Chapter 5 – Late Monday, Standard Reality

They were wakened from their post-coital drowse by the outside door slamming and a voice shouting "Buffy?"

Buffy jumped out of bed, pulling on the first clothes she could find, which didn't take too long considering everything she owned was lying on the floor. Telling Spike to keep quiet, she left the room. She went downstairs to find Willow and the other girl she now assumed was Tara in the lounge, concern lining their faces. "You ok now?" Willow asked.

"I'm fine, but confused," Buffy replied. She was waiting for an explanation from the two women, but they seemed to be waiting for her to speak.

"Ok," Buffy gave up waiting. "Why don't you tell me what you're doing in my house? How did you manage to redecorate Mom's room overnight and who is the other girl, Dawn, was it?"

Willow looked even more concerned than before. "Buffy, Tara and I've been living here, well, since you died. And Dawn's your sister. Have you lost your memory or something? Have you seen Giles? Have you spoken to him? I know he's planning to go back to England, that's why he went out early this morning. He had some business to see to before he leaves. Is it a spell or something? How far back can you remember?"

"Wait a minute," Buffy had listened in astonishment to Willow's words. She'd only just come to terms with the first sentence and hadn't processed the rest. "What do you mean 'since I died'? If I was dead, I wouldn't be here, unless I had joined the ranks of the undead, and since I walked to Spike's crypt in daylight this morning without combusting, I have to assume I'm still alive."

"Ok, Buffy, take it easy. You died and we did some mojo to bring you back. We'll talk about that later. Before you woke up this morning, what's the last thing you remember?" Willow was getting agitated.

"I remember going to bed last night. In my house. Alone. I'd had a row with my boyfriend. I was upset. Then I woke up this morning to a house full of people I don't know – well I kinda remember you from High School, Willow, but I'm pretty sure I've never met you or the other girl before." As Buffy spoke, she looked at Tara who had been silent until now.

Tara now spoke. "When you rushed off this morning, you were going to Spike's crypt. You said you were worried about him. Why was that?"

Buffy looked at her as if she was mad. "The vigilantes, of course. I was afraid they'd get him. Oh, I get it; you're with them. You want all the demons dead, and that's why you're here. Well, you have to go through me to get him, and I have those Slayer advantages even though I never played ball with that Watcher guy. What was his name? Giles, that's it. Rupert Giles. Wait, you just mentioned him didn't you? He was deported. Must've been five years ago. What's he doing back?"

By the time Buffy finished this, both Willow and Tara were looking bemused, especially at the spectacle of the Slayer in defensive stance ready to protect Spike.

"Buffy, I really don't know what you're talking about. Relax. We're not with the vigilantes, whatever they are. We don't want to kill Spike, at least, I don't think we do. It looks like we've lived through different versions of the past five years, and I think we'd better compare notes." Willow was now conciliatory.

As the women got to the end of their summaries of the last few years, Buffy asked, "What about the other girl. My sister? Where's she?"

"Don't worry, we arranged for her to go to the Magic Box after school so we could talk. We thought she could do without any more trauma just now."

Just then, Spike entered the room. "What's going on, love?" he asked Buffy. She got up to stand between Spike and the others, just in case. "What's Spike doing here?" Willow asked. "Wait, have you talked to him? He must've told you how things've been in the past few years."

Spike looked confused. "Why would I have to tell her what's been happening. We've been in it together." As he spoke, he approached his girlfriend and put an arm around her possessively. This had the effect of causing both Willow's and Tara's jaws to drop.

Willow recovered first. "Why are you letting him do that? Buffy, that's Spike. I don't know about where you come from, but around here, he's a vampire."

Buffy didn't move. "Yes, I know he's a vampire. He's still the only person in my life. He's the boyfriend I argued with last night. He more or less lives here."

Willow's reply was simply, "Oh boy, just wait until Giles hears this."

As if he knew he was being discussed, Giles came in a few moments later. By this time, Buffy and Spike were sitting on the sofa, body language making their relationship very clear. Willow and Tara had spent the intervening time in silence. Giles came in, saw the spectacle in the chair and stopped dead, his face hard. "I think you'd better sit down, Giles," Willow started. "And Tara, maybe you'd better call Xander."

When they had finished telling Giles the whole story, he spent several minutes cleaning his glasses. When they were as clean as human effort could get them, he said, "It's either a spell, or, there's been a switch between universes. I would assume, if it were the latter, that our Buffy and Spike (and I can't believe I just claimed him like that,) are in your universe now while you're here. Can you check if it's a spell, Tara?" He turned to the couple in the chair. "In our universe, Spike was chipped by the Initiative. Were you?"

"I've been chased out of town and worse by Finn and his cronies, but I'm not sure what you mean by 'chipped'."

As he said this, the couple noticed the tension in the room increase tenfold. "Y..you mean he's not chipped? He could kill us?" Willow voiced what the others were thinking.

"Well, I suppose I could, but I gave up feeding on humans after Buffy'n I got together. She didn't like it, so now the only violence I get is when the vigilantes attack. Then it's just self-defence. Now, what do you mean by 'chipped?'"

When they had explained, he sat, amazed. "So that's why you didn't freak when I came in. Thought Buffy'd just told you to trust me. You thought this chip would give me a pain in me head if I tried to hurt you. Don't think I like the sound of that, at all."

Realising they were making the others uncomfortable, Buffy and Spike went to her room. The conversations in both rooms were animated. Buffy felt instinctively that the only plausible explanation was the alternate universe one. She was amazed at the lifestyle of her equivalent here. She was the same person, but her life was completely different. Her other self was an active Slayer. She had friends, a sister, but no Spike. From what they'd said, that wasn't Spike's doing. She had rejected him. Her house was groaning with other people. And most of them seemed to live there. And more were coming. She didn't know who Xander was, but he was obviously part of a team this Slayer had put together. The good news was that the vigilantes didn't exist in this reality. The Slayer here fought daily to keep the demon population from killing humans.

When Xander arrived and was told the whole story, his first reaction was to go upstairs and rescue Buffy. That she was alone in her bedroom with an unchipped Spike was beyond his comprehension. The news that this Buffy believed she and Spike had been together for over a year was so mind boggling it was better left alone. When the Magic Box closed, Anya brought Dawn home. When the story was repeated yet again, silence reigned downstairs, until Xander suggested organising some food. Tara went upstairs to ask what the others would like, and it was agreed that Xander would bring in pizza, but would stop at the butcher's for some blood for Spike.

When the pizza arrived, they all assembled in the dining room. There was a very odd atmosphere. They all ate, but they weren't really together. When they had finished, Tara did the spell to track whether Spike and Buffy were under some magical influence. When that gave no result, they realised they had to assume the alternate universe theory was the correct one. The only question still remaining was 'Why?'

By mid-evening, it became obvious that the others expected Buffy to patrol for demons. She refused as she always had, with the result that the others decided to give it a miss for one night, but to go out the following night. Buffy was surprised at this. Willow and Tara were obviously witches with some power, but she couldn't see what Xander and Anya could achieve. Apparently, while the other Buffy was dead, they had used their own system to keep the demon population down. What surprised her, was that the Spike of this reality had been part of that team. She smiled inside at that – Spike, a team player? Not the one she knew.

Much later, when everyone in the house had gone to bed, there was a lot of tossing and turning. Giles was barely able to contain his revulsion for the fact that Buffy was upstairs in bed with Spike. For the first time since he had come back from England to take up residence on Buffy's sofa, he was glad he was downstairs and therefore unlikely to hear anything from that bedroom. Dawn was feeling fairly insecure now that her sister no longer recognised her. It was bad enough to know that you came to life as a ready-made fourteen-year-old. It was worse when your sister didn't share your memories of your childhood – even if they were supplied by some monks. Willow and Tara were worried, but confident that everything would be sorted out. And in Buffy's room, she felt nothing but amazement that in another universe, she had made so many decisions differently, but the decision which amazed her most of all was the one where her other self had chosen to reject Spike. As she snuggled even closer to him as sleep threatened to take both of them, she felt very sorry for her other self, wherever she was.