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

Much to Oz’s relief, Faith had decided to put some clothes on. She had tried
again to stimulate him, had even gone to the lengths of using her mouth on
him, but his willpower was just too strong for her. Faith didn’t see it that
way. She just thought that it proved her point.

No, when she was done with that, she had decided to try something else to
entertain herself. It was an odd form of torture that she chose. Actually, a
lot of people would pay a good amount of money to get done what she had done
to him. Yeah, it had hurt, but she had been nice enough to use ice to numb
him.

“I always thought nipple rings were sexy,” Faith said, flicking the two hoops
that now hung from Oz’s chest. It stung when she did that, but Oz didn’t
complain. Actually, he had made no sound since he got there. He looked down at
the flesh mutilations that she had forced upon him. He was surprised, but he
actually liked them. Maybe he’d actually keep them when this was over.
Actually, he’d only keep one. Having two was kind of....well, he didn’t want
to say queer, but that’s what it was.

Oz decided that Faith really sucked at the whole torture thing. First she
tried to get him off, which he fully didn’t understand. Then she pierced his
nipples, which was painful sure, but the pain ebbed away about five minutes
after she had done it. She had done really well too.

Faith traced her finger around both nipples and then started trailing it down
the middle of his chest. “What to pierce next?” she wondered aloud. It moved
through the red curls and then down his shaft. “Hmmm, never done one of these
before.”

Oz blanched as she circled him with her hand. Maybe she did know how to
torture a guy. Oz gulped big breaths in panic when she picked up the hollowed
out needle and aimed it.

“What the bloody hell are you doing?”

Both Oz and Faith looked up at the sound of Spike’s voice. “Piercing, you want
one?” Faith asked, pointing the needle at Spike menacingly. Spike ignored her
and sauntered over to the loveseat to plop down.

“Wilkins said to play with him not to fix him. That would pretty much defeat
the purpose,” he said, lighting a ciggerette.

“It won’t do anything to him. Hey, maybe if he’s lucky it’ll increase his
libido,” Faith said and aimed the needle again.

“Don’t do it, Slayer,” Spike said, in a low threatening voice.

She ignored him, licking her lips in concentration. Oz squeaked as the needle
neared his manhood. Suddenly, she was jerked up from the ground by the arm
that was holding the needle. She turned, swinging wildly with her foot, but
Spike caught her it and pulled, sending her to the ground in a heap.

“I said ‘no’, little girl. Don’t make me warn you again,” Spike growled,
having switched to his game face.

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

Buffy marched down the deserted street, silently pumping herself up for the
fight to come. She supposedly didn’t have to worry about Spike, but she was
armed to the teeth with stakes and holy water. In her right hand she clutched
a Louisville Slugger that Xander had once let her borrow and she had never
managed to give back.

Faith had gone too far this time. When she tried to strangle Xander, Buffy had
let it pass, all too willing to forgive. She had wanted to help the
unhelpable. But now she had Oz and Buffy just couldn’t stand for that. Who
would ever want to hurt Oz anyway? Spike had, of course, told her that it was
all a part of the Mayor’s big plan. Still, Oz was so cute and little and cute.
How could anyone hurt him?

She stopped outside the door to the house that Spike had claimed they were
holed up in. She looked at her watch. 2:18. Just a few more minutes to wait.

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

Spike could hear the heart of the Slayer beating a mile a minute, down the
street from here. With her right outside the door it was like having Lars
Ulrich pounding the skins in his ear. He looked down at his watch. 2:20. Time
to get in postion. This was going to be bloody humiliating, but it’s the price
you pay for self-preservation.

He was at least glad that he hadn’t had to fight the nutty Slayer for too
long. She gave up almost as soon as the fight began. She was now busy dancing
to the loud music that was blasting from the stereo. She was a cute thing. Not
nearly as sexy as Buffy, but cute. If she wasn’t a Slayer he may have even
thought of changing her. But she was a Slayer and he didn’t like her. Not so
much because she was a Slayer, but more because she was a fucked up Slayer.
Slayers were supposed to be strong paragons of goodness working for all
humanity in the fight against evil, not working *with* evil. She threw the
whole group dynamic out of wack, made things go all cock-eyed and he didn’t
like it. It should be plain and simple, evil versus Slayers.

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

2:22. Showtime. Slam! Buffy kicked in the door to the house, coming in hard
and fast. Without looking in his direction, Buffy swung the bat to the right
of her, hitting Spike in the forehead before he could apparently register her
sudden appearance. She heard him go down with a thump and had to smile to
herself. Spike had actually *let* her hit him.

Faith turned in surprise, just in time to see Spike go down and it didn’t look
like he was getting back up. “Hey, B. Didn’t think you’d be able to show up
for the party,” she said, quickly putting herself between Buffy and Oz.

“Let him go, Faith. This is between me and you,” Buffy demanded.

“No, I’m getting kinda used to having him around. I finally got that dog I’ve
always wanted.”

“Gee, does that make you my bitch?” Oz asked quietly from his spot against the
wall. Now that Buffy was here, he had the courage to say that to her.

Faith turned to him, kicking him in the ribs, but that short moment gave Buffy
the perfect chance to attack. And she wasn’t planning on fighting fair. She
swung the bat with her full force, hitting Faith in the ribs and sending her
to the floor. She jumped back to her feet quickly, ignoring the pain in her
ribs as she did so. She turned in a roundhouse kick, but Buffy ducked it and
swung the bat into Faith’s leg causing her to topple over again. Once Faith
was down again, Buffy didn’t stop her well-executed swings. Faith rolled out
of the way of one swing only to be caught by the next. She tried to kick the
bat out of Buffy’s hand, but Buffy was too quick for her.

Faith looked up at the door and saw her escape route. Using all her momentum,
she rolled as far away from Buffy as she could, her broken ribs protesting
with each roll. Quickly, she pushed herself to her feet and made a break for
the door. Faith didn’t seem to notice that Buffy had no intention of following
her.

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

Buffy dropped to her knees next to Oz. He quickly pulled his knees up to his
chest, to hide his half nakedness. His pants and boxers were the on, but they
were pooled around his ankles where Faith had left them. “Did she hurt you,”
Buffy asked with concern written all over her face.

“Naht tooo bod,” Oz replied, his speech a little off.

Buffy didn’t take much notice to that, she was busy inspecting the manacles
around his wrists. “Did you see where she put the key,” she asked.

“Over ‘ere on ‘at ‘able.”

Buffy noticed it that time, but she was too worried about getting him out of
those chains to think about it. She quickly retrieved the key and rushed over
to unlock him. Oz rubbed his wrists in relief and stared at her for a minute.
“What?” Buffy asked. Then she remembered Oz’s state of undress and turned
around before he could see her blush. “Sorry,” she threw over her shoulder.

She turned around when she felt him trying to stand up. She jumped to her feet
to put an arm around him. “I ca’ walk, Buffy,” he said with a slight chuckle.

“Don’t you have a shir...woah, nipple ring?” Buffy said, just now noticing the
hoops that hung on his chest.

Oz blushed a bit. “Face idea o’ a good ‘ime,” he slurred out. He saw the
concerned look come back to Buffy’s face and he stuck out his tongue. “My
nipples ain’ tha oly shing she perced.”

Buffy’s brow creased and a deep frown marred her pretty face. “I’m so sorry,
Oz. If I had--” Oz silenced her with a finger over her lips.

“I’ ain’ your faul,” he said. “Don’ blame yourshelf.” At his slurred words
Buffy found it hard to keep her laughter in. She let it bubble up and finally
let it out in a long peel of hysterics. “Ha, ha. Now gimme your jacke’. I’s
cold in here.”

Buffy shrugged out of her light blue, pleather jacket and helped him into it.
The sight of him in her jacket sent Buffy into another fit of laughter that
didn’t end until Oz walked away from her, toward the door. She stifled her
laughter and hurried to catch up with him. “Wha do we do abou him?” Oz asked,
indicating Spike’s still form on the ground.

Buffy smiled and went over to Spike. She kicked him in the ribs, carful not to
kick too hard. Spike came awake with a growl, in full vamp mode. “Party’s
over. Thanks for the help, Spike,” Buffy said.

Spike moaned and raised a hand to his head. “You didn’t have to hit me so
bloody hard, Slayer.”

“Sorry, got caught up in the moment,” she said from the door. “See ya on the
battle field.”

Buffy wrapped an arm around Oz’s waist, pretending that it was to support him,
and they walked off together, both shareing a laugh at Spike’s expense.

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

Spike sat in a chair before the Mayor’s desk, waiting with a bored look on his
face. Faith was hovering over Wilkins’ shoulder, staring Spike down. “I must
say, I’m quite disappointed. That werewolf was the key to my perfect
longstroke. And I have a game with Judge Riley tomorrow. So, do you have
anything to say for yourself?” he asked Spike.

“I did what you asked me to. You should have expected the Slayer to muck up
your plan,” Spike said irritably.

“Hmm, is that authentic leather?” the Mayor asked, looking at Spike’s long,
leather duster. Spike just raised his eyebrows as an answer. “Cruel, what they
do to those cows to make that leather,” the Mayor said almost to himself.

“Now, I hate to say it,” the Mayor said, standing up and walking over to his
cabinet. “but I have the horrible feeling that I’ve been betrayed.”

Just then, a door flew open and four vampires rushed in, all grabbing on to
Spike. Spike looked around in panic, his eyes jetting from the Mayor to Faith
and then back again. He tried to struggle against his captors, but he was out-
numbered. “Any last words?” the Mayor asked and pulled out a long katana
blade.

A moment of calm hit Spike. This was it, this was how his two hundred plus
years were going to end. “Yeah,” he said calmly. “Buffy will stop you. She
always wins. And when she does I’ll be down in hell laughing my bloody arse
off.”

“Point taken,” the Mayor said and then swung. He replaced the blade back in
his cabinet and grabbed out a dust buster. He threw it to one of the vamps.
“Get that mess for me, will you?”