Disclaimer: These characters belong to Joss Whedon, and Mutant Enemy, and were made flesh by the actors that gave them life. I borrow them here out of reverence, with respect and for fun, not profit.

Previously:

"NOW Buffy!" roared Spike.

Chapter Eight - Reckoning

On Spike's command Buffy let the handcuffs slip from her wrists as she turned the key in the padlock, unlocking and opening the mausoleum gate and slipping round into the tomb before Glory or her minions could react.

Spike had struck Jinx a wicked blow to the base of his spine and the drab minion sunk to the ground unable to move his legs, calling out, but still grovelling, to Glory in pain and shock.

Murk was moving to intercept Spike even as Glory was shouting, "Kill the traitorous butt-ugly bloodsucker. Bring me the Slayer. Find the Key. Now people!"

Punching Murk's head with such force his flying body felled several of his comrades, Spike moved towards the gates of the mausoleum. He saw Buffy had hooked the second Kargip necklace around the big bear's left paw and was climbing on an outstretched back leg to reach its throat with Spike's knife.

Turning away from Buffy, Spike leapt into the huddle of minions that was descending on him. He struck out indiscriminately with his fists and kicked viciously, hearing heads crack and bones splinter. Then he saw Glory moving forward, through the throng of annoying sycophants, to deal with Spike herself.

'Now, Buffy, luv, now!' he intoned to himself.

At that moment, Glory looked over into the tomb, where Buffy was dodging the snapping teeth of an overgrown kindergarten toy, and Spike saw Glory's eyes fly open wide in horror. Her hand flew up to her throat and Spike knew the jig was up. She had recognised the necklace.

'God, Buffy, now, luv, please,' Spike implored silently.

And then it happened. Glory grasped the pendant and … with a 'pop', was gone. To Spike's amazement so were all her minions. Everyone, gone. He turned to the now empty tomb and to his utter delight he saw Buffy standing by the gates, bloody knife in hand, and a small smile tugging at her mouth.

"Did we do it?" she asked tentatively.

"YOU did it, you bloody marvel!" Spike strode up to her and pulled her into a bear hug (pun intended), swinging her round and burying his face in her hair.

"Er, okay. D'you wanna make with the 'splainy, 'cause I'm not sure I followed all of this?"

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Buffy linked her arm through Spike's as they set off back to the crypt.

"So, what happened back there?" Buffy asked. "Glory's gone for good hasn't she?" This question came out hesitantly.

"Yeah, pet. She won't be back." Spike smiled gently down at her. "Dawn's safe now."

"Thank you, Spike," Buffy almost whispered, squeezing his arm, then louder, "So what happened exactly?"

"Well, it was all Glory's own doing really," Spike began, "If she hadn't been fiddlin' with dimensions in an effort to get home like she was, the giant soft toys wouldn't have been drawn into our dimension."

"You sent her to their dimension, didn't you?"

"Yep, luv. First I convinced her that I wanted you dead, but 'cause of the chip I couldn't do it m'self so I needed her help to kill you." He flinched, "Sorry, luv."

He felt another squeeze to his arm. He continued:

"I told Glory I could take her to the Key if she agreed to off you. Took a lot of bloody persuading, that bint, 'cause I hadn't been her biggest fan last time we'd met! Anyway, gave her that necklace as a gift, token of my esteem so to speak, to convince her I was on the level.

"Mind you, she wasn't gonna wear the bleedin' thing at first; said it clashed with her gold lamé get up, it being silver an' all. Her dress sense and she suddenly gets all fashion conscious! So I told her mere mortals couldn't wear gold an' silver together but she, a god, could pull it off an' look stunnin'. Well, she fell for that didn' she. Right vain sod. Fell for the flattery like a high school virgin. Er, 'scuse the French."

Buffy said quickly, "So, when I killed the, erm, bear, he returned to his own dimension and Glory was pulled with him, courtesy of the necklace?"

"That's about the size of it, yeah. The Kargip stone in her necklace meant she went wherever the bear went. So now she's stuck trying to lord it over a dimension full of nursery - that's kindergarten to you, luv - characters. Pretty sure they don't have the technology to allow her to skip dimensions again so Dawn'll be safe now. Plus timing was always crucial to using the Key so it won't do Glory any good, even if she did manage to come back."

"But what happened to Murk and Jinx and all her other minions?" Buffy asked.

"They were all part of Glory; part of her essence. When she jumped dimensions, so did they, but not as minions, they will just have rejoined with Glory's being; become part of her again. Doubt she'll have the power she needs to recreate them in Tellytubbyland. She'll be all on her lonesome!"

Arriving at Spike's crypt they stopped in front to the door and Buffy turned to Spike. She raised herself and planted a light kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you, Spike." Buffy said softly. "You've saved Dawn. You've saved me from having to fight a god; not a fight I was looking forward to. Not a fight I thought I could win. Thank you."

"It's okay, luv. You don't owe me any thanks. I'm just as happy to see the back of Glory. You know how I feel about Dawn. And, you would have beaten Glory, you know. But it's no crime to find an easier way to defeat a foe. It's called 'strategy', an' all good generals look for other options rather than commit their forces unnecessarily, so don't forget that, right?"

Buffy nodded her understanding as the pair entered the crypt.

"Tea?" Spike asked.

"Um, thanks. But I'll make it, if you like." Buffy replied. "You've done enough for me already." She beamed at him and walked over to the electric kettle set on top of Spike's fridge.

"Thanks, luv." Spike sunk heavily into the easy chair and stuck his feet up on the wooden crate they had used as a card table. He was tired. He had been running on adrenalin since his 'Eureka' moment when he had realised the significance of the dimensional portal's ability to return its dead, and linked that to the matching gems his mate had tried to get him to buy for him and his 'special lady'. He was now seriously in hock to his mate but he really didn't care just now. He was just too damned tired.

Buffy noticed how drawn Spike looked as she carried over their mugs of tea, scooting his feet off the crate so she could set the mugs down.

"It'll be daybreak soon. I should tell Dawn and the others about the good news," she said as she settled on the arm of the chair, gently pushing Spike down as he started to rise to let her take the chair.

"Yeah, pet, 'spect you'd better be going then."

They sipped their tea in silence for a while.

Then out of the blue Buffy asked quietly, "Can I come back later?"

" 'Course you can, luv. Like I said, you're welcome to stay as long as you like."

"Thanks."

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Buffy had asked the Scoobies to meet at her home as early as possible that morning. Being a Saturday, that wasn't a problem except for Anya who didn't want to miss any custom at the Magic Box, but Buffy explained that what she had to say was important but wouldn't take long.

She had thought about calling the meeting in the Magic Box but she wanted the home advantage since she knew, even with the news about Glory, what she intended to say might not be well received by some.

Then they were all crowded into her lounge, suitably supplied with coffee, tea in the case of Giles, with all eyes looking expectantly at Buffy.

"Um, okay, everyone. Er, thanks for coming. Sorry it was such short notice but glad you're all here 'cause what I have to tell you is kinda important. Buffy began.

Several voices began to speak, Giles' voice cutting through them like a diamond on glass. "Buffy, WHERE have you been for the last two days? Dawn said you had gone away for a BREAK. At a time like this, in the middle of a battle to save Dawn from Glory. I didn't think you could be so selfish."

Buffy sighed. This was going to be so much harder than she had hoped.

"Giles, guys. I know you feel disappointed in me that I just took off but it was for a reason. I hoped you could trust me to do what I needed to do." Buffy's words were delivered in a tone somewhere between pleading and exasperation.

"As your Watcher, Buffy, you should have …" Giles began.

"No, Giles!" Buffy interrupted with more force than she intended. "You are not my Watcher anymore," then softening, "but I do value your help and support, really I do."

The expression on Giles' face showed Buffy that he was not mollified, but he inclined his head a fraction to permit her to continue.

"First, Dawn," she turned to her sister, "You don't have to worry about Glory anymore. She's gone and she won't be back!"

Another gabble of voices started but Buffy ignored then as she looked deep into her sister's eyes to impress on her the truth of what she was saying.

When the others realised she would only explain at her own pace they gradually became quiet, looking at her with disbelief, she noted with a certain amount of bitterness.

When all was quiet, Buffy continued, "Spike found a way to defeat Glory. He sent her to another dimension that she cannot escape from. She's gone, and we have Spike to thank for it." The silence around her continued.

Then Xander asked, "So Buff, what did you get Spike to do? How did you get him to help you?"

"I didn't," she said flatly. "Spike worked it out, without any help from me. Then he got the things he would need to make his plan work. He went back to see Glory, put himself in harm's way, to convince her to come to the cemetery where he had laid a trap for her. I only helped with capturing and later killing a demon that had been pulled into this dimension by Glory in her efforts to return home. Thanks to Spike she is now residing in that same demon dimension."

Blank faces surrounded her and she was beginning to lose her patience, never a quality she possessed in abundance at the best of times, and just now she was tired and anxious to be somewhere else.

"Look people," Buffy snapped, "This is all down to Spike, not me. He walked into Glory's camp, the place where he had been tortured unmercilessly; where he nearly died. But he went back there to help Dawn, to help us."

"And since we are talking of Spike," she groaned inwardly but decided it was now or never, "He will always be welcome in this house from now on. WELCOME," she stressed, "Not just tolerated. And I expect my friends to be at least civil to him if they can't be sociable."

Yet another babble of voices drowned out her thoughts as she felt her shoulders sagging under the weight of her friend's regard for her.

Giles' voice again cut through the cacophony, "Buffy, I know things are hard for you. Clearly you have had a, er, difficult time recently, and I realise that you have a certain partiality for enigmatic vampires but I really think that…"

"NO, Giles!" Buffy barked at him in her anger, straightening up and assuming 'the pose', "Don't you bloody dare!" Buffy smiled to herself at her use of a Spike-ism. "Don't you presume to judge my actions like that. Not until you have fought from my side of the barricades Buster!

"Not until you know what its like to be dragged from your childhood to be told that you have to kill things to save the world, that no-one will ever know or thank you for it. Not until you have been told you will never have a normal life; that you will never have a normal relationship; that you will never been able to raise children; that you are unlikely to live much into adulthood. Unless you have faced that as a teenager, then don't you DARE tell me you know things are difficult for me.

"And don't dismiss the debt we all owe Spike like that. You don't know him. You haven't wanted to know him because you have been happy with your two-dimensional view of the world. To you, to all of you, all vampires are bad and you can't see past that.

"Well, I'm sorry to have to destroy your narrow-minded sense of order, but actually there are quite a few ensouled humans who fall into the 'bad' category, without the excuse of having been made demon through no fault of their own. And by contrast, some vampires get to wear the white hats; Spike is one of them. You saw how badly he had been tortured by Glory, Giles. And yet he didn't reveal Dawn's identity and he put himself back in the lion's den to save her. To help me. I won't have you treat him as anything less than the hero he is!"

Buffy looked around the gathered Scoobies, seeing mostly shock and confusion written across their faces. Willow's expression was couched in concern and Anya looked irritated, probably because the meeting looked like it could drag on for a good while more, preventing her from earning money. Dawn, however, had a big grin on her face, and Buffy knew it wasn't there just because she was now safe from Glory's clutches.

"Okay," Buffy exhaled loudly. "I'm going now. You can all talk about me when I'm gone, but you need to know that I am through letting you all make decisions for me. I'm through letting what you think of me get in the way of what I want to do … or who I want to be with. I love you all, but I think I do enough for all of you, for this world, without having to worry what you think of me. And I think I've given up enough not to be begrudged a little happiness either."

Bending slightly to kiss Dawn on the top of her head, Buffy whispered to her, "You know where I'll be if you need me," and then she disappeared out of the back door.

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Spike woke with a start when he heard the crypt door open and close softly. He was still sprawled in the easy chair, having dozed off the instant Buffy had left to go home.

Recognising Buffy's scent, he muttered, "You're back."

"Yeah," she said softly. "You would have been sooo proud of me; I said 'bloody' to Giles!"

Spike turned to look at her raising his scared eyebrow. "That's my girl!" he said smugly.

There was a beat of silence. Then:

"I'd like to be," Buffy murmured, "if that's okay with you, that is."

Spike stood up abruptly. "Sorry, luv?" he queried.

"I said; I'd like to be your girl, if you're okay with that?" Buffy looked down at her feet as she felt her face and neck get suddenly very warm.

Spike couldn't quite believe what was happening. In front of him was this gorgeous, strong, intelligent, powerful woman, and she was blushing because of him. She had never looked more beautiful to him than she did at that moment. But part of him, the William the Bloody Awful Poet part, thought he might still be dozing and this was just a trick of his subconscious while he dreamed.

He stepped closer to her and took her hand in his to convince himself that he wasn't dreaming, "I'd like that very much."

Buffy looked up and beamed at him.

Spike led her to the chair where he sat, pulling her onto his lap and wrapping his arms around her gratefully.

They made out like teenagers.

Then, later they headed to the bed in the lower chamber to make out like adults, as the couple they would be until the end of their existence.

Fin