When Buffy made it outside, she put her hands on her knees and tried to breathe normally, although she was pretty sure she was close to hyperventilating. She didn't even know why she was so freaked out, she just knew she was. Wasn't being told you were loved by someone supposed to be a good thing? Wasn't it supposed to give you those warm fuzzies she'd heard so much about? Why did it only cause panic in her? She stood up straight and forced herself to calm down. She decided to walk up the street just to have something to do while she was thinking.

Okay, time to think about this rationally. The best way to do that is to start at the beginning. The whole reason we were even having that conversation was because I freaked out. I seem to be making a habit of it, I guess. I should probably stop doing that. Spike freaked out himself and almost killed someone. Crap, he almost killed someone. I can't just let it go and pretend it didn't happen. That is majorly of the bad. It's like the one thing I told him he couldn't do. Then again, he didn't. He stopped himself because he knew it was wrong. So maybe it's okay? Does that mean I CAN trust him to do what's right? Or does that mean I definitely should not trust him?

"Ugh!" Buffy let out in frustration. She decided to come back to that point later because it was just too confusing right now. Maybe when her brain was less confused with all these other thinky thoughts, she could go back to that.

Spike said he loved me, that he's loved me for a long time. So long that it's the reason Drusilla broke up with him in the first place. Okay, so maybe he didn't actually mean to tell me all that, but his mouth gets away from him a lot and he kinda just blurted it out.' She smiled because she thought it was cute when his words got away from him, then she shook her head to get back on track. 'That's when I freaked out and needed to get out of the house because I felt like I couldn't breathe. Why is it so scary to me that he loves me? I care for him, I like being with him. I don't want to break up. So why is it so scary? Well, the last man that told me he loved me was Angel, and that didn't work out at all. I was also scared when he told me he loved me, but I didn't freak out like that. The person before that was Pike, and that didn't work out either. And before that was my dad, and he's the definition of an absentee parent. Is that it? I'm scared that it'll end the same way? Maybe, but I know Spike isn't like that. He seems like the kind of guy that will stay until you make him leave.

Buffy realized she must have been power walking because she was almost a mile away from Giles's apartment. She decided to be all Mature Buffy and turn around and walk back; she couldn't just run away and leave Spike like that. Even if every bone in her body was telling her to, she figured that was only because she was used to running when things got too emotional. It was usually the safest option but she didn't want it to be like that with Spike. Plus, even if she didn't care enough to work it out with him, she had to put saving the world first and whether she liked it or not, she needed Spike's help to do that.

By the time she got back to Giles's, she knew exactly what she was going to say to Spike. She wasn't going to let her fear get the best of her this time. They'd have a lot to talk about after this fight was over, but she believed they could get through this. When she walked into the apartment, she was surprised that Spike wasn't in the living room. She went to the spare bedroom but he wasn't there, and he wasn't in the kitchen either. There weren't many places for him to be and it was broad daylight so it wasn't like he'd been able to leave.

She went outside and looked around, and that was when she found him. He was pacing back and forth along the side of the building that had just enough coverage from the roof that he wasn't burning up. It looked like he was talking to himself while chain-smoking. He was the type of person that talked with his hands so every once in a while, he'd make a hand gesture that was too wide and his hand would sizzle a little bit, then he'd curse louder, shake the hand off, and keep talking to himself. She walked a little closer to hear what he was saying as he still hadn't noticed her.

"You're a bloody buggering fool, William. Tell the bird you love her while you're fighting. On top of that, she's about to have to dust her soddin' 'one true love.' What were you thinking? Course she doesn't bloody love you! You're off your bird if you think you're more than just a passing fancy for her. She'll get over you and move on to someone more worthy of her, not like anyone is good enough for her but there sure as fuck is someone more worthy than you."

Buffy was shocked hearing him. Was he really out here just berating himself this whole time? She knew he'd messed up but he didn't deserve to feel like that. He was trying to be a good person and she thought he was doing a pretty decent job of it.

"Spike…"

She knew she'd scared him because he jumped and almost dropped his cigarette. He must have really been focusing on his one-person conversation because she was close to him and wasn't even trying to hide. His senses were better than that.

"Christ Slayer, you scared me half to dust! Make some noise next time, will you?"

"It's not my fault you weren't paying attention, I wasn't even trying to be stealthy."

His shoulders sagged, and Buffy could tell how uncomfortable he was because of how she'd run out. "Listen, Buffy, I know you don't love me, I'm not expecting you to say it back or anything. I wasn't even plannin' on telling you, not yet leastways. Don't wanna scare you off."

Buffy remembered the pep talk she'd given herself the whole way back, so instead of verbally responding she ran over to him and gave him a big hug. She might have run too hard, though, because a second later she smelled something burning and Spike was cursing in his weird English-y way.

"Christ woman, there are better soddin' ways to take me out. Might as well bloody stake me, it'd be less painful!"

Once she realized that her hug pushed him into the sun she grabbed him by the duster, pulled him back into the shade, and started looking him over. "Oh my god, Spike! Are you okay? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to. I must have gotten too excited, I'm sorry! God, I hate this stupid sun allergy of yours, I wish I could like wrap you in a protective shell to keep you safe from the sun."

He grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her just far enough away that she stopped patting him down and he could look her in the eyes. When he did, he saw the worry there and it made him feel better. So he replied in a soft, almost unbelieving voice, "I'm alright Buffy. You were worried about me?"

"Of course I was, dummy. I just wanted to hug you, not roast you to death."

He smiled at her and pulled her close for another hug; this time there were no unforeseen injuries. When he pulled away, he asked, "Why'd you run away again, Buffy? No wait, don't answer that. It's my fault, I'm pushing you again."

"No, that's not it. Actually, let's go inside where the chances of me losing my boyfriend by fire are way of the less."

He just quirked his eyebrow at her because apparently they were dating again. Instead of saying anything, though, he just followed her inside, Buffy wasted no time in taking Spike's duster off him. He was confused but didn't try to stop her; he was interested in seeing where this was going. Instead of the shagging he was hoping Buffy was starting, she was looking over his burn wounds. "Buffy, luv, I told you, I'm fine. Or at least I will be once I get some blood in me."

How can I help him? My first thought was to get Giles's first aid kit to disinfect his wounds but that won't help him since, hello, vampire. I want to help him, though, I don't like seeing him in pain and it's still hours away from sunset when he can go out to get blood and heal himself. I could give him my blood but this is different than last time. He's not in mortal danger and we're not outside where we could be overcome by enemies. He seems to be moving okay, at least. Although he did sit down as soon as we got inside. He must be in more pain than he's letting me see. It wouldn't take much blood to heal him, just a half cup full, it wouldn't even weaken me.

Spike could tell what she was thinking and even though it excited him just to think about it, he didn't want her to think he was expecting her to heal him. "I'm fine Buffy, you don't have to worry about me, promise."

Buffy leaned away from him to look him hard in the eye. It lasted so long that Spike was starting to fidget; he felt like he was being graded and he didn't even know what the test was. "Okay, but if it ends up hurting too much before the sun goes down, tell me, okay?"

Spike nodded his head seriously and felt himself fall even deeper in love with her. She just cared so much. He almost felt a little choked up so he cleared his throat before he answered. "Promise."

"Good, when this battle is over we'll have some things to talk about. I care about you though, and I think we can make it work as long as we're honest with each other. What you did to that woman is not okay, in fact, it's one of the things we'll be talking about later. Thank you for telling me though, it makes me feel like I made the right choice in trusting you."

"What? Even after what I did?"

"Yes. You didn't go through with it and you told me right away. It shouldn't have happened but you came to your senses."

"Well, if we're being honest with each other, there's something else I should tell you…" Spike paused when Buffy cringed, it made him cringe too. "Have you ever heard of the legend of the Gem of Amara?"

"No, what's that?"

"It's a legend about a ring, along with the rest of the Amara treasure. The ring will grant the vampire that wears it invulnerability to the sun, stakes, and holy artifacts."

Buffy giggled, "Thank God nothing like that exists. Can you imagine what would happen if Angelus got a hold of it?"

Spike laughed uneasily and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, that would be terrifying…" He trailed off because he didn't know how to continue.

"So why'd you bring it up? Wait a minute, you were just talking about treasure hunting. Spike, what's going on?"

"When I was down in South America with Dru I met this bloke who ended up owing me a favor. Long story short, he gave me a map and details about the gem that weren't known before. Vampires have been searching for it since the tenth century, mind you. Lo and behold, the map matches Sunnyhell to a tee. I think Amara's treasure is buried right here."

"And you want to find this gem and the treasure for yourself?"

"Of bloody course I do! Who wouldn't? Wouldn't change anything, I wouldn't get the ring and go back to being the big bad." He grabbed Buffy's hands with his own, "Think about it, kitten. I could help you so much more. I wouldn't be hampered by avoiding the sun so I could go with you when a demon strikes during the day. That's not even talking about how it would be for us, I could take you out during the day. Sell the treasure and take you out to nice places where we have to dress all fancy like and buy you all the pretty baubles and trinkets you'd want. I'll be able to spoil you like you deserve. Remember Buffy, just a few minutes ago you were wishing you could protect me from the sun, this could do that for me."

"I don't know, Spike. I need a second to think about this. A ring like that is dangerous, what if someone got it off you?" She let go of his hands and took a step back.

"Wasn't planning on wearing it on my finger, was plannin' on swallowing it or something." His shoulders slumped, he had a feeling she wasn't going to let him keep it. If she said no, there was nothing he could really do, it wasn't like he'd take the ring and leave; he meant it when he called himself love's bitch. He'd stay here with her no matter what. He almost wished he didn't say anything at all.

"How long do you think it'd take you to get to it? Are you sure it's even there?"

"I'm as sure as I can be. It'd take a while. When I first came to town my plan was to get some minions together and make them do most of the work. That'd make it a lot faster."

"Spike, you can't just casually have minions! They'll be out killing while they're working for you. I'm the Slayer, you know I can't just let that happen."

He cupped her cheek and used his thumb to rub it gently, "I know that, luv. Not trying to make your job any harder than it has to be. I could prolly do it myself but it'd take a lot longer. Or I could get the minions and use the excuse that I'm in a rush to make them bag it. Not let them above ground until it's done and just bring down a cooler full of bagged blood."

Spike noticed she wasn't fighting about him having it; in fact, she was talking out how to get the ring. He didn't want to get his hopes up but it sounded like she wasn't against him having the ring. "I don't know, I need some time to think about this, Spike. Don't do anything until we talk about it again. It's major suckage that the ring isn't easy to get to because it would help with our fight against Angelus and Drusilla. I don't like the thought of you dusting."

He pulled her close, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed the top of her head. "I know what you mean, luv. I wish you didn't have to be involved with this fight at all. Know that's not possible though, you're the Slayer, so your life is dangerous. You better believe I'll be right there with you to mitigate the danger."

He was about to tell Buffy about his plans for Dru because when he started whatever this was with the slayer, he decided he wasn't going to lie to her. He didn't know if she'd think it was a good idea or if she'd get mad at him; all he knew was that no matter what, he'd do what he could to make sure his sire got out of this alive. Especially after that conversation he'd had with Dru out in the graveyard. To him, it sounded like she was expecting to dust and he couldn't just let that happen without a fight. So he was prepared to deal with the potential fight that might happen and opened his mouth to tell her when he heard the watcher and the Scoobies coming up the walkway. So regretfully, he pulled away from her. She looked at him confusedly but her eyes cleared when she heard the doorknob turning.

"Oh good, Spike, you're already up. I've done some research about the things we spoke of last night. I've found some spells that might work quite nicely."

"Spells for what?" Willow asked eagerly.

Buffy looked just as interested as Willow did. Giles looked uncomfortable because he knewthat what he was about to say would cause some upset within the group. "The fight Buffy is going into will be one of the most dangerous that she's faced thus far. We all must admit our strengths and weaknesses. Willow, Xander, and I are not fighters. In fact, being at the actual battle could be detrimental and hurt Buffy's chances of winning. Angelus is an evil psychological mastermind. As soon as he realizes he doesn't have the upper hand, he'll go after the weakest of the group and try to hurt them to distract Buffy. That is why you can't be there." He held his hand up in the air when he saw that the children wanted to protest against what he was saying. Once it was clear they were going to hold their tongues, he continued. "That being said, it doesn't mean you will be of no help at all. There are some spells that I will need you to help prepare, Willow. And Xander, I have some jobs for you too that we will discuss privately."

Spike had no clue what help the whelp would bring to the fight; he figured the Watcher was just finding something important for him to do so the boy felt useful.

"I agree with Giles, guys. It's best you're not at the actual fight. What type of spells do you have planned, Giles?"

"Well, I found a holding spell that can be used in case of emergency. As I was telling Spike last night, it's not strong enough to hold all of them but if one of our enemies gets the upper hand, I can use it to freeze them long enough for you all to get safe. There's a sleeping spell to hopefully keep Faith out of the battle altogether, and a confusion spell. It'll only last a few seconds before they come back to themselves, but unlike the holding spell, it can be used on everyone. I tried to find a weakening spell but that just isn't possible under the circumstances, it would end up weakening everyone. The confusion spell can be used on specific people. Most of these would only be useful in an emergency, but they're good to have all the same. I figured I could get to where the battle would be and hide somewhere where I had a good visual of the fight. I'll sit with the prepared spells and crossbow ready for when they're needed."

"Okay Giles, that sounds of the good. You and Willow should keep looking up spells that might be useful. Your friend will be here as soon as the sun sets, right Spike?" At his nod, she continued, "Good, he should be here too so he knows the plan. Spike, tonight I want you to stick to the plan and get as many minions on your side as you can. Bring them to the factory we scouted last night and we'll take them out later. Tomorrow, we take Angelus and the rest of his team down."