Title: As in a (Really Bad) Dream

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Fairy!Spike (still naked), Language, Violence, H/C

Pairings: None. But feel free to see implication until your head spins.

Disclaimer: They're Joss's, not mine. No money made.

Summary: Spike runs into the wrong demon, and wakes up to find that he's shrunk to 6 inches tall...and has wings.


Part 3

Spike crouched behind the cover of leaves from a planted bush, out of breath from his little sprint from the bus stop towards his destination, trying to avoid drawing any eyes towards him. There was a reason he never took the bus. Well, obviously riding in the bus was probably more comfortable than hanging under it, but still...

He sighed. Well, he was here, now. So who could he go to? Angel was definitely out of the question. Spike's pride could only take so many a blow in one night. Illyria wouldn't be a good choice, either. She wouldn't know or care about the first thing needed to turn him back.

That left Gunn, Wesley, and Lorne.

The green demon would have been his first choice, being the most nonjudgmental of the bunch. But Greenie was out -- something about trying to keep one of his clients from deciding to go out and commit suicide while simultaneously blowing up her husband's house. Likely Lorne couldn't do much else besides be nonjudgmental, anyway.

Gunn, as much as he preferred the man to his final choice, probably wouldn't be much help, either. Spike doubted there were any laws that had to do with his transformation or the way to turn him back.

That left Wesley. Good bet it would take magic to reverse magic. Blogsh'kul's weren't particularly known for their abilities to cast spells. Spike knew that this whole thing had to have something to do with the jeweled end to the creature's horn.

Jewelry always had a way of making his life miserable.

He shook himself out of his thoughts, flexing his wings unconsciously. Right. Okay. All he had to do now was just get inside the building,

Wolfram and Hart loomed before Spike like some titan monolith, the tinted windows gleaming with the reflection of the city lights. Hell, the place looked big enough while he was at normal size. Now people were like buildings.

And here he was, completely naked, less than a foot tall, with wings he couldn't sodding well use, and he expected to just what -- skip on right through the front door without being noticed? He was lucky enough to have made it this far.

He had no idea how he was supposed to do this.

There was no way he was taking the parking lot entrance. That led directly to Angel's office, and it was a good bet the ponce would be working in there at the moment. Spike wasn't about to take the chance that the older vampire was in a meeting. The elevator doors opening would rouse Angel's suspicions, and Spike really didn't want to be found by his grandsire like this just yet. Or ever, if he could help it.

"God," he growled, his body coiled and tensed in frustration. There was nothing to be done about it -- he had to get in the old fashioned way. The firm was still open, and there were no people or demons coming in or out of the front doors, but Spike doubted he could pry them open with his measly strength. He'd have to wait for someone to go through the doors, and try to run himself in before the doors closed.

Setting himself with determination, not allowing himself to think about how buggered he was going to be if things screwed up after he was inside, Spike quickly maneuvered himself down the rest of the walkway towards the doors. He hid in the shadows, and settled in a waiting crouch, clutching his arms about his bare chest.

He really wanted some clothes.

After several minutes of waiting, someone -- probably one of the mindless drone employees -- opened the door and a pair of polished, black shoes with grey dress pants stepped into his line of sight. The door hesitated after the man released it, as if unsure it should close or not. But then it slowly began to swerve back into its place, and Spike bolted for the opening, throwing himself through before it could shut on him.

He got himself to his feet immediately, squinting under the sudden bright lights of the firm as he quickly gazed about. Turned out luck did happen to be on his side in this particular instance, he realized, seeing that the main room was pretty much empty. Everyone was tucked away in their offices or had already gone home. Harmony was at the front desk, as always, but was too engrossed in one of her women's magazines to notice the vampire fairy that had just scuttled into the building.

Not wanting to wait for his luck to change, Spike headed towards Wesley's office, hoping that Watcher-boy hadn't decided to step out early for the night or gone on one of his "hands on" gigs.

The door was slightly ajar when he got there, just a sliver, but he managed to force it open enough that he could slip through, and pushed the door closed behind him after he was safely inside.

Wesley was sitting at his desk, looking through that huge book he carried around that seemed to know everything. At the sound of the door clicking as it closed, he looked up sharply.

The man's eyes narrowed, his face slightly confused as he stared at the door and glanced around his office, not noticing or expecting that what had made the noise was just a bit below his gaze. "Is someone there?"

Spike gave a loud sigh. Well, here it went. "Down here, Watcher."

Wesley's brow creased and he planted his hands on the desk, leaning over to glance down towards the vampire fairy standing a ways from the door. "S...Spike?" he asked, voice soft but tinged with incredulity. "Is that...is that you?"

Resisting the urge to sigh again, Spike folded his arms and glanced at the rug. "Yeah, it's me." He looked back up as Wesley got up out of his chair and stepped around the desk to get a closer look. "Got into a spot of trouble while I was out tonight." At least Wesley wasn't laughing.

"What happened?" Wesley asked, crouching down so he was more at Spike's level.

"A Blogsh'kul. Had some sort of job done on its horn -- fancied it up with a jewel. I was about to put the little bugger in his place when the horn started glowing. Knocked me out, and I woke up like this. Blogsh'kul was gone."

"A fairy." Wesley stated, taking in Spike's wings. "Why on earth would --"

"Well, I don't know, do I?" Spike snapped. "And do you mind?" He glanced down at his still-naked body before looking up at Wesley pointedly.

"Oh! Of course." Wesley straightened himself up and looked around his office. His face took on a look of deep thought as he apparently tried to figure out something that would help Spike with his little problem. The tension in Wesley's face released as he suddenly stepped over to his desk and opened one of the drawers, pulling out a piece of Kleenex before carrying it back over.

Spike grabbed it as soon as it was offered, wrapping it around his waist like a towel. "Look, I don't really know or care about the specifics." he said, his voice taking on a weary tinge. "Just, can you -- is there a way to turn me back?" Spike gazed up at the ex-Watcher hopefully.

Wesley raised an eyebrow. "I think it's safe to say that I've never dealt with this sort of thing before." He went over to his books. "This clearly isn't the same as Angel's puppet predicament. We knew the cause of that. Had access to the origin of the problem. Perhaps if we managed to find the demon that --"

The door to Wesley's office suddenly swung open and Gunn stepped in. Spike was forced to dive out of the way or be crushed.

"HEY!" Spike shouted from his spot on the floor, unable to contain his rage and indignation at the lawyer's lack of attention as he attempted to gather the Kleenex back around himself.

Gunn froze and glanced around. "Wes, you hear something?"

"Down here, you nit!" Spike pushed himself back to his feet, glaring up at Gunn as the man finally looked down at him.

Gunn's eyes widened. "Holy --" The lawyer glanced at Wesley, who shrugged helplessly, and then looked back down. "Spike? "

"Yeah, yeah, take a long look." he muttered. "Not gonna stay like this for long, if I can help it."

"You may not be able to." Wesley said, his tone indicating that he obviously did not want Spike to get his hopes up.

Gunn had his head tilted as he scrutinized Spike closely. "Are those wings?"

Spike gave a sound of exasperation. Might as well just cut to the chase. "I'm a fairy."

"He's a fairy." Wesley repeated.

Gunn shook his head, as if trying to grasp the concept. "Spike's a fairy?"

"Is there a bloody echo in here?" Spike asked, folding his arms angrily. "Yes, I'm a sodding fairy." He turned to Wesley. "Now figure out how to change me back."

"You may have to be patient, Spike." Wesley murmured. "There could be no telling how long it's going to take for us to sort this out."

Standing, Gunn backed a few steps away from Spike and looked at Wesley. "Does Angel know about this?"

"No," Spike said. "And he's never gonna hear about it." He eyed the two men meaningfully, in his usual intimidating manner. Which, might have worked better, if he wasn't the length of a mouse and wearing a handkerchief around his waist. "This stays between us. Got it?"

Gunn raised his hands up in a placatory gesture, but there was a slight smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Hey, all right, I was just asking. You know if you --"

He was cut off when the door to Wesley's office opened again, and Spike dived out of the way and bolted under the ex-Watcher's desk as yet another pair of dress shoes came too close for comfort.

And then he felt his heart sink as Angel's voice sounded in his ears.

"What was that?"