Catching up: "So he just went crazy?" Willow looked around at her friends nervously. "He just started talking to some invisible demon?" "I'm just saying – Spike wasn't always the sweet little demon we hope he is now." Xander said, still reluctant to trust Spike, even after all that had happened. "The thing…" Buffy whispered to herself, pointing. Spike turned to look at it, and then grinned. "See, the thing is pet, that that demon and me, we kinda get along. Sort of like partners in crime. He keeps coming back; I keep coming back, no matter how many times you kill me…" Spike laughed with horrible cruelty slipping between his fanged teeth. "The storm tonight's gonna help me bring 'im back."

A/N: Sorry guys, I meant to make the catch up part a bit (a lot) shorter than I did… But I felt the need to remind y'all about all that… AND Sorry I haven't posted in a while; I've got an injured arm which makes typing a frustrating chore. So, sorry it's so short (typing is not fun at the moment), but I'll add more soon!

Part of Your World.

Everyone was staring at Spike. The storm? What storm? They all knew it, they were all thinking it; the creepy weather demon thing was going to lead them right into another apocalypse. Everyone though, was afraid to say it.

"Spike," Buffy tried to pull him back to her, he'd pushed her away almost violently when she'd pointed out the smoke on the floor. "Spike I don't understand." Her hand reached out to take his, but he slapped it away harshly. Hurt burned in her eyes and tears threatened to come forth.

"All in good time my love." He said almost as if the latter words were an old joke. His voice, the way she could practically hear the smirk and lethality his words presented, reminded her too much of the old Spike, the one who had tried to kill her along side Drusilla. "All in good time."

In a flash of black and blonde, he swept out of the Magic Box, reminding everyone of a very nasty villain. This wasn't Spike, it couldn't be. Buffy thought back once again to hell. She tried to shake off the feeling of desperate loneliness to no avail. Was this her Spike? Or was this just some pitiful demon she'd brought back with her?

"I hate to say I told ya so." Xander said dryly before adding, "Actually, you know I really don't'. I. Told. You. So."

Buffy looked down, the space in front of her where Spike had been standing was only a soft wooden floor. The place where the smoke had been was only a puddle of blood. It took a moment for the scene to sink in before Buffy brain registered what exactly she was staring at. "Blood?" She didn't sound at all shocked, scared, anything. She just sounded like she was talking to some kind of vampire she was about to slay, full of wit and a never ending supply of sarcasm.

"Blood?" Willow stared at Buffy for a moment and then followed the trail her eyes made to the red pooled on the floor. "Oh, blood."

"Something isn't right here." She looked a mixture of hurt and leadership. She knew something would have to be done, and quick. Though she'd just lost her most valued warrior.

To a by stander, Buffy would have just been stating the obvious. But to her friends, her watcher, her sister, she was coming up with a plan of action. All standing by waiting for orders, no one moved. Not until Buffy's instructions rang out through the store.

"Giles, Dawn, and Anya, I need you to research anything you can about this weather demon, I want to know about the storm, and I want to know about the smoky spirit." She normally wouldn't have asked Anya to research, but the ex vengeance demon had been around a while and Buffy was hoping she'd know something. "Willow and Xander, get every detail of the storm coming up tonight from the new channel, or whatever." They nodded and waited patiently again to hear the last of her instruction. "I'm going to pay some demons a little visit." She didn't look at them when she marched – like a general at war – out of the Magic Box.

The interior of Willie's bar was very different than she remembered. There were new chairs for a start, and also a fresh coat of tangy orange coated the walls.

Willie was standing behind the bar, ragging down the counter. "Oh hey Buffy, long time no see! Can I get you anything? Beer – chicken wings? The chicken wings have been very popular lately, I'm pretty sure you'll – " He couldn't talk any longer when she approached the counter fuming, and grabbed his collar in her fist and dragged him towards her.

"I need information." She spat.

"Uh, yeah, yeah sure." He said shaken. "Whatever you want slayer." His New Yorker voice didn't do much to hide the fear he emanated.

She knew she would get somewhere, how couldn't she? She was in Spike's world now.