Disclaimer: I own nothing: Mutant Enemy and whoever else owns Buffy, but you'd think they'd at least let me have Spike! They're so mean to my Spike.

Summary: Reading the challenge pretty much sums up the story, so.

Chapter 1:

Oh, how she wished she could beat up Spike with a clear conscious! Even after what he'd done to her, she still felt bad about hitting him more than once. It wasn't like he could fight back. Ugh! Poor Xander. It wasn't really fair to him that she took out her anger and frustration by beating things up and that he was really the only one around during the day that she could spar with besides Giles. It was all Spike's fault, thought Buffy as she walked into the store from the training room. Why did was he fixated on her? For a second, she thought about how Riley might have explained things from a psychological standpoint, but that just brought up two things she didn't want to think about: psychology and Riley. She really was doing better since he'd left, and she wasn't having any more impromptu crying fits like she'd right after he left. In fact, she hadn't even thought of Riley for days. It figured that Spike would be the cause of her current line of thinking. Suddenly, she realized that Anya was talking to her, apparently actually trying to cheer her up. Oops, she really should have been listening.

"I'm sorry, Anya, I just kind of zoned out there. What were you saying?" asked Buffy, desperately trying to bring her mind out of the rut it had been in. Thinking of Riley almost always made her want to start crying.

"I was just saying that when I was a vengeance demon, I could have helped you out. There could have been blood, and gore, and missing organs. Not that I would do anything like that any more," Anya hastened to reassure Xander and Giles, who were looking at her a little oddly. "It's just that Buffy looked like she could use a little vengeance."

"Thanks, Anya," Buffy replied, strangely touched by the ex-demon's concern. "I'm just glad it's night so I can go patrol. I feel like hitting something other than Xander."

"You hit Xander?" Anya's screech made Buffy wince. "You better not have broken him! If he's not good for-"

"I'm fine, An," Xander quickly reassured his girlfriend before she starting discussing their orgasms in front of everyone.

"Oh. Well. Good, I guess. Why don't you can go kill things that aren't Xander?" Anya asked.

"Yeah, I think I'll go do that. I'll see you guys tomorrow, k?" Buffy walked out of the Magic Box toward the nearest non-Spike inhabited cemetery. The last thing she wanted was to run into him again.

As she walked, Buffy ran the comments that Anya had made over in her mind. Vengeance. Hm. Well, she wasn't so sure if she really wanted vengeance on Spike. After all, she could do that if she wanted to all by herself, but she still would feel guilty.

With a groan, she kicked a rock on the sidewalk. Thinking about this was getting her nowhere. Out loud, she voiced her frustration to the night. "If only that moron hadn't gotten it into his head that he loved me! Things would be so much simpler if he didn't."

Ok so that didn't help either. Sighing, Buffy shifted her thoughts back to vengeance, not noticing the woman walking next to her, who had heard her last statement. Maybe she wouldn't wish vengeance on Spike, but changes instead. She wondered if there were any demons that would just change people.

"Actually, there are," the perky voice snapped Buffy out of the daze quickly.

"Huh?" Buffy looked up to see a strange woman looking at her cheerfully. "What are you talking about? Actually there are what?"

"Demons who change people. You want someone changed, right? Well, I can help," the woman offered matter-of-factly.

"Well, I don't think I actually want-"

"Yes you do, otherwise you wouldn't be thinking about it so strongly that I could pick up on it halfway across the country," the demon interrupted. "Just think of how much easier your life would be if that guy was different. You name it; I'll change it."

For a moment, Buffy just looked at the women in front of her. She almost started laughing at how ridiculous the woman was, coming to a Slayer.a Slayer who was actually considering her offer.

Suddenly, Buffy started thinking about how much easier life would be if Spike was just one of the normal Scoobies. Human, helpful, not annoying. Biting her lip, Buffy considered the demon's offer.

"Well, maybe." the woman waited patiently for Buffy to think. When she nodded slightly, the woman handed her a little red ring from around her finger. Buffy stared at it a moment before realizing that this was what would cause her wish to become reality. Before she could talk herself out of making what was probably a huge mistake, Buffy started her list.

"Ok, first of all, Spike would be human, with a soul. Well, a soul, but not the guilt over his vampire past; I wouldn't want him just sitting around brooding, as funny as that would be. Only Spike wouldn't brood, he'd drink. Ok, ideal Spike wouldn't drink, either. Or smoke, or have that stupid all-black look. The new Spike wouldn't steal, or lie, or cheat, either. He'd listen to real music, not that punk crap that he listens to now. He'd have a fashion sense, and he would definitely get rid of that duster. God, what is it with that thing! Hmm, what else to change.Oh! He'd get rid of all the chains and stuff lying around his crypt; make it look like a normal person lives there. Although not too many normal people live in cemeteries. Oh, well. I guess I'd still want him to have his vamp abilities; you know, strength, healing, senses, just not the actual being a vamp. That would mean that the others might like him, too. Yeah, make sure he actually wants to help us, and gets along, without that annoying attitude of his. He shouldn't actually look for fights, or be mean to people. Oh, and he wouldn't call us those stupid names he made up, and he wouldn't swear or use British words that nobody but Giles can understand. Wow, I think that's just about everything."

Buffy stopped to think, but cut off the demon just before she was about to speak. "No! Wait, he can't have that stupid hair! I want it to look like it did when he was a human."

After seeing the demon look at her again, as if waiting for Buffy to think up another characteristic for her to change, Buffy looked slightly embarrassed before saying, "Yeah, that's really all this time. Sorry."

"I cannot change him unless you wish it," the demon said impatiently. "I thought, being the Slayer, you would realize that."

"Huh?" Buffy looked blankly at the demon for a second before she realized what the woman had said. "Oh, right. I have to WISH it. Wait, before I do, I want to at least know your name."

Barely suppressing a sigh of annoyance, the woman said, "Lamarassa. Now, do you wish for your changes in him or not?"

"Ok, uh, I wish for everything that I said to you about Spike to be true," Buffy said quickly, before she could change her mind and realize how stupid she was being. How stupid she was being because of Spike! This was all his fault, anyway.

"Done. Spike is changed." The woman nodded briefly at Buffy and took her ring back from the girl's limp hand, before looking around and disappearing when she saw there was no one present to see her unconventional exit.

As she watched the woman disappear, the reality of the situation hit Buffy like the proverbial ton of bricks.

"Oh, crap!"

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