“Alia, stop!” Willow shouted, startling her travel companion and lover into hitting the brakes.

“What’s wrong? Is there an attack?” Alia scanned the surrounding area out of instinct and found no threats. Not that she was actually expecting any threats so close to the Slayers' Council Headquarters. Turning to the obviously distraught witch she put her palm on her lover’s shoulder in a show of support. “You have nothing to worry about. I’ll be right there next to you when you deliver the news.”

“But you don’t get it. You can’t get it ‘cause you didn’t know him, but it was him. And now I have to tell the others he’s back. How do I tell the others he’s back? What if they think I did it? I didn’t do it, honest, I learned my lesson. And I wouldn-” Willow was unable to continue due to a firm, demanding and passionate kiss from the woman that she’d only been involved with for a little over a year, but that had healed most of the leftover wounds from both the loss of Tara and Kennedy's huffy exit from her life.

After a few moments of losing themselves in each other, Alia straightened back in her seat and smiled at the panting redhead. “Sweetie, nobody is going to accuse you of anything. And if they do, I’ll be there to tell them that you didn’t do anything wrong. As for Spike, I didn’t meet him before Sighisoara, true, but you and the others of the Sunnydale crew have told the rest of us so many stories of him that I think I understand what he meant to all of you.” She peered through the windshield where the Slayer Castle was still barely discernible in the distance.

“Yes, but he didn’t…” she sighed in defeat. “Ok, let’s go, but if she gets upset I’m not the one to blame.”

With that said, Alia put the car in motion again, driving them both towards the place they called home.

*****

“Ah, the prodigal daughters return. So, where’s the mojo thing and why didn’t you call in? I would have had an extraction team dispatched,” Xander greeted the two women as they were shown into the main hall of the castle. “Were you two having too much fun and didn’t want it to end?” he asked with a wink, something exceedingly difficult to pull off with an eye-patch. “Should’ve called though, we’ve had no news for two days and I already had a rescue team picked out for you.”

“There’s been a… hitch,” Willow responded trying to avoid looking at her old friend’s eye. “I should really talk to Buffy… and Dracula as well.”

“Just a sec, I’ll call for them.” After pressing a few buttons on a gadget in front of him he got up and started walking towards the stairs. “The Buffster’s in the garden. I’ll go check on our resident bloodsucker now. Oh, and I want details on the town you visited. Maybe I’ll take Dawn there for a weekend or something.” And with that he opened the door towards the cellar and disappeared.

“Dawn?” Willow looked at Alia as if waiting for her to unlock the mysteries of the Universe. “When did that happen?”

“Sweetie, it was pretty obvious that it was a long time coming, to everyone here at least. Didn’t you notice anything back in Sunnydale?”

“Well, yeah, she had a crush on him back then. But… where was I when this happened?”

“You were in the coven. Now stop stalling and let’s tell Buffy what happened,” the young Slayer told her pouting lover with a quick peck to the cheek and a gentle tug on the sleeve. Making their way out towards the garden, the two lovers held hands, preparing themselves for the meeting with one’s best friend and the other one’s mentor.

Buffy was sitting on the bench in front of the fountain, in the middle of a mock-maze on the left side of the flower garden. Alia, just like all the other girls in the Castle, knew their leader spent most of her free time there, watching the water shoot up towards the sky only to tumble in the basin at the base, swirling and frothing.

It was a long running game between the girls to try and decipher the reason for these moments. Some said the water was a metaphor for their lives, shooting up out of mediocrity, striving for the heavens and, in the end, being cut down by some demon or other and joining the pool of Slayer souls. Others said she was waiting for the sun to make the water droplets catch the rays and form a rainbow, the sign of peace between God and humans. But no matter what they thought, Alia and the rest believed Buffy just wanted to be alone and recount all she had lost.

The two tentatively approached the seemingly oblivious Buffy from her right, noticing her blank look as she watched the waters. Without moving one more muscle than she absolutely needed to, the oldest Slayer in recorded history startled them. “So, how was your trip?”

“Been practicing the Spidey-sense?” Willow asked jokingly. Buffy just shrugged and turned towards her, showing signs of emotion for the first time that day.

“Well, it was great. Alia got to practice her Romanian and even I picked up a few words. Did you know that there are vestiges of people living in that area ever since the first of them came to Europe? And we found some really friendly people and their food is a very good mix of Eastern European cuisine that they adopted from all their neighbors, mixed with their own and they obtained some very interesting results. For example-”

“Wills, just tell me how the mission went,” Buffy interrupted the redhead’s rant in a calm but apprehensive voice. She knew her friend of eight years tended to babble when she was trying to hide something and she just wanted to find out what they were going to be facing, the prophecy’s ominous translation still clear in her mind’s eye, The powers within the sixth (?) fort will sweep the (missing piece) and the dead shall rule the living (missing piece) to overturn the order (fragment ends).

“Well…” Willow looked at Alia and received a warm smile of encouragement and a slight squeeze of the hand. “We found the power that sweeps… it was a broom.” At Buffy’s disbelieving look she continued as Alia giggled silently. “Yup, a dusty old broom. I guess the witches there were big on clichés. Anyway, we found it after running all over that town and making some very interesting friends such-”

“Willow, you’re babbling again. Where is the broom, did you bring it with you?” Buffy interrupted her friend once more.

“Well, you see, the thing is…” she took a deep breath and mumbled, “Spikestoleit.” Raising her eyes tentatively to the blonde Slayer she found that she was blinking numbly and then burst out in an almost scary laughter.

“For a second there, Wills,” Buffy got out between dark chuckles, “it sounded like Spike stole it. Imagine that: Spike. Don’t ever joke about that. Ever!” she just about barked at Willow.

“Buff, it really was him. I don’t know how or why, but he was there and he was alive, well technically still dead, just not dead-dead, just undead. Oh, and he stole our broom and then he was gone again… Are you okay?” she worriedly asked the now deathly pale Slayer who had covered her mouth with her hand and was taking shaky steps backwards, her eyes wide and terrified.

“I… I have to… I can’t… NO!” And with that, the most powerful fighter for good in the world ran away to her room.

Willow made as if to go after her, but Alia stopped her by hugging her tight. “Let her get used to the idea, baby. She’s in shock. Imagine if you found out Tara was alive.”

“But that’s not…” Willow turned round eyes towards her lover. “But she just slept with him during that bad year for all of us. She didn’t love him, really, she…” Watching Alia’s gentle smile and knowing nod she covered her mouth in shock. “Oh! She did love him, didn’t she?” At the raised brow directed her way she had to concede and amend, “She loves him. Goddess, I’m an awful friend for not seeing this earlier. She loves Spike. But why didn’t she tell us, her friends, the people that love her?”

“You know why better than me, sweetie.”

“She could have… Oh, not then, she couldn’t. And then he was gone. And now he’s back, only he didn’t come here and ohmyGod I should have been more gentle when I told her-” she was cut off by Xander running into the circular space, panting as if he’d run all the way.

“Where’s Buffy? I have to let her know about Drac.”

“She ran off when I told her Spike’s alive,” Willow said without thinking, her mind still going a mile a minute remembering every time she’d seen Buffy and Spike interact.

“Spike? The William the Bloody Spike is alive?” He dropped on the bench previously occupied by Buffy, slumping almost in defeat. “Where is he?”

“I don’t know. He came, stole our broom and was gone in the next instant. I only saw him for a few seconds.” Willow got back to herself and noticed the lack of real surprise on Xander’s face. “Did you know?”

“What, that he’s alive? No, but let’s face it, nobody stays dead.” Frowning he amended, “Well, some do, but not them.” Pulling out of the dark thoughts about people that didn’t return, he smiled again and raised his eye to meet his oldest friend’s equally pained gaze. “So, did she go to him?”

“Buffy? Why would you think-?”

“He loved her, she loves him. It’s just that simple sometimes. Or complicated. Depends. Is it a Tuesday?” Xander shrugged it off as if it was the most normal thing in the world. “So, is she going to him?”

“We don’t know where he is, so she just went to her room, I think.” Now it was Willow’s turn to frown. “Wait, how come you’re so cool about this? There was supposed to be freakage. I had freakage, just ask Alia, there was definite freakage. Even Buffy ran away, but you’re all… calm and Bond-like and what?” She turned to her giggling girlfriend and chastised her, “You’re laughing. I told you to stop me from babbling. When I bab-” This time she was interrupted by her lover’s passionate kiss.

“You’re adorable when you babble,” Alia said, then seemed to remember Xander’s presence and glanced at the now smirking man.

“Don’t mind me, ladies, I’ll just get the popcorn.” Xander chuckled at the deep shade of red covering the young Slayer’s face. “As for Spike, well, I guess a part of me always expected him to come back. He always did, even when we didn’t want him to.”

“So what, now you do want Spike back? Where’s the Xander that thought a dusty vampire was the only good vampire?” Willow half-joked and half-asked very seriously, feeling a bit left out of the loop and trying not to feel somewhat hurt that she’d apparently missed all these signs.

“Well, he was kinda gone by the time we went after the First, and then he ended up buried down in that crater, I guess. And it’s not just any vampire we're talking about, it’s Spike. And for Buffy to be happy, I’d put up with worse than the Bleached Menace or even the Souled Wonder…” He frowned then shook his head in denial. “Ok, so maybe not the Souled Wonder. I still have taste.”

“But Buffy and-”

“Don’t act like it’s something you just found out. We all knew she loved him. Come on, it was obvious even to me, and trust me, I didn’t want to see it for a long time. That whole year with the First and all, that’s when it became harder to ignore, but seeing her after… You were off to the coven and you had Kennedy, but I was here and I got to see her shut down and grieve in her own way, how she always did, without allowing anyone to see her weakness. But this time, I dunno, maybe having just one eye I really had to see, not just look. And I saw her hurting after his loss. I guess I knew that it wasn’t the last we’d hear of him.”

“Well, we still don’t know anything about his return. And maybe he’s different somehow. And shit, I just remembered Andrew and Giles. Oh, and Dawn. How-” Willow was off babbling again when Xander raised his voice a little.

“I’ll handle Dawn, don’t worry about it.” At Willow’s look, he backed up on the bench. “What’s with the look?”

“Exactly when did you start handling Dawn, mister? And how come I’m the last to find out? Do you want a hex on your parts? Well, do you?” Willow advanced towards Xander with her accusing finger pointing straight at him.

“This reminds me, Dracula’s gone. We can’t find him anywhere and nobody’s saw him leaving.”

“I knew this wasn’t a coincidence. What about the prophecy?”

“Well, we’re still here, right? So we still have time, I guess. Let’s get back inside and see what’s the what.”

“I guess you're right. After you, baby.” Willow said with a wink at her lover.

Alia leaned in to whisper into the redhead’s ear, “You just love looking at my ass.”

“You know it, baby.” And they both giggled at Xander’s slightly glazed over look. “Snap out of it, capt’n.”

“A-huh. Wait, what? Hey!” Xander shouted behind the two giggling girls, and then also started laughing good-naturedly. In the back of his mind, though, as he headed towards the Castle bustling with supernaturally strong young girls, he prayed that the following period wouldn’t see their group taking too many casualties.

*****

Julie and Kasumi were bored. The Hellmouth was guarded round the clock. The day was divided into three eight-hour shifts, each shift comprised of two Slayers. Since there were fifteen girls, there was a rotation schedule including time off, as each girl only had a shift once every two days. The girls usually played card games or guessing games to pass the time, but if Faith caught them slacking off, they had hell to pay. And she made sure her visits were as numerous as they were random. Tonight Julie had forgotten the cards, so after getting caught up on all the latest gossip and playing “name that rock” for what seemed like an eternity, the two girls were bored out of their minds.

Just as a new bout of sparring was about to begin, there was a loud crashing sound, like giant metal pipes hitting the concrete, and a flash brighter than any either of the girls had ever seen left them without the use of their senses for a few moments, the two entering automatic fighting stances.

When Julie regained her sight she made out three huddled forms on the ground; three bodies dressed in dark colors and seemingly unmoving. As she blinked to clear away the last vestiges of the flash from her sight, she noticed that at least two of them were, in fact, moving slightly: they breathed.

Tentatively approaching the three strangers whose faces were indiscernible as they were all heaped face-down, the two Slayers clutched their stakes tightly in their left hands, swords occupying the right, ready for anything. Their senses were off the chart. The unmoving one was clearly a Master Vampire, but the other two weren’t entirely human either, although it wasn’t clear what they were exactly. They took up position far enough that they couldn’t be surprised and Kasumi kicked the vampire in the shin.

The stranger groaned and rolled over, appraising them in one glance and then closing his eyes warily as his bloodied mouth uttered the words, “Take me to your leader.”

Julie called in, alerting Faith of what had happened and receiving her orders: the three people were to be taken to the Cleveland Contingent Headquarters immediately. A car was on the way. Shrugging, the two girls tied up the men, making sure they removed the many weapons they found on them, and waited for the car to arrive.

Julie looked at the three men, their faces finally visible. The two elder males, one breathing and one not, were as different as light and dark, but the real interest lay, at least for her, in the third. He had lighter hair than the dark-haired breather, but had some features that alluded to some kind of blood tie to him. His face was innocent-looking, although some lines were etched on it that she could see on her own face when she looked in the mirror. They were the lines of worry a warrior gets after fighting for one’s life. She just hoped he was on their side, as it would be a shame to lose such a looker. And if the muscles she felt under his shirt as she tied him up were anything to go by, he was also well built, despite his slender figure.

One more thing she was worried about was the fact that he hadn’t woken up yet, still knocked out cold ever since he’d, well, landed on the Hellmouth. And she could just bet that there were some internal injuries, too. Where is that car?

Kasumi had similar ideas, however her focus was squarely on the dark-haired male. He was unique. Just as she was bent over him to assess his possible injuries his brown eyes opened, enthralling her almost.

“Am I alive?” he asked, sounding incredulous. The girl’s heart almost broke at the thought he could have died getting there from wherever he’d been.

“Yes. You’re alive, but you’re hurt.” Something akin to relief flooded his eyes as they closed in exhaustion.

“Alive.” And his lips curled up in a smile that she felt as if she should kiss. Snapping out of her daze, she took a step back, unsure where these feelings stemmed from. She’d not felt anything like this since being Called and leaving Japan. Maybe he was good. Maybe he’d be good for her. She smiled wistfully and looked at her watch. Where is that car?

*****

The van stopped in front of the CCHQ, the three men being supported out, still bound but having received basic first aid while in the car. It had then been discovered they had a few broken bones and possibly some other internal damage, but that they would pull through and probably be left without lasting problems. The three were taken to the front porch, where Faith was waiting to see who the Hellmouth had spat out this time.

Of the three, the vampire woke up when they stopped, and smirked at the most respected person in the Cleveland Contingent. “So, Rogue, did Wood knock you up or did some other lucky bloke take a poke?”

To the shock of every Slayer present, the six-month pregnant Slayer didn’t seem to take offense at the stranger’s crude words, instead laughing so hard she got teary eyes.

“It was Wood and I guess nobody stays dead anymore, huh? Wait till I tell B what the cat dragged in,” Faith said after she calmed down a little. Then she addressed the stunned Slayers still supporting the three strangers. “Take these three inside now! Come in, Spike, Angel and whoever you are.” Gasps could be heard all around, while Katsumi looked bewildered at the man she supported. So this is the famous Angel. Just my luck.