"Buffy. It's time to wake up, honey."

Buffy cracked her eyes slowly, seeing her mother sitting at the side of her bed, looking down on her. A lazy smile made its way across the Slayer's lips and for a moment, she was still in high school, and this was just her mom coming to wake her up in the morning. Her mother, who only had one daughter; her mother, who had never heard of a Vampire Slayer; her mother, who had never had to worry about ex-Gods or the end of the world; her mother, who was still alive.

With this thought, Buffy realized exactly what was going on around her. She was not in her bed in her bedroom, with her mom coming in to wake her for school. She was dead and in heaven with her mom coming in to wake her for…

"You have a visitor." The Slayer watched her mom get up off the bed and walk out the door to her bedroom. As soon as she crossed the threshold out of the room, another figure appeared. A short redheaded girl who Buffy remembered from a former life stepped through the doorway.

"Willow, no!" The sight of the redhead brought tears to Buffy's eyes, thinking of only one way her best friend could be with her in heaven. "This can't be!" She jumped up from the bed and ran to her friend, enclosing her in her arms. At the lack of reaction from Willow, Buffy pulled back and looked carefully at the witch. "You okay?"

The redhead nodded dramatically, and smiled broadly. "Only, you do not understand us." The voice was measured and automatic, reminding the Slayer immediately of her robot self. "We are not your friend, Willow Rosenberg. We come to you in this form because you know and trust this form."

Buffy stepped back a moment, looking incredulously at her new companion. "Then who are you?"

"We are the Powers That Be. And we have a proposition for you."

***

Spike stretched lazily in his bed, trying to figure out what had woken him. He lay back and waited, trying to see if it had been a sound or a presence in his crypt. When a sound emitted from his body, it took him off guard. When he realized the sound was him crying out in pain, he was even more shocked. His body was simply reacting to the fact that he hadn't fed in nearly three days. He had spent the time alone in his crypt, sleeping and dreaming.

Every so often, someone would stop by and wake him, trying to talk to him about the dreams, or to try to get him to feed. He refused to drink anything they gave him; further trying to prove that he was fine without their help. When he woke up the day before with Dawn's bleeding throat between his teeth, he panicked.

It was that panic that actually tore him from his dreamworld completely for the first time since Willow's visit. When he sat straight up in bed only to realize that his feeding off of Dawn was a dream, he decided to get a lock for his door. Had the nibblet actually been in the crypt, who knows what could have happened. He might have actually bitten her.

So on went the lock and out went any possibility of the gang reaching him to interrupt his ever-more-interesting dreams. In some, they just shagged, and Spike could take out all of his frustration on Dream Buffy's body. Others included them sparring, fighting each other with everything they had, neither holding back. Still others had them simply talking, or holding each other. Once she had even asked him to read some of his old poetry to her. Each dream was different and more intriguing or frightening or wonderful than the last.

But now that Spike was fully awake for only the second time since the redhead had come to his crypt, he decided to take advantage of the time. He would go out, get something to eat, and then find the Scoobies and prove how well he was doing without their help. He'd show them how little he needed them.

***

The Bronze was hopping, the music of an up-and-coming band no one had ever heard of filtering through the club, forcing everyone who's ears it met to their feet. Everyone, that was, except for the five at table ten.

Willow, Tara, Anya, Xander, and Dawn sat silent, all thinking about one bleached vampire who had locked them out of his life. Willow and Tara had made up mostly, deciding that this little problem was less important than what was going on within the group. Though, you could still tell when Tara was thinking about her girlfriend kissing the Brit.

The whole purpose of the evening out, however, was to cheer up Dawn, who had been dramatically effected by the vampire's regression into himself. They had found the crypt's door locked only today, when they tried to take more blood to him. Dawn had cried standing outside the door, calling to him, yelling at him; so mad and confused she couldn't see straight. He had promised to take care of her, but how could he, if he couldn't even take care of himself?

As far as a fun night out went, this one was not. The five of them sat sipping their drinks and staring at the band on stage, though none of them heard the music or actually saw the band members. None of them could even tell you which band was playing.

And it was only eight thirty.

***

After a quick trip to the butcher, Spike was feeling quite himself again. He slipped a few extra bags of blood into his duster, and went in search of the gang, to rub it in how much he didn't need them. He was sure they'd be at the Bronze; it's all they ever did on Friday nights. The fact that it was actually a Tuesday night made no difference to Spike. He just kept on walking towards his destination, oblivious to everything around him. He was in the alley behind the club when it happened.

Buffy walked from behind a dumpster, as though she'd been waiting for him and smiled. Spike's first thought was that he was dreaming. Somehow, he had fallen asleep between the butcher's and the Bronze. He stopped to think for a second, trying to figure out exactly where he was sleeping. 'Right, mate, I think those dreams are getting to you.' He shoved the thought away completely and regarded the girl standing before him.

Before he had a chance to say anything to Buffy, she walked to where he was standing and pinched him.

"Ow! Bloody hell, woman, what was that for?"

"Just showing you that you aren't asleep." She smiled at him slyly, but Spike knew better.

"How did you know that's what I was thinking?" His eyes held scrutiny; he knew this wasn't really Buffy, but if he was really awake, then how was she here?

"I can see what you're thinking because I'm not real. I'm in your head with you."

Spike simply nodded. Sure. That made sense. As if absolutely none of this was out of the ordinary, he walked into the club, Dream Buffy in tow. Without much trouble, he found the gang and walked over to them, a huge grin plastered across his face.

"Oi, pets. How are we all tonight?"

At his voice, everyone jumped, and Dawn jumped out of her seat and ran directly towards the bleached vampire, hugging him tightly. She looked up at him with tear-filled eyes, "I'm so glad you're okay! We thought the worst when you put that lock on your door."

Spike looked over at Dream Buffy and said, "The lock was just to keep the nibblet safe. Didn't mean to shut her out completely." He then turned back to Dawn, whose mouth hung open in something akin to a mixture of fear for her friend and disbelief at what she was seeing. "Sorry, Lil' bit. Didn't mean to frighten you. I just wanted to prove that I could do this on me own." He smiled broadly, "And look at me! I'm fine. Better than that, I'm better'n I've been in years."

The gang all looked at each other, slack jawed. They remained silent because none of them knew what to say. Here sat Spike, trying to convince them of how well he was doing, as he talked to air. They watched as he looked up towards the stage, seemingly enjoying the concert. The grin remained on his face, only it was muted now, and every so often he would speak into the space beside him.

"What's that, love?" Pause. "Oh, no, they're probably just surprised to see you." He looked back over at his friends. When he spoke, it was almost in a whisper, as though he didn't want the air beside him to hear. "Why haven't you spoken yet? Isn't it good to see her?" He gestured over his shoulder, to where he'd been talking. "Just say something nice. Tell her how good she looks or something."

When none of them responded, their minds still reeling from everything they'd seen, he simply shook his head and addressed the air again. "It's alright, pet, don't be upset. They're just shocked. We'll give them time." He offered his arm to no one, who evidently took it, and then he addressed the group. "Well, Buffy's not feeling very welcome, thanks in no small part to you lot, so we're going now." Without another word, he walked away from the table, still speaking to the space beside him. "Don't worry. They'll come round. They'll realize its actually you and come looking for you. Then we'll have the merry reunion just as you planned."

As Spike left the club, he shook his head, amazed at how uncaring her chums had been. Back from the grave, and they had simply sat and stared.

Some friends.