As Riley watched on in awe, Buffy jumped to her feet, wide eyes taking in the group in front of her. Spike rose from his perch on the table at almost the same time and Riley found his dazed gaze flying to the vampire, only to find the same look reflected back. They held each other’s gaze for a long moment and then, before he could blink, Spike was dashing through the room and out of the front door.

Riley watched the vampire go and, several long moments later, finally turned back to the room, his eyes drawn to Buffy. A Buffy changed from when he had last seen her, but still Buffy. Her hair was longer, darker and there was something about her eyes, something in her expression that was new. He could only stare at her, his brain refusing to believe what his eyes were seeing: Buffy was back and she was standing just a few metres away, eyes flicking around the room nervously, seemingly unnerved by the barrage of questions and exclamations being thrown her way.



His gaze drifted now to the Scoobies, regarding them as they towered over the shell-shocked Slayer, asking her question after question as she sank down onto the sofa. Buffy looked smaller than ever and more scared than he had seen her, but somehow, in the next moment, she drew upon some courage and got to her feet.

“I think I just want to go to sleep,” she mumbled uncertainly.

There was another barrage of noise from her friends but after Buffy repeated her plea of tiredness, there was momentary silence. The group parted and Buffy edged through, making her way swiftly up the stairs. Riley heard the others go back to their exclamations, but his eyes were fixed on Buffy.

She stopped at the top of the stairs and, as if sensing his gaze, turned to look at him, tired eyes taking him in for the first time. There was the slightest flash of recognition, but then her expression settled into a blank mask that sent a chill through him. She finally turned and slowly moved away along the hall, leaving him with an unsettling feeling in his stomach.



“Hey Riley, what do you think?”

He was jerked back to reality at the sound of Xander’s voice and he turned back to the group, throwing one last fleeting glance at the stairs.

“Sorry, what?” he asked, suddenly realising that he had been asked a questions.

“What do you think?” Willow echoed, watching him with pleading eyes, “About Buffy? She… she seems like Buffy, right?”

“She’s the same, right?” Xander added.

He wanted to laugh but when he saw the serious look on their faces, he paused.

“I… I don’t know,” he murmured, quickly continuing when he saw their faces drop, “I mean, I wasn’t here when…”

“Yeah, of course,” Willow quickly said, her confidence returning, “She… she’s fine. She’s just adjusting.”

“I’m sure she just needs some time,” Tara added, rubbing Willow’s shoulder soothingly.

“The most important thing is that she’s back,” Xander commented, looking to Anya for confirmation.

Unable to bear it any longer, Riley turned towards the door.

“Excuse me, I need some air.”



He stumbled out through the door and down the steps almost blindly, breathing heavily. He came to a halt, one hand braced against the main post of the terrace – and straightened up with a start as he spotted a figure in the shadows a few steps away.

“Spike?”

The vampire straightened and turned to him, his face set in a grim expression, emotions warring in his eyes.

“Did you know?”

“I knew,” Riley admitted, “But I… I didn’t realise… I didn’t think it would work.”

With a sigh of defeat, Spike turned away, obviously struggling with his emotions – Riley hadn’t missed the redness around his eyes.

“It didn’t work,” the vampire mumbled after a silence, “Did you see her?”

“It was her, wasn’t it?” Riley pointed out.

“If you believed that, you’d be in there celebrating with the others,” Spike commented, pulling out a cigarette and tucking it between his lips as he lit it.

Riley let out a sigh and sank to the steps of the porch, running a hand through his hair.

“I just can’t believe this,” he whispered, mostly to himself.

Spike leant against the tree a few metres away and threw his head back, his jaw clenching as he fought his emotions once more.



“Were you there?” Spike asked after another long silence, piercing gaze fixing on his.

“No.”

Spike nodded and took a drag on his cigarette, the tension in him evident even despite his façade of nonchalance.

“Stupid children!” Spike bit out suddenly, startling Riley with his anger.

He spun and punched the tree as Riley looked on in surprise.

“Spike?”

The vampire turned to him angrily and he recoiled ever so slightly.

“Do you realise what they did?!” he exclaimed, beginning to pace in his anger, “What they did to her? They left her in the ground, dammit!! They left her in the ground so she had to climb her way out.”

Spike finally came to the end of his rant and stopped, eyes fixed on his with a pained expression.

“She had to climb out of her own grave,” he murmured, his voice softening.

“She… what…”

Riley was shocked that Buffy’s friends had missed out such an important detail and had no idea what to say to pacify the vampire.

“Her hands…” Spike mumbled, turning away and throwing another punch at the tree, “Stupid, foolish children.”

Riley watched Spike’s tense back for a few long moments and then rose to his feet.

“She’s back now,” Riley spoke quietly, drawing the vampire’s pained eyes back to his, “That’s all that matters. And she’s going to need people to be there for her.”

“Well good luck with that,” Spike spat out, throwing his cigarette to the floor and stamping on it angrily, “I won’t be allowed near her.”

“Things are different now,” Riley commented.

“You just wait and see,” Spike answered, shaking his head, “Nothing’ll have changed.”



Before Riley could answer, the door behind him opened and he turned to find Xander and Anya leaving the house. They both stopped as they caught sight of Riley and Spike and Xander frowned, throwing a quick look between them.

“What’s going on?”

“You brought her back,” Spike almost growled, moving closer, “You brought her back and you didn’t tell me.”

“Well, yeah but-“

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Spike bit out.

“Look, we just didn’t,” Xander sighed, “We didn’t even know we were going to go through with it until, like, a few days ago.”

“And that makes it okay?!” Spike cried angrily.

Taking a step towards the vampire, Riley held out a hand in an attempt to calm him.

“Spike, calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down! You don’t realise how serious this is, do you?!”

“Spike-“

“That’s the thing about magic. It always has consequences,” he growled, turning on his heel and striding away, “Always!”

Spike was soon gone in a cloud of smoke from his stolen motorbike’s wheels, leaving the three of them in a tense silence. Riley couldn’t help but wonder if the others had taken in Spike’s words as much as he had.