Did You Ever Know

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/31828774.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category: F/M
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Relationship: Spike/Buffy Summers
Character: Spike (BtVS), Buffy Summers
Stats: Published: 2021-06-08 Updated: 2021-06-14 Chapters: 2/5 Words:
6551

Did You Ever Know

by violettathepiratequeen

Summary

Spike knows a shaman who can get both he and Buffy something that they want, but will it
be worth the risk of the trials? Takes place between "Something Blue" and "Hush."
Originally posted on LJ for the Spring 2021 Seasonal Spuffy round. Incredible banner
made by Dusty87 (Dusty on EF).
 Chapter 1

“I’ve got a proposition, love.”

He said it so casually, puffing away on a cigarette, speaking as if they were having a pleasant
discussion over a couple of drinks at the Bronze, and she wasn’t in the middle of fighting off some
fledge at the moment. Buffy mentally groaned at the sound of his voice. She’d been purposely
spending as little time at Giles’ as possible lately, especially since Giles had taken to letting Spike
roam free around the little apartment.

But Willow’s spell that had caused Buffy to be engaged to Spike was only three days behind her,
and those were memories that she really, really didn’t want to be harboring. She needed them gone,
and they couldn’t be gone if she had to keep looking at him and remembering.

So what the hell was he interrupting her nice and peaceful patrol for?

She barely took the time to glance over at him, and barked, “Unless it involves you taking a long
walk off a sunny pier, I’m really not interested.”

“Once again, Slayer, your diplomatic rejections are enough to send any man’s heart aflutter, but I
do think you’ll want to hear this one out.”

“Yeah, well, kinda busy at the moment,” Buffy panted, swinging her leg towards her opponent. He
dropped, and rolled out of the way, snarling as he swiped his own leg at her, tripping her up.

Spike continued casually smoking, leaning up against a tree. “One measly vamp too much for
you?”

“I don’t see you offering to help,” Buffy retorted. “Oh, that’s right—because you can’t hit
anything.” She managed to grab her foe’s shoulders and fall down on top of him, slamming a stake
through his chest. He dissolved under her, and she carefully stood up, dusting herself off. She
looked up to see Spike angrily glaring at her.

“You should watch your tone,” Spike snapped. “Because this isn’t going to be a permanent
situation, and someday, when you least expect it, I’ll be coming after you.”
“I don’t need to expect it,” Buffy said. “You’ll find some way to warn me first.” She turned and
started walking away from him, continuing her patrol.

But she wasn’t all that surprised when he took off running after her, falling into step with her.
“You think you’re safe from me?” he demanded. “You know I’ve got you marked. I’ve killed
Slayers before, and both of them had always been victorious, until they met me.”

“Yeah, and I’ve killed way more than two vampires before,” Buffy said. “And more than two
powerful ones. Who—guess what? Were victorious until they met me.”

He scowled. “You wait, Slayer. You just wait.”

“What are you doing out here, anyway?” Buffy asked. “Giles get so sick of you he turned you
loose?”

“He may have had a slight issue with the fact that I was giving him a free rendition of the
Ramones’ Greatest Hits.”

“So he turned you loose,” Buffy repeated.

Spike smirked. “He knows I’ll be back. His house is where the blood is. Don’t think he’d shed too
many tears if I chose to remain roving, however.”

“Well, that plan kinda got shot to hell when you found me, then,” Buffy said. “You’re going back
there, buster, and you’ll stay there until I figure out you’re truly harmless, and if you actually know
more about the commandos than you’re letting on.”

“And here we circle back to my proposition,” Spike said. “What if I told you there was a way for
me to get this spell thing lifted, and for you to find out where the soldiers are?”

“I’d say you’d better tell me so I can find that out, but no way am I letting you go back to your evil
bitey ways,” Buffy said shortly.

He hurried until he was standing in front of her, and scowled. “Oh, give up the little St. Buffy trip
already. You took me in to get information on those commandos, and I found a way to get it for
you. What more do you want?”

“I want all kinds of things,” Buffy said. “I always wanted a pony, for example.”

Spike’s jaw clenched as he rolled his eyes. “Bloody hell, Slayer, you think you’re the only one
here who would rather stake himself than agreeing to work with you? It’s called a truce. We’re
temporarily working together because we want something more than we hate the other person in
said truce. Perhaps you’re familiar with the concept?”

Buffy crossed her arms. “I don’t know why you’re in such a hurry to return to normal. The minute
Sunnydale becomes your buffet again you know I’m gonna kill you, right? And I’ve defeated
baddies plenty of times without your help, so, I’m really not concerned about finding out about the
soldiers right this second. The gang will figure out eventually what I’m up against. And then I’ll
defeat them. I’ll save the world. I’ll hope I don’t have to get up early for class the next day. And I
can do all of that just fine without your interference, Spike, so why don’t you just get out of my
way?”

She started walking again, and Spike just stared at her, his mouth slightly open as his eyes stared at
her in rage. He darted after her again, and roughly grabbed her arm, whipping her around. “Ow,” he
hissed, and then, louder when Buffy swung the back of her hand across his face, “Ow!” He sank to
one knee. “Damn it!”

“Go home, Spike.”

“Yeah?” he snapped. “You think you’ll find out about this particular adversary? When the world
starts ending, that is! You’ll know good and well who you’re supposed to fight when they start
burning the streets or killing innocent victims, won’t you? Because that seems to be the pattern,
doesn’t it, Summers? You can’t ever get the drop on the apocalypse before it’s already started.”

Buffy stopped, and turned back. “That’s not true,” she said coldly.

“Oh, of course not,” Spike said, rising to his feet again, slowly. He touched the cut on his lip.
“Wasn’t a close call with Acathla, was it? Or the Master, or Mayor Wilkins?”

Buffy frowned. “How do you even know about—”

“Because I was personally acquainted with those other two,” Spike said briefly, waving a hand. “I
heard about their respective final stands. And from what I heard, it got a little too close to comfort,
in both of their cases. Wouldn’t you rather just have a heads-up now, start your summer vacation
early this year?”

Buffy crossed her arms. “But, see, we still have one little problem. Evil vampire starting up the
disgusting habit of bloodsucking again?”

He tilted his head, smiling smugly. “What?” he asked condescendingly. “You need me in a muzzle
in order to slay me properly?”

Buffy rolled her eyes, and turned away again, and once again Spike ran to head her off. “I’m
serious, think about it, love. I’m the only vampire with this affliction, that’s hardly fair, is it? Get
this spell or whatever undone, and you and I can have a proper brawl.”

Buffy smirked. “And you’re saying you can’t kill me with the muzzle? Aren’t you like some Big
Bad famous vampire in the demon world? And you can’t do me in because of a little headache?”

Spike snarled, and shifted swiftly into his vamp face. He swung a punch at Buffy, and she casually
stepped out of the way, letting his howl of pain bring him to his knees once again. She snickered as
she moved over to him, crouching until she was at his eye level. “Huh,” she said brightly. “My bad.
You can’t do me in because of a really bad headache. I totally get it now. No, don’t feel bad,
sometimes I don’t feel so hot when I patrol, either.” She shrugged, still smirking. “Of course, that
doesn’t stop me from getting my slay in.”

Spike glared at her with human eyes, still pressing a hand to his forehead. “Think you’re funny, do
you?” he growled. “Think it’s such a hoot to kick a man when he’s down?”

“You’re not a man,” she reminded him.

“And you’re even more brainless than I thought if you’re actually going to pass up a chance on
valuable information here.”

Buffy stood back up, and Spike stood with her. Buffy crossed her arms and regarded him for a long
moment. He was still shaking his head, as if trying to clear the pain. And Buffy considered. She
didn’t trust him, didn’t trust whatever he had in mind to get rid of his malady and to help her with
her commando problem. But she did trust that that truly was his purpose in coming to her. He’d
come to her while waving a white flag in the past. More than once, actually, now that she thought
about it. More than twice. She tried telling herself that if she ever did such a thing he’d be quick
to turn her down and take advantage, but… what the hell. She would never need to raise a white
flag with him. And she knew he’d honor whatever agreement they struck… which was a weird
thought, but also a true one. And she did have the upper hand right now. What was the worst that
could happen?

Her eyes went wide as she had that thought, but she told herself quickly that as long as she hadn’t
actually said it out loud, she hadn’t jinxed anything. “Okay,” she said, drawing a long, tired sigh, as
if she had better things to do right now.

She really didn’t though, and that was another reason she was willing to hear him out. It would
probably be interesting, if nothing else.

He quirked an eyebrow. “Okay?”

“What’s your plan?” Buffy asked.

Spike gave a triumphant smile. “There’s this shaman,” he said. “Can give you info on your
soldiers, and can take off this little muzzle. All we have to do is undergo some sort of trial.”

Buffy raised her eyebrows. “Trial. As in, something we could potentially die in?”

“Well, yeah, where would be the fun if we weren’t risking our lives? Or lack thereof?”

Buffy nodded. “So, you’re just trying to get me killed, then.”

“On the contrary, pet, this shaman was very specific in saying we’d have to work together.”

“So what kind of trial is it?”

“Haven’t the bloody foggiest. There’s usually some sort of beastie to kill in these types of things…
that’ll be your department, love, for obvious reasons. Then I imagine there’ll be a lake of fire, or
we’ll need to escape a giant rolling boulder or some codswallop.”

“So, something that could get us killed. Something that’ll almost definitely be a form of torture.”

He leered at her. “Suppose there’ll be quite a bit of pain involved, yeah. That’s how the price is
paid, and these things always have a price. You think you can handle it?”

“Can you?” she shot back.

He took a step closer to her, so that she had to lift her chin to look in his eyes. He tilted his head,
and reached out a hand, brushing the tips of his fingers across her face. “Sweet Slayer,” he
murmured. “I’m a Big Bad famous vampire. I can handle anything. All I was asking is if the
blushing schoolgirl is ready for something truly hellish.”

Buffy didn’t know why she was letting him touch her, but she didn’t push him away. She stared up
at him, fire in her eyes, daring him with her gaze to make a move. A gaze which he didn’t look
into, to her annoyance. “Bring it on,” she hissed. “I’ll show you blushing.”

He grinned. “Will you now?”

She did, promptly, and punched his arm to make up for it as she turned away. “I don’t have all
night, though. So where’s this shaman?”
Spike shrugged. “Said she’d meet us in the woods.” He shoved his hands in his duster pockets and
took off, and Buffy followed, glancing up at him occasionally as they made their way.

It was a little more of a walk than she would have liked, because the silence was pretty awkward,
and it gave her lots of opportunities to regret going along with this. Her friends would freak if they
knew she’d done this. “Too bad,” she accidentally muttered aloud. “They don’t run my life.”

“Say something, pet?” Spike asked casually, and she flushed again. “No,” she said, tossing her hair
and lifting her nose. He grinned, and she scowled at him, realizing he would have been able to hear
her. “Just wondering how you came into contact with a shaman who is willing to do this for you.”

Spike shrugged. “I’m very popular in the demon world, you know. Got lots of favors owed.”

“Uh huh. And this is one of them?”

“Well, not as such. Still, got connections.”

Buffy raised her eyebrows, and repeated, “Aaaand this is one of them?”

“Look, you’ve got a problem, I’ve got a problem, this person can fix those problems. No need to
ask any more questions than that.”

They were in the woods now, and Buffy was reluctantly impressed that Spike seemed to know
exactly where he was going in a place where every tree looked the same. What exactly had they
agreed their meeting point would be? Twelve trees in, next to the rock that looks like Tom
Selleck?

But just as she’d had that thought, Spike faltered, and seemed unsure. Buffy crossed her arms, and
raised her eyebrows. “Not getting lost, are we?”

“No,” he growled. “It’s just…”

There was a sudden flash of blue light, and a woman appeared. She had blond hair and a dark pink
gown, and she smiled pleasantly at them. “Spike,” she said. “I was so excited to get your
summons!”

“You’re a shaman?” Buffy asked skeptically.

“Sha woman ,” she corrected crisply, flinging her hair behind one shoulder.

“This is Meg,” Spike said, almost gruffly, like he was too good to be making introductions or
something. “And Meg, this is the—”

“Slayer,” Meg purred, holding out her hand. She held it out with the back facing Buffy though, and
Buffy wasn’t sure if she was supposed to kiss it, or bow or something. The only shaman she’d ever
seen was the one who’d helped her trick Faith into thinking Angel had lost his soul, and though
Giles had treated him very respectfully, there had been no hand-kissage.

But Meg was undeterred by Buffy’s hesitation, and began pumping her hand with great vigor. “It’s
an honor,” Meg said. “Really. I mean… probably wouldn’t be as much of an honor if I thought you
could kill me, but…” she laughed. “I’m pretty immune to Slayers! And you are a celebrity in our
world, so I continue to think of this as an honor.”

“Uh,” Buffy said. “Great.”

Spike cleared his throat, and stepped forward. “So, you can do this for us, yeah? Can take care of
our little annoyances?”

“I can,” she said, nodding. “Of course you realize you must pass my trials to do so.” She looked at
Buffy. “He’s explained this to you?”

“Not really,” Buffy said.

“Ah,” Meg said. “Well.” She waved her hand, and a door appeared, sloping into the ground. The
door flew open to reveal a dirt staircase, apparently leading underground, with soft light from
torches in the wall, lighting up the way. “It’s not difficult. You will pass through three rooms, and
at the end, should you succeed, I shall grant your wishes.”

“What’s in the rooms?” Buffy immediately asked.

“The keys to the doors,” she said. “They’re puzzles, of a sort. Challenges.”

Spike growled. “We’re not students at Stanford, pet, we’re not here for a bloody escape room.”

“Don’t worry, you have everything you need to figure them out,” she said. She hesitated.
“Probably.”

“Probably?” Buffy asked.

“It’s a game,” Meg said, ignoring her. She smiled. “I like to call it… Truth or Dare.”

“Dare,” Buffy said quickly. “I pick dare.”

Spike nodded. “Not about to play any mind games here, all right? Just show us what to hit, and
where to walk. We’ll take the physical any day.”

Meg threw back her head and let out a tinkling, merry little laugh. “Sillies!” she cried. “You can’t
choose. It’s not actually Truth or Dare… not in the traditional human sense. Though really they
stole the concept from demons anyway. No, you’ll have to do both.”

Spike rolled his eyes. “Anything you can tell us about them?”

“You are the key to the first room,” Meg said. “Both of you. The second one is a key you must
discover. As for the third room… well.” She smiled sweetly. “We’ll just see if you make it to the
third room.” Buffy crossed her arms. “And in return?”

“Of course,” Meg said. She closed her eyes, and a blue light began forming around her. “State your
wishes,” she said, in what sounded like three voices at once.

“To get whatever those commandos did to me reversed,” Spike spat out.

“To find out who those commandos are, and where I can find them,” Buffy said.

The blue light faded, and Meg smiled at them. “Perfect,” she murmured. “Oh, we will have a good
time.” She stepped away from the entrance, and gestured towards them. “Enjoy your challenge, my
lovelies. I’ll see you in a bit.”

Buffy looked up at Spike, and he gave her a brief nod, then stepped forward. He began descending
the stairs, and Buffy put her foot on the first one, before stepping back and looking Meg in the eye.
“What happens if we fail?” she asked.

“Do you intend to?” Meg asked, giving her an even look.

“No,” Buffy said. She shifted. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t.”

“Very true.” Meg gave a brief smile. “But what do you think will happen?”

Buffy shuddered, and was very close to stepping back. But Spike had already gone down and she…
she’d agreed. She had promised him she’d try. And anyway, she thought, as she followed him
down into the cavern, she was the Slayer. Surely she’d be able to handle this.

She just wished she’d asked Giles first, was all.

 Chapter 2

The torches on the walls continued as Buffy entered the first cavernous room. They only cast a dim
glow, but they were bright enough for Buffy to see a door at the other end of the room with
something that looked like a scoreboard above it. One of those really old school ones that baseball
stadiums used to have in like the 50s… or whatever time period hadn’t had electricity yet.

There was a noise behind her and she jumped, turning to see the doorway she and Spike had just
walked through disappear, leaving only more of the rocky cavern. Spike raised his eyebrows at it.
“Right,” he said. “Westward ho, then.”

Buffy just stared at him, her mouth slightly open, wanting to demand that he be just as freaked by
being trapped here as she was. But he didn’t notice, and just looked around with mild interest,
before frowning as his eyes fell on the scoreboard. “What the bloody hell is that?”

“Spike,” she said, as he strode over to investigate. “I did not sign up for…” she gestured around
her. “Whatever this is. You said there’d be pain, and fighting and stuff. Not that we’d get trapped
in some room because we couldn't solve a damn puzzle!”

“Believe me, pet, I’ve got no interest in getting stuck forever with…” his words broke off absently
as he reached for something white on the side of the wall. “With the Slayer…” he broke whatever
it was off, and studied it. Then he looked up at the scoreboard again.

“What?” Buffy asked, curiosity getting the better of her. She made her way over to him and saw
that he was holding a stack of cards. Not playing cards, but, like, flashcards or something. He
handed her half without looking at her.

“Right then,” he said.

“ What?” Buffy asked, and looked down at her cards.

He pursed his lips. “We’ve entered into a game of Trivial Pursuit, love, only the topics seem to be
you and me.” He clucked his tongue. “Wish they’d given us time to study.”

“The topics are us?” Buffy looked at her cards again, and started to panic. “Wait...truth or dare…”

“Guessing this would be the truth portion,” Spike said. He slowly sat down on the dirt floor, and
looked at his cards, then at the scoreboard. “We’ve got ten each. We need five correct on both
sides to open the door.”

“Or what?” Buffy wondered.

He shrugged. “Or the door doesn’t open, I reckon.”

Buffy sat on the ground as well, but more because her legs had decided to stop working than
anything else. She swallowed. “Oh,” she said. And then she kicked one of her legs out at him.

His head snapped up. “What the hell, woman, I didn’t know this was what was going to happen!
Told you I thought we’d have to fight some hellbeast, or maybe that your veins would be ripped
open and I’d have to refrain from lapping you up, or something of that ilk.”

“This is still your fault,” Buffy said, cheeks flaming in anger. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into
this! I’m just gonna have to kill you when we get out of here anyway, I might as well do it now!”

“You do it now, and you’ll never leave!”

Buffy sighed. “Yeah, I know that. Just get on with it!”

Spike grumbled, but he glanced down at his first card anyway. “Bloody hell,” he sighed. “When
was the first time I saw you?”

Buffy relaxed slightly. Maybe they would be easy. Maybe this was really just a test to see whether
they could make it through without killing each other. “Back of the Bronze,” she said smoothly.
“October 1997. You saw me fighting another vamp.”

Spike sighed, and rubbed his forehead. “I knew you’d get that wrong.”

Buffy’s triumphant smile faded. “Wrong! How is that wrong?”

“Because I saw you inside first,” he said. “Dancing all suggestive like.”

“You were stalking me?” she snapped.

“Vampire!” he snapped back. “And yeah, given that I’d come to town with the intention of killing
you, I was gonna watch you first, see how you moved….” he trailed off. “See how you danced…”

“Spike,” Buffy said.

“What?”

Buffy nodded to the door, and he turned, realization dawning as he saw an “X” over one of the
spaces in the scoreboard. “Wonderful,” he said, softly. “So they’re counting down to our doom for
us. That’s ever so helpful.”

Buffy looked down at her cards with shaking hands. “Crap,” she said. “Uh...where did I go to high
school in L.A.?”

Spike pinched the bridge of his nose, and fell onto his back, his knees tenting up. “Slayer, I don’t
have a single buggering clue. Beverly Hills?”

“Hemery,” Buffy said crisply, glancing up to see another “X” on the board. “Go.”

Spike sighed, and looked at his cards again. “What’s my natural hair color?” He rolled his eyes,
before closing them in defeat.

“You mean it’s not platinum blonde?” Buffy gasped, and grinned when she saw Spike give a tiny
smile. “Uh, I don’t know. Real blonde?”

“No,” he said, flatly. “It’s light brown, and next time take the time to think about it before blurting
out the first thing on your mind.” His eyes opened halfway. “Ask away.”

“Name three of my boyfriends,” Buffy said. She frowned, and pouted. “What is this, a list of
security questions? Who came up with these?”

“Angel,” Spike said, and she looked up in confusion before realizing he was giving his answer.
“Ford, Parker.”

“Wrong,” Buffy said, glaring at him. “Ford was my…” she cleared her throat. “Crush, and Parker
was a one-night stand.”

Spike sighed. “How’s a bloke supposed to tell the difference?”

“What’s next?”

He looked at his cards again, and gave a defeated whimper. “You’re right, Slayer, you should just
stake me now. Save us both from going down this list asking things we couldn’t possibly know
about the other. It’s a kind of torture I’m just not familiar with.”

“No,” she said firmly. “You’re asking, and I’m going to get lucky on five of them, okay? What is
it?”

He sighed. “What year was I sired?”

“1880,” Buffy said promptly.

Spike’s eyes flew open again, and he sat up and stared at her. “Was that… that a lucky guess?”

“Nope,” Buffy said. “I guess I was just paying attention when Giles was talking that day. Okay,
here’s my next one. When did my parents split up?” She pursed her lips, angry that she’d just read
that aloud, but when she looked up at Spike, he was still looking at her in bewilderment, and, if she
had to put a name to it… touched. That she’d known when he was sired.

But then he cleared his throat, and growled. “There are no history books telling me about your past,
Slayer. I don’t know, three years ago?”

“Four,” Buffy said quietly, and laid the card down. She looked up at him, and he looked away,
down at his card. And then his face took on a worried look, and he swallowed several times before
reading it.

“What was my first turning?” he asked, in a raspy whisper.

Buffy blinked. It bothered him, whoever it was. But… “I don’t know,” she said flippantly. “Uh…
George Washington?”

He gave her a sour look, but she could see a tiny sparkle in his eyes. “I’m from England, you barmy
chit. And he was dead long before 1880 anyway.”

“Oh, right,” Buffy said. “Um… who was it then?”

“Never you mind,” he snapped. “Ask your next one.”

Buffy glanced down. “What’s my middle name?”

He snorted, and mumbled something.

“What?” Buffy asked.

“Anne,” he said, in a raised voice. “Your middle name is Anne.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Aaaand, how do you know that, Mr. there-are-no-history-books-about-
you?”

“Because of those sodding wedding invitations you were designing, that’s why,” he said.

“Oh.” Buffy paused, accidentally thinking back to that engagement, before again shoving it out of
her mind. “Well… good for you for paying attention.”

“How could I not? It was actually a decent and respectable name, and I had to look twice to make
sure I’d read it right.”

“Would you just leave my name alone already?” Buffy asked before she paused, and realized that,
somewhere in there, he’d kind of complimented her middle name. Even if he’d done so by insulting
her first.

He gave a kind of chuckle, and looked at his cards again. “How did I earn my nickname?” he
asked.

“Tortured your victims with railroad spikes,” Buffy said. “And, can I just say? Ew.”

He looked impressed. “Well, weren’t we just the little wakeful Slayer that day.”

Buffy hastily looked down at her next card, ignoring Spike’s snickers. “Okay, here’s an easy one,
lucky for you. What’s my Watcher’s first name?”

She waited for a second, and then looked back up in surprise. He was staring at her, a confused
frown on his face. “Uh,” he said.

“Seriously?” Buffy cried. “You LIVE with him for Pete’s sake! How can you not know this?”

“Not like we’ve ever bloody discussed it!” Spike cried. “Um…” he waved his hands vaguely.
“Edward?”

“Rupert!”

Spike snorted, and laughed. “ Rupert? ” Your high-and-mighty Council’s man is named Rupert ?”

Buffy wanted to hit him, so very, very badly, but she restrained herself by thinking of how dead she
was going to kill him when this was all over. She clenched the remaining cards in her hands and
scowled, shooting daggers at him with her eyes.

His giggles eventually subsided, and he stared at her with mirth still dancing behind his eyes. “Oh,
come on,” he said. “Don’t get all stake-happy now, love. The fun’s only just beginning.”
“Better be almost over,” Buffy said. “So get on with it. What’cha got next?”

“Who did Drusilla dump me for?” Spike asked. He grunted. “Well, now they’re just getting
insensitive. Couldn’t have phrased it more delicately? Besides, there’s every possibility that I
dumped—”

“Chaos demon,” Buffy said. “And then a Fungus demon.”

Spike froze, and looked up at her. And there was definitely a softer look in his eye. He’d definitely
been touched by that. But he suddenly sniffed disdainfully and frowned at her. “Nice to see you’ve
taken an interest in my misfortunes, pet. I’m sure you take great pleasure in knowing the Big Bad’s
sore spots.”

Buffy raised her hands. “Not my fault that you wouldn’t shut up about the first one! Or that you
picked a halfwit girlfriend to mention the other one.”

“Well,” Spike growled. “I didn’t know you were paying attention, that’s all.”

Buffy tossed her hair. “I think we’ve proved today that I am absolutely attention-girl. Sometimes.
When I choose to be.” She held up her next card. “How old was I when I was called?”

“Fifteen.”

Buffy raised her eyebrows. “Okay, that’s bordering on creepy, because I know I never told you
that.”

“Angelus did,” Spike said casually. “He’d never shut up about you, when he was plaguing Dru and
I. I heard all about how he watched you get Chosen.”

“Oh.” Buffy looked down. “He never told me… I mean, I didn’t know he talked about me. To you
guys.”

“Slayer this, and Slayer that,” Spike said, nodding. “But did he ever bother to get around to killing
you? Nope, he just went after the weaker ones on all sides of you. Likes to call it torture,
destroying you from the inside, but everyone knows that’s just coward’s play. He knew you’d cut
him down if he ever faced you head on.” He shook his head, sighing. “If I hadn’t been in that
bloody wheelchair…”

“And we’re moving on,” Buffy said firmly. “It’s your turn.”

Spike looked down at his next card, and blinked expressionlessly a few times. “Am I currently
dating Harmony?” he asked in a deadpan voice.

Buffy squinted. “Did they run out of interesting facts about you and are just fixating on your dating
life now?”

“Answer the bloody question, Slayer,” Spike ground out.

Buffy squinted even harder as she looked at him. “Well,” she said slowly. “After your whole…
castration incident I don’t think you would have come to me for help if you had a devoted,
brainless, vampire slave to feed you and shelter you.” She shrugged. “So I’m going with no.” She
smiled. “The funny question is, who dumped whom?”

Spike choked, and scoffed. “You saw the way that chippy was fawning over me. You think she
would have let me go?”
Buffy sighed. “Yeah, I know, I get that she was your rebound and you were probably everything
she ever dreamed of,” she said. “I really can’t see her breaking up with you.”

Spike raised his eyebrows at her in surprise. “Uh,” he said. “Yeah. I broke up with her. And that
made coming to you the only option. Believe me, if I could have gone anywhere else, I would
have.”

“I wish you had,” Buffy snapped.

“Yeah? Why’d you take me in then, Slayer, if I was gonna be such a bleeding inconvenience for
you?”

Buffy pursed her lips until they turned white. “ Because. I’m not a monster , Spike. And I needed
information from you, anyway.”

“Not a monster?” Spike scoffed. “Right. That’s why you chained me up, and you did a love spell
on me!”

“That wasn’t my spell! That was Willow’s!”

“Same bloody difference, you lot are like a hive mind. If one of you does something, the others
either know or contributed!”

“You think I wanted to…” Buffy flushed. “To spend all day… with you… with the kissing, and
the..”

“No,” Spike snarled. “I think it was a ploy to get me whipped. Much less volatile than a truth spell,
where I might spill all kinds of things you’d rather not know. But if I was a bloody white hat, I
might be more inclined to tell you everything I know!”

Buffy blinked. “Spike, if you stretch any further your arm is going to fall off!”

“Fine, then just ask your next question, you bloody bitch!”

“Fine!” Buffy looked down at her card, and felt the heat leave her face immediately. She stared at
it for a long time, willing it to be anything else. She would happily have answered any other
question right now.

Well, not… not any other question, but this one was pretty awful.

“What?” Spike snapped. “Forget how to read there, Slayer?”

“Who was my first?” Buffy asked. That wasn’t the exact phrasing of the question, but she figured
the cosmic rules of this game wouldn’t mind as long as it meant the same thing.

Spike snickered. “Ooh, here we are, now we’re getting interesting.” He rubbed his hands together
gleefully. “Even though I haven’t a single buggering…”

He stopped when he saw her face. She’d gone completely white, and was staring down at the card,
worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Angel?” he asked, in a much softer voice than either of them were expecting. She gave a single,
short nod, and Spike sighed. “He was… he never said that. That he took your virginity.”
“Well, he did,” Buffy said sharply. “Pretty even trade, don’t you think? He took my virginity, and I
took his soul.” She tossed her head, and met him with a steely gaze. “What’s your next question?”

Spike’s eyes dropped to his lap, almost unwillingly, and he gave a twisted smile. “Huh,” he said
softly. “Who is the one person that I love just as strongly as I hate them?”

“Well that’s a duh,” Buffy said. “Drusilla.” She glanced at the scoreboard, and blinked when
another “X” appeared.

“Angel,” Spike said quietly.

“What the hell?” Buffy asked, frowning at him. “In what universe do you love Angel? And… more
than Drusilla?”

“No,” he said, giving a bitter, almost manic laugh. “See, it’s not about loving him more. Right
now, my hatred for Drusilla surpasses my love for her, but I still love her more . And Angel? I
want him dead, I wish every kind of torture upon him, I’m glad he has some specific gypsy curse
that makes him unable to ever be truly happy. I hate him with a fiery vengeance, but if you think
that I don’t crave his affection and acceptance, his respect and approval just as much as you do,
kitten…” He stopped and paused, taking an unneeded breath. “Then you’d be wrong.”

Buffy had no idea what to say to that. Honestly if Spike had just thrown a bomb at her feet, her
world couldn’t have been more changed. It was weird to have that connection to Spike. To know
that they were both someone Angel had turned away from, that they were both someone who
looked up to him, in everything. Even if for completely different reasons.

“Is that a sire thing?” she finally asked. She already knew the answer.

He just nodded. “I hate him,” he whispered. “I don’t want him to have that hold on me, but…”

“I know.” Buffy gave a tiny smirk. “Who knew that Big Bads have daddy issues?”

He managed a snort, but he didn’t look at her quite as hatefully as he’d probably intended. He just
sat up straighter, and put his shoulders back. “So, what’s next on this merry trip through
Candyland, then?”

“When’s the last time I cried?” Buffy asked. She rolled her eyes. “Okay, that’s got to be the
stupidest…”

“The night of Red’s spell,” Spike said, with no hesitation.

“Oh… that’s right, I cried when you proposed.” She rolled her eyes again. “Should have known
right then it was a spell. I’m not gonna cry when someone proposes to me for real.”

“Not then,” Spike said. “Later. After it was broken. When you came back to tie me up.” He nodded
assuredly. “You’d been crying then. I smelled it on you.” He tilted his head and smirked. “Wonder
what brought on such an outpouring of salt, love?”

“One, that smelling thing you guys do is seriously icky,” Buffy said. “And two, none of your damn
business.”

“Uh huh.” Spike smirked and read his next card. “Where were Dru and I before we came here?”

Buffy blinked, and Spike gave her a disapproving look. “Come on, love, you’ve only got one more
chance after this!”
“Hey, I’ve gotten way more right than you!” Buffy said, having no idea if that was actually
correct. “Uh, London?”

“Prague, you useless… that was a massive deal! There was this whole mob, surely you heard about
it!”

“I don’t read Vampires Weekly ,” Buffy said drily. She looked down, and read out, “Where did my
parents send me when I first tried to tell them I was the Slayer?”

He snorted. “A looney bin, based on your mum’s reaction when we…” he again stopped when he
saw her face. “Hang on… did she actually?”

“Yeah,” Buffy said briefly. She dropped that card as well as her final one. “Well, look at that.
Congratulations, you got five with one question to spare.”

“I… it was just a guess,” he said quickly.

“I know,” Buffy snorted. “At least I know the answers I got right. You just keep guessing.”

“Your mum shouldn’t have done that,” Spike said angrily. “I thought better of her.”

“What was she supposed to do?” Buffy mumbled. “Hurry up, ask your million dollar question.”

He cleared his throat, opened his mouth, and then looked sick.

“What?” Buffy asked.

“You won’t get it,” he sighed.

Buffy crossed her arms. “You’ve said that before.”

“I know, but…” Spike squirmed, and looked up at her. “I want you to think very carefully about all
you’ve heard of me, got it?”

“Spike, just ask the stupid question.”

He swallowed, and asked, all in a rush, “What are the names of the two Slayers I killed?” He
squeezed his eyes shut, as if bracing for impact.

“Xin Rong, and Nikki Wood.”

There was a click of a door being opened, and Spike’s eyes shot open, and he looked wildly around
the room. “Is that written somewhere?”

“No,” Buffy giggled. “I just know that, idiot. I’ve read up on your past, even if you have no idea of
mine.”

He laughed delightedly. “I could bloody kiss you, you glorious…” he stopped, frozen.

Buffy eyes widened in horror, and she stood up, hastening towards the door. She stopped in front of
it, and just stared. There was a mist in front of it, preventing her from seeing what was beyond.

Spike came up behind her. “What would your tenth question have been?” he asked casually.
“Uh,” Buffy said distractedly. “It wanted you to say my sister’s name. Which is super weird,
because I definitely don’t have a sister.” She looked up at him. “I guess it was meant to be a trick
question.”

Spike grinned at her. “Fortunately I’m caught up enough on Buffy lore to have not needed it.” He
gestured to the doorway. “Ladies first?”

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