The Exchange

The Exchange. Co-written with Xander/Willow/Buffy friendship, Spanderness, chapter two.





Chapter Two:




Dawn woke up the next morning to the sound of her alarm clock ringing. Slamming it off, she yawned and started stretching. One look at her bag made her groan. She had to go to school and had an exam today.

She stood up and headed to the door. Outside her room, she saw Willow getting out from the bathroom. The redhead smiled at her and said, "Good morning, Dawn."

Dawn yawned. "Good morning, Willow."

She heard Buffy's door open. She was about to turn and say "good morning", but the death look on Willow's face stopped her.

"You are SO not going out in my... this body wearing that!" Willow snarled at Buffy.

Dawn raised an eyebrow at Willow's strange behavior then looked at Buffy. Both her eyebrows snapped up in astonishment at the sight of her sister. Buffy was wearing a very bright green blouse with a red sweater and brown pants! ~ is that Buffy? ~ She wondered in shock.

Willow shooed Buffy into her room, "Inside, NOW!" she yelled getting Buffy out of the hallway hurriedly.

Dawn was still standing, hand on the bathroom doorknob, looking stunned. That was so weird! Willow was snarling at Buffy? Willow was about to give Buffy a fashion lesson? And what the hell happened to Buffy's taste?

There's something weird going on, and they weren't telling her what it was. Well, she was going to find out whether they liked it or not. She raised her chin in defiance.



*~*~*~*~*~*



In Xander's apartment, Willow stood in front of the mirror looking at Xander's reflection. She touched the cuts on her cheek lightly. ~ I'm sorry, Xan ~ she thought guiltily. ~ If I'd known that shaving was gonna be so hard I would've let you grow a beard ~

She froze at the violent pounding on the door. She looked at the door frowning, ~ who could that be? ~

The pounding was back again. "Open the door, you piece of shit!" someone roared from outside.

Willow quivered at the sound. It was the man out of most of her childhood nightmares, her best friend's father, Anthony Harris. She shuddered remembering how much that man scared her whenever she, Xander and Jesse saw him. He had never hurt them, but the sight of him drinking and looking at her with his red-rimmed eyes frightened her. He always fixed Xander with cold eyes, slurring, "Get me a beer, boy." And Xander always obeyed without saying a word.

She and Jesse had asked Xander many times if his father ever hurt him. The little dark haired boy had always flashed them one of his grins and said that his dad yelled at him but never raised a hand to him. She had always believed him, but Jesse never did. She hoped that Xander had been telling the truth.

"I know you're in there you worthless fuck, your car is still parked outside!" Mr. Harris hollered.

That shook her out of her thoughts. ~ I have to open the door ~ she shuddered at that thought especially since now she was Xander. ~ I hope Xander told us the truth! ~ At the wedding she had avoided meeting Mr. Harris, letting Slayer Buffy handle him, but now there was no escape.

She clumped towards the door. Taking a shaky breath, she opened the door to face one still scary Tony Harris. She tried her best not to tremble and smiled goofily, "H...hi dad."

~ Darn, I stuttered! ~

Mr. Harris stretched his lips with disgust. "Give me my money, boy," he slurred.

Willow swallowed the lump in her throat, "W...what money?"

~ God, I sound like Tara. ~ She mentally smiled at the thought of the blond witch.

"The money I spent on that disaster you called a wedding. You humiliated me, boy. You disgraced the family's name with your idiotic act. Can't even marry a stupid woman, you worthless coward. Can't do a simple thing, you ..."

As Xander's father went on with his insulting words, Willow gritted her teeth angrily. ~ How dare he say those horrible things to his own son? Can't he see that he's hurting his feelings? ~ Then again that was Xander's father she was talking about here. Buffy had told her how he insulted his wife at the wedding in front of everyone. Willow was glad that Xander hadn't been there to see that. She wanted to slap the old man on his face, for all he had done, regardless of her fear of him, but he was right. He should get his money back. After all, Xander had ruined the wedding.

She cut the man off, "OK, I'll give you your money tomorrow."

"Why tomorrow?" he roared.

"Because I don't have it now. I'll go by the bank today and get you the money."

"If I don't get my money tomorrow, boy, I'll ..."

"No, no I'll give it to you tomorrow. I swear."

"You better."

Willow looked at him nervously, "Now if you excuse me, *dad*, I got to go to work."

"Yeah, I have to go to work, too."

~ Yeah right, you mean go to drink some more! ~ Willow thought in sarcasm.

She watched Mr. Harris leave, leaning on the wall at one point when his feet couldn't hold him upright, then gave a heavy sigh of relief. She thought about the money she would get.

~ No word to Xander about this, he has enough to deal with. ~

She wished she could pay Xander's father with her money but she knew that weddings cost more than she could pay. Sighing sadly, she went to gather her stuff and headed off to the construction site.



*~*~*~*~*~*



Xander opened up the Magic Box with the keys Buffy had given him. He entered the shop feeling really uncomfortable. The blouse and pants that Buffy had forced him to wear were so tight, he could barely walk in them

~ Why do women do this to themselves? ~ He frowned. It wasn’t like his choice of clothing was that bad!

He looked around at the quiet shop. He had had an image in his mind all morning that he was going enter and see Anya behind the counter and Giles looking through the books, like they used to do. Sadly, it was just him in the old shop. He wandered around the place thinking bitter thoughts about Anya, who had left because of him and Giles, who had left because...he didn't know why the Giles had left.

He hadn't heard anything about or from the ex-watcher since he left. It was like he didn't exist anymore. Xander had taken the Englishman’s phone number from Buffy a month ago to invite him to his wedding. Giles didn't return to his call nor come to the wedding. It hurt that Giles hadn't shown up on, what was supposed to be, the happiest day of his life ~ 'course I ruined everything! ~ He reflected bitterly.

He knew Giles looked at Buffy, Willow and him like they were his own children. It was obvious in his eyes; the worried look when they were sad or in trouble, the happy look when they laughed and the proud one he always shot Buffy and Willow.

Sadly, he never got that look. Why would he? Buffy and Willow did plenty of great things in their lives. The only good thing he had ever done was becoming a construction worker. Other than that, Buffy and Willow went to college, he didn't. Buffy was the slayer. Willow was a powerful witch and he was the joker with bad ideas, which always annoyed the G-Man. ~ Oh, yeah, that annoyed him too. ~

Thank God, Giles hadn't come to his wedding. He had screwed it up like he did everything else. If Giles were there that day he would've had one of those disappointed looks he always gave him. Giles' lack of knowledge of what happened was better than getting those looks.

Tears gathered in his eyes. ~ Shit! ~ He grimaced, and then rubbed his eyes roughly. He hated how weakly the female body reacted towards emotions. Only two weeks had passed since he broke it off with Anya. It was natural to brood and gloom all the time, but to cry every time he did was too much.

"Good morning, young lady."

Xander turned and saw an old woman smiling at him. ~ Oh a customer! How did Anya handle this? ~

"Um...good morning, ma'am, how may I help you?"

"Well, aren't you the polite one, and pretty too."

"Uh, thanks?"

"You're welcome, deary. Now I've heard that you have many different healing powders. I'm looking for a specific one for a rash I've got on my upper thigh."

~ Gulp! ~

"Uh OK, do you know what it's called?" Xander asked uncomfortable.

"Well, I never actually asked. You see I used to go to this Chinese Herbalist and he used to recommend a different one each time he checked on the rash, it always went away after he gave me the powder, but he's away now to attend his daughter's wedding. Are you married, honey?"

~ Wow, major blab fest on such a little old lady! ~

"Oh no, no marriage for me. So how can I help you?"

"You can check the rash I guess and give me something for it, do you have a backroom?"

~ WHAT! ~

Xander went behind the counter so there would be something between him and the old woman.

"Um, there's no need. I have different kinds of powders here; maybe you can describe the last one your Chinese friend gave you. We have red, green, yellow, black." He began to pick out different jars and placing them on the counter.

The woman came closer and noticed the last jar had a tag on it. "Gun powder!" She said horrified. "She was going to give me gun powder for my rash!" She huffed and stormed out of the shop.

Xander returned from the backroom with more jars. Frowning when he noticed that the lady customer had left, he shrugged and started replacing the jars on the shelves.



*~*~*~*~*~*



~ Oh hope Willow won't mind the little stain on her notebook, ~ Buffy whimpered and tried to wipe the *huge* ink blob that covered half the page. ~ Well, at least all the important notes are on the other page ~ Buffy shrugged and picked up her books and got up to go to her next class.

"Um, Willow?"

~ Ooh that's me! ~ Buffy stopped in her tracks and turned to see the professor indicating for her, "Yes?"

"Willow, is everything OK?"

"Yes, why do you ask?" Buffy frowned when Ms. Rachel placed her hand on hers.

~ What's with the touching? ohhh I hope Willow isn't having a fling with the teacher. Hey! That's illegal right? ~

"Willow, you haven't answered one question. That's not like you. You're not warm so I assume you're not sick." She removed her hand.

~ Oh that was why she was touching me she thought I was sick coz I didn't answer any question. Sheesh I'm getting paranoid. ~

"Well, I was concentrating on taking notes," Buffy explained showing her the books she's carrying.

The professor's eyes widened. "Are you sure you're fine?"

"Yes!" Buffy said exasperated. "Why do you keep saying that?"

The woman pointed at the book. "Well, Ms. Rosenberg, this is Native American History. What you have there is African Music."

Buffy looked at the book, she blushed. "Umm, I have that next class I must've picked the wrong book. Gotta go now," she said hurriedly before exiting the classroom.



*~*~*~*~*~*



"Willow! Willow wait up!" A voice called at her.

~ Oh, that's me again! ~

Buffy turned to see Tara running towards her. ~ OK now or never. ~

Buffy waived, "Hey Tara."

"Hey Will, what's with the r... running?"

"I have class and I just humiliated myself in front of the professor," Buffy said coolly.

Tara looked at her questioning. "Wrong book", Buffy explained. Tara nodded her head and smiled shyly. ~ Aw, isn't she cute when she blushes. Um, not that I'm thinking that in a gay kinda way... See? I just ogled that hot guy's butt over there. ~

"Willow?" Buffy looked away from the hot buns and saw Tara looking at her strangely. "Are you OK?"

~ Ooh, did she realize that I'm not Will? ~

"Yeah?" Buffy asked worriedly.

"D...did you just ch...check out that guy?"

"WHAT!" Buffy began to stutter all Willow like, "N...no, no checking out guys, totally gay here! He had... gum on him, that's all"

Tara giggled.

Buffy looked at her watch ~ God, I'm gonna be late to class. Willow is SO gonna kill me if that happened. ~

"Tara, I have to go, and it's not that I have to go because I want to avoid you coz I don't want to avoid you. I have class!"

Tara smiled widely at that. She really missed the Willow babble. The redhead seemed to be really handling the magic addiction. Her aura was all clear.

"Sure, I only wanted to see how you're d-doing with the m-magic and I see you haven't been doing any, I'm glad. Well, I have class too, bye!"

"Bye!"

Buffy ran to her next class, making a mental note to tell Willow that Tara hadn't suspected a thing.



*~*~*~*~*~*



Willow walked to the construction site. The sun was bright, too bright; it was burning her skin ~ Uh, Xan's skin ~ she corrected herself. ~ Now I know why Xander has tanned skin. ~

She looked around at the men that were working here and there, and she realized she didn't know what to do.

"Xander!"

She turned her head towards a familiar face. He was a blond young man that she knew she had seen before. ~ Oh, he's the guy Xander brought to Buffy's birthday party. What's his name? ~

"Richard!"

She called back and hurried towards him.

"Hey, Harris, what are you doing here early? We only have to paint over the wall we made yesterday."

"Uh, I woke up and couldn't sleep," Willow said the first thing that came to her mind.

Richard roared with laughter. "That's a good one, Xander, *you* couldn't sleep!" He said while placing his arm over Xander's shoulder and ringing his neck playfully.

~ Gah! Men play rough. ~

Richard then let go of *Xander*, still laughing then slapped him on the back. Willow smiled weakly; she thought that the safe way out of another strangling match would be talking.

~ But about what? ~

"Hey, Rich?"

"Ya man?"

"How are your wounds? You know, from that night at my friends' birthday party?"

Richard came closer. "You know they're better, Xan." Then he whispered, "So any luck with your friends?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, don't play dumb. Did they listen this time when you told them I know about the secrets that lie behind the night in Sunnydale and that if they need any help I'm there?"

Willow's brain - technically Xander's brain - was going a million miles a minute. Richard knew. Xander knew that he knew. Xander told them but they didn't listen. Willow was still mentally gnawing at herself when Richard nudged her and she heard several catcalls.

Looking up she noticed what all the fuss was about. A tall slender well-curved brunette, wearing a skintight knee-high brown skirt, with an equally tight white shirt showing her well-defined breasts was walking by. Willow couldn't help but gaze at her as hungrily as the other men were, if not more. Her brows furrowed, something is not right down there. She looked down, her eyes comically widened as she noticed the very prominent bulge in her pants. Having been with a guy before, she knew what that was.

~ OH MY GOD! I have a hard on ~ Willow looked around in fear that someone had noticed; relieved when she realized that they still were looking at the hot woman ~ Oh, I did not just think that! I love Tara. ~ She thought forcibly.

She remembered that when men on TV got hard in inappropriate situations they thought about other things. ~ OK. A chair, that's not hot, and Xander's clothes those are SO not hot. ~ She was still haunted by the frightful sight of all the loose fitting brightly colored clothes when she had got dressed this morning. ~ I should have worn one of those instead of tight jeans! OK think something else. Xander said that Giles singing was a major no no, but I really liked that, he had the softest voice. Oh bad train of thought … umm blood yes blood!! It's icky specially how Spike eats it with all that 'texture' he puts in it. YAK! ~ Willow sighed when she felt the erection recede.

~ Urgh, I had an erection! Huh, how many girls can say that? ~

Willow shook her head to clear the jumbling thoughts and followed the other men to the tall wall they were about to paint, thanking the Goddess for it being a painting job and that she wasn't required to build anything. She was also glad that today is Friday. They had two days to figure out how to fix their switch. She wasn't sure she could take more of these strange male reactions.



*~*~*~*~*~*



"C'mon, Xan. Kick at me again and harder this time!"

The three friends met at the Magic Box, after Willow had finished up at work and Buffy's day at college ended. Everyone started talking about his/her hard day. The most significant thing was what Buffy told them about Tara not noticing anything.

Buffy decided to teach Xander how to fight. Now that he was the slayer, he was the one who should go patrolling, alone, since Buffy and Willow chose to stay at the shop to do some research on how they would fix themselves. The slayer should patrol no matter what. It was not the innocent people's fault that 'things' were mixed up.

Buffy's moves weren't affected by being in Willow's body. She still had the style but without the slayer powers. It wasn't long before Xander learned some moves, then the three of them decided to take a break.

"Guys, what's the strangest experience that you faced when all of this happened?" Buffy asked.

"Peeing!" Both Xander and Willow answered in unison.

"Ewww, nooo. I mean something strange happened and you couldn't control it. Like I dreamed last night, I was Willow, in junior high, tutoring Xander and Jesse Algebra. Then, I gave them tests and when they finished they asked to go to drink water. I said yes, and when I opened their papers I saw a funny drawing of me, I mean Willow, yelling. And guess what? They didn't go to drink water!" Buffy glared at Xander.

Willow's eyebrows rose. "Oh Goddess, that did happen before!"

"You mean that wasn't just a dream? It did happen before?" Buffy asked. Willow nodded. "Well, what about you guys? Did you have any dreams?"

"Yeah, I dreamt that me, Buffy, and Dawn went to Disneyland with mom and dad. It was so fun, but I had this strange feeling that I'd been there before and I've *never* been to Disneyland. It's like I was having Buffy's feelings, not mine." Xander said.

"That happened to me, too." Buffy said. "I knew everything about Algebra. Things I've never understood before, and I was so furious when you guys didn't understand. I mean it was so easy."

"What about you, Willow? What did you dream about?" Xander asked the version of himself.

Willow scowled. "I dreamt about your smoochies with Cordelia in the closet. Ewww, I mean I had the 'I care about you, Cordy' feelings and what's with you *men* and hard-ons. Ew." Willow couldn't stop with the 'Eww' face, which looked hilarious on Xander.

Xander blushed. "You ... you actually saw that?"

"Not just saw it! I felt it, too! Eww."

Xander blushed harder.

Buffy jumped in her seat. "Awww, I'm so cute when I'm blushing. Do it again Xander, please."

"W ...what?" Xander blushed even more. Buffy couldn't help herself; her hands were on her cheeks, and she squealed. "Awww, cuuuute."

"Cut it out!" Xander yelped to his manly shame.

Willow rolled her eyes. "Can we stop that, please? Ok, I think I know what's going on with us, guys. Those aren't just dreams, those are our memories. I see Xander's past in my dreams, Buffy sees mine, and Xander sees Buffy's," Willow explained.

Buffy and Xander's faces paled. "Are ... are you s ...sure?" Buffy stuttered.

"That's the logical explanation, Buffy," Willow answered sadly.

"But ... but those are my memories, and what if Xander saw my secrets? I don't want him knowing my secrets! That can't be!" she exclaimed.

Buffy had every right to freak out. Xander and Willow both didn't like idea of someone dreaming about their past and secrets. The scary idea made the three friends lose themselves to their thoughts. Then Willow broke the silence. "I guess that means we should do our best in research today, right?"

Xander and Buffy nodded their heads in agreement, and then Xander turned to Buffy. "I think I've rested enough, let's go train some more. And tonight I'll try searching for Warren and his geeks."

Buffy nodded mutely. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's gonna be OK, believe me," he said reassuring her.

She smiled at him, although he could see the gloom in her eyes, and then said. "Let's go."

The two of them went to the training room leaving Willow to start on research.



*~*~*~*~*~*



That night, Xander walked through the cemeteries - as the slayer - looking for the vampires. He only ran into two vamps and staked them easily. The now blond girl still couldn't push away the stupid grin he had had on his face since then. ~ Can you blame me? I kicked ass! ~

He still had the weird feeling of being smaller, and with every step he took he couldn't feel the missing part of him. ~ I miss my penis! ~ He thought sadly. ~ I hope Willow is taking good care of it. ~

"'Ello 'luv."

He froze when he heard the familiar British accent. He turned his gaze towards the bleached vampire who smiled at him smugly.

~ Uh oh, Spike! Not good. ~ Xander recalled his conversation with Buffy in her room.


**Flashback**


"I don't see why I should change my clothes just for slaying!" Xander whined, while Buffy helped dressing him. She had dragged him from the Magic Box to her house *just* to change his clothes. ~ She's totally obsessed! ~

"There's nothing wrong with looking good while slaying vamps," Buffy replied casually.

"I looked just fine at the Magic Shop; there was no need to change."

"There." Buffy smiled as she tied the straps of her sky-blue blouse on his back. She forced him to sit down so she could do his hair and make up.

~ Well, it is her body after all. ~ Xander said logically to his sullen brain.

"Don't worry, Xan. I'm sure me and Will are gonna find a solution in research tonight."

"I hope so. I mean the whole dreaming thing is freaking me out."

There was a pause at that between them then. After doing the make up, Buffy started to fix the hair. He stared at her Willow-face in the mirror; she seemed lost in her own thoughts. He didn't blame her, that was too spooky, even if Buffy had experienced this body changing stuff before, it was not something that you could get use to.

Then Buffy broke the silence. "Xander? Uh, if you run into Spike, try to ignore him, okay?"

Xander frowned. "Well, Buff. As much as I like to ignore the bleached freak, I don't think that I should push him away. His helping in slaying is a good thing."

"But what if he knew that you're not me?"

"Buffy," he began. "You said it yourself that Tara didn't suspect anything. She knows Willow better than Spike knows any of us, he won't suspect."

"But he knows my moves. He'll know that you're not me."

"I'm not sure that us keeping 'it' a secret is such a good thing maybe he can help us if we..."

"Trust me Xander, avoiding him is gonna be for the best. Plus, I trained you just fine. You can hold your ground if you avoid the usually full cemeteries and stick to the route I told you about."

He looked at her pleading face, and sighed. "All right, if that's what you want."


**End Flashback**


"Where did you go, 'luv?"

Spike smirked at him. Xander rolled his eyes, walking away. "Go away, chip-head."

Spike stared at the blond walking away. He expected the cold shoulder but what hurt him was the use of the word 'chip-head'. She hadn't used that word lately; she either called him Spike or William like he was a person. He knew she had broken it off with him, but he had thought she would treat him with a little respect at least.

He set his face and followed her without a word.

Xander sighed with annoyance, and turned to face Spike. He shivered when his gaze locked on Spike's chest and looked up firmly at blue eyes. "Check your ears, vamp-face. I said 'go away' that means leave."

"Oh, is this how it's going to be? Use me then leave me!"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"So it's denial now, is it? Let me refresh your memory. *You* having hot naked sweaty sex with *me*!"

"I'd never do that!" Xander screamed then he realized that Spike was talking about Buffy not him.

"Oh you did *do* that, Buffy, over and over again!"

He approached and Xander stepped back looking at him in disgust. "I would never, you bleached freak."

Xander couldn't take any of this so he punched Spike, hard. The slayer strength caused Spike to be thrown several feet away. Spike raised his hand to brush at his lip where there were several blood drops. He then slowly got up and approached a shocked Xander.

"So you're back to the rough play are you, *Slayer*." Spike spat the name venomously. Xander inwardly cringed; it had been a long time since Spike called Buffy that. Spike stood in front of him. "But you forgot that now I can fight back!" He returned the punch with fervor and caused Xander to fall away as well.

Xander carefully got up, "You can hit me?"

Spike began to laugh, "Oh, you know I can! Or do you want to forget the reason why I can hit you and no one else can coz your 'friends' brought you back wrong!"

"No! *You're* wrong." Xander shook his head in denial, was that the real reason why Buffy wanted him to avoid the vampire? So he wouldn't find out. "Nothing you said is true!"

"You just don't get that, do you? You conveniently forget everything after getting what you want." He began circling the stricken Xander. "You had a good deal, didn't you? Get a free fuck with Spike, go back to your friends and pretend nothing happened. No but that wasn't enough for you, was it, you've 'forbidden' me from seeing the Bit, on the basis that 'they'll' find out!" Spike spat out, "Then reliable soldier boy comes back with his lovely marriage and you're wanting nothing with me coz I can't give you that!"

"The demon eggs," Xander said softly.

Spike brushed at his hair, "You knew that they were for you. You needed money I told you I'd get you money," he said his eyes shining with love.

Xander took a deep breath and said forcibly, "I didn't have anything to do with you." Xander said that with a slight pleading sound, trying to make himself believe something other than the truth that was staring at him.

The love that was shining in the blond-haired vampire's eyes dimmed. Spike looked at him dangerously and said in a scary low voice. "I'll remind you then."

He grabbed Xander's arm and forcefully pressed his body to Xander's. His arms wrapped around Xander's waist, holding him tight. Xander struggled to free himself from the powerful grip, before Spike brushed his lips against his. Wide-eyed Xander tried to move his face away, but Spike pressed his lips more firmly. They were cold, in a pleasant kind of way. The blond vampire started sucking Xander's full bottom lip. Xander didn't try to push away anymore. With Spike's lips nibbling and teasing his, his lips slightly parted. He jumped when a cold tongue slipped into his mouth.

Xander's world tilted. He closed his eyes as Spike's cool tongue brushed against his own. He couldn't feel anything around him. He only felt the hard, muscled body he was pressed into, the strong hands that squeezed his waist and the mouth that was devouring his in a bruising kiss. Xander was kissing back with hunger and need. His hands that were on Spike's chest moved to surround his neck, desperately holding on to it.

He felt Spike's groin against his thigh. Xander moaned with pleasure. He also felt the vampire's fingers playing with the straps of his blouse. Xander whimpered when Spike's erection pressed harder. Spike's hands tore at the straps.

Xander broke the kiss violently when he felt he was going to choke. He had forgotten he was kissing a vampire. ~ God I kissed him back! ~ He stared at the vampire, eyes wide, breathing hard. Spike's eyes were cold, looking at him like he had proved a point. He let go of Xander and the blond girl fell onto the ground. Xander looked up at Spike's hard stare, his breath still hitching. The vampire turned on his heals and left.

Hugging himself, Xander stared at Spike's retreating back until he disappeared into the shadows. He didn't know what frightened him the most; the fact that Buffy was sleeping with Spike or the fact that Spike could hurt Buffy or the fact that he *liked* the kiss, a lot.



*~*~*~*~*~*