Catching Up: Anya bent down and gently unfolded the paper from Buffy's hand. "She's in hell." Buffy sat up quickly flinging herself onto Tara; she missed though, and found herself on the floor. Buffy charged towards Spike and kicked him hard in the face. "Alright pet, let's get these off of you." Spike gripped the shackle holding Buffy's right hand. "Oh, god." Willow gasped. "You have to do a spell." Spike said "I want to go inside her mind." The hell god smirked at Spike. Buffy mumbled continuously under her breath, and even with his excelled vampire hearing he had to strain to hear the constant 'no, no, no' escaping her lips.

A/N: Here we go, next chapter coming up! R&R please, I hope you like it!

Welcome Back.

"Buffy," Spike grabbed her shoulders and shook her, trying desperately to focus her attention on him. "Buffy!" She kept mumbling and shaking her head. Spike huffed out a breath of air in frustration.

"Spike no, no." She breathed with a strangled expression. Her eyes watered up and tears threatened to spill onto her cheeks.

Spike's whole self was heart broken at the sight of his slayer crumpled up on the floor looking so broken. He took her hand and pulled her into his lap. At first she pulled away, but then let her hold him. Her breaths came in gasps, and he assumed that maybe she was crying.

"Buffy come back with me." He whispered to her gently.

"Can't, too much." She sobbed. "You died, Spike I saw you die."

For a second Spike was confused. "Yeah… But you brought me back love. You did it. It worked." He pulled her face around to look at him.

"It worked?" She answered unconvinced. "It worked, and then – and then Xander, Xander staked you." She sobbed and buried her face into Spike's black t shirt.

"What? Xander, that little whelp couldn't get a stake in me pet. 'Sides, Big Bad's back. I don't have my chip." For a second he waited for her horror at the realization, maybe it was the wrong thing to say. But she only clung onto him more desperately. "Come on." He said finally getting to his feet, with her cradled in his arms. She held white knuckled to his shirt.

"Leavin' so soon?" The hell god commented from his throne.

"Yeah, but first – I'd like you to apologize to my girl here." Spike said with a casual tone. Buffy moaned against his chest.

"Apologize? We made a deal William."

"Yeah, and now I'm bringing her home. You've tortured her enough, and now she has to realize that the torture is over so apologize." The hell god only snarled a response.

"How much longer should we wait?" Willow asked worriedly. She could hear Xander come in upstairs, calling for Spike. "Should we bring him back?"

"I dunno," Anya slapped here hands into her lap. "Uh, maybe we should let them come out. He went in to bring her out right? Well, if we bring him out, maybe she'll stay in." She pursed her lips.

Xander jumped down into the lower level of the crypt without using the ladder. "I thought I heard you guys here." He said looking between his friends, and then froze, eyes growing wide. "What is this?" He shouted. There was Buffy, who had been missing for weeks, lying with Spike, who looked like he was just an empty body, and they both looked very dead. "I knew he was hiding her here, he's been holding her captive hasn't he? Ever since he got back." He looked disgusted and moved to tear him away from her, but Anya stepped in front of him.

"Not now sweety, we can't disturb Buffy right now." She took his arm in her hands and tried to pull him up the ladder with her. With a look of silent torture for Buffy, he followed Anya up and began interrogating her.

A gasp followed by "Oh, god!" Took Willow and Tara away from their eavesdropping, and turned their attention to Spike. "What a miserable little-" He began muttering and cursing.

Tara sat on the bed beside Buffy, and smiled gently at her. Buffy was staring up at her friend with a lost, terrified, sad kind of look. The look didn't last long, with a shuddering breath, Buffy's eyes closed again and she fell into an exhausted, dreamless sleep.

"Bring here home when she's ready. We'll explain to the others so they don't question her." Willow said still looking distraughtly at Buffy.

Spike shook his head and pulled her closer to him, tucking her head safely beneath his chin. The girls went up the ladder to join Anya and Xander, and Spike soon heard the click of quietly closing door. They laid their together for hours, sometimes awake, sometimes asleep. Whenever Buffy was awake, she wasn't really there. Her eyes were distant, and she was very tense. But she fell back into a deep slumber with in a few minutes. Spike was just content to hold her living form again.

Spike was leaning on his elbow stroking his fingers along Buffy's cheekbone idly when she finally came to. Her eyes met his with a sadness he couldn't figure out. He brought his lips down to her cheek, and whispered "Welcome back love," against her skin. She stared up at him, a tear escaping her eye, and pulled herself desperately into his embrace. After a few minutes, he pulled away from here. "Stay here, I'll get you something to eat." She was reluctant to leave his side, and so she grabbed his arm and without breaking their connection they made their way – extremely clumsily – up the ladder.

Buffy looked expectedly around, as if waiting for her next punishment to come and torment her. But nothing happened. She side, and gratefully accepted the orange juice that Spike handed to her. He then set to work making a very nice looking sandwich. It was then that Buffy realized how hungry she truly was. Her body had been lying empty of food and water for weeks. She was surprised that she could still move. But then again, she was the slayer.

A/N: Reviews please, I'll write up the next chapter soon! Hope you enjoyed. :)