally dropped the cell phone just as she heard the dispatch person anxiously asking for someone to come on the line.

“Oh Thank God!” she cried when she found the door lock remote and punched the ‘open’ button at the top. The click of the office door lock assured her that she had indeed unlocked the door and Buffy hurried at an unstable gait to the outer office.

“I have to warn Will,” Buffy thought, as she threw the door open and took in the horrible sight before her.

Angel stood with his back to his office door, presumably holding the gun on a pale Anya and Andrew, who embraced each other tightly. Buffy must have gasped out loud, because Angel turned to face her, now leveling the weapon at her. Her husband’s face was distorted, in anger.

“Wow, Buff,” he said, stunned, “you actually figured out how to work the door remote. You’re brighter then I gave you credit for! You’ve come a long way baby!”

Buffy could have knocked the wicked smirk right off of his face, but Angel did still hold the all of the cards, make that the gun.

“Give me the gun, Angel,” Buffy ordered gently, holding out her hand to him, palm up, trying not to pass out from the pain again.

“Fuck you!” he growled, “Oh, I forgot, Spike’s fucking you now, huh?”

She cringed and glanced over at Andrew and Anya who both just stared at her and Angel in horror.

“Give me the fucking gun, Angel,” Buffy ordered again, feeling a rush of power shoot through her, giving her strength.

“Fuck you!” Angel roared this time, turning when he heard the outer office door being kicked in. Will took that very moment to crash into the reception area of Angel’s office and come face to face with the gun and his terrified lover.

“Buffy!” Will roared, now aware of the gun, but he till advanced towards Angel, enraged.

“Will!” Buffy cried as she ran past Angel and threw herself into her love’s arms.

“Get the fuck out of the way, Buffy,” Angel roared again as he leveled the gun right at William’s heart. “It’s your little fuck buddy I want, not you.”

Before Will could push Buffy aside, to safety, Angel pulled the trigger of the Magnum and shot his lost wife right in her upper back, flinging her tiny body even more into her William’s and knocking them both back onto the floor.

“Buffy!” she heard Will’s wail and felt his strong arms tighten around her body, possessively.

“Buffy!” Will cried again and now she felt his hot tears falling on her face as he turned it up to look at her.

“Buffy, please, say something to me, sweetheart, please,” he pleaded through his sobs.

“I,” Buffy whispered, “I tried to stop him, Will. Honest, he’s crazy, Angel’s insane. But, you, you knew that, didn’t you?”

Buffy could feel her life’s blood flowing from her body like a river; she began to feel so lightheaded that she had to fight to keep awake. She fuzzily remembered something a Professor in college had told her class once, it was a study on ‘human experience’ and this Professor? What was it he’d said?

Oh, yeah, when you think you are dying, your life flashes by you in scenes. But the idiot was wrong, Buffy realized that now. When you were dying, your life ‘ran’ past you like an old black and white film reel. Everything was in slow motion, nothing flashed by at all:

Buffy saw her life go by in a slow, almost silent movie style. She was with her father and mother at Seaworld, how old was she then? Seven, eight-years-old?

Then there was the time she was thirteen and Pike Whedon gave Buffy her first kiss by the Sunnydale Pier. That was the summer when she first met Xander and Cordelia.

Next, Will and she were lying on a cold concrete frat house floor. She was half naked and he was doing the most wonderful things with his mouth, but then that changed, quickly.

Suddenly she was dancing at the Senior Prom, but not with Will, with another faceless boy.

Next it was scenes from Angel’s and her wedding day. Buffy wore a white sheath dress, even if she traditionally had no right to.

Then everything fast forwarded to the night in the alley, with Will, when he kissed her and called her a cock tease. This somehow made her giggle through the pain in her chest that shot through her like a knife.

Suddenly, Will and her were lying by ‘their pond’ he was smiling at her, stroking her hair and pointing up to the stars. They were dancing, her and Will in the bar, but…now everything was running together and growing so fuzzy and dark.

Buffy could still hear Will sobbing, begging her to stay awake, but ‘I’m so tired, Will,’ she sighed, not near loud enough for him to hear.

“I love you, Princess,” Will murmured into her ear. Buffy heard that loud and clear, it made her smile.

“I love you, Will,” she whispered back, plenty loud enough this time for to hear her. Then everything went black.


 

Chapter 47: ‘Life’s Blood’


A/N: Well, this is the end, folks, kind of anyway. I had this ending well plotted out for ages, just had to write it down. I must admit, I had another ending planned for a long time, at least over a year or so, but revamped (!) it and wrote it this way. This is a long chapter, but I have to have it this way. Thanks for reading! Luv, Spuf


Buffy was dying, Spike realized that. He was covered in his lover’s blood as it flowed from the wound that her insane monster of a husband, Angel, had inflicted on her perfect, golden flesh.

Spike wanted to fling himself at Angel, tear his fucking head off, but he just could not let Buffy go. He couldn’t leave her on the plush carpet of Angel’s law firm, alone, bleeding to death.

Somewhere, far away, he heard the little law clerk, Andrew, say something like “I’ve called an ambulance” but Spike was not listening to anyone right now. He was too enraged at Angel.

With a feral growl, Spike glared up at his hated nemesis, Angel Travers. He still held the instrument of destruction. The thing that had torn the upper right side of Buffy’s lovely shoulder off.

Buffy’s blood, the life’s blood that now drenched her body and Spike’s, was dark and thick.

‘Death’s blood, really,’ Spike thought bitterly, ‘it’s not bright or red, it’s dark and black. The blood of death; not life.’

Angel was glaring at Spike, blaming him for the bullet that had taken Buffy from them all.

‘He still loves her,’ Spike realized, ‘he loves her, but he’ll never have her again, one way or the other. I’ll see to it!’

“Get your fucking hands off of my wife,” Angel roared as he stepped nearer to Spike, leveling the Magnum at the bereaved man’s head.

“Fuck you,” Spike said calmly, surprising even him. Spike heard and saw Angel cock the trigger of the Magnum, saw the hatred and insanity that burned in Travers' eyes.

“See you in hell, Spikey,” Angel chuckled as he aimed the gun right between Spike’s eyes and grinned like an insane Cheshire Cat. Right then, Spike heard the front door of the law firm’s office fly open as the Sunnydale Police, led by Riley Finn himself burst into the office.

“Drop the gun, Angel,” Riley ordered harshly.

“Fuck off!” Angel shouted in defiance.

Spike braced himself for the inevitable. Heard the gun shot and never even flinched as he watched Angel fall to the ground.

For the few moments that lapsed between the time Angel was shot and the ambulance came for Buffy, Spike lost track of everything. His mind was too enveloped in trying to wake his lover up. Trying, desperately, keep her with him.

Later, when everything was calmer and clearer, there would still be surprises and unanswered questions. Later, no one would be able to say just who in that office, that day, was more shocked by what happened.

Angel certainly looked the most stunned as he lay, shot by someone he thought was his best friend. Anya and Andrew, the couple who clung to each other for dear life and had the presence of mind to call the police. Then call the paramedics? They were frozen in horror.

Spike, who was so caught up in his Buffy’s last few minutes on Earth that he could not even digest the fact that Riley Finn had shot Angel and saved him.

Or, maybe it was a shocked Riley. Who had shot his best friend down? Who never hesitated when Angel had defiantly brandished the gun at Spike and the rest of them?

Spike was vaguely aware of the paramedics as they swept into the office, rolling their little gurney into the large area. The stretcher they brought was small, didn’t have to be large, Buffy was such a tiny little thing.

“But so strong,” Spike sobbed into her golden hair. “You have to be strong, baby,” he murmured.

“You have to be strong and survive,” Spike continued his chant, through his sobs.

He heard Riley saying something to the paramedics, “this man, his name is Spike Giles. He’s the lady’s fiancé. I’d appreciate it if you guys would let him ride in the ambulance with her.”

Spike looked up at Riley with gratitude, “who thought you’d turn out to be a good guy, mate,” he whispered at the tall dark haired man. Then Spike buried his face back into Buffy’s neck and wept openly.

Once they had arrived at Sunnydale Memorial Hospital, Spike, poor Buffy and the paramedics? The emergency room doctors took over. They wheeled Buffy away from Spike, to the operating room, leaving him alone in the waiting room. Where he would wait, forever, if he had to and pray, even.

Spike had taken the time to call Willow and Tara, but only after he called Joyce Summers first. She, Buffy’s Mum, was already on her way down from Santa Barbara to be with her baby girl and Spike.

“She’ll be okay,” Joyce had said just before she had hung up the cell phone, “my baby girl, she’s a tough one. Tell her I’m on my way Spike, please.”

Spike sat on a very lumpy, uncomfortable chair in the ER waiting lounge, ignoring the ‘no smoking’ signs, as usual. He’d be damned if he wouldn’t smoke while he waited for news from the operating doctors about his Buffy.

‘This guy better be the God of all fucking Surgeons,’ he rasped as he took another quick drag on his cigarette. For some reason, the hospital staff seemed to overlook the platinum blonde’s overt breaking of California laws. They allowed him to chain smoke while he waited for news of his loved one.

Finally, Spike just dropped his head into his hands and began to sob quietly again, not caring who heard him.

“Oh, God,” he groaned, “I’m such a fuck up, but she’s not. You listening up there?” he glared up at the ceiling. “I know I’m a stupid worthless piece of shit in the grand scheme of things, but Buffy? Okay, she’s not perfect, I get that, no one is. But, good Christ, (sorry), she’s all I’ve really got in this world. My light; the ying for my yang; my bloody soul mate. So please, whoever, whatever and why ever that is up there? Just let her live. I’ll be good, I swear to God, I’ll be a bloody Saint if you just let her live.”



Spike was in the middle of his redemptive monologue when he felt the presence of another person sit down beside him in the waiting room.

“Spike,” Riley Finn’s deep voice interrupted his conversation with the Powers that Be, “how’s Buffy?”

The blonde man looked up to see the man he’d called Captain Cardboard for so many years staring sympathetically at him. With a shrug of his shoulders and a shake of his head, Spike answered Riley, ‘don’t know.’

“Spike,” Riley began again cautiously, “I shot Angel. He’s dead, Spike.” Riley almost sounded, well relieved.

Spike snorted and mumbled, “I could give a flying fuck about Angel.”

Riley nodded slowly, numbly, “yeah, I know. But, I needed to tell you that. That and this, too. I’m pretty sure that I know who had all that information sent to us. About Angel and Xander Harris, the good Councilman Wesley Rhys-Smith and a scum bag named Doyle leaked to my department. It was you, wasn’t it?”

Spike, again, just shrugged, but to himself he thought, “Stupid, fucking plan. What good did it do? If Buffy dies, I could care less if I live, die, rot in jail even.”

“Spike,” Riley began softly, really softly for the usual brash tone Finn used, “I want you to know something, okay?”

Spike didn’t even look at him, just hung his head and nodded.

“I kind of tampered with the files you sent. Did a little editing, touching up on some of the information. Can’t see how hurting people who just wanted justice in the world would help anyone, especially the good people of Sunnydale. In other words, Spike, I erased some of the computer files that I was E-mailed. The ones that contained certain events and even some names of people. Things that have no real bearing on the crap that Angel was perpetrating in this town.”

Spike actually laughed, inanely, “what the fuck difference does it make, mate?” he asked, raising his left, scarred eyebrow at Finn.

“If Buffy…..” Riley shook his dark head and actually patted Spike on the back, “if Buffy makes it, I’d…”

Riley cringed, as Spike shot him a murderous look.

“Okay, man,” Riley altered his words, “when Buffy makes it, gets better? Take her away from here. Get her out of this fucking town, away from all this crap and bad memories. I know, man,” Riley sounded remorseful; Spike had to give him that. “I’m part of Buffy’s bleak past, but just do this Spike. Go back to England, start over, you and Buffy. Oh, maybe it’s just me trying to find some redemption for myself, I don’t even know. I let Angel get way out of control here. What happened when we were kids? Later. But, I really, really want Buffy to be happy and you too.”

Spike was stunned; Riley Finn was turning out to be more of a man then a lot of blokes he knew. Before he could answer the Police Captain, the doctor who had operated on Buffy was standing before both of them, grim faced.

“I am Doctor Wilkens,” the man in the blood spattered medical scrubs stated, wearily, “are you Miss Summer’s fiancé?” he asked Spike.

“Yes,” Spike stated, firmly, as he stood up.

“Well,” Dr. Wilkens started carefully, “I can’t promise that your fiancé hasn’t had her life shortened by a year or two, maybe three, but I can promise that she’s going to make it through this. She’s a tough little thing, for such a tiny girl. Lost a lot of blood, but, it looks good.”

Spike watched in relief as this stranger, the one in the blue and red soaked gown told her his life, his love, was going to live. Before the man finished his prognosis, Spike was running down the hall to the private ICU where his Buffy was recovering. When the nurse on the inside asked, "who are you?"

Spike gasped loudly, “Buffy Summers fiancé, Spike Giles.” The cooperative nurse pushed the button that allowed Spike into the unit and access to his future wife.

When he saw her, swathed in bandages, groggy from pain killers and all kinds of drugs, Spike tried not to cry in pain. Her whole right shoulder and side was covered in bandages, gauze and wraps, but it didn’t matter. Buffy was still beautiful to him.

“Buffy,” he whispered, barely expecting her to be awake for him, but delighted when he saw her open her emerald green eyes and smile weakly at him.

“Hey,” she whispered weakly, “how’s my guy?”

Spike practically fell forward on his knees, so relieved that Buffy was alive. She was going to be all right and was awake to see him now. “I’m bloody great,” he grinned, trying not to let her see his tears, “but I’m more concerned about you, Princess.”

Buffy smiled again and tried to reach out her left hand to him. Spike hurried over to the bed she lay in and took the tiny hand in his, bringing it up to his lips to kiss softly.

“I love you baby,” he whispered.

Buffy smiled bravely, “love you too, baby,” she rasped.

“Can I get in there with you?” Spike asked shyly, “can I lay next to you, sweetheart?”

She grinned, best as she could through the drugs and pain and nodded her head. Spike climbed cautiously up into Buffy’s bed, careful not to knock into the tubes and IV’s that were attached to her. He snuggled up into her, again, careful not to disturb her life lines.

“I love you Buffy,” he murmured, nuzzling his mouth into Buffy’s cheek, watching in amazement as she half-closed her golden lashes and smiled for him.

“You too,” she mouthed silently, unable to form the words vocally.

“Buffy,” Spike looked at her, his face serious, “this is how it’s going to be. You and me, we’re going to go far away from this lousy town, this hell hole. Taking you to England, going to’ have a place of our own, a bunch of brat kids, help me Mum take care of Guinevere and Drusilla. Never leave each other again, right, Princess? If that’s okay with you, baby,” he asked as he kissed the end of her funny little nose tenderly.

“Yeah,” she whispered sleepily, “its okay, but can I sleep a bit now, Will?”

Spike nodded as tiny tears of happiness trickled from his eyes, “you sleep Princess,” he murmured. “I’ll be right here when you wake up.”


 

Epilogue: ‘Thank You’


A/N: Thank you all who have read my fiction. Luv, Spuf


Five Years Later:



Buffy waddled down the stairs of her London home, hand in hand with a tiny honey-blond haired girl of about four years of age.

“Mummy,” little Elizabeth Anne Giles looked up at her Mother, a confused expression on her pretty face, “when is the new baby coming? It’s quite late, really, when will it be here?”

Buffy Giles smiled down at her little golden haired ‘Beth’ as her husband, Will, liked to call their daughter.

“Soon, honey,” she assured the toddler. “The baby is due in about a month, and then you’ll have a little brother or sister to contend with. Hope you know what you’re in for, darling,” Buffy winked at Bethie warmly.

Little Elizabeth was such a bright, precocious child and Buffy was a bit concerned that a new baby might confuse her or cause her to be a little insecure. After all, it had been just Will, Buffy and Beth for a few years now. Another child might rock the boat, so to speak.

“I can’t wait for the new baby!” the blue-eyed Beth cried eagerly. “I’ll walk the baby, change the baby, and even feed the little rascal!”

Buffy raised her right brow slightly, a habit she had picked up from her husband, William, over the years.

“We’ll see about that,” Buffy hummed as she led Beth into the dining room, only to find Will sitting at the table. Her still blond husband’s brow was furrowed as he studied some kind of blue prints.

“Hello, Daddy,” Beth chortled, releasing Buffy’s hand and running to her Father’s side, “whatcha’ lookin’ at?”

Will set his blue prints aside and rewarded his ‘little beauty' Bethie with a warm smile. “Just some silly pictures of a new building, Dutchess,” he chuckled as he picked his pride and joy up and sat her on his lap.

William Giles called his daughter Dutchess, Princess was and would only always be for Buffy, his wife.

“How’s Mum this AM?” Will asked Buffy as he pulled her to his side lovingly. “You certainly look beautiful, Princess. How does the little rug rat feel in your tummy?”

Buffy smiled at Will, kissing his blond, bleached head, “Mum is fine,” she assured him. “Just can’t wait for this little ‘rascal’ as Bethie calls him or her, to be out and about. I’m the size of a house!”

Beth grinned, “That’s what the pictures are!” she cried, clapping her hands together, “our new house!”

Her father tousled Beth’s hair and clutched Buffy closer to him, “that’s right, Dutchess,” he nodded proudly. “The new house should be ready in just a few months.”

“Can I have a pony?” Beth asked, suddenly out of the blue. “I want a little pony, with spots all over its bum and….”

Spike quickly tried to hush his darling daughter. Buffy would be furious that their four-year-old had used the word ‘bum’ in any way or form and his wife would certainly know where that little euphemism had come from.

“Uhm, sweet one,” Spike stammered to Bethie, “why don’t you run back up to your bedroom, I need to speak with Mum alone, okay?”

Beth nodded without hesitation, anything to please her adored daddy. When she had safely made it to the top of the stairs, Spike pulled Buffy onto his lap and nuzzled her neck lovingly.

“Baby?” he murmured as he stroked her arms. “I got some news from Riley Finn yesterday. Not sure if I should tell you or not as it’s good and bad, I guess.”

He felt Buffy tense up, but then force herself to relax, somewhat, and sink down into her husband’s embrace. “What is it Will?” she asked softly.

Since five years before, Buffy and Spike had been through a lot. An awful lot, but in the end, it turned out to be worth it. When Buffy had come out of the hospital, she had lost way too much weight, her shoulder was half gone, of course, and with Angel dead, things were in an uproar at home. At the law firm, with the Travers’ family.

Doctor Wilkens had to remove a small part of Buffy’s right lung, a very small part, thank God. Somehow, thanks to Will and her Mother, Buffy had pulled through the mess that surrounded her life. Will and Buffy decided to always look ahead to their future together from here on in.

Joyce and Will had found the best plastic surgeons they could. They had gotten Buffy the best medical help and reconstructive surgery. The surgeons had fixed the nightmare that Angel had caused when he’d shot her that day in the office. Buffy went on, thanks to Will and her friends and family. She went on to settle Angel’s affairs, sell the house and cars and field the Travers (with Will’s help of course). She eventually put her life with Angel behind her, completely.

They, Will and Buffy had moved to London less then a year after the horror that happened that day. Once there, Buffy and he settled into their life, quite quickly really. Buffy worked at an art gallery while Will took a job with Rupert Giles' only living relative. Rupert’s brother ran a consulting firm. In five years, Will had worked his way up in the rather large firm, making supervisor faster then anyone expected.

With Buffy to help, William and his mother, Anne, found taking care of a growing Guinevere a little easier then before. This certainly helped Will to feel less guilty about his Mum and sister Drusilla. Then Beth had come along and everything seemed complete in their lives.

Back home in the States, things had gone along fairly smoothly for most of Will’s and Buffy’s friends and family. Willow and Tara stayed together and opened a bookstore; Clem and Sophie had three children and owned ‘Clems’ totally. Buffy’s staff from the old days had found other positions, oddly enough with the Chase family. Cordelia and Riley never married, especially when he found out about Angel and everything else.

To this day, Cordelia had not ever married, apparently content to stay put in Sunnydale, handling her Father’s social calendar and functions. Riley ended up marrying the daughter of a Police Chief, Samantha was her name.

Whatever happened to the Travers? Buffy didn’t know and didn’t care; they were dead to her, just as she supposed she was to them.

In the end, Councilman Rhys-Smith, Doyle and some of the other planets in Angel’s solar system crashed and burned. They were all doing time in various jails in Southern California. Xander Harris disappeared completely, he seemed to fall off the face of the planet before the Sunnydale Police Department could find and arrest him.

Even Willow had not heard from Xander in the five years that had passed. As for Anya and Andrew? Well, Andrew went on to become the youngest partner of the Snyder, Levison Law Firm. He and Anya were married about a year or so after they had been instrumental in saving Buffy’s life. Two children, two boys, rounded out their little family.

“What’s the big news from Sunnydale?” Buffy asked apprehensively. Spike sighed and snuggled his wife closer to him.

“I guess that Xander Harris suddenly crawled out from under his rock, recently, that is Princess.” He felt Buffy cringe against him and held tightly to her, “it’s okay,” he assured her. “The whelp finally turned himself in to the Police. About time, since the bloody Sunnydale Police Force can’t organize a group trip to the loo.”

Buffy giggled in relief then grew serious. “I wonder what made Xander, after all of this time, turn himself in?” she asked in awe.

“Oh,” Spike mumbled, “probably just got tired of running. Just natural, I suppose, to grow weary of hiding out, running from the law. You know.”

Spike ran his hands over Buffy’s protruding tummy tenderly, “but, speaking of better things,” he chuckled, “what’re we going to name this little rug rat?”

Buffy scrunched up her face in thought, “I was thinking,” she said softly, “maybe, Joyce for a girl and William for a boy. William Rupert Giles, what do you think?”

She watched her husband screw up his face in disgust. “Oh for Christ’s sake, baby,” he spat, “I don’t want my poor kid, my heir, running around with my ponce name or ‘Rupert’!”

She broke out in peals of laughter, almost falling off of his lap, if he hadn’t grabbed and secured her tightly to him.

“Willie!” she cried in glee. “Willie, or Rupes! Oh, that’s so rich all right!”

Will was not laughing along with Buffy, in fact he frowned sourly, and “I mean it Buffy, no Willie, Bill or Rupert. I am dead serious about this!”

Trying to stifle her laughter, Buffy buried her face into Will’s neck, suddenly fighting tiny tears of joy.

“Have I ever thanked you, baby?” she murmured against his warm flesh.

“For what?” he asked, squeezing her even tighter to him, affectionately.

“For everything. For coming back into my life, just when it meant the most. For helping me believe in myself again. Oh, God, Will! For Bethie, this baby and just everything.” She buried her face into Will’s warm neck and began to weep, tears of joy.

William continued to rub her swollen tummy, lovingly as he kissed her tenderly on the mouth. “Well,” he whispered with a warm smile, “it’s me that should thank you. You brought me out of the dark, into the light, Princess. I love you more then anything in the world.”

Buffy sighed with contentment and snuggled even closer to her man, “me too, to you,” she replied lovingly.


FINIS