Giles and Robin leaned up against the bus passing a cigarette between them. Buffy couldn't guess what they were talking about shortly before the battle. Crowley. His mother. But they both seemed to be bonding well. In a manner more suitable than the plan to get rid of…
The troop of girls filing out the door distracted her. It was probably just as well.
They'd cleaned so much out of the Summers' household as far as toiletries, supplies, first aid. A shopping trip would have been on the itinerary very soon. Ordinarily, that would be the case.
Today, though, Buffy had told the Potentials to take care of all the food. Don't gorge but do eat. Because they would need to keep their strength up if they were to face the relentlessness of the Turok-Han.
So they did. All traces of food swept clean.
She was also afraid of weapons. They'd had to scramble to find enough . Her chest was just that now. An empty case that contained no evidence of the Slayer's tools of trade.
Wood went through his stash and distributed it appropriately. And, of course, Giles came through on his end. Everyone was armed appropriately.
Save for she and Spike.
Willow had Buffy's weapon for the spell--the revolutionary spell that would change everything. Throw out the Slayer Handbook for everybody now, not just her.
Buffy allowed her lips to turn up slightly. But only just. It was time for her to play General Park.
"MacArthur," Spike corrected later on the bus. "General MacArthur."
"Yeah, that's what I said. General MacArthur Park."
She was pleased that Spike didn't argue with her and accepted verbal defeat. The methods had changed but they still knew how to spar.. Though he sighed a bit exasperatedly for her taste. Buffy figured it was just vampire tension before the battle.
But as everyone had boarded the bus with the Potentials going first, the Scoobs second, followed by Giles and Wood. Buffy hung back to wait for Spike. She held his blanket and lingered at the basement door. Finally he strode up the steps with her jacket.
As ever the chivalrous gentleman--and he was a man now, Buffy noted proudly---Spike girded his Slayer with her fashionable armor. Then Buffy took the amulet and beckoned for Spike to bend forward. He did.
And fighting to stay strong for him, she placed the amulet around his neck. And stepped back to look at her champion.
She caressed his cheek for the briefest instant and gave him a watery smile. Whatever comes, whatever happens, they're in it together.
And she can't think of anyone else she'd rather have at her side. She handed him his blanket.
Taking a quick last look around at the Summers home, she briskly strode to the front door. Always looking ahead, never back.
Spike trailed her and opened the door for her. She nodded her thanks and walked out into the sun. Spike cloaked himself in the blanket, said a silent goodbye, an even more silent prayer, and left the house he thought he'd never be welcome to set foot in again.
Following the lady who he thought, not very long ago, would never welcome him into her heart.
They boarded the bus, Wood took the driver's seat, and like the countless other teachers she knew in high school, Buffy conducted roll call. Then the Slayer and her vampire champion drifted to the back where Wood had shaded the windows for Spike. Buffy's impatient insistence helped some. Followed by a reminder of her promise to him if he ever acted "funny" around Spike.
There they sat, and Spike tried in vain to give his Slayer a refresher course on General MacArthur.