Dawn POV

I don't think I had ever seen Spike look as amazed as he did in that second. He looked as though he wasn't sure if he was going to laugh or cry. In the end, though, he just opted for crushing me in a hug that would have broken a human's spine.

"Where the fuck have you been?! Have you any fucking clue how much you scared me with that disappearing act! We thought you were dead."

"Well technically I am dead you dumbass. And do you mind letting go a little maybe? You're fucking crushing me."

After squeezing a little tighter for a second, Spike begrudgingly let me go. Instead he held me at arms length and continued to look at me in disbelief. Eventually Clem got him to agree to let me go and we have another drink. I was sure that he needed another one by this point.

"You still haven't told me where you've been for the last 90 years." Spike said, sounding as grumpy as a toddler who hasn't got his way.

"I know."

"Well?"

So I began telling him my story, and how some dick of a vamp had decided he wanted a new plaything to spend eternity with.

"It was just after my 21st birthday and I had been out celebrating with the Scooby gang. It was getting late so the rest of 'em had decided to head back but a few of the guys I had met I the club we were in convinced me to stick around and head back later. Of course Buffy being Buffy tried to make me go back. I swear she never stopped seeing me as a stupid little kid. I told her I could handle myself and made her go home without me.

I stayed at the club until about 2am before heading back. On the way, however, I was surrounded by a group of fucking idiot vamps. Of course I had my stake on me so I fought as best as I could and got rid of about 4 of the 7 vamps, but then it all went wrong. Two of the remaining vamps managed to pin me against the wall and the third came up to me, spouting how much fun it was going to be having a little spitfire of a pet like me to play with. I mean who even says spitfire these days? Anyway he decided it would be over too quickly if he just had his fun and then left me so he decided to turn me, thinking I would become his lil pet. Of course that back fired. As soon as I awoke from being turned I kicked the dicks ass. Ya know something? Some people should realise it's not a good idea to give vamp strength to a girl trained by the slayer then expect them to do what they're told.

After that I just kind of went my own way, I knew I couldn't go back to the gang."

"Why didn't you just come find me? Surely you knew I wouldn't just stake you?"

"By the time I thought of finding you, you had already gone haywire. I had no way of tracking you done. Eventually after they rebuilt Sunnydale I came back here and made myself at home. It wasn't until I bumped into Clem that I even knew you were still kicking about."

"Well you didn't think I had gotten myself staked did 'ya?"

"I don't even know what I thought" I told him honestly. "But when Clem mentioned you and how excited you would be if you knew I was back I realised that I had to see you again."

Spike took another sip of blood before questioning me further. "So what made you want to come back to this hellhole?"

"It was more the hell mouth than the hell hole. You guys weren't wrong when you said about the draw of the power of the thing. Any way I was in a sort of nostalgic mood so I thought, why not head back home?"

"Fair enough" Spike responded in a dismissive tone. "Still think you should've come and found me."

Spike POV

We kept walking for a while, not really sure where I was being led, until we heard a scream from a nearby alley way - when will these bloody idiots realise not to hang around in alley ways at 2am?

The niblet ran ahead of me – although I guess I couldn't really call her that now she was a 90 year old vamp – and reached the source of the screaming almost before I could realise what was happening.

Stood in front of us was a group of three vampires and a girl sprawled on the pavement crying and screaming for help. I looked over at Dawnie and saw the change in her eyes when she registered the smell of the girl's blood.

"You don't have to do this Dawn. You can walk away."

"No," she replied, her face morphing back to bloodsucker mode, "I can't walk away."