Spike hand touched hers. It felt like an electric shock coursing through his body. She wrapped her little hand around his and tugged. "C’mon, silly, get up. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time, and it wouldn’t be fair if you just poofed away before my eyes."

He let her help him to a standing position, still in shock. "Buffy? But, how, I mean, how, you, I, ……."

She smiled. "I’ll explain everything, honey. Let’s just pop into your old crypt here, before Mr. Sun does some damage that can’t be repaired."

Spike allowed her to lead him, stumbling, the short distance to his old crypt. Once inside, he noted that, although he hadn’t been there in many years, someone had been keeping up the place. There was a futon on the floor, covered with a fluffy duvet. Buffy let go of his hand, and he felt a pang of loss. She pushed him down on the futon, and then lit a few candles. His eyes followed her every move. She smiled, noting his fascination. Once the candles were lit, she came and sat beside him, wrapping her arms around him and laying her head on his chest.

"Oh, God, I’ve missed you so much," she whispered. "I forgot how great it was just to hold you." He felt the same, and just enjoyed the feel of her body and the familiar scent of her hair. If she was a ghost, she was a damn good one, and he wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Finally he managed to croak out, "Buffy, love, are you a ghost?" She smiled.

"No, not a ghost, my darling," she said, taking his hand and laying on her chest. "Feel this?" He felt and heard something that he should have noticed before, but was too stunned by her appearance. Her heart was beating. "I’m alive."

"Buffy, what, I mean, how are you alive?"

"Well, silly, how do most people get alive?" she asked, smiling still. "I was born."

Spike’s too obvious blank look made her giggle. "Do you want me to explain?" she asked.

He nodded, unable to take his eyes from hers. "OK, then," she said, "here goes. Promise to keep an open mind?" He nodded again.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Buffy began. "You are born and re-born to this world many times. Each time, your soul chooses the life you will lead. After birth, you retain no memories of anything other than your current life – by choice; your soul wants to live a life unencumbered by memories. It wants you to learn things on your own. If you knew everything already, there would be no point in living. Your soul also chooses, before you are re-born, the people that you will interact with during your next life. Some people are with you always. In one life you may be sisters, in the next mother and son, in the next lovers. Rarely, though, there are two souls who belong together – can’t be separated – find that they complete each other. When this happens, they are called soul mates. You and I, we’re soul mates, Spike."

He looked puzzled. "But I don’t ………."

"I know," she interrupted. "Hear me out. We’ve always been together in some way or another. We’ve usually battled evil, as well. Had things gone as planned, in your life as William I would have been your daughter. However, not everything is pre-ordained. There is still free will. You being turned into a vampire was not planned or anticipated. Therefore, you and I missed out on a lifetime of love and happiness. I waited to be re-born as the slayer, in order to become a part of your life again. Our turbulent relationship was in part planned, to aid in bringing you back into the light.

"Your soul never really leaves. Even when it doesn’t inhabit your body, part of it is there. Souls are amazing things. With just one soul’s knowledge, world peace could be established, world hunger could be abolished. All diseases could be cured. This could be heaven on earth. But that’s not the purpose. Our journeys through these lives are meant to be learning experiences. There is a heaven, and it’s not here. We rest there between lives, and stay there when we feel our soul’s journey has been accomplished. Are you with me so far, honey?" she asked, noticing his puzzled expression.

"Yes, I am," he replied. "But how are you here, with all this knowledge."

"Good question," she said. "When I died, I immediately remembered everything that my soul has always known. I made an unusual choice – to come back with my memories. Generally that’s not done – only a select few have been allowed to remember. But the Powers That Be felt that you had come so far along your road to redemption, that they sent me back to you with my memories, and my physical form, the same as when I left. You’ll notice that I’m not an old woman any more." He nodded. She had always been beautiful to him, up until the day she died. But her body now was that of a teenager or very young woman. "How do you look the same?" he wanted to know. "You even smell the same."

"Well, I wanted to look the same for you, honey. I chose to be re-born to the Summers line. I’m Dawn’s oldest granddaughter’s youngest daughter. People have always been amazed at how much I look like Auntie Buffy. My real name is Anne, but people have been calling me Buffy as a nick name for my whole life."

"But, Buffy, I almost ended everything. How did you find me?"

"I know," she said seriously, taking his face between her hands in her old familiar way. "I’m so sorry about the last twenty years, Spike. I had to grow up, didn’t I? I’m nineteen now. I knew you’d come back – it was just a matter of time. If you hadn’t come this year, I’d have come looking for you. But I thought, with the anniversary of my last death coming up, you might be here. I’ve been watching for you for awhile now. I’m sorry you’ve been so lonely. But I’ve brought you something from the Powers That Be."

"What would those wankers want to send me," Spike grumbled. "Prolly some worthless piece of crap."

"Well, to some it might be," Buffy grinned, "but I like it, and I think you’ll like it. It’s only your soul."

"My soul? They want to give me back my soul? What for," he demanded.

"You’ve earned it, Spike. No-one else ever has. If you want it, that is?"

"Buffy, yes," he said, not stopping to think. Thinking would be dangerous. "Yes, I want it back. Where is it now?"

"I’ve kept it safe for you, my love. Safe and warm, here with my own." She touched her chest. "We’ve never been apart, not really. To take back your soul, all you have to do is kiss me."

Not waiting, not thinking, just craving her, he caught her lips with his. She even tasted the same. His head spinning, he kissed her like drinking her – like a parched and dying man in the desert at a well of life-giving water. He felt a strange completeness steal through his body, and then, for the first time in over two hundred years, he felt something else. He felt his heart beating.

He lifted his head and looked at her in amazement. "Oh, yeah," she said, smiling slyly. "There’s a side effect. You’re human now."

"Human?" Spike said in amazement.

"Yup. Human and normal, like me," she replied. "In this life we’re going to be normal. We’re going to get married, get regular jobs, have lots of kids, and grow old together. In this life we aren’t going to battle the forces of evil. Well, unless we have to argue with our kids’ soccer coach. As a matter of fact, we’ll slowly forget the things I just told you. We’ll be just like everyone else."

"Kids?" Spike gulped. "We can have kids now?"

"Yes," she smiled, hugging him tightly. "As many as you want. But we aren’t starting on that until AFTER we’re married. I’m going to do things right this time."

"Married?" He said. He felt that his end of the conversation had mostly consisted of mono-syllable like responses, delivered in a shocked voice, but he had nothing else to say.

"Well, that is," she suddenly seemed unsure of herself, "only if you want to."

Spike gathered himself together. This had been a pretty big shock, but if he couldn’t handle it no-one could. He stood, and tugged her to stand beside him. He dropped to one knee in front of her, still holding her hand.

"Buffy Anne Summers, or whatever your name is now," he said, causing her to giggle. "I love you with all my heart and soul. I have always loved you. We have crossed oceans of time to be together. Will you be my wife?"

Her beautiful eyes filled with tears as she looked down on him, her knight in shining armor. The man she had defied all rules of nature for. Her love, her life, her other half. She gazed at him until he impatiently said, "Well?"

She grinned. The new soul hadn’t changed him much that she could see – only completed him in ways that he would discover every day. "Oh, God, YES. Of course I’ll marry you, Spike. I know the perfect dress and everything."

Spike got to his feet and hugged her, smiling. She hadn’t changed much that he could see.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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