Disclaimer: All characters are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy Productions while the dialogue is the property of the Joss Whedon. No copyright infringement intended.
Somewhere in Sunnydale, a couple is being cornered in a dark alleyway…
"I'm sure we can work something out," the man says, trying to be diplomatic as he and the woman back against stacked crates.
"A deal of some sort," agrees the woman, clinging to the man's arm. "Anything you want."
"I always wanted a pony," quips a female voice from the shadows.
The two baddies and the couple turn to see who had made the sarcastic remark. They see a blond girl wearing braids and a black turtleneck sweater.
"Oh, you weren't really speaking to me, were you? My bad. Well, as long as I'm here—" she continues and breaks into a run towards the dark figures.
She kicks one of them forcefully in the stomach, and he doubles over in pain.
"Ugh! Lady!" he exclaims and moves away.
The girl looks surprised, and almost nostalgic. "Wow. A mugging…haven't gotten one of those in a while. Usually it's blood and with the horror…just a good old-fashioned mugging," she says sheepishly, moving toward the frightened couple. She bends down and picks up a red handbag—the lady's, most likely. "Kinda sweet, actually."
They look at her in disbelief.
"Oh, well, probably not for you," she says with a chuckle. "Here." She hands the bag to the woman. "Go. Now."
The couple flees from the alley and the girl turns to the two men just in time to block a weak punch from the man in the ski hat. She twists his arm around and roundhouse kicks the second man in the chest, knocking him clean to the ground.
"Not too sweet for you either, huh?" she teases, still twisting the first man's arm. As he stands, she continues to taunt, "Oh c'mon. Rush me. It'll be funny."
"Yaghhhhh!"
Just then, someone comes flying out of the shadows, tackling the second man and punching him right in the face before hitting the stacks of crates, which come tumbling down on him.
"No!" the girl exclaims, releasing the first man.
"Arghhhh!" the same someone wails, clamping his hand to his forehead.
"G—ugh!" she yells as the two muggers make their getaway.
"OW."
"What the HELL are you doing?" she demands as he stands up, hand still on his forehead.
"Thought they were demons," he mutters.
"Way to go with the keen observiness, Jessica Fletcher," she retorts forcefully, which elicits a glare from him.
He gives her an incredulous look. "Remind me not to help you," he snuffs.
"MORE often?" she scoffs.
That seems to be enough. "Hey. Little sympathy for the man with a migraine, here, can we?"
"Well that's what you get for attacking a human," she says deliberately.
"Yeah," he says. Then on second thought, "You'd think if the government was gonna put a chip in my head they'd at least make it so I can attack criminals and that sort."
She nods slowly. "Yes, because muggers DESERVE to be eaten."
He gives her another glare.
"Just have to get your rocks off fightin' demons," she says plainly.
His face lightens. "There are other ways."
The girl's face falls. "And to that, an extreme 'see you later'." She turns her back to him and starts to go.
"Buffy," he says flirtatiously, sauntering after her.
The girl, Buffy, stops, and heaves an impatient sigh. But she couldn't deny that her heart skipped a beat when he sang her name. She turns around and shakes her head. "Spike, it's late, okay? Can we just finish this another time?"
"Oh," Spike said softly, moving toward her. "So you wanna jump right to the kissin', then, eh?"
Her face turns serious. "I am not kissing you, Spike. Once was—"
"Twice," Spike interrupts.
She pauses. "But not again." And with that she turns and walks away.
The flirtatiousness was gone as he shot, "You're a tease, you know that, Slayer?"
Buffy rolls her eyes.
"Get a fella's motor revving, let the tension marinate a couple o' days and BAM—crown yourself the ice queen," he sulks.
She smirks. "Need a few more metaphors for that little mix?"
Spike sighs and calls out to her, "It's only a matter of time before you realize I'm the only one here for you, pet. You got no one else!"
His words do strike home a bit, but Buffy heads back home.
What if he's right? Buffy wonders to herself. What if I have no one? Everyone notices how detached I've been. They've backed off a bit. Not Spike though. Even though he's annoying…no, that's all I've got. He's super annoying. And I kissed that!
She shakes her head over and over along the walk home, and contemplates telling Willow about her kisses with Spike, her regret, and her weakness for wanting a little more than just that.
As she makes her way up the front porch steps she decides she's going to talk to Willow. She needs to dish the dirt to someone before she explodes.
Buffy opens the door to her house and sets the keys on the table. "Willow?" she says quietly. She walks quickly up the stairs and heads towards her mother's room, where Willow has been staying. Until recently, Willow's girlfriend Tara was staying there too, but Tara broke up with Willow because she was using too much magic, and not for good things.
"Hey," she says as she peeks around the corner of the open doorway. Willow is sitting on the bed and turns to look at her. "How ya doin'?"
"Oh, um," Willow begins, sitting up straighter. "Okay."
Buffy enters the room fully. "Yeah?" she asks and takes a seat on the bed.
"Yeah," Willow clarifies. "Not parades and cotton candy, but, yeah: okay."
Buffy looks down at her hands. "Will, um, can I talk to you? About something…." She looks back up at Willow.
"Of course," says Willow sincerely.
Buffy stares at her blankly. "Right. Okay, um. You know how we all make choices? And sometimes they're good, and sometimes they're…less good…."
"Uh-huh," says Willow, ready to comfort Buffy.
"Well, lately I, um—" she cuts herself off as the bathroom door opens and a girl walks out. "Oh, Tara, hey—Amy?"
For the past three years, Amy had been a rat. And suddenly here she was, all womanly and stuff.
Amy ignored Buffy and shot a glance at Willow. "The whole school?"
Willow shook her head somberly.
"By a giant snake thing. Still adjusting," she says, eyes wide and unfocused. "Hey, Buffy."
"Hi," Buffy sighs, surprised. "How've you been?"
"Rat," Amy spits. "You?"
"Dead," Buffy confesses.
"Oh."
"I-I should let you guys catch up. I can—"
"No-no-no-no-no-no. Stay," Amy insists. Then, "Do you have any cookies?"
"Uh, yeah, what kind?" Buffy replies. The whole situation is so strange to her.
"Any kind," she decides happily. "NOT CHEESE."
Buffy gestures towards the door. "Um, sure, in the-the kitchen—I'll just get 'em—"
Amy is on the move. "Oh, no-no. I'll grab 'em."
Buffy stands uneasily. "Okay, well, um. At least, you know, let me m-make up the couch for you? It's late; you should stay here. Everybody does," she half-kids.
"Thank you," Amy says simply, and then leaves.
Buffy turns back to Willow. "Wow."
Willow nods in agreement. "I know."
"Is she gonna be okay?" Buffy asks of Amy.
"Dunno," says Willow and she shifts on the bed. "She's kind of freaked out. And, I would be too."
"Wow," Buffy says again.
Willow smiles. "Yeah, I-I just realized I could. Thought of the right thing, and…it's nice. Having another magically inclined friend around."
Buffy looks down at the hint of Tara.
"So what were you gonna tell me?" Willow asks Buffy. "You were sounding all serious."
"Huh? Oh. Uh, it's nothing. I mean, the whole Amy-rat, Amy thing…no way I'm topping that," she jokes and walks out of the room.
She comes downstairs to find Amy sitting on the couch watching a Double-Meat Palace two-for-one commerical and eating the remains of the chocolate chip cookies.
"Hey," Buffy says to Amy, who mutes the television. "How're you doin'? Need anything?"
"No, thanks." Amy looks down to the plate of cookies, then back up to Buffy. "Good cookies."
Buffy just smiles at her.
Amy's face falls. "Sorry about your mom," she says.
"Thanks," Buffy says faintly.
"It's crazy all the things that have happened since I went away," Amy blurts.
Buffy raises her eyebrows and looks at the floor. "No kidding."
"Snyder got eaten by a snake, high school got destroyed…." Amy looks off forlornly.
"Oh, Gatorade has a new flavor. Blue," quips Buffy.
Amy looks up at her. "See? Head spinning. People getting frozen…" she gestures to the TV.
Buffy looks back and forth quizzically.
"…Willow's dating girls…"
Buffy starts walking toward the TV.
"…And did you hear about Tom and Nicole?"
"People are getting frozen?" Buffy asks.
Amy shakes her head in amazement and unmutes the television.
"…In critical yet stable condition as local authorities continue their investigation into the robbery that left one man frozen solid. Live from the museum, Brian Morris, KOUS," says the man on the screen.
"Weird," Amy says pensively.
"We'll have more on that story…"
Buffy is done listening. She leaves the room, grabs her keys, and heads toward the museum.
It isn't long before she arrives. She curses her vertically challenged self as she attempts to see the frozen man wheeled out on the gurney.
"Excuse me," she mutters and squeezes past a few civilians. When she catches a glimpse of the frozen man, she darts off in search of clues.
There doesn't seem to be anything extraordinarily clue-y and she glances back toward the crime scene.
Suddenly Spike is there, startling her.
"Great," she says sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"Well, well, well," says Spike accusingly. "Look who decided to show up," he says, and takes a big step towards Buffy.
"What are you doing here, Spike?"
He points to the museum. "Well, you know, a man was frozen alive in there. A little compassion, love."
She rolls her eyes and shakes her head and starts off away from the vampire.
"Er, you know, as long as we're both here we might as well tag along," he says, rushing after her. "I mean, as a team—"
"Yeah, that never really ends well, does it?" Buffy says stiffly.
"It did the other night," Spike says earnestly, looking into her eyes.
Buffy glares back at the vampires. Oh, how she loathed his attachment to her. "You really seem awfully fixated on a couple of kisses, Spike," she says and walks away from him again.
He looks almost hurt as he says, "And you seem awfully quick to forget about 'em," and catches up to her again.
Buffy stops and turns around. "Look. I'm sorry. Okay, I-I-I'm sorry, if you thought that it meant more."
Spike just stares at her disbelievingly. "But," he continues for her.
She hesitates. "But, when I kissed you, you know I was thinking about Giles, right?"
Spike's face crinkles up as he visualizes her vocalization. "You know, I always wondered about you two."
"What? Oh," she says as it dawns on her and she makes a face. "Gross, Spike. He left. I was depressed. Ergo vulnerability and-and bad kissing decisions."
Spike is still skeptical.
"Kay? But that's all that it was—" a smile starts to play at Spikes lips "—you have to let it go."
He grins at her. "Did it work?"
"What?"
He's still grinning. "You convince yourself?"
Buffy looks at him gravely. "Please. Stop." She turns around and continues away.
Spike stalks after her. "A man can change," he insists to her.
Again she stops and turns around, eager to have the last word. "You're not a man," she tells him plainly. "You're a thing." Then she starts off again.
He scowls and grabs her arm, pulling her back to him. "Stop walking away," he hisses.
"Don't touch me!" she shrieks and throws her fist into his face.
Spike strikes back and knocks her to the ground, glowering down at her. Suddenly he realizes that there's no brain pain. Determined not to let Buffy know, he feigns agony.
Buffy stands and composes herself as he cries out in pain. The marvelous chip at work again. She silently thanks Riley and The Initiative for planting it in his brain. Then she hits him again. He falls to the ground, and then sits up on his knees.
"You're a thing," she finishes, "an evil, disgusting, thing." With that she walks away, leaving him there to soak it in. Serves him right, she tells herself.
Spike watches her retreat and grins ear to ear, estatic. Time to go for a hunt.
Buffy makes her way back home. I can't believe I considered Spike anything more than what he is—a monster.
She walks through the cemetery on the way home, doing a quick patrol before reaching her house once more and climbing into bed without bothering to undress.
Spike walks into town, surveying all the choices.
"Look at all the goodies," he says to himself. He spots a girl in a fuchsia. She looks alone and in a rush, and Spike follows her as she heads away from the public and down an abandoned street.
Spike doubles back around and surprises her. She screams.
"That's right. You should scream."
She tries to make a run for it but he cuts her off.
"Creature of the night, here, yeah?" he tells her. "Some people forget that."
"Please," the girl pleads with him.
Spike smirks and steps toward her. "She thinks I'm housebroken. She forgot who she's dealing with," he says forebodingly.
"Anything you want, please—"
"Just 'cause she's confused about where she fits in, I'm supposed to be too? 'Cause I'm not." He paced back and forth in front of her, ignoring her tears. "I know what I am. I'm dangerous. I'm evil."
"I'm sure you're not evil," the girl tries to reassure him, to comfort him.
This infuriates Spike. He bloody well is evil! "Yes, I am. I am a killer. That's what I do. I kill. And yeah, maybe it's been a long time, but it's not like you forget how. You just do it. And now I can…again. Alright? So here it goes," he says, devouring her with his eyes. He puts on his demon and she screams—that's how he likes them—and stares at her. "This might hurt a little," he warns, and lunges toward her.
Then his brain is on fire. He pulls back, howling in anguish as the bird escapes. He can almost hear the sizzling on his forehead as he falls back against a dumpster. He stands up, panting, jaw clenched.
"What the hell is going on?"
Spike thinks. That nerd—Warren. He's a tech-y. He would know what is going on with his chip.
He sniffs the air and follows Warren's scent. They're holed up in the basement of a house. Spike rips open the door, startling the geek squad. He steps down into the cellar and they back away.
"Hello, it's called knocking," the funny-looking blond kid squeaks.
Spike ignores him and backs Warren against a wall. "Knock, knock, Robot Boy," he says as he raps on Warren's cranium. "Need you to look at my chip."
The awkward short kid interjects. "Is that like, British slang or something? 'Cause we're not—"
"In my head," Spike says menacingly. "The chip in my head."
"We're kind of in the middle of something," Warren retorts.
Spike turns to look at him. "Oh, you can play Holodeck another time. Right now, I'm in charge." Spike moves away from Warren.
Warren straightens up. "Yeah, what're you gonna do if we don't especially feel like maybe playing your—" Spike turns around and spies a Boba Fett action figure "—wait, what are you doing?"
Spike plucks it off its display stand and shows it to the three boys. "Examine my chip or Mr.—" he glances back at the name on the display stand "—Fett here is the first to die." He puts his thumb and forefinger around Boba's tiny head.
This gets their attention. "Hey, a-alright," the short one says. "Let's not…let's not do anything crazy here."
"That's a limited edition 1979 mint condition Boba Fett," the blond one whines as Spike taunts them.
"Alright, dude," Warren says, desperate to regain control. Spike turns his attention to him. "You can still make it right. You know you don't wanna do this."
"What I want is answers, nimrod," Spike hisses at Warren, still threatening to decapitate the figurine.
"Right," Warren breathes. "But you don't wanna hurt the Fett, 'cause man, you're not coming back from that. You know, you don't just do that and walk away."
Spike is unconvinced. "That right? Let's find out." He moves as though he is going to break the toy but Warren stops him.
"Whoa! St—one second." He rushes over to the rest of his nerd herd and they whisper. Spike can hear everything they're saying, but he knows he'll get his way in the end, so he stays quiet.
Spike is tossing the figure around when they turn back to him.
"I think we can work something out," says Warren. "I'll take a look at your chip. It'll be a deal. We scratch your back, you scratch—"
Spike is repulsed. "I'm not scratching your anything. You do what I tell you. That's the deal. Deal?"
Warren sighs, put out. "Deal."
"Then let's go," Spike says and chucks the figurine at the blond kid.
Warren leads them over to the science-y part of their "lair", and examines Spike on a table. When it's over, Spike sits with the rest of the geek squad and waits.
"You're English, right?" the blond kid asks.
Spike turns to scowl at him. "Yeah…."
"I've seen every episode of Dr. Who," he says.
Spike just stares at him.
"Not Red Dwarf though, um…"
The short kid finishes for him. "'Cause it's not out yet on DVD."
"Right," the blond chuckles. "It's not out yet on…DVD…."
Spike glares daggers at them. If looks could kill….
"Warren!" he yells.
"Here, I am, here," Warren stutters running over from the printer.
"Bloody hell. Get on with it then," Spike says and takes the papers from Warren. "Help me out here, Spock. I don't speak loser," he teases.
Warren takes the papers back from Spike. "Okay, right, right. Um, your chip works fine. Yeah."
Spike doesn't understand. "There's gotta be something wrong—"
"No," Warren insists, firmly believing that he's comforting Spike. "I don't know what that thing does. I'd like to…" he says as he leers at Spike.
Spike's nostrils flare and he leans away. "Hey."
Warren backs off. "But whatever it is, it works fine. There's no deterioration of the signal, it still is coming through in a steady pulse, which it's supposed to."
Slowly Spike rises from the chair until he is standing over Warren. "If you're lying to me," he threatens.
"No, it's all right here. I mean, it is. It's really not that hard to figure out if you just…what?"
He looks away, thinking. If there's nothing wrong with his chip….
"You tell anyone about this," he says, starting to smile.
Warren cowers below him. "No, I promise. W-who would I tell? I don't even know what this is about."
Spike grins sinisterly. "It's about the rules having changed," he says, and saunters past Warren. "Everything's different now. Nothin' wrong with me; somethin' wrong with 'er."
The next morning Buffy sees Dawn off to school and makes her way over to the Magic Box with Willow. They meet up with Xander and Anya and attempt to uncover something about a possibly frost demon.
"It says here the security guard's definitely gonna live," Willow says over the morning paper.
"He's all thawed out. Says they used hairdryers," Xander adds, giving the girls a quirky look. "Huh."
"Everything's slowed down—his nervous system, circulatory system. He's still unconscious," Willow says sympathetically.
Near the bookshelf Anya whines.
"Anya?" Buffy says.
"Such a pain," Anya says animatedly, scanning the shelves. "The text I wanted—Giles took it with him. He has this thing that owning a book makes it like his property."
Everyone nods, blowing her off and turning back to their unsuccessful research.
Buffy caves. They need Giles. "What should we do? Should we call him? It's like the middle of last night there. Or maybe it's tomorrow," she says, thinking aloud. "Anyone remember how that works?"
Xander puts the paper down and sighs.
Willow comes to the rescue. "It's okay, no one freak. We'll just do it another way."
As she reaches down into her bag everyone becomes flustered.
"I-I don't think we need to resort to…I mean—" Buffy hushes when she sees what Willow has.
Willow smugly places her white laptop onto the table and everyone sighs.
Buffy looks surprised. "Oh. Hey. Cool." She and Xander exchange relieved smiles.
"Alright, back to basics. Little old fashioned, state-of-the-art hacker action," Xander pipes.
Willow smiles and starts the computer up.
Buffy beams. "That's great, Will. I haven't seen you do that in a long time." Willow puts her hands to the keyboard and they light up. Buffy frowns. "I-I don't remember that part," she stammers to Xander.
Willow is looking up at something the others can't see. "It's quicker," she explains. "It'll just take me a sec to go through the files. Okay. Internal Police Report."
Again Buffy and Xander exchange looks. This time it's worry.
"A diamond was stolen from the museum last night—a big one. On loan from the British Museum. They're withholding information to smoke out the criminals. Oh," Willow sighs. "It's pretty. There's a picture."
"Well, is it a supernatural diamond? You know, like, healing powers, or good lucky?" Buffy looks over to Anya.
Anya shrugs. "Maybe it's cursed. Diamonds are excellent for cursing." Anya turns to Willow.
"Oh, keep checking, shall we?"
Xander leans back. "Well, you know, I am kinda beat, and betcha that's tiring, that—" he sneaks in a fake yawn "—thing you're doing there."
Willow looks at him, offended. "Guys. I'm fine. What's the deal with—"
Anya rolls her eyes. "Oh, for crying out loud! This is bizarre! You're all, 'lalala', with the magic, and the not talking, like everything's normal, when we all know that Tara up and left you and now everyone's scared to say anything to you," she snaps. She breathes, and looks around. "Except me." She smiles down at Xander. "Is this that thing I do that you were commenting…?"
Xander shakes his head fiercely, not looking at her. "Yeah."
"Guys," Willow interrupts. "It's okay. It's hard, but it's better this way. Little things just started taking over. Things that didn't matter. But we saw them differently, so they got blown out of proportion. And this time away will help us sort through things. Really."
No one seems convinced.
She smiles. "Now, let's just keep working on this. I don't wanna leave Amy alone in the house so long."
Xander narrows his eyes. "Amy…is she…how is she adjusting?"
"It's hard to say," Willow replies. "It's a lot to take in. I keep expecting her to do, like, ratty stuff. You know, licking her hands clean, shredding newspaper, leaving little pellets in the corner." She smiles at her joke.
Buffy is less amused. "Let's definitely not leave her alone in the house too long."
Willow shrugs and they continue to research. Much later it gets dark, and they all agree that Willow should go back to check on Amy. They look through the books a while more.
"Ah, I got it! Here's our demon, right here!" Xander exclaims, thrilled to be part of the success.
Buffy looks at Anya.
"That's a D&D manual, sweetie," she says to him.
Xander looks down at the book. "No, but it could—" he turns it to see the front cover. He chuckles, embarrassed. "Oh."
"Let's face it. We're not gonna find this thing 'cause it doesn't exist," Anya says straightforwardly. "There's no such thing as a frost monster who eats diamonds."
"Well, maybe he doesn't eat them," Buffy says matter-of-factly. "You know, maybe he just thinks they're pretty." Her words sink in and she closes her book. "We suck."
Xander nods. "We need new brains. What's up with Willow?"
"Out with Amy, I guess," Buffy replies.
Anya rolls her eyes. "Oh great, someone to do more magic with."
"But at least she's not all cooped up and crying," Buffy says, looking on the bright side. "That's forward momentum. I know I don't know everything that happened with her and Tara, but—"
Xander cuts in. "Tara thinks Willow is doing too much magic, and she's not the only one."
"I know. But I think she'll be fine, you know? It-it's Willow. She has a level head."
"Well those are the ones you have to watch out for the most," says Anya. "Responsible types."
"Right. She might go crazy and start alphabetizing everything," Buffy agrees sarcastically.
Anya doesn't falter. "I'm serious. Responsible people are always so concerned with being good all the time that when they finally get a taste of being bad, they can't get enough. It's like all…kablooey."
"That's not true," Buffy says in defense of her friend.
"Okay, not kablooey," Anya compromises. "More like BAM."
"Its human nature, Buff," Xander concurs. "Will's getting a taste of something powerful—way bigger than her."
"She was getting out of control with it before Tara left," Anya reminds them, "and now that she's gone…."
"It's gotta be seductive," Xander reasons. "Just giving into it, going totally wild. We need to keep an eye on her."
Buffy consents quickly. "Okay. Okay, we'll keep an eye. But we can't assume that everybody's getting seduced. You know, sometimes—" she's interrupted as the phone rings and she goes to answer it. "Hello, Magic Box."
"Slayer," a deep voice purrs into the receiver.
Buffy strains her ears. "Spike?"
"Meet me at the cemetery. Twenty minutes. Come alone."
It sounds like him, but he's speaking so quietly. "Spike?"
"Bloody hell," he mutters. "Yes, it's me."
Buffy is astonished. "You're calling me on the phone?"
"Just be there," Spike huffs.
"Why?" she shoots back quickly. "Are you helping again? Have a lead on this frost monster thingy?"
Spike smiles. "Something like that, yeah. Thought you might be up for a little grunt work."
Buffy gasps. "What? No. No grunting."
He smiles wider. "I was talking shop, love, but if you got other ideas. You. Me. Cozy little tomb with a view."
Buffy hangs up quickly and walks back to the table.
"So. What did Captain Peroxide want?" Xander asks.
"Nothing," Buffy replies. "You know, he just wanted to see if I wanted to patrol for the monster. But I-I told him that I would not," she sputters.
Xander and Anya exchange funnies and they chat for a bit before closing up.
"I'm telling you. I think there's something about this thing," Buffy says adamantly.
"Well, I dunno, Buff," says Xander. "It seems like we've been through every book."
"Yeah, even the ones that weren't so boring you wanted to kill yourself," Anya jokes.
Xander stops. "We have those?"
"I'm just saying. All the things that have happened lately? The bank robbery, the jewelry heist."
"Exploding lint," Xander adds.
"Is it me or do these things just seem really…" Buffy searches for the word.
"Lame?" Anya interjects.
Buffy considers it. "Well, I was gonna go with unusual, but, yeah. I dunno. I'll do a quick patrol tonight and after a good night sleep we can solve this thing tomorrow."
The two Scoobies agree.
"Optimism. I remember optimism," Anya says warmly.
"That's because you're like a thousand," Xander jokes.
"Good night, guys," Buffy says.
"Good night," Xander and Anya say in unison and walk in the opposite direction.
Buffy takes a short cut behind some buildings and Spike takes her by surprise.
"Slayer," he says through gritted teeth.
"And so my night is now complete," she says to herself.
As she continues to walk past him he says, "You never showed."
"Sorry," she lied. "Little busy actually doing stuff."
He walks beside her. "You shouldn't be so flip, love."
"What're you gonna do, walk behind me to death?" she scoffs.
"I'm just saying things might be a little different," Spike says. He steps in front of her. "You oughta be careful."
"Enough," she says casually and moves to get away from him. Spike blocks her. "Get out of my way," she tells him.
He smirks at her. "Or what?"
Buffy shrugs and throws her fist into his face. He hits her back, and breathes hard. She turns to him.
"Oh, the pain, the pain," he says grimly, "is gone. Guess what I just found out. Looks like I'm not as toothless as you thought, sweetheart."
Buffy looks afraid. "How?"
"Don't you get it? Don't you see? "You came back wrong," he sneers.
She rushes at him and punches him. He laughs. She kicks him a few times and goes for another punch when he blocks it and hurls one of his own at her. She flies into a fence. Buffy turns to Spike. He's smiling, mocking her.
"It's a trick. You did something to the chip."
"It's no trick. It's not me, it's you. Just you, in fact, that's the funny part," he punches her in the face, "'Cause you're the one that's changed." He punches her again. "That's why this doesn't hurt me." Spike grins. "Came back a little less human than you were."
"You're wrong," she tells him, and kicks him hard enough to send him flying.
"Then how come you're so spooked, love? And why can I—" Spike punches her "—do that?"
"You're wrong," she says again. She attacks him and they crash into an old building.
He punches her in the face and she responds by doubling it. He shoots backwards and hits the refrigerator before stumbling into a corner. Buffy kicks him and he flies back again.
Spike stands up laughing. "Oh, poor little lost girl." He jumps up and grabs hold of the chandelier, swings, and kicks her in the face. "She doesn't fit in anywhere. She's got no one to love."
Buffy grabs him by his jacket collar and flings him into the staircase, breaking the banister. "Me? I'm lost? Look at you, you idiot!" Spike stands up. "Poor Spikey. Can't be a human, can't be a vampire. Where the hell do you fit in?" She ducks as he swings an angry punch her way and punches him hard in the stomach before slinging him into the fireplace. Bricks fly everywhere. "Your job is to kill the slayer. But all you can do is follow me around making moon eyes."
"I'm in love with you," he growls at her.
"You're in love with pain. Admit it. You like me…because you enjoy getting beat down. So really, who's screwed up?"
"Hello, vampire!" Spike says and throws an unsuccessful punch. Buffy hits him in the face. "I'm supposed to be treading on the dark side." He throws Buffy against the wall, runs after her, picks her up and rolls her across the floor. She looks up as he straddles her and grabs her jacket collar. "What's your excuse?"
She puts her hand on his face and pushes his backward, sending him flying into a pillar. Then she lunges at him, tackling him.
Spike regains control and holds her against the broken staircase, laughing. She struggles to get out of his grip. She punches him and his playful mood is gone. He elbows her in the face and pulls her to him. "I wasn't planning on hurting you," he says, and smirks. "Much."
"You haven't even come close to hurting me," she sneers.
"Afraid to give me the chance?" he dares her.
Buffy shoves him violently against the wall.
"You afraid I'm gonna—"
Buffy shuts him up as she slams her lips against his and kisses him fiercely. Spike is shocked at first, but as she wraps her arms around him he pulls her tight against him, tongues fencing. He feels himself turn rock solid behind the zipper of his black jeans.
He lifts her up and moves to another wall. He's vaguely aware that the building is breaking, but it isn't important. Spike pushes against her and she gasps, pulling his head towards her.
Buffy pushes him away and follows after him as part of the ceiling collapses behind them. They meet again against another wall and he kisses her hard on the mouth. Again he hoists her up and she clings to him, lips never parting.
His mind is spinning as Buffy reaches down and unclips his belt. She throws it behind her and pulls him out and groans as she slides down onto him.
Had he a beating heart, it would've stopped at that moment.
Their eyes lock and for another moment, Spike is sure he has been reborn. The thought is wipes clean from his mind as the Slayer bounces up and down without blinking. Her eyes flutter shut and she digs her nails into his neck.
Spike's eyes roll back into his head as white hot pleasure pulses through his bruised body. He can't think straight. Their lips meet again and he turns, pinning her against the wall. She moans into his mouth and he pushes further inside her, using the wall for support.
Buffy reaches up with her right hand and grabs the pillar, feeling his hard length fill her again with each stroke. She sighs and moans again, hugging him close with her one free arm. Her lips make him tingle all over. It was a feeling likened to being misted with holy water, only there was no smoking skin, only pure delight.
He thrust his hips, stroking slowly and eliciting quiet moans of approval from the Slayer as she sighs in his ear, making him hard all over again.
Buffy had never felt anything like this. It didn't feel like love, but it was need, pure desire. And damn, did it feel good. She could feel him to her bellybutton. His thickness pulsed inside her—she wasn't sure how, as his heart didn't pump blood through his veins—but there's no time to think. She's hot. Her skin is on fire and her face is flushed. She can hear him grunting with every thrust and it only increases her arousal.
Together they rock, and they both know Buffy is close to coming when she lets go of the wall and her right hand joins her left in hugging Spike close. As Spike begins to lose control too, the two fall backward and plummet through the floor, both moaning in ecstasy as he explodes inside her and they orgasm simultaneously.
The pain of hitting the concrete floor nearly makes Spike yelp, but as the smoke clears and his eyes find Buffy's, the pain falls away. That, and Buffy moves up and down on him again, getting him hard all over. After all, what's a little pain to this bliss?