AN: Before anyone comments, I'm fully aware that I rip off heavily in this chapter

Before anyone comments, I'm fully aware that I rip off heavily in this chapter. So major spoilers for 'Intervention'. I hate to say that this chapter is half a rewrite of that episode. But it is, and I couldn't really help it. A lot of the concepts in this chapter don't belong to me, and aren't my ideas. But after you read this, you'll know why I couldn't just say 'insert events in 'Intervention' here'. There are some very important differences, and I started writing this chapter before I actually saw the ep, so just don't sue me.

Chapter 5: Intervention

Spike was headed straight back to his crypt after leaving the Magic Box. His mind was in turmoil after everything he had heard about himself. Not a proper vampire any more? He should have tried a little harder to kill himself. He didn't even know what he was any more. He knew he was still a demon, he could feel it, but everything Giles had said made sense. Not wanting to feed on humans, being able to resist sunlight and crosses. He really was the definition of pathetic.

If the other vampires in Sunnydale heard of this he'd be in trouble.

They'd hated him when he'd turned against them, but they'd still been a little afraid of him. He still had Master Vampires status. Now he was going to be the laughing stock of the entire demon population. What a joke.

Spike was trying to rage at himself for letting things go this far, for letting himself slide so much that Buffy had changed his nature as effectively as Dru had when she originally turned him. But it was so hard to hate himself for it when part of him was reveling in his freedom from vampire restrictions. He hated himself, but he was elated.

He didn't know how to be anything else but a vampire. He'd been a vampire for 120 years, and before that he's been a loser. Spike really had no idea what he was going to do with himself. Sure, he could continue on like he had been living for the past year, but that was what got him into this situation in the first place. What next, becoming fully human?

Spike shuddered. Human was definitely not in the books for him. Being human meant aging, and being human meant dying. Two things that Spike was happy to exist without. But being human also meant a possible chance with Buffy. Spike was willing to give up everything for just a chance with Buffy. If being human meant getting Buffy, then he was all for it.

There was just one problem with that scenario. He was still a demon. He wasn't human, he was just a freaky vampire hybrid or something. And Buffy was probably just as likely to reject him now as when he's been a proper vampire. Couldn't she see that he loved her so much that he actually changed his nature? His love for her was so strong that he had completely denied who he was. And still it wasn't enough.

Spike had been made to be evil. He'd been created. And he'd changed all that, just for her. He'd shamed the entire vampire population because he was in love with a Slayer. He had no excuse for it, and he'd become even more 'Buffy-whipped' that Angel had been. Of course, Angel had killed his sire for Buffy, something that Spike had yet to do. He'd been going to, he'd intended to, but what Buffy had said to him had hurt so much that something had held him back. The demon in him was what had saved Drusilla.

He hadn't fully changed by that stage. Trying to kill himself had been the defining moment.

Suddenly Spike's mind cleared, and he understood. It had been trying to kill himself, and not someone else, that had completed his transformation. Killing Dru wouldn't have done it. That would have been the result of obsession, and following the instincts of a vampire. It had been his desire to protect the world from himself, his desire to actually _protect_ of his own will and not because he wanted to show the Slayer he could be good.

Buffy hadn't changed him.

Spike could see it all now. Being in love with Buffy wasn't what had made him what he was. She had been his desire, his inspiration, but she hadn't done it.

He had.

Spike had gone against his own nature because he had wanted too. Buffy had been his catalyst, but he'd done the work. He had mastered himself, and he was now in complete control. And control always felt good.

Spike smiled to himself, and accepted.

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Buffy and Dawn walked home in silence. Buffy was lost in her own thoughts, and Dawn had one guess as to what, or who, she was thinking about. Dawn had seen how shocked her sister had been when Giles had explained Spike's… condition. Sure, Buffy had said that she trusted Spike, but finding out that he was totally not evil any more and it was because of her? It had been hard for her to take.

Buffy knew how mean she was to Spike sometimes. And finding out that he loved her so much as to turn against himself despite all that, it made her feel guilty. It had made her realise that she wasn't any better than him at all, even if he was a vampire. Even if he didn't have a soul.

Buffy realised then how much importance she'd placed on having a soul. Now that she really thought about it, a soul really wasn't all that important. In vampires it seemed to make a big difference, but she'd met so many demons of the non-hurting people variety that it was hard to see a line any more. And there were so many humans that had perfectly good souls that went around and did evil stuff anyway. How much effect did a soul really have on someone?

Buffy shook her head. There was no way she was going to work this out on her own. What she really needed was to talk to Spike. She wanted to know what he'd said to Giles, and he was the only one who could fill her in on exactly how this had happened. And she needed to know, more for her own piece of mind than any worries about Spike.

Buffy snapped back to reality when Dawn asked for keys. She took note of her surroundings and realised that they were standing on her front porch, and from the expression on Dawn's face, they had probably been there for at least a few minutes.

"Sorry Dawn," said Buffy as she unlocked the front door. "I guess I was a little preoccupied."

Dawn grinned. "Thinking about Spike? Hey, maybe now that he's not real evil any more you two can get together."

Buffy still wasn't really paying attention as she closed the front door. "Yeah… what? Hey, no! God, freak me out Dawn."

"Sorry Buffy. Couldn't resist. And I was only joking. I mean, Angel repeat? I'll pass."

Buffy winced at the reference to her past relationship with a vampire. Dawn was right, that was something she should never try again. Vampires and Slayers did not make a good match, at least not romantically. It was a one-way road to disaster. Not that she would even consider it with Spike of all people.

Somehow the thought sounded less convincing than it had previously. Buffy sighed and headed into the kitchen to make dinner. She sighed again as she realised how much cooking dinner had now become a habit for her. Despite everything, coming home to an empty house still seemed strange. Tears sprang to her eyes as she thought about her mother. It had only been a few weeks since she had died, but it seemed like forever and nothing at the same time.

Buffy didn't know how Dawn could cope. It was so hard, they'd now effectively lost both of their parents. They hadn't seen their father in about four years, and he'd never even bothered to try and check up on them. Buffy wondered if he even knew who Dawn was. Had the monks changed his memory to include Dawn like they'd changed hers and the scooby gang's? It would destroy Dawn if Hank Summers turned up with no memory of the girl who was supposed to be his daughter.

Suddenly Buffy found herself hoping that her father never showed up. Dawn had become more important to her than he was. She smiled over the irony of the situation. She now loved a sister that hadn't even existed a year ago more than her own father. Being the Slayer certainly had some unexpected side effects.

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After dinner Buffy and Dawn were washing up, and Dawn decided to broach the subject that she knew Buffy had been avoiding.

"So, Buffy, when are you going to start, like, training again?"

Buffy stammered a bit, trying to come up with a suitable answer that wasn't 'I'd prefer never'. "I… I don't… I was thinking I might, you know… take a break for a while." She said the last part in a rush, and Dawn wasn't really surprised by the answer.

"I understand Buffy, but you know Giles. He said you were doing so good, and he'll want you to start up again." Despite the way she tried to hide it, Dawn really was scared about Glory. She needed her sister to be able to protect her, and at the moment Buffy didn't really seem like she'd be able to handle it.

"I just don't know, Dawnie. I feel… I feel like being the Slayer is turning me into stone."

"Stone?"

Buffy sighed. "Yeah. I mean, I was never there for Riley…" Dawn snorted, showing her opinion of the guy, "not like I was for Angel." Dawn refrained form commenting. "I just… I feel like I can hardly say it any more."

"Say what?" asked Dawn.

"I love you Dawn, you know that right?" Buffy had a hint of panic in her voice.

"Sure. I love you too."

Buffy didn't feel that was enough, and she hugged her sister close to her. "I mean I really, really, love you."

"Getting weird."

"Sorry. But I think it's important that I tell you. Weird love is better than no love, right?"

----------

Spike was sitting on his couch, watching television. His mind was finally at peace, having come to terms with the events of the day. He figured he'd go out and patrol for a bit in about an hour or so. He didn't know if he wanted to run into Buffy or not that night. Maybe it was best to leave her alone for a little while. Let her make up her own mind about him before he said something to ruin it all.

The show Spike was watching finished, and Spike got up to flick channels and see what else was on. He really had to steal himself a remote on of these days. After about five minutes of channel surfing, Spike gave up. Everything on was crap that even he wouldn't watch.

"Maybe I'll start patrol early," said Spike to himself. "Less chance of running into the Slayer that way. Her and the Nibblet are probably still eating." He grabbed his duster and headed out of his crypt.

Wandering through the cemetery, Spike was surprised to find that he wasn't really thinking about anything. Most of the times on his patrol he was normally thinking about Buffy or Dawn or how pathetic he'd become that he was actually patrolling for the Slayer. Now, something was different.

It all felt natural.

It felt like this was what he was meant to be doing. He was doing it for himself now, and not for Buffy. He was even hoping that he wouldn't see her on this patrol. His head snapped up when he heard a twig snap somewhere in front of him. He recognised the figure standing in the shadows. No such luck then.

"Slayer…" he called, wondering why she was standing stock still in the gloom. "what are you doing over there? Don't you normally patrol later than this?"

Buffy walked forward towards Spike, and he instantly became defensive. There was something different about Buffy. His mind took in her clothes, but they weren't the only thing wrong. She was wearing a shirt and jacket Spike had seen on her before, but the skirt was new. And it didn't look like her normal taste, and neither did the shoes.

Suddenly Spike realised what was really putting him off. He couldn't hear her heart beat. Spike backed away and put up his arms defensively. "Get away from me," he snarled. Hoping to all hells that this Buffy person wasn't a vampire. He didn't get that feeling, but she didn't have a heartbeat.

"Spike?" asked Buffy, with a hurt look on her face. "what's wrong?"

"You're not Buffy." said Spike, still backing away. "What are you?"

Buffy smiled, just a little bit too friendly. "Oh, Spike. Are we running that program?" she paused for a second, and then a look of contrived shock and hurt appeared on her face. "Spike, what are you saying? Of course I'm Buffy. Here, let me show you." And she walked quickly to Spike and kissed his hard on the mouth.

Spike was so shocked that he didn't move for a few seconds, then he gathered his wits and pulled away. He'd just realised what was happening, and if Buffy saw this she was not going to be happy. And the trust would be out the window.

It looked like Spike's custom made order had finally been shipped.

-----------

Giles had decided to do a quick sweep of his own, as he wasn't sure that Buffy was up to resuming regular patrols again. He knew that he wasn't good enough to handle the big fights, but a couple of lone vampires shouldn't really pose a problem. He decided to do a run through the cemetery as newly risen vampires were always an easy kill.

Wandering among the graves he heard voices and he realised that he was nearing Spike's crypt. He crept along silently, wanting to get a look at what was going on. Peering around the corner of a large mausoleum, Giles got the shock of his life.

He saw Spike looking absolutely horrified, and backing away from Buffy with his hands raised defensively. Giles' first thought was that Buffy was finally going to stake Spike, and he was about to go out and find out what was going on when he saw Buffy rush Spike and push her lips to his. Seeing this, Giles was about to go out and stake Spike himself when he saw him pull from Buffy with an expression on his face that said he wanted to run away and hide.

Giles couldn't contain himself any longer, he had to know what was going on. He came out from behind the mausoleum and walked over to Buffy and Spike, both of whom sensed his presence and looked at him with completely different expressions. Buffy smiled at him a little too cheerfully, and Spike looked like he wanted to stake himself.

"All right," said Giles, "what's going on…" he was cut off as three vampires appeared from out of the bushes behind him. Spike and Buffy reacted immediately, and Giles was right behind them. Buffy kicked the first vampire to make it to them in the chest, sending it flying into a tree. Spike grabbed the next and began to beat the crap out of it, trying to work out his anger at his own stupidity, and Giles was left to deal with the third.

Buffy followed up on the vamp that she'd kicked, and quickly staked it, more interested in helping Spike than having fun with other vampires. "Spike, be careful!" she called, and tossed him her stake when she saw he didn't have a weapon. Spike quickly staked the vampire and turned just in time to see Giles deal with the one that he'd been fighting, ignoring Buffy's babbling about how she was so worried about him, and he might have been hurt.

Giles had evidently gotten the newbie of the group, but he wasn't a slayer or a master vampire, so he hadn't exactly had an easy time. As such, he'd hadn't seen Buffy fight, and he'd completely missed the way she'd gotten so worked up over Spike being in danger.

Spike told Buffy to stay where she was, and walked over to Giles. "You alright mate?" he asked.

Giles nodded, then caught sight of Buffy standing patiently and remembered what he'd seen. "Spike… what's going on?" Buffy hadn't moved, and Giles approached her curiously. "Buffy, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong Giles," said Buffy cheerfully. "I was just looking for Spike. I was worried about him. And there he is. And he's wearing a coat." Giles glanced at Spike, who shifted his feet uncomfortably.

"Spike, I think I need an explanation."

----------------

Giles sat on the couch and watched as Spike instructed Buffy to hide in the tunnel underneath his crypt and not come out unless he called her. Giles didn't know what to think, but he knew that that wasn't Buffy.

"I'm waiting, Spike."

Spike sighed, realising that he couldn't put it off any longer. "Right. Here's the deal, mate. That's not really Buffy, I guess you worked that out?" Giles nodded. "Well, do you remember when I first told Buffy that I loved her? It was about a week after that. I don't know if the scoobies told you about that robot girl?" Giles nodded again, thinking that he understood and getting a little disgusted. "She threw me threw a window… don't laugh. Then you guys tell me that she's a robot. So I'm thinking, hey, that's a good idea. I'll never get the real thing, maybe that's second best. So I go to this guy right, and make him make a Buffy robot. He didn't want to, by the way. Anyway, he said it'll take a couple of weeks. I waited, time passed, you know how it goes. And things have changed… it's different now. She… it… showed up tonight, and totally caught be by surprise. I'd completely forgotten."

He looked at Giles, his eyes piercing right through him. "And before you say anything, about how disgusting it is… I know. I don't want the damn thing. Bloody hell, Buffy would kill me. She'd run me out of the damn town, and I've just started to change. I don't want to go back. I couldn't stand it." Spike hung his head. "Please mate, don't tell them. You know what'll happen."

Giles was at a loss for words. When Spike had told him the Buffy downstairs was a robot, he'd immediately thought about how unbelievably disgusting it was. He'd been ready to stake Spike himself if he had said that he wanted to keep it, and…. Giles shuddered. But what Spike had said, and his body language, it totally threw him. Spike seemed genuinely remorseful. That was something new, and Giles didn't know what to say.

He was saved from having to say anything when the door burst open, and some of what Buffy referred to as Glory's 'scabby minions' walked in. He quickly got up and stood next to Spike, trying to work out a way to get out. There were too many of them to fight.

Spike raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Friends of yours, mate?" he asked Giles. One of the minions walked up and punched Giles in the gut. "Guess not," he said, and burst into action. He managed to make a couple of blows connect, but was distracted when he saw the Watcher go down. Two of the minions grabbed his arms and tied them behind his back, holding his so tightly that he couldn't move.

"Don't hurt him," said one, who Spike assumed to be the head guy. "Glory will want the key intact."

Spike struggled wildly, realising who the green guys worked for. "Key, who's a key? I'm not the…" he was cut off when a rolled up cloth was forced into his mouth. The guys on his arms forced him out the door, and he caught one last glimpse of the Watcher lying unconscious on the floor of the crypt.

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Buffy and Dawn finished cleaning up the kitchen, and Buffy headed upstairs to change clothes for patrol.

"Will you be alright if I go out on patrol for a couple of hours? I really haven't been out in a while."

"Sure," replied Dawn. It was nice that Buffy worried about her, but sometimes it got a bit cloying. And Buffy did need to get out and work out some of the frustration she was holding in. A couple of vampires would be perfect.

"Great," said Buffy. "Don't wait up for me, okay? Go to bed in time to actually get some sleep before you have to get up tomorrow." Dawn had a habit of trying to stay up all night and then being dead tired for school the next day. It reminded Buffy of herself in a way, but at least she had reasons for staying up till all hours.

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The slab of concrete that covered the tunnel underneath Spike's crypt was pushed aside and the Buffybot climbed out. "Spike?" it called. "Spike? I waited like you said. But then I missed you." It registered that Spike was no longer in the crypt, and headed out to find him.

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There was a knock on the door, and Willow opened it to see Buffy standing there, looking worried.

"Spike's gone."

"What?" asked Willow, confused.

"I came out of the tunnel and Spike was gone. I need to find him."

Willow moved out of the way to let Buffy inside. "Uh, Buffy… why do you need to find Spike?"

"Because he's Spike," said Buffy, as if she was confused that that wasn't reason enough.

Willow didn't know exactly what was going on, but she could tell there was something wrong with Buffy. She needed to keep her here, until she could talk to the expert on Slayers. "Buffy, why don't you wait for a minute, and I'll call Giles. He can… uh, he can help find Spike." Buffy nodded, happy with the reasoning, and Willow went to call Giles.

The phone rang just before she could pick it up.

"Hello?"

"Willow, thank god you're there," came the reply. "We've got a problem. Glory has Spike, and there's something else, but I'd rather not explain it on the phone. I need you to meet me at Buffy's house, I've already called Xander and I'm about to go out looking for Buffy. Dawn said she went on patrol…"

"Buffy's here with me, Giles. I'll fill her in and meet you at her house, okay?"

"Buffy's with you?" he sounded concerned.

"Yeah."

"Is she acting strange at all? Different, maybe?"

Willow glanced at Buffy, who was sitting on a chair and smiling around the room vacantly. "I bit… yeah, I guess. What's up?"

"Don't worry about it, just… don't let her out of your sight, okay?"

"Sure Giles, whatever you say. We'll meet you at Buffy's house, okay?" She hung up and turned to Buffy. "Okay, here's what we know. Glory took Spike, and we're meeting at your house to take care of it, alright?"

Buffy stood up so fast she knocked the chair over. "Glory will hurt Spike. We have to go now. We have to rescue him. If Spike gets hurt I won't be able to have sex with him."

Willow gaped at her. "What?" Giles had said she was acting strange, but this? This was against all laws of nature. "Spike? Buffy, you can't be serious."

"Of course I am," said Buffy. "I could draw you pictures if you want."

Willow shuddered. "No thanks," she muttered. "Look, whatever Buffy, let's just get over to your place, okay?" Buffy nodded and she and Willow headed out the door.

----------

Xander and Anya arrived at the Summers' house at the same time as Willow and Buffy. Dawn let them in, and they went into the living room to grab weapons.

"So where's Giles?" asked Xander. "He said he'd meet us here too, right? I mean, he said he was going to go look for Buffy, but if she's with you, where's he?"

Willow shrugged. "Don't know. I told him she was with me, and…" she trailed off, remembering Buffy was standing right next to her. "Uh, Buffy, I think you have some more weapons upstairs. Why don't you go grab those."

"And maybe change your clothes," added Anya. "Maybe something a little more… fighty."

Buffy nodded. "I can do that," she said cheerfully. She turned and left the room, her footsteps audible as she went up the stairs.

Dawn looked at Willow confused. "Okay, what was all that about?"

"Something's up with Buffy," said Willow, addressing her comments to the entire group. "Giles asked me if she was acting weird, and said not to let her out of my sight. She came to my dorm telling me Spike was missing, and when I told her Glory had him, she started going on about how we had to rescue him or she's never be able to have sex with him."

Xander and Anya looked shocked, but Dawn just snorted with laughter. "What? That so doesn't sound like Buffy." She fell into a chair laughing her ass off until she caught the serious look on Willow's face. "You're serious?" Willow nodded.

"So she thinks we're going to rescue Spike?" asked Xander.

"What are we going to do?" said Willow.

"Find him, keep him from talking, whatever it takes."

"What about Glory?" Anya tried not to look at Dawn, who was getting increasingly uncomfortable.

Xander shrugged. "Whatever we do, we're going to need Buffy's help."

"Intervention time again?" Willow shot a look at Xander as Dawn got off the couch and went into the kitchen, obviously uncomfortable with the topic.

He glanced after Dawn and then nodded. "Yeah, cause what we need right now is a sane Buffy."

"Whoa, Group hang time?" Buffy walked in, dressed warmly like she'd just been outside.

"That was quick," said Willow.

"Didn't seem like it to me," Buffy replied. "Boring as all hell. Nothing wanted to play."

Xander was confused by Buffy's reply, but they had to get this in the open. "Buffy, we need to talk."

She suddenly looked really worried. "What's wrong? Is Dawn okay?"

"Dawn's fine," said Willow.

Xander spoke up again, refusing to be put off. "Buffy, we're worried about you. The way you're acting, the thing's you've said…"

"It's weird. And wrong." Anya finished for him.

Buffy was completely bewildered by this stage. "There's wrong? What have I done?"

Willow tried to be a bit more diplomatic. "No Buffy, it's just that we're worried about you because we love you. And, well, we're a bit scared."

Anya jumped in again. "We're just kind of thrown by the you wanting to have sex with Spike thing."

Buffy gaped. "The who wanting to how with what?"

"Okay, that's denial, that usually comes before anger."

"I do not want to have sex with Spike!"

"Anger."

Xander spoke up, thinking that he needed to stop his girlfriend watching too much daytime television. "No one is blaming you. It's understandable. Spike is strong, mysterious, and sort of compact but well muscled."

Buffy was really getting confused now. "I do not want to have sex with Spike. But I'm starting to think that you do."

"Buffy, you told me you did," said Willow. "That was exactly what you said. We had to find Spike so you could have sex with him."

"Who's having sex with Spike?" came an indignant voice. "Spike's mine." The scooby gang stared as Buffy walked into the room. Or rather, as another Buffy walked into the room.

"Oh my god," said the Buffy who had been there for a while.

"And so say all of us," added Xander.

"Say, look at you," said the Buffybot, looking at the real Buffy. "You look just like me. We're very pretty."

"Hey, I know this," said Xander, remembering what had happened to him. "They're both Buffy."

Buffy glared at him. "No, she's a robot. She acts just like that girlfriend bot that Warren guy made. You guys couldn't tell me apart from a robot?"

"She's very well done," said Anya. The Buffybot smiled at her.

Xander finally worked it out. "Spike must have had her built so he could program her to…"

"Oh God." Buffy cut him off.

Willow was disgusted. "Imagine the things…"

"No. No imagining, any of you." Buffy was absolutely horrified that Spike would do this. After she trusted him and everything.

"People, friends of mine," said the Buffybot. "You're forgetting the most important thing. Glory has Spike, and she's going to hurt him."

The real Buffy looked around the rest of the group. "Glory has Spike?"

Xander looked a bit sheepish. "We were going to bring that up."

"We were getting weapons," added Anya.

"Grab 'em. I'm going to kill him." Everyone could hear the anger in her voice, and they knew that killing Spike was not just about protecting Dawn any more.

Suddenly the door crashed open and Giles burst through. He took one look around the room and sighed with relief. He noticed the clothing of the two Buffys and spoke to the real one. "Buffy, you're here. Good. I was getting worried when I couldn't find you. We have to go and find Spike." He glanced at the Buffybot. "I assume you've worked all this out?"

"You knew?" Buffy was really pissed off. "What, were you just going to let Spike keep his toy?"

Giles shook his head. "Of course not. And Spike doesn't want it. It showed up tonight in the cemetery and surprised the hell out of him. Apparently he ordered it ages ago and forgot about it. Look, we don't have time for this. I'll explain on the way."

"But we don't know where to go," said Willow.

"No, but I know where to start." replied Buffy.

----------

Buffy pressed her ear against the door, trying to hear what was being said within. She'd called the others, but she knew they wouldn't be there for a while. They'd split up into groups to try and find Glory, and she'd paired herself with Xander. Willow was with Anya, and Giles was with it.

Giles had told them everything he knew about the robot, and what Spike had said about it. Xander had been extremely sceptical that Spike was telling the truth, but Buffy was sitting on the fence. Willow had believed him, and Anya had said she'd reserve judgement. Buffy didn't know what to think. She knew that Spike hadn't done… that with it, as Willow said the robot itself admitted to that. Just the thought made her shudder. So she believed Willow, but she wasn't sure if she believed in Spike's sincerity that he didn't intend to… yuck.

Anyway, they'd gone to where they'd killed Glory's key-seeking snake, since that was the only place Buffy could think of to start. The plan had been to split up and search the nearby buildings, checking the priciest places first. Buffy and Xander had come across two likely looking places, and they'd agreed to split up and search them both rather than wasting too much time.

Buffy had chosen the right building. She could hear Glory's voice beyond the door, but she couldn't make out the words. Glory was speaking too quietly for her to hear anything. Buffy pressed her ear harder against the door. Suddenly someone inside screamed in pain, and she almost jumped out of her skin.

It was Spike's voice.

The scream died, and there was only quiet coming from behind the door. Buffy knew she had to get a better vantage point if she was going to see or hear anything. Looking down the hall she was standing in, she noticed an open window. She quickly checked for any ledges outside, and when she saw there were enough footholds, and a window into the next room, she swung herself out the window and scrambled across the wall.

Reaching the window she peered inside, and what she saw was not pretty. Spike was hanging from the roof with his wrists tied in a chain, and he was bleeding from a dozen wounds. His face was a mess, and he had a hole the size of a finger in his chest. She watched as Glory held a glass of water up to his mouth and then smashed it against his face, losing her temper.

They were still talking too quietly for her to hear anything, so she eased the window open, praying that she wouldn't be heard and Glory would be too distracted to sense her. She froze when words reached her.

"Right… the key…"

Spike. He wouldn't. How could he do this to them? Buffy was furious. She was about to jump through the window and stake him when she heard his next words.

"You see… here's the thing. It's that guy… the one on tv?"

Buffy sighed in relief as Spike went on telling Glory about how the key was the host of some game show. She almost laughed aloud when the scabby little minions bought it, but Glory's instant detection of the lie sobered her totally.

"The vampire is lying to me."

Buffy heard Spike laugh, and she could hear the pain in it.

"Yeah, but it was fun. And guess what bitch? I'm not telling you jack. You're never going to get your sodding key. 'Cause you might be strong, but in our world, you're an idiot."

Buffy could see Glory begin to get pissed, but she was so relieved by what Spike had just said that she couldn't move, and couldn't think of anything to get him out.

"I'm a god."

"The god of what? Bad home perms?"

Glory put a hand to her hair. "Shut up! I command you, shut up!"

"Yeah, okay," said Spike, sarcasm clear in his voice. "I just had no idea that gods were such prancing lightweights. Mark my words. The Slayer is going to kick your skanky, lopsided, ass back to whatever place would take a cheap, whorish, fashion victim, ex-god like you."

Buffy was startled into almost falling off the wall when Glory suddenly kicked Spike through the door. She quickly jumped back to the other window ledge, knowing she had to help Spike. Glory's voice came through the window behind her.

"Bring him back."

Buffy couldn't let that happen. She climbed back through the window and saw Spike stumbling for the elevator. He wasn't going to make it. The doors were closing, and he couldn't run fast enough. She raced after him, knocking one of Glory's minions into a wall as she passed. She caught up to Spike just as he prised the doors open and fell into the shaft, landing on top of the elevator. She jumped down after him before the distance got too far, and glanced up as she landed to see a couple of scabby guys look down at them before heading for the stairs.

She looked at Spike and felt like retching. He was so beat up that he could hardly move, and one of his eyes wouldn't open. The other one did though, and he peered up at her, his gaze full of pain.

"Slayer?" his voice was weak.

"Yeah, Spike. It's me. I'm going to get you out of here, okay?" Buffy's voice was filled with concern. She bent down and opened the hatch into the elevator. "Spike, I need you to get down there. Can you do that?"

Spike just rolled a bit and fell through the hole.

Buffy jumped down after him and swore when she saw he was unconscious. Now she was going to have to carry him out as well as fight. She hoped the others had arrived by now. She would need all the help she could get.

The elevator reached the ground floor, and the doors opened to reveal a battle scene. Giles and Xander were fighting one minion, which already had a crossbow bolt in it. Willow had just killed one by levitating it right up through several storeys and then dropping it (although Buffy only saw the final part), and Anya was hitting another repeatedly with an axe.

Buffy got another shock when she saw herself throw a minion guy through a wall. She'd momentarily forgotten about the robot version of herself. It was very unnerving, watching herself throw something through a wall. Definitely not something you see every day.

Buffy was about to go out and help when Xander bashed the last one over the head with the butt of a crossbow, knocking it out cold. Looking for herself again, she found that she was lying on the floor, her eyes open and dead. She reeled for a minute before realising that what she saw wasn't her. It was just the Buffybot, but she'd had a flash of feeling so real that for a moment she'd believed she was looking at herself.

'It's not me,' she reminded herself forcefully. 'It's all Spike's fault, and as soon as he's better I'm going to beat him up until _I_ feel better.' For some reason the thought didn't comfort her as much as it once would have.

"Xander, can you give me a hand here?" she called, carrying Spike out of the elevator. "Giles, grab it, will you? We can't just leave it here," she gestured to the robot. "We have to get out of here before Glory comes down." The others didn't move, stunned at the sight of Spike's beaten form. "Come on guys. Move it!"

End Chapter 5

If anyone hates the way I've done this chapter, let me know. Feedback is always a good thing. I don't like ripping off the show, but I had to deal with the Buffybot issue. And despite what's happened to Spike, I wanted the others to react like they in the actual ep, so I couldn't see any way around it. Any suggestions for this chapter would be welcomed, since I don't know how many people are going to want to hang, draw, and quarter me for this. So again, a lot of the stuff in this chapter doesn't belong to me, and I'm not claiming that it does.