December 15^th, 2003:

Buffy came in from Christmas shopping and set the bags she was carrying down on the couch in the great room.  “Anybody home?” she called out to the empty room. 

Tara walked in from the kitchen and answered her. “Yeah, we’re all home.”

“Where’s Spike? I need some help getting everything in and hidden before Annie sees it,” Buffy told her.

“He’s in the training room . . . he got some kinda package in the mail and took it in there,” Tara told her, waving her arm towards the closed door of the training room.

Buffy walked into the training room to find Spike staring intently at the TV in the room, the remote in his hands was pointed at the VCR above the TV and Buffy could hear the tape stop and start as he hit the “pause” and “play” buttons.  Normally, they used this TV and VCR for training . . . they’d tape workouts and sparring matches and go over their form . . . but this didn’t sound like one of those tapes, this sounded like . . . porn or something.

“Whatcha watchin’?” Buffy asked as she walked up behind him.

Spike jumped. He had been concentrating on the TV and hadn’t heard or felt her come in.  Spike hit the “play” button again, folded his arms across his chest and backed up so she could see the screen.

Buffy looked at the TV.  A look of utter confusion on her face as her mouth dropped open.  “W-what’s that?” she asked, looking from the TV to Spike.

“You tell me,” he answered curtly.  “You seem to have the starin’ role . . . along with Angel.”

“What?!” Buffy looked back at the screen.  There was moaning and groaning coming from the pair who were obviously making love, but the picture was too dark and she couldn’t see who it was. 

“What are you talking about?” she asked Spike, looking away from the TV and back to him.

Spike looked as angry as she’d ever seen him . . . with a tinge of hurt in his eyes as he watched the TV.  He didn’t look at her, just stared at the image on the screen, pointed the remote at it and pressed the fast forward button.  After a few moments, he hit the “pause” button. 

“That . . .” he said, pointing to the TV, “. . . is you.”

Buffy looked back at the screen. It did look like her.

“And that . . .” Spike continued as he pressed the “play” button and the dark haired man in the video turned over to reveal a very unusual tattoo on his shoulder, “. . . is Angel.”

“Spike, that’s . . . that’s not true,” Buffy looked at the TV and then back to Spike. He’d obviously watched this many times to know just where to pause and play the tape. 

Spike let it play until the woman in the tape let out a long primal scream as she came and the man called her name. “Yes! Buffy! God!”

Spike pursed his lips together and stared at Buffy, his eyes narrowed in anger. “That is you,” he repeated. “You were supposed to be in South America . . . guess you got back a little earlier than you said.”

“No . . . Spike . . . no . . . that’s . . . it’s a trick. You KNOW better!” Buffy pleaded with him as she looked from him to the TV screen. The date stamp in the corner of the video said July 31^st, 2003 . . . during the time when she was in South America and Spike was in Canada.

“Do I, now?” Spike asked angrily as he stopped the tape and ejected it from the player.

“YES! You do!” Buffy insisted.  “You can’t possibly believe that!” she said, waving her arm at the tape.

“It’s a trick . . . magic or . . . or something,” Buffy continued, reaching for the tape.  Spike snatched it out of the VCR before she could reach it and started walking out of the room with it.

Buffy followed quickly behind him. “Let Willow and Tara look at it . . . they can tell if it’s magic!” Buffy pleaded as he strode out of the training room and into the great room.

“Like bloody hell am I lettin’ them see THIS!” Spike said, turning back towards her and waving the tape around in the air.  “Me seeing you fucking Angel is bad enough.”

“Spike, please!” Buffy pleaded again as Spike turned and started walking towards the door. 

Buffy caught up with him and grabbed his arm to stop him.  Spike spun around towards her, his other hand clenched in a tight fist as he brought his arm up, poised to strike at her. “LET. GO,” he said through clenched teeth.

“You’re going to HIT me, now?” Buffy asked, narrowing her eyes at him and raising her chin in defiance. She couldn’t remember him ever hitting her in anger . . . not like this . . . not just for anger’s sake.  “Over this . . . this craziness?”

“LET. GO,” Spike repeated, his jaw clenched, every tendon in his neck standing out taught against his skin.

Buffy released his arm as tears stung her eyes.  “It’s a trick,” she said again, softly.

Spike turned and headed out the door, the only sound in the room seemed to be his boots as he stomped heavily across the floor.

“Where are you going?” Buffy called after him.

“OUT. Don’t wait up,” he called coldly over his shoulder as he went out the door towards the garage.

Buffy heard the Harley rumble to life and then roar out of the garage. She could still hear it for a long time as it roared down the street and carried him away.

Buffy dropped down heavily in the nearest chair and buried her face in her hands as tears of frustration and anger and hurt flowed from her eyes. How could he believe that?  How could he believe that I would ever cheat on him . . . and with Angel of all people? Haven’t I shown him and told him over and over again how much I love him?

“Buffy, what’s wrong?” Tara asked, walking up to Buffy and laying a hand on her shoulder.

Buffy looked sadly up at Tara, her face wet with tears.  “Get Willow and Annie,” she told Tara. “We need to go to L.A. . . . right now.”

**~** 

Spike paced back and forth across the lobby of the Hyperion.  Not a bloody one of Angel’s people were in the place to tell him where Angel was or when he’d be back.  So, Spike waited, growing angrier and angrier with each passing minute as he replayed the tape in his mind. 

He didn’t know how Angel did it . . . a thrall or a spell maybe, but he was very sure that it was Buffy and Angel on the tape. Angel had pushed him too far this time.  Today, Angel would find out what it felt like to be dust . . . right after he felt every bone in his body breaking and every bit of his guts being ripped out . . .

“Spike, what’s up?” Angel called as he came in the door with Gunn, Cordelia, Fred and Lorne trailing behind him.

Spike was in game face and on him in a moment, pinning him down on the ground and pummeling Angel’s face with his fists.

“YOU BLOODY WANKER! You’ve gone too fucking far this time!” he screamed at Angel as he continued to rain his fists down on his face.  Angel, caught off guard by the attack, tried to defend himself by putting his arms over his face. Spike just changed tactics and grabbed him by his ears and starting banging the back of Angel’s head against the hard marble floor of the lobby.

Angel’s arms dropped away from his face as he lost consciousness. Spike pulled the video tape from his duster pocket and began shoving it into Angel’s mouth. The hard plastic broke into a hundred pieces, cutting Angel’s mouth as well as Spike’s hands, and the tape became tangled and cut into small pieces as Spike shoved harder and harder in an attempt to make Angel eat the vile thing.

“You want ‘er? Here ya go! ‘Ave ‘er! You bloody son of a fucking bitch!” Spike screamed at him, still shoving the pieces into Angel’s mouth and down his throat.

Gunn, who had finally recovered from the shock of the unprovoked attack, kicked Spike in the ribs and off Angel.  As Spike scrambled back to his feet, Gunn stepped between Spike and Angel, who was still lying semi-conscious on the floor. 

“What the fuck is your problem?!” Gunn screamed at Spike as he blocked him from getting back to Angel.  Spike grabbed Gunn by the shoulders and tossed him out of his way like a rag doll . . . his anger pumping adrenaline through his body and making him even stronger than normal. 

Spike stood over Angel the second Gunn was out of his way and began kicking the fallen vampire in the ribs and stomping down hard on his arms with the heel of his boots.  Each time his boot came down he heard a satisfying “crunch” as bones shattered under his strength.

Gunn recovered and tackled Spike, sending them both sprawling onto the floor as Angel moaned in agony.  Spike punched Gunn in the jaw to get him off, but Gunn held on and drew a stake out of a pocket at the side of his pants leg and pressed it against Spike’s chest. 

“STOP THIS NOW!” Gunn screamed at him, pressing the stake harder against Spike’s chest.  Spike let out a cold, sinister laugh before putting his hand atop Gunn’s on the stake and pressing down hard.  The stake pierced Spike’s rib cage and down into his heart.  Spike just continued to laugh as Gunn’s eyes went wide with fear and confusion.  Spike kicked Gunn over his head and off him before standing up and pulling the stake out of his chest.  The wound healed as quickly as the stake was out of him; the Gem of Amarra protecting him, as he knew it would.

Cordelia and Fred had retrieved crossbows from the weapons cabinet while Spike was fighting with Gunn and stood over Angel now. Lorne moved around the group and went to help get Gunn back up. 

“I got no quarrel with you lot,” Spike said calmly, game face still on, as he sauntered slowly back towards Angel with the stake still in his hand. “Peaches and me . . . we need to come to a little understandin’ is all.”

“Spike . . . we don’t want to hurt you, but we will,” Cordelia informed him, her finger on the trigger of the crossbow.

Spike stopped and smiled at her as he held his hands out wide.  “Take your best shot, luv,” he said. When nothing happened, he continued, “C’mon now . . . better take it while you can, ‘fore you have to sweep your precious Angel up with the Hoover.”

Fred fired an arrow into Spike’s upper thigh and he smiled as he pulled it out, dropping it to the floor. “Didn’ anyone teach you were the heart is, luv?  That may be the path to it down there . . . but that don’ count with crossbows.”

Cordelia fired directly into Spike’s chest, a perfect hit on his heart, and Spike laughed as he pulled it out and dropped it to the floor with the other one. 

“What the fuck?!” Cordelia exclaimed as she loaded another arrow into her weapon.

“STOP!!” came a new voice from the doorway and everyone looked up to see Buffy moving quickly towards the group.

“This ain’t your fight, luv – it’s mine!” Spike yelled at her. “Go the fuck home!”

Buffy took in the scene quickly . . . Angel was writhing in pain on the floor, the video tape strewn in pieces around him as he clutched at his ribs with apparently broken arms; Fred and Cordy were standing over Angel, crossbows at the ready and trained on Spike, and Lorne was trying to get Gunn to his feet behind her husband.  Spike, she saw, had a stake in his hand and two arrows at his feet.

Buffy stormed up to Spike and pushed him hard in the chest, backing him up away from Angel and his people. “You stubborn son of a bitch!” she screamed at him as she pushed him again until his back was against the counter at the back of the lobby.

“You had to go off half-cocked instead of getting some real answers, didn’t you?” Buffy continued to yell at him as Cordy and Fred laid their weapons down and helped Angel sit up and get the pieces of video tape out of his mouth and throat.

“I’m fully ‘cocked’, luv,” Spike informed her as she stood in front of him. “Just ask Angel.”

“Can I know what I’m getting beat up for this time?” Angel asked, still in a daze. Fred and Cordy had gotten him sitting up and leaning against the wall on the other side of the lobby.

“SHUT UP!” Buffy and Spike both said in one voice as they turned briefly towards him and then back to face each other.

“That tape is a fucking lie!” Buffy continued addressing Spike.

“You don’ know anythin’!”

Buffy looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “Don’t I!? I’m pretty certain I’d remember THAT, Spike!”

“Not if he did a spell or a thrall on you!” Spike pointed out.

“I don’t do thralls . . .” Angel protested weakly.

“SHUT UP!” came from Buffy and Spike again as one voice directed towards Angel.

“Angel doesn’t do thralls,” Buffy pointed out to Spike.

“Angel can do thralls if he wanted to take the time to learn . . . he’s a bloody vampire, isn’t he? And he can get witches to do spells . . . have you forgotten his little soul losing adventure?” Spike countered.  “Why are you defending ‘im after all he’s done?!”

“Why are you attacking him after all he’s done?” Buffy countered as she placed her hands on her hips and stood toe to toe with her husband.

“Can someone tell me what I’ve done, now?” Angel asked again.

“SHUT UP!” again came from Buffy and Spike.

“You can’t see the truth of him through those rose colored glasses, Slayer!” Spike told her. “Everything he’s done, he’s done to hurt us and this is no different.”

“Yeah?  Well, maybe you can’t see the truth of him through your . . . whatever the opposite of rose colored is . . . glasses, Spike.  Not everything he’s done has hurt us . . . he’s helped us more than hurt,” Buffy countered.

“He tried to rape you!” Spike reminded her.

“He helped you rescue me from The First,” Buffy reminded him.

“He got his own soddin’ soul removed – and mine along with it!” Spike continued.

“He kept me from dusting you – more than once – when I was triggered!” Buffy countered.

“He let you wear that soddin’ Amulet in the Hellmouth,” Spike pointed out.

“Which, we both know, would’ve worked and closed the Hellmouth for good,” Buffy shot back.

“And taken you away from me and right to him when you burned up!” Spike countered again.

Buffy and Spike stood silently for a few moments, staring each other down, as Angel’s crew did what they could to try and bandage Angel’s wounds and set the breaks in his arms.

“Look into my heart, Spike . . . you know this isn’t true,” Buffy said to him softly.  “Let Willow and Tara look at the tape.”

Spike glared at her for several long moments before he dropped his game face and gave her a small nod. He tucked the stake into the waist of his jeans at his back; his chance to dust Angel was past . . . for the moment.

Buffy went and got Willow, Tara and Annie from where they were waiting outside and brought them in.  Lorne took Annie out for some ice cream while the adults examined the tape. Everyone picked up as many of the pieces of the tape case as they could find, as well as the tape itself and put them on the counter.  Willow slowly ran her hand over the debris to try and pick up any trace that magic may have been used on the tape.  When she was done, she looked up at Buffy and shook her head slowly . . . she couldn’t pick up any sign that magic had been used on the tape itself.

“HA!” Spike said in victory. “I told you!”

Buffy glared at him.  “That doesn’t mean anything; it doesn’t change that what’s on that tape is a lie.”

“Can I know what’s on the tape?” Angel asked from where he now sat on the sofa at the side of the room.

“SHUT UP!” again came from Buffy and Spike.

“Can you make the tape play again, Willow?” Buffy asked her friend.

Willow looked at the mess that used to be the videotape, made a face, and shook her head “no”.

“I might be able to,” Fred offered, looking at Buffy for permission to try.

Buffy nodded and Fred began gathering the largest pieces of tape up.  “It’ll take a while to splice it all back together . . . and it won’t be in order . . . ‘cause . . . well . . .” she said as she held up all the pieces in explanation.

“OI!  Now you’re gonna let the whole soddin’ world see it?” Spike protested, waving his arm towards Fred.

“You brought it here . . . don’t bitch to me!” Buffy told him as she grabbed his arm and pulled him away from Fred and the tape – afraid that he might try to rip it into even smaller pieces – and shoved him down on the round seat in the center of the lobby to wait.

**~**

“Ok, I’ve got it the best I can,” Fred announced a good while later as she wheeled a cart out with a TV and tape player on it.

Spike, Buffy, Willow and Tara joined her near the lobby counter where she plugged in the equipment.  Angel, Cordelia and Gunn came out of Angel’s office to join them but Spike stepped in front of them and stood firm. “Six is a crowd,” he said evenly as he tilted his head indicating they could just wait elsewhere . . . out of viewing range of the video.

Fred handed the remote to Willow and said, “Actually, I think five is a crowd for this . . .” as she joined the rest of Angel’s crew at the round seat in the center of the lobby.

Willow started the tape and was immediately met with someone who sounded like Angel calling Buffy’s name . . . obviously in the heat of passion . . . even though the picture was too dark to see what was going on. 

“Oh, Goddess,” Willow said, turning down the volume.

“What the hell was that!?” Angel asked, walking back towards Spike and the others.

“As if you didn’t bloody well know!” Spike said, stepping forward and stopping him from advancing.

“Angel, please go sit down,” Buffy said to him, as she grabbed Spike’s arm and pulled him back to the TV.  Angel gave Spike a death glare – which Spike returned, but they both did as Buffy asked.  Willow played the spliced tape a few times as she, Tara, Buffy and Spike watched and Angel and his crew waited. 

Buffy kept trying to watch for a frame that would show the stomach of the Buffy in the tape . . . who she was sure was NOT her.  If she could just get a glimpse of her stomach, she could show Spike that it wasn't her. She was pregnant then . . . not far along, not huge . . . but enough to see a little bulge.  But there just was never any clear view of that part of her, or that Buffy's, anatomy.

“This is a bloody waste of time, Slayer,” Spike informed her.  Each time the tape played Spike got angrier and angrier and he’d had about all of this that he could stand. It wasn’t bad enough that he’d seen it, but now Red and Glinda, not to mention Fred, had these images in their brains, too; images of Buffy with Angel. 

“You think Angel’s so fucking innocent . . . fine! But I ain’t watching another soddin’ minute of this!  Face it.  It’s real! It’s you and it’s him and it’s real. Do what you want . . . I’m gone,” Spike told them as he pointed a finger first at the TV, then at Buffy and finally at Angel as he spoke.

 “Spike!” Buffy called as he turned and stormed towards the door, glaring at Angel as he walked past with his duster billowing behind him as he moved across the lobby of the hotel. 

“Fuck,” she said tiredly as she watched Spike leave the hotel and heard his motorcycle start up out on the street. Buffy rubbed her weary eyes . . . maybe Spike was right. Maybe Angel had done a spell or a thrall on her . . . but she was so sure that she would know . . . somehow, she would know if that had happened.

Buffy looked up at the TV again, which was still playing and suddenly exclaimed, “STOP!”

“Look!!  Look at her chest!” Buffy said, pressing her finger against the TV. “Can you zoom in on that?”  Buffy asked, looking hopefully at Willow.

“This isn’t CSI, Buffy . . . it plays and it pauses . . . it doesn’t zoom in,” Willow informed her.

“Fine. Look at her chest!” Buffy insisted.

Willow and Tara looked at what Buffy was pointing at but didn’t see anything unusual . . . well, unless you count Buffy naked and having sex with Angel unusual.

“That’s. Not. Me,” she said triumphantly.

Willow and Tara looked at her with confusion.  Buffy tugged the collar of her shirt down to show the scar on her chest from when she’d worn the Amulet in the Hellmouth, and pointed back to the screen. “No scar,” she told them. “That’s not me.”

“Can I see?” Angel asked hopefully from the round settee in the center of the lobby.

“NO!” came as one voice from Buffy, Willow and Tara.

{More to come . . .  of course . . . it won't be too long!}

Feedback: Email me feedback, I'd love to hear from you! passionate@passion4spike.com

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