Author's Note: Thanks once again for all the reviews! It'll be a little while till we get more threesome action (another chapter at the least), but there's some high-quality snogging in this chapter to compensate. ~_^

Previously: Trio brings past Spike into present. Buffy does the only logical thing and shags both Spikes at once. Now, they're all at the Magic Box where the Scoobies have captured the gang of nerds. Everyone else is researching how to send past Spike back home, while Dawn - who Buffy's told about her extracurricular activities with present Spike - drags present Spike into the training room to talk.

Spike stepped into the training room and leaned back against the wall. He watched curiously as Dawn shut the door tight behind them, gave him an exasperated look, then stopped to stand in front of him, her arms crossed in a no-nonsense manner.

“Spill.”

The one word was spoken with commanding precision.

Spike’s brow furrowed for a second, trying to figure out what this was about.

“Spill.” Dawn repeated.

“What exactly do you what me to—” he began.

“Argh!” Dawn threw her hands up in the air in frustration. “I’m not blind, Spike,” she pointed out. “Buffy disappearing. You disappearing. Always on the same night. Both of you acting all weird and secretive. Buffy spending hours deciding what to wear on patrol. Buffy leaving the house tonight not wearing a scarf, and then showing up here with one. Not to mention that said scarf happens to be in your favorite color, which doesn’t match the rest of her outfit at all. Are you following me here?” She gave him the Summers-Glare-of-Death.

“Uh, yeah…” Spike ran his fingers through his hair nervously. “Well, about that… You see…” he glanced at the persistent teenager in front of him. “Oh bugger!” he groaned. “What do you want to know?”

Dawn gave him a sly smile. “You and Buffy?” she teased.

“Yeah,” he sighed. “Look, Big Sis says ‘m not s’posed ta tell anyone, an’—” His hands gestured in the air helplessly.

“She would,” Dawn rolled her eyes. “It’s OK, though,” she added cheerfully. “Buffy already told me.”

“What?!” Spike’s eyes widened comically.

“Buffy – as in, my sister, Buffy – already – as in, at a previous time – told – as in, said the words – me – as in, Dawn,” Dawn said very slowly and teasingly.

“Really?” Spike looked at her curiously. “Er…what exactly did she say then?”

“That you two have been doing the wacky,” Dawn grinned widely at the flustered expression on his face, “although she wouldn’t give me the details. She wouldn’t even tell me what you looked like naked,” she pouted slightly. She could have sworn Spike was blushing. It was kind of hard to tell with vampires, since blushing consisted of being slightly less white than usual, but Dawn had had tons of practice reading this one. “And,” she added evilly, “I got the distinct impression that you’re a major stallion in bed.”

That did the trick. There was no mistaking the reddish tint to his cheeks now. He had also begun that nervous stuttering that Dawn had stuck firmly in the ‘leftover Williamisms’ category.

“S-She…I mean…I…um…er…”

“But the real question here,” Dawn’s face hardened once again, “is: Why. Didn’t. You. Tell. Me?”

He seemed to know how to react to that one better. “Big Sis told me not to,” he insisted.

“And you listen to her since when?” she demanded.

“Well…”

“She’s been holding out on the lovin’, hasn’t she?” Dawn shook her head. “She’s so completely hopeless!”

“Hey, there,” Spike corrected her. “’s not like she loves me or anything. ‘s just a little fling is all.” He tried to say this all with a straight face, but Dawn could read the pain in his eyes.

“Let me get this straight,” she said in a voice that brooked no argument. “Buffy is having sex with you, and you don’t think it means anything?”

“She said—”

“And you believed her?” Dawn rolled her eyes in disbelief.

“No, not at first,” he insisted, “but she…she…”

Dawn frowned slightly. “What’s she been saying to you?” she asked softly.

“Nothin’,” he said, turning his head away abruptly. Dawn was pretty sure she saw tears in his eyes.

“What a bitch!” she stamped her foot on the ground, outraged. “You mean she’s been leading you along all this time, and she hasn’t even bothered telling you that she’s crazy about you?!”

“She’s what?” A hint of hope was in his voice.

“And, of course, she’s probably been feeding you all sorts of garbage about how you don’t deserve to be loved… God, what a bitch!” she repeated her earlier sentiment.

“She’s not,” Spike insisted. “Well…not really… OK, so she is, but ‘s part o’ what I love ‘bout her.” His accent was getting thicker with emotion, and since it wasn’t going upper class, Dawn could tell the emotions weren’t remotely happy.

“You wait here,” she ordered him. “I’ll go fix things. And I swear, if she doesn’t apologize…” Her hands clasped into fists, and she stormed out of the training room.

“Nibblet, wait!” he called after her, but she was already gone…

Xander glanced nervously over his shoulder to see past Spike still leaning against the counter, smoking, and staring directly at him, an evil glint in his eye.

“Guys…” Xander began nervously. “I really think we should tie him up or something.”

“No tying up,” Buffy insisted, her eyes widening at certain memories.

“Dunno, pet,” past Spike blew out a long stream of smoke, “could be a lot o’ fun…”

“Oh god!” Xander said. “He’s just as bad as the other one! What part of ‘hands off Buffy’ don’t you Spikes understand?”

“The ‘off’ part,” past Spike replied readily enough.

Buffy’s face was turning redder by the minute. “Research, guys,” she laughed nervously. “Remember?”

Jonathan spoke up. “You might want to check out the—”

“Shut up!” a throng of voices said in perfect unison.

“Right then,” Jonathan shrunk back down into his chains.

For a few minutes the Magic Box was filled with blissful silence. Then:

“Buffy! Get your ass back here right now!” Dawn screamed into the room at the top of her lungs.

“Language, Dawnie,” Willow said out of habit.

“Uh, I’m kinda—” Buffy began, gesturing at the books.

“Now.” Dawn insisted, crossing her arms in front of her.

“Someone’s in trouble,” past Spike sing-songed.

Buffy glared at him and got up to go talk to Dawn. “What’s up?” she whispered.

“In.” Dawn grabbed hold of Buffy’s arm and dragged her back into the training room.

“Dawnie, what—?” Buffy began.

“Look, Nibblet—” she heard Spike saying from behind the door.

Dawn slammed the door shut behind the three of them. “You,” she pointed an accusing finger at Buffy.

“What did I do?” Buffy demanded. “What did you say?” she whispered back at Spike.

“Nothing,” he whispered back.

“You,” Dawn repeated. “Apology. Now.”

“What?” Buffy said in surprise.

“Nibblet—” Spike tried to cut in again.

“Shh!” Dawn hushed him. “You’ll want to hear every word of the high-quality groveling Buffy’s about to do.”

“Dawnie!” Buffy rolled her eyes. “C’mon now—”

“Apologize,” Dawn insisted. “Tell. The. Truth.” She threw her arms up in the air in despair. “God, what’s wrong with all you people? Do you have any idea how much simpler all your lives would be if you were just honest with each other? I mean, haven’t you learned that lesson a thousand times over before?!” she demanded of Buffy.

“It’s not that simple,” Buffy said.

“No, it’s not,” Dawn agreed, “because you make it so bloody complicated. Now, tell him.” She crossed her arms in front of her again. “I think if you’re letting him bite you, he deserves to know the truth.”

“You told her that?!” Buffy spun around to stare at Spike in outrage.

“Unless it was the other Spike…” Dawn said thoughtfully to herself.

“’Course not!” Spike replied to Buffy’s accusations, holding his hands up defensively.

“Or maybe it was…” Dawn’s eyes widened in horror. “Both?!” she squealed abruptly.

Buffy and Spike both broke off their argument and gave her that same deer-trapped-in-headlights look.

“Ah!” Dawn’s hands covered her eyes. “Innocent young mind not ready to handle that image! Blocking it out now!”

“Way to corrupt my sister,” Buffy turned back to Spike. “And I can’t believe you told her about the biting!”

“I figured it out on my own,” Dawn cut in. “I mean, duh! Nice scarf there, Buffy!”

“Oh…” Buffy said guiltily, fingering the red fabric around her neck. “Is it really that obvious?” she asked nervously.

“Don’t worry,” Dawn said. “Everyone else is so being keeping their own secrets that they’re in denial about yours.”

“Good,” Buffy breathed a sigh of relief. “Or…wait a minute, not good…”

“Exactly,” Dawn agreed. “Break the evil pattern. Tell the truth. I’ll be outside.” She gave Spike a quick wink before stepping out and closing the door behind her.

“Er, yeah…” Spike said sheepishly. “She can be right bossy when she wants to, hey pet?”

“Just like her sister,” Buffy smiled slightly at the closed door. She turned back to look at Spike and sighed. “Look,” she began, “I don’t know what she got all riled up about…”

“Mostly that I wouldn’t tell her ‘bout what you’d said to me,” Spike shrugged. “Guess she just assumed the worst.”

“Yeah, well, she probably assumed right then,” Buffy wrapped her arms around herself and sat down on the couch.

Spike shrugged again and found a particularly fascinating spot on the wall to stare at.

“You’re not convenient,” she said so softly he barely heard her, vamp hearing and all.

He looked at her curiously.

“You’re not convenient,” she repeated a little bit louder. “In fact, you’re probably the most inconvenient person in the world: annoying, rude, pigheaded, stubborn as all hell, not to mention the whole vampire thing, and you never know when to quit, and—”

“Don’t think you’re s’posed to be insultin’ me,” Spike said calmly.

“Those weren’t insults,” she gave him a sly smile.

His eyes widened, and he quirked an eyebrow in her direction.

“You’re an obnoxious pig,” she said, the humor in her voice evident, “but I still like to be around you.”

“I like to have you around me, too, pet,” he waggled his eyebrows in a way that told her exactly what he really meant.

She flushed lightly. “And you never stop with the sexual innuendoes,” she said. “I forgot about that one.”

“Y’gonna call me a pig?” he asked, smiling now.

“I’ve always had this thing for pigs,” she smiled back, walking over to him. “Even back when I was a little kid. You know Mr. Gordo?” He nodded. “The pig was my favorite animal…” She slipped her arms around his neck.

“And now?” he asked.

“Mmm…” she murmured thoughtfully. “Well, I like this one…” She gave him a soft kiss on the lips.

His mouth opened at her caress, and their tongues twined together, teasing and tasting each other.

“Mmm…” Buffy repeated her earlier sentiment, pulling back. “So,” she said, still a little breathless, “your turn.”

“My turn?” he asked, raising a scarred eyebrow.

“To apologize,” Buffy explained. “Actually,” she whispered into his ear conspiratorially, “it’s a lot of fun…”

“What do you want me to apologize for then, luv?” he asked, playing lazily with a lock of her hair.

“How about ‘I always knew the only thing better than killing a Slayer would be fucking a Slayer’?” she suggested.

“You want me to apologize for that?” he asked, smiling slightly. “You want me to be sorry for the fact that every time I get close to you,” his hand gently unraveled the scarf from around her neck, revealing the lovely red marks she’d let him leave there, “I want to do this,” his tongue traced over one of his earlier bite marks, “instead of snapping your neck?”

“Since you put it that way…” she trailed off with a little gasp when he bit down lightly upon the mark. She had noticed in the past that the bites on her neck had become particularly erogenous zones, but no one had ever fully explored them the way Spike was doing now.

“Sorry I put it that way, though,” he finally said, pulling his head back to look at her again. “You’re right, pet. It is fun…”

“My turn,” Buffy nodded vigorously, her eyes darkened with lust. “What do you want me to apologize for?”

“How ‘bout ‘you’re an evil, disgusting thing’?” he suggested.

“Hmm,” Buffy said thoughtfully. “Well, I’ve seen what you can do in the bedroom, so I’m not going to be able to take back the ‘evil’…but I could amend it to ‘very, verrry bad’,” she gave the front of his jeans a slight squeeze and felt the growing hardness there. “Very, verrry, verrrrrry bad,” she corrected herself.

“I can live with that,” he moaned slightly. “Don’t stop…”

“And ‘disgusting’,” she went on. She paused for a moment to kiss the hollow of his throat. His head fell back against the wall, and she took advantage of the opening to lick the tender skin there. “Well,” she commented, pulling back, “you don’t taste disgusting to me. In fact, you taste delicious.”

He whimpered inarticulately.

“So that leaves ‘thing’,” she continued. “Hmm…” She ran her fingers over his chest, feeling the muscle beneath the fabric there. “It feels like a man…” She pulled his shirt up slightly to get a look at the alabaster skin there. “It looks like a man…” She knelt on the floor so that her face was level with his taut abs. “It smells like a man…” Her tongue flicked out slightly to lick at an old scar there, and he moaned. “And it tastes and sounds like a man…” She finished, standing back up again. “I guess it’s a man,” she finally concluded.

“So, I guess that makes you a very, verrry, verrrrrry bad, delicious man. My mistake.”

“Forgiven,” Spike said raggedly. “My turn?” he asked.

“Let’s see…” Buffy said. “OK! ‘If you don’t stop being such a bitch, maybe next time I will bite you’.”

“Well, you’re not being a bitch now,” he said, leaning down so that his lips were once again right over his mark, “so does that mean you don’t want me to bite you?” he teased.

“Bite good,” she shook her head.

“Thought so,” he smiled against her burning skin before biting her gently with his blunt teeth.

“More,” she whimpered.

“Here, luv?” he asked. “The Slayerettes are just outside, an’—”

“More!” she cut him off, pulling his mouth roughly down to hers.

Their kiss instantly intensified, lips sucking and tongues dueling. Spike twisted them around, pressing her hard up against the wall that had been at his back. His arms slid around her body, holding her to him tightly, letting her feel the entire length of him…

Buffy’s hands caught in his hair, deepening their kiss further. She moaned and cried softly into his mouth, loving the taste and the feel of him…everything about him…

Dawn noticed that the sounds of voices behind the door had abruptly stopped. She opened it a crack just to make sure and found her big sister and her surrogate big brother locked in a passionate embrace.

A wide smile lit up her face. Sure, she had known, but it was nice to see a little evidence that they finally had something real between them.

She shut the door behind her, still grinning happily. A muffled cry echoed from the training room, and she tried to suppress a giggle.

“What was that?”

Dawn hadn’t even noticed Xander approaching.

“Nothing!” she insisted hastily. “They’re just…sparring,” she covered quickly.

Buffy’s next scream was loud enough that it was unmistakable.

“Buffy’s in trouble!” Xander’s eyes widened in horror. “We need to—”

“No! Don’t open it!” Dawn cried out, but he had already pushed her aside and turned the knob.

“—help,” he finished as he flung the door wide and looked inside...

Bwahaha! I'm evil! Tune in next time to see what Xander's reaction will be... Heh-heh-heh! ~_^