Spike sat quietly on the platform, his legs swinging off the front. "Well, luv. It's me again. Bet you wish I'd stop coming here, but frankly I don't have anything better to do. I went patrolling with the wiccan lovers last night. Red is getting pretty good at the witch stuff. And the bot...is pulling her...its weight. Everyone's pretty glad I had it built now. I don't much like patrolling with it. Most times I wonder why I even liked it in the first place. It's not you. Uh, anyway...I looked up the witches tonight for patrolling. Said they were busy. Same with the whelp and his demon lady. Not keen on patrolling with Giles alone. I think he might know...that it was my fault. He hasn't said anything, but he's a smart bloke. And uh, no way I'm going out alone with the bot. So I went alone tonight. I like that best. I get to pretend you're with me, and I can annoy you all night. And when I come against some nasties, I can feel you with me. And we beat them every time, luv. Every time." Spike sighed and re-lit the cigarette that had burned out in his hand. He took a deep drag, blowing the smoke over his head and into the night sky. "It's been forty three days since you...left. I thought it would be a bit easier by now, but it's not. I try to keep up appearances for the Scoobies, they seem to appreciate my help. But I'm barely hangin' on, pet. I'm not sure I can go an eternity without you, because these forty three days already feel longer than my entire 127 years. But I'll keep doing what you asked me to do. Because it's the least I owe-" Spike was interrupted by sounds from below him. They were quiet, but with his supernatural hearing, he could make out voices. He recognized them as the Scoobies. He looked down at them directly below him. They seemed to just be sitting around. Spike sighed and flipped his cigarette off to the side. "Well, luv, guess I'll be going now. I'll be back tomorrow, though. Well, you know that. I'll tell you all about how I nicked my new motorcycle from a gang of hellions."

Spike made his way down the structure slowly, in no particular rush to see her friends. When he reached the bottom, he saw Willow, Tara, Xander, and Anya all sitting around some candles, holding hands. He came up to them cautiously, still curious as to what was up. Without warning, a great, red energy flowed around Willow and the other three leaned away from her. Willow was chanting something as the energy swirled around her. In an instant, the energy was gone, and Willow fell forward, nearly knocking over the candles. The others rushed to her side. Spike spoke up.

"What's going on here? What kind of spell did you just do?" Spike was looking at them all with narrow eyes.

Xander was the first to speak. "It's...nothing. Nothing that concerns you, Spike. Why don't you just go away, leave us alone." When he could see the vampire was not budging, he turned the offensive. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"I come here every bleedin' night, what's it to you?" Spike clenched his jaw, angry that he had spoken before thinking. It wasn't anyone's business what he was doing here.

Spike stood by, as the others tended to Willow. She came to slowly. When she saw Spike, she got a glint of fear in her eyes. He caught it. He squatted down close to her.

"Alright, Red. What's this all about?"

Willow looked at Spike, then looked around, past the group. Tears filled her eyes. "It didn't work. We had one shot, and it didn't work..."

Spike looked at her harshly, ignoring her tears. "What didn't work? What are you doing here?"

"Spike, like I said, it doesn't concern you. Now leave her alone." Xander stood over Spike, trying to look threatening. Spike gave a little smirk and stood to meet him.

Willow tried to get to her feet, but needed help from Tara. "Stop it. Just stop it. Xander...it didn't work. It doesn't matter any more. I don't care if he knows." Willow sighed in resignation. "We were...we were trying to bring Buffy back."

Spike glared at her with a mixture of confusion and anger. "You what?"

"She...she went into another dimension. Wherever Glory went, Buffy had to have gone there too. I think...I believe they went to the same place. And I couldn't just leave Buffy there...to be tortured in a hell. I don't know what happened to her body...same thing that happened to Glory or Ben's body, I suppose-whatever that was. But I'm sure her soul.is in that hell dimension that is ruled by Glory now. And after Buffy sacrificed herself to save us all, I wasn't about to let her suffer eternal torment at the hands of that bitch." Willow was crying again, now letting Xander comfort her.

Spike closed his eyes and lowered his head, processing all he had heard. The group was silent again, except for Willow's soft weeping. All but Spike sat down on the ground. Something piercing shattered the uneasy quiet. It sounded like screaming, like a woman screaming. It was coming from above them. A small tear of energy widened several hundred feet over their heads. Something fell out of the tear. Spike was the first to realize. He kept his eyes on the falling thing, repositioning himself around the group, nearly stepping on each of them as he moved. The screaming got closer and louder. Spike braced himself for impact. When it hit, Spike crumpled to the ground, holding the fallen thing. The Scoobies surrounded Spike and the thing. As Spike shook away the pain of his head rebounding on the ground, he realized what the fallen thing was. A naked woman. It was Buffy. He couldn't speak. No one could. They all just gaped in amazement. Willow was the first to speak.

"Oh my God! It worked! It worked! She's back. It's...Buffy." Her enthusiasm turned quieter as she saw the rest of the group still in shock. She approached Buffy slowly.

Buffy climbed off Spike and quickly crawled several feet away from the group, looking absolutely terrified. Spike sat up slowly, his eyes never leaving the girl.

"She's...she's naked," was Anya's first statement.

"She's hurt...look at her...all the bruises and cuts..." Tara spoke softly, with much concern.

Spike tilted his head and furrowed his brow a bit. He slowly got up and took off his duster. He slowly approached Buffy. She scooted back further, still scared. Spike put up his hands to try and calm her. He crouched down as close as she would let him get, which was only a couple of yards.

"Buffy...my God, it's you." Spike gave a half-smile before his brow furrowed again. "Can you hear me, luv? Can you understand what I'm saying?"

"Spike, stay away from her. Let us handle this," Xander said forcefully as he approached Buffy. She shied back further.

Spike gave an aggravated sigh and ignored Xander. "Do you understand me?," he asked softly to Buffy again.

Buffy looked at each of the group in turn, a very panicked expression on her face. She finally settled on Spike, and nodded slowly. Spike gave her a smile. "That's my girl. Ok...luv, you're...you must be cold. You should put this on," at that, Spike held up his duster. He tried to approach her with it, but she moved back again. "Ok, ok...I'm just going to lay it here for you, ok? You should put it on." Spike laid the coat in front of Buffy, trying to get it as close to her as possible. She just looked at it for a while. Then she looked at Spike, who wasn't trying to hide his worry. Slowly, she reached out for the coat and pulled it to her. She didn't put it on right away, instead she held it tightly to her body, softly rubbing her face over the material. Then she looked up at everyone still looking at her. She slipped the coat on and stood up, shakily. She held it closed with both hands.

She spoke in a ragged whisper. "Where...what happened?" Buffy rasped.

Before anyone else could answer, Willow stepped in front of Spike and Xander. "Buffy, you're back. We brought you back. You...you were gone. You were someplace very bad, and we brought you back from there.

**

TBC-if there's interest!