A/N: Hello???? To risk sounding like Andrew, hello there, gentle readers----could you please review??? (Don't think he ever quite said that, but whatever.)
Buffy looked up. Spike was there. "We need to talk," he told her.
She looked over to Faith. "Go ahead, B. We aren't getting anywhere here."
She stood up and followed Spike over to the lobby area. There weren't a lot of people over there, and it was getting kind of late. "What?" She crossed her arms and looked up at him impatiently.
"About what happened--the Niblet's spell," he began.
"I insulted you. I'm sorry. Can I go and sit down now? Or was there more?"
"There is," he carefully answered. "Look, Buffy, we haven't seen each other for a year, and I know that it's mostly my fault."
"Well.... Not really," she murmered. "I wasn't exactly looking....."
"Looking for someone that you saw burn up in a ghost town?" he finished for her.
"Yeah. And I moved on," she added, lifting her chin up.
"I know. Immortal, and..... All that," he finished for her again. "But..... Being without my soul...... Made me realize that I don't care."
"Don't care about what?"
"The Immortal--Dru--any of it. You didn't know, did you, Buffy, that while I was soulless, Angelus and my darling Sire tried to convince me to help them kill the Slayers?"
"No, I didn't. I knew what they did--I heard, later."
"Right. Well, the point was, I couldn't. And, Buffy, I started to realize that it doesn't matter. Not to me. I can have a soul, or lose it, or have a chip, or anything. But Buffy, I still love you."
"Without the soul, you're just a demon."
"I'm still a demon, love. Just conscience-filled. Doesn't it occur to you, pet, that with or without a soul, I could go off my rocker and try to kill every single one of you Scoobies at any given time? All those human killers, Buffy, have souls. And they all have the ability to love."
"Yeah, well, that's different."
"How?"
"They.... They're human."
"There's also good demons, Buffy. Clem wasn't a bad sort, and neither was green--one of Angel's buddies in L.A.," Spike clarified off her confused look.
"The point is, it doesn't matter if you have a soul or not. There's always some kind of a demon in you. You should know that."
"What're you trying to say?"
"I'm tryin' to tell you something, Buffy. I just--I can't say it. Look, with or without a soul, you're always the same. Sometimes you're rougher, and sometimes you mix up love with hate and pain. But you always know if you bother to think about it. Even Peaches went all hard and--and crabby, to say it in your words. And that was with a soul, abandoning his friends so that he could accept the darkness. This was a few years ago. He always goes out of his way to be the big hero, the big brooder, no matter what."
"If this is another anti-Angel rant, I really don't want to--"
"It's not. I worked with him for a year, and I can actually stand the great poof now. But he's alone with or without a soul, and he gets along that way. Sometimes he likes having his friends, sometimes he just doesn't care. But Buffy--you need it. The times you were alone, you got along, but--Buffy--"
"I know. I wound up a waitress under an assumed name.... And I wound up in someone else's house, all sulky."
"That's right. And Buffy, I need you. I love you, pet. Everytime in L.A., whenever something went down, I couldn't help wishing you were there to deal. Because you fight the good fight, Buffy. It's who you are, what you need. And it isn't the same without you. With or without my soul, I love you."
She looked at his eyes.
"You....."
Faith looked up from stirring her straw around in her drink. Buffy and Spike were at the door, making with the kisses. She pulled out her cell phone and called a number.
"Xander? Yeah, I win the pool. They're making out as I speak. Call me later. Say hey to the Dawn." She flipped it back shut.
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