All right it's been a really long time. If I was anyone following this I would have left it a long time ago. I can't apologize enough so here you guys go. It's been a freaking long time coming. Honestly if any of you are still following this, you are amazing and have more patience than I have. A hell of a lot has happened in my personal life that really took over all my time and things are not slowing down but I've had this nagging voice and by voice I mean my best friend who kicked my ass back into gear telling me to update. I wrote and rewrote and then abandoned this for two years; yeah two fucking years. Anyways, enough talking. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Yes Spike is back!

Disclaimer: Nope even after a very long hiatus I did not strike it rich and managed to get the rights to any of the Buffy characters. All the BTVS characters belong to whomever owns them (it's not me).

She felt strong arms pick her up. Her whole body ached and she was pretty sure she was seconds away from death. She couldn't open her eyes but she felt her self placed down on a .seat. Then she felt a car start and painfully felt every bump and turn the vehicle took.

"Hang on we are going to get you some help."

She didn't know how long she had been asleep for. She actually didn't know where the hell she was. 'was this what dying felt like?' she thought to her self. Then she felt the sharp pain on her head then more pain coming from the rest of her body.

Xander was standing watch over the almost dead slayer he managed to rescue.

He had heard Jennifer's last words to the other slayers and he couldn't let her go that way. He was compelled to at least retrieve the body of the brave slayer who gave her life protect the other girls just like his Anya had done.

He wasn't sure how but when he got there he saw signs of life on Jennifer's beat up body and picked her up hoping that he could save her.

A sharp intake of breath distracted the scoobie. Then all sorts of sounds came from the machines hooked up to the young woman's body.

Jennifer's arm began to twitch and soon followed by the rest of her body. White coats filled the room and pushed the one eyed man aside as they began to asses the situation.

"How do we know that he's still the same Spike? Something could have changed." Giles asked quietly as he talked with Buffy away from everyone else.

"I think he's just back. Same old spike I don't know how or why but I'm glad we have another player on our team Giles especially since we lost. . . . Angel."

Giles looked down and rubbed his forehead. "I understand but we must be sure. Can I have some time with him make sure he's alright. The last thing we need is to have Spike going crazy again." Giles looked into his slayer's eyes and pleaded with her. He was also relieved to have another ally but he didn't trust Spike before and he needed to make sure he was at least stable.

"Fine let me talk to him first." Buffy looked over at Faith and Kennedy who were busy rallying the troops and giving them new instructions. The blonde turned around and walked back into the room where Spike was trying to avoid the army of slayers in the rest of the house.

"Hey" Buffy said as she walked in slowly.

Spike looked up dropping the deck of cards he was shuffling around. "So what did the witch say?"

The blonde shrugged "We didn't get around to talking about this. . . " she looked up to see a hurt look in the vampire's eyes "she had other pressing information but I promise I will talk to her after we talk."

Spike chuckled "Of course I'm not top priority. . ." he stood from bed and looked around the room "So what do we have to talk about?"

Buffy hesitated "Well Giles thinks that you need to be checked out to make sure you're okay."

"No."

Buffy was a bit shocked hearing the vampire's quick response.

"No? That easily? What if something IS wrong Spike? You could end up hurting someone." She tried to reason with him.

"I don't trust that man. He practically put a hit on me last time he thought something was wrong with me. I know I'm all right Buffy. Can't you just believe me?" He walked closer to the blonde slayer.

"I want to, but everyone else is worried. I just want to make sure you are okay and that you are good to fight by my side."

"I am, Buffy. I feel it. Look I know that I've acted a bit stupid since I came back but I'm fine. I'm ready to fight this thing head on. It's not like you have another en souled vampire. . . ."

Buffy ignored the last comment and continued "Can you please just do this for me? I'm sure it'll just be a few questions and stuff. You know Giles." She placed her hand on his forearm and looked at the vampire. She knew she probably should't get too close to him, but she wanted to comfort the vampire. She knew he was having some troubles adjusting and being distrusted by everyone didn't make him feel very welcomed.

"Fine I'll do it but if that stiff says or does something I don't like I'm not bloody responsible."

"So Spike's back?" Willow questioned as she took a seat on the bed. She finally got around to actually talking to her best friend alone away from everyone.

"Yeah he is. I don't know how but one minute we were talking to him and then. . . " the blonde paused for a moment and thought about her words carefully. She didn't know if she wanted to tell them that Faith was the key at least not yet ". . . there was this beam of light and then he was back."

Willow looked at Buffy a bit skeptical the hesitation in her friend's voice was not lost on her.

"Was he near you or something? With the power you hold inside especially after everything, you could bring someone back to life." Willow was trying to gage exactly what Buffy was afraid to talk about.

"Well we were in the same room. It just happened so suddenly you know and then the idiot decides to smooch me right after he is brought back to life. I'm pretty sure he is the Spike we love to hate." Buffy rubbed her lips with her thumb. She still couldn't believe Spike was back and the altercation that had happened between the blonde vampire and Faith.

"Wait" Willow said standing up and beginning to pace the room. "You guys kissed?"

The blonde shook her head. "No, Will he kissed me and then Faith tried to dust him. . . It was kind of cute"

Willow stopped her pacing and looked at the blonde confused "Cute?"

Buffy managed to smile "I know it sounds messed up but in all of the stuff that's going on, seeing Faith all protective over me felt. . ."

"Nice?" Willow stated smiling a bit. Buffy nodded and took her turn at sitting on the bed. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

It was Willow's turn to hesitate.

"I saw what happened with Spike. When I passed out after trying to contain Angel, I had a vision or something. . ."

Buffy waited silently for her friend to continue many questions lingering in her head.

"I saw you kissing Spike or rather him kissing you I guess. I saw a lot of things that didn't make sense but once you told me Spike was back it started to fall in to place. She told me that it would make sense as things progressed."

"Who is she?" Buffy asked wrapping her arms around herself. She wondered how a slayer the original slayer could feel so vulnerable.

"I don't know I was in this room and this woman appeared there and there was a tree in a field.. ." Willow closed her eyes for a few moments. "… it was so much information that I can't make sense of it all and I know that the key to beating this is in there somewhere." The witch placed her hands on her temples.

The blonde made her way towards her friend and looked her in the eyes. "Will, are you okay?"

The red head took a deep breath in and smiled. "Just a little head ache nothing too big. Now if I could just figured this out I think we could beat this thing."

Buffy looked at her friend nervously and approached her friend. "Will there is one other thing I should tell you."

Willow leaned in waiting for her friend to continue. She had an inkling that her friend had been holding something back from her and was overall happy she was going to clue her in.

Buffy looked around the room "You have to promise to tell no one . . . at least not till we are ready to okay?"

Willow smiled nervously and nodded.

"Spike was not brought back to life by me. Faith did it." Buffy crossed her arms feeling even more exposed. She wanted to keep Faith safe but she needed her friend's help in order to do so.

"So you mean that. . ." The red-head trailed off.

Buffy slowly nodded "Faith is the Key."

Faith cleared her throat and a dozen or so pairs of eyes turned to her. She inhaled feeling way out of her comfort zone. Buffy had talked to Willow and the two slayers had agreed that it was time to let some people know about the true key. She locked eyes with the most beautiful green eyes and got a nod of encouragement from them.

"Shit, I'm not very good at this but I figured I should be the one to clue you guys in."

Giles looked at Faith a bit confused and so did everyone else in the room. Willow held on to Kennedy's hand.

"Buffy and I had a slayer dream a while ago and we discovered that she's not the key." Faith inhaled again taking a moment to study everyone's face. The librarian's body relaxed feeling relieved that his slayer and for all intense and purpose, daughter was not the key. Xander's face just went blank with a small smile on his lips. The few other girls in the room looked at each other wondering if that was a good thing. Faith was putting a lot on the line at the moment. Sure she felt she was slowly being integrated into the group but she still found it a bit hard to trust them with anything and now here she was about to put her self in the most vulnerable spot she could be.

"That's good news right?" Xander said as he saw the grim look on Buffy.

Buffy spoke up feeling the anxiety pulsing out of Faith. The blonde moved closer towards Faith and placed her hand on the brunette's shoulder "Not really."

"Wait why not? I mean sure that kind of sets us back a little but I'm happy here! Buffy is not gonna be hunted down to be bled and bring the world into extinction. Isn't that good?" Xander asked obviously missing the tension building in the room.

Faith chuckled a little under her breath and nodded "Yeah that is a good thing." The brunette placed her hand over the hand Buffy was resting on her shoulder.

"How come the spell didn't work then? It clearly pointed us towards Buffy?" Giles asked turning to Willow."

However before Willow could say anything, Faith spoke up "It did work. She didn't faint because she saw Buffy but because she saw me. . . I'm the key not Buffy."

As Faith began to lose some of her composure, Buffy spoke up.

"I need everyone in here to understand this, " She made contact with a few of the slayers who were allowed into the meeting "I know some of you don't fully understand what this means so I'm going to make it clear to you and everyone better listen up. Faith is the priority now. We protect her and from now on we leave any misconceptions or issues you have regarding her."

Giles stared at a spot on the table feeling a bit guilty for feeling relieved Buffy wasn't the key. He took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. "Right well with this new information I think we need to keep going with the research and perhaps change some stuff around so that we can keep Faith safe.

Faith spoke up "I'm still a slayer and I can protect my self G man, can we just keep the munchkins following around to the minimum?"

Giles smiled "I'll see what I can do."

Xander walked over to Faith and made eye contact with her "You know that we got your back right?"

Faith nodded and Xander patter her back.

Giles looked over his notes and wrote down some stuff in them. After a few minutes of silence from everyone in the room the librarian spoke up. "All right here is the plan, Buffy and Faith I hope you guys are comfortable with each other." Giles smiled and looked at the two slayers. He knew something was going on with the two slayers and he was just happy they were no longer trying kill each other. Faith and Buffy looked at each other and smiled back and just nodded.

The Liberian turned to the rest of the group. "Per request of Faith here, most of the security detail will be backed off, however Buffy and Faith will remain each other's body guards."

Kennedy spoke up "That's genius!" smirking and looking at Willow.

"Thank you Kennedy. The first doesn't know who the key is. My thinking that if we move things around to protect a certain person he will take note and I"m pretty sure he already has an inkling that someone in this room is the key. However if Buffy and Faith hang around each other and protect each other we don't give anything away after all it's strategic on our end to have the two senior slayers working together."

"So what are we going to do to get ahead of them and save Angel?" Faith asked.

"Well I want to set a trap for him. From what I've gathered in the last few days, since the Hell-god was forced into him, there might be a chance to save him." The Englishman took a moment to look at both the slayers "First we need to trap him and then remove his soul, and let Angelus do all the dirty work. Angel himself told me Angelus was afraid of the hell god but if we can rile him up and have him attack the hell-god from the inside, . . . even if he doesn't succeed he will be weaker when he resurfaces and we will have a chance."

Faith stood up abruptly "A chance at what exactly?" She felt her heart sped up and her breathing pick up "To kill him? Like the last hell-god? this is Angel we are talking about he's not disposable Giles. Find another way." Faith walked away feeling her blood boil. She owed it to Angel to fight for him now more than ever.

Buffy followed Faith into their room hoping to comfort the other woman. The meeting had taken a toll on her and she knew that it was much worse for her counterpart.

"That was tougher than I though." Faith said as she plopped down on the bed. "And I won't help kill Angel. . . He saved me Buffy, he pulled me out of all the shit that I was wrapped in. I owe it to him."

"I know. He means a lot to me too. We will find a way" Buffy moved into the bed accepting the silent invitation for her to join Faith. Buffy sat next to her instinctively placing her hand on Faith's stomach.

"We can't let him get killed. He's the reason I'm here right now B and I can't even think about sacrificing him. Giles on the other hand. . ." Faith trailed off as the blonde began to move her hand around in circles.

"Angel is tough a champion if anyone can make it through this it's him. I'm worried about him too. Can we just take a second though."

A second to what? Faith asked.

"To be here right now. We both have been through so much already just in the last couple days and I want to soak this in."

After a few moments Faith leaned into Buffy "Would it be so bad if we just stayed in this bed forever?"

The blonde slayer chuckled. "That sounds like a plan" Buffy wrapped her arms around Faith and closed her eyes.

Faith shifted so that her face was mere inches away from Buffy and green eyes greeted her own chocolate brown eyes. The brunette shyly opened her mouth and quickly closed it.

"May I?" Faith asked.

Buffy smiled "Kiss me" It wasn't an invitation or a suggestion it was loving demand which Faith happily complied.

Kennedy, followed by five other girls, walked into the house cautiously. They had gotten the distress call a few hours after Willow and Giles made it to the central safe house.

"No signs of anything or anyone." Kennedy spoke into her intercom "we're going in."

Buffy and Faith walked through the main door followed by a dozen or so girls. Kennedy quickly split up the girls to search the rooms and teamed up with Buffy and Faith to check the garage.

The three slayers walked into the garage only to run back out the moment they laid their eyes on the scene before them.

A few of the girls who noticed the disturbed looks upon their leaders walked and peaked in and then ran out the door holding back tears.

Faith walked towards a wall and punched through it and then slid down the wall trying to stay as composed as possible.

Buffy on the other hand spoke up.

"Kennedy. . . " Buffy looked at the girl and shook her a bit. "Kennedy listen to me don't let anyone else past this door okay?"

Kennedy nodded and put her self in front of the door.

The blonde made her way to Faith and grabbed her and walked her outside. She made eye contact with Giles who was standing next to Willow and she simply shook her head.

They got there too late. Way too late. Even though the distress call had only been put out a few minutes ago, the damage had been done.

"Jesus christ B, those girls. . ."

Buffy nodded and looked into disturbed brown eyes "I know."

"When does it end? I thought I was ready for this but walking in there. . . fuck!" Faith walked back into the house right as the rest of the girls finished clearing the house.

"Um. . . Miss Summers?" One of the new slayers walked up to Buffy with a emotionless look.

The blonde was concerned but waited for the girl to say what she was going to say.

"You need to look at something in here." Buffy and Faith followed the young brunette into a room.

I will bleed every single one of you until I find you.

It was written in blood right above a tub full of thick crimson fluid. The floor full of drag marks and blood splatters. Faith collapsed on the floor as the blood began to soak her jeans. She was panicking and feeling so guilty. As soon as Faith's hands made contact with the blood on the floor she began to seize on the floor. Buffy ran to her side and tried to gain control of the other woman's body but Faith kept spasming and twitching.

"What the hell is going on?!" Kennedy ran in and immediately began trying to contain the spasms of her best friend.

"Faith! Come back!" Buffy screamed hoping or pretending that Faith was able to hear her, but Faith's state didn't seem to change.

"Giles! Get to the master bathroom now! . . . Bring the med kit NOW!" Kennedy barked into her intercom.

Giles ran into the room and prepped some form of syringe and was urging Buffy to step away but before anyone could do anything they were all pushed against the wall and Faith's body rose up drenched in blood.

Buffy couldn't breath she was trying to fight against the power that was pinning her to the wall but couldn't she could feel her consciousness fading. Her body felt like she was being stabbed all over and she felt so much fear. She could hear screaming but everything was oddly silent. Her sight was fading and she could see Giles and Kennedy out of the corner of her eye their bodies seem lifeless. Faith's body was vertical and seemed lifeless just a body not Faith.

Then after what felt like an eternity, everyone's body collapsed to the floor. Giles was gasping and Kennedy was grunting in pain her body shrinking into itself. Buffy fought against the immense pain she felt all over. She crawled her way to Faith hoping that she had survived what ever the hell had just attacked them.

Author's note: I'm sorry I took such a long time and I can't guarantee it won't happen again. This is where I beg forgiveness and for reviews. I can't tell you how guilty I felt whenever I would see I had a new following and that along with my best bud leading by example got me to continue this. So please, please, please leave me a review or send me a message and let me know what you think. If you made it this far, I thank you and keep at it because you are an amazing patient person. I think I have like 4 ish more chapters left for this so bare with me we are almost there.