Chapter 2

"Where did you find this?" Giles asked the old woman that emerged from the back, together with Willow. He pointed at the amulet.

"Well…" The woman answered "…they were all found on a deserted ship… That they said was cursed, and carried a deadly disease." She cleared her throat and continued. "My husband and I got them in that showcase and we haven't dared to open it."

Willow looked down on the sparkling jewellery and her eyes went as big as saucers.

"That's the…" She lost her words "Spike!"

Giles nodded. "I believe it is." He frowned "Willow, I'm sure you're capable of doing a protection spell, so we don't have to get a deadly disease?"

Willow smiled slightly and answered "I'm sure I can, but I need to have the amulet where we live, ergo the hotel…" She turned to the woman "let's do like this… We pay for the amulet now, and then I can transport it home with magic!"

The woman agreed and they went back to the hotel, eager to start examine the amulet.

Willow had put a glass bowl upside down on the floor.

"Okay, if this works, the amulet will appear under the bowl and I can do a protection spell without having to, you know, die from some funny syphilis…" She smirked a little.

She closed her eyes and Giles watched with great interest when she began to hum. Then a flash was seen and the amulet sparkled on the floor, underneath the bowl.

"Yay! I did it! Go Willow!"

Giles raised his eyebrows and she smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, one protection spell, coming up!"

He stood outside of Buffy's room with the amulet in his hand, he was amazed how it still felt warm. He opened Buffy's door and walked over to her bed and sat down.

Buffy was tossing and turning in her sleep, and Giles caressed her hair. She calmed down, and Giles couldn't help but feel a twinge of fatherly pride in his chest. Because that was what she was to him; a daughter.

He hated to see her this way. He put the amulet on her nightstand and folded his hands in his lap.

"Buffy…" He began "… I just wanted to let you know, that… I truly regret what Robin and I did to Spike… I would do anything to have that undone." He sighed. "I always knew that it was something between you two… I just didn't know that you felt… That it was that serious…" He said, repeating Dawn's words. "I wished that you two would get another chance… You deserve some happiness at last, Buffy…"

He sat in silence and watched his Slayer sleep; he got up after a while and kissed her forehead. "Goodnight, Buffy…" He said and returned to his bedroom.

Buffy woke up with tears flowing down her cheeks "Spike…" She whispered, hoping that his death only had been a bad dream, and that he would be there, holding her and making the pain go away. But the cold reality hit her and she began to sob into her pillow. She beat it and threw it across the room. She ran her hands through her hair and sat up. What she found on her nightstand almost made her faint.

She picked up the amulet from the table with shaking hands and glanced at the alarm clock.

9.15 am. They would probably be having breakfast. She ran down to the hotel's dining room and looked out over her friends and the potentials. They had all turned to look at her when she had come running, and she glared angrily at them.

"Is this some kind of sick joke!" She waved the amulet at them and Giles visibly paled. "Huh! Is this to mock me so that… God! Who did this!"

Most of the potentials had never seen the Slayer angry before and many of them were shaking from her angry tone.

"I love him! How can you do this to me!"

Giles rose from his seat and walked over to his Slayer. "Buffy…"

She fell to her knees and began to sob. "You did this?"

Giles sighed quietly. "It's the real amulet, Buffy…"

She looked up at Giles who had crouched down beside her.

"You're lying… It can't be… How?"

"We found it in an old shop… I don't know how…"

Buffy wept openly and cradled the amulet in her hands, her tears making it sparkle. Suddenly the room became white and a heat wave went through the room, knocking everybody to the floor. The white light faded and they regained their eyesight.

There, next to Buffy, stood Spike still dressed in his black duster. Buffy's heart seemed to stop beating and she rose on shaking legs.

"S…Spike?" Her voice came out as a faint whisper. She walked towards him, never breaking eye contact. She didn't believe her eyes, but as she was an inch away from touching him, everybody watched horrified as his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell down, unconscious, to the floor.

A/N Well, not much to say about this chappie ) Just review!