After getting Spike’s memories back and coming back to their own minds and bodies on the hard floor surrounding the basement pool at the Hyperion, Buffy went back and found Tara and told her they were just going to stay there at Angel's hotel and get some rest for a while.  She asked Tara to get the stuff she’d need for the dream-jumping tea so they could tell Annie that they’d both be home soon and alleviate her fears.

Buffy was surprised to find that the Army had already finished removing all the demon debris from the area and had opened it back up. The military was frighteningly efficient at covering things up; they'd obviously had lots of practice! Since the area was open again, Tara suggested to Buffy that she have everyone meet back up at the Hyperion later so they could figure out what to do next.  Buffy agreed and Tara took off for the Army hospital to let everyone know, while Buffy returned to the Hyperion where Spike was waiting for her.

When Buffy got back to the hotel, Dru and Illyria were gone.  Spike was sitting in one of the Adirondack chairs that hadn’t gotten broken, his head back and eyes closed … he looked like he could’ve been sitting on the beach sunbathing with his bare chest … his jeans and boots didn’t quite work with that image, but it still made Buffy smile thinking about it.

Spike opened his eyes as she approached and gave her a smile. “All set?” he asked her.

“Yeah, Tara’ll be back with the stuff soon … everyone’s gonna meet up here so we can figure how to get home,” Buffy told him as she sat down in his lap and leaned back against his hard chest.  Spike’s arms encircled her waist and he tilted his head against hers with a sigh.

“Where’s Dru?” Buffy asked softly, laying her hands over his where he held her.

Spike sighed deeply and hugged Buffy tighter against him. “Sent Big Blue off with ‘er,” he told her.

“So, you didn’t dust her … you let her go …” Buffy clarified, trying to keep her tone neutral.

“Yeah … I just couldn’ do it - despite everything, it’s still Dru … I’m sorry, luv,” Spike admitted softly.

“You loved her for a long time,” Buffy observed. “She didn’t love you … not like I do.”

“I know … I know that now – but …” Spike started…his voice trailing off, unsure just why he couldn’t dust her after what he now knew she had done to him; how she tried to steal him away from his true love … away from his destiny.

“If not for her, we would’ve never met …” Buffy offered, trying to be understanding. After all, how many times had Angel deserved to be dusted and she couldn't do it?

“Yeah,” Spike agreed. “I do owe her for that, at least…

“Buffy … what you saw – I never wanted you to see that … ever – that’s not me …”

“It’s what made you you … It’s what made you ‘Spike’, not just William,” Buffy pointed out.  “It was hard for me to see. I never want to think about where you were before Sunnydale, before me … but you lived a whole lifetime – two whole lifetimes before me – and I think it was time for me to realize that what you are now isn’t what you’ve always been.”

“Can you still love me … now that you know everythin’; now that you’ve seen everythin’?” Spike asked, closing his eyes and waiting for her to tell him that she couldn’t be with him anymore … that the things he’d done were just too horrible to forgive.

Tears welled in Buffy’s eyes as the memories of Spike’s life before her raced through her mind again and she closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip, to try and fight the emotions back.  Buffy finally swallowed the lump in her throat and sat up slightly so she could turn and see Spike’s face. He opened his eyes and they met hers when she turned, as he awaited his judgment … his fate.

“I saw my husband killing innocent people … I saw his velvet hands turn to steel as he broke the neck of a Slayer with a young son …

“I saw him offer the blood of another Slayer to his sire and make love to her right there where the Slayer he killed still lay in the dirt …

“I saw him turn, and then stake, his own mother.

“My husband … the father of my children, did these things,” Buffy told him solemnly as she looked into his eyes.

“I’ve been down every road you’ve been. I saw your first kiss, I saw your first love … your first heartbreak – your first kill and every one after that...” 

Spike knew it was over … she could never forgive him for what he’d done – he didn’t deserve to be forgiven – he never deserved her love in the first place.  Spike nodded slowly and released his hold on her.  He reached down beside the chair and picked up a sharp piece of wood from the chairs that had been broken earlier and offered it to her.

“I’m sorry … I’m sorry for what I’ve done; I know that doesn’t mean anythin’.  I know you don’t think I think about it … but I do.  Late at night they haunt me – the Slayers, the mothers, the sisters, the daughters … they all haunt me. 

“The only thing that keeps me on this side o’ the loony-bin wall is you – your love. Knowin’ that you’re beside me makes me strong enough to face ‘em.  I can’t face it without you, Buffy…please don’t ask me to,” Spike pleaded with her as tears stung his eyes.

Buffy took the stake from his hand and pressed it against his chest as tears flowed from her eyes. She looked up from the stake and met his crystal blue eyes with hers.  “What you don’t know is that I not only saw those things … I felt them, too,” Buffy admitted, her voice cracking as she fought back tears.

“I felt your fear of Angelus, I felt your love for Dru, I felt your heartbreak, your dreams, your hopes and your wishes and I felt you take all that, wrap it up in a demon, and do the best you could with it. 

“Then I saw those hands of steel turn back to velvet as you held me when I cried for Angel that first night and I felt that love you had for Dru change as you realized that she wasn’t your destiny after all … that I was, and I felt your love for our children and how you would protect them with your last breath, and I felt your willingness to sacrifice everything so I could make it home for them and, you know what? No matter how much I love William, he’s not Spike – and I need Spike. I love Spike.”

Buffy held the stake up in both hands and broke it in two before dropping the pieces on the floor.  Tears flowed down her face as she looked at her husband and she laid a hand softly on his face, tracing the scar on his brow with one finger. Spike sat in stunned silence trying to process what she’d said. The lump in his throat kept him from speaking as he stared at her, dumbfounded by her words.

“I said, I love you, Spike,” Buffy repeated softly.

“I … I …” Spike stammered.

Buffy smiled at him. “‘I love you too, Buffy’ would be the proper thing to say now …” she told him softly.

“I love you too, Buffy,” Spike repeated, a look of utter confusion still on his face – he was so sure she’d never be able to forgive him – never be able to love the monster inside the man now that she’d really seen how monstrous he’d been.

“‘You are my destiny,’ would be good …” she suggested, as a smile tugged at her lips.

“You are my destiny,” Spike repeated.

“‘You are the boss of me … I’ll never question you again – anything you say goes and I’ll always pick my wet towels up off the floor,’” Buffy prompted, her eyes dancing in amusement.

“You are the boss of me … I’ll never … uhhh … wait just a minute there, Slayer,” Spike started and Buffy burst out laughing.

Buffy leaned in and took his lips in a soft kiss and Spike wrapped his arms back around her and pulled her body against his as he returned her kiss. 

Buffy pulled back and laid her hand on the side of his face. “Show me the demon,” she requested quietly, looking into his eyes. 

Spike narrowed his eyes considering her a moment before bringing the demon up.  Buffy ran her fingers lightly over his wrinkled forehead, across the even more prominent scar above his eye, and down the side of his face before leaning in and taking his lips in another tender kiss. 

“I love you, Spike,” she murmured against his lips before slipping her tongue between his sharp fangs and into his mouth to taste him.  Spike swirled his tongue around hers, their tongues dancing dangerously close to his fangs, as he sent her a silent message over their bond, I love you too, Buffy.

He still couldn’t believe it … she forgave him, she loved him … she loved the monster and the man.  She really was his destiny – and their love really was eternal.

**~**

Buffy and Spike walked along the edge of the Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup lake, Buffy tucked in next to his side. He held her to him with his arm around her shoulders and she wrapped her arm around his waist, as they watched the MoonPie set in the western sky and the candied orange slice rise over the lake in the east.

They had spent time with Annie, assuring her that they would both be home soon and she was more than a little relieved to hear that.  Annie loved Anya and Xander, but she really wanted to come back home to her own room, Miss Kitty Fantastico, Bert and Ernie the hermit crabs, and her family of witches, demons and kooks, and the Slayer that tried to keep them all in line.

But now, it was just them in Annie’s chocolate world. The candied orange slice sun lit up the sky and warmed their skin as they stopped near the lake and watched it slowly rise higher into the sky. Spike loved the feel of the sun…even one made out of a candied orange slice, on his skin.  It warmed him and made him feel less like a monster and more like a man.

He’d missed this feeling of having Buffy at his side in the sun – ever since they’d lost the bond and lost the Gem of Amarra, as well.  And this day’s sunrise was made that much sweeter by the hell that they’d just walked through – emerging from the other side with hope and a renewed appreciation for the special love they shared.

Buffy turned to face Spike and pushed him backwards and down onto the ground behind him.  As he rolled back onto the ground, suddenly the chocolate shavings below them turned into a pad of thick, green grass covered with a soft cotton quilt.  Buffy followed him down, straddling his hips with hers and leaning her body down over his chest.  Their eyes locked, green on blue, and each seemed to penetrate down into the other’s soul – holding each other captive for many long moments before she took his lips in a tender kiss.

“Make love to me, Spike,” Buffy whispered against his lips as he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

Make love to me, Spike … Spike, the words echoed in his head … usually when she said that, she asked for William. Now she asked for Spike to make love to her – she asked for the monster she loved to use velvet hands and make sweet, tender love to her. 

Spike ran his hands lightly down her body, over the clothes she was wearing and back up again and suddenly their clothes were gone.  Her skin felt softer than anything he could ever remember feeling before as he skimmed his hands up and down her back, to her round butt, her thighs, and back up again as she sucked on his full bottom lip, holding his face tenderly between her hands.

Buffy slid down his body, trailing her tongue down his neck, sucking lightly on his Adam’s apple before continuing down to his collarbone, then down his hard pecs before swirling her tongue first around one nipple then the other, causing Spike to moan and tangle his hands in her long hair. 

Her hands followed her mouth down his body as she moved slowly across his abs, savoring the hard muscles under his silky skin and trailing her tongue down to his bellybutton.  She licked a small circle around it before dipping her tongue down into it.

Buffy squealed and pulled back, her hand covering her mouth, as her tongue hit chocolate syrup in his navel. “How did you do that!?” she questioned, licking the chocolaty goodness off her lips with a smile.

Spike laughed. “It’s a dream, luv…can do anythin’ we want.  Thought you might like a little … treat … ya’ know, an extra treat other than my hot, tight little body.”  

“Oh, how considerate of you,” Buffy told him with a smirk. “But if you’re gonna do it, do it right …” she informed him as she waved her arm and a huge wave of chocolate syrup rose up out of the lake and crashed down on both of them.

“Now … that’s what I call a treat!” Buffy exclaimed as chocolate dripped from her skin and hair and joined the syrup that covered Spike’s hot, tight little body. 

“Anyone ever accuse you of overkill, luv?” Spike asked with a smile as he wiped chocolate syrup off his face.

“No such thing as too much chocolate…” Buffy informed him as she went back to licking the sweet treat out of his bellybutton, circling it with her tongue and savoring the sweetness that covered his soft skin.

Buffy slid down further, running her tongue down along one side of the “V” that formed below his abs, then back up the other side.  Spike moaned in frustration as she neared his rock-hard, chocolate covered cock but didn’t touch it and Buffy smiled to herself…loving the power she had over him…loving to hear him moan for her – he’d be begging soon if she kept on – she had no doubt.

Buffy skipped down and started licking up from his knee to his balls along his inside thigh. Spike’s legs jumped and his hips jerked as she got near his sensitive jewels, but didn’t touch them … instead starting back down the other side, slurping and sucking the yumminess from his skin as she went.  Spike’s legs jumped again when she passed over his inside thigh and he reached down to pull her back up to his cock.

“Ahh, ahh, ahh,” Buffy told him, “…my treat … I get to eat it how I want.”

“Christ, woman! You’re killin’ me!” Spike exclaimed trying again to pull her up his body and away from his thighs as she licked and sucked on them … nibbling now and then with her teeth and swirling her tongue around in small circles.  Spike’s legs twitched and jumped each time she touched him until finally he screamed at her to, “STOP! Bloody hell! Stop it!”

“What’s the matter, sweet boy?” Buffy cooed.  “You aren’t … ticklish there, are you?”

“No! ‘Course not!” Spike exclaimed. “You’re driving me bug-shaggin' crazy!”

“Really?” Buffy questioned as she nibbled on his inside thigh again and he jerked his leg away from her.  “I think you’re ticklish… why didn’t I notice that before?” she wondered.

“‘Cause you never did it that bloody long before!!” he admitted. “I can stand it just so fuckin’ long! Christ!”

Buffy laughed and started tickling the inside of both of Spike’s thighs with feather touches using her fingers.

“Arrrgghhh! Stop!” Spike exclaimed, his legs and whole body jerking away from her as he tried to grab her hands with his.

Buffy let him grab her hands and pull her up his body so she was lying on top of him … chocolate syrup squished out from between them as she laughed and dropped a gooey kiss on his lips. “Big Bad is ticklish in a very sexy place,” Buffy cooed, raising and lowering her eyebrows as a smile played on her lips.

“A hundred and twenty plus bloody years and you’re the only one who’s ever found that spot …” Spike told her with a smirk. “I’m gonna have to kill ya’ now, you know that, yeah?”

“Not until I finish my treat, I hope,” Buffy said in a low voice, running her tongue slowly across her top lip as she slid back down Spike’s body and settled between his legs.  Buffy took his shaft in her hand and slid slowly up and down his hard length, causing Spike to moan – her hot hand squeezing and releasing up and down his cock felt like heaven.

“Since this will be my last meal,” Buffy started, “I should make it good.”

Suddenly Spike’s cock was covered with whipped cream, colorful sprinkles and there was a bright red cherry on top.  Spike looked down his body and watched her pick the cherry up by its stem, tilt her head back, and slowly lower it into her mouth. She licked all the whipped cream off it as she sucked it in and out of her luscious lips before pulling the stem off and biting down on it, sending drops of red cherry juice flying in all directions.

Spike’s cock jumped, growing even harder, as he watched her give the cherry a blowjob and then turn her attention back to him. Buffy licked up from his balls along the underside of his shaft, sucking up the rich, sweet, whipped cream as she went.  When she reached the head, she swirled her tongue around it, cleaning the cream and sprinkles off, before starting back down to his balls.

Spike moaned and called her name as he watched her clean every bit of chocolate and whipped cream and sprinkles off his cock and balls.  Her tongue flicked over his cum slit … his pre-cum mixing in with the sweet treats and making her pussy ache for him.  Finally, Buffy took the head in her mouth, her lips squeezing him tightly. Her tongue swirled and licked down his length as she took more and more of his cock in her mouth and Spike sighed in utter bliss.

Buffy moaned in pleasure as more of his pre-cum leaked out and covered her tongue.  When she moaned around his cock, Spike thought he might lose it right then … he had to lay his head back and close his eyes to keep from cumming. 

His hips rose up to meet her as she started moving faster and faster on his thick cock…her tongue licking up and down his length as her lips devoured him. Buffy used a hand to pump what wouldn’t fit in her mouth, squeezing his shaft hard as she sucked and moaned around him.

“Fuck! Buffy! God… so fucking good!  Christ … arrrgghhh… gonna cum… Fuck, Buffy! Yessssssss!!” Spike exclaimed as his hips thrust against her mouth.

He tangled his hands in her hair as his cum boiled up and shot into her hot, heavenly mouth.  Buffy continued licking and sucking and moaning against his sensitive glans as Spike came.  She loved hearing him scream her name … she loved seducing him … giving him such pleasure – it made her that much more hungry for him – made her want him that much more.

When Buffy felt him relax under her, she swirled her tongue around the head of his cock, licking up every drop of cum, before flicking it lightly across his cum slit and making his hips jump under her.

“Fuck!” Spike exclaimed as his body jerked and trembled as she continued to tease him with her tongue.  “Nothin’ left, Slayer …” he informed her.  “Give us a minute ….”

Buffy sat back on her heels and licked her lips, wiping cum off her chin where it had dribbled out of her mouth and sucking it off her fingers. “Mmmmm…Marshmallow Fluff!” she announced with a grin as she continued licking her lips.

Spike put his hands behind his head and watched her – he could look at her all day … even covered in chocolate syrup from head to toe, she was a vision.

“January nineteenth,” Spike said, out of the blue. “Capricorn on the cusp of Aquarius.

“Independent and individualistic … she who stands alone against the demons. The Sea Goat. They start from the sea and ascend to the highest mountain tops. Determined to succeed … not afraid of a challenge – they always persevere; fight for what they believe in … fight for what they love.”

Buffy tilted her head to the side and watched Spike with loving eyes as he told her about her birthday, herself, her sign, as she had done him.  A date he couldn’t remember only a few hours before.

Spike sat up and pulled Buffy into a passionate kiss, wrapping his strong arms around her body as she wrapped hers around his neck. His tongue delved into her mouth, swirling and teasing and tasting; tasting the sweet chocolate and whipped cream and … Marshmallow Fluff!?

Spike pulled back and laughed, leaning his forehead against hers. “I love you, Slayer,” Spike whispered to her softly.  “There’s no one else in the world quite like you … you’re one of a kind … and I’m yours – heart and soul, Buffy.”

Buffy kissed his lips and pulled him with her as she lay back on the quilt beneath them.  His body covered hers, her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms around his neck as she continued kissing his soft lips.  Buffy pulled away, looked into his eyes and whispered, “Wake up now,” and suddenly she was gone.

When Spike woke up a second later in the bed they had commandeered at the Hyperion, he rolled over onto his side to face her.

“I love you, too, Spike,” Buffy whispered to him as she rolled onto her back and pulled him with her. “I’m yours, heart and soul.”

Spike lay atop her body … the heat from her warmed him through-and-through as he kissed her sweet lips. Buffy wrapped her legs around his hips and her arms around his hard back. “Make love to me, Spike,” she requested again as she tilted her hips up to take him into her core.

Spike rose up with strong arms on either side of her and tilted his hips to line his cock up with her wet pussy. He pressed into her slowly … their eyes locked, as if hypnotized by the depths of the other. 

Buffy gasped as he entered her, her pussy walls stretching to take him in and then hugging tightly against his hard rod as he pressed into her ever so slowly.  Spike fought to keep from plunging into her … he wanted her so badly – he wanted to be buried deep within her core – engulfed in her heat, surrounded by her strength, but he wanted to savor this feeling, too.

He loved how she felt with her legs and arms embracing him and her tunnel trembling and squeezing around his cock.  “Always so wet for me, you are,” he whispered to her. “So hot, so full of passion … you always make me feel so alive, Buffy.”

When Spike was buried to the hilt in her heat, they both stopped moving their hips.  Spike dipped his head down and licked a slow circle around one nipple, then the other, and Buffy’s back arched up, pressing her breasts against him as he sucked one hard nipple into his mouth. 

“Ohhhh …yes, Spike …” she moaned as she ran her hands up and down along the hard muscles of his arms and back. Spike began pulling out of her just as slowly as he’d entered; his pace unhurried, gentle – his movements deliberate, as he trailed his tongue up from her breast, past her collarbone and up her neck to her ear. He bit down lightly on her earlobe before swirling his tongue in slow circles on the spot behind her ear that drove her crazy.

Buffy felt chill bumps start from the spot where his tongue was teasing her neck and sweep across her whole body as she moaned his name and her eyes fluttered closed. A small orgasm passed through her as he pushed back into her, his tongue still working its magic on her neck and his strong muscles undulating under her hands as he struggled to control his body’s urge to go faster.

Spike came down to his elbows, allowing his body to rest on hers, as he kept the slow pace of their lovemaking going.  He watched her face as ripples of pleasure passed over her every time his cock pressed in, every time his pubic bone ground down slowly, but deliberately, on her clit.  He loved the feeling giving her pleasure gave him … never mind how wonderful it felt to be enveloped by her heat … knowing that what he was doing was making her moan and tremble and rise up towards the heavens, meant everything to him.

Buffy’s eyes fluttered back open and were met with the most beautiful blue she’d ever seen as Spike gazed down on her – she saw love and adoration and desire in those eyes and it was all for her.  It made her heart swell to see him look at her like that. She couldn’t imagine that she could love him any more than she already did…but somehow her heart always found a way to expand just a little further when he looked at her like that.

“Let’s go to heaven, baby …” Buffy whispered to him as she began raising her hips up to meet his in ever harder thrusts. Spike rose back up onto his hands and increased his tempo to match hers. Their bodies began slamming together – cool skin meeting hot, hard meeting soft, a creature of the dark meeting an angel of light.

“Talk to me, Spike …” Buffy whispered. She loved hearing his voice – she loved it all the time, but when they were making love, she loved it even more.  Deep and rumbling and full of lust and passion … it alone seemed enough to send her to heaven at times.

“I love you, Buffy … God … you don’t know what you do to me … so fucking hot! So wet … so tight … so sweet you are!  Let me take you to heaven, pet … come with me … fly with me …”

“Yes! Spike!  God, yes!  Take me there! Take me!” Buffy yelled at him as Spike pounded down on her, grinding hard against her clit and burying his cock deep in her hot, wet pussy. Buffy pulled her legs up further … away from his hips and nearer his shoulders to allow him to slam into her harder, to bury his cock into her deeper. 

Spike growled as she opened herself to him completely, allowing him complete control. He pushed her legs up higher, folding her nearly in half and hooking her feet over his shoulders as the demon came up and he slammed his hips down on her with renewed force.

“YES! Yes Spike!!  Take me! Take me … fuck yessss!” Buffy screamed at him as he plowed into her harder, deeper, and faster. Her back arched and her whole body began to shudder and tremble under him as her words turned into long, blissful screams escaping her throat. Buffy felt like she was flying – gliding, dipping, diving and then riding the air currents back up towards the clouds. 

She could almost feel the wind in her face … the freedom of soaring high above the earth on golden wings as Spike took her with him above the clouds. All she could see surrounding her was an azure sky, the color of Spike’s eyes, as she flew higher and higher.

Spike felt her orgasm starting even before her words turned into the screams of ecstasy that he so loved. Her channel tightened around him, squeezing his cock harder and tighter, pulling him deeper into her and then shuddering around his shaft until he couldn’t hold back.  Spike’s roar of release joined Buffy’s screams as his seed spilled deep into her core; he topped the summit of the highest mountain and soared off the cliff – joining her high above the earth.

They danced far above the planet; falling up and down, climbing and plummeting, circling and banking off the winds as they held on to each other and dared the world to intrude. They both flew through the air like eagles … graceful and powerful – raptors, fighters … primal and elegant; at once dominant over the earth and insignificant compared to the universe above them.

They clung to each other as they drifted in slow circles back down to the earth…back to their bodies and the world that seemed to want nothing more than to destroy them … to destroy their love and take their destiny away.  As they re-entered their bodies, Buffy slid her legs off his shoulders and Spike morphed back to his human face and lowered himself down, covering her body with his, as she held him to her with quivering arms and legs.

Buffy’s chest heaved, her breathing ragged and irregular, as she tried to get oxygen back into her body, but didn’t want to let Spike go to make breathing easier.  Her skin was flushed and a thin layer of perspiration covered her body as she clung to her lover, her husband, her best friend – her destiny.

The heat coming off her felt like fire to Spike … like the flames of love engulfing him, burning him in the best possible way – with desire and passion and an understanding that only someone who’s been down every road you’ve been could possess. 

How she could forgive him for his past now that she’d seen it, he still didn’t know; how she could love him so completely, he’d never understand; how she could desire him – take him soaring above the clouds with her every time, he couldn’t fathom… but he was thankful to whoever it was that brought her to him. Without her, his life would still be empty … he would still be an empty shell of a man … waiting for someone to come along and fill him with love.

Spike pulled his head back and looked at Buffy’s face and she opened her eyes and smiled at him sweetly…her breathing finally returning to normal.  

“Forgive yourself, Spike …” she whispered to him. “I give you permission to let the ghosts go…we don’t have to go down those roads anymore.

“You don’t have anything that you don’t deserve … including my love,” Buffy assured him, her voice low and soft as she looked deep into his blue eyes.  “We have all eternity in front of us … new roads to travel, new heavens to discover – come with me, I’ll take you there.”