Title: Are Immortals Really Immortal? September 6, 2005)

Author: Slaymesoftly

Rating: PG 13

Season: AtSV Season V

Disclaimer: Not my characters, but I’m having fun with them

2400 words

Written for Wulfie’s Angel-bashing community: Takes place during “The Girl in Question” and goes seriously AU from Andrews’s speech to Spike and Angel at the doorway to Buffy’s apartment..

Are Immortals Really Immortal?

“Look, she loves you both. But she’s moved on and she wants you to—“

Spike’s head snapped up and he stared toward the top of the stairs, ignoring the Watcher wannabe’s little speech about how Buffy was so happy with the Immortal. His body quivered as he felt the approach of the Slayer and he glanced to the side to see if Angel had picked up on it also. Which appeared not to be the case, as the other vampire was still trying to argue with Andrew that the Immortal was all wrong for Buffy.

Spike began moving slowly toward the stairs, finally attracting Angel’s attention enough for him to ask, “What are you doing?”

“She’s here. I can feel her.”

The older vampire blinked a couple of times, then went into game face and extended his senses. Spike had already let his demon out, the better to hear and sense Buffy’s approach and Andrew was careful to remain on the inside of the invisible barrier that was keeping the two suddenly very frightening master vampires away from him.

Even Andrew could hear the sounds of an argument coming from the lobby.

“Get out of my way, Paulo! I need to get upstairs.”

“No, Cara. No. Let us go back to my villa and spend the night there. You can have the guest room. I promise. No more attempts to make you give me what you won’t. Just let me show you how happy you could be living in my home.”

“Not tonight. I HAVE to get upstairs.” Buffy never took her eyes off the stairway. As she had in the club, she could feel Spike’s signature. She had brushed it off earlier as some other vampire that for whatever reason seemed familiar, but there was no mistaking it now. When the Immortal tried to stop her from going upstairs again, she suddenly remembered how he’d distracted her in the club just as she was looking around for the source of the achingly familiar tingles. She glared at him suspiciously.

“Let go of my arm,” she said clearly. “I am going upstairs. You can go home now.”

The Immortal stepped in front of her and said softly, “I cannot let you do that, cara mia. There is nothing for you up there.”

“Get. Out. Of. My. Way.”

Oblivious to the fact that the Slayer had just replaced his club-loving girlfriend, the Immortal picked her up and began to leave the building with her saying softly, ”You will thank me for this later, my love.”

At Buffy’s shrieked, “Put me down!” Spike and Angel started for the stairs at vampire speed, only to come to a halt when the sound of something very large hitting the wall shook the old building. The loud crash was immediately followed by running footsteps that moved at superhuman speed until they got to within a few steps of the top, where they slowed to a halt.

Shocked green eyes stared into apprehensive blue ones as she whispered, “Spike?”

“Buffy,” he choked out, lost in the sight and scent of her and wondering how he had ever managed to stay away as long as he had.

“Are you real?” she questioned hesitantly. Her slayer senses told her he was standing in front of her, but a year of dealing with the First Evil had stolen her naivety, and she demanded proof. A sideways glance at Angel, a quick recognition of his signature, and she knew without a doubt that the vampire she’d been grieving for was standing only a few feet above her.

Without warning, she leapt the last few steps and landed on Spike, knocking them both to the floor. Laughing and sobbing at the same time, she planted kisses all over his face, touching and patting all over his body as though to reassure herself that he was all there.

“I felt you,” she gasped. “In the club. I felt you and Paulo said I was imagining things and he—“ She turned her head and gave a snarl that would have done credit to a vampire when the Immortal in question came in to view. He was covered in plaster dust and looked very disgruntled.

“Buffy,” he said imperiously, “You are making a fool of yourself. This one is beneath you.”

Buffy looked down at the happy vampire against whose hard body she was pressed and beamed through her tears.

“Yep, he sure is!” she chirped, wriggling her hips against his and earning a groan and a growl from Spike.

“Buffy,” Angel put in his own complaint as she went back to kissing Spike and murmuring how much she missed him. “You are not behaving like cookie dough!”

“Mmmmmm,” she said through lips that were now glued to Spike’s. “I’m done. Been done. Just didn’t know it until the oven broke.”

“What the bloody hell are you talking about, pet?” Spike murmured into the ear he was nibbling on.

“Nothing important. I’m cookies and I’m ready to be eaten that’s all.”

The Immortal was turning purple while Angel choked and Spike pulled her closer to whisper, “More than willing, love, but wouldn’t you prefer some privacy?”

“Ewwww! Spike.” Buffy sat up abruptly, still straddling him. He blinked at her in confusion as she blushed prettily. “Okay, that didn’t sound quite so crude in my head.”

“Maybe we should get up, pet,” Spike suggested softly as Angel and the Immortal continued to look like they might spontaneously combust at any second.

Somewhat reluctantly, she got off and stood up. She kept a hand wrapped around his sleeve until he was on his feet, then transferred it to his belt as though she thought he might try to get away. Reading her mind, as he so often did, he wrapped his arms around her and said loudly, “Not going anywhere, pet. I’m here to stay.”

“Promise me?” She ignored the fuming Immortal and coughing Angel to rise up on her toes and whisper against his mouth.

“Promise, love.” He lowered his lips to hers and the audience of ex boyfriends, neighbors and Andrew faded away while they melted into a kiss that lasted until Buffy was fainting from lack of oxygen. Just as Spike released her so that she could gasp for air, there was a shriek, and he was hit from behind by a tall beautiful girl with long chestnut hair.

Buffy reluctantly stood back as her sister alternately hugged and pummeled the vampire, scolding him for dying without making up with her and crying about how glad she was to see him. When she had calmed down and Spike was standing in the hall with an arm around each of his girls, the Immortal finally came the rest of the way up the stairs to stand at the top, looming over the blond vampire and his small family.

“This is not acceptable, Buffy,” he shouted. “You are mine now. Step away from this vermin immediately and let him go back to LA where he came from.”

The Slayer’s cold green eyes turned to look at the man she’d been dating only in an attempt to learn more about Immortals and where they fell in the demon lexicon. “You knew he was alive?” she asked with deceptive calm. “You knew where he was and you didn’t tell me?”

“It was for the best, cara mia. You do not need him when you have me. I am so much better for you—“

Before Buffy could follow up on her clear intentions, Dawn squealed, “Oh, Let me! Let me!” When her sister reluctantly nodded, she stepped away from Spike and said sweetly, “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to do this.”

With a practiced leg sweep, she knocked him off balance. As he teetered at the top of the stairs, she drew her fist back and buried it in his face, feeling his nose break with a satisfying crunch. Arms pin wheeling, the man toppled slowly backward and disappeared from view. When they could no longer hear the sounds of his body bouncing against the walls and on the steps, Dawn turned to Buffy and said triumphantly, “And you said I punch like a girl!”

“Like a Summers girl,” Spike said, giving her an admiring hug.

The small group turned, waved at the curious neighbors, and went back to the apartment door where Andrew still hovered in fear and admiration. When Dawn walked past him with a glare, he squeaked and backed up quickly allowing everyone to crowd into the small foyer. Spike’s gentle tug on Buffy’s hand reminded her that he’d never been in this home before and she turned to give him a teary smile as she said, “Come in, Spike. Please come in.”

The outraged growl from Angel briefly caught her attention and she waved her hand airily, never taking her eyes off Spike. “Oh, you too, Angel. Sorry.”

She pushed Spike down into a big chair and climbed into his lap before she said, “Okay, now tell me what’s going on. Where were you? How’d you get back? How long did it take you to find me? And why is Angel with you?”

Spike swallowed uncomfortably and shot a look at Andrew who was sneaking out of the room.

“Uh, well, um, as to where I was – don’t rightly know, do I? Just all ‘Ow, hot’ and then nothing and then ‘Ow, hot’ again and then I was standing in the Poof’s fancy office and everybody was yelling. And then I was a ghost and Fred was trying to save me from being pulled down into Hell but she couldn’t figure out how to make me solid, and then ‘boom!’ I WAS solid and…”

“Exactly how long have you been back?” Buffy’s tone was not as friendly and her warm ass was suddenly out of his lap.

“Uh, a while, actually. But…but I was a ghost most of that time and I couldn’t call you!” He looked at her hopefully, using his most appealing expression and she softened somewhat. “And I didn’t know where you were anyway. Europe’s a big place.”

“So, you couldn’t dial a phone and you didn’t know where I was…” She whirled on the older vampire who was trying to tiptoe out of the room after Andrew.

“But YOU knew where I was!” she shrieked, grabbing him by his shirt and yanking him back into the living room. “And you could dial a phone. You do it all the time. Why didn’t you tell me he was back?”

“I wanted you to have a normal life,” Angel mumbled, looking around for the nearest exit. “You didn’t need a vampire in it.”

“YOU wanted to be in it…” she said, putting her hand out to block Spike’s sudden lunge.

“Well, that’s…that’s different,” he huffed, offended. “I’m your one true love. Your soul mate. He’s just…just. —“

“The man I love,” Buffy finished for him. “The man I mourned for – you remember that, don’t you, Angel?” The Slayer’s voice was venomous as she stalked toward her former lover. “You remember my breakdown in your office when you asked me where Spike was? You were sooooo understanding. Soooo sympathetic….’Poor Buffy. I’m so sorry, Buffy’.”

“Well, I WAS sorry!” he blustered, still retreating from the deadly blond advancing on him. “I mean, I was sorry you were upset. And I was…” He shot a look at his grandchilde, ”I was sort of sorry Spike was gone. He was part of my family, you know,” he finished, standing up self-righteously. “I had as much right to be upset as you did.”

“Did you?” she asked with artificial sweetness. “Did you miss him having your back in every fight? Did you miss his funny remarks? His way of calling it to your attention when you weren’t thinking clearly? Oh wait! No, you didn’t miss those things…because you HAD them! He was there with you. I’m the one who was left on the other side of the world - still grieving.

“I know you didn’t miss the other things I was missing. The way he kisses, the way he snuggles in bed. His beautiful face and body. The way he—“

“Well, actually…” Angel began weakly, then thought better of it when Buffy’s eyes widened to impossible proportions.

“I just didn’t think he was what you needed,” he finished lamely.

“But you knew he was what I wanted. You knew how happy I would be if I knew he was back. You knew how much I missed him.” Each sentence was punctuated by another poke at Angel’s chest, and he soon found himself out in the hall and being prodded toward the stairs.

He had backed all the way up to the top of the flight when the Immortal’s bloody head appeared below him. One look at the angry man coming up the stairs, and another at the still-explaining Angel, and Buffy decided to end it once and for all. With a looping right hook, she hit the vampire’s jaw so hard she felt it shatter and she watched in satisfaction as he toppled slowly backwards, landing on the cringing Immortal and sending them both tumbling in a tangle of arms, legs and overly processed hair.

They made a satisfying crash when they reached the bottom and Buffy listened to the moaning only long enough to know they weren’t getting up anytime soon, then returned to the apartment and her place on Spike’s lap.

While the vampire nuzzled her neck and kissed all the bare skin he could reach, the slayer began running her hands over him again, assuring herself that all his parts were there.

“Find anything missing, love?” he asked with amusement.

“Well, I don’t think….nope. There it is!”

Her triumphant smile and the vampire’s heartfelt groan left no doubt as to which body part she’d found. She stood up and took him by the hand, leading him away from the living room and toward her bedroom.

“Let’s just go make sure you came back in good working order,” she purred. “Before I pummel you into dust for not finding a way to let me know you were alive,” she added, laughing at his suddenly frightened expression.

The end

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