A/N: My kids have been on vacation with their grandparents so I've had a lot of free time, that's why I've been able to post a chapter every other day recently. It's going to slow down now though, they're coming back today.

Happy mothers day to all the mothers out there! Enjoy

The first thing Spike did after he got the teens home safe was make his way to the Bronze. He figured it was a two-birds, one-stone type deal. It's probably the easiest place on a Monday to find someone drinking and ready to leave with someone they just met, and that's probably what all the minions thought too. When he pulled up, he noticed it was still pretty packed. He supposed it made sense, it being a college town after all.

He was right, it was pretty crowded. Spike went up to the bar and ordered some Jack and looked around,; right away he spotted a few people that he could feed off of. He got another shot and went to his first meal of the night. By the time he was done feeding off of four individuals and a shot or two in between each one, he was feeling good. That last one knew what he was and the barmy bint wanted to go for a ride anyway. He almost took her up on it but decided against it, just wasn't in the mood he supposed.

'Chit was hot though,' Spike thought as we went for another drink and looked around. He spotted four vampires in the club and two more walked in after. He watched them for a while to try to figure out who was on their own and who worked for Angelus. Once he had that sorted, he had to decide which of the three would talk the easiest. He made the decision at a good time because the one he chose was walking out the door with a sloshed bint that didn't know she was about to die. He followed behind the couple. When he got outside the vamp was about to take a bite out of the girl's jugular.

"Oi, you working for Angelus?"

"Fuck off, I'm eating." The soon-to-be-dead git growled.

That pissed Spike right the fuck off. He growled loud, went into his vamp face, and grabbed the minion by the hair away from the girl.

.

"Tonight is your lucky night, now run on home before I decide to let him go." He said to the girl, looking at her through yellow eyes and with a bumpy face. With a scream, she ran. He used his grip on the vampire's hair to slam his head against the wall he'd held the girl to, he repeated that three times. "I asked you a soddin' question, are you working for Angelus or not?"

"Y-yes and he'll kill you for doing this to his underlings." The random vamp rasped and it made Spike guffaw, which made him feel like a right ponce.

"Oh you poor little soddin' fool, he doesn't give a fuck about you. I should know, I'm Spike, I'm sure you've heard about me. I know exactly how he treats his minions, hell, I know exactly how he treats his family. What's ole' grandad up to tonight anyway?"

"Y-you're Spike?"

"I already said that, didn't I? Doesn't matter anyway, I'm the one asking the questions right is gramps tonight?"

"He'll kill me if I tell you."

"He'll kill you if he finds out you told, which he most likely won't. I'll kill you if you don't talk. Which has a better chance of you surviving?"

"When he's not with Miss Drusilla and the dark slayer, he's keeping an eye out for the slayer and her pals, he has a real hard-on for her."

"What are these plans he's working on? How is he planning on ending the world this time?" When the minion stays quiet for too long, Spike hits his head against the wall again then turns him around and puts a stake to his heart in warning.

"I don't know, I swear! It doesn't make sense!"

"Explain."

"He has plans, that much is clear. I just don't think he completely knows what his plans are yet. He sent a group of us about 20 minutes away and we were supposed to dig until he told us to stop. We don't even know what we're digging for. He just comes and checks on us every once in a while and tells us where to aim."

"Captain Forehead isn't one to keep things close to the vest, are you sure there's no one on the crew that knows what's happening?"

"That's what I'm telling you, I don't think he even knows. I think he's losing it, man. Every once in a while, he'll say something that makes no sense, things like 'Don't worry, I'll get it done', and things like 'I don't take orders from anyone.' But no one said anything. The mistress Drusilla obviously knows what's happening, because she'll laugh and clap along. That doesn't give me much confidence, because I'm sure you of all people know Drusilla….." He trailed off when he saw the flash of anger and violence in his yellow eyes and heard the growl from Spike. Anyone that knows of Spike, knows they can't talk badly of Dru around him and expect to live. He clears his throat. "Anyway, we're all getting worried, but we're just doing what he tells us to because we have no one else to follow. I'm sure if you were to make it known that you were looking to make yourself master of Sunnydale, you'd have a lot of minions to follow you."

"So Gramps is losing it? That doesn't make any sense, when I saw him two days ago, he was fine."

"He seems fine most of the time, just every once in a while it's like he's answering orders from someone who isn't there."

"Interesting, thanks for the info mate. I'll think about taking over the position of master." Spike says as he lets the minion go, the vamp turns around to smile at Spike but doesn't have the chance because as soon as he gives Spike the opportunity, Spike dusts him and he walks away without a backward glance.

Spike goes back into the bar and repeats the process with the two other vampires he already picked out as possibilities to talk to and they both say basically the same thing. After that, Spike buys a bottle of Jack from a close by liquor store and starts making his way back to Rupert's. He's always felt bad for minions, they weren't meant to be on their own. They weren't made with the same care children were, they need to be told what to do, they're followers, that's all they can do. They don't have the intelligence, or the power to be a master.

'You should just take all the minions and look for that gem you heard about a few months back. It's said to be in good ole' Sunnyhell anyway, that's why you were already planning to come back here. They already have digging equipment because of whatever Angelus is up to apparently. Then you can leave and never worry about your family, or that slayer, again. You're getting too attached to her, William. Ignore it all you want, but you know you want her, and worse than that, you care about her too. Find the gem and leave, that's the best thing you could do for yourself. Dru thinks the Slayer will turn you to ashes, and deny it all you want, that's a distinct possibility.' Spike told himself, and he knew he was right, but that didn't stop him from parking in front of the watcher's house and going right in. 'God you're a ponce and you're going to get yourself dusted before this is over.'

"Honey, I'm home," Spike said in a falsetto voice.

"That was quick, did you get any information for us?" Giles asked. Buffy, who was still there, followed behind him.

"I don't know, maybe? I mean I had three minions tell me the same thing but it doesn't make much sense to me unless he's being possessed or going crazy." Spike said. Giles got the two people over 21 a glass and sat down, looking very interested.

"Really? Do tell."

"Well, he's digging for something, he has a whole group of minions doing it 24/7. The thing is, they think he doesn't even know what he's looking for. Apparently, he's talking to himself. Don't get me wrong, he's not as barmy as Dru, having full conversations with the pixies, and Ms. Edith but he'll answer questions that no one asked."

"Angelus didn't seem at all unstable when you saw him, right?"

"I mean I always thought he was unstable. No one could be called stable and be into the things he's into. I guess from your point of view, you could say the same thing about me though. So no, every time I talked to him, he seemed like he was in his right mind. All the minions said the same thing though, it's more like he's talking to someone who isn't there."

"What do you think is happening then, Giles?"

"It's way too soon to tell dear girl, we need more information."

"I have an idea that I don't know how you soul-havin' types will feel about."

"And what's that?" Buffy asked cautiously.

"All three minions that I talked to said that they'd join me if I made a play for master, before I dusted them, anyway. I was thinking, whenever we're close to having this final showdown, I can make them think I want to be master. They'll follow me and I can tell them to attack Angelus. They'll be on my side and it'll just seem like the slayer decided to end Angelus while we're attacking him too. You can still stake the lot of them if you want, but I'd wait until the battle is won."

"Hmm, that might come in handy. Even if we don't have them join us in the fight, you can still make them go somewhere else while we're fighting. We'll figure it out once we're ready to attack." Giles commented. He doesn't know how he feels about the plan though, because it would involve trusting Spike to gain minions and not use them for anything evil, just yesterday he swore he'd never do that with another vampire again.

"Works for me. I told you, I'm following your lead on this one, Slayer," Spike said with a shrug. He's not like most of the vamps he knows. He's seen what Buffy can do, he's not dumb enough to underestimate her.

"Good, I think, for now, we have to figure out how to get more information about his plan. We also have to make a plan to separate Faith from the others. There has to be somewhere we can keep her and talk her into doing the right thing. I don't think she's evil, Giles."

"That is definitely a priority. I'm afraid I won't know what to do with her once we separate her from the rest. I can't just keep her here indefinitely, especially if it's against her will. I think that's something more for the Watcher's Council to handle."

"What would they do to her? I'll never like her or be her friend again, I don't want her murdered though." Buffy said and Giles didn't answer for a long time. He took his glasses off to clean, to give him some time to organize his thoughts.

"I do not know, dear girl. I wouldn't put it past them. On top of that, we just kicked them out of the house. I doubt they'll want to talk it over with us and listen to our suggestions on how to handle her."

"Do you have any more of the Slayer suppressant you used on me for my birthday?" Buffy asked but then she and Giles looked at Spike strangely when he started growling angrily.

When Spike realized what he was doing he cleared his throat, and he would have blushed if he still could. He's still mad at the watcher for putting Buffy through that, the girl sees the man as a father and he still broke her trust in such a messed up way. But Spike knows it's not his place to get upset on her behalf, so he tries to laugh it off and ignore it.

"You wanna poison the girl?" Spike asked, trying to move past their confused looks at him.

"Maybe? It would keep her here and locked up. Just until we can talk to her, make her realize she's helping kill innocents by staying with them. I'd feel a lot better in this fight if we had one more fighter on our side."

"Yes Buffy, I agree but there are a few problems with that plan. I flushed the injections down the toilet, so we don't have any. Even if we did talk her into switching back to our side, would you really trust her in the battle? She could switch back at any time."

"That's a good point, but if we get her here, we can at least take her out of the equation. Spike and I have taken down Angelus and Dru before."

'If they want another decent fighter who's strong, there's always Lawson. I doubt they'll want another vampire in the equation but he's a decent bloke. I'm willing to bet it has something to do with being made by a vampire who has a soul, I think a little of it was transferred to him. The last time I saw him about a decade ago, he still had a seething hatred for Peaches but he wasn't hurting innocents, he was living a Spiderman-type life. Saving victims from things like rape or violence and murder and drinking from their attackers. No, I'll wait a little longer to bring him up, I'll wait to see if we can get the second slayer to step down first. No need to make an already complicated situation even more buggered.' Spike contemplated.

"Right then, tomorrow if your leg is healed enough, we'll check the place out while they're feeding. If it seems clear, we'll try to grab her, I wouldn't put it past Angelus to have a trap planned though. He probably already knows the good guys would want her back," Spike suggested.

"That's true. I think it's the best idea, but please, be careful Buffy" Giles said, then added "… and you too Spike.". Spike didn't have many people that cared about his well-being, so even though it was clear it was an afterthought, it meant a lot to him. Whether Giles knew it or not, he'd just earned Spike's respect and loyalty.