Fred wandered around the offices of Wolfram and Hart searching for the platinum haired vamp. She found him in an empty office at the far end of the building in front of the window. He was hugging his duster closed around him, watching the dwindling light of the setting sun outside.

"Hey. You've been gone a while. You ran out of there pretty fast," she said, lightly.

He didn't turn around.

"Yeah… You know, every vamp is afraid of the Slayer. Built in instinct to survive tells us to keep away. Instead, I went looking for them. They were a challenge."

He paused and Fred was just about to say something when he started speaking again.

"I finally met a Slayer who terrified me, an' not because she could stake me." He shook his head. "This really is a screwed up world." He sighed, and shifted his attention to the ceiling.

"How come you didn't want to talk to her? I thought—she means so much to you. Why didn't you say anything to her?" Fred asked slowly.

His shoulders slumped, and he turned sideways to look at her, offering a small smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"You mean like, hey Buffy, it's Spike. I'm not quite as dead as you thought I was, only now I'm Angel's very own personal Casper. So how've you been?" He scoffed and shook his head.

"So you don't want her to know?"

"Nah, pet. Better she remembers me as I was, unless we find some sort of cure for my little walking through walls affliction."

Fred began shifting from foot to foot uncomfortably. Spike noticed, and tilted his head, suspicion flashing across his features.

"All right, out with it. What's up?"

"Umm, well you see, when you dashed off, I may have sorta shouted after you—and umm, well—she may have heard me say your name," she finished, adding a hopeful smile at the end.

Spike stared at her. She dropped the smile and replaced it with an anxious expression instead. He continued to stare before turning to face her fully.

"What?" He asked hoarsely, worry etching his face. "She heard—what—is she...What did she say? She's not coming here is she?"

"I honestly couldn't say, since once she confirmed you were here, she hung up. Angel tried calling her back, but there was no answer. If I had to take a wild guess? I'd say yeah. A girl finds out her ex—who died saving the world, isn't really dead, or deader, and instead is hanging out with her other ex? I'm thinking she's gonna be hurt, mad as hell, and on her way. Oh, and I guess you should add the fact she's a Slayer to that too."

Spike blinked, and began rapidly pacing back and forth. Fred was finding it hard to keep up with him. Her neck started to ache as she turned her head back and forth following his movements.

Spike, settle down, I'm sure it will be fine. I mean, if she's coming here it's because she cares about you, and she just found out you're alive. That means something, right? Something to look forward to, maybe?"

He let out an insane giggle and looked at her as though she'd just said something hysterical, never ceasing his pacing.

"Are you completely sack of hammers? I'm not alive. That's the whole bloody point. If she gets here, and sees me like this—or doesn't see me when I make a little trip to Hell's entrance, what do you think is gonna happen? I'm even less of a man than I was when I was soulless. I'm not real. You think any good is gonna come of her seeing me like this?"

"Spike, I really think you're over-reacting. Maybe she can help make you corporeal again. You know, get the Watchers on it. We have lots of resources, but things with Buffy's side of the battle between good and evil's been kinda sour since..." She trailed off.

"Since you started playing with the evil law firm?" Spike finished, eyebrow tilted in amusement.

"Well, yeah. But we aren't evil. We're—"

"Changing things from the inside, I know. I've had that bloody speech from Peaches, and I'm telling you now it doesn't change my opinion, no matter how many times you say it. You don't change places like this, pet. They change you. If you were able to change things from the inside, I would've had every Scoobie dead the minute I got sucked into their little group. Instead look at what happened. I'm a soddin' White Hat, soul an' all."

Fred didn't know quite what to say to that. He stopped pacing at last, which gave her some relief. She really couldn't keep up to him, and his constant fidgeting was getting to her. He wiped a hand over his face and took a deep breath. She noticed Spike breathed a lot. Angel did it occasionally, mostly to sigh dramatically or when he was exercising. Spike seemed to do it constantly, like it was as natural as, well, breathing, even though he didn't need to. It was one of the many odd things she'd come to learn about him. He let his head fall back, eyes on the ceiling again.

"Bollocks. Somehow I don't think being in the Slayer's firing line's gonna be quite so much fun this time."

"If it's any consolation, I think Angel might be in the firing line for not telling her." Fred said, trying to lighten the mood.

He looked at her and considered it. He did seem to cheer up, marginally.

"One can hope." He replied.

Angel was on edge all morning. He'd had little sleep since the phone call with Buffy. He'd spent all day yesterday worrying he'd get a visit from the Slayer, and his repeated attempts to call her back proved fruitless, but that was nothing new since he'd accepted the job at Wolfram and Hart. He'd thankfully seen little of Spike, which he was grateful for, but the way Buffy had hung up on him was still bothering him. He wasn't sure what it meant. Sadly, he had a feeling it meant she was on her way here. And if she was, it wasn't to see him, unless of course, she wanted to kick his ass like she'd threatened to on the phone. She was less than pleased with him for spying on her, he knew that. He'd only wanted to make sure she was safe. Buffy wouldn't see it that way of course, and wouldn't take kindly to the thought, even if she did. He sighed. The chances were, if she was on her way, it was because of Spike. The name was like poison in his mouth, even unspoken. Lorne entered the office and surveyed his boss.

"You look like you could use a stiff drink, Angel-cakes."

Angel just leaned back in his chair and glanced at the Empath demon, his feelings clear without ever having to sing to his friend.

"Let me guess, this is about a certain Slayer's predicted arrival right?"

"The way I look at it, this is going down one of two ways. Either she comes in here, kicks my ass and chews me out about the spy and keeping Spike's return a secret from her. Or, she focuses on him, why he didn't let her know he was back, and that he's a ghost. For once I actually hope she focuses on Spike."

Lorne moved to sit on Angel's desk and looked the vampire in the eye.

"Well I hate to say it, but there's a likely third option in which she chews out both your un-dead butts for keeping this a secret, kicks you around a bit, and gets us all working to get Spike back to the land of the solid so she can kick him around too. Whether she stakes you both or not afterwards will depend on how much frustration she's worn out by then. To be honest, you are both really frustrating."

"Thanks Lorne, that helps," Angel said, drily.

Lorne patted the vampire on the shoulder sympathetically.

"Hey, I may be the fun-loving party animal around here, but I can still be realistic."

Gunn walked into the room at a brisk pace, looking worried and headed straight for Angel's desk.

"Uh, boss, I think our guest may have just arrived downstairs, and she killed your two o' clock," he said, fiddling with his tie.

Angel stood up rapidly and glanced worriedly out into the lobby.

"Well big-guy, it's been nice knowing ya." Lorne said, rising from the desk, and also looking out at the lobby.

Wes and Fred hurried over as the three men left Angel's office to stand by Harmony's desk, and watch the elevator.

"We just heard. She's really here?" Wes asked.

They heard the ping of the elevator and the doors slid open. There was absolute silence as everyone in the lobby waited. Suddenly a large yellow demon came flying out of the open elevator to smack into a wall across the room. It fell to the floor, lifeless.

"Gerry?" A man near the prone body asked tentatively, looking down at the corpse.

The gang's attention switched from Gerry's body back to the elevator, where a very pissed off, petite, blonde woman stepped out, looking around her before her eyes settled on them. Two more people, a man and a woman, exited the elevator, also glancing around curiously, and clearly amused by the frightened looks they were getting. The gang had no time to assess the newcomers any further however, as the Slayer pointed at Angel and began stalking forward.

"You," she said, her voice low, yet deafening in the silent room.

Angel raised his hands defensively.

"Now, Buffy—" Angel began.

Wrong move.

"Don't you, 'Now, Buffy' me you—you—you ass, you!" She grabbed the front of his dress shirt, pulling him closer until they were inches apart.

Her green eyes bored into him as she stared him down.

"How dare you use your new evil friends to spy on me? How dare you sneak around behind my back? How dare you hide things from me?"

Angel gripped her hand and tried to make her let go of his shirt, but she was having none of it. Security began inching closer, but Wes signaled for them to stay back. Interfering would be in no one's best interests, especially not Angel's. She might see it as him setting his goons on her, which would be very bad right now. Knowing Buffy, she had a stake hidden somewhere on her person that she'd have drawn in seconds at the first sign of trouble. Of course, Wes didn't think she'd stake Angel, no matter how mad she might be, but they could do without losing any more employees or clients, and a volatile Slayer with a sharp piece of wood was bad news for a vampire. They couldn't risk any nasty accidents.

"Buffy, I can explain—"

"Save it, Angel. Let me guess, you were just looking out for me? It was for my own good? When are you gonna get it through your head that I can take care of myself. I don't need you watching me every second. I thought I'd made that clear already."

Angel opened his mouth again, but she used her grip on his shirt to jerk him back roughly, cutting him off.

"I'm not done. Rest assured we'll be talking about that soon enough, but first, where is he?" She demanded.

Angel was about to ask "Who?" before he thought better of it. He knew exactly who she was referring to, and nothing but a straight answer would result in painful injury. He had no clue where Spike might be hiding, but just then he caught a flash of white hair near the stairs. Keeping his eyes trained on the Brit, who was as yet blissfully unaware of what was happening below him, Angle pointed him out to Buffy. Her eyes followed his outstretched arm until she too laid eyes on the vamp. She released Angel instantly, and Gunn and Fred rushed to help him balance.

Spike was just making his way downstairs when he noticed all the people gathered around, staring at him. He frowned at them, and was about to ask what they were bloody well staring at when he saw her. He froze. She was there. She was really there. Different than when he'd last seen her, but it was her. Buffy. He opened and closed his mouth, doing a terrific impersonation of a fish. She stared at him. Her hand came up to cover her mouth, and her shoulders jerked.

"Spike," she choked out.

She took two quick steps forward when a blur pushed past her, knocking her sideways and making her stumble. The blur flew straight at Spike, and he barely had time to register the not Buffy-like object hurtling up the stairs towards him with a loud, almost male sounding, "Spike!" before it dove forwards and straight through him with a whoosh, only to collapse on the steps behind him with a crash. Spike whirled around to study the groaning object, which he now saw was a young brunet man.

"Ow! What the nuggets?"

"Oh, bloody hell." Spike recognized the whiny, geeky voice instantly. "Andrew?"

The man half turned and looked up at Spike, rubbing his chin and ribs which had come into contact with the steps hard. It was definitely Andrew, only with longer, curly, brown hair instead of the short, spiky, blond look he'd had when Spike had seen him last.

"Yeah," Andrew whined, still whimpering in pain. "What happened?"

"Spike?" A female voice asked, confusedly.

Spike turned to face Buffy, who was standing at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at him and Andrew. She closed the distance slowly and Spike couldn't find his voice as he watched her approach, struck dumb at simply having her here in front of him. She stopped on the step below him, reached out a hand, and watched as it passed straight through him, back and forth. She stared back up at him, her eyes watery and questioning.

"Spike?" she asked again, her voice wavering slightly.

He swore he could feel his un-dead, ghostly heart breaking.

The others looked on at the tragic reunion. Angel felt sick at the sight of Buffy approaching his grand-childe, noticing the wistful expression on her face and the sadness when she couldn't touch the blond vamp. He'd winced when the boy hit the steps, and shook his head when Buffy and her companions realized the truth. Spike wasn't really back.

Wes glanced at the young woman who had remained near the elevator watching the proceedings. She was staring at Buffy and Spike, looking shocked and confused. She was tall with long, dark brown hair. It took him a minute, but eventually he recognized the Slayer's sister, Dawn. He looked back up at the man who had thrown himself at Spike. He had no idea who the young man was, but he seemed to harbor some affection for the punk vampire, even if Spike was ignoring him, but then that was probably due to the Slayer's presence.

Dawn dragged her eyes away from the scene on the steps long enough to focus on Angel and his team. She marched straight towards the older vampire purposefully. She stopped directly in front of Angel.

"Hi, Dawn, long time no see." Angel said.

She jabbed a finger into his chest as she spoke. Clearly she was picking things up from her sister.

"What's going on?" She pointed up at Spike without turning around. "Why can't they touch Spike? What happened to him?"

Fred stepped forward, hoping to break the news gently, and steer the girl's attention away from Angel. Somehow, Fred didn't think he'd handle this well.

"Spike isn't entirely real. He's non-corporeal, kind of like a ghost but not. We've been trying to help bring him back—" She gave Angel a sideways glance, "but so far we got zilch. That's why they didn't tell you. Spike didn't want to let anyone know when he couldn't even touch anything. He isn't fully here after all."

Dawn took this in and looked back up at Spike and her sister. Her heart went out to them. This was definitely not the reunion she had pictured. Not even the violent one, where Buffy had kicked his ass for coming back and not telling her. Heck, Dawn had been almost ready to stake him for that herself. Now it was starting to make sense. In a way she really didn't like. Couldn't they ever catch a break?

Angel decided that they'd made enough of a public display. This was a private matter, and it was time everyone understood the situation. He walked over to the stairs and addressed the two blonds.

"Buffy, if you'd like to come into my office we can all sit down and I'll explain how this happened, or at least what I know. Okay? Spike—you too." He waited.

Neither of them looked at him, keeping their eyes fixed on each other. Slowly, Buffy nodded, the only sign she'd heard Angel. She carefully turned away from Spike and headed down the steps to Angel's office, Dawn following. Spike watched her go, the rest of Angel's team heading into his office as well, before following them. Andrew hurried to his feet and rushed after Spike, casting a quick, curious glance at Angel as he passed by him. Angel scowled at him, wondering who the hell he was, and why he was here. Andrew turned away quickly and scurried into the office. Angel stepped into the office, but turned back to Harmony once inside.

"No interruptions," he told her, shutting the door while she nodded quickly.

Inside, the group gathered in the center of the room. Lorne led the Slayer and her sister to the couch and Andrew joined them. Angel leaned against his desk. Fred perched on the arm of the couch next to Buffy. The others remained standing. Spike hovered near the door, his eyes trained on Buffy. Wes broke the silence first.

"I'm afraid I don't recall ever meeting you. You are?" he asked Andrew, who was sitting next to Dawn.

"Oh, we've never met. I'm Andrew, once evil crime lord, now redeemed ally of the Slayer." Andrew answered, waving at the little group and fidgeting as they stared at him.

Dawn rolled her eyes, and Buffy smiled a little but kept her eyes on the floor. Dawn decided it was up to her to ask the questions before another uncomfortable silence overcame them.

"So explain. How come Spike's—go-through-able? He's back but not?" She gestured to the vamp in question who finally acknowledged her.

"Your guess is as good as mine, Niblet. One minute I was burning up in the Hellmouth, the next—I'm standing in this very office, surrounded by this lot. Didn't even know I was go-through-able 'til I ended up sticking half out of a desk," he answered.

Dawn nodded and chewed on her lip. Hearing his voice was something she never thought she'd get to do again, especially hearing him use the old nickname he'd had for her. Things between them hadn't been great ever since she'd found out what he'd tried to do to Buffy, but it was different in those last few days in Sunnydale. Buffy had explained how Spike knew how wrong what he'd done was, and that he was different with a soul. Dawn had to admit, it was a real shock to find out he'd gotten a soul on his own. She had also seen her sister's feelings for Spike, even if she didn't understand them. Buffy herself hadn't even understood them. He had changed, and he'd died saving the world, just when Buffy had figured out what those feelings were. Dawn realized afterwards that she missed Spike too. She'd gotten so used to having him around all the time, even if most of the time he was with Buffy, that it was strange when he was gone. It must have been much harder for Buffy.

Angel took over. He thought it was best to get it all out in the open now. What would happen after that was anyone's guess. He hadn't really expected Buffy to turn up here, despite his worries that she might. Wolfram and Hart was a place she was strongly against, so her visit had thrown him quite a bit, especially considering the circumstances for it.

"One day a package arrived here addressed to me. I opened it, and the amulet fell out, the one I gave to Buffy when I went to Sunnydale. The one Spike ended up wearing. Next thing I know, there's a smoldering dust cloud in front of me, and we're watching Spike getting put back together. He was disoriented, but as soon as he focused on me he attacked," Angel glared at Spike who gave him a withering glance back, "and ended up passing straight through me and into my desk. Fred did some tests, and all we know is that he's not corporeal, but he's not a ghost either since there's no ectoplasm, which is what should let us see him, and he radiates heat instead of absorbing it. In a nutshell, we don't know what he is."

They heard a snort of amusement, and all eyes turned to the Slayer, who was covering her mouth with her hand, her eyes shining a little as she looked around at everyone. She lowered her hand and bit her lip, trying not to smile.

"I'm sorry it's just—that's nothing new. Spike's never been normal, even by abnormal standards. Even as a ghost he has to be different. Radiating heat, huh?" She coughed a little to smother a giggle, trying to regain her composure. "You're so weird," she said to Spike.

Spike was gob-smacked. He just stared at her as if she'd gone completely bonkers. So did everyone else. She was laughing about this?

She lowered her head, covering her face and rubbing at her eyes. Dawn noticed a significant change in her sister and stood up.

"I think it's time we called this a day. We had a long flight and I think we could all use the rest."

"You can stay here if you like. We have apartments upstairs. I can have your things delivered within the hour." Angel said, standing up straight.

"I don't know. We have a hotel booked..." Dawn trailed off, frowning a little as she glanced to her sister for confirmation.

"It's okay. I'm tired, and we can rest here tonight. I don't know if I want to stay here for the duration of our trip, but I think it's okay for one night," Buffy said tiredly.

"Great. Fred, can you show them their rooms?"

"Absolutely, right this way." Fred got up and waited for the trio to follow her out.

Spike watched them leave. Buffy refused to look at him, keeping her head down. Dawn gave him a weak smile. Andrew was almost dancing in place as he paused next to Spike.

"Like Patrick Swayze, only without Whoopie Goldberg as an interpreter," he said, staring at Spike in that nerdy fanboy way.

Spike stared at him, turned and walked in the opposite direction straight through a wall. Andrew sighed and hurried off after Buffy, Dawn, and Fred. The others remained in the office, this time sitting down in the available couches and chairs, Angel sitting behind his desk.

"So now what?" Gunn asked.

No one had an answer.