Here it is, chapter 2. I've really come to love this story and I'm pretty proud, so thank you to those who reviewed. Copper has actually been pretty cooperative with this one so we're almost done, one more chapter and MAYBE an epilogue, I haven't decided if I'll just make chapter three a little longer than the rest or if I'll try to find a place to stop and start a new chapter. Any who, here you guys go, hope you enjoy, lemme know what you think with reviews.

The next day I let Dawn ditch school so that her and I can spend all day with Dean and Sam. We make them breakfast first thing in the morning and Dean's eyes almost pop out of his head at all the food we set out for them saying that the last home cooked meal they'd had was the last time they came down after John's death and Dawn and I made them all the food they could eat for three days. After breakfast the four of us spent the remainder of the afternoon bowling, our favorite thing to do when we prefer to ignore all the things we know we need to talk about, where Dean and I kicked Sam and Dawn butts. On our way to the Magic Box we grab ice cream and Dean decrees that we have to walk cause there's no way we're having the sticky concoction in his baby and now we're sitting around the tables teasing each other about one of the many times we'd all gone to the batting cages waiting for everyone else to show up while Anya watches us like a hawk to make sure we don't get any ice cream on the merchandise.

Spike is the first to arrive, coming in through the basement and leaning against the counter next to Anya, watching us from a distance. I turn to smile and wave at him when I hear him come in and Dawn offers a cheerful hello before we go back to imitating Dean repeatedly getting whacked with the soft ball. Xander, Willow and Tara all come in together as Dean starts to make fun of Sam hitting himself in the back of the head with the bat and me and Dawn have our heads resting on the table holding our stomachs with tears rolling down our faces at the impression and Sam's beat red grinning face.

"Hey guys." I manage to gasp out between gulps of air acknowledging the three standing in the doorway, staring slack jawed at the four of us sitting around one of the tables.

"Buffy…I…who…what…" Willow stutters at my drastic change in temperament. Since I'd gotten back it was a rare occasion for them to see a real smile, and here I was doubled over in genuine laughter with two strangers.

Taking deep breaths I manage to get my breathing back under control and my laughter dwindles down to soft giggles. "Will, Tara, this is Dean and Sam Winchester, some really old friends of ours." Dean and Sam wave at them still wiping tears from their eyes.

"Who are they?" She asks me before turning back to look at Xander who had gone to stand next to Anya behind the counter. "Why didn't you tell me about them? We walked all the way here and you didn't say a word!"

"Willow." Tara says gently, putting a hand on her back. "Calm down Honey, I'm sure they'll tell us everything."

"Yeah, we'll tell you everything." I say, still smiling, trying to calm Willow down before she did anything she might later regret.

I watch her take a couple of deep breaths and her hands stop shaking before she nods at me. "Who are they? And how do you know them?"

I stand from the table and gesture at my chair, inviting Will to sit down. She takes my seat, Tara, Anya, Xander and Spike follow her and gather behind her chair to look at me as I move to stand behind Dean. "Like I said, this is Dean and Sam Winchester. They're some really old friends of mine, and by extension Dawn. I met them through my first watcher, Merrick, when I was first called. They we're in L.A. with their dad for about a month or so and after they left we kept in touch. While they were there Mom kind of adopted them as her own and we all got really close." I tell the room, my hand resting comfortingly on Dean's left shoulder, over Castiel's handprint. "There's a lot more to our story than that, but it would take too much time to go into it right now."

"Okay, so why are they here?" Willow asks.

I sigh before I continue. "Well from what they said last night, they're here to confirm that I really wasn't dead anymore and to make sure that I'm neither possessed or a brain eater."

"That's not all they said last night Buff." Xander interjects from his place behind Willow.

"I know Xand." I tell him, before taking another deep breath. "Dean came down not to see that I was alive, but to thank me."

"What does he have to thank you for?" Tara asks shyly, offering me a small smile.

"Well umm," I start, stuttering slightly. "He wanted to thank me for getting him pulled out of Hell."

"How did you get him pulled from Hell?" Anya asks me. "From my understanding there's only two things that can get a soul from Hell. Especially one that was sold. That would be an angel and The Powers That Be."

"Yeah, you're not wrong." I say quietly, affirming Anya's theory. "And for the record it was an angel that pulled him out of Hell."

"See, that's where I get lost." Xander says, getting my attention again. "How do you know an angel? And who owed you a favor?"

"What?" Willow asks, looking over her shoulder at Xander. "What do you mean favor?"

"Well you see, Castiel is the angel that pulled Dean from Hell, and he did so because I was granted one favor and that was what I asked for." I look down at the top of his head before looking over at Sam, who is looking at me with all the appreciation I'm sure Dean is to man to show. "As for how I know him, I told you that last night Xand, he was my companion."

"But what does that mean?" He asks, his voice stressed.

"It means he was her guide in Heaven." Anya pipes up again, this time causing everyone to look at her. "He was assigned to help her assimilate and apparently help her decide what she wanted as her favor. Which I'm guessing, was for all the things she sacrificed fighting evil"

I can't help but smile gratefully at Anya, she unwittingly just told everyone what I had been to scared to say out loud. She nods her head very slightly, letting me know she understands what she did for me. "What!" Willow finally says, breaking the now tense silence and turning back to look at me.

I clear my throat before I address the room. "Okay, so I wasn't in Hell like you guys thought I was. To be a bit more specific, I wasn't in Heaven either, it was more of a waiting room, it was were I was sent to make my decision and my adjustment from the corporeal plane to the non-corporeal. Contrary to what you might think, it's pretty disconcerting moving from this plane to that one. And Anya's right, Castiel was my guide through all of it. He was there to lead me through the adjustment."

"You were in Heaven?" Xander asks quietly, disbelief in his voice.

"You thought a champion of the light would be sent anywhere else?" Dean says, speaking up for the first time, his voice tinted with anger.

"You were in Hell!" Willow says accusingly, pointing her finger at Dean. "When she jumped into a portal to a hell dimension how where we not supposed to assume that she was in Hell?"

"Because you idiots," Dean says, standing from his chair and leaning toward Willow, his fists resting on the table. "Slayers don't go to Hell. Anyone who sacrifices themselves for the good of the world is always rewarded with Heaven. Any moron would know that."

"Then why where you there?" Xander asks.

Dean sighs and sits back down in his chair, placing his hand over mine on his shoulder. "I sold my soul to a crossroads demon. Doesn't matter how much good you do or how many people you save, you owe a demon your soul, you go to Hell."

Everyone is quiet for a moment, silently contemplating all that's been said so far. "Anya?" Xander asks, breaking the silence. "How did you know he sold his soul?"

"Are you kidding me?" She asks him, raising her eyebrows. "Dean Winchester sold his soul to save his brother and only got a year out of it, every demon in the country was talking about it. Some where worried about the wrath of Sam, but most just celebrated the death of another Winchester. I'd have to have been deaf not to catch word of it. I'm surprised Spike didn't."

Spike shrugs when everyone looks over at him. "I didn't really mingle with the demon population this past summer, had more important things to worry about. But I do remember the excitement over a John Winchester couple years back."

I hear Sam's intake of breath and feel Dean stiffen under my hand. I squeeze his shoulder and I see Dawn give Sam an awkward one armed hug from where she's still sitting next to him. "You heard about Dad?" Sam asks Spike.

"Yeah, what was it two years ago?" Spike says, turning to talk to Sam. "It was round about the time I was looking for the Ring of Amara so when my idiot minions threw a party I had to explain to Harm why they were so excited."

"Did you party?" Dean asks him, malice dripping from his voice.

"Can't say that I did." Spike tells him shrugging his shoulders in his duster. "I was too busy trying to kill the Slayer to bother celebrating a hunter I'd never come across dying."

"You were trying to kill Buffy?" Sam speaks up again. "Why?"

"Cause I'm a big bag evil vampire." Spike says, mocking him.

"What!" Dean yells, standing from his chair and turning around to glare at me. "One vampire trying to kill you from inside your group wasn't enough? You had to go find yourself another one?"

I straighten my back, barely noticing the guilty look that passes through Spike's eyes across the table. "Spike, is not Angel, and you will do well to remember that Dean Winchester. He may have been trying to kill me, but he's changed since then. He's a better man, a man I trust not only with my life but Dawn's life as well. Besides, you of all people should remember the depth of my forgiveness." I watch as Dean's anger slowly recedes and he steps back from me, his body language screaming how sorry he is and again I register the change in emotion in Spike's eyes across the table. He's stunned that I could say such nice things about him after all the horrible things I've said in the past and its my turn to feel guilty about the way I've treated him. I glance around Dean to make eye contact with Spike. "I forgave him a long time ago for his countless transgressions and he's one of my closest friends now."

"I'm sorry Buff." Dean says quietly getting my attention again. "I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions like that, I really need to learn to remove my foot from my mouth before I talk to you about who you trust."

I smile gently at him and push him back down into his chair. "It's okay Dean. No real harm then no real foul. Although, you really shouldn't compare Spike to Angel, he tends to get a little uppity about it. Not a big fan of Deadboy."

"Damn straight I'm no fan of Captain Hairgel." Spike says, puffing up slightly.

"Oh don't say that like you didn't used to want to be just like him." Xander says, goading Spike.

"Maybe, but as soon as he got his bloody soul, he was too much of a pansy for anyone to look up to." Spike tells him, surprising me by not actually being angry. Him and Xander where joking, with each other. Did I fall asleep and wake up in some alternate universe?

"Yeah yeah. What ever you say Bleach Wonder." Xander says, expertly ending the "conversation" by turning back to Dean and I. "So, why did you sell your soul?"

Dean shrugs, trying to act nonchalant about it and by the look on Sam's face I can see why. Sam still feels guilty about everything that happened. I can imagine it's not an easy thing to watch your brother be dragged to Hell by invisible Hellhounds, watching from my waiting room had been hard enough. "Why did Buffy jump?"

"To save Dawn." Willow says, not making the connection. "But what does that have to do with your soul?"

Dean looks at me sideways his expression asking if she's being serious. I just grin at him and nod. "My soul didn't have anything to do with Dawn, but I did it for Sam."

Willow gets an "Oh." Look on her face as realization dawns slowly. "But why did Sam need you to sell your soul?" Xander asks, still oblivious.

"Because he died and I couldn't live without him." Dean answers and I can feel his shoulder tense under my hand and Sam drops his eyes, his hands fisting on the table in front of him. My friends really know how to bring up every soar subject don't they?

"So you sold your soul to bring him back?" Tara's soft voice asks, causing me to look at her, her eyes are soft with understanding and sympathy. Some how, even with strangers she knew how gentle to be without offending them.

Dean looks at her for the first time since she came in, probably noticing her for the first time as well, and I watch as his angry expression melts at her tender demeanor and he nods his head. "Yeah."

"Wow," Dawn says from where she still has an arm wrapped around Sam's broad shoulders. "you and Buffy really are two peas in a pod aren't you."

Dean smiles and chuckles at her attempt to lighten the mood in the room. "You know it Sunshine. Always with the self sacrifice, but you know, if you and the Beanstalk over there could manage to stay out of trouble once in a while, we wouldn't have to work nearly as hard to keep you safe."

"That's true." I say, joining in on the teasing. "Maybe you two shouldn't have come down here. You know they attract even more danger when they're together. I can't count the amount of times you guys came to visit for a day or two where you and I ended up having to spend most of the time tracking down whoever kidnapped them that week."

"Oh come on Buffy." Sam says, finally raising his eyes from the table with a smile on his lips to look at me. "I haven't been kidnapped in a long time."

"That's not true Sammy." Dean interjects happily. "Didn't that Wendigo hold you hostage a couple of weeks ago?"

"That so does not count." Sam says. "I got out of that one myself. Even managed to kill her before you got there."

"You were still taken from a diner and tied to a chair." Dean tells him, realaxing back into his chair for the first time since this conversation started, and I can't help the urge to run my hands through his disheveled locks. Always a sucker for soft brown hair, his anyway. "It counts."

"Whatever dude." Sam huffs pretending to be annoyed, but the smile doesn't seem to leave his face.

"Ha." Dawn laughs at Sam. "I haven't been kidnapped in months!" she tells him triumphantly. "I'm soo beating you. Can't believe you got kidnapped by a Wendigo though, thought you guys were good at hunting them."

"We are." Sam says defending himself. "She caught me off guard during a uhh, personal moment, and knocked me out before I could do anything to protect myself."

This time I laugh at Sam's red face. "She napped you while you were taking a pee? That's got to be the best one yet!"

"I still maintain that Dawn's Ice Cream Debacle last year beats that." Sam states, grinning at Dawn. "I mean, who gets kidnapped because they have brain freeze?"

"Wait." Xander pipes up, and I turn to him, slightly ashamed I'd pretty much forgotten the four of us weren't alone. "Dawn was kidnapped last year and you never told any of us?"

"We found her right away." I tell him, shrugging my shoulders. "The demon didn't manage to get very far with her, in fact I think when we caught up with him like four blocks away, he was ready to get rid of her already. Just kept murmuring about stupid humans with brain freeze and practically threw her at us, right before we killed it of course."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Willow asks, her voice sounding offended.

"When the Winchesters are in town, we handle everything ourselves. They don't like other people in their business and we all work well together." I tell her. "We have a system, a routine, down and it's a very well oiled machine, just like us only different." I try to explain to her, but how do you tell you best friends that as close as you've always been, you're closer with two other people they've never met, let alone heard of. How do you let them know that these two, mostly, human men know more about you, you're habits and all of your little idiosyncrasies. "When Sam and Dawn get kidnapped, me and Dean don't tell anyone else because we never need their help, we've been handling it since, well we started with Sam when we first met and then when Dawn found out about the Slayer gig a couple of years later we got pretty good at her as well. Over the years they've learned to leave trails or hints, and now Dean and I just track their cell phones. Sadly, their kidnappings have become so normal that we rarely worry to much about it. Glory being the exception with Dawn and Azazel for Sam." I tell her, before turning to look at Dean. "Speaking of, whatever happened there?"

"Uhh, well." Dean says, glancing at the people gathered at the table. "Azazel finally made his move and took Sam a couple of months ago. Took me a couple of hours or so, but I tracked him down and that's the last we've heard of him."

"I take it there's more to that story?" I ask Sam, who's eyes turn shameful again and nods his head in confirmation. "Does it have something to do with.." I nod my head down at Dean, who's staring intently at the his hands on the table, causing me to notice that the scar he got from the time a vamp tried to stab him in the chest and his hand got in the way, is gone.

Dean's the one that mumbles a yes, effectively telling me that he doesn't want to discuss this with everyone here. "So, how long are you guys going to be in town?" Xander asks them.

"A day or two, not really sure. We're kind of in limbo as to what we're doing right now." Dean tells him, looking back at me for a second.

"Well, as usual and always, you guys are more than welcome to stay with Dawn and I until you decide it's time to go." I lean over and ruffle Sam's hair, causing him to jerk away and pretend to fix it. "We can even set up my old bed in my old room if you guys want, that way someone doesn't have to cot it."

"Buff?" Xander says. "Who's gonna patrol tonight if you're busy with these guys?"

I almost growl at him for bothering to ask me. Like his life was so much more important than mine that he couldn't take one night this week to patrol, but I didn't want to cause anymore uproar than I already have today so I repressed the urge, though by the look in Spike's eye I could tell he knew what I was thinking and he was trying to hide his grin. "Me and Spike will patrol as soon as it's dark and these three hooligans can put up the bed and play games while I'm out." I turn to Sam and Dawn grinning from their seats. "Meaning, you two are NOT to leave the house. I do not want to spend the first time we've been together in like eight months, hunting you guys down, got it?"

"Yes Buffy." They answer me in unison, their grins never leaving their faces. Even with a five year age difference, those two really were far too close and far too much alike for anyone's own good. All I can do is shake my head at Dean, who is also trying to suppress a grin at them.

"Come on guys." I say, moving back away from the table. "Lets head out, maybe pick up some take-out and watch a couple of movies or walk around and play the stranger game for a while before I have to patrol."

"The stranger game?" Tara asks as we all move around the table and the crowd of my friends still milling around digesting all their new knowledge.

"Yeah, the stranger game." Dawn tells her. "We walk around town stopping strangers on the street to ask them random questions to see who can get more people to answer them instead of just walking away. It's not nearly as fun in Sunnydale as it was in L.A. cause everyone here is way more suspicious, but it's still amusing."

"Why haven't we ever played that game?" Willow asks me, her pout in her voice.

"Because it was a game Dean and I came up with to keep Sam and Dawn from bugging us when we had to wait for John to show up somewhere." I tell her, shaking my head and taking Dean's hand in mine. "Besides, you and I always played Anywhere But Here and we never needed something to occupy Dawn with." I turn my attention to Spike, still standing next to Xander with his hands in his ever present duster. "Pick me up after sundown." He nods his head, seemingly still amused by my almost growl at Xander. "See the rest of you guys later." I tell them, leading the four of us out the door, pulling Dean by the hand and waving over my shoulder.