TITLE: " Garden of Eden "

AUTHOR: LilHairyEyeball

EMAIL: lilhairyeyeball@allwrongheaded.com

FEEDBACK: Gimme gimme. Just be gentle.

SUMMARY: Alternate Season Four fic, stemming from Something Blue onwards.

SPOILERS: Up through Season 4

RATING: Giving it an R rating, in case I get frisky. Which I tend to do.

DISCLAIMER: Nobody buys me good presents, so I steal other peoples

---

"So you're saying what, exactly?" Willow rolled over to face her roommate, confusion marring her brow.

Buffy sighed heavily, and continued picking at her comforter in an effort to keep her emotions in check.

"I don't know, Will. I mean, one minute Riley seems like a choice candidate, and he's so nice and sweet, and just what I need, yanno? Then an evening of Spike leaves me feeling so.. meh over the guy."

"Meh? He makes you meh? Oh, that's can't be good. Even Parker didn't make you meh, not even post-poophead." The red-head frowns now, realizing the turmoil her little accident has put her friend in.

"Buffy, best friend to best friend and everything, would you ever..What I mean is, could you.."

Buffy sits upright, knowing exactly where her friend is going with this line of questioning. Willow always gets that flustered look when she wants to talk about nookie.

"Never! My God, Wills! How hard up do you think I am? Going for another vampire? One who has tried to kill me on several occasions, and loves to make my life miserable? How insane would I have to be, to want to jump his bones?"

"Pretty darn insane," says the witch with a smirk. "That's not to say you are insane, but are you telling me you haven't thought about it? Not even once"

"Eww, no. I had to live it, remember? There is zero fantasizing on the Spike front. Only a real sicko would have any interest in that!"

"So I'm a real sicko? I mean, he is easy on the eyes, and if you're not going to stand in my way."

Buffy is ready to launch into a lecture, but notices the smirk on her friends face. "I'm totally busted, aren't I?

"Oh yea," Willow smirks. She saw the look of horror and anger cross her friends face. She even saw a hint of jealousy there. So she has thought about it, at least a little bit. But her spell caused everything to bubble up to the surface, didn't it? She caused this. She needs to handle the situation delicately, lest she pushes her friend away. "Did you? I mean is today the first time you've thought of Spike like that? I mean, is this.."

She's too afraid to finish the sentence, as it will mean Buffy replies and her own worst fears are confirmed. She pushed her emotionally fragile best friend into the arms of a blood-sucking fiend. Giles is going to be very un- happy with her.

"Relax Will." Buffy sits on the bed next to her friend, and pats her hand. The reassurance lifts a great weight from the redhead, and she realized she'd been holding her breath. "The thing with Spike is. Well, I'd have to be blind not to notice those cheekbones, yanno? And he fights. So well, I'm the kind of girl that digs that. Even more when the violence isn't directed at me, but it's a minor detail. Just because I had a few dreams about Spike, doesn't mean I'm going to act on them."

"Plural?" Willow is staring at Buffy know, causing the Slayer to shift under the scrutiny. "You said dreams, plural, as in more than one? As in multiple?" Her face lights up, "Were they good? Will you share details?"

Buffy laughs. The first honest to goodness laugh she's had in days. She needed this.

"C'mon! Best friend here! We're always good for secret keeping. Plus? Seriously deprived since her boyfriend ran away to embrace his inner wolf. I need all the vicarious sexy I can get"

Another laugh. How could she stay mad at Willow for more than a moment? The girl is actually bouncing now, desperate to hear some mad stories of a mismatched couple that will never see the light of day, in more ways than one.

"Okay, but we're going to need serious ice-cream for this"

---

"So we're chasing this demon, and I'm like "Giles! Giles!" while Spike is still trying to talk himself out of the hard-on"

The girls are laying head to toe on the bed, surrounded by candy wrappers and an air of sisterhood.

"Oh my God, that is a weird one. Was there cheese? Because when I eat cheese before I fall asleep, I always see the little pink bunny that chews my toes."

Buffy stops sucking her candy long enough to look shocked, before she breaks into another case of hysterical laughter.

"My God, Wills. Remind me to never ask about your dreams! But anyways, that's where it ends. Weird, huh? Even in my dreams, I'm always chasing the monsters."

She frowns slightly at that realization. She'll never escape this, will she? Her dammed chosen destiny, the one that she never wanted to start with. It doesn't matter that she embraces her nature and does what she can; the fact is she was never given a choice to start with.

Willow can sense the mood has changed. They've gone from giggling co-eds straight to the deep conversations. She always was better suited to those anyway. Something about sex talk always makes her uncomfortable. Or maybe it's just the word penis. She really doesn't like it.

"You don't think it's prophetic do you?"

Buffy snorts loudly, "Oh it really is! Me! All hot for my arch-nemesis. The one I want to smack upside the head instead of stake. So totally pathetic, there are no words."

Willow smiles warmly, "I said prophetic, little miss sugar-high. Like, a slayer dream?"

Buffy ponder this for several moments before laughing again. "Yeah, my slayer dreams include Spike. Oh God, the Powers that Be must be getting such a headache from me!" But now Willow has planted that seed of doubt in her mind. Could her dreams have deeper meanings? Should she have written them down?

"Oh My God!"

Willow looks up, startled by her friend's revelation. Buffy looks Willow dead in the eye, before a smile cracks across her face.

"Can you imagine if they were? I'd have to tell Giles!" That's just too much for the Slayer, and she falls backwards, laughing hard. Willow takes a moment to process what's been said, before snickering herself. Within moments, she's on her back grabbing her sides, along with her best friend.

"He'd be cleaning his glasses for weeks!"