A/N: Sorry about the slow updates! I've got a lot to do right now, mainly school and orchestra-related. But I'll try to update as soon as I can! And this story is far from over.

2001

Buffy spun around, glaring into a pair of piercing blue eyes. "And just who are you?"

Spike frowned, cocked his head. His eyes went wide. "Bloody hell…"

Buffy frowned, feeling the familiar tingle go up her spine. She couldn't believe how she had missed it before. "You're a vampire."

Spike's shocked amazement turned to confusion. "Well, yeah. That I am. But what really seems to be the issue here isn't exactly me, pet." He shot an angry look at Willow. "What did you do?"

Willow held up her hands, pleadingly. "I'm sorry, Spike. I didn't mean to…well, I did, but that's not the point. My spell…I screwed up. Big time. This Buffy…she's from 1997. She and Buffybot—I mean, our Buffy—switched places. They switched back for several hours, now they've switched again."

"I see. Thinking about breaking this spell anytime soon, Red?" There was just a hint of menace in his words.

Willow cringed. "Well, the good news is I know the counter-spell."

"And the bad?"

"It's going to take a while."

"Meaning…"

"Hey," Buffy said, getting a little annoyed. They were talking about her as if she wasn't even in the room. "First of all, that's great. Now, who the hell are you?" she demanded of the blond vampire.

He smirked slightly. "Don't recognize me? Oh, come on. 1997, that's…" His smirk faded. "Bloody. Hell."

"What?" Buffy demanded. "What about 1997?"

Spike gave her a long look. "When in 1997 are you from?"

Buffy wrinkled her nose. "First few days of school. Why?"

Spike groaned. "Holy shi—"

FLASH!

"Hi Willow. Spike! I was looking all over for you. Xander tried to touch me very inappropriately, but I showed him that it was wrong," Buffybot said happily. "Only you may touch me in—"

"What did you do to Xander?" Willow interrupted.

Buffybot smiled widely. "I removed his hands from my body."

Spike cocked an eyebrow.

"She threw him across the room," Willow translated, groaning. "Bottie, remember our little talk? No tossing people around."

Buffybot's smile wavered a bit. Then she brightened. "Oh! I saw Angel again. He's lame."

"Again?" Willow asked anxiously. "What do you mean, 'again?'"

"He came into my bedroom last night. I thought it was Spike, but it was really Angel. He's bloody stupid. I told him to go away. Oh! And he said something about, 'don't underestimate the Anointed One just because he looks like a child. He has power over the rest of them. They'll do anything for him.'"

Willow paled. "Oh, crap."

Spike snorted. "What, the Ever-Annoying One? No need to worry about him."

Willow shook her head. "No, this is…this is bad. Buffy was supposed to get that message. It was part of what allowed her to be able to stop them from resurrecting the Master, which was what the Anointed One was trying to do. He came really close to succeeding, capturing me, Cordelia, Giles, and Miss Calendar. If Buffy had been just a moment late…" She trailed off.

Spike frowned. "Wait a minute. So, what you're saying is, the Bot here screwed the timeline. The Master gets resurrected?"

Willow grimaced. "Not if we stop it." She took a deep breath and turned to Buffybot. "Okay, Bottie, here's what you need to do…"

1997

Buffy sighed. She was in the library, after school. Giles had called some sort of meeting, about something bad about to happen. Something vague.

Before he could speak, a rock crashed through a window.

"Whoa!" Xander yelled.

Buffy caught the rock in her hands. It has a note wrapped around it and kept in place with a bracelet. A familiar bracelet.

"This is Cordelia's. 'Come to the Bronze before it opens, or we make her a meal.'" The implications of the message began to sink in. Cordelia was in trouble. Buffy didn't know who or what was causing it, just that someone knew who she was and was willing to kill a friend—okay, an acquaintance—to get her attention.

"They're gonna cook her dinner?" A pause. "I'll pretend I didn't say that," Xander commented.

"What do we do?" Willow asked nervously.

"I go to the Bronze and save the day," Buffy answered.

"I don't like this," Xander said.

"Nor I!" Giles agreed.

Buffy had enough. This was not exactly a good time for her, having dreams about the Master and being yanked back and forth to the future.

"Yeah? Well, you guys aren't going."

2001

"Bottie, do you understand?" Willow asked.

Buffybot nodded. "Yes, Willow."

Willow smiled. "Good girl. Now, I'm going to do a sort of glamour, just in case someone notices you're not human. You know, the whole no heartbeat deal can give you away."

Buffybot nodded again and smiled widely. "Of course, Will—"

FLASH!

Buffy blinked. One second she was walking to the Bronze with Angel, the next…

This place again.

"Where's Angel?" she demanded. This was supposedly the future, right? She couldn't think of a future without Angel.

Willow sighed. "He's in LA," she said. "That's the important thing right now. Where were you? Just now, before coming here, that is."

Buffy was puzzled. Angel was in LA? Why? Was he currently tracking a demon or something? She'd be sure to ask this Willow about it later.

"We were going to the Bronze, me and Angel. We got Cordelia's bracelet and a message—"

"It's a trap," Willow interrupted. "Cordy's not at the Bronze."

Now Buffy was even more puzzled. "Okay, so what…"

Willow sighed again. "It's a long story. Buffybo—our Buffy, that is, went back and dealt with some things you were supposed to go through. Learned some information you were supposed to know. So here's the basic gist…"

1997

"Buffy, are you sure about this?" Angel asked for the millionth time. "Shouldn't we be going to the Bronze, or back to the library at least?"

Buffybot paid him no heed. The warehouse. Willow had given her directions to the warehouse. And Angel was too bloody stupid to understand even if she was allowed to explain. Which she was not. Willow had told her she couldn't tell anyone she wasn't the Buffy everyone thought she was. Buffybot didn't realize understand what Willow meant by "time travel", but Willow was really smart. Buffybot trusted her.

"Now be quiet," she whispered to Angel. "Stay here until I say you can come in."

She disappeared into the warehouse, leaving Angel extremely puzzled about this change of events.

2001

"So the Anointed One was actually going to resurrect the Master? No wonder I had all those dreams," Buffy exclaimed.

Dawn, the strange girl who everyone claimed was her sister, slid into the seat next to her. The brunette teenager smiled shyly. "Hey."

Buffy gave her a warm but wary smile in return.

"Uh, Buffy? So you know what to do, if you get back before Bottie—our Buffy—does the job?"

Buffy nodded. "Yep. Grind the Master's bones into powder." She grinned, looked around conspiratorially. "By the way, who's that peroxide-head? Does he have a soul like Angel?"

Willow hesitated. According to this Buffy's history, Spike and Drusilla were about to show up in town.

"No, of course not!" Dawn exclaimed. "Spike is way cooler than Angel."

Buffy was confused. "So…why does he help you guys?"

Neither Dawn nor Willow answered, just gave each other looks.

1997

"So…how'd you know about the prophecy?" Willow asked. "And how did you know where we were kept?" The Scooby gang was walking back to the library, ready to check up on Xander. Angel hung around behind the group, brooding.

Buffybot smiled happily. "Willow told me."

Willow blinked. "Uh, no, I didn't."

Buffybot continued smiling. "No, not you, Willow. The other Willow. She told me that the other Buffy should have talked to stupid Angel and found out about the evil plan by the evil vampires. And then the other Buffy would have saved everyone." She gave the surprised Willow a hug. "You're my best friend." She didn't let the redhead go.

"Uh, okay…Buffy, are you sure you're feeling alright?"

FLASH!

Buffy pulled away. "Wills, why are you hugging me?"

"Hey, I'm not the one—"

Buffy looked around. "Giles, Miss Calendar, Cordy. Angel, what are you doing all the way over there? Seeing that you guys are bruised but otherwise okay, I'm guessing I beat up the Master's groupies and saved the day?"

With that, Buffy strolled away, back home for the night.

Leaving behind a very puzzled group of Scoobies.