The Healing Process

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Buffy or Angel.

Setting: Season 6 BTVS/ Season 3 ATS Buffy goes to LA after being brought back to life from the Scoobies. When she goes to the Hyperion to see Angel, she finds someone else instead.

Pairing: Buffy/Fred

Author's Note: I've always thought that these two would be an interesting pairing. Also, while there might be vague references to what really happened in the series, much of this story is made up, so don't get all offended that it isn't the same as in the series. It's not meant to be, otherwise what is the point in writing the story? Lastly, this is story is mostly fluff.

Prologue

Four friends sat by a grave and began to do a very dangerous spell, but before they could finish it, they were interrupted by a group of demons. Thinking that the spell didn't work, they left the grave.

Inside a coffin, a young woman's body was brought back to life. What was once a rotting corpse, suddenly became recomposed. The newly reanimated body gasped for air and realized that she was trapped in a wooden box: a coffin. She started to panic and dug her way out of her grave in a frenzy, resulting in getting dirty and dealing with bloody hands.
Buffy walked the streets of Sunnydale in a daze. She could see that the town was being destroyed by demons. 'Am I in Hell?' She thought to herself. One minute she felt warmth, love and peace. The next thing she knew, she was being ripped away from said peace and waking up in her grave with no way to exit other than to claw her way out. She kept wondering, 'What the fuck happened?' Everything was so loud and painful to her, but on the inside she felt numb. It was almost like a dream that she hadn't woken up from, except that this was more of a nightmare.
Buffy was on the way to her house when she spotted two familiar faces, Spike and Dawn.

"Buffy!" Dawn ran to her sister leaving Spike behind. "Is that really you?"

"Niblet, don't go running off like that! It's dangerous right now." Spike said as he caught up to her, too distracted to notice that Buffy was really standing right there. "Why are you talking to the Buffybot?"

"It's not the bot. I think it's really Buffy." Dawn insisted.

"Don't be silly. Of course it's the bot. Buffy's dead. How can that she be—-" Then Spike noticed that the "Buffybot" actually had a pulse. "Buffy?" He said lovingly, but held a confused note in his voice.

Buffy started to feel like everything was closing in on her. She ran away leaving Spike and Dawn standing there dumbfounded. As Buffy ran, she heard an attack several feet away from her, so she went to find it. She came across several demons about to close in on her friends. She ran up to them and dived into the mix, fighting all of them at once. When Buffy finished off the last of the demons, she saw her friends looking at her.

"Buffy?" Willow asked.

"Buffy! It's really you? The spell worked!" Xander shouted happily.

'Spell? They did a spell? Is that why I was ripped from heaven?' Buffy thought. 'I've got to get out of here!' She did what she'd been doing all night and ran.

"Buffy, wait!" Willow shouted after her. She tried to chase after Buffy, but was too weak from the spell.

Buffy reached her house to find that Spike and Dawn had reached there the same time.

"C'mon luv. Let's get you cleaned up." Spike told her gently. He led her into the house.

"What happened to your hands, Buffy?" Dawn asked after noticing that they were bloody and torn up.

"Huh?" Buffy looked at her hands not really registering what was gong on. It all seemed surreal. "Oh I---"

"She had to dig herself out of her grave. Didn't you?" Buffy nodded. "My hands looked like that when I crawled out of my grave after being turned." Spike explained as he inspected Buffy's hands. "Bloody fools! They brought you back and didn't even think to bring a damn shovel! They didn't even tell me or the Niblet that they were planning this. What in the bleeding hell were they thinking?" He ushered Buffy upstairs to the bathroom to get her a little more cleaned up.

A few moments later, the door downstairs came bursting open with the Scoobies. Dawn greeted them at the door.

"Dawn! Have you seen Buffy?" Willow asked anxiously.

"Yea, she's upstairs. Wait a minute, you guys knew you were going to bring her back and didn't even tell me?"

"Well, we didn't tell you or Spike in case the spell didn't work. We didn't want to get your hopes up."

"I get it. Even though it was wrong, I understand. Really." As Dawn said this, Buffy and Spike made their way downstairs. Spike led Buffy to the couch to sit down.

"Buffy!" "Are you okay?" "Where have you been?" "How are you feeling?" Willow, Xander, Anya, and Tara all shouted at once. They didn't even notice Buffy shrinking back, but Dawn did and went to stand in front of her as if blocking her from them.

"Everyone, just back off! Can't you see that she's been through enough?" They stopped and took in the fragile slayer on the couch who happened to be inching towards Spike in comfort.

"I'm tired and dirty. I just want a shower and then I'm going to bed." Buffy got up and went up the stairs. Dawn followed her to make sure she would be alright.

"Right. Well I guess I should be going too." Spike said as he headed out the door.

"We'll be going home too. C'mon, Xander. I want my orgasms now." Anya said bluntly. Xander just gave a defeated sigh and got up to leave with her.

Tara looked up the stairs after Buffy as if she sensed something was wrong with the picture, but couldn't figure it out.

"What's the matter, baby?" Willow asked.

"Nothing, I guess I'm just tired. I'm going to bed. Good night." Tara moved to the stairs.

"Ok. I'll be up in a few. I'm just going to check everything down here first." Willow frowned. She thought Buffy would have been happier to be back. Maybe even impressed by her power. 'I expected her to at least show some gratitude for saving her. After all, she was in Hell! You'd think she would be a little more grateful than that.' Willow mused.

Outside Spike stood by the tree trying to calm down. As Xander and Anya walked out of the house towards him, he shouted, "What have you idiots done? Why didn't you tell me or at least the Bit?"

"We didn't know if the spell would work and we didn't want you to get your hopes up. Anyway, what's it to you?" Xander replied defensively.

"Right. I've been patrolling beside all of you these past months. Fighting the good fight. Helping you lot out. Taking care of Dawn. Protecting her because I made a promise to a lady. I would have thought that I'd get at least a little bit more courtesy. I guess I was wrong." Spike ranted.

"Don't act like this isn't the happiest day of your life! She's back." Xander shot back.

"You may be right. I am happy that she's back, but not the way it happened. See that's the thing about magic. There's always consequences." With that Spike jumped on his bike and drove off.