Synopsis of Fool for Love

Written by TK

Graveyard
Buffy is kicking a vampire's ass and insulting him and his personal hygiene as she does so. She's about to stake him when he surprises her, grabs her arm, and pushes the stake in her hand into her own stomach. She smacks him away, pulls the stake out of her own gut, and starts to run away. The vampire comes at her again and smacks her into a large gravestone. She drops the stake and the vampire picks it up. As he's about to finish her, Riley jumps and attacks the vampire with an electric shocker thing that sends the vampire running. Riley runs over to Buffy and she collapses in his arms.

Buffy's room
Riley is bandaging up Buffy and she's embarrassed by the fact that she passed out. Riley thinks she should go to the hospital, and Buffy says she doesn't want to freak out her mother. Riley asks how many vampires were attacking her, and Buffy says it was just one. Riley asks if he was a super-vampire or something, and Buffy says he was the regular kind. Both of them are a little surprised that Buffy was almost killed by a regular vampire. Dawn bursts in to warn Buffy that their mom is coming. Joyce pokes her head in and asks about the rubbing alcohol on the bedside table. Dawn covers with a joke about a nail-polish experiment gone awry. When Joyce leaves, Dawn is proud of herself for helping out with the quick cover. Buffy shows Dawn her wound and makes her promise not to tell Joyce. She also asks for Dawn's help around the house while she recovers. Riley says he'll patrol for Buffy that night. Buffy makes him promise to take along the gang.

Graveyard
Riley is being combat guy, trying to be quiet and sneak up on the vampires. Xander, Willow and Anya are munching on chips, talking loudly, and wondering why Riley is trying to be so stealthy. Riley tells them they should just go to the Bronze, and they promise to be quieter.

Magic shop
Buffy and Giles are looking up information on past slayers. Buffy is frustrated that there aren't many details about them, particularly their final battle. Buffy is still a little thrown by the fact that she's been training harder than ever, and yet a regular old vampire almost got the best of her last night. She wants to learn more so she can make sure that what happened to them doesn't happen to her. Giles points out that once the slayer is dead, there isn't really anyone to report on the final battle, and Watchers probably found it a little too painful to write about. Buffy realizes that if she wants to learn more, she'll have to get the info from the other side of the battle. Spike's lair
Buffy throws Spike up against a wall. Spike is surprised that it doesn't hurt as much as usual and asks her if she's okay. She tells him that she wants to know how he killed the two slayers that he killed.

The Bronze
Buffy is sitting at a table with Spike who is drinking a beer. She says she wants to know about the two slayers he killed, one in China during the Boxer Rebellion and one in New York. Spike toys with her a little, and comments on her wound when she turns to flag down a waitress and is in obvious pain. He says that it's not that simple a story, but he'll give it a try.

London, 1880
Spike is a nervous poet, in love with a noblewoman named Cecily and made fun of by his peers for his terribly poetry. He is called William the Bloody because of his bloody awful poetry. After he is ridiculed yet again and totally rejected by Cecily, he runs outside ripping up his poetry, and bumps shoulders with a long-haired gentleman (Angelus?) escorting two women, a blonde (Darla?) and a brunette (Drusilla?). He hides behind some sort of barn structure and sits on a bale of hay ripping up poetry. Drusilla comes to him and in her usual nonsensical way seduces him intellectually, assuring him that he is misunderstood and she can give him the power he always wished for. She bites him. At first he screams in pain, but then gives in to the sensation.

Graveyard, present time
Riley sees vampire that almost got Buffy last night. The vampire walks into a large tomb, and Riley looks inside. There's a whole bunch of vampires having a party. Riley goes back to the waiting gang and tells them that there are too many for them to get now, but they'll come back in the morning with more weapons and daylight on their side.

The Bronze, present time
Spike is now playing pool. Buffy tells him to go on, and makes light of his becoming a vampire. Spike says it's no small deal to become a vampire, and it changes your whole way of life. You no longer have to live by society's rules. He starts to tell her how he made up his own rules, but first he needed a gang.

Yorkshire, 1880
Angelus is holding Spike against a wall by his neck, asking him why he should let him live. Angelus calls him William, and as Spike is let go and able to get some air he insists on being called Spike. Angelus tells Spike how he almost got them all killed in London because he liked attention so much, and now they're holed up in a mine shaft in Yorkshire. Darla and Drusilla are giddy with anticipation of a fight between their men. Spike asks Angelus if he doesn't get tired of always knowing he's going to win. Angelus insists that a good kill is a piece of art. Spike asks him if he doesn't want to just let loose sometimes. Spike taunts Angelus until Angelus attacks him and gets thisclose to staking him. Spike just grins. Angelus says that if this didn't teach Spike a lesson, maybe and angry crowd or the slayer will. Spike is intrigued by the slayer.

The Bronze, present time
Spike explains how while most vampires were terrified by the slayer, Spike became obsessed. When you become a vampire you have nothing to fear except one girl.

China, 1900
Spike is fighting the Chinese slayer in some sort of temple-like building while the Boxer Rebellion rages outside. She is dressed in traditional black silk Chinese garb with her long hair in a braid and a sword as her weapon. They have an incredible fight, and she almost stakes him when she is surprised by an explosion from outside. He gets the best of her, and as he bites her neck she says in Chinese, "Tell my mother I'm sorry." He laughs that he doesn't speak Chinese and drops her to the floor. Drusilla comes in and gives Spike accolades for his deed. He grabs her, gives her a taste of the slayer's blood on his hand, and they start to passionately kiss, falling to the floor.

China, 1900
Drusilla and Spike are walking through the mania of the Boxer Rebellion like two lovers on a calm seashore. They come across Angelus and Darla, and Drusilla brags that Spike killed a slayer. Angelus is obviously jealous. Spike jokes that another one will rise, and he'll give Angelus first crack at her. Angelus says that the rebellion is boring him and it's time to leave. The four simply walk away through the destruction of China.

The Bronze, present time
Spike says that that was the best night of his life. Buffy can't believe he got off on it. Spike is surprised she doesn't get off on killing vampires. He taunts her, saying day and day out she kills hundreds of vampires, but all the vampires need is one good day. He punches her wound, causing himself pain as well as her. When the both yell out they get a few stares from other Bronze patrons.

Graveyard, present time
Riley sneaks up on the vampires partying in the tomb. He kills the one that staked Buffy, drops a grenade and runs. The vampires realize what's happened, but can't get out in time before the grenade explodes in their midst.

Alley behind The Bronze, present time
Buffy and Spike are sort of sparring, sort of flirting and sort of talking. He says that she shouldn't ask how he won, but how the slayers lost. She presses him for the story of the next slayer he killed. The next scenes are interspersed with scenes from New York City in 1977, and Spike on a moving subway car fighting a black slayer with an afro and a long black leather jacket. He mimics the moves with Buffy in the alley that he used to kill the slayer in 1977. He says that what it comes down to is every slayer has a death wish, and you just have to be around at the right time. Spike takes the leather jacket off the dead slayer and puts it on. He tells Buffy that the only thing keeping her here is her ties to the world, her mother, her sister, the Scoobies, but soon they won't be able to keep her here either, and when that happens, Spike will be waiting. Buffy tells him to get out of her sight. He stands in front of her and taunts her, telling her to give him one good wallop, he knows she wants to. She just stands her ground and tells him to get away. He walks closer to her and taunts her more. She stands her ground. He takes hold of shoulders and moves almost as if to kiss her. She recoils in horror. He realizes what he's done and pushes her in a more aggressive move. He tells her that he'll be waiting when her time comes. She pushes him to the ground and tells him that if her time ever comes, it won't be him. She rejects him the same way Cecily did, telling him that he's beneath her. She throws the money she promised him for his story down on top of him and walks away. He's left gathering up the dollars, almost in tears that quickly turn to rage.

Spike's lair
Spike is loading shot gun murmuring about how he's going to put the slayer beneath him... six feet beneath him. Harmony looks on, concerned. She reminds him that he's just going to cause himself a lot of pain and then Buffy will kick his ass. He says it's worth the pain to make her dead. As he storms out of his lair, Harmony yells after him, reminding him that he couldn't even kill her before he got the chip in his head.

South America, 1998
Drusilla wonders why Spike can't kill the slayer or forget about her. He says that he left for Drusilla, and he left Buffy on the other side of the planet. He insists that Drusilla is the one who keeps bringing her up. There is a weird deer-man there that Drusilla has been hanging out with. Drusilla says she wouldn't have to resort to these other creatures if Spike weren't so colored with the slayer.

Summers home, present day
Buffy is chatting with her mother and notices that her mother is packing an overnight bag. Joyce admits to Buffy that she's going to the hospital overnight for observation and a CAT scan. Joyce assures Buffy that she'll be fine. Buffy, a little glassy-eyed, totally agrees with her.

Summers' back yard, present day
Buffy steps out onto the back porch and sits down on the steps. She's crying, and she puts her head down on her knees. Spike sneaks up on her with the shot gun, and just as he's cocking it she looks up and asks him what he wants. Looking at her tear-streaked face, Spike entirely forgets about killing her and instead asks her what's wrong. She says she doesn't want to talk about it. He puts down the gun, sits down next to her and awkwardly pats her back in comfort. They sit there together in silence.

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