Giles' POV

The bell over the Magic Box jingled as the door was pushed open. "Watcher!" yelled a familiar British voice. I hadn't seen Spike since he'd moved to L.A. Buffy had rekindled her romance with Riley and Spike had stomped out of town the same night.

"What is happening, Spike?" I asked, coming out of the training room. Obviously, something terrible must be happening to bring him here.

I stopped as a flood of people followed him in. Angel was in the lead, looking utterly pissed. "Get the others here!" he demanded.

Oh dear. This must be bad. "Of course." I said, promptly rushing to the telephone.

Dawn's POV

"Why is Angel even here?" I whined. Truthfully, I'd never got to know the guy but he always depressed Buffy and I didn't like that.

Riley and Buffy ignored me, hurrying along the sidewalk. Xander leaned in. "G-Man said Spike is with him." He told me.

I squealed, ecstatic about seeing Spike again. Which was probably Xander's intention the whole time.

We made it to the Magic Box only moments later. Spike, Angel, Cordelia, Faith, Wesley and six people I didn't know were sitting around the center table where we usually researched. I could tell by the descriptions from Buffy that the green demon guy was Lorne. The black guy was Gunn. The sweet-faced girl must be Fred. And the girl with all the blue must be Illyria. As for the younger guy, I was puzzled. And the dark-haired older guy holding Cordy's hand...I had no idea. I paused in the doorway. They were all there. This looked bad.

Angel stood, facing us. "Xander. Where is Willow?"

"Excuse me?" Xander asked. Anyone could tell he was wary and taken aback by the question.

Angel raced forward, a hand at Xander's throat. "Where is she?" he roared.

"Good one, Peaches. Roughin' up her best mate will get you your answers." Spike said, sarcastically. Seeing him rolling his eyes, I had to smile. I'd missed him. "Torturing won't work on the Whelp. He's too stupid." Hey! That was close to a compliment.

"What the hell is goin' on?" Buffy demanded, breaking Angel's hold on Xander and pushing Angel back. "Willow has been gone for over four years. We don't know where she is so keep your hands to yourself."

"One of you knows." Angel growled.

Spike sighed and stood. "Red's been pulling an Angel on us." He explained. "Always popping up when we need help the most. Someone's talking to the bint."

"And I bet money that it's him." Angel poked Xander in the chest.

"I'm exactly who everyone would suspect." Xander protested.

Angel nodded. "True. And while it would be stupid to allow contact with you, but she's always had a soft spot for you. This would be one thing she'd be stupid about. Now tell me."

"Why do you want to know anyway?" I asked. "What's your damage? She was helping you."

"Do you believe she could be responsible for our unexplained victories as well?" Giles asked suddenly.

Uh oh. "What unexplained victories?" Buffy asked.

Giles sighed. "Adam and Glory. Someone was guiding Spike, speaking into his mind. And then shoving people out of his way."

"Someone was in my head too!" The dark-haired man from Angel's team said.

"That was Red." Spike said suddenly. "Knew I'd heard that voice."

Buffy turned to glare at me. "You said you didn't know the dude that threw Doc from the tower."

"Well…uh…Willow- she left for a reason. I didn't think she'd want me to say anything." I looked to Xander but he just shrugged in a non-accusing way. "She saved me." I whispered.

"And you were suddenly strong enough to fight Adam, with a witch's power and my knowledge and Xander's soldier instincts." Giles continued. "A joining spell, of course! That would be exac-"

"Willow saved my life." The dark-haired guy interrupted. "Then, she came and resouled Angel and then she came and saved Fred. How does she know when we need her? Someone is communicating with her."

Xander sighed. "I told her about Glory and Adam. And Fred. I never knew about Angelus or you. So…"

"Who else has been talking to her?" Angel demanded.

We all glanced around to one another. "She was here for mom's funeral." I admitted.

Buffy turned to look at me, utterly heartbroken. "She never contacted me."

"I told her not to." Xander spoke up. "Seeing her and then her leaving again, would have torn you up. And you probably would have chased her away."

"When did you get to start making the decisions?" she demanded.

"Since you decided she was no longer your friend." Xander snapped back. "I was told to keep it between us and to not try to find her. I'm fine with that if she's going to keep talking to me. Because I'm not losing Willow. Not even for you."

There was a long, tense silence. "Willow abandoned you."

"She moved. And she gave us both a way to get in contact with her." Xander argued. "Something big is going on with her, Buffy. She's different. Grown up and all wisened to the world."

"And she's way hot now." Cordelia put in. "What?" she demanded at the weird looks.

"She really was a babe." The youngest of Angel's crew added. How the hell were these guys anyway?

"Sorry…but, who are you?" Buffy asked.

"Sorry." Angel spoke up. "This is Connor, Doyle, Fred, Gunn, Illyria, and Lorne. You know Wes, Faith, Spike, and Cordy."

From what I could tell, Faith and Gunn were a thing, as were Fred and Wes, Cordy and Doyle, and Spike and Illyria. Connor was cute too. I wandered...

No. Back to Willow.

"What's the whole point of this meeting anyway?" I asked suddenly. "Willow is literally a genius. If she doesn't want us to find her, we won't. It's that simple."

"But why did she run anyway?" Angel wanted to know.

I shrugged. "She left a few days after graduation."

Angel looked stricken. "She's been gone that long?"

"And you didn't even notice." Cordy scoffed. "You were up here for three days! How'd you not know!"

Angel looked ashamed. "I thought I was just doing great at avoiding her."

"Why would you do that?"