Thank you

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All I have is the one story this time. I appreciate everyone taking the time to read it.

Thank you Jerusha for all your hard work keeping this wonderful community alive and kicking. Thanks to all my fellow contributors (will now go forth and enjoy LOL) and to everyone who reviews....big thank you's all round.


Kathleen

Hero's Reward 12/12

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See A/N in Chapter 11 for notes on dialogue from series
Poem at end is Love Sonnet LXXIX by Pablo Neruda (I’d pay to hear JM read his sonnets!)

~*~
Chapter 12, Called to Life
~*~

“Morning.” Buffy looked like she could use another eight hours of sleep, even though her smile indicated she wasn’t begrudging the reason for her state. “Coffee made?”

“In the pot,” Giles pointed to the obvious.

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Hero's Reward 11/12

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A/N: Although the plot has taken a turn far from canon, I have sought in these last two chapters to touch on the last episodes of Season 6 with an occasional bit of dialogue or “moment”. Those episodes are “Seeing Red” by Steven De Knight, “Villains” by Marti Noxon, “Two to Go” by Douglas Petrie and “Grave” by David Fury

~*~
Chapter 11, Setting Red Right
~*~

The short and painless ritual left Buffy feeling whole for the first time she could remember. “This is better than therapy and affordable as well--if you don’t count the airfare,” She smiled widely at Giles in gratitude. Tara had set aside her own pain and assisted Anya, Giles and Buffy in completing the four directions and elements needed to make the ritual pull in the power of the natural world.
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Hero's Reward 10/12

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~*~
Chapter 10, Out of Chaos
~*~

“I think you should call him,” Dawn insisted. She was as worried as Buffy. “I mean, at least we’ll know if somebody dusted him.”

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Hero's Reward 9/12

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A/N: From this point the story veers very off canon. A bit of dialogue comes from “Angel” (BtVS S1) by David Greenwalt

~*~
Chapter 9, Nothing Normal
~*~

“No more than two weeks, you promised,” Buffy reminded Giles. “Go see this voodoo doctor and find out what you need to do to fix me up, and then hop on the next plane home.”

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Hero's Reward 8/12

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A/N: Keeping this one PG-13 or R at the highest rating. Only hinting at NC-17 material. Some dialogue from “Hells Bells” by Rebecca Rand Kirshner

~*~
Chapter 8, Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed….
~*~

Oh, they all knew all right. While Buffy was busy reassuring Spike that she A. hadn’t lost her mind; B. was quite serious; and C. was fully sure she didn’t need any more time to think it through, Riley had dropped by Xander’s on his way out of town to drop the bomb. By the time she got back home, everyone was there already and all ready to pounce on her.

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Hero's Reward 7/12

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A/N: Some dialogue from “As you Were” by Douglas Petrie. Yes, I did change the location for the confrontation with the Suvolte from a dam to a waste treatment facility.

~*~
Chapter 7, As It Could Be
~*~

Buffy woke with a sense of mission. She had planned to tell Spike of her epiphany the night of her birthday party, but the argument between him and Willow had made that impossible. Then it seemed as if everything conspired in the following week to keep her from having any private moments with the vampire to offer him her wary heart, should he still want it.

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Hero's Reward 6/12

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A/N: Some dialogue from “Older and Far Away” by Drew Z. Greenberg

~*~
Chapter 6, Older and Coming Closer
~*~

Dawn watched as Willow conjured up yet another birthday cake, the fifth thus far. Each time she decided it had some defect that had to be improved on. “Geez, Willow, Buffy won’t care as long as there’s ice cream to go with it!”

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Hero's Reward 5/12

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A/N: Some portions of dialogue from “Dead Things” by Steven S. DeKnight

~*~
Chapter 5, Live With Pieces Missing
~*~

Giles had been up all night looking at the notes Willow had taken on her botched ritual. He had managed to piece together the sequence and form enough conclusions to prevent any sleep for a good week to come.

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Hero's Reward 4/12

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A/N: Some dialogue borrowed, and in some cases twisted, from “Gone” by David Fury and “Doublemeat Palace” by Jane Espenson

~*~
Chapter 4, Returned
~*~

“How short you thinking of going, honey?” The hairdresser ran appraising fingers through Buffy’s long honey hair. “This is real pretty, but I think an update is just what you need, am I right?”

“Not too short,” Buffy had no plans on emulating Dorothy Hamill’s famous wedge look from years gone by, but something near her shoulders wouldn’t be too jarring. ‘Maybe some lighter streaks too,’ she mused. “I’m thinking about here.” Buffy motioned with her hand to a place just above her shoulder, right about where a vampire might find their eyes drawn to the neck it would curtain. ‘Way to go, Buffy, why not just go get an arrow tattoo or a ‘bite me here, you sexy vamp” one?’
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Hero's Reward 3/12

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A/N: Some dialogue taken or modified from the script of “Wrecked” by Marti Noxon

~*~
Chapter 3, Restored
~*~

Buffy felt lighter than she had in the weeks since her return to life. She poked through the cupboards looking for something other than cold cereal to fix for her little sister’s breakfast and wished for the millionth time that she had paid a bit more attention to her mother’s domestic skills over the years. Of course she hadn’t expected to be the mother of a teenager before her twenty-first birthday either!

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Hero's Reward 2/12

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A/N: Some dialogue taken from, or twisted to my purposes from, “Smashed” written by Drew Z. Greenberg


~*~
Chapter 2, Repaired
~*~

Spike found himself slammed into a fireplace as the Slayer advanced on him, fury in her eyes.

“Your job is to kill the Slayer. But all you can do is follow me around making moon eyes.”
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Hero's Reward 1/12

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Title: Hero's Reward
Rating: mostly PG13 with a few violent scenes that might get an R but doubtful
Setting: Begins post AtS "Not Fade Away" and rapidly goes to S6.
Summary: Given a chance to do things differently a hero finds that putting another first and ignoring his own desires can lead to his rewards beyond his hopes.
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters, only the plot idea. All rights belong to Joss Whedon, ME, FOX, WB and company.

~*~
Prologue, In The Mist
~*~

“You’re not her.” The battered warrior used his enhanced vision to make out the figure through the swirling white mist. “I may be dazed, but I’m not daft.”
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