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Out of My Mind

Prologue

Buffy crouches on top of the Law family crypt in the cemetery surveying the ground beneath her. She senses something is about to happen. She jumps down off the crypt, and races across the cemetery. She stops near a fresh grave and looks around. A new vampire starts to claw its way clear of the soil. Buffy stakes it while it still has only its arms above ground. She stands again and looks around. She knows that her work isn’t finished tonight.

A second vampire digs out of a nearby grave and attacks her. Buffy kicks it away, and is prepared to stake this one too, when Riley appears and attacks the vampire himself. He’s a little surprised to see Buffy. He thought she would be in the north part of town tonight. Buffy is surprised that Riley is out in any part of town.

While Buffy and Riley are distracted by each other the vampire attacks Riley. Buffy calls out a warning, and Riley spins around in time to deflect its attack. He kicks the vampire in the back of its knee, grabs it by an arm, and twists it around behind its back—breaking the arm in the process. He tosses the vampire at a crypt. The vampire nearly lands on its roof before falling back to the ground. Riley bounces the vampire off the side of the crypt one more time, and stakes it. Buffy is impressed.

A third vampire starts to crawl from its grave, and Buffy moves toward it. Before she gets there it’s attacked by Spike. “Why do I even bother to show up?” she asks. “Spike, what are you doing here?”

“Same reason as you and your cub scout here, I wager,” says Spike. “Wanted a spot of violence before bedtime.” The vampire hits Spike in the face, and knocks him to the ground. As Spike is getting back to his feet Buffy steps up, pushes him out of the way, and stakes the latest vampire to have risen that night.

Buffy looks at Spike as he wipes the blood away from his nose. “What?” he asks. “I softened him up!”

Buffy thinks it would be a good idea for Spike to stay out of her way, but Spike thinks he has to do something with his spare time, and he doesn’t want to take up knitting.

“She’s right,” says Riley. “You shouldn’t be out here when she’s patrolling.” Buffy shoots Riley a look.

“Oh! I saw that. Looks like neither boy is entirely welcome.” Spike rubs more blood away from his nose, and licks it off his hand. “You should take him home, Slayer. Make him stay there. I’ve got knitting needles he can borrow.”

Buffy is too disgusted by the sight of Spike licking his own blood to continue this conversation. She tells him to go home. She turns away from him to do the same, with Riley following her.

“Hey, it’s blood!” Spike calls after them. “It’s what I do.”

Riley tells Buffy that he hopes he didn’t get in her way. That isn’t what worries Buffy. She just doesn’t think that he should be out patrolling on his own. Riley doesn’t want to be left sitting on the bench. Buffy tells him there is little risk of that. She was really impressed with the way he threw that vampire.

“Hey, you want to go again?” asks Riley. “Come on. I bet this place is just teeming with aerodynamic vampires.”

“Nyah,” says Buffy. “Unless you want to go back and kill Spike for the fun of it?”

Riley gives Buffy an “I’m game if you are” look, but doesn’t say anything.

Buffy shrugs and they continue out of the cemetery.

Spike watches them go. He heard the last thing Buffy said. “I will know your blood, Slayer.” He wipes more blood from his nose. “I will make your neck my chalice, and drink deep.” He turns, starts to walk away, and falls into an open grave. “Ow!”

Act I

Buffy and Willow leave their history lecture debating the fate of Jean-Paul Marat during the French Revolution. Buffy thinks that Charlotte Corday got a bum rap. Marat’s death looked like the work of a vampire to her.

Willow is thrilled that she and Buffy are having a debate about a history lecture. “I have dreamt of this day since…forever. You are turning into quite the student. Should I be watching my occipital lobe?”

“Your what?” asks Buffy.

“Occipital,” says Willow. “The lobe in the back of your brain. You know, like, should I be watching my back? But, you know, the back of your brain.”

“Apparently not.” Buffy doesn’t think that Willow has to worry about Buffy overtaking her academically.

Willow isn’t so sure. Buffy has really been getting into her studies this year.

“I’m trying,” says Buffy. “They’re already piling on all the reading, and Giles fills any free time I have with extra training. I’m starting to think this working hard is hard work.”

“Isn’t it crazy like that?” asks Willow.

“I thought it was going to be like in the movies,” says Buffy. “You know, inspirational music, a montage: me sharpening my pencils, me reading, writing, falling asleep on a big pile of books with my glasses all crooked—’cause in my montage, I have glasses—but real life is slow, and it’s starting to hurt my occipital lobe.”

Buffy’s has to go to see Giles for another training session now. She asks Willow if she wants to come along. Willow’s game. It will give them more time to debate the French Revolution.

Xander is finishing up building a set of shelves for Giles’ new magic shop while Giles applies a coat of stain to another set Xander has already built. Giles is impressed with the job he has done. Anya and Tara are helping to stock the shelves. The shop is almost ready to reopen for business.

There’s a knock on the door, and Giles answers it. It’s Buffy and Willow. They are very impressed with the progress that has been made getting the shop ready. “This place looks great!” says Willow. “I feel like a witch in a magic shop!”

Giles asks Buffy if she’s ready for her training session, and leads her into the back room. Xander follows them.

Willow goes to talk with Tara. Tara thinks that they should find a psychic to set up in the shop, to tell fortunes and things. Willow thinks that Tara should do it herself.

“Not me,” says Tara. “But I’d love to watch and learn from someone who’s really good, you know?”

“You’re really good. I’ll prove it.” Willow holds her hands out. “Here. Do me.” Tara examines Willow’s palms closely. “What do you see?”

Tara smiles at her. “Willow hand.”

Buffy steps into the training room that has been set up for her in the back of the shop, and gets tackled by Riley. He tells her he did it to keep her on her toes.

“Or off them, as it were.” Buffy starts to get back to her feet. “What’s gotten into—” Buffy stops. She’s noticed that there have been big changes made here too since her last visit. There are loaded weapons racks on all the walls, punching bags and dummies, and a pommel horse surrounded by mats. Buffy is thrilled. “Oh, my God. Look at this place. Thank you! Thank you so much.”

“It’s just a start,” says Giles. “You need a proper space to train, so—”

“I love it,” says Buffy. “This must’ve been so much work. Thank you, guys, so much. You’re like my fairy godmother and Santa Claus and Q all wrapped up into one.” The guys look at her a little quizzically. “Q from Bond, not Star Trek.”

Spike relaxes watching Dawson’s Creek on TV in his crypt. There’s a pounding on the door, and he quickly turns it off before whoever has come calling can catch him watching it.

Harmony comes running in, panting and out of breath. “Is it safe? Has Buffy gotten to you yet? I saw her patrolling just now, with a stake. She won’t give up until she’s killed me to death.”

“Buffy’s looking for you?” asks Spike.

“Of course,” says Harmony. “That’s why I’m on the lam. Didn’t you hear? I’m totally her arch-nemesis.”

“Is that right?” asks Spike. “I must’ve missed the memo.”

Harmony is desperate. She needs a place to hide. They are just going to have to rise above their petty differences. She’ll do anything if he helps her.

“Anything, will you?” asks Spike.

“Yeah. I said I’ll do anything,” says Harmony. “Oh. You mean will I have sex with you?” She thinks about that for a second. “Well, yeah.” She pulls out a cigarette and a lighter. After a little difficulty figuring out how the lighter works she lights up.

“Taking up smoking, are you?” asks Spike.

“I am a villain, Spike. Hello!” She takes a puff from her cigarette, and starts to cough.

“I guess you are at that,” says Spike, “What with the Slayer on your tail and all. She’s not the type to give up, either. She’ll hunt you down day and night. Till you’re too tired and too hungry to run anymore. And then…” He picks up a handful of dirt and brushes his hands together, forming a cloud of dust. “Then, that is you. I guess you’re going to have to kill her.”

“I tried,” says Harmony. “It was all hard and stuff. You do it.”

“I’d love to,” says Spike, “but I can’t. Remember? I’ve got this cute little government chip in my head.”

“All right,” says Harmony. “Guess it’ll have to be me after all. Can you help with the thinking?”

“Yeah,” says Spike, “I suppose I could do that.”

Riley and Buffy lie together in his bed. “Mmm. That was relaxing,” says Buffy. Riley asks if she wants to relax some more. Buffy’s a little surprised that he’s up for it again right away.

“Maybe you’re too tired,” says Riley.

“Hey, I have the endurance of ten men,” says Buffy.

“Let’s make it women, okay?” says Riley. “Just for the imagery.”

“Whatever. You know, it takes a lot to wear me out.”

“Oh, I love a challenge.” Riley starts to kiss her.

Dawn empties a box of Sugar Bombs into some bowls on the kitchen counter while her mother prepares an omelette on the stove. Joyce looks over and sees what Dawn is doing and asks how much cereal she plans to eat.

“Oh, these aren’t for eating.” Dawn reaches into the box. “I’m just trying to get the extra out of the way so I could…get this!” She pulls the toy out of the bottom of the box. “Anyway, I want eggs.”

“You want the cereal prize, but you don’t want the cereal,” says Joyce. “You are growing up. All righty. Half an omelette coming up.” She splits the omelette she has made between two plates.

“Oh, um, with ketchup, if you please,” says Dawn.

“Mm-hmm.” Joyce picks up the plates, and turns toward Dawn. She suddenly stops, and looks disoriented. “Oh, what is the—” She looks at Dawn. ”Who are you?” She drops the plates, and collapses to the floor.

Dawn looks at her mother in shock for a couple of seconds, and then rushes to the phone and dials 911.

Buffy and Riley arrive at the hospital emergency room and find Dawn sitting in a chair, fiddling with a stethoscope. Buffy goes to her and gives her a hug. “Hey, how’s Mom? Are you okay?”

Dawn tells Buffy she’s fine, and an intern comes out to talk with Buffy. His name is Ben, and it’s his stethoscope that Dawn has.

Ben tells them that Joyce seems to be fine now. They have found nothing wrong. It was probably just a dizzy spell brought on by low blood sugar. They want to run a few more tests, and then they will probably let her go home. While Ben talks with Buffy—confirming a few details about Joyce’s medical history—Dawn has been trying out the stethoscope. She listens to Ben’s heart, and then Buffy’s. They sound about the same. Then she tries it out on Riley. His heart is racing.

Act II

Riley puts his shirt back on in an examining room while a doctor tells him that she really doesn’t want him leaving the hospital with tachycardia like his, but there is no way she can legally force him to stay. “I can’t force you to do a thing, but with that pulse, believe me, I’d get on my knees and beg you if I thought I could change your mind.” Riley tells her she can’t. He’s going home. The doctor hopes that Buffy can change his mind, and leaves them together.

“What’s going on?” asks Buffy. “What are you doing? What if you have a heart attack?”

Riley tells her to calm down.

“Me calm down?” asks Buffy. “I’m not the one with the pulse of 150.”

“My heart’s different than yours, Buffy,” says Riley. “It works differently now, but it’s okay.”

“But you’re still a human, Riley. You could still have a heart attack.”

“I’m a human who was used as a lab rat for months,” says Riley.

Joyce and Dawn come into the examining room. Joyce’s doctor is cutting her loose, she can go home now. Riley wants to get out of the hospital too.

Buffy, Willow and Dawn settle Joyce down on the sofa in the living room. Buffy doesn’t want her mother up moving around.

“I feel silly lying here like a lump,” says Joyce.

“You could make a game out of it.” Willow sees the look Buffy gives her. “A very quiet game about being a lump.”

“I feel fine,” says Joyce. “Honestly, I’m more concerned about Riley than I am about me.”

“You shouldn’t even be thinking about that,” says Buffy. “He’s not worried, so I don’t think we should be.”

“I don’t get what he’s thinking. Why isn’t he worried?” Buffy is pacing around in her room, talking with Willow and Dawn. Willow is lying on the bed, and Dawn is sitting on the floor leaning against it.

Willow thinks that maybe Riley thinks his body can take it. He is in really good shape, but Buffy doesn’t think anyone’s body can handle a heart attack. Whatever it is Buffy figures it has something to do with the Initiative.

“It does have that icky government feel to it,” says Willow.

“Did you know that one time, the CIA tried to kill Fidel Castro with poisonous aspirin?” asks Dawn. Buffy just looks at her. “Another time, the CIA—”

“Dawn!” says Buffy.

“It’s important!” says Dawn. Buffy stops and waits for whatever it is Dawn wants to say. “Tried to make Castro go crazy by putting itching powder in his beard.” Buffy doesn’t appreciate this comment either. “It’s about the government!”

Willow suggests that they should call the Initiative, but that isn’t an option. They have been disbanded, and they never officially existed anyway. “It’s so unfair,” says Buffy. “It’s like Big Brother can spy on you all the time, and the second I have something to say, no one will listen.”

“Sounds more like Big Sister.” mutters Dawn.

Willow thinks that there must be some way to contact them, but Buffy doesn’t know of any.

“If they’re really spying on you all the time, just say something so you know they’ll hear you,” says Dawn. “Like sometimes I write fake things in my diary in case—”

“I got to go,” says Buffy. “Uh, see you guys later.” She leaves Willow and Dawn in her room.

“What’d I say?” asks Dawn.

Buffy enters Riley’s room, and calls out for him, but he isn’t there. She goes to his phone and picks it up. She doesn’t dial. “Riley’s in trouble. He needs help.”

Riley plays a little basketball with some guys on an outdoor court. He is trouncing them with little difficulty. He notices that he has an audience, and leaves the game and walks toward the guy sitting on the bench watching him.

“Graham,” he says, as he walks past him.

Graham gets up and follows Riley. He’s joined by a couple of other guys that he introduces as Agents Goodman and Brown. He wants to talk with Riley. He’s there to tell Riley that he has to come in and see a doctor that he has brought along. Walsh’s drugs had messed up all of the Initiative soldiers, and Riley got more of them than anyone.

Riley has no intention of turning himself over to the care of another government doctor. Graham tells him that he isn’t giving Riley a choice, and Goodman and Brown move in closer.

“I guess you’re not.” Riley punches Graham, and knocks him out. He quickly takes out Goodman and Brown too, and runs away.

Graham finds Buffy in her dorm’s common room. He tells her what happened. Buffy is not pleased. “So you messed up, and now he’s gone, and when are you even going to tell me what’s wrong with him?”

“I’m not permitted to say,” says Graham.

“Say,” says Buffy.

“Hyper adrenal overload and a bunch of stuff that sounds even worse than that,” says Graham, “And all it means is he’s way stronger than he ought to be and feeling no pain. His heart can’t take it. We’ve been at him for weeks about it. There’s a specialist waiting at Sunnydale General, fourth floor, Neurology. Get Riley there, ’cause if you don’t—”

“I’ll get him there.” Buffy starts to go.

“I’ll tell the doc,” says Graham. “And, Buffy—”

Buffy turns back and looks at Graham. “If you tell me to hurry, I’ll kick your ass.”

Riley makes his way into a cave in the woods as night falls.

Buffy gathers her friends in the Magic Box. She has checked out the places Riley usually hangs out without any luck.

“Maybe he just needs some time alone,” says Xander. “Like, I had this friend once who really liked this girl, and he got all worried that maybe she didn’t like him back, and maybe that made him act like a total jerk. Maybe Riley reminds me of that friend.”

“What are you talking about?” asks Willow.

“Then again, maybe not,” says Xander. “Maybe he just wants attention.”

“Well, here’s a hot tip,” says Buffy. “If you want attention, be there so people can give it to you.”

Anya tells Xander that she cares about him, and he shouldn’t feel insecure, “’Cause I also have this ‘friend,’ and I have it on really good authority that she really likes that guy, your friend, and by the by, my friend—”

Buffy interrupts her. They don’t have time for this. She sends Xander and Anya off to check the docks. Willow and Tara volunteer to check the ruins of the high school. Riley hid out there before when he was on the run from the Initiative. Buffy plans to check out Adam’s caves, but she doesn’t know them well.

“We do have an associate who knows those caves like the back of his melanin-deprived hand,” says Giles.

Buffy doesn’t want to deal with Spike at the moment. He has really been getting on her nerves lately. Willow thinks that the whole “not killing” thing is getting to him.

“Plus, hanging out all day in that moldy crypt,” says Buffy. “You just know he’s doing something nasty.”

Harmony and Spike are playing twenty questions in his crypt when Buffy bangs on the door. Harmony dives into the sarcophagus. Spike slides the cover over it, and sits on top of it before Buffy’s inside. She tells Spike she has a proposition for him.

“Funny. I’ve got a proposition for you.” Spike hops down off the sarcophagus. “What about knocking? Seems only fair. Since we vamps can’t enter your flat without an invite, you could at least—” He notices that Buffy has taken out a wad of money and started flipping through it. “Say, look at those pretty pieces of paper.”

Buffy tells Spike that Riley is sick, and missing. He may be in the caves. If Spike finds him and brings him to the fourth floor of the hospital, he can have the money.

“Oh, dear,” says Spike. “Is the enormous hall monitor sick? Tell me, is he going to die?”

Buffy slaps Spike. “He is not the only person that can die.”

“Hey, I’m just saying, if it’s really that important to you, I think I’ll get half now,” says Spike. Buffy thinks about that for a second, and then she rips the wad of bills in half. She shoves half the wad at Spike, and leaves.

Harmony pushes the cover aside and pops out of the sarcophagus. “So? What’d she say about me?”

Graham walks past a guard into a treatment room in Sunnydale General and tells the waiting doctor that Riley should be there any minute. “That’s soon enough, right? I mean, if we bring him in now?”

“I’ll be honest,” says Dr. Overheiser “I’m not sure it’s soon enough if you brought him in yesterday.”

There’s a knock at the door. “Finally,” says Graham, and goes to open it.

Graham gets hit in the face by the head of the man who had been guarding the door. He’s being held by Harmony. Harmony is followed by Spike who’s carrying a crossbow. Harmony tosses the unconscious guard aside, and Spike tosses the crossbow to her. Harmony aims it at the doctor’s head.

“You got yourself a new patient, Doc,” says Spike.

Act III

Spike and Harmony take Dr. Overheiser to an operating theatre in the UCSunnydale medical school. He tries to tell them that he isn’t qualified to remove Spike’s chip, and that this facility isn’t equipped for that sort of procedure anyway, but Spike doesn’t believe him. “It’s not so complicated. Just do whatever those Initiative lab monkeys did, only backwards.”

“You’re not listening,” says Overheiser. “That chip is deeply imbedded in your cerebral cortex. Removing it could leave you a vegetable.”

“That’s not going to happen, mate. See, I have faith in your survival instinct.” Spike looks over at Harmony, who is still pointing the crossbow at Overheiser. “You’ll have me up and killing before the night’s over. Come on, Doc. You do me right, nothing bad’ll happen to you.”

The crossbow goes off, and embeds an arrow in the wall behind Overheiser.

“Oops,” says Harmony. “String was slippy.”

Willow and Tara enter the ruins of Sunnydale High. Tara thinks the place is kind of creepy.

“You should’ve been here when it was a school,” says Willow.

It’s dark inside, and neither of them remembered to bring a flashlight. That isn’t a problem for Willow. She reaches into her bag and pulls out a vial. “Better to light a candle than curse the damn darkness. A little spell.” She throws the vial at the floor. “Fiat lux!”

The vial explodes, and the ruins are bathed in yellow light, that doesn’t fade after the explosion. Tara is impressed, and wonders where Willow learned to do that.

“Oh, you know, you taught me,” says Willow.

“I taught you teeny Tinkerbell light,” says Tara.

“Okay, so I tinkered with the Tinkerbell,” says Willow. “It was easy. And besides, isn’t this better than using a flashlight like some kind of doofus?”

Buffy enters the caves, lighting her way with a flashlight. She calls out for Riley, but gets no response. She penetrates deeper into the caves. She hears a noise in the darkness and moves toward it.

Buffy finds Riley, punching at a rock face. He tells her that it doesn’t even hurt. He starts to punch at the rock again, but Buffy stops him. His hand is bleeding.

“This stops now,” says Buffy. “I’m taking you to the doctor.”

Riley doesn’t want to go. It was government doctors who did this to him in the first place.

“He’s the only one that understands what’s wrong with you,” says Buffy. “He’s the only one that can help.”

“What’s wrong with me?” asks Riley. “I’m more powerful than I’ve ever been, Buffy. Most people would kill to feel this way.”

“Yeah, and this feeling is going to kill you,” says Buffy. “Riley, your body was not built for this kind of stress.”

Riley thinks he can handle it. He wants Buffy to back off. Buffy doesn’t understand his attitude.

“I go back, let the government get whimsical with my innards again,” says Riley, “they could do anything that— Best case scenario, they turn me into Joe Normal. Just— Just another guy.”

“And that’s not enough for you?” asks Buffy.

“It’s not enough for you,” says Riley.

“Why would you say that?”

“Come on, your last boyfriend wasn’t exactly a civilian.”

“So that’s what this is about?” asks Buffy. “You’re going to die over some macho pissing contest?”

“It’s not about him. It’s about us,” says Riley. “You’re getting stronger every day, more powerful. I can’t touch you. Every day, you’re just a little further out of my reach.”

Buffy steps toward him. “You want to touch me? I’m right here. I’m not the one running away.”

“Not yet,” says Riley

“So you have this all figured out? I’m bailing because you’re not in the super club.”

“It’s human nature.”

“Don’t Psych 101 me. Not now,” says Buffy. “Not after everything that— Nobody has ever known me the way you do. Nobody. I have opened up to you in ways that I’ve never opened up to— God, you’re just sitting back there thinking that none of this means anything to me, because it obviously doesn’t mean anything to you. Do you think so little of me? Do you think that I spent the last year with you because you had super powers? If that’s what I wanted, then I’d be dating Spike.

“Riley, I need you. I need you with me, and I need you healthy. But if you want to throw it all away because you don’t trust me, then— Then I am still going to make you go to that doctor.”

“Take me to him,” says Riley.

“We have to hurry.” Buffy starts to go.

Riley catches Buffy by the arm. “Loving you is the scariest thing I’ve ever done, Buffy.”

“I don’t know why.” Buffy puts her hand on Riley’s chest. “The doctor said we didn’t have much time.”

Spike lies on the operating table while Dr. Overheiser opens up his skull. Harmony watches over the doctor’s shoulder, and natters away. She leans in for a closer look. “Look at it. It’s so…pink and wriggly-looking. Can I touch it?”

“No!” say Spike and the doctor together.

Harmony is surprised that Spike is still awake. The doctor tells her that he used a local anesthetic. Harmony starts asking Spike how it feels. He does not appreciate her prattling.

Harmony pokes a finger into the hole in Spike’s head. “Is it supposed to do that?” she asks the doctor.

“Please, for God’s sake, please be quiet,” says Dr. Overheiser.

“Listen, buster, I don’t see a crossbow in your hands, okay?” says Harmony.

“Harmony, if your incessant prattling bollixes up this operation, I’m going to personally yank out your pink and wriggly tongue!” says Spike.

Overheiser looks at Harmony as she backs away. “What are you looking at?” she asks.

Buffy and Riley find Graham and the guard in the Sunnydale General treatment room. Riley checks on Graham—who is just starting to wake up—while Buffy checks on the guard. Riley holds a couple of fingers in front of Graham’s face, and asks how many.

“Seventeen,” says Graham. Riley looks a little worried. “Hostile Seventeen and a blonde girl,” says Graham.

Buffy rolls her eyes. Spike and Harmony are back together.

Graham looks around and notices that Dr. Overheiser is missing.

“What would Spike want with—” Buffy realizes the answer to that question. “The chip. He’s going to force the doctor to remove the chip from his brain.”

Riley staggers a bit, and clutches at his chest. Graham tells Buffy that they don’t have much time. They have to find the medic.

Buffy knows that Spike is going to need some sort of medical facility, away from the hospital. She tells Graham to have his people check out the animal hospitals, and doctor’s offices. She and Riley start to go.

Riley turns back to Graham. “Hey, about before—”

“We’re good,” says Graham. “Apologise later, if you’re not dead.”

“You are not going to die.” Buffy tells Riley.

“Bet you say that to all the boys,” says Riley.

“No,” says Buffy. “But, there is one peroxided pest whose number’s up. When I get my hands on Spike, I’m going to rip his head off. I’m going to…”

“…bathe in the Slayer’s blood,” says Spike. “I’m going to dive in it. Swim in it. I’m going to do the bloody backstroke.”

Harmony has lit up a cigarette, and blows smoke over Overheiser’s shoulder. “I see it, Spikey! I see the chip. It’s nestled in there like a pretty little easter egg with your brain all around it like that green, plastic grassy stuff, only this is more of a beige—”

“Would you please put out that cigarette?” asks Overheiser. “It’s really not allowed.”

“Oh, yeah? Says who?” asks Harmony.

Overheiser gestures toward a “No Smoking” sign on the wall.

“Oh, God, sorry. Didn’t see the sign.” Harmony turns away to find some place to put out her cigarette.

Overheiser pulls away from Spike, drops something into a small metal bowl, and places a lid over it. “The chip’s out. I didn’t think I could do it. It just…it’s out.”

“Yeah?” asks Spike.

Harmony claps her hands. “Yay! Yay for Spikey!”

“Right then,” says Spike. “Stitch me up, Doc. Got places to go. And Slayers to kill.”

Act IV

Spike sits on the operating table while Overheiser finishes sewing up his scalp. “Listen to me. My stomach’s growling I’m so starved. I’m afraid I’m going to have to have me a little snack.”

Overheiser starts to look worried, and backs away from Spike.

Spike looks around at the doctor. “Oh, don’t worry. I won’t fill up on the bread. I’ll still have plenty of room for the main course.”

Buffy and Riley come through the door into the operating theatre before Spike can turn on Overheiser. Spike sees them, and transforms into his vampire face. “Suit up, Harm!” Harmony transforms too.

Buffy and Riley separate a bit. Riley facing Harmony, Buffy against Spike. Overheiser tries to escape by running behind Buffy. She pushes him up against the wall. “Stay here. We’re going to need you.”

“Buffy, I swear I was just thinking of you,” says Spike. “I wanted to tell you the great news. My head’s all clear now. No more bug-zapper in my noggin.”

“That means I get to kill you,” says Buffy.

“You get to try,” says Spike.

Harmony’s cross bow goes off, and hits Riley in the leg. He doesn’t react. He just looks at it. “Oops,” says Harmony. Riley rushes at her and knocks the crossbow away from her.

Buffy attacks Spike and hits him with a quick series of punches. Spike doesn’t even try to hit her back.

Riley fights with Harmony. His condition has really started to deteriorate. The exertion is causing him chest pains in addition to having an arrow sticking out of his leg.

Spike jumps up onto the operating table and dives at Buffy. He knocks her off her feet. Spike lands on top of her, bares his fangs, and goes for her throat. He suddenly screams in agony, and clutches at his head.

Buffy tosses Spike away from her, and he lands beside Dr. Overheiser. Spike glares at the doctor, who shrugs.

Riley suddenly clutches at his chest and collapses. Buffy forgets about Spike to go to him.

Spike goes across the operating room to the bowl that Overheiser had said he put the chip in, opens the lid and takes out the object there. “A penny?”

“I told you I couldn’t do it,” says Overheiser.

Buffy calls for the doctor to come help Riley, and Spike and Harmony make their escape.

Spike and Harmony run through the cemetery. “Buffy, Buffy, Buffy!” complains Spike. “Everywhere I turn, she’s there. That nasty little face, that bouncing, shampoo-commercial hair. That whole sodding holier-than-thou attitude.”

“Aren’t we kind of unholy by defin—” says Harmony.

Spike ignores her. “She follows me, you know, tracks me down. I’m a pet project. Drive Spike around the bend. Makes every day a fresh bout of torture.” He picks up one of the headstones, and lifts it over his head. He turns toward Harmony—who thinks he’s about to hit her with it. He smashes it down on another headstone beside her. “You don’t understand. I can’t get rid of her. She’s everywhere. She’s haunting me, Harmony.” He grabs her by the arms, and shakes her. “This…has got to end.”

Dr. Overheiser finishes placing a bandage on Riley’s chest. Riley sits up on the operating table Spike had occupied earlier, with another bandage around his leg where the arrow had been. Buffy asks him how he’s doing, and Riley tells her he’s good. Back to normal.

Buffy puts her ear against Riley’s chest and listens. “Yep.” She takes his hand and places it against her chest. “And see? I’m still touchable.”

Riley figures that he should be ready to take advantage of that in a week or so. Buffy tells him that she has to go. She wants to get home to check on her mother. Riley tells her to go.

Riley is met by Graham outside the operating room. Graham follows along behind him as Riley limps down the hall. “It’s a good thing Buffy found you when she did ’cause you were about to detonate big time. Always said she’s pretty impressive.”

“You know, she really is,” says Riley.

“But you know you don’t belong here, right?” asks Graham. “This town. I mean, you’re nothing here.”

“Hey. What are you saying?” asks Riley.

“Come on, man, you know it’s true. There’s nothing for you here.”

“There’s her,” says Riley.

“Okay, right. There’s her,” says Graham. “And? You used to have a mission, and now you’re what, the mission’s boyfriend? Mission’s true love? You belong with us.”

Riley keeps walking.

Epilogue

Buffy bangs open the door into Spike’s crypt and advances toward him. He is a little surprised it took this long for her to show up. It’s been six hours since they parted. She would have been there sooner but she had to clean up Spike’s mess.

“I’m done.” Buffy pulls a stake out of her pocket. “Spike, you’re a killer. And I should’ve done this years ago.”

“You know what?” asks Spike. “Do it. Bloody just do it.”

“What?” asks Buffy.

“End. My. Torment,” says Spike. “Seeing you. Every day. Everywhere I go. Every time I turn around. Take me out of a world that has you in it.” He pulls off his shirt, exposing his bare chest. “Just kill me.”

Buffy plunges the stake toward Spike’s chest, but she stops an inch short, and stands in front of him not moving. Spike suddenly reaches out, grabs her, pulls her close, and kisses her.

Buffy pulls away, and puts her hand to her mouth, aghast. She stares at Spike for several seconds and then she steps toward him, grabs his head, and starts to kiss him back. “Spike, I want you.”

“Buffy I love you,” says Spike between kisses. “God, I love you so much.”

“Aargh!” Spike bolts upright in bed beside Harmony. “Oh, God, no! Please, no!”

Characters Introduced

• Intern Ben

Death Toll