************************************************************

Willow sat forlornly on the edge of the bathtub.
“Goddess, what am I going to
do?” She mumbled to herself, her head bowed in
contemplation. She needed to find a
way to explain this to Buffy.
“How about unchaining me for starters?” Angelus offered.
She stopped
ruminating long enough to glare at him and his big mouth.
He quirked an eyebrow at
her as he enticed her. “You like to be in control? We
could leave the chains on. . . you
could get on my lap, then I could-“
”That’s enough!” Willow protested as color tinged her
cheeks. “Is that all you
think about?”
“What a delightful shade of crimson you just turned,
little one. I wonder if the
flush that’s slowly spreading down your neck extends all
the way to your-“
”Stop it!”
“Alright, I’ll behave myself.” She gave him a
disbelieving look. “For now at
least.” He continued to watch her. “Why are you so
concerned, anyway?”
“She’s my best friend! Besides, the body you’re
inhabiting belongs to her soul
mate.”
“The soulled wonder and slay girl?” He scoffed. “They’ve
been living apart for
over two years, Willow. They no longer mean as much to
eachother. What’s the real
reason you’re upset?”
Willow stopped to stare at him. He was very perceptive.
“It’s Angel.” She
sighed heavily as she sat down on the side of the tub.
“He’s my friend.”
Angelus felt an unfamiliar stab of pain. Mixed with
jealousy. “You’d give me up
for him? He doesn’t appreciate you. Not like I do.”
“No, he doesn’t. But he’s my friend.” She shrugged her
shoulders. “He’s saved
my life more times than I can count. He’s saved all of us!
And Angel is doing such
good work in L.A. He’s a bona fide hero, helping the Powers
That Be. It would be a
shame to see all of that disappear.” She regarded him
soberly as she realized that she
must get Angel’s soul back. “There’s something else too.
Angelus, I remember the
drawings you left me. What you were going to do to me. . .
they looked. . .painful.”
“Pain and pleasure, little one. I admit, that some of
those were to scare you.” Her
brow wrinkled. “ I’m a demon. What did you expect. .
.Hallmark cards?” He smiled
then, as if that were explanation enough. “But I do care
about you. I love you the only
way that I know how. I love you more than I ever loved
Darla or Drusilla.”
“That’s obsession, Angelus. Not love. Love is about
giving -- not taking. Love is
about being there for another person. Love is-”
“You have been reading Hallmark cards, haven’t you?”
*******
Buffy glared at Spike who was sitting on the couch
watching television. Buffy
wiped the tears from her cheeks. Giles, Xander, and Anya
were at the shop, looking for
an Orb of Thessula. Giles had been using one as a
paperweight. “Move.”
“You’re ass isn’t that big, Slayer. There’s room on the
couch for both of us.”
Spike lit a cigarette and blew the smoke in her direction
as she sat down. He hoped that
she would go away. Buffy startled the vampire by snatching
his smoke out of his hand
and taking a hit. “Bloody hell, that’s mine!” She handed
it back to him and he took it
gingerly. “Slayer germs.” He mumbled. Spike passed it
back to her and she took
another hit. When she tried to pass it back to him yet
again he snarled. “Keep it!”
Buffy began to cry once more. “I just don’t understand
it. Willow is messing
around with a demon. What’s wrong with her?” Buffy didn’t
envy Willow Angelus’
affections, but she was disturbed that it was happening
with Angel’s body.
“Demons aren’t all bad, Slayer. Thought you’d figure that
out by now.” Spike
turned to look at her, caught up in his own thoughts. How
things change. He would
have used this opportunity to worm himself into her
affections as little as a few days
ago. Now, he just pitied her. “You’re gonna curse him
anyway, then it won’t be a prob-
“ He was cut off by the Slayer’s mouth as it pressed to his
own. Her tongue sought his
and Spike threw her off of him. “What the bleedin’ hell is
wrong with you, you bloody
bint?” He stood up and began to rub at his mouth, trying
to free himself of her
violation.
Buffy just wanted to get back at Angelus and Spike was
the perfect demon for
the job. Using her superior strength she pushed the hapless
vampire back down on the
couch and straddled him.
Spike’s voice began to take on an air of desperation. “
Hold on just a second,
Buffy, I’ve moved on.” She slid his duster off his
shoulders to pin his arms behind his
back and ripped his t-shirt in two. “Woah! Down Slayer!”
He said, as if she were a
dangerous animal. “Pay very close attention. . . I’m not
interested anymore.” Buffy
licked her lips as she leaned down to kiss him.
Spike pulled away enough to keep her lips at bay. “So, you
really want me
Slayer?” He said silkily.
Buffy licked her lips. “Yes, I really want you.”
“How much?” He brushed his lips against hers.
“So much. More than anything. Please, Spike.”
She had just used the magic word. Spike brought his mouth
to hers and
whispered. “That’s too damn bad, luv. You had your
chance and you blew it. I want
Willow now, so piss off!” Revenge was sweet. He tried to
use his legs to kick her off of
him but she stubbornly kept her legs gripping his hips in a
vice-like hold.
“We both know you don’t mean that, Spike. You’ve been
after me for months
now. You’ve got to be dying for it by now.” Buffy undid
her shirt in a teasing manner,
catching his eye as she did so. Spike gulped. How was he
going to get out of this? Her
shirt landed on a lampshade.
“ I’m in love with Willow!” He cried.
“You’re in love with Willow?” Buffy repeated. “In love
with her? And not me?”
Did Willow do some kind of demon lust spell? She began to
cry softly. In a daze, she got
off of Spike and slid back down to the couch and curled her
arms around her face
protectively. “I-I-I’m so unhappy.”
Feeling sorry for her despite himself and all the hell she
had put him through, he
patted her arm. “I know how it feels, Buffy.” He
retrieved her shirt from the
lampshade and tossed it to her. “Now, get dressed like a
good Slayer.”
Her hands felt numb as she attempted to fasten it. “I
can’t! My eyes are all
blurry and the holes are so small.” She looked up at him,
eyes still weepy. It was his
undoing. Spike could never resist a woman who was crying.
Made him feel all manly,
helping them out. Though, his demon pals would have a good
laugh over him dressing
a Slayer.
However, he had barely fastened one button when the door
opened. A loud-
glass shattering sound masked human gasps. Buffy looked up
and saw Giles, Anya and
Xander standing in the doorway. Spike immediately leaped
away from the Slayer. “I
didn’t do it–- she jumped on me! I swear!”
Giles walked over the shattered Orb of Thessula and
pinned Spike to the couch
with one hand. With the other he pulled a stake out of
his tweed jacket pocket.
“Xander, get the vacuum.”
“No, wait!” Buffy took a deep breath and pulled her shirt
together. “He’s telling
the truth.”
*******
“You’re not listening to me. If you did love me, you
would let me speak without
interrupting.” Willow chided him petulantly.
“But I can think of so many better uses for a mouth than
talk-“
”Hold it right there. Not another word.” She crossed her
arms in front of her
chest. “Can you prove to me that you can love?”
“Certainly.” He wracked his brain for some sort of proof
he could offer. What
did it take to convince Drusilla or Darla that he had loved
them. Aha–I know. He smiled up at
her. “I would kill anyone you wanted me to. Bring their
heart to you on a silver
platter. Or in a decorative box with ribbon! Or, or-“
This idea had some real merit. “I
could torture you for hours. I can do things with a whip
that would.” Willow visibly
paled. “ Lightly, of course. Or I could find out where
those nasty girls that made fun of
you at school live and . . .”
“Angelus!” At first she felt nauseous, but then she was
almost tempted to let
Heather and her sheep get a taste of Angelus. “What are
you doing tonight?”
Angelus watched the redhead’s face light up with a purely
wicked grin.
“Anything you had in mind, Little one. Anything at all.”
“Good. Now promise me you’ll behave and do what I tell
you to.” She would
turn him back. After he did her a tiny favor.
“And if I don’t?”
“I’ll show you how my vamp self felt about puppies.”
*********
Buffy had never been more embarrassed in her life. She
sat on the side of the
couch with her head in her hands. Xander and Anya were
attempting to clean up the
glass shards from the carpet and Giles was just staring at
the pair on the couch in a state
of shock. He kept mumbling about buying more brandy. She
had absolutely no idea
now things like this happened to her. Maybe she should
have been nicer when rejecting
Spike. Maybe this was bad karma. She breathed deeply,
trying not to cry.
“Don’t look so glum, luv.” Spike patted her on the head a
couple of times, careful
to stay at arm’s length incase she was overwhelmed by his
irresistible charms.
“Happens all the time. Why I lost track of the amount of
girls Drusilla had to beat off of
me.”
She looked up at him out of hollow eyes. He offered her
his flask, with a small
smile. To his surprise she took a swig. Now I have to
wash off my bleedin’ flask, too.
Damn, slayer germs. Then he offered her a smoke. She took
that, too. He tucked his
smokes into his boot, at this rate he would be out soon.
She lit it clumsily, and then
proceeded to cough for the next few minutes. He smiled and
leaned back. His ego had
been revenged and now he got to watch the Slayer shorten
her life span and torture her
lungs. All in all, it was shaping up to be a great night.
As soon as the witch resouled
his sire, he could challenge her to another game. Beside
him, he heard Buffy start
hacking again. She sounded like a cat with a particularly
nasty hairball. Yup, things
were definitely on the upswing.
*******
Willow jumped from the bathroom window into Angelus’s
waiting arms. There
was no way in the Hellmouth that she was going to face
Buffy again before she had
turned Angelus back into Angel. He took the opportunity to
pull her close for a hungry
kiss. She giggled and pushed him away. “Bad puppy! We’re
going to make a quick
stop at my house, then we’re going to The Bronze. They are
some classmates of mine
that should meet you.”
He watched her, enchanted with her playfulness. He wasn’t
sure what had
gotten into her, but he liked it a lot. He followed after
her and even dutifully changed
into the leather pants that he had stashed at her house
while he waited for her to get
dressed. Something told him this would be a night to
remember. He knew it would be
for certain when she walked down the stairs in leather
pants and a flame red silk shirt.
She gave him a coy smile. “Ready?”
********
“Look at it this way, ducks. Maybe she only attracts
demony types.” He
searched for anything comforting he could say to shut the
slayer up. “I mean, her first
boyfriend was a werewolf. Then Angelus was interested in
her. Then the witchy girl.
Then me. None of us are normal humans.”
“W-what a-about the thing she h-had with Xander?!” Buffy
sniffled.
“First off, does he really count as a human? I mean. .
.really? What with the
dumb dancing and the way that git prattles on? He’s kind of
like a trained monkey.
And second, he- uh- he always liked you best anyway. She
was just time to kill.
Really.” He reached over and wiped at her eyes with his
shirt-tail. He made a mental
list. Clean flask. Wash shirt. Never comfort Slayer again.

“What? Who are you gonna kill?” She looked up.
Spike rolled his eyes. Maybe he was going about this all
wrong. The first thing
he wanted when his heart was broken was to be plastered.
He knew the Watcher
enough to know there would be plenty of alcohol in the
apartment. Abruptly he got up
from the couch and walked into the kitchen. He started
removing various bottles of
hard liquor from the cabinet. “Rupert, I take it you
would like a shot of something?”
“Double. Brandy.” Giles shook his head. “Bloody hell,
just bring me the bottle.”
Spike bobbed his head in silent affirmation as he poured a
round for everyone. If
Buffy kept this up, they would all need it.

**********
Angelus lead the way through the throng of people at the
Bronze to a table near
the center. Clearly, his power was evident to all the
vampires who sensed him. They
immediately scattered from the area unwilling to risk his
wrath. Evidently, he did not
have the same effect on airheads. Willow noticed several
human females were eyeing
him.
Angelus leaned back in his chair and ran one hand over his
leather encased
thigh.“You’re going to turn me back into Mr. Broody Pants,
aren’t you? And cheat
yourself out of this?” He winked at her.
“I have to, Angelus. I have to do what’s right.”
He placed his hand over hers and traced lazy circles on
her outstretched palm.
“Want to at least give me a night to remember?” Like she
would turn him after a night
spent in his bed.
“I don’t think I can do that either.” Briefly, Willow
thought about Spike and the
night she had spent with him. He was special to her now,
she owed herself the chance
to find out what could happen between them. No matter how
tempting Angelus’ offer
was. “Just out of curiosity, who exactly was your. . .er,
happy? Cordy?”
“As if!” Angelus rolled his eyes. “It was someone special
to me.”
“Drusilla?”
“No, chocolate.”
“Chocolate? Is that some kind of stage name? You were
dating someone named
after food?”
“No. Chocolate! You’ve heard that it is biochemically no
different than-“
Willow began to laugh. “Really, Angelus, you can tell me.
Who was it?”
“Seriously, it was chocolate ice cream and cookies. Oh,
and some candy bars
too.”
Willow gulped. No more chocolate from now on. “Goddess,
I didn’t even think
about that. “
”What can I say? I LOVE chocolate. And I do mean love.”
He held up his
mocha. “Can’t get enough of the stuff. You might say that
I’m insatiable.” He leered.
“Again. . .is that all you think about?”
“Well, that and those truffles that come individually
wrapped.” He moaned, as
if remembering the taste. “They have chocolate inside too.”
“Oh-h-kay. Getting scared now.”
A feminine hand traced the collar line of Angelus’ shirt.
“Willow, aren’t you
going to introduce me to your friend?”
Willow smiled serenely. “Heather, this is Angel.” Since
Cordy moved away and
Harmony had been vamped, this girl was leader of the pack.
Angelus frowned. “Angelus. The name’s Angelus.”
The girl smiled and offered him her hand as she sat down
at their table
uninvited. Without looking at Willow, the young woman
said. “Why don’t you run
along and get us some more drinks from the bar, Willow?
Angelus and I want to get
better acquainted.”
“There’s where you’re wrong, Heather. That’s your name
isn’t it? Heather?
Gee, how original.” Angelus threw her hand off. “If I
didn’t have this chip problem,
I’d be tasting your blood right now.”
“Blood?” The girl’s eyes rounded. “What the-“
Angelus vamped out. “Why don’t you get the hell out of the
Bronze and never
come back here again? Look at Willow very closely. She’s
beautiful in a way that you
and your vacuous twits will never be. If you EVER upset
her again I will hunt you
down and make you beg for death. Get it?”
She nodded, nearly tripping in her haste to stand up and
get away from him.
“Yes, sir.” She managed before she ran like a frightened
gazelle to where her friends
stood.
“Thank you!” Willow said, beaming at him.
“Is that anyway to thank your hero?”
“Um, I’m pretty sure Superman never threatened to eat Lois
Lane’s enemies.”
“Yes, but it was a nice touch, don’t you think? Besides,
leather is much more
fashionable than tights. How about a proper thank you?”
“Want me to buy you another mocha?”
“No, come here Willow.”
“You have control issues.”
“I know, comes with being a master vampire. Now, get over
here.”
She happily obliged, tossing a cheeky smile to the
aforementioned vacuous twits.
With them in mind, she sat down on his lap. “This better?”
“Much. Want me to frighten anyone else?”
Willow looked around the room, the twits were gone. No
one else in the room
had wronged her. “Well, the bouncer kinda looked at me
funny.”
“I’ve created a monster.” Willow giggled but sobered up
when he kissed her.
“Have I really hurt you, Willow?”
“Well, those drawings made me shiver. It also made me
read some books in the
bad section of Giles’ library. I had no idea what some of
those. . .but I’m getting off
topic. The only thing that really hurt was losing m-my
f-fish.” She started to cry.
“They were strung up like Christmas l-lights. Not that I
know a w-whole lot about that
cause I’m Jewish and a w-witch. But, poor Flipper! He was
so cute. He was the blue
striped one, with the lopsided fin. He used to ‘glub’ at
me every morning. That’s why I
never had another pet. Never wanted to go through that
again. Thank Goddess my
parent’s didn’t let me have a kitty.”
Angelus held her tighter, a new and unfamiliar feeling was
taking hold. Regret.
He shrieked in pain as a blinding light flashed in his
eyes. Willow was left staring at the
vampire as tears ran down his tormented face. “Angel?”
He stood up abruptly, causing Willow to stumble as she
regained her footing.
“Oh my God! What have I done?” He looked at Willow, but
refused to meet her eyes.
“Oh no! Buffy!” He cried as he ran out of the Bronze.

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