Title: Test Subject

Author: Tigerwolf

Timeline: Sometime in S4, I guess. Before they let Spike start roaming around without being tied to something.

Summary: Inspired by something James Marsters said in an online interview. Buffy, left alone to watch a tied up Spike, decides to play with him a bit. And yes, I have a tickling fetish. I know. =) But it's fun!

Author's Notes: Don't worry, Tequila Sunrise and I are still working on our new fic, Ohana: No One Gets Left Behind. The first two chapters should be up this friday. This is just something that I did at 12:36 in the morning when I couldn't sleep. (Does Vanilla Coke keep anyone else up this late?)

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"Buffy!", Giles called into the kitchen of his house. "I have to go out for awhile, something's come up and I may not be back for a few hours. Will you be alright here?"

Buffy came out of the kitchen, munching on a cheese stick. "Yeah." She grinned at her Watcher. "Olivia's in town, isn't she?"

Giles almost blushed. Almost. "Well, yes. But that's not-"

Buffy plopped on his couch. "Don't worry, Giles. I won't tell anyone that you have a date. I like Olivia."

Giles gave a relieved nod, then, "Are you sure that you'll be alright here? I can ask Willow or Xander to come over and help you."

Buffy glanced at the subject of Giles' worries: Spike, tied to a chair in the corner of the room. "Naw. I can handle one annoying, neutered vampire, Giles. If he bothers me, I'll just stake him."

Giles gave a laugh, but then said seriously, "Buffy, you know you can't stake him. We may still need his knowledge of the Initiative."

Buffy exadurated a sigh. "Oh.. Okay. I'll just... stuff something in his mouth if he talks too much."

The Watcher chuckled. "Alright, then. Oh, and make sure to feed him if I'm gone past ten tonight. He's easier to deal with if he eats once every twelve hours or so."

Buffy nodded and waved as Giles left, locking the door behind him. She turned around, looking at Spike, who seemed either asleep, or bored. Sometimes, it was hard to tell. "If you bother me, I'm gonna stuff one of Giles' workout socks in your mouth."

Spike glanced up. Ok. So bored, not asleep. He sneered at her, and almost stuck his tongue out, but stopped himself in time. Just because he was forced to hang out with alot of infantile teenagers, didn't mean he should start acting like one.

Buffy gave a 'humph', and turned around, grabbing the remote and flipping the TV on. Oh! The Price Is Right! This would occupy her for an hour....

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Two hours later, Buffy was bored. There was nothing on TV, and she'd already raided Giles' kitchen, and looked at all his shiny weapons, AND beat the crap out of his punching bag. Twice. She paced back and forth in the living room, trying to decide what to do.

Spike's head went back and forth, back and forth, watching the Slayer pace. He'd had just about enough. It was like watching tennis, and just about as exciting. Finally, he had to say something. "Slayer. Quit your bloody pacing, already. The Watcher won't be happy to come home to a hole in the floor."

Buffy gave him a look. The 'Shut Up Spike', look. He knew that look, and decided to study the weapons on the wall for awhile. Gave a deep sigh. "You know," he continued after a moment. "I'm bored, too. And you don't see me pacing 'round the room."

She rolled her eyes. "You're tied to a chair, moron. What are you going to do? Hop back and forth?"

He snorted at her. "Anything is better than watching you pace. I happen to be trapped here, thank you very much, and can't even turn around, so why don't YOU leave ME alone?"

She walked right up to him and glared down at him. "Shut up. I'm not bothering you. You started talking first. So shut up." She turned and walked back to the couch, flopping down on it again with a sigh.

Spike couldn't help himself. "Or what?"

"I already told you. I'm gonna shove a workout sock in your mouth." She lay there, on her back, trying to figure out something, ANYTHING to do. Then an idea hit her. "What did they do to you when you were at the Initiative?"

He said nothing, so she rolled over, got up on her knees, and looked at him over the back of the couch. "You're allowed to talk when I start the conversation, you know."

He glanced up at her from where he'd apparently been studying his jeans. "Fine. NOW you want me to talk."

She sighed, and made a motion that encompased the whole room. "There's nothing else to do. Besides. Maybe you'll say something useful."

"You really want to know?"

"Yeah. Start at the beginning."

He gave a half chuckle. "They grabbed me. I woke up in a white cell/cage. The shoved the chip in my brain, and did experiments like making me run on a treadmill while vamped and then again without the fangs. All sorts of stuff like that. Barely fed me anything the whole time."

"Anything else?"

"More of the same."

She sighed. She'd hoped this would have been slightly more interesting. Then she got another idea. Got up, went in the kitchen and dragged at chair from the dining table into the living room so that she could sit in front of him. Very close in front of him. Their knees were almost touching. "Vamp."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Why?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Just do it. I wanna see."

He shrugged as best he could and pulled his demon to the fore, allowing his teeth to lengthen into fangs, his eyes to glow golden/yellow, and his forehead to become all bumpy. "Now what?"

She didn't say anything, just cocked her head at him. Stared into his eyes for a moment. "You're eyes are different than Angel's. You've got more gold, and almost no green."

He gave a snort. "We're related, as much as that pains me. But we're not blood brothers. They're supposed to be different."

She brought up a hand and touched his ridged forehead, pushing on the bumps slightly. "Are these bone, or muscle? They feel hard."

"Bone, I think. Feels like the bones of my face shift a little when I do this." He cocked his head at her. "What are you doing, Slayer?"

She shrugged. "I'm bored. I've never examined a vampire up close before, just for the purpose of examination. So, I'm examining. Think of yourself as a test subject." She ran a finger down the bridge of his nose. "Your nose gets all scrunched up."

"Yeah. I think that keeps it out of the way when I bite." He watched her as well. He'd never noticed how nice her skin was. It looked so soft. He found himself wondering what it would be like to touch her cheek, like she was doing to him at that moment.

"Your cheek bones still show, though. Hmm." She tugged on the end of his nose, trying to straighten it out a little, laughed when he sneezed. "Touchy, aren't you?"

He gave a half growl. "No. Don't do that. It hurts to sneeze when I'm like this."

She chuckled. "Sorry." Didn't mean it. Went back to her examination. "Do you breathe all the time, or only to talk?"

"To talk, or when I'm tired. I've been told that I breathe in my sleep sometimes."

She laughed. "Do you snore?"

He gave a half chuckle. "Not that I know of."

She was done examining his face. Sat back. Tried to think of something else to do. Allowed her eyes to travel down his neck, over his black clad chest, and down to where the shirt was hugging his abs. Ah! Inspiration. She reached out with one finger, and poked at his stomach, grinned when he jumped and his face went back to human. "Hmmm. Seems you are touchy." Poked again, more toward his ribs.

Spike snorted, and his eyes got wide. "Slayer... What are you doing?"

She gave him an evil grin. "Just what I said I was. Experimenting." Poked both sides at once and giggled when Spike bit his lip and squirmed. "Mr. Big Bad is ticklish."

His blue eyes got wider and locked on hers. "No. Not at all. Quit it."

She giggled again, and positioned both hands over his ribs. "Then this shouldn't bother you then."

He licked his lips, and his whole body tensed. It was true, and he knew it. He'd always been ticklish. Excruciatingly so. And hated it. "Slayer.. Don't do what I think you're going to do..."

She grinned. "You mean.. this!?" Her fingers decended, wiggling like mad, onto his sensitive ribs. Spike tried to hold it in, but she was playing his ribs like piano keys, and he couldn't take it. He started laughing like crazy, and trying to hop the chair away from her, but it didn't work. She worked his ribs over good then moved on to his stomach, resisting the urge to dig in, knowing from personal experience that the lighter the touch, the more it tickled. Spike was giggling and laughing like mad now, tossing his head back and forth simply because that was the only thing he could move.

"Slayer... Stoooop!", he gasped out. To his suprise, she did.

She sat back, giggling as she watched the now panting vampire. "Oh God..", she laughed. "This is too good. If I had only known this three years ago, you'd be dust now."

Spike was still breathing hard, but he was also realizing something. Now that she'd stopped, he actually wanted her to start up again. When he'd been tickled in the past, the tickler would always dig into his ribs, admitedly eliciting loud and prolonged laughter, but Spike absolutely hated it. The way Buffy had been doing it, lightly, was a whole different sensation. And he found, to his great shock, that he had enjoyed that! He looked up at her. She seemed to be thinking. This could not be good. "What.. what's on your mind, Slayer?", he panted out.

She grinned at him. "I was just thinking that I'm gonna do that again. But! I have an idea."

The vampire swallowed, and gave her a half grin. "Ok."

She froze, looked at him. " 'Ok'?"

He chuckled and nodded. "That was... kind of fun."

She laughed. "Oh goody. Then I'm gonna roll up your shirt, this time."

He blanched. "What?"

She nodded. "Oh yeah. Right on the skin is the best way to tickle someone." She raised an eyebrow. "Unless you're scared..?"

He snorted at her. "I'm not scared of you or anything, Slayer. Bring it on."

She grinned. "Ok." Leaned forward, rolling his shirt up to his armpits. "Hold your arms up out a bit, ok?" He did as she asked, and she shoved the sides of the rolled up shirt under his arms. "Clamp down." He did, effectivly pinning his shirt up. "Good..." She couldn't help but notice his abs. They'd been impressive with the shirt down, but now... Yummy.. NO! Bad Slayer. It's SPIKE for crying out loud!

He must have noticed her focus. "Somethin' wrong, Slayer?"

She snapped up, then covered quickly, "Uh. Nope. Just deciding how best to start this." Evil grin again. "I think I found the spot." Her eyes had locked on his bellybutton, which was totally exposed just above the waist band of his jeans.

His eyes grew wide, and he licked his lips again. "Alright. I'm ready." He was tensed up, but not as much as before.

She grinned. "Ok." She took one finger, and began tracing the lines of his abs. Spike began to giggle quietly almost immediatly. She brought her other hand up and played the fingers up and down one set of well muscled ribs. Spike started laughing harder. But when her finger found the spot just above his belly button, he went totally nuts, throwing his head around and laughing hysterically. She laughed along with him and brought the other hand down to play near his belly button as well. After about ten minutes of this, they both needed another break. Buffy had been laughing almost as hard as Spike had been. She leaned back in her chair, giggling. "I think this is the most fun I've ever had with you, Mortal Enemy."

He chuckled. "Yeah.. Same goes.." He was breathing hard. "I think I need some water..."

She laughed and got up. "Me too." Went into the kitchen and got two glasses of water, one with a straw so she wouldn't have to untie him. She sat back down, taking a long drink from her glass, then held the other one out to Spike, who latched onto the straw and sucked down half the glass in under ten seconds. "Whoa, slow down there. You can get a cramp drinking like that, you know."

He stopped drinking and settled back in his chair again. "Not me. I only get cramps when I'm in one position too long."

She cocked her head. "Have you been sitting there too long?" All the venom that was usually in both of their tones was missing. They were talking like.. friends, almost.

He shook his head. "Naw. Rupert moves me around a bit, so I don't get cramped. I'm fine." He grinned at her. "Are we done now?"

She shook her head. "Not yet.. I got somethin' I wanna try." She got up and walked over to where she'd left her purse on the coffee table, began rooting through it. "Where is that stupid thing?"

"What're you lookin' for?"

"My make up kit."

Spike sat up straight. "Now wait a minute! You aren't giving me a make over!"

She laughed. "That didn't even occur to me. I want the brush that's in the blush."

He chuckled, wondering why everything was suddenly so funny. "Blush brush.." Chuckled again.

She shook her head. "You need help. Seriously. AH!" She held up the item in question. "Found it." She blew the excess blush off the brush and brought it over with her to sit back down in her chair again. "This," she said, showing him the brush. "Is very soft, almost like a feather. I don't have a feather, and this was the first thing I thought of. See?" She ran it down his stomach, causing him to snort out a giggle. "Perfect, isn't it?"

He licked his lips again. When had that become such a habit? "Yeah. Uh.. Slayer.. I really don't know how much more of this I can take. Seriously. I'm starting to feel really tired from laughing so hard."

She giggled. "Yeah. I know. Me too, actually." She grinned at the brush, then at him. "But do you really want to pass this up? I know you like this. You don't even beg for me to stop."

He ducked his head for an instant. "I never did before." Chuckled at himself and looked back up at her. "But you're right. This is fun. If tiring. And I do want to see what that brush can do."

She laughed. "Figured. And don't you mean 'feel' what it can do?"

He half grinned. "Yeah. Good point." She gave him a smile, and wiggled the brush down his bare side, while running a finger up and down his stomach with the other hand. He was instantly in hysterics this time. By the time she'd brought the brush down to wiggle it in and around his belly button, he had tears streaming down his face from laughing so hard. Finally, after another good fifteen minutes of that exquisitely maddening torture, she stopped. They both took a couple of moments to stop laughing completely, and Buffy got up and got a tissue to wipe the laughter induced tears from Spike's cheeks. He was panting again, and still hadn't quite stopped laughing yet, a quiet giggle escaping him here and there. She gently pulled his shirt down again, and settled back in her chair, waiting for him to calm down completely. It took a couple of minutes.

Finally, Spike looked up at her, a kind of goofy grin on his face. She had the feeling that she looked about the same way. Neither of them had laughed like that in a long time. Maybe even years. Both of them were on an endorphin induced high at that moment, and feeling really good. Spike chuckled. "I'm itchy now."

She laughed, and, without a second thought, she reached over and scratched his sides and stomach gently. "Better?"

He made a quiet rumbling sound, and looked suprised at himself for it. "Uh.. Yeah.."

She cocked her head. "What was that?"

"What?"

"That sound you just made. You're still doing it. Just quieter." She smiled a little. "Sounds like a happy cat."

He shook his head and grinned at her. "You hit it on the head. I'm bloody purring."

She laughed. "Seriously?"

He chuckled. "Yeah. I haven't purred in... I don't even remember when it was."

"Is it like a cat? Means you're happy?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Contented. Relaxed. Happy. All those things." Chuckled. "Not words I usually associate with you, though."

She chuckled. "Yeah. Things change, I guess." Gave him a considering look. "You're okay, I guess. For a bloodsucking fiend."

He laughed. "Don't let word get around that I said this, but you're pretty alright, too. For a Slayer."

She gave a grin, then frowned at his ropes. "That can't be comfortable. If I untie you, you won't try to run away, right?"

He cocked his head at her. "You're serious?"

Nodded. "Yeah. I am. Promise not to run away, though."

He nodded. "Okay. I promise." Glanced outside. "I don't really want to, anyway. There are things out there that don't like me."

She went behind his chair and began working at the ropes that held his hands. "Yeah. They don't care much for me, either." Got one hand free, then winced when she saw the rope burns on his wrist. "God. Giles really tied you tight, didn't he?" She took his wrist in her hand and examined it. "When I get you untied, I'll get the first aid kit. Wrap these up a little."

He fishmouthed slightly. "Okay..." Since when was she THIS nice to him? He grinned. He could get to like this arrangement.

She got the other hand free and found that the wrist was worse on that side. "Can you untie your legs? I'm gonna go get the aid kit now. I really don't like the looks of those burns." He nodded, and she got up and headed for the bathroom to retreive the kit.

He untied his legs and stood up, stretching. It sure felt good to be off that hard chair. He turned around and grabbed the back of the chair, using it to stretch his back, yawning widely and showing fangs for an instant. Buffy came back as he wound the stretch down and shook his head a little. She grinned at him. "Hey. Come sit on the couch, so I can see your wrists."

He followed her to the couch and sat down at one end. She sat close and put the first aid kit on her lap. "Gimme a hand."

He couldn't help himself, he clapped. To his suprise, she laughed. "Not that kind of hand, you sack of stupid." There was no anger behind the insult. It was more like the way she would insult that Harris wanker, than him. She took one of his hands, the one with the worst rope burns, and began to gently clean them with antiseptic. He winced at the sting. She gave him a 'sorry' look, and kept cleaning the wrist. Then she wrapped some gauze around it and taped it in place, and then repeated the preformance with the other wrist. "There you go. All fixed. Better?"

He smiled at her. Not a smirk, not a grin, a smile. "Yeah. Thanks, Sl- Buffy."

She grinned. "Don't call me Buffy. Makes me feel weird. You never call me Buffy. Stick to Slayer."

He chuckled. "Ok, Slayer. Whatever you say." He yawned, prompting her to do the same.

"On't ooh at," she said around the yawn. Yawning Person to English translation? 'Don't do that.' "It's contagious."

He laughed. "Yeah. I know. Sorry." He picked up the remote. "What's on the telly?"

She made a face. "Can't you just say 'TV' like a normal person?" She reached for the remote. "Gimme."

He pulled back. "Nuh-uh. I want to do IT!" The 'it' went up a notch because she started tickling his stomach. He promptly dropped the remote, and she snatched it up, scooting to the other end of the couch and sticking her tongue out at him. He shook his head. "That's cheating, Slayer."

She laughed, flipping the TV on. "Yeah. I know." Flipped channels for a moment. Paused. "Ooh! Terminator 2!" She looked at him. "You should like this. Lots of violence and fake blood."

He chuckled. "I prefer the real thing."

"The violence, or the blood?"

"Both."

She chuckled. "Yeah. Sometimes I do, too. But not now. I'm too tired to fight." She grinned at him. "You wore me out with all your contagious laughing."

He laughed a little. "Tickling me was your idea, Slayer. And for your information, I'm tired, too."

She grinned. "Yeah. I know." Looked at the TV. "Oh! It's the part where that liquid guy impales the kid's adopted dad!"

Spike chuckled at her enthusiasm, and turned his attention to the TV as well. The fake blood in this particular movie did have a nice semblance of realism to it...

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Three hours later, a key turned in the lock and Giles came in. He froze when he realized that Spike's chair was empty. He started to call for Buffy, a panic rising in his mind and heart, but then he caught sight of her hair over one arm of the couch. He walked toward the couch slowly, almost crying when the thought that Buffy could be dead came to his mind. Memories of finding Jenny Calender's body in his bed flashed unbidden to the forefront of his mind. He reached the couch and swallowed, preparing for what he was sure he would find: Buffy's dead body, left there by Spike. But, what he did find nearly made him collapse with relief, and DID make him scratch his head in a very confused manner. First of all, he could hear not one, but two deep breathing sounds coming from the couch. That calmed him a little, and also confused him a bit. Two breathing? Not one? Ok, Rupert. Time to look.

He leaned over the couch, and had to physically restrain himself from making a very loud shocked sound. Thinking he wasn't seeing right, he walked around one end of the couch, and looked from the front. Nope. He'd seen right the first time.

Buffy was laying stretched out along the couch, her head on the pillow by one arm, in a deep sleep. This was not the shocking thing, however. Spike was in the exact same position, with his head at the other end of the couch, bandages around his wrists, and a contented smile on his sleeping face. That too, wasn't that unusual. Giles had let Spike out a couple of times, so that he'd stop complaining, and he had gone to sleep on the couch before, but what shocked the Watcher was that the Slayer's and the vampire's legs were tangled up, since they were occupying the same space on the couch. Both sleepers had happy looks on their faces, and Spike was making a deep purring sound in his sleep, along with breathing in the exact same rhythm as Buffy. In at the same time, out at the same time. Totally in sync. Giles decided against waking either of them up, partially because their tangled legs assured that one could not get up without waking the other.

Giles reached down and gently extracted the remote from Buffy's hand, switching off the TV, which was showing a test pattern, anyway, and put the remote on the coffee table. He picked up the empty Kiss The Librarian mug, which Spike had obviously had blood in, two glasses, two empty coke cans, and a big bowl with some popcorn still in the bottom. He shook his head as he took the items into the kitchen. When he'd left that evening, he'd been afraid that he'd come home to either a pile of dust in the chair, or Spike in a closet, or something equally likely for Buffy to do to him, if the vampire'd annoyed her. He had not been expecting to come home to them sleeping on the couch together after having an apparent popcorn party. He finished washing out the mug, glasses, and bowl, and started to head upstairs to bed, with one last glance at the pair on the couch. They hadn't moved since he'd first seen them, and he suspected that they'd probably be that way all night. Oh well. Buffy deserved a night off every now and then.

Still, as he walked up to bed, he couldn't help but wonder what had brought on this sudden and total reversal of Buffy and Spike's opinions of each other. He shook his head. He'd ask Buffy in the morning.

Meanwhile, the Slayer and vampire continued to sleep, aware of the other's presence, but not worried in the least. Spike's deep purr continued to rumble from the unconcious vampire's chest, and he smiled in his sleep. Buffy also smiled, lost in a most intriguing dream involving Spike, feathers, a blush brush, and his ribs. Hmmm. She'd have to try that tomorrow......

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Part 2:

Disclaimer, Summary, ect.: See chap 1...

Author's Notes: Ok. This story has been up for about six hours now (it's 11 am and I uploaded between three and four) and already there's three requests for continuances. So, I'm gonna continue. But, let me set the record straight here. The highest rating I write is R and that's for language. If the rating on this one does go up, it will be no higher than PG-13 unless I decide to bring in a Big Bad, like Adam, and rewrite a few episodes. I missed most of S4, when it first aired, but I saw it in reruns, so I might rewrite something, or I might just make mentions, just to be safe. Anyway, right now, I'm taking the rating up to PG, just to be safe. If there winds up being a 'sex scene', which I doubt, but might happen, it will be a fade out/morning after scene. Like the end of Smashed and the beginning of Wrecked. That's just the way I write. Moral reasons. Same thing with Tequlia Sunrise and myself on our collaborations. Oh, and 'Ohana: No One Gets Left Behind' WILL have at least two fade out/morning after scenes, but not until chapter... Uh.. Thirteen, I think. That's it, for now, I think. If I think of anything else, I'll put it at the end of this chap. Look what you've done. You've *forced* me to write another chapter. LOL. J/K. I want to write more, or I wouldn't be. Oh, also, since this is an alternate S4, Dawn exists. Just because I love writing Dawn/Spike friendship scenes.

BTW, no, I don't know the address of the interview. I found it by doing this search on yahoo: James Marsters ticklish.
A lot of hits will come up, you can either weed through them, or add the word 'chair' to the search, lol. That might help. Other than that, sorry.

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Buffy woke up slowly, yawning and stretching a little, only to find that something was hindering the movement of her legs. She blinked a little, and looked at her surroundings. Giles' house. Living room. Couch. Spike. Spike? Sure enough, it was Spike that her legs were tangled in. Or, rather, his legs. She sat up slightly, smiling at him. The vampire's hair was tousled and curly, probably from nuzzling the couch pillow all night. It was kind of cute, really... WHAT was she thinking?! Cute and Spike do not go together. Right?

Spike moved around a little, snuggling down against the couch pillows again. She couldn't help the mental 'awwww' that went through her. He looked like a little boy, not wanting to get up for school. Still, if she wanted the use of her legs, she'd have to wake him up. Even if she didn't want to. She tapped one of his legs gently. "Spike? Hey, wake up. I have to pee. Spike?"

The vampire made a totally nonsensical noise and tried to stick his head between the couch cushions. "Mgnt."

She couldn't help but giggle a little. He was harder to wake up than Dawn. "Spike." Poked at his leg again. "Wake up. I'm serious. I don't want to knock you off the couch, but I have to pee, and if you don't move, you're coming with me."

"..sleepin'. Go 'way."

She sighed, and considered her prediciment. Her coke was calling her to the bathroom, but she was tangled in a vampire. Who was.. She smiled when she realized that he was still purring. It was alot quieter than before, but there. That did it. She couldn't very well throw him off the couch, not after he'd purred to her all night. She layed her head back down and tried to figure out a way to wake him up without knocking him off the couch, or really bugging him at all. If he wanted to go back to sleep, she wanted to let him. Then, an idea. Remembering the previous night, she sat up slightly, and squeezed experimentally at one of his jean clad knees. The response was instantanious. Spike made a snorting sound and jerked his legs, both of them, up to his chest for an instant. That was all she needed. With her Slayer speed, she was off the couch and down the hall to the bathroom before he'd even straightened his legs back out. Whew. Coke is evil like that. Interrupt a perfectly good moment, just to go pee. Evil Coca-cola.

After a few minutes, Buffy returned to the living room carrying a blanket from the hall closet, and layed the blanket over Spike, who was now totally back asleep. She stood there for a moment, watching him sleep. She looked at his hair, considered. It almost didn't look like it was mussed. Could it be that it was naturally curly? Was that why he kept it slicked back all the time? Looks soft... She reached a hand out and gently ran it over his curls. It is soft, she thought to herself. After all he does to it, I wonder how he gets it to stay soft? It was a mystery, just like the rest of him. She continued petting his hair for a couple more moments, allowing it to curl around her fingers. Sighed. He wasn't that bad, really. Not when he wasn't trying to be. She wondered why she hadn't seen it before.

Oh well. She stopped petting the vampire and walked over to relax in Giles' recliner. She took the blanket that was over the back and layed it over herself, getting comfortable. Yawned. Absently wondered when her Watcher had gotten home the night before, then slowly dozed off.

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In another couple of hours, Giles came downstairs. He was still mostly asleep, so he didn't even look into the living room as he went into the kitchen to start the coffee pot. Finally, after allowing only one cup to drip, the Watcher grew impatient and poured the cup quickly, actually managing to get the pot back onto the burner before any coffee dripped onto it. He sighed. There was a time, not too long ago, when he'd thought of coffee as a 'strange American custom'. Now, he could barely start a day without it. Damn teenagers. It was all their fault, he knew it. It had to be their fault... Took a sip, swallowed. Oh, who was he kidding? As if there wasn't caffeine in tea.

He walked out of the kitchen, intending to get his morning paper and sit down in his recliner, and just- Ok. Buffy was in the recliner. Well. No problem. He'd just go over to the cou- And Spike is on the couch. Giles sighed and went to the dining table instead. But there were two chairs missing from that as well. Well. Still two chairs left. He sat down and opened his paper. Not as comfortable as the recliner, or the couch, but it would do.

Hearing the paper rustling woke up the Slayer in the recliner. She shifted slightly, and then stretched and got up. She glanced at the couch, and gave a half smile to see that Spike was still asleep. Then she turned to the dining room, and nearly squeaked when she saw Giles looking at her over his paper. Recovered quickly, though. "Hey, Mr. Watcher Man. When'd you get home?" She picked up one of the chairs from the living room and put it back in the dining room, then sat on it.

Giles folded the paper and regarded his Slayer with interest. "Oh.. Around midnight. When did you untie Spike?"

She gave him a blank look. Then the events of the previous night flashed into her mind. Uh-oh. "Uh.. He.. Uh.. said that his wrists were bothering him, so I untied him to check, and then we.. watched.. Terminator 2.." Her voice had gotten progressively quieter as she continued, and by the time she got to the word 'two', it was barely a whisper. She looked up at him with big eyes. "Are you mad at me?"

Giles sighed. No. Of course he wasn't mad. How could he be when she was giving him the 'Little Lost Girl' face? "No, Buffy. I'm not mad at you." Picked up his paper again. "So. I take it he was agreeable to remaining in the house, then?"

Buffy nodded. She couldn't tell Giles too much. She couldn't figure out exactly what had come over her the last night. Playing with a vampire. She must have had something weird to eat or something. But that wouldn't explain why she'd still been feeling the same way that morning. And still did. Absolutely none of her previous apathy for the vampire was in her system. She felt like he was... was.. was what? A friend? "Maybe friend is too strong a word.."

"Excuse me?"

Buffy nearly had a heart attack. She'd said that last part out loud! Ah! Think fast. "There was a cat... outside.. and Dawn was feeding it.. and she said that it was her friend, and I said that it's a va- cat. It's a cat. Maybe friend is too strong a word, ya know?"

Giles held up his newspaper to hide a half grin. She obviously didn't know that he'd seen them on the couch. So he told her. Her eyes got real big, and she covered her face with her hands. Then looked at him imploringly. "Don't tell anyone, please, Giles?"

Giles nodded. "Don't worry. To tell you the truth, I was kind of getting used to him. I was wondering how I'd tell you that I was thinking of letting him roam around. On a trial basis, you understand."

Buffy gave a relieved grin. "Thank you, Giles." She laughed a little. "Want to know what really happened last night? The whole thing?" Sheepish grin. "I left some stuff out before."

Giles chuckled. "I figured as much. Sure."

So she told the whole story. Still leaving out a couple of things that she was certain that her Watcher wouldn't want to hear. Like the fact that Spike had incredible abs, and that his eyes were so pretty. Both when vamped, and normally. Especially when they glistened after he'd been laughing for awhile. Then they were the most beautiful shade of blue. Like a sapphire, with dew on it, shining in the sunlight...

"Buffy?", Giles said, waving his hand in front of her face a bit. "Buffy? Hello?"

She snapped back. "Huh? Oh.. Sorry, Giles. I was thinking." Yeah. Thinking. More like watching as her train of thought derailed. Damn Spike. Damn Spike and his beautiful eyes... "Huh?"

"I said, what were you thinking about?"

She shook her head. "Nothing important. Just wondering when sleeping vampy in there's gonna wake up."

"About ten minutes ago," came a British voice from the living room.

Buffy jumped in her chair. She turned around a little, seeing Spike slowly making his way into the kitchen. He was moving warily, like he expected her or Giles to jump up and tie him to something. She gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "Hey."

The vampire paused in his tracks and just leaned against the wall. "Morning." His posture was tense, and his eyes kept shifting between the Slayer and her Watcher.

Giles stood, and Spike instinctivly took a step back, but the Watcher was only going into the kitchen for a coffee refill. Spike's eyes followed Giles, untill he sat back down at the table, then they resumed jumping between him and Buffy. "Well?"

Giles took a sip of coffee. "Well, what, Spike?"

He gestured to himself. "Aren't one of you going to tie me back up again?"

Buffy cocked her head at him. "You *want* us to tie you up?"

His eyes widened. "Well.. no. But isn't that what you're going to do?"

Giles shook his head. "Buffy and I have been discussing it, and we believe that it is probably a good idea to allow you more mobility." He gestured toward the vampire's bandaged wrists. "The ropes don't seem to agree with you."

Spike looked shocked. He looked at Buffy for confirmation. She nodded. "You can walk around. Just don't leave the house. Without me or Giles with you, that is."

He just stood there, looking like he needed to sit down. "Ok. What's the joke? What happened? Why are you two being nice to me?" He looked honestly confused, and maybe even slightly scared.

Buffy stood up slowly, watching as his eyes locked on her as they had with Giles. She walked slowly to him. "Spike. We're not going to hurt you." She gently layed one hand on his arm, suprised to feel him tense up. "I thought you were alright with me touching you."

He nodded, then leaned against the wall again. "Yeah... Sorry." But he didn't relax.. much.

She sighed, then turned to her Watcher. "Giles, can you gimme a minute here?"

Giles nodded, got up, and took his newspaper and coffee upstairs.

Spike stood there, regarding the Slayer with a confused look. She sighed annoyedly, grabbed him by the arm and yanked him into the living room semi-roughly. Plopped him on the couch and crouched down in front of him. "*What* is wrong with you?"

He just stared at her. "*Me*? You're the one who's being so nice to me all of a sudden."

She threw her hands up. "I thought you'd LIKE that!"

"I do!"

She sat on the coffee table. "Then why are you so nervous today? I thought we had fun last night." She gently reached over and ran a finger down his stomach.

He gave a half grin. "Yeah. We did." He cocked his head. "So.. You actually meant it? I can stay untied?"

She laughed and shifted to sit on the couch next to him. "Yeah. We meant it." She looked at him. "Why were you so worried, anyway?"

"It's stupid."

She grinned. "Come on. I know your deepest, darkest secret, Mr. Ticklish Vampire." She poked his ribs playfully.

He snorted. "You really want to know?"

"Yeah."

He chuckled. "I was worried that it might have been a dream. Or that you might be setting me up for some reason." He very slowly, tentitively placed a hand on her arm. "I enjoyed you... playing with me. And watching the movie, eating popcorn, drinking coke." Withdrew his arm. "I didn't want it to end."

She had been chewing on her lip absently, but she released it and reached out to pull his arm back. She held his forearm in her hand, gently. "Now grab me."

He cocked his head, glancing down at her hand on his arm. "What?"

She sighed. "Just do it."

He complied, gripping her forearm as she was his. "Now what?"

She bit her lip again. "Giles taught me this. It's the strongest kind of handshake. Used to seal important deals." She took a deep breath. "I want to make a pact with you. For as long as we know each other, from now on, I want us to be equals. Friends."

Spike cocked his head at her. "You mean it?"

She swallowed, but nodded. "I'm not saying we won't fight. God knows I can't promise that. I'll still annoy you, and you'll still bug me. The only thing that will change is the form." She took another deep breath. "Think of this as another test. Only this time, we're both the test subjects."

He watched her, his blue eyes focusing on her green ones, searching for any signs of duplicity, or humor that would warn him that she wasn't serious. There were none. He slowly nodded, and moved their joined arms up and down. "Yeah. Okay. Another test." They released each other's arms at the same moment. Spike cocked his head at her. "And what if we fail the test?"

She shrugged. "We'll cross that dam when we come to it."

"Bridge."

She raised an eyebrow. "What bridge?"

He chuckled. "You said 'dam', it's bridge. We'll cross that *bridge* when we come to it."

She shook her head and laughed. "Yeah. I knew that. I wonder why I said dam."

He laughed. "Don't look at me, Slayer. It's your world, I just unlive in it."

She chuckled at his pun. "You'd better believe it, Evil Dead."

It was about then that Giles came in. "Have you two worked this out?"

They nodded.

"Ah, good." He handed Buffy a very old book. "I thought you might be interested in this." He glanced at Spike. "Both of you. Buffy told me about your experiments last night."

It was Spike's turn to bite his lip, although he released quickly when he realized that he was unconciously imitating the Slayer. Cleared his throat. "What's the book?"

Buffy turned it over, examined the cover. "It's not in english, Giles. I don't read non-english."

Spike leaned over and looked at the cover. Grinned. "A History Of Vampires And Their Quirks, eh?"

Buffy gaped at him. "*You* can read THIS?!"

He chuckled. "Yeah. It's in a combination of latin and vampiric. No problem for me." Chuckled. "Well, I know a little latin. But enough of it's in vampiric that I can prolly figure out the rest."

Buffy looked down at the book, then at the vampire. "Can you show me?"

He grinned. "Sure. What're friends for?"

Giles chuckled. "Well, I'm going out for awhile again. So, enjoy the book. Have fun."

As he headed out the door, Buffy called playfully, "Have fun, yourself, Giles!" There was no answer from the Watcher besides a key locking the door. Once he was gone, Buffy settled back and opened the book. "What's this say?"

Spike looked at it, then laughed. "First Edition, published 1163."

She pouted. "You are not serious."

He chuckled. "I am serious. And the next page is the table of contents."

She grinned. "Ok, so what're the chapters about?"

He grinned. "Let's just start at the beginning." He turned the page. "Chapter One, Vampire's Classic Likes and Dislikes."

She smiled and layed the book across both their laps, then leaned to rest her head on his shoulder. "I'll just look at the pictures. You read."

He tensed up a bit when she leaned on him, but relaxed after a moment. "Ok. Part One: How To Relax A Male Vampire..."

"Hmmmm. Velly, velly, interlestin'...", Buffy said with a very faked german accent.

Spike chuckled. "Who's reading here?"

Small laugh. "Sorry. Continue."

"Okay...."

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=================
Chapter 3
What Vampires Want
=================



"Come on, Spike! Please?", Buffy said to the hall closet door. Spike had locked himself in there when she'd suggested experimenting with some of the stuff that they'd been reading about.

"Uh-uh. No bloody way on the Hellmouth, Slayer," came the reply. "I am staying in here untill the Watcher gets back."

Buffy pouted. "But he might not be back for HOURS!!" Tugged on the doorknob. "Don't you trust me?"

In the closet, Spike considered. That time the previous day, the answer would have been a vement 'hell no'. Now.. Well.. "Yeah. I trust you. I'm just not sure how much yet."

She grinned. "Well? What better way to find out?" Grinned wider when the door opened slightly. "Come on. I promise only to do what you'll let me do. Just tell me what the book says, and I'll do it. The book said that you'll enjoy it, remember?"

He opened the door further and came out, chewing on his lip. Glanced down at the book in his hands. "Okay. But this is only a test, right? If I want you to stop, you will, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Of course." Considered crossing her fingers, but decided against it. She wanted this friendship to work.

Spike gave a half grin. "Alright. Let's go." They walked into the living room, and sat back on the couch. Spike opened the book, and chuckled at the little scraps of paper with translations that Buffy had insisted that he tape to the pages so that she could read the table of contents. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

She cocked her head and read the translations. She'd always been good at remembering what a book said, but as for where in the book it was... Well, that was harder. Hence the translated table of contents. Grinned and pointed. "That one. 'Pleasure Causing Weaknesses'."

Spike looked down at the book, chewed his lip again, and turned to the right page. "Gimme a minute to get the translations up for you."

She nodded and leaned against his shoulder as he read the index and scribbled on the legal pad that he was using for the translations. Spike found it a bit hard to concentrate when she was leaning on him for some reason, but managed to get the index up and taped to the page. "There you go. Find something that interests you."

She read down it and giggled. "This one I already knew. 'Light touch stimulations causing prolonged laughter'." Poked his ribs.

Spike chuckled. "Ok, we've already experimented with that one. Pick another one."

She grinned up at him. "But I like that one. And you do too, you know."

He shook his head. "Later. Maybe. You said you wouldn't do anything that I didn't want you to do, remember?"

Pout, but nod of agreement. "Okay. I'll pick something el- Ooh! Look at this! 'Sensitive to gentle rubbing and scratching. Upper body'. I like that one." Looked up at him. "Can I?"

He thought for a moment. There was still a part of him that was saying that she was going to stake him at any moment, but it had gotten alot quieter since the previous night's bout of tickling. He shrugged. "Let me read the details first."

"Okay. Hurry." She bounced slightly in her seat. "I want to play."

He chuckled. "God, Slayer. What did you have for breakfast?"

She cocked her head. "I don't think I had breakfast." Got up. "While you read, I'm gonna get some food. Want anything?"

He shook his head, then changed his mind. "Could you get me some blood?

"Okay." She headed for the kitchen.

Spike returned his attention to the book. 'Make sure vampire is relaxed and comfortable before preforming any of the following exercises..' He wrote down the translations on the legal pad as he read. It helped sometimes to be ambidexterous.

A few minutes later, Buffy returned with a mug of warm blood, and a sandwich for herself. "Here you go," she said, handing the mug to the vampire, who had finished his translation only moments earlier. She sat down. "Can I see now?"

He nodded, not taking his mouth off the straw, and handed her the legal pad. She grinned and read the whole thing while she ate her sandwich. In about ten minutes, both of them had finished their meals, and Buffy was finishing reading the translation. When she was done, she looked up at Spike. "Okay. It says you have to be relaxed and comfortable. Maybe.. Uh.. Lie down."

He nodded, and stretched out across the couch on his stomach. He had to curl his legs at the knees and rest his knees against the arm of the couch to allow her enough room to still sit. She shook her head and stood up. "Uh-uh. Stretch out the whole way. I'll get the chair from over there."

He did as she asked as she got the chair that he'd been tied to less than twenty four hours earlier and carried it over to in front of the couch. She sat down and looked at him. He had his head pillowed on his arms and was watching her. "You ready?", she asked.

"Yeah, I guess. Tell me what you're going to do, though."

She reached out and slowly began rubbing small circles where his ribs curved and met his back. "Just like the book said. Gentle rubbing."

Spike lay there, a warm, peaceful feeling seeming to flow from her hands, to his side, up his spine, and just spread out until he felt so relaxed that he was almost asleep. It was sheer will that kept his eyes open and locked on her.

She smiled at him, feeling as all the tension flowed from his body. She widened her rubbing to include more of his back, until she was basically giving him a massage. Spike's eyes closed, then reopened, then closed again as her hands found the weak spot in between his shoulder blades. She smiled, liking how good she was making him feel. "I'm guessing the book was right, then, huh? Total relaxation?"

The vampire grunted an affirmative, causing Buffy to giggle a little. He was too relaxed to talk. Time to stop. She sat back, waited for him to open his eyes. It took awhile, and when he finally did open them, he blinked several times, and then shook his head to clear it. Looked over at Buffy with a grin very similar to the one he'd had the previous night. "Hey."

She grinned back. "Hi. Almost put you to sleep there, didn't I?"

Sheepish nod. "Now what?"

She glanced down at the legal pad. "Hmm. Take off your shirt, I think. And lay on your back this time."

He tensed up a little. Laying on his back around a Slayer defied every instinct he had. It was a totally vulnerable position, in which he had little or no hope of defending himself should she choose to stake him. But... Trust. He had to trust her. He did trust her, mostly. Swallowed. "Uh... Okay." Licked his lips, and did as she asked.

She frowned slightly when she saw him tense. Hmm. Nervous again. She'd have to fix that. Once he was in position, she reached out a tentitive hand and layed it palm down on his stomach. His muscles were tensed, and he tried to relax them, but they just weren't listening to him at that moment. He swallowed again and watched her as her other hand came up to join the first one.

She's warm, he thought. And it did feel nice. Kept watching as she began rubbing circles as she had on his back. Rubbing his stomach and ribs as if he were her pet dog. That warm feeling started again, and soon the stubborn tense muscles had totally relaxed.

She smiled when she was sure that he'd relaxed, then shifted from rubbing to a nice, hard scratching. She laughed quietly when Spike closed his eyes and let out a happy moan. She kept up her scratching, going up to his chest, then down to his bellybutton, then back up again. Oh, he was loving this. The look on his face was absolutely adorable. Eyes closed, mouth slightly open, the corners turned up in a gentle smile. Then the purring started, quiet at first, then louder and louder the more she scratched.

After about twenty minutes of this, Spike was on the verge of either going to sleep, or vibrating himself off the couch from all the purring. Buffy decided that it was time for a new game. She kept scratching, but slowly lightened the touches, watching his face carefully. The moment he was on to what she was doing, she'd pull out all the stops. She didn't want to catch him completely off guard, though. It might cause him to drop all the trust that she was earning. She moved the now extremely light scratching completely onto his ribs.

Spike twitched, and his eyes opened. Locked on Buffy's. Caught the look she was giving him. Half grinned. "Now... Slayer.."

"It's later." He knew now. He was ready. She cut loose, tickling his ribs with everything she had. It was alot harder when he could move around, rather than be tied to a chair. He bucked like crazy and kept trying to escape by rolling off the couch, but she hopped off the chair and sat on his legs to keep him from moving around quite so much. Spike was absolutely hysterical, howling with laughter as he desparately tried to get Buffy off of him. She was tickling his ribs, stomach, and kept reaching up to his armpits when he'd try to grab the couch arm to pull himself away from her. It was too much, far too much. Then, an idea. Fight back.

He'd been trying to grab her hands, but now his hands had a different aim. They found their way to her ribs and began to tickle furiously. Buffy squealed and laughed, trying to twist away from him and keep tickling him at the same time. "Stooooppp!!", she gasped out.

"Yoooou fiiiiirrstt!" He found a particularly sensitive spot on her stomach, and dug in mercilessly. Buffy gave a loud squeal and her hands left his stomach to grab at his hands. That was the opening he needed. He jerked his legs out from under her, rolled off the couch, nearly tripped over the coffee table, and took off up the stairs with the Slayer close on his heels.

He ran into Giles' bedroom, and was flying tackled from behind and thrown onto the bed. This started a ticklefight between the Slayer and vampire that lasted a good twenty minutes before they were both too exhausted to continue and just lay there, side by side, laughing and giggling helplessly. It took another ten minutes for them to calm down. Buffy crawled up to the headboard and leaned against it, crossing her legs and sitting indian style on her Watcher's now messy pillows. Spike didn't quite get that far, and fell onto his side with his head in her lap. He started to move, to roll off her, but she stopped him. "S'ok. You can stay."

Spike looked up at her sideways. "I can? You don't mind?"

She shook her head. "Nope." Frowned. "But that can't be good, havin' your head on my knees. Hang on." She pulled a pillow out from under her and slipped it between his head and her knees. "There. Nice and soft." She put another pillow lengthways behind her, so if she leaned her head back, it wouldn't be on the wall or the headboard.

Spike grinned and snuggled down against the pillow, watching Buffy quietly. She reached down and scratched his ribs and stomach a little, causing him to start purring louder again. He'd never really stopped purring, not even during all the tickling, he'd just gotten quieter. After a moment, Buffy stopped scratching and leaned her head back. Absently, one of her hands began stroking his hair gently.

Spike pressed his head against her hand, and she looked down at him for an instant. His eyes were closed, and he was purring very loudly. She smiled, and continued her stroking, alternating it with gentle scratching on his scalp. It didn't take long before the vampire was sound asleep, his breathing once again mirroring her own.

She was on the verge of dozing off herself, the feeling of his hair in her hand was very soothing. Like petting a cat. When she heard the front door open. She glanced down at the slumbering vampire in her lap, and gave a mental shrug. Giles would have to deal, cause she was not waking him up.

Giles came upstairs, and opened his bedroom door, suprised to see Buffy sitting on his bed with a lap full of Spike. The vampire's purring was reverberating in the room, making it very easy for the Watcher to hear it. He walked over and sat in a chair next to the bed. Gave Buffy a smile, which she returned. He looked at Spike, who still didn't have a shirt on, and remembered the open book that had been on the coffee table. He looked at Buffy. "Chapter five?"

She grinned, then whispered, "Chapter five."

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