**********

It was a few hours before Buffy came down the stairs again. She didn't really feel in the Scooby space, and she knew that if she went downstairs she'd have to research ways to stop this thing while Xander glared at her in a way that clearly said he thought this was all her fault. Which it was, but he didn't have to rub it in.

So Buffy had stayed upstairs, reading and rereading the note Spike had left, hoping it would give her some clue as to where he was that she hadn't noticed before. But no new words appeared on the page, and eventually she gave up and trailed downstairs.

When she got there she saw Willow rushing about, gathering spell ingredients from the cabinets, debating with Xander all the while.

"I know it's risky Xand, but can you think of anything better?"

"What's risky?" Buffy asked, settling herself on one of the chairs.

"This spell she's planning to do. It's crazy."

"What spell?"

Willow blushed slightly, not meeting Buffy's gaze as she continued to gather ingredients.

"Just an idea I had. You know the one I told you about earlier? It's really the only way to do it. . ."

"It's insane, Will," Xander butted in. "You know that as well as I do."

"Yeah, but we always do insane stuff before an apocalypse, and we've survived this far."

"Wait," Buffy said, confused. "What's insane? If you guys are gonna argue, at least tell me what you're arguing about. What's the spell?"

Willow stopped gathering ingredients then, and slowly sat down in the chair next to Buffy's.

"Well, you know there are far too many Mohra demons to fight," she began, fiddling nervously with a piece of some plant Buffy couldn't identify as she spoke. "Well, I think it's fair to say they're unstoppable, 'cause even if you killed all of them, there are loads more that can just come to take their place. And these ancient vampires that are gonna come up? Well, there are thousands of them. The whole Hellmouth is full of them. So if they come up we're pretty much screwed as well."

"What are you trying to say, Will?"

"That we've lost this one. There's no way the four of us can fight all those demons and win. Even if we call Angel, that'll only add another, what? Six people to the mix? There's not enough time to get the Watcher's Council involved and there's no one else. There's no way we can win this fight."

"Way to go with the optimism, Will," Buffy said, frowning. "If we've already lost, then what's the deal with this spell?"

"Well, all that stuff got me thinking about what actually caused this."

"What did actually cause this?"

"An inter-dimensional blip around the moment that that modem was sent to me. I'd bet you anything that that modem was meant to be sent to a Willow Rosenberg in another dimensional, and kinda got lost on the way. The chances of something breaking through the dimensional walls like that is one in a billion, and the Mohra demons are no witches. This was something completely accidental that the Powers didn't spot until it was too late, not something the Mohra demons planned. They just took advantage of the situation."

"And how does this help us?"

"Well, because of that one blip, things in this dimension haven't happened how they should do. The paths of everyone have veered off course. Only a little bit to start with, but the longer it went on the further away from what actually should be happening it got. There's a very definite moment when things went wrong, and that's where I come in. I can make it so that the blip never happened. I can bring time back to that moment so that things play out the way they should have." Willow looked nervously up at Buffy, waiting for her response, but Xander cut in first.

"That's where I say it's too risky. There's no way you're powerful enough to do this, Will. You could just end up hurting yourself."

"And normally I'd say you were right, but this is different," Willow said adamantly. "It's not like I'm turning time back to alter things to my liking or whatever. Things have *already* been altered, and I'm going to fix them. The moment where things veered away from the natural timeline is going to be very distinct, and the spell will be drawn to it naturally. It'll be as simple as. . . as trans-breed mutation!"

Buffy nodded slowly. "I'll have to take your word for it."

Willow frowned. "Oh, right. Anyway, it'll pull it to that moment, and hopefully the Powers will use that opportunity to put it right, and things'll carry on as normal."

"Great," Buffy said, then stopped. "What do you mean, hopefully?"

Willow avoided her gaze. "Well, there's always a chance that it doesn't get fixed and we'll be stuck in a loop forever."

"And I go back to the risky again," Xander said, frowning. "You can't possibly try this."

"You got a better idea?"

When Xander didn't reply, she smiled. "Good. Then I'm gonna need a few hours to prepare. I need to meditate and someone's going to have to run and get me some more Lethe's Bramble. I'm all out."

As they all got to their feet, Xander asked, "After this spell, will things go back exactly as they were on the videos?" Willow nodded. "Then that means Anya's going to die. Tara too."

"For all we know Anya's already dead. At least if we do this you're gonna live at least another year happily, without knowing what's going to happen to her. And besides, time's a tricky thing. That's why prophecies are so vague. She might still survive. You don't know."

Xander nodded. "Right," he said. "I just wanted to hear it out loud, is all."

Willow nodded, then gathered her ingredients and headed up to her room.

"I'm going to the Magic Box to get the Lethe's Bramble," Xander said. "You coming, Buffy?"

"No. There's something I need to do."

*******

A quarter of an hour later, Buffy crept into Spike's crypt, a video clutched in her hands. The optimist in her made her call out "Spike?" in hope that he had come back, but the realist in her didn't expect him to answer. He didn't.

She slowly walked across the room and settled herself in his chair, and then she stared at the box in her hands. It was the last video in the boxset. The idea of Willow's spell was affecting her more than the others, because she had seen all the tapes. She knew what was in store for them if the spell worked. So, before Willow did it, she wanted to watch the last one, just to see if there would be a happy ending. She knew that she wouldn't remember any of it once the spell was complete, but she had to know. She had to.

She slipped the video into Spike's machine, and waited for it to start. A few moments later, she saw the previously begin, and settled down to what she thought was probably the most important TV show she was ever going to watch.

*******

Buffy was surprised to see that the opening credits no longer contained Tara. She knew she shouldn't have been, but she was almost hoping that it was all a trick, and Tara was fine. She knew better, but it was still good to dream.

Any doubt she had had that Willow could perform this spell right disappeared instantly after watching the teaser. She'd never really thought about how strong Willow had become before watching the tapes. She'd always thought of her as the same girl who'd accidentally started a huge storm just by lighting the barbecue at their beach party, not the girl who could resurrect Slayers and kill huge Gods just by screaming. Her realisation of this fact was both good and bad. Good because she knew that Willow would do the spell right, but bad because she knew just how much damage Willow would do with that power after things returned to normal.

Buffy looked at the screen again and registered that it showed Andrew and Jonathon in jail. She almost felt sorry for them, especially Jonathon. They really weren't bad guys, just a pair of cute little geeks with fantasies on grandeur and a very evil friend who tried to make them come true. It made her sad that no matter what happened, Jonathon was going to die. She thought back to the time when he had tried to kill himself in the clock tower at school and she'd talked him out of it, and the time he had given her the Class Protector award, and even the time he made himself this James Bond type superhero with a spell. He was a good guy really. He didn't deserve to die.

And now she was watching Warren in a bar, gloating about how he had killed her. *That bastard,* she thought angrily. *I hope Willow kills him in the most painful way possible when the time comes. He deserves everything he gets after what he did, the evil, murderous rapist.*

*******

Buffy frowned as she saw the screen change to show Spike prowling through what looked like Africa.

*What the hell is he doing there,* she thought incredulously. *And how did he get there so damn fast?*

He entered a dark cave, and flicked his lighter on to reveal cave paintings. Horrible cave paintings of people in pain, blood pouring out of them and skulls lying in the floor. Buffy almost yelled out at the screen for him to stop, that any place with pictures of that on the wall couldn't be good, but managed to restrain herself. Yelling at the TV was definitely one of the first signs of madness. Only an insane person would do that while watching a TV show.

Once again, Buffy wondered what the hell he was doing there. Why was he seeking a very dangerous looking demon in the middle of nowhere? Something weird was definitely going on.

*Okay,* Buffy thought. *I know he's there about me. Still don't know what he's actually doing though.*

Buffy cringed. She had to ask, didn't she? Spike had gone to get his chip out. But what had that to do with her? She knew the answer instantly. She'd made him so angry he'd decided he'd do anything to get some payback. Or was it payback? Maybe it was just the fact that he wanted to be something. Either demon or man, but one or the other, not stuck in the middle, like the chip made him. She couldn't believe he'd go all the way to Africa just to get revenge on her. Apart from anything else, he could hit her anyway, so what was the point?

*******

Buffy was practically leaning out of her seat as Willow chased Warren through the woods. She was once again reminded of how powerful Willow was. Warren was throwing every trick he knew at her and she was just brushing it off.

And now she had him tied to a tree, ready to do who knows what to him. Not that Buffy cared. He deserved to die.

Willow opened her hand to reveal a bullet nestled there, the same bullet, Buffy realised, that she had taken from her own chest. She watched as Willow ripped open Warren's shirt, and positioned the bullet over his heart.

Buffy cringed as Willow slowly started to push the bullet through Warren's chest. *He deserves it,* she reminded herself. But as she saw the look on Warren's face, she changed her mind. *No one deserves that.*

Buffy gasped as Willow waved her hand, skinning Warren in one quick motion. She didn't want to look at the horrible skinless body hanging there, but she couldn't take her eyes off it.

The body disappeared in a curl of fire, as did Willow, leaving both the Buffy on screen and the Buffy watching feeling very sick indeed.

*Why am I watching this?* Buffy thought. *I wanted to be reassured but it just keeps getting worse. I need to get back anyway. Willow might need me.* But she didn't move, just sat in the chair, waiting for the next episode to start.

*******

Buffy was curled up now, lightly chewing her thumbnail as she watched herself and Willow fight. She'd never really been a nail chewer, but after watching this episode, now seemed like a really good time to start. She'd never watched something so intense in her life, and now her and Willow were tearing up the Magic Box as they fought. *Anya's sooo not gonna be happy when this happens,* Buffy thought idly, as Willow hit her so hard she flew through the counter, glass flying everywhere.

"Yay! Go Giles!" Buffy said, practically bouncing off her seat. Then she caught herself, realising what she had just done, and, blushing even though no-one else was there, settled back down in the seat.

*******

Buffy was reminded once again of all the horrible things that were going to happen once Willow did the spell. All this stuff would come true. She knew that the change had basically caused the apocalypse, but she still preferred this timeline a lot better, even if it was a bit. . . disastrous towards the end.

Buffy waited for Giles' reaction. She didn't know why it was important to her. He'd left her to sort out her own life, and she'd chosen to sort it out with Spike. Who cares what he thought? She did though, and was incredibly hurt when he started to laugh. It was a little absurd, but there was no need to laugh at what had happened to her. She was sitting there, knowing it was going to be her life soon, and she didn't find it funny at all.

*******

*Bastard,* Buffy thought, surprised by how angry she was. He couldn't even keep something like that a secret. He had to tell her little sister, and the only reason he told her was because she was saying Spike was better than him.

*Good for you, Dawn,* Buffy thought with a slight grin. *At least somebody else sticks up for him.*

She pressed the fast forward button as the screen changed to show Spike being tested. She didn't want to watch. She hated seeing him in pain like that. Especially if it was all because she was such a bitch to him.

*******

Buffy grinned as Willow collapsed into Xander's arms, sobbing. Things were working out. Her and Dawn had made up, Willow had been stopped, Giles was back. Maybe she could stand what happened before, now she knew it would work out. Except she wouldn't remember. But it was still nice to know now. The only loose end now was. . .

Spike.

Lying dead on the floor.

Except vampires couldn't lie dead on the floor, could they? She breathed a sigh of relief as Spike moved, slowly getting to his feet.

Spike screamed, and the screen went black.

*Oh my God,* Buffy thought. *He didn't go to get his chip out. He went to get his soul. For me. He didn't think he deserved me so he went to get his soul.*

Tears started rolling down her cheeks as she remembered how badly she had treated him, how badly she was *going* to treat him, and how he still thought he was the one who didn't deserve her, instead of the other way around. Suddenly realising something, she rooted in her pocket and pulled out the note Spike had left for her.

She read over the first line, brow furrowed. 'Gone on a mission. Will hopefully have a surprise if I return.' Some things hadn't changed. She would bet anything he had gone to Africa to get his soul for her. *See Xander,* she thought bitterly as she got to her feet. *There's some good in him after all.*

*******

A small while later, Buffy climbed the stairs in her house to see if everything was ready for the spell. She was met outside Willow's door by Xander.

"Is everything ready yet?"

Xander nodded. "Yeah. We were just waiting for you."

"Oh." Buffy started to walk inside, but Xander grabbed her shoulder.

"Buffy, wait." She looked at him expectantly, and he continued. "I'm sorry about all the stuff I said before. I didn't mean to. . . well, I did mean to, but. . ." He stopped, and raked his hands through his hair. "I hate to see you hurt, you know? And seeing Spike do that, even if it wasn't real, and then you picking him over me anyway. . . it just hurt."

"I didn't pick him over you. I'd never pick anything over you and Will. But he's just as important. Not *more* important, but he matters to me just as much as you guys do."

Xander nodded, as if he'd been expecting her to say that. "Yeah. Listen, I know you won't remember me saying this, but I know I'm going to be such an ass about you and Spike, and I just want you to know I'm sorry about it, right? I'm really sorry."

Buffy smiled and nodded, and they entered the room together.

Inside, Willow was sitting cross legged on the floor. She looked up when Buffy entered, and smiled at her friend.

"You ready?" When Buffy nodded, she said, "Right then. It's showtime."

*******

Buffy sat on the carpet, Willow on her left and Xander on her right, the scented smoke from the incense curling up her nose and nearly making her choke. Her eyes were closed tight and she concentrated on her breathing as Willow chanted in Latin. She could sense the power radiating off her friend, and almost wanted to open her eyes to see if she was glowing, but she kept them shut and tried to concentrate.

A few minutes later, Willow's chanting stopped. Nothing happened. *Great,* Buffy thought. *It didn't work.*

She opened her eyes, expecting to see Willow sitting there looking disappointed and Xander wearing a look that clearly said 'I told you so', but she didn't. Instead, she saw a massive flame. There had been a candle in the middle of their circle to start with, but now it was an inferno. She stared at the centre of the flame, transfixed by it as she saw her reflection staring back at her. Suddenly, images started to pop up when her face had been.

Her talking with Xander outside the door.

Her watching the videos in Spike's crypt.

Her crying on the bed.

Her going into Spike's crypt to find it empty.

Her arguing in the kitchen with Xander over Spike.

The images flashed past quicker and quicker, and now Buffy could only make out the odd few, the few which matter the most to her.

Arguing with Spike in the graveyard, and her telling him she loved him.

Dancing in the Bronze with Xander watching.

Sleeping with Spike for the first time.

Watching Spike cry when they watched Fool for Love.

Going to LA to ask Angel for help.

Going on the internet with Spike and discovering that their lives were a TV show.

Suddenly the images stopped, and the flame crackled out. Where it had been there was only blackness, and Buffy felt herself falling into it, before she passed out.

**********

Okay, the epilogue's already up, so just click that little arrow over there and go right on to read it! Oh, but review as well!