Spike watched as Buffy paced back and forth. Faith had fallen asleep, chained to the bathtub, about an hour earlier, and Giles had gone to bed two hours before that. Spike cringed, looking back on the night and how Buffy still kept looking at him and snickering because of how he, without noticing, had let William out a little too much while making sure Rupert was okay after his kidnapping. So what if he wanted to make sure a colleague and brother at arms was well, after a situation like what Giles had been through? Okay, he could admit, if only to himself, he might have been hovering a little and he'd heard the annoyance in Giles's voice when he'd told Spike for the last time before he went to bed that he was fine and had everything he needed and that no, he didn't need another cuppa, he was already positive the three Spike had given him were going to keep him waking up throughout the night. Spike eventually took the not-so-subtle hint and let the watcher get some rest. He was sure that if he'd still had his blood flowing through his veins, he would have blushed thinking about that.

He was snapped back to the current moment when Buffy stopped pacing, looking like she might have finally come to a solution, but then shook her head and went back to wearing Giles's floor down. He sighed. He'd lost count of how many times he'd seen her do that since she'd started pacing an hour earlier. He sat up from where he was leaning back on the chair near the bathroom door. "Kitten, why don't you talk me through what you're thinking? Even if I can't help, maybe just talking through it out loud will."

He knew she was in a difficult situation right now. For her, anyway. For him, he'd say the dark Slayer needed to be taken out, but he knew his girl wouldn't agree. He just wished there was a better answer because he'd been watching her worry about this since they'd gotten Faith away from Angelus. "I just don't know what to do. We obviously can't trust her, and we can't keep her tied up forever. She's still human. More than that, she's a Slayer. We might not get along but she's like a sister to me. She's the only other person in the world who understands what it's like to be the Slayer. Then again, that's not completely true because she's never taken on the responsibilities of a Slayer, she just took the power and used it for her own wants. Ugh, I hate the Council but maybe it'd be best to hand her over."

"You know I support you no matter what, luv, but I figured you'd be against putting her down."

"What? That's not what I'm talking about at all. I'm talking about letting the Council put her through, like, Slayers' school or rehabilitation or whatever."

"Kitten, they tried to kill you and you're out here fightin' the good fight. What do you think they'll do to her? They want a Slayer that's going to do what they say, they want a scared girl that'll come to them for help and believe everything they tell her. Does that sound to you like that one in there?" he asked, nodding his head to the closed bathroom door. "No, it's not and never will be. She's got a strong will, that one. It would take a lot to break her and turn her into what they want. They won't want to waste the time or resources. No, they'll think it's easier to kill her off so they can get another fresh young one. They'll hope the next one will follow orders and if not they'll do the same thing again until they get one that will," Spike said seriously.

He could tell that Buffy wanted to deny what he was saying. She wanted very badly to tell him he was wrong but he saw the moment she accepted his words as truth, and her shoulders sagged. "Then what can we do, Spike? We can't let her go. If we do, she might run and never come back, which I'd be fine with, honestly. But she also might go to the mayor and try to get back on his good side. She was loyal to him and I could tell she actually cared about him. If she does, he'll either kill her, which I don't want, or he'll forgive her and take her back, which will put her right back on our list of enemies. We already have too much to worry about, I don't want to have to fight her again too."

Spike could see the stress Buffy was feeling, especially when she started to pace again, so on her umpteenth lap around the hall he got up and stepped into her path. He put his arms on her shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. She stayed stiff for a few seconds, holding onto all her worries and stress, before sinking into his hold and gratefully taking the comfort and support he was offering her. After a few seconds of just holding her, he spoke, "I don't rightly know, Slayer. Let's think about this logically. We can't send her to her death, we can't send her to the enemy, we can't trust that she'll actually leave if we let her free, and we can't keep her as a hostage forever. The way I see it, that only really leaves two options. We have to find a way to make her pick up that white hat again or we have to find a way to make sure she leaves town and never comes back."

Buffy sighed and pulled back just enough that she could look him in the eyes. "I mean yeah, you're right but how do we pull off either of those?"

Spike shrugged, "Magic, I reckon. Probably something we'll have to work out with Rupert and Red once he's feeling better. We'll just have to make sure Dark Slayer stays put in the meantime. Speaking of Slayer number two, she'll be waking up soon."

"How do you know?"

"Hear her heart rate and breathing changing."

Buffy scrunched her nose in a way that clearly meant "gross." "I already knew I didn't like the whole vamp sniffy thing but I don't think I like vamp hearing much either." She paused and thought contemplatively for a few moments. "If you and other vamps can hear that well, how do I ever sneak up on them?"

"They're probably focused on something else at the time, like their next meal. But you're also the Slayer, I've noticed you can almost disappear to my senses when you're on the hunt."

Her eyebrows lifted in surprise at the information but she wasn't able to say anything because she started hearing banging coming from the bathroom. "Hey! Warden, I'm thirsty, how long are you going to keep me in here?"

Buffy sighed but went to the kitchen to get Faith some water. When she came back into the hall she grabbed Spike's arm to stop him from going into the bathroom. "You don't know Faith like I do, Spike. She's going to try to get you mad enough to be distracted so she can escape. I guarantee she's already trying to work on the locks to the chains she's in."

He nodded, "Got it, Slayer. No need to worry about me, I'm probably the most level-headed bloke I know, it's not easy to get me to lose my cool." Spike said and it made Buffy snort in pure disbelief. Spike looked offended for a few seconds before chuckling and leaning in for a quick but heated kiss. When he pulled back he had a smirk on his face because he could see and smell how much that kiss affected Buffy. She huffed her annoyance at the stupid, sexy, cocky vampire.

"I'll get you back for that later," she threatened, which got Spike excited. Now he just wanted the other Slayer to go back to bed so he could take the time to properly de-stress his girl.

When they walked through the door to the bathroom, they both had on serious faces. There was no way that Faith could tell that they'd both been just all hot and bothered a few seconds ago. Buffy walked over to the tub and put the straw to Faith's lips. "Drink."

Faith had on one of her sultry smiles and made eye contact with Spike while she stuck her tongue out to wrap around the straw, then pulled it into her mouth and sucked on it seductively. It wasn't affecting Spike in the slightest but it was sure pissing Buffy off. Her grip tightened around the glass, and thankfully she calmed herself down when Spike put his hand on her shoulder because she really didn't want to clean shards of glass out of her hand after breaking another one. Buffy found a little too much satisfaction in pulling the cup of water away from her before she was finished drinking. She put it down by the sink which would be too far for Faith to reach even if her hands weren't shackled together.

Buffy stood up and started to pace back and forth again, this time with much more certainty and authority. Spike couldn't help but to marvel at his girl, she always knew how to take control of a room even though he knew she still didn't know how to handle this situation. "So, Faith, you seem to have gotten yourself in another sticky situation. What am I going to do with you this time?"

"Come on, B. We both know sending me to the guys in tweed or handing me over to the mayor are both just threats. You're too much of a good girl to throw me to the wolves and you're certainly not going to hurt me. But you can't really trust me either, can you? Your only real option is to put me on a bus going somewhere far away, isn't that right? Can't have me around to mess up your plans again and can't leave a human to get hurt. So why don't we just get on with it already? I'm ready for some new scenery anyway. The Hellmouth is getting too boring for my tastes."

Buffy scoffed disdainfully. "Yeah, as if the Hellmouth were ever boring. The only reason you think so is because you never actually fight the good fight, you're too worried and focused on your own wants. If you even tried a little to be a Slayer, boring is the last thing you'd be calling Sunnydale."

"Well that's it, isn't it? I'll never be as good as the precious Buffy. No point in fighting the good fight when I'll always just be the lesser version of you. I rather just make my own way and do my own things. It's funner that way anyway."

Buffy couldn't help but scoff again. "Yeah, we all see how great that's working out for you, Faith. Let's see, you've been put in a coma, were willing to fight on the wrong side of two different apocalypses, held for I don't know how long under a crazy vampire thrall forced to do I don't know what, and now you're the lucky guest of Giles's bathtub with not one, but two different groups of people out to kill you. The Watchers' Council has a far reach, Faith, you'll never be able to stop looking behind your back for them. And the mayor is sure to have connections after being alive and in a position of power for so long. I'd be worried, if I were you, Faith. What are you going to do, out there all alone, with no one watching your back?"

Both Spike and Buffy could see the fear in her eyes even though she tried to hide it. Buffy knew what would come next, Faith's attempt to bluster and try to prove she didn't care, and that she didn't need anyone even though everyone, including Faith, would know it was a lie. Buffy didn't feel like listening to that again, plus she thought it might be a good idea to let Faith sleep on what they'd talked about, maybe the fear would help her see reason. Because it seemed pretty clear to Buffy that Faith's only real option was to stay and fight with them. If not, she'd have to spend her whole life running and hiding, more than she'd done in the past. So, Buffy stood up and walked to the door before Faith had a chance to respond, "I'll see you in the morning, Faith. Try to get some rest, you look like you're really lacking in the beauty-sleep department."

With that last jab, Buffy opened the door and walked out, Spike following right behind her. Christ, he loved when she took control like that. Watching it made his prick hard enough to cut glass. He had to reach down to adjust himself as he walked back into the living room, "Nice work, luv. You might even get through to her."

Buffy sighed, she doubted it, she never really got lucky like that, and things never were easy for her. Instead of saying all this to Spike, she sank down onto the couch with a sigh, "We'll see. That's not even the biggest of our problems. We have to figure out a way to take down The First and put the mayor out of commission. But how do I kill something I can't even touch?"

"The First Evil seems a little primordial if I do say so myself. I don't even know if killing it is an option. Maybe we should look into containing it, or sending it back to wherever it was before Angel had to go about mucking things up enough to set it free."

Buffy looked thoughtful at the suggestion. "You know, I think you might actually be onto something," she said with a giggle.

"Oi! I've been known to make the occasional good suggestion or two."

Buffy's giggle turned into a full laugh at the look of offense on his face. "I'm joking, Mr. Big Bad. No need to get all defensive and broody."

"I do not brood! That particular facial expression and state of mind is left to other, poncier people in my family." They both sobered up because of Spike's words. It had just been a few hours since they'd both staked the people who at one point they'd believed to be the loves of their lives.

Spike could see the pain in Buffy's eyes, so he sat down next to her and opened his arms to her. She smiled and leaned into him. She felt like the day was catching up to her; so much had happened in just a few hours and she needed time to be able to sit down alone and process it. She also felt like she could use, like, twenty hours of sleep, give or take.

"Get some rest, luv. I'll keep watch for the rest of the night. I'll catch some kip when the sun is up and the rest of you white hats are awake to watch our prisoner."

"Don't call her that," she mumbled, already half asleep.

He chuckled and kissed the top of her head, "Whatever you say, Slayer."

Spike stood guard the rest of the night even though it wasn't really necessary. Faith spent a few minutes trying to break out of her chains after they left but it was late at night and pitch dark after Buffy turned the lights off, so it wasn't long before Faith felt her eyes get heavy and she decided to work on getting free tomorrow.

So Spike stayed awake, sitting on the couch with Buffy nestled up in his arms, flipping through channels, listening to them low enough that he could still hear Faith's heartbeat and breathing so he wouldn't miss her attempting anything. He finally let himself fall asleep the next morning with his head resting on top of Buffy's when the rest of the Scoobies made their way back to the flat to take the next watch.

When Buffy woke up she didn't remember having felt this comfortable for a long time, even though she realized she was lying in a weird position. She opened her eyes and realized she was still on Giles's couch cuddled up with Spike, who was asleep. She worried for a second that Faith might have gotten free until she heard low voices talking in the kitchen. She softly extracted herself from Spike without waking him and went into the kitchen to see who was there. She was surprised to see that it was everyone, and she was happy to see that Giles was up and about, looking much better than the night before. They were all sitting down talking quietly, she guessed because they didn't want to disturb her and Spike.

"Morning, everyone." Buffy said with a smile.

"Hey, Buffy. Sleep well?" Willow said with her impression of an eyebrow wiggle. Buffy couldn't help but giggle; it wasn't like she and Spike had been found in a compromising position or anything.

"Yeah, I really did." She said with a sincere smile. She walked over to Giles to look him over; she couldn't help but worry about her watcher. "How are you feeling, Giles? It's good to see you up and about, you look much with the better today."

Giles smiled fondly at her, "I am doing much better, Buffy, thank you for asking. As I was trying to tell your uh– Spike," he tripped over his words, not willing or ready to call Spike her boyfriend or anything of the sort, which Buffy thought was funny because not only had he already accepted it, he'd given them his blessing. "Anyway, as I was telling him last night, I just needed a good night's rest, as you got there before too much damage was done."

Buffy had to disagree, she'd seen Giles when he was hanging up there and he had bruises, scrapes, and wounds all over his body. Even Buffy, with her Slayer healing, would need a full day to be back to normal after that. She knew her watcher was putting on a brave face and would need some more time to heal. And that he didn't want to talk about it, so she just nodded her head, "Good. So, we have two big problems we have to handle, and the sooner the better: Faith, and The First teaming up with the mayor."

"Uh, Buff, what do you mean? The mayor is dead, Angelus killed him, right?" Xander asked.

"Apparently not. I know, I was wigged too when I saw him chanting over Giles. I guess The First Evil found him after Angelus left him for dead and nursed him back to health. I didn't think that was really something the very First Evil would do—it seems a little too nice and helpful to me, but what do I know?"

"Holy frijoles, why does it seem like every time we take a big bad down another pops up to take their place?"

"It's the joys of living on a Hellmouth, Xander." Giles cut in dryly. "You're quite right, Buffy. We need to start working on solutions."

"I think we should focus on Faith first, it'll probably be the easier of the two. I was talking to Spike last night about it and we think both of the solutions might be magic-related."

"What do you mean, Buffy?" Willow asked, always excited to learn and do more magic. She also liked that it was turning into her thing so that meant she'd get to be helpful.

"Well, with Faith, after thinking about all the options for her, I've only come up with two solutions that I'd be okay with: keeping her here to help us, or setting her free and making sure she goes far away and stays there. Both will require some trust on our part, which obviously I don't trust her as far as I can throw her, which is probably pretty far now that I think about it so that might not be the best example. Whatever, you know what I mean, I don't trust her, like at all, and I need to be able to, hence the needing of witchy mojo spells."

Giles took off his glasses to clean them. Then, instead of putting them back on right away, he looked off into space while absently biting the arm of his glasses while thinking. "Hmm, I see what you mean, the only problem is I don't know of any spells that can create trust or force someone to be trustworthy. Unless we use a spell to put her under our will but that would make us no better than Drusilla… There has to be something though, I just need some time to think about it, okay Buffy?"

"Sure thing, Giles. She's a prisoner in your bathroom, after all, you're the one who has to deal with her."

Giles looked at Buffy, annoyed. "Quite right." He sighed, "And how do you think magic will help us with The First?"

"Well, Spike said that it seems so old that it probably isn't something that dies the normal way, if at all. Maybe instead of focusing on trying to kill it, we should focus on figuring out a way to send it far away, or to contain it so that it can't get out and hurt anyone for a long time."

Giles thought over what Buffy said and decided she had a good point. It wasn't as if they even knew where to begin to look for information about killing The First and he didn't even know if it was possible. The First Evil was something that had always been alive, just as somewhere, out there, there was the First Good too. Neither seemed like they'd be easy to kill permanently. "Yes, I think you're onto something. Magic is the way to go this time."

"It was Spike's idea, actually."

Giles nodded, "Maybe we can find a spell strong enough to contain him in something or send him away to another dimension without a way to get back."

Giles looked at Willow and she nodded at him. She knew what that meant: It was time to get to the research. From the groan Xander let out, he knew what that look meant too. Buffy sighed, it looked like it might be another long day.