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Buffy walked around the living room of the house she'd been told was "hers." She looked at the pictures on the mantle, realizing that other than herself and her mother, she didn't know a single person in any of them.

Buffy flopped down on the couch, overwhelmed. "None of this makes any sense."

Spike sat beside her. "What's the last thing you remember before you woke up in my bed?" Dawn looked sharply at Spike when he said "bed," but he ignored her.

"I was sitting in front of the school. This old guy came up to me, saying something about my 'destiny,' but after that everything's a blank."

"Merrick," Dawn announced.

"Who's that?" Spike asked her.

"Buffy's first Watcher," Dawn replied. "I don't know much about him, but old guy talking about destiny…"

Spike nodded. "Watcher."

"What's a Watcher?"

Spike and Dawn both ignored Buffy's question. "It seems like she had everything erased in her mind from right before the moment she found out she was the Slayer on."

"Why do you people keep talking about Slayer?"

"Has Willow come home yet?"

Buffy, Dawn, and Spike all turned to look at Tara as she walked into the living room. "Willow's not here," Dawn said. "And we have a bit of a situation."

"Situation?" Tara asked with a frown.

"Buffy's lost herself about five years," Spike said. "And not in that overnight wrinkle cream way women seem to be obsessed with."

"Do I know her, too?" Buffy asked.

"That's Tara," Dawn provided. "She lives here with us. So does Willow."

"Who's Willow?"

"The redhead in the pictures."

"Oh."

"What happened to Buffy?" Tara asked.

"We're not sure," Spike replied. "She was at my crypt after patrol, and she just passed out. When she woke up, she was like this."

"That sounds like a spell," Tara said.

"A spell?" Buffy asked. "What do, you think someone put a voodoo curse on me?" When the room continued to ignore her, Buffy muttered, "You're all totally insane."

"Spell? Where did Willow say she was going?" Dawn asked.

"A study group." Tara's brow furrowed. "She promised me she wouldn't…"

"Why do I get the feeling you don't mean she promised you she wouldn't go to study group?" Dawn asked.

Tara sighed. "She was talking about doing a forgetting spell. But…but not to make Buffy forget this much, just that she…" Tara changed her sentence, not wanting to scare the amnesiac in the room. "Just last summer. But we talked about it, and agreed that it would be the wrong thing to do."

"Sounds to me like maybe Red didn't agree as much as you thought she did," Spike said. "Spell gone wonky—has her mark all over it."

"You people honestly thinks someone put a spell on me? Do you realize how crazy that sounds?"

Finally, someone paid attention to Buffy. "You'd think so," Dawn said. "But, well, your life is a bit…complicated."

"Complicated how? Would someone just tell me what's going on?"

"You're a vampire slayer, and you live with witches, one of whom may have put a spell on you," Spike rattled off in a monotone.

That earned Spike a big "Huh?"

"Like the nibblet said, things are confusing." Spike patted Buffy's shoulder. "Just relax about it now, and when we find Willow, hopefully we'll get it all straightened out."

Buffy looked at Spike. Now that she could think of him as something other than "kidnapper," she realized how hot he was. Way hotter than Tyler, she thought. She wondered if Spike was her boyfriend. Her supposed sister and friend seemed rather used to him being around, and she had woken up in hi s bed. Buffy gave Spike her flirtiest smile, batting her eyelashes for good measure. "You promise everything will be all right?"

Spike's eyes bulged in surprise. Was she flirting? "Uh, yeah. We'll…fix it." He winced at how lame he sounded to his own ears.

Buffy seemed not to agree on his conclusion of lameness. She smiled brightly and moved closer to Spike on the couch. Tara and Dawn shared a curious look across the room.

The front door opened, and a new tension filled the living room. Willow walked in, all eyes immediately going to her.

"Is that Willow?" Buffy asked.

Willow frowned. "I did something bad, didn't I?"

Tara crossed her arms and gave her girlfriend the Look of Death. "Uh huh."

"Buffy thinks she's fifteen," Dawn said, filling Willow in. "She's forgotten everything about being the Slayer."

"She wasn't supposed to forget that much," Willow said in her own defense, knowing it would pointless to deny she'd done anything at all. "Maybe I could tweak the spell a bit…"

"No!" Tara snapped. "If you do that, you might end up giving her total amnesia. We need to break the spell altogether."

"There's, um, a slight problem with that," Willow replied.

"What sort of problem?" Dawn asked.

"Well, the spell's easy to break—I wanted to make sure it was fixable if I'd messed something up again. All you have to do is smash this crystal. But, well, it sort of got stolen by a demon."

"Demons again?" Buffy asked.

"There's always a demon," Dawn said. "Just go with it."

Buffy nodded, then looked back at Spike. His shirt was tight enough that she could see his nice, yummy muscles. Surely he could protect her from anything scary. She slid closer to him again, this time pressing her thigh against his. When Spike looked at her questioningly, Buffy winked at him.

Spike jumped back. "What sort of demon was it?" he asked Willow in a rush.

"I'm not sure," Willow replied. "It was red, with horns, and a beard. And it had wings, too."

"Did it wear a funny outfit—sorta like a fancy diaper?" Spike asked.

"Yeah," Willow replied. "Do you know him?"

"Buffy and I ran into him the other night," Spike replied. "He's the one that claimed to be 'testing' her."

"The same one that she thought might have some connection to that black van?" Willow asked.

Spike nodded. "That's the one."

"I wonder if he knew what the crystal was for, and he was trying to incapacitate the Slayer," Willow said.

"Whatever he's doing, it has to be bad," Dawn said. "We need to get Buffy back to normal fast."

"I'm all for being normal Buffy again." Buffy said. "This whole thing is majorly giving me the wiggins." She reached over and touched Spike's thigh.

Spike jumped up. "Right then. I'll go check out some local demon haunts, see if I can find anything about a new player in town."

Buffy stood, standing as close to him as she could. "I'll go with you."

"No!" Spike replied. "I mean, uh, it won't be safe—you know, with you not remembering any of your, uh, Slayer training."

Buffy looked up, batting her eyelashes again. "But you'll be there…"

"It's dangerous," Spike countered.

"Where are you going?" Dawn asked. "Willie's?"

"Probably."

"They won't know about the amnesia. You might get better results if you have the Slayer with you."

"I can be like totally intimidating," Buffy said with a bright smile.

"Dawn has a point," Willow said. "A lot of the demons in there seem to be afraid of just the thought of the Slayer."

"See. I'm scary," Buffy said, her smile still in place. Sure, this was all insane, and she was beginning to wonder if this was all just a really weird dream, but she was amused by the idea of being something that would scare a demon.

"You're scary all right," Spike said, inching away.

"Great!" Willow said, clapping her hands together. "So Spike and Buffy can go see what they can pound out of the locals, and we can do some research to try to figure out what type of demon we're dealing with."

"Shouldn't we call Giles?" Tara asked.

"There's no need to bother him now," Willow said, images of how Giles would respond to her latest magical mess-up running through her head. "It's late—he's probably asleep."

Buffy tugged on Spike's hand. "Come on—let's go intimidate some demons. Ooh—do I get weapons?"

"Let me handle the weapons," Spike said, the idea of this Buffy wielding a weapon making him way beyond nervous.

Buffy smiled dreamily at the thought of Spike with a weapon. She bet it made him look all manly… "Okay, Let's go, Spike. Come on!" She pulled on his hand again, leading him towards the door.

Spike glanced over at Dawn. She was smirking at him, and Spike realized she knew what pre-Slayer Buffy was like, and therefore knew was he was in for. He gave her a desperate look, but her only response was a small wave good-bye.

Spike let Buffy drag him from the house.

*** *** ***

"You got any gum?"

Spike glanced down at Buffy. "No."

She shrugged, regarding her nails for a moment. Spike knew he should be grateful for the quality Buffy Time, but this Buffy unnerved him. She'd been overtly flirtatious, and while under normal circumstances that would've been enough to make his unlife, all he could think of now was how this could only turn out badly.

"I like your coat," Buffy said, playing with the arm of his duster.

"Uh, thanks."

"So what are we?"

Spike frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You and me. I woke up in your bed…"

"We're not like that," Spike said quickly.

"Do I have a boyfriend?"

"Not of late."

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No."

"So why aren't we together? I mean, we obviously hang, and—if you don't mind me saying—you are totally drool-worthy."

Spike told himself that he'd done the right thing in not telling Buffy that they were a couple and convincing her to jump in the next set of bushes with him. Anything but his best behavior could lead to a rather dusty ending the moment she remembered everything. "It's complicated."

"People keep saying that," Buffy whined, kicking a rock that was in her path. "It's not a very good answer."

"It's good enough."

"Are you gay?"

"What?!" Spike asked, sputtering. "Why would you ask that?"

"Well, there is your hair…"

"Oi! The hair's part of my Big Bad image, thank you very much," Spike said with a pout.

"Okay, fine. I won't question your sexuality or your hair," Buffy said with an overdramatic eye roll. "So why aren't you interested in me?" Buffy found it shocking that a guy could be around her and not want her. All the boys in school always wanted her. She was Buffy Summers, cheerleader—Prom Princess and Fiesta Queen.

"It's not me, pet," Spike admitted softly. "It's you who isn't interested in me."

Buffy gaped at that. What as wrong with Buffy of the future? This total hottie wanted her, and she didn't jump his sexy bones? Had she totally lost her marbles in the past five years? "Why not?"

Spike thought for a moment, deciding what he should tell her. He knew he could lie to her, but he also knew the truth would come out eventually—especially if they ran into trouble at Willie's. "I'm a vampire, Buffy."

Buffy stopped, and Spike wondered if she was going to run. She didn't. She'd decided back at the house to take all the freaky things in stride. It seemed like a better plan than wigging the way she wanted to. "Well, that explains the crypt. And the cold hands. Are you an evil vampire?"

Of course, Spike thought. He was bad…evil…the worst. He looked down into Buffy's wide, green eyes. "No. I'm not."

Buffy started walking again, with Spike still beside her. "It's cool then. Besides, you being a vampire—kinda sexy."

Spike stumbled. He shook his head, reminding himself that this wasn't his Buffy calling him "sexy," but a version who had no idea who he really was. She'd just forgotten that he disgusted her. "Um, thanks."

They walked the rest of the way to Willie's in silence. Once there, Spike turned to her. "Be careful in here, Buffy. It's a rough lot, and if they find out you're less than yourself, things could get ugly real fast. Best just to keep your mouth shut."

"Got it. I'll be total zip-lip girl." She punctuated her sentence with the requisite lip-zipping gesture.

"Right," Spike replied, hoping that fifteen-year-old Buffy was more capable of keeping quiet than twenty-year-old Buffy. He knew he shouldn't hold his metaphorical breath. "Just stay by my side, kitten."

Buffy blushed when he called her "kitten." She was a definite a fan of being called pet names with that oh so sexy voice of his. She decided for the millionth time since she'd discovered that she was apparently not interested in Spike that grown up Buffy was a moron. "I'll be happy to stay by your side," Buffy said, eyelashes fluttering again.

"Well, if it isn't the little Slayer and her pet vampire," a big green demon at the bar sneered as soon as they walked in. "How's it feel to have no balls, Spikey?"

Spike groaned as Buffy charged the demon, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and pressing him against the bar. "Listen you, I'm the Slayer, and I say you leave Spike alone before I…um…slay you." Spike gave her a pained look. "Oh, and um, have you seen a big red wingy demon around?"

The demon trembled slightly. "No…"

Buffy shook him hard and screamed, "You lying to me, bitch? Am I gonna have to start ripping off non-essential parts until you squeal like the pig you are, huh?"

"I swear! I haven't seen any big red wingy demons!" the green demon screeched.

Spike tapped her on the shoulder. "He's not lying, Slayer."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

Buffy shrugged and dropped the demon to the ground. "Anyone else in here got any useful information?" she yelled, hands on her hips.

Every demon in the bar shook his or her head quickly.

Spike knew he needed to get Buffy out of there. She was likely to start something, and without remembering any of her fighting moves, that could get ugly. "I think we're done here, Slayer," Spike said, taking hold of her arm. "Let's go home and see if the others have found anything."

"But I haven't gotten to hurt anyone yet," Buffy whined.

"I know. Next time."

Buffy grinned again. "Goody. Let's go then."

The demons turned away as Spike led Buffy out of the bar.

"Did you see me?" Buffy asked, her step bouncy. "I totally intimidated them."

"Uh, yeah. What happened to being quiet?"

"I was gonna do that, but then that one demon was mean to you, and that made me angry. But I was good, right? What did you think of what I said? I got that from a movie."

She looked up at him with wide, expectant eyes, and Spike didn't have the heart to say anything unkind to her. "You were great, luv."

Buffy felt tingles rush over her. He called her luv… That had to be the sexiest sound she'd ever heard. She took his hand, swinging their arms as the walked.

Spike looked down at where their hands met. He knew he should let go, but he couldn't. Even if it wasn't real, Buffy's hand felt perfect in his. He gave it a small squeeze, smiling as they walked together.

*** *** ***

Reviews are always appreciated. Please let me know what you think. :)

Just to let you all know, my updates are probably going to be slow for a while. I just took another job, so between working two jobs and going to school full time, my schedule's a little full. I'm not abandoning any of my stories, though, and I will update as often as I can!





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