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Buffy stood on the porch nervously wringing her fingers. She has wearing a loose sweater and some jeans, with her hair pulled back into a messy ponytail. Her eyes showed that she hadn’t been sleeping well the past few days. Mostly, it was because Spike refused to be anywhere near her, even when she had gone back the day after the spell to try and explain everything properly.


She just stood there trying to collect herself, working up the nerve to confront something she just wanted to avoid. But as much as she wanted to be avoid-y Buffy, she knew she owed Spike an explanation.


Then, Buffy could hear their voices inside.


“Tell her to bugger off!” Spike yelled to Dawn.


“Why don’t you tell her yourself, you jerk?” Dawn retorted defiantly. She crossed her arms across her chest and gave him a knowing look. “She’s obviously here to apologize so why don’t you just stop being childish??”


“Childish!? I have a perfectly good reason to not want to see her!” Spike exclaimed incredulously. “I don’t even know who she really is! She’s not even real!”


Dawn kicked Spike in the leg.


“Ow. What the bloody hell is that for?”


“You deserve it, you big goon. She’s real enough to care about us, to care about you,” Dawn pointed out.


“She could be evil!” Spike defended.


“Yes, the evil Buffy comes from a world where she is actually good and then because she’s so evil, she likes to eat ice cream with me and mom, and walk me home at night, and save your friends’ lives, and make-googly eyes at you all the time, and-,”


“Ok! Bloody hell! If I open the sodding door will you leave me alone??”


“Mission accomplished,” Dawn smiled as she bounced away.


Spike muttered under his breath at his annoying lil’ sis and went over to the door reluctantly. Without opening the door, he yelled, “What do you want?”


Buffy hesitated at first because she had heard everything they were saying. Spike still sounded really pissed, but she just couldn’t wuss out now. “Spike, I need to talk to you.”


“So talk,” Spike replied through the door, leaning against it.


“Can…Can you open the door?” Buffy asked.


Spike clenched his jaw as he braced himself. Closing his eyes, he reached to open the door. And when he opened his eyes, he knew it was a mistake. His resistance wavered at the mere sight of her, dark circles under her eyes, and a sad expression that made him want to reach out and touch her. But he had to remind himself that it had all been a trick – none of it was real. ‘Don’t cave, you git,’ he thought to himself.


Buffy felt like someone had just punched her in the gut. Seeing his disheveled appearance and knowing that she caused it sent another wave of guilt through her. Most of all, the cold stare he was giving her made her bit her lip in remorse.


“Are you here to ‘explain’?” he asked sardonically. “Because the others filled me in. Whole reverse world mumbo jumbo. Got it. Is that it?”


“No,” she shook her head. “I came because I owe you an apology. A real apology.”


He raised his brow in interest and crossed his arms to signal for her to continue.


“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth in the beginning,” she looked down in shame. She didn’t continue right away, struggling with the right words as she felt foolish for standing here in front of him.


He scoffed. “Do you think that will make it better for you to say you’re sorry?”


“Will you just let me finish?” she exasperated. With a frustrated look, she continued, “I mean, I tried to tell the others before and they just laughed in my face! I knew you wouldn’t believe me anyway. You guys thought I was crazy!”


“You ARE crazy!” Spike exclaimed. “You come in from some alternate dimension and then you start playing along??” He gave her an incredulous and questioning look. Shaking his head in disbelief, he calmed himself down. “Why?”


Buffy looked up with a frown. She knew he was talking about them. “Because…,” her voice trailed. “Because it felt real.”


“Yea, sure fooled me too,” Spike bit back. “But it’s not, is it?”


“I wanted it to be,” she said with downcast eyes.


“Tell it to someone who cares.”


Stung by his words, anger and hurt swirled in her mind. She fought back the stinging feeling in her eyes.


“You cared. You said you were in love with me,” Buffy accused.


“It was a mistake,” he replied evenly. He had to struggle to force his face to remain expressionless, but his insides were tearing apart at the sight of her. However, his demeanor remained cold and un-feeling as he shut the door in her face.


Stunned and hurt by the door in her face, she pressed her eyes together. She stood there for a few long moments. Before turning away to leave the porch, she said quietly, “I…I love you.” They were words she thought she would never say again, especially to Spike, but she knew they meant good-bye.


His undead heart ached at her barely-audible words. Slumping his back against the door, Spike slid down to the ground and closed his eyes. He ran his hands through his hair in frustration and hung his head as he tried to fight the urge to go after her.


-----------------------------------------------------------------


“Spike! I’m glad you’re here! Look what I made,” Willow beamed as she thrust a tray in front of Spike’s face.


“Cupcakes?” he questioned as he gave her a look.


“Yea! I thought some of your favorite baked goods might make you feel better?” she asked meekly. Seeing his disinterested look, her shoulders slumped. “Ok, it was a stupid idea. But you gotta admit, they sure are pretty! Are you sure you don’t want one??”


“No, thanks, Red,” he replied as he plopped down in a chair.


“I’ll take one!” Xander said cheerily. He grabbed one from the tray and started to devour it.


“Well, I’ll just put one riiight here in case you want it,” Willow said as she placed a cupcake right in front of him on the table.


“So, I’m guessing you didn’t talk to Buffy?” Tara asked with a sympathetic look.


“We talked,” Spike replied.


Xander gave him a questioning look. “Anddd?”


“And nothing. I listened, she left.”


“She didn’t apologize?” Anya questioned.


“She did. And why should I bloody care?”


“Well, good point. Now that we know she belongs in a whole different dimension, we have to find a way to send her back,” Xander added as he bit his cupcake.


“It’s not that simple,” Giles joined in. “We don’t even know how yet. All we know is something about Buffy needing to find the truth and to eliminate the cause of the gem’s use.”


“Yea, sure, that, and the problem that Spike’s head over heels in love with her,” Anya stated.


“I’m not in love with her,” he ground out in a low voice.


Everyone looked at him with disbelieving expressions.


“I’m NOT!” he yelled at their staring faces.


“T-then why did you c-claim her?” Tara dared to ask.


“Whaaaaat?” Xander asked as he dropped his chocolate-y snack. The room was filled with shocked looks.


“You claimed her?” Giles asked with interest.


“I didn’t claim her!” Spike defended.


“I saw the bite marks, Spike,” Tara dared to say again. He shot her a glare and she gave him a look of apology for tattling.


“Why didn’t you tell me?” Willow pouted to her girlfriend.


“Whoa ho ho! You claimed her?!” Anya asked, amazed.


He shook his head in frustration and said, “It wasn’t a claim. It was something that happened in the moment, alright?!”


“I’m sorry. Let’s backtrack. You bit Buffy while you two were having sex,” Xander made a face, “and now you think it’s not a claim? That’s sort of the definition of a claim.”


“Whatever. Think what you want. She’s not even really the Buffy we know. It was all a bunch of wonky magic,” he finished.


“No, she’s not the Buffy we knew. She’s a force of good in her realm,” Giles commented.


“Also known as, the one you fell in love with,” Anya finished.


“I’m not in love with her.”


“If you weren’t, then you wouldn’t have claimed her. And it’s a claim, alright,” Xander said as he nodded.


“No, it’s not, you whelp,” Spike said in a pissed tone.


“We don’t bite people unless we’re desperately hungry for a snack,” he pointed out. He added, “and you bit her during sex.” Xander saw Spike’s stubborn look and wanted to push the subject. Looking down at the table, he saw the cupcake and grabbed it.


“Hey! That’s mine, you git!” Spike exclaimed.


Xander ignored him and continued, “If I lick this cupcake, would you still want it?”


“What!?” Spike asked at the ridiculous question.


“If I lick it like this,” he ran his tongue across the top frosting, “aren’t I saying it belongs to me and you can’t have it?”


“What kind of sick analogy is that?” Spike demanded to know.


“In a weird disturbing way, that kind of makes sense,” Giles said in a surprised tone.


“Are you off your rocker!?” Spike exasperated.


“Dude, you claimed her. End of story. And as much as I was against this whole thing between you two, I gotta say, she’s yours now.”


“She’s not mine,” he gritted out.


“Uh-huh, yea, ok. So, if she went out right now and hooked up with someone else, it wouldn’t bother you?” Xander questioned.


“She can do what ever the hell she wants,” Spike replied.


“So let’s say…Mike, for example, tried to claim her today? You wouldn’t care at all?” Xander continued with an unbelieving look.


Spike growled involuntarily. But he suppressed his initial reaction and answered tightly, “No.”


The rest of them gave each other pointed looks. Xander looked back to Spike and shrugged. “Fine, man. If you say so.”


As plain as day, Spike’s emotions were playing across his face because he knew Xander was right, for once.


----------------------------------------------------------------


Kerala’s expression was one of pure anger. “Those stupid do-gooders told them to use the spell!! Argh!!”


“They know the truth now, which can only mean they will get closer to finding us out. We must move now,” he pressed.


She nodded, “Let’s finish this.”


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Buffy was walking back to her crypt, thinking about how she was going to deal with this – if she would ever get back, and if she did, how she could ever forget what had happened here. Nothing was ever going to be the same, and it scared her. ‘This would be so much easier if this were just a dream,’ she thought sadly. But she knew it wasn’t and a part of her knew it was too real, it felt too real. Sighing, Buffy continued walking and clutched her arms around herself as the chilly wind blew through the cemetery.


She paused in her steps, thinking she felt her vamp sense tingling for a second. Focusing in, Buffy frowned when she lost the feeling. She turned around and scanned the area, looking for any signs of movement. Suspiciously, she turned back and resumed walking.



Buffy was sure she was being followed. Normally back home, she would just stop, lure the guy out, and kick his ass. Here all she could do was keep walking and hope to get back to her crypt. That disturbing feeling of helplessness crept back into her and the panic began to build up. This time, Spike wouldn’t be there to protect her. He was probably on the other side of town, still seething at her.


Buffy quickened her steps, as her heart started to pound faster. She turned to look behind her, but no one was there. When she turned back around, she came face to face with four vamps.


“Slayer,” one of them greeted as they all moved in closer with menacing steps.


“What do you want?” Buffy asked with hesitation in her voice.


“You,” another one leered. He lunged forward to grab her by the waist. Buffy’s fist reflexively shot up to hit him in the face, sending a blinding pain through her head as she cried out and bent over. As she clutched her head, she felt a swift foot kick into her stomach. Buffy groaned while the vampires came to circle around her. One of them lunged forward and she braced herself and spun around, kicking him down. She cried out, gasping for air as the jolts of electricity seared her head. The vamps growled as they approached her, knocking her down with kicks and punches until she was curled up on the ground.


“Enough,” a voice said from behind them. Buffy clutched at her stomach and squinted to try and see the ascending figure. The dark figure was robed and hooded. Before Buffy could speak a word or move, it grabbed her by the collar and smashed its fist into her face intensely, knocking her unconscious.


~


Dawn’s head was reeling with panicked thoughts, as she watched the gang of vampires approach Buffy. She had followed her, hoping to talk to her back at the crypt, but when the four vamps came out, she quickly ran to hide behind a bush in the distance.


‘Oh my god oh my god,’ she cried to herself. Dawn felt torn between leaping out in a reckless attempt to help her, and running to get the others. When she saw the fifth person come out of the darkness and knock Buffy unconscious, her eyes widened and she turned to run for help.


~


“I don’t know, guys,” Willow’s expression was crestfallen. “I can’t seem to find anything else about this whole gem/Buffy/magicky reversal thing…”


Everyone sighed, exhausted after all their failed attempts at figuring out the whole gem thing.


“Well, why don’t we-,” Tara began, but was interrupted by the door suddenly flinging open,

An out-of-breath Dawn came running in, frantically flailing her arms up in the arm and gesturing towards the outside.


“What?” Spike looked concerned as he stood up to walk over to his sister. The others furrowed their brows in worry and moved closer.


Dawn continued to make a series of unrecognizable sounds as she panted. “Trouble…cemetery…,” she uttered in between breaths.


“Dawn, what is it?” Spike said more urgently as he gave her a slight shake of the shoulders.


“Hold on,” she said, regaining her breath.


“Um, Dawn. You don’t breathe,” Xander commented.


Dawn shot Xander a glare before Spike grabbed her again and demanded, “Dawn! What the bloody hell is wrong? Is it mum? Are you hurt?”


“No, no, it’s not that! Buffy’s in trouble!” Dawn exclaimed in a rush.


Spike’s expression flickered with worry, but he quickly put on an even face. “Bloody hell, is that it? What did she do now-,”


“Stop being a jackass! She’s really in trouble! I was following her in the cemetery and then four vamps popped out and then I had to hide and, and they attacked her and some creepy person in a robe knocked her out and they took her! We have to go save her!” She finished her rant with despaired and urgent look.


Despite his earlier façade, Spike felt intense panic and worry build up inside him as Dawn was relaying her story. They could have done anything to her by now. Fury ran through his veins as the thought of one of them touching her came to his mind.


He knew right then that Buffy really was his. The worry was etched on his face, and his stomach was clenched tightly. “Where. Did. They. Take. Her.”


Dawn shook her head violently. “I don’t know. I ran straight here to come get you guys.”


“We’ll do a locating spell,” Tara said as both witches already started gathering the materials.


Without another word, Spike started to march for the door with a determined stride. “Spike!” Xander yelled.


Xander ran to hold Spike back by the arm and Spike growled, shooting him a warning look.


“You don’t even know where she is. If you want to help her, wait for Tara and Willow to finish the spell.”


“Spike, Xander’s right,” Giles blinked at the words he was saying. He seemed to be agreeing a lot with Xander lately, and it was kind of unsettling. He continued, “It would be useless for you to go out and rampage all of Sunnydale looking for her.”


Knowing they were right, he slammed his fist violently into the wall and yelled in frustration. The others jumped up a little from the outburst, but they all had a sympathetic look on their faces. It was obvious just how much Spike cared, even though only a little while ago, he was denying it all.


Spike refused to imagine that she was dead. He paced up and down the Magic Box, impatiently waiting for the witches to be done. For the umpteenth time, he barked, “Are you bloody done yet?” Seeing their faces, his expression softened and he said, “I’m sorry. I’m just…” He clenched his jaw as the emotions showed on his face.


“We know, Spike. It’s ok,” Tara replied sympathetically.


“Done!” Willow exclaimed in victory as the crystal stopped and pointed to a spot on the map.


“Where is she?” Spike asked urgently, rushing forward to look.


Everyone gathered around as Willow’s face showed her confusion.


“What, what?? The suspense is killing me!” Anya cried.


“The crystal is pointing to the caves at the end of the woods,” Willow replied hesitantly.


“Well, what the hell are we waiting for?” Spike asked. Willow pointed and everyone leaned in to look. There was a second glowing spot on the map. It was glowing over where the Magic Box would be, where they were right now.


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A/N: You ignore that Buffy is OOC and I will update asap, lol. Sorry I haven't had a chance to answer reviews, but thank you for them :)