Authors' note: This chapter was going to end up very long so I had to split it into two parts – second part should be up tomorrow or Friday! Bits of lines and events have been stolen from 'Gone' but I have also changed quite a lot. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 13 – First steps into the clear. (Part 1)

Willow sat thinking of all the possible ways she could explain what had happened, how things had got so out of control without her even noticing, in fact before that only Tara had noticed. Or had everyone felt the same way as Tara about her magic and just not said anything. Willow shook away all her conflicting thoughts as the door to the Summer's residence opened and Dawn's laughter could be heard. It stopped abruptly when the three of them turned to the lounge and saw Willow looking like she had come out of battle.

"Oh my god Will, what happened? Are you o.k.?" Buffy said rushing to Willow's side, this is it Willow thought, I'm going to have to spill everything.

At Willow's anxious look Buffy turned to the Dawn and Spike. "Can go guys go upstairs and get some bandages and stuff?"

"Of course." Spike said as he took Dawn upstairs with him leaving Buffy and Willow alone.

"Oh Buffy, I'm so sorry." Willow said breaking into tears.

"What do you have to be sorry about?" Buffy said fearing the worst.

"I've been so stupid!" She said shaking her head. "Tara was right… about everything……she was right to leave me."

"Oh Will," Buffy said placing her hand on her friend's shoulder trying to comfort her. "Just tell me what's happened."

Willow told Buffy everything from the memory spell she did on Tara and the one she tried to do on Buffy and Tara to what had happened in that last couple of days with Rack and finally how she had been attacked. Buffy silently thanked Spike and Dawn for giving them some privacy as she listened to Willow.

"I just don't understand Will," Buffy said when she was finished. "How did the magic get so crazy, how could you do something like that to Tara?"

"I don't know." Willow said sobbing. "I guess I was looking for the quick fix and I depended on magic for everything…"

"I can't believe you went so far, you have been killed tonight!" Buffy said trying to not become angry at her friend but failing.

At that moment Dawn and Spike came down the stairs first aid kit in hand. Buffy got up off the sofa and turned to them.

"I'm going to take Willow to the hospital." She said taking charge of the situation as always.

"Buffy, I really don't want-" Willow began.

"Yes, I know but you need to, you said you think you're arm may be broken." Willow relented and they made their way to Sunnydale general together.

It turned out her wrist was fractured and it had to be put in plaster apart from that Willow only had scrapes and bruises. As they were walking home Buffy decided she had been hard enough on Willow, she hadn't preached to her or told her how brainless she had been exactly, Buffy figured she already knew that, but after the hospital they had been very quiet, neither of them knowing what to say so Buffy decided she would change the subject completely.

"I got a temporary job!" Buffy said cheerily.

"Really?" Willow asked.

"Yeah, I'm now a proud employee of the Espresso Pump, I stopped by there tonight and luckily they wanted staff."

"Cool! Does that mean I can get free coffee?"

"Well I don't want to get fired on my first day but I'll see what I can do." She said smiling. Buffy then proceeded to tell Willow about her idea for having her own self defence class.

When they got back to the house Willow went straight upstairs to bed, Dawn was already asleep but Spike was waiting in the lounge for them.

"Is everything O.k.?" He asked after Willow was out of sight.

"No, it's really not." Buffy said wearily. Spike just put his arms around her and pulled Buffy into a loving embrace, she sighed against his shoulder. "I was so caught up in my own pain before that I didn't notice anybody else's."

"You can't beat yourself up about this Buffy, there's nothing you could have done." Spike said as he caressed her hair, trying to comfort her. They remained silent for a few minutes still gently holding each other until Buffy broke away to look Spike straight in the eye.

"I love you." She said softly, almost inaudible but because Spike was only inches from her and he had supernatural hearing he heard her words and smiled. It was the first time she had said it since the very first time she had said it and Spike had almost forgotten that she really did love him. Everything still felt like a dream, one that he could wake up from any second.

"Love you too." He said as he leant in to kiss her, they shared a brief kiss and then he wished her goodnight. They kissed again as Spike walked out the door, it became quite heated neither of them wanting to let go of the other, Buffy was pushed up against the outside of the house as Spike's hands wandered all over her body. They reluctantly broke apart when things started going even further, Buffy not like the idea of having sex on the front doorstep, Spike cheekily said under his breath but clear enough for Buffy to hear. "You will when I'm through with you."

The next day Buffy decided to go shopping with Willow, she thought it would take her mind off the magic and Buffy had a free day before her job at the espresso pump started so she was going to take full advantage of it. Earlier that morning had almost been a complete disaster when a bitch of a social worker had called round, something Buffy had completely forgot was going to happen. Luckily Willow was charming but Buffy still didn't think it ended very well especially since she had seen the box of magic items that were going to be stored away for Willow's own good and had jumped to conclusions. Now Buffy just had to put that out of her mind, she was having quite a nice time shopping with her best friend, although she could see that Willow was finding it tough, every now and then she would shake slightly; cold turkey was definitely taking its toll. Buffy made sure they took lots of well needed shopping breaks, stopping to refuel and rest their legs but it was still hard for her to see Willow struggling so much with just staying focused, all Buffy could hope was that in time it would get better.

Willow and Buffy were walking out of one shop when a blast of something came out of nowhere and knocked Buffy to the ground, she picked herself up quickly looking round to see what hit her then she looked down to brush herself off but saw nothing apart from the road below her, then she moved her hands in front of her face and they weren't there, she was gone. Willow was also looking all around her.

"Buffy, where are you?" She said desperately searching for her friend. She had seen Buffy fall to the ground and then disappear.

"Willow I'm right here, apart from I can't see myself." Buffy said confused. Willow turned to her left which was where Buffy's voice was coming from and reached her arm out coming in contact with Buffy's shoulder, she then felt her more firmly tracing her arms and then her face.

"Hey watch it!" Buffy said as Willow almost poked her in the eye.

"Oh my God Buffy, You're invisible!" Willow said amazed.

"Yeah, did you only just notice that?" Buffy asked with her trade-make sarcasm.

"I'm sorry it's just…wow, did you see what hit you?" Willow asked.

"No, did you see anything?"

"There was this black van that sped off pretty quick over there, I didn't see who was driving though."

"Yeah," Buffy said thinking. "I've seen a black van around before when lots of weird stuff was happening to me, I think we better get to the magic box and research."

Buffy and Willow walked into the Magic Box, the ringing of the bell above them signalling their arrival.

"Hey Will," Xander said as he saw her. "I thought you and Buff were going shopping today, don't tell me she bailed on you for her peroxide love muffin."

"Hey!" Buffy said insulted.

"Who was that?" Xander asked confused as he looked around him as if he were being spied on.

"That was me, Buffy!" She answered walking up to Xander and hitting him lightly on the chest.

"Ow!" Xander yelped mainly out of surprise as he stumbled back a step.

"It seems I've come down with a slight case of invisibility." Buffy said as she picked up various items in the store and started playing with them. Both Xander and Anya stared with amazement.

"We think whoever did this is responsible for those other things that have happened to Buffy as well, I saw that mysterious black van driving away." Willow said moving to research table. "And when we were walking away from where it happened I found this." She said putting something on the table which no one could see. "I think it's a traffic cone, whatever turned Buffy invisible must have done it to this as well." Willow grabbed a marker pen from the table and scribbled on the cone making it visible to everyone.

"So I guess it's full on research time!" Xander said faking enthusiasm.

"Well I should be able to track down who the van's registered to and then get an address." Willow said feeling new found vigour that she would be able to help with her computer skills and not need any magic.

"That's great! You guys won't really need me then. I'm just going to go out for a bit, get some fresh air." Buffy said already opening the door and disappearing – although not literally disappearing because she had already done that! The rest of the gang watched Buffy leave or more precisely the door open and close all thinking the same thing, fresh air my ass!

"I'm going to go back to the house and research cause that's where my laptop is, you guy's see if there's any way to reverse invisibility." Willow said as she left.

"It's not fair!" Anya said after Willow was out of the door. "Buffy's going to get to have lots of orgasms now and I'm not!"

Xander had to shake away a disturbing mental image that Anya's words had caused before he could even think about answering her distressed comment. "An' we can have lots of orgasms when we get home tonight o.k.?" Xander said softly as if he were trying to reason with a child. Anya's pout slowly turned into a smile and Xander congratulated himself on another perfectly handled situation with his fiancé.

Buffy was having a great time… being invisible was fantastic! After scaring some people in the park she'd made her way to the social services office and made that horrible women look crazy, she did feel some slight guilt for it but dismissed it instantly because Ms. Kroger totally deserved it. It was like she had already made up her mind about everything before she arrived at the house. Buffy was practically skipping down the street; there was now only one person she couldn't wait to surprise in her new see through state.

TBC…

A/N: Sorry to leave it there but you will get an update real soon.