She was numb.

“Your mother passed away last year, Buffy. It was a brain aneurysm. She went peacefully, from what I heard. I’m so sorry.”

Her mother was dead.

And she had gone alone, without her daughter, wondering why she had never returned.

“She told me what she said to you, before you left. She didn’t mean it, was only taken aback by your revelation. She missed you very much. She would tell me how much she loved you, how precious you were to her, often. She was never the same after you left.”

Buffy had gotten out of the car as soon as they had reached Sunnydale, heading for the cemetery. She needed to be alone with her mother.

Only once she had reached the tombstone with the words JOYCE SUMMERS emblazoned on them did she let the tears fall.

She had left her mother, just like her father before her. Joyce had never quite recovered, according to Giles.

“You have to understand, she wasn’t very pleased with me. She refused to speak with me most of the time. But I believe that she was happy.”

It had been a lie, they had both known, designed to make Buffy feel better. Instead, she felt worse. She and her mother hadn’t been close since the Slaying and secrets had begun, but to know that she was gone, alone, and cursing her daughter’s destiny for taking her from her…

“I’m sorry, Mom,” she whispered, resting her head against the tombstone. She stared blankly at the stones resting on top of the marker. It was a religious thing. Jewish, maybe? Were they Willow’s last respects? She didn’t know if her mother had had any other friends or relationships in the past few years. Maybe a boyfriend? She wept again at the thought of what she’d lost.

It seemed like hours until she finally rose, distant voices forcing her to stir and wipe away her tears. She was in a cemetery at the Hellmouth, and nothing that came at night was good news. She dusted herself off and headed for a nearby brush, snapping a branch off a bush to use as a stake. Anne would have just torn off the enemy’s head with brute force. But she was Buffy again.

“…Such a sleaze. But Darren doesn’t care. Guys just care about getting laid.” The whiny voice of a teenager approaching didn’t sound very dangerous, but you could never be too cautious. “I swear, it’s impossible to get a hot guy in school anymore without sleeping with him!”

“You are not sleeping with anyone, Bit!” The growl sounded familiar, and Buffy jerked up, startled. “I’ll rip off his wrinklies before-“

“Eeeew, Spike!” the girl squealed, and Buffy jerked in surprise, moving to cross their path. Spike? Here? “Faith doesn’t complain when- Oh. What are you doing here at night? Are you stupid?” She tilted her head to assess Buffy. “Or a vampire?”

“This one’s human, Bit.” Spike mirrored the girl’s head-tilt. “In fact…”

“I thought we made a deal,” Buffy snapped, glaring at the vampire. “You leave Sunnydale with your ho and never come back. Get away from the girl.”

Instead of running or vamping, like Buffy had expected, Spike’s face lit up and he broke out into a wide smile. “Slayer! And here I thought it was my imagination telling me to run!”

“Slayer?” the teen crossed her arms. “This is the other Slayer? She’s so…” She moved forward to eye Buffy. “Short.”

Buffy scowled. “Who asked you? And you are aware that your boyfriend wants to suck you dry, right?”

The girl laughed. “Boyfriend? Spike’s Faith’s boyfriend. Or, I should say, fuckbuddy.”

“Language, Dawn,” Spike admonished. He sighed. “Go back to the Magic Box. Tell the Scoobs we have a visitor.”

“Whatever.” The girl tossed her hair and jogged off.

Buffy glared at Spike, then rushed forward and pinned him against a tree. “Give me a reason not to stake you now,” she grated.

“If you’d been here for the past few years, you’d know!” Spike retorted. “M’one of the white hats now, I don’t bite people!”

“You have a soul?” Buffy asked, startled.

“Bloody- No! I don’t!” Spike said, outraged. “Just a bloody chip in my bloody head!”

“Huh?” Buffy released him, frowning. “Chip?”

“Doesn’t let me hurt anyone human,” Spike explained, dusting off his clothes. Buffy wondered if he’d changed clothes in the past three years. Probably not, from the look of things. “Was bloody useless until I realized I could hurt demons. Then things were good.”

Buffy raised her eyes. “So you expect me to believe that the Slayer let you work with her? That you slept with her?” she added, remembering the teenager’s words from earlier.

Spike shrugged. “Slayer and a vampire. You and the poof weren’t exactly one of a kind.” He leered. “You must’ve been with humans since. You know that they can’t satisfy a Slayer.”

Buffy landed a punch on his nose. “Oi! Defenseless here, Slayer!”

“You’re a pig, Spike.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’ve got five minutes to explain.”

He grinned, unafraid. “Well, it started when Dru dumped me.”

“Dru dumped you?” Buffy smirked. “Took a hundred years, but she finally came to her senses.”

Spike gritted his teeth. “You don’t insult her.”

“Been pining after her?” Buffy sneered. “How very sad.”

“No more sad than running away after killing your boy toy and never coming back,” Spike shot back, and Buffy reeled backwards as though she’d been slapped. “Spoke to your mother that first time I came back. Dropped by a few more times. The lady was heartbroken.”

Buffy slapped him. “Shut up! You don’t get to talk about my mother.”

“Why not?” Spike demanded. “I spoke to her more than you before she died. Where the hell were you then?”

Buffy turned away, her eyes clouding up again with tears. She blinked them away and turned back to see Spike studying her with something resembling regret. “Just tell me what happened.”

Spike sighed and sat down against a marker. “Came back to kill you, mostly. Prove to Dru that my loyalty to her was still true. Saw Red and kidnapped her to do a love spell.”

“Spell?” Buffy frowned. “Wait. Willow does magic? I know she did the reensouling spell, but…”

“So it did work!” Spike said with satisfaction. “We never knew, but Will was pretty sure that she had done it right…”

Buffy nodded coolly. “Yeah. Willow managed her first spell. I killed Angel. Are we done now?” The memory still hurt, but didn’t sting nearly as much as it once had.

Spike leaned back, satisfied. “Guess so.”

“I hate you,” Buffy spat out.

“Mutual,” Spike said with no real rancor. “Anyway, I kidnapped Red and Harris. Faith came after me, we parted on semi-okay terms. Came back the next year, got the Gem of Amarra, Faith destroyed it, then the government got me. Stuck this chip in my head.” He sighed. “Couldn’t go to anyone. So I went to Rupes and Faith. They weren’t the best captors.” He smiled wryly. “’Course, I wasn’t the best captive. Then Red did a spell and botched it up, made Faith an’ me engaged.”

“Engaged?” Buffy echoed doubtfully. “So you’re under a spell?”

“Was under a spell,” Spike corrected. “Willow undid it. But we kept up the relationship. Soon after, I figured out that I could hurt demons, so I joined the gang.” He grinned. “Firs’ teamed up with a Big Bad or two, but I got over it. Been working with Faith for the past year or so, been sleeping with her for about two years.”

“Ugh.” Buffy wrinkled her nose. “I wonder what she saw in you.”

“Sees,” Spike smirked smugly. “Your information is out of date. We resurrected her last night.”

“Resurrected?” Buffy repeated faintly. “You mean…Faith…?”

“Alive,” Spike confirmed.

“Oh, god.” Buffy sank to her knees. “I should go.”

“Go?” Spike demanded. “You’re not going anywhere!”

Buffy sighed. “You have a Slayer. I’m just…redundant.” She turned to stare at Spike. “What do you care, anyway?”

Spike shrugged sheepishly. “You keep things interesting.” He jumped up. “C’mon. We’ll go to the Magic Box, you’ll meet the Scoobies.”

“There are more?” Buffy asked dubiously, following him reluctantly. “You, the kid, Willow, Xander, Oz…?”

“No Oz. Dog-boy came and left. Same with the cheerleader.” Spike led her through the streets. “You’ll meet demon-girl, the white witch…”

“Are you capable of calling people by their real names?” Buffy asked, laughing a little reluctantly. She turned back to her mother’s grave for just a moment, promising mentally to return soon.

Spike smirked. “Right. Misterrr Giles, Faith, Willow, Xanderrr, Dawwn, Anya, and Tarrra will all be there,” he said in an exaggerated American accent.

Buffy nudged him, smiling despite herself. “So you’re now armed with your fatal weapon of annoying me to death?” she wondered.

He grinned. “That’s the plan.”



Spike was glad to have the blonde Slayer back. Fine. He’d said it. Much as she was a pain in his ass and possibly plotting his dusty death, she was also the good one. And having her back made him wonder if she could make things right.

Spike didn’t delude himself. He knew that Faith’s penchant for violence wasn’t standard even for a Slayer. And he couldn’t help remembering Buffy sometimes, her brightness and witty quipping wiping Faith’s dark enjoyment in killing from his head altogether. Maybe she could have stopped Willow from going overboard, made sure that Glory would never have taken Tara and driven the dark witch into the blackness that had overwhelmed her since. Maybe she could have helped Giles with his feelings of uselessness or Anya with readjusting to human life. Maybe she could have stopped Willow’s old boyfriend Riley from being killed by Adam, not that Spike cared much about that.

Then again, maybe not. But either way, Buffy was back, and Spike couldn’t stop himself from feeling just a little pleased that she’d returned, all grown up.

And damn, but she had grown up. He peeked at her from the corner of his eye, taking in the gentle curves and slim frame, the pale skin, the fiery eyes…

She scowled at him. “What?”

Spike redirected his eyes forward. “So where have you been?”

“LA, then Pennsylvania,” she said curtly. “Giles came to get me earlier today.” She sighed. “I can’t believe this has all been one day.”

“It only gets worse,” Spike assured her, mentally softening at the sudden look of horror on her face. “Okay, only sometimes. And usually only on Tuesdays.”

Buffy just stared hopelessly ahead, at the Magic Box. There were raised voices coming from inside, and in the silent night, they carried clearly over to them.

“Seriously, Giles, you need to get rid of her! I don’t need some long-lost Slayer cramping my style!” Faith, shooting off her mouth. Spike sighed. Buffy didn’t need to hear this.

“Faith, I wasn’t aware of Willow’s plans when I went to retrieve Buffy.” Giles assured her. “But this isn’t up to you. Buffy is here now, and you two will work together.”

“We don’t need her.” Willow, her voice cold with venom. Beside him, Buffy stiffened, recognizing the voice and hurting from it. “What’s she going to do? Run the first time she has to fight a Big Bad?”

“I don’t know this girl, but I don’t like her,” Anya declared. “She seems irresponsible. Faith and Willow and Spike can handle the Hellmouth.”

Xander was next. “How about LA? Wes and Cordy could probably use a Slayer.” He sounded less malicious than Willow, at least. Spike sighed. The sooner Buffy was accepted into the group, the sooner she could make things right again. But right now it wasn’t looking very good.

“Yes. She can stay with Cordelia,” Anya added quickly. Spike grinned. He was pretty sure that Anya was trying to protect her man. At least she’d retract the claws when she saw Buffy’s lack of interest in Harris.

“Just get rid of her,” Willow said dismissively. “And quickly. I don’t want to have to play nice with her, Giles.”

A dry sob escaped Buffy’s mouth, and she sank to the ground. “What was I thinking?” she whispered. “How could I think that they’d forgive me?”

Damn. She’d been broken now, before she’d even tried to go in. Spike bent down next to her. “Come on, pet. It’s going to take some time, yeah, but they’ll forgive you. They’ve forgiven me worse, and I’m the Big Bad. You can do this.” Could she? Suddenly he was dubious. Sure, they’d forgiven him, but he had just attacked them as an enemy, not abandoned them as a friend. He’d hurt them physically, but rarely emotionally. But Buffy’s departure had ruined Red and Harris for a long time, and he wondered if they’d ever trust her again.

But Buffy turned to stare up at him with wide, suddenly vulnerable trust, and Spike’s unbeating heart nearly broke at the sight of the girl who had no one to count on but her worst enemy. Stop being such a sap! he reproached himself. You don’t even get like this over Dawn!

“Really?” she asked him shakily. “You think so?”

“I know so,” he informed her, quashing his mutinous thoughts. He held out his hand to help her up. “Come on, we’ll go inside.”

He watched her steel herself, and knew that she had succeeded when she dropped her hand from his and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Not like your opinion counts for much, vampire.”

And she strode toward the door and threw it open, leaving Spike behind, grinning like an idiot.

Girl’s a bit screwed up, but she’s still the Slayer I remember. We might have a fighting chance after all.