Part IX  - David and Goliath

The two blondes stood next to each other gawking at the sight before them. All around them a crumbled sketch of what Revello Drive used to be. The smell of burnt wood reached their noses as a harsh breeze brought the scattered ashes closer to them. Rusted bars of metal stuck out from various cement girders left standing in the cluttered chaos. A few fires still burned, hungrily consuming the debris; above them - clouded black sky.

“What the hell happened?” Spike finally managed to speak, his eyes drifting over the nuclear holocaust like scenario.

“Where are we?” Was Buffy’s question.

“Looks like…” The vampire began when realisation finally came to Buffy. Her pupils dilating to ridiculous proportions and she suddenly began to wander around.

“This…? Is this…?” She stammered as she slowly recognized the outline of her house.

To her right was what seemed like the lingering form of a door; the door that led to… the kitchen? Further ahead a huge hole in the ground made way to her basement and right behind her were the remains of the stairs that used to head up to the top floor of the house.

“Dawn!” Buffy called out, as she looked at the crumbled steps that now led her nowhere. She turned to face Spike, a deep confused frown over his eyebrows mirrored her own. “What happened?”

“I don’t-“

Suddenly, the fragile floor beneath them started to cave in under their burden. Cat-like, Buffy jumped, pushing Spike with her as she lunged for solid ground. They rolled over each other on the dried up dirt with the force of impact as the sound of wood cracking and concrete crumbling echoed in their ears.

Breathless, Buffy nestled her face in the crook of the vampire’s neck as the thick cloud of dust and ash came upon them and engulfed their entangled bodies. Instinct took over as he brought his arms around the tiny form laying on top of him and with a swift move of his hips rolled them over once more so his broader body was covering hers, protecting her from all and any debris.

They remained intertwined long after the wave of wreckage had fluttered over them. Slowly, he pulled away from her, his hands framing her head as he stared down at her flushed face. Fear swam in his widened eyes, making his blue iris dark and murky.

“Are you ok?” He immediately asked.

She tried to say something, but only gasped sharply as the frightening heart rate caused her lungs to demand a larger supply of oxygen. Unable to speak, she nodded and swallowed hard, while she waited for the frantic pounding in her chest to slowdown.

Their gazes remained locked, the fear slowly dissipated as their minds became aware of their closeness. Lying on top of her, his fingers lingered in her hair, tangled in the now dust-covered threads as he pulled sharp unneeded breaths that matched her panting. Her hands were crushed between their torsos, her fingers clinging to the red fabric of his shirt, as if trying to pull him closer.

“Are you sure you’re ok, luv?” He rasped as his thumb unconsciously rubbed her forehead.

All her nerve endings seemed to be connected to the small patch of her skin that was in contact with the rough tip of his finger. She closed her eyes for a split second, savouring the soft touch as his scent surrounded her; the smell of leather, cigarettes and alcohol almost intoxicatingly familiar.

A sharp scream snapped them out of their daze, their heads immediately whirling in the direction of the sound. Spike clumsily stumbled to his feet, his hands running frantically over the still partially wet blond curls of his hair as he tried to ignore the tight knot in his throat.

Without exchanging a word the two quickly crossed the street and entered another crumbling house. This one was in better shape than Buffy’s as most of its walls were still up and so was the ceiling, even though the creaking sound coming from it testified to its fragility.

They moved through the wreckage; a myriad of burnt furniture in their way as they moved around looking for any clue. Suddenly, Spike straightened up, his eyes widening as he tried to listen.

“What?” Buffy whispered.

He held out a hand, signalling her to silence as he slowly made his way to a large cabinet at the far end of the room. When he reached for it, the carbonised door fell open revealing a young boy curled up in the corner. The vampire silently squatted in front of him while Buffy stood behind.

“Hey!” he breathed, but as he tried to reach for the boy, the small creature curled up even further, small sobs became bigger and his breathing became ragged as the adrenaline surged through his veins. “It’s ok…” Spike tried to reassure him as his hand came to rest on the small child’s hair.

After a few second, the boy’s head moved and he looked up, over his forearm that rested on his bony knees and covered the lower part of his face. Buffy repressed a gasp when she saw the fear swimming in the child’s eyes. He couldn’t be more than 9 years old; his clothes torn, his pale complexion marred with coal black dust.

“Are ok? Are you hurt?” The vampire asked as he continued to caress the boy’s light brown curls.

He nodded, signalling that he was ok, he wasn’t injured.

“Why are you in there?” Spike asked. “Don’t you want to come out?”

The boy’s eyes immediately widened, his black pupils dilating and spreading over the light blue of his iris as he once again shook his head.

“Why not?” Buffy finally spoke kneeling next to the vampire who gave her a disapproving look before he spoke:

“My name’s Spike.” Spike outstretched his hand.

The child looked at the large fingers in front of him and after some pondering he took them in his small hand and shook them.

“M-Michael…”

“Nice to meet you, Michael.” Spike gave him a smile and the fear in the boy’s eyes lessened. “This here’s Buffy.” He introduced pointing to the blonde next to him.

“Hey there!” The Slayer smiled, taking his small hand into hers and shaking it.

“Hi.” Michael greeted shyly.

“So… What are you doing? Playing hide and seek?” The vampire offered.

Michael shook his head as he finally relaxed his arm muscles and released his knees from his death grip.

“Then why are you in there?”

“So the-they won’t get me.” He stammered.

“Who are they?” Buffy asked.

“Th-the ones tha-that came from the hole in the sky.”

“The hole in the sky?” Buffy repeated frowning as she looked at Spike, his eyes, however, remained on the child.

“Can you show it to me? The hole?” The vampire asked.

Michael paused for a second. Pondering his answer and then he nodded.

They walked for a while and soon they realised the destruction hadn’t just struck Revello Drive but the rest of Sunnydale as well. Michael’s small hand held Spike’s pinkie as they made their way towards the outskirts of town. Slowly, on the horizon a sharp blue light pulsated, threatening to take over the ebony clouded sky. As they came closer, a chill ran down Buffy’s spine as she recognized the place – it was the tower, the place where she had fought Glory, almost a year before, the place where she had… died. Eventually, they saw it, from faraway; a large gash marred the skies, a tear in the fabric that separated dimensions. All sorts of creatures crawled their way out of there just like they had when… A gut-wrenching pain took over her abdomen as the memories flooded back to her.

“Spike…” she whispered when they all came to a stop.

The vampire’s eyes remained glued on the sky, occasionally drifting toward one or other creature that lurked out.

“It’s open…” He spoke softly as his mind tried to make any sense of what was happening.

“But it can’t be… I closed it. I-I… died to close it.” Buffy’s glassy eyes stared blindly at the ripped piece of sky. “How?”

Her question remained unanswered as a thundering roar scrapped the skies and a large, black, scaly creature came tumbling out of the blue gap falling about 50 feet away from where the trio stood. Lightning-quick it straightened up, revealing its astonishing height, its nostrils flaring as the scent of fresh meat filtered in. With one swift movement, it whipped its slimy head around to face them exposing too large, elliptic white orbs, deprived of iris or pupils. They bore into Michael’s small form as it remained perfectly still, simply staring at the small brown haired boy.

A small squeak escaped Michael’s parted lips when the creature suddenly started running, its large reptilian legs making their way towards them with ground-eating steps.

Instinctively, the child’s grip on Spike’s finger grew stronger; the fear paralysing every muscle in his body.

The vampire’s eyes widened as the demon came closer and closer to them. He turned to look at Buffy who was still at his side and they exchanged a silent glance. Soon they too were running, away from the slimy ebony creature that followed them close behind.

Michael pressed his lips together as Spike picked him up and held him against his chest and the three raced through the deserted, wrecked streets.

“Spike, we…” gasp “have to…” gasp “hide.” She managed to say between large gulps of air.

The vampire and the Slayer’s eyes scanned their surroundings as the threatening chase continued – the creature was gaining on them, coming closer and closer with each step. There was nowhere to go. All houses, buildings had been torn down or were about to crumble.

Buffy gasped as she slowly became aware of the demon’s proximity, its breath almost on them as her legs buckled from under her.

“There!” Spike shouted as his vampiric sight detected a small hole in the ground no bigger than one or two feet in diameter.

As they reached it, Spike gave out a loud sigh as he realised that it apparently led into a small pit.

“Buffy… Hurry!” The vampire ordered and begged while he looked over his shoulder to check on her. “Buffy!” he cried out when he saw her trip on some debris and stagger to the floor – the creature hovering over her tiny form.

Its large white orbs stared blankly at the prize at its feet while Buffy lay on her back staring up at him, her chest rapidly moving up and down as she drew deep, urgent breaths. For the first time in her life she was paralysed.

“Buffy move!” Spike ordered, screaming at the top of his lungs, but it was no use, she remained motionless as the demon lowered its head to her, sniffing her before opening its mandibles to let out a dinosaur-like roar.

The inhuman sound seemed to snap something inside the vampire as he turned toward Michael:

“Michael, you have to do something for me, ok?”

The child nodded.

“Go in there and don’t come out till I tell you to.” The vampire looked straight into the boy’s eyes and he nodded once more.

He watched as Michael crawled into the small pit and fell out of sight. Glancing towards Buffy he saw that the creature now seemed to be playing with her, bringing its paws around her to imprison her. Pushing back the fear of seeing her so helpless, Spike picked up a small stone, aiming for the creature’s eyes and threw it with all his strength.

“Jackpot!” The vampire celebrated as the black demon let out a loud howl and stumbled back. Seeing his chance, Spike ran towards Buffy, picking her up in his arms and making his way back to the pit while the creature continued to wail.

“Buffy, snap out of it.” Spike ordered as he ran.

Slowly, she seemed to be coming to as she began moving in his arms. When they reached the pit, Spike put her down falling to his knees as he quickly looked around, trying to find the entrance, but it was gone – vanished.

“Where the bloody hell is that thing? Michael!” The vampire called out as he tapped the ground looking for the gap.

“Spike…” Buffy’s weak voice reached his ears.

“Not now Slayer, help me find that…” He trailed off as, suddenly, wet grass spurted out from under his hands and he felt raindrops violently hitting his back.

“Spike…” she called out again as her eyes drifted over the changing scenery.

The vampire looked up and gasped as buildings started growing around them, trees appeared out of thin air and the creature, that had been howling, disappeared, its ungodly scream being the last evidence to dissipate as, suddenly, they seemed to be back in good old, non-cataclysmic Sunnydale.

They stare blankly, letting their clothes soak through as they tried to make some sense out of every thing their eyes had just witnessed. A loud roaring thunder made them aware of the storm around them as they looked at each other.

“Michael…” Spike breathed looking at the stomped grass at his feet.

~+~

With tired arms she pushed the kitchen door open. Thankfully she hadn’t locked it when the… thing happened.

The two blondes hurried inside as the rain continued to pour outside. They made it just in the nick of time as the sun’s first rays cut through the thick grey clouds.

They stood gasping, taking in sharp breaths when their eyes met, the doubt and questions reflecting off one another for a moment.

“What just happened?” Spike managed to ask as he set his hand over the counter for support.

Buffy shook her head pressing her lips together. She was soaked through; her blond hair, that she had pinned up, was now plastered against her skull and hung down the sides of her face as thick drops of water dripped from the tips of her tangled threads.

Spike swallowed hard when he noticed the way her clothes clung even more to her body, the white tank top was now slightly see-through, the outline of her nipples revealed by two dark circles sticking out against the thin fabric. Shaking his head out of his daze he quickly moved towards her.

“You better get out of those wet clothes. Don’t want you catching a cold.” He said as he tried to ignore the growing pain in his groin.

“Oh… right!” Self-consciously she brought her arms across her chest to cover herself as they went towards the hall.

He bent down to pick up the towel she had discarded earlier, before… He draped it around her small form, softly rubbing her naked arms as he tried to dry her. Taking the edge of the white fabric and pulling at it, he worked on her tangled hair. She remained still, looking up at him while her mind raced. The questions blurred as their proximity dawned on her, as her arms pressed against his soaked shirt, as his scent reached and engulfed her, as she felt him softly caress her hair. She tried to lock his gaze, but his eyes remained focussed on her rebellious blonde threads while he now slowly tried disentangling them - the towel forgotten over her shoulders.

A familiar chill coursed through him as he felt her heart violently pounding in her chest, her breathing now coming in deep, needed pants. He pushed back the urge to crush her against him and claim her trembling lips by swallowing hard and keeping his eyes on her dishevelled hair.

Realising he wasn’t going to make a move, her fingers found their way to the small space between two buttons of his shirt, sneaking in to touch the soft alabaster skin beneath. At the contact his mind swirled, the sensations creeping up on him and he wasn’t able to repress a gasp from escaping.

“What…” He swallowed hard as another finger found its way to gently caress his chest. “…are you doing…?” His voice was hoarse and weak from the effort he was making to ignore the effect she had on him.

She remained silent, with ragged breaths; looking up, desire swam in her hazel eyes as she edged closer to him and pressed her entire body against him. Cat-like she leaning her head into his hand and instinctively he rubbed his thumb against her flushed cheek as she slowly lifted herself on the tip of her toes to close the distance between their mouths.

“Buffy!” The young voice hovered from the top floor as steps were heard.

The Slayer’s eyes shot open as the vampire’s body seemed to have magically disappeared. Slowly, her eyes focused in the dim light and she saw him standing two feet from her. She stared at him perplexed when she finally heard her name being called again. She looked up the stairs to see a scared Dawn coming down. As she came closer, she noticed a mixture of pain and fear reflected in her glassy eyes. Behind her came Willow, Sam, Tara and Anya. The ex-demon limped down the stairs and the redhead witch had a deep gash on her forehead.

“Oh, my God, Willow! What happened?” Buffy swallowed hard and tried to get her breathing under control as she spoke.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a stake materialized in Dawn’s trembling hand; she aimed it straight at Buffy’s chest.

“I’m sorry, Buffy!” Dawn managed to say before lunging at her sister.

Even though the attack caught her by surprise, Buffy easily deflected the blow with a swift move of her arm and soon she had the stake in her hand as Dawn stagger to the floor.

“What are you doing!?” The slayer asked confused and as she turned to look at the four women on the stairs, three of them held up crosses, Sam was the only one left unarmed.

A frown settled on Willow’s eyebrows as she brought her cross closer to the blonde who seemed immune to its effect.

“Willow?” Buffy looked at her questioningly as the heavy metallic object was now pressed against her forehead.

The witch’s eyes widened and she quickly dropped the cross, flinging her arms around her best friend.

“Buffy! You’re not a vampire!!” The redhead cried out, her hug bordering on assault.

“What… are you talking about?” The blonde asked when she finally managed to disentangle herself from the redhead.

“How?” Anya asked dropping her own cross on the stairs.

“I’m the one who should be asking ques-“ Buffy wasn’t able to finish her sentence as now she found herself surrounded by her younger sister’s arms.

The Slayer frowned exchanging a look with the vampire who still stood in the corner of the hall.

“We need to talk, guys.”

~+~

They all sat in the living room around the coffee table. The two witches and the ex-demon took the couch while Dawn sat in one of the armchairs and Spike on the other. A very sleepy Xander sat at Anya’s feet and Sam stood a bit farther away while Buffy paced around.

“The portal was open?” Willow asked confused.

Buffy nodded as she stopped pacing and crossed her arms around her chest.

“An-and the whole town was destroyed?” Tara stuttered.

“Major destructorama.”

There was silence in the room.

“And while you were… in this place… some vampy-Buffy was here?” Willow tried to sum it up.

“Plus, some really strange things have been happening to me.” Buffy added. “Like, remember when you came into my room last Saturday? Asking if I was ok?”

Willow nodded.

“Did you come back again afterwards?”

“No.”

“Well, not even two second after, you came in again and started acting exactly the same as you had the first time, like… I don’t know, someone had rewind the tape and played the scene again.”

“Like in that movie with Bill Murray, where the same day happens over and over again.” Xander offered as he yawned.

“Yeah, sort of.”

“T-that happened t-to us too, honey!” Tara stammered and her stomach turned as all eyes were focused on her.

“It did?” Willow asked a bit confused.

“When we at the Espresso Pump and that old lady asked us where the bus stop was? Remember?”

 “Oh, yeah, and then she asked us again. We just thought she was kinda strange. Weird thing was that the first time she came to talk to us she was holding her glasses. She accidentally dropped them and broke them and the second time she came she had the glasses in her hands and they were in perfect condition.” Willow finished.

A frown settled over Sam’s eyebrows as she got two conflicting images from Tara’s mind.

“Oh, or when we saw Spike had crashed…” Dawn stopped her reasoning and turned to ask the vampire: “Have you ever crashed into the Sunnydale welcoming sign?”

At the question a smug smile crossed Spike lips and he chuckled before he answered:

“Every time I come back. It’s sort of like… tradition.” The room turned to look at the vampire sprawled on the armchair. “What?”

“See, it’s some time shifting thingy.” Dawn concluded.

“Then what we saw…” Buffy pointed towards her and Spike and continued: “It’s the future?”

Silence filled the room once more as fear filtered into their minds. Willow was the one to break the stillness:

“But it doesn’t make sense. We already closed the gate and Dawn is no longer the Key. They can’t open it. Who would want to open it anyway?”

No one offered any theory or reasoning, they all stared blankly at each other. A loud sighed was heard from the corner of the room and they turned to see Sam leaning against the wall.

“Might as well give them a little shove in the right direction, it’s not like I’m interfering.” The redhead thought to herself before she spoke:

“Tara?”

“Y-Yes?”

“Was there anything different between the first time the old lady came to speak to you and the second?”

Buffy’s eyebrows came together to form a frown. What was she getting at?

“Well…” Tara’s eyes rolled skywards as she tried to replay the events in her mind. “I-I don’t think… Wait! The glasses!”

“What about the glasses, honey?” Willow asked.

“She dropped them the first time and broke them, right?”

“Yeah.”

“What about the second time?” Tara tried to make the redhead see.

“She dropped them again.” Willow answered matter-of-factly, still confused. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she cried out: “She didn’t break them!”

“Exactly!” Tara smiled.

“What do you mean?” It was Xander’s turn to question.

“The first time she dropped the glasses and when she picked them up they were broken, the second time around she dropped them, but when she picked them up they were slightly bent, but not broken.”

The look on the young man’s face told her that he didn’t understand the relevance of that detail.

“So she was lucky the second time, so what?”

“Can’t you see? It didn’t happen the way it was supposed to happen. It was different, so it couldn’t have been a repetition or a time shifting thing.” Willow concluded triumphantly.

“Smart girl.” Sam noted in her mind as she leaned back against the wall.

 TBC 

Part X  - Untwining the Vines

They sat around the coffee table debating as the thick raindrops continued to slam against the windows.

“Well, if it’s not time shifting, what is it?” Buffy asked confused.

The smile that Willow displayed on her lips crumbled when she realised she had no answer to the question. Everyone looked at each other, a worried expression on their faces as their minds came out blank.

“Let’s see what we have.” Buffy started to sum it up. “Something is making the past repeat itself, but it’s not actually a repetition of the past because… the glasses didn’t break. God… this is just absurd!” she sighed loudly letting her arms fall limply at her sides.

As the argument developed, Spike’s gaze fell over the redhead standing furthest from them, leaning on the wall; her arms crossed over her chest. She remained expressionless, watching them debate the issue without interfering, as if she had no opinion. There was something wrong. She always had an opinion! On everything! And she always made sure everyone knew about it. He continued to stare at her, when, eventually, their eyes met. She immediately looked away, pretending not to have seen him tilt his head towards the hall.

She continued to observe the group while, out of the corner of her eyes, she tried to disregard the vampire that was now staring intensely at her. Suddenly, she got a flash of him and her talking in the kitchen. It was a clear message from Spike’s mind. She ignored the signal and soon another image reached her, this one of him dragging her out of the living room by her hair. She winced and immediately darted an ugly look at him. The vampire, however, remained unaltered as he mouthed the words: “Kitchen, now!” before standing up and walking out.

Everyone was so wrapped up in their discussion they didn’t notice Spike, or even Sam as she left the room a minute after him.

The redhead tiptoed her way across the hall and into the kitchen. A frown settled over her eyebrows when reached the doorframe of the room and failed to find him. She walked in and, suddenly, he stepped in her way, blocking her passage.

“Jesus Christ!” She gasped; her trembling hand slammed against her chest. “What the hell are you doing?” She whispered as she remembered the others weren’t supposed to know they were there. “You do know I’m human right now, don’t you? I *can* die of a heart attack!” she grumbled stumbling her way towards the nearest chair around the counter, her hand still clinging to the red fabric over her chest as her heart pounded furiously underneath. “Jesus…”

“What’s going on, freckles?” Spike asked ignoring her protests.

“Don’t call me that.” She pouted bringing her hand to cover her nose and frowning. She looked like a five year-old child.

“What do you know?” The vampire remained unaltered as he hovered over her sitting form.

“What do you mean?” She pretended not to know what he was talking about.

“Stop poncing around and just tell me.” He grumbled.

She looked up at him, her fingers still over her nose as she contemplated him with a pondering look. After a few moments of silence she brought her hand down to rest on the counter and sighed:

“I can’t tell you. I wish I could, but I can’t. I *really* can’t.” Her eyes pleaded him to let the subject go, but he would have none of that as he shook his head and gave her a cold look. “You have to figure it out for yourselves. I can’t get involved. I’m already involve up to my neck in this thing and if I cross that line…” She trailed off and for the first time since he’d met her he saw a flash of fear in her eyes.

He swallowed hard before speaking:

“The Slayer almost got eaten by some giant black, scaly thing right out of Jurassic Park. Dawn and Willow almost got killed by a vampire version of Buffy. I need to know what’s going on. You have to tell me.” His tone was calm and soft as his hand came to rest on her forearm.

Silence filtered between the two of them once more. It wasn’t an uncomfortable one; it was just there as he waited for her to make her decision. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she got a crunching pain in her stomach and the image of herself and Spike holding hands flashed before her. She looked up towards the door to find a frozen Buffy standing there staring back at her.

The vampire turned around to see the object of Sam’s attention and the blonde girl’s gaze dropped to the floor.

“Sorry, I-I didn’t mean to interrupt. I-I was just…” she stammered incoherently as she tried to explain her presence in her own kitchen.

“You’re not interrupting anything. Actually, we were just heading back into the living room.” Sam said quickly as she stood up and started to leave.

A strong cold grip on her arm stopped her, forcing her to turn around and find Spike’s eyes bearing into hers. For a second, his blue eyes looked away from her as he spoke:

“We’ll be there in a second.” He replied as he waited for the Slayer to leave the room.

Awkwardly, and feeling a heart-wrenching pain in her chest, the blonde turned on her heels and disappeared from the tiled room. Turning his attention back to the redhead he still held by the arm he asked:

“Are you gonna tell me?”

“I’ll tell you what I can.” She nodded and he loosened his grip on her, letting her walk out of the kitchen as he followed her close behind.

When they reached the living room, everyone was speaking in a loud, fired-up discussion, oblivious to the two, except for Buffy, who was leaning on the armchair Dawn was sitting on.

“Guys…” Sam tried to call out, but her suddenly weak voice didn’t have much effect on the small crowd. She whirled around with hopeful eyes and quipped: “They’re too busy. I’ll tell them later.” And with a plastic smile she tried to walk away, but the vampire stood his ground and towered over her.

“Hey!” Spike bellowed to the gossiping crowd.

Everyone froze and turned to look at the vampire.

“Sam wants to say something.” He announced.

They all sat and waited in silence as the redhead sighed loudly before turning around to face them.

“I have a… theory.” She started. “About what’s happening… I mean.”

Silence. She looked up at the vampire who stood next to her and seeing the resolve in his eyes she made a painful face before continuing:

“Has anyone here ever heard of parallel universes?” She asked.

“Sure. It’s this theory that says there are various other universes where we make other choices and consequentially we lead completely different lives.” Willow explained.

“Exactly. For every choice you make in your life, another universe is created, a parallel universe, where you chose one of the other options you had.” Seeing the frown on Xander’s face she exemplified: “Say you woke up today and had to choose between a sandwich and a cookie, and you chose the sandwich, in another universe you chose a cookie, and in another you chose not to eat at all. Basically, if you consider how many people there are in the world and how many there were, you’ll figure out there is a myriad, an infinite number of parallel universes.” Sam clarified.

“Like the time Cordy wished Buffy had never come to Sunnydale.” Willow noted.

Everyone in the room eyed Anya.

“What?! It was my job!” The ex-demon defended herself.

Realizing his fiancée was the focus of negative attention, Xander tried to change the topic of conversation.

“So what does that have to do with what’s happening?”

“Well, what if instead of time shifting, what was happening were junctions of different universes.”

The confused look on everyone’s face told her she had to elaborate on the subject.

“Like different dimensions coming together, except it’s not dimensions but different universes. Something might be causing the various universes to get mixed up, entangling them like twining vines until you can’t tell which is your universe.” The redhead explained.

“Is that even possible?” Dawn asked.

“So what I saw in my room was a Willow from a parallel universe? But, she looked exactly like our Willow. She had on exactly the same clothes and all.” Buffy spoke as she tried to ignore the knot that formed in her stomach from seeing Spike and the redhead standing together.

“Probably the choice that Willow made was a very small one. Maybe it was coming to see you a few minutes after our Willow came into your room.” Sam shrugged.

“A-and the woman we saw, the difference was that she didn’t break her glasses.” Tara exclaimed.

“Probably.” Sam brought her lips together.

“So the place where we were was a parallel universe? A place where I didn’t stop Glory from opening the portal? Where Dawn…” Buffy swallowed hard as she looked at her younger sister.

“Who knows? Maybe you weren’t even there. Maybe in that place you never really existed and Dawn was never even created. The Key was something else and Glory managed to find it and open the gate.” Sam offered.

“Man, that’s just creepy.” Xander spoke.

Anya lifted her hand shyly and the redhead nodded giving her permission to speak.

“So… let’s suppose this universe momentarily merges with another… If I eat a sandwich that is from the other universe… do I gain weight?”

Everyone frowned and looked questioningly at the ex-demon.

“What? It’s a perfectly legitimate question!” Anya defended herself as she looked at Sam for the answer.

Bringing her eyebrows high on her forehead and setting her lips in a straight line she answered as she shook her head slightly:

“I have absolutely no idea.”

“See, if I eat while the universes are entangled the sandwich will pass through me, but…” The ex-demon raised her index finger as she triumphantly made her point “the moment the universes disentangle… the sandwich should just disappear from within me and appear in the other universe out of nowhere. Just plop on the floor in the middle of whatever street I am. Just a green, slobbery, munched up sandwich dropping out of nothing.”

As she listened to the twisted theory, Sam’s face slowly started to curl into a painful expression of disgust as the images coming from the ex-demon flashed before her eyes.

“Can we please change the subject?” Willow intervened pleadingly.

“My vote on that one would be a loud and resounding yay!” Dawn agreed.

“S-so… What do we do now?” Tara asked.

Buffy uncrossed her arms and stood up straight.

“I guess we research for anything that can cause the universes to get all mix-y.”

~+~

Dawn dropped her dead weight on the couch and it screeched under the sudden burden.

“God, I’m tired!” She breathed as she stared up at the ceiling.

“Don’t get comfy, we’ve got to get things cleaned up.” Buffy warned as she began to pick up one of the many cups of coffee left on the table.

“Can’t. Sleeping now.” Dawn muttered, quickly closing her eyes.

“Dawn…”

“I’m not the Dawn of this universe. I come from a parallel universe where I never went to a bachelor party, hence I don’t have to clean up.” The young girl explained.

“Dawn!” Buffy warned her.

Sighing, the brunette stood up and dragged her feet into the kitchen; her hands filled with mugs.

“It’s not fair.” She grumbled.

“Nothing is.” Buffy replied turning on the water and began to wash the cups.

“Wasn’t Sam just amazing today?” Dawn spoke enthusiastically as she took the towel in her hand and began to dry the mugs that were handed to her by her sister. “I mean, coming up with that whole… Universe thing was just…” The brunette widened her eyes to emphasize her words.

“I guess.” The Slayer reluctantly admitted.

“She’s just so cool. I’m glad Spike’s got such a cool girlfriend, he-“ she stopped in mid sentence as the cup that Buffy was handing her slipped from her big sister’s hands and fell to the floor, shattering to pieces.

“Damn it!” Buffy cursed, picking up the broken item.

“Are you ok?” Dawn asked concerned, crouching next to her.

“I’m fine.” The Slayer snapped.

“Oh, right, you’re just a world of fine today.” The brunette mocked sarcastically. “What is it? You don’t like Sam?”

“Like Sam just fine!” The slayer spoke with restrained anger in her voice as she threw the broken pieces into a garbage bag. She stopped for a second, standing up and looking at her sister. “You know what? I hope Spike and her are really happy together. Get married, move to the suburbs, build a house with a stupid picket fence and have lots of horrible little brats, ok?!”

“Gee… Buffy, jealous much?” Dawn asked as her sister walked outside and dropped the bag on the porch.

At her sister’s words she froze and turned around.

“I. Am. Not. Jealous!” She grinded her teeth together and the words barely left her mouth. “What is it with everyone?”

“Whatever…” The teenager sighed, crossing her arms and walking out of the room, leaving her sister planted there, with an angry look on her face.

~+~

A loud thud was heard and everyone turned to see Xander’s face pressed between two yellow pages of a book.

“Xander… Wake up.” Anya encouraged him patting his back.

He mumbled something incoherent from between the pages shaking his head.

“Honey…” The ex-demon continued to massage his back as she leaned in and whispered something in his ear.

Immediately, he whipped his head up and looked wide-eyed at everyone.

“I’m up!”

His gaze then fell over his fiancée giving her a wicked smile.

“Erg… I don’t even think it’s legal for me to know what you just told him.” Dawn said as she made an ‘I’m about to puke’ face.

~+~

Sam stumbled in her path and made a disgusted face as Spike prepared to open the door to the Magic Box.

“Wha’?” The vampire asked, frowning.

“Just got a flash from Xander.” She muttered in repugnance.

He grinned pushing the door open and letting Sam walk into the shop.

“It’s not funny.” She sulked. “It’s a curse.”

~+~

A rebellion started in Buffy’s stomach as her breakfast decided to make a run for it and crawl up her oesophagus at the sight of the bleached vampire holding the door open for the redhead. She wore a cute pout on her face while he displayed his usual cocky grin. He was probably teasing her. The Slayer swallowed hard before asking:

“What’s a curse?”

The couple walking into the room exchanged a guilty look and then answered in unison.

“Nothing!”

The perfectly timed reply doubled the pain in her gut and she dropped her gaze to the book in front of her.

“Anything?” Spike asked as he pulled out a chair for Sam to sit on before he took one for himself.

The Slayer’s eyes widened at the sight and Sam got a flash of herself laying face down in a puddle of mud.

“Here we go again…” The redhead thought as the painful images started to assault her mind.

“Nothing.” Willow answered the vampire’s question. “But then again we have just started, so…”

They sat around for hours, going through a mountain of books piled up on top of the wooden table.

“I give up! There is nothing here.” Xander stated between loud sighs.

“You give up? You haven’t even started. You’ve been skimming through the books just looking at the pretty pictures the whole time.” Spike grumbled, his eyes never leaving the leather covered volume he held in his hands.

“Hey!” The young man started to protest when he felt someone kick him in the shin under the table. “Double hey!” he added looking at Anya.

“What?” The ex-demon asked innocently.

Xander leaned in to whisper in her ear:

“Why are you taking his side?”

“Because we like him.” She answered as her index moved between the two of them alternating between pointing at herself and at her fiancée.

“Since when do *we*” Xander imitated her motion. “Like him?”

“Since he’s started dating Sam.” Anya replied matter-of-factly.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, they are the only couple we know, besides Willow and Tara, and they don’t count because they are gay. We need to hang out with couples. It’s important for the stability of our relationship, it helps to solidify emotional bonding if we interact with other couples and find common interests with them.”

“Says who?” The young man asked in disbelief.

“Cosmopolitan.” Anya answered matter-of-factly, her eyes never leaving the book she held.

“We have to be nice to Spike because some magazine says so?” Xander asked in disbelief.

“Yes and... Well, I like Sam. She understands me. We have girl-talks.” The ex-demon pouted. “So if she likes Spike, then we like Spike. We can even go on a double date.”

“What?!” Xander bawled a bit louder.

Everyone around the table looked at him and the young man gave them his best ‘I’m sorry look’. Their gazes dropped back to the books they all held and Xander whispered once again:

“We are not going on a double date! I am *not* going on a double date with Spike.” He grumbled.

Anya however, ignored him and continued to flip through the eggshell coloured pages.

“I’m done with this one.” Spike said as he threw the book onto the table and leaned back in the chair.

“Well, there are a few other volumes of that collection in the back row, top self.” Anya informed and the vampire gave her a look, but didn’t say anything as he stood up and disappeared behind a wall of books.

After a few seconds a noisy thud was heard followed by an equally loud string of British curses.

“Will someone give me a hand back here? Bloody hell.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Buffy noticed Sam shuffle in her seat, preparing to stand. As if she had been burnt, the Slayer immediately rose from her chair; all eyes were on her. Awkwardly, and stumbling on her own feet, the blonde stuttered as she pointed with her thumb over her shoulder:

“I-I’ll go and… help.”

With that she whirled around to disappear behind the bookshelves. She took a deep breath once she was out of sight, trying hard to relax. But her heart leaped to her throat when she saw the familiar vampire crouching, with his back turned to her as he clumsily tried to pick up the books, which were splayed on the wooden floor. She chocked back a nervous laugh and mentally kicked herself for feeling so helpless around him. ‘This is Spike, there is no reason for you to get all nervous and sweaty.’

“It’s not funny, freckles.” Spike protested as he finally managed to stand up, holding all the books against his chest. “It’s not funny at…” he stopped briefly when he saw Buffy standing in front of him. “Oh, it’s you.”

She cringed a bit as she misinterpreted his surprise for disappointment.

“I thought you were…”

“Sam.” She completed his sentence.

“Yeah.” He answered, trying hard to keep his nervousness from his voice. It happened every single time he saw her, even more so when he saw her in unexpected situations. This strange knot in his stomach would start taunting him, crawling up to his throat and making it almost impossible to speak. He swallowed hard, causing his Adam’s apple to bob up and down and revealing his unease.

“So… Freckles… it’s her… pet name?” The words seemed to cut their way up to her mouth as she said them.

“Yeah. She has these cute little spots on her nose…” He explained trying to point at his own nose but failing as he tried to hold onto the books. “She hates them, so I tease her about it.”

Silence settled between them, making them extremely uncomfortable. Suddenly, something snapped inside of the Slayer, she couldn’t really tell what had caused it, maybe it was the way he had said that word… cute, or maybe it was just all the pent up emotions she had been feeling lately but she blurted out:

“Are you two dating?” The moment she spoke the words, she regretted them, wishing she could take them back as she felt the blood rush to her face.

He opened his mouth in what looked more like a natural surprise-driven action than actually an attempt to answer her, but before he could say or do anything she was already vehemently shaking her hand and her head excusing herself: “Sorry, I-I shouldn’t have…I have nothing to do… I’m sorry!” the added nervousness didn’t help, causing her to stumble over all the words that flooded her mind.

Instead of saying anything else that would probably worsen the situation, she opted for making herself useful by reaching for the books he was holding. However, her racing heart and adrenaline packed limbs easily led to a miscalculation of her movements and as a result the heavy volumes were now once again covering the floor.

“I-I’m sorry.” She stammered once more as she kneeled down at the same time as the vampire did and began to pick up the books.

Suddenly, in another abrupt mood swing, she dropped the leather-covered volumes and looked up at the crouching blond in front of her.

“You know what? I’m not sorry.” She said with resolve in her voice.

“You’re not?” He questioned as an eyebrow instinctively shot up his forehead.

“No.”

“For dropping the books or for asking if I was…” He suggestively tilted his head toward the table behind the bookshelves.

“For… Why are you with her?” She asked with conviction.

He could see the mixture of fear and doubt in her eyes as she stared bravely at him.

“Well, because she’s… It’s…” The vampire struggled to find an explanation as to why he was with Sam. Truth was he didn’t really know. She had come to him one night and told him that she was… well, basically his guardian angel from Hell and that from that moment onward he would have to put up with her. But he couldn’t tell the Slayer that, he wasn’t allowed. “It’s… complicated.”

“Complicated?” She repeated a bit sceptical.

He noticed her bringing her lips together and swallowing hard before she blurted out:

“Do you like her?”

“Well…” He stopped in mid sentence as they both heard a shuffling sound coming from behind Buffy.

In a blink of an eye, the two were standing, the books forgotten on the floor as they turned to find the oddest creature they had ever seen staring back at them.

About twenty inches tall, the short demon was very thin. Its legs were extremely short, while its scrawny arms were long and slender and as a result of the odd combination its three fingered hands hovered just over the floor. The slimy substance that covered its entire body gave his skin a shiny wet look. On his face two large eyes smiled at them when he suddenly raised his skinny hand and waved it at them.

“Hi!” It greeted them as his mouth widened in a grin that revealed his total lack of teeth.

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