Author's Notes:

So I think you understand at this point that Joss Whedon owns all this (except for K), and not me. I'm not as brilliant as him. This was originally supposed to be two chapters, but it seemed choppy, so I just put them together as one, very long chapter.

Vamp Nest #1

"I find it bleeding hilarious how our captain decided to put the three lesbians in the middle seat together," Spike commented.

Willow turned around and smiled. "Oh, please. She was trying to get you two together. And, granted, as far away from her as possible."

"Do you want to talk now?" Spike said quietly so only K could hear.

She shook her head, not looking at him directly. "No. Too many people, they're all too close. And honestly, Spike, I'm just tired. And… my head hurts."

Spike nodded. "I understand, pet. Maybe you should just sleep until we get to New York. It's going to be a while."

"How long?" K asked.

"Hey! Girls up front!" Spike called to the rest of the van. "How long is this road trip planning to be?"

"We should be there tomorrow evening," Buffy answered. And quiet down, some of us are trying to sleep."

"Sorry," Spike said. He turned back to K. "I say you get some rest, Pet."

K pulled her legs onto the seat, and pushed herself into Spike, resting her head where his heart was. He raised his arms, using one to wrap around her waist like a second seatbelt, and using the other to stroke through her hair.

She sighed with pleasure, closing her eyes.

"It's all going to be okay now," Spike whispered in her ear as she fell soundly asleep.

To the First Nest

K blinked a few times and then woke up. The car was dark, with all the windows blacked out. Obviously, it was morning. K looked up to see Spike, completely asleep. Kennedy was driving the car now, with Angel sitting next to Willow in the middle seat. He was asleep, too.

"Hmm?" K groaned, sitting up. Spike shifted positions, but didn't move.

"Oh, hey," Willow said, looking back. "You're awake. Good. Eat this." She handed her a banana.

"A banana?" K said, accepting it. She peeled it, and took a bite.

"Yeah. It's either a banana or blood. Your choice."

K laughed, almost spitting the banana out of her mouth. She swallowed it. "Thanks, Willow. I'm not craving blood right now."

"We're going to be at the hotel in about an hour," Buffy said. "We'll be staying there incognito until our mission is over."

"Hopefully we'll get a real meal over there," Satsu said, biting into her banana.

K touched the blacked-out window of the car. She looked at it, looked at Spike, and then back at the window. "I really wish I could open this," she said. "Watch the scenery go by."

"Yeah, and our Vampires burst into flames," Satsu said bluntly.

"Hm. I'll just read a book, then."

"Or we could play a game?" Willow suggested hopefully. "I'm getting kind of bored here, too."

"A game?" Buffy repeated.

"Yeah. Just us girls. Since, y'know, Angel and Spike do that whole sleep during the day thing. Uhh. How about truth or dare?"

"All right," K said, smiling. "Sounds like fun. Willow, truth or dare?"

"Umm. Dare."

"I dare you to drink a sip of the blood," Satsu said.

"Ew! It's pig's blood! Are you serious? Oh, well, I guess I chose dare." Willow opened the plastic bag in one corner, and quickly dipped a few drops of the blood into her mouth. She shivered. "Okay. Note to self: do not choose dare in front of Satsu."

Kennedy and Buffy laughed.

"Now it's my turn," Willow said. "Uh, Kennedy! Truth or dare?"

"Truth. I can't do too many dares since I'm driving."

"How many boyfriends and girlfriends have you had?" Satsu asked.

"Seven boyfriends, and eight girlfriends."

"Wow," Satsu said, eyebrows raised. "Okay, now you ask someone."

"I'm going to ask you, Satsu," Kennedy said, laughing. "You're coming up with all the dares and the questions, so let's give someone else a chance. Truth or dare?"

"I'll go with truth."

"Hm. How many girls have you had sex with?" Buffy asked. She had always been curious, but never bothered to ask her.

"Two," Satsu said. "I'm not like Kennedy."

Kennedy laughed, and then focused on the road again.

"All right, then. K. Truth or dare?"

"I'll be a wuss and go with truth," K said softly.

"Hmmm," Satsu said, obviously deep in thought. "I heard you're a writer, right? So tell us a story. Your story. Oh! A story about your life. Your love life. There, specific enough?"

K chuckled nervously. "Heh… a story?"

Willow and Satsu completely turned around in their seats, and Buffy leaned in closer.

"'Kay. Well… my love life started around three years ago. I was sixteen. I was in high school, of course, and I had just finished my SATs, so I could finally start concentrating on stuff that wasn't academic. One of my best friends whom I had known for three years came up to me and asked me out on a date. I was a bit shocked. Like, we have been friends for so long, I didn't expect him to like me in that way. But I said yes, because I thought I'd give it a shot. And… well, we kept going out. Then we were dating. Then we were boyfriend and girlfriend. And before I knew it we were lovers. We took our relationship slow. Like, really slow. It took us over a year to just admit that we loved each other. And we had some other friends who got together, and they lost their virginity to each other after about three months of being together.

"So after three years of being together, we were hopelessly in love. It was true love, too. Every time I was in his arms, nothing in the world could touch me. Every time we kissed, I felt like nothing else mattered. Everyone else could die for all I cared, as long as we could just be together forever. And, well, after so long of being in a relationship with him, of course we did lots of things physically. But I kept my virginity, and I'm still sort of proud of that.

"Just a few months ago, we talked. He told me he didn't love me any more. I asked him why, and he said we just… grew apart. A few days after he broke up with me he lost his virginity to one of our friends. I mean, you can only imagine how devastated I was. I had been in love with him for three years, and he just… left.

"After this, I decided that I would change my view on life. You know, most of my life I was a pessimist. It wasn't until recently I decided to change my whole mind set. Now if you show me that damn glass, I'll tell you, 'hell yeah it's half empty, but at least the other half is full. And that's a lot more than some other people get. And so what if it's half empty? I'll just get off my ass and fill the other half myself.' And that's how I live life now. I guess it was a good change.

"And before I knew it, I was a Slayer. I thought to myself what a perfect opportunity it would be for me to start over, clean slate. A new life. I came down here, and… well… this is truth, after all, so I might as well cover the whole story. I came down here and met Spike. When I woke up in the hospital, and we just talked, and that's when I realized… this is my life now. He is my life now. And… I sorta kissed him. It was completely unintentional, though, I didn't mean to. It just happened. And I really liked him at that point. And then we were together that night… and we were on the table… and just the way we moved, I fell in lo—"

"Wait, so you didn't have sex with your ex-lover for three years, but you have sex with Spike after a day of knowing him?" Buffy asked.

"Sex with Spike? Oh! On the table… we didn't have sex, we danced."

"Danced?"

"Yes. Waltz to be specific. He's very good, and I was surprised that he actually agreed to do it with me. And I guess that's what made me fall in love with him. And then time went by, and it was around the day of the party that I realized that I couldn't just be in love with Spike. I mean, whatever I was feeling towards Spike was a million times stronger than anything I've ever felt towards my ex-lover. So that's when I decided it was more than love."

"Aww. A sad story with a happy ending," Willow said.

"A happy ending with Spike," Kennedy commented, laughing.

"I don't think it's funny!" Willow said. "It's kind of cute. And stuff."

K's cheeks were completely flushed at this point, and she really didn't want to say anything else.

"K, you've got to ask Buffy truth or dare," Satsu said.

"Huh? Buffy?" K said, flustering her words.

"Yeah, she's the last one."

"Oh. Um. Okay," K said, unusually quiet. She was never quiet, she was always the loudest person there. "Buffy, truth or dare?"

"Hm. I'll go with dare. Don't feel like doing as much talking."

"Put your hand down Angel's pants!" Kennedy said a bit too loud.

Both Angel and Spike shifted in their seats.

Satsu was using every bit of will power not to burst out laughing.

"I would fulfill your dare, Kennedy, but it's a bit hard since he's in the middle seat and I'm in the front seat," Buffy looked at Angel and smiled to herself. "Tonight, though, I promise."

"Ooooh!" Satsu laughed. Even K managed a smile.

The girls continued playing Truth or Dare, but K politely asked to leave her out of it.

"It's not that I've got things to hide or I'm a coward or anything," she explained. "I just really have to get to the next chapter in my book."

So the girls continued, giggling quietly to make sure not to awaken the sleeping vampires, and K continued to silently read her book.

"And… the sun has officially gone down!" Kennedy remarked.

"Oh, finally," K said, opening the windows and letting the cool night breeze flow into the car.

"Angel, Spike, wake up!" Buffy said. "Don't worry, the big bad sun is gone. We're going to be at the hotel soon."

The two vampires groaned as if they were being woken up for their first day back at school.

"Bloody hell," Spike said, rubbing his head. "I don't usually have dreams, but I just did, and it was damn right weird."

"What did you dream about?" K asked with a large smile on her face.

"Uh… I was with Dru," Spike said hesitantly.

"You were with Drusilla?"

"Yeah. Wasn't a pleasant dream. Bitch was torturing me. It was bloody awful."

"I just scored the best parking spot in the lot," Kennedy said as the van slowly came to a stop.

Everyone jumped out of the van. Buffy and Kennedy carried the weapons bag as Willow grabbed the large bag of bananas and blood. Everyone else carried their own bags, but Spike offered to carry K's bag for her.

"We reserved two rooms," Buffy said to the man at the counter. "Buffy Summers."

The man clacked at his computer. "Ah, yes. The Summers party." He handed her two room keys. "You'll be staying on the seventh floor. May we take your bags?"

"No, it's okay, we've got the bags ourselves. Thanks."

Buffy turned away from the man and faced everyone. "So we've got seven people and two rooms. How are we going to split this up without having someone dead by the end of our stay?"

"I don't think we should put Spike and Angel in the same room," Kennedy suggested. "And I want to be with Willow!"

"I don't really have a preference," Satsu said dryly.

K wanted to say she didn't have a preference, either, just to make it easier on Buffy. But she didn't want to lie, because she really wanted to be with Spike.

"The only way this is going to work," Angel started, "is if you, me, Willow, and Kennedy are in one room, and Satsu, K, and Spike are in the other."

"For once you're using your brain, Captain Forehead," Spike said.

Angel glared at him.

"We have that door in between the rooms, right?" Willow asked. "Y'know, so we can go back and forth between the rooms. So it's kind of like we have one big room anyway."

"Yes, and the wall is thin so we'll be able to hear any noises that are in the other room," Kennedy said, clearly referring to Spike and K.

K looked down at her feet.

"Well, then," Spike said loudly, breaking the tension. "I don't know about you all, but I could right go for a meal right now."

"I heard the lounge here is pretty amazing," Satsu said. "They have great food, and a singer who was really popular in Las Vegas, but he came up here to New York after a long break from singing."

"How do you know all this?" Willow asked.

"It's on the flier that's behind your head," Satsu answered.

"Oh," Willow said, turning around. "Awesome. I say we go there for tonight."

"Hold on a sec," Angel said, grabbing the flier to get a closer look at it. Suddenly, he burst out laughing.

"Buffy, I think your boyfriend's gone insane," Kennedy whispered loudly.

"No!" Angel said, jabbing his finger at the flier. "I know him! He was part of my team, from when I lived in LA."

"You had a singer on your detective team?" Willow asked.

"He's a Pylean Deathwok Demon," Angel said. "And he was one of my good friends. Except for when he made me sing."

"You had a Pylean Deathwok Demon make you sing?" Kennedy asked.

"Yeah. See, his name is Lorne, and he came from Pylea, which is like a hell dimension. And then he stayed here, and learned about music, loved the place, and started a karaoke bar. And you see, he can perceive auras and read a person's destiny when they sing. So, on numerous occasions, when I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing, I'd have to sing for him to read my destiny."

Buffy tried hard not to laugh. "I'm sorry, baby, I just cannot picture you singing."

"Yeah, it was pretty bad."

"This sounds like fun!" Willow said, taking the flier from Angel. "We'll get a nice meal, and we'll get to see Angel's friend again."

So their plans for tonight were decided. They quickly stopped by their room to put away the weapons and blood, and went to the lounge and were seated by a waiter, who gave them menus.

"When is Lorne's show going to go on?" Angel asked.

"Lorne's final show ended around ten minutes ago," the waiter said.

"Oh. You see, I'm an old friend, and I was hoping to see him."

"He's in the kitchen right now," the waiter said. "If you would give me your name, sir, I'll ask him if he wants to come out."

"Tell him Angel is here."

"Of course. I'll be right back, sir. And if you have your orders ready at that point, I can take them."

Everyone opened his or her menu and began to flip through it to see what to get.

"I'm not very hungry," K said, closing her menu.

"What d'you mean?" Spike said. "You haven't eaten all day. Here, I'll get something, and you can share off of mine."

"Okay," K said quietly.

Spike leaned in and lowered his voice. "D'you want to talk, Pet? About what we were discussing in the training room? Because I've been doing some thinking, and there are some things I've really got to say to—"

"I know," K said, just as quietly. "I want to say some things, too. I don't know how to say them, but… can we not talk about it now? We're kind of in front of everybody, and…"

"Right," Spike sighed. "Don't worry about it. We'll talk."

"Angel!" called a voice. The waiter had returned, and beside him was a demon with green-splotched skin and horns sticking from his forehead. His smile seemed friendly and his eyes were full of life.

"Lorne," Angel said, standing up and giving him a pat on the back. "It's so great to see you."

"It's great to see you, too, big guy!" Lorne said. "Jeremy, all of their meals are on the house," he told the waiter.

"You have to join us," Angel said.

"Oh, of course!" Lorne said, pulling up a chair.

Everyone told his or her order to the waiter, and he left.

"So how have you been, Angel? God, it's been way too long."

"Things have been really great lately," Angel said. "And things seem good for you, too. No destiny stealing gigs here, I presume?"

Lorne laughed. "Good times. So who's your posse?"

"Actually, it's not really my posse," Angel explained. "It's Buffy's posse."

"Buffy!" Lorne exclaimed, looking at her. "So this is the famous Buffy! The Vampire Slayer! Oh, goodness, I've heard so much about you."

Buffy smiled. "It's nice to meet you."

"Oh, and she's not the Vampire Slayer any more," Kennedy said.

"Right, right. I've heard about that. So I'm guessing this is a Slayer army right here. Oh, and Spike! I barely noticed you."

"Yeah," Spike said. He didn't seem particularly fond of humans.

"I'm not a Slayer," Willow said.

"Uh, right. Introductions, maybe," Angel said. "Buffy, of course. And you know Spike. Next to him is K. And then Willow and Kennedy and Satsu."

"Well, it's so great to meet all of you lovely ladies."

Before long, their dinner had arrived. Everyone seemed to eat an unreasonably large amount of food except for K, who only picked a few small pieces of chicken from Spike's plate.

"Well, I've had way too much fun tonight," Lorne said, taking a sip of champagne. "I really should get to bed. I've got three more shows tomorrow. Oh, I'm here on the sixth floor of the hotel, so if you ever want to see me, stop by room 623, all right?"

"It was so great meeting you," Buffy said.

"You, too, ladies. Take care." Lorne got up and left, humming a song to the beat of his steps.

"We should sleep soon, too. We've got a big day tomorrow," Buffy said. "I'm not sure whether we're going to hit the first vamp nest in the morning, or in the night. In the morning, we've got the advantage of the sun being up. No place for the vampires to run. But we've got the disadvantage of losing two of our strongest fighters."

"I say we just do it in the morning," Spike said. "Bloody hell, Angel and I can handle a bit of sun. You don't have to worry about us."

"You're sure?" Buffy asked, looking at Angel.

"Oh, absolutely. I mean, we're fighting vampires. They can't go into the sun, so we won't have to go into the sun to kill them."

"All right. Tomorrow morning, then. We leave at 9 o'clock."

Everyone agreed, and then went up to the seventh floor.

K, Spike, and Satsu were in room 717 while the rest of them were in 718.

"Ah… of course," Satsu sighed. "Two beds, three people."

Spike approached Satsu and whispered something in her ear.

"Huh? Oh. Yeah, sure, whatever," Satsu said in response. She turned to K. "I'm just going to check on the other room. See how they're doing the sleeping arrangements there."

Satsu left through the door connecting the two rooms, and closed it behind her.

"Care to talk, Pet?" Spike asked.

K sat down on the bed. "I can't… I don't know how to put this into words, how to convince you."

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" Spike asked, crouching down on the floor in front of her. "I'm the one that needs to convince you. I love you, K. I've learned so much from you, I'm living in the moment. Right now, I think you're okay. I even like you. I love you. And I more-than-love you."

K's lip curled. "I guess you can convince me. I'm trying to convince myself."

Spike sighed. "Love… I didn't sleep at all today."

"Well, if you'd rather sleep than talk, we can talk after the vamp nest tomorrow," K said.

"That's not the point I was trying to make," Spike said, laughing slightly. "I mean, in the car. I didn't sleep. And I heard the story you told everyone else. 'Bout your ex-lover and all."

"You… heard all that?"

"Yeah. And I heard what you said about me, too."

"Oh."

"And I want to tell you, it's the same with me," he said. "I mean, I'm not a virgin, and my ex-lover wasn't exactly a nasty pig like yours, but we've got similar stories, love. What I'm feeling towards you… I call it more than love because it's just stronger, more real, than whatever I felt towards Buffy. And of course Buffy will always be in my heart. Hell, Dru will always be there, too. But not because I love them, just because of what we had. But you, Pet, are the only thing I'm thinking about right now. The only one I'm loving." Spike stood up. "And I want to convince you. And allow you to convince yourself. And… convince myself in the process. This is real, love."

K stood up slowly. "I have an idea," she said. "But you've got to trust me. I want to convince you, and myself, Spike."

"I trust you with my un-life," Spike said, smiling.

K smiled back, and held his hand, pulling him out of the room into the hallway, and towards the stairs.

"Where are we going?" Spike asked.

"I thought you said you trusted me?" K said, opening the door to the sixth floor.

She went down the hallway until she found room 623. She knocked.

Lorne opened the door. His eyes were sleepy, but he smiled. "Hey, little Slayer," he said. "And Spike."

"Hello, Lorne," K said. "I know you don't know me very well, but I was wondering if you could do me… us… a small favor?"

"Well, a friend of Angel's is a friend of mine. What d'ya need, kid?"

"Do you mind if, well, I sing to you?"

"Is that all? Go for it. Knock me out."

"You'll have to excuse my singing voice, I'm not very good." And then she realized she had no idea which song to sing. She decided to go with her favorite band, The Hush Sound. "Send out the morning birds, to sing of the damage. Now that the calm's returned, I know I can't manage," she sang. Her voice was soft, sweet, and melodious. Every note flowed into the next, every sound sounded like sweet honey to the ears. "You're standing in my doorway, though he's asleep in my bed. The steady murmur, always in my head."

"You're the finest thing that I've done," Spike began to sing. "The hurricane I'll never outrun."

K smiled, and they both began to sing together. K went slightly higher than the original song, creating the perfect harmony between their voices. "I could wait around for the dust to still, but I don't believe that it ever will."

The two of them smiled at each other, and then turned to Lorne, who had a large grin on his face.

"Well?" K asked.

"First of all, don't ever say you're a bad singer," he said. "That was absolutely beautiful."

K flushed, and looked down.

"Second, you two are absolutely adorable. I can't believe I'm associating Spike with that word, but it's so true. You two were amazing together. And did you come up with those harmonies on the spot? Kid, you've got talent. You two should start a band or something."

Spike laughed. "What'd the aura say?"

"Aura? Oh, right, of course. Well, the thing is, the aura with you two is exactly the same. So you two will be together, with each other. That's what's written in your destiny. And, honestly, it's not looking bad. It looked like love, but it was a lot stronger than that. In fact, it's making me all giddy and tired. So I hope you two are happy together, but I've really got to get some rest."

K smiled so much her face almost hurt. "Thank you so much, Lorne. We really owe you. Thank you."

"Don't mention it, kid," he said. "Now I need to get to bed. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Lorne."

He closed the door, and left Spike and K alone in the hallway.

K jumped once on her toes and then hugged Spike. "Okay, I'm officially convinced. Oh, Spike, I love you! I didn't know you knew The Hush Sound!"

Spike laughed. "It's strange, when you're alive as long as I am, you tend to listen to a lot of music."

"Yeah, but even then, not a lot of people have heard of The Hush Sound. They're a pretty indie band."

"Well, I went through a phase of listening to only rock, and then I decided I wanted something a little more poetic. And this band… well, I simply fell in love with them."

As they walked back to their room, they only talked about The Hush Sound.

"Hurricane is one of my favorite songs from them," K said. "And we did sound pretty good together on it, huh?"

They walked into 717, where Satsu was lying down on one of the beds.

"Where were you two?" she asked. "Never mind. I'm tired, and I don't want to hear any sex noises. Also, I've decided I want a bed to myself. You two can have the other one."

"Fine by me," Spike said, lifting K off the ground and placing her softly on the bed before climbing in himself.

Satsu turned off the lights, and K scooted closer to Spike.

"Goodnight," she whispered. "I love you."

"I love you."