A/N: Haven't updated this story in a-g-e-s, but I've been extremely busy. I read over my notes for this story earlier today, however, and what I'd planned for the rest of this story seemed too exciting to not write, so I'm starting it up again. Go me! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter all those eons ago, and I hope you enjoy the new one!
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"Hey, Buffy! It's us!"

Buffy hurried to the door, desperate to let her friends inside. She had woken up that morning feeling very well rested, but terrified about what had happened the night before. Had she actually had fun? With Spike?! The thought was terrifying, and so she was very pleased to hear her friends outside, ready to take her mind off it.

She swung the door open, and grinned at the two people on the doorstep.

"Hey Xander, hey Wills!"

They grinned back at her, and stepped inside, waving a large carrier bag in her face.

"We bought supplies," Xander said enthusiastically. "Some candy bars, cereal and fruit rollups from yours truly, and some homework from Little Miss Likes-To-Learn over there."

"Hey!" Willow replied, indignantly. "Education is important! Just because Buffy's stuck here, doesn't mean she has to fall behind on her schoolwork, right Buff?"

"It's ok, Will," Buffy reassured her, seeing the embarrassed look on her friends face. "You're right. Plus, it'll give me something to do instead of just having to listen to Spike's ramblings all day long."

"Where is Captain Peroxide anyway?" Xander asked curiously, looking around. "Isn't he supposed to be here, protecting you and all that."

"He's sleeping downstairs. I can go wake him up if you want."

"Please don't," Xander said quickly. "I'm sure I can survive the day without seeing his ugly face."

Buffy sat down on the chair, and pulled a fruit rollup from the bag. Ripping off the wrapper, she said, "Is there another reason why you're here? Or do you just wanna educate my brain and rot my teeth?"

"No, that's not all," Willow said slowly. She quickly added, "Not that we don't want to see you. We do! We just have some other stuff we need to tell you too."

"I know, Will, I understand. So, what's this other stuff?"

"Well. . ." Willow said thoughtfully. "We think we've figured out what's going on."

"Go on then, spill."

Willow opened her mouth to explain, but Xander butted in first. "The jist of it is that this crazy Igniato guy is some lackey for these demons way back. He was a bad boy, and as a punishment his powers were taken away, so now he collects other demons' powers to make himself feel better."

"But that's not all," Willow put in crossly, annoyed at being interrupted. "He can't actually use any of the powers, so he's basically just a big wannabe. It should be pretty easy for us to storm in there and get your powers back. We're gonna go soon. Just as soon as we figure out where he is, that is."

"Oh, that's easy," Buffy said, glad that she could finally help with something. "Spike took me to his hideaway a couple of days ago, remember? I know where it is."

"Fat chance, Slayer," a mocking voice said from behind her. "He's not exactly gonna hang about waiting for you to come in and kill him, is he? He'll have moved on by now."

"No one asked for your contribution, Spike," Buffy said coldly, not even bothering to turn around and look at the vampire. Why had he decided to come upstairs now? Why?!

"I was only trying to help, luv. If you don't want your powers back, then I'll just go back to sleep. Hope you enjoy spending the rest of your life here."

She scowled, but it was Willow who spoke. "What are we supposed to do then? Do you know where he's gonna be now?"

Spike shook his head. "Normally he gives out signals to let everyone know where he's moved to, but I guess now that this has happened, we're off the guest list. Can't you do a little witchy spell or something?"

Willow frowned. "I could try a locator spell, but I'm pretty crummy at 'em. It might not work." She paused for a moment. "I could give it a shot though."

"You do that."

There was a long pause. In the end, Willow couldn't stand the silence and said, "Well, I'd better be off then. I have class, and, you know. . ."

"Go," Buffy said firmly. "I don't mind. I'm alright here."

"I have to get to work as well," Xander said, as if he'd suddenly remembered. "I'd better be off too. Don't wanna get fired."

"I'll see you later, Buff," Willow said warmly, as she gave her friend a goodbye hug. "Don't get yourself down. I'm sure things'll work out soon."

"Yeah, see ya, Buff," Xander said, heading towards the door.

"Yeah, I'll see you guys later. Bye!"

They waved a final time, and then they were gone.

"Finally," Spike said with a sigh. "I thought they'd never leave."

Buffy spun around to face him. "Those are my friends you're talking about!"

"Yeah, your friends who come storming in here in the middle of the day, disturbing my sleep and getting rubbish all over my crypt!" he said angrily, picking up a fruit rollup wrapper off the floor as he said it.

"*I* dropped that!" Buffy said angrily, snatching it out of his hands. "And, as much as you'd like to, you can't make me go away, so deal with it!"

And with that, Buffy turned and stormed off down the crypt, intent on going back to sleep on the bed, just to spite him.

*******

A long time had passed since the argument. She had no way of telling, but she was pretty sure it had to be after dark. She had been sulking down in the tunnels below the crypt for hours, and she was extremely bored. The only problem was that if she went back upstairs, she'd have to face him again, and she definitely didn't want to do that right now. Or ever.

She picked a stone up off the ground, and tossed it into a small pool of water nearby, watching the ripples as they spread out across the surface. It was so quiet. Why was it so quiet? It was eerie. She listened hard, trying to hear the sound of Spike walking overhead, or the buzz of the television. In fact, anything that would break the stillness around her.

Then, without warning, she heard a yell from above. Getting quickly to her feet, she listened even harder. Spike was talking, and she could hear growling in response. There was a demon in the crypt, and from the sound of it, he wasn't very friendly.

She hurried across the rough earth to the ladder, and quickly climbed to the top. As she stepped out, she yelled, "Spike? What's going on?"

A moment later, she wished she hadn't. There were no less than five demons in the crypt, all of them very large, with massive teeth and claws currently trying to slash their way into Spike. Upon hearing her yell, however, they all turned and made a beeline for her.

"Oh no you don't!" Spike yelled, running after them as they lumbered across the crypt. The first one reached Buffy, and growled menacingly, before raising its massive claws and swiping towards her. She ducked, feeling the arm go sweeping over her head, then leapt forward and kicked it hard on the leg. The thing barely even blinked.

"What are these things?" Buffy yelled, as another one took a swipe at her. She dodged again, but wasn't so lucky this time, and the last claw caught her on the cheek, ripping it open.

"God knows," Spike yelled back, running in and throwing the two demons away from her. It was no good though. They all seemed to be ignoring him now, their attention completely on the defenceless Slayer. "I can't get rid of them without a weapon though," he said pointedly, as he hit one of them hard around the jaw, sending it spinning backwards.

"Where are they?" Buffy yelled back, watching helplessly as Spike sent another demon flying across the room.

"Downstairs! Just look around, you'll be sure to find something!"

Buffy nodded, then ran towards the steps, praying none of the demons would try and follow her. One of them did, but Spike leapt in before it could do any damage, occupying it just enough that Buffy could slip away unnoticed.

She leapt down the hole where the ladder was, and landed roughly on her ankle. *How did normal people survive like this?* she thought crossly as she stumbled across the room, wincing as she put weight on her clearly twisted ankle. There wasn't time to worry about that now though. She looked around, trying to find something useful. It was unlikely that he kept any stakes around here, but maybe a good axe? She saw one in the corner of her eye, and limped towards it. She picked it up, but she almost dropped it again as she felt the weight. Why was the powerless her so pathetic? She couldn't even lift a battle axe any more.

Gripping it firmly, she made her way back across the room and started to climb up the ladder. It was hard going, with the axe in one hand and a bad ankle, but somehow she made it. She tossed the axe out of the top first, then climbed out after it.

It was obvious that Spike had been exaggerating when he had claimed that he needed a weapon to fight them. Only the largest of the demons remained alive, its comrades lying heaped on the floor, all of them dead. This one was very much alive though. Before Buffy had appeared, it had been wrestling with Spike, trying desperately to slash him with its claws. The moment Buffy reappeared on the scene, however, it turned around and ran straight for her. Buffy held the axe high and clenched her teeth, preparing herself for the attack. But before the thing could reach her, Spike leapt back in front of it, shielding her from it. The demon didn't seem at all concerned by the vampire any more, merely annoyed, and it swiped out in one quick motion, finally slashing Spike across the stomach.

He fell backwards, clutching his stomach, but he didn't back down. The demon lunged at him again, and, thinking quickly, Buffy grabbed the axe off the floor and tossed it to him. He accepted it with a grin, and, before the demon knew what was happening, had buried it deep into its skull.

It fell to the floor with a great thud which shook the walls. They both stared at it for a moment, and then Spike turned to Buffy.

"Are you alright?" he asked, concerned.

"Me?" she replied incredulously. "You're the one with the dirty great gash in their side."

"I'll mend," he said firmly. "You're the one I'm worried about."

"No," Buffy replied, just as firmly. "It needs looking after. Come on." After thinking for a moment, she limped over to the coffin nearby.

"Your ankle's hurt," he commented as he walked gingerly behind her.

"It's fine," she said quickly. "I just fell on it down there. It's nowhere near as bad as you."

They reached the coffin, and she gestured for him to lie down. "Take off your shirt," she said matter-of-factly. "I need to see the wound properly."

He obliged, and Buffy was forced to remind herself that he was her enemy as she stared at his bare chest. It was a good chest to have though, she thought decidedly. Chiselled, like the rest of him, and extremely well muscled. What did she expect though? It wasn't like he was lazy. He'd spent a good hundred years fighting, it must have had some effect on him. It was extremely pale as well, but absolutely perfect, without a blemish or anything which she could have complained about.

Absent-mindedly, she licked her lips. This didn't go unnoticed by Spike.

"Like what you see, luv?"

"What? No!" Buffy said, in what she hoped was a disgusted voice. Trying to keep her mind on the task at hand, she studied his wound. There were 3 arch- shaped gashes in his left side, rough around the edges where the claws had been dragged through, and all of them very deep.

"I don't suppose you have any first aid stuff?" she asked, looking around

"No, luv."

Shaking her head, she quickly climbed back down the ladder. Spike wondered what she was doing, but his question was answered a few moments later when she reappeared holding the small metal tin he usually kept his cigarettes in, filled to the brim with water. She set it down beside him, fetched some alcohol from the fridge, then set about cleaning his wounds.

Spike tried to keep still while she did it. He didn't want the Slayer to think he was weak, but the alcohol she was putting on his wounds bloody hurt.

Trying to keep his mind off it, he asked suddenly, "Why are you helping me?"

"Why wouldn't I help you?"

"Because you never help me."

"Well, you protected me," Buffy said thoughtfully. "It was obvious that it was me they were after, and you could have let them kill me, but you didn't. I'm not exactly gonna leave you to look after yourself after that."

Spike nodded, satisfied with her answer. He couldn't believe she didn't think he would protect her, whatever the cost, but then again, she didn't know how he felt about her. He watched her as she finished cleaning the wound, smiling to himself at how careful she was being not to hurt him. This was a different Slayer to the one he had met all those years ago. In fact, she was a different Slayer to the one she had been even a few months ago, he was sure of it.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of ripping material.

"Hey!" he said indignantly. "That's my favourite shirt your ripping up."

"It's already ruined," she snapped back. "And it isn't like you haven't got thousands more like it. Besides, you need a bandage.

He was going to protest more, but then he felt her warm hands against his skin as she gently starting wrapping the strip of material around him. This wasn't so bad after all. But it was over before he realised it.

She stepped back, smiling at her work. "There you go. That should hold you 'til that vampire healing of yours kicks in."

"Thanks," Spike said, getting to his feet and testing out it out. He looked up at Buffy and smiled and, slowly an meaningfully, she smiled back.

It wasn't until afterwards that Buffy realised that this was probably the first time they had ever felt a real connection. It was the first time she had ever really liked him, had ever felt he was more than just an annoying vampire who cropped up every now and again. And, as embarrassed as she was to admit it, she liked the feeling.

*Well,* she thought wryly, *there's a first time for everything.*

********

Buffy was settled comfortable in the only chair, reading one of the books Willow had brought her. Spike was downstairs, finally getting some rest. She felt a bit mean, after hogging the bed for so long, so she had decided to leave him there in peace. She had gone down about half an hour ago to check on him, but he was sound asleep, and he looked so sweet and innocent that she didn't want to disturb him.

As she absent-mindedly turned the page, she heard a loud crash. She looked up to see at least 8 more demons clambering in through the door. Leaping to her feet, she ran towards the axe still lying on the floor in the middle of the room. If she was going to fight these guys on her own, she needed a weapon. But she had forgotten about her twisted ankle.

With a cry, she stumbled and fell into a heap on the floor. She righted herself quickly, but it was too late. The axe was still several metres away, and the demons were closing in fast.

Shit.

********** A/N: Please review!