Epilogue: To see the Sun
A smile dancing on her lips, Lisa was looking through a box of old pictures. Her mother hated these pictures, and everyone knew it. That’s why they were hidden in a box and not proudly displayed in albums. They covered about 30 years, and showed all too well an ever aging Buffy, and an ever young-looking Spike. It had always been a reminder that there was no ‘growing old together’ for them. But being together had been enough.
The pictures Lisa cherished most were the ones of their wedding. She remembered bits and pieces of it. She had been 9 when they finally tied the knot. William was 8, and Joyce Anne 3. It had taken place in a beautiful summer evening, under an almost full moon that was giving a fairy-tale light to everything on that hill above Sunnyhell. Surrounded by their friends and children, Buffy and Spike had exchanged simple vows. Lisa remembered her father’s words above anything else. He had promised to love his wife until the day of his death. Not hers, his. Then they had all picnicked under the stars. The pictures showed a glowing Buffy in an elegant red evening gown, smiling to her brand new husband. Between them, Lisa and Joyce Anne looked like princesses in adorable matching white lace gowns, and William was gorgeous in a tuxedo identical to their father’s. Other shots pictured Xander, Anya and their son, Willow, the maid of honor, and Tara, Giles, who had played the roles of father of the bride and best man of the groom. The only absent was Joyce, who had died four years before. Even Peaches had been there, though he couldn’t be said to be smiling much.
Lisa chuckled lightly. So many times, her mother had rolled her eyes at her for calling Angel by one of Spike’s nicknames. She couldn’t help it, she just enjoyed too much the grins of pure delight Spike gave her for the exact same reason.
She remembered when he had finally asked Buffy to marry him. He had been moody for weeks, talking to himself constantly. Then, he had stopped arguing with himself, and started arguing with Buffy. Lisa didn’t understand much at the time, she just could see that Daddy wanted something really bad and Mom didn’t agree. And then, one morning, they just stopped arguing, and told their older children that they were going to get married. Years later, she had asked them both what had finally changed Buffy’s mind. Buffy had blushed, Spike had grinned, and Lisa had known better than to try and probe any further.
Other pictures showed Spike’s domestic side. Cooking pancakes for breakfast, decorating a birthday cake, reading a fairy tale to sleepy children. Buffy sometimes joked she took these pictures because she couldn’t believe the vampire was actually doing these things. Lisa could recall more than one time when Buffy had been the fourth listener, captivated by the way Spike conjured the characters to life just as much as the children were. It hadn’t taken much to convince him to put his stories on paper for others to enjoy.
Another dozen of pictures showed Buffy in her preschool classroom. Taken so that Spike could see what her workplace was like. She had returned to college after William’s birth, and obtained her degree in Education Science. Spike pushed her on that way, later saying that he knew she would be a great teacher.
A couple of stolen shots. Spike clad all in black, from his pant, to his tshirt, to a leather duster, a gift from his wife, almost identical to the one she had ‘stolen’ from him. Buffy in similar clothing. They only dressed so for patrols. Lisa remembered the night she had taken these pictures as they were leaving the house, trusting their children’s lives to an aging Watcher. She had been 11 or 12, and the apocalypse was close, a usual occurrence on the Hellmouth. But that night, something had happened, and the Hellmouth had been closed forever. After that, their nightly patrols became weekly ones, and some time later completely stopped. The Hellmouth being closed, demons and vampires were not coming to Sunnyhell any more, and the ones who were already there knew better than to hurt humans and catch the attention of the Slayer and her vampire mate.
More pictures were showing the three children growing up. On none of them was there a hint at their demon linage. They had had a normal childhood. Or rather, as normal as a childhood could be when your Dad wouldn’t get out of the house before night and your Mom threatened to stake him at least
twice a week. Early on, all three children had learned to control their demon side and refuse the game mask. It had been made clear, both by Buffy and Spike, that drinking blood was not a part of their life. They had also learned to hide their abnormal force and to avoid hurting their friends when playing. At some point, Spike had started to teach them how to fight. She knew there had been arguments about that too between her parents. Buffy often watched them, training and playing at the same time in the basement converted into gym, but never said anything or participated. Lisa had overheard parts of an argument ; Spike was worried about the Council finding a way to break their word and come after their children. That’s why he wanted them to be able to fight. Buffy had been fighting for the best part of her life, and did not want her children to follow her path. Spike won, not because he was right, but because the prophecy that had started it all left no choice to any of them. They were Slayers. Not like Buffy was, but still Slayers.
Early training had come in handy years later, when Lisa and then William went to college in other states. Both had discovered that vampires and demons were not a Sunnydale exception, and both had decided on their own to fight the good fight. Joyce Anne had followed another path, learning magic by herself until Spike caught her, grounded her for a year, and asked Willow to mentor her.
Some day, Buffy had stopped allowing anyone to take a picture of her. She had been a bit more than 40 by then, and already Spike had started to look more like her son than her husband.
As Lisa was putting the pictures back in their box, Spike sat next to her on the couch.
“Hey luv.”
“Hey dad. “
She observed him in silence. He looked so tired. She was surprised to see him pull a pack of cigarettes from his duster’s pocket. More surprised even when she realized it was his duster, the one Buffy had never returned. She could smell her mother’s scent on the thing. She could also smell another scent, unusual on him. Alcohol. She thought his hand was shaking a bit when he lighted the smoke. He inhaled deeply, his eyes closing.
“I hadn’t lit one since before you were born, pet. ‘Knew that ?”
“No dad. I never suspected you smoked. “
Or drank.
A smile crept on his face.
“Your mother would stake me for it.”
Abruptly, the smile was gone. He looked around, searching for something, anything, to extinguish the cigarette with. Eventually, he put it in an empty cup of tea that had been forgotten on the side table.
“Yeah, she would have staked me for this,” he whispered, staring at nothing.
She took his hand and held it tight. He squeezed back.
“Did you choose a picture, luv ?”
“Yes. “
She showed him and he nodded, his eyes shining with unshed tears. On this candid shot of the wedding, Buffy was smiling brightly. It would be perfect for the service.
Lisa took hold of her courage. She had wanted to ask that question for years. It was now or never.
“Dad. why didn’t you ever turn her ? “
A hint of surprise flashed through his face, replaced by pain.
“I should have, shouldn’t I ? “
“No ! No, Dad. I’m just wondering. “
She stopped, unable to finish. Unable to say that if she ever loved a man half as much as she knew Spike had loved her mother, she would do anything to keep him by her side. Anything at all. Maybe, she could admit it to herself, that was why she was so reluctant to let a man into her heart. She didn’t know if she could turn humans, and she was afraid of ever wanting to find out.
“I asked her, once, to let me do it. ‘Said no. And she was right.”
His hand was still squeezing hers, as if that touch was the only thing holding him together.
“She was my sun,” he said in a whisper. “For 30 bloody years she was the sun I will never see again. She brought the light back in my life. She was my life. “
His voice broke.
“Killing her would have been the same thing as killing myself. And now .”
He threw his head back and moaned, tears streaming from his closed eyes.
Lisa stared in shock, seeing the man she had always thought unbreakable crumble in front of her. Before she could think of anything to do or say, her siblings were in the room, alerted by the noise. William stayed back, his infant son cradled in his arms. Joyce Anne rushed to their father, and hugged him tight. He was still painfully gripping Lisa’s hand.
“Daddy, it will be ok,” the youngest child said softly.
“No it won’t !” the vampire cried. “She’s gone. Gone !”
She shook him slightly to get his attention back.
“Look at me, dad. Look at Lisa. Look at William. What do you see ?”
He did as she had said, his eyes taking in the sight of his children and grand-child.
Their children.
Their family.
“I see her,” he said in a low voice after a moment, his tears drying on his cheeks. “I see the sun.”
The End.
Here were the terms of the Challenge by Jinxanna on the Buffy / Spike Diaries site :
-Spike and Buffy are kidnapped
-taken to somewhere in in Europe or Asia
-They are used to make a half vampire (Buffy becomes pregnant)
-They are used because most humans can’t carry a vampires child and Spike is not only from a famous line of vampires but is strong in his own right, not to mention he is chipped.They also seem to fit with the prophecy
-Before Buffy died and before she knew that Spike is in love with her
-Spike is in love with Buffy, Buffy does not share his feelings at first, things change. Not to quickly though, it has to take a while she starts out hating him after all
-Buffy despite herself wants the child as does Spike (duh!)
-The child is part of a prophecy (as are Buffy and Spike)
-The Watchers Council is connected to the kidnapping
-They want the child to be under their control, they also want Buffy and Spike in order to make more children
-They end up on the run
-The child is born and is a girl and has been born for a good part of the story
-When they make it home (however they do it) its been well over a year and a half
-The child has all the pros and none of the cons of both parents and their powers (though drinking blood makes her stronger and heal faster,and she is a night owl)
-Buffy becomes pregnant a second time, this time its all Spike and Buffys fault, no outside influence
-Lots of interaction with Scoobies and Angel characters
-Spike is a good father
-They defeat their enemies and get a happy ending
-Show a little of their future
-Your choice if you want to show what happened with the Scoobies while they where gone
-Your choice on how Buffy becomes pregnant the first time (examples, artificial insemination, a spell that forces them some how like making them really horny, or just being threatened, ect.)
-NC17 if you want