Subject: UFS "Buffy & Spike, Lost in Cyber-Space" S/B [R] 16/18? I really need a different title for this story. I titled it the first thing that popped into my mind, back when I thought it was going to run about 3 pages total. BTW - sorry about the delays. Being back at work has really cut back my writing time. ;-( Thanks to LML, My, Scott, justagirl, Sophie, Heather, Cheri, and rosekk2000 for sending feedback. I love the emails, it's so nice to hear what people think of my story. ;-) - Anne Rose ------------------------------------------------- Title: Buffy & Spike, Lost in Cyber-Space Author: Anne Rose Email: anne3rose@yahoo.com URL: http://annerose.cjb.net http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=47579 Rating: R (but nothing you haven't seen on the show, at 8pm.) Disclaimer: Joss and Mutant Enemy, etc. own BtVS. No infringement intended. Any resemblance to people living, dead, or undead, or to real life events is all in your mind, is downright scary, and means you seriously need to get a life. Spoilers: Season 6, but story is set after 'Once More With Feeling' where Buffy lives, and a little later in Fic-land. Summary: S/B, Willow has been using her computer to do a little inter-dimensional hacking. Spike finds it and wacky Internet hi-jinks ensue. It gets a bit more serious as it goes along. It's become a retelling of the second half of Season 6. Answer to Challenge from Stephanie Honey. Archive: I would be honored if you want to archive it. Please let me know where so I can visit it. Author's Note: time passes differently in different dimensions. So it can be almost end of Season 6 in one place and Season 5 in another. Oh wait, that's syndication. ;-) And don't get on my case about screen names. I'm just keeping them simple. Thanks to the Buffy Dialog Database (http://vrya.cstone.net/index.htm) and the Buffy Guide (http://www.buffyguide.com/episodes.shtml) for help with research and parts of episodes. Thanks to Clare009, Dakota, and Hubby for beta reading. (c) April 25, 2002 --------------------- [Spoiled_Spuffy] fanfiction group challenge from Stephanie Honey Hey fic writes! I got a challenge for ya'll! Here it is: Requirement 1. Humorous Fic!!! Requirement 2. Buffy and Spike find a fanfic group. And can't believe some of the stuff fans write about them!!! Requirement 3. PG-13 or higher Requirement 4. e-mail it to me at honeymajandra@hotmail.com Option 1. Try to mention these members: Honeymajandra (me- Stephanie Honey), Sophie_limbourg (Sophie), Sarafina120 (Melissa), Lochnoir (Jerri) --------------------- Spike and Buffy, Lost in Cyber-Space by Anne Rose Part 16 ~*~*~ "So, are you ever going to come in?" Buffy asked, leaning against the doorframe. She had been watching Angel feed Conner for a few minutes. The rest of the gang had settled back down in the living room and were swapping stories of demons slain and apocalypses averted. "Are you inviting me in?" Angel asked, still looking at Conner's face. "I already did. Do you need to hear it again?" She smiled softly. "Come in the house, Angel." "Thanks," he said, looking up and finally meeting her eyes. "I'll be in, in a few minutes." "Ok," she nodded. Buffy turned and walked back through the kitchen, bumping into Spike who was loitering in the doorway to the living room. "Everything all right?" He asked. "Nope, but that's nothing new," she grinned at him as he frowned. "Invited him in then?" Spike raised an eyebrow. "He gave his word." Buffy answered, and Spike nodded and moved past her. "What are you doing?" Buffy grabbed him, suddenly alarmed. Spike looked at her for a moment, "I guess it's up to me to offer the olive branch, especially now that he can go anywhere I can," he quirked an eyebrow up at her. "There's always Giles' place," she chuckled, but then her eyes clouded. "Be careful. Remember what you told me - he can be dangerous." Spike nodded, with a grin. "I'll holler if I need the Slayer to come rescue me. Ok?" She chuckled again and gave him a hug. Then she walked back into the living room. Spike walked over to the fridge and grabbed out a container of blood. He picked up two mugs and filled them before popping them into the microwave. He wasn't sure what he was going to say to Angel, but he knew with the way things worked in Buffy's life, he couldn't avoid him forever, literally. The microwave beeped and Spike pulled the mugs out. Taking a steadying breath, he turned and walked towards the door. Looking out at Angel holding Conner on his lap, he suddenly realized this might not be such a good idea after all. But that had never stopped him before. "Mind if I join you?" Spike asked. Angel instinctively pulled Conner closer to him. "What is that, a bribe?" He growled. Spike straightened his shoulders and walked forward, holding the mug out. "Nothing of the kind, Peaches. Purely self-serving here. You haven't eaten in a while, and unlike me, you don't have a chip to keep you from snacking on my friends." Spike set the mug down on the bench next to Angel, and took a seat opposite him. Angel's jaw tensed, he stared at Spike for a long moment, refusing to rise to the bait. All the while, the scent of the blood taunted him on another level. It had been a long time since he'd eaten. He watched Spike swallow the contents of his mug, and he could see the younger vampire was working to maintain a calm facade. With a sigh, Angel looked down at the cup. Picking it up, he drained it quickly. "What happens to them, *your friends*, when that chip of yours fails?" Angel asked flatly. If he expected Spike to react with shock or shame, he was disappointed. Instead Spike just smirked in that irritating way Angle had always hated. Spike caught Angel's eye and held it. Slowly and evenly he said, "Chip hasn't worked on Buffy since Red brought her back." Spike had the satisfaction of watching Angel's mouth drop open. It had been a long time since he'd been able to shock the Poof. Not since he killed that first slayer. 'Hmmm,' Spike thought, 'perhaps not the best subject to be reliving.' Pushing it aside, he waited to see what Angel would say next. Angel stood abruptly, causing Spike to jump up and back away, raising his arms defensively. But instead of attacking him, Angel just paced around the deck, shaking his head. "It's not possible," he muttered. "We're killers, and we can't change that." Spike watched him warily. "Guess we'll add that to the list of things you and I don't agree on." Angel looked up at him, as if just noticing he was there. A look of understanding and shock washed over him as what Lorne had told him finally sunk in. "This does not make us *friends*, William." Spike nodded. "But I'll keep my word. Our paths are bound to cross again..." he bored into Spike's eyes and added, "now that you're wearing a white hat." Spike grimaced. 'Score one for you, Peaches,' he sighed to himself. "I still don't have a soul. They know that. But as long as I'm able, I'll do everything I can to make Buffy happy. And that includes protecting Dawn... and Buffy's friends." Spike shook his head, "Bugger!" He swore, looking back at Angel. "Guess that includes you and the little nipper now." He pulled out a cigarette and his lighter. "Ain't love grand." He sighed as he stared to light up. Angel reached over and snatched the cigarette from Spike's lips, tossing it away, "You can start by not giving my son cancer." "Bloody hell!" Spike swore again. "And watch the language!" Angel snapped. "Don't push it, Peaches." Spike growled. "When Snack Sized there gets old enough to understand, Uncle Spike'll mind his manners." The two vampires stood toe to toe for a moment, upping the ante by shifting into game face. There was no telling how long the standoff would have lasted, if Conner hadn't stated laughing and cooing. It completely destroyed the moment. Angel suddenly shifted his focus from Spike to the baby, cooing back at the baby and making goofy faces. Spike was taken aback. One moment he was staring down his grandsire, the next he was watching him make a fool of himself with his son. "Ain't love grand," he murmured again. "Neither of us are what we're supposed to be... are we?" Angel shuffled for a moment, and then sat back down. "No, I suppose we're not." He rubbed his forehead as he watched Spike sit down again. "So, tell me your story. How did you wind up here?" "You mean Sunnyhell, or in love with the Slayer?" Spike asked, flippantly. "Both," Angel replied. "Ah, so you believe me now? That I'm not just up to some scheme?" Spike replied, pouncing on the opening. "Lorne wouldn't lie to me," Angel sighed, a bit deflated. "Go on, talk, you've always loved an audience, here's your chance. Amaze me." Spike raised an eyebrow and considered his old adversary, the former Scourge of Europe, who was currently patting the infant he was holding against his shoulder, trying to get a burp out. Spike shrugged and began, "Dru figured it out long before I did," he began. "After I helped Buffy defeat you, Dru left me. Said I tasted like ashes. All she saw was the Slayer when she looked at me. So, long story short, I did the only thing I could... came back here to kill her..." Spike continued on with his story, relating what had happened with the Initiative, Adam, Glory, Buffy's return, and finally about discovering the oracles. Angel had been listening intently. When Spike got to the part about his instructions from the oracles, Angel laughed. "I've been telling you to shut your mouth for years." "Yah, no offense Peaches, but she's a lot better at motivation than you ever were." Spike replied, raising and eyebrow knowingly. Angel's violent outbursts directed at Spike had never quieted him for long, but for Buffy, he would willingly turn himself inside out. "I still don't understand how do you do it, without a soul I mean?" Angel asked. "You mean since you went all psycho when you lost yours? Murdered and tortured her friends, terrorized her for months?" Spike goaded Angel. Angel slammed his hand down on the bench, silencing Spike. "Yes... that," he growled. "How do you keep the demon under control?" "First of all, I don't have a split personality like you seem to. Me, my 'demon', and I, all the same chap." Spike looked at him for a moment, and the smirk faded. "It's not easy." He stood and paced back and forth. "The chip is there, always, keeps me from harming the others. And I like them. They... grow on you. Especially Nibblet." He stopped pacing and looked down at his feet. "And then there's Buffy," he sighed. He looked up at Angel out of the corner of his eye, "But then you know that tune." Angel nodded gravely. "You need to understand, so I'll say this really slowly, Spike. We're still not friends. At most we have a truce... for her sake. All I need is for you to give me an excuse." Spike met Angel's harsh glare with his own. "If that day ever comes, you'd better be real certain, mate. 'Cause if you break her heart again, she'll never forgive you, and you'll have to live with that." He watched Angel wince, and knew he'd hit a sensitive spot. He'd started to get used to holding his tongue around Buffy and the Scoobies, but Angel was a whole other thing. He sighed as he realized he'd done it again. "Look," he started. "It'll never come to that." "You're so sure you can handle it?" Angel scoffed. Spike clenched his jaw and held back his first impulse. "No, but there's a long line to dust me if I ever slip." He watched Angel's eyebrows rise with curiosity. "Oh ya, I'm real popular among the cross and stake set. Watcher's first in line, then Red... The whelp wanted to be next, but I like Red better. Captain Cardboard is even on the list. He claimed a spot when he was back in town a few weeks ago." "I hate that guy," Angel growled. Spike chuckled, "Yup, and it's mutual. He and I figured you and Buffy were about the only thing we had in common." "He was here and then he left, again?" Angel shook his head. "What did you do?" He looked at Spike menacingly. "Uh, uh, uh, none of that Peaches. You can't threaten me. You gave your word." Spike waved his finger at Angel, but then snatched it back when he growled again. "If you must know, it had nothing to do with me. He came back with his new wife." Angel was shocked, again. Spike was loving this evening. "I can't believe it. How could he? I knew I hated him!" Angel sat glowering for a moment, and then asked quietly, "How did Buffy take it?" Spike was dying to make a snide comment along the lines of 'takes one to know one', but lost interest when he heard Angel's concern. It sparked the same concern for Buffy's happiness in him. "Strangely enough, it went pretty well. She had me, and he had Samantha, and there was a job to focus on. Suvolte demon and all. And she and I played a couple jokes on the boy. He won't go storming into someone's home so fast next time, I'll wager." Spike laughed as he thought back, seeing Riley's face again. "I don't think I want to know." Angel grimaced, having a pretty good idea what Spike was implying. "I'm just glad she was ok." He was glad she hadn't faced that alone, even if it was Spike who had been there for her, but there was no power in the universe that could make him admit it. Suddenly they were jerked out of their reverie by an explosion in the general area of Conner's diaper. The infant cooed and laughed, quite pleased with himself. Spike wrinkled up his nose in disgust. "How can you stand that?" "This is nothing." Angel shrugged. "It gets worse when they start on solid foods, but the disposable diapers they have now are really great. They keep his skin dry and then there are all these ointments and lotions. It's just amazing." Spike shook himself as Angel stood and carried Conner into the house. 'Things just couldn't get any more...,' he stopped the though midway. 'Not wise to tempt fate on the Hellmouth,' he thought as he walked inside. ~*~*~ TBC...