Betaed by Maria and Flight Of Fancy.


The first hour after Giles entered Joyce’s home was somewhat embarrassing. Giles used the time to apologize to Buffy, Joyce, Merrick, and Kendra for his bad behaviour. After that, they all relaxed with a cup of tea, though it took some time for Giles’ rosy cheeks to fade.

It was after the first pot of tea, that Giles got a phone call from Oz. The Watcher had asked him to check on the others at the library, if he could. Giles thought it was important to know when they intended to cast the spell on Buffy.

Oz asked Giles why he didn’t simply go to the library and stop the Scoobies from casting the spell.

Giles had explained that for now he knew what they were trying to do, and from where they would probably do their spell. From what Buffy had told him, he was convinced that if they were stopped, they would find another place to do the spell, maybe even on another plane. They wouldn’t give up that quickly. As Buffy had said, they were rather controlling.

The news Oz had called to share was a bit disturbing. When he’d arrived at the school, it was already too late to interfere. He’d watched as Willow cast the spell, with the help of Xander and Angel. Oz told Giles that the group had left the school after the spell casting, heading for the Bronze. They were going to celebrate and buy Willow a pick-me-up after she refused to go home and rest. He’d also observed that Willow was so drained that she couldn’t walk on her own, and that Angel and Xander had to support her, each one holding one of her arms to keep her upright.

After Giles told Buffy, Kendra, Joyce and Merrick what Oz had related to him, they sat in silence for some time.

Buffy couldn’t stop her mind from going to times she would rather forget. They all looked up when she hurriedly left the room, a hand covering her mouth and tears in her eyes.

Joyce followed her, and knocked on the bathroom door. "Buffy, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I’ll be out in a minute."

She could hear Buffy's sniffling behind the door. Joyce sighed and returned to the living room. When the men looked up at her expectantly, she shrugged her shoulders.

It took some time before Buffy returned from the bathroom. Her eyes were still slightly puffy and red as she sat down beside her mother, who instantly hugged her.

Giles sat on the edge of his chair, fiddling with his glasses. "What do you want to do now?"

Buffy pulled completely away from Joyce. "I’m going to stick with what we have planned. Kendra and I are going to go dancing and have some fun." Buffy sent Giles a tiny smile.

"Is that wise?"

“Why shouldn’t we go? What more could happen if we do? Their spell hasn’t affected me. I remember everything that happened after I walked out of the library to meet the Master. The attack, the other timeline, even furnishing the warehouse. I’m all memory-girl.” Buffy raised an eyebrow.

“Quite right. I’m wondering, would it still be alright if I were to accompany you?” Giles was energetically polishing his glasses.

"Sure, you can come with, but you'd better stop polishing those." Buffy nodded towards his glasses, with a smile. "Before you break them."

He blushed and smiled, embarrassed that he had been caught cleaning his glasses again.

"I’ll like to come too. I want to see their faces when they discover that the spell didn’t work," Joyce said with vindictiveness. "I wish they could feel what it's like to have someone else take control of their life."

"Don’t say the W-word." Buffy jumped up.

"What?"

"Don’t ever say I wish. You might get your wish, but it hardly ever ends well." Buffy looked at her mother. "Promise me."

"Sure, but I don’t understand."

"Let’s go. Giles can explain on the way. Are you coming, Merrick?" Buffy asked, as she opened the front door.

"Sure thing, Buffy, I’m going wherever you're going."

Buffy smiled in relief. She could always count on Merrick’s support whenever she needed him. She needed someone that was wholeheartedly on her side, at least until she wasn’t alone anymore. If Spike had been there, Buffy knew it would have been him that she would have been counting on.

As a close group, they walked briskly to the Bronze. Buffy and Joyce had an arm around each other. Joyce had tugged Kendra’s arm into hers, as Buffy grabbed Merrick’s arm. Kendra smiled shyly at Giles, when she took hold of his elbow.

It was a good thing there wasn’t much traffic on the streets of Sunnydale at night, or they would have stopped it by walking up the middle of the road. As it was, more than one or two pedestrians stopped to stare at the cheerful group on their way to the Bronze.

Buffy looked from one end of the line they formed, to the other. She was reminded of the time that Sweet visited the town. The only thing missing was a song, she thought with a grin.

Buffy smiled brightly to each and every person they met on their way to the club. She had a good feeling inside, a feeling that told her everything was going to work out just fine.

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

After some lucky rounds of kitten poker, Spike found himself feeling bored. He noticed Clem in the crowd, recognizing him as the demon that had been working on Buffy’s home, and traded his feline profits for some of the floppy-skinned demon’s hard earned cash.

Spike decided to head to the Bronze for two reasons. First, Buffy had told him that she was going there with Kendra tonight. Spike wanted to see if he could catch a glimpse of her. Even though he’d seen her a few hours ago, he longed to see her again. Spike didn’t understand how he could feel this much for a human girl. He hadn’t felt even half as much for Dru in their time together, and that was part of his problem and something he was having a hard time accepting.

Spike’s second reason for heading to the popular night spot was to test his demon’s reaction to the sea of humanity there. Would he want to tear into them? Gulp down the warm blood, spiced with fear and throw away what Buffy was offering him?

To his astonishment, his demon was calm, and ignored the happy meals on legs. Spike wondered what was going on. His demon had always been a bit odd, but it had never ignored fresh food before.

Spike forced his way through the crowd. It was packed tonight and he wasn’t able to find a seat. After he picked up a beer at the bar, he headed for the stairs, figuring that he would have a better chance of spotting Buffy from the balcony.

Spike scanned the dance floor, searching for his girl. Instead, the person he eventually spotted first was Merrick, sitting at a table with the other Watcher and Buffy’s mother.

Their frustration was clear to anyone who cared to look, as they tried to hold a conversation over the pounding beat of the dance music. Spike shook his head and chuckled. They were clearly not used to the club environment, and he wondered why they were there in the first place.

The vampire caught Merrick’s eye for a moment, before Merrick glanced off to the side and then back to Spike. When he turned to follow Merrick’s gaze, he found himself looking at the short hallway that led to the bathrooms. Unconsciously sighing with relief, Spike realized he had forgotten to factor in the frequent group trips to the bathroom that young ladies seemed to make when clubbing.

After a thank you nod to Merrick, he kept an eye on who left the loo.

It wasn’t long before Buffy appeared in the entryway, looking beautiful in one of her short skirts and a sparkly little top. She was dressed in Spike’s colours, and red and black looked good on her. Spike sighed wistfully as he looked at the little blonde, barely even noticing the Slayer following behind her.

Spike leaned over the balcony railing, trying to keep Buffy in his line of sight as she walked back to her table. Half-way back to her party, Buffy was stopped when a big, well-muscled guy caught her arm. At first, Buffy looked a bit startled when she turned around, but she smiled warmly at the young man. The guy was definitely the type that most girls would go for. He was tall and broad shouldered, but had an aura of wholesomeness about him that Spike just didn’t trust.

The enormous hall-monitor said something to her, and gestured to the dance floor. Buffy shook her head, then turned to move away from him. She clearly wanted to return to her table, but the boy wouldn’t let go of her arm.

Spike leaned further over the railing. The glass in his hand cracked, and his eyes narrowed.

Buffy looked down at the hand still holding her, following the arm up to the face of her ex in another life. This time the warmth was gone. "Let go of me!" It came out harshly.

"Maybe later?" he asked, still holding her.

"No," Buffy answered abruptly, and removed his hand using a bit of strength. She hurriedly moved away from him, rubbing her arm where he had gripped her tightly.

On the balcony, Spike suddenly realized why his demon was so calm when he walked into the crowd. The demon already saw Buffy as his, and loved her as much as his William side did.

Buffy soon forgot the episode with her stubborn ex, and chatted happily with Kendra and her mom.

"Buffy, there you are. We've been looking for you."

Everyone was looking behind Buffy, and nobody looked happy to see the newcomers. Buffy closed her eyes briefly, before slowly turning in her seat.

The time had come for her to face them. "What do you want?" she asked, as she looked them over.

Willow seemed weak, and was leaning heavily on Xander.

Xander sent a goofy smile in Buffy's direction. "We wanted to spend some time with you, have some fun together."

Willow nodded encouragingly at Buffy.

Angel was standing behind them with a smug look on his face. He was positive everything would soon be going his way. He would have to wait a little while to make his move, but not too long.

"What you want and what I want are two different things." She turned around and continued her conversation with Kendra and Joyce, ignoring the small group standing behind her.

With tears in her eyes, Willow turned to Xander. They whispered together for a few minutes before finally turning away and moving to the other side of the dance floor, Angel in tow.

Buffy didn’t have to turn to know that Angel was brooding and Xander was mad at Willow for the unsuccessful spell. She knew it was kind of mean to not tell them why the spell hadn’t worked, but Buffy wanted to watch them stew in their own juices.

Still, it wasn’t practical to let them think they could be successful if they threw another spell at her, so before Buffy and Kendra headed out to the dance floor, the ex-Slayer asked the two Watchers to go talk with the Scoobies. She wanted them to understand why the spell hadn’t worked, but even more importantly, she wanted them warned that if any of them tried to ambush someone with a spell ever again, the next time their powers would be stripped away.

Spike kept on watching Buffy from his spot on the balcony. He admired her in the crowd, unable to take his eyes off her graceful movements as she danced with her counterpart, the dark Slayer. He had to remind himself several times a day that Buffy wasn’t a Slayer herself anymore. She still moved like one though, graceful and strong.

He raised his head to keep an eye on the two watchers as they made their way across the room to talk with Buffy’s friends and Angel. They seemed to be arguing, but the loud music made it impossible for Spike to hear them. He soon lost interest, and moved to find Buffy again.

This time when his eyes found her on the dance floor, she and the Slayer were surrounded by a group of eager young men. The air in the Bronze was thick with the smell of arousal, both male and female, and the strongest scents were coming from the group around his girl.

The guys occasionally danced close to the girls. One in particular stood out when he danced just behind Buffy. Spike observed how Buffy moved out of his reach, but he kept on following her. It was the muscle bound boy that had stopped her earlier.

A growl escaped from deep inside Spike when he saw the Angel look-alike place a hand on Buffy’s hip. She sent the boy a head shake, and moved away.

Spike felt like doing some damage to the overgrown boy-scout, but realized that giving in to that side of his nature would ruin his chance at everything he now knew he wanted, for both demon and man.

With both hands on the railing, he leaned as far over as he could. Spike caught Buffy’s eyes, and they stared at each other for a while.

Smiling, Buffy gestured for him to join her on the dance floor.

Spike raised a brow, thinking of the backlash the little blonde would likely experience when her friends, Watchers, and mother caught her dancing with the Big Bad. “Are you sure?” he mouthed.

She smiled brightly at him, as she nodded.

The vampire looked at the group of Scoobies, where everyone was scowling at Buffy, and then turned to the table that held the Watchers and Buffy’s mother. Finally, he turned his gaze to Kendra, moving beside Buffy on the dance floor, before coming to rest once more on the little blonde that fascinated him so. He hoped she knew what she was doing.

Buffy noticed him looking around the room, but she had decided from the start that there would be no secrecy this time. She nodded again and made a come-hither motion.