Hey everyone! Here's another chapter, another one I didn't expect to put up this week so YAY for me! Also, thanks so much to HarriettWithTea for reading them over so I had a second opinion before uploading them. That girl's an angel!

So here it goes. There will be another chapter for Beneath You still, but this will cover most of the episode.

Spike's back, and now everybody knows.

Lee out.


That was her vampire. He looked like he did before she left, he looked like himself again. No insane laughing, no dark messed hair, no rumpled clothes. Actually, the blue t-shirt he was wearing looked amazing on him. Skin tight, the outline of his muscles visible for everyone to see.

And for her to touch.

"Ally." He nodded at her, looking calm and collected.

That was her vampire.

"Spike." She nodded back, a tiny smile tugging at her lips.

The room remained silent for a few seconds until Nancy looked at the other three people in the room, clueless. "Who's that?"

"He's... It's Ally's..." Dawn started to explain, not sure what to call him. Ally'd left. He'd left. Why wasn't Ally jumping on him?

"Boyfriend. Or ex. I'm not sure." Xander provided, not meeting the other's eyes.

"I'm hoping it's still boyfriend." Ally joked, smirking, her gaze still locked with Spike's.

Nancy observed the couple, taking in the way they looked at each other. Longing. "And I'm thinking it's a little more complicated than just that."

"Always is." Xander agreed.

"You look better now." The brunette Slayer murmured, still a bit shocked to see him there. Specially, after he'd refused to let her see him for the last week. "New clothing. Better hair." She smiled once again. "Looking good."

"Oh, god, is she gonna start drooling? Can we make him leave?" The dark haired male intervened, getting uncomfortable.

"I'll be quick. We need to talk. Want to do that here, or privately?" The bleach blond offered, gesturing toward the foyer.

"Here." Buffy answered for her sister, arms crossed across her chest and glaring at the vampire.

Nancy looked around, noticing the tension coming from everyone but the odd couple that still hadn't taken their eyes off each other. How could they ignore the others so easily?

Buffy didn't seem to think Captain Peroxide was being true to his word. "You said something about quick?"

"I did." He sighed and stepped forward, closer to the girl still looking up at him adoringly. No one in that room had ever seen her like that. "Before I start, and for the record, the last you saw me, I was a mess -out of my head, admitted. Last week, living in the school basement," Dawn and Buffy frowned, their heads whipping towards their other sister. "well, you saw me."

Dawn stood up from her seat and approached Ally aggressively, glaring at her. "You did?"

Finally, Ally tore her gaze from the vampire and met her sisters' eyes. They were angry. She could clearly see that. "Yes. I just..."

"What? You just forgot to mention it?" Buffy joined Dawn, fury simmering behind her eyes.

"No. I was going to tell you when I got him out of there. He wasn't well. I just wanted him to be better before I told any of you, and I sure as hell wasn't going to tell Buffy about him being back and in the state he was in. You have an awful habit of beating him up, you know? That's the last thing he needed." She got up and faced the girls fully, trying to make them understand. "It's your first week in high school, Dawn, and your first day working there, Buff. I just wanted you two to not be distracted with something you couldn't help with."

"How do you even know we couldn't help?" Dawn snapped, offended.

"He wouldn't even open the door for me, and I've been there every day for the last week." The eldest brunette admitted, averting her eyes, ashamed. She squared her shoulders and tried to compose herself before sighing. "Just give us a second. We'll be right there."

They seemed to give in and went back to their seats, but not before Dawn shot the vampire a sharp glare.

As the couple left the living room to stand before the door, Ally couldn't help but feel knots forming in her stomach, twisting and tugging, making her wrap her arms around her middle.

"Are you better?"

"Said it yourself. I look better now, don't I?" He smirked, although it lacked the usual naughtiness behind his words.

"A better cover doesn't change what's inside the package." She replied softly, searching his eyes for the true answer.

"Still all wise and pretty, I see. Look, I'm here to help you." He cut to the chase, any trace of playfulness leaving his face.

"Help with what?"

"I was hoping you'd tell me. You're the Slayer. Connected to the visions. Long line of worthies, right? I'm just a guy with his ear to the ground, and even I can feel it. Something's coming. I don't know what exactly, but something's brewing. And it's so big, ugly and damned it makes me look like a puppy." He paused, averting his eyes and turning his head toward the door for a second, his posture tense as his hands rested on his hips. "I mean, if I'm wrong, say so. Lovely. No hard feelings. I'll go out that door and you can lock it behind me with any spell you like as payback for not opening the one in the basement. So, am I wrong?"

She thought over what he'd said, having a hard time focusing on something that was not him, there, right in front of her. He made it even more difficult as he held her gaze. "No." Her face broke into a little smile even as her eyes glistened. Why was she so damn sensitive lately? "You do look like a puppy. Blue suits you. Brings out your eyes." Shaking her head lightly, she tried to concentrate on the matter at hand. "But something is coming. Buffy and I, we both can feel it. So can you."

"You're gonna need some help."

"I'll gladly accept yours."


While Xander escorted Nancy home, probably hoping to get her number by the end of the night, both Slayers and the vampire patrolled the streets in search of the place where Nancy was attacked, and therefore any sign of the thing that had attacked her and ate her doggie.

Buffy and Ally walked side by side, Spike leading their little group down the street quietly. The blonde Slayer didn't miss the fact that her sister's attention was solely on the vampire, or the way he kept glancing at Ally over his shoulder. She had to hold back the urge to roll her eyes at their teenage behaviour.

"Think this here is our spot?" He finally asked, breaking the silence as he pointed the flashlight to a huge hole in the pavement.

"How'd you guess?" Buffy replied sarcastically, taking a couple steps closer to the hole, yet still keeping her distance.

"I don't fancy sticking my head in there." Spike confessed, moving the light around to see if there was anything visible from his safe spot a few feet from the crater.

"Well, if something bites it off, that'd be a clue." The blonde Slayer retorted, positively enjoying the idea.

Ally shot her a glare just as Spike looked at her tiredly, but still conceded. Not wanting him to be the only one risking his head -literally- Ally crouched next to him and helped him remove some of the bigger stones blocking their view.

Buffy sighed at seeing her sister side with her dear vampire, realizing she was only pushing Ally away from her with her attitude. "So, what happened to you?" She asked, leaving aside the snarky tone and taking a real interest in the question.

"Those ghostly types in the school basement got in my head. Made me flat-out, bug-shaggin' crazy. And I'm not exactly braggin' about it, but they were stronger than I was. Made me see things, do things." He stopped investigating the perforation and turned his face toward his girl, then Goldilocks. "Hold the torch, would you?" As Buffy took the flashlight from him and pointed it toward the darkness in front of them, the Slayer-Vampire couple stared at each other for a moment, neither really sure what to say.

"And Ally saw you there, right?" The third wheel kept going on, purposefully ignoring the way her sister observed the bleach blond.

"Yeah." The brunette confirmed, leaning forward to look into the chasm before a hand clasped itself on her shoulder and pulled her back, the vampire shooting her a firm look before he copied her previous actions, taking her place, just in case. "Just... didn't see much of him. He helped me find Dawn in that maze, but..."

"I locked the door before she came back." Spike finished for her. "Wasn't in my right mind. Didn't want her around when... things got ugly."

"But I wanted to be there. I wanted to help you." Ally complained, glaring at the back of his head.

"You did." He answered lowly, so Buffy couldn't understand what he said. He continued, his voice louder this time. "There's nothing here. Just a bit of slime. Mounds of displaced dirt and such. Whatever our beastie is, he's gone."


Not much later, after joining Xander and Nancy, they all headed toward the Bronze, all the signs pointing toward a certain vengeance demon as the culprit. Looked like it was a wish gone wrong.

They found Anya on one of the high tables, sipping on a drink as a pretty young woman complained about her love life to her, yet the now brunette vengeance demon noticed them approaching her table quickly, interrupting her next customer as she was about to make a wish. "You guys, I am working... Ally! You're back!" Her expression got much more cheerful when she found the familiar face of the Slayer she had truly considered a friend so many months earlier.

"I'm back. Looks like you are, too." Ally sighed, sorry for meeting her again in such an uncomfortable situation.

"That's why we're here." Spike added, standing beside the grey-eyed girl.

Xander stepped a bit closer to the table, gesturing with one hand toward Nancy. "Riiiight. Did you turn this nice lady's ex into a giant worm-monster?"

At first Anya laughed, like she was trying to make them believe that was completely insane, before she decided that insane was the norm in this group. "Yes."

"No way. Are you saying that thing was Ronnie?" Nancy freaked out, staring at Anya wide eyed.

"You wish it, I dish it. I thought we were clear on this. I didn't think you were going to go all narc on me." The demon complained, not happy with the demon-police going after her.

"You wished your ex was a worm?" Buffy wondered, arching her eyebrows. That was a whole new level, even for her with her more than colourful love record.

"Well, we were just talking." Nancy excused herself.

"Anya has a way of making things happen." Xander explained not too happily.

Meanwhile, Ally and Spike watched, unsure of how to handle this situation. In truth, they were content with standing back, side by side, closer than they had been in a long time. Spike could feel her warmth on his side, familiar and soothing.

"I had a quota; the guy had it coming. What's the big?" The ex-Scooby shrugged it off.

"I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Anya, that thing you created burst through solid pavement and ate her dog." The blonde Slayer tried once more, getting more serious.

That got to the demon, who stopped in her attempts to make them forget about the issue, her face taking a broken-hearted expression. "Ooh, puppy!"

"Wait, that gets your sad noise? People's lives are in danger, and you give it up for the Yorkie?" Xander asked incredulously, staring at his ex in disbelief.

Ally finally spoke, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting. "Doggies are angels in disguise, Xand. Don't underestimate their value."

Anya agreed with her, shooting a nasty look at her ex before rolling her eyes. "You never understood me, Xander."

"Xander, who is this woman?" Nancy asked again, wondering what their relationship with the woman who had turned her ex into a giant worm was.

"Anya, she's, um, Anya. My ex."

"Oh."

"Hey, nobody's bragging here."

"Never thought I'd come back to this." Ally muttered uncomfortably, shifting in place, unsure of how to deal with the ex-couple. They'd been so excited about the wedding before she'd left, that it was hard to realize that was no more.

"I didn't even think you'd come back." Anya admitted in her typical tactless way, then glanced at Spike. "Or you."

"I'm missing something, aren't I?" Nancy asked Xander again, her eyes travelling from the odd couple to the vengeance demon.

"Ally left a few months ago. Spike left right after. They came back last week, apparently." The dark haired man summed as Ally approached Anya in hopes of convincing her more easily. After all, she had no hard feelings for the demon.

Anya knew what was coming and tried to finish the conversation. "Look, at least we're all bipeds, which is more than I can say for Ronnie, the worm boy."

"OK, guys, can we focus here for just a second? Anya, this is Ronnie. OK? He wasn't a worm." She indicated the size of a normal worm with her fingers. "Worms are like this big. This thing was like..." She opened her arms, gesturing something much bigger, like a trailer.

Spike interrupted her, though, as he inched closer to Ally again, and therefore closer to Anya. "Sluggoth demon. Am I right?"

"Maybe."

Nancy, once again shocked at discovering the monsterrific side of Sunnydale, decided to intervene. "Wait, I didn't wish for that. I mean, I don't even know what this whatchamacallit demon thing is."

"Sluggoth demon. It's a very large, very nasty, natural predator who died around the crusades." The bleach blond vampire explained, finally looking at the woman whose ex they were trying to get back to normal.

"They had large, single mouths which expanded the width of its body, allowing it to consume large creatures whole." Ally added, getting a praising look from her boyfriend.

"Bookworm." She heard him mutter under his breath, a hint of amusement in his tone.

"Same phylum. It's not cheating, I just embellished." Anya justified herself.

"Well, you can un-embellish now."

"Bite me, Harris." The demon countered her ex with an assertiveness that Ally would have backed up if it weren't for the fact that Anya had done something bad. "I have rules to work with. Vengeance demon codes of conduct. But you'll never understand 'cause you're all still so..." She paused, her eyes moving from Xander to the rest of the people around her dismissingly. "human."

Spike seemed to think that was his chance to make her change her mind. "I'm not. Demon, just like yourself, Anya. Now, you're gonna turn the spell around like a good little vengeance demon or I... what?

As he talked, Anya had leaned forward, closer to him, staring right into his eyes. "Oh, my God!"

"What are you staring at?" He frowned, forgetting his previous request.

"It's happened to me more than once." Ally muttered under her breath as she started getting uneasy with their closeness.

"Oh, my God!" Anya laughed a bit.

Spike, though, finally realized what was happening and stepped away from the vengeance demon. "Right. Let's go." He walked backwards, yet Anya grabbed his arm, not ready to let him ho.

"How did you do it?"

"Spike, what is she talking about?" Buffy asked from her place next to the table, the rest of the group watching in bewilderment.

"I can see you." Anya insisted even as the vampire moved toward the door, the demon still clutching his arm.

"Nothing. Let's go. Got some worm hunting to do." He dismissed, getting annoyed and thoroughly anxious.

Ally wasn't sure what to make of Anya's words, but something started growing in her chest, a dark foreboding sensation, eating her insides, making her numb.

Still, Anya didn't give up, insisting and insisting until the vampire exploded, fury boosting his reaction.

"I said you shut up!" That was his last try. He punched her, throwing her off him.

Instead of just leaving her on the floor, where she'd been thrown, he followed her and punched her again, yet this time she hit back, kicking him and sending him flying to the pool table.

"I am so gonna kick your ass." The demon announced as she got back on her feet.

The vampire got off the pool table, swagger in his movements as he got ready for the fight, yet didn't get too far as Buffy stopped him mid-way. "You haven't changed, Spike." Gathering her Slayer strength, she aimed her fist to his face, knocking him down.

Ally wasn't sure what got her out of her daze, if it was Buffy hitting her vampire or Spike putting his game-face on, but she was standing between her sister and her boyfriend less than a second later. "Back off, Buffy." She hissed, getting into a fighting stance. Her sister and her hadn't really fought since the night Ally and Spike had found her trying to kill Billy, and it wasn't nice, thinking they were back to this.

"You're gonna side with him again? He's a cold blooded killer, Ally!" The blonde growled, not wanting to hit her sister.

"So were you, remember? Until I stopped you. You're quick to judge when it's not about..." Ally snarled, only to be cut off by Buffy kicking her in the head, sending her stumbling back.

The junior Slayer was back on her feet in one jump, fists, knees and feet flying toward her sister so fast the blonde could barely defend herself. Then Spike was fighting alongside Ally, if only briefly, as the brunette herself pushed him away. It was her and Buffy, no one else. Not even him.

"Buffy! Ally!" Xander called for them as they had a brief pause to recover and breath.

"Not now, Xander." They shouted back.

"Nancy. She's gone. And out there all alone, she's worm bait." He insisted, getting their attention off the fight.

They dropped the fight at once, turning toward him and glancing at each other for a moment. Ally sighed, knowing that they would have to solve their problem later. They had to fulfil their duty. "We'll go find her. Stay with Anya. Get her to reverse that spell." She shot a look toward Spike, still vampire face on, before running out of the club with Buffy.

She didn't even have to look to know her vampire was following them.