Ellie Bishop: Bucky and Sam will have very interesting character arcs, that's all I'll say right now. I think you're confusing Everett Ross with Thaddeus Ross. Fair enough, I recently rewatch both Buffy and Angel so it's a bit more fresh for me.

Guest: Glad you enjoyed it.

England

Mid-Morning

"Spike?" Faith asked in surprise.

"Hey. Yes, I'm alive. Now can I come in or does the new 'anti Angel' policy include me?" Spike asked dryly.

"Oh, right, come in," Faith said, stepping aside as Spike entered, throwing off the blanket once Spike had entered. "Wait, 'anti Angel' policy? What are you talking about?"

Before Spike could respond, Andrew rounded the corner and saw Spike.

"Spike! I knew you wouldn't turn to dust like the others!" Andrew said, rushing over and attempting to hug Spike.

"Sod off!" Spike snapped as he pushed Andrew away.

"Wait, you knew he was alive? What the Hell is going on?" Faith asked in bewilderment.

"Long story short, I died, my spirit became trapped in the amulet, someone dug it up. They sent it to Angel, I was a ghost, then I was a vampire again and here we are," Spike explained annoyed and Faith took a moment to process this.

"So you've been back for months and you didn't tell Buffy? And you knew and didn't tell her?" Faith asked as she whirled on Andrew, who gulped nervously.

"I made him promise not to…when he wasn't trying to start a fight between Angel and a bunch of Slayers," Spike muttered that last bit.

Andrew paled as Faith looked at him with a look that made him wish he actually had died during the last stand against the First.

"You did what?!"

Willow was jerked awake by the unexpected shout. It took her a moment to remember the previous events of the day: Buffy, Giles, Xander and half the Slayers turning to dust, going through Giles' books, Faith convincing her to go check on Dawn.

She must have fallen asleep at some point, Willow mused as she looked at the other side of the bed, where Dawn was sleeping peacefully. Poor girl, Willow thought sadly. She'd had to deal with more loss than any of them: Joyce, Buffy, even if she was resurrected later, Tara, Spike, Anya, and now this. As hard as it was for Willow (and it was, almost crushingly so), Willow knew it was a lot harder for the younger girl.

Hearing the shouting outside the room, Willow turned towards the door, wondering what on earth was going on. Dawn shifted beside her, starting to wake up as Willow waved a hard, casting a silencing charm around the room, muffling the sound.

"Go back to sleep Dawnie," Willow muttered, knowing the girl would need it.

"Ok Mom," Dawn muttered sleepily before sleep claimed her once more.

Willow froze, staring at the sleeping girl in shock. Did she think Willow was Joyce? But there would be time to figure that out later.

"What is wrong with you you little creep?! I don't know why B or Giles ever let you into the group, you clearly haven't changed one bit from the guy who killed his only friend!" Faith was ranting when Willow emerged from Dawn's room.

"What is going on out here Faith – Spike," Willow said in surprise, stopping short as she saw Spike.

"Hey Red, glad you're not dust," Spike said awkwardly.

"Spike's been alive for months. Andrew knew about it and promised to keep it quiet, when he wasn't threatening Angel into turning Dana over to us and telling Angel that Buffy didn't trust anymore," Faith said angrily.

Another thing I would have to deal with later, Willow mused as she glanced at the nervous Andrew. But for right now-

"I don't think you came here to tell us this," Willow said as she turned to Spike. "You came to make sure Buffy was okay."

"Is she? Alright?" Spike asked, his face showing how desperate he was to know and there was a tense silence.

"I'm sorry Spike," Willow said gently.

You could see the moment that what Willow was saying hit him. Spike's face fell as he turned away, grief hitting him. Spike placed a hand on the wall, using it for support as Willow and Faith looked at him sadly. Spike ran his free hand over his face, trying to control himself.

"And Dawn?" he managed, his voice sounding a little gruffer than he intended.

"She's…alive. She's asleep," Willow said as she looked towards the door she had just come out of. "But Xander and Giles…"

"I'm sorry," Spike said after a few moments. "Do you have any idea what happened?"

"No, I'm sorry. We're still looking into it but we don't have an idea what caused this right now," Willow said regretfully.

Avengers Compound

Afternoon

"Okay, we're coming up on the Compound," Sam called back to the passengers.

There was no response from the passengers, not that Sam had expected any. Entering the code, Sam watched as the hanger doors opened before guiding the Quinjet inside. Sam gently set the Quinjet down before flipping a switch. The ramp lowered and Sam got to his feet. Turning around to face the others, he knew this wasn't going to be easy. They were all broken in their own way. But they needed to put it aside and keep moving.

"Come on, we've got work to do," Sam said in a voice that was both gentle and firm.

Sam then led the others down the ramp. They had barely entered the room when they heard the clicking of heels as someone frantically entered the hanger, out of breath. It took Sam a moment to recognize her.

"Pepper," Sam said as she caught her breath.

"I thought…" Pepper trailed off as tears sprang to her eyes.

"You thought we were Tony," Wanda said lifelessly.

"I'm sorry. We don't know where he is…or even if he's still alive," Sam apologized.

England

Same time

In the kitchen, Willow and Spike sat across from each other at a table. Spike, for one of the few times since Willow had known him, was silent. Not that Willow could blame him. She'd felt the same way after Tara, after Xander had managed to talk her down.

"So, what's your plan Red?" Spike asked once he found his voice.

"At the moment, I don't have one. Until I can figure this out…I don't know what to do," Willow admitted and it was silent between them for a moment.

"I've been alive a hundred plus years, seen a lot of evil, done a lot of it…but I've never seen anything like this," Spike admitted.

"Not even when you were with Angelus?" Willow inquired hopefully and he shook his head.

"He wasn't interested in wiping out humanity so much as he was terrorizing it," Spike said pointedly.

"There has to be something. This is some kind of magic, just not any I've seen before," Willow said in frustration. "There's always a reversal spell or something that can reverse it. We just need to find it."

"And we will. If not us, Angel won't stop until he's found it," Spike said and it was silent between them for a few moments. "How's the nibblet?"

"How do you think?" Willow asked blankly and Spike winced.

"That bad huh?"

"Worse," Willow said sadly.

In her room, Dawn laid in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. She had been awake for at least ten minutes, but she just couldn't muster the strength to get up. They were all gone, only Willow was left. And Faith she guessed, but that was just too weird.

Remembering her sleepily calling Willow 'Mom', Dawn felt a tear roll down her cheek. As much as she'd like to blame it on her sleepy mind, she knew she couldn't. After Buffy had died, Willow and Tara had stepped up to take care of her, become sort of mother figures to her, and that hadn't stopped even after Buffy came back. But to call Willow Mom felt like a betrayal to Joyce Summers.

With a sigh, Dawn threw the covers off her body and got to her feet. She needed a shower. But first, she needed to clear the air with Willow.

Walking out of her room, the first place she looked for Willow was her room. Finding it empty, she tried the library but found no sign of her there either. Realizing Willow may have taken a break from research, she headed for the kitchen. She heard voices as she neared it, one of them she recognized as Willow's. She walked inside and froze at the sight before her.

Spike and Willow were still at the table, talking when Spike heard a racing heartbeat. Looking towards it, his eyes widened as he saw Dawn, staring at him like he was a ghost. Which wasn't that far from the truth, now that he thought of it.

"Spike?" Dawn asked in a hoarse voice.

"Hey Dawn," Spike said awkwardly.

As he got to his feet, Spike realized something. In his private moments, he had imagined what it would be like, to reunite with Buffy and Dawn. But now that the moment was here, he had no idea what to say.

Willow watched as Dawn approached Spike cautiously. She didn't know how Dawn would react truthfully. While she knew Dawn had missed Spike when they all thought him dead, she didn't know how Dawn would take his survival when almost everyone else was gone.

As Dawn neared him, Spike braced himself for anything: a slap, a punch, a verbal assault. But, instead, to his great surprise, Dawn wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a hug.

"I'm glad you're not dead," Dawn muttered into his shoulder.

"Me to Nibblet," Spike muttered as he awkwardly returned the hug. "I'm sorry for…"

"Me to," Dawn said, closing her eyes as tears began to build.

Avengers Compound

Same time

"So this Thanos used the stones to wipe out half of all life?" Pepper asked as she and Sam sat across from each other, Bucky awkwardly lingering in the doorway.

"Yeah, Steve, Natasha and Thor are gone," Sam said lowly. "I'm sorry we don't know more."

"God, I can't believe this is happening," Pepper took a breath, wiping her face before composing herself. "What's the plan?"

"Try to find Thanos, get the stones back and undo this, somehow," Bucky said, speaking up for the first time.

"Only problem is we don't know how to find him," Sam answered.

"I'll give you access to Stark Industries satellite. It should grant you a wider range, should that be necessary," Pepper told them.

"Thank you," Sam said gratefully.

There was a beep then and a holographic button appeared in front of them. Pepper swiped it and a holographic screen appeared a few feet away.

"Hi, hi! Is anybody home?!" Bucky and Sam watched the screen in shock, which showed Scott with a woman they didn't know standing outside the front gate. "We met a few years ago, at the airport in Germany. I got really big, I had a mask on, you wouldn't recognize me."

"Is this old footage?" Sam asked in shock as Scott continued to ramble.

"It's live," Pepper said.

Los Angelus

Later in the afternoon

"I understand Spike, take care," Angel said before he ended his call.

"Did Spike find anything out?" Fred asked as Angel turned to face her and Lorne.

"Buffy, Giles and Xander didn't survive whatever this is. Willow doesn't have any idea what happened either," Angel said and it was silent for a moment.

"Spike's not coming back, is he?" Lorne said knowingly and Angel shook his head.

"He's gonna stay there, help Willow try to figure out what happened, see if they can reverse it somehow," Angel said before straightening. "We need to do the same thing. We have near unlimited resources at our disposal. Somewhere, someone or something knows what happened. And we are gonna find them."

England

Same time

Willow was going through some more of Giles' books when the door opened. Willow looked up to see Dawn standing there awkwardly.

"Hey. How'd it go with Spike?" Willow asked.

"Well, there was a lot of crying, mostly me; some apologizing from both of us, and then Spike said he had to make a phone call. It could have gone worse," Dawn admitted. "Listen, I wanted to talk to you about…what happened this morning."

"Just some typical Andrew problems," Willow waved away.

"No, about…what I said," Dawn said awkwardly.

"Oh. I…didn't think you remembered that," Willow said awkwardly. "Were you thinking of your mom?"

"No. I knew it was you," Dawn said awkwardly. "Just…you and Tara were there for me after Buffy was gone. Part of me just…it started to feel like you two were my moms, ya know? I realize that sounds weird-"

"It doesn't," Willow quickly assured her. "Tara and I, we loved you like you were ours. I still do. And I would never try to take Joyce's place; I know how much you loved her and she loved you. But I am here for you, no matter what."

"Okay…good," Dawn said, the weight that had been pressing down on her for far longer than this morning finally lifting.

"Wanna help me do some research?" Willow offered.

"If it'll help get Buffy back, count me in," Dawn said, walking over to the desk, pulling out a chair and grabbing a book off the shelf.

Avengers Compound

Same time

"Good to see you again Tic-Tac, although I wish the circumstances were better," Sam said as he and Bucky stood facing Scott, who looked like he hadn't slept in days. "And you must be Hope."

"Nice to meet you," Hope said politely.

"You look like Hell," Bucky told Scott bluntly.

"I feel like Hell. My daughter, she…"Scott choked p, unable to say it.

"I'm sorry Scott," Sam said solemnly, placing hand on his shoulder. "We all lost someone. We're working on getting them all back."

"Just tell me what I can do to help. I don't care what it is, I'll do it. Just help me get my little girl back," Scott pleaded.

Barton Farm

Same time

In the kitchen, Laura Barton stared into space, an untouched cup of coffee on the table in front of her, the news on in the background. Her kids were still in the room, none of them having come out for breakfast. Laura can't blame them. It feels like a bad dream: Clint gone, half the world's population suddenly turning to dust, rumors of a battle in Wakanda. But if it was a nightmare, Laura desperately wished she would wake up from it by now.

"In others news, a Quinjet was sighted landing at the Avengers Compound in New York. Whether this means the Avengers have survived this catastrophe has yet to be verified."

Laura turned her heads towards the TV as the news caster continued with his report. But she was no longer listening. If anyone had an idea what happened…

Almost before she finished that train of thought, she got to her feet and headed towards the stairs.

"Kids, pack a bag, some clothes and toothbrushes! We're going to New York!"

I don't buy that Buffy no longer trusted Angel in season 5. While Buffy has a sort of black and white mentality, I can't see her outright turning on Angel. At the very least, Buffy would give him the benefit of the doubt. I think it's more likely Andrew was putting words in Buffy's mouth.

I've also heard the theory that Andrew was following Giles' orders and, while it wouldn't surprise me, not sure I buy it.

Dawn is Willow and Tara's adoptive daughter and no one can convince me otherwise.

Spike and Dawn's dynamic was one of my favorite dynamics in Buffy and I was really disappointed it was kind of dropped in the last season.

So, this chapter was pretty Buffyverse heavy but there's a reason for that, as next chapter will focus almost entirely on the MCU side of things.