"Good morning, " Xander chimed as Buffy made her way down the hall, backpack slung over one shoulder.

"Uhhh, " She answered, blinking at the bright fluorescent tubes and tugging at the strap.

"Nice to see you so chipper, " he quipped.

"This whole living two separate lives thing kinda wears you thin, " she said groggily, smiling.

"Do tell. So how’d that go last night? "

"Ugh. Total bust. We didn’t see heads nor tails of those buggers, " she answered.

"Huh. Bummer, " he said, pausing purposefully for a full five seconds, before adding in a voice that was still too loud to count as a mutter,

"At least you still got to spend some quality time together. "

"Aah yes, thanks for reminding me. I owe you a chew-out, that’s right, " Buffy said, stretching, trying to fully waken up. She should have had some coffee this morning.

"Now, first of all-when I finally establish a proper work etiquette, what do you go and do? Complain about it. I think you just like to have something to complain about, " she said, suddenly snapping from her reverie into her lecture mode in a breath of a moment.

Xander snorted. "You called that proper etiquette? "

"Yes, of course I do. We figured it out, we got the job done, right? And second of all, let’s talk about priorities, mister-"

"Woah, what do you know? I’m late for class, " Xander said with false regret.

Putting a hand on her shoulder, he said enthusiastically,

"We’re gonna have to finish this conversation later on. Sorry, but hey-priorities, you know, " and took off towards his class.

She sighed with irritation but just watched him go. Well, with luck, he’ll be smart and just forget it, she thought. Buffy doubted the likelihood of that, though.

~

"And so after Xander brought that pile of books from the library over, we finally were able to find mention of them, and came up with this, "

Willow said, proudly displaying a page out of an old spellbook. Buffy nodded approvingly.

"Great. So they are vulnerable to magic? "

"Absolutely. This is a very simple spell, in fact, and it’s supposed to ward them off. Sort of like a really big dose of bug repellent, " she said, smirking.

"In fact it’s supposed to be so good it sends them running back to the gates of Hell or something similar to that effect, " she said, going over the book again.

"That’s handy. No killing required. "

"Yep. See, all I need is a few candles, some tiger’s eye, um, that’s the stone, in case that wasn’t clear-not actual tiger’s eye. It’s a rock called Tiger’s Eye. It’s really pretty, reflecty and all that-anyway, a little bit of dried elecampane, huh, I guess what repels normal bugs’ll work for demons, too? That’s cool, " she said, pausing from her magic spell lecture to glance at Buffy, whose eyes were meandering along the wall lazily.

"You’re listening, right? "

"Mm-hm. "

"-and a few other of those strong-smelling herbs, you know, like basil and bay and the sort, and so we were gonna do the spell tonight right before you went out on patrol, because it has to be done at night, see, " Willow rambled on,

"And, so, Giles was saying how you should keep an eye out for them tonight, like, patrol in the same area as last night, but not try and draw them to you. Just watch for them while you do the usual vampire-killing thing, you know? Carry the holy water with you and stuff. But with luck you won’t even see them at all, the spell’s supposed to start taking effect within a few mere hours, so you just gotta be out there to make sure there’s no more bugs in town. "

She stopped for some sort of reply from Buffy. Hearing the pause, she automatically answered.

"Mm-hmm, I getcha, Willow. "

Willow gave her a suspicious look, and carried on, careful to keep her voice in the same conversational tone as before.

"Right. So that’s our plan. On a side note of things having to do with the Vatra Insetkats, Giles found out that the world is actually ending tomorrow, instead of like, in a few dozen centuries from now, and Xander made a joke that was actually funny about that, and oddly enough the sun rose in the West this morning, in case you didn’t notice that. You got all that? "

"Mm-hmm, " Buffy murmured.

"Oh, I also decided today that I’m going to be moving to Hawaii to spend my days as a peddler selling coconuts, and Xander’s gonna be helping with the advertisement. Willow’s Homemade Coconut Milk, I think it has a nice ring to it. Sound good to you? "

"Mm-hmm. "

"Oh, and Buffy? "

"Hm? "

"I don’t think you’re listening. "

"Of course I am, Will. "

"What did you just agree to? "

Buffy blinked. "Uh, that the spell’s a great idea, we should go ahead with it. "

"Buffy. "

"What? "

"I just told you I was moving to Hawaii to sell coconuts. Are you feeling all right? "

Buffy laughed. "I’m fine. What? I thought you hated coconuts. "

Willow frowned. "I don’t hate them, I just hate it when they sweeten it too much, like that grated stuff they put on ice-cream. "

"You think it’s too sweet? That junk’s great! "

"Buffy, I think we’re getting off track here. "

"Oh. Yeah. " she said. Willow waited.

"Um. Were exactly is the track again? "

Willow snickered.

"You are way out of it. "

"I am not. I just didn’t get much sleep last night. "

"Neither did I. And I’m just a regular ol’ person without all those lovely Slayer accessories. "

"Hmmph. You weren’t out huntin’ for demons all night. "

"You think pouring over piles of books all night is any better? "

"Ick. Sorry, I guess not. " She apologized.

The two sat there a moment, and Buffy sighed again, gazing out the window absent-mindedly.

"You’re thinking about him, aren’t you? "

"No. Willow! You said you’d drop that! "

She grinned. "I know. But that’s what you’re thinking about. You’re obviously distracted for some reason. "

"No, I’m not thinking about that because there is no ‘that’. " Buffy pronounced.

"Fine. Whatever you say. " Willow said, shutting the book and packing it into her backpack.

"I’ll see you this evening then, just before patrol. "

"Xander’s gonna be there, right? I haven’t finished lecturing him yet. "

"Oh, yeah. Huh, I feel bad for him. I really should warn him to not come…" she said, smiling.

"Don’t worry, I’m going easy on him. But the nerve! You could of backed me up, you know, instead of staring at the wall. You don’t believe him, do you? "

"Oh, no, no-it was just-you know, came as a bit of a surprise. We just weren’t expecting it, " she said, smiling nervously, not wanting to provoke the wrath of the Slayer.

"Well, don’t worry ‘bout it. With luck we won’t need his help often anyway, " she said, swinging her own pack on her shoulders.

"See ya tonight then, " Buffy added, leaving Willow alone in the library. The redhead watched a moment and then screwed her face up in a funny look, as her mind made a connection.

"I wonder…"

Then she started to crack up at herself.

"Oh, boy, now that’s a good one. "

Her tickled laughter mingled with the outrageous statement. "Buffy and Spike…"

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

"Knock-knock, " Buffy called, wandering into Spike’s crypt.

"Hello? I just came by to-"

As she passed by the couch she came upon a sleeping Spike, clad only in a pair of black jeans. He jumped awake with a start, giving a startled yell.

"Aaah! Oh, pff, it’s you, " he said, shaking his head.

"You scared the crap outta me, Slayer. "

"Sorry, I’m sorry-I didn’t know you were sleeping, " she said, feeling kind of stupid. He waved her apology off.

"Atch, don’t bother over it. My sleeping hours are whacked, " he said, scanning the floor.

"You could help me find my shirt, though, " Spike added, knowing he had left it around here somewhere…

Buffy stifled a laugh, watching his limber forum as he grouped about on the floor with one hand.

"Please tell me you do laundry every once in a while, too. "

He gave her an exasperated look. "Of course I do. It’s just…been a tight week, budget-wise. " He said seriously, and leaning back into a sitting position on the couch, decided the bloody shirt wasn’t worth finding for the moment.

"Well, I just came by to let you know, um, that Willow found some repellent spell for those blood vultures. May not have to fight em’ after all, it’s supposed to be pretty effective. "

"Huh. Well, all that starts well ends well, " he said, not really interested in the affairs of a couple of bug-demons.

"Well, right, thanks for keeping me in the loop. You just dyin’ to try out th’ good lager, aren’t you? "

Buffy smiled. "Yeah, well, I’ll have to save it for later. I gotta go. I got…class tomorrow, "

She said, feeling a little self-conscious due to a few factors, one of them being his clothing attire, or lack thereof.

"Awight, fine. But you dunno what you’re missin’. Just a quick nip, does damn bloody wonders for the head when you need to focus, " he said.

"Spike, it’s alcohol. Pretty much doesn’t belong in the same sentence as ‘focus’, " she said, amused at the fact that he seemed truly convinced of his statement.

"No, no, it all depends on the amount, " he argued,

"Believe me. I’ve got experience in this field, plenty of it. A quick nip’ll wake you up and help you focus. Has to be just the right amount, " he said, gesturing a teeny amount with his fingers,

"Works wonders, I swear by it. "

She hesitated. Now, Buffy, you got to stop hanging around em’ so much. You’re starting to see more of him than your friends right now.

~

A jubilant laughter pealed up through the crypt. Buffy Summers had ended up having more than ‘just a nip’ of Spike’s famous new lager, apparently.

"An’ this, ok, are you listening? "

"Yeah, yeah. "

"This, is about, a littttle bit more of a healthy helping, " he said, tipping a bottle into Buffy’s glass, and then his.

She giggled. "Right. Just a touch more. "

"Exactly. Perfect amount, " he agreed.

The two had amused themselves by watching a marathon on Cops police videos. Buffy didn’t really know what time it was…had to be somewhere around…hmmm…. don’t have a clue, actually.

"School. Got school in the morning, " she said, trying to care about that.

"You’ll be damn ready for it then, " Spike told her, gesturing to the glass in his hand.

"Spike’s cure-all, you know. Told you it work miracles. Don’t it feel like it has? "

Put your hands on your head, drop your weapon! , a crackly voice demanded from the TV.

"Uh-huh. Somethin’ tells me it won’t feel the same in the morning, " she said, grinning.

"That is why I got to write you a prescription for some take-home, " he said, wondering were in the Hell he kept a pen and some paper around here.

"A-haa, " he said, by sheer dumb luck recalling were he last left some. Fishing under the couch cushions he came up with an old ball-point and a sheet of post-its.

Scribbling in his well-crafted cursive, although a bit more sloppy in his present state, he wrote the letters Rx.

"To a Miss. Buffy Summers, " he said out loud, and writing underneath that,

"2 bottles of Spike’s good lager…instructed to take at least 2 doses a day, more if required…"

She laughed as he took the note and stuck it on a bottle.

"There you go, miss, " he said. She took the bottle, graciously thanking him.

"Thank you, thank you. "

"Now be sure to stick to your medication, doctor’s orders, you know. "

"Oh, don’t worry, doctor, I will…Will? Willow? "

The redhead was standing in the doorway of the crypt, her eyes bugging out, and seemed to be rendered speechless.

Spike struggled up from his strewn position on the couch to see what Buffy had been talking about…. oh. Crud, that little redheaded friend of hers. What was she doing here?

"I-um-", Willow squeaked, still stunned by the situation before her; a still shirt-less Spike, and Buffy sitting on the couch, with a collection of empty bottles on the floor, Cops still playing noisily in the foreground.

"Just came to-well, Buffy, to find you-I mean, you didn’t come back! After the patrol. And we, we were worried-"

Buffy struggled to forum words with her slow mind.

"Oh, Willow, hang on, it’s not-"

"But I see I’m interrupting something here, so, um, see ya later, " she piped, and spun around to quickly exit.

"Willow! Wait! "

Spike watched, not entirely understanding what difference it made if Red was here or not. That was…bad, right?

"I got to go, " Buffy said, her mind starting to clear up due to help from the simple shock of reality that had walked through the door a minute ago.

"Awight, Slayer, hey, don’t forget your medicine? "

She glanced at the labeled bottle. "I better get that later. "

And quickly rushed out the door to catch up with her friend.

The vampire gazed quite indifferently at the bottle.

"I’ll save it for ya, " he said, smiling.

~

"Willow! Hang on! "

Will turned to see Buffy running to catch up with her.

"Oh, hey, Buffy. Nice night for a stroll, huh? " she said, turning to continue her fast-paced walk.

"Willow, stop. Lemme explain here, " she panted, fighting to keep pace beside her.

She stopped. "Ok, fine. Explain. B-because everything was like, normal one minute, and now, now I find out, oh. Oh, I think I need to sit down, " she said, wavering.

"Woah, girl, hold on. Here, there’s a bench over there. We’ll just sit down and calmly discuss this, ok? I’ll explain everything. "

"Ok. "

So they made their winding way over to the bench and sat down.

"Are you, d-drunk, Buffy? "

"No! " she protested immediately. Willow gave her a suspicious look.

"Ok, look, I had a few-I’m not drunk. Just, what’s the phrase…"

"Buzzed? "

"Yeah. But I’m fine, ok? Everything’s fine. "

"No, no, everything’s not fine…my best friend’s been having shots with Spike of all things…how could everything be fine? He’s the guy? "

"Huh, what? I don’t understand, " she said, her fogged mind still with it’s limitations.

"The guy. The one you’ve been sneaking away to all this time to visit. Oh, oh Jeez…"

"No! Willow, you’re not letting me talk here. You’re jumping to conclusions and that’s never a good thing. "

Willow nodded. "Yes, you’re right. Ok, explain then. "

"Ok, " Buffy said, taking a breath.

"It’s like this. A few weeks ago or whatever, I started having pretty decent conversations with Spike, " she said, wincing, hoping she’d be able to get her to see her side of the story,

"You know, when he sometimes helps me on patrol. He wasn’t just being an annoying jerk. I think he’s tired of doing that or something. Quieter, you know, more solemn. Stopped making my life a living hell whenever he was around, "

"And I found out he actually has some intelligent things to say when he isn’t wining or trying to kill stuff, "

"Or you, " Willow cut in. Buffy nodded.

"Or me. I mean, he has some fairly good insights. Sometimes not even that half bad to talk to. "

"But most of all, he was able to understand certain things-that, well, only people, or uh, things in his place could fully know. See, he-"

"You identify with him, " Willow supplied.

"Yeah! , " she said, then tried to tone it down again.

"I mean, Willow, put yourself in my shoes. It’s tough, you know, not being like other people. Having to live your own secret double life. Were most people my age just have the math finals to worry about, I got the whole Slayer-destiny and saving the world from evils and such, " she said.

"I know, I know it, Buffy. I know it’s rough. I’m not saying it isn’t, " Willow said.

"No, but see, I know that you know that it’s rough. But that’s not enough for you to just know. You don’t know…there’s a lot that you and other people just can’t understand about me. And it’s not their fault or because they’re stupid, it’s just because they’ve never been there. You get were I’m headed here? I sometimes wanna talk about all these dark, morbid thoughts of death and all these things I have to deal with but nobody ever fully gets, so the best I can get is the nice, fluffy, keep it up Buf you’re doin’ great. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I love you guys and your support, it’s what keeps me going…" she said, smiling softly.

"But it just isn’t enough sometimes. So I try and find understanding were I can…"

Willow watched a moment, to see if she had anything more to say, before speaking.

"Ok, Buf. I understand, " she said gently,

"But don’t you think your choice is a little odd? You need understanding, all right, but I don’t think this is a very safe place to find it. "

The Slayer gazed out across the park as her friend spoke.

"We’ve been worried about you. And for good cause. If you’re not careful as to were you find escape, you’ll wind up dead sooner than later. And Spike…well, Buffy, he’s a vampire. A chipped vampire, yes, but that doesn’t make him entirely helpless. He can still trick and manipulate and find ways to do things. And Buf, he’s still the demon who tried to kill you more than a few times. "

Buffy nodded.

"And now what it’s lead to…is definitely dangerous. "

"What do you mean, lead to? It hasn’t lead to anything, " Buffy said, knitting her brows.

"I think you know what I mean…"

The Slayer frowned, growing a little annoyed. "No, I don’t. "

"Buf, there’s no reason to pretend. "

She continued to frown, looking at Willow. Then it clicked.

"No! You’re not saying-Will! That’s completely untrue! Ugh! How could you suggest that? "

"Look, I don’t know how far it’s gone, but you obviously have some feelings-"

"No! He means nothing to me! I’m not gonna care about some soulless demon, " she spat.

Willow raised a brow. "After all the daydreaming? "

"There wasn’t any. Not about him. "

"What about the flirting? "

Buffy gaped. "Flirting? ! "

"Oh, come on, Buffy! Even Xander spotted it. He was the only one with enough guts to point it out. "

"That was not flirting! ! That was diplomacy! I was getting the dumbass to cooperate as quickly as possible! It worked, didn’t it? "

Willow sighed. "After you spent about ten minutes with the "diplomacy", yes, it did. "

Buffy scowled. "I’m telling you, Willow, I still hate him. All we did was talk. "

"That’s it then? He means absolutely nothing to you. "

Buffy nodded and said firmly, "Right. "

"Then you wouldn’t mind ceasing all contact. Starting now. "

"What? "

"You heard me. Stop seeing him. Stop talking, stop visiting his crypt for late-night party bashes, or whatever it is you two do in there, just stop. "

"But-"

"If you can do that, then I’m convinced, and he means nothing. "

After a pause,

"Fine! Fine, I don’t care, I can do that. Makes no difference to me, " Buffy said.

"You sure? "

"Of course I’m sure. Why wouldn’t I be? I couldn’t care less. "

"Good, " Willow answered.

"Then let’s get back home. Everyone’ll be waiting, and I don’t plan on sleeping through chemistry, " she said, giving a light smile.

Buffy smiled back, but her heart wasn’t really in it.

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

It had been exactly one week since Buffy and Willow had made their agreement. Will didn’t tell anyone else about Buffy’s little visits; after all, she had said, that was in the past-wasn’t gonna happen again.

And she had kept her promise. She had modified her patrol rounds to steer well away from Spike’s crypt and never saw nor spoke to him after that. At first it was easy, to just act like everything was normal again. She kept telling herself that this was the right thing to do anyway. It was stupid to start, really. It’s just time to get back to normal now.

But the memories of her visits to his lair well past the midnight hours, heart laden heavy with pain she needed to share with somebody, were like haunting images that played upon her mind each day. She kept pushing them away until they just left. Or so she thought they did.

I mean, it’s not like she missed him.

~

Gazing absently at a bottle of beer with a sticky note still attached to it, Spike did not have the bliss of ignorance like the Slayer did. She had left, and that was it. No more Slayer. He hadn’t seen her since then.

The vampire had gone through stages, I guess you could call them-at first anxiously waiting each night for her return, and then anger- proof of that still was left in his rather trashed crypt-and then finally depression and longing.

"Shoulda known it wouldn’t of worked out, " he muttered dangerously under his breath.

"Gain her trust. Hah! Reality was gonna catch up sooner or later. "

The bottle rested among various other items down here in the basement, each meticulously arranged. His shrine, dedicated solely to the Slayer. Once Spike’s plan had gone underway to woo the girl, the shrine was left to gather dust down there, almost embarrassed at the extremes he had went to when he had been actively stalking her. Now in desperation he returned to it, longingly gazing at the few photographs he had obtained of her. Sighing, he shook his head.

"Tired of waiting. I’m just sick of it. I got to do something, " he said, the act of speaking about a new plan giving him a small touch of hope.

~

"I just don’t get it. " Xander stated.

"Well there’s a surprise, " Willow teased, smiling as she nibbled at her ice cream cone.

"Funny. Really. You should do stand-up comedy. "

"All right, what don’t you get, Xander? "

"Buffy. "

"Ooo-k, but again; there’s a surprise. "

Xander sighed. "Lemme just try to get this straight. She goes off to la la land for a while, and then stops. Everything’s back to normal, hip-hip-hooray. Now she’s acting all gloomy again. "

"Well, did you try talking to her about it? "

"Yes, of course I did. She just says everything’s fine, which translated, means something’s definitely up. I’m worried about her. "

Willow looked distracted as she mindlessly worked on her cookie-dough ice cream.

"Final’s comin’ up, maybe she’s just under some stress, " she suggested, her friend’s words of earlier resurfacing in her memory.

"I dunno. She’s been kinda snappy again lately. And whenever that happens I seem to be the first one that gets jumped on. "

Willow looked sympathetically at him.

"Oh, Xander, I’m sure she doesn’t mean to-"

"I know, I know. I’m not bothered by that. I’m just saying; something’s bugging her. "

Willow nodded.

"Hopefully, " she said, after giving it some thought,

"It’ll just clear up on it’s own. "

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

Life would have been much easier if it was that simple, and problems, if left alone long enough, simply evaporated away. Unfortunately, nobody has yet achieved that; and I suppose the line of thought in Buffy’s case is, that there’s a first time for everything.

However, positive thinking alone did not bring her a step closer. In fact, she seemed to be backpedaling in her life, growing more sullen and aloof by the hour. Try as she might to stop this backwards spiraling, nothing seemed to work-there was no escaping it.

Gradually feeling more and more helpless, Buffy started lashing out at whomever she could-and in most cases, they were her friends…

But that only seemed to increase her aggravation.

Thus, it was a bitter and callous circle, one that offered no ending anytime soon.

~

"The Lexoer demon, " Giles stated,

"A large and stupid brute. Emphases on large, "

"Incredibly tough, thick skin, much like an exoskeleton. Massive wings resembling a bat’s, and quite a taste for human blood. "

"So, pretty much what you’re saying, is it’s a vampire bat. "

Giles nodded to Xander. "That’s an adequate description. "

"Huh. Sort of ironic. " He commented.

"Said to spring forward from the Earth during times of great peril, in order to reap the benefits of such a chaotic time. Peril or not, one sprung forward last night. "

Giles rambled on and on about the stupid legends and myths surrounding the demon, about great perils and times of chaos and yadda yadda yadda. But everyday was a great peril and there always was a new demon to cause chaos, wasn't there? Always the next one.

"The Lexoer wears the Amulet of BloodBane. It's a diamond-shaped pendant, purple in color. . . "

Aah, yes, and an Amulet, source of it's power, no doubt. They'd have to destroy it and bye-bye demon. End of another hard day's work. Good job! Here's your reward-you get to live another day in this thing you call a life.

"Because of it's sheer size I doubt you can take on such a thing by yourself, Buffy, so I'd definitely suggest teamwork in this matter. We're going to need to forum a fairly decent plan so we're organized enough. . . "

Oh, goodie. Now he's gonna bring out the white board complete with X's and O's. This isn't football for Christ’s sake.

"Giles! Here's an idea! " Buffy piped up.

"Why don't I just heroically run up to him and be the bait while you guys are in charge of bustin' the amulet? Sounds fair to me, I knock em' around a bit, all that fun stuff, then poof, huh? Nice, quick, easy. "

Giles shoved his glasses up and looked at Buffy.

"Er, Buffy. Perhaps I didn't make myself clear enough when I mentioned this thing shoots hydrochloric acid from it's face. "

"Oh, so it shoots some goo. Not like I haven't handled that before, right? "

"And spears things with it's wingtips. And, as I've also said, is very, very, large, with incredibly-"

"Yes, I know, incredibly tough skin. I got that part. "

"In other words, not on your list of top ten things to tangle with, " Xander concluded. Buffy sighed, plunking back down at the table.

"Fine. Fine. You win. Carry on. "

Giles continued to watch her oddly.

"Go on! Let us in on your latest brilliant plan, " she said, voice suspiciously near sarcasm. Giles coughed and continued.

"Aheam. Xander, you'll be bringing the cross-bow. With luck we can hit our mark from afar and not put anyone in danger. . . "

Buffy started to drum her fingers on the table, for some reason growing very impatient. Why couldn't they just get this over with? So she could-ok, well, Buffy really didn't have anything better to be doing, but God she wanted to. She was just so sick of this.

"Hey, drummy. Save it for the band, ok? " Xander shot over his shoulder as Buffy's drumming grew increasingly louder and quicker. She shot him a glare.

". . . erm, but if that fails, we'll need a plan B. . . "

Willow gave a look of concern in her direction, but quickly looked away when Buffy made eye contact with her.

"Not as pleasing as the first option, but I think we can pull it off. Anya, Xander, you two have got to go ahead without us and circle back around. . . "

Still drumming with her fingers, Anya now seemed to be watching her, as Buffy saw out of the corner of her eye. She quickly looked to catch her-and Anya looked back to Giles, pretending to be very absorbed in what he was saying.

"But how are we gonna know if we're all synchronized? One second off and we're in big trouble, " Anya was pointing out.

Ugh! So sick of her annoying questions, so sick of Xander's annoying comments, so sick of everything. Buffy didn't even know why she was getting so irritated by everything and why she was sick of it, but damn, she was!

". . . and so you see, that's were Buffy comes in. "

"Buffy? "

"What? " she snapped.

"Did you, erm, hear me? "

"Yeah. You said, 'Buffy? '"

Giles looked confused. "No, I mean before that. You know. The plan. . . "

"What do you think? Of course I did, " she said.

"And? "

"And. . . . it sounds super, Giles, really. But maybe we should look over my idea again. Of me just comin' in there and kicking some demon ass. "

Giles looked shocked. "You weren't listening, were you? "

She just shrugged. "I do my best, Giles, but talk is just not my thing. Action is. You know? We all have our thing. "

Everyone by now was looking at her strangely.

"And why does everyone keep looking at me? It's really quite rude, you know. "

"Well maybe because of how incredibly weird you've been acting lately, " Xander suggested, earning a frosty look from the Slayer.

"Me? Weird. Hah! You guys are the weird ones. Keep asking me if I'm all right and looking at me like that. Yeah, like that, Willow! I'm fine, I'm better than fine, I'm absolutely chipper! "

"Oh. O-ok, well, it's just-" Willow started nervously, but Giles cut her off.

"Buffy, did you or did you not hear the plan? This is very important, we must each know every detail or it's not going to work. "

"I think I got the gist of things, sah! " she said, in mock military fashion. Giles seemed to not know what to say about that. Buffy hadn't acted quite so oddly before.

"Are you feeling all right, Buffy? "

"Stop. Asking me that! " she growled.

"Buffy. Please, calm down. We're just worried, " Willow said, growing increasingly upset at Buffy's abnormal behavior.

Looking over to Willow, she called out,

"Well what're you so worried about? I already told you, I'm fine. What's it going to take to get you to believe me? "

"Buffy, I think you've been under a lot of stress lately. You seem a little, tense, " Giles began.

"I'm not tense. I'm not tense. I'm perfectly normal. "

"Buffy, you've been skipping patrols lately. . . " Xander said cautiously.

"So? I skip one here and there. So what? I got a life outside of this Slayer thing, you know! It's not like the vamps won't be there the next night, " she shot back defensively.

"You haven't been paying much attention lately. Not just to your Slaying duties. School, too. " Willow said softly.

"We were going to study together, " Anya said, nodding to Willow.

"The three of us. It was gonna be a study group. Willow said it was kind of like a party except instead of having fun we worked, " she said.

"But you didn't come. "

Buffy looked from Anya to Willow to Xander, who were all watching her expectedly.

"I can't believe you guys! What is this, pick-on-Buffy night? ! It's like you're all ganging up on me here, " she accused.

"No, please, Buffy. We're. . . just concerned. " Willow said. Buffy looked over at Giles, who looked like a deer caught in a car's headlights.

"Giles? Aren't you gonna tell them? That everything fine? There's nothing wrong with me. Tell them, Giles. " she said, sounding much more dangerous than she did pleading.

He swallowed, unnerved by her cold-hard stare.

"Buffy. . . , " he said, clearing his throat again.

"Perhaps you should sit down. . . "

"I can't believe this! " Buffy exclaimed again.

"You too? What's gotten into everybody? "

"Buffy, just calm down, " Willow tried again, feeling helpless.

"No! I will not calm down! You're all. . . none of you understand! " she yelled, her eyes quickly flickering over her friends, as if she expected them to make a move. Xander took a few paces towards her.

"Buf, you can explain it all to us. Just sit down, ok? " he said soothingly, as if speaking to a child.

Buffy started backing away from them, looking more and more dangerous.

"Stop that! None of you get anything about me! " she yelled again, green eyes darting about. She looked like a dangerous animal being cornered in a cage, Willow realized, fear gripping her heart at that. Like a leopard or something, preparing to make an escape. Or fight.

"Buffy, we can understand, if you just explain it to us. We'll listen, " Willow said gently, although with an underlying tone of urgency.

From his hiding place, Spike squeezed his eyes shut. It was either now or never. He had about a 50% chance of the Slayer hating him for the rest of his undead days for this, and a 50% of making the right choice.

Here goes nothing, he muttered to himself.

"No, Willow, you can't, " Buffy was saying, still backing away from them.

"You-"

Using the bookshelf as a springboard, with the perfect precision of a well-experienced hunter, Spike hurdled himself across the room, snatched up the unsuspecting Slayer, and pummeled out the Magic Shop doors, yelling,

"Outta the way, comin' through! "

He had seized her, and she was on top of him piggy-back style, screaming in shock as he ran outside. Everyone in the shop just stood there a moment, eyes wide and blinking, with completely stunned expressions.

"Wait, wait. Can you rewind that because I think I missed something here? " Xander yelped.

"Buffy! " Willow yelled, the first to come out of the trance, exploding out the door as Spike had done. A few moments later the rest of the Scoobies followed at the same rate. The bells squalled like wild beasts at the slamming of the doors.

"AAAAAA! "

The Slayer hollered, the vampire running with his cargo full-speed into the forest, not ever once slowing down a bit as she struggled to free herself from his grip, shouting bloody murder.

"What in fuck's name are you fucking well doing you-"

He kept his grasp a tight deadlock around her, forcing her to stay on the wild ride through the midnight-black forest, branches whipping by her face like snakes.

"Let the Hell go you fucking bastard-AA! "

She yelped as Spike stumbled a bit, but righted himself and continued the pace at a break-neck speed.

"Get off! Hey! "

She began running out of breath from all her screaming. Unfortunately for her, Spike had no breath to run out of, and kept rocketing through the woods.

"What the Hell's wrong with you? ! You stupid-" her steady stream of furious cursings did not seem to phase him. He just kept his blue eyes locked on his goal, which was through the woods.

"Umph! OW! "she protested as a tree slapped her again.

"You stupid vampire, what's gotten into you? Have you totally lost it? " she shouted into the night, noticing how her voice echoed through the trees. She whooped as he ducked over a low branch and tore up a hill.

"You have! God, you stupid moron, you've totally gone insane! " she cried, laughing at that, her voice bouncing through the cold night air.

"Insane, you hear me? You're demented! You psychopath! " she screamed, the wind whipping the words nearly right out of her mouth.

"Insaaaaaaane! "

The vampire was chuckling underneath her.

"You think that's funny? Huh? ? You're a total lunatic! You've lost it! "

She howled as he jumped straight across a short gully.

"You're trying to kill us, aren't you? " she called out, for some reason laughing.

Causing the Slayer to shriek, he bucked her in order to get a better grip, as she had been sliding off.

"Gaah! You're not a damn horse! " she cried, unable to help sniggering at that notion.

His reply was to buck her a few more times, causing her to yelp in surprise, each time catching her just before she fell.

"Spike, I'm gonna kill you for this! "

~

"Where’d they go? " Xander demanded, as the Scoobies spread out, gazing across in all directions.

"I don't know. He went so fast-dear, they could be anywhere, " Giles said with deepening concern.

"Well we have to find them, right? Spread out, search! " Anya said in a voice slightly louder than necessary.

"Right! I'll go here, you can take that direction, Giles, and Anya, you go were you're all ready headed. Willow, you head south. Willow? "

Xander paused as the others took off, waiting for a reply from her.

The redhead was gazing distractedly at the forest.

"I hear ya, " she said, and Xander took off with haste.

"I just don't think we'll be finding them tonight. "

~

Gradually Buffy's cries of fury had melded more into whoops of excitement, until she was just screaming for the Hell of it, not because she was pissed.

"Woooah! Watch out for the damn branch! " she yelled, tugging the hem of his duster as if they were reins. He dropped to a duck so fast it nearly made her head spin before getting up again to continue the wild gallop through the forest.

"Aaaah! Spike! Slow it down! HEY! " she cried as a branch whisked by, slapping her on the coat, and his broad shoulders shook with laughter again, vibrating her.

"Not funny! So very not! I'm getting killed up here! "

"Almost outta the woods, luv, " he hummed, the first time she heard his voice that night.

Exclaiming over another jump, she yelled,

"Then what, Einstein? ! "

"Patience, Slayer. You'll see. "

"Oh, sure-AAA! "

She exulted, as he took the narrow, twisted path up a hill at an insane speed.

"Slow down, you moron! You're gonna get us-UMPH! Killed! "

Springing up the hill, he laughed. "I think not! "

Suddenly, turning a corner up the twisting path, to one side Buffy could see a part of Sunnydale below them. She cried out at the sudden view.

"Were the Hell are we? ! "

"Top of the world, " he answered in his British accent, and she laughed at the ludicrousy of it all.

"You damn well kidnapped me from my own town! " she exclaimed, looking out at the view as they wildly bucked along on the path, the wind about them howling like a demon.

"Ha-hah! " she cackled as they rounded another bend,

"Look at that, the Magic Shop's down there! My friends are gonna be so pissed! "

"That a good thing or a bad thing, Slayer? "

Grinning up at the star-studded sky, she answered.

"It's a damn good thing! "

~

"Buuuuuffy! Hey! Were are you? " Anya called into the night. She scrunched her face into a frown.

"Very rude, hasn't answered me! " she said to herself.

"Buffy! Spike! "

Whining in frustration, Anya started out in the direction she came in.

"She's gonna be sorry for this. Him, too. " she muttered, no longer in the mood for this game.

Hearing a rustle in the trees by the sidewalk, she stopped short and fell silent. Creeping slowly, she approached the trees, and then jumped, yelling,

"HA!"

Her victim let out a yelp of fear and stumbled.

"No, wait, don’t hurt me!"

Anya paused, raising a brow.

"Xander?"

"Anya?"

She reached out and pulled him to his feet.

"You scream like a girl," Anya pointed out. Xander made a face.

"Did you find them or not?"

"Does it look like I have?"

He sighed. "You’re right. Obviously you didn’t. No such luck for me either."

Looking out, Anya shook her head.

"Whatever his plan is, we’re too late to stop him."

~

Crying out in pure exuberance, both vampire and Slayer were whooping and yelling into the nighttime, stained by stars overhead and thrust far above the town below, a world hanging in space amidst the twilight.

Despite the fact that she knew it would seem so stupid later on, Buffy felt like she had been freed-swept away from it all into the night, by a midnight stallion, her silver fox. They raced to the zenith of the grassy hill, and finally Spike came to rest here. He laid her down, huffing unneeded air.

She looked so beautiful in the moonlight that he simply stopped breathing, taking in every detail. His deep blue eyes roamed over her body, still panting, with flushed cheeks and blonde hair flayed about wildly from the exuberance of their run. She looked up at him, entranced by his wolflike gaze. He seemed chipped out of the nighttime air like a perfect statue, and only then did she fully realize what a marvelous creature he really was.

"Spike, " she said, rather breathlessly. His eyes twinkled as he replied.

"Yeah, luv? "

Loosing herself in his elegant forum, her voice dipped low and husky.

"God, let's escape. "

The vampire couldn't of been more thrilled to hear those words.

Leaning down, he pulled her into an aggressive embrace, kissing her passionately. She responded immediately, pulling him in, hungrily exploring his mouth. He moaned against her lips, hardly able to comprehend the fact that it was finally happening-the moment he had been fantasizing about for so long. And none of those fantasies, no matter how wonderful, seemed to come even close to the here and now. She was pressing against his chest almost as if trying to push him away, at the same time feverently kissing him. His hands were combing through her blonde hair, desperately needing the feel of flesh on flesh. She began kneading his chest almost like a kitten does, sharp claws biting into him, and he gave a throaty growl in response, lavishing the intoxicating blend of pain and pleasure. Her hands began to roam and shrugged off his duster in one quick motion, seeking to delve under the material. He gasped as they slid under his shirt, tracing and memorizing every pattern of his well-built muscles. He hated to break away from her lips, but he just had to plant kisses on her neck, all along her beautiful face, on her forehead, the corner of her mouth. . .

She rumbled with pleasure, electricity dancing through her skin and shivering down her spine, at the raw intensity he attacked her with. He kissed like he fought-and she had loved it both. Before, there had been no one who could quite match her blow for blow, an equal; nobody could keep up with her Slayer's strength and personal intensity-but now, she realized how much she truly had been holding back all her life, and forcefully shoving Spike to the ground, causing him to grunt in pleasure, felt with a rush of truth washing over her-she had met her match.

Their lips met again, teeth crushing together as they roughly tasted each other. He nipped at her bottom lip, rewarded with the nearly blissful flavor of blood, the Slayer's life-force hitting him as a hot rush.

He lost himself in her that night-and she lost herself in him. Whispering raspyly, was a steady flow of words from the vampire; things he could hardly believe were true. Wisped to the night breeze, were things only the nightjars and owls would ever hear.

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

Finido.

~