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Giles sat in the living room, a glass of scotch in his hand, his glasses sitting idly beside the half empty bottle, listening to the ticking of the clock in the corner of the room. The glass doors leading to the balcony were opened and the sounds of Rome flowed through.

But even that didn't drown out the sobbing upstairs.

==========================================

A few hours earlier...

It was another phone meeting with everyone. Faith and Robin from Cleveland, Willow from Brazil and Xander from South Africa; all calling to update their progress in their separate missions. Giles, who flew in just last week and Andrew sat on both sides of Buffy while a few of the senior Slayers sat around the large table.

Their own Round Table of Camelot, Andrew called it. Of course, he was the only one to think so.

"--so we have everything under control over here." Faith was saying.

"Good to know." Buffy said, leaning forward to rest her arms on the table. "Willow, have you found anything new down south?"

"Just your basic run of the mill demons." Willow said. "I've found a few girls who show Slayer powers. I've set some of the senior Slayers to talk to them and to see if any of them are interested in going to Rome for a little while to learn about what they are and some training."

"Cool. More girls." Andrew commented. "I'll talk to Vi and see if there is anyone who would like to share rooms if they decide to come over." He wrote it down in his little black notebook that was always with him.

He liked hanging out with the newer Slayers, and telling them about their calling. He seemed to have a knack in assuring them that being a Slayer wasn't a death sentence. With all the abundance of Slayers around now, battles to the death were few and very far between.

No Slayer went out alone anymore. They went out in twos or threes and in the big battles, like clearing a vampire nest or facing off against a dangerous demon, there was a group of six or more. They were taught to watch each other's backs and to call for back up if things became too heavy.

"So---anyone have anything else to add before we call it a day?" Buffy asked.

"Just one more thing." Faith said after awhile. There was some muttering in the background, probably Robin.

"What is it Faith?"

"There was news just recently. It's like the big news all over the stations. It looks like there was a rather large earthquake in L.A." Faith said. "It hit the downtown area pretty bad, building damaged and the like." She paused. "Listen B, I know you felt kinda betrayed by Angel since he took over Wolfram and Hart but--"

Buffy tensed as she felt the bad news coming.

"The Wolfram and Hart building was destroyed in the quake." Faith finished. "There was nothing left of it. All the employees were accounted for except a few. Mainly Angel and his crew."

Andrew's head shot up, his wide eyes. "What about Spike?"

"Andrew!" Giles snapped.

Andrew squeaked in surprise and covered his mouth, wishing that he could take back the words. He stared fearfully at Buffy, who has the strangest look on her face. It was a mixture of shock, anger, surprise and just a bit of sadness. He felt his stomach drop when she turned steel green eyes at him in anger.

"What did you say?" she asked him.

Andrew started stuttering as he tried frantically to cover up what he said but he was failing badly. "I-I---wha-what are you---who's what in the how?" He pushed up from the table and started backing away.

"Andrew--" Buffy warned him as she stood up. "What do you know about Spike?"

"That he has a cool leather jacket, cheekbones to die for and sexy accent with a killer body?" Andrew squeaked.

"Andrew! I'll go home and tear the heads off all your action figures if you don't tell me what's going on!" Buffy yelled.

"He made me promise not to tell you!" Andrew wailed.

"Tell me what?!"

"That he came back! That he's alive, but still a vampire, and well, considering that Dana cut off his arms." Andrew started rambling. "Well, he was a ghost for a while but then he was real again. Angel--"

Buffy sat down; feeling overwhelmed and yes, a bit betrayed while listening to Andrew go on and on about why he didn't tell her that Spike was alive in L.A., working with Angel and not ash and bones in the crater that was now Sunnydale. She had thought Spike was gone, for good and now to hear Andrew tell her that he was alive but didn't want her to know that he was alive. Gods, it felt like she couldn't breathe.

"I really wanted to tell you Buffy." Andrew finished quietly. He made a mental note about going out to find a new place to live. Someplace far away from Buffy when she got her over the shock. Hong Kong sounded good right now, even though it was monsoon season. "But Spike made me promise. Twice. Once in L.A. and one more when he and Angel came by the apartment looking for you."

Buffy's head whipped up. "He was here? In Rome? With Angel?"

Andrew nodded meekly. "T-they heard that you were with the Immortal. You know, in the he's-my-boyfriend-but-really-I'm-only-getting-close-to-kill-him way. When you were undercover?"

Buffy nodding numbly. Oh god, Spike must have been devastated in seeing her all lovey dovey with the Immortal. He must have thought that she moved on. And Andrew had to tell him and Angel that it was true or else their hard work would have been jeopardized.

"Willow?"

"Yes Buffy?" Willow's voice sounded pained, as if she knew what Buffy was going to ask her.

"Could you do a location spell for Angel and his team?"

"I'm on it." Willow quickly agreed. "I'll call you and let you know what I find."

"Thanks Will." Buffy replied as she stood up and walked out of the room, ignoring the curious looks from the younger Slayers and pity from the senior Slayers who knew about Spike from Sunnydale.

"Well now--" Giles cleared his throat. "I believe that concludes the meeting for now. I suggest that we meet again sometime next week."

==========================================

Well, Willow had called back and the news wasn't good. She couldn't get a lock on Wesley or Cordy, so they knew that they were dead or just gone. She got a faint lock on Fred but it was overwhelmed by a demon presence. They concluded that some kind of demon had taken over her body so it wasn't Fred anymore.

When Willow tried to locate Angel and Spike, her stone went wild, spinning and spinning until it flew and lodged itself into the table. Either both Angel and Spike were dead, or someone very powerful had them into their clutches that prevent Willow from finding their exact location.

The only good news was that they found Lorne, on the move towards Las Vegas and Gunn was located in L.A., Willow did another spell and found that he was in the hospital in critical care with massive internal injuries.

After the news, Buffy broke down, raging at Spike and Angel and then at poor Andrew. She drove him to tears before he admitted that he told Giles and that Giles agreed that it was the right thing in not telling Buffy about Spike.

"How can you do that to me--again?" she yelled at Giles.

"It in your best interests Buffy." Giles had said. "We couldn't afford any mistakes with the Immortal. You needed to keep your focus on him and the mission and not on Spike and the trouble he would have brought you."

"And what if I needed him?" Buffy asked quietly.

Giles sighed, already knowing that he lost this fight, as he always did when talking about Spike. He never wanted to admit it, but over the years Buffy had come to need Spike in way that she used to need him when she first started slaying. Maybe, in fact, she needed him more. She had felt so lost without Spike with her but she had started to learn to deal with his absence.

"You don't need him Buffy." Giles said. "You have us."

She didn't say anything. She just looked at him and walked upstairs to her room, locking the door after her.

A few minutes later, she started crying.





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