A/N: Chapter eighty two of the series. Well, this is it. After one full story, one prologue, eighty two chapters and 254 pages, this is the end of an adventure that began years ago. I can't tell you how relaxing it is to finally get all of this off my head and how sad it is to finish it. I don't think I'll write any more fiction regarding the Buffyverse, as the show ended a long time ago and you have clearly seen how the focus of my stories shifted radically.

Thank you very much for keeping up. I can't tell you how satisfying it was to post a chapter and receive reviews, either good or bad. I will miss that, as it is some sort of rush I believe only those who are brave enough to post their ideas on paper (or the net) understand. Thank you for years of taking your time to read these stories and for writing a review or an email.

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

Buffy couldn't believe what she was hearing.

Dawn, her baby sister, was asking a vampire to let him join him in damnation. What was wrong with that girl?

"I'm sorry, what?" Spike asked, clearly as confused as Buffy was.

"I said I want to go with you." Dawn repeated.

Joyce sighed and the glow around her disappeared as she walked towards her daughter.

"Dawn, honey, you have no idea what you're asking." The angel said. "You can't go to where he's headed."

"Why not?" Dawn asked, crossing her arms. "I am a slayer, mom. I can take care of myself."

"It doesn't matter what you've become, dear." Joyce replied. "What he does. What he is. You wouldn't understand."

"What's not to understand?" Dawn asked. "I know what he is. I have always known what he is. There is proof of it. I can burn him if I touch him. So do you. I want to see how it ends."

Spike listened to the arguments mother and daughter spoke to each other and he frowned. He'd asked Joyce what had happened when Dawn had touched him and now he understood. Dawn and Joyce could hurt him because they were the only ones who had actually cared for him in his entire existence. Confusion soon turned into comprehension as he finally got what Joyce had meant.

Dawn was indeed his final test.

"Uh, Joyce?" He asked. The angel turned around and stared into Spike's eyes, her eyes sympathetic and understanding. "I got it."

"I knew you would." She said, a smile on her face. "Are you ready for your final test, Spike?"

'Final test?' Buffy thought, feeling something tighten on her stomach. 'What the hell is she talking about?'

"I think I am." Spike said, a smirk appearing on his face. "If I can handle one Summers woman, I think I'll be able to manage two."

'What!' Buffy's mind did a double take and she felt dizzy. She couldn't have heard what she thought she'd heard...

But Dawn's smile grew when she heard Spike's words.

"I sure wish I could hug you." She said as she stepped closer to him. "But I guess we'll have time to fix that, huh?"

"Seems time is all I've got." He smiled back.

Buffy wanted to say something, but she found she had no air to speak. She was seeing her sister walking away with the father of her child and she found herself unable to say a word.

Still, it would be unfair if she objected. Dawn had always felt her place was somewhere else, and maybe it was the truth. Maybe if someone could save Spike, it definitely was her sister.

"I want to go too."

Now Buffy felt all the blood from her body drained. She turned almost in slow motion and saw her daughter standing next to her, a decided look on her eyes.

"What..?" Buffy gasped, staring at her daughter. Annie looked at her mother and Buffy flinched when he saw a very familiar spark in them.

"Sorry, mum." Annie softly said. "But I'm tired of lies. I'm confused and I feel like I don't even know you and dad anymore."

"Annie, honey." Buffy said, reaching out for her daughter's arm but Annie proved to be faster than her. "Annie!"

The three beings who were about to disappear stared at the running girl, and Spike moved forward to intercept her, when Joyce placed her hand in front of his chest.

"Wait." She softly said. "There are reasons for everything."

Spike watched the girl as she reached them and hugged Dawn. He looked behind and saw Buffy's mad dash towards them.

"Annie, this will be dangerous." Dawn said, caressing her niece's head. "You can't come with us."

"But I want to know." Annie replied. "I want to get to know the man who mum says is my father."

Dawn looked at her own mother and at Spike.

"I don't know, honey." Dawn said, her eyes then turning towards the slayer, who had stopped a few steps away from them. "Your mother needs you now. You know it."

"I know." Annie nodded. "But what about what I need?"

Dawn didn't know what to answer, so she only sought for an answer in Spike's eyes.

"You birds are crazy." He muttered. "I know there's something I have to learn from you," Spike pointed at Dawn, "but she? The little bit needs a mother. She needs guidance. Something I'm not sure we can provide."

"Please." Annie repeated. "I need to know."

"Annie." Buffy said, hoping the desperation in her voice wasn't too noticeable. "There's no need for you to..."

"But there is!" Annie exploded. "Don't you understand? Don't any of you get it? I've been living a lie, mum! As good as your intentions were, you lied to me! It seems you've lied to everyone, mum, including yourself!"

"Annie, you have no idea what I've gone through, you..."

"Yes! I don't know!" Annie interrupted. "Because you don't let me. I can't believe you never talked to me about the man who is my father! I can't believe you let everyone talk to him as if he was a murderer! He died for you, mum! He died for you! Don't you see what that means? Don't you see how that makes me feel?"

Buffy looked at her daughter and she had never felt so ashamed of herself in her life. The words of her mother came back to her at that moment.

'Your final test is still to come. A test you'll face not as the slayer, but as a woman.'

She understood. She finally understood.

"Let go, mum. I have to know."

Buffy felt too numb to move or say a word, and Annie seized the opportunity.

"Make it happen." Spike said, not understanding what was happening but guessing it was all part of a higher plan. Joyce nodded and a soft glow appeared over the three beings who would go on to another reality.

Buffy stared at the glow as it shone brighter and brighter, until the three figures disappeared from sight. Buffy wanted to cry, to shout, to fall down on her knees and stay in that spot until the three most important persons in her life reappeared. She hoped she would get a chance to fix things. She hoped she'd have the time to talk to her daughter and help her understand what had happened.

Instead, she was left alone in the middle of a destroyed city, carrying a shattered heart and feeling more alone than ever.

"Buffy."

The slayer heard her name but she didn't want to acknowledge her mother. She felt too tired and too sad to react and listen to her mother.

"Buffy, look at me."

Buffy closed his eyes. She didn't want to hear a thing, see a thing, even move or breathe.

"Honey, sit down and look at me." Joyce repeated. "I'm still your mother, dear. Listen to me."

"How could you do it?" The slayer asked. "Why did you do it?"

"I told you before, honey. Karma."

"I don't care about karma!" Buffy shouted as she turned around and stood up. "I don't care about it! I just want my baby back!"

"Buffy Anne Summers, listen to me." Joyce said, her voice commanding obedience. "You have to understand what happened here. Shut up and listen."
Buffy didn't want to listen.

"Why?" She sobbed. "Why was she born to me? If I didn't love him, why did you give me his daughter?"

"It wasn't meant to be a punishment to you, dear." Joyce replied. "Or a reward to Angel. You have to understand first what you did, honey. I already told you about how you sinned, Buffy, and that soon you'd have to face another test."

"I'm tired of tests." Buffy softly said.

"Annie was given to you so you'd love a part of him without question and without doubt, honey. That is his redemption. The only thing he ever truly wanted was to be accepted and loved by you and your friends." Joyce said. "You denied him of that. You made fun of him and his love and your friends thought that was the way to act. The had been civil to him the summer you were gone, honey, until you returned and once again cast him in the role of the pariah. That is his redemption. All of you love Annie without reason, you only do. That was all that Spike wanted."

"And what about me?" Buffy asked. "What about what I feel? Have I not done enough for the Powers? Have I not done your work without question? Have I not even given my life for the greater good?"

"Buffy, stop it. Spike has lived alone for thousands of years." Joyce said. "Annie won't be gone for long. I guess you can let the girl be with her father for some time."

Buffy felt as if her mother had slapped her. She felt embarrassed and angry at the same time.

"They will come back." Joyce continued. "Dawn and Annie have questions and they need answers. Maybe they will find them with Spike. Maybe they will find them on their own. But it's sure they'll come back. Spike will bring them back."

"Spike believes he's still in hell." Buffy sniffed. "He's not even sane enough to take care of himself."

"Things will work out, honey." Joyce softly said. "And don't worry about Spike. He'll soon become a champion. His work and sacrifice has not been ignored."

"Dawn loves Spike." Buffy said, voicing more concerns. "Spike loves her as well. Will they...?"

"That's up to them to discover, honey." Joyce replied. "They deserve a chance to be happy, don't you think?"

Buffy closed her eyes and let the tears fall freely. She wondered if that was how Spike felt when he died and went to hell.

She sure hoped it hadn't been anything similar.

"Maybe someday you will be together, honey." Joyce said. "After you understand. Until you accept the shades of gray in this world."

Buffy remained in silence but she looked at her mother. A slow smile appeared on her face as she began to look forward into the future. She knew someday her family would return.

"I have to go now, honey." Joyce said. "Should you ever need me, just call my name."

Buffy nodded and let herself go as her mother hugged her. She pretended she was a teenager again and she was safe in her mother's arms, in her home in L.A. when nothing supernatural had entered her life.

"Goodbye, honey." Joyce said. Buffy stared into her mother's eyes and nodded.

"Goodbye, mom."

The angel disappeared in the middle of heavenly light and Buffy was left alone in the ruins of her city. The slayer looked up and remembered what Spike had told her, that this was merely a new beginning.

She smiled even through her pain and figured she still had the rest of her life to make up for past mistakes.

A/N: And so it ends. The title for this chapter comes from the song with the same name by Peter Gabriel. As with other chapter's titles, download the song if you can and listen to it, as it inspires the chapter.

Once again, I can not thank you enough for reading this. I sometimes check the Stats page in and I saw over 5,000 hits. I'm not sure what that means but I guess it's because it was visited over 5,000 times.

That's just amazing.

Like I said, I don't think I'll post any more stories, so I want to reaffirm what I've been saying all along.

Thank you very much, to all of you who hung around and read this from page 1 to here.

Oh, and as usual, there's an epilogue.

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