This Years Girl/Who Are You

Spike looked down at Buffy as she slinked towards him, there was something different about her tonight. The dim light of the nightclub only added to the effect she was having on him and made his mind race to imagine all possible outcomes of where his interlude with the Slayer was going.

“I mean, I could be rich, I could be famous, I could have anything. Anyone.” She pressed her palms against his chest and almost smiled as he backed into the column supporting the stairs above them. “Even you, Spike. I could ride you at a gallop until you legs buckled and your eyes rolled up. I’ve got muscles you’ve never 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?”

Spike found himself fascinated with her as she pressed her body against his, her shiny lips pouting up at him as she let her head fall back and subconsciously exposed her throat to his gaze.

“Because it’s wrong.” She flashed him a smile and then moved past him.

Spike let his head turn to follow her and frowned as he watched her walking away. Taking a deep breath he knit his brows even tighter as he found something he wasn’t expecting, but explained a lot.

“Wait.” Spike watched her shoulders tense as she went to move away from him. “Wait a minute.”

Walking towards her, he noticed that she remained with her back to him, her posture rigid and her heartbeat accelerating wildly.

He wrapped his hand around her upper arm and turned her to face him. Looking deep into her eyes he saw her falter, saw she was nervous about something.

About him.

“You’ll have to do better than that…” He kept his eyes locked with hers so he could gauge her reaction to what he was about to say. “We already did that.”

Buffy’s eyes widened for a moment as he grinned down at her. She took a tentative step towards him and ran her fingers over his chest.

“Maybe I wanted a repeat performance?” She pouted up at him in an attempt to mask her surprise.

Spike leant in close to her and inhaled deeply, feeling her body tremble against his. Pulling back, he just stared at her with an emotionless expression and raised his brows.

“Maybe I’m not interested.” The incredulous look on her face as he whispered it to her said everything he needed to know.

With a swirl of his coat as he turned his back on her, Spike walked straight out of the Bronze leaving Buffy staring in the direction he’d gone with a stunned expression on her face.


Giles jumped as the door to his home opened. Raising his head up he gave Spike a questioning look as he breezed in.

“You’ve got a problem.” Spike announced as he pointed at him and saw the questioning look he was wearing knit his brows. “Buffy isn’t Buffy.”

Giles gave him a look that said he clearly didn’t understand.

“Look, I don’t know who she is but that wasn’t her I just ran into in the Bronze. For a start, she said things to me that she would never say to me…” He saw Giles’ expression turn curious and held his hand up to stop the question from leaving his lips. “…You don’t want to know. I said things to her we’ve never done and she was none the wiser. She doesn’t smell right either, smelt like Slayer, only weaker…not Buffy.”

Giles dropped his gaze to rest on the kitchen counter as he tried to figure out what was happening. He looked up sharply as the door opened again.

“Giles, we have a problem.” Willow was panting hard as she dashed in. “Buffy isn’t Buffy.”

Spike grinned, obviously amused. “Hey, I just said that.”

He frowned as a girl he didn’t recognise walked in after Willow. Raising his brows at her, he noticed how nervous she looked and flashed her a wide smile that only got him a frown from the red head.

“What?” Giles clutched his head and looked around the room for something to stop the ache that had settled there--something amber and tasting like scotch.

“Tara…” Willow looked to her friend and gave her a reassuring smile. “…She says that Buffy’s aura, her life force isn’t in harmony.”

“Like I said.” Spike bounced on his heels. “Buffy isn’t Buffy.”

“How’d you know?” Willow gave him a curious look.

He tapped his nose and leant towards her. “All in the nose, pet, stupid bint thought she could fool old Spike…bloody should have known better…Buffy would’ve known better, but this…whatever was in there…right stupid…tried to play me…only I played her back, good and proper like.”

“Faith.” Giles said to nobody in particular but everyone’s eyes moved to rest on him.

“That rogue sodding Slayer of yours?” Spike knit his brows.

“But the Council came to take her away…” Willow’s eyes widened as she realised what Giles was saying, her voice faltered as she gasped. “…They have Buffy, in Faith’s body.”

“Lord knows what they’ll do to her, they should be taking her back to England but if she proves to be too much trouble…there’s a chance that they’ll…dispose of her.” Giles noticed the look of horror in Spike’s eyes and frowned for a moment as he considered why he suddenly seemed so concerned about Buffy. He had come here of his own free will after declaring that if he met Faith he’d send her to him to kill them. He hadn’t once asked for monetary gratification for helping them. He’d only talked of Buffy and had a slight anxious edge to his body language.

“Say that again?” Spike frowned as a sensation settled in his stomach and he tried to ignore it. The thought of Buffy being in the hands of the Council’s heavy boys caused an uncomfortable mixture of worry and anger inside him, like he’d drunk some bad blood. He didn’t want to think about why--what was the Slayer to him? He wanted her dead, right?

Spike swallowed hard as it dawned on him that he wanted her very much alive. That life without the Slayer would actually be a bad thing.

“So what do we do to get Buffy back?” Spike gave Giles a stern look and disregarded the stunned looks he was receiving from him and Willow. The little blonde girl of Willow’s just continued to look at him like she couldn’t quite figure him out--he wanted to slip into vampire guise and give her a massive clue so she’d stop.

“There’s a way.” Tara said quietly and tried not to look startled as the platinum blond mans eyes came to rest on her, regarding her with a predatory look that made her stomach flip.

Willow gave him another warning glance and Spike just ignored her.

“What is it?” Taking a step towards the blonde girl, he narrowed his eyes and lowered his head so they were level with hers. Noticing her trembling he backed off an inch and tried a small smile to calm her so she could speak. “Not going to eat you, sweetheart, just tell me what we need to do to bring her back. I don’t much fancy having to contend with Faith Buffy body switch…like my Slayer the way she was…”

He recognised he was making a fool of himself in front of Willow and Giles but he couldn’t stop his mouth from working no matter how much his brain told it to stop. He saw the girls eyes soften as she smiled at him and it made the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach worsen, it squirmed and writhed and made him want to run.

But he couldn’t escape the feelings inside him, no matter how far he ran.

“We can bring her back…” Tara said as she steadied herself. The man in front of her suddenly didn’t seem so scary. In him, she could sense such a depth of feelings towards Buffy that she wanted to place a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Only she didn’t. The moment he’d said he wasn’t going to eat her she’d realised he was the vampire that Willow had mentioned on occasion, but he didn’t seem as bad as he’d been made out to be.

“We need some supplies, there’s a device…I think we can make it.” Willow looked at Tara and saw her nod.

“We’ll find Buffy…the real Buffy.” Spike turned sharply and walked out the door, not waiting to see if Giles was going to follow him.

Tara watched them leave and then looked at Willow, favouring her with a sweet smile. “Do vampire’s always love like him?”

Willow’s eyes widened in shock. “What?”

“I…I…th…thought…I mean, he’s clearly…in…lo…love.” Tara stumbled and tripped over her words as the look on her girlfriends face grew even more incredulous.

“With Buffy?” Willow watched Tara nod and then tried to search for the obvious signs in Spike she’d picked up on. She blinked as she realised he’d been clearly concerned about Buffy, a little too concerned for a vampire who usually wanted to kill her. She stared at the door that he’d walked out of only a moment before as it hit her hard. “Spike’s in love with Buffy.”


Giles had to almost run to catch up with Spike, the vampire’s strides were long and he didn’t show any sign of slowing down soon.

“Where are you going?” Giles frowned as he finally caught up with him and then rolled his eyes as Spike ground to a halt.

“I don’t know…”

There was an air of panic in those words and the way he’d said them that almost made Giles sympathetic towards him. Then he remembered who they were looking for and again began to wonder why Spike was suddenly so concerned about the safety of his one time enemy.

“A warehouse, they’ll be holding her somewhere similar to one…you said that the Buffy you encountered didn’t smell like her.” Giles watched Spike as he looked at their surroundings as though the real Buffy would just pop out of the bushes and their search would be over.

“Right.” Spike nodded and narrowed his eyes on Giles.

“So track her scent…you can do that can’t you?” Giles was beginning to feel as though the vampire next to him had lost some of his marbles the moment he’d lost Buffy.

Spike nodded again and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply as he tried to catch any tiny trace of her scent in the air. He let his shoulders sag as nothing came to him and then perked his head up as he heard sirens in the distance.

Giles heaved a resigned sigh as he watched Spike sprinting off down the road and then started after him, remembering now why he always preferred books to field work--with books you didn’t have to try and keep up with them.

Skidding to a halt as he saw the trashed police car, Spike knit his brows and sniffed the air again. He listened to Giles panting and wheezing as he caught up with him and patted him on the shoulder.

“You all right, old man?” He grinned down at him where he was bending over and breathing hard.

“I’ll give you old man.” Giles wheezed and straightened up. “Anything?”

“She was here…little while ago but I can still smell her scent. I’m figuring your Council boys have her now though, judging by the mess.”

Giles looked at the police car and just continued trying to catch his breath.

“Think they went that way, leads to the docks…good place for warehouses.” Spike gave him another cheeky grin. “See you there?”

Giles heaved a sigh as he watched Spike sprinting into the distance and pressed his hands against his hips. “I’m getting too old for this.”


Buffy grunted with effort as she tried again to free herself of the handcuffs. The fact that she couldn’t break them should have told her that they were especially made for retaining Slayers, but she continued in her attempts all the same.

Anything to be free.

Anything to get back to Faith and get out of this body.

She’d watched the men holding her threaten to kill one of their own and couldn’t believe how much hope had died with that revelation. She’d been almost sure that their camaraderie would extend to protecting their fellow workers and she’d been greatly mistaken.

So long as she was taken back to the Council to be ‘dealt with’ then it didn’t matter how many men they lost.

A series of crashes that sounded suspiciously like splintering wood caused her to stop working at breaking free and prick her ears up. She could hear voices echoing in the warehouse, a confusing din that made it hard to make out just one among them in order to see what was happening.

Then she heard it.

“Bloody hell.”

A familiar obscenity growled by an even more familiar voice made her stomach heat through and she raced to the tiny window in her cell.

There was Giles but no Spike.

She watched him bash one of her captors around the back of the head with a large piece of wood and then called out to him.

“Giles what the hell…Spike?” Buffy froze as she saw him, her heartbeat accelerated and the warm feeling inside her stomach seemed to explode and wash through her veins until it reached every single inch of her. She stared in disbelief as he clutched the side of his head and punched his opponent again.

Part of her wanted to call out to him and tell him to be careful but she bit her tongue, unsure of the warm feeling she was experiencing from seeing him coming to her rescue and her sudden need to protect him.

As he turned to face her, the man he was fighting pulled out his gun and her eyes widened in horror as he fired a round point blank into Spike’s side. Buffy found herself screaming as anger boiled up inside her over seeing Spike shot.

Spike swallowed hard as he looked down at his side, the sight of his own blood seeping from the wound making his headache even worse. He frowned. He didn’t need this. There was now a hole in his precious leather duster.

Drawing his fist back, he punched the man repeatedly and then snapped his arm around, forcing him to drop the weapon. The man looked stunned as he fell to his knees and Spike didn’t give him the courtesy of answering his unasked question by revealing his vampire face. Instead, he took the butt of the gun and bought it down hard on his temple, rendering him unconscious.

Buffy looked back at Giles and saw he’d managed to get the gun off one of his opponents and was holding the remaining two men hostage with it. Spike walked over to him and handed him the second gun, allowing him to keep the men responsible for Buffy’s capture in check.

Spike held his hand out to what he presumed was the top man and when he didn’t hand over the key willingly, he slipped into vampire guise and growled.

Buffy watched in awe from her cage as the man reached a shaky hand into his pocket.

“You’re making a mistake, that Slayer is nothing but trouble.” The man told him as he placed the keys in the palm of his hand.

“I think I know what I’m doing, think it’s you that’s a little muddled. You got the wrong Slayer, mate.” Spike curled his fingers around the keys and pushed past him to walk around the cell containing Buffy.

Buffy stood anxiously waiting as she listened to the key grating in the lock and then looked down at herself. She’d forgotten she didn’t look like herself and all of a sudden panic rose up in her over how Spike was going to react.

Spike pulled the door open and found Buffy hiding in the corner.

“Don’t look at me…” She hid her face and Spike couldn’t help smiling.

“Why not?”

“…I look like her…like some skanky ho.”

“You’re still beautiful on the inside, pet…we’ll get you back in your body before you know it, Red’s working on a contraption right now to do just that…” Spike watched as she uncurled slightly and shifted towards him. When she held her hands out to him he frowned at the marks on her wrists where the metal had been rubbing at her skin and then found himself staring at cleavage.

Buffy coughed delicately and he took the hint and unlocked the cuffs before turning to walk away. She caught hold of his arm and forced him to face her.

“You’re bleeding…I saw that guy…” Her hands ran over his damp t-shirt and she furrowed her brows as she drew them away, sticky and coated with his blood.

“Just a scratch, love…let’s get you out of here and back to being a hundred percent you again…” Spike tried to move again but she continued to hold onto his arm.

“Spike…why did you come here…why did you give yourself what must be one major headache and get yourself hurt…did Giles pay you to?”

Something about her assuming he’d received money as payment for services rendered irritated him and he clenched his jaw slightly before looking into her now brown eyes.

“He didn’t pay me…I’m here because I met this Faith in your body down the Bronze and I knew it wasn’t you…and…I couldn’t let anything happen to you.” His mouth moved quicker than his brain and before he’d realised it, he’d disclosed something he would’ve rather kept hidden.

Buffy found her hand suddenly void of Spike as he made a hurried exit back towards Giles and she stared at the floor blankly as she tried to absorb what he’d said.

He’d come of his own accord.

To rescue her.

Because he couldn’t let anything happen to her.

She wondered where his desire to kill her had gone and how long ago it had disappeared. The last time she’d checked he would have rejoiced in having her locked up and about to be shipped back to his mother country for punishment, and now he was playing the hero, her knight in shining armour.

Buffy whined as her life suddenly seemed so much more confusing that it had done before she had been rescued.

Dropping down from the cell, she walked around to the front of it where Giles was still holding the men hostage and frowned.

“Where’s Spike?”

“He muttered something involving a rather large amount of swear words and disappeared out of the door.” He watched as Buffy started walking towards the large warehouse doors. “Willow will have the device ready by now, all we have to do is find Faith.” Giles slowly backed towards the doors, keeping his guns trained on the men.

“What are you going to do when you find her?” The man in charge questioned him and Giles looked over his shoulder at Buffy.

“As soon as I get my body back, you’re welcome to her.” She said coldly and walked out the door. “Just gotta find my Faith.”


Buffy grumbled to herself as she walked down the Main Street of Sunnydale. She’d found Faith all right, in the arms of her supposed boyfriend as he kissed her and told her he loved her. He loved her.

“Me…” Buffy corrected herself and then made a growling noise.

The fact that he couldn’t tell it wasn’t her in her body and Spike could, well, that just made everything a hundred times worse. When she’d finally got her body back and questioned Riley about it, he’d not shown much remorse for his actions--he’d simply told her that it was her that he’d made love to and it was her he told her he loved.

Her?

Who was he kidding?

She kicked a lone pebble as she entered the cemetery. A little slaying was what she needed to clear her head and rid it of the men trouble she was experiencing. If it wasn’t bad enough that Riley had seemed so dramatically altered in her eyes by one nights events, Spike had to join the ranks and show her a side to him she never thought could possibly exist.

Spike.

Buffy looked at the rows of gravestones in front of her and twirled her stake absentmindedly.

He’d disappeared right after his little confession about wanting to keep her safe, about not letting anything happen to her. In his eyes, she’d seen genuine concern. In his voice, she’d heard the note of worry.

It was the fact that he clearly hadn’t wanted to let it slip that had made her believe he was telling the truth and his disappearing act moments later confirmed it to her.

She let her head fall backwards and stared at the stars twinkling above her as she tried to figure out what she was supposed to do now.

She hoped they’d give her the answer to solve all her problems but they just shone down at her, peaceful and happy amongst the blanket of the night.

“Stupid stars.” Buffy groused as though they were taunting her with their simple life and frowned as she bought her eyes back down to her immediate surroundings.

Starting her patrol through the head stones again she stopped abruptly as she remembered something else about last night.

In the calamity that had ensued after he’d left her with Giles and her consequential bout of self centred misery, she’d completely forgotten that Spike had been shot.

Her feet were carrying her swiftly towards his crypt before her brain had time to catch up and tell them to. Her stomach suddenly felt like a turbulent sea of acid and she swallowed hard for fear of throwing up.

She’d forgotten he’d been hurt.

How could she be so heartless?

Buffy widened her eyes and almost tripped over her own feet as she ground to a halt.

And since when did she care if he was hurt?

She didn’t want to face the fact that her heart already knew the answer to that question. She wanted to deny it a little longer and live in her little world where she didn’t have to admit she had feelings for the blond vampire.

Yesterdays knight in shining armour act had almost made her as giddy as a schoolgirl and now she was trying to deny that there was a space in her heart reserved for him, and him only.

Who was she trying to kid?

Buffy whined as she admitted to herself that there was a possibility that Spike had a claim on a tiny portion of her affections.

Her heart called her a liar and said it wasn’t tiny at all.

Buffy ignored it and continued walking towards his crypt.

The door creaked slightly as her trembling hands pushed it open. She felt suddenly weak, drained of her usual energy by the thought of seeing him badly hurt or not finding him at all.

Taking slow tentative steps down into his crypt, she looked around and almost lost hope on finding no sign of him. As she turned to leave, a hole in the floor caught her eye and a soft distant glow emanating from it told her she might have better luck looking down there.

Descending the stairs, she walked through the maze of tunnels, following the light and hoping it would lead her to him and not something nasty.

Rounding the final corner, she almost gasped as the room was slowly revealed to her eyes--it looked warm, almost cosy. There were hangings like tapestries on the wall and the floor was adorned with a multitude of oriental rugs. In the middle was a large bed and she let her eyes widen as she saw him laying on it in just his jeans.

Spike fluttered his eyes open as he felt someone approach and tried to inhale deep enough to catch a scent but his side burnt with pain and he coughed instead. He frowned as a hazy blonde figure appeared beside him and as his eyes focused on her he arched a brow.

“Tell me…love…about that warm…champagne…thing.” Spike frowned up at her and tried to speak through the pain as he lay on his back.

Buffy looked confused and was about to ask him what the hell he was talking about when her eyes were drawn to the wound in his side. They widened on seeing the thick, crusty layer of blood that had coated his entire side and part of the bed with it. She could see the hole in his skin just below his left ribs and frowned as her chest ached on seeing him so hurt because of her.

She realised he was waiting for an answer.

“I don’t have time for games, Spike…what champagne? This is hardly a cause for celebration…” Buffy pointed down at the gaping wound in his side and frowned harder as he chuckled.

“Welcome…back, Buffy.”

He coughed as the pain shot up his side and suddenly Buffy’s hands were around his back as she tried to move him. Spike felt his skin prickle and burn wherever she touched and he found himself unable to deny her as she manoeuvred him into a sitting position. He winced as the pain was renewed in his side.

“This is bad…Spike…”

“It’ll heal.” He replied shakily and then looked down at it. Suddenly, it looked a lot worse than he remembered.

“Not properly without help.” Buffy looked around and smiled as she spied a bottle of whisky. Grabbing hold of it, she pulled the cork out and handed it to him, watching him swallow down a large mouthful as she considered her next move. Taking hold of the crumpled sheet on his bed, she tore long strips off it and ignored his weak protests about her ruining his only bed linen.

Spike watched in fascination as she began to clean the wound with his whisky and then peered around his back.

“Think the bullet came right out.” Buffy looked at the ragged hole in his back and then realised just how close she was to him.

Spike closed his eyes. She was close enough that he could feel her warm breath on his skin.

Buffy drew back hastily and began to wrap one of the strips of cotton around his waist, tying it as tight as possible.

Standing back she watched him swallow down the rest of the bottle of whisky and felt her hands begin to tremble again as she briefly considered something.

Her mind raced to think of reasons against what her heart was telling her to do.

It would hurt.

She discounted it by remembering that when Angel had done it, it hadn’t been that bad.

It would give him opportunity to kill her.

She discounted it by telling herself that he couldn’t kill her, the chip would see to that. He’d have to be as gentle as a kitten and show no intent to hurt her.

It would compound both her feelings and his.

She froze.

Her stomach squirmed and she tried to confront what she felt about Spike.

She reasoned with herself that it could be done on compassionate grounds, he’d saved her and now she was just returning the favour.

Love had nothing to do with it.

Buffy swallowed hard.

Who said anything about love anyway?

As his eyes met hers, she decided that time was up and made her decision.

Spike watched as she stood in front of him, he could feel the nerves and fear coming off her and it was driving his senses crazy. He could almost feel his fangs itching to descend and he salivated at the thought of her rich, strong blood flowing into him.

His eyes widened as she tied her hair up and he wondered for a moment if he had some strange power over her that was making her do his bidding.

Then he saw the steely determination in her eyes and he knew she was very much in charge of her own actions.

Buffy took a step towards him and watched the confusion surface on his face.

“If you kill me I’ll…” She frowned and as his face lit up, she pulled her stake out of her pocket and stopped him from chuckling. “Just…be gentle.”

Spike was stunned into silence as she leant towards him at an awkward angle, her neck exposed for his inspection.

For a brief moment, he wanted to ask her why but then he remembered what he’d been told about not looking gift horses in the mouth. Slipping into game face, he stared at the smooth milky skin of her throat for a moment and considered what she was doing.

Was this some martyr act?

Was it some way of paying him back for rescuing her?

Or was there something deeper at work?

She’d come here after all, tended to his wounds like Florence Nightingale and been as gentle as a lamb with him--not one harsh word or one hard look.

Spike pulled back and stared deep into her eyes. He found that behind the nerves that made them twinkle defiantly, there was a scared little girl who wasn’t sure what she was letting herself in for. He looked closer and cocked his head to one side as he saw something else in her beautiful green orbs, something akin to concern and it was directed at him.

“Buffy…” He said in a hushed intimate tone that had her eyes suddenly fixated with the floor. “Look at me…”

Buffy timidly raised her eyes and furrowed her brows as she found his were clear blue again. There was a strange light in them as they narrowed on hers and she found herself wanting to blush under his tender gaze.

“I couldn’t hurt you…not even without the chip.”

The simple admission of his feelings for her stirred her own and she pressed a nervous shaky kiss to his lips. Spike looked stunned.

“I know.” She said quietly and saw his face soften into a smile. “Thanks for being my knight in shining armour. Life generally gives me heroes that become villains…not villains that become heroes. It’s a nice change. A good change.”

“A good change.” Spike repeated and raised his brows as he looked from her to her neck. “I know of other good changes.”

Buffy bit back a squeal as he grabbed hold of her and changed into vampire guise. She rolled her eyes closed as his sharp teeth sank into her neck and sighed out her breath as she smiled.

When it felt like this.

So freeing.

So thrilling.

Change was better than good.

Change was wonderful.

~*~ End ~*~

Review This Story/Chapter!

It only takes a minute to send me feedback, but it makes my whole day. Simply fill in the form below: