Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy, not me. 

Thanks once more to my reviewers who inspire me to nearly miss my train stop while writing!


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Chapter 14
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The rational part of Buffy’s mind was keeping up a litany of objections while they kissed. This is wrong. Very wrong. You’re kissing yourself, which is totally perverted, and you’re also kissing a vampire. A vampire with no soul, who has killed two Slayers. Hello? However, she found that portion of her brain rapidly becoming starved for blood as it all headed south. The sheer intensity of the need astonished her. She wondered how men lived with this thing with a mind of its own and the ability to override all the sensible brain circuits in a heartbeat. The only functioning neurons were directing her hands to tangle in her own blond hair and scour her own mouth hungrily with her tongue. Her rational mind screamed Wrong! once more before waving the white flag in surrender.
 
Spike realized that he was standing on tiptoe to better reach his own lips. Never thought I was that bloody tall, he thought distractedly. He was half waiting for Buffy to come to her senses, push him away and send him downstairs. But the longer they kissed the more unlikely that scenario seemed, and when he worked his hands under the black t-shirt to press warm human hands against her back she moaned softly with undisguised lust. The sound sent an electric shock down to his sex and he ground himself closer, looking for friction to ease his need. He broke away and tugged the t-shirt up and off before reaching for his own shirt. He stripped in a blur then reached for Buffy’s jeans. “Let me,” he breathed. “Let me make you feel good.”
 
“Yes,” Buffy gasped in reply. She lay back on the bed to make it easier for Spike to pull off the rest of her clothes, shivering in anticipation as her cock sprang free. Spike crawled up next to her and kissed her, working his way down her body. There was a definite advantage to knowing your partner’s body as well as he did, and he made sure to tease each and every one of his erogenous zones on the way. Buffy’s erection was rock solid and leaking by the time he made his way down to engulf her in his mouth. “Oh God,” she moaned, desperately trying to keep her voice down.
 
Spike grinned around the cock filling his mouth, then went to work in earnest. In the decades spent under Angelus’ thumb he had learned how to give good head when required, usually when Darla and Drusilla had gone off and Angelus was lacking for someone else to dominate. This was different though. To have control of the situation, instead of being forced and shamed, was a new experience, although having to breathe did change his technique somewhat. Having his nostrils filled with his own leather-and-cigarettes scent was weirdly comforting. The sight and sounds of his bed partner writhing and gasping in exquisite pleasure was immensely satisfying. He moved faster, swirling his tongue and sucking in his cheeks until Buffy exploded with a groan. He swallowed, licked his lips, and moved up next to her, grinning at her complete state of erotic overload.
 
“God… that… oh my God,” she panted. Her eyes were closed and her body quivered with the aftershocks. “What… how did… oh my God.”
 
“You don’t say,” Spike said with a chuckle.
 
Buffy finally opened her eyes and looked at him. “That was incredible,” she finally got out.
 
“Every man’s dream – being flexible enough to pleasure himself,” Spike leered.
 
“Pig,” she said, out of habit. Spike’s hand coasted downward again and took her in hand, stroking again. “What… what are you…?” She found herself getting hard again and glanced down with a surprised look on her face.
 
“Vampire refractory period, love,” he murmured, nibbling on her neck lightly. “Time you experienced it. Besides, not nice to leave your partner hanging here.”
 
Buffy frowned slightly. “I don’t think I can do… what you just did,” she said nervously.
 
Spike rolled on top of her and kissed her deeply. “I understand love,” he said. Then he knelt up and took her inside, sinking down onto her until they were completely interlocked. “Shit that’s good,” he said, closing his eyes and letting his head drop back. “So deep.”
 
Buffy’s hands found their way to his hips, although she still found it too weird with her eyes open. She felt this warm flesh moving over her and sighed contentedly. Spike reached down to stroke his borrowed clit as he rode her, and when Buffy realized what he was doing she couldn’t help but half open her eyes to watch. Spike noticed her watching, and it spurred him into a frenzy. Christ Jesus that is so hot. Buffy raised her hips to slam into him from below, once, twice, three times, followed by both of them falling into a blinding shared orgasm. Spike dived down to claim her mouth, both of them desperately trying not to scream in their ecstasy. Spike collapsed onto her chest, breathing raggedly and shuddering. Buffy wound her arms around the human form on top of her, reveling in the warmth and softness against her skin.
 
“You alright, love?” Spike asked after a few minutes, coming up onto his elbows and brushing the hair out of his eyes.
 
“Better than alright,” she replied. They rolled so they were side by side, facing each other. “How can what we’re doing feel so good?” she wondered. “This is just so messed up.”
 
“We’re built to live, you and I,” Spike said softly, running his hand down her cheek. “Whether we’re fighting or shagging, we do it full out. ‘S our natures. We may have come at it from different sides, but we’re a lot alike.”
 
The phrase We’re built to live resonated in Buffy’s mind. “I didn’t want to live. After heaven. But I think… I think now I do,” she said with dawning realization. “I want to live, and it’s because of you.”
 
“You’d have come out the other side eventually, Slayer. With or without me,” Spike insisted.
 
“You made it easier though,” she interrupted, planting a soft kiss on his lips. “Thank you for that.”
 
“Just… don’t forget me, when we switch back,” Spike whispered in a shaky voice. “That’s the only thanks I want. Don’t know if I could handle it if this all went away.”
 
“I won’t forget,” Buffy reassured him. They nestled into each other’s sides and held each other, content and satisfied.
 
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Willow woke up around eight the next morning and found the house unusually quiet, as it always seemed when Dawn wasn’t home. She made her way down the hall to the bathroom, noticing Buffy’s closed door. She must be in vampire nocturnal mode or something. Willow hadn’t heard them come home last night. She took a quick shower and dressed, tiptoeing down the stairs to avoid waking Spike, whom she assumed would be sleeping on the couch. When she poked her head in and saw that the couch was empty her eyebrows shot skyward. Okay. Did Spike stay out all night? Or are they both...? Willow looked back up the stairs, wondering if they could possibly be sharing a bed. That’s just… no. They couldn’t be. She made coffee and fixed herself some breakfast, waiting to hear any stirring in the house. Maybe Spike got up early? Went for a run? She could not allow herself to ponder the implications of the two of them sleeping together, with or without the body swap problem. She was getting up to pour another cup of coffee when she heard a knock on the back door. Seeing Xander’s shaggy head through the window, she went to let him in.
 
“I decided to abide by the new house rules and actually knock for once,” he said. He looked around. “Buffy and Spike not up yet?”
 
“Um, I guess not,” Willow said uneasily. Xander looked confused as Willow nodded toward the living room. Xander went over and stuck his head through the door, then turned back with a confused expression. “Didn’t they come home last night?” he asked.
 
“Well, Buffy’s bedroom door is closed, so I assume someone came home last night,” Willow ventured.
 
“You don’t mean… they couldn’t be…that’s just wrong,” Xander stammered, horrified at the thought.
 
“I don’t know what went on last night,” Willow admitted. “Maybe we should just go to the Magic Box and wait for them to catch up.”
 
“Second that,” Xander said. “This is just one big ball of awkward wrongness rolling our way like something out of Indiana Jones. Time to run away.”
 
Willow jotted down a note, grabbed her bag, and followed Xander out the door to his car. “What do we do here?” Xander asked as they drove. “Does Dear Abby ever answer questions like, ‘My best friend is getting overly cuddly with someone who should be her enemy, oh and by the way they’re in each other’s bodies?’ Where’s the manual for this?”
 
“No idea,” Willow said. “Maybe when they’re back where they belong we can separate them somehow so that we can get Buffy to see reason.” Tara’s warnings about staying out of Buffy’s life echoed in the back of her brain. But this is different. They’re sleeping together. They’re sleeping together while they’re in each other’s bodies! We can’t just do nothing!
 
Xander replied, “It has to be Spike. Somehow he’s controlling her or corrupting her or something. Buffy wouldn’t…” He couldn’t reconcile the image of the Slayer, the one who nobly sacrificed herself more than once to save them all, with someone who would willingly engage in such a perversion.
 
“I think I figured out a way to get their auras back where they belong,” Willow said after a moment. “They’re going to have to cooperate though. And I don’t know if Tara is strong enough for this one.”
 
“I think this is enough of an emergency to allow you to use magic here,” Xander said. And the second they’re back where they belong I am taking care of this vampire problem once and for all, he added silently to himself.
 
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Buffy woke up and stretched, then sat up suddenly when she realized that it was nine o’clock, and a still naked Spike in her body was still sleeping next to her. Shit. Wonder if Willow’s up already. She had meant to wake Spike and send him downstairs to avoid having to deal with a Scoobie freak out, but they had both slept like logs all night. Buffy got up and slid into the black jeans she retrieved off the floor. She quietly left the room, closing the door behind her. “Willow?” she called, but there was no answer. Willow’s room was empty, so Buffy made her way downstairs. On the kitchen counter was a note:
 
Xander and I went to the Magic Box. May have a way to fix the problem. Meet us there when you can. – Willow
 
Shit, shit, shit, she thought. Willow had woken up before her, for once, and had probably put two and two together. And to add to the joy, Xander probably knew as well and was probably having an apoplectic fit. “Goddamnit!” she growled, kicking the wall in frustration.
 
“Everything alright?” Spike said as he joined her in the kitchen, wrapped in her fuzzy bathrobe.
 
She handed him the note. “I’m sure Willow and Xander are in full-on intervention mode by now,” she sighed.
 
“Well, we could just blow them off,” Spike suggested. “Or have a spot of violence and blow them up?”
 
Buffy rolled her eyes. “Hilarious. We should probably go over there together,” she said. “If you can help me get there without spontaneously combusting that is.”
 
Spike thought for a moment. “If we take your mom’s car then you won’t have to wander the sewers. Should be able to cover you up with a big blanket in the back seat. If I pull around back, it’s a short dash to the back door, usually pretty shady there as well.”
 
“Sounds like a plan. Breakfast first?”
 
“Most definitely. Never deal with angry mobs on an empty stomach,” Spike said.
 
“I can make you an omelet, if you like,” Buffy offered.
 
“I wouldn’t say no to that,” Spike said, salivating slightly.
 
Buffy got out the ingredients and whipped up a cheese omelet while Spike poured coffee for them and blood for her. They were soon sitting down to share their meal, and Buffy remarked, “It’s so quiet without Dawn and the others around.”
 
“Enjoy it while it lasts, say I,” Spike answered around a mouthful of food. “This is bloody delicious. How did you have time to learn how to cook in between hunting all us demon folk?”
 
Buffy shrugged. “I have a pretty limited repertoire, but my mom taught me some stuff.” They finished their breakfast and went upstairs to get dressed. As she watched Spike dealing with her hair she said, “I hope that I can get them to calm down, even after we get switched back. Getting tired of managing their freak outs in addition to my own.”
 
“You’ll do just fine, pet,” he assured her. “Just let me know what I can do to help.”
 
“Just restrain me before I strangle anyone,” she replied.
 
“Done,” Spike said, putting down the hairbrush. “And now, shall we have a lesson in dashing through the sun?”
 
“Lead on, MacDuff.” Spike chose the thickest blanket from Buffy’s bed and instructed her to make sure her hands were covered too. He opened the car door and she dashed in, huddling in the back seat on the floor. Spike tucked the quilt in carefully around her, closed the door, and got into the driver’s seat.
 
“Comfortable?” he asked with a grin.
 
“No,” came the muffled reply. “Glad I don’t actually need to breathe in here.”
 
“Won’t take long,” Spike said.
 
“Well don’t get pulled over,” Buffy admonished. “I don’t need the cops asking what’s under the suspicious looking blanket in the back.”
 
“Right,” Spike agreed. He drove conservatively through the streets to arrive in back of the Magic Box. After he parked he got out and opened the back door of the shop so that Buffy could have a straight dash inside. She moved with terrific speed, bursting into the main room and startling Xander, Willow, and Anya.
 
“You sure know how to make an entrance,” Anya remarked, a trifle wide-eyed.
 
“Don’t want to risk getting all barbecued,” Buffy said as she threw off the blanket and took off Spike’s duster. “This sunlight allergy is pretty nerve wracking.”
 
“You did fine,” Spike reassured her as he came in behind her.
 
“Where were you this morning?” Willow asked, unable to restrain her curiosity.
 
“Sleeping,” Buffy said shortly. “And right now, that’s not what I am here to discuss. We found something last night.” Buffy and Spike moved to the table and Buffy pulled the drawing they had found out of her pocket. “We found this in their lair, although they seem to be in the process of moving elsewhere,” Buffy explained as she spread the plans out.
 
“An Amnesia Ray?” Xander asked in disbelief. “What is up with these guys?”
 
“They had a list of planned heists – the electronics store, convenience stores, gas stations. Anywhere where they can hit people with this ray and blot out all memory of their having been there,” said Buffy.
 
“This ‘devil’s eye’ that they mention, I’ve heard of those,” Willow said. “They’re a gem that has a demonic power to it. Originates in some demon dimension. Usually you have to summon some demon and bargain with him for it.”
 
“Would that be enough to cause this effect?” Spike wondered.
 
“No,” Willow admitted. “But it could be used to focus a forgetting spell at a distance. These guys seem to know their magic and their demonology pretty well.”
 
“Well it looks like we’re going to have to find them to get this reversed,” Buffy said, shaking her head. “I just hope we can use the same gun to break the spell or whatever.”
 
Willow hesitated, then said, “I think I might be able to reverse things without the device.”
 
Spike and Buffy looked at her. “How’s that?” Spike asked warily.
 
“There’s this super-duper healing spell, meant to restore your aura if it is somehow damaged, by magic or curses or whatever,” Willow explained. “If we perform it on you when you are near each other, it could put everything back where it goes.”
 
“I’m not sure I like the word ‘could’ here,” Buffy said with a frown. “What will happen if it doesn’t work?”
 
“If it doesn’t work it just… doesn’t work. It’s like if I put ointment on a cut and it didn’t heal it.”
 
Spike and Buffy looked at each other. “Is it worth the risk?” Buffy asked him.
 
“Of course it is!” Xander answered, bewildered by their hesitation. “You can’t be stuck in each other’s bodies forever! And who knows when we’ll find these other guys. They could have taken their money and skipped town already!”
 
“Relax, Xander,” Anya said. “They’re just nervous because Willow’s spells tend to have bad side effects.”
 
“Anya!” Xander cried, but Willow interrupted him. Turning to Buffy and Spike she said, “Look, I know you don’t have a good reason to trust me. But I swear it’s just a healing spell. White magic, but powerful. I don’t think Tara has the ability, or I’d ask her. But all it does is heal broken auras. Nothing else.”
 
Spike and Buffy looked at each other for a long minute. “Alright,” Buffy said finally. “Let’s see if it works.”
 
Spike had his reservations. “Can I just see this spell for a moment? Really don’t fancy ending up worse off than I started.” Willow rifled through the stacks of books and notes on the table and passed Spike a large tome, together with some translation notes. Spike read through them carefully. “You sure about this translation, Red? These demon tongues can be tricky.”
 
“I cross checked it with this other book,” she responded, handing him another volume. Spike studied that for a while, with Xander pacing around impatiently.
 
“Am I holding you up, Harris?” Spike asked, annoyed. “Don’t really need to be here if you don’t want to be.”
 
“No, I think I need to be here,” Xander growled back. Not leaving you here to warp our friend even further.
 
“Chill, Xander,” Buffy said in exasperation. To Spike she said, “Well? What do you think?”
 
Spike sat back. “It should be okay. If it doesn’t work, it shouldn’t harm us.”
 
“Didn’t Willow just say that?” Xander snapped.
 
“Get bent, Harris,” Spike snarled. “The spell is being done on us, not you, and we don’t need any fuckups right now.”
 
“So what do we do?” Buffy asked Willow.
 
“We can set things up in the training room,” she said. Willow led them into the back, with Anya following. Xander lingered behind, rummaging behind the counter and slipping something into the pocket of his sweatshirt.
 
In the training room, Willow had Spike and Buffy stand facing each other in the center of the room. She lit incense at the four points of the compass, and made a ring of candles. Spike found himself growing a bit apprehensive as the preparations continued, and Buffy too seemed fidgety and nervous. “You okay, love?” Spike asked.
 
“Just nervous,” she said. “And I think your body wants nicotine. I keep forgetting that.”
 
“If this works I’ll go out and smoke a whole carton, save you the trouble,” Spike said, eliciting a small smile from Buffy.
 
“Okay, I think we’re ready,” Willow said at last. “You two need to link hands.” They reached out to each other and held hands, and Xander was alarmed at the way Spike tenderly ran his thumbs over Buffy’s fingers, reassuring her. This has gone far enough, he thought. He buried his hands in his pocket and fiddled nervously with the object there. Willow began chanting, holding her hands out toward them as if in blessing. “Restored to form, as was before, healing come to soul and mind…”
 
A faint glow surrounded Spike and Buffy, starting at their feet and moving slowly up to encompass their whole bodies. They closed their eyes, finding the sensation soothing and pleasant. The others watched with wide eyes as the glow grew brighter, filling the room with a rainbow of colors. “So mote it be!” cried Willow, and the colors brightened blindingly for a moment, then faded. Buffy slowly opened her eyes to find that she was still staring into her own face. The spell hadn’t worked.
 
Spike began saying, “That was an interesting experience.” as he opened his eyes. “I guess we’ll… NO!” he screamed as Xander lunged toward Buffy’s back, the stake he had hidden in his pocket aiming straight for her heart.

TBC