Willow entered Xander's house with a plateful of warm oatmeal
chocolate chip
cookies the next day.  Both of the vampires had `helped' her make
them.  Of course,
they were more of a hindrance than help but she appreciated the
company.  Spike kept
wanting to change the recipe.  He suggested ad-ins like M&Ms or some
O positive (for
that gamey flavor). Angel wanted to follow the directions to the
letter, he measured out
items precisely and put them into the mixing bowl in the order
suggested on the recipe.
She had nearly pulled her hair listening to the two vampires bicker.
      She had left the two immortals watching movies.  They had
selected The 10th
Kingdom miniseries, the elder vampire said it was an excellent choice
because it was
long and they wouldn't have to speak to each other while she was
gone.
        Angel had stubbornly refused to leave her house while the
other vampire still
resided there which irritated Spike. She allowed Angel to sleep in
her parents' room
down the hall while she moved Spike out of her room and into the
guest bedroom. The
younger vampire had sent a murderous glare Angel's way after she told
him, but she
had stood firm knowing that Spike's continued presence there would
only cause more
fights.   Thank Goddess her parents were still out of town.
      Willow still didn't know what to do. She still had feelings
for both vampires and
was no closer to making a decision between the two of them.  Willow
decided that this
would be the last time she ever made a bet.
      "Xand?" Willow called from the stairway that lead down to his
basement
apartment.  She held out the dish.  "I got a plate full of chocolatey
goodness just for
you."
      There was a muffled moan and then a shriek from Xander's
bed.  A tousled
Xander poked his head out from under the covers.  "Wills!  Hi. . .uh,
got a situation
here.  Thanks for the. . .oh!" He was trying hard to focus. "
Um. . .the round-shaped
thingies. . .uh, cookies."
      Willow turned her back, lest she be scarred for life by some
unspeakable sexual
act. She didn't even want to know what those two did in there. "Glad
to see you guys,
er, kissed and made up. I'll just put these on the kitchen table.
See you at the meeting
tonight!"  She raced up the stairs so fast she nearly tripped.
                             *******
      That evening, Willow sat down on Giles sofa, mentally
preparing herself to deal
with the latest `big bad' who had come to town.  The Watcher hadn't
said anything yet
but he looked very somber. That wasn't a good sign. Xander came over
and sat down
beside her, there was a large hickey on his neck and his face
looked. . .goofy.  He had
obviously came directly from the ex-demon's bed.  Yuck.
      He hugged her with one arm and whispered in her
ear.  "Everything's fine now."
      She turned to face him on the couch.  "I'm glad.  So, we're
good now?"
      "Yep."  He smiled his best smeary smile.  It was pure Xander.
      "You'll keep my secret, then?'
      "You mean the wild vampire orgy that's going on at your
house?" He said in a
moderately loud tone, he never could resist a chance to tease her.
Especially about a
situation like this, you couldn't pass up these kinds of
opportunities.  Not like Giles
payed attention to what he said anyway.
      "Xander!" She cried out in a very loud voice.
      Giles who was in the kitchen, dropped his tea cup on the
floor and shattered it
into twenty pieces.  He hastily ran to the doorway. "Good heavens,
what's going on out
there?" Noting nothing of a hellmouthy nature, he fixed Xander with a
glare.  "What
did you do to her?"
          "Nothing!  Why does everyone blame me for Wills-"
      "It wasn't his fault!" Willow smiled.  "I was worried for
him. . .uh. . .there was a
rat on the floor. It was gonna nibble on his toes."
      "Willow, I don't have rats."  He blinked once  and crossed
his hands over his
chest.
      "My mistake."  Her eyes skittered to the floor.
      Giles sighed loudly and went to clean up his floor, all the
while shaking his head
and muttering about "young people these days".
      "Good save, Wills.  He probably thinks were nuts now."
      "Like Buffy and Riley and Anya don't? "
      "Speaking of your situation. . .want some advice?'
      "No." Willow rolled her eyes.
      "Too bad.  Gonna get some anyway." He chuckled.  "And I do
mean `get some'."
She glared. "Hey, you're the one dating two dead guys. Buffy only
dated one at a time.
Seriously, what about Bleach boy?  Why don't you date Spike?"
      "What?" she said, speaking in a hushed voice.  "Did my best
friend just tell me to
date a demon?"  Xander didn't know the details of the stupid bet
she'd made with Spike.   And
he never would --- she'd take it to her grave!  Finding out would
probably give Xander a heart
attack. But he did know that she had feelings for both vampires.
      "Yeah, he's much funnier than Deadboy and non-bitey. Good
qualities in a
vampire, I think."
      "Uh, `kay."  Maybe all the sex he was having had damaged his
brain. She expected
Xander to demand that she stop seeing both vampires.  Or make
sarcastic comments
and tease her about them mercilessly.  Not plead one vampire's case.
She grinned at
him suddenly.  "Maybe I  should take your advice, you do know a lot
about that
subject."
      "I haven't dated that many demons."
      "I would think one is enough for anyone, but you've-"
      "Be quiet."
      Buffy and Riley came in holding hands and giving each other
lingering looks.
Willow's breath caught.  The soldier must be more important to Buffy
than she  had
thought.  She hadn't seen her this caught up in anyone since Angel.
Besides, Riley
wouldn't have been invited into the `inner sanctum' if he wasn't
special.  It gave her
hope, if she were over Angel. . .but what about Spike? Damn.
      Giles sat down in his chair and regarded his youthful charges
carefully.  "We
have a ghost problem."
      Willow was relieved.  Ghosts weren't that big of a deal.  Say
some words, light
some candles, and suck it into another dimension.  No big whoop. Then
she could home to the set
of ` My Two Vampires'.  Similar to `My Two Dads', only with blood.
      "Where is it. . . the ghost, I mean?" Buffy asked, trying to
control her shudder of
revulsion.  She remembered all too vividly the night a spirit
possessed her in the high
school. She had actually kissed Angelus that night.
      "My old school chum, Nigel, called me yesterday.   It seems
the spirit is living in
his home. Normally, we don't do this sort of thing, a house call as
it were,  but the
specter is becoming more dangerous. It could quickly get out of
control and cause more
damage."
      Willow spoke up.  "So, you and I can head over and do the
banishing spell. No
big, right?"
      "Unfortunately-"
      "I hate it when you say that, G-Man."
      "I know, Xander, and don't call me that again. Ever.  But I
digress, Walter is a
wizard.  Quite a powerful one I might add.   He  has tried several
spells on the ghost
but it has a tight hold on this reality as well as his home. He's
invited us to stay
overnight at his estate tomorrow.  The spirit should make an
appearance during the
wee hours of the morning."
      Willow winced, she'd have to leave Angel and Spike
alone.  "Why don't I call my
friend, Tara?  Remember her?  She helped us with The Gentlemen."
Everyone nodded.
"She's a witch too.  Much more powerful than me. "
      "Excellent idea, Willow. This might be a difficult task."
      "Can I take Anya too?"
      "Shouldn't you stay to watch Spike?" Giles said.
      "Spike?"  Yikes, they all though Spike was still living with
him.  He really did
want to go to the mansion.  "He's like a house plant.  A blood
drinking one.  I'll just
give him a couple of blood bags and tie him to a chair -- he'll be
fine.  It's only for one
night anyway."
      Giles nodded, Spike should be alright for one night.  He
needed them to get
blood so he'd stay for the meal ticket at least. "Fine."
      "So, can I take Anya?"
      "Oh.  Does she have some, uh, experience with ghosts?"
      "Yeah.  I mean she's been around for a millennium or two.
I'm sure she's
contacted a few, um, dozen, yeah dozen or so . . ."  Everyone gave
him a pointed look.
"No, just thought that she and I might. . .fight the ghost together.
Yeah.  Fight the
ghost."  They continued to stare.  "Oh, come on!"
      Giles grimaced, he'd read between the young man's dirty
little lines.  "No.  This
isn't a vacation Xander, we're there to get rid of this presence. It
doesn't matter that we
will be staying at a fantastic mansion."  He looked down at the
schematic of the
structure in his hands whist fulness seeping into his speech.  "We
shouldn't be thinking
that it has four fireplaces, an Olympic size swimming pool, an
incredible wine cellar,
and a library that rivals any private collection in the world."  He
shook his head,
sobering himself. "We're only going there to fight evil, not have a
holiday."
      "But Buffy gets to bring her boyfriend!" His face
twisted. "Not that I want a
boyfriend cuz I have a girlfriend. And we have sex.  Often." He
looked at Riley and
spread his hands.  "I'm heterosexual."
      Riley, the psychology major, rolled his eyes. Ignorance about
homosexuals was
rampant.  "I don't care either way because gay men-"
      He was interrupted by the pointed clearing of Buffy's
throat. "Back on topic
guys. We need to make a plan, Giles."  The Watcher began talking
about his ideas on
the matter. Buffy smirked at Xander and squeezed her boyfriend's
hand.  There might
be a little `holiday' for them.  Luckily, Riley was a card-carrying
member of Team
Scooby.  Riley bent over and kissed Buffy's lips softly.  Xander
turned away from the
couple ,crossed his arms and let out a long-suffering sigh.
                              ******
      "I'm not watching anymore of this!" Spike declared, folding
his arms.
      "And why not?"
      "It's about a reddish-haired girl and a werewolf. I mean, at
first it was fun, I
thought she was going to beat him or something. I thought a dashing
blond vampire
would eventually appear.  But the silly chit actually likes the flea-
bitten mongrel!"
      "They don't have vampires in fairy tales, Spike." Angel said
dryly, eyes still
focused on the screen. Truthfully, he was enjoying the movie.  The
hero was dark-
haired and dark-eyed, had pale skin, and wore black clothing.
      "Hey!  Are you daydreaming about shagging the stupid wolf?"
There was no
response from his sire. "Uh, peaches?"  Nothing. " Are you listening
to me, poof?"
      "Stop that."
      "Stop what?"
      "Calling me `peaches' and `poof'.  My name is Angel."  He
took on a teacherish
tone and began to spell it.  " A-N-G-E-L.  Now, say it with me.  A-"
      "Poof." Spike made an exaggerated "f" sound and crossed his
arms.  His look
said "what're you gonna do about that?".
      "What did you say?" Angel said, black eyes shimmered with a
touch of yellow.
      "Poof.  Poof.  Poof!"
      Angel stood to his full height, looming over the other
vampire who was still
reclining on the couch his face rippled into it's demonic
state. "What was that again,
William?"
      Spike vaulted over the back of the couch and faced Angel from
behind it.  "Poof!
Poof! Poof!  Poof!"
      Angel reached over and grabbed Spike by the lapels of his
duster and lifted him
until the other vampire's feet were dangling of the floor. "Care to
repeat that?"
      "Peaches!"
      "Say it."
      "Peaches!"
      "Say my name."  He smile was a mixture of equal parts menace
and
bemusement. The other vampire looked mutinous.  "Want me to slap some
sense into
you?"
      "Are you trying to intimidate me or ask me out, Angel?"
      Angel growled dangerously but his human features reappeared
and the skin
around his eyes crinkled with subdued mirth.  Spike burst out
laughing at his sire's
expression.  The dark-haired vampire loosened his hold on his
grandchilde letting his
feet touch the ground before releasing his lapels. They smiled at
each other warily.
                             *******
      Willow entered her house slowly.  The movie was still playing
but the two
vamps were nowhere in sight.  "Spike?  Angel!"  There was no answer.
She heard a
muffled thud from the second floor. This was followed by a crash and
another thud.  As
she approached her bedroom door, low growling could be heard.  Oh
no.  They're going
to kill each other.  And my room is going to be all dusty!
      She through open the door as sire and childe looked up at her
horror.  She
covered her mouth to stop the gasp of surprise.  "Oh my Goddess!"  Of
all the things
she had expected to see, this was not one of them.
      "Oh, hello luv."
      The two vampires were on the floor helplessly entangled with
each other. They
were both breathing hard and looking  self-conscious.
      "What are you doing?"
      "Playing Twister."  Angel said, looking at a point on the
wall over her left
shoulder.
      She stared at the entwined  vampiric arms and legs on the
bright spotted mat
and started to laugh. She wrapped her arms around herself, nearly
choking on her
giggles.  They quickly drew apart, if they could've blushed they
would have.
      "I thought you guys. . ." another gush of laughter. "we're
trying to kill each
other.  But you're playing Twister."  Both vampires stared at their
feet.  "Are you trying
to tell me something?  You two need to be alone?" She started to
giggle again. Tears
were streaming down her face.
      "Bloody hell, now she thinks we're a couple of poofters."
Spike rolled his eyes.
      "We were bored, darling.  Spike refused to watch the movie.
And he cheats at
Memory! Then, he took all the Monopoly money."
      "We could have played Trivial Pursuit if you didn't have to
show off, answering
all the questions in a row, you show off! "  Willow noted that their
wasn't that familiar
`bite' in Spike's remarks.  He seemed to be teasing the other
vampire, not trying to
wound him.
      "Well, that Operation game would have lasted longer if you
didn't rip out all the
man's internal organs!" He chuckled.
      Spike smiled.  "I miss disembowelment.  I was so good at it."
      She sighed as the hilarity subsided, leaving that sense of
contentment that
follows a good laugh.  She held out her arms.
      Spike and Angel both embraced her, enfolding the red head in
a two-sided hug.
Willow sighed as she buried her head in Angel's chest and felt
Spike's fingers comb
through her hair.  This felt right somehow.
 

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