***
Relief flooded Willow when she burst in Giles's door and Faith stood there. She knew it was Buffy and she was glad to know her friend was safe and not in England. After Buffy had recounted her escape from the Watcher's Council, and beginning with Buffy's body entering the Bronze, carefully skipping the saliva-exchange between Faith and Spike, Willow quickly recounted almost everything that had happened and how they'd figured out how to put Buffy back in her own body.
"Plus, she was being way friendly to Spike," she concluded.
"Friendly? How?" Buffy-in-Faith asked with a worried look.
Willow threw a pleading look at a silent Tara, who simply shrugged. Willow tried to adjust the truth, not wanting Buffy to be more freaked than she already was. Which she would be if she knew the absolute truth. "Well you know, hanging on him a bit, you know how she is about guys…a little lost puppy-ish. Spike might, you know, tease you a bit about it later, so you might want to be prepared for that." She hadn't meant to use the word 'tease' but she was fairly sure if Spike tried anything with the real Buffy, he'd be dust before he dared smirk at her. Willow grinned at the thought. 'That'd show him for lying like a big evil…guy…'
***
Finally, Faith was spent. All of her energy was dissipating, and she couldn't be happier about it. It had been almost an hour since she'd been thrown on the bed by Spike, the torn ropes falling to the floor, forgotten. They had done everything imaginable, and she had been right: he was lots of fun when he got his hands on her. She laid on the bed now, catching her breath, eyes closed, and considering not going to Mexico as she had planned. Spike was so good at so many things, she'd never realized vampire sex was so satiating. He lay beside her now, watching her. She could feel his eyes studying her face and his hand tracing absently along her stomach. He was waiting. Waiting for her to react, perhaps, to see if she would get up and leave again or this time, maybe this time had meant something. She smiled to herself, loving the power she had over him. When she finally opened her eyes and met his she saw everything she had expected to see: anticipation and expectation. But along with these things there was something she hadn't thought of, behind the other emotions, almost hiding, as if he didn't want to show it.
Knowing.
***
He knew. He couldn't say how long he'd known, how he knew or why, but he did. It wasn't Buffy. 'Some sort of spell,' he figured,' it must be.' All night he had noticed little things, insignificant things that told him that it wasn't her, and he had known. From her acting like she didn't know him when he first saw her at the Bronze to the fact that they were lying there now, together, both tired and satisfied from mind blowing sex. And maybe that was how he knew. He knew Buffy fairly well, knew the kind of issues she had with men, knew about Parker and how that had damaged her view of sex and men, and mostly he knew Buffy wouldn't have given him the time of day, let alone shagged him silly. Especially while she was still dating Riley, if ever. She was faithful and honest and pure and loyal and she was not lying beside him now. And he knew it.
And he was disappointed.
Neither of them spoke as they got dressed, an understanding having passed between them. Faith was sad that her game with Spike was over, but what really bothered her was the look of regret she saw on the vampire's face. He had really wanted it to be Buffy. Faith was unsure why this irritated her as much as it did, he was just a one-night thing anyway. She wasn't really thinking about staying around Sunnyhell just for the sex. She shook her head, trying to focus on her plan instead of the blond Brit's dissatisfaction. Besides, there was always more fun was to be had. Riley, for instance, was still watching.
She was looking at herself in the mirror, brushing her hair, when the phone rang. She momentarily entertained the thought of using Buffy's voice to piss off whoever was on the other end of the line, but let the machine get the call instead. No reason to give away her whereabouts to the rest of the world. She liked to keep them guessing. After the message and the short beep, Willow's frantic voice cut the silence.
"Buffy, if you get this, please come over to Giles'. There's a new big bad evil and it looks like a job for the Slayer. Please hurry."
Faith turned to make a smart remark about naïveté and not really knowing their friends, but when she turned, she found the door open and an empty room behind her. She shrugged and finished getting dressed. She had a Scooby meeting to get to.
***
Riley watched through the window as the two lovers rose from the bed, retreated to separate sides of the room and started getting dressed quietly, even frigidly. He thought Spike's current mood was extremely interesting, considering how close the two had seemed only an hour before. He seemed cold towards her, crestfallen, disgusted even. Thinking back to his time with Buffy earlier that evening, he ruled out disappointment in performance. Perhaps her dismissive behavior towards Spike caught him off guard, just as it had Riley.
As they listened to the message being recorded, Riley watched Spike slip quietly out the door, as if he were escaping. He was torn between following Spike and keeping an eye on Buffy. "Don't you people ever stick together?" he muttered under his breath, as Spike passed by him, also talking to himself.
"…And now that stupid bloody army reject will probably stake me and for what?" He stopped long enough to light a cigarette and continued on his rant, "I mean, The Powers were really fucking with me this time. 'Here you are Spike, enjoy it while you can, it turns back into a pumpkin at midnight!'"
Riley didn't even realize he was following Spike until he tripped over a curb.
***
Faith took her time getting ready to go over to her new Watcher's apartment. She had noticed Riley's face was no longer watching from the window, and she enjoyed the idea that he was going to kill Spike. 'All this for little old me,' she thought with a smirk her recent lover would have appreciated. She tried to imagine Buffy's face, 'My face, really,' when she woke up in England, surrounded by the Watcher's Council and sentenced to life imprisonment. Looking in the mirror, she tried a few expressions of horror and surprise, and then shrugged. 'Doesn't matter anyway. I'm going to go kick some demon ass, and then I'm off to Mexico in the morning. Outta this sleepy little prison forever.' The smile that cracked the face she saw in the mirror grew, and a laugh that didn't belong to her rang out.
"Guess you don't really know someone 'til you've been inside their skin," she told Buffy's reflection. She stood, kissed the face in the mirror, laughed again, and smashed the offending mirror on her way out the door.
***
Spike made his way slowly off the dark quiet campus, towards Giles' apartment, feeling highly irritated and grumbling to himself. If he, a lowly vampire, greatest enemy to the slayer, had figured it out, how could her friends have overlooked it? That was the irritated. It made him think a little too hard about how much attention he was paying her. "Bloody curses. Shoulda known it's the only reason she'd kiss me. Only reason she did before." That was the grumbling.
Just then he heard a noise behind him, like someone catching their balance so they wouldn't fall. He knew it was Riley, had known the brassed off soldier had been watching all night, just as Buffy had.
"Not Buffy," he reminded himself under his non-breath. He stopped in his tracks, sighed and said, louder so Riley could hear, "Its not Buffy you know." He waited for a moment, for the other man's response, when only silence greeted the pallid vampire, he continued. "I know you're there, Whitebread. You might as well drop the co-op." He wasn't surprised at all when Riley came out, stake in hand. "What's this? Suddenly the Initiative has a stake now-ask questions later policy?"
"No. I don't plan on asking any questions. All my questions were answered by you on top of my girlfriend." His tone was cold and murderous, but Spike was not afraid.
"Oh, yeah. That. What's wrong, Iowa? Jealous? It's really sad you know, when you can't keep your woman happy. In the sense that she is completely unsatisfied. You know, *sexually*," he drawled, knowing Riley was just getting more and more angry, but he wanted someone else to be as pissed off as he was. "Listen, mate, it's not my problem if Buffy needs a little extra on the side."
Riley stepped up and pressed his stake to Spike's chest. "No, that's not your problem. But it is your problem when her boyfriend and his army find out, *hostile*." He spat out the last word, and Spike just smirked in response.
After a tense moment of silence between them, Spike gave in, mostly because he didn't want the stake in Riley's hand to slip and dust him on accident. Or on purpose for that matter. "It wasn't her. It wasn't Buffy."
"Right. It was what? A look alike that lives in her dorm? A robot perhaps? Tell me another one Spike. Actually, don't. Lets just get to the you dying."
Riley pulled back the stake to take a swing, but Spike ducked, regretting his inability to kill the man on the spot, and settled for tripping him. "Pillock," he grumbled as he ran off.
***
While they waited for Faith-in-Buffy to show up, Giles continued to question her counterpart, still not quite believing what was happening, while Willow and Tara looked on, amused.
"And you have a girlfriend named Olivia and you have a tattoo on your arm from that Igor guy - "
"Igon."
"Whatever, and when I could hear thoughts last year, I heard my mom think that you were a stevedore during sex. Do you want me to go on?"
"Actually I beg you to stop."
"What's a stevedore?"
"Dear god…" Giles took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Where's my scotch?"
Suddenly, there came three short raps on the front door. They shared an uncomfortable look and began to report to their positions. This was it. Buffy got behind the door, the conjured Katra already in hand, and got ready to pounce when her body came through the door. When she was in position, she nodded and Giles opened the door.
"Giles, I came to warn you. It's not Buffy; it's not your Slayer that's on her way here. I don't know who it is or how I know, I just - " Spike stopped talking when a girl, Buffy's age, with long dark hair, large brown eyes, and lips Spike couldn't take his eyes off of stepped from behind the door, closing it. When he did look up, a very familiar annoyed look was on the strange girl's face, and suddenly everything clicked. "Slayer? Is that you?" Spike looked her up and down favorably. "Like the look, pet. Leather works for you."
Buffy-in-Faith turned to Giles. "How the hell does *Spike* know it's me, but you don't?"
"I must say I'm not sure. This is very puzzling indeed."
"Well let's puzzle later and prepare now, shall we?" Spike broke in. "I'm guessing whoever's body you've got on has yours, so what do we know about her?"
"Its Faith. Rogue slayer, doomsday co-conspirator, and bitch extraordinaire."
"Willow!" A pleasantly surprised Buffy exclaimed.
"Well, its true," she said shyly, then turned back to Spike, "She switched bodies with Buffy so she wouldn't have to go to England with the Watcher's council." She leaned in, smiled at Spike, and said conspiratorially, "I *knew* she wasn't into you."
Spike rolled his eyes, but couldn't completely suppress a smile. "So I'm not bringing any new information, then?"
"Not a bit. We have a plan and everything." Willow continued to look smug.
"Right, then. I'm so glad I could offer absolutely no help." Spike turned to leave, stopping to talk to Buffy. "You know…" he said, still admiring her form, "Your honey still thinks its you. He couldn't tell." He winked. "See you around, pet." He walked out of the apartment feeling completely satisfied.
"What was that all about?" Buffy asked, a severe case of the wiggins evident in her voice. She had so much to worry about still, and adding Spike's psyche to the mix was not going to help. She silently hoped that Faith hadn't gotten her hooks into Riley, but from what the bleached blonde vampire said, it seemed highly probable. She scowled. He was probably just messing with her.
Suddenly, the door started to creak open and Buffy instinctively hit the floor, rolling behind the couch. Spike's arrival had thrown them all off, and it seemed that Buffy's surprise attack was having a drastic change in strategy.
"So what's the hubbub? What evil is rising for my bad self to take down?" Buffy heard her own voice, cold and arrogant, as Faith entered.
***
Faith looked around at all the faces that greeted her inside the Watcher's apartment. They mostly all looked surprised to see her and Faith's slayer sense told her something was wrong. "So we gonna discuss the big bad that Willow called me about, or are we going to stare at the Slayer's new clothes?" She eyed them all warily as they shifted in their seats and looked away uncomfortably, all obviously trying to come up with something to say. Now she was getting pissed off. Something was up and it seemed to be a plot against her. "Okay, spill. Who's gonna tell me why I'm here if its not to kill something?"
Suddenly, Faith's body stood up from behind the couch. She was frozen for a few seconds, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. Then she heard her own voice, mixed with Buffy's trademark sarcasm. "Its not so much *you* getting to kill something. Its about me getting my body back," she put one finger to her temple, as though she were thinking very hard about something. "Although, who knows where its been these past twelve hours."
Without a word, Faith-in-Buffy turned and started for the open door behind her. Giles jumped at her from her right, but Faith grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him towards Tara and Willow, who were coming at her from the left, knocking all three to the ground. Buffy jumped over the couch, ready to pursue her body wherever it might go. Just as Faith was about to cross the threshold, however, Spike stepped in front of the door. Unable to stop herself, she ran directly into the vampire and both of them hit the ground outside the door.
Looking up from underneath the Slayer again, Spike grinned, "Well, well, well, lookie what I found. Fancy another go, love?"
With a disgusted expression, Faith struggled from his grip and stood up to escape, with Buffy's body. But there Buffy stood, a smirk to equal Spike's plastered across Faith's own face. Before Faith could stop it, Buffy had grabbed her and a green glow shone from between their clasped hands.
"Time to give up the prize," Faith's voice said, but in a flash her face changed and it was Buffy's visage that looked back at the confused rogue slayer. The energy of the Katra doing its job pushed them apart forcefully, knocking them both back on the floor. Buffy, back in her own body, was still rubbing her head when Faith rose from the floor and finally made her getaway.
Buffy looked over at Spike who had sat up and was now leaning against Giles' doorway. "Thought you might need an extra pair of hands, so I stuck around," he looked at her scrupulously, as if trying to figure something out. "It is you in there isn't it?"
Buffy rolled her eyes and went inside to check on the rest of the gang.
***
'It feels so good to be back in my own body,' Buffy mused, on patrol the next night. Walking through the cemetery, she tried not to think of anything except the cemetery that surrounded her. She still hadn't talked to Riley about what he may or may not have done with Faith. Actually, she had been avoiding his calls altogether. She found she didn't want to know and she was fairly sure if she saw or spoke to Riley, he would tell her. She wanted nothing more than to get on with her life, so here she stood, trying not to feel like a stranger in her own body, reacquainting herself with her senses, feeling the cool air on her skin, smelling the fresh cut grass and the crisp night -
Cigarette smoke?
She whipped around at the strong scent of tobacco and old leather only to see a very cocky Spike leaning against a tree close-by. His pale skin almost glowed in the moonlight and she watched his eyes move up and down her form slowly and let that slow smirk creep across his features. She could tell he was going to say something irritating, just by the look of him. Plus, he was always saying *something* irritating.
"Lonely, pet?" He ran his tongue across his lower lip making the question oddly seductive.
She shook her head as if to clear it, and tossed Spike an annoyed look. "Go away Spike."
The gang had mentioned that Faith had taken a liking to Spike while in her body, so she was prepared when he continued to ogle her, continued to talk to her. She was convinced Faith had done this on purpose, just to annoy her. It was just like her to use her time in Buffy's body to ruin her life. "Oh, come on, love. Don't waste that precious breath trying to get rid of me when you know you want me to stay."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Why would I want you to stick around? Why don't you split before I am forced to stake your annoying, British, Billy Idol-wanna-be-ass." She turned, satisfied with herself, and started to walk away, but stopped in shock when she felt his hands slide around her hips from behind and pulled her to his lean muscular body. She gasped. The guys had not prepared her for this. Her mind was screaming at her to pull away, to run away, to kill Faith for whatever she'd done with Spike, but she could only stand there, frozen by his careful touch. His thumbs hooked into the waistband of her jeans, rubbing them in small circles on her skin. Finally she found her voice. "Spike," she began, her voice much breathier than she'd meant it.'This is Spike, evil, big-bad-murdering vampire!' her brain continued to shout, but her body was quietly whispering to her 'Just wait and see what he can do with those hands, though, and that tongue.'
"Yes, Slayer? Were you saying something?" By then he was kissing her neck, his words muffled against her skin.
"You can't…we shouldn't…"
"Shouldn't what?" He asked, right in her ear, his voice low and seductive. "We're just -" he flicked her earlobe with his tongue and smiled at her gasp, "-talking."
Buffy was about to argue that point when one of his hands slid up her stomach under her tank top and resumed the circles there, while simultaneously, he began to kiss, lick and nibble her earlobe. All the while his body continued to press against her. All thoughts escaped the Slayer for a few seconds, but when she noticed one of her arms had found its way to the back of the vampire's neck, holding his mouth to her exposed jugular, she regained control.
She pulled away, taking two steps and turning back to the man who had, in less than two minutes managed to arouse her more than Riley had been able to in the last two months. Every part of her body ached to go back to him, to get a real kiss from him, but one word kept floating through her mind. Murderer. When he began to speak again, she raised her hand to silence him.
"No, wait, let me think." She tried to organize her thoughts. 'Pros and cons. Pros? Sexy Brit. Nice accent. Obviously wants me. Nice body. Stamina to match mine. Cons? Murderer. Vampire. No soul. Riley.' "Riley!" She almost shouted at him, satisfaction apparent on her face. "Ha! I can't do this because I have a boyfriend. So there." She crossed her arms over her chest, where his gaze kept wandering. He met her eyes and ran his right hand down his chest and stomach, to his belt buckle, where he let it rest. Then, he chuckled.
"Didn't seem to bother you yesterday." He watched her eyes widen and he took a drag on his cigarette, finishing it and flicking away the butt. All the while watching her think about what he had possibly done with her body. He watched her expression change as her imagination produced scandalous images of Slayer and vampire doing things that would make a prostitute blush. He took the time to reminisce a little about what had actually happened. When he felt she had few good ideas, he let the other shoe drop. "Either time."
Her jaw dropped and she began to stammer. "Faith, that was Faith, not me, you slept with her, not me, you know that."
Again that self-satisfied look, but Spike was ready for it. "I know." He broke eye contact and fished his smokes out of his duster. He needed a stiff drink before he said what he wanted to say, but nicotine would have to do. He was taking his time lighting up, thinking about what to say, but suddenly the words fell from his mouth in a swift jumble. "I was drunk and I wanted it to be you so much, but I knew something was off. I knew it wasn't you."
"Well it wasn't me. So what makes you think you can touch me like that? What makes you *dare*?" She tried to sound mad, he could tell, but instead the petite blonde sounded like a child threatening to go tell mommy.
Again their eyes met, his glimmering with hope, hers with confusion. He took a long drag off his cigarette before he spoke. "I was hoping…well, honestly I was hoping your body would respond to a familiar touch." He approached Buffy slowly, as he spoke, his pace in his step keeping time with his words. "I was hoping that it would remember the pleasure…. remember who had brought that pleasure." With his last word, he arrived right in front of her, and cupped her cheek in his hand, caressing her soft skin. "Do you remember?"
He watched her close her eyes, in reflex, then when she realized what was happening her eyes shot open. But it was too late and Spike's mouth came down on hers with an untold heat, a desire she had never thought he could possess. He demanded entrance to her mouth, which she hesitated to give, but when she did, she kissed him back hungrily.
When the kiss ended, Buffy's eyes remained closed and she was panting slightly. He watched the emotions play across her face. First the residue of passion, followed quickly by anger, then the confusion, and finally resolve.
When she opened her eyes, Spike's blue gaze stared right back at her, waiting for her answer, hoping for the right one. She knew what the right thing to say was, she knew what she had to do. She took a deep breath and started.
"Spike, I'm sorry. I can't -"
"It's alright, love. No excuses. No apologies." He took his hand from her face and looked at her as if trying to memorize each detail. "Goodbye, Buffy," he said quietly. Then he turned to go. Spike had never called her by her right name before and it felt really strange. Somehow, she wasn't annoyed at all. Shaking her head and changing her train of thought, Buffy sighed in relief, amazed that he'd taken her rejection so well, so calmly. Usually he whined, got mean, and then got violent. She watched for a second as his dark form sauntered away, wondering exactly what had happened the day before between Faith and the bleached vampire. Whatever it was, it seemed to have affected him a great deal. She turned and began to walk away as well, when she heard his voice again, and stopped.
"One thing bothers me still, Slayer," Spike said, continuing to nurse his cigarette, leaning on the tree where she'd first spotted him. When she turned and shot him a questioning look, he took a last drag and tossed the second cigarette butt on the ground. "See, you keep saying you can't because I'm a vampire, because I have no soul, because you have the soldier boy, whatever. Thing is, pet, you've never said no because you didn't want to. Never pushed me away and said you didn't want *me*. Only that you couldn't, that you shouldn't. Figure out what you *do* want, would you love? I'll be around when you do." He turned and started to leave again, but called back over his shoulder, "At least think about it."
And with that, without letting her respond, he left. Walking away from her was liberating, because he knew she *would* think about it, and about *him*. A lot. He smiled a true smile and lit yet another cigarette.
The End
Relief flooded Willow when she burst in Giles's door and Faith stood there. She knew it was Buffy and she was glad to know her friend was safe and not in England. After Buffy had recounted her escape from the Watcher's Council, and beginning with Buffy's body entering the Bronze, carefully skipping the saliva-exchange between Faith and Spike, Willow quickly recounted almost everything that had happened and how they'd figured out how to put Buffy back in her own body.
"Plus, she was being way friendly to Spike," she concluded.
"Friendly? How?" Buffy-in-Faith asked with a worried look.
Willow threw a pleading look at a silent Tara, who simply shrugged. Willow tried to adjust the truth, not wanting Buffy to be more freaked than she already was. Which she would be if she knew the absolute truth. "Well you know, hanging on him a bit, you know how she is about guys…a little lost puppy-ish. Spike might, you know, tease you a bit about it later, so you might want to be prepared for that." She hadn't meant to use the word 'tease' but she was fairly sure if Spike tried anything with the real Buffy, he'd be dust before he dared smirk at her. Willow grinned at the thought. 'That'd show him for lying like a big evil…guy…'
***
Finally, Faith was spent. All of her energy was dissipating, and she couldn't be happier about it. It had been almost an hour since she'd been thrown on the bed by Spike, the torn ropes falling to the floor, forgotten. They had done everything imaginable, and she had been right: he was lots of fun when he got his hands on her. She laid on the bed now, catching her breath, eyes closed, and considering not going to Mexico as she had planned. Spike was so good at so many things, she'd never realized vampire sex was so satiating. He lay beside her now, watching her. She could feel his eyes studying her face and his hand tracing absently along her stomach. He was waiting. Waiting for her to react, perhaps, to see if she would get up and leave again or this time, maybe this time had meant something. She smiled to herself, loving the power she had over him. When she finally opened her eyes and met his she saw everything she had expected to see: anticipation and expectation. But along with these things there was something she hadn't thought of, behind the other emotions, almost hiding, as if he didn't want to show it.
Knowing.
***
He knew. He couldn't say how long he'd known, how he knew or why, but he did. It wasn't Buffy. 'Some sort of spell,' he figured,' it must be.' All night he had noticed little things, insignificant things that told him that it wasn't her, and he had known. From her acting like she didn't know him when he first saw her at the Bronze to the fact that they were lying there now, together, both tired and satisfied from mind blowing sex. And maybe that was how he knew. He knew Buffy fairly well, knew the kind of issues she had with men, knew about Parker and how that had damaged her view of sex and men, and mostly he knew Buffy wouldn't have given him the time of day, let alone shagged him silly. Especially while she was still dating Riley, if ever. She was faithful and honest and pure and loyal and she was not lying beside him now. And he knew it.
And he was disappointed.
Neither of them spoke as they got dressed, an understanding having passed between them. Faith was sad that her game with Spike was over, but what really bothered her was the look of regret she saw on the vampire's face. He had really wanted it to be Buffy. Faith was unsure why this irritated her as much as it did, he was just a one-night thing anyway. She wasn't really thinking about staying around Sunnyhell just for the sex. She shook her head, trying to focus on her plan instead of the blond Brit's dissatisfaction. Besides, there was always more fun was to be had. Riley, for instance, was still watching.
She was looking at herself in the mirror, brushing her hair, when the phone rang. She momentarily entertained the thought of using Buffy's voice to piss off whoever was on the other end of the line, but let the machine get the call instead. No reason to give away her whereabouts to the rest of the world. She liked to keep them guessing. After the message and the short beep, Willow's frantic voice cut the silence.
"Buffy, if you get this, please come over to Giles'. There's a new big bad evil and it looks like a job for the Slayer. Please hurry."
Faith turned to make a smart remark about naïveté and not really knowing their friends, but when she turned, she found the door open and an empty room behind her. She shrugged and finished getting dressed. She had a Scooby meeting to get to.
***
Riley watched through the window as the two lovers rose from the bed, retreated to separate sides of the room and started getting dressed quietly, even frigidly. He thought Spike's current mood was extremely interesting, considering how close the two had seemed only an hour before. He seemed cold towards her, crestfallen, disgusted even. Thinking back to his time with Buffy earlier that evening, he ruled out disappointment in performance. Perhaps her dismissive behavior towards Spike caught him off guard, just as it had Riley.
As they listened to the message being recorded, Riley watched Spike slip quietly out the door, as if he were escaping. He was torn between following Spike and keeping an eye on Buffy. "Don't you people ever stick together?" he muttered under his breath, as Spike passed by him, also talking to himself.
"…And now that stupid bloody army reject will probably stake me and for what?" He stopped long enough to light a cigarette and continued on his rant, "I mean, The Powers were really fucking with me this time. 'Here you are Spike, enjoy it while you can, it turns back into a pumpkin at midnight!'"
Riley didn't even realize he was following Spike until he tripped over a curb.
***
Faith took her time getting ready to go over to her new Watcher's apartment. She had noticed Riley's face was no longer watching from the window, and she enjoyed the idea that he was going to kill Spike. 'All this for little old me,' she thought with a smirk her recent lover would have appreciated. She tried to imagine Buffy's face, 'My face, really,' when she woke up in England, surrounded by the Watcher's Council and sentenced to life imprisonment. Looking in the mirror, she tried a few expressions of horror and surprise, and then shrugged. 'Doesn't matter anyway. I'm going to go kick some demon ass, and then I'm off to Mexico in the morning. Outta this sleepy little prison forever.' The smile that cracked the face she saw in the mirror grew, and a laugh that didn't belong to her rang out.
"Guess you don't really know someone 'til you've been inside their skin," she told Buffy's reflection. She stood, kissed the face in the mirror, laughed again, and smashed the offending mirror on her way out the door.
***
Spike made his way slowly off the dark quiet campus, towards Giles' apartment, feeling highly irritated and grumbling to himself. If he, a lowly vampire, greatest enemy to the slayer, had figured it out, how could her friends have overlooked it? That was the irritated. It made him think a little too hard about how much attention he was paying her. "Bloody curses. Shoulda known it's the only reason she'd kiss me. Only reason she did before." That was the grumbling.
Just then he heard a noise behind him, like someone catching their balance so they wouldn't fall. He knew it was Riley, had known the brassed off soldier had been watching all night, just as Buffy had.
"Not Buffy," he reminded himself under his non-breath. He stopped in his tracks, sighed and said, louder so Riley could hear, "Its not Buffy you know." He waited for a moment, for the other man's response, when only silence greeted the pallid vampire, he continued. "I know you're there, Whitebread. You might as well drop the co-op." He wasn't surprised at all when Riley came out, stake in hand. "What's this? Suddenly the Initiative has a stake now-ask questions later policy?"
"No. I don't plan on asking any questions. All my questions were answered by you on top of my girlfriend." His tone was cold and murderous, but Spike was not afraid.
"Oh, yeah. That. What's wrong, Iowa? Jealous? It's really sad you know, when you can't keep your woman happy. In the sense that she is completely unsatisfied. You know, *sexually*," he drawled, knowing Riley was just getting more and more angry, but he wanted someone else to be as pissed off as he was. "Listen, mate, it's not my problem if Buffy needs a little extra on the side."
Riley stepped up and pressed his stake to Spike's chest. "No, that's not your problem. But it is your problem when her boyfriend and his army find out, *hostile*." He spat out the last word, and Spike just smirked in response.
After a tense moment of silence between them, Spike gave in, mostly because he didn't want the stake in Riley's hand to slip and dust him on accident. Or on purpose for that matter. "It wasn't her. It wasn't Buffy."
"Right. It was what? A look alike that lives in her dorm? A robot perhaps? Tell me another one Spike. Actually, don't. Lets just get to the you dying."
Riley pulled back the stake to take a swing, but Spike ducked, regretting his inability to kill the man on the spot, and settled for tripping him. "Pillock," he grumbled as he ran off.
***
While they waited for Faith-in-Buffy to show up, Giles continued to question her counterpart, still not quite believing what was happening, while Willow and Tara looked on, amused.
"And you have a girlfriend named Olivia and you have a tattoo on your arm from that Igor guy - "
"Igon."
"Whatever, and when I could hear thoughts last year, I heard my mom think that you were a stevedore during sex. Do you want me to go on?"
"Actually I beg you to stop."
"What's a stevedore?"
"Dear god…" Giles took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Where's my scotch?"
Suddenly, there came three short raps on the front door. They shared an uncomfortable look and began to report to their positions. This was it. Buffy got behind the door, the conjured Katra already in hand, and got ready to pounce when her body came through the door. When she was in position, she nodded and Giles opened the door.
"Giles, I came to warn you. It's not Buffy; it's not your Slayer that's on her way here. I don't know who it is or how I know, I just - " Spike stopped talking when a girl, Buffy's age, with long dark hair, large brown eyes, and lips Spike couldn't take his eyes off of stepped from behind the door, closing it. When he did look up, a very familiar annoyed look was on the strange girl's face, and suddenly everything clicked. "Slayer? Is that you?" Spike looked her up and down favorably. "Like the look, pet. Leather works for you."
Buffy-in-Faith turned to Giles. "How the hell does *Spike* know it's me, but you don't?"
"I must say I'm not sure. This is very puzzling indeed."
"Well let's puzzle later and prepare now, shall we?" Spike broke in. "I'm guessing whoever's body you've got on has yours, so what do we know about her?"
"Its Faith. Rogue slayer, doomsday co-conspirator, and bitch extraordinaire."
"Willow!" A pleasantly surprised Buffy exclaimed.
"Well, its true," she said shyly, then turned back to Spike, "She switched bodies with Buffy so she wouldn't have to go to England with the Watcher's council." She leaned in, smiled at Spike, and said conspiratorially, "I *knew* she wasn't into you."
Spike rolled his eyes, but couldn't completely suppress a smile. "So I'm not bringing any new information, then?"
"Not a bit. We have a plan and everything." Willow continued to look smug.
"Right, then. I'm so glad I could offer absolutely no help." Spike turned to leave, stopping to talk to Buffy. "You know…" he said, still admiring her form, "Your honey still thinks its you. He couldn't tell." He winked. "See you around, pet." He walked out of the apartment feeling completely satisfied.
"What was that all about?" Buffy asked, a severe case of the wiggins evident in her voice. She had so much to worry about still, and adding Spike's psyche to the mix was not going to help. She silently hoped that Faith hadn't gotten her hooks into Riley, but from what the bleached blonde vampire said, it seemed highly probable. She scowled. He was probably just messing with her.
Suddenly, the door started to creak open and Buffy instinctively hit the floor, rolling behind the couch. Spike's arrival had thrown them all off, and it seemed that Buffy's surprise attack was having a drastic change in strategy.
"So what's the hubbub? What evil is rising for my bad self to take down?" Buffy heard her own voice, cold and arrogant, as Faith entered.
***
Faith looked around at all the faces that greeted her inside the Watcher's apartment. They mostly all looked surprised to see her and Faith's slayer sense told her something was wrong. "So we gonna discuss the big bad that Willow called me about, or are we going to stare at the Slayer's new clothes?" She eyed them all warily as they shifted in their seats and looked away uncomfortably, all obviously trying to come up with something to say. Now she was getting pissed off. Something was up and it seemed to be a plot against her. "Okay, spill. Who's gonna tell me why I'm here if its not to kill something?"
Suddenly, Faith's body stood up from behind the couch. She was frozen for a few seconds, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. Then she heard her own voice, mixed with Buffy's trademark sarcasm. "Its not so much *you* getting to kill something. Its about me getting my body back," she put one finger to her temple, as though she were thinking very hard about something. "Although, who knows where its been these past twelve hours."
Without a word, Faith-in-Buffy turned and started for the open door behind her. Giles jumped at her from her right, but Faith grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him towards Tara and Willow, who were coming at her from the left, knocking all three to the ground. Buffy jumped over the couch, ready to pursue her body wherever it might go. Just as Faith was about to cross the threshold, however, Spike stepped in front of the door. Unable to stop herself, she ran directly into the vampire and both of them hit the ground outside the door.
Looking up from underneath the Slayer again, Spike grinned, "Well, well, well, lookie what I found. Fancy another go, love?"
With a disgusted expression, Faith struggled from his grip and stood up to escape, with Buffy's body. But there Buffy stood, a smirk to equal Spike's plastered across Faith's own face. Before Faith could stop it, Buffy had grabbed her and a green glow shone from between their clasped hands.
"Time to give up the prize," Faith's voice said, but in a flash her face changed and it was Buffy's visage that looked back at the confused rogue slayer. The energy of the Katra doing its job pushed them apart forcefully, knocking them both back on the floor. Buffy, back in her own body, was still rubbing her head when Faith rose from the floor and finally made her getaway.
Buffy looked over at Spike who had sat up and was now leaning against Giles' doorway. "Thought you might need an extra pair of hands, so I stuck around," he looked at her scrupulously, as if trying to figure something out. "It is you in there isn't it?"
Buffy rolled her eyes and went inside to check on the rest of the gang.
***
'It feels so good to be back in my own body,' Buffy mused, on patrol the next night. Walking through the cemetery, she tried not to think of anything except the cemetery that surrounded her. She still hadn't talked to Riley about what he may or may not have done with Faith. Actually, she had been avoiding his calls altogether. She found she didn't want to know and she was fairly sure if she saw or spoke to Riley, he would tell her. She wanted nothing more than to get on with her life, so here she stood, trying not to feel like a stranger in her own body, reacquainting herself with her senses, feeling the cool air on her skin, smelling the fresh cut grass and the crisp night -
Cigarette smoke?
She whipped around at the strong scent of tobacco and old leather only to see a very cocky Spike leaning against a tree close-by. His pale skin almost glowed in the moonlight and she watched his eyes move up and down her form slowly and let that slow smirk creep across his features. She could tell he was going to say something irritating, just by the look of him. Plus, he was always saying *something* irritating.
"Lonely, pet?" He ran his tongue across his lower lip making the question oddly seductive.
She shook her head as if to clear it, and tossed Spike an annoyed look. "Go away Spike."
The gang had mentioned that Faith had taken a liking to Spike while in her body, so she was prepared when he continued to ogle her, continued to talk to her. She was convinced Faith had done this on purpose, just to annoy her. It was just like her to use her time in Buffy's body to ruin her life. "Oh, come on, love. Don't waste that precious breath trying to get rid of me when you know you want me to stay."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Why would I want you to stick around? Why don't you split before I am forced to stake your annoying, British, Billy Idol-wanna-be-ass." She turned, satisfied with herself, and started to walk away, but stopped in shock when she felt his hands slide around her hips from behind and pulled her to his lean muscular body. She gasped. The guys had not prepared her for this. Her mind was screaming at her to pull away, to run away, to kill Faith for whatever she'd done with Spike, but she could only stand there, frozen by his careful touch. His thumbs hooked into the waistband of her jeans, rubbing them in small circles on her skin. Finally she found her voice. "Spike," she began, her voice much breathier than she'd meant it.'This is Spike, evil, big-bad-murdering vampire!' her brain continued to shout, but her body was quietly whispering to her 'Just wait and see what he can do with those hands, though, and that tongue.'
"Yes, Slayer? Were you saying something?" By then he was kissing her neck, his words muffled against her skin.
"You can't…we shouldn't…"
"Shouldn't what?" He asked, right in her ear, his voice low and seductive. "We're just -" he flicked her earlobe with his tongue and smiled at her gasp, "-talking."
Buffy was about to argue that point when one of his hands slid up her stomach under her tank top and resumed the circles there, while simultaneously, he began to kiss, lick and nibble her earlobe. All the while his body continued to press against her. All thoughts escaped the Slayer for a few seconds, but when she noticed one of her arms had found its way to the back of the vampire's neck, holding his mouth to her exposed jugular, she regained control.
She pulled away, taking two steps and turning back to the man who had, in less than two minutes managed to arouse her more than Riley had been able to in the last two months. Every part of her body ached to go back to him, to get a real kiss from him, but one word kept floating through her mind. Murderer. When he began to speak again, she raised her hand to silence him.
"No, wait, let me think." She tried to organize her thoughts. 'Pros and cons. Pros? Sexy Brit. Nice accent. Obviously wants me. Nice body. Stamina to match mine. Cons? Murderer. Vampire. No soul. Riley.' "Riley!" She almost shouted at him, satisfaction apparent on her face. "Ha! I can't do this because I have a boyfriend. So there." She crossed her arms over her chest, where his gaze kept wandering. He met her eyes and ran his right hand down his chest and stomach, to his belt buckle, where he let it rest. Then, he chuckled.
"Didn't seem to bother you yesterday." He watched her eyes widen and he took a drag on his cigarette, finishing it and flicking away the butt. All the while watching her think about what he had possibly done with her body. He watched her expression change as her imagination produced scandalous images of Slayer and vampire doing things that would make a prostitute blush. He took the time to reminisce a little about what had actually happened. When he felt she had few good ideas, he let the other shoe drop. "Either time."
Her jaw dropped and she began to stammer. "Faith, that was Faith, not me, you slept with her, not me, you know that."
Again that self-satisfied look, but Spike was ready for it. "I know." He broke eye contact and fished his smokes out of his duster. He needed a stiff drink before he said what he wanted to say, but nicotine would have to do. He was taking his time lighting up, thinking about what to say, but suddenly the words fell from his mouth in a swift jumble. "I was drunk and I wanted it to be you so much, but I knew something was off. I knew it wasn't you."
"Well it wasn't me. So what makes you think you can touch me like that? What makes you *dare*?" She tried to sound mad, he could tell, but instead the petite blonde sounded like a child threatening to go tell mommy.
Again their eyes met, his glimmering with hope, hers with confusion. He took a long drag off his cigarette before he spoke. "I was hoping…well, honestly I was hoping your body would respond to a familiar touch." He approached Buffy slowly, as he spoke, his pace in his step keeping time with his words. "I was hoping that it would remember the pleasure…. remember who had brought that pleasure." With his last word, he arrived right in front of her, and cupped her cheek in his hand, caressing her soft skin. "Do you remember?"
He watched her close her eyes, in reflex, then when she realized what was happening her eyes shot open. But it was too late and Spike's mouth came down on hers with an untold heat, a desire she had never thought he could possess. He demanded entrance to her mouth, which she hesitated to give, but when she did, she kissed him back hungrily.
When the kiss ended, Buffy's eyes remained closed and she was panting slightly. He watched the emotions play across her face. First the residue of passion, followed quickly by anger, then the confusion, and finally resolve.
When she opened her eyes, Spike's blue gaze stared right back at her, waiting for her answer, hoping for the right one. She knew what the right thing to say was, she knew what she had to do. She took a deep breath and started.
"Spike, I'm sorry. I can't -"
"It's alright, love. No excuses. No apologies." He took his hand from her face and looked at her as if trying to memorize each detail. "Goodbye, Buffy," he said quietly. Then he turned to go. Spike had never called her by her right name before and it felt really strange. Somehow, she wasn't annoyed at all. Shaking her head and changing her train of thought, Buffy sighed in relief, amazed that he'd taken her rejection so well, so calmly. Usually he whined, got mean, and then got violent. She watched for a second as his dark form sauntered away, wondering exactly what had happened the day before between Faith and the bleached vampire. Whatever it was, it seemed to have affected him a great deal. She turned and began to walk away as well, when she heard his voice again, and stopped.
"One thing bothers me still, Slayer," Spike said, continuing to nurse his cigarette, leaning on the tree where she'd first spotted him. When she turned and shot him a questioning look, he took a last drag and tossed the second cigarette butt on the ground. "See, you keep saying you can't because I'm a vampire, because I have no soul, because you have the soldier boy, whatever. Thing is, pet, you've never said no because you didn't want to. Never pushed me away and said you didn't want *me*. Only that you couldn't, that you shouldn't. Figure out what you *do* want, would you love? I'll be around when you do." He turned and started to leave again, but called back over his shoulder, "At least think about it."
And with that, without letting her respond, he left. Walking away from her was liberating, because he knew she *would* think about it, and about *him*. A lot. He smiled a true smile and lit yet another cigarette.
The End
