"Why?" Buffy cradled her mother's head in her lap and glared up at Spike. "She's freaked, and you have to lay it all out like that."
"You did say that was the idea. Did you want her calling the police?" Spike raised his scarred brow. "I think we may have bigger problems than your mum, Luv. Watcher has left the building, so to speak."
Buffy turned and saw the shocked expression frozen on Giles' face. She closed her eyes and counted to ten. Her mother shifted and Buffy stroked the older woman's hair before opening her eyes.
"Is he breathing?" She asked.
"Yes, he's breathing." Spike rolled his eyes and walked near the watcher. "His heart is beating double time, but he seems okay."
"Great, just great. Mom is gonna come around and go nuts again and he's off his onion."
Spike snickered. "I am enjoying your new vocabulary."
Buffy growled and snarled at him, and he leaned back against the table as laughter shook his body. "Can't very well do that, Luv, anatomically impossible for a non-Fyarl.
Buffy pulled her sweater off and bunched it under her mother's head. She looked peaceful, lying on the floor. Buffy trailed her fingers through her mother's hair before she stood.
"Okay, how do we fix this?" Buffy turned to Spike and nestled into his open arms.
"Nothing to fix, really. They'll come around. They love you." Spike kissed her temple and hugged her tighter. "Watcher will get unstuck in a minute, your mum will wake up, and we'll have fireworks all over again."
"I don't want these fireworks. I want a family dinner and normal human stuff for them. Can we do that?" Buffy looked up at him with her green eyes shining and Spike suppressed his desire to tease her.
"We can do some of it. I'm not keen on a church wedding, but if the white dress and frou-frou is important to you I am willing to do the human thing. Our lives are going to be unusual, but we can do as much normal human stuff as my body allows." Spike pulled her back to him and felt a twinge of loss for his humanity, a thing he'd never missed before.
Joyce made a small sound, and the couple bent to examine her. Her eyelids fluttered for a moment, but she didn't wake up. Buffy turned to look at Giles and shrieked. She dove toward him as he tried to stake Spike from behind.
She managed to get her hand between Spike's back and the sharpened wood, but Giles wasn't able to check his movement and the wood drove through her skin, cracking a bone as it pierced her hand.
Spike swirled about and grabbed her, pulling her as he leapt across the room. He landed and crouched between her and the watcher, at the ready to defend her. She rested her good hand on his back to reassure him, but he continued to growl, a low threatening sound.
Buffy tried to pull the stake free, but it was stuck. She tossed both hands up in the air and a big drop of blood plopped down on Joyce's nose. The older woman woke up and wiped at her face. When she looked at the blood on her hands, she screeched.
Giles looked around the room, a dazed expression on his face. He shook his head several times. His eyes fixed on Buffy and Spike. He took in the dripping blood and his injured slayer.
"Buffy, move away from him. He's dangerous." Giles spoke in an even and commanding tone. Buffy rolled her eyes and Spike growled again, his golden eyes tracking every movement in the room.
"I'm not the one sticking wood into people." Spike snapped.
Giles stepped toward him. "You can't do this to her. You have to be stopped."
"It's a done deal, Giles. You need to slow down and think. Use your damn brain." Buffy said through clenched teeth.
Joyce looked between the two men and jumped up. "You have got to be kidding me! Both of you sit." She pointed to Giles and Spike. "At the table like normal people do. Buffy is hurt, and I won't have it. I don't care if she is super girl. She shouldn't have to stand around, dripping blood with a piece of wood jammed through her hand while you two waste time posturing."
Joyce walked over to Buffy and pushed Spike out of her way without a flicker of fear. Buffy smiled at her, and tried to hide her hand behind her back. Joyce grabbed her by the shoulder and marched her to the sink.
"I told you two to sit." She glared over her shoulder at the two slack jawed males until they sat at opposite ends of the table.
"Mom, you need to pull it out while I immobilize the hand. The wood is stuck between the bones, and one of the bones is a little cracked." Buffy peaked up at her mother with a sad look. "I wanted this to go smoother. Sorry about shocking you."
"Buffy, can we take care of this first? Are you sure you wouldn't rather go see a doctor?" Joyce looked in her eyes and pushed her stray hairs back behind her ears. Buffy shook her head.
"This is no big." Buffy shrugged. "It would have killed Spike though."
Buffy leaned around her mother to glare at Giles.
"Don't encourage them, Buffy. We will deal with all of this in a couple of minutes." Joyce grabbed the stake and waited for Buffy to brace her hand. She jerked the stake free and stared in wonder as Buffy's skin started to heal before her eyes.
"It's faster, now. Probably because of the mating." Buffy dragged out a first aid kit from under the sink and wrapped her hand up. "I'll be fine in an hour."
"Drink some orange juice, Buffy." Giles called out. "You've lost quite a bit of blood in the last few minutes."
Buffy grabbed a bottle of juice and a bag of blood out of the fridge. Joyce watched as Buffy poured the blood into the mug and popped it in the microwave.
"How domestic of you." Joyce said.
"Mom, it's okay to be freaked. My guy drinks blood, but he eats regular food too. You'll get used to it." Buffy rubbed her shoulder for a second and popped the kettle on. "Get yourself a drink and go sit at the table. I'll finish this up."
Buffy hummed as she set up a tray with little snacks. She refused to look at the uncomfortable trio at the kitchen table. She filled a tea ball with Giles favorite and popped it in the smallest pot before adding the water. She stood back and looked at the tray. She grinned at the oddity of the moment.
"Spike, would you come here and carry this over. It's a bit much for me at the moment." Buffy looked at him and smiled brightly.
He came over and grabbed the tray up. "He hurts you, tries to kill me, and we are feeding him?"
"I know you'd rather be feeding off him right now, but he's important to me. Be nice now, and I'll be extra nice later." She whispered to him.
"Fine, but it irks." He turned and carried the tray to the table. Buffy followed with his mug and her bottle of juice.
"Buffy," Giles glared at them. "Have you entered into another ill advised relationship with a vampire?"
"Sounds like a bleedin' Anne Rice novel." Spike snarled as he set the tray down and sat back in his chair.
"Really does." Buffy nodded. Taking the chair next to him. "Don't you think you should have started with that rather than trying to kill my mate?"
Giles just leveled his best glare in her direction.
"Why do you keep saying mate?" Joyce asked. "It makes you sound like animals."
"It's the proper term." Giles snarled. "She's tied herself to a thing."
"Hey," Buffy stood and glared at him. "You were fine with taking his help. Fine letting him risk his existence for us."
"This is a tad bit more than accepting his help. You are bound to him for the rest of your life. Do you understand that?" Giles pushed back from the table and crossed his arms across his chest.
"Did you think about what would happen to me if that stake had done what you intended?" Buffy slapped her hands down on the table, winced, and leaned forward.
Giles blanched and he covered his mouth with a shaking hand.
"What would happen?" Joyce asked.
"I would die, and Buffy would be in horrible pain until she corked it, too." Spike said. "She's not a vampire, so it won't be fast or easy."
"Do vampires and humans do this often?" Joyce asked. "I mean how do you know that's what will happen?"
"Vampires don't mate with humans. We turn some, but most are food." Spike shrugged one shoulder. "The mating took though, I can feel it. The consequences are part of it."
"You let him talk you into this." Giles shook his head. "The Council could very well turn on you, and that's just one possibility. The demon population will be no happier about this."
"Giles, I forced him to do it. I started the binding without his consent. I chose this for us." Buffy smiled at Spike and held out her hand. "I've been dead once. My time is limited are you going to begrudge me this little bit of joy?"
"You've been dead?" Joyce stood up and stared at Buffy in shock.
"Yeah, Mom. It's a long story. Can we cover it later?" Buffy looked up at her pleadingly.
Joyce nodded and sank down to her seat. She stared at her daughter's hand entwined with the vampire's, and started to shake.
"Mom, I'm fine. Okay? Please." Buffy pulled her hand free of Spike's and she reached across the table for her mother's. "There's a lot of stuff to tell you, but later."
Giles watched the two women and glanced at the vampire for a moment. This creature had tied his life to a mortal with no hope of more than a handful of years. It made no sense.
"If you try to turn her…"
"I'm dust. I know that." Spike glared at Giles. "Her last heartbeat, will be the last sound I hear before I dust."
"Then why? If she started the ritual, you could have said no. You could have stopped this nonsense."
"I would rather have a handful of minutes with her than eternity alone. I would have happily stayed by her side as a friend, but she wanted more. I won't deny her. I love her. Is that really beyond your ability to understand?" Spike stroked Buffy's hair as Joyce focused on him.
Giles looked at Buffy and sadly shook his head. "No, I can understand. I love her like a daughter. I wish you weren't bound to each other. There are so many things we can't anticipate. I suppose some part of me wanted Buffy to have a normal courtship. I didn't object to you before, so I won't now." He slumped in his chair.
"Okay. My daughter is a superhero, with a vampire mate. There is some super evil vampire hunting us all, and I have to stay here until the two of you kill him." Joyce said in an odd choked voice drawing all their eyes.
"In a nutshell." Spike said with a smile. "There are a passle of annoying teenagers underfoot most of the time. It takes some adapting to."
"As soon as we are out of danger you two will be doing all the human things as well. Mixed marriages need to honor both traditions."
Buffy looked at Spike and smiled. "No Billy Idol at the reception."