THANKS: Very special thanks to MarzBar, who took time off from reading and reviewing Spuffy to help me work on this story and thanks to ProphecyGirl for the excellent story idea.

**********************************

Professor Walsh placed Buffy’s first psychology paper face down on her desk right before the end of class. Buffy cautiously tipped the edge of the paper up to see what grade she received. She wasn’t expecting an A, but she was disappointed when she saw the big red “D” slashed across one corner, with a “See Me” written underneath. She didn’t understand how she could have done so poorly. She’d actually been interested in the subject of positive reinforcement for changing behaviors. She slumped in her chair while she waited for the bell to ring.

After class, she slipped behind a group of other students to avoid attracting Professor Walsh’s attention, but Walsh spotted her and called her name.

“Ms. Summers, I can see you now if you have time before your next class.”

Buffy cringed. Walsh was probably going to kick her out of class; she had no use for slackers. Buffy sighed and slunk over to Professor Walsh’s office.

Walsh’s office was typical of the University of California Sunnydale with mold green painted walls, a cheap metal and formica desk and plastic orange chairs. Buffy sank into one of the chairs.

The professor gave Buffy a stern look for sitting before invited, took a black electronic device and a wristband out of her desk and sat down in her own ergonomic chair. The professor’s chair was definitely not U of CS standard issue.

“Ms. Summers – may I call you Buffy? I’ll get right to the point. I know who you are, and, what you are.” Walsh paused to give Buffy the opportunity to make some useless evasions.

Buffy gulped. How could Walsh possibly know she was the Chosen Slayer, Sunnydale’s Stake and Break Girl? “What do you mean?”

“Don’t bother to lie, Buffy. I’ve had my eye on you for some time. I know you’re the so-called Vampire Slayer. I also know you and Willow and some of your friends are hiding Hostile 17 to keep the government from reacquiring him.”

She knows about Spike, too? Buffy felt a whiff of panic. Would the soldiers recapture Spike? Even though Spike was a nuisance, she didn’t want him to be returned to the clutches of the Initiative for more of the evil experiments it was rumored they were doing.

Buffy wondered if she’d been followed or watched lately. Who knew about her and Spike and might tell Professor Walsh?

Riley.

Riley found out she was the Slayer and he saw Spike at Giles’ house, too. He must have told Walsh or one of his government buddies where Hostile 17, as Riley insisted on calling Spike, was hiding out. She didn’t much care if her identity as the Slayer was known - half the vampires in the world knew about her - but, she didn’t want Spike to get caught by the soldiers again. If Riley told someone in his unit where Spike was hiding, that made Riley a ratfink, didn’t it?

“What do you want?” Buffy asked. What could Professor Walsh have to do with vampires? Was she part of the Initiative? And how much did she know about Spike?

“You’re aware Hostile 17 has a chip implant in his brain that prevents him from attacking humans. Is the chip working?”

I guess that answers my question, Buffy thought. She knows all about Spike.

“Yes, it’s working.” Buffy didn’t have the slightest idea if Spike’s chip was working. He was perfectly capable of faking a headache if it suited him. Besides, he was chained up most of the time, so he didn’t often get an opportunity to test out his new hardware.

“He hasn’t been hunting or feeding,” she said. He couldn’t do much hunting and feeding while he was chained up in Giles’ bathtub.

“Good.” Walsh picked up a big, three-ring binder with an official looking government seal on the front and held it up for Buffy to see, but not examine. The cover read:

TOP SECRET: DNA Enhancement Program for
Hematophagous Non-Reproductive Beings

“I’m participating in a government program to improve the vampire population of Sunnydale. Implanting chips is one part of the program. The government is anxious to prevent vampires from feeding on the populace, but they are not interested in disposing of vampires in the rigorous nature adopted by yourself and the Watcher’s Council.”

Worse and worse, Buffy thought. Professor Walsh knows about the Watcher’s Council. Buffy was going to kick blabbermouth Riley’s butt the next time she saw him.

Walsh interrupted Buffy’s train of thought. “You know about one aspect of the chip program - preventing vampires from feeding on or harming humans by delivering a painful shock to the brain whenever they attempt any overt action the chip interprets as potentially dangerous. The chip is also capable of delivering a powerful positive stimulus. I believe the positive use of the chip can control and permanently improve the vampire population.”

The thought of a chip altering Spike into anything but a sharp pain in the neck seemed impossible to Buffy.

“That brings us to the subject of your paper, Buffy.”

Buffy looked down at her paper, which she was holding rolled and crumpled in her hands. She opened up the paper, glanced at the sea of red scribbling on the first page and rolled it back up again.

“What has my paper got to do with Sp…, er, Hostile 17?”

“I’m sure it has not escaped your notice the subject of your paper, however poorly explored, is on a topic similar to the positive reinforcement program for vampires we’ve been discussing. I assume you wish to salvage your grade in this class, so I have a proposal.”

Buffy nodded and shoved the mangled term paper into her backpack. “What would I have to do?”

Dr. Walsh held up the black electronic box and the wristband she’d placed on her desk earlier. “I have not been able to test the positive side of vampire population enhancement, because the vampire needs to be in a relaxed social setting instead of the clinical environment of the laboratory. You can perform a preliminary test on Hostile 17 and record the results for me. An enthusiastic effort on your part will go a long way to retrieving your grade from its current abysmal state.”

“I wouldn’t have to shock him or anything, would I?” It was all very well to give Spike a poke in the nose when he got out of line, but she didn’t want to shock him with this box. Spike being annoying - nose poking – heat of the moment - fine. Brain zapping was chill, very chill.

Professor Walsh smiled. In fact, she almost looked … amused. “Not at all.”

Back at her dorm room, Buffy showed the box and wristband to Willow.

“Professor Walsh told me when I see Hostile 17, I mean Spike, do something good or helpful, however, you know, lame, I touch the keypad on the box and the box zaps his chip and gives him a feel-good.”

“Wow, Buffy, this is exciting. Let’s go test it on him,” Willow examined the wristband and box minutely, reading the instructions on the bottom and testing out the zap controls. Willow loved technology, almost as much as she loved magic.

“Look at this, Buffy, the wristband lights up when you hit the zap pad,” Willow demonstrated how a tiny red LCD light on the wristband lit up.

Buffy wasn’t paying attention. “I don’t know about this, Will, what if she’s lying and the zapper box hurts Spike? I wouldn’t want to hurt him - much.”

Buffy had doubts about the professor’s project now the immediate threat of being flunked out of class was removed. She felt a tender spot for Spike. He did like Passions, the same soap opera her mother watched religiously every Tuesday night. She almost felt sorry for him, chained up and helpless, except he was a brutal killer.

There was the business with Willow’s spell, too, when he asked her to marry him, even though he didn’t mean it. Buffy never received a marriage proposal from anyone before, not even Angel. Sitting in Spike’s lap and kissing him and making wedding plans was more than fun. It was, well, romantic.

“What else do you have to do?” Willow asked. She wasn’t overly concerned about zapping Spike or whether it might hurt him.

“I have to wear this wristband all the time. I have to keep Spike with me 24/7 for the next six weeks while I give him zaps when he’s being good. Knowing Spike, six weeks will entitle him to about six zaps. I have to log on to the professor’s website and record all the times he does something good and I give him a zap.”

Willow handed back the box. “It is kind of yucky being with Spike all the time, but at least you won’t be kissing him like when I put that stupid spell on you.”

Kissing Spike. Lips of Spike. Mmmmmm.

Buffy wiped the smile off her face. She did not want to Willow to know she was thinking about kissing Spike. She also didn’t want Willow to know about the time she and Spike did quite a bit more than kissing while they were under the spell and the gang left the two of them alone in Giles’ house. Thinking about the whole episode made her remember how excited she felt when Spike… Buffy blushed and reminded herself Spike was a pig.

“Let’s go test the box on him to make sure it doesn’t hurt him, and then you can make up your mind,” Willow said.

Buffy agreed and she and Willow headed to Giles’ house where Spike was sleeping the day off in the bathtub.

Spike slept with his head on a bath towel and his long legs scrunched up in the tub. The tub was too short for him to stretch out. He was enjoying an excellently bloodthirsty dream featuring him hunting down the Slayer and biting her lovely tan neck while she begged him to ravish her. Her blood smelled of dark red wine with copper flecks. The scent of warm, tasty blood from his dream blended into reality and woke him.

The Slayer leaned against the sink, holding a mug of warm pig’s blood. “Giles said you hadn’t fed in a while.” She held out the pig’s blood and put the straw in his mouth.

Spike looked at her while he sucked the blood through the straw. He suspected Buffy was up to something. She hadn’t brought him any blood in his mug in a long time, and then only when he complained he was starving. Now, she was bringing him blood, without being asked, and pretending her Watcher had something to do with it. Fat chance.

Slayer blew hot and cold. You never knew what mood she’d be in or what you were going to get with her. One day she might give you a punch in the nose. On another day, you might get her warm little hand down your pants, like the time Red put that bleeding spell on the two of them.

He wouldn’t mind the Slayer helping him out in the sex department. She was a hot number in her tight leather pants and skimpy tops, when she wasn’t ranting about how evil he was. His hunting wasn’t the only thing that suffered since he’d been chipped by the government and chained up by the Slayer.

He finished sucking down the blood and spat the straw out of his mouth. On the off chance the Slayer was in a good mood today, he made a big production out of licking his mouth.

She rolled her eyes and rinsed his mug out.

“I have a proposition for you, Spike,” she said. She pulled the black plastic box out of her jacket, activated the wristband she was wearing and placed the box on counter by the sink.

Now, I’ll find out why she’s here, he thought. “I like propositions from you Slayer. Come sit on my lap and tell me about it.”

Buffy pulled a stake out of the back of her pants and jerked it up and down to remind Spike to behave himself.

Spike sighed. “You’re always threatening me, Slayer, and here I am, a completely harmless creature, chained up in your Watcher’s bathtub.” Spike would have continued whining if Buffy hadn’t interrupted him.

“Put a sock in it, Spike. Here’s the deal. This box is tuned to your chip. Instead of giving you a zap, it’s supposed to give you a warm fuzzy. Are you game?”

Spike was not at all game to have his chip zapped. His brain hurt like the devil when the chip went off. “Hell, no,” he said.

“If the box works, I let you out of the tub …” Buffy said. She adjusted the controls until the box registered the frequency of his chip. She didn’t look at him, pretending she didn’t care what he decided, one way or another.

He could get out of this damn bathtub and it was about time. Getting loose was worth chancing a painful zap to the brain if he could escape from the Slayer’s Watcher and her git friends.

“What do I have to do?”

“Nothing. I can test it on you now. If the box works and you agree to the rest of the program, I unchain you.” Buffy held the box up with her finger poised to fire off the lowest level of chip vibes.

“Nothing ventured. Go ahead.” He grimaced and waited for the chip to send an electric shock through his brain.

Buffy lightly tapped the key and waited. Nothing happened. “Did it hurt?” she asked.

“No. Can I get out now?”

“No.” Buffy fiddled with the controls some more, raised the level a couple of numbers and tapped the controls again. She looked at Spike for a reaction.

“Nothing,” he said.

Obviously, the controls aren’t very sensitive, she thought. Buffy raised the controls to the top level and pushed the keypad and held it down. Spike’s chip received such a strong pleasure signal from the box, he was knocked unconscious. His head flopped onto the towel he used as a pillow and his eyes tipped back in his head. Buffy panicked and snapped the machine off.

“Spike! Are you all right?” Buffy patted Spike on the face to bring him back to consciousness. Did she accidentally hurt him? This was terrible. After a moment, Spike shook his head and started to wake up.

Buffy felt woozy herself from seeing Spike’s eyeballs go totally white. Also, she hadn’t eaten any lunch and was hungry. Her lack of food must be making her dizzy. She needed some carbs to tweak up her blood sugar. That thought scarcely entered her mind, when she realized food was not the bodily desire she most needed to satisfy as soon as possible.

She stared at the confused Spike as if she’d never seen him before. How could she have forgotten how hot he looked? He had a cute face, cuter butt, nice muscles, curly hair and blue eyes. She remembered how great he looked with most of his clothes off. The thought she wanted to have sex with Spike popped into her brain. She ripped off her shirt and unbuttoned her pants.

Spike came out of his chip-induced daze to find the Slayer half undressed and taking off the rest of her clothes as fast as she could. What happened while he was knocked out? Whatever it was, Buffy looked like she could eat him up.

When she finished pulling off most of her clothes, she leaned over him so her lips were very close to his and said, “Are you okay? I’m sorry I zapped you so hard.”

This was new, the Slayer being concerned about him. She’d never been concerned all the times she’d punched him in the nose. Spike didn’t wait for an invitation. He grabbed her and pulled her onto his lap.

“I feel good, Slayer. You gave me a hard-on. Unchain me and help me out with your pretty mouth.” He kissed her.

Instead of boxing his ears, as he fully expected, Buffy kissed him back, dipping her tongue into his mouth and stroking her hands on his chest and arms. Buffy straddled him and unzipped his pants with one hand, while clutching Spike’s hair with the other, her mouth demanding hard, deep kisses.

“I have to fuck you, Spike,” she said between kisses and biting his neck.

Spike, who was chained up, was not able to participate much. He wanted Buffy to unchain him so he could give her the proper rogering she certainly deserved for all the teasing she’d done in the past weeks.

“Buffy, luv, what’s the hurry? Why don’t you get the key …”

Buffy couldn’t wait long enough to fetch the key, so she pulled his erection out of his pants and impaled herself on him, crying out with a mixture of relief and frustration and some pain at Spike’s size. He didn’t feel as cold as usual, although cold would have been okay, too, since she was burning up. She slid herself up and down on him, panting and making desperate squeaks of pleasure as she took him deeper into her body.

Spike forgot about foreplay or going slow or anything else except how warm and tight and wet Buffy was around him and how he couldn’t get good leverage in this position. He forgot about his uncomfortable position too, when Buffy seized his face again, kissing him and thrusting her tongue into his mouth. She broke off the kiss and cried out his name as she came in great loops of pleasure. A moment later, Spike’s seed jetted into her, and she collapsed on top of him.

Buffy was licking Spike’s ear and catching her breath, when Willow called out and asked how they were getting along. Buffy’s eyes popped open and she immediately stopped licking Spike’s ear.

“Bloody hell!” Spike said. He was hard inside her and ready for another go or two, preferably without the chains.

Buffy looked at Spike with horror. “Oh, no. What did you do to me?”

She pried herself off him, leaped out of the bathtub and frantically searched for the clothes she’d scattered all over the room in her haste to get Spike inside her.

I am a total slut, she thought.

“What did I do? Innocent victim of your rampaging hormones, here, Slayer,” Spike rattled his chains at her.

“Damn, damn, damn,” Buffy said to herself as she pulled on her underwear. She answered so Willow could hear her. “I’m testing Spike out. His chip, I mean. I’ll be right there.”

Spike accepted he wasn’t going to get another taste of the Slayer for the time being and awkwardly pulled his pants back in place. “Zip me up here, will you Slayer? I can’t reach.”

Buffy leaned over the edge of the bathtub, her butt in the air, to jerk his zipper up and saw he was hard as a rock. Wow, she thought. Her teachers never said anything about continuing hard-as-a-rockness in Health Class.

She felt an intense desire to kiss Spike some more and do a little testing of her own. She’d never given a man – or vampire, either - a blowjob and here was a golden opportunity to try something new and hone her skills on someone who was in no position to complain if she didn’t manage things right.

She forgot all about getting dressed, and put her mouth around Spike’s erection. Spike moaned with pleasure as she ran her tongue up and down him then took him fully into her mouth. She sucked and licked him as he rocked into her.

Still in chains, he could only stroke her hair and enjoy what her mouth was doing to him. When he couldn’t hold back another moment, he spurted into her mouth and sighed.

Buffy gave his tip a last lick and zipped up his pants just as Willow knocked on the door.

“I’m done,” Buffy called out. She avoided looking at Spike while she finished putting on her clothes. She didn’t know whether she was more aggravated at herself for jumping on him or at him for being so inviting.

I’m being ridiculous, she chided herself. I’m experiencing the normal needs of a grown woman. I’ve neglected taking care of myself and things got out of hand and Spike took advantage of the situation. If I had a regular boyfriend this kind of thing wouldn’t happen. It has nothing to do with wanting Spike or having feelings for him or anything like that.

She took down the key for the chains which Giles left hanging on the back of the bathroom door, outside Spike’s reach, and opened his wrist locks. She said, “I forgot to tell you you’re going to be with me night and day for the next six weeks. And, you can forget about a repeat of what just happened.”

Buffy grabbed the zapper box, tossed Spike the key so he could finish taking off the chains himself and ran out of the bathroom.

Spike grinned as he unlocked the remaining chains. He was going to have six glorious weeks with a sexed-starved Slayer. He could hardly wait.

Buffy burst into her dorm room, flopped on her bed and stared at the ceiling. She was exhausted. It was only their first day together and Spike had worn her out.

Willow looked up from her books, and asked, “Where’s Spike? I thought he was supposed to be with you? What if he runs away?”

Buffy pulled on her hair from pure Spike aggravation. “He’s downstairs smoking a cigarette. I hope he runs away to the ends of the earth. I hope he gets stuck ten feet under the Hellmouth. You have no idea, Will, what he put me through tonight.”

Willow sighed. She didn’t regret turning down D’Hoffryn’s offer to make her a Vengeance Demon, but if she’d accepted, she could be granting Buffy’s wish. Was a hope the same as a wish?

“I thought you were going to the mall?” Willow got up and sat on her own bed. Comforting girl talk is always best from a cushiony place.

“We went to the mall. It was a nightmare.”

***

Buffy walked up to the mall entrance door, with Spike close behind her. He was practically walking on her heels. She reached for the door handle, but he grabbed it first and opened the door for her.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Holding the door?”

“Why?”

“I did it to be polite. You know, gents hold doors for ladies?”

“Are you sure you weren’t sneaking up to bite me on my neck or something?”

“Sod it all, Slayer. I have a chip in my head. I’d have a migraine for a week if I bit you. You’re not worth the pain.”

Buffy frowned. She thought she was attractive enough to be worth a vampire bite. Other girls who didn’t look as good as she did got bit all the time.

Spike was still holding the door open, so she walked through.

“Don’t worry, you suspicious bint. I won’t do anything polite again,” he said.

Buffy thought about the positive reinforcement program she was working on, which was the whole reason she was dragging Spike to the mall with her. He had done something nice, holding the door for her, and she supposed he ought to be rewarded with a zap. Professor Walsh told her not to be too critical about giving him zaps, especially at first, but to give him zaps on the smallest pretext. Buffy didn’t want to discourage him from being polite, either. Their time together would go a lot smoother if he was polite.

“It’s okay if you do polite stuff. I don’t mind. You surprised me, that’s all.”

Spike snorted.

She scrounged around in her patrol bag and dug out the control box. The controls had been way too high this morning and she didn’t want Spike to pass out again. She lowered the voltage by half and gave Spike a zap.

Buffy checked Spike to make sure he was okay after the zap and before she knew what was happening found herself kissing him and sticking her tongue in his mouth.

It’s a good thing there’s a ladies’ room right down the hall, she thought.

***

“First, we went to the Cut Me Salon so I could get my hair trimmed and my legs waxed,” Buffy said, leaving out their detour to the stall in the ladies’ room. “He flirted with all the girls. He got them to paint his fingernails and cut his hair without an appointment. You know they never do anything without an appointment. Marsalette gave him a hand massage and she looked like she was ready to massage other parts of his body, too. It cost me an extra hundred bucks to get him out of there. He wanted to help with my bikini wax, too. I had to threaten to stake him.”

Willow giggled. “That’s funny, Buff.”

“Funny for you. My mom’s going to kill me when she gets the bill.”

Buffy stared in the mirror, but she wasn’t watching Raylene trim her hair. She wasn’t watching Spike either, since she couldn’t see him in the mirror. All she could see was Marsalette, the manicure girl, waving a bottle of black fingernail polish in the air and painting nothingness.

She could hear everything, though. Spike was gushing. Buffy thought she was going to hurl.

“It was kind of you to take me without an appointment, Marsalette. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble.”

“Oh, no trouble at all, William. I don’t get many male customers who appreciate how important nice looking nails are to their grooming. Would you like a hand massage?”

Buffy saw Marsalette squirm in her seat as she massaged the air with a warm, damp cloth. She heard Spike groan with pleasure. Buffy fumed.

When they left the salon an hour and a half later, Spike was in a cheerful mood.

“How about giving me a zap, Slayer? It’s been over an hour since you gave me one. How often am I supposed to get a zap, any way?” These zaps aren’t half bad, he thought.

Buffy sniffed. She didn’t think Spike deserved a zap after his rude behavior while she was getting her bikini wax.

“You get a zap when I say so and I’m not giving you a zap.”

“Why not? It’s not costing you any cosh is it?”

Cosh? Did he mean money? Buffy hated when Spike talked in code.

“If you mean money, you’ve already cost me plenty. My mom is going to kill me for putting your haircut on her credit card. Besides, you behaved very badly in the Cut Me and I don’t think I should reward you.”

“I was the perfect gent. All the girls were in love with me. Marsalette asked me to come back.”

“You must have been thralling her.”

“I never did such a poncy thing in my unlife, not that I don’t know how,” Spike said, straightening his coat to show he was above such undignified behavior as thralling a female to get his way. Then, he recalled how Buffy had been staring at him, well Marsalette actually, in the mirror and the angry look on her face.

“You’re jealous.”

“I would only be jealous of you, Captain Peroxide, if I lived on Planet Bizarro. I don’t care what females you associate with as long as you don’t bite them and I get my project done.”

Spike smiled and watched her cute little butt wiggle as she stomped off.

***

“Where else did you go?” Willow asked.

“We went into the new leather clothing store so I could try on some pants and stuff to wear on patrol and he followed me into the ladies’ changing room. Big Bad’s excuse was the security guards couldn’t see him in the two-way mirrors because he’s a vampire. I thought I was going to get a cramp in my arm from waving Mr. Pointy at him.”

***

“Will you get out of here? I’m busy,” Buffy said as she fished around in her patrol bag for Mr. Pointy.

“You’re busy with your clothes off, pet. I didn’t get to see your goodies before, Slayer. Do a turn about for me so I can admire the view.”

“These are security mirrors, Fang Face. The security guards can see us. Get out!”

Where the hell did her stake go? She found the zapper and hit the button. That should hold Spike until she found her stake.

“The gits can’t see me, Slayer. Vampire, remember? I don’t have a reflection, besides it’s more exciting if you might get caught.” Spike stopped arguing and nibbled on her neck and slid his hands onto her butt.

Buffy found her stake at the bottom of her bag. She pulled it out and held it in her limp hand. Spike’s hands and mouth were very distracting.

“Put that stake away,” Spike said. “It’s not nice to be threatening your lover with that thing. You might hurt my feelings.”

“You are not my lover and vampires don’t have feelings.” Buffy unzipped his pants.

“Feel that, Slayer?”

***

Buffy couldn’t believe she bought Spike’s lies about the mirrors.

“Did you get a chance to check out that new, sexy underwear store?” Willow asked.

“Yeah, and Spike shoplifted stuff and perved on me the entire time.” Buffy told Willow the G-rated version of their visit to the sexy underwear store.

***

Spike held up some red panties with black lace.

“You’d look good in these. Want to try them on?”

“You’re a pig and I would not. Those things don’t have a crotch and they’re all open and flapping around and open and ewww.”

“They’re perfect for an oversexed girl like you. Just right for that short leather skirt you just bought.” Spike tucked the panties, along with some other stuff, into the inside chest pocket of his coat.

I’m not oversexed, Buffy thought. I normal sexed. Aren’t I?

“Put those back. Look, here comes the security guard. We have to leave.”

“I’m not through shopping.”

“Not through stealing, you mean,” Buffy said. She pulled the control box out of her bag and gave Spike another zap. How many zaps had she given him so far? “You’ll have to behave now.”

“I’ll be very good, luv.”

***

Buffy did not mention what happened after the guards chased them out of the store. Spike pulled her down an access hall and cornered her in a janitor’s closet. What an animal he was. What an orgasm he’d given her.

“What about patrol?” Willow said.

“Patrol was the worst of all. He talked all the time we were out. I only scared up a single vamp. I zapped Spike to get him to shut up so I could kill the vamp.”

***

Buffy shushed Spike for the third time since they arrived at the cemetery.

“Will you please shut up? How can I kill any vamps if you’re talking to me all the time and scaring them off?”

“They’re not worth killing if they’re scared off by a little chat. This place is dead. Let’s go to the Bronze and get pissed.”

She didn’t answer Spike. Answering him only encouraged him to talk more. Buffy checked out the date on a new headstone. No, this wasn’t the fledgling she was looking for; she’d dusted this vampire three days ago.

The full moon was overhead. Spike caused so many delays at the mall, they hadn’t arrived at the cemetery until almost midnight. Buffy hoped the newbie hadn’t already popped out of his grave and scampered off. She didn’t want to have to look for him tomorrow night when he was stronger.

“Say, Slayer, did your Watcher ever tell you about how the moon affects vampires?”

The moon and vampires? What was he trying to pull? “I thought it was the moon and werewolves. Are you going to shapeshift or something on me?”

“Course not. You don’t know much about vampires, do you? The moon gives us extra strength. It makes us last longer, get bigger…” Spike grabbed her hand and put it on his crotch so she could feel for herself the positive effect the moonlight was having.

Buffy snatched her hand away. How the hell did he do that? He was even bigger than before. “Knock it off, sex addict.”

“Addicted to you, baby. That was a pretty hot blowjob you gave me earlier. I could do with another go with your hot mouth on me. I might give you some tips on improving your technique. How about getting on your knees?”

“I warned you.”

***

Buffy told Willow a white lie about killing the vamp and left out a great deal of the other events that transpired at the graveyard. Spike talked and talked until she zapped him. She hadn’t even had a chance to catch her breath before she found herself giving Spike a blowjob and getting grass stains on the knees of her new leather pants. While she was occupied, the only vamp they’d seen all evening crept up on them. It was only by accident Spike saw him and staked the fledgling in time. To hear him tell it, he’d gallantly saved Buffy from violent death.

Spike knocked on the door and called out for an invitation.

“Come in, Spike,” Buffy said. She braced herself for more Spike exasperation.

“Hey, Red,” he said, “Slayer and I are going to be roommates.”

Buffy did not like the insinuating way he said ‘roommates.’ She didn’t want Willow getting any ideas about what she and Spike had been up to all afternoon and evening. She gave Spike a glare intended to shut him up and whipped Mr. Pointy out of the back of her pants and dropped it on her desk with a thump. Spike was not deterred.

“Where am I sleeping, luv?” he asked, checking out the room. “Is this your bed, Slayer? It looks nice and comfy.”

“I’m sure you’ll be perfectly fine on the floor. It’s bound to be a step up from the bathtub,” Buffy said. She had no intention of letting Spike get comfortable, especially not in her bed.

“Actually, Buffy,” Willow said, “I’m spending the night with the new girl I met at Wicca to work on some spells. My bed will be empty.”

Buffy jumped out of her bed and rushed over to talk to Willow. “No, Willow, this is not necessary. I’ll take Spike back to Giles’ place for the night. I’m sure he isn’t going to do anything that deserves a reward zap.”

Buffy signaled Willow she didn’t want to be left alone with Spike, but it was useless. Willow was never good at picking up signals. Her overnight bag was already packed and she ran out the door before Buffy could say another word.

“I’m tired after all your shopping and such, Slayer. I think I’d prefer to bed down right here.” Spike dropped onto her bed and patted the mattress. It was splendid lying on the Slayer’s semi-virginal bed, smelling her perfume and her sweat and other things besides.

“You could join me, Slayer. There’s plenty of room.”

Buffy accepted defeat, kicked off her shoes and hopped on to Willow’s. She’d rearranged the pillows to her liking and made herself comfortable, when she remembered she needed to perform another duty before she went to sleep. She got up and turned on her laptop. After many false starts, not being technology girl like Willow, Buffy logged onto Professor Walsh’s website so she could put in information about her evening with Spike.

“What’s that, Buffy?” Spike said, pulling out a cigarette.

Did he have to talk to her all the time? Buffy didn’t think she’d enjoyed five silent minutes since she’d let him out of the bathtub. And, did he have to say her name in his sexy, low voice that made her squeeze her legs together?

“Don’t even think about lighting that thing up in here, or I’ll take you out with a Number Two pencil. You’ll be the joke of the entire vampire community. I’m doing my homework on you, if you must know.”

What she could she possibly write about their activities this evening that would sound scholarly and would be somewhat truthful? She’d mostly used the zapper to control Spike after he’d done something awful, and not to reward him.

Buffy typed:

‘I went to the mall with Hostile 17. He held the door for me as we walked in, so I gave him a zap. We participated in several shopping activities and Hostile 17 did not attempt to hurt any humans or put on his vampire face. I gave him several more zaps before we left. We patrolled the Restfield Cemetery together and Hostile 17 helped me stake a vampire.’

She jumped when Spike leaned over her shoulder to read her laptop screen. Of course, he was smoking, because she told him not to.

“What’s this, then? You give me a zap when I do something?”

He’s had plenty of time to read everything I wrote, Buffy thought, but he didn’t straighten up or move away. She thought he might be sniffing her neck.

“I’m not supposed to tell you, because telling will mess up the study, but I might as well, since I’m sure this project is not going to last out the week,” Buffy signed off the computer site and closed down her laptop.

“I’m helping my psychology professor, Professor Walsh, with a study for the government. I’m supposed to give you a pleasure zap whenever you do something good or socially acceptable or whatever. It’s called positive reinforcement. It’s supposed to train you to be a better person, I mean vampire.”

Spike stood up and puffed out his chest. He sucked hard on his cigarette, changed into his vamp face and snarled, “I’m the Big Bad! I’m Evil! I don’t want to be a better vampire.”

He gave up on the rest of his cigarette and flipped the butt out the window because he couldn’t smoke with his fangs out.

Buffy debated on whether she should give him a pleasure zap for throwing the cigarette outside instead of dropping it in the trash can where the smoldering butt would smell up the whole room and start a fire. She decided not to since he vamped out and she told him not to smoke in the first place.

“Don’t give me the vamp face. You don’t have to worry. There’s not much chance of you improving.” Damn, she would have to log back on and make a note that Spike vamped out. Well, she’d fix the log tomorrow.

Spike shook off his vamp face. “This is unfair, Buffy. You didn’t tell me about all this government stuff when I agreed to help you out.” He looked pathetic and picked on.

His stomach growled from hunger and made him forget Buffy’s devious behavior. He looked around the room and spotted Buffy’s tiny refrigerator. He opened the door and picked through the sparse remnants of food. He found a dried up piece of pepperoni pizza with all the meat picked off, a half empty can of diet coke opened days ago and no bags of blood.

“Haven’t you got any blood, Slayer? I’m getting peckish. You haven’t fed me since this afternoon.”

“Guess what, Spike? I don’t happen to have any blood on hand. Don’t drink much of the stuff myself. You’ll have to wait until tomorrow and I’ll get you some pig’s blood.”

Spike made a face to show the depth of his disappointment at her thoughtlessness. “You haven’t planned this big scientific study very well, Slayer, letting the subject starve and all. How about giving me a drink of Slayer O-positive?”

Buffy glared at him. She couldn’t believe this bleach-head vampire would have the nerve to ask her, the Slayer, for a drink of blood. “Not a chance, Spike.”

Spike spied Mr. Gordo on Buffy’s bed and picked up the stuffed pig and held it over Buffy’s head. “There’s consequences to not giving me what I want, Slayer. If I don’t get some blood, the pig gets it.”

He slid his fangs out without going completely vamp face and pretended to gnaw at Mr. Gordo’s neck.

“Give me back my pig,” Buffy said. She laughed at Spike’s antics and jumped to snatch her toy out of Spike’s hand, but she couldn’t quite leap high enough.

“This pig is my hostage,” He tossed the pig hand-to-hand, out of her reach.

“Okay, you asked for it,” Buffy said. She’d given up on the idea of waiting for Spike to do something good before giving him a zap. Zapping Spike worked better when she wanted him to stop whatever he was doing at the moment, than it did for encouraging future behavior.

She picked up the black box and checked the controls. She’d fine-tuned the settings at the mall and the cemetery. The zap waves weren’t as high as the zap she gave Spike earlier this afternoon, but were plenty high enough to drop him in his tracks.

“Wait, Buffy, don’t use the machine, I think there’s something wrong…” Spike did not finish what he was saying because Buffy zapped him, making his knees buckle and his brain spin. He dropped the pig.

They were laughing when Buffy tackled Spike onto her bed. “I’ll give you what you want,” she said and kissed him hard.

Buffy crashed into Spike, kissing him as if he couldn’t possibly kiss her back fast enough or deep enough. She peeled off her own clothes, tossing them on the floor, as she struggled to keep kissing and touching him. She tugged his clothes, ripping his tee shirt in her haste.

Spike pushed her away and took off his own boots and pants, taking his time.

“Hurry, Spike,” she said. “I want you.” She wrapped herself around him from behind, stroking his back and his chest while he pulled off his clothes.

Spike didn’t understand how she could be so anxious. They’d had it off several times today. He wondered if she was always like this, bursting with desire. He was ready to slow down and enjoy drawing out her pleasure, as well as his own.

She stopped pulling his clothes to pieces and clutched her head in her hands.

“What’s the matter, Buffy? Does your head hurt?” He lowered her onto the bed, his arms around her, holding her.

Hearing him say her name, sweet and deep, soothed her. Buffy kissed his mouth slower, deeper, allowing him to take the lead. “I was dizzy for a minute.”

“Let’s go slow and you won’t get dizzy,” he said. He broke the seal on her wristband and tossed it on the floor next to her bed where she’d dropped the black box that controlled his chip. He turned off the machine and gave his full attention to Buffy.

He looked into her eyes, as his hands moved on her head, her hair, her body, idly fondling her without any purpose yet, soothing, relaxing, slowing down her fevered pulse. He thought about what he wanted to do to her and how he wanted to make her feel. He wanted to pull her across his knees and give her a good spanking. He was sure she’d like getting spanked, but fear of what the chip would do stopped him. Instead, he made her wait to be kissed and to be touched.

“Sp… William, what am I doing? I’m the Slayer. I shouldn’t be having sex with you.”

He kissed her mouth again softly. She was sure the kiss lasted an hour, his tongue warm and wet in her mouth, his hands brushing her neck delicately, tracing the path of a single vein. He grasped her wrists and pressed her hands down to the bed so he could control her, make her concentrate on the feel of his mouth on her skin. His mouth moved from her mouth to her neck and her collarbone.

“You’re training me to be a better vampire, remember?”

He paused, taking her neck gently into his mouth, sucking over a vein to bring blood to the surface, leaving a rose-colored mark. He could feel the blood pulsing through her veins. He imagined slipping his fangs into her neck, and drinking. He fought to keep his demon from coming out and taking her.

Buffy made kitten mews of pleasure. “What are you training me to do, Big Bad?”

“To love everything I do to you.”

His mouth continued to travel down her body, suspending in the air over one rose-tipped nipple. He lapped her breast, his rough tongue making her shiver with pleasure. She fought to break her hands free, until he took the tight bud of her nipple into his mouth and sucked the point harder. She sighed with relief and relaxed her hands. She waited for the next thing he would do to her. She understood she was supposed to wait.

Slow is good, she thought.

He nibbled down her soft belly with blunt teeth, then, slipped his fangs out, delicately brushing them against her without drawing blood or breaking the skin, allowing her a tingle of pain-pleasure before hiding his fangs. He was reminding her he was being gentle, but he could be altogether different. He kissed her bellybutton and her pelvic bones, sliding his tongue down the hard ridge of bone. He gently pushed aside her damp curls.

She cried with frustration as he explored her, caressing her roughly, then gently, petting her with his coarse tongue, until she whimpered, then begged. Please, please, please Spike. He rewarded her with a single sharp dip of his tongue. He placed his mouth over her, sucking her gently. He grasped her wrists more tightly, as she twisted her hands again. She wanted him inside her. She pleaded with him and jerked her hands desperately, fluttering her fingers as she tried to reach him and touch him, until he brought her to the edge and tipped her over.

He released her hands after kissing and sucking the hot pulse points in her wrists. Then, he crawled up the bed and stretched himself on top of her. He nudged her legs apart and slid into her.

“Ready for the next lesson?” he asked.

“Mmmmmm, teach me more.” She made tiny scratches on his back with her nails as he thrust into her, lazily, easily.

He held her head, his fingers tangled in her silky waves of hair. He rested his forehead on hers, concentrating on the movement of his body in hers and the smell of her sweat, her arousal and the swipes of perfume on her neck that intensified with the heat of her body.

He wanted to suck the scar on her neck where his enemy drank from her. He wanted to obliterate Angelus’ mark with his own, but fear of the chip stopped him. His demon skipped closer to the surface, demanding her blood. Spike turned his face away from hers on the pillow, in case his vamp face tore out when he came. He didn’t want her to see him looking like the demon he was while they were making love.

Buffy wanted something. She wanted, not just the release that was coming, but something darker. She felt frozen in place, unable to move her hands or her mouth, because Spike was holding her head. The answering thrust of her pelvis against him seemed to be the only movement possible.

Buffy remembered the intense feeling she’d only satisfied once before. Angel’s bite had been painful and raw, but it awakened a dark need in her. She wanted Spike to satisfy that need, no matter if it was painful. She wanted him to wipe out the time before and replace her scar with his own mark.

“Please, Spike, you know,” she said. She pulled her hair away from her neck, inviting the danger and the hurting.

If she’d asked earlier, he could have ignored her, left her wanting. Now, he was too close to the border, too close to be rational. As he slipped his razor sharp fangs into her tender vein, he steeled himself to endure the pain, but it didn’t come. He removed his fangs and held his mouth over the slashes, drinking the blood that spurted into his mouth. He forced his mouth away from her shoulder, pressing his fingers against the wound to cap off the bleeding. She crushed her mouth against his, tasting her own blood as her release came.

Her blood surged through him and he pumped his seed deep into her body.

The next morning, Willow walked into her dorm room. It didn’t occur to her to knock on the door of her own room until it was too late. It also didn’t occur to her Buffy would be snuggled up naked in the bed with Spike, with a fresh bite mark on her neck, but she was.

Buffy looks contented, Willow thought. She’d never before looked contented when she was sleeping. Usually, she thrashed around at night, having her crazy Slayer dreams.

The instant Willow opened the door, Spike ripped into his vamp face, placing his arm over Buffy protectively. When he saw Willow at the door, he shook away his vamp face and turned back to Buffy. He drew his arm tighter around her as if Willow might try to steal her away from him.

During the past few weeks, Willow forgot how fierce and dangerous Spike could be. She forgot, that without the chip, he was a ruthless, vicious killer. The chilling sight of Spike in his vamp face brought those terrible memories back and made her heart pound with fear.

The lights were out and the curtains were closed tight to block out the sunlight, but Willow could see Spike tenderly touching and kissing Buffy’s face and tucking the sheet around her, covering her soft pink nipples and hear him speaking to her in a low voice.

Willow ducked back out of the room. She was embarrassed to see Buffy and Spike together and even more embarrassed at her own reaction to seeing her best friend’s nude body.

Spike called out to her in a quiet voice, so he wouldn’t wake up Buffy.

“Wait, Red, let me put on my pants. I want to talk to you.”

“Meet you downstairs in the lounge,” Willow said. She closed the door quickly. She did not want to see Spike without his pants.

While she was waiting for Spike, Willow had time to calm down from the heart-stopping terror of seeing him vamped out and to think about what else she saw. The bite on Buffy’s neck for one thing. Spike wasn’t supposed to be able to hurt people, bite them and stuff, with the chip in his brain. He might have bitten Buffy in spite of the chip and endured the pain. Spike’s willingness to endure pain didn’t explain why Buffy let him bite her or why she had sex with him or why she was cuddled up next to him.

It was all were very confusing, as many things involving Buffy were.

Then, there was the Spike lovey-dovey stuff and the whole protective male vamping-out business. What was that all about? Willow never thought Spike capable of such behavior. Did Spike have a romantic thing for Buffy?

And, Buffy was tucked up against him as if there was no place in this dimension she’d rather be. Was she becoming involved with a vampire again? Willow felt an unpleasant wave of guilt about the spell she cast over Spike and Buffy earlier. She was afraid the spell had lingering effects. It might be all her fault the two of them were together.

Spike came downstairs a few minutes later. He’d put his clothes on, downed a slug of scotch from his pocket flask, and attempted, not very successfully, to smooth back his hair. He was carrying the black zapper box and wristband.

Willow thought Spike looked exactly like he’d gotten thoroughly laid, with his hair rumpled up and his shirt ripped. She hoped Spike would say whatever it was he wanted to say quickly. She did not want to dwell on what Buffy had been up to, which Willow could hardly avoid thinking about when the very who Buffy had been up to with was sitting right next to her.

“I need your help, Red. It’s about this box,” Spike said. “I don’t think it does what the professor told Buffy it was supposed to do. What do you know about it?”

“Buffy told me she was to use the box to give you positive reinforcement when you did something good. The zaps make you feel good, so you’ll want to do nice things in the future. The more nice things you do, the more Buffy zaps you and the more you get zapped, the more nice things you want to do.”

“Yeah, it’s a vicious circle,” Spike said. He looked disgusted. “That’s not what’s happening. I think it’s zapping both of us to get us to have sex. I’m not complaining, mind you.”

Willow looked at Spike in astonishment. Was the box zapping Buffy into having sex with Spike? Talk about positive reinforcement. And, boy, Buffy was going to be mad when she found out.

“Are you sure? What makes you think the machine is making you and Buffy, you know?”

“Buffy has to wear this wristband for the machine to work, right?”

Willow nodded. She’d wondered about the wristband herself when Buffy first brought the device to their dorm room. The band didn’t seem to serve any useful purpose for firing off Spike’s chip.

“When Buffy zaps me, the light on the band goes off,” Spike turned the controls to the lowest level, and hit the zap button. The wristband blinked on and off.

“So?” Willow didn’t want to believe this electronic box could make Buffy get groiny with Spike. Ewww.

“Every time Buffy gives me a strong enough zap, we have sex. Right away.”

Willow felt her throat tighten. She thought she might gag.

“How many times are we talking about here?” Willow said. Buffy hasn’t had the machine for 24 hours yet. How bad could it be?

Spike appeared to be counting. He shouldn’t be counting. Counting sexual events is not right, she thought.

“There was the bathtub – twice, the mall – twice, no three times, the cemetery …” Spike said.

“No details! No details. Just tell me the number of zaps to number of, er, incidents.” Oh, no, thought Willow, not the mall. She’d never be able to go shopping at the mall again. And, they did the dirty in Giles’ bathtub. Buffy and Spike must have been having sex while she and Giles were in the next room. Twice.

“Six times after she zapped me, but I’m not counting how many times we had sex once we got started. I think the zap lasts awhile.”

Willow could feel her face turning hot and red. She did not want to know about Slayer-Vampire sex. Spike made it sound like the two of them were athletes running a marathon. Spike didn’t appear embarrassed either.

“The box is doing something else, too,” Spike said. “Touch my hand.”

Willow did not want to touch Spike’s hand. Vampires were cold and ewww to touch. She’d touched Angel once and the chilly feel of his skin creeped her out. There was the whole Buffy-Spike sex thing to think about as well. Vampire sex had a high potential creep factor and made her even less willing to touch Spike.

He held out his hand and she didn’t think she could refuse without upsetting him. She reached out one finger to touch the back of Spike’s hand. She frowned.

“You’re warm.”

“Yes, and I haven’t drunk any blood since, well, in a while. I should be room temperature. I’ve been warm like this since yesterday afternoon when Buffy first tested the machine on me.”

Willow knew perfectly well when Spike drank his last drink of blood. She knew he got his latest drink from Buffy, too, although it was nice of him not to mention Buffy’s name. Concentrate on the problem, she said to herself; don’t think about the bite on Buffy’s neck. How can Spike be warm? What was going on?

“I don’t get it,” she said.

“The box is doing something to both of us. First, the box gets us to have sex, then, it warms me up, or the other way around.”

“What am I supposed to do?” Willow was quite sure she didn’t want to hear what was coming next.

“Break into the Initiative’s computer and find out what this positive reinforcement program is about. The Initiative has to be involved since they’re using my chip.”

“Whoa, hacking into a super-secret government computer is not of the good. Big felony here. Assuming I can find the computer site and the right information, the government has the best encryption programs available and I doubt I will be able to crack their passwords and firewalls.

Her friends thought she could hack into any computer she liked. She’d let them think she was Super Hacker Girl, and usually the sites were easy pickings – Sunnydale City Hall, their old high school, the Wilkins County Morgue, The Sunnydale Sunset and other local newspapers and sites that didn’t use much security. Hacking into a top-secret federal government computer was a whole other kettle of newt eyes.

“There’s a spell,” Spike said.

Willow was puzzled. Spike was certainly full of surprises today. What did he know about spells?

“There was a spell in the New Age Spells for Modern Technology Review a few months ago for operating electronic machines. You can use it to locate the computer and break into the password files.”

Spike was reading magic magazines Willow never heard of before. He’d been kissing Buffy in her sleep and protecting her like Sensitive Guy. Willow was going to have to rethink everything she thought she knew about Spike.

She still didn’t want to hack into the Initiative’s computer.

“Why doesn’t Buffy pretend to use the box and make up something for the computer entries? After six weeks, she’ll be through and Professor Walsh won’t be any wiser.”

And, Willow wanted to add, you two won’t have to have Slayer-Vampire sex any more, unless you want to. She was afraid they might.

“I’d agree if we knew exactly what the box is doing, but we don’t. I’m afraid the zaps will hurt Buffy. We need to find out before we use the box again.”

Spike is right, she thought. Buffy might get hurt. Willow didn’t want that to happen.

“Okay,” Willow said, “but this is going to take a lot of donuts.”

Professor Walsh scowled at the fresh-faced soldier, Lieutenant Finn, who entered her office at the Initiative. Once he had been a reliable, effective soldier, but since the Initiative came to Sunnydale, he’d become a problem. He was attempting to think for himself. Thinking was not a good quality in a soldier. Walsh attributed a great deal of his new attitude to pretending he was qualified to be her graduate teaching assistant and to spending time with this Slayer girl.

“Permission to speak freely, Professor Walsh,” Riley said.

“Stand down, soldier, I’m not your commanding officer,” Walsh answered. She enjoyed forward to talking with Finn. He could be amusing when he was sincere.

“Thank you, professor. It’s about Buffy. The Slayer, I mean. I heard she’s helping you with the Positive Reinforcement program and Hostile 17.”

“That’s top secret, Lieutenant Finn and you aren’t on the need to know list,” she said. “I can’t discuss or acknowledge the existence of any such program with you.”

“I know. I have a personal interest. I don’t want anything to happen to Buffy.”

Walsh studied his face. She was good at studying faces; it was her profession. His face told her Finn imagined himself in love with this girl and was working himself up to interfering with Walsh’s project. She wouldn’t tolerate interference.

“Since you’ve found out this much on your own, I will tell you no one intends to hurt Buffy. This is only an informational study. She seems to be friendly with Hostile 17. I asked her to help out.”

Walsh did not appreciate the look of irritation on Finn’s face.

Riley didn’t like the idea of Buffy being friendly with Hostile 17. He wasn’t sure how much he should say. Walsh could have him court martialled for knowing about this program. He did like Buffy and wanted to get close to her, so he blundered ahead.

“I know about the black box and I know you’re altering Hostile 17’s chip. He’s very dangerous. You don’t know what you’re playing with by letting him loose.”

Walsh smiled. “I am aware of Hostile 17’s destructive capabilities. He’s a violent killer, it’s true, but he’s also a violent killer with a chip in his head. I can control every move he makes, if I find such control necessary.”

He wanted desperately to know what Walsh was up to, but he was afraid to push further. He would have to find out on his own. He hoped he didn’t get caught. “As long as you can control Hostile 17, I guess Buffy will be all right,” he said. He sounded lame and he knew he wasn’t fooling Walsh for a minute.

Walsh knew Finn did not accept her story and surmised he would attempt to discover the true nature of the program. If he did find out, he would tell this Slayer girl and ruin everything.

“Lieutenant Finn, you have stumbled on a top-secret program you are not authorized to know about. I hope I don’t have to remind you of the consequences of pursuing more information or revealing what you know?”

“I understand,” Riley said. No matter what Walsh said about not being his commanding officer, she could have him busted with one phone call. He wouldn’t be able to protect Buffy from this animal who called himself Spike, if he was locked up in the Stars and Bars Hotel in Fort Leavenworth. He’d have to be careful.

“One more thing before you go, Lieutenant, I don’t want you to have any contact with Buffy for the duration of the program, except for your regular school activities as my graduate assistant. You are not to indicate to her you know anything about this program. Is that clear?” The last thing Walsh wanted was to have Riley distracting Buffy from her activities with Hostile 17.

“No contact with Buffy,” Riley answered. He raised his hand to salute, then remembered Walsh was a civilian, dropped his hand and walked out of her office. Once outside, he smiled.

Walsh hadn’t said anything about ‘contacting’ Spike.

Willow spent the entire morning and part of the afternoon in the university computer lab locating and hacking into the Initiative’s computer. If she got caught, she could plan on getting kicked out of school. Getting kicked out wouldn’t matter because she’d be in prison. Maybe she could finish college online from the Tahatchapee State Prison for Women?

She’d put together all the ingredients for the spell Spike told her about - galbanard, shark’s gill, Vitamin E tablets - the liquid center ones, dried and crushed library paste, breakbone weed, swished together with some generic diet cream soda. Diet Coke never worked right in spells for some reason.

Willow wasn’t powerful enough to work the spell herself. She called her new friend, Tara, and asked her to come over and help out. Tara brought a fresh bag of jelly donuts. Together, their magic, along with the school’s Cray 10,000’s massive computing power, located the government site and began crunching passwords.

“We need a different spell for the password. This could take years and we’ll get caught,” Willow said after the spell spun through the first 500,000 password possibilities. She was certain the government techies noticed she was snooping around, so she shut down the password spell before they could backtrack her electronic trail to the university computer.

“I saw something on the internet the other day,” Tara said. She was shy and never liked to put herself forward. Willow felt Tara’s shyness was off-putting at the moment, in view of the fact FBI agents were probably looking for them, but she didn’t say so.

“Great, where is it?” Willow moved the keyboard in front of Tara. Tara located a Wicca site in Sri Lanka that listed a number of spells for manipulating electronic gadgets. One of them was for breaking passwords and high-tech encryption programs. The spell was guaranteed to work within 30 seconds. Unfortunately, Willow and Tara were missing one of the minor ingredients - the black cat’s claw.

Willow decided to chance it.

Willow returned to the government site, chanted the appropriate incantation, burned the arctic slime moss concoction Tara mixed together out of their portable magic supplies, and watched with satisfaction as the government computer spat out a list of every password on the system. Willow printed the list of passwords right before the school’s Cray 10,000 burst into flames. They grabbed the printouts and ran out of the computer room, pulling the fire alarm as they left.

Willow and Tara walked to their favorite coffee shop and Internet café. They downloaded several top-secret documents about the program, sipped their iced lattes and watched a local television news bulletin about how the university’s entire computer department burned to the ground that afternoon.

Buffy stared at the pages Willow handed her. “DNA Enhancement Program for He – ma – to – pha - gous Non-Reproductive Beings. I saw that written on a notebook in Professor Walsh’s office. She showed the cover of the notebook to me, but she wouldn’t let me see what was inside. What does it mean?”

Spike paced back and forth in Buffy’s tiny dorm room.

Buffy wished he would stop and sit next to her on the bed. She wished she could use the zapper machine to make him stop, but he’d taken it away from her.

“I’m not exactly sure,” Willow said. “Hematophagous means blood consuming. I think it’s government speak for vampires. The DNA part means they want to improve the genetic characteristics of vamps. Make bigger and better vampires.”

“We knew the program involved Spike because he’s a vampire. What’s the big?” Buffy thought her friend had gone overboard with the researching. She hoped Willow’s snooping wouldn’t mess up her grade with Professor Walsh, especially after all she’d put up with from Spike for the past two days.

Willow hesitated. She held another package of papers she hadn’t shown Buffy yet. She did not want to have this conversation with Buffy while Spike was in the room. “Spike, it’s dark. Could you go outside and smoke a cigarette or lurk or something for a minute? Buffy and I need to have a girl talk.”

The prospect of lurking at the entrance of the women’s dormitory was attractive, but Spike did not intend to leave until he found out what the government was up to messing around with his chip and the Slayer. “Bloody hell, no. This involves me as much as the Slayer, here.”

“Go ahead, Willow. Spike should know, too.” Buffy glanced at Spike. He’d been as nervous as a cat all day. She’d zapped him twice. She’d considered zapping him a third time right before Willow arrived. That was when Spike took the box away from her and tricked her into having sex. Again.

Willow felt positively green. If there was one subject she didn’t like to discuss, this was it. That went double for talking about it in front of boys. “Buffy, uh, when did you have your last period?”

Buffy blinked her eyes in surprise. What did this bio-fact have to do with anything?

“What do you want to know for? A couple of weeks ago, I guess,” Buffy did not like the revolting turn this conversation was taking. She was sorry she hadn’t sent Spike out of the room. Now this interesting subject had come up, there was no chance she could get him to leave. “What difference does it make? It’s not like Spike can get me pregnant.”

Buffy did not like the blank look on Willow’s face. She did not like the fact Willow was not denying Spike could get her pregnant.

Spike was silent during this conversation. Buffy frequently complained about his inability to shut up for more than five minutes and zapped him several times to get him to stop talking. With one question, Willow discovered a subject he didn’t want to talk about.

Willow didn’t answer Buffy’s question. She wanted to work her way up to the bad news. She wanted to ease into the subject so Buffy wouldn’t get too excited, which, considering what her condition might be, was not a good idea.

“The box was designed to give Spike a zap so it could be used for positive reinforcement, like Professor Walsh said, but it also does other things.”

“Like?” Buffy said. Buffy wished Willow would get to the point.

“Whenever you give Spike a zap, the box does something to you, too. It makes you want to have sex with Spike after you give him the zap. Right after.” Willow fanned her fingers out to show this wasn’t her idea.

“Oh,” Buffy said. “Oh!”

This was terrible. All those times she threw herself at Spike, she’d been telling herself she wanted to have sex with him, a little, and he was tricking her into it or thralling her or something. It turned out he hadn’t been doing anything, other than giving her the most mind-blowing sexual experiences of her life.

She sneaked a look at him. His face showed no emotion. Didn’t he want to have sex with her all those times? He did nothing to make his feelings clear on the whole sex-wanting issue.

Spike was smoking again, like she’d told him about fifty times not to do in her room. She almost grabbed the box to give him a zap, but remembered in time. Not going there. Not zapping Spike with the box. Let him smoke. She almost wished she smoked at this moment.

Willow cleared her throat. “There’s more, Buffy. The thing with Spike’s hand and his whole body warming up. I think they’re turning on Spike’s …, the control box is making his sperm viable.”

Buffy frowned. “What do you mean, viable?”

“Alive,” Willow said. “You know, swimming around … places.”

Alive?

Buffy felt herself panic in a way she’d never panicked when facing the biggest and meanest of vampires.

How did Spike’s sperm – his non-swimmy vampire sperm - which were supposed to be dead and everyone always promised her were dead - come into this? Why couldn’t Willow say whatever she had to say in plain English?

“She means, pet, the government is using me to get you preggers.” Spike said.

“Got to run,” Willow said, gathering up her books and paraphernalia for studying and performing magic. “You and Spike have a lot to talk about.” Willow was out the door before Buffy could protest.

“What have you done?” Buffy said, “You got me knocked up!” Buffy was sure she was going to faint, or hit Spike really hard.

“Me! It wasn’t me using the zap box. You were the one zapping me every time you got a hormone surge.” Spike did not look a bit happier about the news than Buffy.

“Now, it’s my fault. I suppose you didn’t want to have sex with me.” Buffy burst out crying. This was all too much to bear. First, Evil Dead got her pregnant, then he made it sound like she was the only one who wanted to have sex. He acted like he was doing her a big favor. She seemed to remember him enjoying having sex with her when sexage was happening.

Spike crushed out his cigarette, and went over to the bed where Buffy had been lounging during Willow’s Secret-Government-Plot-Revealing-Conversation and was now sobbing into her pillow. He sat down and pulled her into his arms. “Don’t cry, Buffy. I wanted to have sex with you. I never wanted anything more in my life, uh, unlife. Besides, I took the batteries out of the box last night while you were sleeping.”

“You did?” Buffy whimpered and hiccupped. “So, all those times, this morning and this afternoon, were because we wanted …”

“Yes, luv. We both wanted to be together. Making love together was good. Remember? Besides, you don’t know if you’re pregnant. Maybe the experiment didn’t work.”

Buffy, who had been somewhat mollified by Spike’s confession that he’d disabled the box and had had sex with her because he wanted to, did not care for his comment about the experiment not working. He was saying he wanted to have sex with her, but he didn’t want to be responsible for any consequences, such as being saddled with a baby. Her baby.

“You don’t want our baby and you’re only saying nice stuff to make me stop crying.” She cried harder. Insensitive jerk. What did she ever see in him besides incredible sex, which was how she got in this predicament?

Spike told the lie he was sure all self-respecting men who’d received this surprising news for eons past had told. “Of course, I want the baby. A girl like you would be nice, wouldn’t it?”

Buffy felt soothed by Spike’s words and the idea of having a sweet baby girl that looked like her, only with natural blonde hair, was appealing. She wondered if her mother would be willing to spring for some designer baby clothes.

She allowed Spike to stroke her hair and kiss her to prove he meant the big fat lie he’d just told. She appreciated the lie. He’d sounded very sincere.

Spike felt relieved the crying part was over and wondered if some make-up sex might be possible. He deserved a reward now he was about to become the laughing stock of the entire vampire community for putting a bun in the Slayer’s oven.

Buffy stopped sniffling when an awful thought passed through her brain. What if the baby wasn’t a girl? What if the baby was a boy, like Spike? What if her baby was a vampire? She howled with misery.

“What now?” Spike didn’t understand what brought on this fresh storm of tears.

“The baby’s going to be a vampire,” she wailed. She threw herself back on the bed and refused to allow Spike to comfort her.

Spike gripped his head with his hands. Buffy’s crying shrieked in his sensitive ears. The sound was almost as painful as when the chip fired off. He thought he might have to dust himself if she didn’t stop. Spike gave up on pacifying her and resumed pacing around the room.

After a half hour, Buffy got tired of crying. When Spike saw she was taking a break from sobbing, he brought her a glass of water and sat down next to her on the bed.

“Feel better, ducks?” he asked. He was afraid to say anything that might bring on another bout of tears and recriminations.

“I suppose,” she said. She wiped her nose on her sleeve. “You can leave. I’m all right.”

Leave? What was this new Slayer nonsense? Leaving hadn’t crossed his mind. He’d gotten quite comfortable hanging around the Slayer and having sex with her almost as often as he wanted. “I wasn’t planning on going anywhere. Don’t you want to finish up the project so you can get your grade?”

Don’t you want to be with me and have more sex? That was what he wanted to ask.

As if I care about my grade now, Buffy thought. How could she worry about a stupid old grade when she was going to be an unwed mother with a vampire child? She imagined herself feeding a baby bottle of blood to a tiny baby boy with bright, blue eyes, fangs and bleached blonde hair. The baby was dressed in a black leather sleeper and wearing tiny Doc Marten’s boots. Did Doc Marten’s come that small?

She snuffled her nose and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. There was no way Big Bad would want to be tied down with a Slayer girlfriend and baby. She wouldn’t want him to stay if he was only hanging around out of some misguided sense of duty to their unborn child. She would be noble.

“You don’t have to stay. I know you were only spending time with me to get out of Giles’ bathtub. It’s okay. You’re free to go.”

Was she saying she didn’t want to have sex with him all those times? He didn’t believe she hadn’t wanted to have sex with him for a minute, but he wanted to hear her say so.

“Luv, it wasn’t the chip, you know. We both wanted to make love. We would have got around to it eventually. I wanted to be with you. Didn’t you want to be with me?”

Buffy did not care to admit she’d ever had the slightest interest in Spike. It wasn’t true. Spike proved she was interested in him by taking the batteries out of the black control box, but she thought the whole situation would be less painful for them both if she cut things off. She would let Spike go while he still liked her. They could be friends.

It wasn’t as if she loved him, was it?

Or, she thought, Spike could get back in bed with her right this minute and prove he meant that stuff he said.

Spike looked at Buffy and wondered if he could touch her without getting staked.

When he didn’t move, she decided he hadn’t meant anything he said, any more than he meant to ask her to marry him when they were under Willow’s spell. She hadn’t meant to agree to marry him, either. Had she? There was only one thing to do.

“Please go, Spike,” she said. “It’s over.”

Spike wanted to argue with her, but he didn’t know what to say. He’d planned to shag the Slayer senseless for the next six weeks, and now he wasn’t going to get to. They’d had a good time and he was sorry their time together was ending so soon.

It wasn’t as if he loved her, was it?

He pecked her on the cheek to say goodbye and put on his leather coat. As he was leaving, he spotted the black box. He nicked the box while she wasn’t looking, thinking it might come in handy, and left.

Spike walked through the cemetery. He was in no hurry and he was a bit pissed. He had no one to bite and no Slayer to shag. He was too drunk to join her on patrol, even if she’d asked him, which she hadn’t. He liked going on patrol with her. Having a spot of violence with the Slayer felt good. She knew how to fight. Spike admired a woman who could fight. He missed shagging her, too.

He’d talked to her a couple of times since they’d found out about the zapper box. He’d approached her in the Bronze in front of her blighter friends. She’d acted pleasant, like they were friends or something. She’s had the nerve to ask him how he’d been and other such rot. He would have preferred a punch in the nose.

As Spike arrived at the door of his new crypt, he heard the sound of a single footstep scraping the gravel on the path behind him, and paused to listen. He didn’t hear anything else, so he went inside.

***

Riley followed Spike for a week. He wanted to catch Spike napping one day so he could dust him, but first he’d needed to find out where Spike was hiding. Tonight, he’d caught up with Spike at the Bronze a few minutes before closing time, and slipped out after him. By the time he tracked Spike to his lair, Riley didn’t want to wait for morning to kill this vampire scum who had the nerve to mess with Buffy. Riley wanted to dust Spike while he was awake and helpless to fight back and could see his miserable death coming.

He kicked the door open with his boot, his stake clutched in his fist.

***

Buffy sat on top of a tombstone, kicking her heels and waiting for a new vamp to pop out of its grave. Waiting for fledgling vamps to pop bored her, but sitting here in the dark was better than hanging around her dorm room, worrying and waiting for the first possible moment she could take the pregnancy test.

She had plenty of time to think about Spike, which she did quite a bit these days. She missed him, even his silly talking while they patrolled. He was much better at patrolling than her friends. She didn’t have to watch out for him or protect him. He protected her and that was nice. She wished he’d fall in with her on patrol some night.

He’d been cool about the baby, too. He said all the right comforting lies and listened to her cry. Most human men wouldn’t do that.

Spike sex was, actually, Spike sex was great. Or, Spike sex would have been great if it had been her idea. She couldn’t shake the creepy feeling of having some electronic device making her jump Spike’s bones.

She wondered if Spike wanted to have sex with her at all. He’d wanted to before she zapped him, or so he said. He was always touching her and making filthy suggestions to her when the others couldn’t hear. He was a pervert and a pig, but all those things he talked about sure felt good when he did them to her.

Waiting stopped being boring when Buffy saw Spike go into a nearby crypt, then Riley crash in after him, stake in hand. She jumped off the headstone and ran.

***

When Riley busted in, Spike was standing in the middle of the crypt fooling with a black box. He didn’t appear at all concerned that Riley was wearing his war face and waving a stake around. When Spike was satisfied the controls on the box were to his liking, he placed the box carefully on top of the television.

“Soldier Boy,” Spike said. “Come to kill me, have you?”

“That’s right, Spike. You’ve messed with Buffy for the last time.” Riley circled Spike warily. He wasn’t taking any chances just because Spike had a chip in his head. Who knew if the damn chip worked?

Spike patted his coat for his cigarettes. Bloody hell, he’d left his cigarettes at the bar.

“It’s up to the Slayer if she wants me messing with her, don’t you think?” Spike said.

It was time to get serious about dealing with Soldier Boy. Spike planned on giving him a thorough trouncing if the box worked, like he thought it would. He took off his coat and tossed it on a stuffed chair he’d rescued from the town dump.

“She never wanted you. It was the box,” Riley said. “She wouldn’t have touched you, if the box hadn’t made her.”

Spike had thought a lot about Buffy’s interest in him over the past week and whether she had some feelings for him, or her interest only existed because of the workings of the control box. He’d never been able to make up his mind. He wasn’t about to admit to Finn that Buffy hadn’t been a willing partner, though.

“Come on, then. Show me what you’ve got, Captain Cardboard.”

Riley lunged at Spike. Spike jumped aside to avoid Riley’s tackle, and gave him a kick that sent him flying head first into the crypt wall.

Spike clapped his hands to his head in anticipation of a painful shock from the chip, but felt nothing. The positive zap from the black box neutralized the bad zap from the chip in his brain. The box prevented the chip from shocking him, like it had when he’d bitten the Slayer.

He grinned and was poised to tear into Soldier Boy and give him the thrashing of his life, when the Slayer flew into the room. Spike clapped his hands back on his head and groaned with feigned pain. The Slayer saw him kick the poxy bastard in his arse, and she would be expecting Spike to be writhing in misery. Spike didn’t want her to know the box could defeat his chip.

Buffy leaped on Riley, who was shaking off the stars he was seeing after cracking his skull on the crypt wall. She gave him a sharp left hook to the jaw, and pummeled his chest until he collapsed on the floor.

Once Riley was no longer a threat, she came over to where Spike was standing. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” She held his chin, examining his face for bruises.

“He never got in a lick,” Spike said. He felt keenly disappointed he didn’t get to personally whip Soldier Boy, but he didn’t want Buffy to know about the power of the box to neutralize his chip. If she found out, she might decide to do something drastic, like dust him. He didn’t feel much like being dusted by the Slayer right then.

They stood awkwardly, looking at each other, each trying to figure out what to say and failing. Buffy remembered she’d missed Spike on patrol.

“I haven’t seen you on patrol. Guess you’ve been busy.” Buffy shuffled her feet back and forth, scuffing the toes of her boots on the rough concrete floor of the crypt.

“Yeah, I’ve been fixing up the new place,” Spike said, waving his hand around the room. What was she saying? Did she want him to come with her on patrol? Was she inviting him to spend time with her?

“It’s nice,” she said looking around, “for a crypt, that is.” She looked around some more so she wouldn’t have to look into Spike’s impossibly blue eyes. Did he get that chair out of the town dump?

“Thanks,” he said. He shoved his hands in his pockets. He didn’t want to be tempted to touch her or pull her into his arms and kiss her until she fainted.

Riley moaned as he regained consciousness. Buffy strongly considered giving him another clip on the jaw for interrupting her conversation with Spike, but decided to call it a night. “I’d better finish up here.”

Buffy walked over to Riley, who was rolling on the floor. She turned back to Spike and said, “A couple of new vamps are supposed to pop out tomorrow night, if you want to join me? If you aren’t busy, I mean?”

“Er, yeah, tomorrow. Tomorrow is good. I might be able to make it,” Spike said, pretending to be casual. He was thinking about what he wanted to ask her. She probably wouldn’t want to talk about it. She’d probably get mad.

“About the other?”

Buffy blushed. It was nice not thinking about her problem for a couple of minutes. He had the right to ask, though. “No news, yet.”

Spike nodded. He wondered if she’d tell him when she found out.

Buffy wished he’d say something, anything, but Spike had nothing to say. She might as well leave. Standing around not talking was too embarrassing for both of them. She grabbed Riley by the back of his shirt and jerked him off the floor.

“You know your way out, don’t you, Lieutenant Finn?” To make sure he found his way, she shoved him out the door.

To Spike’s disappointment, she left without looking back.

Buffy put the final touches on her log for Professor Walsh’s project. She’d kept the log faithfully, since the day she’d found out the truth about the program. The full six weeks weren’t up, but she’d found out this morning she wasn’t about to be a single mother of a vampire child after all, and decided to end the game.

That afternoon, when her psychology class was over, Buffy went straight to Professor Walsh’s office.

“I hope this is a good time, Professor. I thought I’d let you know how the project is coming.” Buffy placed a printed stack of her Spike log on Walsh’s desk.

“I’ve been checking your logs, Buffy. You’re doing a fine job. Perhaps you’d like to write a paper for me on the project when you get done?”

Walsh knew the logs were fakes. The box hadn’t been used in several weeks, although the activation buttons had been pushed. She could tell Buffy had been cheating because there had been no corresponding signal from the vampire’s behavior modification chip.

“I don’t think so, in fact, I think I’m through helping you out.”

“I don’t understand, Buffy. You know you’ll have to complete the entire six weeks in order to receive credit for this project.” Walsh kept up the pretense and gave Buffy a serious look.

“I’ve completed the part you care about. I’m not pregnant and I know what the box does to Spike’s chip.”

Walsh feigned looking perturbed. It wasn’t easy.

“I’m sure you’ll want to give me an A for this work, won’t you?” Buffy said.

“Certainly. Thank you for all your assistance, Ms. Summers.”

Buffy walked out of Walsh’s office, relieved to have the project over, in more ways than one.

Buffy sat in the gang’s favorite booth at the Bronze and sipped her drink. Willow and Xander were dancing and laughing, while she sat alone and moped. She’d only seen Spike one time since the night she permanently convinced Riley he wanted to leave Spike to his own devices. Spike joined her on patrol the following night, but they’d both been uncomfortable and awkward and not knowing what to say. Her possible condition hung over them like a twenty-pound Orb of Thessalus.

Spike walked in and went right up to the bar. He stood in front of the mirror, as usual. Buffy thought he enjoyed the looks on people’s faces when they saw he didn’t have a reflection. She wondered if not having a reflection bothered him.

Buffy waited impatiently for Spike to come over and talk to her. He came over to see her the last time they were both in here together. She thought she’d been pleasant and civilized. She’d wanted him to drag her out in the alley and show her how much he’d missed her. He hadn’t.

He’d walked into the Bronze without even looking her way. Being ignored by Spike was miff making, so Buffy marched over to where he was standing. She forgot he could watch her in the mirror although she couldn’t see him, and jumped when he talked without turning to look at her.

“Were you going to tell me?” he said. He didn’t want to look at her, because he’d get caught up with how beautiful she was, and how much he wanted to have sex with her and then, he’d forget he was mad at her.

Buffy tugged on the sleeve of his leather coat. She took a step closer and let her hand slide down his coat sleeve. She touched his hand; it was nice and cool tonight.

He couldn’t help looking at her after she touched his hand. He forgot about being mad.

“I thought you’d be able to smell me, or something gross,” she said.

Spike put his hands on her arms. He’d caught her scent as soon as he walked in tonight and he’d known. “I wanted you to tell me, luv.”

“Okay, you’re off the hook,” she said and smiled.

Spike looked into her big, green eyes and considered he was on the hook more than ever.

“Dance?”

Buffy nodded and followed him out to the dance floor. The band was playing a slow, romantic song, perfect for holding onto your favorite vampire. She ignored the evil looks she was receiving from Xander and concentrated on how good Lips of Spike were going to feel later.

She slipped her hands under his coat and felt a hard plastic box in one of the pockets. She pulled it out.

“I wondered where this thing got to. We don’t need it any more, do we?” She snapped the box in two and tucked the pieces back in Spike’s pocket. She didn’t explain that Willow figured out the box could neutralize Spike’s chip.

Spike sighed. The box had distinct possibilities. He’d have to see if he could pinch a new one from Professor Walsh’s office.

“Look in my other pocket,” he said.

Buffy fished in his other inside coat pocket, which was stuffed with cloth. She pulled the wad of cloth out far enough to reveal a flash of red and black lace she’d last seen at the sexy underwear store in the mall. She hastily crammed the underwear back in his pocket and grinned.

Buffy leaned her head on his shoulder and contemplated a long, slow, low-tech night with Spike.

***

Walsh opened two windows on her computer screen. She confirmed the cameras in the Bronze, Hostile 17’s crypt and Buffy’s dorm room were working and the miniaturized electronic chip activators hidden in each place were operating.

She believed the program would be completely successful within the next few months.

The End

**********************************
Name: ProphecyGirl
Email: charrison99@optonline.net
Season: Season 5
Challenge: 146

Stay with me here: Behavior modification can be accomplished through positive reinforcement as well as negative reinforcement. IN OTHER WORDS: What if Spike's chip was programmed to give PLEASURE (under the right circumstances) as well as pain.

Must haves:

1. The pleasure be triggered by Buffy alone (Dr. Walsh has a vampire/slayer mating program in mind that does or does not come off before she is killed, or any plot device you can come up with.
2. The discovery that the feelings and the pleasure are still there with the chip gone or deactivated.
3. Much, much smut.