Chapter 18: Goodbyes

A/N: Well here's the conclusion! Hope you liked this story and read the sequel!
Characters belong to Whedon and Kripke, the song is In the Darkness by Christian Kane.

Mansion:

Angelus was standing by the fountain bare-chested, breathing frantically and scrubbing himself hard with the water.

"You might want to let up. They say when you've drawn blood, you've exfoliated." Spike told him, watching with his usual smirk.

"What do you know about it? I'm the one who was friggin' violated. You didn't have this thing in you." Angelus growled at him, walking from the fountain and passing Spike in disgust.

"What was it? A demon?" Dru asked.

"Love!" He grabbed a clean shirt and started to put it on.

"Poor Angel."

Angelus walked back, "Let's get outta here. I need a real vile kill before sunup to wipe this crap out of my system." He pulled on his jacket over his still-unbuttoned shirt. Drusilla came up to him and growled, he snarled back.

"Of course. We'll find you a nice toddler," she snarled. Angelus started up the stairs out of the garden, but Dru turned back to Spike.

"Want to come, pet?" She asked, and Angelus came back down. "No can do, Dru. I'm sure he'd be hell on wheels, but we don't have much time."

He turned to Spike, "Gotta travel light," he put his hands on Spike's shoulders saying, "Sorry. Try to have fun without me." He walked back up the stairs, and Drusilla made haste to follow. Spike watched them go with an angry look on his face and exhaled.

"Oh, I will," he said once they'd left. He took his foot from its footrest and put it on the ground. He slowly got up and stood tall, recovered from his weakness. He kicked his wheelchair angrily, and it spun away. He looked back up at the garden entryway. "Sooner than you think."

The next day:

Buffy walked past the principals' office in time to see Dean and Sam exiting, they saw her and stopped.

"Go get in the car Sam, we're in a hurry," Dean told his brother, who waved at Buffy and did as he was told. Dean fell into step with her as they headed outside to the waiting Impala.

"You're leaving?" She asked as she turned to face him. Sam had stopped to say good bye to Xander, Cordelia, Oz and Willow.

"Yeah, Dad has a case in Nevada, and needs our help. We just withdrew and everything." He answered, slipping his hand into hers.

Buffy nodded, and clasped his hand. He lifted it and pressed a light kiss to the back of her hand, and didn't let go. They stopped at where Sam was talking to the others, and Dean nodded at Xander, who returned the manly greeting. They shook hands with Dean's other hand, as he was unwilling to release Buffy's just yet.

Sam exchanged email addresses with Willow, and headed to the car after Dean gave him a stern look and a light-hearted swat on the back of the head, which earned himself one from Buffy. He frowned at her and resisted the urge to stick his tongue out childishly. He said his farewells to Willow and Cordelia, who just sniffed and walked away. He told Oz to look him up sometime if he needed car help again, and gave the other guy his number.

He and Buffy walked toward the Impala and he leaned his back against his door, slipping his arms loosely around her waist and pressing his lips to her forehead as she leaned into his chest, kissing it lightly.

"Is this because of last night?" She asked, hoping it wasn't. That he hadn't just said what she wanted to hear about the two of them.

"No Buffy," he answered, and she looked down, biting her lip. "A lot has happened here that I don't like, that's true, but..." he lifted her chin with his other hand to meet his eyes. "I told you we'd be back and I meant it."

"You don't have to, I understand-," she fought tears and he silenced her with a kiss, then kissing the lone tear that fell onto her cheek.

"Shut up, this case should take a week, maybe two. Then we'll turn around." He assured her, kissing her forehead again. "Call me okay? I want to make sure you're alright." She nodded and he kissed her again, holding her close. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too."

"See you soon." He dragged himself away and climbed in, turning on the ignition and putting the car into Drive.

"Where are we going now?" Sam asked as he waved at Buffy again.

"Nevada, now turn around and buckle up, last thing I need is to get pulled over." He answered a little gruffly.

"Jerk," Sam muttered, but complied. Dean was looking out the rear view mirror at Buffy, and for once he didn't respond. He didn't even hear the song playing on the radio, because if he had he would have changed it; instead he just let it play.

'I guess I oughta tell you what's been going on
well I've been chasing dreams for everyone but me.
When your heart is filled with misery
it's hard to find the energy
to remember just how much she means to me.

Well I keep everything inside so long till it burns
everybody stokes the fire and the walls get a little higher.
I light the candle at both ends
and I hit the gas, the wheels start to spin
but she's always there to catch me when I fall.

'Cause I've been hell on wheels for days now
there ain't a shade of red I can't paint
when the lights go down, she always helps me see.
In the darkness a day will come
another light for you to lean upon
but until then maybe your heart
can rest in mine.

I just can't get the hang of hanging on
every time I try to grab it, the will is gone.
When she looks into my eyes
she sees a man she used to recognize
and not the stranger trying to go it all alone.

Maybe someday I'll see exactly what she sees in me.
Maybe someday I'll be exactly who she wants me to be.
Maybe someday I'll have the strength to run into the man that I once was
but right now I think I'll walk into a crawl.'