The gang is sitting around, gathered at the Majic Shop. All are sitting around the wooden circular table -- waiting. Xander, ever the pessimist, is the first to gripe:

"Why are we waiting? We should have been gone on patrol long ago."

As Xander finished his sentence, the bell rung out and the door burst open. Buffy, followed by Spike, hurried through the threshold.

Xander stood up, "Could ya be a little bit later?"

"Sorry, my watch stopped working back in 1932," Spike snapped.

Xander, beaten by the fact that Spike was alive during the invention of wrist watches, closed his mouth.

Buffy, already having wasted too much time as is, interrupted them, "OK, let's get going."

Spike, still smirking over his winning verbal battle, "Yeah, let's go kill some bad stuff."

Buffy, already reaching for the doorknob, "Oh, no. You're not coming. You're on babysitting duty."

Spike's smirk faded, "I'm what?" The smirk transferred to Xander.

Giles never thought he would do this, but he found himself uttering some words in Spike's defense, "But Buffy, don't you think Spike could be of help to us?

"I don't care- he's not coming."

Spike was not done yet, "You're telling' me Harris here gets to go kill things and I have to . . . Baby-sit?"

"Well I don't like you either," it was Dawn. She had been slouched down in a chair listening the whole time.

"No, luv, it's not you . . ." Spike tried to redeem himself.

This was better for Xander than any verbal sparring match with Spike. Buffy had picked him over Spike -- "The Big Bad", "The Vampire", "The. . .". Buffy and Spike were going to go at it -- they just had to. Much to his dismay, Buffy calmly continued.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Xander looked on as Buffy pulled Spike into a darkened corner of the store where no one could hear what they were whispering. He didn't know exactly what it was, maybe the way they were looking at each other, the glazing tenderness in Spike's eyes, the disturbingly closeness they were standing in, or how they were giving each other their undivided attentions, made him nauseous. Buffy would never . . . Would she? No, it was Spike, a blood sucking thing that killed people. Well, he used to anyway . . . Different now with the chip. Had been for some time. But that didn't change anything. She only kept him around as another pair of fists, and he only listened because she would dust him if he didn't.

"Spike, I need you to watch Dawn."

"The boy can't do it?" referring to Xander who, he noticed, was staring intently at them.

Buffy pursed her lips and sighed, looking for the right words. "I know you can handle anything that might try to harm her."

"Buffy, I wouldn't let anything touch her, you know that."

"That's why I need you to stay with her. She's scared, I'm scared. I need someone strong enough to protect her."

Spike was taken aback by her last comment. She thought that, besides herself, he was the best one for her lil' sis'. The added responsibility hit him hard. Buffy's endless eyes pleaded into his. It didn't take much, but Spike tried to resist a little bit, just to keep his dignity. Spike had the feeling that she would always have an unexplained power over him.

"Right then," agreed Spike, nodding.

Spike and Dawn watched together as the gang ventured out into the exciting darkness, "Stinks being left out doesn't it?"

Spike sighed as he closed and locked the door, "Yeah."