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Chapter 9b


She hated the fact that she missed Spike when he was working. She felt pathetic. She did plenty fine before Spike. Yeah. She was, what, seventeen? How much of a life could you have before you could even drive? Well, she'd done well for herself after he'd come along. She frowned. Okay, so a lot of that time was spent with him. Except for when she took off to England for a year without him. She made it in a whole other country without him. Funny how she never connected how England was his country until now. When she was restless and lonely. She'd visited her mom earlier that day and Giles was at some sort of High Priest meeting. There was nothing on TV, not even reruns of Friends were grabbing her tonight. Probably because when she would watch that, it was with Spike.

What she needed was a down and dirty patrol. The kind she used to have. A really strong vampire coming along that would challenge her and mistake her for the Slayer – again. He'd throw a punch to her face and she'd duck it just in time meanwhile bending her knees low and swiping his legs out from under him. He'd lay there, struggling to get up just as she'd come at him with a stake and oh! Then his friends would show up! They'd charge her and . . . what would she do? Would she employ a ball of light at them, or maybe throw them back with a burst of energy or no, maybe use a burst of energy on one and pummel the other one with a roundhouse kick sending it back –

"Buffy, what are you thinking about?"

She'd been so absorbed in her fantasy she hadn't noticed Spike – the one
that had sparked this train of thought – come home.

"Huh?" she asked innocently.

"You had a big grin on your face, what were you thinking about? Me?"

"Of course!" No, I was thinking of fighting. Course then I could cap it off by
having sex with you after—

Coming over to her, he leaned down, hovering over her, going for a kiss.

She caught a whiff of something sour on him, something that had her
wrinkling her nose and pushing him away.

"What did you do that for?" he asked, stunned.

"You stink."

He sniffed around himself. "I don't stink!"

"You do. It's like you're covered in something. Did you come across a nasty
demon tonight?"

Now he looked hesitant which immediately had Buffy on alert. "All right fess up. I know that look. What's going on?"

Taking a deep unneeded breath, Spike sat down across from her.

Wrinkling her nose at him, she scooted to the other side of the room, rolling
the chair away from him.

"Buffy, I don't smell!" he exclaimed.

"Yes, you do."

"I'll go take a shower and then –"

"No, you're going to talk now. You made that ‘I just did something you're
not going to like' face."

"You should know that face pretty well considering you've made it yourself
enough. And, no, I didn't DO anything."

She gave him a look and crossed her arms, waiting.

"One of my students – my best student actually. Really bright girl. Shy,
sweet, unassuming. She blushes when I so much as call on her to answer a
question."

It was innocent really. A teacher talking about his student and beaming
about the fact that he had a really good one. It was normal right? Normal to
talk about a student so glowingly . . . that was normal right?

"Aren't there any male students that um, are really good?"

"Not really many men in the class, no. Why?" he looked at her
questioningly.

"No reason. Continue."

"Pet, I don't know how to come out and say this without well, just coming
out and saying it."

"So say it already."

"She approached me after class . . . "

Buffy's heart started to thump hard in her chest and she suddenly found it
hard to breathe. What the hell was he going to say and why was he
stalling!?

"Your heart is racing. Are you all right?"

"What the fuck happened Spike?" she barked at him, unable to contain her
growing agitation any longer.

"You don't think that – Buffy how could you—"

"If you don't tell me what happened, I'm going to castrate you," she told
him deeply and darkly.

"She's the Slayer. And, she knew I was a vampire."

Buffy sat motionless, staring at him, trying to process what he was saying
to her and not really succeeding. "She what?" she asked after a while.

"She's the Slayer and she knows I'm a vampire," he sighed again. "Seems
she knows about you too."

"How? Did you tell her?" she asked accusingly.

"Of course I bloody didn't! She knew because. . . well, because . . ."

"I swear to God," Buffy started warningly.

"She's a friend of Willow's."

Buffy jumped up from her seat. "Well. Isn't that a convenient? Quite a
coincidence, don't you think? That lying little…witch!"

"Buffy, you're a witch too."

She shot him a scathing look and he clamped his mouth shut.

"She lied to me. She lied to Giles! Giles! I mean, I've lied to Giles before,
but it's ME. I'm allowed. She barely knows him, she doesn't know how to
work him like I do—"

Spike raised an eyebrow.

"Get your mind out of the gutter," she snapped. "What the hell is going on?
Something fishy is going on here. Something . . . " she neared Spike and
wrinkled her nose. "Stinks," she finished.

"It's not AS covert op as you're making it sound pet."

"Oh?"

"Willow knew of us before Tara came into her life. When Tara was ‘called',
she told Willow, Willow helped her out but soon realized that she needed
more help than she could give her and so, she went to Giles. Not only to
gain Giles' help but he knew that you studied under him. She was hoping
that you – we – could help her out."

"She doesn't have a Watcher?"

"Apparently they seemed to have missed the boat on this one."

"And she just decided to share with Willow what she was. I assumed part
of being the Slayer was going incognito. No one was supposed to know
about you. You taught me that."

Spike ran a hand through his hair. "Well, everyone's different I imagine
pet. Her and the Willow bird are best friends. Have been for a while from
what I gather. She trusted her enough to tell her, figuring she could help
since she knew magic—"

"Willow told me that she didn't realize she had power until she was
attacked by a vampire. She lied. She knew before. She just used Giles to get
to me and you."

"I know. Tara apologized for that. She really didn't know of any other way
to be able to talk to us."

"So let me get this straight. Willow knew of us before Tara was called.
Then Tara gets called and Willow figures she needs the help of us to help
Tara out because as it turns out the Council somehow missed the boat on
sending her a Watcher. So, she lied to Giles, and she lied to me. She was
using us to help out her friend."

Spike had the decency to look sheepish. "Well when you put it that way. . .
but pet, the girl didn't have anyone. Put us in that situation. I would have
done it to help you any way I could."

Buffy rolled her eyes, "well when you put it that way . . . "

"In the grand scheme of things it was a little white lie. And, according to
Tara, Willow had power, but didn't realize just how much until she fried the
vamp to a crisp. So, yeah, she might have kept a sliver of the truth out, but
the truth is still there."

"If you choose to see it," Buffy muttered, sitting down.

"And Tara apologized."

Buffy looked at him. "Oh Tara apologized, did she? I feel much better now
thanks."

Now Spike gave her a look.

"So. Now what?"

"Now we see them tomorrow. Willow has a meeting with Giles tomorrow
evening already and I've asked Tara to join her. I told her we'd come over
so we could all talk and meet."

This was still niggling at her, just scratching at her skin, making her
uncomfortable. Aside from the fib Willow told and how Tara just popped up
out of nowhere, she couldn't pinpoint it.

"How did she know she was a Slayer if she didn't have a Watcher to guide
her?"

Spike relayed the story Tara told him.

Buffy had the good sense to not speak what she was thinking: What is she
Batman? What is that? Sob story of Slayer to be? Yet again another
coincidence. She witnesses a Slayer and then one day she is the Slayer.

"Horrible thing to have happen to a little girl, right?" Spike asked,
mistaking Buffy's frown for one of sympathy.

"Yeah," Buffy nodded slowly.

Silence fell. Shaking his head, almost vigorously, Spike jumped up. Before
she could question what that was about he was speaking. "Enough of that. I
want my kiss." Grabbing her hand, he hauled her up against him, gently,
and kissed her soundly. "I love my girl so much," he purred and nuzzled
her neck. Placing a hand on her tummy he looked down at her tenderly,
"how's my baby?" And then went back to kissing her. Somewhere in the
back of her mind, Buffy noted the sour scent on him had disappeared.

A/N: thank you guys for the reviews and support of this story. I love hearing what you think.















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