Spike waited ten minutes to make sure everyone was asleep. He ran out to his DeSoto under the cover of his duster and pulled it as close to the mansion door as possible. He figured he'd have to carry the slayer out of the mansion so the less sunlight the better since it'd be hard to cover himself while holding her. He left the passenger side door open and got some clothes out of the trunk so at least Buffy would have something to wear, although he was sure that they wouldn't be up to her standard of clothes. He ran back inside and went to Buffy. She was still asleep so he touched her shoulder and called her name.

"Buffy, luv, it's time to wake up," He said quietly, with vamp hearing being as good as it is, he didn't want to take any chances. Her eyes blinked wearily open and Spike put his finger to his mouth, signaling for her to be quiet. "We have to be quiet, they're all sleeping. I'm going to get you out of here."

"He looked at the chains that were holding her up and he saw that they had a lock on them. He looked around the room and on the tables to see if he could see the key and he couldn't. He decided he could probably break them open, but that might be too loud. He wouldn't do it unless he had no other choice.

'Think Spike, where would the sodding poofter keep a key? He wouldn't keep it too far from the chains, he gets off on messing with people's heads so it's probably in plain sight' He looked around and didn't see anywhere so he looked back to Buffy.

"Do you know where the keys are?"

"His pants."

"Right, okay."

Spike looked around and saw Angelus' pants along with Dru's dress and felt sad for a moment before getting back on track and going to get them. They were in his back pocket so he went back to Buffy and unlocked her right arm. He hesitated for a moment before wrapping his arm around her waist. If he didn't she would have fallen to the ground as soon as he unlocked the other one. Instead, he caught her, pulled her close, and picked her up bridal style because she obviously couldn't walk on her own.

He walked to the front door and did the best he could to protect himself from the sun. He opened the door and ran to the Desoto. He put her in the passenger seat as gently as he could while doing it fast because his hands were in the sun and it was starting to hurt. He shut the door and ran to the driver's side and dove in, getting himself safe. He took a deep breath and looked at Buffy.

She was still awake, just barely. He grabbed the shirt that he'd gotten for her and showed it to her. She nodded and he helped her put it on. He also gave her his one and only pair of pajama pants. Once she was dressed, he put the car in drive and started away from the mansion.

"Where to, slayer?" He looked at her after she didn't answer, and realized she was sleeping again. "Bugger."

He drove to the opposite end of town and parked on an underbridge. He thought about bringing her to her mom's house but decided against that. Buffy wouldn't want her mom to see her like this. Spike didn't know where her watcher lived so he couldn't bring her there. He hoped she'd wake up soon because he had to get back to the mansion early. If Spike wasn't there when they woke up and saw the slayer was missing, they'd know he did it.

He thinks about bringing her to the school, but Spike gives up on that plan because he can't safely get her inside without going up in flames himself. Plus, even if he managed to get her into the school safely, he doesn't doubt they'd try to stake him before he could explain what happened. Yeah, that just wouldn't work.

Spike looks at Buffy and contemplates waking her up, but she looks so tired and worn down. He can't bring himself to do it. So he lays his head back against his driver side chair and keeps thinking about what to do. Spike knows he's not one for plans, and he thinks he might have really fucked himself this time because he knows that he can't just leave her alone on a random street to be found by anyone. He also knows she doesn't look like she's going to be waking up any time soon either.

Spike had been up for almost 20 hours at that point. He hadn't slept since Dru woke him up, talking about Miss Edith and whispering that Daddy was coming home. So eventually after a while of waiting for Buffy to get up, he fell asleep himself.

Buffy didn't wake for 6 more hours, the sun was setting by the time she opened her eyes. She was very confused for a few seconds, but she was happy she had her hands free again. She looked to her left and saw Spike sleeping next to her. Her first inclination was to stake him once and for all until she remembered what happened when she was freed. Buffy would still be getting tortured if it wasn't for him. On top of that, he seemed really upset to see her in the condition she was in. So instead, she put her hand on his shoulder and shook it to get him up. She must have startled him since he jumped and let out a little yelp when he woke up. She would have laughed at it if she wasn't still in so much pain.

"Bloody buggering fuck! I didn't mean to fall asleep. I can't go back there now, they're sure to be awake. They'll know I'm the one that freed you." Spike said.

"Don't worry about that, I'll figure something out. You helped me, the least I can do is do the same for you. Especially because you wouldn't be in this situation if you didn't help me in the first place. Right now though, I need you to take me to Giles."

"Alright, but you gotta make sure watcher man doesn't try to stake first and ask questions never."

"I'll handle Giles," Buffy said.

Spike nods his head, turns on the car, and drives away. Buffy gives him directions but is quiet otherwise. When they get to the watcher's house Buffy still needs Spike to carry her to the front door. Her slayer healing kicked in but her broken ribs and legs will need longer than a few hours to heal. It's clear that Buffy isn't happy about needing to rely on Spike this way, but she handles it as gracefully as possible. Spike leans forward so Buffy can reach the door to knock and Giles takes a few seconds to answer. When he does he looks annoyed at the interruption, then relieved to see Buffy safe, then worried at her state, and finally livid at who is holding her.

"What did you do to her, vampire? I should end your sorry excuse for a life. Hand her over then step away slowly." Giles said and Buffy is sure she sees some Ripper in his stare.

"Giles, no. Spike saved me, I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for him. I need you to trust me and invite him in and then we'll explain." Buffy said tiredly, she is still in a lot of pain and wishes she could postpone explanations until later, but she knows that's not possible.

"Buffy, surely you must be kidding. I'm not inviting this vile creature into my house."

"Giles, please. I'm so tired and I don't really have the energy for this right now. Spike has had an invite into my house since he helped me take down Angelus last year and he's never used it against me. Again, I wouldn't be free right now if it wasn't for him. I'm asking you to trust me and invite him in." Buffy finished in her slayer voice. Shouldn't her watcher trust her instincts? When she says it's safe, shouldn't he believe her? She doesn't have the mental bandwidth to think about that right now though, she'll consider that later.

"I do trust you, Buffy." He says as he takes off his glasses to clean them. He felt guilty when he realized that his obviously hurt slayer is being held by a vampire outside in pain while he is taking his time deciding if he should trust her instincts or not. So he continues, "Spike, please come in."

Giles stepped back and, once they were inside, led Spike to the couch to put Buffy down. Giles then went to get his first aid kit and started looking over Buffy's wounds. He was disgusted at the amount of harm that had befallen his slayer. He swore to every god he knew of that he'd have vengeance for those who did this to her.

"Buffy, I need you to tell me what happened, and why we are not staking this vampire right now."

"Well, I couldn't really right now if I wanted to anyway. I'm in no condition to fight as you can see, but Spike isn't the problem. He just got into town last night."

"You've been missing for 9 days already."

"Yeah, I don't know if you figured this out yet, but Angelus is back. Faith and the Mayor succeeded in taking his soul away. When that happened Angelus and Faith decided it would be fun to capture and torture me. They double-teamed me and I've been chained up ever since. I don't know how they did it, but I overheard them celebrating the fact that they took the mayor out. The last week has been hell, I've learned why Angelus is renowned for his torturing skills. I was losing hope of ever getting free but then Spike and Dru came to town. Somehow he got them all distracted and got me out of there, and brought me here."

"Why did you help her?" Giles asked Spike coldly.

"Jus' couldn't see her like that, could I? She deserves better than that. I know Angelus' brand of torture, it's not the type of thing I think anyone should go through, let alone Buffy. It's not even the physical torture that's the worst, it's the mental, and emotional that goes with it." Spike said and Buffy scrunched up her nose, which Spike absently noted was adorable.

"Yeah, I saw much more of them than I ever wanted to. They tried to break me by making me watch my Angel sleeping with Faith. It was bad the first few times, but I got over it really fast. It gave me major wiggins though." Buffy said and Giles looked at her sadly, he was about to say something but saw Spike sitting there and changed his mind.

"Thank you for getting her back to us safe, but now you can go, you're not needed or wanted here anymore."

"Giles, no! He can't go back now, it's so late they'll be up now. They have to know he's the one that freed me, we can't just send him back there to be tortured like I was. We have to give him someplace safe to stay until this Angelus problem is solved."

"Buffy, he is not our problem. Let him go back and deal with his own consequences."

"And how would you feel if he thought that same thing about me? 'Oh look there's the slayer. Oh well, you rake what you seed.'"

"It's 'reap what you sow', but I see your point. Okay, Spike, you can stay here on the couch tonight, and we'll find a more permanent place for you tomorrow. Although, you will be chained up while I'm sleeping. You might have earned Buffy's trust, but you don't have mine. You will also be living on pig's blood while you're staying with us, I won't have you murdering innocent people while you're living under our roofs." Giles said then looked back to Buffy, "And we will be talking about you working with him before with Angelus, you never told me that."

"Okay Giles, but tomorrow. I'm very tired and in a lot of pain."

"Of course, Buffy."

"Oi! Don't I get a say in this? I'll have you know, I haven't been killing anyone. I've done a right fine job at catch and release." Spike said and Buffy looked approvingly at him while Giles looked disbelieving, he also took off his glasses to clean them again. Spike is positive they couldn't have gotten any smudges on them in the ten minutes since he's been here and the watcher cleaned them last.

"Quite. Well, either way, chains for tonight. We'll talk more once we've all had some rest."

Spike decided not to fight the watcher, he can deal with chains for a night, he's had to deal with a lot worse. So he just nods his head and stands up and looks at Buffy questioningly, wondering if she wants him to carry her to wherever she's sleeping. Buffy gave him a tired nod, so Spike picked her up bridal style again. Giles looked uncomfortable but directed them to the spare bedroom. Once Buffy was settled, Spike went to the couch and waited for his chains and the long night ahead of him.