CHAPTER FIVE

Spike woke suddenly to Buffy thrashing in the bed next to him. Her violent movements had forced the blankets to the foot of the bed, exposing her to his eyes. What he saw nearly broke his heart. The woman he and the demon both thought of as ‘mate’, despite the fact he had yet to claim her, had a look of abject terror on her face as she clawed at some unseen force.

While he could not see what she clawed at Spike instinctively knew that she was reliving her escape from her grave. It was something that was an all-too-familiar memory from his own turning and subsequent rising. Firmly but gently, he grasped her flailing arms in his hands, attempting to still her movements.

“Buffy, wake up. You’re havin’ a nightmare,” Spike said, trying to draw her out of her dream. She didn’t respond at first and attempted to pull away from him to continue digging herself out of her dream grave.

Seeing that his more gentle approach wasn’t working, he took her hands firmly in one of his and moved the other to her shoulder and shook her hard. “It’s a dream. Sweetheart, wake up!”

His actions caused the struggling Buffy to sit up at last, pulled from her dream. Gasping for breath she began to speak, “OhGod!OhGod!OhGod!” Buffy looked around her with wild eyes and finally seeing Spike she threw herself into his arms sobbing.

Spike held her close and began running his hands gently through her hair and down her back. “Shh, baby. It’s goin’ to be okay. Spike’s got ya. Not gonna let anythin’ happen to you if I can help it.”

Buffy continued to cry into Spike’s chest. “Spike, why? Why did they do this to me? Everything was so soft, peaceful, and now it’s so hard and bright. Did I do something wrong? Am I being punished?”

Spike tipped Buffy’s head back so he could look into her eyes. “You did nothin’ wrong. I can’t pretend to know why the Scoobies did what they did, but I don’ think they were trying to hurt you.”

Buffy’s eyes were swimming with tears. “Maybe not, but they did. I need to know why. Why they couldn’t just let me be. I was done and now…oh god…what happens now?”

“I don’t know,” he said softly, drawing her shaking body back to his.

~.~ Magic Box ~.~

Tara and Anya sat at the research table, watching as Xander and Willow argued over the night’s events. Both women were seriously rethinking their own participation in Buffy’s resurrection. They had seen Buffy’s reaction to them and that she wasn’t in any way appreciative of being raised. If they let themselves really think about it they both knew that she hadn’t been in hell at all. A single question was running through both their minds: ‘Could a Slayer who saved the world really be sent to hell?’

Willow and Xander were oblivious to the inner turmoil of their significant others. They were both convinced the plan to resurrect Buffy was a sound one. It was obvious to them that because Buffy had jumped into a portal leading to a hell dimension her soul had been trapped there. Nothing could be further from the truth but the two original Scoobies would not be dissuaded from their belief.

“Willow, I’m not saying the spell was wrong. I’m saying why the hell didn’t we dig her up first? Did you see her? Maybe if we had she’d be with us instead of the bleached wonder,” Xander yelled at his oldest friend.

Willow wrung her hands but glared at Xander: “Stop yelling at me! I’m sorry! I made a mistake, but I didn’t see you thinking to dig up the coffin. It’s not my fault she’s with Spike. We didn’t think the spell worked. None of us. So stop blaming me for everything.”

“Well, who should we blame?” Anya interrupted. “The spell was your idea. You did the research. You gathered the ingredients. You were so sure you could perform it. If anyone should have thought to unearth the coffin it should have been you.”

“An, please,” Xander whined.

“No, Xander. If you remember, I did suggest we attempt to find a spell to locate Buffy before we tried raising her. Tara even suggested we do it. But the two of you were so hell-bent that on the idea that she was in hell that you wouldn’t listen. You wouldn’t even let us tell Giles. As for digging up the grave, I tried to talk to you about it but you said Willow knew what she was doing. Well, we all see how well that turned out,” Anya concluded, slamming her hands down on the table in front of her.

Tara could tell things were getting rapidly out of control but she didn’t know how to stop it. Everyone in the room was angry, but each for a different reason. She herself was angry. The spell Willow performed had been black magic, something Tara had sworn she would never participate in, and for that she was angry at herself. She knew she should have pushed Willow for more information on what the spell involved. It had been her blind trust in her girlfriend that had prevented her. Tara swore she wouldn’t make that mistake again.

Taking a deep breath, she interrupted the argument that was going on around her, “Stop it, nothing is going to be solved by us arguing with each other. Buffy is back. Obviously she’s angry with us. We don’t know why and we won’t until we talk to her. So I think the best thing is for us to go home and get some rest until it’s time to meet her here tonight.”

Tara’s words seemed to drain the anger out of the room. They all just stood staring at each other.

“Well, I for one can’t sleep,” said Anya. “I think I’ll spend time doing inventory and counting my money until the shop opens. Then hopefully there will be many customers so I can add to the money I already have.” With that Anya stood up and moved behind the counter to the cash register.

Xander sighed, “Let me help you.”

Willow looked at Tara, “I think we’re going home. We’ll see you back here tonight.” The two wiccas then walked out of the shop side by side but not touching each other.

~.~ Sunnydale Inn~.~

Buffy had finally calmed down and fallen asleep in the circle of Spike’s arms. He simply held her, stroking her hair and back, hoping to keep the nightmares at bay. While he held her his mind was racing, trying to decide what to do for her. He really wished that Giles was still here. He and the watcher did not always see eye to eye but he knew that the man’s expertise was desperately needed in this situation.

With that thought he decided that as soon as Buffy woke he would ask her if she wanted to call Giles. He really wished the watcher could be there before they confronted the Scoobies, but knew that wasn’t possible. He also knew that as soon as Giles heard of his Slayer’s return he’d be back on the next flight. Most likely within the next 24 hours he would return to Sunnydale.

Spike sensed the slight change in Buffy’s breathing and heart rate indicating she was waking up. Her eyes slowly blinked open to see the concerned blue of Spike’s looking at her. She snuggled deeper into his arms, not yet wanting to face the day. But it was not to be as her stomach growled, indicating her hunger.

“Somebody’s hungry,” Spike said with a smile on his face. “Let’s order some room service.”

“M’kay,” Buffy said sleepily. “I’m going to take a shower,” she indicated as she slid out of the bed and made her way to the bathroom. “I’m really hungry, so order lots.”

When Buffy appeared again from the bathroom breakfast had just been delivered. “Mmm, smells delicious.” She slid into a chair at the small table where Spike had laid out breakfast and immediately began to pile her plate with eggs, bacon, hash browns and fruit. Satisfied with the amount of food on her plate she immediately began to dig in.

Spike had seen the Slayer eat before she died, but he’d never seen her eat as much as she was currently. He stared at her in amazement as she lifted forkful after forkful into her mouth.

“What?” Buffy asked around a mouthful of eggs and toast.

“’M sorry. Jus’ never seen you eat this much,” Spike said.

Buffy suddenly looked sheepish. She knew before she died that her eating habits, especially after her mother’s death, had been unhealthy. Without someone there to worry about what and how much she ate she just hadn’t had time to think about it. Every minute of every day had been spent worrying about Dawn, making sure Dawn got to school, making sure Dawn ate, making sure Dawn survived Glory. She really hadn’t had much time to worry about herself, nor did she have anyone else to worry about her. If someone set food in front of her she ate, but oftentimes she wasn’t present at meal times so eating hadn’t been a priority. She had a feeling that she was now Spike’s priority and missing meals would no longer be in the game plan.

Swallowing, she responded, “Slayer metabolism means I need a lot of fuel. But before,” at this her voice broke, “but before I died I just…just eating was the last thing on my mind.”

Spike nodded silently, deciding that missed meals were not going to be part of his Slayer’s life this time around.

“I was thinkin’,” Spike said, “that we need to call the Watcher. Get him back to Sunnyhell. He could help us figure out what brought you back.”

Buffy looked at Spike confused, “He’s not here?”

“No, luv. He left about a week ago. Back to England,” Spike said, hating the sad look that had crossed his beloved’s face at the idea of her watcher not being in Sunnydale. “But I’m sure as soon as we let ‘im know yer back he’ll turn right around an come home.”

Buffy nodded, “Do you know how to get in touch with him?”

“Yep, he left yours truly his contact information. Not really sure why he wanted me to hav’ it, but tha’s neither here nor there.”

Buffy swallowed nervously, “Will you call him? I think it might give him a heart attack if he heard my voice straight off.”

Spike nodded and reached for the phone to made the transatlantic call. As he listened to the phone ring for the fourth time Spike began to wonder if the Watcher was home, when suddenly the phone was picked up.

“Rupert Giles here,” came the sound of the Watcher’s voice through the phone.

“Watcher, Spike. Got some news for you,” Spike said.

“I say, is there a problem in Sunnydale? Do you need help with research?” Giles responded.

“No, no problem. Well, there might be a problem,” Spike stumbled, uncharacteristicly for the usually verbose vampire.

“Spike, spit it out,” Giles said gruffly.

“Sorry, Rupes. Red did a spell and, well…” Spike said, trailing off, looking anxiously toward the girl sitting across from him.

“Well, what, Spike?” Giles said growing more frustrated.

“Red’s spell. She resurrected… She brought Buffy back,” Spike finally got out.

“What?” Giles questioned sure that he hadn’t heard the vampire correctly.

Spike turned to Buffy, “Luv, why don’t you talk to him?”

Buffy nodded, reaching for the phone. “Giles, it’s me.”

From the other end of the line a shocked watcher exclaimed, “Bloody hell!”