A/N: The end is in sight people! Which is quite sad for me because I really enjoyed writing this story, and I absolutely LOVED getting reviews for it (hint hint) In the last chapter I intend to write a massive thank you, plus individual lil thank you's for people who have stuck with this story all the way through. Anywhoo only one more chapter to go! And what a chapter it will be…

Spike was still pacing when Buffy came out wiping a tear from her eye. Spike froze at the sight of her and he didn't know whether to run or hug her as her head was still hung low. Spike held his lack of breath. There was a silence. Buffy raised her head and looked straight at Spike, tears still in her eyes. Spike was shocked when she looked into his eyes as he saw Buffy look so fragile that he was scared she might break. He had never seen her look anything but strong before. He stepped forward timidly and held out his arms slightly. Buffy didn't hesitate in stepping into his arms and letting him pull her in a tight hug.

In his arms Buffy cried. She cried over the joy of seeing her mum again, because she wouldn't have to go to work at the Doublemeat, but mostly, she cried because nobody had ever done anything anywhere near as special as what Spike had done for her.

Willow looked at the two of them and relaxed. She, like Spike had been worried how Buffy would take something like this. But it seems they had no reason to panic, she knew that those were happy tears and notI-hate-Spike tears. She looked at Spike and realised just how content he was in having Buffy with him, and thought that maybe Spike was right for Buffy after all. Then Willow remembered what Tara had told her, about how hard it was to get a spirit demon on this plane let alone cooperate and her opinion of Spike grew. But then, she didn't really care how unmatched they were in the first place, she just wanted Buffy happy and safe.

Dawn stood at the top of the stairs and wondered what was going on, she could hear Buffy crying and she assumed it was because of Spike but when she looked down from the top of the stairs, Buffy was in Spike's arms. Dawn was really confused. She decided it was probably OK to disturb them.

Dawn crept down the stairs and poked Willow in the back.

"What's going on?" Dawn whispered.

Spike turned his head as best he could without disturbing Buffy who had stopped crying but was still clinging to him. He gestured to Dawn to come over, so Dawn got up and went to stand in front of him. Spike didn't say anything, but he pointed to the door.

Dawn turned around and looked at the door. The tingling in her spine grew the closer she got to the door. Dawn looked at Spike nervously, but Spike nodded. Dawn took a deep breath and opened the door hoping that this wasn't some kind of trap. As she closed the door, Dawn looked around the room. She saw both Tara and Kreckov standing in some kind of trance andshe could feel the power radiating off Kreckov. Finally her eyes rested on someone sitting on the couch. Her mother. Dawn almost fainted.

Buffy and Spike sat next to each other on the table with Willow opposite them. They had papers all over the table in front of them.

"Do you think I could burn it?" Buffy suddenly asked.

"Burn what?" Willow asked confused.

"My stupid Doublemeat outfit, do you think I could burn it? We could make it an event you know?Andburn marshmallows on those little sticks"

Spike chuckled " You can do whatever you want with it luv, your free of that dump now"

"I still cant believe we didn't know about all this" Buffy pointed to the papers on the desk " All this money that my mom left that somehow went completely unnoticed!, I mean there's enough from the accommodation money for us to pay all the bills and cover all the slayer related things that always seem to pop up"

"What you mean like weapons and what not?" Spike asked

"No I mean the furniture, do you have any idea how much it costs to replace all the stuff that demon break when they come crashing in? Its sooo inconsiderate"

Willow laughed, "You should write a memo 'When you burst into my house uninvited and try to kill me please try and avoid the lamps, they're new'"

"You make it sound like it's a bad idea!" Buffy said in a pretend shocked voice.

They all laughed and Spike watched Buffy happier then he had been in a long time. He hadn't seen her like this for way too long. She was so full of light now, like she had been when he first fell in love her.

Just then Xander and Anya came in.

"Buffy! Willow!" Xander shouted up the stairs.

"In here! And shhh!" Buffy scolded him, and gestured him to come in.

"Hey Anya, how's the magic box?" Buffy asked.

"Excellent, I made a lot of money today which is important, and I..."

"Where's Tara?" Xander interrupted

"Xander, I was talking, it's hypocritical to interrupt when you are always yelling at me for doing it" Anya said, frowning at Xander.

"She's upstairs wrapping up presents, and she also said to tell everyone that dinner will be in about 20 minutes"

"So everyone's OK?"

"Why wouldn't they be?" Buffy asked curiously.

"Well you never know, I was scared I would come back and find a demon in the house" Xander looked pointedly at Spike but nobody sitting at the table noticed because they had all bowed there heads.

"What? Oh god what happened?" Xander said worried

"Um my friend Kreckov is kinda in the living room," Spike mumbled.

"Kreckov? The spirit demon? How do you know him?" Anya asked amazed.

"Wait can we go back to the whole 'friend' part? You invited one of your demon friends to Buffy's house??" Xander spluttered also amazed but for different reasons.

"Kreckov's a mate OK? He's here doing me a favour" Spike shot at him.

"How do you know a spirit demon?" Anya asked "They are extremely high level, I have only ever heard of them by reputation"

"Oh good, so we have a famous demon inthe house, that makes it better" Xander said sarcastically.

"Spirit demons aren't evil, they help beings on separate planes contact each other. Like if someone from this plane wanted to use a spirit demon they would contact someone who is dead, at least that's the most common one" Anya explained slowly like Xander was extremely dumb.

"But why is he here? And why hasn't Buffy killed him?" Xander asked still confused.

"He helped me talk to my mother" Buffy said quietly.

Xander went quiet. "What did…what was it…" Xander wasn't quite sure what to say.

"It was good. Really good. She helped me work through a lot of stuff, like the whole money situation. Apparently mom left money for my college tuition which we somehow forgot about, so it means I can go back to school and stay here and use the money for accommodation for bills and stuff"

Xander was shocked, he couldn't quite get his head around what Buffy had just told him and the fact this was all arranged by Spike only hurt his head more. Fortunately for him, he was distracted by Dawn coming in from the living room teary eyed. She looked at Buffy and they both silently understood what the other was going through. Dawn walked over and sat next to Buffy and linked Buffy's hand with hers.

Tara entered and she looked pointedly at Buffy. "You OK?"

Buffy smiled easily at Tara " I guess Spike told you then, and you don't have to worry I'm fine"

Tara gave Buffy a quick smile to show that she understood. "So you guy's hungry? We got enough food to last us till next spring"

"I'll go see if Kreckov is done" Spike got up and went to the dining room. Buffy stared at him wistfully for a second and then seemed to snap out of it. She followed the others as they trailed into the kitchen.

Tara took out the turkey and handed it to Buffy while the others argued over who should take in the various dishes. Buffy made her way to the table with the turkey. Just then she heard a shout and a crash from the living room.

She dropped the plate with the turkey, and ran in the direction of the crash quickly followed by everyone else. They all burst into the living room to see Spike wrestling with a large horned demon that looked similar to Kreckov and Tara on the floor sporting a bloody nose. Buffy immediately attacked the demon with a kick to its back whilst Willow, Xander, Dawn and Anya made their way over to Tara.

Buffy and Spike fought the demon, trying hard to keep it away from the rest of the gang. Finally Buffy managed to get a sword from the weapons chest and decapitate it and it dissolved in a puff of smoke. Buffy was bent over on the floor trying hard to regain her breath.

"You know you really shouldn't have done that," Anya said

Buffytried to regulate her breathing, wincing at the pain in her back. "What? Why?"

"That was a Dadoshnick demon, they're dimensional hitchhikers" Anya replied.

"What?" Buffy said confused. Spike got up and went over to her, holding out a hand to pull her up which she accepted.

"A hitchhiker, you know someone who travels between dimensions with another being it must have come in with Joyce" Anya explained

"I know what a hitchhiker is, but why shouldn't I have killed it?" Buffy asked.

"Dadoshnick's usually travel in packs, they're leader will probably come looking for you now" Anya explained.

"Anyone seen Kreckov?" Spike cut in.

"He disappeared as soon as the demon attacked" Tara said while pinching her nose to stop the blood flow.

"You OK baby?" Willow asked Tara worriedly

"I'm good, I just need some ice or something" Tara tried to smile at Willow but found it hurt too much.

Willow led Tara to sit down on the couch. "Dawn, can you get some ice?"

Dawn considered muttering about always having to do these things but she refrained. They didn't need her sarcasm right now.

Buffy stood alert, her slayer side taking over, but in her head she was whining. Didn't these demons know what time of year it was? Shouldn't there be some sort of clause in the slayer contract that said she shouldn't have to drop her Christmas turkey in the name of saving her friends from demons? But right now, she didn't have time to whine." So what's a dado or whatever you just said?"

"A Dadoshnick. They are a rare species of demon, mostly because they go for the pain and the torture rather then just straight death. They are very poplar with vengeance demons." Anya explained.

"So how do we kill it?" Buffy anxious to get this over with.

"It's quite hard to kill a Dadoshnick. Not only are they powerful in strength but also they have a variety of ablities. Immobilisation, teleportation plus a variety of highly unpleasant mental powers. Usually they find a way to attack you personally, its more fun that way."

Xander looked slightly horrified but Anya didn't look bothered in the slightest by what she had just said and carried on.

"Mostly these demons's just float around in limbo, attaching themselves to anything that takes their interest and torturing whoever they find. It makes sense that it would hitch hike with Joyce; they like to go for the more sentimental crossings. It means they can cause greater pain."

"Yeah but Buffy can kill this thing right? It's not gonna get a chance to do some of that pain and torture you keep going on about" Dawn said from the doorway with a pack of ice in her hand. She was worried; the thought of there being a demon like that one that Buffy couldn't kill was just too disturbing.

"Don't worry niblet I won't let anything touch you" Spike reassured her as Dawn walked past him and sat down. She handed the ice pack to Tara who took it and placed it on her nose.

"So we got a plan?" Spike asked.

"Already got one. And it involves me, the demon, and the pointy end of a sword" Buffy said firmly, gripping said sword.

Anya looked at Buffy like she was extremely slow "Dadoshnick's aren't like normal demon's Buffy. You're going to need some other form of weapon other than a sword and a reckless attitude"

"Ahn I don't think that's really helping, Buffy's just trying to figure out how best to go at this" Xander said trying to defend his friend and restrain his fiancé's blunt tongue.

"Well I'm sorry but it's not good enough. I've worked with these demon's and it's all fun and games when your organizing a massacre but Dadoshnick's are not demon's you want to be on the wrong side of, so there's no use wasting time on pleasantries if we are all going to die horrible and painful deaths."

"Anya!" Xander exclaimed.

"We are not going to die. We have faced worse then this before and we have always won. We just need to come up with a plan to kill the demon leader right?

"I think we need backup, maybe a spell or something?" Dawn asked looking at Tara.

"I couldn't even if I wanted to. That spell with Kreckov took a lot out of me, it will take me a little time to get my powers back" Tara said with her head still tilted back.

"Anya, do you know any way to kill it?" Dawn said, now getting desperate.

"Well I know more about what they do then how to kill them, all I know is that you have to pierce the heart of the leaderwith the blood of a fallen warrior"

"That sounds easy enough; I just wait till it sends a minion and then when I kill that, I go after the leader," Buffy reasoned.

Spike was watching her anxious, he had heard of these demon's just like Anya had, but she knew much more about them then he did. All he knew was that they were one of the big scary's that any vampire or lower level demon with any sense stayed away from. Spike was starting to feel scared, and he wasn't used to feeling fear at anything. He suddenly felt an extreme desire to swear and have a cigarette. But looking at the present company, he figured that wasn't such a good idea.

"Wait, if these demon's are hitchhiker's then we don't have to worry do we?" Willow realised "I mean we are not summoning anyone else so it's got no way to get in"

Buffy looked at Anya; unsure whether or not this was a good reasoning.

"No, once one is on a plane and gets killed, all the others can find it easily without a portal."

"Could you maybe give us all the bad news at once, instead of dolling it out slowly for dramatic effect?" Buffy shot at Anya, getting annoyed with her now.

"Don't blame me, I told you it was a bad idea to kill the demon"

"After I had killed it! And what would you have had me do? Kill you all?" Buffy shouted.

Spike stood a little closer to Buffy and gave her a look that he hoped she understood as calm down. He knew that him and Buffy were in a different, better place now since Kreckov, so it meant he could risk telling her to calm down without getting staked.

Buffy looked at Spike and took the message. She realised just how much more she was listening to Spike now. It unnerved her slightly but also gave her a good feeling. Like she had someone she could lean on without feeling weak.

Just then, another Dadoshnick demon attacked, coming from nowhere. Dawn screamed and backed up towards the window, while Willow ushered Tara into the other room. Buffy kicked the Dadoshnick and went to take a swing with her sword but it stopped her and slapped her so hard she fell to the floor.

Spike roared in game face and attacked the demon, furious that it had slapped Buffy. He kicked the Dadoshnick and it staggered back slightly, while Spike delivered more punches to its chest. Just when the Dadoshnick lifted its arm to punch Spike back, a sword appeared through its heart. Its eyes opened wide and it disappeared into a puff of smoke.

Buffy reached up to massage her cheek wincing in pain. Spike stepped up to her with a deeply concerned look on his face.

"You OK pet?"

"Yeah, just hope this won't be a bruise"

Spike reached up and placed his hand on her swollen red cheek. He cupped the side of her face and Buffy closed her eyes. It was as if his fingers were spreading cool fire through her skin. At that moment, she was glad his skin was room temperature. She opened her eyes to see him looking at her with pure adoration and for the first time, she could actually feel it spill through her, lighting her up.

Xander was watching the little 'moment' Buffy and Spike were having and he could feel the anger rising inside of him. He didn't think that Spike had the right to touch Buffy, but a niggling voice in his head noted how affectionate Spike was with her.

Dawn was also watching Buffy and Spike and felt like going 'awwww!' They were the cutest couple she had ever seen! It was obvious just how much Spike adored Buffy, and although her sister couldn't see it, she adored Spike.

"Did you get the blood?" Anya said, interrupting the mood completely.

Buffy stepped back slightly and Spike dropped his hand. She quickly tried to clear her head, willing herself to get back into slayer mode. She looked down at the sword she was holding and saw it was dripping with thin yellow blood.

"Ew! That's so gonna leave a stain" Buffy moaned.

"Hey don't complain your gonna need that, we've still got the leader to worry about" Xander said worriedly.

"That is if we don't get killed by its henchmen first," Anya mumbled.

"We've got the demon blood, that will do right?" Buffy asked.

Anya shrugged "It should do in theory"

"Right, all of you grab weapons, this leader could attack at any time and we want to be ready when it does. Dawn, shut up all the windows and doors, we don't want it to get past us and escape onto the streets. That's got to be our main priority" Buffy said in a firm tone, trying to focus.

Dawn went out of the room. Willow turned to Buffy "Are you sure it's such a good idea to lock us in a house with this demon? I mean I'm all for killing demons but I have had quite enough house arrests with them to last me a lifetime"

"It will be OK I promise, this will probably all be over soon" Buffy said reassuringly.

A/N: Sigh. Doesn't Buffy EVER learn? It is NEVER all right! But thankfully it is me writing this and not Joss so she is no danger of dying….