A/N: I don't really know what I'm doing here. I'm sure that there will be plot holes the size of Kansas (and from what I hear, Kansas is pretty big) with my idea, but I'm too tired and brain sore to figure out any more and fix them up. Deal with them.

Disclaimer: Not a huge response to the last chapter, but to all of you who did review I extend a second thanks. Means a lot to get so many lovely reviews. It'd mean a lot more to get even more lovely reviews, of course.

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Bodies

And there.

Buffy let out a small sigh of satisfaction when she opened her eyes and everything was exactly the same as it always was. The house was the same. And blessedly quiet.

Buffy liked Clem. She really did. He was a nice guy… demon… demon guy and all but he spoke a lot, and since he turned the TV up so loud she'd wondered if he had any ears at all it meant he was almost yelling a lot, right next to her ear. She was just glad she was a ghost, because if she wasn't she'd probably have half-chewed nachos all over her.

"Buffy?" Willow asked, coming into the lounge room. "Is that you?"

"Yeah," Buffy said wearily. "Hi, Will."

Willow smiled excitedly. "I was just going to try and call you," she said. "I need to call a Scooby meeting."

"Uhh, 'kay?" Buffy said unsurely.

"Which is fine, except I can't call Spike. His cell phone is off or something," Willow continued.

Buffy grimaced. "He's on a date."

Willow blinked. "Oh. Well, this is kinda important so could you just pop over to him and see if he could make it to Xander and Anya's place? As soon as possible would be good." Buffy hesitated. "Uh, that's not a problem, is it?"

Buffy forced a smile. "No! No problem. No problem at all. Why would there be a problem? There wouldn't be, because there isn't. See? I'm going right now."

Ignoring the slightly worried and very confused look on Willow's face, Buffy closed her eyes and there. She opened her eyes with trepidation, and immediately felt her fears justified. Spike was sitting at a nice table with a romantic table setting. He was alone. Looking around wildly, she recognised the restaurant as a tiny little Italian place that Riley had taken her to once. Spike's date was nowhere to be seen. Not that she knew what the woman looked like.

Frowning, Buffy started forward hurriedly. This would be so much easier if she could get in and get out before having to meet Spike's date.

"Spike," she said in a low voice, a shiver of malicious pleasure running through her when he jumped like he'd had a heart attack. "Willow wants you to go to Xander and Anya's ASAP."

Spike's brow furrowed. "Why?"

"I don't know," Buffy sighed impatiently. "All she said was that it was important."

"Can't be that important," Spike said dismissively, sipping his wine. "She can fill me in tomorrow."

Buffy gaped. "But…"

"Listen, Slayer," he explained. "If it were urgent she'd contact me telepathically, she wouldn't send you. Now, if you don't mind, bugger off."

Buffy glared. "Listen, you," she began before Spike cut her off again.

"No, you listen! Between writing and Katie and patrolling I don't get a night to myself very often, and you're off your sodding bird if you think I'm going to duck out on dinner with a lovely lady to attend a bloody Scooby meeting!"

Buffy was wordless with shock.

"Sorry about that, Will," a woman's throaty voice said. "Who's this?"

Buffy spun about and saw the most gorgeous woman she'd seen in a long time sitting down at Spike's table. High cheekbones, big brown eyes, lush brown hair, full pouty lips and an ample bosom were all set off to perfection by elegantly applied make-up and a stunning dress. Buffy loathed her instantly.

"This is Dawn's sister, Buffy," Spike said with a warning glance at Buffy. "She's moved here from L.A. so she can be closer to her sisters."

"Nice to meet you, Buffy," the woman said warmly extending her hand. "I'm Isabelle."

Buffy stared at the perfectly manicured hand but didn't take it for the obvious reason. And there was certainly not a traitorous little voice in the back of her head that was saying she wouldn't take it even if she could. Eventually, the woman's smile faltered and she withdrew her hand.

"She was just leaving, love," Spike told Isabelle. "Weren't you, Buffy?" he grated before turning back to his date. "She just gets a little over-excited is all, and Willow mentioned that she wanted to see me so Buffy came running down here to get me."

Isabelle smiled indulgently at Buffy, her perfect white teeth shining in the romantic lighting. Buffy hated her so much.

"Uh, yeah," Buffy said when Spike gave her another warning glare. "So I guess I'll be going."

Feeling absolutely mortified, Buffy hurried out of the restaurant, closed her eyes and there.

XXX

Isabelle stared after the vanished young girl, a soft smile on her lips.

"I'm sorry about her, love," William apologised.

"Don't worry about it," she laughed. She turned twinkling eyes on the handsome man sitting across the table from her. "You know she has a crush on you, right?"

Will blinked, then let out a snort of laughter. "Her? Buffy bloody Summers?"

Isabelle smiled broadly. "Laugh all you like, Will, it's not going to make her crush go away."

"You're daft," Will said, shaking his head. "The woman bloody hates me."

"She was glaring daggers at me from the moment I sat down," Isabelle observed. "She was probably jealous."

Will looked at her incredulously. "Why would she be jealous?"

"I don't know," Isabelle admitted. "But she's a young woman with a crush. My guess is she's not all that rational at the moment."

"Can we change the subject?" William asked in a pained voice.

"Sure," Isabelle smiled an evil grin. "About your next book…"

Will groaned. "You're a bloody slave-driver!"

XXX

Buffy opened her eyes.

"Hey, Buff," Xander said easily.

"Hi, Buffy," Anya said somewhat more sleepily.

Oz nodded his greeting, and Buffy felt like she should be blushing or something.

Dawn yawned and waved.

"Hey guys," Buffy greeted. "Where's Willow?"

"Here I am," Willow said from behind her as she bustled into the room. "Hi Buffy. Is Spike going to make it?"

"No," Buffy muttered bitterly. "He's too busy."

Willow seemed a little disappointed. "Oh. Oh well, it's not that important."

"Why are we all here, Will?" Dawn asked through another yawn.

"You'll find out," Willow said enigmatically. "I'm almost ready. Faith and Giles are just bringing in the rest of the stuff."

As though summoned by the witch's words, Giles entered carrying a small box filled with herbs. He was followed by Faith carrying the restored Buffybot in her arms.

"What's that doing here?" Buffy asked in revulsion.

"It's going to be your new body," Willow said brightly.

"Wha?" Xander asked.

"It's like this," Willow explained. "Buffy's soul is in tact but her body is gone. She's not a proper ghost, because they usually lose the part of them that can connect to a body. So we needed to find a new body for Buffy, but it would be wrong to create a life just to kill it and it'd be worse to kill a life already living so Buffy could have the body, and I got to thinking about it and then I realised we already had the perfect body for it, so I started repairing it and preparing it to accept Buffy's soul."

"Will that work?" Buffy asked unsurely.

"Uh, maybe," Willow answered uncertainly. "I'm not entirely sure."

"You got a better idea, B?" Faith asked impatiently.

Buffy sighed. "Let's do it."

At Willow's direction, she lay directly in the Buffybot so the two were indistinguishable. Buffy waited patiently while Willow scattered herbs around her. Then the chanting started. Willow's voice took on an odd inflection. It was almost hypnotic.

Buffy closed her eyes and let Willow's voice wrap around her. It felt powerful and ancient. Suddenly, her whole body was wracked in pain. Her chest ached as though it were being crushed, her limbs burned as though they were on fire, her ears felt like they were splitting, her eyes exploded in pain, a foul acrid stench flooded her nose.

Then it stopped.

Sitting up, Buffy looked at her friends in dismay. Her friends who were grinning.

"It worked," Willow breathed wearily.

"I hate to tell you, Will, but it didn't," Buffy said slowly, as though explaining to a small child.

"It worked, B," Faith said through her wide grin. "Look behind you."

With a long suffering sigh, Buffy clumsily looked behind her. The Buffybot wasn't there. Then she noticed something. She was heavy. She had a body.

"It worked!" she squeaked.

"I'm very happy for you, Buffy," Giles said in his British upper-crusty way. "However, there are several things you should know."

"What?" Buffy asked suspiciously.

"Well, your new body is not as strong nor as fast as your old body," he explained. "It is an incredible piece of machinery, but it is still machinery and unable to operate at the same level as a Slayer. On the other hand, you should have a much higher pain threshold now as your new body is considerably more resistant to damage."

Buffy nodded. "Makes sense."

"It's also somewhat heavier," he added awkwardly. "Willow spent much of her time trying to remove excess weight without removing any of it's capabilities but she could only do so much."

"I'm fat now?" Buffy asked worriedly, looking her new body over frantically.

"It's not that bad," Willow murmured. "It should only be about fifteen pounds."

"Oh," Buffy frowned. "I guess that's okay."

"You'll also have to recharge at least once a week, until your soul attaches itself to the body firmly," Giles told her, drawing Willow into his arms.

"I'm really very happy for you, Buffy," Anya said suddenly, "but can you leave already?"

"Sure thing, Anya," Buffy agreed magnanimously.

Faith stretched, popping the joints in her shoulders. "You feel up to patrolling, B?" she asked casually.

Buffy's eyes lit up. "Let's go."

Buffy followed Faith with an awkward gait until she got back into the rhythm of using a body again.

XXX

They didn't speak as they ghosted through the tombstones. Buffy felt a deep-seated sense of rightness as she followed a ritual she'd been doing for years.

"B," Faith suddenly began.

"Yeah?"

"What are you gonna do about Spike?" she asked after a moment's pause.

Buffy made a face. "What do you mean?"

Faith rolled her eyes. "It's wicked obvious you have the hots for him."

"I so do not!" Buffy said in outrage.

"Look, whatever," Faith dismissed. "I just need to make sure you're not gonna do something stupid. He has a little girl now, and he doesn't need that stress."

"Me? Have a thing for Spike?" Buffy asked, before laughing unconvincingly. "Anyway, if you think he's so great why don't you ask him out?"

"He's not my type, B," Faith replied. "I prefer some muscle on my man."

"Spike has muscles! Very nice muscles," Buffy argued defensively.

Faith raised an eyebrow.

"Not that I've looked,' Buffy back peddled nervously.

"I'm just looking out for a friend, B," Faith told her. "If you like him, that's cool. He's a good guy. Just make sure you do like him before you try anything."

Buffy stared after the Slayer. Thoughts were flicking through her head so rapidly that she didn't even know what they were.

Did she like Spike? Would it really be okay with everyone? Why wouldn't she like Spike? He was an evil killer. Not anymore. Leopards never change there spots. He's a vampire. Then vampire's never change their fangs. What about Angel? That's different, he had a soul. Did the soul make him a nice person? Was Spike a nice person? Well, he was a good father. Oh, God, he was a father. He had a kid. An adorable kid.

Focusing, calming herself, Buffy decided to think about this logically.

Was she attracted to Spike? Definitely.

Would her friends object to them going out? Surprisingly, no.

Was Katie a deterrent? Not in the least.

Did Spike have a soul? Did it matter?

Buffy realised something. She felt pure exhilaration. She liked Spike! Liked him, liked him, too! This sensation was immediately followed by despair. He was taken. He had a gorgeous girlfriend. After moping for a few minutes, a new emotion came along. Determination. She'd just have to win Spike.

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A/N: That chapter was so much better the first time…A blackout just as I'm about to save and upload delayed this a day and cost it a lot of quality. Hell, this is a short chapter and nowhere near as good as it was mostly because I'm tired. I think we passed the two-thirds mark here, maybe more, maybe less. I'm not sure. This story is moving more oddly than I planned. Anyhoo, REVIEW and let me know you're enjoying.