It's my day!

[slaymesoftly]

This is a sequel to an earlier short story titled Redemption Redux. The prequel was written for a Good Angel prompt, so in it, he is less arrogant and cranky about Buffy and Spike than he will be in this sequel. Not much to be done about that, except realize that after all that time with Buffy, he was still pretty sure of himself… I will post a link to that fic at the end of this post.

In a brief summary of that short story, he has received the Shanshu, Spike has not, and he has left it to Angel to find Buffy. Both of them are sure that Buffy would prefer human Angel to vampire Spike. She has no idea Spike didn’t die in the battle, and Angel prefers to keep it that way. However, after Dawn has insisted several times that Buffy is still mourning Spike, and after Angel has paid more attention and realized that’s true, he confesses that Spike is alive, and gives her a ticket to Cleveland to find out if she still loves him. This story begins very shortly after the ending of the first one.

These are the first three chapters - more to be posted later, for a total of 12 chapters so far that have been completed and beta-read (and fixed) by all4spike, who deserves all the kudos for taking time to review these chapters as I squeezed them out over the past six months or so.




There Should Be Groveling (Sequel to Redemption Redux)

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Link to Redemption Redux if you want to look at it. https://dark-solace.org/elysian/viewstory.php?sid=5041&chapter=6

Three more chapters of There Should Be Groveling

[slaymesoftly]

Chapter Four

Spike was silent for almost a full minute, never taking his eyes off hers, before abruptly responding to her comment.

“You are here, and I’m being a terrible host. What can I get you? I have tea, coffee, and beer. Are you cold? Do I need to turn the heat up?”

Buffy shook her head. “I’m fine. It’s nice and toasty in here, but I wouldn’t turn down a cup of tea.”

“One cup of tea, coming up.” He walked into a small kitchen area off the back of the room and plugged in a kettle. While it heated up, he rummaged in a cupboard until he came up with a tea bag. “Is Constant Comment okay? It’s that or English Breakfast.”

“Anything is fine, as long as it has caffeine in it,” Buffy said with a yawn. “Oops! Sorry?”

“Nothing to be sorry for, love. You fell asleep on a wooden bench in sub-freezing temperatures earlier tonight. Tells me all I need to know about how tired you are.”

He brought her the mug of tea, which she accepted with a smile.

“Please sit down and quit fussing over me. It makes me nervous.” She kicked off her warm boots and tucked her colorful wool sock-clad feet under her, once again grateful for the Council credit card she’d made good use of after her first night of patrol with Faith.

He gave a rueful laugh and settled at the other end of the small sofa. Buffy sipped her tea while he just looked at her in a way that made her feel much warmer. For the first time since he’d stepped out of the shadows to say her name, she truly believed he still loved her.

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Three more chapters of There Should Be Groveling

[slaymesoftly]

Chapter Seven

“So, Slayer,” Spike said into her hair as she nestled against him, “what did you say to the big poof when you found out he’d been lying to you about me?” He stroked one hand down her back, and waited. “Did you hurt him?”

“You lied too,” she muttered, poking him in his side hard enough to make him grunt. “At least by omission. You let me think you were dead. You’re not much better than he is.”

“To be honest, love, I didn’t tell him to lie to you. I just thought if I wasn’t there, you wouldn’t have to—”

She stiffened and raised her head. “If you’re about to say something that means you believe I would have done anything but throw my arms around you and start crying, I think you should bite your tongue right now. Hard!” She glared at him until she could read the shame and regret she needed to see.

“You’re both responsible for letting me grieve. You, by not calling me to tell me you didn’t go down with Sunnydale, and then hiding from me and not coming to me after you and Angel tried to take on an entire army of demons. So, twice! Twice you let me grieve when I shouldn’t have had to.

“And Angel, for taking advantage of your insecurity and not telling me you survived—either time. His arrogance, and your lack of faith in me, meant I had two years of being unhappy for no good reason.”

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last three completed chapters of There Should Be Groveling

[slaymesoftly]

AN: These are the remaining completed and beta-read chapters of the entry. The rest of the story will be posted one-chapter-at-a-time on my personal Dreamwidth and/or Live Journal.

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