Story: The Consequences of Re-animation
By: Demonica Mills

Story: The Consequences of Re-animation
By: Demonica Mills

Chapter 1

Her eyes shot open. She tried to sit up, and banged her head. Her hands flew up and touched the satin above her.

Where am I?

The hands traveled to the sides of the enclosure and back to the top.

Ohmygodburiedaliveburiedaliveburiedaliveohgodohgodohgod

She clawed frantically, ignoring the panic that was bubbling up inside of her, threatening to take over. The satin covering ripped apart beneath her fingernails, but the wood proved to be harder.

Ohmygodbuiredalivebuiredaliveburiedaliveohgodohgod

Her fingernails ripped, then bled in tiny droplets on her face. Her knuckles ripped next, and the droplets became a stream, but the wood was starting to splinter. With a strength known only to those in the grips of utter panic, she gave a finally thrust and the top broke apart showering her in dirt. She choked and reached up.

Helpmehelpmeohgodohgodohgod.

She struggled against the weight of the dirt as she tried to stand.

Can’tbreatheohgodhelpmehelpmecan’tbreatheohgod

She stretched her arms and kicked her legs like she was swimming. The dirt had settled, and for whatever reason, the maneuver worked. She reached the topsoil, and fell gasping hard.

Breathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathe

She closed her eyes and sucked the air in, quickly at first but slowing to a normal rate quickly. Her heart beat so loud that she could hear it, and she was sure that if she looked down she would see it moving inside her chest.

Her eyes opened again, but shut tight of their own volition. Too bright. It was too bright. It hurt. Tears stung in the corners of her eyelids, and she allowed herself to open them a slit.

Everything around her was blurry, like she had forgotten to put on glasses. Did she wear glasses? She rolled over and looked at the grave she had crawled out of.

Ohgodburiedalivewhowoulddothistomeohgodohgod

There was a tombstone. She studied it. It was nice, dark and marbled and engraved with writings. She traced her index finger over the words as she tried to say them.

“B-B-Bu” Her voice sounded hollow. She tried to swallow, but there was no fluid in her throat and the act burned more than helped. She tried several more times, but to no avail.

She started to stand, but her knees gave way and she fell onto the pile of dirt that had filled in the hole where she had dug herself out. The dirt shifted again, and for a moment she thought that it was going to suck her back down.

Nononononononononono

She rolled herself back over and stared at the darkened sky. Then she did the only thing that she could think of, curled up in a ball and cried.

XXX

Chapter 2


“You what!?” The words strained to be heard from his clenched jaw. His eyes shot daggers at the group of people in front of him.

“You are going to repeat that.one.more.time.” His eyes flashed toward the red headed girl at the table.

“I-I just thought…I mean, we need her and…She could need us and…” Willow trailed off and looked at Tara for support.

“She’s trapped in a hell dimension. She has to be. We can’t just leave her there. We had to try to save her.” Her support came from Xander, “She wouldn’t have left one of us.” He finished quietly.

Spike took several unneeded breaths to calm himself down, and when he spoke his voice was low and monotone, “You don’t know where she is. You’re messing with forces that you know nothing about. She could have come back a zombie… or worse.”

Xander stood up so fast that he banged his knees into the table. He tried again, and this time managed to trip himself.

“Honey,” Anya started twisting her fingers together as he ignored her.

He stood, finally, facing Spike. His dark eyes glaring into Spike’s blue ones as both silently battled for dominance.

“You think we were wrong in what we did? You, who claim to lover her, would leave her in a hell dimension? Why? So, that when your sorry excuse for an existence has ended that she’ll, what, be waiting for you in hell?”

Spike’s retort was cut short by the opening of the front door.

“Hey, I’m home,” Dawn stopped short as she took in the scene in front of her. Willow was seated at the kitchen table; hands clasped together, tears sliding down her face. Tara sat next to her, biting her lip and wringing her hands together as her eyes shifted from Dawn to Willow to Spike and Xander, the latter two were standing on either side of the island in a face-off. Anya stood up and placed a hand on Xander’s should trying to guide him back to the table.

“Wow. What’s going on in here?” Dawn asked.

Spike glared at the group, silently sending a message, before turning around to face Dawn, “Nothing, Bit.”

“Yeah, it sure looks like nothing. You guys can’t keep everything from me, ya know. I’m old enough to know about these things. I’m almost the same age you guys were when you started to know about demons and stuff.”

“Honey, we’re not keeping anything from you,” Tara started. “We know that you’re old enough to know things…” She trailed off, unsure of where to go.

The thick silence that settled shattered when Spike exited the house, slamming the door behind him. Dawn stared at the group for a second before running out after him.

He had already gotten halfway down the block, by the time she caught up with him. They fell in step with one another, but didn’t speak. She knew where he was going, he knew it was useless to tell her not to follow.

It was part of the strange relationship they had developed since The Event. He treated her like an adult when she wanted it, and a kid when she needed it. He watched hours of television with her whenever she happened to be home alone (which wasn’t often because the others were so adamant about her never being by herself), he sat outside her window when she slept, and refused to let her out of his sight if she ever left the house after dark. She, in turn, treated him more like a man than a monster, finished her homework in his crypt, asked him for advice on school, and chided him on the dangers of smoking and over consumption of alcohol (“Vampire, pet.” He would remind her, “Not dangerous to me at all.” “Well, it’s a bad impression on me then,” she would huff).

They both stopped at the entrance to the cemetery. Sometimes they approached The Spot together, strength in numbers and all that, but sometimes they needed to be alone. He looked at her a second, and she understood. She walked to the bench right inside the entrance, sat down, and watched his back until the darkness ate it up.


Chapter 3
She was suddenly aware of a presence near her. It didn’t feel dangerous; actually it felt sort of tingly. She caught her sobs and stilled her body in time to hear a sob rip out of the presence behind her. Something crawled up behind her, and gently rolled her over until she was staring into two blue eyes rimmed with tears. The man sobbed again and started murmuring soothingly. She wasn’t sure what he was saying, but the tone was nice and relaxing. His arms slowly slid under her, and he pulled her close to his body.

The sensation was strange. He was cold. Very cold. And he even though he was sobbing into her hair, she wasn’t sure he was breathing. She closed her eyes tightly, and reached insider herself for a moment. “No,” she decided to herself, “there is no danger here.” With that thought, she slowly brought her hands to his sides and buried her face in his neck.

XXX
Dawn got to her feet the moment she heard Spike cry out, but she didn’t move. She knew that if it was dangerous he would yell out the code word for her to run (the codeword had been his idea because he knew that she sneaked out of the house to follow him patrolling, and it wouldn’t do to have her injured on his watch), but the call never came. After several minutes, she ran down to The Spot where he was.

Please don’t let anything have happened to him. Not him too. Please.

“Spi-” Her voice caught. Spike was sitting next to The Spot, but the dirt was all askew. He was cradling Buffy’s body in his arms and crying.

“ Oh no,” Dawn’s started, her voice cracking, “did something pull her up? Was it grave robbers? Did they take something? Spike, talk to me. Please! SPIKE!”

“Dawn,” his voice was so low she had to strain to hear him-and did he just call her by her real name, “come here-but slowly, and talk softer. You’re scaring her.”

Dawn’s head was filled with confusion, but she followed his instructions, and when she was directly behind him, he pulled back a little to show her that in his arms lay her sister; dirty, bleeding, and crying but very much alive.

Dawn’s knees gave out and she fell beside him on the dirt. Tentatively, she stretched out her fingers and brushed Buffy’s hair back from her face.

“How did this happen?” Dawn whispered.

“Red, she-,” his voice hitched, “did a spell.”

“She’s not a zombie, is she?”

“Don’t think so. She hasn’t said anything, and ‘m not sure she’s understood a word ‘ve said, but…”

“We should get her home, and cleaned up and she’s probably thirsty or something, I mean, if she’s been in hell or something, I would think that she would be thirsty, and we should get her home,” Dawn was rambling but she didn’t care. Her sister was back, and she needed her.

Spike stood up and gently pulled Buffy up with him. Her knees shook for a second before holding, but she never removed the tight grip she had on his arms and her eyes darted from him to Dawn nervously.

“Come on, luv. Time to get you home.” And with that, he wrapped his arm around her waist, and slowly led his two girls home.
Chapter 4


The house was quiet by the time they made it back. Xander and Anya had gone home, and the Wicca’s were comforting each other in their room. Someone, most likely Tara, had left a note on the table informing Dawn that dinner was in the oven. Dawn quickly pulled the chicken and rice out of the oven, and divided it onto two plates.

Spike sat Buffy down in a chair at the table, and started to walk away, but her hand still gripped his arm and refused to let go.

“ ‘S okay, luv. Not going anywhere. Gonna stay right here with you.” He sat down in the chair next to her to prove his point. “Bit, why don’t you get Big Sis a glass of water?”

Dawn grabbed the biggest cup she could find, filled it, and set it on the table before her sister. Buffy stared at it for a second before grabbing it in both hands and drank quickly, gasping loudly between swallows.

“C-can. I. Have. More?” Buffy held the cup out and Dawn snatched it quickly, eager to help.

Four glasses later, Buffy finally looked a little better. She smiled shyly to both Dawn and Spike.

“Thank you for-for everything.”

“You’re welcome, but we weren’t the ones who brought you back,” Dawn said.

“Back?” Buffy echoed.

“Yeah, that was all Willow.”

“Willow?”

“I mean, you’re okay and everything, right? You’re not a zombie or anything, are you?”

“Zombie?”

Spike was watching the conversation with a sinking feeling. Something wasn’t quite right, and he shot Dawn a look to silence her.

“Luv,” he put his hand under Buffy’s chin and turned her head so that she was facing him, “what do you remember?”

“I-I’m not sure. I remember waking up, and I was in the coffin,” her eyes bulged slightly at this, “and I was afraid. I was so afraid. I was buried alive, and I started to digandIcouldn’tbreatheandIthoughtthatIwasgoingtodiebutIdidn’twanttoand…and…”her voice hitched with sobs and Spike pulled her to him again, stroking her hair and murmuring in her ear.

“Shh, ‘s okay. You’re okay. Not gonna let anyone hurt you. But I need you to tell me what you remember before all that. Kay, can you do that for me?”

“Nothing.” Her answer shocked them both.

“What do you mean, nothing?” Dawn asked.

“I mean, nothing. Before that, there’s just this big empty nothing.”

“Do you know who you are?” Dawn asked.

“No.”

“Do you know who we are?” Dawn pointed her finger at Spike and then to her own chest.

“No.”

“Do you recognize where you are?” Dawn’s arms swept around the kitchen.

“No.” There was a slight edge of panic in her voice at this revelation. “Should I? I mean, I’m not all with the familiarness of the surroundings or anything, but if I’d been here before I would know, right?” She looked from Dawn to Spike and back again.

He could see both girls crumbling away before him, and decided to take charge.

“Your name is Buffy Anne Summer. That is your sister, Dawn.”

“My sister…”

“Now, before you two decide to get all touchy feely with the remembering and shite, why don’t you let her help you get cleaned up, and we can continue from there. With photo albums and home movies and all that rot.”

Buffy nodded, and let Dawn take her upstairs and into the bathroom. He waited until they were out of sight before he dropped his face into his hands and sobbed quietly. Buffy was back. She was really back. She didn’t know who he was-hell she didn’t know who she was-but she was really back. She’d been in his arms, and Christ, he needed a cigarette.
XXX




Dawn left Buffy alone in the bathroom, but only after the older girl had assured her that she although she might not know much, she was pretty confidant she could still bathe herself.

Dawn walked back down the stairs, and found Spike on the porch smoking.

“She’s really here, isn’t she? I’m afraid to pinch myself and wake up in my bed with only the bot sleeping in the room next door.”

He was silent and she wasn’t sure if he was listening to her.

“Repeat that last part again.”

“Which part? The part about being afraid to pinch myself or the part about the…Oh god! The bot is on her bed!”

They both bolted into the house and up the stairs, but not before the scream echoed throughout the house. Spike made it up the stairs first, but collided with Willow who was coming out to see what the noise was about. He stumbled backward and one hand caught the railing to keep himself from falling back down the stairs, while the other steadied Dawn, whom he had fallen backward into. During the confusion, Buffy had run out of the doorway of her room and managed to run straight into both Willow and Tara, the latter whom had run to help out her lover.

“She’s dead! She looks just like me, but she’s dead!” Buffy shrieked at the same time Willow cried out “Oh goddess, you’re alive!”

“What!?” this last sentiment was said by both girls.

“STOP!” Spike tried to take control. “All of you just stop.”

The only sound was the three girls gasping for breath.

“Everyone.Kitchen.Now.”

“No. I am not going into the kitchen wearing nothing but a towel while a dead body, who looks exactly like me, is lying in the room next to me.” Buffy jutted her chin out defiantly.

“What? Dead body? Buffy, what are you talking about? That’s the bot.” Willow looked slightly confused.

“The what?” Buffy asked.

“You know-the-uh-bot.” Willow fidgeted the bottom part of her shirt.

“No, what’s a bot?” Buffy crossed her arms and stared at the redhead.

“Robot.” Willow had the shirt twisted completely around her hand.

“That is a robot of me?” Buffy’s voice had an even tone to it.

“Well, yeah.” Willow stated.

“Why do you have a robot that looks like me?”

“Well, Spike had it-”

“I know someone named Spike?”

Willow’s look of confusion grew clearer. “Yeah, you know. Spike, the bleach haired, can’t kill anyone cause I get a chip in my head and I’m in love with the slayer, vampire standing next to you.”

“There’s a vampire standing next to me?” Buffy looked as though she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Spike rubbed his forehead with his hand. “Enough! Bit, you get her some clothes,” he said jerking his thumb toward Buffy, “Red, Glinda to the kitchen.”

XXX

“It looks so real,” Buffy stated as she hesitantly touched the bot on the bed.

“Yeah, that was kinda the point, you know.” Dawn was glad that someone had remembered to turn the thing off. She didn’t want to imagine what would have happened if the bot had sat up and talked.

“Here, how ‘bout these.” Dawn handed Buffy a pair of black sweats and a black tank top.

“I’ll wait for you downstairs, okay?”

Buffy nodded and waited for Dawn to close the door before taking a look around her. She walked back over to the bot lying on the bed.

My bed.

Once again, Buffy reached out and poked the bot. To no surprise, it didn’t move. “This is so weird,” she thought.

Abandoning the bot, she walked over to the dresser on the side of the room. It wasn’t the dresser that she was interested in, so much as the pictures that she had noticed while she waited for Dawn to pick out her clothes. The first picture was of Dawn, herself, and an older woman. “Must be our mom. Wonder where she is.” The second picture was of the redhead from the hallway, a boy with brown hair, and her. She flipped the photo over, but it wasn’t labeled. “Okay, these are obviously people that I hang out with enough to not have to put their names on the back of the picture.”

She opened the top drawer of the dresser; underwear, next drawer; socks, third drawer; holy water, crosses, and wooden stakes…What?! Buffy frowned. Who the hell kept this kind of crap in a dresser? She pulled the drawer all the way out and dumped it onto the floor. Out fell the bottle of water, the crosses, the stakes, and the bottom of the drawer along with several notebooks. Ooh, diaries. She threw everything back into the drawer and shoved it back into the dresser. She would have to look through those later, but the others were waiting for her.


Chapter 5

It was late. They had been sitting at the table for hours, and outside of explaining whom they all were and how they related to her, they hadn’t made much headway. Buffy had demanded that Dawn pull out every photo album they had, and explain who everyone was and how they had met and where they were now. Topics that didn’t get discussed were: slayers, demons, vampires, the stakes in the dresser drawer, and why she had been in a coffin. Before she had come down, they had decided not to tell her those things until the morning and that they would avoid the part about her being in hell. Willow had figured that if her brain had wanted her to remember that time, then it wouldn’t have made her repress it. They had also agreed that Spike would sneak off at some point and move the bot. No point in upsetting anyone further.

“It’s getting late, and we all have class in the morning,” Tara yawned finally.

“Oh, do I have class?” Buffy asked.

“No, um, you stopped going to school when Mom got sick, remember?” Dawn stated. “ You stayed home to take care of us.”

“Oh, right you said that before.” Buffy rubbed her eyes. How could she be tired? She still had so many questions, and there were the diaries upstairs to be looked at, but her eyes were starting to burn.

Willow and Tara stood up together and bid their goodnights. Dawn leaned over and hugged Buffy tightly.

“I’m glad you’re back. I missed you.” Dawn smiled brightly as went up the stairs.

“So,” Buffy said turning to the bleached blonde left in the room, “it’s just you and me mystery man.”

Spike snorted, “How ya figure that one, luv?”

“Well, the room is empty except for you and me, that’s how I figure it. Unless there are people in here that you see and I don’t.”

“No we’re alone. I can see we’re alone. I meant the mystery man part.”

“Well, I now know most of my life story-complete with pictures. I know about Mom and Dad, Dawn, Willow and Tara, Xander and Anya, a whole slew of people whom I’ve already forgotten and yet, barely anything about you. Why is that?”

“Saved the best for last, but not until you’ve had a good nights rest. It’s bed time for little Sl-Buffys.”

“What were you going to call me?”

“Just a nickname I‘ve for ya. Wouldn’t make sense now. Might offend you till I‘ve properly explained it an all.”

“Are we good friends?”

“ Dunno.”

“How do you not know if we were good friends?”

“Guess its cause you and me are an ever changing entity. Hate each other one minute and don’t the next.”

“That sounds like love. Were we in love?”

“Dunno. Knew how I felt ‘bout you, but you didn’t reciprocate the like.”

She looked at him for a moment as if trying to remember something.

“Would you…” She hesitated.

“Yes,” he answered.

She smiled, “I didn’t ask you anything yet.”

“Don’t matter. Do anything for you, luv.”

“I just, I don’t, um, feel like being alone. Would you stay with me until I fell asleep?”

He didn’t answer her. Instead, he stood up and guided her up the stairs.
XXX

Willow slowly placed the phone back into its cradle. In spite of Tara’s claims that they were going to bed, Willow knew she had to make three phone calls before she fell asleep. The first was to Xander. He had to pick Dawn up in the morning, and he needed to be warned of Buffy’s condition. When she had finished the call, Willow wasn’t so sure that Xander had fully understood in his half awakened state. The second call had been to Giles. Luckily, it was a normal time in England so he was fully conscious, and after a lot of “dear lords” he had decided to come straight back to California. The third call was the hardest.

“Hello.”

“Angel, it’s Willow.”

“Willow. What is it?” It wasn’t so much a question as a statement, a now what else can go wrong with my life testament

“It’s Buffy…she’s back.”

Silence.

“Repeat that one more time.” Angel’s voice was tight.

“Buffy’s back. She’s alive. I mean she doesn’t know who she is or who we are or anything, but she’s really here. Breathing, walking, talking, the whole kit n caboodle.”

Angel made a half laugh/half sob noise into the phone.

“What…How…You know what, I don’t care. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Yeah, of course. I’m sure this whole amnesia thing is just temporary and once she remembers you, she’ll be thrilled you’re here.”

“I just…I need to see her again.”

“I know.”

Chapter 6

Spike awoke to a sharp pain in his side, and the world turned over as he landed on the floor of her room in a heap of bedding.

“What the bloody hell-” For a moment, he couldn’t remember how he got to his current state. Then it hit him. Buffy had come back from the dead. He had found her. He had comforted her. He had fallen asleep with her in his arms.

Buffy’s scream brought him back to reality. She was still on the bed, still asleep it seemed, but it was what she was doing that would have chilled his blood had it been possible. Her arms were bent at a strange angle, her hands were half closed and clawing at the air above her, her legs were kicking weakly at the sheets, and her head shook with spasms. It was like Linda Blair had invaded her body.

The lights flicked on, and the gasps behind him alerted him to the presence of the others. He jumped up and perched himself on the bed over her and tried to catch her arms. The first time, he missed and one of her ragged nails sliced through his cheek. The second time, he got a firm grip around her wrists.

“Wake up Sl-Buffy. It’s not real. You’re dreaming.”

She twisted in his grip and continued her struggle. Spike could hear Dawn whimpering behind him, and Willow’s quiet sobbing, but the only concern he had was the girl struggling in front of him.

Buffy screamed again, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHGODOHGODOHGOD!”

Her writhing was getting frenzied. He was starting to be afraid. She could hurt herself or anyone who went near her in this state and would never be the wiser to it.

Spike spoke more firmly this time, pulling Buffy harshly to his chest.

“LUV, PLEASE. YOU’VE GOT TO WAKE THE BLOODY HELL UP.”

With a final cry, Buffy opened her eyes and they darted frantically around as she tried to figure out where she was. Buffy grabbed Spike’s shirt and pulled him closer to her.

“Am, am I evil?” she whispered through her sobs.

“What? No. You‘re not evil. What the hell would make you think that?”

“I woke up in a coffin. I clawed and crawled my way out of a grave. Only evil things do that”

“Not a thing. Not evil either. You’re strong and you’re smart and you’re beautiful, not evil.”

Buffy didn’t reply, but her grip didn’t loosen and her sobs didn’t stop for a long time. Spike finally leaned her back down on the bed, and crawled over her so that he could lie down comfortably on his side without having to pry her hands off him. He gave a quick glance at the three girls huddled in the doorway. Tara caught the look, and she gathered Willow and Dawn in her arms and pulled them into the hallway, pausing only to flick the light back off. Spike gave an un-needed sigh, placed his mouth near her ear, and whispered soothingly until she fell asleep.

Chapter 7

Spike felt her shift beside him.

“ It‘s too early. Whadda ya doing, luv?”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you, it just sounded like everyone was up. Plus, something smells yummy and I’m kinda hungry.” Buffy’s stomach growled as if to emphasize her point.

He opened his eyes and looked at her. Her blonde hair was tangled and sticking up in places and her eyes were puffy, but that didn’t matter to him. She was there, next to him. Alive.

“God you’re beautiful. D’you know that?”

“Haha. Very funny. Let’s all make fun of nightmare girl.”

“ ‘M serious.”

She looked at him, “Thanks.”

“ You’re welcome.”

“No, I mean for last night. Thank you for-for everything. For finding me and bringing me home and staying with me through bruising nightmares… Why did you do that?”

He shrugged. “Made a promise to you once. Mean to honor it.”

“What was the promise?”

“To protect you and yours until the end of the world”

She smiled. “I bet that we were really good friends, regardless of what you say.”

Spike glanced down at the bed and nervously played with the sheets before saying the first thing that came to his mind, “ Better get downstairs before the whelp-er- Xander shows up and eats all the bloody pancakes.”

XXX
Everyone stopped talking when Buffy and Spike entered the kitchen.

“Wow! And they say that when people stop talking when you enter the room is a bad thing,” Buffy commented.

“We saved you some pancakes.” Willow pushed a plate in front of her.

“Don’t you like pancakes?” She looked at Spike as he accepted a mug from Dawn.

“Don’t mind one,” he said as he snagged one off her plate and dunked it into the mug.

“What is that?” she asked as he lifted the soggy, red pancake to his mouth, “Strawberry syrup or something?”

“Er, no-”

“Spike’s a diabetic.” Willow frantically cut him off, “it’s a special protein type drink made for those diabetic types, very yucky to those of us who aren’t, um, diabetic.”

Willow was save by Xander’s entrance into the household.

“I come bearing donuty goodness.” Xander stopped in the kitchen doorway, and stared at Buffy a moment before sweeping her into a giant bear hug.

“God, it’s good to see you Buffster.” He pulled back and offered her the opened donut box.

“I brought you extra jellies ‘cause a girl who goes to Hell for the goodness of the world deserves as many jelly donuts as she wants.”

The smile on Buffy’s face became a mask of confusion that was lost to Xander, as were the looks the rest of the group was giving him. He continued jubilantly, “What’s deadboy doing here so early? Not that good ‘ol Buff is back from Hell, you gonna continue in your freakish and annoying obsession with her? We should have a welcome home Buffy staking party, whadda ya say?”

Buffy stared at him. “What do you mean when you say that I was in Hell?”

Xander bit into a donut, “You know. You. Hell Goddess. Big portal opening. End of World. You jump into said portal to save the world. You die and become trapped in Hell dimension until Willow does a little spell, and then presto. You’re rescued from Hell by loving friends and you live happily ever after or until next apocalypse.”

Buffy glanced around the room before her gaze settled on Spike.

“You lied to me.” Her tone was soft, but her accusation hit him like a stake.

“No, pet. Didn’t lie. Said you’re not evil, and you’re not.”

“NO! Only evil people go to Hell! Only evil people wake up buried alive!”

“What! Buried alive?! As in, woke up in a coffin?!” Xander looked toward Willow accusingly, “ Your spell made her wake up in her coffin?!”

“She didn’t know that was going to happen,” Tara tried weakly at defending Willow but secretly she was just as horrified. Willow stared at the table, tears running freely down her face.

Buffy stared at them all a moment longer before rushing up the stairs and slamming the door to her bedroom shut.

“Now look what you did whelp!”

“Hey, I don’t remember asking for your opinion deadboy.”

“Xander, didn’t you listen to a word I said on the phone last night?” Willow asked.

“Oh, come on Wills. I was half asleep when you called. I got the important stuff. Ya know, Buffy.Back.Alive. So, I was all yay with the happy.”

“Oh, so your ‘yay with the happy’ includes dredging up thoughts of Hell?” Spike retorted.

“Once again, don’t recall asking for the input of the soulless wonder. Why are you here again?” Xander asked.

Dawn jumped to Spike’s side. “He’s here because he’s the one who found Buffy after you people left her to crawl out of her own grave. He’s here because Buffy asked him to be.”

Xander’s eyes softened as he looked at Dawn, “Come on Dawnie, you know we would have never left her,” he shuddered, “in her grave if we’d known.”

“W-we t-thought t-the spell d-didn’t work. W-we waited for an h-hour.” Tara tended to stutter when she was upset or nervous and this situation made her both.

“But.you.did.leave.her.” Dawn punctuated each word with an intact of breath.

A giant thud against the floor interrupted the fight. In unison, all their heads jerked toward the ceiling before they rushed upstairs.
XXX
Chapter 8

Oops. Buffy stared at the turned over dresser on the floor. Guess I don’t know my own strength. She had only meant to move the dresser in front of the door, so that they couldn’t come after her. Instead she’d somehow managed to flip the thing over. That was bizarre.

“Great,” she thought as she heard the footsteps on the stairs, “hope I can block that door off before the get up here.”

Buffy braced herself, and pushed on the fallen dresser. To her surprise, it flipped immediately back up and she was able to secure it against the door before Spike was even at the knob on the other side.

“Buffy! Pet, you okay in there?” The handle jiggled.

“Go away! I want to be left alone.”

Buffy heard argumentative whispering on the other side of the door, followed by the snapping noise of the lock on the door and, to her amazement, the movement of the dresser as it was pushed slowly forward.

“Okay, this has got to be the lightest dresser ever made,” Buffy muttered as she leaned against it with all her strength. The dresser slid back the few inches it had crept forward and the door popped back shut. She heard someone swear.

“I’m sorry, which part of GO AWAY did you not understand?”

“The Go and the Away part.” Dawn’s voice soared through the door.

Buffy tried to change her tactic. “Look you guys, I’m really tired and-and I was in Hell. I remember that now. You, friends, good. Me, Buffy, need sorting out of confusion time.”

She took their frantic whispers as a sign that they had believed here and they were trying to figure out what to do.

“Will you unblock the door so we can see you?” Dawn asked.

shit. What to do. What to do. Ooh, CD player.

Their answer was loud music blasting through the door.

“BLOODY HELL WOMAN!” Spike’s ear had been pressed against the door trying to hear what she was doing. He backed away from the door quickly, stuck his index finger in the injured ear, and wiggled it around trying massage the eardrum.

“Do you think she’ll be okay if we leave her in there?” Dawn asked.

“Well, she can’t really go anywhere if we’re all in the house watching for her, right?” Willow said.

“So, does this mean I can stay home from school?” Dawn asked hopefully as they descended the stairs and took up vigil in the living room.
XXX

It was an hour after dark when the door slammed, waking them up.

“I thought you guys were being all vigilant and stuff,” Xander said as he and Anya walked into the living room.

“Oh, goddess. Have we all been asleep all this time?” Willow muttered looking around at Spike and Dawn.

“Hey, it’s not like we got the greatest of sleep last night” Dawn argued.

“I thought that vampires didn’t need to sleep anyway,” Xander stared pointedly at Spike.

“Oh, no sweetie. Any being that doesn’t get a least some down time is likely to go crazy. I’ve seen studies,” Anya stated. “ And it is not a pretty sight either. This one time I was exacting vengeance in Romania and there was this crazed vamp-”

“Ahn, not the time.”

Spike stood up from the couch throwing a glare towards Xander before waling up the stairs. He paused outside Buffy’s door and listened for a moment. “Odd, that’s the same CD that was playing earlier...OH BOLLOCKS!” On that thought, he forced the door open. The room was empty, and the window was open.

“Bollocks!” This time he yelled it out loud as he flew back down the stairs. “She’s gone. Bloody hell, ‘d think that ONE of us would have stayed awake to hear her.”

“Shouldn’t that have been your job, oh he of vampiric hearing?” Xander asked.

“Oh, shut up whelp! Christ, could this get any worse?”

“Um, well…I, uh, what I mean is…I thought it would be a good idea if…” Willow stuttered.

“What, Red? Spit it out.”

“S-she invited A-angel to come.” Tara answered helpfully.

“The poof is coming here?! Now?!” Spike exclaimed.

“Yeah,” Willow replied softly.

“ ‘M going go find her before his pooftness descends and goes all broody and shite on us.”

Spike grabbed his duster, opened the door, and walked straight into the fist that Angel had raised to knock on the door.

“Oi! Wanker watch what you’re doing.”

“Watch where I’m going? You walked into my fist.” Angel stated defiantly.

“Yeah, well, who stands outside someone’s door makin’ a fist?” Spike asked.

“Oh, I don’t know, people who are going to knock?” Angel took a step toward Spike.

“Hey, dead people! Can we focus on our missing slayer for a moment,” Xander interrupted.

“What do you mean she’s missing,” Angel countered.

“Oh,” Anya face lit up, “he means that the group of vigilance fell asleep.”

“You fell asleep? All of you?” Angel finally stepped through the doorway, “Oh, this is perfect. You left a slayer with amnesia unattended, and now she’s wandering the streets of the hellmouth with no clue as to what might be tracking her?”

“That about sums it up,” Anya answered.

“Look, while you lot argue it out, Slayer’s out there all by her lonesome. So, you stay here and do research or whatever it is you do, ‘m gonna go find her.” Spike pushed past Angel and headed out the door.

Angel glanced at the group one more time before spinning on his heel and following Spike’s lead.


Chapter 9

It took them longer to find Buffy than they had anticipated, as twice they both lost her scent and they had stopped to stake no less than six vampires, but they found her sitting in the garden at the old mansion. She was on her knees surrounded by open notebooks and various pieces of paper, but she looked up as the two vampires approached her.

“You know, I felt you coming. It was like this weird tingly feeling in the pit of my stomach.” She gave a queer little smile at them.

Angel stepped forward, “Buffy, do you know who I am?”

Buffy frowned and looked back down at the papers in front of her. After shuffling them around a bit, she picked one up, eyed Angel, and looked at the paper again.

“Let’s see here, vampire with the face of an angel…that must be you?” She waited for his affirmation before continuing. “Okay, so you are a vampire cursed with a soul…Angel when you have the soul, Angelus when you don’t…We dated on and off for three years, we slept together and you lost your soul and went on a killing spree involving some woman named Jenny Calendar and a bunch of Willow’s fish. You tried to end the world, but I sent you to hell. You returned from hell, soul intact, got poisoned by a rogue slayer, drained my blood and gave me a nifty scar before breaking my heart and leaving me…Did I leave anything out or does that cover it?”

“Well, there were, uh, circumstances to my leaving that you must have forgotten to write down.” Angel replied.

“Hmm,” Buffy frowned again and shuffled through several of the notebooks again before answering. “Circumstance, circumstances, let’s see here… Slayers have short lives…Looks like this would be my second death…Love me too much to stay with me and deny me children…blahblahblah…Nope, looks like you were just a bastard.”

“Hey-” Angel started before he was cut off by Spike’s chuckle.

“Looks like she got your number mate.”

Buffy picked up another piece of paper. “Spike, also known as William the Bloody and the slayer of slayers. Came to Sunnydale to kill me, ended up stopping Angelus from destroying the world, showed up again and kidnapped Xander and Willow while apparently grieving the break-up from the love of his un-life, returned again to find the Gem of Amara that would allow him to walk in sunlight, became neutered by a government agency, claims to have fallen in love with me, created weird sex robot of me, and has strange relationship with my mother and sister…”

Angel had started to laugh, but stopped at the part about the bot. His eyes grew wide and he glared at Spike.

“Wot?” Spike shrugged, “ ‘M evil. No soul and all… Come on now.”

Any retort that Angel was going to make was stopped short by one of the notebooks flying between them. They turned their attention back to the blonde on the floor as she picked up another book to hurl at them.

“What.Is.This.Shit!” Buffy asked, her words punctuated with her throwing of the books.

“Um, your diaries?” Spike guessed.

“This is ridiculous!” she grabbed another book and ripped out a page, “I’m a vampire slayer, I spend my nights in cemeteries averting apocalypses. How many fucking apocalypses can there be?! I mean apocalypse means ‘end of the world.’ If the world didn’t end, then it isn’t an apocalypse, right? I hang out with two witches, an ex-demon, a souled vampire, a neutered vampire, a government agent, a werewolf, a former ball of energy, and an old English guy?! Are you people kidding me?” She’d been ripping out more and more pages the entire time she was screaming; “This is a joke, right? You people get your kicks by finding people and fucking with their memories.” She ripped a final page before slumping back down and sobbing. “Why can’t I remember? I want to remember.”

Angel hesitated a moment, but Spike took three large sides, dropped to his knees beside her, and took her in his arms. Buffy struggled against him briefly before letting Spike pull her to his chest.

“ ‘T’s okay, luv. Everything’s gonna be okay,” Spike whispered as he stroked her hair.

“Take me away from here,” Buffy whispered back. “Take me far away.”

XXX
Chapter 10

An hour later found Spike sitting in the tree outside Dawn’s window. He knocked, and watched as her eyes opened wide when she saw him.

“What are you doing out there? Did you find Buffy? Why didn’t you use the front door?”

“Listen bit, got a bit of a situation. Big sis read her diaries and freaked out a bit, so the poof and I are taking her to L.A. for a while, but ‘m not leaving without you. So, get you and sis a bag and let’s get movin.”

“But what about everyone else? Are you going to tell them?”

He shook his head. “Look, I got nothing against most of the Scoobies, but she needs time alone. Leave ‘em a note or something, but don’t say where we are.”

She looked at him for a second. On one hand, she felt kind of bad taking off like this, but on the other hand… “Give me five minutes.”

Dawn grabbed her backpack, dumped her books out, and stuffed as many clothes as she couldn’t into it before handing it out the window to him. Then, he watched her sneak into the hallway and out of sight. It was a full ten minutes before she came back, and he could almost feel Angel’s fingers taping impatiently on the steering wheel.

“Sorry,” Dawn said as Spike took the second bag from her and helped her climb out the window. “She left her room trashed and it took me a while to sort out what was what.”

“ ‘S’alright. Careful on that branch there.”

They made it down the tree easily, and Spike tossed the bags in the back seat of the car. He wasn’t too pleased with the arrangement; Angel and Buffy were in the front seat, Dawn and him in the back, and the top to the convertible was up because Angel thought he smelled rain. Buffy was looking pale and clutching her stomach, and Spike wondered if it was the closed quarters that were causing it. Well, if he had to sit in the back, then he was going to sit directly behind her.

Buffy leaned her head against the window. It felt good, cool. Her stomach was churning nervously, and she felt squeamish at the prospect of a two-hour car ride. She closed her eyes. The past two days had been so bizarre, but then she didn’t have much to compare them too. Maybe her life was always so strange; the diaries made it appear so. But, for some reason, being in this car, with this odd trio, made her feel safe and comfortable and loved. Loved. “Hmm, I’m sitting in a car with two vampires and a ball of green light masquerading as a sister I never had, and I feel safe. Bizarre, bizarre, bizarre. My new motto on life.” These were her last conscious thoughts as she drifted to sleep, her left had on the seat grazing Angel’s and her right hand, under her head against the window, linked index to pinkie with Spike’s.

Chapter 11

Buffy’s first moan was so low without vampiric hearing they never would have heard it. The second moan was louder and followed with a jerk of her head.

“Put the top down, NOW.” Spike demanded.

“I have to pull over to do that,” Angel answered.

Buffy jerked her hands up, and she let out a wail as they smashed into the roof of the car.

“NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!OHGODOHGOD!!!!!”

Spike tried to get his arms around her, but between her thrashing and the confines of the car he wasn’t haven’t much luck.

“PULL THE BLOODY CAR OVER, YOU GIT!” he yelled at Angel.

Angel jerked the wheel to the right so quickly that Spike slide across the seat and squashed Dawn against the side of the door. Dawn let out a small “eep” when he hit her. Spike quickly scrambled out of the car, and yanked her door open, but she was still thrashing too much for him to pull her out.

“Dawnie, give me a hand with the top. Hurry!” Angel shouted as he exited the car.

“NONONONONONONONONOHELPMESOMEBODYPLEASEHELPME!”

Somehow, Spike finally managed to get his arm around her waist, and he yanked her out of the car and onto the ground. Her eyes flew open when she hit the ground. He listened for her heart rate to slow, and for her breathing to regulate. When it didn’t happen he pulled back a little to look at her face. It was scrunched up, like she had eaten a lemon, and she was swallowing rapidly.

“Oh go-”

Buffy pushed away from him, tried to stand and stumbled twice before crashing to her knees and emptying her stomach onto the ground. Dawn rushed over and pulled her hair back from her face, but turned her own body to face away from the vomit and swallowed several times herself. Spike and Angel stood frozen by the car, the smell of bile mixing with the smell of blood and dirt.

“She’s vomiting blood. We have to take her somewhere.” Angel’s voice was thick with worry.

“How can you tell she’s puking blood from back there?” Dawn asked.

“I can smell it. We should take her to a hospital.”

“No…hospital...” Buffy said, even as she retched.

Dawn’s eyes brightened a second, “You remember that you don’t like hospitals?” She asked hopefully.

Buffy gave her a weary look and spit onto the ground.

“I don’t remember eating this much,” she joked weakly as she let Dawn lead her back to the car.

“How d’you feel, luv?” Spike asked as Buffy slid across the backseat.

“Like I just puked up everything I’ve ever looked at. I bet it tasted better when it was going down.”

“Bit, feel her forehead for me.”

“Why?” Dawn asked.

“T see if’n she’s got a fever. ‘M a vampire, ‘member? Cold body temperature and all that.”

Dawn leaned over the front seat and placed a hand on Buffy’s forehead. “Oh, right…um, she feels kinda warm.”

“No hospital!” Buffy exclaimed.

“Fine,” Angel stated, “but if we get you back to the hotel, and you aren’t better, than we’re not giving you a choice.”

Angel took her silence as acceptance, and once he finished getting the top to the convertible down, they were on the road again with Dawn in the front seat and Spike in back. Buffy twisted herself around so that she could lay against Spike’s chest.

“ You’re cold,” she murmured feverishly. “Feels good.”


Spike had never been so glad to have cold skin in his life. He draped his arm around her, and could almost feel the dirty looks that Angel was shooting at his non-reflection in the mirror. Oh, well.


Chapter 12


It was nearly light when Angel pulled the car up to the Hyperion Hotel. They should have arrived hours earlier, but they’d pulled over twice more for Buffy to be sick, and once because she’d fallen asleep again. It was quite the harrowed looking group that entered the empty lobby.


Luckily, Angel had called ahead and left instructions for Cordelia regarding their arrival and the secrecy of it all. Cordy hadn’t been happy about the prospect of having to field any calls from “Sunnyhell,” and had made sure that Angel was well aware that those calls were being passed directly to him. But, as he read the note written in her neat little scribble, she had prepared the rooms like he asked her too, and promised to pick up breakfast on her way in. He sighed when he read her p.s at the bottom of the note stating that Fred had refused to leave her room and had taken to writing mathematical equations on the wall. “Note to self, check on Fred.” Angel thought to himself.


Angel turned back to the group and motioned for them to follow him. Buffy leaned heavily on Spike as they climbed the stairs of the old hotel, and she collapsed onto the bed in her room. Angel pointedly sat in an armchair next to the bed and glared at Spike, who shrugged and pulled another chair to the other side of the bed and glared back. Luckily, Buffy was oblivious to all of this and finally had her first nightmare- free slumber.

XXX

It was just after nine, when Angel finally left Buffy’s room. He hated the fact the he had to leave while Spike could continue vigil, but Angel had a business to run and other people depending on him. The champion gig left much to be desired in his mind. Focus on the Shanshu. Focus on the Shanshu.

Angel slowly descended the stairs and walked straight into a very angry looking Cordelia. He tried to step around her, but she mimicked his movements and refused to move out of the way. The stared at each other for a moment, Cordelia tapping her foot the entire time.

“Are you at least going to let me get something to eat before you criticize me?” Angel asked.

“Is that all you have to say to me mister ‘I had to run off to Sunnydale because my ex-girlfriend’s back from Hell and might possibly need my help?’” She raised her eyebrows at him.

“Uh, good morning Cordelia. Thank you for getting rooms ready last night?” Angel knew that this wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but tried anyway.

“Oh no. You aren’t getting off that easy mister. I want answers and I want them now.”

“Cordelia, please. Look, I will answer everything I can but I just spent the last twelve hours with Spike, and I’m going to hurt someone if I don’t eat.” Angel finally managed to get around her and to the small fridge behind the front desk. He grabbed a container of blood, dumped it into a mug, and tossed it in the microwave. Need to pick up some more blood if Spike’s going to insist on staying here.

The microwave beeped, and Angel pulled out the mug and took a large sip before facing Cordelia.

“Did you say that Spike was here?” She asked. “Spike as in the bleach wonder with the crazy girlfriend who locked me in a broom closet with Willow during parent/teacher conferences? That Spike?”

“You forgot annoying. I find him annoying. In that ‘I wanna bang his head into hard objects until his mouth stops working’ sort of way.” Angel took another sip of his breakfast.

“Morning all!” Wesley walked into the lobby trying to see around a stack of books in his arms. “Do I smell coffee?” He asked hopefully.

Cordelia gave him a look, but moved toward the coffee pot and started making some coffee.

“What’s with all the books?” Angel asked as he peered through the stack.

“Well, after your phone call with Willow, I thought it might be interesting to start looking into accounts of people who had returned from the dead. Did you know that the last time a re-animation spell was successful was over two hundred years ago? I must talk to Willow about the process, and how she accomplished it.” Wesley paused to remove his spectacles.

“Speaking of Willow…she called me twice at my apartment looking for Buffy and Dawn. What’s going on and why aren’t we allowed to tell Willow that Buffy’s here?” Cordelia placed two mugs of coffee on the counter.

Angel sighed. “We’re not telling them because Buffy doesn’t want us to. Look, Buffy can’t remember anything-not her life, not her friends, not anything- and she’s having some trouble adjusting to the whole Vampire Slayer deal. I wasn’t going to leave her somewhere she didn’t want to be.”

“Oh that’s just great!” Cordelia yelled. “She can’t deal with the whole Slayer thing, so you bring her here, to a place where we deal with demons on a daily basis. Do you even use your head when it comes to her?”

“She’s sick!” Angel slammed his mug on the counter.

“What do you mean she’s sick?” Wesley asked.

“I don’t know. She-she has a fever and she’s vomiting blood. Plus,” Angel shuddered here, “she keeps having nightmares about digging herself out of her coffin.”

Cordelia’s eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped open. “Buffy had to dig herself out of her coffin?”

Wesley also looked horrified. “You mean to tell me that they didn’t have the decency to unbury her before performing the spell?”

Angel shook his head. “No, Buffy had to dig herself out of her grave. Look Wes, I need you to do some research on this type of thing. Find out if there are any side effects from a spell that could cause a reaction similar to the ones that Buffy is having. I think I might take her to see Lorne as well. Cordelia-”

She held up her hand. “Don’t say another word. I am completely mum on anyone from Sunnydale who calls here.”

Angel gave the former cheerleader a tight smile. He could always count on Cordelia to come through.

“I’ll go out and pick up some food for her and Dawnie. I’ll even pick up extra blood-though why we have an evil, soulless vampire staying with use is beyond me.” This last part was part was under her breath as Cordelia picked up her purse, took some money from Angel’s outstretched hand, and headed toward the door. “I should probably pick up some medicine as well, shouldn’t I? Yes, I should.” Having answered her own question, Cordelia passed Gunn in the doorway and exited the hotel.

“Hey y’all. What’s going on?” Gunn placed a paper bag on the counter next to the pile of books. “We got us a major demon that needs researching or what? Cause if that’s the case, call me when we get to the killing part.”

“No, these are books to help me understand the nature of Buffy’s reincarnation.” Wesley eyed the bag. “Anything good in there?”

“Yes, but not for you. So, what’s the status on undead girl anyway?” Gunn asked.

“She’s not undead girl, don’t call her that.” Angel said. “Buffy is currently sleeping upstairs. As is her sister, Dawn…and Spike.”

“Who’s Spike?” Gunn asked at the same time Wesley let out a yell. “SPIKE’S HERE?!”

Angel rubbed his forehead. “Yes, Spike’s here. Look, I don’t know the whole story, but apparently some government agency put a microchip in his head that keeps him from hurting humans but still allows him to hurt demons. He’s been staying in Sunnydale and helping with the demon population there.”

“So, this Spike guy is a demon?” Gunn looked confused.

“Spike is a vampire,” Wesley explained. “He was also known by the name William the Bloody, and traveled around killing people with Angelus, Darla, and Drusilla. They were known as the ‘Scourge of Europe.’”

“Whoa, hold up a second. This Spike guy used to travel with Angelus and those two crazy bitches. Oh, Hell no! Ain’t no way he’s staying here.” Gunn stated.

“Well, Buffy and Dawn want him here, so he’s stays. Anyway, he’s completely harmless, and this isn’t up for discussion. Believe me, I don’t want him here anymore than you do.” Angel picked up his mug and downed the rest of its contents.

“Whatever, I’m taking Fred her breakfast.” Gunn muttered as he headed toward the stairs. “Fucking crazy vampires and souled vampires and chipped vampires. Was much easier when I just had to stake vampires, not ask them about their personal life.”
XXX

Spike released an un-needed sigh when Angel left the room. It had been difficult to spend the last several hours with the poof sitting in across the bed from him. Spike slouched in his seat and stretched his legs in front of him. Buffy had yet to stir, had yet to make any type of noise at all, and he was glad for his vampiric hearing because he could hear her heart beating in her chest and that steady beat meant she was still alive.

A rustle sound at the door interrupted Spike’s listening. He turned and was greeted by a woman standing in the doorway. She was average height and extremely thin with long brown hair that fell to her mid-back. Spike cocked his head to one side and watched her fidget with her shirt.

“Uh, hi.” She smiled brightly but kept her face turned to the floor. “I-uh-I thought that Angel might be in here-is he here, cause I thought that he might be back now.”

Spike smiled. He liked this girl, well minus the part about her looking for Angel.

“He was here, pet, but he’s wandered away for the moment. ‘Spect he’ll be back momentarily.”

“Oh-okay. I didn’t mean to bother ya or nothing-my name’s Fred-Winifred-Burkle, but you can just call me Fred-well, unless you want to call me Winifred but no one does except my mother.” She had a strange way of rambling that almost reminded Spike of Dawn, except for the southern accent.

“ Names Spike. Sleeping beauty here is Buffy.”

Fred’s eyes grew wide. “Buffy? As in ‘the love of Angel’s life who died and caused Angel to go away but then came back and caused him to go away again?’ Was she trapped somewhere? Did Angel save her? Angel saved me-I was trapped in another dimension.”

“Er-” For once in his life, Spike didn’t know what to say.

“Is she sick? She doesn’t look so well. We should probably stop talking-I mean if I was sleeping and people were all talking loudly around me I would probably get all cranky.”

Spike continued to stare at Fred, his mouth slightly opened. And I thought that only vampires didn’t need to stop for breath.

Fred pushed a strand of hair behind her ear nervously. “You’re looking at me like I’m breakfast or something-I’m not, am I? I mean, you’re here so you’re obviously not dangerous or anything because Angel would never let you in here if you were and he must have invited you in because-well-here you are. Are you hungry? I’m sure that there’s something downstairs that you would like-I could get it for you.”

Now Spike was astounded. “How did you-”

“You haven’t taken a breath since I’ve been in here-plus you’re unusually pale, add it all up and you get vampire.”

They were interrupted by Gunn’s arrival at the door.

“Hey Fred. I’ve been looking for you.” He glanced at Spike and gave a little nod in his direction. “Name’s Gunn. You must be Spike.”

“That I am.” Spike replied.

Gunn looked back at Fred and held up the paper bag. “I brought you breakfast. Mexican.”

Fred squealed, “Ooh, Charles. Thank you. Did ya get any burritos?”

“Yeah, I got you two. Now why don’t you come downstairs and eat.”

Fred waved a quick good-bye to Spike and followed Gunn down the hallway.

“Guess it’s just you and me then luv,” Spike murmured to Buffy.

With a quick glance at the door, and a smirk on his face, Spike slid into the bed with Buffy. She let out a small moan when the bed dipped, but allowed him to mold himself around her body. Yeah, this is better. Spike thought to himself as he fell asleep. Much better.

XXX

Chapter 13

Willow had on her resolve face. She tapped her foot impatiently on the floor of the Magic Box.

“Stop doing that. You’re scaring away all the consumers with that face.” Anya made a Vanna White motion at the outside as a couple of window shoppers looked in and walked away. “SEE! Xander, make her stop.” She whined the last part and stomped her foot in the direction of her fiancé.

“Well, Ahn, she kinda has a point.”

“Yeah, a point of scaring away money.”

“Anya, while I must confess that losing money was not what I had in mind when I opened the store…”Giles paused to wipe his glasses on his sweater. “I’m afraid that Willow does have a point here.”

Willow arched her eyebrow at Anya and the ex-demon let out a grunt of frustration.

“Fine! Take her side. See what I care!” And she sat down in a huff at the research table. “Don’t see what good it is to go look for them anyway, they don’t want to be found.” She mumbled.

“Look, Ahn. I saved you a nice jelly donut. Yum! Yum!” Xander held the donut in front of Anya’s face and made it dance. “See, it’s just like the dancing snacks in the commercials at the movie theaters.”

Anya snatched the donut away and smiled a little. “Those little snacks are pretty funny. The way they all follow each other to the little food stand never knowing that they are on their way to be digested by large, overindulgent people…makes me miss vengeance.”

Xander looked at her, his mouth opened. “Sometimes…you scare me, you know that right?”

Willow snatched the note sitting in Tara’s hand and waved it in the air.

“Hello! Missing persons here! Back on topic.”

“Yes, um, what have you done since you found the note?” Giles asked. He was cleaning his glasses again.

“We called Angel’s office, and, um,” Tara paused. “Some girl, Cordelia, maybe?”

“Cordelia! As in Cordelia Chase!” Xander looked aghast.

“Hey, I remember that girl. She’s the reason I lost my amulet. She wished vengeance on you!” Anya stared pointedly at Xander and gasped. “That makes her your ex…I don’t know how I feel about that.”

“Well, she works for Angel so we thought she might know something, but she didn’t.” Tara finished up by twisting her hands together and half shrugging her shoulders.

Giles threw his hands in the air. “You are all bloody impossible. You know that, don’t you? Willow, read the damn note again. There has to be a clue.”

Willow smoothed the crumpled note onto the table and cleared her throat.

Dear Willow and Tara,

I know that you’re going to be worried when you see that me and Buffy are gone…that should probably be Buffy and me, shouldn’t it? Anyway, don’t be. Spike will take good care of us. I know that everyone doesn’t like him, but he’s my best friend and he loves Buffy. Please don’t look for us. Spike says that this is what Buffy wants. She needs to sort stuff out. I’ll try to write or call soon.

Xoxo

Dawn

P.S. Thanks for bringing back my sister.

“Well that’s a whole lot of nothing,” Xander snorted.

Tara looked at him. “Well, we know that Spike didn’t take his car, it’s still near his crypt.”

“We also know that Angel never came back, so he must still be with them.” Willow added on. “Angel’s going to have to stop in L.A. Whether he goes on with them or stays behind is a different story.”

“Right…so we’re going to LA?” Xander asked.

“Well, that does seem the most likely thing to do,” Giles answered.

“Okay, so LA here we come.” Xander ended the meeting with a smack of his palm on the table.

XXX

When Spike woke up he was aware of two things. First was that Buffy was still sleeping. Second was that he wasn’t the only one in bed with her. A smile skimmed his face at the sight of a sleeping Dawn curled up on the other side of slayer. The smile quickly disappeared as Angel walked into the room.

“Here, I thought you might be, er, hungry.” Angel struggled to keep his emotions in tack as he handed the mug to Spike.

“Thanks, mate. Mighty nice of you.” Spike said as he slid off the bed, and resumed his vigilance from the chair. He accepted the mug and took a sip. “Ug, are you trying to poison me? What did you do to this?”

Angel looked confused.

“This stuff tastes rancid.” Spike thrust the mug back to Angel.

Angel hesitantly took a sip of the mug and laughed.

“Cordy,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “She’s got this notion that cinnamon adds flavor to the blood.”

“Well, she’s bloody wrong. Tastes awful. Although I wouldn’t say no to some Wheatabix if you’ve got some lying around.”

“Hmm, hello. People sleeping here.” Dawn sleepily sat up on the bed.

“Correction, people were sleeping here.” Buffy groaned and rolled over as she became the attention of all three people in the room.

“Buffy! You’re awake.” Angel shot over to her side. “How do you feel?”

“Um, not so good with a side of blech. I think I want to brush my teeth though.” Buffy held her hand in front of her mouth as she spoke.

“Oh, I packed all your toiletries. Come on, I’ll show you where the bathroom is.” Dawn jumped to her feet, and hurried over to the pile of bags on the floor. She rummaged a bit before pulling out a clear make-up bag.

Buffy took a deep breath, and sat up. She wavered a moment before closing her eyes to steady herself.

“Hmm, sorry. The room’s a little spinny. Just give me a second…”She swallowed hard.

Spike quickly scooped her up, and ran her to the bathroom just in time for her to dry heave over the toilet. He held her hair back and rubbed her back as Angel’s figure entered the doorway.

“Dawn is getting some soup and toast. We need to get some food into her.” Angel paused a moment as Buffy sat up and leaned back against Spike. Her face was red and sweaty, and her breathing was heavy. “Wesley and Fred have a theory. That’s actually what I was coming to talk to you about.”

“What kind of theory?” Buffy muttered as she closed her eyes.

“A theory about why you’re sick.”

“Well?” Spike demanded. “Are you planning on enlightening us?”

“Look, I don’t understand it. You’ll have to ask one of them, but they need a blood sample to confirm it,” Angel shot back.

“You two fight like five-year olds, you know that?” Buffy said. “Have a blood sample. Hell, have two if it will help. I don’t care.” She paused suddenly, and eyed Angel wearily. “No one’s going to bite me to get this sample, are they?”

Guilt flickered over Angel’s face briefly. “No. We’ll use a syringe. I’ll get Wesley.” He turned and walked out of the door.

Buffy turned to face Spike. “I’m feeling better now. I think I’d like to take a shower.”

“Are you going to be okay in here?” He asked worriedly.

“Well, if I feel the need to puke, I’m already in the bathroom.” Buffy smiled as she tried to joke.

Spike didn’t move. “Maybe I should get Niblet to sit in here with you.”

Buffy sighed. “I want to shower by myself. If I need something I’ll scream, okay?”

“Fine, but I’m standing outside the door,” he resolved as he helped her to her feet.

“Fine.” She shut the door behind him. A hot shower seemed like the greatest idea in the world.

XXX

Chapter 14

A little while later found the members of Angel Investigations sitting in the lobby with Buffy, Spike, and Dawn. Buffy was slowly eating a bowl of soup, and trying to ignore the stares of everyone around her. Wesley and Fred were heatedly discussing the blood sample under the microscope, Gunn was slowly polishing a broadsword, Cordelia was filing paperwork, and Angel was on the phone with someone named Lorne. Finally, Wesley removed his glasses and approached Buffy.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how long were you gone?”

“187 days,” Spike’s answer was automatic.

Cordelia looked up sharply. “You counted? That’s a little obsessive.”

Spike merely shrugged at her.

“Er, yes, well, um,” Wesley cleared his throat. “Well, our theory is correct, but I’m not sure how to explain it…”

“Oh!” Fred perked up and half ran out from behind the desk. “I’ll do it. Okay, so, uh, when a person, er, passes away and is buried in the ground, well, obviously their body stops working. Meaning that blood stops flowing, cells stop regenerating, and such. So, the organisms that live in the ground help to begin the decomposition process.”

Buffy was slowly losing color from her face as the thought of herself decomposing in the ground began to take shape in her head. Dawn and Cordelia were looking rather ill as well, and Wesley decided to take over the topic.

“Yes, well, when Willow applied the spell, your cells were reanimated, but they first had to fix the, er, decomposition that had occurred. So, your body began producing an overabundant amount of cells to help. However, the regeneration didn’t stop when it finished.”

“Isn’t that what happens when someone gets cancer? You’re saying that Buffy has cancer?” Cordelia asked.

Wesley looked surprised that someone had caught on so quickly, but Fred interrupted.

“Kinda, sorta, but not really. Cancer is caused by an increase of white blood cells that turn around and begin attacking other cells. However, it would appear that what is happening to Buffy, although similar, is beginning to clear itself out on its own. In the time that we’ve had her blood sample, the cells have already begun to slow down.”

“She’s suffering from what Fred and I have decided to call an inter-dimensional flu.” Wesley finished.

“So, she can take some Tylenol Flu and be done?” Dawn asked.

“Er, I think the best thing she can do is rest,” Wesley said.

“When this all clears up, will my memory return?” Buffy asked.

“Well, we’re not sure.” Fred threw an uncertain glance toward Wesley. “We think that might be something different entirely.”

“I have Lorne coming to read her this evening. Hopefully that will tell us something,” Angel said.

“Who is Lorne?” Buffy asked at the same time Spike asked, “What do you mean read her?”

Gunn chortled and muttered out loud, “Hope you can sing.”

Angel gave him a look before answering. “Lorne is an empathy demon. He reads people’s auras when they sing, and sets them on their true path in life.”

Dawn looked amused at the thought. “You mean Buffy’s gonna have to sing? You people have obviously never heard her shower rendition of ‘Violet’.”

“You don’t have to sing on key for Lorne to read you. I mean, he read Angel just fine, and that was like nails on a chalkboard.” Cordelia stated ignoring the look she received from Angel.

“And what did the great ponce sing? Was it something soulful?” Spike’s eyes gleamed with evil delight. “Did the little demon tell you to brood more?”

“Oh, shut up Spike.” Angel snapped.
XXX

Lorne burst through the hotel doors just after sunset.

“Angel-cakes, I’m here. Where is that little ball of sunshine that I’ve been hearing so much about?”

Dawn stood in the middle of the room surveying the green demon who had stopped in front of her. He was wearing a bright blue button down shirt under a red blazer with matching red pants.

“Well you’re a ball of something, aren’t you sweet stuff?” Lorne cocked his head to one side and regarded the teen for a moment.

“You’re not here to read her.” Spike appeared suddenly and placed his body between Dawn and Lorne.

“Whoa, the protective vibe. I dig it. No harm here bleachykins.”

“She’s in the garden.” Angel appeared at the top of the stairs. “She wanted to meet with you alone.”

Lorne nodded as his eyes shifted between Spike and Angel. He was sensing something between the two vampires, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Love for the girl in question…animosity…and something else. Hmm, maybe they would sing later. The demon made a sharp turn, and headed out the doors into the garden.

XXX

Chapter 15

Two full hours passed with Buffy and Lorne in the garden. The group that had been impatiently waiting began to thin. Spike paced the lobby, throwing apprehensive glances at the garden door, Angel, under Cordelia’s watchful gaze, methodically cleaned and re-cleaned each of the weapons in his cabinet, and Dawn tapped her fingers rhythmically on the couch.

At the sound of the garden door opening, all movement stopped and eight eyes snapped toward Lorne as he hurriedly closed the door again behind him. Lorne leaned against the door and closed his eyes. He was exhausted, physically and mentally drained. The thought of having to explain what he had learned, and the impending outbreak from the group, made his mouth dry.

“Don’t suppose you’ve got a sea breeze hiding behind that counter Cordy?” He hopefully looked at her as she shook her head. “How ‘bout some water then?”

Cordelia quickly moved into the other room to fetch the drink as Lorne collapsed on the couch next to Dawn. He drank the entire glass of water as the group began to fidget again.

“Well,” Spike couldn’t take it anymore. “Are you going to tell us what’s going on or are we suppose to guess?”

Lorne sighed. “Look, I’m not sure how to say this, and I’d really like to bring in someone else to look at her.”

“Why? What’s wrong with Buffy? She’s okay, isn’t she?” Dawn eyes widened and she glanced toward the closed garden doors.

“Why do you need someone else? Thought you were supposed to be some great demon who sets people on their true path in life.” Spike couldn’t keep the sneer at of his voice.

“Why don’t you let him speak before making judgments, William?” Angel’s eyes flashed at the bleached vampire, and Spike crossed his arms and leaned against the counter behind him.

“Alright kiddies, hold onto your seats cause this is going to be a bumpy ride.” Lorne started. “What do you know about re-incarnation?”

“That’s when you die and get reborn as someone else, right?” Dawn asked.

“Sorta sweetiekins. See if everyone simply died and was reborn, the population numbers would always stay the same.”

“But they don’t. The population has been steadily increasing for years.” Cordelia said.

“Right…”Lorne trailed off a moment. “When a person dies, their soul essentially breaks apart. Each part goes to a different place. Their bare essence will go to heaven or hell or what have you, but the other pieces will fuse with different parts of different souls to be reborn into new people.”

“So, you’re saying that when a person is born, their souls are comprised of parts of several different people?” Angel glanced nervously at Cordelia. He didn’t know if he liked where this discussion was going.

“What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean, and what does it have to do with the Slayer?” Spike advanced angrily at Lorne.

Lorne threw his hands up in the air. “Come on now buddy. Truce, alright? I just call it as I read it, and right now we have a big problem in the form of a cutesy little blond out there.”

Spike paused a few feet from Lorne, arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently on the floor. “Get to the bloody point.”

Lorne sighed and nervously glanced from Spike to Angel before continuing. “Right, so when blondie over there, er, passed on, her soul separated from her body and went on its merry way. Part of her went to heaven, part of her went into other people, and her slayer part most likely went into another slayer…and that’s not counting the part of her that’s lodged inside this cutie right here.” All eyes turned toward Dawn, who squirmed uncomfortably.

“Why would part of Buffy go into Dawn?” Cordelia’s question reminded Dawn of how well the monks’ spell had worked, and she glanced at Spike for help.

“Not important,” Spike answered ignoring Lorne’s quizzically look.

“Alright, so, when the little red witch does her little spell, presto-change-o, you have life. But, and this is the big but kiddies, the spell was only meant to bring a person back to life, and separating the parts of soul that had gone into other people would destroy them. So, that girl that’s sitting out there isn’t really there.”

“What do you mean, she really isn’t here?” Dawn asked.

Lorne looked at her sympathetically. “The spell only brought back her bare essence, the part of her that was in heaven and the slayer part…which I’m not sure how that happened.”

“Will she get her memory back?” Dawn glanced panic stricken at Spike.

“I don’t know sweet pea. I have a friend who runs a coven, and I’d like to bring her in to get her opinion. She may have a better idea of how to fix this than I do. What do you think about that Angelkins?” Lorne looked up and for the first time realized that Angel was no longer in the room.

XXX

Angel quietly snuck away from the group and crept out the garden doors. Everyone was so immersed in what Lorne was saying that they didn’t notice. Buffy was sitting on the stone bench staring off at the flowers imbedded in the shrubbery. He approached her slowly.

“Are you going to stare at me or are you going to sit down?” She asked without turning around.

“I came to see how you were doing?”

“Fine for a person who doesn’t exist.”

He sat down next to her. “You exist.”

“Not according to Lorne. This part of me, the part that’s walking and talking and all that…it was in heaven. Heaven. And you know what? I can’t even remember if I was happy there. And all the parts of me that should remember things, those parts don’t exist together anymore.”

“We will find a way to make you whole again. Please believe me.” He tried to put his arm around her but she shrugged him off.

“You can’t.” She hissed. “Because if you do, other people will die. Somehow I don’t think killing innocent people falls into the champion realm.”

“There has to be a way to not kill people, but if there isn’t then I will. If you want me to, I will.”

“What if I don’t want you to?”

“Then I will do whatever you ask me too.”

“What if I ask you to let me leave?”

“I would leave with you.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you.”

“You’ve left me before when you loved me. Why would this be different?”

“Because…”

“What if I said that I wanted Spike to go with me instead?”

“I wouldn’t let you go.”

“Why not? He loves me too.”

“He doesn’t love you. He can’t love you. He has no soul. He’s obsessed with you. He’s evil.” Angel’s voice rose in anger.

“Spike isn’t evil, and he does love me. I don’t understand this whole no soul equals evil thing that people keep bringing up. Every diary entry regarding Spike brought up that point. What does a soul have to do with evil and love?”

“You need a soul to love-”

“No you don’t, you need emotions.”

“A soul governs your sense of right and wrong-”

“That’s a conscience.”

Angel stood up angrily, but Buffy continued. “Everyone keeps saying that Spike is evil because he has no soul, and that you are good because you have a soul. But, the jails are filled with people-humans-who did vile and evil things, and they have souls. You can’t tell me that the hundreds of incarcerated people around the world are cosmic fuck-ups born with no souls. I think your problem is that you are upset because you can only love me when you have a soul, and when you don’t, I merely become your obsession.”

“How can you say that to me?”

“It’s what I read in the diaries.”

Angel squatted down in front of Buffy and placed his hands on the sides of her shoulders. “I love you.”

“Do you? What did you do when you found out that I had died?”

“My world ended that day. I joined a monastery to help heal my soul.”

“Do you know what Spike did while you were finding your inner peace? He took care of my sister. He stayed and helped my friends.” She looked him square in the eye, and continued softly. “Where were you they brought me back?”

He lowered his eyes. “I was here.”

“Spike found me…after I crawled out of my grave…He took care of me.” Buffy reached out a hand to Angel’s chin and raised it so that he was looking in her eyes again. “I’m not the girl that fell in love with you…I’m sorry. From what I read, she seemed like a great person, but she died. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me now, but I do know that this new person that I’m becoming…she needs Spike. He-he gives me strength.” She stood up then. “I’m tired, and I still don’t feel well. I’m going to bed.” And with that, she turned and walked back into the hotel, leaving Angel still squatting in the garden, tears streaming down his face.

XXX
Chapter 16

Only Spike and Cordelia awaited Buffy when she entered the lobby of the hotel. Lorne had left with Dawn, after a much-heated debate and a few threats from Spike about Dawn’s safe return, to find his coven friend. He had also been hoping to learn a few things about the strange girl passing herself as the slayer’s sister.

Buffy paused at the foot of the stairs and gazed at Spike tiredly as Cordelia slide past her and out into the courtyard.

“How are you feeling?” Spike asked cautiously. He had heard the tail end of the conversation between her and Angel, and was frightful of making the wrong move.

Buffy shrugged. “What kind of answer do you want?”

“Whatever one you want to tell me.”

“My stomach’s kinda churny, and my head hurts. Where’s Dawn?”

“Went out with Lorne for a bit.” Spike moved so that he was leaning on the railing of the stair opposite her. He badly wanted to sweep her into his arms, to tell her that everything would be okay, but he couldn’t. He stood frozen by the gaze of her eyes.

Minutes passed by like eons as neither moved. Finally with a sigh, Buffy slowly stepped forward and pressed her head into Spike’s chest as her arms wrapped around him. Automatically, he gathered her to him, and inhaled the scent of her hair deep into his lungs.

“I’m tired,” she whispered into his shirt. Her body gave off a little too much heat, and Spike knew that her fever had returned. His jaw clenched. Bloody demon had tired her out.

“I’ll take you to bed,” he whispered back, his voice lost in her hair.

“An-and you’ll stay with me?” She looked like such a little girl as she tilted her head back to look at him. “Keep the nightmares away?”

“Always luv, always,” he said as he led her up the stairs.

XXX

Angel had not moved from his crouched position in the garden as he solemnly watched the Buffy and Spike show. Should be me holding her. Should be me comforting her. My mark, my girl, MINE! He was aware of Cordelia’s presence, but he made no indication of it as he watched Spike lead Buffy up the stairs. Whirling from his position, he sat down on the cement bench with a thud. Cordelia sat tentatively down next to him.

“Stop.”

“Stop what?” he asked dully.

Cordelia cupped his chin, and forced him to look at her. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself.”

Angel pulled his face out of her hand, and turned to look at the Jasmine growing in front of him.

Cordelia sighed and pulled off one of the flowers to hold it to her nose. “I just love the scent of Jasmine, don’t you? It’s funny, all these flowers growing out here and nobody really tends to them. Nobody tells them they need water or they need sunlight, the flowers just know. They blossom from their buds just as nature intended.”

“So, you’re saying that Buffy is intended to be with Spike” Angel couldn’t keep the growl out of his voice.

“No, I’m saying that you need to let her grow and guide herself to where she needs to be.”

Angel’s voice softened slightly. “What if she decides that she needs to grow away from me?” His eyes questioned Cordelia’s with a hint of misery as she slid closer to him and put her head on his shoulder.

“She won’t.”

“How can you be so sure?”

Cordelia lifted her head and met Angel’s eyes. “Because you’re a good man Angel, and everyone deserves to have someone like you in their life.” She tangled her fingers in the hand he had resting on his knee, and placed her head back on his shoulder. They sat unmoving, unspeaking until the sun began to glow in the horizon.

XXX

Lorne’s eyes kept making sidelong sweeps to the teenaged girl sitting next to him. Her aura baffled him. One moment he’d be sure that he was sitting next to Buffy, until he’d glance over, and the next moment he’d be sitting next to someone completely different. It was almost like the girl’s aura was attempting to change itself.

“So sweet cakes, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?”

Dawn’s fingers traced patterns on the window. “What would you like to know?”

“Everything and anything. Why don’t you pop out a little ditty for me? Nothing boy bandy though ‘cause that stuff leaves a nasty after headache.”

Dawn laughed as she turned to face the demon sitting next to her. It never ceased to amaze her how her life-long lesson of “all demons are bad” had been completely revoked in the past year. Like with Spike. Everyone despised him because he’d apparently tried to kill them in years past, but Dawn found it easier to believe that the group made up those stories because, Spike? The first time Xander had told her about killer Spike, she’d giggled and tried to imagine the vampire who’d let her paint his nails in “Bashful Pink” just because she’d pouted her lower lip at him, would be the same vampire who held a broken bottle to Willow’s face. Not even possible. And Anya? The same Anya who taught her how to do the money dance at the close of the day at the Magic Shop, how could that woman be the same person who eviscerated men for pleasure? Again, not possible. Now there was this funny green demon sitting in the car next to her, begging her to sing songs and calling her different types of muffins.

“Can I sing to the radio?” she asked reaching for the button without waiting for a reply. The first station she hit upon was just starting Madonna’s “Ray of Light.”

“Ohh,” Lorne breathed out. “Try not to kill Maddy, okay Muffin Bran.”

Dawn wasn’t listening as she bobbed her head and swayed her body to the beat of the music.

“Zephyr in the sky at night I wonder, do my tears of morning sink beneath the sun.” Her voice cracked slightly at the raise in pitch at the next verse and Lorne inwardly cringed, but keep his fingers tapping the beat on the steering wheel. He grinned widely as she threw her arms in the air at the start of the chorus, and swayed her hair over her face.

“QUICKER THEN A RAY OF LIGHT. QUICKER THEN A RAY OF LIGHT. QUICKER THEN A RAY OF LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!”

Dawn laughed as she did her best techno dance imitation in the car. Suddenly Lorne’s entire body froze as he was assaulted with images of Dawn’s life. He slammed on the brakes, and the car skidded off the road, over the curb, and shuddered to a stop half on the sidewalk. He leaned over the steering wheel gasping for breath. Dawn’s face was a look of terror as her hands gripped the side of the door. Madonna still sang cheerfully from the stereo. “Zephyr in the sky at night-” Lorne switched the radio off.

“You okay?” Lorne turned his head, and slowly pushed back the veil of hair covering Dawn’s face. “I’m so sorry sweetie. I guess I was a little unprepared for that.” He grimaced as he watched a myriad of tears spill forth from the girl’s eyes.

“I-I didn’t mean it,” she sobbed. “I’m sorry. I always make everything such a mess.” Her voice hiccupped, and she let out a small wail.

“Hey! Hey,” Lorne crooned as he unbuckled his seatbelt and pulled Dawn against his chest. “It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay. You’ve had a bit of an…abrupt start of life but-hey who hasn’t? You didn’t hurt me, just surprised me. That was an odd thing to read. Haha, you went from nothing to fifteen, complete with full sets of memories. Just a little shock on poor old Lorne’s system.”

“Am I…Am I k-keeping Buffy’s m-memories from her by-by being here?” she sobbed against his chest.

“No, pumpkin. Actually that little part of her that’s in you, it barely exists anymore. You’re a stubborn thing, you’ve claimed that piece and changed it into your own.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means, my former little green key, that you are now a real girl. 100% all Dawn.” He grinned down at her as she lifted her face to meet his eyes. After a moment, she smiled back at him. “Alright, let’s go find Melinda. We got ourselves a slayer to heal.”

XXX

Willow pulled her car up to the Hyperion Hotel, and shuddered remembering the last time she was here. The time she had to tell Angel that Buffy had died. She remembered sitting on the round couch, hugging herself tightly, waiting for someone-anyone to show up. The emptiness had surrounded her, leaving her with nothing but vivid memories: her fingers entering Glory’s mind to suck out Tara’s essence, the power that flowed through her as she scattered the thoughtless crazies so that Spike could race up the tower and get Dawn, the cry from Xander as he watched Anya get hit, the look on Giles’ face as she caught him over Ben’s body, the portal opening above them, and Buffy. Buffy saving the day with her death. Buffy’s body landing with a sickening crunch on the pile of bricks in front of them. Giles’ carrying her body back to the house. Dawn leaning on Spike, wiping her dreaded blood on his duster, sobbing into each other. Anya poking Buffy’s body, screaming at her to get up and stop being such a sissy, slayers didn’t die from falling.

And then Angel had arrived, and she had seen the look on his face. She watched as he collapsed to his knees, but he made no sound other than to mutter out Buffy’s name. The silence in the room stretched on, and Willow had spent the time staring at the wall over the door. Cordelia had finally dragged Angel to his feet, and pulled him upstairs, leaving Willow with Wesley and some people she didn’t know. Introductions were not made. Finally, she just left the funeral information with Wesley, and had gone back to her car and driven home. No one from L.A had come to the funeral, although Xander had been convinced he’d seen Angel hiding behind a tree.

“The door’s locked,” Xander announced pulling Willow out of her memories. “I knocked, but no one answered.”


“Does anyone have a cell phone?” Tara asked. There was a collective no from the surrounding group.

“Well, now what do we do?” Anya asked. “We can’t just sit in the car until so one shows up. We’ll look like a group of psychos.”

Giles began polishing his glasses on his sweater. “Well, I suggest we find somewhere to stay until morning. I would assume they open at 9 a.m, so that should be a safe time to come back.”

“But what about Buffy and Dawn?” Xander asked.

“Well, I’m sure that where ever they are, they have already been there for, what, one or two days now? A few more hours won’t make much of a difference,” Giles said as he herded the group back to the waiting cars.

XXX
Chapter 17

Buffy made Spike stop at the bathroom on the way back to her room. For a brief moment, she thought the soup was going to make a reappearance, but luckily, nothing happened. She grudgingly allowed Spike to carry her to the bed. He made a move toward the chair after making sure she was all tucked in.

“Where are you going?” Buffy asked.

“Just gonna sit in the chair.”

“Oh.” Her eyes shifted back toward the quilt covering her.

“Wot’s wrong, luv?”

“I just-I, um…”

He nodded as he understood what she was trying to articulate, and pulled the covers back before crawling in beside her. He lay on his back and pulled her head onto his chest. A sigh escaped his lips as she snuggled into him.

“Did you know my mom?” Buffy asked suddenly.

“Yeah, great lady, yer mum.”

“Will you tell me about her?”

Spike glanced down to find Buffy peering sleepily up at him.

“ I suppose, but you need to close your eyes first.” He waited until she complied before continuing. “Firs’ time I met your mum was at your school. It was back before you and me got along so well, and…I was, er, attempting to kill you. She bashed the back of me skull in with an ax, she did. Haha, told me to ‘get the hell away from her little girl.’ You inherited her spunk, you know?” Spike paused, waiting for a reaction or a rebuttal for his admitting that he had tried to kill her, but none came. “Strong woman, your mum. Very little fazed her. She used to make me a cuppa hot chocolate with those little marshmallows in it. That was after we got along better, obviously. She always…she always treated me like I meant something, you know, always listened to me and…trusted me. Don’t know why she did, asked her once. You know what she told me? She said that there was just something about me that she liked.” He snorted here. “Can you imagine that, the slayer’s mum liking something about a soulless vampire?” He smiled again wistfully. “She reminded me of my own mum…”Spike trailed off to look down at Buffy again.

The slayer was fast asleep, her head on his chest and one hand resting on his stomach. Spike ran his fingers absentmindedly through her hair, marveling at the strands as they slide down his fingers.

XXX

It was Buffy’s moans that first woke Spike up. His shirt was soaked, and her cheeks glistened with tears. Bollocks! Wonder how long she’s been cryin’ like that.”

Buffy began to toss against him, and Spike quickly tightened his grip around her shoulders.

“Shh, luv. It’s okay. Wake up now. ‘ve got ya.”

He felt her nails rake across his chest, and Spike bit his lip when he noticed that she had scratch marks on her arms. Bloody hell, someone slip a mickey in my blood that I don’t notice she’s scratching the shite out of herself?

“Buffy, pet, you’ve got to wake up now. Yer safe. Nothin’ gonna hurt you here.” Spike sat up against the wall pulling Buffy up with him.

Her eyes popped open at the sudden movement, and she immediately stilled.

“You with me there, kitten?” Spike tried to get her attention to focus on him.

“I was there again,” she whispered. “But now I c-I can’t remember,” Buffy’s voice raised in panic.

Spike tightened his arms around her trembling body. “ ‘T’s okay. Everything’s gonna be okay.”

“Spike?” Buffy’s hands clawed for purchase against his shirt, and his neck moistened as her tears began to flow again. “Spike!”

Spike tipped his head down to meet her face.

“Why is this happening to me?” she sobbed into him. “What did I do to deserve this? I was a good girl, wasn’t I? I was-I was a good girl.”

He didn’t know what to do. Angry Buffy he could handle, Nightmare Buffy he could handle, Confused Buffy he could handle, but this-this was different. This he didn’t know how to handle.

Spike closed his eyes. “You were a good girl, luv. You were the best girl.” He rubbed his hands up and down her arms.

“I was a good girl…I was…I was a good girl…”Slowly Buffy’s sobs subsided as she fell back asleep.

“You ARE a good girl,” Spike whispered as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

XXX

Gunn was assaulted by a group of people as he arrived to unlock the doors at the Hyperion.

“Excuse me sir, we are looking for Angel. Is he around presently?” Giles asked the young man.

Gunn turned to look at the ragged group, key dangling off one finger.

“Depends on who wants to know.”

“Uh y-y-y-es, of course. Um, my name is Giles-Rupert Giles and I’m actually looking for two girls by the name of Buffy and Dawn Summers.”

“And you want Angel to help you find them?”

“W-w-well, we have reason to believe that he might actually be with them. You see, they disappeared after a visit from him.” Giles removed his glasses and began wiping them against his sweater.

“Well if I see him, I’ll be sure to relay the message.” Gunn turned to walk into the building.

“Hey, we know that Buffy’s with him.” Xander couldn’t keep the anger out of his voice. “So, why don’t you go find deadboy and tell him that we’re here to take her home.”

Gunn spun around. “I’m sorry, I don’t remember talking to you boy.”

“Who you calling boy?” Xander got up in Gunn’s face.

“Oh, I know you ain’t trying to start shit with me. Not this early in the morning.”

“Xander,” Willow put one hand on his shoulder. “Xander, come on.”

Anya walked up to Gunn as Willow pulled Xander backward.

“Hi!” Anya put on her best customer service smile and put out her hand. “I’m Anya. I’m a fellow independent business owner. I compliment you on your fine establishment.”

Gunn looked at her a moment before shaking her hand.

“So,” Anya clapped her hands together. “May I have a tour of your business, and spend time discussing ways of improving financials with you?”

Gunn cocked his eyebrow and threw a long toward the rest of the group.

“Is she for real?”

“Oh, yes,” Anya answered for herself. “I am a hundred present real business owner. See, look. I have business cards. They have my name on them.” She pulled out a stack of business cards from her purse, and handed several to him. “You can just pass those out to your friends.”

Gunn glanced down at the card, and the back up again. “Sunnydale, huh? I was warned you people might show up. Better talk to Cordelia, she’s in charge of these things.”

“Yes, we will talk to Cordelia.” Anya grabbed Xander’s hand and whispered loudly to him as they walked through the doors. “See, you just need to know how to talk to people.”

Gunn shook his head as he watched the line of people enter into the Hyperion.

XXX

Fred was sitting cross-legged on the red couch with her back to the door. She looked up as Gunn stepped in front of her.

“Morning Charles. You are not going to believe what I’ve been working on, I’ve been waiting for Wesley to show up so that I can go over these finding with him. See the blood sample that we took from B-”

“Fred!”

She jumped at the force with which Gunn said her name. He placed his hands on her shoulders and spun her around to face the group of people gathered behind her.

“Oh-Hi!” Fred waved awkwardly. “I’m Winifred, but you can just call me Fred.”

“Hello Fred! I’m Anya and this is my fiancé, Xander.” Anya stepped up to shake Fred’s hand, dragging Xander behind her. “This is Willow and Tara, and the stuffy English guy is Giles.”

“Pleased to meet y’all.” Fred giggled nervously and looked at Gunn, who shrugged.

“Don’t look at me, found ‘em waiting on the front porch.”

“Does Angel know?” Fred’s whisper was loud enough for Giles to hear.

“No, I told them I hadn’t seen him yet, but now that’s over with.”

“Oops, sorry.”

“So I take it then, that Angel is present here?” Giles pushed his glasses up his nose.

“I’m right here, Giles.” Angel walked out of a door located behind a desk. Cordelia followed him out.

“Yo Angel, man. I didn’t tell them nothing.”

“Morning all! Fred, you are not going to believe-oh!” Wesley walked in through the door and stopped at the sight of the apparent L.A. vs Sunnydale standoff.

There was an awkward silence as the two groups stared at each other.

“Mr. Giles, is there something we can do for you?” Wesley asked trying to be courteous as he walked toward the counter to set down the books he was carrying.

“Yes, Wesley. You can give me back my Slayer,” Giles answered.

“She doesn’t want to go,” Angel said.

“And who are you to make that decision?” Xander asked.

“STOP!” Cordelia held her hand up, and slowly walked between the two groups. “All of you stop.”

“You gonna stop us, Queen C?” Xander sneered.

Cordelia’s eyes snapped toward him. “Alexander Harris, you are going to stop talking and listen for two minutes of your life.”

“Hey, you can’t speak to him like that,” Anya protested. “Only I get to speak to him like that.”

Suddenly Cordelia’s face scrunched up like she was going to sneeze. Her hand reached for her forehead, and her body began to convulse.

“VISION!” Gunn yelled as Angel leapt forward to catch Cordelia as she started to fall.

“I-I’ll get some water.” Tara headed off to the water cooler in the corner of the room as the rest of the Sunnydale crowd watched the A.I. team hold down the former cheer-leader’s shaking body.

XXX
Chapter 18

Spike was still asleep when Buffy woke up, his breathing in perfect rhythm with hers. It was strange, sleeping with someone technically dead. When they first curled up, he was cold, but as the night wore on, his body warmed against hers…like sheets on the bed.

As she shifted to observe him better, he reacted by tightening his hold on her and muttering, “ ‘T’s all right, luv,” in his sleep as he rolled on his side to face her.

Buffy stilled and watched in amazement as his breathing, that had been so normal, became sporadic and sudden when his body wasn’t in such close proximity to hers. It was almost as if his body had been breathing as a comfort to her, and without her there, breathed more as an afterthought.

She ghosted her hand over the features of his face. He looked so…peaceful as he slept. It was hard to believe that this man, this vampire, lying next to her had been her mortal enemy in her earlier life. Buffy wasn’t stupid. She had read the entries in the diaries about his attempts on the lives of her and her friends. She shuddered in horror at the thought of the man she’d let share a bed with her, had once tried to rip her throat out with his fangs.

And yet, at the same time, she found it hard to believe that the person lying next to her, the person who had rescued her and held her and comforted her, was that same man. When she had looked closer into the diary entries, Buffy had almost been able to trace a tiny pattern of change in the vampire’s deeds, as he slowly went from trying to kill her to taking a beating from a Hell God to protect her sister. It had been a minute pattern, and she wondered if her former self had even been aware of it.

It was such a contrast to Angel. Angel, to whom page after page was dedicated long-winded entries, filled with flowery speech and true love promises. Buffy could see how her young self was so immediately taken by him, tall and dark and everything promised in fairy tales. Plus he had this…presence, like he filled the room just by being there. And yet, everything surrounding the two of them seemed so…dramatic, so surreal. He died and went to Hell, but came back. She died and went to Heaven and came back. They loved each other, but they couldn’t be with each other, blah, blah, blah. How Romeo and Juliet. But Romeo and Juliet never ended up together, did they? Looking at Angel…she felt…nothing. He still loved her, Buffy could tell by his eyes. They searched and searched, hoping each time for a glimmer of remembrance in hers. It made Buffy feel bad, that he held such hope when she had none. And, to be honest, if her memory returned and forced her to became that sad, broken little girl waiting for him to throw her a crumb…she’d be pissed.

Again, the two men contrasted each other. Spike’s love for her was simple, “I love you. I would do anything for you. I accept you.” While Angel’s was more “I love you, but I can’t be with you. I’m leaving you, but I don’t want you with anyone else.” Angel put her on an unreachable pedestal, Spike made her real. Angel demanded of her, Spike gave to her. Somehow, Buffy didn’t think she’d been so perceptive before she died.

Buffy sighed as she snuggled back into Spike’s arms, and felt a brief spurt of amusement as his breathing fell into sync with hers. His eyelids fluttered and opened.

Spike blinked in surprise as he opened his eyes to find Buffy’s face mere inches from his own. He still kept thinking that he was going to wake up at any moment, alone and lying in his crypt. The thought that she had turned to him for comfort above everyone else still had him reeling in shock. She had turned to him, not the Scoobies, not Nibblet, not the bloody watcher, and not- NOT the poof. Him. God, she was so close that he could almost brush her lips with his own, and he wanted to. God, how he wanted to.

“Hey,” he said softly.

“Hey, yourself.”

Spike brought up his hand to push back some of Buffy’s hair. She closed her eyes and sighed as he touched her.

“You know, a bloke could get used to this.”

“What, my hair?” she joked.

Spike shook his head and allowed his hand to stroke her cheek.

“Waking up next to someone so beautiful.”

“Stop, you’re going to make me blush,” Buffy said leaning her face into his hand.

“You’re cute when you blush, pet.”

“Spike? Can I ask you something?”

“ You can ask me anything.”

“Do you…do you wanna…kiss me?” Her eyes lowered demurely toward the comforter.

Spike’s hand tangled itself in her hair, and he slowly brought her closer. He kissed her gently at first, but as her hands lackadaisically moved up his arms, the kiss became more desperate. He had dreamed about this kiss for almost a year, a kiss given from her freely and without disgust.

Spike pulled back a little to look at Buffy’s face. Her eyes were still closed. Quickly, before she could change her mind, he trailed a row of kisses up her jaw line and down her neck, alternating between soft and breathy and hard and sucking. Buffy let out a low moan as he hit the pulse point on her neck, and fisted her hands around his shoulders. Somewhere in the back of her mind, little alarms were going off at having a vampire’s face in her neck, but Buffy ignored them. Spike just felt so good.

The door flew off the hinges, and before either could react, Spike was sent flying across the room.

XXX

“Cordy? Cordy, talk to me. What do you see?” Angel asked the still shaking girl.

“Can someone please explain what the hell just happened here?” Xander asked.

“Yes, of course.” Wesley answered. “Cordelia receives visions from the Powers That Be about future misfortunes, and then we try to advert them.”

“And these visions cause horrible, body shaking seizures?” Willow asked her eyes wide on Cordelia.

“Um, yes,” Wesley said. “Unfortunate side-effect.”

“How utterly fascinating,” Giles said. “How often is she right?”

“Oh, she’s always right.” Fred said. “And then it’s all fighting and killing and cleaning.”

“Um, killing and cleaning?” Tara asked.

“After a vision, Cordelia always goes on a dusting spree.” Fred answered.

“Oh,” was Tara’s response.

“How long has she had these visions?” Anya asked.

“Two years maybe,” Wesley guessed. “Why do you ask?”

“It’s just that I’ve never seen a human have visions like that without getting the back of their head blown out.”

“ANYA!” Xander exclaimed at the same time Gunn asked, “You mean these visions are going blow out the back of Cordy’s head?”

“Buffy!” Cordelia’s eyes finally flew open and her body stopped shaking. She covered her eyes with her hand to shield out the light.

“What about Buffy?” Angel urged.

“She’s fighting…she’s afraid…”

“What is she fighting?” Angel asked.

“I don’t know…I can’t see it…Spike’s there…he’s all fanged face…”

“Where Cordy? I need you to tell me where.”

Cordelia closed her eyes and scrunched her face up.

“I-I don’t know. I’m sorry Angel, I don’t know.”

“Shh, it’s okay. Rest now, I’ll take care of it.” Angel motioned toward Willow and Tara to take care of Cordelia.

He walked up to Anya and grabbed her by the elbow, pulling her off to the side.

“Hey!” She snapped. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Angel spun around to face her.

“You are going to tell me everything you know about those visions.” He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her.

Anya sighed and made a futile wave in the air with her arm.

“Look I don’t know much. I was doing vengeance on this guy in colonial America back in the 1600s, when I heard about this girl who had visions of the future. The colonists thought she was a witch, and they were going to burn her, but before they could she had this huge vision-all twitching and convulsing with the screaming and eyes rolling back her head-when suddenly the back of her just blows out.”

Xander had walked up to them mid-explanation, and made a grimacing noise at the last part of Anya’s story.

“You’re telling me.” Anya snorted. “I was standing behind her at the time. Do you know how long it took to get the stains out of my clothes?”

Angel leaned forward into Anya’s face. “You’re telling me that those visions are going to knock the back of Cordy’s brain out of her skull?”

“Well, yeah. I mean the headaches alone…”

“Headaches, what headaches?” Angel looked over at Wesley.

“She’s never made mention to me about any headaches, just a little after vision sluggishness that usually resolves itself after we save the person.”

Fred stepped up to them and raised her hand. “Um, now that you mention it. That kinda makes sense. I mean, those convulsions do rattle her brain around a bit. I could definitely see a concussion being possible.”

“Perhaps we could research into this a bit. Find out if there’s something we can do for her,” Giles mused thoughtfully.

“Uh, Hell-o!” Cordeila weakly sat up. “Not that I’m all un-happy girl that you guys are discussing me, but the words Buffy, Spike, and in trouble just passed out of my lips. Shouldn’t you people be a little more worried?”

“Buffy.” A strange look crossed over Angel’s face, and he suddenly took off up the staircase.

XXX

Chapter 19

If he’s touched so much as a hair on her goddamn head, I’ll stake him. No! I’ll kick the living crap out of him, then I’ll stake him. I’ll torture him with crosses and fucking holy water. So help me, if he’s hurt her.

Angel was almost growling as he rounded the corner to the door of Buffy’s room. That’s when he heard it; her accelerated heart rate, her quickened breathing. Angel felt his demon face slide forth as he reached the door. Without hesitating, he kicked the door clean off the hinges. That’s when he saw. Buffy’s head tilted off to the side, Spike’s face buried in the crook of her neck, her arms scratched and clutching at his shoulders. His reaction was pure instinct.

With a snarl, Angel crossed over, seized Spike by the back of his neck and tossed him across the room. Spike hit the wall, cracking the plaster, and fell to the floor on his face. Angel ignored Buffy’s scream as he picked Spike up by the back of the neck again, and threw him to the other side of the room. Spike landed on his back this time, and managed to prop himself up on his elbows as Angel came at him again.

“Problem, Angelus?” he sneered in full vamp face as he brought up his leg to kick Angel away from him.

Angel stumbled backwards but didn’t fall. His hesitation allowed Spike to stand himself up, and counter Angel with a right hook to the jaw.

“STOP!” Buffy called out from the bed. Both vampires ignored her.

“I knew you couldn’t be trusted.” Angel managed to get a hit into Spike’s nose.

“Trusted to do what?” Spike wiped the blood off with the back of his hand, and hit Angel back in the stomach.

“Couldn’t resist that third slayer notch in your belt, could ya?” Angel’s head bounced back as Spike’s fist connected.

“What the bloody hell are you talking about Peaches?” Spike delivered a side-kick to Angel’s stomach that knocked him through the broken door and into the hallway. Spike followed the kick through by tackling Angel back into the wall when he had tried to stand up.

Buffy yanked the covers off the bed, and bolted to stand between the two vampires. She moved faster than either expected her too, and Angel couldn’t stop the punch he had started to throw. He hit her square on the jaw, slamming her backward into Spike’s chest.

Her reaction surprised her. Buffy stood up and gave Angel a right hook that sent him careening into the wall, sending a cascade of plastering raining down. She stood there shocked as the entire group of people came rushing upstairs to see what the commotion was.

“How-how did I…? I didn’t mean to…?” Buffy’s eyes were wide with shock as she watched Angel slowly get up and brush himself off.

Spike came up behind her and placed his hands reassuringly on her arms.

“It’s alright, luv. Slayer’s have extra strength, remember? To help with the killings of big bads. Didn’t hurt ‘im, much the pity. ”

“What the hell did you do to him?” Cordelia faced off with Buffy accusingly. “He came up here to help you, and this is how you repay him?”

Buffy’s eyes slide from Cordelia to the group from Sunnydale standing behind her.

“I-I didn’t mean to…I just wanted them to stop…”

“Stop what?” Cordelia crossed her arms over her chest.

“Spike was trying to drink from her.” Angel glared at Spike over Cordelia’s shoulder.

“I wasn’t trying to drink from her you foreheaded freak.” Spike glared back over Buffy’s shoulder.

“I SAW you!” Angel started to move toward him.

“Prove it!” Spike leaned forward.

“Stop!” Buffy held her hand up. “Look, Spike wasn’t trying to feed from me or hurt me or harm me in any way, alright?”

Angel looked down at Buffy with hurt gleaming in his eyes. “But I saw him with his face buried in your neck.”

“What was Spike doing with his face in your neck?” Xander asked as the red creeped into Buffy’s cheeks. “Oh!” He started to say something else when Willow interrupted him.

“Xander,” Willow hissed. “We agreed no judging, remember?”

“I don’t remember agreeing to letting Spike suck on her neck,” Xander hissed back.

“Wot are you lot doin’ here anyway?” Spike asked, allowing his glare to shift from Angel to the Scoobies.

“We came looking for Buffy and Dawn, of course.” Giles elbowed his way to the front of the group. “Hello, Buffy.” He smiled fondly at her, and started to move toward her. Sadness clouded his eyes as she backed away from him. “Oh, I forgot that you don’t remember me. My name is Rupert Giles. I was, er, am your watcher.”

“Perhaps some tea is what everyone needs,” Wesley spoke up from the back of the group. “Why don’t we let Spike and Buffy, er, freshen up, and we’ll all move back downstairs and have tea.”

“Yes, tea sounds good,” Giles agreed turning to shoo the group down the stairs.

“Yes, cause tea is the English cure for everything,” Willow muttered as she moved down the hallway. “It’s like, ‘hey your toe fell off- have some tea.’”

Tara took Willow’s hand in hers, “I think they drink scotch in the case of missing toe.” And the two girls smiled at each other.

Cordelia lightly took Angel by the arm.

“Come on,” she said softly. “This wasn’t my vision. I don’t think he’s going to harm her.”

Angel allowed Cordelia to lead him down the hallway, but his glare never left Spike’s eyes.


XXX

“Wake up munchkin pie, we’re here.”

Dawn groggily opened her eyes and sat up, ignoring the crick in her neck as she took in her surroundings.

“Are we still in L.A.?” she asked wiping the corner of her mouth with her sleeve.

“Not exactly, more like a suburb if you will.” Lorne replied, running his head over the back of his head.

Dawn stepped out of the car and slowly turned around to get a better look. In front of them was a large almost castle-like mansion set back in behind a fortress of trees. A dirt path wove its way through lush gardens past a fountain and to the main entrance of the house.

“Wow! Just…wow! How does no one know about this?” Dawn asked as she followed Lorne up the path.

“Magic, sweat pea, magic. Now, uh, don’t mind Minda, she’s a tad…odd.” Lorne knocked on the front door, and it opened to reveal a girl barely older than Dawn.

“Hi there cutie. We’re here to see Melinda, she available?”

“The Goddess is in mediation, would you like to wait in the tea room?” The girl blinked at Lorne from behind her dark bangs.

“Yeah, sure. Tea sounds good. Don’t suppose you could rouse up something to eat? Muffin here and I are a bit hungry.”

The girl nodded and beckoned for them to follow her. She led them down a long hall richly decorated in various oriental rugs, and gold-framed portraits. Dawn opened her eyes as wide as possible to take in everything at once: the wood floor, the spiraling staircases, the random books left carelessly lying on tables (books that she was sure Giles would have a heart-attack if he saw), and the large bay windows. She tried to peep in each doorway as they passed: a library, a room of deity statues, a room filled with some type of scientific research looking stuff, and an astrology room of sorts.

Finally the girl paused outside of what could only be the tearoom, and ushered them in. The room was filled with squishy chairs and sofas. In the center was a round table already laid with a handsome tea set and some finger sandwiches.

“Please make yourself comfortable. Let us know if you need anything.”

Lorne and Dawn sat down at the small table and made quick work of the sandwiches. Right as they finished, the door opened again and Dawn gasped at the woman that entered the room. She was tall, almost six feet, with long white hair that cascaded down her back in soft curls. Her dress, also white, was floor length, and she almost seemed to glide rather than walk.

“Lorne, how lovely it is to see you again.” The woman lightly kissed Lorne on the cheek before she turned to face Dawn. “What a delightful young girl you have brought to see me. Pray child, what is your name?”

“D-Dawn Summers.”

“Dawn, what a superb name for a girl like you. I am so glad that you’re mother didn’t give an unfittingly plain name like Jenny or Sarah. One meets far too many girls with those names. We have six Jenny’s and three Sarah’s here right now. It is much too confusing to keep them all straight.”

The woman sat down majestically at the table and poured herself a cup of tea before continuing.

“My mother named me Melinda, and I think that it suits me perfectly. Although, I used to want to be called Chalindria, but I’m glad that name never took. I would make a dreadful Chalindria, don’t you think?”

“I think that you would have been perfect no matter what your name is, Minda. Not to press matters, but we’ve got a major problem with some big time uncontrolled mojo.” Lorne leaned his elbows on the table. “Seems someone we know did a reanimation spell.”

Melinda looked shocked.

“A reanimation spell? But who would dare? It’s been outlawed for almost a century…did it work?”

Dawn spoke softly.“It-the spell brought back my sister, but she can’t remember anything.”

Melinda sighed.

“That is why the spell was outlawed. It’s too complicated for even the highest of priestesses. Too many factors, too many places for souls to go… Tell me about your sister. She didn’t come back a zombie, did she?”

Lorne shook his head.

“No, her friend is a powerful witch. Probably the most powerful, untrained witch I’ve ever come across. This girl got a bit of schooling and a giant size suitcase of control, she might rival you, Minda.”

“Hmm, tell me more about the sister. Does she have full motor control?”

“Full what?” Dawn asked.

Melinda looked at her.

“Full motor control. Is she functioning like a normal person?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“And her higher brain functions. Can she process thought?”

“Yeah, she’s just like she always was…just without any memories of who she is or who everyone else is.”

“Told ya, Minda. Girl’s got power flowin’ through her…Just one more thing we need to mention. The little munchkin that’s been brought back from demise is the Slayer.”

“THE SLAYER!?” Melinda suddenly got a look of understanding on her face. “OH! The last slayer to die, the one that defeated Glorificus, she had a friend who dabbled in witchcraft, didn’t she? I had heard rumors of a growing power over there, but I try never to pay attention to rumors. I should have guessed something amiss when you walked in here with a transdimensional key with you.”

It was Dawn’s turn to be surprised.

“Y-you know that I was a key?”

“You still are sweetheart, and you are the most well constructed one that I have ever met. You have powers that you have yet to imagine. If you like, you may enter into an apprenticeship with other girls like you. I think there is a girl with transdimensional powers at our school in Egypt.” Melinda paused for a moment, studying Dawn. “First and foremost, however, I should like to meet this witch and your sister. I assume this is why you came Lorne?”

“You hit the nail on the head, Goddess. She’s staying with some friends of mine in L.A.”

“Is it the vampire with a soul? I’ve been dying to meet him. I heard that he actually got the oracles to turn back time. I’ve been trying to get them to do that ever since Elvis died. I had tickets to see him perform that week, and do you know that they wouldn’t refund me?”

“Now that is a travesty Minda. I’m gonna catch a few zzzz’s while you pack if you don’t mind. That drive is worse than sitting through a Ben Affleck movie, the only good part is the ending.”

“Of course. I will have one of the girl’s show you to a room.”

XXX
Chapter 20

Buffy stood in the hallway watching Cordelia lead Angel away. She was in shock. There had been mention in the diaries of additional strength, and then there was that incident with the dresser, but to send a grown man who outweighed by at least a hundred pounds flying across the room hard enough to dent the wall…It made her mind reel.

“You alright, luv?” Spike asked, rubbing soothing circles with his thumbs on her shoulders.

Buffy found herself leaning backwards into him as she brought her arms up to circle her waist. Why did she feel so safe with him, so strong?

“Yeah, I’m just confused girl here, I guess…”Buffy trailed off when she noticed the marks on her arms.

Spike allowed his hands to run down over her arms, covering the scratches from her view.

“Bad dreams, Slayer. Nothing more. They’ll heal.”

“Spike?” Buffy asked as Spike led her back into her room. “Why did they follow us? What do they want from me?”

Spike sighed as he propped the broken door over the opening to give them privacy.

“Because it’s what they do. They don’t know anything else. You lead, they follow.”

“But I don’t know if I can anymore. That’s not me! I don’t think I can be that person.”

“Look, I admit that I dislike your friends in an ‘I wish they’d drop dead’ sort of way, but they only want what’s best for you…and I can’t believe I said that. Christ, I sound like a ponce. Forget that. Scratch the whole thing. You wanna leave, we’ll go. Just say the word, and you, me, and Nibblet are gone.”

“Where would we go?” Buffy sat down on the bed.

“Anywhere we want.” Spike said crouching in front of her. “You wanna go to Paris, I’ll take you to Paris. You wanna see the Parthenon, I’ll take you to Greece. You get an itch for some bloody pasta, I’ll take you to Italy. We’ll travel ‘round the world, just the three of us.”

Buffy smiled at him. “And how would we do that?”

“Leave that to me. Been doing this since before you were born.” Spike took her hands in his. “I won’t let anyone hurt you, Buffy. I‘d dust first, want you to know that, but I won’t force you to do anything that you don’t want to either. Just let me be here for you, let me love you. ‘T’s all I want, all I ever wanted.”

“Spike…can you just hold me for awhile? I don’t want to face them yet.”

“Anything, pet,” Spike said, and he climbed into the bed with her, pulling her into the folds of his arms.

He stroked her hair once she had settled.

“Buffy,” he said slowly, “I think that we need to train you up a bit.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, pulling back from him slightly.

Spike resisted the temptation to tighten his grip and pull her closer. She had pushed everyone else away; he had to let her come to him.

“Just mean that it’s okay to let loose on me and the giant broody one, we can take it, but if you were to accidentally use Slayer strength on lil’ bit…best just to teach you to control it.”

“Oh,” Buffy said leaning back into him. “Spike? Why do you care so much about my sister?”

He thought about this for a moment. He could tell her that it was because of the promise that he’d made her, but that wasn’t the whole truth anymore. Best to go with the truth.

“Because…she’s my family…she’s all I got…and I ‘spose that I’m all she’s got too…or I was ‘til you came back.”

Buffy looked up at him.

“Am I your family too?” Her voice was barely a whisper.

“If you want to be.” Spike held his unneeded breath. This was the moment, the moment in which her one little answer would either bind him to her forever, or shatter him. He squeezed his eyes together tightly.

“I do.”

Two little words were all it took. He belonged to her.

XXX

“So…you’re saying that’s not Buffy?” Xander frowned.

“No, well, it is and it isn’t.” Wesley had been trying to explain to the Sunnydale group the predicament they were in.

“I gave Buffy cancer…and ripped her out of Heaven…and took her memories…Oh goddess, what have I done?” Willow leaned into Tara as the tears streamed down her face.

“Yes, what have you done?” Anya stared hard at Willow.

“Hey,” Tara glared at Anya. “This isn’t all her fault. You helped get the ingredients, or did you forget?

“Wait, Buffy has cancer?” Xander was thoroughly confused.

“No, it’s like cancer, but it’s not. Don’t you listen?” Cordelia snapped at him. She had a pounding headache.

“Sooo, she doesn’t have cancer?” Xander asked.

“I can’t believe you did a reanimation spell, Willow. What were you thinking?” Giles was polishing his glasses so hard they were about to break. “Foolish girl. Here I was thinking it was bad enough to use the Urn of Osiris, but you had to go above and beyond that, didn’t you?”

“I THOUGHT I WAS HELPING!” Willow cried.

“BUT YOU DIDN’T THINK, DID YOU? THAT’S THE WHOLE POINT!” Giles yelled.

Fred tried to intervene.

“I don’t think there’s any cause to be yellin’ at each other, least not until Lorne comes back with his friend.”

“Who the devil is Lorne, and why should we care about his damn friend?” Giles turned to Fred angrily.

“Hey man, don’t be getting all harsh with her. She didn’t do nothing.” Gunn squared off at Giles.

“HEY!” Angel raised his voice to be heard over the racket. “I think we all just need to calm down a bit here.”

Gunn and Giles didn’t move from their spots.

“I said,” Angel stepped up to the two, “calm down.”

“Calming down here, bro. We cool, ain’t we?” Gunn jutted his face out at Giles on the last bit.

“Yes, indeed we are ‘all cool.’” Giles backed away from Gunn without blinking.

“Good,” Angel said. “Now, everyone sit down. We have several things we need to figure out. The first being Buffy’s memory, which, hopefully, Lorne’s coven friend will be able to help out with. The second is Cordy’s vision. Is there anything else you can tell us about it?”

Cordelia closed her eyes, and tried to re-visualize the vision.

“No,” she sighed. “I see Buffy fighting, and I can feel that she’s afraid. I can see Spike all ‘grr’ face, but I can’t tell if they’re fighting each other or something else.”

“And you can’t tell where they are?” Giles asked.

Cordelia shook her head.

“Well that’s not a whole lot to work on,” Wesley sighed.

“I don’t care. Get on it.” Angel suddenly looked up as something got his attention.

The entire group joined him in turning their heads one by one to the staircase where Buffy was slowly following Spike down the stairs. Spike stopped a little away from the group, and Buffy shadowed behind him. The air in the room grew thick as people shifted uncomfortably around without saying anything.

“So,” Spike finally broke the silence. “You lot just had to come ‘round and see what was up, didn’t you?”

“We just wanted to make sure she was okay,” Willow said.

“ ‘Course she was okay, she was with me,” Spike stated.

“Right, because being with you is so safe. If you didn’t have that chip in your head, she’d be one drained slayer,” Xander sneered.

“Watch your mouth, whelp.”

“Don’t talk to him like that,” Anya stepped up behind Xander. “He’s just concerned. We all are concerned about Buffy and Dawn. You didn’t leave a very good note. It wasn’t nice just to take off like that. We were all worried. Willow made me lose money at the shop because of it.”

“And I don’t see how that’s my problem,” Spike sneered.

“Because you had no right take off with Buffy and Dawn and think that we wouldn’t worry,” Willow said. “That wasn’t fair to us.”

“Because what you did was so right? Sorry, Red, but I think you lost preaching rights awhile back.”

“H-he, we left because I asked too.” Buffy finally spoke up as she stepped up beside Spike.

“Why did you want to leave, Buffy?” Giles asked.

“Because…I was confused, I guess. I just-everyone seem to expect so much, and I-it was too much.”

“What confused you?” Giles spoke softly hoping that his tone would bring a level of trust to her.

“I read my diaries. At least, I’m guessing they were my diaries, they were in the room that everyone said was mine. And, it was so…I mean, how often do you find out that demons and vampires are not only real, but it’s your sworn duty to protect humanity from them? And it was all…I mean, the digging myself out of the grave…and the nightmares…and the vampires…and the slaying…it was a lot…to think about at once.”

“Why didn’t you ask one of us for help? We’re your best friends.” Willow’s voice implored at her.

“I don’t know. You guys were so proud that you had done that spell, and it was awful to know that it was your fault that I woke up buried alive…I WAS BURIED ALIVE! DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?” Buffy’s voice rose into hysterics. “DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE TO HAVE TO DIG YOUR WAY OUT OF YOUR OWN GRAVE? AND NOT KNOW WHY YOU’RE THERE? I thought I was evil. I-” her voice hitched a moment, and Spike leaned toward her, arms crossed protectively.

“Oh, Buffy. You have no idea how sorry we-I am.” Willow’s cheeks were wet with her tears. “We thought we were helping.”

“I know that deep down you meant really well, but what you did…I was sick because of your spell, I have no memories of my life because I don’t exist anymore-”

“You exist, Buffy.” Angel started to walk toward her, but was stopped by Cordelia’s hand.

“Not technically, I don’t.” Buffy retorted. “Technically, I’m a reanimated corpse. Just a hollow shell of another person. And you don’t get that. None of you get that.”

“And Spike gets it?” Xander asked.

“No, I don’t think he does either, but he doesn’t expect anything of me. He accepts me, he wants to help me-”

“We want to help you too,” Willow interrupted.

“No, you want to push me. You want me to slay your demons, and protect your Hellmouth, but what about what I want, what I need?”

“What do you need, Buffy?” Giles asked.

Buffy paused a moment, slightly taken aback. “I don’t know what I need. I just know I need to find it.”

“And you just want us to sit back, and watch you run off with Spike?” Angel’s mouth was a thin line.

“She can bloody well ‘run off’ with whomever she pleases,” Spike snapped.

Angel closed the gap between him and Spike until they were standing chest to chest.

“Over my dead body.”

“Good thing you’re already dead then, innit?” Spike smirked at him.

“Spike,” Buffy laid a hand on his arm. “Let’s go train. I want to get out of here.”

“Alright, luv.” Spike’s eyes remained pinned on Angel’s. “’M sure Peaches has a lovely training room we can use, don’t you?”

Spike backed up away from Angel, neither blinking. “Let’s go and have a look see. I would guess…lower level?” He cocked an eyebrow at the other vampire, and in a twirl of duster, grabbed Buffy and walked out.

Tara cleared her throat.

“Um, I think that could have gone better…don’t you?” She looked at the miserable faces around her.

“Well, that was the understatement of the year,” Cordelia muttered as she hurried after the fuming Angel.

Wesley clapped his hands together, and rubbed them fiercely.

“So, I’ll make tea then.”

XXX

Chapter 21

Spike and Buffy found a small training room on the lower level of the hotel, right where Spike thought it would be.

“So, um, how do we start this?” Buffy asked nervously as she pulled her hair into a makeshift ponytail.

Spike tilted his head at her.

“What are you doing, luv?”

“Uh, getting ready to train, right?” She looked confused.

“It’s just, ‘ve never seen you pull your hair into one of those squishy things to fight before?” He gestured at the scrunchie being wrapped around her hair.

“Why would I want to fight with my hair down? That would be stupid. I’d lose because my hair would all fall into my face and block my vision.” Buffy laughed. “I’d be a ‘Cousin It’ slayer.”

“But it makes you look all sexy like, with your hair swinging ‘round your face.”

“Yeah, cause in a fight to the death with demony things, I really care about looking ‘all sexy like.’” Buffy laughed harder. “Now, we gonna do this or what?”

“Oh, we’re gonna do this, alright.” Spike slowly began circling her.

“Hey, what are you doing? I thought we were going to train.”

“Slayer bit of you ‘s still in there. Should be natural.” His fist shot out toward her face, and instinctively Buffy blocked it. “See?”

Buffy imitated his fighting stance and began to circle with him. The next time his fist shot out, she blocked and countered with a sidekick to his stomach.

“Oh!” She called out as Spike flew backwards to the floor.

“S’all right, not gonna hurt me, remember?” Spike said as he picked himself up, and moved right back into his stance.

Buffy hesitated a second, and Spike rushed her. At the last moment, Buffy dropped to the floor and used his momentum to flip him over her back. She quickly spun around, and made a quick jerking motion toward his heart.

“I would have staked you,” she announced proudly, helping him to his feet.

“That you would have, pet. Told you it was natural. Wanna go again?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Good, let’s try weapons.” Spike spotted two swords in the corner of the room.

“W-weapons?” Buffy asked. “Can’t we just stick to hand to hand combat? I like that, I’m good at that.”

“Nope.” Spike smiled as he handed her a sword. “What if I was a big, bad Koltra demon? You can only kill them by decapitation. Can’t really stake their heads off now, can you?”

He held his sword out, and waited for her to mimic him. One second went by, then two. On the third second, Spike lunged at her and missed. Just like the hand-to-hand combat, the Slayer innately remembered how to sword fight. She was a vision in front of him, all grace and skill, her ponytail swinging wildly behind her. Spike watched as she twirled to counter his movement, and he couldn’t help himself.

Dropping his sword, his hand grabbed her around the waist and yanked her toward him. She didn’t resist as he searched her eyes for permission before leaning down and claiming her lips for his own. There was a clatter as Buffy dropped her sword, and snaked her arms around his neck. Spike’s knees weakened as she opened her mouth against his to deepen the kiss, and he reacted by pulling her closer to him.

“Tell me that you love me,” she whispered as she kissed her way up to his ear.

“God luv, you know I do,” he moaned.

“Tell me why,” she implored as his mouth found her neck.

“’Cause you’re strong…and you’re smart…and you’re b-” he let out another moan as Buffy lightly bit down on his neck. “Christ, you’re bloody gorgeous.” Spike pulled back and forced her to meet his eyes. “I love you…for all the things you were, all the things you are, and all the things you will be. You are one hell of a woman, Buffy Anne Summers.”

Buffy smiled at him as Spike gently put his hands on her face and kissed her with more passion that she’d ever known was capable.

XXX
“HEY-giant group of people that weren’t here when we left.” Lorne’s normal entrance into the hotel fell short. “Well aren’t you the grumpy group?”

He was met with various gazes ranging from relief to anger to confusion as the group in question stared back at him.

“Dawn? Oh, Dawn, we were so worried,” Tara spotted Dawn hiding behind Lorne. She started to rush up toward the teenager, but stopped short mid-way at the sight of Melinda. “Oh…goddess!”

“What a delightful white witch!” Melinda exclaimed as she glided over to Tara. “Little power, but wonderful balance. What is your name little, white witch?”

“T-t-tara.”

Melinda turned to glance at each of the other people in the room.

“Oh, Lorne. What a fabulous group of people you have brought me to meet. I can just feel the power and strength that radiates from them. Oh, I love them all already.” Melinda clapped her hands together suddenly looking like a small child. She rushed up to Willow and grabbed hold of the girl’s hands. “The red witch. Yes, I can feel your power emanating: strong, intoxicating, and swirling all around your insides. You have no balance in your power, and it controls you as opposed to you controlling it. What is your name?”

“Willow.”

“Willow,” Melinda breathed the name out. “Willow, Willow, Willow tree comes along and plays with me. Do you know that song? Oh, no one does these days. Shame. I so like that song as a child…but well, I’ve probably aged myself although only the former vengeance demon would know.”

“How old are you?” Willow found the courage to ask.

Melinda smiled.

“I am older than all of you put together.”

“I-I t-t-thought y-y-ou w-were a coven head?” Tara stuttered.

Melinda smiled again.

“I am the leader of a coven the way a god is the leader of his temple.” With a shrug of her shoulders, Melinda playfully tapped Willow on the nose. “Well, Willow, my tree. You shall have to come along and train with me.” She laughed at her own rhyme before moving on to the rest of the group. Walking quickly, she passed Giles and Xander to pause at Anya.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Anya insisted. “Former vengeance demon, emphasis on the former.”

“I know. I just can’t believe how different you’ve become. It’s like I always say, no matter how old we get, we are ever changing.”

Melinda moved on, walking past Gunn and Wesley to stop at Fred.

“You darling thing, I wish I could tell you that everything will get better, but you’ve never really left your Hell dimension. You’ve merely traded one for another. Remember that curiosity killed the cat.”

“What?” Fred looked at her quizzically, but Melinda had already moved past Giles to stop at Cordelia.

“My little seer,” she put her hands on Cordelia’s head. “So much pain that you didn’t ask for.”

Cordelia jerked her head away.

“We help people, it’s worth the pain.”

“So you like your visions?”

“Who wouldn’t like convulsing helplessly on the floor while being racked by skull splitting pain?” Cordelia asked sarcastically. “That’s not the point. The point is helping other people. My own comfort is a small price to pay.”

Melinda smiled widely.

“I am so glad that you said that.” She placed her hands back onto Cordelia’s head and whispered something in another language.

A pale mist blew out of Melinda’s mouth, enveloping Cordelia’s body. The mist circled around Cordelia and lifted her into the air briefly before she floated back down slowly, and the mist disappeared into a white glow in Cody’s eyes.

“What did you do?” Angel demanded stepping between the seer and the Goddess.

“The vampire with a soul! Oh, I’ve been dying to meet you! I hear you have a pivotal role in the apocalypse. Aren’t you excited?”

“What the hell did you just do to her?” Angel repeated, crossing his arms.

“Angel, it-it’s okay. I think, I feel better,” Cordelia placed a hand on his arm.

Melinda stepped closer to Angel.

“I took away her pain,” she whispered. “Her visions will never hurt her again.”

“Thank you,” Cordelia breathed as Angel turned around to look at her, as if he could visual see that Melinda hadn’t hurt her.

“Oh!” Melinda squeaked, “You two are just so cute.”

She spun around back to Lorne and Dawn.

“Now, where is the Slayer?” Melinda was suddenly all business. “Willow tree, come here. You are going to go over the entire spell as you preformed it.”

“Buffy’s downstairs training with Spike,” Giles offered.

“I’ll go get them.” Dawn was running through the lobby before anyone else could say a word. She paused at the hallway, and turned around. “Er, where is the training room?”

“Downstairs.” Fred answered. “I could show you…if you want.”

Dawn was already gone.

XXX

The sound of someone clearing their throat startled Spike and Buffy, and their kiss ended abruptly as their heads swiveled toward the sound.

“We’re back!” Dawn said brightly, trying to stifle the emotions battling through her brain. She had wanted Buffy to like Spike, just like him as a brother or trusted friend, same as her, and she wasn’t sure how the scene in front of her made her feel.

“Um, right.” If Spike could have blushed, he would have been bright red. He pulled out of Buffy’s embrace, and turned to face Dawn, hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans. “Just, er, training here. All about the training for, er, fighting the big bads and stuff, right Slayer?”

“Training, right.” Buffy linked her hands behind her back, and subconsciously ground her toe into the floor. “So, how was the trip? Lorne bring his friend back?”

“Yeah, she’s upstairs with everyone else. I was sent to get you guys from your, er, training session. Is that a new technique I don’t know yet? What do you call that, the tongue attack? Must scare the crap out of demons. Ooh! Beware the slayer’s tongue.” Dawn struggled to keep a straight face as Buffy turned redder and redder.

“Oi! Just so you know, Bit, I ever, ever, catch you using that technique on someone, and I’ll rip their head off their shoulders and-”

“Yeah, yeah, drink from their brain stem. Heard this speech before.” Dawn muttered as she turned and headed up the stairs, Buffy and Spike right on her heels.

XXX

“Alright, Willow tree and Tara please step forward into the circle.”

The two mentioned stepped into the blue chalk circle that Melinda had drawn on the floor.

“Please form a triangle with me. Yes, just like that. Now everyone else, please form the circle around us. Thank you. Now, Tara, you are going to act as a grounding device to this spell. I am going to attempt to see into Willow tree’s mind so that I may understand how she managed the reanimation spell. Everyone else, you are the barrier circle. The circle must not be broken or the power will spill out. Understand? Good.”

Melinda raised her hands into the air and began chanting. A red swirl began to circle the three women, and each of them began to glow a different color light. Melinda glowed white, Tara blue, and Willow turned black. The chanting grew louder, the red swirled faster, and the black from Willow began to spread. From the red swirl, a shadow began to take shape. When the shape was half formed, Melinda shouted, “ENOUGH!”

Willow and Tara fell gasping to the floor.

“Minda, what was that?” Lorne asked.

“I’m afraid,” Melinda said turning to the group. “That your Slayer is only the beginning of your problems.”

XXX

Chapter 22

(AUTHOR’S NOTE! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS RELIGIOUS CONOTATION THAT MAY BE CONSIDERED OFFENSIVE TO SOME PEOPLE. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS MERELY MEANT TO BE COMICAL AND IN NO WAY MEANT TO SHOW DISRESPECT TO ANY OF MY MORE RELIGIOUS READERS…if there are any…religious people, not readers…oh, I should stop now. Just read the chapter.)

Spike led the two girls up the stairs and into the lobby. Even though Dawn had already been with the witch for hours, he insisted that he see her first. Magic wasn’t anything good. He didn’t trust anyone who used it, and from what Dawn said, this bint was more powerful than three of Red.

The group was still standing in the remains of the circle when the trio entered the lobby. Most were staring open mouthed at Melinda, waiting for her to continue. Melinda, however, had eyes only for Spike.

“Rogue,” she whispered as she approached him.

“Wot’s that?” Spike eyed her wearily as he shifted to further block Dawn and Buffy from her.

“You are the rogue,” Melinda said, breaking into a wide grin. “You are the wild card I have been seeing. Vampire with no soul.”

“Yeah, that’s right. No soul. Don’t want one either.” Spike started to back up into the girls.

“Why are you here, rogue vampire? What is your purpose?”

“Don’t need a purpose. Just need to be here.”

“With your family?” Melinda’s questioned surprised Spike.

“Yeah,” he answered.

“And do you love your family, soulless one? Would you protect your family for eternity? Would you die for them?”

“’D dust for them. Don’t need a soul to love. Wish you wankers would get that through your thick skulls,” Spike said through clenched teeth as he leaned toward the witch.

“Good.” Melinda whispered as she placed an index finger on his forehead, and shoved him away from her.

Spike stared at her in surprise. He’d felt a little jolt when her finger pushed his head back, and he was almost positive he’d heard her voice in his head telling him, “This is our little secret.” Shakily, he ran his fingers through his hair. Something had just happened here, and Spike wasn’t sure what it was.

“Ruffles have ridges no more,” Melinda laughed as she walked around him.

Ruffles have ridges no more? Spike thought to himself. Something about that line, something familiar. Drusilla. The potato chip commercial that she’d insisted on repeating a hundred times a day so that she could roll her r’s. Potato chips have ridges no more? What the bloody hell did that mean. Okay, think outside the box Spike my boy. Little riddle. Like Dru talk. Potato chips, er, not sure what that means. Um, ridges…Dawn always calls me vamp face the ridged face…Er, potato chips vampire no more. Spike’s eyes grew wide, and he spun around to look at the witch. Chip is no more. Chip is no more. Chip is no more. It echoed throughout his head.

Spike suddenly reached out and grabbed Melinda around the waist. With a cry, he swung her around full circle before setting her back down. Angel started to move forward, but stopped at Melinda’s reaction. The woman had squealed like a schoolgirl when Spike grabbed her, but was laughing so hard that tears ran down her face by the time he put her down.

“What do you mean that Spike’s a wild card?” Angel asked.

“Not a wild card anymore,” Melinda answered. “He has chosen his path.”

“Is this something the whole class should know?” Xander piped up.

Melinda shook her head.

“His path is only the business of himself…and his family.”

“And just who is this family?” Giles asked.

Melinda turned her back on the group, and grabbed Buffy’s hand.

“Hello, Slayer. We have much to talk about, I think.”

“Buffy. Her name is Buffy,” Dawn said, moving to stand next to her sister.

“Buffy,” Melinda breathed. “Hmm, I do wonder what your mother was thinking with that name. Come child, let me see you.”

Melinda took a step back, holding both of Buffy’s arms out in front of her, and proceeded to look her up and down. Buffy shifted uncomfortably under her gaze, and immediately crossed her arms over her chest the second Melinda released her grasp. She continued to stare at the ground while Melinda slowly circled the Slayer.

“Well, Willow tree,” Melinda said, breaking her silence. “Your spell was nearly perfect. Buffy is, for all intent purposes, a complete person.”

“What do you mean ‘all intent purposes?’” Wesley inquired. “And what about her memories?”

“Oh, her memories are gone. They can never be returned to her, it’s not in the spell to do that, but she has a new lease on life. Buffy can completely remake herself…without any of her previous misgivings. The Slayer side is still there, but she is no longer the ‘Chosen One.’ She can live her life as she wishes.” Melinda had thrown a sly smile to Spike at the term “previous misgivings,” and he found that little whisper of hope that had been building in his stomach begin to fester and jump at her words.

“There is, however, one little issue. I said your spell was nearly perfect. It is the nearly part that has some horrific consequences. Your unfortunate mispronunciation of the word dieteitneranta, the accent being on the ‘i’ and not the ‘e.,’ has basically made Buffy an immortal.”

Various shouts of the word “WHAT” echoed throughout the room, and suddenly Spike understood what Melinda had been getting at when she questioned him. He’d just declared his purpose was to protect his family until he was dust, and Buffy was immortal. Buffy was now his responsibility until the end of time; because there was no way he would allow her to be alone in the world. Maybe that Melinda bint could conjure some sort of Gem of Amara type thing.

“It’s an easy mistake if you’ve never taken ancient Aramaic before.” Melinda shrugged. “Of course, the only time the spell was actually done one hundred percent correctly was when Jesus came back. Everyone else who has attempted the spell has always had something go amiss. I’ve never met a warlock with the skills of Jesus, and such a kidder too. I mean, drink this wine it is my blood, can we say ‘vampire fetish?’ He was so obsessed with them. Randomly, did you know that Jesus was almost in the Watcher’s Council?”

“Willow,” Giles ground the words out through clenched teeth, completely ignoring Melinda’s ramblings. “You preformed a spell written in a dead language that you have no knowledge of how to pronounce!”

“I’m a horrible, horrible person.” Willow spoke softly from the center of the circle where she was still laying on the floor.

“No. Not bad…just misguided. You have done no damage in your friend, Willow tree. In fact, you have done better then anyone could imagine.” Melinda crossed back into the circle, and knelt beside Willow. “I won’t lie to you, something bad is coming. It causes the Earth to shake and tremble, but it will not cause YOU to shake and tremble. Neither you nor the white witch. For you are prophecy, my girls. You are all prophecy. I had to be sure before I told you.”

“Why does everything have to be a prophecy? For once, can’t we just say ‘hey, it’s a fluke?’” Xander asked.

Both Giles and Wesley had removed their glasses, and were anxiously cleaning the lenses on their respective sweaters.

“What, ah, what prophecy are you speaking of?” Giles held up the glasses and squinted to find the imaginary smudge.

“The one of all power and the one of all balance shall combine in body and soul. They shall breathe new life into bodies of yore, and topple the empire of eternity.” Melinda stood to face the watchers. “Taken from the long lost scrolls of Phenyellenian. Of which I own the only copy…hence the lostness of it.”

“I have never heard of the scrolls of Phenyellenian,” Wesley stated.

“I think I have,” Angel spoke up. “They were supposedly written sometime around 1A.D by some mad seer, and contained writings so horrible that they were banished into protection to the Goddess Metalardina. I vaguely remember looking for them as Angelus because they hold the secret to ultimate evil. How did you come by them?”

Melinda laughed, “Metalardina, Melinda, Meldonia, I have many different pronunciations of my name. I try to switch it up every century of so, keeps me feeling young.”

“If Angelus was looking for these scrolls of Fenyelonuim or whatever, I already know that I don’t like ‘em,” Gunn muttered.

“I’m with him,” Xander jerked a thumb toward Gunn. “Not with the liking of this.”

“Perhaps we could see these scrolls?” Giles asked hopefully.

Melinda nodded.

“Yes, I will get them immediately. You will excuse me, of course. It is much faster for me to teleport then to drive. I shall return.”

With a loud pop, she was gone, leaving the estranged group of people to stare at each other.

“So…”Coredelia tried to break the silence. “Is anyone hungry?”

Various affirmations were heard around the room.

“Ok, then, let’s eat.” Cordelia began walking to the kitchen.

“Can we have tacos?” Fred asked hopefully to the groan of everyone else.

“I think we’re tacoed out Fredikins,” Lorne said following the group into the kitchen.

Only Spike, Dawn, and Buffy were still standing in the room.

“That was…interesting,” Spike said turning to Buffy.

“Yeah,” she said softly.

“Wow, Buffy, you’ve been reborn and you’re an immortal. That’s really cool,” Dawn said.

Buffy let out a sob, and quickly covered her mouth with her hand.

“What have they done to me?” She fell to her knees.

Spike and Dawn instantly dropped down beside her, grabbing her in a group hug.

“I-I have to watch e-everyone a-around me die! I’m g-gonna e-end up alone. All alone for eternity.”

“Not gonna end up alone,” Spike rubbed his cheek against her hair. “’M gonna be with you always.”

“And we don’t know if I can die yet,” Dawn added. “I mean, hello, million year old key here. So, see, not alone. You’ll have us.”

Buffy sobbed harder.

“You say that now, but you don’t know. You don’t know.” She turned her head into Spike’s shoulder. “Forever is an awfully long time.”

Spike hesitated, and then pressed a kiss to her temple.

“Not nearly long enough time to be with you,” he whispered.

XXX

Chapter 23

Melinda arrived back at her school within moments of leaving L.A. No one was in the hallway to greet her, but that did not bother her at first. What bothered her was the tiny electric shock making its way up her spine. There was powerful magic being worked here. Magic as powerful as her own, but black as sin. Few were still around that could cloak from her, and Melinda sensed danger.

Her eyes darkened as her steps became purposeful. She ran down the stairs, her white hair flying behind her as she hurried to the basement. This was not the playful woman that had been joking with the watchers. This was a powerful goddess on the warpath.

Melinda weaved her way through the underground labyrinth to where she kept the oldest and most dangerous of her possessions. The magic was getting stronger now, and the air buzzed with it.

With a cry that would have stilled the blood in most people, Melinda arrived at her destination, her hand stretched out in front of her toward the back of a woman. The woman was the same height as Melinda, but her waist-length hair was coal black, matching her dress. She didn’t even flinch at the arrival of the goddess. Instead, she turned slowly, as though annoyed by the interruption.

“Hello, Sister.”

XXX

Willow sat up suddenly.

“Something’s wrong,” she said.

“I-I can sense it to,” Tara muttered. “Something…evil. W-we have t-to go. NOW!”

Tara yelling was not something that happened often. It caused the Sunnydale group to leap to their feet and dash up the stairs.

“What is it? What’s going on?” Angel demanded as he herded his own group.

“Melinda.” Willow tripped over a stair. “Something evil has her. We’re to meet her…um…in that place of, um, mercy?”

“She means Caritas, my club,” Lorne answered her. “There’s a protection spell over it. We should be safe.”

“You own a club?” Xander asked, but everyone ignored him.

They swept into the lobby at an alarming rate, startling the little family circle on the floor.

Spike looked up sharply.

“What’s going on?”

“We have to leave, now,” Angel ordered.

Spike didn’t argue. There was panic written on every one of the human faces. He stood up, pulling Buffy with him. Dawn had already leapt to her feet the moment the group had come barreling into the room.

“Do we know what’s happening?” Spike asked.

Cordelia shook her head.

“No, apparently Melinda sent a, a kind of mind meldy message to Willow and Tara.”

“Minda doesn’t send out trouble messages for nothing, so if it’s all the same to you folks, I’d like to get moving.” Lorne impatiently headed toward the door.

“Right.” Angel clenched his jaw and looked at Spike for a moment. “We take weapons.”

Gunn threw open the weapons cabinet and began handing out various swords to people. Angel, Spike, and Buffy ended up with broadswords, Wesley and Giles took maces, Xander got a misericord, Dawn, Cordy, and Anya got daggers, Gunn took the scimitar and his axe, and Lorne took nothing.

“It’s sunny out,” Wesley commented. “Angel, you and Spike head around to the back. We shall pick you up there.”

“Come on.” Angel jerked his head toward Spike.

Spike paused a moment and looked at Buffy.

“You gonna be okay? Won’t be separated for but a minute or two.”

Buffy nodded.

“Can’t expect you to never leave my side for the rest of eternity,” she joked thinly.

He took a small step toward her, and kissed her forehead before whirling around to follow Angel.

Buffy sighed, and rubbed her hand over the arm holding the sword as she watched him disappear. She turned to face the group, and Dawn came up to stand next to her. With a curt nod in her direction, Wesley took charge and led the group outside.

“Giles, you take Tara, Anya, Xander, and Dawn in your car. Gunn, you take Willow, Fred, Angel, and Cordelia in that car behind Giles. I’ll take Buffy, Spike and Lorne in Angel’s car.”

Everyone nodded, and Xander tossed Gunn the keys to Willow’s car.

“Wesley, wouldn’t it make more sense for Buffy to come with us?” Giles asked. “That way, each car has one person to pick up Melinda’s messages and one person with strength?”

“I wasn’t sure if Buffy would want to be separated from Spike for that long.” Wesley turned to her.

Buffy shifted on her feet uncomfortably. It did make sense, but Wesley was right, she didn’t want to be without Spike for that long. She took a quick look at the collected faces and sighed. Apparently, her own comfort had to be put aside for a moment, and she didn’t like it. Hopefully, they wouldn’t be with this group for long, and soon it could just be her, Spike and Dawn again.

“It’s fine,” Buffy muttered brushing past them and into Giles’ car.

“Er, Anya come with me then.” Wesley headed toward Angel’s car as the group separated themselves into the various cars.

Buffy tapped her sword impatiently against her foot as Giles slid into the driver’s seat next to her.

“Are you quite alright Buffy?” he asked.

“No.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No, I want you to drive so that I can get out of this car.”

“Buffy, please, we are your friends and we love you. We only wanted to help,” Xander pleaded from the back seat.

“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.” Buffy leaned her head against the window. She didn’t close her eyes for fear of falling asleep and having another car-induced nightmare.

Tara shifted uncomfortably against Dawn. They had done so much damage. After all her mother’s strict instructions in the use power and balance, Tara had failed. Failed her mother, failed Buffy.

Giles sighed and put the car into gear as he followed Wesley around the side of the hotel. There was an awning there that provided covering from the sun, and both vampires waited there for them. He watched as Angel and Spike approached Angel’s car, and paused. They were apparently listening to Wesley’s instructions. Spike appeared to argue with Wesley for a moment, and then Angel began to argue as well. He opened his car door and half stood out.

“We don’t have time for this! Get in the bloody cars and let’s go!”

Both vampires eyed him warily, but did as he instructed.

Giles watched curiously as Buffy placed a hand on the window when Spike had appeared, but dropped the hand into her lap the second he slid into the car. He needed to talk to Buffy alone, and find out what was going through her head. It hurt him that she was shutting him out, and letting that infuriating bleached vampire in. With a Ripper-like snarl, he hit the gas pedal and sped off after Wesley.

XXX

“Aaliyanna.” Melinda’s voice was cool.

“Metalardina.”

“What are you doing here?”

Aaliyanna laughed.

“My dear, dear sister. You have something of mine. Something that you know I have been searching for, for nearly two thousand years. And all this time, you had it.”

Melinda stood her ground as Aaliyanna approached her.

“Those scrolls are MINE! My seer wrote them, they belong to me!”

Melinda didn’t flinch as her sister proceeded to get right in her face.

“I would never let the scrolls into your possession. This world belongs to the humans, not us.”

“They are pestilence beneath our feet. We could rule them. That is our destiny.”

Melinda shook her head.

“No, our destiny is to let the natural course run through. We are observers, not rulers.”

Aaliyanna cocked her head to one side.

“You! You still pretend to move in their world, hiding behind your coven mask, taking pleasure in communicating and meddling in their unimportant little lives.” Aaliyanna spat her discontent out in short bursts.

“I move in the world that is presented to me, and things are important or unimportant in the eye of the beholder. You used to know that. Has hate clouded your eyes so much, sister? You have become so dark.”

“DON’T YOU ACT LIKE YOU CARE ABOUT ME! You left me to rot in that godforsaken jungle.”

“You tried to end the world. You would have destroyed us as well.”

“I tried to bring about our greatness. We would have ruled the world as sisters, you and me. It has taken me all this time to hunt you down, but I am not late. The time for the prophecy is nearly upon us. When the smoke clears, I will still be standing.”

“If you say so,” Melinda said dryly.

“You say that like you know something I don’t. I demand you tell me what it is you are hiding.”

“Yeah, you do that. Demand away. Have you lived these past two thousand years by yourself? Because I must tell you, you do not have the friendliest of personalities happening here.”

Melinda was treading on thin ice and she knew it. Her sister had obviously been so lost in the dark side of magic that it consumed her. She must not find out about Tara and Willow. Aaliyanna would seek to destroy them, and from the power she was emanating, it was evident that the woman before her was much stronger then the woman she remembered. Of course, two thousand years in banishment could do that to a person.

“What are you hiding from me, Metalardina?” she asked softly.

Before Melinda could react, the darker woman had reached out and touched her forehead. Melinda felt a slight zap, and shoved her sister backwards.

“PROPHECY WITCHES! YOU HAVE FOUND THE PROPHECY WITCHES!”

Melinda sent a blinding flash toward Aaliyanna that stunned the woman for several seconds. Melinda made those seconds count. She said a small spell, and suddenly the scrolls were in her hand. With a last glimpse at her sister, Melinda sent out a silent message.

“Run! Hide in the place of mercy! Run now!”

She spun around, and ran up the basement stairs, knowing that she had to put as much space between her and Aaliyanna as possible if she wanted to teleport without the woman knowing where she went. Hopefully, Willow got the message. Hopefully, her little spell paralyzed her sister enough so that she didn’t get the message. She had to get back to the witches quickly. This was getting worse then she thought.

XXX

Chapter 24

The car wasn’t moving. Buffy tapped her sword on the tip of her shoe, and watched the last of the colors disappear with the setting sun. Air. She needed air. Quickly, she opened the window only to be hit by a puff of hot steam. No air. Just smog. She tapped the sword faster.

Giles glanced over, a worried expression on his face. Somehow, this just didn’t feel right.

“Buffy, are you alright?”

“Do I look alright?” she snapped back. “Stupid traffic, stupid prophecies, stupid, little car with no air…” Buffy squirmed uncomfortably in the seat.

“Um, Giles?” Dawn said from the backseat. “Uh, we need to get moving. Like, NOW!”

Dawn leaned over Tara to reach toward the front of the car. She flipped the air conditioner on full blast and pointed it directly toward Buffy, just as her sister began to hyperventilate.

“I gotta, I gotta get out of here,” Buffy mumbled as she fumbled with the door handle.

“Buffy, you can’t just jump out on the freeway,” Xander protested as he tried to grab her arm.

Buffy almost growled as she shrugged his hand off, and continued to try and force the locked door open.

“Buffy, calm down. We need to get somewhere safe. You need to breathe. Breathe with me, Buffy. In, count to ten, and out, count to ten.” Giles kept his voice soothing.

“NO!” Buffy insisted. “Let me out. I have to get out of here. Can’t breathe.”

“M-maybe w-we should just l-let her out. Just for a m-minute. W-we’re not moving anyway,” Tara said.

Buffy’s hand found purchase on the lock, and with a kick to the door, she stumbled out of the car. Drawing deep breathes into her lungs, Buffy dropped to her knees on the cement. She heard shouts around her, and she clapped her hands to her ears to drown them out.

Arms wrapped around her, and Buffy jerked slightly forward as she lowered her hands.

“Ssh, luv. ‘T’s okay. I’ve got ya.”

Buffy let herself relax into Spike’s embrace. She turned in his arms, and buried her face in his neck.

“I didn’t mean to. It-I couldn’t breathe, and it was so small, and I had to get out, and…”

Spike ran his hands in soothing circles on her back.

“It’s okay. All alright, now. You’re okay. I’ve got you.”

“Don’t let go,” she whispered.

“Won’t. Not ever.”

He waited a few minutes as her breathing slowed.

“Think you can get back into the car?” Spike felt her start to stiffen in his arms. “You can ride in the convertible with me, and we’ll have nancy-boy lower the top.”

She nodded, and they stood up together. He led back to Angel’s car where Wesley had already had the foresight to put the top down. Spike slid into the back seat with Buffy.

Wesley glanced into the review mirror and clenched his jaw. This was no time for them to be sitting in traffic. With a jerk of his hand, Wesley moved the car onto the shoulder, and took off down the freeway.

XXX


Melinda was pacing frantically when the group arrived at the club.

“What took you so long?” she asked worriedly.

“Traffic,” Wesley told her.

“What is happening?” Giles asked her.

Melinda didn’t answer. She continued to pace up and down the aisle of the club.

“Hey, Minda cakes? You’re going to wear a hole in my rug,” Lorne said as he reached out to stop her.

Melinda stopped pacing, and looked at Lorne for a moment before absentmindedly running her hand through her hair.

“Who put the spell on this place? The furies?” she asked.

“Well, yeah. My girls put a little mojo on here, and ain’t no one, demon or human, can cause any trouble.”

“We’re not safe here,” Melinda said. “We need to leave her as soon as possible. Get as far away as we can. Somewhere isolated.”

“What is happening?” Giles repeated.

Melinda’s head snapped up, and she scanned the group. Her eyes rested on Angel.

“You have spoken to the oracles before, have you not?”

Angel nodded.

“Can you see them again?”

“I don’t know. I can try.”

“You must. Take the seer with you, she will get you access. You must find a safe haven for us. Tell them that the time is at hand, they will know what that mean.”

Angel nodded again, and followed Cordelia out the door.

Melinda turned her eyes to Gunn.

“You look like a man who can be rather resourceful.”

“I can be resourceful with the best of ‘em,” he answered.

“Good. We need supplies. I will give you a list.”

“Done deal, Goddess.”

“We are going to need transportation…most likely out of the country. Mr. Giles, do you have any contacts we can use?”

Giles removed his glasses, and rubbed them furiously.

“I believe I know someone who can be of use. I will contact them immediately.”

“Good. Good. Willow tree, Tara, and Dawn come with me. Your schooling begins immediately. Lorne, we will need a practice room.” Melinda paused a second and studied Anya. “I think I will take you with me as well. Yes, you will come with us.”

“I have just the room for you, Minda.”

“Wesley, Fred, I am leaving the scrolls with you. I trust you to be careful with your studies.”

“Oh, of course Goddess,” Fred breathed.

There was a flurry of activity as everyone scuttled off to his or her assigned tasks. Fred and Wesley took a booth in the far corner of the club, and began to spread out the scrolls that Melinda had provided. Lorne had taken the group of witches off to the back room, and Giles had left with Xander to get a hold of his contacts.

Buffy and Spike were left standing in the corner of the room.

“Think we got forgotten here, Slayer,” Spike mused.

“That’s okay. I don’t think I mind. Do you…maybe wanna spar some more?”

Spike glanced down at her, an amused look in his eye.

“Which part of the sparring did you want to try again?” Spike grinned as Buffy’s face slowly turned red.

“The fighting part. Remember, the learning how to control my strength and stuff?”

“Oh, that part. Yeah, we can do that,” he said as he slowly led her into the back room of the club. “We can definitely do that.”

XXX

Angel stood in the cave of the Oracles, and watched as Cordelia peeked into the well.

“Um, so, like, what am I supposed to do here?” she asked him.

“I’m not sure. Doyle put some kind of powder in there, and then said of few words. The door just kinda opened.” Angel moved closer to her.

“Oh, well that doesn’t help us so much, now does it? I’m just supposed to say, ‘oh, open the door to ye old Oracles so that we might ask a question’ or something?” Cordelia turned to face him.

The doorway behind them glowed blue.

“Ookay, I guess I was supposed to say that.” Cordelia shrugged as she followed Angel through the doorway.

The brother and sister stood facing the door as Cordelia and Angel made their way in.

“Oh, look Brother. The souled warrior has returned…and with a seer. What do you think they want?”

“I’m sure that I have no idea, Sister. Do you think we should ask them?”

“Yes, I am bored anyway. What do you wish of us, vampire and seer?”

Angel stepped forward and held out the necklace Melinda had given him.

“I come on behalf of the Goddess Metarlinda. She bade me to tell you that the ‘time is at hand.’”

The sister stepped forward and retrieved the necklace.

“The necklace of time. The foretelling of the scrolls of Phenyellenian. Has it been so long?”

She handed the necklace to her brother before turning back to Angel.

“This prophecy is ancient, and was written in the time before time. You must go to England and seek out the one called Drogyn. He guards a place known as the Deeper Well, where the entities of the old ones are kept. Drogyn has been watching an additional charge for us, a spirit of sorts, if you will. A champion must be chosen to house this entity, but she will be needed for the upcoming battle. Choose wisely. Drogyn will tell you where to go from there.”

Cordelia looked at the duo, hands on her hips.

“That’s a little vague there. Could you clarify it up a bit?”

The brother stared at her.

“And they think you would make a good higher being? Honestly, they’ll make anyone a seer these days.”

Angel grabbed Cordelia’s arm, and nudged her toward the door.

“Oh, before you go.” The sister’s voice stopped them in their tracks. “It might be nice if you chose to speak your feelings a loud…before it is too late. That is all.”

XXX

Melinda faced the group of girls in front of her. This was going to be difficult to explain.

“I’m afraid that we have much to accomplish, and little time to do it in. Therefore, it is imperative that you listen closely, and only ask questions of the utmost importance. We have three things that we must accomplish in our short time, do you understand?”

Each of the girls nodded.

“Good. The first thing that we must do is the joining of the prophecy witches. Although you two are already joined in one way, we must join you in all ways. There is a blood ritual that must be preformed. Tara posses all balance in her magic, while Willow is all power. There is a reason for this, the two of you are meant to work together in all aspects of your lives. That is why you were drawn to each other, you are the epitome of soul mates. Your magic cannot work well alone. Do you agree to the ritual?”

Tara and Willow both glanced at each other before looking back at Melinda.

“Um, what k-kind of r-ritual are you s-speaking o-of?” Tara asked.

“I am going to combine your essences, combine your magic if you will. Think of yourselves like a yin-yang, one side cannot work without the other. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Willow answered. “We agree.”

Tara shot her a look out of the corner of her eye, but nodded.

Melinda walked into the middle of the room, and beckoned the girls toward her. She pushed them into a kneeling position facing each other, then she raised her arms above her head. Closing her eyes, Melinda began to chant softly as a silver cloud appeared above her head. She reached under her skirt, and removed a small, golden dagger from a garter on her leg. With one quick movement, Melinda grabbed Tara and sliced open both her hands. She then did the same to Willow. Continuing to chant, Melinda connected their hands right-to-right and left-to-left. Dawn and Anya watched in awe as the silver light flew into both girls’ bodies. With pure white eyes, Melinda turned to Dawn and Anya.

“Do you bear witness?” she called to them over the swirling of silver.

Dawn looked at Anya, who was already nodding.

“I bear witness,” Anya said.

“I bear witness,” Dawn repeated.

Melinda raised her hand above her head again.

“By the power of the Goddess, and the souls of the chosen, my will be done. So mote it be.”

The power of silver disappeared completely into Tara and Willow, and they sat staring at each other in awe.

“I can feel you, in here.” Willow smiled at Tara as she placed her hand on her heart.

“I know. I-it’s like we’re completely a part of one another. I-I can feel your strength flow through me.” Tara smiled back.

Melinda smiled as she walked up to Dawn.

“Dawn, you are a key. You’re power lies completely in your blood, and that makes you important. More important then you can ever imagine. I don’t have the time to teach you your true potential right now, but I will. When this is over, we will travel, you and I, and I will show you the wonderful things that you are capable of. For now, though, I wish you to study with Tara and Willow. They can teach you the basics. Anya? I must talk with you privately. Will you come with me?”

Anya gave Melinda a confused look, but nodded. She followed the Goddess out of the room as Tara and Willow began Dawn’s first real magic lesson.

XXX


Chapter 25

Buffy ducked under Spike’s punch toward her face, and countered with a side-kick to his chest. He flew back, and hit the wall. They had discovered that the anti-violence spell didn’t work on Buffy, and since Spike hadn’t really gotten any hits in, it hadn’t been a problem.

“How ‘bout a break, luv?” he asked as he rubbed the back of his head. “Don’t know how many more times I can hit that wall before I go straight through it.”

“Oh, come on.” Buffy protested as she bounced on the balls of her feet. “We’ve only been doing this for two hours. You can’t be tired already.”

“’M not tired,” Spike protested. “I’m the big, bad. Don’t get tired.”

Buffy laughed as she watched Spike slide into a sitting position onto the floor.

“Okay,” she said as she sat down next to him. “You’re not tired, you’re just resting. Resting is not the same as being tired.”

“Right,” he said as he put his arm around her shoulder, and pulled her into him.

“Hey, Spike?” Buffy asked softly as she snuggled into his chest.

“Yeah, luv?”

“Did you…did you mean what you said…about the staying with me forever and stuff. I mean, if you didn’t mean it that’s okay, I was just wondering…”

Spike lifted her chin to look into his eyes.

“Meant every word of it. Never gonna leave you. EVER. ‘M here until you throw me out, and even then I’ll probably camp outside your window until you let me back in.”

Buffy smiled, and reached up to trace his cheekbones with her finger.

“Good. I kinda like having you around.”

Slowly Buffy ran her fingers though his hair, and brought his face closer to hers. She lightly brushed her nose against his before pulling his mouth closer. As his tongue entered into her mouth, Buffy let out a low moan, and his arms snaked around her waist and pulled her closer.

“Want to make you mine forever. Want to show you what you mean to me,” Spike whispered against her mouth.

“Yes,” she whispered back. “Yours. Forever yours.”

“Not here though. Not like this. Gonna make it perfect,” Spike murmured against her neck.

“The only perfect moments I have are with you,” Buffy said pulling him on top of her.

Spike groaned, and ground his hips against hers. Buffy reacted by arching up into him.

“Please,” she moaned as his hands wandered up her shirt. “Need you.”

Buffy reached down and pulled his shirt over his head.

“Buffy…luv…” Spike kissed a trail down her chest and to the edge of her shirt. He slowly pulled the shirt up, and kissed a reverse trail back up to her mouth.

“Are you sure?” He closed his eyes as he felt her hands on his jeans.

The sound of his zipper gave him his answer, and Spike slowly slid his pants off. His eyes never left hers as he undid her zipper and pulled hers off too. He kissed his way from her feet all the way back to her mouth. Spike paused, when he was directly over her to look in her eyes one last time, before sliding himself completely inside her.

They both moaned at the feeling of each other, and Spike stilled a moment, pressing his forehead against hers, before he began to move his hips achingly slow. He captured her mouth again, and began to move his hips faster. Buffy moaned into his mouth, and wrapped her legs around his waist.

“Do…you…want…to belong..to..me? Really…belong to me?” Spike panted in her ear.

“Yes…forever…I…I love you, Spike…always…”Buffy pulled his mouth back against hers as he let out another groan.

“Christ, luv….no one…makes me feel…like you…Love you…so much…never gonna…let you…go”

“Never,” she answered.

Spike buried his face in her neck.

“Love you…forever…” he repeated as his face shift form. Spike lightly slid his fangs into her neck.

Buffy felt herself begin spasm as the most pleasurable sensations flowed through her body. Her moaning became frantic, and she struggled to arch her hips further into Spike. With a final cry, she reached up and bit him on the neck. Buffy felt his hips lurch into her, and heard his buried cry in her neck. She shivered as his release spurted through her system, and lay back panting underneath him.

“Mine,” Spike whispered against her neck.

“Yours, always,” she answered him. “And you’re mine.” Buffy turned her head to face his.

“Yours, always,” he said as he captured her mouth again.

XXX

Giles and Xander arrived back at the club at the same moment that Cordelia and Angel did.

“Were you able to get us transportation?” Angel asked.

“Yes, em, I called in quite a few favors, and managed to get us our own jet.”

”Wow!” Cordelia muttered. “You were owed some favors.”

“Er, yes, well. Shall we get inside?” Giles brushed past them, and into the building.

Cordelia shot a curious glance over at Xander, who shrugged his shoulders at her. He hadn’t been allowed in on the meeting between Giles and his friend, so how in the world they came to be borrowing a jet from some guy named Sirk was beyond him.

The only people in the main room were Wesley, Fred, and Lorne. Giles immediately hurried off to take a look at the scrolls that Wesley and Fred were loudly arguing over, while the rest of the group joined Lorne at the bar.

“Sea breeze?” Lorne asked holding up his glass.

“I think you’ve been sea breezed out there,” Xander said as he took the glass away.

“Hey, that’s mine…Are there three of you?” Lorne blinked at Xander.

“Lorne, how many of those have you had?” Cordelia asked.

Lorne shrugged.

”Eh, I lost count after five. Bad things are coming. I can feel it, and I have no desire to face them sober.”

“And being drunk makes them better?” Xander asked.

“Yes, much,” Lorne answered.

“What are you sensing?” Angel asked.

“Oh, lies, deceit, power, the usual.” Lorne reached out to grab his glass back.

“Care to elaborate just a little more?” Angel moved the glass out of Lorne’s reach.

Lorne sighed.

“Look, there some heavy power coming from the room where Minda’s got the little witches stored away, and I get the feeling there’s something that she’s not telling us.”

“How long of you known Melinda?” Angel asked.

“Since I got here. About six years I guess. She showed up at the club one day, and we just kept in touch.”

“She just showed up?! A goddess, and she just ‘shows up’ at your club?!” Xander pushed away from the bar. “Uh, hello, goddesses don’t just randomly show up. Even I know that.”

“Whelp’s got a point there.”

Spike appeared in the doorway to the backroom with Buffy slightly behind him. Within seconds of his appearance, Angel had him pinned up against the wall.

“What did you do, Spike?” Angel growled at him.

“Oi! Wot’s your problem, peaches?”

“I can smell her on you. Just had to take advantage of her, didn’t you?”

Buffy grabbed Angel by the back of his shirt, and hauled him off of Spike. She glared at him a moment, before spinning around to check Spike for injuries. When she turned, her hair shifted and Angel caught sight of the bite marks on her neck. With another growl, Angel stepped up behind Buffy and pulled the hair off her neck. Spike snarled, and attempted to hit him with a left hook.

“That’s mine,” he warned even as the furies ward stopped him.

“You bastard! You claimed her!”

“What’s wrong, Angelus? Jealous are we? See, she claimed me back,” Spike tilted his head to the side so that Angel could see the tiny bite marks on his neck. “Didn’t do that for you, did she?”

Angel lunged at Spike, and the two attempted an unsuccessful assault of each other.

“STOP!” Buffy yelled, trying to get between them. “STOP! STOP! STOP!”

“Separate!”

The three figures flew back away from each other.

“Oh! I did it.” Dawn stood at the side of the room, looking very pleased with herself. “Did you see that Tara? I totally said ‘separate,’ and they did!”

“Yes, that was good. A bit too forceful, but good.” Tara smiled at Dawn’s enthusiasm.

“What is going on here?” Giles asked walking up from the corner of the room.

“He claimed her,” Angel muttered.

“Dear lord. He did what?” Giles removed his glasses and began to furiously clean them.

“What does that mean?” Xander asked.

“Buffy, what on earth were you thinking?” Giles asked, still cleaning his glasses.

“It’s none of your business what I was thinking. I didn’t want to be alone forever, so Spike made it so that I wouldn’t have to be. I didn’t see you offering to spend eternity with me.” Buffy moved so that she was standing next to Spike, who immediately linked hands with her. “All you care about is that I fight your precious apocalypses. Well I don’t want to. Get that other Slayer to do it for you.”

Xander snorted.

“Yeah, we’ll just march on down to the ladies penitentiary and ask them ever so nicely to release her.”

“Maybe we should,” Wesley said. “I admit that I am the last person who wishes her to be free, but…we may need her. There are things in this prophecy that…I believe that, um…”

“Melinda left a lot of details out,” Fred finished. “From what we can decipher, the prophecy actually reads more like this, ‘The one of all power shall breathe life into the chosen champion of yore. This champion shall align with past enemies, and use the key of light to end the rivalry of the two ancient ones. Then the one of all power, and the one of all balance shall combine in body and soul to bring about the new champion, and this champion shall topple the empire of eternity.’”

“New champion? What new champion? Not Faith, right? Couldn’t be Faith?” Xander looked about the room.

“Oh, we’re all back. Good. Giles, do you have our transportation?” Melinda stepped into the room with Anya right beside her.

“Oh, my. What hostility we have in here. What have I missed?” Melinda surveyed the group curiously.

“You lied to us,” Giles said. “We are not going anywhere until you tell us the truth.”

Melinda glared at him.

“I am a Goddess. I never lie. I merely change the truth to please me. Before was not your time to know the entire truth, and it is still not your time. If you knew the whole prophecy, you would try to change it, and this cannot happen. Buffy had to be resurrected by Willow, and then align herself with Spike. Dawn must learn the power of being the key. Willow and Tara had to be joined together. The new champion must be chosen.”

“The rivalry. You are one of the ancient ones, are you not?” Wesley asked.

“Yes,” Melinda answered. “But we do not have time for the whole story now. I will tell you on the way. I suggest we rest, and leave just before sunrise.”

“Where we going?” Gunn asked entering the room. “ ‘Cause I gots all the supplies we need.” He grinned at the group, and held up a large bag of weapons. His grin slowly faded into a look of confusion as he surveyed the room. “What’d I miss?”

XXX

Chapter 26

“Wow! Giles, I never knew you had such rich friends!” Dawn exclaimed as she picked a seat on the private jet.

Giles ignored her and took a seat near Wesley and Fred, who had already begun to lay out the scrolls again.

“Giles, this is a Wolfram and Hart jet. How did you get it?” Angel asked through a clenched jaw.

Giles stiffened.

“The council has an undercover man there.”

“The council has someone at Wolfram and Hart? Why?” Angel demanded.

“I’m quite sure that I don’t know. It’s not my place to question everything the council does, as much as it may bother me,” Giles answered.

Wesley paused in his translations.

“We must assume that this plane is bugged. It would be best not to talk about anything.”

“Please,” Anya muttered. “You are traveling with two powerful witches, a transdimensional key, and a Goddess. I think they can take out a few technological buggy things.”

“Yes, you may speak freely here. I have set up a protection barrier around us. If they are any bugs, they will watch us playing cards for the next several hours.” Melinda said as she stepped onto the plane, flanked on either side by Willow and Tara.

“What about the pilot?” Gunn asked.

Melinda smiled.

“I’m afraid that the pilot has gone temporarily deaf where we are concerned. Now, if you’ll all take your seats…”

XXX

Buffy and Spike picked seats near the back of the plane, and away from the rest of the group. Spike laughed as Buffy insisted that she sit by the window.

“What? I can’t remember having ever flown before, so I want to watch out the window.” She protested at his laugh.

“You can sit anywhere you like, luv. But if I have my way, we’ll be doing a lot of traveling, so get used to it.”

“Traveling is good. Especially if we can get on more planes with these special windows…I like looking at you in sunlight.”

Spike kissed her on her nose.

“And I like looking at you in sunlight, so we’re even.”

“Spike? You were born in England, right?”

“Born, raised, and died, luv”

“Will you show me where you were born? I-I would like to see it,” Buffy asked shyly.

Spike raised his eyebrow at her and smiled.

“Want to see where the big, bad came from? S’pose I could arrange that.”

Buffy laughed again, and Spike swore that he would move heaven and earth to keep her laughing like that for the rest of their days.

XXX

In the front of the plane, the group had gathered around Melinda.

“I find that in stories like these, it is always best to start at the beginning and go from there. In the beginning, the gods walked on the Earth and they were feral. They waged war against each other, and against the other living creatures. Finally it was decided that the time of man had come, and the time for the gods had to be put aside. The remains of these gods were placed in a place called the Deeper Well, and the one called Drogyn was granted eternal youth in exchange for guarding these beings. Drogyn had been a favorite among the gods, a laughing youth known for purity of soul, but one god was jealous, and as Drogyn accepted his fate, cast a spell on him that made him forever incapable of lying. As the world of man grew, Drogyn became a recluse lest the remains of the gods fall into the hands of evil ones.

“I was born at the changing point of all this, although born is not really the correct word, as goddess are not so much born as…come into being. I had a twin sister named Aaliyanna, and she and I loved each other very much. For a while, all was good, but as we know all good things must end. It came to be that while we were still teenagers, Aaliyanna became quite interested in the dark arts. I was appalled, and tried to make her see how evil that sort of thing was, but we were both young, and we quarreled. She left, and I was not to see her for many years.

“Eventually, word reached my ears that she was living in the remotest part of the jungle, and understand that the world was…different then it is now. The continents had not yet begun to drift apart, and this jungle was a frightening thing to me. Aaliyanna had submersed herself in magic so dark that the villagers were afraid, and had sent out a calling to me. I rushed to the jungle, only to find that my beloved sister had been turned black and twisted with the darkest of magics known. These magics were a thousand times more powerful then any of the black magic that you have ever come across. Like many things, black magic has been diluted with time, but back then…it was quite potent.
Aaliyanna had sequestered the most powerful seer in the village, and driven the woman mad. She plucked out the seer’s eyes to make her more powerful, and kept her chained in a cave, writing prophecies all day. The scrolls of Phenyellenian were her greatest achievement, as Aaliyanna was convinced that she and I were destined to rule the world. The scrolls offered the only way that she could be defeated.

“Once I found her, I pleaded with my sister to come home with me, and allow me to heal her, but her heart had become just as black as her magic. We waged a great battle, and in the end, I buried her in that jungle, and took the scrolls with me. Until two weeks ago, I had never heard a word of my sister since.

“When I returned to my school to retrieve the scrolls, she was waiting for me. Her power has grown and darkened in the time we have been separated. I believe that she has gone quite insane in that time as well, and she believes that the scrolls, the witches, and the prophecy belong to her. She still believes that she is meant to rule this world. This is what we must band together to defeat. This is why I could not tell you everything up front. I needed you to believe me, and before this moment, you would not have.”

There was silence as everyone regarded the tale they had been told.

“Why do we need to go to the Deeper Well? Is Drogyn the new champion that must arise?” Wesley asked.

Melinda shook her head.

“I must ask you again to trust me when I tell you that the time for you to know that has not yet arrived.”

“How can we trust you when you hold so much back?” Giles asked.

“You must trust that I do these things in your best interest. That is all I can tell you. Now, please excuse me, I’m very tired. I must rest now.”

Melinda stood up, and moved herself farther back into the plane.

“Huh, who do you think this champion is going to be?” Xander asked, and no one noticed as Anya suddenly looked very interested in the hangnail on her hand.

XXX

Chapter 27

Most everyone on the plane had fallen asleep, except Willow. She was too fidgety to sleep. The different parts of the spell that had joined her and Tara kept replaying themselves in her mind. It was weird. If Willow closed her eyes, she could almost hear Tara’s thoughts. It was times like these when she really missed having a close female friend to talk to, one that wasn’t her girlfriend. With a sigh, Willow stood up, braced her shoulders, and walked to the back of the plane.

Neither Buffy nor Spike was sleeping. Instead, Buffy was giggling as Spike amused her with stories about his past. This current story being one about him getting locked in a submarine with Angel and some prince of something or other. Spike was just at the part where he emerged dripping wet from his swim in the ocean to find a very cross Drusilla muttering about how he had “visited the fishies” without her, when Willow appeared in front of them.

They both got quiet as they waited for the red head to inform them of why she had forced her presence on them, but Willow just stood fidgeting with her shirt.

“Um, hi Buffy, Spike,” she muttered. “I, uh, well, I couldn’t sleep, and I felt like talking to someone, and everyone else is asleep, and I thought well, Buffy and I used to talk lots, and maybe she wants to talk too, so I should just see if she wanted to talk, but you guys seem very busy with the talking between yourselves, which I am obviously interrupting, so I’ll just go.”

She turned and ran back to the front of the plane, tears stinging her eyes as she threw herself back into her seat. What had she done to her best friend? Oh Goddess, what had she done? And Willow finally realized for the first time that Buffy, her best friend since she was fifteen, was really and truly gone.

XXX

The seer ducked blindly as she felt another object whiz by her head. She huddled herself as far into the corner as she could. She was an ancient thing, should have been long dead, and kept alive only by the hatred of her mistress. At one time she had a name, she knew she did, and she had been able to see to. Really see and not just See, like she could now. Sometimes in her dreams she could remember the Before time. Those dreams were nice. She was loved and safe, not like reality where she was kept as a tool to her mistress. Her one goal in life was to find her writings. The beautiful scrolls that she had written in virgin blood for the goddess…or was it her mistress she had written them for? She couldn’t remember. She knew that once they were written, she had lost her eyes and…something else…but she couldn’t remember now and it didn’t matter anyway. The mistress was angry at her. She didn’t like the newest vision.

“ENGLAND!!” Aaliyanna screeched as she threw another vase at the seer’s head. “HOW DARE THEY!”

“I know not mistress, I’m sure,” the seer said quietly.

“Well you SHOULD know. You are MY seer, and you are supposed to tell me these things.” Aaliyanna kicked out angrily at the nearest chair. “They have my scrolls.”

“Oh, the pretty, pretty scrolls? The pretty scrolls that I wrote?”

“Yes, the ‘pretty pretty scrolls’ that you wrote,” Aaliyanna mimicked the seer’s childlike whisper. She glanced down in disgust at the old hag. “Ug, why do I keep you around? You’re like this two thousand year old bag of bones, and you smell bad.”

“Sorry mistress. Tripped and fell I did. Didn’t mean it. Would never offend you, mistress.”

“Now what would that sister of mine be doing? What’s in England? She has MY scroll, and MY witches…wonder what else of MINE she’s got with her. MINE. MINE. MINE. MINE. MINE. She shouldn’t touch things that are mine.”

“Yes mistress. All things are yours, only yours. Has them, yes she does. The pretty green light, the witches red and white, the enemies align though one has forgotten her plight, the new champion awaits, and in the Deeper Well your terror now awakes.” The seer had slipped into a trance, an eerie glow emerging from the empty sockets in her head. When she stopped speaking, she slumped back down against the wall.

Aaliyanna stepped forward and placed her hands on the seer’s head. Her hands glowed for a moment as Aaliyanna sucked the entire image out of the woman’s head. After a moment, Aaliyanna threw back her head and released an evil laugh.

“Oh ho ho, isn’t she clever. Clever, clever, clever, clever. Missed Glorificus’ return, did I? Killed by the Watcher of a common vampire Slayer. Too funny. Funny, funny, funny, little lost slayer. Her soul is all split up. Have to fix that, don’t we seer? Wouldn’t want the poor slayer playing without a full deck.”

Aaliyanna began pacing, kicking a path through the broken glass that littered the floor. She tapped her index finger against her head.

“Thinking, thinking, thinking while I pace, pace, pace.” Aaliyanna had gotten into the habit of dictating her actions out loud so that the seer knew what she was doing.

She stopped pacing suddenly.

“I have stopped pacing,” she announced. “We are going to England…Now.”

And with that, both women disappeared with a small popping noise.

Chapter 28

They were tired and crabby by the time they reached Giles' flat, and immediately began fighting over sleeping arrangements. Giles had two bedrooms and a pullout couch, the rest was floor space which nobody wanted.

"I'll make this easy," Melinda said, holding up a hand to stop the bickering.

"Wot? You gonna magic us some beds or something?" Spike asked through clenched teeth.

"No, I'm going to take Tara, Willow, Dawn, and Anya to the Deeper Well now."

"You are not taking Dawn anywhere. She needs her rest," Spike insisted.

"You're not her father! You don't get to decide things like that!" Xander exclaimed.

"Hey! I don't 'mem you being all father figure of the year there, whelp."

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Tara put up her hands, and everyone looked at her in shock. Tara never raised her voice. "We have an apocalypse to advert. If Melinda needs us to go now, we go now."

"I have to agree with Tara on this," Giles was cleaning his glasses again. "Now let's figure out the bedding arrangements so that we can all rest."

The watched in silence for a moment while Melinda herded her small group out the door.

"What size bed do you have?" Cordelia demanded after the click of the lock was heard.

"W-why do you want to know?"

"Because if you have a king size bed, then you need to share it. No sleeping alone when there's so many of us."

"But it's MY house."

"Oh, cry me a river Giles," Cordelia snapped. "We have an apocalypse," she mimicked his voice.

"Oh, good lord. Fine, I will share my bed." He made to move toward the stairs.

"Uh where do you think you're going?" Cordelia demanded.

"To my bed."

"Nope. Fred and I get your bed...and Buffy too if she wants."

"And where am I supposed to sleep?"

Cordelia sighed.

"You, Wes, and Lorne can sleep in the guest room, Gunn and Lorne get the pull out bed, and...um...god, don't you have air mattresses?"

"Well, it's not like I was expecting tons of company."

"Angel can have my spot in the bed," Buffy said. "Spike and I will sleep on the floor."

"You sure about that Buffy?" Angel asked.

She shrugged. "I'm just tired, and I want to go to sleep. Besides, I'm not the one putting her head on the ground." She giggled at Spike's raised eyebrow.

"Fine. Settled. Bed Everyone," Cordelia announced.

XXX

When the stepped outside of Giles' front door, Dawn was expecting them to be his front porch. Instead, she found herself standing in a lush field with a tree in front of them.

"Oh, Goddess," Willow breathed.

"W-where are we?" Tara asked.

"The Deeper Well," Anya answered as a youthful looking man approached them.

"Drogyn," Melinda greeted him.

"Metalardina," he returned. "To what do I owe this honor?"

"You are holding something for me. I have come to claim it."

"Do you come prepared?"

"I do."

"They know the risks?"

"They do."

"Then, please," Drogyn gave them a bow and motioned to the side of the tree. "Begin your ceremony."

Melinda led them to a small spot next to the tree. She produced the bag that Gunn had brought into Caritas with him, and began pulling items out. First came a golden knife followed by a flask of powder, two round stones, some black ink, and a paintbrush.

"Lie down please, Anya, and remove your shirt."

Anya lifted the shirt over her head and lay down on her stomach. Melinda picked up the paintbrush and began muttering as she painted symbols over Anya's back. For half an hour, none of the girls moved as they watched Melinda cover both the back and front of Anya's upper body in strange markings. When she finished, she picked up the flask and began to pour the powder around Anya.

"Dawn, come here please," Melinda said when the flask was empty. She handed Dawn the gold knife. "I need you to cut the palm of your hand and sprinkle your blood around the powder."

"B-but won't I open a portal?"

"Yes, but that's what we need. Tara and Willow will be able to control it." As she spoke, Tara and Willow arranged themselves, one at Anya's feet the other at her head. It was as though the spell had suddenly appeared in their heads, and they knew what they had to do in the ceremony.

Dawn doubtfully took the knife and slashed her palm open. She watched in awe as the first drop hit the powder and began to swirl together. Quickly she made her way around the entire circle, and when the last drop met the first, a swirling portal opened beneath Anya and Willow and Tara began to chant. The two witches raised their hands toward the sky, and Dawn watched in awe as their eyes began to change colors. Willow's turned coal black while Tara's turned pure white. From the swirling vortex beneath Anya a blue mist began to float up. It whirled around the circle for a moment before entering Anya's body. Anya's eyes glowed blue for a moment before returning to her natural color. Tara and Willow slowly stopped chanting, and the vortex closed with a whoosh.

Slowly, Anya stood up taking in her surroundings. She turned to face Melinda with a questioning look.

"I am here again."

"Yes, you are."

"For a second I was somewhere else, I think."

"You were. You were where the spirit lay dormant. Now the spirit is in you."

"I feel different. I feel power, but not like when I was a vengeance demon. This feels...stronger, older somehow."

"That's because it is."

"Will I know how to use it?"

"When the time comes...Come, let us leave now. We need rest."

The girls followed her back up the path. Dawn gave a little wave to Drogyn as she passed by, and he bowed in return.

Anya froze as they reached the spot where they had originally arrived, and her eyes glowed blue. Melinda froze at the spot as well.

"Trouble," Anya let out in a voice two octave lower then her normal one. "We must leave, NOW!"

"Aaliyanna," Melinda breathed. "What have you done?"

XXX

Aaliyanna laughed when she saw her sister disappear with all the creatures of power from the group. Silly, silly Metalardina. Always sloppy when overtired, didn't set up any wards. Anyone could just waltz right in there and snag those scrolls, and wreck havoc on those poor, poor, humans. Well, she didn't mind if she did.

Quietly, Aaliyanna approached the front door only to realize that she was alone. Sighing with impatience she spun around to glare at the decrepit creature behind her.

"I'm glaring at you right now. Why aren't you following me?"

"Didn't feel you move, mistress. Forgive my blindness for offending you. Speak a word and I shall follow."

The seer put her hands out in front of her and attempted to follow her mistress' voice.

"Good," Aaliyanna said when the seer reached her. "Now be quiet. This is going to be fun."

Stifling a laugh, she pushed the door open. There was a pullout bed with three sleeping figures on it in front of her. The figure closet to her was green with horns. A delightful thought of how to get their attention came to her mind. With a grin, she reached out and twisted one of the red horns.

With a scream, Lorne sat straight up.

"What in Pylea's good graces did you do that for?! That hurt!" he cried clutching his forehead. His eyes came into focus at Aaliyanna's grinning face. "Oh, this can't be good."

At the scream, everyone else in the house had woken up and come running into the living room. Buffy and Spike reached there first, and took in the appearance of the woman holding Lorne's horn. She was identical to Melinda in everyway, except that her hair, eyes, and dress were black.

"You must be the evil sis, then?" Spike cocked his head at her. "What do you think you're doing here?"

Aaliyanna laughed and motioned to her seer.

"I'm motioning you forward seer, come look at our new friends."

The woman slunk forward and stared blankly in the direction she head Spike's voice.

"That is she," the seer's voice was flat.

Spike moved in front of Buffy and vamped out.

"Not comin' any closer here, pet."

Gunn had tried to grab his sword, which was next to the bed, but Aaliyanna caught his movement.

"Looking for this?" she asked, and with a flick of her finger impaled the sword through his leg, pinning him to the bed.

Gunn let out a single scream, and tried in vain to remove the sword from his leg. It was stuck fast.

At that point, both Buffy and Spike lunged toward Aaliyanna and the rest of the group made it into the living room. Fred let out a strangled cry, and rushed to help Gunn with the sword. Wes and Giles took one look at Aaliyanna and ran back upstairs to secure the scrolls. Cordelia, however, took one look at Spike and Buffy and grabbed Angel's arm.

"My vision," she murmured. "It's my vision."

Angel watched as Buffy rushed Aaliyanna only to be stopped with a flick of the goddess' hand, and Spike, in full vamp face, rushed after her. With another flick of her wrist, Aaliyanna sent Spike careening into a wooden bookcase. Knowing that he couldn't go after the goddess, Angel shoved Cordelia back upstairs and ran over to check on Spike.

Spike was lying on the ruined bookcase, but he was mostly uninjured. He accepted Angel's hand to pull him up, and then froze as they heard Aaliyanna begin to chant. With wide eyes, they watched as a stream of light shot from her fingers and enveloped Buffy.

When the light hit her, Buffy let out a deafening scream and fell to her knees. Both vampires rushed to the girl's side, only to be met by a force field. Buffy was lying on her side now, completely curled into herself with her hands clutching her head, still screaming.

The front door flew opened, and a glowing Anya charged in.

"Ahn?" Xander asked incredulously from where he sat next to Fred trying to help with the impaled sword.

Aaliyanna turned toward Anya and screamed in rage.

"YOU!"

Anya raised her hand and with a flick of her wrist, sent Aaliyanna flying into the wall. Aaliyanna stood quickly and glared at Anya.

"Now is not the time. Enjoy my present," she said and with a popping noise, both she and the seer vanished.

Tara, Willow, Dawn, and Melinda appeared in the doorway behind Anya and rushed into the house.

"Buffy!" Dawn cried and ran over to where Spike was already gingerly sliding his hands under her still form.

Melinda rushed up beside her and glanced down at Buffy. She quickly placed her hands over Buffy's head and closed her eyes. After a moment, she backed away from her slowly.

"What is it? What's wrong with her?" Angel demanded.

"She did it. Oh, she did it," Melinda moaned.

"Wot? Wot did she do to her?" Spike asked through clenched teeth.

Buffy let out a small moan and opened her eyes.

"Luv?" Spike asked. "You okay?"

"Ssspike," she whispered. "I-I remember..." And then she passed out.

XXX

Chapter 29

Spike carefully carried Buffy upstairs and tucked her into Giles’ bed before turning to face Melinda.

“What.did.she.do.to.her?”

Dawn flinched at the tone of his voice. She’d rarely heard Spike sound so pissed off.

Melinda sighed as she looked at him.

“She gave her back her memories.”

“I thought you said that was impossible,” Wesley said.

“It is, but in a way it isn’t. Aaliyanna did a-she did a spell, a horrible spell…she-she killed off everyone who had a piece of Buffy’s soul in them, and then redirected the pieces back into Buffy’s body…” she trailed off at the looks of horror she received.

“W-w-why am I-I still here then?” Dawn asked shakily.

“Cause I told you, honey muffin,” Lorne said, holding one hand over his injured head. “That part of her in you is already gone.”

“What kind of consequences are we looking at?” Angel asked.

“Well, in addition to her old memories and the ones she has made in her time being here…she’ll have the memories of each of the other people her soul was in…including the moment that they died.”

“Tell me, oh great goddess, was this something else you just chose not to tell us?” Spike couldn’t hide the sarcasm in his voice.

“No!” Melinda shook her head to emphasize the point. “I never would have imagined she do such a thing. This is beyond…anything.”

Buffy’s moans brought their attention back as she began to writhe on the bed. Her eyes popped open and searched the room wildly for a moment before settling on Spike. He watched a variety of emotions flit through her eyes, and he suddenly began to feel very worried that the old Buffy might not want him around anymore. He didn’t know how he would survive if she suddenly went back to her old ways.

“Spike,” she whimpered, and his fears were immediately put to rest. “It’s so loud, in my head. It hurts.”

“Ssshh, it’s okay luv.” He gently ran his fingers over her cheek.

She closed her eyes and leaned into his touch.

“Make the voices stop. Too many thoughts. Old thoughts, new thoughts, old voices, new voices, all stuck in my head. The old Buffy is in here…she thinks you’re evil…I don’t…there’s a girl…she became a vampire…she’s in here too…she doesn’t think you’re evil either…”

Everyone in the room turned their eyes on Melinda, looking for answers.

“Erm, if Buffy was only gone for two hundred days or so-“

“147,” Spike interrupted.

“Er, yes, 147, then any beings her soul went into would have to be babies, right?”

“Not necessarily. Her soul could have been sent into parallel dimensions, and time moves differently there.”

“So, you’re saying that the memories in Buffy’s head could be from any age group and any number of parallel dimensions?” Giles asked.

“Fascinating,” Wesley muttered.

“Tired. Spike, I’m so tired. Hold me. Keep away the bad thoughts,” Buffy whimpered.

“Of course, luv,” he whispered to her. Turning back to the group in the room, he gave them an evil look. “Out,” he ordered.

The last person out the door was Dawn, and Spike gently kissed the top of her head.

“Get some rest, bit. I mean it. Sleep, no more research or magic lessons for now,” he said as he closed the door behind her.

Spike rubbed his forehead tiredly as he climbed into bed and pulled Buffy into his arms. She whimpered slightly, and for just a second he caught a glimpse of her old self in her eyes before she tucked her head under his chin and curled into him.

“This,” he thought, “is going to get real interesting.”

XXX

The voices in Buffy’s head echoed into her dreams, and she couldn’t stop them. One was a baby, and it cried constantly causing a dull ache to build in her head. There was her former self which felt the need to lecture her about sleeping with a soulless vampire, and which remembered heaven. That part really hurt, remembering heaven. She’d been so happy, so at peace. Another girl had been turned into a vampire when she was seventeen, then there was the old lady who was a witch, and finally there was a picholeta demon that ran a bar. Six people living in one head.

Spike lay awake watching the girl in his arms moan and shift in pain. There was nothing he could do but tighten his arms around her and pray that everything would be okay. It wasn’t fair, the amount of stuff that she was forced to put up with. Any lesser person would break, but not his girl. His girl. God he hoped that was still true.

Buffy gasped, and her eyes popped open.

“Ssshh, it’s okay luv. ‘M here,” he rubbed her back in soothing circles.

Buffy pulled back a bit to look at him.

“How you feeling pet?”

“Like Sybil,” she replied.

“Who?”

“You know, Sybil, the chick with the multiple personalities?”

“Must have missed it.”

“Oh, well, it’s like, there’s all these different people…and they all want attention…and I remember every moment of all their lives, but…I’m still me, you know?” she buried her face back into his neck, and nuzzled her bite mark on his neck.

Spike closed his eyes and swallowed hard.

“So, so you still want me ‘round then, yeah?”

Buffy pulled back and looked at him in shock.

“You-you thought I wouldn’t want you anymore?”

“Well, the old you, she didn’t think so much of the big bad. Didn’t much like me around.”

Buffy laid her head back on his shoulder.

“She did, she just didn’t think that she should. I mean, the sex bot thingy was way wiggy, but…when you tried to save Dawn and you took that beating from Glory…she did start to look at you differently.”

Spike tried to look down at her.

“Why you calling yourself ‘she?’”

“Cause she is not me. Just like the baby and the witch and the vampire and the demon, they are a part of me, but not me. I’m still who I was yesterday, just with lots of other things floating around in here…and giving me a headache.”

“What you talking ‘bout, luv?”

“The other people in my head with me now. There’s a baby, who won’t stop crying by the way, a witch, who was like eighty when she died, a vampire, and how ironic is that, and this demon that ran a bar of sorts. It’s weird.” She propped her self up on her elbows to look at him, “I know all this stuff now. Like I know how to do a locator spell and how to make a Bloody Mary with real blood and where the best spot is to bite someone without killing them, and I remember how I met Willow and Xander…and you.” Buffy put her head back on his chest, and began doodling on his chest with her finger. “But it’s like, all those other people, they’re in the back of my head…like fantasies or characters in my imagination. The person in control is still, well, me. The me that’s been here since you found me…the me that loves you.”

Spike placed his finger under her chin and tipped Buffy’s head up to face him. Slowly, he leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. When he pulled back, he noticed Buffy was grinning at him.

“So…you’re still stuck with me for eternity, just so you know.”

Spike laughed, and leaned in to kiss her again.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way, luv.”

XXX

Melinda paced the living room, running her fingers through her hair. She was oblivious to the stares she was receiving from those in the group who were still awake.

“Okay, hi,” Cordelia jumped into Melinda’s path. “I don’t mean to be all interrupting girl here, but what the hell is going on?”

Melinda looked at Cordelia for a moment before stepping around her and continuing her pacing.

“Or, you know, ignore me like I’m not here.”

“Um, goddess, um, hi,” Fred gave a little wave. “We, well, we were hoping that maybe you could tell us, um, you know, what has happened with, well, Anya and the glowing eye thingy, and Buffy with the memories, and stuff.” She threw a glance at Wesley who shrugged at her.

Finally Melinda stopped pacing and sat down in a chair.

“Things are not going well for us, not bad though because we are still ahead of her in terms of the prophecy. The fact that she found us though, well, we are going to need to leave here once the injured are healed and everyone is rested.”

“Where are you going?” Lorne asked.

“The jungle,” Melinda answered. “That’s where this began, and that is where it will end.”

XXX
 

Chapter 30

Author's note: I'll be out of town next week, so there'll be no posting...and yeah I'm evil and there's a huge cliffhanger.

Aaliyanna clapped her hands in glee. This hadn't worked out quite the way she wanted it to, but it was still fun.

"Shall I describe their faces when I killed off those people and put all those fun things in the Slayer's head?" she frowned then remembering Anya. "I'm frowning now because Melinda has released the spirit. Put the spirit in a powerful body, she has."

"A vengeance demon mistress. Loves a human, she does," the seer informed her.

"Has a key, has the witches, has the spirit...what else does she need. Seer, what else is needed for the prophecy?"

"The jungle, the trees, the beginning is also the ending."

Aaliyanna twirled around to face the seer.

"Will we win? Tell me!"

"Know not mistress. Could win, could lose, could live forever, could be released...death would be lovely, all restful."

Aaliyanna grabbed the old woman by her shoulders and pulled her up so that they were face to face.

"No rest for the wicked. You are mine! You belong to me!"

The old woman cringed.

"Yes mistress. Yours, always yours."

Aaliyanna dropped her back to the ground and made a show of wiping her hands together.

"Uck! Have I mentioned how disgusting you are? Look at me having to wipe your filth off my hands. So...back to the jungle we go...How...fun." She grimaced at the thought of having to go back to the jungle that had been her prison for so long. "I'm grimacing at the thought of the jungle."

"Sorry mistress."

"Yes, quite."

XXX

Buffy and Spike were the last to join the group in the lobby because Buffy was nervous about facing everyone with her new and improved memory. Therefore by the time they made it down the stairs, everyone was staring at them.

"B-buffy?" Willow asked hesitantly as she stepped forward.

"Hi Wills," Buffy said softly, tightening her grip on Spike's hand.

"Oh, oh Buffy! I'm so sorry," Willow burst into tears and ran forward, throwing herself into Buffy's arms.

"It's okay. I forgive you," Buffy replied, her own tears falling into Willow's hair. "I forgive you," she repeated when the two broke apart.

Buffy and Willow stared at each other for a moment before they were both swept into a bear hug by Xander.

"Oof!" Willow cried as she and Buffy banged heads.

"Jeez, Xan, we get the all excitedness but watch the injuries," Buffy muttered as Xander sheepishly pulled back. "We can't save the world with concussions, you know."

Buffy caught Giles' eye as he began to move toward her, and she launched herself into his arms.

"Giles," she said, inhaling the fatherly scent that she associated with him.

"Buffy," he replied stroking her hair. "Uh, Buffy? Buffy? I can't breathe."

"Oh!" Buffy exclaimed and let go of him.

"So your memory has returned then?" Angel asked, stepping forward.

"Yeah, it has...well, sort of. I mean, I remember everything that happened before I died, but...I'm still the same girl that I was yesterday, you know? There's just...more to me now. Everything is like...it's like this movie that I saw, and I remember it and I remember how it made me feel, and I remember how I connected to all the characters, but it's something that happened to another person."

"Did the movie get good reviews?" Anya asked. Everyone looked at her in shock. "What? I want to know how I was portrayed. Who played me?"

Buffy smiled at her.

"Some parts did," she glanced back toward Spike and her smile widened. "But I think real life is decidedly better."

Lorne studied her. He could sense the change in the aura around her, but when she looked at Spike it shifted back to the aura she had when he first met her. That made him smile, those two were fated to be together. He glanced over at Angel and Cordelia. Now if he could just get those two to see they were fated as well...

"So, we ready to leave then?" Melinda asked.

"How we gettin' there?" Gunn asked from the couch where Tara was applying the last of a healing cream to his leg. "We don't have that jet, do we?"

"Er, no I'm afraid we don't," Giles replied.

"Anya is going to teleport us," Melinda replied.

"Oh, right...That reminds me, what did you do to my girlfriend?" Xander asked glancing over at Anya.

"Relax Xander, I'm still the same lovable me that you adored yesterday. Now I just have great and magnificent powers that make it so you never want to cross me again. Isn't that great?" she grinned and scrunched up her shoulders at him. "It's like being a vengeance demon again, but with no boss and no waiting for stupid wishes."

"Oh, well, great...I think," Xander replied.

"So this spirit," Wesley began to ask.

"We don't have time," Melinda cut him off. "We need to leave."

Anya shook her shoulders like she was loosening herself up, closed her eyes, and cracked her neck. When her eyes opened again, they glowed blue. With a nod of her head, there was a great flash and a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared Gunn, Giles, Wesley, Fred, Lorne, and Xander found themselves still sitting in the living room.

"I guess we don't get to go on the fun apocalypse," Lorne muttered looking around.

"Oh, this can't be good," Giles muttered.

XXX

"Oh!" Dawn moaned clutching her stomach. "Have I mentioned how much I don't like teleporting? I think I'm going to puke."

Anya hastily moved away.

"Not on my new shoes please. They were expensive."

Tara moved over to Willow and clasped her hand.

"W-where's everyone?" she asked looking around.

"OI! Demon-girl, could you not teleport us into a swamp next time?" Spike and Buffy entered the clearing, both shaking water from the bottom of their pant legs.

"Oops, sorry. I've never teleported such a big group you know. Where's Xander?"

"Well, he's not here with us monkeys, I can tell you that. Have I mentioned how much I hate heights?"

They arched their necks up toward the sound of Cordelia's voice. It was too dark for them to see anything though.

"Uh, hello! Getting down would be nice. I would prefer not to fall and break my neck!"

"I think we're going to jump," Angel called down.

"What?! No! No jumping!" came Cordelia's response.

"Relax, I'll hold on to you."

"If you drop me..."

"I'm not gonna drop you."

"Okay...and no landing on any broken branches either. You can't pay my salary as a pile of dust."

There was a shuffling sound, and then Cordelia screaming. With a small thud, Angel hit the ground stumbled a bit, but managed to hang on to the still screaming Cordelia.

"Cordy! You can stop now," he said, setting her down and massaging his eardrum.

"I know. I just want you to know how much I did not enjoy that."

"Where's everybody else?" Angel asked looking around.

"That's what we were just trying to figure out," Spike retorted.

"Anya, you did teleport everyone, right?" Willow asked.

"Well, I thought I did but I also felt something pushing back. Maybe they're still at the house. I'll go check." Anya tried to harness the power to take herself back to London, but nothing happened. "Hey, that's not right. Let me try again...Um, I think we're stuck."

"Is that supposed to happen?" Dawn asked creeping over to where Buffy and Spike were standing.

"Don't think so, bit."

"Maybe Tara and I should try," Willow suggested.

Both witches appeared to concentrate a moment, but didn't disappear.

"Oh, well this isn't good," Willow said.

"Where's Melinda?" Buffy asked looking around.

"Well this is just great!" Cordelia announced throwing her hands up in the air. "We're in the middle of the jungle with no supplies, no goddess, and no clue. Just what the hell do we think we're doing here?"

"That's what we'd like to know."

Spike let out a low growl and whirled around to face the owner of the voice.

"Hello, Hostile 17, so nice to see you again."

Chapter 31

“What are you doing here, Captain Cardboard?” Spike ground out as Riley Finn stepped out of the bushes.

“Could ask you people the same thing,” Riley replied.

“Finn,” Angel muttered.

Riley sighed, “Angel…Buffy.”

“Yeah, yeah, Cordelia, Tara, Willow, Anya, and Dawn,” Cordelia said walking up to him. “Why are you here, and do you have supplies?”

“I’m here with my…doing research for the government. This is government property.”

Anya’s eyes widened. “You’re still with the Initiative, aren’t you? You woke up Aaliyanna, didn’t you? Don’t you people learn?”

“How do you know about Operative 2? That is top-secret information. And how did you people get here anyway?”

Spike snorted. “Way to go American government. Let’s set loose something else that we can’t control so that it can try to end the world.”

Riley ignored him and focused his attention on Buffy, who had shifted closer to Spike. “Buffy what are you doing here with these…things?”

“What things would you be talking about? My friends? My sister? Or my husband?” Buffy asked lacing her fingers in between Spike’s.

“YOUR husband? You MARRIED Hostile 17?!”

“Well, claimed him is more like it…and I just call him Spike.”

“What the hell happened to you, Buffy?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you…Now I believe we were on the topic of supplies and an apocalypse. An apocalypse that it appears the government has set in motion.”

Riley looked around at the group of people standing in front of him, and realized that he had no choice but to bring them back to camp with him…as much as he would like to leave Angel and Spike there to rot. He jerked his head for them to follow him, and headed back into the bushes.

Spike led the group, keeping Finn in his sights, while Angel brought up the back. The girls walked single file between them. After marching for a few moments, they reached a small campsite. There was a woman dressed all in black stirring the contents of a pot.

“Find anything Finn?” she asked.

“Yeah, found some old…friends,” he replied.

She looked up at him, “You found old friends in the middle of top-secret government property? They looking to get killed?”

“Tara, Willow, h-Spike, Dawn, Angel, Anya, Cordelia…and Buffy, this is Sam…my wife,” Riley muttered.

“Hi,” Sam said brightly to them. She got up and shook all of their hands, pausing when she got to Buffy. “Wow! So you’re THE Buffy, huh? Nice to meet you. Have a seat everyone, I’m just making some rations. We don’t have much, but we’re always willing to share with old friends.”

“They know about Operative 2,” Riley informed her as they sat down around the fire.

“And how do they know that?” Sam asked lading soup into a tin cup and passing it to Dawn.

“Well, Aaliyanna,” Spike said stressing the woman’s name. “Tried to kill us.”

“And why would she do that?” Sam asked as she continued to pass out soup.

“Why don’t you tell us exactly what Operative 2 is? A little what we know, what you know type of thing?” Angel said.

Riley and Sam looked at each other for a moment before Sam shrugged and began to talk.

“The government has been trying to find a way to breed together demons and humans for years with the goal of creating the ultimate soldier. The Initiative base in Sunnydale was just one of their operation bases, and Adam was just one of their projects.

“The soldiers that made it out of the base talked about magic and a super woman and what not. The government decided to expand their operations into the art of magic. They thought that they could come down here, and have the local witch doctors teach them a bit of voodoo magic. There’s a tribe around here known for their powerful warriors-“

“And the government thought they’d come down here and find out their secrets?” Cordelia interrupted.

Riley nodded and took over the story, “When we got down here, the natives spoke about a place of ancient magic. It was dark though, and no one from the village went near it. We sent a group up the mountain to scope it out. They never came back.”

Sam took over again, “The next day there was a huge earthquake, and the entire village disappeared. Finn and I were the only ones who made it out and that was because we were out scouting when it happened.”

Spike shook his head. “You stupid, arrogant- it wasn’t enough that you had to go around messing with the demon community, putting little devices in our heads and-you had to go and mess with the forces you know nothing about!” He was on his feet shouting by the end of his sentence.

Riley stood up and leaned into Spike’s face. “It is the responsibility of the government to suss out possible threats on the-“

“THE RESPONSIBILTY! T-TO WHAT? TO CUT PEOPLE OPEN? TO-“

“YOU.ARE.NOT.A.PERSON.”

“STOP IT!” Buffy got between the two men.

Sam tugged her husband back down beside her, and Buffy gently led Spike to the other side of the fire. The two men never broke eye contact.

“You do realize that you’ve unleashed a goddess bent on destroying the world, right?” Anya asked.

Sam shrugged. “We didn’t mean to. We just wanted to tap into a power source. We’ll be able to handle whatever happens.”

“You’ve already lost how many men? What is wrong with the government?” Dawn asked.

“The government is the same as everybody else. They crave power. The more power you have, the more people fear you,” Angel answered.

“That’s all we are to the government, isn’t it?” Willow murmured, staring at the ground a moment before looking up at Sam and Riley. “You know when I was little, I used to admire all the people who worked for the government. I used to think they were heroes, and I wanted to grow up and work at the White House. I thought the government was all about the good of the country. But I was wrong. People in government…it’s like a big popularity contest, what can I do to get more power? What should I vote on to get more people to like me? Who can I step on to make people see that I’m the biggest one here?” She paused a moment. “I am an American citizen. I am a witch. I am a lesbian. I am a person, and the work that we,” she pointed to herself and the surround Scoobies, “do is far more important then the work you do. We save lives. Everyday, we go out and we save someone. We-we do good work, and we don’t take any credit, and we save people…what have you done?”

Sam and Riley were both silent. Angel cleared his throat, “Sun’s coming up. I noticed a big cave a little ways back. I think we should spend the day there.”

Silently, the group followed Angel back into the darkness, leaving Sam and Riley all alone.

XXX

Chapter 32

Melinda was waiting inside the cave. “Where have you been?” she asked, rushing toward them. “Something went wrong with the teleportation, and when I tried to find you, I was blocked.”

“Found some good friends of the United States government a ways back,” Spike muttered.

Melinda sighed. “Oh, then you were blocked by the wards set up by an old tribe that used to live here.”

“Is that why we couldn’t use any magic?” Tara asked.

Melinda nodded. “But we should be out of the way now.”

“Where are the others?” Dawn asked. “They didn’t show up here.”

“They aren’t needed. I figured that we should travel with only those who were useful.”

“And you thought that you were the one to make that decision?” Angel asked.

“Everyone who is here has a part to play in the final battle; the Slayer, the witches, the key, the seer, the vampire with a soul, the rogue, and the spirit. All needed. All here.”

“Fine. Fine. We’re here. Now can we sleep?” Cordelia stomped off to a corner of the cave, Angel following after her.

Everyone slowly dispersed and was soon asleep.

XXX

Buffy shifted away from Spike in an attempt not to wake him, but he woke up anyway.

“Where you goin’?” he asked sleepily.

“I didn’t mean to wake you.”

Spike propped himself up on his elbow and looked at her. Buffy’s eyes were slightly bloodshot, her hair matted as if she had been crying for a while and running her hands through her hair.

“Wot’s wrong, luv?”

Buffy shifted her weight between her feet and stared at the ground.

“Buffy?” Spike sat all the way up.

“It-it’s just that…I have all this…stuff…in my head, you know? And I re-I r…” She started to sob, and covered her face with her hands.

Spike didn’t way anything, but he did hold out his arms to her and Buffy dived into his embrace.

“Spike, I remember Heaven.”

His hands paused in their run down her back, “W-wot?”

“I remember Heaven. My mom was there…I was h-happy…I was done, safe, at peace.”

“Oh pet,” he breathed into her hair, and pulled her closer.

“T-that’s not all. I remember all those other lives…she killed them Spike, she killed them b-because of-of…they had lives, they had families…and she killed them…and I can feel how each of them died…it’s in my head…because each of them was me, a piece of me.”

“Ssshh, luv. It’s okay.”

“NO!” The force of her voice startled him, and she pulled back to look into his face. “It’s NOT okay, Spike. It’s not okay. I am…shattered, many Buffy-shaped pieces and she killed those pieces. I want her to die. I want her to suffer like I am. I want her to feel pain.”

“Then she’ll feel pain. I promise.” Spike leaned forward and kissed her gently.

Buffy curled up in his embrace and fell back asleep, but Spike stayed awake a while longer, stroking her hair and whispering in her ear.

XXX

“We’re in the jungle again,” Aaliyanna spat with disgust.

“Yes, Mistress,” the Seer answered.

“I despise the jungle.”

“I like the jungle. I was born here, wasn’t I?”

Aaliyanna turned to the Seer with a sneer. “Did I ask you, you disgusting little toad?”

“No.”

“No, what?”

“No, Mistress.”

The Seer sat down in the mud. She hadn’t meant to do that, but she needed to rest. There was a plan brewing in the Seer’s head. A plan that would allow her to rest, would allow her peace. Would allow her to be free. All she had to do was time it.

“Great, now you’re sitting in mud. How do I put up with you?”

“I’ll never know, Mistress.”

XXX

The bad feeling that had been brewing in the pit of Giles’ stomach continued to grow as the minutes turned into hours, and they had not heard from the rest of their group. Wesley had this strange theory that the reason they had been left behind is that they simply weren’t needed.

“It takes a lot of magical energy to teleport a group of people. Logically, you would only bring those with that were needed,” he had said.

And while Giles partially agreed with him, the whole thing still made him uneasy. There seemed to be this…countdown. But to what, he didn’t know. It just bothered him.

 Chapter 33

“It’s time.”

Melinda’s voice woke up the occupants in the cave.

“Time?” Willow asked.

“The time prophesized is at hand. It is time for us to meet our destiny.”

“B-but how are we going to find Aaliyanna?” Tara asked.

“We’ll take you to her,” Sam’s voice echoed as she entered the cave with Riley in tow. “We talked it over.”

“We joined the military to be heroes. We want to help do the right thing,” Riley added. “We’ll take you to the area where we found her.” He swung his gun up into his hand.

“And we trust you why?” Anya asked. “You like to cut up demons and make them into crazy monsters.”

“We trust them,” Angel said, begrudgingly, “because we have no choice, right?”

“Okay, but still, what are we supposed to do when we get there?” Dawn asked.

“You will know when the time comes,” Melinda said, and walked out into the darkness.

The others followed slowly with Buffy and Spike bringing up the rear.

“Spike,” she said quietly.

“Yeah, pet,” he answered, taking her hand as he kept walking.

“I want…when this…ends…when it’s over…I want to leave.”

Spike stopped walking and turned to look at her, his eyes curiously seeking hers. “Where do you want to go?”

Buffy half turned toward him, her eyes staring at their clasped hands. “Remember when-when I couldn’t remember anything and-and you told me that you would take me away if I asked you to?”

Spike’s eyes grew wide and he reached out and lifted her head so that their eyes met. “Are you asking me to show you the world?”

She nodded.

“And the nibblet?”

“She can come…if she wants, but-“

“She’s going to school in Egypt,” Dawn interrupted as she walked up to them. “I came back to see what was taking you so long. Everyone’s waiting.”

Buffy turned to her sister, dropping Spike’s hand in the process. “Dawnie, I-I can’t stay here. I’m sorry.”

Dawn reached up and wiped the tears that were slowly falling down Buffy’s face. “It’s okay. I-I don’t like it, but I understand…I mean, I’ll still see you, right? I can visit you on holidays and I can call you and-and write and-hey internet.”

Buffy enveloped Dawn in a tight hug. “Thank you for understanding.”

Spike stepped up beside them. “We’ll find out where the school is, and we’ll send lots of letters and presents and rot.”

Dawn stepped back and looked at him, realization dawning on her. “You’re not going to say good-bye…after the battle, are you?”

Buffy shook her head. “No, I can’t-I can’t face them. But Spike and I will always let you know where we are, and we’ll always love you, but please don’t tell them.”

“I won’t,” Dawn whispered, pulling Buffy back into the hug. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

XXX

Cordelia paused, one hand on her head the other on Angel’s shoulder.

“What’s wrong,” he asked.

“There’s…I think there is someone talking to me in my head,” she turned to look at him.

“Is it a vision?”

Cordelia shook her head. “No, I think…I think it’s Aaliyanna’s seer. Hey!” she called out to the group ahead of them. “Hey, you guys. Stop!”

The group turned around to face her.

“Why are we stopping?” Sam asked.

“I think I have a plan,” Cordelia answered.

Anya stepped up behind Sam. “That sounds like the best news I have heard all day.”

“I agree,” Willow said. “Fill us in O Grand Planner Cordy.”

“Okay, come here,” Cordelia waved everyone closer. “We all here?” She turned to see Spike, Buffy, and Dawn joining them from the rear.

“No. Where did Melinda go?” Tara asked, and everyone started to look around.

“Guess we’re on our own again,” Spike muttered.

Melinda was nowhere to be found.

XXX

“Hello, sister.”

Aaliyanna looked up sharply and let a slow grin spread over her face. “Hello, sister.”

Melinda stepped down the embankment, lifting her skirts high above the mud. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been here.”

”A very long time,” Aaliyanna agreed. “Have you come to meet your doom?”

Melinda didn’t answer her. Instead, she stood next to her sister and stared out at the river. “We were born here, remember?”

“You’re changing the subject.”

“No, I’m not. I am simply reminding you of our beginnings.” Melinda turned to face her sister. “Do you even remember being happy? Are you so far gone that it has come to this?”

“This is prophecy. This is how it was meant to be.”

“NO!” Melinda grabbed Aaliyanna by the shoulders. “You of all people should know that prophecies are bendable. They are open to translation. They are not set in stone. We.Can.Change.This.”

Aaliyanna shrugged Melinda’s hands off of her. “No.” She turned to walk away. “This is prophecy…it’s prophecy,” she muttered to herself.

XXX
Chapter 34

“Wow, it’s so…cave-like,” Willow remarked.

The group was standing in front of a small river that guarded a cave deep in the forest.

“Is this-Is this where we’re supposed to be?” Tara asked.

“This is where we found her,” Riley answered.

“Are you sure that we can’t stay?” Sam asked. “I mean, I know that we don’t have any
special powers or anything but…we are trained in this type of work.”

Cordelia shook her head. “No, thanks but…I think you guys were just supposed to lead us here.”

“In other words, your work is done here. Go back to the government and talk some sense into them,” Anya said, shooing them with her hands. “I wish you joy, love, and orgasms.”

Sam led Riley away from the group. He paused in front of Buffy and Spike. “Look, um…I just wanted to wish you luck and…happiness.” He glanced at Spike. “If you do anything that makes her unhappy-“

“I’d stake myself before you got the chance,” Spike finished.

The two men nodded at each other, Riley took Sam’s hand and the two walked off into the darkness of the forest.

XXX

“It’s time,” Fred announced, looking up from the table with a stunned look on her face.

“What do you mean it’s time? How do you know what time it is?” Xander asked.

“It’s half past ten,” Wesley announced, walking into the room. He stopped when he noticed the faces looking at him. “What? Didn’t-didn’t you just ask what time it was?”

“No, I just-I don’t know. There was a voice in my head that said it was time,” Fred continued.

“Now you’re hearing voices in your head?” Gunn asked. “What is going on here people?”

“W-w-w-what kind of voice,” Giles asked.

Fred shook her head. “I don’t know, I just, I was reading this book on ancient prophecies and I just, I heard this voice and it just said that it was time and…time for what?”

“What book is that?” Giles asked, leaning over to pick it up. He wrinkled his forehead. “Fred, where did you get this book?”

“From the pile. Why?”

“Because it isn’t one of mine. Wesley, is this yours?”

Wesley placed his glasses on his nose and took the book from Giles. “No…I’ve never seen this book before in my life.”

“Well, sugarplums. Are you going to tell us what it says? Come on, audience on edge here,” Lorne implored.

“It’s…well, it’s um….blank,” Wesley muttered.

“What do you mean it’s blank? Give me that?” Giles demanded, snatching the book from Wesley’s hands. “Blank, indeed. I just looked at it and it…it’s blank.”

“Hey, but look,” Xander came up behind Giles and began reading over his shoulder. ‘So, do we go in the cave now or what?’ Dawn asked. ‘We follow the plan,’ Cordelia answered. ‘We wait.’”

Fred grabbed the book out of Giles’ hands. “Oh my good lord…This…we…this book will let us follow along with what they’re doing.” She flipped through the book.

“Well, don’t just sit there,” Gunn yelled from the couch. “Start reading ‘aloud.”

XXX

“Hey, Angel. Can I, um before we all go rushing toward our whatever, could I talk to you? Alone?” Cordelia waited until Angel turned to give her his full attention. “Um, see the thing is, we may not-you know-and I wanted to tell you that you…mean a lot to me and-“

“I understand Cordelia. You mean a lot to me too,” Angel smiled at her.

“Oh, good…um, no, I mean, yes, but no.”

“No?” Angel looked confused.

“I mean yes, you mean a lot to me, but…oh hell!” Cordelia threw her arms around Angel’s neck and crushed her lips to his. He stood frozen for a moment before bringing his arms around her waist and kissing her back. Cordelia was the first to break off, and she smiled slowly at him. “So, I just wanted to tell you that, okay?”

Angel opened his eyes and regarded her slightly. “You are the most…In two hundred years, I have never met anyone like you.”

Cordelia smiled brightly. “Good because you never will again, so don’t you forget it, buster.”

They walked back to the group, hands clasped together. Anya smiled at them from where she stood at the front of the group, “are we ready? Let’s go.” She turned and walked into the cave, Dawn beside her.

The others followed in pairs behind her. Tara and Willow first, then Cordelia and Angel, and lastly Spike and Buffy. The cave was pitch black except for a glowing light somewhere up ahead of them.

“Welcome,” the Seer stood in front of a chalk drawn circle. Inside the circle were Aaliyanna and Melinda. “I believe you know what you are expected to do.”

Anya turned to face the Seer, her eyes turning into the glowing blue,“we enter the Cave of the Beginning; the Spirit, the Key, the witches red and white, the Seer, the vampire with a soul, the wild card, and the Slayer. We take our places in the sacred circle.”

Buffy and Spike stepped up to the circle.

“I, the former champion, ask that I be allowed to enter into the sacred circle,” Buffy said.

“I, the former enemy and current mate of the former champion, ask that I be allowed to enter into the sacred circle,” Spike tightened his hold on Buffy’s hand.

“I, the transdimensional Key, ask that be allowed to enter into the sacred circle. I offer a blood sacrifice to the former champion and former enemy.” Dawn stepped between Spike and Buffy, breaking their hold of each other. She produced a small, gold knife and slit both of her hands. Then she slit one of each of Spike and Buffy’s hands and pressed hers into theirs.

“We accept your offer,” Buffy leaned over and kissed Dawn on the cheek.

“And we welcome you to our circle,” Spike answered, kissing her other cheek.

“I, the red witch of power, ask that I be allowed to enter the sacred circle,” Willow stepped up next to Buffy.

“I, the white witch of balance, ask that I be allowed to enter the sacred circle,” Tara said, stepping up next to Spike.

“I, the vampire with a soul, ask to be allowed to enter the sacred circle,” Angel said, releasing Cordelia’s hand to take his place next to Willow.

“I, the Seer, ask to be allowed to enter the sacred circle,” Cordelia said, taking her place next to Tara.

“And I, the Spirit and new Champion, enter the sacred circle. I take my place between the two Seers,” Anya said as she took the blind Seer hand and led her into the circle. “We call upon the old ones, Aaliyanna and Metarlinda to end your feud and be at peace. We stand as your guardians. We will only move when the fight has ended. We await.”

There was a glow within the circle, and both sisters appeared.

“Are you prepared to die?” Aaliyanna asked.

“I am prepared to take my place as I am intended,” Melinda answered.

“Then you are ready to die,” Aaliyanna answered and released a stream of energy toward Melinda.

Melinda ducked, raised her hand and released a bright light toward her sister. Aaliyanna tried to duck, but tripped over her skirt and fell into the light instead of moving away. She released a loud scream and bent over. When she stood up again, she was holding a large pile of mud, which she threw at Melinda.

Melinda easily stepped aside, letting the mud smack the Seer in the face. The Seer didn’t move as the mud slid over her nose and mouth, to drop on the front of her clothes.

“Look what’s happened to you, Aaliyanna. You used to be happy. Do you remember being happy?” Melinda asked, moving away from another awkward spell.

“We could have ruled,” Aaliyanna screeched at her as she gathered energy for another spell. “We would have been invincible.”

“It was not, and is not, our place to rule. You can still be saved.”

“I WILL RULE! YOU WILL ALL BOW DOWN BEFORE ME!” Aaliyanna turned around within the circle. “No circle can hold me, can withstand my power!” She rushed the circle between Tara and Spike. With a cry, she hit their clasped hands and bounced back.

Anya’s eyes glowed brighter, and she dropped Cordelia and the Seer’s hands. “YOU HAVE ATTEMPTED TO BREAK THE SACRED CIRCLE. YOU HAVE BROKEN THE RULES.”

“NO!” Aaliyanna struggled to stand back up. “NONONONONONO! My plan. My destiny. Minemineminemine. You cannot take it away.”

Anya reached out and placed her hands on Aaliyanna’s head. The goddess struggled beneath her.

“Seer! Seer! I command you to help your mistress,” Aaliyanna screeched her command.

“As you wish,” the Seer answered with a small smile on her face. She reached out her hands until she felt Cordelia catch them. She allowed the younger seer to lead her forward until she was standing in front of the goddess. Cordelia placed her hands on the goddess’ head, over those of Anya’s.

Tara and Willow stepped in on either side of Anya and the Seer, and clasped each other’s hands over the top of the other two. Instantly their hands were enveloped in a silver glow.

Cordelia leaned into the Seer and whispered, “Are you ready?”

“I am,” the Seer replied.

Tara and Willow began to chant softly, the silver glow growing larger around them. Anya’s eyes flashed and Dawn came forward, being lead by Spike and Buffy. Angel had lead Melinda toward the strange circle that held Aaliyanna prisoner. He kept his hands on her shoulders as he pushed her to her knees. Buffy held her and Dawn’s clasped hands over Melinda’s head and dripped their combined blood on her.

“By the blood of the former Champion and the Key, you are free.”

Spike held his and Dawn’s hands over Aaliyanna’s head and dripped their blood onto her.

“By the blood of the former enemy made lover and the Key, you are destroyed.”

Anya threw back her head. “By the power in me and those around me, we demand your release from this Hell!”

The Seer was whispering in Aaliyanna’s ear, and Aaliyanna began to scream. Her head thrashed back and forth, and her screams echoed through out the cave, causing the rocks to loosen and fall around them.

Anya’s voice rose higher. “RELEASE THIS IMPRISIONED SOUL! RELEASE THE EVIL!”

The ground began to tremble, and the rocks in the cave were falling around them. One hit Cordelia in the shoulder, and she dropped to the ground with a cry of pain. Angel rushed forward to grab her, but was knocked out when another rock hit him on the head.

Spike turned inward and tried to cover both Buffy and Dawn with his body. He pushed them to the side of the cave right as a crack opened in the ground where they had been standing. Willow stumbled backwards, and Tara tried to throw her own weight backwards to keep her girlfriend from falling into the hole. Tara hit the ground with Willow on top of her, breaking their connection with the others. The Seer’s hold on Aaliyanna was broken when Willow fell, and with a large smile on her face, she pulled Aaliyanna with her into the hole.

“NO!” Melinda cried and grabbed her sister’s hand. She lay on the edge of the tavern, desperately trying to pull her sister back over the edge.

“Let me go, Metarlinda,” Aaliyanna implored. “Let me end this. I’ve done so much wrong.”

“No, I won’t let you go. You can be good. I know you can,” Melinda replied.

“She showed me. She showed me her pain,” Aaliyanna was sobbing. “The Seer, she showed me. I don’t know what happened. I didn’t mean for it to happen, any of it.”

“I know you didn’t. It’s not too late. You can change it. Please, let me pull you up,” Melinda yanked on her sister’s hand again.

A larger hand reached over Melinda’s and pulled Aaliyanna up with a firm tug.

“You can always find redemption,” Angel told her. “You just have to want it bad enough.”

“We have to get out of here,” Anya called out. “The power, I can’t control it anymore.”

Anya was covered in a blue light that radiated out around her, hitting the sides of the cave.

Willow and Tara stood up, clasping hands as they did so, “Dawn, we need you,” Willow called.

Dawn ran over, grabbing each of their hands. Anya let out a primal scream, and the cave around them exploded, throwing them all into darkness.


A/N: Here it is, the last chapter. I’d like to thank everyone who has read and reviewed this over the last eight months. To Addie Logan, couldn’t have done this without you. You are the greatest beta ever. I’m glad for all the people that I’ve met through this fic, and all the people who have taken the time to e-mail me their thoughts. Thank you for all the award nominations, and thank you for the awards that I’ve won. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Chapter 35

There was a brilliant flash of light in the middle of Giles’ living room that threw everyone backwards and knocked over furniture. When the light disappeared, Fred allowed Wesley to pull her up from behind the table.

“What was that?” he asked.

“I’m not sure…”she started.

“Ahn?!” Xander’s call interrupted her.

“Xander!” Anya rushed into her boyfriend’s waiting arms.

“I thought I would never see you again,” he replied, covering her face in kisses.

Giles walked over to where Willow, Tara, and Dawn were helping each other out.

“What happened?” he asked.

“I think…I think we won?” Willow answered with a smile.

Angel made his way toward Cordelia, “is your shoulder okay?” he asked.

“I’m filling for workman’s comp,” she replied.

“Oh, well, yeah, of course. Um, take a few days off and-“he was cut off by Cordelia’s lips on his.

“I’ll take a few days off if you take them with me,” she answered.

He smiled at her. “Deal.”

Lorne approached Melinda. She was kneeling on the floor, her arms wrapped around a thin girl with long white hair.

“Mindykins, everything okay?”

Melinda leaned back and smiled at him, tears running down her face.

“Everything is fine, Lorne. I’d like you to meet my sister, Aaliyanna.”

Lorne looked down at the woman in Melinda’s arms.

“She’s your real twin sister, isn’t she?” he asked.

“Yes, the evil inside her has been destroyed. I have my sister back.”

Lorne looked at the woman again. Her aura was a brilliant, beautiful white. He smiled, “it’s nice to meet you, Aaliyanna.”

“It’s nice to be met, Lorne,” she answered with a smile.

“What happened to your Seer?”

“She freed me. I think…I think she is at peace now.”

Lorne helped both goddesses to their feet, and pulled them into hugs.

“Um, guys?” Gunn struggled to his feet. The group ignored him. “Yo people!” They kept talking. He placed his fingers between his teeth and whistled. Everyone stopped talking, and turned to look at him. “Anyone notice that we are short one Slayer and one vampire?”

Giles’ looked around. “Where are Buffy and Spike?”

Dawn smiled sadly. “They’re gone.”
“What do you mean they’re gone? They can’t be gone. Who’s going to watch the Hellmouth and-and patrol and stuff?” Xander asked.

Dawn shrugged. “There’s another Slayer in the world. Call her. Buffy and Spike…they deserve a chance to be happy, just like the rest of us. Let’s…let’s let them have their happily ever after eternity, okay?”

XXX

One year later

“Dawn! Dawn! You’ve got mail!”

Dawn turned to see her roommate, Dina, come flying into their dorm.

“It’s from Rome,” she said breathlessly, thrusting a package into Dawn’s hands.

Dawn laughed, “I swear you get more excited about my mail then I do.”

Dina scowled, “That’s because your sister and her husband send the coolest gifts. I mean, what other girl gets mystical presents from around the world? You have an enchanted necklace from France, a bracelet from England that turns colors when someone near you is lying, a sword from Germany that used to belong to some dead Russian guy, I mean-come on.”

Dawn laughed again, and opened the letter.

Dear Dawnie,

Spike and I are in Rome right now. I love it. We’ve been here for two months now, and I can’t get enough of the city. We miss you lots though, and we were hoping that we could come visit you over your next vacation. Spike has a new ring that he wants to show you. I think you’ll like it…It looks great in sunlight.

Anyway, hope you like this. Spike thought that you needed a journal (I thought you needed a new dress more, but he won out. I’ll get you a dress when we come to visit).

Miss you and love you lots,

Buffy & Spike

Dina had already opened the box and pulled out the leather journal.

“Seriously, you have the best sister and brother-in-law ever,” she said, eying the gold leafed pages.

“Yeah,” Dawn answered with a smile. “I do.”

XXX

Buffy stood on the balcony of their hotel suite and watched the sun set. She absent-mindedly played with the green stoned that hung around her neck. It had arrived when they were in London. The note inside read “For the noise in your head,” and hadn’t been signed. Spike had been reluctant to let her wear it, but had relented when she put it on and the voices in her head ceased to bother her. They only returned when she took off the necklace, and so Spike had found a witch that was able to place a sticking spell to the clasp. It would never fall off of her.

Spike came up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist. The hand on her necklace traveled down to the ring that he wore on his left hand. In looks, it matched the ring that she wore on her own left hand, but his was special. These too had arrived in an unmarked box with a note that read, “For your eternity.” Once they had placed them on their hands, the rings had stuck. Spike had initially been angry, but an accident led him to find out a little secret. The ring let him survive in sunlight.

“What are you thinking about?” he whispered as he placed a kiss on her neck.

She smiled. “Just thinking.”

“Sounds serious.”

“I was just thinking that I’m glad that Willow brought me back.”

“Why’s that, luv?”

“Because she brought me to you.” Buffy turned in his embrace and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“What else are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that…I’m glad that I have this necklace and that you have that ring…and that Dawn in happy in Egypt…and that we’re going to see her… and a million other things.”

“That mean you’re ready to leave here, and make our way over to Egypt?” Spike rubbed his nose against hers.

Buffy closed her eyes and sighed. “Mmm. Her vacation isn’t for another few weeks.”

Spike brushed his lips against hers. “Yeah, but thought we’d make a few more stops on the way there. There’s this great spa that I want to take you too. Spoil you rotten.”

“You always spoil me rotten,” she answered, smiling against his lips.

“And I plan to spoil you rotten for a very, very, very long time.”

“Mmm,” she answered and kissed him again.

“I love you, Buffy.”

She pulled away and cupped his cheek with her hand. “I love you too, Spike. Eternally.”

He pulled her back in for another kiss as the last rays of the sun disappeared behind the horizon.
 

.

XXX

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