Lost In Cyberspace

By Anne Rose

Part 1

Spike was waiting for Buffy to come downstairs so they could patrol. He could hear her upstairs, debating Dawn's wardrobe for the evening with her. That was going to take a while. Even for a slumber party, her ensemble had to be just so. Looking around, he noticed that Willow had left her computer open on the dining room table again. Spike looked at what she had had open. The witch had been using it for her magical hacking and it was still on.

He sat down at the keyboard. "These things just kept getting smaller. Next thing, people'll be wearing those Dick Tracy wristwatches," he muttered. The last time he had been on a computer was when he was trying to find easy meals for Dru. 'Ah, cyber-cafes,' he thought, 'a little latte, a little biscotti, and a little over-sexed porn surfer to wash it down. Dru preferred the girls with the pale skin and black lipstick. 'God, that girl loved irony.' He smiled at the memory.

The password had timed out on Willow's email, but the browser was still open to google.com. He sat for a moment, and then touched the keyboard. A shock zapped through his fingers. But when he touched it again, nothing. 'Hmm, must be leftovers from Red's last spell.' Ignoring it, he typed in Spike and hit enter. He waited a moment, and then he saw 'Results 1-100 of about 927,000 hits. Search took 0.38 seconds.' "Hmmm, gotta love the Internet. You can get a whole lota nothin, so much faster these days."

He changed his search to 'Spike Vampire' and hit enter again. "*Only* 55,100 hits this time," he muttered as he began absent-mindedly scrolling through the seemingly endless list.

Spike paused. This was tedious. "A little music would be nice. Let's see what's online." He searched a bit and found a number of his favorites. "You gotta love DSL," he chuckled as the files appeared on the hard drive. He picked up the earphones that were beside the computer and put them on. Clicking on the player, he set it to run the songs continuously. Then he set about exploring the rest of the computer.

Going back to the list, he continued scrolling, until something caught his eye. 'What's this?'

All the hits were about Buffy. The whole Internet seemed to be in on the fact that she was the Slayer - 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' over and over. He'd better alert her to this. It wasn't going to make her happy. But in the mean time, he wanted to find out what they had said about him.

He eventually found a site discussing William the Bloody. He opened the page and was shocked to find an illustrated history of himself. He shuddered to see what was probably his worst poem quoted. And how did they have pictures of him, Dru, Angel, and Darla, back in the day, in color? He bookmarked the site for further study later.

Spike scrolled on through the list of sites and visited several more. While he was looking, Buffy walked downstairs and said good-bye to Dawn at the door. Then she walked into the dining room and noticed him at the computer, bobbing his head up and down to whatever was playing over the headphones. "Spike, isn't that Willow's computer?"

"Yup, nice one, too." He said, as he continued surfing.

Buffy raised an eyebrow "Does she know you're using it?"

He paused, looking up, and grinned at her. "Nope -- remind me to apologize later." 'Right after hell freezes over,' he continued, to himself. He pulled off the headphones and pointed at the screen, "Here, come have a look a this, but you'd better sit down first."

She sighed, but still walked over and sat down in the chair next to him. "I thought we were going to patrol." She said, leaning over to look at the screen. "What is this?"

He clicked on a link and another page opened. There were pictures of her, the Scoobies, Spike, Giles, Dawn, everyone. They sat there; mesmerized for several minutes, as they read brief life histories of several of their friends. "How do they know all this? Who are these people?"

"I don't have any idea, but it sure seems like this might be a little more important than patrolling tonight," he replied. "There are hundreds of these pages." He clicked on another link for a site discussing William the Bloody, with some cryptic initials A/S/X in the site description. The page popped open displaying a huge picture of him, Angel, and Xander. Their grinning faces had been pasted onto a set of bodies that were doing things that managed to offend even him. "Bloody hell!" He swore, closing the page.

Buffy's jaw dropped and she just sat there for a moment, then she started laughing hysterically. "We have got to bookmark that page," she managed to say between giggles. "I so need that picture to blackmail you and Xander."

"Over my dead body! And that was clearly a fake picture!" He looked at her as she laughed, and his face began to soften. It had been so long since she had laughed like that, not since before she died. Since she had been back, there were times when he wondered if he would ever hear it again. "Here now, you know it's fake. Have you ever seen the Poof smile like that?"

She continued chuckling harder, as she nodded. "Good point, I don't think Angel's smiled like that in his whole unlife." She wiped her eyes and took a couple deep breaths to calm herself. "Ok, what other surprises have you found?" He began clicking again, and she asked, "By the way, how did you find all of this?"

He shrugged. "I just thought I'd search on Spike. I put in Spike Vampire, and all this came up."

"Why are there all these links to me when we searched on your name?" She asked, as she scanned the screen.

"Wondered that myself. Bloody unfair if you ask me."

"I'm not. Go back and search on Buffy and vampire."

He put the search string in, and hit enter. Immediately there was a list of sites with titles like 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', 'Buffy and Angel Forever', 'Spike and Buffy', and a couple even mentioned Riley and Buffy. She just stared at the computer, too stunned to say anything. Spike, on the other hand, had already had a chance to get over his initial shock and was surfing through the pages to see if there was some sort of pattern or indication of who was behind it.

"Slayer, I think I'm on to something." He pointed to the screen. "See here? They refer to lists of members. Here it is again on this page. This one is called Spike_Buffy_6."

"Six? Six whats?" She asked.

"I don't know. Every time I click on a link that's suppose to take me to it I get an error message," he growled. "Oh, this one is priceless!" He had clicked on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Spike_Buffy_6/ only to arrive at a page saying, 'Oops... There is no group called Spike_Buffy_6.'

"Do you think it's some kind of security measure? Maybe we need a password to get in there?"

"I don't know," he grumbled, "but now I'm annoyed." He did some further searches and finally he slammed his hand down on the table, "Aha! Found it." He looked at her smugly as he typed in, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Spoiled_Spuffy and hit enter.

"What the hell is a Spuffy? And why is it spoiled? Sounds like a bad thing," she grimaced.

A red page popped up, and they scanned the text. "It looks like more code. I can't understand what it's talking about. Can you get to the messages?"

Just then, a picture finished loading. They both stared at the computer as a picture of the two of them stared back. They were holding each other; her head was pressed against his chest. She looked blissfully happy, and his expression while not quite a smile looked very content, with an undercurrent of possessiveness. It was as if he was challenging anyone who dared to take this woman from him.

Once she caught her breath, Buffy shook her head and repeated the question. "Can you see the messages?"

His head jerked up straight again, "Uh, right. Let me look." After a minute he said, "It looks like I need an account to get in, let me see if I can set one up."

Spike typed away creating a fake profile for himself at Yahoo. "Wonder if these wankers know what a Yahoo actually is?" Spike snickered. He hit enter, and the screen came up red. "What do you mean those fields are required? Bloody Nazis! What do they want to know that for?"

"They probably want to sell you blood, mail order. Too bad Fed Ex doesn't deliver to crypts."

"Very funny," he said as he entered more fake information.

She looked confused. "Why are you going to all that trouble? Why don't you just use the free AOL account?" She asked.

Spike instantly stopped typing. His mouth fell open as he stared incredulously at her.

"What?" She asked defensively.

"Look, I may be evil, but even I draw the line at using AO-Hell. You want to consort with dark forces? You go use it," and he went back to typing, shaking his head.

She drummed her fingers as he navigated the complexities of creating a fake identity and joining the list. "So, what is a Yahoo?"

"Hmm? Oh, that. It's from Gulliver's Travels." He replied. "They were primitive humans who lived on an island with intelligent horses."

"Hunh?"

"It's a metaphor... an analogy," still no response from her. "The humans were animals and the animals were human." He looked up at her. "What are they teaching you in school these days? No wonder this country is in the shape it is."

She smacked his arm. "Oh, and I suppose having blood-sucking demons all over has nothing to do with it?"

He chuckled. "Here, Pet, look at this. We're in." He pointed to the list and smiled, quite pleased with himself.

"Where do you think we should start looking?"

"I don't know, at the beginning maybe?" There were a lot of messages. "Didn't your mum have a computer? Willow has ICS setup, we could connect it here and it would go faster with both of us searching."

"Ok, I'll go see if I can find it." She got up and went to look.

Part 2

Spike continued to browse through files online, and what he found nearly made him blush. He felt like a bug under a microscope as he read about people he didn't know discussing him in the most intimate detail. And the things they wanted to do to him! He needed to find out how to get home addresses for several of these women. He tore a sheet of paper out of one of Willow's notebooks and made notes of some email addresses for later. Next to the name Lochnoir, he made a note, 'ask about the ice comment'.

They were also engaged in a number of lively debates about him and the Slayer. 'Now this is interesting,' he thought, reading a thread on whether or not Buffy returned his affections. Actually, it wasn't so much a debate, as all the people were in agreement that she had feelings for Spike, it was the degree of those feelings that the real fighting was about. He was astounded as he read the analysis of just about every word they'd ever said to each other, every look, every touch. He was actually quite shocked at the final verdict - she was being a bitch and he should keep his big mouth shut. There were actually some rather creative suggestions on how to shut it. He chuckled again.

'So, I push too hard and don't know when to bloody well shut up, eh?' He mulled that over for a while. 'Could have had Buffy in Season 5,' whatever that is, 'if he had only used his head.' Now that hurt, he hadn't even figured out he loved the girl until a year or so before she died. He scrolled down and snorted, 'Oh, I see there's a comment about that too. If Dru could see it, what was up with Spike...? Easy for you to say.' He grumbled to himself.

As he read on, he encountered more biographical information on him and the Slayer. Only, this time, he didn't recognize all the details. Perhaps these were prophesies about the future? Peaches and the Slayer were always running into those. It was only a matter of time 'til he got sucked into one. He didn't care much for the ones discussing him getting a soul, but he was intrigued by Buffy's reaction to it. 'That's the last thing I need, to get all broody and soulful like Peaches.' He chuckled at his own pun.

Spike continued on, this time the message was about the same basic events, but the details were all different. He remembered Peaches saying that the Oracles were confusing and contradictory at times. Maybe this was their work? He made another note on his paper, "Fic?" and circled it. It was the only common element so far in these posts, clearly it was significant. He wished Red were awake to help them figure it out.

Now that he knew what to look for, he saw them all through the list. He began reading through the 'fic' posts, one by one. It was very confusing. They were disjointed, starting and stopping abruptly. But he was beginning to see patterns in the subject lines.

Scrolling down to find another element labeled Fic he jotted down additional codes, "7/?, NC17, S/B" and then opened it. He and Buffy were fighting, no big surprise there, but then he hit her and his chip didn't go off. 'Ah, now it's getting interesting,' he thought. They were fighting inside a large house, throwing each other around, and arguing. Then, suddenly she kissed him, just like after Sweet's spell, the author pointed out, as they started to rip at each other's clothes.

Spike read on for a few minutes, glued to the screen as the author went into great detail about their activities. Then Spike and Buffy lost their balance and crashed through the floor and into the basement. "She looked into his eyes with mild surprise, and they picked up where they left off... TBC..."

"What! Where is the rest of this?" Spike swore as he searched through the archive. He tried different parts of the subject line. Finally a list came up, the 'stories' as they were called, all had similar subject lines over and over and a code, 1/?, 2/?, 3/?, 4/?, 5/?, 6/?, 7/?. He stared at it and then it clicked. "This story is unfinished, there is no more! Oh that's just bloody great, leaving us 'lower beings' hanging."

He went back and searched on a couple of other stories he had particularly enjoyed, only to find that they too were unfinished. "Bloody hell! Don't these girls ever finish a story! This is worse than when Timmy was down the well!"

"Obsessed much?" Buffy interrupted. "And what stories are you talking about?"

He jumped at her voice, and pulled the earphones out of his ears. He had been so absorbed in his reading that he hadn't noticed that she had come back. She had found Joyce's laptop, and was setting it up to the right of Willow's while she waited for him to answer. As she connected the two computers, she got a jolt of what felt like electricity. "Whoa! What was that?" She gasped.

Spike grabbed her hand and examined it, turning it over to check for damage. "Looks like you're ok, and the computer's still working. Same thing happened to me. We should remember to ask Willow about it."

She rubbed her hand some more, and looked at his computer. "Did you figure out what a Spuffy was and why they spoil?"

"No idea what a Spuffy is, but I have a lead on Spoilers. There was a lively little debate on them. Apparently they're little bits of prophecy, and they're often wrong." He explained.

"If they're often wrong, then what do people do with them?" She asked, pretty sure she wasn't following him.

"Here's a message on it," he said. "It's to 'Sophie' from 'Stephanie Honey'"

-------------
"Sophie! I'm going to kick your ass when you come to the US if you don't stop reading those Spoilers!"
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Buffy looked shocked. "Do you understand that?" She asked.

"Not all of it, but apparently these spoilers are highly addictive. Knowledge of the future it tempting. I ran across talk about a list for spoiler addicts." He said. "I figure we should steer clear of those till we figure out more about this."

She nodded and began setting up an account for herself and searching the list of groups for ones that looked promising. After she had joined a couple, and started some searches, she asked, "So, what stories were you yelling about?"

"I got into that list, and it seems to be full of writings about us - you, me, the Scooby gang, even Peaches and his crew in LA," he said showing her the list. "They call them 'stories' or 'fic'. Some are about events in the past, others seem to be about the future, but they all seem to have a few elements in common, like you and me." He said grinning.

"Do I want to know?" She said, typing on her keyboard. "I'm not a big fan of starring in prophecies."

"Well, Pet, let's just say they all really like me, and they think you should too." He waggled his eyebrows at her as he said it.

She glared at him. "That's good, 'cause on this list they seem to hate you." She typed 'Spike' into the search field and showed him the result. "See," she pointed to the message titled, 'Spike Sucks!'

"Ahhh," he gasped, clutching his heart. Then he 'recovered' and said dryly, "Ya, that one smarts. Is that the best you can do?"

She scrolled down the list to 'Essay on BtVS Subtext: Proof Riley is better in bed than Spike,' and turned to smirk at him. She opened the message and they read a bit.

"That is NOT true!" He sputtered, genuinely offended at the theories put forth in the essay. "I'll set them straight. What's the name of that one?"

Buffy laughed till tears started rolling down her face. She couldn't answer so she highlighted the name of the group, 'Buffy and Riley, Luv Forever.' Spike looked like he might vomit. Buffy had had a similar reaction earlier, but tormenting Spike was making it all better.

When she could talk again, she said between chuckles, "It won't help, the whole list is like that. Here, look at this one." She put in another search, 'Spike' and '500'. He cocked his head, curious what that could possibly mean.

He just sat and stared at the result. There were 30 hits on, "500 reasons Spike should die," and "500 ways Spike should die," with a link to "next 30 hits." He closed his mouth and his face crumpled a bit. "That's a bit harsh, don't you think? I mean, did they really all think up 500 different ways." She popped open one of the messages and started scrolling through it, chuckling and pointing to certain items on the list.

She found a particularly amusing one and was starting to point it out when she caught his expression. He didn't look like the cocky Big Bad. It was more like a lost puppy. For some reason seeing him like that twisted at her heart. She closed that window, and without thinking, she reached over and patted his arm. "Consider the source. They think I should still be with Riley. How lame is that?"

He looked over and met her eyes for an instant. Maybe it was the stories he had been reading, but he was sure he saw something besides pity in them. Pulling himself together he exclaimed, "Ya, they're just sore 'cause they're on the losing side." Some of the old bravado was coming back into his voice. "Right then, what else is out there?"

"That list seems to be all old information. I think the one you found looks more promising. Show me how to join it." She said leaning over.

Spike panicked for a second. "Uh, Slayer, I think it's not enough information on that list to need both of us looking at it. I saw a site earlier with biographies of you and your mates, and Nibblet. Didn't get a chance to read much of it. Maybe you should look it over?"

"Ok, send me the URLs. I signed up as Elizabeth@yahoo.com." She waited for a moment as he typed and sent. Opening the email from William@yahoo.com, she clicked on the link and started to look over the page. There were pictures of her, all her friends, and her sister. It was unsettling.

After reading through the frighteningly accurate biography on her, she searched for one on Spike. She glanced surreptitiously at him, as the cursor hovered over his picture. He was concentrating on his screen. She clicked, and a page titled "Spike, a.k.a. William the Bloody" appeared on the screen. She hesitated for a moment, not sure if she wanted to know, but then she took a deep breath and plunged in.

The first things she noticed were the pictures. There was one of Spike, and another of a gentle looking man with light brown hair and glasses. 'Must be a relative,' she thought, and she clicked on Spike. A page popped up with pictures lining the left edge and text down the middle. The pictures seemed to be of Spike, starting with a couple years ago and matching the timeframe of the text next to them. Not all of them had loaded yet. It looked like it was a fairly long page.

She glanced at the pictures and started reading. It detailed Spike's first arrival in Sunnydale, with Drusilla. There was link to Dru, but she skipped it for now. There was a discussion of Spike's devotion to Dru, and how unusual that was, contrasted with other vampires. That was interesting, she paused to read it. To back up their argument, there was link to a set of video clips. She slid on her headphones and clicked the link. It took a moment to download, and then it started.

She watched as a car arrived in Sunnydale, and a very familiar pair of feet got out. He sauntered into the factory and faced off with the Anointed One's minions. She chuckled at his comment about how he'd fed off a flower person at Woodstock and spent the next six hours watching his hand move. He was in game-face and cocky as ever.

She shivered as she watched him offer his solution to the child-like vampire. "You've got Slayer problems. That's a bad piece of luck. Do you know what I find works real good with Slayers?" He paused for effect. "Killing them." His face was hard and cold as he bragged about killing two previous slayers. Then, suddenly, his face softened and he turned to see Dru had walked in. Buffy was amazed at how quickly he shifted into his human face, complete with obvious concern and affection for Dru. She was cold, and he whipped his duster off and put it around her.

Anger and amazement churned in her stomach. She'd never really seen Spike and Dru together, not really. They were always fighting her. And there was that awful time in his crypt, when he offered to kill Dru to prove his love. Until now she hadn't understood what that had meant to him - even if he hadn't gone through with it. That realization caused another feeling to push to the surface. It was the same way she felt when she had seen Angel talking with Dru. 'I am not jealous of Drusilla,' she told herself. But the knot in her stomach said differently.

She had been present for the next clip, at Dru's birthday party. She skipped forward past her and Angel, confronting Spike and Dru, and the Judge.

Now they were in a room where Dru was keeping Angel until the ceremony to restore her to health. He was covered with burns, and she was about to splash him again with Holy Water, when Spike walked in. Angel taunted him, about old times with Dru, until he had Spike furious and seething with jealousy. He almost staked Angel right then and there. But at a word from Dru, he stopped. She watched his face when he said, "See, if I kill you now you go quick, and Dru hasn't got a chance." The pain and concern evident in his face, as he realized he'd almost allowed his impulsiveness to harm her. Again, she felt a pang of jealousy, as she saw the depth of feeling Spike had for his "black goddess."

'Enough of that,' she thought, shrugging it off. 'I really don't need to be feeling jealous of Dru.' She scrolled down to the link 'William the Bloody'. Again, she hesitated. He had said over and over that he had always been bad. If Angel had drained his own family immediately after being turned, what horrible things might Spike have done? She tapped idly on the keyboard for a moment, trying to decide if she wanted to know. Then it occurred to her. This was just the thing to inject a little reality check into her fantasies about Spike. He was a ruthless killer, he always had been, and she needed to face it.

She clicked on the link.

Part 3

The screen popped open, and a picture of the young man with the soulful blue eyes and curly brown hair appeared again. He looked similar to Spike, but his face had a gentle, innocent quality to it. Buffy wondered how he was related to Spike. The text for William the Bloody's bio read, "William, last name unknown, born in London, circa 1860. Turned by Drusilla in 1880. Killed his first slayer in China, 1900. Killed second slayer in New York, NY, 1977. See video clip for more details."

"More details - ya, that would be nice, considering how pathetic that biography was." She muttered. "Not even a mention of who the guy in the picture is. These Oracles, or whatever, they may have embraced modern technology, but they still have a lot to learn." She stared at the link again. "Ok, enough stalling - you're the Slayer - click the link.... It can't be any worse than the last one. I'm clicking the link." She took a deep breath and clicked.

She saw herself talking with Spike in the Bronze. 'That's odd. I thought we were going to England 100 years ago.' She sighed and listened to them talk as she coerced information out of Spike about the two slayers he had killed.

"What can I tell you, baby? I've always been bad." As he said the words the scene changed to a Victorian parlor where the man in the picture was sitting, writing. She heard Spike's voice in the background, narrating, but he was nowhere to be seen at the party. 'No doubt he crashes it later and eats everyone,' she thought.

She watched as the foppish young man struggled with his poetry. "I'm the very spirit of vexation. What's another word for 'gleaming'? It's a perfectly perfect word as many words go but the bother is nothing rhymes, you see." She chuckled. It was like something out of "Pride and Prejudice." He preferred creating things of beauty rather than thinking about dark and ugly things. 'I can identify with that,' she said to herself, 'slaying is all about the dark and ugly, no time for the beauty and creating.' She sighed.

Then a very rude man began taunting the would-be poet, taking his unfinished work and reading it out loud to the laughing crowd. She seethed at the unfairness and cruelty. The poet seemed dismayed, and struggled to remain dignified in spite of the insults.

When she saw him next, he was having his heart torn out and crushed verbally by a young girl he was obviously smitten with. "You're beneath me," she said as she stood and walked away.

'Where's a vengeance demon when you need one?' Buffy though. Her heart went out to the gentle young man, as he stumbled out into the street. He bumped into someone, and she gasped as she recognized Angelus. The women with him were Dru and Darla. She tightened her fists as she watched the scene unfold, helpless to protect this innocent man. The scene changed again, and now the new vampire was arguing with Angelus. "It's Spike now!....."

Buffy gasped, causing Spike to jerk his head away from the computer and look at her. "Everything alright, Pet?" He asked with concern.

She minimized the video clip and looked back at him, collecting herself. "Um, no big. They just had a really bad picture of me on this one site. You know, Slayer hair." She studied him for a moment, seeing elements of William's face in his.

He stared intently at her for a moment, fairly certain that she was lying. "Well then, I think you should send them some nice threatening email. That's just the thing to fix it."

She shrugged, "Yep, one flamey email coming up." She fiddled with her email for a minute, until he turned back to his computer. Then she brought the clip back up.

Buffy backed up the video to watch the scene again. William, or rather Spike, and Angel were fighting. Spike was annoying Angel, as only he could. The face and hair was still William's, but the expression was all Spike. She shook her head. 'How could I have missed it before?'

Stealing a glance at Spike, to make sure he was still occupied, she backed up the video again and watched the scene at the party. It was amazing. She heard Spike's voice again saying, "I've always been bad." She chuckled, 'Those words are never going to sound the same again.' As she watched again, this time she caught the name William the Bloody, and the rude man said he'd rather have a railroad spike driven through his head than listen to his bloody awful poetry. Suddenly, she hoped he'd gotten his wish. 'Oh, not good, very un-Slayer thoughts,' she told herself, but another part of her said, 'Nobody messes with my boyfriend!'

Spike turned again as Buffy let out a startled squeak. She looked perplexed and a little annoyed. When she didn't say anything else he asked, "Found another unflattering photo? Do you want me to eat the Webmaster for you?"

"Hmmm?" She murmured distractedly, "Good idea, Spike. You work on that, and I'll keep looking here." She was still stunned by the truth of Spike's human existence. 'And he is so, not my boyfriend!' She told herself.

She had always taken for granted that he was evil, like Angel had been - a rotten human being, and even worse as a vampire. She had ignored any signs of humanity in him, but now they were bubbling back up, into her memory. He had turned on Angel, and fought alongside her, his mortal enemy, to save Dru. He had stayed in Sunnydale and fought along side the Scoobies and protected Dawn, even after she was gone. She shook her head. It was all so confusing. Things that seemed black and white were now an odd shade of gray.

Spike smiled as he watched Buffy for another minute. He wished he could see what was on her screen, but the laptop display made that impossible unless he leaned very obviously into her space. 'Later,' he thought. 'I can always surf through the history later.' And he went back to delve into his own fascinating discoveries.

Buffy was totally engrossed again in the clip. "What's a Slayer?" She saw him ask. Then she watched - actually watched - as Spike killed two slayers. She was horrified, but also she was so fascinated that she reversed the clip twice to watch the fight again. She felt anger rise up in her. He was a monster, an animal. He might have been human once, but that was long gone.

The scene shifted to the alley outside the Bronze. She watched as Spike taunted her, and they fought. Then he leaned in, and tried to kiss her. Suddenly she remembered what happened next and watched the unfolding scene with dread and embarrassment. Such horrible, harsh words, she couldn't believe they were coming from her mouth. "You're beneath me," the other Buffy said. Buffy gulped as she watched Spike's reaction, the words she and Cecily had both said, echoing in her head.

He sat on the ground where she had knocked him, his face contorted in pain, and on the verge of tears as he scrambled to pick up the money she'd thrown at him. Then he took a deep breath and a look of anger and determination came over him.

That night had been a blur. Watching him load his shotgun in his crypt and stalk out to find her, she realized how close to death she had been. He walked up to the house, intent on killing her, but then his face changed when he saw her sitting on the steps. She had been crying. Her mom was sick, and her world was falling apart.

Buffy gasped again as she saw the look on Spike's face. She had been far too preoccupied with her own problems to see it that night. His anger melted and she saw such tenderness in his look. Her stomach clenched as she watched him sit beside her other self. At that moment, he didn't look like a monster. In fact, he might never look like a monster to her again.

As the display ended, she turned slightly to the right, away from Spike and quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and off of her cheeks. She had had no idea, none at all, that her words had hurt him like that. Even if she had known, she wouldn't have cared, he was just a thing. How could she possibly have known he had real feelings?

A voice nagged in the back of her mind. Reminding her of what he went through when Glory captured and tortured him, and a dozen other incidents when he had been there for her. He didn't need to do any of those things. She knew it, and she had ignored it. She sniffed a bit, and then decided to look at something else for a while. Dawn was listed here too. She needed to find out what they knew about her.

Part 4

While Buffy was learning about William, Spike had been busy reading everything he could about how these oracles thought he should go about winning over the Slayer. It was fascinating and frustrating at the same time. 'And who the hell was James bloody Marsters, and why were they so taken with him?' He pouted as he flipped through the messages that weren't about him. "Sodding oracles and seers! Never give you the straight story. Always talking in riddles." He grumbled under his breath. "Run off like a good chap and save the world. We can't tell you how, that would be cheating."

He was tired of sifting through the archives, and the ads were driving him crazy. He didn't need to lose weight, buy a spy camera, or find a date. He needed to find a way to convince the Slayer to let him in. He sighed and decided to look at something else for a while. Switching windows, he found his inbox and clicked on it. He had mail. He had a lot of mail. 'Maybe I shouldn't have signed up for those other four lists?' He wondered.

He recognized some of the names from the archive he had been reading. Others were a complete mystery. He popped open one email, about him and Buffy, and started laughing. Buffy looked over at him. "So, going to share?" She asked.

He jumped slightly, but recovered quickly, and seized on a piece of junk mail instead. "Hey! We could get rich quick spamming unsuspecting idiots, and tricking them into sending us money. All we have to do is send this bloke $50 to get started." He chuckled. "I thought this thing said it filtered spam?"

She had opened her inbox and was deleting junk mail also, and muttering. "I've got another email trying to sell me Viagra. Wanna trade?" As the words left her mouth, she grimaced, and shook her head, not believing she had said that out loud.

"Oi!" He said, looking up and glaring at her. "I'll have you know vampires don't suffer from human weaknesses like that."

"Gee, aren't we a little defensive?" She smirked, trying to look like she was studying the computer.

He leaned over towards her. She shivered involuntarily as his index finger traced down along her spine from her neck to her waist. He heard her pulse speed up as he whispered in her ear, "I'll have you know, in 120 plus years, I've never had any complaints." She swallowed as his cool breath caressed her neck.

"Ooof!" He gasped as she elbowed him in the gut.

"How would you know? You probably ate them before they could comment," she said smugly, trying to sound less shaky than she felt.

He restrained his first impulse, and backed off a little. "Tell yourself whatever you like, Slayer. And when you're ready to find out for yourself exactly how wrong that essay was, just let me know." He saw her shiver again, and he smiled as he straightened up.

He knew he was getting to her. It hadn't been his intention tonight. He'd just come over on business, a quick patrol, and then home to watch some telly, but he wasn't one to let an opportunity slip by. And she was in a mood to play too, as long as he didn't push too much, he reminded himself. He felt his ribs. They were barely bruised. If she had meant to she could have broken them with the slightest effort.

'Interesting,' he thought. He was glad he had pulled back when he did. Normally he would have just charged ahead, pushing and pushing until she became furious with him. But after reading so many messages all agreeing he needed to keep his foot out of his mouth, he had pulled back. And she hadn't tried to kill him, or even hurt him, much. Maybe these oracles really did have some answers for him? He needed to find out.

He had seen messages going back and forth, and a lot of them had questions about him, or Buffy, or one of her friends, but where to begin? He needed answers without giving himself away. He had no idea if they would answer him. 'It's worth a try,' he thought, hitting reply to a message and starting to type.

Subject: What should Spike do?

It was simple, and to the point. Now for the message itself. He mulled it over for a while, and then chuckled as the obvious answer came to him.

-------------
If you were writing to Spike, to tell him what to do to win Buffy over, what would you say to him? Please respond as soon as possible. This is urgent. Thank you,
- William
-------------

He looked it over for a moment. It wasn't his best work, but it should do. The mouse hovered over the button a moment, and then he clicked send. Now all he could do was wait.

He didn't have long to wait. By the time he had scrolled through a couple more websites, he had mail.

-------------
From: Clare009, To: William
If I were going to email Spike advice I would say?
Dear Spike -
Keep your big mouth shut. You're very pretty, but you blow it when you talk. (At least he did in As You Were.) Be good - at least for her sake. No more crazy 'Doctor' schemes. Don't tell her she has a dark side. Tell her you want to be where she is - in the light. Lie if you have to, damn it! *G*
Good luck with your project.
- Clare009
-------------

'Again with the shutting up comments, what did I say that was so terrible? I mean, when I wasn't trying to kill her.' They were speaking in riddles, as he would expect. He shook his head, hit reply, and started typing.

-------------
Re: Advice to Spike
What has he said to her that was so bad? Since she's been back he's been on his best behavior. And! He didn't kiss her after that singing demon thing, SHE grabbed HIM.
Very confused,
- William
-------------

He tapped on the keyboard and wondered how long this was going to take. Glancing to the side, he noticed Buffy was still consumed with whatever she was reading. Her heart rate and breathing had slowed back down, but she still looked tense. "Find anything interesting?" He asked.

She jumped slightly at his voice. "They know Dawn is the key, they know Oz is a werewolf, and they know..." She paused, losing focus for a moment. 'They have a direct line into my fantasy life,' she thought. Shaking her head to clear those thoughts away, "They seem to know all about us." She flipped back to another page. "See," she said, pointing to one. He scooted over to see the screen, close enough to feel the warmth of her body.

"They seem to just be gathering information. Looks harmless, aside from having a direct line into our lives," he added.

She gulped as he used the same phrase. She was pretty sure she hadn't said that out loud. "I wonder if Warren and his buddies have anything to do with this?" She murmured, absorbed in her own thoughts.

He watched her reading the screen. Her nose scrunched up as she tried to make sense out of it. "Speaking of that highly slanderous and incorrect essay comparing me and Captain Cardboard," Spike started.

"What?" She asked, trying to concentrate on the screen, and trying not notice how close he was.

"I was just wondering, is it really true you and him shagged like crazed weasels for a whole day?" He asked innocently.

"What?" She gasped, her mouth falling open as a bright red blush came over her neck and face. "The house was possessed! *We* were possessed."

"Right... You and Soldier-boy didn't get together, say when you were supposed to be out patrolling, and go at it for hours?"

"What?" She exclaimed again, totally flustered and at a loss for words. "We never did anything like that. Never! It was just the house."

"Ah, I see." He said with a self-satisfied smirk. "See, that's the difference between you," he lightly poked the inside of her shoulder with his finger, "and me," he said, indicating himself, "and good old Soldier-boy."

"What?" She said, again, mentally kicking herself for not being able to say anything more articulate.

"Slayers, that would be you," he said, touching her again, "and vampires, like me," he brought his hand back, never breaking eye contact, "we don't either of us need any extra mojo to keep going as long as we care to." She just stared at him, like a deer in the headlights. Her mind was a complete blank, or it had been until Spike's face suddenly replaced Riley's in that room in the Lowell House. It had been a long time - literally another lifetime.

For a long moment, his eyes bored into hers as he sat waiting for a snide comeback, but she just stared back at him. He wondered if her next move would be to punch him, or as the moment stretched out, he wondered if she would grab him, and kiss him vigorously, as she'd done after the big group-sing. He watched her shake slightly as she breathed, listened to her heart racing, feeling the heat coming off of her in waves, pushing her scent into his nostrils. It was intoxicating. Not what he had expected for the evening at all.

She still hadn't moved, and the lust he had sensed earlier was giving way to fear. He reached out his hand and she flinched. Continuing, he gently brushed a wisp of hair back from her face and tucked it behind her ear, breaking their eye contact and allowing her to look away. "Just making conversation, Luv. No need to get all Slayer-like on me just 'cause I don't fancy Farm-boy," he said, giving her an escape, if she wanted it. "Thought I might nip into the kitchen and see if there's any of that hot chocolate left like your mum always used to make. You fancy some while I'm in there?" He asked, standing and keeping his back to her as he walked into the kitchen.

"Yes, that would be nice. Thanks." She said, her voice lacking the coolness she was desperately trying to maintain.

In the kitchen he chuckled quietly, "Anytime, Slayer, anytime."

Part 5

'Ok,' Spike thought, as he started looking for the cocoa. 'She didn't kill me for that. Didn't kiss me again either, but didn't stake me.' So far so good - maybe those oracles were being straight with him after all? He made two cups of cocoa and grabbed the bag of marshmallows. "You want marshmallows, Luv?"

Buffy had heard him rummaging around in the kitchen as she tried to catch her breath. She could still feel his fingers where he had touched her face, and his breath on her neck. He was going to be back in a moment, and she needed to pull herself together. "Marshmallows sounds good," she called out.

He walked back in and sat down, handing her one of the cups, and putting the bag of marshmallows on the table between the computers. He had put several of them into his mug and was stirring them in. She reached out and grabbed some for herself. Concentrating on her mug, she watched them swirl around in the tiny whirlpool her spoon created. Having something to fiddle with was calming her nerves.

Spike noticed that, in spite of her calm appearance, her heart was still pounding. He wanted to do something, but he didn't want to drive her away. Spike went back looking at his computer. There was more mail in his inbox. He opened the first one.

-------------
William -

Ok, what would I tell Spike about Buffy?

In "Smashed"/"Wrecked", nick a bloody cell phone so she can check in with Dawn and won't have an excuse to leave in the morning. DON'T tell her the only thing better than killing a slayer is shagging one. Before that, the day you find out about the chip not working on Buffy, talk to Willow and warn her to stay away from Rack. Talk to Tara too, and let her know about the danger. Buffy compares Willow's addiction to magic, to her own relationship with Spike. If that can be headed off, things could go better.

"Dead Things" was another problem. Don't tell her she's an animal, or a monster, or anything else, even if you think it's a compliment - she doesn't. Keep her home that night, or do something to keep her out of the woods. When Buffy thinks she's killed that girl, one of the things she's thinking about is 'evil' Faith, how she went dark and how she used and threw away men.

In "As You Were", when someone comes to you and asks you to keep demon eggs, or traffic in demon eggs, DON'T. Don't let those demon eggs into the crypt. And when Riley barges in and finds you together, don't get into a pissing contest with him.

She's going to take Xander and Anya's wedding falling through badly. Stick around long enough at the wedding to kill that demon that scares off Xander. And if the wedding does fall through, and Buffy dumps you anyway, under no circumstances should you sleep with any of the Scoobies.

Well, that's all I can think of. If you need more, let me know. Have fun with your story, William,

- Anne Rose
-------------

Spike read the email over a couple of times. It all looked like good advice, too bad he didn't understand what it meant. He emailed back again, asking what these events were they were all talking about. Again, he pointed out that he hadn't been pushing, she had kissed him. He sighed. It had seemed like such a good idea at first, but he was getting nowhere.

While he was rereading the email for the fifth time, he saw another message arrive. 'Bout time,' he thought.

-------------
From: Sophie
To: William
Hey William (are you sure you're not Spike? Haha, J/K)
I think I would say this to Spike: First get rid of that chip so you can prove to her you can be good even as a soulless vampire. Then woo her but don't loose the bad boy attitude because she likes it!! Don't become too "normal". She says she wants that but it's not true. But the most important thing is...don't leave her. Stay with her forever.
Well, this is it. Of course, I could also tell him to forget about Buffy and to come in Europe to meet me, but he'll never read it anyway...;-)
Hope this helped you, William. Bisous Sophie
PS: Do you write B/S fictions by any chance?
-------------

Spike mulled over the email. He remembered how she had reacted to Riley once he stopped being an equal and became someone she felt she needed to protect. On the other hand, it never seemed like she really was in love with him. The little heart to heart he'd had after Soldier boy had stabbed him with the oh-so-funny plastic stake, had confirmed that.

He thought some more as he clicked on the next message.

-------------
William, it sounds like wherever you are, you're way behind. A lot has happened since that kiss at the end of "Once More With Feeling". You need to get to one of the transcripts sites and read up. You'll find the dialog we're talking about. I pasted the links below. Good luck!
- Anne Rose
-------------

Spike looked at the links and opened one. Scanning down, he saw the phrases she had used. He clicked on the link for 'Smashed' and started reading. The format of the document was strange. It looked like whoever was spying on them was transcribing their lives. It was confusing.

He minimized that page and went back and clicked on "Once More With Feeling". It was the same strange format, but this was the clue they had given, and he was determined to follow it. As he read on, he started recognizing events. This was the time when Sweet, the song and dance demon, had come to town. 'All right,' he thought, 'finally something that fits.'

He skimmed through the next file. Everyone was going to get amnesia. Not much point in pursuing that, except trying to stop Red. If she cast the spell, he wouldn't remember anything he tried to prepare. And now he was back to the first reference from the email, or should he think of it as a prophecy? Angel was always getting tangled up in those, but up until now he'd been in the clear. 'Bugger!' He swore silently as he dove back into reading.

It was pretty dull stuff, the Scoobies going about their daily lives. Amy wasn't a rat anymore, and she was naked, that was mildly interesting. Then suddenly he read that he hit Buffy and his chip didn't go off. Now it had his full attention. He was reminded of that story he read earlier.

He read on, nearly jumping out of his chair when he read about the night in the abandoned building. First, they were fighting, and then they were shagging like rabbits. "Bloody hell!" he yelled.

Buffy jumped and looked at him, alarmed. "What is it?"

He hadn't meant to say it out loud. "I, uh... I hit a bad link. Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

She nodded and went back to reading. He clicked on the next key from the email, "Wrecked", and quickly skimmed through the opening notes, and a scene with Dawn and Tara until he reached the point where they were talking about him and Buffy. Slowing down, he read the text with a smile. But as the scene progressed, the smile turned to a frown. Cringing as he read their exchange, he started to understand why the oracles wanted him to shut up. "Convenient," that word rang in his ears. It felt like a stake going through his heart. Suddenly the bitch comment was starting to make sense too.

He saw how when Buffy got home that morning, her friends unknowingly made her feel guilty. And then when Willow's return visit to Rack's resulted in a trip to the hospital for Dawn, he growled softly. Reading on, he felt like he was on a roller coaster. One minute he would find Buffy and they would shag for hours, then next she was hurling insults at him and leaving.

He was starting to get really angry when he suddenly read about the demon eggs. Unbelievable! How could he be so stupid? Everything he wanted was right there in front of him, and he threw it away. He clenched his fists and for a moment his game face came out. He looked away for a moment and tried to calm himself before Buffy saw it.

A thousand thoughts swirled around in his brain. He never knew when to stop pushing. If he had let her alone, given her a little breathing room, like he had tonight, she might not have run away from him. But would anything he did make a difference? Evading a prophecy was a tricky thing, and rarely successful.

He had to know if he had any chance. Going back to his email, he replied again.

-------------
I read the transcripts. How certain is it that those things will happen?
- William.
-------------

He noticed the several of the oracles were online. The little yellow smileys by their names taunted him, grinning about his secrets no doubt. He hoped that also meant he would get a fast answer. Sure enough, his email alert popped up.

-------------
What do you mean, 'how certain?' That is what happened. But of course you can write whatever you like. But the more plausible it is, the more likely it is to be successful.
- Anne Rose
-------------

He shook his head. It was all very puzzling, and he was very tired. He was excited and scared, confused and hopeful, and oh so tired. They had been working at this all night, and without realizing it, they had worked past breakfast time and were heading toward noon.

Buffy's stomach growled. The snacks they'd had were long gone, and they were both hungry again. "I've got to quit for a while and get some sleep. How about if we pick this up again later?" She asked him, stifling a yawn.

"I'm feeling a bit knackered myself. Got a spare blanket I can use to get back home?" He asked, standing and stretching.

Buffy closed her computer and stood up also. "There's still some blood left in the back of the fridge," she said between yawns. "And there's a cot in the basement." She staggered over to a closet and pulled out a blanket and a pillow. "Here, take these. I'm going to bed."

"Thanks," he said to her retreating back, as she started climbing the stairs.

She paused as she heard him, and sighed. "Spike," she said, as she turned and walked down a couple of steps. He turned and looked up at her questioningly. "Thank you."

He cocked his head slightly and stared at her. "For what?"

She reached out and touched the side of his face. "Long list. Dawn, before that Glory, for sitting with me instead of shooting me the night I found out my mom was sick." She sighed again. "Lot's of things. Thanks." She let go of him and turned back to the stairs.

He stood, staring after her as she walked upstairs and into her room. Then he turned and headed down into the basement. He had a lot of thinking to do, and even more planning.

Part 6

Later that day, just after sunset, Buffy met with everyone at the Magic Box. Giles was shaking his head. "This level of exposure is unprecedented," he said, as he paced and compulsively cleaned his glasses. "I don't understand how the Council could be unaware of it."

Buffy pointed at the laptops Spike was setting up. "See for yourself." They were online quickly, since he hadn't turned them off and had only hibernated them for the trip to the shop. Spike had carefully arranged to be the one leading the Internet tour. It wouldn't do for any of the Scoobies, particularly Xander, to find out certain things about the future.

He showed them a page that hadn't been updated since Buffy's death. They crowded close around the laptop as he scrolled through the information. "It's all of us," Tara said, shocked that they had files on her as well.

From there, Spike took them to pages focusing on the 'Nerd Herd' and their schemes since Buffy's return. It included a number of things that hadn't happened yet - the freeze and invisibility rays, Jonathan's magic use, and the death of Katrina Silber. At this point, even though the page was centered on the three geeks, pictures of Buffy and Spike, in decidedly non-fighting positions, began to load. Buffy coughed, and Spike scrolled rapidly down the page.

"Hey, what was that?" Xander barked. "I saw, things. Wrong things. Things that should not be happening." He grabbed onto Spike's arm to stop him from scrolling, but Buffy stepped between them, pushing Xander back. She was uncertain what to do next.

"Why don't you all just calm down?" Spike said firmly. "They summoned Rwasundi. Rest of that was nightmares and hallucinations."

"Oh," Anya gasped. "The Rwasundi are very rare. Their presence in our dimension causes a sort of localized temporal disturbance." They turned and looked at her. Encouraged, she continued, "Human perception is based on a linear chronology. Being exposed to the Rwasundi for more than a few seconds can cause vivid hallucinations. And a slight tingly scalp," Anya concluded, clearly very pleased with herself.

"Right," Spike agreed, "So if we prevent those three from killing the girl, then we don't have to worry about any of the rest of that. Won't happen."

"Yes, but if these are prophecies, won't they be kinda hard to change?" Xander asked, looking around at the others. "I mean, isn't that the whole idea of a prophecy?"

Giles shrugged and pulled his glasses off again. He wished he had been cleaning them when the glimpses of Buffy and Spike had flashed by earlier. "Buffy has done some amazing things before, but some of those were still in line with subtle interpretations of the texts."

Spike growled impatiently. "Look, it's not like that with these. These oracles showed us a whole... range... of possible outcomes. It all depends on what we do. They said specifically that we can change the writing." He closed the page and stood to pace around. "Take Rack for example."

"Rack?" Giles asked, alarm evident in his face as the name registered.

"Yeh, you heard of him?" Spike asked. Giles nodded grimly. "Red's gonna figure out how to restore Amy, and as a thank you, she'll drag her off to Rack's. After that, things get ugly, really messy. You know what he can do." Spike fudged the details a bit, but he needed to get their attention.

"Yes... yes, I do." Giles murmured.

"What?" Willow gasped. "Who is he?"

"He's a very powerful practitioner of the black arts." Giles explained. "He feeds off witches and other weaker individuals. They think they're gaining power from him, but as a result, they actually become dependant on him." He paced some more. "People *have* tried to shut him down before... to destroy him. But he cloaks his lair and moves it regularly. It's almost impossible to locate him unless you are already into the black arts yourself." Giles looked up again. "I wasn't aware he was back in Sunnydale."

Spike relaxed, as they discussed the impending situation with Amy and the trio. It was like the old days - before this particular slayer and the Scoobies - back when his plans succeeded and he was a force to be reckoned with. He glanced at Buffy. She looked less tense. He caught her eye for a moment, and she gave him a quick smile. He nodded back.

He was surprised when she drifted around the rest of the gang, who were concentrating on hammering out a plan, over to him. He felt her hand on his arm. "I guess I need to thank you again," she whispered.

"For setting up the computers, and showing them around? It was no trouble. I was glad to do it."

"Not that. Well, not just that." She shifted her weight nervously. "I meant for getting Xander off those pictures, and keeping them on track."

He smiled. "Happy to do it, Luv." He reached up and quickly squeezed her hand that was still on his arm. "Figured I needed to get them off researching and planning, 'cause I was just about out of 'safe sites' to show them. Xander'd stake me first and ask questions later if he saw a lot of that stuff - especially that one picture of him, me 'n Angel," he said with a wink.

She chuckled and nodded. Breaking contact, she moved towards Giles to see what sort of progress they had made.

Spike pulled Tara into the practice room to talk privately with her. She was essential to his plans.

"Tara, all I know is when you leave Red, she goes round the twist. I'm not saying it's your fault - it's not, but I think you could stop it." Tara just shook her head and looked away.

"I d-don't know why you're putting this on me. I can't control her. She's out of control." Tara pleaded.

"I'm telling you because Amy encourages her to do crazy, dangerous things," he lifted her chin up, and looked her in the eye. "And Dawn pays for it."

Tara shuddered and gulped. "I don't know if I can help, but I'll try."

"That's my girl," Spike said, patting her on the shoulder. "I'll tell you what else the oracles told me about her, and we'll see what we can do."

Coming out of the training room, Spike ran into Giles. He was deep in thought and barely avoided running into Spike. "Uh, excuse me Spike." Giles muttered as he stepped aside.

"No problem." Spike grinned at the distracted watcher. "So, Rupert, what do you make of all of this?" Spike asked conversationally.

Giles looked up from his book. "It's not like anything we've encountered before. I'm sure the Council will be fascinated. Although, I'm not sure how much to tell them, and once they know a little, they will want to delve into all of it, and some of those images," he pulled his glasses off again, and absentmindedly cleaned them. "Some of those images... I mean, some of those events will... upset them."

"That's an understatement. Wouldn't do me or the Slayer a lot of good either if they got out." Spike nodded.

"Um, Spike," Giles hesitated. "They were all from the future, weren't they?"

Spike stared at him, not shocked by the question, but that Giles would actually voice it. "I should say something like, 'it's none of your business,' or 'you should ask your slayer,' but I won't Rupert, because...." He trailed off and shuffled his weight nervously back a forth for a minute as he studied his shoes. Finally looking back up at Giles, with determination, "Because I would like you to trust me, at least a little." Giles nodded. "Those were all from possible futures. Depends on what we do now."

"I see," Giles grimaced. He didn't look relieved, as Spike had hoped.

"If it makes you feel any better, they had pictures and stories about you and me too."

"No.... Actually that doesn't make me feel any better." He was busy wearing a hole in his lenses now. "I find the whole thing very unsettling."

"Is that what you're going to tell your watcher buddies, when you get back to England? You're going to have to come up with more than that." Spike pressed.

"What? How did you know about that?" Giles asked with alarm.

Spike didn't answer, he just looked at Giles, pinning him with his eyes.

"Please don't say anything to her. I haven't decided for certain."

Spike shrugged, and tilted his head. "I guess I shouldn't try to discourage you from leaving." He continued to drill Giles with his eyes as the watcher flinched. "It's what drives her into my arms."

Giles grabbed Spike's collar and shoved him up against the wall. All the confusion was gone from his eyes, replaced with a fire. "Why are you telling me this?" He demanded. "What are you up to?"

Spike returned his look with one of equal determination. "I told you. I want to earn your trust. Without it, I can't keep her." Spike looked away for a moment. "You're keeping things from her. Well, I am too. And I'll keep your secret if you keep mine." Giles thought for a moment, and then nodded, relaxing his hold on Spike.

"All right then." Spike rolled his shoulders and rubbed his neck. "After you leave, she turns to me. We have a fabulous couple of weeks, and then the guilt sets in. What will her friends think, what will you think? Tears her up." He sighed heavily. "She becomes unhappy, does some self-destructive things, and then she breaks it off. Is that what you want for her?"

"No, it isn't," Giles frowned pensively. "And you're saying if I stay, it won't happen?"

"Truth is, I don't know." He ran a hand through his hair, and paced. "I only know she winds up desperately unhappy when you leave. Everything falls apart. By the time Riley and his wife show up, and she hears about Darla having Angel's baby, she's a mess."

"Oh dear," Giles exclaimed.

"Yeh, 'Oh dear' is an understatement." He stopped pacing and looked at Giles. "And what would be so wrong about me and her? If it made her happy? You all accepted Soul Boy. Why not me?" He pleaded with such an earnest expression.

Giles sighed deeply. "Spike, that ended quite badly, I hardly think...."

"Never mind," Spike interrupted. "I'm good enough to save her life, to protect Dawn, to risk my own life, but not good enough to date your daughter. That's it isn't it? She's like your daughter, and I'm never going to be good enough."

He started to walk off, but Giles caught his arm. "Spike, I do want her to be happy. She's never going to have a normal life, like other girls. I've watched you over the last two years, and you seem sincere. If I thought you could make her happy," he smiled slightly. "I might consider not staking you, if I found you two were 'dating'."

"Then let me tell you one more little secret, just between you and me." He waited for Giles to nod. "This chip of mine," he said pointing to his head. "It works on all of you... but it hasn't worked on her since she came back." Spike watched with satisfaction as Giles mouth dropped open.

Part 7

It started when Spike told Buffy the chip didn't work on her, and demonstrated, at her insistence. The fight had gone a little differently than in the prophecies. Now that he was expecting it, he understood better. He knew she wasn't taking out her anger and frustration on him - not anymore. She was testing him. Trying desperately to find out if she had to kill him - even if she didn't realize it herself. She was afraid of the possible truth, but determined.

He fought hard, and he tried not to hurt her, much. He had no idea what was going to happen, but he hoped. When at last she grabbed him and pressed him into the wall with her kisses, he felt... alive.

Now it was morning, and he felt her waking up after her catnap. She looked around the demolished building, as the light started filtering through the remaining bits of ceiling.

"When did the building fall down?" She murmured.

He surveyed the rubble, "I'm not sure. I think I must have been otherwise occupied when it happened. Whatever it was," he grinned, and stroked her face, "must have been pretty riveting not to notice all this."

She blushed and wrapped the blanket more securely around herself. 'A blanket?' She looked at it. "Spike, where did the blankets and pillows come from in an abandoned house?" She asked, her voice rising.

Spike looked away nervously, and pulled something from his coat. "Uh, I also brought this." He handed her a cell phone. "You'll be wanting to call Nibblet and let her know you're safe and sound."

She shook her head as she began dialing. "I'm not even going to ask where this came from."

"From my pocket," he said feigning surprise. "You just saw me pull it out." He reclined back with his arm over his head and watched her talking to Dawn. She was beautiful, and she was his, if he could just manage to hang on to her. 'Manage not to drive her away,' he corrected himself.

Buffy ended the call and tossed the phone back at him. He caught it easily, without sitting up, and tucked it away. "She's getting the royal treatment. Tara and Willow are making pancakes for her." Then she looked him in the eye. "Dawn wasn't surprised that I hadn't come back last night. Apparently someone told her we were off hunting big bad demons all night." She said, accusingly, but without any anger.

"Ah," he mumbled, as he reached for her and pulled her back into his arms. "Couldn't have the Little Bit fretting about you, now could we?"

Buffy groaned, as he began placing kisses along her neck. "I really should be going home," she said, snuggling against him.

"Stay," he murmured against her neck. "I'm stuck here. Sun's up."

"I don't know," she sighed, as she didn't pull away. "I should..."

He cut her off, "I was thinking we could do something a little different."

"Different?" She squeaked, sitting up. "I thought we... I mean last night... several, many..."

He pulled her back down, as she continued trying to complete her thought. Buffy felt his chest rumble against her ear as he laughed. "Actually, I was thinking we could sleep for a bit, but never let it be said that I would disappoint a lady." He smiled as he traced the line of her jaw with his finger, and watched the tension flow out of her body.

"No, sleep is good too." She yawned. "You'd better not hog the covers." She tugged on the blanket, and instead of fighting her for it, he simply wrapped himself around her.

Spike burst through the back door, just as Buffy was finishing putting Dawn's lunch together. "Morning," he said casually, as he threw his smoking blanket to the floor.

"What are you doing... and, here?" Buffy asked.

He glanced over at Willow, and tried to look nonchalant. "Just, uh, took a stroll. Found myself in your neck of the woods.

Grinning, but not taking her eyes off the bread she was buttering, "Couldn't find a less flammable time of day to take a stroll?"

"Yeah, well, the fact is my lighter's gone missing." He struck a nonchalant pose against the wall. "Thought it might have, uh, dropped outta my pocket the last time I was here." He said, eyeing the slight deformation in her jeans pocket.

"Haven't seen it," she lied.

Willow stopped shuffling around and back and forth between Buffy and Spike. "I'm, uh, gonna head back upstairs, get dressed before Doris gets here."

"OK, Will, see you in a few." Buffy said, watching her walk by. Then she turned to Spike. "Lame."

"What?"

"You. Making up excuses."

"I'm bloody fond of that lighter, Luv." He said, sliding around behind her. She giggled as he continued the pretense. "What? You prefer I tell her the truth?"

Buffy pulled back for a moment, embarrassed. "I don't know. I've been thinking about it."

"When you decide, let me know. I figure it's up to you to decide what and when to tell your mates." He smiled, trying to lighten the mood again, and started playing with her hair. "I think maybe I'll call you Goldilocks. You know I love this hair. The way it bounces around when you...."

She reached over and grabbed a spatula, smacking him lightly on the head.

"Ah-ah-ah! This flapjack's not ready to be flipped." He yelped, grabbing for the spatula with one hand, while his other arm was around her waist, keeping her from getting away.

"Stop that," she laughed, still trying to smack him with the spatula, without letting him get a hold of it.

"Good Godfrey Cambridge, Spike!" Buffy and Spike looked up, startled as Xander appeared in the doorway. "Still trying to mack on Buffy?" Xander continued. "Wake up already. Never gonna happen!" Spike started to let go of Buffy, and move away, but she caught his hand. He gave her a quizzical look, as Xander ranted on. "Only a complete loser would ever hook up with you." Buffy smiled conspiratorially at Spike, and dragged him back behind her, pulling his arm across her stomach. "Well, unless she's a simpleton like Harmony, or a... or a nut sack like... Drusilla... hey... what exactly is going on here?"

Buffy grinned at Xander mischievously, as she popped the finished sandwich into Dawn's lunch sack. "Isn't it obvious...." She said, leaning back into Spike's chest. "You're here to take Dawn to school. Thank you, by the way." Dawn appeared, and pushed past a sputtering Xander, grinning as she took in the sight of Spike holding Buffy. Dawn took the sack lunch from Buffy and winked at Spike.

"You'd better head out the back way. Wouldn't do to run into the Kroger "demon" on the way out." Spike jerked his thumb towards the door.

"Come on Xander, I'm going to be late," she said breezing out the door.

Xander found himself being propelled out the door by Buffy. "This isn't over, Bleach Boy!" He called over his shoulder.

"You can bet on it!" Spike called after him. He watched Buffy walk back, anxious to gauge her mood. She was giggling. He was about to ask her about what she had done, but the front doorbell rang.

"Speak of the devil," Buffy sighed.

"Chin up. You're ready for her. You have three stable women living here to care for Dawn, and I'll stay out of sight. You'll be fine." He kissed her quickly and then spun her towards the door and patted her behind to get her moving. "Off you go."

Spike puttered around in the kitchen while Buffy dealt with Ms. Kroger from Social Services. He could hear the whole conversation clearly, and it wasn't going well. Buffy was calm and ready for the questions about her role as primary caregiver for Dawn. Willow helped, until she had to leave for class. Doris was having to work hard to find things to fault, but even the lines they had planned and rehearsed didn't sway her in the end. 'Ah well, there's always plan B,' he thought.

He walked out of the kitchen when he heard the door shut behind Ms. Kroger. Buffy was leaning against the door, with her forehead pressed to the wood. "Didn't go well, huh?" Spike asked, walking up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, and putting his chin on her shoulder.

"No, she didn't listen to anything I said." Buffy said, dejectedly.

"Well then, we have a little time left to kill before your date with the geeks and their inviso-ray." He flipped her around and pinned her to the wall. "Maybe we could get back to my original purpose for this visit." He breathed against her neck, as he began groping around in her front jeans pocket.

"Spike," she moaned, "there isn't that much time."

He pulled his hand out and dangled the lighter in front of her eyes. "Just getting what I came for, Luv. Did you have something else in mind?" He asked, the very picture of innocence.

She chuckled, and leaned her head against his chest.

After a moment he said, "Buffy?" She pulled back a bit to look at him. "What was that all about, with Xander?"

She sighed, and burrowed her face back into his chest. "I don't know. I just didn't like the things he was saying - or the way he was saying them. It made me feel sort of cranky and defiant." He nodded, understanding what she meant. "Speaking of that, what did you say to Giles?"

"What do you mean," Spike asked, as he rocked her gently back and forth, not following her jump in the conversation.

"A couple days ago, he said the strangest thing to me. He said that I seemed to be more relaxed when I was with you, happier. You know Giles," she chuckled. "He said," she mimicked his accent, "Although I can barely stand to think about it, much less say it, he seems to be good for you."

"Oh, that. He and I just had a unsuitable suitor to father conversation."

"I don't get it," she frowned.

"I don't either, but I'm not complaining." Spike answered, as he pulled her closer and kissed her.

"Ugh," she pulled away suddenly.

"I hope that wasn't a commentary on my technique," he sounded a little hurt.

Laughing, "No! No, I just realized I have to go in a few minutes. I have to be at that corner at 10:17 am..."

"Just so long as you don't cut your hair." Spike said, running his fingers through her hair again.

Part 8

Buffy and Willow stood in the arcade and stared at the trio of geeks, who, along with Buffy, had just been made visible. "So you three have, what, banded together to be pains in my ass?"

Warren edged away from her. Jonathan and Andrew followed him. "We're your arch-nemesises ... ses," he proclaimed. "You may have beaten us this time, Slayer, but next time ... um ... uh, next time..."

"Maybe not!" Jonathan shouted as he threw something at the floor. It exploded creating a smoke screen.

Buffy titled her head toward Willow and sighed. Her arch nemeses were stuck at the locked door. Willow took advantage of their confusion and slid the inviso-ray along the floor towards them. "Oh - no - Buffy, they're - getting - away - with - the - inviso-ray!"

They watched the boys looking at their hands, and at each other in confusion. "I *thought* you had it," Warren growled at Jonathan.

Buffy looked at Willow and rolled her eyes. "Hurry - Willow, grab the gun - at their *feet*, before they escape with it!"

Warren scrambled on the ground for a moment until he found the ray-gun. Just then, the others got the door open, and they tumbled out into the alley.

"For a minute there, I thought I was going to have to use a spell to open the door for them," Willow said, as she and Buffy turned and headed out the front.

"Ya, Will, see patience is it's own reward," Buffy replied.

"Hunh?" Willow queried.

"Dunno, just sounded good in my head."

Willow nodded, "Off to the Magic Box then. We can see if Giles got it."

They walked quietly for a few minutes, and Willow watched Buffy out of the corner of her eye. She looked preoccupied, off in another world, but for a change she looked happy and Willow was dying to talk to her best friend again. Things had been so strained since Buffy's return. "So, Buffy, what's new with you?"

"Hunh? What do you mean, Will? We live in the same house."

"It's just that the last week or so, you seem... I dunno, happy." Willow kicked a rock, and watched it skitter along the street before continuing. "You're more like your old self. It's nice."

"Thanks, Will. I guess knowing what's going to happen, and being able to do something about it... it makes things easier."

Willow thought for a moment. "But you seem happy, not just more relaxed. Although, come to think of it, you do seem awfully *relaxed*." Willow said nudging her, smiling her "guilty secret" smile.

"Will," she gasped, starting to blush.

"I just noticed that you and Spike seem to be getting along better, and then there's the happy Buffy, and the relaxed Buffy. And, we just sort of added the two and the other two together and came up with four." She said, grinning.

"I can't believe.,. I mean... And who is *We*," Buffy sputtered.

"Well, first I want to know if it's true, before I compromise my sources." Willow bounced on the balls of her feet.

"Oh, no! I'm not going to just spill some... possible... deep dark secret, just because you claim you know what it is. You first."

"You know how the laptops crashed, and after that I was trying to get them connected again. You know really *connected*. And you know how everything you view in the browser winds up in the cache? And there you were... you and Spike. You're..."

"Willow!" Buffy cut her off, blushing furiously now.

"You are! I knew it! You have to tell me everything!" Willow shrieked, grabbing her friend by the shoulders.

"First, you're going to tell me how you figured it out. I thought we were being discrete."

"Well, we can be pretty observy. There was the increased patrolling, just when we were seeing way less demon activity due to the prophecy info. And like I said before, you were all with the happy and not the stressed all the time." Willow's eyebrows shot up emphasizing the happy smile, and then scrunched together on stressed. "And of course there was Spike, not being moody and all, 'I love Buffy but she hates me,' anymore."

Buffy stared at her as Willow thought for a moment. "I think Tara and Anya noticed first, but we weren't going to say anything. You know, since Xander is still pretty anti-Spike and also being the king of denial, he would be hard to convince unless he saw you 'doing it' on the table in the Magic Box." Willow laughed at the thought of Xander's face.

Buffy laughed too, and then frowned. "Uh Will, Xander may not be as clue free as you think. Not after today."

"Why? What happened?"

"Well, I went to talk to Spike, while I was invisible, and Xander barged into the crypt without knocking."

Willow's face went blank for a moment as she remembered what Xander had told them about Spike, in his bed, 'exercising' as he put it. "Oh my god! You're Spike's imaginary friend!" She gasped, clamping her hands over her mouth.

Buffy raised her hand. "In the flesh... as soon as he connects those dots...."

"Boom!" Willow finished for her.

They walked on in silence for a while, each one thinking about the implications of Xander finding out what he had actually 'seen'.

"It doesn't matter." Willow pronounced.

"Hunh?"

"It doesn't matter. We outnumber him!" She started counting on her fingers. "There's me, you, Tara, Anya, Dawn, and I think Giles. He'll have to behave, or we'll... we'll... well, I don't know what we'll do exactly, but we'll do something." She said, showing her resolve face. "Oh! I could turn him into a rat. Amy needs a playmate." Willow grinned.

"Thanks, Will," Buffy said, hugging her best friend.

Part 9

The rest of the gang was already at work when they arrived at the shop. Dawn had finished helping Anya pour out and measure ingredients, and now they were both sitting behind the counter, out of the way.

"Is Giles back?" Buffy asked, as she and Willow walked through the door.

"The G-man came through! His misspent youth saves the day again." Xander yelled, from the back of the shop, just as Giles walked up from the basement. Spike followed him, carrying a heavy box.

"Their door had a simple lock. It was..." Then he saw whom Xander was talking to. "Buffy, you're back!" Giles exclaimed.

"Front too, all nice and visible and non-mushy," Buffy chirped. She smiled at Giles, and then looked past him to Spike. He had put down the box and was walking towards her, purposefully. She eyed him suspiciously as he walked all the way around her, and stopped again in front of her. "What are you doing?"

"Look solid enough," he said reaching out and touching her hair. "Feel solid," his hand slid down, along her cheek, to her chin. "Wonder if you are?"

She grabbed his lapels, yanking him forward into a savage, one-sided kiss. Spike was frozen, his hands suspended in mid air. "Does that feel solid enough?" When he didn't respond she pulled back and looked at him.

"Uh, Slay-er?" He said, drawing out her name as a question. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" His mind was still reeling. She'd just snogged him, in front of the gang, and he was still alive - mostly because Anya had intercepted Xander and was physically restraining him while they argued.

"Little late to worry about that," she said, looking over at Xander. Spike's face broke into a broad smile. She squeaked as he suddenly swept her up and began kissing her back passionately.

Giles cleared his throat, causing Spike and Buffy to end the kiss, reluctantly, their foreheads still touching. "In the middle of serious scientific inquiry here, Rupert," Spike said, still looking at Buffy.

"Yes, well, be that as it may, we need to finish this quickly."

At that, Xander tore his arms free from Anya and charged forward brandishing the only piece of wood he could immediately lay his hands on, a pencil. "Take your hands off her!" He screamed. "I swear to god, Spike, you're dust!"

Xander's next words were cut off abruptly when found himself flattened against the counter. He stared up into the face of one very brassed-off watcher. "Buffy is my responsibility, *not* yours," he growled in a low, dangerous tone. "If I feel that Spike, or anyone else, has harmed her... *I* will deal with them." He glared harder at Xander. "Your irrational jealousy of Angel caused her enough pain. If you hadn't withheld the information about Willow's spell, she might not have had to kill him. If I had known what you had done, while we were searching for her that summer, I would have killed you myself."

Xander gulped and began turning red. Giles hauled him back up to his feet. "I believe we understand each other?" Xander nodded, as Giles straightened Xander's collar and brushed off his shirt. "Now, we have a job to do. I suggest we all let bygones be bygones and get back to work."

Xander massaged his throat and nodded again. He walked back over to Anya who hugged him and then smacked the back of his head. "I told you to leave it alone," she grumbled at Xander. "If you've gotten yourself damaged so we can't have sex, I'll kill you too."

He chuckled weakly. "Thanks, An."

Spike and Buffy exchanged a glance as he slowly eased back from her. "Think we'd better take our seats for the show," he offered. She nodded.

Giles straightened his glasses, opened the box, and handed out the items. Willow and Tara arranged them around a symbol they had painted on the floor earlier. Then everyone cleared out of the way as Giles, Willow, and Tara began lighting the candles and chanting.

A few minutes later, on the other side of town, Jonathan, Warren, and Andrew piled out of the van and into their lair. "We did it! They didn't follow us." Warren yelled. "We defeated the Slayer!"

"There's no limit to what we can do now," Jonathan quivered with excitement.

"Does this mean we're going to take over Sunnydale now?" Andrew asked.

Warren turned his head and sneered at him. "Duh! That's the whole point, now isn't it." The others nodded. "Now, give me a few minutes to make sure this is still working. In case we need it again." As he set the inviso-ray on the table, sirens started blaring.

"What is that?" Andrew asked, nervously, looking for the source of the sound.

"A siren, you idiot." Warren answered. "Jonathan, fetch your bone and get rid of them." He went back to examining the gun, as Jonathan went to get his magic bone.

There was loud pounding on the door. "This is the Sunnydale Police, open the door. We have a warrant to search the premises."

"Jonathan!" Warren yelled.

"I'm looking. I'm looking!" Jonathan whimpered.

They heard the sound of splintering wood as the police knocked the door down. One officer snatched the ray gun out of Warren's hands as he turned to use it. He glared at Jonathan, "Do something!"

"I'm trying, but I can't find my bone, and nothing is working!" Jonathan wailed as another officer slapped handcuffs on him. Andrew was already cuffed and leaning against the wall, sobbing

"Sergeant, over here, I've got it," the officer said, holding up their ray gun.

The sergeant took the gun and examined the huge diamond mounted in it. "Good work. The stone matches the description of the one from the museum break in. Read them their rights and load them into the cars." Turning to the three. "Well, boys, it looks like you have some explaining to do."

A few minutes earlier, back at the Magic Box, a large plume of smoke had gone up from the clay pot on the floor between Tara, Willow, and Giles. Tara peered into it. "Nothing but ash now."

"I thought there would have been more. It was a pretty large bone." Willow observed, as she tipped the bowl and carefully poured the ash into a small bottle.

"How long will it last?" Buffy wondered.

"As long as we keep it in a dry, contained place, it will last forever." Willow said.

"Or at least until someone breaks the binding spell." Tara added. "But, even if they figured it out, since three of us cast it together, that's not likely."

"And, I added a little extra something to the spell." Willow said. "You know all those surveillance tapes they had of you? Could have made for some very hard to answer questions." She said, very pleased with herself. Buffy nodded. "Well they're all magnetic, the video tapes and computer disks and all. Poof! All gone, and blank." Willow waved her arms to emphasize the 'poof'. "Tara helped too, kinda like my spotter, so I don't have any oopses." She grinned at Tara, and she nodded back.

"Good job, Will, Tara." This magic 'buddy system' they had worked out seemed to be working well for Willow. Buffy looked at the jar of dust again. "Hmmm. I think it would look nice as a paperweight for Giles. After all, he did the breaking and entering. Maybe we could get it put into resin. You know, like those little globes and baby shoes."

"That will have to wait until after the Monopoly tournament, Luv." Spike said as he helped Giles clear away the remaining magic paraphernalia. Dawn squealed with delight, and dashed off to help Tara and Willow clean the floor.

Buffy came up behind Spike and wrapped her arms around his waist, making it impossible for him to continue cleaning. "But I don't want to play monopoly." She breathed into his ear.

He closed his eyes and groaned. "Slayer," he growled, reaching around and dragging her in front of him. He took her face in his hands, bringing her close to him. "Nibblet has her heart set on a fun night with the gang."

She slid her hands inside his duster and began tracing the lines of his stomach muscles. "But I had my heart set on..."

He caught her hands before she could finish and pulled them out between them. "Buffy," he said sternly, catching her attention with her name. "You know she's been looking forward to this for days."

"Fine," she snapped, wrenching her hands free. There was a defiant twinkle in her eyes. "But don't expect me to go easy on you." She stalked out, calling over her shoulder, "Dawn, hurry up. We need to get snacks ready." She turned when she reached the door. "Spike, you've got the car keys. Move it!"

He chuckled and picked up the box, shaking his head. "What have I gotten myself into," he sighed - a broad, content grin plastered on his face. "Be there in a tick, Pet," he shouted up to the front of the store, before he dashed down to the basement with the box.

Giles leaned against one of the shelves and watched Spike dash out the door. He took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose, as he considered the implications of what he had just witnessed. He was becoming more and more certain that Buffy would be safe, and more importantly, happy with Spike. He chuckled lightly. He was starting to worry a little about Spike's well being. Goodness knows, Giles hadn't been able to control her. It would be amusing to watch Spike try. He stood up, put his glasses on, and frowned thinking, 'How have I gotten talked into playing board games with them?'

Part 10

Dawn squealed with delight, "I get to be the horse!" she said grabbing the piece from the box sitting on the coffee table.

Dawn was sitting on a cushion on the floor with Spike and Buffy, also on cushions, to her right. Giles had pulled up a chair at the end of the coffee table, since Xander and Anya had claimed the couch. Tara and Willow were sitting at the other end of the table, opposite Giles.

"There aren't enough pieces to go around anymore, you'll have to share Dawn," Buffy reminded her.

"Fine! Spike and I will beat all of you," she latched onto his arm, sticking her tongue out at Buffy.

"Dawn!" Buffy whined. Then she threw her hands up in the air. "Fine! I'll just play with," she looked around the room at Tara and Willow with the dog, Xander and Anya with the wheelbarrow, and finally at Giles who was inspecting the car. "Guess it's you and me. You wanna handle the money or roll for us?"

"What?" Giles squinted down at her. "Um, why don't you decide?" He looked at the car again. "I'm quite sure I'll become comatose with equal rapidity in either case."

Buffy rose up on her cushion, so she could whisper to Giles, "The sooner we beat them, the sooner we can quit playing."

"Ah, I see your point. Very well," he set the piece on the board, picked up the rules, and began studying them.

Anya was counting out money for each team. "I used to think this game was a travesty of the work ethic, but now I see it's a useful tool for teaching children the value of a dollar. Of course they're not real dollars, and the prices are well below market value."

"You forgot the $500 in the center," Dawn observed, as Anya finished returning the extra money to the bank.

"I did not," Anya flipped her hair back. "That's not in the rules."

"But we always play it that way. $500 in the center, and all the fines and stuff goes in there too. Buffyyyyyyy!" She pleaded.

Buffy rolled her eyes, and she saw Giles was about to say something, but she pre-empted him, "Anya, we do usually play that way. It's fun, and it makes the game go faster," she looked directly at Giles.

He stared at her for a second, and then blinked. "Oh, yes, right..." He flipped the rules over and pointed to a paragraph. "It clearly says you can add your own rules if they are agreed upon at the start," he said, handing the rules to Anya, and exchanging a nod with Buffy.

"I don't see the point..." Anya started to argue.

Xander jumped in. "Anya honey, if you land on Free Parking, you get all that money in the center."

"Oh, I see," she smiled greedily, "In that case, let's go ahead." She tossed a $500 in the center and leaned across the board to pinch Dawn's cheek. "You're just so cute and clever."

Dawn frowned at her, and batted her hand away. "I'm not a baby, Anya."

"Of course you're not," Anya gushed.

"Whatever," Dawn replied, going back to setting up her money.

They rolled the dice to see who would go first, and Dawn won. Dawn rolled again, and Spike picked up the horse and began moving it around the board. Tara and Willow were next, then Xander and Anya, with Buffy and Giles going last. The dice were passed around from one team to the next as everyone started to get into the spirit of the game.

In spite of himself, Giles found he was fascinated by the challenge of formulating a strategy to overcome the random throw of the dice. He was at odds with Buffy on this. He wanted to buy everything they landed on, while she wanted to save and accumulate cash. By the time all the property was sold, they had only one color group, the reds, and one railroad to show for their efforts.

However, Giles and Buffy's situation weren't getting the worst of it. Tara and Willow had acquired the least valuable property on the board, owning the dark purple pair and the utilities. Anya smiled as she took them out a few rounds later, when they landed on her first hotel.

Dawn was having a great time. She and Spike were doing very well. A short while later, it was down to them against Anya and Xander. There was a lull in the game while Giles turned over the last of his pieces to Dawn.

Buffy yawned and scooted over closer to Spike. He absentmindedly stroked her back as they watched Dawn gleefully count out the last of Giles and Buffy's money. Dawn swept the houses and hotels off her new properties and neatly stacked their real estate cards in among her own.

About that time the phone rang. Buffy looked at her watch. The only people who would be calling her at this hour were there. Giles got up, "That must be Wesley. When I left the message, I said I would likely be here."

"Good luck," Buffy said, not moving from her spot, leaning against Spike. Giles nodded as he walked over to the kitchen to answer the phone.

The game raged on with Dawn and Anya fairly evenly matched. Spike and Xander did their bit, rolling the dice and moving their pieces around the board. Xander in particular was unusually calm and compliant, not at all like he had been earlier that day in the Magic Box. He leaned back on the couch, with one arm around Anya, and the other hand cradling the cup of tea Willow had made for him.

Xander reached for the dice, but Dawn snatched them up. "Ooh, wait, Xander, my turn's not over! I need to put houses on my new color groups." She turned and looked at her partner. "What do you think, Spike?" She was bouncing on her knees and breathless.

He glanced across the board at Xander and Anya. "I fancy the red ones, Nibblet." He raised his eyebrow and grinned back at Dawn. "Xander yells louder when he lands on those."

She squeaked with glee. "Ohh, I want a hotel on each then," Dawn said counting out the money for Anya. She took the pieces Anya handed her and carefully arranged them on the properties. When she finished she rolled and moved the horse. "Free Parking!" Xander groaned as she scooped the wad of money out of the center.

As Xander reached for the dice, Dawn counted out the squares from the wheelbarrow to her next properties. "You need a 2, 7, or 10 to miss us." She clapped her hands. "You'll never make it."

Xander scowled at the sea of red hotels he was facing. Reaching toward Tara with the dice, "You never know. Maybe Tara would blow on the dice for us, for luck."

Tara chuckled and shook her head, "You two are on your own. We promised no influencing the dice."

"Oh well," Xander brought his hand over to Anya. "How about it, An?"

"You know I don't have my powers, Xander. And even if I did, I couldn't use them for my own wishes," she explained.

Xander held his other hand up, "It's just a game, An."

"Oh, very well," she leaned forward slightly and blew on the dice.

Xander tossed them onto the board. "10, the hard way!" He shouted. "Yes!" He took the wheelbarrow and danced it along the board past Dawn's hotels. "Not stopping here, or here, or there," he chanted as he went. "What do you think of that, Dawnster?" He smirked, placing the dice in front of her, very pleased with himself.

Dawn exchanged a wicked grin with Spike. "I think you rolled doubles and you get to go again," she snickered, tossing the dice back at him.

Xander's face fell as Dawn went back to counting out which rolls would bankrupt him.

Spike ruffled her hair and smiled broadly, "That's my girl. Show no mercy." Dawn laughed as she smoothed her hair back into place. Grabbing a large handful of popcorn she watched Xander.

On Spike's other side, Buffy had sunk down and was using his thigh as a pillow. She had been watching the game, but after a few minutes, he could feel her pulse and breathing slow.

Giles returned from the phone call and sat back down. Spike looked up at him expectantly. "Wesley was just calling back to say he's agreed to 'take care of' Holtz. After he had some time to think about it, he realized we were right about Angel being unwilling to kill him himself. What with his guilt over Holtz's family."

"He understood about the false prophecy and Conner being kidnapped, and you didn't mention me, right?" Spike asked. Giles nodded. "That's good then."

"Spike, I can understand why you wanted me to call Wesley instead of you, but I still don't understand why you wanted to help Angel in the first place." Giles asked. "As far as I can tell, you two have never gotten along."

"Can't have my 'uncle' getting sucked into some demon dimension," Spike remarked, trying to look relaxed and cocky. Then, looking down at Buffy as she slept, he said, "Here, Giles, would you pass me that blanket?"

Giles handed him the blanket and watched as Spike unfolded it and tucked it around Buffy, lifting her hair up over the blanket and tucking it around her chin. He smoothed the blanket over her and rested his hand on her back. He looked up and saw Giles watching him curiously. "I think she's a bit knackered from her run in with the nerds. Being all invisible and then visible again has to take a toll." Giles nodded, as Spike went back to caressing her back.

Looking back up at Giles, Spike said, "Seemed like it was time to try to mend fences is all."

The rest of the pieces began to fit together for Giles and he looked thoughtful. "But if he doesn't know where the information came from..."

Spike shrugged. He was about to say something else when everyone shouted.

Xander had landed on Dawn's Boardwalk hotel. Xander groaned as Anya tallied up their net worth. "Xander, you bankrupted us! You and your frivolous dice rolls."

"It's just a game, Anya!" He started to raise his voice.

Dawn shrieked and gave Spike a huge hug, nearly knocking him over. "We won! Look, we won!"

He hugged her back, "We didn't just win, Nibblet. We crushed 'em!" He laughed with her. After a moment he looked at Dawn. Raising his eyebrows, he nodded towards Xander.

Dawn got the hint. Letting go of Spike, she leaned over the table, extending her hand to Xander and then Anya. "Great game, guys," she said, shaking their hands and attempting to play the gracious victor.

Anya smiled unconvincingly and elbowed Xander. He growled back at her and then glared at Spike.

"Um, have some more tea, Xander," Willow suggested, moving into his line of sight, and handing him yet another fresh cup.

He looked back and forth between Willow and Anya for a moment, and then sighed and took a swallow from the cup Willow had given him. "Gee, Willow, this is great tea. What kind is it?"

"It's just some herbal tea that Tara and I made. No caffeine - won't make you jittery or keep you up." Willow said.

"And the valerian doesn't hurt either," Tara whispered, and the two giggled. They had made it up special for Xander after today's events. It was harmless and had kept him from ruining the party by trying to kill Spike.

"What's going on?" Xander asked, not sure if they were giggling at him.

"Oh, we were just, um, thinking you were going to have to make it up to Anya for that last roll," Willow answered, hoping her excuse wasn't too lame and he wouldn't pursue it.

Xander shrugged and drank some more of his tea while Willow and Tara cleared away the rest of the dishes and debris from the party, and said good night to everyone. Anya collected all the game pieces and put the monopoly board back into the box.

"Thank you for the game, Dawn, and congratulations" Giles said, as he stood preparing to leave.

"We'll have to do this again," she gushed.

Giles smiled at her gently. "Yes, actually I had a good time in spite of my earlier apprehensions. It would be pleasant to get together just for fun on occasion." Dawn beamed at Giles.

Xander and Anya hugged Dawn on their way out. Giles lingered for a moment, looking back at Buffy, still asleep, curled up against Spike. It wasn't often that he saw her so peaceful and happy.

"Don't worry," Dawn assured Giles. "He'll carry her upstairs, now that Xander is gone."

Giles actually blushed slightly. "Quite," he murmured. Then he looked back at Dawn. "It was a lovely evening. See you tomorrow." He walked out and Dawn closed the door behind him. She still had a huge grin on her face.

"Had a good time then, did you, Nibblet?" Spike asked. He carefully lifted Buffy and walked to the bottom of the stairs where Dawn was standing.

"Oh, I had a great time. Usually the only time we get together is when something awful is happening. This was so neat."

"Glad to hear it, Luv." He smiled affectionately at her. "Now, I've got to get Big Sis upstairs. She's had a long day. See you in the morning."

"Goodnight," she replied, as Spike carried Buffy up the stairs and into her room, shutting the door. Dawn turned and floated off to her room.

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