Title: Long Overdue
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Author: veronyxk84
Characters/Pairing: Buffy/Spike (Spuffy)
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: some coarse language
Word count: 300 (Google Docs)
Spoilers/Setting: Set in S7, between eps. 7x11 “Showtime” and 7x12 “Potential.”
Summary: Spike regains consciousness while Buffy’s tending to his wounds. Implied indirect references to eps. 6x13 “Dead Things” and 6x19 “Seeing Red.”
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction created for fun and no profit has been made. All rights belong to the respective owners.

Challenge: #468 - Sorry
Also for: #28 - Sorry by emotion100

—

Buffy’s hands moved slowly around the wounds on Spike’s abdomen, dabbing a wet cloth along the cuts to wipe off the dried blood.
Her thoughts were wandering far away, but a slight twitch in his muscles made her snap back to the present.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” he rasped.
“I’m almost done,” she said, continuing to clean the wound that had caused his spasm.
“You… don’t need to…” he started, clearing his voice. “I don’t get infections.”
“I know. That’s not why I’m doing this.”
Spike refrained from frowning due to the pain in his bruised face. “I don’t want your pity.”

“It’s not that,” she said, dropping the cloth in a bowl of water and setting them aside. “It’s an apology. Long overdue.”
“You don’t owe me anything, Buffy. Least of all an apology.”
She stood up and started pacing. “Of all the things I did wrong, the way I handled being with you was the worst.”
“It takes two to tango, luv. I did my part.”
“I’m not saying you’re blameless, Spike. You aren’t. But neither am I, and seeing you like this… it only reminds me that I hurt you as bad as that ubervamp did. If not worse.”

“Bollocks!” he scoffed. “I could have fought back, I chose not to. That night’s on me.”
“No, Spike. The fact that you welcomed it and spurred me on didn’t make it right for me to beat you unconscious,” she said. “I was angry, lost, and I took it out on you without having to pay the consequences. It was wrong, and I’m sorry.”
He smiled bitterly. “That’s unfair. There’s nothing I could possibly say to apologize for what I did.”
“You gotta start somewhere.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, tears falling down his cheeks.
Mirror tears marked her face. “I know.”