A/N : Sorry it's taken me so long to update this time around. RL has been kicking my butt this past week but thankfully I have a little time on my hands now. This chapter took me a week to get finished, but I'm hoping to have the next chapter done in the next couple of days. Anyway, enough rambling now...thanx to the reviewers of the previous chapter; Rachel, Moluvsnumber17, Freezyboncoolipants, theoneandonlygurl, Samolly, Mariana, Malfeus, Spuffyfan4eva, Darrel Doomvomit, MaidenRo, Spike the Dragon, tink36, Kimber, Semajyrrah, Spikespet2002, Spuffyluvr, aphelant, hells child, rubi-elektra, Hieiko, Eurika, SSWBA, Moonglow13, Spike-Rocks, Angelscribe, Bunny, Katie, Kathy, JadedxVampire21 - woah, that's a lot of names. Oh and thanks especially to those who pointed out my little error about Faith and Spike's chip in chapter 6 - I went back and fixed it! Enjoy the new chapter! :-)

(For disclaimer, etc - see chapter 1)

Chapter 8

"Watcher! At bloody last!" Spike yelled as Giles entered his home. With his back to the door he still knew it was him from the sound of his footsteps and his scent.

"Spike?" the Watcher frowned as he deposited his keys on the table and walked over to the window "What on Earth are you doing over here?"

"Oh, just thought I'd get a little bit of a tan y'know" Spike said casually and Giles' frown deepened, "I'm about to bloody fry you pillock!" the vampire suddenly exclaimed "Move this soddin' chair!" the past twenty three minutes the fatal beams of the sun had been getting closer and closer and were now just a hairs breadth away from the edge of his body. He'd like to say that death did not scare him, but as he found himself so close to being dusty he found himself to be petrified. The strange thing was he found he was more worried about what might happen to Buffy if he died than he was about the actually burning.

"One less vampire in the world would be no great shame" Giles stalled with a shrug "especially one who feels the need to insult me so colourfully. I can't think of one good reason to bother to help you..."

"Cos your Slayer's in danger of being severely dead" Spike snapped, cutting Giles' sentence off half way and causing him to go pale "and if I end up dusty you won't ever know how to save her"

The Watcher shifted to stand between the window and Spike, still uncertain about whether to help the fiend or not.

"Why should I believe you?" he asked, looming over the vampire and speaking in a decidely Ripper tone.

"You wanna take the chance that I'm lying?" Spike replied with his own question, already knowing the answer. Old Rupes loved his Slayer like a daughter, there was just no way he'd risk her life, not like this. Still, for a moment he looked like he was considering it. Eventually he grasped the arms of the chair and pushed it back and to the side well away from the window. Spike sighed.

"Thank God for that" he closed his eyes as the relief flowed through him. When he opened them Giles was still standing over him, staring. "Well come on then!" he urged, waving his bound hands in the air "Untie me already!"

The older-looking man turned to pull another chair forward and seated himself in front of Spike.

"First you tell me about the supposed danger that Buffy is in" he said sternly, inside starting to panic that something truly awful might be happening to her.

"Right, your girl Faith pulled herself a little body swap" Spike explained and Giles eyes went comically wide, though no-one was laughing.

"She did what?" he checked.

"Must've been when I lost the Slayer on the way over here" Spike shook his head "I've looked at it from every angle, only time we were apart, and she was so different..." he remembered how he'd lost Buffy in that park, tried to track her scent and been left going round in circles until she appeared. She acted differently, more distant than she had been of late. He was sort of glad to know it wasn't really her.

"Get to the point, Spike" Giles snapped, his internal panic meter clocking up another notch.

"Slayer mark two must've got some mojo going for her" he explained it the way he saw it "she switched their bodies. The girl that sat here in your very own flat was not Buffy, least not on the inside"

"Oh good Lord" Giles removed his glasses and ran a hand over his face as he got to his feet and paced the room a couple of times.

"And you didn't even notice" Spike added with a grimace. This was supposed to be her bloody father-figure and he hadn't cottoned on that it wasn't even Buffy! Of course he knew he was partially aiming the comment at himself. Whilst he'd realised she was different he'd had no idea it wasn't her, not until she got all touchy feely with him and got all amnesiac about them getting it on.

"Where is Buffy, er Faith, er where are they now?" Giles stumbled his way through the question, not really knowing who he should be looking for first.

"Well, Buffy, the real her in the body of Faith" Spike began "it seems she must be at the hospital, with your Watcher mates going after her no less" he sighed in pure annoyance at the whole stupid situation "as for the bitch herself, she's prancing around in Buffy's outsides and she..." he stopped short, almost physically wincing at the idea "she said she might head for the hospital, do Buffy for good" he said much more quietly, knowing if he said it aloud it made it real. He was starting to worry if these feelings he had for the Slayer weren't just about wanting to kill her himself, he was beginning to wonder if he...

"You mean kill her?" Giles' inane question interrupted his train of thought and his anger grew.

"No, bloody cook dinner for her, what do you think?!" he shot back both loudly and nastily. Giles didn't waste time yelling back, he had more important things to think about.

"I'm going to the hospital" he announced, reaching for the keys he had discarded just a few moments ago.

"Untie me first!" Spike called to him as he made for the door, "I'll call your little witch, see if she can reverse this thing, whatever the hell it is"

Giles moved quickly to the kitchen to fetch a knife. He walked over to Spike and put the blade to the ropes at his ankles first and stopped short of cutting him free.

"Why are you so keen to help Buffy?" he asked suddenly and Spike opened his mouth to answer before re-considering and closing it again. A moment later he gave his reply.

"I'm not" he lied "I just wanna see that damn bitch Faith gets whats coming her way after what she did to me" that at least was true, but if he was honest with himself he hated the idea of Buffy and her child getting hurt...or worse.

"Fair enough" Giles nodded, deciding it would be useful to have an extra person who knew the truth of the situation. Besides, what did he have to lose?

- - - - - - - -

Spike was getting restless and bored. He liked to feel like he was doing something, didn't matter what it was, but with the sun high in the sky he was pretty much stuck until Willow arrived with her box of tricks. He'd told her on the phone that Buffy was in danger, that it had to do with Faith and that she should get her ass over to Giles' place as fast as her little girl legs would carry her. He didn't like to say too much on the phone - never knew who was listening.

"'Bout bloody time Red!" he cursed as he heard a knock on the front door. He opened it, staying behind it as he did so and was a little shocked to come face to face with a cross when he moved to close it again.

"If this is an evil plan I'm prepared!" Willow yelled, a shake in her voice as well as the hand that held the cross.

"There is no evil plan you silly bint" Spike sighed, shying away from the cross, "Not from me anyway, thats all your girl Faiths doing"

"Okay then..." the red-head nodded slowly, putting the cross back in her bag, "This is my friend, Tara" she gestured to the shy girl behind her that Spike had barely even noticed was there. She smiled a little and softly said 'hi'. Willow explained that Tara was also a witch and she thought it might help to have her there, two heads being better than one and all that.

"The deal is this" Spike began to explain the situation as the three sat down at the table. When he'd finished he looked at the Wiccans hopefully, "So ladies, any ideas on a reversal?"

"I-it sounds like a Dr-Draconian K-Katra spell" the new girl forced out, and Spike looked to Willow for a translation.

"Oh, it's a spell for switching essences and stuff" she explained "powerful and dangerous, but I think we can reverse it, right?" she addressed her question to Tara who nodded and smiled.

"I-I've never made a K-Katra on my own before, but I-I think we c-could do it, together" she said with certainty, though her stammering made it sound less definite. Spike watched as the blonde's hand landed on Willow's arm, and the look the two girls shared. Seemed Red wasn't playing with the boys anymore. Who'd've thought it?

- - - - - - - -

Giles was shocked by how lax the security was at Sunnydale General, but then when you took into account the amount of casualties they had to deal with - neck wounds and the such like in particular - he guessed they simply didn't have time to do thorough checks on who they were letting in.

He'd found his way to the group of rooms where his contact had told him he would find 'Faith'. It was frightening to think that it was Buffy inside that body, that his dear girl was suffering. She was practically a daughter to him, though such things were never said aloud. Now she was in danger and it made him feel wretched.

Looking in through the glass panels in all the doors, Giles was at a loss. It didn't appear that either girl as anywhere to be found, until suddenly the door behind him swung open and three men pushed a trolley down the corridor, with a dark haired girl on top of it. She was clearly unconscious and Giles did a double-take as he realised he'd seen Faith's face, and that meant he'd found Buffy.

He called her name, though it was pointless and turned to go after her. A blonde girl stood in his path in a second.

"You're not Buffy" he stated, "You're Faith"

A nasty smirk contorted his Slayers face, confirming what he already knew. Her hand shot out to hit him in the face and knock him down.

"So, you saved the vamp, huh?" she walked up and down in front of him in the deserted hospital corridor "And they say I'm the bad one" she stopped and looked down at the Watcher who was trying to stem the flow of blood from his nose.

"What have you done you stupid vindictive little girl?!" he snapped angrily. This insolent child had put Buffy in danger. He knew quite well what the Operatives from the Watchers Council were capable of. If they thought 'Faith' to be too much of a liability they wouldn't bother trying to get her back to England. They had ways of making it all look like an accident...

"Now Giles, is that any way to speak to your Slayer" the girl that wore Buffy's face scolded him like a child, leaning down to hit him around the head again.

"If Buffy comes to harm because of you" he choked out, "so help me..."

"No-one is gonna help you, man" Faith told him with a nasty look "Buffy, or should we say 'Faith'" she smiled evilly a she air-quoted, "she's been taken on a little trip by your Watcher friends" she explained, crouching down to the Watchers level and wrenching his head backwards "She'll be in England before you can say stiff upper lip!" she grinned, pushing his head to the wall with a thump and finally making him completely lose consciousness "And by the time you come around" she said, getting to her feet and checking no-one had seen what happened "I'll be long gone" she added as she strutted away down the corridor.

To Be Continued...

A/N2 : Chapter 9 is coming very soon! In the meantime, please review! Thanks :-)