A/N: THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTERS. I REALLY APPREACIATE YOUR COMMENTS. ANYWAY, I STILL HAVEN'T DECIDED WHETHER I SHOULD BRING FAITH INTO THIS. PERSONALLY, I LIKE HER. SHE BRINGS TENSION INTO STORIES BUT LIKE I SAID, IM STILL NOT SURE. ANYWAY, HERE'S ANOTHER CHAPTER.

ENJOY.

~*~

Spike saw that Dawn tried to stand and then staggered weakly as her frail legs gave out from under her.

The weight of the little girl in her arms did not help either.

But luckily, he caught her and the little girl just before they slammed against the asphalt.

The boy he had met just a few seconds ago was by his side in an instant, asking him what to do.

At least, he's being helpful, Spike thought to himself as he instructed him to take the little girl while he carried Dawn.

She felt strangely light in his arms and he carried her with ease back to the Hyperion, the boy and little girl in tow.

He was deathly silent along the way, his thoughts too clouded with worry and anticipation to try to sum up some sort of conversation with the boy, who had introduced himself as Connor.

Sighing with relief as they stepped into the lobby, Spike glanced at Dawn's unconscious form.

They had walked for almost twenty minutes and Dawn hadn't blinked her eyes open, not once and it set a spark of worry in Spike's brain.

At least, he could hear her breathing. Barely but still breathing. It gave him some sort of reassurance.

He saw Lorne look up from the indoor plants he was watering and instantly walk over to him, casting a quick glance at the two unknown figures beside him.

Connor curiously looked at him but seeing a green 'man' with horns did not take the cake from seeing two girls appear from a portal. When people told him that Los Angeles was a place of adventure and strange things, Connor hadn't anticipated that things were 'this' strange.

Lorne muttered something about a costume before returning his attention to Spike who was still standing on the steps, a troubled expression on his face.

"She's not waking up." Spike muttered about Dawn and Lorne nodded.

"Take her to one of the rooms. I'll call Angel." Lorne replied.

Spike hesitated for a second, wondering whether bringing Angel into the picture would be a good idea.

But he let it slide, nodded instead and walked up to the upper floors to find a room, motioning for Connor to follow him.

Now was not the time to worry about Angel. After all, the vampire had resources that could help them.

Spike set Dawn as gently as humanly possible on the bed, wishing that she would open her eyes even for a brief second. He removed the duster that he had used to cover her and threw it on the empty chair nearby.

His gaze went to her stomach where piece of her shirt was torn off and a large gash cut straight across. He hadn't seen it before and winced at the sight of the wound.

"I think she's okay." Connor said and interrupted his thoughts but the much younger boy wasn't talking about Dawn. He was referring to the little girl who hadn't uttered a word ever since he took her away from Dawn's hold.

She looked about three or four; Spike couldn't tell. Her brown hair was too long and untamed for a child her age and judging from her thin frame and her ribs sticking out, the little girl was malnourished.

He sighed, shaking his head as he sat down next to Dawn. She looked more like a corpse than unconscious.

Spike wondered what happened. The Bit looked like she had gone through some rough times-that was definitely the understatement of the century.

He wondered if the hell mouth had reopened again. But Angel had assured him that it was gone and there was nothing to worry about.

It was the one of the many things that kept him from going back. Human or not, he would have gone back to Buffy if he knew that she needed him.

Apparently, something had gone horribly wrong or Dawn would not be in the condition she was now in.

But why hadn't Angel told him?

He snapped himself out of his stupor and asked Connor if the little girl was wounded as well just as Lorne came into the room, a grim look on his face.

"Angel's on his way." He declared as he moved to inspect Dawn. He made a hissing sound when he saw Dawn's wound. "She has a fever and this wound is infected. There's poison in it."

"Is it going to kill her?" Spike asked.

Lorne shrugged apologetically. "I don't know. Maybe Wesley and Fred can figure out what's in her system. It doesn't look good." He replied.

"And the child?" Spike asked, nodding at the little girl's direction. She was now curled on Connor's lap, her head resting against his chest while she stared intently at Dawn as if willing her to wake up.

Connor's arm was protectively wrapped around her thin frame, his chin resting slightly on her head.

Spike noted how natural it looked for the two children to be sitting there, both lost in their own worlds. They looked like they 'belonged', whatever that meant.

Lorne moved to inspect her but the little girl whimpered and edged against Connor for protection.

"You're scaring her. Can it wait?" Connor asked gently and Lorne nodded. He was against it but there was nothing they could do.

The eighteen year old had already made it his duty to protect the child, despite the fact that they were strangers.

It felt only right.

************************************************************************

"Tell me what he said exactly." Buffy asked Angel for the third time. They were in the limousine, on their way to the Hyperion and Buffy's constant inquiry was slightly driving Angel crazy.

Lorne had called him earlier asking him to bring to the whole team and the slayer to the Hyperion. The green demon had known about the slayer's arrival.

He sighed, not that breathing was necessary for his survival but it was hard to let go of the habit.

"He didn't say anything. He said to bring all of you to the Hyperion. He said it was important. It could be anything." Angel replied softly.

Buffy nodded; a firm look on her face. "It's Dawn."

"Buffy, we're not sure." Angel told her.

She shook her head, determination written over her face. "I know that it's her. If it wasn't, why would you bring me along?"

Point taken, Angel nodded silently. It felt slightly claustrophobic in the limousine, despite its size. Wesley, Fred, Gunn, Lilah, himself, and Buffy were all sharing the vehicle.

Angel hoped Buffy wasn't setting herself up for a huge disappointment.

The car came to a halt and everyone scrambled out to let Angel through. Shielded from the sun by a thick blanket, he ran to the Hyperion as fast as he could.

It was moments like these that he truly envied Spike. The ex-vampire had the luxury of just walking out in broad daylight and not having the fear of becoming toast.

Angel stepped into the lobby, discarded the blanket and straightened himself. Team Angel, along with Buffy, Lilah and a few armed guards in a Hummer in case something went 'very wrong' followed suit.

"Where are they?" Buffy asked as she scanned the room.

"Upstairs." Lorne who had gone to greet them declared from the top of the stairs.

Everyone nodded silently as they followed the green demon.

Buffy clenched and unclenched her fists as her heart began to beat rapidly. She was bracing herself for what she would find. From the dismal expression on Lorne's face, Buffy suspected she wasn't going to be thrilled.

The green demon cast a worried look before pushing the door open and letting the group inside.

Buffy froze the minute she stepped into the room and gasped. It wasn't Dawn's cataleptic body on the bed that made her catch her breath but it was the man sitting beside her sister, looking down on the floor.

As if sensing her, Spike looked up and the shock of seeing the slayer there was just as evident on his face as it was on hers.

He looked disheveled and tired. And light from the window hit him from behind, which made his unruly curls of blonde hair seem like a halo.

Buffy assumed that the Hyperion was fitted with the same necro-tempered glass in Wolfram and Hart.

She could almost feel herself reeling as she continued to stay rooted on her spot, staring at Spike with her breath held as long as humanly possible.

Her world was just turned upside down and at that moment, she needed to sit down but refused to show weakness. For over six months, she mourned him, believing that she had lost him all those time.

And yet there he was, looking startled but keeping his calm despite the glare that he was giving Angel.

Spike said nothing but cleared his throat before turning to Dawn.

Whatever it was between them, whatever they had to settle would have to wait.

Buffy let out a breath as she took long strides toward Dawn. She could hear the others shifting and suddenly realized how deathly silent the room had fallen into.

"Dawn?" She whispered. Her throat felt scratchy from the dryness in her mouth. Seeing her dead 'boyfriend' alive seemed to have that effect on her. When the younger girl didn't move, Buffy felt for her pulse. "What's wrong with her?" It was an open question and Spike decided he might as well answer her.

He cleared his throat, feeling slightly uncomfortable being so close to her after a long time. "She came through a portal. She was wounded. Lorne thinks there was poison in whatever it was that cut her." He said softly and Buffy nodded, her gaze lingering at him longer than anticipated.

She wanted to see if he was real, if the voice that she heard and man that she saw wasn't a hallucination.

The little girl shifted on Connor's lap, redirecting the attention towards them. Angel was looking at Connor with a sad expression on his face but no one noticed except for Lilah who knew the whole story.

"The boy's with me." Spike declared knowing full well that the curious occupants in the room wanted an explanation.

"And the girl?" Gunn asked.

"Don't know who she is. She was with Dawn." Spike replied as he shifted his weight from one foot to another.

"We should take them back to Wolfram and Hart for further testing. They both need medical attention." Fred said softly and no one protested but Connor's arm tightened slightly around the little girl.

"Is that a hospital?" He asked.

Wesley shook his head, cleared his throat and re-adjusted his glasses. It was eerily like something Giles usually did, Buffy noticed. "It's a law firm but we deal with special cases." He clarified.

Connor nodded, not satisfied with the answer but he suspected that it was all he was going to get.

"Right then we should get a move on this. We can't all linger here and risk the Bit dying." Spike declared firmly and everyone mumbled something in response and started to clear out.

Before Buffy could do anything, Spike had already picked Dawn up and was moving to leave the room.

She looked at him uneasily and decided not to say anything. She was still slightly shocked with the prospect of seeing him, back from the 'undead'.

Connor refused to let anyone take the little girl and he as well, went with the group.

Angel was pleased with that idea. The more he saw his son, the better. He imagined never seeing him again. He had after all erased Connor's existence, at least in people's memory.

He realized that Connor had lost his hard edge. The anger and resentment in his eyes and the defensiveness in the way he stood was gone. But Angel saw from the way he held the little girl that Connor was still protective.

That at least would never change about Connor.

Once in the lobby, Angel retrieved the blanket again and ran to the car, mortified that Connor had to see him that way.

The teenager just looked shocked.

"He's a vampire. The sun fries him." Lilah commented casually when she saw the expression on his face.

The older brunette had ordered the armed guards to stay behind so that the rest of the group could take the Hummer back to Wolfram and Hart.

Buffy wondered why Spike wasn't getting a blanket for himself as well as they neared the door and when he stepped out into the sunlight, she gasped.

At first her initial reaction was the thought that Spike had definitely committed suicide by getting himself fried but then the fact that he was still standing in one piece brought her into utter shock.

She struggled to say something but no words escaped her mouth and she was left gaping at the sight of Spike, in the bright light of the sun as if he belonged there.

Spike took a quick glance at her direction, as if wondering whether she noticed what was happening but when their eyes locked; he looked away and slipped into the Hummer, Dawn with him.

Connor followed suit, wanting to be close to the person that he felt that he was in someway connected to.

Buffy did the same.

Angel wanted to join them but Lilah gave him a warning look in the limousine. He didn't belong there, at least as far as everyone was concerned. Fred rode in the Hummer with Spike, Buffy, Connor and the children to keep an eye on Dawn's vitals while the rest took the limousine.

The car was deathly silent.

It was going to be a long ride.

~*~

A/N: THERE IT IS. EVERYONE'S FINALLY BACK WHERE THEY BELONG. DAWN'S HOME. BUFFY AND SPIKE FINALLY MET EACH OTHER. CONNOR'S BACK IN THE GROUP.

THERE WILL BE AN EXPLANATION FOR THE LITTLE GIRL THAT DAWN BROUGHT WITH HER. ANY GUESSES?

AND THERE WILL DEFINITELY BE MORE BUFFY/SPIKE MOMENTS. SO COME ON TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK. I LIVE FOR YOUR REVIEWS.

ANYWAY, THANKS FOR READING.

REVIEWS PLEASE.