Just when Buffy and Spike sat down on the couch together when Joyce took their mugs to the kitchen, the door swung open and Willow, Xander and Giles were there and all at once they shouted, “Buffy you are back and okay!”
Buffy smiled slightly still nervous around her friends. Xander shouted, “Why are you holding the undead’s hand? Didn’t you kill Angel and why are you holding another vampire’s hand? Didn’t you learn the first time?”
Willow elbowed Xander and shouted, “Buffy you’re home!”
Willow ran over giving her friend a big hug. Giles looked at Buffy and instead of greeting her demanded, “Where were you all this time? We were worried.”
Buffy replied calmly, “L.A. We were living in a house that we had kept up for a guy. It was a nice house. I decided it was time to come home because I was feeling better.”
Giles cleared his throat, “Feeling better from what exactly?”
Buffy shuddered and Spike gave her hand a squeeze thinking, ‘Best get it out of the way, pet.’
Buffy sat a little straighter but then leaned against Spike, “I had to kill Angel. A few seconds before he died, he got his soul back. The damage was already done and the demon thing was opened so I had to kill him. I couldn’t take it, so I left. Spike saved me and took care of me. He was good to me and we are together.”
Willow, Xander and Giles stood looking at Buffy not knowing what to think. Giles finally spoke up, “I need you to come with me. I have something I have to go over with you about the demon so we can get it all sealed up and make it never return. I’ll return you home soon.”
Buffy looked at Spike, “You stay here, I’ll be back soon.”
Spike thought, ‘I’ll close this for now but reopen it if you need it. I just really need a nap. I’m so tired still from driving yesterday.’
Buffy nodded in Spike’s direction releasing his hand and followed Giles out into the daylight where Spike couldn’t follow. Spike sat with Joyce for a few minutes. They talked a bit about Passions and then about his feelings for Buffy. He stated, “I really love your daughter, Joyce. I know I’m not what you would have wanted for her. She’s so full of life and I’m not. She’s young and has her whole life ahead of her and I’ve already lived a really long one. I’ve killed people to feed but I haven’t done that in over a month now. I’m on bagged only and I’m only taking the stuff they are about to throw out. So it’s not like I’m hurting anyone. I just really love your daughter and what’s more important is I can protect her.”
Joyce let the tears fall from her eyes as she whispered, “Every night Buffy goes out into the world to kill vampires and comes back bloody and I can’t even protect her from it. How good of a mother am I when I can’t even protect my own daughter?”
Spike knelt down in front of Joyce and took her hands in his and said, “I’ll protect her, Joyce. With everything I am and can, I’ll protect her. I’ll see to it that she lives a beautiful long life. If she wants kids, Hell I’ll see to it that we have a good enough life to adopt. I have plenty of money, Joyce. She would never have to work if she doesn’t want to but I want her to finish school and have the opportunity if she wants. I can’t give her normal but I can protect her un-normal life. Please let me do that for you. We can live here under your roof so you can spend time with her anytime you want.”
Joyce smiled at him, “You really do love my daughter, don’t you?”
Spike looked helpless as he nodded, “Completely and utterly, Joyce.”
Joyce nodded with a gentle smile, accepting Spike into the family, “Call me Mom.”
Spike smiled and then he yawned and Joyce gestured towards the stairs, “You can go into Buffy’s room for now and sleep. I’m sure she will wake you up when she gets home.”
Spike nodded and climbed the stairs to go to sleep taking a whiff of the bed and snuggling into the covers that smelt of Buffy hoping she would get home soon.
Buffy was sitting with Giles on the couch when suddenly she heard a click and noticed around her wrist, Xander had placed a chain. Before Buffy could react, another was placed on the other wrist after being wrapped around a metal knob on the floor she had never noticed before. She looked at Willow, Giles and Xander questionably. Giles looked undisturbed, “We want answers about Spike. You have a claim mark on your neck. Are you mated with William the Bloody? We want the truth or we can’t help you.”
Buffy sighed and responded, “Yes, we are mated. It’s a two-way claim that we both accepted and therefore nothing can break it. Are these chains really necessary? I would have answered you without being chained up like some kind of animal.”
Xander got mad shouting, “Damn it, Buffy. I hated Angel and look what he did. He killed Jenny and tried to kill us all and also tried to end the world. Spike tried to murder us all. How can you excuse this and choose to mate with him? Aren’t you human?”
Giles said to Xander, “That’s enough. This isn’t helping anyone.”
He turned towards Willow, “Bring me the book upstairs on my bed that arrived in the mail today. I think we can undo this.”
Buffy cried, “I don’t want anything undone. Leave me alone. Please!”
Buffy opened the claim bond in a hurry thinking, ‘They want to undo this. I’m chained in Giles’s house and I’m stuck and it’s daylight and you can’t come here. Spike, Spike wake up!’
Buffy didn’t know that you couldn’t use the claim bond on a sleeping person. She sighed and kicked the sofa over in a rage, “Just let me go. I’m going to be just fine. Spike will take care of me. He’s going to be pissed when he finds out you won’t let me go home.”
Buffy yelled into the claim, ‘Spike wake up! There has to be a way to wake you up.’ She closed her eyes concentrating really hard and found herself in his dreaming state. He was dreaming of her and she tried to alter the dream. After a few minutes of working hard at it she was able to alter her dream self to say, “Wake up Spike, I need you.”
Next thing she knew she heard him frantically speaking in a panicked tone into the claim, ‘Are you okay, Buffy? I just dreamt something was wrong.’
Buffy shook her head, ‘No it’s not okay, I’ve been kidnapped or something. They want to undo this.’
Spike sent calming motions over to her, ‘They can’t undo it so don’t worry about it. Just go along with what they say and I’ll come get you in an hour when the sun goes down.’
Buffy replied, ‘You sure it can’t be undone? Giles is going through witchcraft books!’
Just then Xander came bolting down the stairs, “I’m going to end this once and for all, I’m going to stake Spike and then she won’t be mated to him because he’ll be dead.”
Buffy yelled after him, “But I’ll die too.”
Xander ignored her and rushed to Joyce’s house taking his car. Buffy thought to Spike, ‘Xander’s coming after you and you have to hide or something. It’s daylight but he took a stake!’
Spike chuckled and then thought, ‘You are worried about me against the whelp? Relax, I’ll just go wake up Joyce and she can help me talk to him.’
Buffy shook her head, ‘Talking won’t work with Xander.’
Spike sighed, ‘You relax because you got 45 minutes left. I won’t hurt Xander; just will not let him hurt Joyce or me. See you soon love.’