Alternate Universe: Unexpected
Story Title: Everything I Own
 

Chapter Title:

 

It's a Small World

Chapter Summary:

 

Spike and Buffy finish what they started in the ‘new’ bathroom, but end up on a wild ride that threatens to take Spike back to the guilt and insanity of purgatory.

 

Time line:

January, 2010

**

History:

Joshua "JJ" Harris was born on April 21st, 2004

The twins (Danielle, "Dani" and William, "Billy") were born on February 12th, 2004.

Annie was born on February 14th, 1999

Spike and Buffy  were married in  February 1999

Buffy was born January 19th, 1981

William/Spike was turned by Dru in 1880 1890; first came to Sunnydale in September of 1997

 

All the Potentials were endowed with full Slayer power in February 2003.

Buffy and Spike learned of the other dimensions and got the memories from the 'Rome' Universe in May, 2003.

The ‘Wish-World’ lasted from January 19th, 2005 to January, 16th 2010.

 

Notes:

Music Referenced:

It’s a Small World

http://youtu.be/eIxXXSufOAo

   **

ScreenCaps courtesy of ScreenCap Paradise:

http://www.screencap-paradise.com/?cat=3

 

Thanks: Thanks so much to Paganbaby for her continued support and wonderful ideas. I especially needed her help with this story because of the complexity of it! {{Thanks PB!}}

Special thanks also to 'u2fan2005' and 'epd4' for their suggestions, corrections, and help betaing this chapter!!

Rating / Warnings:

SEXUAL SITUATIONS.

NC17. Content is only suitable for mature adults. Contains explicit language, sex, adult themes, and other adult situations that some people may find objectionable. If you are under the age of 17 or find any of these themes objectionable – GO AWAY.

Monday, January 18th, 2010, early morning hours:

 

Spike turned off the water and grabbed Buffy’s towel from the rack and began drying her hair, her shoulders, her back, her legs, her feet – then started back up her front. Slowly and softly, he mopped the warm water from her golden skin … up her legs, over the swell of her hips, across her soft curls to her abdomen and Billy’s scar. He paused momentarily at her navel, circling it gently with the towel, before moving up over her stomach to her full breasts. Spike stilled the towel in his hands just below her breasts and dropped his mouth down to her skin. He began licking the dampness from one breast, then the other, with slow circles, moving closer and closer to her ever hardening nipples.

 

Chill bumps jumped up on Buffy’s skin everywhere Spike’s lips touched her and she couldn’t help but moan his name as he sucked one damp nipple into his mouth and laved it with his tongue, then moved to the other and carefully repeated his ministrations. His mouth felt like heaven on her skin, she longed for that mouth to roam over every inch of her body … to kiss and lick and taste all of her, to take her where she knew he could, to heaven … all night long.

 

“So beautiful you are, pet …” Spike murmured against her damp skin, before lifting his head and looking into her eyes. “What you do to me, just lookin’ at you, watching you walk, hearin’ you laugh … makes me want you every moment of every day.  Make me crazy, you do … without even tryin’ and when you try …” Spike’s voice trailed off and he shook his head, unable to even express how crazy she drove him.

 

Buffy reached out and touched his still wet skin, running her hand slowly down his chest to his abs. She could feel his muscles tremble and quiver under her touch and see his hard cock jump as she grazed his skin softly with her fingertips.  “You always make me crazy, too … I’ve never stopped wanting you, never stopped loving you. I dreamt about you … God, Spike … so many times – about moments like this.  These last days, I’ve been afraid I’d wake up at any moment, that this was just a dream, but it’s not, is it?”

 

Spike shook his head slowly. “Not a dream … a dream come true,” he assured her.

 

Buffy let out a deep breath and nodded. “It’s a good thing we found each other, believe me when I say, it’s better to be crazy together than alone…”

 

Spike bit his bottom lip and nodded. “I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise, luv. I never meant for you to walk alone ever again.”

 

Buffy smiled as tears welled in her eyes unbidden. She raised her hand up and laid it gently on Spike’s cheek. “I was never alone … I could always feel your love, deep in my soul, a part of you was always with me. On the darkest nights, I could feel your arms around me, and it gave me strength to fight another day.”

 

Buffy raised up on her toes and took Spike’s face in both hands as she kissed him, softly at first, then deeper, more demanding. Spike wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up off her feet, pulling her body hard against his. 

 

“Make love to me…” Buffy moaned, pulling back slightly from the kiss, the breath of her words warm against his lips.

 

Spike carried her to the dressing area and reluctantly set her down before retrieving a robe from one of the closets and holding up for her to put on. Buffy looked at him questioningly, but slipped her arms into it and watched as he put one on, as well, cinching it closed with the belt.  At Buffy’s slightly confused look, he reminded her, “House Rule number two … ‘Keep your privates private’. Little Bits have big eyes …” widening his eyes for emphasis.

 

Buffy laughed and nodded, then squealed when Spike quickly bent down and picked her up with one strong arm under her knees and the other around her back.  Buffy wrapped her arms around his neck and Spike headed for the door … Buffy unlatched the lock and pulled it open when he paused. 

 

“Quiet as a church-mouse now…” Spike whispered to her as he stepped into the hall and started back towards their bedroom with her.

 

Buffy smiled and tucked her head against his neck as he carried her past the rooms of their (hopefully) sleeping children. Her chest tightened and she bit her bottom lip to keep from screaming out in joy.  Their babies were sleeping peacefully in their rooms, her friends were all alive and well … and she was in Spike’s arms.  The world had been put back on its axis … she’d stepped on a butterfly and gotten a second chance … or a third chance or however many chances this was now, and she intended to make the most of it – starting tonight … all night long.

 

**~**

 

In their soundproof room, with the door closed and locked, Spike laid Buffy down gently on the bed, then turned and lit some candles on the dresser behind him, casting the entire room in a soft, golden light. 

 

He turned back to her and pulled the belt of her robe and let it fall open.  Like a hungry man standing in front of a smorgasbord, Spike raked his eyes over her body, trying to decide where to begin … Her soft lips? Her tender neck? Her full breasts? Her sweet mound? Her golden thighs? Her ticklish toes?

 

Buffy didn’t move, but watched his eyes as they danced sensuously over her body … her woman’s body; not the body of the girl she’d had the last five years,  that she’d had with Spike in purgatory or with William, but the body of the woman who’d borne their children, with the scars and the hips and tummy to prove it. In her lover’s eyes she saw desire, she saw adoration and lust and longing and she started to feel like a goddess again, something she hadn’t felt in a long time … a very long time.  Except to reach one hand out and lay on the side of his hip, just because she couldn’t stand to not be touching him, she didn’t move as his eyes devoured her.  She had the scars of their life together laid out for him … and her imperfections, her badges of honor, made her even sexier to him than she’d been as that girl he’d first laid eyes on so many years ago.

 

Spike dropped his own robe on the floor as he continued to caress her body with his eyes, finally deciding to start at the top and work his way down.  Spike went to the end of the bed and crawled slowly over her body on all fours, dripping water from his blond curls as he went.  Buffy wiggled under him as the now cold water droplets hit her body and ran off, tickling and chilling her hot skin. Her squirming made Spike shake his head, sending hundreds of droplets in all directions and covering not only her, but the bed and dresser and even putting one of the candles out.

 

Buffy squealed and jerked under him as the cold water covered her, then grabbed the sides of his head to stop him from shaking it anymore. “You’re crazy!” Buffy exclaimed as she pulled him all the way up, so his lips were just inches from hers.

 

“Thought we’d already established that, Slayer … your fault … make me crazy, you do,” Spike defended.

 

Buffy ran her hands through his damp hair, smoothing it back from his face, and raised her lips up to his. With barely a hair’s breadth between them, she murmured back, “I intend to drive you completely insane…”

 

“Can’t wait…” Spike whispered back before dropping his lips on hers and capturing them in a lustful kiss. His tongue delved into her mouth, tasting, teasing, dancing with hers and Buffy wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss with as much desire and passion as Spike was giving her.

 

Spike slowly pulled away from the kiss and turned his head so his mouth was next to her ear. “I love you, Buffy … more than you’ll ever know, more than words could say,” he whispered to her, his voice deep and full of emotion. 

 

Buffy took his face in her hands and turned his eyes back to hers. “I love you too. And I do know how much – I love you just as much,” she assured him before raising her lips back to his and brushing them silkily over his luscious mouth.

 

Spike kissed a trail from her mouth back to her ear, then swirled his tongue in slow circles up and down the side of her neck, spending extra time on the special spot behind her ear that made her moan and her body tingle all over.  Goose bumps chased up and down Buffy’s skin as Spike teased and licked that magical spot behind her ear and she turned her head to the side in a silent invitation for him to continue … please, Spike, please don’t stop.

 

I’ll never stop, luv, Spike sent back to her through their bond and Buffy’s eyes flew open as she turned her head and looked at him with surprise. The bond! She’d nearly forgotten about it… she’d gotten so lost in his touch, lost in his love, and let all her defenses fall away, opening the bond.

 

“I didn’t mean … to … uhh … say that out loud…” Buffy stammered and Spike tilted his head and considered her. After being alone for so long, that must’ve freaked her out, to have someone hear your thoughts.

 

“You can say anythin’ to me, Buffy … I’ve seen the best and the worst of you, and I love you for all of it. Don’t be afraid to let the walls fall; let me in, Buffy, I’ll never hurt you,” Spike assured her gently.

 

Buffy bit her bottom lip and nodded as a small smile played at the corners of her mouth.  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as the last of the walls surrounding her heart crumbled into dust and a feeling of peaceful joy swelled up within her.  She wasn’t alone anymore … she was home and she was loved and she could share anything with Spike without fear of judgment or retribution or mockery.  It was freeing; she felt like a prisoner who had just been exonerated for a crime she hadn’t committed – her death sentence had been overturned; she’d been liberated from her nightmare and sent back to her life, back to her family.

 

Make me cum, Spike … take me to heaven, Buffy pleaded to him silently and Spike smiled a sweet, gentle smile – a smile full of awe and love and yearning as he looked into her eyes.

 

Spread your wings, my fallen angel, get ready to soar, Spike replied as he dropped his lips back down to her neck and kissed and licked and sucked against her soft skin, igniting fires that spread through her entire body. Spike trailed his mouth slowly down her neck and past her shoulder, licking a trail of flames down her breastbone.  He circled her hot, round mounds with his mouth, first one, then the other, leaving a damp circle-eight on her skin as he went round and round, closing the loops a little each time until he reached her hard nipples.

 

“God, Spike… please…” Buffy begged him aloud. She was standing on the edge and he was holding her there, not letting her fall, not letting her fly.

 

“What does m’ sweet angel want?” Spike asked innocently.

 

“Cum…need to cum – you promised…” she reminded him, her voice pleading as she ran her hands over his shoulders and arms and back again.

 

“Did I, now?” Spike questioned with a teasing smirk. “Well, you know Spike always keeps ‘is promises, luv.”

 

Spike dropped his mouth down on one hard nipple and nibbled on it lightly with his blunt teeth before circling it with his tongue and sucking hard with his magical lips. Buffy’s back arched and her body trembled under him … she could feel the fire building, she was standing on the cliff and the fire was at her back, threatening to devour her if she didn’t fly soon. When he switched over to give her other tit the same treatment with his mouth, he replaced his mouth with his hand and began lightly rolling and pulling her wet nipple between his fingers, and Buffy found her wings just in time. The flames exploded behind her in a bright orange fireball just as she soared off the cliff of ecstasy into heaven. 

 

Buffy’s body tensed and arched and quivered under Spike as the scream he loved so much escaped her lips and he knew his angel had found her wings. Spike kept his attention on her sensitive breasts, even after all the air had left her lungs and her scream turned into nothing more than silent rapture; he kept her soaring among the clouds for as long as possible. 

 

Buffy felt wave after wave of pleasure wash over her body … first a wave of fire, then a wave of refreshing ice, then the fire and ice battled for control as she soared over the earth and past the moon until she was dancing on the stars.  Goose bumps raced over her skin as the ice washed over her and then they were replaced with a thin bead of perspiration as the fire heated her … then back to the cool – over and over and over again. She’d lost all capacity for conscious thought as her body took over and let Spike keep her burning and chilling and burning again as she sailed around the sun … singeing her angel wings in the flames.

  

As Buffy came back down to earth, she gasped for air, gulping in the sweet aroma of sandalwood and vanilla that emanated from their skin and holding to Spike’s shoulders, as if she’d fall back and be consumed by the flaming orb if she let go of him. “Oh, God…Oh, Spike …God, Spike…” was all she could say when she finally got enough air in her lungs to speak.

 

Spike smiled against her skin as he left a trail of damp kisses down the middle of Buffy’s stomach, around her navel, down across the C-section scar and into her dark forest of curls that he considered his own personal utopia. Buffy was still trying to get her breathing back to normal when Spike lifted her legs at the knees and opened her pink folds to him.

 

“OH FUCK!” Buffy exclaimed as Spike’s mouth found her clit and he circled her erect nubbin with his tongue then lightly touched down on her most sensitive spot. Her hips jerked up against him, demanding more, but Spike wouldn’t be hurried. He continued to tease with his lips and tongue, circling her clitoris, then dipping his tongue into her hot, wet slit before sliding it down to her taint … and then circling her puckered hole and starting back up.

 

“Oh, God … Spike … pleease!” Buffy pleaded as he continued the rapturous torture, taking her time and again to the edge of the cliff, but never giving her wings.

 

“What do you want, pet?” Spike asked again … trying to sound innocent, but he lost the battle with his own desire and his voice came out deep and rumbly; full of his own need for her.

 

“Need you in me … God, Spike – need you now,” Buffy moaned as she tried to pull his face away from her pussy and bring him up her body.

 

“Now?” Spiked asked as he fought against her efforts to move him.

 

“Yes … now!” Buffy agreed, her pleading tone turning into a demanding voice.

 

Right now?” Spike continued teasing her.

 

“God damn it! Yes! Now! Right now!”

 

Spike moved faster than Buffy remembered him ever moving before, pressing her legs up and out and suddenly he was over her, his cock poised at her wet entrance, pressing against her, the muscles in his arms bulging as he held himself over her. 

 

“Now?” Spike asked again, his voice barely a whisper as he plunged slowly into her.

 

“Oh yes! Spike … oh, God!” Buffy exclaimed as he pressed into her and the fire and ice started the war in her body again, painting her skin with fiery ice.  Buffy pulled her knees higher, hooking her legs over his shoulders and opening herself up to him completely as he slid into her, each keeping their eyes open and locked onto the other.

 

Spike moved slowly, fighting his own desires to plunge into her hard and fast, so he could give her as much pleasure as possible as he stretched and filled her.  Her pussy trembled around his cock, pulling him in deeper and deeper until his hips hit hers and the head of his cock pressed against her cervix.

 

Buffy’s skin was awash with goose bumps and perspiration … she felt both hot and cold, one moment soaring around the sun, the next diving into cool, clear water … but above everything what she felt was complete.  She didn’t know if Zeus had actually split humans apart all those eons ago like Lorne had told her, but in these moments, when her body was one with Spike’s, when she could feel his love, feel his soul so close to hers, she couldn’t deny that it felt … perfect, as if this is where they both belonged.

 

Spike watched the emotions in Buffy’s eyes as he pressed into her. He could see not just physical pleasure, but her love, her devotion, her joy – that feeling of being completed.  He knew that look, he knew that feeling, because he felt it, too. It was as if part of his being was missing when they were apart and the closer they were, the more complete his soul felt. He longed to melt into her, to become one with the only woman that ever made him feel like that was possible, with the only woman that had ever touched his soul.

 

Spike leaned down and dropped a soft kiss on her lips before he started moving against her, pulling out just as slowly as he’d pressed in. He kept the slow pace going, savoring the feeling of her body under his, of her sugar walls engulfing his shaft as if they didn’t want to let him go, savoring the sights and the sounds and the aromas of his fallen angel. Her green eyes, locked to his, surrounded him with love; her skin smelled of sandalwood and vanilla and tasted salty from her fiery exertion; her hands felt like angel wings as they roamed softly up and down his back, from his strong shoulders all the way down to his thighs, and brought goose bumps to his flesh; her moans were like music to his ears … singing a song of contentment and bliss.

 

“I love you so much, Buffy,” Spike began, his voice deep and full of desire as he increased his pace, alternating short, fast strokes with long, hard, deep ones. “So passionate, you are, pet. What you do to me … you’ll never know how crazy you make me – how hard it is to keep my ‘ands off you, how hard it is to leave you for even a minute.”

 

Buffy loved the sound of Spike’s voice and his words and emotions lifted her higher and higher; the words seemed to drip from his tongue like warm, golden syrup and cover her in their sweetness.

 

“Let’s go to heaven,” Buffy whispered to him. “Come with me … dance with me in heaven.”

 

She could feel the fire and ice beginning to battle again within her as Spike’s hips banged down on her, grinding his pubic bone hard against her clit on the long strokes and pounding quickly against her throbbing nub on the short ones, sending red-hot sparks up and down Buffy’s legs and curling her toes.

 

“Yes! Spike … God, yes! More! You know what I need … give it to me! SPIKE! Yes, baby! Yessssss!” Buffy screamed as the waves of fire and ice began to crash over her, lifting her higher and higher until she was once again standing on the edge of heaven. “Cum with me … now, Spike … NOW!” she demanded.

 

Spike growled viciously as his demon came up to fulfill her demands for more. He knew what she wanted him to give – everything; mind, body, heart, and soul, and he gave it all to her eagerly. Spike slammed into her faster and deeper as she dug her nails into the cheeks of his ass, pulling him against her harder, and screamed at him to give her what she needed. Spike knew she needed … what they both needed, pure, unadulterated, visceral, primal passion. There was no holding back for either of them … there was no need to hold back, they both fed off the power of the other, off the lust and the love and the moans and the screams and the growls until there was nothing between them but raw desire and need – a need only they could fill for the other.

 

Buffy felt herself get washed away by the waves of burning, icy passion. She suddenly felt free, completely free of the earth and the pull of gravity. She fought to keep her eyes open and locked on Spike’s, but the feeling overwhelmed her and her lids fluttered closed as she began to fly up towards a blue, cloudless sky. Buffy’s heart, already racing from the waves of bliss washing over her, skipped a beat when she realized where she was … it wasn’t heaven, it was the butterfly soul garden and she was once again the green butterfly, floating on silky wings, high above the tropical paradise.

 

No…no, no, no! her mind screamed. She didn’t want to go back there…never, never again. Then suddenly Spike was next to her, his blue butterfly flying and fluttering in the clear sky with her and he grabbed her and began to spin her around … waltzing to unheard music across the rays of golden sunlight. 

 

It’s alright, luv. Dance with me – fly with me, she heard his voice in her mind.  Buffy forced her eyes open and Spike was there, back to his human features, his blue eyes smoldering with desire and boring into hers.

 

“Dance with me…” he whispered aloud and Buffy lifted up and captured his lips with hers, wrapping her arms around his neck, closing her eyes, and letting herself go back with him, back to the dance … back to that feeling of being free.

 

The lovers soared and fluttered lazily from sunbeam to sunbeam, rising and falling and floating and spinning in the clear blue sky as their souls joined their bodies in the passionate dance. Somewhere far below, Buffy’s scream and Spike’s growling roar bounced off the valley walls, across the clear blue lake, and seemed to fill the entire world with their passion for each other as their souls rejoiced and seemed to melt into one for the briefest of moments.

 

The lover’s gasped against each other’s lips as a powerful orgasm spilled out from their souls and devoured their bodies with its pureness.  It was as if their bodies had fallen away and let their spirits, their souls, fuse for that split second. Suddenly, there was nothing between them … no walls, no barriers, no skin or bones or consciousness – just pure spirit energy. 

 

Buffy realized instantly what was happening and tried to pull away from it, tried to end the dance, put the walls back up around them both, but it was too late. Everything that had happened to Spike’s soul in this place over the last five years flooded out of the ether and into his mind, into his memory, into his soul – Spike’s trials, his ghosts, his guilt and pain, his attempt at killing Buffy, his final judgment and after … Everything that Spike’s soul had been through in the ‘Wish-World’, in purgatory and in hell, crashed down on him like a burning tidal wave.

 

It was over in a moment … decades of pain and suffering slammed into Spike’s mind like a freight train out of control.  He screamed out as the flood gates closed, holding his head with both hands as he rolled off Buffy, writhing in anguish on the bed next to her.

 

“NO!” Buffy screamed rolling over to try and help him. One thing she’d been happy about was that he didn’t remember those years … that he didn’t know the pain and misery that he’d been in during the trials, that the voices of his victims stayed as whispers at the very corners of his mind.

 

Spike continued to hold his head, moaning in agony, his eyes pressed tightly closed as he rolled back and forth on the bed. All those feelings, the fears, the regrets, the guilt, the years of trials, and the final verdict, along with what seemed longer than an eternity spent behind the gates of hell, crashed against his skull from the inside. His head felt like it was going to explode, his heart felt like it had been ripped from his chest, and his soul bled from deep, gaping, jagged slashes.

 

“No ... no, no, no!” Buffy screamed again as she rolled over on top of him. She pulled his hands away from his face – she knew what she would see there, the frightened and guilt-ridden eyes, full of fear and pain, that had met her more than once in purgatory … and she was right. That look that she never wanted to see in his eyes again was back and it stabbed straight to her heart and ripped at her soul.

 

“Spike … open the bond … give it to me – it’s not yours, it’s mine … OPEN THE BOND!” Buffy demanded, shaking him by the shoulders.

 

“Buffy…what … what … Oh, God … Buffy… help me…” Spike stammered as he searched her eyes for some relief from the unbelievable pain that seemed to fill his entire body, his heart and soul, with sorrow and misery.

 

“Open the bond … take down the walls, let it go, give it to me, Spike …” Buffy repeated as she opened the bond between them as wide as she could and waited for him to do the same.

 

“God, Buffy … make it stop,” Spike moaned as he continued to roll from side to side under her in pain. The memories of the trials and the faces of his victims continued to stampede through his mind and trample his soul with their accusing eyes and harrowing screams. “Please, God … make it stop …”

 

“Open the bond…” Buffy said softly, putting her hands on either side of his face and holding his head still. “Look in my eyes … open the bond, let me take it away.”

 

“No… not yours,” Spike protested, trying to pull away from her.

 

“Yes … trust me, Spike. Open the bond,” Buffy pleaded with him. “Do you trust me?”

 

Spike nodded, his blue eyes glistening, wide with fear and confusion as all the feelings that his soul had been through continued to swarm around within him like a thousand killer bees … stinging his heart and filling him to overflowing with unbearable agony and guilt.

 

“Then open the bond, let me in.”

 

Spike finally focused on Buffy’s eyes and concentrated through the pain to open the bond with her. Buffy could immediately feel the ghosts and the guilt and the regrets and fears in his heart.  She closed her eyes and let her heart take all his pain in … she had to take it away from him, she couldn’t let him bear it alone – not again, not when it was within her power to stop it.

 

Suddenly Buffy found herself sucked into the deepest recesses of Spike’s mind, standing in the center of the cold, red pit of spiders from limbo. Hundreds of the large, hairy spiders surrounded her, tapping their sharp claws on the sand, daring her to try to cross their ranks to help Spike, who was huddled on a low ledge about fifty yards away, trying to hide from the ghosts and escape the ache in his soul.

 

“Scythe!” Buffy demanded, holding her hand out and the Guardian’s scythe appeared in her hand.

 

“You never learn…” she muttered coldly to the hungry arachnids as she began swinging the powerful scythe in a low circle, chopping legs and heads and bodies of the spiders and leaving a mish-mash of purple blood and viscera and black, hairy body parts in her wake as she worked her way towards her husband. Some of the spiders tried to jump up over the scythe and attack her, but her focus was unwavering and her aim true – as they jumped, she countered with the scythe, catching them in mid-air and slicing cleaning through their bodies with a sickening crunching sound.  Even as the ones at her back jumped, she could sense them and would turn quickly and rain their body parts down on the others.  Only when two or more jumped at the same time did she get caught, but she’d been there before and didn’t panic. When one jumped on her back, she stabbed down from over her head with the stake end of the scythe, dislodging and injuring the angry creatures, before turning and dispatching them with the blade.

 

From her first swing against the spiders, Buffy could feel the pain and guilt and remorse in Spike’s soul lessen as she took it into herself. Each spider that died lightened Spike’s burden and added to Buffy’s … as if by killing the spiders it was transferring his pain, his guilt, his transgressions, from his soul to hers. Buffy had felt his pain when he was in purgatory, but to actually have it within herself, to have it surround and penetrate her soul, was excruciating – how he had been able to stand it all that time he was alone in the cold, red world, Buffy didn’t know. The fact that William’s soul had finally given up and retreated, leaving just the demon to face the trials and the ghosts, Buffy now understood with complete clarity.  Tears stung Buffy’s eyes and streamed down her face, but she fought on as the voices of Spike’s ghosts began to scream at her and their faces danced in front of her eyes. Each blow of her scythe added to the agony in her soul, until finally, there was no more to add; the spiders all lay defeated in the red crater, their bright purple blood completely covering the red sand.

 

Buffy collapsed to her knees, then dropped her body all the way down to the blood-stained ground, as sobs wracked her. She’d seen Spike’s crimes before when she’d visited his memories while he was under Dru’s thrall … but now she felt them, every last one of them, and they stabbed at her heart and cinched a tight noose around her soul, demanding to be heard, demanding justice.

 

Buffy fought against them, conjuring the faces of her friends to her mind … friends that would be dead or disfigured or driven insane if not for Spike, and the ghosts of Spike’s victims scoffed at her … those few saved for so many lost? But Buffy didn’t waver, bringing up the faces of their children in retort and Kalani, once a polite young man who would’ve been turned into a demon if not for Spike, but still the ghosts mocked her.

 

Finally, Buffy screamed out in pain and frustration, coming back up to her knees and holding the Guardian’s scythe high above her head. “What about this!?” she screamed at the ghosts. “How many has it saved?!” she demanded to know and the ghosts quieted momentarily.

 

Buffy jumped up to her feet and swung the scythe at the ghosts who now surrounded her, passing it harmlessly through the apparitions. “Tell me!” she demanded of them again. “How many has it saved?!”

 

Nikki Wood’s ghost stepped forward from the crowd and stood in front of Buffy, placing her hands next to Buffy’s on the handle of the scythe and suddenly the dead Slayer’s apparition solidified in front of Buffy.  “My son grew up without a mother because of William the Bloody,” Nikki informed Buffy coldly, never letting go of the scythe.

 

“I know,” Buffy admitted softly. “I’m sorry … I’m so sorry about that … but you have to know the good Spike’s done. You have to see his hero’s soul.

 

“I’m the oldest Slayer ever known and there’s just one reason for that – Spike. He stands at my side and fights the fight with me, he gives me strength, he’s the reason I found this,” Buffy indicated the scythe by shaking it, “I’m sorry for your sacrifice … I’m sorry for your son, but it was the road William had to travel to be the man I needed, the man the world needed … to be a hero, to save the world.”

 

“The mission is what matters...right?” Nikki asked her solemnly.

 

Buffy wasn’t sure if she was being sarcastic or serious, she hoped serious. “Spike’s part of the mission now … he’s part of the answer, a huge part. No matter what evil I’m facing, from the armies of hell to The First to … to Satan himself, I’d rather have Spike at my side than a hundred Slayers,” Buffy informed her. “You didn’t die in vain … none of you,” Buffy told them, moving her eyes from Nikki to encompass the other ghosts who were surrounding her, waiting and listening. “You were all part of the mission from the beginning…you all made him what he is today, a hero, a Champion, which makes you all heroes, too.”

 

Buffy dropped her hands from the scythe, leaving Nikki holding it alone, and walked over to where Spike was still crouched on the ledge, covering his head with his arms and trying to make himself as small as possible. She held her hand up towards him, silently imploring him to join her.  Spike looked around at the ghosts who had turned and watched her and who were now watching him … so many eyes … so many innocents.  Spiked looked back down at Buffy, unsure, and Buffy nodded to him, assuring him silently.  Spike lowered himself slowly down from the ledge and took her hand and Buffy walked with him back to the center of the angry spirits.

 

“We avert apocalypses as a part of our daily life it seems … it’s our mission, to keep the world safe. There’s a reason the universe brought Spike and I together, in this time, in this place. I don’t know what it is yet … but I know one thing, there are no coincidences; it wasn’t an accident,” Buffy told the group. “If you all want to stay here and drive us both insane,” Buffy shrugged, “then go for it. We’ve both been insane before…

 

“But, if you want to save the world … I mean really save it one day; if you want your sacrifice to mean something, give us your blessing; give us your forgiveness and let us work the mission,” Buffy concluded, squeezing Spike’s hand tightly in hers.

 

“What sayeth the vampire!?” came a loud male voice from the back.

 

Spike knew the voice immediately. “Retchford,” he muttered sourly under his breath.

 

Spike took a deep breath and looked at Buffy for help. “I can’t tell you what to say … follow your heart,” she advised him.

 

Spike closed his eyes for a long moment and took another deep breath before opening them and surveying the expectant and accusing faces of his victims.  “You’re all part of me … in me all the time. Your blood is on my hands, but also in my veins and it … it makes me want to be a better man, to be a good man, to be the man that stands next to the Slayer. The kind of man that can give her strength and hope and love and … and be part of the mission. It makes me want to save the world for more reasons than the happy meals with legs.”

 

Buffy hoped Spike hadn’t gone too far with the ‘happy meals’ remark. “He has the soul of a warrior, the heart of a hero … let him prove it, let him show you all that your sacrifice wasn’t in vain,” Buffy added quickly.

 

“He's not a man, he’s a demon! A monster, a murderer and he'll never be anything else! He doesn’t deserve your pity or forgiveness! He doesn't deserve anything but a stake to the heart!” a man’s voice called out from the crowd.

 

Buffy rolled her eyes. “Riley,” she sighed.

 

A low murmur came over the assembled group and slowly, one by one … little by little, the apparitions began floating up out of the crater towards the red sky until finally the only ones left were Nikki Wood, Xin Rong (the Chinese Slayer Spike killed during the Boxer Rebellion), Riley Finn, Cecily Addams-Weckerly, and Daniel Retchford.

 

Spike turned his attention to Xin Rong, who was standing next to Nikki. He bowed deeply and said, “Wo hen bao qian fa sheng le shen me.”

 

“I thought you did not speak Chinese…” Xin Rong pointed out, her English perfectly understandable despite her thick Chinese accent.

 

“I didn’t … I … I learned it later,” Spike admitted.

 

“You wear my scar,” the Chinese Slayer observed, reaching her hand out towards Spike’s brow.

 

Her hand felt like a cold wind against his skin as she passed her ghostly fingers over the scar her sword had left so many years ago.  Spike closed his eyes and shivered involuntarily as her essence touched his and the souls of the two warriors found peace with each other.

 

“The Slayer speaks the truth,” Xin Rong announced as she pulled her hand away from Spike’s brow. “His soul is that of a warrior … he is one of us.

 

“Live each day as if it were your last, for one day, it will be,” Xin Rong advised Spike before she gave him a deep bow then floated up, out of the crater and out of sight.

 

Nikki extended the scythe towards Spike and Spike laid his hands on it next to hers. “Keep the mission always in mind … to save your children, you may need to save the world first,” she advised him. “The music’s just starting…” Nikki warned, throwing Spike’s own words from 1977 back at him, as she released the scythe.

 

Spike nodded solemnly as he took the scythe from her hands.

 

“Oh, give me a fucking break! You’re just gonna let him get away with it?!” Riley exclaimed, addressing Nikki. “It’s simple! He’s a fucking vampire! He’s evil! You think he’s changed? You think a soul changed him? He killed me with is soul firmly in place!” Riley pointed out, walking up closer to where Spike, Buffy, and Nikki stood.

 

“You know …” Nikki started, looking from Spike to Riley. “That makes me realize something …”

 

“That you need to fulfill your Calling, use that axe and make him pay for his sins?” Riley asked hopefully, looking at the scythe now in Spike’s hands.

 

“Noooo … I realize that you’re not about the mission at all,” Nikki informed Riley, turning away from Spike and Buffy to face the ex-soldier. “You’re about you and if you weren’t already dead, I’d kill you myself.”

 

Nikki grabbed the scythe back out of Spike’s hands and swung it at the indignant Riley, hitting him on the side of the head with the flat side of the blade and knocking him out cold. “Some people just don’t get it…” Nikki intoned as she handed the scythe back to Spike.

 

“Why in the world would you have ever married this jerk?” she asked Buffy.

 

Buffy shook her head and sighed. “I have no idea…”

 

Nikki grabbed Riley by the foot and followed her fellow Slayer up into the atmosphere, dragging the unconscious ghost of Riley Finn with her.

 

Buffy and Spike turned to the last two ghosts … Cecily Addams-Weckerly and her lover, Daniel Retchford. Spike handed the scythe back to Buffy and crossed his arms over his chest as he considered them, two of his first victims. 

 

“Well, aren’t you going to apologize to us, William?” Cecily asked indignantly. “Convince us that we’re part of the greater good and all that?”

 

Spike looked at Buffy and their eyes met for the briefest of moments, but that was all it took. Buffy and Spike both pulled back a fist and slammed them simultaneously into the ethereal jaws of the ghosts standing in front of them … Buffy’s into Cecily and Spike’s into Daniel.  Cecily and Daniel both fell onto the cold sand at their feet, crying out and holding their injured mouths.

 

“We’ll haunt you forever, old chap!” Daniel Retchford warned as he tested his jaw to make sure it wasn’t broken … can ghosts get broken bones?

 

“I’ll never give you a minute’s peace!” Cecily agreed.

 

“Sod off!” Spike replied angrily. “You two couldn’t haunt the bloody Amityville house! Pathetic, you are!”

 

“Buffy! You know what I can do!” Cecily warned. “You know my power!”

 

Buffy shrugged. “Weren’t so powerful when it was just you and me without all your demony friends to help you; I’m guessing they aren’t too happy with you about now.  I wonder if D’Hoffryn remembers what I remember. Hmmmm…maybe I should give him a call … catch up on old times.”

 

Cecily stood back up and huffed, smoothing her vaporous Victorian age dress down and Daniel stood back up beside her.

 

“Now, why don’t you run along … or stay here – I really don’t care either way, ‘cos I’ve seen scarier cockroaches,” Buffy informed them as she took Spike’s hand in hers and started walking away from their unforgiving ghosts.

 

“What did you tell the Chinese Slayer?” Buffy asked him as they walked.

 

“I either told her I was sorry for what happened, or I asked her when dessert was being served on the next train…”

 

Buffy threw her head back and laughed and suddenly she and Spike were back in their room, in their bed, Buffy sitting atop his stomach – her laughter still echoing in the small room.

 

Buffy looked down at him just as Spike opened his eyes. “Are you alright?” she asked, laying a hand softly on his cheek. She was relieved to see only a bit of confusion in his eyes, not the fear and guilt that had been there earlier.

 

Spike let out a long breath and nodded, now fully understanding what their souls had been through the last five years. The pain and guilt that had slammed into him had been excruciating … but Buffy had taken it away, taken it on herself – for him.  All of her words to his ghosts were tattooed forever on his mind and heart – she considered him a hero, a warrior … a Champion.  He hoped that he could live up to those claims when the time came; her belief in him was extraordinary … her love deep – as deep as his for her, there was no doubt.

 

“I’m sorry … I never … never wanted you to see that ... to feel that,” Buffy told him quietly as she stroked her hand gently against his cheek.

 

Spike smiled softly up at her. There were no words that could express his love strongly enough, so he just used the only ones he knew. “I love you, Buffy.”

 

Buffy smiled down at him and leaned down to drop a soft kiss on his lips. “I love you too, Spike,” she murmured, laying her body down against his and nestling her head on his shoulder.

 

Spike wrapped his arms around her body and held her tight. “I knew my life would never be boring with you, but … could we step back to a kiddie ride for a day or two, Slayer? These E-ticket rides are startin’ to spin m’ head ‘round.”

 

“Tired of the Tea-Cups, huh? I’m guessing no Space Mountain or Matterhorn Bobsleds or Twilight Zone Tower of Terror,” Buffy mused with a sly smile, as she lifted her head to look into his eyes.

 

“Hmmmm …” Buffy pondered, sitting up, looking at the ceiling, and tapping one finger on her lips as if in deep thought.

 

“Well, how about, ‘It’s a Small World’ … and we go all the way around?” she asked seductively as she looked back down at him and leaned forward, capturing his lips with hers.

 

“Mmmmm…” Spike moaned. “Not sure that’s a ride for the kiddies, but I’ll suffer through, I reckon.”

 

“For your safety, remain seated with your seat belt fastened, keeping your lips, hands, arms, and dangly bits against me at all times… hang on to your personal belongings and no flash photography,” Buffy mocked the safety warnings that she’d heard a hundred times at Disneyland with a mischievous grin as she slid her body slowly down Spike’s. “Get ready for the wildest ride of your life…”

 
 

**~**

 

“It's a Small World"

 

 

 

It's a world of laughter, a world of tears
It’s a world of hopes, It’s a world of fears
There’s so much that we share
That it’s time we're aware
It’s a small world after all

It’s a small world after all
It’s a small world after all
It’s a small world after all
It’s a small, small world

There is just one moon and one golden sun
And a smile means friendship to everyone.
Though the mountains divide
And the oceans are wide
It's a small, small world


It’s a small world after all
It’s a small world after all
It’s a small world after all
It’s a small, small world


 

 


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