Bella walked to the Magick Box alone after leaving Spike at his crypt to change clothes. He'd kissed her like he was afraid he'd never see her again. He was incorrigable in a completely endearing way. Willow was sitting at the round table with Giles. They were both studying something on a laptop.

"Hey, Willow, Rupe. What's on the small-screen?" she asked, pausing in the doorway.

"Bella. Come in, come in," Giles stood and offered his seat to her even though there were plenty of others. The British certainly were a hospitable bunch. "Willow and I were just seeing if we could find any other instances of the Hellmouth."

"Why didn't you just ask?" She stood over Willow and glanced at the screen. Like they'd find anything useful about the Hellmouth on a human search engine.

"Pardon?" Giles took off his glasses and nervously went to cleaning them on his jacket. Tweed. Stuffy.

"Why. Didn't. You. Just. Ask." She could be very sarcastic. Willow was beginning to think that all vampires were as snarky as Spike.

"Um, okay. I'll bite..." Willow said before quickly adding, "Not really... bite. No, um... poor choice of words."

"Hellmouth. I know of three in this world. There's one in India, another in Hawaii. Then there's Sunnydale."

"Hawaii?" Giles and Willow both said, jaws dropped, eyes round.

"Oh, come on. Like that's not the most obvious of the three? State made up of an archepelago of volcanoes and you don't see the relativity?" She wondered about them. "Hawaii... evil. Polynesians... Sons of Lucifer. Bad, baaad Hawaii. And you don't even want to know about Don Ho!"

Was she for real?

"What about Don Ho?" Buffy asked, catching the tail-end of the conversation as she walked through the door. Spike was a step behind her. "C'mon in," she threw to him in an afterthought.

His eyes locked on Bella as soon as he saw her.

"Don Ho. Evil. Baaad Hawaiian," Willow paraphrased Bella.

"This isn't the only Hellmouth," Giles told them, still taken aback by the discovery.

"Well, that's great. You found that out online, Will?" she asked, peering over Willow's shoulder at the computer screen.

"Um, no... actually, we found that out about 30 seconds ago. From Bella." She told the Slayer.

Buffy turned to Bella with quite the same slack-jawed, pie-eyed stare as the one she'd received from Willow and Giles when they had first heard the news.

"I know, I know. Same look they gave me," Bella joked, rolling her eyes. She noticed that Spike was back to being all despondent.

"Three. Hellmouth. Mouths. Plural," Willow continued excitedly.

"India, Hawaii and Sunnydale." Giles finished.

"How--" Buffy had to pause to collect her thoughts. "How do you know this?"

"I been around da block a few times," Bella joked in a thick New York accent which was an exaggeration of the one she already had. "Seriously? I met an Agathodemon at this underground club in the city -- kind of like the CBGB's for the undead and such. Ooh, he could tell you some wild tales. But I do know for a fact that the tales he told were the truth. Creepy truth... things I didn't think I'd ever want or need to know. Guess I was wrong, huh?"

Bella talked about it like it was just another night at a hot club with a kick-ass punk band. And about 200 or so of the undead and demon genre. Spike could feel a smile threatening to crack its way across his face. He loved the way she interacted with them. He could just hear them now making comparisons to him. She's abrasive. Sarcastic. Snarky.

She was looking at him. Had a cat-ate-the-canary grin plastered on her face. "Hellmouth in Hawaii closed a loooong time ago. Aggy, he told me that it had been opened. Twice. So," she clapped her hands together, suddenly impassioned, "I think that if the ancient Polynesians could do it, we can certainly seal this Hellmouth up here in Sunnydale. I mean, between our technology and our magick," she waved a hand at Willow and at the laptop she was holding. "And our knowledge and discipline," she swept her hand in Giles' direction. He gave a small, surprised smile. "Our strength," her hands went out to include Buffy and Spike. Xander and Anya walked in just as she was wrapping up her pep talk. "And... whatever it is that they do," she finished. "We can beat this bitch."

Buffy began filling in Xander and Anya on the Hellmouth and Bella's knowledge of it. Spike was still looking at her in amazement. She smiled up at him, proud of the buzz she'd created. She was almost giddy.

Guess this Daywalker done good, huh? she silently asked, seeking his approval.

Honestly, Sweet, wasn't really thinking about Hellmouths and Don Ho, he replied in such a way that she tingled all the way down to her toes.

Giles silently surveyed the implicit conversation between the vampires. Didn't know what they were saying to each other, but he got the feeling that their smiles and glances were about more than the Hellmouth. Ah, love among the ruins, or in this case, the Scoobies... just as long as it didn't keep Bella from doing her job. He looked at the two of them again. Not hearing all the hullabaloo around them. Locked into whatever thoughts they were exchanging. He was almost envious.

"Listen, guys," Bella finally broke in, "I think that Willow and I need to do some digging around with what I do know and what I think I can find. See what we can see, capisce?"

"Sounds like a great idea. Spike, you come on patrol with me. Willow and Bella, put your heads together and see what you can find. Anya, Xander... " Buffy paused and looked to Bella.

"Anya, Xander... get with Spike before patrol. Have him make you a list of some of the demon bars around here." She turned to Spike. "Ones where they won't get masticated. We're talking extremely Casper," she told him referring to the friendly ghost. "Me and you, we'll hit the harder ones after you and Buffy wrap up patrol."

"Right. Demon bars. And I'll fit in there... how?" Xander asked.

"Inuyasha just love human boys. Eat 'em up," she told him with a wicked smirk. "Just a figure of speech, Harris. They're pretty little dog demons. Flirt with them a little, scratch 'em behind the ear and they'll tell you anything."

"What can I do?" Dawn called down from the loft. Always up there mousing around. Bella felt bad for the girl. Thrown into this mess by proxy. And felt like she had nothing special to offer. Was usually told to worry about her homework.

"You," Bella began with a twinkle in her eyes.

"I know... I can go with Giles and do my homework, blah blah blah..."

"You can stay here with me and Willow. Be our little demi-witch. Assist. And learn." She turned to Buffy. "It is Friday night. Can little sis stay up if I promise to help with her homework tomorrow?"

Buffy smiled. She was thankful that Bella was kind enough to include Dawn.

"Don't have any," Dawn called as she climbed down the ladder. "Can I, Buffy? Pleeease?" she begged. Her eyes darted over to Spike. He was watching Bella. And he was kind of smiling. And Dawn decided that she kind of liked that. If Spike liked Bella, she must be cool.

Buffy sighed. "Okay, you can stay here. BUT you are to listen to Bella and Willow. And stay out of their way, okay?"

"Nah, skip that last part. S'cool. I'm cool with her being in my way. Wouldn't have issued the invite if I wasn't," Bella told the worried Slayer. "Go vanquish evil-doers. Spike's got my c-phone number. Check in with me if you get worried about little sis," Bella reassured her.

"And Rupe," she threw to Giles. He looked up at her waiting for her instructions. "Go home and watch some BBC-America or something. Chill out. Take five. You deserve it." He smiled at her thoughtfulness, but they both knew full-well that a Watcher's job was never done.

The Scoobies began to scatter. Spike was at the counter with Anya writing down the names of half dozen demon bars on a slip of cash register tape. Dawn was crowded in between Bella and Willow excitedly chattering away. Giles bid everyone a good night and said that he wasn't going to argue with Bella. BBC-America and a cuppa sounded like a nice break. Buffy watched how easily Dawn took to Bella. The teen was grinning from ear to ear as Bella told her about the evil Hawaiians and the Agathodemon she had affectionately called Aggy. Bella was a natural with the girl.

"Okay, I've got the list. Spike said that as long as we don't bring up his name at this one..." she pointed at the slip of paper. Fred's House of Hell... "we'll be fine." Anya told Xander who was standing, arms crossed, next to Buffy.

Spike walked over to the Slayer while Xander and Anya exchanged cell-phone numbers with Bella. "Penny for your thoughts, Slayer."

She was still watching Dawn, happily sandwiched between the witches. Why can't I be like that? Why can't I be like that with Dawn?

"Bella. She's really good with Dawn. She's really good with everyone," Buffy nervously prattled.

Spike looked over at her. She was showing Dawn and Willow a demon search engine that none of them had even known existed.

"Sound a little pinched, Slayer." He told her as he lit a cigarette.

"No, not..." she looked wistfully at the three of them. "Maybe a little," she admitted. "Bella has good people-skills. Not all sucky and bossy like me."

"And the irony is that she's never been around people," Spike told Buffy.

Buffy's brow wrinkled in puzzlement.

"Bella..." Spike wasn't sure what Bella wanted them to know, but he did feel a bit sorry for the Slayer and her insecurity. "She wasn't raised around other people. Mum kept her all locked up. No school. No friends. Too scared of the Big Bad coming to get them both."

"Oh," Buffy nodded, understanding. "She's... she's really good with people, though. Guess she has more of an appreciation for them since she went without for so long."

"Maybe," Spike offered, pinching the spent butt between his fingers before flicking it out the door and onto the sidewalk. "And maybe you've just been the Slayer too long to remember what it's like to just be a girl."

Maybe. He went to Bella and she stood up, following him over to the counter. Buffy waited in the doorway, trying not to watch them together, their bodies definately leaning into each other. They were inches apart. She was looking up at him, eyes wide, nodding. Smiling. Ugh! She was sure he'd start making out with her right there. Instead, he said something to her with his eyes. She didn't know what, but she knew it was something just between them. She reached out and put her hand on his sleeve, it rested on his right arm, on the supple leather of the weathered duster Buffy knew too well. It wasn't a quick touch. It lingered as they continued their quiet conversation. Then Bella laughed, a sweet, tinkling laugh that made Willow and Dawn turn and grin, looking like they wished they knew the vampires' secret. Buffy wished she knew, too. He reached up and stroked her cheek, she squeezed his arm and dropped her head, still smiling, still looking up at him with doe eyes. They parted, Bella returning to the round table and answering Dawn's many questions about the Hellmouth in Hawaii and about Don Ho. Spike, joining Buffy at the door, opening it, holding it for her. Had he always been this chivalrous? She'd never noticed before.