Chapter 13

            After the girls had finished packing for him and after Dawn and he had eaten, they all sat down, watching TV, waiting for the others to return to the house.

            After a while, Dawn sat up.

            "Spike?"

            "Hmm?"
            "Whose car are we gonna take?"

            "Oh...hey...I don't think any of us even thought of that."

            "I just have one thing to say?"          

            "What?"

            "NO RV."

            Spike gave a smile, but nodded in agreement.

            "Okay...let me call the Watcher and see if he's left yet."

            Spike dialed Giles's number, and waited to see if picked up or not.

            At the fifth ring, Spike was just about to hang up, when Buffy told him to wait a second, and Giles picked up.  Dawn had ran upstairs to get some last minute item from her room, her diary.  This trip is bound to be memorable, she thought, gotta write it down.

            "Hmmm...Hey Watcher."

            "What's going on, Spike?"
            "Nothing much...we just realized something, though?"

            "What?"
            "What wheels are we taking?"
            "Um...oh...hell."
            "That's what I thought.  Well, when you get here, Ill go out and steal us a van or caravan...one with tinted windows, hopefully...or we'll just make sure to bring a heavy tarp for me."

            "Just as long as it's not another deathly RV."

            "Very funny mate."

            Giles smiled.

            I should be there within the hour."

            "Okay Rupe."

            "Bye."

            They both hang up.

            Spike turned to look at Buffy and Dawn,

            "Pets, Ripper's coming by within the hour.  When he gets here, I'm gonna go steal us a van...or maybe caravan.  Anything except an RV."

            Dawn and Buffy both nodded.

            Then they all sat back down to watch more TV.

            Xander was the first to arrive.

            "Hey all," he said walking in the door.

            Since Spike had been passing the living room, he had seen Xander coming up the walk.  He had opened the front door for him, closing it behind him.

            Xander looked at Spike,

            "Where are my girls?"

            "MY girls are in the kitchen, fixing snacks.  You wanna help them, or not?"
            "Hey...have you stopped by Willy's bar yet?"

            "No...not yet.  That's one of the things I plan on doing once Giles gets here."

            "What else do you plan on doing?" Xander gave him a suspicious look, anything to remove that earlier moment of male bonding with Spike, from his mind.

            "Stealing a caravan or van...and if you say on word about not getting a RV, Whelp, I promise to tear off your limbs and shove them down your throat."

            Spike ruined the threatening speech by grinning largely at him, like a kid with a lollipop, and handing him a soda.

            Xander just shook his head in amazement.

            Then he followed Spike into the kitchen where the girls were.

            Minutes later, Giles walked into the house, using his own set of house keys, joining them in the kitchen.

            Spike got up as he walked in, pulling Giles off to the side.

            "I'm gonna go get blood, transport, and smokes.  Do you need me to get anything else while I'm out?"

            "Umm...after your errands, can you call and see if Willow and Tara have gotten here or not.  If not, would you mind, terribly, escorting them here?"

            Spike laughed.  William the Bloody Bodyguard, he thought.  Damn, he thought.  I am such a Nancy Boy.  Just like my bleeding sire.  At the thought of his sire, his face crumbled, loosing its small half smile.

            This is going to be so....painful.  He was just staring to heal...but he knew he'd have to let Angel beat him up, hard. 

            Just for payback for the way he let Marcus/Nathaniel torture him, over that ring.

            Damn ponce...I could have used that ring.  If only I hadn't have tried to kill Buffy with it then...if only I had known that her being constantly in my mind wasn't because I wanted her dead, but because I truly loved her.

            The things you learn.

            "Spike?"

            "Hmmm?"

            "Would you mind?"

            "No...I wouldn't.  If the lover Wicca aren't already here, when I call, I'll walk them over."

            "Thanks."

            Spike just smiled and headed out.

            He returned an hour and a half later, bags of blood and smokes in his hand, as well as a few bits of luggage with Willow and Tara in tow.

            "Bloody women" he kept murmuring to himself.  "What do they think we're going on...a vacation?"

            Willow and Tara giggled, cause they heard him.

            Spike walked into the house and announced.

            "Okay Kiddies, Daddy's brought the wagon...so lets mount up and roll out."

            They giggled and chuckled at his phrasing, but everyone jumped up to do his bidding, without any grumbling.

            At the nice looking extended caravan that was waiting for them, they exhaled.  They knew that he had said, it wouldn't be another god awful RV, but sometimes, they weren't sure what he'd get, if only to mess with them.

            They loaded up the van, then piled in.

            Spike told them that since he'd gotten the damn thing, he'd drive.  Besides, it was nighttime anyway, they should be trying to get some sleep.

            "That's true Spike, but I think we're all used to keeping Vamp hours now," Willow said, smiling.

            Spike laughed, "I see what you mean, Red.  But you've all been worn out lately, so just try, okay?  I'll wake ya'll up when we get close to the poof's new hotel."

            Spike heard the ghostly Buffy admonish him for the phrasing, just before she hugged him.    

            I know, I know luv, he thought towards her.  But I'm a bad, rude man.

            Buffy just laughed in response, then vanished.

            He shook his head, he'd never get used to her doing that.

            Then he thought about how nice it would be when she wouldn't have to...when she couldn't do that anymore, because she was alive.

            As the rest of the group, slowly drifted to sleep, he drove them towards L.A.

            Reaching the hotel, Spike turned his head backwards and laughed, silently.

            They were all knocked out.

            So much for keeping vamp hours, he thought.

            He reached back and shook Xander's shoulder.

            "Hey whelp?"

            "Come back in five minutes..." Xander muttered.

            Spike laughed.

            "If you don't wake up now...I'm gonna eat you, bugger the chip."

            "You wouldn't eat me...you said I wasn't a yummy treat."

            "Sure you are...told me so yourself.  Remember."

            "I'm still sleeping...try to eat me...get a great dose of the mighty chip....now give me five more minutes, Fang Boy."

            Spike chuckled, but moved to the next one.

            "Giles!"

            "What?" came the sleepy reply.

            "We're here."

            "Where?"

            "In LA...we've reached the great nancy boys hotel.  Help me round up the troops.  I'm not going anywhere near those witches.  Never know if a spell comes out when they're sleeping."

            Giles laughed, but got up and started waking everyone.

            Xander glared over at Spike as Giles woke him up.

            "Didn't anyone ever teach you to learn time?  Five minutes definitely isn't up yet."

            "But Xander, Ole' Buddy, Ole' Pal...I didn't wake you up.  That was Giles." Spike had a wicked gleam in his eyes, but his face was pure innocence.

            Buffy laughed.

            "Anyway, come on folks...it's time to pay the Great Wanker, a visit."

            And with that, they entered the doors of the hotel.

                                                TBC…