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After his last meeting of the day Angel stalked into his office to await the arrival of the monks only to grind to a surprised halt in the doorway.

“What’s going on here?”

“A little impromptu party for all of Spike’s friends,” Lorne stepped forward and threw an arm around Angel’s shoulders. “Come have some blood catch up with the old crew. You know everyone, right?”

“Whoa, over here,” Xander pointed the bottle of beer he held in his right hand at himself, “Not a friend of Spike. I’m here for Buffy.”

“I like Spike. Spike’s a friend of mine,” Andrew the Zima he’d chosen for his drink. “Mmm … a nice refreshing Zima. This is a good party. Can I have another one?”

“No,” answered Buffy, Spike and Xander who all know what just one Zima did to the blonde.

“Well this party sucks,” the young man pouted and sat down next to Dawn on the sofa.

“You’re not all going to go to this ritual, you know that, right?” Angel asked the gathering.

“We’re just here for moral support,” Dawn inched away from Andrew who was looking at her a bit funny.

“Who all will be going?” Kennedy asked.

“Me,” Willow raised her hand then pointed around the room, “Wesley, Buffy, Angel and the monks. An intimate little gathering.”

“Speaking of the monks, shouldn’t they be here by now?” Wesley turned from the window he was staring out of at the darkened sky. “Night has fallen.”

“Right this way,” Harmony was heard to say just then before ushering in a pair of figures covered in hooded brown robes. “Bossy, your appointment is here.”

Angel growled at her calling him that again and the blonde vampire shrugged apologetically before leaving the room.

“It is time,” the figure on the left informed them with his head bowed forward.

“Come with us now,” the second monk raised his head, but did not look at any of them before turning to leave the office assuming they would follow without question.

“That’s a bit creepy,” Fred observed before taking a sip of her martini.

“Showtime, Buffy,” Willow moved to take her friends arm and drag her away from Spike.

“I’ll see you soon,” the slayer lingered long enough to say to the ‘ghost.’

“Let’s hope you’re right, luv,” Spike sighed quietly as the group that was to restore him left the office to do the deed.

~*~*~

Wesley and Willow stepped cautiously into the crypt after the monks then stood just inside the chamber staring at the pentagram covering the floor then the five angry vampires chained to the box in which Spike would appear when the ceremony was complete.

“Are you certain you wish to do this?” the former watcher asked the redhead.

“I killed a deer to bring Buffy back,” Willow dismissed the five vampires she was about to sacrifice. “Killing a Bambi was harder than this will be.”

~*~*~

“Shouldn’t we be inside with them?” Buffy paced the cemetery outside the crypt.

“You’ll know when it’s your time to go in and we really don’t need to see the beginning,” Angel continued to lean against the side of the limo that had brought them there.

“This is really gonna work, right?” she stopped and looked at him with the worry she felt in every fiber of her being.

“It worked for Lindsey and Willow’s a lot better at this stuff than he was. You’re going to get your Spike back tonight,” he reassured her with surprising ease and sincerity.

“God, I hope so,” she bit her lip, paced for another minute then threw herself against him for a hug. “Promise me it’ll work.”

He didn’t make that promise. He just slowly wrapped his arms around her, patted her back soothingly and stared over her shoulder at the crypt.

~*~*~

“We begin,” Willow said to end the chanting of the monks. “Five are without breath,” she began circling the pentagram with scroll in hand.

“Yet they live,” the monks said.

“Five are without time.”

“Yet they live.”

“Five are without soul,” she ignored the vampires that growled hungrily as she stepped near them with each of her statements.

“Yet they live,” the monks continued to chime in.

“Five are without sun.”

“Yet they live.”

“Five are dead.”

“Yet they live.”

Willow stepped inside the circle and came to a stop at the tip of the pentagram then began the critical part of the ceremony as Buffy quietly slipped into the crypt.

“And the five shall be a sacrifice,” the redhead said in Latin, her eyes beginning to grow dark at the magiks she was channeling. “And the one who is dead shall live. Even as life and death are not two things but one,” her voice was growing stronger and something seemed to charge the air in the chamber. “In darkness is the light, in light is the darkness,” her body arched backward for a moment then she faced the box at the center of the pentagram and said with increasing volume. “Arise. Arise! Arise!”

The ground was shaking with increasing intensity and as the crypt began to shift dangerously around them the flesh of five vampires chained to the box evaporated to dust while their bones remained solid. A small tornado develops around the box, nearly knocking Buffy and Wesley off their feet with the force of its gusts, and quickly draws the dust and bones into its center to draw into the box. A ring of light erupts from the center of the circle. Buffy and Wesley turn and duck from the blinding glow as Willow braces herself to take the light inside her body. The energy slams into her with the force of a freight train and she doubles over unable to breathe, but does not fall from the impact or lose consciousness.

As the ground stops shaking and the light vanishes, Buffy and Wesley slowly turned to stare at the box. After another moment, the witch suddenly stands straight up and desperately draws in a deep breath of air.

“Willow,” Wesley finally noticed her struggle to fill her lungs and rushed to her side. “Relax. Relax. Look at me,” he forced her gaze to his then reared back in surprise upon seeing the pure black of her eyes.

Slowly she began breathing normally and as she did her eyes returned to their normal green color, causing Wesley to sigh in relief.

“Did it work?” Angel asked from the entrance to the crypt.

Buffy remained frozen against the wall just inside the chamber with her hopeful yet apprehensive gaze locked firmly on the large metal box that should now have her fully restored lover inside.

Wesley and Willow were now focused on the box, as well, but made no effort to approach it and get an answer to Angel’s question.

The monks were gone, having slid quietly off into the night the moment Willow spoke the last word of the ceremony and the resurrection began to actually occur.

“Someone needs to check,” the vampire in the doorway said without moving to do so himself.

~*~*~

Andrew, Dawn, Fred, Gunn, Kennedy, Lorne and Xander all stood staring silently at the spot they had last seen Spike.

“Is that a good thing?” Dawn finally asked nervously.

“He could just be doing his little vanishing act again and will probably pop up to scare us in a few minutes,” Gunn suggested.

“No,” Winifred argued and cautiously approached the area the ‘ghost’ had vanished from. “He hasn’t done that since getting free of Pavayne. I …,” she looked around the room worriedly. “I think he’s gone.”

“But he’d have to be gone for the ceremony to have worked so that’s probably a good thing,” Dawn was getting near tears and Xander moved to give her a reassuring hug. “Right?” she raised scared eyes to ask the man. “It’s a good thing, right?”

The others in the room all averted their eyes so the teenager wouldn’t see their doubts and remained silent.

“I’m sure it worked,” Xander lied unconvincingly and the girl buried her face against his chest and began to cry.

~*~*~

“I … I can’t look,” Buffy shook her head and bit her lip as the others looked to her to go check.

Angel remained planted firmly in the doorway of the crypt, leaving Wesley and Willow to begin arguing over which of them should go see if it worked.

“I did all the work, you check,” the Wiccan said.

“Exactly, you did all the work now you want to be sure that it worked,” the former watcher pushed the redhead toward the box. “So go see if it worked.”

“Maybe we could check together,” Willow dug her feet into the floor and resisted the man’s pushing.

“Would it help you twits along to know that I’m in here?” asked a familiar voice from inside the box. “And those clothes you brought for me would be nice right about now, luv.”

“Spike?!” they all four exclaimed and ran toward the box to peer down into it.

Lots of pale naked flesh was the first thing they noticed and upon seeing it Wesley and Willow jerked away from the box rather nervously.

Buffy’s eyes latched onto the familiar peroxide blonde hair topping the head she looked down on.

“Spike,” she whispered and he tipped his head back to look into her eyes.

As he rose awkwardly to his feet, Angel turned quickly away from the box and found the other two watching him anxiously.

“Is it … ” they both looked from the box to Angel then back again.

“It is,” Buffy answered as Spike finally stood before her with his bare torso sticking up out of the box.

The reunited lovers gazed at each other with such emotion that the other three present averted their eyes, shifted their feet awkwardly then mumbled something and left the crypt.

Hesitantly Buffy and Spike each raised one of their hands and extended it toward the other. At the same moment, with the same almost fearful light touch, their fingers brushed over each other’s faces.

Upon finding that she touched actual skin Buffy’s caresses grew more confident until she was running both her hands over his face and torso and tears streamed down her cheeks for his warm solid fingers to brush away.

“It actually worked,” she sobbed and wrapped her arms around his waist with her hands sliding up to curl over his shoulders and hold him as tightly against her as she could.

“Was there ever any doubt,” Spike swallowed back his own tears, slid his arms around her waist then buried his face in her hair.





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