A/N: Someone sent me an E-mail and asked whether this is going to be a

Buffy/Spike romance. No, it's only friendship, even though Spike loves her.

Sorry, I usually like this pairing, but it would make the Prequel "I'm

sorry" sound stupid. I hope you don't mind (-;

Chapter 4

Giles left the room and Spike was alone.

The man had promised him that he would be back soon but he somehow couldn't

believe it.

He so wanted everything to be as it was, usually he wouldn't have minded to

be alone - but now...

Fortunately the watcher had left the light on but still Spike flinched at

every noise.

After a few moments he managed to calm down and he tried to listen to what

was happening outside. Vampires have a very good hearing and so it was no

problem for him to find out who was there with Giles.

Buffy and Dawn!

Tears suddenly filled his eyes. He hadn't even dared to hope that he would

be in Sunnydale - in the real world - ever again, not to mention seeing the

two Summers girls once more.

They were talking but Spike didn't listen anymore, he couldn't.

Desperately he tried to fight back the tears which threatened to leave the

corners of his eyes now.

His beloved Buffy and his nibblet.

How he had missed them!

After a few moments which seemed like an eternity to the vampire he could

hear the three of them approaching his room.

**********

"He's here?" Dawn whispered.

After a moment Giles nodded. "He's in my bedroom, hopefully asleep."

"Is he... is he normal?" Buffy asked after a moment of silence, her voice

thick with emotions.

"I think so."

"What do you mean? Is he alright or not?"

"Well, he has most certainly been in hell. He's confused and afraid, he...

he doesn't talk. But I think he can be alright if we help him."

"That's why we brought him back!"

"You brought him back, Dawnie." Buffy corrected gently. "But you're right.

We have to help him."

"Can we see him?" the slayer's younger sister asked. Giles and Buffy could

easily hear the fear in her voice.

"I... I think it's better if we let him rest a while. He was very tired,"

the watcher tried to get out of the situation.

"But I won't wake him!" Dawn insisted. "Please I just want to see him! To

see that he's really back." Her voice had grown very low saying that last

sentence.

"Alright, but he's not like he was before. He isn't like Angel was, he's not

behaving like a wild animal, but he's different. Of course he's confused and

hurt but he seems to remember me, he understands me when I'm talking to him

and he's not aggressive at all - only scared. As if he was afraid that all

this isn't real, I don't think he believes yet that all the torture he's been through

in hell is really over." The English man sighed. He was very worried about

the vampire - and about Dawn and Buffy. It was obvious how much

Spike meant to them, he could only hope that he would be alright.

"But then we must help him!"

"We will, Dawnie," Buffy said gently and laid an arm around her sister's

shoulder. "Can we see him now?"

Giles nodded and led the two girls to his bedroom.

The watcher only hoped that Dawn wouldn't suffer too much seeing her friend

like that.

**********

The door opened and Spike tensed a little, but when he saw Giles enter the

room he relaxed again.

He saw that the man who had brought him here wanted to say something but a

young girl passed him and hurried towards the bed. When she was there she

hesitated for a moment and then she embraced him gently and very carefully.

Dawn!

He was absolutely calm when she wrapped her arms around him, even though it

hurt like hell.

For the first time fear didn't take control over him. Somehow he could feel,

and there was no doubt, that this was really her. It was Dawn, he was

completely sure.

Anyway, he needed a few seconds to get back his composure, and then he felt

that the teenager was crying on his shoulder. Her grip tightened a little but

he didn't wince despite the pain. He didn't want to startle her. And after

a few moments he hesitantly embraced her and rested his own head on

her hair.

**********

Giles wanted to hold Dawn back but she was too fast.

When she reached the bed she stopped anyway and then embraced the vampire

gently.

First Spike's eyes widened a little, more out of pain than fear, but then

his expression went soft and when he realized that the girl was crying on

his shoulder he weakly hugged her back.

Giles smiled to himself.

This was the first reaction the vampire had given to anyone since he was

back.

Well, at least it was a start.

It was obvious that he still cared for Dawn deeply.

Before all this had happened the two of them had been very close.

Giles remembered when Spike had gotten that chip. Nobody had trusted him

first.

Nobody but Dawn.

When she had first met him she had talked to him as if he had been an

ordinary human, as if nothing was wrong with him.

Still the watcher could remember Spike's face and it had been rather

entertaining.

A young girl talking to him as if he was her best friend.

This really wasn't something he had been used to.

Buffy's sister had visited him in his crypt constantly; she had even

convinced Spike in going to the cinema with her. The vampire had been so

embarrassed when Xander and Giles had seen them leaving the theatre, but he

had gone there with her again. First he had acted as if she didn't mean

anything to him but then he had finally given up pretending. He adored her,

as if she was his own sister, and he had let everyone see it. In time, the

Scoobies had trusted him enough so that Dawn was allowed to go out with him.

He had been like a big brother to the girl and the watcher had to admit that

even he had believed that he would have never let anyone harm her. She had

been as safe with him as she had been with Buffy.

Xander had used that to tease him more than once but in this the vampire

hadn't listened. Usually the young man would have gotten a sharp answer but

not when he had mocked him about his relationship with Dawn.

And then he had fallen in love with Buffy.

Sometimes even Giles had thought that she had gone too far with her coldness

towards him.

She had even played with his feelings by using him for sex after she had

come back from heaven. It had been a hard time for her but still she hadn't

had the right to hurt him like that.

Of course all had been entirely different after he had saved her life and

given his own. She had regretted all this so much, but until this day they

had thought that it was too late for an apology.

Reluctantly Dawn parted from Spike and wiped her eyes.

With that Buffy also walked towards the bed, and, unlike her sister, she did

it very slowly. But the effect was the same, when she reached him, she

gently wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

Giles had already feared that she would start to ignore him again, that she

wouldn't be able to deal with his feelings towards her and the guilt she had

been feeling ever since he had died for her, but to his great relief she

acted like she should.

"It's good to have you back," he heard her whisper to him and smiled.

Again Spike returned the embrace and now he saw tears on his face as well.

He finally let his emotions out.

Maybe everything would be alright after all.

**********

After only a few seconds Dawn broke the embrace and wiped her eyes, a tiny

smile on her lips.

Spike was so busy trying to hold back his own tears that he didn't even

realize that Buffy was approaching him as well.

She suddenly stood next to his bed, her lips trembling.

He looked up at her - the woman he loved.

God - how many times he had dreamed about seeing her again - just once more!

And now she was there.

Looking down at him as if he had never left her.

But now she was leaning down and embracing him, just like Dawn had done

before and he held her tight. He found himself unable to hold his feelings

back anymore.

Tears were finally running down his face.

Not many, but they were there. He hadn't cried in centuries and he knew that

it was a beginning.

"Is... is this a... dream?" He whispered, his voice raw and hard to

understand.

He hadn't even been sure if he was still able to speak.

Too long he had been silent, much too long.

Buffy drew back and looked at him, a little confused.

**********

When she was standing there before the bed, looking down at the vampire, she

couldn't refuse to embrace him.

To her surprise he also wrapped his arms around her weakly. There was

nothing of his old strength left, but he remembered her and at this moment

that was the only thing that really mattered.

"Is... is this a... dream?" He asked her.

She left his arms and stared at him in surprise.

"A dream? No, Spike, no! You are not dreaming! You are at home, in

Sunnydale! We're really here with you." She took his hand and held it

gently.

He seemed confused and lost to her and she could understand that all that

was very hard for him.

"Spike," she said in a soft and low voice. "Why don't you try to get some

sleep? I'll stay here with you, I promise."

His clear blue eyes were watching her as if he wanted to find out whether

she was lying to him, and then he slowly nodded and closed them.

When he stopped breathing she knew that he had fallen asleep and turned back

to Dawn and Giles.

**********

The former librarian had watched the whole scene and he had been more than

relieved to hear Spike's voice.

When he finally fell asleep Buffy turned her head, but she didn't let go of

his hand. "Does anyone else know already?" She whispered carefully so as to

not wake the slumbering vampire.

Giles shook his head. "No, I didn't have the time to tell anyone yet. I had

to take care of him. He was in a very bad state when I found him."

"Isn't he still?" Dawn whispered.

"Yes... I guess he is. But he was even worse when I first found him." Giles

could see the girl's distress and immediately tried to comfort her. "He'll

be fine, Dawn. You helped him very much, if it hadn't been for you he would

still be in hell." Usually he would have scolded the teenager for putting

herself in such a danger, he still didn't know how she had managed to get

the Ghora's egg, but he knew that she felt bad enough already. There really

was no need to be mad at her. Of course she was happy that her friend was

alive and here with them but seeing him like that had been a shock for her.

"Dawn?" He asked gently.

"Yes?"

"Why don't you come with me? Buffy's right, we have to tell the others."

She nodded and then turned to her older sister. "Will you stay with him?

"Sure. I promised him," the slayer answered simply.

TBC