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Buffy and Spike stood in front of the Magic Box, side by side with their arms crossed, starring pensively at the door.


Spike looked at her with a sideways glance. “You ready to do this, pet?”


“Define…ready,” Buffy answered slowly, thinking about the explosion that might come when the gang heard their new ‘status.’


She whipped to the right to face him. “Actually. No. I change my mind – can we go now?” Buffy said with a fake pout. “I liked it better when we were in bed under the warm covers.” She trailed her finger down his arm and gave him a coy smile.


Spike lifted a brow at her. “Nice try, Goldilocks. You wanted me to do this so now we’re doing it,” Spike replied as he grabbed her hand in his and started striding forward, dragging her along.


Buffy followed him with a pout and joked from behind him, “Can’t I just wait outside?”


They entered the Magic Box completely, dropping their hands to their sides, as everyone’s head shot up. The gang just starred up at them with wide eyes and didn’t say anything. That bad, nervous feeling crept into the pit of Buffy’s stomach, and she wrung her hands together. ‘Do they know? Why are they looking at me like that?’


Spike looked annoyed. “Hello to you too,” he said sarcastically to the immobile faces.


“Oh! Sorry, hi!” both Tara and Willow said, as the others quickly replied ‘Hi.’


Anya, who was standing in front of Xander, began to say, “We were just gawking because yesterday we were saying that-,” but Xander came up behind her and reached around to clamp his hand over her mouth as she mumbled through it.


Willow jumped up, “-we didn’t know you would be better so fast, Buffy!” She gave her a nervous smile, but continued with a concerned look, “H-how is your wound?”


But Buffy and Spike were starring quizzically at Anya and Xander, who had removed his hand from Anya’s mouth, and was pretending to give her a hug from the back. Buffy looked up at the sound of Willow asking her a question.


“What?” Buffy asked, still sort of giving Anya and Xander sideways glances.


“How is your wound? Does it still hurt a lot?” Willow asked again, trying to divert her attention.


“Oh, you know, not hole-y anymore,” Buffy joked, but Spike turned to glare down at her and gritted out, “Stop bloody well joking about it.”


Buffy frowned. She kept forgetting that even though the jokes made it easier for her, they made Spike feel bad, no matter how many times she told him it wasn’t his fault.


Anya had gotten out of Xander’s hold and burst out, “Are you two having sex!?!”


Buffy and Spike’s heads shot up at the crude outburst and Buffy’s eyes widened.


The rest of the gang closed their eyes and groaned inwardly at Anya’s tact.


“None of your bloody business,” Spike replied evenly as his hand subtly found its way to Buffy’s and he linked his fingers in hers. He could feel her body relax slightly at the contact – slightly.


“Whoa there - are you guys together now??” Xander said as he gestured between the two.


Spike exhaled and said without hesitation, “Yea, we are.”


Buffy tensed more, waiting for the reaction.


Tara couldn’t help smiling, but she pushed it away when she saw the serious looks on the other’s face, more so on Xander and Giles’ faces.


“Ok, I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but do you still remember the part where Buffy is human?” Xander asked with a questioning look.


Spike raised his brow at Xander’s stupid question.


“A human without a soul,” Xander added to clarify.


“Stop talking about me like I’m not here,” Buffy demanded as she shot him a glare.


Spike turned his head to look down at her with reassuring eyes and said softly, “I’ll take care of this.” He pulled her slightly behind him, with their hands still interlocked.


He turned back to Xander with a cold expression. “Have you forgotten Leanna has a soul?”


Xander opened his mouth to argue, but then closed it again. “Ok, good point.”


“I think what Xander is trying to say is,” Giles interjected, “have you forgotten you are mortal enemies? You’ve killed each other’s lovers for god’s sake. Do you really think a relationship could work out between you two?”


They didn’t think about it that way. They had killed each other’s exes. ‘Huh. Ironic,’ Spike and Buffy both thought to themselves.


But Spike looked at Giles with a bored face. “People change. Buffy’s worked with us for nearly three years. I can’t even count how many times she’s saved Dawn.”


Buffy looked at him, a little amazed. It sounded like what she should have said to her friends back home. But she never had, not fully.


“And if the chip comes out?” Giles inquired. “She’ll go back to being evil – trying to kill us.”


Buffy closed her eyes and shook her head in frustration. “I’m not evil!! And I don’t kill people-,” she hesitated, “vampires who are good.” She knew it was different here and she sighed in inner defeat as she added, “Not anymore.”


Spike saw the distress on her face, and turned back to them with an angry look. “Sod it. If you guys don’t like it, bugger off.” He turned and started to storm out, with Buffy’s hand in his.


“Wait, Spike!” Willow called out to stop him.


He wasn’t stopping, so Anya yelled, “The rest of us want you guys to have orgasms!”


Buffy turned around, eyes wide in horror, but Spike was intent on leaving, so he pulled her along out of the Magic Box.


The three girls shot Xander and Giles nasty looks after Spike and Buffy left.


Willow put on her stern face. “Buffy’s a good person now, and you know it. You two,” she shook her finger at them, “need to…need to take the stick out of your ass!” She tried to appear firm.


Anya walked over to Xander and hit him in the arm. “Ow!” Xander cried, as he clutched his arm once again. “Stop hitting me!”


“I wanted to hear about the sex! They didn’t get to the sex yet!” Anya exclaimed at him, angry that her boyfriend helped in driving them away, along with the ‘sex details.’


Xander groaned. ‘I wish there was a mute button,’ he thought to himself.


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“Spike, stop!” Buffy yelled as he kept dragging her forward in an angry stride. She pulled her hand from his and stopped walking. He stopped and turned around.


“What?” Spike barked. But he realized he was yelling at her, so he softened his expression and exhaled. “Sorry, not yelling at you.”


She shook that aside and asked bluntly, “Doesn’t all that stuff bother you?”


“What?” he asked in a confused voice.


She crossed her arms over herself protectively, looking away.


Slowly, understanding came across his expression. “I thought I already established this.”


“Actually, you didn’t,” Buffy replied quietly. He hadn’t said anything about it before today.


He stepped forward, but she moved back a step, still looking away with her arms crossed. His expression was one of frustration. She wanted the long-winded speech. ‘Fine,’ he thought.


“Look, Buffy. I admit, I did. All those things they said,” Spike pointed towards the Magic Box, “I thought the same things. I held myself back. I held myself back from you.” He stepped forward, but she didn’t move this time.


His hand reached out to skate lightly over her arm. “I thought it mattered. That I could never be with you,” he tilted her chin up so he could look into her eyes, “but I was a stupid git. And I know it now. I saw what I could have lost…you.”


Buffy tried to appear strong, but inside she was trembling. “How do you know it’s anything more than lust? Isn’t that what you told me? That you were using me?”


Spike closed his eyes at the memory and the look on her face when he had said that. He opened his eyes and he saw the same look on her face, making his undead heart ache.


“It was always lust. I always wanted you, even when we were enemies, and I know you felt it,” he began. She started to pull away in anger at the confirmation of her fears, but he stepped up to her again and held onto her shoulders. “But it’s different now. Things change.”


She looked at him with fuming and unbelieving eyes.


“This is lust,” he said as crushed his lips to hers. His kiss was rough and needy, tongue battling its way into her warm mouth. She struggled at first, but at his persistent caress, her mouth began to open, letting his tongue in.
Soon, she was returning the fervor of the kiss as she pressed her body against his, ignoring the pain in her side. His hands began to rise underneath her shirt, savoring the feel of her flush skin. He explored her mouth, fully arousing both of them. Suddenly, he pulled away, causing Buffy to open her eyes in a daze.


As she realized what he just did, fury began to build inside her. “What the hell was that?” she yelled in an angry and hurt tone. She felt like gagging from betrayal.


He quickly moved forward and wrapped his arms around her form, as she struggled to push him away. “Shhhh, wait, luv. Hear me out.” She slowly stopped her resistant actions and stood tense in his arms, fuming. He ran his hands down her back in a comforting gesture, soothing her until she relaxed.


He pulled back his head to look at her when he felt like she wouldn’t run. Not letting go of her, he said, “That was lust. That was all we had. This is what we have now,” Spike said tenderly, as he placed his forehead against hers. He began to move his face slowly across hers, his nose and his cheek caressing against her skin. He brought his hands up to run through her golden locks.


He placed his hands on both sides of her face, and kissed her lightly, barely caressing her lips. He captured her bottom lip gingerly and pulled away, repeating this action twice more.


Her soft cry at his tenderness caught in her throat as she held back a choke of emotion.


Spike looked into her eyes. “Do you feel the difference? It’s terrifying…and it will consume us until we burn. I know that now. Do you?”


Buffy was grabbing onto Spike’s shoulders for support, trying to control her breathing and the rush of emotions coursing through her body. Regaining her breath, she nodded, and looked up into his eyes. “Yes. But I want them both,” she said, referring to the lust and the affection.


Spike smiled at her genuinely before a smirk overtook his expression. “Trust me, luv. That won’t be a problem.”


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Leanna stepped into her bedroom and shut the door behind her. She grabbed the ends of her blood-stained shirt and lifted it up over her head in one motion, discarding it in the corner.


She walked over to her queen-sized bed and picked up the leathery shirt she had worn the other day. Tossing that aside also, Leanna saw the folded page. ‘Hm. I forgot about this,’ she thought to herself as she picked it up and unfolded it.


Straightening it out, she glanced over the words:


Kerala


The Goddess Kerala was sent to earth after she was caught trying to steal the Rajendra Gem from the heavens. After her attempts, the other gods perished the gem into the depths of India, never to be seen. The prophecy states that one day, the demon lords will call upon Kerala to find the gem and use it against the forces of good. With the power of the gem, she will travel back in time to rid the world of the greatest slayer, thereby stopping the birth of slayers all around the world and stopping the eventual downfall of the demon realm.


Smirking, she said aloud to herself, “Annoying tramp is gonna get it.”


Walking over to her dresser, Leanna picked up a lighter. She flicked her thumb against it and it sparked, lighting the flame. She held the flame to the bottom corner of the page and watched the paper slowly burn away with an evil glint in her eye.


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Dawn walked down the stairs, humming. She was headed toward the kitchen for a snack, when she heard some muffled noises outside the front door. Rolling her eyes, she walked over to the door and whipped it open.


Spike had been pressing Buffy up against the front door, kissing her senseless. When the door whipped open, Buffy fell backwards and almost hit the floor, but Spike caught her in his arms midway.


With Spike still holding her in a dipped position, Buffy looked up at an upside-down Dawn and gave her an overly peppy smile. “Hi Dawn!”


Spike helped her up with an amused look and Buffy fixed her hair, trying to appear as if nothing happened.


“Good timing, Nibblet,” Spike joked sarcastically.


“Hey, it’s not my fault you guys are horny and can’t wait until you get inside an actual building,” Dawn teased.


“What? Us horny? Noooo,” Buffy said unconvincingly as she swatted her hand in the air for emphasis.


“Uh-huh,” Dawn replied with an upraised brow. “And you got that when you fell.” She lifted her chin towards Buffy’s neck in a gesture.


“What? What?” Buffy asked in a confused voice. She looked down at herself, but didn’t see anything. She turned to Spike, “What?”


The corner of his mouth turned up into a smirk. But he faked innocence and shrugged, “Nothing.”


She gave him the evil eye, unconvinced. She looked around her a mirror, but couldn’t find one. Why would vampires have mirrors anyway… She settled for looking into the glass of the cabinet. Peering at her neck, her eyes widened. She had a huge hickey on the left side. It really shouldn’t have been a surprise considering they practically made out all the way home.


Pouting, she walked back to where Spike and Dawn were. She crossed her arms and muttered, “Stupid vampire.”


“Sorry, luv,” he replied insincerely as he walked over to her with a smile.


She pretended to be annoyed and muttered under her breath, “Why don’t you just write ‘Spike’ all over my neck…”


He put his arms around her, even though she still had her arms crossed. “I thought about that, but I didn’t want to get a nasty marker taste in my mouth when I’m kissing you,” he whispered jokingly into her ear.


“Ugh, you guys are twisted,” Dawn said as she walked away.


Buffy pouted still and said, “I didn’t pick up any turtlenecks when we were at the crypt this morning.”


“Good,” Spike replied in a low voice as his head dipped in, mouth open seductively. But Buffy scrunched her face and turned away, making Spike’s kiss land on her cheek.


She turned back to look at HIS pout now. “No more hickeys!” she tried to say in a stern voice. Of course, she didn’t really mind at all – especially when he was making them - but it was fun to give him a hard time.


“Why? I think it looks pretty,” Spike joked as he ran his fingers lightly over it. At Buffy’s non-changing expression, he relented, “Ok, ok. Don’t get your knickers in a twist. Save that for later,” he said with a suggestive waggle of his brow.


“Argh! You’re impossible.”


“MmmmHm,” he agreed in a low tone as he swooped in for another kiss.


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“I mean, when did this happen exactly??” Xander asked incredulously. “One minute they’re mortal enemies, the next they are googly–eyed and holding hands!”


“One minute?” Anya rolled her eyes as she sat in the seat next to him. “It’s been 3 years! Look alive Xander!”


“But how?” Xander asked in a confused tone. “It’s so wrong! Giles agrees with me!” He turned to Giles for back-up but Giles just gave him a pointed look, not really knowing what to say about it all. Xander continued complaining, “I mean, you guys don’t seriously approve of their relationship, do you?”


“Xander, are you in love with Spike?” Anya demanded.


He scrunched up his face at the ridiculous question, before exclaiming in a high-pitched voice, “WHAT!?”


Anya continued firmly, “Do you or do you not want Spike to be your boyfriend??”


“NO! Why would you-, How can you-, What kind of-,” he sputtered in unbelieving frustration, as his hands waved around in the air.


Willow, Tara and Giles were all unsuccessfully trying to suppress their laughter into their hands. Even Giles looked like he was about to break out into hysterics.


“Then why the HELL do you care so much?” Anya yelled. “You’re job is to care about me, Xander Harris!”


“What? I do care about you!” Xander protested.


“The only time you have hugged me lately is when you attacked me from behind to shut me up!” Anya crossed her arms and looked away indignantly.


Damn, she was right. He’d been so caught up in everything Buffy and Spike related that he hadn’t been paying much attention to her. Xander’s expression became apologetic. “I’m sorry, Anya. I didn’t mean it. Don’t be mad,” Xander gave her a meek smile of apology.


With her lips pursed, Anya turned slowly to look at Xander. She narrowed her eyes at him before saying, “You. Owe. Me. Lots and lots of orgasms, mister!”


The three in the background groaned, breaking them out of their stifled laughter.


Xander darted looks at them, embarrassed again at Anya’s bluntness. “Ok, ok, I promise,” he said as he leaned in to give her a kiss.


Her stern expression melted into a happy smile. “I’m so glad you’re not gay.” She leaned forward to throw her arms around Xander’s neck in a hug, and she knocked over the wooden book that was already half off the edge of the table. It dropped to the ground in a thump, but this time, a slight cracking of wood could be heard.


She disentangled herself from Xander and picked up the heavy book, looking at all sides of it to see if there was a crack.


“Did it break?” Willow asked with a worried look.


Anya inspected it closely and turning it to the side, she saw that the front cover was made by two wooden plates joined together. Curiously, she ran her nail along the line that separated the two parts.


She thought she saw the crack widen ever so slightly, so she straightened in her chair with suspicious eyes.


“What’s wrong?” Xander asked as he looked curiously at his girlfriend.


Not replying, Anya grabbed the pencil on the table and jammed the point into the crack on the side of the cover.


The others looked up at her seemingly bizarre move and began to protest. “Anya, stop! You’re ruining-,” Giles began to say with a concerned look as Anya kept prying.


His words were cut off when the front cover split into two, popping open like a folder. “Aha!” she exclaimed in victory.


They all moved closer, as they saw a single page lying inside the cover.


“Ok, where the hell did this book come from!?” Xander asked in amazement.


“What does it say?” Tara asked curiously.


Anya took out the sheet and started to read. Her brows furrowed in confusion. “It looks like a spell…”


“What for?” Willow asked, coming to stand next to Anya to get a better look.


She shook her head. “I don’t know. It doesn’t say…”


Willow took the sheet from Anya eagerly, but perusing over the spell, she only looked more and more confused.


“Willow?” Giles inquired.


“I…I don’t know…I’ve never seen these ingredients together before…” she replied with a sad frown.


“Well, it was hidden. Doesn’t that mean it’s probably what we’re looking for? It’s probably a good spell, right?” Xander asked Willow optimistically.


Giles looked up at him and answered for Willow. “Perhaps. Or…a really bad one.”


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A/N: I’m dreadfully sorry but I couldn’t resist the whole hickeys thing. What can I say? A girl’s gotta enjoy the writing ;) What enjoyable but suspicious fluff – can anyone smell the trouble up ahead? Btw, thank you for the wonderful reviews! I'll try and be more prompt about updating :)