Her palms are sweating. Her leg is trembling. As is her arm. And her heart is pounding. And she knows that Spike, standing opposite her and not looking at her, can hear her heart break.

“Are you breaking up with me?” Buffy Summers asks him. Then with more urgency: “Now?”

“I’m sorry,” Spike says, finally turning to her — but managing not to look at her. His face is pained. “But I think part of the reason we let D’Hoffryn trick us is because we’ve been distracted by our own problems. And let’s be honest, Slayer, we are having problems.”

She listens in silence, but still they don’t lock eyes. It would be difficult for them both.

“I suppose neither one of us was being realistic about the challenges that come with a proper relationship. Between me and you, I mean. There are things you want out of life I just can’t give you. I once told you I wanted normal, but I can’t be normal, can I? We can’t grow old together, because I’ll never grow old. We can’t have children, if you ever want that. And I was deluding myself, wasn’t I?”

He turns back to the sink behind him. “Far back as when I was alive, I had this daft poet’s notion that true love conquers all. But on some level, I always knew. That’s pure fantasy.”

Buffy still stands there, taking in his words, her thoughts racing.

Spike continues on, but it’s a mix of words to her now. Drusilla, crazy, Harmony, risk, mess… She hears him say it’s his fault and that he’s sorry. Finally, he turns and looks at her. But she turns away.

“I just think maybe it’s better if we… if we call things off now… before it gets worse later. Maybe that’s the easiest thing.”

He finishes, and the silence is deafening. She doesn’t speak. Her face is sombre, but unreadable. Spike watches her with worry: he’s not sure what to expect.

“You know what? No.”

Buffy closes her eyes and waves her arms at him. “I don’t have the bandwidth to deal with this right now. All this time we’ve spent beating up demons, only to have them tell us D’Hoffryn can’t be stopped, gave me an idea.” She hands Spike a sword and tells him that they need to hit the road. And she needs him with her.

She walks towards the exit, Spike wondering what she’s doing. “Are you in? Or are you out?” she yells back at him.

“Where are we going?”

“Tell you on the way,” Buffy tells him, her face now resolute.

At the Naval base in San Diego, Willow asks the security official in front of her to repeat what he just said.

He tells her, for the second time, that she cannot be trusted and that she is to leave the base immediately. He doesn’t give her a chance to argue, and the man, an admiral by the look of his jacket, storms out of the room.

Willow gives chase, desperate for them to see that they need to work together. She turns to Lake, who’s ordered to escort “Ms Rosenberg” from the property, by force if necessary.

“This is what D’Hoffryn wants! To split us up! You have to find someone who’ll listen,” she appeals to Lake, but her girlfriend just shakes her head sadly. “This is the military. It doesn’t work that way.”

She holds Willow gently by her arm. “Orders are orders,” she says, a look of regret on her face.

Willow snatches her arm away and walks towards the exit. She admits that Lake was right: she has accomplished great things without her friends – with the military. “But there’s a flip side. It’s an institution. A big bureaucracy that only cares what I can do for it, and doesn’t give a damn about me the second it’s done with me.”

Lake tells her she’s being overdramatic, but Willow tells her that these are the facts.

“It works for the military. But it doesn’t work for me. It’s not the same as having people who actually care about you. Who know who you are, good and bad. Who you can count on.”

She turns to Lake now, with a smile. “You seem fine here. You seem to thrive in this environment. I’ll never be able to.” She says goodbye and gets into a parked truck that will escort her home.

Lake tries to call after her, asks where she’s going, but Willow ignores her. “Home. I hope,” she says sadly, looking back at Lake in the rear‑view mirror.

Elsewhere and elsewhen, Dawn and Xander are crossing multiple dimensions, determined not to stop until they reach Earth. They have been accompanied by the first demons they met in Anharra, Bub and Rancidus.

One stop was in the world with nothing but shrimp. Unfortunately, nobody ever told Xander that they were carnivorous or giant.

In a world of upside‑down staircases and corridors constantly moving, they all move, one gruelling step at a time.

In the dimensional Forest of Doom a White Rabbit offers them aid to find their way. He trades Xander’s pants for the info.

In the Cyberhive, Rancidus leaves them behind to lead a colony of centipedes in how to be selfish and greedy.

In the Outer Madness, a sentient blob of goo gives them the direction they need, but offers them a bath first. It wants Dawn to stay. Besides, the creatures they will face are evil untold.

Dawn scoffs. She looks at Xander. “I’ll take my chances with the carnivorous otters.”

Another portal opens. The journey continues.

Back on Earth, back in the throne room of Archduchess Venobia of the Black Thorn, Buffy tells the demon leader her strategy. Venobia is not convinced.

But Buffy isn’t asking her to fight D’Hoffryn. She just needs her to spread word. Venobia agrees, providing Buffy leave her now. As Buffy leaves, she spots the slave she had previously freed, on a leash once more. She asks him why he returned to Venobia, but the demon leader answers for him.

“Yes, well some of us realise it’s useless to try to deny what we are.” The slave looks quietly at the ground.

As they walk out, Buffy tells Spike that she’s been thinking about what he said and he’s right. It would be easier if they broke up.

“Just like letting D’Hoffryn call the shots when it came to writing the new rules of magic was easier than doing it ourselves. And I gotta say, it’s kind of a relief to hear you talk about having doubts about us. Because I have them too. Both our instincts are to run. It comes out in different ways but it’s definitely what we do when we get too close to someone.”

She looks away from him for a moment. “But does that make it right?”

“Yes, you and me comes with a buffet line of problems, but so did me and Riley — challenges we couldn’t get past. Because he was a normal person. The possibility of kids and dinners and getting old together didn’t change any of it.”

She turns to him now, with a smile. “With you, I don’t have those same worries. There are new ones, and I’m not minimising them. But nothing’s ever going to be perfect. And there’s a lot of good stuff too.”

She starts moving again before Spike has a chance to respond.

In Oakland, a stern‑faced Andrew walks into a coffee bar. He heads directly for a table with Clive, his recent boyfriend. They didn’t work out, but Clive waves at Andrew with a smile. It’s been too long, he declares.

“I can’t imagine why you’d miss hanging out with someone who doesn’t know how to be a human being,” Andrew snaps, his face betraying his anger.

Clive looks sheepishly away. Andrew tells him that he knows what Clive and the rest of his ‘so‑called’ friends really think of him now and he’s decided to leave.

He angrily shoves his bag in Clive’s face. “I’m going to Mykonos to be a beach bum. Probably drink myself to death like Nic Cage in Leaving Las Vegas, but with better hair. I hope you’re all happy! Because you won’t have Andrew Wells to kick around any…”

Clive interrupts him. “Before you start chugging whiskey, can I make a brief point?”

Andrew’s attitude changes from anger to annoyance. “I was mid‑monologue.” He sighs. “But you spoiled the flow, so go ahead.”

Clive nods. “I did say that. But it was in the context of being worried about you. And, frankly, more than a little hurt. I thought there was chemistry between us and suddenly you ghost on me.”

Andrew stops and looks at Clive, who’s visibly upset. “I don’t know if your sources told you what else I said. How brave and strong you are to do what you do, both the normal and the demonic stuff. How you may have issues with normal everyday relating, but you face things that would reduce me to a blubbering mess like a hero. How, given the kind of person you are, the sky’s the limit for you.”

Andrew’s face falls. “I may have missed that section.”

Clive smiles. “Well, that’s what I said. That’s what I feel. I don’t know who you’re getting your information from, but it’s easy to cherry‑pick the worst thing someone says or does. If I were you, I’d ask myself if the person who repeated these words to you has your best interests at heart… and if there’s a larger context with your other ‘so‑called’ friends too.”

Andrew looks away from Clive and his brain starts to whirl.

In a dimension known to its inhabitants as Slaughterworld, Dawn, complete with pirate hat, has acquired the legendary Amulet of Revelation which will show her where the exact portal is. They are no longer stabbing in the dark.

Xander is relieved. There’s a pile of dead demons around him.

In a dimension called Bodeaceia, Bub stays behind. The local inhabitants are all female and need to repopulate their species. He has volunteered to help.

In Triptopia, Dawn and Xander swap bodies, but not heads.

It is the dimension of Darkest Fear that brings the worst. They’re stuck there for two days.

A monk from the Order of Dagon tells Dawn that she’s not real. They made her. Doesn’t she know?

Joyce appears and tells Dawn that it’s her fault that she died… “Deep down, you know that.”

Xander has a visit from his father, who tells him he’s on track to be just like him.

Anya floats through the void. Not his everyday companion, but a dark spectre behind him. “Just leave her, like you abandoned me. Time after time after time…”

The words echo across the dimension like a howl on the wind. The pair cling to each other for relief and support.

“I can’t take much more of this,” Dawn tells him.

“The portal’s just up ahead. Lean on me. And I’ll lean on you,” Xander replies, breathing hard.

On Earth, in a vampire dive bar, Spike and Buffy sit with Vicki. The vampire is impatient, but listens to what Buffy has to say. She agrees, as long as she doesn’t have to do anything much. Buffy smiles sarcastically and thanks her for her cooperation.

Outside the bar, Buffy starts to speak again. Spike thanks her for waiting until they left the bar. “So, like I was saying before,” Buffy begins. “I’ve been using our trek to think. A lot. In many different ways. Down paths I usually avoid.” She puts emphasis on every sentence.

“And I think you and me is something I don’t want to lose without a fight.”

She looks away from his face. “I’m not saying we should stay together if we’re miserable. I’m not saying we should get married, either. Just that, maybe, for once, we should try doing the thing that scares us the most. And it does scare me,” she says, breathing in deeply.

“But I’d like to try and get through the tough parts. Be honest with each other about them, which we haven’t been. But not let them overshadow the good either.”

She turns now, stands directly in front of him, looking into his eyes.

“If it goes bad, if we get hurt, yeah, it’ll be our fault. And that will be hard. But there comes a time when you have to either face your fears and come out stronger or just let life pass you by. So I want to give it a try, if you do.”

He looks at her for a moment, in silence. Then, with a sigh, he speaks quietly. “I was bloody unfair to you. I made you this symbol of everything I needed — salvation, redemption, love… A reason to go on, to be better. A solution to all my problems. And selfish as it was, I needed that at the time. I don’t anymore.”

Buffy looks upset. “Oh.”

And then Spike slips his hands into hers. “I want to give it a try too. Not being with that symbol. Something no one could be, or should ever have to be. Being with you.” He smiles at her. With tears in her eyes, she smiles too.

And then they bring their lips together, reaffirmed, oblivious to everything around them.

They walk into their apartment building arm in arm. Buffy says they’re going to have to cover more ground — but they’ll need help. Opening her apartment door, she’s surprised to find a despondent Willow and Giles sitting on the sofa.

There are empty pots of ice cream everywhere.

“Hello,” Giles offers miserably.

Buffy smiles and says she’s glad they’re home — which Willow is surprised by. Buffy sits, takes a deep breath and starts.

“Look, I know things have been tense. In no small part because of me. But whatever drama we’re having, we need to put a pin in it. I really need you guys to talk to your contacts. Giles, the Faeries. Willow, the Military.”

She’s greeted with downtrodden looks. Willow tells them that she has been court‑martialled — or the closest thing to it. She also thinks she’s single. Again.

Giles complains about the idiot faerie folk, who refuse to do anything to challenge D’Hoffryn, despite the murder of their Queen! They cannot be counted on!

Buffy smiles. “They don’t have to be counted on. This is kinda nuts,” she says, “but it might be our only chance…”

Five minutes later, Giles is nodding. “I may be able to get the Faeries to cooperate with this.” Willow is less sure about the Military, but she’ll pass it on. Buffy smiles: that is all she asks. She will do the fighting.

Willow then raises her hands. She has a condition. Buffy prepares herself and groans softly.

“We’ll do the fighting,” Willow says, smiling.

“The four of us,” Buffy nods, placing her hand on Giles’s shoulder.

“Five of us.” They’re surprised by Andrew, who walks through the door. Buffy got the impression from his social media that he may be slightly mad at them, but he brushes it all to one side.

“I may have overreacted a bit. I had something of a crisis of faith that would’ve wrecked the old Andrew. But not the all‑new, all self‑actualised one. You guys have given me a lot more chances than I deserve. I figure the least I can do in return is provide untested and potentially dangerous weapons.”

He begins to tell them his intel about D’Hoffryn, saying that it’s the five of them against the world, but another voice interrupts.

A green, shimmering light fills the room.

“Seven of us,” Dawn says as she triumphantly comes through the portal, Xander next to her. “We got impatient,” he jokes.

There’s a moment of jubilation and loud noises. Buffy grabs hold of Dawn and holds her sister for some time. She apologises for leaving her behind, but Dawn shrugs it off and asks who they’re up against.

Buffy turns to her and tells her she’s not fighting — she only just got home! But Dawn says that Buffy’s mess is theirs too. “So… who are we fighting?”

Buffy looks around her, feeling the power her friends and family give her. She smiles. She gathers the Scoobies around her.

“Okay,” she says. “Listen up.”

And then she reveals her plan.