Chapter 4- Nudity Isn’t Always Appreciated

When Buffy opened her eyes, she was surprised to see beautiful blue eyes looking back at her. She blinked a couple of times until she began to sit up with help from Spike, who had knelt down beside her.

“Maybe you should rest for a moment,” he said quietly, his hand on her back. “You look very pale.”

“I’m fine,” she mumbled, turning her head to watch Joyce and Giles talk on the stairs, smiling at each other. “So that wasn’t a nightmare.” She sighed and slowly stood up. “Why can’t I be blind?”

“Are they married?” Spike asked, studying them. “I would hope that they are because partaking in fornication is a sin.” Buffy stared at him for a long moment before shaking her head and turning towards her mother and Giles.

“I’m going to overlook you two… doing whatever the hell you were doing,” Buffy said, hoping William wasn’t listening to her. “I don’t even want to know what you were doing, actually.”

“I was showing Joyce here what it means to be fuc-” Giles began, but Buffy quickly ran to him and slapped her hand over his mouth. When he licked her palm, she shrieked and took a quick step back, not amused when he grinned lecherously at her.

“Can I have a normal conversation with you, please?” she asked sternly, and he crossed his arms, which made the sheet around him fall. Her eyes widened as she was suddenly faced with a very naked Giles and turned away, noticing that William was disturbed by the sight just as much as she was. “And will you both get dressed? There’s something very wrong going on and I need to talk to you about it!”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Joyce said, smiling. “Everything feels alright to me.”

“That’s because I screwed you silly, beautiful,” Giles said, nuzzling his face into her neck. Buffy groaned loudly in frustration and grabbed Spike’s hand, pulling him towards the door-less entryway of the apartment.

“You two can get back to your grope-fest, even though I’m not going to support it in any way,” Buffy said, averting her eyes from them. “I’ll go to someone who can actually help me.”

“And be sure to knock next time!” Giles shouted after her as Buffy and Spike walked out, both in stunned silence after seeing such a disturbing sight.

“I’m so sorry you had to witness that,” she said after a while, looking at her feet as they walked. “I’m sure you’re not used to that.”

“Do you see a lot of people naked?” he asked curiously, and her eyes widened as she looked at him, instantly shaking her head.

“No, not at all,” she answered. “No nudity for Buffy. I like people fully-clothed, especially when they’re my mother and a man who’s like a father to me.”

“But they are not married?” he asked, and she shook her head. “Do you approve of such sinful acts?”

“What? No,” she answered, stopping mid-step and looking down. “I don’t approve of it when it involves Giles and my mom.”

“How about when it involves other people?” he asked, tilting his head. She frowned and looked up at the sky, shaking her head.

‘Why me?’ she asked herself. ‘I can’t believe it, but I think I’m beginning to miss the real Spike.’ She sighed. ‘He wouldn’t ask questions like this, especially since he’s committed more sins than naïve William will ever realize.’ She looked at the man beside her, who was watching her with a worried expression. ‘If Spike remembers this later on, he’s going to kick himself.’ She grinned as she looked down. ‘Or stake himself.’

* * * * *

“Willow, you need to help us now,” Buffy practically growled as Willow opened her front door. Over the time it took for Buffy and Spike to walk to Willow’s house, he continued to question her about relationships and issues of morality, which only served to irritate her more. “Can we come in?”

“Spike will be allowed to come in then anytime after tonight, though, won’t he?” Willow asked, and Buffy looked at her, frowning.

“I don’t know,” she answered. “He walked into Giles’ apartment without an invite. I mean, I told him he could come in, but that shouldn’t have mattered since I don’t live there.”

“How did it go with Giles?” Willow asked as she opened the door wider, allowing both Buffy and Spike to walk in, no invite for Spike needed to everyone’s surprise.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Buffy answered quietly as she walked past her friend. “Have you looked into any spells that could have caused something like this to happen?”

“I’ve come up with some theories, but nothing’s really fit together yet,” Willow answered before looking at Spike. “How are you doing, William?”

“I am a little flustered by things, Miss Willow,” he said. “I trust you are doing well, yes?”

“Yes, I am,” she replied, smiling. “This is kind of neat, Buffy. Are you sure you don’t want him to stay like this permanently? Maybe we don’t need a spell after all.”

“Yes, we do,” Buffy said quickly. “If you saw my mom and Giles, you’d agree with me.” She paused and looked around. “Are your parents acting weird, too?”

“No idea- they haven’t been downstairs since I came home,” Willow answered. “I sent both Oz and Xander out to see if anyone else has been affected. Maybe it’s a spell that’s focused on the people around you.”

“But that doesn’t quite explain why you aren’t acting odd and why Spike’s suddenly a very different… creature,” Buffy said, running a hand through her hair as Spike watched her with a sad look on his face. “I don’t know what to do.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Willow replied, putting a hand on Buffy’s shoulder. “I promise.”

“Maybe we should return you to your home,” William suggested. “You look exhausted.”

“I’m not going to sleep until I know that everything’s back to normal,” Buffy replied. “But thank you for being so considerate.” They exchanged smiles before she looked at her friend again. “We need to think about things, Will. Why would people change like this? Why is it only certain people? What’s different about today than any other day?”

Suddenly, Ira Rosenberg sprinted down the stairs in only a Speedo and exited the house through the back door before doing a cannonball in the pool. Everyone stared at him through the window with wide eyes, growing even more shocked when Willow’s mother Sheila followed her husband outside, completely nude.

“Oh my god,” Willow said quietly, feeling sick to her stomach as she turned away, trying to blink away the mental images that were filling her head.

“Now you know how I felt before,” Buffy said, managing a weak smile. “You alright, William?” He looked at her with a blank face and nodded slowly before walking to a chair and sitting down. “What’s wrong?”

“I’ve never seen so much nudity in my life,” he replied. “You all must be very uncivilized people.” Before Buffy could snap at him, Willow grabbed her arm and shook her head.

“He doesn’t understand society or life today,” the redhead whispered. “Just go easy on him until we figure this out, okay?” Buffy mumbled something and sat down beside Spike. “Alright, let’s get back to our train of thought before my eyes were scarred for life.” She took a deep breath and looked around the room. “What’s different about today?” She saw a pile of crumpled-up chocolate bar wrappers and paused. Buffy followed her gaze and felt her jaw drop slightly.

“The chocolate!” they both said in unison.