Chapter 7

Confrontation

Spike had thought about Illyria's words a lot over the past 24 hours. He hadn't wanted to go back to where Buffy and her lot were staying, not until he had made a decision. After considering all of his options, he finally made up his mind to stay and help, but after that, there was nothing more he would do for them.

Spike, who was now in his car, turned onto the street that the town home the Scooby gang now occupied was on. They had moved within the last week, after Buffy had finally found a bigger place to house their operations for the time being. The apartment had only been temporary, a residence to start out in and grow from. The town house was three stories, with two bedrooms on each story, and a small den on the third floor which served as Giles' library.

Stepping out of the car, Spike quickly wrapped his coat around his exposed skin so he wouldn't catch fire. The windows of his car had been blacked out, except for a few small, hazy spots that provided Spike enough of a view of the road to drive by. Hurrying up to the door, he rapped quickly on it, and Dawn was first to answer. "Spike!" she said excitedly.

"Hey nibblet," he greeted her. "How 'bout invitin' me in?"

"Oh! Right! Come in!" she said, and Spike stepped in quickly, Dawn closing the door behind him. As he repositioned his coat, she said "Sorry. Forgot that you hadn't been to the new place yet."

"Where's Buffy?" he asked, wanting to get his little deed over and done with as soon as possible so he could go to some bar and get as close to drunk as was possible for him. When you live to be over a hundred, your tolerance level is quite high.

"She's upstairs in Giles' library."

"Oh, got himself a library now does he? That oughta have made him giddy," Spike said. The doorbell rang, and Dawn went to answer the door again. It wasn't until now that Spike noticed that Dawn was dressed in casual, yet formal clothes. When she opened the door a young man, no more than 19 was on the other side, holding a single white rose. He was dressed in a silk shirt, with no tie, and khaki trousers.

"Hi Doug!" Dawn beamed at the boy as he extended his hand to give her the rose which she accepted with much excitement. She turned to Spike and introduced them as Doug entered the doorway. "Spike, this is Doug. Doug, this is Spike. He's….a friend of the family," Dawn said. Doug took a step forward and extended a hand and Dawn mouthed to Spike that Doug had no concept of the real world.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Spike," Doug said in his accent, one much like, but not exactly the same as, Spikes.

Spike took Doug's hand and gave it a firm shake. "Same to you, chap," Spike said. "You treat her right, or I'll have ta come after you," Spike said, squeezing Doug's hand a little harder. He flashed a grin and then directed his next statement to Dawn: "Upstairs, right?"

"Third door on the right. Come on Doug," she said, grabbing the boy's arm and pulling him away from Spike. "Tell her I'll be back later, and not to wait up," she said.

As Dawn and Doug left, Spike remarked to himself about how much Dawn had grown up since he had last seen her. He had no doubt that Buffy would have a problem with her not giving a specific time that she would be back, but then again, Buffy had always been to overprotective.

Heading upstairs, Spike ran over his list of things to say in his mind. He wanted to make it short and sweet, yet informative and firm. He entered the room without knocking, obviously interrupting something from the glare he was given by both Buffy and Giles. "Right, I'll make it short then," Spike said, sauntering over to a chair and plopping himself on the arm of it.

"Actually, what we're discussing would be beneficial to you as well," Giles said.

"Ah-ah, me first," Spike said. "I thought it over, and decided I'd come on board again. But, there are conditions if you want my help."

"Conditions? What type of conditions could you possibly think we would agree to, and for your help to boot?" Buffy asked, with much venom.

"Look Slayer, I get that you're pist that I didn't come on over and tell ya that I wasn't dead, but you really need to get past it. Look at me, if I can get past it, you can get past it. Right? Good."

Buffy started to say something, but Giles stopped her, realizing that Spike was on borrowed patience, and that he was serious with what he was saying.

"Right then. Talked it over with a bloke a few nights ago, and decided that I'd help. But, after this, I want you lot to leave me the hell alone. I don't care if I'm dead or alive, leave me out of any future events that you want to tackle. No big bads, no apocalypses, nothing. I'm outta the business after this. Gonna live me a normal life, and all that jazz and shenanigans. You cool with that?"

Giles spoke first. "As long as you don't hinder or impair the assistance you provide to us now, we will both," he said, placing a hand on Buffy's arm, "agree to what you are saying. Can you assure us of that?"

"You got it, mate." Spike stood and walked a few paces over to join the group so he could hear and see what they were talking about. "Oh yea, no wavin' your boy toy around in my face either. Got it, Slayer?"

At this point, Buffy couldn't take it any longer and she hauled off and slugged Spike right in the face. "Listen Spike. I have every right to be mad at you for not telling me that you were alive, especially after everything we went through together. And you do not get to come in here and dictate to me what I can and cannot do with whomever I want. Just because you signed on to help us take down this demon thing, doesn't mean that we're going to grovel at your feet the entire time to get you to stay on our side. We can fight this battle with or without your help, but with your help it will be much easier. Got it?" Buffy said, as Spike rubbed his face.

Realizing he wasn't going to win this fight, Spike backed down, let his guard off, and looked at Giles. "What've we got?" he asked.

"Not much more than we had before," Giles explained. "I ran across a mention of a demon that sounded much like the one we are pursuing. His name is Dardock, and no one knows the full extent of his power. This book was written from texts recovered that were written during the 4th century. Apparently he made an appearance during that time, and slaughtered every Slayer that faced him."

"And how many would that be?" Buffy asked.

"Approximately six," Giles answered, closing the book and setting it on the table.

"Looks like we've got a bad ass on our hands. Find any mention of how to stop the bloke?"

"None. Willow is still attempting a spell that would locate him and make him stay in the same form, but she hasn't quite worked out all the tweaks yet."

"Last we checked she had turned Kennedy into a pillow," Buffy laughed.

"Sounds serious," Spike said.

"Oh, she fixed it. Turns out that it was only temporary. Like 30 seconds temporary," Buffy replied, standing straight up from her leaning position against the table. She took a step forward. "I'll let you know if I need you for anything," Buffy said.

"Going out?"

"Yes."

"Well I hope whatever you need me for involves the demon because I'm not playin' your little games like we did a few years ago. I won't sleep with you to make the Immortal jealous!" Spike yelled just as the Immortal entered.

The Immortal kissed Buffy and then said "I'm glad to here that. But for your information, I wouldn't be jealous in the least bit."

Spike growled and launched forward after him, but Giles grabbed Spike by the arm and held him back. Buffy and the Immortal left the room.

"Why do you let him get to you like that? He just does it because he knows that you'll get angry."

"I can't help it. Ever since he slept with Dru and Darla, I've hated him. If Angel were here we'd both toss his carcass out for the worms to eat."

"And as pleasant as that imagery makes me feel, I have to go. I have business across town. Stay if you like. Andrew is in the house."

"Right. Quality time with nerd-boy."

A/N- Sorry for the majorly long delay in updating the story. I started writing for an online Angel Virtual Season 6 and a virtual Buffy Season 8, and school work picked up, blah blah blah, basically I've been macho busy for the past few months. So, I found this chapter that I had written a while back while I was still involved with the story, tweaked it up a bit, and here it is. Hopefully Chapter 8 won't be too far behind.