A/N: I know this is a super fast update but i actually went to post it yesterday and realized i didn't post 25 yet! so two updates in 24 hours for you, enjoy!

"Who do you think did it?" I ask as we're getting dressed for the morning.

"Don't know, Watcher seemed to take the information well enough, so I doubt it's him. Maybe Red?"

"Yeah, maybe. Although, I was thinking maybe Giles would do something like this after he gave the information some time to sink in."

"Fair point, let's start at his flat then, we'll see if he's acting strangely."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking."

Once we're ready, we get into the DeSoto to take the short drive over to Giles'. While we're driving, I take the time to think about the claim and how it's affecting me. I feel Spike in me, it's like a part of him is inside me now. It's really comforting, but hard to explain. I realize I can feel his emotions, his worry, and anger about the fact that someone is trying to mess with our lives again, his lust when he looks at me out of the corner of his eyes, and his overwhelming love for me. It's strange, having another person's emotions and feeling them as if they're your own. I could see this go bad when we're arguing. We're both hot-headed, and if we use the other person's anger to fuel our own, well let's just say, it could be much with the badness. Well, we just have to make sure we don't let that happen.

On the other hand, there are a lot of good emotions we can use to work off each other too, I can only imagine the fun we can get into in the bedroom. In fact, I decide to look over at him and try to push some lusty feelings. He lets out a growl that makes me shiver and looks over to me with one of his sexy leers.

"Testing out how the claim works, are you, Slayer? Better watch yourself or I'll pull over right here."

I'm about to tell him that I think that's a great idea, when I realize we're literally pulling into Giles' complex. I pout, I can't help it. "Sorry Spikey, we're going to have to put those plans on hold, we have to figure out who's trying to use magic on us first."

Spike sighs but doesn't complain, and we walk to Giles' door. I knock, and instead of Giles opening the door I hear him yell through it.

"Who is it?"

"Buffy and Spike."

"Do come in, just who I was hoping for."

I give Spike a strange look then open the door. When we get inside, Riley is out of his chains and bringing Giles a glass of scotch. 'Weird, did Giles make Riley his servant or something?' When Riley sees me, his face lights up with relief and he runs over to me and tries to pull me into his arms and kiss me.

"Riley, what the hell do you think you're doing?" I ask while keeping him an arm's length away.

Spike is growling and I see out of the corner of my eye his eyes are flashing yellow, he's clearly working hard to not go into game face. I feel his anger and possessiveness. Even though I was just messing with it in the car, it still surprises me. Wow, that's going to take some getting used to, I wonder what else will happen because of the claim.

"Buffy, what are you doing? I'm glad to see you caught the hostile. It's getting annoying that he keeps trying to escape. I'm telling you, Buffy, we should just dust him, it will be a lot less work for us."

"Okay, something strange is definitely happening here," I say after a shocked second.

"Probably whatever mojo that was tried on us."

"It has to be Willow then, she's the one that keeps trying to push me closer to Riley. She's positive we'd be perfect together." I look over to Giles and realize he's acting strange too, this is starting to look familiar. "Giles, is anything wiggy happening to you?"

"Yes, I seem to be rather, well, blind."

"Willow " Spike and I say at the same time.

"You know what this is?" Giles asks.

"Remember what Spike, Dawn, and I talked to you about a few nights ago?"

"Yes, but I don't remember Spike being there."

"Must be the magic because Riley and I are so not a couple."

"Buffy, baby, what are you talking about?"

"Not now Riley, I have to find Willow. I'll call her first." I go over to the phone and dial the dorm's number but no one answers so I call Xander's next and he picks up on like the sixth ring, I was about to hang up.

"Hello." He sounds all breathless.

Crap, I think I'm already too late and he's getting attacked already. Or I just interrupted his and Anya's groiny times, which, ewww. "Xander, are you okay?"

"Buffy, holy frijoles, thank goodness you called, we need help! We're being attacked by demon after demon, we were about to run over to Giles' and hope you were there."

"That's where we are, Xander. Start heading over here and I'll meet you on the way to help get you here safe." Although I know the first time he got through it okay without me, I don't want to take the chance that something different happens this time.

"Okay Buffy, thanks. We'll see you soon. Got to go!" I hear Anya let out what I can only call a war cry and a crash before the line cuts out.

I was about to grab Spike's hand and run out of the door to go meet him but I saw Riley standing there. Should I just take him with us? That would be the fastest. No, what if the commandos see him out there? I'll have to take the time to chain him back up. I walk over to him and lead him to the bathroom. He doesn't fight me, in fact, he gives Spike a smug look thinking he's about to get some alone time with me. I feel Spike's jealousy and anger but ignore it. When I get to the bathroom, he smiles at me flirtatiously and tries to kiss me again. I scrunch my nose and make a 'blegh' face before I push him to the tub and lock the first chain on his wrist before he even knows what's happening to him. Once I get the second one on, he starts fighting back.

"Buffy, what are you doing? Has Spike learned thrall? Why are you acting this way?"

"I don't have time to explain because Xander is in danger but you'll understand soon. This is a spell."

"If you know it's a spell, why are you doing it?"

I sigh. "No Riley, you thinking we're dating is the spell, we're not, and you're currently our prisoner… No, prisoner is a dirty word, hostage? No that's not any better you're a guest that's not allowed to leave. Yeah, that sounds about right, a guestage if you will." I shake my head on my way out and try not to laugh thinking about Andrew, our first-ever guestage. I wonder what he's up to now, I'll have to put that on my to-do list. I don't want him to fall in with Warren again, I've come to care about that little weirdo.

"Like I said, I don't have time to explain. Talk to you later," I say, and walk out before he has a chance to reply. I look at Giles when I get into the living room. "Stay here Giles, you'll be safe and we won't be gone long. Xander is being attacked. I was telling you about Willow's problem with magic, this is one of the first spells she does because of her need for control. I'll explain more when I get back."

"Okay, Buffy. I'll be right here waiting for you… it's not like I have much of a choice." He says the last part under his breath, grumpily.

"Let's go, Spike."

"Right here ready to follow your lead, Slayer. Jus' like I always will be."

I look back at him and give him a sweet smile before turning back and running toward the car. We get in and start driving to where Xander and Anya should be coming from. When we find them, we pull over and wait for them to come in. Thankfully, Spike can pull away before any demons get to the car so we don't have to fight them. Xander and Anya are panting trying to catch their breaths, it's obvious that they're tired and have been fighting for a while.

"Thank you for picking us up Buffy."

"No problem, Xan."

"Where's Riley? E gads, what's Spike doing out of his chains? And why are we trusting him to drive?!" Xander yells after he calms down enough to look around at his surroundings.

"It's a spell, Xander. I'm not dating Riley, he's our captive, not Spike. It's the same spell that has demons chasing after you."

"A spell?"

"Yeah, do you remember trying to comfort Willow today? What did she call you?"

"A demon magnet… wait, how do you know about our conversation? Oh! You're saying that's why I have all these demons chasing after me? Because Willow said so?"

I cringe when Xander asks how I know but am thankful when he moves on before I have to answer. I see Spike giving me the side eye, he knows I just revealed too much and that we don't want to tell anyone else, especially since we haven't even gotten to talk to Giles since we told him.

"Yeah, we think she's done some sort of spell, Oz came to us a few days ago and told me she was messing with memory spells and spells that control people's will. Now all these things keep happening that she says she wants to happen. It's not that far of a jump to find the answer to our current problems."

"Buffy, Willow wouldn't purposefully hurt us! There's no way she'd mean to send a never-ending parade of demons after me. Are you telling me she wants me dead or something?"

"No! The best I can figure is she didn't think the spell worked."

"And another thing," he says like he's not listening to my answers. "If she did this spell and tried to stick you with Riley even though you're not really dating him, why don't you think you're with him? It doesn't make sense Buff, maybe you have this wrong. In fact, maybe you're the one under a spell done by Captain Peroxide over there, maybe he made you think you're together when in reality, you're in a happy relationship with Riley."

Well crap, what am I going to say to that? No Xander, I know that's not true. I got these magic repellent rings because I don't trust the Scoobies not to try magic on me. Or, No Xander, I know that's not true because Spike and I claimed each other and no amount of magic can break that. I sigh and decide to tell a half-truth.

"No Xander, I can't be affected by outside magic. I asked Tara to make me a charm to repel magic a while ago. I didn't want one of the baddies of the week to try anything on me. She gave it to me a few days ago. I know I'm the one that's not under the spell. Now that I think about it, I'll ask her to make one for each of us."

Xander sighed in defeat. "So then, you really think this is Willow? Why would she do that to me?"

"Maybe she thought the spell didn't work. I doubt she meant to hurt you."

"This is why I've been telling you she needs a tutor. She's too strong for her own good. She could have killed us, Xander! Strong, untrained witches are dangerous, and I for one don't feel comfortable being so close to one," Anya says, in a voice that makes it clear he should have already figured this out.

"She's not wrong. I'm worried about her too, Xan. I've talked to Giles and he's having one of the witches from the coven he went to, when he was recovering from doing dark magic, come to Sunnydale. She has to be careful or this type of thing will keep happening until someone ends up getting seriously hurt, or worse, dead," I say in a serious tone.

I know Xander, he'll defend Willow no matter what she does but he also only wants what's best for her. If he thinks that she's a danger to herself or others, he'll be on my side when it comes to getting her training. She said she wanted training but that was over a month ago. I love Willow but she has a huge ego and the fact that Oz left her because of her use of magic might make her dig her heels in and fight against her training. Especially after doing magic as strong as this. She might think 'What do I need training for? I'm already so strong that the head of the vengeance demons wants me to be one of them.'

"You really think she would hurt someone?"

"Without training? Yeah. Look at today, if you didn't have the training from living on the Hellmouth your whole life and working with me the last few years, you could have easily gotten hurt, or worse, killed. She didn't mean any harm, but harmed you all the same."

"Yeah, I guess I can see what you're saying."

"I think Willow has the potential to be one of the strongest witches in the world, she just has to be taught how to do it safely. It's not saying anything bad about her, it's just she has a tendency to want to fix everything for those she loves. Normally, that wouldn't be a bad thing but add in the power to change reality without the magical ethics to go with it, and you can have all of the bad, even if it happened with the best intentions."

"Yeah, I think you're right, Buffy. So wait, you're telling me that you're really dating Spike?" He says Spike with more disgust and loathing than I thought possible to express in just one word.

"Yes, Xander, and I won't hear another word about it. We've had this fight already and I'm not going to do it again. You're just going to have to wait until you get your memories back to get whatever answers you're looking for," I say with finality.

I look in the rearview mirror and see that he's upset but he doesn't say anything else about it. Now, I just have to figure out how to get to Willow. Oh right, when we went to the dorm room the first time I lived through this, Anya noticed the remnants of something that made her realize her boss D'Hoffryn came to see Willow. It didn't matter though because Willow ended up coming to us, so I guess we just have to keep the demons away from Xander long enough for Willow to find us. It's probably not smart to do this at Giles' then, since he can't see to defend himself.

"Spike, go to the crypt." Spike immediately changes directions but looks at me with a quirked brow. "Neither Giles nor Riley can defend themselves right now, so it's probably not smart to bring the demon magnet to them."

"Gotcha. Not too fond of the idea of messin' up my home though. Oh well, we'll be moving next week anyway."

"Next week? You didn't tell me that! Last I heard was you were going to tell the lady we wanted the place."

"Talked to her yesterday. We'll go sign the papers the day after tomorrow and move in next week. If that's what you still want, anyway." He says the last part a little shyly. He can't seriously think I'd change my mind now, can he? We claimed each other for goodness sake, that's like beyond permanent. I can't contain the need to roll my eyes, so he sees when I do.

"Spike, of course, I still want to. After last night, how could you think I'd change my mind?" He takes his hand off the wheel to grab mine.

"Sorry kitten, just being a self-conscious wanker. Don't mind me."

I just squeeze his hand and smile at him lovingly. I notice two cars in the rearview mirror driving erratically, I don't say anything but keep an eye on them. After two more turns, I realize they're following us. Shit, are those demons? I look at Spike and realize he already knows because he keeps looking in the mirror too.

"You guys are moving in together?" Xander asks incredulously, I can hear the disgust in his words too.

I see Spike tighten his grip on the steering wheel and feel the anger in our new bond. I'm surprised to sense feelings of hurt and a little bit of shame as well. I'm definitely going to have to talk to him about that later. Even without the claim, I'd be able to tell that he's at the end of his rope. I need to shut Xander up, or Spike is going to lose his shit. He normally leaves things to do with the Scoobies up to me, but I guess everyone has their breaking point, and I'm honestly proud he's been able to keep his cool this long. Xander has been saying little jibes and snide comments about Spike since I've come back in time and started bringing Spike around more.

"Xander, I'm done with this conversation, if you say one more thing about it, because you're so disgusted with our decisions, Spike and I with take our gross selves away from you and let you handle your little demon problem on your own." It was an empty threat but I have to try something. Xander opens his mouth to say something else when Anya cuts in.

"Alexander Levell Harris, you are spending way too much time worrying about whom Buffy is having orgasms with when you should be worried about your own. It's really starting to weird me out how worried you are about whom Buffy is boinking. So what if Buffy wants to get her orgasms from Spike? He's very nicely shaped, and he likes to wear tight clothes, so everyone knows he has a penis much larger than average. Plus, vampires really have great stamina, they can go on and on and on and…"

"Ahn!"

"Right, more importantly, he clearly loves her, and he's shown from past relationships that he's loyal and devoted. Buffy could do much worse. But what's most important is that it's none of your business, and I won't stay in a relationship with a man who's more worried about another woman's sex partner than he is about his own woman. If I hear one more complaint out of you about Spike, we're over."

I don't say anything I just turn my head and give Anya a grateful look, she gives me a small smile in return. Xander doesn't say anything, he just looks out the window. At least he's not brooding, he looks like he's thinking hard about what was said. Once we're close to Restfield, I remember the demons following us, so I get back into Slayer mode.

"Xander, Anya, when we park, run right into the crypt, don't wait for us."

"Why?" They both ask.

"Because there are two cars following us, I'm pretty sure they're demons looking for Xander. We'll take them out then join you inside. We'll barricade us in before more demons can get to us and wait until Willow comes to us."

"What makes you think she's coming?"

"I know she'll come, like we were just talking about, she doesn't want to hurt us. Once she finds out she is, she'll end this."

"Yeah but how will she find out she's hurting us? It's not like she'd think to look for Anya and me at Spike's crypt."

"I just know she will, call it Slayer sense but I know that she'll be here soon."

"Alright," Xander replied dubiously but didn't question me further.

Thank God for that because I had no idea what else I could say without telling him everything. When we arrive at the crypt they run right in like they're supposed to. Spike and I jump out and run to the trunk to grab some weapons. Just in time too because when we close the trunk we hear two cars screech up behind us. I turn around to see Clem of all people in one, he was in the car with another loose-skinned demon, and a small cute little furry one that I've never seen before but have the undeniable urge to want to scoop it up and hug it. I wonder if Spike and Clem even know each other yet in this timeline. Since he was never in the Initiative, and he wasn't our prisoner, he's had a lot more free time so, maybe? They don't look like they want to fight or anything so that's good, I turn my attention to the second car.

In the other car, there are two demons I don't know but they definitely look aggressive. They're scaley, slimy, and just gross to look at, and they have long, sharp claws that could definitely be used to gut you or stab you if you give them a chance. Thank goodness we have swords so we won't have to get too close to them.

As soon as they're out of the car we attack. I go for one and Spike goes for the other. Since we don't have time to play around and enjoy the fight I go right for the demon's neck. It dodges and counters me by trying to use its claws to take a chunk out of my stomach. I'm able to block it but it still cuts my arm, damn that hurts. I almost drop my sword but I'm able to hold onto it and slash him as I pull back. He follows me and tries to attack me again, this time to my face but I'm able to fully block it this time.

I know Spike's car is right behind me so I put my foot back and push off of it and use the momentum to stab my sword into its neck. It made a gross squishing sound going in, eww, and the demon let out a gurgled yell before falling to the ground. For the first time since the fight started, I'm able to look and see how Spike is doing. When I find him, I see him use his sword to cut off his demon's head. I look back over to Clem and see him looking uncomfortable, I have to remember that he doesn't know me so he's scared that he's going to get the same treatment.

"Clem? What are you doing here?" Spike asks, I guess he does know him.

"Hey Spike, not sure really, just have the undeniable urge to get to that man in there."

"He's ours, you can't have him, sorry mate. You lot better get out of here, there are more demons coming this way and you don't want to get caught in the middle."

"We can't leave though. I need to get in there."

"That's not going to happen, mate. Maybe just wait in the car. This will be over soon."

"You sure we can't come in?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

Clem lets out a sigh of disappointment and makes his way to his car, his friends following. Spike walks over to me and we make our way inside.

"That was Clem, he's harmless, he's one of my poker buddies."

"I know, you didn't meet him this early in my old timeline. I like Clem, he helped me understand that not all demons are evil."

"Yeah, he's a good bloke."

As I'm closing the door to the crypt, I see a lot of demons coming through the cemetery, heading straight for us. A lot of them look a lot more intimidating than Clem. We were able to lock it with the makeshift lock Spike must have made before they got there. It won't hold them long though so Spike and I stand in front of the door to help keep it closed. We stay like that for a few minutes but there must be more demons arriving because it's getting harder to keep them out. I don't know how much longer we'll be able to do it. Willow pops into the room and starts speaking.

"Let the healing power begin. Let my will be safe again. As these words of peace are spoken, let this harmful spell be broken."

The banging on the door stops so Spike and I let go. Xander and Anya breathe a sigh of relief and we all look at Willow, waiting for her explanation.

"Oh Goddess, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for all this to happen!"

"Willow, didn't we just talk about this a few days ago? Didn't you promise to wait to try more magic until you met with your teacher? I thought you were going to try to get Oz back," I say disappointedly.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry! I just thought I could fix everything and I didn't even think the spell worked when Oz didn't forgive me. Hey, where's Riley?"

"There was nothing broken for you to fix, Willow. Even if there was, you don't have the right to decide what's best for me or anyone here." I feel gross when she so casually mentions that she was trying to magically fix her problems with Oz. Especially because their problems stem from her using too much magic. I have to tell Giles about this.

"I'm your friend, Buffy. I'm allowed to help!" I notice the regret in her eyes has turned into indignation, which angers me.

"You know what? I think I totally understand where Oz is coming from. I've told you many times already, if I can't trust you, you can't be on my team. Right now, I can't trust you, Willow. I'm going to need some space from you too."

"Buffy, what? You can't be serious, I'm just trying to help!"

"Well, you're not. You're smart, Willow, one of the smartest people I know, but thinking you know better than everyone around you is stupid. You're also one of the strongest witches I know, but thinking you can do whatever you want without consequences is going to send you right into dark magic, and I can't have that around me. You need to take a long hard look at yourself and see if you're moving in the direction you want to be." I stop and look at everyone around me. "Come on everyone, let's get back to Giles, I want to make sure he has his sight back."

Everyone nodded their heads subduedly and we go back to the car. The ride back to Giles' is made in silence and I notice when I look in the mirror that Willow is silently crying. It stinks, I thought I changed enough that this spell wouldn't happen but I guess I was wrong. Everything is still happening but just in a different order. Am I even doing any good by being here? Can I really change things? I don't know anymore. At least I have Spike back, and we are going great. It's hard to remember, but that's the whole reason I came back here in the first place, and seeing where we are now, it's all been worth it. I'm just worried, we still haven't taken care of the Initiative and we have Glory defeat. This is stressful!

At least I don't have to do it alone, I have my family with me, which now includes Spike, since we've claimed each other. I have my Watcher, and now he knows the truth of where I'm from. I'm closer with all the Scoobies that I didn't take the time to know as well as I should have last time. Tara is confident in the group without dating anyone, and Oz is too, even if he and Willow are fighting. I'm hoping to work this out with Willow too, I know what I said to her was harsh but I need her to take this seriously. I don't want to lose her, I hope I don't have to. Xander came around when I had to have this fight with him, so hopefully she will too.