"Rupe." Her tone was firm. She was sure. "This will make it corporeal. It can make it bleed. It can make it die. Now, we just need to decide when."

Giles removed his glasses and set them on the table in front of him. One thing that he had learned in the short time that he had known her was that Bella's hunches were very accurate. Frighteningly so.

"When you say corporeal, what exactly are you saying? That this spell will bring forth the First in its own true form?" he asked.

"Or will it do what you said we needed to do before?" Buffy asked from the sofa. "Will it send it into the nearest Chaka Khan?"

"Turok Khan," Dawn corrected. She was grinning. She could feel the warmth spreading through her body. Bella definately was onto something.

"Whatever," Buffy said, brushing off her error. "What will this do?"

Bella brought the book over and showed it to her. For all Buffy could tell, it could be a recipe for pot roast.

"Sorry," she said, passing the tome to Willow. "Not big with the ancient languages."

"Right," Bella nodded. "This is an Aramaic spell. We won't need anything to embody the First. This will make it corporeal. And by making it corporeal, we can bleed it over the Seal of Danthazar, effectively closing the Hellmouth. But we have to remember, to every action, there is a reaction."

"What does that mean?" Willow asked, passing the book on to Dawn.

"It means that we'd better be damned sure of what we're getting into before we perform this spell," Bella told them. "Yeah. This will close the Hellmouth. But what are the residuals? That's the tricky thing about magic -- no pun intended. The whole whatever you do will be done unto you trifold. It makes it even more neccessary to understand exactly what we are doing. If I learned nothing else from my mother, that's a lesson I learned well."

Spike and the Watcher were deep in quiet conversation at the dining table. If anyone understood what Bella was saying, they did. Giles had read more than one spell that went awry in his Watchers Journals. And Spike had witnessed more than he cared to recall.

"I'm fairly well-versed in ancient languages, but there are a few passages in the spell that concern me," Giles confessed. Bella nodded, understanding his concern. "As you well know, Bella, many of the Aramaic spells were not meant to be taken literally. They were recorded in some sort of, uh... of--"

"Secret code," Spike offerered.

"Precisely." Giles replaced his glasses and briefly smiled at Spike. "Thank you, Spike. Yes, a secret code."

"Then we'll just have to pull out our secret decoder rings and make some sense out of it," Buffy sighed.

She was growing weary of all of the research. She needed something to kill. Deciphering codes and creating incantations just wasn't her thing. Executing the drill, well, that's exactly where she excelled. Her head was swimming with a million things. She rubbed her temples and made the decision.

"Tell you what," she announced. "I'm going to patrol. You know I'm useless when it comes to research anyhow," she told them, unapologetically.

"Yes, we know," Spike grinned.

"Very well, Buffy. Why don't you take Xander and Anya with you. Spike and I will continue to sift through these tomes and Bella can work with Dawn and Willow on breaking the code, as you refer to it," Giles told her.

Buffy gnawed her lip for a moment, looking even younger than she was.

"I, uh, I want Spike with me."

Spike's head snapped up in surprise. That was definately a first. The Slayer wanted him on patrol with her. What was that all about?

"I, uh... just think that, you know... like Bella said, a lot stronger. Ancient. The nasties that are rising..." She was stammering and they all sat slack-jawed and pie-eyed as she dug herself deeper.

"Hey, that's cool," Bella smiled, saving her from certain suffocation of self. She turned to Spike and winked, letting him know that she knew exactly what this was all about. "Actually, that's a good idea. You guys can suss out just how knee-deep we are in this muck. We need a good feel for the tangible, not just the abstract."

"Right," Buffy smiled weakly, glad for Bella's agreeance. There were just some things that needed to be sorted out. And she had the feeling that Bella knew that it was beyond the obvious.

"Right," Bella echoed. "Plus, a good spot of violence always ups our stamina for the academic stuff and all that rot," she winked at Spike.

Buffy felt her jaw tighten at Bella's reference to herself and Spike as being cut of the same cloth.

"Right. So, we'll be back with the full report in a few, then."

The Slayer let herself out of the apartment and waited for Spike to follow.

Willow and Dawn were poring over the ancient text. Dawn surprised the witch with just how much she was able to interpret. Bella watched them for a moment and then looked up to Spike, who was now standing over her.

"A word, Love?" he asked, motioning toward the door.

They walked out into the crisp night air. Buffy was standing at the edge of the walk. She was surprised to see that Bella had walked out with Spike. Something inside her was tearing her apart. She didn't love him. She knew that. But something inside her was screaming "Get away from my vampire!"

Spike looked up to see her glaring at them.

"Go ahead and head out. I'll find you in a moment," he told her. He could have sworn he saw her scowl.

"Uh, yeah. I'll just go the usual route," she told him, trying on her most agreeable smile.

Bella smiled at her and called after for her to be careful. She turned her attention back to Spike. She didn't like the dark cast his eyes had taken.

"What's this all about then?" she asked quietly. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest, her weight shifted onto one leg as she stared up at him. She tried to appear confident, indifferent to the thick tension that had been bubbling just below the surface all evening.

He reached out and pulled her arms away from her so that he could hold both of her hands in his.

"Don't need to worry, Love," he told her, pulling her closer to him.

"I'm not worried," she lied. "You and Buffy are strong fighters. Anything that needs to be found out, you'll find it."

He sighed and pulled her even closer, wrapping his arms tightly around her small form. He could feel that something wasn't right. She wouldn't relax into him. He pulled back, placing his hands on her upper arms.

"Kitten," he whispered, searching her eyes. She had closed herself off completely to him. "Let me in."

She stared up at him defiantly. She wanted to let him back in, but the tension she'd been feeling from the Slayer all evening was finally taking its toll.

"What is she to you?" she found herself asking.

Spike cupped her face in his hand with such tenderness that she almost let down her guard. She almost let him back in. But the wall was up and she wasn't going to let it back down until she knew just what kind of heartbreak she was facing.

"Bella, sweet," he sighed, narrowing his eyes on hers. She tried to look away, but he wouldn't let her. "Look at me, Love." She glanced up at him and then back away. "Bella." His tone was commanding as he gently forced her to look at him. "I have never fallen for anyone as hard and as fast as I have for you. You know I'm telling you the truth."

She closed her eyes and let a silent tear fall. She knew he was telling the truth.

"I'm... I'm just getting a lot of bad vibes thrown my way in there. And they're coming from her. She looks at me like I've... like I've taken her favorite toy."

He chuckled softly at her analogy. She was dead on. That's all he had been to the slayer... a toy. He knew that. And so did Buffy.

"She meant something more to me at one time. And like Dru," he shook his head, saddened by her memory. "Like Dru, a part of me will always love her. But like Dru, it was an unhealthy love. A bastardization of the word, if you will. And her feelings toward me... Buffy's. I think she's come to depend on me being there. And that she's even come to expect that I'll allow her to kick me over and over. But you're the one, Bella."

She looked up at him and searched his eyes.

"You're the one and I knew it from the moment I breathed you in. Until I met you, I couldn't piece together what was missing. With Dru, I thought it was the fact that I had too much of a conscience, you know. Wasn't bloody enough for her and the sort," he told her, pausing to collect his thoughts. "With Buffy, I was sure that it was the soul. Or, at the time, the lack of one. But that wasn't it. It wasn't enough."

Bella nodded, trying to understand what he was telling her. She inwardly cursed herself for even allowing herself these feelings for him. In such a short time, he'd turned her world inside out and made her feel things she never knew existed. She had no idea how to take the pieces and fit them together into something that made sense. Maybe it wasn't supposed to make sense.

"And... and what you feel with me?" she found herself asking, in barely a whisper.

He smiled warmly at her and slid his hands down to her waist. This isn't how he wanted to do things. This wasn't the place, but he could feel her need for the truth. In some ways, she was as impatient as small child. He had to remind himself of how sheltered she'd been, no matter how strong and smart she was. In matters of the heart, she was completely balled up.

"What I feel when I'm with you, Love... it's like nothing I've ever felt in my life... and that goes for my unlife, too," he joked. "You're the missing link, Kitten. You're what I've been searching for and could never find. And it has nothing to do with the fucked-up powers that be or with the prophesy your mum wrote about... it's because you've treated me like a man since day one. You're... you're my heart, Love." He took her hands and placed them where his heart should beat. He couldn't help but smile even more when she splayed them across his chest possessively. "I'm yours, Bella. There's no one else. Only you."

She felt the tears slipping from her closed eyes. He was right. It wasn't some stupid prophesy. She would have found him somehow, apocalypse or not. They were meant to be. She opened her eyes slowly to him and let him back in.

I think... I think I'm falling in love with you and it scares me more than anything I've ever known, he heard her admit.

"It scares me, too, Kitten," he agreed. "But what scares me more is knowing how many deaths I could have died without ever loving you."

His lips brushed gently against hers and her arms slid up around his neck. I want this, she thought. I want this all-consuming love. And so did he. He pulled her against him, crushing her small frame to his chest. Her lips parted to him and she darted out her tongue to taste him. The small gesture just further intensified the passion he felt.

"Go help the slayer," she finally breathed, pulling away from him slightly. "And then come back to me."

He gave her a final kiss, gently sucking in her bottom lip. He felt her completely relax in his arms as she murmered the words I love you against his mouth.

"And I love you, Bella."

Buffy stood in the shadows, just a few feet from the vampiric pair. Part of her was surprised that Spike hadn't sensed her there as he always had. She felt angry tears niggling at the backs of her eyelids at their declaration to one another. It was too late. He no longer loved her.