The feel of her touch sent a shiver along his spine yet Spike didn't pull farther away. If anything he craved this close proximity and couldn't deny her a thing. He had grown so used to the feel of his fingers upon his skin, had come to love the taste of her lips upon his own. Just holding her filled his body with heat again, and he could have melted into her arms right then and their. Just hearing her speak those words, her breath warm against his flesh, nearly had the vamp breaking down into tears all over again; though tears of joy instead of loss and sorrow. Still when the question was posed the vampire found himself unsure of what to do or say, so instead he just gazed at her for a moment longer.
For Spike their relationship was still new and untainted by so much pain. Yet it was easy to see that it wasn't quite the same for her. He had seen the same hesitation in the eyes of... well her, but the her that was here before. He had never pressed her for the truth, nor asked any questions about the other Spike. No, such knowledge of a possible future wouldn't have driven away the confusion, if anything it would've likely made things worse. So instead of questions Spike found himself asking and offering a clean slate for both. A chance to start without the burdens of a future that needn't be. Here though, well he wassn't sure just what to share.
Those fingertips of his so gently caressed her arms as he grew lost in thought until at last his hand moved to her own. With fingers entwined at last Spike slowly brought her towards the bed and offered her a seat beside him as the vamp sat on the edge of the mattress. "Not sure exactly where to start, love, but you're right about never reaching Sunnydale. Was en route to be sure, yet the witches brought me here before I ever reached California." Spike went silent a moment as his own thoughts slowly churned away, the whiskey not helping with clarity by any means. Still after a minute or two he realized that they were sitting in the dark, so he reached out and turned on the lamp beside his bed.
Spike was Spike, bleach blond hair and all, yet since he wore only a pair of jeans she could now clearly see the still healing scars that littered his ivory skin. In truth they had been far worse only a week ago, but he was well on the way to mending up nicely. "Woke up in bloody Salem and was at a loss, confused even more when Faith messaged me and spilled the beans that a Slayer and I...well that we had shagged and whatnot. That all threw me but sooner than later I came across her...you. Could read those eyes of yours well enough, and after talking for a bit, well I knew that Faith hadn't been lying to me."
The few that followed had been so strange, but that smile of his touched the corner of his mouth as Spike fondly recalled a few things. "Couldn't bring myself to kill ya after that, and after a month or so I knew I was falling hard. Ended up leaning more towards the white hats side of things, and we had a blast patrolling and dusting all the vamps we came across too. God I love watching ya move, and dance...both in the heat of battle and on the dance floor." His eyes lit up as he gazed at her again, Spike's hand shakily moving to caress the side of her face but he stopped when he realized that she had no memory of them.
With a sigh he pulled his hand away again, and looked down to the floor before speaking softly once more. "Angelus had been turning newbie vamps en masse but you wanted to reensoul him, and not dust him...so after a while we ran into that prig in the fancy suit, and...well let's just say that the tin god was a fan of you, but me not so much. Sodding bastard was the real deal though, all golden and godlike for sure. So ya figured that maybe he had the power to do the soul thing, and while he could well because he hadn't tried it before Apollo let ya know that it was far more likely that the attempt would just kill Angelus." His head shook slightly as he recalled that night, cringing at the memory of just how badly the whole thing hurt.