a/n To everyone who has been faithful to review, I want to say, "You guys floor me!" You are all so great, and I can not thank you enough. **HUGE HUGS**

To my betas, Gail and Megan - I would be lost without you. Thanks again, Ladies.

hugs, sfg

Who am I?
 
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Chapter 18 – It’s truly the end of the world

Buffy stood in the doorway of Giles’ small bathroom holding the rifle loosely in one hand, watching the image of herself gape at the decent sized dart that stuck out of her shoulder, and soaking up the blissful silence that had descended.

I guess it pays to have a best friend with a werewolf for an ex, huh?

She was a little surprised that she hadn’t been zapped by the infamous chip but nowhere near as surprised as Spike.

“H-how?” he whispered, pushing the words out through the powerful sedative that could take down an angry werewolf but only seemed to slow down a Slayer.  “The ch-chip...”  His head thunked back against the tub but his eyes remained steadily on her, silently repeating the question.

She shrugged.  “Don’t know.”  She tilted her head and chirped, “Hey, are you sure the chip actually works?”

His eyes narrowed and, without bothering to lift his head, he let out a pretty good imitation of a growl.  Well, as good as he could get coming from her body.

“Okay, okay.  Chill,” she said, leaning against the sink and casually shifting the rifle to cradle it in her arms.  “I know it works.  Didn’t I mention the fizzing that was going on when I got stuffed in here?  Jeesh.”  She looked at the glaring vampire-stuffed-in-a-Slayer-Suit.  “Look, I tried to be nice—”

Spike snorted and while she took her turn at glaring, he laboriously pushed out, “You’re...not...nice ,” placing a whopping load of derision on the last word.

“Pffft,” Buffy said, placing a hand on her non-existent heart beat and fluttered her lashes.  “Oo, that really hurts, Spike.  Especially coming from you .”  Her tone was mocking but deep down she was stung.

I am so, nice.

Oblivious to her internal flinch, Spike rolled his eyes.  “Yeah… well… vampire… here… luv.  Not…supposed…to be…nice.”

“Valid point,” she conceded, leaning the rifle against the wall.  When she was certain it wouldn’t tip over she turned back, studying him. 

Ever since Faith popped up like a demented version of post-kiss Sleeping Beauty and separated Buffy from her own skin, Buffy had been bounced from one bad situation to the next.  Being preoccupied with pain and worry for her mom, and then Riley – nope, not going there – she’d hardly stopped to catalogue the packaging that Faith had slapped on her body.

It really was more than a little ookie, looking at herself from the outside.  Crimped blonde hair – jeesh, what was I thinking? Crimping is so of the past - way too much make-up – thank you, Faith – an outfit straight out of ‘Ho’s Are Us’ – again, thank you, Faith – and, ugh, how come she never noticed that bump on her nose?!

She pouted for a minute, lost in thought, before mentally shrugging off the imperfection.  When she resurfaced she realized that, even though he was bonelessly sprawled in the tub, his eyes watched her intently.

He didn’t say anything, which seemed wrong somehow, until she realized that the tranquilizer dart was still in his shoulder pumping in the sedative that appeared to make it hard to talk.

“No more yelling, k?”  He made a tiny motion that she took as agreement and she leaned forward, swiftly pulling the dart out to the accompaniment of his hiss of pain.

She winced in sympathy.  “Sorry.  It hurts less when you do it fast.”

He blinked, a surprised look on his face.

“What?” she asked defensively.  “It’s not like I meant to hurt you.  I just wanted you to stop yelling.”  She eyed him. 

Without the dart pumping the tranquillizer into his system, he seemed to recover himself pretty quickly. 

He stared at her for a full minute, mouth hanging open, making her snap, “What?!”

“You said sorry.”  He still spoke deliberately but there seemed to be less of a struggle to get the words out.  His voice, though, was tinged with surprise...or...almost...was that awe?

Distinctly uncomfortable, she narrowed her eyes.  “So?”

He lifted his brows and gave a tiny smirk.  “The Slayer, apologize?  To me ?”  He snorted. “It’s truly the end of the world.”

Buffy couldn’t help it, she laughed.  And just like that they were back at that moment when she was razzing Giles about the ‘stevedore’ comment, not a hint of hostility. 

Gah! They had a moment!  Bad.  Bad, Buffy!

Okay, so it was a tiny moment, but still.

As she pondered that tiny moment and the badness that was Buffy-flirting-with-Spike-for-the-second-time-this-night, strange things were happening to the body Buffy was in.  All of a sudden there was a tingle deep in her gut, in the area a little bit lower then where her womb would have been had she still been in her own body.  But before she could focus on it or figure out what it meant, Spike leaned forward and captured her undivided attention.

Though still moving more deliberately than natural, he had lifted his upper body so he could rub the shoulder where the dart had been.

A tiny bit of blood had beaded from the puncture and Buffy watched, transfixed, as he rubbed it into the fleshy muscle of her shoulder.  A second later, the smell hit her like a sledge hammer and she doubled over.

The strange gnawing in her gut was gone.  Now, fire burned in its place.  Agony speared through her and she fought to remain in control, trembling against the need to taste what should have sickened her.

The pain was a compulsion washing over her from that other essence she had felt when she’d first been hurled into this form, a compulsion that was wordless, yet still made itself understood.

Mine!

tbc