TITLE: In Your Eyes
AUTHOR: Gaeriel Mallory
RATING: PG
CATEGORY: BTVS/Batman: the Animated Series Crossover
DISTRIBUTION: Photon's Crossing, TTH, Anyone else, just ask.
DISCLAIMER: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all related characters are the property of Josh Whedon and Mutunt Enemy, Inc. Batman and related characters are the property of Warner Brothers and DC Comics.
NOTE: I don't know how the reception for this story will turn out, mainly because BTAS has been off the air for several years. This was written before the series finale of Buffy aired so there will be some inaccuracies in later chapters. However, in the chapters that are unwritten, I shall try to stick as close to the finale as possible.

The title "In Your Eyes" is a tribute to the 2nd season Buffy episode "I Only Have Eyes For You."


Chapter Three

Willow looked around at the four people gathered in the living room of the house. She had just finished telling them of the strange phone call she had received that morning. "Well?" she asked, looking around the room. "What do you think?"

"It's like with the ghosts in high school again," Xander Harris said. "You remember, Willow. The ones who were possessing people?"

She nodded. "Grace and James, right?"

"Something like that. Only now it's Buffy and Angel." Xander looked at the other female in the room, a tall slender woman with light brown hair. "How are you holding up, Dawnie?" he asked softly.

Dawn Summers shrugged. "I don't know. I'm feeling kinda empty at the moment. I mean, she's been gone for five years. It's a bit of a shock."

Willow moved over and hugged the younger woman. "It's all right. We'll get through this. We always do."

The fourth person in the room had remained silent up to this point. He spoke up now. "So what are we going to do, Red?" Spike's piercing blue eyes looked at the witch.

Willow sighed. "I was planning on eventually going to Gotham to help them. But I wanted to do some research first."

Spike leaned forward and rested his chin on his fist. "Do you have any ideas about what you're going to do?"

She nodded. "A few. When those two ghosts were possessing people at our high school, they reenacted the immediate events of their deaths. That's what's been going on in Gotham with Buffy and Angel. The problem is figuring out a way to get the two to resolve everything without getting their host bodies killed in the process."

"Neither Buffy nor the Poof were ones for talking when they could be fighting," the vampire observed. "At least Angelus wasn't, anyway."

"I don't think they're going to want to sit down and have a heart to heart chat," Xander remarked. "Anyone who got in the middle of their fight would be killed."

Willow nodded. "The way I see it, as long as it's Angelus and Buffy, we have no chance."

"But if it's Angel instead..." Dawn looked at the witch with apprehension in her eyes. "But can you do that? I mean, he's dead. As in incorporeal. You can't give a ghost a soul. Can you?"

Willow sighed and shrugged. "I don't know. But I really don't see any other way to go."

"And you're just going to trust these people? There's no evidence that Batman even exists. This could be just some crank."

Willow glared at her friend. "And what would they gain if it was just a crank, Xander? I believe her, this Batgirl. She sounded scared."

"Or she could just be a really good actress." Xander scoffed. "It'd trust Vampboy over here before I trust some stranger over the phone."

"Hey!" Spike spoke up.

Dawn looked at her hands, folded in her lap. She shifted slightly on the couch. "We never did find out what happened to them," she said softly. "I mean, we know they both died. Buffy's body was there and Angel's killing spree across America stopped. But we never actually knew for sure. It's kinda like what happened with Acathla. We only knew Buffy stopped him because the world didn't end."

"What are you saying, niblet?" The vampire looked at Dawn intently.

She looked up at her three friends. "Maybe we should go and help. I mean, as a way to say goodbye to Buffy. If it really is her, I don't think she's really happy as a ghost. Grace and James sure weren't."

Willow sat back in thought. "So you want to help. Okay. That's two votes for going. Any others?"

"So we're doing this democratically now?" Xander shook his head. "I say no way. We don't know anything about these people. It could be a trap, Willow." He sighed and looked over at Dawn. "I know that there's a chance it really is Buffy, but my vote's no."

Spike stood up from his chair and walked to the window. He stared out into the darkness and sighed. "I don't know if I really should have a say," he admitted. "Buffy and I were not always on the best of terms. At the end, we fought because she wanted to go stop my bleeding sire. We didn't exactly part on good terms."

Dawn reached over and laid a hand on his arm. "You're as much family to me as Willow and Xander are," she told him. "And you should help decide."

The vampire looked over at Willow and the witch felt her heart skip a beat at the pain in his eyes. "You still love her," she whispered.

Spike closed his eyes and looked away. "You know what my answer is, Red. Whenever Buffy was thrown into the mix, I never did think right." He smiled ruefully at Xander. "Maybe I really should be throwing my lot in with you, but I can't. Not if it's Buffy."

The dark haired man nodded slowly. "I may not like it," he responded, "but I do understand."


Spike left the warmth and comfort of the house and hitched a hip over the porch railing. He leaned back against the post and lit a cigarette. He snapped the lighter closed and shoved it back into the pocket of his duster. He looked up at the moon but did not really see it. Instead, he was lost in his thoughts and memories.

It had been a hard them for all of them. They had just defeated the First Evil and there had been casualties. Buffy had not even finished mourning for Anya and Faith when there had been word from L.A.

Angel had lost his soul again. That bloody law firm, Wolfram and Hart, had finally found a spell to rip the soul from his body. In thanks, Angelus massacred everybody in the building where Wolfram and Hart had their offices. He had then tried to go after the others at Angel Investigations but one of Cordelia's visions had warned them and they ran and hid.

Eventually, they had managed to drive the vampire out of the city but that had only been the beginning. There were reports of entire Midwestern towns killed. It had been possible to track Angelus's progress across the country by following the body count.

When Buffy heard, she had grabbed her sword and started after him, intent on stopping him. Willow had still been too weak from fighting the First to have attempted a soul restoration. They knew of no other witches powerful enough to have even tried.

"You're insane!" Spike had yelled at the Slayer when she walked out the door.

She had turned to him. "What do you want me to do?"

"Anything but going off after the wanker yourself. Take someone with you."

"Who? You?" She scoffed at him. "I need to do this by myself. This is my fight."

Spike hid his pain at her instant rejection of his help. "You're going to get yourself killed," he shouted as she got into her car.

She had glared at him. "I'll manage," she said as she closed the door and started the engine. He had stood there helplessly as Buffy drove away. The next time he saw her, it had been in pictures the GCPD had sent so that they could identify the body.

Spike threw his cigarette onto the lawn and closed his eyes. "I miss you," he whispered into the night air. "But you always did choose him over me, didn't you? Right to the bleedin' end."


A/N(2): SPOILERS FOR SERIES FINALE!

(spoiler space)

Yes, I know that Spike dies in the series finale. I also know that Faith didn't and that Sunnydale is a giant crater in the ground. However, in my defense, this chapter was written weeks before the season finale first aired and I had no clue what was going to happen. Anya was just a shot in the dark which I, sadly, got correct.