Who? What? Huh?

Chapter 3 - Walking a Mile

Xander exited the bathroom accompanied by a puff of steam. He
noticed Spike laying back on his bed with his eyes closed. He
stopped to stare at himself.

Had he stepped into an episode of Outer Limits? Okay. So living on
the hellmouth was always tricky, but this? He watched as Spike's
eyes slowly opened and turned to focus on him.

"What do you think you're doing blood breath?"

"Relaxing in my bed." Spike answered sincerely.

"No. Relaxing in MY bed." Xander answered hotly back.

"Don't think the rest of the world would see it that way pet." And there
was that maddening smirk again.

"Forget it fangless. You aren't sleeping in my bed!" Xander stepped
forward. He knelt on the bed and reached over to push the ex-vamp
off only to fall back onto the floor in agony.

"FUCK!" The pain was excruciating. He could feel tears forming and
blinked rapidly to stave them off.

"Not so funny now is it luv?" Spike's voice held just a trace of
bitterness.

Holy headaches! Was it this bad every time Spike got zapped? How
the hell did he live with it? He wasn't even planning to really hurt the
guy. He'd just wanted his bed back, dammit!

When the pain receded to a dull throb Xander attempted to sit up.
Spike was still smirking down at him, although there was something
else hidden in his expression that Xander couldn't quite place.

"Why don't we share the bed mate? It's not like you can get me to
move, and at least I won't make you sleep in that bloody chair."

What? Spike was being nice to him? He threw Spike a skeptical
expression. "Why won't you make me sleep in the chair?"

He watched as Spike turned his face away. His response was
mumbled, but Xander found with his new vamp hearing he could just
make the words out. "I know how bloody painful it is to get zapped
with the chip. You'll heal faster if your not tossing and turning trying
to get comfortable in that soddin chair all night."

For the second time that night Xander's jaw fell open into the shape
of a soft 'O'. He didn't really have a response, and if his skin could
burn with shame it would have. Knowing that that was exactly what
he had put Spike through and then some.

"Thanks." He mumbled as he got under the covers.

Wait a minute. Did he just thank Spike for letting him sleep in his own
bed? Xander just shook his head and lay down, closing his eyes in
exhaustion.

***

Spike's eyes blinked open to stare at the low basement ceiling. What
was he doing at the whelp's place again? He turned his head to look
toward Xander's bed, only to find it nuzzling up against soft blond
curls.

Bugger! The events of the previous evening came rushing back to
him. He remembered the fight at the Magic Box and Red's crazy
spell. He was obviously still stuck in Xander's body. And now he was
cuddling up to Xander in his body, while toy soy slept the day away.

Spike turned to the right to check the alarm clock. Just past 5 AM.
Before he could think past that thought the alarm began to blare and
his arm shot out to quickly hit the off switch.

Xander's head popped up and he groaned. He threw the covers off
and climbed out of bed, heading toward his dresser to grab clothes
for the day.

"Where do you think you're going whelp?" Spike asked casually from
his seat on the bed's edge.

"Tok fak fangless. Some of us have to earn a living." Xander
answered absently, while heading toward the bathroom.

"I don't fancy having Red switch me back into a pile of ashes."

Xander's head whipped around as Spike's words finally penetrated
his morning haze. "Shit! What am I going to do? I can't call in again.
I've already called in twice this month. They're gonna start thinking
I'm unreliable." Xander sat down heavily in the barca lounger.

"Guess I'll have to go in your place then." Spike had an evil looking
gleam in his eye.

"What? No! You can't do that! You don't know the first thing about
construction!" Xander was trying desperately to think of another
solution.

"Well it's either that or count this number 52 on Xander's list of failed
job attempts."

Xander stared at the ground for a few moments before finally looking
back up at Spike. "Fine." He sighed. "But you better not mess this
up for me Spike." He tried to sound menacing, but it came out
sounding more like pleading.

Spike got up and grabbed the clothes out of Xander's limp hand.
"Guess you won't be needing these today whelp."

Before he could close the bathroom door he heard a final quiet plea
muffled from Xander's direction, "Please Spike." And then the door
snicked shut.

***

Xander paced the length of the basement floor for the 100th time.
God it sucked not being able to gt dut during the day! He wanted to
be able to go out to the site and check up on Spike. Just for a
second. Just to see if he'd been fired yet.

If vampires could sweat, he was sure he'd be able to fill buckets. This
was so far the one decent job he'd been able to get since high school.
And he thought he was at least semi-capable at it too. He really didn't
want to lose this job.

It was nice having something that he at least seemed good at.

As he continued to pace, he began to hear a deep rumbling. He
glanced around the room searching for the noise, when he realized
that it was coming from his own chest. He was growling!

Why was he growling? He began to do a quick check of his body and
realized that he could feel a not quite painful, but rather annoying
ache.

And then realization hit. Spike hadn't fed the night before. He usually
didn't feed until after the meeting when he would either accompany
Giles or Xander back to retrieve a couple of blood bags.

Spike's body was hungry. Spike drank blood. Therefore Xander had
to drink blood while he was in Spike's body. Xander turned to stare at
the white face of the small refrigerator door.

Eeew!

***

Spike had walked out into the sunlight for the first time in over a
hundred years, barring his little stint with the gem of Amara, this
morning. By the time he'd reached Xander's work site he'd been sort
of drunk on the feeling. He'd stopped several times to just feel the
warmth caressing his skin.

It felt incredible.

He was excited to realize that Xander's job allowed him to work
outside for most of the day.

He glanced around the area trying to figure out exactly where he was
supposed to go, without making it look like he'd never been here
before.

Contrary to Xander's belief, Spike wasn't really interested in causing
him to lose his job. He'd been watching the whelp for months now.
He knew his history, the long string of dead end jobs and failed
relationships.

Spike actually felt a bit of compassion for the poor sod. Reminded
him too much of William. Though he would never admit to either one.

Didn't mean he couldn't have some fun though. Just not enough to
get himself dusted once they were back in their own bodies.

***

Xander was currently munching on a bowl of Count Chocula cereal.
Unfortunately it wasn't doing anything to alleviate the ache that was
constantly growing within. He continued to chew and methodically
swallow hoping that he could hold off the few hours it would take for
the sun to set.

Maybe by the time they got to the Magic Box, Willow would have
found a way to switch them back.

***

Spike found the work surprisingly soothing. It wasn't monotonous but
the heavy labor allowed him to sort of set his body on autopilot.

Once he'd found where he was initially supposed to be he realized
that the foreman was explaining what task his part of the crew was
going to be working on that day. That made it remarkably simple for
him to get his bearings.

He turned at the sound of Xander's name.

"Hey Harris!" The one named Chris was walking toward him.

"Yeah?"

"What's wrong with you? Been calling you for the past 5 minutes!"
Chris looked exasperated.

"Sorry 'bout that. Guess I just had a lot on my mind." Spike was
trying hard to keep his accent from showing.

"Well, why don't you come with us to drown your sorrows?" Chris
clapped him on the back. "Bunch of us are heading over to Jack's
Bar after quitting time. You in?"

Spike thought about it for a moment. Xander was expecting him back
before sunset so that they could walk over to the Magic Box together.
They needed to see if Red had figured out a reversal spell yet.

But what could one drink hurt?

"Sure. Sounds good mate." Spike replied without thinking.

"Harris you've been watching too much Monty Python! That's the
worst English accent eve ever heard!" Chris walked off laughing,
leaving Spike gaping open-mouthed.

***

Xander threw the empty bowl across the room. Where the hell was
Spike? It was almost sunset, and still no sign of the Xander
wannabe.

The blood lust was causing his entire body to ache. He felt like he
hadn't eaten in weeks. He couldn't prevent his game face from
appearing about an hour ago. And so far he had been unable to
shake it off.

Without realizing what he was doing, Xander found himself in front of
the fridge with the door open. He was reaching in and grabbing a
blood bag before he knew what was happening. He dropped the bag
to the ground when he finally realized his intent.

The hunger was like an acid eating him up from the inside out. He
could feel the nee sin sink his fangs into warm skin and nourish
himself, but knew that he couldn't do that. The worst part was he
wasn't sure that he could resist if it weren't for the goddamned chip!

He looked back up at the basement door forlornly. He knew that
Spike wasn't going to be walking through anytime soon. Even if he
did, there was no guarantee that Willow would have a spell ready to
cure them.

He reached down for the blood bag, grabbing a mug on the way.
Within a few minutes he had a warmed cup resting in his hands.
Closing his eyes he brought the mug to his lips.

He groaned at the first taste. Instead of the revulsion he had steeled
himself against, he felt only a soothing warmth flood his entire body.
The ache dulled and then disappeared. And once the cup was
emptied, Xander found himself licking his lips to capture the last
drops.

He brought the mug over to the sink to wash out. Grabbing his
jacket, he headed up the stairs intent on finding Spike.

For a second his steps faltered. Oh my god! Did I just enjoy a cup of
blood?!

Denial. He was not going to think about it. Denial was good. That
was his new motto. He didn't know how long he would be stuck in
Spike's body, so he would just have to deal until Willow could switch
them back.

And then he could pretend that this whole thing never happened!