Ring on her Finger

By Nickeltaffy

Disclaimer: I would like to thank Joss for the use of his characters. They are still his and will never be mine. (heavy sigh).

Synopsis: Anyone ever notice that Buffy never returned Spike's ring from when they were engaged? What if Willow's reversal of the Will Be Done spell from the Something Blue episode was not exactly 100% effective? What if Buffy was still under a spell and still considered herself engaged to a horrified Spike?

…

Chapter 9

"Hey, Guys!" Buffy yelled as she came through the door with Anya behind her. Buffy was carrying two large pizza boxes in front of her and Anya had two brown paper bags in her arms. "I brought dinner!" Buffy called out while Willow stood up and moved the books to make room on the table. "I got two extra large pizzas: One meat lovers and one with everything! I got all the major food groups!"

Anya moved past Buffy and went directly over to Xander who was sitting at the far end of the table. She gave him a quick peck on the lips and quick nuzzle with her nose. "Hi ya honey." She whispered as he smiled back at her and made a smacking sound with his lips. She, then, walked into the kitchen and placed the bags on the counter. She started to unload them by the pass-through, so she could keep up with the activity going on in the other room.

"We even stopped by the butcher's and picked up some more blood for you, Spike. Although from what Buffy is telling me, you may not be aware of it." Anya said as she pulled out a jug of blood out of one bag and turned to put it into the refrigerator. "She said that you are having some kind of delusions. Are they sexual in nature? Are they all vampire-y and sexy? Those would be the best ones."

Spike gave a low grumble. Spike's eyes never left the slayer; the elevated tension in his body was evident from the moment Buffy had entered the apartment.

"Are you having one now? Parley up the details, surly vampire type!" Anya leaned over the counter with her head turned toward Spike. Then she noticed the looks she was receiving from the rest of the room. "What? Oh right, like those books are a more interesting alternative."

"Anya." Giles said with a pained sigh, looking over his glasses at the ex-demon.

Anya trotted out of the kitchen and came to a stop behind Xander, and wrapped her arms around his neck. Buffy and Willow opened up the pizza boxes and each pulled out a slice. Munching on the pizza and purposefully ignoring Spike, Buffy meandered toward Giles to look over his shoulder at the research. As she neared, Spike moved back away. He even went around to the other side of the Xander and Anya to maintain the distance between him and the slayer.

"Hello Spike. I see you're still in a mood. Wow, ruminate much?" Buffy sighed with a mouthful of pizza as she watched him move away.

"Oh Yeah, He's been the vampire version of a ray of sunshine all afternoon." Xander said, rolling his eyes and unwrapping Anya's arms, as he stood up. The couple moved as one unit over to the pizza boxes. Xander wrapped his arms around Anya as she pulled out a piece of pizza which she proceeded to feed to him. Across the table, Willow's mouth dropped open and looked a little nauseous at the sight of the couple as she quickly put down her pizza. The sounds the couple was making were disconcerting to everyone else in the room.

"Shut it, Whelp!" Spike growled and took a step back toward the wall to lean against it. "Oh great, there was a clear path to me, now that the dull-some twosome had moved." he thought. He was not going to allow her to trap him in a vulnerable position again.

"Could we please place our grievances aside for a moment? Spike was just about to share his knowledge of this creature with us you when walked in."

Buffy turned her head toward the vampire. With an air of disparagement, she looked at the vampire and said "Well…?"

Spike remembered the previous evening while he was on the receiving end of the Slayer's menacing glare. It brought back the hard feelings and powerlessness he felt last night with a crash. He quickly rebuilt the walls of determination of not to be of any assistance to this group.

"Let me see….No, nope. Sorry can't help ya! It's all fading away." Spike dramatically placed his hand to his forehead. "Maybe I can just…just..Oh, bollocks! Sorry, it's gone."

Quickly dropping his hand, he turned quickly away from the table and walked back toward the sofa.

"Spike, will you stop acting like a nutcase! Hmmm. Perhaps, some unhealthy persuasion can help Spike's memory…" Buffy said threateningly, following his progress back to the sofa with her eyes.

"You keep your hands to yourself, Slayer!" Spike whipped around.

In that moment, Xander stopped chewing the pepperoni slices that Anya was feeding him and looked at the vampire. Anya also looked puzzled at the extreme reaction that Spike had displayed. Sure, he and Buffy were always giving each other a verbal tussle, but there seemed to be another undercurrent going on in this discourse. She looked over at Willow who seemed just as stunned at Spike's reaction.

"Really! Buffy! Spike! If you two could just maintain a civil discourse without threatening violence…." Giles sighed. He pulled off his glasses and covered his eyes with his hand. Finally tired of ignoring the smacking sounds and giggles, Giles turned around to the couple eating pizza. "Oh, Xander! Anya! Please stop what you're doing with the pizza. It reminds me of the monkey house at the London zoo."

Willow piped up. "I didn't think monkeys ate pizza. I thought they just pulled fleas off each other and ate them?"

"Yes, I believe they do." Giles put his glasses back on.

Anya and Xander looked a little shocked, embarrassed and insulted. Xander took a quick look at Giles and then took hold of Anya's hand holding the pizza. He shaking her hand with the pizza over the pizza box. He was shaking his head at her confused questioning expression and softly saying "Put the pizza down. Let it go… let it go...no…no."

….

A few hours later, the Scoobies had not come any closer on finding out anything on the creature. Since it was nightfall, Buffy stood up and stretched.

"Well, we can't sit here all night. There are groovy things to kill out there." Buffy announced.

"Wait. There's also something serious out that too wants to kill US." Willow said worriedly.

"How is that any different than any other night? In fact, how is that different from this living room?" She repeatedly nudged her head over the living room where Spike was.

"I think we should at least scout out where this guy is located. We circle the park by the refinery without going inside." Buffy said as she paced. "Then we should break up into two teams. Xander, you, Willow and Anya will make up one team. Spike and I will be on the other.."

"OH NO! I don't think so, Slayer." Spike objected without warning.

Everyone turned to look at the vampire making such a scene.

"What's your problem, Spike?" Buffy looked perplexed at the vampire.

"It's just …Just…Buffy, don't pretend you don't know." Spike looked around. He knew that even if he told the truth to this crowd, he wouldn't be believed. "I got this chip and you know, uh.. the commandos are still looking for me."

"Spike, you're the only one who has had any firsthand knowledge of this creature. We need you to come with us. It is not a request." Buffy said firmly.

"A lot a help I'll be, while I am being dragged away to a government lab facility." Spike replied.

"Keep on chasing that dream, Spike. I thought of that possibility. We're going to send you out in disguise. We'll downplay the whole vampire angle." Buffy explained. "That's why I asked Anya to bring some clothes over here tonight for you."

"Yeah, they're in a bag in the kitchen. This is going to be fun! Vampire Extreme Makeover! Let me go get them." Anya said with a high pitch tone and jumped up to run into the kitchen.

"I don't think you'll be able to disguise me well enough. I have very striking looks. I should just stay here." Spike said sitting down. "Giles can go in my place. He can use his highly developed Watcher skills."

"Spike, you're going. So you just better shut your mouth and cooperate or you are going to find yourself tied up and left on the commando's doorstep." Buffy glowered at the vampire.

Anya came back into the room with the bag. Buffy took the bag from her, pulled something out of the bag and then shoved the bag into the lap of the sitting vampire.

"Go. Go on. Go put these clothes on." Buffy stood over the vampire, pointing toward the bathroom.

"Bullocks! No! I am not your puppet. I am not a bloody Ken doll that you can just dress up." Spike said belligerently.

"I hate to tell you, but I use to pull the arms and legs off my dolls. I never saw the purpose of Ken in Barbie's world, so don't tempt me! I wonder if your arms will make the same popping sound…"

"Alright, that's enough. Buffy, please calm down." Giles said as he stood between them. "Spike, I would like to apologize for the treatment you are receiving this evening. It seems that things have gotten out of hand. I would like to request your assistance in this matter if you would care to give it."

"Well, that's more like it." Spike said as he stood up. "Seeing that this creature is not going to go away, and I am at the top of the daily specials board, I'll help. Just don't get used to it and there should be no bleedin hugging involved."

"Never entered my mind." Giles responded with a puzzled look.

…

It had been a long time, since clothes made him feel this ridiculous, Spike thought as he walked back from the bathroom. The Scoobies turned to see the Vampire standing at the end of the hallway in his new outfit. The room suddenly burst into ill-concealed snickers. Spike looked up at the ceiling with a pained look.

The football jersey was about five times too big for the vampire and the faded light blue stone washed jeans were incongruent with the vampire that they all knew. Spike stood there with his mouth twisted and patiently waited for the laughter to die down.

Buffy turned toward Anya as she asked: "Where did you get those?"

"From the back of Xander's Dad's closet." Anya replied.

"Huh?" Xander abruptly stopped laughing. "Oh, my dad is going to freak when he finds that stuff is missing."

Buffy came toward the vampire, looking him up and down, not bothering to hide her amusement.

"Well, I don't think anyone is going to be confusing you with a menacing vampire in that outfit. But there is just one more thing: your hair."

"What are you going to do?" Spike looked suspiciously at the Slayer

Buffy held out her hand to Anya, who put a cloth object in her hand. Buffy, then, placed the softball cap on Spike's head. She stopped for a moment and took a look at Spike. She shook her head, took off the cap and then placed it backwards on Spike's head. She then turned toward the group and said:

"Ladies and gentlemen. I would like to present the Common Variety Native American Campus Douche."

Staring straight ahead, Spike said flatly:

"I hate you."