"You expect me...ME!...to give that whelp my clothes?"

The tiny blonde girl shrugged. "Not give...LOAN! It's just for one night."

Spike glared at this frivolity. "My coat," he groaned.

She gave a little pout; and he felt himself weaken. "Now, Spike, Xander won't hurt your old coat," Buffy promised. "If he does," she added hastily, as Spike opened his mouth to protest, "I'll make it up to you."

"You will?" Spike perked up considerably. "How?"

"Umm..." Buffy was at a loss. What she wanted to do was give him kisses...a thousand kisses until he finally saw her as something other than the little brat of a Slayer he'd been coerced into helping a year ago. But she couldn't tell him that.

"Something you'll like," she said recklessly.

Spike's thoughts careened off in another direction....one that was becoming increasingly familiar.

What he'd like...was for her to see him as something other than the demonic partner who fought by her side...and then watched her go off on dates with blokes from the college.

He sighed loudly. "I take it this was Willow's idea?"

Buffy nodded. "Well, yeah. She's co-chairman of the Haunted House this Halloween; it's to raise funds for scholarships. Oz's band is playing...."

"I get it," Spike interrupted. "And Willow thought it'd be just peachy if we all go as each other!"

"Uh-huh. As versions of what we really are- the ultimate 'in-joke'! So I'm going as a witch, and you're a werewolf, and Oz will be a Watcher."

"And Xander'll be me," Spike said glumly.

Buffy grinned. "A vampire, anyway. Giles will be the other vampire."

Spike stiffened and stopped walking. "Other vampire?" he said dangerously.

She was careful not to look at him. "Uh...Willow also invited Cordy and Angel."

"Bloody hell!" screamed the vampire. "I have to spend Halloween hanging out with that wanker?"

"It's only one night," Buffy repeated defensively. "Seems they're both a little...homesick, and..."

Spike snorted. Then his eyes widened in alarm.

"Here! Whose date are you? Are you HIS date?"

"No!" Buffy assured him. "I mean, we'll all go together, but..."

"But what?" growled Spike. "Either you're MY date, or I don't go!"

Buffy took a deep breath. "Okay."

"Because, I'm not getting stuck with Cordelia," Spike continued, "and besides, you owe it to me for agreeing to go to this Haunted House Horror in the first place!"

"Spike," Buffy pointed out, "I said okay."

He stared at her. "Oh. Oh, well...right, then."

Then Buffy ran lightly down the stairs; and Spike forgot that he didn't need to breathe, and inhaled sharply.

She was wearing a scoop-necked, short black dress with a belt of tiny golden crescents...and soft black suede boots. A tall-crowned hat perched saucily on her blonde hair.

She pirouetted in front of him. "What do you think?"

For a moment he couldn't say anything at all. "Uh...where's your broom?" he finally managed.

She looked disappointed, but retrieved a small rush broom from the dining table. "Isn't this great? Small enough to carry easily- plus, I'll have a stake to use on any demons who don't behave themselves."

Spike wrenched his eyes away from her legs. How was he to behave himself when she looked like that?

He could forsee he'd need a very long, very cold shower after this particular party!

And THAT meant...maybe...she'd invite him in for hot chocolate with marshmallows?

Buffy stole a glance at his sculpted profile. She would have liked to move closer...maybe even snuggle against his shoulder; but how would he react?

"It's getting cold," she murmured softly, hoping he'd take the hint.

Spike promptly switched on the heater. "Better, pet?"

Buffy tried not to sigh with disappointment. "Yeah....lots better, Spike."

Hargrave House was a huge Victorian mansion, embellished with towers, turrets, and gables.

"What a monstrosity," Spike said critically, staring up at it.

Buffy grinned. "I kind of like it. It was willed to the college by the descendants of the Hargrave family- the original owners. But it's so far out in the country that it isn't used for anything."

Spike helped Buffy out of the car...she tripped slightly on the gravel path and he caught her.

"Take my arm, luv," he instructed.

Happily, Buffy linked her arm with his...she felt a trifle breathless, and she didn't think it was from her little stumble.

Willow ran up to greet them, dressed as a thousand-year-old demoness.

"Isn't this a great turn-out?" she asked happily. "I saved seats for everybody."

Spike took a single glance- and felt his good mood evaporate.

Angel was there, already seated at the table with his dark eyes fastened on Buffy.

Spike ground his teeth together...then started to snicker. Because- Angel was Xander, complete in one of Xander's wild print shirts and mismatched pants.

The snicker died as he watched one girl after another parade past, trying to catch Angel's eye.

Some things never changed.

Xander, too, had a fair amount of female attention, and Anya kept one hand possessively on his sleeve.

Spike blinked at Anya's outfit...a full-skirted formal dress with a tiara, and a sash that proclaimed her May Queen.

"Cordelia," Buffy explained with a giggle.

Cordelia herself wore a tank top with a short skirt....then Spike observed a stake shoved into her belt; and her large silver cross.

"Did you see Giles?" Willow asked. "He looks great!"

He did, all in leather...sporting the same type of fake fangs Xander had.

"Heyyy, fuzz face!" Xander greeted them. "Looking bewitching, Buffster!"

"It's very good, Spike," Cordelia commented critically. "Of course, it's not so good if you expect to get kissed tonight! Who wants a mouthful of fur?"

"Who would kiss HIM?" Angel sneered.

"Oh, and YOU get kissed all the time, hey, peaches?" Spike snapped back.

"Um, do any of you know the history of Hargrave House?" Willow offered, desperately seeking a distraction.

"It was built by a famous explorer, Samuel Hargrave; but he never lived in it. He was always off looking to explore legends like Atlantis, or El Dorado, or..."

"Very true, Willow. And supposedly, just before he died, Hargrave made a most remarkable discovery." Giles handed cups of punch to the girls.

"But no one ever learned what it was, because, on the very night Hargrave returned home to his family, he died mysteriously."

"What did he die of?" Cordelia asked.

"The tale says he died of fear," Giles said.

"Boy, do I know the feeling," Xander muttered.

Giles coughed disapprovingly. "More probably he had a heart attack, or something of that nature. At any rate, the house passed to his twin daughters, Penelope and Esther. It is believed that the sisters inhabited the house for over sixty years."

"It is believed?" Oz questioned.

"They were extremely reclusive- saw no one. They paid their bills by post; and by the time someone decided to investigate several missed payments, there was no sign of either sister...they'd disappeared completely!"

Giles was enjoying his story. "Hargrave House was inherited by their cousin Everett; he moved in, was in residence precisely two days, and then moved out. It was his son who left it to the college."

"Guess Everett didn't like the neighborhood," Xander quipped.

"We should explore the house," Willow suggested. "It's so expensive to maintain; and so out of the way, that the college plans to demolish it next spring."

Cordelia shrugged. "Not me! I get enough of moldy old places in the seedy sections of L.A." She turned to the Watcher. "You know, Giles, leather becomes you! Dance with me?"

He demurred but finally allowed Cordelia to drag him onto the dance floor.

Oz, natty in tweeds, gave Willow a quick kiss and then left to rejoin Dingoes. Willow wandered off to explore.

Spike didn't like the sudden thinning of their crowd. If Xander and Anya went off, then he'd be at the table with Buffy...and the wanker!

He practically leaped to his feet, hauling Buffy with him. "Let's dance!" he insisted.

"Spike!" Buffy was almost panting as he pulled her into his arms. "Slow down; the dance floor isn't going anywhere."

"I really like this song," he mumbled lamely.

"You do?" Buffy was surprised; she didn't think Juliana Hatfield's Witches Song was exactly his taste. The strains of the melody affected her...

Danger is great joy, dark is bright as fire,

Happy is our family, lonely is the ward.

She leaned her head against his shoulder and just moved in rhythym with his body. Spike looked at her, small and blonde and sparkling....pressing warmly against him in that ridiculously sexy outfit.

"Oh, yeah," he breathed, "I love this, pet."

A tiny niggling worry touched her mind...she still thought it was a brilliant idea for the Slayerettes to portray one another; but...why had she been so determined to be Anyanka? She hoped...REALLY hoped...that it had nothing to do with Xander!

Willow knew she loved Oz...he was the perfect boyfriend for her, and yet...it was as if Xander owned some tiny part of her that no one else could touch.

The second floor had been roped off, but there were plenty of partygoers roaming about. Willow shrugged, and climbed to the next level. She found herself in one of the towers...in a hexagon-shaped library lined with old books.

Awed, Willow stepped closer to inspect them...she had to show these to Giles.

"Hello."

Just for an instant, Willow thought Giles had been before her; but as she spun around, she realized the man seated before the fireplace was a stranger.

Or..was he? Willow frowned. There was something...something familiar about him.

"You're interested in old books? Or in old houses?" he asked pleasantly.

Willow relaxed slightly. He didn't seem threatening...

"Both. I mean, I do love books; and houses like this are..."

"Surprising?" he suggested.

Willow blinked; it was an odd choice of word. "Well...in a way. Aren't you curious to know about Samuel Hargrave's discovery; and what happened to his twin daughters; and why Everett Hargrave moved out after only two days?"

The man smiled an overwhelmingly charming smile. "But, I do know."

"Huh?" Willow's jaw dropped.

The man got to his feet. "You see, Willow, I am a seeker...I seek to know the unknown, to understand the obscure. And, I believe that you are such another."

He stepped forward and opened the cupboard next to the fireplace, piled high with wooden kindling. Then he touched a hidden spring beneath the mantel, and the door swung around, revealing a narrow stairwell.

"Let me show you," the Englishman invited.

Willow swallowed. The sensible, rational part of her brain urged her to run, screaming, from this man and this room...but it was the secret Willow, Willow who craved magick, who stepped forward.

Spike frowned, reluctant to stop dancing and let Buffy out of his arms. But he had no choice other than to return to the table...where Angel sat with Cordelia, Giles, and a lovely brunette dressed as a Spanish dancer. Giles introduced her as Elena Valdez, an associate professor in the music department. She, Giles, and Oz immediately struck up a conversation on jazz; and so it was quite some time before Oz even noticed his missing girlfriend.

"Hey, where'd Willow get to? She'll miss the wishing well."

"Wishing well?" Cordelia inquired. "Where you drop in a coin and make a wish?"

"Yeah...another great money-making idea!" Oz bragged. "You toss a silver dollar into the well, and wish for your heart's desire."

"Where are we supposed to get a silver dollar?" Xander protested. "Aren't they extinct or something?"

"Devon's making change- Willow got some over the Internet. Better hurry while they last!"

Buffy noticed that, despite their skepticism, every one of her friends lined up to toss a coin into the well, and make a wish.

What would she wish for? What was the thing she most wanted? She closed her eyes an instant- and the answer was clear. Smiling, Buffy tossed her coin.

Spike had been watching her. Miserably he threw his coin, already fearful that his wish...to win the Slayer's heart...couldn't possibly come true.

"What did everyone wish?" Xander asked eagerly.

"I asked for some new clothes," Cordelia replied promptly.

Xander looked disgusted. "You wasted your wish on that?"

"What, wasted? Some new clothes- THAT'S my heart's desire!"

Willow stared at the man who faced her across the circle...the circle he'd sworn would serve as their protection.

Between them, the rainbow-hued bottle glowed....the infamous bottle imp stirred in its depths.

"Napoleon's bottle," the sorcerer whispered. "The magic bottle that can grant each person his heart's desire...that's what Samuel Hargrave was looking for, and he found it!"

Willow licked her lips nervously, eyes fixed on the bottle. What...what should she wish for? According to legend, the bottle never failed....safety for Buffy? Happiness for her friends? Or...should she wish for....

"Xander's love." supplied the seductive voice. "You can have it...you can have anything you want; or have ever dreamed of wanting."

"Good idea...let's split up. Half of us can start in the basement and search up- and the other half can go to the attic and search down," Xander planned.

Elena was impressed. "You're quite the strategist, " she complimented Xander.

It was decided that Xander, Anya, Cordelia and Oz should go to the basement; while Giles, Elena, Buffy, Spike, and Angel mounted to the top floor. The upper halls were narrow; Spike dropped back, ears straining to catch every word that passed between Buffy and his sire.

"It's...been so long. Since I've seen you," Angel told her.

"Yes, almost a whole year," Buffy agreed. "But, you're looking well, Angel. You don't...miss Sunnydale anymore...do you?"

He paused to stare deeply into her eyes. "I'll always miss Sunnydale."

Spike fumed. Why couldn't the bloody wanker just GO...and stay gone?

When Spike promised to leave a place, did HE come skulking back at every opportunity?

All right, so what if he did? He'd had his reasons, now hadn't he? And one of those reasons was climbing the stairs right in front of him; where he had no other opttion than to stare, transfixed, at her legs!

"Now, this looks fascinating," Giles called to them as he entered the tower room. "Good Lord, look at some of these volumes! There's an original copy of the Oxonian Chronicles! What a treasure trove!"

"Never mind that, Giles," said Buffy impatiently. "Is there any sign of Willow?"

She strolled forward as she spoke, and her suede boot kicked something that skittered across the floor towards Giles.

"Why, this looks like Anya's amulet," Giles said, stooping to retrieve it.

"It's supposed to," Buffy explained. "Willow and I found it at a flea market last weekend. She thought it would be the perfect touch for her costume."

Giles stared at the hunk of green glass in the center of the pendant. "This means Willow has been here, in this room. But..."

"Maybe there's a secret panel, or something," Elena suggested. "There's one in the House of Seven Gables, in Salem."

"Yes," Giles nodded, "I've been wondering what this house reminds me of. It's very similar to the house made famous by Hawthorne's book...now I wonder if..." he began running his hands over the fireplace.

"Ah!" the hidden door gaped, revealing the secret stair. "Shall we?"

"Better let me go first," Buffy offered.

"No!" Spike shoved her behind him. "I'm going first."

He started up before she could argue with him...and he emerged in the small hidden room where a dazed Willow still sat, holding a small bottle.

"Ethan Rayne!" Buffy cried, spotting the sorcerer.

"Hello, Buffy," Ethan Rayne said calmly. "How very nice to see you again. You too, Ripper," he added, as Giles stepped inside the room.

"What have you done?" Giles stared at Willow in alarm.

"Done? Why, simply given you...given everyone who made a wish tonight...fulfillment! By the power of the bottle imp..."

"The bottle imp!" Giles' cry of horror echoed throughout the tiny room.

"Um, what is the bottle imp?" Buffy asked uneasily, edging closer to Spike. Spike stretched to put a comforting arm around the Slayer- but it collided with Angel's reaching arm. The two vampires glared at one another.

Ethan Rayne replied, "That bottle Willow is now holding contains a powerful imp- one capable of granting any wish, no matter how impossible it might seem. But the bottle can only be disposed of by selling it for a lesser price than the previous owner paid. Napoleon wished for power and gained an empire...And I, I wished for, and have been granted, another type of power."

"Uh-oh," Buffy said glumly, eyeing his confident face.

"You've omitted something, Ethan," Giles said grimly. "What becomes of anyone who fails to dispose of the bottle! He is..swept away, into hell, to endure eternal torment!."

"Yes, I know," Ethan said blandly. "The bottle last sold for only a penny...and I managed to sell it to Willow here for a half-penny. But perhaps, if you're sufficiently diligent, you can find a smaller coin."

Buffy paled.

Spike growled. "Perhaps we'll just force you to buy it back yourself, mate!"

Ethan shook his head. "You can't touch me, while I am protected by the circle."

"Willow!" Giles called out in despair.

His cry seemed to rouse her; she turned her head to smile weakly at her friends.

"It's okay, Giles. You see, I remembered what you taught me. About how magic has its price. So, for my wish..."

"What, Will?" Buffy asked urgently.

"I wished that the bottle would remain...the property of the previous owner!"

Ethan Rayne's smile became a rictus as his eyes dilated in terror.

"No!" he screamed. "You can't...Janus, protect thy servant!"

But it was too late. The bottle spun around once- and opened. A green glow swept from it, engulfing Ethjan Rayne.

Then- quiet settled.

Ethan Rayne, along with the bottle imp, had disappeared.

"Hurry!" Giles shouted, pushing Elena towards the stairwell. "Go!"

They hit the steps running, stumbling full force down a narrow passage with walls collapsing around them...

They raced for the main doors; but just as they reached the bottom of the Grand Staircase, Spike glanced up and saw the ceiling come crashing down....No time to think or plan- he threw Buffy to the floor, and flung himself down on top of her, shielding her with his body.

There was a roar like a tidal wave...as Hargrave House disintegrated.

Spike felt a strange prickly sensation, like little stones were digging into his back. He also thought he heard voices, which was impossible since he'd been crushed by the ceiling...hadn't he?

"Spike! Oh God, Angel, I think he's dead! He...he isn't breathing!"

"Buffy, Spike's a vampire. He doesn't breathe," Angel pointed out.

"Oh, he can't be dead! He just can't! Spike!"

Right, that was definitely the Slayer's voice. And...was his head pillowed in the Slayer's lap? Well, that was a bit of all right! He was about to open his eyes and look at her when he felt her...FELT her...frantically covering his face with kisses!

Spike lay very still, unwilling to lose an instant of this.

"Buffy, he's all right! Spike, get up and stop playing the fool." The toe of Angel's shoe prodded him.

Furiously, he opened his eyes; but his rage at his sire was forgotten as Buffy started kissing him again, tears dripping down his dusty face.

"Oh Spike...you're all right! You're not hurt! Oh...ARE you hurt? Please say you're not hurt," She begged, babbling like Willow.

"Don't worry, pet," Spike said nobly. "I'll...be fine. Though...there's rather a lot of pain, actually..."

Angel snorted in disbelief.

Spike ground his teeth, then decided to ignore his wanker sire.

"Where, Spike?" Buffy asked anxiously. "Where is the pain? Should I get Giles? Should we take you to the hospital?"

"No, no," Spike said hastily. "I'll do, luv. I just need to...lie here, quietly, for a bit. Without moving." He nestled more firmly into her embrace.

Xander came up to them, his face marred by an enormous bruise.

"Looks like everybody except Ethan made it out in one piece," he told them. "But...you'll never guess what we found...down in the wine cellar!"

"What?" Angel demanded.

"The bodies of Hargrave's twin daughters." Xander paused, then added, "Or...should I say...the body?"

"What!" Buffy jerked in surprise, causing Spike to give a tiny moan of protest.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," she soothed, dropping another kiss on his upturned face.

Spike sat bolt upright. "Sweetheart?!"

Buffy blushed, and avoided his eye.

"Yeah," Xander said, oblivious, "it seems Penelope and Esther were Siamese twins! That's why Hargrave was after the bottle...to cure them!"

"Only, he forgot one thing," Giles added. "The girls had been conjoined so long they really had no wish to be separated. They told him so; and he went into a rage and died without revealing the secret of the bottle imp."

"It's kinda a sad story," Willow joined them, hand-in-hand with Oz.

"Not really," Elena Valdez protested. "The twins kept a journal...apparently they weren't unhappy with their lifestyle. They had their garden, their hobbies... and they had each other. Then one day Esther became ill; and they decided, rather than call for help, to lock themselves in the wine cellar and wait for death. I imagine that's what Everett found, when he moved into the house in his turn."

"So, that's another mystery solved," Xander put in.

"Do you think it's true what Ethan said, that everyone will get a wish?" Willow asked suddenly.

"We'll find out if they come true," Oz replied.

"I wished for suitable employment," Giles remarked. "I fear I've been a gentleman of leisure too long."

"Why don't you apply at the University?" Elena suggested. She dropped her eyes demurely. "Perhaps...I could help?"

"I suppose there's no harm in discussing it," Giles said thoughtfully. "Over coffee...at the Expresso Bar?"

They headed off in the direction of her car.

"I wished that Dingoes would get a decent gig," Oz confessed.

Willow grabbed his arm. "C'mon, let's load up the equipment. I'm exhausted."

Xander and Anya offered to help, just as Cordelia rushed over.

"Look!" she waved an orange ticket at them. "I won the door prize! A shopping spree at Straley's department store! FINALLY- new clothes!"

She looked at them inquiringly. "What did you guys wish for?"

Angel took a deep, unneeded breath.

"I wished...that I'd never again lose my soul."

The other three stared at Angel in shock.

Then, with a muffled oath, Spike shoved himself to his feet and stumbled away to the car.

He was shaking so bad by the time he reached it that he could only lean over, hands on the hood, feeling like he was about to heave.

He hadn't realized, he thought dully, that he'd been hurt so much.

"Spike?" her voice, soft as a cloud, a little questioning.

He couldn't look at her.

If he looked at her he'd start to beg; and he had to keep his pride, it was all he had, it was....

Sod his pride.

"Why..." he swallowed, struggling to force the words out. "Why aren't you on your way to L.A. with...him? He's cured, now. You both get your wish."

"My wish?" her tone held surprise. "I didn't wish for Angel!"

He swung around at that, knowing he'd be exposed, defenses down. Knowing but not caring, because he had to ask...

"What did you wish for, Buffy?"

Her steady gaze wavered, just for a moment. "For you to love me."

His laughter was a harsh rasp. "You wasted your wish!"

She stared, frozen in shock. "Ohhh!" She turned, scrambling to get away from him.

"Stop!" his hands were hard, demanding, bruising her soft shoulders.

Spike turned Buffy to face him, tilting up her chin. Tears were spilling from her sea-blue eyes; and all he wanted in the world was to kiss them away.

"You don't understand," he said hopelessly. "When I said you'd wasted your wish, I meant it was too late. Because...I already am completely, desperately, impossibly...in love with you!"

Her tears stopped, making her face a rainbow after rain, while her arms came up to link around his neck.

They kissed, gently at first, then deeply...eager to claim one another with lips, and hands, and bodies. They had been too long denied...as the fever mounted, Spike wrenched open the door of the DeSoto, and lowered Buffy onto the back seat.

A short distance away Cordelia put a consoling hand on Angel's arm.

"Come on," she urged gently. "Time to go home, Angel. Sunnydale holds no place for us anymore. And...there's work to be done, in L.A."

He turned his head somberly. "You're right, Cordelia. Let's go...home."

She smiled sadly, and took his hand.

"Yeah, luv?" Spike reached for her, and this time she moved so close that they might almost have been one person rather than two.

"You didn't tell me...what you wished for?"

He smiled down at the pretty blonde beside him.

His.

Now and forever.

"Let's just say..." he kissed the top of her tousled blonde head.

"...my wish came true!"

The End