…In Darkest Night, Chapter 6

Sunnydale, CA

Spike grinned warmly at Buffy from under his green mask. "Miss me, pet?" he asked fondly.

Buffy took two steps forward and punched Spike in the jaw for all she was worth, sending him flying. Spike landed in a heap next to Dawn's feet.

"Mating ritual?" Ch'p asked, clearly amused.

"Something like that," Spike muttered.

Dawn blinked a few times to make sure she saw what she saw. "Hey cool, now I'm hallucinating that Spike is back," she giggled on the edge of hysterics.

"Not now, Dawn," Buffy said as she stalked towards the downed vampire. Spike rolled to his feet and held up his hands defensively.

"Look, Buffy, before you hit me again, can we talk about things," Spike pleaded.

Buffy ignored his plea and slapped him across the face. She started banging on his chest furiously. "I thought you were dead," she yelled. She kept hitting him on the chest until she tired and collapsed into his arms. By the tender way Spike held her, Buffy knew that her vision had been right; Spike had his soul back. "I thought you were dead," she whispered.

Spike stroked her hair and then smirked at Buffy. "Have been for over a 120 years, love," he said. A second later he caught her meaning. "Ohhh, you mean for good. Why would you think that?" he asked.

Buffy cocked her head to the side and pushed Spike away. "Let me see. You disappear and don't contact me for six months and when Willow did a locating spell, she couldn't find any trace of you on the planet," she explained.

"I can explain," Spike started to say and then leaned to the side slightly to look at Faith and Diana. "But are you sure you want me to with strangers present?" he asked.

Buffy turned around and pointed at Faith. "That's Faith. She's the other Slayer and the tall one is Diana. She's an Amazon Princess," Buffy told Spike. "Now they're not strangers," she insisted.

Spike waved at the other women. "Hi, I'm Spike," he said in greeting.

"Yeah, I know," Faith said with a hint of humor. "We met when I was wearing B's bod," she told him.

"Eeew, can we please not talk about that ever again," Buffy asked.

"You never mentioned that he could fly," Diana observed.

Buffy spun around and looked closely at Spike. "Start with the 'splainy…now!" she demanded.

Spike absent mindedly twisted his power ring. "Yeah…about that," he said hesitantly. "You see, I've been off planet for the last six months in training," Spike tried to explain.

"That would explain why Willow was unable to locate him. Her spell most likely only covered the planet," Diana pointed out.

Buffy scrunched up her face. "Off planet? Training? What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Spike has been in training to become one of the Green Lanterns," Buffy heard from down by Dawn's side. A squirrel wearing a similar costume to Spike's floated up so she could see him. "He's the Green Lantern assigned to your sector," Ch'p said. "Since the bleach he uses on his hair has probably soaked in too far and made my buddy forgetful, I guess I'll introduce myself. My name's Ch'p," he said.

"Buffy, just so we can clear things up," Dawn said. "Do you see a talking squirrel and Spike, too?" she asked hopefully. Dawn was afraid her sanity was slipping.

Buffy had been through one too many shocks that evening. "Floaty squirrel talking," was all she was able to get out.

"If it matters, I also see a levitating squirrel and someone who matches the description you gave me about Spike earlier," Diana told Dawn.

"Oh good," Dawn replied. She used the trash bin nearby to help herself up. Dawn walked over to Spike and kicked him in the shin.

"Owe," the vampire yelped.

"I'm mad at you, Spike," Dawn said unnecessarily. She then wrapped her arms around her vampire protector and gave him a huge hug.

"Missed you too, Niblet," Spike said lovingly.

Faith had dusted herself off and she and Diana walked over to the reunion. "I gotta ask," Faith said. "What's up with the whole mask and costume thing?" she asked.

"Like Ch'p said, I'm a Green Lantern now," Spike said.

"Is that some sort of biker gang with a weird fetish?" Faith asked.

Ch'p giggled at the translation his ring provided. "No, we're not bikers," he chuckled. "Probably the easiest way to describe the Green Lantern Corps is to say that we're interstellar law enforcement officers," Ch'p said.

Buffy guffawed. "Spike's a cop?" she asked. "Sorry, Dawn, I think we're all hallucinating," Buffy said sarcastically. She looked up at Spike and saw the hurt look in his face. "I'll let you try to convince me back at my house," she told him.

Spike surrounded Buffy and Dawn with a green glow. The three of them lifted off the ground. "Return your tray tables to their upright positions," Spike joked.

Ch'p's ring surrounded Faith in a similar green glow. When he turned his attention to Diana, she smiled and shook her head. "No thank you," she said and then rose into the air by herself. Diana flew past Spike on her way back to the Summers house.

Spike, who didn't notice the shocked looks coming from the girls, said, "You forget to mention that she could fly."

Summers House

Willow was looking out the front window, waiting for to see if Buffy, Faith, Dawn, and Diana made it home safely. Her eyes grew huge as she watched Diana come in for a landing on the front door. The Amazon Princess was still dressed in her battle clothes. Willow rushed outside to greet Diana.

"Are you OK? Where are the others? You can fly?" Willow babbled.

Diana smiled at how cute Willow looked when she went on like that. "Yes…on their way here…and yes, I can fly," she said, answering all of Willow's questions. "Let's go inside and wait for Buffy," she said. "She has some interesting news she wants to share with everybody," Diana said.

Without thinking, Willow took Diana by the hand and led her into the house. Willow only became aware of holding Diana's hand once they were inside and she shut the door behind them. She looked down at their joined hands and blushed; but didn't move to let go. Diana smiled and also made no move to let go.

A green glow flashed outside and then subsided. The potentials that were in the living room ducked for cover. Willow felt Diana's hand tightened and she looked up to see the taller woman wink at her. Giles and Xander had heard the potentials drop to the ground and came running into the hallway.

The front door opened and Faith strolled in. "What's up?" she asked the potentials casually. She was followed inside by Dawn who had a large squirrel wearing a green mask and clothing riding on her shoulder. Giles took off his glasses and wiped them clean. When he put them back on, the squirrel was still there; looking around the room with intelligence not expected in rodents.

Buffy was next through the door. She turned her head and said formally, "You can come in." Buffy then carefully hung Spike's old coat on the banister.

"What…the…fuck?" Xander swore as he heard Buffy violate one of the strict rules they had learned the hard way. He did a double take as he recognized the blond man who entered the house.

"Spike?" Giles asked softly.

"Rupert," Spike said, acknowledging the Watcher.

Willow was reaching her hand out slowly to poke Spike like she had Diana, but was stopped by Buffy. "Don't worry, I hit him lots of times. Spike's real," Buffy told everyone.

"How did you hide from my tracking spell? Why did you hide from my tracking spell?" Willow asked in rapid fire mode.

Buffy shook her head. "Go ahead and tell everyone here what you told me. That way you don't have to keep repeating yourself," she told Spike. "Oh…and while you're at it, see if you can convince me about the whole cop thing," Buffy said.

"Awww, has poor little Spikey poo gotten mixed up with the cops again?" Xander asked, trying to get a rise out of Spike. Instead of the angry retort he was expecting, Spike just smiled at him. The anticipation in that smile made Xander's blood run cold.

"You could say that," Spike said to Xander. He looked around the room at the closest thing he had to friends on Earth. Spike took a deep breath (still a habit after 120 years) and explained what had happened to him during the past six months. "I went to Africa to get my soul back. I did this because I wanted to be worthy of Buffy," he said. "After I passed the trials, I got my soul back and realized that I had a lot of things to try and make amends over. I was on my way back to civilization when a space ship nearly crashed on top me," Spike explained.

Giles cocked his head to the side and squinted. "I'm sorry, did you just say 'space ship'?" he asked carefully.

Ch'p floated off of Dawn's shoulder. This caused a clamor from those who hadn't seen flying earlier. "Blondie locks almost got creamed by your past Green Lantern. Abin Sur was dying and asked his ring to find a suitable replacement," he told the crowd. "The ring searched your entire planet for the one person who was worthy to wear it. It chose the man who showed the most courage and had the strongest will to become Abin Sur's successor," Ch'p said. Xander scoffed, but Ch'p ignored him. "Spike was chosen and spent the last six months on the planet OA, training to be a Green Lantern," he explained. Ch'p's ring glowed and a movie screen appeared over the fireplace.

The green hued screen showed scenes of Spike's training and life on OA. The first segment was Spike crashing during his first flight. What followed after that were vignettes showing Spike's training and rise as one of the Corps most capable fighters. The final segment was his audience with the Guardians. Willow got goose bumps when she saw Spike raise his ring and take his oath in earnest. Diana smiled when she heard the wording of the oath. She herself and sworn something similar to her mothers and fathers when she took up the title of princess.

When the screen disappeared, Spike stepped into the middle of the room. "I am the Green Lantern for sector 2814," Spike said in an official tone. "I am tasked with keeping order in this part of the Universe. Earth is only one of the 36 planets I'm responsible for," he said. "Of course not all of them have life on them, but I'm supposed to check on them anyway just in case someone sets up shop where they aren't allowed," Spike added.

Xander walked up in front of Spike and started poking him in the chest. "What good is a 'cop' who can't fight back?" he asked, referring to the chip the Initiative implanted in Spike's brain.

Without warning Spike smashed his fist into Xander's face, sending the human sailing across the living room. "Oooh, that felt good," Spike said happily. He looked down at Xander, who was having trouble focusing. "Oops, forgot to mention the part where I got that removed," he said with a smile.

"Are you going to let him do that to me?" Xander asked Buffy while he rubbed his jaw.

Dawn answered in Buffy's place. "You had that one coming," she told Xander.

"I agree," Diana said. "Of course had you said those things to me, I would have broken both your legs," she said casually.

Ch'p decided to interrupt things before they got too out of hand. "Does anyone here have any nuts?" he asked politely.

Giles frowned for a moment. "I truly don't know how to answer that question," he said.

"Ch'p is talking about the kind you eat…or at least I think he is," Spike clarified.

Dawn motioned towards the kitchen. "I hid a can of mixed nuts behind the sink so the potentials wouldn't find them," she told Ch'p. Ch'p floated back to her shoulder and Dawn carried him into the kitchen.

Buffy looked at Spike and suddenly she felt stifled in the confines of the house. "I need to get some air," she said. Buffy brushed past Giles and the assembled potentials on her way to the back porch. Spike was about to follow her, but he was stopped by Willow talking to him.

"My spell didn't work because you weren't on Earth?" she asked, just to make sure she understood things. "And you have a soul now?" she added.

"Yeah, Red, I know it's hard to accept; believe me, I can barely wrap my head around it too," Spike replied. He walked over to Willow and put his hand over his non-beating heart. "I did terrible things without my soul. Things that I will never forgive myself for," Spike said. "Top of that list is what I did to Buffy," he said softly. "I don't expect forgiveness for that or anything else I've done. I just want a chance to make amends for them," Spike told her.

Willow thought about what he was saying. While they stood face to face, she sent out a tendril of herself to connect with Mother Earth. Willow's eyes widened when she felt a sense of pride radiating from Gaia towards the old vampire. She sent her confusion back through the link and was rewarded with an explanation. Spike was the first of her children to become a Green Lantern, a champion of the stars. The connection was severed before Willow could get lost in the vastness of Gaia's consciousness. She refocused her eyes and smiled at Spike. "Welcome back, Spike," Willow said.

"Thanks, Red," Spike replied. "But if you'll excuse me, I have to talk with Buffy," he said. Spike made his way through the living room and then into the kitchen. Ch'p was sitting on the kitchen island next to an open can of nuts. The little Green Lantern was munching away on a cashew and making appreciate noises when his mouth wasn't full. "Don't eat too many of those or you won't be able to fit into your uniform," Spike teased. Ch'p held up the middle of his three fingers on his left hand and continued eating. Spike chuckled and went out the back door of the house.

Spike found Buffy sitting on the porch steps, gazing into the night sky. Since they were in Southern California, very few stars could be seen. Buffy kept staring at the sky when she heard Spike join her. "At first, I was so angry at you over what you tried to do that I wanted to stake you," she told him. "Then I was given a Slayer dream that showed me what you did during the Demon Trials. I watched each of the tortures you went through. I heard what you chanted in order to stay focused," Buffy said.

"Look pet, that was just to stay sane," Spike told her. "I don't expect anything from you other than you letting me help when things get tough," he said. "I don't deserve any kindness from you," Spike whispered sadly. He thought he had said it softly enough that not even a Slayer could hear him, but Buffy's nodding head told him she had.

Buffy kept staring at the sky, when she came to a decision. As soon as she did, something clicked inside of her and she finally understood what love was. Buffy slowly stood up and turned around to face Spike. She finally understood. "Lose the mask," Buffy ordered. In a flash of green light, Spike changed out of his uniform. He stood before her in a pair of faded blue jeans and a tight black tee shirt. "You're right. For what you tried to do and for everything you did during the past 120 years, you don't deserve my forgiveness," she told him. Spike squared his shoulders, ready to face what he thought he deserved. Buffy watched him do this and stepped even closer to him. She reached out her right hand and placed her palm on his cheek. "You may not deserve it, but I forgive you anyway," Buffy said softly.

Spike blinked his eyes several times. He was having a hard time processing what she had said. "What? Why?" he tried to ask, but Buffy's finger on his lips quieted him.

"That's what you do for those you love," Buffy explained as she wrapped her arms around Spike and pulled him to her for a passionate kiss.