Buffy froze when she heard the throat clearing as it cut through all her worried and lusty thoughts about Spike. She slowly pulled back but didn't take her eyes off Spike. His face was clbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbearly asking, What do you wanna do here, Slayer? And that reminded her of her thoughts from earlier, how she wasn't going to hide their relationship anymore. How she loved him and that was nothing to be ashamed of. She ruefully admitted to herself that this wasn't the way she wanted to let everyone know but Oh well, C'est la vie. She let the worry over Spike's safety get the best of her, so there was nothing she could do about it now other than make sure they knew this was happening, whether anyone disagreed or not.

So she turned around and looked them all in the eye one by one, waiting to see what they had to say. Unseen by the group, she reached her hand back and Spike grabbed it, letting her know he was there with her, no matter what. No one immediately said anything, making her realize that they were waiting for her to explain. Well, she didn't feel like she had to explain anything at all; it wasn't like it was their business who she dated.

"Go ahead, say what you want to say about it," Buffy finally said.

"What is 'it', Buffy? How long has whatever this is…" Giles gestured vaguely at Spike and Buffy, "been going on?"

"Not too long." Giles sent Spike a hurt look; he'd thought that they'd become, if not friends, then something close to it. "It's not Spike's fault. I made him promise not to say anything. I wasn't ready to let anyone know yet."

Spike shot Giles an apologetic look, and it seemed Giles reluctantly accepted it. It made Buffy wonder about their relationship. She thought they were only working bbbbbbbbbbtogether because they had to, but it seemed like over the time that Spike was staying with Giles, they'd become friends.

Huh, my mom loves Spike, and it seems my father figure likes him too. Is this going to be the first boyfriend I have that my parental figures actually like? She stifled an incredibly poorly timed giggle because they finally liked a guy she was dating and he was a bad-boy type, the Big Bad Vampire whose claim to fame was killing her kind. She mentally shook her head to get that thought out of it because those weren't the type of Spike things she wanted to be thinking about right now.

Xander was surprisingly quiet. Buffy thought that he would be protesting loudly. She looked at him and he just nodded at her. She supposed that he was just trying to be supportive so she shot him a quick but sincere smile. Buffy already knew that Willow was being support-o-girl so she gave her a quick smile too. The only one left to worry about was Giles, so she turned back to him. He was busy cleaning his glasses, which she'd long ago realized was a nervous tick of his.

"Dear lord," he mumbled to himself. Once his glasses were back on his face he gave Buffy and Spike a hard look. "I can't say I approve of this match, though I had a feeling something was going on. It's not my place to get in the middle of your, uh, love life, Buffy. Spike, I'd like to have a few words with you, though."

"Sure thing, Watcher," Spike said with an attitude. He pulled his coat tightly around him and started walking to the kitchen with bravado.

"Wait! Anything you have to say to Spike you can say in front of me, I'm coming too," said Buffy, and turning words into action, started walking to the kitchen herself.

"Buffy, dear girl, that isn't necessary."

"Slayer, it's fine. Watcher and I can talk, he can say his piece."

Spike and Giles both spoke at the same time, neither wanting Buffy to follow. Buffy looked between the two. It was clear that neither of them wanted her to follow, so reluctantly, Buffy nodded. Spike shot her a smile and then turned back to the kitchen with the Watcher following. Once they were in there, Spike turned around and stared at the Watcher steadily, waiting to hear what he had to say. Normally, Spike wouldn't stand for being questioned, like what he suspected was to come, but as it turned out, he happened to like the bloke. So for that, he'd stand by and listen to the Watcher demand that he stay away from the woman Giles looked upon like a daughter. Giles cleared his throat and looked at Spike uneasily.

Giles didn't really know how to feel about the situation. His first inclination was to demand that Spike stay away from his Slayer because he was an unrepentant, murdering, soulless demon. He got past that initial reaction because when he looked at Spike, yes, he saw the soulless demon, but he also saw the man whom he considered his friend. The only one in the group who shared his humor, the only one who wasn't a teenager. He also saw how devoted he'd been to Drusilla all those years. The Watcher and researcher in him couldn't help but think about the implications of having someone that devoted to the side of Good. Or at least, devoted to someone who's on the side of good, and what was Buffy, if not the pinnacle of all that was good in the world? Spike was a strong fighter. More than that, Giles had seen those two fight together and they were an amazing team. Of course, Giles wanted more for his Slayer than to be with a vampire. He wanted her to go to college, meet someone and fall in love with them, get married, and have babies with them. The problem was, he knew being called as a Slayer was a death warrant.

Buffy had already died once, and she'd already been alive longer than most Slayers. The average life expectancy of a Slayer was seventeen months. Buffy had been called since she was fifteen so she'd been a Slayer for a little over three years. That alone was a feat, but Giles knew it wouldn't last forever. He shuddered just thinking about it. But with someone as strong, fight-savvy, studied, and devoted as Spike, well, Giles didn't really know. But he knew it wouldn't hurt her chances of growing to a ripe old age and having a semblance of a normal life. Of course, it would be filled with danger and darkness but it could be happy. With that final thought, Giles opened his mouth to speak.

"Spike, I'll be honest, I am having mixed emotions about this."

"Sounds about right, Watcher. I think that goes for everyone involved," he said with a chuckle, then his face grew serious and he looked Giles in the eye. "Listen, Rupert, I won't hurt the girl. I love her and I'll do anything for the people I love. She's safe with me."

"You, you love her?" Well, that was a surprise! Giles figured this was new and they were just feeling each other out.

"I do," he said severely. "I have for a long time. Took me a while to suss it out, o' course. Dru knew it before I did, that's why she left me, innit?"

"What?" Giles asked, bewildered. He shook his head to clear it and looked at Spike. "You're telling me Drusilla the Seer knew you loved my Slayer and that was why she left you?"

"Yeah," he said simply.

Giles gave his head one last final shake to get back on track with what he was originally trying to say. "Spike, if you are serious about having a… relationship with Buffy, then I need to know that you'll be there for her. Be there when the going gets tough, during the next apocalypse and the next and the next. Her life isn't ever going to be easy but going by your last relationship, you're someone who doesn't give up easily. I need to know you won't get bored of fighting the good fight, that you won't up and leave to go snack on the populace elsewhere."

"Rupert, I have no intention of leaving Buffy. The only way I'll go is if she makes me," he said seriously. "Listen, 'm sorry about not telling you, it's jus' the bird asked me to keep it quiet like, and what my lady wants, my lady gets." Spike felt bad about not having told Giles—it felt wrong because of the rapport the two had now.

"Giles, all right, Buffy is no easy lady to say no to." They shared a serious look, they understood each other, and there were no hard feelings. Giles cleared his throat. "Right then, let's get back out there. I'm quite sure Buffy will only give us a minute more before storming in here. I could also use a nightcap, if I'm being quite honest."

"Pour one for me too, Watcher. I gotta go back out there soon to meet up with the minions," Spike said as he followed Giles back into the living room.

When he got there, Buffy was looking at him with big eyes, wondering if everything was okay. She turned her big eyes over to Giles too. She didn't want either of the two most important men in her life fighting. They both gave her a small smile, signaling that everything was alright. She slouched in relief.

"Oh, right, how did that go, by the way?" asked Giles. "I'm afraid we got quite sidetracked when you came in."

"Ta, Rupert," Spike said as Giles handed him the glass. "It went right fine if you ask me. The six minions that were at the Bronze all agreed and are going back to the mansion to get all their buddies to meet me at the factory, as we speak. I gotta go back out there and meet them. First I have to stop at the butcher's to pick up some blood."

"Wait, you're telling me they're willing to live on animal blood?"

"Well, for now anyway. I told them we have to stay off the Slayer's radar. Figured we'd handle them after we handle Angelus tomorrow."

"Oh, all right," Giles said, a little uneasily. Being a Watcher, it was hard for him to believe that any vampires would live willingly on pig's blood. It had taken him a while, but he'd learned Spike was a vampire of a different breed. To think other vampires, minions especially, would live on pig's blood was mind-boggling for the Watcher.

"I'm their master. They'll do what I say. Living off pig's blood, temporary as they think it is, is preferable to being under Angelus's tutelage. The only other options they'd have are to find another master or try to make it on their own. Neither of which are appealing options to minions, around here, leastways. There aren't many master vampires to choose from since the Slayer takes 'em out so fast," he said, pride for his girl clear in his voice.

"I see. Okay then, you do that. Willow and I will get working on the spells, Xander will go on his mission, and Buffy should go home to rest up. Tomorrow is the night we end Angelus's reign of terror," Giles said, Ripper clearly making a showing.

When no one offered any opposition to the plan, everyone got moving, "Lawson, come with me. We'll show your face to the minions so they know you're around and someone to listen to."

Lawson nodded his head and got up to follow.

"Spike, I have to talk to you first. Let's go outside."

"Sure thing, kitten."

Willow let out a giggle at the pet name, and Xander tried valiantly to keep his face blank. He might have decided that he was okayish with Spike but that didn't mean he wanted the Buffster boinking the undead. When they made it outside, Spike turned to Buffy and wrapped her in his arms. She sunk into the hold happily.

"What's up, pet?"

"The conversation with you and Giles went okay?"

"Yeah, no need to worry. Watcher just needed my assurances that I didn't plan to suck you dry as soon as your guard was down."

"As if you could."

Spike chuckled. "Right, you are, kitten. No, Rupert was just making sure I was planning on sticking around to watch your back. He's not a bad bloke, your watcher. I think I might even like him… Still want to kill him for the whole Cruciamentum thing, though."

Buffy froze for a second before loosening up again. "Yeah, I still want to give him a good punch on the nose for that one sometimes too. How did you know about it?"

"Told you, luv. Spent a lot of time studying Slayers. Learn a thing or two along the way. Questioned him about it the first night I was with you lot. Almost snapped his neck right there. You depend on him and he betrayed you."

"If he had refused they'd have just fired him, deported him, given me a new Watcher, and given me the test that way."

"That's true enough, I s'pose. There's something else I want to talk to you about, or ask you, more like."

Buffy stiffened again, she had a feeling it wasn't going to be anything she wanted to talk about.

"What's that?" she asked warily.

"Have you thought any more about the Gem of Amara? I could keep these minions drinking bagged blood and use them to dig it up for me. We'd be able to get it in no time. Then we could stake 'em all and keep the treasure for ourselves."

"I don't know, Spike. The girl in me is all for it. To be able to have her boyfriend at all hours of the day, and have lots of money to buy pretty things. The Slayer in me is telling me no. No vampire should have that much power, even if he's great at smoochies. Although, the Slayer side of me can also see the pluses to it too. I wouldn't have to worry about you dusting while we're fighting the next Big Bad. So Buffy is really just one big ball of confusion."

"It's alright Sweets, I'm not trying to rush you. The only reason I asked is 'cause of the minions. Worse comes to worse, I'll get new minions or we can dig it out ourselves."

"Okay, just let me think on it for a little longer and I'll let you know."

He bent his head to kiss her and they only pulled away from each other when Sam came out of Giles's apartment. "I'll wait up for you at my house."

"It might be better for me to stay with the minions tonight, make my story more real to them."

"Don't worry about it, Chief. I'll stay with the minions."

"Ta, mate. Okay kitten, I'll be there as soon as I can but you don't have to wait up for me. Big day tomorrow, yeah? Might be better if you get your beauty rest."

"Are you saying I need beauty sleep?" she asked with a quirked eyebrow and a smirk. Her eyes told him to be very careful of his answer.

"Didn't mean it like you're not looking your best, Buffy. It's a figure of speech." Her eyebrow didn't go down so he continued.

"You're beautiful to me always, Buffy." When her brow still stayed arched, he huffed. "Sod this, you know what I was trying to say." He shrugged. "See you soon, luv."

"Spike, before you go, I want to tell you that…" Try as she might, the words I love you just wouldn't exit her mouth. She meant them and she felt the words sitting there at the back of her throat but they just wouldn't move any further. She looked at Lawson and decided it was because they weren't alone. Words like that should be said when they were alone when they were said for the first time. She sighed. "I have something to talk to you about when you get home, okay?"

Spike knew something was wrong with Buffy, he just didn't know what. He gave her one long look, trying to suss it out for himself but eventually sighed and nodded. "Okay, kitten. I'll see you there soon."

Once she nodded, he pecked her lips one more time then made his way to the factory with Lawson.

"Did you feed yet? If not, we better handle that before we go to the minions, they think we're baggin' it."

"Yeah, I fed before meeting at the Watcher's today. I'll need more before the battle tomorrow but I'm good for tonight," Lawson answered.

"Good, then we'll just stop and grab their blood and go straight to the factory." They walked in comfortable silence for a while, until Spike broke it.

"So, how close an eye have you been keeping on Peaches? Do you think you can take him?"

"Seems to me he doesn't spend that much time fighting. I've never met Angelus before but from what I've heard, he doesn't fight much either. He sends his minions to do the dirty work and when he becomes fixated on someone, he tends to use psychological warfare instead of physically fighting."

"Yeah, I think Buffy was one of his first victims who could actually fight back. Usually, he picks humans who he can just fuck with until he's bored, and kills them."

"So yeah, I think I can take him. It's the Slayer and Drusilla I'm worried about. There's never been two Slayers at once before and I was never interested in meeting one, either. Now there are two around me and I'm constantly on edge. Is she any good, this other one?" They stopped along the way and picked up a large amount of blood, more than enough to hold the minions over. He couldn't tell them to catch and release like he was doing because A) he couldn't trust them not to kill everyone they fed from, and B) he'd told them they were lying low from the Slayer so it would be counterproductive to let them out to explore.

"Don't really know, haven't seen her in action really. She's been around since Buffy took out the Master. If I remember rightly, that was like a year and a half ago. I'm surprised she's still with them, I figured she'd come back to the white hats' side before we got to this point. I've seen Slayers take a walk on the wild side but they normally get over it right quick." Spike didn't say anything about Drusilla. If everything went according to plan, she'd be far away from here by the time the battle took place. He felt a shiver of dread go down his spine because it wasn't too often his plans went the way he wanted them to. He shook it off because they usually went to shit around the time he got bored and threw the plan out the window, so this plan should go fine.

When they made it to the factory, they were surprised at how loud it was in there. Seems the minions Spike talked to did good and brought along a lot of their buddies. When they walked in, they saw upwards of twenty minions. Spike hoped Buffy would make up her mind soon about the Gem because they could get it in no time with this many minions.

"Right then, here's your blood for the night. This here is Lawson. He's the one you listen to when I'm not around. Lawson here was made by Angelus's souled counterpart in the forties. He wants to take down Peaches as much as I do."

"Wow, what did he do to make his family hate him so much?" Spike heard from one of the crowd.

"Probably what he did to you lot but longer, worse, and with a touch of love, Angelus style. He actually cared how his family turned out, he doesn't give a toss about you lot.. Lawson here will stay with you, I gotta check in with the Slayer since the fight is going down tomorrow. Behave." With one last hard look at the group he turned to Lawson and quirked an eyebrow.

"I'm good, Chief. I'll get word to you if I need you."

"You do that. See you tomorrow."

Spike took a quick detour to the Bronze to feed. He was still feeling amped by the Slayer's blood from earlier but he was about to meet Dru and he wasn't daft enough to think that there wasn't a chance he was walking into a trap. He'd already offered to get her out of here once before and she'd refused because she wanted to stay with her Daddy. He remembered now that Buffy was there for that conversation, lurking in the shadows after their first kiss and fight. She didn't seem upset about him trying to get Dru out of there then. It gave him hope that she wouldn't hate him now, either.

When he made it to the place where he'd told Dru to meet him in the letter, it was empty. That was fine, he was early. It made him think it wasn't a trap; if it was, it'd probably already be set up. He kept his senses on high alert though, just to be safe. Christ, he hoped he could get Dru out of this safely. He felt bad about doing this behind Buffy's back for a minute then shook it off. He was helping them because if this worked, there'd be one less enemy to fight tomorrow.

When he finally heard footsteps coming, he was immediately worried—there were way too many to be just Dru, it sounded like at least three people. Fuck, was it Dru, Angelus, and the Dark Slayer? Spike hid in a tomb and stayed as quiet as possible, stopped breathing completely, and went still in a way only someone undead could do. He listened to them all walk up to the spot where he had just been waiting. Through the crack in the crypt door, he could see them all. He looked at them one by one and felt sadness that Dru wouldn't just meet him alone. It didn't matter that he'd planned on knocking her out and forcing her out of town, she should trust him after all their time together. He knew that was absurd but it didn't matter to him. He looked back at Faith and saw a look he knew very well after all his time with Drusilla—she was under thrall. How long had they been thralling her? Was she trying to get away from them this whole time? That was something he definitely had to let his Slayer know about. The only problem was, he'd have to either lie about how he saw Faith at that place or admit what his plan was and how it had gone wrong.

"Well, where is he, Dru?"

"He's hiding from the stars, they can't find him."

"Princess, the only reason I agreed to this plan of yours is that his letter to you came just when you said it would. I don't give a fuck if we bring Spike back into the fold. He's a pest and I don't believe he's really the one that will make the difference in the battle. You're really telling me that whoever's side he's on will be the side to win?"

"Yes Daddy, the stars, pixies, and dollies all agree."

Angelus sighed and massaged his eyes. Spike guessed that Angelus was getting tired of Dru's ramblings like he always had and would soon look for someone to pawn her off on. That made Spike hurt because he wouldn't be there to try to make her feel better and Dru was always so sad when her Daddy forsook her. Spike shook his head. She might be his sire, and he might always love her, but she couldn't be his main concern anymore. He had a new lady who cared about him, and that was where his attention needed to be. With that thought, he realized it had been a mistake to come here and try to get Dru away. He couldn't take the chance of ruining this for Buffy and if he wasn't careful and lucky, he could do that right now. Spike quietly looked around the crypt, trying to find a way out of there. It was good that they were talking outside; otherwise, he was sure they'd hear him. Under some rubble, he found a trap door. As quietly as he could, he moved it and was going to jump down but he heard Angelus say something that made his blood run colder than it already was.

"Dru, if he's not here in ten minutes, we're leaving. I told the minions to force Joyce out of the house tonight so we could grab her and make the Slayer come to us."

Spike jumped down through the trap door and hoped there was an exit somewhere. He preferred getting a ten-minute head start rather than waiting for the coast to be clear. The lower level was dark when he got there but that was no problem with his vampire eyesight. It was clear that some demon or another had lived there before. There was a makeshift bed and a sink. Spike looked around and thought this crypt wouldn't be a bad place to live. He shook his head—he'd already decided he needed a place with an address because his girl deserved it. He shook his head again, he had to get out of there. He covered the entrance to the lower level in case they checked the crypt before leaving. Once he did that, he couldn't hear them talking anymore. That was good because that meant it wasn't easy for them to hear him. There was a big plank of wood on one wall. Spike listened for a second and heard dripping water and airflow behind it. He moved the wood and thankfully, there was an entrance to the sewers. He wasted no more time and ran through the sewers to get to Buffy's house as soon as possible.

When it came time to leave Giles's apartment, Buffy walked Xander home. Willow would stay there a while working on spells with Giles. She knew that now that they were alone, Xander was going to make his opinion known about her relationship with Spike. Buffy decided to keep him talking about nothing important as long as possible and hopefully, they'd get to his house before he even had a chance to bring it up. Unfortunately, that didn't work because Buffy stupidly asked if Xander was crushing on anyone and that opened up the conversation for Buffy's love life.

"Buff, are we really not going to talk about this?"

"About what?" She decided to play the dumb blonde card. It had always worked out great for her in the past because it was easy for other people to believe that a dumb blonde was exactly what she was.

"Come on, you know exactly what I'm talking about, Buffy. Don't play dumb." Well, maybe it wasn't easy for Xander to believe, he knew Buffy too well for that. She sighed, what else could she do?

"Xander, my love life isn't up for debate."

"If anyone's love life is up for debate, it's yours. Look what happened last time."

Buffy flinched and then got angry. "Oh, look who's talking! Shall I bring up the Mantis lady? Or the Inca Princess? Or maybe the love spell you used to get everyone to fall in love with you? Oh, and let's not forget one of our current Big Bads, Faith. Didn't you sleep with her just a few weeks ago? How does it feel to lose your virginity to someone who goes evil right after that? You don't get to be all high and mighty with your dating history, Xander. Like I said, my love life isn't up for debate." She took a deep breath and at his hurt face, she softened her tone. "Look Xan, I love you. You're my bestest guy friend and if it weren't for you, I wouldn't even be alive right now. You mean the world to me but you're my friend, not my father or my brother. You can give me your opinions but that's it."

Xander stayed quiet for such a long time Buffy thought he was just ignoring her. Eventually, he took a deep breath and opened his mouth, "You're right, Buffy, I'm sorry. I love you too Buffy, you and Willow are the most important people in my life, I just worry that you'll get hurt. I'll be there to support you all the way and if it doesn't work out, I'll be there as a shoulder to cry on and to bring you ice cream and tissues." He saw her flinch and realized that line of thought probably wasn't helping so he went on. "All I'm trying to say is I'm here for you no matter what."

"Thanks, Xan. That means a lot to me." By the time they were finished talking, they were walking up to Xander's house. He gave Buffy a hug and went inside. So Buffy made her way home.

Faith felt like she was waking from a foggy dream. She looked around and realized she was walking down the street with Angelus and Drusilla. The chick was madder than a hatter and Faith was tired of it. She'd had her fun and now she wanted to leave. Not to go back to Buffy and her minions, but to get out of town and start fresh elsewhere. To slay the way she felt she should be able to slay. What was she still doing here? Didn't she decide just this morning that she wanted to leave? She had to get away from them as soon as she had the chance. Should she just make a run for it now? She thought she was faster than the two vampires but she wasn't sure. Maybe she could go to the Watcher's house just for somewhere safe to stay for the night and then leave before anyone woke up in the morning? Yeah, she decided. She was going to run.

"Dru, do your thing, she's clear-headed again."

Faith knew they were talking about her so she tried to make a run for it but Angelus wrapped his arms around her in a way that Faith couldn't run or use her fists to get free. Dru danced up to Faith the way she was prone to doing and spoke to her in a sing-song voice.

"Pretty pretty sunshine Slayer shadowed by darkness. It is not your time yet to fly free. You like being here with us, so this is where you shall stay. You're happy with Daddy and Princess, aren't you, my pretty pretty Dark Slayer?"

Faith didn't know why she wanted to leave so badly a minute ago, but it felt silly now. Of course, she wanted to stay with Dru and Angelus. So she nodded her head and continued to Joyce's house.