After some heavy discussion, Buffy finally gave in to letting the others patrol for her for the night. She knew that they'd never be able to harm the demon even a little bit. But also she'd be no good for saving them or herself either. Her hand was still healing, and that made it impossible to effectively punch while holding a stake. She had one hand to use and it wasn't useful. Dawn was at Janis' for the night, so that was a little bit better. She hoped though, that if anything happened to the team, that Spike would help them. She wasn't sure how the gang would take to being helped by another Vampire – this one being all time soulless – but Angel just wasn't enough in this case.

Her hopes were shattered when a knock on the door was revealed to be none other than her bleach blonde friend.

"I've come for the tea party." He said grandly when she didn't make a move to invite him in. He had expected as much, but still. He smirked to show her that he was kidding, and she stepped to the side. The gesture was clear on what it meant, and with a tingle on his spine he crossed the threshold. "Hurt your hand there pet?" He asked casually, throwing his duster over the stair rail.

"Same demon as before, it stuck it's spine through me." She held up her gauss wrapped hand for him to examine.

He shook his head making tsk sounds, and then raised his eyebrow at her. "Too bad I wasn't there to save you huh?" It seemed like he was hinting at something, but she decided not to play along.

"Yeah, Angel couldn't do much damage either." She shrugged and motioned with her hand for him to follow her into the living room.

"Angel?" He asked. He stood in the doorway, and stared at her with some kind of unreadable expression on his face. "As in… Angelus?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh well that's just great." He put his tongue to the front of his teeth and looked at the ceiling. "Me and him don't really get along much." He told her without holding back his hatred even a little.

"I see." She looked at the floor. "You wouldn't happen to be his grandchilde would you?" She asked nervously. Perhaps this was the William the Bloody that she was supposed to be avoiding. He seemed nice enough though.

His face paled slightly, and he looked as though she were to stake him, and then nodded his head slightly.

She considered her options for a second, and then made for the door. "He'll be back any time now. If he finds you here he'll kill you." She opened the door for him to go through but he just stared at her with an arrogant look on his face. "What?" Spike needed to leave already. Every second was a risk to the both of them.

"You think I can't take down old Angelus?" His smile was gone and he looked stern now. An expression she'd never seen him hold.

"I really wish you wouldn't try." She watched as the wheels in his head turned, and then he smiled and walked out without saying so much as a goodbye.

Buffy was still standing at the door when her friends finally returned. A breath of relief made it's way out of her as she embraced each and every one of them.

"I was so worried about you." She said when she got to Willow, but she meant it to all of them.

They all began to speak at once, except for Angel who was looking around with a terrible glare. "What is this?" He asked pointing to Spike's leather coat. He'd forgotten it. Or had he? He'd looked pretty smug when he was leaving.

"That's um…" She searched for the right words to explain. She didn't want to lie to Angel, but she wouldn't have him hurt Spike either. She didn't know why, but she already felt close to the considerably evil vampire.

"I thought I told you to stay away from William. Has he been here?" He demanded with an unforgiving tone.

"You told me, to stay away from William. The vampire met introduced himself as something else. How was I supposed to know?"

He was fuming. "So you just let any old vampire in here huh?" He shook his head in fury. "No wait, let's not forget that you not only ignored me when I told you to stay away from him, but you've been going to him behind my back!" His face had turned an angry shade of red. This was new for him.

"Angel I didn't-"

"You lied to me Buffy." He cut her off, sounding cooler now. He looked hurt.

Buffy didn't respond. There was nothing for her to say. So she'd met a guy that just happened to be the guy that her boyfriend wanted her to keep her distance from. She wasn't really lying to him was she? She'd only found out a short while ago. So she hadn't told Angel when she'd come in. Was she really going to keep it a secret from him? She didn't know.

Angel angrily stormed out the door, not looking back. Buffy felt herself go numb with fear. This was just a fight right? He wouldn't leave her over this… Her sure seemed angry enough.

She sat alone on the couch late into the night while Xander, Anya, and eventually Giles filled out. And there she remained long after Tara and Willow had gone to bed. A light knock on the door made her pray that Angel had come back, to let her explain herself. She flew to the door, searching for anything to say to make it better. But it wasn't Angel at the door. It was the man who'd caused the drama himself.

"Hello Spike." She said looking down.

"Not happy to see poor Spike?" He teased. When he saw the look of despondency on her face, he pushed around her. "Just came to grab my duster." He said quietly and lifted it from where it had dropped to the floor at Angel's touch earlier.

Buffy made her way silently back to the couch and pulled her feet up beneath her. Spike stared at her for a moment. He couldn't leave her like this. Not when it was probably his fault that she was going through this. He regretted 'forgetting' the duster now.

"Buffy," He said with wonder. She looked up at him sadly. For a reason he couldn't quite figure out, her teary eyes pained him beyond belief. What he could only imagine as his heart breaking into a million pieces seemed little compared to this. "What happened love?"

She shifted a little in her seat, and he took this as an invitation to sit with her. He was strangely glad when she didn't move away from him.

"Angel knows you were here." Her eyes turned red with the tears that threatened to explode out of her. "I don't know, I just… I think it might be over for us." She looked at the wall at the other side of the room.

Over for us? Did she mean them? Were they together? If they were then he probably didn't even realize the extent to the mistake he'd made.

"I'm sorry." He knew those were the wrong words to use. Sorry didn't even come close to cutting it. He felt so much more than just 'sorry'.

"It's alright, not your fault." She sniffled and leaned her head against the arm of the couch. "I wasn't even going to tell him. I lied, and that was wrong. Now I get to pay the price." Her lip quivered slightly, and Spike wished he could make it so that it would never happen again.

He wanted to hold her, but he knew it wouldn't go over well, so he settled by rubbing her arm gently. She shut her eyes when he did, which made him smile. When she sighed he knew she needed to sleep. It was already four in the morning; he couldn't guess what had her up to this hour.

"Time for bed love?" He brushed the hair from her face. She was so beautiful to him.

"I don't want to go to sleep." Her eyebrows pulled in at the middle. But she sat up, and took him by complete surprise when she wrapped her arm around his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Thank you Spike." She said when he slid his arms around her and leaned his head against hers.

He didn't respond, he just sat there and held her. He could stay there forever if she'd let him. By after what felt like a short time, he saw the sun peek over the horizon.

"Gotta go slayer," He said jumping up. She looked out the window and frowned.

"Spike, you can't go out there." She shook her head at the window. He'd burn up in seconds.

"Not much else to do." He weighed his options lightly and then grabbed his jacket.

"No, Spike." She pulled him away from the hall. "It's daylight now, and Angel won't be coming around anytime soon. So why don't you just stay here until it's safe?"

This girl was amazing. For a second Spike envied Angel of her. But he quickly shook the thought from his head. Even if he did like Buffy, he wasn't about to fight Angel for a girl again.