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Chapter 3

Buffy looked at the doctor in horror. If it hadn't been for Spike's strong presence beside her, she was sure she would have fainted. There was no way her mom could have a brain tumor. Not her mom!

"Breathe, luv," Spike whispered into Buffy's ear. He had one arm around the Slayer and the other around Dawn. Spike ignored Giles, who was giving them all strange looks.

"Stop it, Giles," Buffy muttered. She glared at her Watcher.

"Now, Miss Summers," Dr. Isaacs spoke up to get Buffy's attention again. "Things will happen fairly quickly from here on out. The longer we wait the worse it will be."

"Things? What things?" Buffy asked in a blank voice.

"Her symptoms," Dr Isaacs replied. "Decreased appetite, loss of vision, lack of muscle control, and mood swings, but it's operable."

"Oh, thank God." Buffy let out a sigh.

"Does your mother's insurance cover M.R.I.'s and pathology reports?" Dr. Isaacs looked at the petite blond woman.

"I don't really know." Buffy nibbled on her bottom lip. "Last time any of us were in the hospital was when I had the flu three years ago."

"Don't worry about it," Tara said. "I'll call the gallery for you in the morning. We'll figure it out."

"Uh, thanks, Tara," Buffy said in a soft voice.

"Can we have some time to get used to all this, Doc?" Spike asked. "Joyce is a wonderful lady, and it's hit us all hard."

Dr. Isaacs looked at the group of primarily young people, and he realized that most of them wore dazed expression. "Oh, yes, of course. I'll come back in a bit." He hurried away.

"Hey, Deadboy Jr., can I talk to you for a sec?" Xander asked.

Spike looked over at the young man, and he noticed the very serious look on Xander's face. "Sure thing, whelp." He looked down into Buffy's eyes. "You gonna be alright?"

"Sure," Buffy smiled slightly. "You go talk to Xander."

"What's up, Harris?" Spike asked once they were away from the others.

"Forgot to mention a little incident we had at the Magic Box earlier," Xander muttered. "That Glory woman bought a couple of objects that could be bad news."

"Bad news how?" Spike growled. His eyes flashed yellow.

"Well, big snake kinda bad. I mean not as big as the Mayor snake, but you know big... even for Sunnydale," Xander babbled. He was a little worried a chipless Spike might smack him. "It's all Giles' fault. He's the one that sold it to her."

"Relax, Harris," Spike drawled with a smirk. "I'm not a bloody fledge. I can control my anger when I have to."

"Yeah, well, the G-man has never had the full out William the Bloody smack down before." Xander shrugged.

"You're still livin', Harris. So, neither have you."

"Only because you were too busy giving Captain Forehead a smack down the first time and crying in your drink the second." Xander laughed at the vampire's disgruntled bark.

"Let's get back to the others." Spike turned to walk back to the waiting room. "Thanks for the heads up about the snake."

"Figured you'd appreciate it." Xander followed the vampire. He knew he still hated vampires in general, and Angel specifically, but he decided he could make an exception. Just one exception. Xander giggled as he thought about how broody Angel would be when he found out that soulless Spike was more accepted by the Scoobies than soulful Angel had been.

"How about you, me, and the Nibblet step outside for a breath of fresh air?" Spike suggested to Buffy.

"Sure." Buffy smiled bravely at Spike. "I bet you could use a cigarette, too." She let the vampire help her to her feet.

Dawn rose to follow her sister and Spike. She was still feeling shocked over the doctor's prognosis of her mother. She was more than a little surprised when Spike had shown up to comfort Buffy instead of Rile. Even more surprised that none of the Scoobies besides Giles had even flinched. Then, there had been the private Spike/Buffy conference that her sister had come back from with swollen lips and a glittery gleam in her eyes.

Spike and Buffy peered out into the darkness to check for any supernatural beings. They stepped out into the night air. The sisters went to sit on a nearby bench while the vampire stood guard.

"Mom's gonna be okay, isn't she?" Dawn asked in an anxious tone.

Buffy glanced at Spike before she reassured her sister. "Of course, she will, Dawn." She put her arm around the younger girl. "You heard the doctor. They can operate."

Spike tensed up when he felt something flicker at the edge of his senses. He threw his cigarette down, and he muttered, "We got company, Slayer."

Buffy and Dawn rose to their feet, and they inched towards the hospital door. Dawn rushed inside to wait for Spike and Buffy. She knew if the fight went south that she would need to get to the Scoobies in a hurry.

The Slayer and the vampire stood at the ready. Buffy grimaced when the giant cobra slithered out of the shadows. "Why does it always have to be snakes?" she muttered.

The snake ignored Spike and Buffy as it tried to reach Dawn. The sliding glass door opened, and the creature let out an unearthly screech. When it turned to return to its mistress, Spike and Buffy attacked it. Spike still had several stakes left over from patrol. He called out Buffy's name, and he threw her one of the wooden weapons when she held her hand out. They fought in tandem, complimenting each other. At one point, the snake creature almost escaped, but a quick maneuver by the Master vampire stopped that.

At last, the snake was dead. Buffy stood breathing heavily. She gave her sister a quick glance to make sure Dawn was unhurt.

"Now, that was fun." Spike grinned at Buffy.

Buffy rolled her eyes at the vampire. "Well, since you found your 'spot of violence' so much fun, you can dispose of the body."

"Your wish is my command." Spike gave a slight bow and a flourish.

"Idiot," Buffy grumbled good-naturedly.

Neither the vampire nor the Slayer were aware that they had an audience of two different dark-haired men. One seethed in anger to see Buffy even give Spike the time of day, while the other worried about the presence of the Slayer at the hospital. The influx of mental patients was starting to get noticed.

Ben had watched dispassionately as the blonds destroyed Glory's Key detector. The snake had acted strangely, but not enough for Ben to determine the identity of the Key.

Riley snorted in anger. He thought about all the opportunities Buffy had to stake Hostile 17 and hadn't, claiming that the creature couldn't hurt anyone. Now Spike could, and she still wasn't staking him. The ex-soldier stomped off in the direction of the vamp whore house that the Initiative had found during their stay in Sunnydale. When Riley went there, he really meant to prove that he was just as go a slaying partner to Buffy as Spike, but when he saw the looks of pleasure on the patron's faces, he decided to give it a try himself. He settled in with a skinny dark-haired vampiress, and he moaned in dark pleasure when her fangs sank into his arm.

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

When Spike was done disposing of the snake creature, he sauntered back inside the hospital. He found the Slayer being confronted by her Watcher. He watched with growing concern, ready to step in if he was needed.

"Buffy, what do you think you're doing?" Giles gave Buffy a cold look. "Spike is not reliable. He will turn on you as soon as the chip is gone, just like Angel did."

Buffy looked at Spike over Giles' shoulder. Then, she focused all her attention on the Watcher. "The only thing Spike and Angel have in common is that they're vampires. I should know! I'm the one who has fought them both."

"My point exactly." Giles pointed his finger at Buffy. "They're both vampires! I allowed you to cavort with Angel because he had a soul. Spike has no such distinction."

"You're right. He doesn't." Buffy agreed. "To be honest, I'm glad he doesn't. When I ask him to protect my mom and my sister, he won't have anything holding him back from doing what is needed to do that task for me."

"Just the chip," Giles sneered.

"Yes, just the chip." Buffy returned the sneer. "Whatever Glory is, I can't fight her alone. At this moment, Spike's our strongest ally."

"He'll turn on you just like Angel. Which one of your friends has to turn up dead before you get the point?" Giles glared at the young woman.

"Spike's never gone after my friends. Not really. Not with the intent to kill them." Buffy put her hands on her hips.

"No, he just kidnaps them and attacks them in dorm rooms," Giles muttered.

"He wanted Willow to do a spell the first time, and he was drunk." Buffy rolled her eyes. "He was looking for me the second time. Willow was just there. Besides, she really should know better than to say 'come in' here in Sunnydale."

"Be that as it may, I cannot and will not condone your behavior. As your Watcher, I order you to cease all liaisons with Spike."

"I'm sorry, Giles, but I won't." Buffy smiled at Spike. "Your opinion is important to me, but my love life is my own business."

"Love life?" Giles sputtered. "It's already advanced to a love life? What about Riley?"

"Riley insulted me and my friends, Giles. He basically called me a vamp whore because of Angel and Dracula." Buffy's eyes filled with tears. It was bad enough having her mother sick and Riley acting like a moron, but being attacked by her Watcher was too much. She smiled shakily when Spike moved to her side.

"Quit being a git, Watcher," Spike growled at Giles. "The Slayer's got enough problems without you adding to them."

"Shut up, Spike." Giles snarled. He advanced on the vampire in a threatening manner that both Buffy and Spike knew came from the fact that Watcher thought that Spike still had the chip hampering him. "You are not welcome here."

"That's where you're wrong, Giles." Xander stepped into the waiting room followed by Anya, Willow, and Tara. "Spike's a Scooby just like the rest of us."

"I.. I... what?" Giles stammered in confusion. "Since when?"

"For a long time. We've just been too blind to notice," Xander explained. "We realized it the other night when Riley was busy insulting all of us."

"Spike insults you all the time," Giles pointed out.

"It's not like Xander doesn't do his fair share of bickering," Willow said. "We've accepted Spike. So, should you."

Anya and Tara nodded in agreement. The four Scoobies moved over to Spike and Buffy to show a unified front to the Watcher.

Giles stared at the Scoobies for a few minutes before he sighed. "Fine, but don't come crying to me when Spike turns on you." He flung himself into one of the chairs where he pointedly ignored the younger people and the vampire.

"Thanks for sticking around, guys." Buffy smiled wearily at her friends. "Just so you know, Spike and I just killed a big snake."

"Yeah, Dawn mentioned it on her way by," Anya said. "I'm glad that Glory person didn't find out anything important."

"Okay, Spike and I need to go talk to mom for a few minutes." Buffy grabbed Spike's hand. "You guys can head home for now. We'll catch you later." She gave the Scoobies a little wave before she pulled the vampire towards her mother's room.





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