Author's Notes:

All hail Joss Whedon. He owns all this (except for K). I'm getting good at keeping this short!

Different than Love

K woke up the next morning with a terrible headache. As she sat up, she noticed she wasn't wearing any clothes. She looked next to her to see Satsu, fast asleep, also naked.

"My God," she said, rubbing her head. "What the hell happened?"

Satsu slowly opened her eyes. "Oh, good morning, K." She sat up. "What a night last night was, huh?"

"Last night… I don't remember… there was a party… and Spike… the last thing I remember was Spike kissing my forehead. We told each other how we feel."

"Hm. I guess I didn't give you a night to remember."

"Spike… is that why I'm naked right now?"

Satsu answered her question by kissing her on the lips.

"I had sex with you last night," K said, not a question.

"You had four orgasms," Satsu teased. "It's a shame you don't remember. You kept begging me for more. God, I feel bad for taking advantage of you when you were drunk, but it was so good."

"Satsu… I…"

"I know, you're totally into Spike and all," she said. "I just thought I'd try it for a night. Don't worry, K, I get how you feel about me."

"You're a beautiful woman, Satsu," K said. "And a great friend."

Satsu nodded.

K got up and put on some clothes before going down to the lobby. Buffy was sitting at the table with Angel, Willow, and Spike.

"Good morning!" K said cheerily.

"You seem awfully chipper this morning," Willow said. "Had a good night's rest?"

"Hardly," K said, sitting down. "Apparently I barely slept at all. I don't really remember, though. Last night was fun. I would talk about it if I could remember any of it."

"Y-you don't remember anything from last night?" Spike hesitated.

"I remember about half of it," she said. "Oh, don't worry, I remember everything about you. I can't forget that."

Spike sighed, and then smiled.

"As I was saying…" Buffy said defiantly, "this is a small problem, but still a problem. So I'm sending this group of Slayers to LA to fix it."

"Will everyone be going?" Willow asked. "Y'know, non-Slayers."

Buffy shrugged. "If they want to, and if they can be a help. I know how you don't want to leave Kennedy."

"Then I'm coming, too," Angel said.

Buffy smiled and kissed him.

"Where are we going?" K asked Spike.

"Up to New York. Apparently there's some secret Vamp organization going on. That's why the Vamps are traveling in such huge packs lately. Like you had to fight of twenty on your way here."

"Yeah. So that's why. And their head honcho is in NYC? Awesome, I'm so up for a challenge!"

"And I'm going," Spike started, "to make sure you don't die."

"I'm not going to die," K giggled, lightly hitting Spike in the arm. "And it's no big deal if I die. We've only kinda sorta been together for, like, what, a day?"

"Honestly, Pet, I've forgotten how I could've possibly been happy before I met you."

"You're sweet."

Spike smiled, proud of himself.

"We're leaving tonight," Buffy said. "So I'd spend the time you have now training, getting warmed up."

"Would you care to spar with me, Spike?" K asked cheerily.

"I'd love to, Pet," he said.

K went into one of the training rooms that Willow had shown her the other day while on the tour. Spike simply followed her until they arrived in an empty room with just a cabinet of weapons and a punching bag.

"I haven't done any fighting since the day I arrived here," K said. "And even on that day I got knocked out. So I'm a little rusty."

And the two of them began to dance. Spike blocking every one of her punches and kicks, and K moving with incredible speed, trying to penetrate him.

"You're pretty good," Spike panted, slightly out of breath. "But not good enough." He blocked her fist, held onto her arm, and flipped her over onto her back. He lied down on top of her and put his face to her neck. "You've lost."

"Damn," K panted, practically gasping for breath. "Okay. Let's try that again."

They got up, and danced their dance again. K spun her arm around Spike's arm, knocking it out of the way just enough time to put her hand on his heart.

She smiled. "You've lost."

Spike put his hand over her hand. "I feel… something," he said quietly. "It almost feels like…"

"Your heartbeat," K finished. "I felt it for a moment, too."

Spike leaned, his face much too close to hers. His breath smelled like death and cigarettes. K inhaled deeply, letting the smell fill her lungs.

"I know you'll never love me," K said quietly.

"This is more than love, Pet," Spike said.

"That's just the thing," K said, pulling away from Spike. She couldn't look him in the eye. "Spike, I think you're okay. I even like you."

"You… like me?"

"Yeah, I like you. And I love you. And I more than love you. Every possible feeling of affection, I have towards you. Every good emotion comes when I'm with you. But for you, it's not like that. Some people that are part of the Scooby gang, you think they're okay. You like people like Willow and Satsu. You love Buffy. But I'm only there for one part, Spike, whereas you're my everything."

K fell on the floor, tears beginning to stream from her eyes. "I'm just a Buffy replacement. That's why Satsu liked me, too. She couldn't get Buffy, so I was there instead. It's the same thing for you."

Spike didn't know what to say. He couldn't lie to her.

Someone knocked on the door. K shot up and quickly rubbed her shirt on her eyes to hide the tears. "Yes, come in."

It was Angel. "We're getting ready to leave for New York now. There are four vamp nests in total there, one of which is the head of operations for all of these Vampires. We're clearing out the three nests, and then going in for the kill. K, you'd better head to the lobby. The Slayers are packing weapons right now."

"Oh, okay," she sniffled. "Thanks, Angel. I'll head down right now."

Once she left, Angel walked into the room, and put his arm on Spike's shoulder. "Not that I care," he started, "but you look a little down."

"It's just this whole thing with K. She thinks I'm treating her like a Buffy replacement. Which I can't say isn't true, because a part of me knows that I still love Buffy."

"You don't love Buffy anymore," Angel said. "And I can give you a few reasons why. First of all, if you say that you love Buffy, you come this much closer to me staking you."

Spike actually chuckled at this remark.

"Second," Angel continued, "When you fall in love, Spike, you fall in love hard. You're a hopeless romantic. Like, when you loved that girl back when you were human. You wrote poetry for her. You were in real love. Then came Drusilla, and you thought you two would be together forever. And once she left you all heartbroken and sad, this new obsession with Buffy came along in your head. Each time you were convinced that she was the one, Spike, and each time you moved on to someone else."

"So what're you saying?" Spike exclaimed. "When I tell a woman I love her, it doesn't mean anything? That I just move on to the next girl? That me loving another girl undermines all the love I gave to those previously?"

"All I can say, Spike, is to live in the moment. Hell, that's what K does, and that's what sets her apart from everyone else. I can see it. And the thing with you and romance, Spike… God, you are so unpredictable. For all I know, next week you'll fall in love with another new Slayer. Or maybe you'll go gay or something."

Spike opened his mouth to protest, but then closed it, thinking on Angel's words. "Live in the moment, huh? I could probably do that."

"Now. Think about right now, this very moment. Forget about anything that happened in the past, or anything that might happen in the future. What d'you feel?"

"I love her," Spike said simply. "I think she's okay, I like her, I love her, and I more than love her. Right now. Also, right now, you're being a bit of a prick. Thanks, though."

Angel shook his head slowly. "Let's just go help out the Slayers."

"So if I really told you that I was still in love with Buffy, you would've staked me?"

"Faster than you can say, 'please, no!'"

Meanwhile, while trying to stop her tears, K went down to face the other slayers who were packing for the trip.

"Hey, K," Willow greeted her. "Since there are only four vamp nests, Buffy decided that she's going to keep the army small. And our small army is going to take out all four of the nests. While other Slayers across the country take care of other nests. Hey, are you crying?"

"No," K said firmly, rubbing her eyes again. "Of course not. Why would I be crying?"

"Well, maybe because Buffy didn't want you to be a part of our army," Willow said. "Satsu talked to her, though, and she's letting you come."

"I knew Buffy never really liked me," K said, steadying her voice now. "But that's no reason for me to cry like a sissy."

"Then… do you want to tell me why you're crying?"

"It's not a big deal. I shouldn't even be crying. It's just… things with Spike… I know he still loves Buffy, but—"

"No, he doesn't," Buffy said, coming from behind Willow.

"What?"

"He doesn't love me," Buffy said. "When I talked to him the day he got back… I told him I loved him. That I would leave Angel if that's what he really wanted."

"Buffy…" Willow said softly.

"He doesn't love me," Buffy repeated. "So you go do whatever the hell you want with him."

Angel and Spike were walking together, entering the lobby.

"You ladies ready?" Angel asked, cutting past K and Willow. He put his arms around Buffy and kissed her forehead.

"Yeah. I was just about to ask K to help me load up the slayer weapons." Buffy gave K a look.

"K, listen, I want to talk to you—" Spike started, but K interrupted him.

"I want to talk to you, too, Spike. But not right now. Right when we have time, okay?"

She walked off with Buffy, helping her lift the large trunk of weapons into the van they would be driving to New York.

K and Buffy put the weapons in the trunk.

"So who's coming on this mission?" K asked. "Ma'am," she added quickly. She didn't want Buffy to hate her even more.

"You, me, Willow, Kennedy, Satsu, Angel, and Spike," she answered.

"You didn't want me to come," K said quietly.

"Don't take it the wrong way," Buffy said, not looking K directly in the eyes. "You're just different. I didn't want to… risk anything."

"Right," K nodded. "Different."

The rest of the team walked outside, and began to get in the van.

"Angel, you drive," Buffy said. "I'll sit at shotgun. Willow, Kennedy, and Satsu, you three take these seats in the middle… Spike and… Spike and K, you two sit together at the back."

"Yes, ma'am," K said, smiling. She was glad. This practically gave her approval.

They sat in their seats, buckled in, and ready to go. Angel hit the gas, and they were off to New York.