“Oh. You’re here,” Willow said flatly.

Buffy forced a bright smile onto her face, turning to see her old friend. “Hey! Wi…Willow?” Gone was everything she remembered about her friend, the shy girl who shrank back when faced with too much attention. This Willow was tall, confident, cold, and exuded power like the doe-eyed girl beside her exuded sex. Since when is Willow so…hot? Buffy didn’t remember seeing hotness potential in her old friend, just that cuteness that had attracted Oz so much. “Wow. You look great. The black hair? Smart move.”

Willow just stared at her, her lip curling in the slightest sneer, and Buffy suddenly felt supremely stupid. “Um. So, how’ve you been these past three years?”

The girl beside Willow snorted. “This is Buffy? Now I understand why Cordelia was part of the group. Where’d you slay, the mall?”

Buffy turned to her, the smile getting falser by the moment. “You must be Faith. I’m guessing you hunt vampires on street corners.”

“Hey!” Dawn charged forward. Spike appeared behind her in an instant, holding her back with an arm.

“Really not a good idea, insulting our leader, pet,” he warned Buffy, but there was mischief dancing in his eyes.

“I’m just wondering…” Willow frowned mock-thoughtfully. “What the hell are doing here? We’ve got Faith back. So shoo! Go back to wherever you’ve been until now.”

Giles held up a hand. “Willow, that’s enough. Buffy’s traveled across the country to come here and help with the slaying. Regardless of Faith’s return, we can still be welcoming.”

Willow rolled her eyes. “Right.” She turned away, sitting at a table and opening a large text. “You have fun with that.”

Faith sighed. “I’m gonna skip the tearful reunion and get out of here now.” She moved to leave, and Dawn followed, tossing Buffy one last derisive glare. “Spike?” She turned to the vampire, who still leaned comfortably against the wall behind Dawn. “You coming?”

Spike shook his head. “I’m going to stick around here for a little while more.”

Faith frowned. “What?”

“I’ll meet up with you later,” he told her. “No big deal.”

But judging from the looks that everyone was giving him, it was a big deal. And it had thrown everyone for a curve. Buffy wondered why.

“Faith,” Giles said quietly, shifting the focus to the other Slayer. “If I haven’t mentioned it before...I’m so glad that you’re back.” And when Faith ran to him and gave him a hug, Buffy quashed her jealousy and reminded herself that she’d given up that right. But it still hurt.

Once Faith and Dawn were gone, Giles turned to Buffy. “I will also be going now. I had thought you’d stay in Faith’s room, but I suppose we can set up the basement cot,” he said apologetically. “Would you like me to drive you home?”

Buffy shook her head. “I’m going to stick around here for a little longer.” Maybe even get Willow to talk to me. “Where do you live?”

Giles scribbled down the address. “I’m sure one of you can give Buffy a ride back?” He gave them all pointed looks. Willow glared back at him. The girl behind the counter looked sullen. Spike smirked.

“I remember where this is,” Buffy lied. She’d find it eventually, right? “I’ll be fine on my own.”

“Of course,” Giles murmured, flustered. “I didn’t mean to imply otherwise, just-“

“Thanks, Giles,” she cut him off gently.

He left with one last, worried glance around the room.

There was an awkward pause. Then Xander finally spoke from where he stood by the counter. “Hiya, Buff. Long time, no see.” Buffy almost cried when she saw an actual- real, sincere!- smile on his face.

She grinned back. “Hi, Xander.” He didn’t look so different, not like Willow. A little scruffier, a bit more Xander around the stomach area, and the goofy smile looked more mature now, but he was still Xander, and Buffy still wanted to run to him and give him a hug.

She thought twice about it when she saw the girl behind the counter affix her with a glower. Clearly, a back off! warning. “So, um, you must be Tara? Anya?”

“I’m Anya,” the girl informed her. “Xander’s fiancé, and he’s over his crush on you, so you can stay far away from him. I’ll be watching you. When I was a vengeance demon,” she emphasized the term. “I saw more than a few men led astray by women like you, and I won’t let that happen to my Xander.”

“Ahn…” Xander gave her a pained look.

Buffy managed a smile, a little taken aback by Anya’s bluntness. “Don’t worry, I’m not interested in Xander- not that you’re not a great catch,” she assured an uncomfortably shifting Xander. “But we were never together or anything. And it sounds like you two are pretty serious and did you say you’re a vengeance demon?”

“Ex-vengeance demon,” Anya corrected her.

Buffy gaped. “Demons, vampires…we really don’t discriminate anymore, do we?” Had it really been so long ago that Angel had rarely hung around with her friends because he made them nervous? And Xander, who hated vampires so much, was marrying an ex-demon?

“We don’t,” Willow said coldly. “You might.”

Buffy sighed. How long was this going to last? “Willow, I know that I hurt you by leaving, but-“ She stopped at Willow’s laughter. “What?”

Willow shrugged. “Just trying to remember if you were always this self-centered.” She moved to stand in front of Buffy, her eyes glinting dangerously. “Yeah, when you left I was hurt. My role model, the girl I had respected so much for her bravery and loyalty had run off in cowardice? Everything I believed in was shattered and the person I would have spoken about it to was gone. So yeah, I was hurt.”

Buffy looked down. “Will…”

“But then,” Willow moved closer relentlessly, invading Buffy’s personal space and making her face her. “Faith came. And suddenly, there was this new, cool Slayer in town. And she wouldn’t run if things got bad. She never did. She supported me, helped me understand myself, and always had time for me. She encouraged me to experiment with magic some more, accepted me as a weapon instead of boring old Willow, research gal.” Willow’s voice took on an even colder note. “I didn’t have to be a sidekick anymore. I was the big gun. Hell, I resurrected someone last night! So frankly?” She spun around and headed for the exit. “I realized I didn’t need you. Or anyone. So you coming back? Really just a pain in the ass to me. We’re not going to catch up or paint each others’ nails or whatever. We’re not friends, and we haven’t been in three years. So don’t pretend like we are.” She turned to the corner of the Magic Box, where another girl had been sitting quietly. Buffy had noticed her when she had first come in, but had forgotten about her as the reunion continued. “Coming, Tara?”

The girl nodded, following Willow out, her face hidden from view by long sheets of hair.

“Night, ladies,” Spike murmured, his eyes on Tara.

“N-night,” she said shakily, giving Spike a warm smile. Buffy caught her eye for a moment, and Tara surprised her by smiling shyly back.

Xander sighed. “I’m sor-“

“Don’t apologize for Willow,” Spike said sharply. “She has the right.”

Buffy frowned at him, feeling unaccountably betrayed, and Spike shrugged unapologetically. “Well, it’s true. You did abandon them, and they’re going to be upset. They deserve it, and so do you.” He turned to Xander. “Come on, Harris, don’t tell me you’re not even a little upset.”

Xander sighed. “I was. But I got over it.” He looked away. “It was my fault,” he mumbled, too low for humans to pick up. So, of course, the Slayer and vampire both picked it up.

“Your fault?” Buffy asked disbelievingly. “How is it your fault?”

“I lied.” Xander’s hands were twitching on either side of him. “When I saw you, before you fought Angelus… Willow wanted me to tell you about the reensouling spell. But I wanted him to die, so much that I didn’t tell you, and…”

She managed a weak smile. “Yeah, I figured that out when I killed…when I killed him. But you were right.” It hurt to admit, now that the old memories of their last argument were so raw in her mind again. “If I had known that he could have been resouled, I wouldn’t have fought at my best. And he would have won. Acathla would have awakened, and we’d all be dead.”

“So I saved the world?” Xander asked hopefully. “Can I add that to my stats?”

“I think it’s the Slayer’s point,” Spike observed. “And have you really been counting?”

Xander held up a finger. “The Master. One. The Mayor’s Ascension. Two. That time with the Hellmouth after graduation. Three. I count Adam, because that got really intense and mystical and stuff. Four. Glory. Five. I helped with all of those.”

“You’re a regular hero,” Spike drawled.

“Can we go now?” Anya demanded. “I want to have sex here, but since you people won’t leave, I’ll settle for home. Xander?”

Xander gave them an apologetic look. “Sorry, guys.” Impulsively, he came over to Buffy and pulled her into a hug. “Welcome home, Buffy.”

She started to settle into his embrace, but he was already pulling away, and Anya was looking tense. “Thanks, Xander,” she murmured.

Then he was gone, Anya calling to Spike to lock up as they left.

Buffy sagged against the wall. “Well. That went well.”

Spike shrugged. “Went better than I thought.”

Buffy gave him a dirty look. “What happened to ‘you can do this’ and ‘they’ll forgive you’?”

Spike smirked. “I lied.” He rubbed his head. “Actually, Harris surprised me. I didn’t even know that he was still feeling guilty about that. Everyone else was about what I expected.”

Buffy sighed. “I don’t get it. You and Xander are buddies? He hated Angel. He was never part of the group. And now you, and Anya…”

“Things changed.” Spike pulled out a cigarette and lit it. “When Harris objected to my relationship with Faith, she laughed him out of the house. We didn’t actually start getting along until last year. The witches and I always got along, and Rupes gave up on fighting with me when he realized that Faith wasn’t going to put up with him staking me. Worked out well. Then last year, I guess everyone just started counting on me for everything. When Faith was gone, I took care of Dawn, kept everyone out of trouble. ‘Cept Willow,” he added as an afterthought. “She’s always in trouble.”

Buffy snatched the cigarette from his mouth and put it out a stomp. “If I had brought Angelus to meet everyone…”

“I’m not Angelus. If Angelus had gotten a chip, he’d have had a vampire army destroy everyone, and probably fucked with your minds some more. I came to the Slayer for help.”

“Why?” Buffy wondered.

“Why what?” Spike asked. “Why was he a sodding bastard? Why does everyone accept me? Why am I here when I could be getting laid?”

“All of them.” Buffy turned to look at him. “But mostly that last one.”

Spike barked out a short laugh. “I wish I knew. Come on, I’ll show you where you live.”

He locked up quickly, and Buffy leaned against the wall outside, watching him.

“What?” he demanded curiously.

“If you had told me, a day ago, that the only person I’d feel comfortable with in Sunnydale was William the Bloody, I’d have laughed you out of Pennsylvania.” Buffy rubbed her head. “It’s so absurd.”

“Are you saying you feel comfortable around me?” Spike scowled. “I’m evil! The Big Bad!”

“Big Bad who’s sleeping with the Slayer?” Buffy challenged. “More like the Big Bad wannabe.”

“Take that back!” Spike feinted a punch, and Buffy twisted him down onto his back, landing on top of him with a hand at his heart.

“Game over,” she murmured, looking down at him.

He smiled up at her. “Chip, remember?” He reached a hand out to the hair falling over her face. “Can’t hurt you.”

“Right. I knew that.” She bent closer to him, her eyes fluttering closed.

And then he retracted his hand, and slid out from under her to jump up. “Let’s get back to Giles’s.”

Buffy took his proffered hand. Spike? What were you thinking? she chastised herself.

They walked in comfortable silence toward the house. “Wait,” Buffy said suddenly, gesturing toward Revello Drive. “Can I just…?”

“Sure.” He followed her toward 1630. Buffy stared into the empty house, wondering.

“No one lives here,” she whispered.

Spike shook his head. “I think your mum arranged for it to be sold. But real estate isn’t very lucrative in Sunnydale. The mortality rate alone keeps people away.”

“So…is it still my house?”

“I don’t know. You’ll have to talk to your mum’s lawyer. I’m sure she left you something.”

They stood together on the front lawn, paying silent respects to the woman Buffy had left behind.

“Your mum was great,” Spike said finally. “Always had a cuppa for me. Blamed Rupes for you going away, but never blamed me. She took care of me when I was down a few times, listened to my ranting about Dru…”

Buffy laughed a little. “Beats ‘get the hell away from my daughter,’ huh?”

When they finally got to Giles’s house, the basement cot was made up, a small dresser had been emptied, and Buffy’s luggage was sitting on the bed. Giles was nowhere to be found, Dawn was asleep, and Faith had written Spike a curt message that she was out patrolling and she’d see him tomorrow.

“Sorry I got you in trouble,” Buffy said, handing him back the note.

Spike shrugged, unworried. “It’s fine. I’ll go find her now and…make her forget that she was mad at me.” He curled his tongue in front of his teeth in a leer.

Buffy shoved him, grinning. “You’re a pig.”

“Oink, oink,” he laughed. He patted her shoulder affectionately. “I’ll see you around. Try not to slay any of my friends.”

Buffy unpacked her clothes, still smiling from before Spike’s departure. What did they all see in him? I think I’m starting to understand.