A/N A little one shot I wrote after watching Season 7 of Buffy. Set after Chosen (BtVS) and Conviction (Angel). I haven't seen much of Angel though, so I don't know if they actually meet up again. This is just my take on how I'd have liked it to go.

A hotel, outside Sunnydale

The other slayers went into the kitchen and lounge. Buffy headed straight to one of the rooms. She sat on the hard bed, resting her head in her hands. It was all over. The First was dead.

So was Spike...

Buffy collapsed back onto her bed, the tears flowing freely down her face. Spike...

"I love you"

"No you don't, but thanks for saying it"

Buffy sobbed aloud, burying her face into her pillow. She did love him. She loved Spike.

Oh God. He's gone...

Buffy didn't know how she'd go on without him. She wished he was alive. She wanted him to hold her, like he had the nights before.

"It was the best night of my life"

Buffy broke down, unable to contain herself. She couldn't live without Spike. She loved him; he held a special place in her heart. She just wished it hadn't taken her so long to realise it. Now she'd never have a chance to be with him. To hold him. To touch him.

19 days later

"Buffy?" It was Dawn. She was standing at the door, leaning against it casually.

"Yeah?" Buffy replied, quickly drying her eyes.

"Thinking about Spike again?" Her sister asked, coming over to sit next to her on the bed.

"Yeah." She whispered, leaning into her sister's shoulder.

"How? I mean what happened when he died? You haven't told us. The others just remember him exploding. That he killed all the vampires.

Buffy took a deep breath before replying. "He...he...he sacrificed his soul. For us. He saved the world. He's amazing. Was amazing..."

"Oh Buffy!" Dawn cried, wrapping her arms tightly around her.

At that very moment her cell phone rang and Buffy, letting go of Dawn, quickly rolled over and answered it.

"Hello, Buffy speaking."

"Buffy, it's Angel." A familiar voice greeted.

"Oh. Hey, Angel" she replied.

"There's no easy way of putting this so I'm just going to come out and say it. Spike's here. He's alive. But he's a ghost."

The phone slid out of Buffy's fingers. She couldn't believe her ears, the words repeating themselves in her mind.

"Buffy? Are you there?"

Buffy bent down and quickly picked up the phone. "Yeah...I'm here. Spike...Spike's alive? How?"

"Remember that amulet I gave you? Well someone sent it here and we opened it and well...Poof. Spike's suddenly alive. As a ghost."

"He's a ghost?" Buffy stuttered, still overwhelmed by what she'd heard.

"Yeah. He isn't too pleased about that." Buffy could hear the amusement in Angel's voice, even through the phone.

"Can I talk to him?" she asked, crossing her fingers in silent plea.

Angel was silent for a moment, his only reply a sigh. "Oi Spike! Phone for you." She heard him call from in the background.

"Buffy?" It was a single word.

"Spike! Oh Spike! You're alive! I can't...how? I thought you were dead! Oh God, Spike! Don't do that to me!"

"An eye for an eye." His tone was mocking but she revelled in the sound of his deep chuckle, her eyes filling with tears, this time for a different reason. "Just don't tell the Cyclops that. At least I'm nice. I didn't keep you waiting for 147 days." He teased.

Buffy's heart fluttered inside her chest, her face sore from smiling so much. "I was dead" she retorted playfully.

"So was I! I should probably blame those friends of yours. Took their sweet time in bringing you back, they did. At least Angel was on the ball, granted he didn't know it was me."

"It's so nice to hear your voice" Buffy couldn't help herself.

"It's nice to hear yours too, pet. I've missed it."

"I'll be in LA as soon as I can...I...I...I have to see you."

"Ok, pet. You do that. I'll be waiting."

"I'll see you soon..." She hung up, immediately dashing to her wardrobe and grabbing her only coat(She hadn't had much time to shop and all her clothes were somewhere in the destroyed town of Sunnydale). She was ready to dash out the door when she remembered Dawn, who was still sitting on the bed, looking confused.

"Dawnie, I have to go. Spike...He's alive. He's with Angel. I have to go see him."

Without as much as a goodbye Buffy rushed out of the house, sprinting to the car and starting it, slamming her foot on the pedal, intent on getting to LA as soon as possible.

Later...

Buffy pulled up in front of the Wolfram & Hart law firm and opened the car door, barely remembering to close it, sprinting up the steps to the door. She kicked it down, unable to control herself and ran in, looking around the room desperately for the one man she sought.

"Hello, Slayer."

Her head snapped in the direction of the voice. There he stood, standing in the middle of the room next to Angel, his eyes boring into hers.

She took a step then stopped, basking in the sight of his bleached blonde hair and leather coat. It was him. It was Spike.

She sprinted towards him, surprised when she ran straight through him and landed on the floor.

Jumping up she took a few timid steps towards him. Reaching out her hand, she felt around for where his chest should be, but instead of flesh and material she just felt air.

He took a step towards her, reaching out a hand to cup her chin, trying but failing to tip her head up.

"Bollocks." He swore, as his incorporeal self felt uselessly around her face, unable to touch her.

She tilted her head up, reaching up to his face and guiding him towards her. She closed her eyes, pressing her lips against his, only to feel nothing, just air where his head should have been.

"Bloody hell. What's the point of being brought back if I'm to be a bleeding ghost? Can't touch anything, can't feel anything and can't do anything. Anything useful, anyway. S'pose I could go haunt some place...maybe a high school...feels kind of right, you know, seeing as it's where I well...you know. Lost my soul and all." He ranted, kicking things with no success and swearing like a sailor.

Buffy decided she needed to sit down; amazed by everything that had happened. Seeing Spike...her heart fluttered at the thought of his name and her lips curled up in a small smile.

Spike was back. In black, as was his trademark.

She turned to Angel, who was standing, hands in his pockets. "Thank-you" she said, emotion pouring into the word from every part of her being.

"Don't mention it. Seriously." Angel sounded resigned, as though admitting he'd unleashed some evil creature into the world.

"No. I mean it. You brought Spike back, and for that I can never repay you." She said it sincerely, staring deep into the eyes of her ex-lover and trying to convey to him how much it meant to her.

"Oi! For Christ's sake! Stop standing there like a bunch of idiots and help me get my body back so I can snog the slayer!"