Summary: When Buffy finds out Dawn is the key, the Scoobies find a spell that can transfer the energy into another thing, and then they can destroy the key, but as you know in Buffy-land, nothing ever goes as planned. B/S

Disclaimer: The stars whisper to me, children. They say to write a story, and the PTB tells me to give the children of the world a message, 'The Powers That Be own everything, and that I will be punished if I say that any of this belongs to the stars or the moon.'

Reviews: Please!

Notes: I know that the last chapter was mostly Scoobies with some Spuffy, but I kind of liked writing the Scoobies in a slow motion type deal. I am sorry I didn't post this sooner, but I was in a Talent Show, and I got first place!!! But this may be a long chapter, so I will probably make up for the lateness.

CHAPTER 4 The Truth Will Set You Free
The night before forgotten, Willow went to Buffy's for breakfast the morning after. Buffy had tried to make pancakes from a box, but she had failed, so Willow had made them instead. Dawn was not there; she was still at Janice's house, but it was Saturday, so it didn't matter anyways.

Even though Buffy had tried to forget the evening before, her thoughts and dreams were filled with the memory of it. His cool lips on hers, his hands rubbing her back, sending shivers down her spine- No. She shouldn't think of him- she couldn't. It was very bad that they kissed, but they were drunk and they didn't know what they were doing. She really tried to convince herself of it, but it was impossible not to think about him, and how right it felt. Her mind was in contradiction.

She had told Spike not two nights ago that she liked him, and someday might even love him, but still, she wouldn't say a word to her friends. Why? She asked herself, why couldn't she tell them? Willow would be supportive, and Giles would be skeptical, but they wouldn't be disappointed. Dawn would be happy- she loved Spike. Anya wouldn't care, except for asking if Buffy and Spike had beaten her and Xander's record. Buffy blushed at the thought. Xander, he was the one she was worried about. She remembered how he was with Angel- he would be disappointed and disgusted.

But why did his happiness come above hers? He fell for two- or was it three- demons himself, so he was no one to judge her. Oh, well. She thought. She could think about it later. Right then she had the biggest headache she had ever had, aside from the time after she went all Cave- Buffy. She decided to go back up to her room and sleep some more, and Willow soon left to go back to her dorm room.

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Dawn left Janice's at about 11:00. It wasn't like she was defenseless, and plus, it was daytime. She was going over to the Magic Box to talk to Anya about a spell she was going to try. She was going to try to prove to Buffy that Spike really loved her. He didn't ask her to, and he and Buffy both would probably be really pissed off at her for messing with magic, but. she wanted her sister to realize Spike did love them.

So, she was going to try a truth spell, but not an ordinary one, of course. It wasn't like she could tie them up and sprinkle truth dust on them. No, she was going to see if she could work out something much simpler. She would take a map; somehow get Buffy and Spike together in same place, sprinkle truth dust, or whatever it was called, over the area, and Poof! They couldn't lie. It was really brilliant.

She stepped into the Magic Box and was greeted by Anya who was counting money at the checkout counter. "Hello! Welcome to the Magi- oh, it's just you." She said upon realizing it was just Dawn and went back to counting her money.

"Hey!" Dawn said, "Just me? I didn't come here for your company. I want to buy something." She said almost defensively.

"Well in that case. Welcome to the Magic Box, home to all of your mystical and magical needs!" She said smiling energetically while Dawn rolled her eyes.

"I want to look at some stuff for truth spells, and I need a book with the incantation in it." Dawn spoke, knowing that truth dust was not cheap and Anya would be more than happy to help.

She was right, too. Anya gleefully led her to the dust and told her the prices. Dawn figured that she had best get a large box of the dust, just in case. As Anya checked her out, she realized that she needed to get a new map of Sunnydale. Dawn walked out the door and the little bell jingled. She would have to do the spell soon, because she was already anxious enough to kill.

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Buffy woke up from her deep rest just in time for supper. She could hear the music blasting in the room next door and se knew Dawn was home. She walked downstairs and went to the kitchen and looked into the freezer. They didn't have anything much, or at least nothing to cook.

She walked back up the stairs and pounded on Dawn's door, and then slowly opened it. "Dawnie?" she asked. She was surprised to see Dawn intently reading a very old looking book.

"Dawn?" She repeated louder. This caused Dawn to snap the book shut immediately.

"Hey! Ever hear of knocking?!" She yelled in a screechy voice.

"I did. What do you want on your pizza?" Buffy asked in an annoyed voice. Dawn answered her quickly, and Buffy went back downstairs, wondering, but without intention of asking, what Dawn was up to.

Meanwhile, Dawn was reading on the book she purchased in the Magic Box. The incantation was really easy, even though it was Latin. She remembered Spike once saying, "J sounds like W and pronounce each vowel separately." That was the crash course in Latin. So simple, she knew she could do it. She would just have to wait until Buffy and Spike were alone to perform the spell, and she knew just the perfect time.

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Right when the sun set that evening Buffy headed out to meet Spike for patrol. It had become a part of a routine that she was starting to enjoy. She loved fighting with Spike- against and alongside him. She didn't have to hold back or worry that he would get hurt, because she knew that they were equals, and anything she dished out, he expected it and could throw it back at her just as hard.

He obviously wasn't like Angel, because Angel was too afraid to hurt her. And he wasn't like Riley, because with him she had to pretend to be weak because Riley wasn't as strong as she was. She suddenly realized that she was already at his crypt. She thought that just that one time she should be polite and knock, but was surprised when he opened the door before she could knock on the door.

"Vampire, luv," he said, almost like he could read her mind, "I can feel when you're there,"

"I knew that." Buffy said sheepishly.

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Dawn was in her room, alone. She laid out the map of Sunnydale that she had bought from a convenience store near the Magic Box. She made a circle around the map with small candles that she had already lit. She whispered some words in Latin, and took the jar of truth dust in her hand. She kneeled down, just outside the circle and takes a pinch of the dust between her thumb and forefinger, and sets the jar of dust down inside the circle.

She sprinkles the dust over the area which is Spike's cemetery, where they'd most likely be. She saw the mp light up, just a little bit, and then the glow faded away. She figured that the spell worked. She started to put away the stuff, and she tipped over the entire jar of truth dust.

"Shit!" she said. She quickly lifted the jar back up. The entire map started to glow, and at that moment she knew., "The whole town of Sunnydale is under a truth spell!" she whispered.

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Meanwhile, Buffy and Spike were out on patrol. A newly risen fledgling attacked them.

"Wow! You're the Slayer? And you- William the Bloody! Oh my gosh. It is such an honor to meet you both." The vampire said while trying to shake their hands. He was easily staked, but still it shocked Buffy and Spike when there were several more encounters like that.

"Hey, Spike?" Buffy said.

"Yeah, luv?" He replied.

"I think you're hot." She stated plainly, as if she had just announced that her favorite color was blue. Spike smirked.

"I think you're hot too, pet." He said; a small smile was showing on his face.

"I really want to kiss you right now." Buffy said, taking two steps closer to him. They were then eye to eye, nose to nose, and almost mouth to mouth.

"Mm-hmm," was all Spike could manage before they met. Mouths were crashing against one another, holding on tighter, and both trying to be closer to one another. Buffy pulled him closer, as close as she could, and wrapped her arms around him. Spike wrapped his arms around her too. Then their lips parted slightly, and their tongues touched, causing a wave of electricity to be sent through them. Then after a long time which seemed to them like a second, they needed to breathe- Buffy did, but Spike did out of habit, too.

"Wow." Buffy breathed.

"You're so bloody beautiful, pet." Spike spoke. "God, I love you."

Buffy smiled, and Spike smiled back at her, and then they did something that they had never done before. Buffy took her arms and put them over his shoulders, and he took his arms and put them around her waist, and they hugged. She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed contentedly. He loved it when she sighed like that.

He could feel her heartbeat racing at least three times faster than it should have been, and he was sure that if he had a heartbeat, his would be faster than that. He could feel the happiness flowing off her in waves of radiance. Suddenly, though, she jerked away from him and pulled a stake. She swiftly turned around and dusted a vamp that he hadn't even noticed sneaking up behind them.

"I didn't even notice that it was behind you." Spike said sheepishly.

"Well, we're in a cemetery, what do you expect?" She said with an almost careless smile. She stepped back into his embrace and resumed the position they were in before the vamp attack.

"Hey," She said quietly, not moving a muscle, "do you want to go back to the house and watch a movie or something? I really don't want you to go out of my sight."

"What movie, luv?" He answered and a happy smile came upon her face.

They walked hand in hand down through the cemetery and then on the sidewalks to Revello Drive, occasionally stopping to slay a newly risen vampire that dared cross the Master Vampire and Slayer. Overall, they reached the house pretty quickly, but they stopped along the way to kiss a lot. When they reached Buffy's house, she invited him in.

"Would you watch Gone With the Wind with me?" Buffy asked him from the living room. Spike had gone into the kitchen to make a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows.

"Sure, pet." He called back to her. She went upstairs and took a quilt and some pillows from her bed. She passed by Dawn's room and looked in. Dawn was sleeping peacefully, and had cleaned up the dust from the spell. When she came back downstairs she was greeted by Spike who was sitting on the couch holding two mugs of hot chocolate.

They sat down and arranged themselves comfortably on the couch. Buffy and Spike were cuddling. They stayed like that for the better part of the movie. At the end of the movie, Spike noticed that Buffy was crying.

"What's the matter, luv?" He asked her, and she started crying even louder.

"Scarlett- s-she was s-so awf-awful to him, and he st-still loved h- her." She said with a look of recognition on her face, like she had gone through that herself.

"W-why do you still love me?" She asked, managing to keep her sobs controlled.

"Because it's impossible to not love you. You're brave, you have this fire about you, you are full of light, you're willing to die to protect the world, you love your friends and your sis, you're strong, but sometimes you need to be protected, you are beautiful, you just- have this something that makes you impossible to hate, you have patience- hell, 'f you can put up wit' the Whelp. but most of all- you make me want to be better, be worthy." He said as he hugged her and stroked her hair. By then her sobs had quieted fully.

"I love you, too." She whispered, just loudly enough for him to hear.