Or Spike would have played the hero and tried to take on Willow on his own, to save Buffy from both the pain and the risk of handling the situation. Then Willow would have dusted Spike and season 7 would have looked way different.
Well, in that scenario, Willow could have been the one tortured by the First Evil for what she had attempted the year before, and Wood and Giles would have plotted to kill Andrew for Buffy's own good, because he was beginning to convince her that "The Matrix" was real, First Evil was the one one using the human race as a power source, and Caleb was the antivirus agent sent to wipe out the Prophesied One (Buffy) and her allies (the Potentials),
When Willow and the rest kicked Buffy out of her own home, Faith could have shown up, kicked the crap out of Willow and Xander, went off to find Buffy, and been the one to deliver the "You're The One" Speech, after which, they...
Then, in the end, when Angel shows up with the amulet, Buffy brushes him off, goes back home, and gives the amulet to Andrew, because he's the only one who knows about the First Evil/Matrix connection, then she goes downstairs to the basement, where she and Faith...
Then Season 5 of Angel would have been about Andrew trying to convince Angel that Wolfram & Hart was the one using the human race to power its computer and Adam was really an antivirus. Then, when Andrew becomes corporeal, he grabs Xander, who has been working this season as Angel's Executive Assistant, and they run off to find a vacant office, where they...
Well, you're right, both Season 7 AND Angel's Season 5 would have "looked way different."
(Then in Season 8 in the "Wolves At The Gate" arc, Willow could have busted into Buffy's room to find her in bed with a resurrected Spike. All's well that ends well)