If anyone had cared to walk though LA’s oldest cemetery in late August 1998 they would have seen two perfectly matched blondes fighting in hand to hand combat; luckily no one cared to. The moves were quick and practiced both knowing there was no room for error. They seemed to anticipate each others movements, they moved with a natural grace, advantage switching back and forth almost faster then the human eye could follow. Just as well because neither was completely human.

Suddenly the male used a split second opening to his advantage tossing the female on to her back and pressing his mouth to an odd circular scar on her neck. Gloating, the vampire named Spike stood, offering a hand to help up his partner, while smirking down at the slightly smaller blond.

“I win again, Slayer.”

The female named Buffy snorted softly, “Took you long enough we’ve been out here for almost two hours!”

“You see Slayer that was all part of my master plan, to wear you down.”

Buffy rolled her eyes; “I’m so sure.”

Surprisingly none of this was said aloud, but though the telepathic bond that was a side affect of their claim. Claiming is a vampiric mating ritual involving bloodletting and a possessive phrase such as ‘mine’. A claim between two sublevel vampires will result in empathetic feelings, allowing one to experience the others emotions on a low level. Only claims between master vampires result in such advanced telepathy as seen in this couple. The difference being that Buffy was human, or at least not a master vampire. Buffy is the Vampire Slayer. The one girl in all the world whose job it is to kill the vampires and stop the apocalypses.

The couple had met the year pervious, when they had banded together to stop the world from getting sucked into hell. When they had last seen each other Spike had been running off with his ‘true love’ Drusilla, who had walked out into the sun upon learning of her sire, Angelus’, death at Buffy’s hands. Buffy had been fighting Angelus who had been the love of her life before he lost his soul. Buffy had ran south instead of facing her feelings about killing the thing she swore to love. She was aghast at how easy it was to kill a man – vampire – that she had had such a meaningful relationship with, she was afraid her calling as the slayer was slowly changing her; that she was turning into some killing machine without a thought to the lives she ended or irrevocably changed. So she ran to rediscover herself and her views on life and death.

Spike and Buffy ran into each other in a different dimension, a parallel dimension, where it was possible to talk to loved ones, soul mates, that were lost. Surprisingly for both of them they were unable to find there lost partners but oddly found each other. Buffy couldn’t find it in her to kill the clearly broken hearted vamp and two small apocalypses later they were fast comrades. In time they both came to accept the fact that there was still hope for love, for both of them. In this other dimension time ran faster so although they had both left Sunnydale barely three months ago they had been a couple for almost a year and friends even longer. The claim had only been in affect for about a week of regular time, established after they exited the other dimension. They had accepted that the claim was not their relationship and that ending it once Buffy went back to Sunnydale did not mean that their relationship was over. They understood that keeping something like this hidden would be a problem and an even bigger problem if someone were to find out. So in respect to both their careers the claim was entirely optional.

The two months between school years was finally coming to an end and Buffy knew that she had to go back to Sunnydale, her mother and friends would be out of their minds with worry. It was the thought of her departure that keep her silent on the way back to her apartment. Spike knew her well enough to know what she was thinking without reading her mind and looking down at her shuttered face her asked,

“Worried about their reactions pet?”

Startled out of her thoughts she looked up, “Theirs’ and Snyder’s and my Mom’s and . . .” she trailed of, realizing that she was actually going to have to face them, and maybe reintegrate herself into their lives, what if they had moved on without her? Knowing Spike was waiting patently for her to finish her sentence she continued, “I bought a bus ticket, I leave at nine tomorrow night.” She felt the sadness flash through Spike even though he tried to hide it from her. “I didn’t tell you because it’s the eighth ticket I’ve bought in the last week, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to actually leave this time, but now I’m sure. I have to go now, school starts soon and maybe with Snyder being turned – I’m still not totally sure you didn’t have anything to do with that – I could somehow get back into school. I really have to sort things out with my mom I just told her I was the Slayer and left.” Spike looked down into her eyes, “If you only have until tomorrow Slayer we should make the most of our time.” Comfortable with each other they quickly switched to super speed and ran to Buffy’s apartment, barley remembering to close the door before tumbling into bed.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX

Hours later long ingrained reflexes had Buffy rolling out of bed into the dark room, the sun kept away by boards tacked up in the windows long ago. Yawning she looked around the room that she had stayed in for two months or two years depending on your dimension. She grabbed the duffel bag off the top shelf of her closest and slowly began to pack up her clothes. Not ten minutes later Spike sat straight up as though waking from a nightmare. A low growl came from his throat as he asked,

“If you insist of getting up at the crack of dawn could you at least keep your emotions down a few decibels?”

Lack of a snappy comeback told the vampire more than any emotions could that the Slayer was worried about something. Keeling down next to her he asked,

“What’s wrong pet?”

With a sigh Buffy answered, “Xander, Willow, Oz and Cordelia are my only friends well Cordelia doesn’t really count as I don’t like her, and Oz is kind of new, but still they’re my friends! What if they’ve moved on? What if . . .” Upset at all the possibilities before her Buffy fell back and looks at the ceiling before sitting back up, “I don’t know what I’ll do if they’re mad at me!” Spike looked down on her and sighed,

“Hey nothing gets people to come together like apocalypses right so I’ll just come down and stage one if they’re all giving you the cold shoulder. Then in the nick of time you can run in at after an intense fight that I’ll have to let you win I run off to nurse myself back to health and you’ll all bond and crap.” Buffy smiled at his drawn out narrative. Then nodded,

“What do you mean let me win?” Falling back on a long tradition of bantering they began packing again.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX

Minutes before her bus was supposed to leave Buffy and Spike stood in the terminal talking via the claim so as to avoid anything incriminating or suspicious in their conversation.

“Take care Slayer, make sure the whelp keeps his hands off you.”

“Ha ha. Make sure all the horny demon girls keep their hands off you. Not just the ones with horns but the ones that are . . .” she trailed off to his mental laughter, “I love you Spike.”

“Love you too Slayer.” With one last kiss she boarded the bus back to Sunnydale.

Chapter 1
Faith Hope and Trick

Spike was board. The Slayer had left so there was no one fun to spar with, and it wasn’t like he could go around killing innocents with the Slayer reading his mind. So he paced, and paced, and paced until he had an idea. Hey Slayer!

What Spike, I’m trying to study for this horrible makeup test for the new principal. Hey do you know anything about the Boxer Rebellion in China?

Ahhh, good times good times. Killed my first Slayer there you know.

Oh that’s right. What did you want?

Right, I wanted to know if you’d have a problem with me killing bad people, rapists, murderers Ect.

Sure. Wait William the Bloody is asking the Slayer for permission? What’s wrong with this picture?

Ha bloody ha Slayer. I’d rather not spend all the time we have together on my knees, begging forgiveness; I’d rather do other things on my knees. This was followed by a number of mental pictures of just what was fun to do on his knees, quickly ending the dialogue and study portion of the evening.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX

Two days later.

As Spike sulked in an ally he could feel the Slayer’s annoyance at Willow like a loud buzz in his head. What’d Red do now Slayer?

sigh She keeps trying to set me up with this total loser guy named Scott. I’m running out of excuses for not going out with him. I can’t just say that I’m in love with the vampire that I met when I ran away from home now can I? Plus Giles keeps riding me about the whole Acathla thing. I so do not want to open that can of worms to them they’ll never understand. Anyway what’s up with you?

Not much. Oh I heard on the demonic grapevine that a new Slayer in moving west, apparently she broke free from her Watcher or something and wanted to meet you. Should be interesting shouldn’t it? Maybe I’ll come up and meet her too.

Not that I don’t want you to come up here but if she’s anything like Kendra she’ll be after me to stake you silly and that will lead to awkward questions. Questions that I’m so not ready for.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX

Next Night.

Buffy fell on to her bed after a short patrol, ready to tell Spike about her interesting new friend Faith, and her excellent acting job, no one guessed that she knew that Faith was coming. Buffy slowly reached out the claim searching for Spike’s unmistakable signature. She found him in an ally fighting with two large men with knives. Spike gave no sign that he felt her increased presence in his head, but paid full attention to the fight ahead of him. It was a fast fight, the only trouble coming when one of the men’s cross necklaces burned Spike’s hand, causing the Slayer to feel an accompanying burn on her own hand. Looking down she saw a much fainter burn mark than the one Spike currently had, but it was still noticeable. Back in LA Spike had recovered and had finished draining both men so he turned his attention to Buffy. What’s up pet?

Deciding not to worry about the burn mark she quickly told Spike all about the new Slayer, She’s totally the exact opposite of Kendra. She’s like totally hard-assed one of those ‘don’t let them see the pain’ chicks. Xander’s in love. Willow totally digs her too. I sort of feel like yesterdays Slayer. I’m no longer shiny and new. sigh

You’ll always be my favorite Slayer love. Comforted Buffy sat and listened to Spike’s life, the death of Drusilla had left him the vampire closest related to the Master, apparently a big deal in the vampire world, he now had underlings and a legacy to continue down a line, ‘Course I never liked siring new vamps to begin with, now there’s no one I’d want to sire anyway and all these people keep harping on it. I told them I wanted it to be someone famous witch stopped questioning at least for a little while well they tried to find someone good enough. Well trying to figure out how best to help Spike with his problem Buffy suddenly sat straight up. OMG! Giles will want to know Dru’s gone and that you’re all princely now. What are we going to do? I can’t tell him!

Down Slayer. I’ll make a quick appearance in a couple weeks blaming you for her death, and maybe we can reestablish the claim, it’ll probably be a little weaker by then any way. Although this was said (thought?) casually Buffy could feel his anxiety over her answer and loved him all the more for it. That sounds great honey! Trust me You’ll love Faith everyone else seems to.

A/N: When I do page brakes I’ll just put in the number of days later at the end of the row of Xs. That sounds confusing but it’s really not. Now as I doubt anyone is actually reading this on to the story! Is the formating removing the bold? Cause if it is I'll make the claim convos diffrent.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX1

It was close to two in the morning, when Spike suddenly felt a huge wash of fear, annoyance, and adrenaline wash through him. Since he was just sitting in a bar he, made a wild guess that something was happening with Buffy. He quickly followed her emotions back to her mind, strengthening the claim until he could see, hear, and smell Buffy’s surroundings as if he was standing there himself. What he saw greatly angered him, a small brunette was mercilessly beating on a vamp that she should have long ago dusted, if the rolled back into his head state of his eyes was anything to go by. Then he saw Buffy, she was reaching for a piece of wood while two vamps came dangerously close to her neck. Desperate, Spike feed her a lot of his strength she sent him a quick Thanks before shoving the vamps off her and staking them. Confident that Buffy could give the girl what-for all by herself, Spike pulled out and trusted that she would tell him all about it when she was alone again. Oddly tired he headed back to his crypt after dissuading a few demon girls from following him back.

So then she goes, ‘I thought you could handle yourself’ like she hadn’t done anything to get upset about! It was two hours since the almost deadly patrol in the ally and Buffy was busy complaining to Spike about Faith, as no one else would listen to anything bad about the ‘cool, new Slayer’. Slayer’s are supposed to kill vamps not beat them to a bloody pulp! It’s supposed to be a fair fight, same strength, same speed, and the same endurance. Slaying is not supposed to be about torturing vamps it’s about getting the job done.

Yes Slayer you’ve been saying the same thing for hours. If you want me to, I’ll kill her when I’m down there.

I wish you could. But I have this weird feeling I’m going to need her for something later.

Whatever you say Buffy. Actually I think I’m going to come up there sometime . . . she interrupted him And you know what else she did! She’s totally hitting on Scott!

Scott?

That guy Willow’s been setting me up with.

And that’s a bad thing?

Well no.

Wouldn’t it be a good idea to let her have him, then Red would stop trying to push you two together. Unless of course you actually like this guy. Buffy wasn’t as stupid as she looked, she instantly registered Spike’s insecure tone and hastened to reassure him. NO! It’s not like that it . . . it just feels like she’s becoming me. She’s wooing everything that’s mine over to her side. First my friends, then my Watcher, then my mom, then the guy I’ve been getting set up with. I feel like she’s taking over all my stuff. Can’t I be a little ticked?

Sure Slayer. If it makes you feel better I’ll hate her too. Anyway I was thinking that I’d come up in about a week or so. Is that ok?

Why wouldn’t it be? I really miss you. It’s really hard going from living together and seeing each other every day to never seeing each other.

Trust me love I know what you mean, but there is a way we can relieve the frustration. The talking portion of the evening quickly ended after that.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX1

I think I understand Faith a lot better now. Buffy began their nightly convo. I realized today that I’m not the only person in the world that has gone through stuff. Just because Faith wasn’t forced to kill her ex doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have issues too. And who am I to refuse her special treatment when I make everyone give it to me? I know I’ve been a bitch and I want to apologize.

All is forgiven love. So what happened to make you have this revelation?

There was this guy Kissing toast or something and it turned out that he had tortured Faith’s watcher right in front of her. I never had to deal with someone I love getting hurt and not be able to do anything about it. I think I can begin to understand more about her. We’ve reached a sort of wary truce now and we’re happy.

That’s good. Ten days till I come up.

Yeah! Right now though I just want to sleep. Goodnight!

Love you.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX6

Slayer I’m back!

Oh good! How was the hell dimension? Who was it that got married?

Hot, learned lots of new demonic things though. This one howler demon married a vampire. I was only invited because I’m the Master’s Son. It was formal and ughhh. Reminded me of the kind of parties I used to go to before I was turned. Boring as, well, hell. What happened with you?

Ran for homecoming queen, lost. Survived the SlayerFest ’98 – Thanks for the heads up – and had a creepy candy make all the adults do the flashback to when they were young.

Sounds like a normal week in the life of the Slayer. How many nasties went down?

Five vamps, two demons.

So I’m heading up to Sunnydale. I’ll probably be there Monday. Three more days!

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX1

Hey Faith has a new watcher! She’s all evil. Well not really but she is so annoying she keeps ragging on Giles, Faith and me about our slaying. She’s horrible!

What’s this bird’s name? Maybe I’ll make sure she meets with an unfortunate accident well I’m there.

Gwendolyn Post. Don’t kill her, maybe you could like rip out her tongue or something.

There’s my blood thirsty Slayer.

Ha. Seriously she is so annoying. She’s really worried about finding that glove of whatever so that Large-os what’s-him-name doesn’t.

This wouldn’t be Largos?

I guess.

He’s a seriously evil dude, Slayer. What’s this glove’s name?

My-hen-gone?

Myhnegon. If you find it don’t touch it! It doesn’t come off until death. Dru wanted it once for her birthday. I couldn’t find it searched every cemetery in Sunnydale; this was before you of course. I didn’t look through the Restfeild before we had to leave. It’s probably there.

Hey cool! I’ll look. Love you!

Love you.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX1

Guess what!

What?

Gwen was evil! I was right again!

Really now?

Yep. She was after the my-hen-is-gone glove all for herself.

Your life should be a TV show Slayer. You just can’t get board with your life story.

Tell me about it. So how was your day?

Not that interesting I got the Desoto out of storage. I should be there tomorrow night.

I can’t wait. I miss you so much.

Until then, my love, I love you.

I love you too Spike.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX

Chapter 4
Lover's Walk

A/N: Does anyone know where Faith is supposed to be during Lover’s Walk? I re-read the transcript like eight times before I realized that she just seems to have disappeared. So that’s how mine is going to work, which I realize is a really sad excuse but putting Faith in would just be way confusing and I’m lazy.

There is no Xander / Willow tension! That couple always screamed incest to me.

Thought is italic. Claim convo is bold italic.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX

When Spike pulled in to town on Tuesday night, he couldn’t resist plowing through the large ‘Welcome to Sunnydale’ sign as he had before. The slight itch under his skin told him he had a good five hours before sun rise. Anxious to see Buffy, he sent out thought waves to find out where she was.

Which cemetery are you in luv?

Restfeild. Why are you here!

Just pulled in, where should we meet?

Even though they could easily have figured out their plan using the claim, they needed to see each other, long distance relationships were hard enough to maintain without ever seeing each other. They also needed to reestablish the claim, so that the distance didn’t weaken it. So fifteen minutes later Slayer and vampire could be found in a passionate embrace inside the old factory. It was hard to say who was hugging whom harder, though there was no question that any human would have been crushed by the forces.

We should make a plan.

Later.

Not arguing with that.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX

Two hours later, claim renewed and bodies sated, (at least for now) they began concocting a brilliant plan. As in tune as they were, they still fought. After all fighting was one of the best parts of their relationship. Eventually though they came to an impasse. Spike wanted to kidnap Willow and Giles, and Buffy wanted Willow and Xander.

“Why would I take Xander? He’s not going to do me any good. Giles knows everything. Besides I hate Xander!”

“What if Willow and Xander were walking down the street together? Then you just grab the two that are easiest.”

“I wouldn’t take the whelp if he was lying, already knocked out on the side on the road! Can you imagine having that excuse for a human being swirling around in your insides? Bleck! Giles makes way more sense.”

“I just . . . I’m not sure if Giles is still right in the head after the whole Angel thing. I don’t think he’ll be Ok going through something like that again, and I need him!”

Sighing Spike gave in, “Alright, Slayer. But I reserve the right to say I told you so.” Buffy laughed,

“That’s fine.”

An hour later they had the whole plan hammered out. Buffy would pretend she heard a fledgling bragging about the Son of the Master, causing a research session that only Xander and Willow would be able to attend. Easy enough because Giles was going to some retreat, Cordelia had sworn off research and Oz had band practice on Thursday nights. As the two Scoobies left Buffy’s house Spike would jump out from behind a bush and carry them off to the factory. There he would then tell them all about his sadness with Dru dieing and then tell them how he blamed Buffy. He would then tell Xander to get Buffy and no one else or Willow would die. Buffy and Spike would meet for their final showdown. Willow would run and the couple could finally have some alone time. The last thing they decided was to let Joyce know about their relationship. Buffy was hoping that it would make up for her being the only one that didn’t know about the Slayer thing.

Suddenly realizing how late it was they ran back to the Summers’ house before sunrise.

Joyce handled the news of their relationship a lot better than either of them had expected. According to her they had had chemistry during the truce. She made Spike slept on a cot in the basement to avoid the sun, and she refused to let him sleep in a crypt as he had planned.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX1

The next school day went as well as can be expected, Buffy was so distracted she sat in her English classroom for five minutes without realizing it had ended. Willow noticed her obvious distraction, but the Slayer would not say what she was thinking about . . . or with. The real reason for her distraction was the fact that with out the distance between them she could slip in to Spike’s thoughts a lot easier then she remembered it being, even when they had been together in LA. Her distraction was in the fact that Spike had frequent, hot dreams during the day causing her to stare off into space frustration building as the day went on. ‘Stupid horny vampire!’ She ranted as she walked into the library after school. She shifted uncomfortably as Giles told her where he would be, how to reach him and various warnings about patrol. She had his entire caution speech memorized by now and spoke the last sentence with him, “If you get seriously hurt go directly home. I know Giles you’re only going to be gone three days it will be fine.” She smiled at him reassuringly walked him to his car and watched him leave. As soon as he was out of her eyesight she ran full speed to the factory where she knew Spike would be waiting.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX1

The next day Buffy told Willow all about the annoying vamp with whom she’d fought the night before.

“It was so annoying! He kept going, ‘The son of the Master will avenge my death, for tomorrow he comes!’ uhh. I staked him just to get him to stop.”

Willow was worried that it might be a real threat, “Who’s the Son of the Master?”

“Like I know.”

“We should research it.”

Buffy sighed and tried to look regretful, “I guess. We should meet at my house though because the new principal will not be happy with us staying the night.”

That planned out Buffy went off to enjoy a lovely day at school.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX

After a two hour research session with Buffy Xander and Willow walked out the front door and out top the street.

“Did Buffy seem more . . . relaxed to you Willow?” Xander asked.

“She seemed kinda, glowey. Like ya know how she’s been all stretched since she came back from LA? Ever since yesterday she seems more together, at peace. You think she’s finally getting over last year?”

Xander looked at her oddly, “No. I thought that she recently got laid, but maybe it’s your thing.”

Hiding in the bushes Spike listened to their conversation. He felt a mix of guilt and happiness that Buffy was so affected by their distance. Pushing aside the feelings he jumped in front of Willow and Xander, first knocking Willow to the ground where she lay unconscious, then turning his attention to Xander he couldn’t resist a dramatic, “She’ll pay.” before knocking him out too.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX1

‘This plan is going perfectly’ Spike thought as he ignored Xander’s repetitive speech about how Buffy was going to save them any minute. This particular speech had been going on for two whole bloody hours! He vowed to himself, (loudly so Buffy would hear) that the Slayer would pay for this. His only response was a giggle and a naughty suggestion of punishment. Finally tiring of Xander’s insistent prattle Spike slapped him hard upside the head.

“The Slayer doesn’t even know you both are missing yet!” He exploded. “If you keep annoying me like this I might be tempted to spell my message for the Slayer in bruises!” He paused to make sure his threat was understood then continued, “I’m only keeping you long enough to worry her anyway. She will be out of her mind with worry that her poor weak friends are missing, until you crawl up to her with the message to meet me in the mansion.” Taking a deep pull from his brown bag covered water he continued. “Then I’ll beat the living daylights out of the women that killed my Dark Princess.” He ended on a very theatrical moan, falling to his knees in fake anguish. Xander took this as an opportunity to run for the door. Before he got halfway he was met with a very angry vampire before the dark claimed him again and he succumbed to unconsciousness.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX

A little while after Spike’s angry threat Buffy was in fifth period when she felt Spike’s panic. Quickly slipping into his mind she barely held back a gasp of surprise, ‘This is so not according to plan!’

TBC . . .

Disclaimer: I don’t own them. Bet you didn’t see that coming.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX

Spike felt Buffy’s increased presence in his mind but couldn’t spare her a thought, all his attention was on the scene in front of him. Apparently all Buffy’s talks about safety hadn’t been for nothing, Willow held a cross in her hand. Willow had taken a while to wake up after Spike had knocked her out outside Buffy’s house. Apparently she was fine, and had weapons. Spike was deeply conflicted, all his vampiric urges told him to attack the threat and get rid of it but his love for Buffy and all she cared about wouldn’t let him hurt Willow. Well he was arguing within himself Willow was approaching the door, cross steadily pointed at him. Quickly Spike went over his options again and decided on the most appealing one, grabbing Xander in a lightning fast move he quickly vamped out, holding Xander in an eating-friendly position,

“Drop the cross Red and no one gets killed, ‘cept Buffy ‘acorse.” He watched interestedly as Willow considered for a second before dropping the cross with a slump of her shoulders, the picture of defeat. Spike threw Xander back on the bed and using his duster as a glove, quickly threw the cross out the door. The duster didn’t protect his whole hand, just a small part and he was now sporting a large burn down the side of his palm. Turning his attention to Buffy quickly he assured her he was fine before knocking out both his captives again. Back in class Buffy noticed a long burn on the side of her palm.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX

The rest of the plan went smoothly. The night lying together in the factory Spike brought up something that had been bothering him,

“Is us living apart a problem for you?”

“I’m not gonna lie, it is difficult but I’m not ready to live each day lying outright to all my friends, as I would if you lived here. Every once and a while it’s fun. Right now I think the cons outweigh the pros, someday that may change but for now it’s easier this way.”

“We could always tell everyone.” Buffy paused,

“I don’t think that will turn out well. With the recent demise of Angelus there’s no way they’d accept us as a couple. I know you’re not Angel and you don’t have a soul to lose, but they won’t understand it. There is no way they’ll trust you. When the time comes we’ll tell them all about us, not now it’s too soon.” Comforted by her admittance that it might change someday Spike let the subject drop. They laid together in silence until Buffy spoke, “I should really go.” Spike immediately began kissing her neck in an effort to waylay her departure. “No, stop I really have to get home.” Buffy pleaded weakly until she decided, “The hell with it!” and pounced.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX

Buffy walked into her house later and found Xander and Willow anxiously awaiting her arrival. She groaned,

“Not that I’m not happy you’re here, I just really need a shower.” Xander jumped up hands clasped,

“Please, please tell me you’re washing off vamp dust.”

“Sorry Xander Spike got away.”

“How? He was completely smashed.”

“He sobered up.” Disappointed Xander sat back down with a weary sigh. Willow spoke up,

“What happened to your hand Buffy?”


“What? Oh! Burn, evil oven. Guys I love you but if I don’t get a shower soon I’m afraid for your lives. I’ll tell you everything tomorrow I promise.” Xander and Willow filed out, promising to see her in the morning, after Buffy locked the door her mom walked in from the kitchen, they went in the dining room together, and Joyce gave her daughter a long hug.

“Spike’s not coming back tonight?”

“No he went back to LA.” With a sigh Joyce sat down next to Buffy,

“Long distance relationships can be hard sweetie.”

“Relationship?” Asked a small voice by the door, “You and Spike are in a relationship?” Willow had forgotten her purse.

Chapter 6
(I was tempted to just leave you all hanging but I decided to be nice.)

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX

“You’re in a relationship with Spike!” Willow’s voice was high. Buffy sighed, she really wanted a shower.

“Yes, Will I’m in a relationship with Spike. I realize that you may have problems with this but if you just sit down . . .” Buffy trailed off at the look of outrage on Willow’s usually accepting face,

“How could you date that, that monster! Do you know what he did? He threatened to kill Xander! Did you guys even fight after we left or was it all ‘Ah, honey it’s ok that you slipped up this one time honey, I won’t stake you, because you’re good in bed!’” Buffy was slightly shocked at Willow’s outburst; Willow was always so even tempered and accepting, after all she was dating a werewolf.

“Will, Spike hasn’t done anything since Angel died that I haven’t been fully behind, even thought of.” The look of shock on Willow’s face made Spike (who was eavesdropping though the claim) laugh. Willow fell, boneless into the chair that Joyce had vacated after Buffy had made it clear she was going to tell the truth. “Spike and I met this summer we’ve been dating for over a year now because we met in an alternate universe called Htrae, the realm of true love, a parallel dimension where I lived for two years. When we met we were both dealing with the deaths of our true loves . . .”

Half an hour later Willow was totally caught up on Buffy and Spike’s relationship and still in complete shock, first that Buffy was dating a vampire and was claimed by him, second that she had hid it from everyone for so long, Buffy was not good at keeping secrets. Willow had been silent through out Buffy’s whole explination, absorbing information, now that she had the entire story she had questions, lots of questions.

“What was with the whole hostage thing?”

“Giles needed to know that Spike was the new Son of the Master and that Dru was dead, we also needed to reestablish the claim, and I didn’t think you guys would buy that Spike was in town to sightsee.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Why should I? You guys were just so accepting of Angel even when he did have a soul and we didn’t know that anything would get rid of it. None of you ever trust me or my decisions, what did I say about the insane watcher when she came into town? That she was evil! But ‘oh no we can’t believe Buffy because she’s just being paranoid’,” Buffy was spewing out almost three years of injustices that had been brewing inside her for a very long time. But she realized Willow was an innocent party in the Buffy bashing and began to settle down “I didn’t want to tell you all because I wasn’t ready for another round of ‘let’s tell Buffy how to run her life’ from Xander and Giles.” Buffy took a deep breath before continuing, “Anymore questions?”

“Am I aloud to tell Oz?”

“NO!” Slightly shocked at Buffy’s vehement answer she flinched slightly but Buffy noticed and was instantly apologetic, “It’s not that I don’t trust Oz, it’s that, well if the council got a hold of this information I’d probably end up on the wrong side of a gun. Willow you can’t tell anyone with out my clearance of the area, to make sure that there is no one staking out the house. You promise?”

“Yeah, sure.” Slightly disturbed at the idea of the council killing Buffy Willow took a second to adjust her world-view before continuing the questioning, “So the claim is why you have the same burn as Spike?”

“Kind of. If I hadn’t been submerged in Spike’s consciousness at the time I probably would have just felt a shadow of it. On the other hand if I had been blocking the claim I wouldn’t have even felt him get hurt.” Suddenly Buffy smiled, “Spike says that you were always his favorite, ‘cept when you were forcing Scott on me.” Willow flushed realizing that she’d been influencing Buffy to cheat on her . . .boyfriend? . . .mate? . . .husband? confused she decided to ask.

“Are you guys like married?”

“Only in the demon world,” Suddenly she laughed, seeing the confusion on Willow’s face she quickly explained, “Spike’s grumbling that we should be married in all worlds but we had to wait until I was legal.” Seeing Buffy’s happiness something that hadn’t been in large supply during her fatal relationship with Angel Willow realized that this relationship was good for her friend and decided to be behind her.

“I’m happy for you Buffy, you deserve some happiness in your life. And that you’ve found someone who understands you so well.” Joy was apparent on Buffy’s face as relieved tears pooled in her eyes,

“Thank you so much Will.” With a watery smile the two friends hugged when Joyce came in suddenly and suggested that Willow stay the night instead of going home, seeing how late it was. So the two best friends walked upstairs to gossip about thier boyfriends, and Buffy finally got her shower.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX1

*Red took that a lot better then I would have thought.*

*Yeah I was a little worried in the beginning but all in all it was fine. That’s not even close to how Xander and Giles are going to react.*

*(growl) Those wankers wouldn’t know true feelings if they danced naked in front of them.*

*(laugh) I know you’re right it’s just . . . is it wrong to want their blessing?*

*No luv they’re your friends, of course it’s Ok to want them to approve of your boyfriend. But hey if it makes you feel better think about it this way, your mom and best girlfriend have already given you their blessing, that’s two down and two or three to go.*

*Well as callous as this sounds, I don’t care what Cordy thinks, Faith is Faith so she doesn’t care and Oz is a werewolf so he wouldn’t really care. Giles and Xander’s opinions matter to me though and they’re both going to go ballistic. I think that if I wait longer and have more of your ‘evil plans’ with my support behind us it will make a difference in it. *

*Yeah most likely.* Spike was distracted form the conversation by a sudden wave of sadness from Buffy, *Luv what’s wrong?*

*It’s silly. I just miss you already and you just left not ten hours ago. This is a lot harder then I would have ever thought.*

*Love say the word and I invest in a top of the line crypt in Sunnydale.*

*God you have no idea how tempting that is, but not yet. I’ll probably break sometime next year. Because this is HARD!*

*(laugh) Hey did you talk to your mom about coming down here for the summer?*

*Yeah! She said I could as long as I give her a week’s notice that I’m leaving. She’s still really jumpy about me going anywhere without running away.*

*That’s great! To bad we can’t get back to Htrae. I’d be like an anniversary trip.*

*(giggle) Well technically our anniversary is in May if you remember correctly.*

*‘Corse I do silly bint. But seeing as how we’re not going to be together then we can celebrate this summer.*

*Sounds like fun, I’ve got to go mom wants me to help her carry stuff for the gallery. I swear you get super powers from the PTB and you’re suddenly everyone’s pack mule.*

*(laugh) Goodnight Slayer, I love you.*

*Love you too Spike.*

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX Buffy’s birthday

The night before Buffy’s 18th birthday Spike was lying in his crypt waiting for her to come in from patrol so they could chat when he suddenly felt a dizzy sensation spear through Buffy and then dissipate. Spike sat up straight, something wasn’t right, he could barely feel the Slayer through the bond and she was scared, very scared. In a fiery burst of temper Spike leapt off his coffin and began to pace back and forth continuing to try to get to Buffy through the bond, but he couldn’t feel her the way he was used to, anytime he got close to her consciousness she seemed to fade causing him to pull back

*Buffy love, are you OK?* No answer came to his frantic question but he could tell she wasn’t ignoring him; it was like she couldn’t hear him. Suddenly Spike felt Buffy’s wrist bend in an awkward way, one that wouldn’t be any problem to a Slayer but Spike felt Buffy’s pain. What scared him more than anything though was that his own wrist didn’t hurt, not even a twinge. Knowing something horrible must have happened Spike rushed out of his crypt and quickly ran to his car that had been stored in an underground parking lot a block from his graveyard, five hours from now he would know exactly what was going on.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX

Spike used his all his vampire-enhanced senses to find Buffy when he got out of his car in Sunnydale but he had to retreat once the sun began rising, looking around him her quickly decided Willow’s house was closer than the Summer’s and ran the three blocks to her house.

“Spike!” Willow was shocked when she opened the door and found her best friend’s boyfriend standing there. Realizing that the sun would be up any second she quickly invited him in before questioning him as too why he was in town,

“Something’s up with the Slayer, something bad. If I had to guess I’d say that her powers have fled the building, the state and the country, she was almost killed by a vamp last night and then almost got lost walking home.”

“What? Is that possible?”

“Dru always reckoned that if you put the right mix of herbs into a Slayers bloodstream the powers would sleep for a while, but I don’t see how Buffy could have ingested these herbs accidentally. There’s no way any vamp could have gotten close enough to drug her. The drug would have to be placed in a very specific vain in order not to be immediately killed off by the Slayer immune system. Only someone close to her could have done this. Do you know if she’s been to the doctor lately?” Slightly thrown off by this sudden wash of information Willow took a second to process it before answering.

“No, no she hasn’t gone to any doctors since she was called. My bet would be that Xander is under someone’s thrall or it’s just something Slayers go though when they turn eighteen.”

“A Slayer routinely losing her powers when she’s eighteen? Something like that would get around the demon world and I’ve never heard of it. Granted not many Slayers live to eighteen. My best bet would be the watcher.”

“Giles?” Willow was thrown, there was absolutely no possible way that Giles could have done it, he wanted Buffy to be a Slayer, he wouldn’t have any reason to drug his own Slayer. “It can’t be Giles. He gains nothing by making sure Buffy loses her powers, in fact he loses a Slayer.”

“Yes but maybe the Council of Wankers . . . she’s waking up! Call her tell her to come over here!”

“Can’t you just . . .” Willow made a hand motion that was supposed to convey telepathy.

“Not when she doesn’t have powers, I could order her too but she’d just be like a zombie and I can’t do that to her.” The energy that had held Spike together throughout the entire disaster began to wear off and he sank to the floor in a puddle, trying to get his composure back while Willow called Buffy.

“Buffy, can you come over for a little while before school? . . . Why? Uh, I’ve got a surprise.” At Spike’s questioning glace Willow shrugged “OK I’ll see you soon.”

“What’s with the secrecy Red?”

“Well I didn’t get Buffy anything good for her birthday anyway; I can say you’re my present.” Spike laughed weakly,

“What were you doing up so early anyway?”

“Homework. You want anything? I don’t have any blood but I could make tea.”

“No that’s Ok Red, we’ll just wait for Buffy to get here, and you’ve got to have some questions for me anyway.” Willow smiled; she had been waiting for this opportunity.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX

Chapter 8
Helpless pt2

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX

Willow slid to the floor across from Spike and threw out the sheet of questions that had been brewing in her head ever since she had found out about the happy couple and went with her gut, “What will you do if she never gets her powers back?”

Spike seriously considered the question, “Truthfully? Things get a lot less complicated, for me and her.” He quickly pinpointed the Slayer’s location before continuing, he didn’t want her to overhear and assume the wrong thing, “An unsouled vampire and the Slayer don’t actually have an easy road ahead of them ya know?” He reached into his pocket for a cigarette and lit it before continuing, “More so for us because I’m the Son of the Master and she’s already killed half of my line. On the other hand though Buffy isn’t Buffy without her powers, she’s told me a bit about her pre-called years and apparently she was real shallow. If she went back to that I don’t think I’d feel the same way about her. If her personality stays the same then of course we’d stay together. One thing that’s unquestionable is that we’d have to get rid of the claim, I can barley think for fear I’ll give her a command that she’ll have no choice to follow.”

Willow took a second to absorb this information before continuing with her questioning, “How many people have you killed lately?”

Spike laughed softly, “Four since Buffy left LA. I’ve turned into this horrible vigilante; I drink from criminal types and leave them outside police stations. Two I killed were accidents; it’s hard to pull out in time to leave them alive. The other two were planning to go after Buffy.”

Willow was slightly shocked, “Humans? Humans wanted to go after Buffy?”

“Yeah. When she was down in LA she busted up a whorehouse that they had apparently been frequenting. It was in their minds to take up a little revenge, I dissuaded them of the idea.” Shocked it took Willow a second to think of another question. “Better hurry up Red, Slayer’s almost here.”

“Yeah, this claim thing. Assuming Buffy gets her powers back and grows old you’d stay with her until she died right? Have you thought at all about how hard that would be? What I’m asking is would you ever turn Buffy if she was dying?”

Spike stared at Willow in disbelief for a second, “You mean you don’t know?”

“Know what?”

“That Slayers are immortal.”

“What!”

“Yep. Once they turn 25 they stop aging, and no human sickness can infect or kill them after they’re called. I figured with all your researching that you would have learned that by now. ‘Corse not many know it, how many Slayers even get to 25 anyway?”

Willow gaped at him in shock, “Does Buffy know?”

“Yeah I thought she would have told you. Better get the door Red, Slayer’s walking up right now”

Still in shock Willow got up and opened the door to her friend, “Hey Will. What’s . . .” Buffy trailed of when she saw Spike, going still before suddenly throwing herself into his arms, hugging him tightly. Standing on the side Willow was stuck by how well Buffy and Spike fit together. Any other time they had been together, they had been fighting so their jigsaw like fit had gone unnoticed. Willow watched Buffy’s face as the Slayer slowly realized that something was wrong with the claim ultimately wrenching herself away and asking him out right, “Why are you ignoring me?”

Spike sighed, “I’m not, you just can’t hear me answer you.”

“What?”

“Humans and vampires can’t communicate telepathically.”

“Humans?” Suddenly putting together the pieces Buffy sank into an armchair, “I’ve lost my powers haven’t I?” When both Willow and Spike didn’t answer she asked again, “Haven’t I?”

“Yes luv. I think that someone’s been giving you injections with a mix of herbs. The good thing is that I know an antidote.”

“Good you can just . . .”

“The bad news is that it has to be injected within an hour of the first injection.” Spike interrupted her, “Your powers should come back sometime tonight if it’s the poison I think it is. What worries me is that the poison has to be injected into a specific spot in order to not be flushed out by the Slayer immunities so the chances of a vampire or demon having put it in are extraordinarily slim. I believe . . .”

“Giles.” Buffy interrupted him, “It has to be Giles, he’s been pushing crystals lately, I zoned out last night when he put a big blue one in front of me. He must have done it then.”

Spike took a second to control his rage towards the Watcher before continuing, “I figured as much. Buffy if he does it again you need to come straight to me for the antidote; I’m going to hide in the basement of the school. I think the best course of action is to pretend that you don’t know any of this, just act like you’re still incapacitated then when the time comes that the entire plan is revealed you can defeat whatever the evil is.”

“I don’t know if I can do that.”

“Well we can do plan B . . .”

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX

Buffy stopped in the basement before class to tell Spike how everything had gone, “He actually suggested it was the flu! I’m just so sure flu bugs routinely rob Slayers of their powers right?”

“How’d everyone else react?”

“I haven’t told them yet I figure that it’ll be over sometime tonight so what’s the point in worrying everyone else?”

“You’re probably right.”

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX

That night as Buffy sat in the library with Giles, Spike watched, unnoticed in the shadows he smiled sadly when Buffy tried to get Giles to agree to take her to the ice show, but the older man was distracted when he set the crystal in front of Buffy Spike let out a small growl, he watched as Giles carefully measured the formula and began to inject it into her skin Spike jumped out of the shadows and forced himself to sound casual, “Always knew they injected steroids into the Slayers.” Giles seemed to be in shock.

“Spike?”

“You remember me? I’m touched Watcher. Heard the Slayer was having a birthday, figured I’d come into town to make sure it was as good as the pervious one. Thought she’s like a surprise. So Surprise!” With that Spike grabbed Buffy and ran to the place where no one would look for them, his house.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX