Author’s Note: The song that is playing in the Bronze during the Faith song is Alive by Joey Lauren Adams and can be listened to here: http://viewaskew.com/chasingamy/Alive.mp3 - Go ahead listen to it while you are reading the scene. I dare you! Much beta love to the wonderful and incomparable Spikeslovebite and Betafish. Last note: I was informed by a brit that Giles would call all deserts pudding.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The night before graduation

The music pulsated throughout the club as patron after patron danced the night away. The music was loud and the dance floor packed; it seemed that the entire senior class had turned out for one last party. Everyone knew something big was coming, and they seemed to understand the unstated; that everyone would not survive the fight.

Buffy had argued for hours with her watcher and with Spike. They had foreknowledge of the mayor, knew his weaknesses and how to kill him. She didn’t want a repeat of the senior year. They had won, but with heavy casualties to the senior class. She wanted everyone safe and sound. Yet, if the senior class stayed at home; there was no one to stave off the vampires who would surely attack before they could get the Mayor under control.

They needed the seniors to act as a distraction for and as a fighting team against the vampires. It was the only way they would be able to survive long enough to enrage the mayor and make him follow her into the school. She wasn’t even sure it would work this time, without the issue of Faith. Would she be able to pull this off? Could she live with herself if she used the senior class as cannon-fodder? She remembered the funerals; could she really go through that again?

Unable to deal with thoughts of the impending battle, Buffy jumped up and went to join the other Scoobies on the dance floor. This time would be different. They had two slayers, a souled vamp, and the knowledge of a battle they had already won. They could take the mayor quickly and return to the front lines to deal with the vampires. They didn’t have a choice.

She just hoped she live with the decision they had made.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Faith nodded to Buffy as the blonde joined her on the dance floor. They moved together, both slayers lost in the pounding sensation of the music.

Faith loved the way that the music pulsated through the crowd, vibrations strumming though the air. She could feel the beat deep inside her; throbbing, needing, pushing as she gave to the music and where it would take her.

She knew why everyone was at the Bronze. They were all there for the same reason. The music was loud and the beat solid. You could lose yourself for a moment, forget about the battle tomorrow. Ignore the death and destruction or life and love. You could let go and pretend that tomorrow would never be.

On the dance floor there were no worries, no apocalyptic battles. There was only movement, passion, lust and desire. There was just the dance, the lustful eyes, and the rising libidos that would inevitably be drawn to you.

She could feel those eyes now, all around her, drawn to her body, to her passion, and she reveled in it. Tonight there would be no recriminations, no doubts about relationships ended. Tonight would be about living, about feeling, about getting some, then getting gone.

She needed a release from her tension and she knew that there was someone who would be able to help her with the problem. After all; who knew what tomorrow would bring? According to B she wasn’t even in the last fight. Something about being in the hospital.

Over the head of her diminutive dance partner she met a set of startling blue eyes. She was fascinated by how bright they were, and the rest of him was pretty easy on the eyes. He was standing apart from a few other guys who looked boring, but blue eyes looked intriguing.

As the heavy beat seemed to fade away, a more melodic ballad came on. It was one that she knew quite well and was perfect for seduction. Breaking away from her dance partner, she switched her dancing style to a more relaxed, but seductive sway.

“I'm feeling nothing”

Faith took a step closer towards blue eyes.

”But all alone”

Keeping her eyes focused on his, she raised her hands over her head and swayed her hips in an enticing dance.

”Just missing someone; I don't even know”

Another twist closer.

“But until I find them; I'll wait patiently”

Running her hands down her breasts.

”Just feeling nothing; Inside of me”

The music was taking her over, their eyes fusing, and she began to mouth the next words:

And where are you baby; Where can you be
Why aren't you here; Loving me
'Cause I want to kiss you; And make you feel right
I want to lay with you; all through the night”

Faith’s seductive dance towards the mysterious stranger was driving them both crazy. She felt wanton and wild. So very wet, but barely restrained by the pace of the music.

“And I want to feel passion; I want to feel pain
I want to weep at the sound of your name”

Suddenly she was in front of him, her eyes never leaving his.

“Come make me laugh; Come make me cry
Just make me feel; Alive”

The world narrowed to just the two of them.

”And so I wait; For that glorious day
When the one I dream of; Comes my way
But until I find them; I'll wait patiently
Just feeling nothing; Inside of me”

Faith brushed against him, lightly. The feel of their skin contacting was electric, racing up her arms and engulfing her in a trembling desire of need. She took a step closer, every move she made brushing against him,

”And where are you baby; Where can you be
Why aren't you here, Loving me
'Cause I want to kiss you, and make you feel right
I want to lay with you, All through the night”

Her gaze locked with his, she could feel him reach out to her

”And I want to feel passion...”

He pulled her against him and their lips met.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Buffy smiled as she felt Spike come up behind her. She pressed back and sighed deeply when his arms surrounded her. Here, safe in his arms was one of the few times she truly felt content. Every change to the time line, every decision they made worried her. Who knew what the ramifications to the world would be? She was trying to make things better, but was she?

Case in point; Anya and Faith had what seemed to be a loving relationship, and then it blew up. Faith had all but moved out and into Andrew’s house. She couldn’t even imagine someone choosing to live with the twerp but apparently he idolized Faith and she enjoyed bossing him around. Strange that his parents never noticed either one of them there….

What if the changes in Anya and Faith’s relationship caused one of them to be distracted later? What if the person Faith was kissing was a mass murderer? What if Buffy was responsible for someone else getting hurt and she changed the time line into an impossible mess?

True, both Faith and Anya seemed to be recovering from the whole break-up, but Buffy was well acquainted with hiding pain behind false exteriors.

Buffy stared in shock as Faith stepped away from the man she had been kissing. It had been years since she had seen him but she recognized him. She hadn’t known him very well, but she was uncomfortable with the idea that he was in Sunnydale and he was here earlier then she would have expected.

Sighing, Buffy tried to relax into Spike’s arms and recapture a sense of peace. Being at the Bronze was futile. She couldn’t be surrounded by all those who might die; by people she remembered as dead, and be expected to smile and laugh. If she survived tomorrow’s fight and the ramifications it would bring, she would ask Faith about him. She just hoped that Spike hadn’t seen him.

Turning she stood up on her tiptoes to whisper to Spike, “Please take me home.”

Spike nodded, his hand came up to caress her face as he looked into her eyes. “Come on luv.”

The world, and its tough decisions, would still be there in the morning.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Anya sighed as she finished the last of the nightly paperwork. She hated to work this late, but moments before she was scheduled to close, a gaggle of teenage girls had come into the shop. They had browsed for almost half an hour before purchasing some books and some pre-made compounds in a bag.

She enjoyed them spending their money, of course, and had been quite willing to keep the store open, but now it was quite a bit later than she would have liked. She was nervous about the Ascension. Last time around she had safely run away. Now she would be in the middle of the fight. She sighed again; at least a snake wouldn’t have a sword to run her through with.

Getting out of high school, yet again, would certainly be a relief. You would think after 1100 plus years of living, the concept of high school would have been easier for her. Especially since she managed to have to do it again, ‘oh well,’ she thought, ‘at least this time I’m not flunking math.’

Anya’s eyes lit up as Giles walked into the store. “Shouldn’t you be resting? We have a high school to blow up in the morning.”

Giles smiled at her, “Why yes we do, but I thought I could do with a cup of tea and a bite of pudding before retiring for the night. I saw the light was still on; is everything all right?”

When Anya nodded affirmatively, Giles paused in thought, and then continued, “Would you care to join me at the diner? I can’t promise a decent drink, but the pie is quite delightful.”

Debating for a few seconds, Anya’s need for a friend waged war with her desire to just stay in and sleep. At least if she slept she would be free from troubling thoughts. The need for friendship finally won and she nodded, “Okay, but you’re buying. I’m still a poor high school student.”

Lost in their thoughts, they walked to the nearby diner. The conversation was stilted at first; but then they started discussing old rock and roll bands that Giles admired. Soon they were laughing at Anya’s descriptions of what really went on behind the music scenes and how much of history had been shaped by vengeance wishes. Apparently groupies were an endless source of scorned women. It explained so much about the music scene.

“So, how did the wish you granted break up the Beatles?”

“One word, Yoko”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Buffy curled up and cuddled into Spike on the couch, ignoring the soft sounds of the television in the background.

Spike was content to hold her, to stoke her hair and just be there for her. He knew she was conflicted about the upcoming battle. If only would have realized that they needed to kill the Mayor before it had gotten to this point. By the time everyone had finished arguing over the fate of the man, the mayor’s hundred days of immortality had already begun.

Spike knew Buffy; he knew she would blame herself for any of the deaths that would come. She knew people were going to die, and she put them on the front lines anyway. She seemed strong. But this had the potential to tear her apart.

So he held her, he stroked her hair, and silently feared what tomorrow would bring.