"Evil Dead, you're looking mean and twice as ready… as anybody else here for about five cups of coffee." Xander paused halfway through his sentence to yawn, and Spike smirked.

"How about you just drink some, and I'll-" a glare from Buffy interrupted him. "-watch." He finished, and sank into an armchair, still grinning. Giles did his usual cleaning of the spectacles, and faced the assembled group.

"I've brought you all here, because…"

"You're one of those early-to-rise jokers…" murmured Buffy amiably, under her breath.

"… there's a problem arising, one that I'd hoped had been prevented, but it seems to be, pardon the cliché, rasing its ugly and equally unwanted head here in Sunnydale."

"And this merits losing five hours of beauty sleep because ?…" the slayer let the sentence hang, and Giles frowned, but not at her.

"Because apparently the K'bbeth creature dispatched by Spike last night was not a lone traveler, as I'd hoped, but was a member-"

"Card-carrying." Spike remarked, flashing a small square of laminated paper.

"-of a certain secret society dedicated to…" he paused, and wiped his spectacles again. "Something terribly unpleasant, I feel sure." He finished lamely. Buffy waited a few beats until she was certain Giles had nothing left to say, and let out a noise of unparalled disgust.

"Are you okay ?"Willow said, glancing over at her face, but Buffy ignored that.

"So... you're not sure, but just maybe some kind of demon is up to something nasty ?"she said calmly, internally tensing to spring. Giles nodded, not yet seeing the wave of sarcasm that was about to blindside him. Spike saw the storm coming, and raised what umbrella he could.

"Uh, Buffy." he interjected, raising a hand. "The card. It's got, uh, this symbol on it, same thing as the covers of the books Giles doesn't let Anya sell to anyone. Get it ?" This statement semed to register deep within Buffy-logic, and she gave Giles her best 'ready for an explanation' face. He sighed again, in a patently British manner.

"I'm afraid I have nothing to tell you right now. Except that from now on, we should be exercising particular caution."

"As opposed to our usual manner of patrolling blindfolded." Xander grinned weakly. Spike rolled his eyes, but refrained from ripping into his usual stream of derogatory remarks. Give the kid a night off. I'm not on my game anyhow, he thought, watching clouds cross Buffy's pretty face. "Hey, if we're all done here, An and I can take a sweep of the graveyard before we head in-" and a pointed stare from Buffy stopped him in his tracks. There was an uncomfortable silence, and Xander looked at the floor.

"I can do it." Buffy said quietly. "It's my job."

"We just thought you might want to-" Anya began cheerily, but Xander touched her arm with three fingers.

"She's got it." he said.

"I've got it." Buffy echoed. "And I'm tired of this."

"Tired... ?"

"Of being treated like I'm made of glass. Being treated like I just came back from the dead. I mean, I did, but- sometimes I'd like to forget that, okay ? And I know," she looked ashamed for a moment, "I know you're only doing it because you care. But it's like people still trying to give you your meals in bed after you get well, you know ?" Willow smiled at her.

"Hey. A big 'get your own dinner' from us." the blonde grinned back at her.

"Something like that. I'm gonna swing by on my way home anyway. Everything's locked up, Dawn'll be fine... so I'll see you all tomorrow."

"Same time, same channel." Xander quipped.

"Same time, and I'll find a new favorite show." she shot back, laughing. She shut the door behind her, hair swinging in a slight breeze. Giles stood by the window, watching her cross the streets with more energy than she'd shown in days. Glad she finally got that off her chest. I've been watching her take those kinds of suggestions for weeks, letting them roll off. It's better if she just gets back out there and does what she has to do. Something smooth and black rustled in the doorway. Spike looked at the fatherly man, and back out the window at Buffy.

The four joking twenty-somethings back in the shop didn't see the glance that passed between the two men, but they wouldn't have understood anyhow. Spike nodded, and twisted the doorknob before Giles could even get out the next sentence. The same sentence he'd repeated to him every night since Buffy had been strong enough to patrol again.

"Protect her." Giles said, and it wasn't a question.