Reviewers:
Locatha: I have to admit you're right about that; but there are a few subtle differences that I wanted to accentuate. At least I didn't write the whole episode out.
HerBigGreenEyes: Thanks! I'm glad everyone likes this story so far. I worked really hard on that last chapter. It took me forever to work out the little kinks in the story; but I got it! LOL
kargrif: LOL I totally agree; but she has to go through a little more before she can be with Spike, because I need to get rid of Angel.
Ch. 9 Lie to Me
Buffy was agonizing over what she had seen the night before. Angel had been talking to a girl, and they looked intimate.
She was telling Willow about it through notes in class. The bell rang and they walked out.
"I don't think she was a vamp. They seemed pretty friendly." She said to Willow.
"Who's friendly?" Asked Xander
"Angel and a girl." Replied Willow.
"Will! Do we have to be in total share mode?" Groaned Buffy.
"Hey, it's me. If Angel's doing something wrong I want to know..cause it gives me a happy."
They walked toward the lounge.
"I'm glad someone has a happy." Buffy said.
"You just need cheering up." Xander said dismissively. "Hey, I know! Crazed dance party at the Bronze." He danced a little to demonstrate. "Noting the looks the girls had, he amended, "Very calm dance party at the Bronze?" Buffy gave him another look and he sat down on one of the couches. "Moping at the Bronze."
"I'd suggest Oreo's dipped in apple juice; but maybe she's past that phase." Came a new vioce.
Buffy whipped around. "Oh my god! Ford!" She hugged the young man. "How are you? Are you going to school here?"
"Yeah, dad got a job, we moved, and I'm finishing out my senior year here."
Buffy quickly introduced him to Willow and Xander, and Invited him to go out to the bronze with them later.
"Sure. I have to go to the admin. office right now; but I'll be there." He said.
Later at the Bronze, Ford was playing pool with Xander and Willow and was telling them about some of Buffys past exploits.
"Ford, you made it!" Buffy said happily.
"Wasn't hard to find." He said offhandedly.
"Ford was just telling us about the ninth grade beauty contest and the bathing suits." Willow said teasingly.
"Ford! Stop that! The more people you tell, the more I have to kill!"
She went up to the bar to get a soda and ran into Angel.
"Who's that?" Asked Ford when he saw them talking.
"That's Angel." Replied Willow.
"He's Buffys beau, her special friend." Xander added.
"He's not in school right? I mean he looks older than her."
"You're not wrong." Xander said in a hinting way.
"Hey Buffy." Angel said.
"Oh hey." Buffy was cool towards him. "So what's you do last night?"
"Nothing." He replied.
"So you what, ceased to exist?"
"No I stayed in, read."
"Oh." Buffy went back to the pool table.
"Decide you didn't want that soda?" Asked Ford.
"Not thirsty." She repled.
Angel had followed her. Willow greeted him and so did Ford.
"This is Ford." Buffy said grudgingly. "We went to Hemery together."
Ford and Angel shook hands. "Whoa. You have cold hands!" Ford exclaimed.
"You're not wrong." Xander said again and was rewarded with an elbow from Willow.
"Wanna play Angel?" Asked WIllow.
"You know, it's getting crowded in here." Buffy said. "Ford, you wanna take a walk?"
"Um, sure." He replied. He and Buffy left.
"He just moved here?" Asked Angel.
"Yeah, and boy does he move fast!" Said Xander jealously, watching them leave.
"Well Angel, we can still play." Said Willow, trying to be cheerful. She looked up and he wans't there. "See you made him do that thing where he's gone!"
Buffy and Ford walked down the street. They were talking when Buffy heard soemthing going on ahead of them. She sent Ford back to get something and told him to run.
Heading up she found a vampire snacking on a girl. She freed the girl let her get away. Then she proceeded to fight the vamp.
Ford stopped and turned back, hearing the disturbance. The girl ran by him and he went on.
Buffy dusted the vampire right as he walked around the corner.
"What's going on?" He asked.
"Oh! Uh there were cats. And they fought, the cats, and then they left." She explained lamely.
"Oh, I thought you were just slaying a vampire." Ford replied calmly.
"What? Whatting a what?"
"It's okay Buffy. I know. I know you're the slayer."
Buffy called Willow as soon as she got home.
"He just told you? Just like that?"
"Yep. Says he's known since before I left Hemery."
"Wow. It's neat. It's neat right?"
"Yeah. I'm kinda relieved. I don't have to lie to him all the time."
They hung up and WIllow was doing some work on her computer whan Angel knocked on her window. "Hi Angel, what's up?"
"Can I come in?" He asked.
"Um, I'm not supposed to have boys in my room."
Angel chuckled. "I promise I'll behave."
"Okay, I invite you to come in."
She hurriedly hid her bra under the comforter as Angel entered the room.
"I need your help."
"With what? Homework? No, cause you're old and you know stuff."
"I want you to track someone down on the net."
"Oh! Okay, what's the name?"
"Billy Fordham."
Willow frowned at her computer screen. "Um Angel if I say something you really don't want to hear, do you promise not to bite me?"
"Are you gonna tell me that I'm jealous?"
"Well you do kinda get that way."
Angel sat down on her bed while she typed. "You know I never used to. A hundred years, just hangin' around, feelin' guilty, then she cames along. So yeah, I get jealous. But I know people, and something about Ford is wrong."
"Okay; but if there isn't anything wierd, hey that's wierd!"
"What?"
"The schools records. He's not in them."
WIllows mom interrupted, yelling up the stairs. She shooed Angel out, promising she would keep looking. He asked her not to tell Buffy about it.
The next day she was taking a drink at the fountain when she saw Buffy and Ford coming. She tried to escape; but Buffy saw her.
"Hi Will!"
"Buffy. Hi Ford." Willow wrung her hands nervously.
"You want to hang? We're cafeteria bound?" Asked Buffy.
"Um I have to go to the computer lab where I have work that I have to do, so I can't hang just now." WIllow said edging away from them.
"Okay WIll, fess up. Have you been drinking coffee again?"
Willow laughed shrilly. "It makes me jumpy." She explained to Ford. "I gotta go."
They were laughing about it when Giles came up. "Ah Buffy there you are. Miss Calendar and I are going, um, somewhere tonight and she gave me the number of her beeper thingy in case you need me for, um study emergencies..."
"It's okay, Giles. He knows."
"I know." Added Ford.
"Ah, yes, very good." Giles took Buffy aside to make sure she wasn't telling people about her being the slayer. Buffy amusedly reassured him.
Later she and Ford were walking around town. "It's small." She said laughingly as they passed campus again.
He agreed and she saw a few vampires breaking into the school. She threw a stake to Ford and told him to stay back.
While she was distracted, Ford grabbed a female vampire and put the stake to her chest. "You have one chance. Tell me what I want to know, and I'll let you live." He hissed at her.
When Buffy returned he was staring at the ground. "She just turned to dust." He said amazed.
Later Buffy entered the library with Giles and Jenny on her heels. "Sorry I paged you in the middle of stuff; but it seemed really important."
"No you did the right thing." Siad Giles, sounding a little too happy about it. He and Jenny got into an argument that soon resulted in Buffy finding out that they went to a mnster truck rally.
"You took him to monster trucks!"
"I thought it would be fun! Jenny defended herself.
They quickly got back on topic and Buffy explained what happened and that she had sent Ford home. while she was talking she noticed a daguerrotype of a pretty young woman.
"Who's this?" She asked shakily.
"What?"
"This. Who is this?"
"That's Drusilla. She's a paramour of Spikes'. She was killed by a mob in Prauge."
"This girl's alive." Buffy said quietly. "I saw her with Angel."
"With Angel?"
GIles got up to get some of his books out of his office. They were all startled when a vampire jumped out with a book, knocking him and Buffy down as she made her escape.
"It took one of my books!" Giles said, highly offended.
"At least someone in this school is reading." Jenny joked dryly.
"He said he killed it." Buffy whispered. They both looked at her. "That's the vampire Ford said he killed."
Drusilla was coaxing her bird to sing. It was lying dead in the bottom of the cage. Spike came up and tried to ask her about the night she went out. She kept talking to the bird and he got angry and spoke harshly to her.
She bagan to moan and he apologised swiftly. They weren't on great terms anyway because of the slayer and he wanted to know about Angel.
"This is so cool!" A voice interrupted thier conversation.
"Do I have anyone on guard duty?" Spike roared to the building. "Are you all asleep? Or did we find a restaurant that delivers?"
"I have something to offer you." Ford hastened to explain. He continued to annoy Spike until he told him what he was after and what he had to offer.
"I want to be like you. And I can give you the slayer."
Spike accepted to please Drusilla. 'Poor slayer.' He thought. 'Thinks this boy's her friend.'
Dru angrily stalked away, knowing that Spike would help her. She wouldn't speak to him the rest of the night.
Buffy went home and poured herself a cup of coffee. She was drinking it when Angel showed up. She asked him about Drusilla and he admitted that he had made her; but not before driving her insane. He told her what he knew about Ford.
The next day, Ford caught up with Buffy before class. He invited her to come meet up with him for a surprise later that evening. She agreed and he went off happily.
Buffy watched him go sadly.
Later, Ford walked into the suset club and asked one of his followers if everything was set up.
She said that it was, and they continued to talk about it.
The girl was expressing concern over whether Spike would let them down or not.
"It's gonna be fine!" He finally said in exasperation.
"No." Came a new voice. They all looked up to see Buffy glaring down at them from the top of the stairs. "It's really not."
Buffy came down and looked around. "Sorry Ford, I couldn't wait 'til nine. I'm rash and impulsive. It's a charachter flaw."
"Everyone has those." He replied warily.
"I'm still unclear on what yours is, although I think it lies somewhere in the reaches of being a lying scumbag. Am I right?"
"Everybody lies."
"What's this all about Ford?"
"I wanna be one of them."
"You want to be a vampire?" She said incredulously.
"I'm going to be."
"You were going to give them me." She said.
"I still am."
Diego had closed the door, which locked it, and there was no way to get out from the inside.
Buffy tried the door and realized it was futile. She followed Ford around until he admitted that he was sick. He had brain tumors, and only a few months to live.
Buffy heard a car pull up in front of the building and panicked. She tried to reason with Ford; but he slapped her and made her fall down the stairs.
Buffy got up with an inhuman growl. Ford gasped as he saw her feral yellow eyes staring up at him.
"I guess there was one secret you didn't know about." She snarled. The entire room was staring at her.
"But you can't be, you're not.. I saw you in the sunlight!"
"Oh; but I'm special."
As she spoke the door opened. The stares were shifted from Buffy to the lone figure of Spike standing in the doorway.
He sauntered in and looked down at Ford and Buffy. Buffy had forced the demon back and was smiling up at him.
"Hi Spike."
"Slayer." He nodded back. "I guess you know all about this pillock."
She nodded. "Yeah. See Ford, your little plan was doomed even before I found out about it. Spike and me have an understanding."
"Listen up children!" Buffy said, pushing Ford out of the way to go and stand next to Spike. "With the exception of a few, vampires are EVIL. All they are interested in is killing you. You die and your body is host to a demon soul. It looks like you and it remembers your life; but it's not you!"
Spike smiled when she said the exception of a few, even though he knew Angel was included.
She continued, "Now I suggest you all go home and stay indoors at night."
She turned to Spike. "Thanks." She hesitated. "I can't believe I am doing this; but if you want to turn him you can."
She caught Fords hopeful look and turned on him. "But that doesn't mean I won't slay you if I see you!"
Spike shook his head in distaste. "No way luv. He's too annoying for my tastes."
"I'm letting you go Ford. You're free to do what you want. But if I see you again, you're as good as dead."
She turned on her heel and Spike followed her out of the basement.
She sighed.
"What?"
"I thought he was my friend. I was so exited when he came here. I thought I finally had someone to have private jokes with, and you know, the kind of thing Willow and Xander have."
"Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Yeah. Lie to me."
"Okay. Um, the bad guy is always noticable, because he dresses in black." Spike motioned to his outfit with a flourish. Buffy laughed. "The good guy always does what is right and incedentally always catches the bad guy. No one ever dies, and everyone is always happy..."
"Spike," She interrupted, thinking of something.
"Yeah luv?"
"Is Drusilla here with you?"
Spike started. "Yeah, she's here too. She's sick. I'm trying to find a way to make her better so she can care for herself. She's leaving as soon as I do."
"How can you be sure?"
"She knows how I feel about you."
AN: I hope you all liked that. Sorry about the beginning being so much like the episode; but I thought it might be confusing to anyone who hasn't seen Lie to Me. I liked the thought of Spike lying to Buffy instead of Giles, and that Ford made her so mad her demon came out to play. LOL