Disclaimer: I don't own BTVS, Joss and co. are the owners.

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A/N: Just wanted to say Wepwatet is an actual Egyptian god that I just tweaked for the benefit of my story. Gotta give credit to the Nemu website for providing Egyptian God info. Thanks again for your support!

"So, this Adiran guy wants to resurrect his dead girlfriend?" Xander asked, glancing up from the volume he had been reading.

"Yes, from what I have managed to find about Adiran in my books and the markings on the coffin that Spike noticed; it all seems to fit. Adiran was once the lover of Emily Ferguson. They were both alive during the time of the Witch Hunt Trials in Salem. They both practiced magick and one day Emily was accused of being a witch. Unfortunately for her, the judge turned out to be a warlock that wanted to control the region. He placed a powerful spell that negated her power so that she wouldn't be able to counteract the flames. In the end, she was burned," Giles paused.

"Adiran or James Wilcox as he was known at the time was not a powerful warlock then. He was very upset that his girlfriend had been killed, and when he found out the truth about the judge, he vowed to grow in power to destroy him. He eventually killed him and ever since then he has been rumored to be looking for a way to resurrect his lover. Apparently, all his attempts have failed except for the one he is about to attempt. He intends to use the statue of Wepwatet, an Eygptian cemetery god, to open the gateway to the Underworld to obtain Emily's spirit and transfer it to Dawn's body. It seems we inadvertently sold him a statue we mistook for an Egyptian god of health. You see in order for the spell to work, it requires tremendous amount of dark energy as well as a form that can withstand it and the soul transfer. Since, Dawn's body used to be pure energy..."

"It can withstand it," Buffy said grimly.

"Yes, it seems to be the case. The worst case scenario is that Dawn's body reverts to being pure, mystical energy but I believe Adiran believes he is more than capable to preventing that from happening."

"But there's still a chance that he will be unable to put her back?" The Slayer questioned.

"Err, yes."

"So, that's why we gotta find her before he starts his mojo," Spike declared., shooting Buffy a comforting look.

"So, where do we look?" Xander wondered.

"It's gotta be the Hellmouth," Spike said.

"Yes, of course, the Hellmouth is the perfect resource for dark energy," Giles agreed.

"What about my powers?" Buffy asked.

"The only way to counteract it is to find out which spell he used. But since he's a high ranking Warlock, the only way we could do that is if we had a very powerful Warlock or Witch to detect the spell. And since Willow isn't big on magick these days, who's going to help us?" Anya pointed out.

Green eyes met green. Willow found herself gulping at the pleading look in her best friend's eyes.

"Will, I know this is hard on you and I wouldn't ask if it wasn't an emergency. It's Dawn we're talking about, and I need to rescue her and I can't do it without my Slayer powers. You're the only one who's strong enough to do it. You've said yourself that you've been feeling better and that the Coven has always said you can use magick."

"Buffy...I still don't think I can. I mean…" Willow stammered.

"Willow," Giles spoke in a stern but gentle tone. "Your control over your magick has improved drastically. I believe you are ready to use your magick whenever the situation presents itself even if it requires you to perform powerful spells. Just remember what the Coven taught you."

"I..." Willow started.

"Will, please," Buffy pleaded.

The redhead stared at her friend, contemplating Giles words, the situation at hand, and her own feelings about using magick.

"I'll try," she replied.

"You mustn't try. You must do," Giles said.

She took a deep breath before replying. "Okay, I'll do it."

"So, how does it feel to be the Slayer again?" Spike's British voice broke Buffy out of her reverie.

She had been taking out her frustrations on her old punching bag in the backroom of the Magic Box like she always used to.

"Good," she smiled briefly as she sent the punching bag flying. As it came back to her, she continued to pummel it.

"Looks like Red's mojo worked."

Buffy didn't reply, she was just focused at the punching bag in front of her.

"Don't worry, Buffy we'll find the Nibblet. We'll get to her before that Adiran broke even breathes a word of that spell."

The Slayer hammered the punching bag for a couple of more minutes, before kicking it and sending it off its chain onto the wall.

"Buffy," Spike murmured, concerned as he approached her. Her back was facing him. Annoyed by her lack of response, he grabbed her arm and whirled her around to face him. He placed both of his hands on either side of her shoulders.

"Listen to me, Buffy. We're going to get the bit back, safe and sound. I know you're worried but you can't let your emotions get the best of you. Let 'em out. I'm here to listen."

She sighed. "I just wished we had found this out sooner. So, we could have avoided Dawn being captured."

"I know, but what's done is done."

Spike began to run his hands, up and down her shoulders, as a comforting gesture. Surprisingly, she seemed to relax at his touch. She then leaned forward and he opened his arms to embrace her in a hug He held her for what seemed like the longest time yet in reality it couldn't have been for more than two minutes. He had never held the Slayer in such an intimate way. She had always shielded away from his touch whenever he had tried to offer it during their relationship, but this time she was willingly in his arms.

Suddenly, he felt her start to shift so he release his arms hold on her. She stilled for a moment, not quite completely pulling away from their hug. He found himself losing himself in her familiar, emerald gaze and before he knew it, her lips found his. Upon contact, he froze, confused. He could feel her tongue seeking entrance into his mouth and before he knew it, he had granted it. A minute later, she pulled away panting. Spike's arms left her and she found herself standing three feet away from him.

"What was that?" Spike questioned her, then shook his head. "Never mind. S'alright. I understand."

"No," she blurted. "It's not what you think."

"Really? It's not a bit of comfort you're looking for?" Spike muttered sarcastically.

She shook her head. "No. That was the old me. I thought we were past that."

"We have, but right now you just…"

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I didn't do it because I needed comfort."

"Then, why?"

His cerulean gaze seemed to stare right into her soul. What should she do? Should she tell him that cared about him? Fear and confusion overtook her. A voice inside her head kept saying, it was or never.

"I mean it kinda was because of that, but mostly I…did it because I w-wanted to," She replied, then upon seeing the confusion in his eyes she continued to elaborate. "Well, you see, I, uh, care about you."

He stared at her, unmoving.

All of a sudden, Xander appeared at the doorway. "Hey guys, it's time to go. We're ready to kick some Warlock ass. Well Will is ready to do that anyway."

"Let's go," Spike finally spoke and then proceeded to go towards the exit, leaving Buffy feeling disappointed. Ignoring her misgivings about her confession and Spike's lack of reaction, she followed the blonde vamp and refocused her mind at the task at hand, which was far more important than her feelings about the blonde vamp.

Was that the last of them? Xander wondered as decapitated the vampire he had been fighting. He along with Giles and Anya had been fighting the hordes of vampire followers Adiran had. Five minutes ago Anya had said that Adiran had started the chanting for the big spell he was trying to do.

"Are there more?" Anya asked, as she approached him after she killed her own enemy.

He glanced over to where Giles was dusting off his jacket. "Looks like it. What's going on?"

A dark cloud was covering the area where Buffy, Spike, and Willow had gone to fight against Adiran.

He waited a minute more before saying. "That's it, I'm going in."

"Wait for me," Giles said.

"Hey, but there's dark energy there," Anya protested.

But before either man could reply to her, they saw the dark clouds begin to part. They spotted two figures walking out of the clouds, but then just behind them another one.

"Who's missing?" Xander asked.

As the figures got closer, they noticed that Spike was carrying Dawn's body in his arms.

Buffy looked tired, dirt covered her face and her clothes were singed. Willow, too, looked tired but there was also a sort of calm look about her.

"What happened?" Giles queried, concerned.

"Is she…" Anya asked, wrinkling her brows in worry.

"She'll live. Will managed to block his spell and we destroyed the statue and his girlfriend's coffin."

"And Adiran?" Giles prompted.

"He's dead. His power got the best of him," Spike explained.

The following afternoon, Buffy found herself bringing Dawn some much needed food after her long sleep.

"How do you feel?" She said, placing her hand to her sister's forehead.

"I'm fine really. Totally tired, but hey, I'm alive," Dawn smiled.

"You are," Buffy smiled warmly at her sister.

"I guess this means no more powers for me," the teen said, trying to sound nonchalant about it.

Buffy's smile faltered for a moment. "Actually, Will said that since Adiran's spell didn't work and he didn't attempt to remove your powers, they should be intact."

"Really?" She blurted out excitedly, then tried to sound more calm. "Not that it matters or anything. I'd still help you, no matter what."

Buffy gave her sister a fake glare. "Of course you will but you have to be careful."

She grabbed her sister's hand. "We're Summer Sisters remember. We always stick together."

"So, what's the deal with you and Spike?" Dawn said as she resumed eating her meal.

"W-W-hat?" Buffy said, confused.

"I totally noticed the way you guys we're acting earlier."

"What do you mean? We were acting the way we always act? No weirdness."

"Yeah right. Something happened between you guys. Don't tell me you guys fought or something 'cause I don't want you guys to stop being friends."

Before Buffy could offer a reply there was a knock at the door. "Who is it?"

"It's me, Will. Can I come in?" Willow asked.

"Sure," the Summers sisters responded.

A few minutes into Willow's conversation with Dawn, the Slayer took her cue to exit. She was on her way to her room, when she spotted Spike coming up the stairs.

"Nibblet's eating?" He questioned. He had seen Buffy prepare her food earlier.

"Yeah," she responded. "She's with Willow now."

"Oh, right."

Silence loomed between them. Neither had attempted to speak about what had occurred last night; they had just been focusing on Dawn's well being.

"We need to talk," Spike said.

"Okay," Buffy agreed, surprising Spike.

"Let's go to my room," she said, since Giles was downstairs and it was the only place that was private.

He followed her inside her room and once she closed the door, she turned to him expectantly.

"Last night, I realize you were nervous cos of the Bit being in danger and.." He paused. "Look, what I'm trying to say is that you don't have to tell me, you didn't mean what you said cos I know you didn't. It was a fluke, that's all it was."

"It wasn't a fluke," Buffy countered, determined to set the record straight.

"Both you and I know.."

"Stop, let me talk. I know before I treated you badly. Okay, badly doesn't really cover it. I used you in the worst way possible, but I've changed and so have you. I don't blame you for not believing me but I meant what I said. I do care about you. I wanted to tell you before but I didn't want to miss up our friendship. I totally understand if you don't feel the same way about me but I just had to let you know." Then she added, "No matter what, I hope we can still be friends."

Minutes ticked by as she waited for Spike's reaction.

Finally, Spike said, "You're serious about this, Buffy?"

"Yes," she said.

Spike closed the gap between them and began to kiss her, to which she eagerly responded. A minute later, they pulled away panting, resting their foreheads against each other.

"Spike?"

"Hmm…"

"Do you still care about me?"

"'Course I do. I never stopped."

"You never stopped?"

"Course, I didn't. Just cos I started being friends with you, it never meant, I stopped loving you. Always have, and always will."

"I love you," Spike said before Buffy once again kissed him.

The End.

Just wanted to give you the spuffy ending you guys we're craving. Not the greatest I know, but I couldn't leave you guys without an ending. Please don't forget to leave a review!