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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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Published:
2020-11-05
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1,701
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1/1
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Happy Endings

Summary:

Shanshu happened; Angel is making a go of things with Buffy so where does that leave Spike?

Work Text:



Happy Endings
by Lilithangel
 
  
“You don’t have to go you know,” Buffy said as Spike threw a pile of clothes into a duffel bag.
 
“Yes I do,” he replied.
 
“He didn’t mean it, we do need you here.”
 
“No you don’t.  I’m just a reminder of all the bad things.  You’re playing happy families and that’s great but I can’t stay and watch it.  And he did mean it, with me he always means it.”
 
“I’m sorry Spike; I never expected things to happen this way.”
 
“I did,” Spike smiled crookedly.   “Soon as the pouf’s heart started beating I expected it.”
 
“I do love you Spike.” Buffy put a hand on his arm.
 
“But with him you get the normal life you’ve always dreamed of.”  He shrugged her arm off gently and continued packing.  “Nothing here for me, it’s time I got my own life.”
 
“I know you’ve got to be jealous that Angel got the shanshu…”
 
“You don’t know anything Buffy,” Spike said with a growl.  He’d really hoped she wouldn’t push it.  “I was happy for him when he got to be a real boy, I’m glad he’s getting to be a dad to Connor and I wasn’t surprised that you came running when you heard the news.  Here’s the thing though, we both got offered the shanshu.  I turned it down and that’s why he’s being a bigger prick than normal.”
 
“You turned it down?” Buffy looked at him in confusion.  “Why would you turn it down?  We… you could have…”
 
“Never wanted to be human again Buffy.”  Spike smiled sadly.  “Actually like being a vampire most of the time.  The human prize was Angel’s dream.  I only ever wanted to be loved; they couldn’t give me that so I turned them down.”
 
Spike slung his bag over one shoulder and headed for the door.  “Be happy Buffy, I hope everything works out for you both.”
 
Buffy made as if to say something and then subsided and Spike walked out without turning back.
 
He’d been the only one there when the battle ended and Angel’s heart had started beating.  He’d been the one to carry the wounded and now alive man to safety, to hold him as he’d gasped and shook as the enormity of what had occurred dawned on them both.
 
He’d been the one to show Angel how to handle food and alcohol again and arranged for new identity documents.  Spike had stood in the shadows watching Angel’s first tentative steps into the sun again, seen his skin glow golden and the joy on his face as he tilted it to the sky.
 
Spike had been the one to contact Conner and tell the boy the news, endured Angel’s ranting at his meddling and slipping away as father and son sorted things out and started again.
 
He hadn’t been the one to call Buffy though.  That Angel had managed on his own.
 
They hadn’t become friends he and Angel.  Their relationship remained as strained as ever with Angel convinced that Spike resented the shanshu and Spike feeling pushed aside again as Angel embraced the day.
 
When Buffy had arrived in a whirlwind of blonde and suitcases Spike had quietly moved out.  He and Buffy had their own reunion but her eyes were always drawn to the man sitting on the porch pretending not to listen.
 
It was the fairytale ending and Spike was just one of the monsters in the dark and he knew he didn’t deserve that.  So the fight was a relief in a way.  He and Angel weren’t family anymore and Buffy loved Angel more than she could ever love him so leaving was the best thing for everyone.
 
* * * * *
 
He stood in the back of the church still smoking slightly after his dash from the car with a blanket over his head.  He’d waited for the coffin to be taken inside and the mourners to follow before slipping into the back.
 
Angel stood at the front a bowed and broken figure held up by his son and daughter-in-law.  Spike could see the signs of aging on Angel’s skin and the faint tremors in the no longer powerful frame.
 
Buffy had lived longer than any slayer in history but even slayers can’t fight time forever and she was felled by the very thing that took her mother.
 
Spike didn’t wait for the funeral to end and knew he wouldn’t return for Angel’s because his Angel had died in an alley long ago.
 
* * * * *
 
“Spike there’s a letter for you,” Grace called out from the front of the office.
 
“And I’m supposed to care why?” Spike called back, “You pay the bills remember.”
 
“It’s not a bill,” Grace said coming into his office, “or a subpoena,” she added, “and the guy’s waiting for a reply.”
 
Spike sighed and took his feet off the desk.  He’d been enjoying a well earned break (and a crack at the next level) after their last job and in his experience anyone waiting for a reply was not delivering an R.S.V.P to the White House.
 
Spike Williams & Associates had built up a respectable client base in twenty years even if the Associates had been a lamp and a telephone for the first two.  Spike hadn’t wanted to go into the private investigation business but security had suited him down to the ground.  He had a reputation of not asking awkward questions and never failing no matter what the cost.  Demons had been his first clients but soon he had human ones and needed human staff to deal with them.
 
First there was Darcy to answer the phones and Terry to guard the humans, Terry wasn’t human but could pass for one.  Then Sandra to run the electronic surveillance and security, so much like Fred that it hurt sometimes to look at her.  Finally there was Grace to be the public face of the company, account keeper and writer of great adverts for the yellow pages.
 
All were aware of vampires and demons without any of the anger or hatred Spike was used to.  They were his family now, protecting each other and hanging out when things were dull.  He’d shared a bed with Grace once and Terry a few more times.  It was nice but not as nice as sharing popcorn and fighting over the remote, visiting at Thanksgiving and buying presents for Darcy’s kids for Christmas.
 
It was more than Spike had ever known he’d wanted.  They were the family he’d longed for and friends who didn’t judge him for a past long gone.  He’d retired the coat a few years ago and let the blond be dyed to a more natural brown.  Spike Williams still listened to punk rock and swore more than was acceptable but he wore dress pants if forced and had a wardrobe of suitable clothing for all occasions (thanks mainly to Sandra and Grace).  Most importantly he’d kept them alive long enough to look at the retirement package the company had set in place.
 
Spike took the letter from Grace’s outstretched hand.
 
It’s time.
 
A
 
Spike leapt to his feet and burst out of his office into the reception only to come skidding to a halt at the sight that greeted him.
 
“Time for what?” he demanded.
 
“I didn’t mean it,” Angel said.  It was the Angel he remembered from the alleyway, not the Angel he’d seen at Buffy’s funeral.  “The things I said to you.  It’s taken me a human lifetime to realise but I got there.”
 
The room around them faded before Spike could realise the loss and they were back in the alley with the rain pouring down.
 
“It was all some sort of trick?” Spike said in confusion.
 
“No trick,” Angel replied, “It was all real just not this reality.  They wanted to give us a reward but as usual you were the wild card.”
 
“What the hell are you on about?” Spike demanded.  “What I see is that my friends weren’t actually real, that I’ve lived some sort of hallucination until you dragged me back because yet again it’s all about you.”
 
“Shut up Spike please,” Angel said.  “It took me two goes at being human, a divorce and two deaths including my own to get my head around it.  I like being a vampire,” he admitted, “I hated being weak and growing old.  I just wanted to be accepted and didn’t think anyone would accept me the way I was, a vampire with a soul.”
 
“Well being human certainly made you wordy,” Spike said with a snort.
 
“Shut up and let me finish,” Angel said, “I don’t think I can say it all again.  You built a family for yourself because that was what you really wanted.  I followed your progress you know newspaper articles and police reports; you’ve done a lot of good here with your family.”
 
“But they’re not my family are they?” Spike’s voice was bitter, “They were just another game for the Wankers That Be.”
 
“Not quite,” Angel frowned, “it was their attempt to give us both the lives we wanted until they realised that it wasn’t really what we wanted. You wouldn’t have turned away from me would you, back when I got cursed?”
 
“Maybe, I dunno,” Spike admitted, “Dru was pretty cut up about you and Darla was furious but we’re family.”
 
“Yeah we are,” Angel said.  “It’s a pretty weird and slightly fucked up family but it’s what we both need.  We’ve got a lot left to do and I don’t know if there really is a reward at the end of it but I think I’d rather get there with you than anyone.”  He looked at Spike hopefully.
 
“Are we done with the Disney moment?” Spike said but he wasn’t angry.
 
“Almost,” Angel said.  He pulled Spike close and kissed him.  Spike stiffened for a moment and then returned the kiss with enthusiasm.  “We’ll never be G rated,” Angel added when the kiss ended.
 
“I bloody hope not,” Spike replied.  “Wait, Buffy divorced you?”
 
“Shut up Spike.”
 
“Do you think my friends were real?”
 
“Why don’t we go and find out?”
 
And sometimes there are happy endings.

 

end