A/N Betad by seapealsh and dawnofme


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Chapter Seven

Not Good News

Hours passed and since Spike was banned from helping with the research so he could concentrate on keeping his own identity, he just mooched about holding his jacket, trying to reminisce about the bad old days, which was proving harder than he’d thought it could be. At one point he’d even dipped a finger into Giles’ blood in the refrigerator and tasted it, hoping it would help him focus but it just turned his stomach.

“I’ve found something.” Willow’s voice was triumphant. “I’ve got an account here of a vampire involved in a Morowgwi demon induced body swap. The ritual to reverse the spell was done, but...” She paused.

“But? There’s a but?” said Spike, leaping up. “What’s the but?”

Willow looked at him, her big eyes full of sorrow. Spike started to back away a little, not wanting to hear the answer anymore.

“Go on, Willow,” urged Buffy.

“But,” she said quietly, “the vampire didn’t survive the switch back.”

“What happened? How did it die?” asked Giles.

“What’s it matter what happened? Dead is what happened. Does it matter how I end up dead?” cried Spike. “I’m too sodding young to die!”

“Spike, calm down. We’re not going to let you die,” soothed Giles. “Why don’t you and Buffy go out and patrol for a bit? Leave us to work this out.”

“Okay,” said Buffy. “Come on, a bit of violence will do you good.”

Spike cheered momentarily and left with her.

“Right, now that he can’t hear us. What happened to the other vampire?” asked Giles.

“The switch went ahead, the human returned to his body with just a bit of nausea recorded. The vampire appeared to re-enter his body but then just dusted with no external signs as to why,” said Willow.

“Do you think this is because of this sort of fading identity that he’s got happening?” asked Xander. He had never liked Spike but did feel a bit sorry for the guy.

“Yes, I think that must be the key. We’ve got to try to focus him on himself as much as possible and I think we need to provoke his vampire behaviour as soon as he’s switched. That might be strong enough to help prevent the dusting, or damn it, that might be the cause of the dusting!” said Giles in exasperation. “Willow, does it say anything else? How long were they in the wrong bodies? Perhaps that’s the key?”

“They were...oh...” She looked up at Giles. “It was two days less than it’ll be with you and Spike.”

“Can’t we do it earlier then?” asked Xander. “Do we have to wait?”

“We haven’t enough dust to summon it until the boundaries of the dimensions are at their weakest, so no, that’s not an option,” said Giles.

*~*~*~*

Buffy and Spike returned after the others were asleep. Spike had cheered up a bit, especially as he’d managed to dust a vampire.

Buffy went upstairs to bed, she and Willow still claiming it each night. Giles was asleep on the couch and Xander in one of the armchairs.

God, that boy could sleep anywhere, thought Spike.

Spike was a bit too wired to sleep straight away. He hadn’t sounded like Giles in his thoughts whilst he’d been on patrol and so was feeling a bit better about things. Well, as long as he didn’t dwell on the whole ‘turning into a big pile of dust’ thing. He wandered round then poured himself a Jack Daniels. Someone had bought it for him obviously knowing it was his favourite. He selected a book off the shelf and settled down to read until he felt sleepy.

He was so engrossed in the book that he didn’t hear Buffy come back down the stairs to use the bathroom. Suddenly the book was snatched from his hands and he was punched in the face.

“No! You’re Spike. You’re Spike, not Giles,” said Buffy.

“Er...yeah...I know I am, Slayer,” said Spike. “What the hell was that for?” He put a hand up to his bloody nose.

“When I saw you there reading...” She looked down at the book in her hands, moving it out of Spike’s reach as he tried to snatch it back. “Poetry, I thought that Giles had taken you over.”

She looked back at Spike to see him blushing furiously. Blushing is something vampires can’t do, so it was a very strange sight to see Giles’ face bright red, because of Spike's embarrassment. Buffy was so taken aback that Spike was able to grab the book back off of her.

“Yeah, well, everyone said I should do stuff that makes me feel like me and I couldn’t sleep so –”

“So you decided to do something so completely Giles just by accident? God, it’s getting worse. You don’t even know you’re doing it anymore,” interrupted Buffy.

“So,” continued Spike, glaring at her, “I saw that he had the same volume that I have in my crypt and decided to read a bit, all right? You tell anyone and I’ll bite you when I can, chip or no bleeding chip.”

Buffy started to giggle.

“I mean it.”

“Okay, okay, your sordid secret’s safe with me,” chuckled Buffy. Spike reading poetry - what was that all about?

to be continued...