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“So this is it?” Spike cocked his head to the side and glanced at the scroll Fred and Willow were reading over.

“That’s it,” Buffy smiled at him from where she and Dawn sat on the sofa in Angel’s office, which they had all once again commandeered.

“I can’t believe it’s this simple,” Winifred pouted just a bit. “Just spout some phrases, offer up a sacrifice and voila he’s back. There’s got to be a catch.”

“Not seeing one anywhere,” Willow said as she turned from the scroll and snatched some the details of the ritual from Wesley to once again scan the documents for ick factors. “Looks pretty clear cut for a foray into the dark magiks.”

“Guess I was just overthinking it all with my extrapolations on interdimensional plasma dynamics,” the scientist sighed.

“No,” the Wiccan assured the other woman. “Not overthinking, just thinking with science. I used to do the same thing before I started to see that magik was … well, easier. See magic was around long before science and it pretty much has a solution for everything and it’s just a matter of finding the right history to find the spell or ritual or whatever is needed to get those ancient magiks working for us so we can bypass all the complicated science stuff.”

“Yes,” Wesley cleared his throat and calmly retrieved the papers from the redhead. “That is sometimes the case.”

Sighing at her empty handed status Willow rose to her feet and looked around to where Angel set.

“How long till we’re good to go on this?” she asked the brooding vampire who was rather deliberately studying files on cases the firm was supposed to be working on.

“Well, first we need to locate this crypt and get those monks who performed so much of the previous ceremony. After that it’s a simple matter of you saying all the right words to complete the ritual,” Fred replied when there was no answer from the man behind his desk. “Are you sure you want to perform it though? By all these accounts it packs quite a wallop.”

“I’m kinda used to wallops by now,” the Wiccan blushed a bit at the woman’s friendly concern.

“They’re on the payroll,” Angel informed them reluctantly. “They’ll be meeting us here as soon as night falls to take us to the crypt and perform the ceremony.”

Buffy and Wesley both looked at him with surprise evident on both they’re faces for varying reasons.

“You’ve certainly started the ball rolling on this,” the former watcher observed cautiously.

After a moment the slayer caught Angel’s eye and mouthed a sincere ‘thank you’ to him causing him to smile a bit and salute her with the mug of blood Harmony had brought him a few minutes ago.

“We should perhaps look a little further into this matter before performing the ceremony,” Wesley sighed. “After all that’s happened I can’t help but be weary at Voca’s mention of ‘the beast.’ Darla’s resurrection is what ultimately led to his appearance here.”

“But that whole situation can’t be replicated,” Fred argued. “It all happened because of a whole once in a lifetime chain of events resulting from Darla going back to being a vampire. You are wanting to stay human, right?” she asked Spike.

He and Buffy exchanged a look as he answered softly, “Yeah. I’ll want to stay human.”

“These monks, will they be doing all the work like it appears they did before?” Willow asked anyone who could answer.

“The holy place in darkness, annointing it with oil, blood of the living and living dead?” Angel asked wryly. “Yeah, they’re on that.”

“So there’s really nothing for us to do until tonight,” Buffy said with a bit of surprise at the realization.

“I should probably study the words I need to be saying so I get it right,” Willow again took some papers from Wesley.

“I’m sure you’ll do fine,” he smoothly reclaimed the papers. “We can practice in my office, though, as I’ve got the morning free.”

“I guess I better get to the lab since I’m not really needed,” Fred got to her feet.

They gathered their things and went off to their destinations, leaving the Summers sisters, Spike and Angel in an increasingly awkward silence.

“Seen any good movies lately?” Dawn asked in an attempt to break the ice.

~*~*~

“We should have like a present or something,” Dawn said as she and Buffy stepped from the elevator onto the proper floor of the apartment complex.

“I guess we could do our shopping first then come back to see him,” her sister paused thoughtfully.

“Be kinda silly since we’re already here,” the teenager sighed.

The slayer nodded in agreement and continued down the hallway to the apartment number Willow had given them.

She raised her hand and knocked on the door then waited patiently as her younger sibling was practically bouncing off the walls for him to answer.

“Maybe we should have called first,” Dawn tried to peer into the apartment through the tiny peephole in the door.

“She said it’s his day off. He’s probably - ”

“Andrew?!” both sisters stepped back in surprise when the door was suddenly opened by the familiar blonde.

“Oh my God,” he exclaimed before rushing forward to embrace them both. “Xander you’re never gonna believe who’s here!”

“What have I told you about answering the door?” asked a male voice from somewhere beyond the ecstatic young man holding them up in the doorway.

“I know, I know, don’t answer the door or the phone or anything that leads anyone to believe I live here, too,” Andrew pulled away from the girls with a roll of his eyes before grabbing their hands and pulling them inside the apartment.

“Are you living here too?” Dawn asked.

“Dawn?” Xander poked his head out of a room off to the right and looked at them in surprise. “Buffster?”

“Aren’t you glad I answered it this time?” Andrew glared at the other man.

“Don’t push your luck,” the brunette ordered as he came forward to hug first the slayer then Dawn. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We’re in town and you’re in town so we had to see the Xan-man,” Dawn smiled and lingered in his arms for a moment.

“Why aren’t you in jail?” Buffy was staring at the other blonde in the room.

“I was found not guilty due to being under the control the First,” he replied with a smile. “Angel’s firm represented me. They’re really good with the law stuff.”

“Yeah,” Xander pulled free of the arms around his neck. “They’re working on an appeal for Faith that should spring her legitimately in a month or so.”

“She went back?” the slayer was surprised to hear that news.

“Wood kinda convinced her to do the right thing instead of live out life on the lam and that Gunn guy found some errors in her first trial and convinced her that she won’t be there anywhere near what she was sentenced,” the brunette explained.

“Things change so quickly,” Buffy shook her head slowly at all that. “How you doing?”

“Good, good,” her friend assured her while waving a hand toward the couch. “I’ve gotten a lot of my depth perception back and can do some work without screwing things up. Don’t even hit my thumbs instead of the nails anymore,” he joked a bit then ran his fingers a bit self-consciously over the eyepatch covering his left eye.

“That’s great,” Dawn said enthusiastically as her sister smiled a bit sadly and reached out to squeeze the man’s shoulder as she remembered how he lost the eye. “So you’re working construction again?”

“Yeah. Caught a break and found the old crew from Sunnydale relocated up here. Bossman always liked me, so he’s giving me a trial run that’s looking pretty good.”

“This is a nice setup,” Buffy sat on the leather couch and stared at the large screen TV dominating the living room area.

“I chip in for rent,” Andrew flopped down in an armchair to their right. “I got this supercool job at a comic shop down the street. I’m finally getting paid to sit around and read comics.”

“So what brings you back this way?” the blonde man was ignored by the trio as Xander focused on Buffy. “Thought you were off telling the new slayers of the world about their new powers. Didn’t think that could be done in two months.”

“It isn’t,” she took a deep breath and prepared to give him the news she knew he would not like hearing. “Something else came up.”

“Not another apocalypse. There has got to be some kind of mandatory waiting period between those popping up here.”

“No, no apocalypse. It’s a good something. At least, I think it is,” she grabbed his hands in hers. “Spike’s not dead dead. He’s here in LA and tonight we’re gonna bring him back to life. Real life. Not as a vampire, but as a human.”

“Are you sure we can’t have an apocalypse instead?”

~*~*~

“I don’t see why we can’t add a bit of color to his wardrobe is all I’m saying,” Dawn sighed as her sister flatly refused to add the shirt the teenager held to their pile of items to purchase.

“We’re shopping for Spike, not Xander, and that shirt has too much color for even Xander to wear,” Buffy blinked at the glaring splashes of color and put the garment back on the rack. “You’re right about the color, though. Do you think they have anything to match his eyes?”

“Oooh,” her younger sister’s eyes lit up at the idea, “lemme look. And maybe some red like he used to wear.”

As her sibling rushed off in search of something blue, the blonde shifted the pairs of jeans and numerous black t-shirts she carried from one arm to the other to check her watch. She was surprised to see that only an hour had passed since they arrived back at this mall to shop for Spike’s return. Blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes she wondered why shopping wasn’t as much fun when shopping for someone else then she saw another shopper walk past with a shopping bag from a leather shop in the mall and she smiled.

Maybe she was just browsing in the wrong shop.





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