Part 8
Giles was at her mother´s old desk reading through some books when they came in. He quirked an eyebrow at both of them in question, but then shook his head not wanting to know after all as he took in both of their flushed, and embarrassed, happy expressions. It was clear that they were working out their differences. And this time he really couldn´t object because Spike was human, and Buffy was old enough to make her own decisions regarding men. Still he had hoped that Buffy would find a nice normal guy, and Spike still didn´t qualify as that in his book.
"Sorry to be so long, Giles. Will and I had a bunch of things to talk about," Buffy told him trying to act like nothing had happened besides talking on the back porch. By Giles questioning looks she could see she wasn´t fooling him a bit and knew she was going to get a lecture eventually about it.
"I see. And I see you two worked things out," he asked cautiously as he very deliberately put a bookmark in the book.
"Sort of," Buffy said, fidgeting almost as bad as Spike was behind her , knowing they were caught and neither wanting to really wanting to go into real detail with the older man who was like a father to both of them.
Clearing his throat, and avoiding the looks Giles was shooting him, Spike piped up, "yeah, and for once we actually talked, and didn´t have a bloody fight. That´s a real first for us," Spike said proudly. "I told her I want to take this whole human thing slow, and easy like. Let everyone get used to me being this way now. When we get to your place, I want to give Peaches a call, so I can get the rest of my life back."
"You could use the phone here," Giles suggested, looking towards the phone on the desk. "Do you have the number?"
His suggestion threw Spike off for a minute, then he recovered. "The old one. But Dru said he had moved, and was living in this big hotel. I was hoping that one of you had it," Spike said, looking back and forth between the two.
"I got it," Buffy announced, and Spike cocked his head in question. "He gave me one of his new business cards while he was here—just in case I did need to get in touch with him," she explained as she went over to her purse, and found the card, then handed it to Spike who took it carefully. "Call him, he should be in unless he´s out on a case."
He kept looking down at the card with it´s strange abstractly Angel logo which he was sure Angel hadn´t drawn, amused that his ex sire did have business cards to give out that even bagged that the agency 'helped the helpless´. "Okay. The sooner I do this…I guess the better. I really don´t want to go to LA unless I have to," he told them getting nervous about talking to his grandsire.
"Buffy and I will leave you be while you make your call. Come Buffy," Giles told her and they disappeared towards the kitchen with her lingering long enough to mouth 'good luck´ before she finally left.
Bracing himself Spike dialed the number on the card. It rang several times before the answering machine picked it up. Thinking that Angel was probably out, Spike began to leave a message for him, "Angel, it´s me, Will. Right now I´m over at the Slayer´s house, but I will be staying with Giles for a while so you can reach me there, or at the Magic Box in the morning. Something unexpected happened today—I´m now a bleeding human—no more vamp. But that´s not why I´m calling. I need you to give back my bloody papers that I gave you over at the mansion. You know which ones. Seems I´m going to be needing them after all, plus some cash, big cash right away to help Buffy out 'cause of her Dad causing her problems. Call me as soon as you get this message. I need to get to work on this soon as possible," he added then hung up.
Spike was heading for the kitchen when the phone rang, but before he could turn around. and answer it someone picked it up in the kitchen. He could tell by the voice it was Giles. He went in, and sat down at the counter, and watched as Buffy was doing too. She held a finger up to her lips, and he nodded in understanding. With their enhanced hearing they could hear both parts of the conversation, especially since Angel was ranting very loudly on his end.
"Yes, Angel, it´s not a joke. Spike is human now. Seems he wanted his soul back, and he got kind of a bonus," Giles explained holding the phone back from his ear as Angel exploded in pure shock. "Yes, he volunteered. He asked Willow, and I to perform the ritual. Yes, I know why, but I believe his reasons were personal, and you should ask him. Actually, he still has all his abilities as far as we can tell so he´s just like Buffy. I know there has never been a male slayer, but it´s quite clear he is one. He´s here because he, and Buffy went on patrol together, and I was watching Dawn. Ohh, that´s right, you don´t know Dawn, Buffy´s sister. Yes, she´s okay. They´re both okay. No, you don´t have to make a special trip down here. All Spike said he wanted was some sort of papers you had. He explained about the Wellingtons to us….I see, we´ll I suppose we will see you when you get here. Goodbye, Angel," Giles said with a heavy sigh, and hung up the phone coming over and sitting heavily down on one of the kitchen stools.
"He´s coming here?" Buffy questioned, not looking thrilled at the prospect.
"By dawn he said, and he´ll bring what you wanted, Spike. He´s understandably upset, and shocked by all of this," Giles relayed, looking at both of them, especially the ex vampire who was frowning and not happy about this turn events at all because a visit from Angel usually upset everyone, and they had enough problems to deal with without his sire adding to the mix.
"Great. I really was hoping to avoid talking to him in person, but I guess I have to," Spike sighed. "So he´ll be here around dawn which is what five—six hours away," he added looking at the clock on the kitchen wall.
"Well I had planned on going back to the apartment, but in view of this. It looks like we need to crash here tonight, Buffy, if you don´t mind?" Giles asked, not wanting to impose but not seeing any other choice since Angel had insisted on coming here instead of Giles´ apartment and rather than having to drive back and forth they might as well stay put for the night and try to at least get some sleep.
"No problem. If Angel is going to show up on my doorstep, I really don´t want to deal with him alone. Giles, you can sleep in mom´s room, and Spike you can have the couch in the living room. I think we all need to get some sleep before he shows up," Buffy said getting up, not really thrilled by this turn of events, but she see Angel wanting to make sure all of this was true and if there were papers Spike had to deal with—yeah, she could handle everyone under foot—she hoped.
"Thanks, Buffy, I appreciate this. I never expected the poof to show up, and muck things up. I was going to get out of your hair, and try to get myself settled. Since that isn´t going to happen, Giles, let me see your keys so I can get a change of clothes out of the car, and I can take a shower. Still got vamp dust on me from earlier and it itches," he said, and Buffy giggled.
"Now you know what I have been going through. I take it, it never bothered you before?" she asked.
"Nope, didn´t even notice it living in a crypt and all," he grinned back, standing up while Giles handed him the car keys.
"While you´re getting your stuff, I´ll get some covers and pillows for you," she said walking with him to the front door.
"Be back in a sec´," he told her, and went out to the car, and got into the trunk to find his clothes, including a set of boxers which he normally didn´t wear. Unfortunately, they were the 'Taz´ ones that Harmony had gotten him because she said the character reminded her of him. He really didn´t want to sleep in his jeans so they would have to do. He really was going to have to break down, and buy more clothes. Maybe he could talk Buffy into going with him since she had an opinion of what he should wear anyway. Maybe he´d let her get herself some clothes too. Pleased with that idea he closed the trunk, and went on back to the house never seeing the bumpy, robed minion lurking in the bushes. He locked the door behind him, and then wandered through the house to see where everyone was.
He noticed that Buffy had left a pile of bedding on the couch. Not seeing anyone downstairs, he went up to return Giles´ keys to him. Passing the bathroom he heard water running so he knew his shower would have to wait. He knocked on Joyce´s door, and got a muffled 'come in´ from Giles.
"Here´s your keys back. Sorry about Angel coming here. I never expected that," Spike apologized.
"I know, but he insisted. He said he wanted to see this for himself, and some of the papers do require your signature for them to be transferred. Hopefully, he will not be here long. Everytime he comes Buffy tends to be rather depressed for days afterward," Giles sighed from his position on the bed reading.
"I know. I´ve seen it. I remember how she was when she came back from LA that one time after Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I was still a captive audience, and she was taking out her anger on me. Then after she went to deal with the other slayer I definitely stayed out of her way for a while. I even felt bad for soldier boy because he really had to deal with her," Spike told him and saw the Watcher smile.
"So you, and Buffy are getting along better?" Giles asked, quirking a eyebrow at the man leaning against the door frame, looking decidedly uncomfortable with the question posed him.
"Better. At least we are talking, and not yelling at one another—that´s a bloody improvement. I will tell you flat out, Watcher, my feelings for Buffy have not changed. I do love her, and I would do anything she ask of me to do, and I will protect her, and Dawn with my life. I´ve been given a bloody second chance, and I´m not going to blow it. Nor am I going to pressure her into doing anything. She´s got enough problems. I know she doesn´t love me, but I´ve known that for awhile. Just being able to be around, and help however I can is enough," Spike told him.
"I know you care about her. I haven´t been that blind to the way things were with you, and I figured it was because of Buffy you were trying to change. It was the fact that you were a vampire that had me concerned, and worrying whether you were playing some sort of sick game with her, and she was going to end up hurt again like she did with Angel," the older man told him bluntly, letting just a bit of the Ripper surface in his expression.
"Yeah, I figured that with the lot of you. I know I always will be in Angel´s shadow no matter whatever I bloody do, been that way my entire unlife. That´s why I´ve been trying, so hard to prove myself, to show that being good is a matter of choice, not a bloody soul, but I couldn´t get anyone to listen to me or believe me, so that´s why I had the soddin´ spell worked. Though I am not in the least bit upset at how things worked out. It gives me more hope than I did before. At least I´m not a bloody pansy, and I can keep up with her," Spike said with a deep sigh. "But this bit with her dad does have me worried, especially since he has less of a clue than Joyce did about what is really happening. If the girls don´t want to leave here then I am going to do everything in my power to make sure they stay."
"We both will. The only thing that has me really worried is Glory, and what her next move is going to be. So far we have had a break these last couple of weeks, but I fear this is just the lull before the storm," Giles confided in him, taking off his glasses.
"Yeah, me too, but none of my sources have come up with anything either," he relayed. "What I am hoping is that we can get the girls away from here before anything bad comes down. Here in town we´re all bloody vulnerable, and if I understand all this bit about the "Key" it´s time sensitive. If we keep everyone out of reach long enough maybe the hell bitch will be too weak to do whatever it is she´s wanting to do," Spike suggested hopefully.
"That is a commendable plan, but that leaves the town without protection from the Hellmouth, and Glory herself, and leaving doesn´t do anything about the source of the problem, or those blasted knights that also want to destroy "the Key" so it can´t be used."
"Forgot about those blokes. At least now I can fight them. At least I hope so. I can fight with Buffy so it must mean the soddin´ chip doesn´t work anymore. Anyway, there´s got to be way to keep those two safe. So far the Slayer is holding up, but she can only take so much," Spike added worriedly, having seen close up how much weigh she had lost since her mom´s death, and how badly she had been sleeping by the dark circles under her eyes.
Giles nodded, thinking the same thing himself. "It sounds like Buffy´s out of the shower. You best be getting some rest before Angel shows up," he suggested, putting his book and glasses on the nightstand meaningfully.
Spike got the hint, and stood up. "Yeah, I´m going to try. 'Night, Watcher," he said leaving and then shutting the door before he headed for the bathroom.
The bathroom was empty, and Buffy´s door was closed, so he figured she had already gone to bed. He went in, and laid his clothes on the counter, seeing himself reflected back in the vanity mirror. He hadn´t really dared to look a himself in all the mirrors he had been by since his change. He had been half afraid to see what he looked like now. It had been so long since he had seen himself, and the man reflecting back was not whom he remembered. The stark bleach blonde hair didn´t look too bad after all, but it was 'going´. He had for almost twenty years now—yeah, he was really due for a change. That wasn´t what he was now, what he wanted the world to see of this new man he had become, was becoming. He still had the scar from when he had fallen off his horse back when he was sixteen. But he was so ghastly pale, and forget the dark circles under his eyes, and the sharp features. So this what people had seen? This was what he had looked like as a vampire? No wonder people had been bloody afraid of him. Hell, he was afraid of the man in the mirror. It was such a contrast from the shy, sensitive aristocrat he had been years ago. There was no innocence in those eyes now that stared so hard, and cold back at him. No wonder Buffy had been afraid of loving him—he was far from lovable. He had cultivated a dangerous air for himself, and he had succeeded, almost too well.
He quickly stripped, and looked over his body seeing the faint marks of scars all over himself. The one that he had gotten from the plastic stake that Riley had used on him was still visible above his heart as an angry red circle, and the teeth marks of the Ghora´s bite were beginning to fade. He was surprised that they were still visible at all given how his vampire body had used to heal in the past. In all he did have better muscles, and body tone than he had had previously as a human, which was a plus. Over all he wasn´t too unhappy with how he looked, but the hair was very definitely going. And noticing the five o´clock shadow, he´d have to start shaving again at least that was easier than it had been.
Quickly he peed, then got into the shower after carefully adjusting it. He had been a bit indifferent to what the temperature of anything was before. He was still having a hard time getting used to a living, not undead body. He sincerely hoped that this was not a bloody dream, and he would wake up same as before because he was enjoying being alive, appreciating the gift more than he had the first time around. One of things he was going to do in the next couple of days was go get a through physical to get himself really checked out. Maybe Giles knew someone that wouldn´t ask too many questions, or was used to dealing with strange Hellmouthy things.
The water felt wonderful, and he used some of Buffy´s shampoo that was so clearly a part of her scent. He felt so different now, like all of his past existence was nothing, but a very bad dream. He was more acutely aware of every sensation, and was feeling like he was finally awake. He had once told her that being turned had made him feel more alive—he had lied, he had been more aware of somethings, but he had lost so much more that he hadn´t realized until now what they were.
He finished his shower, and got dressed. At the last minute he remembered to hang his towels up as he didn´t want to get yelled at from Buffy about being a slob. Not sure what to do with his dirty clothes he bundled them up, and took them with him downstairs. Spike was surprised to see that his bed on the couch was already made up for him when he went into the living room. Evidently, Buffy had done it while he was upstairs. He grinned a little at her being nice to him. Pushing his senses he could tell she was in her room, and her heartbeat had slowed, so she was finally asleep as was Dawn and even Giles. He´d thank her in the morning.
Sitting down, he found himself yawning, so he crawled under the covers, and within minutes he was asleep while the silent figure outside kept a watchful vigil over the sleeping household.
End Part 8
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