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Nice Enough For A Piggyback Ride
Part 1
Willow stuck her tongue out.
"That was mature."
"And you are?"
"I'll have you know that I am very old."
"Wow, 126. That doesn't mean that you're mature."
"Oh, and how old are you? Thirteen? Fifteen?"
"Eighteen, I'll have you know."
"Ooooo. Wow."
"Willow, Spike please," Giles begged. Their talking was driving him crazy.
"Sorry," they said in unison.
"We're here!" Buffy's voice rang.
"Bloody hell," Spike cursed and stood up from the
floor and turned toward
the
door.
Buffy opened her mouth to introduce Riley to Giles, but before
she had a
chance to speak, he lunged in the direction of Spike and Willow.
Spike vamped out as the human's fist connected rather
painfully with his
jaw.
Luckily, not that he liked the thought very much, the slayer
saved him.
"Riley!" Buffy yelled and ran after him pulling him back. "Stop!"
"Buffy, he is a vampire!" he yelled and tried
pushing her away but she held
him back.
"We know that," Buffy said calmly.
Riley turned to her. "You knew he was the one that
escaped us and you
didn't
tell me?"
"You know that he can't kill humans," she responded.
Spike realized what was going on. This was one of the assholes
that had
done
that to him. "You bastard," he growled and lunged
forward.
"Spike!" Willow screamed, but he didn't stop. She
ran and jumped on his
back
before he could get close enough to Riley to cause any harm.
Spike stopped. "Willow, let go," he growled out.
"No," she said firmly and wrapped her legs around his waist.
Spike turned his head to the side. "Willow..." he warned.
"What are you going to do, Spike?" she asked kindly.
"He knows you can't
hurt
him. All you'd wind up doing is getting your ass kicked. And
Buffy could do
that any day for you."
Spike frowned. "Funny."
"Okay, I have a question," Xander asked as Anya and
he walked in the house.
"Why is Willow on Spike's back?"
"Maybe they're going to have sex," Anya said simply.
"What?" she asked as
everyone turned to look at her.
"See Riley. Spike is... Well, he is... I don't
know. But he's nice enough
to
give Willow a piggy back ride," Buffy thought up and
cringed.
"Willow, get off," Spike said. He would have taken
her off by now, but she
was wrapped around him so tight he didn't want to hurt her.
"Not until you promise not to be a meany," she told him decidedly.
"All right, I promise," he told her disappointed.
She had been right, he
most
likely would only have gotten his ass kicked.
"Then stop being all grrrr. Remember? Takes all the fun
out of it. Be
mysterious," she reminded him of their previous
conversation.
Spike sighed and shifted back to his human face. "Better?"
"Yeah," she said and slid down his back and stepped out from behind him.
"Okay, now that all the theatrics are over...." Buffy started.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You know, Willow. I think Spike kind of likes you,"
Buffy said as she
pulled
back her sheets.
Willow coughed. "What?"
"Well, come on. He's only nice to you. And he didn't
attack Riley when you
asked him not to. Spike doesn't take me as the kind of person to
listen to
any human," she explained and slipped under her blankets.
"Buff,y give me a break. I mean, Spike? He is still a bad
guy, even though
he
can't kill us. If he wasn't in this position, he'd probably be
planning our
deaths," Willow argued with her. The though of Spike liking
her was
just...just something that sent shivers through her body. Not all
in a good
way. Kind of scary.
"Willow, I'm not saying go get married to him,"
Buffy told her friend. "No
definitely don't get married to him. It would never work out.
Believe me, I
know first hand."
Willow cringed. "Sorry."
"But he was a good kisser," Buffy admitted.
"Buffy!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Buffy."
"Riley, hey," Buffy said and smiled. "What's up?" she asked perkily.
"I need to talk to you," he told her seriously.
"Okay," she said. She waved to the couple of people
she was talking to and
allowed Riley to lead her off. "So what do you need to talk
to me about?"
"The vampire," he told her simply.
Buffy sighed but knew he needed to say what he had to say.
Then she'd argue
with him. "Okay. What about Spike?"
"You need to hand him over to us Buffy. He is dangerous.
He has escaped us
more than once," Riley pleaded with her.
"Spike? Dangerous? Ha. Do you know how many times he has
tried to kill me?"
Buffy noticed the look the came over his face. "Okay, bad
choice of words.
But the point is, he never succeeded. I could beat his ass any
day."
"Then why are you keeping him there?" Riley asked
her. He hadn't told
anyone
about the vampire yet. But that didn't mean he wouldn't.
"Because, I don't know why. I mean yeah, he is a vampire.
But he can't hurt
us. Now that we realized he can kill demons, he is helping us. He
needs his
daily kill." Buffy silently cursed herself. She really
needed to plan out
these speeches. Buffy sighed. "Riley, you don't want to just
stake him to
save lives. You want to take him for tests. If the time comes
that I have
to,
I will stake him. But right now he is harmless. And even more
helping us."
"Buffy..." he pleaded with her. He knew it was no
use. She was right. He
would bring him back and not kill him.
"I'll help you kill the vampires. But I will not help you
trap them." she
told him firmly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Do it again."
Spike followed her orders.
"What does it feal like?" Willow inquired amazed.
"I don't know. It's become such a habit I don't notice it
anymore," he told
her simply.
"Can I touch it?" Willow asked like an excited child.
"I don't care," he said and shrugged.
Willow crawled closer to him on the couch and sat on her feet.
She leaned
over his chest and brought her hand up to his forehead.
"Wow. What does
that
feel like?" Willow asked and poked at the vampire ridges.
Spike squinted as she poked at his head. "Like you're poking at me head."
Willow ran her hand over the soft ridges about his eyes.
"They're hard but
kinda soft." Willow moved closer. "I feel like I'm
petting a cat." Willow
said and giggled.
"I guess so, cats like to be petted," he told her.
He watched her through
his
yellow demon eyes.
"You like that?" she asked surprised. Willow waited
for him to respond. But
he didn't. She took that as a yes. She scooted forward and
propped herself
up
on his chest on one arm while the other hand continued sliding
over his
vampire face.
"It doesn't scare you?" he asked sounding a little interested.
"Well, yea hmost of the time. But not right now," she said absentmindedly.
"Why not?" he asked her. He really wanted to know.
He wanted to know why
she
wasn't scared of him. Not that he wanted her to be.
"I don't know," Willow continued to lightly glide
her hand along the
vampire
features. "Most likely because of the fact you can't hurt
me. In this
position, you're kinda nice. Even though you are a vampire. I
mean, if this
were Angelus with this problem, I don't think we'd be letting him
run free
around the house."
"I'm not Angelus." Spike said firmly.
Willow noticed the angrily flicker in his eyes at the mention of Angel.
"That was my point," she said softly.
"Ow," Spike exclaimed as she kneeled on his leg and growled.
Willow sat back and laughed. "Do it again."
"What?" he asked confused.
"Grrrr," she said and laughed again.
Spike sighed and let his demon face fade away.
"Awwww," Willow said disappointed. She sat back
against the couch and
turned
to Spike seriously. "Why do I have to vampsit you?"
"Because you're easy," he told her.
Willow frowned. "Meany."
"You know I don't see why I have to be watched. I can't
hurt anyone," he
said
a little angrily.
"Yeah, but you could run off," she argued.
"Okay, how would that help me get rid of this little problem?" he asked.
Willow didn't respond. She really didn't see them getting rid
of the
problem.
And that didn't seem like a good idea to her either. She liked
him better
like this. Not trying to kill her and all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Slayer, you gotta break off the bloody horn!" Spike
cursed as he kicked
the
large demon.
"I know that!" Buffy screamed as she stood back up
from being knocked on
the
ground.
Spike growled. "You fight this nasty thing. I'll get the horn."
Buffy didn't respond but jumped in front of the demon as Spike
ran from it.
The demon slapped her with one of it's slimy fins knocking her to
the
ground.
Buffy looked up at the demon gapping. Her eyes narrowed and she
scowled.
"This was a 60 dollar shirt!" she screamed.
Spike paused only a moment. Now he knew how to make her fight.
Ruin her
clothes. He shook off the ridiculous thoughts and climbed up the
tree.
"Shit," he cursed as a something sharp stuck in his
hand, but he continued
his climb.
Once he reached a high enough point he jumped from the tree
and landed on
the
disgusting demon. "Bloody hell. I can't do this with you
kicking him!"
Spike
yelled as he tried to reach from the horn poking out from the
demon's
forehead. But it didn't stop her. Spike growled loudly as the
demon was
knocked back sandwiching Spike between him and the tree. Spike
let out an
angry growled and reached forward breaking the horn with all his
might. The
demon let out a painfilled roar and began to shrink. Spike fell
away from
the
demon and watched from the ground as he seemed to get lower and
lower.
Buffy titled her head at the green mess. "Did he deflate?"
"I don't bloody know. But I do know that I'm covered in
it's nasty slime
and
I smell," he said angrily.
"Well, that's nothing new for you." Buffy matched
his anger since she was
equally covered in the same substance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Giles! They're back!" Willow yelled when she heard
the angry yelling from
outside the house.
"Did it work?" Willow asked as they walked in.
"Yeah, we killed him," Buffy said gloomily.
"No, I killed him," Spike corrected her. "You
just whined about your
clothes."
"You wouldn't have been able to kill him without me," she told him.
Spike noticed the watcher walk in. "You know," he
began and put his hand on
a
chair. "Son of a-!" he yelled.
"You know son of a? That made no sense." Buffy told
him and smirked as she
walked to the back.
"I have a bloody stake in my hand, if you don't mind," he told her.
"Whatever," she said and walked to the bathroom with
Giles following her to
see what happened.
"You two are very kind," Spike said sarcastically as he looked at his palm.
Willow walked up to him. "A stake?" she asked confused.
Spike hissed as he tried to remove the piece of wood.
"Let me see," she told him and reached for his hand.
Spike growled softly and pulled his hand away from her.
"All right, fine," Willow said a little angered and
hurt. She turned and
walked in the direction that Giles and Buffy had went.
Spike reached for her. "Willow. Ow!" he yelled. Of
course, he had to be
dumb
enough to grab her with THAT hand.
Willow turned and sighed. "Let me see," she told him firmly.
Spike didn't argue this time and held out his hand to her palm up.
Willow took his large hand in her two small ones. The first
thing that
entered her mind was the fact that it was cold. She quickly
dismissed it
and
searched out the 'stake.' "You ninny."
"What?!?"
"It's a splinter," she told him and frowned. She
held his hand in hers and
pulled him over to the sofa. "Sit," she told him. After
he did, she began
searching through her purse. "Ah ha."
"What are you going to do with that?" Spike asked incredulously.
"Get the splinter out, you big baby," Willow told him.
"Oh, no, I don't think so. You're not sticking that thing
with me," he told
her decidedly.
"Spike, it's just a safety pin! This from a vampire who
was nicknamed
William
the Bloody, killed his victims with spikes, and killed two
slayers," she
said
trying to egg him on.
"You know an awful lot about me pet," Spike said amused.
"Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies
closer," she told him and
smirked.
Spike raised his eyebrows. "You promise?"
Willows eyes widened, and she felt a shyness that she had
thought she had
gotten rid of a few years ago.
"Ow!" Spike yelled.
"Huh? Oh sorry." Willow cringed. In her moment of
embarrassment , she had
kind of missed her target and poked him hard enough to start
bleeding. She
concentrated hard on his hand, and a few moments later, she had
retrieved
the
splinter.
"Got it," she said softly and held it up for him to see.
Spike took it from her and looked at it. "Huh." It
was kind of tiny. He
grabbed her hand and smiled as she jumped. He used his other hand
to open
hers and then took the safety pin from her, but did not let her
hand go. "I
don't think you should be wielding such a weapon pet. You seem to
cause
damage with it."
Willow nodded quickly. "Okay," she said and stood
up. "I'm gonna um go see
what Buffy and Giles are doing. You uh stay here," she told
him and took
off
in the other direction.
"Don't be long!" he yelled after her and laughed as
her pace quickened.
"This
could be fun," he realized.
Part 2
Spike tried again. It still didn't work. Then again. It still
didn't work.
With an angry growl, he threw the cup across the room. "I
can't drink it,"
he
growled out.
"What?" Buffy asked amazed.
"The blood. I can't drink it," he explained in a strained voice.
"No, you can't drink blood FROM a human. But you can
drink it out of a cup.
You've been doing it," Buffy told him decidedly.
"Well, I can't now!" he yelled. He was frustrated.
He was scared. This was
a
vampire's worse nightmare, besides being caught in the sun or
with a stake
sticking out your chest. But that was fast. This. This was slow.
And
painful.
Almost as if you where be dusted a bit day by day.
"Okay, we need to just calm down," Willow spoke up.
"Calm down?!?! Are you bloody crazy!?!?! I cannot feed.
Which means I will
die. It would be easier just to stake myself now!" he yelled
at her.
Willow flamed with fury. "Don't yell at me! I didn't do
this! And if we
don't
calm down, then we can't figure out what the hell happened!"
she screamed.
When she was through she found herself taking deep breaths and
her throat
hurting.
"All right, since I think I am the expert on demons here
I'm going to tell
you what I think the is. An artifice demon," Anya said to
them. But She
didn't think; she knew. It had the little bitch's trademark all
over it.
And
the fact that Anya knew she was in town. She hadn't expected her
to do
something this drastic.
"A what?" Xander asked, his face showing his
confusion. "This is slacker
boy
here. Not good with big fancy words."
"I have to agree with Xander there," Buffy spoke up.
Anya sighed. "An artifice demon goes around playing
tricks on humans and
other demons. She has no favorite. She just cannot affect the
demons of the
same ranking position as her because they serve the same purpose,
in a
sense.
Like me," Anya explained. But she could tell they still
didn't fully
understand. "D'Hoffryn made me a demon, just like he made
her an artifice
demon. I took out vengeance on men with my powers, before I was a
demon.
Before she was turned into a demon, she used her powers for
trickery. Cruel
trickery. So D'Hoffryn offered her an eternity of playing tricks
on
people."
"And this is her idea of a trick?" Spike asked incredulously.
"Pretty much. A cruel one. But she's a demon. I always
thought they were
pretty amusing. But the little bitch always thought she was
better then me
creating chaos where she wanted to. Instead, I had to wait for
some human
to
make a wish. And some weren't all that great. AND to top it off
she wasn't
as
easy to get rid of. No, they didn't give her a stone that could
get
destroyed
and take away her powers." Anya let out a huff. "Or at
least that's my
opinion."
"How do you know it is her?" Giles questioned.
"Well, she would do something like this. Not let him be
able to feed," she
told them. Of course, they couldn't just take the over a 1,000
year old
demons word for it.
"Why Spike then? She would have nothing against Spike," Giles added.
Anya sighed angrily. "She is an artifice demon. She has
no use for grudges.
She did it to him because she could. She could have done it to
you, Buffy,
Willow, or even Xander. She just happened to choose Spike. Most
likely
because he caught her attention because of the fact that he is a
vampire
that
just happens to be in the position of not being able to directly
feed off
of
humans. If I was her, I would most likely have done it." And
he calls
himself
a watcher. "And I know it was her because she paid me a
little visit the
other day. Babbling something about a great joke she played, and
I would
love
it. But I better be sure to bring a broom and a dust pan with
me."
Spike frowned at the thought. "So how do we reverse this?"
Anya sighed. "She is the only one that can do it. Usually
it involved
giving
her something. But there have been times when she was forced to
when
another
strong being happened to know the person she tricked. Those were
the ones I
liked to see. She isn't very brave. She creates a mess and
watches. Doesn't
make her presence known to anyone. Then after it is through, she
moves on."
But Anya had a feeling that it would be easy to get her to change
her mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One week later.
"Anya."
Anya spun at the familiar voice calling her name. "I was
wondering when you
would show up to gloat."
"Like it?" Pauline asked excitedly.
"Not particularly," Anya responded dryly.
"Too bad. I do," Pauline sighed.
"So, then. What do you want?" Anya asked.
Pauline smiled. "Nothing. Just to watch," she said and disappeared.
"Wonderful," Anya said and coughed from all the
smoke left in Pauline's
wake.
Now how were they going to get through this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"But you said there is a way of getting her to stop
it," Spike argued.
Although he most likely didn't look much like he was arguing
considering
the
weakness in his voice.
"There is. I just didn't think it would be this hard," Anya explained.
"How do we find her?" Buffy asked. This whole
situation was getting out of
hand and she didn't like that.
"We don't. Whatever it is she wants, then the opportunity
will arise for us
to give it to her." But that idea obviously didn't sit well
with Spike.
"While I sit here and die!" he yelled loudly. But it
did nothing to serve
his
point because he began having a coughing fit soon after.
"I don't care what you say, Anya. Although Spike isn't
exactly my favorite
person, this is ridiculous. I'm not going to let her do this. We
are going
to
find her," Buffy stated with steel in her voice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You know, Anya, I had thought about bringing one of the
objects back from
one of your wishes," Pauline said as she appeared beyond
Anya.
Anya turned around and found herself intrigued. "Which one?"
Pauline laughed. "The one you managed to drag over here
instead of your
stone."
Anya frowned at the mention of her precious item. But she
pushed the
thought
away. "That was a great world," Anya agreed.
"I thought so myself. When you pulled that little wish,
believe me I was a
little surprised when I woke up that day," Pauline said and
laughed. "That
wish would have worked as a great trick."
"Then why didn't you? It would have worked just as well.
Most likely a
better
trick worthy of an artifice demon don't you think?" Anya
questioned her.
"You may like to doubt me, Anya, but I give thoughts to
these things and
decide how they would come out. That one, I think, could have
ended
terribly.
Still a nice trick, though. I mean come on. You bring that girl
back as a
vampire. Even if they did send her back or stake her. That might
get
someone
thinking. And what would you rather? The vampire or the
human?"
Anya frowned. Pauline was right. It wouldn't have worked at
all. "But that
couldn't have happened right now."
"What if the situation changed? It could have,"
Pauline smiled. "You still
don't know yet, do you?"
"No," Anya admitted and frowned.
"Well, Anya, I must be off. I you don't then, this really
wasn't even worth
it," Pauline told her and disappeared.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three days later.
"Spike?" Willow asked, coming in. It was her turn to
watch him while the
others went out to try to clear up the problem with Spike.
"Spike!" she yelled. But there was no response. A
feeling of worry and
dread
came over her and she began to hyperventilate. She walked into
Giles'
living
room but he wasn't in their.
"Spike!" she screamed. "Oh god." Willow
turned to walk to the back of the
house but it didn't take long for her to find him. He was
sprawled out on
the
hall floor. Willow ran up to him and she kneeled down next to
him.
"Spike wake up," she told him and began to shake
him. He obviously wasn't
dead or else he would be dust. But he was skinny. Too skinny. His
eyes
looked
sunken in and he had lost the quirky look he usually had. Willow
sat on the
floor and pulled his head into her lap. She pulled her hand back
and
slapped
him across the face. "Wake up!"
A small growl passed Spike's lips and his vamp visage slipped into place.
Willow didn't falter. He had been doing that a lot lately.
Vamping out.
Probably the smell of blood that he couldn't drink. A vampire
hungry was
bound to have little control. But he didn't move. His yellow eyes
just
stared
into hers.
"They haven't found her yet, Spike," Willow told him softly.
"Obviously," he responded quietly.
Willow didn't let the comment bother her. It was him. She
wasn't sure of
what
to tell him. She couldn't reassure him that they would. Because
he knew the
truth. His eyes began to slowly close, and she began to cry
silently. She
brought one of her hands up to his face and slid it gently over
his head
above his eyes. His eyes opened and his yellow eyes flashed at
her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That was the fourth time Pauline had visited her. Pauline said
the answer
to
solving it was easy. Anya recalled what the point of all this was
and tried
to draw a conclusion from that of what the answer was. It
couldn't be
Spike.
He was in the position. Their had to be another way of solving
it. And the
only other person was-. Anya screamed. "I am so
stupid!" she yelled and
bounded out the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Willow wrapped both arms around Spike. "Are you supposed to be this cold?"
"I'm dying, Willow. People get cold when they die," he said softly.
A pained look came over Willow's face. She pulled him closer
to her and
became aware of the slight shiver running through his body. She
winced.
This
wasn't Spike. He was tough and sarcastic. Not like this.
"Willow!" a voice yelled throughout the house.
"Anya?!?" Willow yelled.
Anya ran in the direction in which the voice came but halted
when she found
Willow. "I didn't think this soon," she admitted.
Pauline had taken this
one
to far. And Anya felt like she deserved the consequences.
"Willow, you can
help him."
"How?" Willow asked confused. "He's dying.
Probably the only thing I could
do
now is to stake him to quicken it along. And that I'm not going
to do."
Willow said firmly. "Spike!" Willow screamed when his
eyes began to close
again. "No!" she sobbed.
"Will you just let me die, Willow?" Spike said.
Somehow he managed to sound
annoyed.
"No," she told him firmly.
"Then help him," Anya told her.
"How?" Willow asked and turned to her.
"You have powers, Willow, use them. Reach out and pull on
the artifice
demon." Anya directed her.
"I don't know how," Willow cried. "Why can't you? You know magic."
"I knew magic. My powers were taken with the stone. You
do know how. Just
open yourself and find where the power holding over Spike is
coming from.
And
when you find it pull on it."
Willow knew how to feel power. When she did spells, she felt
it. But that
was
when she did them. She never really tried opening herself up to
the power.
But their was a first time for everything.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pauline frowned. "Damn." Her girlie face and blond
hair faded away to
reveal
nasty green faced demon with thick blue veins running under her
skin. "And
here I was so close," she pouted and soon disappeared
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Willow jumped as the power was thrown back at her. Here eyes
opened and a
mean looking green demon stood before her. Willow turned to Anya.
"Is
that...?"
Anya nodded.
"Why did you pull me to this mortal realm?" Pauline asked angrily.
Anya rolled her eyes. Of course, she had always been that dramatic herself.
"Anya?" Willow asked worried.
"Hey, you did it, not me," Anya told her and backed up.
Willows eyes widened. She let go of Spike and stood up
shakily. She stepped
over him to stand in-between him and the demon. "Because you
pulled a nasty
trick on Spike."
"That's what I do," the demon stated simply.
"Well, then undo it," Willow told her firmly.
The demon laughed. "Undo it?" she laughed again. "Why would I do that?"
"Because we need him," Willow told her. This demon
didn't seem to be in a
reasoning mood, and Willow didn't see herself actually making the
demon fix
Spike.
"We need him," the demon sighed. "I don't think
so. I think some of 'we'
couldn't care less. I think you better come up with someone else
who
actually
needs him. Because I really see no use in reversing this."
Willow frowned. "I need him."
The demon smirked. "Really?"
"Yes," Willow said decidedly.
Pauline sighed and let her demon visage fade away, to reveal a
human face.
She shrugged her shoulder. "Okay." She waved a hand in
the direction of
Spike
and disappeared.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'm going now." Pauline said as she appeared in front of Anya.
"Good," Anya admitted.
"Hey, don't blame this on me," Pauline argued.
"I didn't think you would be so drastic. I just asked for
something
simple,"
Anya argued.
"I'm an artifice demon. What did you expect? I never saw
you doing tiny
things. But anyway my debt to you is repaid," Pauline told
her and sighed.
"I still would have rather my necklace back," Anya told her.
"Well, I couldn't get it. It's hard to do tricks like
that. And even more
hard when you lose it in another world that is now gone. Anyway
from what
I've seen it doesn't look like you should be that kind of demon
anymore.
You've got yourself a little boy toy and all," Pauline said
and laughed.
"Anya, the matchmaking demon." Pauline continued to
laugh.
"Yea, well, you didn't do a too good job of it,"
Anya retorted. Her? A
match
making demon? Ridiculous!
"Well, I don't make a habit of trying to make a
relationship out of
vampires
and humans. Besides when I arrived, it seemed to be working
pretty well,"
Pauline argued. She thought she had done a good job. She just
helped. It
was
going to take them a while. "And anyway, you spent over a
1,000 years
granting wishes for women scorned by men. I don't think you are
to much of
a
pro in the relationship department." Pauline smiled and
disappeared.
Anya frowned. "Bitch."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part 3
"What?!?!" Giles yelled.
Buffy winced at the high tone of his voice. She hadn't meant
for it to
happen. It just had. "Giles, I didn't want to tell them, but
they saw Riley
and I together," she explained to him. However, it did no
good.
Giles took off his glasses and rested his head on the back of
the couch.
"What happened?" he asked, as calmly as possible.
"Riley and were fighting. Well, it turns out, two of his
friends are part
of
the Initiative. Riley was keeping more secrets than I thought.
But as I was
saying, they came along all macho like in their army gear. Also
what is up
with that? You don't see me all in army gear. Sometimes in some
pants and a
cute little shirt." Buffy's eyes widened and she held her
hand out. "And
sometimes even skirt." Buffy sighed and continued.
"Well, they helped us
kill
the demon. And before you know it one of those idiots say into
there
microphone things 'Sir we have a situation.' A situation! Can you
believe
it!
I am a situation. I have been doing this for a much longer time
then they
have. And I am the situation! Where they chosen!?! Noooooo, I
don't think
so."
By this time Buffy was standing and pacing back and
forth angrily. It
hadn't
upset her till now.
Giles sighed. Of course, she still hadn't gotten to the point.
"What
happened
after?"
"Well, the same guy carried out a conversation quietly,
while I sent mean
glances towards him. I hope he felt it too. When he was finished,
he said
to
Riley........
***** "Riley, we have to take her in," he said as he walked closer.
Riley opened his mouth to give a negative, but Buffy was there before him.
"Take me in?" Buffy scoffed. "Oh, no, I don't
think so. You can just take
your little laser gun and your microphone thingy and shove
it-"
"Buffy," Riley said quietly. He turned to the other
two. "Look, Forest,
there
is no reason for us to take her in." But of course, he was
cut off again.
"Riley, she knows about us. We have no choice. She knew
that someone was
helping you," Forest told him. He would have never have
guessed it would
have
been her.
"Who is she?" Buffy asked.
"You'll know soon enough," he told her.
Buffy looked at them through narrowed eyes. "You want to
take me in? Go
ahead. Just try it."
"Buffy...." Riley started.
"No. We should give them a chance. I mean, they can't go
back saying that
they refused to take me in. At least this way, they can say I
kicked their
asses, and they had no choice." She was getting tired of
this whole
initiative. They really needed a whole lesson in the area of The
Chosen
One.
************
"Then a vamp came along. So since their was three of
them, I knew they
could
take care of him and I took off," she said simply.
"So they don't know about you being a slayer?" Giles
asked her. He was a
little relieved. But they still knew Buffy was involved and it
wouldn't be
the end of this.
"No, but I expect that I'll be hearing something soon
from them. And most
likely, they'll be watching me with all of their high tech
equipment. You
know for such a large watchers organization and only one slayer,
you all
don't fund very well," she told him.
~~~~~
"So what do we do now?" Willow asked her as she laid
under her covers in
the
darkened room.
"Stay on the look out. You and Xander can both help me
out. There bound to
find out that you know. And that Giles knows and Spike too.
Although, I'm
not
going to kill myself saving his life, I don't want him in the
hands of the
Initiative. I know we can trust, Riley, but I don't know about
the other
two.
Or any of the other people involved. There was someone Forest
reported to
It's a women. Because he said 'she.'" Buffy was going to be
on the look out
for them to. She was going to find out everything.
"Buffy, if they find out we are harboring Spike, they'll
come straight for
him," Willow told her. Not only would that put them in
danger, but also she
didn't want them getting their hands on Spike.
"I don't like, Spike. We all know that. But I refuse to
let them take him
and
kill him. If anyone gets to kill him, it will be me."
Willow smiled in the dark. As many times as Buffy's says that,
she has
never
acted on it. The problem is, Buffy and Spike loved to hate each
other.
"But taking a vampire and performing tests on him, or any
other demon, is
unnatural." And if they worked against her and tried to stop
her they where
going to have a serious problem.
~~~~~~
"Go Fish!" Spike yelled triumphantly.
Willow frowned and pulled another card from the middle of the
table then
smiled. "I got it," she told him and stuck her tongue
out at him as she
held
up the matching cards.
"I'm still winning though. So you have a 3?" he asked.
"I caught one," Buffy announced as she walked in.
Willow let out a relieved breath. Now she wouldn't have to
give him her 3.
"Caught one what?"
"Army guys. They were spying on me, while I was
patrolling. I gave him a
swift kick in the ass and told him to tell whoever was in charge
they have
a
problem now," she told them and plopped down on the sofa.
She looked
confused
at Willow and Spike who where sitting on the floor on either
sides of a
table
with cards in there hands. "So what game are you two playing
this time?"
"Go Fish," Willow told her.
"Speaking of. I think you have my 3, pet." Spike reminded her.
Willow scowled and threw the card at him. "Next time, I
pick the game," she
told him and turned back to Buffy. "So what are you going to
do?"
"Although, I could care less about your cause slayer, I
hate the bloody
army
brats more. In my opinion, you need to show them who is running
this bloody
hellmouth," he spoke up. "Do you have a 6?"
"Go fish," Willow told him haughtily.
"Right, Spike, let me tell you. They have an army of guys
running around
with
little masks, things to sense vampires and little laser guns. I
show them
who
is in charge, how?" she asked him.
"You have a queen?" Willow asked him.
Spike frown and handed the card to her.
"Ha ha," Willow told him and stuck her tongue out.
"Very becoming, pet," Spike responded then turned to
Buffy. "Look, I didn't
say I knew how to do it. But what are you going to do? Let
them take over
your little gig?"
"It's not a gig!" Buffy exclaimed. "I am the
ch-" she started to rant and
rave but was cut off by Spike.
"Yeah, the Chosen One, there can be only one. Look I've
heard it to much
over
just a century. If your so bloody special, why don't you let them
know?
They
don't have the superhuman strength. You do. Come on Willow.
You're taking
forever to lose."
Willow huffed. "All right, mister
"I'm-a-big-bad-vampire-who-can't-even-kill-people!"
Give me your King."
Spike growled and threw the card towards her.
"Oh look!" Willow exclaimed with mock surprise.
"I am all out of cards. I
guess I shall have to pick one from this dear old pile of
fishies." Willow
picked up one of the remaining three cards. "Do you have an
ace?" Willow
asked sweetly.
Spike slammed the card on the table.
Willow smiled triumphantly and placed the two matching cards
down. "You
know
Buffy, Spike is right." She grabbed another card off the
table. "You are
the
chosen one. You defeated all the badies and demons and masters
and closed
hellmouths before they even came to town. You need to let them
know whose
town this is. Give me your 10 baby," Willow said and
smirked.
"Oh, you don't know what it does to me, when you call me
baby," Spike said
sarcastically and threw the card towards her.
"I know that. But it still doesn't change the fact that
their are only a
few
of us and a lot of them," Buffy argued.
Willow grabbed the card off the table and looked him straight
in the eye.
"I
think you have my 5, kind sir," she said and smiled sweetly.
Spike stared at her angrily and slid the card across the
table, not taking
his eyes off of her.
Willow reached out to grabbed the card, but his hand grabbed
her and pulled
her forward as he leaned forward. Willow's eyes widened in fear
as his eyes
began to glow yellow.
"I am going to win next time," he whispered.
Willow glared at him and pulled way. "Not on your life, dead boy."
~~~~~
"How did I get dragged into this?" Spike asked in almost a whine.
"You were the one that said I needed to show them who is
boss," Buffy
reminded him.
"But that didn't include me coming out here endangering
my life. I can't
even
kill the bloody bastards!" he yelled angrily.
"Stop your whining. You know you wanted to be out here to
give them a good
beating anyway," Willow told him.
Spike frowned but didn't respond to her remark. "So what do we do then?"
"We hunt," Buffy told him as she continued to scan the grounds.
"We hunt!" he exclaimed. "Not only do you have
me out here in the open for
these poofs to catch me, but you also have me out here killing my
own
kind!"
"Well, you're the one that said you needed a good
kill," Buffy told him
angrily. "And will you shut up before you let everyone know
we're here!
There
going to have that whole damn initiative after us."
Spike grumbled to himself stopped the arguing.
"How do you know they'll show?" Willow asked. Buffy
said she had a plan and
she knew some of them would. Buffy hadn't wanted her to come, but
she had
insisted, and Buffy relented after a little pleading.
"Because," Buffy smiled gleefully. "They'll see
Spike and they'll come a
running.'"
Spike stopped and gaped. After he recovered he growled.
"You have me set up
as the bait!"
"I guess he hasn't as dumb as they say," Buffy said
to Willow. "Look Spike,
we're not going to let them take you. I want to be able to kill
you. Not
them."
"Well, that's comforting," he grumbled.
"You think it will work?" Willow asked.
"Yeah. One will see us with a vampire and that vampire
just happens to be
the
one that got away from them. So he'll call 'her,' and then
they'll come
like
good little doggies." At least, that's what was supposed to
happen. Once
they
got there though she wasn't sure what was going to happen.
~~~~~
"I'm sending reinforcements."
"How many, sir?" the figure behind the bush asked quietly.
"Enough to bring all three of them in. Use extreme
caution. This is not a
matter to be taken lightly," Prof. Walsh told him.
"Out." She faced the
others. "Two teams to assist Agent Culver."
The men jogged out, quickly. She turned to the team still
standing there.
"You go too." She was going to be sure she got all
three of them in.
Forest turned to look at his friend. When this got to Riley,
he was going
to
be very unhappy.
~~~~~~
"Stop."
"You were right, Buffy," Willow said fearfully as an
army of guys
surrounded
them.
"Can anyone say overkill?" Buffy asked and scoffed.
"Overkill? Never," Spike answered.
"Team one, take the vampire. Team two, take the
humans," Agent Culver
ordered.
"So this is where we fight back, right?" Willow
asked as she began to back
up
towards Buffy and Spike.
"Yeah, I think so," Buffy said and nodded as she
took a fighting stance and
laid a kick in the closest agents stomach.
"It's about time," Spike said and vamped out.
Willow winced as two agents grabbed her. This was harder then
fighting
vampire. You couldn't kill them or protect yourselves from them.
And she
wasn't as advanced in the fighting area as Buffy and Spike. She
gritted her
teeth together and concentrated moments later and invisible force
pushed
the
two agents back and toppling to the ground.
"Oh shit," Willow cursed as more rushed towards her.
She had barely been
able
to pull that off. "Buffy!" Willow screamed as they
began to pull her off.
She
couldn't even concentrate enough to do as she had done before.
"Willow!" Buffy yelled as her eyes laid on her
distancing friend. But she
couldn't help her. "Spike!"
Spike golden eyes flew to Buffy.
"Willow!" Buffy yelled to him.
Spike looked around for Willow and found her fighting a losing
battle with
three agents who were easily taking her towards some unknown
destination.
He
growled and threw the humans off of him. Spike ran in the
direction that
Willow was being taken in, but it was no use. He was bombarded.
"Willow!"
he
growled out as she continued to scream.
~~~~~~
Willow glared at the men in white lab coats staring at her.
"Miss Rosenberg, how surprising to see you here."
Willow turned at the voice. "Professor Walsh?"
Willow asked confused. She
quickly covered the emotions on her face. No one was who they
seemed to be.
That she had learned well.
"Yes, Professor Walsh. Now that I answered your question,
I have a few to
ask
you," she said and sat down in a chair in front of Willow.
"Where are my friends?" Willow asked.
"Your friends. Now that leads to an interesting set of
question. A vampire
is
your friend?" Prof. Walsh asked and paused. But she got no
response.
Willow ignored the questions and ignore the stares of the
white coated men
as
she continued to tell herself to be brave. Hopefully Spike and
Buffy got
away. They were stronger then her. They would be able to get
away. And then
they would be able to rescue her. Hopefully.
~~~~~~
Back to Willow/Spike
