author: Brandi Vincent

disclaimer: Everything belongs to Joss Whedon. I only watch his show and make a prediction on what is going to happen next. Joss Whedon owns all of the characters and should take credit in this story for my imagination would be nothing with out his show.

tile: Questions to Answer

chapter: 7 Merry Christmas

genre: Humor, Romance, and Action

rate: PG-13 (for language)

summary: It's Christmas day and everyone is getting into the spirit, but when I mean everyone, I don't include Riley.

mostly about: Xander, Anya, Giles, Willow (meaning they all got an equal part or were just in it). Mainly about Spike, Buffy, Dawn, Tara, Jacko, and Riley (meaning they are included important and or they got a bigger part).

scenes: 10

thoughts: Yea, this only took me like 3 days because I had to hurry, Christmas was on Tuesday and it's like Thursday so I'm a little behind. But hey, I worked hard. And no offence intended if you celebrate a different holiday instead. Heck, I'm not even Christian. But still, not all of it is on that so don't worry as much. Please review, I just wanna know if more people read it! I think the reason is because I write to long...thanks if you made it this far.



Scene 1

"What do you mean?" Spike asked, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.

"What I mean is, why are you and Buffy going out?" Giles replied.

"Hey! No ashes on the couch!" Anya ran in the room, putting Spike's cigarette out and throwing it out the window.

"That was my bloody last one!" Spike yelled.

"And that was your last chance, or you can go outside and light yourself up." Anya gave a smile and went back in her room.

"Well, Buffy and I am very happy, thank you very much, but if you'll excuse me, another 12 hours or so 'till sundown." Spike said, sitting down and closing his eyes.

"I just wanted to say, I'm happy for you two, here." Giles said and pulled out a present from under the Christmas tree. Spike gave him a weird look, took it, and opened it. It was large and heavy, almost slipped out of Spike's hands so he set it down and unwrapped it.

"It's a...um...new teli. I never got a Christmas present before, not even from my child hood, stubborn old parents, didn't give me more than a cardboard box. Thank you." Spike looked up at Giles. "Why did you give this to me?"

"Because Spike, I knew you never got a single present in your life, the way you were always angry with the world, you didn't look like you had much of a child hood, so I decided to make it all up to you." Giles replied.

"I thought you didn't like me." Spike said.

"Well, I suppose none of us will really like you from the outside, but the inside, we would cry to see you get staked." Giles smiled and sat back down.

"Well, Merry Christmas." Spike hesitated. "I'm not to good at the happy and loving family thing, but now I feel it. Why did you come back?"

"To come home for Christmas."

"Well, you sure are bloody here."

"I know."

"I've got to do something..." Spike picked up the phone and called Buffy's house.

"Hello?" Dawn answered it.

"You will never guess what I got!" Spike said.

"Oh, Spike, no, what?"

"I've just got a new teli!" Spike bragged.

"Really? From who?"

"That's another thing you will never guess, Giles."

"Cool! Merry Christmas."

"Yea, bye." Spike didn't act like himself anymore, he was happier.



Scene 2

"Guess what? Spike got a new TV from Giles!" Dawn said excitingly to Buffy and Willow. "And he didn't act himself, like, happier and jumpy."

"Probably one of the first presents he got." Buffy said.

"Well that's sad." Willow replied.

"Yea, but he'll be much happier later."

Spike plugged the big tv in and turned it on.

"So, what shows do you like to watch?" He asked, flicking through the channels.

"Don't know, don't watch TV that much." Giles replied, watching Spike look at all of the channels.

"Oh, Rosie O' Donald, surprise they can fit that master piece on a screen." Spike said, noticing Rosie's talk show. "And don't get me started with how messed up this show is." Maisy on Nick Jr. was on, she was taking a bath.

"Oh, please, change the channel!" Giles said, cleaning his glasses.

"See how nothing is on in the morning? The bloody system is all screwed up." Spike said, turning off the TV. "Hey, do you think if I married Buffy I'd get a computer?"

"In your dreams, literally."

"Fine, but what will you when we do?"

"I pray you never do."

"But what if we do?"

"Then I'd have a big budget on getting you guys a Playstation2 and Gamecube. I'm already getting Xander and Anya a computer, so bargain with them if you want one." For the rest of the afternoon, they spent hours watching TV, not saying much of anything else, while Xander and Anya went to work. At 6:00, it was time for Spike to go to Buffy's. Giles just got off of the phone.

"They say all of us should come over for Christmas dinner, wait for Anya and Xander." Giles said as they waited for Xander and Anya to come home. With in another 10 minutes, they walked through the door.

"Let's go." Giles said and got up to leave.

"Go where?" Xander asked, looking around.

"To Buffy's for dinner." Giles replied. Xander shrugged and picked up his keys again. Spike picked up his big TV hastily and took it greedily to Xander's car.

"You don't mind if my teli rides in the back, would you girl?" Spike said, handing his TV to Xander. Xander gave him a sneer and was about to make a comeback until Spike hopped on his motorcycle and drove off, so Xander gave up and got in his car too.



Scene 3

"Where's Spike?" Buffy asked as everyone else; including Tara poured in the living room.

"Right here." Spike walked in after everyone else was settled.

"Didn't think you'd make it." Buffy joked as he put his arms around her.

"Well I had to pick up this." Spike pulled a small, rectangular box out of his duster pocket. Buffy opened it, it was a 12 carrot gold bracelet. She awed in amazement.

"Where did you get this??" Buffy asked, putting it on.

"I managed." Were the only words Spike said about where he got it and how, and gave her a long, sweet kiss. Buffy and Spike looked up, everyone was looking at them.

"Ahem." Everyone cleared their throats and started talking again after Buffy and Spike gave them a look.

"When's dinner? I'm starved." Xander said, rubbing his hands together.

"Ready!" Willow called from the dining room as she set the plates. Everyone shot up out of hunger and the smell of turkey and messily ran in there, pulling up a chair.

"Any blood." Spike asked, looking at the plates all around.

"Yea, well this is something I managed, from the hospital." Buffy pulled out a box of blood packages and gave it to Spike.

"Hadn't a had a bloody good package all week." Spike grabbed one and bit out of it. Dawn wrinkled up her nose in disgust but then looked down at her food and ate it, not thinking of bloody teeth. Everyone tried ignoring it too and ate, talking and laughing.

"Hey, where do you think Jacko the wacko and Riley are now?" Willow asked.

"Well, Jacko wasn't in the Magic Box when I got there and haven't seen Riley in the longest time, actually, not for months." Anya said.

"I hear he's still in love with you." Giles said to Buffy.

"Thanks for reminding me, now I have to throw up again." Buffy replied.

"Yea, I think only Dawn, Spike, Buffy, and Willow have seen them, the rest of us haven't." Tara said, looking around the table. They all shook their heads in meaning they haven't seen Riley and Jacko either.

"Who cares now? It's Christmas! Merry Christmas! God bless us, everyone." Dawn said.

"I've heard that saying so much now it's lost meaning." Giles said, cleaning his glasses.

"And I'm going to rip those glasses off your big head and stomp on them, sending every little piece of glass back to London." Buffy remarked to Giles. He put them back on right away. Spike started screaming for no apparent reason and fell to the floor.

"Good job Riley, didn't think you could do a spell like that, seeing how you're not a warlock." Jacko said, looking in the window.



Scene 4

"Spike! Honey! Are you OK?" Buffy asked as Spike opened one eye lid, seeing Buffy over him. He pulled her close to him and kissed her passionately. After a while, she pulled away. "What happened?" She asked. "Umm, bad blood or something." Spike answered, getting up.

"What the hell?" Riley asked, getting up from the ground.

"Didn't think you'd ever wake up Spike." Jacko said, starring at him.

"Why am I out here?" Riley asked, looking in the window. Spike sat back down to the dining room table. "Hey! That's me! What the fuck?!" Riley yelled.

"Ha!" Jacko snickered. "Not anymore old pal, after that delightful spell he did you guys swamped bodies." Riley looked at Jacko in amazement, or Spike looked at Jacko in amazement. (Look, I'll just say Riley but Spike is really in his body, and I'll say Spike even though Riley's in his body, so right now I'll say Riley is outside with Jacko. Hope it won't be to confusing).

"Why the bloody hell did you do this?" Riley yelled, throwing Jacko against the wall.

"So everyone would be happy! See, now the real Riley will get Buffy and help me kill you; his old body. And you would be dead! And that foolish idiot thinks we're partners, HA! I'm just going to kill her when all is right. Now that everyone HATES the real Riley and you happen to be in the body, you will go first! I knew this plan was brilliant!"

"Yea, well Buffy can tell me apart." Riley ran to the door.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you Spike! Appearance is everything in the real world, and he took your body, so no more fun time at night, he will cover for the bed hopping though, don't worry." Riley threw Jacko against a tree.

"Hell no is he going to get my girl." Riley sneered, but didn't run in. Instead, he waited for Dawn to take the garbage out since she always would at night, it wasn't a long wait until she came out. Once she reached the garbage can, he pulled her aside swiftly and put his hand over her mouth, Jacko unconscious still by the tree.

"Now Dawn, don't bloody freak on me here, it's Spike, I know it doesn't look like me but it is. Riley and I switched bodies, that's why I screamed and fainted before, trust me, I won't hurt you, and for god's sake, please don't scream. Now I'm going to let go of your mouth and you're not going to scream, OK?" Riley let go of her mouth slowly, making sure she wouldn't shout to Buffy. She didn't, instead, gave him a 'whatever' look.

"OK, if you're realllly Spike, then what did Giles give you this morning?" Dawn asked.

"A teli." Riley answered.

"What did you give Buffy before dinner?"

"A 12 carrot gold bracelet."

"Where did you get it?"

"A friend lent me money since I don't really work besides saving your bum every night."

"OK, OK, only the real Spike would know this. Who was the guy that made that Buffybot and what did you do with it?"

"Warren and she was my sex toy."

"OK, you pass." Dawn tried not laughing and got serious.

"What are we going to do with Buffy though?"



Scene 5

"Buffy, I forgot to tell you something about Riley. He wants to kill Dawn. I totally forgot about it until now, it was at the edge of my memory but couldn't catch it so quick. I heard Jacko talking and he said he's not the only one that wants Dawn dead, we have to kill him, terminate what's left of that vampire. Dawn could be in a lot of trouble soon if we don't." Spike said to Buffy.

"Don't worry, he'll be gone before we know it." Buffy replied, sitting down on the couch with everyone else. Dawn ran in.

"Buffy! Buffy! Buffy!...Buffy. Can I talk to you for a sec?" Dawn asked.

"Can't it wait?" Buffy asked as well.

"No- OK, can I talk to you, Spike?" Dawn asked him.

"Anytime Dawn." Spike said, getting up and walked out of the room with Dawn.

"What ever happened to Little Bit? Nibblit? Any other nickname I can think of?" Dawn asked him as they were alone.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"What I mean, Riley, is that your not Spike, that's what I mean."

"Of course I'm Spike!"

"Prove it, what did you get Buffy before dinner."

"12 carrot gold bracelet."

"What did you get this morning and from who?"

"A television and Giles gave it to me."

"Aha! Spike usually says teli, and you don't use your British vocabulary."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"One more question, if you remember after that little quirk 'you chaining Buffy up and threatening to kill Drusilla' thing, what did you have someone make, who made it, and what did you do with it?"

Spike hesitated. "Um, don't remember."

"Aha! You aren't my british buddy then, guess what? I'm telling Buffy!" Dawn ran in the living room and announced, "That Spike is a frod!" Dawn yelled too soon.

"OK Dawn, whatever." Buffy replied, turning back to the crowd.

"But he is!" Dawn complained. Spike thought quick.

"Luv, I don't know what the Little Bit is talking about, maybe you let her had the eggnog." Spike said, sitting next to Buffy.

"Bastard!" Dawn yelled at Spike and ran out the door.

"Dawn! Come back here! Don't use that kind of language!" Buffy yelled back at her.



Scene 6

"So?" Riley asked from behind the tree, Jacko still unconscious, but Riley pulled him away in the bushes.

"She didn't believe me, she kept giving me a weird look and then once I told Riley that he wasn't using his british vocabulary, he started using it right away to Buffy." Dawn said.

"Dawn!" Tara ran outside, seeing Dawn by the tree with Riley. "Get away Riley."

"Oh, I see that my body is Riley, but my stupid bloody self is in it!!" Riley yelled and hit the tree hard, braking the bark where he hit it. He didn't seem like it hurt him.

"Dawn, come on, you, stay out here." Tara said, pulling Dawn's arm.

"Let go, I don't wanna go in there! Not with Riley!" Dawn yelled and pulled away.

"Dawn, Spike said that Riley's going to hurt you, come on." Tara said, grabbing Dawn's arm again.

"Ha! Bet he would!" Riley laughed.

"That's Spike, in there is Riley, he's in Spike's body and all because of a spell he did." Dawn pulled away again. "Come on, believe me! Trust me, if that was really Riley, I would have never called Spike a bastard back in there and wouldn't be hanging out here." Dawn said, motioning to Riley.

Tara hesitated. "Fine, but we'll have to find out what spell Riley did. Come on, we have to go to the Magic Box." She ran back in the house and returned with the Magic Box keys. "Let's go."

"Alright Tara!" Dawn cheered and followed after Riley and Tara. When they got there, she got in and turned on the lights, looking around for a certain magic book.

"Let me get this right, you screamed and fainted and when you woke up, you were in Riley's body, right?" Tara asked, looking at a certain page.

"Yea." Riley replied.

"And you have all of Riley, even his tongue of language, but your spirit, meaning like....you?"

"Yea."

"OK, I know the spell, let me show you. Rickety, snickety, lickety, thump. Lean as a feather, hard as stump. Transformation, transformation, transformation, now, for...Dawn and I will trade our lives, nothing left, no lies." Dawn screamed and fainted and Tara fell too, when they got up, their personalities changed. Although there wasn't much of a difference between them.

"AUH! I'm in Tara's body! Wait, cool!" Tara (Dawn) yelled and ran around the room.

"See?" Dawn (Tara) said to Riley.

"Cool, but in my case, horrible." Riley sat down. "Now I knew that part, nice demonstration though, but why the bloody hell did you do it?"

"Um, I just...kinda wanted to." Dawn said. "But anyways, this is a test run, I'll transform back, see if it works." Dawn said. "Transform!" She yelled, nothing happened. "Oh crap, Dawn, yell Transform."

"OK. Transform!" Tara yelled, they fell but didn't scream this time and when they woke up, they were back to normal. "Cool! Do it again!" Dawn said.

"No. I just found this out. The other person has to say transform! All you have to do is say transform, come on, say it!" Tara said.

"Transform!" Riley yelled. he fell and got back up, "It's either I was trying to do a spell, or trying to sound retarded, what went wrong, it's not working." Riley said.



Scene 7

Spike fell to the ground infront of everyone. He woke up right away.

"Woohoo! I'm me..again. Shit, Buffy, we have to get to the Magic Box as soon as possible, let's go." Spike got his duster and ran out the door, Buffy confused but ran after him.

"Why?" Buffy caught up to Spike.

"Because Tara and Dawn are there, with Riley. And Riley stole my body before and I'm going to beat in his bloody ass." Spike replied.

"You mean Dawn was right? That wasn't you?"

"Righto luv."

"Oops."

"Forget it now, I'm just going to kill the bastard." They got to the Magic Box, Tara was looking through the magic book.

"Tara! It worked." Spike said.

"Is that you Spike?" Dawn asked. "Or is that Riley?"

"That's Riley!" Riley yelled.

"Shut-up Spike....Riley.......whoever you guys are right now, there's only one way to tell you guys apart. Duel. Duel over Buffy's heart." Dawn said.

"Duel?" Buffy asked, giving her a strange look.

"Sorry, I couldn't just leave it there." Dawn started laughing then got serious. "No joke, the real Spike is naturally stronger so either way we'd still end up with Spike. I mean, he's so strong and Riley just plain isn't. I mean Buffy's even stronger than him, no offence Buffy but come on, Riley is pathetic." Dawn's plan was working. "Riley is so stupid he couldn't find his way out of a one way maze. He is so pathetic! And disparate not to mention." Riley shot up with an angry look on his face, fists clenched, Spike snickering to himself.

"Got a problem with it Spike, or should I say, Riley?" Dawn asked, a satisfied look on her face.

"Uh...*cough*, it's nothing, we have to do something, Riley is in my body! Come on! Help out!" Riley said, menacingly walking over to Spike, ready to punch him.

"We'll help." Tara said from behind him a and banged a large book on his head, knocking him unconscious.

"Hey, Spike told me that you wanted to kill Dawn and that we should eliminate you. That's another thing Spike has that you don't, he's smarter. He wouldn't say something like that when he knows that there would be a chance he would be going back in his old body." Buffy said, lifting his head up by his hair when he started waking up.

"So, maybe we should listen to what you; or should I say Spike said." She took a stake and rose it above the back of his heart. "But I'll let you go again, since I'm so nice." She dropped the stake on the floor and walked away, Dawn, Tara, and Spike following her.



Scene 8

"He ruins Christmas! He ruins my life! Why won't he leave me alone? Another few hours I would have had sex with him! Not like there's anything wrong with your sexy abs, but it was Riley in you, that's a big difference." Buffy said to Spike as they walked home. Once they got home, Xander, Anya, Willow, and Giles asked them all different questions.

"What happened? Where did you go?" Willow asked Buffy, Spike, Dawn, and Tara.

"Yea, we were getting worried when we lost 4 members of the Scooby Gang." Xander added.

"And you consider me as one of them?" Spike asked.

"Well, yea." Xander replied.

"Riley and Spike switched bodies and Tara knocked Riley out, good night! Merry Christmas!" Buffy replied and left the living room with Spike, leaving everyone in confusion.

"Yea, I also totally forgot that it was Christmas the past couple of days and that I didn't have school, so...I still don't have school...cool!" Dawn replied, running upstairs to her room.

"Yea, I really have to go, I'll miss you so much when you leave Giles! I'll stop by and say bye tomorrow, bye!" Tara hugged Giles tightly and left out the door.

"Well, are you two going to leave too?" Giles asked, taking off his glasses and cleaning them.

"Yea, it's late, we have to go too, bye Giles! We'll stop by tomorrow too!" Anya said and hugged him.

"Yea, we'll miss you...again, bye!" Xander hugged Giles too. "Bye Buffy! Bye Willow!" Xander called out.

"Bye!" Buffy's voice was muffled by Spike's lips and tongue. Spike pulled away. Buffy complained silently and pulled him back, but he still pulled back.

"Jacko. I left him in the bush knocked out." He said. Buffy opened her eyes wide and ran outside to the bushes. He wasn't there. She looked around quickly then ran back in.

"He's not there, where do you think he went?" She asked.



Scene 9

"Now, I know we got off at a bad start, but how could we when you invited me in though? Ha-ha. But the jokes on you. All of you. Because now one of you will finally die out of your meaningless lives. But I guess that's the good part, now isn't it?" Jacko said, pacing Dawn's room. He had tied her up and taped her mouth shut. "Do you remember when you invited me in for the very first time?" Dawn's face was tense and she tried screaming but it was blocked. "But hey! This will be happy! Your stupid sister will see your blood all over this beautiful carpet and flip! How will she ever get the stains out? But she won't think twice about you. Because you were only made for one reason and purpose, you are the key and that's all you'll ever be. Your mother didn't give birth to you, a bunch of monks did with a small chant. Your memories are nothing but scraps from what would have been. Reminds me, if you were any less of what you are now, you'd be artificial intelligence. So why continue living, that's a toughy. Because I was always taught no matter what happens, it's always better to be breathing. You may be all in human form, but your breathing is nothing more than a summer breeze that quickly comes and quickly goes. So I'll make it easy on you." Jacko raised a knife infront of him. "Very nice isn't it. Had to work about amillion night shifts for this baby. Sharp, lean, and slick, could cut through a penny like butter, could saw through a computer like fresh bread. And what's even more interesting is that it can cut through any type of key! A brass key, one of those hotel card keys, even a hell mouth key." Jacko swiftly pointed it at Dawn, right infront of her nose. "So what are you going to do now precious? Little baby? Call to your pretend sister? If you think about it, life's just a game of house, and guess what? You're the baby and saitans the father, and let's pretend that he went broke and couldn't take care of you anymore? What would saitan do...hmmm...choices. Aha! He'd end all of this pity bickering and kill you, as should I."

"Dawn, Dawn? Goodnight." Willow opened her door, stepped inside and turned on the lights.

"Holy shit! I should have shut-up and killed you sooner, not to mention a lock on the door." Jacko said, moving towards Willow.

"Jacko?? AHHHHHHH!!!" Willow yelled. "Buffy! Spike!" Jacko pushed her against the wall and took the knife to her neck.

"How about I pull out your tonsils and feed them to the dogs?" He threatened. Willow hushed, but not before Buffy and Spike ran in. "Stand back, I know konfu!"

"And I know Spanish, but that never really came in handy." Buffy kicked Jacko in the stomach and pushed him to the floor. Spike ran over to Dawn and untied her as good as he could. "Now, why are you here?"

"It's tea time and I can't miss out on crumpets." Jacko replied.

"He's probably serious, he got all screwed up when he got dropped on the head as a baby." Spike said.

"Listen Jacko, why are you in my sister's room, having her tied up, and now acting retarded. Not like the other genius plans weren't." Buffy took his sword away and pulled it to his heart.

"If I don't tell you, you'll kill me, but if I do tell you, what chance do I have on escaping again?" Jacko asked.



Scene 10

"So, where are you from?" Buffy asked Jacko. Just like they did to Spike for a short period of time, they tied Jacko up to a chair and they actually had a nice chat, something Spike would never let in.

"Cleveland, Ohio. Grew up with my grandparents in a small apartment building. How I met Spike is a funny story, wanna hear it?" Jacko replied.

"Sure." Buffy replied.

"Well, it was the 1970's, by that time I had already been turned into a vampire. We were both at this amusement park and there was a slayer there. It was after closing time and we had her cornered. We didn't know each other, but worked together anyways. There was no way to kill her, she had some sort of spell over her that would protect her. But that didn't stop us from grabbing her and tying her up with some stuff from the souvenir shop. Since there was no way to get a taste of her blood, I suggested that we tie her up to a roller coaster track and run her over. Spike thought I was crazy, but he didn't turn it down. We did so and one of us started up the roller coaster and ran her over. That killed her. And it was fun!" Jacko replied.

"Want some eggnog?" Willow asked him.

"Oh, yes please. I always loved Christmas. But Spike would always spend it with that slutt Drusilla, never his any of his best friends. Not even Angel. You know, earlier, I wanted to kill him, but now I don't know why I was even mad at him. Oh, terribly sorry if I tried killing you people a numerous of times." Jacko replied.

"We're taken. You should have seen how many times Spike tried to kill me." Buffy said.

"OK, enough about the vampire here." Spike said on the couch.

"Look, now we need to know some stuff, why the hell did you come in Dawn's room?" Buffy asked.

"Well, heh, um, if you didn't know, a human key's blood is very strong and I got frustrated on where to get that certain type in her body, so I thought I would saluter her all together." Jacko replied.

"Talk about pressure. Well, as long as you didn't kill her." Buffy replied.

"Promise I won't do it again. Just as long as you don't kill me." Jacko promised.

"Why would we kill you? We need to know more about what Riley is doing." Buffy replied.

"Oh, yea, sure! OK, Riley is planning on killing Spike and he's not going to lose this time, serious. He has an army of vampires. And he's coming tomorrow night, with Drusilla. Can you pass the eggnog now?" Jacko replied, and he was serious this time.

TBC