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Chapter Two

Since Buffy wasn’t able to leave home, the Scoobies meetings were being held in her living room. The first to arrive later that evening was Giles. The Watcher raised an eyebrow when he found the vampire sitting comfortably in the easy chair, sipping blood from a cup that looked very familiar to the librarian.

“ I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m glad you’re here, Spike. I would like to speak with you. If I could?” He gestured toward the kitchen with his head.

“What could you have to say to Spike that I can’t hear?” Buffy asked in an offended tone of voice. She glared at the vampire as though he was responsible for trying to hide something from her. Spike just shrugged and looked at the Watcher curiously.

Giles took his glasses off and pinched the bridge of his nose before beginning, “Riley came by the shop today to tell me that he thought Spike was working a thrall over you and he wanted me to know that he was planning to—“ He stopped as the other Brit jumped to his feet and interrupted him.

“Already got the memo, Watcher. No need to bother the Slayer with it. “ He looked hard at the older man, willing him to do what he was asking.

“Then you know he—“

“Yep, all taken care of”

“Oh, well, good then,”

Buffy stared back and forth between the two men, knowing she was missing something in the conversation but reluctant to admit it.

“So, is that like a British thing? This whole talking without actually saying anything?”

“We understood each other, Slayer,” Spike said with another meaningful glance at her Watcher.

Buffy forgot to pursue the cryptic conversation between her Watcher and her temporary nurse as the other Scoobies trickled in and greeted her.

“Whoa, Buffster, You must be feeling better – you’re all clean and shiny.”

Xander’s praise for her looks just reminded her of how much she’d allowed herself to wallow in self-pity until Spike came over and she shot him a grateful look before saying, “Yeah. Somebody pointed out to me that I was turning into messy, stinky Buffy. So we fixed it.”

She could see Willow’s eyes grow big as she took in Spike’s presence and the absence of Dawn and Joyce, but her friend didn’t say anything. Willow knew Xander’s ability to deny what he didn’t want to know about Buffy would prevent him from making the connection between Spike’s presence and Buffy’s clean clothes and hair.

Just as they had all settled down with soft drinks and chips to begin going over what little Giles had been able to learn from the books they recovered as well as his inquiries to the Council, there was a knock on the front door. Surprised glances were exchanged as they looked around and saw no one missing.

As Xander went to answer the door, Giles gestured toward the kitchen with his head and Spike reluctantly moved to where he couldn’t be seen from the front door. The door opened to reveal an agitated Riley standing outside. He shouldered his way past Xander and strode into the living room.

“And, hello to you, too, Riley,” the young brunette snarked as he followed the soldier back into the room.

Riley flashed him an apologetic look, but focused on Buffy.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were having a meeting tonight? I wouldn’t have known anything about it if I hadn’t seen Willow and Tara walking this way.”

Buffy stared back at him, her brain working frantically. She realized that not only had she not thought to invite Riley to the Scoobie meeting, she hadn’t even thought about him at all the whole day. Guilt made her stammer and try to apologize for excluding him, even though she knew no one else in the room considered him a part of their Scoobie gang.

“I....I’m sorry, Riley. I guess I just got busy doing....stuff, and I probably just figured you’d be by tonight anyway.” She brightened up at that thought. “Yes, that’s it. I just assumed you’d be here tonight, so I didn’t bother to call you.”

Pleased with how she’d handled the situation, she sat back on her pillows and beamed at him.

He hesitated a few seconds as though he knew she’d made it up on the spot, but then relaxed and went over to sit by her on the couch. A soft growl from the kitchen made him look up and he turned an interesting shade of purple when he saw Spike glaring at him from the doorway.

“What the hell is HE doing here?” he shouted at Buffy as he leapt to his feet. “I distinctly told you to get rid of him. Didn’t you listen to a word I said?” He glared back and forth between Spike and Buffy completely missing the surprised looks on her friends’ faces.

He also, unfortunately for him, missed the thoroughly pissed off look on the Slayer’s face as he upbraided her for not following his instructions.

“I thought I made it pretty clear that I would do whatever was best for me and my family, regardless of what you ‘TOLD’ me to do.”

She glared back at her angry boyfriend, emphasizing his words. She struggled to contain her amazed outrage that he actually expected her to do what he said just because he said it. She remembered the phone conversation yesterday and his casual dismissal of her calling, as well as his jealousy over the time she spent on it.

“Spike is the only one other than me strong enough to protect us from Glory. He and Willow are my best weapons at the moment. At least until I get back on my feet. These people are my support system and my back-up. I am NOT one of your ‘men’ to be ordered about and I WILL make my own decisions about who is welcome in my house. Get used to it or get out.”

She blew out an exasperated breath and, fixing him with a steely green eye, waited to see what he would do. Riley looked around the room and saw little or no sympathy on the faces of the people Buffy referred to as her support system. The vampire, of course, was openly contemptuous, but he was surprised to see that her Watcher was also nodding approvingly.

His sense that he knew much less than he thought he did about his girl and her life became overwhelming and he sank back onto the couch cushions shaking his head at himself. Buffy continued to glare at him for a time, then shook herself and turned back to her Watcher.

“So, Giles. Did the Council have any information on Glory. Who or what she is?”

“They are looking into it. At this point all we know for sure is that she is looking for the missing “key” and that it had been under the protection of the monks until she located them and killed them all. They will contact me as soon as they have ascertained what the key is, and what it is to be used for. In the meantime, we must assume she will continue to pursue you and everyone associated with you in an attempt to find out where it is.”

“Speaking of—“ Xander was stopped by Willow’s hand gripping his leg very hard. “Ow! Will. What was that for?”

His best friend shook her head slightly and rolled her eyes toward Riley, reminding Xander that the ex-commando was not in on the secret about Dawn’s origin. There was an uncomfortable silence as Xander tried to recover without giving too much away. He decided to continue his line of thought and hope Riley didn’t make the connection between what he’d started to say and his actual words.

“Sorry. Change of subject. Buffy, where’s Dawn? Shouldn’t she be home from school by now?”

“She’s staying at Janice’s for a couple of days. Apparently she would rather I yell at Spike when I get bored than at her,” Buffy said ruefully with an embarrassed shrug.

“She’ll be around tomorrow,” the vampire said quietly, with a wink at the Watcher. “She’s coming to my crypt after school so I can help her with her history homework. I have some old books I told her she could look into. I’ll run to the crypt and meet her there tomorrow afternoon then walk her home when we’re finished.”

“What!” Riley shot upright, forgetting that he was trying to keep a low profile until Buffy calmed down. “Buffy! You can’t let her go to his crypt!”

Buffy stared at him in surprise. “Why not? Surely you’re not going to argue that she’s not safe there? That’s where I send her and my mom when I can’t be with them. Gl-no one will be looking for her in a crypt.”

“Yeah, GI Joe,” the vampire drawled with a smirk. “Why can’t the Niblet go to my crypt? She knows the way, and she knows how to open the door. She’ll just go on in, find the books and wait for me—“

“No!” The outburst from the larger man surprised everyone except Spike and the Watcher. Riley looked at Giles for support, but the older man was busy shuffling through the papers on his lap and refused to look up.

“Giles,” the man said meaningfully. “Help me convince Buffy that Dawn shouldn’t go there.”

Giles looked up as though he had just realized what Spike had said and frowned nervously. “Oh dear. Yes, I had almost forgotten.” He turned to Buffy with an innocent look and said, “I believe Riley is right, Buffy. It would be best if Dawn not go to Spike’s abode just yet. Perhaps in a few days?” He looked at Riley inquiringly.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Buffy’s normal lack of patience was being sorely tested at Giles and Spike’s obvious knowledge of something pertaining to Dawn – or to Spike’s crypt, she suddenly realized.

Turning to her boyfriend, she asked in a deceptively calm tone, “Tell me, Riley, Why would it be bad for Dawn to go to Spike’s crypt right now? Is there a reason why you think it’s not safe?” She looked at him with wide, innocent eyes as though she was expecting a real answer.

When he just stood there looking uncomfortable, Spike couldn’t resist another dig. “Yeah, tell us, there, Capt’n. Is there some reason Dawn wouldn’t be safe if she tried to go into my crypt? Maybe one of the witches could come with her, if you think it’s too dangerous. One of them could go in first...you know, just to be sure it was safe?”

The furious man turned toward the vampire, his face twisted with anger and hate.

“Your crypt is no place for Buffy’s mother and sister, or for Buffy or any of her friends. And....and...it could be dangerous.” He looked at Giles for help, but the Watcher just stared blandly back at him.

“Why is that, Riley?” Buffy’s tone was still calm, but there was a distinct Slayer edge to it. “Why are you so sure Spike’s crypt would be dangerous for Dawn? And why do you think Giles should agree with you? And why,” she whirled to glare at the vampire trying his best to look innocent, “are YOU trying so hard to make him say why it’s dangerous?”

She glared back and forth between the three men, frustrated because she couldn’t cross her arms angrily or tap her foot. She settled for putting her one bendable arm on her hip and holding the immobile one out at her side.

Spike slipped out of the room into the kitchen, unwilling to be the one who told Buffy what Riley had done to his crypt. He wanted the man to admit what he’d done, but he also wanted him to realize how close he might have come to killing or injuring Dawn or one of the Scoobies. When he stopped to think about what could have happened to someone Buffy cared about if he hadn’t happened to catch them in the act, his normally room temperature blood ran cold.

(Bloody bastard! It’s one thing for him to try to kill me, but to risk the Niblet....If I didn’t have this chip, I’d rip his entrails out and wrap them around his throat.)

Meanwhile, in the living room, Riley now had everyone’s attention as they waited for him to answer Buffy’s question. Standing up straight and looking at Giles accusingly, he said, “Apparently it would be safe for anyone to walk in there.... now.”

The Watcher looked back at him and said mildly, “I didn’t tell him. He already knew. I guess it didn’t work as well as you’d hoped.”

When the soldier continued to glare at him, Giles let a trace of the Ripper enter his voice as he added, “For which you should be very grateful. It well could have been Dawn, or any one of us.”

The sound of the coffee table being kicked across the room brought everyone’s attention back to the thoroughly angry Slayer. The force of the kick caused her to lose her balance when she put her weight on the leg with the cast and she fell back onto the couch, spoiling the effect somewhat. But there was no mistaking the tone of her voice or the look in her eye.

“Someone, and I don’t care who, is going to tell me right now what all this mysterious talking about things without actually saying anything is all about,” she ground out very slowly.

“I believe that would be your job, Agent Finn,” Giles said as he got up and joined Spike in the kitchen. The rest of the group looked back and forth between Buffy and Riley with puzzled frowns.

Riley took a deep breath and looked at Buffy. He was surprised to find himself cringing away from the tiny, temporarily crippled woman glaring at him from the couch. Clutching his righteous indignation around him like a protective cloak, he said firmly, “I thought Spike was working a thrall on you that you would let him touch you and stay in your house, so I was going to make sure he left town. When we couldn’t find him at home, we set up a booby trap at the entrance to his crypt. It was just meant to run him off. I knew you wouldn’t let me stake him, so we decided to scare him away.” He paused for a second. “In hindsight, it wasn’t a very good idea, I guess.”

“You GUESS?”

Her boyfriend shuffled his feet and looked at the rug intently.

“I didn’t think about the possibility of anyone else coming in the door before he did. I’m sorry, Buffy. It just made me crazy to think about him being here with you all the time. I don’t like it.”

“Get out,” she said without inflection.

“Buf—“

“Get out now, Riley. When I’ve calmed down enough to talk about this, I’ll call you. Right now I have a skanky bitch with superpowers to worry about and I need to finish my meeting with my friends. ALL of my friends.”

“And that doesn’t include me?”

“Not at the moment it doesn’t. Maybe when I get over the idea that your jealousy might have cost my sister her life, it will. But not right now.”

His shoulders slumped as Riley nodded his head in resignation and walked toward the door. Before he had even pulled it shut behind him, Buffy had already turned away from him and said, “Now, where were we?”

“Pretty much nowhere, Buffy,” Willow admitted. “Until we know more about Glory and what she wants the key for, we won’t have much idea of how to fight her.”

“I’m afraid Willow is correct, Buffy. I will contact the Council again and push them to dig a little deeper, but until we have more information on Glory, we will just have to try to stay away from her.” Giles and Spike had come back into the living room when they heard the door shut behind her boyfriend.

“Wonderful,” Buffy grumbled. “Maybe she’ll take a vacation or something until I’m back on my feet.”

“Speaking of that, how do you feel? When do you think you will be ready to start training again?”

“Well, my ribs are all healed,” she avoided looking at Spike as she said that, knowing she would turn red all over if she did. “I’m guessing the arm and leg will be strong enough to get rid of the casts in a day or so. Then I’ll just have to see how strong I feel. Maybe by the end of the week?” she looked at her Watcher hopefully.

“Whenever you feel ready, Buffy. I don’t want to rush you and create more problems, but we will all breathe a little easier when you are back in top form.”

With nothing left to talk about, except Buffy’s explosion at Riley, which no one wanted to discuss in front of her, the meeting soon broke up and Buffy said good night to her friends. Giles was the last one to leave, and he paused before he went out the door.

Looking back and forth between Spike and Buffy, he cleared his throat several times before finally saying, “I would be the first one to admit that Riley should not have tried to tell you what to do, nor should he have taken matters into his own hands in such a dangerous fashion. However,” he gave the vampire a long look, “it is fairly obvious that he is not totally wrong to be concerned about the amount of time Spike is spending with you and I think in all fairness to him, you need to acknowledge that, Buffy.”

Buffy’s face went completely white as she stammered, “Wha- what are you talking about, Giles? Spike is just extra muscle. Muscle that I need right now.”

If the Watcher had had any doubt that things between his Slayer and the vampire were not as platonic as he would have liked, the expression on her face would have banished them immediately.

He took his glasses off, cleaned and replaced them before he answered her. “It is quite apparent that Spike’s interest in your...well-being is more than that of a comrade in arms. I can see it, your family and friends see it—“ He was interrupted by a snort from the vampire.

“If the whelp had any idea how I feel about her, I’d have stakes stickin’ out all over my body.”

“Yes, well, with the possible exception of the willingly oblivious Xander, that is. My point is, the more Buffy defends you and the longer you are in this house, the more Riley has to be angry about. At this point, I would prefer we not have to worry about the actions of a jealous boyfriend when we are dealing with a powerful enemy.”

Buffy’s lower lip jutted out stubbornly. “This is the first time in a week that I’ve been able to sleep in my own bed and take a shower or wash my hair. Spike is staying until I get these casts off, and that’s that. Riley will just have to deal.”

“I’m not suggested you do without Spike’s .....assistance if and when you need it. I am suggesting that you understand Riley’s reluctance to having his girl friend spending so much time in the company of another man who clearly has feelings for her.”

“He can be as reluctant as he wants,” Buffy grumbled, “but he is NOT going to be giving me orders - about Spike or anything else!” She attempted to stomp her foot for emphasis, and ended up falling back onto the couch again.

“Yes, well, no doubt he is rapidly finding that you do not follow orders very well,” her Watcher said with a grimace. “And if not, I would be most happy to educate him on that subject.” He pulled the door open and started out the door, ignoring her indignant, “Hey!”

“Good night, Buffy, Spike.”



When the door closed behind the Watcher, Buffy threw herself back against the couch and groaned.

“Life wasn’t difficult enough – now I’ve got to worry about Riley going berserk and staking you. I don’t have time for this!”

Spike came over and sat down near, but not touching her.

“The Watcher’s right, love. It doesn’t make sense to antagonize him. The wanker’s little trick with the cross bow could have killed or injured Dawn or anyone else who came in there.”

Buffy stared at him in amazement. “Excuse me? Who are you and what have done with Spike? You know, William the Bloody? Vampire? Lives to annoy people and make their lives miserable?”

“Oh, I’m planning to make him just as miserable as I can,” he grinned at her. “But what set him off this time was you defending me to him yesterday and it could have got somebody hurt. Somebody you DO care about,” he added so softly she almost didn’t hear him.

She couldn’t figure out what to do or say about his last statement, so she chose to ignore it.

“He is NOT going to tell me what to do!”

“I think he’s startin’ to get that, pet. You just let me worry about defending myself and I’ll try not to give him any more reasons to be jealous. Not that I’m goin’ anywhere until you’re all better,” he added hastily. “But I’ll keep out of sight when he’s around and you can promise not to rub it in his face that I’m takin’ care of you.”

She looked at his downcast face and surprised herself by taking his cool hand in her own warm ones.

“If he knew what you...we...did... he’d kill you. You know that, right?”

The vampire raised his eyes to her face, surprised that she was willing to talk about what he stubbornly insisted to himself was the love-making they had indulged in the day before. When he saw the worry on her face, his heart lurched and he felt a warmth in his chest. He reached his other hand up to her cheek and gently stroked it.

“Nobody except us knows about that, love. And nobody will. I already promised you there’d be no repeatin’ until we get rid of that Glory bint. Not gonna give the soldier any reason to dust me. Not as long as you need me to help you protect the Niblet, anyway. Can’t help how I feel about you. And, accordin’ to the Watcher, I’m not real good at hidin’ it; but I’ll do my best to keep a low profile when I need to until we get this sorted out.”

“I’m not giving you up just because he’s a dumbass,” she muttered, trying not to lean into the cool hand still stroking her cheek. “He’s got no reason to...” Her voice trailed off as she remembered that her behavior the day before would have given him every reason to worry about Spike’s presence in her house if he’d known about it.

She met Spike’s amused expression as he raised his eyebrow skeptically and she blushed all over. She dropped his hands quickly and pulled back from him. She tried to ignore the twinge of regret she felt when his hand was no longer touching her cheek.

“Well, he doesn’t know about that little....mistake...yesterday, so he’s just being stupid!” She chose not to see how Spike flinched when she called what they did a mistake.

(It WAS a mistake. It had to be. I can’t get involved with another vampire. Especially one without a soul. One that thinks he loves me, that protects my family, that watches my back, that is a great kisser....gah! Don’t think about the kissing, or the—No! Not thinking about that. It never happened. Just a daydream. That’s all it was. A very real, very sexy, daydream. )

Spike’s face had closed down when she pulled back and went into her internal denial dialogue. He had to fight the urge to grab her and kiss her until she was no longer able to deny the attraction between them, but his inner William insisted that he keep his promise not to push the issue.

(She’s gonna need me to help with this hell-bitch. I can’t afford to do anything that would make her want to push me away. Got to let her know that she can count on me without worryin’ I’m gonna be tryin’ to seduce her. I don’t want her to be afraid to be around me.)

“You’ll work it out, Slayer,” he said flatly as he moved away from her on the couch. “Soon’s you get those casts off and don’t need me anymore, I’ll disappear for a while and you two can kiss and make up.”

Buffy’s eyes flew to his and he couldn’t help being warmed by the fear on her face. “Disappear? Where will you go? What if I need you?”

“Don’t worry, love,” he closed his eyes and tried to shake off the mental image of Riley kissing her. “I won’t really be gone anywhere. I just won’t be around where your boy friend can see me and get his knickers in a twist. You’ll be able to find me if...when you need me.”

“Oh, okay then,” she said dubiously. “I guess that will work. Mom should be back tomorrow and maybe you can just bring me up and down stairs and then go down to the basement or back to your crypt to sleep during the day.”

She looked at him hesitantly and offered, “We can ask Willow to put some protection wards around your crypt to keep Riley out. Just in case....”

“I’ll be all right, pet. Don’t worry yourself about it. Big Bad here, remember?”

(I’m trying to remember that, Spike. I’m really trying, but you keep making it harder and harder.)

Aloud, she said, “Yeah, I remember. You just need to remember that chip makes you a little less bad than you used to be. And a lot more vulnerable,” she added with a nervous smile.

“Worried about me, Slayer?” he asked, doing his best to sound sarcastic rather than hopeful.

“Hah! That’ll be the day when I worry about an annoying, fashion-challenged, Billy Idol wannabe.” She tossed her head and smiled to take the sting out of her words. “Now, carry me upstairs, please. I have important healing to do.”

“That you do, love. The sooner the better.” He said as he scooped her up and headed for the stairs. “If I get caught playing nursemaid to the Slayer, I’ll have to kill the entire demon population of Sunnydale just to save my reputation.”

“You don’t have any reputation to save,” she snarked at him.

“Watch it, Missy. I might ‘accidentally’ drop you all way down these stairs.”

She giggled and wriggled as best she could with her immobilized limbs. He smiled down at her and pretended to let go, then caught her before she could hit the floor and clutched her against his body tightly.

“No, you won’t,” she said softly, relaxing into his chest. “I know you won’t let me fall.”

“No, Slayer,” he whispered into her hair. “I won’t let you fall. I’ll never let you fall.”

***************


When they reached the second floor, Spike repeated the routine of the night before, depositing her in the bathroom and coming back for her when she called for him.

He put her on the bed, then stood up quickly and moved toward the door.

“I’ll just let you go to sleep now, Slayer. Give you a chance to knit those bones up and get back on your feet.”

( Give me a chance to get away from your scent, the feel of your skin, those things that are making me so hard I’m not going to be able to walk in a minute.)

Buffy looked slightly disappointed, but burrowed under the covers and yawned as she said, “Yep. That’s what I’m gonna do. Get to sleep and get my bones better. Lots of sleep.”

She looked up at him with her hair spread around her head like a golden veil and her eyes searching his face as though there was some secret hidden there. “Spike?” she asked softly. “Why are you so different from other vampires?”

“Dunno, love. Always have been – in spite of Angelus’ and Darla’s best attempts to cure me.” He grinned at her and blew her a kiss as he went out the door. “Good night, Slayer. Sleep tight.”

(I love you.)

“Good night, Spike. Don’t do anything to get yourself staked.”

(Don’t leave me. I’m not ready for you to leave me.)





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