A/N: Minor comics spoilers from here on out.



The Girl in Question - Part 7

I was about to work my way in bites down Spike's untouched side when I heard the elevator doors swish open. We both froze as someone stepped off into the living room and my throat closed in anxiety when I remembered I'd forgotten to lock the bedroom door. I jumped up, wrapping a sheet around myself and carefully approaching the doorway.

"Oi!" Spike hissed at me, rattling his chains and glancing down at his completely naked body. I motioned for him to be quiet while I checked it out. It was probably just Harmony wanting a signature for something.

As I approached the living room, I smelled her just a fraction of a second before I saw her. A blonde woman stood with her back to me, turning over in her fingers an ornamental dagger that belonged on the table in front of her. She wore dark brown boots under tan dress pants and a white and pink blouse under a matching tan jacket. Her hair was up in a pretty knot at the back of her head, exposing the alluring nape of her neck. Though they'd changed slightly since the last time I'd seen her, her form and her smell were achingly familiar.

"Buffy?" I breathed, and she turned, dropping the dagger when she missed putting it back on the table.

"Oh!" she sighed prettily as she dropped to pick the knife back up, replacing it on its stand carefully. "Hi, Angel," she said with a small wave. She looked good. Not quite as skinny as the last time I'd seen her, curves more like how they'd been when I first met her, before the duties of being The Slayer really beat her down. Though she was trying to look content, I could almost feel how lonely she was underneath. It made me want to go to her, fold her in my arms, and tell her everything was going to be fine.

I took a few steps forward before I realized my state of undress and the vampire in my bed and stopped. Oh, shit. "Buffy," I greeted her, trying to sound friendly and not freaked out. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, because I am, but what are you doing here? Is something wrong?"

"You got that right, bub," she said, pointing at me. "I hear you just paid a visit to Rome – "

"There was business that couldn't wait," I said lamely. "I tried to come see you."

"And Spike was with you." She crossed her arms under her breasts, clearly upset and angry with me.

"Oh."

"Yeah," she snarled, "'Oh'. You couldn't pick up the phone and tell me he was back like a normal person? I know you hate him and you hate that we were together, but I had to find out that Spike was still alive from Andrew. Andrew!"

"It was his decision," I tried to explain. "I couldn't tell you even if Giles had given me a way to get in touch with you, Buffy. Spike wanted you to remember him as a hero."

"Well, now," she almost yelled, "I'll remember him as a coward who's too scared to make a phone call!"

"Oi!" Spike shouted from the bedroom and I cringed at his stupidity. "I'm no coward!"

"Is he back there?" asked Buffy, clearly out for blood. I moved to block her way because if she found him, there was a very good chance we vampires could both end up dead, souls or no.

"I really don't think…" I started, putting a hand on her shoulder while the other tried to keep the sheet around my waist. But Buffy grabbed my wrist and swung me out of the way and into a wall, leaving a big dent in the plaster. Crap, the firm was gonna charge me for that, weren't they?

"Spike," Buffy yelled as she stalked past me, "I'm gonna kick your ass so hard..."

I caught up with Buffy just as she turned into the bedroom and found Spike cuffed to the bed and displayed in all his naked glory. "Hey, Buff," he said, smiling shamelessly.

"What?" she breathed, pointing at him. "And, what?" she asked turning to me, finally noticing I was clothed only in a bed sheet. "Are you two…?"

"No!" I said in a panic, just as Spike told her, "Yes."

"Is this some sort of crazy vampire thing?" Buffy's gaze flashed to the bite mark on my arm, still a bright angry red.

Spike scoffed, "No," as I cried, "Yes!" I gave him a look, telling him to shut up and stop contradicting me.

"This is a dream," Buffy insisted. "I fell asleep on the plane and this is just a dream. A really crazy dream, because usually you two wait for me before the nakedness happens."

"You dream about us, kitten?" asked Spike, his voice tender and curious.

"Only, like, all the time lately."

"Really?" I asked, hopeful. Maybe she wouldn't kill us.

"Usually there's some sort of outfit involved," she looked down at her clothes, blushing fiercely. She was remembering of one of those sorts of dreams. Which included both Spike and me. At the same time…oh, for chrissakes! As the image flitted through my brain, still hazy on Spike's blood, I groaned quietly, drawing Buffy's attention. She gave me a long look, her eyes taking in everything before she turned her gaze to Spike and subjected him to the same treatment. Eyes still fixed on him, she threw her arm out at me. "Pinch me, would ya, Angel?"

"Huh?" Was this part of her fantasy, too?

"To make sure I'm dreaming!" she insisted, backhanding me lightly on the arm. With my free hand, I pinched her on the arm through the fabric of her jacket.

"Ouch! Oh." She looked up at me. "Oh!" I felt my face set in a grim line as she realized the truth. "This isn't a dream?" she asked me.

I shook my head. Unfortunately it wasn't. The real world was more complicated for the three of us.

"And you and Spike?" Her finger pointed to the both of us in succession, back and forth to draw a connection between us.

"Uh?" I looked over at Spike, asking him for some help explaining things to Buffy.

"Shaggin' each other's brains out." Fuck. Some help he was! Blunt as usual. I went searching for my pants and the handcuff key in the pocket, so I could release Spike. There. I picked them up from the corner and went through the pockets, looking for the key.

"Angel?" Buffy's voice sounded small, hurt. Where was that damn key? She touched my arm and I stopped my search, looking down at her, my heart breaking at the devastated look in her eyes. "Why?" she asked.

"I…Spike…It's less lonely," I confessed, sighing and catching Spike's eye, "for the both of us. And I can..."

Buffy searched my eyes when I brought them back to her, the look on her face softening into something approaching understanding. "You can sleep with him without losing your soul?"

"Yeah," I said, not sure that was the right answer, though it was the truth.

"But you don't love him, do you?" She said this like an accusation, like I was using him the same way she had, and she couldn't abide that.

"I do," I admitted, watching as I expected her face to crumble. But it didn't, instead taking on an expression closer to regret or confusion. "I love him so much, Buffy, but he doesn't make me perfectly happy. There's just too much history." I glanced over at Spike, who was giving me an odd, thoughtful sort of look now. "Plus," I added, scratching behind my ear self-consciously before returning to my search, "he's a guy…" I finally found the key in my pants pocket, so I pulled the pants on and brought the key over to Spike, covering him in the sheet I no longer needed.

"Yeah, I had noticed Spike's guy-like properties," Buffy said, a smirk in her voice but missing from her face as her eyes slid briefly toward the sheet that now covered him. "I never knew either of you…," Buffy said, letting the suggestion hang in the air as I stood next to Spike, feeling torn between releasing him and rushing to comfort her as a tear rolled down her face. "Am I that difficult to be with?"

"No!" I insisted, unlocking one of the cuffs and handing Spike the key so he could do the other, which he didn't right away. He just drew his legs up to his chest under the sheet so he could hug them loosely, handcuffs still dangling enticingly from his wrist.

"O' course not," Spike agreed, drawing Buffy's attention. "Me and Angel has nothing to do with you, luv. Honest."

"Why didn't you come? I mean, if I knew you were alive earlier…"

"Angel needed me," he said simply, giving me a small smile and scooting over so I could sit on the bed next to him, which I did, putting a possessive hand on the back of his neck. "As much as I love you, I belong here, Buffy. This is my home now. Been workin' for the bloody Powers and keepin' this git in line. I got a life of my own, you know."

"Oh," Buffy replied, chagrined, sinking down onto the foot of the bed, facing us. "I…I guess I'm just surprised. Last time I saw you two, you wanted to kill each other. What changed?"

"Yeah, there were hard feelings, pet," Spike answered. "A lot of it over you, but even more was over what we used to mean to each other."

"You were together before?"

"Not romantically," I assured her, but Spike scoffed audibly. "Well, not really, but we were…close. Friends. Family."

"Yeah, until this tosser left me."

"Darla made me go," I insisted, grabbing his hand and squeezing it. "And Dru couldn't stand the sight of me, either."

Grumbling, he pulled his hand from mine and said, "Well, no one ever asked my opinion on the matter."

After a moment of silence while I tried to think of how to respond to Spike, Buffy asked, "So what changed?"

"We fought, I won," Spike said, "and then, one day Angel kissed me."

"Angel kissed you?" she asked, breaking out in almost manic laughter like she couldn't believe I'd be the aggressor in that situation. Like Spike had talked me into kissing him. Which he hadn't. Having sex with him on the other hand…

I scoffed, "There was more to it than that."

"Sorry," she giggled. "I'm sorry. I'm just having the strangest day ever. I really did not expect to find this when I got on a plane this morning. I mean, look at you two, together," she pointed.

I looked down, realizing I still wasn't wearing a shirt, and then over to Spike, who was naked under the sheet slung over his legs. Spike caught my eye with an evil smile on his face, making me ask, "What?"

"Buffy, luv?" he asked, turning face her, tilting his head.

"What, Spike?" Another pained laugh escaped Buffy's lips around the thumbnail she was chewing on.

"Like what you see, kitten?"

"Like?" she asked, laughing again. "What's not to like? Just the two men I love most in the world moving on without me. Who wouldn't like that?"

"Buffy…" I whispered, wanting to reach out to her, but Spike held me back with a hand on my arm.

"Would you like to join us, pet?"

"What?!" I growled. How dare he suggest something so crude to my Buffy? I grabbed him by the hair, cocking my arm to punch him in the nose. Which he defiantly seemed to think was funny.

"Wait!" yelled Buffy, grabbing my arm.

"He can't say that about you," I protested, but I released my grip on his hair.

"It's not that bad," she said with an embarrassed smile, looking at Spike, who still had that sexy grin playing over his lips.

Spike hummed an amused sound, pursing his lips and sucking in his cheeks. "So what d'ya say, Buff? We could make those dreams of yours come true." I hit him on the arm, just for the cheesiness of that line, but he just looked up at me with that same wicked smile.

"I..." she faltered, looking between the two of us. There was no way she would take Spike up on his offer. Would she? She had implied that her dreams about us weren't so innocent. But Spike hadn't even asked me before offering us both up to her.

"You can't be serious," I told him, turning to read his face, still sitting beside him on the bed with Buffy over us. "Today was supposed to be about us, and now…" I glanced up at the girl, noticing how she was watching me chastise Spike, almost curious. "Just being in the same city as Buffy almost broke us up! And you know why Buffy and I can't be together."

"But now we definitely know how we feel about each other, Angel," he replied. "Whatever happens, I'm always yours. And if I'm here, with you and Buffy, I can keep your soul safe. I'm your anchor, yeah, peaches?" Spike grabbed my hand, squeezing tightly and comfortingly.

"Yeah," I replied carefully, he seemed so sure that Buffy wouldn't wreck things between us. Was he just deluding himself or did he really have that much confidence in the strength of our relationship? "Getting insulted the whole time we're together really does tend to negate perfect happiness."

Spike laughed, nudging me with his shoulder and head affectionately. "I'll keep you here, Ange. Besides," he leaned in to whisper in my ear, "look at her, luv. Look how much she wants us."

When I looked up at her, Buffy was almost smiling at the way Spike and I had our heads tilted together, like she was happy for us. But I could feel it under the surface, how she wanted nothing more than to join us, to feel as loved as we did. Spike whispered to me again, "I've got two words for you, luv. Buffy and tits."

I laughed ruefully, telling him, "I always get in trouble when I drink you, don't I, Will?"

"S'pose it depends on what you consider trouble," he replied with a grin, tongue caught between his teeth.

Though I can't say his words didn't tempt me, I sighed and shook my head and got up to go find Spike's clothes so he could get dressed. Maybe then we could all calm down and speak like adults and think this thing through. But Buffy stopped me as I passed her. "Wait," she said, standing and putting a hand on my upper arm. "Would you..."

"Would I, what?" I asked, surprised and feeling her electric touch put my stomach up in my throat.

"Oh, geez, you guys." She looked back and forth between the two of us. "Do you..." Buffy breathed in and out shakily and I inhaled, scenting that need I'd felt from her running off her in waves, almost overwhelming, almost bringing me to my knees. Spike's blood in my body sang, rushing to the surface, making me incredibly hard again, clouding my judgment. Spike rumbled as the smell of Buffy's need washed over him, too. "Do you want me?" she finished.

"Yes," I breathed, feeling myself drawn to her, needing to touch her. But I was supposed to stay away from her. For the sake of my soul and her happiness, it couldn't work out. I had to be the voice of reason here, didn't I? But I found I couldn't hold onto that conviction when she was looking at me with those big eyes of hers, smelling like she did.

"I…oh, God. I love you both and I don't want to ruin whatever you two have got going here. Could you really share me?"

That was the major question, wasn't it? Spike was jealous of how much she loved me, and I was jealous of how he got to be with her when I couldn't. Those jealousies had flared up these past few days, making us both say things we regretted. Tonight was supposed to be about repairing my relationship with Spike. But if we were both with her, if we both got to show Buffy how much we loved her and how much we loved each other, would there be anything to be jealous about?

Spike spoke first, leaning forward and playing with the cuff around his wrist, keeping his eyes lowered. "If it means having you back in our arms, kitten," Spike said, looking up at me for agreement, "we can make anything work." I felt better hearing the confidence in Spike's voice. Sure, the idiot would do almost anything to get laid, but his voice had real emotion behind it: confidence, love, appreciation, respect. And this was from the guy that tended to cover his true emotions in bluster and contrariness. In that stupid act he parades out so he doesn't have to feel so lost and vulnerable.

"Angel?" Buffy asked for my opinion, and I noticed how fast her pulse was racing and how her breaths came in shuddering gasps.

"Oh, Buffy," I said, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear. I had told Buffy I loved him without even thinking about it. I loved Spike and I loved Buffy, but Spike was my home. I had to choose him, and turn her away. I had to, but I couldn't quite do it.

Letting my eyes meet Spike's I saw his face was showing a mixture of love and anticipation. This wasn't just about sex for him, it was about proving something. Proving he loved me more than he loved her? Or he loved us both the same? I knew that though Spike and I belonged together, Buffy held just as big a place in my heart as he did. Was this about proving that sometimes you could have everything you wanted out of life? Through our blood bond, I could feel how much Spike wanted this. How much he wanted her , how much he wanted to share her with me, and how much he wanted me to be happy. Hopefully not too happy. "You can do this without breaking your promise?" I asked him, sure he'd understand my meaning.

"Ange," Spike answered, "I told you I was yours always and I meant it."

The scent of want and love and need coming from each of them filled the room now, bombarding me and whipping up my own desires, and I knew if I wasn't careful, I would lose myself in them. But Spike had promised to keep me anchored, keep me safe. If I could put my sanity, my soul, in his hands, I could do this.

"You have to know that no matter what," I told the girl, "that Spike and I are staying together. I can't live without him. Not anymore." She nodded at me, wide eyed, and started to turn away until I stopped her with a hand on her jaw, bringing her eyes back to mine. Knowing I would probably regret the words later, I said to Buffy, "But to have the chance to touch you again, to love you? I just can't turn that down, Buffy." Her cheek was so warm under my fingers, her smell intoxicating as I bent down to kiss her, cupping her jaw in the palm of my hand. I'd been kissing Spike so much lately, that the kiss was softer and sweeter than I expected, though her lips just as warm and inviting as I remembered. And just as dangerous.

"Hey," said Spike, softly. "Don't forget about lad number two."

Buffy chuckled and left me, leaning down to kiss Spike as she'd kissed me, letting him comb his hands through her hair, loosing it from its bindings. They were so beautiful together that the tiny flame of jealousy in my heart was quashed before it grew to much more than a spark. My two blondes, both here at once, both in my bed. Our bed. That thought was intoxicating, not to mention the reality of it, spread out before me. Needing to join them, I stepped toward the bed, and then something occurred to me.

"What about the Immortal?" I asked.

"The who?" Buffy looked up, confused.

"Your European boyfriend, luv," said Spike. "We saw you together in Rome."

"Oh. That wasn't me in Rome. I live in Scotland," she explained, catching my hand and pulling me closer to where she and Spike were sitting on the bed.

"Then who did we see on the dance floor?" I asked. "Why did Andrew tell us it was you?"

"She's another Slayer, a decoy. I got pretty famous after the whole Sunnydale thing, so Xan and Andrew thought it would be a good idea."

"Buffy," Spike leveled with her, voice colored with a touch of suspicion, "we went to the apartment. It smelled like you and Dawn lived there."

"A spell," she said simply, standing up beside me and dropping her jacket from her shoulders with a playful glint in her eyes. "Can we get back to the kissing?"


A/N: Surprise! Unless you've read my story 'Remembering', that is!

I've had this scene written for a long time, but I had to practically rewrite everything, given what ended up happening in Time Bomb and earlier in this story. But my writing has gotten a lot better since I wrote it, so a revision was definitely in order. I'm playing with the idea of going back and re-writing 'A Different Hole in the World' purely for stylistic purposes. Maybe once this one is done.

Anyway, what did you think of Buffy's appearance? Did I get it right? I spent a lot of time getting Angel's thought process down so it made sense, and then making Spike's dialogue more three dimensional than it had been before. I'd love to hear any and all comments!