As soon as the plane landed in London, Buffy rushed to the Council compound. Giles, who had been injured both by the fall and the dragon's claws, was in bed, in the healer's medical wing. When she found him, he explained what had happened, carefully leaving out any reference of Spike. He wasn't sure if Spike had actually survived, and couldn't bear the thought of getting Buffy's hope again just to have them crash down again. So he carefully chose his words, just describing what she needed to know to find Dawn.
When Buffy went off to find some way to track down the dragons, insisting that Xander and Willow stay behind, but taking a few of the better trained Slayers with her, Willow took Xander to her apartment. Xander eventually left to find a hotel room, and Willow was just about to fall asleep when there was a noise from the hallway outside her door.
She opened it, and found a horrible sight. Her stomach twisted in revulsion, until the burned body spoke, in a raspy voice. "Help me." She knelt down, panicked.
"Who...who are you?" She could tell the person had lost consciousness, so she rolled him over onto his back, gasping as, even with the burnt flesh, she recogonized Spike. As gently as she could, she moved him into her apartment. She got him to her couch and found some rags, using them to clean his wounds. At some point, he roused. She spoke in a soft tone.
"It's all right Spike. You're safe now." She started cleaning his face. "You have a lot of explaining to do, but it can wait." He opened his eyes and looked at her.
"Thanks." It came out as a rasp. She stood up.
"I'm going to call Giles. Maybe he can send one of the girls over with some pig's blood?" Spike grabbed her arm.
"Don't." She looked at him eyebrow raised as he struggled to sit up. "Giles knows I'm in London. We..." Spike had to stop talking for a moment as a coughing fit racked his body. When he had stopped coughing, he spoke again, in a quieter voice, stopping often. "We were...fighting dragons. The Bit...she got taken. Giles...he almost was. But I...I stopped it. I didn't see the one that had...Dawn until it was...too late. The dragon punched a hole...in the roof, and I was...burnt by the bloody sun." Exhausted by the effort of speaking, he slumped back against the couch.
"That's why we came back. Giles told us Dawn had been taken, though he left out anything about you." She stood up. "I need to call Giles and at least let him know how unhappy I am that he kept you from us. Especially knowing how Buffy...well, knowing how upset Buffy's been."
He stared at her, disbelief clear on her face. Willow sighed, knowing they didn't have time for a 'Buffy Loves Spike' speech, so she pulled out her phone, and called Giles. As soon as the Watcher had answered, Willow walked into her room, closing the door behind her so that she'd have some privacy.
"Giles, Spike is currently on my couch, burnt nearly to a crisp. He said you knew he was..." Giles interrupted her.
"Willow, let me speak to him, please?" Willow shook her head, then realized he couldn't see her.
"No, Giles. I'm not sure that's such a good idea. He's pretty badly injured right now, and..." She broke off as the door opened, and Spike stood on the other side, using the doorframe to hold himself up.
"I'll talk to Rupert." He held his hand out for the phone. Sighing, Willow handed it to him.
"Spike, Buffy went off looking for Dawn. She took a group of Slayers with her, but she got seperated from them, and the Slayers have returned to the base. I know Willow said you are injured, and I can guess how those injuries were sustained, which makes this all the worse to request. But I need you to help find her." Spike agreed and hung up the phone.
"I need to find Buffy." He turned, but before he had made it more than a few steps, he collapsed, pain twisting his face.
"Spike, I don't think you can. Not alone, anyway." She moved to him, kneeling down. "Let me help you. Then, we'll go after Buffy together. Okay?" He looked up at her, eyes fierce.
"Why?" She looked at him confused. "Why would you bother to help me? I mean, we're not exactly friends. In the past you and the others have made it clear you dislike me." Willow sighed heavily before she spoke.
"After Sunnydale, when you had died, she tried to hide it, but it was obvious. Buffy was...well, she missed you. That's putting it really mildly, actually. I heard her talking in her sleep one night, and she kept calling out for you, Spike. I know, back then, she spent more time telling you she hated you than anything else but..." Willow was trying to think of something to prove it to him, when a thought occured to her. "Look, if you ever tell her I told you this, I'll stake you myself: remember that spell that made the two of you think you were getting married?" He nodded. "You used your skull ring to propose to her." Again, he nodded, his face lighting up at the memory.
"If I recall correctly, I 'lost' that ring right after." Willow nodded, smirking.
"You didn't exactly lose it...it's been safe all this time." She stood up, walking to the kitchen and giving him a moment to let that sink in.
Spike sat there stunned. Willow watched as several emotions passed across his face. Willow felt a smirk. Spike was just as blind as Buffy had been, as it turned out. She sighed and walked back over to him.
"Here, let's get you back to the couch. We can't go anywhere until the sun sets anyway, so I'm gonna go out and find some nice pig's blood, and you're going to get some rest. All right?" He started to protest. "See this?" She circled her face with a finger. "You were around us enough that last year to know 'resolve face', Spike." He sighed, but a small smile creapt into his expression.
"Fine. But the moment the sun sets, I'm bloody well going after Buffy. Even if I have to go alone." She nodded and helped him to the couch.
"Deal. But get some rest first, because I don't want to see her face if she saw you like this, Spike." She headed for the door. "I'll be back soon."