When He Came Back

WHEN HE CAME BACK

Buffy had just finished dusting two vamps in the cemetery. It had been
a relatively quiet night, and Buffy was worried. Nearing Halloween, the
Hellmouth should have been overcrowded with vamps and demons. But it
wasn’t. All she had found in the last week had been four vamps, all
fleeing town.

Walking home, Buffy found herself thinking about Angel. She wondered,
<What had happened in his life to make him the man - no the vamp he
was?> And thinking about Angel made her think about Riley and Spike as
well. <What made them the men that they were? Was it the way that they had
been brought up?>

<Ouch> Buffy winced. Riley brought on a flood of memories, most
recently seeing him and his wife together. It wasn’t one of her fondest
memories of Riley at all.

Out popped a man from the shadows. Ethan Rayne. Buffy’s eyes narrowed
and she debated kicking some major ass or letting Ethan talk.

Ethan decided that for her. Holding his hands up, he said,

“Buffy, look. I know you’re still upset with me over the whole turning
Giles into a demon thing. But that place you sent me to—it changed me.
I’m different now. I only help people who want to know their heart’s
desires.”

“Oh Ethan. What kind of a fool do you take me for? You never want to
help anyone!” saying so, Buffy snorted derisively. “Plus—if I was going
to take you anywhere—it would be straight to Giles—with shackles on your
wrists and ankles!”

“No. Buffy, you really don’t want to do this!” Ethan pleaded.

“Don’t I?” Buffy mocked. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t beat
the crap out of you right now, and maybe I won’t beat the crap out of
you at all.”

“Okay, Buffy. I can perform a spell to take you back to each of your
boyfriend’s pasts so you can tell why they act the way they do/did, and
why you liked them.”

“Why the hell would I want to know that?” Buffy asked.

“Because you always wondered about your boyfriends’ families.” Ethan
answered.

“Give me the goods on this deal.”

“I perform a ritual that gives you a transparent body and then I open
the door to the past for you. It only lasts for a few minutes, but it
seems like years. It shows you what happened in each of their lives from
the time that they were born until the time you met them, with the
exception of Angel and Spike. I’m pretty sure that you don’t want to see
all the killings they performed. After each person meets you, you are
automatically brought to the next ones life, in order of birth years. By
the way, you do know what year each was born don’t you?” explained
Ethan.

“Yes I know what year each was born,” Buffy replied, “and what happens
if say I get stuck in one of those times?”

“You won’t get stuck if you don’t interfere with anything.”

“What do you mean interfere?”

“You must let each live out their lives without you helping them.
Buffy, you are there as an observer only. Make your choice now, Buffy. I can
only do this at sunset or sunrise, when the barrier between past and
present is thinnest.”

“Ethan—I need to talk to Giles about this.”

“Buffy, Giles will never let you do this. He would say ‘It is too
dangerous, Buffy. Who knows what could happen if you get stuck back there.’
”

“Ethan you sound just like Giles, did you know that? At least let me
call Willow and Tara.”

“I don’t like to sound like Giles, but thank you—I think. And yes, you
may call Willow and Tara. But make it quick.”

“I will. How long will it take to prepare?”

“I should have everything ready by noon today. So meet me at the ruins
of Sunnydale High at 5:30 tonight.”

“OK. What should I do about patrolling tonight?” Buffy asked, a worried
look crossing her face.

“Leave that to me.”

“Why? What are you going to do?”

“Buffy, I’ll deal with it.”

“I have to get home now. Dawn will be worried.”

“See you at 5:30 at the high school.”

Buffy and Ethan each turned away and walked to their destinations.
Unknowing to them, a figure crept out from behind the bushes. He had heard
the whole exchange between Buffy and Ethan. It was Angel, back in
Sunnydale because his company, Angel Investigations, had gone under.

<Oh, Buffy,> he thought, <what are you getting yourself into this
time?> Then 

Angel decided to go see his grandson, Spike. Angel had turned Drusilla
ages ago, and Dru had turned Spike. So that technically made Spike
Angel’s grandson. Not that Angel liked it any. But Spike was the only one
he could talk to about this. Well, the only one he could talk to about
it right now. Plus, he was sure that Spike wouldn’t want Buffy knowing
about his past either.

When Buffy walked in the door, Dawn practically threw herself at her
big sister.

“I was so worried about you!” Dawn said. “What took you so long to get
back?”

“I met an old ‘friend’ and we talked for a while. He made an
interesting proposition to me.”

“So you know who came here tonight.”

“No, I don’t. I just met Ethan on the street on my way home from
patrolling. Who came to the house, Dawn?”

“Buffy, if he didn’t meet up with you, then I can’t say who came. He
made me promise not to.” Dawn replied. “But he did say that if he didn’t
meet up with you tonight, he would come over tomorrow.”

Dawn purposely left out the ‘night’ part from that sentence. She wanted
Buffy to be surprised when Angel showed up.

“Dawn, you really should go to bed. I have some things to do, but I’ll
go to bed in a little while.”

“What things?” Dawn asked.

“Just some research on the web and stuff. I really should call Willow
for this, but I can’t. It’s 2:30, and she’ll be asleep right now.”

Actually, Willow was awake, thinking about Buffy.
 Willow sat up in bed, and reached for the phone.
She quickly called Buffy’s house.

“Hello, Summer’s residence, Buffy speaking.”

“Buffy—it’s Willow.”

“Hey Will. I was just about to call you. I need your help with the
computer.”

“When should I come over?”

“Anytime would be great. You’re the best, Will. See you whenever.”

“Buffy, I’ll come over right now. I just have to leave a note for Tara,
and get dressed.”

“Okay Willow. Sees you soon. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Willow hung up the phone and reached for a notepad near the bed. She
wrote a note to Tara, telling her where she had gone and that when Tara
woke up she should come on over too.

A few minutes later, Willow was on her way to Buffy’s house. She was
walking, but had a stake at the ready. But no vamps tried to jump her.
<It must be too close to sunrise> she thought.

Willow didn’t even have to knock when she got to Buffy’s house. Buffy
was waiting for her, and opened the door as soon as Willow came up on
the porch.

“Hey, Buffy. What's up?”

“I need your help on the computer, and I need your advice as a witch.”

“Okay, I’ll do what I can.”

“Thanks.”

Buffy told Willow all about meeting Ethan and what he had suggested to
her, and then told her about Dawn’s strange behavior when Buffy got
home.

Willow told Buffy that probably nothing was wrong with Dawn, but that
she needed to do some research before she could advise Buffy about the
spell.

“… And I also think you should tell Giles that Ethan is back in town.
You should also mention the spell.”

“But Will—if I do, Giles will forbid me from doing it. And I really
want to. I want to find out what attracted me to them.”

“Buffy, if you do the spell…and I’m not saying that you should, but if
you do, you don’t know what could follow you out from the past. Old
demons, other vamps, even a person. It could be quite dangerous, and it
could wreak havoc on the modern world. Like say if you brought back a
person, even just by accident,” Willow quickly said, as she noted Buffy’s
face getting tenser and tenser, “they could be infected with smallpox
or something like that. The effects would be devastating.”

“Okay, okay. So there are risks. Whenever isn’t there?”

“Buffy, you’re missing the point. It’s not what could come back, but
what will come back.”

“What do you mean, will come back?”

“I’m not quite sure, but whenever things like this are done, we have
another demon on our hands, and this time you’ll be in the past and
unable to help us.”

“All right, I’ll think some more about this. But I’m not promising
anything. Let’s just find the info I need to. Can you hack into records for
births dating back to the 1700s, Will?”

“I can try.”

In a little while, Willow and Buffy were searching records of births in
Ireland, and they soon enough found Angel’s. After finding that, Willow
searched for Spike’s while Buffy made breakfast and woke up Dawn for
school.

“Found Spike’s!” Willow called from the living room. “Do you need me to
find Riley's?”

“No,” Buffy called back, “I know Riley's. I asked him a while back.”

Soon after breakfast was done, there came a knock at the door. It was
Tara.

“Hi Buffy. I just came by to get Willow. We’ll be late for class if we
don’t hurry.”

“Oh my gosh! Is it that late already?” asked Willow, hurrying up from
the couch. “I’ll talk to you later, Buffy. And tell Giles!”

Willow and Tara hurried out the door, and went off to class. Dawn was
just coming down the stairs, still in her pajamas.

“Dawn! It’s already 6:45. Get a move on!”

“Jeez, Buffy. Give me a break. I was up until 2:30 waiting for you.”
Dawn yawned, rubbing her eyes.

“And whose fault was that?” Buffy snapped.

“Chill, Buffy. I’ll have everything done in a couple of minutes. I
won’t be late to school again.”

“Dawn, you have to start being more responsible. I can’t take care of
you at all times. The next time I patrol, go to bed so this doesn’t
happen again.”

>>>

Buffy went to the Magic Box to talk to Giles. He was shelving new books
that had just been shipped in.

“Ah, Buffy. You’re just in time to help me.”

Buffy and Giles shelved books in silence for about half an hour. Then
Buffy spoke up.
“Giles, I need to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“Ethan’s back in town. He told me that he was fully rehabilitated, and
that all he does now is help people. He said that he knew a spell to
take me back in time to find out what I would like about my boyfriends.
It would show me all that had happened in their lives to make them the
men that they were, up to the time that I met them. Then I would be
transported back to here and would go to the next person’s life. Should I
do it or not?”

“Buffy, tampering with time is quite dangerous, actually. You don’t
know what you could bring back with you, a disease and God knows what
else.”

“Yes, I know. Willow already told me that. But if I didn’t bring any of
that back, would it be okay to go back into their pasts?”

“Buffy, I don’t think it’s good to tamper in people’s lives. You
already know that. Look at what the monks did to your mom’s and your lives
with Dawn.”

“Giles, that was different than this. I’m just going to be observing
what happens to them. I can’t do anything to stop it.”

“But what about when Angel and Spike were made vamps? Your slayer
instinct will take over and you will want to kill their sires. If you do,
you’ll throw off the whole balance of what happened between them and
you.”

“Giles, I’ll be transparent. There will be nothing that I can do to
them or to others. I’ll be an observer only, like a Watcher.”

“This had nothing to do with what the Watchers do for the Slayers.”

“I have to go now. Dawn will be getting back from school soon.”

“Okay then. But Buffy, if you want my professional opinion, don’t do
this. The repercussions could be drastic.”

“Giles, I’ll think about it. But this is my decision, and no one
else’s.”

Buffy had already decided that she was going to do the ritual. She
arrived home right before Dawn walked in the door from school. Dawn sat
right down and began doing her homework. At least Buffy had been able to
get things dealt with about school.

“Hey, Dawn. Who’s supposed to be coming here tonight?”

“Buffy, you know I can’t tell you that. I never break my word. But he
never said that you couldn’t guess who it is.”

“Okay, Dawn. I don’t have time for this. I’ll find out tonight after
the ritual.”

“What ritual?”

“Just something I’m doing to find out why I liked the guys that I
dated.”

“Oh, like ANGEL, Riley, and Spike?” Dawn put extra emphasis on Angel,
but Buffy didn’t pick up on it.

“Yes, like them. Actually, only them.”

“So, when’s the ritual?” asked Dawn.

“Tonight at dusk. The barriers between past and present are thinnest
then and at dawn.”

“But your friend is coming over tonight at dusk! You can’t do the
ritual then.”

“Dawn, if I want to do this, I have to do it tonight.”

Buffy went back to the Magic Box and got the ingredients that she
needed for the spell. She met Ethan at the school at 5:30, and they went
inside to the old library.

“I haven’t been here in years,” remarked Buffy, “the place sure has
changed.”

“The ritual is ready, Buffy.” said Ethan.

Meanwhile, back at Buffy’s house, Dawn had just finished telling Angel
that Buffy had gone to the school to do the ritual. Angel ran to the
school, only to get there as Buffy walked through the door to the past.
He was too late.

Angel walked over to Ethan, and grabbed him by the front of the shirt,
lifting him off his feet.

“What have you done with her?” he growled, vamping out.

“She chose to do this herself, Angel.”

“Can you bring her back?”

“Not until she sees what she needs to see.”

“What is she going to see?”

“Why she was attracted to you, Spike, and Riley in the first place.”

“She doesn’t need to see what went on in my human life. Bring her
back!”

“I can’t do that without hurting her severely.”

“How long will it be before she is brought back?”

“Who knows with these things? It could be a short while, it could be a
long while.”

“I’ll wait.”

Angel and Ethan spent the time waiting for Buffy in silence.

Ethan remarked, “Buffy has to go through all three lives before she can
be brought back. You know that, right? This could take all night.”

“I’ll wait here for her. It’s dark enough so that if it’s sunny out
when she returns, I can stay here until night falls. I really don’t want
to talk anymore.”

>>>

Willow, Tara, Dawn and Xander were all playing Life in Dawn’s living
room. Dawn was winning, big surprise there. Xander was still moping over
the fact that Anya left.

“I just can’t get over the fact that I did this to her,” he said.

“Xander, you can’t keep blaming yourself. Sure, you did leave her at
the altar, but she chose to leave,” Dawn replied bluntly.

>>>

Buffy was walking in pitch darkness, following a lamp that kept moving
away as she got nearer. The lamp stopped in front of a door. The sounds
of childbirth were coming from inside the room.

A baby cried.

“You have a beautiful baby boy,” said the midwife.

“Let me hold him.” a voice said, hoarse from exhaustion.

<That must be Angel’s mother.> Buffy thought. 

Angel’s mother had dark, curling hair. It was spread out behind her on
the pillow, damp with sweat. Her body was heaving, trying to get back
some energy from the ordeal she had just been through.

Buffy was following Angel through school, and onto when he met Darla.
Then it got black, and the next thing she knew, she and Angel were at a
gypsy camp. A woman had just finished a spell. Then Buffy was
transported back to where Angel was kneeling, reeling from the torture of the
things he had done before he got his soul back. Buffy followed Angel to
New York, and on to LA, where he had gotten his first glimpse of her.
Then he was in Sunnydale, getting beaten by Buffy the night she arrived.

Buffy was in a farmhouse. She could hear again the pain of childbirth,
and figured that she was visiting Spike’s life. Again, she followed him
through school, and one day he met Drusilla. She was insane, because
Angel had tortured her before turning her. Dru turned Spike, and they
began a reign of terror.

Buffy was in a hospital, in the maternity ward. She was looking in at
the babies in the nursery. She found Riley's name on a bed. Finn, Riley
it read. Buffy went with Riley to his first day of school, on to junior
high, and high school. She accompanied him to the prom and graduation.
Then she followed him to the Army. She was there when the Initiative
enlisted him. She was there when he slew his first demon. Then Buffy
walked into Professor Walsh’s class.

Buffy was transported back through the portal to the Sunnydale High
ruins. Ethan was sitting waiting for her.

As soon as Buffy walked through the portal, Ethan sealed it. He made
her visible again, though he could see her when she was transparent.

Angel was asleep in a corner away from any windows. He was troubled
even in sleep.

>>>

The next night, Buffy and Angel spent time talking.

“I didn’t want you to do that, Buffy. But by the time I got to the high
school, you were already through the door.”

“Angel, it was something I had to do.”

“I didn’t want you to see all the horrible things I did as a human.”

“You could never do anything so horrible that I would stop loving you.
I will always love you, Angel. We just aren’t meant for each other.”

>>>

The night after that, Buffy got another visitor. Riley had come back
once more, but this time without his wife.

“Buffy, I need to talk to you. It’s really important. The number of my
hotel room is 555-1936. Please call me. Riley.” The answering machine
recording said.

Buffy dialed the number, and Riley answered on the second ring.

“Hello?” It didn’t sound like Riley. It sounded like someone years
older.

“Riley, is that you? It’s Buffy.”

“Oh, hi. Do you think I could come over and talk to you?”

“Sure you can. Riley, is something wrong?”

“Yes, but I can’t tell you over the phone. It’s bad, very bad.”

“Okay. Then I guess I’ll see you in a little while.”

“Bye, Buffy. I’ll be over soon.”

Buffy went upstairs to tell Dawn that Riley was coming over. Dawn got
really excited, but Buffy asked her not to come down for a while,
because something was wrong with Riley.

Soon after, a knock came at the door. It was Riley. But what a changed
Riley it was. His face was lined, his eyes bloodshot, and red-rimmed.

“Riley.”

“Buffy,” Riley said. He walked into the living room and sat on the
couch. “She’s dead.”

“Who’s de—OH. Oh Riley, I’m so sorry.”

“She was killed by a Machida demon. She didn’t have a chance.” Riley
put his head in his hands and cried. “I miss her so much. Why her? Why
not me?”

“Riley, no one knows how or why these things happen the way they do. I
know Dawn was really confused when I died.”

“What? You died?”

“Yes. I died saving Dawn from Glory. I guess I forgot to mention it the
last time you visited. We were sort of preoccupied, with that demon and
all.”

“Who was Glory?”

“Glory was a god who wanted me. I could open the portal to her
dimension.” It was Dawn who spoke. She was sitting on the stairs, silently
crying.

“Dawn, come on over.” Buffy said.

Dawn got up, and gave Riley a hug when she reached them. “It’s going to
be okay, Riley. Trust me on this one. I’m an expert on death, what with
having to witness my sister’s and all.”

“But she’s not going to come back.”

“Riley, it’s alright. She knows that you love her. And she would want
you to move on with your life. I wanted everyone to move on with theirs
when I was dead.”

“What was it like? Being dead, I mean.”

“I can’t describe it. It was like I was in a different place, but I was
still me. And I could tell that everyone loved me.”

“Do you think that’s what she’s feeling right now?”

“Riley, I can only tell you what I felt, not what others are feeling.”

“Can you tell me the whole story with you and Glory?”

“Are you up for a long story?”

“Anything that will take my mind off of her.”

“Okay. Now let me see, where does it begin? Oh yes. There was this
group of monks who protected the key, a ball of energy that could open the
portals between dimensions. Glory was a god, and she got kicked out of
her dimension because she was too bloodthirsty. She got put into the
body of a human male named Ben. He was an intern at the hospital. The
monks made the key human; they made Dawn out of me. They had to be sure I
would protect it with my life, so they sent it to me in the form of my
sister. Glory came to town with Ben, and she tried to find out who the
key was. She had these servants, like hobbits with leprosy, only
taller, and they came around spying on us. Glory turned Tara insane, and
Willow started using magicks on her, and hurt her. Even I couldn’t do that
with my strength and all. Anyway, Glory got Dawn, and I retreated into
my mind. Willow went inside telepathically and got me to snap out of
it. We went to the Magic Box, and Anya told us about the Dagon’s Sphere
and Olaf’s Hammer, both of which weakened Glory. Olaf’s Hammer is
supposed to kill gods, and it weakened Glory enough to change her back into
Ben. I couldn’t kill Ben, so Giles did it for me. Dawn was tied up on a
metal tower, and Doc, a hybrid half-demon half-human who worshipped
Glory was going to perform the ritual. I got up there, but the portal had
already been opened through Dawn’s blood. Since Dawn was made out of
me, I could die to close the portal because we shared blood. So I jumped.
I fell through the portal, and it closed. According to the others, I
was found lying on a stack of crates, dead. They buried me, and after the
summer spent getting ingredients to bring me back, they performed the
spell. I woke up in my coffin, and had to claw my way out of it. And now
I’m back.”

“Wow. That makes what I went through a whole lot less interesting.”

“Riley, are you sure you’re okay?” asked Dawn, “Because, if you are,
I’m going to bed.”

“Dawn, I’ll be fine. Go to bed. You need your sleep.”

Dawn went up the stairs and Buffy followed to tuck her in.

When she came back down, Riley was stretched out across the couch,
asleep.

<He must be exhausted>thought Buffy. 

Buffy left a note for Riley in case he woke up, telling him she was
going patrolling, and if he wanted to come, he could meet her at the
cemetery.

Angel found Buffy at the cemetery, and they talked for a while. Angel
eventually left, and soon after, Riley showed up, armed with a stake,
crossbow, and a vial of holy water.

“Ready?” he asked.

“As always.” Buffy replied. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’ll be fine. I just need to be somewhere that doesn’t remind me of
her. Sunnydale seemed like the perfect place.”

“Yeah, Sunnydale is the perfect place to forget everything. You have to
concentrate on keeping alive.”

Buffy and Riley patrolled for a while, but with no success. He walked
her back to her house, and then he went back to his hotel. Riley and
Buffy met up over the next couple of days, and got reacquainted with each
other. Riley was more serious than ever before, even more than when he
was at the Initiative. Buffy seemed to take life more seriously, but
maybe it was just because she had died. Angel left Sunnydale once more,
going back to LA.

Spike grew immensely jealous of the amount of time Buffy and Riley were
spending with each other, even though Buffy had told him it was over.
He still wasn’t over Buffy, probably never would be.

Riley almost left a lot of times, but something always held him back.
He didn’t know what it was, not for a long time.

One night, Riley and Buffy were sitting watching an old fighting movie
with Dawn when it dawned on Riley that he was in love with Buffy again.
 he thought. 

Buffy noticed that after that night Riley acted differently towards
her. He would open doors, and treated her like a princess. Buffy came to
realize that she loved Riley again. <Does he love me also?> she
wondered, and told him one night while they were patrolling.

“Riley, I have something to tell you.”

“I have something to tell you as well.”

“You first.”

“Okay. Buffy, this isn’t easy for me to say, but,...I love you.”

“Riley, I love you too.”

Nights became short dates followed by patrolling together. Buffy and
Riley spent nearly every day together, and it was obvious to all that
they were in love. Spike finally left, seeing Buffy and Riley in love was
too much for him. Willow was thrilled for them, and kept asking when
the wedding was going to be. Buffy replied that she and Riley were taking
it slow, because he wasn’t ready to get married again.

“Buffy, are you going to get a real job?” asked Dawn. She was worried
that Buffy wouldn’t be able to take care of her anymore, and she would
have to live in a foster home.

“Dawn, nothing is going to happen to us. We’ll always live together,
okay?”

“Okay. I was just worried.”

“I know you were.”

At that point, Riley walked in. “I’ve got great news for you all. I’ve
gotten a job at the Magic Box, helping Giles unload crates.”

“Riley, that’s great! I’m so happy for you.”

Riley had moved into the empty bedroom in the Summer’s house a while
ago. He went upstairs, and got something from his room. It was small
enough to fit in the palm of his hand. He also put something in a box on
Dawn’s bed.

Once downstairs, he told Dawn there was something for her upstairs on
her bed. Dawn raced up the stairs to see what it was.

“Buffy,” he asked, “will you marry me?”

“Yes I will.”

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