A/N: I'm not trying to give the impression of ransoming chapters for reviews. I'll keep posting for a while yet, but keep reviewing. It's inspiring is all. And for those of you wondering about the necklace, it does do something but it is not the one that summons Sweet. It's my invention for an upcoming plot twist. And spuffy is on the way people, but nothing in the Buffyverse is ever that simple.
Disclaimer: I feel kind of tired and a little bit dizzy, but my fingers don't smell like onion anymore, so we're all happy here.

Last time, on Crushed: The Scoobies threw a not so surprise party for Dawn. Dawn got presents. Yay Dawn. The party went to the Bronze. Spike showed up, drunk, and gave Dawn a necklace. Yay Spike. He didn't know where it came from anymore than we did. Hmm. Then Buffy felt bad when Spike said he wasn't patrolling anymore. Then some demon bikers showed up. What happens next?

Always get proof of purchase

"Okay boys," Razor, the head biker growled, "this town is going to be ours. We've gotten word that the Slayer isn't even patrolling much these days. She's gotten weak, and we're moving in!" The biker demons roared in agreement. "Now let's wreck this dump!"

Spike grinned maniacally, before driving his fist into the biker's face again. This was exactly what he needed, a good spot of violence to help him forget his Slayer troubles. The vampire ducked under a clumsy swing from the pathetic excuse for a demon before jabbing the demon in the ribs then ramming his knee into the demon's face with a sickening crunch.

Wrapping an arm around the demon's neck, Spike wrenched hard, snapping it with a crunch. The demon collapsed with a dull thud, and the peroxide blond shrugged his duster back into place. The vampire looked around casually for another demon to wale on. Not seeing one readily available, he grunted in frustration before slinging a leg over the bike. No sense in wasting such a fine machine.

Pulling back the throttle, Spike tore down the streets of Sunnydale. The houses whipped past in a blur as he let the speed rush over him. Unlife used to be a hell of a lot simpler back before he had to worry about who he could hit. Unlife used to be easier before he loved the Slayer. Hell, unlife just used to be easier.

Spike slowed the bike to a halt as he neared The Fish Tank. Willy's was not worth the effort tonight and The Bronze was off limits because of the Slayer and her mates, so it was off to the only other place in town.

As he sauntered into the bar, a large number of people, three guys and five girls, started staring at him. Now, this often happened when Spike went into the Bronze, as his bleached hair and black clothes made him stand out among the upbeat teenagers but generally he didn't attract such notice from the denizens of the Fish Tank, which attracted the rougher aspects of the human crowd.

But these people weren't staring at him in lust, fear or disgust but in confusion. This one was new for Spike, but he shrugged it off and head towards the bar. After he downed his first scotch of the night he heard a clear feminine voice behind him.

"William? Is that you?" Spike turned slowly. "Oh my God! It is! I love the new look!" The vampire raised an eyebrow. The ponce knew this bird? Spike's respect for William grew as he looked over the slutty little number in front of him. "I never thought I'd see you here"

"Life's just full of surprises, innit pet?" Spike drawled, stretching slowly before rising and following the girl back to William's friends.

The demons had found Buffy while she looked for Spike. There were a lot of them, and she wanted to be sure that she got them all. Her search had nothing to do with the fact that she had been aching to give a certain peroxide blond a tongue lashing. And not of the fun kind... Bad Buffy!

The Slayer's self recrimination was cut short by the roar of four bikes, which became visible shortly after she heard them. The demons were ugly, which is generally a given. They all wore leather, and their smooth faces were split in three places. Two eyes and a shallow gash for a mouth, full of overlapping sharp yellow teeth.

"Slayer!" the biggest and, therefore, ugliest snarled.

"Slayee!" Buffy returned cheerfully. One of the minions took a swing at Buffy, and she used it's momentum to grip his wrist and send him hurtling into minion #2. They went down in a heap. The big one flicked his fingers and a serrated blade sprang from each fingertip as the two demons began to circle the Slayer. The minion attacked first.

Buffy ducked below the inept blow and carried her momentum forward to smash her fist into the chest of the next demon, who flew into the dirty brick wall of the street. Razor snarled and rushed at Buffy, arms held low. The Slayer spun on her heel, her foot driving into the demon's head. Razor crumpled to the ground, his neck snapped from the force of the blow.

"Why don't they ever learn? Slayer plus demon equals dead demon." Buffy stated, looking at the dead biker demon in front of her, nonplussed. Razor's crew looked between their ex-leader and the Slayer, before turning tail and running to their bikes.

Buffy shook her head slowly before beginning to head towards her house. This sorted it. No more patrolling with Spike if having a bunch of demon biker freaks start to raid Sunnydale was the price. And Buffy was in no way upset by this decision.

It was while Buffy was not-moping about no more Spike on patrol that she saw him. With other people. With another person. A female person. A slutty female person. Hanging off his arm. Smiling at him. Buffy stood there for a moment, stunned. She had not expected this.

The woman was practically inside his clothes, right here on the street! And Buffy was not jealous. Why would she be jealous? She didn't want to sleep with Spike. She didn't want Spike period. So Buffy would just show everyone how little she cared that Spike wanted to have vapid whores hanging off his arm. She'd walk right by him and not even look at him or his little floozy.

When Spike saw her, Buffy ran.

Spike had blinked when he saw the Slayer. She wasn't supposed to be there, and she sure as hell wasn't supposed to be staring at Spike like he'd betrayed her. She wasn't supposed to just turn and run the other way, either.

Shaking of the annoyingly grabby bint, who Spike had put up with so long as she was paying for his drinks, the vampire took off after the Slayer.

"Buffy, love, wait! It's not what you think" he had called out before realising he had no idea what she thought. What the bloody hell had the Slayer thought that made her run away like that? Spike decided that the Slayer was just off her bird. More so than usual.

He picked up the pace, following her back to the Summers house.

William sat in the kitchen of the Summers home, sipping on a hot chocolate. He looked at Mrs Summers then at Rupert. They both looked incredibly uncomfortable and the tension in the room was palpable. The two elder people were deliberately not looking at each other. When Rupert took off his glasses and began to clean them for no apparent reason, William rose.

"I'll, ah... I'll... be in the living room." he stuttered before ducked backwards out of the room. There was history in that room that William was fairly sure he wanted no part of. He wandered into the lounge room before realising he won't be much more comfortable in here.

He sat down in the chair as far from the other couples as possible. He'd been forced to come to terms with the almost indecent premarital activities partaken in public, but he was having some... difficulties with Willow and Tara's relationship. He had nothing against two people in love expressing that in whatever way made them comfortable, but this was new for William. The idea had never even occurred to him before seeing the two kiss, much to Xander's disgust.

Still, since they were only holding hands at this point, William felt confident enough to listen to the conversation, and possibly participate. Dawn was ranting, so that meant it was less a conversation than a talking to. William almost smiled when he realised he had just had a slightly uncharitable thought. His time in America was beginning to show.

"And then Buffy has to just get all angry at him because he doesn't want to spend time with her anymore. She was, like, a total drain on my party." Dawn's arms waved wildly as she complained about her sister. "And he even went and got me a cool present, which, okay, he probably didn't pay for because he's an evil vampire, but I think it's a big step in the right direction when he remembers to get a birthday present for someone else." As the girl said this, she fingered something hanging on a chain at her throat. "You guys wanna see it?"

Anya's hand was out before you could blink, her love of all things of monetary worth legendary by now. The small locket was passed from hand to hand, with each person there making the appropriate remarks.

"This is a good gift. It cost a lot of money." Anya.

"Hey, it's shiny. That's a plus, right Dawnster?" Xander.

"It's nice." Tara.

"It's really neat!" Willow.

And now it was William's turn. He held the intricate little locket in between his elegant fingers. It seems his vampire self had outdone him once again. Better at everything. Still, it was a very nice gift and William was glad that, as a vampire at least, he knew how to get a gift for a pretty girl.

Finely wrought silver chain connected to what appeared to be a pretty locket with a blue gemstone set in the middle. William looked closer. He could almost swear the faint engravings on the locket were glowing blue. It was excellent craftsmanship.

"It's lovely" he murmured, handing the bauble back to it's owner. Dawn beamed, as thought the praise to her possession was praise to her. She had opened the clasp and was about to place the chain around her neck when the front door swung open and Buffy stormed through it, only to halt in the hallway between the dining room and the living room when Spike burst through the door and grasped her elbow.

"Slayer, will you just listen to me for one bloody minute?" the vampire asked, obviously not for the first time and just as obviously agitated. "I don't even know the bird. She's friends with the pillock," a head jerk in William's direction, "over here. I don't even know why you're so brassed off."

Buffy turned and looked at Spike coldly. "What makes you think I care which skanks you sleep with?" The vampire growled in response, running his hand roughly through his bleached locks.

"If you don't care either way, Slayer, you have a funny way of showing it!"

Giles had risen to his feet the moment he heard the door slam open, and he'd arrived at the doorway in time to hear Spike's impassioned complaint about Buffy's attitude. So Giles wasn't just the only one noticing that Buffy had been acting oddly around Spike. Giles had suspicions, and he didn't like them.

Giles noticed Joyce shutting the front door before turning to watch her daughter and the vampire arguing. Whatever Buffy's reply was going to be, it was cut off by everyone noticing almost simultaneously that Dawn's locket was glowing bright blue.

Everything seemed to be in slow motion as Giles watched Buffy take the three steps it took to reach Dawn, then snapping the necklaces chain and throwing the locket away from her family and friends. As it spiralled through the air, it exploded in a bright flash of blue light that hurled Giles from his feet.

His last coherent thought before the blackness of unconsciousness claimed him was; The summer's over now. I've been officially knocked out for the first time.

"Mrs Summers? Joyce?"

Joyce stirred as she heard the clear, feminine voice call out her name in refined British tones. She slowly opened her eyes, her head throbbing from where it had hit the wall after the locket had exploded and tossed her into the dining room. What she saw shocked her.

It was a very pretty girl staring at her. Joyce blinked, then sat up and looked at the girl. She had sandy brown hair down to her shoulders with a natural wave to it. Her blue eyes were large in her delicate face, magnified by the masculine glasses she was wearing. Her soft, full lips sat under an elegant nose and she had incredibly high cheekbones. But this was only the beginning of the strangeness.

The young woman was wearing men's clothes. Not masculine clothes, but the clothes of a man. She had on a pair of jeans too tight at the hips but too baggy everywhere else and a long sleeved shirt that, while hanging low on her hips, was far too tight at the bust for the woman's fairly ample bosom. And despite the fact that Joyce was sure she'd never seen the girl before, she seemed very familiar.

"Mrs Summers, are you okay?" the girl asked in a quiet, refined British accent. Joyce's sense of familiarity only grew. She nodded absently and looked around the house.

"Who are you, dear?" Joyce asked softly, not wishing to startle her guest. Clearly she failed, as her guest's mouth opened and closed several times before she answered slowly.

"It's me, William."

A/N: Ooh, aren't we all just wondering what exactly is happening here? You'll all find out in the next chapter, of course. Keep in mind that I am using this fic to incorporate several ideas that were originally going to be entire fics, but I decided against that because I felt that the ideas were too similar and too hard to develop on their own. Still, you get to see them anyway, and it makes this fic a little more like the show.

This is my answer to a challenge I saw a long time ago, the majority and location of which I have since forgotten. This is will all make sense next chapter. Please review, let me know what you think so far. Those of you who are sitting there going, "What the he...?", trust me. You have so far.