If Only I Knew Now

Prologue

There are some things in life that we have no power over. Despite all our efforts and all our attempts at control, some things are simply destined to be as they are. We are little more than tools and instruments, to be used and played by the powers that be, and though our biggest fears may come from our uncertainty and doubt, we may rest assured, knowing that the outcome is already sealed by the hands of fate.

Chapter 1: Dead Man Walking

Part 1

"The important thing to remember is that you have the power."

"Got it."

"It ain't about who's gonna win, and who's gonna lose. It's about you, kicking their ass."

"Right."

"This is good versus evil, right here, kid. There ain't no second chances. You see, you destroy, end of story."

"I understand."

"And in the end, you only have yourself to rely on. You never know when evil is gonna strike, and you can't always count on the back up team. You have to know that you can, and will, defeat it when the time comes."

"Uh-huh."

"It's all about proving what you can do when your back is against the wall."

"Right."

"Faith, what are you telling her?"

The slayer turned around and glared at Xander. "I'm just explaining to the kid how it's done," she told him.

"I'm not a kid. How many times do I have to say that?" Dawn complained. "Willow, tell them I'm not a kid."

Willow looked up at the sound of her name. She had been deep in conversation with Spike. Well, actually, they hadn't so much been exchanging words, but lips had definitely been involved.

"What? Oh…um…right. What Dawnie said," Willow replied with a smile, before looking back at Spike.

Xander, Anya, and Faith all rolled their eyes as they watched the couple. They were walking arm in arm, looking every bit the love-struck newlyweds. Spike leaned over and whispered something into Willow's ear, causing her to giggle and blush slightly, before she leaned in and kissed him again.

"Gahhhh!" Xander grumbled, making a sickened face. "Do they have to do that in public?"

"I think it's sweet," Anya responded with a smile, wrapping her arm around Xander's.

"Me too," Dawn chimed in, watching the couple with a wide grin. "After everything that's happened, it's nice to see them happy."

"Well, I will admit that after Tara…It does seem that Willow is finally starting to come back to herself again."

"She was grieving," Dawn stated defensively. "But I think that Spike's really helped her through it."

"He does seem to agree with her," Faith admitted with a slight smirk, imagining exactly how Spike had helped her through it. She had heard them on many a night over the last few months, thanks to very thin walls and super-slayer hearing. At first, it was mostly Willow crying and blaming herself. But after a while, Spike had gotten through to the witch, and she had allowed him to start comforting her. That was about the time that the listening had gotten fun.

Not that Faith would ever admit that she had been listening in. Those were private moments for the couple, and she understood that. Most of the time she tuned them out, or headed down stairs for a while. The truth was, hearing them at night got the tough-as-nails slayer thinking about things that she absolutely did not want to think about. It would be hard for anyone that came into that house to think that someone there could be lonely, but in truth, she was. It wasn't something she liked to acknowledge, but more and more these days, she had been feeling that lonely isolation that came with the slayer package.

"Don't forget that she isn't actually a slayer, Faith," Xander reminded the brunette.

"Hey, I know that, but it doesn't mean that she can't still be taught a thing or two about killing demons," Faith replied defensively. "After all, even you have gotten a few good kills in
over the years."

"Yeah, but see, that's just my point. She's just a little girl," Xander explained.

"Hey! I'm not a little girl!" Dawn growled through clenched teeth.

"I'm just saying that I'm your average Joe out there, fighting in the field. Goin on seven years now. I might be able to show her a thing or two," Xander told the slayer.

"Um, guys," Dawn tried to interrupt.

Faith waved her hand dismissively at the younger girl. "Well, I'm the slayer, so I'd say I'm just a bit more qualified to be teaching here than you are."

"Yeah, but you don't know what it's like, to be fighting without all that extra slayer power," Xander argued.

"Guys, I really think," Dawn tried to interject again, before getting cut off.

"You know, it's pretty surprising that you got any kills in at all," Faith told him. "But then again, most vamps are pretty much brain dead."

"Hey!" Spike yelled, his head shooting up at the comment. He paused for a moment, in thought, before shrugging his shoulders. "No, she's right, most of them are complete morons."

"Guys!" Dawn shouted, finally capturing everyone's attention.

"What is it, Dawnie?" Willow asked in concern.

"I just thought that someone might want to do something about this," the younger girl responded, gesturing toward a grave at her feet. Everyone turned their gaze downward, surprised to see a vampire, half buried in the ground.

"Excuse me," he said with a sheepish grin and slight wave of the hand. "I think I'm stuck."

"You're stuck?" Faith asked incredulously.

"My foot's caught on a root or something," he explained, "and... I don't even know how I got down there. If you could just give me a hand..."

With a roll of her eyes, Faith reached down and lifted the vampire up out of the ground by his collar.

"Whoa. Ooh. Thanks. That was a help," he told her, dusting himself off some what. "Unfortunately it was the last—"

Faith cut him off as she reached out and grabbed his neck tightly. The rest of the sentence came out as more of a hoarse whisper.

"—thing you'll ever do."

"Listen buddy, I'm the slayer. You don't want to get into it with me. You want a fair fight? Why don't you go after him?" She gestured toward Xander, just before the vampire lunged for the startled man.

Everyone watched as the demon ran toward Xander, who held his arms out instinctively and ducked, flipping the vamp over his back and rolling on the ground.

"See, even a wimp like Xander can take a vamp like that," Faith explained as they watch.

"Hey! Who are you calling a wimp?" Xander argued, panting slightly as he tried to hold the vampire at bay. The demon was now looming over him, and with much effort, Xander was able to kick him backwards, slightly, though the vamp only came back at him again, snarling.

"You can't let him get the upper hand," Faith explained. "Plus, Xander's technique is just all wrong. What is it exactly that you're trying to do?" She asked in confusion, as she watched Xander struggling with the vampire. He seemed to have him in some sort of headlock position, while the vampire held him in a similar one, both holding the other's hair and neck tightly.

"Now, this is what you'd call a stalemate," Faith explained with amusement. "You get yourself into this position, and you're more or less screwed, unless I'm around."

She stepped up toward the two fighting men, Dawn and Anya following her. Spike moved around to the other side, in case he was needed, as Willow watched from a safe distance.

Suddenly, the redhead heard a sound behind her, and looked up, just in time to see a man in a mask come up to her, brandishing a large, silver knife. He opened his mouth, ready to demand something from the wide-eyed witch, when the vampire that Xander was fighting, suddenly broke free, and made a run for it. In his haste to get away, he ran right into Willow and her attacker, knocking them both to the ground. The masked man quickly scrambled to his feet, grabbing Willow's bag, and running off in the same direction as the vampire.

"Hey! Ow!" Willow grumbled as she stumbled to her feet. "That was just…rude. I mean, here I am, fighting demons…or, well, watching people fight demons, and some guy comes along and tries to mug me."

Spike was at her side in the blink of an eye. "You alright?" He asked, as he reached her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just some jerk with a knife, took my bag" she told him. He quickly looked her over, just to be sure that she was alright.

"Huh, a mugging, in Sunnydale. Now there's something you don't see every day," Xander mused, as they all turned to head home.

~*~

"Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yes, for the hundredth time, Spike, I'm fine. Please just let it go."

"Let it go? You could have been hurt, or killed!"

"But I wasn't, okay? It was just some guy that apparently really wanted a new Gucci purse," Willow told the blond with a goofy grin. "Someone should have told him it was a fake." Seeing his expression remain dark, she sighed. "I'm fine, really."

"It's just...I don't know what I would have done if…" He began to explain as he sat beside her on the bed.

"I know Spike," she interrupted. "But you don't have to worry about that. I'm fine." Leaning in, she ran her hand along his neck, as her lips met his in a soft, gentle kiss, assuring him that she was still there and very much alive. "I'm not going anywhere," she whispered.

A smile slipped across the vampire's face as he pulled her closer to him, kissing his way down her neck. "That's a good thing, love, because if you tried to leave this room right about now, I don't think you would get very far."

At that, Spike captured her lips in a deep, claiming kiss, delighting in the moan that rumbled from deep within her throat.

Leaning back for a moment, he brushed a few strands of hair back from her face and took in her glowing features. "We're finally okay, aren't we?" He asked, sounding slightly amazed. "All the bad, it's finally behind us, isn't it?"

Willow nodded, though her expression seemed to cloud over somewhat at his words. "What?" He questioned in concern. "Love?"

"It's just, in my personal experience, this is generally the moment to be the most afraid," she told him quietly. Spike gave her a questioning look, and she explained. "Every time things seem to finally be right in my life, that's when everything falls apart. Every time I find myself enjoying a little happiness, something gets taken away."

Spike leaned in, resting his forehead against Willow's, his hand massaging the back of her neck gently. "Willow, you have no need toworry. We're good. I'm not going anywhere, you're not going anywhere. Everyone is exactly where they are supposed to be, so just enjoy it, alright?"

At that, Willow simply nodded, letting the sensation of his cool lips trailing up and down her neck again, over take her senses. Everyone was exactly where they were supposed to be, she repeated to herself, wishing that she truly believed that.

Part 2

Hearing the bell over the door ring, Giles looked up and smiled. "Willow. I trust everything went well?"

The redhead nodded and smiled as she headed toward the round table and sat down, nursing her coffee. "Yep. Got Dawnie off to school with no problems," she told him.

"That's good," the watcher replied, looking up from the paperwork that he was going over at the counter. "How are you feeling about that?"

"Well, I just sent Dawnie off to the school that tried to kill her sister dozens of times, and then nearly destroyed us all in my other life, there's no way that I can send her to a private school, and moving really isn't an option, so basically, I'd say I'm fairly freaked, but trying to look at the positive side of things," Willow told him with a weak smile.

"The positive side?" Giles questioned.

Willow nodded. "Shouldn't have an unstoppable evil living in the school this time. Just, you know, your average, every day evil."

Giles smiled and nodded. The girl did have a point. "Xander showed me the blueprints," he told her. "Everything seems to be alright. The principal's office is right where the library had been, as you said it would be, but everything else seems stable at best."

Willow nodded. "So far, but this IS Sunnydale, Giles. It's only a matter of time, before something shows up."

At that, the bell over the door rang again, and they both looked up to see Xander coming into the shop.

"Giles, Wills," he greeted them, heading toward Willow. "How are you doin after last night's little attack?" He asked her.

"Attack?" Giles questioned in sudden alarm.

"Oh, it was nothing, really. Just some guy, human I think, came out with a knife, made off with my school bag," Willow explained.

"Well, that certainly is unusual, isn't it?" Giles commented.

"Plus, a little rude. I had a new textbook in there," Willow grumbled.

"Maybe he wanted to learn himself some higher edumacation," Xander said with a goofy smile.

"I hope nothing else of any value was in the bag," Giles told her.

Willow shrugged. "Just a few magic ingredients, and a couple of stakes, and oh!" Suddenly, her face fell as she realized what else had been in the bag. "Mr. Pointy," she said in dismay.

"Buffy's stake?" Xander asked.

Willow nodded miserably. "I usually carried it with me, and it was in the bag." She looked down sadly at her hands. Another piece of Buffy was gone forever.

~*~

"Did you see the way she freaked out in class earlier?"

"Well, I hear she's had a lot of problems at home over the last year or two. A lot of people dying and stuff."

"Eww, she's probably some psycho, killing off her family one by one. And did you see that shirt she was wearing? I mean, hello! That is so eight months ago."

Dawn turned around, crushed by what the girls were saying about her. True, she had sort of freaked out in class earlier, but anyone would have done the same in her position. One minute, you're sitting in class, minding your own business, the next minute, the dead zombie student next to you is stabbing your eyes out with the pencil you just loaned him. And okay, so he was gone when she looked up again, and sure, no one else seemed to see him, but she knew what she had seen, or sort of seen, or kind of…

Dawn wasn't sure what was going on, but now, on top everything else, she seemed to have labeled herself social misfit with only half of the first day of school over with. Just like big sis, she thought to herself, trudging off to her next class.

Part 3

The phone rang. And rang. And rang. And rang.

"Oh, don't worry, I'll get it. Not doing a thing," Giles grumbled between panting breathes as he ran from the storage room, up to the counter of the shop, dropping several books along the way.

"Hello? Magic Box," Giles answered the phone, Willow, Xander and Anya all apparently oblivious to the ringing. Hearing the voice on the other end, he quickly ducked back into the training room, speaking in a low tone.

"Yes? No, I've already told you, there is no need. No. Absolutely not," he hissed into the phone, his anger building. "I have already informed you that the girl is not a threat. Yes, well, I don't care what your sources say. They are…What? Where was it received from? Yes, well, yes, I'll look into it, but I assure you that…Yes…Yes, I understand that but you should…Hello? Hello?" Hearing a click, followed by the dial tone, he glared at the phone before hanging it up.

The bell on the door rang and Anya looked up with a hopeful grin, ready to make a sale. Her smile faltered when she saw that it was Faith. Faith never bought anything. She only occasionally stole the charmed candies when she thought Anya wasn't looking. The slayer was almost as bad as Willow, in the former demon's opinion.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" Faith called out casually, taking a seat across from Willow at the round table. The redhead looked up from her newly acquired textbook and gave Faith a warm smile.

"Got Dawn off to school this morning, no thanks to you," Willow told her with a smirk.

"Hey, a slayer needs her beauty rest," Faith replied defensively.

"Maybe you should try a coma," Xander quipped, grinning widely. Faith simply shot him a dirty look before glancing back at Willow.

"So no hellmouthy incidents then?" She asked. Willow shook her head. "Well, that's a nice little change of pace, now isn't it?"

"Eh, I'm sure in no time at all there will be zombies crawling out of the cafeteria, or hell hounds attacking, or the entire track team will be turning into cheetahs," Xander stated before shoving a twinkie into his mouth.

"We can only hope," Willow replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

~*~

Dawn was heading home after school, dragging her feet as she thought about the day's events. The height of badness had definitely been hearing the other girls talking about her in the hallway around lunch time. Well, that was if you didn't count the dead guy stabbing her with a pencil, or the scary dead girl in the bathroom, or the moaning she kept hearing from inside the locker next to hers. Of course, that last one might have been an unlucky, short freshman. She couldn't be sure, but nothing that day had seemed to go right, and now, to top it off, she already had homework after the first day! Didn't teachers know that you never assign homework on the first day?

Stopping at a crosswalk, Dawn looked up, just as a flash of something caught her eye. Scanning the crowd across the street, she suddenly realized what it was. A girl, walking, with long, flowing blonde hair, and she looked almost like…

The girl turned her head as she headed down the street, and Dawn nearly fell over at the sight. Buffy! It was Buffy! Without another thought, Dawn began to run across the street, calling out her sister's name, not even hearing the honking horns as she ran right though moving traffic. Hearing a particularly loud horn, Dawn looked up and stopped just before a bus crossed her path, her nose nearly skimming the side. Panic set in as she temporarily lost sight of her sister, and when the bus was finally past, she ran the rest of the way across the street and began to look around frantically.

"Buffy?" She screamed. "Buffy!" To her horror, Dawn could no longer find the blonde where she should have been. She ran through the crowd, grabbing anyone that even slightly resembled her sister, but found that none were her. Spinning around slowly, over and over, her eyes scanned the area, desperately in their search. It had been Buffy. Or at least...someone that looked like Buffy. She hadn't been able to get close enough to really say for sure, but she had thought...Her heart broke a little at the realization that Buffy was no where to be seen, and it served as a bitter little reminder that her sister was buried in the ground, no longer breathing or smiling or laughing, or...All because of her. Finally, she gave up, silent tears slipping down her cheeks. She picked up her previously disgarded bag and trudged down the street, toward a small wooded area, where she would sit by a grave and whisper to a ghost, as she did every other day.

Part 4

Spike heard Dawn come into the house after school, and looked up from the TV, seeing her head quickly up the stairs and into her room. About an hour later, Willow came home from class, dropping her bag of books at the door and plopping down on the couch next to him.

With a sigh, Willow leaned into the vampire's side, closing her eyes and enjoying the feel of him next to her. 

"How was class?" He asked.

"Fine," she replied dully. "Had to shell out another fifty bucks to replace that book I lost last night," she complained. "Where's Dawn?"

"Headed up to her room as soon as she got home," he told her. Willow gave him a questioning look, but Spike simply shrugged. With every bit of effort that she had left, Willow dragged herself up from the couch and headed for the stairs. 

She knocked on the door before tentatively opening it, finding Dawn laying on her bed, tear tracks down her cheeks. 

"Dawnie?" She called out, moving to sit next to the girl on the bed. "What's wrong? Did something happen at school?" 

"Actually, yeah," Dawn told her dismissively. "Got attacked by some zombie student thing, a-and saw a dead girl in the bathroom, and possibly heard something moaning in the locker next to mine," she told the redhead, making a funny face. "And I think there was a girl in the cafeteria that was being attacked by her snakeskin belt."

Willow simply nodded. It was business as usual. "That's high school on the hellmouth for ya. Most kids just have to worry about their clothes being out of style. In Sunnydale, you have to worry about your clothes attacking you. It's a crazy world." 

"I saw Buffy," Dawn whispered, Willow barely catching the words.   The redhead sat up a bit straighter. "A-at the school, you mean?" Willow asked. She had been a little bit afraid that The First would return, with the rebuilding of the school, but Xander had assured her that there was no sign of it, and she figured that without the resurrection of Buffy, The First would not be making another appearance. But apparently the ghosts and zombies that Buffy had seen were still there, and now...

Dawn shook her head. "On the street, when I was walking home. I was so sure that it was her, but then I guess it wasn't. I couldn't find her and…" 

The younger girl dissolved into tears as Willow wrapped her arms around her, her heart breaking at the soft sobs. 

"Has anything like that ever happened to you?" Dawn asked her. 

"Sometimes," Willow confided. "Like, after Tara was gone, I'd be walking around at school, and I'd be sure that I'd see her down the hall, but then when I'd look again, it was really just someone else who sort of resembled her." 

"It sucks," Dawn stated bitterly. 

"Yeah, it does," Willow agreed. "But it's perfectly normal, you know, to think that you see someone that you've lost. Especially someone that you're so close to? It happens to everyone." 

"I was just so sure that it was her. I mean, it didn't even just sort of look like her. It was her, Willow," Dawn insisted, tearfully.

"The mind can do funny things like that," the redhead explained. "It can make us really believe that we are seeing something that we want to see, but it's just an illusion. Buffy's gone, Dawn, but she's happy. She's where she's supposed to be and she's happy there, trust me." 

~*~

"She doin alright?" Spike asked, when Willow finally joined him in their room.  

The redhead nodded and sat down on the bed. "She had a tough first day," she simply told him, her mind swimming with new questions.

Spike could see the uncertainty that flittered through her eyes, and gave her a questioning look. 

"Spike, what, um, what would you do if Buffy suddenly, uh, came back?"

The blond looked startled by her question and leaned back slightly, trying to gauge where it had come from. "You know something I don't, love?" He asked cautiously.  

"No! No, I'm just saying hypothetically speaking, i-if Buffy were to suddenly come back, what would you do?" 

"What do you mean, what would I do? Didn't realize I had options." 

"Well, I mean, you-you loved Buffy and all, and if she came back, I just wondered if, you know, if you would…"

Spike understood what she was asking, if not why should would suddenly be asking it, and raised a finger to her lips to stop the babbling before it started. 

"Willow, after everything, do you really have to ask that?" He asked.

The redhead looked down uncertainly and nodded her head, her eyes not able to meet his. Gently tilting her chin up with a finger, he forced her to look at him, needing her to see the sincerity in his eyes.

"I love you, Willow. You," he told her. "It wouldn't matter who came back into my life at this point. You're the one I want." Willow smiled slightly at the reassuring words. She hated to admit that she still needed to hear it, but there was a part of her that still felt as though she lived in the shadow of Buffy's ghost, and always would. Dawn's confession at what she had thought she'd seen that day had stirred up Willow's fears and doubts, and she needed reassurance from the blond as to how strong his feelings were for her. 

"Where is this coming from, Willow?" Spike asked gently. 

Willow shook her head with a soft chuckle. "Nowhere. Just, thoughts," she said, gesturing toward her forehead. "Busy busy busy up there," she told him. 

Spike nodded, leaning forward and kissing the top of her head.  

"Maybe I can quiet it down for you," he told her in a low, husky tone.  

Willow felt her cheeks heat up as he began to kiss his way down, dropping light, feathery kisses along her face, over her cheeks, on the tip of her nose, brushing past her lips. The blond kissed his way down her neck, his lips traveling over her collarbone, causing the redhead to shiver slightly. His hands ran over her shoulders and down, along her arms, skimming back over her spine. Willow reached out, pulling the vampire closer, reveling in the feel him against her. 

Pushing her down gently, Spike lowered the redhead until she was lying across the bed, her hair fanned out around her head like a
crimson halo. Willow gasped as she felt his cool tongue skim across her tight stomach, her shirt slowly being inched up, little by little. 

She arched her back as Spike removed the shirt, baring her chest to his gaze, and let out a low moan as he licked and sucked at each breast in turn. It wasn't long before they were both completely divested of their clothing, each delighting in the feel of skin against skin, her warmth colliding with his cool touch. 

Not nearly soon enough, she felt him fill her, her legs moving to wrap around his waist as her arms clung to his shoulders. There was a
certain, desperate urgency in their love making that night, which Spike seemed unaware of, and Willow couldn't quite explain. She felt
it in her very being, the panic and fear that she might lose this at any moment, and the need to etch his feel, his touch, his face, his
voice, every bit of him into her memory, before it was too late. 

Part 5

"This is so cool. I mean, you guys, coming to school, with me. This is just, um, you aren't going to try to embarrass me, are you?" Dawn questioned, glancing cautiously toward Faith.

"No way! How could you think I would do a thing like that?" Faith questioned with a sly grin.

"Don't worry, Dawnie. We'll stay out of your way," Willow assured her. "No one will have a clue that we know you. Wouldn't want to
sully your cool name too soon."

"Trust me, I couldn't get much less cool," Dawn told her, rolling her eyes and looking slightly pained. "Besides, you're cool. Being
seen with you could only help me."

Willow smiled at the younger girl, sisterly love and affection radiating from her. It still amazed the redhead how much Dawn loved
and admired her. She was the one person that could make her truly feel cool. It reminded her a lot of Buffy when they first met. Dawn
and Buffy seemed so different, but every now and again, a flash of the older sister would show through the younger one, catching Willow off guard and leaving her almost breathless with love and loss.

"We're just gonna do a quick sweep of the school, clear out any nasties we come across, and be on our way," Faith told Dawn as they walked into the building.

"Great," Dawn replied with a chipper smile. "Well, I'm off to pretend to learn things." She gave Willow a quick hug and turned to
head to her first class.

"Hey Dawn!" Willow called after her. "Just to be on the safe side, don't, you know, loan any pencils out today." Dawn nodded with a
knowing smile and hurried down the hall. Willow and Faith stood, watching as the students poured into the classrooms, waiting until
they were the only two left in the hallway.

"Where to first?" Faith asked, pulling a stake out of her back pocket.

"The basement," Willow told her. "That was where the First was, and the seal. Just be careful. No idea what we'll find down here."

"A whole lot of nothing." Faith summed it up perfectly. After over an hour of searching, and a little bit of digging, they had
uncovered absolutely nothing unusual. The seal that The First had used was not there, and they hadn't come across so much as one ghost
or demon.

"I don't get it. I mean, with all the things that Dawn encountered yesterday, I would have thought for sure that we would…" Willow's
voice trailed off as she looked up, seeing someone standing at the other end of the basement hallway.

"What are you, oh," Faith said, looking up and seeing the student as well. "Hey! Shouldn't you be in class?" The slayer called out.

"You really think you're the one to be chastising a student for skipping class?" Willow asked the slayer.

"Hey, I follow a strict `do as I say, not as I do,' policy," Faith told her. Neither girl noticed the student getting closer, and both
jumped and almost screamed when they looked up to see the teenage girl now standing right in front of them. Faith held up her stake
instinctively, before Willow quickly grabbed the slayer's arm, pulling it down and behind her.

"Hey, um, are you lost?" Willow asked tentatively. The girl simply stared at them, not saying anything. She looked extremely pale, her
skin appearing almost translucent, and hanging loosely on her bones. Her clothes were slightly out dated and her hair knotty. The
expression on her face was one of melancholy sadness, and Willow felt a pang of sympathy, reaching a hand out to the girl.

The student jumped away, shaking slightly and staring with wide eyes at the two girls.

"Did something scare you?" Willow questioned. Again the girl said nothing.

"Will, I don't like the feel of this," Faith told her cautiously.

"We can help you," Willow told the girl, ignoring the brunette. "Just tell us what happened."

"I-I…" The girl's voice was so soft, they could barely hear her as she tried to speak.

"It's okay, just take you're time, and…" Willow began, before Faith cut her off.

"Come on, already. If something is down here, tell us so that I can kill it."

With a movement so fast that neither girl could register it, Faith found herself pinned against a wall, a hand gripping her neck
tightly, and the girl staring in her eyes, the same sad, impassive look on her face. She opened her mouth, looking ready to speak as
Willow walked up behind her, trying to figure out her best course of action.

Grabbing a nearby two-by-four, Willow crept up behind the girl. As she was raising the wooden beam above her head, ready to strike, the girl suddenly turned her head around, her grip on the slayer never wavering, and opened her mouth wide, an ear piercing wail coming from deep in her throat.

The redhead dropped her weapon, doubling over and covering her ears, wincing at the pain that the loud noise caused. Faith renewed her struggles against the girl holding her, still to no avail.

The girl turned back toward the slayer, opening her mouth again, and Faith winced, prepared for the horrible noise. Instead, she heard the girl speak, her voice unnaturally low and raspy.

"You came to kill things? Where were you when I died? When we died?"

Willow turned around and looked up as Faith's eyes looked past the girl still pinning her to the wall. There were now a dozen or more
students moving toward them, all clearly dead. Panic filled them both.

"There was no one to save me," the girl told the slayer, "and now there will be no one to save you."

"Wrong!" The girl turned and looked back again at Willow, who was now standing again, her eyes, pitch black, glaring at the ghost. The witch held her hand up, yelling, "release!"

Faith immediately fell to her knees, gasping as the girls grip was finally removed from her neck.

"Faith, stay down!" Willow told the slayer, before calling out several words in Latin. There was a bright flash of light, and a
second later, Faith felt the redhead grab a hold of her hand, pulling her. "Let's go! Now!" They both took off for the stairs,
never stopping until they were outside of the building, leaning on one another and panting slightly, looking up toward the building.

"Well, that didn't go very well," Faith mumbled, earning a weary nod from Willow.

Part 6

"Dead students?"

"Yeah, a whole bunch of them. And they were pretty ticked off too," Willow told the assembled group.

"Well, can you blame them? I mean, they're dead," Anya stated. "You'd be amazed at how much that can piss someone off."
Turning away with a shrug, she began to dust one of the shelves in the magic shop distractedly.

"Well I didn't make them dead," Willow replied defensively.

"Funny thing about spirits and ghosts," Xander noted, "they don't seem to be very select on WHO they inflict their horrible, painful
vengeance on, so long as they are inflicting. Trust me, a bout of syphilis will set anyone straight on that fact."

Willow heard Spike snicker next to her, and elbowed him in the side as Xander turned and glared at the blond.

"So what do we do?" Dawn questioned.

"You, sit and do math homework," Willow stated, pointing toward the text book in front of the brunette, who scowled. "The rest of us,
um, Giles?"

"Well, I suppose we could try and find out what they want?"

"Why?" Anya questioned. Giles gave her a confused look. "Why are you going to ask what they want? I mean, do you think there is anything that you can possibly give them? They probably just want to eat your brains."

"We could, um, we could just release them," Willow suggested timidly, unsure of how that would go over.

"Release them? How would that be helping?" Xander asked. "At least this way they are contained in one area."

"No, I meant, um, release them from this plane. Send their spirits on," Willow explained, looking toward Giles. "They must be trapped
where they were killed. I...I remember Buffy saying something about coming across ghosts in the basement, but she never really said what she did about it." Willow glanced toward Spike, her pensive and worried look not unnoticed by the blond. "She was sort of, um,
preoccupied by other things down there."

"The First?" Giles questioned.

"Among other things," Willow replied quietly, doing her best cryptic-Angel impression.

"Can you do that?" Faith questioned. "Can you just release thespirits?"

"Actually, there's a pretty simply spell. We did something similar when we were in school, just after Angel lost his soul." Willow felt
Spike tense slightly at the mention of the older vampire, and she placed a reassuring hand on his, quieting the low growl in his
throat.

"Oh right!" Xander replied, remembering the spell from several years back. "If I recall correctly, that spell ended with you being sucked
into the floor and a swarm of bees attacking us all."

"Let's NOT use that spell," Faith suggested, pulling a face at the description of what had happened last time.

Willow shook her head. "This one is different. I have a lot more control and power now, so, it's just a matter of calling on the
right goddess, opening a portal to the correct spirit world, and poof! No more ghosts."

"Is it really as simple as that?" Spike asked, a worried look on his face.

Willow nodded with a warm smile. "I already have all the ingredients we would need. I can do it tonight," she told him, before looking
toward Giles for approval.

"Right," Spike stated, standing up along with Willow. "I'll come along."

Willow scrunched up her nose, not wanting to tell him what she was about to. "Actually, Spike, you can't." The vampire raised an
eyebrow, questioning her. "The way the, uh, spell works is that it, sort of, um, vanquishes any demon or spirit in the area, so if you
were to be there, it would, well, you know."

Spike frowned at her explanation. "You are not going alone," he told her decidedly.

"Relax, Fang, I'll tag along," Faith told him, walking over to Willow and swinging an arm around the redhead's shoulder.

"Right, because you did such a great job of protecting her last time," Spike said with a snort.

"I'll go along," Xander volunteered. Again, Spike looked dubious. "Hey, a little extra protection can't hurt."

Anya walked over to her husband, wrapping her hands around his arm. "Do you have to? You know how Willow's magic tends to go wonky. What if she zaps you into another dimension or something?"

"Hey! I'm standing right here!" Willow pointed out haughtily.

"Anya, don't worry," Xander told the blonde. "I'll be fine and back in no time." At that, the three turned and headed toward the door.
Just before heading out, Willow was stopped with a strong hand gripping her arm. Turning around, she saw an uneasy look on Spike's face.

"Baby, don't worry," she whispered, kissing him softly. "This spellis easy as pie. I could do it with my eyes closed."

"Please don't," Giles advised.

"I won't," she responded with a roll of her eyes, before leaning up and kissing Spike again. Turning around and skipping out the door,
she added, "I'll just be sky clad."

"With Harris there? He'd better well keep HIS eyes closed!" Spike shouted.

Anya, Dawn and Giles heard a loud growl come from the vampire as he stopped back into the training room. Dawn looked up toward Giles.

"What is sky clad?" She asked. Giles turned red in the face and began to sputter, before turning away and looking with sudden and
extreme interest at a book. Dawn looked toward Anya, who was smirking, and repeated the question.

"She'll be naked," Anya told her, grinning at Giles' discomfort and the blush that appeared on Dawn's face. Suddenly, her grin faltered, before she ran to the door and yelled out after the group. "Xander! You'd BETTER keep your eyes closed!"

Part 7

Spike needed to let off a bit of steam. He hated the fact that Willow was doing something that could potentially be very dangerous,
and hated even more that he couldn't be there to protect her. They had already been through so much, and just the thought of losing her tore him up inside. It seemed like there was always something or someone trying to rip them apart, and both he and the redhead never seemed to be able to completely relax in the sheer comfort of each other for very long. Spike supposed that was the way it went, living on the hellmouth. None of them had what one would call a `normal' life, but still…

The vampire was brought out of his musings as he heard a scuffle behind a nearby mausoleum. Perfect! He had come to the cemetery, hoping to work out his frustrations and underlying fears with a little violence, and now it looked like he'd finally get what he'd
come for.

Rounding the corner with a cocky grin, the vampire faltered at the sight before him. There, fighting a fledgling, was a short woman,
with long blonde hair, a black leather coat billowing around her as she jumped and spun and kicked and punched. In her hand was one very familiar stake, which Spike himself had been threatened with on more than one occassion.

"Buffy." The word was nothing more than a ghost of a whisper on his lips, and the vampire could barely believe what he was seeing. It
wasn't possible. She was dead and gone, and yet here the slayer was, fighting a vampire, looking as if she had never left.

Spike watched, mesmerized as the slayer danced before him. She was everything he remembered, powerful and graceful, a predator to the core, and lethal in every way. She lunged for the fledgling, Mr. Pointy in hand, and he watched as the young vampire landed a lucky kick, knocking the stake from her. Spike knew better than to worry for her. He had watched this slayer fight enough to know how this would end, lucky kick or no lucky kick. He saw the girl roll on the dewy grass, mumbling something about getting her leather coat dirty, and she grabbed the stake, jumping back up. In the blink of an eye, the weapon was embedded in the younger vampire's heart, and he turned to dust. Pulling her arm back, the slayer looked up, blinking in slight confusion as she looked at the blond.

"Spike?" She asked. "What are you…" She never got the chance to finish, as two more vampires jumped out, one attacking her, the
other Spike.

It only took him a minute to dust the vampire that had lunged for him, but as Spike looked up again, brushing the dust from himself,
he saw that the slayer was now nowhere to be seen. Turning around and around, he scanned the entire area, seeing no sign of her or the vampire she had been fighting. Feeling a mixture of desperation, anger, and utter confusion, Spike headed back toward the Summers' home, ready to demand some answers from the only person he knew he would get them from.

Part 8

Willow was tired and worn out from the spell she had cast. True to her word, it was a simple enough spell, fairly safe and straight
forward, but one that took a lot of energy, which was not something she had in abundance.

"Man, I'm pooped," the redhead told Faith as they headed toward the house.

"That was some wicked mojo you were working there, Red," the slayer replied.

"Eh, it wasn't anything big," Willow lied with a slight blush.

"Oh, please! When that blue light flashed and all the spirits appeared, I thought we were done for sure. I don't know how you held
it together like that. I could FEEL the power."

"It's all about concentration," Willow told her with a slight smile. "Plus, how funny was the look on Xander's face when he turned
around and saw me?"

"Priceless!" Faith practically squealed. "I've never seen anyone turn THAT red before!"

"Well, I warned him. When I say I'm going sky clad, I mean just that."

"Yeah, well I think you may have given the boy a slight heart attack," Faith told her. "And, uh, you might wanna keep that part
from blondie."

Willow nodded, opening the front door to the house and walking in. "Yeah, well, I would like to keep Xander alive for at least a
little while longer," she told the brunette. Suddenly, she let out a shriek, feeling someone push her hard against the wall. Looking up,
she was surprised to see angry blue eyes glaring at her.

"Spike? You scared me," she admonished, trying to vain to push him away. "What's wrong with you?"

"What did you do?" He asked, his teeth clenched tightly together, his grip on her tightening.

"Hey, Fang, chill," Faith tried to intercede. "It wasn't her fault. Xander just…"

"Get out!" He growled. Faith raised her hands in surrender, knowing better than to get in between these two when they were about to
rumble, and turned, heading up the stairs.

"What did you do?" He repeated, his eyes flickering between blue and gold.

"What did I? Spike, what are you talking about?" Willow asked nervously.

The vampire's grip tightened painfully, and he shook her slightly. "You!" He shouted. "What did you do?"

"Spike, I don't know what you're talking about."

"I saw her," he told her.

"Saw-saw who? Dawn? Because…"

"The Slayer," he hissed.

"Faith? She was with me all night, Spike. You just saw…"

"The other Slayer," he clarified, his grip on her arms causing her to wince.

Willow's eyes widened as she realized what he meant. "You-you saw Buffy? Spike, that's not…it's not possible."

"I know what I saw," he said, shaking her again.

"Spike, please, you're hurting me," Willow whispered, too tired and worn out to try to fight him.

Suddenly realizing what he was doing, the blond let go of her with a slight shove, and Willow fell back into the wall, clutching her
bruised arm.

"You. You and your damn magic. What did you do, Willow?" He demanded angrily.

"Spike, I didn't do anything," she shouted back, becoming increasingly upset. "Just because you think you saw Buffy, which I'm
sure you didn't, doesn't mean that…"

"You did something. I know it. You're always doing something, messing with something that you shouldn't be, screwing things up."

Willow looked up at him with hurt filled eyes. "How-how can you say that?" She whispered, her voice shaking.

Spike let out a deep breath, shaking his head. "I'm sorry," he began, reaching out toward her. Willow flinched, pulling her arm out of his
immediate reach. "I wasn't thinking and…"

"But you meant it." It wasn't a question. Willow felt as though Spike had just thrust a sword into her side, and he might as well
have. "You-You don't trust me, do you?"

"Willow, love, it's not that. I just…" He backtracked, his voice softening.

"No. Don't call me that. Not right now. Don't call me Love, or Pet, or Baby, or… just don't," she told him, taking another step away from
him.

"Willow…"

Before either of them could say anything more, the front door swung open, and both Willow and Spike stared in shock as Buffy strolled in, glancing at the two of them nonchalantly.

"Hey guys," she said with a small wave. "What's going on?"