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Buffy woke with every joint stiff and the blinding sun in her eyes. She sat up and stretched, wincing as she did. "Remind me never to sleep in the sand again," she muttered.

"I'm with you there, pet," Spike grumbled, sitting up beside her. "I can't feel my arm." He shook the offending appendage, frowning.

"Your circulation got cut off."

"Oh. I forgot it could do that."

"Wear a corset for awhile and you'll never forget again," Buffy replied, still trying to stretch out her sore muscles.

"I'll pass, thanks." Buffy looked at him for a moment before erupting into giggles. Spike frowned harder. "What's so bloody funny?"

"I'm sorry," Buffy said, trying unsuccessfully to stifle her laughter. "It's just I had this picture of you being all Rocky Horror."

Spike glared. "Watch it, Slayer."

"Sorry," Buffy said again, although the look on her face made Spike believe she didn't really mean it.

"Well, now that you've had a nice laugh at my expense, let's see if maybe we can get our bearings here."

Buffy sobered, biting her bottom lip. "How long do you think we'll be stuck on this island?"

"I don't know, pet, but I figure as long as we're here, we'll need to make the most of it."

"I feel helpless," Buffy admitted softly. "I don't like it."

Spike put his hand on her shoulder. "We'll get out of this, and you'll get back to Dawn. I promise you that."

"But what if we are stuck here forever? What if I'm trapped on this island for the rest of my life, and what if I'm not there to stop Glory from…" Buffy trailed off, unable to say anymore.

"Won't happen, Slayer. You're the good guy, she's the bad guy. You'll win."

"I think you've been in this magical land of make-believe too long, Spike. You of all people should know sometimes the bad guy wins."

"I never won with you."

"We never had our final fight. That was taken from us."

Spike smiled warmly at her. "Maybe that was for the best. You've kind of grown on me."

"Is that the dread pirate William talking again?"

"No. Just Spike."

"Spike hates me."

"Sometimes." He met her eyes. "But recently those times have been fewer and farther between."

Buffy felt her stomach flip. He was looking at her with such intensity, and Buffy realized that if she hadn't slipped into character, then he probably hadn't either. But if that was the case, then why did he have that look in his eyes? She realized she'd seen it before—in the alley outside of the Bronze the night he'd told her about killing the other two Slayers. She'd been sure then that he'd wanted to kiss her, and now…

Buffy jumped to her feet. "We should get going. Find shelter, food, water—you know, the basic necessities for sustaining life." She laughed nervously.

Spike sighed inwardly, realizing Buffy had sensed he'd wanted to kiss her and that she was now running scared. He felt the urge to grab her, to pull her into his arms and show her how good a kiss between the two of them could be, but suddenly he realized he couldn't be sure if these were his own feelings or those of his bloody pirate persona. He knew that in the outside world he'd wanted Buffy for a while, but now he wasn't sure if he had control over his words and actions or someone else, and that bothered him. He didn't like not being able to think for himself. Spike stood, wiping the sand of off himself. "Right. Basic necessities. Let's head off then."

They kept their distance from each other as they began an exploration of the island.

*** *** ***

Buffy and Spike stopped in a clearing. A small but sturdy looking shelter stood on the other edge, with what appeared to be makeshift cooking supplies strewn about outside about. Spike felt Buffy reach out and grab his arm, and he looked down at her. "What is it, kitten?"

"Do you think maybe we're not alone on this island?"

"I don't know. This place looks like it hasn't been touched in a while. We may as well scout a bit, though—see if anyone's home."

Buffy nodded, her hand never leaving Spike's arm. When they peeked into the shelter and found it empty, they ventured into the woods, wondering if maybe whoever had built this camp was nearby. They hadn't gotten too far away from the clearing when they discovered they were in fact alone—or at least the only living people in the area.

At the sight of the human skeleton lying on the ground in front of them, Buffy cried out, turning to bury her head against Spike's chest. He wrapped his arms around her, trying to soothe her as tremors wracked her small frame. Eventually, Elizabeth looked up, tears still shimmering in her eyes. "Oh, William! Is this the fate that awaits us, too?"

William gently wiped her damp cheeks with his thumb. "No, my sweet little Elizabeth. I promise you that I will never allow you meet such an end. I will do everything in my power to protect you, and I shall fight until my very last breath to see you safely returned to civilization."

"I'm so frightened!" Elizabeth exclaimed, her hold on William tightening. "But…" As she spoke her next words, Elizabeth lowered her eyes shyly. "But I feel safer when I am with you. I once feared you so since you are such a brute of a man, but now I cannot help but feel secure in your strong arms."

"And you will never be anything but secure in them, darling Elizabeth. I feel nothing but remorse for doing such a cruel thing as attacking your ship and taking you hostage. Were it not for me, you would no doubt be safe now. I cannot help but hate myself for putting a precious treasure such as yourself into so dangerous a situation."

"Please, William, don't say that! Don't say you regret what has allowed us to meet! As terrible as our fate seems to be, I do not regret the night you plundered my vessel, and I cannot bear to think you could either!"

"How can you not loathe me for what I have done to you?"

"Because I can no longer imagine a world in which I do not have you."

Her words made William's heart burst with joy. Was it actually possible that his dearest Elizabeth felt even a fraction of the emotions that she stirred within him? He knew what he felt blossoming inside him was a love the likes of he'd never know before. She had planted herself inside of his heart, and the roots had already grown deep. He cupped her face in his hand, marveling at the softness of her skin against his calloused fingers. She was a beauty so rare, so pure, and he knew that he had to feel her lips against his own. "Oh, Elizabeth. My sweet, sweet Elizabeth," he whispered, her name like a prayer as it tumbled from his mouth.

Elizabeth knew he was going to kiss her, and felt her insides trembling in both anticipation and fear. Admiral Finn had never presumed to take such liberties with her, and she couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like to kiss a man, especially this brash, handsome pirate. His slightest touch had made her tingle, and she somehow knew that kissing him would make her soar.

And oh, how it did! The kiss was soft, exploratory, as if he was learning the taste of her. Soon, however, his arms tightened around her, bringing her soft, supple body against his harder one. Despite an initial flash of shock as his tongue entered her mouth, Elizabeth was soon following William's lead, unable to stifle a moan as his touch brought her to a place she'd never dared to explore before. It was like heaven, a deep, magical…

Suddenly, their eyes snapped open, and Buffy and Spike pulled away from each other sharply. Spike watched Buffy's reaction, noting with some satisfaction that this time she managed not to wipe her mouth furiously while screaming about "Spike lips."

"What the hell was that?" Buffy asked when she managed to calm herself down enough to speak.

"Dunno, luv," Spike replied with a cocky grin, trying to disguise how much that little incident had managed to knock him arse over tit. "Seems like William and Elizabeth are getting a bit hot for each other."

"Ugh. Stupid romance novel." Buffy kicked her foot and sighed when she realized she'd kicked the skeleton. "We should move this guy if we're going to stay here. The bones have pretty much been stripped, but there's still a chance it could attract predators."

Spike nodded. This was his Buffy again. No nonsense, practical. Powerless yes, but still able to slip into Slayer mode. He felt more at ease with Buffy in the driver's seat of her body again. "Right. And then we need to take a look around, see what we can find in the way of fresh water and food."

"Yeah. They're the two necessities left seeing as Jolly Roger down there seems to have provided us with the shelter part."

"Pretty convenient that."

Buffy's eyes stayed trained on the skeleton as she muttered, "Gotta love those plot devices."

*** *** ***

Willow stared at the map in front of her, her brows knitted. "This can't be right."

"What's wrong?" Xander asked, moving to stand behind the witch to see for himself the outcome of the locator spell. "Where does it say Buffy is?"

Willow and Tara shared a look, confirming that they were both seeing the same result. "According to this, Buffy's in the Magic Box," Willow replied.

"What! But we looked here!" Xander exclaimed. "Oh god, what if she's pulled a Marcie! Have we been ignoring her?"

"I don't think she's invisible. She'd probably at least let us know she was around if that was the case," Willow said. She frowned, looking down at the map. "Something must be off with the spell."

"Besides," Tara added, "The spell says Spike's here, too."

"You know, this book is missing, and…"

"Not now, Anya!" Xander snapped, not bothering to turn around and look at her. "Now would probably be the time for you to think about something other than business and money."

"We should do the spell again," Willow said. "Something must have gone wrong."

"You'll just get the same results," Anya muttered, not particularly surprised when no one paid her any attention. Instead, she started to walk around slowly, moving things around on shelves.

"Xander, tell Anya to cut out whatever she's doing," Willow said after a moment. "She's breaking my concentration."

"Anya, sit down," Xander said immediately.

"But I'm looking for the book."

"Well, stop it! Geez, Anya, you'd think that you'd be a little more sensitive to the fact that Buffy's…"

"Wait a minute," Giles said, cutting Xander off. "Anya, which book is missing?"

Anya walked back over to the box on the counter and snatched one of the books out of it, waving it in the air for Giles to see. "One of these."

Giles immediately responded by cleaning his glasses. "Oh good Lord."

Xander glanced rapidly several times between Anya and Giles before settling on Giles. He gestured towards the other man. "It's so not a good sign when he does that."

Tara looked up from her position on the floor. "What's going on?" she asked.

"We need to find that book, and we need to find it now," Giles replied.

"What's the deal with the book?" Willow asked.

"Well, if what I believe Anya is suggesting is correct, then the spell may very well be accurate. Buffy and Spike are in fact in the shop—and quite possibly in some trouble."

"Okay, you need to work on the specifics there a bit, G-man," Xander said.

"It's an enchanted book," Anya announced. "Reading aloud from it takes you, and anyone who happens to be with you at the time, into the story itself."

"Why would anyone want to get sucked inside of a book?" Xander asked.

Anya rolled her eyes. And he told her she never got things. "It's a romance novel, Xander. See the lurid cover?"

"A romance novel? So that would mean people go in there to…oh." Willow's eyes grew wide as she realized exactly what was being implied. "Oh!"

"This is why if Buffy is indeed in this book with ,Spike we must get her out immediately," Giles said.

"It's Spike," Xander said. "It's not like Buffy's going to do the wacky with the evil undead."

"But that's part of the enchantment," Anya explained. "The book takes over, allowing you to eventually become your characters. There's a basic script for the story, and you will follow it. It allows the user to become more involved in the fantasy and makes everything much more realistic."

"So you're saying that Buffy's stuck in a book that's going to make her to have sex with Spike?" Xander asked, trying to wrap his head around that particular concept.

"Precisely," Anya replied. "Although I doubt she'll really mind. Romance novel sex is always really good."

Giles replied to Anya's last statement by blushing heavily and giving his glasses another thorough cleaning. "Yes, well, that aside, I say we need to find the book and make sure that doesn't happen."

"If they are in the book, how will we get them out once we find it?" Tara asked.

"I'm not entirely sure," Giles replied. "Usually the, um, reader,, stays inside until the novel has reached its set ending."

"And by that point, Spike and Buffy are sure to have had lots of satisfying but potentially problematic sex," Anya said.

"We get that, Ahn," Xander said. "No need to keep spelling it out. Giles, what do we do?"

"We find the book. If they are in there, well, we have to see if there's anything we can do to release the magic that's holding them inside before they can advance much further into the plot."

"Although they've probably already had sex," Anya said. "They've been there since last night, and things tend to move a bit faster in these types of alternate dimensions."

"Anya!" Xander yelled. "Stop being so pessimistic!"

"I'm not! If anything, I'm being optimistic. Buffy's been really tense lately, and with Riley being gone, well…"

Giles pinched the bridge of his nose, his eyes screwed shut. "Anya, please, spare us all and stop right there." To Giles's great relief, she did, although her facial expression made it clear that she thought everyone in the room was ignoring obvious logic. "No more discussion until we find this book. We may very well be too late, but for Buffy's sake, we need to try our best to get her out of this situation."

The rest of the room agreed.

*** *** ***

Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed. It means a lot to me to know that so many people are enjoying my fic!





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