Harmony was sleeping the sleep of the sexually sated, which suited Spike just fine. Wearing her out in bed gave him a couple of hours of nightmare-free, exhausted sleep, and allowed him quiet time when he awoke. She would sleep for another five hours at least, giving him long stretches of time to read and plan.
According to his notes and his memory, Glinda would be casting her spell of non-seeing any day now, and he had to be ready to fight the Lei-ach demons. He thought he would be alright with that. His body was fine physically. It was just his mind that was unstable part of the time. He found that if he kept himself busy with plans and reworking of plans, the weight of his new soul wasn't so heavy. He still worked himself to exhaustion and woke up with a nightmare branded in his mind's eye, but it was getting easier. Or so it seemed. Really, he wasn't sure if he would ever be okay, and he knew he would never be the same, but he supposed his recovery was keyed to how successful his foray into time travel would be.
So far, he had changed a number of events that he remembered, all of them for the good, and he'd taken to circling the Scooby territory like a tethered sentinel, concentrating on Dawn and Joyce. Not being exactly sure of the exact time of events left him edgy, and with a constant sense of eerie deja-vu. Luckily, it looked like he was getting away with his plan. None of the Scoobies seemed to question his actions or find his behavior suspicious. Or if they did, they weren't saying anything.
The one thing he refrained from interfering with at all, was Riley's slow decent into vamp whoredom. No longer Super Soldier, all of Riley's insecurities were coming to the surface, and Buffy's inability to share her fears and weakness with him was starting to wear on him. Spike understood and saw what was happening, but he did not move to stop it. In truth, even with the soul, he didn't care a whit about Riley, and had never forgiven him for his role in the Initiative. Spike still believed that Riley was not the right man for Buffy, and it appeared that his soul was in agreement. Still, he wasn't sure how he would break the news of Riley's transgressions to Buffy this time around.
But Riley was the least of his problems. He still hadn't figured out a way to kill Ben, or if he should even attempt to kill Glory's human host. He knew he couldn't merely ask someone else, like Harmony for instance, to kill the intern. There was too much at risk, and if the attempt failed, then Glory would most certainly come after him. But that left him with the impossible task of killing the human himself, something the chip would not let him do. What he needed was an accomplice who knew and understood exactly what was at stake. The only person he could think of that was even remotely suitable was Giles, but he wasn't sure if he was ready to bring anyone into his confidence just yet.
He was brought out of his thoughts by a waking Harmony.
"Mmmm, come back to bed, baby. I'm cold."
Spike rubbed his tired eyes. Maybe another shag and a couple more hours of sleep would do him good. Putting the journal away in its locked box, he joined Harmony in bed.
"Mmph," she cooed, snuggling up. "You're always reading and writing in that dumb journal but you never tell me what it is you're planning."
"Sorry, pet," he placated. "Not ready yet. When it is, you'll be the first to know."
"And I'll be the one to kill the Slayer?"
He gave her a grin, but didn't answer, then kissed her to distract her. As he covered her with his body, he felt her surrender and give in to his attentions.