Three days have passed since Cole talked Buffy into letting him move into the Summer's home. He had settled into the basement and was

keeping an eye on things with Buffy. The news wasn't good. The Slayer planned to go up against the First Evil itself. Cole knew that without

physical form there would be no way for it to be killed. The First had targeted Buffy and her friends, and Cole knew the threat would always be

there, even if they managed to defeat the First's armies. Cole sighed. Even with his vast powers, he didn't know how he was supposed to protect

everyone from this evil.

Meanwhile, in Buffy's kitchen, Xander was busy complaining to his best friend. "I'm telling ya Will, that guy is evil."

"Xander, you know I haven't sensed any sort of evil from Cole. I think he's just a nice normal guy."

"Yeah nice normal guy living in someone's basement. I mean, what is this guy? Like 40? How pathetic is that?" Willow gave him a hard

stare. "Well, you know it was different with me. "I'm not a nerd! I'm not!"

"Of course you aren't sweetie," Willow reassured him just as Dawn came running down the stairs.

"Okay, my homework is finally done. I still say Buffy should write me a note. 'Dear Principal Wood, Please excuse my sister from doing her

homework. She is busy helping me prevent the Apocalypse. Yours Truly, Buffy Summers AKA The Slayer'. So what were you guys talking about?"

"Cole. Trying to decide if he's evil or not. I'd have to give that question a big old yes."

"Xander, just because someone is hot doesn't make them evil or dangerous. I mean maybe Spike, but you know not so much with the evil

anymore since he got his soul back, but still good looking in a platonic sort of a way," Willow stammered.

"Wait, you think Cole is hot?" Xander's eyes widened. "You think SPIKE is hot!"

"Well duh, she's gay not blind. Cole is totally hot. I mean for an older guy. I'm telling you, I would love to see him with his shirt off and he's

behind me isn't he?" Dawn trailed off as she noticed both Willow and Xander giving her 'shut up and preserve the shred of dignity you have left

looks'. Dawn turned and saw Cole standing in the doorway looking amused. Oh God, how long have you been standing there?"

"Not long. If it'll make you feel better, I'll just assume that you were talking about another Cole that had absolutely no connection to me, and

that you don't really want to see me with my shirt off."

"Good, cause I don't! I mean, I do. I mean, you're not ugly or anything. You're just kind of old. Old for me. Not like Giles old. Young/old. I

uh have to finish my homework now." Blushing furiously, Dawn hurried up the stairs to her room. Cole looked at the other two in confusion.

"Did either of you understand that?"

"Oh don't worry about that. The Dawnster just has a little crush on you that's all. She had a crush on me for a long time. Then for a while she

had this thing for Spike."

"Spike you mean the. . ." Cole paused. He had been about to say vampire before he remembered that he wasn't supposed to know about

that.

"The what?"

"The English guy with the weird hair." Cole finished smoothly.

"Yeah, that's him. Luckily Dawn's over that now. The guy is a complete pig, always leaving wet towels on the bathroom floor. Leaving

half full glasses of blood---dy Mary's lying around." Xander finished awkwardly. Willow decided to come to the rescue.

"Hey guys, why don't we go into the living room and watch a movie? I microwave a mean bowl of popcorn. No burnt kernels here!"

Cole looked at her oddly.

"No thanks. I'm going to take a walk." Cole turned and left abruptly. Willow looked at Xander in confusion.

"So he doesn't like popcorn?"

He would really have to apologize to Willow, Cole thought to himself as he cut across the cemetery. He couldn't help feeling uncomfortable

around the witch. He could sense how powerful Willow was, and he was afraid that she'd be able to detect what he really was. Bitter experience

with the Charmed Ones had taught him that Buffy and the others would be unlikely to welcome him with open arms. After coming back from the

wastelands, Phoebe had been completely freaked by his newfound powers, blaming him for everything from a demon attack to a bad hair day.

Cole didn't blame Phoebe for being nervous, but it did make one thing clear to him. If he wanted to be accepted, he would have to hide his

powers. Suddenly Cole tensed. He had been so lost in thought that he hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings. That had been a

mistake. There was something behind him. Something evil.

Spike was going on patrol when he saw a half dozen ubervamps attack Buffy's new roommate. Without hesitation, he leapt into the fray.

Immediately they were upon him. Spike fought back with a dazzling display of strength and speed, while keeping an eye out for Cole, who was

also fighting. The other man had some pretty decent moves for a human. Strange how the bloke wasn't scampering off to hide under his

beddy-bye. Spike mentally shrugged. He didn't have time to think about that now. Just then one of the ubervamps threw him forcefully into the

side of a mausoleum. In an instant, the vamp was upon him. Spike struggled to get up, but couldn't. The impact had broken his back. The

other vampire wrapped his cold dead hands around Spike's throat, and prepared to rip his head clean off his shoulders. Out of the corner of

his eye, Spike saw Cole make a slight gesture. To Spike's amazement, all of the ubervamps immediately burst into flame and turned to dust.

Cole had fought back against the Turok-han without too much trouble. He wasn't worried about getting killed since he was still invincible.

He didn't even have to use his powers. Even without them, he was a good enough fighter to go up against a few ubervamps. Six of them were

kind of a lot, but Spike had been helping out so he hadn't been too worried. Until one of the vamps had managed to bring Spike down. Cole

waited for the blonde vampire to get back up, and when it was clear that he couldn't; Cole didn't hesitate. With a casual gesture he killed their

attackers and then hurried to Spike's aid.

"Are you okay? Can you get up?" Cole asked, kneeling beside Spike. Spike winced in pain.

"No, think I broke my bloody back. I can't feel my legs. You have to go get Buffy, she'll know what to do. I have to tell her about this.

Hellmouth's starting to bite. Slayer ought to know about it." Spike rambled, not really hearing himself through the pain. Cole frowned. He knew

he could fix Spike's back, but he still didn't like the idea of openly using his powers. Powers that Spike had known nothing about. He had risked

his life in an effort to protect Cole. Cole sighed. There was only one choice to make. In a second, Spike was completely healed as though the

accident had never happened. Spike stared at his with a mixture of gratitude, amazement, and faint suspicion. Before he could ask any

questions, Cole turned and began to walk away. He hadn't gotten more than a dozen yards when he was grabbed by the shoulders and spun

around.

"Now that was interesting back there, mate. The question is how did you manage to kill all the little nasties and fix my back? My guess

is you're not completely human. Now, if it were just me, I really wouldn't care. But since you're shacking up with Buffy and the Nibblet, I think you

better start explaining. Now." Spike finished coldly. Cole could tell from the fiercely protective look in Spike's eyes that he wouldn't be able to

evade the question.

"Well, my mother is a demon. My father was human."

"So you're half demon."

"Then my demonic half was destroyed."

"All right then, you're human."

"Then I became possessed by the Source of all Evil and got new demonic powers."

"So demon yeah?"

"Then my wife and her sisters killed me." Spike massaged his temples in order to ease the headache that was forming there.

"OK, now I want to say you're a ghost."

"I'm not. Once Phoebe and her sisters killed me, I was sent to the demonic wastelands."

"Nasty place that."

"Tell me about it. I spent about 3 months dodging that essence sucking creature before I learned how to collect powers." Cole looked

thoughtful. "You know Phoebe never lifted a finger to help me." Cole shook his head at the painful memory. "So anyway, I managed to escape

from the wastelands and come back."

"So you're half demon again?"

"Actually, I prefer human with demonic powers."

"Very politically correct mate. So you're. . ."

"Then the Avatars came along" Cole said interrupting Spike. Spike groaned. The Avatars are beyond good and evil. They have

unlimited power over time, space, and reality. They wanted me to join their collective. So I became an Avatar." Spike looked at Cole

expectantly.

"And?"

"And I sort of altered reality to get Phoebe back and became Belthazor again."

"Belthazor."

"Yeah, you know, my original demonic half. Anyway, the Phoebe and Piper from that reality teamed up with the Paige from this reality

and killed me again."

"I said you were a bleeding ghost ten minutes ago!" Spike shouted in frustration.

"I'm not a ghost. I'm alive."

"Then how the bloody hell did you get back?" Cole shrugged.

"Hell if I know."

"Ok then, tell me about this ex-wife of yours, exactly how evil is this bird anyway?" Instantly, Cole's hands were wrapped around Spike's

throat.

"Don't you ever say that! Phoebe is not evil!" Cole yelled.

"Right mate. The girl who killed you twice and left you stranded in the wastelands isn't evil. I mean, why do you want her back anyway?"

"I love her." Spike blinked and sat down on a nearby headstone.

"Know the feeling, mate. Love's a bitch ain't it?"

"She just wouldn't believe that I didn't become the Source on purpose. Can't really blame everything on her though. I did some pretty

crazy things after I came back the first time."

"I built a sexbot version of Buffy and traipsed all the way to Africa to get my sodding soul back for her," Spike said bluntly.

"I mummified Phoebe and set up her sister for vehicular manslaughter in order to trick her family into giving me ownership of their house."

Cole shrugged. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. Anyway when I came back this time, I decided that I would use this opportunity to make

amends for all of the horrible things I've done. I decided to take off. Let Phoebe live her life. When I got to Sunnydale. I knew that there was

some serious evil going on here. So I decided to stay and help Buffy."

"Slayer'll be glad to hear that. Got her hands full she does."

"I'm not telling her and neither are you. I don't want Buffy finding out about my powers and thinking that I'm the bad guy. That'll just

distract her from fighting the First."

Buffy's not going to think that. I mean, I'm a vampire, Xander's ex used to be a vengeance demon, and Willow flayed a guy alive and nearly

destroyed the world a while back. Trust me, you're not that high up on the evil scale." Spike lit a cigarette and then casually turned and walked

away. This time Cole grabbed Spike. He leaned down and whispered menacingly in Spike's ear.

"If you tell anyone about me, I'll teleport your genitals back across the pond. Understand?" Spike nodded meekly. Cole stalked off.

"But you are up there on the crazy scale aren't you mate?" Spike muttered to himself as he watched Cole's retreating back.

AN: So what does everyone think? Please review. Be kind please. I had to type this whole thing twice. (computer problems)