~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Faith, I don’t think you’ve yet met Spike. Spike, this is my girl, Faith,”
Mayor Wilkins jubilantly introduced them. Faith eyed Spike suspiciously, but
smiled broadly when she heard the Mayor call her ‘his girl’, looking like the
perfect little daddy’s girl.

“I’ve heard of you,” Spike said, plopping down in the chair that the Mayor
indicated was for him. “Grapevine and all. Like day and night, the two of
you.”

“The two of who?” Faith asked with a disinterested voice.

“You and the Slayer,” Spike said, pulling a cigarette out and lighting it.
Casually, the Mayor walked over and snipped the cigarette in half with a pair
of scissors, letting the lit half fall in a pristine ashtray. “Smoking, a foul
habit,” he mumbled, ignoring the pissed off glare that Spike shot at him.

“Maybe you didn’t hear the Mayor,” Faith said, leaning forward in her chair.
“I am the Slayer.”

Spike leaned back, a smile spreading across his face to reach his eyes. “No,
you’re *a* Slayer, not *the* Slayer.”

Faith was out of her chair in a split second, but just as fast, the Mayor put
himself between her and Spike. “Now, now, Faith. Mustn’t lose your temper or I
might not let you play in tonight’s little game,” he chastised.

“What game?” Faith asked squaring off her shoulders.

“You’ll be good?” the Mayor prodded. Faith looked passed the Mayor, at Spike,
who was busy picking black fingernail polish off of his nails. If the games
included him, she was pretty damn sure she wanted to play. Then she could make
him forget all about Buffy. She would make them all forget about Buffy.

“I’ll be good,” she said, adding a sugar-sweet smile.

“There’s a missing ingredient for a spell that I need. I want you and Spike to
go out and get me that ingredient and since I don’t need it until tomorrow,
you can play with it how you see fit. Sound good?” the Mayor asked, plucking a
mint out of the dish and then offering it to both Spike and Faith. Spike
reached forward and snatched a few up, but Faith ignored the mints and asked,
“What’s the ingredient?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You distract the whelp and I’ll snatch up your little toy. Be quick about
it,” Spike growled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hello there, lover,” Faith said, stepping out of the shadows, right in
Xander’s path. Xander visibly cringed at the sight of the girl, backing away
and bumping into Oz.

“I don’t suppose holy water works on your kind of evil, huh?” Xander sputtered
out.

“Kind of ironic that I refused my mom’s offer of her pepper spray just this
afternoon,” Oz said, as Xander bumped into him again.

“What’s the matter, Xan? Not happy to see your old flame. But I thought we had
something. I’m hurt,” Faith said, idling closer and closer to the two teens.

“What do you want, Faith?” Xander asked, trying not to shrink away as she
neared him.

“To kiss and make up,” she said, grabbing Xander and pulling him in to smash
her lips against his. Xander gagged when she shoved her tongue into his mouth,
trying to pry her hands off of the sides of his face. Seeing that Xander
wasn’t enjoying the intimate moment, Oz moved forward to help him, but
something grabbed him from behind. A hand covered his mouth and he fought as
he was dragged away into the bushes.

Faith pushed Xander away, sending him to the ground, where he landed with a
‘ooomph’. “Gee, Xan, maybe you were right. The thrill is gone,” she said with
a smile and slinked back into the shadows.

“Okay, that wasn’t at the top of my things-to-do list,” Xander said, standing
and brushing himself off. “I wonder what-” Xander stopped when he realized
that he was talking to himself. Oz was gone. “Damnit!” he cursed and ran in
the direction of the Bronze, where he and Oz had been heading to meet up with
Buffy and Willow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘Damnit!’ Buffy thought to herself as she made her way through the dark
parking lot of Sunnydale High School. ‘What the Hell does Faith want with Oz?’
she asked herself. ‘Didn’t work with Angel, so maybe she’s going to try to
fuck Oz soulless now.’ Her heels clicked in a fast, steady rhythm as she made
her way down the hall to the library. She hoped Giles might have a suggestion
about what to do because her fear was making it hard for her to think. If
anything happened to Oz, she would never forgive herself.

Buffy pushed open the doors to the library, but stopped dead in her tracks
when she didn’t see Giles, or even Wesley, there. No, instead she was greeted
with the sight of Spike straddling a chair in front of Willow’s computer while
he smoked a cigarette. Spike didn’t move for a moment, reveling a bit in her
shock. Then he turned with a corny grin, “Miss me?”

The shock wore off with those words and the anger set in. Not this too. She
had to find Oz and she didn’t have the time to deal with Spike. “Go away,
Spike! I don’t have the time for your games,” she said, making her way over to
the book counter.

“The witch really is a bright bulb. These codes are hell to break,” he said,
ignoring her dismissal.

Buffy just picked up the phone to dial Giles’ phone number. “Why bother
getting your Watcher all riled up when I can tell you exactly where the dog
is?” Spike asked, still staring at the screen.

Buffy slammed the phone down and ran towards Spike, but he was up with
lightning speed. He put the chair he had been sitting on between him and
Buffy, holding it out in front of him as a shield. “What do you know?” she
asked, pulling a stake out of one of her many hiding places.

“Quite a bit, but I’m not telling you jack until you sit down and start acting
like a civilized human being,” he said. “Only one demon in this room and it
ain’t you, sista.”

Buffy lowered the stake, “Talk before I regain my senses and stake you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oz squirmed against the chains. Spike had left almost an hour ago to grab a
quick bite. After wriggling on top of him for almost that whole time, Faith
had pretty much given up and decided to go take a shower. Oz could smell
Herbal Essences mixed with the heady aroma of Faith’s secretions. It made his
stomach turn.

Well, at least one good thing had come out of this; actually it wasn’t really
good, but he had to see the bright side somewhere. He had finally gotten to
meet the infamous Spike. From the way everyone described him, Oz had thought
he would be bigger. Not that he really needed to be, the guy had a super-
dooper G.I. Joe kung-fu grip. That and he had the face of a killer. Cold, blue
eyes that were almost enough to flap Oz.

Faith came out of the bathroom, pulling Oz out of his thoughts. She was
completely naked except for a towel that was wrapped around her hair. It was
such a shame. She really was a very beautiful girl. Lucky for him, her
personality was reason enough not to get excited by her advances. He figured
if he were weaker like Xander or Devon, he could be in a pretty fucked up
situation. He could just hear his doctor now. “I’m sorry, Mr. Osmond, but it’s
seems that you’ve come down with a rather nasty case of herpes.”

“Come on, Ozzie,” Faith said, sauntering closer to him and crouching down to
his eye level. Her position gave him a perfect view of everything, but he kept
his eyes firmly locked on hers. “You can admit it to me. You’re gay right?
There’s no shame in it. It would make sense why you’re dating the little,
virgin bitch.” It took every bit of strength he had, not to spit in her face.
“I’ve seen the case before. You’re worried what your band friends would think
if you came out. So, you go out with the school virgin, who just so happens to
be in love with someone else. It’s safe for you both. She doesn’t have to
worry about you getting too intense and you don’t have to worry about
pretending to get intense. You’re not attracted to her.”

She got up then, sauntering over to a table to pick up a pack of cigarettes
that Spike had left on the table. She took one out and lit it, blowing smoke
rings. “Ya know, I quit these things the day I found out I was the Slayer, but
I don’t see any reason not to start up again.”

Oz hadn’t been paying much attention to her after she moved away. He was still
busy thinking about what she had said about Willow. Everything she had said
was wrong, except one thing. He *really* wasn’t attracted to Willow. It didn’t
use to be that way. He had been extremely attracted to her when they first
met, shit, when he first saw her. That changed the day he had seen her kissing
Xander. Yeah, he had taken her back, but that was because he truly did love
her and hated to see her in pain, even if she was the cause of it. And it was
true that he wasn’t attracted to that many girls, he wasn’t gay, or he didn’t
think so. He was just very picky. There were only two girls in school that he
could truly say he was attracted to. Unfortunately, his girlfriend wasn’t one
of them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Be careful not to blow my cover, Slayer,” Spike said when he got to the
doorway.

“I won’t blow your cover, but if he’s hurt, I won’t hesitate to stake you,”
Buffy said in an icy tone.

“Ooo, looks like the Mayor’s hit a soft spot with you, Slayer. I haven’t seen
that fire in your eyes since I caught Angel for Dru’s restoration. You got a
sweet tooth for the wolfboy?” Spike asked seriously.

“That’s ridiculous,” Buffy said.

“Is it now?”

“Of course it is. Oz is Willow’s boyfriend, dumbass,” Buffy reminded him
indignantly. Or maybe she was reminding herself.

“Doesn’t keep her from lovin’ the slow-witted whelp,” Spike countered.

“You know jack!” Buffy yelled, getting ready to pull her stake out again.

Spike held his hands up defensively. “Calm down there, pet. Not trying to play
Love Connection here. Just making an observation. Don’t forget, 2:22 exactly.”
And with that, he disappeared through the doors, leaving them swinging in his
wake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~