Buffy was back in her dorm Saturday morning, packing a few things she didn't have back at home. She was trying to hunt down a stray hair brush when there was a knock at the door. She walked over to the door and pulled it wide open expecting someone to have come around looking for Willow. People often came by to ask for her help with homework and projects.

"Riley!" Buffy was surprised. She had forgotten all about the incident at the clock tower. "What are you doing here?"

"I guess we have to talk," He said.

"I guess we do. Uh, come in." She left the door open and sat down on the edge of her bed.

Riley shut the door and sat down on Willow's bed, facing her. They both sat silently staring at the floor for a while.

"Somebody should speak before one of us graduates," Buffy said.

Riley stood up and started pacing slowly. "What are you?"

"Capricorn on the cusp of Aquarius. You?"

"Sorry. That came out a little blunter than I intended. - It's just... you are amazing! Your speed, your strength," Riley said amazed.

"Also passionate, artistic and inquisitive. Who are you?"

"You know who I am. The rest... what I do..." He shook his head. "I can't tell you."

"Well, then let me." She stood up. "You're part of some military monster squad that captures: demons, vampires, probably have some official sounding euphemisms for them, like unfriendlies or non-sapiens."

He nodded looking a bit suspicious. "Hostile Sub Terrestrials."

"So you deliver these HST's to a bunch of lab coats, who perform experiments on them, which among other things turn some into harmless little bunnies. How am I doing so far?"

"A little too well," once again Riley looked amazed.

"Meanwhile by day you pretend to be Riley Finn, corn: fed Iowa boy. Ever been to Iowa, Riley? God, if that's even your name," Buffy said getting angry.

Riley stood up. "It is, born and raised. And hey! Bulletin: I'm not the only one who's been a little less than honest here."

She sat down. "I thought a professional demon chaser like yourself would have figured it out by now. I'm the Slayer."

He looked at here as if her words meant nothing to him.

"Slay-er? Chosen One. She who hangs out a lot in cemeteries? You're kidding," She said disbelieving. "Ask around. Look it up: Slayer comma The."

"And you fight demons. I mean, you waled on those guys."

"You did pretty well yourself."

"But I'm a walking bruise today. You see me with my clothes off I look like... I mean… I have bruises. I don't see a scratch on you."

"You're not looking hard enough."

"I'm looking pretty hard."

Giles sighed, rubbing his forehead. He'd had another sleepless night. When he did lose consciousness, he had nothing but nightmares. While he was awake, Ripper was rattling his metaphorical cage. If he didn't get some self-control, Ripper was going to resurface and likely get him killed. He'd thought about telling Buffy about his problem so she could watch him, make sure he didn't disappear, but he didn't want her to worry or to distrust his judgment.

He went into the kitchen and poured himself a brandy. He'd been drinking more and more lately. Spike had commented on it the night before. If Spike had felt the need to mention it, it had to be getting bad.

It seemed like Spike was having some trouble sleeping as well. Giles's couldn't imagine that Spike was afraid of Angelus, but he was certainly spending an awful lot more time being awake during the day. The good news was that Giles didn't need to sneak around in his own home anymore, the bad news was that he didn't get a break from the pesky vampire. In fact, Giles could hear the TV running. Spike must have woken up and decided to watch the news.

Giles took his glass and headed into the living room. He sat in chair next to the sofa and sipped on his drink.

"Brandy again, watcher boy?"

"It calms my nerves."

"Could use some of that nerve calming myself," Spike said.

The news caster on the TV spoke urgently, "The body of a local woman was found lying on the ground outside of the old Sunnydale high school. The victim was tortured before finally being killed by what appears to be two round puncture marks on her neck."

"I'll call Buffy," Giles jumped out of his chair and went to the phone.

On the screen, the victim was shown on a stretcher being transported to the hospital to confirm her death and contact her loved ones. Spike could see the marks on her wrists where she'd been tied tightly down. There were burns covering her skin, each expertly placed not to kill or to be severe enough to knock the poor woman unconscious. Angelus had done this to get the slayers attention. It was certainly working.

Giles called Buffy, who made an excuse about being late to meet up with Willow and nearly ran out the door. Willow bumped into Buffy in the hall and together they headed to Giles's, with Willow looking a bit confused as to the hurry, but assuming it was demon related didn't ask until they were alone.

Giles went back to his chair in the living room to see if there were any other brutal killings last night. If it was Angelus, he would have left the body somewhere it would be found to make certain that Buffy would hear about it.

"I've never been fond of torture," Spike commented. "It's a whole lot of extra work just for a bit of blood. Plus it gets messy."

"Yes, that's why torture is bad. Not because it's cruel and malevolent, but because it will leave stains in the carpet," Giles said rolling his eyes.

"You're bloody right it will! Worse is when the bloody poof demands that I clean up after him. Ruined several of my favorite shirts that way, too," Spike complained.

Giles's eye brightened. Spike had unintentionally reminded him of something that a part of Giles sincerely wished he hadn't. Spike was Angelus's childe. They were family. It's the sire's responsibility to look after their childer, regardless of how old or how skilled they are. Spike may be a master vampire, but through basic vampire instinct, Angelus would always be drawn to protect him. Ripper had exactly the leverage he needed to get to Angelus. It had been sleeping on his couch and eating all of his Weetabix for several weeks now. He could use Spike to get to Angelus, one way or another. Giles smirked. Spike didn't notice. If he had, he might have been able to put the puzzle pieces together and realized that should keep his mouth shut. Instead he prattled on about his "ponce of a sire".

"…and you know that bastard had the nerve to rape the girl in my bed. Isn't that what his bed is for? I mean, that's where I sleep. And now it's all covered in blood and bits of torn flesh and he just shrugs and tells me to clean it up. Like I'm some sort of slave."

"And you just let him push you around?" Giles asked sounding genuinely curious.

"Hell no, I punched that bleedin' wanker right in his face. 'course then we fought and he used his sire claim to get me to back off. Bloody unfair that was. The bastard's not one for being fair though is he?" Spike looked fairly close to pouting.

The front door swung open and Buffy marched in followed by Willow. "I thought he was coming after me. Why is he killing other people?"

"I believe he's just trying to get your attention. It's your duty as the slayer to protect these people," Giles said. "He's appealing to the rudimentary nature of the slayer in you."

"Plus he thinks it's fun," Spike said.

"Torturing people for fun, hasn't he ever heard of the movie theater?" Willow said.

"This definitely wasn't the last. I have to do something before anyone else gets hurt," Buffy said looking distressed. "Why didn't Willow's spell work?"

"He must have already been in town when I cast it. It can't tell us who's already here; only if anyone bad comes into town."

"Exactly what do you plan to do?" Giles asked.

"I don't know, but something. If I don't then this whole thing is gonna get way out of hand way too fast. I can't just avoid him and wait for him to do something worse."

"Worse than torturing innocent people?" Willow asked.

"I don't mean to sound uncaring or anything, but the demons in town do awful things to innocent people every day. Angelus is just another demon. Worse would be if he hurt one of us."

"I understand, Buffy, but we can't only think about ourselves here. There's a lot of people in this town-"

"And they all need my protecting, I know. But all of those people will have to fend for themselves until I figure out how to stop him. A full on fight never seems to get anywhere between us," Buffy said before walking out of the door. She left to go find somewhere quiet she could think and plan without anyone questioning her. She didn't need them to understand, but she would need them to stand with her when she made a decision.

"Do you think she's alright?" Willow asked Giles.

"I don't know. I'm sure she'll figure something out."

Buffy was walking back to her dorm when she bumped into Riley, literally. "Oof, sorry, I wasn't looking where I was- Oh! Riley, hi. I didn't see you. Obviously."

"No, it's okay. Actually I was just looking for you."

"You were? Why?"

"I was asked some guys at the initiative about you being the slay- ow!" Buffy elbowed him.

"About me being a frycook, you mean." She said giving him a meaningful look. "Wait you told people that I'm a- a frycook?"

"No. I mean I didn't say it was you. I just asked around."

"Oh, okay, good, 'cause. That would be bad."

"Yeah, I kinda figured it was a big secret. Look, can we go someplace to talk? Somewhere private, maybe?"

"Sure," She offered and they headed up the stairs and into her room. Riley waited for her to shut the door behind them before he said anything.

"I just wanted you to know that I'm okay with you being the slayer, and I'm not mad that you didn't tell me. I get it. Having a secret that you can't tell anyone."

"Yeah, it's not really the kind of thing you tell a guy on the first date."

"I can imagine. I was thinking, we're not really so different. I mean, so what, we hunt demons, but does that mean we can't, ya know, date?"

"Oh. I don't know Riley. I've done that before and it didn't end very well."

"You dated me before?"

"No, I mean. There was this guy, Angel. He was sort of a demon fighter, too. It didn't end well between us and there was all this danger all the time."

"I know you like me. And it's not like we don't have anything in common."

"But that's not enough."

"So it'll be a bit difficult. I can live with that-"

"Well I can't. Look Riley, can we not do this-"

"Buffy. I really think we should try. If it's too dangerous, we can stop or slow down or whatever you think is best. I'm just asking for a chance."

Buffy sighed. "I'll think about it, okay?"

"Okay." They were silent for a moment. "So, when you say "demon fighter" you mean…"

"Don't ask."

"Okay."

Shortly after sunset, Spike was walking through town, headed down to the butcher's shop. The refrigerator was officially out of blood and Spike was feeling a bit starved. Another minute locked away with the watcher, who was doing an awful lot of watching Spike lately, and Spike might have flung himself out of the window and into the blazing sunlight. He wasn't far from the shop when he noticed that he was being followed.

His steps faltered before picking back up to normal pace. He was upwind and couldn't catch a scent, but the silence of the beings foot falls made it clear it was a vampire. The vampire was drawing steadily closer and a part of him wanted to make a break for it. He couldn't fight. Which would be better for his reputation, running from a fight or not fighting at all? He couldn't decide.

He could feel the vampire nearly on top of him. They must be on the roofs. It wouldn't have been possible to get so close otherwise. Assuming whoever was shadowing him already knew that he knew they were there, he looking hoping to catch a glimpse. He saw nothing. Whoever it was had to be very familiar with his scent. That left two options, Harmony or Angelus.

Spike turned into the nearest alley and lit a cigarette, waiting to meet his stalker. They dropped gracefully down onto the ground. Not Harmony then.

"Spike," a familiar voice greeted him. "You've been awfully naughty lately." Angelus walked within arm's reach of him. "I expect that of you, but aiding a slayer?" He clicked his tongue. "That's just not like you."

"Helped her stop your poncey arse didn't I?" Spike said.

"That was for a good cause," Angelus sounded a mocking. "This is different. I'd say you'd gone and gotten yourself a soul, but I can't smell it on you. I can, however, smell pig's blood. Why is that, I wonder?"

"None of your business."

"Ooh, real mature of you Willy," Angelus looked apprehensive. "What's happened to you, boy?"

Spike sighed. "There are these new guys in town, called the Initiative. They do… experiments on demons. They caught me, put some kind of government chip in my head," He ground his teeth. "I can't bite anyone. I can't hurt anyone, or anything. If it's alive… I just can't."

Angelus growled. A bunch of government bastards went and crippled his childe. They would pay for that. "Have you tried removing it?"

"Not like I can just pull the bloody thing out, is it? I found this doctor, but he couldn't do a damn thing. He tried, but he said it was too difficult. That one wrong move and I'd end up a vegetable," He shook his head. "Can't even defend myself anymore."

"That's why you went to Buffy. She won't kill you because you can't kill anymore and you can hide out from all of your enemies." Spike nodded. "You can't kill demons either?"

Spike shook his head. "Not as far as I know."

"Have you tried?"

Spike thought a moment. "Actually, no. I just thought since- Ow!" Angelus punched him in the jaw. Spike glared and instinctively punched him right back. After he realized what he'd done, he grabbed his head waiting for the pain. There was none. "I can hit demons." He smiled. "Hell yes!"

Angelus smirked. "Good I'd hate to think you're completely helpless." Spike tackled him. They wrestled around on the ground for a bit, before they broke up laughing.

"Brilliant, I've missed the thrill of the fight," Spike said smiling.

Angelus chuckled. "Just don't go out picking fights with every vampire you see. Only fight when you need to. If you'd like, we could meet up tomorrow, do this again?"

"Really?"

"Why not? It'll be like old times."

"You wanna hang out… at night… with me?"

"You have other plans?"

"Nope."

"Good. See you tomorrow then, childe," Angelus said as he climbed to his feet and dusted off his pants. He noted that he'd need to buy new ones. These still smelled like Angel and that filthy soul. Plus, Angelus always preferred finer materials. He left Spike behind and headed off to the bronze to pick his next victim. By next weekend, Angelus planned on hunting with his childe, one way or another.