Chapter 3: Spreading the News

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Unsure of what to do with himself, Spike decided to do a little cleanup patrol. It was slightly more dangerous than usual, since he was rather distracted. Unbidden, the words, She's back, she's back, she's back, kept running through his mind. He still hadn't gotten over the shock of it. 147 days without her, and suddenly she was back.

But where had she been? What had happened to her to make her like this? Would she recover?

And why HAD the Scoobies left her in her grave? Spike's face tightened at the thought. Whatever she'd been through before being brought back, finding herself trapped in her own coffin certainly contributed to her trauma.

Bloody wankers,' Spike thought again. He was actually a bit worried that they would kick him out now. He'd thought he'd earned at least SOME measure of respect from them over this past summer, fighting next to them. But it was hard to say, with that lot.

And what would happen to his precious Bit? He sighed. He couldn't imagine the jumble of feelings she must be dealing with right now. And he didn't know how to help her.

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He arrived home before dawn. After having nearly been staked with his own stake, he decided that getting himself killed really wouldn't help Buffy or his Bit. Glancing at the clock, he calculated what time it was in England.

Time to tell the Watcher. And see if Ripper made an appearance.

::Ring, ring::

::Ring, ring::

Come on, you wanker, pick -'



Hey Rupes.

Spike! This is unexpected... Oh dear, what's wrong?

Nothin's wrong. Well, actually some road pirates decided to take over the Hellmouth... But that's not what I called about. Are you sittin' down? Spike asked. Could I get any more cliché?' he thought to himself. Too many soaps.

Spike heard sounds of moving around, indicating that Giles was actually going to sit down. He could imagine the Watcher sitting in a overstuffed armchair, polishing his glasses.

I'm sitting. What is it? Giles asked worriedly. Spike was not one to call across the ocean and ask him to sit down unless there was something truly serious going on.

Spike swallowed heavily. What were the right words for this situation?

She's... she's back.

She? ...Drusilla?

Wha- no! The Slayer. Buffy.

Spike heard some scuffling sounds, as if the phone had fallen. A minute later, Giles came back on the phone.

Eh, sorry about that, I'm afraid I dropped my glasses when you said... what you said. Mind repeating that? Perhaps I'm getting senile.

That may be, Rupes, but if you heard me say Buffy's back,' you heard correctly.

Silence.

Watcher? You still there? Haven't ad a heart attack or anythin'?

No, no, I'm still here. Just shocked.

Yeah, know what you mean. Couldn't believe it myself when I first found

You found' her?

he sighed. Here was where the story got interesting. The Scoobies brought her back.

What? When? How?!

Uh, to answer some of those... when' was apparently last night. How,' I dunno yet. I'd imagine Willow was the main one behind it.

Spike could once again imagine Giles furiously cleaning his glasses as he thought about this.

Yes, I'd imagine so as well... That STUPID girl! Giles burst out. The forces she harnessed, the lines she's crossed, the incredible risks-

I know. m not stupid, I get what she did. That's the thing with magic. There's always consequences.

Willow's blatant disregard for the forces of nature disturbs me, to be honest, Spike. She luckily managed to avoid unleashing hell on Earth, but who knows what will... he trailed off. His concern over Willow's abuse of magic was just a cover for what he was really trying to grasp - the sudden return of his pseudo-daughter from the dead. That's what he needed to try and focus on. We can discuss this later. Now, I want to hear about... about Buffy. How... how is she?

There was an ominous pause. Spike? How is she? Giles repeated.

She's human, I can tell ya that much. But as for anything else, well... it's too early to tell yet, Watcher. She's a bit wild at this point. Loud noises scare her, things like that. She doesn't seem too aware of what's goin' on round her... but she just got back. Give er time, Spike said, as gently as possible. He knew the old man loved Buffy just as much as he did, albeit in a very different way.

But who knows where's she has been, or what she may have experienced?!

Well, I know one thing that happened to her, Spike said angrily. She clawed erself out of her own bleedin' coffin!

Giles gasped, shocked. You can't mean that they-

They did, Spike confirmed grimly.

The men remained silent for a few moments, contemplating the violence they'd like to inflict upon those who'd hurt the girl they loved.

Surprisingly, it was Spike who first shook himself out of his violent daydreams. Look, Rupes, one of the reasons I wanted to tell you all this before you came back, is cause we need to do some research on bein' brought back. What might happen now, what we can do to help her, that sort of thing.

Yes, all right, Giles said, a tad surprised Spike had suggested research, but not as much as he would have been a few years before. Giles suspected that Spike was a closet intellectual.
I'll grab some books from the Watcher library before I leave. I'll look into it on the flight over, and more once I get there. I'm not sure how much information there is on this sort of occurrence, but perhaps there may be some references in-

Sure, Watcher, whatever you say. Just get here as soon as you can, with as much info as you can get your hands on.

Giles sighed. I'll take a taxi from the airport. See you in a day or so.

Bye, Rupes.

::Click::

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A/N: Sorry this was mostly talk! My stories do tend to be that way, just warning you.

A lot of lines I used were from the show. As usual, I got them from buffyworld.com

And thank you once again to those who reviewed! I can't tell you how much they mean to me, so please, keep it up! :oD