Spike just stared back at Buffy for a long moment, stunned by her words. As he thought about it, a slow smile spread across his face at the very appealing idea. She was right. It was bloody perfect!

Warren, who had imprisoned and enslaved him so cruelly, using as his excuse the fact that Spike was not a human with rights to be considered and respected, only a monster to be used at will, was now to become a prisoner and a slave to demons in some unknown hell dimension – as the very creature he had so despised and hated – a vampire.

“He’s literally going to spend an *eternity* paying for what he did to you!” Buffy pointed out, her thoughts obviously moving along the same track as his, her voice trembling with mingled anger and triumph.

Spike felt a rush of warmth flow through him at the protective tone in her voice, at the realization that she felt every bit as vindicated by this oh-so-fitting revenge as he did. As he looked at her, he realized once again how much she truly loved him. She had actually begun to feel every setback, every hurt, and every victory he experienced as if it were her own.

He glanced down at the fallen boy, hovering between consciousness and unconsciousness where Spike had let him fall to the floor. In an attempt to lighten the suddenly very intense mood, he scoffed slightly at him.

“Eternity? Hardly! Bloke’s as annoying as hell! *More* annoying than hell, in fact. And Robot Boy as a soddin’ fledgling? They’ll dust him right quick.” He smiled as an even more pleasant thought occurred to him. “Or maybe not. Maybe some big nasty thing’ll take a shine to him. That’d be even better.” There was a vengeful gleam in his blue eyes as they met hers again.

“*Him*?” she said doubtfully, wrinkling her nose in an expression of disgust as she regarded Warren again. “He’s disgusting! Who’s gonna find *that* attractive?”

“No accounting for the taste of demons, love,” he pointed out with a shrug. “The more disgusting and vile the creature, the greater the attraction for most demon species,” he explained, his eyes shining with laughter.

“Oh, thanks!” Buffy muttered, giving him a pointed look. “Now I finally see why you fell for *me*!”

He glanced up at her sharply for just a split second before he saw in her eyes that she was teasing, and the anxious look didn’t even have time to form on his face before it was replaced with a smile, as his face slowly took on its human guise to prove his words true. “Not much of a demon lately, love,” he pointed out softly. “Haven’t been for some time.”

Her smile softened with her affection for him, at the sight of the beautiful face she loved so dearly, and she said nothing for a moment. Then she glanced back down at Warren and sighed heavily. “Well, Dawn said this guy’s gonna be here the day after tomorrow. She told him a week. How long will it take to turn him?”

“He should wake up tomorrow night,” he replied.

She nodded, satisfied. “Perfect. Once you’re finished, we should move him back to the crypt. That’s where Arashmar had arranged with Dawn to pick him up.”

His expression darkened at her words. “I’m gonna beat that girl bloody senseless,” he growled, and they both knew he didn’t mean it. “Putting herself in danger like that. Bloody stupid is what it is.”

“Yeah. She is so dead.” Buffy agreed, a small smile playing about the corners of her mouth. She turned to walk out the door, to leave Spike alone to finish with Warren. She paused in the doorway, half-turning to face him, a small smile playing about the corners of her mouth. “Worked out well though, didn’t it?”

He smiled back at her, his features changing unabashedly back into his natural form, for once not a bit worried of what she would think of him. He *knew* by now that she accepted him in any form. “Worked out perfect,” he replied, and she returned his smile before turning and leaving the victim-turned-predator alone with his prey.


Hours later, Buffy and Spike finally finished the unpleasant task of chaining Warren’s lifeless soon-to-be-reanimated corpse back in the crypt. They had sent Dawn home with Willow and Tara for the evening, Buffy being sure that the house was Scoobie-free before they had moved Warren’s body.

Despite the fact that she was sure that what had been done was what needed to be done, she didn’t want the grisly image seared into the memories of her friends, birthing questions and doubts in them, just as they were beginning to develop a level of trust in Spike.

And she certainly didn’t want Dawn to see it. For many, many reasons.

“Ugh,” she groaned as they finally closed the crypt door behind them and headed out of the cemetery. “I feel all icky now.” As they walked along toward the exit and home, she drew nearer to Spike and put her arm around his waist resting her head on his shoulder wearily.

As he spoke she looked up into his eyes with a tired smile. “You?” he grumbled good-naturedly. “You didn’t *eat* that thing!” Buffy could hear the heavy note underneath his joking words, and knew that he had a lot on his mind after the tumultuous events of the evening. They had come out victorious, but he still had to be dealing with so much right now, she suddenly realized, her heart aching for him.

Buffy looked up at him for a moment, her smile slowly fading into an ironic grimace of distaste, as she decided to follow his lead and try to lighten the mood, get his mind off of it. “And I was *so* about to kiss you just now,” she said dryly, smiling after a beat or two to make sure he knew she was teasing.

“Well,” he smirked suggestively at her, returning her embrace with his own arm around her, his hand resting comfortably on her hip, a silent message that he was not uncomfortable with her teasing in the least; on the contrary at the moment it was just what he needed.

“I *am* feeling a bit on the nasty side, love,” he murmured into her ear, the tickle of his cool breath against her skin, in combination with his low, suggestive tone, sending a welcome little shiver down her spine. “Fancy a shower?”

“Oh, God, yes!” she moaned, but her tone was one of genuine exhaustion, not betraying the arousal he was bringing out in her so easily, as she laid her head wearily on his shoulder again. She paused, frowning slightly, her voice innocent as she said, “But…I was kind of thinking…a just-Spike shower, and then a just-Buffy shower. You know the get-clean kind of shower as opposed to the get-down-and-dirty kind of shower.”

Outside of his sight her lips turned up into a smile as she felt his lips move against her hair as his own smile fell in disappointment. She couldn’t hold the ruse for long, and looked up at him again, revealing the warmth and invitation in her laughing eyes.

“Both very short,” she amended, relenting. “Followed by a very long…slow…Buffy-and-Spike-getting-down-and-dirty-together shower,” she added, reaching a hand up behind his neck to pull him down into a slow, sensuous kiss.

“Sounds good,” he murmured as they finally parted, only when Buffy absolutely had to. She *did* have to breathe, after all. He sighed, stopping on the sidewalk and turning to face her as he took both of her hands in his, meeting her eyes with a depth of confused, jumbled emotions in his eyes.

“Buffy,” he began hesitantly, and she could hear the apology before it left his lips, as he lowered his head and sought the words. She could see in his eyes that he thought she was secretly disappointed in him.

Far from it.

Tenderly she placed her fingers over his lips, silencing his self-abuse before it could start. “No,” she said, gently but firmly, seeking his eyes with her own until he finally looked at her. “No, Spike,” she repeated. “You did what anyone would have. You did a lot *less* than I would have!”

He searched her eyes, desperate to believe her, afraid that she still held reservations that she was withholding from him. “I just…” he began quietly, his voice halting with his powerful emotions as he searched for the right words. “I just had to…had to…take back…what he took from me. I had to…I *had* to, Buffy!”

“Shhh,” she whispered, releasing his hands to put her arms around him, drawing him closer to her. “It’s okay. I know,” she whispered.

Hesitantly his hands slipped around her waist, but he looked down again, having so much he wanted to say – if only he could find the words. “He – when I saw him…hurting Dawn, and…and after…everything…” He shook his head, his voice breaking off as words refused to come.

He seemed to be having that problem a lot lately.

She wanted to show him that no words were necessary. She understood without his explanations, and she did not blame him for anything he had done. She pulled him down again into another kiss, slow and intimate, before she pulled away just slightly, her wide eyes staring into his, their foreheads still touching as she whispered.

“You did what you had to do. You protected Dawn…and me. You stopped Warren from ever hurting anyone again. *Ever*, Spike. That’s a powerful thing. A *good* thing,” she assured him, her voice earnest and intense as she held his gaze, her eyes shining with tears from the intensity of the moment and her love for him.

Which she simply had to express.

“I love you, Spike. I love you so much. I want you to know that,” she whispered, and the affection in her eyes and voice was too much for his emotions which were hyper-sensitive at that moment from the roller-coaster ride the night had been. He lowered his head to her shoulder, his silent tears of joy, hurt, relief, soaking her shirt as she went on, softly and steadily lavishing her love on him.

“Do you have any idea how proud of you I am? Just how far you’ve come, and what you’ve done? When you…when you came home, you could never have done what you just did tonight. You came back from something I never could have. I don’t know anyone who could have come back from that like you did. You are *so strong*, Spike. You’ve been through so much, and you’ve been so brave, and I’m so, so proud of you.”

She went on softly, as his gentle hands at her waist clung to her, and he poured out his pain with his tears. She was feeling her way as she went along, not certain she was speaking the right words, until she heard them escape her lips. Her heart knew what he needed before her mind could process it.

“But it’s over now, Baby,” she continued, her voice a soft, musical whisper in his ear as she held him close to her. “It’s really over, and you can rest now. Warren’s gone for good, and you’re *safe*. You’re really safe, Spike. You don’t have to let anyone hurt you ever again. I love you, and you’re safe here with me.”

Every word she spoke was exactly what he needed to hear, what his heart was telling him already, but he needed reassurance to truly believe it.

“Oh, God, Buffy,” he gasped out as the realization finally sank in, clutching at her waist and pulling her closer to him as she responded by holding him tighter, supporting him as his body shook with the release of his too-long repressed, intense emotions. “It’s really over.”

She nodded gently, one hand reaching up to cradle his head as he sobbed, her own tears streaking her face as she swallowed hard, unable to speak. Finally she managed to choke out the words, her heart flooding with joy and relief as she realized that they were finally true.

“That’s right. It’s over, Baby. It’s over.”


An hour later, back at her house, Buffy could feel the tension leaving her sore, aching muscles as she stood under the stream of steaming water, letting it soothe and relax her. Spike had taken his shower first, as he was in considerably worse shape than she was after dealing with Warren all night.

For the first time in nearly as long as she could remember, she felt truly at peace. The ordeal they had faced together, the constant threat that had hung over their heads that someday Warren would return and again pose a threat, was really and truly done. They could finally move on with their lives. It had only really sunk in for her as she had spoken the reassuring words to Spike, just outside the graveyard.

She let out a deep sigh of relief and a weary happiness…followed by a sharp little gasp, as she felt strong, cool arms sliding around her waist under the steaming water. She leaned back into his embrace, relishing the little shock of his cool touch in contrast to the intense heat of the shower, as one hand slid upward from her waist in an intimate caress.

“I couldn’t wait, love,” he murmured in her ear, his voice low and seductive, as his lips lowered to her throat and moved down her shoulder, leaving a delicious tingling sensation everywhere they touched her skin.

Her hands moved behind her to rest on his hips, rocking him gently closer to her, gasping again at the contact. She turned suddenly to face him, her hands sliding around behind him, meeting blue eyes darkened with desire to match her own.

Then, her eyes widened as she saw something else in the sapphire depths of his gaze. Something she hadn’t seen in a very, very long time. That confident, dangerous, challenging look that was uniquely Spike’s – and breathtakingly gorgeous to her as she realized just what it meant.

His hand moved to grip the back of her head and pull her into a hard, passionate, relentless kiss, as he took her, claimed her with his mouth as his own, his free hand moving boldly over her body, relishing the simple fact that she was his, challenging her to say any different.

She had no intention of doing anything of the kind.

She gasped in desire at his touch, her neck arching backward in pleasure. Almost immediately he pulled her back into another kiss, shoving her forcefully back against the shower wall, their bodies gently rocking together without actually joining yet.

When they parted again so that she could draw a much-needed breath, he sent new shivers of delight and a delicious almost-fear down her spine as he growled possessively near her ear, “*Mine*!”

She nodded, gasping, nearly panting, desperate for him by now, her hands clutching him closer to her, begging with her hands to have him inside her, filling her, possessing her. “Yours,” she whispered when she could speak. “I’m yours, Spike! Take me! Take me now!”

And upon her desperate plea he immediately complied, and she let out a sharp little cry of pleasure as he entered her. Then, the sweet pleasure-pain was suddenly raised to a soaring intensity as unexpectedly his fangs pierced her throat, taking her in that most intimate of ways, marking her for all to know that she belonged to him.

She had not even noticed when he had vamped, but she felt no fear, only a thrill of ecstasy as her life flowed through him, uniting them, binding them together as a single being, ebbing and falling, ever-rising slowly until they were lost in a single moment of intense release and pleasure. Spent, she collapsed against him, clinging to him, both of them gasping for breath in the wake of their passion.

Finally, she gazed up into deep eyes already returned to stunning blue, wide and staring back at her with a powerful mixture of lust and love…and everything else that was so uniquely Spike.

And *hers*.

He was back, and he was hers.

A slow smile crept across her lips and she leaned in for another kiss, brief but intimate, before pulling away to look him in the eye, whispering the only thing that came to her mind in that moment.

“I’ve missed you so much.”

His slow smile matched hers as he took in her poignantly stated sentiment. “Not any more, love,” he said softly, his smile becoming a smirk. “Never again. I’m back for good.”