.4.



Forcing away the ivy that had grown across the doorway to the mansion, Angel held the door open for Drusilla and Buffy to enter, leaving it to swing in Spike’s face had it not been for Buffy holding it still for him. Scowling at his grandsire, Spike had to chuckle when he saw Buffy’s grimace.

She was obviously disgusted at the smell in the disused building and Spike couldn’t blame her. Her heightened sense of smell was something she had often insisted she could live without. It smelt like several things had crawled in here and died. It smelt just like the hell they had left behind and he was loathe to causing her anymore pain, but this was the safest place for them at the moment and the sun coming up gave them a chance to get some well deserved rest.

Taking Buffy’s hand in his own, the blonde duo watched in silence as Drusilla twirled around, giggling madly and blowing kisses at the gargoyle they had been sucked into so very long ago. She had been dying to see it again and give her thanks for bringing her Daddy back to her. The rest of them had no such glee when seeing it again, all the painful memories resurfacing and stunning them into revered silence.

“Dru?” Angel grasped hold of her arm firmly, leading her away from the statue and out of sight, giving Buffy and Spike some time to adjust.

They knew that was not the reason he had left the room, but were grateful all the same that the shame and guilt he felt presented them with a chance to consider all that had happened since the last time they stood here.

Each wondering if the other regretted all that they had lost while rejoicing in their own gain.

“Spike?” Buffy whispered, unable to take her eyes off the concrete hulk that stood towering before them.

“Yeah pet?” Came the whispered response. They knew not why they were whispering, but could not bring themselves to disrupt the eerie silence of the mansion.

“Do you- do you wish?” She paused, fiddling her fingers in between his and holding on as tightly as she could.

“Do I wish what?”

“Do you ever, just wish, that it never happened?”

Turning her in his arms he gently placed his fingers beneath her chin and tilted her head to look him in the eyes.

“I wouldn’t change these past few years for anything sweetheart.” He said softly. “I promise.” He gazed into her eyes, the love that reflected in her eyes humbling him even after all this time.

Pulling her gently away from Acathla, Spike led the way through the maze of dusty corridors until he came across the bedroom he used so very long ago. This was somewhere he had no good memories, just pangs of distant heartache. Something he knew would never happen again. Buffy was his sunshine, his reason for existence after all these years and he knew in turn, that he was just as loved.

He was finally ready to confront all the memories that Sunnydale had to offer and to make a new start with his family. With his new and extended family and the children Buffy remembered.

This was it. This was where they had been heading for so long. They had devoted their lives to getting back the Hellmouth and now they were finally here and yet, they stood in the doorway of disused and dusty room, thinking about what lay ahead of them.

Pushing Spike over the threshold, Buffy shook the blankets that lay haphazardly over the bed, spreading them over the sheets and slipping between them. Waiting until Spike had done the same, she curled into his side, burying her head under his neck and slipping into an instant slumber.

Feeling Angel and Drusilla calm and safe, Spike grinned at the blonde nestled in his embrace. They had really done it. They had escaped with more than ever expected.

And now the angel in his arms was fast asleep, safe and sound at last. With no need to watch over her as she slept, Spike finally found his own peace, closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.



Putting down the receiver, Joyce stared blankly at the telephone. Faith had seen Buffy and the vampires, and so had Rupert. They were all coming here to meet and discuss what they knew before Buffy and her friends had chance to get ready and return.

Just like that, she felt her control slipping away. Just like every time she felt that she understood what was happening, these people came along and pulled the rug out from under her feet. Upsetting everything she knew and turning it upside down.

She had often thought had this was why Buffy had run away. To escape the way these children and their mentor felt the need to be in command of everything that happened.

But now she knew better and she got the strangest feeling that she was the only one.

Vowing to the empty room that it would not be her who would spill Buffy’s secret, she turned to prepare herself for the emotional onslaught that she knew would be coming.

Taking a quick shower, Joyce smiled at the closed door where her baby’s stuff resided. Her baby was home, and she was coming back in just a few endless hours.

Making herself presentable and tidying her home seemed to take up most of the day and before she knew it, the doorbell was ringing to announce her visitors. Welcome or not, they were coming in and there was nothing she could do to stop them.

“Joyce.” Willow greeted softly. She had been the only one to check in on Joyce and to listen when she needed to talk, to give answers whenever necessary and for that Joyce was eternally grateful. Willow had been the voice of reason within the group and seeing Buffy again would be the best thanks Joyce could imagine.

“Nice to see you.” Joyce greeted, smiling at the redhead’s boyfriend as he nodded in her direction. Stretching her face into a twisted mimicry of a smile as she greeted Xander, Anya, Faith and Giles.

This was going to be a long night.

“I presume Buffy came to see you?” Giles said, taking his usual seat in the armchair beside the coffee table. Joyce nodded, her smile never faltering as she met his eyes.

“She’s here?” Xander cried, jumping up and starting towards the staircase.

“No.” Joyce said softly. “They left again.”

“They?”

“Her vamps.” Faith explained casually, strolling to the kitchen to get herself a drink. She had been practically living here most of the time Buffy was missing, bunking in the spare room and helping Joyce out whenever she could.

Lonely hearts seeking comfort from one another long into the early hours of the morning at first. But now she had gained the trust of the elder woman and in turn, gave her respect.

Not waiting for Faith to return, Xander turned to Giles for answers.

“We don’t know why she’s with them.” Giles repeated himself to the young boy for what felt like the millionth time.

“She went to Hell with them.” Faith called, making her way into the room with a tray full of goodies. At the blank looks she was receiving from the Scoobies, she frowned. “Well, that’s what they said.”

“I’m sure she wasn’t being literal.” Giles assured the open mouthed teenagers.

“Do you even know what you’re talking about?” Joyce snapped, making everyone turn to her in curiosity.

“Look, I’m sorry Mrs Summers, but Buffy ran away because she couldn’t handle the fact that her honey was an evil demon. And now she comes back and expects things to be the same?” Xander was prevented from continuing his rant by Anya pulling him back down onto the sofa by the front of his shirt.

“But Angel is back too.” Willow added slowly, “Do you think my spell worked?”

“Of course not.” Xander told her quickly. “If he was good, she wouldn’t have run away.”

“Maybe they ran away to be together?” Willow defended, disappointed that no one believed the power she felt when she performed the re-ensouling spell.

“Or maybe she didn’t run away?” Faith mused, looking at Joyce pensively. “Why don’t we just ask her?”

“Maybe because she’s not here?” Xander snapped, his restraint crumbling at the thought of Buffy with the same demons that ruined everyone’s lives.

“She will be.” Joyce told them quietly, not wanting to get involved in the bitter accusations being slung about by those who called themselves her daughter’s friends.

Hearing Joyce’s muted comment, Oz held his hand up in the air, waiting for silence before speaking.

“Just wait for Buffy to be here to get the facts.”

“And how long will that be?” Giles demanded of Joyce, his glasses in his hands as he glared across the room.

“Well since vampires are pretty flammable, I’d say when it’s dark.” Faith chuckled, pointing out the window at the darkening skyline.

“How do we know she’ll come?” Willow asked uncertainly.

“She’ll come.” Joyce told the room, the confidence in her voice convincing everyone that she would not proved be wrong. “Snacks?”

“Pizza?” Xander piped up hopefully.

“I’ll order.” Willow offered, desperate for something to keep her busy while she waited for sun to sink behind the distant hills. It was worse than ever before. Her best friend was gone, but now they knew she would be back and they just had to wait. In some twisted logical part of her mind, Willow found herself wishing that Buffy hadn’t come back last night, so that they wouldn’t have to sit around and guess what she had been doing for a year. To completely skip all of the awkward, infuriating moments that she knew were still to come.

Watching from the perspective of an outsider, Faith frowned as the very people who had been singing the other Slayer’s praises since she had known them, now bitched and groused about her lack of compassion and bad judgement. These people were so hypocritical it was incredible.

“I’m out.” She said, standing up and stretching her spine into place. “You guys are just unbelievable.”

“Who invited you anyway? You didn’t even know Buffy.” Xander snapped angrily.

“You invited any of you?” Joyce said calmly. “I certainly didn’t. But for Buffy’s sake just shut the hell up and wait until they get here.”

“I’ll just do a quick patrol.” Faith assured Joyce with a heartening smile, shutting the door softly behind her leaving the sounds of the Scoobies bitching and speculating about what tonight had in store for them.



Slipping out of bed, Buffy quickly traced a note in the dusty surface of the mirror with her fingertip to tell Spike where she had gone and tiptoed from the room. Smiling at the thick curtains that covered every window she made her way through the darkness and down to the entrance hall. Throwing one last look of contempt at the statue that stood behind her, she stepped out into the sunlight for the first time in nearly five years.

Basking in the brilliance of the naturally sunny Californian skies, Buffy felt a smile creep across her face.

Sunnydale Mall- here I come, she grinned, making her way down the street with a skip in her step. She had found a large stash of cash in a drawer next to the bed and planned on spending the rest of the daylight buying new clothes and toiletries for herself and her family.

Spike would probably spend half the evening grousing about what she had bought, but it would be worth it when he saw herself and Dru in nice, clean clothes again. She knew that both Angel and Spike would do anything for their ladies, and couldn’t wait to see what shops were at the mall and if there were any sales.

Staring up at the entrance to the mall, she grinned.

“Welcome home me!”

*

.5.



Stumbling through a haze of thick, foul smelling, smoky mist, Spike felt himself gasp for air in tune with Buffy. Her need to breathe forcing Spike to long for the sweet taste of oxygen as he followed her through the pit.

Reaching the shelter of a secluded cave, Spike pressed himself against Buffy, pinning them both to the walls, mourning the loss of the dream he had been enjoying before the hunting hell hounds had disrupted his slumber.

It wasn’t an unusual occurrence to be woken by Buffy or Angel and forced to run for their lives, or unlives as the case may be, but it was the first time his dream had progressed that far.

He had been back in Sunnydale with the Slayer on his arm. The twin punctures on her neck a neon sign for all demons to see, warning the hazards of trying to take out his Slayer. He would protect her life with his own and the demon community knew it. What was unusual about this particular dream was the fact that the humans knew it also. Every human along the street would greet them in an awed fashioned, clamouring to shake hands or even get a rare smile from the Slayer or himself. Demons and humans alike were honoured to be in the couple’s presence and Spike’s demon was immensely satisfied at the worship it was rewarded with.

Pressing Buffy deeper into the narrow recess in the wall, he sighed in relief when they made it through to where the gap in the rock face suddenly opened into a colossal cavern. It’s ceiling could not be made out, even with the elder vampire’s enhanced vision, the walls sparkled with millions of different crystals and gems, each embedded so firmly that one would become insane with determination before a stone was even half way loose.

Following the Slayer across the dry, remarkably undusty floor, Spike sank to his knees on a pile of furs, the demons they had belonged to long since drained dry and roasted for food.

Growling at Angel and Drusilla who were still intertwined under their own pile of furs, hidden by a convenient curve of the wall, Spike was immediately distracted by the Slayer pouncing on him, adrenaline pumping through her system, demanding release in the only way she knew how to these days.

Being straddled by the Slayer was enough to make Spike all but forget about the dreams that had been plaguing him for countless hundreds of nights. She was an expert at making him forget the hell that surrounded them, and he in turn, gave her the refuge she sought and gave promise after promise of returning to her life as soon as they could.

Taking his time in teasing his Slayer, Spike lazily ran his hands across her practically bare back, eliciting a growl of her own as she writhed for the friction Spike was denying her. He had all the time in the world and was determined to make her last.

Time moved faster down here, he was sure of it, for all he knew, a month down here could only be a day back in Sunnydale. They had taken to sleeping in turns as couples, as within the space of a single day in this place, they found themselves wide awake and unable to get any proper rest. It had been Spike and Buffy’s turn to guard the cave and hunt for food. The food that would surely slink by in the next few hours before the fires began to burn, signalling a new day. By night, the ground released sulphuric smoke clouds, each hanging low above the hot barren lands and choking those who needed to breathe clean air. Each day the smoke would evaporate into the acrid stench of what passed for air and geysers of fire would shoot out of cracks, burning up anything that dared to stand within its path.

This place truly was Hell, and the only sanctuary they had was the cavern they had made their home for the past few weeks while they regained their strength and resolve.

Strength to make it back to Sunnydale and to Buffy’s life as the Guardian of Good for the world.

Not that she was doing much in the way of good while they were trapped in this place. She had been through so much in the past few years they had been here that Spike doubted she would ever be able to return to her Slayer duties and her Watcher.

How the hell would she explain what she was currently doing Spike wondered, his head falling back in delight as Buffy used her sharpened canines to rip through the skin on his neck, her vaginal walls clenching around his cock as she rode him, urgency lost along the way when fangs had come into their play. Lazily sliding up at down his shaft she licked sloppily at the blood that ran freely from her lovers neck, fast healing bite marks ensuring that they never took too much of each other.

Opening his eyes slowly, Spike looked around the room in a daze. He must have been dreaming, for he was no longer in hell, but his girl was most definitely suckling on his neck while she rode his cock. They were in the mansion where they had sought refuge as the sun came up and he guessed it was just setting in the sky as they shagged.

Rolling Buffy over in one smooth movement, Spike began to pound in earnest, his desire for her lingering from his dream and pushing him towards the edge faster than Buffy was getting there.

There was no way he would ever climax before his girl, it was his life’s mission to keep her satisfied and that’s what he would do. Angling his hips so that he ground his pubic bone against her clit with every forward surge, Spike slammed into her, over and over, until his name tumbled from her bloodstained lips as if by repeating his name she could somehow convey the immense pleasure coursing through her body.

Growling at the knocking on the door, Spike frowned when Drusilla ignored his warning, waltzing in to give Buffy a hug, mindless of the Slayer’s lack of clothes or the blood that stained her lips.

“You’re welcome.” Buffy told the vampiress with a smile, returning the hug and watching as she flounced from the room.

“Welcome for what?” Spike asked curiously, his eyes darting around the room and coming to settle on the mountain of bags stacked beside the bureau.

“I bought you some too.” Buffy was saying as he made his way over to her goodie bags and tipping them onto the bed. Glancing at the clothes and toiletries that tumbled from the bags Spike began to chuckle. She had been nervous about telling him she’d been shopping. Probably because she took the money he had set out for leaving Sunnydale with Dru the night they had been sucked through Acathla.

“These for me pet?” He grinned, holding up the black items she had purchased with him in mind. Nodding at the colourless clothing, Buffy pulled out a fresh set of clothes for herself, dressing quickly to beat the sinking sun. She wanted to get back to her mother’s as quickly as possible to fill her in on what had occurred in the time they had been gone before she had a chance to catch up with her friends.

She was longing to see her friends and couldn’t wait to go and see them after speaking with her mom. Spike, Angel and Dru would be able to go with her to the Bronze, to experience the world in which she had been longing to live. She was determined not to let anything ruin tonight for her. Not even Giles’ disappointment would stop her from celebrating her return with her family and friends.

“Ready kitten?” Spike held open the door, watching with interest as she bounded past him, linking arms with Drusilla as they met in the hallway and skipping down the stone staircase and out into the night, not waiting for him or Angel to keep up.

Keeping close enough to protect their ladies, Spike and Angel followed the two across town into the residential areas, keeping an eye out for threats as neither Buffy or Dru seemed to care if the whole world had turned to stare at them. They were dressed in new, unripped clothes, their hair was brushed and tied back and they were out for a good time.

That was until the door to the home in front of them was wrenched open by one of her young friends, spitting and snarling insults for all he was worth.

“Hello Buffy. How are you? I’m glad you’re back.” The Slayer grumbled, perfectly audible for the boy to hear as she made her way up the wooden steps and onto the porch.

“What?” Xander repeated, incredulously. He had positioned his body to block the entrance to the house but was quickly shoved aside by Buffy, who entered the house followed by her vampiric companions, taking a seat in the empty armchair while the vampires stood behind in a silent show of solidarity.

“Just who do you think you are?” Xander cried, looking from one to another of the visitors in disgust.

“She’s my daughter.” Joyce said firmly. “This is her house too.”

“She ran away for over a year!” Willow piped up, unable to take her eyes off the blonde girl that sat before her.

“I ran away?” Buffy questioned, her eyes firmly meeting her mothers as she spoke. “I got sucked through that damn demon into hell and you guys just assumed I’d run away?” She chuckled pitilessly, “Fuck it, I may as well have ran away right?”

“Silly dolly.” Dru muttered softly, patting her head softly. “They can’t see truth when tales blind them.”

“I know.” Buffy said gently, “I know.”

“You understand that crazy bitch?” Xander cried, wringing his hands in desperation while his girlfriend looked on in amusement at the drama unfolding before her.

“Hey.” Oz said sternly, taking in the hurt on the Slayer’s face. It was obvious to him that Xander was probably going to be eaten by someone in this room if he didn’t learn to control his mouth and his temper.

“Hey what?” Xander was yelling even Willow and Joyce’s pleas falling on deaf ears as he continued to rant.

“How ‘bout you shut that trap ‘fore I do it for ya?” A rich Boston accent drawled from the kitchen doorway. “Hey B.” The dark Slayer nodded a welcome and took a seat next to Joyce on the arm of the sofa.

“Faith.” Buffy smiled in greeting. There was something soothing about the other Slayer’s presence that somehow eased Buffy’s worries about the future. There was another fighter on the side of good, one that was strong enough to be a real asset and Buffy was grateful for that.

“Slayer.” Spike grinned, watching as she eyed up Angel in his poncy new skin tight shirt.

“Spike.” The dark Slayer teased right back, letting him know she had no fear of him.

“Can we please begin to discuss your absence?” Giles groaned from his seat on the other side of the room, getting everyone’s attention immediately.

“Sure.” Buffy muttered. “How long have I been gone?”

“Nineteen months.” Joyce was the first to answer. “Was it the same for you?”

“No.” Spike replied, looking at the Watcher intently. “It was much longer.”

“One thousand, seven hundred and ten days.” Buffy whispered to the horror of the occupants of the room.

“How long?” Giles queried, his glasses once again between his fingertips, hoping that his visual impairment had temporarily affected his hearing too. There was something terrifying about his Slayer being trapped somewhere for that long with her present company.

“Fifty seven months. Four years and nine months. One thousand seven hundred and ten days.” Buffy’s voice began to waver. “Half a decade stuck in hell and you all assumed I’d run away from home?”

“We thought you’d left to be with Angel after I gave him his soul back.” Willow couldn’t resist slipping that titbit into the conversation.

“Angel?” Buffy gave another hollow laugh. “I’m not with Angel.”

“So why the hell is he here now?” Xander demanded, pointing at the offending demons as if no one else realised they were there.

“Because they’re my family.” Buffy told them stiffly, watching reactions as she spoke. “I love them”



*

6.



“You can’t love them. They’re demons. They have no souls.” Willow argued.

“I can love them, they don’t need souls. I’ve got more than enough soul to share.” Buffy argued,

“You cannot share a soul Buffy.” Giles told her wearily, “It’s impossible.”

“Spike shares my soul.” Buffy pointed at the lean vampire to her left. “They share my life so that I can share their death.”

“What?”

“We keep each other alive.” Buffy tried to explain simply, not wanting discuss the details of her relationship with Spike with everybody present. She wasn’t a seventeen year old girl anymore; she was soon to be twenty-two while her old friends would be turning nineteen. She was more mature than she had ever imagined getting the opportunity to be and she was eternally grateful that she no longer had an expiration date.

“How?” Faith asked curiously. She knew the other Slayer wasn’t a vampire, she could sense it, but she was intrigued as to how a slayer and a vampire could keep each other ‘alive’.

“It’s private.” Buffy said softly, a faint bloodsh stealing across her pale complexion.

“Private?” Giles demanded angrily. “Explain yourself.”

“You’re not my Watcher anymore. You made that plain last night.” Buffy replied firmly. “It’s not important at the moment.”

“Not important?” Willow queried, looking from one vampire to the next.

“It’s important to me.” Buffy clarified, “But there’s no need to go into it now.”

“Oh. You’ve been missing for all this time and now we’re not even important enough for you to tell us what happened?”

“Was I important enough for you to care what happened to me? Did you even wonder where I was or did you just wait for the next Slayer to come along for you to hang with?”

“What?” Xander spluttered, leaning forward to shout once more.

“Hey.” Oz and Faith beat him to it. Sitting back against Anya quickly, Xander watched with interest as Buffy apologised to Faith for her outburst, and motioned for Oz to speak.

“You can’t blame Willow for wanting to know what you went through. We’ve got all night.”

“All night?” Joyce agreed, her eyes resolutely staying away from the familiar liquor cabinet.

“We’re going to dance with the stars.” Drusilla told them firmly, her eyes flitting to each person in the room. She had been promised a good night with plenty of dancing and a hunt before dawn.

“We’ll still dance pet.” Spike promised, his hand squeezing Buffy’s when she looked up at him hopefully.

“So what do you want to know?” Buffy asked with a sigh, resigning herself to the fact that she would be here for most of the night answering the questions they were bound to fire at her.

“How did you get sucked through Acathla?” Joyce asked before anyone could make a sound. Her burning desire to understand what her baby had been through had not been satisfied with the knowledge she had gained so far tonight.

“That was my fault.” Angel spoke for the first time, the guilt weighing down his soul more than ever now that everyone’s attention was focused on him.

“Angelus had-”

“Angel, we know it was you mate.” Spike interrupted with a grin.

“Okay, I had just opened the portal when Buffy tried to stop me. The portal kept growing as we fought and by the time we noticed it to try to escape it, it sucked in everything in the room.”

“It was that simple?” Willow questioned, the intricately detailed plans that she had concocted in her head falling flat with this insight.

“That simple.” Spike confirmed. “Everythin’ in the bloody room went with us.”

“And then?” Giles asked, looking up from his notepad.

“How should I know?” Buffy grumbled, looking down at her feet.

“Slayer was knocked out, Angel was all soul havin’ again and me and Dru were bloody confused.” Spike grinned. “T’was dark, smelt fuckin’ awful and bloody dangerous for anythin’ that weren’t a true demon.”

“A true demon?” Joyce queried, the only one unafraid to pose a question to the vampire they didn’t know.

“One that’s not tainted with humanity.” Anya supplied helpfully from her seat to Xander’s astonishment. He had conveniently dismissed the idea that his girlfriend was a former demon. It was all in her past and they were moving on now that she was human and no longer an evil soulless creature.

“S’right.” Spike agreed. “So we were fucked no matter how you looked at it.”

“Spike!” Buffy chastised, for her mother had raised her eyebrows in shock every time he had cursed.

“Sorry love.” He smirked, running his tongue over his teeth as he concentrated on their blood-link, sending his emotions coursing through her body.

bloodshing, Buffy straightened in her seat. “We were in some kind of hell where everything wanted to kill us, the air was unbelievably hot and smelly and it was pretty much every other cliché you can think of.” She paused for effect. “Any more questions?”

“When did you get your soul back?” Willow asked Angel shyly, desperate to know the answer and no longer afraid to pose the question now that someone had confirmed it.

“His eyes.” Dru murmured softly, “The faeries burn bright in his eyes.”

“Just as we were sucked through the vortex.” Buffy added. “So what about you? When did you realise I was gone?”

“We went back to mansion that afternoon when Joyce let us know that you hadn’t been home.”

“And?”

“And we searched it for any trace of you or your companions.” Giles felt peculiarly small having to explain their actions to his former charge, it was usually him demanding explanations for immature or reckless behaviour, even with Buffy, and he was the one with the control and the maturity to reprimand the children. He suddenly felt rather like a child himself. It was discomfiting to say the very least.

“And when you figured she’d pulled a Houdini?” Spike asked, his eyes glowing amber as he glared at his fellow Brit.

“What’s it to you?” Xander ignored Angel’s warning growl, staring straight at the youngest vampire.

“She’s my mate you wanker.” Spike growled, all warnings Buffy had given him about letting that slip shoved to the furthest recesses of his mind as the young imbecile provoked him even further, demanding Buffy explain herself and what he had meant.

Stepping in front of his small family, Angel could do nothing to prevent the protective roar that resonated from his chest. This was his family being threatened by this impudent slip of a human.

Beginning to growl softly, the four seemed to converse in this strange, almost feral way, until Oz gently growled at them, startling them out of their trance like conversation.

“English?” He smiled, having understood the general idea of the reassuring words exchanged by the strange family unit. That was something he knew would come out in it’s own time. When this strange group were ready for the repercussions that it would surely bring from both friends and family.

“Sorry.” Buffy, looked anything but sorry, but she felt it was probably better to apologise for excluding everyone else before they all started to argue again. “So you all looked for me?”

“Yes.” Joyce assured her daughter, the display of affection between the foursome had slightly unnerved her and she was dying to ask what it had been about. “We never really stopped.”

“Even after all this time?” Buffy asked, sceptically.

“They never stopped.” Faith assured her, suddenly unsure of her place within the group. She had already done one patrol tonight, there was no need for another so soon, yet she was itching to get out and fight something, to reassure herself that this was where she belonged, doing what she did best.

“How long have you been the Slayer?” Buffy asked quietly. “Since Kendra?”

“Since you went.” Faith held her head up high. She did belong here, just as much as anyone else did.

“Thank you.” Buffy’s voice was barely more than a whisper but she needed to express her gratitude to the other Slayer or sticking around to protect her family and friends.

“For what?” Giles queried, looking from Slayer to Slayer.

“I know.” Faith muttered. “It don’t need to be said.”

“So what happened in hell?” Joyce asked, trying to move things on before anyone could begin to argue all over again.

“We survived.” Buffy replied, a smile ghosting across her face as the memories flooded through her, the good times and the bad. They had survived and now they were back to show it. “We fought, we hunted, we were hunted, we fell in love, we became a family.” She looked up at her now silent audience. “We had an adventure.”

“An adventure?” Giles was the first to break the silence; the outrage that a Slayer would enjoy a trip to hell with notorious vampires for company was just plain absurd.

“Problem?” Spike enquired genially.

“I dare say I’m not the only one.” Giles retorted, “A Slayer should always be on her guard against vampires and demons. One should never fool themselves into thinking demons can have feelings. When your back is turned, they’ll turn against you.”

“Don’t be silly.” Joyce scoffed, offended for her daughter at the ignorance Rupert was insinuating. “I hardly think they would have returned to Sunnydale with Buffy in tow if they were enjoying themselves in hell, murdering my baby girl.”

“Mom!” Buffy was shocked. Who knew her mom would have accepted what it meant to be a Slayer in the time she had been gone? “Giles, if you think I’m so stupid then why are you here? Why are any of you here when you don’t care what happened to me? You just wanted to judge me when you saw Spike, Angel and Dru. Isn’t that right?”

“Of course not.” Willow pleaded with her former best friend. She wanted to hear all the gossip about her friend and her life since she had been gone, but asking questions like that in front of the adults just seemed strange and rude to Willow. “We’re your friends. We love you. We wanted to know you were safe and well.”

“And if you were gonna tell us what the heck those vamps are doing walking free after what they did?” Xander sniped, still pinned down by the arm Anya had lay across him, preventing him from moving at all.

“Walking free?” Spike chuckled, “It’ll be a damn sight more than you’ll be doin’ f’you don’t shut up.”

“Spike.” Buffy warned sternly. He knew there would be no threatening of her friends, even if she had already figured that she wouldn’t be keeping in touch with said friend anymore.

“Sorry love.”

“So are you two crazy kids together then?” Faith asked, desperate for something to talk about that interested her. She didn’t know the vampires, she had no clue exactly what they’d done that was so bad, but she wasn’t getting bad vibes off any of them so they were safe and she felt that she was safe.

“Forever.” Spike said proudly, perching on the arm of the chair, his arm around his girl’s shoulders as they watched her family and friends try to understand the situation. The marks on their necks were completely visible to anyone who cared to look, but so far none of the occupants in the room had understood the significance of the fang marks on their necks. Even the Watcher was having problems with the word, staring blankly at them, his face an amusing mixture of horror and revulsion.

“Forever?” Willow was shocked. She had thought Oz and herself were in a long term, serious relationship for she had agreed to move into a small apartment off campus with him, but to pledge yourself to someone forever? It was like something from a romantic movie and she found herself trying to ignore the twinges of envy she felt when she saw how close Buffy and Spike actually were as they sat quite innocently. How had she not seen it before? And were those?

They were.

Both Buffy and Spike had violent looking fang wounds on their necks. Ones that looked completely fresh.

If Spike had bitten Buffy to leave marks, who had bitten Spike? Buffy didn’t have fangs.

Did she?

TBC..