Okay, so maybe this wasn't Buffy's best day ever. By the time she reached that night's Scooby Gang assembly, she and Riley had had a fight and she'd broken a nail dusting a vampire on the way. So, when she came into the apartment and saw Willow sitting on Spike's lap, she lost it. This caused Xander to let go with all he'd been holding in over the situation. That certainly wasn't helping Buffy on the matter. She needed calming down, not re-inforcing. Tara had had to leave; who wants to watch their girlfriend have to be with someone else? Buffy pretty much had a moment where she freaked and did something without calculating the consequences. A Slayer does that sometimes and who can really blame her?

She marched over to where Willow and Spike sat on the couch. She had almost gotten use to them sitting side by side. Well, molded to each other side by side, sure. But now... now, Willow was on Spike's lap. This was too much. Livid, and a little beyond reason she could later admit, Buffy flipped.

"I can't take this anymore. Get your hands off my best friend!" Giles came down the stairs to see Buffy take hold of Willow's upper arms. "This ends now." And, with that, she grabbed Willow, pulled her away from Spike, and put herself between them.

"Buffy, do you think it's a good idea - " Giles began. She cut him off.

"No! It's too much. With all that's going on right now, the ickyness of - " Buffy continued to argue that watching Spike and Willow become increasingly attached was severely throwing her off her game while Giles argued that she didn't seem to mind when she and Spike had been in a similar predicament months before, which of course only enraged Buffy further. Xander was the only one to notice what was happening to Willow.

As soon as she had left the safety of Spike's lap, Willow couldn't breathe. While Buffy continued her outburst, Willow stumbled to the end of the couch. She couldn't get enough air and her insides were churning like she was being pulled in a dozen different places. She collapsed on the floor. Xander rushed to her side. Giles' eyes went wide. Buffy's back was turned, so she didn't notice Willow. But she did see Spike calmly rise and stand in front of her.

"I need to touch her." Spike's voice belied no trace that he either cared what was happening to Willow nor that he felt a similar withdrawl, but his eyes were golden and his hands were shaking. Buffy put her hands on her hips and faced him down.

"Move," he stated menacingly.

"Make me."

Spike vamped and took a step closer to the Slayer, but at that point Xander spoke.

"Buffy, get out of his way."

Buffy spun, ready to say something but was unable to speak when she saw Willow on the floor, desperately clutching Xander's arm and silently suffering. Her eyes pleaded with Buffy and she let out a couple of choked sounds. Buffy was frozen. This was her fault. Spike took advantage of her inaction and shoved past her. He was by Willow's side in a second.

Willow gasped Spike's name as his arms went round her and he brought her to her feet. At that moment, she didn't care who was watching, she didn't care what she would think later, and she certainly didn't care that he had his game face on. All Willow knew was that every inch of her wanted contact with him like her very survival depended on it. She looped her arms around his shoulders and drew his head into the crook of her neck, where she felt his vampiric features soften against her. She wrapped a leg around one of his and pressed her body as close to his as possible. Spike made no complaints himself and tightened his hold on her, rubbing his hands up and down her back. The others stared, thinking surely any moment the display before them would at least subside a bit. It didn't.

"Hey, remember when holding hands was fun? You guys can stop now. Please?" Xander went largely ignored. Spike and Willow remained a column of needy groping.

"I think you made them worse." Giles commented dryly to Buffy.

"Where is Willow's other hand?" Buffy asked sharply.

"Judging by where Spike's are, I'd say - "

"You don't think they'd, y'know, right here? With us, also, right here?" Xander was at a loss for quips.

Willow was somewhere else. In fact, she wasn't even Willow anymore. She began tugging at Spike's clothing. "I need you closer..."

Giles nodded decisively. "They would. Right here, I mean. We have to do something, now."

"Well, we can't just pull them apart; we saw what that did." Xander certainly didn't want to see Willow like this with the vampire, but he knew she wouldn't have lasted much longer without him, either.

"Shower." Buffy said. "Cold one. Now." She approached the couple and began tugging Willow toward the bathroom. Spike growled at the intrusion, but followed the redhead, never separating their limbs. Buffy and Giles managed to get them both standing in the tub before turning on the cold spray. It didn't seem to work at first, as Willow and Spike continued their frenzied exploration of one another. But then they began to still. Willow kept her arms wound about Spike's waist, and he pulled her head to his chest and rested his chin against her hair. Willow's breathing slowed and she looked at Buffy.

"I - "

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean - "

Neither girl needed to finish what she started to say. Willow and Spike were soaked. Buffy, Giles, and Xander were crowded in the bathroom waiting to see what would happen next. Spike broke the silence.

"Turn off the water, she's freezing." He was given an apprehensive glare from Buffy. Spike frowned and stepped as far away from Willow as he could, given the confines of the tub, but without letting go of Willow's hand. Giles turned off the water and handed a towel to Willow. With wordless understanding, Spike and Willow sat down in the tub and he wrapped the towel around her.

"Probably best we stay here awhile," Willow said weakly.

There wasn't time for any more of an uncomfortable silence to befall the group because just then Anya burst into the apartment. "I know what's causing the Siamese twin act. Where is everybody?"

"In here!" Xander called from the bathroom.

Anya came and propped up against the doorframe. She shooed Buffy and Giles so she could see Willow and Spike.

"It's Mischief." She said matter-of-factly. When she was met with several dubious stares, she rolled her eyes and launched the fullest explanation she could give.

"Mischief is the like patron saint of, well, mischief. She serves Chaos, only she's not nearly as powerful. This is one of her little presents from Cupid. That symbol that turned up on their necks, it's like Cupid and Mischief's calling card. I thought it was near their anniversary, so I called her forth. She couldn't stop bragging." Anya cast a glance at Xander. "I used your basement to make the shrine. It'll smell funny for a few days." She directed her gaze at the rest of the bathroom's occupants. "I'll pause her for questions."

"What does she want with Willow and Spike?"

"Cupid exists?"

"Anniversay of what?"

"How funny?"

"How do we stop this?"

Anya took a deep breath. "Of course Cupid exists. He just doesn't look anything like a chubby baby with wings. And it's the anniversary of Cupid and Mischief. They've been dating for like, forever. Each year, as a gift, Cupid lets Mischief pick some targets. She obviously had reasons for choosing you two. Evil," here she pointed to Spike. "Good." A nod to Willow. "Immortal. Mortal. Vampire. Witch. Don't make me draw the obvious parallels with your haircolor."

Buffy broke in. "But what did this Mischief person choose them for and what did Cupid do to them? Don't tell me they're gonna fall in - "

"Lust. This year Mischief asked for a couple to fall in lust." Anya eyed the couple in the tub. "Oh, come on, admit it, you guys had the hots for each other way before Eros' little bastard son shot you with that arrow. It wouldn't have worked if you didn't. That's how Cupid is."

"Him? I don't ... for ... "

"Her? She's human ... "

Anya silenced them with a look. Willow and Spike took an appraising look at one another.

"It's a fair cop."

Buffy and Xander looked aghast. Giles didn't seem phased. "How do we reverse this?" he asked.

"You don't. It runs it's course. Repeatedly. Right now, they're still in the tension building stage. Then they'll break it and it will start again."

Willow was always a smart one. Spike had been around the block a few times. Buffy had the Slayer's sixth sense going for her. Giles has that enormous squishy frontal lobe. They all pretty much had figured out what Anya was leaving unsaid. Xander didn't yet get it. Or maybe he did and he was just hoping he was wrong.

"What tension? How will they break it?"

"Sexual tension, honey. You figure out the rest."

"But there's a way to break the loop, right?" Buffy asked. "I mean, when Riley and I - uh - you guys fixed that. There's always a way to fix it! Giles?"

"Oh, you can break the loop," Anya said. "With magic. Keep it from repeating." Hopeful eyes were watching the ex-demon. "Only, they have to break the tension first. The moment the tension is gone, you say a simple incantation and Cupid's mark goes away." Hopeful eyes lost the hope part.

"So, Anya," Willow began. "When you say 'the moment the tension is gone' you mean - "

"Orgas-"

"Absolutely not!" Xander cut off his girlfriend.

"Xander!"

"Oh, they will. You can't guard them 24-7. And if they don't, the anticipation will literally kill her. I'm not sure what it'll do to him since he's already dead. It might just drive him insane."

For the next several minutes, the little bathroom was a rather noisy place to be. It was decided that when the time came, Giles would say the incantation on Spike's behalf and Anya would do so for Willow. Tara was the most obvious choice but Willow was adamant that she "can not have my girlfriend present while Spike and I ..." The "..." itself was being consistently avoided.

Buffy and Willow were having an awfully hard time asking Giles questions about this particular situation. "Giles, they don't have to actually, y'know, I mean couldn't he pretty much just ... and then ..."

"Yeah, like, as long as we both, y'know, wouldn't that achieve the same goal?"

Giles cleared his throat. "Yes, I'm sure if you both - you know - then Anya and I could recite the incantation and - "

"So, why don't we just usher Buffy and Xander out of the bathroom right now and get this over with?" Ever the pragmatic one, that Anya.

"Absolutely not."

All eyes were on Spike. "You, of all people, have a problem with this scenario?" Buffy asked incredulously.

"We do this, we do it my way. And I want the real deal."

Willow blushed. Buffy unconsciously took on her fighting stance. Giles put his hands on his hips, "Now, see here, you - "

Spike held up his hand. "Save it. The way I see it, this is my once chance ever with the witch. And, as Anya there pointed out earlier," Spike looked at Willow and dropped his voice "I have a bit of a thing for her." His eyes never leaving the redhead, he added "Besides, I got a reputation to protect and what all."

Buffy began rolling out the threats. "... you will, you know, with Willow if I have to chain you in that tub again, naked!"

Still transfixed by Spike's gaze, this time Willow held up a warning hand. "Is okay, Buffy."

"Huh?"

Willow looked up at her friend, sheepish. "I wanna see what he can do."
 

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