A/N

This is basically about a fan of BtVS getting sucked into their world, and changing things in the series. Starts right after 4x08 "Pangs" and goes WAY AU.

Disclaimer: All characters, not of my own creation, are credited to the makers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I am not making any money off of this story, simply using it as a creative way to blow off steam and fill my spare time.

Alice in Vamp Land

Alice pressed pause, the image freezing on the face of her favorite vamp in the series, and looked over at her friend Claire in disgust.

"Can you believe how they treat Spike?! He was freaking kidnapped and held by the Initiative guys, they shoved a chip in his brain, and now he can't do what his base instincts are telling him to do! And stupid Buffy and her friends still treat him like crap!"

"I know right?!" Claire replied. "They're so mean to him!"

Alice shook her head, looking angry. "The writers shouldn't have made it go like this, Spike deserves so much better! You know, sometimes I wish..." she trailed off.

"What?" Claire asked, struggling to keep her voice even. She was excited, close to completing her mission. She stared intently at Alice, with her brown hair and eyes, so dark that they almost looked black, and nodded at her in encouragement.

"It's stupid, but sometimes I wish that I could go to their world. You know, in season four before everything goes to shit. Then I could try to change it to how it should be." She snorted and looked down at her hands, worried that her new friend would think she was weird, "pretty dumb huh?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Claire said, sighing with relief. "Not when you know someone who can make it happen." Alice looked up, confusion on her face, and reared back when her friend's face shifted, becoming veiny and mottled. "Your wish is my command," Claire said with a smile, and then the room darkened, the sunny day outside disappearing.

"What the hell is going on?!" Alice asked, flinching when a loud clap of thunder sounded. She whipped her head around, looking out the window at the sky, now covered with thick black clouds. When she turned back to Claire, the girl had vanished. Alice watched in terror as the room started to spin, going faster and faster until her world blurred around her. She squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her hands to the side of her head.

Suddenly, everything was still. Absolutely still, except for the sound of crickets chirping around her. She opened her eyes, and took in her surroundings. She was standing on a sidewalk in a town that looked oddly familiar. What the actual shit is going on? And when did it get night?

She started walking, confused and scared, not knowing how she got here. She jumped when she heard a bottle skitter across the ground behind her and glanced over her shoulder. She didn't see anything that caused the noise which made her even more nervous. She walked faster, not knowing where she was going but wanting to get away. Where the hell is everyone? she thought. I mean this seems like a pretty crappy town but you'd think there would be someone outside. She heard footsteps behind her and she spun around, her eyebrows drawing together in confusion when she saw that the street was empty.

"Hello?" she called. "Seriously?" she asked herself out loud, "cause the psycho stalker is really gonna announce himself and say 'oh, you caught me, now I can't kill you!'?" She shook her head and turned around, telling her feet to move. The footsteps started up again, the pace quickening along with her's.

"Oh, screw this!" she said, taking off running. She could feel the panic rising as the steps got louder and she heard a vicious snarl. A hard body slammed into her back, knocking her to the ground, forcing the air out of her lungs. She was flipped over roughly and stared into the face of a huge guy sporting a cruel smile.

"It's a bad idea to be out here alone honey," he growled. "You never know what might be lurking."

"Let go of me!" Alice shouted. "Help!" she screamed into the night. "Get this psycho off me!" She thrashed around, trying to throw him off but he held her with an iron grip.

"Aww, you poor thing," he said with a chuckle, "You should know that no one comes to help in this town." He leaned down, lowering his voice and whispering in her ear. "That's why I like it so much." He pulled back and her eyes widened when she saw his face, covered with ridges, his eyes yellow, and his teeth sharpened. He looked at her with a face that she had seen a million times as it stared out at her from her TV screen.

"No!" she said, shaking her head. "You're not real!"

The vampire smirked at her, "now, whatever gave you that idea?" He yanked her head to the side, leaning down and sinking his fangs into her throat. Just my luck, she thought, absentmindedly as she became light headed, I land myself in the one place I've always wanted to visit and now I'm gonna die before I can enjoy it.

The edges of her vision started to blur and suddenly the weight was ripped of her. She groaned and shook her head, trying to clear the cobwebs from her mind, rising weakly on her elbows to see what was happening. The creature was locked in combat with a blur of black clothes and blonde hair, the pair rolling on the ground like animals. The fight was over quickly, the vampire turning to dust as the blonde rose to his feet, turning and walking over to her side, and offering his hand. She took it, her eyes wide, and he helped her climb to her feet.

"You ok?" he asked.

"I-I think so," Alice replied, staring with her mouth open.

"Ok, have nice night," he said, turning to leave.

"Wait!" she said loudly.

"Not lookin' to stick around luv." he said over his shoulder, "Got things to do… baddies to kill." He kept walking, a swagger in his step.

"Spike!" she called and he stopped dead in his tracks. He turned and fixed her with a suspicious gaze.

"Do I know you?" he asked.

"No," Alice replied, "b-but I know you… kind of… I guess."

"Look, I ain't in the mood to play games. Who're you and how'd you know my name?"

She let out a sound of disbelief, "Ok, I'm gonna sound crazy for a minute but I need you to humor me. This is Sunnydale right?" she asked, gesturing at the city around her.

"...Yeah," he said, speaking slowly and nodding his head like he was talking to a child. "You lose a bit too much blood there sweetheart?"

"No… well yes… probably," She waved her hand, "Nevermind, I'm fine. Ok, next stupid question. What year is this?"

"Uh… 1999?"

"...Holy shit," she said, in a shaky voice, bending a slightly to place her hands on her knees.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, looking at her like she had grown a second head.
"I don't even know dude," she began, straightening back up, "but right now I need to talk to Willow, or Giles, or someone who can mojo me out of Crazyville USA. So are you going to take me to them, or are you just gonna keep staring?"

"...Who are you?" he asked, voice full of confusion.

"My name's Alice, and apparently I'm… stuck… in a… TV show." Her words slowed down as her situation finally caught up with her. She was stuck in TV land, she almost died, and she didn't know how the fuck she was gonna get home. She started to panic, her breath coming in short, fast bursts, her vision blurring and narrowing down to a tunnel.

Spike put his hands on her shoulders, "Woah, are you ok? Breathe, luv, breathe."

She took one last look at him, realizing that one of her favorite fictional characters was standing in front of her, and feinted, dropping to the ground like a bag of sand.

"Bollix!" Spike said. He thought about leaving her there but realized that if he did, she'd probably end up getting killed. Plus she seemed to know a lot about all of them and he wanted to know why. Sighing, he lifted her into his arms and took off down the street to the Watcher's house, his coat billowing out behind him. When he got there, he shifted the girl so he could knock on the door, which opened to reveal a disgruntled looking Giles, the shock registering on his face as saw what the vampire was holding.

"You should call the Scoobies, Watcher," Spike said gruffly "We got a problem."

When Alice woke up, her head felt fuzzy. She opened her eyes and looked around, wondering where she was for a moment before the memories came flooding back. She bolted upright when she heard raised voices from the people around her and she groaned when a stab of pain went through her head. They immediately fell silent and she looked around, shrinking back a little when she realized that they were looming over her, staring. All of them… the whole Scooby gang, complete with Willow, Xander, Anya, Buffy, Giles, and Spike. She sat with her back straight against the couch she had been laying on, her eyes wide. They were all staring at her and she ducked her head, not liking all the eyes on her.

"Are you alright?" Giles asked. At the same time, Buffy asked who she was, Xander asked what she was doing here, and Willow asked what was going on. She flinched away from them. They were too close, there were too many voices, and way too many sets of eyes observing her critically. She glanced around frantically and she could feel panic crawling its way up her throat. Everyone took a step closer, looking at her worriedly. She knew that she should say something, try to figure out what was going on, but she couldn't. Her eyes finally locked onto Spike who was standing in the corner with his arms folded across his chest. She was breathing too raggedly to speak but willed him to understand.

"Bloody hell," he grumbled and stepped forward, "everybody back."

"What? Why?" Buffy asked, not willing to do as he said.

"She's having a bloody panic attack cause you lot are all crowding and staring at her like she's in a damn zoo, so back… off." He fixed them with a stormy glare.

They reluctantly did what he said, almost everyone retreated across the room but Buffy stood a few feet away observing him with suspicion. Spike knelt down in front of Alice.

"What do you think you're doing?" Buffy asked in a sharp tone. He ignored the Slayer and took Alice's hands in his, looking into her eyes, speaking in a low tone.

"Hey, it's ok. They've all gone away, ignore them, pet. Focus on my voice. Breathe. You're safe now." He took a deliberate breath in through his nose and blew it out through his mouth. He took a couple more until she started to mirror him. He moved his thumbs in comforting circles on the back of her hands as everyone's mouths fell open at what was taking place.

When she had herself under control, she looked at them sheepishly.

"Sorry," she said, "I'm just a little freaked out."

"It's quite alright," Giles said.

"I'm fine now, you can come back. Just... maybe sit down so there's not a bunch of people standing over me?"

"Sure," he said. They all spread to different positions. Spike sat down on the couch next to her, making sure to give her space. Giles and Buffy perched in the chairs across from her and the others scattered around the room.

"So, do you think you could shed some light on this situation?" the Watcher asked, "Spike didn't tell us much other than you were attacked and weren't making much sense but wanted to see us."

"Although, I seriously doubt he brought you here out of the goodness of his heart," Buffy interjected, sneering at the vampire.

"Oi! What's that supposed to mean?" Spike asked, his voice full of indignation.

"I'm saying that you always have a nasty plan, you don't just go around helping people, it's not in your nature-"

"Hey shut up!" Alice said, her fear forgotten as she became irritated at the way they always treated the vampire. "He did save me! He could have left me after I passed out but he didn't. He just stopped a fucking panic attack, which nobody in my life has been able to do. He's saved your ungrateful asses more than once, and despite all that, you still treat him like crap! He's not your whipping boy, stop acting like he is!" She realized that she had moved between them and Spike, standing with her hands on her hips, glaring at them and she felt a blush rise in her cheeks as she sat back down. She glanced around and saw that everyone was staring at her with disbelief. Spike seemed the most shocked, his mouth hanging open.

"You're gonna catch flies in there," she teased lightly and he snapped his mouth shut with a click of his teeth.

"Ok, we'll discuss that at a later date. Can you tell what has happened?" the Watcher asked.

Alice turned her attention back to Giles. "This is gonna sound insane. Hell I'm not even sure that I'm not just on some bad acid trip!" She took a calming breath and ran a hand through her short hair.

"s' allright," Spike said, "just… start from the beginning."

"Ok, well first of all, my name's Alice gray… and I'm not from this world. Or this time. In my world, all of this," she gestured around her and gave a breathy, disbelieving laugh, "It's a TV show."

"A… TV show? You're serious?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, it's one of my favorites. Called Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

The Slayer's face brightened, "They named it after me?"

"Don't flatter yourself, you're so not my favorite character," Alice said, rolling her eyes, pleased when Buffy looked slightly deflated by her words and the vampire gave a short bark of laughter.

"Wait, there's no way that this isn't real," Xander said, "I mean, I'm real. We're real. How do we know that you're not lying to us?"

Alice sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of her nose, she had never liked Xander, "Your middle name is Lavelle. In season one, you got possessed by a weird hyena spirit thing and tried to get into Buffy's pants." he paled considerably, bringing a smile to her face as she continued, "Anya is an ex vengeance demon who lost her powers after granting Cordelia's wish that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. She lost them when Giles from the alternate reality smashed her power center, which was a really pretty, square, green necklace thing." Anya looked impressed. Alice turned her attention to Willow, "Anya recruited you to help her get her powers back but you accidently summoned your alter ego from the other world. She was a vampire who liked to wear a lot of leather, and she was a little bit gay." She looked off with a wistful expression, "Damn… she was hot." Willow looked uncomfortable and played with her fingers nervously. She shook her head to clear it, "Giles, when you were in your twenties, you dropped out of Oxford and moved to London. You took on the moniker of 'Ripper', you partied with black magic, and you summoned demons that would posses you so that you could get high. Oh, and your accent was more like Spike's. It was very interesting."

Spike whistled appreciatively, "I didn't know you had it in you Watcher. I'm slightly impressed."

Giles started to stammer, "Yes… well… I… uh… it was a weird time-"

"Not done yet," Alice interrupted, holding up a finger and turning to the Slayer, "In season two, you slept with Angel, accidently turning him into Angelus. Which, you know, I don't actually care about because I never liked him anyway. Too damn broody, plus he left so you could have a 'normal life' which is a joke." The Slayer looked pissed. Alice turned to Spike, "Before you were turned, you were an upper class, refined, Victorian gentleman who wrote poetry. You were actually more like how Giles is now. Oh, by the way, Cecily was a bitch, you deserved better." If vampires could blush, Alice was pretty sure that he would be doing it right now. "You were very cute."

"That's enough of that," Spike said sternly, " and I'm not cute."

"Well not anymore. Now you're hot," Alice replied, matter-of-factly.

After her speech, Willow was the first to find her voice. "So… um… now that we're pretty sure that you're telling the truth… why were you looking for us?"

"I need to get back to my world. I mean, I like the show but I'm not lookin' to spend the rest of my life in Vamps R' Us. And to do that, I think I actually need Anya."

"What? What do I have to do with it?" the ex-demon asked, confused.

"Well I met this girl in my class a couple weeks ago. She just showed up out of the blue so I just figured she was a transfer. She told me she was an engineering major like me, so we got to talking and discovered that we both liked the show. Right before I got zapped here, we were sitting on my couch, watching reruns, when I expressed a desire to… Go to your world and… change how the series ended."

Anya went pale "You made a wish, didn't you?"

Alice nodded sheepishly, "In my defence, vengeance demons aren't supposed to exist!"

The ex-demon sighed, "What was her name?"

"Well I don't know if it's her real name but she said it was Claire."

"Clairebelle," Anya said with a roll of her eyes.

"Can you summon her?" Giles asked.

"Yeah, it shouldn't be a problem," Anya replied.

Alice let out a yawn, her eyelids felt heavy and she was still weak from the attack.

"well what do you need, could you perform the ritual now?" Giles continued. The only one that noticed her exhaustion was the blonde vampire.

"Uh, Watcher?"

"Not now Spike!" the man replied, harshly.

Spike waited a second, listening to them make plans, the irritation building until he let out a loud whistle, making everyone jump.

"You might not care ever so much at this point, but the girl's lost a lot of blood and it's gettin' late. She's about to pass out where she sits. Maybe we should do this tomorrow."

"Oh yes, of course," Giles said, turning to the Slayer, "do you think you could take her home with you? Since I've got Spike staying here, I'd feel better if she were somewhere safe."

"No!" came Alice's voice, forcefully, her eyes snapping open, "Out of all of you, he's the one I actually trust." she felt several sets of eyes swivel towards her, wearing identical expressions of shock, no one more so than the vampire in question.

"But… what?" Xander spluttered. "He's a cold blooded killer!"

"I have more knowledge on the subject than you do," she said, regarding him in a cool tone. "I'll be happy to tell you all about it… tomorrow. Until then, I'm staying wherever he is. If you try to force me, I'll just sneak out and come back here anyway."

"Fine," Buffy said, throwing her hands up in frustration, "you wanna sleep down the hall from a murderer, that's your choice. I'm going home."

They all scattered after that, going their separate ways until there was no one but Alice, Giles, and Spike left. The Watcher led her to his guest room and set her up with blankets and pillows. Alice laid down and resisted the urge to climb out of bed and yell at Giles when she heard him chaining up Spike in the bathroom. The two traded barbs and she gritted her teeth at the harsh words directed at the vampire.

She was awoken in the middle of the night by chains rattling down the hall. She got out of bed and quietly approached, peaking into the room. Spike was laying in the tub, the angle of his head on the hard edge making her wince as he tossed and turned in his sleep, trying to get comfortable. She walked back to her room, grabbed a pillow and returned, gently lifting his head to place it underneath, taking care not to wake him. As soon as she let his head go, he stopped moving, settling into a deep sleep. She nodded in satisfaction and returned to bed.