Chapter 1: The Other Buffy

A/N: During ‘Bargaining, Part 2.’ Spike is the first one to find Buffy - and she is less mentally stable. Partly inspired by A. Price’s wonderful fic ‘Safe.’ All quotes from buffyworld.com

Dawn and Spike poked through the rubble on Main Street. They spotted the torso of the Buffybot lying on the ground.

Seeing the hurt expression on the girl’s face as she looked at the pieces, Spike said, “It's just a machine, Dawn.” He realized he needed the reminder, too.

Dawn sighed, and replied, “I know.”

Dawn kneeled beside the bot. Spike turned and walked away a bit.

Dawn reached out to close the bot's eyes, but suddenly the head turned and looked at her. Dawn gasped.

Buffybot spoke, saying “Dawn. You're my sister Dawn.”

Dawn didn’t know what to say. She gave the bot a tentative smile.

Buffybot: (looks around in confusion) Where did I go?
Dawn: What?
Buffybot: Where did I go? I was here. Here. But then I ran away.
Dawn: (confused) I-I don't...
Buffybot: No. Not me. The other Buffy.

Dawn's eyes widened in shock.

Buffybot: Yes. The other Buffy.
Dawn: Buffy?
Buffybot: I don't ... I don't ... know where she ran off to. Maybe-

She froze mid-word, staring blankly.

Dawn backed away, got up, still shocked. She stared at the lifeless bot before turning and running away.

Meanwhile, Spike was picking up a piece of twisted metal from the scrap pile. It was one of the bot's legs.

Spike: Tsk. Look what those filthy buggers done to you. (loudly, to Dawn) Willow's slap-and-paste job's not gonna do the trick this time. Robot's done.

He looked up, noticing that Dawn was gone.

“Hey,” he shouted, looking around,”Little Bit? Dawn! Dawn!! ... Where the bloody hell could she have gotten to? Damn! Probably headed home... I’m gonna rip the stupid chit’s head off!... Drink from her brain stem!” Spike continued muttering various threats, trying to hide his worry, as he raced back to his newly acquired motorbike to head home.

He was in such a rush to get home and (hopefully) find Dawn that he almost didn’t hear it. Just as he was about to turn on the motorcycle, he heard a small sound. Spike debated whether he should investigate or not; he wanted to get back to Dawn as soon as possible. On the other hand - maybe it was Dawn!

“Dawn!” he cried out as he rounded the corner into the alley where he’d heard the noise.

He spotted one of the bikers, looking as if he was chasing something into the alley. Spike snuck up behind him and -snap!- broke the hulking creature’s neck. He didn’t have time for a real fight.

“Dawn! You here?” he called again.

He paused. Either Dawn was hurt and couldn’t respond (‘no, not that!’ ) or it was someone else.

He sniffed the air. Blood! And it did sort of smell like Dawn’s...

Still, he didn’t see anyone... he changed faces briefly, needing the enhanced night vision his game face would bring. Ah... there! That little bundle in the corner! A little girl, maybe?

Remembering to changed back to his human visage, Spike cautiously approached. Not wanting to scare the child, he used the same techniques he’d used when Dru had gotten frightened.

The girl’s cries become louder as he came nearer, and she shrunk back even further, her face still obscured by her long hair.

Spike crouched down near her. In the sort of voice people use with scared animals, he said, “Shhh... hey there.... I’m not gonna hurt you, ok? Are you all right? Are you lost?”

The whimpering grew quieter, and the bundle unfurled just a bit. Cautiously, Spike reached out a hand to touch her. He knew he needed to go slowly here, and it was driving him crazy since part of him was screaming to go find Dawn. But he couldn’t just leave this girl here, although he had no desire to analyze why that might be.

She jerked a bit when he touched her, but then calmed as he stroked her dirty, long hair.

“There, there...” he whispered. “You’re ok, now.”

The girl’s head came up to look at him. A bloodied hand moved to brush aside her hair so she could see her savior.

It took him a moment to distinguish her features, but when he did, he nearly fell over backward.

“Buffy?!” he half choked. “Is it really -”

As his voice got louder, she shrank back again.

Ok, calm, calm... it’s really her! Oh, my sweet Slayer, my love... need to take care of her, need to get her home...

“It’s ok, luv, it’s ok. I’m going to pick you up and take you home, ok?”

Fearing that she might bolt, he carefully put his arms under her and lifted her up.

To his relief, she didn’t struggle. After a moment, her arms went up around his neck and her head burrowed into his chest.

Figuring that the motorbike would scare her, Spike opted to walk home. It wasn’t that far, and he was enjoying just holding her, smelling her, having her there. Though he smelled blood, she wasn’t bleeding profusely anywhere, and he figured he’d patch her up once they got home.

A/N: Well, that’s chapter 1! Please, please, PLEASE - review!!! It’s really what keeps me writing.

Chapter 2: Enter the Scoobies

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He breathed a sigh of relief as he spotted home.

Good, didn’t get damaged...

As he walked onto the porch, he realized he needed to put her down to open the door.

“Ok luv, gonna set you down for a second, ok?” He tried to gently lower her. She clung to him with Slayer strength.

“Well, let’s just see if I can’t get that door open even with you in my arms...”

It was a bit of a tricky maneuver, but he managed.

Carefully setting his precious bundle on the couch, disentangling her arms from around him, he shut the door.

“Dawn!” he called out, not too loudly, afraid of scaring Buffy. “Dawn, you here?”

“Spike!” Dawn bounded down the stairs.

“Nibblet! What the bleedin’ hell happened to you?”

“Sorry, Spike. I wandered off a bit, and then one of those bikers chased me... I guess I outran him, or maybe he just lost interest. I decided I should just come back here, rather than-”

“Dawn.” Spike cut off her torrent of words. “Calm down. Something happened.”

“Something bad?”

“No, something good, very good... but you have to be calm, ok, Nibblet?”

She nodded at him with large, frightened eyes.

“It’s... it’s Buffy. She’s... she’s back.”

Spike watched as Dawn slowly processed this. He could see she was becoming excited, but managed to control herself. “What? You mean, really back, as in, alive?”

“Yeah... in the living room, in fact.”

Dawn raced over to the threshold. Barely recognizing her sister underneath all the dirt and grime, she slowly approached. “Buffy? Is that really you?”

As she got within a few feet, Buffy withdrew, began whimpering again. She turned frightened eyes to Spike, begging her savior for protection.

He was at her side in a flash, arms around her. “Shhh... it’s ok, luv... it’s just Dawn, your sister, remember?”

As he continued calming Buffy, he turned to Dawn. “Obviously, she’s had some kind of traumatic experience... she’s a tad skittish right now... I’ve dealt with worse before, though, with Dru,” he reassured the girl. “Nibblet, why don’t you fetch the first aid kit, all right?”

Dawn nodded, not fully understanding what was going on, but wanting to help.

Dawn reappeared from the kitchen carrying medical supplies.

“Got it,” she said, handing the box to Spike.

As she entered the living room, the front door burst open and the others rushed in.

Willow: Is she here?
Anya: She's here!
Willow: You're here.
Xander: We didn't know where you were.
Anya: You ran away.
Willow: Buffy!
Tara: Are you okay?

The four spat the questions at Buffy in rapid-fire. She curled into Spike even further, hiding her head against his chest once again.

Shocked, Dawn gasped, “How did you know she was back?”

Willow: A spell. We, we did a spell.
Anya: We didn't think it worked, but... (to Buffy) You're not a zombie, are you?
Xander: Anya!
Willow: Are you in pain?
Xander: What do you remember?
Tara: What do you know about what happened?

Buffy started crying, while Spike tried to soothe her quietly, leaving it up to Dawn to defend her big sister.

“Hey! Back off!” Dawn commanded.

The Scoobies looked at Dawn in surprise.

“She’s... she’s obviously upset. She’s had some kind of traumatic experience,” the young girl explained, borrowing Spike’s words. Taking charge, Dawn said, “I think you all need to leave now. We’ll take care of her.”

Willow: But we brought her-
Tara: We want to help-
Xander: Spike should get out-
A chorus of voices spoke out.

“QUIET!!” Dawn shouted, glancing back apologetically at her sister and Spike as Buffy’s cries got louder. Turning back to the four Scoobies, she continued more quietly. “Go. Now. We will talk about it tomorrow.”

Again a babble of voices arose.

Disgustedly realizing that they might not shut up any time soon, Spike lifted the trembling girl in his arms.

Unsurprisingly, it was Xander who exclaimed, “Hey! Where do you think you’re going with her, Dead Boy?”

“I’m going to put her in her room. You lot are scarin’ her to death with all this racket.” Spike responded softly, still using his calm voice.

As he expected, noise rose up behind him as he went upstairs. However, he trusted that his Nibblet would take care of them.

Meanwhile, he had Buffy to take care of. He decided to head to the bathroom first.

Away from everyone else, she calmed down enough to let him set her on the toilet seat.

As he wet a washcloth and began gently trying to get at the worst of the mud, he kept up a soft, running monologue, which seemed to soothe her.

“There we go, just gonna get you cleaned up a tad... don’t worry about th’ Scoobies, they’re just all excited ‘cause you’re back... as am I... oh, luv, you don’t know how much I’ve missed you!” he turned away to hide a sob, trying to get his emotions under control. He needed to remain calm around her.

He turned back to washing her. A few minutes later, Dawn hesitantly stopped at the threshold of the bathroom.

“Hey, Spike,” she said softly. “They’re all gone... they weren’t happy about it, but I got ‘em to leave. I think Xander was the only one who was really upset with you being here, the rest just really wanted to help Buffy... oh, and here’s the first aid kit,” she said as she handed it to him.

“Thanks, good job, Platelet... I think you can come a bit closer, big sis is doin’ a bit better now... I’m gonna tackle her hands now, might need your help with that.”

As Spike lifted Buffy’s bloodied hands up, Dawn gasped. “What happened?”

Grimly, Spike replied, “Looks like she had to dig herself out of her own grave. S’not fun; ‘ve done it myself.”

As the two began cleaning and bandaging Buffy’s hands, Dawn asked, “But... the others, they brought her back, so... why would they leave her in her grave?! That’s... that’s so horrible!”

“Yeah, Nibblet it is... wakin’ up in your own grave is a terrifying thing,” he said, shuddering at the memory. “But th’ Scoobs can be right bloody wankers, sometimes. Look at ‘em, not tellin’ us about this lil’ project of theirs... ‘ve got some worries ‘bout Red and her magic, too. Can be a dangerous thing...” Spike thought out loud.

Shaking himself back to the present, he asked Dawn to help get her sister into her room.

“I think we’ll leave off anything more till tomorrow. We got all th’ wounds cleaned, we’ll get the rest of her tomorrow. Think she mostly needs sleep now... here, let’s get her into a nightgown.”

Dawn decided not to ask how he knew exactly where all of Buffy’s clothing was. She watched, surprised at his gentleness, as he helped Buffy get out of her dress and into something more comfortable.

“You look like you’ve done this before,” Dawn commented.

“Yeah... had to help Dru with her clothes pretty often... ok, well, we’re all done here, let’s let big sis get some rest.”

Although she’d been quiet for quite some time, Buffy began protesting, screeching, as Dawn and Spike left her. She calmed down once they returned to her side.

“Listen, Nibblet, why don’t you go get ready for bed, and then you can sleep here with big sis, k? I’ll stay here till then.”

Dawn nodded eagerly, and scampered off to get ready for bed. Sometimes, during the long summer without Buffy, she’d curled up next to the Buffybot, taking what comfort she could find from the robot. Sleeping next to her actual sister sounded wonderful.

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Buffy had put up a bit of a fuss when Spike left her with Dawn, but settled down quickly enough. She fell asleep quickly, obviously exhausted from whatever she’d gone through.

Dawn, however, did not get to sleep quite so easily. She lay next to her sister, staring at her face in the moonlight. It was hard to believe that this was actually her sister, and not the Buffybot.

As Dawn drifted off, Anya’s question, “Are you a zombie?” resounded in her head...

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Chapter 3: Spreading the News

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Unsure of what to do with himself, Spike decided to do a little cleanup patrol. It was slightly more dangerous than usual, since he was rather distracted. Unbidden, the words, “She’s back, she’s back, she’s back,” kept running through his mind. He still hadn’t gotten over the shock of it. 147 days without her, and suddenly she was back.

But where had she been? What had happened to her to make her like this? Would she recover?

And why HAD the Scoobies left her in her grave? Spike’s face tightened at the thought. Whatever she’d been through before being brought back, finding herself trapped in her own coffin certainly contributed to her trauma.

‘Bloody wankers,’ Spike thought again. He was actually a bit worried that they would kick him out now. He’d thought he’d earned at least SOME measure of respect from them over this past summer, fighting next to them. But it was hard to say, with that lot.

And what would happen to his precious Bit? He sighed. He couldn’t imagine the jumble of feelings she must be dealing with right now. And he didn’t know how to help her.

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He arrived home before dawn. After having nearly been staked with his own stake, he decided that getting himself killed really wouldn’t help Buffy or his Bit. Glancing at the clock, he calculated what time it was in England.

Time to tell the Watcher. And see if Ripper made an appearance.

::Ring, ring::

::Ring, ring::

‘Come on, you wanker, pick -’

“Hello?”

“Hey Rupes.”

“Spike! This is unexpected... Oh dear, what’s wrong?”

“Nothin’s wrong. Well, actually some road pirates decided to take over the Hellmouth... But that’s not what I called about. Are you sittin’ down?” Spike asked. ‘Could I get any more cliché?’ he thought to himself. Too many soaps.

Spike heard sounds of moving around, indicating that Giles was actually going to sit down. He could imagine the Watcher sitting in a overstuffed armchair, polishing his glasses.

“I’m sitting. What is it?” Giles asked worriedly. Spike was not one to call across the ocean and ask him to sit down unless there was something truly serious going on.

Spike swallowed heavily. What were the right words for this situation?

“She’s... she’s back.”

“She? ...Drusilla?”

“Wha- no! The Slayer. Buffy.”

Spike heard some scuffling sounds, as if the phone had fallen. A minute later, Giles came back on the phone.

“Eh, sorry about that, I’m afraid I dropped my glasses when you said... what you said. Mind repeating that? Perhaps I’m getting senile.”

“That may be, Rupes, but if you heard me say ‘Buffy’s back,’ you heard correctly.”

Silence.

“Watcher? You still there? Haven’t ‘ad a heart attack or anythin’?”

“No, no, I’m still here. Just shocked.”

“Yeah, know what you mean. Couldn’t believe it myself when I first found ‘er.”

“You ‘found’ her?”

“Yeah...” he sighed. Here was where the story got interesting. “The Scoobies brought her back.”

“What? When? How?!”

“Uh, to answer some of those... ‘when’ was apparently last night. ‘How,’ I dunno yet. I’d imagine Willow was the main one behind it.”

Spike could once again imagine Giles furiously cleaning his glasses as he thought about this.

“Yes, I’d imagine so as well... That STUPID girl!” Giles burst out. “The forces she harnessed, the lines she’s crossed, the incredible risks-”

“I know. ‘m not stupid, I get what she did. That’s the thing with magic. There’s always consequences.”

“Willow’s blatant disregard for the forces of nature disturbs me, to be honest, Spike. She luckily managed to avoid unleashing hell on Earth, but who knows what will...” he trailed off. His concern over Willow’s abuse of magic was just a cover for what he was really trying to grasp - the sudden return of his pseudo-daughter from the dead. That’s what he needed to try and focus on. “We can discuss this later. Now, I want to hear about... about Buffy. How... how is she?”

There was an ominous pause. “Spike? How is she?” Giles repeated.

“She’s human, I can tell ya that much. But as for anything else, well... it’s too early to tell yet, Watcher. She’s a bit wild at this point. Loud noises scare her, things like that. She doesn’t seem too aware of what’s goin’ on ‘round her... but she just got back. Give ‘er time,” Spike said, as gently as possible. He knew the old man loved Buffy just as much as he did, albeit in a very different way.

“But who knows where’s she has been, or what she may have experienced?!”

“Well, I know one thing that happened to her,” Spike said angrily. “She clawed ‘erself out of her own bleedin’ coffin!”

Giles gasped, shocked. “You can’t mean that they-”

“They did,” Spike confirmed grimly.

The men remained silent for a few moments, contemplating the violence they’d like to inflict upon those who’d hurt the girl they loved.

Surprisingly, it was Spike who first shook himself out of his violent daydreams. “Look, Rupes, one of the reasons I wanted to tell you all this before you came back, is ‘cause we need to do some research on bein’ brought back. What might happen now, what we can do to help her, that sort of thing.”

“Yes, all right,” Giles said, a tad surprised Spike had suggested research, but not as much as he would have been a few years before. Giles suspected that Spike was a closet intellectual.
“I’ll grab some books from the Watcher library before I leave. I’ll look into it on the flight over, and more once I get there. I’m not sure how much information there is on this sort of occurrence, but perhaps there may be some references in-”

“Sure, Watcher, whatever you say. Just get here as soon as you can, with as much info as you can get your hands on.”

Giles sighed. “I’ll take a taxi from the airport. See you in a day or so.”

“Bye, Rupes.”

::Click::

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Chapter 4: Interlude, of Nightmares and Cuddly Vampires

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As he hung up the phone, Spike’s stomach grumbled at him.

“Yeah, yeah, I hear ya...” he muttered, heading into the kitchen for ‘dinner.’

He was sitting at the table with his dinner of warmed blood, Wheatabix, and burba weed when he heard some shrieks from above him.

Spike bolted up the stairs to Buffy’s bedroom, scared beyond belief at what he might find. He arrived before the sound of the first shrieks ended.

Dawn was across the room, looking dazed and bruised, but otherwise unhurt. Buffy, however, was tossing and turning and clawing wildly in her sleep. She’d accidentally hit Dawn, Spike guessed, and would soon be hurting herself if she wasn’t already.

Seeing Spike, Dawn cried out with relief, “I don’t know what’s wrong with her! She just started screaming, and-”

“It’s ok, Niblet, it’s ok. Go to your room and keep out of the way for a bit, yeah?” As he spoke he kept his eyes on Buffy, creeping nearer the bed, trying to figure out the best way to help her.

Oh well, what the hell, I’ve always favored the direct approach.

As gently as he could, he crawled on top of Buffy, holding down her flailing body with his own.

“Buffy! Buffy, luv, wake up! it’s not real, it’s just a dream, I’m here, it’s ok.” As he kept repeating comforting phrases, Spike felt the Slayer slowly start to calm under him. When she was more tranquil, he climbed off and crouched beside her. He lovingly stroked her long hair, until her eyelids began to flutter open.

He wasn’t surprised that she was startled when she first awoke, though Spike didn’t expect the blow that sent him crashing across the room.

Stunned only for a moment, he was soon up and approaching Buffy. She was standing, looking at him worriedly, giving pitiful little mewls to express ‘sorry’ as best she could without words. She carefully touched his head and torso as if looking for any damage.

“I’m ok, luv, don’t worry about it,” Spike reassured her. Satisfied, she suddenly hugged him tightly.

Good thing I don’t need to breathe, he thought, caressing her hair again. Both of them found the gesture calming.

After a time, Spike reluctantly pulled back from her a bit. “Think you can go back to sleep now, pet?” he asked gently, unsure as to how much she could understand. He gestured to the bed, and motioned for her to lie down.

She did so, but refused to let go of him, instead pulling the vampire down with her. Getting him to lay as she wanted, with an arm around her, she cuddled against him and fell asleep, with Spike not far behind.

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Chapter 5: In the Morning

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The morning did not start well, to say the least. Due to the rather unusual circumstances the night before, Spike had forgotten to shut the blinds, and thus woke up on fire.

"Owww!" he yelled, leaping out of the sunlight and trying to put the flames out. Luckily, only his hand and part of his arm had caught fire.

Unluckily, however, was Buffy's reaction to the whole event. Her first instinct was to go to him and help, but she was scared of the few flames. She curled up into a ball and began screeching piteously.

Spike tried to go to her, but the patch of sunlight lay between them.

Then it was Dawn to the rescue. She shut the blinds first, almost instinctively doing so after having lived with the vampire for several months. Spike was holding Buffy with one arm in an instant. She quieted.

"Thanks, Bit."

"No problem. I don't know why the blinds were open in the first place. Want me to get you the first aid kit?"

Grimacing, Spike nodded. It was pretty gruesome, and he'd rather take care of it himself, but it was hard to do one-handed.

To her credit, Dawn only blanched slightly at the sight of his charred arm. She quickly wrapped the wound, not bothering with antiseptic since no infection could grow on a corpse, walking or not.

"Thanks, Niblet. Look, do me a favor? Get big sis here fed and cleaned up a bit, I'm knackered, gonna catch some sleep."

Seeing the worry on her face at the thought of being left alone with her unstable sister, Spike hastened to reassure her. "You can do it, Bit. Just try to avoid loud noises and sudden movements, ok?"

Dawn nodded bravely.

Gently taking Buffy's face in his hands, Spike explained to her, "Go get some grub with your sis, ok?" He gestured to Dawn, and helped Buffy stand, and gently pushed her in the direction of the door. As she hesitated, he smiled and told her, "You'll be safe with Dawn, and I'll be right here, ok?"

Whether it was his words or his tone of voice, Buffy seemed all right with the situation, and let Dawn lead her down to the kitchen while Spike got some sleep.

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Spike was awoken abruptly by the sound of angry voices.

Bloody hell, not this again! he thought to himself as he staggered out of bed.

Dawn looked up in relief as she saw Spike descending the staircase. "Spike! Thank goodness. Could ya help me out here?"

Spike looked over the scene. It looked as though Dawn and the girls were lined up against Xander, who was ranting and railing again, undoubtedly about Spike.

Voices were being raised as emotions heightened, and Buffy was looking upset, and about ready to run away. That, or hit something, which would be a serious problem with her Slayer strength.

Spike went to take the scared girl in his arms, but Xander intercepted him.

"Stay away from her, Spike!" Xander warned him, giving him a hard shove, followed by some punches, most of which Spike dodged.

Anya and Willow went to pull Xander away from Spike, but Buffy beat them to it. With one punch, she sent Xander flying, crashing into a wall which he slid down, dazed.

Ignoring him, Buffy turned to Spike, and once again looked him over to see if he was ok. And again he reassured her, hugging her tightly.

Meanwhile, Anya and Willow were helping Xander to his feet, though both looked rather angry.

Leading a limping, subdued Xander out to their car, Anya said, "Sorry about this. I'll go get him patched up and try and... explain a few things to him." She sounded angry, and almost ashamed.

Once they'd left, those that remained just stood there, unsure of how to proceed. Buffy was still tightly wrapped around Spike, and not looking as if she'd let go anytime soon.

"W-why don't we all go sit down in the family room," Tara suggested quietly.

They all trooped in there, with Dawn running ahead to make sure all the blinds were closed.

After they were seated, Tara spotted the bandages on the arm Spike wasn't holding Buffy with.

"What happened?" she asked.

"What? Oh, that. Nothin' much, forgot to shut the blinds last night is all, woke up this mornin' on fire. We had a... an interestin' night."

It was Willow's turn to ask what had happened.

Before Spike could speak, Tara said, "Wait. Actually, if you don't mind, Spike, c-could you tell us about when and where you found her? And what's happened since? I don't mean to pry..."

"Nah, it's ok, Glenda." Spike proceeded to give the witches the gist of what happened. He couldn't keep the anger out of his voice a few times, such as when he mentioned bandaging Buffy's hands. Willow and Tara exchanged a guilty look, and he was about to start in on them about the whole idea, how wrong it was, etc. Unconsciously, his body tensed, and Buffy became agitated. He decided to wait till he had the Watcher to back him up to get into that. Patience wasn't usually his forté, but Buffy's warm arms around him helped him calm down.

When he was finished reciting the events of last night and this morning, he gave them a warning. "Look, try not to startle her. You saw what she did to Xander. She did the same to Dawn and me, on accident. Don't get too near her in her sleep, either. Slayer doesn't know her own strength, and when she gets back to her old self she'll feel bad if she hurt any of you lot."

For the first time, Dawn spoke up quietly. "So, you think she'll get back to her old self? Like she used to be? Anya... last night, she said something about zombies..."

Willow, Tara, and Spike all cried out indignantly at that, all of them assuring the girl that Buffy was certainly human.

"As for getting back to the way she was," Spike said, "no, she probably won't be exactly the same. Wherever she's been, whatever's happened to 'er, well, it changes a person. But she'll still be your big sis Buffy... though I don't know if she has any memories, or if they'll come back..." he looked to the witches questioningly.

Willow shrugged. "I, well, I don't really know. We know Angel was wild at first when he came back from hell; it just took time and care for him to get back to normal. I bet that's the same case here, Dawnie," the witch said reassuringly.

"D-do you want us to stay and help, Spike?" Tara asked hesitatingly, unsure of how the offer would be received.

"Dunno how well that'll work," he replied. "Here, let's try something. Me and Dawn'll go upstairs and see if Buffy is ok staying with you two."

Gently unwinding Buffy's arms from around him, he carefully stood up. When Buffy moved to stand up with him, he gestured for her to remain sitting, and repeated the command aloud. "Buffy, stay here with Red -uh, Willow and Tara, ok? You'll be safe with them, I promise."

Buffy reluctantly complied. She whined a bit as Dawn and Spike left the room, but then seemed to settle down. Willow and Tara began talking softly to her, reassuring her they wouldn't hurt her. It seemed ok at first, till Willow tried to scooch closer to Buffy and give her a hug. With Slayer-fast reflexes, Buffy knocked Willow away, and scuttled backward, curling into a ball again. Luckily Willow hadn't been badly hurt. She and Tara tried to approach Buffy to calm her down, but as they came closer she started wailing again.

The second the sound of her crying drifted up the stairs, Spike was down and at her side, holding her and soothing her. Once she was quieter, he looked at the witches, almost vamping in his anger. "What did you do to her?"

"We were just talking! I tried to hug her, and she hit me and started crying," Willow explained tearfully.

"Look, I think you'd better go, she's not gonna let anyone touch her except me and Dawn," Spike said, striving for calmness.

"Y-yes, we'll go. Perhaps we can find a spell t-to tell us what’s wrong - uh, if anything is wrong- with Buffy. W-we'll come back tonight, and see if we can do anything," Tara said, gently tugging her girlfriend out the door.

"Good luck, Spike," Willow said as she walked out the door, nursing her bruise from Buffy.

"Yeah, thanks," he muttered gruffly, his eyes focusing on the scared girl in his arms. "Ah, luv, what am I gonna do with you?"

Though a part of him certainly enjoyed having Buffy trust and depend on him, a much larger part wanted her to be herself again, bantering and fighting with him as usual. But till then, he'd make damn sure to take good care of her.

Drusilla had been much more of a handful to deal with, he reflected. Always trying to wander off, occasionally in the deadly daytime, talking with the stars and her dolls, ignoring him sometimes...

I can do this, he reassured himself. Spike's biggest fear was that he'd fail Buffy again, as he had on the tower. But not this time, he vowed. Not this time.

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Chapter 6: A Day with His Girls

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Their day was spent fairly pleasantly. After the hectic morning, they’d all had some breakfast; Spike and Dawn were delighted to find that, once shown what to do, Buffy could feed herself.

He sent the girls up, instructing Dawn to help Buffy get washed up while he did the dishes from breakfast. He would have preferred to help Dawn, but he figured that when (not if, when! ) Buffy got back to her normal self she’d prefer it if he didn’t.

Spike caught a few more hours of sleep while Dawn and Buffy played out in the sun.

Later, he watched them from inside - envious, but enjoying the view of Buffy in the sunlight. She really was a creature of light, he reflected. Almost... effulgent. Oh, hell, not that bloody awful poetry again!

The girls came back in, and Spike fixed them a nice lunch. After a summer of living with Dawn, he’d learned how to make a few things. Cooking kept his mind off.... other matters, when his usual outlet of violence wasn’t available.

Normally, he would have turned to alcohol or suicide, but with Dawn as his responsibility, these weren’t viable options. So he’d turned to more mundane activities during the daytime, unleashing his violence in the night.

The rest of the day was spent indoors, with Dawn and Spike talking or playing cards while Buffy watched on, interested. They tried to involve her as much as possible, but it was difficult to do so with her apparent inability to speak.

Spike would have been more than happy to just spend the whole day staring at Buffy. It still felt unreal to him, that she was actually back.

He wasn’t certain about how Dawn was doing, either. Obviously, she was overjoyed to have her sister back. But he suspected she was in shock, much like he was. They’d spent the past summer grieving for Buffy - and now, thanks to Willow, ::poof!:: here she was! To say that it was a shock was putting it mildly.

Once the sun set, Spike walked with Buffy a bit, and let Dawn have some time to herself. Their stroll was mostly silent, but it was a comfortable silence, Spike felt. Buffy stuck close by his side, grabbing onto him when cars and dogs scared her. He reassured her quietly.

After they returned, he saw Buffy and Dawn to bed before he took off on patrol.

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Spike headed back, rather beat from having to take a vamp nest out on his own. When he arrived home, he saw the Wiccas sitting in the living room. Something wrong? was his instinctive reaction. Then he vaguely remembered them saying they’d be back after looking into a spell of some sort. Spike had been much too wrapped up in Buffy to pay attention to them.

He was about to tell them he’d fetch some blood and be right back when he realized there was another in the room.

“Rupes! I wasn’t expecting you quite so soon,” he greeted the Watcher, a bit surprised he’d gotten to Sunnydale in less than 24 hours.

“I thought the circumstances warranted my haste,” the Watcher responded dryly.

“Yeah, well -” the phone rang, interrupting Spike. “Damn!” He leapt for the phone, stopping it after the first ring in an effort to prevent Dawn and Buffy from awakening. He could tell by the stirring he heard from above him that hadn’t worked.

“Yeah?” he half snarled into the phone.

There was a brief pause, and some static. Then- “Who is this?”

“You’re callin’ me and askin’ who I am? Think you got that a bit backward, mate. Who th’ hell are you?”

“Spike?!” the voice from the other end of the phone shouted disbelievingly.

Spike winced at the loud noise. “Yeah, got me in one.”

“What the hell are you doing there? I can’t -”

“Ah. Captain Cardboard. Shoulda guessed by the scintillatin’ convo we’ve had so far.”

“I’ll find out what you’re doing there later,” Riley warned ominously, with a pitiful excuse of a growl.

He masterfully ignored Spike’s response (“ooh, White Bread, I’m real scared now!”) and continued on. “I heard that... well, that Buffy was d-dead. Is that true?”

“She was, yeah,” Spike responded, deciding that the truth would be the most fun here.

Another pause. “What do you mean, she was?”

Annoyed, Spike answered, “Whaddaya mean, what do I mean? I mean, she was dead. She got better.”

“She... got... better?” Riley repeated disbelievingly.

“Yeah,” Spike replied simply, grinning.

Furiously, Riley spat, “Listen, hearing about her death is hard enough without having to deal with you! I want some answers NOW, or I swear I’ll be there tomorrow and you’ll wish you were never - “

Tired of this pointless talk when more important things were to be done, Giles snatched the phone away. “Riley? Yes, look, it’s Giles. What happened was this...”

Bored, Spike turned away, seeing the witches and his girls looking at him with varying expressions.

Spike walked over to Buffy and Dawn. “Sorry about all the ruckus.”

“It’s ok, we weren’t sleeping too well anyway,” Dawn told him, indicating with a nod towards Buffy that the Slayer had been restless.

“Right, well, how ‘bout some hot cocoa, then?” he suggested. Spike led the Summers girls into the kitchen, telling Willow and Tara that he’d be back in a bit to talk to them. They sat back down, feeling oddly chastised by his harsh tone of voice.

Dawn and Buffy sat at the counter as they watched Spike prepare the hot chocolate, the Summers’ panacea. Buffy watched him curiously as Dawn prattled on. “So, that was Riley on the phone?” Spike grunted an assent. “Geez, picked a great time to call, huh. Guess he just found out about Buffy being dead... well , except she’s not... anyway, wonder why he just found out now? Maybe the news got out some how. Man, I hope that Angel doesn’t come rushing over, brooding even more than usual.”

Spike smirked at her as he served them their drink - with marshmallows, of course, and a few ice cubes in Buffy’s so she didn’t burn her tongue. How he remembered these things was beyond Dawn, especially since he didn’t really feel the temperature himself.

When all three were sitting, happily sipping their hot chocolate, Spike explained, “I think th’ ruse with th’ Buffybot might’ve been found out. That’d be why we got those bikers in the other day.”

“But now we’ve got the real thing back!”

“Yeah, but they don’t know that yet. As far as the demon world knows, Buffy’s dead.”

Just then the front door was flung open. Spike rolled his eyes (a habit he’d picked up from Dawn). “What now?”

He marched back into the front hall, Buffy and Dawn following behind him. When he saw who it was, he had just enough time to say to Dawn, “You realize this is your fault for mentioning him,” before Angel leapt towards him, intent upon his attack.

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Chapter 7: Angel Admits

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Angel leapt towards Spike, intent upon his attack. Predicting the obvious move, Spike stepped out of the way, so that Angel landed with a rather large thud. Angel quickly kicked Spike, and the two were soon grappling on the ground.

“Stop this at once!” Giles yelled. As usual, he was ignored.

At first, Buffy shrank back, away from the fight. Then, in typical Buffy style, using actions over words, the Slayer dashed over to where the two vampires fought. She lifted Angel up off of Spike, and slammed him into the nearest wall. Satisfied that she’d gotten him out of the way, she knelt beside Spike, once again checking if he was hurt.

Slightly dazed, Spike sat up and reassured Buffy of his well-being. Angel lay nearby, stunned by Buffy’s treatment of him. He stared at the scene before him, shocked by the expression on Spike’s face. If he didn’t know better, he’d almost think that.... nah, that’s ridiculous...

Since Angel was loathe to tangle with Buffy, the physical approach seemed out. He moved to verbal. “Anyone want to explain what the hell is going on here?” he asked, wiping away some blood.

“Yeah, you just burst in here and started beating on Spike for no reason!” shouted Dawn, moving over to join Buffy and Spike, glaring balefully at Angel.

Attempting to ignore Dawn’s defense of Spike - Spike, of all vampires! - Angel explained, “I meant, what the hell is he doing here? With her? And how is it she’s back? Is she ok? Buffy?”

Angel approached her slowly. She seemed torn between backing away and hitting him. Seeing her reaction, Angel retreated a bit, not wishing to antagonize her. It hurt terribly, seeing her here, like this, in the arms of his enemy.

Attempting once more to take control of the situation, Giles stepped forward. “Dawn, Spike, why don’t you take Buffy upstairs. We’ll explain the situation and the rather extraordinary circumstances to Angel.”

Angel expected Spike to gloat, and taunt him; instead, the vampire clearly had eyes only for Buffy. Dawn cast one nasty look back at him, then the three were gone, up the stairs.

“Fine. Explain, then.” Angel growled moodily.

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A/N: The rest of this chappy is fairly Angel-centered, so those of you who aren’t interested in Angel might want to skip it.

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So Giles, Tara, and Willow told Angel what had been going on over the past few years. He couldn’t believe how much of Buffy’s life he’d missed. He knew about her mother’s and her own death, but that was about it. The whole deal with Glory was news to him; of course, he’d been in another dimension during a lot of that ordeal.

Angel struggled to believe that Spike - Spike! - had really let himself be so tortured by the hellgod, all to save an innocent girl. That Buffy had trusted him enough to watch her sister and mother, that he’d protected Dawn with his unlife, falling from a tower when he failed. Most of all, he couldn’t believe Spike stayed around, even after Buffy was gone.

Spike had once confided in Willow that Buffy had told him to protect Dawn. It was obviously a duty which he took seriously.

It would have been easy to say it was all just an act to get into Buffy’s pants - but what about when she was gone? No more excuses, then. No reason for Spike not to go and get the chip out, or get minions to kill for him. But he didn’t.

Angel told them he needed some time, that he’d be back later that night. He went out for a walk through the Sunnydale cemeteries, staking a vampire here and there. He noted absently that there wasn’t the increase in vampires and demons that one would expect after a Slayer’s death. Of course, there’d been the bot - and how sick was that? - but there had also been Spike.

Angel was torn. Deep down, he knew that Spike was capable of loving, and that when he loved, he did so with all of his being. But actually admitting this was tantamount to acknowledging that it wasn’t because of what he was, that Angelus couldn’t love Buffy, but because of who he was. It pained Angel deeply to realize that, even soulless, Spike could love Buffy where Angelus couldn’t.

But he knew that Spike had loved Drusilla. Angelus had reveled in this knowledge, using it to torture Spike by flaunting his relations with Drusilla. The Scoobies had explained about how Spike had decided to reveal his feelings for Buffy. They had seemed appalled at the idea of his chaining her up, and paid little attention to the part about Drusilla. The fact that Spike was willing to kill Drusilla for Buffy meant a great deal more than the humans could ever know. Angel understand just how important Drusilla had been to Spike. How had William put it? ‘She was my salvation from mediocrity.’ Something like that.

Besides all of that, Spike’s emotions were easy to read; his love had shown as he looked at Buffy.

Fine, then. He’d be mature about this and admit Spike really did love Buffy, no matter how bitter it felt. The pain would be one more piece of Angel’s penance, one more reminder of Angelus’ evil.

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Chapter 8: Consequences

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Angel returned to find Willow and Tara dozing on the couch, Giles studying some text (what a surprise), and the other three in the living room. Sounds of laughter and quiet chatter came to Angel's ears.

His first instinct was to run in there and tear Spike away from the Summers girls. Taking some useless deep breaths, he calmed down, remembering his decision regarding Spike.

Upon seeing Angel, Giles reluctantly closed his book and lay it reverently on a nearby table. "I take it you've had your time to think?"

The witches woke up, and the others came into the family room.

"What, has the great Peaches made up his mind? Do you approve, Grand-Sire?" Spike sneered. "You know that what you say doesn't matter. I'm stayin', whether you like it or not."

"Oh, grow up, Spike!" Giles muttered. Sighing, he addressed Angel, admitting reluctantly that "as Spike said, what you say will likely not change much. However, I would be interested to know, what are your thoughts regarding the matter?"

An odd sound made Angel hesitate. Not seeing or smelling anything amiss, he continued, stating plainly, "I don't like Spike."

Some murmurs arose, most notably Spike's murmur, "Feelin's mutual, git."

Angel continued. "However! Personal feelings and past aside... it's obvious Spike... loves her. And, though it pains me to admit, when he loves, he truly loves with all his being. If everything you all told me was true, then... I guess, well, what I'm trying to say is that I'm ok with the situation. Not happy about it, but ok with it. Plus, Spike has a lot of experience dealing with someone... someone not all there."

There was a loud noise, and suddenly Xander was revealed, some sort of cloak at his feet. "That's it?! That's all you're going to say!! I don't believe this!" he shouted, face red. "You're gonna let that sick, soulless monster use and abuse Buffy?!"

Everyone's face revealed shock, first at Xander's startling appearance, and then at his brutal words. His words surprised some more than others. Dawn, Willow, and Tara looked absolutely flabbergasted. Spike had his hands full calming down Buffy, who was once again freaking out with the heightened voices and tensions in the room.

"Hey! Keep your hands off of her!" Xander yelled, springing towards Spike. With his faster reflexes, Angel intercepted him and immobilized him, twisting Xander's arms behind him. Xander struggled futilely for several long minutes, trying to appeal to his friends to come to their senses and stake Spike. Meanwhile, Angel just stood there, holding him firmly.

When Xander finally gave up and stayed silent, Angel dragged Xander to the door. Angel spoke lowly, for Xander's ears alone- "Just so you know - Spike's got a soul. Her name is Buffy." With that, Angel literally threw Xander out.

"And stay out!" Angel growled.

With a few last muttered curses and some dirty looks, Xander stalked away, looking murderous.

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Inside the Summers' house, all was silent, save for Spike's quiet, soothing murmurs to Buffy. Gradually, they all seated themselves, no one having any idea what to say.

More as something to say than for any other reason, Dawn grabbed up the cloak Xander had let fall. "Um... so, what is this?"

Giles cleaned his glasses. "I believe it's a Xurabash cloak. The wearer is not only invisible; their smell is also masked."

"Wow. Cool," Dawn said, petting the cloak covetously.

"Uh, yes, quite. Unfortunately, it tends to have some side effects, such as terrible head aches. And besides, I suspect that belongs to the Magic Shop. I believe that it was among the items we received in a recent shipment."

"As fascinatin' as all this is, let's not ignore the big fat elephant in the middle of the room," Spike said dryly.

"Yes, indeed. That was... rather startlingly," Giles stated. "The question that should now be posed, is: where do we go from here? What can we do?"

"I can't believe this," Willow said softly. "I mean, it's, you know, Xander! He just... doesn't do stuff like this."

"People change," Giles said softly.

"Not like this, they don't. Not like this," Willow wept. Tara held her, comforting her as best she could.

Spike took Buffy and Dawn up to bed again.

"Spike? Is... is everything gonna be ok? I mean, Xander, he's like... like my big brother, you know? Well, like my other big brother, besides you..." Dawn trailed off, hoping Spike wasn't offended by the comparison. "Is he gonna leave? Everyone leaves..."

"I know, Bit, I know... I don't know what's gonna happen now. But I promise I'll always be here, no matter what," he assured her. "Get some rest, we'll talk more tomorrow." He kissed both his girls on the forehead before going back downstairs.

It looked as though no one had moved when he returned to the family room. Just as Giles started to speak, there was a frantic banging on the door.

"Oh, what now," Spike muttered as he opened the door, quickly dodging backward to avoid the first rays of the dawn.

"Anya?"

She burst into the room, Spike closing the door behind her.

All were shocked to see Anya sobbing. None could recall ever seeing her cry before.

"Anya, dear, what's happened?" Giles asked, bringing her over to sit down. Once she was in the light, everyone could see a dark bruise starting to show on her face.

"It-it's Xander!" she wailed. The men in the room exchanged deadly glances, promising violence.

In between sniffles, Anya told them how Xander had come home a little while ago, ranting and raving madly. When she finally understood what he was carrying on about, she'd spoken up for Spike, said she thought he was trustworthy, able to take care of Buffy.

"He looked so wild, and so angry! I've never seen him so angry... h-he hit me!!"

"You're lying!" Willow shouted, jumping to her feet and stomping over to Anya.

"No, I'm not!" Anya yelled back.

"Shut UP!" Willow shrieked, eyes turning black as she pointed a finger at Anya. Spike jumped between the two women.

"Red! Calm down," he told her.

"Out of my way," the witch hissed, flinging him against a wall with a wave of her hand.

"Willow, no!"

It was Tara's voice that finally stopped Willow from whatever she was going to do. She staggered back, gasping. "Oh, goddess! I-I'm sorry, I...." she retreated to the safety and comfort of Tara's arms.

"Spike, you ok?" Dawn asked worriedly as she and Buffy hurried to his side

"Yeah, 'm fine... what the hell was that, though? Red?"

"That's just it!" Anya exclaimed, drawing attention back to herself.

"Um, I'm sorry, what's 'just it'?" Giles questioned, brow furrowed. Trying to follow Anya's train of thought was oftentimes exceedingly challenging.

"See, I think that are two possible reasons why Xander did what he did this morning," Anya explained. "One could have to do with him still being obsessed with Buffy, maybe. Or it maybe - what I'm sort of hoping - it could have had something to do with a negative backlash from the spell."

"Woah, what's this about Xander being obsessed with Buffy?" Dawn spoke up from her position on the stairs. She and Buffy hadn't even fallen asleep before being brought downstairs, once again, by the loud voices.

"Well, it would explain a lot of things about our engagement," Anya said.

"Engagement?" numerous voices repeated quizzically.

"Yes. He first asked me to marry him when he thought the world was going to end because of Glory, then again after the world didn't end, but when Buffy was dead. See, the first time he didn't think he'd actually have to go through with it, and the second time Buffy wasn't around. And then he wouldn't let me tell everyone 'cause they were all in mourning. Later, once we started talking about bringing Buffy back, he became even more insistent that I not tell anyone; eventually he wouldn't even talk about it with me. So maybe he's just been obsessed with Buffy all along, and I was just... just second choice."

Shocked silence followed Anya's speech.

"But," Anya continued, more brightly, "maybe it was just evil backlash from the spell! See, same for Willow. That might have just been Willow being Willow, or backlash."

"Wait, wait... what's this 'backlash' you keep talking about?" Willow asked.

All of the older people in the room looked at her with amazement.

"You mean... you mean you didn't know?" Anya demanded.

"Know what?!"

"About all the possible negative consequences of dark magic! You have to know about all of those!" Seeing Willow shake her head in confusion, Anya was exasperated. "What kind of witch are you, anyway?"

"An untrained one," Giles inserted. "Which, I fear, is my fault." He cleaned his glasses, sighing. "I knew you wouldn't like the idea of leaving here, leaving all of your friends, for an indefinite amount of time. However, now that's really what you must do."

"What?! That's not fair-"

"Not fair?" Giles voice was cold. "Don't talk about fair, little girl, most especially not after that stunt that you just pulled."

"Stunt? That was no stunt, that -"

"Silence!" Giles thundered. "There aren't words to explain just how wrong that spell was, just how wrong things could have gone... you're very stupid. The lines you've crossed, the unbelievable risks, the dangers involved-"

Willow: I thought you'd be impressed, or, or something.

Giles: "Oh, don't worry, you've ... made a very deep impression. Of everyone here ... you were the one I trusted most to respect the forces of nature."

Willow: Are you saying you don't trust me?

Angel: (angrily, protectively) Think what you've done to Buffy.

Willow: I brought her back!

Giles: At incredible risk!

Willow: Risk? Of what? Making her deader?

Giles: Of killing us all. Unleashing hell on Earth, I mean, shall I go on?

Willow: No! (stands) Giles, I did what I had to do. I did what nobody else could do.

Spike: Oh, there are others in this world who can do what you did. You just don't want to meet them.

Willow: No, probably not, but ... well, they're the bad guys. I'm not a bad guy. (upset) Why are you all attacking me? Spike, Angel, Giles- I know you all love Buffy, so why are you so mad?! I brought Buffy back into this world, a-and maybe the word you should all be looking for is "congratulations."

Giles: Having Buffy back in the world makes me feel... indescribably wonderful, but I wouldn't congratulate you if you jumped off a cliff and happened to survive.

Willow: That's not what I did, Giles.

Giles: (angry) You were lucky.

Willow: I wasn't lucky. I was amazing. And how would you know? You weren't even there.

Giles: If I had been, I'd have bloody well stopped you. The magicks you channeled are more ferocious and primal than anything you can hope to understand, (even more angry) and you are lucky to be alive, you rank, arrogant amateur!

Willow: You're right. The magicks I used are very powerful. I'm very powerful. And maybe it's not such a good idea for you to piss me off.

Everyone in the room stared at Willow, shocked. Tara gasped.

Willow: Come on, Giles, I-I don't want to fight. I ... Let's not, okay? I'll think about what you said, and let's all... try to be happy Buffy's back.

Giles: (quietly) We still don't know where she was ... or what happened to her. And I'm far from convinced she's come out of all this undamaged.

Dawn gasped, and ran upstairs, crying.

"Damn it! Nice goin', Watcher. Look, give Buffy some time; I think she'll be ok. Now, if you'll 'scuse us, we're gonna go to Dawn." Spike took Buffy's hand and led her upstairs.

Giles turned to Anya, now. "If you knew about all of the dangers, why didn't you put a stop to it?"

"I talked to Xander about it. He said he was willing to take whatever risks necessary to get Buffy back. And he said that Willow must know about the dangers 'cause she always does all her research, and she must have decided the risks weren't too high, and he trusted her."

"I see," Giles said. Turning to look at Willow, he pressed on with her. "Look, you must go for training, with a coven I know of in England. Willow, you really don't have much of a choice, here."

"Are you saying you're planning on making me go?" Willow asked stubbornly.

"No," Giles replied testily, "I'm saying that if the Council finds out what you've done, they'll likely have you killed."

His words drew gasps from most of his listeners.

White-faced and trembling now, Willow said softly, "K-killed?"

Giles nodded solemnly. "Yes, Willow, killed. That is how serious the Council would take something of this sort. However, I believe that if you are already studying with the coven when the Council finds out, they won't harm you."

"Could I go, as well?" Tara asked shyly.

"Oh! Oh, goodness, I hadn't thought of that, but... the coven doesn't turn down any who truly want to learn, so yes, I suppose so."

"Ok, we'll go," Willow agreed, squeezing her lover's hand. "When?"

"Immediately. Take with you as much as you can; anything else, I can send along."

"You really think we'll need that much?" Willow questioned.

"Did you miss the part about this being for an 'indefinite amount of time'? Because I truly can't tell you how long you'll be gone. And once you begin your training, you can't leave until the Coven says you can."

Willow and Tara exchanged glances. "I guess we don't have much of a choice," Willow murmured.

"No, we don't... But I think it'll be a good experience for us. I haven't had any training since... since my mother died; it'd be nice to have someone to teach us."

"Very good, then. Go pack; I'll make the necessary transportation arrangements."

"Um... wow. Sudden. But, yeah, ok, we get it... thanks, Giles. Sorry about... what I said earlier," Willow apologized.

The witches made their rounds, hugging everyone (except the possibly dangerous Buffy). Dawn cried, and Spike protested weakly that he wasn't the 'hugging' type - then grabbed them both up in a big bear hug, and whispered, "Red, Glinda, stay safe... I... I'll miss you." He turned and walked away rapidly before they could embarrass him by saying how sweet he was. But what he'd said was the truth, and he wanted them to know how he felt.

The witches left; Spike, Dawn, and Buffy remained upstairs, while down in the living room, only Giles, Anya, and Angel were left.

Of those who'd brought Buffy back, two were exiled for a time, one was nearly insane with rage, and the last was heartbroken. Yes, Giles reflected, perhaps Anya was right; perhaps they were being punished for what they'd done. So be it.

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