Categories > TV > Buffy the Vampire Slayer > 'Til the End of the World

Part Two

by LillianMorgan 0 reviews

What waits at the end of the world for Spike and Angel and Buffy? Forgiveness? Reconciliation? Heartbreak? Or love?

Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Rating: R - Genres: Drama, Romance - Characters: Angel, Buffy, Dawn, Spike - Published: 2006-04-17 - Updated: 2006-04-17 - 2671 words

0Unrated
Title: 'Til the End of the World
Author: Lillian Morgan
Pairing(s): Spike/Angel, Spike/Buffy, Spike/Angel/Buffy, Spike & Dawn
Rating: R (mainly for language and sexual situations)
Setting: post-/Not Fade Away/, the beginning of 2005, London
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. Joss and ME do.
A/N: Thanks to yourlibrarian for the wonderful beta job.
Each character narrates his or her part and these are separated by their own unique idioms, because it's all in the first person.

'Til the End of the World

Part Two

/My word of the moment: Wowzers/

Angel returned with two coffees, placing them in front of me and Dawn as we sat opposite each other, eyes fixed on each other's faces as if they were hanging off their sticks like those weird Halloween toys you see, and probably way too many demons as well, and I recognized that Summers' look of avoidance. Anything but look at the two vampires between us and begin to start thinking about the months of estrangement. Giles, Willow, Xander, heck even Faith, called me on the lack of parlare da Roma. Angel had written one or two terse emails, which I'd replied to way too late with cheerful apathy. But from Spike? Stony, indifferent, booming silence.

I took my coffee and blew the steam off it. My eyes, refusing to cooperate with the part of my brain that wanted to shutdown into avoidance mode, took tiny peeks at Spike. He looked good - even if the fluorescent lights in this café shone brighter than the noonday sun. He'd seen the last of his skeletal phase that came between us all singing about our deepest desires to his burning up in the Hellmouth.

"Your hair looks good," I said, keeping my eyes on my coffee, before taking a chance and looking up at him. He smiled at me.

"Yeah, Spike, it's cool," Dawn said.

"Do you want to..." he started nervously, before continuing, "Have a feel, Dawn." She rubbed her hand over his head and squealed with delight.

"You try, Buffy, he's a Spike koosh ball now."

I ran my hand over Spike's new haircut trying not to figure out if it was the strange sensation of soft prickles that made my knees feel a little wobbly or the fact that I was touching Spike, like an addict in recovery. "Could get used to that," I said, very quietly, before my mind snapped its shutters and it was control, Buffy, relax, breathe, don't start letting the vampires get to you.

I almost missed the pained expression in Angel's eyes and the way his jaw tightened, sliding his teeth over each other. Oh great, they were probably going to go all Neanderthal-jealous guy in what? 5 minutes? I tried very hard not to roll my eyes as I caught hold of Angel's look and smiled. He didn't smile back.

"So what brings the two of you to London?" I asked, before posing the question I knew the answer to, but wanting to rub it in, hear what they had to say for themselves, counter the reason why I hadn't talked to them in so long. "Aren't you supposed to be propping up Evil Inc back in LA?"

They were quiet for a time, and a look passed between the two of them, which could have been some weird vampire thing, but made me feel strangely left out and on edge. There was a time when Angel had passed those sort of looks to me, towering over the heads of Willow, Xander and Cordy, or all I'd had to do was get into a fighting stance and Spike was there behind me. But this was no longer Kansas, nor Sunnydale, Dorothy. And the more I looked at Spike, the more I realised that his eyes flew from Angel's to Dawn's and back again, and even when I thought I'd tricked him into looking at me, I still didn't get his blue eyes to pierce me.

Spike nodded his head forward, as if encouraging Angel to talk. And ok shouldn't that jealous thing should be kicking in soon, not Lifetime hand-holding moments?

"It's complicated, Buffy, but we're not working for Wolfram and Hart anymore-"

"I didn't know both of you were." I was already angry. Every sentence Angel said to me, either in my head or to my face, seemed to start with "It's complicated." Which was, however, usually preceded by my knees knocking, my heart racing, a little girly voice screaming "Oh my god...it's ANGEL!" But then the end of my inner monologue went something like, "You know, he's got a great butt, he must work out, I've thought about this a lot 'cos of the number of times I've seen it walking away from me."

"I was working with Angel, pet, I was helping him and..."

"Spike was part of the team, Buffy. There was Gunn, Fred, Lorne and...Wes." Angel stopped as if to gather strength. "And we lost Cordy too."

I started. Yeah, Cordelia. I hadn't really forgotten about how Giles had passed on that particular disturbing news a few weeks after the relocation to Italy, and back when he was still keeping contact with Wesley. And /Wesley/...But, well, we were still busy mourning our lost and loved ones, keeping Xander going and besides, life was about living wasn't it? Now that I wasn't keeping company with the undead.

But Angel seemed to be caught in his own memories, and Spike was looking on sympathetically. He finished by adding quietly, "And now there's only Spike and me. A lot has happened and been sacrificed."

And after he said the word sacrifice, I looked around at the people at the table. Two of them I had sacrificed, one I sacrificed myself for. Powers that I worked for but never controlled played with us all too often; I tried not to, but memories of Angel's pained expression as I ran him through with the sword flashed before my eyes, just as it morphed into Spike's burning hand, the feel of his soul crackling at my palm.

And damnit! I'd really only just stopped having those dreams.

"That sounds awful. I mean, ok, Cordelia could be a pain but she could still be kind and strong and loyal when you needed it. She showed me how to paint my fingernails once, after some kid in my class had teased me. God, it's just so sad, isn't it?" said Dawn, breaking the unending sympathetic silence which seemed to yawn between all of us. "And, ok, my memories aren't what yours are, but still we all know about sacrifice, don't we?", she added, her eyes large on Spike's face, "All of them gone, Spike?"

He nodded, his face becoming soft and sinuous with loss. She patted his knee and he smiled at her, indulgently.

"But you're in London because?" she said, changing the subject to my relief and spooning frothy milk into her mouth. Angel's gaze remained tense, as if still clinging to the memories after Dawn had switched the conversation but Spike looked relieved too. "It's just that I'm studying at the school of African and Asian Studies behind the British Museum. If I'd known you were here, we could have, you know, met up, gone out and done some damage."

"Right kind of you, Platelet, but wouldn't Buffy be keeping you on a bit of a leash, still?" Spike said, grinning slightly. He'd seemed to almost blossom after Dawn's attention. He turned from Dawn to Angel, whose face was still lost in whatever place he was visiting.

"Besides, Angel's lost someone and now we're trying to find her again."

Angel jolted at the mention of his name. "I didn't lose her! I think this has everything to do with you not wanting to be her pet and me-"

"Peaches, you were just as adamant that you keep me as your pet," Spike drawled.

"Excuse me?" I said. "Why don't you complicate this up with even more weird code language?" And, er, why were they both ignoring me?

They looked at each other, smiling slightly. "Buffy, you've been out of the loop for a bit."

"I've been out of the loop! I've been out of the loop!" I shouted, and could hear my voice screeching, but I was so mad, I went on anyway. "That's great to hear. Yes, I don't know anything and while we're at it, when and why did you two lose the ability to use the phone in the last year?" Oh boy, I was getting angry.

"Buffy," Angel began.

"No, you listen, Angel. You signed up with this Wolfy Heart and became head of one of the most evil companies on the planet. Hello? Way to reverse back up the freeway at 100 miles an hour much? Then Spike poofs back from the dead, and neither of you think to call me and tell me-"

"Buffy!" Spike interrupted.

"Spike! Why did you never call? It's pretty easy, even for you. Pick up the phone, punch in the numbers-"

"Why did I not call? Think the question's more why did you never call me? You knew I was alive, Buffy. You had Angel's number. It's a much simpler proposition for you."

We glared at each other, and I felt the old hate him-love him fire building within me. Once that got going it was pretty hard to put out. But I was damned if I was going to back down first. With either of them.

"Well, this is uncomfortable, even for me," said Angel.

I kept my eyes on Spike, but he turned to look at Angel, the same pained expression coming over his face.

"Sire," he whispered, and reached his hand out to Angel's hand. Then he started rubbing his thumb across Angel's fingers.

Dawn looked shocked - and I must have looked even worse - because Spike stopped almost immediately.

"Um, are you two, like...it's more than just /complicated/, isn't it?" said Dawn quietly, her eyes growing with surprise.

"Well, now, that's a very good question, Dawn," said Angel.

And oh my God, oh my God, OH MY GOD.

Spike huffed out a large sigh. He looked between Dawn and me and Angel. "Listen," he said, "it's late and none of us is making any sense. Why don't we meet up tomorrow? Can take you all sightseeing or maybe just to High Tea? You'd like that, wouldn't you Nibblet, cakes and scones and all sorts of delights-"

"Uh sightseeing? Hello? Daylight? And I know about High Tea, Spike, I've been in London for a while."

"Is that right? Well, all I'm saying is that tomorrow's another day. Tonight's old and past it. Where're you two staying and we'll come by and meet up for some-"

"Spike," Angel grumbled, "We've got to meet that demon. How 'bout you meet the girls, I'll hunt for Illyria."

"Angel, I promised you I'd help look for Illyria. And I'm not going to break the habit of a lifetime and welch on a promise. But look, Buffy and Dawn are here, and how often is it that we see them?"

"Uh!" Spike said holding up his hand as I opened my mouth to say something like oh lovely to run into you, let's chat now that I'm back from the dead, and I'm an ex-leader of Evil Incorporated while I've still got a hold of my soul, and that we're now apparently making out in between meeting with demons!

Or maybe I would just say it out loud. So I did, and Dawn giggled nervously. But Angel looked pissed off and Spike was wary.

"Buffy," said Angel, his words grating through his teeth like metal scraping against metal, "your world has changed now. You're no longer the one and only, chosen one, magnificent saviour of humanity sent to destroy the forces of evil. You're Buffy Summers, sister of Dawn, normal girl. But Spike and I have been through a lot in the last two years and we're not about to give up our freedom to go namby-pambying around your feelings."

Spike mouthed the words "Namby-pamby?" with a mocking grin covering his face. I coughed.

"I was always Buffy Summers, in case you didn't notice, Angel, or maybe you chose to forget every time you swished your retreating backside right out of my life. And hey, I used to be a lot more to you than that, once upon a time. Don't you remember something about not getting any older?"

"Buffy-"

"And you!" I said, turning on Spike, "the one man in the whole world who never would walk out on me, who'd stay by my side fighting with me and fighting against me, Did you completely ignore what I said to you in the Hellmouth, you know about the loving thing, and I'd come around by then, I really had -"

"She loves you?" Angel said, not looking at me, but at Spike, his eyelids doing that hide-y thing he was so good at.

"Yeah, she said the words as the Hellmouth was sucking me and my soul into the big, black beyond." His words were so obviously barbs aimed at me (and why exactly was that?), but as he said it even the mock bravado seemed to pain him.

"You love who? Angel or Spike?" asked Dawn, "Because what about-"

"Dawn!" I shrieked. Somehow my voice echoing around the empty diner, the embarrassing squeak it took on as the word left my mouth, had me and Dawn, in about 30 seconds, clutching our sides from laughing too hard. And what was that comment that Giles had made as part of one of his infamous speeches about learning to get over those things you'd lost? Oh yeah, laughter breeds laughter. Because yeah, I could see that as Dawn and I kept giggling, Spike began to smirk before Dawn leaned over to tickle him, which got him laughing, so he booted Angel under the table that caused a smile to tug at Angel's lips. And ok -- that? Was weird.

"God, our lives are such /drama/," said Spike, his high-pitched giggling nearly getting the better of him. "Why can I never have an easy life?"

"Because you look as good as you do," said Dawn, punching him in the shoulder. "And hey, if the shoe fits, drama queen!"

"Oi! I'm not a drama queen. Quite right of you to remember my love of the bard, but if there's any finger pointing to be done here, you should be aiming your shockingly purple ones at His Royal Foreheadness, there."

And Angel did something I never thought he'd do. He tipped his head down and looked up at Spike directly in the eye, as if to pass on a super secret message, then smiled a full-toothed smile.

And ok could the night get any weirder?

It didn't, really, After the laughing stopped, me and Dawn began to yawn. And that's infectious too. So we picked up our coats and agreed to meet tomorrow, swapping cellphone numbers and Dawn fluffing over Spike and messing with his hair as he joked around with her, and touching her back, as if he couldn't believe his luck that she was loving him again, as if she was the one who was back from the dead and not... I gulped. Angel walked over to settle the bill, and I handed Spike my coat.

"Can you help?" I said waggling my arms near the armholes. He looked at me like I'd just bent over backwards and waved my navel at him, but he helped me get it on. As he was pulling the two sides together, I whispered, "I meant it, you know, in the.../you know/. I never stopped, even when I thought you were dead."

And because that was all I could say, because I couldn't connect any more words to my emotions, I pulled Dawn out of the shop by her arm, as she waved and yelled, "See you soon!"

TBC
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