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Belladonnaroses
'Liberate this will
To release us all'
Their footsteps pound in her ears and each one contains the hollow echo of her past. A thousand laughs and tears and fragments of dust in their foot steps. A thousand blood stains and a thousand moments of brokenhearted love.
Her hands are shaking and she wants a smoke. She knows Spike does too because of the way his fingers tap aimlessly against her arm.
The library doors are still thirty paces away and she slows down, not wanting to hurry her journey. For a moment, she flashes back to running down these same deserted hallways, trying to beat the clock, trying to save her friends life. Failing miserably. Her hand reaches out and she intertwines her fingers with his.
Fifteen paces left to the doorway and she can see the light shining out of the round plexi glass windows and under the crack of the door. If she tries she can hear their voices and she makes out Willow's nervous laughter and one of Xander's snide remarks. She hears more sounds and the voice of her mother wafts down the hall to meet them at ten paces away.
That sound almost stops her and Spike has to physically help her make the last leg of the journey. But her knees are shaking too bad for her to stand and he lets her pause outside the doors.
She can see them now through the little round windows and they're in full research mode, twinkies and everything. She turns to look at Spike and he smiles at her despite the worry in his eyes. He's anxious too and they both think that perhaps they should deal with it on their own and not see the others, but they both know that's not possible.
Her fingers come up to caress his face in that familiar way she has that makes his knees go weak and he turns his face into her caress, kissing the rough palm of her hand. They stare at each other and for a moment they've made themselves believe that it will be all right. He presses a fluttering kiss to her wrist and she smiles before pulling away and placing her hand on the door.
He stops her, before she pushes it open, his hand on her arm, and she turns to look at him with the unspoken question in her eyes. He swallows nervously and rakes one hand through his hair, before his voice, thick with emotion says, We still have our home, love.
She smiles at this and lets him kiss her, her smile is still in the kiss when she returns it. And then they turn and push open the doors and they're a swirl of leather and danger as the enter the room, nothing by confidence on their faces, hands joined.
Everyone turns to look at them and she hears Giles' pen drop, Willow's 'eep' and her mothers voice whispering her name. But the loudest sound in the room comes from Xander who stands, fire in his eyes, finger pointing at them, Kill her! She's a vampire!
Spike tenses and steps protectively behind Buffy, and he notices the way her eyes narrow dangerously at the boy.
There's a long silence and no one moves.
And then Joyce is across the room, tears in her voice as she wraps Buffy in a bear hug, apologizing into her daughters hair, clutching at the Slayer so hard that if she'd been a normal seventeen year old she would have broken.
For a while there's only the sound of Joyce crying and Buffy cooing comforting things into her ears. And then Giles steps forwards and embraces her too. And then comes Willow.
Xander hangs back, eyeing her suspiciously, Cordelia by his side. Oz comes next and he shakes hands with Buffy, eyeing Spike curiously and sniffing before giving the vampire and knowing look and returning to stand by Willow, who can barely breathe in her happiness.
And finally Xander comes forward and hugs Buffy tentatively, glaring at Spike the entire time. But the vampire doesn't take any notice, he just presses his hand familiarly on the small of Buffy's back and Xander moves away, too angry and confused to speak.
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