On the trip out to Penrith Buffy still didn't talk about what had passed between her and her father. Spike could tell it weighed on her mind, but he didn't want to push. Instead he regaled her with tales of some of his more exciting recent adventures. Plus he gave the skinny on the epic romance of Dawn and Angel 2.0. Apparently she was getting really serious with Connor.

Once they reached the town they headed straight to the B&B where Giles had booked them a room, and from there to one of the local pubs. During the course of the evening they gathered all the intel on the possible dragon from the town gossip.

Sheep were going missing. Not many, but enough were disappearing from the hillsides to be noticed. Some blamed it on a wolf escaped from a nearby wolf sanctuary, but there were no missing wolves. Buffy tried comparing the attacks to the lunar cycle; they didn't match. So it wasn't a werewolf. Then there were theories of sheep rustlers. As there was no viable motive for stealing the sheep (every farmer was affected) and this wasn't a cowboy movie in the old west, they scratched off that theory too. It seemed the Tolkien theory was the best line to pursue.

So on a morning draped in heavy fog, Buffy and Spike set out on a hike. The forecast was for heavy clouds and more than likely rain, so Spike was safe enough. He had a special spelled umbrella just in case. Morning was the best time to catch a dragon unawares, and Spike refused to let Buffy go alone. So together they followed a trail up into the mountainous hills looking for a known set of caves.

The first few caves were nothing more than slight rocky recesses in the hillside. But they continued on to another set more remote and tucked out of view. They stopped when they saw a four foot long grey lizard with wings napping under an outcropping by one cave's entrance.

Buffy and Spike looked at each other.

"Do I kill it?" she asked in a whisper.

"It's why we came here," Spike whispered back.

"But… it might not be dangerous. Look at it. It's just… so cute!"

"Cute? It's probably a vicious killer when awake. Never trust cute in a cave."

"You sound like Anya did about bunnies."

"That's what I'm talking about. That bunny at the cave was damn vicious."

"The what at the what? What are you talking about?"

"Monty Python and the Holy Grail, luv."

"Oh, that." She gave him a look of annoyance. "That's just a movie."

"And a bloody brilliant one."

"Exactly!" Spike agreed. "Wait…"

Their eyes widened and they looked at the dragon that had just spoken. Its gold eyes were open and staring at them, but it hadn't moved from its curled position.

"Um… hi," Buffy said.

"Hello," it answered. It looked curiously at Spike since the vampire had just stepped behind Buffy. She looked over her shoulder at him and frowned.

"I'm Buffy, and behind me is Spike," she said to the dragon.

"Pleasure. You can call me Clarence."

"Clarence?" Buffy tried not to laugh.

"Yes," the dragon said with a nod. "My true name is a bit of a mouthful, and I rather like the name Clarence."

"Oh, well then, Clarence… how's it going?"

Spike spun her around and mouthed silently, "'How's it going?' Are you insane?"

"What? I don't know what to say?" she mimed back.

Clarence tilted his head. "Are you knights on a quest to slay me? You don't look much like knights."

Buffy realised he must have seen the crossbow she had on her back. "No, no we're not knights."

Clarence still had his head tilted, but now he was looking at her with disbelief. It was an odd sight on a dragon, and rather adorable, so Buffy quickly caved.

"I'm the Slayer," she said.

"Slayer?" Clarence asked.

"As in vampire slayer," Spike filled in.

"Oh," said Clarence. "But that's just a legend."

Buffy couldn't stop the laugh that escaped. "I'm sorry, but you're a dragon."

"She's got you there mate," Spike said. Buffy elbowed him in the ribs without turning around.

"Listen, Clarence," said Buffy, "you seem really nice. But it's my job to slay anything not human that harms the innocent."

"Sheep are not innocent," Clarence interrupted. "They are food."

She blinked. "Yeah… Could you maybe find different food… that isn't people?"

"I do not eat people. I suppose it was careless to take human's sheep, but they are so easy to catch and I'm on holiday."

"Holiday?" Buffy repeated.

"Means vacation, luv," Spike whispered to her.

"I know that," she said over her shoulder.

"Yes," Clarence said while still studying the odd pair. "I will not be here long. I suppose until I return home I can eat the wild game instead. It's such work, but you've asked nicely."

"Um, yeah, thanks," Buffy said. "Well, okay, I guess I don't need to kill you."

"You don't need to try," Clarence shot back smugly.

"Oh, she'd more than try," Spike said. "Believe me."

"Is that all?" Clarence asked. "I would like to get back to my dreams."

"Yeah," said Buffy. "But one last thing: out of curiosity, where is home for you?"

Clarence smiled, a rather frightening thing on a dragon. "Wales."

"Of course," Buffy said with a laugh. "Where else?"

"I like you, Buffy. Perhaps you will visit me there one day."

"I'd like that. Goodbye, Clarence."

"Farewell." Clarence shut his eyes and curled his head in.

They left dumbfounded. It wasn't until they were almost halfway down that they burst out laughing.

"That… that was a dragon," Buffy got out between giggles.

"Yeah," Spike agreed.

"How am I supposed to tell Giles about this? He's not gonna believe us!"

"Hey, we tell him what happened, just like he wants, and then it's up to him to deal with it. The problem is solved, end of story."

"Ok, true," she conceded. "So I guess we head back to London now."

"Whatever you want, Slayer."

HXHXHXHXHXHXHXHXHXHXH

Buffy and Spike ended up staying a while in London. Buffy actually got involved helping train the girls—much to the girls' and Giles' delight. She imparted what knowledge she could about vampires and demons, but she said nothing about aliens. Rumours had been going around, but her mouth was firmly closed on the subject. As for Spike, he was almost always to be found at her side. When the girls gave up trying to get information on aliens, they focused on gossiping about the vampire's obsession with the original slayer. Predictably, the gossip ranged from "it's not right" to "isn't it so romantic."

Really Spike was just trying to give his slayer support. She'd been building a life in Cardiff only to have a wrecking ball tear it all down. It didn't matter to him who was wielding the ball—Torchwood or Buffy herself—he would be there for her regardless.

While Giles was happy to have Buffy around, he wasn't as thrilled with the vampire. Sure he was happy to send the souled vampire out on jobs and use him like a messenger boy, but seeing Spike everyday with his slayer was different. He didn't say anything, but a confrontation was brewing. Spike decided to make the first move.

Giles was having tea in his office while Buffy was with the girls outside on the obstacle course. The rare sunny day kept Spike inside, so he went in search of the old watcher.

"Rupert," he greeted as he entered the office and plopped into a chair.

"Spike, do come in. Take a seat," Giles said sarcastically.

Spike was used to the hostile tone and ignored it. "Been meaning to have a chat with you."

"What about?"

"Buffy."

"Of course. What else?"

"I'm worried about her."

"She seems fine."

"Well she isn't!" Spike protested. "Sure she puts up a good act, but you should see through that. She's not happy and you know it."

"Perhaps…"

"Oh come on, Rupert! She spends all that time with Torchwood making friends, looking for family, and then it all falls apart. And I don't know what to do about it."

"I don't think it's for you to do anything," Giles said. Soul or no soul, Giles made it clear he didn't care for the vampire.

"Maybe not… given what I am. But someone needs to, and I don't see anyone else stepping up. So until she says so, I'm sticking by her. She's looking for… for home. That's a painful journey alone, especially when I don't think she knows that's what she's searching for."

"And what do you expect me to do?" Giles asked. There was both anger and resignation in his tone.

"I don't know," Spike said with a sigh. The hostility left with that unnecessary breath. "Maybe give her a direction to go in, a path to start on since she has so many in front of her."

"She's had that," Giles said. "I gave her direction, and then she went her own way. Now it's all up to her. I can't help anymore."

Spike left and closed the door behind him. He let out a growl in the hall and had to use all his might not to punch a hole in one of the walls.

HXHXHXHXHXHXHXHXHXHXH

Buffy sat in the cafeteria staring at her water glass. Girls' chatter filled the room with noise, but Buffy didn't feel like saying anything just then. It was moments like this where her mind wouldn't let go of that last time with her father.

If the Hub was tense, it was nothing to the conference room. Jack was silently bracing for a storm, but Buffy wasn't about to make the first move.

"Was I unclear when you joined us?" he said at last. "Did I not make it understood that you would be a member of my team and follow my orders?"

"That was perfectly clear," Buffy answered. "But…"

He held up a hand to stop her. "I'm not done yet. There are rules and regulations. You were told that from the start. I let things slide because you're my daughter and you've got experience. That you question the rules, I understand. But you cannot deliberately toss them aside and trample them into the ground. That you bring anyone here with asking me is unforgivable, but a vampire? He's a vampire!"

She had argued about Spike having a soul, but it was something Jack just didn't understand. He had very little experience with vampires at all. He didn't know how much of a difference it made for them to have a soul. And by that time, Buffy was too angry to explain it and Jack was too angry to listen. Plus with her anger directed elsewhere, her brain was open to some realisations she never expected.

"Even if Spike didn't have a soul, I'd still… I think I'd still trust him more than…" She stopped. Her brain was screaming at what her emotions wanted to confess. Soul or no soul, she trusted Spike now more than she trusted anyone—more than Willow, Xander, Dawn, Giles, Angel, any of them. One way or another they had all broken her trust at some time. She thought she had trusted Angel above all when she gave him her heart, that he was her one true love and she'd never trust anyone like him (because it was just the loss of the soul that was a problem—right? ), but somehow, someway, Spike became a closer friend than Angel ever was. Soulless Spike had tried to kill her, he had tried to split the Scoobies to kill them all, he had kidnapped her to force her affections… but he had stayed for the showdown against Glory. He stayed. He had protected Dawn. He asked for a soul to keep his promise to Buffy. Angelus never would have done that—any of it. Problems with Torchwood be damned—this revelation was turning her world upside-down.

"Trust him more than who, Buffy?" Jack demanded. "More than me?"

"What?"

"I'm right then."

"No, I wasn't referring to you… but… you aren't wrong either. I don't trust you and you don't trust me."

"What?" he raged. "I brought you…"

"You brought me to Torchwood because of words on a page," she interrupted. "You didn't know me, and you don't want to really know me. I tell you stories, and they stay just stories. You don't treat them like things that happened. How quick were you to change from 'let's have a slayer be the muscle on the team' to 'no, Buffy, don't do that and isn't it nice to have my daughter around?' You have been holding me back from the very start!"

"Holding you back? Is there somewhere you need to go?"

That question had hit her sharply. It still nagged at her. Where did she need to go?

A chair at her table scraped against the tiled floor. Spike sat next to her. "You all right, Slayer?"

"Peachy," she said while trying to smile. She could tell he saw right through her; he always did.

"So how're things going with the mini-me army? Enough girl talk for you?"

Buffy snorted. "I've gotten a verbal barrage of essays on the perfection of Jude Law today."

"That right? Eh, he's no Errol Flynn."

"You're still mad about that movie?"

"None of them could hold a candle to the originals! Bloody boring waste of time that film."

Buffy laughed. Spike kept doing that—making her laugh instead of asking questions. She knew he wanted to know what she was thinking, but he never asked.

"I feel like a walk," she said. "Wanna come?"

"Sun's about down," he said. "Why not?"

The grounds were just as impressive as the mansion. Large and sprawling, but there was still privacy from any outsider's prying eyes. There were the training areas with an obstacle course, a track, and lots of open space. But the rest of the grounds were more wooded and wild to provide a different sort of training experience. Somewhere there was even a private cemetery (completely vampire free of course).

"I told him about Dawn," she said out of nowhere.

"I'm assuming you mean your father. How'd he take that?"

"I really don't know. It was a heat of the moment thing. We were both yelling, and he wanted to know how many secrets I'd been keeping from him. It just popped out."

"You're right, Buffy, I don't trust you. How can I? You keep secrets, needless secrets, from me. You came wanting to know a father but not wanting him to know you."

"That's not…" But she couldn't honestly finish that denial.

"The Doctor, your inherited ability of immortality, this vampire, what other secrets are there?"

"What do they matter now?"

He took a long breath. "You're my daughter, Buffy. And I care for you."

"Well, I guess I should tell you that you have two daughters." Before he could assume twins, she continued. "A group of monks decided to send a mystic key to me for protection. The key could open the gates of all hells and destroy the world in the process. But to make extra sure I'd protect it, they sent it as a sister. They took my blood and used magic to create flesh and blood and memories that never happened. They gave me my sister, Dawn. And if blood makes family then she's yours too."

"Is she…"

"She's not like us, no. And she's not all like me either. She's all human." She sat down as she explained. "I'm different. Mom was a Timelord hiding as a human. I know it doesn't make sense, but between the energy from you that makes me immortal and the watch of hers I found and opened, I'm now half Timelord."

"How could you keep all this from me?"

"I'm still dealing with it myself! Just as I'm starting to accept that I'm not quite normal, all of a sudden I'm not at all normal… by anyone's standards. When the Doctor told me about you I thought maybe I could find some place to belong, that us being not normal together would make a kind of normal. But it's not working. This isn't where I belong."

At the sight of her tears, the anger left Jack and a bone-deep tiredness filled its place. "Buffy… maybe I have held you back. You aren't my first kid. There's a lot of baggage for me there. Each time I hear what you went through, each time I see it in your eyes, I hate myself for not being there for you. I keep wishing that it all never happened. That you were safe and away from the battles in this world. That you weren't like me."

"It's too late. Even if I had the chance to be completely normal I wouldn't take it. Not knowing what I know, seeing what I've seen. I was never destined for normal."

"Do you think he'll get in touch with Dawn?" Spike asked, bringing her back to the moment.

"I don't know. Maybe. Technically we're all family." She scoffed. "Family? We're a circus of freaks. Maybe that's why I can't…"

"Can't what?" he pressed gently when she stopped.

"I keep trying to find home, but since all of this… since Mom… I don't even know where home is." She wiped a tear that had fallen. "God, I'm such a mess."

"No you're not," he said. "Home is something… It's deeper than need or want. It's something we long for, something we crave. We all look for it at some point."

"What about you, Spike? Is there somewhere you call home?"

"Home's rarely a place really. It's people, relationships. When I was human it was with my mum, then Drusilla came and it was with her. And then there was you. When you were gone, out in the stars, I thought I lost it forever. There's not much worse you can feel than that."

"Yeah, I'm kinda getting that."

"But um… I don't want you to feel trapped or beholden to me or anything."

"No," she interrupted. "No, I get it, Spike. It's actually kind of nice, you and me. Well, not you and me you and me, just…"

"It's all right, Slayer, I get it. No labels, just friends."

She smiled. "Good."

A.N. So? Should Buffy and Spike get together soon? Are they ready? I wanna know what you think! I'd like to get the next chapter up by Thursday, and I'm depending on your answers to finish the last part of it.