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Author's Chapter Notes:
I know this one is marked finished, but I decided to write more for it.
Chapter 2

Xander struggled to his feet. He had been sleeping on the couch while waiting for Anya to get home from the Magic box when a pounding on the door of apartment door had startled him. Xander flung the door open, ready to blast whoever had disturbed his nap.

"Rise and shine, floppy boy." Spike leaned against the wall across from Xander's apartment. "Buffy's at the hospital with her mum. So, you've been elected to patrol with yours truly."

"Joyce's in the hospital?" Xander gasped. "Is she okay?" He gaped at the vampire. Had it been just last night that the Scoobs had welcomed Spike into their group?

Spike shrugged. "She's havin' tests. Slayer told me after we left the Bronze last night."

"We're patrolling because...?"

"Don't want Buffy to worry about it. She has enough to think about with her mum." Spike gave the human a smirk.

Xander sighed. While he had been friendly with Spike the night before, he wasn't sure he wanted to patrol with the snarky vampire.

"Come on, Harris. It's not like we can rely on Captain Cardboard to do it for her." Spike's face reflected the disgust he felt about the Slayer's newest ex. "Wanker showed up at Joyce's today."

"Everyone okay?" Xander was concerned. The ex-soldier had been more than a little upset the night before.

Spike shrugged. "I was the only one there. Buffy and Joyce went to the hospital early. Needless to say, Cornpone wasn't too happy to see I had an invite."

"Uh oh." Xander grabbed his coat, closed the apartment door, and locked it. He didn't even notice that Spike and he had left the building.

"Yeah." Spike pulled a stake from his pocket to twirl through his fingers. "Imagine how brassed off he was when he found out I had the invite long before he was in the picture."

"Like to brag, don't you?" Xander rolled his eyes.

"Can't do much else with this thing in my noggin." Spike tapped his forehead.

"Poor Spikey," Xander teased. "Can we swing by to let Anya know I'm out?"

"Sure." Spike lifted one shoulder. "Need some burba weed anyway."

"Burba weed?"

"Easier to find in Sunnydale than Wheatabix is."

Xander grimaced. He remembered Spike's penchant for adding other food items to his blood. For texture, Spike always said. After a salad diet that Anya had sprung on him the summer before, the young human had to wonder if the vampire was trying to cover the taste of the pig's blood instead.

"So, what cemetery did Finn fire bomb last night?" Spike glanced over at the quiet Xander. Maybe a change of topics would be best. Humans were so squeamish!

"It was on the south side of Restfield where those other crypts are."

"Bugger. Maybe I should have staked Harm rather than telling her to shove off." Spike peered off into the shadows, his eyes darkening with his thoughts.

"They weren't natives," Xander assured the irate vampire. "Since when do you care about minions, anyway?"

"Since the Slayer isn't running away saying 'ewww'." Spike wrinkled his nose in an approximation of Buffy.

Xander shook his head with a chuckle. "You are one weird vampire. Shouldn't you be the one running away saying 'ewww'?"

"What can I say, baby." Spike wiggled his eyebrows at Xander. "I've always been a rebel."

Xander suddenly stopped. He pointed towards a familiar figure up ahead. "What's Riley doing patrolling alone?"

"What's he doing being followed by a vamp?" Spike pointed out the dark-haired female trailing the ex-soldier. "That's one of those vamp whores that hang out at Willy's," he said when he recognized the vampiress.

"Vamp whore?" Xander whispered. "Who in the hell would pay to boink a vampire?"

"Someone addicted to being bit."

"What?" This time it was Xander that wrinkled his nose for real. "Why would anyone do that?"

"You remember last month when you showed up for a Scooby meetin' covered in love bites, don't you?" Spike teased. "Demon girl took a good chunk out of you."

Xander glanced at the smirking vampire. "It's not the same!"

"Yes, it is." Spike turned his attention back to Buffy's ex. "He'll be right brassed if we rescue him, won't he?"

"Probably," Xander agreed.

"Good, let's do it." Spike slipped quietly down the street.

"Gee, thanks, Deadboy Jr." Xander followed Spike. "Make me have to explain to Buffy how you got staked."

The two Scoobies trailed Riley until the ex-soldier entered Willy's Alibi Room. They gave each other knowing looks when the vampiress shadowing Finn followed him inside.

"I suppose you're right." Xander sighed. "We can't let him get vamped. Let me tell you there's nothing worse than staking someone you know, and if you care about them it's even worse."

Spike nodded in agreement. Not that he planned on telling Harris... or anyone else, his own experience with the staking of loved ones. The incident with his mother was why he had yet to make another childe of his very own.

Spike and Xander entered the demon bar together. They glanced around the room for Riley who they discovered was taking whiskey shots at the bar.

The vampiress sidled up to the vulnerable human with the thought that she'd found an easy meal. Not to mention, it was rumored that this one was special to the Slayer. She was about to open her mouth to speak when she felt a stake enter her body. Then she knew nothing.

"Really, mate. I thought you knew better," Spike said. "You didn't even notice that bint trailing you."

"Hostile 17, I didn't ask for your help." Riley slammed back another shot.

"No, you didn't." Xander stepped up next to Spike. "You got it anyway."

"What are you doing with him?" Riley asked drunkenly. He forgot that he had insulted Xander the night before at the Bronze.

"Patrolling." Xander looked at Riley with disgust. He'd had spent enough time around drunks to last a lifetime. "Helping out a friend."

"Buffy's not your friend." Riley swayed on his feet. "She just keeps you around because she can't cut the flotsam loose."

Xander gave Spike a smirk. "That won't work, Riley. A better manipulator than you has already tried that ploy on me."

"He was too busy hidin' out at the old high school, letting Buffy do all the fightin' to remember that," Spike pointed out.

"Everything is your fault." Riley sneered at Spike. Before Xander, or anyone else, could react, the ex-soldier pulled out a stake. He plunged it into the vampire's heart with enough force to bury it deeply.

Xander watched in horror as he kept expecting Spike to dust. However the bleached blond vampire just gritted his teeth in pain.

"Big man, aren't you?" Spike growled. "Carryin' a plastic stake."

"That's just sick." Xander pushed Riley away from Spike. Then, he looked the vampire in the eye. "I'm going to pull it out. Don't go all postal on me."

Spike nodded. Bloody hell, it hurts. Wish I had the Gem about now.

"Did I ever tell you about the preying mantis woman?" Xander asked to distract Spike.

"Dawn mentioned it in passing during Willow's spell," Spike grimaced as the plastic stake slipped out of his flesh. He had a high pain tolerance, but this was something else entirely.

"Yeah, not one of my better dates." Xander turned to Riley. "You need to go home, get sober, and hope Buffy doesn't come after you. Do I need to remind you about what happened to the last guy who went after one of Buffy's boyfriends?" Emotions were so high, no one noticed Xander's Freudian slip.

"You're acting strange, Xander." Riley peered at the other man. "You hate Hostile 17."

Xander shrugged one shoulder. "Yeah, I really do, but Buffy's right about one thing."

"What's that?" Riley and Spike both said at the same time.

"I wish he didn't have that chip so he could wipe the floor with your ass."

"Wish granted." The vengeance demon grinned maniacally. Not only was she able to discharge a debt she felt she owed William the Bloody Awful Poet, but she hoped to see the carnage of an unleashed master vampire on the ex-soldier.

Spike and Xander looked at each other in shock. "Oh, shit," they said together. "That's not good."

"What's that?" Riley managed to look more confused than usual when confronted with Scooby knowledge of the supernatural.

Spike reached out, and he punched Riley in the face. He grimaced when the hole in his chest gave him pain, but he was delighted that the former headache was absent. Spike stepped over the fallen Finn. He spoke directly to the barkeep, "Some of your best, Willy. Put it on Cornbread here's tab."

"You not gonna..." Xander trailed off, not sure he wanted to bring Spike attention to him. He'd said enough nasty things to Spike in the past that he was sure that Spike would come after him once he was through with Riley.

"Buffy's given me a crumb of affection, Harris." Spike took a gulp of the whiskey and blood that Willy had placed in front of him. "I'm impulsive, not stupid. This pillock's not worth brassin' the Slayer off over."

"We need to strike the W word from our vocabulary. Thankfully it didn't get me killed this time," Xander muttered. He knew if Spike wasn't going to kill Riley that he himself was reasonably safe.

"Good idea," Spike grunted. He looked around the bar for a familiar face. "Hey Clem," he called out. "I'll owe you some kittens if you make sure the lump here gets home."

"Sure thing, Spike." Clem gave the vampire a sharp-toothed grin. "You coming to the poker game Thursday?"

"Bringin' the Cheeze Doodles, aren't I?" Spike clutched his blood soaked chest. "Come on, Harris. We need to see if the Slayer wants to finish the job. If not, I need to get this patched up too."

The vengeance demon pouted away at the end of the bar for a few moments before she shrugged her shoulders. D’Hoffryn would still be happy that her wish granting allowed a demon to be free of his former leash. If Spike didn’t choose to use that freedom, it wasn’t her fault.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spike and Xander strolled into the hospital waiting room to find the other Scoobies, including Anya, waiting for the news about Joyce. Spike kept his duster tightly clenched around his body. He didn't want to scare Dawn with the hole and blood on his shirt. Once he was certain Joyce was all right, he would sneak into a supply closet to get what he needed for himself.

"We had to save Riley from a vamp ho." Xander flung himself into the chair next to his girlfriend. "He wasn't too happy about it."

Buffy looked back and forth between her friend and her... she wasn't sure what Spike was, but he was hers. The silent communication between the two males was almost comical. Finally Spike waved for Buffy to follow him down the hall.

"What did Riley do?" Buffy put her hands on her hips.

"Let's just say your ex has a love of plastic." Spike opened his coat to expose his wound.

"Oh, Spike!" Buffy's hands covered her mouth.

"The git had a plastic stake." Spike tried not to grimace when Buffy touched the edge of the wound.

Buffy's eyes flashed at Spike's words. Spike was hers. She was the only one allowed to stake him.

"And... well..." Spike shifted nervously. "Harris said the W word."

"The W word?" Buffy looked up into Spike's worried eyes.

"Demon Girl's W word." Spike reached out to tug a lock of Buffy's hair. Then, he waited for her to jump away, and pull out her stake.

"Is Riley still alive?"

"Punched him. Didn't kill him."

"Good." Buffy pulled Spike's face down to hers. "I want to punch him, too." She covered the vampire's lips with her own.

Spike stood surprised for a moment before he put his arms around Buffy, and he pulled her close. He let her guide the kiss until Xander came to tell them the doctor was back with some news. He was even more surprised when Buffy's friend didn't get all freaked out over the kiss.





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