Thanks to buffyworld.com for their excellent transcripts of episodes, without which this story wouldn't have been possible.
School Harder Redux
They found themselves standing together in a deserted, darkened hallway and looked at each other in confusion.
"Are we back?" Buffy asked the question that was foremost in both their minds.
"I don't think so," he replied. "If we were, we should have appeared back in your bedroom."
"We're in my bedroom?" she squeaked, momentarily distracted from her surroundings. "Together?"
"Don't worry, pet," he said, amused. "Willow, Tara and Dawn are there too. I'm on my best behaviour."
"That's not saying much," she countered.
"Big words from someone in a skirt that short," he said, pursing his lips. "You'd tempt a bloody saint, you would."
She looked them over. Spike was wearing essentially the same outfit he always did, but Buffy looked down to see that she was now wearing a wraparound white miniskirt and a clinging green scoop-necked tee shirt. "Better than a shower curtain, I suppose," she said. "I haven't worn this skirt in years, since-" Her face suddenly went pale. "I know where we are."
Spike was instantly all business again. "Where, pet? What's going on?"
"It's parent-teacher night at the high school," she said. "You decided to come after me before-"
"Before the feast of St. Vigeous. I remember," he said.
"And you - Spike-" she looked up at him, confused about how to distinguish between now and then, reality and fantasy. "My mom's going to die!" she cried.
He gripped her resolutely by the shoulders. "It isn't real, it didn't happen that way, and we're not going to let it happen that way this time. This may be your nightmare, but now that you're aware, you can control it," he said firmly. "I know Tara is working on pulling us out; we just have to be patient," he added. "As long as your amulet is active, we're in control here."
"Right," she said, resolve steadying her voice. "We need to find out exactly when and where we are, and come up with a plan to stop Spike - I mean-" she stopped abruptly. "This is going to be very confusing," she sighed, and looked up at him speculatively. "Would you mind if I called you-"
"I suppose you could always call me-" he said simultaneously.
"William," Buffy finished for them both. "Just while we're here?"
He smiled. "At least it sounds better here than the last time I heard it from you," he said, recalling how empty he had felt when she had told him there could be nothing more between them. His face fell and he cursed himself soundlessly when she turned away.
"We should split up and try to find . . . Spike," she said. "Stop him before he kills my mom. I don't know how much of this nightmare there is left to go, so the sooner we start, the better. I'll check the library and the science room where she and Snyder and the others were hiding. You try to get some of his minions out of the way," she directed.
"Right," he said, not trusting himself to say any more.
"Oh, and don't forget," she said, turning back to him and circling one finger in front of her face. "Game face on." He nodded, and the demon from her nightmare stood in front of her again. She had to struggle to stay focussed and remember that this vampire was here to help. They split up and headed down the hallway in opposite directions.
Buffy arrived at the science lab just in time to stake a vampire who was attacking the door with an axe. Her mother's worried face peered out through the opening the axe had made in the door. "Buffy! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, mom," she replied, succumbing to the strangest sense of déjà vu as she slipped back into the flow of the nightmare.
Her mother pleaded with her through the hole. "Buffy, look, uh, get out of here, okay? We'll be all right!"
Buffy shook her head. "Look, just hang on for one more minute until I tell you to open the door." She made her way quietly back through the hall, knowing that soon she'd see Sheila, who would try to attack her from behind with an axe. It seemed as though the fire axe was everyone's weapon of choice tonight. When Sheila came around the corner at last, Buffy didn't even let her get in a word before she staked her. No reason she had to let the dream take over completely, she thought, dusting off her hands. So she would have been caught completely off guard when another vampire rushed down the hallway, if it hadn't been for Giles yelling a warning from the blockaded library doors.
After she successfully dealt with that vampire, Buffy herded her mom and the others to Giles, who promised to see them to safety. "Mom," she said, before they left, "Whatever you do, don't come back after me, okay? I'll be all right." Ignoring her mom's pleas, Buffy headed back into the fray, hoping that she'd managed to change the outcome of this nightmare.
Spike had managed to divert about half a dozen of his former minions to elsewhere in the school, simply by telling them to go and check various rooms. He might have had idiots working for him back then, he reflected, but at least they took orders without asking questions. He now found himself watching gleefully as his dream self confronted Angel and a captive Xander. Having had no use for mirrors for over a hundred years, he was just appreciating learning how he looked these days. It didn't bother him to see Harris squirm; he knew the boy would make it out unharmed, and he was thoroughly enjoying watching the poof try to fool him with that pathetic act. We'll just see who's got the biggest wrinklies round here, he thought, stifling laughter.
Soon enough, dream-Spike called for his minions to attack, and Angel and Xander made a break for the door. Buffy came around the corner in the hallway behind him, and dream-Spike turned to challenge her. Spike ran down the hall and tackled his doppelganger from behind, bearing him down to the floor with the force of his attack. The two of them struggled for domination, but were evenly matched and could only trade blows back and forth.
Buffy moved forward hesitantly. Spike and . . . William . . . were so entangled in their fight that she found herself having difficulty telling them apart. It was impossible to see which double was wearing the amulet on his hand, and she didn't want to attack the wrong one. It wasn't until William managed to throw Spike away from him and into the wall that she could make a move. Snatching up the pole from where she had dropped it earlier, she swung it at Spike's head. It connected solidly, and he stumbled to one side, dazed. William came up beside her with the axe his double had dropped, but the threat was enough. Spike broke and ran for the doors.
"You okay?" he asked, taking her by one shoulder. "And your mum?"
Buffy nodded. "Giles got them out. Everyone's okay." He - I guess I can call him Spike again - seemed to be in one piece as well. She found it hard to connect the man in front of her with the vampire of only a few years ago. "What now?"
"Now we wait," Spike said. "When the dreams are over, there's this kind of shimmering effect that you'll see around you. That, and a feeling like ants running up and down your body. That's how I've always known we're shifting between dreams," he explained.
"Lovely," she said with a wry grin. "But I can deal with it, if it gets us out of here."
They relaxed, and waited for the signs of change. So he found himself completely shocked, then, when Joyce came at him from behind.
"You get the hell away from my daughter," Joyce cried, swinging the flat of an axe into his head, and sending him to the floor.
"Mom, no!" Buffy shouted, grabbing her mother's arms to keep her from swinging again. "He's on our side. Spike!" she yelled aside to the vampire, "your face!"
It was no wonder that Joyce had attacked him; he had completely forgotten that he still wore his demon face. Holding his head from the pain, he let his features return to their human form, and then struggled to his feet.
"Oh my god," Joyce exclaimed, "I'm so sorry. I thought-"
They never learned what she thought, as she suddenly became no more substantial than jellied smoke, then vanished.
"Hell of a woman, your mum," Spike said. "Nearly did me in, there."
Overwhelmed with relief that the dream hadn't turned out as she had remembered, Buffy let slip a chuckle. "Your head's harder than that," she teased.
"Gave me a nasty turn, watching you take the pipe to my other self there," he said. "What is it with you Summers women and head shots, anyway? It's always that or my nose. I'm beginning to think you've got issues with my looks."
Buffy laughed openly this time. "How does a man who can't see himself in a mirror become so vain?" she asked.
The hallways around them shivered like an image in a broken mirror and they were gone before he had fully grasped that she had called him a man.