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Changing Hearts Series - Lighting the Fuse -- by Ruby
Rating: PG-13
Description: Spike prepares to expose Oz's secret, sequel to Hidden Truth.
Note: Spoilers -- Wild at Heart, The Initiative.
Disclaimer: Joss owns all.
"And you think she's going to drop everything and come racing up here after some guy she spent one night of her life banging? Why the bloody hell would she?" Spike wanted to know.
Anya sighed and looked at him as though he were a pathetically ignorant school boy, "Experience, remember? I know how people think when it comes to these things. What kind of woman talks to a guy for a few hours and then invites him home for an entire night of sex?"
"A whore?" he said dryly.
"Whores don't live in out-of-the-way towns and work in greasy little restaurants--not for long, anyway," she argued. "Besides, Oz didn't pay for services rendered. She isn't a whore. She's a lonely, sex-starved young woman."
"Anya, you think _everyone's_ sex-starved," he told her.
"Fine," she shrugged and started to stand up. "Don't take the word of an ex-demon who's crawled inside minds exactly like hers since centuries before you even existed."
"Okay, okay," he quickly relented. "I'll take your word for it. Just--sit down, and tell me how you plan on getting her here."
She nodded and dropped back down onto the sofa, "It's already done. I phoned her and told her I'm an old friend of Oz's. I said he'd come back to Sunnydale to try to renew his relationship with his girlfriend, but all he's been able to think about is her. I told her I couldn't stand to see him so depressed, and that if she was interested, I knew he was, too."
"And she swallowed it?"
"Whole," Anya grinned. "Just like I knew she would. She said she had time off coming, and she'd be here this weekend."
"If she tells the mutt that someone from Sunnyhell called her, he's going to figure out it was you," Spike told her.
"Thought of that," she replied. "I told her he'd sworn me to secrecy about her. He didn't want his old girlfriend to know Ivy was the reason his feelings toward her had changed. I said he'd never understand if he found out we'd talked. She was more than eager to keep that between us. And Oz had already told her where he was from, so he won't think it's strange that she knows where to find him."
"You know; it's a shame those pillocks stripped you of your powers. You're damned good at this," he said with a smile.
"Thank you," she replied, obviously pleased.
"Think the wolf trusts you enough to listen to a suggestion?" he asked her.
"I know he does," she answered confidently.
"Good. See if you can persuade him to pour his mangy heart out to Willow. Tell her how much he misses her, still loves her, would never want to be with anyone else--all that sort of rot. But he has to do it before the weekend," Spike said. "If he hasn't come clean with her about his little sleep-over with the waitress, it's a safe bet he never will."
"He knows that would kill any chance he might ever have of getting her back," Anya agreed.
"Right. And after he's proclaimed his undying devotion and faithfulness to her, his one-night stand will wheel into town and blow the truth wide open."
A spark of admiration lit the former demon's eyes, "You're not so bad at this, yourself. You know that Buffy and Xander are bound to find out what Oz did after Ivy shows up. They'll both be ready to toss him into the hellmouth."
"Exactly. Stupid sod. I'd rip his throat out if I could. Thinks he can tear Willow's life apart, disappear for months while she survives the torture of building herself a new one, and then stroll back into town insisting he should have a chance to drag her back into the old one. Bloody git forgot one little detail--me."
Anya was taken aback by the venom in his voice, "You really love her."
"Yes," he answered without skipping a beat.
The End
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