"Now Thomas Jefferson may have written the constitution, but James Madison is considered it's 'father', because of all the compromises he made. Who can give me an example of one of them?" No one raised their hand. "Miss Summer, how about you?"

"Wha?" Buffy averted her eyes from the window she'd been staring out. A few kids snickered.

"Can you name one of Madison's constitution compromises?"

"Er, the Connecticut one?"

"That would be a compromise on Connecticut's part, Miss Summers." More laughing. Willow turned in her seat and shot an apologetic glance at her as the teacher moved on to another student.

Her focus had been lacking even more than usual these past few days. It had seemed so…normal, to just get up and go to school the day after she'd discovered a secret, supernatural world in her backyard, and played chauffeur to a deadly Vampire. But it hadn't been normal. It had been terrifying. And being forced to sit her like she did every other day before certain events had occurred, it was torture.

She'd helped Giles clean up the early senior prank (the Protector had labeled the destruction of his library such), but she still was unsure whether or not to tell him about her little solo episode with Spike.

He'd probably appreciate knowing, killing Vampires and all, but if she told him he would know that she disobeyed his orders to avoid Spike. He'd told her not to engage him in conversation, and yet she'd stood in front of the slide and spoken to him, knowing all the while he couldn't chase after her. Giles was back to being an uptight, pain-in-the-ass adult, so she didn't think confessing her Vampire Carpool would help their faint relationship.

"Miss Summers, am I boring you today?"

"Not at all," she said a little too quickly. The teacher rolled his eyes.

"See me after class, Miss Summers." Buffy sighed as he moved on. She wasn't the most well-behaved teenager, but lately she was on a trouble roll. Zoning out in class, getting detention all over the place, and being grounded for all her lying…it was all catching up to her, and she was beginning to feel like the people around her were getting disappointed. She'd never been a discipline problem in the past, not even in LA. Her parents had divorced there, and even then she hadn't raised her voice. It must be all those goody two-shoe years catching up to her, she decided.

After a quick private lecture from the teacher ("You aren't living up to your potential, Miss Summers"), Buffy slowly made her way to the library. She was going to tell Giles. The internal debate whether or not to tell Giles had been occupying her thoughts enough times for her teachers to call her on it lately, and she was going to make that problem disappear at least.

"Buffy?" She turned her head toward Willow's voice and plastered a peppy smile on her face.

"Hi Willow!"

"Uh, hi. Is everything okay? You've been acting weird today, and Riley just left me a voicemail saying your phone's been off for the past couple days."

"Oh yea, Riley. My boyfriend. My phone's been off, I'll call him back later. Or now I guess, even though we're not supposed to have phones here. At the rate I'm going, though, why not break the rules? Yea, I'll call him now." As soon as the decision was made, however, she remembered where her phone was. In the pocket of the jeans she'd been wearing when she helped Spike to the car…part of the entire outfit which she'd stripped off and thrown in the back corner of her closet as soon as she'd gotten home that day. If all Vampires could smell as well as Spike, she didn't want anyone to be picking up on how close she'd been to one of them.

"No phone. That's okay, I gotta go talk to Mr. Giles."

"The librarian?" Willow's face matched her voice in incredulity, and she moved forward to place her hand on Buffy's forehead.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me! You go to class now, I know how much you like it. Catch you later Willow!" She waved as she jogged off, leaving a dumbfounded Willow in her wake.

"Any idea what's up with her?" Xander asked as he approached the read head, having heard the last part of their conversation.

"Not a clue. I'm worried, though."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"Giles! Mr. Giles!" She burst into the library screaming for him without a second thought. A few other students scattered throughout the library glared at her, but she ignored them.

"Miss Summers? What in the world is it?"

"I kinda have something to tell you."

"With that entrance, it had better be big."

"It is big. And bumpy. And allergic to the sun." Giles's eyes widened as his jaw clenched.

"May I see you in my office, Miss Summers?" He led the way as a few people stared after them. The second he shut the door, Buffy burst out with her guilty explanation.

"I saw Spike!"

"When?"

"Three days ago." Giles blinked.

"Yes, I saw him too. I was there, if you recall."

"No, I mean after that. I found him on my way home all paralyzed, and he made me drive him home." Giles chocked comically even though he wasn't attempting to swallow anything.

"Why didn't you tell me of this earlier?"

"I thought you'd be mad," she started as his face turned cadmium red.

"First of all, are you hurt in any way?"

"No. He said he wouldn't hurt me if I just took him to his factory."

"Where was it?" Buffy's heart sank at the hungry look in his eyes. Apart from not wanting to send Giles into a Vampire-infested lair, as he was sure to go there sooner or later, she didn't think Spike would be too pleased if she revealed the location of his HQ.

"I-I don't know. I wasn't really paying attention, just following his directions." Which was true to a point, though the entire night was seared into her memory. Giles groaned and rubbed his temples.

"What in God's name possessed you to do such a ludicrous thing?"

"Hey, it's not like I walked around with an open wound, saying 'Here, Spikey.' He was half-paralyzed, hiding in a playground slide."

"And you felt sorry for him and did whatever he asked of you?"

"Kinda with the sorry thing."

"Buffy, Spike is a demon. He has no soul, he cannot feel compassion, and he has surely been in a worse situation than half-paralyzed in a playground slide. Feeling sorry for his kind is a weakness sure to get you killed. Or worse, turned."

"Well he was all helpless. But that's not why I drove him. The reasoning there falls along the lines of his threatening to come after me if I didn't. He promised not to hurt me ever if I helped him."

"Well, Spike is a citizen with an upstanding record. I'm sure he'll keep his word. God, Buffy! I know you're unfamiliar with this world, but I still can't see why when you identified him to be a Vampire, you didn't run and not look back!"

"I'm sorry."

"Buffy- I don't understand how- Why in God's name would- Go back to class!" Giles tried to start a sentence several times, but finally threw her out in exasperation.

"I really am sorry. I-I might be able to find where the factory is, if it will make you not as mad at me."

"I'm going to be mad at you regardless of what you do- how could you be so stupid?"

"But would it help?" He sighed.

"Yes. Yes it would. But I am still going to be checking in on you from now on, making sure you avoid trafficking with the dead."

"Are you going to try and go to the factory?"

"I'll be checking it out at the least."

"What if they bite you?"

"If I can take a few down with me, it will be worth it." Buffy's eyes bugged out.

"How can you say that? You're talking about your LIFE!"

"I know." Giles suddenly looked far older than he was, and tired on top of it. Buffy edged towards the door.

"Um, so yea. Maybe sometime we can go driving around in the daylight, and we'll see if I can't identify the HQ. TTFN." She sped through the library's double doors and out into the deserted hallway, her mind racing. Should she help Giles out or not? She didn't want to get involved…but she felt like she owed it to him after the Spike thing. And she was afraid for both their sake's if she did clue him in, but then there was the greater good to think about, something Giles was apparently very clued in to.

Sighing, she fell back on a slacker habit, and made up her mind before she had time to fully consider all positions and overanalyze the thing to death. She'd tell Giles, trusting that he would do what was best with the information. After all, he was a qualified Vampire killer guy. She sighed again. AND she was passing the buck.

'Mental note: Play a more active role in my own life.' She hurried off to the class she was supposed to be in as she unconsciously reached up and began to fiddle with the cross hanging from her neck.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"Hi, I'm Buffy Summers. I'm supposed to do detention today in the cafeteria, but they told me that there had been a change in schedule."

"Ah yes, Miss Summers. Mr. Giles requested that your serve with him today- apparently he liked your work ethic when you helped him clean up that dumb prank in the library."

"Yea. That must be it. Thanks." Dazedly, Buffy turned and walked down the hall towards the library. She'd gone a whole two weeks detention-free, but then that pesky little incident with Harmony Kendall…the other blonde had been teasing Willow, and Buffy had stepped in to help her friend. At least she only had three days this time. But she hadn't talked to Giles since she'd told him about Spike in the library the previous week, and she knew from experience that his detentions were rarely uneventful.

"So, I'm guessing you didn't request I serve detention with you because you liked my work ethic."

"Hello Miss Summers, come with me please."

"Where are we going?"

"A field trip."

"Ew, field trips are so passé. We went to the zoo earlier this year- wait, we're leaving school grounds?"

"That is the concept of a field trip, yes."

"This has something to do with Spike's factory, then." Her heart thudded against her chest with the simple realization.

"You said we could go driving around in daylight at some point to look for it. I believe the offer you made was that you would try to assist my search with your knowledge if I would stop being mad at you. I'm still going to be irked, but the anger might go away if you can help me. This is my car."

"Can I drive?"

"Absolutely not; I need you to concentrate on recalling what you saw when you were with Spike." He unlocked the door for her, but she stood on the passenger side with her hand frozen over the door handle.

"Do Vampires sleep during the day time like in cheesy black-and-white horror films?"

"Quite often, though to generalize that is like saying all teenagers listen to loud music. I'm sure there are a few out there, whom I have yet to meet, that are more inclined to listen to the softer side of rock and roll."

"So they'll be asleep."

"They'll at least be inside. I would not dream of taking you to a known nest if there was the slightest chance they could be roaming about." Buffy took a deep breath and climbed in, trying to calm her racing heart. She was with Giles, who she'd seen inflict some serious damage on a Vampire. As long as she stayed near him, she was safe. Unless Spike was involved, because she didn't know how Giles would match up against the Boss Vampire. She didn't know if Spike intended to keep his promise, though, so that would affect how safe she would be in the event of a Spike attack. However, even if he was planning on keeping his end of the deal, it still might not be prudent to go snooping around his house.

But Giles had already left the parking lot, and she kept her growing fears to herself.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"You're sure it was north of town?"

"There's a compass on my Mom's dashboard, and I glanced at it."

"Well then, we have three candidates for the…what was it you called it?"

"The HQ?"

"Yes, I like that. It's very quick, very modern. Anyway, do you remember anything else from that night which might help us narrow it down?" Buffy squeezed her eyes closed and tried, once more, to relive the freaky drop-off. Dark… Morrissey …ego the size of Utah reclining in the backseat…

"He jumped out the left side of the car, and crawled away on the grass."

"Grass, and on the left side of the road. Excellent job, Buffy." His voice betrayed approval, and she hurried to ask in a hopeful tone,

"Does that mean you're not mad?"

"I'm trying to think here, if you'll excuse me. The factory that used to make computers doesn't have grass, and it's on the right side of the road. Are you relatively sure this was the road you took?"

"I turned around up there. This is it."

"So it's either the deserted car factory, or the abandoned toy factory."

"Somehow I can't see a few dozen fangy freaks taking up residence in a toy factory."

"Which is exactly why I suspect that's the place. When Spike first came to Sunnydale nearly a decade ago, he brought his mate, Drusilla, with him. The woman was more than a little off her rocker, and she harbored a dislike towards most modern technology. It makes perfect sense for the pair to choose the toy factory over the car factory."

"Didn't she leave him, though?"

"Yes, about six years ago. For a while, Angelus and Darla were in town, and having four Master Vampires running around, it was quite possibly the most terrifying few months of my life."

"Who's Darla?"

"Angelus's mate."

"So Vampires have mates, not spouses?"

"I do not believe Vampires themselves label their relationships. It's just accepted that two are together by the night community, and it's humans who often call them mates for lack of better term."

"Okay…Spike, Drusilla, Angelus, Darla. Keep going, this is getting interesting."

"Very well, if for no other reason than we can go back to the school now, and I can stop concentrating. The four of them running the Sunnydale underground was a nightmare, but it was also a Godsend. The four are legendary, but their fatal flaw is their inability to cooperate, particularly Angelus and Spike. Before long, Angelus took Darla, and the two moved on to San Francisco for a time. We lost track of them, but not long after they left, Drusilla opted to follow their example in leaving town. My guess is that Spike feuding with Angelus, her Sire, drove a distance between the two. And rumor has it she soon after ran off with another male demon."

"But Angelus, Darla, and Drusilla were back a few weeks ago for the du Lac Manuscript, weren't they?"

"Drusilla was attacked by an angry mob in Prague last year, and it left her severely weakened. If Angelus and Darla were with her, I'm guessing she joined their traveling band of demons. I reported my theories to the Protector's Council, and they seemed to find them in place; apparently she and Darla were spotted in Tokyo about four months ago together. If the three have taken to traveling and killing together, it makes it a harder task for my fellow Protectors. But I still have my duties on this Hellmouth, just as Spike chose to stay here instead of joining his old friends."

"And a Hellmouth would be?"

"Exactly what it sounds like; a gateway to Hell. There are I believe four at the moment; Sunnydale, Cleveland, Wuhan, China, and Mendoza, Argentina."

"Aye-eye-eye."

"Are you quite out of questions?" Giles sounded grumpy, but in reality he was trying to steer away from the lengthening conversation at hand. He'd promised himself he would keep aloof from the locals; the death of a close acquaintance, perhaps even a friend, would be devastating. Buffy was the first resident of Sunnydale he'd actually spent a small amount of time with, and he was finding himself quite protective of the snarky but sweet girl. If she got too involved…if she found herself mixed up in this dangerous world of laying down one's life for one's cause…

"One more. Can Vampires love?"

"What makes you ask that?"

"Well, the whole mate thing. You said they didn't have souls, but I always associate love with soulmate. Or at least the big kahuna love, maybe not those little puppy love phases, but is it possible?" Giles thought this over for a moment.

"It is generally believed that Vampires cannot feel human emotions, the most obvious of them being love. I followed this way of thinking until I was assigned to stand guard over Sunnydale in the wake of my predecessor, Gwendolyn Post. In the twelve years since I have been in charge of this city, I have learned more lessons than I thought existed. I've been hunting Spike for approximately nine of those years, and he has been the one to change my thinking on a number of issues.

"I saw how he loved Drusilla, though she ignored him the second her Sire entered the room. I saw how he grieved when she left him. I saw how he tried to deal with her absence in ways much like human males do, though perhaps a bit more violently. Unfortunately, I saw all of this only in glimpses because we've only come face-to-face five times, but I still know enough to say that Spike, if not a whole small percentage of Vampires, had and have a little more to them than their soul."

"Wow, you've fought Spike five times and lived?" Her admiration was evident on her face as he tried not to blush, stammered, and turned into the school parking lot.

"Draws, every time. Someone always has to feel like it's not their time to go, and they'll do better next time, so they run off. I will get him someday, though. I've made it my mission, and after I do it I will be able to rest easier."

"Good luck. Do I have you for detention tomorrow?"

"No, that won't be necessary. I may be taking a few days off actually, in the attempts of formulating a one-man strike plan."

"See you around then. Oh, and be careful." She walked to the front of the school as Giles nodded, then began to smile once she was out of site. Well, what an amusing discovery. Not all the teenagers in this horrible place were rude and unconcerned.