A/N : Happy to see positive feedback to my first chapter :-) Thanx to PerennialOutlander, SweetBitter, LadyStarlight, zanthinegirl, Spuffyfan4eva, Rachel, and Spikes Bint for the sweet reviews, I hope you all continue t enjoy this story. I promise there will be Spuffy, but not immediately. I hope you guys have patience and can wait a while, I think Spuffy is so much sweeter if you have to wait a while for it, that said, it won't be too long before we at least get them in the same room together! Enough of Ultra's crazy ramblings now, time for more fic...

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 2

The room was dark and dank, but Buffy was not afraid of any of it. It wasn't just because she was the Slayer, it was because she knew the vampire here would never harm her. He was her Angel, her first true love, and when he reached out his arms to her, she willing entered his embrace.

There were no words as he held her, no fear or pain as there usually was, and when he moved and looked into her eyes, everything felt calm and safe in a way it never usually did.

Reaching up to kiss him, the crash heard off to the side barely registered in Buffy's mind, until a sword came flying in. Her arm shot out instinctively, her hand catching the hilt of the weapon.

Seemingly oblivious, Angel continued to kiss her, and she kissed him back, her arm seemingly possessed by a force of it's own as she pulled away from him and thrust the sword through her lovers chest. He whispered her name as he turn to dust before her eyes.

Realising what she'd done, Buffy fell to her knees, weeping amongst the remains of her Angel, the thought that metal couldn't dust a vamp never entering her head, but then the laws of the universe didn't apply in this world...

There was a light tap on her shoulder and Buffy turned, looking up to see another vampire, the only other she had ever learnt to trust, and she truly had by the end. Light music started to filter in from nowhere specific and in a moment the Slayer was in Spike's arms dancing round and round the floor. Not talking or kissing or anything else. Just dancing. It was all they'd ever done.

The room seemed to grow darker, but the two of them were aglow as if a spotlight stayed upon them wherever they moved. The light was growing brighter by the second and it was only as smoke started to curl up from Spike's shoulders that Buffy realised where the light was coming from - the Sun.

They stopped dancing and Buffy knew she should get Spike away from the fatal beams, and God knows how she tried to, but he seemed to be made of lead, completely unmoving against her force. Spike only smiled as the flames engulfed him and he turned to silently falling ash.

The Slayer screamed, and cried, and raged, the pain unbearable inside of her. Peels of cruel laughter and evil whispers assaulted her ears and a terrible tapping sound that threatened to drive her to insanity...

Buffy woke with a start as someone knocked impatiently on her bedroom door. She sat bolt upright on her bed, sweat and tears pouring down her face as she breathed deeply and reminded herself it was all a horrible dream...only it wasn't.

She had put that sword through Angel, not Angelus but her darling Angel. She'd sent him to an untold Hell, sacrificed his life to save her world. The fact that he'd returned just weeks later did nothing to quash the guilt and pain Buffy could still feel when she thought too much about that day, or dreamt of it as she just had.

And Spike, he had taken death when it was offered to him, in the most heroic of deeds. He had used an amulet that few could have borne the power of, and let himself be taken from this mortal plain, to save the world. But Buffy knew, selfishly or not, that it was her he had made the real sacrifice for. She was his world, he had told her often enough. He'd died for her.

"Buffy?" a frantic voice called beyond the door, the tapping of a fist on wood audible again in the bedroom.

"Come in, Giles" she said half heartedly, as she ran her hands over her face and back into her hair, hoping she looked at least a little better than she felt "Whats up?"

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry" the man frowned slightly as he came into the room "did I wake you?" he asked, noticing she was sitting up on her bed, rubbing her eyes.

"Kinda" Buffy admitted with a shrug, moving her legs and gesturing for Giles to come and sit "but mostly I'm glad about the wake-age. Major nightmare" she told him.

"Oh dear" Giles sympathised, perching on the edge of the bed, facing his original Slayer, "anything you'd like to talk about?"

"Nah" Buffy shook her head and waved her hand negatively "just badness, y'know, I'm fine now" she shrugged it off, desperate to forget todays dream, along with those similar ones she'd had so many times before "Is dinner ready?" she asked, trying to change the subject and not knowing why else Giles would have come to find her like this.

"Er, I'm not sure actually" he admitted "I came to find you because I just took a telephone call from America...Los Angeles to be specific" he said carefully, watching closely for her reaction to this.

"Angel" was all she said, one word and so quiet Giles barely heard her speak at all.

"Wesley, actually" he corrected "and he was rather agitated"

"Is it Angelus again?" was Buffy's next concern "Because I don't know if I could..." she trailed off, her dream too fresh in her mind, memories of how Angelus had come forth in Sunnydale because of her, and how she'd had to send her beloved Angel to hell because it was too late by the time his soul was restored.

"It's not Angelus" Giles assured her "I am certain of that. I must say it is the first thing that crossed my mind, but Wesley does assure me that is not the case"

Buffy sat silently for a moment, trying to think of reasons why she'd be needed in LA so suddenly and why Wesley would be the one to call. She was at a loss.

"Then what's the sitch?" she asked, frowning a little as swung her legs over the side of the bed to sit beside Giles.

"It seems the staff of Wolfram & Hart are eager for you to visit" he smiled slightly as he explained, in truth he was equally as worried as Buffy about what might be occurring back in California that would require the ultimate Slayer's power.

"Like for a vacation?" Buffy hoped rather than believed "Cos Slayer-wise I'm not the only one anymore, plenty to choose from that do not have a history of both sleeping with and killing the boss" she added seriously, hoping she could get out of this. Seeing Angel always confused her, that's why it had been phone calls only for the past few years, it made it easier for her to forget he was there, almost.

"I'm afraid the specifics Wesley gave me were only that you were needed in Los Angeles and at the earliest time possible" Giles sighed, removing his glasses and polishing them with his handkerchief "Beyond that I really can't tell you"

"Let me get this straight" Buffy said looking a little annoyed "my ex-Watcher-turned-demon-hunter-turned-lawyer, wants me to travel thousands of miles to see people I haven't seen in almost half a decade and he won't even tell us why?" the lack of information wasn't worrying her so much as it was pissing her off now.

"That is rather the long and the short of it, yes" Giles was forced to admit, knowing he hated being short of the facts just as his Slayer did. He knew it was hard for her to see Angel after all that had occurred between them, but it also meant going backwards. Back to the States, to California, to see people that she hadn't seen for years... "Buffy" he got her attention as he put his hand over hers "I understand it's still all terribly difficult for you, but it did sound as though this matter was quite important. Even so, going back to California might be just what you need, like you say a vacation" Buffy didn't look convinced "Well, you could at least use a little sun" he tried, "The British weather is not quite as reliable for that as it is in LA"

"I guess" Buffy admitted with a smile "It's just so weird that he won't tell us why they need me there" her frown was reappearing as her mind worried and wondered about what badness might be happening across the Atlantic.

"Well, it doesn't necessarily mean it's anything to worry yourself over" her father-figure tried to calm her down as she stood up and walked to the window. He could tell when she was agitated, she didn't keep still "Perhaps it's a pleasant surprise that they just want to give to you in person" he suggested to her back and watched her nod her head.

"Maybe" Buffy conceded, but truth be told neither she nor Giles were so convinced by his words, and the Slayer couldn't help but wonder, was this the bad thing to break all the good? Because the way things were right now, all calm and stable, she knew something had to give...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So? What'd she say?" the one person more frantic than Wesley asked, looking not half as cool and calm as usual, as the other man put down the phone and leant back in his chair behind the desk.

"I wasn't actually able to speak to Buffy" the Englishman admitted, "Only Giles, but I have no doubt he'll get her here" he assured Spike, but the vampire was frowning as he paced the office, lit by a shaft of sunlight that permeated through the protective glass of the Wolfram and Hart building.

"What the hell am I gonna say to her Wes?" he sighed, "All this time, she thought I was dead and now with what's happened these passed few weeks, I dunno where to start" he ended, dropping himself into the chair on the opposite side of the desk to his friend.

"We're all here, myself, Fred, Gunn, Lorne, we'll all help" Wesley promised, "It's been quite an experience for all concerned and we'll all do our best...but I wish you would have let me told them at least roughly what this visit was for" he complained, "No doubt Buffy will have a hundred frightening scenarios running through her head right now"

Spike shook his head at that.

"Slayer's averted more apocalypses in her short life than I've seen in the whole of my one and a half century existence" he told him, almost annoyed "there's nothing her imagination can cook up worse than she's already faced" he got up and headed for the door but Wesley called behind him just as he reached for the handle.

"But this is different"

"Yeah" Spike admitted, stopping and turning briefly "always is with Buffy, I just hope she's still as strong as she used to be and not half as beautiful" he said more softly as he opened the door. As he exited the office Wesley heard him add "or this visit of her's is gonna be the death of me, and the final sort at that"

To Be Continued...