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Chapter 2:

Buffy sat cross-legged on her bed staring at the cage that had become Dru's home. The day after Spike had brought the ferret over, Buffy and Willow had gone out to buy a more friendly open cage for the ferret to live in. It had a hammock for Dru to sleep on, and several colorful plastic tubes snaked around the outside of the cage to provide artificial tunnels for Dru to run through.

Buffy watched for a few moments as the ferret ran around her cage before opening the cage door and letting her out. She scooped up Dru and placed her on the bed.

Spike had been right; Dru was good at catching the sludge bunnies. The only problem was, as good as Dru was at getting into tight spaces, she couldn't compete with the demon's viscous bodies.

Buffy wasn't interesting in supervising a ferret hunting expedition today; she was just bored. Her mother was feeling well enough that she'd returned to work at the gallery, and Dawn, Willow and Tara were all in school, Giles and Anya were doing inventory at the Magic Box today, so Buffy was keeping her distance, and Xander was at work. It was at dark moments like this that Buffy considered applying for the summer semester at UC Sunnydale.

"Looks like it's just you and me today, Dru," Buffy said.

Despite her initial misgivings, she was growing quite fond of the ferret. They had mostly broken her of her bad habit of biting, and she was really kind of cute and silly. Buffy played with Dru for a while, until the ferret suddenly looked around alertly and dashed off out of Buffy's room. By now Buffy had learned this meant that Dru had found a Thort, so she grabbed the bag of treats and followed into Dawn's room.

Soon she heard the high pitch whistling that was a sludge bunny scream, and then Dru appeared from under Dawn's dresser dragging the body of her foe behind her. As Dru stood up on her back legs to receive her treat she hesitated, and Buffy could see a wicked looking slash across her belly.

"Oh no, you got hurt," Buffy said.

She decided an injury was worth an extra reward and gave Dru two of the treats before rushing back to her own room to get the first aid kit.

Unfortunately, ferret first aid was not as easy as it sounded, and in the short time Buffy had been gone, Dru had decided to hide her second treat in a secret horde under Dawn's bed, and then she curled up on her back, trying to lick her wounded stomach. Dru obviously didn't want to come out from under the safety of the bed, and the whole thing was further complicated by the fact that Dawn obviously thought under the bed was a perfect good place to stuff things she didn't want to put away.

"Look, I know you're hurt," she told Dru, "but I can make it better if you just come out. I'm really good at this you know. I hope you don't think you're the only demon hunter in the house." Despite her coaxing, Dru wasn't budging. "Poor thing. I bet you didn't ask for any of this. What happened? Did some stuffy old English guy pull you out of your mom's cage one day and say 'Into every litter a slayer is born, yadda yadda?'"

Despite her sympathetic words, it took Buffy almost twenty minutes to fish the reluctant ferret out from under the bed. She finally managed to do it by getting herself bitten, and dragging Dru out by her teeth, but Buffy's problems weren't over. It wasn't Dru's nature to stay still at the best of times, and she didn't seem to want Buffy anywhere near her stomach. Buffy finally settled for scruffing her–grabbing her by the fur behind her neck–which forced her to dangle helplessly. But this also used up one of Buffy's hands, and she found herself struggling to get into the first aid kit one-handed.

Just when Buffy was about to give up, she heard the kitchen door open and slam shut. It was too early for Dawn to be home, and Buffy was suddenly worried that her mother had come home from work early because she wasn't feeling well.

"Mom?" Buffy called out.

"Hardly, Slayer," a distinctly annoying voice called out.

Then she heard thumping on the stairs and Spike quickly appeared in the doorway.

"Hey? Wha'd you do to the ferret?" he asked.

"I didn't do anything," Buffy answered defensively. "Dru got hurt when she got this last Thort. Now be useful for a change and hold her still while I bandage her up."

"Do I look like Ferret Nightingale?" Spike asked, even as he took Buffy's wounded pet in his hands.

"No, you look like the rocker that time forgot. And what are you doing here anyway? Isn't it a bit early for you?" Buffy asked as she began to clean Dru's wound.

"Just came to see how things were with Muffin," he emphasized the ferret's original name. "And point out that I was right about her. Good thing too since if I hadn't someone might have called the RSPCA on you."

"Hello, Dru's a demon hunter. These things happen. And this was all your idea so you're the one who put her in danger in the first place."

Despite her words, Buffy was kind of glad to see Spike, although she'd never admit it. Not only was his arrival timely, but she was getting a little tired of her one-sided conversations with Dru.

"There," Buffy said as she finished her rather unusual bandaging job on the ferret. "All better."

Spike let go of Dru and the first thing she started doing was trying to get the bandages off.

"Hey stop that," Buffy protested, although her tone wasn't as serious as she'd intended because the sight was rather comical as the ferret rolled about the floor on her back, trying to push off the bandages with her paws.

"Those are for your own good," Buffy scolded her, but to no avail.

"Think that's a lost cause," Spike commented.

"No one asked you," Buffy retorted. "Maybe we should put her back in her cage," she said thoughtfully as she scooped up the ferret.

She returned Dru to her cage and then looked up at Spike who was hanging out in the doorway to her bedroom.

"So? What are you still doing here? Don't you have vampire things to do?" she said. But the truth was she regretted the words. She kind of wanted him to stay, just because annoying Spike was better than having nothing to do.

"Bit bright outside right now," was all he said.

Buffy thought that was a pretty lame excuse considering he'd just come in so obviously there was a way for him to get out.

But she didn't say that. Instead she told him, "Well, I'm going to watch a movie, and you better not be a pest or I'll toss you out, sunlight or no sunlight."

"Like I haven't heard that one before," Spike snorted. "Face it, Slayer, you like me too much to get rid of me."

"Do not," Buffy insisted as she brushed past him and headed down the stairs.

Spike took the more direct route, leaping over the banister and blocking her path at the bottom of the stairs.

"Deny it all you like Summers, but I've grown on you."

"If you have, and I'm not saying you have, it's only in a demon fungus kind of way."

She pushed his arm out of her way and moved into the living room to look through the movies they had.

"Guess old Rupes never told you about Phallus Deamonus. Hell of an aphrodisiac. You should try it sometime."

"Okay first of all, how stupid do you think I am? I mean Phallus Deamonus? Come on! Secondly, I don't need an aphrodisiac. And thirdly, ewww!"

Spike flung himself down on the couch and began to count off on his fingers, "First off, there is such a thing. Just ask demon girl if you don't believe me, she's sure to know all about it. Second, if you don't need an aphrodisiac, why did Riley-" Spike stopped himself as he saw Buffy go rigid. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-"

"Shouldn't have what? Been a jerk? You're a vampire, it's what you do. You think I care what you think about me?" She tried to keep her tone even, like she really didn't care. But her voice was too cold and her body too stiff to fool him.

"Look, he was a stupid git, and I didn't mean to-"

"Just shut up Spike and watch the movie," she said as she pushed the tape of Lady and the Tramp into the VCR. She figured Disney was the surest way to get rid of a vampire short of holy water.

Much to her disappointment, as the title played across the screen Spike perked up and said, "Oh, I like this one!"





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