Spike blinked his eyes and cringed as he braced himself for the dragon’s fiery blast. When it didn’t come, he opened a cautious eye. The bloodied battlefield was gone, and in its place were a bright yellow road, numerous flowers, and a farmhouse that looked as if it had been dropped from the sky. He instinctively ducked under his duster, but realized that if this sun planned on setting him on fire, it would have done so instantly. Peeking his head out of the duster after waggling a nervous hand in the direct sunlight, Spike steadied himself as he basked in the glory of sun, regardless of what world said light was from.

Where the bloody hell…

A shaken blonde woman stepped out of the crashed house in a blue and white-checkered dress and a pair of sparkling red pumps. Her green eyes filled with tears as she turned and noticed Spike staring at her.

“Oh my God…Spike?”

Spike’s mouth hung agape, as his eyes traveled over her frame.

“Buffy? Pet, is that you?”

“Yeah…I think. I don’t…I don’t know…am I dead?”

“No, love, unless I am too….”

“But you are.”

“Yeah, har har. Vampire jokes are so last century, pet.”

“No, I mean, like, really; dead, dead. At the Hellmouth.”

“Oh…right. Came back.”

“You what?”

“Came back, love. Been working with the Poofter.”

Buffy’s kick was fast and hard. Spike flew down on the brick road with a ‘thud.’ He rolled to his side, coughing.

“Ow! Bloody hell, Slayer! What was that for?”

“How long?”

“You of all people should know that, pet,” he said with a smirk.

She walked over, calmly, and kicked him in the stomach, but his pain subsided as his eyes ventured up her gingham skirt.

“Lovely knickers, Slayer.”

She shut her eyes, ignored his last statement, and sighed.

“How long have you been back?”

His lusty gaze fell into a sad, reflective stare.

“Ah…been back a while, love…‘bout a year.”

Buffy moved toward Spike again, who flinched instinctively, expecting another kick to the stomach. Instead, Buffy collapsed onto the road next to him, her hands in her face, and her eyes flooding over with tears.

“Why didn’t you tell me? I…did…did you even try to find me?”

“Buffy, pet, you were better off without me.”

“And why’s that,” she asked, her forgotten fury building again. “I love how everyone decides what’s best for me without even thinking that maybe, just maybe, I’d like to run my life for a change.”

Buffy stood up, flustered, and walked back to the crashed farmhouse, leaning on it for support as her shoulders slumped forward. When she began to sob, Spike’s heart felt as if it was breaking, and he moved to her side, swiftly.

“Buffy, love, don’t cry…come on now, Slayer…buck up. It isn’t all that bad, is it?”

She turned angrily to face him, but her rage faded into a deep sadness as she caught his gaze with her own.

“Do you have any idea what I’ve been through this past year? I haven’t…uh…I can’t even function in my life anymore. I feel so lost…all I can do is go on assignments and kill something, then head back to whatever dank accommodations the Council sets us up in, then sleep until the next assignment.”

“Us, pet?”

“Me, Xander, Andrew, Willow, and some of the potentials. We’re basically a ‘kill squad’ now. Giles and Dawn are in England heading up the new Council. I hate it. After everything happened with you, I wanted to give up…but they wouldn’t let me. I didn’t even get a chance to mourn…or…rest…nothing. They just decided that I needed to keep fighting anything that passed us by, and if nothing passed by, I needed to go find something. I just….”

Buffy again broke down into a heap of tears. Spike scooped her up into his arms, and stared into her tear-filled eyes.

“ ‘m sorry, pet. I don’t know how else to say it. I’m a fool for thinking you were better off without me, yeah?”

She nodded and sniffled.

“Andrew…Andrew said that when Angel was in Rome, he ran into the Immortal and me…”

Spike’s face dropped.

“Yeah.”

“You were with him, weren’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“And that’s why you didn’t try to find me after that, isn’t it? You thought I was off with the Immortal?”

Spike shrugged in an attempt to mask his heartbreak.

“Couldn’t hold it against you, pet, I was dead, you got over it, and you looked happy.”

“Happy. Right. Describe how I looked, if you don’t mind.”

“Well, pet, you were all dolled up and hanging all over him, and you looked…chipper…and bouncy…and….”

“Bright eyed and bushy tailed?”

“Yeah, I guess that about sums it up.”

“And when was the last time you ever saw me look like that?”

Spike’s eyes darted back and forth, as if reading first-hand accounts of Buffy’s antics in his mind. His mouth dropped slightly as he laughed.

“It wasn’t you.”

She smiled.

“Nope.”

“Another Buffy-bot, yeah?”

“Yeah. With how much experience you had with the last one, shouldn’t you be able to distinguish between the two of us?”

“Oh, lay of it, Slayer.”

She grinned, wiping the tears off of her cheeks.

“Can’t help it. You’re too easy a target.”

She snuggled her head into the nape of his neck and breathed in his scent.

“I’ve missed that smell, Spike. I tried to take up smoking to at least have something smell like you, but I about coughed up a lung. And I usually wear a leather coat,” she said, staring at her dress for a moment, “but everyone decided to have a costume party, and Willow made me dress up.”

Spike’s eyes began to tear up, but he held back.

“Buffy, love, I’m….”

“You already apologized. It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. I have to make it up to you, pet.”

Spike kicked in the farmhouse’s door and entered it, in search of the bedroom, and an intact bed.

--

Spike gently laid Buffy down on the sole bed in the crashed farmhouse. His curiosity got the best of him before his lust did, and he plopped down next to her.

“So, how’d we get here, pet?”

“Well, the last thing I remember was being in my hotel room looking at myself in the mirror in this costume that Willow conjured up for me,” she said, pointing to her gingham dress. “I thought it’d be funny if I clicked my heels together like Dorothy did, and I kind of hoped that my wish would come true, but I didn’t think it would. When I opened my eyes, I was here.”

“Do you think Red might’ve messed up with the costume, pet?”

“You don’t like how it looks?”

“Not what I meant, love, you look ravishingly virginal. Do you think she might’ve made it a bit too accurate, with the wishing thing about the shoes?”

“I don’t know…the movie was on, and I wished I could be Dorothy for that party they were dragging me to,” shock flashed across her face, “oh no, and she zapped it on me from the TV!”

“That’s what I thought, pet.”

“It would make sense, I guess. So…where were you?”

“Bout to get singed and eaten by a dragon.”

Her eyes widened into saucer-plates and he chuckled.

“Long story, pet. I’ll tell you later. We need to get back to the matter at hand. What did you wish for anyway?”

“Well, I was really missing you tonight…wanting you to be there with me…and I wished that I could find you again…though I’m not quite sure why that would send us here though.”

“Better than sending you in front of that damned dragon with me.”

“I guess.”

Spike smirked as he trailed a cold finger down Buffy’s chest.

“So…you wanted me Slayer?”

“I’m starting to doubt that myself. Did you always ask this many questions?”

He laughed and buried his head in the golden curls of her hair.

“God, I’ve missed you, Buffy. Missed your scent…your voice…hasn’t been the same without you.”

“I know…I’ve never felt so out of place…like I’m lost….”

“Slayer without a home?”

“Yeah, actually.”

“Buffy, I get the feeling your worries are what brought us here. Why couldn’t you be worried about someplace less…?”

“Technicolor?”

“Yeah.”

“Sorry. But at least we’re together, right?”

Spike sighed and draped his arm around Buffy’s shoulder.

“I s’ppose so, Slayer. But, since we are alone, I plan on making good use of our time….”

Pushing her down on the bed, Spike climbed on top of Buffy, slipping his hand underneath her checkered dress. As his fingers found their destination, a meek voice came from behind them.

“Sorry to interrupt…but, who crashed this house? They killed the Wicked Witch of the East!”

A dozen high-pitched giggles killed the lusty mood, and Spike rolled off of Buffy with a groan. He blinked in disbelief as his eyes fell on the pink-satin frocked woman before them.

“Glinda?”

Tara smiled meekly.

“Well…yes. But most everyone here calls me Tara. Glinda was too….”

“Prissy?”

“Formal.”

“Ah.”

Buffy sighed, her hands on her temples.

“Oh…God…I think we have to…oh man,” she sighed. “No, we aren’t witches, witches are ugly and old.”

Spike raised an eyebrow at her and began to open his mouth to ask her what in the bloody hell she was speaking about, but the throngs of giggles silenced him. Buffy sighed again.

“Why are they laughing,” she said in a monotone voice, rolling her eyes.

Tara perked up as she led them outside.

“Why, because I am a witch!”

“Of course you are. Fabulous,” Buffy said, pulling Spike closer to her.

“Oi! Slayer!”

“Play along,” she whispered to him, “I think maybe that’s our ticket out of here!”

“Right. What happens next, pet?”

“You never saw ‘The Wizard of Oz’?”

He laughed.

“Buffy, love, I’m a vampire and I’m straight. Two factors that tend to keep one away from Judy Garland.”

“Oh, and ‘Passions’ is soooo straight!”

Tara cleared her throat.

“Anyway…you two killed the Wicked Witch of the East! Let the joyous news be spread, the wicked old witch at last is dead!”

“Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore,” Buffy said with a sigh.

Spike pinched Buffy’s round rump and laughed when she jumped.

“Not funny, pet.”

As munchkins of every sort climbed out of their hiding places and began to sing and dance, Buffy let out a small shriek and clung onto Spike, shutting her eyes tightly.

“Oh God…I almost forgot about the munchkins…ick ick…Oh God, I hate munchkins. Get ‘em away from me Spike!”

Spike simply shook his head and laughed.

“Oi, now that isn’t very nice, Slayer. We have to play nice now, right?”

Buffy’s lower lip shot out in her distinct pout, but she opened her eyes and released her death-grip on Spike.

“I forgot about the singing, though. Eh. A few days of bursting out into song were enough for me.”

“I concur, pet. Back in the house while they’re distracted, then?”

“Definitely.”

Buffy and Spike snuck into the house unnoticed, but didn’t make it past the front hallway. Spike, overcome with the small of an aroused Slayer permeating their surroundings, pinned her to the wall with a lustful shove. Their desperate need for each other leaving no room for foreplay, Spike quickly grabbed Buffy in his arms, pushed her back against the wall, and thrust into her. She smiled as she groaned with pleasure.

“It’s like the…ohhh…first time all over again….”

“Yeah, pet, but I don’t think we could wreck this house any further.”

As Spike delved deeper into her wet slit, the music and singing from outside faded into hysterical screams. Spike raised an eyebrow, but continued to pump into Buffy.

“What the bloody hell is that, love?”

Before Buffy could answer, a shockwave of a year’s worth of pent-up orgasms pulsated through her body. The clenching of her already taut walls drew Spike’s own orgasm from him. An angry, yet dreamy voice cut through the screams outside, silencing them.

“Where are they? Where are the two naughty pixies that squished my sister?”

Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes as Spike let her down.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Hand-in-hand they walked out onto the yellow-brick road and were greeted by a furious Drusilla, who was dressed in a long, black frock and a clichéd witch’s hat. Spike’s eyes grew wider.

“Dru?”

Drusilla hissed at him.

“You! You killed her! Smooshed her! And,” she gasped, staring at Buffy’s shoes, “Stole her shoes! Bad, terrible…naughty white hats!”

Buffy’s face contorted quizzically at Spike.

“White hats?”

“Blondes, love, try to keep up.”

“Oh, now I’m the dummy? I’ve seen the movie Spike.”

“Well, Miss. Smarter-Than-Thou, how do we get out of this?”

Buffy turned and gave a nudging glare to Tara, who shook herself out of her dazed state.

“Ah, yes, right. Be gone! You have no power here,” she said to Drusilla, flicking her wrists and a long wand around her. “Watch out or someone will crash another house on you!”

Drusilla shrieked and stared at the sky.

“Evil sky! Stars and houses are no good from you! Evil, foul thing,” she said before turning her enraged glare at Buffy and Spike. “And you two…I’ll get you if it’s the last thing I do!”

Drusilla cackled as she waved a broom around in merriment before lifting off into the sky, a cloud of smoke behind her. Spike raised an eyebrow at Buffy, who shrugged.

“Well that’s….new, isn’t it, pet?”

Buffy sighed.

“We have to follow the whole yellow-brick-road thing now. Find the Wizard and what-not.”

As the beginning notes to the song started to sound in the air, she held up a warning hand to Tara and the munchkins.

“Don’t. Just…don’t.”

--

The yellow trail stretched out endlessly before Buffy and Spike as they walked forward. Buffy folded her arms across her chest and huffed.

“So…nice day out.”

“Yeah, not bursting into flames in the sun is nice.”

“I’ll bet.”

Spike rolled his eyes.

“Alright, Slayer, what are you getting at?”

“What do you mean?”

He stared at her blankly.

“The small talk about the weather? C’mon, love, I’m not as dense as everyone seemed to think…you aren’t one for niceties. What’s up?”

Buffy blushed and suddenly found her sparkling shoes very interesting.

“Well…I…I just wondered…I….”

“Out with it, pet.”

“Sorry. Just wanted to know if you…umm…jeez, this is tough. Did you, I mean, since you came back…have you…you know, moved on with anyone?”

“You mean did I sleep with anyone?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, pet, I did. I’m sorry.”

Buffy didn’t respond, but simply formed a small ‘o’ with her mouth.

“It didn’t mean anything though, love. When I first came back, I was a ghost…I think when…when I got my body back, I was just excited and didn’t think about anything between us…you know, with the whole you thinking I was dead thing. I just…I thought you’d moved on, and BAM! I’m having sex with Harm.”

Buffy crinkled up her nose.

“Harmony? Jeez, masochist much? Didn’t you get enough of her before?”

“Yeah, I did, pet. It’s…it’s complicated.”

“How so?”

“Well, first off, when I was working with Angel, I actually felt like a part of the group…not just like an outsider. It was nice to feel needed, I guess.”

Buffy’s expression softened.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what, pet? You held out for a year till you found me…prolly would’ve held out longer, yeah?”

She nodded.

“Yeah. I realized that you were it for me. I think I just realized it too late.”

“At any rate, I am sorry, pet. It was a stupid mistake, and it’ll never happen again.”

“Good. So…how is everyone in LA?”

Spike sighed and seemed to choke back tears.

“They’re dead, Buffy. Everyone but me; and that dragon was about to finish me off too, I think.”

A single tear rolled down Buffy’s cheek, but she wiped it away, and threw her arms around Spike, drawing him tightly to her.

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

Overcome with desire, loss, and love, Spike pulled Buffy to the side of the road, and set her down behind a bush.

“I love you,” he said as he spread her legs apart, and set himself between them. He captured her mouth with his softly, as she wrapped her strong legs around his torso.

“Make love to me, Spike,” she mewled.

Spike grinned as he ripped Buffy’s panties off, and threw them aside.

“Just waiting for you to ask, pet.”

--


Willow stood about the two blondes in a small hospital room in the Council’s London headquarters. Twin machines beeped in sync; one read Buffy’s heart rate, the other read Spike’s brain activity. While Buffy’s body was still pristine in her gingham costume, Spike’s body was charred and broken. He had, indeed been the last of Angel’s team to face the dragon and the demon hordes. Soon after Buffy fell into her comatose state, the Council was alerted of the battle, and their trained warriors rushed in to save the day. It was only by chance that Xander found Spike’s blackened figure, and saved him from the impending daylight. With his vampiric traits, he would fully recover in a week or so, and his body had already begun to heal. The battle was won, but Willow wouldn’t consider the war over until both Buffy and Spike regained consciousness. It was only a matter of time before irreparable damage was done to their bodies and minds.

The most intriguing element about the two comatose patients, from Willow’s perspective, was the way their bodies were reacting. Aside from the simultaneous ‘beeps’ that signaled identical brain and heart activity, Willow noticed a distinct pattern in the eye movements and facial expressions they made. Willow sucked a deep breath in as the realization of their mannerisms sunk in.

Like they’re having the same dream…or they’re in the same reality!

Willow ran down the hall, in search of Giles and a few ancient tomes for some much-needed research.


--

Buffy trailed her finger around Spike’s scarred eyebrow, assuming he was asleep in his post-coital bliss. When a smirk crossed his face, she dropped her hand and sighed.

“No fair…you don’t have to breathe, so how am I supposed to know if you’re asleep or not?”

As Spike opened his mouth to speak, a loud crowing, followed by a semi-masculine whine, cut through their surroundings. Gathering up their belongings, though Buffy begrudgingly left her torn underwear wherever it happened to fly, Buffy and Spike soon found the source of the noise. A living, breathing scarecrow hung on a wooden post, trying to frighten a crow away. The crow retaliated by pecking one of the scarecrow’s eyes out and flying off with it nestled in its beak. The scarecrow frowned and turned, as best he could, to look at Buffy and Spike, as best he could.

“I just can’t win. Either of you feel like helping me down from here? Today kind of sucks.”

Buffy nodded at Spike, who rolled his eyes as he helped the scarecrow off of his post. Instead of being grateful for the help, the scarecrow made a dramatic scene of rolling his sole eye.

“Gee, thanks so much, Captain Peroxide. Took you long enough to get me down.”

Buffy frowned.

“Xander!”

The scarecrow tilted his head to the side.

“What’s a Xander?”

Buffy sighed and rested her head on Spike’s shoulder.

“A brain.”

“What, pet?”

“A brain…he doesn’t have one.”

The Xander scarecrow frowned before plopping down to the ground, tears brimming in his eye.

“Why does everybody say that?”

Buffy shrugged at Spike and gently pat Xander’s hay-filled shoulder.

“Sorry. Why don’t you come with us to see the Wizard?”

Xander perked up and began to dance around the yellow brick road.

“Well, I guess you do have a point about me needing a brain. I can ask the Wizard for one! Why if I had a brain, I could….”

Buffy closed her eyes and covered her ears tightly as Xander leapt around the road, singing. Spike gently rubbed her shoulders, but couldn’t keep his eyes off of the bounding hay-filled version of the Scoobie he’d bantered most with the most, after Buffy.

“Is it over yet,” he asked of the purposefully deafened Slayer.

She shrugged, and then held up a finger a moment before Xander crashed to the floor in a heap. Finally releasing her eardrums to function once again, Buffy took hold of Spike’s hand, and motioned toward their path.

“Alright, hay boy, let’s go.”

--

As Buffy and Spike, followed by an extremely talkative straw version of Xander, made their way through a thin wood, Buffy noticed her stomach rumble.

“Hmm,” she frowned, “I’m getting the tummy rumblins Dawn always complains about.”

Spike feigned a horrified face.

“Oh, dear, Gods, and I know how you get when you’re hungry, pet. Food? FOOD?!! Dear Gods, find this poor little Slayer some food!”

Buffy playfully smacked his arm and rolled her eyes.

“Ha ha. I don’t see you laughing when you haven’t had any blood…or booze, for that matter, fang face.”

“Yeah, yeah, Slayer; sticks and stones. I’ll find you some sodding grub.”

Spike walked over to a tree to grab an apple, but was taken aback when the tree grabbed his arm and shouted at him.

“What do you think you're doing?”

“What in the bloody hell do you think I’m doing…tree? I’m getting a sodding apple.”

“They’re my apples! You can’t have ‘em! How would you like to have someone come along and grab something off of you?”

Spike chuckled.

“I rather like when she comes and grabs me.”

“You don’t want those apples anyway,” Xander said, his face beginning to sparkle with a thought, “you don’t want worms, do you?”

However, Xander’s hopes at becoming a chivalrous provider were dashed when Spike punched the tree’s face, took a few apples, and yelled.

“Sod off, leafy!”

Though the trees tried to retaliate with apples pitched in the group’s direction, Spike silenced them with one flick of his Zippo lighter. He smirked as Buffy crunched into the apple, a sheer expression of enjoyment on her face.

“Is it good, pet?”

“Mmmhmm,” she mumbled, a few drops of apple juice dripping from her lips.

Spike smiled and puffed out his chest slightly.

“Good, then. Let no one say old Spike isn’t a good provider. Helpin’ fill your stomach, and keeping the scurvy at bay.”

Buffy grinned.

“Scurvy? Isn’t that some old pirate disease?”

“Old pirates…I’ll have you know, Miss Slayer, that pirates and scurvy are around in your day and age. And they were prevalent in my day…and I’m not that old. Hundred and fifty and still spry as the day I was born. Damn Slayer.”

“Oooh…the ‘Big Bad’ comes back waving scurvy in my face. You’re very intimidating. You should make an educational video and scare schoolchildren.”

“Now scurvy is very serious stuff, Buffy. You could lose your teeth, your hair will all fall out, your gums will bleed, you’ll be immobile and depressed. And I’ll be damned if I’m hanging around a toothless, hairless, depressed Slayer who can’t go anywhere to get gauze for her bleedin’ gums. ‘s why you have to eat your fruits, pet. No one wants scurvy.”

A muffled noise came from behind a patch of trees as the group walked forward, Buffy crunching her way into another apple.

“Oiiiillllcannnn”

Xander perked up his ears comically and scurried around.

“What was that noise?”

Buffy sighed.

“Oil can. She said ‘Oil can.’ Uhhh…come on, it’s over here.”

Spike grabbed said oilcan for Buffy, and followed the unimpressed Slayer over to a tin figure. Buffy gasped slightly when she recognized it.

“Anya?”

“Oiiiilllcannnnnn.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me…Spike, can you…”

“On it, Slayer,” Spike said as he oiled up the tin Anya’s stiffened jaw.

Anya moved her jaw back and forth, sighing in relief, but then frowned when Spike stopped oiling her.

“Um…hello? The rest of me needs a little help too, there, blondie.”

Spike scoffed and turned to Buffy.

“Any way I can shut her jaw again and just oil the rest of her, pet?”

Buffy rolled her eyes.

“You should be able to figure that one out, Spike. You never had trouble getting Anya lubed up before.”

He raised an eyebrow before thrusting the oilcan at Xander.

“Here, straw boy, oil up the canned bitch so we can be on our merry way.”

Anya gasped in anger, but kept silent as Xander lubed her joints with the thin oil. Spike walked to Buffy’s side and rubbed her neck, gently.

“ ‘m sorry, pet. You know there’s no one for me but you, yeah?”

Rolling her eyes, Buffy sunk back into his massage, forcing him to use rougher pressure. He grinned and rolled his tongue behind his teeth before whispering in her ear, and forcing a chuckle from her lips.

“Even though Anya does look pretty tasty as a soup can.”

A dreamy cackle broke through the wooded area. Xander and the newly mobile Anya stared in horror at Drusilla, who was perched atop of a small log cabin.

“I’m going to get you, mark my words! Well, stay away from her, or I'll stuff a mattress with you,” she said, pointing to Xander. “And you,” she pointed to Anya, “I'll use you for a beehive! And if I can’t get you…my faeries will!”

A loud sigh broke the silence of the group, and Buffy stared blankly at Drusilla.

“Can we just get on with this whole thing? We have a cowardly lion to find.”

Xander shrieked, and jumped into Anya’s strong, metal arms.

“A…li…li…li…lion!!!!”

Buffy shook her head and continued.

“Anyway, you’re supposed to launch a fireball or something at the straw guy, so get on with it so Spike and I can go home.”

Drusilla’s eyes stretched out widely as she stared at Buffy.

“Witch! You’re evil! Bad, bad, bad! Worse than me! Evil, future-teller! Go away!”

Drusilla frowned at Buffy before climbing onto her broomstick. A light gray stream of clouds left a trail behind her as she flew away. Buffy shrugged at Spike before grabbing his hand and motioning towards the dense forest ahead of them.

“Come on. There’s only one more stop, and we’ll get to the Wizard, and then we can finally go home.”

--

Willow’s face was long and tired, but she pressed on in her research. As she was about to end her search for the night, a page fell out of the ancient tome she was perusing. With a shaky hand, Willow picked it up and read it, her tired eyes sparkling as she realized what she had finally found.

Thank Goddess! But how in the world are they going to get home? They don’t even know what they need to do! I have to figure out a way to let them know…until then; I guess I have to wait them out.

Willow laid the paper down on the table she had been seated behind and walked to the small bed to rest. Her room was adjacent to Buffy and Spike’s hospital room, and she drifted off to sleep as she listened to the rhythmic beeps coming from their room. Xander entered the room, noticing Willow’s light was still on, holding a warm cup of tea for the overworked witch. Willow’s loud snore greeted him, and he smiled at his friend’s sleeping form before sitting down at her desk. He picked up the wrinkled piece of paper and gasped as he read the few words inscribed on it.

“Willow!”

Alternate Dimensions, Updated August 1985.

Recent occurrences within covens in the Council’s contact have forced an addition to be made to this ancient tome. Since the advent of moving pictures in the early 1900’s, our covens have noticed an increase in minds shifting into alternate dimensions, more specifically, the “dimensions” shown in the films themselves. This phenomenon was scarce before films, though, from time to time, subjects would be lost within the pages of a novel. The witches in the affected covens noticed a pattern of mental dimension shifts after the victims wished for an object out of the film, and, within hours of said wish, slipped into a comatose state. Victims who awoke from this state have said they were captured in the film, but because of their knowledge of the film, were able to complete the film’s pattern, with few errors, and escape.

Victims who did not wake from their comas are believed to have not completed the necessary tasks, and were lost forever in an uncharted area of the film. Once a victim is mentally sucked into the film, there is nothing to do but wait, for their mind and very existence in the real world, relies on their own actions.


Xander fell back against the chair, his hands covering his face.

“Oh God, Willow, what did you do?”

--

Giles sat on a cold, leather couch, staring blankly out of a window at London’s rainy streets. Dawn plopped down next to him, exhausted.

“I can’t find anything, Giles.”

“Neither can I.”

“I’m really worried about her…and about Spike. I…I can’t believe what he must’ve gone through…what he must’ve felt before….”

“Yes, yes, I know, Dawn. I still can’t believe that Spike is the only one that survived…even in the state he’s in. We must get him awake so we can figure out what happened. It was a great loss to our cause to lost Angel, no matter what the two of us may have thought of him.”

“I wonder what happened.”

“I doubt that we really want to know the brunt of the story, dear. Judging from Spike’s condition…well, it couldn’t have been pretty.”

Xander’s ragged breath cut through the silence in the living room where the Watcher and the Watcher-in-training sat.

“Willow…messed up…movies…Buffy…Spike….”

He held out the crumpled piece of paper to Giles, who quickly snatched it away. Too flustered to concentrate, he handed it to Dawn after attempting to focus on the words. Dawn read aloud as Giles cleaned his glasses meticulously. When she was done, she stood and paced the room, her eyes shifting between the flabbergasted Giles on the couch, and the distraught, and still heaving Xander propped up against the wall.

“So, what can we do? We can’t just…I can’t just wait to see if they can figure it out before they go completely veggie!”

Dawn frowned as she continued to pace the room.

Giles cleared his throat.

“Dawn, sit. You’re going to wear the carpet out. Xander, get off of my wall, and go get Willow. I have an idea, but I’ll need her help…and yours too, Dawn.”

Finally being needed perked Dawn up instantly, and her smile remained plastered on her face until Willow entered the room.

“What’s up, Giles,” the redhead asked, sleepily.

“I think I’ve found a way to contact Buffy and Spike in their ‘dimension,’ but I need some assistance.”

A hot burst of blood colored Willow’s face when she realized they had found the paper she was reading earlier.

“Oh…I…I was going to tell you guys, honest. Cross my heart and hope to….”

“Yes, yes,” Giles interrupted. “No time for that, dear. I need you to help Dawn open a portal to their ‘dimension.’ By the way…do you, uh, have any idea where exactly they might be?”

Willow blushed.

“In one of Buffy’s favorite movies….”

“Oooh, Rocky Horror? That’s so cool,” Xander offered.

“No,” Willow said, a lighter expression replacing her fearful one, “in Oz.”

Xander squinted his eye at Willow.

“Like, ‘grrrr’ werewolf land?”

Willow shook her head and patted Xander on the back.

“No. Oz. Munchkins? Flying monkeys? Cowardly lion?”

“Ohhh, yeah. I thought Buffy hated that movie, what with the munchkins and all,” Xander said with a chuckle.

Dawn smiled.

“She usually fast-forwards though their parts.”

Giles again cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry I asked. At any rate, Willow, if we can open a portal to that dimension, Dawn can tell them what they need to do. She is still ‘the Key’ after all, she just doesn’t have the control nor the power to will herself there.”

Willow nodded.

“Anything, Giles. It’s all my fault…I’ll do anything I can to save them.”

“Good,” Giles said, standing up with gusto. “Let’s go to work.”

--

Squinting her eyes in the silky blackness of the dense forest, Buffy grabbed Spike’s hand. He chuckled as he took her grasp and walked in front of the group, his yellow eyes glowing. Xander jumped when a meek growl sounded from behind him. Taking a fighting stance, Buffy prepared to attack the ‘beast’ she knew was lurking in the shadows. When the clouds above dissipated and the forest grew slightly lighter, Buffy’s stance relaxed when she recognized the timid lioness who stepped forward, petting her tail.

“Willow?”

“Put 'em up, put 'em uuuuuup! Which one of you first? I'll fight ya both together if you want. I'll fight ya with one paw tied behind my back. I'll fight ya standin' on one foot. I'll fight ya with my eyes closed…um…if you don’t mind, that is.”

The lioness seemed to retreat back into her shoulders as the group looked her over. When she realized that no one planned on hurting her, she dropped her tail to the ground and stuck out an enthusiastic paw to Buffy.

“It’s nice to…um…meet you…please don’t hurt me…I’m…I’m not a bad lion…honest. I…I enjoy classical music…and picnics…and…I like small animals…bunnies especially.”

Anya gripped her ax in hand and moved menacingly toward Willow.

“Bunnies? Oh, now I know she isn’t to be trusted…evil…bunny coddling beast!”

Willow jumped back from Anya’s threatening movement, but, in the commotion, Xander stepped on her tail. A horrifically loud growl rang from Willow’s furry mouth. Buffy smacked her nose when she began to prowl towards Anya, enraged.

“Ow! What’d you do that for? I didn’t bite her,” Willow said, as tears ran down her whiskers. “I wasn’t gonna hurt anybody…honest. I couldn’t hurt a fly…I’m afraid of them. I can’t even sleep because I’m so scared. Look at these bags under my eyes, I haven’t slept in weeks.”

Xander stared at her, his sole eye bulging out.

“Why don’t you just count sheep?”

“I can’t, I’m afraid of them too…I’m just a coward…a big…furry…coward…is…is my nose bleeding?”

“Of course not,” Buffy said, patting Willow on the back.

Xander perked up as an idea slowly made its way into his mind.

“Hey! Why doesn’t she come with us to see the Wizard?”

“Sure,” Buffy said half-heartedly, “Will…er…Lion, why don’t you come with us? We’re on our way to get her a heart,” she pointed at Anya.

“And him a brain,” Anya said, still eyeing Willow up cautiously.

Xander nodded.

“I’m sure he’d give you some courage!”

Willow sniffled, wiping her tears on her tail.

“Well, wouldn't you feel degraded to be seen in the company of a cowardly lion? I know would.”

Buffy sighed.

“Of course not, we’ll get you help, okay?”

Willow nodded and as she broke down further in tears and then began to sing, Buffy pulled Spike out of the group’s sight. His yellow eyes flashed again as he leered at her.

“Buffy, pet, what are you doing?”

“What, you’re telling me you want to hear this?”

He smirked.

“So what if I do? What did you want me over here for, Slayer? Planning on humming me a few private bars?”

Buffy faked a frown for as long as she could before breaking out into a smile.

“I just thought we could maybe get a quick one in before….”

A shriek interrupted Buffy, and she and Spike ran back to the group.

“What…what’s wrong,” she stammered.

Xander sighed in relief.

“We thought we’d lost you Dorothy! And poor Toto too,” he said, patting Spike on the head.

“It’s Buffy,” she offered, rolling her eyes.

“What?”

“Oh, never mind. C’mon guys, off to see the Wizard.”

Buffy smiled at Spike enticingly as the group skipped down the yellow brick road.

“You too, Toto.”


--


Drusilla stared into the crystal ball before her in her large castle. Throwing her hands in the air in anger, she hissed at the image the crystal ball projected, Buffy and Spike along with their rag-tag trio, walking closer toward the Emerald City.

“Oh, I can see it,” Buffy said to Spike as she ran towards the horizon. She stopped at the edge of a field of poppies and put her hands in her face. “Damn it…I forgot. Guys, let’s go around this field, all right? I have a bad feeling about poppies today.”

Drusilla screamed into the crystal ball, enraged, as her evil “sleeping poppy” spell was about to be all for naught.

“Evil…wicked girl! She knows what I’m going to do before I do it…evil, terrible blonde enchantress!”

A large group of winged monkeys hobbled into the room wearing vests and tiny hats. The three that led the group were distinctly different from the other “clone” seeming flying monkeys. The first, and largest of the group, had an extremely large forehead, even for a primate, albeit a flying primate. His gaze was pensive and brooding. The second monkey wasn’t as large, but had a striking jaw and a well-styled hair-do. The final lead monkey had long, blonde hair, and wore a pink skirt in addition to the vest and hat her fellow flying monkeys wore. Drusilla frowned at the lot of them before she sat down in a chair, staring into the crystal ball.

“Angel, Riley, Harmony, come here and help Mummy feel better.”

The three flying monkeys hopped over to the Wicked Witch, Riley climbing into her lap, leaving Angel and Harmony resting at her feet, as she patted their heads, roughly.

“Now Mummy has to wait for the evil little wench to fail,” Drusilla cooed to the flying monkeys surrounding her.

A flash of blue haze obscured her view in the crystal ball, but, before she could get up to inspect it, the haze vanished and the group was making their way into the poppy field. Drusilla squealed with glee, and jumped up, clapping her hands together. In her happiness, she unintentionally knocked Riley onto the floor, snapping his neck, and leaving his flea-infested body in a heap. A few of the “clone” monkeys scurried over and scooped up Riley’s body, throwing it out of the window into the ravine after taking his vest and hat off.

The next most-distinguished monkey donned Riley’s uniform and hopped over to Drusilla, who didn’t notice Riley’s death and subsequent heaving into the rocks below her castle. As she danced around in merriment, Angel and Harmony stared at the crystal ball, neither one wanting to get Drusilla’s attention when the sleeping group began to stir and move toward the Emerald City again.

--

Buffy stopped the group behind her as they came to the edge of a poppy field.

“Oh, I can see it! Damn it…I forgot. Guys, let’s go around this field, all right? I have a bad feeling about poppies today.”

As the group began to walk away from the field, a bright blue flash shone in front of Buffy. She blinked in disbelief as Dawn stuck her head through the light and yelled to her.

“Buffy! Do the movie word-for-word as best you can! Then you and Spike can wake up…Buffy! Buffy….”

As quickly as the flash came, it was gone again. Spike cocked his head at Buffy when she sighed.

“What is it, pet?”

“Oh, nothing. Just stay close, okay? C’mon guys, I changed my mind. Let’s go through the poppy field.”
Xander and Anya ran full speed toward the Emerald City with Buffy, Spike, and Willow close on their heels. Xander turned back to smile at Buffy when he noticed that she, Spike, and Willow were nowhere to be seen.

“Tin…ma…woman! Come back! Dorothy…oh, where is she? Lion? Toto? Help! Help!”

Anya ran back and helped Xander search for the sleeping trio, and frowned when he began to cry.

“It's no use screaming at a time like this. Nobody will hear you.”

“Help! Help!”

Anya angrily kicked at the sleeping Willow and sighed at Xander.

“Oh, cut the crap, dummy. Crying isn’t going to get us anywhere. Hey, maybe that Glinda character could help us.”

“You mean Tara, the Good Witch of the North,” Xander choked through his streams of tears.

“No, I meant Glinda, the Good Witch of…what, did she die or something?”

“No, she changed her name to Tara after Lillith Faerie Fair. Something about ‘Glinda’ being a stereotypical housewife name or something, I don’t know.”

“Ah. Hey Glinda,” Anya shouted toward the sky, “Or Tara, or whatever the hell else you call yourself! We could use a little help here!”

A slow drift of snow began to fall down onto the poppy field, and Willow, Buffy, and Spike stirred and sat up, yawning. Anya smiled and rolled her eyes as she looked to the sky again.

“Not the most original idea, witchy-poo, but thanks none-the-less.”

The Tin Anya screamed before bolting toward the Emerald City, leaving the rest of the group behind. Spike raised an eyebrow at Buffy, who shrugged, then laughed.

“Oh, dear God,” she said, pointing to a small, white rabbit that sat where Anya had been standing.

Spike smiled.

“No wonder she ran. You ever see Monty Python, pet? Those things’ll tear you limb from limb.”

Buffy chuckled as she grabbed Spike’s hand and followed Willow and Xander after the frightened tin-Anya.

--


A large door stood between the group and their admittance to the Emerald City. Spike smirked at Buffy, and licked her ear before he whispered to her.

“What kind of neighborhood is this place if they need a gated community?”

Rolling her eyes and stifling a laugh, Buffy reached up and rang the doorbell. Clem’s familiar face covered in red facial hair and adorned with a large, puffy green hat popped out of a window embedded in the door. He frowned down at the group.

“Hey! Can’t you read?”

Buffy sighed as the rag-tag group behind her, aside from Spike, cowered in fear. Spike’s amused expression comforted Buffy in her insecurities about their ‘mission.’

“And what, pray tell, were we supposed to read, mate?”

Clem huffed loudly after looking down and seeing his sign was gone, possibly stolen by the riff-raff from the forest that forced the community to gate itself years ago.
Darn kids and their rock music; stealing innocent signs from doors….”
Clem ducked back into the door before he pulled out another sign and hung it above the doorbell. He slammed his window as the group read aloud, in unison.

“Bell out of order. Please knock.”

Buffy shook her head and knocked gently on the door, not wanting to break through it with her Slayer strengths. When the window opened again, and Clem jutted out, Buffy put on her best “impress-anyone-with-kindness” smile.

“Hi! We’d like to see the Wizard, please.”

“The wizard? But nobody can see the Great Oz! Nobody's ever seen the Great Oz! Even I've never seen him!”

“Well, then how do you know there is one?”

“Because…he, uh..., you're wasting my time.”

“Please, sir!”

“No.”

“No?”

“No. Nobody sees the Wizard. Not nobody, not nohow!”

Buffy’s years of practice paid off as large, faked tears rolled down her face, much to Spike’s chagrin. She gasped and quivered her bottom lip at Clem. Spike rolled his eyes and leaned against the green wall. Sniffling pathetically, Buffy stuck her quivering lip out in a pout as she stared at Clem.

“Oh…oh, now I’ll never get home to my Auntie Em. And all she ever wanted was for me to be happy. Oh…oh…oh my, what will she do? I never got to say goodbye….oh, oh dear, oh no….”

Clem’s eyes brimmed with tears as his ears dropped further down, in sadness.

“Oh, no…don’t cry. Please don't cry anymore. I'll get you in to the Wizard somehow. I had an Aunt Em myself once. Come on in, I’m so sorry!”

The large door swung open and the group cautiously stepped through, gasping at the sites that greeted them inside. Caught up in the whirlwind of excitement the colorful city radiated, the group was quickly split up and dolled up by Emerald City beauticians. Buffy burst out into laughter when Spike walked towards her in a sullen state.

“Oh, no, Spike…what’d they do to you?”

Spike opened his mouth to speak, but his voice failed him, and he hung his head in shame. His hair had been washed of the styling gel that he used to slick it back, leaving his hair in his naturally unruly curls. Dispersed throughout his curls were small, shiny red bows. Buffy swore she could smell a hint of lavender and vanilla perfumes coming off of him, but decided to drop the issue when he angrily ripped the bows out and stomped on them, in rage. She shook her head at his actions and giggled, grabbing his arm.

“That’s enough, Spike. I think you won. You beat the little bows to a bloody pulp.”

A loud outcry from the Emerald City residents forced Buffy and Spike to run toward the commotion. Anya, Xander, and Willow stood in the midst, staring in awe, at the sky. Drusilla, perched on her broomstick, circled the sky above, followed by her blonde flying monkey, Harmony. As Drusilla began to write in the sky, the smoke she was utilizing sparked, and caught Harmony’s wings on fire. Too focused on her evil ‘sky note,’ Drusilla didn’t notice as Harmony’s wings burned up, causing her to fall headlong from the sky, crashing in a bloody heap at Spike’s feet.

“Oh, bloody hell!”

Buffy crinkled her nose and backed away from Harmony’s primate corpse, before turning back to the sky.

GIVE ME DOROTHY!

Before the city folk had a chance to question who this Dorothy was, Buffy raised her hand and sighed.

“I’m Dorothy. Take me to your leader…er…the Wizard.”

Willow shivered in fear before the large, floating head whose booming voice seemed to surround the group.

“I am Oz, the great and powerful, who are you?!”

Buffy sighed.

“I am Dorothy…the small and meek. We’ve come to ask….”

“SILENCE! The great Oz knows why you have come! And I will grant you your request, if you do one small favor.”

“Get on with it,” Buffy grumbled under her breath.

Xander peered out at the floating Oz from underneath his hat.

“And what favor is that?”

“Bring me the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West, and I shall help you,” he boomed, in a strangely polite tone.

Buffy raised an eyebrow at the floating head.

“You’re sure you aren’t planning on cheating us out of our requests after you have her broomstick?”

The floating head gasped.

“Of course not! What kind of Wizard do you think I am?”

“Right. Well, we’ll see. C’mon, guys, we have a witch to melt.”

Leaning closer to Spike, Buffy whispered to him.

“And damned if I’m not going to enjoy killing your ex-girlfriend.”


--


Drusilla hadn’t noticed that “clone” flying monkeys had replaced two of her favorite “faeries”. She squealed at the image of the questing group walking into her enchanted woods.

“Fetch them my pretty faeries! Bring them here and you shall have some lovely tea,” she said, pointing at Buffy and Spike, “leave the others. Just bring those two. Now! Fetch, fetch!”

Angel sighed as he signaled the other flying monkeys to follow him, and took off towards the forest.

I really have to get a new job.

--

Buffy stared at the strange formation heading towards them from above. When the realization hit, she barely had a moment to call out to Spike.

“Spike, you trust me, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Don’t fight this, then. Just, go with it.”

Spike cocked his head to the side, but his unasked question was answered as the flying monkeys flew down and scooped he and Buffy up in their feet. Remembering her warning to “go with it,” Spike relaxed as a strangely familiar monkey carried him after Buffy into a large, gray castle. As they entered it, prodded forward by the familiar monkey, Buffy and Spike shook their heads in annoyance.

“Again, pet, why did you have to be Dorothy for your little party?”

“I already said I was sorry.”

“Yeah, yeah. Next time, wish for a costume from a dirty flick.”

Buffy shot a pseudo-irritated look at Spike, before sighing as they were pushed into a small room. When the door clicked behind them, Buffy pecked Spike on the cheek.

“How are we going to get home, Spike?”

“I don’t know, pet. I don’t really care where I am though, as long as I can be with you.”

Tears brimmed in Buffy’s eyes as she threw herself into Spike’s arms.

“You’re corny and I love it. I do love you, you know.”

“Yeah, pet, I know.”

Still free of undergarments, Buffy wrapped a leg around Spike and pulled up her skirt to give him a full view. His arousal grew hard at her opening, and she moaned as his stiffness prodded at her through his jeans. Freeing himself in a fluid motion, Spike thrust into her wet slit and assaulted her mouth with deep kisses. Their lust-driven sexcapade blocked some of their senses, and they didn’t notice as Drusilla and Angel entered the room. Buffy cried out as her orgasm shook through her body.

Drusilla gagged and pointed Angel at the copulating couple. Sighing in his monkey way, Angel hopped over to a bucket full of water and threw it at them. The sudden cold sensation combined with Drusilla’s scream finally knocked Buffy and Spike from their lusty haze. As Drusilla melted into the floor, Spike shrugged, continuing to pound into Buffy until his own orgasm pulsed through him. Straightening themselves, Buffy and Spike inspected the remnants of Drusilla, and then grabbed her broomstick.

“Well, that was easy,” Buffy said with a laugh.

Angel hopped over to them, shaken from accidentally murdering his mistress. The realization of who this monkey was finally struck Spike, who burst into a rumbling laugh.

“Angel? Look at you…you’re a…you’re a wee little monkey man!”

Angel growled and hopped around angrily. Buffy held back her own laughter and grabbed Spike’s hand as she walked out of the room.

“Let’s go, honey. We really need to get back home.”

As they ran down the stairs, they almost ran over Xander, Anya, and Willow. Buffy smiled at them, thankfully.

“Aw! You guys came to rescue us?”

Xander nodded, proudly.

“Yeah! Are you alright, Dorothy?”

“We’re fine. Killed the Wicked Witch…er…her monkey did…oh, never mind. Let’s get back to the Wizard and collect our rewards.”

The group cheered and made the oddly quick walk back to the Emerald City.

--

Standing before the “Wizard,” again, Buffy tossed the witch’s broomstick down.

“We killed her. Send us home.”

“Not so fast…not so fast! I will have to give the matter a little thought. I don’t have to do anything right now, we didn’t sign a contract, and you have no legal course of action you can take. Go away, and come back tomorrow.”

Buffy frowned and motioned to Spike to open the curtain across the room. Giles stood behind it, flustered, and attempting to work a set of controls.

“Oh, dear Lord, umm….umm…pay no attention to the man behind the…oh, dear Lord. You don’t believe me, do you?”

Buffy shook her head.

Nope. Now pay up, or I’ll kill you too.”

Grabbing a large bag, Giles motioned to the group to follow him to a table. He laid out a diploma, a heart-shaped watch, and a medal.

“Here, Scarecrow, this is for you. Back where I come from, we have universities, seats of great learning where men go to become great thinkers. And when they come out, they think deep thoughts — and with no more brains than you have... But! They have one thing you haven't got! A diploma!”

Xander frowned as he accepted it.

“I needed another eye too.”

“One request per household, I’m afraid.”

“Cheapskate.”

“Watch it or I’ll excommunicate you. Here, Miss Tin Woman, back where I come from, there are men who do nothing all day but good deeds. They are called phila-, er, er, philanth-er, yes, er, good-deed doers, and their hearts are no bigger than yours. But they have one thing you haven't got - a testimonial. Therefore, in consideration of your kindness, I take pleasure at this time in presenting you with a small token of our esteem and affection. And remember, my sentimental friend, that a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.”

Anya smiled as she grabbed the clock and inspected it.

“Thanks,” she said, before whispering to Xander, “how much do you think I can pawn this thing off for?”

Giles cleared his throat, and pinned the medal on Willow.

“As for you, my fine friend — you're a victim of disorganized thinking. You are under the unfortunate delusion that simply because you run away from danger, you have no courage. You're confusing courage with wisdom. Back where I come from though we have men who are called heroes. Once a year, they take their fortitude out of mothballs and parade it down the main street of the city. And they have no more courage than you have. But — They have one thing that you haven't got! A medal! Therefore — for meritorious conduct, extraordinary valor, conspicuous bravery against wicked witches, I award you the Triple Cross. You are now a member of the Legion of Courage.”

“Ow,” Willow said, “I mean…thanks? But did you have to pin it right on me? This isn’t a suit, you know…it’s my skin.”

“No matter. Did everyone get what they needed?”

Spike raised an eyebrow.

“Not quite, mate. The lady and I want to go home.”

“Ah, well, I’m afraid I don’t quite have that in my bag….”

Buffy forgot herself and began to sob. Spike yelled out to everyone in the room, his vampiric face breaking forth in his rage.

“Get out! All of you! NOW!”

Giles, Xander, Anya, and Willow scurried out of the room, leaving Buffy and Spike alone in the long hall. Buffy sobbed loudly.

“Oh, God, Spike, I just want to go home!”

Spike shook himself out of his “game face” and wrapped his arms around his crying Slayer.

“I know, pet, I know. But the Bit said we’d get out if we follow the movie’s pattern, right? Shouldn’t we be out by a balloon or something now?”

Buffy nodded.

“Yeah…wait, how did you know that? I thought you never saw ‘The Wizard of Oz’?”

Spike stepped back, rolling his eyes.

“Never mind, pet.”

“I don’t think we have to go to the balloon right this second if you want to make use of the empty hall….”

Spike mischievously grinned at Buffy as he scooped her up and laid her on the table, flipping her skirt up and kissing her thighs.

“You know, despite everything, love, I really do love to shag you in this outfit.”

--

Tears again filled Buffy’s eyes as she watched Giles’ hot air balloon fade out of sight.

“Oh, now I’ll never get home!”

A random Emerald City woman pointed at a pink bubble slowly descending onto the city.

“Look! It’s Glinda!”

Tara smiled benevolently as she walked toward Buffy and Spike.

“Dear, you’ve always had that power to go home.”

“Just click my heels together? Oh, and say ‘There’s no place like home,’ right?”

Tara shook her head

“Well, no dear, not quite. That would only take you home,” Tara said, pulling Buffy closer to her and whispering in her ear. “And I think that you might want to take your vampire home with you.”

Buffy’s eyes widened as she whispered back to Tara.

“How did you know?”

“I’m a witch, dear. It didn’t take me long to figure it out. You and your vampire don’t belong here, and I can already see the ramifications of your visit. If you don’t get out now, I fear that there will be irreparable damage.”

“So how do we get home?”

“I was getting to that. You and ‘Toto’ have to claim each other as mates.”

“Claim?”

Spike’s sensitive hearing picked up on even the quietest of whispers between the two women, but he hadn’t acknowledged it until he heard those dreaded words.

“Buffy, it’s like a marriage…only…forever. It usually only happens between two vamps. It gives each partner a mental and eternal link to the other. No one really does it anymore because…well, it’s a very long commitment, pet. Romance is dead, anyway. I haven’t met two creatures who love one another enough to commit to that.”

“I love you enough,” Buffy said, her eyes sparkling.

“I know you do, pet, but we can find another way.”

Tara shook her head.

“Unless you wish to stay here, vampire, there is no other way.”

“Do you love me,” Buffy asked him, fear crossing her face.

“Of course I do, Buffy.”

“If this wasn’t an ultimatum, and I asked you on my own, would you want to claim me?”

Spike sighed, closed his eyes, and nodded.

“I want you forever, pet. And I wouldn’t dare turn you, so, yeah, this is the next best thing. I get you as an immortal, and you get to keep your sodding soul.”

“Good. I want this, Spike. Just tell me how to do it.”

“Easy, pet. We bite each other and claim one another as our own.”

“You do it first.”

Spike vamped out and drew Buffy closer to him, blocking out the screams of the Emerald City dwellers.

“Glad to, pet.”

Spike bit into Buffy’s neck gently, sucking in a mouthful of blood. Though only his fangs made contact with her flesh, Buffy felt an orgasm pulse through her very core. Spike’s strong arms held her up as her body weakened. He carefully pulled his fangs out of her neck, but remained in full game face.

“MINE!”

Following suit, Buffy bit into Spike’s neck with her blunt, human teeth, and lapped up the few drops of blood she drew.

“MINE!”

Images of their mate’s past bombarded Buffy and Spike’s minds. Buffy’s eyes moistened as she witnessed Spike’s pain as Cecily spurned his affections, his devotion to his sick mother, and his poet’s heart. His intense need to love and be loved was shown to Buffy as Drusilla exploited it for centuries. The decades of torture and pain caused to and by Spike race through Buffy’s mind, until a blonde haze slowed the bloodshed. Seeing the greatest of Spike’s pain and heartache come at her own hands caused Buffy the most horror. For the first time, she saw the summer after she died; Spike’s sorrow as her friends buried her, his desire to be accepted by someone close to her as he helped them in the fight for good, and his unappreciated care taking of Dawn. Buffy realized as she awoke from the vision that her love for Spike intensified with each flash of his lengthy life.

As his life flashed through Buffy’s mind, so did Buffy’s life flash through Spike. His vision was decidedly shorter, but no less pain-filled or affecting. Spike saw Buffy’s childhood; her heartbreak as her father left her family, and her confusion and anger when she was called to be the Slayer. His eyes blurred with tears as he saw her friends and loved ones, including himself, betray her in their own way.

After slowly regaining their senses, Buffy and Spike ran into each other’s arms. Spike stroked her hair as their tears flowed freely and mixed on the yellow brick road beneath them.

“God, I’m sorry…so sorry, love….”

“Spike…I…I’m sorry too…I think we have a lot to make up for.”

“I’ll do anything, pet, just name it.”

Buffy buried her tear-stained face in Spike’s shoulder.

“Just hold me.”

“That I can do, pet.”

Spike wiped Buffy’s face dry with his sleeve before drying his own. He held her close to himself before looking to Tara.

“Can we go home now, Glinda?”

“It’s all up to her,” Tara said as she nodded at Buffy.

Buffy’s eyes shone with resolve as she grabbed Spike’s hand and walked forward. She looked over her Oz-ian friends, smiling at each of them, beguilingly.

“Thank you all for helping me,” she said before turning to Spike. “Let’s go home, baby.”

Buffy clicked her sparkling red pumps together and closed her eyes.

“There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home….”

When she opened her eyes again, Spike’s hand was gone, and she lay in a small hospital bed.

Oh no…oh no…it didn’t work…oh God, oh God, oh God, it didn’t work!

Sitting up in terror, Buffy’s eyes darted around her, searching for her mate. Buffy and Spike sighed in unison when their eyes met. Spike pulled an IV out of his arm and moved over to Buffy, desperately searching her eyes for the love they found in Oz.

“Buffy, love, tell me you remember…God, please…I…if it was a dream, I couldn’t bear it, and you’d best to stake me right now.”

Buffy pushed her hair back from her neck, revealing his fresh bite mark. He smiled in triumph when he noticed that the other marks that had graced Buffy’s neck had vanished. Eyes sparkling, her trailed his finger across his mark.

“You still mine, love?”

“Always.”

Willow burst into the room, her hair disheveled. Her eye bulged out when she saw Buffy and Spike, fully conscious, and locked in a loving embrace.

“GUYS! You’re back! Oh, oh, thank Goddess!”

Xander, Dawn, and Giles, hearing Willow’s outcry, ran into the hospital room. Xander sighed in relief when he saw the two were finally revived, as Giles sunk to the floor against the wall. Dawn simply fainted.


--

After placing the unconscious Dawn on Spike’s bed, the conscious group exchanged smiles.

“Think the Niblet is glad we’re back, pet,” Spike said, placing a soft kiss on Buffy’s forehead.

“How’d you guys get back? You have to tell us everything,” Xander said, his smile brightening the room.

Buffy gave Spike a knowing wink and squeezed his hand.

“I’ll tell them this time…you have to retell it to Dawn when she wakes up, deal?”

Spike sighed, but stared in total adoration at his mate.

“Whatever you want, love.”

“Good. Well, it all started when I woke up in this little crashed farmhouse….”




~THE END~


--
This story was written in response to:

Challenge: 321

"This challenge is the result of an all night tag chat with Lady Yashka and Miss Onyx, forgive me if it has already been done :D

This can be set any season 4 or beyond.

Spuffy in Oz.

All of the BtVS characters in the land of Oz.
Buffy and Spike are somehow sucked into a portal (or a spell gone wrong) to the Land Of Oz.

Must have:
Buffy and Spike searching for a way home, but finding out that they are home as long as they are together.
Tara as Glinda.
Giles as the Wizard.

Can have:
Any characters questing for something they need, you don't need to keep to the courage, heart and brains thing unless you want to.
Maggie Walsh, Willow, or Dru as the wicked witch.
You can have Angel and Riley in here if they are not good guys, they have to be minions.

Can't have:
Spike torture
Spike/other unless very briefly
Buffy/other unless very briefly"