Title: Buffy & Spike, Lost in Cyber-Space PART 3 Author: Anne Rose Email: anne3rose@yahoo.com URL: http://annerose.cjb.net 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. 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 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) --------------------- Buffy & Spike, Lost in Cyber-Space By Anne Rose Part 5 ~*~*~ 'Ok,' he thought, as he started looking for the cocoa. 'She didn't kill me for that. Didn't kiss me again either, but didn't stake me.' So far so good - maybe those oracles were being straight with him after all? He made two cups of cocoa and grabbed the bag of marshmallows. "You want marshmallows, Luv?" She had heard him rummaging around in the kitchen as she tried to catch her breath. She could still feel his fingers where he had touched her face, and his breath on her neck. He was going to be back in a moment, and she needed to pull herself together. "Marshmallows sounds good," she called out. He walked back in and sat down, handing her one of the cups, and putting the bag of marshmallows on the table between the computers. He had put a several of them into his mug and was stirring them in. She reached out and grabbed some for herself. Concentrating on her mug, she watched them swirl around in the tiny whirlpool her spoon created. Having something to fiddle with was calming her nerves. Spike noticed that, in spite of her calm appearance, her heart was still pounding. He wanted to do something, but he didn't want to drive her away. Spike went back looking at his computer. There was more mail in his inbox. He opened the first one. ------------- William - Ok, what would I tell Spike about Buffy? In Smashed/Wrecked, nick a bloody cell phone so she can check in with Dawn and won't have an excuse to leave in the morning. DON'T tell her the only thing better than killing a slayer is shagging one. Before that, the day you find out about the chip not working on Buffy, talk to Willow and warn her to stay away form Rack. Talk to Tara too, and let her know about the danger. Buffy compares Willow's addiction to magic, to her relationship with Spike. If that can be headed off, things could go better. Dead Things was another problem. Don't tell her she's an animal, or a monster, or anything else, even if you think it's a compliment - she doesn't. Keep her home that night, or do something to keep her out of the woods. When Buffy thinks she's killed that girl, one of the things she's thinking about is 'evil' Faith, how she went dark and how she used and threw away men. In As You Were, when someone comes to you and asks you to keep demon eggs, or traffic in demon eggs, DON'T. Don't let those demon eggs into the crypt. And when Riley barges in and finds you together, don't get into a pissing contest with him. She's going to take Xander and Anya's wedding falling through badly. Stick around long enough at the wedding to kill that demon that scares off Xander. And if the wedding does fall through, and Buffy dumps you anyway, under no circumstances should you sleep with any of the Scoobies. Well, that's all I can think of. If you need more, let me know. Have fun with your story, William, - Anne Rose ------------- Spike read the email over a couple of times. It all looked like good advice, too bad he didn't understand what it meant. He emailed back again, asking what these events were they were all talking about. Again, he pointed out that he hadn't been pushing, she had kissed him. He sighed. It had seemed like such a good idea at first, but he was getting nowhere. While he was rereading the email for the fifth time, he saw another message arrive. 'Bout time,' he thought. ------------- From : Sophie To: William Hey William (are you sure you're not Spike? Haha, J/K) I think I would say this to Spike: First get rid of that chip so you can prove to her you can be good even as a soulless vampire. Then woo her but don't loose the bad boy attitude because she likes it!! Don't become too "normal". She says she wants that but it's not true. But the most important thing is...don't leave her. Stay with her forever. Well, this is it. Of course, I could also tell him to forget about Buffy and to come in Europe to meet me, but he'll never read it anyway...;-) Hope this helped you, William. Bisous Sophie PS: Do you write B/S fictions by any chance? ------------- Spike mulled over the email. He remembered how she had reacted to Riley once he stopped being an equal and became someone she felt she needed to protect. On the other hand, it never seemed like she really was in love with him. The little heart to heart he'd had after Soldier boy had stabbed him with the oh-so-funny plastic stake, had confirmed that. He thought some more as he clicked on the next message. ------------- William, it sounds like wherever you are, you're way behind. A lot has happened since that kiss at the end of Once More With Feeling. You need to get to one of the transcripts sites and read up. You'll find the dialog we're talking about. I pasted the links below. Good luck! - Anne Rose ------------- He looked at the links and opened one. Scanning down, he saw the phrases she had used. He clicked on the link for 'Smashed' and started reading. The format of the document was strange. It looked like whoever was spying on them was transcribing their lives. It was confusing. He minimized that page and went back and clicked on Once More With Feeling. It was the same strange format, but this was the clue they had given, and he was determined to follow it. As he read on, he started recognizing events. This was the time when Sweet, the song and dance demon, had come to town. 'All right,' he thought, 'finally something that fits.' He skimmed through the next file. Everyone was going to get amnesia. Not much point in pursuing that, except trying to stop Red. If she cast the spell, he wouldn't remember anything he tried to prepare. And now he was back to the first reference from the email, or should he think of it as a prophecy? Angel was always getting tangled up in those, but up until know he'd been in the clear. 'Bugger!' He swore silently as he dove back into reading. It was pretty dull stuff, the Scoobies going about their daily lives. Amy wasn't a rat anymore, and she was naked, that was mildly interesting. Then suddenly he read that he hit Buffy and his chip didn't go off. Now it had his full attention. He was reminded of that story he read earlier. He read on, nearly jumping out of his chair when he read about the night in the abandoned building. First they were fighting, and then they were shagging like rabbits. "Bloody hell!" he yelled. Buffy jumped and looked at him, alarmed. "What is it?" He hadn't meant to say it out loud. "I, uh... I hit a bad link. Sorry, didn't mean to startle you." She nodded and went back to reading. He clicked on the next key from the email, 'Wrecked,' and quickly skimmed through the opening notes, and a scene with Dawn and Tara until he reached the point where they were talking about him and Buffy. Slowing down, he read the text with a smile. But as the scene progressed, the smile turned to a frown. Cringing as he read their exchange, he started to understand why the oracles wanted him to shut up. Convenient, that word rang in his ears. It felt like a stake going through his heart. Suddenly the bitch comment was starting to make sense too. He saw how when Buffy got home that morning, her friends unknowingly made her feel guilty. And then when Willow's return visit to Rack's resulted in a trip to the hospital for Dawn, he growled softly. Reading on, he felt like he was on a roller coaster. One minute he would find Buffy and they would shag for hours, then next she was hurling insults at him and leaving. He was starting to get really angry when he suddenly read about the demon eggs. Unbelievable! How could he be so stupid? Everything he wanted was right there in front of him, and he threw it away. He clenched his fists and for a moment his game face came out. He looked away for a moment and tried to calm himself before Buffy saw it. A thousand thoughts swirled around in his brain. He never knew when to stop pushing. If he had let her alone, given her a little breathing room, like he had tonight, she might not have run away from him. But would anything he did make a difference? Evading a prophecy was a tricky thing, and rarely successful. He had to know if he had any chance. Going back to his email, he replied again. ------------- I read the transcripts. How certain is it that those things will happen? - William. ------------- He noticed the several of the oracles were online. The little yellow smileys by their names taunted him, grinning about his secrets no doubt. He hoped that also meant he would get a fast answer. Sure enough, his email alert popped up. ------------- What do you mean, 'how certain?' That is what happened. But of course you can write whatever you like. But the more plausible it is, the more likely it is to be successful. - Anne Rose ------------- He shook his head. It was all very puzzling, and he was very tired. He was excited and scared, confused and hopeful, and oh so tired. They had been working at this all night, and without realizing it, they had worked past breakfast time and were heading toward noon. Buffy's stomach growled. The snacks they'd had were long gone, and they were both hungry again. "I've got to quit for a while and get some sleep. How about if we pick this up again later?" She asked him, stifling a yawn. "I'm feeling a bit knackered myself. Got a spare blanket I can use to get back home?" He asked, standing and stretching. Buffy closed her computer and stood up also. "There's still some blood left in the back of the fridge," she said between yawns. "And there's a cot in the basement." She staggered over to a closet pulled out a blanket and a pillow. "Here, take these. I'm going to bed." "Thanks," he said to her retreating back, as she started climbing the stairs. She paused as she heard him, and sighed. "Spike," she said, as she turned and walked down a couple of steps. He turned and looked up at her questioningly. "Thank you." He cocked his head slightly and stared at her. "For what?" She reached out and touched the side of his face. "Long list. Dawn, before that Glory, for sitting with me instead of shooting me the night I found out my mom was sick." She sighed again. "Lot's of things. Thanks." She let go of him and turned back to the stairs. He stood, staring after her as she walked upstairs and into her room. Then he turned and headed down into the basement. He had a lot of thinking to do, and even more planning. ~*~*~ TBC...