When Buffy got home, she felt bad about not offering to have Spike just spend the night there, now he had to walk back to Giles' apartment by himself. She didn't even think about it though until she was about halfway through her shower. When she got out, she gave Giles a call to make sure Spike made it back there safely, and thankfully, he did. She brushed her teeth and hair then went right to her bed. When she got there all the walls she built up while being captured by Angelus and Faith fell down, and once they did, all she could do was cry and rage.
It's hard to reconcile the differences between Angel and Angelus. She was able to forgive him the first time this happened but she knows she won't be able to do it again. Not after what he did to her this time. The things he said to her, the things he did to her, the things he did to Faith. How can he be so horrible? Does a soul really make that much of a difference? It just doesn't make sense to her, does Angel always want to do things like that but the soul makes him feel bad about it? Does the soul suppress those urges? She knows they're the same person, they have the same memories and family. Angel still obviously cares about Drusilla, even if he feels like her actions are reprehensible. So to a point, they are the same. They aren't two completely different beings and personalities living in the same body.
Are vampires just as unique as humans? You see someone as terrible as Angelus, then someone as childlike and out there as Drusilla, and even someone as unique as Spike, and that's only one part of one family. When Buffy first started slaying, it was easier, they were all fledges, all mindless killing machines. But the older they get, the better they get at controlling their demon, and the more personality they make for themselves.
It doesn't even matter to her anymore, she's done with him. Last time, she just wanted her Angel back, and to send Angelus far away. Now, when he gets his soul back, she wants Angel to go far away and never come back. She'd be happy if she'd never have to see his face again. The face of the man she thought loved her. If even one part of him loved her, he wouldn't have been able to do that to her. She tried to convince herself that vampires can't love without a soul but then she saw how Spike treated Drusilla, hell, how they treated each other, how easily he gave up everything at the sunset club when Dru was in danger. Dru might have shown her love in strange ways, but she showed it too.
So she cried, she cried for the pain she was in, for the heartbreak she's gone through, for what she saw while she was there, for the lost love, for the betrayal, and for everything else. When she was finally all done, she felt better and she was able to put the pain away and turn it into rage, Angelus didn't know what he had coming for him, and he was going to regret the day he ever decided to set his obsession on her.
With that last thought, she decided she doesn't care what the PTB want, she was not just going to let him keep killing people while Willow has to search high and low for the orb to get his soul back. No, she's going to end this once and for all. If the PTB decide to go through the trouble of bringing him back to life again, they better keep him far away from Buffy. Because she would be more than happy to never see his face again. After that was decided, she was able to fall asleep easily.
When Spike got back to the watcher's apartment, he was surprised to find out that Giles was being just as cordial as he was earlier. Spike was sure now that Buffy was gone, Rupert would go back to being an asshole, but he was wrong. So he took the cuppa he was offered and sat down to tell him about the run-in with Angelus.
"They were waiting for her at her house. As soon as we got on her block I heard Dru singing and let the slayer know but by then, it was already too late. They knew where we were and had us surrounded. It was just Angelus doing his stupid mind shit, he wasn't there for a fight. Prolly not great for Buffy though, she's gonna need some time to get over that I reckon. Didn't want to leave her at the house alone but you know her, once she's made her mind up, there's no changing it."
"You're quite right about that. Although I do hope to change her mind about Angel, the Orb of Thesulah is not easy to come by. It's in fact quite difficult to find. It could take weeks or even months to find a genuine one. I don't even want to imagine what they'll get into during that time."
"Like I said, he already has something planned. Something bigger than Acathla too. All I know is, he was excited about it. One thing I learned about Angelus over the time I was with him is, if Angelus is excited about something, it's better to stay away from him. He's already made it clear he's not done fuckin' with Buffy either. He used to tell me sometimes that torture is better from afar. Never much for the preshow myself, the bastard tried to get me into it and when he couldn't he'd say I was made wrong. He'd say I'm still too human for him and the family." Spike said and Giles gave him a long hard look then he got up and got a bottle of scotch and poured some into their empty cups.
"Why are you so different? Why did you stay with them if you were treated so badly?"
"Don't rightly know, do I? Jus' am I guess. Maybe it's 'cause Dru's different, maybe more of my humanity stayed with me, maybe I just didn't turn right. Don't get me wrong, I'm still all demon, I revel in a fight and can get the bloodlust with the best of them. I have my own honor code I guess, it's nothing like a human's though. I don't like picking off the weak, I like a real fight, and I like to test myself. Fight the best of the best. There's nothing honorable about rape or torture, and those are things Angelus enjoys. No one ever called him honorable though." Spike said with a look of disgust then took a drink. After he swallowed he scoffed and continued.
"Then again, I doubt you human types would ever call me honorable either. But why I stayed, that's an easy one. I stayed for Dru. Love's bitch, Ain't I? Could never leave her, they didn't treat her right, or take care of her. She'd be dead a thousand times over if I wasn't there to take care of her. He made her like this, he drove her barmy before he turned her, and he doesn't give a fuck about her. But she made her choice, she chose him over and over again. There's only so much a man can take. After over a bloody century of tryin' to get her to choose me, I finally had to open my eyes and realize she never would."
Giles refills their cups and thinks over what Spike said. He's right, Giles certainly does not think William the Bloody is honorable, although he supposed he could see what Spike is talking about. There is a sick twisted sense of honor in there, even if it's nothing Giles would ever live his life by. If Spike decided to use his wish to fight the best there is, he'd have a better time doing it on the white hats side. There's only one human that can put up a fight against a master vampire, and that's the slayer. Wait, is that why he goes after them? Giles' eyes open wide at that realization. If he fought on the good guys side, he'd constantly be able to test his skill on stronger foes. Giles decided he was going to have to take some time to really think about that later, if he could convince Spike of this, it could really change things for the better. After he took another sip, he asked his next question.
"So if Drusilla came to you right now and asked you to come back with her, you would say no?"
"She did that just an hour ago mate, 'm not going anywhere. Like I said, I'm done with her. I gotta question for you now though. Buffy must be turning 18 soon, you're not planning on making her go through those tests, right? She's had enough people betray her in her young life already." Spike asked dangerously, and his eyes flashed yellow. He didn't need to hear Giles' response though, from the guilty look in his eye, Spike could tell that he already missed her birthday and the test was given already. Before Spike could stop himself, he let out a ferocious growl and changed into his demon face.
"I know, I'm terrible. I tried to talk them out of doing it, but no one listened to me. I eventually told her what was happening but by then, the damage was already done. Kralik, the vampire they chose for her, had already kidnapped Joyce. Buffy won obviously, she tricked him somehow. I think I've forever damaged her trust in me though, I don't think she'll ever truly forgive me, nor should she." Giles looks down in shame. He normally wouldn't say this much, to a vampire no less, but the scotch was making him quite sloshed. Spike thinks he might have even heard a sniffle from the watcher but decided to ignore it.
"Christ, they chose bloody Kralik? They didn't intend for her to survive that 'test'. No, they just wanted to kill her off. They don't like having a Slayer that doesn't do what they tell her to. They say jump and they want her to ask how bloody high?" Spike changed back to his human face, but it was clear he was still angry.
"No, I don't think they did. I got fired because I told her what was happening and now they sent some wet behind the ears watcher that has no idea what he's doing. I should probably let him know that we got Buffy back. Actually, I should probably have called him yesterday when you guys got here. He's going to be even less pleased to see you than I was."
Spike scoffed. "Yeah well, I'm not worried about him. What I am worried about is figuring out a way to get a hold of Angelus' plans. I think I still got a few fledges loyal to me, not a lot, but a few. The last time I was here most weren't too happy to see me but that was with the mayor still running things. Now with Angelus, I'm sure I can get a few to talk to me, he's a terrible master, he treats everyone like shit. That's what I'll do tomorrow, tonight it's too late for humans to be out so everyone's probably fed already and that'll be the best time to talk to one. Angelus is a bragger, so they'll already probably know most of his plan. You do something like that to her again though watcher, and I don't give a bloody fuck about the truce, I'll suck you dry faster than you can blink" Spike said, and Giles didn't know why William the Bloody cared so much, but it was clear he did, and he knew he should take the threat for what it was. Giles had no intention of hurting Buffy that way again anyway.
"Point taken. You're not going to partake in the feedings, right? You're just going out there to talk?"
"I made a deal with you, didn't I?"
"Does living off pig's blood really weaken a vampire that much?"
"Damn right, it does. Firstly, you're never full, you're perpetually hungry. I had to do it once in the 20s. It was just way too hot where I was, there were too many people after Dru, so there were too many people after me. I couldn't get out to feed, so I literally had to drain pigs, I was stuck on a farm, yeah? It lasted a week and no matter how much I drank, I was still always hungry. After about 30 hours, I started to notice my strength lessening, nothing too dramatic, but noticeable. By the end of the week, I felt as weak as a fledgling. I've spent the last century studying and learning from masters of their arts on how to be a better fighter in many different styles. I know I can take Angelus, but living on pig's blood will make that a lot harder. I'll stick to our deal, but it's making it harder on ourselves."
"I'll leave that between you and Buffy. I'll go along with whatever she says." Giles says,
"Good, then I'll talk to her about it. I can feed without hurting anyone. I don't know why I started doin' it honestly, just felt right at the time. Think that'll be best for everyone." Spike says, refilling his cup quietly like he's done a few times before. With his vampiric metabolism, it takes him a lot more to get sloshed than it does for humans.
"You do that. Right, well, I think that's quite enough for me for one night. I might no longer be a watcher, or paid by the Watcher's Council anyway, but I'm still a high school librarian and have to be up early for work tomorrow. I might have decided to accept you, but that doesn't mean I trust you, I'm still going to have to chain you up tonight." Giles paused, waiting for Spike to disagree, when he didn't, Giles continued. "Since Buffy is in her own home tonight, I'll put you in the spare room so we can preemptively cover the windows, and I don't have to worry about Wesley coming into my house and staking the chained up vampire on my couch."
"Alright, I'll let myself be chained up for one more night but we're going to have to get me some better accommodations than that soon. I understand that you don't trust me, especially in your house while you sleep, but I'm not a prisoner, and I won't be treated like one either. Make sure to unchain me before you leave. I'm not going to be stuck on that bloody bed all day while you're at work."
"Okay, I'll do that."
Spike poured himself one more generous serving of scotch and drank it slowly while he went and warned himself up two mugs full of pig's blood. When the microwave dinged the scotch was all gone Spike shuddered while he forced himself to down the disgusting blood too.
'No bloody way I'm living off this shite the whole time I'm here helping the slayer. I'll just keep doing catch and release, and they better soddin' be happy about it. That way we're all compromising instead of just me.' Spike thought.
Nothing else was said as Spike drank his blood and rinsed out his mug. He followed Giles upstairs to the spare room and stripped down to his jeans instead of going completely naked, for the modesty of his host. He dutifully laid down and stretched his arms out in a way that made it easy for Giles to tie and chain him up. Spike made sure not to show it on his face but he wanted to laugh, It would take him less than a minute to get out of these chains. The watcher doesn't know how to tie and lock it right.
In fact, Spike decided that's exactly what he'll do as soon as he hears the watcher's heart rate settle for the night. He'll make sure to put himself back in the chains before he catches some kip for himself but it's way too early for a creature of the night to go to bed. If the watcher gets to sleep comfortably thinking he's safe from the big bad, then it's only fair that the big bad is comfortable while not attacking said watcher.
Spike keeps his face blank of all his thoughts while Giles finishes thoroughly chaining Spike up. He said a soft 'goodnight' and left the room, went to his own, made sure his alarm was set and proceeded to pass out face first on the bed. Spike let out a scoff when it was only 5 minutes and 20 seconds after the watcher left the room until he felt comfortable to get himself out of the chains. He was being honest earlier, it's too late to find a minion to get information from, so he decided to watch the telly until he felt tired enough to rechain himself for bed.