My Last Breath
Chapter 1: Delivery
Summary: After Buffy hears from Andrew that Spike is alive she is has come to Wolfram and Hart to sort out some things. However, she doesn't know that she is getting in the way of prophecy that wasn't meant for her.
Rome
Nighttime…
Buffy hung up the phone. Her hand was trembling so much that she almost let the phone slip out of her fingers and fall onto the floor. She didn't know what to do, to feel, or to act. The Slayer just had to admit to herself that Andrew just changed her life forever with one single phone call. Hearing from the little comic book nerd with a burst of energy that Spike…her Spike was alive and kicking in L.A for a while seemed to like a miracle sent from above.
The sound of the front door opening and closing was the only thing that could break Buffy from her sudden shock.
"Buffy…hey." Dawn said as she sat her keys down on the coffee table and join her sister in the living room of their apartment.
Dawn was all dressed up and her hair was curly. Her new style made her look so much older than she was in Sunnydale—a bit more mature.
"Hey." Buffy said softly.
Dawn noticed her sister's glossy eyes and pale expression immediately and it caused her heart to race a little bit in fright.
"What's wrong?" Dawn asked instantly. From the past experience Dawn knew with her luck there was always something bad venturing around the corner. People that she loved died, went evil, or got hurt all the time, but every time it happened it didn't cause the hurt to be any less.
"Uhh…nothing." Buffy said and got up off the couch and stood.
"You're lying…what is it?" Dawn demanded.
"Andrew called." Buffy said. Dawn gave her a look to go on further with her explanation, "He…he told me…"
"What?"
Buffy looked up at Dawn—wanting to see her sisters face expression when she told her, "He said Spike…Spike was alive."
"What?" Dawn squealed and the tone of her voice read 'outrage', "That's cruel…how-why would he say that?"
"Because he saw him." Buffy said.
Dawn just stood there, taking everything in. 'He's alive?' Dawn thought to herself as her anger face melted away. 'So I guess everyone I know never dies.'
"He saw him?" Dawn whispered in disbelieve.
"Yeah…and I don't know what to do." Buffy sat back on the couch.
"What to do? Buffy, you're not going to go see him?" Dawn walked further into the apartment, in front of the couch to face Buffy.
"I don't know! Andrew told me…he told me Spike didn't want me to know he was alive." Buffy said, "That he wanted it to be a secret."
"Why would Spike want that? He loves you and you told him you loved him." Dawn said as she placed her hands on her hips.
"I did…but look, I know I told you that when we down in the Hellmouth I told him I loved him but I left out one detail." Buffy took a little deep breath, "He said I didn't love him."
"WHAT?!" her voice went back to outraged in an instant once again. "What is it with you guys? First Spike wants you to love him and you don't and then when you start to love him he doesn't want your love…you guys are really messed up." Dawn said.
"Tell me about it. Things with Spike has always been complicated…even more complicated than Angel and Riley combined." Buffy admitted,
"Seriously you guys have so much drama that you can have your own movie or soap opera." Dawn mumbled and looked off to the side.
Buffy laughed, "Yeah…but who would watch that?"
Later that night Dawn was off in bed while Buffy was looking out the window that overlooked the small streets of Rome. Sleep didn't seem as important to her as she had a million little thoughts of a certain bleached blonde who was only a phone call away. Her thoughts of everything that happened for the past several years lingered in her head from the first time she meet him in the alley to her final moments with him.
She thought it was funny how after seven years of battling evil, going out every night and dealing with demons, she was now standing inside an Italian apartment in the middle of the night worrying about only one vampire. If Buffy wanted to she could shut the door to the world she lived in…the world she so desperately when she was sixteen years old wanted to leave. She has money, she has a job, and she has everything she dreamed about in the palm of her hand…but she still wasn't satisfied.
The next morning Dawn walked into the living room in her pajamas to see a suitcase sitting on the couch. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes for a moment to make sure her mind wasn't playing tricks on her. And when Dawn was wide awake and still saw the suitcase laid out she called Buffy's name.
"Buffy!" Dawn shouted.
"Yeah?" Buffy's voice asked from another room in the apartment and then she walked out from the bathroom with a bag full of shampoo, soap, and toothpaste. She had all the bare essentials of a person going on a week long trip.
"We going somewhere?" Dawn asked the obvious.
"Uhh…yeah…" Buffy said and put the bag in the suitcase, "I'm going to L.A."
"Just you?" Dawn asked.
"You got school and everything. This trip should really be me visiting…" Buffy told Dawn as she threw her toiletries loosely in her suitcase, "Andrew will be here in a few hours too…he's going to stay with you while I'm gone."
"ANDREW!" Dawn yelled in disguise.
"Please Dawn." Buffy begged, "Please…I got to do this. Just…just try and get along."
"But he's such a dork…he thinks he's so cool now that Giles gave him a coat with pockets where he can hide guns and candy bars." Dawn said and put her hands on her hips.
"Candy bars?" Buffy looked up at Dawn.
Dawn nodded and rolled her eyes.
"So is this more of I'm going yell at Spike for not calling you trip or a yell at Angel for being so evil and not letting you know Spike came back?" Dawn asked with a yawn and sat down on the couch.
Buffy thought about it for a moment, "I don't know…bit of both."
Dawn laughed, "You going to get into a fight with them and make them feel the guilt in there little souls?"
"Oh course! It's the highlight of the trip!" Buffy said as she zipped up the suitcase.
L.A
Wolfram and Hart…
Science lab at Night…
Knox was working alone late when he heard someone come down on the elevator just outside lab. And after a moment two men came in rolling in a big sandstone sarcophagus covered with five crystals, and a circular iris. Knox looks a little surprised by the delivery.
"Uhh…what's this?" Knox asked.
"Delivery." One of the men said.
"Ancient Relics is two floors down." Knox laughed nervously.
"Was addressed here to go to a Ms. Winfred Burkle." The man read off his clipboard and both of the guys turned to leave.
"Wait…wait don't I need to sign something?" Knox called out after the deliverymen.
"Already been taken care of." The man said without looking back.