Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. The characters all belong to their respective studios and creators. I am just borrowing them for my story.
Author's Note: This story is set after the end of season 2 of Roswell (after Tess has already left) and in the beginning of season 6 of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer- after Buffy and Spike have gotten together, but before Willow was addicted to magic and before Willow and Tara broke up. Also, Giles hasn't left yet. Sorry for the confusing time lines, but this worked best for my story.
For: my sister, who helped me hash out the plotline for many of the next chapters.
Chapter Nine – The Research Begins
"Dawn! What are you doing here?!? I thought I told you to stay home!" Buffy asked her angrily.
Before she had a chance to answer, Michael cut in. Pointing to Dawn, he asked, "Who's she?"
"I'm Buffy's little sister," Dawn answered him. Seeing his confused look, she pointed at the woman he had woken up next to that morning.
"Oh," he replied.
Buffy turned back to Dawn. "You know you shouldn't be here. I told you to stay and do your homework."
"Please can I stay? I can help. I want to help."
Buffy was impatient. Did that girl ever listen to her? "Oh alright, but only because I don't want you walking back by yourself. You can stay for now, but when we get back you're going straight back to your homework. You only have a little bit of school left before your summer vacation, and you can't mess it up by not doing your homework. And no arguments about it."
"Thanks Buffy," Dawn said excitedly, before going over to stand next to Spike.
Michael got Buffy's attention again by asserting, "You know, you never answered our earlier question about why you're friends with a vampire."
Xander broke in, explaining eagerly, "We're in a paranormal club. We love investigating the occult and stuff. We started it because we all loved Scooby Doo so much that we wanted to be just like them and we even call ourselves the Scoobies and—"
Buffy cut him off hastily. "Yes, we do investigate paranormal activity- we're really into the occult."
"But not ALL of us have an unhealthy obsession with Scooby Doo," Spike snickered.
"Just Xander," Anya put in proudly, grabbing her boyfriend's arm tightly, showing everyone in the room he was hers.
"Thanks a lot, Anya," he replied, looking at her exasperatedly.
"No problem, Xander." She smiled brightly.
"Anyway, that still doesn't explain why you're friends with a vampire," Maria pointed out. "I mean, wouldn't he try to kill you?"
Buffy answered her. "Most normal vamps would, but not Spike. He's different, he's—"
"Neutered," Xander said chuckling, getting him back.
"Hey! I am not bloody neutered! Especially not in THIS body- with this body I can knock you hurt free," Spike shot back.
The Podsters all shared a worried look. Xander looked slightly panicked and moved to the other side of the room.
"That's right, Harris. You'd better watch your mouth and those stupid jokes from now on," Spike advised him.
Buffy shot Spike a warning look and Spike just chuckled. "I was only messing with the blighter. You know that."
Buffy just rolled her eyes and went on. "Anyway, he had a chip installed in his head by some wacko government group a few years ago so he couldn't hurt people. He's been one of the good guys since then."
"But isn't the chip now in Michael's head and not Spike's," Liz asked.
"Michael, who's Michael," Buffy asked back, having missed his real name earlier.
"He's the one who's switched bodies with Spike," Max answered her.
Buffy turned to Michael accusingly. "I thought you said your name was Kyle?"
"It's Michael," he replied. "I didn't know who you were or how I had gotten here and I thought it best to use a pseudonym."
"Michael suits you better; it's a nice name." Tara smiled shyly at him. Michael hesitantly smiled back.
"Hey! What's wrong with Kyle," Kyle asked indignantly.
"N-nothing," Tara stammered, ducking her head quickly.
"Oh please, Kyle," Isabel exclaimed, rolling her eyes. Sheriff Valenti just laughed. Kyle shook his head at the both of them and went over to stand next to Liz and Maria instead.
"Besides," Buffy continued after the interruption. "The chip doesn't matter. Spike's one of the good guys now."
"Thanks, Slayer." Spike locked eyes with her and slowly smiled.
Michael, not finished with his questions by a long shot, cleared his throat, breaking the moment. Both Spike and Buffy looked quickly away from each other. Michael spoke up, "Oh yeah? Then what's a slayer? And a watcher?"
The Podsters shared another look. What on earth (or not on earth ;) ) was Michael talking about?
Michael continued, looking at Buffy, "You called yourself a 'slayer' before. What is it?"
The Scoobies also shared a look. What could they tell them?
Xander jumped in quickly. "Uh, that's Buffy's nickname. It's from a comic book. We all have comic book nicknames."
"Yep. Yep, we do," Willow echoed him. Buffy smiled at him gratefully.
Kyle stepped forward. "That's not from any comic book I ever read."
"Well, maybe you don't read enough of them," Xander shot back.
"Boys, let's not argue over comic books," Maria stopped them, giving Kyle a look.
Kyle ignored her look and just glanced at Xander curiously. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get the first word out, Anya started speaking instead. "How come you all get to ask all of the questions anyway? What if we have some questions? What if—"
Giles interrupted her. "I think we've had enough questions for now. What we really need to be concentrating on first is getting the two of them switched back. We will have plenty of time for questions later."
Max nodded and asked, "What can we do to help?"
"You can help us research," Giles responded to him. "If you'll just follow us back to The Magic Box, we can get started. Buffy, Willow and Xander will show you what books to start looking in."
"Which one of you is Willow," Maria took a quick look around.
"Oh, right," Giles remembered, "introductions are surely in order. We'll start with me, I guess. I'm Rupert Giles, but you may just call me Giles." The rest of the two groups went around and introduced themselves to each other, only giving their names.
After they were done, Giles took the lead again. "Right. Everyone know everyone else's names? Good, time to get started. Oh, and Michael, you might want to make sure you have that sheet wrapped tightly around you- it's a little bit of a walk." With that, Giles lead the way out of the crypt to the shop, with both groups trailing along behind him.
* * *
When they got to the Magic Box, the first thing Buffy did was to send Dawn back to the back to make her finish her homework. Then Willow and Buffy began handing books out, for people to research.
As Liz got her book from Buffy, she observed, "You guys sure have a lot of books on the paranormal and the occult."
Buffy countered, "Like I said before, we're really into the occult."
Liz just nodded and took her book, going to sit by Max.
After instructing everyone on what to look for and pay attention to, everyone picked up their books and grouped off, to go research in small clusters around the shop.
Spike meanwhile, moved off by himself to an empty corner and pretended to read. He really wanted to think about his new defense capabilities. He wondered what exactly they could do.
As everyone began to examine their designated book, Willow noted, "Well, at least with this many pairs of eyes, it shouldn't take too long to find out the cause of the switch, and then the solution."
Giles looked at her. "We can only hope."
* * *
Once again, thanks to all my fabulous readers! You all are great! And I will try to write faster, I really will! Keep reading and reviewing!