A/N: Back by popular demand. Things are about to get a lot more SPUFFY around here soon and that's never a bad thing, right? So carry on reading, gentle viewers.
Buffy looked at Giles wide-eyed and he motioned for her to help him get Spike back to the house. Buffy did one better and lifted the prone vampire onto her shoulder like a fireman and practically ran back to the house. Even with her carrying Spike Giles struggled to match her speed.
"Buffy! Take him to the guesthouse" Giles called after her, panting.
The Slayer didn't question him she just kicked the door of the guesthouse open as she reached it and carried the wet, cold, lifeless body inside. Buffy looked around desperately trying to find a suitable place for him. Giles entered, gasping and running hands through his hair. Her Watcher was now covered in mud himself and he motioned her breathlessly to place the vampire on the floor of the living room. Buffy did as he asked but wondered if Spike as uncomfortable which was stupid because he wasn't even conscious.
Giles walked into the kitchen and then returned with a first aid kit he threw it to her and she caught it easily "Although I doubt antiseptic will work, try it. I'm going to run inside the house and get my papers on water demons, see what could be wrong"
He bolted out of the door a moment later. Buffy looked down at the soggy vampire and knew her face was a mask of concern. She took a breath and told herself to get on with it. Buffy grabbed his T-shirt in the middle being careful to avoid the spine and then tore it right down the middle. She pulled the material away from his body to expose his chest. The Slayer looked down and gasped because where the spine stuck out just an inch from his heart there was black tendrils of venom running in a spider-webbed fashion through his veins. Buffy grabbed the quill and yanked it out then grabbed the antiseptic from the first aid kit and uncapped it with her teeth spitting the lid away she applied some of the cream to his wound and rubbed it in hearing him groan. Spike stirred a little and then his eyes shot open and bled to yellow with a pinprick of black as his face morphed lumpy in the forehead and his fangs extended from his mouth. He growled and shot his arms out grabbing her around the neck with both hands and throttling her.
"Spi –ke!" Buffy gagged reaching up and clawing at his hands.
His eyes widened more but not at her at something that seemed to be in his mind because he screamed and let go of her making her gasp for air. Spike's body began to convulse wildly and he almost shook across the floor. Buffy had to grab his shoulders and hold his wildly bucking body down.
Then to her surprise Spike opened his mouth to scream again but instead a loud, long screech came out that was so high pitched Buffy had to hold her hands over her ears at it.
Giles ran through the door with a book under one arm and a syringe in the other he winced and his eyes narrowed at the noise. He slipped on the floor and went down, crawled towards the shaking vampire and stretched his arm across to stab the vampire in the arm, plunging the liquid into him. Almost at once his eyes went wide and he stopped shaking just looked up at the ceiling until he slumped and his eyes closed.
Buffy removed her hands from her ears and looked at Giles, shocked "What...what did you inject him with?"
"Just a sedative to keep him under and hopefully give us a little more time to work out what has happened to him" Giles explained standing up and the walking over to an armchair and slumping down into it "I thought it best to bring him here so as not to distress Dawn"
The Slayer nodded numbly choosing to remain knelt by Spike "What was that noise he was making?"
"Well, strangely enough it sounded quite similar to that of mermaids" Giles looked at her seriously.
"So, you're saying Spike is turning into a mermaid?" Buffy looked at him, eyebrow arched not amused as she might have once been in regards to the vampire being hurt and/or embarrassed.
Her Watcher gave a shake of the head "I do not know. However, if he was he would become a merman not a mermaid"
"Giles, that's really not the point" She stressed "What is happening to him?"
Giles gave her a weary look "I do not know. I will have to look through the Encyclopedia of Marine Monsters"
"It's called that? You're kidding"
"No, I am not" He adjusted his glasses and then picked up the demon quill from the floor careful so not to touch the poisonous end "Curious. I should be able to find some explanation. Just out of interest, though, Buffy, what were you and Spike doing at the lake?"
Buffy looked up at him; stumped to come up with an answer "That isn't important. He could wake up any minute –"
"Actually," Giles opened the book but then turned to her "He'll be out for little less than three hours, I believe"
"Oh. Well." She cleared her throat "Tea, then?"
Giles frowned and looked at her condescendingly "Buffy"
"Giles" Buffy replied in the same tone of voice as she stood up and folded her arms over her chest, suddenly aware again that she was soaking wet "It's not really your business, is it? You're not my father and even if you were I'm an adult, Giles. I make my own decisions"
He rubbed his brow and sighed "I take it that means you were being intimate with him"
"Again, it's not your business" She looked down at him unwavering "I'm gonna go and change, dry out and then we are gonna help Spike"
Buffy turned and ran up the stairs of the guesthouse knowing she kept some clothes here. She walked into her room and to the small dresser absent-mindedly pulling out clothes and stripping her wet ones off. The Slayer tried not to think about what had happened that night. It had all started out so simply all she had tried to do was take a walk with Spike and it had ended in disaster. It was like the fates were trying to make sure they stayed away from each other even in a friendly capacity. Not that the incident in the lake had been just 'friendly' of course.
Buffy didn't know what was going on in her head. It should have been simple because Spike was supposed to be bad for her, right? She wasn't so sure now. The past year when he had gotten his soul back he had been a rock for her to lean on and they had grown so close, closer then she ever thought she would get to the peroxide vampire. When he had sacrificed himself she had told him that she loved him, but he hadn't believed her. Buffy knew that at the time she had said it because he was dying and because she did care deeply for him. Now, after seeing him alive when she thought she'd never see him again the Slayer wondered if, maybe, she might actually be a little in love with him. With Buffy love had usually been all or nothing but neither her relationship with Angel or Riley had worked out well so maybe getting to love someone slowly but steadily was the key.
She sighed as she dried herself off with a towel and got changed. Thinking about Spike lying downstairs hurt made her chest feel tight. She turned and looked at her bed, which was unmade, because Spike had crawled out of it that afternoon. Buffy sat down on the corner of it and placed her hand on the pillow taking a long deep breath.
"Buffy?" Giles voice floated up the stairs.
The Slayer stood and then ran quickly down the stairs coming into the living room "What, what is it?"
"I think I've found the demon" He replied from his spot in the armchair, he motioned to her to sit down and she did "Spike was correct in that it was a water-feral demon and it was of the venomous kind as we know. However, I studied the quill and you can see it has a slight indentation at the base of it – this type of quill only belongs to female water-feral demons"
Buffy shifted in the chair "Why is this relevant?"
"Buffy," He took a moment, wetted his lips "The water-feral demon's aim is to find herself a mate to procreate with. If she cannot find one of her own species –"
"Oh my god! Are you saying this demon...mated with Spike?!" Buffy's eyes widened.
"No. Listen, if she cannot find a mate of her own species then she will make one"
The Slayer frowned "Make one?"
"The venom in her quills can...change any species into a water-feral demon if injected into the bloodstream"
"But Spike doesn't have circulation"
"It doesn't seem to matter"
Buffy looked down at the vampire "So...so you're saying Spike's gonna change into a..."
"Water-feral demon? Yes, it looks that way"
The Slayer took a few moments to register this "I don't get it Giles, I've been swimming in that lake almost since we got here"
"Yes, but you are female and regardless of the venom's metamorphic ability it can only work on males of any species, not females. It's likely the demon was lying dormant at the bottom of the lake waiting for a male to come to the water" Giles looked down at the book then back up "I can't find a cure"
Buffy stood "Well, you're gonna have to look harder, aren't you?"
"Buffy –"
"No, Giles!" She turned to look at him, eyes hard "Spike did not come back from the dead just to get turned into some fish demon's love slave"
Her Watcher looked at her "No, but it seems he's come back to be yours"
Buffy's mouth dropped open and she was flabbergasted "You did not just say that!"
Giles rose from the chair and placed the book on the table. He stretched and then placed his hands comfortably in his pockets looking back into her eyes with a little sadness but assured that what he was doing was the right thing.
"I did just say that," His tone was soft, melancholic "Because it needs to be said. The first time you got...involved with Spike I wasn't around to put a stop to it but I'm here now and I won't let you make the same mistake twice"
Buffy's jaw dropped again "Who do you think you are? You can't just decided who I can or cannot see, Giles, you have never been able to control my personal life in that way"
"Yes, well, perhaps if I had you wouldn't have..." He trailed off, not wanting to say the wrong thing.
Buffy arched an eyebrow and she tilted her head her 'stern' face on "I wouldn't have what, Giles? Wouldn't have made so many disastrous mistakes? Wouldn't have got hurt so badly? All those experiences bad or good have made me who I am today and they were my mistakes to make, not yours. How dare you presume to know what's best for me! When was the last time you had a real relationship?"
He paused and shook his head "That isn't relevant"
"I think it is," She stepped up "The last time you fell for someone? Not since Ms. Calendar"
Giles eyes snapped up at her, hard "Don't you dare bring her up!"
"Fine, I won't. Then don't talk to me about Spike," Buffy replied sharply.
"I'm just trying to stop you from ruining you life," He tried hard to put his point across "You have a chance at something normal here. You can find yourself a normal, human partner and lead a long, happy life"
Buffy looked at him "Maybe 'normal' isn't what I'm looking for anymore. I know that when I first started out the whole Slayer gig all I wanted was to date, to shop to have an average normal girls life but things have changed...I've changed. Even if I'm not the Chosen One anymore I can't go back to being 'normal' because, Giles, I'm not normal. I'm extraordinary"
She was remembering Spike's words back in L.A in the elevator ride they had taken together when he called her extraordinary and she had just realized he was right. Giles looked back at her but didn't oppose her view.
"I don't want to sound egotistical," Buffy carried on "But I think it's true. I can't ever be normal because ever since I was born I've had this weird, unique destiny that I was one day gonna become the Slayer. Then I fought demons, averted a dozen apocalypses and destroyed a whole town bringing a Hellmouth down. You won't find that on an ordinary person's résumé"
"You're quite right, Buffy" Giles took a step towards her "But that doesn't mean you have to go down the road that Spike will take you"
"And what road is that?"
"The road to heartbreak and pain. You've had more of that in your short life then most people have in their entire lives" He paused "I don't want you to let him hurt you again"
She shook her head "If anyone hurt anyone in the whole Spike and Buffy escapades it was me dealing the pain"
"He attacked you"
"Yes" Was all she said for a moment "And I'm not condoning that but, in a way, I hurt him just as bad. He was in love with me, Giles, and I completely used him. That's not something I ever want to repeat with anyone"
He gave her a swift nod "Yes, I understand that. Yet, however noble Spike gets now or in the near future he is still a vampire and even with a soul his instincts tell him to inflict pain"
"But his heart tells him otherwise," Buffy locked eyes with him "And even you know Spike has always been ruled by his heart not his head"
"It's true that even before the soul with Drusilla they had something that, if not love, was extremely close to it" Giles admitted "But all it takes is for his resolve to slip for one moment and he could do something terrible"
"Isn't that the same for everyone?"
"It is unlikely that you could compare what a distressed Spike might do to someone and what a human would do" He said "But I can see neither of us is gonna back down on that point. So, I have one last question to ask you – have you thought about the practicality of being with a vampire?"
Buffy sighed "Giles, I planned to be with Angel my whole life, remember?"
"So, you've thought about the fact that if you were in a relationship with either Spike or Angel that they won't age?"
She paused, looked down at the floor then back up "It wasn't ever an issue because I'm the Slayer and the Slayer has a short life expectancy"
"Back then, yes" Giles rubbed the bridge of his nose "But now things are different and you are not the sole Slayer. It is likely you will live to a ripe old age"
"Yay?" Buffy came up with weakly.
"You would age naturally and they would stay looking exactly the same and in time you would most likely resent them for that," He explained "And is there any real guarantee that Spike would stay with you through your old age?"
Buffy groaned "Giles, I'm not thinking that far ahead. I'm kind of doing the normal thing of just going with what I feel right now. I can't even imagine myself at forty or fifty or older, if I even make it to that age. Yes, my feelings for Spike might change, I might not want to be with him or he might not want to be with me in the future but I'm going with the moment. Living for the present"
Giles glanced down at the vampire on the floor then back at her "What exactly are your feelings for Spike? With Angel it was always clear you were in love but with Spike it's Could you really love William the Bloody?"
"No" She paused for a long time and Giles nodded his head as if that was what he had expected "But I could love Spike"
His head snapped back to look at her, eyes a fraction wide "And do you? Love him"
A/N: Left on a cliffhanger last time which nobody really thanked me for...so I thought I'd do it again! I am so cruel. A little question for you, this doesn't really have anything to do with this fic, but I have been curious for a while. In most fanfictions I have read (and in my own) Buffy's perfume is almost always vanilla. How did this come about? Did they mention it in the show or a novel? Answers on a postcard please.
Oh and keep reviewing. Thanks for all the support.