The trio walked into the Bronze, Buffy and Spike both scanning the crowd for Willow and Dawn. Hope just looked around, having no clue as to who they were looking for. Her nose scrunched up and she scowled at the black X that had been scrawled on the back of her hand before she entered, signaling that she was an alcohol free patron. "Is this permanent marker?" She asked, rubbing at it. They were the first words spoken since the group had left the Summers' home.

"Comes off with rubbing alcohol." Buffy muttered, still looking around.

"Oh good, nice twist of irony there. The anti-alcohol mark comes of with alcohol." She stated with a snort, causing Spike to give her an odd look. "What? S'not like you two are saying anything important."

The girl hadn't really said much, but Buffy noted how she spoke with the slightest hint of Spike's accent, barely noticeable if you hadn't really paid attention. Shaking her head to clear the though, she scanned the crowd once more. "There's Dawn." She finally stated, pointing towards where the girl was sitting. "I'll go get her, see if you can find Willow."

"Buffy?"

The Slayer halted and turned to find Spike with his hands in his pockets, looking rather sheepish. "You care if I go get 'er?"

Buffy paused for a moment, studying him. "Yeah... I mean no. Yes." She groaned and threw her hands in the air. "I'm going to find Willow." She exclaimed before walking off. Hope gave Spike a quick glance and a small smile before taking off after the older Slayer.

"So then he asked me to dance, even after we went through that whole big argument. Can you believe that? I mean, it's one thing to go up to a complete stranger and try to cop a feel, but then to ask her to dance after she reems you? Puh-lease. Guys are such jerks, you know?" Dawn said to the girl sitting beside her, taking a sip of her drink.

"And that line gets so old. 'May I have this dance?' Can you say cheesy romance novel? The only way that would ever be cute is if the person saying it was like, I dunno, some fancy English Noble from the 1800's asking you to a royal ball, you know? Nowadays it's just total cheeseballishness." She continued, poking at the ice cubes in her drink with a straw.

"S'cuse me, Miss? May I have this dance?"

Dawn snorted and rolled her eyes as she spun around to face the person owning the hand now resting on her shoulder. She let out a small gasp and her glass fell to the floor, shattering. "Oh my God..." She launched herself at the vampire, hugging him for all she was worth.

"Hey Nibblet." He said softly, running his hand over the girl's long brown locks as she hugged him.

"God I missed you..." She muttered, making no move to let go of him.

"Missed you too, pet." He said, pulling away from her. He took in how different she looked. Older, obviously. Her hair was slightly curled at the bottom, a bit shorter than it had been last time he had saw her, but it most definitely still qualified as 'long'. Instead of the lip gloss and glittery eye shadows he had grown accustomed to, she had adopted a more grown up look, her lips red and her eyes rimmed in mascara. He noted her smile and grinned. Still his same Little Bit, no matter how grown up she got. "How ya been?" he asked sincerely, tucking a stray piece of her hair behind her ear.

"Good, I guess." she said, still smiling widely. "I mean, wow, a lot has happened since you left and everything. Everything's totally different now, but still the same, you know? It's all kind of confusing I guess. But you're here, right? Like, in the-not-leaving-again sort of way?" She rambled quickly.

Spike gave her a small smile. "We'll see, Bit."

Her face fell. "Oh..." She mumbled, looking down slightly. Chuckling, he pulled the girl into another hug, which she gratefully accepted, burying her head in his chest. "You should have called…" She muttered.

Spike sighed, his chin resting atop the girl's head. "Yeah, I know…"

"We were worried…"

"'We'?" He asked playfully, pulling away from the girl.

Dawn nodded, sniffling slightly. "Yeah, me and Buffy. She kept saying she didn't care that you were gone, but you can tell she was worried. I swear she almost cried when I told her I had gotten rid of your jacket. She said she was keeping it around in case you came back and that throwing out would be rude, even if she totally hated you and you deserved to have your prized coat shredded into millions of little pieces - along with your head. When I told her I got rid of it she just sort of stared at me, said 'oh', and left. She said she was going to get something from Xander, but I think she went over to your crypt."

"Why's that?"

Dawn looked sheepishly down at the ground. "Well, I had been over there earlier, cleaning it up a bit, just in case you decided to come back, you know? It was before I got your letter a-and Clem had stopped staying there, so I'd go over to make sure no one looted the place or anything. I remember making the bed, and when I came back later that night, it was all messed up, like someone had been sleeping in it. Buffy's coat was on the floor, but I left it there. I got your letter the next morning and when I went back over there her jacket was gone."

"If you got my letter, why'd you go back over there? I told you I probably wasn't coming home…"

Dawn shrugged. "Well, I figured every demon in Sunnydale would raid the place soon enough. I-I got some of your things, you know, the stuff you might want back? Some books, jewelry, clothes, weapons, a-and a few of those journals you kept."

His face fell.

"I didn't read 'em." She assured him, smiling. "Everything's in boxes in the back of my closet. I didn't want Buffy to find 'em, she'd just get mad, throw it out...ground me."

He smiled warmly, throwing an arm around her shoulder. "Thanks, pet."

"What are friends for?"

He sighed, nodding and smiling fondly at the girl as he began to walk with her through the crowd. "Come on, we need t'find Red."

"How come?"

"Demon." He answered simply.

She nodded. "So, how long you been back?"

He made it seem like it was the most thought-worthy question ever asked. "Oh, 'bout two hours."

Dawn gave him a wary look. "Does Buffy know?"

"Yeah, pet, she knows."

"What'd she say? I mean, is she mad at you?"

"When have you known her -not- t'be mad at me?"

"After that thing with Glory." She replied without hesitation, giving him a small smile. "And when mom...when she was sick. She told me about that, you know. About how you tried to make her feel better."

"Did she?"

"Yeah, when we were at the hospital, waiting." she answered, her voice having gotten quiet. "She made me promise not to tell you."

The vampire nodded, sighing as he continued to look for the redhead. "That night...that night was weird, t'say the least. I don't know. She said something t'me earlier, got me right mad. No, more like got me upset, hurt me. Anyway, when I came over, I wasn't there to..." He took an unneeded breath before continuing. "I was going to kill her, Bit. Had me a nice big shotgun, ready to blow her brains out, but then I saw her sitting there on the porch, crying...and I couldn't."

"…she never told me about that. She just said you showed up and tried to make her feel better, as best you could, anyway."

He smirked. "Yeah, guess it was a bit awkward, what with me having a nice big gun and all. Couldn't have been all that reassuring. Plus I was a bit rusty on the whole 'sympathy' issue. Hadn't bothered trying to comfort someone in well over one hundred years."

"You got better." She said simply, earning a confused look from him. "I mean, at comforting people, you got better at it. I don't think I would have gotten through that summer if it hadn't been for you."

He nodded slightly, remembering how hard that summer without Buffy had been.

"I'm glad you're home." She said after a brief pause.

"Wish I could say the same..."

"Hey, Spike!"

The pair turned to find Hope running up to them. "S'matter, kitten?"

"Nothin'. Buffy and Willow are outside waiting, they just wanted me t'come get you two."

"Right, off we go then." Spike muttered. walking in the direction of the door. "Did she tell Red I was here?"

"Yeah. Her response was a bunch of 'oh's', a couple 'wow's', and a quick 'Are you alright?'" Hope said informatively, nodding her head. Her gaze went up to Dawn, who was still firmly attached to Spike's arm, giving her a questioning look. "Hi."

"Hi?" Dawn offered, looking back up at Spike.

"Long story. Tell you later." He said simply as they walked out of the club. Buffy and Willow were standing there waiting. "'ey Red."

"Spike, wow. You're really here, as in, like, two feet away. Wow. Hi." Willow rambled, giving him a small wave and a sheepish smile.

Hope raised an eyebrow at the redhead, smirking as she nodded towards Spike. "Wow, you talk more than he does. Quite a feat, there."

"But she still doesn't compete with you." Spike informed the teen. "Your gob doesn't stop for a bleedin' minute."

"Psh, I said like two sentences to you the whole way here." She pointed out indignantly.

"You were asleep the whole time, you nit."

"So, I was still quiet."

"No you weren't. You talk in your bloody sleep!"

"Doesn't count."

"Does too."

"Nuh-uh."

"Guys!"

They both turned to find Buffy staring at them, eyebrows raised curiously at their childish exchange.

"Sorry…" They mumbled in unison, dropping their eyes to the ground. Shaking her head, Buffy turned and began to walk down the sidewalk, Willow at her side. As soon as the Slayer turned away, Spike cast a glare at Hope, who stuck her tongue out at him in return. Rolling his eyes, the vampire grabbed her by the shoulder and gave her a shove in the direction Buffy and Willow were walking in. Giving him a final scowl over her shoulder, Hope took up step behind the two, Spike and Dawn following behind her.

The walk to the shop was relatively silent, aside from the scratchy noise Hope was making as she dragged the point of a stake along the side of a building.. Spike was able to deal with the annoying noise for about two minutes before smacking the girl in the back of the head, earning another scowl from over her shoulder. This time he stuck his tongue out in return, persuading the girl to smirk at him, before retuning the stake to her pocket.

"God, can you two be anymore immature…" Buffy muttered, turning back to Dawn as they halted in front of the shop. "Key?"

"Oh, right." He brunette reluctantly released her hold on the newly-returned vamp, pulling a key ring from the small purse hanging at her side. Tossing the keys to her sister, she returned her grasp to the vampire's arm.

"He's not going anywhere." Hope pointed out, quirking an eyebrow at Dawn and grinning before she walked into the shop after Buffy and Willow. Spike smirked as Dawn released her hold, giving him a sheepish smile before walking in after the others. He followed, closing the door behind him and scowling at the bell jingling above him.

Willow flicked on the lights by the doorway before walking behind the counter and turning the main switches on, flooding the shop with light.

Spike's face scrunched up as he looked around. "You lot remodel the place?"

Dawn saw a pained look cross Willows face. "No." She said quickly, turning to answer Spike. "We rebuilt it." She explained hastily. Spike was about to further question her, but she cut him off. "So, why don't you tell us what's going on." She prompted quickly, the look she was giving him advising him not to press the issue further.

He nodded a small understanding, casting a quick glance over at Willow as she sat down at the table before speaking. "Yeah, right then. Why don't we call the rest of your silly little club and get them here first so I don't have t'tell this more than once."

Buffy took a seat next to her best friend, her eyes not leaving Spike. "We're all here." She stated flatly, staring at the vampire expectantly.

He gave her a skeptical look. "What about the Whelp and his little demon girl? And Pixie?" The anguish crossing Willow's face answered his last question – Tara was dead. He looked to Buffy for an explanation of the other two, not wanting to distress the redhead further.

"They're gone, Spike. Just talk." The Slayer stated harshly, crossing her arms over her chest. Dawn gave him a small nod as she leaned back against the table, watching him.

"Right then." He said flatly, his eyes scanning the three girls at the table before him. They all looked so different from the last time he had seen them. Sighing, he hopped up on the counter, crossing his legs as he pulled a cigarette from his coat pocket. "Guess we should start from the beginning, 'ey?" He questioned, lighting the cigarette that now hung loosely from his lips and inhaling from it deeply as he looked over at Hope, who was still standing near the door.

"Right, me…" She muttered, looking over at the three girls as she walked over to where Spike was sitting. "Am I tellin' the summary or the extended version?"

"Oo, I like stories." Willow exclaimed, smiling.

Spike gave her a small smirk, glad she was no longer pouting. "Sorry, pet. But I doubt you'll like this story, s'not very pretty." He informed her. Her face fell.

"I take it I'm doing the long version, then." Hope stated, looking up at the vampire.

"Knock yourself out, kitten. The more you tell, the less I'll have t'fill in later." He said matter-of-factly, gesturing for her to begin with a wave of his hand. She rolled her eyes before hopping up and taking a seat alongside him.

"Right then." She said, taking a deep breath as she swung her feet back and forth over the edge of the counter. "It was a dark and stormy night…"

"Don't be a bloody smart ass." Spike growled, glaring at her.

"Your sense of humor died the second we got here, you know that?" She asked, smirking at the vamp. When he didn't respond, she turned back to the Sunnydale trio sitting opposite of her, giving them a quick grin. "Anyways…"