The weather had been sweltering hot for weeks. Even the thought of touching the hot clinging black pavement had been enough to evoke other thoughts of icy cool water.

The demons of Sunnydale didn’t like the suffocating heat any more than the Scooby gang relished it. Otherworldly activity had been at an all time low for the last two weeks, when the Scooby gang decided to take a break from slaying, duties, school and possibly the ever-present heat by escaping to Disneyland for a 3-day weekend.

 Buffy and Spike had lounged around the indoor pool of the hotel during the heat and sunlight of the daytime hours.

The air conditioning had struggled to keep the indoor pool area down to the desired 80 degrees. Still warm enough for visitors to want to swim, yet drastically cooler than the heat on the other side of the walls.

Buffy had stretched out on a lounge chair, limp even in the cooler temperatures. Spike had cavorted in the indoor pool until the Slayer had started to think he might actually be a seal instead of a vampire.

Finally, tired of having the pool to himself, Spike began to splash water toward the small blonde lying motionless on the chaise.

“Spike, if you get me wet…” Buffy admonished the playful vampire without even opening her eyes.

“You’ll what? Melt? Lump? Stake me?” The soaked vampire hung on the edge of the pool gently splashing water droplets toward Buffy.

“What’s the use of a bathing suit if you’re not going to bathe? It’s a bleedin’ lot cooler in here than out there.”

“How would you know, Spike? I thought you never noticed either the cold or the heat…” Buffy muttered back, drowsy in the warm humid atmosphere.

“I can tell when I’m about to be a bloody ‘pot-pie’ from the ‘eat!”

Finally Spike clasped his hands together and flung a virtual wave of water over the relaxing Slayer.

Buffy came up sputtering, hair drenched, as she wiped the water from her face, leaving a look of murder in her eyes. “Spike! I warned you!”

The slender blonde vampire, clad only in the briefest excuse imaginable for swim trunks, had quickly moved to the center of the pool after creating the wave of water.

“Well, you’ll have to come in and get me first.” He taunted the furious, wet blonde standing at the edge of the pool, fists on her hips as she glared at him.

“You’d enjoy that way too much! Now that you’ve soaked my hair, I’ve got to wash it and then dry it before we head into the park tonight.”

“Then come on in the water first. You won’t ‘ave to wash your ‘air any more after a swim then you do now.” He watched her with a blank expression on his face. It was his eyes that gave him away.

Buffy could see the plea to join him clearly in the blue eyes.

“Oh, alright. But just for a few minutes…”

She shook her head slightly, took a few steps back and then ran across that small space leaping into the air and diving into the water.

Spike watched the graceful movement of her body as she hit the water cleanly, disappearing beneath the surface to arch her body and rise swiftly to the top again.

*Glad the water is cool. Wish it was colder. * Spike felt his body react to seeing her movements. He remembered he didn’t have much cloth covering him, and clamped down mentally on that same reaction.

* Don’t think I could drown, but if she saw that, she might try it anyway.*

Buffy and Spike were getting along well these days. She trusted him and actually enjoyed his company when she allowed herself to do so. He didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that delicate friendship, even though he wanted her like the very fish wanted water.

Buffy floated gently, half in, half out of the water, her hair fanning out around her head. She looked toward Spike to see him still in the middle of the pool, looking like the proverbial deer in the headlights. Chuckling to herself, she taunted him just a bit.

“So, you gonna stay over there or you gonna come play with me?”

“Loaded question, isn’t it, luv?” Spike asked casually although he wanted to grit his teeth, forcing his body again to not react to her words or nearness.

Buffy rolled over in the water and dangled submerged to her chin. “Yeah.. So what’ch’a gonna do about it?” She wondered how far he’d try to push things this time…

Spike drifted languidly toward her in the water until he was just a few feet away, then suddenly flipped a sheet of water directly at her. Buffy ducked, and turned around to avoid catching the water in her face, as she closed her eyes.

The blonde vampire had counted on that reaction from her and diving quickly under the surface, he swam directly to her, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her as he broke the surface of the water.

Buffy threw herself backwards, carrying both of them under, as Spike’s negative buoyancy carried them toward the bottom of the pool, his arms wrapped securely around her.

The blonde vampire had no need to breathe underwater, but Buffy couldn’t say the same, so in short order, she was struggling to reach the surface again. Spike turned her loose instantly. He knew she needed air, and with so much bare skin on both of them pressed together, his body finally ‘got the upper hand’, as it were.

Spike stayed submerged for a minute longer, as he again forced his body to restrict itself to the confines of the bathing suit and not be peeking it’s head out to look around…

Buffy had surfaced and swum easily to the edge of the pool where she hung in the water, suspended by her arms. She was trying very hard to get a grip on herself as well.

* God, he felt huge! (No.. no, don’t go there!) Bad Buffy! (But I want to go there..) I can’t believe I just thought that! (It’s been so long, and he felt so good…) NO! NO! Bad, bad, Buffy.. Think about hippos in tutus or something..!*

Taking a deep breath, she turned around to see Spike hanging on the other side of the pool.

“Getting’ late, luv. Better go get that hair washed so we can hit the rides out there. Really want to do ‘Space Mountain’…” *Wanna do you too, but….*

“Yeah. Good idea. If we’re partnered for rides, does that mean you have to ride whatever I do?” Buffy grinned at him. She knew there was one ride he hated, so when it got to be her choice, that’s right where they were heading.

Spike heard the note in her voice that said she had something devious planned. “Yeah. That’s what it means. Means you have to ride what I want to ride as well.”

*Yeah, know what I’d bloody well like to ride… Not bleedin’ likely though.*

Buffy grinned at him from across the pool. “Good. Let’s go get cleaned up and dry so we can catch the rides as soon as the sun goes down.”

Pushing off from the edge of the pool, Buffy swam quickly toward Spike on the other side.

Seeing her approaching, the vampire made a quick decision and levered himself out of the pool with his arms, twisting as he did so, to stand at the edge of the tiled wall.

Buffy’s hand touched the wall and she looked up, right at Spike’s legs. Her eyes followed those muscular legs up his body to the obvious bulge in the wet excuse for a bathing suit the vampire almost had on…

Her breath caught in her throat as he leaned down to offer her his hand. She was still looking up at his almost nude, muscular, sculpted body. Without even thinking, she raised her arm toward him to find her wrist securely in his grasp, as she tightened her hand around his wrist in return.

With a quick tug, Spike had lifted her out of the water as her eyes traveled over his body while she rose to the side of the pool.

Catching the Slayer’s slight form around the waist as she cleared the water, Spike swung her around to the concrete floor, to stand next to him. He look down at her lips wet and barely parted, and wanted to just lean in and kiss her.

Catching himself before he moved, he stepped back from her instead.

“Better ‘ead on, Slayer.”

Buffy had never seen him so close to being totally nude, or so close either. Her mind was having a field day all on it’s own, not even listening to what she tried to tell it. She felt her body react to his closeness and nakedness.

The muscles of her lower abdomen tightened, clenching, as they felt flushed with warmth. There was a dampness forming in her center that was warm and had nothing to do with the wetness of the pool water. Her skin felt too small for her body and she had to struggle to draw a breath.

“Yeah… Shower.. Get ready…” Buffy turned with an effort and headed toward her room as she mechanically picked up the towel and wrapped it around her.

* Fire bad, tree pretty. Fire bad, tree pretty..*

Her mind was on autopilot and all she could see in front of her was the image of Spike’s body…

The sun was just setting as Buffy walked out of her room to meet Spike in the small sitting area of their hotel floor. Willow and Tara hadn’t planned to be back before the park closed, braving the horrific heat instead. Anya had convinced Xander to go to the water park for the day, and would most likely be there until it closed as well.

To everyone’s surprise, a female friend of Giles’ had flown in to meet them at the park. The Watcher had not been seen since.

*Everyone’s paired up for once, except me.. as usual. At least I have Spike to do the park with.. (I’d like to do him, after that bathing suit) Whoa! No way! Stop thinking that! *

Buffy was having a great deal of trouble keeping her thoughts on track, or at least off of one particular track.

* Maybe once Spike and I get to the rides, I can get my head straightened out. Gad, it MUST be the heat! *

Before Buffy could settle down in one of the chairs, Spike came out of his room to meet her.

The blonde vampire was not wearing his usual black jeans and tee shirt for once. Oh, he still had the black jeans, but he’d changed the tee-shirt for a deep red tank top. He’d cut the neck downward into a vee, and had chopped off the bottom so that those hard sculpted abs of his showed to perfection. The shirt was more like a wistful thought than an actual shirt. Buffy tried not to sign as she looked at him.

Spike was having his own problems with Buffy’s outfit. Trying to beat the heat, she’d opted for a pair of cut off shorts. They were old and soft and starting to fray around the edges. There was a slight split in the shorts just under the curve of one butt cheek so that tantalizing glimpses of skin peeked through occasionally when she moved just right.

The sleeveless top was a pale blue-green.. almost a pastel version of the Slayer’s eyes.

Buffy had fastened two buttons and tied the tail of the shirt up around her mid-rift. Combined with the simple white canvas tennis shoes, Spike thought the blonde was just about as sexy as he had ever seen her….

“Ready to go, Slayer?” He lounged against the doorframe, one hand tucked into a back pocket.

Buffy just looked at the blonde vampire admiring the way he looked, the sleek cat-like grace in every move he made. Spike was always like a thunderstorm contained in a bottle; exciting, exhilarating, the potential for danger always present. Every move he made was restrained violence, even when he relaxed.

The tiny blonde Slayer tried to ignore it most of the time.. It made her blood sing in her veins, made her want to dance on the wire or run in the rain as she tempted the lightning…

“Yeah. You get first call. Where to?”

“Still a loaded question, Slayer. How about we settle for ‘Space Mountain’?” That sexy come-hither smile crept across his face as thoughts of what he really wanted to do were pushed from his head.

Buffy smiled back at him. A sly knowing smile that almost melted him into the floor.

“Sure thing. Got your tickets?”

Spike nodded in reply and they both started down the hallway to the elevator.

Getting off the monorail platforms, they headed across to the gates. The area was awash with people trying to beat the heat of the day like they were. Spike reached for Buffy’s hand, gathering her small one into his larger slender hand as she turned to look at him with a questioning glance.

“Lot of people.. Wouldn’t do to get separated, ‘s’all.” He shrugged, hoping she’d accept that answer. Her hand felt so very good in his, and even if she wasn’t exactly a ‘date’, none of the throng of people around them would know different.

“Yeah. Right. Best way to keep up with each other..” Buffy relaxed, her hand wrapped around Spike’s. She liked the feeling even as she told herself it was a simple precaution to keep from getting separated from each other.

They stopped at a few shops here and there along the way to ‘Space Mountain’, then stood in line as they waited for their ride on the roller coaster.

Once it was their turn, the attendants seated Buffy in the front of the car with Spike behind her. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and she relaxed into him as they started up the first hill..

Traveling through the ride, their bodies were thrown into each other over and over in the darkness of the ride.

As they pulled up to the unloading platform, both blondes found their skin feeling much too tight, yet they clasped hands again as they clung to their feeble excuse for the contact.

“Ok.. My turn now.” Buffy headed off in the other direction, vampire in tow.

“ ‘ow about if we pass something along the way that we both want to ride, we do it and not make ‘alf a dozen trips back and forth?”

Buffy stopped and looked at the vampire beside her. It was a reasonable suggestion.

“Sure. Sounds like a plan.”

The unlikely couple stopped along the way to ride several of the attractions that interested both of them. The haunted house almost got them in trouble as they giggled and laughed, whispering to each other on the way through. After the things they had seen and fought and done on the Hellmouth, the haunted mansion was hilariously funny.

Finally Buffy reached her destination, Spike’s hand still grasped firmly in her own. However, along the way, somehow their fingers had gotten inter-laced with each other.

“You’ve got to be bloody well joking, Slayer! I’m not riding that thing!” Spike stopped abruptly when he realized where Buffy was taking him.

“Yes, you are.. This is one of my picks. I loved this when I was a little girl. I want to go through it!”

“I’ll be bloody well mad by the time we get to the end of it!”

“It’s not like you have that far to go, now is it?” Buffy was almost yelling back at Spike as they stood to one side of the short line.

“And the line is short, See?!”

“Bleedin’ right it is.. No one wants to go in there!”

“Spike!, If you don’t go in there with me….” Her voice was low, warning in every syllable she spoke..

“Fine! I’ll go, but it’s bloody well gonna cost you for this one!” He knew she would force him to go in with her and was determined to get something out of it if he could. He was going to be miserable the whole time, he knew.

“Like what? Don’t be thinking you’re gonna get anything other than a choice of rides, Spike. Don’t even plan on going there!” Buffy was protesting as a matter of course, when nibbling in the back of her mind was the idea of what she’s really like to pay him.. not even for the ride, but just because.. *It was that damned pool! I should never have gone in the water with him!*

“Don’t know what you mean, Slayer. Let’s get it over with..” Spike looked at her, innocence on his face, yet it couldn’t hide the sly twinkle in his eyes.

Buffy gave him a ‘look’ before she pulled him to the line and then into the small car that settled in the shallow water as it entered the tunnel ahead of them.

‘It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all

It's a small, small world’

The song from hundreds of figures was what they heard as soon as the small car holding Buffy and Spike entered the tunnel on its watery trail.

“ ‘ow the bleedin’ ‘ell did I ever let you get me in here!?” Spike moaned as he covered both ears with his hands in an attempt to block out the sound all around him.

“C’mon Spike.. It’s cute.” Buffy smiled up at him.

She turned back to look at the various figures, each representing a different nationality as they sang the song over and over.

“Cute, she says. Bloody hell, Slayer! They’re not cute, they’re demonic if I’ve every seen anything that is..! Bleedin’ faces with the same bleedin’ smiles, and the same bloody noise from every one of them! How’d I let you talk me into this soddin’ ride?!”

“Hush, Spike. Let me enjoy the ride!” Buffy sat back with a contented sigh.

“ ‘Enjoy the ride’.. Might as well enjoy ‘avin’ my fingernails ripped off..” Spike muttered to himself as he hunched into his corner of the car, all of his previous thoughts about Buffy vanishing with every note of the unending tune…

‘There is just one moon and one golden sun

And a smile means friendship to everyone

Though the mountains divide

And the oceans are wide

It's a small world after all’

The little car/boat gave a sudden lurch as they were about half way through the attraction.

“What the bloody ‘ell now?” Spike demanded of the song-filled air.

“I don’t know, but that wasn’t cool..” Buffy answered the vampire, a note of worry in her voice. Not that she’d worry about the ride itself, but whenever anything happened, it always seemed that there were demons around somewhere in her life.

The car lurched again with a grinding sound of metal on metal and halted where it sat. In the next instant, all of the lights went out except for a very few in the midst of the figures. Of course, the song droned on as well as the two blondes sat in the almost black dark of the tunnel.

‘It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all

It's a small, small world’

“Now what?!” Buffy groaned, sitting in the darkness of the ride, as the song filled the air around them, sounding much louder in the dark than it had in the lighted tunnel just moments before.

“Bloody Hell! Can’t see a bleedin’ thing and that racket won’t stop, but something brushed against the side of our bleedin’ boat!” Spike growled back at the Slayer. He could barely see her in the darkness, lit by only the few stray lights among the figures.

With hushed voice, Buffy asked Spike what he had said. She knew she had heard every word; she just didn’t want to have to deal with some unknown monster here in the darkness.

“Something hit the boat?”

“ ‘S’what I said, Slayer. You gone deaf or something?” Spike was very unhappy about being in the tunnel to begin with and had a very bad feeling about this.

The boat rocked heavily to one side, throwing Spike on top of the blonde Slayer, as the water splashed.

“Get off of me! You weigh a ton! Did you see what did that? What hit the boat?”

“Don’t know, but I’ll bet this isn’t gonna be good.”

“Hush! Listen and see if you can hear anything…” Buffy whispered.

*Oh, that didn’t sound right. ‘listen and see’? It’s gotta be the heat..*

Both fighters were quiet. They’d finally managed to block out the unending repetition of music. Buffy heard something hard like rubber, slide against the side of the boat as it rocked again almost throwing them into the water this time.

Crouching down at the edge of the craft, they waited for the creature to reappear again.

Suddenly both occupants of the small boat were showered with a fine mist of water from the air as something blew water from the moat-path of the tunnel.

Leaning carefully over the side, Buffy started to laugh, holding her sides.

“Spike.. It’s a dolphin! There is a dolphin in the water! It was him exhaling that blew water all over us. He must have rubbed against the boat after the track under the water broke down…”

“Yeah, I see the dolphin, Buffy. But how would he get here in this thing? They wouldn’t put him in here…” Spike quickly wiped his hand over the moisture on his face and tasted it.

“Slayer, it’s salty. It’s ocean water in here….”

The vampire’s words were broken off abruptly as a long tentacle slithered over the side of the boat and wrapped around his neck, dragging him quickly into the water of the moat.

“Spike!” Buffy screamed as she lunged for the vampire, catching the flimsy scrap of his shirt. She followed the material quickly, feeling the slimy tentacle wrapped around the blonde vampire’s throat and shoulders.

Buffy had no weapon with her, but she dug her fingers into the tight length of muscle constricting around Spike, digging in as she pulled out gobblets of flesh from the monster.

Spike felt what Buffy was doing and managed to get one arm high enough to do the same as between them they tore the limb of the unseen monster apart.

It began to thrash, now trying desperately get away from its attackers as they tore it apart. Releasing Spike from the coils of it’s flesh, the monster struggled up the side of the moat, into the mechanical figures.

Buffy grabbed one of the animated mannequins, and ripping an arm from it to use as a weapon, she stabbed at the slithering creature as it tried to escape.

Spike coughed up water with every movement as he too ripped the figures apart to help Buffy kill the unknown demon.

The two wet, ichor stained fighters rested on the artificial turf, a swath of broken figures around them.

The monster was dead or drying as it lay several feet to one side, motionless finally.

Buffy reached for the vampire lying too still beside her.

She grasped his shoulders, straining to see through the darkness.

“Spike! Are you ok, Spike? Answer me, please…”

Her voice broke on the last words as tears welled up along with the pain inside of her chest at the thought that Spike might be badly hurt.

“Give over, Slayer.. Y’hand’s on a cut from that soddin’ monster!” Spike groaned as he tried to roll into a sitting position.

“Weren’t worried ‘bout me, were ya, luv?”

“You…” Buffy’s angry retort was silenced as Spike pulled her face down to his and his lips captured hers, his tongue seeking the soft inside of her mouth.

With a moan deep in her throat, Buffy’s hand explored his muscular chest, sliding across the wet planes of his body. The shirt was long gone in the struggle.

The days and weeks of wanting her in his arms, the last few hours of having her so close to him, rushed over Spike as he caught her to him and rolled her over beneath him, kissing her like he’d crawl inside of her through her mouth.

Buffy felt the tension explode inside of her as she pulled him closer, seeking him with her lips and hands.

Spike slid a cool hand under the wet clinging material of her shirt, as he felt the weight of her breast fill his hand, nipple hard against his palm….

Buffy moaned again into his mouth, as she raised her hips and ground them into his groin, feeling his hardness pressing into her…..

The lights came back on as the maintenance workers could be heard around the next bend of the tunnel.

‘And I am wanting,

And I am needing you here’

Buffy and Spike told the workers about what had happened.. About being attacked by some kind of octopus. They told the men about the dolphin that had warned them.

The dolphin was still there, cheerfully chirping at all of them.

The workers promised to return the graceful creature to his rightful home.

Buffy and Spike explained everything they could and then left as fast as possible.

They wanted to be away from the maintenance workers, the tunnel, the park.. and just be next to each other.

“Spike.. Our rooms..” Buffy tried to tell the blonde vampire as they kissed again. She’d pushed him against a tree, as she tried to climb through his mouth to get to him.

Breaking free, Spike slid blunt teeth down the side of her arched neck.

“Rooms..  Now..” Spike muttered back to her.

He grabbed her hand as they hurried back through the park toward the hotel.

‘My bones call to you, in their separate skin,

I make myself translucent, to let you in.’

Every few feet, either Slayer or vampire would push the other against a tree or building, or once, even a standing horse, as they kissed frantically, wanting each other desperately; yet trying to keep their hands to themselves until they could reach their rooms.

Both were wet, bedraggled, dirty..

Passersby stopped to stare or laugh at the couple.

‘Inside my skin there is this space,

It twists and turns, it bleeds and aches.’

Reaching the hotel, the bedraggled couple slammed against the door of Spike’s room, as Buffy fumbled behind him for the doorknob, kissing him frantically all the while.

Down the hallway, Willow and Tara heard the noise and opened the door to see Buffy and Spike kissing while they clutched at each other.

Willow shook her head as Tara pulled her partner back inside their room, a smile on her face.

‘Inside my heart there's an empty room,

It's waiting for lightning, it's waiting for you.’

“Spike, Spike… I.. need you..” Buffy mumbled against his mouth, as he ripped the remains of her shirt from her body.

Her hands were straining at the button of the wet jeans, trying to get them off of his body, out of her way. The zipper ripped apart as the button came off in her hands.

Spike pulled at the wet cutoffs she wore, almost ripping them as they peeled away from her cool, wet skin.

‘Muscle and sinew, velvet and stone,

This vessel is haunted, it creaks and moans.’

Spike’s hard sculpted body slid over Buffy’s softer curves.. Her skin had cooled from the water, but as he touched her, she was on fire again.

This time the heat had nothing to do with the temperature outside, and everything to do with the rising fires inside of them both.

‘This restlessness inside of me.

And it knows that you're no stranger,

You're my gravity.

My hands will adore you through all darkness aim,

They will lay you out in moonlight,

And reinvent your name.

For I am wanting,

And I am needing you here,

Inside the absence of fear.’

Buffy moaned his name over and over against his skin and lips as he sheath the hard length of himself inside her hot burning depths.

They moved together, straining against each other until the world fell away from them as they clutched each other, crying out the other’s name in their release.

‘You can try to resist

Try to hide from my kiss

But you know, but you know that you

Can't fight the moonlight

Deep in the dark,

You'll surrender your heart

But you know, but you know that you

Can't fight the moonlight, no

You can't fight it

It's gonna get to your heart’

Buffy sat curled into the curve of Spike’s arm as they lay on a pile of pillows and blankets thrown on the floor of the balcony outside of his room.

The moon was full overhead, casting silver highlights and deep black shadows across the landscape and the two lovers.

“Spike…”

He pressed two long slender fingers to her lips. “You know I love you. Don’t say anything to me right now that you won’t mean tomorrow in the daylight.”

Buffy looked up into his face, the moonlight creating stark planes across the raised cheekbones, making his eyes look silver.

“I don’t know how I feel, but I want to know. I know that I feel like I’ve been wasting time…”

Spike trailed his finger down the side of her face. Buffy turned her head to kiss his finger, sucking the tip into her mouth, rolling her tongue over it before releasing it to travel down to the hollows of her neck.

“I can do that.” His expression was serious for a moment before dropping back into his old teasing sexy smirk.

“What was your favorite ride, luv? The ‘waterslide monster’?”

“Noooo, I think my favorite was the ‘vampire ride’.” Buffy smiled up at his shining blonde head, as she ran a hand across his cheek to pull him down into a kiss.

‘It's a world of laughter, a world of dears

It's a world of hope, it's a world of fears

There's so much that we share, now it's time we're aware

It's a small world after all’