A/N: I ish sleepy, so excuse my poor typing skills and innabilty to write anything decent. *claps*

-----

Buffy could feel the eyes of the SIT's following her as she came down the stairs. They were all seated in the living room, watching some movie on TV, but their attention was quickly drawn away as the Slayer came down the stairs. As far as they were concerned, Buffy had spent the majority of the day up in her room, apparently tending to a injured Spike. Aryn had been quickly accepted into the group, having been the only one who had seen Spike's little fit and having had to fill the rest of the girls in when they had come upstairs.

"How is he?" Molly asked, concern evident in her voice. She seemed to be the only one who had gotten over the fear that Spike might kill them. She seemed completely at ease with the idea that he would be helping them.

Buffy stopped, staring at the six SIT's staring at her. Even though Molly had been the one who spoke the words, she could tell the rest of them were just as anxious to know. She sighed. "He's better."

"Better?"

"What do you mean better?"

"What was wrong with him in the first place?"

It was like a chain reaction. One asked a question, they all piped up. Buffy waved her hand, signaling for them to stop. "Look, he's not in very good shape, you know that. I don't know what's wrong, and as much as I wish I could, I can't do anything."

"Oh…" Molly muttered, her voice trailing off. "Do you think he'll be alright?"

Buffy swallowed. "I don't know." Was the only response she gave before turning and walking towards the kitchen, leaving the SIT's to their own once more. She walked quickly into the kitchen, hoping to slink through the dining room without dealing with the others.

No such luck.

"Buffy, hey."

The Slayer froze, giving Willow a forced smile. "Hey."

"Giles said things weren't lookin' so good up there. He's not doing any better?"

Buffy shook her head a bit. "Nah, he's still a little…" She trailed off, looking at the ground. "He's not doing all that great."

"You sure you don't want one of us to go up and take up guard duty for awhile?" Xander offered, looking up from the book he had been reading. He was seated beside the redhead at the dinner table. Dawn was seated to his left.

"Nah, I don't want to leave him alone right now…" Buffy said.

"Uhm, Buff. That's where the whole 'We'll keep an eye on him' thing comes in." Dawn pointed out.

"That's not what I mean." She said irritably, dropping her hands to her sides. "Do you know where Giles went?"

"Him and Anya went to see if they could find out about what could be wrong with Spike." Willow answered.

Buffy nodded. "Let me know when he gets back." She said, turning and heading towards the kitchen. Willow and Xander exchanged looks.

-----

Buffy didn't remember much when she woke up. All she knew was she had woke up in her bed, the smell of smoke flaring in her nose. Her first thought was that the house was on fire, but she realized soon enough that that wasn't the case at all. Opening her eyes, she found her window open, Spike sitting on the sill.

She smiled to herself, glad that he was up. She had nearly had to force feed him the blood she had brought him, only to be rewarded later on when his nose started gushing blood once more a bit later on. He passed out again a short time later. She had crawled into bed, and lack of sleep and her physical state had driven her back to sleep as well.

Pushing the blankets away, she swung her feet over the edge of the bed, glancing at the clock. Nearly morning. She stood up, walking over and standing behind the vampire. "Smoking?" She questioned, eyeing the cigarette he held in his hand.

"Helps to get rid of alcohol induced headaches." He said absently. He flicked it away angrily. "Not helping…"

"Sorry."

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, wrapping his arms tightly around his stomach. "M'getting' a bit tired of that word…"

She sighed, leaning her shoulder against the windowsill. "Me too…"

"Giles was in 'ere a bit ago. Wanted to wake you, but I told him to let you be. He told me to tell you that he tried, but he din't find nothin'…"

Buffy remained silent, her eyes on the floor.

"It' bloody cold." Spike said, sounding aggravated. He turned, hoping back through the window. He would have fallen had Buffy not grabbed his arm when he stumbled under his own weight. He sighed. "Thanks…"

"Yeah…" The Slayer mumbled, allowing the vampire to fall onto her bed. He sat there, staring at his hands. A few moments later, he looked up, hearing the Slayer rummaging in her closet for something.

"I'm going patrolling." She stated, pulling on a black jacket. She needed to get out of the house, she needed some time to herself. Time to think. She made the mistake of looking over her shoulder at the vampire, the look he was giving her causing a wave of guilt to wash over her. She couldn't just leave him here. And what if he spazzed again? She swallowed. "We have a couple of hours before the sun comes up. You coming with me or not?"

-----

The Slayer tiptoed through the living room, trying to avoid waking any of the numerous people sleeping there. She slipped through the hall and headed down into the basement in search of her extra stakes. She didn't plan on running into much on their run through the cemeteries because it was so close to morning, but it wouldn't hurt to be prepared.

"Buffy! What are you doing up?!" Chloe dropped the sword she had been swinging through the air, jumping backwards at the sight of the Slayer coming down the basement steps. Molly was in the corner and she slipped the crossbow in her hands behind her back in a measly attempt to conceal it.

"Same question." Buffy said, looking between the two girls.

"Well… we just…" Chloe began.

"We couldn't sleep." Molly offered.

"So we came down here."

"We didn't want to wake anyone else up."

"Oh, we didn't wake you up, did we?" Chloe asked quickly.

"We din't mean to." Molly added. The two fell silent.

Buffy continued to stare at them for a moment. "So… you couldn't sleep and you decided to come down here and play with weapons you don't know how to use…"

"No!" Molly insisted, the crossbow slipping from her hands. It clattered to the floor and a bolt shot across the room, right at Buffy. She caught it mere inches from her face. The two girls looked horrified.

The Slayer smirked. "Get your coats. We're going on a field trip."

-----

"You sure it was a good idea to bring the kiddies out to play?" Spike questioned as they walked, nodding to the two girls walking behind him and Buffy.

"They're in better shape than you." She said informatively, smirking. "I'm more worried about you getting your ass kicked then them."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm touched."

"It doesn't matter anyway, we've been walking around for almost an hour. All good vampires are already tucked into their beds." She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "You not included."

"Yeah, guess the chances of runnin' into badies is pretty slim." He agreed. There was a loud wooshing noise behind them, followed by a quick shriek and a thump. The two turned quickly to find Molly looking sheepish, trying to pull another stray arrow from a telephone pole.

Spike walked over, grabbed it and easily dislodged it. He handed it back to the girl. "Just make sure you don't have that thing pointed at me, 'kay luv?"

She smiled sheepishly. "'kay…"

Buffy sighed. "Come on, let's head back. There's nothing out here…"

"Uhm, Slayer, not too sure 'bout that…" Spike said, sounding slightly worried.

Buffy turned quickly to see what he was staring at. "Well that's a bit odd." She stated dumbly. A large group of vampires was heading towards them, game faces on. Buffy counted off fifteen, then swallowed. This wasn't exactly what she had been expecting. "How many can you get?"

"Five or six tops, m'not exactly in prime condition." Spike replied, readying the stake in his hand.

"Right." Buffy said. "Girls, remember, go for the heart. Chloe, take off their heads and they're dust. Don't get near the center of the group, stay on the edges and if I tell you to run, you run, got it?"

They nodded.

"And watch where you're aiming that thing, Molly."

The next thing they knew, the vampires had swarmed around them. Buffy dusted three right off the bat, Spike managing to take down two more. Chloe was swinging her sword wildly, not even coming close to decapitating any of their foes, but the large gashed and wounds she was causing were doing a fairly good job of slowing them down. Molly dusted on vampire with her crossbow, but the rest of the arrows wound up protruding from various body parts.

Buffy winced as a large, scruffy vampire slammed his fist across her face, causing her to reel backwards, she returned to blow, following it with a kick and knocking him to his feet and shoving a stake through its chest. She turned and hurled a staked through the air, dusting a vampire that had been lunging at Spike. She swallowed, distracted for a moment. He had two more vamps on him, each doing a fairly good job of pummeling him. God was she stupid to have brought him… But she was quickly pulled from her thoughts as another vamp grabbed her around the neck from behind.

"Chloe, duck!" Molly said, barely giving the girl time to dodge out of the way as she fired another bolt over her head. It embedded itself in the back of one of the vampires pounding on Spike. He exploded into dust.

Chloe gave her a surprised look, then swung around quickly, slicing through the other vampire's neck. He too exploded.

"Thanks, sweets." Spike muttered, pulling himself painfully up from his knees. He rushed over to Buffy, pulled the vampire off of her, and plunged a stake into its heart.

"Spike, look ou…" Buffy didn't get the words out one of the vampires smashed him across the back of the head with what looked –and sounded- like a large metal pipe. He crumpled to the ground, clutching the sides of his skull. Buffy glared at the offending vampire before lunging at him.

After what seemed like an eternity, Buffy finally dusted the last vampire, but only after Chloe had managed to chop off his left arm and Molly had imbedded an arrow between his eyes. Discarding her stake, she rushed over to where Spike was lying, dropping to her knees beside him. He was still clutching at his skull, his body shaking.

"Well, well, well. Quite a show, luv. I'm impressed."

Buffy's head shot up, Spike groaning slightly from where she had rolled him over and pulled his head into her lap. Her eyes went wide. She was looking up at… Spike?

"Gotta admit though, after you killed my precious Turok-ahn, a measly group of vampires couldn't have been that great of a challenge." He looked over at Molly and Chloe and grinned. "'specially with the help."

"Stay away from them." Buffy growled, jumping to her feet. She stood between him and the girls, Spike still curled up on the ground behind her. "I know who you are."

"Congratulations. You know who I am, but do you know what I am?" He asked, smirking.

"What do you want?" She growled, fists clenched at her sides.

"To give you a choice, pet. Simple as that." He said, holding his arms out in a cocky manner.

She stared at him for a moment, watching as he continued to smirk. "Well?"

"You can end this, you know. Right here, right now. You see, as you might have noticed, I tend to take the form of creatures who are a bit…dead." He said, begining to pace back and forth. "But vampires, they're tricky creatures. Dead, yes, but living all the same. You catch my drift?"

Buffy remained silent.

The First tutted. "Not as bright as you let on, I see. Well, let me put it in simpler terms for you. In order to kill me…"

"You have to kill Spike." Chloe said, her eyes wide. "Since Spike's still alive in a way, if you kill him while The First is taking his form, you'll kill The First."

"Very good, pet!" The First exclaimed, grinning madly. "You must be the smart one out of the lot, 'ey?" He turned back to Spike, the same evil grin still on his face. "Well? You're move, luv."

Buffy's eyes remained locked on him. She didn't move. Spike let out a loud moan behind her, clawing at the sides of his head. Buffy looked at him for a moment, then shot her eyes back at the first. "Leave him alone!"

He chuckled. "Not me this time, sweets. Besides, the bloke's nothing but a waste of space anyway, nothing good'll ever come of 'im. No, he don't need me to destroy him anymore, bloody humans did a damn straight job of doin' it." He smiled, then began singing quietly.

"Shut up!" Buffy shouted, her eyes glowing with hatred. "Leave. Him. Alone." When the First didn't speak, she clenched her teeth, tightening her hold on the stake in her pocket. She turned slowly, looking down at Spike. He was still shuddering. She walked over to him, crouching at his side. Slowly, gently, she rolled him onto his back, the stake still clutched in her hands.

The First continued to grin.

Buffy closed her eyes, her hand sweaty. The stake felt heavy in her hands. Slowly, she reopened her eyes, turning her head to face The First. "I will kill you."

"Is that a threat?" He asked coyly.

"A promise." She assured him, rising to her feet.

"You let your emotions blind you. Stupid girl." The First said coldly. "No. I'm done playing with your precious vampire. It's your turn." He grinned widely, then in an instant he was gone.

"Spike." Buffy's stake clattered to the ground and she dropped to her knees beside him.

"You could have killed it…" Chloe muttered. "You could have stopped it and you didn't!"

"Oh shut up." Molly barked, walking over to Buffy. "I thought he said he wasn't messing with Spike's head any more…" She mumbled, watching as he continued to squeeze the sides of his head.

"It's not…" Buffy muttered, pushing the vampire's hairs away from his face. "It's the chip…"

"The what?"

"Come on, we need to get him home." The Slayer said, wrapping an arm around his waist and lifting him from the ground. Molly pulled his other arm over her shoulder, helping support him. Buffy gave her a grateful smile.

Chloe followed behind them, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, her face lined with tears.

TBC…

------

A/N: Uhm…. Boo! So, I dun have much to say…. So….. review! *points finger*