(O.O)

1 month.

She was going to be spending a month with the altered versions of her friends. It wasn't that much of a long time but as she stood there with the group, she knew she had to do something to change them back because she was not willing to spend another day with an overly immature Xander, a Cordelia-like Buffy, a sex driven Giles and Anya, and a polite, well-mannered Spike.

That is just so wigsome. There's got to be a way to change them back.

She turned to Giles and felt a vein pop when she saw that he and Anya were making out again.

God, don't they need to breathe?!

She decided to ignore the pair and turned to the other three occupants in the room.

"We need to hit the books. Find out all we can about this demon brand Cannabis sugar thing and how we can counter or stop its effects and turn you all back to your more pleasant selves," she said to them.

"Yeah, sorry, Will, you know me and books are not best of pals," Xander said, "I think I'll just go home and have a Star Wars marathon."

"Wha-you're not going to help us?"

"Nope. That's boring and you know that I don't do anything boring and studious!" Xander said as he started walking towards the door.

"Xander Harris!" Willow called out as her friend left the apartment, "Come back here this instant!"

"What an unreliable loser," Buffy stated.

"Xander's not unreliable!" the redhead defended, "Well, at least not before this cookie accident."

"Yeah, well. He is now. So, whatever." The Slayer turned to face Spike. "Want to get out of here and hang out at the Bronze?"

"You're leaving too?!" Willow asked, looking upset.

"Duh. Research and Buffy are unmixy. So I'm leaving for fun times at the Bronze with my hot vampire," Buffy announced as she grabbed Spike's arm.

Willow turned to face the vampire and was surprised to see his panicked expression.

"I-um, I think I would rather stay here and help research, Ms. Buffy," Spike said.

"Oh." Buffy faced him with a disappointed look before shrugging. "Well, I think I can adjust my schedule and help you guys as well," she said, not really letting go of her grip on the vampire.

"Yes! Yes! Right there!"

The group winced at hearing Anya's words.

"Gross," Buffy stated.

"Um, I guess I better take care of them first," Willow said, turning her attention to the pair on the sofa.

She made a face as she realized that Giles had removed his jacket and was in the process of removing his shirt.

"Alright, stop it you two!" the witch yelled at the pair.

Unconcerned, the couple continued their love making and ignored the younger woman.

"I said stop!" Willow repeated and grabbed hold of Giles' shoulder but froze at the older man's state of undress.

Penis! Giles' penis! Penis of Giles! She thought in horror.

"Sod off!" Ripper yelled standing up to face the redhead.

"Eeep!" Willow cried, backing away from the pair.

"Can't you see, I'm a bit busy?" Ripper said, moving towards the frightened girl. "You'll get a turn, when I'm done with this one," Ripper said with a smirk, before taking another step towards the already scared redhead.

Thud!

A series of Ows were heard from the two British men in the room.

The first one was from Giles, who was now on the floor rubbing his head from being hit by Willow's Poetry and Literature book.

The second cry came from the blonde vampire, who was holding his head, with a pained expression.

"That bloody hurt, you berk!" Giles said, standing up and glared at the vampire.

"And there is more of that if you don't cover your bits and respect the lady, who-ho wa-wants to help us," Spike stuttered, still looking in pain but was putting a brave face, before picking up a much larger book in Giles' collection.

"Tsk," was the response he got before Ripper finally tucked his dangling prick back inside his pants. "Happy?"

The vampire nodded before turning to face Willow. "Are you alright, miss?"

The redhead nodded mutely, still wigged out from the vampire's rescue and open concern.

"Are we no longer coupling?" was then heard from Anya.

"Naw. Not in the mood anymore," Ripper said, feeling irritated.

"Dammit! Look what you did!" she yelled at the redhead.

"What?!" Willow turned, looking upset.

"I finally found a financially stable man to have sex with me and because of you, he's no longer interested giving me his babies!"

This alarmed the ex-Watcher. "Giving you my wha-"

"Babies! Every fertile, young woman my age needs a man who can provide for them, and the best way to get that said man is to provide him a progeny. You just ruined my chance at that!"

"I did what?!"/"Progeny?! Bloody hell!" Willow and Ripper cried simultaneously.

"Don't you know the importance of procreation? It is the basis of society. You cannot be called a successful woman if you are unable to get a suitable mate and a child to care for."

The group stared at Anya in disbelief. Was she for real.

"Hmph. You know what, I am leaving," the young woman said, "If I am lucky, I might be able to find a more suitable partner and get him to have children with me."

Before anyone could react, the ex-Vengence demon left the apartment.

"What a bitch," Buffy said, being the first to recover.

"I guess," Willow said, not really knowing what else to think of about Anya's reaction.

"I'm leaving as well," Ripper said, picking up Spike's duster, which Willow just noticed that the vampire was not wearing since this entire debacle had begun.

"What?! Yo-you're not helping us?"

"You made the cookies, Red, you clean this mess up. I'm getting some fags and checking out the entertainment this town has to offer," Ripper said, giving himself a once over by the mirror.

The older man messed up his hair and wore Spike's duster, before nodding in approval of his new look.

"Ta!" he said, before stepping out of the apartment.

Silence filled the room. The redhead did not expect that half of the people in their group would leave. Then again, they were not themselves so maybe she didn't know what to expect. She wasn't sure she would be able to find out how to reverse this mess if she was doing it alone.

Of course, she was not really alone.

But how helpful would a bitched up Slayer and a gentle vampire be?

"We found something!" Buffy excitedly announced. She was standing beside Spike, who was holding one of Giles' books.

Guess that answered that question.

"What did you find?" the redhead asked the two.

"Well, Spike found it. He's really smart and knows how to read a bunch of languages like Giles," Buffy said enthusiastically.

Willow faced the vampire expectantly, and was mildly surprised to see his discomfort.

"Um, Ms. Buffy, exaggerates," he said shyly before handing her the book he was holding. If he could, Willow was certain the vampire would be blushing at the attention the Slayer was giving him.

She shook her head, choosing to ignore the bizarre thought, and took the offered book.

Willow focused on the page where it was opened and was alarmed to see that she had no clue what language the book had on it.

"A-as you can see there, Demon Cannabis sugar is mostly used similarly to real cannabis sugar; for recreation purposes as well as medicinal purposes," Spike explained, pointing at one part of the page.

"I actually can't see it," Willow said, earning a panicked look from the vampire.

"Bu-but that's what it says there!" the vampire pointed, not liking the idea that they might think he was lying. Of course, normally he wouldn't care.

"I mean, I can't see it because I can't read this language!" she hurriedly explained, seeing that Buffy looked angry at her.

"Here." She gave him the book back. "Why don't you read it out loud for us, since you know the language," she told him with a gentle smile.

Spike hesitantly took the book.

He is so different from the evil vampire he usually is. Willow thought.

"So, as I said, Cannabis sugar is used for medicine and recreational purposes. They are 100% more effective than human made Cannabis because this plant is grown directly from the demon dimension: Quor'Toth, where the soil has 40% more nutrients than Earth due to the carcasses that die there every day-"

"Um, maybe you can skip on the explanation for where the thing comes from and go directly to how we can reverse this entire situation," Willow said, looking a little green at the thought that she made cookies using sugars made from dead demons.

"Ri-right. Sorry," Spike said, before continuing his reading, "It says here that Cannabis sugar has other effects if combined with other ingredients or foods, particularly lychee and cocoa, which I am guessing is the reason why everyone is acting the way they are."

She nodded, agreeing to what he said.

"For cocoa, expected effects are irregular bowel movement, change in me-menstrual cycle, and oh! Altered psyche!"

"Great! One of my cookies' main ingredients ended up being the real cause of all this mess," Willow commented angrily.

"It's not like you intended for this to happen," Spike comforted, "How were you supposed to know that a reasonable adult like Mr. Giles would be keeping such things in his belongings?"

"Spike's got a point, Will, you didn't know this would happen," Buffy joined.

This surprised the redhead. That was such a Buffy thing to say.

"Of course, if you had asked Giles before using his sugar, he would've told you not to use that jar. So you are still technically at fault. What a loser move."

And just like that, she was reminded that this was still Buffy possessed by the ghost of Cordelia Chase.

She sighed. Before asking Spike if there was a way to reverse the effects of the drugs or were they really stuck like this for a month.

"Well, it does say here, that waiting for the effects to wear off is the safest way to get the person under the influence of the substance to turn back to normal," he said.

"And the unsafe way?"

"It says we need to make a Palléték drink for the person under its influence."

"And I am guessing a Palléték drink is not that easy to make?" the redhead asked.

"That's why I said it was unsafe, because to make a Palléték drink, we need nectar from the leaves of a Pallé plant that are only grown on Pylea."

"And that's not a place we can easily get to?" Buffy inquired.

"Actually, it's one of those easily accessible Hell Dimensions. But I don't recommend us going there," Spike said.

"Why?" This was asked by the Slayer who didn't like the frightened look in the vampire's eyes.

"Well, for starters, they view humans not as humans but cows or slaves. Plus, the demons there are really strong and not easy to defeat," the vampire said timidly, "It wouldn't be right to send you and Ms. Willow there alone considering I wouldn't be much help in the fighting department."

It took a moment for the two to realize what the vampire meant. When they did, they immediately felt bad for him.

For the first time since she had heard the news of Spike's chip, Willow felt sorry for the vampire. His world was turned upside down because of it and now he had been forced to rely on his mortal enemy for protection. Not only that, he was forced to stay on the sidelines and watch other people fight without him.

As a person of action, it must have been really hard for the vampire to not be able to do what they were made to do. To cause violence and mayhem or even to fight for what they want; all those impulses had to be muted to prevent pain and suffering.

Although it was a good thing that none of those things were happening, if you looked at things from the human perspective. But Willow thought about what it would be like if she was in Spike's position.

To be forced to not be who she was.

She tried to imagine herself being physically stopped from using magic or her intelligence or even her abilities to use computers and she shuddered at the thought.

She wouldn't be Willow at all.

"Maybe there's another way to get this ingredient?" Buffy asked.

Spike looked thoughtful.

"Hmm, maybe we can try the demon market," he said after a while.

"There's a demon market?!" Willow exclaimed.

"Well, yes. Although, I don't think they would be any more welcoming to a Slayer and her mates."

"Then what the heck are we going to do?!" Willow cried in frustration.

She couldn't let everyone stay this way for a month and she couldn't do anything to reverse this either. She was stuck and helpless and it was the worst feeling she had ever felt.

"Oh, don't be such a baby. It's not the end of the world, you know," Buffy told her.

Willow growled.

"Oh, shut up! You're not the one that's going to be stuck with all of you for an entire month!" Willow yelled, "You have no right to tell me how to feel when you're bitchy and touchy feely towards the vampire, who, I should point out, you wanted nothing to do with about an hour ago!"

Buffy stood there, with Spike, looking surprised at the redhead's outburst.

"Um, Ms. Willow?" Spike said.

"Yeah," Willow answered, irritatedly.

"I think we are not the only ones affected by your cookies," the vampire stated.

"What?!"

The blonde vampire physically jumped away from the red-haired witch and hid behind the Slayer.

"What he means to say is that you're being a bossy controlling bitch throughout this incident that maybe you've been affected by your cookies as well."

"What?! I'm not controlling!"

"But you're bossy. And the Willow I know, has the ability to lead, but doesn't have to shout and yell as much as you do."

The redhead's eyes widened at that. She thought back on all her interactions with everyone earlier and found that bitchy Buffy was right. She was a tad louder and bossy since she'd taken a bite of that cookie.

Great! Just what she needed. She was affected as well.

"I'm sorry. I didn't even notice," she said, taking a great effort to sound calm herself.

"Probably 'cause you only ate a bit of that cookie that you didn't really notice any difference," Spike said.

She nodded. "How many cookies did you have?" she asked the vampire. Maybe if she can find out the quantity of cookies each of them had eaten, she could at least set a time frame when everyone would return to their normal selves.

"Sorry, Ms. Willow but I had 5 cookies," Spike admitted.

"Five? I only remember giving you 1."

"I gave him another 4 after I came back from the kitchen," Buffy said.

Willow turned and glared at the Slayer.

"What?! It wasn't fair that he only got one when you hit him with your spell too."

Willow accepted the explanation.

"And how many did you have?"

"5 as well," Buffy said before smiling and turning to Spike, "Ha! We match!"

Spike let out a shy smile at that. Which would be the first time he showed a positive reaction to the Slayer's attention all evening.

I guess he isn't as adverse to her attention as I thought. Willow smiled.

"Well, I guess, there isn't anything else we can do other than wait for the drug to wear off," the redhead said with a disappointed look.

"Or maybe we try going to the demon market and see if we can buy the stuff before we give up," Spike suggested.

"I thought you said it wouldn't be a good idea for a Slayer and her friend to go buy stuff there?" Willow asked.

"It's not a good idea, but maybe if I came with you, then you might not be attacked," Spike explained.

"You'd go with us?"

This surprised the redhead even more. Ever since Spike came to them, he had never had any indication that he would leave the flat other than the night before when he made an escape and that was only because they were going to do a spell on him, which he had been extremely against with.

The fact he was going with them to make sure they don't get attacked was a testament to how changed the vampire was to his normal self-centered personality.

"Wow, this drug is really doing a number on you," Willow stated.

The vampire tilted his head not understanding what the witch meant.

"I mean, you're really nice. It's like you're a different person. Does that book say anything about this drug placing a soul in a vampire?"

"Huh? I'm afraid I don't understand. I am as soulless as I had been before I took the cookies, Ms. Willow."

"What I'm trying to say is that you don't act like a vampire, like at all. I mean, out of everyone, I think the Cookie turned you into someone else!"

"Will, I think you're being stupid. How can it turn Spike into someone else? He's obviously still Spike," Buffy defended.

Annoyed, the redhead elaborated.

"I mean, Giles turned into his Ripper self. Xander turned into his immature and childish self. Anya, I think, was acting either like her vengeance demon self or just the version of her before she turned into a demon, which now that I think about it, totally explains all that disgusting stuff about marriage and having babies. That must have been important for her in her time. I turned into this bossy and controlling witch and Buffy," she pointed at the Slayer, "You turned into Cordelia, which you said was how you were before you were Called."

She turned back to Spike.

"Spike, you're the only one who is totally different here and it's wigging me out. But I guess that is what this drug does for vampires. It turns you guys into someone else."

"Actually, it doesn't," Spike said quietly.

"Huh?"

"I said, it doesn't turn vampires into other people." He picked up the book again and read a passage.

"Combining Cannabis sugar with Cocoa can cause altered psyche or force a side of a consumer that they hide from others out in the open. This is like being drunk only one loses their inhibitions to hide parts of themselves from the public."

Willow was blown away by what she just heard.

"Are you saying that you are always this smart, gentle well-mannered person and you've been hiding it?!"

The vampire nodded meekly.

"I mean, I'm a vampire and it's not exactly well received if I act this way in front of people. I kind of learned the hard way from Angelus that such behaviors were not acceptable."

Of course, Angelus would feel that way. Willow thought grimly.

"Well, I think I like this side of you better," Buffy said with a smile.

Spike returned her smile.

"I feel the same way with you, Ms. Buffy. I think you're nicer when you are like this."

"I'm not nice. You can ask Willow. She just compared me to Cordelia Chase. But I do feel less hatred towards you than I normally do."

"That's probably the drugs talking, my dear."

"Naw, if I go by your explanation, that means I secretly didn't hate you and I kind of have a crush on you."

Spike's eyes widened at that admission.

"I-I-what?!"

"Don't worry. I don't expect you to feel the same way. I'm just letting you know because I know I'd be denying it once we cure ourselves from this drug's effect."

"You have a crush on me?" Spike said shyly.

"Yup," Buffy answered, popping the "p".

"Oh. Well, I guess, it's a-alright for me to a-admit that I may be sli-slightly at-ta-attracted to you as well," Spike admitted, again if vampire's could blush he'd be doing just that.

"Really?" Buffy smiled at this.

Spike nodded. Then, all of a sudden, the vampire found himself an armful of Slayer.

"I'm so happy!" Buffy exclaimed, hugging the vampire's neck tightly.

Spike flailed a bit before catching his balance and simply held the Slayer.

Willow kept quiet and simply watched the entire exchange. She couldn't quite bring herself to believe what she just saw. But it was hard to deny when she was still seeing her best friend hugging her mortal enemy and the two proclaiming to like each other.

"When did you start liking me?" Buffy asked.

"Um, I-I thought you were really be-beautiful when I first saw you da-dancing with your friends."

"Aw! I totally thought you were sex on legs when I first saw you too!" Buffy laughed. "And here I thought, I was the only one denying my feelings."

"It ca-can't be helped, luv. You, Slayer, me, Vampire."

"That's stupid. How come I had to be drugged to admit I am attracted to a vampire?"

"Again, you, Slayer. Killer of my kind. You shouldn't be attracted to the likes of me."

"But I'm not attracted to all vampires. Just you and Angel!" Buffy paused. "Okay maybe not Angel. I always thought he was ookie. Cute, but kind of creepy. With the stalking and always acting mysterious. How could I have trusted someone like him?"

Spike merely listened as Buffy ranted about all things she found unattractive about Angel.

"At least you were straight forward. And really honest! Huh! Maybe that's why I like you more. You're honest and I always know what I'm getting from you. Even when you're like this, you're honest and more respectful than Angel ever was."

"Thank you, Buffy, that means a lot to me, you saying that." A gentle smile grace the vampire's face and his sincerity touched even Willow.

They shared an intense stare and slowly their faces inched closer to each other.

"Okay! I think it's time to go!" Willow announced, feeling slightly guilty as she watched the couple move away from each other.

Of course, if I didn't do anything, I'm pretty certain these two would be making out again, and I don't think their normal selves would appreciate it. She thought as the image of Buffy from the night before flashed in her head.

"Spike lips! Lips of Spike!" Buffy's panicked statement from last night echoed on the witch's mind.

Yup. It's for their own good. I mean, even if what Spike read was the truth, I'm certain they wouldn't feel the same way when things are back to normal. At least, I hope so.

TBC

(O.O)