Willow swallowed nervously, her calm mood evaporating at the look of unbridled hunger that crossed Spike's face at her words. She had to remember this was Spike, real-Spike not SpikeBot, and just because he had a chip didn't mean he couldn't think of lots of ingenious ways to hurt her. Her heart rate started to accelerate, whether because of her lingering fear or because the thought of SpikeBot had filled her mind with images of last night, Willow wasn't sure.

[Remember, that wasn't him] she admonished herself. She needed to keep focused. There was still a chance, admittedly a slim one, that she could pull this off, and somehow manage to escape without anyone knowing what had really happened. And if that meant sacrificing a few pints of blood - well, she'd donated blood before, how bad could it be? From the look in Spike's eyes, Willow had a feeling she would be finding out the answer to that question sooner rather than later.

"So, what's the plan then?"

"Plan?" Willow repeated blankly.

Spike gave her a withering look, and said slowly, "You and me, going to convince your friends we are shagging, put your girly friend off the scent and get Buffy to wise up to the charms of the Big Bad? Am I ringing any bells here?"

"Oh right, right, the plan! Ah, there is a research meeting tonight, and we are expected. I mean, you know "we", as in a couple kind of thing. You and me. A couple." The redhead looked momentarily astounded, as though the implications of putting her and Spike together in a sentence with the word "couple" had finally sunk in.

"Well," said Spike, drawing the word out with relish as Willow's babble trailed off, "If I'm going to have to start work I'll have to be getting my wages in advance, so to speak. Not that I don't trust you," the vampire continued with a tone that suggested he didn't trust anyone, "but you just can't be too careful."

Willow thought briefly about playing dumb, but the way he was staring fixedly at her neck made his meaning pretty clear.

"But you can't bite me. I mean, I guess I could get a syringe and, um, fill a mug for you?" Willow asked nervously.

Spike smiled in genuine amusement. "Drink your blood from a mug? Oh no, I don't think so. No, no, no. C'mon Red, you may not be a vamp, but you must be able to see that half the fun is in the packaging."

Willow blushed at the look on Spike's face, while at the same time feeling a tiny rush of pride. [He likes my packaging!]

Her warm and fuzzy thoughts were soon interrupted by the sight of Spike's demon suddenly coming to the fore, and despite herself Willow let out a gasp as she flinched back.

"Now don't be like that, pet" Spike crooned, inhaling deeply to catch the intoxicating scent of her sudden fear. "I promise my fangs will hurt a lot less than a needle. More fun for the both of us too," he said, edging closer.

[Fangs? FANGS??] Willow was wondering if the chip had somehow malfunctioned - [great, another problem].

"But you can't. You can't bite me. The chip!" Willow let out with a squeak, even as she took advantage of the moment to get a good look at his ridged face. She had seen plenty of vamped out demons before, but mostly late at night in poorly lit cemeteries, and in a life or death situation, which wasn't really the ideal environment for leisurely examination.

She watched the way the ridges shifted as Spike smiled, and noticed that the texture seemed different to skin. [I wonder what it feels like?] she asked herself even as she carefully kept as much distance between herself and Spike as possible. She knew this was still Spike, but with his demon showing, somehow it was hard to remember that he was effectively fangless.

Spike moved forward again, thoroughly enjoying the way the redhead shifted back while trying to look casual about it. He could hear her heart rate going a mile a minute, and his teeth were starting to itch at the thought of finally getting a taste of some human blood again.

"Well, OK, the chip," Spike agreed as he suddenly reached out one hand to grab Willow by the back of the neck and drag her into his lap. "I'm sure we can work around that."

Willow found herself suddenly sitting on top of Spike while a raspy tongue started to work its way up and down her neck. [A vampire is licking my neck. Spike is licking my neck. Why is he doing that? What am I doing here? Mmmm, that kind of feels nice. Like a big cat. A wild cat. A wild demon. A demon is LICKING MY NECK!]

Her brain finally kicking into gear, Willow cleared her voice nervously and tried to resist squirming as she asked politely, "Ahh, Spike? Spike? SPIKE!"

Grudgingly giving up his game, Spike raised his yellow eyes to look at the redhead. "What?" he growled, taking the opportunity to slip one hand underneath Willow's bottom and position her a bit better. Willow suddenly found herself pressing up against Spike's groin. [Oh. Oooohhh. I guess Spikebot really is anatomically correct,] Willow decided as Spike took the opportunity to grind his obvious erection into her bottom. As Spike bent his head towards her neck again Willow tried once more to get the conversation - [well, OK, it would be a conversation if either of us were talking] she reasoned -anyway, to get the whole night back on track.

"Spike, why are you licking my neck?"

"Don't you like it?" he asked playfully, leaning forward to rub one ridged brow against her face. Willow shivered with pleasure; his skin felt so nice, kind of scratchy.

"Umm, the deal was for blood, not licking," Willow said firmly. After a quick re-think, she added hopefully, "Well, we could make if for licking instead, if you like?"

Spike grinned, showing way too much fang for Willow's comfort. "Well, I do like the licking, but blood's better," the blonde murmured, keeping his mouth so close to her skin that she could feel his breath on her face as he spoke. "Anyway, here's the thing. If I don't hurt you, the chip won't go off, right?"

"Umm, I guess," said Willow, looking with some trepidation at the long, razor sharp canines protruding from his mouth.

"Well, I'll bet if you asked me to bite you, and I made sure it didn't hurt much, well, why should the chip get involved, eh pet?"

Green eyes looked into gold for a heartbeat, before Willow gave a mental shrug. [A deal's a deal] she decided, as she said with a sigh, "Please Spike, would you bite me?" And even as she said the words, she realised with a groan that her predominant emotion was not fear but anticipation.

[Bad, bad Willow] she berated herself, before Spike's head dipped down and his tongue began its leisurely journey up and down her neck, gradually increasing the pressure until she could feel the tips of his teeth scraping against her skin. It was delicious, and she instinctively arched her neck further, offering her throat to him.

Taking the hint, Spike stopped his teasing and fastened his lips onto her skin, sucking softly then with increasing pressure, before gently sliding his teeth into her smooth skin. Spike tensed for a moment, waiting for the chip to fry his brain, but - nothing. His entire body relaxed as he settled himself down to enjoy his meal, wonderful life-giving blood from a beautiful redhead, who (if her moans were anything to go by) was enjoying this nearly as much as him.

After several minutes of total silence, Spike reluctantly ceased his slow sucking and moved his mouth away from temptation. He looked down at the dazed redhead sitting passively in his arms, and tucked her head under his chin so she wouldn't see his wolfish grin.

[Oh yeah, unlife is starting to look up!] the vampire decided, and already his thoughts were full of plans for later tonight. Cos Spike had to go to the research meeting, but after that? Seemed like Spikebot still had a night's work ahead of him. [Blood and sex] Spike thought with relish as his mind began to wander.

And in all his fantasies about what exactly he was going to go to his redhead this evening, it didn't once occur to the blonde that the Slayer made not even a brief appearance.

Willow's thoughts were vague, her mind filled with a blur of muted sounds and nerve-tingling sensations. She could feel Spike's chest under her cheek, and marveled at the hard, smooth stillness of it. She tried to remember when exactly Spike's shirt had been removed, but her memory was a blank.

One of Spike's hands was slowly playing with her hair, curling a strand around a finger before letting it fall free then repeating the process, and with every move of his hand against the delicate skin of her scalp a cascade of shivers moved down Willow's spine. There was a distant contented rumbling coming from deep within the vampire's chest, the sound somewhere between a purr and a moan; the soothing cadence was doing nothing to aid Willow in her admittedly half-hearted effort to take some control of her situation - or at least to get off Spike's lap.

Undermining her already shaky resolve was Spike's intermittent licking of her throat, his tongue moving slowly and with obvious pleasure over the no longer bleeding puncture marks, as though to reassure himself that the past hour had indeed occurred.

Shifting slightly on his lap, Willow tried to shake the fuzziness out of her head. It was dusk now, and time to head off to the research meeting. But she just couldn't seem to find the energy to get up.

Spike felt the redhead move in his arms, and fought the urge to tighten his embrace; he had no desire for her to go anywhere. He was still buzzing from the magically-laden blood that was coursing through his veins; [not just a great shag, she tastes damn fine as well] mused Spike as he wondered how he was going to last another seven days before his next fix. Continuing to fondle the silky flame coloured hair that was wrapped around his fingers, Spike decided that Spikebot might need to start expressing an interest in learning the fine art of bloodplay.

But that meant they would need to leave the crypt. Cursing the necessity, Spike bent his head down to rub his cheek against Willow's, noting with an inner smile that the witch still looked dazed. "You know," the blonde said conversationally, the sound of his voice seeming to rouse Willow from her stupor, "they say there's only one thing better than a vampire's kiss."

Sensing she wouldn't like where this was going but unable to resist the temptation, Willow took the bait. "And what's that?" she asked huskily.

"A vampire's kiss while you orgasm," Spike said in a voice that instantly brought every one of Willow's nerve endings awake. "Once you've tried it, you can never go back."

Willow froze as she tried to work out what was going on. Did Spike want to have sex with her? Maybe he'd finally given up on Buffy? Or maybe he thought she was so desperate she wouldn't mind acting as a stand-in until their deception achieved some results and Buffy decided to accept one of Spike's many invitations? Or did he think that by having sex with her he could feed off her whenever he wanted?

The sudden rush of anger through her body had the immediate effect of clearing her thoughts. Standing up and trying to look dignified while she make an effort to straighten her clothing, Willow fumed as she took in the sexily sprawled form before her, bare chest and tousled blonde hair doing nothing to abate her anger.

"We have a deal," Willow said icily. "And you've been paid, in advance. There will be no sex, and there will be no teasing, otherwise I'll go straight to Buffy and show her this," and Willow pointed to the bite mark on her throat, "and tell her that the chip has malfunctioned and you are coming to kill us."

Spike grimaced as he stood up, dusting down his trousers and looking around for his shirt. "Now, now pet, no need to be nasty." Spike had no idea what was wrong with her. [Bloody women! So she's happy to shag an effing electrical appliance but she won't admit she wants the real thing? We'll see about that.]

Looking over at the pouting redhead, Spike wondered why everything always had to be so complicated. Lighting a cigarette, he tried to work out what the hell was wrong with the witch now, then decided even immorality wouldn't give him enough time to understand female mood swings.

"Well, are we off then?" he asked through a cloud of smoke.

"Yeah, we need to head off, but, ahhh," Willow's voice trailed off as she tried to find the right words.

"What?" snarled Spike. Bloody hell, a few minutes ago he'd been completely relaxed and happy, now it was back to the normal mind-blowingly painful mess that was his unlife.

"OK, well, you know we are meant to be, ah, a couple."

"And?"

"Well, we need to be, you know, friendly. With each other."

"Can't say that I'm feeling particularly friendly right now," was the vampire's response.

"Spike, I did what I promised, now you have to, you know, do your bit. For Buffy!" Willow said, trying to keep the pleading tone from her voice.

"It takes two, you know," Spike drawled, seeing the opportunity for some fun.

Willow just looked at him blankly.

"Can't see how I'm meant to be feeling all lovey dovey if you're glaring holes in my chest," Spike pointed out helpfully. "Maybe you need to get me in the mood."

Willow ground her teeth together in fury, but she supposed he had a point. Anyway they certainly couldn't go the research meeting like this; it would only take the others two seconds to smell a rat with her and Spike glaring at each other and hurling insults.

Taking a deep breath, Willow deliberately recalled the images from last night. She remembered being in the kitchen with Spikebot, the feel of his hand spanking her bare bottom, the sound of his voice, the look on his face. Feeling her heartbeat immediately pick up as she struggled to keep her breathing steady, Willow walked over to Spike, deliberately ending up too close to him, so that they were almost touching.

After pausing for a moment that seemed to both to stretch into hours, Willow moved forward, crossing the final inch that separated their bodies and slipping her arms around Spike's waist, pulling their bodies together. Looking up at the motionless blonde from under her eyelashes, Willow gave what she hoped was a sultry smile and asked mischievously, "Are you in the mood yet?".

Spike was pretty sure she already had the answer to her question from the bulge in his trousers that was pressing against her lower stomach, but he had no intention of admitting anything to the cheeky chit.

"That's more like it pet," he purred, calling her bluff as his mouth brushed against hers and his hands dipped to cup her bottom for a brief moment before he let go and moved away from her. "Let's get this show on the road."

And reaching out to take hold of her hand firmly in his, Spike led the blushing redhead out into the night.

Standing outside the Magic Box, Willow unconsciously tightened her grip on Spike's hand.

"This is it then," she muttered, almost to herself.

"Bloody Hell Red, we're not heading to our deaths you know. The worst thing that will happen is the moron will make some stupid comment, as always, and I'll end up with a mind-numbing headache after I try to rip his arms off." Spike paused for a moment. "Maybe I'll manage to rip one of 'em off before the headache kicks in," he said hopefully.

Willow tried to maintain her serious expression but she couldn't control the little giggle that escaped her at the picture Spike had painted. Even she had to admit Xander could be a bit trying at times. "There will be no ripping off of arms," she said reprovingly. But she had to admit that the sudden release of tension was a welcome relief as they entered the shop, hand in hand, a smile hovering on both their mouths. They came to a halt as the conversation in the room abruptly ended, and they found all eyes suddenly upon them.

"Willow. And Spike. Yes, well, good, let's get to work shall we? Buffy, have you found anything yet?" Giles asked, trying his best to defuse the situation and maintain the illusion that it was business as usual. Yet even he was having a hard time dragging his gaze away from Willow and her new beau.

Buffy had in fact barely glanced at the book that had lain open on the table in front of her for the past hour. She had been thinking over her meeting earlier in the day with Willow. There was something weird going on, something that Willow wasn't telling her. Buffy just had to figure out what it was. And now here they were, the new lovers themselves, providing the Slayer with the perfect opportunity to study them up close.

"Nothing yet Giles," said Buffy as she turned a few pages with a flourish, watching as Willow made her way to the table and sat down between Xander and Buffy in the only empty chair. Spike walked across the room to grab another chair, then brought it back to place it directly behind Willow, sitting down and placing his hands on her shoulders in a casual embrace.

Xander paled and tried to surreptitiously edge his chair away from the couple, but mindful of the numerous and imaginative death threats that Buffy had made to him earlier in the evening he made no comment.

The room was completely silent. Willow frantically searched her brain for something to say, but she drew a blank. All she could do was lean back into Spike's arms, taking what comfort she could from his touch, and hope for the best.

It was Giles who took pity on the redhead, coming to her rescue by putting a stack of books in front of her and giving her instructions as to the nature of the demon they were trying to research.

Willow smiled in relief - research, that she could do. Everyone studiously ignored Spike, who passed the time stroking the redhead's shoulders. At least until the doorbell rang and a flustered Tara entered, hovering in the doorway as her eyes locked onto the sight of Spike and Willow.

Before Tara could manage to speak, Spike let out a low but audible growl, and all eyes swung to the vampire, who had jumped to his feet to stand in front of Willow, blocking her from Tara's view.

"What the fuck do you want?" he sneered, as Tara took an instinctive step backwards.

"I want to speak to Willow," stammered out the witch with surprising coherence.

Spike quirked an eyebrow. "Go on then, we'd love to hear it."

"In private," Tara said, trying to make eye contact with Willow but unable to, the redhead seemingly happy to stay hidden behind Spike.

Spike crossed his arms and stared at the girl, reminding all those in the room of why he had been known as the Big Bad.

Buffy felt it her duty to do something; trouble was, she wasn't exactly sure what, or to who. Her dilemma was solved by Willow standing and laying a calming hand on Spike's shoulder.

"Why don't I just have a few words with Tara in private?" she asked the vampire softly. "It won't take long."

A muscle flexed in Spike's jaw, and he grabbed Willow's arm. "'Scuse us," he muttered before dragging Willow off to the back of the shop.

"Oww," Willow hissed, rubbing her arm when Spike finally released his grip, glaring at him as he took a quick look around the work-out room to make sure they were really alone. "Don't you think you're carrying the possessive lover act a bit too far?" She looked at her reddened skin, muttering, "That's going to leave a bruise!"

Spike was furious, but he couldn't put his finger on exactly why; then again, he'd never been one to over-analyse things.

"If we're meant to be lovers then we need to act like it," he hissed back. "Do you think any woman of mine would be wasting time with that pathetic excuse for a human?"

"Woman of yours!" Willow huffed, struggling to keep her voice down. "Hey mister, in case you've forgotten you are working for me! And you've been paid, so it's time to do some work!"

"So, I have to do some work? That would be in my new job as your shag partner?" Spike said thoughtfully. "OK." And with that he grabbed Willow's head and pulled her face against his, nipping at her lips until she opened her mouth to rebuke him, only to find Spike's tongue taking very skilled advantage of her lapse. As his tongue leisurely explored every nook and cranny in her mouth, Willow found her hands working their way under his duster, kneading the muscles of his back before slipping down to grab his rear and pull his pelvis flush against hers.

"Ahh, Willow, is everything all right?" Willow heard the words but they didn't register until Spike reluctantly pulled his mouth away from hers. She took a much needed breath, letting the oxygen clear her head somewhat, only to blink her eyes in surprise when she realised Giles was standing nearby, furiously polishing his glasses as he avoided looking in their general direction.

"Whaaat?" said Willow, torn between anger at being caught and relief that things hadn't gone any further before Giles showed up.

"We're waiting for you. Tara still wants to talk to you," Giles mumbled before beating a hasty retreat.

Still trying to get herself focused, Willow didn't move. Spike smiled at the picture she made, her mouth all swollen and her eyes glazed. Leaning down, he whispered, "That ought to convince 'em, eh Red?" before sauntering after Giles.

Willow watched him go and ground her teeth at his attitude. What did he think, that this was just a game? [Ah, well, isn't it? I mean, not only is it a game, but it's my game. So that means - I get to make the rules!]

And with an evil grin that rivaled Spike's in terms of attitude, Willow made her way to join the others.