Chapter 8: Explaining Spike – Willow/Robin

A/N: Just so people don't think I forgot about this story so I could write my Tara oneshot. It is shorter than yesterday, though.

Challenge: partially to answer a forum request/challenge by DeepBlueJoy for a story with a 'person of color' as a main character – who doesn't die immediately.

Warning: nothing specific this time.

Thanks to my betas: zigpal, AshDawnSoulmates, JacobPhoenix and AerynSpeedleCaine.

Disclaimer: BtVS and AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

Living room

Before Willow could start her interrogation/debriefing, Robin asked his own questions, "So Buffy was telling me about a vampire who has helped you for the past couple years? How did that happen?"

Startled by the odd choice of topics, Willow stammered a bit at first, "Spike? Oh, umm, he was captured by this government group who put a chip in his brain so he couldn't hurt humans. He came to us for help."

"Why on earth would you help him? Shouldn't Buffy have just staked him?" Robin demanded, outraged they would provide him sanctuary.

"She wanted to…a lot," Willow assure him right away. "Unfortunately, he was the only source of info we had on that group, and there were rumblings that things were kinda hinky with them. Well, he was the only source we knew of at the time. Turns out that Buffy's boyfriend was one of them."

Robin reluctantly could see their point in keeping him around so they could find out about a bigger threat. Still, he had to ask, "So once he served his usefulness, why didn't you get rid of him?"

"Because he found out he could still fight demons," Willow replied distractedly as she searched her files for Nikki Wood or Bernard Crowley.

"What difference does that make?" he asked in confusion.

Willow stopped searching so she could answer the question, "He loved fighting; called it 'dancing'. As long as he could fight, he didn't totally care who it was with. It was a good thing we had him last year 'cause we really needed his help. Angel might have been able to help, but he's still doing his thing in LA."

Starting to wonder about Buffy, Robin had to find out more about this Angel guy. "Is he another vampire with a chip in his brain?" he asked sarcastically, not really expecting it to be remotely true.

"Huh?" Willow looked up again from her screen just as her file on Nikki opened up. She didn't see the name of the vampire they had listed as her killer – which would have explained his interest in the subject. "Oh no, he has a soul. As long as he doesn't have any perfect happiness moments, he's a good guy."

Stunned that Angel actually was a vampire, Robin quirked an eyebrow at her assertion that his soul made him good. "You sure about that? How many humans do evil things with a soul?"

Willow thought about all the human evil in the world, then conceded, "True, but Angel's a good guy. He fights demons and helps people. He's even helped us save the world a couple times."

Robin ran his hands over his eyes and head, hoping to wipe away the confusion a bit. Then he got a smirk on his face when he imagined Bernie's ex-colleagues finding out about Buffy's habits. "Whew…you guys fight with vampires at your side; I can just imagine how the Council would feel about that. Is that the reason Buffy's Watcher went back to England?" he inquired with venom in his voice, refusing to call the man by name.

"No. He had a different reason," Willow answered, not wanting to get into the whole resurrection deal with a guy she didn't know. Then she saw the anger in Robin's eyes and got around to asking her first question, "Why does it sound like you hate him?"

"Hate is a strong word." He silently thought that it wasn't necessarily the wrong word, but for whatever reason, this young woman seemed to be fond of the absentee Watcher. "I hate that he's making Buffy raise her daughter on her own, though. Bernie helped my mom with me, and when she died, he adopted me," he explained.

Willow just looked confused at his statement. "Daughter?"

"Dawn. Buffy said she was taking care of her on her own," Robin reminded the redhead. Surely she knew about Buffy's child!

Fighting her giggles, Willow clarified, "Dawn is Buffy's sister, not her daughter." She would love to see the looks on Dawn or Buffy's faces if he mentioned that in front of them, though.

A/N: Not sure what Musie will come up with next. Maybe a talk between Buffy and Wes in the morning?