It had been hours since Faith discovered the secret of their guest. Little more had been discovered. Gunn & Fred returned from Wolfram & Hart with bad news, the Mausoleum had been in Sunnydale, and Sunnydale was gone. There had been very little information on the owner, but that wasn't much of a surprise.

Angel had been upstairs for a long time. Giles & Wesley were becoming concerned that something had happened, but they couldn't be bothered with it, as Buffy & some of the potentials came downstairs, and they couldn't know yet. Giles couldn't get Buffy's hopes up only to destroy them.

"Buffy, I think, the potentials should go back to their homes, even if its only temporary. Give them some time off. We can get their contact information, and send them off for a while." Giles and Buffy had been trying to determine the fate of the flock of slayers.

"Giles, they aren't potentials any more, they are full fledged grade-A all American slayers, well except for the ones who aren't Americans. But yeah, I think it'd be a good idea to get rid of them, I mean for them to have some time off before training begins again."

"It will give us time to find watchers, those who we don't have watchers for will come back here under our guidance."

"Yeah that sounds good. So what's going on here?"

Giles was stunned, "W-what do you mean what's going on?"

"Well I mean Willow and the green guy are all milling over the books, but won't tell me why, Faith is sketchier than usual, and Angel's all MIA, somehting is totally going on and I didn't need my spider senses to tell me that."

"You have spent far too much time with Andrew."

"Stop changing the subject."

"We are trying to find out information on Spike's amulet. It seems that there may be more to it than we thought, but we have run into a wall, as the place it was aquired from is currently a large crater in the desert."

"It was from Sunnydale? Wait, of course, everything is buried in Sunnydale, or was at least. But what kind of 'more to it' are you talking about? Is it evil? Cos there is no way its evil."

"No, no, nothing like that. We were trying to find out where it came from and what its purpose was, besides the hell mouth sealing qualities."

"Oh. Okay. I was thinking of looking up my dad, and stopping by to say hello to his dead-beat ass."

"That sounds good. Are you sure you're up for it already?"

"Giles, what, do you think I'm going to sit in this hotel all day? This is my first day of freedom, I'd like to spend it shopping, but a daughter's duty is never done. I'm gonna grab Dawn and go, Wes said one of the company cars could take us. How cool is that? Company cars! It sounds so important!"

Buffy bounded up the stairs, and a few minutes came back down with Dawn in-tow. Giles waved them off, relieved that he hadn't blown their cover.

Willow had found a spell, a very simple memory recovery spell. It was not guaranteed to work in all situations, but it had ties to the mystic loss of memory, which both her and Lorne agreed might apply here.

"Why are these spells always in German? I mean are the Germans exceptionally forgetful?"

"Darlin' it beats me. The only German I know is 'Danke Schoen' and that's thanks to the great Wayne Newton."

"Nice. Okay do we have everything we need?"

"Two yellow candles, check. Lemon Balm, mmm smells good, check. Anise Star and Agrimony, check. Pleghm inducing German incantation, check. I think we're good to go."

Lorne handed all the items to Willow. She knew what she had to do. She went upstairs to the room, the door was unlocked. Angel was asleep in a chair. She jumped when she looked over to the bed to see a sleeping Spike, or was he Spike? She wasn't sure, yes, his well defined cheekbones were there, his blue eyes, but he seemed softer. It was then she noticed him breathing, it gave her the wiggins.

"Angel" Willow whispered and poked him. "Angel."

"But 'Mandy's' a really good song!" Angel blurted out just as he awoke. "Sorry, I must have fallen asleep."

Willow tried to contain her giggles, "Who's Mandy, and why do you refer to her as a song?"

"Long, unimportant story. You've never heard of 'Mandy?' Wow, I really am old."

"This just occured to you?"

"Never mind, what's up Willow?"

Willow held up the items, "Found a spell, I'm going to see if it works."

"Oh, okay, do you need any help?"

"Nope, I can handle it. Wow it's so creepy, I mean look at him."

"Willow there is no need to fear the tie-dye."

"Not his shirt, him. I mean whoa, holy Spike!"

"Yeah I know. Well maybe you'll bring old Spikey back into the mix; I don't think any of us can be around him without the similarities bothering us. I can't even believe I want you to bring him back."

"I'm not bringing anyone back anymore! I mean, I'm just having his memories returned, thats it, no bringing back of any sort."

"I should probably let you get started. I'll be right outside if you need anything, or if he goes zombie and tries to eat your brain."

"Zombies don't... Nevermind, thanks, I'll turn evil if I need you."

Angel gave Willow a puzzled look and left. Willow set out the candles. She lit them using the zippo Faith had aquired, she needed an object from the memory bearer to help bring the memories back, the zippo was going to be her memory magnet. She picked up the other ingredients, and began chanting:

Gesegnet seien Sie, mystische Kräfte des Nordens, Süd, des Ostens und des West, bringen Sie das gestohlene Gedächtnis, hervor und bringen Sie es zu ihm Behälter zurück. Light Anise Star and drop into bowl.

Gesegnet seien Sie, mystische Kräfte des Nordens, Süd, des Ostens und des West, bringen Sie das gestohlene Gedächtnis, hervor und bringen Sie es zu ihm Behälter zurück. Light Lemon Balm, drop into bowl on top of Anise Star.

Gesegnet seien Sie, mystische Kräfte des Nordens, Süd, des Ostens und des West, bringen Sie das gestohlene Gedächtnis, hervor und bringen Sie es zu ihm Behälter zurück. Drop Agrimony, pick up candles, drip wax onto burned herbs.

As the wax dripped onto the herbs the lighter levitated, Willow's head flew backwards as whisps of energy gathered around the lighter. "Rückkehr!" As she yelled the final word, the lighter fell into her hands, the ball of light flew at the Spike-like figure, he still slept but the light broke to a fog, which he inhaled through his nose, when all the fog was gone, both candles went out.

Willow was panting, exhausted. She raised her hand "Luce!" the lights in the room turned on. On the bed was the man she had cast the memories upon. He was awake, and curled up in a ball, shaking at the head of the bed.

"Spike?" Willow stood up, dizzy, and moved towards the bed. The figure looked at her, and she could see recognition in his eyes. "Spike? William? It's okay, you're safe, it's me, Willow. Do you remember?"

"Where am I?" The familiar voice and accent came out of his mouth.

"You're in L.A., at Angel's hotel."

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"Doing what? Spike, what are we doing to you?"

"You aren't real, this isn't real. I'm not daft. Why can't you just leave me be?"

"Spike, its okay, you're back, I don't know where you were, but you aren't there anymore."

Spike laughed, "Oh, yeah, like I'm going to fall for that bit again!"

Willow walked over and grabbed his hand. "You're alive. Can't you feel that?" She placed his hand over his heart, she could feel the blood pumping thorugh his veins, it was strange to have Spike feel warm.

Spike's face turned to awe, "But, how? Why? What's going on? I don't understand." Tears formed in his eyes, as he raised his hand to his neck, feeling the pulse steady beneath his skin.

He stood up and walked over to the dresser, just above it was a mirror.

"Bloody Hell! Why didn't the lot of you tell me I looked this awful?" He laughed, touching the mirror.

"One last thing I've left to do." He walked over to the curtains and opened them, soaking up the sunlight, now pouring through into the room. He crumpled to the floor. Willow rushed over.

Spike was weeping, Willow put her arm around him, trying to understand, knowing she never could.

"This isn't real, this isn't real." He was rocking in her arms.

From the doorway came an unfamiliar voice. "Oh Baby, it doesn't get more real than this."