Summary: I guess I may need one of these now, so.after running into the demon who changed Spike to fit Buffy's wishes, she comes back from patrol to find Giles researching with Spike to find out what turned him into a human. Spike walks Giles home, stakes a vampire just as fast as he used to, and assures Giles that he doesn't want to hurt any of the Scoobies or become a vampire again.

A/N 1: I am SO sorry for the REALLY long delay. And, just to warn you, there probably won't be another chapter for maybe a couple of weeks (finals, and recovery time). But, I haven't forgotten you!

A/N 2: To those who have reviewed me, thanks for all the support!

A/N 3: Just because I really don't want to worry about Glory taking Spike and torturing him just when things are getting interesting, I think I'm going to be moving the Glory part of the season back a ways to concentrate on Buffy and Spike. So, for my purposes, Buffy and Giles know that Glory wants Dawn, but other than her basic presence, Glory isn't really a problem.

And now...

Chapter 6

It was early afternoon by the time everyone-including Dawn, who was excited to see what Spike looked like as a human-had gathered at the Magic Box. Giles and Anya had been there all day, but the others were just coming in. Xander, last to arrive, made a beeline for his girlfriend behind the counter, and tried to convince her to go down into the basement with him.

"Not now, Xander," Anya scowled lightly at her boyfriend. "Giles says that something really important is going on, but he won't tell me what. I want to know now." Raising her voice so it carried across the store to Giles, she said "You can tell me know, everyone's here!"

"Uh, actually Anya, we need to wait for Spike," Giles said.

Xander stopped trying to herd Anya into the basement and frowned. "Spike? Why do we *want* Spike here? Oh! Are we going to do a public staking?"

"Oh, you didn't know? I thought everybody must have heard by now," said Willow, eyes wide. "I can't wait to see Xander's face when-"

The front door to the Magic Box swung open, revealing Spike, who was now wearing another pair of tight-fitting blue jeans and a light grey sweater. Buffy's eyes widened. She had no idea how much Spike's wardrobe would change how she looked at him. Or maybe it was the hair. Looking at Spike was now like looking at a completely different person. She smiled. That was what she had wished for, after all.

Anya looked at Giles, then at Spike, who was striding into the store. Irritated that she was the one who would have to tell the customer to go away, since everyone else was just staring at him, Anya spoke up. "Excuse me, but the Magic Box is closed for the day, but you and your money can come back tomorrow morning."

Spike rolled his eyes, then said. "Sorry I'm late, I had to go shopping."

Xander's eyes widened and he started spluttering, until Anya cut him off. "I thought you were a customer. You changed your hair. And yes, we were waiting for you." Pausing, she added, "And you're walking outside while it's light out."

"Right perceptive of you, Anya. Woke up last night as a human. That's what this is about," Spike said, as he waved his arm to the research table that was already filling with books. "If you have any other plans, I don't want to get in the way. 'M sure I can do fine with whatever help you lot can give me." Spike addressed the whole group. "Not that big a deal, really, 's just that 'm rather curious as to why I woke up as a human. Rupert an' I were talkin' last night, so I just wanna clear a few things up with you lot. One, I didn't ask for this, but I'm not gonna go around lookin' for someone to turn me again. Two, I don't know if the chip's still working or not. 'M willin' to try it out to see if it does though. An' last, if you want me to stick around an' help, 'll do what I can. Don't wanna hurt any of you either." Looking at Giles, who had nodded slightly at each point, Spike turned his attention back to the rest of the Scoobies who were all staring at him with varying degrees of disbelief. "If any of you 'ave any other questions, go ahead an' ask."

"Are you going to try to kill me?" Xander asked quickly.

Spike looked at him. "No. Don't even know if I could, but even so, I wouldn't."

Willow spoke up next. "So you have no idea how you became human?"

Spike shook his head. Inwardly, he was coming to the realization that this was going to be a loooooong afternoon.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After sitting through a half hour Q & A session with Spike, during which she didn't say much, Buffy was getting extremely bored. Suddenly she perked up. She had wished that Spike could retain his vampire abilities, and they still had to test to see if the chip worked. Maybe he could spar with her. Anything to get away from the boredom. Even though Spike had changed, Buffy was sure she would still enjoy beating him up.

"Hey, how about I try to see if Spike's chip is working?" Buffy called out. "I still need to train this afternoon, and if it isn't, then he can train with me."

Giles looked up from his book. "Yes, that we do need to find out about the chip. Spike, if you don't mind, would you?"

"Sure thing, Rupert," Spike said easily as he stood up and followed Buffy into the training room. It was a signal of how much Spike's attitude had changed that not even Xander protested that Spike would try to kill Buffy or try something with her. He seemed to be getting along well with everyone now.

"C'mon, Spike," Buffy said nearly as soon as she entered the training room. "Hit me! God, it was getting so boring out there! How could you stand it?"

Spike shrugged. "'Ve done a lot to them in the past, so I can see why they don't want to trust me right off. You sure about this, Buffy?"

"Yeah, I really need to hit something, so I kind of hope your chip isn't working. But, you get the first hit, just to make sure," Buffy said charitably. "C'mon!"

After hesitating a moment more, Spike threw a quick punch to her shoulder, then tensed immediately, expecting pain. It didn't come. Worried, he looked up at Buffy. "Look, I know you must'a been worried about this. But I won't go after you or your mates, I promise. 'f you want me to leave, I can go now." He looked like he was about to head out the door.

"What? No, Spike, it's ok. I've gotten tired of beating up Giles, anyway. He told me you staked a vamp last night when you walked him home, just as fast as you used to when you were, well, a vampire. Do you think you can handle sparring? I mean, do you still feel like you did when you were a vampire, when you fight?" Buffy started rambling after she remembered that she wasn't supposed to know that he still had all his vampire ablilities.

Frowning slightly, Spike considered. Finally, he spoke. "Well, I don't know 'f I'm still as strong as I was. I the only way to find out is to fight. You can go ahead and hit me. Even if I don' have my old strength, I probably deserved it for some of the stuff I did before."

Buffy grinned. Just the answer she wanted to hear. Beating up on Spike was always fun, and now that he could fight back, the fight would be even better. Spike took off his sweater, leaving a white t-shirt on underneath, and waited for Buffy to attack. As the two started sparring, however, she noticed that Spike didn't seem to be fighting back like he had before the chip. It was like his heart wasn't in the fight.

After twenty minutes, Xander stuck his head in the training room. "So, I take it the chip's not working anymore?" When he received two nods in conformation, he continued, seeming only slightly nervous. "Well, as long as you're not gonna try to kill us, I'm not gonna try to kill you. But I'm watchin' you!" Buffy rolled her eyes at Xander's dramatics, but Spike just nodded. "Well, we're getting ready to go to The Bronze. You guys up for it?"

"Sure! Just give me a few to get ready, ok?" Spike pulled on his sweater and left the room behind Xander, who started giving Spike a hard time about wearing a sweater to fight in. Spike left, promising to change before he showed up at The Bronze.

Buffy was left alone in the training room pondering the changes from the past day. Spike seemed a lot more distant with her than he had been, but it seemed that he just felt bad about that stupid stunt he pulled with Drusilla. That was probably why he hadn't been fighting very well either; he didn't want to piss her off when he thought she was already upset with him. Buffy frowned. The one time he would use common sense would be the time she wanted a good fight to relieve some tension. Oh, well. At least the gang seemed to be warming to Spike well enough. With a sigh, Buffy gave the punching bag one last kick before leaving, thinking hopefully that maybe something would turn up on patrol after The Bronze.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Up next, Bronzing!

TBC.