~*~
Chapter 3
~*~

"Willow, you awake? I got in a bit earlier than I expected", Dawn announced as she let herself in to Willow’s flat. The fact that she had a key spoke of a closer relationship than the one Willow had described having with Buffy of late.

"’Lo, Dawn. Willow’s asked me to help in the search for big sis. Hope you don’t mind." Spike sat up on the couch, his hair a mess of tangled curls from his sleep. He couldn’t take his eyes off his Little Bit. So grown-up looking now! He yearned to find something other than disgust or hatred in her eyes when she looked at him. He was rewarded with a flash of joy on her face--just before she passed out cold on Willow’s rag rug.

"Oh, balls! Maybe Red should have warned the Bit ‘bout my comin’ over to lend a hand. Dawn? Niblet? Christ on a unicycle, sweeting, you need to come ‘round now. Don’t scare ol’ Spike like this." Spike was at the side of the collapsed girl and
doing his best to revive her when Willow stumbled into the room.

"What’s happening, Spike? I thought I heard voices and not of the dream soundtrack type either", Willow said. She was a vision in plaid flannel jammies and slippers that looked like giant ducks on her feet. She couldn’t see either of her guests from her perspective in the door jamb and was still wiping sleep from her eyes.

"Hell, Willow, the Bit’s pulled a fainting spell that’d be the envy of most women from my human days. Think you should have told her I was coming after all."

"Wow! I don’t have any smelling salts and I really don’t feel like slapping the poor kid. Guess she’ll come around soon. Maybe you should … um… go wash up
or something ‘til I talk to her, ‘k? " Willow put on her best reassurance face and pointed the way to the bathroom for the vampire in question to wash up.

Dawn gave out a low moan just as Spike was leaving the room. He nearly ran back to her side, but, at a look from Willow, continued to the W.C. to give the ladies
time alone.

"Dawnie. Honey, are you okay? Why’d you faint?"

"I saw a ghost, Willow. God, I’m out of my mind about Buffy and I must have just conjured him up because subconsciously I think he’d know how to find her and
bring her home. Damn that stupid vampire, dusting like that! He was the one that was never supposed to leave us."

"You mean Spike, honey? That was no ghost, just a vampire like always."

Dawn looked shocked at Willow’s response. "What are you talking about, Will? Spike died at the Hellmouth; you were there."

"Gee, I though you knew. Well, Spike and I both thought you knew … you and Buffy at least. Damn Giles!" Willow muttered the last part, causing a look of confusion on Dawn’s face.

"What are you talking about and what does Giles have to do with it? What should Buffy and I know? Was that really Spike?" The questions tumbled from Dawn’s
lips in rapid succession.

"Slow down, Dawnie, I’ll explain it all in a minute. I’ll make it the Cliff Notes version for now ‘cause Spike will want to come back to see if you’re okay pretty soon."

Willow had just gotten to the part where she was telling Dawn about the phone call from Spike when he carefully came back into the room. He looked nervous at the sort of welcome he might expect and worried about Dawn’s earlier reaction. He had heard Willow explaining the events since Sunnydale and was puzzled that Dawn seemed unaware of his return to terra firma. Andrew had seemed to indicate that both Buffy and Dawn had been made aware of his return when Spike had been in Rome the previous year. Was it possible that neither of his girls had known? Maybe the direction
to "move on" hadn’t really come from Buffy or been directed towards him after all.

"Hey, Nib …er…Dawn. Hope you’ll accept my help and not be wanting to light me up this time. Really just want to help find Buffy, not wantin’ to mess up your lives or anything." Spike still felt awkward around Dawn. They hadn’t really talked since she had threatened to set him afire. He had gone to his death still feeling the sharp sting of estrangement from his surrogate sister. Talking to her had once been so easy. Now it was like learning a new language, stilted and strange.

That strangeness ended instantly as Dawn tackled the vampire sending them both crashing to the floor in a tangle of limbs. She was hugging him hard enough to
make him glad that he didn’t need to breathe and was babbling so fast he couldn’t understand what she was saying. When she began to pound on his chest, he felt
more in his element with the girl than he had in years.

"Why did you do something as stupid as putting on that ugly necklace? You jerk! You weren’t supposed to die and leave me until I said you could. You didn’t even
give me time to finish pouting and punishing you for the whole attacking Buffy and leaving me thing, you big dummy. God, I’ve missed you! I’m so glad you’re alive. No, don’t say, ‘undead’, I know what I mean! You’re more alive than any of my friends have ever been, Spike. God, if Buffy had known you were back she’d never have started dating that poophead, Eduardo the ‘Great’. Why anyone would want HIM to be immortal is beyond me. Now, you on the other hand…don’t you ever dust on me again, you hear me!"

Spike felt his face might split in two with the goofy grin he knew he was sporting at the blessings of love and forgiveness from his girl. He didn’t even mind the bruises he was sure to carry for an hour or so from the pummeling she was giving his chest as she read him the riot act for his absence from her life.

Willow watched from her seat on the couch, her face aglow with happiness at seeing her young friend having a moment of joy in her otherwise troubled situation. Hindsight was so very clear and it was obvious now that the friendship, the love, between the girl and the vampire had been very real on both sides. Willow felt a twinge of sadness that none of them had given credit to the emotions right under their noses back in the day when it would have made everyone’s lives less stressful. Perhaps a lot of tragedy could have been avoided if they had all just talked honestly and had been willing to put aside prejudices. Oh well, water under the bridge. Learn from the mistakes of the past and forge onward.


Willow fixed breakfast for the three of them. After washing up, she said she’d head to the butcher’s for some blood for Spike, leaving the two friends to talk
in privacy.

"Buffy finally told me what happened that night before you left for Africa. I guess she thought I was too young for the details before. Stupid Buffy! I wasted all of that anger on you when we could have made up like I wanted to. I wouldn’t have felt so guilty and lousy after you dusted if I had only known it was okay to love you. Xander told me what he’d seen in the bathroom and Buffy didn’t clear anything up except to say there was more to the story. When we get her back, remind me to yell at her again for not telling me sooner, okay? For what it’s worth, Xander apologized to me for telling me. He’s changed a lot since losing Anya. Try to give him a break, even though he doesn’t deserve it from you, all right? Buffy needs you both now and it’s time to bury the hatchet."

"Glad to, Sweetbit. Mind if it’s in the wanker’s head?" Spike dodged her hand as she raised it to playfully swat the vampire. "Always put Buffy’s needs over a spot of vengeance, not to worry. Noticed the boy going through some changes that last year anyway. He had lots of times when he might have made sarcastic comments but didn’t. I think he was starting to grow up a bit there at the end. Too bad
he lost Demon Girl right then. Maybe he’d have finally done right by her after all."

Spike listened as Dawn described how Eduardo Medici, a.k.a. The Immortal, wined and dined Buffy until she finally loosened up and began to see him exclusively.
The ancient human had first seen Buffy as she shopped for clothes at a fashion show in Rome. The California blonde had attracted his notice and he sent his card over to her at the end of the show along with an invitation to join him for an espresso. Buffy had been intrigued by the handsome Italian with the large entourage hanging on his every word and gesture. With his dark good looks and aura of power, he had seemed like a film star or royalty to the wide-eyed Slayer.

At first, Buffy hadn’t been interested in more than a quick caffiene pick-me-up as she satisfied her curiosity about the man who was so interested in meeting her. The less Buffy showed herself to be interested, the more attracted he seemed to be. It was obvious he was not used to women who didn’t just fall at his feet. Buffy was a challenge and Eduardo had never backed down from one of those in his long life.

Dawn had been worried about her sister’s mood swings since closing the Hellmouth and thought the interesting and sexy man might help Buffy to level out. She encouraged her older sister to accept the dates and gifts that Eduardo kept pressing on her. Before long, they were seeing each other nightly. Buffy thrust herself into a series of parties and the pursuit of pleasure as she hadn’t done since she was called as a Slayer. It was as if she was trying to cram years of living into a few months.

Giles had warned his surrogate daughter that the Immortal, though human, was still a supernatural being. His immortality and the secrets of how he had attained it were a mystery. While Eduardo was not overtly evil, he wasn’t necessarily good either. Giles had been worried about the relationship Buffy seemed to be throwing herself headlong into.

Bufy had a rather loud argument with her former Watcher about his habit of finding fault with the men she chose to be with. It ended with an estrangement between Giles and Buffy that had lasted up to her disappearance about 6 months previously.

Giles left no stone unturned in the search for Buffy, but there seemed to be no more leads to follow. It was as if she had simply disappeared in a flash.

That wording gave Spike pause. If he calculated the timing of Buffy’s disappearance correctly, she must have gone missing right around the time of the great battle that had taken Angel and Illyria into the great unknown. Curious! Could his original quest be tied to the search for his lost love? What did it
mean that the Immortal had disappeared as well? Maybe the best idea would be to research the Italian fop and just how he had become immortal in the first place. A visit to the Wolfram and Hart offices in Rome might lead to a clue or two as well. The bint in charge with the whopping great breasts seemed to like Spike well enough; she might slip up and let loose a secret or two. It wasn’t much, but it was more than they had a few moments ago and it was a start.