Part one of the series
Summer in Sunnydale

*Mortal Wounds*

By: MsBigBad


Art by: MsBigBad



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Disclaimers: I don't own any of the characters used in this story. I'm just using them for entertainment cause I'm an obsessed freak! They belong to UPN,FOX, Mutant Enemy, and the wonderfully talented Joss Wheedon whom I love and adore! The song "The Promise of You" belongs to Edwin Mc Cain and is used w/o permission. Thanks to the chosen one.com for the pic!

Ships: Not really that shippy mostly goes along with the story line but I'll list the ships anyway just so everyone is clear. Spike/Buffy Willow/Tara and Xander/Anya. Everyone else is pretty much on their own.

Spoilers: Through "The Gift" the season five finale. Some references to things said in season six, but none are really spoilery.

Feedback: Please tell me what you think about both the story and the series.
You can reach me at msbigbad@msn.com or msbigbad17@yahoo.com -- or join my site at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/bigbadhavens

Note: This series is meant to explain everything that happened between the time everyone was crying for the Buffster and till she was brought back.

Summary: This story shows the reactions of everyone to Buffy's death. It also explains why they did some of the things that pop up later in season six.

Thanks: I want to thank my best friend Lauren for giving me the strength to finish this series. Also she gets credit for making me a dedicated watcher of the show!!! So lots of luvs to her! Mwahhh! I also want to thank the cast,crew,writers,producers, and everyone else affiliated with the show! Thanks for making it the best damn hour of television ever. Especially James Marsters, which anyone who knows me can tell you that I am beyond obsessed with! He's a great actor, writer, and person!! Last and most definatly not least I wanna thank you for reading! Especially if you read through all of this crap that I usually don't read!!Lot's of love to ya! Enjoy! Mwahhh!!!

Rated: PG-13 For some language and adult content.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There she lay beaten,broken,dead. Her friends gathered around her body where it lay upon the debris. All where devastated, all where dying inside. How could this have happened? What could they have done to prevent it? They came up with countless scenarios but none of them would be of use now. None of them could bring her back; their slayer, their friend, their sister, their love was dead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The promise of you
it sleeps in the air
the air that I breathe
and I know that it's true
don't have to convince myself
to believe

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The watcher took command. He ordered the lover wiccas to find the robot.

"...it may be our only hope. If the demon world finds out that the slayer is in fact dead, Sunnydale will be doomed. Creatures would come from all over the world if they knew the hellmouth was unguarded."

To the boy he said,

"They need medical attention. Take them to the hospital."

Indicating his girlfriend and the slayer's kid sister. From the vampire he asked for help moving her body.

"We'll take her to the shop."

They all went about with their duties hoping that this was a nightmare they would soon wake up from. All except for Spike who was having a hard time even standing. He had many broken bones and a broken heart as well. When he saw her body lying there without the faintest hint of life he'd felt as if he'd stepped into the sun. Even wanted to, he welcomed the fast approaching dawn. How could he go on without her? A voice rang through his head saying you can't, you can't. He looked down at her broken, frail little body then back at Giles. He had fallen to the ground and broken into tears at just the sight of her death. Giles was asking him to touch her, to hold her, to feel the coldness of death come over her body. He wondered if he could do it. The voice in his head shouted to him you can't, you can't, you know you can't. He walked over to the watcher slowly. He was all bloodied and bruised. He looked like a warrior but inside he felt quite different. He felt like a murderer and for the first time he was ashamed and saddened by it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What secrets sleep
in the heart of a man
so much love wasted
slip right through my hands

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Giles saw the uneasiness on the vampires face. Was he having as much trouble with this? The watcher had been very close to the girl. She'd been like a daughter to him. He had been trying to establish his place and bring order to all of the chaos. To mask his grief. He wondered if it had shone through. The memory of his girl, of his slayer was tearing him up inside. He knew this day would come. He knew she could not live forever, but he had foolishly hoped it.

Finally both men acknowledged each other's presence and took hold of the girl. Spike was at her head and Giles at her feet. They carefully made their way to the Magic Box.

What the hell was taking so long? Anakin had a broken arm, he'd already lost Qwi-Con. Was he gonna lose Obi too? God he was suck a geek! Why did he always have to compare real life to a movie or a comic book? He could grow up couldn't he? There was a part of him that worried he would never be able to, but the rest of him was trying so hard to achieve it. Dawn's blood transfusion was taking longer than he expected. He was just wigging out. He just needed to calm down. Wig out, a Buffyism. Buffy. His friend. His Qwi-con. There he went again. God he missed her. He felt so useless. He hadn't even tried to help her. Everyone else had been able to assist her in some way, but not him. He was too normal for that, too useless. Willow had weakened Glory, Giles had killed Ben. Tara helped strengthen Willow. Spike had even gotten up to the tower. Hell Spike's sexbot was more useful than him. She'd gotten her head knocked off. He didn't think he could top that. Everyone had a purpose except him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

See it in the eyes
the eyes of the lonely
as they make their weary way
shimmer in the eyes of the longing
and I hear it say

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The two witches searched through the mounds of debris looking for their last bit of hope. Tara studied her lover. She saw the tears that threatened to spill down her face.

She would not let Tara see her cry. She had to be strong. Buffy had said for her to be strong. She was trying so hard.

Why did she think she could hide who she was and what she felt? Couldn't she see that all she had to do was look into her eyes to know that? This was something Tara didn't like about Willow. She could still ask her though.

"Willow are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine...." She could take it no longer. Her strength was giving out.

"I'm not fine! I'm awful! God, Tara, how could this happen? I mean; I knew but, but it was Buffy. She was my best friend."

The tears that had been restrained before streamed down her cheeks as she was pulled into her lover's embrace.

"Shhh,it's okay. Everything’s gonna be alright" She reassured her, rocking her back and forth.

They finally reached the shop. The day had almost caught up with them. The sun's first beams shone through the windows as they sat in the chairs adjacent to the research table. There they had lain their fallen warrior. Both stared at her intently, remembering past times better, happier times.


"Who are you?"
"You'll find out on Saturday."
"What happens on Saturday?"
"I kill you."



"You're like a textbook with arms! I know this!"



"You're a pig Spike!"



"I have to go save the world, again."



"What you did for me, and for Dawn; that was real, I won't forget it."


"I love you Giles, you know that right?"


"Protect her for me."

"Till the end of the world..even if that happens to be tonight."

"Spike? Spike?"

He had been calling to him for several minutes; finally he decided to shake him.

"Hey! Hands off!"

"Yes, quite right. It's just; I need you to watch over her for me. I have to go to the hospital and check on the others. Can you do this for me, Spike? Can you protect her, for me?"

There where those words again. He was sure that those words would haunt him for the rest of his un-life. Nevertheless, he would do it. He knew he would do it. That he could. Anything so much as looked at 'er he'd rip their head off. He knew it. This made him wonder why he had failed to keep his promise before. Why couldn't he know like he did now? Why didn't he rip Doc's head off? Was he that selfish? Was he that uncaring?

"Spike?"

"Yeah watcher, I'll protect 'er Don't you worry. Go on and see about the bit."

Giles nodded and grabbed his coat. He headed out the door leaving the bell jangling behind him as he made his way toward Sunnydale Memorial.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The promise of you
it sleeps in the air
the air that I breathe
and I know that it's true
don't have to convince myself
to believe, to believe

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After she had cried awhile in her girlfriend's arms they had went about looking for the robot. First they had found the head and part of a leg. They thought the two where part of a whole. Then after a little more digging they found that falling debris had dismembered the various pieces of Spike's sexbot. This was gonna take awhile to fix.



Her blood transfusion was over. She just had to wait awhile and she would be released. She thought that having a procedure that serious would keep her in the hospital at least overnight. She guessed that Sunnydale had done enough to not even care about it anymore.

God, how messed up was her life?

Mom was dead.

She was a mystical and ancient key to a hell dimension.

Her sister, the only person she had left, was dead.

Even worse it was all her fault.

Xander and Anya had come in before, but she couldn't really look at either of them.

She was afraid that she would see it in their eyes.

The regret.

The blame.

That "Gee sorry kid. I really did like you, but I wish it where you instead.

You're not even real.

It should have been you.

You deserved it.

Why wasn't it you?"

She would have nothing to say but "I wish it was."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What secrets sleep
in the heart of the night
my dreams of salvation
slipping out of sight

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Suicide!"

"I'm just saying, she didn't look very happy!"

"Well if my sister had just died I wouldn't be very happy either, but I certainty
wouldn't be suicidal!"

"Well you're not her Xander!"


The older man came through the automatic doors of Sunnydale Memorial just as the two where in the peak of their bickering. Good lord! Hadn't he had enough for one night?

"Is everyone alright?"

They stopped long enough for Giles to find out that Anya had a broken arm, Dawn had a blood transfusion and would be released soon,(Didn't they usually require patients of those types of procedures to stay in the hospital for a bit longer than a couple of hours?) and that both Anya and Xander where reall horny. During that last bit he had whisked his glasses from atop his nose and cleaned them till they made that squeaky noise pretending to not be listening. Then Anya scared the hell out of him, not that she didn't scare most people 99% of the time.

"Figures, I risk my life for the man I love, one of my friends dies and her little sister is blaming herself for her death, on the edge of suicide!"

Giles almost broke his glasses on that last line. He quickly flung them on again.

"The edge of suicide!"

Xander was waving his hands frantically infront oh her.

"There you go again!"

He turned back to Giles.

"She's just down a little, and hey, if my big sis just kicked it I would be too!"

He then turned back to Anya.

"But she's not suicidal!" he stressed.


He was severely pissing her off. She felt compelled to take out some vengeance on him! She knew what she saw in Dawn's eyes. She'd seen it before. Selfloathing. Some of the girls she had brought vengeance to had that look. She had to convince them it wasn't their fault before they'd wish harm on their ex's. It took allot of convincing. God he was so annoying! Why couldn't he just agree with her on one simple thing? He was making her horny and he'd probably not wanna have sex for awhile. Part of the whole mourning human thing. Or maybe it was just a strictly
Alexander Levelle Harris thing. He he he. She liked his full name. Yay! Soon she would be
Mrs. Anyanka Emanuel Jenkins Harris. She liked the sound of that. But still there was plenty of sex in "Four Weddings and a Funeral"! She was still mad at him. The need for vengeance was still there.

"I've seen this Xander. She hates herself. She thinks it's her fault."

He was giving her his sexy frustrated look.

"And stop looking at me like that you're making me all horny! And we'll go home, and you won't wanna have sex cause you're nothing like Hugh Grant!" she added.

Where did that come from?

"Ahn, honey, you're really scaring me, and you know I look so much bett-"
He was interrupted by a nurse asking lots of personal info on Dawn for the release forms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the shimmering moments of the twilight
closing up the shine
whisper in the wind of a rescue
savior in time

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been about 5 minutes after Rupert left till he could actually look at her, and awhile after that til he could touch her again. He held her cold dead hand and stroked her shiny shampoo commercial hair that was matted with blood it certain spots.

"I'm sorry Buffy. I'm so sorry."

He leaned over her looking into her slightly open eyes that had lost their sparkle. Fire used to burn there, but no more. He kissed her forehead and brought her hand to his cheek.

"So sorry."

Tears flowed down his sunken cheeks again.

"If I... if. You'd be alive. Maybe if I hadn't fallen in love with you you'd be alive. You'd be out.. I don't know celebratin' with your mates.Somethin'. But you'd still have a heartbeat, and you'd still have you're fire. An' I'd be out plottin' ta kill you. Those where the good ol' days weren't they? When I wanted ta kill you. Yeah I shoulda killed you. I shoulda killed you!"

More tears. He sat there for a long time just looking at her, memorizing every inch of her by unbeating heart. Then the Whelp had to intrude on their last time together. Those few stolen moments.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The promise of you
it sleeps in the air
the air that I breathe
and I know that it's true
don't have to convince myself
to believe
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Spike?"

God what the hell had happened to him? He was bruised and swollen. There was blood all over him and it was mingling with tears from his intense blue eyes.

"Spike? Are you okay?"

He couldn't believe he was asking him this. He was probably crying tears of joy, this is what he had wanted since he first came to Sunnydale. Wasn't it? He had to wonder.


He couldn't do this, he couldn't cry infront of the whelp. He had to pull himself together. But he just couldn't.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"Seriously man, are you okay?"

"Buffy" He whispered as the sobs got louder and louder.

"Spike, C'mon man. Go home, I'll stay here with her."

"I can't leave her. I've got to protect her. I can't. I promised, not gonna break anymore
promises. I can't ."

"Sure you can, I've got her."

"I can't leave her I promised!"

"You gotta. Spike, c'mon. Go home bleach boy."

Xander tried to pull him out of the chair. He got thrown across the room by a hysterical Spike.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All this time
I've been fighting my own private war
all this time
you where the peace I was looking for

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The vampire screamed in pain as the chip fired adding to his anguish. He dropped to his knees then and looked toward heaven.

"You can't leave me you bloody bint! I need you! You can't leave, I need you."

He went over to her body and started shaking her violently.

"You hear me? Wake up! Wake up!"

With every word he shook her harder.

"I need you! You can't leave me! I need you! You hear me? I need you, I need you.."

He broke into tears again clutching her body and bringing it close to him. Slowly he rocked her back and forth.

"I love you. I love you. Don't leave me Slayer. Buffy, please, don't leave me. Please, don't leave, don't leave."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The promise of you
it sleeps in the air
the air that I breathe
and I know that it's true
don't have to convince myself
to believe

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xander, who had been lying across the room where he'd been flung, got up and decided another round of grizzlies with Spike was not a good idea. He was clearly hysterical and maybe not as happy as he had first thought. He left after making this analogy and headed back to his apartment where a horny girlfriend and a non- suicidal Dawn would be waiting for him. He did stop to call Giles first just to make sure he avoided making the same mistake he had made when approaching Spike. The man said that he wouldn't even try the bloody thing and that he should go home and shag his girlfriend. He must have been drunk. He thought he heard that band that Eric Clapton used to be in(Sugar? Grain? Filter? No that was that Picture band. Was it Cream? He knew it was something to do with Coffee.)playing in the background so he was obviously drunk. When he got home Dawn was asleep in his and Anya's bed. She was sitting on the sofa watching an info-mercial on how to get rid of rodents (particularly rabbits.) and eating a pint of Ben & Jerry's straight from the box. She looked up at him in surprise.

"I thought you where going to the Magic Box."

"I did."

She was so beautiful when she was concerned and especially when it wasn't for herself.

"Well I thought that meant alone time with Buffy. I thought you'd be gone all night."

"And what, leave you here all alone with Ben and Jerry!"

She slapped him. Hard.

"Ow!"

Losing points there.

"That's inappropriate Xander! She was you're best friend! You should be locked in a room crying! Or putting you're hand through another wall! But instead you're making dumb jokes!"

She notices a cut on his forehead.

"Oh my god! What happened to you're head?"

And gaining some points back.

"Spike happened. He's really messed up right now."

He thought about what he was saying.

"Well more than usual."

"Messed up?"

"Yeah. As in shouting at a dead body and throwing me across the room messed up."

"Oh."

She kissed his wound. Motherly love adding up and hitting the payload of points. Yuck. That's kinda gross. Should he want her to be like his Mom?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The promise of you
it sleeps in the air
the air that I breathe
and I know that it's true
don't have to convince myself
to believe

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spike new that he must leave her. Soon the watcher would be there. He could not be there. He could not show him how much her death had hurt him; he'd already shown the whelp too much. Still, it pained him to know that this was the last time he would see her. The last time he would touch her. The last time he would smell her. She smelled of vanilla and blood. Her blood. She was bathed in it and it was intoxicating. He wanted to remember that smell forever. He wanted to remember her forever. She would be a hard person to forget but he had all eternity. He had to make sure she'd live forever through him. He took a nearby ceremonial dagger and cut a lock of her hair. He looked at it for a moment before stuffing it in the inside pocket of his leather duster and putting the dagger back in it's place among the rest of the merchandise. The watcher saw every second of this. He peered through the window as the vampire planted a last good-bye kiss on her forehead and stroked her hair one last time before disappearing into the tunnels. If there was and doubt before, watching this had cleared it away. Spike had really loved Buffy. And would probably love her to his.. er "dying" day. This was a creature he would trust with his life and the lives of those he cared for.


THE END

Continued in Part 2 of the series Summer in Sunnydale "My Little Reminder"

Part two of the series
Summer in Sunnydale

**My Little Reminder**


By: MsBigBad
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Disclaimers: I don't own any of the characters used in this story. I'm just using them for entertainment cause I'm an obsessed freak! They belong to UPN,FOX, Mutant Ememy, and the wonderfully talented Joss Wheedon whom I love and adore! The song "Dosed" is by The Red Hot Chili Peppers and is used w/o permission. The poem is by Robert Frost entitled "Revelations".

Ships: Not really that shippy mostly goes along with the story line but I'll list the ships anyway just so everyone is clear. Spike/Buffy Willow/Tara and Xander/Anya. Everyone else is pretty much on their own.

Spoilers: Through "The Gift" the season five finale. Some references to things said in season six, but none are really spoilery.

Feedback: Please tell me what you think about both the story and the series.
You can reach me at msbigbad@msn.com or msbigbad17@yahoo.com -- or join my site at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/bigbadhavens

Note: This series is meant to explain everything that happened between the time everyone was crying for the Buffster and till she was brought back.

Summary: This story shows the way that Dawn feels about losing her sister. Plus Spike bondage. Well, not the erotic kind but hey!

Thanks: I want to thank my best friend Lauren for giving me the strength to finish this series. Also she gets credit for making me a dedicated watcher of the show!!! So lots of luvs to her! Mwahhh! I also want to thank the cast,crew,writers,producers, and everyone else affiliated with the show! Thanks for making it the best damn hour of television ever. Especially James Marsters, which anyone who knows me can tell you that I am beyond obsessed with! He's a great actor, writer, and person!! Last and most definatly not least I wanna thank you for reading! Especially if you read through all of this crap that I usually don't read!!Lot's of love to ya! Enjoy! Mwahhh!!!

Rated: PG-13 For some language and adult content.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We make ourselves a place apart
Behind light words that tease and flout,
But oh, the agitated heart
Till someone find us really out.

Tis pity if the case require
(or so we say) that in the end
We speak the literal to inspire
The understanding of a friend.

But so with all , from babes that play
At hide-and-seek to God afar,
So all who hide too well away
Must speak and tell us where they are.

-from “Revelations” by Robert Frost
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


It had been nearly 3 weeks since her sister had given her life for her and the world.

She had gone through many changes both environmental and emotional.

The first week she had stayed with Giles, but then Willow and Tara had moved into the Summers house to take care of her.

She instantly clenched her jaw at that thought. She could take care of herself; she wasn't a child.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I got dosed by you
Closer than most to you
What am I supposed to do
Take it away
I never had it anyway
Take it away
I never had it anyway
Take it away
And everything will be okay
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everyone was dealing with their grief in their own way. Anya was counting the money over and over which wasn't very indifferent but Ben and Jerry where now her best friends. Xander was not making big with the jokes as Buffy would of put it, which was very weird. Giles was even more fatherly and British than before, if that was possiable. Willow and Tara were always hugging and Tara had taken up cooking, not her best hobby, and Spike she hadn't even seen Spike since that night at the tower. Xander was talking about him to Anya the night it happened. He said he was messed up in the violent way. She got that. It was so horrible and it was her fault. It was her fault that everyone was so sad. It was her fault Buffy was dead. No wonder Spike hated her. She'd caused him so much pain; he probably never wanted to see her again.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In you a star is born
You cut a perfect form
Someone forever warm
Lay on
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Good Morning Sunnydale! It's 8:30 on this wonderful Tuesday morning!!!!"

Her hand went to the irritating alarm clock and she quickly shut up the all to cheerful announcer.

"Dawn! Dawn! Are you up yet?"

"Coming Tara!"

"Do you want regular or funny shapes?"

"Regular will be fine!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Way up on the mountain
Where she died
All I ever wanted
Was your life
Deep inside the canyon
I can't hide
All I ever wanted
Was your life
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


She didn't know why she bothered to answer that way they'd turn out funny shapes anyway. She quickly changed out of her PJ's, brushed her hair and applied a dash of make-up and headed down the stairs.

"Sorry"

"It's ok. It still tastes the same."

Like burnt rocks! she thought as she tried to consume the nearly inedible pancake.

"Better eat up, Jan will be here soon." She pushed the pancake around on her plate for a minute trying to force herself to be polite.

"Oh I, I think that's Jan now gotta go bye!"

"But, but you haven't ate your pancakes!"

"That's ok me and Jan `ll get somethin' promise!"

She met Jan outside of her house, they had decided to walk to the mall together since it was relatively warm outside. It was nice to go out with her friends, she hadn't been anywhere since she found out she was the key. As they made they're way down the street talking about how hot the guys where going to be in High School reality struck. The direction they where going they would pass by it, the tower, the symbol of the end of her okay life.

"Jan um Why Why don't we um go go to the …pool let's just skip the mall and and go to the pool ya know lots of hot guys in speedos, water, in the other direction."

"Dawn, we're already half way there, and we don't have our bathing suits!"

"Bathing suits!"


Hum, what was it that Giles and Spike always seemed to say when they where in a predicament like this, Bugger all?

"Well who needs bathing suits! I mean the senior guys I bet they'd like that us with the no bathing suit look with the no bathing suits all sexy and"

She was starting to make a complete fool of herself but the pressure was on just a few more steps and she'd be able to see the tower.

"I can't do this Jan. I'm sorry I, I gotta go!"

"Dawn what's wrong!"

"I just I can't"
She took off running as fast as her legs would take her leaving Jan screaming behind her. She didn't even realize where she was going she just followed her feet. They somehow lead her to the carousel in the park. She remembered telling Riley about it. He didn't understand only Buffy and her mom could understand. She sat on the bench just staring at it. The sun had started to set she should be getting home. It was no telling what trouble she'd be in with Willow and Tara.As she walked the streets she began to think which made her completely oblivious to the vamps stalking, her waiting for the right moment to jump out and inflict fear into her veins before draining them. One started in on her but he was quickly batted away by a strong hand.

"'ello boys lookin' for some action? Can I get in on all the fun?"

They started attacking him. He easily staked two but then four more come at him at the same time. Quickly she looked around for a weapon the only thing she could find was half of a two by four. By the time she got back over to Spike the dust had settled and Spike was lighting a cigarette.

"Thanks ducks, but I don't think they'll be comin' back."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"I, I better go. Willow and Tara are waiting for me."

"Yeah."

"Bye Spike."

"C-ya Lil bit."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Show love with no remorse
Climb onto your seahorse
This ride is right on course
This is the way I wanted it to be with you
This is the way that I knew it would be with you
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Protect her for me."

"Till the end of the world…"

What was he doing? She already almost got killed and she wasn't even halfway home yet. He quickly ran after her.

"Dawn! Oie! Wait! Dawn!"

She kept walking hoping he'd just go away, disappear like he had when she'd died. It didn't work; he just pursued her faster.

"Dawn! Nibblet! Wait!"

He was gaining on her.

"Stupid vampire speed," she thought "stupid vampire."

He was close enough to touch her now, and did. He grabbed her arm.

"Wait!" he said with force as he slung her around to face him.

His face before cold was now contorted into pain for her as he saw the tears stream down her cheeks.

"What's wrong luv?"

"Nothing. Just, go away. You're good at that."
She said the last bit under her breath but he could still hear. His face grew somber then he started to chuckle.

" What?" She asked him disgusted at the way he was behaving.

"Just make sure you put in that I'm an evil thing and we`d have our slayer back."

She frowned at this. This was not the way she wanted him to think of her. She never was her sister no matter how much she'd wished to be.

"Is that why you don't come around anymore? `Cause I remind you of her?"

He looked at her staring at him knowing , seeing right through him almost. He had to lie to her.

" No Nibblet. I do wanna see you it's just that……"

"Or is it because I'm not supposed to be here, because if I'd of just died then she'd be here."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Way upon the mountain
Where she died
All I ever wanted
was your life
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He grabbed her arm again pulling them face-to-face. This time there was no lying.

"Don't ever think that again! Ever. You hear me? I'm happy you didn't die. Are you forgetting who got thrown off a tower trying to save your life? I didn't fancy breaking all those bones! Especially not to play it off like I cared if I didn't."

He was dead serious and she knew it. He paused a minute and just stared at her studying her.

"Is that what's wrong with you? Me not being there? Or is it because she's not there either? Do ya just miss `er?"

She hung her head down as more tears flowed down her cheeks and dripped off her chin.

"Of course I miss her. She was my sister. She was the only person I had. Mom was gone. All I had was Buffy. Now I don't have her…I don't have anyone."

"Course ya do. Got me."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I got dosed by you
Closer than most to you
What am I supposed to do
Take it away
I never had it anyway
Take it away
And everything will be okay
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




He put his arms around her as she left liquidy traces of her pain on his t-shirt.

"I'm sorry Spike. It wasn't your fault. It was mine."

"Wrong again sweet bit. S' not your fault. So don't even start at think it in that pretty lil' head of yours. You didn't let her die Dawn, okay? You begged her not ta do it. You did more," he swallowed to lump in his throat.

"did more than any of us. She's dead, an' she's not comin' back, an' we just gotta be strong. She knew we'd protect you. And it's time I do my part, keep my promise."

Tears poured out of his eyes and onto her face.

"Oh God don't cry! Spike don't cry!"
"Not like I'm bloody well tryin' to."

"Okay now you're makin' me cry!"

They both looked at each other as they losely hugged in the alleyway. Then, as if finally realizing how poofy he was being he got up, looked around, and helped Dawn up. She looked at him and laughed as he scanned the area one more time.

"What, afraid I've ruined you're bad boy image!"

"Hey are evil nasties gonna be scared if they see me sittin' on the sidewalk cryin' like a bloody girl!"

The sun was starting to come up as they neared the Summer's house.

"How am I supposed to get in?" she asked him.

"The window, classic Summers style!"


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Way upon the mountain
where she died
All I ever wanted
Was your life
Deep inside the canyon
I can't hide
All I ever wanted was your life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE END


~Continued in part 3 of Summer in Sunnydale "Delusions"~

PART THREE OF THE SERIES
Summer in Sunnydale
By: MsBigBad


*Delusions*

Disclaimers: I don't own any of the characters used in this story. I'm just using them for entertainment cause I'm an obsessed freak! They belong to UPN, FOX, Mutant Enemy, and the wonderfully talented Joss Wheedon whom I love and adore! The reference to Dawson's Creek belongs to the WB. Billy Idol belongs to himself, although I wouldn't mind owning him! The song "I Wish You Would” is by Train and is used w/o permission. Thanks to Spikespotting.com for the picture!

Ships: Not really that shippy mostly goes along with the story line but I'll list the ships anyway just so everyone is clear. Spike/Buffy, Willow/Tara, and Xander/Anya. Everyone else is pretty much on their own.

Spoilers: Through "The Gift" the season five finale. Some references to things said in season six, but none are really spoilery.

Feedback: Please tell me what you think about both the story and the series.
You can reach me at msbigbad@msn.com or msbigbad17@yahoo.com -- or join my site at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/bigbadhavens

Note: This series is meant to explain everything that happened between the time everyone was crying for the Buffster and till she was brought back.

Summary: This story shows how desperately everyone misses Buffy. How some are trying to move on and how some might not be able to.

Thanks: I want to thank my best friend Lauren for giving me the strength to finish this series. Also she gets credit for making me a dedicated watcher of the show!!! So lots of luvs to her! Mwahhh! I also want to thank the cast, crew, writers, producers, and everyone else affiliated with the show! Thanks for making it the best damn hour of television ever. Especially James Marsters, which anyone who knows me can tell you that I am beyond obsessed with! He's a great actor, writer, and person!! Last and most defiantly not least I wanna thank you for reading! Especially if you read through all of this crap that I usually don't read!! Lot's of love to ya! Enjoy! Mwahhh!!!

*********************************************************************


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sleepless nights and
Endless days,
And all I do is
Promise to change my ways.
Leave the lights on.
You know I pretend
You're on your way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Dawn had just come from her nightly Spike visit, which of course made her depressed. All they ever talked about was her. It was a comfort though to have someone to talk to. Someone who wouldn't give her a lecture on how her sister wasn't coming back or have to tell her that he'd always be there. He didn't have to tell her, she knew. Tonight he'd been talking about her smile.

"I think that's what I miss most about 'er. 'Cause she didn't smile much anyway. Give that lil I'm better than you I'm so gonna kick you're bloody ass Spike smile but."

They both had laughed at that. It was good to be able to laugh about Buffy instead of crying. Of course they did that too. One of them would start and by the end of the night they'd both be in tears.

She finally reached her house on Revello Drive just as the first beams of sunshine came through the neighborhood. Something was off. The door wasn't locked. Willow always locked the door. She slowly turned the knob. The door creaked as it was carefully opened.

"Buffy!" Dawn gasped.

Her sister, her dead sister, her dead twice sister was sitting in front of her, twirling her fingers through her long blonde hair, happy to see her. This was beyond weird. Even for Buffy. The slayer jumped up enthusiastically and hugged her little sis who wasn't quite so little any more. It seemed Dawn towered above her, but then again so did most people.

"I'm back now" She said.

"How?"

"Willow. I thought that Glory had finally won. I thought I'd never see you again, but then she fixed me. Isn't she great!"

"I'm glad. I missed you." She said tears threatening to pour from her eyes.

"Does Xander know? Or, or Giles?" She went on.

"No, I don't think so." Buffy thought awhile.

"But, oh! Willow went to the magic shop. I'm sure she'll tell Giles about it."

Dawn went to the phone and dialed Xander's number. He and Anya where probably having sex cause it was taking them forever to answer the phone. Finally Anya picked up.

"What" She asked annoyed.

"Anya! It's Buffy! She's back!"

"What?"

"Who is it?" She heard Xander say.

"Dawn. She's delusional. You talk to her." She handed him the phone.

"Dawn?"

"She's back Xander! Buffy's alive!"

"Dawn she can't be alive. We buried her. She's. Well she's dead Dawn. She can't come back. We've been through this."

"This coming from the person who brought her back the first time!"

"Dawn..."

He went on with his babble about how she was dead for a lot longer than a couple of seconds and how if she ever needed anything he'd always be there for her. Which was sweet, but boring and frustrating after the millionth time you heard it. She handed her sister the phone.

"Say hi to Xander."

"Hi Xander!"

There was a thud on the other end of the line that even Dawn could hear. She grabbed the phone back from her sister.

"Xander!"

"Ow! Buffy!"

She heard another crash.

"What was that? Are you okay?"

"You mean that Buffy is right there? With you? Now?"

"Yeah in the flesh. The good kind that's not rotting off and decomposing."

"Stay there."

Then she heard nothing for awhile followed by et et et et et et et et et et et et et et et.

She put the phone back on the charger. Suddenly the front door swung open.

"That was fast" She thought.

"Dawn! Dawn!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back home, today.
To stay.
The way I wished you would.
And I swear to stay ,
The way you wished I would
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He was half dressed with his red silk PJ shirt still on. He was speeding down Main Street. Anya was rattling on about how this was probably a dream. That maybe Dawn was playing a trick on them to get attention.

All he could think was that Buffy really was alive. She had to be.

********************************************************************************************

"Dawn!"

"Willow!"

"Dawn, I have to tell you something."

"I know. It's great! How did you do it? Did you use some magical resurrection spell?"

"Resurrection? Oh, Dawnie, no." She said smoothing back a lock of the girls long brown hair.

"It's not, she's not. That's not Buffy."

What is it with you people? None of you believe me! She's alive! She's sitting in the living room Willow. Buffy. It's not my imagination. She's there!"

Willow was about to argue with her when Dawn grabbed her hand and dragged her into the living room where her sister was sitting quietly on the couch.

"Look it's her." She said pointing at Buffy.

"Dawn. I can't bring you're sister back. That's not her. I wish that I could, but ..."

"Willow, she is ba..."

"It's the Buffybot!"

Dawn's whole world came crashing down. It was that stupid robot. What the hell was Willow thinking?

"I'm you're sister Dawn." The bot exclaimed happily before embracing her.

She pushed it away.

"You're not her! You're not Buffy! You're not my sister! You're just a thing! A thing!"

The bot looked confused as Dawn ran up the steps toward her room with Willow on her heels trying to comfort her.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't know if
I'm gonna hafta
Redesign my mind.
But tonight I made a wish
And I sure hope that it comes true.
Cause it's been too long without you.
It's been too long!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spike felt awful.

Spike felt miserable.

Spike felt drunk.

Spike was all of thee above.

There was nothing on the telly 'cept reruns of Dawson's Creek. Pacey was a bloody idiot. He was sick of love stories anyway. Maybe he should start watching wresting. Something with a bit more violence. No. She wouldn't want the bit to watch that when she came over. Ehhhhhhh! Why did he even care? Since when did William the Bloody care about what everyone else thought. God when did he become such a poofter? And when did he ever entertain lil girls at his place when he wasn't planning on eating them? Since when did he care for anyone but himself?

"Why didn't I kill that bitch when I had the chance?"

He took another gulp of Vodka. Tears stained his face and his head was pounding.

"Bedtime."

He climbed out of his green easy chair and turned off the TV. He stumbled over to the sarcophagus, grabbed his blanket, started back over to his chair, and passed out just a couple of steps from it.

********************************************************************************************

The door to the Summers house swung open.

"Okay, I'm here!"

Silence.

"Dawn? Buffy? Guys?"

Nothing.

He searched the house from room to room, but there was no sign of either of them.

"Maybe they're off having sex somewhere. Let's do the same!" Anya said.

"Ahn!"

"Stop that! Why are you always so grouchy with me? Why are we even fooling with getting married if you're gonna be like that?"

"I don't know. Maybe we shouldn't."

"Xander!"

********************************************************************************************

The sun was shining down on the little blue house with the white picket fence. It was the beginning of spring. The flowers where just starting to bloom, and the grass was still wet with the morning dew. Dawn was playing with a little brown fluff of a puppy. Their son was asleep on a red and black plaid blanket. She was wrapped in his arms, tickling the back of his neck with her breath. Perfect happiness. This was it. He was glad he wasn't Angel. Well he'd always been glad he wasn't Angel. With all of the hair gel and celibacy! Woulda staked himself on the spot. But this was nice.

"I love you. You know that right?" He said taking her hand in his and kissing her fingertips one by one.

"Do you?" She asked. The slightest hint of anger in her voice.

"You couldn't save me.

You couldn't love me.

I still fell.

You couldn't catch me.

You didn't even try.

You don't love me."

Where had the sun gone? Dark clouds rolled in and the wind lashed the trees.
Dawn picked up a knife being bored with the puppy. The rain poured from the black clouds and their son had woken and was screaming. Buffy had pulled away from him and was standing in the rain. Her white summer dress clung to her small frame. Tears washed mascara down her cheeks. Her wet hair was sticking to her face. Dawn was speaking to him now.

"You don't deserve her.

She was mine!

Why did you take her from me?

Why didn't you just leave us alone?

We didn't need you.

You took her away!

I hate you!

I hate you!"

She took the knife in her hands and cut her stomach the same places where Doc had. The puppy went over to his son who was still crying.

He growled and he bit.

He ripped.

The sound was sickening.

There was silence.

The wind was still blowing and trees where falling, but all was silent. Then came a rumbling, and cracking, and light.

"You couldn't save me then.

You don't love me.

You can't save me now.

You'll never love me.

And I'll never love you."

And there she was.

Falling, twitching, and dying in the portal.

And Dawn was bleeding, and cutting, and dying.

And the puppy was eating, and mawwing.

And his son was dead.

And he was trapped.

Fixed in this one position of helplessness forever.

Then he woke up.

He couldn't have been out for too long. It was still daylight outside.
Maybe he'd slept through the night too. Then there came a knocking on his door. Then a thud.

"What the hell was that?" He said sitting up annoyed.

"Aye! Whatever you are! Go way! Tryin' ta get some sleep 'ere."

He heard it again.

"Bloody hell!"

He whipped the covers off and stormed to the door. He jerked it open and received a passionate kiss.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Even if I left it all behind
There'd be reason to come back.
Even though I left you far behind
Always thought that you'd
Come here to find me.
Come find me!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Faster, Willow!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!"

"Here this will help!"

Dawn slammed Willow's foot harder on the accelerator. The car heaved forward.

"You are never getting a driver's license!"

"Hey at least I've got my permit! Buffy didn't even get that far! They banned her from the DMV like the second time she came!"

"True."

********************************************************************************************

"Maybe they went to the Magic Box to tell Giles."

Xander thought aloud. He finally got in his car. Anya already being there giving up the search long ago when it was apparent that she would not be getting great sex with the deal.

********************************************************************************************

Talk about surprises! You don't get more surprised than when your ex-enemy/love of your unlife who hates you, who's died not once but twice, and who you have disturbing nightmares about, shows up at your crypt door, back from the dead, and plants a hot steamy kiss on you're trembling lips. Spike was pretty surprised.

"Buffy." He finally managed to utter.

"Spike!"

"Buffy!"

"Spike!"

"Buffy!"

"Spike!"

"Buffy!"

"Spike!"

Okay this had to be a dream. It was sounding too much like a movie montage. Any minute now she would start screaming at him and Dawn would be killing herself. Then Buffy would start falling and he wouldn't be able to catch her. It had to be a dream. People didn't just come back from the dead. Well, except for that one time. But this was different. Her breasts looked bigger too. It was a dream. On the other hand, if it was a dream then he could do anything he bloody well wanted. That included her. He grabbed her wrists and pinned her against the wall. He started kissing her neck. Then he moved lower to her bust line and licked his way up to her ear. He lightly nipped it.

"More." She demanded.

Defiantly a dream.

He was undressing her now.

"Tell me you love me." He pleaded.

"I love you." She moaned.

"Tell me you need me. Tell me you want to be with me."

"Oh, Spike! I want you! I need you! Now!"

"Yes."

He whispered as he buried his fingers inside her, making her writh in pleasure.

"I love you Buffy. I love you. God. I love you so damn much. Missed you."

Suddenly she stopped.

"Oh God!" He thought.

"This is where all the yelling starts. And the cutting, and the death."

"Spike?"

"Yeah baby."

"Why doesn't Dawn like me anymore?"

"Wait you saw the bit? Is she okay?"

"I don't know. She called me a thing and, and she said you're not my sister. Why would she say that to me? I am her sister. I know it."

"She's just. We've all had a hard time. An' we just have to get used to it."

"Oh. Okay then. Do you want me to set up a grief program?"

He chuckled.

"Yeah pet, you do that. The Buffy's back again control grou..."

Program.

A thing.

Not her sister.

"Oh God!"

He quickly pulled away from her as if she was covered with holy water. He threw her shirt at her.

"Put this back on." He said buckling his belt.

He took her hand and started dragging her to the door, his shirt in hand. He flung the door open letting in the blinding sunlight.

"Shit!"

He backed away, let go of her hand, and pulled his shirt on over his head.

This whole Buffy's alive but not really thing was seriously fucking up his senses, not to mention his hangover. He uncorked another bottle of vodka with his teeth, took a big swig of it, and took her hand again. They ascended to the lower level of his crypt. Then into the tunnels.

********************************************************************************************

Spike's crypt door swung open.

"Spike! Spike!" Dawn called.

No answer.

Willow ran downstairs then back up.

"He's not here."

"Maybe he's at Willie's." Dawn said.

"Or the magic shop." Willow added.

"Or back at the house." Dawn admitted.

"Okay. Let's go to Willie's then we'll split up. I'll go to the Magic Box and you go home. "

"Okay." Dawn agreed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Come home, today.
To stay.
The way I wished you would.
And I swear to stay,
The way you wished I would
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xander and Anya pulled up to the Magic Box hoping to see Willow, Dawn, and most of all Buffy. The bell jangled as they bounded through the door.

"What on earth!" Giles exclaimed.

"Is she here?" Xander said darting behind Giles on each side.

"Is who here? And what are you doing?"

"Buffy."

The man had no idea what he was talking about. But the mention of his slayers name kept his attention.

"Didn't Dawn call you and interrupt You're sex?" Anya blurted out.

"My what!"

He stood in front of her looking exasperated for a few seconds before she answered him.

"OH! Oh. Wait. I forgot. You're old. And British, and well. You probably can't even get it up anymore!"

"Get it up! Now see here! You.."

He was cut short by her patting him on the back reassuringly.

"Poor Giles! Poor, poor little Giles! Ya know they have Viagra for that now! Oh! And there's this spell I know that can help! I use it on Xander all the time!

"Ahn!!" Xander scolded coming from the training room where he had been trying to block out the really bad, wrong, mentally disturbing pictures in his head of Giles' manhood.

*******************************************************************************************

Willie was so not wanting to see the Slayer's witchy friend and kid sister when they came strolling into his bar with attitudes.

"Willie, where's Spike?" She asked.

"How should I know?" He said, starring down at the shot glass he was filling.

Dawn grabbed the back of his head, yanked it back with force and said.

"Where is he?"

"He was here a few hours ago. Bought some liquor and left like he does every night. That's all I know. Honest."

For once in his life Willie was actually telling the truth. He had no idea where Spike was. Frankly, he didn't care. That vamp was bad for business.

Dawn looked back at Willow.

"He's lying."

She started to pull back his head again when Willow put her hand over Dawn's.

"He's telling the truth."

She took a minute before she let go of him.

"So. What do we do now?" She asked.

"I'll drop you off at the house and then I'll go to the magic shop."

********************************************************************************************

Giles was still confused.

"What is all this about Buffy?" He asked.

Xander rolled his eyes at having to stop his search to explain.

"Dawn called us." He said.

"While we where having really good sex!" Anya chimed in.

"But the point is. She said that Buffy was back. Like alive, and I talked to her!"

“To Dawn?” Giles asked.

“No! No!…Well, yeah, but Buffy too!” Xander answered.

“Buffy too?” Giles repeated.

“You know for a book lovin’ man, you’re really slow! I knew that tv we found would rot your mind someday! Before we know it you’ll be researching ways to unscramble porn! Oh and if you do then ya know share the knowledge with the younger generation!” He winked at him. But Giles wasn’t even listening.

"Oh no!" Giles sighed finally understanding what he meant. Before he could fully gather himself he was promptly smacked!

"How can you say that? She's like the daughter you never had. It's not her fault that you could never get it up to have sex, or, or children of you're own! You should be happy that she's back!" Anya went on.

"No! No! No! No!" He said, shaking her off.

"Buffy isn't back."

"What?" Xander questioned.

"Willow. Willow fixed the robot."

"The robot." He said looking defeatedly down at the ground.

"Spike's sexbot. She fixed it?"

"Why? How could she? We all agreed that we wouldn't fix it."

The bell rang again and Willow came through the door in search of Spike and the bot.

"Are they here?" She asked.

Giles confused again with all the pronouns flying around asked.

"Who?"

"Spike and the Buffybot."

Xander was through listening.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Will? How could you do that to us? To Dawn?"

"Dawn knows now." The witch argued.

"But she still thought she had her sister back. I still thought I had my best friend back. Now I’ve lost both of them."

With that he ran to his car and sped away.

"Xander!" Anya yelled.

"He didn't even wait for me."

********************************************************************************************

"Where are we going?"

"You're place." He sighed.

"Nibblet's probably hysterical."

They walked on for another minute or two then he asked.

"WIllow fixed you didn't she?"

"Yes! Isn't she great! Oh! And she's a lesbian! And also my best friend."

"Yeah bloody brilliant that one. Bloody an' dead if I get hold of 'er! Stupid bint!"

********************************************************************************************

They weren't there. She'd searched the whole house and nothing. Not even a sign of them. She hoped Willow had more luck at the shop. She made her way into the kitchen. She really needed food now. For some reason she felt it would comfort her. She looked over at the microwave clock. It was nearly five. Tara would be getting back from her classes soon. That was a comfort. Maybe if she just forgot that today she came home to find her newly not dead sister who was actually a robot who was built to as Tara put it play "checkers" with a certain bleach blond bloodsucker whom she'd been searching for and worried about all day, and the fact that she hadn't had a bathroom break then today could be very comfortable.

********************************************************************************************

He had no idea where the hell he was going. All he knew was that he needed to get away. The scenery looked familiar. The gates of the cemetery passed by his window.

********************************************************************************************


"Oh, this is not my day!" Willow sighed.

The magic shop was out of some of the things she needed to do a locator spell. She'd have to go home and get them. To add to that, Xander had completely went off on her, and Spike and the Buffybot where still missing. Knowing Spike he was probably...well. "Using" the robot at the moment, or having one of his own.

Eww. Mental pictures.

Either way, she needed to find them. Maybe Dawn had found them already.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't know if I can wait this long
To be what I used to be.
I don't know if I can wait much longer
For the tide to come back to me.
Come back to me
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Spike?"

He looked at her tiredly.

"Yeah?"

She blushed under his gaze. He immediately turned away. Those eyes. They looked so much like...No. It wasn't her. She was smiling too much. She was too cheerful.

"You know I love you, right?"

The words from his dream echoed in his ears.

He slammed her up against the wall of the sewer. She looked pleased. That made him madder.

"Don't you EVER! EVER! Say that to me again."

He looked at her with disgust, then let go of her. He shook his head. Then he punched to wall. Ground his fingers in. Blood ran cold down his knuckles.

They walked on till they finally came to Revello.

********************************************************************************************
"Hey Buff."

He knelt beside her headstone.

"How’s life up there? Or is it death? You know what I mean. Is it boring not getting to kick butt? Or do you get ta kick it for eternity?"

********************************************************************************************


When Tara opened the door she could smell the distinct odor of burning food. She quickly went over to the stove. Nothing. It wasn't even warm. She followed the smell up the steps and into Dawn's room. At first she panicked thinking that the house may have caught fire. Instead Dawn was poking and prodding a pink claw into a smoking easy bake oven.

"Dawn! What are you doing?"

"Making chocolate fudge nut brownies." she coughed as the smoke clouded her face.

"I think you might wanna try something else, sweetie. Maybe pudding or something that doesn't involve heat. I could make you some if you want."

Dawn was about to decline on that offer when she heard the door open downstairs.

"Nibblet!"

"Spike?"

She raced downstairs to find him and the bot in the kitchen.

"Dawn! Are you okay?" He asked worriedly.

"I'm fine. I thought you'd be the one upset! We've been looking all over for you!"

"Me? Why where you looking for me?"

"Well, I knew the first place she'd go would be your crypt. And I didn't want you to think that Buffy was really back."

"Oh, I knew it wasn't her." He lied.

"What? How?"

"She uh, she came on to me. Knew the Slayer would never of done that."

Dawn erupted into insane giggles.

"What! You could disagree with me a little. Make me feel just a bit sexy." He pouted.

"Oh yeah Spike, you're soooo sexy! With you're bad eating habits, bleached Billy Idol hair, and love of melodramatic tv, how could I resist!"

He was getting a little bit uncomfortable. And Billy Idol stole his hairstyle! He gave her the death look. She saw it and just went on.

"Oh, Spike! I want you so bad! Make love to me now!"

She started to grab at his shirt. He backed away.

"Hey now. Don't go for the kiddies section!"

She punched him in the arm playfully.

"You know I didn't mean that!"

"Aww. So I'm not sexy then?" He laughed.

"I think you're sexy! I love it when you shove me up against the wall and do nasty things to me. I love it when you take off you're shirt. You've got washboard abs! I love you Spike!" The bot assured him.

The pain, hurt, and anger came over him again. He wanted nothing more than to rip that bloody robot's head off 'er shoulders. But he doubted that would be a good effect on the bit, so he resisted.

Dawn saw the hurt on Spike's face. Having something that looked so much like Buffy yet acted so different, acted the way he had wanted Buffy to act toward him. It must hurt an awful lot. Sometimes she wished that she would have jumped off the tower instead of Buffy. Maybe then everyone would be happy.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back home, today.
To stay.
The way I wished you would.
And I swear to stay,
The way you wished I would
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Willow grabbed her purse out of the car and tossed her keys in. She came in the front door and was greeted by Tara. She appeared to be carrying a pink claw with what looked to be a burnt brownie at the end of it. She followed her girlfriend into the kitchen.

"How was you're day?" Tara asked her.

"Oh don't even start! It was..."

"What the hell did you think you where doing!" Spike demanded.

The witch stared back at him, a little surprised.

"I, I..." She started.

"You what? You just decided you'd screw around with everyone? Muck up all our lives! Make us think that she was back! We said we weren't gonna fix the bloody robot!" He screamed.

"Giles thought we needed help with patrol! And what's with everyone asking me what the hell I was thinking! Pick some new way to tell me I really messed up! I'm sorry I didn't tell everyone, but I really didn't think that she was even gonna work! Plus! If vamps don't see Buffy they're gonna think she's dead!" Willow shot back.

"The fucking Slayer is dead! And as for patrol! I'm all the help we damn well need! I'll handle it!" He was pissed.

Tara had had enough. There was reason for Spike to be upset, but he needed to calm down. Willow didn't mean to hurt anyone.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Spike just calm down! Willow didn't mean for any of this to happen." She defended.

He looked almost sorry. Maybe it was because of the way Tara had said it. Maybe it was the fact that she had actually said anything to him. Whichever, he felt bad for sayin it like that. Especially in front of the nibblet. It still hurt though. No one had any idea how much it hurt. To see her. To touch her. To hear her voice again.

"Yeah, well, people don't mean for anything to happen. But it does."

He could hear her inside his head. Filling his mind with painful memories.

"Protect her, for me."


"You couldn't save me.

You couldn't love me.

I still fell.

You couldn't catch me.

You didn't even try.

You don't love me."



"I've gotta go." He headed toward the door.

"Spike!" Dawn called after him.

He shrugged her off and continued to the door.


"You couldn't save me. "

"You don't love me."

He noticed someone following him. He looked back into those emerald eyes. It was the bot.

"Stay." He commanded, and she did.

********************************************************************************************

Tears where flowing freely down his face now.

"Dawn's okay. She misses you. We all miss you. Even Anya. She tries to hide it, but I know she does. Oh! I uh, I wanted to tell you somethin'. I wanted you to be the first to know. Me and Anya are getting married. Or at least I hope we're still getting married. I wish you could be there. Is heaven cool? Is you're mom there with you? Hi Joyce!"

He thinks a minute.

"Can you like, I don't know, see us in the shower? Cause if you can, hey I wanna be dead!"


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Come home, today.
To stay.
The way I wished you would.
And I swear to stay ,
The way you wished I would
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





**--The End--**





Continued in part four of Summer In Sunnydale "Control Freak"

PART FOUR OF THE SERIES
Summer in Sunnydale

By: MsBigBad

*Control Freak*

Disclaimers: I don't own any of the characters used in this story. I'm just using them for entertainment cause I'm an obsessed freak! They belong to UPN, FOX, Mutant Enemy, and the wonderfully talented Joss Wheedon whom I love and adore! “Iris” is by the Goo Goo Dolls and is used w/o permission. City of Angels doesn’t belong to me neither does Nick Cage or that lovely shower scene! (Darn!) X- Men, The Breakfast Club, Molly Ringwalt, Hugh Jackman, and Judd Nelson don’t belong to me either! I use these w/o permission please don’t sue me!!!

Ships: Not really that shippy mostly goes along with the story line but I'll list the ships anyway just so everyone is clear. Spike/Buffy, Willow/Tara, and Xander/Anya. Everyone else is pretty much on their own.

Spoilers: Through "The Gift" the season five finale. Some references to things said in season six, but none are really spoilery.

Feedback: Please tell me what you think about both the story and the series.
You can reach me at msbigbad@msn.com or msbigbad17@yahoo.com -- or join my site at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/bigbadhavens .

Note: This series is meant to explain everything that happened between the time everyone was crying for the Buffster and till she was brought back.

Summary: This story shows how desperately everyone misses Buffy. How some are trying to move on and how some might not be able to.

Thanks: I want to thank my best friend Lauren for giving me the strength to finish this series. Also she gets credit for making me a dedicated watcher of the show!!! So lots of luvs to her! Mwahhh! I also want to thank the cast, crew, writers, producers, and everyone else affiliated with the show! Thanks for making it the best damn hour of television ever. Especially James Marsters, which anyone who knows me can tell you that I am beyond obsessed with! He's a great actor, writer, and person!! Last and most defiantly not least I wanna thank you for reading! Especially if you read through all of this crap that I usually don't read!! Lot's of love to ya! Enjoy! Mwahhh!!!

*********************************************************************
Buffy walked through the graveyard. The vamps were particularly nasty tonight. Just the way she liked it!

“Ah, ah, ah, Mr. Pointy Fangs!” She said pushing the vampire to the ground.

He quickly bounded back to his feet and was on her again.

“That the best you can do?” he asked sounding a bit insulted.

She punched him in the nose then landed a blow to his lower back that sent him to his knees. It was time to go in for the kill. She launched on him, stake in hand. She compiled her whole self into this one moment.

Their mouths crushed together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“ You never lose by loving.
You always lose by holding back.”
-- Barbara De Angelis
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He was stunned.

“What the hell are you doing?” He yelled, still shaking from the rather erotic event.

“Killing you.” She teased.

“Well get off!”

She smiled devishly at him, clearly not getting his meaning. He was sick of this. He threw her off him. She landed with a thud into a headstone.

“Willow! Get over here!” He called.

The witch quickly ran to him, eager to see what had happened. He looked like he had saw a ghost. Maybe he had! Yay! Something ne-…well old but at least it wasn’t a vampire that was a plus! The vamps seemed to be the only evil left in Sunnydale recently.

“I thought she was supposed to be staking me!” He wiped his mouth with his coat sleeve.

“Not bloody molesting me!” He said with disgust.

Willow frowned. “I’m sorry, Spike, but I can’t seem to override the initial programming!”

“Well you better FIND a way!” He spat.

“If she starts tryin’ to kill people with her lips she’s gonna get ‘em bit off!”

“You know she only does that with you.” She tried to reason with him.

“Yeah, well…” He shook his head. He couldn’t stand much more of this.

“See ya later” He said before retreating to his crypt and leaving her with Barbie Buffy.

“Willow?” The bot asked.

“Huh?”

“What’s wrong with Spike? He’s acting all …wrong. He doesn’t even want to ravish my sexy body anymore!”

“Nothing…well except for some things.” She contradicted herself before continuing.

“He’s sad because you…I mean Buffy, cause she’s gone.”

The robot smiled she knew just what to do.

“Well, I could go find her and bring her back here. Then he won’t be sad anymore!”

“No you won’t find her. She’s dead. You can’t bring her back, none of us can.” Willow explained.

“But, but it was sweet of you to offer.” She finished.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And I’d give up forever to touch you,
Cause I know that you feel me somehow.
You’re the closest to heaven I’ll ever be,
And I don’t wanna go home right now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as he was inside he sank to the floor and just started rhythmically beating the back of his head against the door.

“Bollicks!”

“What you did for me, and for Dawn, that was real.”

He got up, walked to the fridge, cursed it’s contents, and headed to Willie’s to pick-up some more vodka and cheap whiskey.

***************************

Willow was still outside with the Buffybot when Dawn came looking for Spike.

“Hey Willow!” She greeted her.

“Dawn! What are you doing here?”

“I was gonna go see Spike. Why?” Dawn asked suspiciously.

“I really don’t think now would be such a good time.” Willow said nervously.

“What did you do to him?” She asked.

“Nothing. No. I didn’t! It’s just that he’s busy right now and I don’t think you should see him because you know busy equals grouchy and..”

“Willow, Spike is never busy. He has no life, literally. Besides even if he was he wouldn’t mind if I came over.” She said pushing past the red head.

“Ahh!”

“Hi Dawn!” The bot said getting right up in her face and scaring the shit out of her.

“Okay. What did she do to him?” She asked Willow calmly.

“Oh! Are you talking about Spike! Yay!”

“How did we not know this wasn’t Buffy?” Dawn remarked.

“She’s constantly talking about him!” She went on.

“Yeah I know. It’s one of the many bugs I have to take care of. She kissed him today during training.”

“She what!?!” Dawn exclaimed.

“He’s a really good kisser!” The bot rambled on.

Meanwhile Dawn rushed to Spike’s crypt. When she got inside he was nowhere to be found. She decided that staying there would work a lot better than chasing him halfway around town. He’d have to come back sometime.

When he did he had a whole bag full of cigarettes and alcohol. He could smell her as he ascended to the upper level of his crypt.

“Spike!” She exclaimed happily.

“Whata ya doin’ ‘ere?” He asked setting the bag down on the sarcoughagus.

“Movie night remember?”

“Well…no but..”

“You said we should go see a movie sometime I said I wouldn’t be caught dead with you in a theatre, remember.”

“Yeah, that kind of lead me to believe that there would be no movie watching.” He answered.

“Not in public I meant. So… Tada! Movie night!” She said reaching into her overnight bag and pulling out three movies.

“Right.” He said digging into his own bag and opening a carton of cigarettes. He took out a pack and beat them against the palm of his hand.

Dawn was grabbing some blankets out from her bag, which seemed to a bottomless pit of supplies as she also brought out a bag of buttered popcorn.

He took his silver lighter from his coat pocket and lit the fag hanging from his mouth. He clicked it closed again and exhaled. “So, what’s playin’ tonight?”

“Well I thought we could start out with an action movie, move on to a classic, then finish with a love story.”

Dawn picked out the first movie and popped it into the VCR.

She went back over to Spike’s comfy chair and wrapped herself in the blankets. Then when Spike had finally settled into his part of the small chair she pulled something else out of her bag.

“Wheat-a-bits!” Spike said his eyes wide with wonder.” I’d thought they’d quit making them!”

“You’ve just been, what is it you say, nicking them from the wrong store.” She smiled at him as the previews began to appear.”

**********************************

“Let’s check you out.” Willow said lifting the fleshy slab to plug her USB cable into the bot.

“You think Spike would ‘ve at least programmed a pun or two in here. I guess making you capable of drawing nasty porno sketches was more important to him at the time though.”

“They’re very good sketches!” Buffybot said very excited about showing them to the witch.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna see?”

“No, that’s fine. Let’s just see if we can get you to forget about Spike though.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And all I can taste is this moment,
And all I can breathe is your life.
When sooner or later it’s over,
I just don’t wanna miss you tonight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yay! Spike had actually sat through the first two movies with her! Nobody ever watched movies with her! She’d seen these two a million times. First they had watched X-Men. Other than the comment on how Ian Mc Kellen was really a Kiwi demon (or something like that, some kind of fruit.) he liked it. He really liked Hugh Jackman, but then again so did she. God, hot, muscles, back…okay anyways no more really good thoughts of Hugh!
He really lied about liking the second one. And as she sat there singing along to “Don’t you forget about me” and watched Judd Nelson hold Molly Ringwalt’s earring and then wear it, he jumped up and hit eject.

“So what’s next?” He asked.

“Just the love story.” She replied.

“What? Thought that was what we just watched!” He said exasperated.

“Nope. The Breakfast Club is defiantly a classic.”

“Well what’s this one about then?”

She took City of Angels from its case and put it into the now warm VCR.

“An angel that falls in love with Meg Ryan.”

“Uh-huh… and it’s called?”

“City of Angels”

“Right, perfect.”

“Well we don’t have to..” She began.

“No. S’okay. Watch what you want, pet. It’s just.. Don’t like that name much.”

“Oh.”

**************************

“Forget Spike! I can’t forget Spike!”

“Sure you can, if I can just find the…”

“But I love him!” The bot pleaded.

“I’m sure you feel that way now, but as soon..”

“I can’t let you do that!” The Buffybot held Willow up by the neck .

“I’m sorry Willow!” She grabbed a nearby vase and clashed it over her head, then bounded out the front door.

****************************

She was getting tired. She’d seen this movie way too many times. She almost had to force herself to cry when Meg Ryan got hit by the truck.

Apart from the time that Dawn insisted they pause on a certain Nicholas Cage shower scene and then finally realizing why they’d paused, covering his eyes and looking away, he’d liked the movie pretty well.

“When they ask me what I liked best… I’ll tell them it was you.”

“What! No! She can’t die! That, that just bollickes up the whole damn movie!”

Maybe too well.

****************************************

“Oh my God! Will!” Xander gasped as he stumbled upon her.

He kneeled on the ground and took her in his arms trying his best to wake her up.

Her eyes fluttered open. “Xander?”

“Will, what happened? Are you okay?”

“I was, I was trying to reprogram the Buffybot. She kissed Spike. And well, she didn’t want me to I guess, so she just… hit me. But I‘m okay though. We need to find her.” She replied. He was looking at her funny.

“Hey! I know that look! That’s the concern face! Aww! Xander! Does this mean you’re not mad anymore!”

He smiled at her reassuringly. “How could I ever stay mad at you?”

“Best friend privilege.” She smiled at him.

“Three guesses where she went.”

*************************************

“If you’d known this was going to happen, would you have done it?”

“Protect her for me.”

“Yes” He whispered.

Dawn had fallen asleep a few minutes ago. Nicholas Cage was breaking down onscreen and he was trying not to.

“I would of rather had one breath of her hair. One kiss of her mouth. One touch of her hand… then an eternity without it… one.”

He was inches from the screen. God he hated movies like this. Okay so normally if he’d even have watched such a poofy movie, he’d of laughed at the poor sod’s misery. But now it was too close. It affected him too much.

Wait. Did this mean he was an angel? God when did he become such a wanker?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And I don’t want the world to see me,
Cause I don’t think that they’d understand.
When everything’s made to be broken,
I just want you to know who I am.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The door to his crypt swung open and the Buffybot came running up to him. She embraced him in a rib-cracking hug.

“I couldn’t do it! I couldn’t! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!”

He forced her away. Dawn sat up in her chair.

“Calm down.” He said with force.

“Now what did you do?”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to! But she was gonna make me forget you!” She cried.

“Who?” He demanded.

“Willow, she’s a lesbian, and my best friend! I can’t believe I did that to her!” The bot continued.

Dawn spoke up worried about her friend. “What did you do to Willow?”

“She was gonna make me forget Spike! I didn’t mean to, but I kinda knocked her out with Joyce, our mother’s, pottery.”
“Dawn looked relieved that Willow was still alive and almost well. Spike on the other hand was furious. He clenched and unclenched his jaw and then said.

“What the hell is wrong with you? Are you completely off your bird? You could have killed her!”

“I couldn’t let her make me forget you!” She was crying and grabbing at his t-shirt.

He kept throwing her off him, each time more violent than before.

“I love you! I love you Spike! I love you! Please, I don’t wanna forget you! Don’t make me forget you! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt her!”

He pushed her away again with so much force that she stumbled back and hit the wall. He looked as though he were hyperventilating though he didn’t need to breathe.

“C’mon Dawn. She’s dangerous. We need to take her back to Willow. That is if nuts and bolts here hasn’t given her brain damage! She can deactivate ‘er. S’for the best.” He said looking forcefully at her.

“No! You can’t She’s kinda like Buffy! We can’t just kill her!” Dawn argued.

“This,” He grabbed the bot’s arm.

“Is not Buffy! This is not your sister!”

“This,” He said with disgust.

“Is not the Slayer! This is a mistake that should have never been made!” He screamed.

“She’s not real, Dawn!…Now get your jacket and lets go.”

“No!” She yelled.

“No?” He said surprised by her actions.

“No. She’s real to me! She was afraid!”

“She’s dangerous!” He argued.

“Yeah, and you’re captain safety!” She mocked.

“You know I would never…”

“Not now, but a couple of years ago you woul…”

“That’s different!”

“Why? Why is it different?…Because Buffy was still alive? Because she was still treating you like crap?”

“Shut-up!” He warned.

“I’m not afraid of you! If she,” She pointed at the bot who was now huddled in the corner where she’d fell crying for Spike and asking forgiveness. “was a mistake, then she must have been a damn good one! Because besides me she’s the only thing to ever care about you! She was afraid of losing you! Tell me was Buffy ever that concerned for your welfare? Did she ever care for you like this mistake does?”

He was silent for a while. The whole of the world seemed to be silent. Even the bot stopped crying. She settled instead for lying flat on the floor and staring at the ceiling.

“No” He shook his head.

“No she didn’t. She didn’t have to. I was content with knowing that she trusted me with the most precious thing in her whole world. That’s all I need.” He finished.

“Yeah, I see. You’re perfectly happy smashing your fists into walls, having nightmares, and crying all the time!” She shot back.

“I don’t cry all the time! Damn-it!”

“Whatever. She’s the closest thing I have to my sister and you’re not taking her away cause it hurts YOU too much! You’re not the only one that hurts Spike! I miss her too! Everybody misses her! And if this,” She pointed a t the bot once more. “Is as close to having her back as I’m gonna get! Then I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let anyone take her away from me! I need her!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And you can’t fight the tears that ain’t comin’,
Or the moment of truth in your eyes.
When everything feels like the movies,
And you bleed just to know you’re alive.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The door opened again. Xander and Giles stepped in. Giles seemed extremely out of breath.

“Thank…God… we got here… in time!”

Xander approached the Buffybot, who was crying for Spike once more.

“Bad Buffybot! Bad girl! You shouldn’t have hit Willow like that! Bad! Bad!”

“That’s quite enough Xander!” Giles chided.

The bot continued calling for Spike.

“I love you! Can’t you see! She didn’t love you! But I, I can love you forever! She didn’t love you! I love you! You can’t bring her back! None of us can!”

Spike turned to Dawn as silent tears flowed one by one from his crystal blue eyes.

“Do whatever you want. But keep that thing away from me! That includes training, everything. I never want to see a one of you ever again!” He shouted.

He shook his head. “I’m done. Said it yourself, no one cares about me. You couldn’t. The way you just went on, you couldn’t. Felt more love from your sister than from you now.”

“Spike, I” Dawn started.

“Get out” He whimpered.

“But…”

“GET OUT!” He screamed turning his chair over and spewing dawn’s things all over his crypt.”

Giles and Xander carried the still protesting bot out. Dawn quickly picked up her things and slowly closed his crypt door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And I don’t want the world to see me,
Cause I don’t think that they’d understand.
When everything’s made to be broken.
I just want you to know who I am.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You can’t bring her back! None of us can!”

The end

Continued in part 5 of Summer In Sunnydale “Oblivion”.

Part five of the series
Summer in Sunnydale


**Oblivion**

Disclaimers: I don't own any of the characters used in this story. I'm just using them for entertainment cause I'm an obsessed freak! They belong to UPN, FOX, Mutant Enemy, and the wonderfully talented Joss Wheedon whom I love and adore! The song "Oblivion" is by R.E.M. and is being used w/o permission for the chapter title as well as the filler lyrics throughout the chapter. Pier One does not belong to me either. Nor Does Bobby Night!


Ships: Not really that shippy mostly goes along with the story line but I'll list the ships anyway just so everyone is clear. Spike/Buffy, Willow/Tara, and Xander/Anya. Everyone else is pretty much on their own.

Spoilers: Through "The Gift" the season five finale. Some references to things said in season six, but none are really spoilery.

Feedback: Please tell me what you think about both the story and the series.
You can reach me at msbigbad@msn.com or msbigbad17@yahoo.com -- or join my site at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/bigbadhavens

Note: This series is meant to explain everything that happened between the time everyone was crying for the Buffster and till she was brought back.

Summary: Wackiness ensues as Spike and Dawn go shopping for new furniture! Also the resurrection plans begin when Willow and the rest of the scoobs start having secret meetings.

Thanks: I want to thank my best friend Lauren for giving me the strength to finish this series. Also she gets credit for making me a dedicated watcher of the show!!! So lots of luvs to her! Mwahhh! I also want to thank the cast, crew, writers, producers, and everyone else affiliated with the show! Thanks for making it the best damn hour of television ever. Especially James Marsters, which anyone who knows me can tell you that I am beyond obsessed with! He's a great actor, writer, and person!! To B/S Diaries for archiving my fics! I am soo grateful for all you’ve done! To FanFiction.net for also archiving my stuff! You guys are awesome! To all those who reviewed the story, weather the review was good or bad! I appreciate you! Send me more as I go! You keep my drive to write going! Last and most defiantly not least I wanna thank you for reading! Especially if you read through all of this crap that I usually don't read!! Lot's of love to ya! Enjoy! Mwahhh!!!

*********************************************************************
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Immortal hatred.
Longing for what I’ve won for you.
A shattered dream of greed.
Confess a faded bloom.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She quietly closed the door behind her. Then she tiptoed down the stairs and into the living room. The rest of the gang, minus Giles (Who was gone to England), were waiting to hear her good news.

"C’mon, Will! What is it?" Xander coaxed.

"Shh!" She whispered putting her fingers to her lips.

"Dawn just went to sleep."

She moved a magazine aside and sat next to Tara, then continued.

"Now don’t get over-excited or anything, but I think, well,"

She lowered her voice even more.

"I think we found a way to bring Buffy back."

**********************************************************************************

The wind was cold on her bare skin. Her cami top defiantly didn’t provide much warmth. Her feet were wet from the dew of the lawn. It was so unusually cold for summer. The wind had tossed her hair all over and the bottoms of her p.j.’s were soaked and grass stained. She didn’t care though. She just needed to get away. She hadn’t talked to Spike all week. It was like he’d completely forgotten her. He didn’t come to the house, or walk her to the mall. He didn’t even follow her home anymore to make sure she arrived there safe. He stopped caring. Fine let him be pissed. It wasn’t her fault. She wasn’t the one that’d ordered a robo-Buffy in the first place! That was his idea. He was such a dumbass. She settled herself in front of the grave marked Joyce Summers. The grass was now luscious and thick. She pulled the dead roses from the antique vase and replaced them with some daisies she’d found in the yard. She remembered how her and Buffy would pick them for her mother when they were little. Her mom would put them in her hair and they would laugh. Except they didn’t. None of her memories were real. She wasn’t even real.

"She’d of been real proud of you, ya know." He said grasping her shoulder.

She took his free hand and pulled herself up off the dirty ground. Then she led him to another part of the graveyard. "C’mon. Let’s go see Buffy."

**********************************************************************************
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Reminded day by day.
The scars just cannot heal.
Still unforgiving guilt.
Am I a child within your hands?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Bring her back? As in alive?" Xander said with much joy.

"Yeah." Willow smiled at him.

"Okay Willow is now the leader. She needs a badge or maybe even a trophy!" He continued.

"Xander calm down! And besides Tara was the one who found it!"

Tara blushed under her lover’s gaze.

Anya went to Tara and shook her hand furiously.

"Thank you Tara! Now that he’s not gonna be all mopey cause Buffy’s dead and rotting in her grave we may fornicate again! Which means have sex but Xander told me that that’s a more acceptable word for having greasy monkey sex!"

Tara just looked at the ex-demon unable to say anything that would make the moment less awkward.

"Ahn. Honey." Xander said with a look of embarrassment on his face.

Willow spared him the explanation and continued with the plan.

"Friday night we could get a babysitter for Dawn, and then we’ll all meet at your place." She said pointing at her best friend.

“Why Friday?” Xander asked.

“I want to do some more research.”

"Well what about Giles?" Anya asked. "Don’t you think he should know?"

Willow frowned at the recently blonde girl.

"Giles is Giles. He doesn’t understand these things. He’d stop us. Now I’ve been doing some research and I think that maybe Buffy’s essence may have gotten sucked into the portal when it closed. That means she’s in a hell dimension. Do you really wanna leave her there? Giles will stop us if he finds out. We can’t tell anyone. Not Giles, not Dawn, not Buffy’s dad, not even Spike."

"Well that shouldn’t be too hard as he doesn’t want to have anything to do with us." Anya said skeptically.

"So what? I’m not seeing the bad there." Xander remarked.

A noise from upstairs sent them all into a jump.

******************************************************************************************

"Shh" Dawn warned him.

"Well don’t be shh ‘en me you’re the one who’s makin’ all the fuss."

He was hoisting her up onto the roof.

"I thought you said you’ve done this by yourself before!" He complained.

"I have, but I usually have shoes on." She said pointing at her exposed feet and brushing away the evil lock of hair that kept covering her eyes.

The light went on in her room and a red head poped out the window.

"Dawn! What are you doing?"

"I was just…ahhhh!" She screamed as she slipped and collapsed on top of Spike.

"Get off!" Came a muffled voice from under her.

"Uh…Sorry!" She apologized then laughed as she saw how much of the flower box he had on him.

"Yeah, right. Perfect." He said dusting himself off.

Oh great they had to have the talk again. She was pretty sure she had it memorized by now. She didn’t even bother to listen. She was still internally laughing at Spike who was still raking out the potting soil from the inside of his coat.

"So. Are you ever gonna do that again?" Willow finished.

"No. Never. I promise." She lied.

Spike gave her a disapproving look from his position behind the witch.

She turned around to face the black clad vampire.

"Spike can I talk to you for a minute?" Willow asked him.

He followed her into the kitchen away from Dawn’s staining ears.

"Look Red it wasn’t my idea. And I…" He began.

"I know Spike, that’s not what this is about."

He looked relieved. "Oh, well, okay then what did you wanna talk about?"

"You know how Dawn hates to be treated like a child and how she says she doesn’t need a babysitter?"

"Yeah."

"Well Friday night we’re having sort of like a Scooby meeting, and I was wondering, if you wouldn’t mind, if you could.. you know… watch her for us? Then maybe she wouldn’t think of it as babysitting." She explained.

"Uh -uh." He nodded. "So you want me sit the bit, but you don’t want her to know that that’s what I’m doin’."

"Please." The witch said practically begging.

"Alright but only this one time and only cause she’d be a lot happier with me than with someone else." He said puffing up his chest.

**********************************************************************************

"They’ve been acting really weird lately." She told him as she got the cheesy pizza out of the oven.

"Have they now?" He said with much interest. They where up to something he could feel it.

"They’ve been having all these secret," She made air quotes with her fingers. "meetings down in the living room since the other night. They try to act like nothings going on but I can see right through it!" She said proudly.

"You can?" He asked quizzically. How did she become better at this than him? He was all dark and stalkery.

"They’re planning to give me a surprise party! I mean why else would they leave you and Giles both out of it? Giles is just too old fashioned and would want to do something simple and boring. Like booking a party at the local library~ Hey that’s funny booking! And there would be banners all around that say whoo books are fun! And they sure as hell wouldn’t tell you cause they know you would totally tell me all about it!"

When the bit said a mouthful it really was a mouthful and hard to follow at the quick pace of her words.

"Okay for one I would not tell you! And for two they probably left Giles out because he’s in London right now. And finally they wouldn’t tell me cause the lot of ‘em damn well hate me!" He reasoned.

"Oh you know you would so tell me! And they don’t all hate you! Just Xander!" She argued.

"Thanks for makin’ it feel better !" He said sarcastically.

"And I’m not tellin’ what I’m gettin’ you!" He taunted.

"Please!" She whined.

If she thought that pouty lip was gonna make him give in then she was….. well she was… absolutely right. Damn her! Bitty pain in the arse! What was he gonna do ‘bout her Birthday? He’d been considering it for the past 3 weeks and found nothing suitable for a 15 year old girl to be doing with him. Drinking was out. So was killing things. Movies where dull. What the hell else was there to do? He flipped through the channels several times before deciding on Terminator 2: Judgement Day, which was the channel 11 Friday night movie.

"I’ll be back." Dawn told him.

He snickered. "Yeah, funny but it’s not time for that part yet. An’ it’s a little more like ie’ ll bea bagck!" He said doing a horrible Arnie accent. Then he saw her grab her purse and head toward the front door.

"Hey! Whoa, whoa, whoa! Where the bloody hell do you think you’re goin’?"

"I’m gonna go see what they’re up to!" She replied non-chalantly grabbing for the doorknob.

He was in front of her in an instant.

"Yeah, right. And I’m gonna go sunbathe and sprits myself with holy water!" He grabbed her arm forcing her to stay.

"Let go Spike!" She said through gritted teeth.

"You’re not goin’ out there! Not alone anyway. Give us a sec." She smiled at him realizing what he meant.

**********************************************************************************

By the time everyone was gathered at Xander’s apartment he’d managed to complete a plaque with Willow’s name on it. God he couldn’t believe this was happening!

“Everyone in favor of Willow as leader!”

They all raised their hands.

"Here you go Will!" He said proudly as he handed her his masterpiece.

"The boss of us." She read aloud. "Aw! Xander! That’s soooo sweet!" She hugged him and then took her seat beside Tara.

"Oh almost forgot." Xander said opening the door to take the trash out.

When he got there he found that the trash had apparently been waiting for him in the hall because there he found Spike.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! What do you think you're doin'?" He asked a little unerved that the whole plan could be ruined if bleachboy knew what they were up to.

"I was just..." Spike started.

"You were just what? In the neighborhood! I thought you were suppossed to be watching Dawn."

"I am you git!" He said pointing to the trashcan behind him.

"Did she put you up to this?" Xander asked, suddenly worried about the relationship between Dawn and Spiike.

"Yeah she did, but I have to say I was a bit curious myself!"

"You were?" Xander croaked.

"Yeah! So spill it already Harris. What kinda birthday goodies are you plannin' on in there?" Spike said rubbing his hands together and getting right up in the boys face.

"What!? I mean um. Birthday? Don't know what you're talkin' about. And back off Chipman or you're gonna get yourself fried." Xander quickly recovered.

God he was relieved. That meant neither of them had any idea what they were up to. And he had to say that threating Spike had been fun.

"Oh in your dreams Harris! Now don't play dumb with me. What sort of stuff are you gettin' her?"

Spike shot a glance at the teen croutched behind the trashcan. She was covering her mouth with both hands to keep the laughter from streaming out.

"Get a life Spike!"

"Oh can't I take yours? Been dying to take it the second I saw your scrawny ass!"

"That's it! You are getting out! This is my building and unless you're lookin' to get dusty then I suggest you leave it, now!" He was very very angry.

Spike paid no heed. "Free country, free party! And I'm not even invited yet!" He whined.

"And you won't be if I have anything to do with it."

"Fine! I don't want to go to your poofy party anyways!" I'll give 'er my own!"

"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do take her barhoppin' and then show her 10 effective ways to steal things!?"

There he was back in his face again. "Only if she promises to steal them from you! C'mon bit lets get out of wankerland!"

*************************************************************************************

"That was awesome!" Dawn squealed.

Spike looked over at her from his position behind the driver's wheel of his De Soto and chuckled. "Yeah that was pretty grand!"

"Oh you are so old!"

"What?" He said innocently.

"Why do I hang out with you?"

"Because I'm the most handsomest bloke in all of Sunnydale."

"You know that's not really boasting much!"

**********************************************************************************

"Oh --My--God! "

"Valleygirl much?" Willow laughed at Xander's dramatic entrance, or re-entrance actually.

"Ha,ha,ha,ha. Laugh now but when I tell you who was out in the hall you‘ll want to ravage me!" He bragged.

“Even you two!” He said pointing to Willow and Tara.

"Spike?" Willow asked without much surprise.

"Hey Will no fair! You can't read my mind that's cheating." He accused.

"I didn't. But don't worry he didn't hear anything. We put a barrier between the door and the hall. As long as the door was shut he couldn't hear anything." She explained.

"You..but...I"

Anya walked up behind him and patted his back. "It's okay honey. You know I admire other larger more manly parts of you more than your small pea sized brain."

**********************************************************************************

“You know they’re party sucked right?” She said popping a coco puff into her mouth.

“Yeah. You’d think with all that plannin’ they’d of gone all out.” He agreed slurping his milk.

“If it looked that dull from outside the window just imagine what it was like inside!” She whined.

A few minutes passed by with only the sounds of the chomping of dry coco puffs and the slurping of milk.

“You know what’s weird?” She asked.

He gave her the look. “Well, on the hellmouth, lots of things.”

“No. I mean.. well yeah.. But that’s not what I was thinking. I was thinking about how weird it is that I’m eating cereal at 1:00 in the morning. But for you it must be pretty natural. You know all breakfasty and stuff.”

“Well not really if you think about it it’d be more like a late lunch. And the cereal bit would be replaced by a screaming terrified girl.” He rationalized.

“Yeah I guess you’re right.” She said nodding and crunching another coco puff between her teeth.

She looked around for somewhere comfortable to sit since Spike was in the green easy chair.

“Ya know you really need some new furniture!”

“Well, why don’t you decorate for me! Give it that classic touch of half pint!” He joked.

“Yeah? What about the lack of fundage?”

“Have I ever paid for anything since you’ve known me?” He asked seriously.

“No.” She shrugged. “You just steal it!”

“Right. So we just grab a truck and go. A little after hours shopping if you know what I mean.”

“Uh-huh. So you want me to steal a car and then break into the Pier One where we can steal furniture too?”

“Yeah. So?”

“Cool! Sounds like the best birthday I’ve ever had!”

He hit her rather hard on the back. “That’s my girl!”

“So when do we start?” She asked.

“Well, I don’t know? I thought maybe after the pope comes and I’ve made him some tea and shared my thoughts on War and Peace.” He yammered sarcastically while grabbing his coat and tossing her hers.

“So right now. Got it.”

“Smart lil’ kitten aren’t you?”

******************************************************************************************

“Ahn, honey, what are you doing?” Xander asked looking over her shoulder.

“Looking for those magical things that Willow wanted us to get.”

His eyes glanced over the computer screen. “Do you really think you’re gonna find something like that on e-bay?”

“Oh yes! You can purchase anything here for a moderately reasonable price! I just bought my wedding dress, which you may not see because of traditional bad luck!”

He smiled at her. “Anya, that’s only if I actually see you in the dress!”

“I’m not taking any chances! You haven’t even announced our engagment yet!”

He sighed. How many times would they have this conversation? “I promise after all of this… stuff., is over then we‘ll tell everyone. And I know that… Oh my God! Is that a Backstreet Boys collectors edition lunchbox?!”

“Oh! And the urn of Osirus too!” She exclaimed.

“The whojamawhatzit?” He asked suddenly confused.

“The urn of Osirus! That’s the magical thing that I’ve been searching for while discretly shopping for the bridesmaid’s dresses! Now what do you think? Larva with strapless backs or maybe the Blacula demon skin?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tear my heart out, let me fall.
Keep my faith enclosed in walls.
Like a child within your hands.
Close my eyes and let me fall.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Willow, are you sure about this? I mean, it’s a really dangerous spell.”

“I’ll be fine Tara! Why do you keep asking me that? I’m ready! I can do this!” She hesitated a minute before apologizing.

“I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to come off all Bobby Night. It’s just everyone is counting on me.”

“ I understand, but you know that messing with magic this powerful could kill you.”

“Like I said, I’ll be fine. And even if I’m not you’ve got to promise that you won’t stop me.”

“Whoa wait! I’m not just gonna sit there while something awful happens to you!”

“Tara, baby, I need you to be my rock. I can’t do this without you. You know that for this to happen we’re gonna need lots of power and that doesn’t come without a price.”

“But that price could be your life Willow. You could die and the spell might not even work. How much are you willing to pay?”

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take. No matter what the price I have to get her back. So what do you say?”

“You better not die cause I’m not bringing you back!” She grins.

******************************************************************************************

“Damn!”

Main Street was shut down for some parade the next day. The only way to get to their destination involved passing the tower.

“We don’t have to do this tonight you know. I mean we could just uh, just wait for another time.” He stalls.

“No. I’ve been scared for most of my life. Scared that my parents were gonna divorce. And then they did. Scared that I was gonna lose Buffy or Mom. I lost both of them. The way I look at it being scared hasn’t really helped me out too much. I can’t aviod going by there forever.

He nods in agreement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Into oblivion I urge.
For you I dare to feel regret.
A sacrifice I cannot fear.
How can I cure what you protect?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The car was getting closer and closer. They would be there soon. He was terrified. He hated that place more than anything in his unlife with the exceptions of Doc and of course Angelus. If Dawn could bear it then so could he. She was right. Can’t avoid it forever, which had been the innitial plan. He could hear her heartbeat quicken suddenly. Her small hand wraped around his larger one. They were in this together. They could make it. Funny how this seemed such a big thing to them after all they’d faced. But this moment was taking everything out of them. The car rolled to a stop in front of the Pier One. There was a moment of akward silence and then their heads slowly turned to face each other.

“We did it!” Dawn exclaimed! She then proceeded to do a victory dance while still seated.

“Yeah, I guess we did” He said letting out a ragged breath.

“Don’t be so gloomy! We’ve gotta get you some style and fast!” She giggled.

“Hey!”

“C’mon!” She motioned.

They both exited the DeSoto.

“First off that green tv chair you have has got to go.”

“No way! That’s the most comfortable chair I own!”

“Spike! It’s the only chair you own! Besides you don’t own it! You probably stole it too!”

“Got it from the junkyard!” He says offended.

“Even worse!”

“So! It’s not like I’m invitin’ other vamps to come back around for tea! I patrol! I find them. I annialte them violently! I go home and sit in my comfortable chair and watch me some quality television!”

“You are soo lame! And I’d hardly call Dawson’s creek and Passions quality tv!” She mocked.

“Hey watch it! And you’re not getting rid of my chair! Find a little somethin’ to match it or somethin’ but we’re not getting rid of a perfectly functional piece of furniture!” He argued.

“I don’t think I can match it! They stopped making that color of puke green thirty years ago!”

“Ha, ha, ha. Very funny! Get your narrow little ass in there.

“Can’t! Security system! Genius!”

“Bloody Hell!”

“How are we gonna get all this stuff to you’re place anyway?”

He promptly punches his hand through the glass of the moving truck and unlocks the door.

“Great!” She remarks with sarcasm.

“How long do you think it’ll take you in there?” He asks hotwiring the truck.

“I don’t know. Why?”

He knocks the door down and the alarm sounds.

“Well, the way I figure, the cops’ll be here in about ten. So shop quickly will you?” He smiles at her.

“ Oh my God! When Willow and Tara find out about this I am so dead!” She mutters to herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Immortal hatered longing,
For what I’ve done for you.
A shattered dream of need.
Moments without truth.

A mournful sacrifice.
The scars will never heal.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE END

Concluded in part six of Summer In Sunnydale “Talk Soup”

Part six of the series
Summer in Sunnydale

**Talk Soup**

Disclaimers: I don't own any of the characters used in this story. I'm just using them for entertainment cause I'm an obsessed freak! They belong to UPN, FOX, Mutant Enemy, and the wonderfully talented Joss Wheedon whom I love and adore! The song "Time Like These" is by The Foo Fighters and is being used w/o permission. Rummy is not something I made up neither are the three stooges or any other pop cultural icons so please don’t sue! Pier One does not belong to me either. Oh and I do not intend any racial, ethnical or cultural slurs in this! I love everybody so I’m not picking on anyone in this opening scene!


Ships: Not really that shippy mostly goes along with the story line but I'll list the ships anyway just so everyone is clear. Spike/Buffy, Willow/Tara, and Xander/Anya. Everyone else is pretty much on their own.

Spoilers: Through "The Gift" the season five finale. Some references to things said in season six, but none are really spoilery.

Feedback: Please tell me what you think about both the story and the series.
You can reach me at msbigbad@msn.com or msbigbad17@yahoo.com -- or join my site at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/bigbadhavens .

Note: This series is meant to explain everything that happened between the time everyone was crying for the Buffster and till she was brought back.

Summary: Some naughty knock knock jokes and rummy playage are not even the biggest things that happen in this fic! Giles actually uses a computer!!!!! in this conclusion to the Summer In Sunnydale series.

Thanks: I want to thank my best friend Lauren for giving me the strength to finish this series. Also she gets credit for making me a dedicated watcher of the show!!! So lots of luvs to her! Mwahhh! Heather for making me laugh and keep some humor in my fics! I also want to thank the cast, crew, writers, producers, and everyone else affiliated with the show! Thanks for making it the best damn hour of television ever. Especially James Marsters, which anyone who knows me can tell you that I am beyond obsessed with! He's a great actor, writer, and person!! Thanks to everyone who archives/reviews my fics!I appreciate you! Send me more as I go! You keep my drive to write going! Last and most defiantly not least I wanna thank you for reading! Especially if you read through all of this crap that I usually don't read!! Lot's of love to ya! Enjoy! Mwahhh!!!

*********************************************************************

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am a one way motorway
I’m the one that drives away
Then follows you back home
I am a streetlight shining
I’m a wild light blinding bright
Burning off alone
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


“And in local news, The Pier One Imports store on 14th street was burglarized late last night. Around 4 a.m. this morning police say an Afro-American male, 7’3 and a white male, 3’5 were seen looting the popular furniture store.”

“Right.” He chuckled. “Did you here that bit? We’re a bunch of circus freaks!”

“But who’s who? I vote I’m the large black man and you are the little midgit.” She teased him.

“Hey! I am not short!” He protested.

“Spike, I’m 15 you’re 15 hundred and I’m a whole foot taller than you!”

“Are not!” He said stomping his foot hard on the ground.

She stood directly in front of him and measured with her hand. By her calculations( which were a bit off because she slanted her hand up a few degrees) she was about 6 inches taller than him.

“It’s those damned heels you’ve always got on! And don’t think for a minute that I didn’t see that little upwards motion! You little chit!”

“You’re wearing boots too so we’re even! And I can’t believe you just called me that!”

“Believe it sweetheart! Now deal!” He commanded throwing the deck at her.

*****************************************************************

When he arrived at Sunnydale Airport he was immediately crushed into a rib cracking hug.

“Giles! How was England? Great huh? Bet you can’t wait to get back there and leave me all your earthly possessions! Oh look! A ticket booth! And they sell tickets, English tickets which you may purchase!”

“Anya, leave Giles alone. He’s just gotten back from a long trip and I bet he wants to go home and relax.” Xander scolded.

“Well I know she’s alright. What’s the matter with you?” Giles smiled ruffling the younger man’s sandy brown hair.

*******************************************************************

“Rummy on the board!” She wailed grabbing at the discard pile.

His hand quickly went to stop her.

“Now wait a minute, wait a minute! Where?” He said staring down at the mess of cards.

“You put down a 10 and I already have the other three.” She explained.

His eyes quickly scanned the cards as he realized his mistake.

“Damn-it!” He cried in defeat.

She placed the 10 with her other three and proceeded to draw a card from the deck. She took a moment and carefully discarded.

His crystal blue depths lit up as he picked up the entire deck.

“Let’s see. I’ve got three 5’s, a 10, jack, and queen of spades… Oh and lookey there all the kings!” He sparked.

He discarded a 2 and then Dawn was the one smiling.

“You also have a ton of cards in your hand. And I, on the other hand have got just two more 2’s, so…” She picked up his discard. “I’m out.” She said placing all her 2’s in a neat row.

“Oh, Bollicks!” He said throwing his hand down.

“Now let’s see 10,20, plus all four aces makes 90,100,110,120,125,135,140,” She gloated.

“I hate you!” He said looking at her with disgust.

“235,240,245...” She looked over at him slowly.

She could tell what he was about to do.

“No! Spike! No!” She managed to get out before being tickled senseless.

********************************************************************

Her brow furrowed and her head was busting. She’d been working on the robot all day and she’d only managed to irreversibly screw her up. She’d tried. She really had. She didn’t expect for this to happen. Giles, Xander, and Anya all came through the door in a rush talking excitedly about Giles’ trip to England.

“Knock knock! Who’s there? Witch. Witch who? Witch way are you going?” The bot asked no one.

“Um, Willow?” Xander gave her a look of confusion.

“I know, I know. I’ve been trying to make her pun and quip and it’s just not working right. It ends up like this. On the other hand I did get the homing device to work!” She tried to sound up-beat.

“Don’t worry Will. I bet you’ll have it fixed in no time.”

~*ONE WEEK LATER*~

“Knock knock! Who’s there? Dick. Dick who? Dick’s up for it how about yo--”

“Stop! I forbid you to finish the rest of that sentence!” Giles said grabbing his glasses off his face.

“Sorry Giles! I tried to fix her last night and her programming from before is mixing with what I put in so now she’s just telling naughty knock knock jokes!”

“Yes, I can see that Willow.”

“Maybe if I…”

“No, no. I’m going to fix it.” He said determined.

He grabbed the laptop from the desk of the Magic Box, plugged it into the bot, and opened it up.

“Now where is the bloody start button on this infernal machine?” He said pushing every key in sight.

“Giles you might not wanna,”

The computer made a weird ackhecckkkaahwwtt sound before a number of error warnings began to pop up on the screen.

“Do that.” Willow finished.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It’s times like these you learn to live again
It’s times like these you give and give again
It’s times like these you learn to love again
It’s times like these time and time again
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


An hour later Xander and Dawn came through the door with a ring of the shop bells.

“Hey Will!” Xander greeted.

“Hey.” She replied without her usual enthusiasm.

Tara walked behind her putting her hands over Willow’s eyes.

“Take a break.” She commanded with a kiss.

“Still trying to debug the Buffybot?” Dawn asked.

“Actually, I’m just trying to save my computer at the moment. Giles got all determined, then all button-happy, and then my computer crashed.” She answered.

“Giles actually touched a computer? He sat down and willingly interacted with technology?” Dawn asked amazed.

“Yes, it was very eventful and productive!” Anya practically yelled.

Xander smiled at his secret fiancée. “I don’t think he can hear you honey, so you can drop the act.”

She didn’t hear a word of what he’d said. She was much more interested in a customer who had just wandered into the more ritzy section of spell books.

“Hello! Can I help you?” She charmed.

“Um, Willow? No pressure but, uh, parent teacher day is like next week.” Dawn told her nervously.

“Already? But it’s only 2 weeks into school!”

“It’s always the third week.” Dawn whined.

“You’re too old to be having parent teacher days anyway! You didn’t see us having them.”

Off of Xander’s look she corrected herself.

“Except for that one time when we did. But, see what a disaster that was! Spike came and everybody went all crazy with the running and getting trapped inside the building! I got stuck with Cordelia for like 10 hours! They’re unsafe and they shouldn’t have them!”

“It’s in the daytime so I doubt Spike or any other vampire is going to crash it.” Dawn reasoned.

“3 weeks…,” Willow shook her head in defeat. “I’m not gonna be able to fix it by then. I might not be able to fix it ever! She’ll go there telling all kinds of sexual jokes and they’ll call social services and they’ll take her away from us!”

“Sweetie, calm down. You’ll fix it. I know you can.” Tara assured her.

**********************************************************************

The clock read 4:27 A.M. She’d spent the past two days wracking her brain for a way to stop this knock knock madness and it just came to her. She had given up her search for the cure and had opted instead for chocolate ice-cream, the notion of sleep being long forgotten. She was watching an old sci-fi movie about this race of IBM’s that somehow went bad. The only way to stop them was to shut down the main computer.

“I have to shut her down!” She shouted in triumph.

*********************************************************************

“Shut her down?” Giles said in confusion.

“Yeah.” She confirmed.

“You’ve lost me. I thought you’d already done that.”

“I shut down her learning center. I never shut her down completely. That would get rid of most of her memory, or her learned skills, since her initial programming.” She explained.

“So you’re saying that you’re making her the way she was before?” Xander asked trying to grasp the situation.

“Well, what if she just goes all rampant and tries to boink Spike again?” Anya questioned.

“I’ve erased all of that stuff permanently so that can’t come back. It’s kinda like she’s going back to a preschool level. She’ll know who we all are, but she won’t have any feeling toward us.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am a new day rising
I’m a brand new sky
To hang the stars upon tonight
I am a little divided
Do I stay or run away
And leave it all behind
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


“Who’s idea was it to celebrate with a patrol?” Xander questioned.

“That would be you, sweetie.” Anya answered.

“Well next time would you tell me to shut his big mouth!?” He continued.

Giles was carefully laying out the battle plans.

“Alright, now remember, we must extinguish the life force of every vampire in this building or it will be…”

“The end of the world!” They all said in union.

“Yes, right.” He said adjusting his glasses.

“You know if you think about it this is the easiest apocalypses we’ve ever stopped. It’s actually kinda weak. Can we even count this as an apocalypse? I mean really this is just an average dustfest.” Xander babbled as they made their way to on of the larger crypts.

“Well we haven’t beaten them yet so don’t sound so sure of yourself. We may have faced worse, but that doesn’t mean that we’ll come out of this alright.” Giles warned.

“Oh c’mon gramps you know we’re gonna win. It’s gonna be a bloody massacre it is.” Spike reveled.

******************************************************************

“We give ourselves to the Anunmasah. We are meaningless. Through Anunmasah only are we strong.” The leader started.

The crypt doors swung off their hinges and seven figures stood in the arch between them and the soon to be dusty.

“Sorry to bust in on your little party, but we didn’t think you’d mind much.” Spike teased teased grabbing a quill and firing his crossbow at the nearest vamp.

“Yeah, frankly we’re a little pissed that we weren’t invited in the first place.” Xander quipped.

“Time for things to get dusty!” The bot said in her over-enthusiastic way.

“The Slayer! Run!” The leader cowered running for the entrance and being quickly reduced to ash.

There were only twenty or so vamps to begin with, and now, after only a couple of minutes, four remained.

Her stake struck hard and true into the brawly vampire’s heart. Tara brushed herself off and continued. Okay, so only three remained! The three stooges headed to the opposite end of the crypt. They somehow managed to claw their way out of a small stained glass window, and began to run like the cowards they were.

The gang was hot on they’re heels though. Spike and Xander, having no trouble crawling through the broken window, had maintained a visual on them and were working a silent plan as they followed.

“Damn!” Xander cursed batting at something on his back.

Spike gave a look of confusion that soon turned into amusement as he realized Xander’s predicament.

“Run out of arrows?” He asked.

“Yeah.” Xander spat

“Take mine.” Spike said tossing his bow and quills at the boy.

“Where are you going?” Xander asked.

“Just gonna finish up this little spot of violence.” He smirked.

***********************************************************

He could smell one. It wasn’t far away, but he couldn’t see it thanks to Harris and his incessant whining about his arrows. He’d just have to follow his senses to the very large vamp.

The three came to a stop when they intersected.

“What are yo-... Um?” Tara, Giles, and Spike said in union.

“This way.” Spike motioned.

Tara reached her hand into a small leather bag gripping the white powder.

Spike and Giles were already fighting, trying to bring down the massive vampire.

“Dortominas.” She said blowing the dust in the monster’s face.

With no warning the vamp threw both Giles and Spike off him and ran for all he (thought) he was worth.

“Whoops!” Tara apologized when both men looked up at her.
****************************************************************

Okay. She could do this. Climbing wasn’t that bad. No, she could do it.

“Ow!” She wailed as her footing was lost for a moment making her knock into the side of the building.

No, she couldn’t do this…. Wow! She did!

She was on top of the mausoleum and in full view of the cemetery. A couple of vamps were ready to jump Xander and Anya.

****************************************************************

They’d caught up with big, fat, and ugly, but dusting him was proving to be a another problem.

He’d nearly knocked Spike’s head off. He ducked and showers of graphite from a broken tombstone poured over him. Just enough time for Hudini to get away. And here they were running again. Whatever was in that magic powder of Glinda’s had made him super fast and damn-near impossible to bring down.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It’s times like these you learn to live again
It’s times like these you give and give again
It’s times like these you learn to love again
It’s times like these time and time again
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


~*THE END*~

Author’s Note: Wow I’m finally done! I’ve spent 2 and ½ years writing this story and now it’s done! I know this chapter really wasn’t that sensational, but there really wasn’t much left to cover. I hope you got some enjoyment out of it. I tried to put some humor in this one so they wouldn’t all be full of angst. Hope it was funny. The ending is a little weird because I wanted it to start and leave of with the show. Mortal Wounds started right after Joss’ name came up in The Gift and Talk Soup ends just before the opening scene of Bargaining Pt. 1. I’ve poured lot’s of my life and my time into this. This is what started me. This is my first fic, it all started with Mortal Wounds a story I wrote and revised more than 15 times. I’m so thankful to everyone who has taken the time to tell me how you feel about the series! Feedback is what keeps me writing. It’s good to know that someone is reading and enjoying a part of yourself. I love you all. Best of luck in everything you do. Hopefully I can stop crying now and finish my other series called Good Enough! Never stop imagining, that’s the key to youth.