Author's Note: Er, yeah. I always have one. Even if I have nothing to say. Except keep reviewing. I always have that to say. ~_^

Previously: OK, we're in the middle of the episode 'Superstar' except Buffy had to turn to Spike for help 'cause no one else would listen to her. They went off to try to kill the monster that would have ended Jonathan's enhancement spell, except the monster threw Spike over a cliff and Buffy had to save him instead. In the aftermath they 'did a really stupid thing' and were well on their ways to discovering the Joy of Sex when Riley and Xander burst in, and Riley took aim and fired...

Spike didn't even have time to blink before a blinding arc of electrical energy shot out from Riley's taser. And then he looked down in surprise when he realized he wasn't unconscious.

The slight gasp and complete collapse of the woman beside him quickly answered any questions he might have, though.

Faster than the eye could see, he caught Buffy in his arms before her head could hit the floor. He shook her slightly, but she didn't stir.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Xander exclaimed, horrified as he watched Buffy fall.

"Taking out the greatest threat first," Riley retorted coldly, taking aim again.

"Are you crazy?!" Xander grabbed hold of the taser before Riley could shoot. "Buffy's an innocent in this!"

Riley snorted. "Innocent, right... She had that thing's hands all over her." He tried to pull the gun away from Xander's grasp.

Xander refused to budge, however. "We weren't supposed to hurt her," he insisted.

"Unless it was absolutely necessary," Riley countered, still fighting for control of his weapon.

The argument finally managed to pierce through the overwhelming rage in Spike's mind, and as he watched the two humans fight over the weapon, he saw his one chance of escape.

Xander and Riley were so completely caught up in their own little battle that they'd forgotten all about Spike. Finally having had enough, Riley shoved Xander back hard against the cliff face and used his taser to pin the other man's neck to the rock.

Xander let out a gasping breath, and Riley realized too late exactly what he was doing.

"S-Sorry," he said shakily, letting Xander go.

Xander rubbed his neck and breathed painfully, too caught up in the recent assault to notice the lightning-quick blur that whizzed behind Riley.

"What," wheeze, "is your problem?" Xander finally said weakly and irately.

Riley looked away, ashamed. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "It's just...seeing her...with that..." He turned back to where Buffy and Spike had been and saw for the first time that they were gone. "Shit!" he exclaimed, looking around frantically. "Where did they go?"

Xander shrugged and attempted to return his breathing to normal.

"W-We've go to find them!" Riley insisted. "Buffy's unconscious, and--oh god!" He ran out the cave entrance, searching frantically for the missing pair.

"And she's probably a lot safer than she would be around you," Xander muttered under his breath, before reluctantly joining Riley on the hunt...

Spike collapsed just outside of the south wall of Brookside Park. That was the problem with the whole vamp blinding burst of speed thing -- he could only keep it up for so long, and if he pushed it, he was in desperate need of liquid refreshment.

And carrying the Slayer's dead weight along with him had definitely pushed it.

He settled his precious cargo more comfortably into his lap and tried to come up with a plan.

He needed blood. Badly. And given his recent handicap, 'stopping for a bite to eat' had become an annoyingly difficult task.

Plus, he was being chased. He could hear the whelp and tin soldier searching for them even then. For a second, he was almost tempted to leave Buffy and let her friends take care of her, but that deadly gleam in Captain Cardboard's eye... Oh no, he knew that Buffy had been in his arms of her own free will, and if he caught her he was going to make her pay every bit as much as he would Spike.

Third, there was that damn monster. Everything except the lack of blood problem would be fixed if Spike could somehow find it, kill it all by himself, and restore the world to its natural order. All while starving, of course.

He had to bite back a bark of laughter at the sheer impossibility of this last plan. In fact, now that he really thought about it, he hadn't had any real options from the beginning...

Wearily, he stood up with barely the strength to clutch Buffy to his chest. The walk to his crypt seemed endless, and several times he had to bite back the urge to, well...bite. The shock of the chip in his head was something he couldn't handle at the moment, though, so Buffy had a double safety in her favor.

She was unceremoniously dropped to the floor just inside the crypt door while he scrambled over to the mini-fridge and gratefully discovered that Jonathan and his merry band of do-gooders had at least had the decency to leave his food supply alone during their little manhunt.

He emptied the first two bags in a single gulp each.

By that time, his brain was functioning properly again. He grabbed as many bags as he could and swore when he realized that he'd left his duster -- and all its handy pockets -- behind. However, a quick search revealed that that hideous leopard skin jacket that Buffy was wearing had several large interior pockets. He stuffed them as full as he could and lifted her up once again.

This place was probably the least safe location in all of Sunnydale. What they needed was somewhere nearby -- he didn't think he'd be up to carrying her all the way back to Harm's -- where no one would bother to look for them.

He discarded several ideas as he slipped through the shadows of Sunnydale Cemetery until the most ridiculous, outrageous idea presented itself to him.

He couldn't help but crack a smile at the sheer audacity of his plan and, silent as a cat, made his way toward their new safe haven under the cloak of darkness...

"Mmm...Spike..." Buffy rolled over on her side, curling up against the pillow that looked very much like a naked vampire in her dreams.

"You called, luv?" he said, watching her intently from his own comfortable position on the other mattress.

Buffy's sleep addled mind managed to register the fact that Spike's voice was coming from the opposite direction of the object she was snuggled up against, and she opened her eyes to discover the mistake she'd made in her sleep.

She rolled over slowly so that she could see him across the room. " 'Morning," she muttered sleepily.

" 'S just a bit past midnight, of course," he gave her a bemused smile.

"Yeah," she stretched, "see? Morning...technically speaking, that is."

Spike rolled his eyes. "Very funny, Billie."

"Buffy!"

"Barbie."

"Bastard." She stuck her tongue out at him, then blushed when the mischievous sparkle returned to his eyes and he licked his lips at her gesture. "What?" she demanded self-consciously.

"Lovely tongue you've got there, pet," he purred seductively. "Talented, too, 'f I recall correctly..."

Buffy 'eep'ed and pulled her blanket around herself more tightly. So that part hadn't been a dream... She sat up abruptly and noticed her surroundings for the first time. "How did we get here?" she asked, confused.

"Don' remember your lover boy zappin' you into unconsciousness then, 'ey Slayer?" he sulked slightly at the fact that she no longer seemed to be acknowledging his advances.

"Wh-What?" her voice shook slightly. "Riley...shot me?"

"Would 'ave gotten yours truly if Harris hadn't'a jumped in an' attempted to knock some sense into your toy soldier." He shook his head. "Who ever woulda thought the Whelp'd be useful?"

"Xander helped us?" Buffy took heart in this fact.

"Don' get your hopes up, kitten," Spike retorted. " 'E just didn't like seein' you get shot. Still barely got us out of there before they got wind of our escape."

"And you brought me here?!" Buffy gestured to the dorm room around them. "This will be the first place they'll look!"

"See, that's where you're wrong," Spike said satisfactorily, leaning back against Willow's pillows in a feline way. " 'S too obvious. They'll never think to look for us here."

"What about Willow?" Buffy demanded. "I think she's gonna notice when she comes back and finds a vampire in her bed."

Spike snorted and rolled his eyes. "In case you hadn't noticed, Goldilocks, your best bud's been livin' elsewhere all term. 'Sides," a wicked leer spread across his face, " 'f you think me bein' in her bed's such a problem, 'd be happy to accept an invitation into yours..."

Buffy's face turned bright red, and she found something very fascinating to play with on her coverlet.

Spike's eyes narrowed, and he began to compose a rather biting retort about her leading him on again when she nervously pulled up the corner of her blanket and gave him a shy smile.

"C'mon over," she practically whispered, desperately looking anywhere but into his eyes.

He, however, didn't tear his gaze from her face once while he walked over to her bed. He sat down on the edge lightly and was astonished when her hand caught hold of his and pulled him to her. Somewhat awkwardly, he lay down beside her, helping her when she tried to pull the covers over him as well.

For a minute they just lay there, face to face, bodies pressed together, not speaking.

"Gentlemen got your tongue?" she finally teased.

He spared her a wry smile. "Jus' don' know what you 'spect me to do 's all..."

"You could start by kissing me," she said softly, her hand wrapping around his waist and holding his body to hers more tightly.

It was all the opening he needed. His lips found hers to be just as sweet and soft as he had remembered, and his fingers trailed through her hair, pulling her closer, deeper into their kiss.

Buffy's eyelashes fluttered shut, and she opened her mouth against his probing tongue. He didn't slip inside her immediately, though, taking the time to nibble sensuously at each of her parted lips, tasting every inch of her mouth...

Finally, she couldn't stand it anymore and plunged her own tongue into his mouth. He let her explore for a while, biting back a moan when she discovered the sheaths for his fangs and began toying with them. Gods, did she have any idea how sensitive a vampire's fangs were? The smiling curve of her lips against his told him that she knew exactly what she was doing...

With a growl deep in his chest, he fended off her tongue's assault with his own. The two dueled and parried in an erotic dance that had both of them whimpering in each other's arms within minutes.

The arm Buffy had casually flung about his waist began to slowly explore him, her fingers quickly finding the hem of his black tee and slipping beneath to feel the cool, smooth muscles of his back.

His own hand traveled from her hair down the sensitive column of her throat to her shoulder. A quick, light caress up and down her arm, and then those nimble fingers glided down her side, touching her just lightly enough to tantalize her delicate nerve endings, sending goosebumps up and down her spine.

She wrapped one leg over his lean hip, her foot gently massaging the backs of his thighs and calves. He responded by capturing her other foot between his, gently caressing her sensitized arches. She gasped lightly when his cool, bare feet first caught her, but soon was enjoying his movements too much to care...not to mention the way his feet slowly warmed to her touch, as if she were the sun, melting the chill from his limbs...

Inevitably, she had to break their kiss to breathe, however. She gasped a few times for air, still savoring the way their bodies were naturally molding together. She got one good look at the passion buried deep within his sapphirine eyes before his mouth lowered to her throat, and she was too awash with emotion to do anything but feel once again.

He nipped and sucked his way from the line of her jaw to the soft hollow of her throat, eliciting little mewls and whimpers from her as he went. His mouth traveled up the other side, pausing only to hiss slightly at the mark his Grandsire had left on her before his flicked his own tongue right over it, attempting to wipe away the claim.

Buffy felt an odd tingle go through her body and brief flash of panic when he bite gently over Angel's mark, but then all memories of the lover who had given her his deadly kissed were erased as Spike's hand gently cupped her breast through the fabric of her blouse, kneading and arousing her.

"Spike!" she gasped when his blunt teeth sunk deeper into the healed wound on her throat.

He smiled against her at the thought that he had finally broken the Great Poof's claim, and he rose to look into her eyes once more.

"Wh-What was...that?" Buffy whispered raggedly, the butterflies in her stomach still fluttering about at a mile a minute and her heart beating a mile a minute.

"Vampire thing," he explained sheepishly. "Just makin' sure it was me you're really with right now..."

"Of course it's you," Buffy frowned slightly, brushing back one platinum curl that had escaped his hair gel. It stubbornly refused to be put back in its place. "I-I've been thinking about this -- you and me -- for a long time..."

"Me, too," he agreed softly.

"In fact," she cupped his cheek in her hand and looked right into those deep cerulean eyes of his -- clear and stormy at the same time...how was that possible? -- before continuing, "that night when I first saw you...when you threatened Jonathan outside the Bronze?"

"I remember, luv," he smiled slightly at the memory.

"I saw you, and you were so beautiful, and then I realized that you were a vampire and evil, a-and..." she trailed off and blushed.

" 'Ey now," he said softly, his knuckles tracing the curve of her face, " 's all right, princess."

She smiled at the unexpected kindness she'd so recently discovered was buried deep within him. "It was like you broke my heart," she finally confessed, "before I'd even gotten a chance to know you."

He shut his eyes and was silent for a few seconds, but spoke before she had a chance to worry about his reaction to her admission. "Saw you that night, too, luv." His voice was deep and husky now, sending thrilling vibrations right through her body and down to the void between her legs. He gently kissed the corner of her lips. "Saw you and wished...wanted..." He sighed and began again. "Just knew you were different is all," he finally said, "and not just because you were the Slayer." His voice softened, became more upper class, more sensitive, more vulnerable... "You were the kind of woman a man could spend eternity lost in. And never once grow bored. And I wanted so much to just..." He turned away, embarrassed.

"You wanted to make me a vampire?" she finished for him.

He nodded sheepishly. "Are you mad?" he inquired cautiously.

"No, I don't think so," she began hesitantly. "I mean, it is kinda scary, but it's also kinda..."

"What?"

"Sweet? Touching?" She shook her head. "Not sure, but...I'm not repulsed or anything."

"Good to know," he commented, resting his against her shoulder and lightly nuzzling her neck.

She wove her fingers through his hair and watched his face in amazement. It was as if yet another mask had slipped away, and now all she could see was a scared, lonely young man who wanted nothing more than to accepted, held, loved... And so she accepted him, and held him, and...

"Slayer?" he finally whispered.

"Mmm?" she responded, still battling with the latest emotions that were trying to worm their way into her heart.

"What am I to you?" he asked hesitantly, frightened but doing his best to hide the barrier around his innermost self that she was so close to breaking through.

The façade didn't fool her in the slightest, though. "Beautiful," she answered without pause.

He smiled a shy, delighted little smile. "You saved my life," he commented.

She frowned at the non sequitur.

"When I fell over the cliff," he clarified, "you saved my life."

She shrugged. "Fall probably wouldn't have killed you anyway. Besides, you saved me, too..."

"From your own boyfriend," he snorted derisively.

Buffy frowned. "He's not my boyfriend," she said slowly, the idea a revelation to her as well.

"Oh?" He didn't allow even the tiniest sliver of hope to shine through the word.

Buffy bit her lip. These new thoughts and feelings were still strange to her, so why should she share them with him yet? Because you want to tell him, you want him to be the one to understand you... She took a deep breath.

"Riley," she began with a sigh. "When Riley and I first met," she started over, "I had absolutely no interest in him -- not in that way. He was just kind of this nice, ordinary guy that was around."

Spike nodded for her to continue, surprisingly not showing even the slightest signs of jealousy.

"So, then he starts liking me, and after a while I begin to realize it. You may not have noticed, but I've been a bit unlucky with love..." The look in his eyes said he definitely had. "But everyone always tells you to jump right back on the horse and give it another go and so..." She threw her head back in exasperation. "I just kind of went along with it because I thought I was supposed to, y'know?"

He nodded and began petting the short hairs at the back of her neck.

"Mmm, feels good..." She closed her eyes for a second at the sensations before speaking again. "Willow liked him a lot, and everyone said he was good for me, and we would do those normal date-like things where we'd rant on and on about our interests and discover that we have absolutely nothing in common but keep pretending anyway."

"You felt pressured, trapped," he commented.

"Exactly," she agreed. "It was like: this is the best I'm ever going to get, so I better grab it up while I still can."

"Doesn't work without the fire," he smiled slightly and leaned in to kiss her temple, "without the passion..."

"I know that now," Buffy nodded, "but I'd never had a chance to really find that out before... But then he slept with Faith while she was in my body, and he didn't even realize it, and--"

"Hold on a second," Spike frowned. "Who slept with who in who's body?" he asked confusedly.

Buffy laughed. "You didn't hear about this?" she asked. He shook his head. "Ugh," Buffy threw her head back, "the ten thousand reasons I can't stand Faith..."

"That's that other Slayer, right?" he inquired. "The one that's gone rogue?"

"Oh, yeah," Buffy grimaced.

"An' she was in your body?"

"Had this little switchy device and everything."

"Well now," he said with a look of sudden realization on his face, "that all makes sense now then, doesn't it?"

"Huh?" It was Buffy's turn for confusion.

"You didn't by any chance corner me in Bronze, try to practically dry hump me, and then run off with some cute little cock-tease statement 'bout how bein' with me was wrong, now did you, pet?"

"What?!" she exclaimed in horror and indignation.

"Din't think so," he reassured her with a small smile. "Gotta tell you, though, I spent many an hour tryin' to puzzle out whether you were drunk or looped up on some spell or whatnot. Acted like a grand ol' bitch, she did."

"Faith came on to you?" Buffy said coldly. "In my body?!"

"Bitch," he repeated apologetically. "Found a new addition to the top ten people I hate list."

"Riley didn't hate her," Buffy said sourly. "He didn't even realize it wasn't me."

"An' the two of them, they..." he trailed off.

"And get this," Buffy said irately. "Here's Riley's great excuse: 'I felt that something was wrong.' Hello? You can't even tell who you're sleeping with?!"

Spike shrugged. " 'E's a useless wanker anyway," he informed her, "couldn't find his dick with both hands."

She giggled slightly at the image, that completely dumbfounded expression on Riley's face as he searched. "You knew, though," she said softly, leaning into him once more.

"Was bloody obvious," Spike declared. "Did think it was some kinda 'mega bitch' spell or somethin', though."

Buffy bit her lip while she debated asked the next question. "Would you have slept with her?" she finally ventured.

Spike sighed and pulled away. "If she'd been serious? Prob'ly," he admitted. "Although, vampire here. Will do anything to get laid."

"Except lie to me," she pointed out.

He looked at her in surprise.

"Come back here," she opened her arms to him.

He watched her nervously, hesitantly...

"I want you," she said softly, "and I'm pretty sure you want me..."

" 'Course I do, luv," he insisted.

"Then c'mon," she caught his hand and pulled him back into her arms.

He was tense for a minute but then began to relax at the way her hands were gently massaging his back. "Thought you'd be angry," he commented.

"Yeah," Buffy said softly, "me, too."

"What with me thinkin' 'bout shagging your worst enemy while she was in your body..."

"I did get that point already, you know," she smiled wryly.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Yup." She lowered her lips to his ear and began nibbling lightly at the lobe there. "So whattaya say?" she looked up at him demurely. "You want a shot at the real thing or not?"

The only response she got was a low growl, and then he was on top of her, his weight pressing her down into the mattress and his hands and mouth everywhere...

Will they actually do it? Is this just another oh-so evil false start? The only way to find out is to review tons so I'll write the next chapter that much faster... ~_^ Bwahaha! I'm E-VIL!!! Eeeeeee-villlllll... (And, apparently, completely out of my mind. ^_^)