A/N: Long awaited, I know. But I've been stressing over my A Levels. And apparently school must come first. So, here it is without further ado -

Andrew shifted uncomfortably in the chair, the printouts laying in his lap "Can you not glare at me like that? It's just it's making me nervous and –"

"No!" Giles and Xander both said.

Willow gave Andrew a pat on the shoulder like he was a sickly puppy dog. Andrew sighed and looked back down at the sheets. Ancient Greek was tricky and the three pairs of laser beam eyes he had on him did nothing to quell his anxiety. Spike's life rested on this. Oh, the pressure!

"It's three words, Andrew" Xander threw his hands up "I thought you knew this stuff as well as you know Klingon?"

"It's the pressure!" Andrew cried "It's making me buckle, the weight of the world on my shoulders, all hopes resting on theses three little words, it's almost too much for one such as myself to bear!"

"Andrew, stay calm" Willow suggested then grabbed him by the lapels "And translate the frickin' words, OKAY?!"

Andrew gulped "Yes, she-witch, I...I will"

"Good" Willow nodded and smoothed his jacket back before sitting back in the chair.

Giles scowled "Get a move on. We...Spike doesn't have all day"

-------------

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Spike screamed at the top of his lungs, no doubt startling the crap out of birds nesting nearby.

Not that he cared. He was about to die by immolation. Again. He scrambled to his feet, his self-preservation kicking in and legged it in one direction like a headless chicken. He heard Buffy calling after him. Spike ran and ran and ran some more desperately looking for a hideout. The sun was on the way. He felt it start to heat up the sand behind him. It was chasing him.

The first beams of sunlight hit his pale skin and Spike felt a rush of warmth travel down his back. This was it. Death and hell all over again.

Something tackled him from the side with blurring speed. Spike went down in a tumble and found himself, surprisingly, in the blessed shadows. His head cracked against the hard mud floor but he didn't care. A few small tendrils of smoke wafted off of him. Spike looked down to see Buffy entwined with him. She looked up, worried, then punched him in the side.

"Ow! Hey!" Spike complained as they disentangled themselves.

They were in small alcove of the high cliffs surrounding the beach. A makeshift cave of sorts. A refuge for sun fearing folk like himself.

Buffy stood, crossed her arms "You idiot! Why didn't you notice the sun was coming up?"

"Listen, here, missy – " Spike stood too and cracked his head on the ceiling of the cave with an audible crack "Oww! Bollocks!"

Buffy tilted her head "One advantage of being short"

Spike rubbed his head "Oww. I didn't bloody noticed the sun was coming up. I was too busy gawking at you! So, really, Summers, it's all your fault"

"How do you figure that?" Buffy brow creased "And how come the water-feral didn't protect you. I mean since your changing into it...they aren't sun sensitive, right?"

"Oww" Spike still rubbed his head "I don't know. I don't think so. Maybe I'm not as far gone as we thought. Oww"

"Baby" Buffy kicked him gently on the shin.

Spike pouted and Buffy smiled, reaching up and pulling his face gently down to hers. She inspected his head but from the derisive snort that escaped her lips Spike figured there was no real damage. She let go and turned to look out of the entrance of the cave.

Standing there, bathed in the light of the sun, Buffy looked almost like an angel. Spike had often wondered if when she had been pulled from heaven, that the Slayer had ripped a piece of it along with her for the ride. Celestial would be the word he would describe her as in that moment. Then again that was probably just that old ponce William rearing his nerdy head.

"Oh, no!" Buffy cried.

"What?" Spike took a step cautiously towards the edge of the cave, careful to avoid the beams of sunlight.

Buffy pointed across the beach. Three teenage boys were laughing and shoving one another, kicking sand up into each other's faces. They weren't far from where Buffy and Spike had left the pile of their clothing. It wouldn't be long before they found the items and either completely ruined the clothes or came looking for the owners. Spike wasn't that bothered. Looking over at the Slayer he could see that she was bothered.

"Did you grab any clothes?" He asked.

"Uh, no!" She turned to him, rolled her eyes "I was a little preoccupied saving your life. I should have prioritized better, I know"

Spike smirked "So, what you gonna do now, Summers? What's it to be – hide out and pray or give the lads a show they'll never forget?"

"How about neither. You go get them!"

"Small problem with that scenario – blinding sunlight"

Buffy shrugged "Well, I am not streaking"

Spike gave her a look. The Slayer shook her head.

"You could be there and back in ten seconds. Benefits of Slayer speed..." He nudged her with his elbow.

"Ten seconds is long enough for my total and complete humiliation to be imprinted on my mind forever" Buffy looked back out of the cave, the boys drew nearer to the clothes.

Spike shrugged "Lady's choice"

The Slayer turned and looked at him oddly then.

"What?" Spike frowned.

Buffy paused then shook her head, spoke softly "Nothing"

---------------------

"Ah ha!" Andrew pumped his fist in the air "Score one for El Andrablo!"

Giles turned to him "You have something? What?"

Willow, Xander and Dawn, who had recently joined them in the pressurization of Andrew, all leaned theatrically towards the geek. Andrew smiled a self-satisfied grin. He nodded slowly.

"I have the first two word. It is 'must' and 'be'"

Willow frowned, picked up a piece of paper "'To change a host back to what it once was, the curse...must be... something...Once that is done all shall return to what it once was"

Dawn looked at Giles "Must be what?"

"That is indeed the question..." Giles rubbed his chin "I don't suppose you're near to translating the third word?"

"Well, it's a slippery one, Rupert" Andrew looked at him, then highlighted the word on the page with a bright pink highlighter "You see, it is from a different time period to the rest of the Greek"

"Kind of like the writer of this thing is deliberately trying to keep the suspense going...?" Xander observed.

The group all fell silent.

Dawn shrugged "Andrew, please, hurry. If Buffy isn't back then it might mean..."

"No," Willow put an arm around the girls shoulder "I'm sure Buffy is fine, Spike too. They're probably just hiding the light out, you know, laying low, not drawing attention to themselves..."

-----------------

Dave kicked the sand into Kieron's face again and a snorting laugh escaped his nose. These guys were so stupid. He was so pissed he couldn't even remember who had suggested the shortcut across the beach. But, knowing his friends it had probably been Rick.

All Dave knew was that his mum was going to be so stressy with him when he got back home after spending the whole night out and stinking of alcohol to boot. 'You're only fifteen,' she'd say 'when you move out you can do what you like but when you're under my roof it's my rules...' blah, blah, blah.

He had stopped listening to his mum a long time ago.

"You git!" Kieron shoved him hard.

Dave stumbled to the side a few steps.

"What the...!"

Dave frowned looking over at Rick to see what the fuss was about. Rick was staring wide-eyed off to the right like he was transfixed. Dave turned fully expecting to see the police or a dead jellyfish.

Instead he saw a very naked, very hot looking girl walking across the beach towards them.

"Oh...Oh...Oh..." Were the only sounds Dave found his voice box would allow him to make.

He felt his eyes widened comically and his breath caught in his throat. All three of the boys were frozen in place. The girl was short, blonde, tanned...all over. She strolled up in front of them, bent down, picked up a pile of clothes and stood.

"Hey guys," She said in an American accent "Nice weather we're having, huh?"

"Uh..." Dave managed.

The woman smiled, dazzling them with her pearly whites. Then she turned on her heel and walked back the way she had came from. Dave's eyes never left her.

"Nice talking to you" She called over her shoulders.

Dave gulped "Uh..."

The girl disappeared into a cave. A cave?!

"What the..." Rick repeated.

"Holy shit! That girl was naked!" Kieron cried "Did you see her...?!"

Rick shoved him "Of course I bloody saw her. What does she live in a cave?"

Kieron laughed "Cave girl! We have to spread this at school – the myth of Cave Girl is true!"

"Yeah, well, I'd go two thousand B.C with her anytime, mate!" Rick laughed, slapping his hand onto his friend's back.

Dave's eyes rolled back into his head and he fainted.

A/N: Review me, Scotty! Or whatever. Just review. Tell me, your woes, your life story etc. I'm all ears. But not like some freaky all-ear monster...