This is kind of obscure. I read it so long ago I'm not even sure it was Spike and not Angel (although I honestly believe it was Spike).

All I remember is that Buffy had to go into hell to find and bring him back and it was a long quest and she found what I vaguely recall as a 'forest' of ice blocks, one of which contained Spike and she had to rescue him from it in order to bring him back.

I am probably muddling this all up. I am hoping the 'vamp in an ice block' aspect of the story will jog someone's memory for me.

Thanks to anyone who can shed light on this story for me.

There was some story where Spike was tranformed into a human by Wolfram and Hart. he was able to be with Buffy, but then Wolfram and Hart wanted to use Dawn as the Key for something. Spike was turned again into a vampire, and as a fledgeling tried to protect Buffy and Dawn. Power got away from Dawn as some kind of whirlwind that attacked the people around her from Wolfram and Hart. Spike drank Dawn's blood and threw himself in to close it, and ended up in some world of only ice. He stayed there for an incredible amount of time, long enough that he was no longer a fledgling when he got out. He was starving because nothing to eat existed in the world, and the snow and ice built up around him so he couldn't move or even think. Finally, the portal spits Spike back out but he's in terrible shape from the starvation and being frozen.

That's the only Spike in an ice block thing I can think of, and I can't think of anything where Buffy actually had to enter a hell to find Spike and get him out.

That doesn't sound like the one I'm looking for but I've not read the one you mention either. Sounds interesting.

The fic I recall was earlier in the series, there shouldn't have been any Wolfram and Hart or even Dawn if I recall correctly. I think it was more of a season three kind of fic, or season four maybe?

Damn. This is really bugging me. Thanks for the other story synopsis though. If you recall the name of the one you described I'd like to take a look at reading that one too.

The first one I don't know but the second I'm pretty sure is After Dust by Emg