Chapter 26 by ThomasMoro

What happens next?

Buffy cashes her reality check

"I can't believe I was ready to stake you, Kennedy," said Buffy. "Whatever was I thinking?"

"Hey, it's cool," said Kennedy as she slowly stood up in front of Buffy. "No harm, no foul."

"But I could have killed you," said Buffy.

"But you didn't," said Kennedy.

"But I almost did," said Buffy.

"Please don't beat yourself over it, Buffy," said Kennedy. "We all do things that we regret. So did you like the kiss?"

"So not the time, Kennedy," said Amy.

"What?" asked Kennedy. "Are you jealous now?"

"Of you and Buffy?" asked Amy, rolling her eyes. "Oh, please."

"Well, in all fairness, I'm quite sure your girlfriend was not trying to make you jealous when she kissed me," said Buffy.

"She's not my girlfriend!" exclaimed Amy.

"Whatever," said Buffy, rolling her eyes as well.

"The way you two bicker, one would think she was," said Spike. "In fact, you two often seem like an old married couple."

"Do we really need to keep having this conversation?" asked Amy.

"Well, we could talk about how the Witch's Girlfriend over there has yet to prove she isn't a vampire," said Spike. "I mean just because she isn't a hallucination doesn't mean she can't be a vampire."

"But she isn't a vampire," said Buffy. "Now that I can think clearly, I can see that she is totally different than the vampires I knew in LA -- the ones that I thought were hallucinations but weren't. For example, she has a heartbeat. Plus no vampire I met in LA ever went around naked. More often, they'd basically stand out by wearing clothes that were out of fashion. And sometimes they would wear clothes that were very out of fashion. Just like you and Dru... sil... la..."

Spike smiled. "And with that, the penny finally drops."

Then Drusilla chimed in. "If it makes you feel any better, Buffy, we didn't realize you was a Slayer until just a few minutes ago. But now that we know, Spike and I feel obliged to do something about it. You see, my boyfriend has killed two Slayers in the past and you're all set to become number three."