The bag filled with pig blood was clenched tightly in his hand as he strolled down the street of Sunnydale. It never seemed to change to him, the streets were always silent and he rarely came across another traveler on the low lighted streets. Spike made his way down a small alley and came out in the graveyard. He was half way to his crypt when he felt someone following from behind, he turned sharply ready to leap if it was an attacker, who he saw standing before him made him lower his fists slowly and freeze. Willow stood before him the fury in her eyes only magnified by her brilliantly red hair. She wasted no time in approaching the stunned vampire, pulling her fist back she punched him full in the face, this was a reaction he had expected but not from the kind, shy witch he had known before he left.

"What in the bloody hell!" Spike yelled holding his nose.

"You've got some damn nerve you know that! How dare you come back after what you did to her! You sick..disgusting..damn near no good excuse for a vampire!" She screamed at him throwing punches. The fury and rage in her voice was enough to stop Spike from even trying to deflect her blows. He stood there as still as a statue and took every hit the young witch in front of him had to offer. Eventually after seeing he wasn't even moving she relaxed, her breath ragged and broken from using every inch of force she had. Her anger only rose as she watched that the blows had no effect on him.

"Spike…Spike….Spike!" She nearly screamed at the top of her lungs trying to command his attention. He shook his head slightly and looked down at her, tears beginning to flood his eyes. Willow was taken back by this sudden flood of emotion coming from the vampire standing before her. This isn't Spike…what happened to him…she thought as she watched him break down and fall on his knees.

"All I want to know Spike…is why, I mean how could you do that to her…after everything she has been through, after how much you claimed to love her. That was not love Spike that was the…the lowest thing I have ever seen anyone do…and I have seen a lot of low things…" She broke off, letting him assess the things she was saying to him. It made her jump a little to hear the hoarseness of his voice and the hurt behind it.

"I never…never meant for that to happen, Willow you have to believe me..if I could take that night back…I would give anyth.." He tried to explain Willow cut him off midsentence.

"But you can't Spike…you can't undo what you did. I don't even understand why you came back…you have that woman scared out of her damn mind of just the thought of you being back here." Willow watched a flash of pain and guilt in the vampire's eyes but continued. "I have never seen her shaken up like that...except for…that night." She left her sentence there not wanting to hurt him more than she already had…he may be a sad excuse for a demon but…he could still feel pain, just as much as Buffy and she understood that…how it felt to lose someone. A single tear ran down her cheek thinking of her lover, she shook it away trying to focus on the scene in front of her.

Spike rose to his feet to stand in front of her. "Willow…I want to tell you something…please you have to listen its very important and…don't tell Buffy..not yet. Ok?" Willow was a little stunned by the question but silently nodded her head and sat down across from him on one of the gravestones….

Dawn opened the front door, setting her things down she walked into the living room. She jumped slightly seeing Buffy sitting on the couch, usually her sister was gone somewhere by now or up in her room. She walked slowly into the living room standing at the edge of the couch.

"Buff…is it alright if I join you?" she said, fumbling with her fingers waiting for a response from her sister. Buffy moved her head to look upside down at her sister. She let a small smile play across her lips.

"Of course Dawnie…you shouldn't have to ask." Dawn moved quickly to sit next to her sister on their small couch. Buffy wrapped herself tighter in her blanket and focused on the tv again. Dawn not missing the puffiness underneath her sister's eyes moved to sit closer to her. Dawn shifting over caught Buffy's attention and looked at her sister full in the face. She saw the worry in Dawn's eyes and knew the questions were about to start flooding in.

"Buffy, are you ok? Don't even lie to me and say you are, I am your sister you can tell me anything." Buffy shifted uncomfortably before looking away from her sister.

"Dawn I…" Dawn broke off her speech angrily.

"No! There is no Dawn nothing, when are you going to realize that I am not a child anymore Buffy! That I don't observe everything that everyone else around you does. Why can't you just confide in your own sister…" Shocking Buffy more than she thought was possible, Buffy began to stammer slightly.

"Um...ok Dawnie, you remember about 7 months ago…when..when.." Buffy couldn't bring herself to say anything but looking at Dawn she could tell her sister could see right threw her and knew what she was talking about. Buffy began again. " Yeah…so I just found out this morning that…well he is back…and I don't know why…but part of me is scared to death and part of me is relieved to know he is ok…I don't understand why he could have done that to me…after everything that he did…I still worried about him…" Her sentence started to break as the tears started to roll down from her eyes. Dawn stared at her sister in amazement…her jaw dropped slightly finally understanding how her sister felt. "Dawn what…what is it your making me nervous…"

"Buffy…I just realized something, something that is actually really hard to comprehend….you loved him…."