I talked to Giles for quite some time. I was very careful not to give away the fact that I was currently hiding Spike. It was hard, especially because every part of me wanted to run back to him. To be with him. He had looked so terrible when I had left.

"Angel attacked you? Buffy?" Giles looked at me, worriedly. I wondered how many times he had repeated the question.

"Yes. But Giles, it wasn't him. Not really. It was like he was possessed." Giles took off his glasses and began polishing them on his shirt.

"So Angelus is back." He sighed softly. "On top of everything else going on, we'll be-" I interrupted.

"No, not Angelus. This...this was something else entirely. It was not Angelus. I swear it." Giles studied my face. Eventually, he nodded slowly. I stood up. "I want to change clothes." I shivered slightly. "Let me know what you plan to do."
"Buffy, wait. Please." There was a certain pain in his voice that made me turn back. It had been a long time since we had been close. His eyes were crinkled, and I realized suddenly with a pain in my heart that Giles was beginning to show other signs of age.

"Is everything okay, Giles?" Again, he sighed.

"Slayers are disappearing left and right. Wolfram and Hart have resurfaced in Italy. Other Slayers are going rogue. The Watchers are spreading themselves thin." He rubbed a hand over his face and then put his glasses back on.

"I'm sorry." I said it softly and sat back down. "I should have been helping you sooner." He smiled up at me.

"No, you were doing what you needed to be doing in Scotland. Mrs. Skeates explained to me that you had been very successful in dropping the crime rate." I scoffed.

"It sure didn't feel like it had dropped at all." Giles chuckled softly.

"Be that as it may, latest statistics show a positive change. That is the reason I sent some of the girls to take your place." I nodded.

"I'll go on a patrol tonight. Maybe I can figure out why the girls are disappearing." Giles nodded, something very much like hope fluttering in his eyes for a moment.

"Take any of the girls you need, and any equipment you would like. Please let me know if you find anything of importance." I nodded before standing again and leaving the room.

:~:~:~:

Spike was lost. He wasn't sure where he was, but he was aware of a light. All around him. He felt warm for the first time in a very long time. Then, he heard it. At first, the sound was muted and indistinct. He didn't move, feeling as though he was frozen to the spot. But the noise did grow louder.

It became clear to him that someone was crying. And not just anyone, it was a woman. He vaguely recognized the voice, but couldn't place it. The light suddenly grew brighter, almost blindingly so. Then, in a second, it was gone. In its place was the figure of a crouched woman. She was sobbing, her shoulders shaking.

He moved to her. The woman's head jerked up as he neared her and Spike realized why the voice had sounded familiar.

"Bloody hell! Cordy? What are you doing here?" Cordy blinked at him, her horrible sobbing stopping abruptly.

"Spike?" Her voice was rough, clearly not used except for sobbing for a while. She wobbled a bit as she stood up.

"What are you...where are we?" Spike looked around at his surroundings.

"This is a Purgatory of sorts. I've been here for...gosh. I don't really know. It feels like months. But it could have been simply days." Cordy shrugged.

"But I don't understand how I got here." Spike's voice held a hint of panic even he heard.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Cordy studied his face. She was keeping her distance, and he couldn't honestly blame her. After all, when she had seen him last, he had bitten her, thinking she was evil.

"I remember...being in the Slayer's room. Buffy...she was attacked. By Captain Forehead." Cordy narrowed her eyes, but didn't speak. "Willow was explaining to me that Buffy was all right. And then, I fell asleep." Spike shook his head.

"So you didn't die or anything?" Spike shook his head.

"I don't believe so. I was in pretty terrible shape thanks to the mini-Slayers and the dragon, but my body was beginning to heal." Cordy studied him again.

"If Angel attacked Buffy, there had to have been a reason for it." She put her hands on her hips, and glared at him, waiting for him to argue.

"I don't know. I haven't exactly been involved with either of them recently. But Angel became a human. He...what was it called?"

"He Shan-shued?" Cordy's voice was barely a whisper. Spike nodded.

"But I think something went wrong. The fight...I can only remember bits and pieces of it. ARGH!" Spike clamped his hands to his temples as fire-like pain flared in his skull.

"Spike? What's wrong?" Cordy's voice was distorted, but he didn't know why. Suddenly, he was falling and everything went black again.

A moment later, Buffy was shaking him awake. The pain in his head was still there, though nowhere near as bad as it had been. Buffy's face was panicked. Spike sat up.

"What is it? Are you okay, love?" Buffy threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him.

"I thought...I don't know what I thought. But you were so warm..." Her fingers touched his cheeks, then combed through his hair. "I couldn't wake you up."

"I'm fine, love. I promise." He kissed her forehead. Then, he saw the bruises forming on her pale skin. He pulled back from her ever so slightly so he could get a better look at them.

Buffy pulled back. "It's nothing. It's not important, Spike. I can't believe you are here." She looked at the door for a moment.

"Somewhere else you have to be, pet?" He smiled slightly at her.

"I have to go on patrol soon." She sighed and looked back at him.

"I'll come with-" She interrupted him as he started to stand up shakily.

"NO. No, Spike. You need to stay here. You still have some healing to do." She helped him sit back down on the bed. "And besides, not everyone is aware you are back. Yet. So it might be safer if you just..." She looked up at him, eyes worried.

"Stay here?" Buffy nodded. "Okay, love. But please be safe. Come back, and I will fill you in on everything." He could see the million and one questions in her eyes, but knew she didn't have the time to ask them at that moment. She leaned up and kissed his cheek.

"Good. Because you have a bit of explaining to do, Spike." Buffy turned and left the room, leaving him alone with his thoughts. Which was a good thing, really. Because he had a lot to think about. Beginning with an explanation for her.