Set during S7 'Empty Places'. Giles is fighting for control at this point and I just don't see him giving it to Faith so easily.

...

"Y-you can't just take them out to a club, that's irresponsible", Giles argued, standing with Faith and Dawn in the hall. Spike just left with Andrew and with Buffy still gone, the Potentials were getting restless. "This is not a solution."

"They need to relax, Watcher-man", Faith whined, looking at Dawn for support. "I'll be with them all the time, not like there'll be trouble anyway."

"Except that you're a wanted criminal and there are still some policemen in this town." Giles looked at her sternly. "Faith, you are not taking them out, and this is final. If you want to risk getting caught right before the war, go ahead. But you are not putting them in danger."

"Ugh, fine", the Slayer rolled her eyes. "Then lend me some dough and I'll bring the party to them." Giles raised his eyebrows, but Dawn was already squealing with joy.

"Yes, let's do it! So we can all have some fun." She looked with the Watcher with hopeful eyes. "A-and it would be safe that way, right? No one leaves the house, and Buffy will be back soon." Giles sighed heavily and she jumped up with excitement. "Awesome! I'll go change."

...

Spike came back to the house royally pissed, dragging Andrew by the neck. He burst through the door and saw a wild dance show-off in the living room; loud music, furniture pushed against the walls, make-shift decorations made from Christmas lights and a bunch of teenagers having a blast. He furrowed his brow.

"Why are you here?" Giles approached him from the kitchen, a red solo cup in hand. Spike let go of Andrew, the boy hunching over, a picture of misery.

"Wouldn't want to miss the fun", he snarked, wiping his hand on his pants. "The whelp can't handle the bike, hurled for miles before falling. Couldn't make it if I wanted to." He held the Watcher's hard gaze easily. "You babysit him."

Before Giles could respond, the front door opened again. "Hi, guys." Buffy entered stiffly, visibly hurt, then stood still for a moment, looking around with disbelief. "What is going on here?"

"What happened?", Spike asked worriedly, but Giles quickly went to her side, speaking over him.

"Faith had an, um, original idea on how to lift the girls' spirits", he explained.

"So you threw a party", Buffy spoke slowly, examining the crowd. "With beer."

"Only the adults are drinking, and I'm paying attention", Giles assured her, then carried on in a softer voice. "Buffy, she wanted to take them to the Bronze first. I managed to convince her that it was, uh, unwise."

"'Unwise' doesn't start to cover it." She hung her jacket by the door, then looked dubiously at Spike. "Molly wanted a dance?"

Giles was still speaking, not letting the vampire a word in. "Spike was, um, going on a recon mission to-" He stopped seeing her anger rising, then resumed in a careful tone. "...help us find out more about our enemy." Her eyes were still shooting daggers. "A real mission, Buffy. And he needs to be going."

"He stays." She shot him a death glare. "I met Caleb today and look how fun it was." The bruises were all over her arms and face. "I can't protect us if he decides to come over for seconds, Giles. Not tonight."

It was the end of the discussion. "Thanks for keeping them in, though. Maybe it'll do them good to have some fun for a change." She then turned to Spike, his gaze darting over her injuries. "Don't get drunk." She went upstairs to shower the blood off herself.

...

The party wasn't quieting down, the girls bursting with energy and sneaking up sips of stolen beers. Spike went to the back porch, booze in hand, and took in the cool evening breeze as he lighted a cigarette. Buffy looked like shit and was in a mood to match, raising his concern about their enemy. The house seemed safe though and he couldn't sense anything dark lurking around.

The doors opened behind him and he bit down a groan as Xander approached with a case of empty beer bottles, already inebriated.

"Spike", he addressed him, stashing the case near the garbage bins. "How awful to see you here."

"Go inside then", the vampire replied, not looking in his direction. The boy finished up his own beer and added the bottle to the rest.

"Not if it annoys you to have me here", he replied, leaning against the railing opposite from him. "Though now that you got into Buffy's pants again, I guess you don't have to pretend to give a crap about the rest of us anymore."

Spike should have ignored him, but it's not like he was downing lemonade for hours already.

"I was pretending real hard, slaying with you when I thought she was dead", he snarled. "Wake up, Harris, I'm in this fight. I care. Just not for your insults."

Xander stood quiet for a second, thinking of a comeback. "You'll never be a good guy anyway."

You'll never get into Buffy's pants. "Ever wonder why you hate me so much, boy?"

"'Cause you're a dangerous murderer?"

Yeah, right. "So is Anya. Willow. Angel... and Buffy. Even Rupert if you think about it."

Xander scoffed, his own friends' blindspot shading his vision. "None of them are as obnoxious and two-faced as you. Maybe except Deadboy."

He recognized the nickname. "It's a vampire thing then? Killed your dog or something?"

"They killed my best friend." His voice got strong when he said it, the memory of Jesse still vivid in his head. "Not like I didn't lose a lot more people since then."

"So it's a vendetta?" Not like the boy could ever aid Wood against him, but it was an interesting idea.

"Yeah, you could say that." He scratched his shoes against the wooden steps. "Also, you're an instrument of evil and your demon existence is unnatural and an offense to humanity."

Spike chuckled at the hypocrisy of his prejudice, sensing a deeper issue. He flipped the cigarette butt far off the porch.

"You hate listening to her orders, don't you?" He didn't have to look to know he tensed. "You'd want to be the one in command. So you settle for hating her boyfriends."

Xander gritted his teeth, bend on not letting Spike get to him with his mind games. "I liked the human ones", he replied.

"Well, she didn't."

...

Buffy's foul mood was winding down as she danced with Dawn, ate some snacks and talked to her friends. She was still sore, but managed to finally get some actual hot water in the shower and the whole party idea was winning her over. The Potentials were having fun, no one was talking about their imminent death, and even Giles was loosening up, though it was awkward to look at. She went around searching for Spike and figured he would be smoking outside.

She found him in the backyard with Xander. If that wasn't bad enough, her friend was trying to hit him, swaying from side to side with drunken resolve. Spike was easily dodging all of his attacks, a bottle of whisky in hand, laughing like a maniac. She darted forward and stood between them, tired and pissed again.

"Just stop this", she pleaded quietly. Xander was visibly intoxicated but tried to stand still.

"He taunted me, Buff", he argued. She sighed heavily.

"Spike, go inside." The vampire obeyed, missing her shoulder by a quarter of an inch when he went past her. She went up to Xander, straightening his shirt.

"Please, just drop it", she said calmly, then led him back to the empty porch. "Just... give it a break."

"Not before I hear you say it, Buffy", he blurted suddenly, moving away from her. "The truth. Or the lies you've been telling yourself, same diff."

"What lies?", she asked, not really interested in his drunken rant. "What is this really about?" Having witnessed the pathetic standoff, she just wanted to crawl inside her bed, curl into a ball and go to sleep.

"Why do you let those monsters touch you?"

Well. After almost getting killed at her workplace, this was now the second highlight of her day.

"...What?!"

"I'll admit, demon magnet right here, sure. But I didn't mean for that to happen." He was on a roll now and she listened, stunned. "I wouldn't go for a monster just because it's a monster. But you..." He pointed at her for emphasis. "You have a thing for them, don't you? You seek them out. You're drawn to the darkness and danger and evil, and I just wanna know why you passed on all the good guys to be with murderers like some kind of a demon whore-"

He stopped himself before she did, an ounce of sobriety making him realize what words just escaped his mouth. He looked away, suddenly ashamed, and didn't continue.

Buffy thought she should be mad right now. Then she wondered if it was even worth it since it was likely he wouldn't remember it in the morning.

"Are you in love in me, Xander?" she asked slowly, looking at him until he glanced back.

"Wha..? No. I'm not, Buff. I'm long over that phase."

She smiled without a hint of joy. "Then you are out of excuses to speak to me that way."

He grabbed the railing behind him, shaking the alcohol out of his head. "I'm sorry, Buffy, I just-"

"For calling me a 'demon whore'"? She cut him off and he looked down guiltily. "'Sorry' doesn't even cut it. But I don't care, not right now. So just stop with the older brother act", she huffed. "Go inside, have a beer, have sex with Anya in Spike's bed again, whatever. Just do something that makes you happy for once, 'cause God knows we don't have a lot of time for that."

She stared him down until he went inside, shoulders slumped, then walked around the house to the front door to avoid him. Spike was hiding in the shadows, covered in a cloud of smoke, and she wasn't a tiny bit surprised.

"Eavesdropping much?"

He straightened himself, the bottle of whisky still in hand. "I'm guarding the house. It's a completely different vibe."

"If you say so." She leaned on the railing, slouching from exhaustion, and he moved to her side.

"You handled it well", he said after a moment. "Poor execution on the slapping part, though."

She chuckled weakly. "Maybe I'm getting older. Those two sips of beer should take over anytime now."

He handed her the bottle, but she shook her head.

"Can't. Lack that vampire constitution."

He shrugged and took a sip himself. "Half of it is practice anyway."

The front door opened widely and a familiar couple ran down the porch, giggling and holding hands. They turned around when they realized they were being watched and Buffy just waved her hand.

"Don't go too far", she called out to Willow. "Evil afoot."

Kennedy wrapped a hand around her girl's shoulder and flashed them a wide grin.

"Don't worry, boss. We'll use protection... spells." Laughing, they hurried off into the night.

Spike smirked, linking their fingers. "Care to join them?"

"God, no." She was tired, annoyed, and everything hurt. "I wanna go back inside and play chaperone while Faith takes her top off."

He stood the bottle on the floor, then pushed her up by the hand so he could hold her. She leaned on him heavily as he comforted her, mindful of the recent bruises.

"Leave them be", he whispered in her ear. "Just wake them up at five for a hell-bent training tomorrow."

...

Dawn walked out of the house, deafened by the roaring music, and ran straight into her sister kissing Spike on the porch. They didn't even have the decency to move away from the door.

"You guys are disgusting", she laughed and they pulled apart, looking at her.

"Right", Spike said without a shred of embarrassment. "And you had more than a beer."

Dawn scoffed as she met Buffy's shocked eyes.

"Did not! And I'm eighteen now, just so you know. I can totally have a beer if I want to. Besides", she raised a soda can for them to see. "I'm the coke girl today."

Spike cocked his head, still holding Buffy closely. "I might be smelling some whisky underneath-"

"That's it", Buffy moved from him to address Dawn and the girl panicked.

"I didn't have any, I swear! Try it!" She put it out towards her. Her sister stood still, wavering which one of them was more likely to lie, then gave up.

"Just make it your last today, okay?", she asked, trying to keep her voice stern. Dawn left the can on the porch and went back inside, save for now.

Buffy turned back to Spike, grabbing the lapel of his coat.

"That five o'clock session is looking really tempting now."

He touched his forehead to hers, looking straight at her. "They will hate you so much for this."

"They better. It makes for good workout fuel."