“You were supposed to kill the bitch! Not leave gag gifts in her friends’ beds.”

****

“Well it appears that the Red Knight successfully completed the second task, allowing his team to enter the castle. You may take your prize and continue. Your highness,” he turned to Buffy and addressed her solemnly. “Lord William failed in his objective and therefore…” Dumain trailed off as he watched the expression on Buffy’s face harden.

“Where is he?” Buffy said slowly, her voice deceptively calm.

“I, I, I,” Dumain stuttered nervously, “I don’t know who you…”

“Ethan. Ethan Rayne. I know he’s here.” Buffy stood and stepped closer to smaller man. “You’re going to take me to him.”

“Your highness…”

“Take me to him.”

“Highness there is no way I can take you to him. The only way for any of you to proceed through the castle is to complete the next task,” Dumain told her quickly, correctly fearing the look in her eyes.

“Then we all go,” Buffy announced firmly, dismissing the man immediately and turning to the others. “We stay together, we work together and we get Dawn. I don’t care about anything that happens after that.” She turned back to the messenger. “Where do we go?”

Lost in her thoughts, she missed her footing, stumbling forward slightly. A pair of arms grasped her own and kept her upright and she turned to smile at them gratefully. “Thanks. I guess I should watch where I’m… Wesley!”

Faith’s face fell as she looked at the closed expression of her Watcher. He let go of her arms and nodded slightly at her thanks before moving to catch up with Buffy, who maintained her lead, stalking purposefully through the crowds of people. After only a second’s hesitation, Faith followed.

Finally Faith accepted that nothing she could say would ever be enough. Long explanations and apologies couldn’t possibly make up for the torture she had inflicted upon him.

“I’m sorry.”

The young girl waited anxiously for Wesley to say something. She couldn’t stand the silence and knew she’d prefer it if he screamed and shouted at her. “I know that doesn’t make up for what I did…”

“Damn right it doesn’t,” Wesley growled, halting his pursuit of Buffy and grabbing Faith’s arm, forcing her to face him. “Don’t imagine you can ever make up for it. What you did to me was as wicked and as low as you could get. I wasn’t a perfect Watcher, I wasn’t a good friend, and I should have done more for you, I know. But your behaviour towards me didn’t help in any way. We both could have done better, but that is no excuse for what you did to me later. None. So don’t imagine an apology however sincere will set everything right between us. It’s going to take a hell of lot more than that.”

Dawn heard the front door open and her sister’s voice call out. “Hey mom.”

“Hi sweetie,” Joyce called back, quickly drying her hands. “Do you need a hand?”

“No I got it,” Buffy assured her, following it quickly with a muttered curse. Dawn hurried quickly out of the kitchen and through the dining room towards her sister. She found her in the hall, wrestling with an unyielding pram.

“Tact is just not saying true stuff.”

****

“Buffy?” Giles interrupted them as the others arrived, “Are you ready?”

The Slayer nodded determinedly. “Everyone stick together. Our priority is Dawn. Everything else can be settled later.” Giles met her gaze and a silent agreement passed between them. Both understood that Ethan had to be found and stopped, but that could wait until they were reunited with the youngest Summers.

The front door opened again Buffy turned her head to greet the newcomer as she continued to rock her daughter. “Hi baby,” she said softly, and then continued smiling down at the baby, “See sweetheart. Daddy’s home.”

“Hello Nibblet.”

The name rather than the voice drew Dawn’s attention to the young fair-haired man who had just entered the room and seated himself next to Buffy on the couch. Her eyes narrowed as she peered at him. His words were pure Spike, but the man in the living room was so far removed from the vampire she knew and loved she couldn’t easily reconcile the two.

She threw herself into his arms and he lifted her off the ground, hugging her tightly. “I thought you were dead,” she told him, her voice quivering from suppressed emotion.

“I thought you were locked in a tower,” he replied, smiling against her hair.

“I was, I mean, I am but…”

“Powers That Be?” Spike asked with a disdainful smirk as he set her back on the ground.

“Yeah. They want me to learn about myself. All I’ve learned so far is that I don’t exist here.”

“Don’t walk away from me, bitch!”

****

Spike’s mouth quirked into a grin when he imagined what Giles would do to his old friend. He was sure he wouldn’t want to miss it.

“And then you died,” Dawn continued, backhanding him in the stomach before resting her head on his shoulder. “Do you know how awful that felt?”

“Well, I was the one with the lance through my heart ‘bit…”

“And then we ended up here…” she frowned as she trailed off, her line of though asking why Spike was there. “What are you doing here?” she asked, tilting her head up to look at him.

“To learn what I am part of,” Spike quoted. “Whatever that means. So far all I’ve seen is William playing happy families with your sis.”

The young girl smiled. “I so want to see her face when you tell her.” She paused, as if unsure whether or not to say any more and then sighed. “She loves you, you know. She pretends like she doesn’t, for the guys. But they don’t have to be with her all the time like I do. I see what they don’t.”

“What do you see?”

“I see that the way she always smiles when you come into the room. And the way she tilts her head when I talk about you to show she’s paying attention. She’s just a little bruised and a lot scared and… well… confused.”

“Confused.”

“This is so not how it was with Angel. And you’re exactly the opposite of him. She’s bound to feel weird about that.”

“That’s it?” Faith cried, not believing the simplicity of the challenge. “I thought these things were supposed to get harder.”

“They are,” Buffy answered, frowning at the door on the other side of the room. “Something’s not right here.”

“Maybe Ethan didn’t have time to finish,” Willow suggested hopefully.

Tara squeezed her girlfriend’s hand supportively. “Or maybe this isn’t as easy as it looks.”

“Not under much!”

Xander and Buffy - ‘Go Fish’

****

“What’s wrong?” the redhead shouted back as the others searched in vain for the cause of the vampire’s anxiety.

“It’s not a real door. It’s just painted onto the wall. Some sort of optical illusion.” He slammed his fist into the wall, trying to create an opening. “Damn,” he swore again as the sharp rock sliced open his hand.

“Are you ok?” Anya called out, the scent of blood reaching her and causing her stomach to churn. Cordelia forced her eyes away from Angel’s outline and turned to Anya. “What? What’s wrong with him?”

“He’s bleeding,” Anya answered shortly as she raised her hand to cover her nose and mouth. “I hate this,” she hissed at Xander, who placed a comforting arm around her waist.

Cordelia stepped towards the bridge. “Angel I’m coming over…”

Giles and Buffy immediately stepped forward to protest but Angel’s voice sounded before they could speak. “No. Stay where you are Cor, there’s no point in risking it. I’ll come back over to you.”

The young woman rolled her eyes and stepped onto the beam, holding her arms out to the sides for balance. Simultaneously, the vampire stepped onto the other side of the bridge.

“I thought I told you to stay over there.”

“You tell me a lot of things, oh master. The point you’re forgetting is that I always ignore you.”

“And you always get into trouble”

“That’s completely unfair and totally untrue.”

“Cordelia…”

“Sometimes I get into trouble and sometimes you get me into trouble, but I doubt that you can name a single time when me not listening to you got me into trouble.”

“How about…?”

“And I think it’s unfair of you not to count all the times I did listen to you and got into trouble. And all the times you listened to you and got into trouble.”

Dawn sat perched on the sideboard in the dining room her attention torn between the conversation at the dinner table and Spike who was staring at the baby lying in the nearby crib, with a mixture of delight and trepidation. “It can see me,” he declared as a small arm was extended towards him and a tiny baby fist clenched and unclenched in his general direction.

“She’s a she, not an it,” Dawn corrected, “and I doubt she can see you. No one else can.”

“I’m telling you,” Spike insisted, “it’s staring right at me.”

“Fine,” Dawn gave in with a roll of her eyes, “she can see you. But unless she starts talking in the next five minutes, that’s not going to be much of a help.”

“Buffy the Christening is on Saturday,” Joyce’s voice interrupted them and Dawn dragged her eyes away from the Master vampire making faces at the gurgling baby and listened to her mother. “Have you decided on a name yet?”

Buffy and William turned looked first at the baby, then at Joyce and then at each other. They sat in silence for several minutes, talking to each other solely with their eyes.

“Dawn.”

The brunette jumped as she heard her name and swivelled quickly to look at her sister. She smiled in delight as she realised they must have seen her, recognised her. She did exist here. She was meant to be in Sunnydale with Buffy.

“Someone wasn’t worthy.”

Spike - ‘Becoming Part 1’

****

“Guys?” Buffy shouted after a few minutes of silence from the couple on the other side of the room. “Angel? Cordelia?”

The vampire and seer slowly broke apart, knowing that they had to return to the problem at hand. Reaching down, Angel took hold of Cordelia’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. She looked up sharply and met his gaze, her eyes showing her surprise at his action, but also relief that he wasn’t running away from this again, like he had so many times in the past.

“Hey!” Buffy’s voice greeted them again, more insistent than before and Angel smiled briefly at Cordy before answering his former love.

“Yeah, Buffy, everything’s ok. We’re fine.”

“Good,” the blonde Slayer sighed with some relief. “Now see if you can find a way out of here. That door, or whatever it is, still looks like our best chance.”

Angel guided Cordelia over to the wall and together they ran their hands over every inch of the painting. “Buffy, Angel’s right. There’s nothing here. It’s just a picture of a door. The wall seems as solid here as everywhere else.”

“No. There has to be something,” Buffy insisted. “You’re just not looking properly.”

“Buffy,” Giles said gently, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. Slowly he drew her away to one side, excusing them from the others.

“Buffy,” Giles began again once they were separated somewhat from the others. “Angel and Cordelia are doing everything they can to find a solution. We are just going to have to try and be patient and give them any assistance they need when they ask for it. I do realise that all of this has been distressing for you but…”

“Giles, my sister is up in that tower. I have to get to her. She needs me.”

“And you need her?”

“Did she just say…?”

“Yes. Look don’t say anything ok. She’s already hurting enough right now.”

Xander turned Anya to face him, ready to protest when he noticed tears running down cheeks. “An? What’s wrong?”

“”I was just thinking. About Spike. About him dying. And how much I’m going to miss him. I mean we were just buying my wedding dress. That’s how all of this started. One minute I was there, with Spike and I was so happy and the next moment I was here. And the next time I saw Spike he…”

“I know,” Xander said softly, gently as Anya began to shake.

“And then I thought about how Buffy must be feeling, and that led me to how I’d feel if it were you and…”

“Shh. Shh. It’s ok,” Xander soothed, holding her tightly against him. “I’m here. I’ll always be here. I’m never letting you go.”

“I love you,” she whispered and he dipped his head to kiss her tenderly in answer.

“Don’t say anything to Buffy,” she requested again as he pulled back. “Promise?”

“I don’t know where you got this impression of me as a bigoted ogre,” her fiancée responded, slightly hurt that she would believe he would knowingly hurt one of his best friends.

Anya’s eyebrows rose slightly as a look of disbelief passed fleetingly over her face. “Xander.”

“Alright I don’t like vampires and Spike and I took a great deal of pleasure in taunting each other but…”

“But?”

“He earned his Scooby membership this summer. With Buffy gone. I mean, he’s one of us right? One of the gang. Even if we didn’t get along, I still…”

“You miss him,” Anya deduced with a smile, from her lover’s shaky confession.

“No I don’t, I just…”

“Hey, guys!”

Cordelia’s shout broke everyone from their own unhappy thoughts and refocused their attention where it was most needed. “I think I found something.”

“What is it?” Giles called back anxiously.

“Some writing,” Angel called. “I can’t read it. I think it’s… Giles. We’re going to need you’re expertise on this. My Latin is no where near as good as yours.”

“What does it say?”

“Uh.” Angel peered at the inscription in the stone. “Fides et amor et benevolentia, viam ducunt.”

“Giles?” Buffy questioned impatiently. “Do you know what that means?”

Giles nodded once to acknowledge that he did. “Faith, Love and Benevolence Guide the Way.”

“Hello cutie.”

Spike - ‘Becoming Part 2’

****

Dawn raced down the street, vaguely aware of Spike calling her name as he followed. She knew he'd catch her eventually, he was probably only letting her continue now because he realised she needed some time.

He knew her.

Spike.

Her friend, her confidant, her brother.

Her father?

"No!" she shouted aloud, hoping to drown out the voice in her head. "It's not true. This isn't real. None of this is real." She could hear the steady beat of his feet as he pounded along behind her.
She needed to get away from him.

“She’s not there, sweetheart.”

“Shut up!” the young girl growled as her hands clawed at the ground beneath her.

Spike frowned when he saw her hands were bleeding and stepped forward to pull her away and stop her from hurting herself. “Dawn, stop,” he urged gently, but she refused to be comforted and pushed him away.

“Don’t touch me!” she shouted as she moved away from him. “Leave me alone?”

“Dawn that’s enough!” Spike shouted in frustration and the pair faced each other squarely, eyes flashing.

“Don’t tell me what to do! You’re not my father!”

“Wanna bet?”

“I hate you!” she screamed at him, her face and eyes red from crying.

Spike smirked and folded his arms across his chest, clearly unimpressed. “Is that the best you can do? Surely you can come up with something a little more original. We had plenty of practice at this over the summer. I’d hate to think you’d lost your touch. Your mother and I are both so good at it.”

He knew he was being a heartless bastard but he understood that the only way Dawn was going to deal with this was if she worked through it. If she stayed in denial forever, she’d probably drive herself crazy.

“She is not my mother. Buffy is not my mother. Don’t say that. Don’t ever say that. It’s not true,” Dawn snarled through clenched teeth. “My mom’s dead. And you’re not taking any more of her away from me.”

Spike sighed and felt his own anger leave him as he watched her body heave as continued sobs escaped her. “No one wants to take your mum away from you Nibblet,” Spike said stepping forward and making sure she wasn’t going to run before raising a hand to gently stroke her hair. “Of course Joyce was your mum, for all the important things. And Buffy’s your annoying older sister, and I’m you’re loveable older brother. And we’re here to make sure nothing ever hurts you.”

“You’re hair is fine!”

****

Both men shook their heads. “We don’t know Buffy,” Giles told her, battling to remain calm for all their sakes. “Maybe it’s an act of faith.”

“Like what?” Xander asked as the others drew closer, forming a small circle around Giles and Wesley.

“I really have no idea, Giles answered, removing his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. “It could be as simple as actually believing the door to be real. Willing it into existence as it were. Or it could be a task we have to perform. At this point your guess is as good as mine.”

“I highly doubt that,” Xander joked, making both Anya and Giles smile slightly for which he was extremely grateful.

Faith listened to the whole exchange in silence, a tiny thought nagging at the back of her mind. “Maybe it’s really an act of Faith,” she said finally, breaking the silence.

“I just said…”

“No Giles not faith. Faith. Me.

“Do you think they’re having any luck?” Cordelia asked, sitting down on the ground, her back to the door painted on the wall.

“No,” Angel told her, his vampiric hearing easily making out what was being discussed on the other side of the room.

“Well as we’re stuck here for a little while, or a long while I suppose, what do you want to do?”

Angel smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his embrace. Cordy sighed feeling strangely at peace with what was happening and laid her head against Angel’s shoulder, her arms around his waist.

“I’m not in love with her anymore,” the vampire suddenly announced and Cordelia jerked away from him involuntarily at the unexpected statement.

“What?”

“I mean, I know that somewhere, somehow, she touched a part of me I had buried so deep even before I became a vampire, that I barely even remembered it. And having it back, having her there was like heaven. After all that time in the dark I was in the light, and there was so much light and love and happiness. And it almost destroyed the world.”

“I can’t see you and me ending the world Cor,” he said with a smile as he closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. It took her a moment to realise what he had said and her furious reaction therefore came as an even bigger surprise to him.

“What?!”

“Huh?” Angel’s head snapped forward, his eyes locking with hers as the former cheerleader stared him down angrily.

“So what you’re saying is, you don’t care enough about me for our relationship to cause an apocalypse.”

“No…”

“Whatever you had with Buffy was sooooo much more intense than anything you feel for me, so we obviously don’t have to worry about Angelus and his Armageddon fetish.”

“Cordelia, will you shut up and listen to me?”

The seer’s eyes flashed and she tossed her hair crossly as she slumped back against the wall away from him. Angel sighed. “I did not mean any of that,” he told her sincerely, willing her to listen to him. “I meant that Buffy and I almost destroyed each other and the world. Proof if any more were needed that we were just not meant to be together. It won’t be like that for you and me. Because we are supposed to be together Cor. And nothing bad could ever come from that. This is the way it’s meant to be.”

Cordelia looked down at the ground, a little embarrassed that she had automatically thought the worst. “So you really don’t love Buffy anymore?”

“I’ll always love her,” Angel corrected, “but I’m, not ‘in love’ with her.”

“And you’re…I mean are you in love with…?”

“You.”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“Can you say that again please?”

“I’m in love with you Cordelia.”

Cordy smiled. “Yeah that’s what I thought you said.” With that she threw her arms around his neck and pulled his head down to hers for a kiss.

“Why are we here again?” Dawn mumbled into the front of Spike’s leather duster as she sat nestled in his lap in the middle of the cemetery.

“Dammed if I know,” Spike replied softly, as though scared to break the night’s silence.

“Dammed anyway,” Dawn reminded him helpfully. “Vampire.”

“Half vampire.”

Dawn raised her head to look at him. “Hey. You’re right. I must have some really great power buried inside me.”

“Dawn…”

“I mean Key, Slayer and vampire. I could probably kick some serious demon a…”

“Dawn!”

“Ooo, sorry dad,” Dawn laughed, her eyes sparkling.

“Stop teasing me you little devil,” Spike laughed back as she relaxed against him once again.

“They said I had to fulfil my destiny,” the brunette explained, returning to her earlier question.

It took Spike a moment to realise what she meant. “And I have to complete some sort of task.”

“To find out who we are?”

“Yeah.”

“I know who I am.”

“And who are you?”

“I’m Dawn. Key, Slayer and Vampire. Daughter of Joyce. And of Buffy… And Spike.”

Spike grinned proudly at his girl. “Yes you are sweet thing.”

“And I am meant to be here. My destiny.” She smiled at him. “So, uh, if I’m all that… who are you?”

“I am Spike, William the Bloody,” the vampire announced, tilting his chin and straightening up, proudly. “Slayer of Slay…”

Dawn rolled her eyes and interrupted. “Yes but, who are you?”

“You’re starting to sound like them now.”

“Hey, the pushy and annoying genes come from my parents.”

“It’s not very nice to talk about Buffy like that.”

“Spike!”

“Look I’m just…” Spike sighed and shook his head. “I’m the same as I’ve always been. I’ve spent a hundred and twenty years trying to get as far away from William as possible but there he is. Living with your sister.”

“But you’re not…”

“Dawn I’m not stupid. William is there because that’s what she makes me. That’s what you make me. The man and not the monster. And I think the purpose of this little visit was to help me accept that. I’ve been moping around for so long now. I’ve lost all sense of who I am. But now I can see that I have both inside me. Whatever happens in the future is my choice.”

Dawn hugged him tightly. “I knew that,” she whispered in his ear and he closed his eyes, squeezing her back as tightly as he could without breaking any of her bones.

“Huh?”

Faith’s lips twitched as Buffy stared at her in confusion, but she sobered when she realised Wesley was watching her intently. Her eyes remained locked with her former Watcher’s even as she addressed her sister Slayer.

“Look this is a game. Some sick and twisted plot set up by Darla and Drusilla and Ethan Rayne. All of whom have some kind of grudge against you. But not against me. I never met any of them before this thing started. So why am I here? I’m not part of the gang. I never have been.”

Giles tilted his head slightly to the side as he considered this. “So you think that you’re here as part of the challenge, rather than one of the team?”

“They gave me to the winner of the second task.”

“So you were obviously needed by whoever progressed through to this task.”

“Exactly.”

“Well, sometimes I crave a non-fat yoghurt afterwards.”

Faith and Buffy - ‘Faith, Hope and Trick’

****

His right hand closed around Faith’s left wrist, the force of her weight dragging him across the floor to the edge of the their steady platform. “Faith!”

Xander and Tara immediately followed the Watcher, Xander catching hold of Wesley’s legs to stop him following Faith into the abyss, Tara running forward to try to reach Faith herself. Wesley was lying bent in half over the ledge, the top half of his body fully extended as he reached down for his Slayer and Tara saw that she wouldn’t be able to reach Faith, even if she did the same.

“It’s alright,” he told her calmly, moving his other arm so that he was holding her more securely. “Just hang on.”

“Why do people always say that?” Faith quipped, with an ironic quirk to her lips. “Do you really think I’m just going to let go?”

Wesley smiled a little. A thought flittered unbidden through his mind. ‘That’s my girl.’ His smile disappeared. ‘What? No. Wait.’

“Don’t get the wrong idea about this,” he told her, with an air of superiority that made her grin despite their precarious situation. “I haven’t forgiven you or anything.”

“Thought never entered my mind.”

“Wes!” Xander shouted from somewhere behind him, “We’re going to try pulling you up, ok?”

“Ok!”

“Wesley!” Faith shrieked as her hands slipped against his shirt. Wesley clutched her arms tighter and tried to mask his own fear as he tried to reassure her.

“It’s ok. It’s ok. I’ve got you. It’ll only be another minute. Xander hurry up!”

“I’m sorry,” Faith said drawing the former Watcher’s attention back to her immediately. The words were spoken quietly, so only he could hear. “I’m so sorry for what I did to you.”

“Stop that! You can beg for forgiveness all you want when you’re back up on solid ground but there will be no emotional scenes, no matter how heartfelt when you are dangling precariously over a cliff. You’re the Slayer for God’s sake. Act like it. Xander what the hell are you doing?!”

Faith’s eyes glittered dangerously. “How dare you! I know I’ve done some pretty awful things but I’m truly sorry for them. Excuse me for wanting to apologise before I died.”

“You’re not going to die damn it. Unless your inane prattling becomes too much and I drop you.”

“You are such a supercilious bastard! This is why I’ve never had a conversation with you.”

“Oh? I thought it was because you were a smart mouthed bitch.”

“Well gee Wes. Thanks for making me feel good in my last few minutes on Earth.”

“Don’t you ever get tired of the sound of your own voice?”

“Um, don’t you want to tell them they’re safe now?” Willow murmured under her breath to Xander, as they watched the Slayer and her Watcher continue to bicker, seemingly unaware that they were now kneeling on solid ground, hands still clinging to each other’s arms as they faced one another.

“Are you kidding? They’re almost as much fun to watch as…” Xander stopped and frowned. Willow winced as she realised what her friend had been about to say and why he had stopped.

“As you and Anya?” she teased gently, hoping to lighten the moment. They shared a smile.

“Hey, that’s not for your entertainment missy. That’s serious. And damn scary.”

“You know that thing where you bail in the middle of an upsetting conversation? I have to do that.”

****

The thought made her stop and Spike was pulled back a step. He turned to look at her quizzically. “What’s wrong pigeon?”

“Buffy.”

“What about her?”

“What are we going to tell her?”

The vampire continued to watch her, turning the question over in his mind. To be honest he hadn’t thought about explaining this to his Slayer. His mind had been too busy jumping ahead to that time Buffy had mentioned a couple of days ago, when she would be with him and they would be together with Dawn as a family.

“I think we should wait ‘til we’ve finished this stupid game,” Dawn interrupted his thoughts, her voice strong and decisive. “That way we can explain everything to her properly. It’s going to be hard enough trying to explain why you’re not a big pile of dust.”

Spike smiled at Dawn, grateful that he wasn’t going to be faced with the challenge of giving the Slayer such Earth shattering news the second he saw her again. Or alone, if the amount of ‘we’s’ Dawn was throwing out was anything to go by. He nodded, letting her know he agreed with her decision and they continued on along Revello Drive.

They arrived at the house moments later, neither knowing whether to enter again. Peering cautiously through the window Dawn gasped, a need she hadn’t realised she was repressing surging through her. Spike was beside her immediately, his eyes searching for the cause of her surprise.

“It’s not in there,” she told him knowingly, placing a gentle hand on his arm. “It’s in here.” She placed her other hand over her chest. Spike frowned at her and turned back to the scene inside the house, confused.

Spike felt the same force that Dawn had felt slam into him. He grasped at his daughter’s hand and squeezed in tightly in his. “You’re mine Dawn,” he growled at her. “You and Buffy. You’re mine.”

This time Dawn had no desire to run. She looked up at her father with clear, understanding eyes. “Yours,” she agreed just as fiercely. “Always.”

“He’s not here Dawn,” Ethan told her, finally able to relax. He set the chair he had knocked over upright again and sat down. “I’m afraid Spike’s dead Dawn.”

The teenager turned to face him sharply, collecting herself. “How long have I been gone?”

Her captor frowned at her choice of words but answered, “About three hours.”

Dawn jumped off the bed and strode to the door, yanking on the handle. It didn’t move. “So much for Slayer strength,” she muttered to herself and turned back to Ethan. “Let me out.”

He smiled cruelly. “Oh yes. Of course. I’ll just open the door shall I? Even if I wanted to I couldn’t. It’s magically locked. The only way in is by activating the trigger.”

“What trigger?”

“Love,” she said, receiving a few confused looks from the Scoobies in return. She turned to Giles. “I’m love.”

She saw the understanding blossom in his eyes and he nodded. “But what about the bridge?”

They turned back towards the spot where the makeshift bridge had been and were surprised to see that it had returned. “What the…?”

“Guys?” Cordelia shouted from the other side of the room. “Hate to interrupt but I thought you’d like to know that the door… It’s real now.”

“What?” Buffy shouted back, rubbing a hand over her face.

“It’s locked,” Angel answered, pulling on the metal handle with his full strength. “But it’s real now. Wood and metal.”

“Oh, what the hell is going on?” Xander exclaimed, turning to Giles for an answer. The others similarly looked to Giles for the explanation.

The Watcher groaned and removed his glasses, rubbing them thoughtfully with the corner of his coat. “You could have been a grocer, but no. Had to carry on the family traditions didn’t you? Idiot,” he berated himself under his breath. No one spoke for a while as he considered everything that had happened.

“Key,” he exclaimed, pointing towards Faith’s necklace. “Where did you get that?”

Everyone turned to look at the Slayer who raised her hand to her neck, tilting her head back slightly so that she could see what Wesley was gesturing at.

“I didn’t get it anywhere. I think I would have noticed a large key tied around my neck before now.”

“‘Faith, Love and Benevolence Guide the Way,’” Giles announced, dragging everyone’s attention back to him. “I think I understand. I’ll try to explain. It’s the only way…” he trailed off without elaborating and everyone squirmed impatiently. Finally, Anya’s exasperated sigh dragged his mind back to the present. “Faith attempted to cross the bridge…”

“And failed,” the brunette reminded him, still fingering the key around her neck. Giles continued as though she hadn’t spoken.

“And she was saved by Wesley.”

“Which was rather benevolent of me,” the younger Watcher murmured, as he realised what Giles was thinking. He placed a comforting hand on Faith’s shoulder. “Benevolent, as in…”

“I know what it means,” Faith snapped back, but softened the words with a shy smile.

“That act caused the door to appear. Now Faith has the key and…”

“And love is going to open the door,” Buffy finished, holding out her hand to Faith. The younger Slayer unhooked the chain from her neck and placed the silver key onto Buffy’s palm. “Good luck.”

“Thanks.”

“Buffy wait,” Willow said, stepping forward and blocking her best friend’s path. “What if the bridge disappears again?”

Buffy shrugged, and smiled ruefully at her friend. “There’s only one way to find out.”

She walked towards the narrow plank of wood, flanked on either side by Xander and Tara. “J, just in case,” the blonde Witch stuttered nervously and Buffy nodded reassuringly.

“I’m sure everything will be fine.” She took a deep breath and holding the key firmly in her fist, she stepped onto the bridge.