Buffy noticed the subtle shift in the creases of his face, the slight alteration in the way he stood – slouched now, comfortable but ready to strike. He arched his scarred eyebrow at her, stuck the tip of his tongue out through his teeth just like he used to. Except now there was an extra menacing presence to him. His whole demeanor exhibited sexuality, dangerous sexuality.

Combining that with the newly dark blue depths of his eyes Buffy felt like she was standing before a stranger. A stranger who wanted to hurt her. Instinctively she got into a defensive stance, which wasn’t easy with the water gushing around her.

Spike laughed a little. With her hands up in a peek-a-boo pose, water lapping against her chest and shaking like a leaf she must have looked ridiculous. The Slayer did not care. She sensed danger and she reacted to it in the way she knew how, the way she was trained to.

Spike bowed his head, strange eyes directed to look right into her. He began to glide through the water towards her. There was no other word for it; he glided. The water-feral within must be rearing its head in bigger ways then Buffy first thought.

The Slayer attempted to shift just a little but her sodden jacket was hindering her movements. Without a second thought she undid it and shrugged it off leaving it to float behind her in the water. Spike’s eyebrows lifted appreciatively. Buffy looked down at herself. Her white shirt had gone see-through. She looked back up, got back into a fighting position.

Her skin was immersed in ice-cold water and chill winds and her body was screaming at her to find warmth right away but she couldn’t. Hypothermia was not her biggest concern at the moment and the Slayer focused her mind to block out the sensations of her frost-covered body.

Her gaze never strayed from the man in front of her.

"So," Spike’s voice slithered out of his pale lips "How we gonna do this? Rough or tender? Lady’s choice"

"There’s a tender way for me to kick your ass?" Buffy quipped, arching a honey-colored eyebrow.

His laugh was like wind chimes "We both know that’s not what we’re doing here"

"That so?" She breathed, an icy plume expelled into the air "So, what are we doing?"

Spike smiled softly but the hardness was still in his eyes "We’re dancing"

Buffy watched him. This demon that had taken over Spike’s mind, Spike’s memories and couldn’t hate it. Inside it was still Spike. She saw the way the water ran in rivulets down Spike’s hard, pale chest, she saw the way his hair had began to curl at the front from the contact of the water. It made her wish she were with the real Spike. Made her wish she had thought to bring him to the beach instead of the lake. Splash water into his face and make him laugh. He didn’t laugh nearly as much as he used to when she had first known him. She mourned that loss.

"It’s all we’ve ever done" Buffy finished the memory.

His lip curled up into a smirk. Like the Spike of times past. Then he dived under the water and grabbed her around the legs, lifting her up and then throwing her down none too gently back into the sea. Her back stung from the harsh slap of water against her skin and several shivers ran down her back as she tried to gather herself and stand.

Spike’s arms wrapped around her ribs tightly so much so that she was having trouble gathering her breath. He pulled her up out of the water and stood there holding her against him. The deep blue eyes she looked into studied her face.

"You’re a pretty one" He whispered and the breeze carried it away.

Buffy put her hands up against his chest "If you want this so much...I won’t fight it. On one condition"

He cocked his head curiously, looked into her green eyes and his brow furrowed. He did not expect the Slayer to give in so easily but Buffy had figured something out. The water-feral wanted to mate. She was the only female around. So, it was her. To keep Spike with her she would do it on the one condition.

"What’s that then?" He rasped, voice heavy with the promise she had bestowed.

"I want Spike"

The demon before her cocked his head as if not quite hearing her right. Buffy only looked at him impassively. She knew he understood what she meant. She wanted the demon to let Spike come forward and she would go willingly. A willing mate was so much more pliant then an unwilling one.

After all he had said it was lady’s choice. She had made her choice and it was Spike. Now it was time to see if the demon made good on its offer.

Spike shrugged, looked up into the night sky then back at her "A mate’s a mate. You want the vampire? Have him. All the same to me"

Buffy nodded. In many ways she really didn’t think that the demon was going to honor her request. After all it was a demon. Not generally known for being compliant and agreeable. Half of her still expected it to trick her. But when he blinked, when he blinked and it was his eyes again she knew. It was Spike, her Spike.

He looked afraid. Of her. Or of himself. Which one she was not completely sure.

"Buffy..." His voice quavered, his lips shaking "No. We can’t. I...I can’t"

She reached up and placed her hands on his face, ran her index fingers down the sharp inclines of his cheekbones. His skin was ice cold. It tried to steal the last remnants of heat from her fingertips. The rain still beat down on them and Buffy blinked the splashes away, his skin glowed in the darkness and all she really saw was him. But then she had felt that way for a while now. Whenever Spike was around the shutters went up and Buffy was blindsided by him.

The Slayer shrugged, went for a smile "Oh, I don’t know...moonlight beach, lightning in the sky, the rain...I think it’s kind of romantic. Besides, everyone knows that rain always makes people look twice as sexy, look at all the boy bands that use it in their videos. Backstreet Boys can’t be wrong –"

"You’re babbling, luv" Spike whispered gently, a small smile tugging at his lips "And ruining the intense moment by talking about poofy boy bands"

"I’m hoping it’s gonna last longer then a moment, Spikey" She arched an eyebrow, gave him a crooked grin.

Spike’s eyebrows lifted comically but then he frowned "This isn’t how it should be, Buffy. You’re...I don’t want to force you into this"

Buffy lifted her arms and held them above her head, wrists crossed over one another as though she was handcuffed "I’m going willingly, officer"

"That isn’t funny" He mumbled.

She smiled "Oh, come on. It kind of is" she lowered the arms over his head so the looped around his neck and joined behind his head "After all, you always wanted me tied up"

"Not anymore" Spike looked at her "I...I just want you. But not like this! Not because you feel some obligation"

Buffy rolled her eyes "Spike, you talk too much"

With that she kissed him softly on the lips cutting off further protest from them. Spike gasped into her mouth and he hesitated only a moment before wrapping his arms more tightly around her and lifting her out of the water. She wrapped her legs around his waist as Spike waded into the shore.

He lowered her down onto the sand, the sea still lapping at them. Buffy barely noticed the cold anymore. No, that wasn’t strictly true. She noticed it and she wallowed in it. Spike was the cold, she was the warmth and that was how it would always be. The Slayer had accepted that now.

Spike pulled back, looked at her face "Buffy, I –"

"Spike, I know what you’re gonna say" She pressed her fingers against his lips "And, no, I’m not doing this out of pity or out of obligation. I’m doing this because I want to. This water-feral thing...it was just the catalyst. The thing we needed to get it together, finally. Spike, if our foreplay and flirting goes on any longer we’ll get our own saga. And you may be immortal but I would kind of like to have the whirlwind romance before I turn eighty"

The vampire looked at her. He blinked. Reached out and brushed a strand of hair from across her forehead, tucked it behind her ear. The way he was looking at her was so intimate she envied it. Buffy Summers could never pull away from the world so much as to completely lose herself in one person. But tonight she could try.

"Actually," Spike said softly "I was going to say I love you"

Buffy looked at him, widened her eyes comically "Oh"

"Yeah, oh" He grinned.

Spike leaned down and kissed her again and this time he didn’t stop.

Xander sat slumped in the armchair he had started off in at the beginning of the night. His eyelids felt heavy and there was a shooting pain at his temples. Command Central Xan-Man wanted to shut down and sleep. But he overruled his brain. Buffy was not home yet and therefore Xander would not rest until he knew she was safe.

He glanced over at the clock it was almost dawn. She should have been back hours ago. Xander knew that Spike would not hurt Buffy but this thing inside him was not Spike. Anything could have happened to her. Willow and Giles were keeping busy with the translation and they were almost done he guessed by the fact that they were starting to smile again. The past few hours had been full of grumpy, creased-foreheaded Watcher and Wicca. Xander did his best to stay out of their way.

Dawn slept upstairs, or at least she pretended to. He doubted that she slept at all, too worried about Buffy and possibly even Spike.

Xander sat up straight, stood and stretched. He couldn’t stand around any longer he had to go and find Buffy.

"Where are you going?" Willow asked, suddenly realizing he was still in the room.

Giles and her sat on the couch with papers strewn haphazardly on the coffee table and spilling onto the floor. The papers were filled with indistinguishable scribbles Xander could never hope to understand. They were also ringed with cup marks from the many coffees and tea’s Xander had had to sustain them with. A plate of half-eaten Jelly donuts and scones lay on top the mess too.

"I’m going to find Buffy," Xander said "She’s been gone for hours"

"I don’t think you should" Willow said, yawning and then blinking a few times "We’ve almost got this translation figured out except for the partial ancient Greek that some joker decided to include. Wesley should be faxing something through soon"

Xander shrugged "More reason for me to find her, bring her back and show her the happy news"

Giles stood and stretched, picking his stale tea up and swigging it with a wince "I fear for Buffy’s safety, you know I do. However, if there is one thing I have learnt the past few days is that she is very protective towards Spike. It could be that she has taken shelter with him – after all it is almost sunrise – and is unable to call us"

Andrew entered the room carrying an armful of comic books "Either that or they’re doing the horizontal dance of lurve somewhere. Oooh...maybe on the beach like in that movie with Bo Derek and that guy...wowsa"

"Thankyou for those mental pictures, Andrew!" Xander rubbed his forehead then frowned "What were you doing out so late...or early?"

"Picking up the new issues of the Amazing Spiderman from my supplier" Andrew beamed holding up his stack "Hot off the press"

Xander rolled his eye "You went out at the crack of dawn for comics? Loser"

"I got one for you too" He waved the magazine.

Xander snatched it with a grin then looked sheepish "Well, if I’m gonna have to wait for Buffy I might as well have something to read"

Andrew walked out of the room to get himself some breakfast.

"Wesley said the Ancient Greek in this text is a particularly obscure strand" Willow frowned, rubbed the bridge of her nose "And we’ve gotten the bulk of it translated except for the most important few words"

"Those Ancient Greeks," Xander shook his head "So inconsiderate"

Giles nodded "If only I had studied Greek instead of that bloody useless Spanish"

"Hey, you can meet some hot Latin chica’s" Xander said helpfully then asked "So, what have you got so far?"

Willow looked up, clutching a piece of paper "Basically a lot of scientific stuff on how the serum works and the basic myth of the water-feral demon which is, hey, interesting but not so useful, and then the one sentence that sums it all up and tells us how to reverse the change"

"Well, that’s great right!" Xander grinned.

Willow and Giles looked grave.

"Not great?"

"No" Giles shook his head "We’ve managed to translate three quarters of the sentence. The three most important words we can’t decipher"

Xander sighed "Ain’t that always the way? So, what have you got? Maybe we could play ‘guess the word’?"

"So far," Willow looked at the paper "We’ve worked out, roughly, ‘To change a host back to what it once was, the curse.........something, something, something.......Once that is done all shall return to what it once was"

"Ah, I see the problem" Xander nodded sagely.

"What’s up comrades?" Andrew asked as he walked into the room sipping from a juice box.

Willow sighed, put her head in her hands "Buffy is counting on us...Spike is counting on us and we can’t do anything unless Wesley can figure it out!"

"Yeah, letting it all rest on Mr. Stuffed Shirt must be hard" Xander nodded.

Andrew looked piqued "The badass vampyre needs help? Why have you not come to me sooner, children?"

"Unless you know Ancient Greek, you’ll be a fat lot of use" Giles huffed then added bitterly "As usual"

Andrew placed his hands on his hips "Well, actually old chap, I do know Ancient Greek! So put that in your English pipe and smoke it"

Xander frowned "I think you’re confused Andrew – he said Ancient Greek not Ancient Geek"

"I heard well, Alexander," Andrew nodded "And I shall have you know I am well versed in the language of the Ancient philosophers"

"Andrew are you being serious?" Willow asked, a spark of hope in her eyes.

"I have never been more serious, she-witch" Andrew nodded somberly.

Giles threw up his hands "Then why didn’t you tell us before you blithering idiot!"

"Temper, little English man, temper. I –"

Andrew was cut off by Giles grabbing the front of his Phantasm T-shirt and throwing him down on the couch, juice squirted everywhere. Andrew looked suitably dazed and frightened. Xander folded his arms and stood next to Giles both of them looked intimidating and rugged to the nerd on the chair.

"Translate, monkey boy" Xander instructed "Translate like your precious Spikey’s life counted on it"

Giles looked down at him darkly "And yours"

When Spike awoke he felt oddly like him self. He hadn’t felt that for a while now. It was comforting and as he stretched to keep his muscles from seizing up he felt his skin brush over sand. And soft, warm skin.

Spike turned his head to the side. Buffy slept next to him on the beach absolutely starkers. It was a beautiful sight. And immediately it knocked his number one moment off the list and replaced it at the top. 1. Buffy – beach – asleep – naked and glowing.

He sighed. Surely he didn’t deserve this? After all of the terrible things he had done did he really deserve to bear witness to this effulgent woman? Effulgent. Oh Bugger, Spike thought, Slipping into old ways at the very glance of the Slayer. Yet he couldn’t find it in him enough to care for his goofy nature. Because she was here. With him. And that was all that mattered.

If Spike had ever for one moment regretted being pulled back to Earth after he saved the world, then that moment was demolished now. Buffy Summers was lying next to him as if she hadn’t a care in the world. She was truly relaxed and, dare he say it, even content to have him near her. There had always been an underlying tension between them – sexual, emotional, and, though it shamed him to admit it, just plain fear.

But not any more. She slept and she even snored. One of those girly snores that was threatening to turn into a full blown honker. Spike pursed his lips together to stop from laughing. He didn’t want to wake her.

Spike wondered how it was he had even fallen asleep and missed the chance to stare at Buffy for hours. But, in truth, he knew why. She had exhausted him. As usual. Spike’s lips formed a crooked grin as he remembered last night.

Making love to Buffy was the opposite of that bus on Speed. If you go below 50 mph she won’t "explode".

He chuckled. Comparing Buffy to a bus – she’d love that.

"What’s so funny, Mister Fishy?" Buffy spoke suddenly.

He blinked, looked into her green eyes "Mr. Fishy?"

She shrugged "All I could think of. I’m getting old. The quips are drying up, my vision isn’t what it used to be, my knees are all wobbly...although that might have something to do with last night"

Spike grinned "Yeah" His grin dropped "About last night –"

"Don’t" She placed her fingers over his lips "Don’t ruin it. I so do not want to go all Dawson’s Creek and overanalyze this right now"

"I was always Pacey you know"

Buffy frowned "What?"

"Well – you were that Joey girl, Peaches was that wanker Dawson and I was Pacey" Spike smiled a little then grew sad "And look how well that turned out"

Buffy rolled her eyes "Spike did you even see the ending?"

"Well, no. Little busy being fighting an apocalypse but everyone knows it was always gonna be Joey and that poof Dawson"

"I caught it on reruns," Buffy smiled slowly "Pacey got the girl"

Spike raised his eyebrows "Well, who’d have thought it?"

"I would have" She leaned across and kissed him lightly on the lips, pulled back "Took me a little while to see the real appeal of...Pacey but I got there in the end"

"Glad to hear it"

Buffy ran her hands up his face to his eyebrow, trailing her finger along the scar tissue that split the hair apart "I like scars. Oh! Not in like a self-harm way! I just mean...they’re kind of, well, sexy"

"Oh really?" He smirked, reached over and touched his hand to the base of her neck, swept it up in an arc to the nape of her neck "I like that line of skin"

"I wonder why" Buffy rolled her eyes "Vampires"

Spike shook his head "That’s not why. Even when I was human...in the old days the neck and the collarbone were mostly all that the women could show off. Even that was considered risqué"

"Ah, so it’s a result of stuffy Britishness?"

"It was like that all over the world," Spike looked at her, arched an eyebrow "At least in refined circles it was"

Buffy put a hand to her chest in a sign of Victorian distress "Are you saying I’m not refined? I am so refined, I could refine your...ass!"

"Sounds promising" Spike leered at her.

She shoved him in the shoulder "You are so gross"

"Well, you’ve always known that"

Buffy smiled slowly as if she really didn’t want to be smiling at something he said. She turned to look away, embarrassed at her show of girlishness. Spike reached over, took her chin in-between his fingers and turned her face back to him. Her green eyes flickered down to look at the sand then back up at his face.

"So," She said slowly "How come Mr. Fishy hasn’t reared its scary head again?"

Spike shrugged "I...don’t know. It just...seems to have subsided. For a little while. Maybe last night you pounded it into submission, literally"

Spike grinned and Buffy pulled a disapproving face.

"But" His face turned serious "You’re right. It’ll probably show again soon. So, you should leave. Get back to safety"

"Not without you"

"Buffy –"

"No, Spike. No" She sat up "You think I’m gonna let last night mean nothing by letting you slip away into the blue yonder? I don’t think so. So, shove that up your English Channel!"

Spike’s eyes widened comically.

"You’re right. You’ve very refined" Spike nodded "I see that now"

She grinned and shoved him back down to the sand from his partial sitting position "Aw. I’ve got sand stuck in places I didn’t even know existed..."

Spike smiled and sat back up, so close that their things brushed against one another. She was indeed covered in sand. Considering the beach last night had been rained upon the particles had stuck to them even more so then they usually would have. Buffy was dusted in tiny little crystals, making her skin seems to shimmer and shine. Well, more so then usual. She had an unmistakable glow about her too. Spike was proud to think that that had come from him.

Until he realized it was the reflection of the sun’s rays on her skin.

His eyes widened as his skin began to feel aflame.

"Spike, what’s wrong?" Buffy asked, oblivious.

He was about to be burned alive.

Andrew shifted uncomfortably in the chair, the printouts laying in his lap "Can you not glare at me like that? It's just it's making me nervous and –"

"No!" Giles and Xander both said.

Willow gave Andrew a pat on the shoulder like he was a sickly puppy dog. Andrew sighed and looked back down at the sheets. Ancient Greek was tricky and the three pairs of laser beam eyes he had on him did nothing to quell his anxiety. Spike's life rested on this. Oh, the pressure!

"It's three words, Andrew" Xander threw his hands up "I thought you knew this stuff as well as you know Klingon?"

"It's the pressure!" Andrew cried "It's making me buckle, the weight of the world on my shoulders, all hopes resting on theses three little words, it's almost too much for one such as myself to bear!"

"Andrew, stay calm" Willow suggested then grabbed him by the lapels "And translate the frickin' words, OKAY?!"

Andrew gulped "Yes, she-witch, I...I will"

"Good" Willow nodded and smoothed his jacket back before sitting back in the chair.

Giles scowled "Get a move on. We...Spike doesn't have all day"

-------------

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Spike screamed at the top of his lungs, no doubt startling the crap out of birds nesting nearby.

Not that he cared. He was about to die by immolation. Again. He scrambled to his feet, his self-preservation kicking in and legged it in one direction like a headless chicken. He heard Buffy calling after him. Spike ran and ran and ran some more desperately looking for a hideout. The sun was on the way. He felt it start to heat up the sand behind him. It was chasing him.

The first beams of sunlight hit his pale skin and Spike felt a rush of warmth travel down his back. This was it. Death and hell all over again.

Something tackled him from the side with blurring speed. Spike went down in a tumble and found himself, surprisingly, in the blessed shadows. His head cracked against the hard mud floor but he didn't care. A few small tendrils of smoke wafted off of him. Spike looked down to see Buffy entwined with him. She looked up, worried, then punched him in the side.

"Ow! Hey!" Spike complained as they disentangled themselves.

They were in small alcove of the high cliffs surrounding the beach. A makeshift cave of sorts. A refuge for sun fearing folk like himself.

Buffy stood, crossed her arms "You idiot! Why didn't you notice the sun was coming up?"

"Listen, here, missy – " Spike stood too and cracked his head on the ceiling of the cave with an audible crack "Oww! Bollocks!"

Buffy tilted her head "One advantage of being short"

Spike rubbed his head "Oww. I didn't bloody noticed the sun was coming up. I was too busy gawking at you! So, really, Summers, it's all your fault"

"How do you figure that?" Buffy brow creased "And how come the water-feral didn't protect you. I mean since your changing into it...they aren't sun sensitive, right?"

"Oww" Spike still rubbed his head "I don't know. I don't think so. Maybe I'm not as far gone as we thought. Oww"

"Baby" Buffy kicked him gently on the shin.

Spike pouted and Buffy smiled, reaching up and pulling his face gently down to hers. She inspected his head but from the derisive snort that escaped her lips Spike figured there was no real damage. She let go and turned to look out of the entrance of the cave.

Standing there, bathed in the light of the sun, Buffy looked almost like an angel. Spike had often wondered if when she had been pulled from heaven, that the Slayer had ripped a piece of it along with her for the ride. Celestial would be the word he would describe her as in that moment. Then again that was probably just that old ponce William rearing his nerdy head.

"Oh, no!" Buffy cried.

"What?" Spike took a step cautiously towards the edge of the cave, careful to avoid the beams of sunlight.

Buffy pointed across the beach. Three teenage boys were laughing and shoving one another, kicking sand up into each other's faces. They weren't far from where Buffy and Spike had left the pile of their clothing. It wouldn't be long before they found the items and either completely ruined the clothes or came looking for the owners. Spike wasn't that bothered. Looking over at the Slayer he could see that she was bothered.

"Did you grab any clothes?" He asked.

"Uh, no!" She turned to him, rolled her eyes "I was a little preoccupied saving your life. I should have prioritized better, I know"

Spike smirked "So, what you gonna do now, Summers? What's it to be – hide out and pray or give the lads a show they'll never forget?"

"How about neither. You go get them!"

"Small problem with that scenario – blinding sunlight"

Buffy shrugged "Well, I am not streaking"

Spike gave her a look. The Slayer shook her head.

"You could be there and back in ten seconds. Benefits of Slayer speed..." He nudged her with his elbow.

"Ten seconds is long enough for my total and complete humiliation to be imprinted on my mind forever" Buffy looked back out of the cave, the boys drew nearer to the clothes.

Spike shrugged "Lady's choice"

The Slayer turned and looked at him oddly then.

"What?" Spike frowned.

Buffy paused then shook her head, spoke softly "Nothing"

---------------------

"Ah ha!" Andrew pumped his fist in the air "Score one for El Andrablo!"

Giles turned to him "You have something? What?"

Willow, Xander and Dawn, who had recently joined them in the pressurization of Andrew, all leaned theatrically towards the geek. Andrew smiled a self-satisfied grin. He nodded slowly.

"I have the first two word. It is 'must' and 'be'"

Willow frowned, picked up a piece of paper "'To change a host back to what it once was, the curse...must be... something...Once that is done all shall return to what it once was"

Dawn looked at Giles "Must be what?"

"That is indeed the question..." Giles rubbed his chin "I don't suppose you're near to translating the third word?"

"Well, it's a slippery one, Rupert" Andrew looked at him, then highlighted the word on the page with a bright pink highlighter "You see, it is from a different time period to the rest of the Greek"

"Kind of like the writer of this thing is deliberately trying to keep the suspense going...?" Xander observed.

The group all fell silent.

Dawn shrugged "Andrew, please, hurry. If Buffy isn't back then it might mean..."

"No," Willow put an arm around the girls shoulder "I'm sure Buffy is fine, Spike too. They're probably just hiding the light out, you know, laying low, not drawing attention to themselves..."

-----------------

Dave kicked the sand into Kieron's face again and a snorting laugh escaped his nose. These guys were so stupid. He was so pissed he couldn't even remember who had suggested the shortcut across the beach. But, knowing his friends it had probably been Rick.

All Dave knew was that his mum was going to be so stressy with him when he got back home after spending the whole night out and stinking of alcohol to boot. 'You're only fifteen,' she'd say 'when you move out you can do what you like but when you're under my roof it's my rules...' blah, blah, blah.

He had stopped listening to his mum a long time ago.

"You git!" Kieron shoved him hard.

Dave stumbled to the side a few steps.

"What the...!"

Dave frowned looking over at Rick to see what the fuss was about. Rick was staring wide-eyed off to the right like he was transfixed. Dave turned fully expecting to see the police or a dead jellyfish.

Instead he saw a very naked, very hot looking girl walking across the beach towards them.

"Oh...Oh...Oh..." Were the only sounds Dave found his voice box would allow him to make.

He felt his eyes widened comically and his breath caught in his throat. All three of the boys were frozen in place. The girl was short, blonde, tanned...all over. She strolled up in front of them, bent down, picked up a pile of clothes and stood.

"Hey guys," She said in an American accent "Nice weather we're having, huh?"

"Uh..." Dave managed.

The woman smiled, dazzling them with her pearly whites. Then she turned on her heel and walked back the way she had came from. Dave's eyes never left her.

"Nice talking to you" She called over her shoulders.

Dave gulped "Uh..."

The girl disappeared into a cave. A cave?!

"What the..." Rick repeated.

"Holy shit! That girl was naked!" Kieron cried "Did you see her...?!"

Rick shoved him "Of course I bloody saw her. What does she live in a cave?"

Kieron laughed "Cave girl! We have to spread this at school – the myth of Cave Girl is true!"

"Yeah, well, I'd go two thousand B.C with her anytime, mate!" Rick laughed, slapping his hand onto his friend's back.

Dave's eyes rolled back into his head and he fainted.

Spike grinned at Buffy as she entered the cave; her face a bright red and her eyes scrunched closed in sheer embarrassment. She threw the clothes down onto the ground and sighed, turning to look out the cave covertly.

"One of them fainted!" Buffy turned back, abashed.

"Well, of course they did," Spike picked up his clothes and started separating them from Buffy’s casually "He’s never seen anything as hot as you"

"God! I can’t believe I just did that!" Buffy grabbed up her underwear and slipped the items on, quickly followed by her trousers "That was, without exception, the most embarrassing experience of my life"

Spike arched an eyebrow "More embarrassing then when your friends found out about us the first time?"

"Well..." Buffy sighed, pulling her shirt on "That’s a close second. Oh my god! Giles! Willow! Xander! Dawn! I should have called them they’ll be worried...I’ve been gone all night"

Buffy started to do up her shirt rapidly and motioned for Spike to hurry up and get dressed he just grinned and pulled his jeans on. Suddenly a sharp, searing stabbing pain sliced through his abdomen. Spike groaned and stumbled forward into the wall of the cave. His hands clutched at the affected area and his nerve ending screamed with pain. A moment later it was gone.

Buffy’s hand was on his shoulder "What’s the matter?"

"...Nothing. It’s...it’s nothing," He said in a hoarse voice "Must just be an after-effect of last night’s activities"

"We need to get you to Giles right now" Her voice was tainted with pure concern.

"Yeah, ’cos he’s gonna be so happy to see me" Spike stood up straight "Besides, luv, incase you haven’t realised – the sun is up and roasting, toasting"

"Like that’s stopped you before" Buffy tossed her drying jacket at him "Cover yourself in this. The car is just around the corner"

"Your coat is not really enough to cover me"

"It’s gonna have to be" Buffy reached over and took his hand "I have to get back to Dawn and we have to get you...secured in case that thing takes your body again"

Spike squeezed her hand "Suppose so. If I fry to death again, it’s you who I’ll be haunting this time"

"Ooh, in a sexy Patrick Swayze way?"

"No" He shook his head "In a I’m-dead-as-hell-and-I’m-gonna-wreak-my-vengeance-upon-you-slowly-and-painfully kind of way"

Buffy shrugged with one shoulder "Whatever you want, sweetie" She grinned.

Spike tilted his head and looked at her. The Slayer turned her back as she gathered the rest of her belonging and picked her shoes up to hold in one hand. Had she really just called him ‘sweetie’? And, more importantly, not even realised it? If she felt the weight of his gaze on her back then she did not show it as she hummed a song under her breath. He tried to recognise the tune but only caught "I’m under your..."

So, he asked, "What are you singing?"

"Huh?" Buffy turned back to him, brow furrowed "Oh. Nothing. Just a song Tara taught my before she..."

"Oh. She was a...nice girl," Spike said, nodding.

"The best" Buffy smiled briefly "And Willow still misses her, we all do but..."

"But Willow loved her with all her heart and soul," Spike said softly, looked at the ground then back up into Buffy’s eyes "That witch and I have a lot in common. We should have talked more after I got my soul. If anyone’s an expert at being love’s fool – it’s me"

Buffy shook her head slightly with an amused smile on her face before turning around and walking cautiously up to the entrance of the cave probably to see if the boys were still lurking. Spike could not stop watching her in curiosity. She seems different. Almost...nonchalant...but that wasn’t the ideal word to describe it either. The pet name, the humming, the cute little smile. Why couldn’t he put his finger on the change in her?

"Okay, let’s go" Buffy turned to him "We’re turning left then running like hell"

"Got it" Spike smiled, threw the girly jacket over his head.

He walked up behind her and she grabbed the left over length of his belt.

He arched an eyebrow "If you wanna stay a while, all you had to do was say..."

"No...well, yeah..." Buffy looked at him, melted, then snapped herself out of it "But the guys will be worried. I’m grabbing your belt so I can pull you a long"

"Hmmpf" Spike was disappointed "Well, don’t pull too hard. The family jewels are precious"

"If they turn to dust they won’t be" Buffy faced back out of the cave "Okay, let’s go"

She started running immediately and Spike followed being pulled along by the Slayer hanging onto his belt. The heat hit him almost immediately and Buffy veered left severely. Spike stumbled on the sand and nearly went down but she pulled him along up the dune.

Smoke wafted off of his legs and back, his head, arms and shoulders being the only things that were really protected. Spike felt the skin on his legs blister and pop. The jeans were burning up. He hissed and powered up faster, Buffy meeting his speed and then bettering it. Since he was essentially blind Spike entrusted himself completely to the Slayer. Vines and leaves slapped at his torso. This must have been where Buffy got that cut on her cheek he had been concerned about but hadn’t mentioned.

The heat was almost unbearable yet he could have only been out of the cave for less then ten seconds. He was gonna burn. Again. He began to yell.

Buffy shouted "Almost there!"

No, gonna burn! Burn! Burn! Was all he could think. Suddenly Buffy ground to a halt and he didn’t expect it so he ran smack into something hard and metal. His gut ached and he let out a moan. There was a loud sound and Spike’s skin was on fire.

He was shoved and fell into a confined space. The car’s boot!

Buffy slammed the thing shut thus sealing him in blessed darkness.

"Let’s go home," Buffy said but she sounded far away.

The smell of his own singed flesh entered Spike’s nostrils.

"Oh," Spike rolled his eyes "This is just charming"

-------------------

"Okay, thank Fred" Willow nodded to herself as she spoke into the receiver "Yeah, yeah I think I got it. You’re the best! No...no you are! Okay. Yeah. Bye!"

The witch turned and walked into the living room with a grin on her face, a slight bounce in her step. Andrew was still sweating away on the couch, Xander’s eye on him, Giles glaring out of the window waiting for any sign that Buffy was going to return home. Dawn sat perched on the windowsill, picking her nails, a sign of nervousness. Whether it was for Buffy or Spike, or both of them Willow couldn’t decide.

"So, from the flash of your pearly white I’d say that scientist girl had good news?" Xander turned to look at hi best friend.

"Have they managed to translate the word?" Giles questioned, sipping his luke-warm tea.

"No," Willow shook her head and everyone sighed wearily "But they managed to get a sample of water-feral poison from Wolfram and Hart’s databases. Fred analysed it, for, you know, signs that could turn it back into a vamp potion and she struck gold!"

Dawn turned around abruptly "You mean Spike can be turned back?!"

"Yep, but that’s not the only good news. See, she found something else too" Willow’s grin widened.

"Don’t keep us hanging, Will" Xander said.

She shook her head "I’ll tell you later. When Buffy comes back. They’re sending the samples now"

"Right now? How is that possi –" Giles started.

Suddenly a glimmer of purple light appeared in the centre of the room. Everyone stared at it in wonder. A blink of the eye and the light had turned into two vials filled with black viscous liquid. The vials floated for a moment in suspended animation and then fell without warning.

Everyone dived for them at once. Willow ended up tripping over the table and falling headfirst into Xander’s now vacant chair. Giles slid on the rug and went down on his ass. Dawn propelled herself off the windowsill, sailing over the table outstretched like a panther. Unfortunately Xander had jumped from the opposite direction at the exact same time. Xander and Dawn went boom. Both fell to the floor, dazed.

Andrew reached out his arm and caught the vials in his hand.

Everyone looked at him wide-eyed from their positions in one big heap on the floor, all attempting to sit up. It looked like the Scoobs had been playing Twister and lost.

Andrew pulled a face "This stuff is kind of gross. Reminds me of the stuff Venom and Carnage are made out of in Spiderman"

The gang let out a sigh in unison and flopped back down onto the floor.

Buffy pulled up to Casa de Giles and almost immediately as the car came to a halt all of her friends came running out of the door. Buffy climbed out of the car and was greeted with hugs all around and questions on where she had been and had she ever heard of a little something called the phone.

Buffy smiled softly “Save the lectures for later. Help me get Spike inside – we need a blanket or something”

“Where is he?” Dawn ducked her head into the car.

“The trunk” Buffy jabbed her thumb towards the back of the car.

Xander let out a laugh of great mirth “Oh, that’s great! No, really, can we get a camera too?”

“He’s still showing signs of the water feral demon. I mean, he’s not blue any more but sometimes he says some things that...” Buffy trailed off unsure how much to tell.

Giles stepped forward “What sorts of things?”

“Just...things. Things that let me know he’s still not entirely Spike” Buffy folded her arms.

A loud banging came from the car “Oi! I would like to get out of here sometime today! It’s suffocating in here!”

Dawn laughed “Spike, you don’t need to breathe”

“Well, it’s stuffy” Came the muffled reply.

Willow came back out of the house carrying a big, thick blanket and Buffy took it from her. She walked around to the trunk and popped it open throwing the blanket over Spike at once so that he wouldn’t fry. The vampire clambered out completely invisible beneath the blanket. He started forward and before Buffy could stop him he had walked straight into a huge tree. Spike let out a grunt and fell to the ground.

Xander, Dawn and Willow tittered.

“Oh, shut it!” Spike groaned as he climbed up “A little help here!”

Buffy reached out and put her hands on either side of his waist, guiding him towards the direction of the house. Their feet crunched along the gravel and Buffy wondered how much she should tell her friends of what had happened the night before. She could tell they wanted to ask.

Details would not be a good thing.

Spike stepped through the threshold of Giles house and tossed the blanket immediately off. He was clutching his stomach.

“What the matter?” The Slayer came around to stand in front of him.

Spike shook his head, leaning one hand against the wall for support “It’s...nothing. Just from walking into that bloody tree”

Buffy wasn’t convinced. Something was up. Something bad.

The others came inside and they all went to settle in the living room after Giles drew the blinds to make it Spike-friendly. Spike stood leaning his back against the wall, an expression of forced calmness on his face. Buffy could tell he was in pain.

“We have good news, Buffy” Willow beamed “Fred sent us some antidote”

Buffy’s eyes lit up “Antidote? See, Spike I told you –”

She was interrupted by the vampire letting out a terrible scream of pain. She turned to him, eyes-wide. He was reaching up and clasping his head between his hands just like he used to with the chip in his head. His eyes were screwed shut and there was a vein bulging in his forehead.

“Spike...” She took one step towards him.

Then she stopped.

He opened his eyes and they were completely blue. The water-feral demon. He opened his mouth wide and let out a loud, screeching sound. Spike dropped to his knees and arched his back. He was shirtless and his chest shimmered blue then back to pale white. His scream turned back to his normal voice and he slumped forward to the floor, kneeling.

The gang stood around in frozen states not sure what to do.

Buffy ran over to him; crouched next to him, put a hand on his back.

He lifted his head slowly; his eyes were still completely blue “Get away from me!” He yelled then shoved her backwards.

The Slayer was stunned for a moment as she landed flat on her back. A second passed and she started to crawl towards him again but Giles and Xander grabbed her under the arms and pulled her back.

“What are you doing?!” Buffy cried. “He’s in pain!”

“I think it’s best if you keep a safe distance,” Giles said “All of you”

Spike fell forward again and his back began to rise and fall rapidly. He let out a sound of immense pain and his hands gripped at the carpet, his fingers ripping into it. A horrendous tearing sound echoed through the room.

Buffy frowned and it soon turned to an expression of horror. Spike arched up again and his skin was blue but that was not the worse of it. In the centre of Spike’s torso could be seen the impression of hands trying to push their way out from behind his skin.

Dawn let out a scream and Willow grabbed at her, holding her close.

Buffy tried to shake Giles free but he held her tight.

“He wants you safe, Buffy” The Watched reminded her, whilst looking at Spike, jaw set.

Andrew had his back up against the furthest wall, a lamp held in front of him in his hands “Sweet Gandalf! It’s the chest-burster from Alien!”

Spikes hands clasped and scraped at the carpet, running deep furrows into the material. His mouth opened wider then Buffy would have thought possible and then suddenly fingertips emerged from his lips and curled around his face. Buffy let out a scream herself at this new development.

Spike’s screams were muffled by the thing crawling out of his face. The sound was terrible, suffocated agony and the fear and pain permeated the air.

Bones, or something, cracked and out emerged the blue head of the water-feral demon. Bufft felt her eyes bulge as she had clasped a hand to her mouth out of shock. The arms emerged next and then it dropped the floor and started to crawl it’s way across the carpet, more of it’s torso emerging from Spike’s elongated mouth.

If she hadn’t of seen it with her own eyes Buffy would not have thought it possible.

Someone was screaming high-pitched and ragged. It took the Slayer a moment to register that it was Andrew and not Dawn.

A hand slipped into hers and gripped her tightly. It was Willow, she too was holding onto Dawn until the three of them formed a line of traumatized girls.

Spike jerked backwards and slammed his back into the wall hard enough that plaster fell from the ceiling and landed on his shoulders like snowflakes. He bent forward again and made horrendous retching sounds. His fists beat against the floor and his leg kicked out reactively shattering the table to the side of him.

The vein in the centre of his forehead looked ready to burst and Spike’s eyes bulged and glistened with tears.

Buffy wanted to go to him but Willow kept hold of her hand in a death-grip.

“Oh, man, oh, man, oh, man...” Xander kept repeating over and over, unable to look away and his face frozen in morbid horror.

The legs slid from Spike’s mouth and finally the feet.

The vampire let out the must gut-wrenching, heart-pounding scream Buffy had ever heard and certainly did not want to hear again.

The water-feral demon fell to the floor and lay prone there. Its blue body was glistening, its white hair shining and almost otherworldly.

Spike pitched forward and fell flat on the floor. He didn’t move.

Buffy tore her hand free from Willow’s and ran to him, crouched down next to him and put a hand against his cold back.

“Spike?” She shook him.

....In her peripheral hearing Dawn sobbed and shuddered....

“Spike?” Buffy put her hand to his face.

...Gandalf, why? Why!...

The Slayer stroked his face, his sleek cheekbone “Spike...?”

...oh man, oh man, oh man, oh...oh man,...

Buffy’s first instinct was to press her fingers to Spike’s throat to check for a pulse. Then she cursed her stupidity. Obviously he would not have a pulse because he was a vampire. She knew this stuff. The panic had made her logic fly out of the window. The Slayer started to shake him gently at first but then her desperateness made her shake him more violently.

“SPIKE!” She yelled.

Still there was no response. Buffy pulled back her fist and was about to take drastic measures when a hand curled around her wrist and stopped her. She turned back and found Giles standing there looking grave.

“That is perhaps not the best course of action, Buffy” He said, kneeling down next to her.

“I have to try something!” She said, desperation creeping into her voice.

“There are more pressing matters at hand”

Buffy was about to ask what the hell could be more pressing then Spike laying prone on the floor when she sensed movement behind her. The water-feral demon had risen up onto his blue, muscled, legs. Its body was sinewy, hard muscle compacted into a lithe figure. Strangely with the white hair and the body shape it looked like a blue version of Spike.

The Slayer stood and put herself between the demon and her demon on the floor. She put her hand to her side and motioned for Giles to see that Spike did not get hurt. Willow and Dawn stood on the other side of the wall by the windows, Dawn was pressed into Willow in a suffocating hug as the witch tried not to show how shaken she too was.

Xander had slumped into a chair in confusion but now began to arise as he saw the demon stretching its body as if getting a feel for it. The water-feral looked down at its hands and then down the length of its body and it grinned. It grinned.

That one grin made Buffy snap.

This thing had taken over Spike, had hurt Spike and it had the audacity to be happy about it!

She balled her fist and then released her fingers before balling them again. Buffy moved her neck in a circle cracking the bones back into place. The sound drew the water-feral’s attention to her and it blinked showing off those completely blue eyes. It tilted its head in a manner that reminded her far too much of the vampire on the floor.

“You shouldn’t have taken him” Buffy said through gritted teeth, she felt her legs itching to move forward, to jump up and slam her foot into it’s head, to feel it’s neck crack underneath her power “He wasn’t yours to take”

The demon tilted its head to the other side “Yours?” the voice came out sounding oddly serpent like.

“That’s right”

“I left him. I could have stayed in there” The demon informed her.

“No,” Buffy shook her head “We had a way of getting you out”

“Well,” The demon stuck the tip of its tongue out, again way too Spike-like “Looks like I made the right decision then. If you let me pass I will not bother you again”

“So you can infect some other guy? Or prey on women to fulfill your need to mate? I don’t think so”

“We mate only once. I don’t need to any more” The water-feral hissed.

“Once? Well, when did you –” Xander started to ask.

The demon made a break for it rushing towards the door. Buffy lunged and caught it around the midriff, wrapping her arms around it’s torso and using the force of the impact of her body to drive it, and her, to the floor.

Buffy fell on top of the slightly slick demon and let out a scowl of disgust. It reached up and sliced its claws down her cheek making the wounds flare up like a red hot flame. She winced and punched the thing in its face. She punched it again and again. Now, this was letting out the anger. Everyone should try this for therapy.

The demon grabbed her wrist and managed to get its foot up to her abdomen where it promptly kicked her off.

The Slayer went flying across the room and hit the stone fireplace in the centre of her back. Pain hit her like a baseball bat hitting a ball. She let out a deep moan as she fell to the floor. If she had been human that would have broken her back. Now she was really pissed.

Xander charged at the demon as it made a break for it again. The demon elbowed him in the face and then kicked him in the stomach. He careened backwards into Dawn and Willow who was attempting a spell. All three of them fell to the floor in a tangle of limbs.

Giles stood up and took the demon by surprise from behind, punching it in the kidneys...if the thing even had kidneys. It growled and turned around just in time to get a face full of Giles fist. The water-feral stumbled backward and Giles hit it again this time in the gut making it double over. The Watcher took the opportunity to knee it in the head, and it sprawled backwards again.

Giles tried for another hit but the thing was not as dazed as he first thought. It grabbed his fist in mid-air and held onto it whilst it backhanded him across the face. Then it let go of his fist, jumped up, and hit Rupert Giles in the head with a devastatingly hard roundhouse kick.

Giles went down and didn’t get back up.

But Buffy did. She looked at her fallen friends and let out a cry of pure rage. She ran at the demon and blocked some pathetic attempts to catch her off guard again. She punched it so many times in the face that she lost count. The then delivered a vicious snap kick to its chin.

The demon stumbled backwards and hit a wall. Buffy grabbed it around the neck with one hand, throttling it. She lifted it off the floor and held it pinned to the wall like some pretty blue butterfly. It struggled and jerked around reminding her strangely of a scared rabbit. Not that she knew what a scared rabbit looked like. No, sir.

“So, you want to die quick....or slow?” Buffy gritted her teeth, squeezing her fingers deeper into its neck.

The demon choked and spluttered but still managed to grin, cocky “Lady’s choice...”

And in that moment Buffy hesitated and released the pressure a little from it’s neck. The last time she had heard that phrase it had come from Spike’s lips but...had it really been Spike that had said it? Or had she been manipulated the whole time?

The demon took advantage of her faltering and slammed its arm into her head knocking her off balance and causing her to release him. It did not waste a second before kicking the Slayer with all it’s force into the side of her head.

Buffy fell to the side on the floor. She tried to get up and managed to get to her knees but there were dots swimming before her vision.

“That’s right,” The water-feral slathered kicking her in the face, so she went down again “It was me”

Buffy blinked up from the floor and the bottom of a blue foot struck her in the face again, making her nose explode with pain.

“Not your vampire” It reached down, grabbed her by her shirt and lifted her up.

It swung her around so abruptly and fast Buffy thought she might throw up. Instead her legs hit Xander in the face when he had been coming to her aid. He fell back again and hit his head against the wall, sliding to the floor.

The demon tossed her away into the wall hard enough to crack the bricks.

“So, really,” The demon grabbed up a heavy the heavy wooden weapons chest Giles had, and that thing weighed a lot “You haven’t seen the real vampire for...days”

Buffy blinked at it, lips trembling blood from her nose and various cuts running down her face. The demon was injured badly too, it was limping, it’s face was swelling disgustingly. But it still looked at her impassively as it lifted the weapons chest above it’s head.

Willow started to chant as she stood shakily. The demon shook it’s head and lashed out at the witch with its foot catching her in the chin and making her cry out as she crumpled to the floor. Then it turned back to Buffy, grinned and threw the chest at her with incredible speed.

Buffy managed to curl into a ball and shield her face with her arms before the thing hit her.

It was like being hit by a car, or at least that’s what it felt like. One corner of the chest struck her in the ribs and a shooting pain like an arrow sliced through her body. The chest was filled with axes and swords and other heavy things and it shattered against the Slayer’s body. The weapons fell upon Buffy until she lay on the floor, covered by the contents of the chest.

Her body felt like everything was broken and she was finding it hard to breathe from the blow to the ribs. She groaned but couldn’t move with the heavy tools on her. She reached up and pushed an axe off of her, taking steady, painful breaths.

The demon was looking at her. It had picked up a wicked looking axe.

“I liked you,” It’s eyes traveled down her body “You were good”

Somehow she didn’t think he was talking about her moral standing. Also he was talking in past-tense – not a good sign.

The demon took a step back and then ran at her and whirled the axe in an arc which would land in the centre of her skull and most likely cleave it in to.

An arm shot out and the demon ran bodily into it. The air was knocked from it’s lungs and it was knocked to the floor in a rather humorous manner...or it would have been funny if Buffy hadn’t felt like she may be dying.

“I don’t think so, mate” The voice that owned the arm said “I’m the only one that gets to stick something in her”

The pun was unbelievably crude but Buffy Summers really didn’t care. Because it was Spike. And he was okay. She tried to get up and run to him but instead pain zigzagged through her and she let out a whimper.

Spike turned his eyes to her, they softened “You gonna be alright to help me finish this one, luv?” He clutched his own side, his voice raw.

But then her voice would probably be raw if a demon had just crawled out of her throat.

“You bet I am,” She tried for a small smile and pulled it off successfully.

Spike gave her a crooked grin and held his hand out to her. She took it and carefully, with him half-pulling her, got to her feet. Her body screamed at her to curl up in a corner and die but she ignored it. Spike let go of her hand and picked up two axes, he handed one to Buffy and kept the other for himself.

The demon let out an odd gurgling sound and started to stir on the floor.

“Count of three?” Spike tilted his head, eyebrow arched.

“Think I can manage that” Her smile widened.

The demon craned it’s head up and saw them, it’s eyes widened “She...she’ll never...never...”

“One” Spike said.

They started forward.

“She’ll never love you!” The demon cried.

“Two” They advanced quickly.

The demon stuttered “I was in your head – you know, everyone does. She could never love –”

“Three!” Spike growled, morphing faces.

Buffy and Spike both brought their axes up and then sharply down.

A spray of blood leapt into the air.

The demon was silenced.

Buffy dropped the axe and put the back of her arm to her forehead “Why do they always have to try and announce a revelation?”

“Well, it’s all about the showmanship, pet” He grinned then dropped his axe too and promptly started to fall.

Buffy caught him around the waist and let out a cry of pain at her own aching body. Spike steadied himself by putting an arm around her waist. They kept each other standing.

“Buffy...” Giles was starting to stand.

Xander and Willow and Dawn had each recovered enough to see the whole show too but they remained on the floor, exhausted and hurt.

“You okay?” Buffy whispered to him.

Spike gave a nod “You?”

“I’ll live”

He chuckled “I won’t”

She looked at him and shook her head, a smile on her face although it was a faint one.

“Fulfilled!” Andrew cried from behind the sofa.

Buffy frowned and everyone turned to the geek as he crawled out carefully into the open.

“Andrew, what are you talking about?” Giles sighed, wincing at some pain.

“That...that’s the word. The missing word” Andrew stated “The missing piece of the puzzle. The icing on the cake. The cryptic clue”

Willow looked clueless as everyone else then her eyes brightened “Oh! The cure...the cure we don’t need anymore” She picked up a piece of paper and read “To change a host back to what it once was, the curse...must be fulfilled. Once that is done all shall return to what it once was’”

Xander rubbed his head “Fulfilled? The curse was fulfilled? What?”

“To fulfill the curse means that the water-feral must have served it’s intended purpose and that was to...” Giles stopped, and left the sentence hanging.

Willow picked it up “To mate”

There was a long moment of silence and everyone turned to stare at the Slayer and the vampire who stood with their arms around one another. Buffy felt the heat flare up in her cheeks and didn’t dare steal a glance at Spike.

“Oh” Dawn said, getting it.

“Oh” Willow nodded, eye’s wide.

Giles took of his glasses “Indeed, “oh”

Xander frowned “Oh, what?”

They all turned to look at him.

“What?” Xander just looked confused.

Dawn leaned into him and whispered into his ear.

His eyebrows shot up “Ohhh”

Spike felt Buffy’s arm drop from around his waist and he instantly felt ten times worse. A demon had just crawled up through his body and out of his mouth and the thing that made him feel really bad? The Slayer’s touch being withdrawn. She was obviously embarrassed by him, he turned and looked at her but she kept her face turned towards her friends, never once even glancing at him from the corner of her eye.

Buffy was covered in cuts and bruises and she held her arm around her ribs as if she was in a lot of pain. He wanted to reach over and comfort her but knew she did not want that. She was ashamed by what had happened last night.

Spike felt his shoulders sag. It’s not like he should have expected anything different. Buffy was prone to breaking his heart. He should have known better than to hope for something more.

Giles was staring at him with a withering glare and the vampire felt like giving him the V sign. Bloody judgmental bastard.

Dawn and Willow were both looking at Buffy and the Slayer opened and closed her mouth like a ventriloquist dummy but not a word left her lips.

“Buffy,” Dawn said softly “It’s okay. It’s not like you have to explain to us –”

“I’m...” The Slayer started, paused, “I’m hurt. I think...I think I need to have a shower”

Giles took a step towards her “Yes, of course. We should also tend to your wounds”

“Later. I just need to shower”

“Need any help?” Xander asked then blinked, stammered “Uh...not with the showering part! But with the walking up the stairs. Need someone to lean on?”

Buffy smiled a little “No, thanks. I’m gonna go to the guesthouse. I think Andrew needs the house bathroom more then me. He looks like he’s about to pee his pants”

“Hey!” Andrew cried.

With that the Slayer turned and hobbled out of the room leaving Spike to stand in front of the Scoobies alone.

Dawn spoke first “Are you okay, Spike? I mean, there was that whole giving birth through your mouth thing...”

“Eww!” Xander gagged.

Spike was looking at the door Buffy had just vacated, he answered without his eyes straying “I’ll be alright, little bit”

Willow stood shakily “Uh, Spike, there’s something I need to talk to you about –”

“Later,” Spike said as he grabbed the large blanket from the floor and walked out of the room and into the kitchen following the Slayer.

The sun was still shining brightly outside so Spike through the blanket over him and though he was in no physical state to run he did so because he had to find Buffy. He ran out of the back door and over the gravel towards the guesthouse. The bright sunlight was so warm through the blanket and the vampire was already feeling queasy enough. When he made it to the door he fell though onto the floor of the living room coughing deeply. Smoke wafted off his body and the room filled with the scent of singed flesh.

If Buffy heard his entrance she did not come down to greet him. Spike could hear her moving about upstairs, drawers being open and closed, feet stamping along the floorboards. Sometimes Buffy could be elegant and dainty but sometimes she could sound like an elephant on speed.

He loved both sides of her.

Spike picked himself off the floor and walked slowly and carefully up the stairs. He knocked on the door to Buffy’s bedroom. Getting no response he shrugged and entered anyway. The bedroom was empty. Discarded clothes lay on the floor; crinkled and bloody from her injuries. The scent of Slayer blood was intoxicating but Spike paid it no mind.

He could hear the shower running in the en suite bathroom. Spike walked to the door and leant his forehead against the polished wood.

“Buffy” He spoke softly.

There was no answer.

“Buffy” Spike said a little louder, standing up straight again, worried.

Still no answer.

Right then. He was going in. Spike tried the door but it was locked. He took a few steps back and then ran at it full speed. The door splintered and flung open. He wasn’t entirely sure what he had expected to see but Buffy standing in front of the shower door, a towel wrapped around her collarbone with her back to him wasn’t it. He had expected to find her passed out, or in some sort of emotional distress. She hadn’t even flinched when the door had burst open.

“Buffy?” Spike took a cautious step towards her.

Her shoulders tensed.

“Are you alright? Should I get Giles or –”

“No” She said voice just above a whisper “I’m fine”

Spike took another step towards her “You don’t seem fine”

She sighed “Maybe fine isn’t the right word”

He carefully laid a hand on her shoulder; she shivered “I understand”

“What? What do you understand?” She glanced at him over her shoulder before turning back.

“You’re embarrassed about what happened between us,” Spike closed his eyes, a sharp stabbing pain in his heart “About it being me”

“No” Buffy said clearly, turning around to face him, “It’s because it wasn’t you”

Spike opened his eyes; saw that the Slayer had been crying “What?”

“That demon...it told me. It said that it wasn’t you last night,” She took a deep, shuddering breath and stepped out of the reach of his hand “That I was stupid enough to believe that it would let you be in control. But it wasn’t you, was it? It was the demon. It was the demon when I...when we...”

“No!” Spike said forcefully making Buffy jump a little, he laid both hands on her shoulders “I don’t care what this sodding demon told you. It was me that night. And it was me the morning after. I don’t know why I was able to get control but I did. Yeah, the demon was there but only in the back of my mind. Nothing could have taken my attention away from you”

Buffy tilted her head “Don’t lie to make me feel better”

“I’m not!” Spike shook her again “You know better than to think I would lie to make anyone feel better. I’m an insensitive bastard” He gave her a grin.

Buffy smiled a little unable to help herself “Then why did it say –”

“Because it wanted to hurt you. It saw it was gonna die and it thought ‘right then, I’ll take her down with me’” He caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger “’Cos that’s what demons do. You know this, Slayer”

She nodded slowly “I know. I know I do. But...when it comes to this...to us...I’m kind of...”

“Blind as a bat?” Spike offered, eyebrow arched.

Buffy glared “...vulnerable”

“Ah, right,” He nodded sagely “Well, me too”

She smiled “Yeah, I know. I shouldn’t have left you in there. I’m sorry”

“S’alright I’m used to being under group scrutiny. Does the soul good,” He smiled back “Just so long as we got this sorted?”

“Check. Vulnerable Buffy deleted” She nodded then turned her back on him “And now I must shower!”

Spike pressed himself against her from behind “Want some company?” He leaned down and kissed her bare shoulder.

“Let me think about that...” Buffy turned back, grinned and pulled him into the shower with her fully clothed.

Not that he minded.

---------------------------------------

About an hour or so later when both Buffy and Spike’s skin had started to go all prune-y they had left the shower for the dryness of the bedroom. Buffy was pacing the room in a blue plaid robe that might have at one time belonged to Giles, she was jabbering on about taking Spike to London and that she expected him to show her all his old haunts.

Spike lay on the bed in a pair of old pajama bottoms that had also probably belonged to Giles. He never took his eyes off of Buffy, his arm tucked under his head to keep him half-propped up.

“Oh! We should go to Madame Tussauds! They have some cool wax models there. But, then again, knowing my luck they would all come alive and try and eat my arm or something...” Buffy was still yammering.

He loved her for it.

There was a knock at the door.

Buffy glanced at Spike and raised her eyebrows before calling “Come in”

The door opened slowly and Willow stepped in looking mighty embarrassed to be there. She first noticed Buffy then her gaze fell on Spike in the bed and she quickly looked away back to the Slayer.

“Willow, hey” Buffy walked over and sat on the side of the bed.

“Hey. Are you two healing any better?”

“Yup. Perks of Slayerdom” Buffy looked at Spike “And Vampiredom”

Willow smiled, pushed her hair back behind her ears “Uh, the reason I came over was...I’ve got something to tell you both”

“You’re not really gay?” Spike offered.

Willow scowled “No. And be nice, Mister! This benefits you”

Spike put his hands up “Sorry. Do tell, Red”

“Okay” She nodded and began to pace the room much like Buffy had been doing earlier “So, I called Fred to get a cure for you – oh and Spike, she says to call her – ”

“Will do” He nodded.

“Right, anyway. So she zapped us over a couple of vials of antidote. One was to turn you back into a vampire” Willow paused.

Buffy reached over and took Spike’s hand “Willow, the suspense is killing us”

“Not me” Spike said,

“Not Spike” Buffy nodded.

“I’m immortal” He informed the witch.

Willow glared “Guys!”

“Sorry” They both chorused.

“Right,” She took a deep breath “And the other vial it was to turn you...human”

Buffy’s hand started to squeeze his painfully.

Spike gulped “Human?”

Spike looked at the redhead in front of him and his brain was telling him this was all too much. Too many shocks in such a short space of time. He ripped his hand away from Buffy's death grip and stood abruptly startling Willow.

The vampire looked at her then back to Buffy who had an openly hopeful look on her face. Too much. Too...too much. He turned and stormed to the bathroom slamming the door shut and leaning against it. He really wished he hadn't broken the lock on the door earlier.

Spike slid down to the floor and sat with his back pressed against the door to shut out anyone from coming in. Not that it would stop the Slayer if she really wanted to get in there.

He rested his forehead against his knees and wrapped his arms around his legs. Human. From what he recalled of being a human he had not liked it one bit. Susceptible to illness, frail and breakable, so few years to experience life and then of course there was death. While it was true that Spike had faced death in a way when he had become vampire, and again when he had disintegrated, he had never truly given much thought to actually dying and staying dead. It scared him. The thought of hell terrified him. That was surely where he would go; hell.

Eternal torment. Fire and Brimstone. No, no. That was not for him. Spike wanted to stay immortal, exist forever, see the world change and eventually, when it was inevitable, see the world end.

He couldn't be doing with this 50 years left bull. 50 years? That was nothing to a vampire who had lived almost two centuries.

Humans were weak. He remembered being weak. Being William. He hadn't liked it back then and he sure as hell wouldn't like it now.

"No" He whispered to himself.

There was a knock at the door "Spike?" It was Buffy, she sounded concerned.

Buffy Summers. One of those frail and breakable humans. Okay, maybe not so frail and breakable but still with the short life span. Potentially shorter then most in fact. She was the love of his life. And one day Death would come along and take her from him. Leaving him alone. So much for immortality if you had to be a miserable loner bastard for the rest of your days.

"Spike, talk to me. I know this is a lot but –" Buffy spoke softly through the door.

"It's not a lot!" Spike yelled, standing up and tearing the door open, which in turn caused Buffy to take an instinctive jump back "'Cos I'm not doing it"

Her eyes softened "Don't you think we should talk about this?"

"No!" He roared "I don't want to be human!"

Buffy just blinked, face remaining calm "Why not?"

"Because...being human means being mortal"

"Pretty much the whole concept, yeah" She reached over and took his hands "But have you even considered the good things?"

Spike looked at her, at her hands in his, her skin was so warm against his ice cold flesh. If he was human he would be warm again. He wouldn't have to steal her heat.

Buffy squeezed his hands "You could go out in the day. Into the sunlight"

Spike just looked her in the eyes. He had thought about this, of course. Even before it became a plausible option. When he had gotten his soul back he remembered more of what it had been like to be human. To walk into the bright light and like it and to have the light love him back. Spike had always tried to block out such memories. There was no good in torturing yourself with things you couldn't have.

But he could have it now.

Spike shook his head. He didn't want it.

"You could have kids" Buffy said softly "I mean, so long as your little guys are alright down there"

He looked down at the floor "A bloke like me doesn't deserve kids. That's why vampires can't have kids. It's not right"

The Slayer tilted her head, moved her hand up to place it on his chest "Your heart would beat. You wouldn't need to drink blood anymore. You could have food and actually taste it. Ooh, beer!"

Spike couldn't stop himself smiling "Beer would be good. To actually taste it"

"See" Buffy smiled "All good things. Give me twenty minutes and I'll write you a whole list of –"

"I don't want to go to hell" Spike said, the smile gone from his face.

Buffy's smile also dropped and was replaced by one of confusion. She frowned and her brow crinkled. It almost made Spike's heart beat right then. She was beautiful when perturbed. But he had more important things on his mind.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I told you. When I died...I could feel myself being pulled into hell" He turned his back on her "And if I go back to being human I'll only have fifty years or less. Fifty years is not enough time to atone for what I've done. And I don't want to go to hell"

"Spike," She said softly "You won't go to hell. You saved the world; I think that's got you a few points up"

"How many times has Angel saved the world? And he's still not done"

"Angel was evil long before you were even born...I guess he has more to make up for" Buffy came up behind him and wrap her arms around his waist "You won't go to hell"

He tensed "How can you know that? You don't understand. You're a force of good. You always have been and you already know that you're going to heaven when you die. You – heaven. Me – hell. That's how it works. Even if I can't atone I want to delay it as long as bloody possible"

Buffy spoke against his back "You're scared. I get that"

"I don't think you can" He moved away from her arms and turned back to face her "You're a champion"

"So are you"

"No," Spike shook his head "I'm just a vampire who fell in love with a Slayer. If I hadn't...I never would have tried to be good. I liked being bad"

"It doesn't matter what got you to this stage, Spike" Buffy cupped his face in her hands "It only matters that you got here and that you're good now"

Spike looked down "Either way, I'm not ready to be human"

Buffy grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the bed sitting them both down "Let's talk about this. We'll make the right choice"

"How do you know?"

"Because I'm always right" She grinned "And because together we're pretty much unbeatable"

Spike smiled.

-------------------------------------

As Buffy entered Giles house alone she sucked in a deep breath and steeled herself for the conversation that was about to happen. She set her shoulders and shook her hair out of her face then turned and walked confidently into the living room attempting to make an assertive and not at all nervous entrance.

It turned out that no-one even paid attention to her. So much so that she had to clear her throat loudly, twice!

Eventually she got their attention. Dawn was sitting on the couch and Xander was lying across it with his legs propped up on Dawn's lap, they were watching TV. Willow sat in an armchair reading a book and sipping tea, Giles stood by the window looking out of it as the sun-set outside.

They all turned to look at her and Willow frowned a little bit.

"You okay? I mean I know I left in a hurry but you've been in the cottage for hours" Willow said sitting up straighter.

Buffy nodded, tried for a bright smile "Yeah, I'm good. Spike and I were doing some stuff"

"Eww" Dawn's nose wrinkled.

"Yeah, Buff. For future reference that kind of statement is too much information" Xander nodded.

Buffy shook her head and sighed "Not that stuff. Well, okay there was some of that stuff –"

"Buffy!" Dawn cried "Little sister here – trying not to find out about her sisters freaky sex life"

"It was not freaky...well, maybe a little bit"

"Oh, honestly" Giles rolled his eyes "Please, for the sake of all that is holy, stop!"

The Slayer felt the heat burn up in her cheeks. Check – no more sex talk around the Watcher, little sister of Xander. Willow for her part was giving her up a thumbs up. At least she seemed supportive of Spike and Buffy's relationship. Buffy was pretty sure it was a relationship. Which was actually kinda scary. However, she needed to know how the others felt about it.

"Okay – no more sex talk. But I need to know how you guys feel about this?" Buffy shifted her weight from foot to foot, started wringing her hands "About me and Spike. Together. As in a couple. A relationship. Him as my –"

"We know, Buffy" Dawn rolled her eyes "And I'm okay with it. It's your life, right? You deserve someone who loves you. Spike's done some bad things to you...but if you can see past that then I guess I can"

Buffy bowed her head "Thank you"

Willow spoke next "You know I'm okay with it. I never really had anything against Spike...apart from that time he kidnapped me...and when he tried to kill me...and...okay, not thinking about that anymore. Go, be free! Frolic!" She grinned

"Thanks, Will" Buffy looked at the man on the couch "Xander?"

"You know I'm not Spike's greatest fan" He sat up straight "And, well, that doesn't matter 'cos I'm not dating him. I mean, how very wrong would that be? Anyway, if the guy makes you happy then he makes you happy. Even if I don't understand it. Life's too short. You gotta find the right person and just never let them go. I learnt that from Anya"

Buffy walked over to him and kissed him on the crown of his head "Love you, Xan"

"Right back at ya" He smiled lopsidedly and squeezed her hand "Besides, he's better than Angel....not by much but..."

Buffy slugged him lightly on the arm.

"I think the question is, Buffy, do you love Spike?" Giles spoke up.

Buffy braced herself before turning to face him. She had known that Giles would be the hardest to convince. At one time she would have said Xander would have been her harshest critic but so much had happened to him, to all of them, that everyone had changed.

The Slayer stood up straight and walked slowly over to her Watcher, hands clasped before her and taking a deep, even breath.

"Do I love Spike?" Buffy said aloud to herself, pausing "I guess it depends. If you mean the kind of romanticized, till-all-time, fairytale love...then no. If you mean the real kind – messy, complicated, fighting but still desperate to be around him? Then, yeah, I guess I do"

Giles looked at her with soft, sad eyes; he let out a breath "Buffy..." He reached out and took her hands gently "I'm glad for you"

She smiled a little "But you still don't approve?"

"Give me time," He said.

"You might grow to like Spike"

"That'll be the bloody day" Giles and Spike said simultaneously.

Buffy spun around and saw Spike leaning against the doorframe, he was smiling and she felt a fluttering in her stomach. But a question had to be answered.

"Just how much of that did you hear?" Buffy asked, hands on hips.

Spike made a cross-over-heart gesture "None of it, I swear" He was grinning.

"Liar" She rolled her eyes.

Buffy couldn't stop herself smiling anyway and she walked over to the vampire and stood by his side. She felt his arm go cautiously around her waist. Buffy leaned closer in to him. He exhaled a needless breath.

"So," Willow shifted "Did you guys talk about it?"

Buffy looked at Spike and they nodded.

She looked back at Willow "Yeah, we talked about it"

"About what?" Xander asked, interested.

Buffy ignored him "We decided no"

"Oh" Willow looked very confused.

"It's just he isn't ready for it. We aren't ready for it" Buffy explained.

Spike nodded "Yeah, but keep it on layaway for me, yeah Red?"

Willow smiled "I can do that"

"What are you talking about?" Giles frowned.

Spike smiled "Just an idea Red put across to me. But I realized after a few home truths that I wasn't prepared for it"

"Not yet" Buffy reminded him.

"Right, not yet" He nodded.

Xander's eyebrows rose "Huh?!"

"So, you're kind of dressed up" Willow decided to change the subject.

Buffy looked down at herself. She was in a knee-length black gauze skirt with black flowers embroidered on it; the slip beneath it stopped it from being indecent. On top she wore a dark blue halter-neck top and there was a simple necklace with a royal blue feather as a pendant hanging around her throat.

"Oh, yeah, right" Buffy smiled, stood up straight "Spike and I are going out"

"On an actual date?" Dawn looked surprised.

"I'm taking him to London;" Buffy grabbed his hand "We're going right now. And he's gonna tell me some of his stories from Ye Olde England"

As she started to pull him out of the door Spike said "Oh, yeah? You should hear about the time I met Her Majesty"

"The Queen?! No way!"

"Yeah," Spike's voice floated out to them even as the couple had left "See, old Lizzy was having some car trouble so, I being the gentleman that I am, offered to give her a piggy-back to escort her back to the Palace..."

"SPIKE!" Buffy yelled.

"Ow!" There was a chuckle "No need to get jealous. You can have a ride on Spike too..."

The Scoobies all turned and looked at each other. Giles summed it up.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that"

The End.