"I don't care, Giles. She can't come back here right now." Buffy glared at her watcher. "It might be hard, but they can figure out something to entice her and I can get her to agree from this end."

"Your mother is not going to be easy to manipulate, and the Council isn't always patient." Giles ran a hand through his hair.

Spike watched the two figuring out how to stash away her mother far from the fight and he growled.

"Slayer, the Council might keep her safe and they might not. Hell, they might lose her to Angelus. I can keep her safe here and we can put an extended buying trip cover story in place. It'll keep him chasing his tail for a bit." Spike watched as they both turned and tilted their heads. It was eerie watching them move in synch.

"How would the Council lose her to Angelus?" Giles sounded outraged.

"Our power base is in Europe. We're owed favors, and the Council hasn't been real helpful with Buffy. I'm guessing the unorthodox slayer has ruffled some feathers. Being rid of her mum would please some of the old timers. Yeah, they'd put on a good show, but they might lose her without any real effort put forth to defend her."

"What do you know of the Council?" Giles sneered at the blonde vampire.

"Have to know what I'm hunting, don't I? I've killed two slayers, but I've killed dozens of watchers. They don't tell you about those. Those old men safe in London don't tell you much. Your Council doesn't tell you about all the lovely blokes they sent to acquire Drusilla. Do they?"

"Who the hell do you think you are" Giles sprang to his feet pulling his sword in one smooth move.

"We are Aurelians, Drusilla, Angelus and myself. The Master is dead, and Buffy and Angelus have taken out all the older members. It's down to Angelus or me for rule of the family. They will jump to him. His reputation will pull in resources you lot aren't prepared for. I'm a better fighter, but I've never played the game. Clutch politics are boring and I broke free to become a master very early. My own sire isn't considered a master due to the madness. Angelus is the master of the line."

Giles advanced on the vampire. His movements were economical. He moved fluidly and Spike smiled as he dropped into a fighting stance.

"Stop, right now." Buffy growled at them from the bed. "If I have to break up a fight, you will both be so sore sitting will be a dream for weeks. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal, pet." Spike smirked at Giles as he sheathed his weapon again. "You worked on a wet team for them ay some point. You're better than most of the others, might be able to take on some of the other clutches with some luck. Angelus trained us well; even Dru is a terror with a sword. None of us need them though. Give us a go later."

"Of course, I wouldn't want to disappoint my host." Giles bent at the waist in a mocking salute.

"Giles, I have had enough." Buffy glared at her watcher and tossed a pillow at him. "Angelus knows us, knows our weaknesses. You always preach at me about using every advantage in battle. Spike knows Angelus, knows how to hurt him. I am pretty sure you have the desire to hurt Angelus in common, so play nice."

"We need to get your little crew safe. Angelus is going to be on a rampage tonight. He'll need to make new minions. It'll slow him a bit, but he might decide to kill two birds with one stone."

"How are we supposed to keep them safe? He managed to take Buffy in broad daylight." Giles started to stalk around the room.

"Let's use your Council. We'll arrange for a trip abroad or at least the paperwork. Some sort of educational exchange with some posh institution, then we keep them safe behind wards."

"That can't work for long."

"Long enough to kill Angelus, all we need is enough time to kill Angelus." Buffy smiled and yawned. "Come here, Spike." She patted the bed next to her.

He found himself with arms full of delicious smelling slayer, but he felt no urge to end her. Spike smiled as he stroked the slayer's golden hair and felt her body relax. She had spent most of the morning cuddled against him or talking with her watcher. He glanced at the man as he paced around the room, trying to contain his rage. Spike felt the strangeness of the moment keenly. His world was shaken. A day ago he had been the least cared for member of his clutch, slowly starving and always in pain. He had been needed to keep his sire under control or he would have been abandoned. Now, he was needed and actually cared for by this tiny blonde force of nature, and she was forcing him to make nice with her family one pout at a time. He rested his chin on the top of her head and let the joy of holding her wash through him.

She finally drifted off to sleep and he carefully wiggled out of the bed. He felt the absurd urge to kiss her forehead and fought it down. The watcher would do him in right quick for any misbehavior.

"We need to get planning. The daylight is wasting and your little troop needs to be summoned here before Angelus recovers his senses." Spike never looked away from her beautiful face as he spoke to her watcher.

"I'm not comfortable putting our fate in your hands." Giles grimaced.

"I would have run with her, but she loves you. Each and everyone of you is necessary to her, so I'll keep you lot safe." Spike finally dragged his cerulean gaze toward the watcher. "She's the first being aside from my mother to ever give me a drop of honest caring. I'll play nice with her puppies and I'll help you make her strong."

"You don't have a soul."

"Don't need one to do this. You all place too much value on the damn things. Think Angelus is a different bloke from Angel." Spike chuckled. "He's the same bastard with or without. The only difference is guilt, and I imagine his personality will win that battle eventually even if you found a way to lock his soul in so tight it could never be freed. It's not like a soul keeps a human from doing evil."

"You think the soul has nothing to do with the changes in Angel." Giles followed Spike as he descended the stairs.

"Oh, the guilt was horrendous. I have no doubt, but Angelus wasn't a good man as a human." Spike shrugged and walked through the house and opened a door with several locks. "Want to see the house I'm giving you?"

"Giving me?" Giles tilted his head and examined the vampire.

"Yeah, you need space for research and I only have one extra bedroom in this house, so it'll be your house. I'll even transfer it to your name if you want after Angelus is done."

"Why? Why would you do such a thing?" Giles stood looking down the stairs to the well lit and finished basement to where the vampire stood with hands shoved deep into his pockets.

"You are hers, important to her, so I have to find a way to keep you safe. She needs you. Do you want to see or not?" Spike shrugged his shoulders and moved away from the foot of the stairs. "I linked up all these houses and restored them. They were all legit buys too, no blood involved."

Giles looked around the training room and smiled. It was well designed, perfectly designed for working with his slayer. He looked at the weapons decorating the walls with shock.

"Do you know how to use all of these?" Giles gaped at the lovely pieces.

"Yeah. I like a good fight, any good fight. I keep up my training. Everyone thinks I'm what Angelus sees. I've learned to be more and to have escape routes." Spike walked over to a large display case and smiled as he reached up and triggered the release allowing the door to slide open.

The tunnels revealed beyond the door were wide and dry. Giles watched as Spike stepped into the space and pointed to the left.

"There's a three bedroom ranch down this tunnel. I haven't done much with it yet. It might do for the young whelps. It's warded and I did stash some good stereo and entertainment equipment there. The girls would probably do better in the two story down this other tunnel." He flipped his hand to the right. "I've fixed up the bathrooms and it has all new floors."

"Is it warded as well?" Giles asked.

"Of course." Spike turned and walked across the wide space into the middle branch. "This is the way to your place. It has my library. I'll need to collect a couple of personal items, but it should suit you quite well."

"You bought all these houses and made all these changes yourself?" Giles watched as the blonde vampire shrugged.

"Need a safe place, don't I? Was caught in Prague because I didn't have this set up. I was just reveling in the evil, and I nearly lost Dru."

"You left Dru this time." Giles prompted.

"Had no choice. She's his creature and I don't fit in to his plans. I was going to leave as soon as I healed, but your slayer saved me, made me whole again. I'll never se anything so beautiful as that tear again." Spike pushed open a door and walked into a finished basement.

There were crates stacked up along the walls, but the carpeting was new. Spike led the way across the basement to the stairs.

"These crates contain things I haven't unpacked yet. I promise I'll get them out of the way at some point. Let's see what you think of my library, shall we?"

Giles nodded and followed Spike up the stairs into the house. The kitchen was bright and generous in size. Giles smiled, as he looked at all the new appliances.

"Why do all your kitchen's have new appliances?"

Spike turned and looked at him. "I like to eat."

"What?" Giles was dumfounded.

"Never lost the taste for it. I don't need it, but I enjoy it. Like cooking, too. I know it's odd. Angelus used to beat me if he caught me eating, said it was like eating the grass instead of the cow."

Giles watched as Spike straightened and walked through a small butler's pantry into what had once been a dining room. The large table that stood in the center of the room could be used as one, but the bookcases covering every wall of the room made it a perfect space to research.

"Why do you have all these books?" Giles walked along the shelves touching he occasional binding.

"I didn't stay with a master for my first century. Dru knows things, but she doesn't always explain things clearly or in any way. I had to learn how to keep us alive. I look like a punk, and don't get me wrong I like what I am, but I was a well-educated man. I value intelligence."

"There are watcher's diaries here." Giles stiffened as he remembered Spike had killed watchers.

"There's a black market for things like that. I buy them when I can. They're yours if you want them. All of this is, if you use it to help Buffy."

Spike trailed out through the main foyer into another room lined with bookcases. He walked over to the desk and grabbed up a few leather bound journals and some slim books. His eyes trailed over every book and he took a deep unneeded breath.

"Call those friends of hers have them get your things. We need them all behind the wards before I head out to cover for Buffy."

Giles watched Spike turn and disappear back the way he had come. Angel had seemed unusual for a vampire, but Spike was unlike anything Giles had ever encountered, and he needed to know why. He looked around the library wondering where to begin.