"I don't know how many more ways I can say I'm not interested." Giles said as he began to put together his morning coffee.
"Well, try one. Check these flavors: Cherry Berry, Maple Walnut, ooh, Almond Licorice." Xander pushed.
"Ew." Anya scrunched up her nose in distaste at the last flavor.
"Anya, we don't say "Ew" in front of potential customers." Xander tried to keep from losing a sale to Giles.
"Just skip this part and tell him you want money to buy me pretty things. He'll understand." Anya tried to help Xander, with hand gesture motioning towards Giles.
And Giles would have folded then and there to try a flavor were it not for him remembering William's words. "Just give the lad some dosh…don't buy a thing from him"
Giles extracted his wallet and withdrew a $100 bill.
"Do us all a favor Xander and never try and sell these blasted things again. Do throw them out." Giles said as he placed the money on the purple boxes housing the 'nutritional bars.'
The look of awe on Xander's face as he looked at Giles and then the money was all Giles needed to know that the lad was indeed needing money. In his head Giles made a note to thank Spike for the tidbit of advice as Anya grabbed the money with a smile and looked at Xander with a smug look.
The pounding on the door causes all three to look at the door. Giles moved towards the door when it burst open, and Spike came barreling in with a blanket over himself to shield him from the sun.
Giles didn't know he could move so fast to close a door, before William actually yelled out, "Close the door!"
"Spike? You may wanna give up these morning jogs." Xander said sarcastically.
It was Xander's voice that made Spike stop and look up at Xander and Anya.
Giles saw how William had stopped and was just standing in the living room with the blanket still over him…staring at the two on the sofa.
Spike for the life of him couldn't stop gawking at the two.
The emotions at seeing the two almost overwhelming him.
It had been soo long.
Spike looked at Xander, at how young he was. He still had both eyes!
Anya…Anya just being alive was definitely as Buffy would say 'of the good.'
The bird didn't deserve to die the way she did. He was going to make sure she didn't this time round. This time round…none of that nonsense between them was ever going to happen.
"Hello! Earth to Spike! Can vampire's have strokes?!" Xander said waving a hand to get Spike out of whatever funk he was currently in as he continued to stare at him and Anya.
Spike blinked and shook his head, fighting the urge to just smile widely at the famous Harris wit. As bizarre is it would have been to himself during this time period, Harris and he had become friends.
"Soldier boys are out in force. Shot me with some sort of tracker, been runnin' around all night…but they keep coming."
Giles this time didn't respond with snide remarks or bate Spike for his money to be returned.
This time he was beyond concerned and had been prepared for Spike's arrival. Moving to the kitchen to retrieve his gloves and tweezers and little scalpel that he had prepared the night before.
Concern for Spike had left him awake half the night, thoughts and memories tumbling together with thoughts of what Spike had said.
Xander thought it odd the way that Giles immediately went into the kitchen and began to prep for a sort of makeshift surgery, but said nothing, knowing that if Spike had a tracker in him that the Initiative could find them before they knew exactly what they were facing. Jumping up he went to see if Spike really did get hit with a tracker as Anya got up to follow Xander.
Spike felt a little weird as most of the conversation they had the first time involved a lot more cheek from Giles and Xander…but now found himself shrugging off his jacket and turning to allow Xander to look at the tracker.
"Anya, there's a bottle of cognac in the cabinet next to the sink, will you get it for me?" Giles asked as Xander inspected the tracker without touching Spike.
Seeing the slight blinking, "We don't have a lot of time. He's right. My pseudo-soldier memory bank tells me that's a tracer. It's like a homing beacon, and if the commando guys are reading the signal, they're coming home."
"Since we don't know the purpose yet of the Initiative, we need to remove the device then."
Anya having retrieved the cognac looked to Giles who pointed to Spike to give it to.
Spike was in shock that nor Xander or Anya questioned why Giles was helping him. Really he just kept quiet as he looked at Xander as he turned a chair allowing Spike to remove his shirt and brace himself against the back of the chair so that Giles could remove the tracker.
Anya handed the bottle of Cognac to Spike, who began to drink the cognac…knowing all to well the pain he was about to feel from the old man getting the bugger out.
Like before, Giles called Willow and they managed to get it out and flush it down the toilet before the commando's could find him, maybe even a few minutes faster than it had originally taken.
Spike chalked it up to Giles already knowing about the tracker. None the less, he knew Buffy had been fighting for her life as he kept himself from altering how she found out about Professor Walsh.
Telling his father was one thing, but Buffy confirming it was another.
But even all snockered up- the sight of Willow had made him feel something strong and left him close to crying at the sight of her. Looking so young an innocent, before dark magic had touched her in any way, it made him determined.
He would make sure this time. He would force his father to look after her much more closely.
He allowed the alcohol to lull him as the people around him filled him with a feeling he had not felt in soo long.
Family. He was back with his family. He was home again.
Slowly the alcohol's purpose wore off and he knew he needed to act as if he wanted to leave, when the opposite was true.
Struggling he placed his shirt back on as Giles looked at him in what he could only classify as concern.
"It'll be dark soon. I think it would be wise for you to leave Sunnydale."
Spike whipped his head up and looked at the old man is if he had gone insane. Yeah. He had said that same thing the first time, but he knew this time he was saying it out of some kind of fear for him.
"I'm not going anywhere."
"Spike…" Giles paused as he looked at him and the three other people in the room with them- and quickly altered what he wanted to say, "Lord knows why I'm telling you this. It's for your own good. As long as the Initiative is in operation, it's not safe for you here."
Spike closed his eyes as he knew who would speak next.
Everything in him telling him that this was it. This was the moment he had dreaded and craved for years. To see her again…for the sight of her face.
"No."
Spike got up and slowly turned to face her.
"It's not safe for any of us." Buffy's eyes looked over all of them, then for one brief moment landed back on his.
Fire, just her looking at him felt like fire. He couldn't move, hoping that she didn't see what both his father and Joyce had seen instantly, he dare not move. As Buffy's eyes moved back to Giles, he slowly let out the breath he didn't need.
The only missing was his nibblet…and he would have been the happiest being on the planet.
He was home.
Everything played out like before, with the exception of him saying that Buffy had terrible taste in men. It struck him strange that his father was the one to mention that they would be 'remiss' if they didn't consider Riley to have known.
Spike had kept quiet, knowing that Whitebread didn't have a thing to do with what happened, but hearing the scared voice of Buffy asking her friends if they thought he had something to do with it…it made him want to hold her and reassure her.
Closing his eyes he knew he had to stop himself from ever doing anything of the sort. Maybe…maybe as time passed and he could actually become her friend would he ever allow himself the privilege of even touching her.
The conversation progressed to when he knew the soldier boy would be there any second, and slowly moved to retrieve his jacket.
"Absolutely not. I will not squat in that dank hole."
Smiling Spike responded with a humor he knew he really shouldn't be saying it with.
"What, it was good enough for me, but you're above it all?"
Giles hesitated for a second, which let Spike know that he had stopped his initial reaction and was trying to come up with something else, when nothing would come to him.
"Precisely." Giles quipped with a look he shared with Spike, trying to convey that he was sorry for saying the word, but Spike just smirked and shook his head.
"Besides, I don't see why we can't stay right where we are. It's very unlikely those initiative boys are gonna come around here to look for our…"
And then the boy came in making his old man feel quiet stupid. Oddly Giles had looked at him with something that looked like fear as he looked back at Riley… which did something to him to think that he actually bloody gave a damn about him.
Despite everything that he had already seen from the old man, he still expected him to fall back into his old ways.
The second Finn looked at him he knew with a sigh how he would stop Finn from looking at him as a threat, something that even Buffy would not deny despite her distaste for him.
"That's hostile 17."
"Bugger it. I'm your guy." Spike said as he swirled his jacket around him as he put it on, as she stood next to the stairs.
"This is Spike. He's um…" When the two looked at him, he knew it was his que to say what should have been said the first time.
"Have a truce with the Slayer. Helped her save the world once. You boys putting that tracer in me made me look for their help. Can't bite anymore now…don't know why you all want to take me back if I can't anyway. What do you wankers want with me now anyway?"
Everyone was actually shocked at the words for a few seconds before Finn shook himself and the question away before turning on Buffy.
"We've been looking all over the place for him, but you've known where he's been all along?" Riley asked mad at Buffy.
Buffy though, was really concerned at the fact that…Spike was right. In more than one way! What did they still want with him? Still…Riley was her boyfriend.
"It's not like that."
"Then what is it like? What's he doing here?"
"I removed the tracker from him." Giles moved closer to Finn and between Spike, almost as if he physically wanted to shield him from the boy.
Before Finn could respond, Spike spoke once more.
"Look, don't take it out on the Slayer. After all, your leader was trying to kill her while the rest were trying to help me. If you care for her…don't let the judgment call of others fall on her shoulders." Without looking at how his words affected them Spike moved to the door when his father's voice stopped him.
"Use the blanket."
Spike smirked as he stopped and turned back to look at his father, giving the old man a nod before he grabbed the blanket and left the flat.
Buffy felt a surge of gratitude towards Spike that she honestly had not thought she could have towards him. The urge to kiss him as he defended her from her boyfriend shocking her to her core.
"Buffy, what is this, your hiding as HST?" Finn continued as if Spike had said nothing. As if everything that Spike said wasn't right.
"Why don't you just back off and let her ask the questions, Jack? Your boss just tried to make monster food out of her." Xander said with indignation, agreeing with Spike and spooked because of it.
The next few minutes resulted in Giles understanding that Riley really knew nothing as Spike had told him, and how the boy was truly short sighted when it came to the people he worked for.
Events over the next few days played out slightly different, as Adam had not killed the little boy, distracted by Spike's 'trap' of sorts.
Really it was the only thing he could think of that wouldn't result in innocent deaths. Besides…the demon's he strung up outside of those doors were killing machines. If Adam was knife happy, he wasn't going to cry over the death of deadly demons.
Spike had kept himself away from everyone…knowing that he needed things to work out naturally without him manipulating anything or anyone. Finn and Buffy needed to work things out themselves…without him mucking anything up.
Willow and Tara needed to bond. This thought always brought a small smile to him.
He stayed away from Willy's. Let Buffy and gang find out about Adam…knew he needed to make as little changes as possible to take down Adam.
Faith would be up and about soon.
It was the only reason he went in search of his father, when he knew the girl's would be on Campus and Xander and Anya were not in the basement apartment.
The relief on his father's face when he opened the door was still something he needed to get use to.
After letting him know about Faith coming, and that Joyce knew, Spike told him that he wouldn't be around as much.
Then he was once more confined to wait. Days passed until he knew it was the night that Faith would switch bodies with Buffy.
Knowing the days so well from planning for so long, he made his way to where he knew he needed to be. Standing in the shadows of the alley he waited for Xander and his old man to pass by, knowing they were looking for the rogue Slayer.
When he noticed them he kicked the bottle to get them to come into the alley.
"Spike." Xander said as he recognized him.
"What are you doing here?" His father asked, looking slightly shocked that he was in the city and not at his crypt where he said he'd be.
"Me? Hey I'm not the one out of place here."
"For your information smarty, we've got a rogue slayer on our hands. Real psycho killer too." Xander informed him as he messed with the weapon he held.
Spike said nothing as his father asked "What do you know?"
"What do you need?" The questions were moot, both knowing that they needed to allow things to play out.
"Her…dark hair, yea tall. Name of Faith. Criminally insane." Xander expanded.
"Have you seen her?" Giles asked him pointedly, not really knowing exact details made him a little nervous that Spike was leaving himself to the possibility of Faith trying to slay him.
"No. And here I thought the evening would be dull." Spike said as he began to walk passed Xander, without bumping into him on purpose.
"If you see her…" Giles began but Spike held up his hand without looking back, letting him know that everything was fine. That he would let him know if something changed.
He knew Buffy would save Joyce from getting really hurt. Knew Joyce would do her part and not antagonize Faith.
In the end he knew what he had to let things happen, let Faith have her little victory and feel as if she had won.
He knew it wouldn't last. After all the years that he had known Faith…she had told him about exactly what she had felt when all of this had happened.
Spike had understood all too well. Knew what it was like to feel like you had no one that cared about you.
Faith had been one of them….and in the end…she had proved that she was redeemable. That she was not just a Slayer.
She had been family too.
If he could change things for her…for Buffy…if he could bring her into the fold much sooner…
Spike tried to keep himself from feeling anxious. He still had to wait more, knowing that the next night was going to be where plans became action.
Faith was going to switch bodies with Buffy…and he was going to make difficult choices because of it.
But he was ready. It had taken a long time to get here…and he knew what was on the line.
One shot mate…one shot.
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