Buffy sat down on the sofa opposite Willow with a happy sigh. “Ooh! Pizza! You know, whoever invented pizza should have a shrine built to them. Several shrines. In several countries. Maybe made of cheese!” She picked up a large slice, skilfully scooping dripping cheese and olives back onto the base. “You should see the new Watchers!” She rolled her eyes at Willow. “Very cute. Not nearly as old and dusty as the last lot…” she glanced guiltily at Giles and stumbled on blindly “…seemed to be… until you got to know them, naturally.”
“Oh, don’t worry about me. I’ll just sit here and moulder quietly.” Giles gave her a pained look.
“And the new Council offices are very nifty. I think whoever was responsible for them did an amazing job.” Buffy smiled innocently at Giles.
“Stop trying to appease me. It won’t work.” Giles gave a self-deprecating smile. “Actually, I am rather proud of them. Did you see the new library?”
“Library?”
“Yes, library. The clue was in the large number of books.” Giles gave a despairing sigh at Buffy’s blank look. “The training room? No? What exactly did young Fairfax show you?”
“The coffee room. You have a very fine coffee room. It has… coffee… and chairs. Oh, and this weeks Hello magazine. Jude Law was in it.”
“There are times when I despair…” Giles raised his eyes heavenward.
Buffy grinned and took a bite of pizza. “Mmm. Fairfax was very nice. Oxford man, you know. He told me…” she paused. “What?” She followed Willow’s anxious gaze to the doorway. Spike was standing watching her quietly. There was stunned silence. “What the…?” She frowned at Dawn who was hovering uncertainly next to Spike. “I hope you have a good excuse for this.”
“I…” Dawn twisted her hands helplessly. “He…”
“Spike, right?” Buffy turned her frown back toward Spike. “OK – convince me why I shouldn’t just dust you here and now.”
Spike leaned against the doorframe and folded his arms. “Because I can be useful.”
“Useful.” Buffy considered. “Nope. Try harder.”
“Seems to me it wouldn’t hurt to have one of the enemy on your side – bit of inside information.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Do I look like I’m kidding?” He nodded toward Giles. “The watcher there knows me, right, Rupert? You want my help, it's yours. If you don’t want it – fine. No hard feelings. I'll go out that door and you won’t see me again.”
“So you’re offering to help us work against your kind, huh?” Buffy snorted. “Yay for the vampire loyalty. And what do you get out of this?”
“A warm and fuzzy feeling inside?”
“Yeah, right.” Buffy rolled her eyes.
“Free blood and lodgings and a ‘get out of being staked free’ card. Bloody world is crawlin’ with slayers. Bloke’s hardly got a fighting chance any more.”
“Why doesn’t that ring true?”
“Because you’ve got a nasty, suspicious mind?”
“Giles, do you want his help or shall I just stake him now?” Buffy kept eye contact with Spike.
“I… ah…I’m sure he will have his uses. We know something of his long and… interesting history.”
“Can we trust him?” Buffy narrowed her eyes at Spike suspiciously.
“I think as long as we have what he wants, he’ll be amenable.”
“But he misbehaves I get to stake him, right?”
Spike snorted. “Yeah, right.”
“Pardon me? You snorted?”
“You honestly think you’re up to it?” Spike smirked, tongue against teeth.
“Giles, can I stake him anyway? Please?”
“Buffy…” Giles sighed.
“Oh, OK.” Buffy pouted, then frowned at Spike. “Is Angel behind this?”
“Angel? No.” Spike matched her frown. “That ponce doesn’t tell me what to do.”
“Because if this is another of his little plans to keep tabs on me…”
“This has nothing to do with Angel. Look, forget it. Just thought the Watchers might be interested in a bit of mutual give and take.” Spike pushed himself away from the door frame with a shrug. “You’re not interested – that’s fine by me.” He turned to go. “I’ve got better things to do.”
“No – OK, wait.” Buffy looked over at Giles. “I guess this isn’t up to me. If he wants to help the Council, it’s your call.”
There was a long pause. “Yes. Why not? The council has worked with demons in the past to good effect; although it has to be said, never with a vampire. But there is, as the saying goes, a first time for everything.”
“So – what? We’re gonna train him as the first vampire Vampire slayer?”
“No.” Giles sighed. “Given how long he has been plaguing the earth, I’m sure he has picked up a knowledge of demon lore and language we will find most useful.”
“Hey! ’He’ is standing right here.” Spike frowned at Giles. “You’re not turning me into a bloody boring librarian! Rather take my chances out there.”
“OK. You know what I think your first duty for the good guys should be?” Buffy turned to Spike. “Cannon fodder. I need a sparring partner. And I am so gonna kick your ass.”
******
There was a brief argument over where Spike was to stay – Buffy belonging to the “he stays in this house over my dead body” school of thought. If she had any suspicions about the eagerness of her friends to have him living in the basement, she didn’t show it. Giles’ argument that you 'keep your friends close and your potential enemies closer' helped win her over eventually, and Spike was formally part of the household.
He escaped back to the basement as soon as he could, and stretched himself out on the bed, staring at the ceiling, resolutely refusing to think about what that little session had cost him. He was still lying there later when Dawn brought him another mug of blood.
“Spike? Are you OK?”
“Not now, nibblet.” He kept his eyes fixed on the ceiling, his voice level.
Dawn bit her lip. “Spike?”
He closed his eyes briefly and gave a small shake of the head. Dawn sighed, put down the mug and left him.
******
Buffy was waiting in the kitchen for Dawn as she came back up the cellar steps. “So, you wanna tell me the real reason he followed us here from Rome?”
“Jeez, Buffy!” Dawn lept guiltily at the sound of her voice. “Don’t do that!”
“Well?” Buffy folded her arms. “Last I saw him, you and he looked pretty friendly on the sofa back in Rome. And suddenly, here he is. Co-incidence?”
“No…” Dawn struggled for an excuse. “I told him why we were coming back to England… about the new Council. I guess he just thought…” her voice trailed away.
“And this has nothing to do with you?”
“With me?” Dawn gave her a puzzled frown. “Why would it have… Oh! You mean… you think… me and Spike…?” Dawn looked at Buffy incredulously. “No!”
“Well, he’s got that whole cool thing going on. But it’s not. Cool, I mean. Vampires are not crush material.”
“A crush?”
“Look, Dawnie…”
“I don’t have a crush, OK? Buffy, I’m eighteen! I don’t do crushes! He’s, I dunno, not like the rest. I got to know him a little in Rome and I like him is all. Friends. OK?”
“No. Not OK. He’s a vampire, Dawn.”
“Really? Darn – and I thought the whole drinking blood and avoiding the sun thing was some sort of health kick.” Dawn took a deep breath and let it out on a sigh. “Buffy, I know what I’m doing. Trust me on this one.” She turned away.
Trust you? Buffy frowned to herself as she watched Dawn walk out of the kitchen. Maybe. But do I trust him? She walked slowly over to the cellar door. She paused on the threshold, listening to the silence from below. She knew he was there, despite the silence. There was something strange about him, something different. Her slayer senses seemed especially sensitive to him, the tell-tale tingle strong, her whole body alive to his presence. She stood quietly for a long time, then turned and walked away.
******
He knew she was there – of course he did. He could sense her presence even through the walls and floors of the old house, the essence of her was so much part of him. He lay quietly listening to the soft sound of her breathing, and fancied he could here the steady beat of her heart, the soft rush of blood through her body – sounds as individual as a fingerprint, engraved in the core of his being. He waited quietly until she walked away then closed his eyes tightly against the pain.
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