No Hero

Author's Notes: Thanks so much to those of you who've reviewed! Unfortunately, real life threw a curveball, so I've been gone for awhile. I'm back now and trying to get into the swing of things. If this chapter sucks, it's because I haven't written in a week!


Leaving Again

Buffy felt it before she knew for certain. She had spent the morning baking cookies, cakes, and various other good and calorie-laden treats as she recounted the old and sometimes not-so-good times with Willow while Xander and Giles discussed demons. The afternoon had been spent devouring said calorie-laden treats and yet another research party – this time the group had researched Themis.

Sometime around three pm, Buffy felt a strange tingle that usually indicated the presence of a vampire, and yet Willow’s magical alarm had not sounded, nor could the witch sense the physical presence of anything. In the end, they attributed it to a phantom tingle brought on by talk of the past – and of Spike. Still, Buffy knew that the presence she had sensed was not Spike’s. It had been Angel, but that was impossible. Angel was still in Los Angeles, undead and presumably well. She had not spoken to him in nearly four years.

When her cell phone began ringing frantically, the slayer hesitated to pick it up, and Willow’s green eyes locked with her own. Somehow, the witch knew that the called was someone important. Finally, with a sigh of resignation, the blonde flipped the phone open and put it to her ear. “Buffy,” she simply stated her name.

“Sl-Buffy?” the familiar accented voice question. “It’s me.”

“Spike?” Buffy asked incredulously, holding the phone up so the others could hear him when she caught Giles’ pitying gaze.

“You’re probably lettin’ everyone hear this, so… Hello, Watcher, Red, Harris, and whoever else is sittin’ there,” the vampire replied knowingly.

“I-it’s just us, Spike,” Willow stammered into the mouthpiece. “We’ll, um, we’ll let you talk to Buffy alone now.”

“Appreciate it, Red.”

Returning the cell phone to her ear, the blonde slayer shook her head when her friends rose to file out of the room. Instead, she pushed to her feet and shakily made her way into the kitchen, sitting heavily in a chair. Spike was alive – or undead – and he had called her. He was back.

“You still with me, Slayer?” Spike asked with uncharacteristic shyness.

“Yeah. I’m in the kitchen now. What…? How are you…?” she stammered. She could hear the others whispering frantically in the sitting room, and if she listened carefully, she imagined that she could hear Giles cleaning his glasses.

“I’ll explain that later,” he said quickly. “Listen… Peaches ‘ad a dream, only it wasn’t a dream, really. He was –”

“He was here,” Buffy finished.

“Yeah, ‘e was there. Said there was no way he just popped in for no reason. Somethin’ wonky’s goin’ on ‘ere in LA, pe-Buffy,” he corrected at the last moment.

“This is so… sudden…” She blushed furiously when she remembered the last time she had said those words to Spike, during Willow’s botched spell when they had been engaged.

Those words brought a smile to the blonde vampire’s lips, and he pressed on. “Angelus has been in some sorta coma for the last few years, driftin’ in an’ out. Now he’s awake, and yeah, that is sudden. Not only that, but I’ve been forgettin’ things… here and there, just small things –”

“About me?” she asked hopefully.

“Yeah, and… How did you know that?” Spike inquired as he lit a cigarette.

“There’s some kind of spell that makes us… makes us forget things about the ones we… the ones we love the most,” the slayer finished bravely. “Willow’s been forgetting things about Tara, Xander’s been forgetting Anya. With Giles, it’s Jenny, and for me it’s…”

“Peaches?”

Her voice was scarcely above a whisper when she replied, “You.” The following silence from the vampire’s end of the conversation have Buffy pause, and she waited for him to pull one of many cold remarks from his collection; she waited for a denial that never came.

“You always smelled like somethin’ warm and soft, somethin’ natural, but for the life – or unlife – of me, I can’t –”

“Vanilla and… and a hint of lilac. That’s what you always said,” the slayer offered. “Spike, we have to get to the bottom of this. We have to find out who’s doing this and why.”

The blonde vampire smiled ruefully when Buffy switched back into slayer-mode so quickly. At least now he could almost imagine the scent. He wanted to ask what she had forgotten about him, what possible thing would upset her enough to make her think she saw him everywhere. “Give me the directions an’ we’ll be out there soon as we can,” he replied after a long pause.

“No,” Buffy said. “I’m… we’re coming to you.” She knew that the symbolism of that act would speak volumes, and that at least the William part of him would understand the significance of it.

Choosing to ignore the small thrill that went through him at his slayer’s words, he pressed on, “Buffy, there’s somethin’ else you should know, somethin’ about Peaches.”

“What about him? I-is he all right?” she inquired worriedly. Her love for Spike aside, there was a part of her that would always belong to Angel, and they both knew it.

“There was a slight… apocalypse,” said the vampire, unknowingly using Giles’ phrase. “He lost part of ‘is arm, but the prosthetic’s attaching itself and acting as if it were his own flesh and blood. There’s some scarring, and he’s a bit wonky ‘bout it, but yeah, other than that and this mess, he’s fine.”

Buffy laughed in spite of herself, flashing a reassuring smile at her former watcher when he peered into the kitchen in concern. After all they’d been through, Spike still thought she would be more concerned with Angel’s arm – but then she’d never really given him reason to think otherwise.

“Buffy, luv, what’s so funny?”

“N-nothing,” she stammered. “It’s nerves. It’s… if he’s fine, then there was no reason to tell me, was there? I mean, I doubt I’ll be looking at his arms. It’s… How is this possible? What happened with… was it the amulet?”

“Slayer, if you and your Scooby gang are plannin’ on comin’ out here, you’ll need plane tickets. To get those, you’d have to call the airline,” he said gently. A moment later, realization dawned on him, and he amended, “I’ll still be here when you hang up the phone, hear? I’m not goin’ anywhere, pet.”

He’s still doing it, the blonde slayer thought. We’re thousands of miles away and he’s still reading me like an open book.

“I know,” she answered. “Spike, I… I’m glad you’re back.”

“So am I.”

Neither hung up.

“Spike?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re still here.”

“Yeah. You didn’t hang up, pet.”

“I know.”

“Buffy, I still… I’ll see you when you get here,” the vampire said. “I’m hangin’ up now…”

As soon as the connection ended, Buffy whispered, “I love you.” Flipping the phone shut, she took a moment to compose herself before returning to the living room, back in slayer-mode. “Willow, I need you to book us plane tickets for the next flight to Los Angeles. Giles, pack as many of Willow’s books as you can into a suitcase, get Xander to help you. The rest, we can have Angel –”

“Buffy?” Willow interrupted.

“—and his crew look into. Also, Will, you need to bring everything we’ll need to contact Themis—”

“Buffy,” the former watcher said with more force.

“—and I’ll call Dawn and let her know what’s happening. For all we know, she could be forgetting Mom, and that would totally devastate—”

“BUFFY!”

“Huh?”

Smiling kindly, Giles indicated the already packed suitcases, and Willow held up the confirmation numbers for their booked flight to Los Angeles while Xander looked on with a strangely proud smile.

“Guys, give her a break, she had a moment,” the dark-haired man teased.

“Oh,” the slayer exclaimed as she finally took in her companions’ states of readiness. “Oh, God. I was rambling. Um… let’s just go now, okay? Moment forgotten?”

“You were incredible,” praised the Englishman. “But then, I’ve always thought you so.”

“Guys? Our flight leaves in less than four hours. We have to go. I offered to do a transportation spell, but Giles –”

“Giles rightly believes that you need to conserve your energy,” said former watcher commented.

“Okay… Going!” Xander hoisted two large suitcases – one Willow’s, one Buffy’s – while Giles gathered his own luggage.

Buffy, some of the spark returning to her haunted green eyes, led the group out of Willow’s home, her head held high. She knew from experience that a single second could change the course of a person’s life, and she remembered each moment that defined hers – the first time she had heard of her calling and her subsequent meeting of Rupert Giles, the start of her friendship with Willow and Xander, the first time she had seen Angel, her truce with Spike and the Acathala incident – the list went on and on. She also knew that there was one moment, one bright, shining moment that dominated all others.

This was it.