Buffy looked up sharply at Spike. He felt her attention and turned around.

"Hey. How are you doing there?" he asked.

"It's okay. What about you?"

"Overcome by guilt and remorse. But I won't be brooding over it."

Buffy tried to smile. Spike patted her shoulder.

"You take a bit to get use to it."

Buffy grabbed onto him to pull herself to standing. Giles and Dawn stood behind her. Buffy looked up at Spike, curiously. He was smiling at her in a gentle it's-nice-to-be-here kind of way. Something was very strange in the way they were standing, she lent into him, let him hold her up. She realised what it was.

"I don't want to kill you," she said to him.

Spike's face clouded over.

"You felt that. All the time I've patrolled with you. When you brought Dawn to my crypt."

He looked horrified, and faintly sick. He felt it, too. To fight that kind of instinct, to give him any chance at all… And he had tried to convince her by tying her up and staking Dru.

"It's okay," Buffy said quickly, "Do you know who many times I've wanted to kill Dawn?"

Spike accepted that.

"Hey," Dawn said.

Buffy turned so she could face her sister directly. Dawn looked good. She looked shocked, guilty, exuberant, and guilty. But she had grown a little in the two weeks?! since the final fight with Glory. Buffy had left her to look after herself.

"Hi," she said.

Dawn grinned.

"Are you going to be the prefect sister now, and keep your room tidy and do the dishes and go to school and get good marks in everything? Except maybe history."

"No," Dawn said. She knew that promising anything you couldn't keep was a bad, bad, bad idea. She was worried, though, by the question.

"Good!" Buffy said, with a sharp nod.

Dawn flung her arms around her sister and Buffy hugged her back.

"I missed you so much," Dawn said. "I couldn't begin to think of what I was going to do."

"I knew you were safe," Buffy said. She pulled back to look Dawn in the eye. "It was nice there, I knew that you were safe. Promise you'll be safe. I want to see you grow you up, now that I can."

Dawn nodded.

Giles was still hovering over her. His expression was a quieter version of Dawn's, a mixture of joy and concern, with a little of the determined duty-doer she'd seen when he had said he would kill Dawn. Buffy remembered what the other guy had said. She was going to need his strength for some time.

"I'll be okay," she said with professional candour. "Just give me a few weeks."

Giles smiled slowly.

Buffy looked around the room with a much brighter expression than she had the first time. Willow and Tara were crouched on the floor with Abbey. Abbey's husband was looking at the three of them as if he was struggling with something. She hadn't told him about the magic thing, then.

He looked familiar in an impersonal way, like he was famous. Buffy felt suddenly nervous. She pushed it back to kneel beside Willow.

"Hey," she said.

"Oh, Goddess, Buffy," Willow managed to say. She shook her head and pulled away.

Buffy shuffled over and put her arms around her friend. She wasn't going to be able to comfort Willow. And she wasn't going to be able to forget the pain she felt. But most of her anger was directed at Marbury, and she'd need her Willow back.

"I'm back, Will. It's okay."

Willow shook her head. "We shouldn't have tried. We should have let you rest."

"I would have been really pissed if I'd been hell and you hadn't tried to get me out," Buffy said. She knew that that much was true.

"You got out last time."

"I knew where the exit was last time! Please, Will, this is hardly a nice place if you're not happy."

Willow looked up at Buffy. She was sad, and grieving, and angry. But she was absolutely determined. Willow nodded weakly.

"Good, you're going to stand up now?"

Willow stood up and leant on Tara. Abbey patted her back gently. Buffy remembered that reassuring smile from the late night news.

"It a pleasure to meet you, ma'am," Buffy said with a polite nod to Abbey.

Abbey smiled in return. "I'm glad I had the opportunity," she said.

"Thank you, sir," Buffy said to the President. He nodded. He was still unsure about her. And she hadn't use the pleasantry with the deference he had become accustomed to.

The rest of the gathered company was watching her now. Buffy smiled and gave a little curtsey. Marbury bowed in return.

"I want to see them fight, now," Buffy told him, pointing to C.J and Donna.

Giles didn't miss that Buffy had asked Marbury. Everyone else turned to the two women standing against the wall. C.J turned to Donna and shrugged. Donna nodded.

"Sounds like fun."

C.J chuckled lightly. It was fun, she knew that. She took of her jacket and her shoes and sat down to take of her socks. Donna did the same, and they were soon standing in the middle of a circle facing each other off.

"You're not going to go easy, this time, are you?" Donna asked.

"Not a chance," C.J said.

She swung a blow at Donna, who ducked out of the way and threw her own punch, which landed wide. There were a few more passes before they had gotten into the fight. Buffy was carefully watching the moves they used, as were the three Watchers.

C.J landed the first blow, to Donna's shoulder. Donna was forced back a step, but she blocked C.J's next swing with that arm.

"Come on, you weren't going to go easy."

"I didn't," C.J said. She blocked Donna's next punch.

"You can hit harder than that, Donna."

"No, I can't," Donna said.

"Of course," Marbury said, suddenly.

Donna and C.J stopped to glare at him.

"That's what it meant. Donna's Slayer powers were supposed to be returned to Buffy, who lost them when she died. But because we had two Slayers, the spell took some from each of you."

"Will we get it back?" Donna demanded.

"Only if you do," Marbury said.

C.J waved him off and turned back to Donna.

"We should still be evenly matched. Which means I'll win, because I've got training."

"I've got youth and imagination," Donna said, facing C.J again.

Xander leant forward to Buffy.

"How inappropriate would it be to chant 'fight, fight'?" he asked.

Buffy suppressed a grin.

"Very," she said.

C.J and Donna set up an easy, early, blow/block rhythm. Donna landed the first punch after dodging one of C.J's. C.J responded with a swift sideways kick which left Donna on the floor.

Donna rolled in time to grab one of C.J's legs and tried to pull her over. From then the fight got a little out of hand. Neither C.J nor Donna was now really strong enough to throw the other woman. But both wanted to test the new edge to their fighting ability.

Donna had more trouble keep her hair of her face. They agreed on a time out to tie their hair back and continued at a much more measured pace. C.J caught Donna's foot from one kick and Donna did a back flip off the momentum. C.J spun away from one of Donna's blows and aimed a flying kick at her middle.

Donna ended up on the floor again. Before C.J could pin her they were interrupted by voices from outside the door.

"Leo, they're a college tour, the President could have met them anywhere else in building," Josh said, his exasperation evident.

"You've checked everywhere else?" Leo asked. "She's checked everywhere else," he told Josh, "And really, I'm sick of listening to you."

"Leo!"

"Just open the door!"