Here's part 7. Clare's still on vacation, and I'm having a bit of trouble finding a beta who is picky enough about grammar, spelling, plot, voice, etc... Dakota was kind enough to beta the rest, even though she has no idea what I'm babbling about. Thanks D!!! Thanks also to justagirl, Stephanie, LML, Sophie, bwit xx, 'My', Cheri, Susanne, and Lisa for your comments and encouragement on part 6. It was very helpful as part 7 kept growing and eventually split into 7, 8, & 9. Thx! - 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. 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) --------------------- Buffy & Spike, Lost in Cyber-Space By Anne Rose Part 7 ~*~*~ It started when Spike told Buffy the chip didn't work on her, and demonstrated at her insistence. The fight had gone a little differently than in the prophecies. Now that he was expecting it, he understood better. He knew she wasn't taking out her anger and frustration on him - not anymore. She was testing him. Trying desperately to find out if she had to kill him - even if she didn't realize it herself. She was afraid of the possible truth, but determined. He fought hard, and he tried not to hurt her, much. He had no idea what was going to happen, but he hoped. When at last she grabbed him and pressed him into the wall with her kisses, he felt... alive. Now it was morning, and he felt her waking up after her catnap. She looked around the demolished building, as the light started filtering through the remaining bits of ceiling. "When did the building fall down?" She murmured. He surveyed the rubble, "I'm not sure. I think I must have been otherwise occupied when it happened. Whatever it was," he grinned, and stroked her face, "must have been pretty riveting not to notice all this." She blushed and wrapped the blanket more securely around herself. 'A blanket?' She looked at it. "Spike, where did the blankets and pillows come from in an abandoned house?" She asked, her voice rising. Spike looked away nervously, and pulled something from his coat. "Uh, I also brought this." He handed her a cell phone. "You'll be wanting to call Niblet and let her know you're safe and sound." She shook her head as she began dialing. "I'm not even going to ask where this came from." "From my pocket," he said feigning surprise. "You just saw me pull it out." He reclined back with his arm over his head and watched her talking to Dawn. She was beautiful, and she was his, if he could just manage to hang on to her. 'Manage not to drive her away,' he corrected himself. Buffy ended the call and tossed the phone back at him. He caught it easily, without sitting up, and tucked it away. "She's getting the royal treatment. Tara and Willow are making pancakes for her." Then she looked him in the eye. "Dawn wasn't surprised that I hadn't come back last night. Apparently someone told her we were off hunting big bad demons all night." She said, accusingly, but without any anger. "Ah," he mumbled, as he reached for her and pulled her back into his arms. "Couldn't have the Little Bit fretting about you, now could we?" Buffy groaned, as he began placing kisses along her neck. "I really should be going home," she said, snuggling against him. "Stay," he murmured against her neck. "I'm stuck here. Sun's up." "I don't know," she sighed, as she didn't pull away. "I should..." He cut her off, "I was thinking we could do something a little different." "Different?" She squeaked, sitting up. "I thought we... I mean last night... several, many..." He pulled her back down, as she continued trying to complete her thought. Buffy felt his chest rumble against her ear as he laughed. "Actually, I was thinking we could sleep for a bit, but never let it be said that I would disappoint a lady." He smiled as he traced the line of her jaw with his finger, and watched the tension flow out of her body. "No, sleep is good too." She yawned. "You'd better not hog the covers." She tugged on the blanket, and instead of fighting her for it, he simply wrapped himself around her. ~*~*~ ~*~*~ Spike burst through the back door, just as Buffy was finishing putting Dawn's lunch together. "Morning," he said casually, as he threw his smoking blanket to the floor. "What are you doing... and, here?" Buffy asked. He glanced over at Willow, and tried to look nonchalant. "Just, uh, took a stroll. Found myself in your neck of the woods. Grinning, but not taking her eyes off the bread she was buttering, "Couldn't find a less flammable time of day to take a stroll?" "Yeah, well, the fact is my lighter's gone missing." He struck a nonchalant pose against the wall. "Thought it might have, uh, dropped outta my pocket the last time I was here." He said, eyeing the slight deformation in her jeans pocket. "Haven't seen it," she lied. Willow stopped shuffling around and back and forth between Buffy and Spike. "I'm, uh, gonna head back upstairs, get dressed before Doris gets here." "OK, Will, see you in a few." Buffy said, watching her walk by. Then she turned to Spike. "Lame." "What?" "You. Making up excuses." "I'm bloody fond of that lighter, Luv." He said, sliding around behind her. She giggled as he continued the pretense. "What? You prefer I tell her the truth?" Buffy pulled back for a moment, embarrassed. "I don't know. I've been thinking about it." "When you decide, let me know. I figure it's up to you to decide what and when to tell your mates." He smiled, trying to lighten the mood again, and started playing with her hair. "I think maybe I'll call you Goldilocks. You know I love this hair. The way it bounces around when you...." She reached over and grabbed a spatula, smacking him lightly on the head. "Ah-ah-ah! This flapjack's not ready to be flipped." He yelped, grabbing for the spatula with one hand, while his other arm was around her waist, keeping her from getting away. "Stop that," she laughed, still trying to smack him with the spatula, without letting him get a hold of it. "Good Godfrey Cambridge, Spike!" Buffy and Spike looked up, startled as Xander appeared in the doorway. "Still trying to mack on Buffy?" Xander continued. "Wake up already. Never gonna happen!" Spike started to let go of Buffy, and move away, but she caught his hand. He gave her a quizzical look, as Xander ranted on. "Only a complete loser would ever hook up with you." Buffy smiled conspiratorially at Spike, and dragged him back behind her, pulling his arm across her stomach. "Well, unless she's a simpleton like Harmony, or a... or a nut sack like... Drusilla... hey... what exactly is going on here?" Buffy grinned at Xander mischievously, as she popped the finished sandwich into Dawn's lunch sack. "Isn't it obvious...." She said, leaning back into Spike's chest. "You're here to take Dawn to school. Thank you, by the way." Dawn appeared, and pushed past a sputtering Xander, grinning as she took in the sight of Spike holding Buffy. Dawn took the sack lunch from Buffy and winked at Spike. "You'd better head out the back way. Wouldn't do to run into the Kroger "demon" on the way out." Spike jerked his thumb towards the door. "Come on Xander, I'm going to be late," she said breezing out the door. Xander found himself being propelled out the door by Buffy. "This isn't over, Bleach Boy!" He called over his shoulder. "You can bet on it!" Spike called after him. He watched Buffy walk back, anxious to gauge her mood. She was giggling. He was about to ask her about what she had done, but the front doorbell rang. "Speak of the devil," Buffy sighed. "Chin up. You're ready for her. You have three stable women living here to care for Dawn, and I'll stay out of sight. You'll be fine." He kissed her quickly and then spun her towards the door and patted her behind to get her moving. "Off you go." ~*~*~ Spike puttered around in the kitchen while Buffy dealt with Ms. Kroger from Social Services. He could hear the whole conversation clearly, and it wasn't going well. Buffy was calm and ready for the questions about her role as primary caregiver for Dawn. Willow helped, until she had to leave for class. Doris was having to work hard to find things to fault, but even the lines they had planned and rehearsed didn't sway her in the end. 'Ah well, there's always plan B,' he thought. He walked out of the kitchen when he heard the door shut behind Ms. Kroger. Buffy was leaning against the door, with her forehead pressed to the wood. "Didn't go well, huh?" Spike asked, walking up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, and putting his chin on her shoulder. "No, she didn't listen to anything I said." Buffy said, dejectedly. "Well then, we have a little time left to kill before your date with the geeks and their inviso-ray." He flipped her around and pinned her to the wall. "Maybe we could get back to my original purpose for this visit." He breathed against her neck, as he began groping around in her front jeans pocket. "Spike," she moaned, "there isn't that much time." He pulled his hand out and dangled the lighter in front of her eyes. "Just getting what I came for, Luv. Did you have something else in mind?" He asked, the very picture of innocence. She chuckled, and leaned her head against his chest. After a moment he said, "Buffy?" She pulled back a bit to look at him. "What was that all about, with Xander?" She sighed, and burrowed her face back into his chest. "I don't know. I just didn't like the things he was saying - or the way he was saying them. It made me feel sort of cranky and defiant." He nodded, understanding what she meant. "Speaking of that, what did you say to Giles?" "What do you mean," Spike asked, as he rocked her gently back and forth, not following her jump in the conversation. "A couple days ago, he said the strangest thing to me. He said that I seemed to be more relaxed when I was with you, happier. You know Giles," she chuckled. "He said," she mimicked his accent, "Although I can barely stand to think about it, much less say it, he seems to be good for you." "Oh, that. He and I just had a unsuitable suitor to father conversation." "I don't get it," she frowned. "I don't either, but I'm not complaining." Spike answered, as he pulled her closer and kissed her. "Ugh," she pulled away suddenly. "I hope that wasn't a commentary on my technique," he sounded a little hurt. Laughing, "No! No, I just realized I have to go in a few minutes. I have to be at that corner at 10:17 am..." "Just so long as you don't cut your hair." Spike said, running his fingers through her hair again. ~*~*~ TBC...