A/N: Chapter seventy nine of the series. I have received encouraging emails and reviews regarding the length of this story. I want to thank you all again. We're approaching the end, so I guess we won't be reaching the 100th chapter mark. I hope.

Disclaimer: All belongs to Joss Whedon and the parties involved in airing the shows.

Feedback: Sure, as you wish.

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Somewhere in London, England

December 2017

Dawn heard the words and felt a mixture of sadness and anger swell inside of her.

Darla, an awful vampire had turned into an angel. Angelus, the sickest bastard she'd ever met married her sister and brought up a beautiful daughter. Drusilla was still undead, roaming the planet without supervision, and it turned out she burnt Spike because she loved him.

That was decidedly not fair.

"In a nutshell, I hurt him because I love him." Dawn said. Darla nodded and no one else dared to look into her eye.

"It's part of his trials." Darla said. "You are his final test."

"What?" Buffy asked. "What has Dawn got to do with this?"

"You must already know about a thing called karma, Buffy." Darla said. "We all face trials regarding our sins. Yours and Angel's was arrogance, and now you're paying for it. I am still paying for mine. Spike's greatest asset and greatest weakness was love. There are very few beings who actually loved him."

"Dawn." Buffy said, desperately wanting to say her own name, but the proof had appeared moments before. Her touch didn't hurt Spike.

"I would have to say Drusilla." The slayer continued.

"She's damned as well." Darla shook her head. "She's not, well, as pure as this girl here."

Dawn blushed.

"She loves him." Darla continued. "His mother once loved him, and that ended horribly. Drusilla loves him but she's a damned creature. The other one is an angel as well."

"Who?" Dawn asked.

"Your mother."

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Spike groaned as he opened his eyes and he was once again in the middle of the destroyed city.

He looked around and figured very few little time had gone by since his last demise, and he rationalized his job there still wasn't finished. Rubbing his tired eyes, he flinched when his hand hurt. He immediately checked it and found a hand shaped burn in it.

Frowning, he remembered how he had died last time, and his mind quickly tried to provide an answer as to why Dawn's touch had burnt him. Earlier in the battle, they had touched and she had hurt him as well, but there had been no lasting effects.

He kept staring at the red mark on his hand and his mind once again flashed back to those small moments he had tried to kept in his mind. He closed his eyes and a very young Dawn appeared on his mind's eye, smiling at him.

"I don't like it any more than you do."

The female's voice startled Spike and he quickly spun around, his eyes yellow by the time he'd opened them.

The blue returned as Spike recognized the woman standing in front of him.

"It's been a long time, Joyce."

"Far too long, Spike." Joyce replied. "I see you've met my daughter here."

"A rather painful meeting, yes." The vampire nodded. "I didn't know she could do that."

"You've done a good job." The angel said. "You've been a faithful servant for the Powers."

"More like a sodding lapdog, but here I am."

"Five thousand years, Spike." Joyce said. "I'd say you've done your time."

"That's a long time." Spike whistled. "So this is it? I've done my job and back to my hellish cage?"

"More choices will come your way." The light being corrected. "I don't know what will happen, but you will have a choice. You'll get a second chance."

"A second chance at what?" Spike honestly asked. "You've kept me sane, Joyce, but I don't know what else to do. I'm your assassin. You order, I obey. We've been doing this for ever."

"I know, and I don't like this any more than you do, but I have to tell you the truth." Joyce sighed. "I was the one who chose you for this job. I was the one who spoke of you to the Order. I am the one to blame for your continuous punishment."

"Well, if I had to choose from that hell to this hell? I'd pick this one every day of the week." Spike chuckled.

"I'm sorry, Spike, I really am."

"No sweat." Spike shrugged. "Now, care to tell me why I have this burn in my hand?"

Joyce didn't reply. She merely walked closer to the vampire and carefully touched his leather clad shoulder.

Smoke immediately appeared and Spike growled before jumping away.
"What the hell was that!" He exclaimed.

"More things you have to be careful about." Joyce replied. "You can't let Dawn touch you."

"Seems I should be more careful about you."

"In all this time, I had not touched you because I know what that does to you." Joyce admitted. "Now that I have your attention, I think we can talk about a way to end this conflict once and for all."

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Buffy remained in silence as those around her discussed what was happening and what could they do. She heard Dawn retelling her idea to Wesley and saw the man's surprise when he heard the idea was originally Spike's. She saw Darla standing in the middle and wondered what had she done to deserve becoming and angel.

She was being unfair, she knew that much, maybe Darla had been subject to the same type of torture Spike had been. Time moved all too differently in the multiverse.

She tried to convince herself and her body that she was trying to find a way to end the war, but the truth was she was trying not to think about what had happened.

She didn't burn Spike.

She didn't burn Spike.

That meant she had never loved him. That meant she had lied to herself, to her mind and soul. She had lied to everyone else.

But if that was the case, what was the point in them giving Annie to her? What was the purpose of allowing a daughter of them to exist?

Buffy felt dirty. Annie was born because Spike had loved her too much. Annie was indeed his reward, his redemption. Buffy had thought Annie was the mixture of all that was good in the two of them, but now she realized she was only the good in Spike.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She whispered. "Why did you let me find out this way?"

The slayer looked at her hands and thought of herself as only a person of mass destruction. She had used her hands and mouth to destroy, and she knew she hadn't only hurt Spike. She had been too careless with her power, too careless with her feelings, too narrow minded to see beyond her own nose.

She looked at the unconscious creature on the floor, and wondered how she could have been so blind. She stared at Angel's face and realized she had never known him. He was as weak as she was, that much she knew. They were not heroes. They had been given power, and when you give power to the weak, they were the result.

She had screwed up big time, but maybe it wasn't too late.

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"Talk about anti climatic." Spike muttered.

"You could be the only one who could convince her." Joyce said. "I've already told her about this possibility. Seems to me you don't want to kill any of them."

"I may not want to." Spike clicked his tongue. "But that doesn't mean I won't. I have done it far too many times."

"But will you kill your daughter?"

"You knew about that?" Spike narrowed his eyes. "Well, of course you did, but you could have told me."

"There was no point to it." Joyce shook her head. "You had a job to do. I couldn't distract you from it."

"And what do you call what you're doing now?"

"I'm giving you a choice." Joyce clarified. "A chance. Like you did."

"I did what?"

"The chance you gave your daughter. You told her how to survive."

Spike frowned.

"Don't think the nibelung thing escaped us." Joyce smiled. "You didn't want that girl to die."

"I don't want her to." Spike nodded. "But that's not how you play. That's not how your superiors play. If they give the order, I would have to tear this planet apart. You've ordered it before. I've done it before."

"There are more options here." Joyce said. "I'm giving you one. You have already walked this path, Spike. It's up to you if you want to take what I'm offering."

"Let's say I agree. What about her?"

"That's up to you as well."

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Buffy was still chastising herself when a soft light appeared in the distance. Unlike the other times when the angels had appeared in the middle of blinding flashes, this time the creature transported gave off a minimum amount of light.

Carefully checking around, Buffy saw no one else had noticed except Annie, who was curiously staring at her mother.

Buffy nodded and both she and her daughter quietly walked towards the lone figure standing.

As they approached, Buffy's stomach jumped when she recognized Spike's features. She wondered if the light was a side effect of every time he was brought back.

"Slayer." Spike greeted. "Sweet pea."

"Hi Spike." Buffy softly said. Annie's head gave a little nod which was returned by Spike.

"We need to talk." Spike said. "Uh, alone."

"I don't want any more lies between us." Buffy said. "Annie stays. She needs to hear this."

"You don't know what I'm going to talk about."

"Let me talk first, then." Buffy said. "There's so much left unsaid between you and me, Spike. So much."

"I'm listening."

"There's no easy way to say this." Buffy fidgeted. "But I guess it has to be said. I never loved you, Spike. I'm sorry."

"That much I knew." Spike nodded. "I don't remember it all but I remember pain every time I think of you."

"I thought I did." Buffy continued. "I thought there was some part of me that could love you, after what you did for me..."

"What was it?" Spike asked, his curiosity clawing at him. "What did I do?"

"You gave your life for me." Buffy replied. "You gave your everything for me because you loved me, and I was too stupid not to see it."

"That's what I did?" Spike seemed surprised.

"You traded your life for another. You gave your life so Angel could be human."

"What?" Spike almost shrieked. "I did what?"

"You loved me so much, Spike, in your own way." Buffy continued. "You believed I couldn't love you, and now I know you were right, so you tried to make me happy the only way you could. You gave me Angel."

"I did that? Was I brain damaged or what?"

"No, Spike. I was the one who destroyed you." Buffy sighed. "Looking back at it, I had killed you before you turned to dust. I had destroyed you, and forced you to give up."

"I gave up?" Spike was thoroughly shocked. "Guess that explains why I went to hell. I was a coward."

"You were everything for me, Spike." Buffy said. "You where everywhere I needed you to be. But I was selfish and hard. I never did let go of a love that had hurt me so bad. I did to you what Angel had done to me. I took your love for granted and never gave myself a chance to grow up and try to be happy."

"Why are you telling me this?" Spike softly asked. "You want me to kill you? Or are you trying to rationalize what happened?"

"I want to understand why I was blessed with your child if I was so cruel to you." Buffy relied, her voice as soft as Spike's. Annie looked away as her doubts were cleared by her mother's words.

"Look at him, Annie." Buffy said. "He is your father."

"Don't tell her that." Spike felt sick. "The girl loves Angelus as much as you do. From what you're telling me, he's the only one you'll ever love. Seems he's the one she'll always love as a father."

"She may love him always, but she deserves to know why she was born." Buffy continued. "She deserves to know she is the product of your love. You need her to know."

"I don't..."

"I didn't mean it like that." She interrupted. "You deserve it. She has to know."

"What about her?" Spike asked. "Did she deserve to find out like this?"

"Maybe not." Buffy replied. "Probably not. But we may not have a tomorrow, do we?"

"Actually, that depends on you." Spike said. "Your mother gave me an interesting idea."

"What is it?"

"Take their power away. Now." Spike revealed. "I'm all right with that. Choose one slayer and give her the power. Make it as it was."

Buffy looked at her daughter and realized she didn't have a choice.

"I could have stopped this." She said. "I could have prevented this war."

"This war was unavoidable." Spike corrected. "Something good will come from it."

"Look around, Spike. Look at this destruction." Buffy said. "What good could come from this?"

"It's all in how you see things, slayer."

"I only see destruction."

"I see a new beginning." The vampire countered. "You will understand when I'm gone."

"Gone?"

"If you remove the slayers from this plane, my job will be done." Spike said. "It's up to you."

"I keep thinking it's too easy." Buffy said. "And too stupid of me. All of this could have been avoided."

"Everything happens for a reason, slayer." Spike repeated. "You may not see it now, but you will get it."

"I don't see how."

"Can I have your word, then?" Spike asked. "No more slayers by tomorrow?"

"No more." Buffy said, her voice very small.

"Tomorrow noon." Spike nodded. "I will trust in you, slayer. You know that if you don't..."

"You'll come back, yes. I know. Don't worry. I won't let you down this time."

Spike sighed and leaned towards Buffy. She didn't know what to do when he caressed the side of her face with his knuckles.

"You have never let me down, slayer." He said, looking into her eyes. "I once loved you because of what you were. I loved everything about you. I would have followed you everywhere. If I gave my life for you I must have loved you very much."

"Loved?"

"You can't keep loving if it's not mutual." Spike said. "You can try. You can keep hope in your heart, but it will die sooner or later if it's not nourished. Love died before I did, slayer. Like I said, I have seen how important I am to you, luv. I mean exactly nothing to you, and I understand that. I get that now. I have seen too many sides of me obsessed and it's the saddest thing I've ever seen. I've killed versions of me who died claiming their love for you. I have killed countless versions of you, and your last words have always been the same."

"What?"

"I'm sorry, or Angel."

Buffy looked away.

"You have not lied to me, slayer, I know." He continued. "It's a rare thing, this dimension, but it seems you've taken the first step to stop lying to yourself."

Spike turned his eyes towards his daughter, and stared into blue eyes.

"And you, sweet pea, I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?"

"Because I won't get to know you." He began. "Because I did not get to see you grow. Because I didn't know you existed. Because maybe I will forget you when I go back to hell."

"You seem too sure of it." She sadly said.

"It's what I am. It's what I do."

"It doesn't seem fair." Annie replied. "I know you exist and now you're going away."

"Tough luck, bit." Spike said. "I will try not to forget you. I swear."

"I won't forget you." Annie countered. "I swear I won't."

Spike smiled and for an instant, all he wanted to do was hold his daughter. Instead, he sighed and took a good look at her, trying to burn her image in his mind, trying to tattoo her in him so he could remember something good had come out of his existence.

"Tomorrow noon, slayer." He repeated before turning around and walking away.

Buffy looked at him walk away and noticed a lone tear running down her face. She turned to her side and saw more tears coming out of her daughter's eyes.

Buffy wanted to hug her, but she knew the girl had to digest everything she'd just heard and she'd have to do it on her own terms.

Behind her, from the point Spike had disappeared, the slayer noticed how slowly the sun started to come out.

The endless night had ended, and she had work to do on the next day.