Truth Time

"Spike, one thing before I tell you." Xander said.

"What?"

"No shooting the messenger, okay?"

"Get on with it, whelp," the vampire growled.

Taking that as agreement, Xander spoke again. "You may wanna sit down for this," he said, leaning against the desk. As Spike sat, he began his sorry tale.

"After you closed the hellmouth – "

"Wasn't me."

"Yes it was, Spike. Anyway, after you closed the hellmouth, Buffy only just escaped Sunnydale. We were stood on the edge of the crater when she just broke down. I've known Buffy for eight years, man, and I'd never seen her so bad before. Not when Joyce died, not when Dawn was taken, not even when she came back. She cried for hours, even after we'd lifted her into the bus again. She just didn't stop crying. Dawn and Willow stayed with her constantly, Dawn was hurting too, and I think Will figured it out first, what had gone down. I should have realised sooner, but I guess I was too wrapped up in losing Anya. Buffy cried all the way to LA."

"We got to the Hyperion, walked right in, carrying her……"

Flashback

Willow laid Buffy down on a sofa, as the Slayer's sister curled up next to her, holding onto her, soothing her.

"Hello! Angel, are you here?" Giles called.

"Giles?" the vampire asked, coming down the stairs, "What happened? Are you all OK? Did you win? Oh, god, Buffy!"

"We won, Angel."

"Yep, activated some Potentials, kicked the First's incorporeal ass, slayed some Uber-vamps. It's all five-by-five," Faith put in.

"Not quite, Faith. We lost some," Dawn said, looking up at the group, her arms still wrapped around her sister.

"Who?" Angel said quietly, taking note of the tears coursing down the girl's pale face.

But it was Willow who replied. "Some of the girls, as well as Anya," she answered, sending an understanding glance to Xander, "and Spike. The amulet worked, Angel. But he died using it."

Spike, Angel thought, how can Spike be gone? I guess he really had changed. Angel was just about to go into full-on brood-mode, when the rest of his team arrived behind him.

"Willow!" Fred exclaimed, spotting the red-head in the lobby.

"I take it you won?" Wesley said, "Well, you must all be very tired. Come with me, we have plenty of rooms to spare."

End Flashback

"So we stayed in LA for around a fortnight. Buffy was still hurting, I could tell, but she never mentioned it to me. I know she spoke with Dawnie and Wills, maybe she was afraid to tell me, thought I wouldn't understand about how she felt. Truth is, I wasn't the one she should have been worrying about. She spoke to Angel, and, well……….."

Flashback

Xander turned, hearing yelling coming from Angel's office.

"How could you say that, Angel? You weren't there! You didn't see how he'd changed!" his best friend screamed.

"This is Spike we're talking about, Buffy! Spike! I can't believe you're being so stupid!"

"How dare you! God, I can't believe you! I hardly know you anymore, Angel!"

"The Buffy I knew would never have reacted like this! Spike has tried to kill you before Buffy! He tried to rape you, for God's sake!"

At that moment Xander knew Angel had gone to far. He'd never liked Spike much, but the bleached vamp had sacrificed himself for the world. He burst into the office, storming up to the dark-haired vampire, shielding the Slayer behind his body. She didn't need protecting, he knew, but he could tell Angel's words had hurt her. Whatever he had said before had been out of line.

"Now, look here, Deadboy," Xander spat, "You have no right to talk to her like that! Spike changed, a hell of a lot these past few years. I didn't want to see it then, but now it's as clear as day. He gave up his life for the world, even though he didn't have to. He wasn't the Powers' Champion, like you, or a Slayer like Buffy, Faith and the girls. God knows we didn't make it easy for him to change, but he did it anyway. He did some dumb things, but so did we all. You of al people should know how hard it is to change so much. Just remember this, Fangbreath, you were cursed with a soul. You didn't want it, you didn't earn it. Spike did. He went half way around the world to his, for Buffy. To try to atone for what he had done. He looked after Dawn when Buffy was gone, without being asked. He just did it, to keep his promise to her sister. He was a good man, even if I was too blind to see it. So leave Buffy alone. She has been through too much for you to talk to her like that. Don't even dare hurt Buffy like this again, or I swear, I will personally stake you, champion or no."

With that, he took Buffy by the arm, leading her quickly out of the office and up to the room she shared with Willow.

End Flashback

"We left that night, stayed in a motel until we could catch a plane. I could tell Buffy wanted to be out of LA, out of the country. She wanted to be far away from Angel. He'd hurt her bad, Spike, so bad she hasn't spoken to him since. Willow booked us onto a plane to England for a few days later, until then, none of us went near Angel and his group. I guess you know that we don't exactly have the highest regard for him right now, and I don't know how long it'll take him to win it back, if that's even possible. Anyway, we arrived in London, and Giles immediately began work on the New Council, with help from Wills, Buffy and me. Buffy was determined that no Slayer would ever be treated like she was again. We've made a hell of a lot of changes to the old Watcher's Council traditions, believe me. We thought Buffy was coping, we really did. Unfortunately, we were wrong. She wasn't, she was just pretending and planning. One night, around four months ago, she didn't come down to dinner. Dawnie went to look for her and we just heard screaming…

Flashback

"Xander! Willow! Giles! Faith! Get here NOW!" Dawn's voice yelled.

The named people ran out of the dining room, closely followed by Robin, Kennedy and Andrew. They shot up the stairs, towards Dawn's screams. Faith was first to reach the door, and threw it open to reveal…