I don't own BtVS, Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy Inc. do.
Explanations
Buffy looked herself over in the mirror. Okay. I look fine. I'm not dressed up just because Spike's coming over. I'm not. Ok, who am I trying to kid? I'm dressed up because I want to impress Spike. The world has now officially been turned upside down.
The doorbell rang and she jumped. Since when did Spike ring the doorbell? She shook her head and went down the stairs, where Dawn was already letting them in.
Spike took a moment to appreciate Buffy's beauty. She looked wonderful, red halter, black jeans, and her hair loose and long, just the way he liked it. He shook himself out of those thoughts. If something was going to happen, it would have to be of her own doing, not his. He wasn't going to push.
He gave Buffy a ghost of a smile before excusing himself and Dawn to kitchen. Kat looked at her and said, "Ready?", she nodded.
Walking through the graveyard, Kat didn't waste time. "You thought I was with Spike, didn't you?". Buffy nodded sheepishly. Kat smiled and said, "Nope. No way. We're like family. He's like my older annoying brother. I met him in New Orleans, and we hit it off. We've sort of gotten used to being roommates, so we decided to stick with it. Cheaper that way, too. And I'm assuming you saw us yesterday? He was holding me up. I tripped and sprained my ankle". She lifted the leg of her jeans up and Buffy could see the bandage around her ankle.
Buffy nodded. She said, "Sorry about calling you a slut. It's just that-". "You were jealous because it looked like we had a thing and you like Spike. In the I-want-to-kiss-him sort of way".
Buffy denied it vehemently. "No. No way. Not having happy feelings for Spike. Nope, no way". Kat smirked and said, "Please. All the vibes coming off your body say 'Bring me Spike'. It's just the Slayer in you that's getting in the way". Buffy looked at her and said, "How would you know? You don't even know me". She didn't say it angrily, just curiously.
Kat responded, "The way Spike talks about you sometimes, I'm surprised I don't know you better than you know yourself. Actually, I think I might. But don't get huffy. He was just venting. Nothing personal". Buffy nodded.
"So", she said hopefully, "He still loves me?". Kat sighed and said, "Truthfully? I think he might. Probably. He doesn't give up easily. But I do know that he isn't going to make a move. You have to decide whether you want him or not. But I think that he'll honestly be okay either way, otherwise he wouldn't have come back and risked rejection". Buffy took a moment to let it sink in. Spike might love her still. She had to decide. He didn't need her, but he might want her. He wasn't afraid of rejection, and he wasn't going to make the first move. All this equaled the fact that Spike might be ready to move on. Which she should want, but she didn't.
Kat saw the look on her face and said, "You should make your decision soon. He's the type that wants all or nothing, at least in the end".
Buffy nodded, and changed the subject. "So what do you know about the prophecy?".
Kat replied, "Well, Spike is the 'Dark', obviously, and I suppose I would be the 'Second Strength'. The part of the prophecy that says 'The Chosen shall die her second death and live for the third time. All will not be complete in her. She will seek the Dark, in the wrong way, and it shall leave, only to return when it sees fit, with a weakness lost and two strengths gained. One of the strengths had been lost and found again, the other is new. The Second Strength teaches the Dark. They shall be inseparable, and the Chosen shall be misguided', has already come true. You died, came back, didn't feel alive, went to Spike, he got fed up and left, he chose to return now, he got the chip out, he has the Ring of Amara, and he has me as a friend. I taught Spike about how to accept himself for what he is. We are practically inseparable, and you thought we were together when we weren't".
Buffy nodded and said, "That makes sense". They stopped for a moment, both sensing something coming closer.
A good 7 vampires descended suddenly, and they were fighting. Kat quickly projected three stakes, and they hurtled through the air, hitting their marks. Buffy was a blur of action. She quickly staked another three and went for the rest.
Soon they only had one vampire left. He smirked and said, "My lady wanted me to tell you that she'll have what's hers soon enough. Whether you give it to her or she takes it by force". He pulled out a stake and dusted himself.
Kat and Buffy looked at each other. "His lady?", said Buffy. Kat frowned and said, "That message was intended for you...so someone wants something you have. The only question is, what is it?".
Buffy replied, "Whatever it is, it can probably be used for evil, so they aren't going to get it. We'll just have to be on guard". Kat nodded and they continued an otherwise boring patrol.
When they got back to the house they told Dawn and Spike what had happened, but they didn't have any ideas either.
Spike suddenly jerked and he braced himself on the table. He came up full vamp-face, but his eyes were flashing between blue and gold. Buffy pulled Dawn away and sent her upstairs, and backed away from him. Kat, on the other hand, went straight up to him and rubbed his back. The demon face receded and Spike collapsed onto the couch, panting heavily.
"Bloody hell! Now I know who's in town", he said wearily. He got up and closed his eyes, concentrating. Then they snapped open and he glared into nothingness.
"What is it?", asked Buffy. "Drusilla", he hissed. "The bitch is using our sire-childe bond to call me". Buffy was frozen solid. She'd always had an intense dislike of the crazy vampiress.
Kat said, "Guess she wants you to come out and play. She probably sired those fledglings we took out. She wants you back".
"Are you...going to go?", asked Buffy, who honestly expected him to. He'd spent over a century loving Drusilla, and now that she wanted him back, wouldn't he go? But Spike surprised her by saying, "She's going to have to try a hell of a lot harder if she thinks I'm going after that".
He sat back down again and said, "She abandoned me. Just like Angelus. I should hate her. But I can't. But I'm not going back to her so she can use me again".
Kat sat next to him and started rubbing his back again. He relaxed and put his head on her shoulder as she rocked back and forth. Buffy was admittedly envious of the way Kat could calm Spike down with just a few gestures when he was upset, while she had known him for a longer time and jumped away thinking that he was going to start killing. How could Kat trust him? She obviously knew what he was and what he'd done.
She shook her head . This wasn't the time for those thoughts. "Well, Drusilla isn't invited into any of our houses, and she'll probably be holed up in either the factory or the mansion".
Spike looked at her and said, "The mansion. She'll be at the mansion". "How do you know?", asked Kat.
Spike gritted his teeth and said, "I didn't spend a 100 years with her and learn nothing. She'll be there. All the happy memories of Daddy dearest, the damned poof".
Kat instantly shut up, knowing how much Spike hated Angelus, but Buffy had to say it. "What do you have against Angel anyways?". Spike looked at her, and said, "What do I have against him?". "Yeah, tell me. Seems to me that the only thing you have against him is that he was better than you", said Buffy.
She knew it wasn't just because she had loved Angel. There was other stuff there too. And she genuinely wanted to know, although she hadn't meant to be so mean.
Spike thought about it for only a moment before rising to the challenge. If the bint thought that was why he hated Angelus, she needed a life lesson, now.
He looked at Kat and said, "I'll do better than telling, you I'll show you. Kat? You up for it?". She nodded. "What?", asked Buffy. Kat said, "I'm a psychic, remember? I can transfer his memories of Angelus to you, it's safe, I've done it before. But only if you think you can handle it".
Buffy squared her shoulders and looked Kat in the eyes. "I'll do it", she said.
They sat in a triangle on the floor. They linked hands and Kat spoke. "Spike, think of Angelus. Call up your memories, and try not to squeeze our hands off". Kat started glowing a soft blue.
Buffy felt blackness, and then she was...in London? It was London, she could see Big Ben from the room she was in. What the hell was she doing in London? She looked down at her hands, only to see familiar rough hands instead of her French-manicured ones. Holy shit. She was in Spike's body. Ok...Remember, Buffy, mind link thing. These are Spike's memories, it would make sense that you saw them from his point of view. But it doesn't make it any less creepy.
She then noticed an extremely pissed off Angelus. Not Angel, but a non-soul- having Angelus. She flinched in her pseudo body as he drained people in front of her. A little boy, a middle-aged woman and man, and a girl no older than Dawn. She didn't understand why this was important, but then she saw her 'hands' struggling against chains.
Spike was trying to save these people. Why? Then she felt a jolt of love and pain and guilt from Spike. These people were his...family. Spike's family. Angelus had killed Spike's family in front of him, and he had been helpless to stop it.
As soon as she realized this, the scenery went black and then Spike appeared before her. He said, "I didn't kill my family for the 'group initiation'. Dru ratted me out, Angelus chained me up and killed them".
The scene then faded into a bedroom. She was looking at Spike instead of being him, which was much less disconcerting, thankfully. But what she saw was extremely disturbing. There was Spike, bloodied, beaten, and naked as an equally naked Angelus stood over him with a knife and whip. It was sort of obvious what had been done.
Once again, it all faded to black, and Spike was narrating once more. He cocked his head in that way of his and said, "Would you believe me if I told you that this was a weekly or even daily occurrence? But I loved him still. He taught me how to be a vampire, to hunt, to kill. And then he left. Abandoned me and left me to take care of Drusilla for over a century. And then I saw him again, the first time we fought, at the school".
The scenery faded into the school now, and she saw Spike talking to the Angel she knew, who was pretending to offer Xander to him. Spike saw through it and yelled at Angel. She should've found the speech humorous, at least the part about Angel being Spike's 'Yoda', but she could feel the fresh anger and feeling of abandonment running through him, and all of a sudden she didn't find his impromptu speech so funny.
Spike appeared again and said, "And then he lost his soul. Came back like nothing had happened and Dru instantly fell to her knees like a begging puppy. He mocked me when I was in the wheelchair and stole her away from me again".
The scene was brief, but it enough to make Buffy want to retch. Angelus and Drusilla. Together. Spike had rolled in and stopped short at the sight, then instantly turned and wheeled away. Then there was a flash of a memory of Valentine's Day. Drusilla was seriously whacked out if she gave up that necklace for a heart, Buffy decided. It was disturbing to see Spike so...romantic, and sweet. But she knew that's how he'd be if she gave him a shot.
Thinking about it, she supposed that she did have a lot in common with Spike, more than she had realized. They were both warriors, fighting was in their blood now. They were...equals, in a way. And they had both been love's bitch for a long time. Falling in love only to have that love scorn them or, in Buffy's case, leave them. And that was partly why she was afraid of opening up to Spike. She could grudgingly admit that Spike had never left, except for when she drove him to it. And even then he always came back.
As she opened her eyes to see her own living room, she saw Spike still had his eyes closed tightly, and Kat was rubbing his back again. He was letting something out between a purr and a whimper and a growl. She made her decision and made her way over to them. Kat didn't even blink, just whispered, "Rub his back in circles, it'll work faster". She nodded and gingerly placed her hand on his back.
Spike felt the Slayer place her hand on his back. What the bleedin' hell is she doing? 5 minutes ago she was all snarky and now she's rubbing my back?. He decided just to let her. She could explain herself later. He let himself lean into her, and soon the growling and whimpering stopped and he was purring deeply.
Explanations
Buffy looked herself over in the mirror. Okay. I look fine. I'm not dressed up just because Spike's coming over. I'm not. Ok, who am I trying to kid? I'm dressed up because I want to impress Spike. The world has now officially been turned upside down.
The doorbell rang and she jumped. Since when did Spike ring the doorbell? She shook her head and went down the stairs, where Dawn was already letting them in.
Spike took a moment to appreciate Buffy's beauty. She looked wonderful, red halter, black jeans, and her hair loose and long, just the way he liked it. He shook himself out of those thoughts. If something was going to happen, it would have to be of her own doing, not his. He wasn't going to push.
He gave Buffy a ghost of a smile before excusing himself and Dawn to kitchen. Kat looked at her and said, "Ready?", she nodded.
Walking through the graveyard, Kat didn't waste time. "You thought I was with Spike, didn't you?". Buffy nodded sheepishly. Kat smiled and said, "Nope. No way. We're like family. He's like my older annoying brother. I met him in New Orleans, and we hit it off. We've sort of gotten used to being roommates, so we decided to stick with it. Cheaper that way, too. And I'm assuming you saw us yesterday? He was holding me up. I tripped and sprained my ankle". She lifted the leg of her jeans up and Buffy could see the bandage around her ankle.
Buffy nodded. She said, "Sorry about calling you a slut. It's just that-". "You were jealous because it looked like we had a thing and you like Spike. In the I-want-to-kiss-him sort of way".
Buffy denied it vehemently. "No. No way. Not having happy feelings for Spike. Nope, no way". Kat smirked and said, "Please. All the vibes coming off your body say 'Bring me Spike'. It's just the Slayer in you that's getting in the way". Buffy looked at her and said, "How would you know? You don't even know me". She didn't say it angrily, just curiously.
Kat responded, "The way Spike talks about you sometimes, I'm surprised I don't know you better than you know yourself. Actually, I think I might. But don't get huffy. He was just venting. Nothing personal". Buffy nodded.
"So", she said hopefully, "He still loves me?". Kat sighed and said, "Truthfully? I think he might. Probably. He doesn't give up easily. But I do know that he isn't going to make a move. You have to decide whether you want him or not. But I think that he'll honestly be okay either way, otherwise he wouldn't have come back and risked rejection". Buffy took a moment to let it sink in. Spike might love her still. She had to decide. He didn't need her, but he might want her. He wasn't afraid of rejection, and he wasn't going to make the first move. All this equaled the fact that Spike might be ready to move on. Which she should want, but she didn't.
Kat saw the look on her face and said, "You should make your decision soon. He's the type that wants all or nothing, at least in the end".
Buffy nodded, and changed the subject. "So what do you know about the prophecy?".
Kat replied, "Well, Spike is the 'Dark', obviously, and I suppose I would be the 'Second Strength'. The part of the prophecy that says 'The Chosen shall die her second death and live for the third time. All will not be complete in her. She will seek the Dark, in the wrong way, and it shall leave, only to return when it sees fit, with a weakness lost and two strengths gained. One of the strengths had been lost and found again, the other is new. The Second Strength teaches the Dark. They shall be inseparable, and the Chosen shall be misguided', has already come true. You died, came back, didn't feel alive, went to Spike, he got fed up and left, he chose to return now, he got the chip out, he has the Ring of Amara, and he has me as a friend. I taught Spike about how to accept himself for what he is. We are practically inseparable, and you thought we were together when we weren't".
Buffy nodded and said, "That makes sense". They stopped for a moment, both sensing something coming closer.
A good 7 vampires descended suddenly, and they were fighting. Kat quickly projected three stakes, and they hurtled through the air, hitting their marks. Buffy was a blur of action. She quickly staked another three and went for the rest.
Soon they only had one vampire left. He smirked and said, "My lady wanted me to tell you that she'll have what's hers soon enough. Whether you give it to her or she takes it by force". He pulled out a stake and dusted himself.
Kat and Buffy looked at each other. "His lady?", said Buffy. Kat frowned and said, "That message was intended for you...so someone wants something you have. The only question is, what is it?".
Buffy replied, "Whatever it is, it can probably be used for evil, so they aren't going to get it. We'll just have to be on guard". Kat nodded and they continued an otherwise boring patrol.
When they got back to the house they told Dawn and Spike what had happened, but they didn't have any ideas either.
Spike suddenly jerked and he braced himself on the table. He came up full vamp-face, but his eyes were flashing between blue and gold. Buffy pulled Dawn away and sent her upstairs, and backed away from him. Kat, on the other hand, went straight up to him and rubbed his back. The demon face receded and Spike collapsed onto the couch, panting heavily.
"Bloody hell! Now I know who's in town", he said wearily. He got up and closed his eyes, concentrating. Then they snapped open and he glared into nothingness.
"What is it?", asked Buffy. "Drusilla", he hissed. "The bitch is using our sire-childe bond to call me". Buffy was frozen solid. She'd always had an intense dislike of the crazy vampiress.
Kat said, "Guess she wants you to come out and play. She probably sired those fledglings we took out. She wants you back".
"Are you...going to go?", asked Buffy, who honestly expected him to. He'd spent over a century loving Drusilla, and now that she wanted him back, wouldn't he go? But Spike surprised her by saying, "She's going to have to try a hell of a lot harder if she thinks I'm going after that".
He sat back down again and said, "She abandoned me. Just like Angelus. I should hate her. But I can't. But I'm not going back to her so she can use me again".
Kat sat next to him and started rubbing his back again. He relaxed and put his head on her shoulder as she rocked back and forth. Buffy was admittedly envious of the way Kat could calm Spike down with just a few gestures when he was upset, while she had known him for a longer time and jumped away thinking that he was going to start killing. How could Kat trust him? She obviously knew what he was and what he'd done.
She shook her head . This wasn't the time for those thoughts. "Well, Drusilla isn't invited into any of our houses, and she'll probably be holed up in either the factory or the mansion".
Spike looked at her and said, "The mansion. She'll be at the mansion". "How do you know?", asked Kat.
Spike gritted his teeth and said, "I didn't spend a 100 years with her and learn nothing. She'll be there. All the happy memories of Daddy dearest, the damned poof".
Kat instantly shut up, knowing how much Spike hated Angelus, but Buffy had to say it. "What do you have against Angel anyways?". Spike looked at her, and said, "What do I have against him?". "Yeah, tell me. Seems to me that the only thing you have against him is that he was better than you", said Buffy.
She knew it wasn't just because she had loved Angel. There was other stuff there too. And she genuinely wanted to know, although she hadn't meant to be so mean.
Spike thought about it for only a moment before rising to the challenge. If the bint thought that was why he hated Angelus, she needed a life lesson, now.
He looked at Kat and said, "I'll do better than telling, you I'll show you. Kat? You up for it?". She nodded. "What?", asked Buffy. Kat said, "I'm a psychic, remember? I can transfer his memories of Angelus to you, it's safe, I've done it before. But only if you think you can handle it".
Buffy squared her shoulders and looked Kat in the eyes. "I'll do it", she said.
They sat in a triangle on the floor. They linked hands and Kat spoke. "Spike, think of Angelus. Call up your memories, and try not to squeeze our hands off". Kat started glowing a soft blue.
Buffy felt blackness, and then she was...in London? It was London, she could see Big Ben from the room she was in. What the hell was she doing in London? She looked down at her hands, only to see familiar rough hands instead of her French-manicured ones. Holy shit. She was in Spike's body. Ok...Remember, Buffy, mind link thing. These are Spike's memories, it would make sense that you saw them from his point of view. But it doesn't make it any less creepy.
She then noticed an extremely pissed off Angelus. Not Angel, but a non-soul- having Angelus. She flinched in her pseudo body as he drained people in front of her. A little boy, a middle-aged woman and man, and a girl no older than Dawn. She didn't understand why this was important, but then she saw her 'hands' struggling against chains.
Spike was trying to save these people. Why? Then she felt a jolt of love and pain and guilt from Spike. These people were his...family. Spike's family. Angelus had killed Spike's family in front of him, and he had been helpless to stop it.
As soon as she realized this, the scenery went black and then Spike appeared before her. He said, "I didn't kill my family for the 'group initiation'. Dru ratted me out, Angelus chained me up and killed them".
The scene then faded into a bedroom. She was looking at Spike instead of being him, which was much less disconcerting, thankfully. But what she saw was extremely disturbing. There was Spike, bloodied, beaten, and naked as an equally naked Angelus stood over him with a knife and whip. It was sort of obvious what had been done.
Once again, it all faded to black, and Spike was narrating once more. He cocked his head in that way of his and said, "Would you believe me if I told you that this was a weekly or even daily occurrence? But I loved him still. He taught me how to be a vampire, to hunt, to kill. And then he left. Abandoned me and left me to take care of Drusilla for over a century. And then I saw him again, the first time we fought, at the school".
The scenery faded into the school now, and she saw Spike talking to the Angel she knew, who was pretending to offer Xander to him. Spike saw through it and yelled at Angel. She should've found the speech humorous, at least the part about Angel being Spike's 'Yoda', but she could feel the fresh anger and feeling of abandonment running through him, and all of a sudden she didn't find his impromptu speech so funny.
Spike appeared again and said, "And then he lost his soul. Came back like nothing had happened and Dru instantly fell to her knees like a begging puppy. He mocked me when I was in the wheelchair and stole her away from me again".
The scene was brief, but it enough to make Buffy want to retch. Angelus and Drusilla. Together. Spike had rolled in and stopped short at the sight, then instantly turned and wheeled away. Then there was a flash of a memory of Valentine's Day. Drusilla was seriously whacked out if she gave up that necklace for a heart, Buffy decided. It was disturbing to see Spike so...romantic, and sweet. But she knew that's how he'd be if she gave him a shot.
Thinking about it, she supposed that she did have a lot in common with Spike, more than she had realized. They were both warriors, fighting was in their blood now. They were...equals, in a way. And they had both been love's bitch for a long time. Falling in love only to have that love scorn them or, in Buffy's case, leave them. And that was partly why she was afraid of opening up to Spike. She could grudgingly admit that Spike had never left, except for when she drove him to it. And even then he always came back.
As she opened her eyes to see her own living room, she saw Spike still had his eyes closed tightly, and Kat was rubbing his back again. He was letting something out between a purr and a whimper and a growl. She made her decision and made her way over to them. Kat didn't even blink, just whispered, "Rub his back in circles, it'll work faster". She nodded and gingerly placed her hand on his back.
Spike felt the Slayer place her hand on his back. What the bleedin' hell is she doing? 5 minutes ago she was all snarky and now she's rubbing my back?. He decided just to let her. She could explain herself later. He let himself lean into her, and soon the growling and whimpering stopped and he was purring deeply.