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The Butterfly Effect	By : cousinjean Category: > Buffy/Spike(William) > Buffy/Spike(William) Views: 27635 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS), nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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The Butterfly Effect

by cousinjean

*

Chapter Twelve

***

"Well, you were right about Rayne," Spike said as he got back in the car. "Only knocked him around a tiny bit and he folded like a bad hand."

Buffy took the satchel from him and took out the cross. "Now available without knock-you-on-your-ass big shock action. Good." She stuck it back in the bag and set it by her feet. "And you didn't hurt Ethan too badly?"

"Nope. He'll live to wreak havoc another day."

"Less good. But necessary, I guess. And the book?"

"Here." He started to hand it to her.

"Whoa!" She threw her hands in the air. "I touch that thing now and I wind up a crater pancake."

"Oh. Right. I'll just hold on to it, then." He rested the book in his lap and sat staring at it, absently thumbing the page corners. "So, guess that's it. Mission accomplished and all that. You can go home now."

"Uh-huh. Or I can go someplace exotic and secluded and have a nice long vacation until it's time to come back here and keep you from dying. I hear Tahiti's nice."

He looked at her, eyebrow raised. "What're you talking about?"

"It came to me while you were with Ethan. I can change the future. If I stay here, in this year, I mean, and just wait out the next six years, then I can save you."

"Save me from saving you? Not to mention the rest of the world. How do you think you'll manage that?"

"I�" Buffy sighed. "I don't believe you had to die. You did enough damage, the Hellmouth still would've� anyway, it doesn't necessarily have to be you. I could do it, in your place."

"What, you mean dying to save me?" He shook his head. "No. I won't have you doing that."

"You died for me."

"That's my decision."

"And this is mine. Believe me, Spike, I've thought this through."

"What, in the ten minutes since I went inside?"

"Look, can we just go? We're not done until the cross is put back. Then we can fight about this."

He pursed his lips and looked straight ahead, then nodded. "Fine." He started the car and headed out of the parking lot. After a moment's deliberation, they pulled onto the highway.

"I thought you'd be happier about my idea," Buffy said after a few minutes of driving in silence.

"Happy about you getting yourself killed for my sake?"

"We don't know that it'll kill me. I mean, it was sunlight. It probably won't even hurt me."

"And the entire town coming down on top of you will be a mild bump on the noggin?"

"Maybe I can get out in time. Anyway, by then you won't even know the difference. Neither will I, or at least that version of me won't. And you and she-you and I will get to have a life together."

"Yeh. Until you have to go back in time and start the whole thing over again."

Buffy frowned. "I don't think it works like that. I mean, if I change the future� and even if I do, who says it'll happen the same way next time? I might make different decisions, and end up getting Giles's help like I was supposed to in the first place."

"Maybe� but then how would-""Oh! Or maybe I can make sure Mudge never steals the book to begin with!"

Spike squinted at her. "But then how would you come back here and hook up with me and come up with this cunning plan to save me?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I think that once it happens, it's done. I'd have to, like, come back and stop myself or something to change it. It'll be a� um, what's the word?"

"A paradox."

"Yeah. A one of those. Anyway, I've got six years to work out all the bugs."

"That's another thing. You're talking six years in isolation. That alone'll drive you bonkers. Not to mention that every time it gets close to something you wish you could change, you'll be tempted to run home and stop it happening."

"No. I mean, yeah, tempted. But I know I can't change everything. But you dying? That was close enough to the present that I don't think it'll cause a catastrophe." With a sigh, she looked out the window. "But I know it won't easy. Missing everybody, that'll be the worst part. Especially Dawn."

"Dawn?"

She looked back at him. "My sister. But she won't know the difference. Neither will anybody else. They won't get a chance to miss me."

"I'll know."

Buffy smiled. "No you won't. That's what you have the potion for."

Spike's mouth drew up in a slightly rueful smile. "Right. Sure."

"So the big questions we need to be asking are, where do I go and how do I get th-" She stopped as a sign caught her eye. The "Now leaving Sunnydale" sign. "Where are we going? Town's the other way."

They passed the sign, and Spike pulled off the road.

"What're you doing?" she asked. He just sat there a moment, then got out of the car. Buffy followed. "Spike?"

He walked a few paces back toward town, then stopped and turned to face her. "This is it, right? Crater ends back there at the city limits?"

"Yeah, but what's that got-"

"I love you."

His voice was so full of conviction that it scared her a little. She stared at him, trying to figure him out. "I love you too," she finally said.

He walked back over to her, head cocked, considering her. "And you'd really put yourself through all that for me?"

She nodded. God, did he still need convincing? "Yes. For you, for us. But first we have t-"

He kissed her, cutting her off. His arm fit around her waist so perfectly, so naturally. Her hands started out resting on his chest, but gradually found their way up to his face. She was growing lightheaded when they finally broke apart and he rested his forehead against hers. "Thanks for that," he said. "For thinking I'm worth all that."

She could only nod, still too swoony to form coherent speech.

He let go of her waist and cupped her face in his hand, and stood back to look at her. For a long time, they just gazed into each others eyes as his thumb stroked her cheek. Finally, he smiled. "But I've got a better plan." He took his hand away and stood back.

Buffy blinked, confused. "You� you do? What-"

"Catch." He pulled something out of his coat and tossed it at her. She caught it, and looked down at the book in her hands. When she looked up again, it was daylight, and the only thing in front of her was a giant crater.

Buffy's first thought was that they hadn't gone far enough. She must still be over the crater, because her whole world had just dropped out from under her and she was falling. But then her knees met pavement. She sat there, stunned.

"No."

"Buffy!" Willow called from somewhere nearby.

"Hey!" Dawn's voice. "Didja see that? She just popped to the other side of the highway. That was so cool."

"Are you okay?" asked Willow. They were coming over. "Did you have any trouble with Mudge?"

"Is that the same shirt you had on before?" asked Dawn.

"Buffy?" Willow reached down to take the book from her. "Is everything-?"

"Send me back."

"What?"

Buffy looked up at her. "Send me back. Please, Willow. I wasn't� I didn't mean to-""I'm sorry, Buffy, I can't." Willow shook her head. "The spell took a lot out of me, and I'd have to gather more ingredients and� and anyway, why would you want to? Everything's the same as it was� isn't it?"

Buffy looked out at the crater, and at the fence erected around it, at Xander's letter and Willow's stones on the ground beneath it. Nothing changed.

Nothing at all.

She thought she might be sick.

"Buffy? You're starting to scare-hey, what�?"

A sob tore its way out of her. She went limp, but Dawn caught her before she collapsed.

"Buffy, what's the matter?"

But she couldn't say. She couldn't speak at all, and even if she could, they wouldn't get it. All she could do was put her head on her sister's shoulder and grieve.

***

And just like that, she was gone.

Spike stared at the spot where she'd been only seconds before, as it sunk in what he'd done. He shouldn't have been so rash. They could have had a little more time� he could've held her a bit longer, kissed her once more� but it never would have been enough. And it was done. Couldn't change that now. Blinking back tears, he got back in the car. He still had work to do.

First, the cross. Returning it to Du Lac's tomb was easy enough. He wondered how long it would sit there before he and his boys thought to go looking for it. How long before it would bring him back into contact with Buffy. Not that it would matter to him by then.

He heard her laugh as he made his way out of the cemetery. The sound almost got his heart to beating. Then he rounded a corner and saw her, all wrapped up in Angel's arms. They kissed, and at that moment Spike couldn't take the potion soon enough.

Still had a few things more to attend to, though. Like showering, and laundering his clothes. Scrubbing her scent from his car. As he washed away all traces of her, he told himself it was all to make sure he'd be with her again. They would have their time together.

Plenty of it, too, if Rayne came through. As Spike drove to their rendezvous, he thought over their last meeting. "I'm more of a potions man," Rayne had said when Spike told him to remove the ward. Spike had almost let the comment go by unnoticed, not realizing what that could mean for him until he was almost out the door.

"You say you're a potions man?" he asked as he turned back.

Rayne nodded. "Why?"

Spike stalked over to him, slipping back into game face as he went. He grabbed Rayne by the front of his shirt and hauled him to his feet, then took the vial from his pocket and held it up. "Got one more thing you're gonna do for me."

Rayne had been compliant enough at the time. Spike supposed if he tried to change his mind, he could always make the tosser wish he was dead. Though he wasn't entirely convinced that killing the blighter would have a significant impact on history.

Still, he was relieved to walk into Willy's and see Rayne sitting at the bar. He took the stool next to him and ordered blood & bourbon.

"Got it?" he asked.

Rayne pulled the vial from his pocket and set it on the bar. "I hope this concludes our business."

"Depends. You made the change?"

"Exactly to your specifications. I do hope the Slayer appreciates the romance of the trigger you chose."

"Let me worry about the Slayer." Spike picked up the vial and inspected it. "So how will I know you got it right?"

"You won't. Not for another six years, at any rate. You're just going to have to have a little faith."

"Got plenty of faith that you're a lying, double-crossing bastard."

Rayne smirked. "And that faith is well placed. But ask yourself, mate, what would it profit me to double-cross you? I'm only glad to've seen the potion. That, my friend, is artistry, pure and simple. Whoever concocted it is a talented mystic indeed. Making the alteration you asked for was an enjoyable challenge. For a moment I almost feared I wouldn't be able to crack it." He smiled. "Almost."

"So if I take it now, will that shut you the hell up? Or do I have to go ahead and kill you anyway?"

Rayne laughed. "You could always simply not take it."

Spike sipped his drink, and swished it around in his mouth before swallowing. "Thought about it. But I promised her, didn't I? 'Sides� don't think I can go on, knowing what I know. What I lost."

"Suit yourself," said Rayne with a shrug as he lifted his beer to his mouth.

Spike sniffed. "Right, then." He uncorked the vial and held it up. "Here's to Buffy."

Rayne snorted. When Spike shot him a glare, he rolled his eyes. "Oh, what the hell." He held up his pint. "Cheers," he said, and chugged.

Spike brought the potion to his lips, but hesitated, letting his mind linger on their last kiss, the feel of her skin, her warmth. The way she'd loved him. And would again, someday.

"Bottoms up," he said, and drank the potion down.

*

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The Butterfly Effect

The Butterfly Effect