Prologue.

Vampires.

Everywhere she went, she’d find vampires. Of course it was her job to find vampires. But really. In Essex. It’s like there was no escaping them, even with the army of slayers by her side.

Right now Buffy was completely surrounded. No way out, other than making one from a path of dust. At least ten vamps were snarling in the room with her, and she could sense several more keeping guard outside. Looking around the abandoned house’s decaying living room, to check for any last survivors, they slowly began to approach. Each of them growling with hunger for the kill.

She knew fully well she could take them easily. After seven years fighting on the hell mouth, and a good few months away from it, she knew they wouldn’t even be able to get one hit on her.

In all honesty, she could take anything. Nothing the world threw at her since that fateful last day, had posed even a small amount of challenge to the longest living slayer in recorded history. She no longer felt like she was fighting for her life to save the world. Because nothing could kill her. Not anymore. She finally felt immortal.

She felt like a machine, being pointed at targets, and told to strike. She barely felt alive. Barely even real. And yet eternal.

Her friends were all gone. Each of them had all finally chosen to leave her. Everyone left her. In the end, everyone left.

Even when they didn’t want to.

Giles and Andrew were in London, setting up the new council. Robin and Faith were in Cleveland, keeping tabs on the hell mouth they had up there. Xander was being all world traveler guy, and picking up new slayers he found along the way. Willow and Kennedy had gone to a coven deep in South America, in hopes of finding out what after affects the slayer spell might have had on Willow and the rest of the world. And Spike…

All gone. All alone. Always.

But she still had her little sister… for now.

She and Dawn were just going anywhere Giles and the council were telling them to. At least until school would start back up again for Dawn anyway, and then she’d head back to Italy, were the two sisters had set up shop. Leaving Buffy completely alone.

Originally, Dawn was supposed to be staying in Italy anyway, whilst Buffy went out on her assignments. But she had refused to leave Buffy’s side for two main reasons. The first being, going with Buffy gave Dawn a chance to finally see the world. A world she’d been a part of for so very long and yet seen so very little of. And the other being Buffy needed someone right now. Desperately.

Ever since the hell mouth, she’d been stuck on auto pilot. And the fact all of her friends had left her to do ‘more important things’, wasn’t helping her at all. Right now Buffy needed someone. Anyone. And Dawn was gonna be that someone. For a while anyway.

Looking up at the vampires surrounding her, Buffy couldn’t help but smile. These guys were dust.

Pulling her stake swiftly from the back of her trousers, were it had carefully been tucked, Buffy quickly staked the first two standing in front of her. Going straight into battle mode.

No world existed except for the fight. No lost friends. No tragic past. No dead loved ones. Just her weapon, the target and her. And nothing could stand in her way. She was the slayer.

As she went to turn towards the others, three of the smaller, more eager vamps, ran at her from all sides. Not even flinching, Buffy went into a quick backflip and kick, throwing off the first one, as well as moving her swiftly out of the path of the others. Not suspecting her sudden movements, the two vamps crashed into each other, and comically fell to the floor in a heap.

Buffy laughed to herself as she dusted two more before any of them even had the chance to turn around. These were stupid fresh fledges. Who were too controlled by their blood lust and new found power to let their brains help them in the fight. They were acting on pure instinct and pure instinct alone.

She was just about to take down another growling monster, when she heard one of them speak.

There was nothing particularly interesting about this vamp. He wasn’t special. About the same age as the rest. About the same strength. He was the very embodiment of nothing special.

But he managed to stop her fighting, freeze her in place, with just one simple sentence.

“Come on slayer, you know you wanna dance.”

That sentence; those exact words, and she stopped. Just for a second.

And thought of him.

Spike.

How she had ever thought he was beneath her was stupid. If anything she was beneath him. Even before the soul, he had sometimes tried to be good. For her. He’d died for her. Saved the world, for her.

And in that instant she froze, slipping out of battle mode, just for a second. But it was enough for the vamp to her right to knock the stake straight from her hand.

She was about to swing back into the action, when her weapon slowly rolling across the floor caught her eye. And she was swept into another long forgotten thought.

‘Lesson the first, a slayer must always reach for her weapon.’

His words. They echoed threw her just long enough for a vamp to grab her from behind and pull her close to him; hungry for her life.

He was right. Spike was always right. Without her weapon, she could beat them to a bloody pulp. But she couldn’t kill them.

And that’s all she had been doing these past few months. Killing. Wake up, eat food, see Dawn, get mission from Giles, go out, kill. Night after night. Every night.

No team. No Scobbies. No life. Just the kill.

She’d lost almost all her ties to the world. No mum, nor friends. She’d even lose Dawn when school started up again. She wasn’t needed anymore. Not important anymore. Many more out there just like her. Why would one slayer matter in amongst hundreds?

And as the vamp behind her slowly began descending his fangs towards her bare neck, in a hold she could easily escape from. She had another thought. A devastating thought.

‘Lesson the second: Ask the right questions… Part of you is desperate to know, what's it like? Where does it lead you?.. Every Slayer has a death wish. Even you…’

And as the hard fangs tore into her neck, she gasped for breath, and she knew he’d been right. ‘Cause in that moment, Buffy didn’t even think about escaping the vampire behind her. Didn’t even struggle. She could feel the life being sucked out of her like a storm, and she couldn’t find it in her to care.

She just stood there and wished. Wished so hard she could do it again. Do it right.

No army of slayers. Or friends spread across the globe. Or the one she loved a pile of dust she couldn’t even reach.

And in that moment, the one place she wanted to be more than anything, was Sunnydale.

To have another chance.

To be back home.

To not be here anymore.

‘And the second - the second that happens, you know I'll be there.’

She just hoped he was right.

And she was gone.

Complete Rewrite.





Her head hurt.



It hurt so badly, she thought it might just pop straight from her shoulders. It throbbed and pulsed and swirled like crazy. She felt like she was going to explode from the sheer agony.



And then there was light. Blinding bright white light. Light so bright, it hurt her eyes when she tried to open them.



Followed by noise. A familiar far away sound that still managed to pierce her ears, and jolt her in to consciousness for a quick second. But it was enough.



“Buffy?” she heard her mom call from outside the bright room she’d awoken in.



Wait.



No it wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be her mom calling her.



But she… it wasn’t possible. Her mother was dead.



Suddenly ignoring the searing pain in her head as if it were nothing more than a light headache, Buffy bolted straight upright in the unfamiliar bed. “Mom!” she exclaimed, hurting her ears slightly with the sound.



As the seconds ticked by, she could literally feel the hurt draining from her body as she looked around her surroundings.



“Don’t wanna be late for your first day of school,” Joyce called from behind the door directly in front of Buffy.



Blinking her eyes, Buffy looked around the strange room she had apparently awoken in. But it wasn’t strange. Not unfamiliar. Just… different.



She’d seen this room before. Defiantly. But she remembered it quite differently. This was her old bedroom, from back in Sunnydale. The room that had been quite literally blown up. But it was not the way she’d left it all those months ago.



Last time she’d seen it, it looked like it had been lived in for years. Photo’s covering the surfaces; mementos collected from over the years scattered around; it had a lot more furnishing and, well, Faith was sleeping in it, not her.



But right now, it was packed tightly with over stuffed boxes and wooden crates, the layout was all different, and it was seriously messy. But not completely unfamiliar.



It looked like her room had done so many years ago. When it was new. Her first day of school.



And then it hit her. And the sudden realization caused her eyes to nearly pop right out of her head.



This didn’t just look like her old room. It was her old room. She was back in Sunnydale. On her first day of school. With her mom downstairs, calling for her.



Her mom was downstairs.



Her mom was alive.



And before she even knew what she was doing, she was hurtling out of her room at full slayer speed. The pain she’d felt before completely forgotten as she propelled herself into the kitchen.



There was approximately twenty seconds between Buffy leaving the comfort and warmth of her own bed, and her crashing into her mom by the kitchen counter. Before Joyce knew what was happening, she was being crushed in her daughters tight grip around her body, and struggling to breath.



“Buffy, what are you doing. I can’t breathe,” she gasped, struggling to get free.



Buffy realized her mom was having trouble getting oxygen, so she quickly released her whilst smiling her head off.



Buffy had never thought she’d get the chance to see her mother again. As, unlike her, her mother had died a natural death. And as everyone had repetitively told her that there was no coming back from that. Not ever.



Yet here she was. Her mother standing happy, healthy and alive. And Buffy loved it.



“Sorry mom, I just don’t know my own strength. I’m just really, really happy to see you,” Buffy said grinning ear to ear.



“Well, I can see that, although I’m slightly scared to ask why. I honestly think that you may never stop surprising me with the unexpected.”



Buffy just laughed and pulled her back into a slightly gentler hug, but still a firm one. “No, you’re right. I will, more and more. I am far too complicated for almost anyone to figure out what I do never. Even me.”



“Well it’s good to know I’m not the only one who finds you a complete mystery sometimes. Now go get dressed or you’ll be late for school.”



“Ok mom. Whatever you say,” Buffy smiled, kissing her mother on the cheek. “Love you.”



As Buffy bounced down the hall, Joyce just looked at her at a total loss for words. “Strange,” was all she could manage.



As Buffy bounded towards her bed room, she stopped just outside the bathroom door. Suddenly over taken by curiosity she entered the room.



Even though she was knew what she was going to see in the mirror once she got there. Even though she knew logically once she reached the reflective surface she wouldn’t be faced with the girl she was used to. Somehow it still managed to get a rather loud gasp from the blond slayer, as well as some very open and startled eyes.



What she saw shocked her quite a bit. Quite a lot actually.



Because she was sixteen again. Buffy Summers, was once again sixteen, after seven long years.



And it was cool.



Seriously freaky, and kind of terrifying. But cool.



It’s not like she’d changed much in the last seven years, even though all of her friends clearly had. Her hair was different. And she had a little more baby fact, making her sort of soft around the edges. But her features were basically the same. She could clearly recognize the girl in the mirror as her. And she was almost the same height. Which more annoyed Buffy than reassure her if she was truthful.



Guess she really couldn’t look forward to being a tall slim fashion model this time around.



Absolutely intrigued by what Buffy was seeing in the mirror, she stuck out her tongue.



Carefully she analyzed her face again with the addition of the tongue. Looking at every curve. Every spot. Every feature. All in an attempt to get once again completely comfortable with the body and face she was now wearing.



After a moment, she proceeded to pull a number of different faces, studying each one closely and moving on.



She continued doing this throughout all of cleaning her teeth, washing her face and applying makeup. And it would have continued had Buffy not been forced to stop staring at herself, as she heard a voice behind her.



“Buffy, what on earth are you doing?” Buffy’s mother said looking at her like she was crazy. Which wasn’t something Buffy had ruled out yet. Going back in time was not an everyday occurrence, even in Sunnydale.



“Uh, sorry mom. I just got a little side tracked,” Buffy said looking a little embarrassed about being caught pulling stupid faces.



“Well, you need to hurry up because I’m gonna drop you off in fifteen minutes,” Joyce said sternly.



“You got it mom. I’ll be done before you can say complete rewrite,” Buffy smiled, giving her mom another happy hug and laughing slightly at her own words.



“All right then. I’ll go wait downstairs till you’re ready.”



Buffy released her mom, and set off to her room, when she realized something.



“Oh mom. Where’s Dawn?” Buffy asked grabbing a white shirt from a box.



Joyce just looked confused at the question.



“Who?”



Suddenly, Buffy’s eyes went wide, before quickly returning to normal.



“Oh, never mind. Just me, being strange Buffy. I… gotta go,” Buffy stumbled rushing into her room, and slamming the door behind her



Dawn. She hadn’t even thought. Of course. Dawn was never really here at all was she. She’d just woken up and guessed she’d fallen back into the world she remembered. But she’d forgotten Dawn was never really part of that world. Because, even if she remembered her little sister being here, those memories had been fake, and Dawn didn’t exist.



In this world, it would be years before she saw her little sister again. The one person who had stuck with her after Sunnydale was gone. The one person who’d cared enough to stay was gone.



She might even still be back there in the future. And if she was, then Buffy had left her there. She’d died on her again. Dawn.



A silent tear trickled down Buffy’s cheek as she realized all the other aspects of being back in time. She’d never met Xander, Willow or Giles; she was back in high school; she’d have to reface the Master. And the worst part, Spike hadn’t met her. Wasn’t in love with her. He was evil.



She knew that eventually the monks would send Buffy her sister again. But Spike. He wasn’t here. Couldn’t be here. It wasn’t possible.



She’d have to reface him. Hide her emotions for as long as possible. Pretend she didn’t love him. Didn’t feel like life without him left her hollow. Didn’t cry more often than she’d liked to admit for his death. And she’s have to keep on acting, until he loved her again.



And what if he never did? What if she did something wrong? What if the timeline changed? What if she had to stake him?



She couldn’t face him. Not Spike. Not ever.



He’d been the only person she could trust completely for so long. How many times had she leaned on him for strength, or went to him for help. She loved him, and he wanted her dead.



But then as she started to get dressed, she began to see the flip side of the coin. Just like some things might go wrong. She could put others right. If she played her cards right, she could stop most of the things in her life going wrong.



She knew she wouldn’t be sleeping with Angel, so that fixed the Angelus issue. She could get her mom to the hospital earlier for a cat scan, and maybe stop the cancer from becoming as bad as it did. And there was Jessie. Xander’s best friend. Maybe she could save him, and stop Xander having such a massive issue with all things demon in the first place.



Then she realized something. She realized she knew something she really shouldn’t know. Shouldn’t even be able to know. Ben is Glory!



Ben is Glory, and Glory is Ben.



She wouldn’t even have to die this time. Well not at the hands of Glory anyway. The Master was a whole different story. She didn’t know what was going to happen there. Prophecies always were always tricky business.



Buffy was just pulling on her second boot, when she heard her mom call her from down stairs.



Quickly, she grabbed the school bag she saw tucked in between two boxes full of books, and made a dash down stairs.



As she ran out to the car, she hoped the fact she had already done everything would make it easier. Maybe French would be possible. She could only hope, ‘cause she really didn’t want all the subjects to be as hard as last time. Slaying tends to not leave much room for remembering all the stuff she knew she wouldn’t ever need to know. Wouldn’t need until now anyway.



So she thought about school, and she thought about things she could change. Because she really, really didn’t want to think about what would happen with Spike. She couldn’t.



After a few minutes, Buffy could see the school building she’d blown up a few years into both past and future approaching. And seeing it again visibly made her shudder. You could find a lot of monsters in Sunnydale, mainly ‘cause of the hell mouth and all, but never as many as would try to get right on top of it. The source of evil.



She knew going back to Sunnydale high was like going back into the belly of the beast. But that would be the only way to keep her friends safe. To keep everyone safe. So her twenty two year old self knew she had to do it.



And God it was going to be just as boring as before wasn’t it.



Grabbing her school bag, Buffy opened the door and got out of the car. But before she walked away, her mom leaned over to her.



“Have a good time,” Joyce smiled. “I know you're gonna make friends right away, just think positive.” She gave Buffy a positive thumbs up as she spoke, and Buffy just smiled.



“I know I will mom. For some strange reason I’ve got a very good feeling about today,” Buffy said shutting the car door as she spoke, but still being heard through the open window.



“Good, and honey?” Joyce said still smiling but it didn’t quite reach her eyes this time. “Try not to get kicked out?”



“I promise,” Buffy said, now grinning ear to ear again. “Love you mom.”



“Love you to sweetie,” she replied before driving away, leaving Buffy to face her first day all over again.



**



Taking a deep breath, Buffy began to walk forward toward the center of all evil up ahead. She could only hope she’d remembered enough about her past her at Sunnydale High to prevent most of the catastrophes. Because she would really prefer it if Xander didn’t almost got eaten up by a big bug this time.



And just as Buffy reached the top of the steps towards hell mouth high, she heard a loud thump behind her.



It wasn’t overly obvious. If she hadn’t been paying as much attention to the area surrounding her, she wouldn’t have even noticed it. But she’d learnt to always keep her eyes and ear pealed for any and all danger; it came with living as long as she had.



Wondering what had happened, Buffy turned around quickly to find a barely conscious Xander in a heap on the floor with a smiling Willow leaning over him and practical drooling.



She vaguely recalled being told about this moment a few years from now at the Bronze. Willow had said the Xand man had been so dumb struck by simply the back of her head; he’d crashed his skateboard right into a pole.



She smiled quickly to herself, wanting desperately to run over to her friends and sweep them into one big giant hug. It had been ages since the three of them had any chance to spend quality friend time together. And now she’d get to relive all the quality friend time she wanted, and she absolutely loved it.



But if she was going to have any of that, she’d have to keep the basic foundations of their friendships the same. Which meant she wouldn’t be able to talk to Xander until she left the principal’s office, and she’d have to somehow get them to see her dusting vampires tonight, without Jessie dying if at all possible.



So she didn’t rush over to them as she wanted to. She simply continued on her journey to see the principal and get her time tables. Did she have French today? She couldn’t remember.



**



Quickly she approached the door to the office, taking a deep breath and preparing herself for the overly peppy man she was about to face. As loudly as possible, she knocked against the wood.



A second didn’t even have time to pass before the door swung swiftly open reviling the man who had literally been eaten alive in this job.



He stood smiling in his grey suit, looking highly alive. Which somehow still managed to surprise her. When she’d first met this man she’d thought him to be actually a little crazy. But now, comparing him to Snyder, she was glad to have Mr. Happy instead of Mr. I-Hate-Children-grumble-shout.



“Come in, come in. Have yourself a seat,” Principal Flutie said merrily, ushering Buffy into the room.



Taking her bag of her shoulder, Buffy moved over to the single plastic chair that sat right in front of the desk in the middle of the room, and took her seat. The chair was still just as violently uncomfortable as last time, which really didn’t help the situation at all.



Buffy could hear the Principal moving around behind her as he retrieved her record, putting her senses on high alert. Nothing like when a vamp was near but higher than normal. It was just instinct. ‘Cause if you can’t see it, it can hurt you.



Shifting uncomfortably in her chair, Principal Flutie walked round to his chair, flicking though her file as he went.



“Buffy Summers, sophomore, late of Hemery High in Los Angeles. Interesting record, quite a career...” he said sitting down.



And before Buffy could reply, she watched him pick up her record and tear it into four pieces again. Just the same as last time. Dope.



“Welcome to Sunnydale!” he said cheerily, shifting his arm around the desk. “A clean slate, Buffy, that's what you get here. What's past is past. We're not interested in what it says on a piece of paper, even if it says... Whoa.”



She watches his face change color as he for the first time really read over her record, and she couldn’t help but smirk.



“Mr. Flutie…” she said getting her smile under control.



“All the kids here are free to call me Bob,” he said quickly making a desperate attempt to piece Buffy’s report back together.



“Bob…”



“But they don’t.”



“Well I knew that,” Buffy whispered under her breath.



Buffy watched as the man before her began taping the paper back together, and wondered why he hadn’t thought of reading it before ripping it to shreds. It would have saved him from looking like an idiot for a start. What kind of Principal doesn’t even read the new students permanent records?



This one, she thought to herself smiling again.



“Is there something funny about this Miss. Summers,” Flutie said, looking up from the badly reassembled report.



“Look, I know my transcripts are a little colorful,” Buffy said dryly, trying to repeat the seen as much as she remembered it. Slayer memory was always handy. Just a tad more powerful than the norm, for remembering demon names and attack moves or something.



“Hey... We're not caring about that. Do you think, uh, 'colorful' is the word?” he said tapping the paper, “Not, uh, 'dismal'?”



What the heck was he doing? He was saying that it didn’t matter and then talking about it all annoyed like. Come on.



“Your right, it really sucks,” Buffy said, throwing the timeline to the wind. “But I intend this time around to be a big improvement. No getting kicked out for Buffy.”



“Well I glad to hear it. You know any other school they might say 'watch your step', or 'we'll be watching you'... But, that's just not the way here. We want to service your needs, and help you to respect our needs. And if your needs and our needs don't mesh...” he drawls, putting the poorly repaired sheet back into its folder and slamming it shut.



“Got it. I’m sure I’ll… mesh… just fine,” Buffy said getting out of her chair, and turning towards the door.



“Have a nice day Miss. Summers.”



“Man I hope so,” Buffy replied, leaving the office as quickly as possible.



She wasn’t entirely sure what lesson she was supposed to be having first, which had seemed like the sort of thing she’d remember, but she’d probably blocked most of her school related memories. So as she walked into the hall, she grabbed her bag and searching though it as she walked.



Which didn’t turn out to be her greatest plan, or maybe it did, because next thing she knew she was crashing into another student and dropping all her stuff with a crash onto the floor.



She knew what was coming. It was happening the same way so far so this would most likely be the same. But it didn’t stop a huge smile spreading across her face as Xander rushed over to help her.



“Can I have you,” Xander gushed, as the two of them leaned down to gather her fallen belongings.



Suddenly Buffy realized what he’d just said to her, and looked up at him eyebrows raised. She knew she was going to have to deal with the enormous issues of the Xander crush on her pretty quickly. She didn’t want him following her around like a lost puppy, she wanted her friend back.



“Duh...,” he said, chuckling to himself before correcting his mistake. “Can I help you?”



“Thanks,” she replied inwardly smiling to herself. She’d missed him.



“I don't know you, do I,” he asked looking up at her.



And for a second she froze, eyes going wide, before realizing he was just making conversation.



Amused slightly by her own mistake, she quickly replied, “no, I’m Buffy… and new.”



“Xander. Is-is me. Hi,” he stuttered, smiling sheepishly.



“Well, hi Xander. Thanks for the help. It was really nice to meet you,” Buffy smiled at him.



Suddenly his whole face lit up, and a twinge of worry struck Buffy.



“Well maybe I’ll see you around some time,” he said, helping her get her last things into her brown shoulder bag.



Buffy noticed that her stake was still on the floor out of the corner of her eye, and tried as hard as she could to draw no attention to it. It was a necessary, and also funny, conversation the group would need to have in order to let the fanged cat out of the bag.



“Maybe at school. Since, we both… go there,” he said struggling to find words, which caused Buffy to giggle slightly as she got to her feet. Which only cause him to blush more.



“Yeah, we do. See you later Xand,” Buffy said walking away.



Buffy ginned madly as she just managed to hear him calling her. Guess he found the stake. But she continued walking, as horror of horrors, she had French.



**



God how she’d hated French. Not once in her life after Sunnydale had she ever needed to use the language, and she’s spent two weeks slaying in France.



Well, seeing as how she never really spoke to her targets so much as ran them through with sharp objects might have added to that. But they never did understand her puns.



As it turns out French was just as boring and impossible as she’d remembered it. And it left plenty of time for staring out of the open window and day dreaming.



Which would have been fine, had her day dreams not been filled with Spike.



She’d spent the last six months desperately trying to get over his death unsuccessfully. Every night she’d lie awake praying her dreams would be filled with something other than the last words they’d shared together.



He’d loved her for so long. Loved her with everything he was, and she’d just blocked him out. No, more than blocked him out, treated him like nothing. Like he was less than her or her friends, because he wasn’t human.



But was Oz completely human. Or Clem. And most defiantly that really nice demon Lorne that she’d met in LA wasn’t human. All at least part demon, and all she been kinder to than Spike.



That must have destroyed him. She could remember once, before she’d died for the second time, he’d told her that he knew he was a monster, but she’d treated him like a man. But she hadn’t.



He didn’t ever really think of himself as a monster in the first place, especially before the soul. He’d called himself evil, but never a monster, except that one time. And even then it was to say he felt like a man. But she hadn’t even aloud him that.



It was no wonder he hadn’t believed her. She wouldn’t have.



Being told you’re loved, moments before death, by a person who’d acted like you weren’t worth the dirt you stood on. It was no wonder.



But she hadn’t lied. She really loved him. Scratch that, she still loved him. With every fiber inside her.



It had taken that speech, those last few nights and his death to realize it. Realize that she loved him. For everything he was, with all that she was. And he was gone.



He’s still gone she thought. ‘Cause even though a version of Spike would inevitably exist here, it wouldn’t be her Spike. He was gone.



Dead.



Lost.



He couldn’t be here.



The only reason Spike had fallen for her in the first place, was that Angelus had turned Dru against him, and the truce they two had shared to stop her ex-lover. That was what had set of the chain reaction leading to the chip, and then the love, and then the soul.



But there would be no Angelus this time; she’d make sure of it. She couldn’t let innocent people die just to get her boyfriend back. Even if she wanted to.



And she would not sleep with Angel.



Just… yuck.



God he was such a control freak. How had she not noticed that before? Oh yeah, ‘cause she was too starry eyed to see past the whole hansom and in love with her thing.



The second they got to LA after the final battle, he’d tried to take everything into his own hands. He’d tried to push Buffy, THE Slayer, to the back lines so he could have the spot light. Telling her things like, ‘it’s ok Buffy, I’ll handle it’, and ‘don’t worry I got it under control, no need to thank me’. And then just patting her on the head and sending her on her way like a God dam child.



And then, and then, he’d had the nerve to ask her if she was finished baking. So she just left.



She had just seen the one man who was willing to give up everything for her, and had, die. And he was asking if she wanted him back yet.



He was the one who’d broken them up, saying ‘you need a normal life Buffy’. Hello, her life would never be normal. She was the freaking slayer for crying out loud. How could her life ever be normal.



But that’s what everyone wanted for her. To have a normal life. No one asked if she wanted one or not, it’s just what she was expected to want. Why, because that’s what she’d said, like over a year ago.



She’d had a go at it. For about three weeks after Sunnydale, before she’d gotten bored stiff.



All her friends had told her to go, relax, eat pizza and shop. And the moment she’d gotten back, none of them were there. Everyone wanted her normal, but no one wanted it themselves apparently. They’d just gone off, taken control of everything and left her.



When she came back saying that she was bored stiff with shopping and pizza and that she needed something to do to keep her mind off a certain bleached blond vampire who she refused to tell them about, they just set her up as an agent. Just hocked her up as one of the council’s weapon.



Her friend had deserted her, and none of them even knew it. They all just thought she’d be living a normal life by now. Just kicking back in Italy, going out and getting a new boyfriend or something.



Everyone always thought that would be what she’d want. Except Spike.



He always known a normal life would not only be almost impossible for her, but also dull as hell. He knew her so well. She really wished he was here now. To help her with living her whole over life again. She’d leaned on him so much that last year in Sunnydale.



Next thing she knew, a loud bell started ringing. Shirking her out of the depressing train of thought she’d been following, and sending her off to her first history lesson, again. Giving her the chance to look forward to remeeting Cordelia.



Yay.

Arriving at her next lesson, Buffy saw people around the school she’d thought she’d never see again. Jonathan, Amy, Scott and even human Harmony. Everyone was here, again.

But no one else knew. And that was a thought that plagued here throughout most of history.

Even though the thought was strange, other worldly and kind of terrifying, she would have much preferred them than what pulled her out of them.

Buffy looked up startled as Cordelia leaned across her desk offering to share her book. Buffy hadn’t even noticed she was supposed to be taking notes. Somehow she got the feeling she might actually be worse at school this time around than before.

“Thanks,” Buffy mumbled, finally starting to participate in the lesson for the first time.

Man she wanted to avoid any interaction with Cordelia as much as possible early on. She was really quite unbearable for the first few months, and then only slightly improved.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of book work, the school bell rang out like a choir of angels. And Buffy knew what was coming.

Quickly, Buffy scoped her bag of the floor, praying beyond all belief she could escape quickly and avoid all confrontation with Queen C entirely. But no such luck, she was too quick for even Buffy’s slayer skills to evade successfully.

“Hi, I’m Cordelia,” she said out stretching her hand for Buffy to shake it.

But Buffy, wanting nothing to do with the huge bitch, for at least another six months. So she ignored the gesture completely and stood up.

“Buffy,” the slayer said quickly in reply, quickly making a dash for the door.

“You know, if you want a text book of your very own, they’ll probably have some in the Library,” she called as Buffy left the room.

“Thanks,” she replied coldly back. Waving one hand above her head and not even bothering to turn around as she left.

Cordelia simply stood there in silence, shocked by what had just taken place. And all she could think was, what a bitch.

**

Buffy couldn’t care less about what Queen C thought about her, she was just a popular girl with the ten foot pole you wouldn’t touch her with rammed right up her ass. So instead of making small talk with the stuck up mass she walked swiftly on. Because she was on a mission now, get to the Library and find Giles. She had a goal, and she needed to complete it.

Of course, what she was gonna do once she saw Giles was completely lost on her. What do you say to the man who was like a father to you for six years, before he left you, teamed up with a revenge bent principal to kill your closest friend, then left you out completely out of looking out for the slayers of whom it was your idea to call to the job in the first place? And yet he knew none of those things had even taken place.

So instead of thinking about it she decided to dive right in. Like with a cold plunge pool. If you put too much thought into it, you’d never sanely do it. So you just had to suck it up and jump in.

And that’s what she was doing, as she burst through the wooden doors to the local hell mouth high Library.

“Hello, any one in here,” she shouted, scanning the room for any signs of her former/new watcher.

Last time she’d been here, she’d been looking the other way, and he’d startled her from behind. Making her appear to be a weak slayer to him in their first meeting. Weak and so young.

But she wasn’t that girl anymore, and she wasn’t going to pretend to be. So Giles would not be meeting a timid fresh slayer, wanting out of the whole destiny deal. This time around, he’d be meeting Buffy Summers, girl in charge.

Giles was standing behind one of the shelves, stacking books, when he heard someone burst into his Library. He could hear them shouting from where he was and he was having none of it. He was a respected watcher after all; he was not going to take that kind of behavior from any student here.

Stepping out of his place in the shadows, he approached the cocky girl. Who, in turn simply stood there defiantly, hands on hips.

“I’ll have you know this is a Library, young lady,” Giles said sternly watching the girl. “And I will not tolerate…”

“I’m new,” Buffy interrupted him, finding it kind of funny he didn’t know who she was. And also a little annoyed that he had the nerve to talk to her like that.

“You’re… good lord,” Giles said removing his glasses. “You’re Buffy Summers aren’t you?”

“Yep, that’s me, and I come in search of vampires,” she smiled at him. This would defiantly be a better start then the reluctance she’d shown before. This time she was here happy, powerful and ready to slay.

Maybe the two of them would get to have more of a working relationship this time around. Being his friend would probably be a lot easier than being his surrogate daughter. She might actually get to control her own life.

“Oh my. I’m Rupert Giles, I was told you were coming,” he said rushing behind his desk.

“I kind of guessed that. With the way your eyes went all wide and stuff.”

Well she certainly was bold he thought. Which could only be a good quality in a slayer. It might just keep her alive, as long as she wasn’t to overly sure of herself. The girl was only sixteen after all.

“I know just what you’re looking for,” he said reaching under his desk.

Suddenly he stood up, and abruptly dropped a large book with a thump onto the center of the table.

It was made of old weathered brown leather, and had gold clasps and decoration around it. It looked extremely old, but Buffy was pretty sure she already knew everything that book had to say. Yet she’d never before gotten around to reading it.

Not thinking to check her words, she burst out, “hey they spelt Vampires like the way Andrew says it.”

“The way who says it?” Giles asked confusedly.

Suddenly realizing her mistake, Buffy fumbled for words to cover herself up. “Urrrr… arrr… ummm… oh, a friend. From Hemery. Urrrr… He, watched a lot of movies.”

“Right,” he replied eyeing her suspiciously.

“Well, I’d love to sit around and talk about vampires, but I need to be somewhere right now. I’ll be back later though. Try not to wear a hole in your glasses while I’m gone, ok?”

“Uh, oh yes, quite,” Giles stuttered, putting his glasses back on. She’d forgotten how British he’d used to be.

Turning and walking towards the door she laughed to herself. This could turn out to be quite fun if she played her cards right.

Just before she left, she turned around smiling. “Bye Giles.”

“Goodbye Miss Summers,” he replied.

“Just call me Buffy,” she said.

And then she left.

**

The next stop was gonna be a fun one, and there was no doubt about it.

Ah yes, the joys of seeing her confident goddess best friend as a timed normal school girl. It was just so bizarre.

Not that Buffy wished her friend to stay like this forever. But it was going to be funny and really kind of ironic whilst it lasted. Yesterday, Willow had enough power in her to end the world, and today… well let’s say she’d have trouble ending a spider.


As Buffy marched through the halls on her way to the courtyard, she began thinking to herself. Thinking how incredibly small the school actually was. She clearly remembered a tall giant scary building that was literally on top of hell. But it wasn’t quite that bad. Well no one was exploding… at the minute.

As she entered the courtyard she saw her friend come into view, and crossed her fingers. Hopeful she’d get this right and the base for future friendship would be set. But she couldn’t get rid of that niggling feeling in the back of her mind saying that things might to go as they were meant to.

But with determination, she walked straight up to her future best friend.

“Hi,” she said simply, smiling.

“Urr, hi. Do you want me to move?” Willow asked timidly, looking up at the new blond girl.

“No. I was thinking more alone the lines of, hi I’m Buffy and you are?”

“Oh, right. I’m Willow,” she said smiling and holding her hand out for Buffy to shake it.

It was seriously giving Buffy a major case of the wiggins to see the most powerful human alive acting so shy. She remembered Willow being like this, she just never thought she would see it again.

So plastering a smile on her face, Buffy took Willow’s hand as she continued.

“Well, I’d also like to ask you a favor.”

“Really, ‘cause I’m not so good with anything involving exercise. Or you know, upper body strength.”

“Not that type of favor. It’s just I have this burning desire to not fail all my classes this year, and I heard you were the person to talk to,” Buffy said trying to repeat as much of the conversation as she could remember.

“Oh,” Willow said, her face lighting up. “Well I could totally help you out. If you have sixth period free we could meet in the Library…”

“No,” Buffy cut her of remembering that this should be the only time they meet today before the Bronze, and she needed at least some of that stuff to go down so they’d believe in vampires. “I mean, urr, I’m busy later. I’ve got some serious unpacking to do at my house, what with the move and all. But we could meet up some other time.”

“Oh, ok. But have you seen the new Librarian. He’s really cool,” Willow beamed.

“Yeah I saw him. He seemed nice,” Buffy said nonchalantly.

“He was a curator at some British museum, or, or The British Museum, I'm not sure. But he knows everything, and he brought all these historical volumes and biographies, and am I the single dullest person alive?” Willow gushed in one breath.

“Not even a little bit,” Buffy replied watching Xander and Jesse walking towards them.

In one swift move, Xander flung himself up onto the wall behind the girls. While at the other side Jessie came to a standing halt, and dropped his bag casually to the floor.

“Hey,” Jesse said, smiling at Buffy. Huh, she’d completely forgotten how he looked over the years, dark hair, pretty plain.

“You guys busy? Are we interrupting? We're interrupting,” Xander chatted from the wall. Then suddenly he raised his bag and tossed it casually over to Jesse.

“No you’re not interrupting. More… joining without invitation, and disrupting the flow of conversation,” Buffy suggested.

“Yeah, I heard about that. Not interrupting at all then,” said Jessie, dropping Xander’s bag next to his own.

“Buffy, this is Jessie and that’s Xander,” Willow laughed pointing to her friends.

Look at us, Buffy thought, we’re all together again. Her friends and her had finally been reunited, and it was fantastic. Everything was fixed. And tonight she’d save Jesse, and then it would all work out.

“Oh, me and Buffy go waaay back, old friends, very close. Then there's that period of estrangement where I think we were both growing as people, but now here we are, like old times, I'm quite moved,” Xander joked quickly, but Jesse didn’t let it lie to long.

“Is it me, or are you turning into a bibbling idiot?” he quipped.

“No, it's, uh, it's not you,” Xander confirmed, looking embarrassed and blushing again.

“Well it’s great to finally meet you guys, I think,” Buffy laughed, glad to see her friends happy again.

Jesse even looked like he might be a fun addition to the group, like another Xander. “Well, you know, we wanted to welcome ya, make ya feel at home, unless you have a scary home...”

“And to return this,” Xander said holding up her stake. Buffy was fining it really had not to laugh at his puzzled expression as he continued. “The only thing I can think is that you're building a really little fence.”

Leaning over to take back her weapon Buffy explained in the most unconvincing way possible. “No little fences, it’s a self-defense thing. You know everyone’s got one in LA,” Buffy said, trying desperately not to laugh. Laughing would get her nowhere.

“So what do you do for fun, what do you like, what do you look for in a man, let's hear it,” Xander quipped eagerly, hoping to win over the blond with his charm… and failing.

“If you have any dark, painful secrets you'd like us to publish?” Jessie joined, keeping pace with his friend.

“Oh I’ve got my share of secrets, but really I don’t know you guys that well, you could be like crazy people or something. I probably shouldn’t tell you,” Buffy said coyly looking at the ground. She knew she shouldn’t tease them, but what harm could it really do.

“There’s no need to worry Buff, we’re only crazy behind closed and locked doors,” Xander said, mock seriousness.

“And even then the worst we’d do is listen to music loudly,” Willow smiled joining in.

“Willow, you crazy party girl. What haven’t you been telling us,” Jesse said in mock horror.

Willow didn’t really get a chance to reply though, because before she’d so much as opened her mouth Queen C came barging over.

“Hey Cordelia,” Jesse smiled widely at the cheerleader.

But his efforts of kindness went in vain, as she simply cast him a look of disgust and spat out, “oh, please,” before turning to talk to Buffy. “I don't mean to interrupt this little gathering of pathetic, but I just wanted to tell you that you won't be meeting Coach Foster, the woman with the chest hair, because gym was canceled due to the extreme dead guy in the locker.”

The brunets tone was cold and icy as she talked to the slayer. After the way the blond had totally blown her off earlier, and was now hanging with these geeks, she wasn’t gonna bother even trying to be nice.

Buffy really couldn’t care less. Sooner or later, the cheerleader would inevitably hook up with Xander Buffy guessed, and then and only then would she be nice to the girl. At least then Cordelia would start acting civil towards them.

“What are you talking about?” Willow said fearfully looking up at Cordelia. She didn’t want anyone to be hurt, let alone dead.

“Some guy was stuffed in Aura's locker!”

“And he was dead?” Buffy asked once more just to make sure everything was happening the same as last time.

“Totally dead. Way dead,” Cordelia exclaimed whilst gesturing with her hands.

“It's not just a little dead, then?” Xander sneered sarcastically back to her, but she was quick with her retort.

“Don't you have an elsewhere to be?”

“Y'know, if you need a shoulder to cry on, or just to nibble on...”

The lusty look in Jesse’s eye caused Buffy to have to hide a giggle that arose in her throat. God, it was just too funny.

“Seriously,” the cheerleader growled at the boy, before looking to the others and sneering, “later losers.”

“Well that was just chocked full of friendly,” Xander said turning his attention back to Buffy.

“Cordelia can be a little… unfriendly sometimes,” Willow explained.

“And a total bitch the rest of the time,” Buffy guessed mock cheerily.

“Wow, ten point to Buff for stating the obvious,” Xander commented. “Hey Jesse, come back to us man.”

Jesse was still stood facing away from the others; watching the cheerleader from afar.

“Sorry Xand, but how can you not see how excessively hot she is.”

“Ok, eww. I prefer my women warm blooded.”

Buffy smiled slightly as the banter between her friends continued. It had been too long, and now she had forever ahead of her.

It couldn’t get any better… almost.

**

“Giles,” Buffy called as she walked into the Library once more. “You in here?”

Dead guys in lockers lead to the supernatural around here, and that lead to Giles. So it was time to talk Vampires.

“Ah, Buffy. Is everything, uh, is everything alright?” Giles questioned, as he appeared from behind one of the far bookcases and began to approach.

“No. I’m sorry to report that we’ve got vampires on campus.”

Giles stopped to lean against the banister to the steps as he removed and began cleaning his glasses. “Oh, I see. Well I was afraid of this.”

“Vampires? There nothing. I’ll just find whoever did this and stake them, simple. It like falling off a log.”

“Good to hear you’re so, ah, keen. W-will he, the boy, will he rise again?” the watcher asked, replacing the glasses on his face.

“No. He’s just dead. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t more of them out there. I’ll do a patrol of the nearest cemetery’s tonight before heading to the Bronze.”

Really Buffy knew she was lying. She wasn’t lying about killing the vamps, because they would be dust by morning. She was lying about doing it before going to the Bronze.

“The Bronze?”

“It’s a club. I thought I’d swing by.”

“Buffy do you really think it’s wise to go out partying when there are an untold number of vampires roaming the streets,” Gilles said sternly.

“Calm down Giles,” Buffy stated in an annoyed tone. “I’ll kill the vamps then I’ll party. And hey, there’s always vamps roaming the streets. There everywhere.”

“Which is exactly why you should be out fighting them, not out enjoying yourself whilst innocent people are in danger.” Quickly Giles ran into his office, only to return a few moments later carrying four large books. “Now, I believe this whole area is a centre of mystical energy, that things gravitate towards it that, that, that you might not find elsewhere.” With each monster he names he put one of the books down on to the table with a thump. “Such as zombies, werewolves, incubi, succubi, everything you've ever dreaded was under your bed, but told yourself couldn't be by the light of day. They're all real!”

“I know that Giles. And if I spend every moment of my life fighting and do nothing else, the monsters will still be there. They just keep coming and coming. I could kill a hundred, a thousand, a thousand-thousand and the enemies of Hell besides, and there will still be monsters. So do you know what I’m going to do. I am going to go to the Bronze, I’ll see my friends and I’ll kill vampires every night. But I am not going to give up my life, because it is not worth it.”

Giles was taken aback by that. He’d know from the moment he’d met her that this slayer was head strong, but this. It was amazing. It was, right.

“You-you’re right. Sorry if I came on a little strongly. O-of course you have the right to keep your life,” Rupert stuttered to the girl.

“Thank you Giles. Now did you have something you were going to tell me.”

“Oh yes, quite. It's getting worse, the influx of the undead, the... supernatural occurrences, it's been building for years. Something's coming, something, something... something is, is gonna happen here. Soon.”

“Do you know what it is?” Buffy asked.

“There are signs, that as far as I can tell, are pointing to a crucial mystical upheaval, very soon. Days. Possibly less. But I have had no luck in finding out any information aside from that.”

“Thanks for the tip. Maybe I’ll get a chance to question the vamps before I dust them, they might know something.”

Of course Buffy already knew the harvest was the event the Giles was predicting, but until she met Angel she wasn’t support to know anything on the subject. So she kept quiet, she could tell Giles about the harvest tomorrow. For now she’d just keep her head down.

Suddenly, both watch and slayers attentions were caught by the sound of the Library doors being pushed open behind them.

“Oh, hey Buffy. What are you doing here?”

“Hey Xander, I was just asking Giles if he had any history text books I could use. It would appear I didn’t get one, and I really don’t want to have to share with Cordelia,” Buffy smiled as her friend came in.

“You had to share with Queen C, ouch. I feel your pain. I myself was looking for a copy of 'Theories in Trig', I hear it’s a great read.”

“Willow tell you to get it?”

“Yes.”

**

After Buffy finally got home from her first day back in school, she set about unpacking the tones of boxes scattered around her room.

It had taken up almost two and a half hours, but eventually Buffy managed to unpack the final box. If anything, this time around it had taken far less time than the first, mostly for the reason that she’d out grown almost everything she currently owned. Which meant that almost all of her belongings had remained within their boxes, and she’d simply piled them all up in her cupboard to later go to the attic.

It wasn’t really as if all the posters and toys held any really importance anymore; not after everything she’d been through. After you survive one or two apocalypses, dolls and pictures don’t really register on your list of essentials anymore. So everything got packed away.

Well, except Mr. Gordo. She could never outgrow her favorite stuffed piggy.

So once she finished sorting her room out so it was just how she’d like it, she got ready to Bronze it.

Of course last time around she’d been all set to dress to impress, which hadn’t gone down so well. World saving and fashion sense were defiantly non-mixy things. But she wasn’t really worried about having looks to kill, she needed looks for killing.

If she remembered correctly, tonight she’d have to talk to Willow and Giles at the Bronze, then go with Xander to the cemetery where she’d face Luke and Darla. Oh, and not to forget meet Angel for the first time down a dark and mysterious alleyway, yay.

But there would need to be some changes this time. For one she’d need to get Jesse, Willow and Xander out of there as soon as possible; stake Luke before the harvest had a chance to begin and not to mention mess with Angel’s head as much as possible.

Angel wouldn’t know it, but the slayer already knew a lot about him. In fact she knew more about his soul than he did.

So tonight she needed to dress for a fight, and that what she did. Quickly she slipped into some pale blue jeans, that weren’t so tight that she’d have too much difficulty if she went for a high kick; a simple black shirt and some boots.

She thought about putting her hair up. She’d done it last time, and it wouldn’t get in the way. It wasn’t that long though, not to mention it worked so much better with her outfit to keep it down. But most of all she thought quickly about how much Spike had liked to see her with her hair down.

Goldilocks he’d called her. His Goldilocks. So as she brushed her hair, she decided to keep it down, just to smile at the memory.

“Hi, hon,” Joyce said smiling as she came into Buffy’s room.

“Hey mom, I was just getting ready to go out.”

“Oh, where are you going?”

“To a club, the Bronze. ‘Cause I hear that’s where all the cool kids are going,” Buffy laughed putting down her brush and turning to her mom.

“Will there be boys there?” Joyce asked, looking strangely concerned at the thought of male company.

“Yes there will be boys. But I am on a strict no male interactions diet, so you can calm down.”

“All right then, but do be careful sweetie,” Joyce smiled stroking Buffy’s hair as she talked. “You know, I think we can make it work here. I've got my positive energy flowing... I'm gonna get the Gallery on its feet... Oh, uh, we may have found a space today.”

“That’s great mom.”

“Oh, and that school is a, a very nurturing environment, which is just what you need.”

“Well, I think I might be a little old…”

“Oh, not too nurturing. I know, you're sixteen, I've read all about the dangers of over-nurturing.”

She didn’t know the half of it. To be over twenty years old and hear that you need a nurturing environment, was just plain wacky, even if you’re in the body of a sixteen year old.

“It's hard. New town and everything... It is for me, too. I'm trying to make it work,” Joyce said tenderly as she took Buffy’s hand, “I'm going to make it work.”

“And I’m gonna help,” Buffy smiled back. “I know things got a little crazy in LA, but I’m with you mom. I wanna make it work to.”

“I’m glad to hear it. Now don’t stay out too late, and have fun.”

“I will,” Buffy said leaning in to kiss her mom on the check. “See you later mom.” She really loved being able to say that.

**

Locking the door behind her, Buffy left the house.

She was actually leaving a lot earlier this time for one reason, if she had time then she had time for small mistakes. Hopefully everything would happen as normal up until they ran into the vamps, at which point drastic changes would need to be made.

So with her plan of action in place, she pulled the key out of the door and was about to set of.

But then she heard a voice.

A voice she hadn’t heard in months.

A voice she’d dreamed about every night since she’d stopped hearing it.

A voice that said;

“Buffy?”

I Found You.



Slowly, as if scared moving too fast would make him disappear, Buffy turned to the owner of that deep soft voice.

The impossible voice.

The voice that she’d given up hope on hearing again completely.

“Spike?” her voice barely more than a whisper.

And then she gasped.

Her hands flying the cover her mouth.

And there he was. The man who she had watched die saving the world, for her, was standing before her. Standing literally feet away from her. He was really there.

He looked younger somehow. But it couldn’t be him. He couldn’t be there. He didn’t even know her yet. This couldn’t be her Spike; it had to be evil Spike. The Spike who hunted slayers, massacred millions and loved that skank Drusilla. It had to be. But the look in his eyes told her different.

“Buffy, is it you? M-my Buffy. I mean…” he swallowed. “Do you know who I am?” He looked like he was terrified for her to answer. And that in its self was proof enough. He was her Spike.

All the panic she’d been feeling through the day was gone. He was there. And he knew her. He was her Spike.

She wouldn’t have to deal with evil Spike again. Or worry he wouldn’t fall for her this time. Because he was there. He was back. He loved her.

Not being able to contain the swell of joy burning inside her any longer, she threw herself into his strong amazing arms. Finally feeling complete for the first time in months as he pulled her closer to him with all his strength. Each of them was clinging to the other with such power; it would have easily crushed simple, normal human beings in seconds. But neither of them was normal by a long shot. So they could stand there, happily wrapped in the death grips they each had around the other.

“Spike… you’re really… Spike… please don’t let me be dreaming… I can’t be dreaming… you’re really back?” Each word she said was broken by a sob. Every breath was a struggle. Buffy could feel the hot wet tears flooding her eyes, and soaking into Spikes shirt, and she loved it. It took her a few moments to realize she could also feel a few of Spike’s tears dropping onto her back as well.

“Not a dream luv. It’s real. God, it’s really real,” he sighed in relief, tightening his grip on the sixteen year old body before him, who was really so much older.

“I was so scared you wouldn’t know me pet. You’d just think I was some bloke with drop dead good looks.” She could practically feel him smirking at her. “I was terrified.”

Then his head just dropped down and buried deep into Buffy’s golden hair. “God I love you Buffy. Love you so bloody much.”

And then she froze.

Those few words made her suddenly remember their last few moments together. Suddenly Buffy wasn’t quite as over whelmed with joy. She was pissed off.

Pushing herself out of Spike’s grip and punched him hard in the stomach before he had the chance to stop her.

“Bloody hell Slayer, what was that for?” Spike rasped, doubling over and clutching his stomach in pain.

“You didn’t believe me!” Buffy shouted angrily. “The last chance I’d ever have to say it, and you didn’t believe me. You… you stupid vampire.”

Tears long forgotten, angry Buffy was out. And she was Pissed.

“What the bloody hell, are you prattling on about?” Spike said, looking not entirely confused.

“You. I’m prattling on about you, and your stupid you brain. I was about to lose you forever. It was the last chance I’d ever get. And you thought I was just saying it to make your death worth it. To make you happy in your final moments. No, you were about to be gone forever, and I hadn’t had a chance to tell you. I couldn’t let you go not knowing. God, Spike. The amount of sleep I lost thinking you didn’t believe me.” Buffy’s voice softened though out the speech. And now her watery again eyes were locked in gaze with Spike’s intense blue one. So much emotion shone in those eyes. It always had. Even there in the dark she could see it. And right then, they were full of hope. Hope that she was saying what he thought she was saying. “Believe me now Spike. Please. I love you.”

And in an instant, he was kissing her. A deep passionate kiss. Filled with the longing both had felt for so much time. The longing for her and those honest words. For him and his sweet tender touch. To be together. Finally.

Buffy melted under him, as one hand was buried deep in her hair and the other was on her lower back, pulling her against him. She moaned in pleasure as his tongue gently teased its way across her lips and into her mouth.

The sounds Buffy was making only made Spike despite for more. He pushed her up against the wall of the house, and deepened the kiss further. Lovingly running his hands all across Buffy’s soft sweet body. Feeling her soft curves against his gentle touch for the first time in what felt like an eternity.

And as she watched him as he kissed her, she was again distracted by the thought that he somehow looked younger.

“God Buffy, never thought you’d… never… God I love you,” Spike moaned in-between the kisses and breaths. “Say it again. Please. Again.”

“I love you Spike. I love you so much. Missed you.”

Biting gently onto Spike’s soft lower lip, he growled deeply in pleasure. The lustful vibrations coming from his throat only achieved in making Buffy crave him all the more. She started to run her hands slowly over his soft chest, muscled chest… warm chest...

And she froze.

Spike had been many things over the years. He’d been, evil, annoying, dirty, sexy, caring and heroic. But never, in the entire time Buffy had known him, had he been warm.

Spike looked down at Buffy, figuring he knew perfectly well why she had stopped dead in her tracks. It had him freaking out just less than a day before about it, and he was desperate to see Buffy’s reaction. You see, it’s not every day your whole life is flipped on its head, and then spun around a few times for good measure.

He opened his mouth to start trying to explain the situation, when Buffy’s hand flew up to cover it. She didn’t want him to say it. She wanted to find out herself. Feel it herself.

She shuddered gently, as she felt his warm breath against her palm. Spike had breath, and it was warm.

Finding it harder and harder to breath, Buffy did the only thing she could think to do in that instant. She grabbed Spike firmly by the shoulders, and thrust her head hard against his chest. Not really caring if she hurt him right now. Just desperate to know for sure.

And there it was. Almost gleefully proving her amazing, impossible theory to be true. That steady rhythm. She could feel it pulsing softly against her ear, again and again. Possibly the most amazing thing she had felt in her entire life.

Spike’s heartbeat, gently pumping away.

She could feel the tears of joy begin to flow down her face again. He was not only back. He was alive.

Hardly being able to bear the intense emotion any longer, she looked up in awe at Spike’s loving gaze. He wrapped his arms tight around the small teenaged body that was pressed against him, and whispered with a smile, “takes a bit of getting used to don’t it pet.”

Still knelling on the floor, and looking up in amazement at the impossible man she’d happily give the world for. She just managed to reply in a whisper, “Spike. How? When?”

“Around twenty four hours ago. No idea how though. What about you?”

“What about me?” Buffy said slowly standing up.

“How long you been here?” he asked tenderly, stroking her hair.

“Oh, right,” Buffy had completely forgotten she was back in Sunnydale. Completely forgotten her first day of school replay. Forgotten she’d died. Forgotten everything in the world, but him.

Him and his heartbeat.

“About twelve hours. I just got to relive my first day of school on the hell mouth.”

“That must have been fun,” Spike said sarcastically. Taking her hand in his as they began to walk towards the Bronze, together.

“God, don’t even joke about it. French certainly hasn’t gotten any easier. Stupid school,” Buffy grumbled resting her head on Spike’s seemingly low shoulder. Maybe he wasn’t wearing his boots.

Quickly, she wiped away her tears and just enjoyed reveling in his sheer existence. She wasn’t sure why she was talking about school at a time like this, but it seemed appropriate.

“Être seize est difficile. Bonne chose ton copain parle le français.”

Pulling away and stopping were she stood; Buffy stared at Spike in utter shock.

Spike. Live in a crypt, cheat at poker, great at sex Spike, spoke French.

“You speak French,” Buffy said disbelievingly. “Ok now I know I’m dreaming.”

“Hey,” said Spike looking annoyed. “I’ll have you know Slayer, I speak seven languages.”

“Oh you so do not,” she said looking at him in disbelief.

“I do to.” The angry look on Spike’s face was getting seriously funny.

“Really, which ones.”

Spike then proceeded to list the languages while counting on his fingers, “French, Spanish, Latin, Samarian, Fyarl, Ugandan and the kings sodding English.” That devilish smirk that knew Spike’s face so well looked back at her. Appearing quite overly satisfied, but somehow different. There was little light were they were standing, so she decided to ignore the fact.

He was standing there, looking smug, and she loved it. Loved every little bit of it. But couldn’t let it go.

So Buffy just stared back at him and put her hands on her hips. “Ok, for a start, you made one of those up,” she retorted.

“No I did not,” he said, getting defensive again.

“Then what the heck is ‘Fyarl’,” she said crossing her arms and raising her eyebrows.

They were having an argument. And it made her insides swell up with joy.

“It’s a demon language you dozy bint. Why do you think I could understand Giles when he was all demony, and none of your bloody scobbies could?”

And then she cracked. Completely losing track of what they’d been talking about, she looked instantly up at him, with shock in her eyes. “Demony,” Buffy giggled madly.

“God, I’m starting to sound like you Slayer.”

“To bloody right you are,” she replied hosting an evil grin and a glint in her eyes.

Spike mouth grew into a massive smile as he watched her saunter over to him and put her arm ‘round his waist. Where she then pulled him to her tightly.

“This is real?” Spike questioned. Usually when something as good as this happened, it turned out to be some kind of spell.

“Completely,” she whispered. “And you’re alive.”

“Apparently.”

“Wow.”

It was a lot to take in. It was everything to take in.

“I love you.”

“I love you to.”

It was the truth. She really did, and that fact made him so unbelievably happy. So happy he wondered how it was possible Angel could even look at her knowing how she’d felt and not lost his soul on the spot.

Buffy also shared the same feelings. She looked so happy; so complete. Like she’d just finally found her missing piece. And Spike was beyond happy to be that piece. Ecstatic in fact.

Buffy loved him. At long last, the one thing he’d always craved, but never thought possible, had happened. She loved him. It was beyond perfect.

He put his arm across her shoulder and pulled her into him, as they began to walk away again.

After a few minutes in comfortable silence, just enjoying each other’s presence, they began to walk under a street lamp. Instantly, Buffy looked up to meet his gaze, wanting to see him in the light again for the first time in months. And what she saw beyond shocked her.

Pulling away from his warm embrace, she looked at every inch of him. She was right before. He did look younger. A lot younger. He was shorter for a start, and his cheek bones weren’t quite as sharp as they were before. Not to mention his coat was hanging on him funny. If asked before, to take a guess at Spike’s age, she’d have gone with some were in the late-twenties. Now though, he looked nowhere near that age.

Spike, seeing the confused and almost scared look Buffy was giving him, really put him on edge. After about a minute of her complete silence, he spoke up. “What exactly are you staring at slayer?”

Not changing the expression on her face in the slightest, she replied, “Spike, exactly how old are you?”

“Bit of a personal question there pet,” Spike answered, beginning to nervously shift from one foot to the other under Buffy’s intense gaze and running his hand through his hair.

“Spike just answer the question,” Buffy said in a stone cold voice. She was deadly serious. Now he was getting scared.

“Uh,” Spike started, swallowing. “I’ve about hundred and twenty three vampire years on me, and around twenty seven human.”

“Well you don’t look it.”

“Should I be takin’ that as a compliment,” he laughed, trying to lighten the mood and failing.

“No, you should take it as a warning. Spike,” she said suddenly looking into his eyes. He could clearly see fear in them, and he didn’t like it one bit. “Spike, you look about sixteen.”

“What. That’s not possible.” Suddenly the look in Buffy’s eyes passed over to Spike’s. “Slayer, if this is a joke…”

“It’s not. Look.” Buffy reached into her bag to pull out a fairly large makeup mirror.

Spike was about to object, saying he had no reflection. When he suddenly remembered his new found humanity, and decided not have Buffy look at him like he’d forgotten how to use logic or something. He then started wondering why he hadn’t thought to look in a mirror before now. But the thought stopped dead in its tracks when he looked into the reflective surface before him.

First there was the initial shock of having a reflection in the first place. But it was the appearance of his reflection which caused him to freeze solid in place. This was not the bleached blond vampire he’d seen in photos or on video tapes. Nor was it the reflection of the ponce William from over a lifetime ago. No, this was Spike as he vaguely remembered looking back when he was sixteen. With the addition of bleached blond hair, a scar across one eyebrow and a leather coat that was a little too big. Spike was sixteen.

Buffy, still in shock herself at the appearance of Spike, noticed he’d started hyperventilating. If this was how freaked out Buffy was at Spike’s body, she was scared to imagine what he must be feeling.

“Spike. Spike look at me,” Buffy whispered carefully. Being back in her sixteen year old body was a shock, but at least she remembered looking like that. It had only been seven years or so since she looked into the mirror and seen that girl; Spike hadn’t been sixteen in over a century though. And seeing him panicking like that was bringing fresh tears to her eyes. But she had to be strong. For him.

Slowly Spike tore his eyes away from the mirror in front of him, and looked at Buffy. In all her life, she had never seen Spike look so scared. And it broke her heart.

“Buffy.” His voice shaking a bit as he said her name. Like it was his only life line. Without it he might just break down completely. Like he needed her.

She moved into him, carefully wrapping her arms under his coat and around his waist. She could literally feel him tremble as he closed his arms around her back, pulling her into him.

“Spike, it’s ok. Look, I don’t know what’s happened here. But it looks like we’re both sixteen again,” she said stroking his back. “And you’re human. But you’re still super strong, and I’m here. And I love you, so much. So it’s gonna be ok. Ok?” She pulled away a little, not leaving his arms, to look into his eyes. His young eyes, for any sign he might be okay.

Looking at her, and knowing he’d gotten the girl, was defiantly enough for all this to be worth it. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t scared. He might have been twenty seven for a long time, but he hadn’t been sixteen in over a hundred years. He barely even recognized the boy staring back at himself in the mirror.

But she was here. She loved him. And he could tell she was scared as well. So he’d just suck it up. For now. For her.

“Yeah pet. I’m fine. Just a bit shaken up is all. Not every day you look at your reflection for the first time in over a century, and you don’t completely recognize the man staring back at you.”

Buffy could see he was still really freaked out, but he was trying to be brave. Right now they both really needed each other. And for the first time, they were really there.

Slowly, Buffy pulled Spike’s head down and placed a soft gentle kiss on to his lips.

Relishing in the sweet taste of Buffy, Spike pulled her closer and ran his hand though her golden hair, as he so loved to do. He could hardly believe this was real. Buffy loved him. And God did he love her back.

“I can’t believe this is real. If it weren’t for the whole being sixteen part and having to stake Dru, I’d be bloody well sure that I was heaven right now.”

Buffy pulled away and stared at Spike in disbelief. “You staked Drusilla. When did this happen?”

“Buffy, where exactly do you think I woke up?” Spike asked raising an eyebrow.

“Oh,” Buffy hadn’t really thought about that yet. She just thought ‘hey, Spike’s back’. “So what happened, from your point of view I mean?”

Spike and Buffy started to walk again hand in hand. “Well, I remember being in that sodding hell mouth. Completely ready to die for love, honor, glory and all the right reasons. And the next thing I know I’m back in bloody Prague, with Dru attacking me with a pillow. I mean I knew she was crazy, but I didn’t realize she was that of her rocker. How the in hell I didn’t see that before I don’t know…” But Buffy cut him off.

“Because you loved her. Spike I know I’ve been one hell of a bitch to you in the past.” She could see he was about to object, but she carried on.

“Don’t you try and tell me I haven’t or it wasn’t my fault, because that’s what I’m talking about. Spike, when most people love each other, they look at their flaws, and either accept them, try to change them, or ignore them completely until it destroys the whole thing,” She said smiling. She knew she had referenced both Angel and Riley in there, even if Spike didn’t know it himself.

“You Spike. You love people for everything about them. Flaws and all. You would never try to change someone you loved, or leave them because they acted in a way you didn’t like. You fight for your love. You will never let it go until it forces you to. And that is why you didn’t see Dru’s madness, or care about my bitchy side. That’s why you Spike, are really amazing. Why I love you so much.”

Spike couldn’t even find words for what seemed like forever after hearing that from her. But eventually he finally managed, “when’d you get so good with words luv.”

“It comes with age,” she said smiling and curling into his side again. “You can continue your story now.”

She thought he was amazing. Buffy thought he was amazing. That in itself managed to stun him into silence for a good few minutes. But after a while, he managed to pull himself together enough to continue.

“You know, I kinda like bitchy Buffy,” Spike joked, causing Buffy to smile at him again. “Well anyway, Dru was screaming about some Shanshu bugaboo. Which can I just say, I didn’t have a clue what she was on about. But when she started reaching for the actual weapons, I knew she wasn’t just having a fit. She was gonna try to kill me, and then she started on about you. Said she was gonna find you and… So, I smashed a chair, and staked her,” his voice shook a little as he said it, but he held it together.

“Spike are you ok. ‘Cause, you did kinda love the girl for a hundred plus years,” Buffy said, gently squeezing his hand in hers.

But she could tell he was gonna be fine though. It might have taken him this long, and maybe Buffy saying she loved him helped it along to. But Spike realized now, Dru never loved him. Even if he been willing to give up everything just to see her smile. She never loved him back. He was convenient, and devoted. But still nothing to compare to her precious Daddy.

“Yeah, I’m fine. She was gonna come after you, and I didn’t know if you were you or sixteen year old Buffy. I wasn’t gonna risk letting her hurt you,” Spike smiled to himself. Happy he’d finally figured out Dru’s game, and that he’d gotten out of it. “Wanna here the rest of the story pet?”

“Yes please,” said Buffy smiling sweetly. She was quite glad to know that Spike liked her better than that Gothic ho bag. Even if he still loved her a little, Buffy had come out on top. He was in love with her. Of course she actually loved him back, and that was bound to gain her some extra brownie points.

“Well, after the dust settled, I realized exactly what had happened. And after a few minutes panicking over this heartbeat I’ve suddenly gained, I set of to come straight here. Found a teleportation demon to get me to LA, and took the car from there.”

“And what would you have done? What would you have done if I hadn’t known who you were?” Buffy asked with concern evident on her face. She had been really worried about having to deal with evil Spike again all day, without ending up melting down mid fight or something.

“Not entirely sure. Hung around and seen if I could have helped you and your scoobies with my vast knowledge of the future, I suppose.”

“Speaking of people who hang around and help out. I’m about to get my first visit from tall dark and forehead,” Buffy scowled, feeling the tinglies going off on the back of her neck. It was kind of weird not feeling Spike’s.

Tall dark and forehead she’d called him. Buffy’d called Angelus tall dark and forehead, Spike thought, and she’d sounded annoyed about seeing him. Maybe, just maybe…

Spike stopped dead, a wicked smile playing on his lips. Buffy turned to look at him. “What are you smiling about?” she asked, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer or not.

“I’m just guessing here, but it’s only you’n’me who know about the future right.”

“Yeah, what’s your point Spike?”

“Just that we could have a lot of fun with this.” The look on his face was much more like that of Spike’s before the soul than now. And for some reason, all that did was excite her more.

Finally, Buffy caught onto Spike’s plan. And grew a wicked grin of her own that could give Spike’s a run for its money.

“Well we really should tell someone about the future. Just in case of emergencies,” Buffy said coyly. It was time for a little Angel shaped revenge.

“Right, of course. Emergencies.” Spike was grinning so wide, his cheeks began to go red. Which was quite a strange color to see on Spike.

And then she felt it grow stronger. Those same tinglies she’d always associate with her past love. Almost like someone scratching her neck. He was close, and this was gonna be so good.

Buffy grabbed Spike’s arm and quickly pushed him behind a pile of trash cans without a second thought. She could hear him quietly cursing, as he got himself into a more comfortable position, which only made her smile even more. But she quickly switched to a more solemn expression as she saw a tall dark figure emerge from the shadows.

“So you’re her then. Truth is, I thought you'd be taller, or bigger muscles and all that,” Angel smiled approaching slowly.

“Oh, I was taller. About the same in the way of muscles, but I’m stronger than I look Angel,” Buffy said sweetly. She loved knowing so much about him, when he thought she was oblivious. Heck, she knew more about him than he did. She’d only said his name, and he already looked startled.

“So you know who I am then. Don’t worry though I don’t bite.”

Spike hiding in the shadows couldn’t wait any longer. He knew he got bored easily, and he wanted a piece of this taunting Angelus business. Seeing Buffy about to reply to the brooding ones comment, Spike cut her off, stepping out of the shadows just a bit as he did so.

“You tell that to all your victims Angelus,” Spike said smiling as he approached the pair. But what Spike didn’t predict, was the moment Angel heard Spike’s voice, he charged at him.

Angel grabbed Spike by the throat and pushed him up against a wall in darkness. Not being able to breath, Spike started to panic as he tried to push Angel off him. Angel just held him there with all the force his body could muster, holding him slightly off the floor.

Now, choking was not an experience Spike was used to. He knew what it felt like to not be able to breathe when he didn’t need breath, just sort of a lack of movement in the chest. But now he could feel his throat tightening painfully, his vision was beginning to blur, his lungs constricting as he gasped for air he couldn’t find.

After the initial shock of seeing her ex-love attack her current one, Buffy noticed Spike was struggling for air. And, being human, breathing was something he needed to be able to do to survive. Scared for Spike’s life, Buffy threw herself at Angel, tackling him to the ground in an instant.

“Buffy,” Angel said whilst being pinned to the floor. “Don’t believe what he tells you. I’m not evil. I came here to help.”

“I know you did Angel,” Buffy said releasing her grip on Angel and running over to Spike. Who was lying on the floor with his hands on his neck, struggling to breathe through the pain around his throat. “But killing Spike really isn’t going to help.”

Angel looked down, at the blond stroking he grand child’s back and telling him to breathe. Why was she telling him to breathe? Was this slayer so gullible, that Spike had actually convinced her he was human? But then why did Spike look like he was in actual pain. And why wasn’t he getting up?

Carefully, Angel listened closely to the air. What he heard shocked him so much he literally stumbled backwards. He could hear two heartbeats. One of them was obviously the slayers. But the other one was impossible. There was no one else around. But it couldn’t be true. Spike couldn’t be alive, could he?

“Spike. Spike look at me. Just try to breathe. Come on Spike. Come on, breathe.” Hardly able to contain herself anymore, she flung herself into Spike’s arms. Whispering “breathe,” over and over again like a mantra.

“It ok pet, I’m fine see. Just a bit… you know I don’t even know a sodding word for what I’m feeling right now.”

“Would someone please explain to me what the hell is going on?” Angel exclaimed, starring at the couple before him in complete shock and confusion. What was happening before him made quite literally no sense. Not even a little bit of sense. Sense was nowhere to be found here. Spike was human, and Buffy was hugging him. He was at a loss for words.

“You mind taking this one luv. I’m finding it right bloody hard to talk at the mo’,” Spike chocked.

“Of course sweetie, just keep breathing. I won’t lose you again.” Buffy kissed Spike on his forehead and turned so her back was pushed into his chest. She began talking again as Spike wrapped his arm around the small slayer, and the other still on his throat.

“Angel it’s a hell of a long story, and I really don’t know where to start.”

Angel looked over the pair sitting before him, needing answers he replied, “Just start at the beginning.”

Nice Try.

Angel really couldn’t believe it. It was impossible. It was completely impossible. How could all that have happened in the future? But there they sat. Both of them sixteen. And Spike was breathing.

Spike was human.

Spike had a soul.

WHAT THE HELL HAD HAPPENED?

“So you’re really twenty two?”

“Yeah.”

“And Spike’s human and sixteen?”

“Looks like it doesn’t it mate.”

“And you’re both from the future?”

He couldn’t get his head round it. They’d only told Angel the basics, skipping as many personal details as much possible and sticking to just the main plot line. They’d missed out relationship facts, specific big bads, and everything to do with the scobbies personal lives. So Angel was lost, looking at half a puzzle.


“Yes. Now Angel has successfully managed to repeated everything we’ve just told him, can we go save my friends?”

Buffy got up out of Spikes lap and held out her hand to help him to his feet as well.

“What are you talking about luv?” Spike asked brushing the dirt from the back of his duster, which was feeling annoyingly, and rather disconcertingly, large on him. He’d spent years having that coat as just the perfect fit on him, and now… It was wrong.

Buffy inwardly scolded herself for forgetting. She really had only just remembered the destruction and horror that had originally occurred that night, and she felt stupid. She’d gotten so caught up in Spike being back, and alive, that she forgot she needed to save her friends. Luckily she was still pretty sure she had a few more minutes before Jessie and Willow were taken off to the cemetery by Darla and that other one. But she would have to start hurrying everything up.

“Well, right after I talked to Angel last time, and he gave me the cross necklace...”

Suddenly, Buffy stopped talking, looked up, and held her hand out expectantly at Angel. After starring at the girl’s out stretched hand for a moment or two, Angel finally caught onto her idea and proceeded to pull a small black box out of his coat and pass it to her. Spike watched with a grin as Buffy pulled a silver cross necklace from the box, not even casting a look the broody ones way. She was so uninterested in Captain Forehead in was unreal. When the hell had that happened? Spike thought with overwhelming glee.

“Thanks,” she said sweetly, which made a quick rush of jealousy flood through Spike. But he remembered instantly that Buffy had not once so much as looked at Angel in any romantic manner since they’d arrived here, and suddenly he wasn’t so jealous any more. He’d got the girl. He’d come out on top. Sod Angel. He’d won.

“Yeah thanks mate. It’ll look right pretty on my girl,” Spike smiled as Angel let out a low growl.

“After I got the necklace, I went to the Bronze and ran into Willow. But a whole bunch of stuff happened and it wound up with Willow and Jessie being grabbed by vamps. And one of those vamps, will be Darla,” Buffy explained, looking Angel directly in the eye.

Angel cast his eyes quickly away from the look, jumping to the point. “So what are you going to do?” he asked, looking over at the blond couple. Who had, over time, moved closer and closer to each other again subconsciously. Which made Angel oddly angry. But still, mostly just confused.

“What do you mean me?” Buffy growled out at the vampire before her. “You are going to help us, she’s your sire.”

No way in hell was Buffy going to let Angel mope around and stay out of the fights this time around. If he wanted to help then he could help `

Buffy turned to look at Spike as she said, “I’d say we head down to the Bronze and see if they’re still there. If not, we head out after them and Darla.”

Angel shifted uncomfortably, hearing the name of his sire being used again. He had been hoping to avoid all contact with her if possible. But the fact they were both in the same town, and she was after the slayers friends, didn’t make that option look very likely. He didn’t want to see her when the Slayer was there, but she was endangering the lives of innocents. So, reluctantly, he set off towards the Bronze.

Buffy turned to look at Spike as Angel started to walk away and into the darkness. “Here, would you do my necklace for me?”

Before Spike could react, Buffy thrust the silver cross into his left hand, and he jumped into action. Instinctively, he dropped the cross to the floor and jumped back clutching his hand in shock. He was so focused on the event itself, that it took ex-vampire a moment to realize that his hand wasn’t burnt. It wasn’t even so much as smoking. In fact, the metal had felt cold against his warm skin.

Looking up at Buffy in bewilderment, he saw the slayer laughing at him.

“You’re an idiot, you know that right,” she giggled, her face changing color rapidly.

“Hey, why am I an idiot exactly Slayer?” Spike was starting to get annoyed again, still not understanding what had just happened. Which only ended up making her laugh more.

“Because you wake up a human, don’t even think to look in a mirror, and freak out the second a cross touches you. You really are a dope.” She was smiling up at him with a huge toothy teenage grin that he couldn’t help but match with one of his own.

“Yeah. I suppose I am a bit, aren’t I,” he said laughing at himself and running a hand through his hair, causing a few of the tightly geled back curls to spring free from their solid lock. And man did he look adorable when he laughed.

Buffy really hadn’t seen that sight very often. And that fact made her ache.

Spike though was feeling kind of dazed. He was still thinking like a vampire; the truth of what had happened to him was yet to still fully sink in. But he was happy, and he could hardly wait for morning.

“Stupid ex-vampire,” she laughed, picking the cross off cold ground and putting it on herself, having more successful results. And then it really hit her, even if it hadn’t hit him. “You’re just like me now,” she whispered softly, looking up into his eyes in wonder. Slowly she walked toward him. She placed one hand in his, and the other against his warm beating chest.

Spike looked down at the girl he’d love for so much, for so, so many years. And as those years had passed, the hope of her returning his affections had grown weaker and weaker. When he’d gotten his soul, he’d given up hope entirely. All he’d ever wanted from her were a few golden crumbs. But now he had the whole sodding baked cookie.

More than that, he was perfect for this prefect girl now. He had the heartbeat. He’d lost that annoying sun allergy (which he was yet to fully appreciate). He was still strong enough to fight at her side. And he was the same age as her. He’d just gained ownership of the bleeding bakery.

The whole thing was so amazingly perfect, it was really quite suspicious. But for now, he’d gotten the girl, he’d won the cup, so he was just too happy to pay any mind to it. As long as he had Buffy, it would be ok.

Stroking her hair with his free hand, he looked down at and said almost reluctantly, “Come on then luv. We better catch up to the brooding wonder up ahead, or else he’ll save your mates and nick all the glory.”

“Are you kidding, this is early days Angel. He’ll just make some cryptic remarks and see what happens. And then brood about what happens. So… yeah, I guess we should probably catch up,” she mocked. And with that she took off running after Angel, pulling Spike roughly along by the hand.

Angel, walking up ahead, was still unsure as to how he was supposed to take this sudden burst of news. His grand childe had a soul, how they hadn’t told him, and was human. And even more than that, he was clearly in love with the Slayer. Not to mention the fact she seemed to return the feelings. What had happened.

Not a few days ago had Angel been watching this girl from afar, seeing such a sweet lost little girl. An exceptionally young slayer that would for sure have a hard time dealing with her calling and the consequences it came with. Who had been kicked out of a school already, for things she couldn’t even control.

Now that girl was seven years older. No longer a sixteen year old dealing with being the chosen one. But an adult, who had accepted the calling completely. Who clearly knew now what she’s doing and how to do it. And doing it all with Spike by her side; not him.

Why did he want it to be himself so badly?

It wasn’t as if he was in love with her or anything. He hadn’t even spoken to the girl before tonight. But he defiantly knew he was attracted to her, a strong attraction. But she’d been sixteen, it was wrong. Every wrong.

But now she wasn’t really sixteen. She was over twenty. And he also wasn’t sure how to take her and Spike being together. He was starting to wonder how the two of them and wound up together in the first place, when the blond pair shot past him, giggling like crazed idiots.

“Yay I win,” Buffy smiled happily.

“I didn’t even know we were racing pet. So how the hell was I supposed to beat you,” Spike laughed pulling the giggling slayer into his arms.

“You weren’t. That was why it was so clever,” she said looking up into his eyes and rocking back and forth happily. “I’m so glad I got you back. I thought I’d never see you again,” she said her face suddenly serious. Her mood swings really where insane.

Spike looked deep into the eyes of the girl standing before him as he realized something. A frown spread across his face as he asked, “I came here right after the hell mouth shut down, right. So how long were you there for after that? You didn’t just pop back, right?”

Buffy just pulled him closer to her, burying her face in his neck. She inhaled deeply, reveling in the smell that was Spike. He smelled like smoke and leather, and it was a smell she’d missed so much over the past few lonely months. Months of torcher and emptiness. No one but Dawn, who wasn’t even back with her yet. The council had finally turned her into nothing but a Slayer. And the council had been future Giles.

She took another deep breath before she replied simply, “longer.”

Spike wanted to know more. Know what his girl had been through. But he remembered the last time she’d given that as an answer to him, and he knew that he should wait.

She could tell from the look in his eyes he’d want a fuller answer from her later. But for now he just let it lie, as he stroked her hair aside and whispered, “ok.” And for that she was thankful.

Angel stood and watched the whole exchange. Even though the situation had been mostly explained to him, he was still finding it hard to believe Spike had fallen in love with a slayer. Killing them he expected him to do. But falling in love.

And what the hell had happened to Drusilla. Last time he’d seen Spike he was all over her, claiming their love to be eternal and forever. He wouldn’t have left her for just anything. Something really big must have happened in the future to tear them apart. Even if Dru wasn’t quite as devoted as Spike, she still wouldn’t touch anyone but him. Well, except for Angelus…

But just before Angel could go any further with that train of thought, he saw Buffy look up and run out of Spike’s arms towards a boy with dark brown messy hair, and a really bad shirt.

“Oh hey Buff, didn’t know you’d be coming here tonight. I was just about to go,” Xander said watching the hot blond who was running towards him with concerned eyes.

If Xander was leaving, not arriving, then she might be too late. And that could not happen.

“Xander, is Willow in there?” Buffy asked stopping dead in front of him.

“Nah, I persuaded her to go and talk to a guy, and they left a few minutes ago. All I could think was ‘go Willow, scoring at the Bronze,’” Xander proclaimed smiling widely. He loved Willow, but really not in that way. He was glad to see her talking to other guys. Any other guys.

“Crap, I’m too late. Right Xander you’re coming with us,” the Slayer said, grabbing his hand and turning to go.

“Hey, wait Buff,” Xander said pulling away. “What’s all this about, Willow’s gonna be fine, it was just a normal guy. Ok, albeit a very badly dressed normal guy, but still, no problem. ”

“No it wasn’t Xander, we need to find her before she gets hurt,” Buffy replied seriously.

How could she let this happen. God it was her fault.

“You’re serious about this.”

Her gaze was cold, and maybe a little scared. But he knew what ever happened next. He was in this now.

“I am, and if we don’t go now there’s gonna be two more dead bodies in the morning,” and with that she turned and marched towards the two guy’s who’d been standing behind her the whole time.

Quickly Xander chased after them all questioning, “two?”

**

After several minutes of running, the four of them began to approach the grave yard.

“Buffy what’s happening here? What’s going on?” Xander asked trying to keep up with the other three who were moving quickly through the graveyard with no sign of slowing. “And who the heck are these two guys?”

“Xander, I really don’t have time to explain this. But I promise I’ll tell you as soon as I can. But right now we need to run,” Buffy said, sighting the familiar crypt up ahead and breaking into a run a full Slayer run.

Spike and Angel closely followed behind Buffy, not even so much as breaking a sweat. Well, Spike’s heart sped up a bit. But unfortunately Xander, being deprived of the useful abilities of super strength and speed, was finding it a lot harder to keep up.

Coming to a grinding stop outside of the old crypt, Buffy turned to Spike and Angel. “Darla’s in there, and I know she’d recognize both of you in an instant. You’re gonna have to wait outside while I sort things out. The second you see Willow and Jessie get them to safety. No one gets hurt, are we clear.”

“Crystal slayer. But if you need a hand…”

“I’ll shout. Don’t worry Spike, two vamps, I can deal.”

“Let’s do this then,” Angel said as Xander caught up with the group, leaning over and breathing hard.

“Ok, so running, not fun,” he huffed as his lungs ached.

“Come on Xander, this is our cue,” Buffy said striding readily up to the crypt.

“Pet,” Spike said before Buffy went in. “Watch out yeah. Darla may seem stupid, but she’s got a lota years on us all. Be careful.”

“Always,” she promised solemnly, locking eyes with his for the briefest of seconds. Then she turned, and entered the crypt.

**

“You’re not going anywhere. Until we’ve fed,” Darla hissed at Willow, who stumbled back onto the floor with a scream.

It didn’t look like there was going to be any way out of this. Trapped in a crypt, with a badly bleeding friend and two bloody thirsty monsters. Unless she somehow developed super powers in the next three seconds, or it started raining holy water inside, the two friends chances were seeming dishearteningly less than slim.

Well she’d lived a good life she supposed. Made some memories, had some close friends. So what if she’d never been all that popular with the cool kids, or at all. That wasn’t so great, right. Lots of mean fake friends who follow you around and pretend to like you, who wants that, really. Having Xander as her closest friend all those years, and Jesse when he’d arrived, that was way better right?

As Willow’s thoughts clouded her mind, threatening to take her over completely with their intensity and hopelessness, the crypt door flung open with a bang. She was knocked out of her daze by the noise just enough to notice that someone new had come in.

“God I really hate you vampires,” Buffy said charging into the dusty room, and suddenly Willow was filled with instant hope. “All high and mighty with your strength and immortality.”

“Who the hell are you?” Darla growled at the new comer who was so rudely getting in the way of her hunt.

‘God am I gonna have to reintroduce myself to everyone’, Buffy thought as she pulled a stake from the back of her trousers. All ways good to keep one tucked there.

“I’m Buffy, the vampire Slayer. And you’re Darla, the bid pile of dust. Now get away from my friends,” Buffy snarled back advancing on her prey.

“Buffy, we bail now right?” Xander called from the entrance where he stood and watched. He really didn’t like the look of these guys and was majorly hoping that they could just grab Willow and Jesse and run. Plus, there was something up with their faces.

“Not yet,” the other vampire answered, prowling towards Buffy. He didn’t so much as cast an eye to the sixteen year old boy at the door. He was nothing but a week child. But this one; she reeked of power. It was intoxicating.

“Oh please, you have no say in the matter mister I’m so 80’s,” Buffy said snidely, turning staking the vampire in one swift move, proving exactly how deadly her power was. “Man, fledges are so annoying. They think the all big and evil ‘cause they woke up dead… or something that makes sense.”

“He was young and stupid,” Darla said almost timidly as Buffy turned to her, frowning at her own comment before rejoining the battle.

“Yeah, and you’re old and stupid. Xander get them out of here. Now!” Buffy ordered.

He couldn’t believe what was happening. Vampires. Actual real vampires. And one had turned to dust, right in front of his wide and bulgy eyes. In all honesty he was too confused to argue, or even think coherently for that matter. Nothing was making any sense, and he really didn’t think that there was much time to figure it out right at that particular moment. So mindlessly, he stumbled into action.

Reaching down and helping Willow to lift Jessie up so that he was slung between them, the three teens made it out of the crypt. One completely unconscious, and the other two dazed with fear and confusion.

As soon as they made it safely out of the crypt containing the monsters, they were greeted by the two men Xander had seen from earlier.

“Hey men in black, mind giving us a hand here,” Xander laughed trying to defuse the tension of the situation, somewhat unsuccessfully.

Spike ignored the boy’s comment, instead jumping straight to his main concern. “Oi, is Buffy alright in there?” he asked, taking one side of Jessie from Willow who was struggling with the weight.

“Yeah, she was dealing fine last I saw. But I say we get out of here. Stat,” he stated back in fear.

“Good plan, come on,” Angel said beginning to move away with speed. And just momentarily afterwards, the others began to followed.

**

Back inside the crypt Darla and Buffy where still trading blows with more ferocity than ever. They were sore and aching, and Buffy was near desperate to take her out.

“Seriously Darla, what is up with the whole school girl get up? Aren’t you like four hundred or something,” Buffy said between strikes, then punched Darla so hard she flew right across the crypt.

“Who are you?” she asked again, pulling herself up and glaring dagger’s at her opponent.

“Don’t you know?” Buffy snarked back, pulling out her stake again.

But Darla didn’t have a chance to respond, because suddenly a cold rough hand grasped Buffy tightly around the back of her neck, and pulled her up into the air.

“I don’t care,” Luke growled, before throwing her violently across the crypt.

Buffy crashed into the wall with a hard thud, and winced as she felt the wind rush brutally out of her lungs. Being thrown into walls was never a pleasant experience, and no matter how strong became, that fact wouldn’t change Buffy had found.

Picking herself up off of the floor, Buffy cursed herself for forgetting about the sudden surprise attack that she’d thought she’d remembered so well. The fight with Darla though had caught all of her attention and she’d been foolish enough to let down her guard for a moment.

Luke had been a strong opponent if she recalled correctly. One of the only few vampires to not meet a dusty fate apron their first meeting. As a matter of fact, she would have died that first time they’d met had it not been for luck and a necklace she’d gotten less than an hour before. But she wasn’t going to get lucky this time; she was going to win from power, skill and good old Slayery charm.

“You were supposed to be bringing an offering to the master. We’re almost at harvest, and you dally with this child,” Luke growled to Darla who stood in the corner, looking scaredly at Luck. Like she was afraid of him?

“We had someone, but then she came. She killed Thomas. Luke, she's strong,” Darla whimpered.

“You go. I'll see if I can handle the little girl.”

“God, I’m standing right here,” Buffy scowled, dusting herself off, and walking forward confidently over to Luke as Darla fled the room. She was going to go and get back the others as soon as she could.

Had Spike and Angel not been waiting out there to protect her friends, she would have ditched Luke for now to run after Darla and take her out straight away. But the two of them could easily handle it. Spike was more than a match in a fight, and Angel had taken out Darla once before as she remembered. So she stayed where she was, and focused on killing the dick before her.

Luke, not bothering to wait to be attacked by the small girl, dived in to punch Buffy hard in the face. But she quickly blocked it, completely unfazed by his attack, and punched him in the stomach. The force of the blow sending him stumbling back a few steps.

“You’re strong,” he noted.

But before he could move in to attack again, Buffy leaped forward kicking him hard in the head. The power behind the attack had been so great and so unexpected, that the ancient vampire flew across the room, his back slamming into the side of a sarcophagus with a slam.

Piece of cake.

“More than strong,” she retorted pulling out her stake with fire burning in her eyes. “More than you anyway.”

**

Spike and Xander struggled to move as fast as they could with a half conscious Jessie slung between them, haphazardly. For a start, Spike wasn’t tall enough in his current state to hold Jesse off the floor properly from his side, so the teen’s feet dragged limply behind the two as they tried to run. Not to mention that Xander wasn’t fast enough to keep up with the others without Jesse, let alone whilst trying to carry him.

“Oi, brooding wonder, give us a hand would you instead of running of ahead you great ponce,” Spike called agitatedly after Angel, who was speeding of ahead with Willow close behind.

“How about you pick up the pace boy!” Angel shouted back, otherwise ignoring the annoying blond and focusing his attentions on getting the girl behind him to safely.

Spike sighed as he witness the start of Angel’s hero complex come into light.

He couldn’t let the poor defenseless damsel fall into harm’s way, now could he?

“And so it begins,” the Blonde groaned.

They’d managed to get about half way back towards the entrance to the cemetery, when they were ambushed by at least seven vampires from all sides, snarling at the ready.

“Bollox,” Spike cursed, him and Xander coming to a grinding halt.

“Grab Jessie off Spike,” Angel instructed Willow, as he prepared for a fight. Being careful not to fall into gameface.

“I’m getting the feeling that this is not good. Like Armageddon meteor kind of not good,” Xander said mockingly, scanning the area for more attackers as Willow took Jesse from Spike.

She struggled to hold up her friend’s weight, but Xander, being taller, was doing most of the work.

“It’s really not good,” Angel confirmed, falling naturally into a battle stance.

Willow and Xander both stood stricken with fear and clinging desperately to Jessie, as the others began to fend off the approaching monsters. They could feel their hearts pounding furiously in their chests, as they each struggled to keep their sleeping friend from tumbling to the floor.

Angel pulled out a stake from one of his inside coat pockets and dusted one of the younger vamps before lunging into another attack from the side. He fought, blocking punches and kicks, as two more of the beasts circled him. Analyzing every move the master vampire made in a desperate search for any flaws.

Spike on the other hand, had ran round to the other side of the three teens huddled in the middle, in an attempt to stop the approaching vamps from getting them whilst Angel protected them from the opposite side. But unfortunately, unlike Angel, Spike didn’t have the luxury of a stake. So as he pushed off the first two vamps, he realized he was going to have to use the more advanced moves in his arsenal to keep the attackers at bay without an immediate way of disposing of them.

The worst part was, because Spike was now human, most of the vamps identified him as the weaker of the two, even though it was far from the truth. The fact he was without a weapon only added to their assumptions. This meant that most of the beasts chose him as their target instead of the git fighting on the other side. Spike was in for a fight.

But all the while Spike and Angel battled, neither of them managed to notice the smiling blond vamp watching eagerly from the shadows. Hidden deep in the clouds darkness, out of sight from human eyes, Darla smiled.

“Looks like almost the whole family has come to town,” she laughed. “Reunions are always so… violent.”

It was going to be a whole lot of fun.

**

“Hey Luke… didn’t you know… if you take on something as hot as this.” Her stake slid deeply into his chest. “You’re gonna get burned,” Buffy quipped happily. The dust exploded around her in a violent burst, causing the old tattered crypt to look even filthier than it had done before. The ashes coating the floor as well as Buffy in a fifthly mess. Which, unfortunately, Buffy managed to somehow breathed in.

“Note to self. Pun then dust,” Buffy chocked and coughed as she wiped the remains of the vampire off of her tongue with the back of her sleeve.

But before she could brush the hideous demons dust from her clothes, a blood curdling scream rang out through the crypt, echoing of the walls and twisting through the Slayers head.

And before the sound of the scream had even so much as left her ears, buffy rushed out of the crypt and into the night.

Her friends needed her.

**

Angel had dusted about four vamps when he found himself completely free from attack. The last one who’d come at him had just about managed knock him out with an all-out punch to the face. But luckily he’d recovered just about quickly enough to block the next blow and shove the stake quickly through his unbeating heart.

Now he found himself vamp-less, and using the momentary break to his advantage, he turned round to check on all of the others. Willow, Xander and Jesse at some point during the fight had realized that all of the vampires attention was being completely drawn in by the two men who’d been protecting them. So using it to their advantage, the pair had begun to flee the scene, taking Jesse with them.

Spike on the other hand, was about twenty feet away. And he was surrounded by the unconscious and lifeless bodies of around six vamps. Each of them with clearly broken bones in several different places, and had he not know them to be vampires, Angel would have assumed them to be corpses.

Angel pondered (brooded, if you will) for a moment why Spike hadn’t simply dusted them, as he watched two more fledglings approach his former grandchilde. He knew full well Spike had never had any trouble with killing his own kind in the past. It was all just violence in the end to him. Of course he had been evil back then, so maybe it was different now.

But as Spike threw the smaller one swiftly over his back, then blocking a punch to the stomach from the other, Angel realized Spike’s little problem.

“Are you going to pass me a stake, or just stand there gawking at me like bloody idiot?” Spike shouted angrily at his motionless former grandsire. Who stood there doing nothing while Spike spun the big vamp into a head lock.

But the fledge quickly dropped his body weight, throwing Spike over the top of him as he did it.

“You think you can kill me,” the nameless monster hissed as he held Spike to the floor from behind. “I was a black belt in jujitsu before I was even turned. You don’t stand a chance you fool.”

“You think I haven’t got a black belt,” Spike snarled. “I’ve got at least twenty fighting style black belts on you mate. And several illegal one to.”

Spike reached up and grabbed the vampire’s wrist as he thrust his body from the ground, twisting said wrist as he went until the demon had to flip to avoid breaking it. Unfortunately, Spike hadn’t expected the vamp as quick as he was, and before he knew it they were both facing each other again, back on their feet and ready to continue the fight. But now, the smaller vamp Spike had thrown earlier was back up and ready to join his friend in the brawl.

“Fantastic,” Spike moaned sarcastically. “Jump in any time Angel.”

Angel had in fact been planning to help Spike, and whilst Spike fended off the apparent black belt, he been running around staking all of the unconscious vampires so that they could not go after the blonde again. He had been helping… Really!

But before he could reach the Spike to really jump into the fight, he had heard a voice. Her voice. And he instantly forgot about Spike. He forgot about Buffy. He forgot the world.

And he turned to face his sire.

“Hello lover,” Darla smiled, as she pushed forward a terrified Willow, and held up the unconscious form of Jesse by the scruff of his shirt.

And instantly, Willow screamed.

**

Buffy felt her heart pounding in her chest as she ran full slayer speed toward the sound of her terrified friend. She could feel the blood pounding in her head to the point of a dull, mind numbing pain; the deafening wind gushing through her ears in a rush; the cold night air biting at her face. She could feel it all, but she could only think one thing.

Gotta get to Willow.

She knew exactly what had happened here the first time around, and she would NOT let it happen again. It couldn’t happen again.

Jesse was not going to get taken. He would not be turned. And Xander defiantly would not have to stake his best friend. Not again, not ever. No!

She didn’t care what was happening behind her, or if anything was going to get in her way. She was going to save Jesse, because that’s who she was. Buffy Summers the vampire slayer. She beat the bad guys, because that’s what the good guys did best. They won. And that’s the way it was. It’s how the world worked. How it was meant to work.

But she knew that that wasn’t true.

Anyone could die.

**

Xander didn’t know what the hell had happened.

One minute, he and Willow had been limping out of the cemetery with Jesse hung between them weakly, whilst moving as quickly as they could. Even though every few seconds they had to stop to rearrange their unconscious friend in an attempt to get a better grip. If they dropped him, all hope would be lost, because they’d never get him up in time.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere a grinning blonde female vampire appeared in front of them. Her Cheshire Cat smile gleaming as she eyed up her meal. She was small and slim, dressed in a sort of catholic school girl get up, but Xander guessed instantly that was almost definitely an act. No way this evil hell bitch was holy enough the even touch a cross, let alone worship any kind of Righteous God.

She’d grabbed Xander by the front of his shirt, ripping the sides a little, and flung him across the graveyard. It all happened in the blink of an eye. Before the boy even had the chance to scream, his head hit against a tomb stone and he was knocked out cold.

Darla laughed as she prowled over to grab the fearful Willow and limp Jesse.

The brunette awoke a few minutes later, lying next to a crumbling, and slightly bloodied, tomb stone. His hand going to his head as the pain gurgled below the surface. It was not a nice feeling.

But he didn’t have time to dwell on his fun new head wound, because the next thing he knew he could hear Willow screaming from close by. Not to mention the fact that Jesse was also nowhere to be seen. So, ignoring the throbbing pain in his head, Xander scrambled to his feet, and ran in the direction he’d heard Willow terror scratch his ears from.

**

Willow was terrified.

So terrified she couldn’t think straight.

Blood run cold, eyes glaze over, heart stop beating terrified.

She’d thought for sure they’d be saved when Buffy and the two boys dressed in black had appeared. They looked like they were pretty good at fighting, not to mention they knew what the hell was going on. And then when Buffy’d turned that one to dust and the other two had taken on at least seven between them, Willow was sure that they’d really make it out fine.

That everyone would be ok.

But the blond monster had turned up out of absolutely nowhere. She’d just jumped in front of them and thrown Xander effortlessly to the side. Was he ok, was he alive. Willow didn’t think she’d be able to bear it if she lost Xander. He was her everything.

He’d smile at her lame jokes. He’d take her to the Bronze when everyone else had a date. He was her world. She loved him.

So now, huddled on the floor behind the nearest gravestone she could scramble behind, she felt completely terrified.

Vampires were real. Xander could be dead. Jesse was unconscious. And it was all too much.

Just too much.

Her own scream still burned in her ears, making almost all other sounds dull and fuzzy. She squeezed her eyes shut as tight as she could and she covered her ears with her hands as hard as she could. Curling into the smallest ball possible in her inflexible body, Willow wished she could escape.

And she prayed, she prayed that everyone would be ok.

**

Xander grinded to a halt at the scene he finally reached at the end of his blood pumping sprint.

He wasn’t entirely sure what he’d expected to find upon reaching his red headed friend… but this.

He was shocked. Frozen still to the spot as time slowly ticked past, and he couldn’t feel a thing. He legs were stone numb; his lungs painfully still; his eyes wide. He couldn’t even try to look away if he wanted to.

All he could do was watch.

**

Spike’s back crashed hard into an already crumbling head stone, crushing it to dust as the larger vamp threw him flying over his side, laughing.

“You cannot beat me. For I am Dan, the indestructible.”

“Oh for Christ’s sake, fledges get more and more deluded every year now don’t they,” Spike grumbled, flicking himself swiftly of the wet ground.

He was only facing the larger vamp again now. As shortly after the little one had once again regained consciousness, he had dived for Spike. But deciding he needed to focus all his attention on the black bet, Spike decided it would be best to simply kick him hard in the head and knock him straight back out, leaving him in a fair fight again. Well, a fair fight with Dan the indestructible.

Suddenly a scream rang through the air, jolting Spike out of the fight for the barest of seconds.

But before he could turn to find the source of the shrill terrified voice, a hard punch knocked him back into the moment. He had a bad guy to deal with.

“I think you are the one with delusions here. I’m a powerful vampire beast, whereas you are nothing but a weak feeble human,” the vamp teased heartily as he circled what he’d thought was bound to be his tasty pray. He was enjoying the battle, and the screams in the air simply sent shots of glee to his undead heart.

All the taunting and terror only did one thing to Spike though. It pissed him right off.

Flying into a series of well-timed, anger fueled punches, Spike became the hunter. “Really. Could a weak feeble human do this?!” Finally he punched the black belt demon so hard in the face that he flew across the graveyard, and smashed against the side of a crypt, cracking the wall around him.

Once satisfied, that his opponent wasn’t getting up anytime soon, Spike turned to find Angel and his stake.

But instead, his eyes widened with shock. It certainly wasn’t something he’d been expecting. And his only thought was, ‘I really don’t think Buffy was planning on that happening.’

**

She would make it. She had to make it. She was GOING to make it, Buffy repeated in her head as she rapidly neared the source of Willow’s scream. There was only one more turn and she’d be there. One more twist and she could save them. Just got to get round that one last…

It took her less than a second to take in the scene.

And in less than a second, it was over.

It was over.

Willow was curled into a small ball with her hands clamped over her ears, cowering behind one of the only undamaged gravestones. Xander was stood across on the other side of the scene from the red head, by a small dark dreary tree, frozen to the spot and shaking like a leaf. Spike was closest to her, turning away from a vampire that he had presumably just knocked out, coming face to face with the horror at almost the exact same second as Buffy.

But all of this was just background information, nothing but subplot. Seeing the center stage, Buffy’s attention instantly locked solid onto the action occurring within. And she hurtled towards it as fast as she could.

Darla was standing tall about twenty feet away from the racing Slayer. Her demonic mouth was curved into an evil smile directed at Angel, as she grasped Jesse firmly around the head with both hands. Menace shining bight in her eyes.

And Angel.

Angel was lunging towards Darla with all the force his body could muster. His eyes dark and hopeless as he flew towards her.

And then less than a second later…

Crack.