Spike awoke before Buffy did, just a few minutes before dawn. He made sure the curtains were drawn securely on the windows and washed up in the bathroom. Dawn was still sleeping as well; he could hear her snoring down the hall.
After retrieving his boots and duster from the bedroom, he went down into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee for the girls after making sure the windows were securely sunlight-free. Upon glancing in the refrigerator, he realized he had the makings of a couple of decent omelets there. What the hell, he thought. They think I'm crazy anyway.
Soon the eggs had been whisked to perfection and added to a hot frying pan with cheese and green onions, glasses of orange juice were on the countertop waiting to be claimed, and bacon was frying on the stove. Spike's ears picked up the sound of Dawn coming down the stairs; he knew it was Dawn because Buffy didn't thump quite so much.
"Ooooo… bacon," Dawn said appreciatively, her nose twitching at the smell. She raised her eyebrows at the sight of Spike in the kitchen, a black apron on and a spatula in his hand as he flipped the bacon. He looked down at himself and was grateful that the apron had at least been a dignified color. He scowled at Dawn.
"What? I like this shirt. No need to get eggs on it." Dawn rolled her eyes.
Spike popped some bread into the toaster and pulled the bacon off the stove to drain onto paper towels. "Mind waking your sister?"
"Sure." Dawn bounded into the other room, hopping up the stairs two at a time. Spike thought for a moment and realized he probably should have warned her to be careful—Buffy was a bit on the testy side—but shrugged it off. Dawn would know to be gentle-like, and Buffy wouldn't hurt her anyway.
Several minutes later the girls came downstairs as Spike was plating the omelets. He looked up to see Buffy still in her pajamas, though it looked as though she had brushed her hair and teeth. Fuck, she's beautiful. He noticed the smirk on Dawn's face and realized he had been staring. He cleared his throat and finished putting the plates on the table, then pulled out chairs of the girls.
"Why, thank you, sir," Dawn jokingly said, immediately grabbing a slice of toast from a plate in the center of the table and buttering it. Buffy looked less comfortable, but took the proffered chair in silence. Spike sat next to her. It had been a long time since he'd had a proper breakfast; he was just glad he hadn't burned the eggs.
Buffy took a bite of her omelet and looked surprised.
"This is good." Spike rolled his eyes. What was she expecting, burnt eggs flavored with cyanide?
"Thank you," she said, almost as an afterthought. Spike nodded. He glanced at Dawn, who had nodded along with Buffy's thanks. He suspected she would have thanked him, too, if she hadn't had half an omelette in her mouth. She settled for giving an enthusiastic thumbs-up. He chuckled under his breath.
"Anything fun going on in school today, Dawn?" Buffy asked her sister. Dawn gave Buffy a look over her glass of orange juice and rolled her eyes. Spike supposed Buffy was simply attempting to make some kind of normal conversation.
"Of course not. It's school. Their motto is, 'No fun here.' What about you? Doing anything today?" Dawn wiped her mouth with the back of her and received a look from Spike, who handed her a napkin.
"Well, I suppose I'd better call Giles," Buffy said hesitantly. "I'm not sure if I should tell everyone as a group or individually." She worried her lower lip with her teeth anxiously, a trait Spike found particularly endearing. For a vampire, she was certainly extremely human in her mannerisms. Spike wondered if she would ever show the fact that she was a demon; she was naturally more inclined to act human. Spike wondered what she would be like if she let her demon take over—surely she would be more powerful than he could even imagine, though he would certainly never push it. He wanted her happiness more than anything. He put the thought from his mind for now.
"Might be better to meet with them individually, starting with the Watcher," he chimed in, taking a bite of toast. Buffy nodded, looking thoughtful.
"Yeah, that might be best… if I can convince Giles I'm not looking to feast on the local townsfolk, I can convince everyone else." She made it sound offhanded, but Spike was sure she was worried what her Watcher would think.
"Call 'im, invite 'im over," Spike suggested. "We can all talk then." Buffy nodded.
Dawn finished her food and stood, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand in complete ignorance of her napkin again. "Okay, algebra awaits." She looked at Buffy. "Be careful?" Buffy nodded, still looking out of sorts. Dawn cheerfully grabbed her school books and left.
Spike sighed, grabbing the dishes from the table and placing them in the sink. Buffy silently picked up a few more plates and carried them to the sink, immersing them in bubbles. Spike noticed that she seemed much quieter when Dawn wasn't around. He supposed she was putting on a brave face for little sis.
They washed dishes together silently. Buffy seemed reluctant to realize they were finished. She picked up the phone with a sigh, dialing Giles' number. He picked up on the second ring.
"Hello?" Spike heard him say distantly on the other line.
"Giles. It's me."
"Buffy, thank heavens. Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry I worried about you. Um, I have some . . . news. Can you come over?"
"Certainly, Buffy, I'll be there straight away."
"Thanks." Buffy hung up without saying goodbye. She worried her lower lip with her teeth again.
Buffy wandered to the living room and sat delicately on the couch, Spike taking the seat next to her. Giles only lived a few minutes away, which may have been a good thing: Buffy would only have to be on edge for a couple of minutes. Spike felt certain that Buffy would be fine so long as her Watcher accepted her. And if it killed him, Spike would make sure that happened.
Giles knocked on the door a few minutes later. Buffy called for him to come in, as she couldn't answer the door for fear of being burned by the sunlight. Giles saw them immediately and seemed instantly suspicious of Spike's presence. He kept his words to himself, choosing instead to sit opposite Buffy.
"You sounded a bit… well, concerned, on the telephone. Is everything all right?" Giles asked his Slayer, obviously being as gentle as possible.
"Um. Well, I have something to tell you. You're really not going to like it."
Giles was silent for a moment. "Buffy, you know I'm here for you. Anything you need." And this was why Spike tolerated the Watcher. He loved Buffy.
"Well, I had a . . . a b-bit of a problem yesterday. Patrolling." Buffy was so nervous she was stumbling on her words. Spike took pity upon her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders despite Giles' alarmed look.
"Look, Watcher, she's scared stiff. So any comments you have, keep them to yourself," he began harshly. "The Slayer's been turned into a vampire."
It at first did not seem as though these words had registered in the Watcher's mind. He stared at Spike, then Buffy, before looking at Spike again. His mouth opened and he did not say anything for a few seconds. He seemed to come to his senses and snapped his mouth shut, though he kept staring.
"How did this happen?" he finally asked shakily, looking at his Slayer. Buffy opened her mouth to speak but quickly closed it, glancing at Spike for assistance. The elder vampire could see tears welling up in her eyes.
"Vamp attacked her, caught her off-guard," Spike lied easily. "She happened to be near my crypt when it happened, I heard the fight. She hasn't hurt anyone." Giles looked at Buffy as though for confirmation, and the Slayer nodded in agreement with Spike's story.
"I . . . well, Buffy, are you all right?" Spike was pleased that Giles' first words were not inquiring about his Slayer's new feeding habits, but instead about her mental health. Tears finally came forth from Buffy's eyes, and she moved—more slowly than she was capable of doing—off the couch and into Giles' arms. The Watcher seemed alarmed at first, but then embraced the blonde girl warmly. Spike pushed down the jealousy.
"All right, Buffy, it's going to be all right," he said soothingly. "Have you fed?" He managed to keep any hardness from his voice, still soothing. Buffy shook her head against his chest then pulled back, settling back onto the couch.
"Spike is helping me. Not to feed. I had animal blood last night, and I stayed in the house last night, with Dawn." She looked guiltily at her Watcher. "I didn't want to talk to anyone."
"Have you told the others?"
Buffy shook her head. "Just you and Dawn. Giles, I want to be good. I don't want to hurt anyone. And this . . . thing. Inside me. It scares me. It's like it wants me to go out and hunt someone. But I don't want to."
"And you shan't." Giles took a handkerchief out of his pocket and cleaned his glasses. "I must say, I'm a little unprepared. To the best of my knowledge, the turning of a Slayer . . . well, it's simply never been done before. Far too dangerous. But it seems you've kept a rather lot of humanity, despite being a demon." He sighed. "I'm not quite sure what expect. I shall have to—"
'Consult my books' Spike thought dryly.
"—consult my books."
Buffy nodded. "I still have to tell the others. I don't know . . ."
"Why don't you wait for me," Giles suggested. "Willow and Tara have a tendency to be a bit more open-minded, and I'm sure it will pose no issue for Anya, but Xander can be . . . er . . ."
"Xander," Buffy finished for him.
"Well, yes, precisely." Giles stood. "In the meantime, I suggest you stay here. I shall bring the others over after sunset. Try to control yourself," he added. "I imagine it will be very difficult, especially the first few days. A vampire's first instinct is to feed, and you've been suppressing that instinct. The demon inside you will get used to it, given enough time. Look how well Angel did."
"Angel had a soul. I don't." Buffy's face lit up a little. "Do you think, if Willow wanted to give it a try . . . do you think there's a spell that can give me a soul?"
"Perhaps. I'm not quite sure—Angel's situation was vastly different from yours, but it could be that the same spell can be used to give you your soul back." Giles leaned in and kissed Buffy on the forehead. "Take care. I'll be back later."
Buffy and Spike stood clear as Giles opened the door. As he left, Buffy turned back to Spike.
"Is it true, what he said? Do you think I can eventually suppress the demon?"
"It's possible, pet. Not too many vampires have tried it. Even without the chip, though, I think I could go without human blood if I wanted to. The blood is a craving that eventually goes away. I think maybe what your demon wants the most is violence."
"Violence I can do, so long as it's the good kind."
Hours later, Dawn came home to find them on the couch watching T.V. and sitting rather comfortably close together.
"Hey, guys." She nodded to the television. "This all you've been doing all day?"
Buffy glanced sardonically at her sister. "Did you know there's nothing to do during the daytime unless you can go out in the sunlight? I'm going to get fat." She glanced at Spike. "Can vampires get fat?" Spike chuckled. "At any rate," Buffy said with a sigh, "I'm going to have to find some sort of hobby. I think I watched more T.V. in one day than I normally watch in a whole year."
Dawn shook her head at her older sister. She swung her backpack onto the living room table and began to take various school books out of her bag. "Did you talk to Giles today?"
Buffy nodded. "He took it really well, actually." Explains the good mood, Spike thought. "He and the rest of the gang are coming over tonight after sundown."
"Well, that's good. That way if you need to run away from anyone, you can at least go outside." Spike shot her a look. Dawn looked at him, oblivious.
"What?"
Spike shook his head. "Everythin' is gonna be fine," he told the girls fiercely. Neither one of them bothered to reply. No one really knew how the evening was going to play out.
To occupy herself, Spike assumed, Buffy set about cleaning the kitchen—something he had never even heard of Buffy doing—and then helped Dawn with her homework. It seemed, Spike discovered, that Buffy was rather good at math. He was interested to learn this fact about her, something that didn't have anything to do with Buffy as the Slayer but more to do with Buffy as a person. He wondered what other things he could discover about her. It wasn't like they didn't have the time on their hands. He resolved to ask her about herself later, craving more information about who she was.
After homework, which, thanks to the help of her older sister, Dawn completed in record time, they broke out the board games. Spike was content to simply watch, but Dawn begged him to play a game of Life with them. Spike rolled his eyes but was happy to join in. He was pleased to see that Buffy was sufficiently distracted from her worries about the upcoming meeting with her friends, and Dawn seemed pleased that her sister finally had the time to spend with her. This could all work, he thought.
At about seven thirty they all noticed the sun start to descend and the white circle of the moon began to show itself. Buffy looked apprehensive, but continued to play board games with her sister. When the sun set completely and it was dark outside, Buffy's concentration went away from the game. Spike was proud of her; she had not cried and she was dealing with her fear rather well, as though it were a mission she had to face. Not long after sunset, a knock came at the door.