It was much easier for Spike to fall asleep than he thought it would be. He thought he'd be up most of the night stuck chained to the bloody couch bored out of his gourd because he was a nightwalker, meant to sleep the days away and cause mayhem at night. Surprisingly though, no, he fell asleep within ten minutes and didn't wake up until the sun was out. He only woke up because there was a strong burning sensation on his hand that shouldn't be there. When he opened his eyes he saw his hand had caught on fire because it was right in the sunlight. He tried to move away as much as he could, but he was still too close for comfort.
"Oi, watcher! Get your bloody arse in here! The sun was shining right on me." Spike yelled and after a few seconds Giles walked in from the kitchen, drinking a cup of coffee. He didn't look particularly worried about Spike's well-being either. The watcher went over to the window, pulled the blinds down, and closed the curtains. Before starting to walk back to the kitchen. "Oi, you're up now, so you can unchain me."
Giles didn't want to unchain Spike at all. In fact, he wanted nothing more than to stake the vile creature that has tried to kill his slayer before, the creature that is known for killing slayers in general. Eventually, though, he sighs. Whatever reason he had, Spike chose to save Buffy yesterday. Giles was almost certain he'd never see his slayer breathing again before that knock came at the door last night. Whether it would be in a body bag, or because of the dead creatures she was made to kill, he'd been sure Buffy wasn't coming back to him alive or healthy.
In a sense, he was right, Giles doubted Buffy would ever be the same again after a week of Angelus' torture. So he decided to follow Buffy's wishes on this one and unlock the vampire, but he'd die before ever trusting one of Spike's kind again. He went to his drawer and got the keys and reluctantly unlocked Spike from the chains.
"'Ta mate."
"I'm not your mate."
"I get it, you don't like me. I don't like you much either. On top of that, Angelus did a number on you so now you have a hard-on for him, but he's not here so you figure you might as well take it out on me instead. You have also been indoctrinated by the council so you think you know all there is to know about vampires, even though a lot of what you learned is bollocks. Doesn't matter though, because you're not gonna listen to a word I say. So how bout this? Let's stay civil till Buffy wakes up, and go from there. 'Cause I saved your slayer's ass last night, and because of that, I'm not welcomed back to my family anymore. So I'm not going anywhere for the time being, at least till this Angelus problem is taken care of anyway."
Spike looked Giles in the eyes steadily, with a little threat mixed in, making it clear that he would not take any more of the watcher's bullshit, but also making it clear that he won't start any problems if Giles doesn't. Giles stared right back. After about a minute stare-off, Giles looked away, giving up, and he nodded his head.
"Alright, I will stop being so hostile to you. You're right, it isn't you I'm mad at. One would wonder though, why you chose to save Buffy yesterday. Seems to me the 'Slayer of Slayers' would take joy in seeing Buffy in that state."
"Don't rightly know, do I? Dru woke me up rambling about seeing her daddy again, making me get up right then to drive her back to good ol' Sunneyhell. On the way here I'm plannin' out how I'm gonna warn the slayer that Angelus is planning on making a comeback. When I get here I figure it's fine 'cause there's a slayer inside the mansion, and they're not fighting, so Angelus can't be back yet, right? Wrong, I walk in and see Angelus screwin' this dark-haired chit right in front of some tied-up bird. Not my cuppa, but right up Angelus' alley. Dru's like a kid in a candy store, 'cause she gets to have her daddy back and have a new dolly to play with, but I'm pissed.
"When they finish they get up to greet us and the chit introduces herself as the slayer, so I ask where Buffy is. She won't tell me but her eyes flick to the bird that's tied up. I don't know, when I saw her like that, I just thought 'She doesn't deserve that' and I knew I had to get her out of there. I've been through his torture a time or two myself. Been exactly in her position, 'cept it was Dru and not the other slayer there with him. He gets off on it, and Buffy is a fighter, she shouldn't go down like that. Angelus is a pro at the torture, she was only at about step 3 out of his 10-step process. I'm glad I got there when I did, step 4 would have changed her forever."
Giles could do nothing but stare at Spike for a minute, in a word, he was flabbergasted. He was not expecting Spike to go into that much detail or talk that much at all. He took off his glasses to clean them so he had time to organize his thoughts.
'I wonder if I could get him to talk to me about those few vampire rituals I was looking into recently. He seems willing enough to talk. No, I have to focus on Buffy right now. Plus, he'll be with us for a while, I'll have time to talk to him about that later.'
"Well, I must thank you for getting her out of there. Much as it pains me to say this, I owe you. Buffy is still so young, and she has already had so much pain and seen so much death. You're quite right, she doesn't deserve any more. I'm still confused why you care about that, though."
"So am I, Rupert, but I do care. So I figure I'll just take it as the fact that it is, and go from there. Dru's been mad at me since we left. Says the slayers all around me since we made our truce. I told her I only did it because I needed to get Dru outta here safely, but she's got the site, you know? And once she gets something in her pretty little head, there's no getting it outta there." Spike always lets his mouth get away from him, and he knows that. He's probably saying too much to the watcher, but after 120 years of trying to teach himself how to keep his flap shut, he's given it up for a loss. Giles gives him a weighing look but decides to think on that later and ask the question that's been on his mind since last night.
"Yes, why don't you tell me about that truce? Buffy left for a few months after the Acathla situation, and when she got back, we didn't talk much about it. It was hard for her, as you can imagine."
"Nothing to tell, really. I let Angelus and Dru think I was still stuck in the chair, but I was healed enough. When they went out doin' their normal thing I snuck out to see the slayer. I heard them making plans about ending the soddin' world, but I like the world just the way it is. It's fun, yeah? When I got to Buffy she was about to be arrested for murder. I knocked the officer out to help Buffy get away and offered her a truce. I get you out of the mansion alive and help her with Angelus, and she lets Dru and I leave town. So that's what we did. Sorry about the thrall, by the way, that was the only way I could think to stop Angelus from killing you."
"Well, I guess I owe you my thanks for that as well," Giles said uneasily.
"Didn't do it for thanks, watcher. Did it to get Dru out alive, and I did. Didn't matter to her much though, she was pissy that I sacrificed her Daddy. You don't know Angelus like I do Rupert, he'd never tried to end the world before. It was like he was overcompensating for the 100 years he was on the leash or something. I don't want to think about what he has planned now. It took some talking to get them to sleep in the bed and not in front of Buffy, so I could get her out of there. When I finally had them all in the room and was leavin' Angelus told me he'll tell me about the plan he has in the works when he wakes for the night. I thought about waiting to find out what it was, but figured getting Buffy out of there was more important. We'll figure out what he's planning another way."
"Yes, you made the right decision. So by the way you're talking, I gather you're planning on staying for the fight. Staying to help Buffy, am I right?"
"Yeah watcher, I'm staying. You can count me in for this one."
Giles nods his head in acceptance. Giles was about to respond but Spike put his finger up in a gesture to hold on a minute because he heard something. After a few seconds, Giles hears it too. Buffy is slowly but surely making her way downstairs, at least she's walking today. When she finally gets down, she walks into the kitchen and her eyes open wide.
For Buffy, it's weird to see her watcher and her vampire⦠arch enemy? No, that doesn't work, but friend doesn't quite fit either. Anyway, it's weird to see them both together, it's like her two worlds are colliding. So it takes her a second to get her thoughts straight. Giles gets up to pull a chair out for her.
"How are you feeling today Buffy? You should take a seat, here."
"Thanks Giles, I'm feeling a lot better after a full night's sleep. I'm still pretty sore though."
"I'd expect you would be, you were gone for a long time. We were so worried about you Buffy, but we couldn't find you."
"What were you guys doing? Did you keep up on patrols? I won't be at the top of my game for a few days so it won't be good if Sunnydale is being overrun by vamps when I do my patrols."
"Buffy, don't worry about patrols until you're better. We did keep up with them while you were captured, but we spent most of our time trying to find you. We tried location spells but they must have had something to block them, they kept sending us to different locations around town, but you weren't at any of them. After the third time following it, we realized you just weren't going to be there so we stopped. After a few days of Angel not coming around, we realized that the mayor was probably successful in taking his soul away, so we figured he probably had you. We couldn't get passed all the vamps that they had working for them. On top of that, when they took out the mayor, all his lackeys followed Faith so they had humans working for them too. I'm sorry Buffy, we tried, we just couldn't get to you. I failed you as your watcher." Giles said and looked down sadly. Buffy put her hand on top of his and squeezed it lightly.
"It's not your fault Giles, I know you did all you could to get me back here safely. I'm sure if Spike didn't come when he did, you would have figured out a way to get me out."
"Yes, I had a few plans in the works. I still have access to the rocket launcher that you used against Angelus last time, but I couldn't figure out how to assure your safety while using it. Then I went to Magic, but he already figured out how to block some, so I didn't know what protection he had against it. I had other ideas as well, I would have gotten you out, but I am thankful that Spike was there, and that you didn't need to wait for me. Since Spike is here and wants to help us defeat Angelus, he should be fine with helping you patrol until you are back to being healthy again." Giles said and Buffy looked at him surprised that he was making a complete 180 from how he was acting yesterday. Spike shrugged.
"I don't know, taking down Angelus is one thing, but killing my own kind? That's just wrong." He stays quiet for a few seconds, thinking it over, then he continues, "You know what, sure, why not? I don't like many other vampires anyway and I always need a little rough and tumble before bed. The same rules apply though, Dru is off limits." Spike looked just as surprised by his easy acceptance as Giles and Buffy did.
"Uh, okay, thanks." Buffy said after a minute, she was sure it was going to take more convincing, but he agreed almost right away.
"So what? I jus' go out tonight and start staking all the vamps I see? I have to be careful, I have to stay away from Angelus' territory."
"Yeah, I'll go with you though. I'll just take it easy."
"Are you sure Buffy? Maybe you should just take this time to rest and heal up?"
"I'll take it easy, let Spike do all the heavy lifting. I can't sit and do nothing, Giles."
"Okay, okay, I understand. Just be careful."
"I will, I promise."
A/N: I know Spike might seem a little OOC agreeing so fast but he was really affected seeing Buffy like that and he want's to figure out why.
