He followed Buffy at a slight distance, taking her in stealthily. She hadn’t changed in all these months – even her hair was still the same length it had been then. She looked happier though, brighter and more carefree than he had ever seen her. There was, as he had noticed earlier, a bounce in her step that hadn’t been there before and he found himself musing upon what could have caused this change in her.

The last time he had seen her, she had been worried and stressed about her mother, but that girl was nowhere to be seen and he took it as a good sign for Joyce’s health. She was so much more beautiful like this, he realised – the smile that graced her lips lit up her whole face and there was a glow to her that he hadn’t seen in a long time. She looked like the young girl she had long ago stopped being.

God, he had missed her. He had missed watching her, listening to her speak, seeing her smile. It had clawed at him like a pain in the dark of night, making him restless, causing him so many nights of sleeplessness. How could he have been so stupid as to walk away from her?



In the midst of his musings, he suddenly realised with a start that they had reached the cemetery where Spike’s crypt stood, just a few metres away now. Buffy continued on with a slight skip and he followed with a frown, remembering with clarity his last meeting with the vampire.

That meeting when Spike had all but confessed his feelings for Buffy after a little introduction to the pointy end of a plastic stake. When he had been feeling so helpless that even sharing a bottle of whiskey with the vampire he hated above all others had seemed like a good idea. Spike had told him Buffy needed some monster in her man. Is this what this was, this thing with Spike?

Except he couldn’t believe it, not of the Buffy he had known. She had hated Spike just as much as him back then. She would never look twice at him. Would she? A love spell, that’s what this had to be. With an angry grimace, he sped up his steps, catching up to Buffy as she reached the door. She hesitated for a moment and he frowned, before pushing the door open himself and storming into the crypt, Buffy hurrying past him as he came to a standstill.



The crypt was dark, no candles, no television lighting up the shadows. It took his eyes a few moments to adjust to the dark and then he spotted him. Spike. The pain in his ass. Spike was slumped into his armchair, face turned away from then. He was silent for a long moment and then he spoke up loudly.

“Thought I told you not to come here anymore,” the vampire all but growled out and it took Riley a few stunned seconds to realise he was actually talking to Buffy.

“You’re such a sexy Big Bad,” Buffy simpered and Riley jerked his gaze to her in surprise.

She was smiling widely in Spike’s direction, but the vampire would not even look at her.

“Get. Out.”

He saw a distinct pout form on the Slayer’s lips, only confusing him even more. She turned to him and gave him a sad little sigh.

“He likes the other Buffy better,” she said sadly.


As he frowned at her strange words, he suddenly felt eyes on him and he turned, meeting Spike’s bright, curious gaze across the room.

“Soldier Boy,” Spike got out with none of his usual brashness.

“Spike,” Riley bit out.

Spike turned away again and felt around beside his chair before retrieving a bottle and downing a long sip. Riley took a wary step forward and regarded the vampire with what little light there was. It was with a start that he realised just how bad the vampire looked: drained almost and with the strangest look of desperation.

“Will you both just bugger off,” Spike growled angrily, taking another swig from his bottle.



Buffy’s pout caught his attention again and he frowned, turning back to the vampire.

“What’s going on here?”

“You were leaving, I believe,” Spike answered tiredly, “Make sure to take her with you.”

Riley just looked between Slayer and vampire for a long beat, confused about what was happening before his eyes. The vampire who had been half in love with his girlfriend now wouldn’t even look at her and his former love was simpering over a vampire. Something was definitely wrong here.

“I’m a Slayer,” Buffy piped up brightly, smiling between both males, “I kill vampires.”

She smiled widely and continued with eyes fixed on the vampire.

“Except Spike, because he’s so sexy,” Buffy continued in a confidential whisper.

All the warning he got was a low growl and then the bottle that was in Spike’s hand was flying through the air and smashing into the Slayer’s face. She dropped to the floor and Riley gaped in horror. He glanced at the motionless vampire and quickly dropped to a crouch by Buffy’s side, taking her shoulder and rolling her over.

What he saw then caused a sharp intake of breath: the skin of her cheek was hanging off her and underneath, there was metal and the unmistakeable light of an electrical pulse.

“Buffy?” he got out in surprise.



He looked up, startled, as Spike appeared at his side, dark eyes staring down at… Buffy?

“This isn’t Buffy,” Riley got out shakily.

“Five points for the boy scout,” Spike scowled, hatred in his expression as he regarded the injured fake Buffy.

“What is she?”

“Robot,” Spike mumbled, hands stuffed in his pockets, his whole frame wrought with tension.

Riley looked down at the still eyes of the Buffy robot and rose to his feet somewhat shakily. A robot Buffy?! What was going on here? He looked at the vampire again and took in with surprise the dark circles under his eyes.

“Where’s Buffy?” he asked.

Spike looked up slowly and met his eyes, his expression flooded with something that might have been pain.

“Gone,” he choked out, turning his back on Riley and moving away.

“Gone?” Riley echoed numbly, his eyes drawn helplessly back to the damaged robot wearing Buffy’s face, “What do you mean gone?”

Spike didn’t reply for a really long time and Riley looked up, searching for him in the darkness and finding him returned to his armchair with a new bottle of what now appeared to be whiskey. Without looking at him, Spike spoke the words that brought his world tumbling down around him:

“She’s dead.”