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How to Treat Your
Lover
by Tami
Chapter 12-B
Step 1: Infatuation (Part 12-B)
Los Angeles
This had to have been the worst week of Angel’s life. It seemed that his confrontation with Penn, which resulted in his psychotic childe’s dusting, had started a chain of bad karma. Staking one’s family always had that effect. Darla was always in the back of his mind and he had staked her nearly 4 years ago.
When does a stranger supersede your familial obligation? He had staked Darla as a way to save Buffy from his Sire trying to kill her. He had no real memory of when the thought had occurred to him to dust the woman who had damned him to an eternal existence.
There were no words to explain Darla. He had spent 150 years with her. Heaven and Hell was his Sire. She promised one and delivered the other with a vengeance. She had delivered on her promise that she made when she turned him. She had shown him her world. It was cold and intoxicating and unforgiving. In the end, she had molded him into a perfect specimen of death and destruction, a perfect cohort made just for her. Every evil thing he had ever learned and exhibited while in her company only fueled her arousal and excitement for more and he had given it to her.
150 years of devotion to one woman -- Was it devotion? Only to been turned out when she had discovered that he was cursed with a soul. With stake in hand, she had promptly banished him from the home and forbade him to seek out Drusilla and Spike to say farewell. His Sire was a cold-hearted bitch. He had come to the conclusion long ago that she was always that way even as a human. The demon in her just emphasized it more.
He had tried to stop her when he found her in Sunnydale. He had tried to steer both of the women in his life away from each other. How deep should familial obligation be when the person who was everything to you for over a century turns up out of the blue and demands their former place in your life? Darla had kicked him out of the family, just as she had done Penn years before. Yet there she was in Sunnydale and going after Buffy. It wasn’t a conscious thought to dust her. It just happened. One minute she was threatening Buffy with a pair of guns, the next he had a stake his hand and her dust all over him and the floor of the Bronze.
Then, there was Penn. Penn had forced his own banishment. Angelus had been the one to physically remove him, but it was Darla’s decision that made it so. Penn was the only one of his Childers who had tried to usurp his position as acting head of the family. Five years later, Penn had wanted to make a peace offering to him. They were to meet up in Italy when Angelus got held up in Rumania by gypsies. Damn Darla and her gifts.
But, then Penn had shown up a few weeks ago. He was killing to lure Angel out. 200 years, you’d think a demon would be over issues of finding ways to get back at their mortal father, or Sire, for that matter. After all that time, Penn was still after some form of punishment or praise. The puritan was never clear on which he wanted most though.
The final straw was when his childe went after Kate Lockley. Angel and Kate may not have seen eye-to-eye on a lot of things, 90 percent of them in fact, but he didn’t wish her dead. Angel had tried to get Penn to stop. He had tried to get Penn to move on or go somewhere else that wasn’t Los Angeles. When his childe refused, Angel had no other recourse than to end his existence. And there was another family member’s dust covering him and the floor of the abandoned warehouse.
Somewhere in Angelus’ parenting skills there was a flaw. Maybe it was the lack of them to begin with. Penn had shown promise in the beginning but then turned out to be a disaster. Drusilla was a lost cause from the start of his obsession with her. She was already losing it with the visions, so driving the girl completely out of her mind had been no great feat. However, it was still enjoyable to Angelus to engage in the art of orchestrating someone’s demise. Such was Darla’s gift to his demon: the art of causing a person to self-destruct before you ended their life, or, in Drusilla’s case, prolonged it eternally.
Lastly, there was Spike. His boy, daresay, his pride and joy. The sane one of all his family, if you could call Spike that. The blonde vampire was never ambitious when it came to challenging Angelus’ role as head of the Clan. The boy never cared about who was in charge of the family. But then, he had also refused to capitulate under Angelus’ treatment. He had refused to be broken. Even as Spike idolized him, he had refused to let his Sire dominate him any more than he wanted to be dominated.
But then, Spike wasn’t actually his, was he? At least, he didn’t start out that way. Angelus took him from Drusilla. He had craved the beautiful, willful, stubborn boy. Spike was everything that Angelus had succeeded in beating out of Penn and Drusilla.
Wasn’t that why he had wanted the blonde vampire? Wasn’t that why Spike had become his Most Favored? Spike had so much energy and excitement with his status as a vampire. William the Bloody had gone from a limp-wristed, weak-willed young poet and intellect to a predator, a killer, with a demon’s strength and confidence. Spike reveled in it and Angelus couldn’t tame him . . . he couldn’t control him . . . yet, he still wanted to be near him.
It all came back to Spike. Angel had tried to hate the blonde vampire for how he turned out. He had honestly tried. But, ever since Parent-Teacher Night at Buffy’s high school, he couldn’t. Underneath all the anger and impetuous devil-may-care attitude that Spike carried now, all Angel saw was his Will.
When he was helping Buffy to stop his youngest childer, it was more of finding ways that she couldn’t stake his boy. Whatever feelings he and Spike had towards each other on any given minute, he did not want to see his childe dust. So what brought on this train of thought concerning family etiquette? Kate Lockley. It had brought to mind not only thoughts of his demon family, but his mortal family. Some days he could remember their faces as if he’d seen them only yesterday and other days they were lost in a whirlwind of the faces of his other victims.
His father had said he wouldn’t amount to anything as a human. Angel sometimes wondered if it were the same now that he was a souled vampire. He had lost all hatred for his father along time ago. But, his father’s words still stuck in his head from time to time.
Had he made a difference since meeting Buffy? Had he even made a dent in the existential karmic chart that weighed his good deeds against his bad ones? It didn’t look like it. For every life he saved, Wolfram and Hart put another one in peril. Some days he didn’t know what he was fighting for. It couldn’t be to make the world a better place. He had traveled the world a dozen times over and there was always going to be something worse than what there already was. Doyle had called him a champion. Was he? If so, what did being a champion mean?
“ANGEL!” Cordelia screamed.
Before Angel could think on it anymore, Cordelia’s screaming had snapped him out of it. He jumped up and looked around for the danger. Seeing nothing he settled back into his chair and glared at the brunette standing on the opposite side of his desk. “What do you want, Cordelia? Did you get a vision?”
Cordelia threw up her hands in exasperation. “I was yelling your name and nothing. Either you were in deep meditation or you were brooding again. You’ve been staring into space for, like, two hours. Is something wrong?”
“Two hours? It couldn’t have been that long. I just sat down,” Angel looked at the clock on the wall and realized it had been that long ago. “Oh.”
“Yeah, ‘oh’,” Cordelia agreed sarcastically. “You weren’t brooding about Buffy were you? ‘Cause as I understand it, you two had decided to move on. And, did I hear right that you claimed Spike?”
“No, I wasn’t brooding about Buffy. Where did you hear that I claimed Spike?” Angel asked distractedly. He rubbed his eyes feeling like he was just rudely awakened when he hadn’t even been to bed yet.
“Giles called and said so. The Sunnydale crew thinks you’re going to go all homicidal now that you and Spike are together,” Cordelia said with a nonchalant wave of her hand. Then she looked at Angel with her face scrunched in concentration and asked, “What does it mean that you claimed Spike?”
Giles called? The Sunnydale crew thinks I’m turning evil? What? “Cordelia, yes, I claimed Spike. It’s complicated vampire stuff. I’m not going to turn homicidal and Spike and I aren’t together,” Angel explained as succinctly as possible. Not yet, anyway.
“Well, it’s good that you aren’t going to be evil. I’d hate to have a repeat performance of chaining my boss to the bed again,” Cordelia said with an over exaggerated shiver. “But if you claimed Spike. Why aren’t you together? Why did you claim him anyway? Angel, he’s a killer. Need I remind you that he had you chained to a ceiling and tortured you? Are you completely out of your mind?”
“Cordelia!” Angel said, grabbing the brunette’s attention from her tirade. “Vampires are different. A vampire claiming isn’t like a marriage. Well, I suppose it is. But, there are various levels of claiming. You don’t need to remind me of who Spike is or what he’s done. I know it all, I taught him to be what he is.”
Cordelia was giving Angel the ‘whatever’ face. Or was that her ‘get to the point’ face? He shook his head and hurried to explain, “I renewed my connection with Spike.” And instigated a mating claim in the process. Don’t forget that, boyo, Angelus reminded him. “It’s a way to curb his tendencies. I opened my conscience to him as a way to control him. It’s just a connection with him.”
“A connection?” Cordelia asked. She raised her eyebrows. “Making a connection means you pick up the phone and call an old friend. What you just said . . . do you know how insane that sounds? You’ve mind-melded with a serial killer, Angel. You sincerely think that you can curb his nature through mind control? That is crazy!”
“I told you, it’s a vampire thing. Yes, I do think I can control him that way, and I can,” Angel stated. “I left him in Sunnydale to watch after Buffy and help her.”
“You what? Angel! You left him in Sunnydale to watch after Buffy? Have you had a momentary lapse of reasoning? He’s killed 2 Slayers in his lifetime – un-lifetime, whatever – and he has tried to make Buffy – who is the love of your life, mind you – his third Slayer on numerous occasions, and you just left him there to watch after her? He’ll kill her! What’s to say he hasn’t done it already?” Cordelia was onto a whole new tirade.
“Cordy, please!” Angel pleaded with her. “Calm down. I’m not insane. I’m not evil. I know Spike’s track record with Slayers. I still care about Buffy. But we all know I can’t be with her. That’s why I have Spike there,” Angel said.
When Cordelia opened her mouth to say something further, Angel held up his hand to stop her. “I have a connection with Spike now. If he were going to kill Buffy I would have felt it. I would know that he had. It’s what the connection is. It’s like a tracker. If I open my mind to him, I can tell what his thoughts and feelings are. If it feels as if he would act on them I would stop him. Either by slipping into his mind or physically going up there to stop him.”
“You can’t be serious!” Cordelia managed to get out.
Angel let his head fall back against the seat. Then, he turned his head and looked at Cordelia. “As ‘evil’ as Spike is. He’s different the rest of us. Angelus, Darla and Drusilla didn’t have any sense of humanity. Spike has kept some of his humanity when he was turned. It was that bit of humanity and the ability to love that made him care for Drusilla all these years. Between that and self-preservation for his un-life, he’ll be fine. If anything, Spike is loyal. He’s agreed to the terms and to the connection.”
“He’s a soulless demon,” Cordelia said.
“Yes, he is that. But, I told you. He’s different. Remember a couple of years ago, when Buffy sent me to Hell?” When Cordelia nodded, Angel continued, “Spike was the one that sought her out to help stop me from ending the world. Evil, soulless Spike sought out the Slayer’s help to stop me.”
“He only did that for Drusilla, Angel. He didn’t do it for any other reason,” Cordelia said. She knew what happened. Buffy or Willow had told her what had happened.
“I know why he did it, Cordy. I’m just telling you, he did it because he cared for Drusilla. Spike doesn’t have a soul, but he still has a conscience and humanity in him that tempers him. If he has a task set before him, he does it. Right now, that task is to look after and help Buffy and he’s agreed to that.” This conversation was wearing him down.
Cordelia looked skeptical. “Fine. I hope you know what you’re doing Angel. Because if he so much as looks at us funny, I won’t hesitate to stake his lame bleached blonde 80’s-reject ass.”
Angel smirked at that. He didn’t doubt that she would have a problem with that. Of course, if he had his way, he would be the only one staking Spike’s ass . . . . Whoa, don’t go there now with Cordy in the room. Otherwise you’ll have to explain a whole new problem about to rise. With that thought he swallowed hard and said, “Fair enough.” Did that sound like a frog croaking?
Cordelia didn’t seem to notice the octave drop in his voice. She just nodded and left the room. Leaving him to brood some more he supposed.
**************************
Sunnydale, Summers’ Residence
An ambulance was still parked on the front lawn of Buffy’s home with a police cruiser parked on the street with its lights flashing. Joyce and [Buffy] were standing on the lawn by the porch watching the ambulance crew wheeled an unconscious [Faith] to the waiting vehicle. She was strapped down the gurney. A plain clothed officer with his badge visible from his breast pocket stepped up to the two women.
“It’s a good thing that you called. We’ve been looking for this girl ever since she broke out of the hospital,” the officer told them.
“What’s going to happen to her?” Joyce asked concerned.
“We’ll get her checked out. She’s in stable condition, she’ll go to jail, pending a trial,” the officer reassured her.
“I just hope that she gets some kind of help,” Joyce stated.
“The first thing is to keep her from hurting anybody else,” the officer said. “You guys will be safe now. We may have a couple of questions in the morning.”
“Oh, uh, of course,” Joyce agreed.
“Well, thank you both. I’m glad we finally got the kid,” the officer said gratefully.
“She’s not a kid!” [Buffy] blurted out. When Joyce and the officer gave her a questioning look, she amended, “I just mean that she’s very strong.”
“Yeah,” the officer agreed. “This Faith chick –- definitely dangerous.”
The ambulance pulled away from the house and the officer walked away to leave as well. Joyce turned towards the front door, but when her daughter didn’t follow, she turned to watch [Buffy] watch the departing ambulance.
“She truly is,” [Buffy] said to herself.
**************************
Sunnydale Memorial Hospital
The hospital personnel were being flung all over the room as they were trying to calm the manic female on the bed. An orderly fell back into the furniture; a doctor fell into his table of instruments.
“Let me go!” [Faith] had been screaming ever since she arrived at the hospital. No one would listen to her.
[Faith] continued to struggle in the hospital bed. There were three other hospital personnel, a uniformed officer and a plain clothed officer trying to hold her down.
“Get a me a sedative now!” the Doctor practically shouted at a nurse.
“I have to go home! She’s with my mother,” [Faith] begged.
The nurse had hurried back with a needle of sedative. The doctor carefully inserted the tip into [Faith’s] vein and pressed the plunger down.
“No!” [Faith] cried.
“Just lie still,” the Doctor told her.
“You don’t understand,” [Faith] said adamantly.
“Keep holding her down,” the officer barked.
“She’s taken my . . . my body,” [Faith] said as she slowly lost consciousness.
After [Faith] had been knocked out for twenty minutes, the police officers made preparations to move her to a holding cell downtown. Two officers removed her restraints, carried her out to a cruiser and deposited her into the backseat. The uniformed officer got into the driver’s seat and the plain clothed officer sat in the passenger seat as they drove down to the Precinct.
While the cruiser was en route to the station for booking, [Faith] was slowly regaining consciousness and gave a barely perceptible moan. However the officer in the passenger seat looked back through the cage that separated the front and back seats and told his partner, “She’s coming around.”
“Oh, yeah?” the driver asked disbelieving.
“Man, I want this kid’s constitution,” the plain clothed officer joked as he turned around to look out the windshield.
“Faith,” [Faith] moaned softly.
The plain clothed officer turned to his buddy and said, “Let’s get a move on it. I want to get her in before she’s 100%.”
The uniformed officer nodded in agreement and pressed down on the accelerator. Just as they were about to turn a corner, a red armored van cut them off causing the police cruiser to crash into the vehicle. Two men in black clothing jumped out of the back, one used a gun to cover the two police offices, who seemed stunned. Another used an ax to smash the back window of the cruiser. The man holding the gun broke away the remnants of glass shards on the sides with his weapon. The man bearing the ax then proceeded to drag [Faith] out of the car through the broken window.
“By order of the Watcher’s Council, you are being taken into custody until such time --” Weatherly started to recite the Watcher’s Council ‘Miranda rights’ as he and Collins carried the girl back to the armored van.
“Skip the speech,” Collins growled as they pulled [Faith] into the truck and closed the doors. A second later the van sped away from the scene of the accident.
**************************
After [Buffy] checked in with Giles and ended up in a stuffy and boring Scooby meeting, she wanted to blow of some steam and relax. What better way to do that then a little fun with some possible side action of the groin-y kind and what better place to do than at the Bronze?
She found herself dancing with and flirting with nearly every boy she laid eyes on in the dance club. Blondes really did have more fun! She was starting to like this body change. Feeling the need for some air, she danced her way out of the cluster of hot bodies and immediately backed into Spike who sloshed his beer.
“Hey!” Spike said indignantly.
“Whoop.”
Spike recognized the blonde girl in front of him. He should, she had become a thorn in his bloody side ever since his Sire sent him back to Sunnydale to baby-sit her. Why did he get ‘baby sit the worst enemy’ duty again? Was a connection with one’s Sire worth all this hassle? Did Angel want to see him swiftly staked just for the sake of it? Resigning the thoughts to the back of his mind he gave off the effect of boredom when he acknowledged [Buffy] with, “Oh, it’s you.”
“And you,” [Buffy] gave a slight nod.
“What? Are you keeping tabs on me? You’re going to give me a hard time now?” Spike asked. He had been trying to keep tabs on her but she was making it difficult. Damn Angel and the Sire-claim anyway. He shouldn’t have to jump through hoops after all this bloody time. He was over a century old. He and Angelus hunted women like her for a light snack between meals. Now he was stuck making sure she stayed alive and away from this psychotic Slayer Giles and the whelp were going on about.
[Buffy] stared at the sexy, blonde vampire confused. “Um, do I usually give you a hard time?”
“Very funny. Well, as I’m sure you know, you don’t have to worry about me drinking. That is, unless you’re here to protect innocent beers,” Spike held up his bottle and walked away from her. He’ll continue to watch her at a distance like he had for the past couple of months. No harm, no foul, no stake through the heart.
[Buffy] followed him. “You’re a vampire.”
“Yeah, luv, you know that. You also know I can’t hurt you now,” Spike said through gritted teeth. Damn Angelus! “So, why don’t you sod off and let me be.”
“Okay,” [Buffy] replied and turned away.
That seemed to piss Spike off more. The bloody blonde bint was mocking the fact that her former boyfriend had him leashed. ‘Don’t hurt her,’ says Angel; ‘Watch out for her, says Angel.’ Turn me into a Slayer’s bloody lapdog is what he did. Have to go against my nature to even try and kill her because Angel wants me to baby-sit her, even when he started a mating claim on me. Well his Sire could take his
soddin'’ claims and shove them up his—
Spike was stopped in mid-thought when he felt Angel slip into his mind and pull back on his proverbial leash. It was like his insides where being yanked back and wrapped around his spine, and then he heard his name whispered in a calm voice in his mind that promised a return of a soulless insane Angelus if he didn’t stop his train of thought. Spike’s shoulders slumped in defeat and he sighed resignedly.
“Oh, fine!” Spike said angry with both Angel for slipping in and [Buffy] for her nonchalance. “Throw it in my face! Spike’s not a threat anymore. ‘Since he’s being forced to protect me, I’ll turn my back. He can’t hurt me.’”
“Spike?” [Buffy] inquired curiously. “You were forced to protect me? William the Bloody was made to protect a Slayer? Who would care enough about a Slayer to enforce the Slayer of Slayers to protect one?” [Buffy] thought for a moment. Who would care enough about the real Buffy to demand that Spike watch out for her? Then it hit her. Buffy may have forgotten and moved on to a college stud, but Angel still loved her enough to pull a stunt like this.
When [Buffy’s] eyes lit up in realization, Spike scoffed. “You know why I really hate you, Summers?”
[Buffy] appeared to consider the question. “’Cause I’m a stuck-up tight-ass with no sense of fun?”
Spike appeared shocked at her own description of herself. “Well, yeah, that covers a lot of it.”
[Buffy] watched his reaction to the body she currently inhabited. “’Cause I could do anything I want, and instead, I choose to pout and whine and feel the burden of being the Slayer?” [Buffy] saw the heat flare in Spike’s eyes and moved closer to him. She dropped her tone to a sultry sound. “I mean I could be rich. I could be famous. I could have anything . . . anyone.” [Buffy] was now close enough to lay her hands on Spike’s chest. “Even you, Spike. I could ride you at a gallop until your legs buckled and your eyes rolled up. I've got muscles you've never even dreamed of. I could squeeze you until you popped like warm champagne, and you'd beg me to hurt you just a little bit more. And you know why I don't?” She pressed her body against Spike’s, looked up him through her lashes and pursed her lips. “Because it's wrong.” She laughed as she backed away from him.
There was something going on with the Slayer. The Buffy he knew would never consider flirting with the likes of him. Well, at least not unless she was under a spell or somewhat. When Spike made to follow her to either find out or make her deliver on her words, Angel must have felt it and taken his interest in the girl the wrong way. Because, one minute he had taken three steps to follow her and the next, his gut was being wrenched back again.
Soddin'’ hell Angel! Let me go, ponce. There’s something up with her. I just haven’t figured it out yet.
She’s not a plaything for you, Spike. You are there to protect her, nothing more.
Which is what I’m going to find out if you let me go, Angel. But, then again, maybe she does fancy me in which case you’ve got competition mate. Maybe she’s attracted to a soulless bad boy instead of the reformed one.
Spike! You will not use Buffy for your personal sex toy. If you need a release masturbate, or you know where to find me.
Spike chuckled outwardly at that suggestion. I can just see that. Show up in L.A. and explain to your pet humans why I’m there. ‘No kiddies. I’m not here to kill Angel, just here to shag him senseless.’ That should go over real well, Sire.
Spike could have sworn he heard a moan. Whassat, peaches? Wouldn’t happen to be sporting timber for little ol’ me, would ya now? That would go against all your pet humans’ thoughts on how the Slayer was the only thing that could get you hard.
God, Spike. You don’t know the half of it.
You’ll have to enlighten me sometime, Peaches. Until then, I got to track down your girl and see what the hell is up with her. I think I can still catch her scent.
Fine, but no thoughts of killing her off Spike. She has a sacred duty to uphold. She can’t do it if she’s dead by the Slayer of Slayers wanting to put a third notch on his belt.
Okay. Okay. No thoughts of killing the blonde bint. Can still have thoughts of shagging her though. Spike smirked at that.
Would rather you have thoughts of shagging me,” Angel’s voice was barely audible in his mind.
What was that mate?
Nothing. Nothing. Go. Find her. See what’s going on.
With that Angel released his hold on Spike and slipped out of his mind. Spike chuckled and headed out of the Bronze following the Slayer’s path.
**************************
Abandoned Work Shed somewhere in Sunnydale
In the back of the armored truck, [Faith] woke up and found herself in shackles and chains. She shook her head to clear it. Her vision began to clear and she saw the faces of two strange men dressed in black.
“Well, it's awake,” Weatherly, sneered.
“Who are you?” [Faith] asked weakly as she was still coming out of her daze.
“Council. We're taking you back to the mother country. Seems you've been a naughty girl,” Weatherly said.
“Listen to me. Y-You've made a mistake. I am not Faith. I'm Buffy Summers. Faith performed some kind of spell, she switched our bodies,” [Faith] said slowly to make sure then understood her.
The man furthest from her, the one standing outside the truck scoffed at her. “Congratulations. No one's ever actually tried that one on me before.”
[Faith] was becoming frustrated. Damn her Sister Slayer. “You have to find Faith. C-call Giles. J-just get him here.”
Collins smirked. “Giles doesn't work for the council anymore. For that matter, neither does Buffy Summers. And what you are, miss, is a package. I deliver the package. I don't much care what's inside.”
Motioning Collins away from the van, Weatherly said, “Come on.” He turned to [Faith] and sneered, “He may not care, but I do. The Watcher's Council used to mean something. You perverted it. You trash. We should have killed you while you were asleep.” Weatherly spit in [Faith's] face before got out of the truck and closed the doors.
[Faith] sat in the dark van, contemplating her situation. When it was apparent they weren’t going to return any time soon she had slumped in her seat. She had to think of a way to get herself out of this. Resourcefulness came with being a Slayer, right? She just had to think. She had to get their attention again so that she could possibly escape. With that thought in mind, she started banging her feet against the metal floor and seat.
Smith walked toward the armored truck with a syringe. “This'll bloody well keep you quiet.”
Smith opened the back of the van and climbed inside. [Faith] grabbed him in a chokehold with her chains.
“Uh,” Smith moaned.
“How about this? I'll be quiet, and you can scream,” [Faith] suggested.
“Aaahh,” Smith screamed when [Faith] tightened the chains around his neck.
Weatherly and Collins turned away from their present task and looked in from the back of the truck.
When [Faith] saw that she had their attention, she calmly said, “Now you unchain me - very slowly and politely, or I kill this guy.”
“When we go on a job, we always put our affairs in order first, in case of accident,” Collins told her.
“Collins . . .” Smith gasped out.
“Sorry, Smithy,” Collins said insincerely as he and Weatherly walked away.
“She's starting to bother me,” Collins whined.
“Getting her across the border is going to be a lot more trouble than it's worth,” Weatherly confirmed.
“If the council can even get us passage. I'll call them. It's time for a contingency plan,” Collins said just as Smith flew out the back of the van and falls, groaning and rubbing his throat.
**************************
UC Sunnydale, Riley Finn’s Dorm
Riley sat at his desk going over some papers for Professor Walsh when he heard a sound behind him and turned to find [Buffy] standing in the doorway of his room. He smiled at her in greeting.
“Hi, baby,” [Buffy] greeted as she leaned against the door in a sexy pose. “Did you miss me?”
“I did, actually. Everything's ok?” Riley asked with lighthearted concern.
[Buffy] shrugged and walked toward him. “Everything's great.”
“What about Faith?” he inquired.
“Faith has a won a fabulous trip to England, and I,” She sat on Riley’s lap straddling him, “got the consolation prize, which is you.”
“So, I don't have to worry about Faith showing up?” Riley asked and then teasingly said, “Though I have to admit, I was kind of curious to meet her.”
[Buffy] laced her fingers with Riley’s and leaned back, still straddling him.”
Riley watched her and felt his cock harden. “Or I was until about 30 seconds ago.”
[Buffy] sat up and stared at him. “Oh, you wouldn't have liked [Faith]. She's not proper and joyless, like a girl should be. She has a tendency to give in to her animal instincts.”
[Buffy] leaned forward and kissed Riley, nipping his lip.
“Door’s open,” Riley said between kisses.
“So?”
Riley sighed. “So, my fantasies don’t tend to include a bunch of marines staring in at me.”
[Buffy] perked up with an idea and a playful smile. “Oh, maybe they could learn something.” She kissed his neck and Riley pushed her off of him to stand. He went to the door and closed it. The effort to move jarred the pain in his left side and he put pressure on it to still the nauseous feeling.
[Buffy] took notice of it and pointed out, “You’re hurt.”
“Ahh, um, not that bad, actually. I guess the, uh, drugs the Professor gave me really did make me stronger. I’m healing pretty quick,” Riley reassured her.
“Maybe we should take you for a test drive,” [Buffy] playfully suggested.
“I wouldn’t say no,” Riley smiled and walked toward her.
“So . . . how do you want me,” [Buffy] purred. She crawled on the bed and turned back to look at Riley.
“How do I?” Riley was caught between confusion at the turn in his girlfriend’s mood and arousal at seeing the display of this new side of her.
“Yeah. What do you want to do with this body?” [Buffy] asked in sultry tone. “What nasty little desire have you been itching to try out? Am I a bad girl? Do you want to hurt me?” She put her arms around him.
Riley looked skeptical at her. “What are we playing at here?”
[Buffy] pouted and disentangled herself from him. “I’m Buffy.”
“Okay,” he said slowly. “Then I’ll be Riley.”
“Well, if you don’t want to play --” [Buffy] got off the bed and started to leave.
Riley grabbed for her as she walked past him. “Right. I don’t want to play,” he said before he leaned down and kissed her very gently. [Buffy] was so surprised by the tenderness she could do nothing but respond to it.
**************************
Abandoned Work Shed somewhere in Sunnydale
“They can't get us passage. They've ordered the kill,” Collins said as he screwed a silencer onto a pistol.
“Torch the place?” Weatherly inquired.
Collins nodded. “Get the gas.”
Weatherly walked away to find a gasoline jug. Smith was still rubbing his sore throat. “She could've killed me. She didn't,” he squeaked.
“Lucky you,” Collins smirked. He opened the back door a little and stuck the gun inside, blindly aiming. [Faith] grabbed the pistol and his hands with her feet and pulled him into the truck hard enough to stun him before he could react. She pulled the gun closer to her hands and shot the lock of the chains holding her.
Smith was staring at the whole scene in wide-eyed shock. It took him a several seconds before he remembered that his feet could move and he ran away screaming, “Weatherly!”
[Faith] shoots at another lock and smashed into the driver’s cab of the van. She immediately started looking for the keys as Weatherly came running out to the van, “Stop her, you ponce!”
[Faith] located the keys just as Weatherly came rushing toward the van. When he got close enough, she opened the driver’s door into him and knocked him out. She went back to the task at hand inserting the key into the ignition and turning it. When the vehicle revved up she looked wildly at the gearshift. “Ok, I'm good at this.” She shifted the gear into neutral and it started to stall. “Ooh, drive.” She shifted to the correct gear.
Smith was scrambling around the building and found a gun. He stood in a stance that he saw in a James Bond movie once and shot at the van. It put a dent in the side of the vehicle but it didn’t slow [Faith] down as she drove the armored van through the wooden door and away from the place.
**************************
Giles’ Apartment
Giles was coming down the stairs from the second floor carrying a plate and some cups when [Faith] burst into the living room.
“Giles!” she cried.
“God!” Giles shouted as the voice nearly scared him out of his skin. He turned and stared at the dark haired girl.
[Faith] held up her hands in surrender. “Don’t move. Ok, Giles, you have to listen to me very carefully. I'm not Faith.”
“Really?” Giles was skeptical. It looked like Faith. She could have been an identical twin if it wasn’t Faith. He looked at her with narrowed eyes, not sure he wanted to believe what he was seeing. Faith – or Faith’s body was standing in his living room and saying she wasn’t Faith.
[Faith] nodded, “Really.”
“’Cause the resemblance is striking,” Giles dryly observed. He inched closer to his weapons chest.
“I know. Giles, you just have to . . .” [Faith] noticed him backing away from her. “Stop inching! You were inching.”
Giles stopped in his tracks and cleared his throat. “Look, I-I know what you're going to say, and-and uh --”
“I'm Buffy,” [Faith] said cutting him off.
“All right, I didn't know what you were going to say,” Giles amended, “but that doesn't make you any less crazy.”
[Faith] rolled her eyes. “Faith switched. I mean she used this device. She switched our bodies. Giles, I swear,” she said adamantly running a nervous hand through her hair, “it’s me.”
“U-um, if-if you are Buffy, then,” Giles started to say as he set the plate and cups down on the bar. “Uh, then you'll let me tie you up w-without killing me -- until we find out whether you're telling the truth.”
[Faith] wanted to scream in frustration. “Giles, Faith has taken my body, and for all I know, she's taken it to Mexico by now. I-I don't have time for bondage fun. Ask me a question. Ask me anything.”
“Who is president?” Giles asked automatically.
[Faith] growled and said, “We're checking for Buffy, not a concussion.”
“Oh, yes, Alright. Um . . .” How silly of me.
“Oh! Giles, you turned into a demon, and I knew it was you. I mean can't you just look in my eyes and be all intuitive?” [Faith] pleaded.
“Okay, then. How did I turn into a demon?” Giles asked.
[Faith] had to think about it. “Oh, cause, uh, Ethan Rayne. And-and you have a girlfriend named Olivia, and you haven't had a job since we blew up the school . . . which is valid lifestyle wise. I mean, it's not like you're a slacker type, but . . . Oh, oh! When I had psychic power, I heard my mom think that you were like a stevedore during sex. What? Do you want me to continue?”
Giles removed his glasses, cleaned them profusely and replaced them on his face. “Actually, I beg you to stop.”
“What's a stevedore?” [Faith] asked offhandedly.
“Alright!” Giles said louder. “Let’s – um, I need you to explain everything.”
“And I will, after we get Faith,” [Faith] was saying when she was stopped from saying anymore when a smoking blanket came barreling through the front door. The door slammed shut and Spike threw the blanket off himself.
“Giles, I can’t explain right now, but we have to find Buffy. There’s something seriously wrong with the bloody bint.”
“Spike?” Giles and Buffy said in unison.
Spike finally settled enough to take in his surroundings. Giles and [Faith] were staring at him in confused surprise.
“Oh, Buffy. You’re here!” Spike was relieved.
“You know it’s me?” [Faith] asked at the same time Giles asked, “You knew that was Buffy? How long have you known?”
“Only for a few hours. It took me a bit to figure out that blondie here wasn’t driving her skin around. I would have caught up with you sooner but my damn poof of a Sire decided he needed to have an inner conference.”
“Where did you last see me,” [Faith] cringed when she amended, “I mean, when the last time you saw my body was?”
“At the Bronze. You seemed to be quite the little flirt when you let your hair down, Slayer. I believe you wanted a go at me and I don’t just mean in a sparring kind of way,” Spike smirked.
“Ewww, gross Spike.” [Faith] said disgusted. What the hell has Faith been doing with my body?
“Oh like you haven’t thought about getting your hot little hands on lil ol’ me. Downright sexy I am,” Spike said indignantly even as he smirked.
Giles rolled his eyes and held up his hands. “Okay, enough!”
Just as he had quelled that conversation, Willow and Tara burst into the room.
“Giles!” Willow called out.
“Will!” [Faith] turned towards her friend.
Willow stopped short and stared at [Faith] as if she were a mirage. “Oh my God!”
“Willow, wait. You don't understand,” [Faith] sounded pleading.
“You're Buffy,” Willow said as cool as you please. “You and Faith switched bodies, probably through a Draconian Katra spell.
“She understands it better than I do,” Giles mumbled to himself.
“I’m really starting to hate my life all over again,” Spike growled to himself as he flopped down in an easy chair.
“Shut up, Spike. No one’s talking to you,” [Faith] said flippantly. She turned to Willow. “How did you?”
“Tara,” Willow said by way of explanation. She turned to her girlfriend. “Tara, this is Buffy, only really this time.”
“Hi,” Tara greeted shyly.
“Tara's a really powerful witch,” Willow said proudly.
“Not really,” Tara shook her head.
“No, really,” Willow said adamantly. “She knew right away that you weren't you. So we connected with the nether realms to find out what happened. And we conjured this.”
Willow pulled out a box and opened it revealing a green glowing item.
“What is--” [Faith] started to ask.
“It's a Katra. Or the home-conjured version,” Willow replied. “It-it should switch you back, if you can get a hold of Faith.”
“Oh, thank God,” [Faith] said gratefully when the telephone rang.
Giles picked up the receiver. “Hello? Oh, yes, uh, Buffy's here with uh, me. Actually, she – she’s uh – Oh, all right.” He hung up the phone and turned on the television.
“It was Xander. Apparently there's a report on the television.”
Giles shut up when the news announcer came on with, “. . . and barricaded themselves in the church with at least 20 parishioners. One of the few who escaped described the three men as frighteningly disfigured, almost inhuman. So far, one escapee has since died of severe neck wounds.”
**************************
Sunnydale Cathedral Church
[Buffy] walked in and closed the door. The sound echoed through the room. The head vampire turned to face her. “I told the cops, they send anyone in, and I start the whole massacre thing.”
[Buffy] shrugged. “Well, I'm not the cops. I just come to pray.”
“Now’s a good time to start,” the Vampire told her.
“You're not going to kill these people,” [Buffy] said in warning.
“Oh, yeah? Why not?”
[Buffy] stared at him squarely and said, “Because it's wrong.”
Of the three vampires in the church, the third made an attack at [Buffy] from behind and is thrown up in the air for his efforts. He flew back into a column and doesn’t get back up.
Witnessing the show of strength, the head vampire sneered, “You're the slayer.”
“The one and only,” [Buffy] smiled.
It had taken a while for [Faith] to get past the cops and Riley. At first she was happy to see him. She even so far as to hug him, but when he didn’t recognize her she gave him and squeezed her way past him to get inside the church.
Inside [Buffy] had dusted two vampires and was working on the last one when he broke her stake loose from her grip and threw her back against a pew.
“I have strength you couldn't dream of,” the Vampire gloated. He punched [Buffy] in the face. “Adam has shown me the way, and there is,” he was saying as he threw another punch. “Aahhh!”
At that second he turned to dust. When it cleared, [Faith] was standing there with a stake. [Buffy] immediately leapt at her to attack. They exchanged punches and [Buffy] attacked [Faith]. They exchange punches and Buffy is attacking frenetically. Being in the blonde’s Slayer’s body, she was slightly quicker. She knocked [Faith] down but the brunette Slayer came back with an uppercut and knocked her back.
[Faith] stared up at [Buffy] and said solemnly, “You can’t win this.”
Shut up! Do you think I’m afraid of you?” [Buffy] screamed. She grabbed [Faith] and threw her down, and then she sat on top of her and started punching her.
“You’re nothing. *PUNCH* *PUNCH* Disgusting. *PUNCH* *PUNCH*” [Buffy] grabbed [Faith’s] hair with both hands and began to bang her head against the stairs leaning to the pulpit. “Murderous bitch. *BANG* *BANG* “You're nothing.” *BANG BANG* [Buffy] started crying hysterically as she switched back to punches. “You're disgusting.”
[Faith] saw that the other Slayer was running out of steam and grabbed her hand to stop a punch. When their hands touched there was a bright green glow. Both Slayers backed away from each other. Each was now in their body. The real Faith jumped up and ran off. The real Buffy sat on the stairs in shock at being back in her own body and watched her leave.
Spike came into the church from a cellar door. He slowly walked toward Buffy and sat down beside her. “Buffy? Are you in there, pet?”
Buffy was still staring in the direction Faith had left in. She nodded but said nothing. Spike cautiously raised his hand and lightly rubbed her back. At least, outwardly it didn’t look like the crazy Slayer did too much damage. He stayed with her as long as he dared, disappearing just before Riley burst into the church to collect her. |
