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DISCLAIMER: All hail Joss Whedon, UPN, the WB, FOX , Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. Theirs not mine.

Buffy pulls away. She turns around and sees Tara and Angel standing there. Angel looks both aroused and angered, while Tara has covered her mouth, her eyes wide and horrified.

She turns back, looking at me. Her mouth is dark with my blood. �Something strange is happening to me,� she says. Her eyes roll up as her knees buckle. I catch her before she hits the ground, cradling her in my arms.

�Let�s go inside,� I say to Angel and Tara. We go into my crypt. I lay Buffy gently on the couch, giving her a peck on the forehead.

Angel turns on me, furious, pointing at Buffy. �I never should have let her do the ritual,� he says. �I thought it was a stupid, dangerous idea from the time she mentioned it. She just wouldn�t take no for an answer.�

�If she�d bothered asking me what I wanted, I�d never had let her do it,� I say softly.

Angel scoffs. �Sure, Spike. You�d really have told the woman that you love that you�d rather die than be with her.�

�I would have, you great stupid poof. She had no idea what she was doing.� I sit down heavily in my chair. �I�m beginning to think that I didn�t have any idea what we were getting into either.�

�Buffy told me that she craved blood,� says Tara shakily. �But what she did to Spike, biting him like that...� She looks up at Angel warily. �What is going on?�

�The bond is supposed to unite two vampires for eternity,� explains Angel. �It increases their vampire strengths, because they are combined. Any advantage is made twice as great.� He glares at me. �And any weakness is increased twice as well. If one of them dies, they both die. They are tied, unlife to unlife.�

�But that didn�t apply to Buffy,� Tara argues. �She a human being, she doesn�t have vampire strengths. We talked about this. The strengths and weaknesses of the bond can�t apply, because she�s not a vampire. She can�t tie her life to Spike�s. She�s alive.�

Blown away by their stupidity, I stand up and yell at her. �You stupid bints!� Tara stares at me, shocked.

�You thought this was just some meaningless lark? That there wouldn�t be any consequences, any debt to be paid for gaining my life?� I walk over and punch the wall, causing bits of stone to trickle down. �Buffy�s not just a human. She�s the Slayer! She has her own strengths and weaknesses. Not to mention, her own altered lifespan. The girl has died twice, the last time for months!� I turn on Angel. �I thought you said you�d argued with her about it, that she rebutted your arguments.�

He looks over at me, his eyes dark with pain. �She said that she�d discussed the bond with Tara, and she�d already made up her mind. We didn�t discuss the ramifications, she seemed to know and accept them.�

I grab Angel by the lapels. �So you mean to tell me that neither of you had the slightest idea what was really going on?�

Angrily, Angel pushes me back. Towering over me, he snarls, his demon taking over his face . �So help me, William, I�� Tara grabs him arm, holding him back.

�Am I turning into a vampire?� a small voice asks. Buffy is sitting up on the couch, her knees pressed to her chest, arms holding her tight. I go to her.

Picking her up, I settle her back down in my lap. Tara and Angel look at her worriedly. �No, love,� I reassure her. � No more than I�m going to have my heart start beating or taking strolls at noon. But our traits do seem to be overlapping.�

�Your traits, like the blood drinking.� She looks up at me with wide green eyes. �So the immortality thing is true, too? It really does apply to us? You get dusted by someone, and I die?�

�And the opposite is true. You die, and I die too. That�s what it means to be bonded, love,� I explain. �We�ve wedded strengths and wedded weaknesses. Wedded our entire existences, our entire lives.�

Buffy looks serious, but not overwhelmed. I�ll take that as a good sign.

�But that may not be the case,� interjects Tara. �If what�s happening to you is different because Buffy is the Slayer, we have no way of knowing what else is going to happen. We don�t know what other weird side effects this is going to have.�

Buffy looks up at me. �Your chip. When you hit Xander, did your chip go off?�

I pause, taken aback by the question.� Well, yeah, of course it did.� I think back. �The chip went off, but I could work past it. It happened once before. He really pissed me off and I slammed him into a tree. This time, I was so angry at him for hurting you�� I trail off, confused. � I don�t know if it did or not.�

�Hit me,� says Tara. She pulls a face at me. �Hey, this time I�m volunteering.�

I get up and stand in front of her, hesitantly swinging at her. Nothing happens. �I really don�t want to hurt you, Tara. It won�t work if I don�t want to cause you harm.�

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