Buffy had been enjoying herself at the party. Professor Walsh's TA, Riley Finn, had come over to talk to her, but he had been pulled away by his friend Forrest. When Xander showed up, she had been surprised but left the fraternity house quickly when she heard what he had to say.

"You sure they were the same guys I ran into before? The storm troopery ones"

"I'm willing to stake my $2.00 couch on it, Buff. I was making a pizza delivery to one of the dorms and saw them sneaking around in the bushes. I don't know what they were up to, but thought you might want to know about it. Willow told me you guys were going to a party at Lowell House tonight, so here I am."

"Okay, look, Xander, you go on home. I'll scout around, see if I can find anything." Buffy started to turn away, but Xander stopped her.

"Wait, Buff, take this with you. It's a little something I carry with me in case of vampire attack." Buffy looked down at the object he held out. "A flare gun?"

"Granted it's not a rocket launcher, but you might need something besides a stake to use on these guys. Just a precaution, okay?"

Shrugging, Buffy accepted the flare gun and went to start her patrol.

***

Witch and vampire froze for a few seconds in surprise when the lights went out. Willow decided that it was as good a time as any to make another run for it, but before she could even move the door flew open and black-clad men carrying weapons burst into the room.

"There he is, grab him."

"Get the girl too."

"No leave her alone, she's human."

"We can't take a chance, she may have been compromised."

One of the men grabbed Willow and began to pull her from the room. Spike was in no position to help her because he was struggling with two others, but he could hear Willow's cries of distress. Reaching out, he managed to snatch one of the guns. Using the butt end, he smashed it into the temple of his nearest attacker. Both of them went down. Spike clutched his head as pain radiated throughout his entire brain. Two more of the men took hold of him, restraining and dragging him from the room.

Once out in the hallway, Spike began to recover and looked up to see Willow struggling valiantly with her captor. Spotting a fire extinguisher on the wall, he jerked away from his own captors. Moving quickly, he grabbed it, pulled the pin and sprayed foam over the entire group. Willow slipped free when Spike aimed directly at her captor's eyes covering the lenses of the goggles he wore. Throwing the now empty canister at the man, Spike reached out to Willow and managed to push her back into the room.

The men seized him again and held him fast while another aimed his tranquilizer gun. A bright flash of light exploded in the hallway temporarily blinding the men and Spike, realizing that the Slayer had finally shown up, took the opportunity to escape. He knew that Buffy would protect Willow. He would get in contact with her later. Right now, he needed to evade capture.

***

Willow sat on the sofa wrapped in a blanket and holding a cup of hot tea. She was still suffering a reaction from her ordeal. Her teeth had chattered so hard on the drive to Giles' place that she had been unable to talk. The lights had gone out just as Xander was leaving and he had joined Buffy in running to Stevenson Hall. Comforting the distraught Willow as best he could, he had quickly driven the two girls to the Watcher's home.

"So these commando persons broke into your dorm room and tried to kidnap you, Willow?" Giles was asking.

"Well, I, I don't think they were after me. I think they were after Spike and just took me because..."

"What!?" Buffy exclaimed, jerking in surprise. "Did you say they wanted Spike?"

"Uh, yeah. See he was there in the dorm room with me and..."

"What? How? When?"

Swallowing hard, Willow explained the circumstances regarding Spike's appearance.

"He says that there is a secret lab under the university? What kind of scheme is he hatching now?" Giles wondered.

"I don't think it was a scheme, Giles," Willow said. "I mean, those guys were after him for some reason, and then they tried to take me because one of them said I might have been 'compromised'"

"Damn him!" Buffy ground out. "He promised me he would never come back to Sunnydale."

"Well, he obviously did not keep that promise, which considering that it's Spike we're talking about can hardly be a surprise. He wasn't able to kill you last year so he obviously has returned to try again," Giles theorized.

"Maybe," was all Buffy could say. Sighing, she got up, went to Giles' weapons chest and removed several stakes, a knife and a crossbow. "Well, guess I'm on Spike patrol. I'll try to find him; see if I can get any further information out of him. Then I'll dust him."

With those words, she stormed out of the apartment.

***

Buffy was furious. Damn him. She had finally managed to stop thinking about him. She had finally managed to stop dreaming about him. Even after Angel had been miraculously returned from the Hell dimension, she had thought constantly of Spike. She had felt as if she were cheating on Angel. Even though she and Angel could not be together, he was still the man she loved so the intrusion of Spike thoughts seriously unnerved her.

Unsure where to start looking for him, Buffy decided to try the old mausoleum he had occupied last year. It was far enough off the beaten path that the commandos might not have found it and since it was familiar, Spike just might go to ground there.

Crossbow cocked, all senses alert, Buffy entered the old crypt. It was too dark to see very well inside and the moonlight penetrated only a few inches. A click and the flare of a lighter let Buffy know that she had been right to come here. Pointing the crossbow in the direction of the flame she said coldly, "You shouldn't have come back here, Spike. I told you I'd have to kill you if you returned."

"Ah, but, Buffy, love, how could I stay away from you?" With that, Spike moved forward, all light and dark, sex and danger. Coming right up to her, he gently pushed the crossbow aside. Reaching out his hand, he softly caressed the side of her face. "I've missed you," he said. His voice was a deep rich purr, the tones causing her muscles to quiver. Leaning forward, he went to place a kiss on her mouth, but Buffy jumped back and raised the crossbow again.

"Don't touch me, Spike," she snapped. "You've had everything you're going to get from me. I don't care why you've come back; I don't care what you know about these commandos. I warned you what would happen if you came back and I meant it." With that she aimed the crossbow and prepared to fire the bolt. Spike just stood there before her making no effort to evade the shot. His confidence that she wouldn't shoot him infuriated her and she pulled the trigger. The arrow whizzed past just missing him. Spike raised an eyebrow and smirked, "Knew you wouldn't hurt me, luv."

"No?" Buffy snarled. Dropping the crossbow she threw a punch with all her might behind it. Spike was knocked forcefully to the ground, but he sprang back quickly, returning the punch. It connected and he screamed and collapsed, clutching his head. Buffy was beside him instantly arms around his shoulders asking anxiously, "Spike, what's wrong."

"God, Buffy, those bastards did something to me. This happened when I was fightin' those men in your dorm room too. I hit one of 'em and it felt like someone put a cattle prod to my head."

Arms wrapped supportively around him, Buffy helped him to stand. "Come on," she said. "Let's go talk to Giles."