Spike hadn’t even bothered to get dressed.

 

He was standing naked next to the bed.  “We can’t just leave.  Not ‘til you tell me what’s going on.”

 

“You can either come with, or stay.  It’s up to you,” Faith said not looking at him.  “This isn’t a choice for me.  It’s something I need to do.”

 

“At least tell me why?” He asked walking over to her. 

 

She had gotten dressed and was almost done packing.  Faith paused and looked at him.  How did she explain a feeling?  It was just a feeling.  He should know after what happened with Cooper and the Old One.  She shouldn’t have to explain.  Spike should trust her on this. 

 

“You know I’ve been a little off lately.  Kind of anxious.”  She refused to admit she was scared to him or anybody else.  “What I didn’t tell you is that I’ve been dreaming of Sunnydale.  I need to go back.”

 

She could tell he didn’t know what to say and she didn’t blame him.  Sunnydale had somehow rematerialized?  How could that be?  Just because Sunnydale fell into the hellmouth didn’t mean the hellmouth was gone.  Temporarily closed maybe?  Faith figured it would’ve stayed closed a hell of a lot longer.  On the other hand, it shouldn’t surprise her.  Nothing should surprise her when it came to the hellmouth or Sunnydale. 

 

Spike sat down on the edge of the bed.  “If you want me to come…” He was cut off by the sound of jingling coming from somewhere.  He looked around.  “What is that?”

 

Faith was momentarily confused, and then a spark of recognition crossed her face.  “It’s the phone Angel gave me.  I don’t know where it is.  We haven’t used the damn thing since we left L.A.”

 

They started searching for it; Spike pulled apart the beds and the sheets, flinging pillows all over the room while Faith rummaged through their bags.  She finally found it in an outside pocket of her canvas bag.  “Hello,” she said breathlessly.

 

“Hey!”  She sat down slowly on the bed, not saying much except for an occasional, “Uh-huh.”

 

Spike took the opportunity to get dressed.  Just looking at his face she could see he was about as edgy as she was.  She just wanted to hurry up and get off the phone and tell him what was going on.

 

“Okay,” she finally said.  “Yep, he’s still here.”  She glanced at Spike.  “I don’t know.  Guess I’ll find out.  No.  Thanks, Giles.”  She hung up.

 

Spike’s shock showed.  “Did you just say… Giles?”

 

Faith cast her eyes down.  “He called Angel.  Angel gave him the number.”  She sat there, fiddling with the cell phone, not meeting his gaze.  She wasn’t sure how to start.

 

Spike came and sat down next to her.  “Faith...” He said gently squeezing her hand.

 

Faith slowly looked up at him.  She was nervous and she wasn’t sure if it stemmed from the fear of what his response would be or what he would do once he knew.  Faith was kind of getting used to having him around. 

 

She began slowly.  “Something’s up.”

 

“Just like you said, innit?” Spike said.

 

Faith nodded.  “Sunnydale is back.”  She didn’t stop when she saw the shock register on Spike’s face.  “And I mean back.  The Bronze, the high school, the Hellmouth, the Magic Box, the people.  They’re all there.  Giles is still trying to figure out why.  It’s like it was never gone.”

 

“What exactly does Rupert want you to do?”

 

This was going to be the hard part and she knew it.   Realizing she had to say something, she started again.  “He wanted to know if I had been having any dreams, specifically about Sunnydale.”

 

“How would he know about the dreams?”

 

Faith paused.  She knew the next thing she said was the deal breaker, the one thing that could change everything.  But she knew it needed to be said.

 

“Because Buffy has been having dreams too.” 

 

Okay, she’d said it.

 

Spike stood up and walked to the window, not even bothering to look out.  “You’re meeting her in Sunnydale aren’t you?”

 

“She’s flying in from Italy.  She’ll be landing at Sunnydale Airport in about three hours.  It will take us just over two to get there.”  Then seeing his face added, “Well, if you still want to go.  I can go alone, it’s not a big deal.”

 

Spike said something softly.

 

Faith moved closer so she could hear him.

 

“She still doesn’t know,” he repeated.

 

“You wouldn’t talk about it before?” Faith said softly.

 

“I know.” Spike said.  “Never saw the need really.  She was moving on … getting on with it.  She was thousands of miles away, living it up finally.  Things were different for her and I didn’t want to ruin it.  Let her move on… past is past, right?  I had moved on.  I … and you.” He said finally looking at her.  “I bloody should’ve known,” Spike said.  “I bloody should’ve told her.” He went and sat back down on the bed, rubbing his hands through his hair.

 

Faith kneeled down in front of him.  “What are you going to do?”

 

XXXXX

 

The Scoobies were going back to Sunnydale.

 

How had this happened?  When Giles had called her to casually ask if she had been having any sort of reoccurring dreams, she didn’t think anything of it.  Of course now she knew better.  Buffy should’ve known better then.

 

When did she become so laid back?  So not on guard every time Giles called?  That was a dumb question.  When she was no longer the only Chosen One.

 

No longer the only Chosen One.  That had actually made her happy.  Now she had time to sit back and relax, enjoy life somewhat and finally let go of all the worry that dogged her for most of her life.

 

She suspected those days were over.

 

Buffy glanced out the window of the airplane, not seeing the clouds that were rolling by, the gentle sound of the engine, lulling her into a comfortable place where she could be alone with her thoughts.

 

Giles had come in from England to tell her in person about Sunnydale’s reappearance.  He met her in the house she shared with Dawn.  Shortly after Giles arrived, Xander came back from Africa and Willow and Kennedy came in from San Paulo.  Buffy wasn’t surprised that Giles had already contacted them.

 

Before everyone got there she knew she’d needed to let Dawn in on what was going on.  She owed her that much.  Buffy was doing her best to not over-protect her sister.  Sometimes it worked, most times it didn’t.

 

Dawn of course, had a fit when she realized she wasn’t going back to California with the rest of them.

 

“You need to stay in school,” Buffy told her.

 

“You’re going to leave me here?  Alone with all the Euro-vamps?  No way.  I have to come.”

 

“Actually you don’t,” came Kennedy’s voice from the doorway.  “I’m staying here with you.”

 

“And Giles is staying too,” Buffy added.

 

“You’re leaving me with a babysitter? No.  Make that two babysitters.”  Dawn was visibly offended.  “I am seventeen years old Buffy.  Almost eighteen.  You can’t make me stay here.  I can do what I want.”

 

Buffy’s patience was wearing thin and the fact that her sister had to look down to talk to her nowadays didn’t help matters either.

 

“They are not babysitters, Dawnie.  Kennedy is going to keep you company.  And Giles is trying to figure out what’s going on.  All his books are here… all of his contacts.  And you can’t leave school.  You know you can’t leave school.” Buffy added quietly, “And I don’t want you to be alone.”

 

Tears welled up in Dawn’s eyes.  “I need to go Buffy.  What if…. “

 

Buffy’s eyes crinkled in question.  “What if what?  What aren’t you asking?”

 

“What if Mom’s there?” Dawn finally said, barely above a whisper.

 

Buffy hadn’t even thought of that.  She had been so wrapped up in the thought of Sunnydale being whole again and possibly evil, she never stopped to think what else might be there.  Would everything be the same as it was before they destroyed it?  Well, before Spike totally destroyed it?

 

Buffy realized she hadn’t even thought about what she might be going back to, she was thinking about what she had left.  Would their house still be there?  Would the Bronze still be there?  What about Sunnydale High?  She was so caught up in the memories of the Old Sunnydale.  She had no clue what was waiting for her in the new one.

 

“Dawn, I don’t know what’s going on.  Sunnydale shouldn’t be there.  We know Spi… we both saw it.  I’m sure... I’m positive Mom is not there.  I can feel it.  You believe me, right?  You know I would know, right?”

 

Sadness settled into both sisters’ hearts, and Buffy suspected that Dawn knew what she told her was true; she just hated the fact that she had to leave her sister yet again.

 

“I believe you,” Dawn said.  With that, they hugged, neither one seeing the tears in the other’s eyes.

 

XXXXX

 

“Hello?  Earth to Buffy.”  Willow asked, nudging her best friend with her shoulder.

 

Buffy turned and looked at her.  “Sorry, Will.  Was thinking about Dawn and Sunnydale.  All this just feels kind of weird.  Having those dreams… I figured they were just memories or something, then Giles tells me Faith has been having them too.”

 

“Kind of strange, huh?  What time is Faith meeting us there anyway?” Willow asked.

 

“She should get there around the same time as us. She’s driving in.” Then catching Will’s wide-eyed look.  “Angel gave her a car,” Buffy added grinning.

 

“I wish Angel would give me a car,” Willow said smiling.  She turned and looked out the airplane window.  “Never thought I’d be taking a plane back to Sunnydale airport.”  She shivered.  “Especially after what happened the last time I landed there.”

 

“Ew!  Gnarl!” Buffy shuddered at the memory.

 

“Someone mention snackage?” Xander said, sitting down next to Willow.  “Got tired of waiting so I went and got some myself.”  With that he unleashed armfuls of snacks he had swiped from the flight attendant’s cart.  Small packets of peanuts and pretzels spread out over both Buffy’s and Willow’s tray tables.  “Oooh peanuts!” he exclaimed, snatching a pack from Buffy’s tray.

 

“Xander,” Willow said.  “We had dinner like an hour ago.  How can your stomach be all like… GRRRR … grumbly?”

 

“Do you know how many time zones I’ve been through in the last three days?” Xander asked.

 

Willow held up two fingers.  “Two time zones.  There wasn’t one when you left Africa and came to Italy and now the one in California.  That would be two Xander,” she said emphasizing the two fingers she was holding up.

 

Xander looked at Buffy.  “Smart women.  I hate smart women.”

 

Buffy and Willow exchanged glances and giggled.

 

XXXXX

 

Neither one of them spoke much.  Faith figured Spike was too busy thinking about Buffy, not that she could blame him. 

 

They had a thing.  He had loved her.  No one had to tell Faith that when you compared sex to love, love usually won, especially when it came to Buffy.  Not so much for Faith though. It never seemed to work that way for her.

 

As soon as she told Spike about Buffy, Faith knew it was a matter of time before she lost him.  He didn’t come out and say it.  He didn’t need to.  She didn’t care.  She really didn’t.  It was just sex. 

 

She kept repeating it to herself as if it was her mantra.

 

That was the long and short of it.  Wasn’t it?  They had sex.  Granted, really, really great sex, probably the best sex she had ever had, but in the end they were friends that slept together. 

 

Wasn’t the first time and it wasn’t going to be the last. Well, with Spike it probably was the last time.  She figured that whatever Buffy and he had going would pick up again once they saw each other.  Buffy getting all weird when she finds out her vampire is still alive.

 

Spike had mentioned briefly back in Sunnydale, in the days of the First Evil and Caleb, that she would be surprised with the changes in Buffy.  Now she was even more curious about what that meant. Maybe the two of them could compare notes. 

 

“That’ll happen,” Faith thought rolling her eyes.  She forced her thoughts back to the road.

 

She told Spike he could drive; she wasn’t much in the mood.  Looked like it was a good decision too, since they made it to the New Sunnydale in less than two hours.  Not hard to do when the speedometer in the car never dropped below ninety. 

 

Faith knew they were there before she even saw the ‘Welcome to Sunnydale’ sign. 

 

“Had to see it to believe it,” Spike said, pulling the car off the side of the road and parking.  He looked at Faith.  “Maybe I should run the sign down for old times sake.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Not important pet,” he said looking back towards the sign.  “I don’t bloody believe it’s here.”

 

“The sign or the town,” she asked not wanting an answer. She couldn’t believe it either.

 

Sunnydale was the same.  It looked exactly the same.  Faith opened the car door and started to get out.  The apprehension and anxiety she had been feeling was so much stronger here.  She realized she couldn’t get out of the car.  She was frozen in her seat.

 

Spike ran to help her.  Concern showing on his face. “You okay?”

 

She looked at him.  “Can you say magnification? Damn!”

 

Spike took her hand and helped her out.  She hesitated at first, and then realized she’d needed to deal.  She had a feeling she’d be here a while.

 

Spike didn’t let go of her hand as they made their way to the ‘Welcome to Sunnydale’ sign.  Faith reached out to touch it.  “Needed to make sure.  You know, make sure it’s real.  Not some kind of illusion.”

 

“It’s real all right,” Spike said kicking it.  They both watched it vibrate as it scattered road dust into the air; kept watching as the dust disappeared into the night sky.

 

“We’re supposed to meet them at the Bronze,” Faith said, turning to look at him.

 

“When?” Spike asked.

 

“Their flight lands in less than an hour.  Figured that’d put them at the Bronze around midnight.” She looked at Spike.  “Are you ready for this?”

 

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

 

XXXXX

 

Faith ended up waiting alone at the Bronze.  Spike figured it wasn’t a good idea to spring his resurrection on the lot of them so soon.  It was probably something he should work up to, although neither one of them knew exactly how he should do it. 

 

He told Faith that he’d wait for her back at this old crypt; they both assumed it was still there.  If and when Faith could break away from the group, she’d meet him there.

 

“Are you sure about this?” he asked, dropping her off in front of the Bronze.

 

She turned and looked at him.  “Yep, I’ll go alone.  Find out what I can and meet you later,” she said reassuringly. 

 

Faith wasn’t exactly sure who she was trying to reassure at the  moment.

 

“Will you be okay … “ Spike paused.  “Will you be okay coming back on your own?”

 

She knew he was concerned about her and that made her uncomfortable, especially since there were back in Sunnydale.  Too many memories here.  Faith was beginning to think that hate wouldn’t be too strong of a word when thinking about this place.

 

“I’ll be fine.  I’ll be with the gang, remember?” Faith smiled at him and leaned in to give him a quick peck on the lips.  Spike wouldn’t let her get away that easily.  He grabbed her and kissed her hard and quick.

 

Faith noticed that he didn’t drive away until she was inside the door.

 

The Bronze was packed.  She was still amazed.  The last time she had been here was with the Potentials.  She had taken a drink away from Amanda. 

 

Amanda.  It seemed like a lifetime ago.  The turned-evil-cops were after her.  What started out as fun, turned into a pretty shitty night   She basically got the crap beat out of her.  The Potentials had come to her rescue, and B ended up punching her in the face.  Come to think of it, Spike kind of knocked her around a bit the next day too.

 

“Now THAT was fun,” Faith mumbled under her breath.  She didn’t notice that she was no longer alone at the table.

 

“Faith.”

 

“B,” Faith said standing up.  “And the gang.”

 

They were pretty much the same as she had remembered.  She still wasn’t used to the eye patch on Xander.  It just wigged her out.  No matter what happened, how much time went by or how hard you tried to forget, one look at Xander could bring all the memories back.  “How’s tricks?” she asked.

 

Willow and Xander sat down; Buffy hesitated momentarily and then joined them.

 

“Still gay,” Willow said.

 

“Good to know,” Faith said looking at Buffy.  “I think.”

 

Buffy smiled awkwardly.  Faith could tell she still felt uncomfortable around her.  Faith really didn’t know for sure where it was coming from.  Faith thought she had proven herself at the end.  Buffy knew that, she needed to let it go.  They both were fighting on the same side these days.

 

Xander must have sensed the awkwardness.  “Still waiting for that party in my eye socket.”

 

Faith eyebrows crinkled.  “Yo!  Dude!”

 

The group caught up casually on what had been happening.  Faith had to leave part of the bloodletting ritual story out.  She didn’t want to mention Spike’s role accidentally.  A couple times she almost slipped, but she had managed to make it through, secret still intact.

 

“So Angel’s good?” Buffy asked. 

 

“As good as you can get... working for evil and all.” Faith supplied.

 

“And he gives away shiny new cars.  I should’ve been nicer to him,”  Xander added as an afterthought.

 

Faith sensed a change in Buffy.  It was easy to recognize.  It was Buffy’s ‘time to get serious’ look.  Xander and Willow noticed too.  They all stopped talking and at looked at Buffy.

 

“Okay.  Guess it’s time we get down to business,” Buffy said.

 

Faith said, “Where do we start?”

 

XXXXX

 

Faith, Xander and Willow knew the basics of what was going on, but no one knew the guts.

 

Buffy had saved that for when they all were together.  She really didn’t want to repeat herself since it was going to be hard enough the first time around.  Giles really didn’t know much yet and she had to be the one to tell them that.

 

“What started all this?” Faith asked.

 

“That would be the question,” Buffy said.  “I guess it started a month or so ago.  Giles’ sources, mostly the coven in England,” she glanced at Willow, “felt like something was brewing…” Buffy quickly added, “Um… something was up in the Hellmouth.”

 

Willow suddenly chimed in.  “Ooooh Witch Pun... Coven...  Brewing … I get it.”  She broke off, realizing everyone was looking at her.  “Sorry.”

 

Buffy smiled and continued.  “They sensed a power.  They weren’t sure if it was evil, just a ‘power’, so they tried to figure out what it was.  They couldn’t find anything on it so Giles brought in the seers.”

 

Buffy had everyone’s undivided attention.

 

“They didn’t see anything.”  Then sensing their confusion, added, “It’s like a huge veil is covering Sunnydale.  Giles didn’t want us coming here until he had a good idea what was going on.  He’s tried witches, mages, anything he could think of.  Nothing worked.  He’s been researching prophecies, looking at spells, anything to find out why Sunnydale came back, possibly hellmouth and all.”

 

“So basically we don’t know jack,” Faith added.

 

“Hey, we know plenty of Jacks,” Xander said.  “Jack and the Beanstalk, that cheese whose name is something Jack, Jack and Jill, and don’t forget my all time favorite Jack...”

 

“Thinking you can stop right there,” Faith interrupted.

 

“Good plan,” Buffy added backing her up with a smile.

 

“So what are we supposed to do while we’re here, Buffy?” Willow asked.

 

“Basically a recon mission.  We split up.  We look around and report back.  Not much we can do until we have more.  I don’t want anyone out alone until we know though.”  Buffy hated the idea of splitting her group up but she knew she had no choice.

 

“Xander, you go with Faith.  Check out the west side of town.  Willow and I will check out the east side.” Buffy paused.  “We meet at my house in exactly two hours.”   Buffy checked her watch.  “That would be 3:00.  Will and I should know if the house is safe by then.”

 

“And if it’s not?” Xander asked.

 

“You’ll know it before you make it to the front door,” Buffy told him.

 

She turned to Faith.  “I’m not talking patrolling.  Strictly recon and that’s it.  Don’t go into anything.  No winery.  No High School.  Nothing.  We just look around and see if we spot anything unusual, well, unusual by Sunnydale standards.  We need to keep this tight.  Got it?”

 

“Yep,” Faith agreed.

 

“So, Faith,” Xander said as they were walking out of the Bronze.  “We won’t be partaking in any bondage or sexual choking rituals this time will we?”

 

“Xander!” Willow exclaimed.

 

“What?”

 

“Don’t worry, Xander… you’re not my type.”  Faith teased punching him lightly on the arm.

 

“Does ‘Ow’ mean anything to anyone?” Xander asked rubbing where she had hit him.

 

XXXXX