Subtlety wasn't their forté.

When Buffy walked into the living room, the fervent buzz of whispered conversation halted as abruptly as if someone had pulled the plug. They might as well have looked up at her as a group and chorused, "Hi, Buff. We're having a private discussion about the potentially homicidal beast you've got chained up in the basement. Care to weigh in?"

The guilty way Willow glued her eyes to the floor when she happened to meet Buffy's sharp gaze expelled any lingering doubt about the subject at hand.

"No one told me there was gonna be a party. Why wasn't I invited?" Buffy asked, keeping her tone carefully neutral. Of the four present, only Giles looked at her. Xander stared determinedly at his hands, Anya's attention roamed aimlessly about the room, and Willow chewed nervously at her bottom lip, an affectation that echoed the shy, geeky, lovable girl the last years had swallowed up.

But Giles, who knew all too well how counterproductive it was to try to hide anything from his Slayer, met Buffy's eyes steadily. "We're discussing what should be done about Spike."

Buffy stiffened but forced herself to remain collected, rational. They had valid concerns. Irrelevant, in the end, but valid. She shouldn't dismiss them. "Don't leave me hanging," she said. "What—in your opinion—should be done about Spike?"

"Want me to field this one?" Xander asked.

"I think we all know damn well what your solution would be," Buffy snapped at him, the sudden harshness of her tone surprising all of them. "You've made your feelings abundantly clear. And I think I've done the same with mine."

Giles sighed and removed his glasses. "Buffy, you are putting the girls—all of us—in danger by keeping him—"

"—alive? Is that it? You want me to kill him? Giles, we're waging a war against unimaginable odds here. Are you suggesting that I put down one of our most powerful allies without even trying to help him?"

"It's not that simple. What I'm suggesting is that you consider what's best for everyone concerned. The First has made it clear that It can and will use Spike to Its advantage. Having him here goes against all rationality; we're fools at Its mercy." Giles lowered his voice and went on more gently. "Sometimes the Slayer must put aside personal biases and do the right thing even when it feels wrong. I believe this is one of those times."

Buffy's eyes blazed at her Watcher, and her voice trembled with suppressed anger. "How can you even say that to me?"

Giles closed his eyes briefly, too late realizing his mistake. "Buffy…"

"I've never done anything but the fucking right thing!" she raged, and at last she had their attention. All eyes locked on her, shocked by this uncharacteristically emotional outburst. "In case everyone's forgotten, I killed Angel for the good of the world. I killed myself, for the good of the world. It's all I know how to do. And I'm telling you, keeping Spike on our side is the right thing. We need him whole and we need him ready for the fight. We can't do it without him. I can't do it without him." She glared around at each of them in turn, ending with Giles, who sat statue-still, with a pained expression etched into his kind, weary features.

"What do you want us to do?" a soft voice inquired.

Everyone turned to look at Willow in surprise. Buffy's offensive posture relaxed a little, the sting of betrayal easing. She took a deep breath. "What we've always done," she said, giving Willow a grateful little half-smile. "We win."

xXxXx

"No freakin' way!"

"Yes freakin' way. You're going."

"No, I'm not."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Dawn, this could go on all day, and I'll still come out on top. I'll bottom-line it for you. This spell could be dangerous. I will not have you in the line of fire if something goes wrong. You're staying at Xander's while we do this. Any questions?"

"Buffy, you can't shut me out of this!"

"Nope, sorry, that wasn't a question."

"I'm in it as much as you are. I'm in it more than they are. He's family."

Buffy sighed, smiling slightly at her sister's emphatic expression. Dawn sensed weakness and moved in for the kill.

"I'm the only one who loves him, besides you," she said. "It's not right to surround him with people who hate him when you do this—whatever it is—that might end up killing him."

Buffy didn't have the heart to tell Dawn that the spell wouldn't kill him, but that Buffy herself might have to, if something went wrong. If he lost control again, if he went for one of the others … she might end up killing him anyway, and giving them what they'd wanted all along. It was a horrible, unthinkable, really quite possible outcome.

But Dawnie was right enough.

She cleared her throat, spoke sternly. "You'll sit at the very top of the stairs, no closer. You will run if I tell you to run, no questions asked. I'm going to arm you to the teeth with every stake I can load you down with … and you'll use them if you have to."

Dawn's blue eyes lit up and she gave a girlish squeal as she threw her arms around Buffy's neck.

Buffy pulled back, holding Dawn at arm's length and looking at her seriously. "I mean it," she said. "You have to be prepared to fight if you have to. To fight Spike."

A shadow passed across Dawn's features and vanished just as quickly. "I won't have to," she said confidently. "It'll work."

xXxXx

Where Buffy had caved, Spike was immovable.

"Absofuckinglutely not. No. No way. What the hell's going on in your head, Slayer? She's not in this. No." If the chains were long enough to allow him to pace, he would be wearing a furious trench in the concrete floor.

"It's not your decision," Dawn piped up from her dutiful position at the top of the basement steps.

He pointed at her. "You. Out."

"Spike, she's armed," Buffy reasoned. "Dawnie can handle a stake if she has to. Besides, the odds of you getting past me—us—and making it that far are slim to none."

"How about the odds of this crazy spell of Red's working the way we want anyway? I'm not altogether sure I trust her enough to be messing around in the magicks again, much less with something like this, that could get every last one of you killed before all's said and done. In point of fact, I think someone needs to double-check the Wicca's incantations and make sure she's not after some more flaying fun—"

"Hey, standing right here," Willow spoke up. "Now hush. I'm making sure I've got everything I need."

"So, ah, how's it supposed to work, again?" Xander asked. "She finishes her chanting and suddenly he's Super Evil Spike instead of just Evil Ex-Murdering Attempted Rapist Spike?"

"Well, theoretically, something like that," Giles agreed. "If we're successful, we'll be able to identify the First's hook and deactivate it, or at the very least get a better idea of how to remove Spike from under Its control." His next words were almost inaudible. "If that is in fact possible."

Buffy shot him a look but he busied himself cleaning his glasses unnecessarily.

Spike reached out and caught Buffy's hand, looking up at her from the edge of his cot with intense blue eyes. "Slayer. If …" He shook his head and tried again. "Kill first, think later. Promise me."

Looking steadily back at him, she nodded. An understanding passed between them, and Spike at last looked away and raised his voice to address the other one.

"Oi, Niblet!"

"Yeah?"

"Get out."

"No."

He sighed in helpless frustration. "Then listen up, you bloody brat. The same goes for you, do you hear? Hesitate with that stake, and you'll live to regret it."

Dawn looked down at the stake in her hands and twirled it around. "Don't worry, Spike. I got your back."

A few minutes passed in silence, and at last Willow looked up from her spellbook. "I think we're ready."

xXxXx

Perhaps I'm beating a dead horse here, but shall I continue? Thanks for the reviews. You guys rock!