CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Men and Women and Healing
The next morning, Spike got up as soon as he heard noises in the hallway. Buffy was still sleeping soundly. He didn't want to disturb her because she'd had such a hard night. Quietly, he dressed and headed downstairs.
Tara was up making breakfast, scrambled eggs and cinnamon raisin toast.
"Mmm," Spike said, sniffing at the air as he came into the kitchen. "Everybody eats better when you're here."
"Yeah, well, it's not as if Willow and Buffy are into cooking. Neither am I really. But my mother taught me well enough."
Spike took a packet of blood out of his supply in the brown paper sack in the back corner of the refrigerator and heated it in the microwave as she cooked.
"What time did you two get in last night?" Tara asked.
"Very late. We tried to stop a small army of Fire demons from burning down a building. But we failed. Buffy got burned in the process."
Tara stopped what she was doing, a look of concern on her face. "Is she all right?"
"Yes. But she's in a lot of pain."
"Willow has several salves that might help. I'll ask her when she comes down."
"I think Buffy would prefer if we kept this from Dawn, it coming so soon on top of the knife injury. She doesn't want to worry her."
"Of course, as long as it's not an obvious injury."
"Not really. But I'm glad Xander and Anya are taking tonight's stake-out. I'd like to try to get Buffy to take it easy tonight."
At that point, Willow came bounding into the kitchen. "Breakfast smells wonderful!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around Tara. What would we do without you?"
"Starve probably," Tara answered. "Sit down and eat before it gets cold. Is Dawn coming?"
"Eventually. I looked in her room and she's working very hard on choosing just the right outfit to impress Zachary. They are just so cute!"
"Dawn says she thinks she's in love," Tara noted.
"Puppy love," Willow said with a smirk. "That's why it's so cute. First love! I'm just so happy for her."
"Good morning, All," Xander said, coming into the kitchen. "Mmm. That smells good. You, uh, don't think you could spare a little food for a workin' man, do you?"
"Sure," Tara said. "Pull up a chair. I knew you were coming to pick up the car this morning."
"Many many thanks to you kind lady," Xander said, plopping down and tucking a napkin into his shirt.
"Is Buffy coming down to breakfast?" Tara asked.
"I hope not," Spike answered. "She didn't sleep much last night."
"Then I'll leave a dish for her. You can heat it up later."
"How was your stake-out last night?" Xander asked, diving into the eggs Tara put in front of him.
Spike stood against the sink sipping at his mug of blood. "Buffy would probably rather tell you herself. But we ran into these Fire demons while they were torching a building and evacuating the resident Shadows. I'd like to ask Anya a few demon type questions today, about some things I noticed last night."
"She'll be at the Magic Box as usual. I'm supposed to meet her there late this afternoon, maybe you guys could fill us in on last night then."
"Yeah, that'll work. Buffy should be up by then."
"I'm going now," Dawn called in from the livingroom.
"What about your breakfast?" Tara called back.
"Don't have time. I'm meeting Janice."
"You want a ride?" Xander asked.
"No. We'll be fine. Bye everybody!" And Dawn was gone, moving in the quick rhythm of youth.
"Do you believe that girl? I made this mostly for her," Tara said.
"Aw, poor little mama," Willow cooed. "It's hard raising teenagers."
"Tell me about it." Tara started washing the breakfast things.
"Did you have breakfast, Sweetie," Willow asked her lover.
"I picked while I cooked. Oh . . . Spike asked if you have some salve that's good for burns."
"For healing and pain," Spike said.
"For you or Buffy?" Xander asked.
"For Buffy. The Fire demons caught her on the hip. She didn't want me to disturb you about it last night. But I figure when she wakes up . . ."
"Sure, no problem. I'll get it right now." Willow jumped from her chair and headed upstairs, leaving her dirty plate for Tara to clean.
"I swear," Tara said, glaring, "she's as bad as Dawn sometimes. Maybe worse." She walked to Xander and looked pointedly down at his plate. "Can I depend on you to take care of that?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Xander said with a salute. "Will do!"
"Good. I've got to get ready for school." Tara quickly cleaned up Willow's plate. "I'll make sure Willow leaves the salve out in the bathroom," she said as she too headed upstairs.
"So," Xander said, "did you and Buffy have a fight?"
"Is it that obvious?" Spike asked draining the last of his blood.
"To an old almost-married-man? Yes. What gave it away was when you said that Buffy would rather tell us about last night herself. You had this look on your face that said you'd get in trouble if you said too much without her permission. Believe me, I've been there."
"We're still just sussing out our work relationship is all. She doesn't like it much when I don't agree with her on something. Last night I had the nasty luck of being right."
"Oooh, that's pretty unforgivable. Hope you didn't say I told you so."
"Well . . ." Spike grimaced sheepishly. "Maybe just a little. But I don't want her thinking that being immortal means she can't die. I'm all for running into battle, but I don't wanna be stupid about it. If old Rupert had been here last night, he would've given her hell over what she did. But she's not up to taking it from me yet. And I can't stand by silent."
"I hear ya. She gave Angel and Riley a hard time in that way too. Giles is the only one she'd ever take input from."
"Yeah, but he's not here. Bloody wish he was."
"She always treated Angel more like an associate than a partner when it came to work. Called him in special when she thought he was needed. She did the same thing with Riley. He hardly had any idea what was going on with us. And it really ticked him. You've pushed her farther than either of them. Gotta hand it to ya, you got stamina." Xander nodded his head appreciatively.
"Yeah," Spike said wryly. "The girl's a full time job."
"All women are, Pal," Xander said. He got up and went to the sink with his plate to wash it as per his promise to Tara.
"I'll get it, Mate," Spike said. "I got time till Buffy wakes up."
"Gee, thanks," Xander said. "I'll see you tonight. Just remember, pick your fights. You'll live longer."
"Yeah, well," Spike said to himself, "it's too late for that.
Tara stuck her head in the kitchen shortly after Xander left. "I'll be home early this afternoon, if you need me to keep an eye on Dawn."
"Sure," Spike said.
After everyone had left the house and the kitchen was straightened, Spike returned to bed. Buffy was still sleeping peacefully. He curled up next to her and slept as well till about three o'clock. She woke up first and tried to sit up, which caused her to whimper in pain. The skin on her hip was tight and sensitive to movement. Spike was generally a deep sleeper, but not this time. He immediately got up and took her to the bathroom to put Willow's salve on her hip and rebandage the wound. It was healing, but not as quickly as Spike would have liked.
"I don't think you should take a full bath or shower," he said. Let me give you a sponge bath."
Buffy nodded in agreement.
"Is the salve helping?"
Again she nodded. The pain had obviously taken a lot out of her.
After cleaning Buffy up, Spike forced her to go back to bed. Then he brought her the breakfast that Tara had made for her earlier. They said very little. He knew she was sorry about her outburst from the night before. And she knew he'd only tried to stop her because he cared about her. She also had to grudgingly admit (to herself at least) that he had a lot of experience in terms of fighting and had obviously been right.
By the time Dawn and Zachary came in from school, Buffy was up and around downstairs. She wore a light pair of loose slacks and a tunic top so she had ease of movement and so she could pretend to Dawn that nothing had happened. Things were starting to feel more normal again. She wanted Dawn to feel that way a little bit longer, before something inevitably came along to end it.
The young people sat in the diningroom in front of their books and snacks. But they weren't left alone much. Spike kept strutting in and peering over their shoulders. Buffy did her best to keep his attention on the late afternoon soaps, but he inevitably drifted back in there again. When Tara and Willow swept in, Buffy was relieved.
"I hope you don't mind that I got in this late," Tara said to Buffy. "I told Spike I would come home early right after my last class. But Willow convinced me to stay and wait for her."
"No big," Buffy said turning off the television. "It'll actually be easier to get Spike to the Magic Box now since it's getting dark. Ever since I washed those smelly traveling blankets of his he's been complaining how a big bad like him shouldn't smell like a flowery pouf."
Tara laughed. "We could always bury the blankets in the garden for a couple of days to give `em a more earthy smell."
"Maybe we'll do that." Buffy looked into the diningroom at Spike. He was standing over Zachary, his dark eyebrows knitted together listening to Dawn's explanation of the composition they were supposed to be working on for school. They had another week to write it. Zachary was working on a long lyric poem which she was sure would earn him at least three A's. Spike looked as if he wanted very much to say something, but was holding himself back.
Willow pulled Buffy into the edge of the livingroom near the kitchen so that the kids in the diningroom couldn't hear. "How you feeling?" she whispered. "Your hip. Spike told us about it."
"That salve you left worked beautifully."
"Good. Keep using it. It will keep away infection as well as cut down on the pain and encourage healing."
"I can't believe it's still bothering me so much. Spike says fire is the great equalizer, that it's the one thing that can destroy immortal and mortal. I think I'm beginning to believe him."
"Well, he knows about things like that."
"Yeah, but sometimes he's just so darn smug."
"Men can be like that."
"Do you want me to get you something to eat before you leave?" Tara asked.
"No, that's all right," Buffy said. "Spike practically force fed me at four o'clock."
Tara's eyes twinkled. "I think Willow taught him that. When I was laid up she kept trying to force feed me too. Now, I'm the one doing all the feeding around here."
"Well, we'd better be off." Buffy lowered her voice to a whisper. "Before Spike scares Zachary away." She went up to her room and fetched herself a coat and grabbed Spike's duster from the back of the door. "Hey, Spike!" she called heading for the door.
"Gotta go," he said to Dawn. "You kids listen to Willow and Tara."
"Yeah, yeah," Dawn answered in the voice of a whiny teenager.
Once outside Buffy tossed Spike his duster. "You scarin' that poor kid?" she asked him.
"No. Just listening to the school assignment they have. They're supposed to write about something or someone that means a lot to `em. You should talk to Dawn. She should write about your mother maybe. Sort of like an ode to her. She hardly ever talks about her. Hardly ever talked about you when you were gone either. She keeps things locked up inside like you do."
"Right. And we should all leave our guts hanging out like you do all the time."
"Well, at least no one has to wonder what I think or feel."
"Sometimes I wish we could."
"No you don't, Slayer. The fact that neither you or Captain Cardboard could bring yourselves to talk had a lot to do with your relationship blowing up. With me at least you won't have that problem."
"True. Most times I can't shut you up."
"And since we're talking . . ."
"Oh, no! Here it comes."
"I think we should talk about our plans for tonight."
"Why? We're going to the Magic Box to tell Xander and Anya all about what happened last night. And then we're going to leave a message with the Nazari and do some patrolling."
"No."
"What do you mean, no?" Buffy said, stopping in her tracks. She slapped her hand on her right hip to make herself look insistent, but immediately regretted it. Pain from her burn went shooting through her. Until that moment it had been feeling so much better that she had momentarily forgotten about it.
"That's why," Spike said with a righteous smirk. "Your hip. You can't go rolling all over the ground with a bunch of nasties like that. You could make it worse. After the Magic Box I think you should go alone to Willy's to see the Nazari while I go alone on patrol."
Buffy didn't answer because she knew he was right. Instead she put on her pouty face. Why did he have to come up with so many damn ideas?
"Look, you don't want me at Willy's anyway cos you're afraid I'll play kitten poker. Which by the way, I have now officially sworn off."
Buffy rolled her eyes. She didn't believe that for a minute.
"It's true. But you don't have to believe me. You can ask Speaker, the little Nazari. He'll tell you I haven't been there. He'd rather speak to you, anyway. I think he's got a bit of hero worship going for you, Slayer. And after you're through there, you can go home and spend some quality time with Dawn. Also, you can tell Willow and Tara all about last night because I didn't tell them all that much this morning."
"Any MORE instructions?"
"Come on, Slayer. You know it's the sensible thing to do."
"Oh, all right," Buffy grumbled, starting to walk again. But her hip hurt again so she winced with each step.
"You should have brought some of that salve," Spike said, noticing the faces she was making.
"Yeah, yeah," she answered. Why did he always have to notice everything?
By the time they got to the Magic Box, Anya was well on the way to closing things up. "How come you're so late?" she asked, not really expecting an answer. She continued turning off the lights at the front of the shop and switched around the sign in the door window to read "Closed." She figured if anything serious had happened they would have come in talking about it.
"Hey!" Xander said. "So, you gonna tell us about last night so we're prepared for our turn at stake-out? Spike said you wanted to tell us the story yourself." He shot Spike an understanding look, which Spike returned.
Buffy was pleased that Spike had at least left this much up to her. She launched into a full rundown of the night before, leaving out the part where Spike had told her not to go upstairs and their altercation over it. "I'm going to try and have a talk with the head Shadow in the next day or so about what happened," Buffy said. "I'll let you know if I come up with anything interesting."
"I have some questions I want to ask Anya," Spike said. "With regular Fire demons, they always stop when they're about to throw a fireball. Then they can move again. With the fire jets, the demons don't seem to be able to move at all while they're doing it. And they don't seem able to control them that well. What does that sound like to you?"
Anya stuck out her lower lip. "Like it's not natural for them to do what they're doing. Like it's a power that's sort of been tacked onto them."
"That's what I thought too."
Buffy looked from one to the other of them. "And this matters because . . ."
"It means that they're not naturally able to do this," Spike said. "They're not some new hybrid of Fire demon that has suddenly developed. It sounds like some outsider has altered them just recently. This would tend to back up what the Shadows told us. You can tell Speaker that when you see him later."
"It also means that you guys should probably stay in your car tonight and not come out, no matter what you see," Buffy said. "Those fire jets are pretty bad news, even if they can't control them all that well."
"No problem," Anya said. "I don't particularly want to end up in flames."
Men and Women and Healing
The next morning, Spike got up as soon as he heard noises in the hallway. Buffy was still sleeping soundly. He didn't want to disturb her because she'd had such a hard night. Quietly, he dressed and headed downstairs.
Tara was up making breakfast, scrambled eggs and cinnamon raisin toast.
"Mmm," Spike said, sniffing at the air as he came into the kitchen. "Everybody eats better when you're here."
"Yeah, well, it's not as if Willow and Buffy are into cooking. Neither am I really. But my mother taught me well enough."
Spike took a packet of blood out of his supply in the brown paper sack in the back corner of the refrigerator and heated it in the microwave as she cooked.
"What time did you two get in last night?" Tara asked.
"Very late. We tried to stop a small army of Fire demons from burning down a building. But we failed. Buffy got burned in the process."
Tara stopped what she was doing, a look of concern on her face. "Is she all right?"
"Yes. But she's in a lot of pain."
"Willow has several salves that might help. I'll ask her when she comes down."
"I think Buffy would prefer if we kept this from Dawn, it coming so soon on top of the knife injury. She doesn't want to worry her."
"Of course, as long as it's not an obvious injury."
"Not really. But I'm glad Xander and Anya are taking tonight's stake-out. I'd like to try to get Buffy to take it easy tonight."
At that point, Willow came bounding into the kitchen. "Breakfast smells wonderful!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around Tara. What would we do without you?"
"Starve probably," Tara answered. "Sit down and eat before it gets cold. Is Dawn coming?"
"Eventually. I looked in her room and she's working very hard on choosing just the right outfit to impress Zachary. They are just so cute!"
"Dawn says she thinks she's in love," Tara noted.
"Puppy love," Willow said with a smirk. "That's why it's so cute. First love! I'm just so happy for her."
"Good morning, All," Xander said, coming into the kitchen. "Mmm. That smells good. You, uh, don't think you could spare a little food for a workin' man, do you?"
"Sure," Tara said. "Pull up a chair. I knew you were coming to pick up the car this morning."
"Many many thanks to you kind lady," Xander said, plopping down and tucking a napkin into his shirt.
"Is Buffy coming down to breakfast?" Tara asked.
"I hope not," Spike answered. "She didn't sleep much last night."
"Then I'll leave a dish for her. You can heat it up later."
"How was your stake-out last night?" Xander asked, diving into the eggs Tara put in front of him.
Spike stood against the sink sipping at his mug of blood. "Buffy would probably rather tell you herself. But we ran into these Fire demons while they were torching a building and evacuating the resident Shadows. I'd like to ask Anya a few demon type questions today, about some things I noticed last night."
"She'll be at the Magic Box as usual. I'm supposed to meet her there late this afternoon, maybe you guys could fill us in on last night then."
"Yeah, that'll work. Buffy should be up by then."
"I'm going now," Dawn called in from the livingroom.
"What about your breakfast?" Tara called back.
"Don't have time. I'm meeting Janice."
"You want a ride?" Xander asked.
"No. We'll be fine. Bye everybody!" And Dawn was gone, moving in the quick rhythm of youth.
"Do you believe that girl? I made this mostly for her," Tara said.
"Aw, poor little mama," Willow cooed. "It's hard raising teenagers."
"Tell me about it." Tara started washing the breakfast things.
"Did you have breakfast, Sweetie," Willow asked her lover.
"I picked while I cooked. Oh . . . Spike asked if you have some salve that's good for burns."
"For healing and pain," Spike said.
"For you or Buffy?" Xander asked.
"For Buffy. The Fire demons caught her on the hip. She didn't want me to disturb you about it last night. But I figure when she wakes up . . ."
"Sure, no problem. I'll get it right now." Willow jumped from her chair and headed upstairs, leaving her dirty plate for Tara to clean.
"I swear," Tara said, glaring, "she's as bad as Dawn sometimes. Maybe worse." She walked to Xander and looked pointedly down at his plate. "Can I depend on you to take care of that?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Xander said with a salute. "Will do!"
"Good. I've got to get ready for school." Tara quickly cleaned up Willow's plate. "I'll make sure Willow leaves the salve out in the bathroom," she said as she too headed upstairs.
"So," Xander said, "did you and Buffy have a fight?"
"Is it that obvious?" Spike asked draining the last of his blood.
"To an old almost-married-man? Yes. What gave it away was when you said that Buffy would rather tell us about last night herself. You had this look on your face that said you'd get in trouble if you said too much without her permission. Believe me, I've been there."
"We're still just sussing out our work relationship is all. She doesn't like it much when I don't agree with her on something. Last night I had the nasty luck of being right."
"Oooh, that's pretty unforgivable. Hope you didn't say I told you so."
"Well . . ." Spike grimaced sheepishly. "Maybe just a little. But I don't want her thinking that being immortal means she can't die. I'm all for running into battle, but I don't wanna be stupid about it. If old Rupert had been here last night, he would've given her hell over what she did. But she's not up to taking it from me yet. And I can't stand by silent."
"I hear ya. She gave Angel and Riley a hard time in that way too. Giles is the only one she'd ever take input from."
"Yeah, but he's not here. Bloody wish he was."
"She always treated Angel more like an associate than a partner when it came to work. Called him in special when she thought he was needed. She did the same thing with Riley. He hardly had any idea what was going on with us. And it really ticked him. You've pushed her farther than either of them. Gotta hand it to ya, you got stamina." Xander nodded his head appreciatively.
"Yeah," Spike said wryly. "The girl's a full time job."
"All women are, Pal," Xander said. He got up and went to the sink with his plate to wash it as per his promise to Tara.
"I'll get it, Mate," Spike said. "I got time till Buffy wakes up."
"Gee, thanks," Xander said. "I'll see you tonight. Just remember, pick your fights. You'll live longer."
"Yeah, well," Spike said to himself, "it's too late for that.
Tara stuck her head in the kitchen shortly after Xander left. "I'll be home early this afternoon, if you need me to keep an eye on Dawn."
"Sure," Spike said.
After everyone had left the house and the kitchen was straightened, Spike returned to bed. Buffy was still sleeping peacefully. He curled up next to her and slept as well till about three o'clock. She woke up first and tried to sit up, which caused her to whimper in pain. The skin on her hip was tight and sensitive to movement. Spike was generally a deep sleeper, but not this time. He immediately got up and took her to the bathroom to put Willow's salve on her hip and rebandage the wound. It was healing, but not as quickly as Spike would have liked.
"I don't think you should take a full bath or shower," he said. Let me give you a sponge bath."
Buffy nodded in agreement.
"Is the salve helping?"
Again she nodded. The pain had obviously taken a lot out of her.
After cleaning Buffy up, Spike forced her to go back to bed. Then he brought her the breakfast that Tara had made for her earlier. They said very little. He knew she was sorry about her outburst from the night before. And she knew he'd only tried to stop her because he cared about her. She also had to grudgingly admit (to herself at least) that he had a lot of experience in terms of fighting and had obviously been right.
By the time Dawn and Zachary came in from school, Buffy was up and around downstairs. She wore a light pair of loose slacks and a tunic top so she had ease of movement and so she could pretend to Dawn that nothing had happened. Things were starting to feel more normal again. She wanted Dawn to feel that way a little bit longer, before something inevitably came along to end it.
The young people sat in the diningroom in front of their books and snacks. But they weren't left alone much. Spike kept strutting in and peering over their shoulders. Buffy did her best to keep his attention on the late afternoon soaps, but he inevitably drifted back in there again. When Tara and Willow swept in, Buffy was relieved.
"I hope you don't mind that I got in this late," Tara said to Buffy. "I told Spike I would come home early right after my last class. But Willow convinced me to stay and wait for her."
"No big," Buffy said turning off the television. "It'll actually be easier to get Spike to the Magic Box now since it's getting dark. Ever since I washed those smelly traveling blankets of his he's been complaining how a big bad like him shouldn't smell like a flowery pouf."
Tara laughed. "We could always bury the blankets in the garden for a couple of days to give `em a more earthy smell."
"Maybe we'll do that." Buffy looked into the diningroom at Spike. He was standing over Zachary, his dark eyebrows knitted together listening to Dawn's explanation of the composition they were supposed to be working on for school. They had another week to write it. Zachary was working on a long lyric poem which she was sure would earn him at least three A's. Spike looked as if he wanted very much to say something, but was holding himself back.
Willow pulled Buffy into the edge of the livingroom near the kitchen so that the kids in the diningroom couldn't hear. "How you feeling?" she whispered. "Your hip. Spike told us about it."
"That salve you left worked beautifully."
"Good. Keep using it. It will keep away infection as well as cut down on the pain and encourage healing."
"I can't believe it's still bothering me so much. Spike says fire is the great equalizer, that it's the one thing that can destroy immortal and mortal. I think I'm beginning to believe him."
"Well, he knows about things like that."
"Yeah, but sometimes he's just so darn smug."
"Men can be like that."
"Do you want me to get you something to eat before you leave?" Tara asked.
"No, that's all right," Buffy said. "Spike practically force fed me at four o'clock."
Tara's eyes twinkled. "I think Willow taught him that. When I was laid up she kept trying to force feed me too. Now, I'm the one doing all the feeding around here."
"Well, we'd better be off." Buffy lowered her voice to a whisper. "Before Spike scares Zachary away." She went up to her room and fetched herself a coat and grabbed Spike's duster from the back of the door. "Hey, Spike!" she called heading for the door.
"Gotta go," he said to Dawn. "You kids listen to Willow and Tara."
"Yeah, yeah," Dawn answered in the voice of a whiny teenager.
Once outside Buffy tossed Spike his duster. "You scarin' that poor kid?" she asked him.
"No. Just listening to the school assignment they have. They're supposed to write about something or someone that means a lot to `em. You should talk to Dawn. She should write about your mother maybe. Sort of like an ode to her. She hardly ever talks about her. Hardly ever talked about you when you were gone either. She keeps things locked up inside like you do."
"Right. And we should all leave our guts hanging out like you do all the time."
"Well, at least no one has to wonder what I think or feel."
"Sometimes I wish we could."
"No you don't, Slayer. The fact that neither you or Captain Cardboard could bring yourselves to talk had a lot to do with your relationship blowing up. With me at least you won't have that problem."
"True. Most times I can't shut you up."
"And since we're talking . . ."
"Oh, no! Here it comes."
"I think we should talk about our plans for tonight."
"Why? We're going to the Magic Box to tell Xander and Anya all about what happened last night. And then we're going to leave a message with the Nazari and do some patrolling."
"No."
"What do you mean, no?" Buffy said, stopping in her tracks. She slapped her hand on her right hip to make herself look insistent, but immediately regretted it. Pain from her burn went shooting through her. Until that moment it had been feeling so much better that she had momentarily forgotten about it.
"That's why," Spike said with a righteous smirk. "Your hip. You can't go rolling all over the ground with a bunch of nasties like that. You could make it worse. After the Magic Box I think you should go alone to Willy's to see the Nazari while I go alone on patrol."
Buffy didn't answer because she knew he was right. Instead she put on her pouty face. Why did he have to come up with so many damn ideas?
"Look, you don't want me at Willy's anyway cos you're afraid I'll play kitten poker. Which by the way, I have now officially sworn off."
Buffy rolled her eyes. She didn't believe that for a minute.
"It's true. But you don't have to believe me. You can ask Speaker, the little Nazari. He'll tell you I haven't been there. He'd rather speak to you, anyway. I think he's got a bit of hero worship going for you, Slayer. And after you're through there, you can go home and spend some quality time with Dawn. Also, you can tell Willow and Tara all about last night because I didn't tell them all that much this morning."
"Any MORE instructions?"
"Come on, Slayer. You know it's the sensible thing to do."
"Oh, all right," Buffy grumbled, starting to walk again. But her hip hurt again so she winced with each step.
"You should have brought some of that salve," Spike said, noticing the faces she was making.
"Yeah, yeah," she answered. Why did he always have to notice everything?
By the time they got to the Magic Box, Anya was well on the way to closing things up. "How come you're so late?" she asked, not really expecting an answer. She continued turning off the lights at the front of the shop and switched around the sign in the door window to read "Closed." She figured if anything serious had happened they would have come in talking about it.
"Hey!" Xander said. "So, you gonna tell us about last night so we're prepared for our turn at stake-out? Spike said you wanted to tell us the story yourself." He shot Spike an understanding look, which Spike returned.
Buffy was pleased that Spike had at least left this much up to her. She launched into a full rundown of the night before, leaving out the part where Spike had told her not to go upstairs and their altercation over it. "I'm going to try and have a talk with the head Shadow in the next day or so about what happened," Buffy said. "I'll let you know if I come up with anything interesting."
"I have some questions I want to ask Anya," Spike said. "With regular Fire demons, they always stop when they're about to throw a fireball. Then they can move again. With the fire jets, the demons don't seem to be able to move at all while they're doing it. And they don't seem able to control them that well. What does that sound like to you?"
Anya stuck out her lower lip. "Like it's not natural for them to do what they're doing. Like it's a power that's sort of been tacked onto them."
"That's what I thought too."
Buffy looked from one to the other of them. "And this matters because . . ."
"It means that they're not naturally able to do this," Spike said. "They're not some new hybrid of Fire demon that has suddenly developed. It sounds like some outsider has altered them just recently. This would tend to back up what the Shadows told us. You can tell Speaker that when you see him later."
"It also means that you guys should probably stay in your car tonight and not come out, no matter what you see," Buffy said. "Those fire jets are pretty bad news, even if they can't control them all that well."
"No problem," Anya said. "I don't particularly want to end up in flames."