It Was The Right Thing To Do

One minute Glory was right on top of her, about to make a painful blow to her face, when suddenly she let out a ear-splitting scream and exploded into what looked like red glitter.

"The Key... it's dead."

Xander breathed.

Buffy let out a shuddering breath, and her green eyes filled with tears.

"D-Dawn.."

She whined, her voice full of pain, Willow went to comfort her, but Buffy snarled viciously at her.

" You come anywhere I near me and I will bite you."

Giles gave Buffy a stern look, but Willow shook her head.

" I understand how hurt you must feel at the moment-"

" You understand nothing, if you hadn't gone and joined forces with the Key NONE OF THIS WOULD OF HAPPENED!"

Buffy screamed at her, as she suddenly had Willow up by her throat. Xander yelled for her to stop, and then finally punched her as hard as he could. It felt like a mere poke to Buffy, but she almost hit him back.

" BUFFY STOP! Dawn has been gone for some time now, and no matter what happened whilst the Key was around I've already explained about Willow. She wasn't in control just as Dawn was in control of the Key's actions.

Giles tried to reason with his grief-stricken Slayer, but in truth he was also very much afraid that Buffy would lose control, and with her strength she could do extensive damage without even trying. But Giles' reasoning did the trick and all the fight left Buffy, and she looked apologetically at Willow and Xander.

"I'm sorry..."

Willow nodded, and tried to smile through her pain, but her hand was massaging her neck thoroughly, Buffy watched her guiltily for a moment before it hit her. Spike!

She was out at the speed of light. She could only imagine what Spike was going through, after all he had to be the one who had killed her.

"Spike!"

Buffy called, as walked through the entrance to the caves. Deadly silence greeted her, and her panic increased. She heard a slight sound, a sound so soft and quiet that if she hadn't been a Vampire, she never would have heard it. She ran forward, and the sight almost killed her, again.

Spike was heaving with cries, as he clutched Dawn's body, she could see his whole body quake with the strength of his cries. She watched as Spike ran his fingers through Dawn's sleek hair.

"Forgive me... Dawn... I'm so sorry..."

Spike whispered in tortured tones, Buffy suddenly realised with a start that he was greatly injured, dried blood covered his skin, and what was left of it was covered in vivid purple bruises. He was naked from the waist up, his black top she suddenly saw had been literally ripped to shreds. Buffy felt frozen to the spot watching the heartbreaking scene play out in front of her. Till she found she could suddenly move her feet again, and with a heavy heart she rushed to Spike's side.

Spike hadn't even noticed Buffy's presence, until her strong arms wrapped round him. The presence of his mate had never been so comforting, and Spike simply hid his face in the curve of his neck, letting the cries come as they would.

" William..."

Spike turned round and faced Giles, discomfort all over his face.

"Son."

Giles said warmly, watching as the Vampire shook slightly, but managed to keep a rein on his emotions – just.

" William, you've done so much for this family, and you kept your promise. To protect them, to make hard decisions when they have to be made. That's all I can ask, I just wanted you to know that I am so proud of you.(Giles turned to Buffy.) Both of you, oh and William, I think you forgot something down in those caves"

Giles revealed Spike's leather coat, and though the gesture was simple, it meant a great deal.

" You wouldn't be you without it."

Giles said softly, before leaving the two of them alone. Buffy smiled shakily, and Spike put an arm around her.

" It's going to get better Spike. It's hard now but we're gonna get through this."

Spike nodded, his face pained but also determined.

" Would help if I didn't feel so monstrous every time I thought of Dawn."

Buffy moved from his side and faced him, her eyes blazing.

" You have no reason to feel that way, you did everything you could. You kept your promise, and she loved you for it. That's all you can ask for. She loved you, she'll always love us. She's just with mum... hey maybe our mums got together ?"

A laugh escaped Spike.

" Yeah Joyce and Anne, best friends in heaven that ever was, with someone to spoil rotten again."

Spike said with a laugh, Buffy smiled and pulling him down they shared a needy kiss. Things weren't great, but they're love was stronger than ever, and things could only get better.

The End

I have to say this is one of the most challenging fics I have ever written, as admittedly, once it got to the chapter ' The Key resurfaces', my imagination completely dried up. I knew what had to happen and what point I had to get to, but I found it really hard to get there, and to be honest that didn't improve till the chapter 'Mates'. So to be honest this isn't the greatest fic I've ever wrote... But I got to the end, and made the ending as dramatic as I could, so over all i'm just glad that I got back on track with the story, even it was during the final chapters !

Thank you to all those who added this story onto Story Alert, favorites... Etc. and thank you to all those who reviewed this story. I would be very interested on your views for this chapter, and the story as a whole so please review.

Thanks again,

Lisi the slayer