a/n – Ah, finally, we have arrived at the chapter.  Thanks for being patient to get to this point and I hope it’s been a fun ride, even though it wasn’t a part of the original challenge. ;-)

Thanks to Megan, who graciously beta’d this chappie for me, and for her boundless enthusiasm for this little (getting huge) tale.  You’re a peach, hon. ;-)

Also, **ahem** Reviews Are Welcome **ahem**  LOL.

**hugs** sfg

Who am I?
 
~~~***~~~

Chapter 14 – The brunette Slayer, the chipped vampire and Buffy

It was ridiculously easy to escape Lowell House, even with a body slung across Spike’s shoulder.  Giles had everyone so worked up over the cancellation of their drunken college fun that no one even noticed them boldly walk down the steps and right out the front door.

Except Willow and Tara, who quietly informed Giles.  At once, he adopted a stern look, extracted a promise to “keep the noise and shenanigans to a minimum” and graciously ‘allowed’ the party to continue. 

When the others joined Buffy and Spike on the sidewalk outside the frat house, the crowd inside was still cheering and Giles had to raise his voice to be heard.

“Give her here, Spike.  I’ll take her now.”  Buffy raised an eyebrow at Giles’ harsh tone and cold stare.  He almost looked scary.  But, as much as she didn’t want Spike taking liberties with her bod, she really didn’t want Giles all up close and personal with it, either. 

It was...ookie.

“Giles, Spike can handle it.”  She ignored her Watcher’s pinched lip expression and turned to the smirking vampire.  “You’ve already been warned, blood breath.  Anything I don’t like happens to my body and you and the dust buster are going to be bestest friends, so quit smirking.”

She couldn’t be sure because of the noise spilling out of Lowell House, but she thought she heard him mutter something that sounded like “you’d like” and maybe “castrating bitch” but she must have just been hearing things because when she met his eyes, they were as innocent as a child’s.

“Wha?  Where we off to, then?”

Innocent as a child’s? Yeah, right.

Buffy narrowed her eyes, but decided not to make an issue of it.  “Wills, you still have the green, glowy hoo-zee-ma-what’s-it?”

“Uh, yeah, Buffy.  Right here.”  She patted her jacket pocket.

“Good.  We’re gonna need some privacy.  And chains.  Strong chains.  Dorm’s too public.  My mom’s all with the thinking I just tried to kill her, so my house’s out.  And, besides, I don’t have any chains.  So, uh, Giles, can we use your place?”

“Of course, Buffy. However, we should get off the streets quickly.”  Giles cast a glance at Spike, who stood casually – even with a body slung over his shoulder – one hand wrapped around a Buffy-thigh, but otherwise letting gravity hold her in place.  “We wouldn’t want any demons seeing the Slayer incapacitated.  Who knows what mischief they might get up to.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem, Rupes.  Sun’ll be up soon.  All good vamps and baddies will be callin’ it a night, if they haven’t already.  And speaking of—,” Spike turned to Buffy. “You want me to carry this package for you, pet, we best be gettin’ a move on or it’ll be the sewers for us.”
 
“Right.  To Giles’ then.”

~~~*~~~

The first rays of the sun were threatening when they pushed through the Watcher’s front door.  Spike dropped Buffy’s body into an undignified heap as soon as he was clear of the threshold.

“Hey!  Do you mind?  I’m looking forward to slipping into something a little less broken.  Which totally won’t happen with you bruising the merchandise!”

“Listen, pet, you might be an anorexic-looking stick figure, but even Twiggy would get heavy after a couple miles or so.”

“Oh!  I am so going to stake you, you—”

“Buffy.  Perhaps we should concentrate on the katra,” Giles cut in, stalling the quippy insult that was screaming to get out.

“The what-tra?”

“The katra.”  Buffy just looked at him.  Any day now, he’d explain.  It’s what he did.  Finally, he rolled his eyes and sighed.  “The 'green, glowy thing' that Willow and her friend conjured.”

“Oh.  Well, jeez, Giles, why didn’t you just say that?”  Turning back to Willow, she stuck out her hand.  “K, Wills, lay it on me.”

“Oh!  Right.”  Willow dug into her jacket pocket and pulled out the box, flipped the top and was about to dump the little green ball into Buffy’s palm when Buffy lost her nerve, whipping her hand back.

When Willow looked at her curiously, Buffy gave a sickly smile and tried to swallow the rampaging fear that accompanied the thought of Willow and magic and the magic of Willow .

“Uh, Giles?  Do you think maybe we should test this or something?”  Turning back to her stricken looking friend, she winced.  “It’s not that I don’t trust you or anything, Wills, it’s just that...”

“She doesn’t trust you,” Spike snarked.  When Willow turned wet eyes to Spike, Buffy almost smiled at the wavering of his expression.  “Oh, no.  Don’t you turn those doe eyes on me , Red.  ‘Cause of you I got engaged to my mortal enemy; snoggin’ and huggin’ and making wedding plans.  Do you have any idea how evil wedding planners are?”

Big, fat tears pooled in her friend’s eyes, and Buffy instantly felt contrite.  “Oh, god, Wills, I’m sorry.  It’s just– No, never mind.  Here, come on, give me the gizmo and I’ll do what I’m supposed to—Willow, please, don’t cry.  I can’t stand it when you—” Buffy panicked when the first tear slid down Willow's cheek and grabbed the box, tipping it over into her bare palm, closing her eyes tight and sucking in a breath as she waited for the magic to go wonky.  After a second with no change, she cracked her eye open a bit, looked around, and opened both eyes.  “See?  No problem.  Just a little cold feet.  All better now, okay?”

Willow sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand, still looking hurt and dejected.  Tara stepped forward and began tentatively running her hand down Willow’s back in a soothing petting motion that Willow leaned into.

“T-there’s s-something y-you sh-should...”   The timid girl stopped there, looking at her feet and hiding behind the fall of hair as she cast glances at Buffy.  Buffy just waited for her to go on.  When she didn’t, Buffy prompted her.

“Something I should what, Tara?  ‘s okay.  Take your time.”

Apparently, not many people took that approach with the shy girl because when she looked up at Buffy, she had tears in her eyes, too.

“Oh, god.  What’d I say?”

Tara dipped her head and frantically tried to force out words.  “N-no!  N-nothing!  I-it’s j-just th-that...” She paused and drew in a deep breath, keeping her head down, she muttered, “You’re nice.”

Buffy gaped.  How sweet!   But how sad, too, that a person telling her to take her time would move the girl to tears.  She gave the girl a smile, then gently prompted her again.

“Something I should...?”

“O-oh, right!”  She gave a nervous smile and was about to go on when, without warning, Faith in the Buffy suit swung out her leg and clipped Buffy behind the knees, dropping her to the floor and flipping herself to her feet.

The green, glowy ball rolled free of Buffy’s hand and came to rest at the booted foot of Spike.

Tara and Willow squealed.  Giles made a sudden and unexpected lunge at Faith, managing to bring her back down to the floor before she rolled and sent him flying into a nearby bookcase.

She was just regaining her feet when Spike yelled, “Buffy!”  The green ball sailed toward her, even as Spike tackled Faith again, grimacing in agony as he brought her heavily to the floor, yet never letting go.

Buffy snatched the ball out of the air, dived onto the pile of limbs that were Spike and Faith, clamped an iron grip onto Faith’s hand and, remembering how they wound up in this mess, slammed the ball between their palms, to a chorus of girlish, “NO!”s.

~~~*~~~

“NO!” Both Willow and Tara shouted, clinging to each other as the flash of magics rendered everyone in the room temporarily blind.

When they finally blinked away the spots, Willow took in the scene before them.

Giles was frozen on his hands and knees, a large bruise already forming on his forehead, his eyes glued to the sight before him.

The brunette Slayer, the chipped vampire and Buffy.

Buffy was smooshed on the bottom of the pile, Spike sprawled across her torso in an attempt to keep Faith still while the magic was accomplished.  Faith lay across Spike’s back and Buffy’s legs, hand still clasped with Buffy’s.

All three wore horrified looks. 

Faith was the first to shake off the shock.  She scrambled to her feet, wincing but otherwise ignoring her abused body.

With Slayer speed she took advantage of the hesitation and gained the door.  She didn’t slow down as she ran into the sunlight but she did toss a “’S been fun, B,” over her shoulder as she thundered off.

That left Spike and Buffy.

Willow swallowed hard. 

“Buffy?” she asked tentatively.  “Did...did it work?”

Spike stared down at Buffy.  And to Willow’s utter shock, she saw fat tears form in the vampire’s eyes right before he rolled off of her friend and began pounding a fist on the floor, muttering, “No, no, no, no, no,” as if no one else was in the room.

But it wasn’t until Buffy spoke that Willow began weeping too.

“Bloody buggerin’ hell, Red.  Of course it didn’t work!”

tbc