Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or any of the characters. :)

Hope you all enjoy. It's been fun for me to read over this, I forgot some of the things I'd written.

Buffy lay across the bed in her old room. For some reason it didn't feel like home anymore. She sighed.

Maybe she could call Willow. She reached over and dialed the number quickly.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Will. It's me; Buffy."

"Oh Hi, Buff. What is it?"

Buffy rolled onto her side. She would have never thought Sunnydale was boring, with it being a hellmouth and all, until she had seen the world.

"Nothing. I just wanted to call."

"Oh..." That wasn't really the response Buffy had been hoping for.

"Maybe we could do something sometime. Like go to the espresso pump. Wanna meet in an hour?"

"I would. But I can't. Oz and I are doing the date thing tonight. But you can come. We're just going to the Bronze."

"Oh, I'll stop by when I get back from patrol."

Buffy looked around her closet for something nice to wear. She pulled out a black dress she hadn't worn in Sunnydale yet. She held it up to herself.

"You're going out?"

She turned to see her mother in the door way.

"Yeah, I was going to go find Xander and Willow."

"Oh okay. Do you want me to drive you? They could be anywhere."

"We're meeting at the Bronze."

Her mother nodded. "Okay then. But maybe...No. I just want things to get back to normal."

Buffy nodded. "Yeah. I know what you mean."

Buffy walked into the Bronze, a small smile playing across her face. She walked over to the table where, Willow, Xander and Cordelia were sitting. She saw Oz getting drinks. She waved at Willow who waved back. Just as she was about to reach her friends, someone reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her into the shadows.

"Spike." She pulled her arm away from him. "What are you doing here?"

"Just lurking. Creature of the night, love."

She rolled her eyes. But she was smiling despite herself.

"Dance with me." He whispered in her ear. She looked around. "No one will see."

She smiled sadly. She wished she could tell everyone about them. But It wouldn't be easy for them to understand.

She began to dance, forgetting with each move that her friends could easily see her, if not her partner. The song was fast and she loved it. She thought about sitting down with her friends, but as soon as the next song came on she forgot what she had been thinking.

"Who was that?" Willow asked as Buffy sat down next to her.

"What? No one."

"You looked pretty close." Willow teased.

"Nah. I just had the urge to dance."

Willow nudged her with her elbow. "Well I know who you should dance with; Scott Hope. He wanted to ask you out last year. But you weren't ready then."

"Will, really I-"

"Hi." Scott Hope stood in front of her.

She turned so that she was facing him. "Hi."

"I'm Scott." He smiled. He had a nice boyish face. However Buffy really wasn't interested.

"Buffy." She looked away. She was searching the shadows for Spike. She saw him and he met her eyes. His eyebrow raised. She bit her lip and shrugged a little.

She turned back the Scott. "Sorry, I thought I saw someone I know." She lied smoothly.

"Would you like to dance?" Scott asked. Willow smiled and gave her a little push. She rolled her eyes, and decided it was best if she just got Scott Hope to leave her alone; best for both of them.

The song was fast, so she could move as far away from him as was possible while dancing. She bumped into a girl with long brown hair.

"Hey, do I know you?" The girl asked. Buffy shook her head, as they kept dancing. The girl pulled her partner over and Buffy looked at him hard. Something was off about him.

She tried to talk with the girl while dancing with Scott.

"I'm Buffy."

"No way!" The girl laughed. "The Buffy Summers?"

Buffy frowned and turned so that she didn't have to talk over Scott's shoulder.

They were dancing next to each other now. Buffy felt Scott reach out for her hand. She turned her head so that she was facing him and gently smiled as she pulled it away.

"Yep. That would be me. Who are you?" Buffy turned her head so she could talk to Faith again.

"I'm Faith." The girl was dancing pretty widely with her partner who was doing some moves straight out of the 70's. Buffy wasn't dancing as enthusiastically as she had been with Spike, so it was easier to talk.

Faith leaned in and whispered something in her partners ear and they began to walk out of the Bronze.

Buffy froze as she realized what was off with the guy.

"I-I have to go." She said to Scott. He wasn't smiling like he had been when they had started dancing. Maybe it was because she had ignored him through the whole dance.

"Buffy-" She was gone before he could finish.

She ran over to her friends. "We have trouble." She annouced. They jumped up at once and began to hurry out of the club after her. "That guy she just left with, I think he's a vampire."

They looked around the Alley, and Buffy could sense Spike watching her from the shadows but she didn't turn.

"Maybe they're just making out." Cordelia offered, when they didn't see anything. Then there was a loud crash.

"That doesn't sound like making-out. Unless I've been doing it wrong." Willow said as they ran down the alley, Buffy pulling her stake out.

But Faith already seemed to have it under control as she cracked her skull against the vampire's forehead and began to beat him up. She ran over to Buffy and pulled her stake out of her hand.

"Can I borrow this?"

She ran at the vampire as everyone stood staring at her in shock. Seconds later the vamp was dust and Faith walked back to Buffy. "Thanks, B. Couldn't have done it without ya."

She started to walk away, but turned back. "By the way. Love the dress."

Buffy looked down at the dress. It was something she had picked up in L.A.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say there's a new slayer in town." Oz stated.

The next day Buffy, Willow and Xander took Faith to the libary, after inviting Faith to dinner, Buffy had run out. She had to pass an English make up exam to get back in school, she had even tried to study, since she was sure they didn't give credit for just speaking it.

Now Willow and Xander were giving Faith the grand tour.

"And over here, we have the cafeteria, where we were mauled by snakes." Willow pointed to the cafeteria with a little smile. Faith nodded and looked around.

They kept walking. "And this is the spot where Angel tried to kill Willow." Xander pointed down the hallway.

Faith was grinning. This place was gonna be fun.

"Oh, and over there in the lounge is where Spike and his gang nearly massacred us all on Parent-Teacher night."

Faith laughed as they pointed out their near-death experiences.

"So, B, seems cool. And she's got style."

Willow realized that Faith would probably get along well with this new and wild Buffy, with her mysterious boyfriend and new fancy clothes.

Buffy walked up just then. "I passed!"

"That's great Buffy!" Willow smiled.

"Hey, B. See ya tonight? Can't wait to meet the fam." Buffy gave Faith her address and then said, "I might be late. I have to stop home first."

"What are you talking about Buffy?" Willow asked staring at her.

Buffy looked from face to face. "What do you mean?" Buffy asked not realizing what she had just said.

"Buff, you just said you had stop home before you went to your house." Xander said, slowly.

Buffy made an O with her mouth, then shrugged. "Guess I slipped up. Must be that test. Well, I'm off, Giles wants to get back to training now that I'm officially back."

Willow watched after her friend, confused. Once Buffy had noticed her slip up, she had pretended she had just made a mistake, which made no sense. How could someone mix something like that up? Where else would Buffy being going?

Buffy couldn't help showing off a little. She had learned a lot from the slayer of slayers. And it showed as she trained with Giles.

"Buffy, where did you learn moves like that?"

Buffy had to be careful not to slip up again. "I got to know a lot of people when I was traveling. So can I go now?" Buffy sounded urgent.

"Of course Buffy. Is something wrong?" He began to wipe his glasses, worried about his slayer.

"Fine. Fine. Mom just worries about me a lot earlier these days."

"Yes, understandable after you're, um,"

"Flight of fancy?"

"Yes, um, something like that."

"Bye." Buffy hurried out of the school as fast as she could.

She pulled the key out of her back jacket and pulled open the apartment door.

She slipped into the apartment, with a smile on her face.

"Spike?" She called. He came then, out of the bedroom. She smiled, as he wrapped his arms around her, she felt her heart swell just being able to touch him again, it seemed like weeks since she'd seen him.

"Slayer."

"Buffy." She corrected with a kiss.

He took her hand and dragged her into the living room, where he sat down on the couch, pulling her onto his lap.

"So when can we leave, Sunnyhell?" He asked.

"I wasn't aware that we were." She muttered, against his shoulder and she leaned her head on it.

"Well then you're going to have to tell your friends about us."

"You know I can't. I've got to get back in the swing of things before I dump something big like that on them." She kissed his neck sweetly.

"Fine." He muttered. "You looked like you were having fun last night."

She smiled. "I was. I wish we could have danced all night."

"You and Scotty seemed to hit it off, eh?" His voice was grudging. She pulled away from him to look at his face and raised an eyebrow. She hoped he didn't think she was talking about Scott.

"Jealous?"

He raised an eyebrow and glared. No one could do that quite like Spike could. She leaned over and kissed his forehead.

"I don't want anyone else. Alright?" She was talking between kisses now. He was an amazing kisser for a dead guy. "Not Scott... and Not Angel." He pulled away quickly at the name.

"Spike..."

"You always gotta bring him up don't you?"

"What are you talking about?" She snapped. "I just said that I didn't want him. All I want is you."

"Sorry, pet. I just don't like talkin' about him."

"It's okay. I can understand that."

"So there's a new slayer in town, huh?" He propped his feet up on the coffee table.

"Yeah. She's a firecracker, that Faith." Buffy said. He raised an eyebrow at her tone.

"Jealous?" He teased.

She glared at him. "No. It's just weird. I died, then Kendra died, so now we have Faith." She looked at him with a pointed glance. "Thanks to you."

"Not me. It's Dru's work." His voice had a hint of pride in it.

"True." She murmured.

"Do you have to go tonight?" He asked. She groaned.

"Yes. Mom wants me there for dinner."

"Well, you're going to have to come here at some point, since the house is in both of our names." He muttered.

She shrugged. And kissed him one more time.

"Here's what I've got on Buffy's whereabouts the last year. And anything possibly connected to her." Angel dropped a large stack of papers.

"You're stalking her?" Xander asked in disbelief.

"No. I'm making sure she's okay. That no one hurt her."

"Yeah and taking Polaroid's outside her window was just a project for 4-H." Xander muttered.

Angel rolled his eyes and began to pull papers out.

"She bought an apartment under the name Elizabeth Anne Pratt."

"Hmm...Why would she use a false last name?" Giles mused.

"She's been getting hotel rooms everywhere she been under that name. She stayed in LA for four days using her middle name. And she kept doing that until she got to New York there she changed her named to Elizabeth Anne Pratt and went to London."

They all looked at him in surprise.

"You looked way too much into this." Cordelia sighed. "She probably just figured you'd be able to track her down, so she changed things up a bit."

"I know I know the name Pratt from somewhere." Angel muttered. "I think it's someone I know...But I can't remember."

They all looked from face to face.

"Maybe it has something to do with Buffy's new boy." Xander said.

"That would make sense." Willow added. They began to search the papers for some kind of clue.

Faith was chomping down on her fries and telling stories.

"So, B, you just got back from seein' the world, huh?"

"Something like that." Buffy muttered, around a French fry.

"So you gotta have stories." Faith prompted. Buffy saw her mother watching her.

"Well yeah. There was lots of slayage and shopping." Buffy looked at her plate.

"So, how come you took off?" The question wasn't nosy, Faith was just interested in this slayer.

Buffy looked at her plate again.

"'Cause of that whole Angel thing?"

Buffy smiled a little to herself. "Yeah. But I got over it."

Faith grinned as Buffy's mother got up get them more drinks.

"I think I'm gonna like it here."

"Faith, this is Angel." Buffy said. They were all at the Bronze now. Hanging out and dancing. Oz was playing tonight so Willow was glued to her seat, while she looked at Oz, playing the guitar.

Angel was hurt by Buffy's cold treatment toward him. She kept looking around, hopefully like she was looking for someone.

"I thought B killed ya?"

"He's back apparently." Buffy muttered. Angel looked at her.

"Lookin' for your hottie?" Faith elbowed Buffy in the ribs.

Buffy didn't seem to have heard. "Huh? No-"

Faith rolled her eyes and wandered off to dance with a guy she had seen on the dance floor. She didn't seem to care that he was dancing with someone else before she cut in.

"Buffy can we talk?"

"Last time I checked." She murmured.

She fallowed him out into the alley.

"What is it, Angel?"

Buffy was angry. What was with him? Did she think she should pine after him for a year? Did he think she was so pathetic she couldn't move on? She had given him everything she had. And she wouldn't take it back for the world, she just wished he could have given her the same.

"Buffy, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothings wrong with me!" She didn't know why, but she felt like picking a fight with him. She was really spending too much time with Spike....Or maybe not enough. Yesterday at the apartment was the first time she had seen him since that Saturday at Giles'.

"You've been acting strange and no one understands what's happened to you."

"I grew up. I got myself a boyfriend. I saw the world. Everything is so new and wonderful."

Buffy turned so that she wasn't facing him.

"I get the 'new' part."

"Angel, I'm happy. I've a got a new boyfriend. And I'm in love. I've been to England. I went shopping in cites that I used to dream about...even though I'm not really sure how that happened," she wrinkled her nose. "'Cause I'm not the one bringing in the money."

"What's his name?" Angel suddenly looked up at her face and saw her blanch. "Why don't you bring him around?"

"I-I..." She swallowed then went back to the pick a fight attitude she had been working on earlier. "In case the sword I ran through your chest wasn't enough of a sign for you, I'm not your girl anymore."

She turned on her heels. She wanted to run home and cry. She had loved him so much. She had given him everything and the months of his games. Jenny Calendar, Willow's fish, the pictures he left. Her heart had hardened a little bit more with each one. And she could have forgiven each and everyone one of those things, but she could never be with him. She could never even really look at him without wondering how much it would take to turn him into that viscous killer and who might be the next to do it. This was the only way to harden her heart to him, she needed to make sure he stayed away from her. Letting him know that Spike was the mysterious boyfriend she was in love with, would probably be enough to keep him from the moment of perfect happiness. She almost laughed out loud at the thought of the look on his face when he found out.

Buffy sat down at a table with her friends. They were all laughing and explaining something to Faith.

"What'd I miss?"

"We were telling Faith all about the big bads we've faced." Willow smiled at Buffy.

"Speaking of that," Xander started, "Spike and Drusilla seemed to have skipped town after you know..."

"Did you stake them?" Willow asked.

Buffy wasn't really paying attention anymore. She was feeling guilty for being so cruel to Angel and she was feeling guilty from hiding everything. So she hardly knew what she was saying. "Dru's in Mexico, last I heard."

They all stared at her in shock. She looked up suddenly. Letting the depressed look fall from her face. She was having trouble slipping back into her old Buffy-ness. Since she came to Sunnydale, things hadn't been going the way she had hoped.

"What?" She asked. They were all still looking at her. "I traveled the world, remember? I met some Giles-y people. They told me all kinds of things about vamp activities." She lied smoothly.

They all nodded.

But Willow noticed something strange about her sentence. Since when does she call her Dru?

Buffy smiled over at Willow. "Let's dance!" She grabbed Willow's hand and then Faith's and Cordelia and Xander came close behind. They all laughed as the danced.

"Oz wrote this song for me!" Willow called over the music. Devon sang the words and Willow's smile grew wider.

"It rocks, Will!" Buffy called back. She finally let go and began to dance freely the way she had in LA. Cordelia had her arms wrapped around Xander as she danced. Rolling her eyes at the three girls dancing. Faith and Buffy laughing and Willow moving awkwardly and looking around.

Buffy grabbed Willow's hands and tried to get her to dance. "Come on, Willow! Just let go, dance like no one's watching!" She laughed when Willow shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest.

"No. No. That's not such a great idea." She shook her head. Suddenly there was a loud crash. A girl had dropped her drink near the dancers.

"No the guy his face like changed!" The girl was sobbing to the guy next to them. Buffy turned to look at them.

"What did he look like?" Buffy asked. The girl turned to look at Buffy strangly then said. "Black leather coat. Blond hair."

"Spike!" Buffy hissed. Willow turned to look at her.

"What?"

"Stake! I need a stake!" She amended. Xander who seemed to have heard her too looked at in confusion. Cordelia seemed annoyed that he wasn't kissing her anymore.

"Or a wooden spike of some kind."

They shrugged.

"I've got a spare in my bag." Willow offered. But Buffy had already run out of the small club.

She rounded the corner, and saw him leaning against the wall.

"What do you think you're doing?" She snapped. He grinned evilly at her and she rolled her eyes.

"Just want my favorite slayer to come out and play."

She raised an eyebrow. "So you tried to eat one of my classmates?"

"I just pretended to. Which isn't really good for the rep."

"Point taken. But what if it had been Faith, instead of me?"

"You don't think I can take her?" He grinned wickedly at her.

"Of course I do. And that would be the problem. If you want to leave Sunnydale, then we're going to need Faith here."

"Good point, pet." He kissed her, and she sighed with happiness. "Better get back."

"Uh-huh." She mumbled feebly, really she just wanted to kiss him again.

"So you never told us what happened to Spike." Xander said. "I hope this has a dusty ever after."

"It doesn't. Sorry, Xand. But I wouldn't have been able to save the world without him."

"What?!"

"We made a deal. And stopped Angel. No biggie." Buffy shrugged.

"Were you smoking?" Cordelia suddenly asked.

Buffy looked at her puzzled. "No. Why?"

"You smell like smoke and...whiskey?" Cordelia took a deep breath. "It's really strong, too."

"Cordy what are you talking about?"

"She's right." Oz said. "I can smell it. I'm guessing my wolf senses are a little stronger then Cordelia's though."

Buffy muttered something under her breath about vampires and bad habits. Then looked up at the gang. "I guess that vamp I dusted really stank."

"Wanna patrol?" Faith asked.

Two nights later everyone was in the library at Sunnydale high school. Everyone was there to here about Faith and Buffy's night.

"So B, was totally wrapped up in fightin' these two vamps. And I mean she is really gettin' into it. Then she does the most amazing mid-air kick!"

Buffy grins. "Well, Faith is the one who killed Kakitos in the end."

"Are both of you quite sure you're okay?"

"I'm five by five." Faith said at the same time Buffy said, "'Course."

Angel couldn't help but watch her. Whoever Buffy was with now had really changed her.

When Buffy thought no one was looking at her Angel noticed things; the way she would flinch at certain words and look around like a small child caught with there hands in the cookie jar; she jumped when her cell phone rang, then when she answered it a wide smile played across her face. A real smile.

She moved away from the table and started whispering.

"You have to stop calling me." She rolled her eyes at whatever was said on the other end. "No we beat Kaktios last night. Thanks. I'm going to skip patrol tonight so I can see you. I'll see you soon."

She hung up and turned back to everyone.

"He's knows you're the slayer?" Angel blurted. She looked at him.

"What?"

"On the phone you said..." He trailed off.

She glared at him. "Yes he knows."

"Buffy I do wonder if you find it wise to-"

Buffy cut him off. "Giles. It's my life!" She snapped. He looked at her a little hurt by her sharp tone. He really only wanted to make sure Buffy didn't get hurt. He loved her like a daughter.

"Everyone just expects me to drop back into my old life. I'm not the Buffy you knew." Her gaze flicked to Angel. "And I'm never going to be again."

Buffy stuttered out of the school.

"Nice work, love."

"Where are you?" This was starting to remind her of her first ever conversations with him.

"Nice work, love."

"Who are you?"

"You'll find out on Saturday."

"What happens on Saturday?"

"I kill you."

"You'll find out soon." He teased. She smiled a little.

"And what happens then?"

He was suddenly in front of her and kissing her. She wrapped her arms around his neck. He was wearing his duster, like he always did. She knew it should bother her that he had taken it from a dead slayer, but she was forgetting to worry as he kissed her.

"Well that was way better then that death threat."

He chuckled. "Glad you think so, love. 'Cause I sure did."

"So telling my friends about us sounds like a lot of fun, huh?"

"We don't have to."

"I think after a while they're going to think I'm making you up. That or Angel will figure it out. He's come close."

Spike smoothed her hair back. "Don't you worry. I promise that captain forehead won't learn anything until we want him to."