Title: Of Frogs and True Love
Rated: PG-13
Author: Etoile
Email- Buffy/Spike. During As You Were. Buffy breaks up with Spike before Riley and Sam leave. The actual "doctor" was the Troika. They strike back at the Scoobies after Buffy blew up the eggs. Please review.
Disclaimer: I don't own Sunnydale or anyone that lives there. They all belong to Joss Whedon.
Chapter TwoSpike walked through downtown Sunnydale with a jauntiness he didn't feel. There wasn't necessarily anyone to fool on the streets; nobody he knew anyway. But he'd learned from too many years that you had to keep it up so it looked natural. He wanted to look like he didn't care at all once he stepped into that Magic Shop and saw the Slayer. He wanted to be the epitome of nonchalant. He didn't want to look like the Slayer had pulled his heart out of his chest, stomped on it, and left it bleeding on the crypt floor. Spike's steps faltered as the thoughts went through his head. Yeah, practice made perfect.
The Magic Shop came into view. His pace slowed a little bit. Spike wondered if he wasn't a masochist. Well, yeah, vampire, sure. But he left his crypt the moment he sensed the sun had set. And it wasn't toward Willy's to get blistering drunk. It was toward Buffy. It was toward the source of all his recent pain. And that was a choice he consciously made. He wondered if he wasn't a masochist.
He pushed through the doors of the Shop anyway, hoping to make a big impression. But the Slayer was no where to be seen. The ones that were in the room didn't pay him any mind. They were paying attention to soldier boy…who was holding a…frog. Was he about to kiss it?
"Bugger me! What have I stumbled upon here?"
Four pairs of eyes comically turned on him. And, unless he was going crazy, so did four pairs of frog eyes. "Hey Spike!" Dawn waved.
"Hey Bit," Spike replied. "What's all this?"
Dawn began pointing at the frogs as she spoke, "Buffy, Tara, Sam, and Anya."
"They're got turned into frogs?" asked Spike. It was probably the witch; off the bloody wagon. His eyes remained on the frog Dawn had pointed to first. "Buffy…" He said quietly. He saw the frog twitch and look away. Spike stiffened. Oh yeah, that was her alright. He focused on Dawn before he gave anything away. "So how's the mighty scoobie gang fixing this one?" He asked, sarcastically.
"Well, it was Willow's idea but it was my mini-thought. They're gonna kiss the frogs!"
"Wait, this wasn't Red's fault?"
Willow looked offended. "No, Spike, it wasn't. You have no right to assume stuff. We don't assume every bad thing that happens is your fault."
Spike raised an eyebrow as his response.
"I said every bad thing," Willow sniffled.
Dawn crossed her arms. "We don't have time for fights. Let's just get this kissing thing on the road. Riley?"
Riley finally stopped shooting daggers at Spike. It wasn't really working anyway since Spike was doing an admirable job of ignoring his existence. "Alright, here goes." Riley pursed his lips and leaned toward Sam-frog. Somewhere behind him, Spike sniggered. Once Riley's lips touched the frog a bright light emanated from his hand. A very naked Sam was suddenly standing next to him. Spike whistled. Riley hurried to cover his wife as best he could. A blanket immediately appeared next to him. "Thank you," he said and Sam was soon covered.
While they situated themselves, Willow did a little dance. "It worked! Xander, your turn!"
Xander frowned at Spike. "I think I'll take Anya in the office."
"You've already taken her in there enough times, Whelp."
"Shut up, Spike!"
In less than a minute, a light could be seen through the spaces in the office door. Then they could hear: "Oh god Xander! It was horrible!"
"Reckon that worked too. And I reckon it's your turn now, Red." Spike said.
Willow looked a little apprehensive. "Yeah, I guess."
Dawn held the Tara-frog to her. "You can go use the training room."
Willow nodded and headed to the back. "Here goes nothing…"
"Wait!"
She turned around to see Dawn holding Tara's clothes. "Thanks," Willow said as she took them and continued on her way.
Everyone waited until they heard a "YES!" Their relief was short-lived though as a meek ribbit grabbed their attention. "Buffy," said Dawn.
Willow came back into the main area of the shop. "What do we do about Buffy?" Dawn asked her.
"I honestly don't know."
Sam, now dressed and decent, said, "Maybe anyone can do it. We automatically assumed that it has to be a lover. It could just be someone who loves her."
Willow shrugged. "We could try."
"I'll do it," said Dawn, looking as if in pain.
"How very brave of you," Spike said, amused.
"Hey! She's slimy!"
Willow laughed. "Use the office. Xander and Anya just finished."
Dawn nodded and went in.
Everyone waited.
Dawn came back out. "It didn't work. I guess it does have to be the one true love and all that romantic jazz. Ewww! I have to wash my lips before I get warts."
"Okay, we need Buffy's one true love," Xander started.
"Well that's easy," Anya said. "Angel, right? That was the big romance, wasn't it?"
Everyone glanced at Riley with some embarrassment. Riley smiled without difficulty. "It's alright, I've got my one true love," he said, squeezing Sam into his side.
"Me, too." Xander grinned and kissed Anya on the temple. "We should probably call dead boy then."
"I guess that's my cue to leave," said Riley. "It's been great seeing you guys again." He went around giving hugs and handshakes. He skipped Spike. "Most of you anyway."
Sam said goodbye as well. They quickly gathered up their things and went outside. The sound of a helicopter could be heard. Everyone in the shop watched as they ascended the copter on ropes and went on to their lives in Bolivia or Belize or wherever secret agents go.
Spike shook his head, "What a bloody stupid exit."
"I bet if you had a helicopter, you'd do it too." Dawn said.
"Would not!"
"Would too!"
"Would not!"
"Would too!"
Spike's next 'would not!' was cut off by Willow. "I'll call Angel and see how fast he can get down here."
Spike was sobered by those words. He wondered if that should be his cue to leave as well. If the mighty forehead could sense that anything had gone on between him and Buffy, well, a fun time would not be had by all. Things could get hairy. Spike proved his masochism by plunking down on a chair, feet on the table, as Willow made the call.
"Feet off the table!" Anya yelled from counter.
Spike slowly obeyed. He glanced at the Buffy-frog seated on the chair next to him. If frogs could glare… "Oi! Glinda!" Spike waited. "TARA!" he bellowed.
She stuck her head out of the office door. "I h-heard you the first time, Spike. What is it?"
"You don't suppose you could translate this frog speak, could you? You seem the type that can talk to animals."
Tara shook her head. "No, I can't." Spike looked so disappointed that it had her saying, "There should be some easy translating spell here though. Hold on."
Within a few minutes the spell was found and, with a reprimand from Anya about payment issues, the materials were collected. Tara mixed up the herbs and placed a dollop on Buffy's chin. A few words were spoken, and the deed was done. "Buffy?" Tara prodded.
"Hello," Buffy tried.
"Great! I can hear you," Tara said, smiling. "Can you hear her Spike?"
"Yeah," replied Spike, indifferently, as if he didn't just ask her to do this very thing. Tara shook her head. She didn't want to know.
"Anya, Xander, you heard her too?" They nodded. "Good. I wonder what's taking Willow so long. I'll be back, guys." Tara left for the office.
Spike turned to Buffy. "So, pet, and you really are a pet now—"
"Shut up, Spike. Y ou can go home now." Xander interrupted as he bent near Buffy's face. "Hey, anything you need? Hungry? Thirsty?" He asked.
"No, I'm fine. Thanks Xander. Where's Dawn?" Buffy asked.
"Right here…Am I going crazy or can I understand frogese?" Dawn said confused. Her face looked pink and freshly scrubbed.
"We all can Bit. The good witch did a spell."
"Cool! Hey Fruffy!" Dawn said to her sister.
"Fruffy?"
"Yeah, it was better than Brog."
"Hey Nibblet, you don't have to say everything that runs across your mind. You know that, right?" Dawn hit Spike on the arm. Spike growled in her face and she shrieked.
Buffy sighed as the two of them played around some more. She was really hoping he'd leave soon. It was so mortifying when he'd walked in and found out she was a frog. But what was really embarrassing was the flood of feelings that rushed through her the moment she saw him. She was attracted to him. That was a fact she stopped denying the moment she started sleeping with him. She could always console herself with the fact that she didn't love or care about him and that it was just lust. The scary part about the feelings that flooded her was that there was something tender there. Something softer had been making itself known and that was part of the reason she broke up with him. If it ceased being just sex to her, a lot of things would have to change. Least of all, the way she treated him. She watched him play with her sister and annoy Xander. Would it really be so wrong for things to change? Could she treat him like a person and not be ashamed? Buffy couldn't answer those questions and she didn't want to think about them either. She could control the lust and if she could avoid him long enough, she was sure could suppress the affectionate thoughts too.
After what seemed like hours, Willow and Tara came out of the office. Everyone looked at them expectedly.
"I finally got in touch with Angel. They apparently have some big stuff going on up there." Willow said. "He said he'd be here as soon as possible."
"Is there anything we can do until then?"
Willow looked in surprised at her talking. "Not that I can think of. I can't do a general reversal since the spell has conditions laid in it. All we can do is wait for Angel."