A/N : You think you're confused now? Wait til you've read this latest chapter!
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 3 - Location, Location, Location

"...so now I'm thinking the love spell idea is kinda not exactly right" Willow completed her narrative and gave her ideas as to why these events were occurring, "but I don't know what else to think"
"It is very strange indeed" Giles said thoughtfully, as he polished his glasses once again.

"Totally strange!" Xander chimed in, "And not of the good" he pointed out, as if it were not already obvious.

"She has no idea who I am" Dawn said sadly, staring down at the table. Spike put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Don't fret, Little Bit" he told her, "It'll be alright"

"Yes, I'm sure it shall" Giles offered some comfort to the girl too, though he was forced to admit to himself at least that he was very worried about his Slayer, "I suggest that someone should perhaps warn Joyce about Buffy's... well, condition, before any more confusion occurs"

"I'll call her" Willow offered, getting up from her seat and going over to the phone behind the Magic Box counter.

"So, Giles" Xander said, looking to the older man, "Got any theories? Any books on weird Slayer behaviour we might find some theories in?" he checked.

"Well, there are several possible explanations" the Watcher considered as he removed his glasses and dangled them from his fingers as he paced a little, "We must of course first decide whether the person here was indeed the Buffy that we know"

"It's her" Spike chimed in, "Know by the scent. No two people are exactly the same, and I know Buffy better than most. That's her, there's just something wrong with her, a spell maybe or a curse?"

"Indeed it might be either of those" Giles nodded, "Or perhaps a similar situation to that which Xander found himself in when Toth paid us a visit"

"You mean there are two Buffies now?" Anya frowned, "Well, that's just unsettling, and also just completely copying my Xander" she said firmly, getting hold of her boyfriends arm.

"Ahn, I don't think Buffy got split in two on purpose" he told her.

"I-If there are two of her at all" Tara reminded them, "It might just be a spell or... something" she shrugged her shoulders, realising she had no other theories and that everyone was now looking at her as if they expected one.

"I warned Joyce" Willow said as she came back over to the table and took her place at the table once again, "She asked what was wrong, and didn't sound too happy when I said we had no idea"

"We are of course assuming that Buffy has run to Revello Drive" Giles said thoughtfully, "If she knows neither myself nor Dawn there is nothing to say she remembers her mother or indeed where her home is"

"I should have gone after her" Willow said with a shake of her head.

"It's okay, Will" the brunette beside her told her kindly, "Buffy remembers how to be the Slayer at least. She can't come to any harm, right?"

"Oh she knows who she is" Spike agreed, "Just seems to reckon I'm her other half, and that half her mates are strangers"

"What are we going to do?" Dawn asked the vampire beside her, "I mean, Buffy's gone, nobody knows where, she doesn't know me or Giles, and with Glory coming..."

"It'll be alright, pet, I promise you" Spike assured her, "Stupid Glory bint's not going to lay a hand on you, and we'll have your sister back to normal before you know it, right Watcher?" he said, sending a look in Giles' direction.

"Oh, yes, of course" he forced a smile at Dawn as his mind whirred through possible reasons for the change in Buffy, "Tara, Anya, I wonder if the two of you might look amongst the books for anything related to spells or other things that may cause partial memory loss and, er, possible infatuations" he asked them and the two girls immediately did as they were asked, "Xander, perhaps you might walk Dawn home, I'm sure her mother would feel better to have her there at the moment"

"But I wanted to help" the young teen whined until Spike agreed with Giles and told her she'd probably be better off at home.

"Your Mum doesn't need the extra stress of not knowing what's happening to you as well as your sister, Sweet Bit" he reminded her, "'S not good for her to get so worked up so soon after all the illness and what not"

"I guess" Dawn sighed as she picked up her bag and followed Xander out of the door.

"And what do you have planned for us to do then, Rupert?" Spike checked, glancing between the Watcher and the witch two seats over to his left.

"I'm not certain that you will be any help at all, Spike" Giles told him plainly, "but my idea for Willow was that perhaps she might perform a locator spell" he said as he turned to the red-head, "I think our first concern is to find where Buffy might've gone"

"Sure" Willow nodded, "Only it'd help if I had something of hers..." she said as she checked her jewellery and found it was all her own, she hadn't borrowed such things from Buffy since they shared a room at college last year.

"Er, I could help you out there" Spike said, looking slightly sheepish as he reached in one of the large inside pockets of his coat and pulled out a crumpled piece of fabric that was soon revealed to be a small handkerchief style top that belong to the Slayer.

"Huh" was all Willow could think to say as the top was handed to her and she eyed it suspiciously.

"How on Earth...?" Giles began before shaking his head, "No, do not tell me where you got it or how, I do not wish to know" he sighed as he replaced his glasses and turned to Willow. Spike was sure he'd be much more pissed off had he admitted to the other items he had stolen from Buffy's room before now, including the pair of panties in his back pocket that he was certainly not going to present to the class!

"Willow, can you now perform the spell?" the Watcher checked and the witch nodded as she got up from her seat and went about finding the book she needed as well as all the necessary ingredients from the shelves.

"I'm sure you're enjoying this immensely" Giles said, somewhat menacingly as he leaned across the table at Spike, who only smirked annoyingly in response, "but let me be quite clear, if you take advantage of Buffy in any way whilst she is in this state, I will personally see that you suffer terribly and then cease to exist"

"Careful, Ripper" Spike smirked, "Almost lettin' the respectable Watcher persona slip there, and in front of he kiddies too" he tutted as Willow returned to the table and glanced warily between two men before setting up what she needed for her spell.

Anya and Tara soon returned to the table, piling up books on one side as Willow spread out a map on the other and picked up Buffy's top that Spike had apparently stolen previously.

"Okay, here we go" she said, closing her eyes and muttering a few foreign words as the others looked on. A moment later she put down the item of clothing belonging to the Slayer and sprinkled a handful of what appeared to be herbs onto the map.

"Oh" she frowned as she opened her eyes and looked down.

"Oh? What do you mean by oh?" Spike checked.

"Did it not work?" Anya checked, "Did a spell you performed with stolen ingredients turn out wrong again?"

Willow rolled her eyes at the ex-demons comment before looking up at Tara.

"I don't understand why that didn't work" she said, glancing back at the map and then up again.

"W-want me to try it sweetie?" her girlfriend offered, and following a nod from her girlfriend she moved around the table, clearing the sprinkled substance off the map and setting up to begin the spell again.

A few minutes later when the second witch opened her eyes and looked at the map her response was the same as her lover's had been.

"Oh" she frowned, "I-I don't understand"

"What? You both lost your ability to mojo up a simple locator spell?" Spike checked, not understanding what the big problem was here.

"No, it should've worked" Willow shook her head, "We've done this spell so many times, and there's no way Buffy could have gotten out of Sunnydale so fast. She has to be around here somewhere"

"Or perhaps not" Giles suggested, "Perhaps Spike is mistaken and the Buffy who was here is in fact not our Buffy at all"

"It's her, Watcher" Spike said firmly, not at all pleased at having his nasal integrity questioned, "I'm a hundred percent on that. Maybe the spell just doesn't work cos there's two of her or some such?" Giles gave him a look and Spike sighed, "Look I don't know what's bloody going on any more than you do" he reminded him, "But I do soddin' know that the Slayer is at least physically herself"

"Two of them" Willow said suddenly, "Oh my God, Giles, there were two of me too!"

"What's that about?" Spike frowned as he looked around the group, and only Tara seemed quite as confused as he himself did.

"Oh yes, two of Willow" Anya recalled, "One was a vampire from another dimension that was created when Cordelia Chase made that wish that Buffy never came to Sunnydale!"

"Ah, yes, of course" Giles snapped his fingers as he realised the girls could be onto something, "Buffy would appear the same, even in her scent I should imagine, but she would have a completely different attitude towards the people and things around her, should she be an alternate version of herself from another dimension"

"Wait a second" Spike shook his head, "You're tellin' me the Slayer is her but not from this dimension?"

"Yes, exactly" Giles nodded, "There are well supported theories that there is an infinite number of realities where all possibilities are played out. It could well be that in one such reality I was never Buffy's Watcher, that Dawn was never sent to her to protect, and that, as unsavoury as it sounds, she finds you very attractive"

"B-But if the Buffy that was here is from another dimension, where's our Buffy?" Tara frowned as she glanced back down at the map they'd used for the locator spell. The real Buffy couldn't be pin-pointed in Sunnydale, so where the hell had she ended up?

"Mom?" Buffy called as she came in through the front door of her house, "Mom?" she tried again, a little concerned when she got no answer. Hurrying upstairs she checked her mother's room and found no-one there. She passed through the adjoining door and was stunned by the sight of Dawn's room. Instead of all the boyband posters and fluffy pillows, boxes were piled around the bed, and a layer of dust sat on every surface. It was nothing more than a storage room, full of junk, gallery stuff, and various other things.

In a panic the Slayer spun around and ran out onto the landing just as the bathroom door opened. She had her arm raised to attack the person that was exited until she realised who it was.

"Spike?" she checked, her eyes wide as he turned to face her, completely naked it seemed but for the towel around his waist. His hair was dripping wet and droplets of water ran down his chest as he stood before her with a stupid grin on his face.

"Hello, luv" he smiled, "Thought I heard you come in. Joyce is at the gallery still if you need her"

Buffy stared at him in disbelief as he ran a hand back through his hair, pushing unruly curls off his forehead.

"What the hell is going on? What are you doing showering in my house?" she yelled, not understanding this at all.

"Are you feelin' alright, pet?" Spike frowned, reaching out a hand to her face, as if to check her temperature. Before his skin made contact with hers she'd slapped his hand away and was looking daggers at him.

"What. Is. Going. On?" she asked again, slowly and precisely so he would understand and hopefully explain himself.

"Nothing is going on, Buffy" he told her, getting very worried about her by now, she was acting very strangely, "Joyce had to go into the gallery for a couple of hours, I thought I'd get a shower in before I made some dinner" he explained, "Are you sure you're feelin' alright, pet?" he checked, "You don't look well, and you're acting a bit weird"

"I'm acting a... And you were gonna make... and I..." Buffy tried to make sense of what Spike was telling her and make a sentence of her own that flowed in the correct order, but she found it to be impossible.

Here was Spike, mostly naked and dripping wet, standing in her house, talking as if he lived there, and telling her she was the one being weird. It was just too freaky for words!

"No, this is not... No!" she said firmly before taking off down the stairs as fast as her legs would go.

"Buffy!" Spike yelled after her twice before he heard the front door slam. She was gone, and he wasn't exactly in the best of states to folow her right now.

"Bugger" he swore as he went to his and Buffy's bedroom and closed the door behind him.

To Be Continued...