CONTRADICTION: Chapter 5- The Aftermath

Summary: The truth spell has been cast; Buffy has told Spike she loves him. What else could possibly happen??

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except the plot, and I really don't own it because it ain't like I bought it or nothing. So if you want to sue me, go ahead and try, but it'll probably only make you look selfish, and childish, and idiot-like, and that isn't a good image.

Authors Notes: Sorry this was WAY late, but I'd be just tickled pink if you reviewed. I want to thank Roxxanne M., whose review made me decide to write this chapter. I didn't get many-excuse me, any- reviews for chapter 4, so I just assumed that everybody had stopped reading the story. This is probably going to be the last chapter, but still review. ( Thanks!! _________________________________________________________________

"I love you, Spike." Buffy said again, making sure he had heard her. She could she the shock, the excitement, and the pensiveness expressed on his face. He didn't move a muscle, for the most part because he didn't really know what to do. Buffy loves me, he thought over and over.

After he had thought it enough so that it sunk in, he just leaned over and kissed her. He wrapped his strong arms around her, his hands rested on the small of her back. The kiss was sweet at first, chaste and soft. It was a new thing for them, because they hadn't loved each other before. Buffy, once she could maintain a coherent thought, wondered why she hadn't told him before, because it really made the already wonderful kisses of Spike one-hundred times better. They pulled away from the kiss to breathe, surprised that such a simple kiss could take their breaths away.

Oh! Spike lips! Lips of Spike!

Buffy sighed contentedly and wrapped her arms around his neck, then rested her head in the crook of his shoulder. She breathed, and took in the scent that was Spike- leather, bourbon, smoke, and another scent, that she couldn't quite place- she just knew that is was him. She loved his scent. They held each other like that for a long time, but to them it seemed like merely seconds.

Finally they came out of their embrace. Even though Spike didn't want to ruin the perfect moment- the moment that he had been dreaming about for a long time, they needed to talk. It was only a couple of days ago that she had said that she didn't love him, and he hadn't done anything drastic to make her love him, and he wanted to know why she was all of a sudden telling him she loved him. Not that he was complaining, you know, because he loved that she finally told him the three words that he had been dying to hear. He would never complain about that. Was she sure? Because if she wasn't he was liable to stake himself. But that would mean that he wouldn't get to be with her anymore, so that was definitely out of the picture. To be honest, he knew he would just do the same thing he had been doing- helping with patrol, talking to the Nibblet, listening to Buffy and fighting with her. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he could never leave her, and he could never stop loving-

"Are you brooding?" Buffy asked him, interrupting his thoughts.

"Bloody hell! I'm not the Poofter, and besides, I don't brood." He said. The last part almost sounded like a whine and pouted. Buffy started to giggle. He was just so cute when he whined. She reached her hand up and ruffled his hair. He hadn't gelled it in a day, so it was in messy curls on his head. She heard a faint growl coming from him, and she felt the vibration run through his chest, and it made her giggle even more.

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Xander had never been one for patience, in fact, he didn't have much of it at all. So when Buffy was late for a Scooby meeting he wondered what was going on.

Had she gotten hurt during patrol tonight?

Giles and Anya were doing inventory and Willow was reading a book in the Magic Box when Xander finally gave in to his impatience.

"Where could she be?" He said.

"She's probably just sleeping, Xander. She probably had a hard night of slayage." Willow said cheerfully.

"How can you be so cheerful at this time of night? It is really annoying. Stop please." Anya said in an almost monotone voice.

"Well, I'm going to Buffy's to see if she's okay." Xander said, and then walked out the door to the Magic Box, and the bell gave a happy jingle.

He walked for a few minutes until he reached her house. A long time ago, Buffy had shown him where she kept her spare key and told him to use it if there was an emergency. Xander figured that this was emergency enough, and unlocked the door to the house.

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"Spike!" Buffy said between giggles, "Stop it!"

"Nuh uh, luv. Not unless you take that back!" Spike said as he tickled her mercilessly.

"You are the Big Bad, honey," she started, and he paused from tickling her, "You are the Big Bad Tickle Monster!" She shrieked before running into the kitchen. He ran after her immediately, and she screamed, forgetting the sleeping Dawn upstairs.

Spike finally caught up with her while she was running and spun her around to face him. She looked amazing, in a t-shirt and jeans, her hair all sweaty, her face hot and flushed. He put his arms around her neck and pulled her into a kiss. Their tongues were tangled together, and his hands were then in her hair soon, but he pulled back. He dropped his hands to her shoulders and held her away from him.

"Take it back!" He whispered.

"You're still bad, honey, just in a cuddly, sweet way." She said smiling. He growled, but then pulled her close to him, and kissed her forcefully. They didn't even notice when the kitchen door opened.

"What the hell is going on here?" Xander yelled.

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Meanwhile, due to Buffy's screaming- she didn't want to know why- Dawn had woken up, and climbed out of her window. She was going to see Willow about a reversal spell. She carried one of Buffy's stakes and walked down the streets of Sunnydale. She got to the Magic Shop with a fair ease, and had only seen one vamp, a fledgling, and dusted it.

She walked into the store, and everyone looked surprised to see her.

"Hey, Dawnie. Where's Buffy?" Willow asked her.

"Oh, she's at home, but I sort of need to talk to you." Dawn said nervously, putting her hands in the back pockets of her jeans.

"Sure," Willow said curiously. "What about?"

"Actually, it's kind of private. Do you mind if we go back to the training room?" Dawn said, as she noticed Tara, Giles, and Anya looking at her. Willow nodded her agreement, and they both walked into the back room.

"What's up, Dawnie?" Willow asked once more.

"Well, I did this spell, and I think, no, I know I did some thing wrong, and I don't know how to reverse it." She said in one breath, and looked away from Willow's scornful gaze.

"Now Dawnie, I'm not going to tell you how you shouldn't have been doing spells, but luckily this one should be pretty easy to reverse, unless it wears off in a certain amount of time. I'll just go and check in one of my books." She said and walked out of the training room. Dawn followed after her.

Willow pulled a dusty book out of one of the shelves and started flipping through the pages. She then walked back into the training room and again Dawn followed. She flipped through the book some more, and then exclaimed, "I found it!"

"Okay how do I reverse it?" Dawn asked immediately in reply.

"It says here that the spell will wear off on its own after about five hours. When did you cast the spell?" Willow asked.

Dawn looked at her watch, "About four hours and forty-five minutes ago. That's good right? Only about fifteen minutes until the spell wears off, so bye!" And then she walked out of the training room and the Magic Box without saying another word. She ran all the way back home and hurried into her window with only five minutes of the truth spell left.

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"I'm kissing the man I love." Buffy responded. She turned around to look at Xander and grabbed Spike's arms and wrapped them around her. He kissed her on the ear and whispered to her that he loved her, so quietly that only she could hear.

"What? Love? You despise Spike, not love him!" Xander said, furiously trying to figure out what was going on.

"Xander, that was just a lie for you and Willow and Giles, but it's the truth. I love him." She smiled happily.

Xander, seeing how he wasn't going to get any answers from Buffy, redirected conversation towards Spike.

"What have you done to her? Is this some evil plan of yours? Have you put her under a spell? Or is this one of those creepy thrall things that Dracula does? " He said, trying desperately to get some answers.

"Bloody hell, 'Harris, I thought you were smarter than that. I'm not the best person to try to make plans. Besides, I love her, and se loves me, so deal with it." Spike said with a scowl. Buffy stepped back to look at him. She looked at his face and giggled.

"What's so funny, luv?" He asked her.

"You're cute when you make that face." She said, then heard him give a little growl, and giggled some more. He pulled her up against him so that they were nose to nose. She instantly quieted, and he spoke quietly, though Xander could hear.

"I am not cute. I am bad. Evil. Grr." He was finding it hard to keep from laughing himself, but found himself surprised when she only smiled slightly.

"You're right, honey. Cute is an understatement. You're the most gorgeous, sexy, attractive, hunky, wonderful, sweet, caring, loving, kind, thoughtful, considerate vampire ever, and not to mention the best kisser." Buffy said with a soft smirk that mirrored his.

"I love you, pet." He said, and she pulled him an inch closer to her and kissed him. It was a soft kiss at first, gentle and mild, like a first kiss. She put her arms around his neck, and his hands ran up and down her back. Then, the kiss deepened. He ran his tongue slowly along her bottom lip and she whimpered, giving him entrance to her mouth. The coolness of him was like a shock to her. She heard a soft moan, but she didn't know if it was him or her making the sounds. She took her hands from his neck and touched his hair, and his hands continued the soothing pattern on her back. This was perfec-

They were interrupted by the sounds of the Xander opening the kitchen door. They could hear retching outside, and both of them were sure that he was throwing up. Buffy grabbed some paper towels and wet them with cold water, and told Spike to get a soda out of the refrigerator.

She walked outside and handed Xander the paper towels and Spike held the soda.

"Are you okay?" Buffy asked him.

"I think it's safe to say that I never need to see you guys kissing again." He said trying to lighten the mood.
Then suddenly a feeling went through the air. The truth spell was over, unbeknownst to them.

"Spike, I think you'd better go. We'll talk later." Buffy said distantly. He gave her a hug and kissed the top of her head.

"Ok, pet. I love you." He said and then turned to walk out the door, but before he had left, he heard a quiet whisper that said, "I love you, too." He only heard this because of his vampiric hearing, and smiled. The smile was more of a William smile than a Spike smile. He was really turning into a Poofter.

"Okay, Buff. I'm gonna ask again, what the hell was going on in here?" Xander asked once Spike was gone.

"I think that was pretty obvious," muttered Buffy sarcastically.

"Yeah, I walk into your house and see you kissing the evil un-dead, and then you say that you love him. You're acting a lot like the Buffy- bot."

"Xander, it's me- the real Buffy, and despite what you think, I do love him, and if you don't like it, just get the hell out of my house!" Buffy said, hinting anger at first, and roaring the end. Xander turned and silently walked out of the door. *****************************************************************

A/N: So, what did you think?? Review please..