A white blur flashed by knocking the rude blond over onto her ass. "Damn it, Spike!" she snarled, just as the blur took down a small green demon that had been prepared to slash its claws across the female's face.

By the time Buffy got to her feet and was brushing herself off, the blur otherwise known as Rip Torn was sitting happily next to his alpha's feet, Spike stood calmly petting Rips head as he grinned unrepentantly at the slayer.

"Damn dog," she muttered, as she stalked passed them. "Why Xander decided to keep the damn thing is beyond me."

"Looks like the slayer don' like bein' shown up," Spike commented quietly to Rip.

Rip Torn lifted his head, ~Crazy female, would scream if I hadn't taken it out~ grumbled in agreement to his alpha, and watched as the rude female took out some walking corpses. Tilting his head, ~Why my human master feels the need to spend time with her. Not as if he mates with her, Alpha would be angry if he did~

With a sneeze, Rip followed the alpha at heel, quivering in excitement. He could smell his playful master, and took off towards his human, when his alpha gave him the okay to leave his side. With a happy bounce, Rip pranced in front of his alpha, and with a happy bark he greeted his human.

His Human laughed happily, and smelled like fresh cut wood and chocolate. He loved that his human always smelled tasty. ~play play, play, play~ After a quick play with his human, he gave a happy grin as his human and alpha greeted each other.

"Buffy still at it?" Xander asked, as he looked over Spike's shoulder and saw Buffy throwing a mini-fit, looking as if she had torn her new skirt.

Spike chuckled quietly, "Oh, she still throwing a wobbly, luv. Don' see 'er gettin' over it any time soon."

"Well, if our child didn't take after his other parent, I'm sure Buffy would like Rip just fine." Xander mumbled into Spike's shoulder.

"Oi! Our boy has good taste is all."

Xander laughed at Spike. "Come on Rip, lets get out of here, before Buffy gets it into her head to hurt you."

Rip looked up at his human, then over at the rude female that his human was talking about. ~like to see her try, Master. The rude female, would lose that fight~ With a sneeze, Rip shook himself and bounded after his master, yipping excitedly.

Rip trotted a-head of his master and alpha, excited to be returning home. ~winter is coming~ a shiver rippled down his body, as he bound up the stairs, and danced in front of the door, holding in his barks and yips. ~come on, open, open, open~

Bursting through the door, Rip bounced over to his corner where his bed lay and all his toys. ~home, home, home~ flopping down on to the bed, the big black Kong between his paws, Rip chewed on it with enthusiasm. His head snapped up at the sound of food being poured into his bowl.

The Kong tumbled to the floor with a resounding thump, as Rip Torn shot to his feet and launched himself towards the kitchen to his full food bowl. Stomach rumbling in anticipation, watching as the alpha placed his bowl onto the floor.

"Can hear you, Rip." Spike commented, and stepped back just as Rip Torn slid to a stop at his dish, and started to inhale his food. He listened with half an ear as his alpha left the kitchen and climbed into the shower with his human.

Once his bowl was clean, he lapped up some water, gave himself a shake then he began his nightly walk around his home. He knew the alpha already checks the home, but he liked to double check himself so he could sleep better knowing that his human and alpha were safe.

With a slow walk and a curious sniff at every door and window, ~safe~ and with a happy trot over to his bed, he circled it a few times before he curled up to sleep the night.

Rip Torn rolled onto his feet and did a full body stretch just as his human walked into the living room and sat down on the couch to tie his running shoes. Rip sniffed the shoes happily and ran to sit next to the door waiting for Xander to finish.

His human grabbed his leash and opened the door to let them both out. "It's gonna be a short run today, Rip. I've got a long day at the site today."

Rip grunted ~My human works hard for alpha and me~ and happily ran next to his human as they ran at an even pace around the block. Stopping only long enough to mark his territory again, grinning happily when his scent covered over another's scent. ~encroachers~

Rip Torn loved this time of day with his human. It was the only time when it was just the two of them, with the sun slowly crawling up into the sky as his human kept up with him. ~good to have master out and running, must keep up with alpha~

"Rip!" His human called.

Rip's head snapped up from sniffing at a pile of trash in his way, and looked at his human who called him in distress. His human was some feet away from him just at the entrance to the cemetery, where two small green demons were stalking towards Rip Torn.

~very bad smell, need bath later~ Rip looked past the demons toward his human, who looked to have not left their home without a weapon. ~good master~ a growl, he dug his nails into the dirt and used his powerful hind legs to launch himself towards the green demons.

Rip's nails dug into the chest of one of the demons just as his human slammed a blade into the neck of the other one. The fight was over with before it could really begin as Rip's teeth sunk into the neck of the demon he was fighting and he shook his head back and forth viciously, before dropping the demon to the ground dead.

"Yup, very short run today."

Rip barked, ~yes, alpha not gonna be happy with this~ and trotted up next to his human and sniffed him to make sure that he was unharmed. Then, when he was satisfied, he barked again ~lets go master~ and led the way home.

His human stood in front of the door to their home, and looked at Rip Torn. "You will be quiet; I know you feel the need to bark and be all excited but you really don't need to wake Spike up."

Rip saw the hard look that he was being given, and grumbled, ~fine~ and slunk into the apartment in abject misery. Head down, he walked lowly over to his bed and laid down and whined, ~not fair~

Xander just shook his head at the sad look Rip Torn was giving him, and left his dog to his funk as he went to get ready for work. When Xander came back out of the bedroom with a tired looking Spike, Rip was curled up in his bed, and sucking on one of his toys.

"Looks like you killed 'is fun, luv?" mumbled Spike, as he got his blood ready at the same time that Xander gathered his lunch together.

Xander snorted, "Right, just told him he couldn't bark. Not my fault he acts like it's the end of the world."

"Must be hard, 'is life."

"A day in the life of our dog, Spike, is very hard."

Owari