Impact

Please see all daimeaimers in chapter 1

Chapter 23

When Angel emerged several hours later, he was glad that the closing of the Hellmouth and defeating the First had left it fairly safe. All of his fellow members on this journey were sound asleep. Ordinarily no one would venture out this late at night, unless on patrol, and never would they sleep so soundly. But the long hike in the rough terrain, and the stress of it all, had left them all exhausted. He crawled up out of the crack in the Earth as quietly as he could. He’d let them all sleep for a bit longer. The amulet was safe in his pocket.

It had taken him quite awhile to find it. But soon his vampire vision found it lying in the bottom of a burned out pit. He had been afraid there would be dust and ash coating its surface, but it was surprisingly clean and polished. There was no evidence of any battle, except for the burned out crevice itself. The amulet was cool to his touch, and it had made his skin tingle. He hastily placed it in his pocket, and vowed to not take it out again until he could give it to one of the Watchers.

He sat opposite Buffy and Giles, stud the their sleeping forms. They belonged together, and looked so content asleep in each other’s arms. He hated to wake them. Instead he took out all three books and lined them up on the ground, sitting cross legged before them. He tried to find the pattern they should go in, like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. It didn’t take him long to see what only a vampire could see, as a pattern emerged. It was then that he noticed the thiook’ook’s depression, and realized that the amulet was to fit into that slot. Now it was time to wake them before proceeding.

Angel cleared his throat. Xander leapt up, hands at the ready to pummel anyone threatening. “Who’s there!?” He realized where he was, and relaxed. “Oh, it’s you.” Angel smirked at him. Harmony continued to sleep like one of the dead that she was, but the others slowly awakened and gathered around the vampire.

“Did you find the amulet?” Wesley asked, intrigued.

“Yes, I did.” Angel took it out of his pocket and handed it to Wesley. He held it in both hands, turning it over and marveling at it. “I think it goes in here.” Angel pointed to the depression in the third book. Wesley leaned down to place the amulet there, but Buffy reached out and held her hand up stopping him. “Wait!” The group turned as one in surprise, gaping at her.

Giles cleared his throat. “There is something we must do first, ah….before we proceed.”

“I don’t understand.” Wesley pulled the amulet into his lap, waiting for an explanation. Giles looked at Buffy, and she took up the conversation. “Giles and I have been talking. We want to perform a spell first to see if we can contact Spike, find out where he is before we try to bring him back.”

Willow blushed, and looked down at her feet. Buffy noticed this and reached out and touched her friend’s shoulder lightly. Willow looked up, tears glistening in her eyes at the memoryBuffBuffy’s return from heaven. “You don’t want us to make the same mistake again, do you?”

All eyes turned towards Willow, and then at Buffy, as realization struck them all. But Buffy was calm, Giles hands resting on her shoulders. “I just want to make sure bringing him back is the right decision. Before, we wanted to stop Dru from bringing him back and turning him. Now we don’t have that threat. I just think we should try to find out more before we bring Spike back here, h or or not.”

Xander began to get a bit angry at that. “You think he is in heaven like you were? Spike? Come on, he’s killed thousands.”

Giles spoke up at that. “No Xander. That wasn’t the Spike that Buffy is talking about. That’s not the Spike that died for all of us, you included Xander.”

Xander’s anger was not quite extinguished however. “And what about Anya? She died for all of us too!” But Giles would not be rebuffed. “Yes, Xander, she did. Anya died a hero, and is most certainly in a better place. That is what we need to find out now, for Spike’s sake. If his soul is in heaven, if he is happy, then he might not want to come back. But the demon might have had other plans. Even with his soul, Spike had the demon still inside of him.”

Angel decided to speak up. “I’m no friend’s of Spike, as you all know, but I think I understand what you are saying. I might have no right to speak here, but I think Giles is right. If Spike is in a hellish dimension, he has earned the right from us all to be brought back. He has earned redemption.” Angel swallowed the lump in his throat, knowing that redemption was all he ever craved for himself.

“But if he’s not in a hellish one,” Willow softly interjected, “then he might want to stay where he is. Like Buffy did.”

Giles nodded and Buffy spoke again. “I just want to be sure we are doing the right thing.”

Wesley studied the amulet in his hands once again, thenthen placed it in one of his pockets. “So there is a spell I take it?” He looked at the other Watcher.

“Yes, there is. I’m not sure it will work, but we feel that we must at least try it. Willow, I’m sure you are still quite worn out from your last casting. I’ll perform this one, but I’ll need all of your help to anchor me here.”

Giles pulled a small black leather bound book from his inside coat pocket. Xander guffawed. “Is that kind of like American Express? You never leave home without it? Geeze, I’d think you’d throw the little black book away now G man.”

Giles glared at the boy. The smile fell off Xander’s face. “Sorry. Do go on.” Giles smirked at him, and then opened the small spell book in his lap.

“Okay, I need all of you to form a circle around me, and I’ll be sitting directly in the center of that circle.” They all moved into position around him, Buffy sitting in front of him. Soon Giles was chanting softly in some foreign language. Willow thought it sounded a bit like Sumerian, but she wasn’t sure, especially since he spoke it so quietly. When his voice quieted, he seemed to be asleep sitting in place. His chest rose and fell with deep breaths, and his eyes moved under his closed lids as if in R.E.M. sleep. Silence descended as the group waited, keeping vigil over him.

Giles opened his inner eye and found himself in a white room. It was so bright it was almost blinding, and he had to wait for a moment to adjust his dreamlike vision. In the center of the room he saw the bed with a man lying on it. Giles slowly approached the bed and found his old nemesis who appeared to be sleeping peacefully. The young man cracked his eye at the Watcher. “Hello?” Giles softly said, almost as if asking permission. “Spike?”

The young man sat up. “The name is William.”

“Oh, I see. Um. Do..d..do you know who I am?” Giles stuttered in his nervousness, and William smiled at his unease. “Aye, I know you Rupert. I could never forget you.”

Giles visibly relaxed. “Ah, that’s good then.” He looked around the room, but it was bare except for the bed. “How are you?” he finally asked, at a loss for words.

William chuckled. Even with a soul, he found Rupert’s nervousness quite amusing. “Not as good as you, mate.”

“What do you mean?”

William sat back on the bed, dangling his long legs over the side. Giles tho it it funny to see him dressed all in white, instead of his trademark tight black jeans and black leather jacket. “You do seem out of place here, William.”

“You think?” He quirked his scarred eyebrow at the Watcher.

“Do you know where we are exactly?” Giles asked.

William shrugged. “I’m in what they call a holding pattern. Some call it Purgatory, others call it Limbo. Take your pick, really.” He crossed his arms and gazed at the Watcher. Giles didn’t really know what to say or do, so he just waited. William sighed. “I know why you are here. They told me you’d be coming.”

“They?”

“Yup. They…the ponces in the robes…said I’d have a choice to make, and you’d come to deliver it.”

Giles smiled at the terminology. “I’m sure whoever the robed ones are, they wouldn’t appreciate being called ‘ponces’.”

William laughed. “Yes, well, my soul may be that of William’s, but I guess I still am part Spike after all! I’ve come to be quite fond of him myself. He didn’t take any crap like William did.”

“Who are you really?” Giles asked, wary now.

“I’m William and Spike I guess. I’m the man you’ve all come to know. My soul was that of William, and then the demon took me over.” Spike shrugged. “The demon is gone now, and my soul is intact. But I am still as much Spike as you are Ripper.”

“You said you know why I’m here?”

Spike nodded. “You came to see if I want to go back with you.”

Giles looked at Spike, really seeing him for the first time. He looked relaxed, and the hardness, the darkness that had always been inside of him seemed to be gone. Sitting before him now was most definitely just a young man. A human young man.

Spike got up off the bed and stood before Giles. “I have seen everything you know. The ponces” he smiled at that, as did Giles, “well, they let me see. Buffy’s where she belongs now. She is happy with you. That’s all I wanted, was for her to be happy.”

Giles swallowed the now even larger lump in his throat. “Are you happy?” he asked.

Spike smiled, but it was a wistful kind of smile. He shrugged. “I’m sorry, for everything the demon did, especially for hurting Buffy.”

Giles nodded. “You’ve redeemed yourself, William. Everything in the past is now erased. Do you want to come back? We can do it. We can bring you back, if that is what you want.”

Spike knew what it took for the Watcher to say that, especially knowing how he loved Buffy. “Rupert, I lived for over 200 years. That was long enough. I’m tired.”

A door opened up behind the bed, a bright light washing in. “So you’ve made your choice then?” Giles asked, stepping closer towards the door, but he was unable to see anything besides the blinding light.

Spike nodded. “Your place is with her. My place is now here.”

Giles nodded, understanding. But then he thought of Buffy. “How can I make her understand?”

Spike laughed, “Oh, Rupes…you are so blind sometimes. She’ll believe you. She always has, and she always will. However, I’d like to say goodbye one last time.”

“Certainly, but how?”

Spike approached Giles. “Hold out your hands to her.” Spike held out his hands, palms up, placing them now in Giles’ outstretched hands.

Buffy started and jumped when Giles reached out and grabbed her hands. Suddenly her mind was flooded with images. She saw Spike standing before her. She felt everything that both Spike and Giles felt. She understood completely his decision. Spike smiled at her, winked, and then let go of their hands. She saw him turn and walk out the door, flooded in lights. When the door shut behind him, she was rushed back into herself, still holding tightly onto Giles. She opened her eyes to find Giles looking expectantly at her. She smiled. “Thank you.” She leaned over and softly kissed him on the lips.

“So, what happened?” Dawn shouted.

Buffy looked at Giles, and then answered. “He’s staying. Spike’s at peace now, and he is where he wants to be. We will not take that from him.”

Angel sighed in relief, secretly hoping that meant the Shanshu prophecy could still be fulfilled by him someday. He gathered up the books and replaced them in his pockets. Then he pulled out his cell phone, checking the charge. Thankfully he still had batteries. “I’ll call Gunn and have him come for us.”

The group gathered up their meager belongings and started the hike back towards the road. Angel had given Gunn a meeting destination, and he’d leave immediately. By auto it would take Gunn only a couple of hours to get there, and it would take at least that long for the gang to walk to the highway. Buffy could hardly wait for a hot bath. She pulled Giles down so she could whisper into his ear what she wanted to do to him in that hot bath. He blushed furiously, and hastened their pace.

Buffy smiled as she gazed at Willow and Wesley ahead of them. They were holding hands. When they all stopped at the edge of the road, Willow asked Angel if she could borrow his phone. He handed it over to her without hesitating. She smiled gratefully at him, and then looked at Buffy for moral support. Buffy gave her the thumbs up sign. Willow gave her a grateful look and then dialed the number from memory. “Hello Faith, it’s Willow. Fine, you? Thanks…uh…is Kennedy there?”

Buffy sat down next to Giles, and he wrapped his arm around her, kissing her lovingly on the cheek. “I don’t think I’m going to be the only one that can say, Watcher Mine, pretty soon.” Buffy said, gesturing towards Willow and Wesley.

Giles smiled too. “If she makes him half as happy as I am with you, then that’s everything.” Buffy beamed at him. “You sure can be a sweet talker, you know that?”

He grinned back, kissing her lightly on the nose.

Gunn drove up awhile later, and the gang piled into the new van. When Harmony tried to enter as well, they pushed her out.

“Hey, you can’t just leave me here all alone!” She pouted.

“Oh yes we can.” Buffy said, slamming the door. Gunn drove off, leaving Harmony by the side of the road. She stamped her foot. “Now what the heck am I going to do?” She looked into the night sky. The smoke was clearing up, so she could just make out some stars. “I wonder what Drusilla would do?”


The End….