Title; Return to Me
Author; Ariadne
Rating; could change without notice
Disclaimer; All the Characters belong to Joss, and the talented ppl at Mutant Enemy, and Scream appears thanks to Wes Craven… etc, etc I own no-one (unfortunately)
Feedback; Yes please, but please be gentle it is my first time (hahaha)
Distribution; Yep but please let me know so I can gloat about it!
Chapter 1
"Why don't you get it?" The girl asked as she ducked swiftly away from a short jab "don't come to Sunnydale around my damn Birthday!"
"Look slayer you can't tell me wha!" The vampire tried to say before Buffy accurately drove the stake through his heart.
"..What to do? No! But I can keep you out of my town." said Buffy as she dusted her clothes off
"Not very welcoming are you? You never know, he could've been a real asset to Sunnydale"
Buffy rolled her eyes the look on her face said it all "Why me, why on my birthday?" turning and looking at the newcomer "Look Spike not now, I don't feel like talking to anyone at the moment"
"Look Buffy, Li'l bit and Red went to a lot of trouble tonight to get The Bronze for you, the least you could do is show a bit of respect to them, especially since Red and Tara are going to a lot of trouble to try to find that new group of witches for you"
Buffy sighed as she tried to explain to Spike that she had to try and find the witches tonight. Cordelia had been very clear on the phone when she was warning them all that there was something important about tonight. Of course tonight was important, after all, if anything really bad was going to happen ten to one it would be her birthday, always was. " Alright let's go then" she eventually gave in, after all, the sexy blonde was hard to resist not that she ever let him know.
"Hey Willow! Nice outfit, but I thought you would be inside already" Anya laughed as she ran through the back door of the bronze. We see Willow, her hair has been tousled and she looks a bit shaken and confused, her clothes dark skin fitting leather and burgundy velvet.
"Who was that?" asked her companion asked as he stepped out of the shadows.
"You tell me?" she replied " Come on lets go down to the school and see if we can find some entertainment" her grin was pure evil.
Inside the Bronze Xander, Dawn and Tara were pinning up the last of the decorations as Anya burst in
"She's heading this way I saw her with Spike! Oh and Willow is standing by the backdoor, why is this? Shouldn't she be in here so we can surprise Buffy when she walks in?"
"But I'm just here Anya." Came the confused reply from one of the tables loaded with food, "I was just in the office talking to Angel, He is on his way with Cordy, Gunn and Wesley. I haven't been out the back for an hour or so." We then notice that Willow is dressed in a long cream skirt with a light green lace top.
"But I just saw you by the backdoor? How did you get in here so fast? And how did you get changed so quick?" Anya looked very confused
Willow suddenly looked worried " what do you mean changed, I have bee wearing this since 7.30? What was I wearing when you thought you saw me? How's your head Anya? Are you still suffering migraines? Maybe you saw someone who looked a little bit like me?"
"No it was you! And you were just standing there! And you had a nice leather outfit on and you didn't even say hi! I just thought you didn't want to talk to me! Now that I think about it you were a bit rude not saying hello!"
"Now honey, don't go getting upset about it but Will has been in here most of the night getting things ready. Let's go out and see if the other person is still out there? She could be someone from out of town just lost. I mean there isn't anyone I know in town who looks like Willow" Xander started to explain
"And Willow doesn't wear leather, Anya. You know that" Dawn added
"No! The only time I have seen Willow in Leather was when… was when, uh oh the last time I saw Willow in leather was when evil Willow was in town!" Xander started to sound worried as he looked at everyone in the room.
Back on the street Spike and Buffy were close to the Bronze when a big black convertible slowed beside them
"Buffy! Want a ride?" asked the driver
"Angel!" squealed Buffy excitedly "What are you doing here?"
She ran round the car to give him a hug. Spike shuffled from foot to foot 'Bloody sodding poof,' thought Spike 'She never gets that excited about seeing me, dunno why, who's the one that helps her find vamp nests? Is it peaches? No it's me! Who's the one who that turns into big bad when he gets horizontal with her? Not me that's for sure! He gets hippy with her and then tries to kill fer for the next year, or however long it takes Red to re-curse him. Oh yeah, that's sodding love, not bloody likely!'
"Are you coming Spike?" Angel's question brought him back to reality.
"Looks a bit squashy for me thanks peaches, think I'll keep walking it's just around the sodding corner not like it's bloody far!"
"OK fine, see you there" Angel replied as he roared off
"Stupid, sodding poof!" Spike kicked a stone on the sidewalk. Sunnydale had been unusually quiet lately, since the demise of Glory, since she never found the key she just disappeared, apparently it was only every 500 years that the key could be used to open the portal to Glory's dimension. They had known when she needed the key by and had managed to keep Dawn safe long enough. Buffy and Spike had seen Glory go, she just seemed to disintegrate, later they had found Ben's body nearby, and the police had investigated his death and ruled out suspicious circumstances (if only they knew). The coroner had said Ben had suffered a massive heart attack, apparently he had a heart condition. The powers that be had picked a good jail for the exiled god.
He could hear the music coming from the bronze now. All of a sudden, Spike felt another presence nearby, all the hair on the back of his neck was prickling up. Someone was watching him. Not more bloody trouble he thought 'Buffy deserves at least one good birthday, and a 21st is meant to be special, at least it was these days.'
Spike turned around, his keen vampire sight easily making out objects in the darkness, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. " Must have been imagining it." He said to himself "might as well go in and see what's happening."
Inside the music was blaring, Nibblet was in charge of the gifts and the food, Xander was checking the drinks, Willow and Tara were dancing so was Cordelia and Gunn, Giles and Wesley were sitting in a corner talking. Anya was keeping a close eye on Xander, she looked worried, 'Some bint must have tried cracking onto Xander' he thought. There was no sign of Buffy anywhere. He saw a few familiar faces in the crowd, Oz was there organising music, he had come back to Sunnydale especially for Buffy's party, he kept looking at Willow with a miserable expression on his face "Poor sod, I know how he feels" Spike mumbled. Dawn had managed to track down some of Buffy's friends from before they had moved to Sunnydale, most of them reminded him of Cordelia and Harmony, beautiful but shallow. He even recognised some of them but wasn't sure where he had seen them before.
"Spike! Have you seen Buffy? She was here a moment ago."
"Sorry Nibblet, I haven't seen her since I got here. But can you give her this for me?" Spike answered as he handed Dawn a small gift-wrapped package.
"Oh! What is it Spike?" asked Dawn as she curiously turned the gift over gently shaking it while holding it up to her ear.
"Just a little something for her." Spike said thinking how it was funny how things change, 5 years ago if anyone had told him he would fallen love with a slayer he would have laughed so hard he couldn't stand up, then kill them. Now, well it was different, now he had saved money he had been able to get off demons and such so he could get her a unique piece of jewellery. Not some bulk manufactured piece of costume jewellery either, A hand made one off design (he designed it himself) from an exclusive Jeweller in Australia. It had cost a small fortune and had seemed to have taken forever but he had finally got it. 'That should prove my love for her.' he thought.
She couldn't get it through her thick skull that he loved her, he would die for her if he had to, he proved that with Glory. Buffy had warmed to him a bit after that. He was now included in patrolling and had been invited into the house for dinner even. Just give her time she'll come round eventually.
"There she is" pointed Dawn "come on Spike, it is almost time for her to cut her cake and open her gifts. Let's go get her."
Buffy was standing near a corner talking to Angel and someone else who looked familiar. Buffy looked completely engrossed in the conversation, the other girl was pretty (in a way) a little taller than Buffy with almost flawless skin, dark hair and dark blue eyes. She looked very familiar but Spike couldn't think where he had seen her before.
"Spike! Come over here," Buffy called to him "this is an old friend of mine from LA. Spike meet Neve Carter, Neve this is my friend Spike."
"Pleased to meet you Spike" Neve said in a confident tone
"Yeah, you too" he mumbled in reply, still trying to place what was so familiar about her
"Neve's a famous actress now!" chirped Dawn "It was hard to track her down on such short notice, but with Glory and all"
"Oh, Shut up Dawn" Buffy said angrily to her sister " Neve doesn't want to hear all the gross details of the last year"
Suddenly Spike exclaimed "that's were I have seen you before, on the tele, you were in those thriller movies Scream or Shriek or something like that wasn't it!" Spike was beaming now he had finally worked out who she was
"Yes I was. Scream, It was a lot of fun making them too. I was surprised to get a letter from Dawnie though. I tried staying in touch after they moved here but it was hard, my Mom was worried that Buffy might have been a bad influence on me and I might go off the rails like Buffy did."
" I didn't go off the rails!"
"Did you know she burnt our school down? That was one of the reasons she moved here!"
" Burnt the school down! That's my girl, she's got a thing about schools she blew Sunnydale high up" Spike beamed with pride at the thought of the destruction. " I didn't get to see it happen though, saw the after effects and heard about it!"
"Umm, Buffy? Can I talk to you for a moment?" asked Dawn moving away from the others a bit, "Pike's here, he wants to see you, he is a bit worried about all the vamps here, and doesn't want to stay long."
"Vampires here? There's only Angel & Spike and they're both harmless! Where is he?"
Next Chapter coming soon.!