Loose ends.

Epilogue


By concentrating, Spike could easily make out the sound of the slow steady breathing of Dawn and the two witches, letting him know they were all fast asleep. The house was quiet apart from the whisper of rustling papers from the living room, so Spike was able to relax and enjoy watching Buffy sleep. However it didn’t take him long to realise that he was too wound up to sleep himself, so he gently disentangled himself from Buffy’s limbs, made sure she was snugly covered, dragged on a clean pair of jeans and padded downstairs. He made a couple of mugs of hot chocolate and joined Giles in the living room. Sinking into an armchair he asked, “Can’t sleep either eh, Rupert?”

Giles was curled up in the corner of the couch that had been made up for him, surrounded by open books and scattered papers. He cupped his hands around the warm mug Spike had handed him, sipped the sweet drink and sighed deeply. “It’s been a very long exhausting few days hasn’t it?”

Nodding, Spike gestured at all the open books. “What’re you researching now then?”

Putting his mug down Giles removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “It’s the Mating Claim, Spike. Angel has been working with me to find a way to break it.”

There was a sudden pain in Spike’s chest. Hoarsely he asked, “You want to break the claim? Why?”

“When Buffy expressed a wish to be released from it I had to look into it Spike. Both Angel and Xander have told me that’s what she wants.” Giles put his glasses back on and saw Spike’s shocked expression. “Oh. She hasn’t told you about it, has she? I’m sorry Spike, but did you really think Buffy would want to be tied to you for the rest of her life?”

Spike tried to conceal his devastation. “S’pose not. Knew it was too good to be true…” He closed his eyes in an effort to stem the tears that were threatening to flow. “It’s not as if we planned it, she didn’t get a chance to choose. It just kinda happened.”

“Exactly. It’s not the sort of commitment one should make without careful forethought. It would appear that after her initial acceptance Buffy has had time to reflect on the implications of the claim, and she has changed her mind.” Giles picked up one of the open books and flipped a couple of pages. “It seems there is a form of blood ritual that has occasionally been used in the past to break a Claim between two vampires. Angel has been trying to ascertain whether it would be effective in this case."

Giles continued speaking, describing the ritual that Angel had found, but Spike wasn’t listening. All he could think of was the fact that Buffy had asked to be released from the claim and hadn’t had the courage to tell him about her decision to his face. She’d let him find out about it from Giles. He had thought they were being open and honest with each other and that she was as happy with the claim as he was. He was reluctantly forced to conclude that he had been mistaken, and that Buffy was much better at hiding her feelings from him than he was at hiding his from her.

After a few minutes Spike realised that Giles was repeating his name. He opened his eyes and looked over at the Watcher. “Spike? Are you all right? Did you hear me?”

Spike was about to ask Giles to repeat whatever he had been saying when his lap was suddenly full of warm pyjama clad Slayer. “I woke up and you weren’t there, and you were all sad and disappointed.” Buffy mumbled sleepily. “Why are you so sad?” She curled up, snaking her arms around his neck, and nuzzled her face into his neck until she could kiss her mark. His arms automatically went around her and he hugged her tight to his chest.

“I’ll be okay darlin’.” He murmured, stroking her hair and kissing her on her temple. “It’ll just take me a while to get used to the idea of the Claim being broken is all. Don’t s’pose it’ll be too bad, haven’t really had a chance for it to sink in yet.”

Buffy snuggled down with a breathy “Mmmmm” and seemed to go straight back to sleep, but after a few seconds her head shot up, cracking Spike under the chin. “You want to break the Claim? Why?” She looked at Spike, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. Very quietly, her voice full of hurt, she asked, “Don’t you want me any more? I thought you loved me…”

Spike rubbed his chin and blinked in confusion. “What? Of course I want you Buffy. I’ll always want you, always love you.”

Buffy sobbed, “So why do you want to break the Claim?”

“What? I don’t sweetheart, of course I don’t. But Giles said…”

“What did Giles say?” Buffy turned to look at her Watcher, “What did you say Giles? What did you say to Spike to make him think the Claim was going to be broken?”

It was Giles’ turn to be confused. “Angel told me that’s what you wanted Buffy, he thinks he’s found a way for us to break the Claim. Xander told me the same thing. They both made it very clear that you wouldn’t want to be tied to Spike for the rest of your life and…”

Buffy’s body went rigid in Spike’s arms and her quiet voice was suddenly full of barely suppressed fury. “I don’t suppose it occurred to you to ask me what I want Giles?” Her frustration was clear to Spike through their Bond as she asked, “Why does everyone treat me like a child and think they have the right to make these life changing decisions for me? Every time I think I’m going to have a chance to be happy at last, someone has to make a decision ‘for my own good’ and ruin everything!”

Spike and Giles both gaped at her. After a few seconds Giles took a deep breath and hesitantly asked, “Um… am I to understand that you don’t wish to break the Mating Claim Buffy? That you are prepared to spend the rest of your life Bonded to Spike here?”

Buffy closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. “Giles,” She said, then turned deliberately to look deep into Spike’s eyes. “I think this Mating Claim is probably the best thing that has happened to me since I was Called. I know it only happened by accident, and that if I had been asked if I wanted it I would have been too scared to do it, but now I have it I couldn’t imagine life without it.” Her hand went to cup Spike’s cheek, which was now damp from his tears of relief, “I am forever linked to the strongest, bravest, most loyal, loving man I could hope for. I love him as much as he loves me. I don’t want to change a thing.”

Spike buried his face in her hair with a sob. “Oh Buffy…” he breathed. “Love you so bloody much…”

Buffy whispered, “You thought I wanted to break the claim?” Spike was so overcome he could only nod. “Never gonna happen,” She declared softly. She lifted his head from her shoulder and brushed her fingers over his lips, “My demon please...” Spike allowed his demon to emerge, the bones in his face shifting as his fangs descended. Buffy slipped a finger into his mouth and very deliberately gashed it on a fang. She demanded, “Taste me.” Spike suckled her finger, her sweet powerful blood coating his tongue and slipping easily down his throat. Buffy urged, “Say it.”

“Say what darlin’?” Spike mumbled around her finger.

“You know…”

Spike smiled in delighted understanding, his tongue rasping at the warm flesh as her Slayer healing kicked in and the bleeding stopped, “Mine.”

Buffy nodded and whispered, “Yours, only yours.” She lifted one of Spike’s hands from her waist and bit deep into the pad at the base of his thumb, sucking his blood into her mouth. “Mine!” She declared with a blood-smeared grin.

“Yours Buffy love, only yours ‘til the end of the world.” Spike whispered huskily as he drew her close again.

“Good.” Buffy said smugly as she wriggled deeper into Spike’s arms. “That’ll keep us going for a while. I know we didn’t do it all properly the first time with that… that… that… git… if that means what I think it means… Angel distracting us, so we’ll do it again soon, okay? We’ll get it done right.” Spike nodded again, speechless with joy. Buffy continued thoughtfully, “I think I need to have words with Xander tomorrow. As for that pompous, self-serving, arrogant ass in LA… He can just stay there brooding away to himself until I can think of some way to pay him back for this!” She sighed happily and yawned. “Now that’s all settled please can I go back to sleep?”

After raising a surprised eyebrow over her head and exchanging puzzled looks with Giles at Buffy’s unexpected description of her first love, Spike dipped his head to kiss her, gently lapping his blood from her lips and chin. Then he softly asked, “You gonna go back to bed then?”

“Nope. I’m fine here,” She murmured. “Wanna snuggle. Do that growlyvamp thing for me?”

Spike chuckled and cuddled her close resting his cheek on her head. He let his demonic face fade away until just his golden eyes and a hint of fang were left as he began to growl very softly. Buffy sighed and placed a hand against the vibrations in his chest as she closed her eyes and relaxed. Within seconds her breathing slowed as she fell back to sleep.

Spike began running his fingers through her silky hair and looked up over her head to Giles, who was watching them with a fond smile on his face. “You okay with this now then Watcher? I don’t know what the Brooding Bugger told you, but…”

“I think I’ve been very stupid,” Giles admitted. “I’m so sorry Spike, I keep forgetting that Angel still considers Buffy to be his girl. No matter how much she has grown and changed he is still the same morbidly obsessed individual he was when he first appeared on the scene.” He began sorting the papers into piles and closing all the books, stacking them on the coffee table. “It’s beginning to look as if he has decided he doesn’t like Buffy being Mated to you and was trying to trick me into breaking the claim. As for Xander, well we all know how he feels about you. I really should have checked with Buffy. It’s now very clear to me that she has happily accepted being your Mate. Indeed she’s more content than she has been for a very long time.”

Spike frowned thoughtfully. “I just knew Tall dark and Soulful was taking it all too calmly.”

Giles paused for a few moments in his tidying up and looked up from the books with a teasing smile. “Um... Spike? Are you actually purring?”

Spike suddenly felt horribly embarrassed. “What? No! That is… it’s not purring it’s growling… quiet growling…” Giles chuckled. Spike rolled his eyes and sighed in resignation. “Buffy likes it… all right? She finds it soothing. It’s kinda instinctive when my demon’s all relaxed and happy.” He flashed a bit more fang at Giles warning him, “If you tell anyone about this…”

Giles chuckled again, “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.” He considered for a moment then asked, “So your demon is content with the claim?”

Spike shook his head slowly, finding it difficult to accept how little the Watcher knew of the process. “It’s the demon that makes the claim Rupert.” He smiled indulgently down at the sleeping form in his lap. “Soppy old thing fell for her before I knew anything about it, wanted her right from the moment I first saw her. Recognised her as something special, an outstanding warrior, a worthy Mate. Right from the start I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t kill her as I’d intended. Then I couldn’t even stay away from her…”

Giles frowned, “But Angel said… Angelus couldn’t…”

“I’m. Not. Bleedin’. Angelus!” Spike hissed angrily. “Just ‘cos we’re both vampires it doesn’t mean we’re the same, with or without a soul. It’s like comparing Al Capone or Jack the Ripper with Gandhi or Schweitzer. Just ‘cos they were all human doesn’t mean they behaved the same way!” He glared across at the Watcher. “Just ‘cos Angelus couldn’t love her without a soul, doesn’t mean no soulless demons can love, whatever he told you. Do you think that vampires just claim each other for a lark? It’s always about love in one form or another. Vampires are individuals just as much as humans are. From the stories I heard I know Liam was a selfish drunken thieving whoring layabout before he was turned, and he only ever had the lightest control over his demon. It’s a cowardly sadistic monster without a shred of compassion. William was a… um… well I suppose you would have called me a gentleman. I was a timid innocent little nonentity of a poet. My demon is an impulsive violent sentimental fool that loves with all its heart, and I’ve nearly always been able to control it when I choose to. No comparison!”

Giles took his glasses off, closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You do realise that what you’ve just told me goes directly against everything the Council teaches about vampires and demons, don’t you?”

Spike snorted. “And what? You’re surprised? You still haven’t figured it out have you? That bleedin’ Council tells you what they want you to believe for their own reasons. Doesn’t mean it’s the truth!”

Giles sighed wearily. “I fear you were right in LA Spike, the Slayer Handbook is going to have to be rewritten. I think that it’s going to become very significant that I can actually consult a vampire about some of the more questionable assertions I’ve blindly believed all my life. I would appreciate it if could spare me some of your time to help me verify or debunk certain ‘facts’ it lays out.” He stretched and groaned as his aching muscles protested. “But not tonight. I think I could actually sleep now.”

“Yeah… me too.” Spike agreed. “Time to get the Slayer tucked up all cosy.” He carefully gathered Buffy into his arms and stood up. “See ya in the mornin’ Rupert.”

Spike carried the sleeping Slayer up the stairs, gently laid her in the big bed and stripped off his jeans. He climbed in beside her and drew the covers up over them both, then wrapped his arms around her and drew her towards him so that her head was pillowed on his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head and resumed the low purring growl she loved, seeing a little smile cross her face as she wriggled slightly in her sleep, pressed a hand to his chest and settled against him with a contented sigh. It took only minutes for him to fall deeply asleep too.

The end.

A/N: The story of Mated Buffy & Spike will continue in the next tale set in the ‘Coincidences’ universe. ‘New Beginnings’ (currently a WIP) will take place in approximately the same timeframe as the BtVS season 6 episode ‘Hell’s Bells’.