The gang had taken up various jobs around the house shortly after bringing Xander inside. Xander had, of course, been laid on the couch with a blanket on his legs to keep him warm. Anya was right next to him, diligently wiping away his sweat and using a cold cloth to keep his forehead cool. She was usually all about sex and focusing on his body, but today had shown that the ex-demon had real feelings for the dorky human.

"The doctor couldn't figure out what was up with me," Xander spoke weakly, his voice barely above a whisper. "He said I had a lot of symptoms that didn't connect."

"I think they do connect," Buffy replied in a serious tone as she whisked a bowl, even as her friend laid down completely helpless and enfeebled, she still focused on her thanksgiving meal.

"What, to this Chumash spirit vengeance guy?" Xander asked as he tried his best to focus on the Slayer as she tried to connect the dots between Xander's sickness and the Spirit.

"Well, didn't you say the Chumash got all diseased when they were all holed up in the mission?" The Slayer looked to Willow who was scouring all the books Giles had in his house in the hopes of finding anything to help her friend but there wasn't much luck, only more suffering.

"Yeah. Uh, this has a better account of everything. It lists the various-"

"Various?" Xander cut the Witch off abruptly, panic settling in. He tried to shuffle into a sitting position but Anya kept him lying down.

Willow shrugged, trying to seem unphased, "Well, the important thing is not to panic."

Eris walked into the room from the kitchen where she had tried to keep her distance from the sick man, "pretty hard not to panic, he could be contagious, and I do not look good in green."

Xander rolled slightly so he could see Eris, panic still stuck on his face, "well, you just recited the mystical panic-causing incantation, thanks for that Eris."

"Sorry Xander," she was sorry, kind of, "what's the various anyway?"

Willow took a moment to re-read a passage of the book before looking up with a hesitant expression, "well, they…they did suffer from malaria, some smallpox…"

Anya, without missing a beat, turned to Xander with a chipper voice, "I was gonna say smallpox."

"-you know, syphilis, but basically standard sort of-"

"-Syphilis!" Xander shouted.

"Well, but this is probably mystical, and…and it'll go away as soon as-"

"-As soon as what?" Buffy cut in, "We still don't know what we're gonna do."

"Well, maybe I can find something."

"Let's give him some land. I'm sure that'll clear everything right up," Giles spoke up in a careless manner, obviously still sensitive from the argument he had with Willow not too long ago.

Buffy looked up from her bowl with a disapproving look, "sarcasm accomplishes nothing, Giles."

"It's sort of an end in itself."

Eris threw a dry washcloth at Giles' head before pointing at Xander, "hush, you're scaring the poor boy."

"Hey, can we come rocketing back to the part about me and my new syphilis?"

"It'll make you blind and insane, but it won't kill you," Anya tried her best to help, but she hadn't quite learnt social skills yet, "the smallpox will."

"Is smallpox contagious?"

Anya nodded enthusiastically to Eris, "oh its very contagious, we're all probably infected!"

With those words Eris hurried back to the kitchen to hopefully find some fermented milk Giles usually had in the fridge to help keep germs at bay.

"Maybe there's a Wiccan spell that can cure it," Willow tried to return the conversation back to helping Xander as Anya grabbed a book to help read, "you know, something regular medicine doesn't know about. Ooh, there was a potion. Sage, salt…onion?"

"That's the stuffing," Buffy had continued to stir her bowl, using it as a way to help calm her worries about her dying friend.

Anya scrunched up her face as she looked through her book, "oh, you're gonna get vesicles, then pustules," she moved the book closer to Xander so he could see.

"…I hate this guy."

"Well he's just doing what was done to him."

Xander looked to Willow, an incredulous look on his face, "I didn't give him syphilis!"

Giles, having enough of this roundabout conversation, chimed in impatiently, "no, but you freed his spirit, and after a century of unrest, he saw you as one of his oppressors."

"What, so he rises up and infects the first guy he sees? That's no fair!"

"Like you've never woken up cranky?"

"Defending him is not helping Willow!" they heard Eris shout from the fridge.

"But why the others? Why them particularly?"

"So, we take this guy out," Xander looked to the Slayer with a pleading look, "Buffy, it is for to be slaying sometime soon, yeah?"

The Slayer, however, did not look so happy to answer, "that's sort of the question before the court."

"Questions?" the sickly man sounded unhappy that the Slayer wasn't immediately jumping up to save him.

"There are two sides to it," Willow still continued to defend the spirit, not wanting to paint him as the bad guy.

"To slaying him? Well, the representative from syphilis votes yea."

"It's not that simple."

"He's a vengeance demon. You don't talk to vengeance demons. You kill them."

Anya stopped her diligent caring when she heard Xander speak, "I didn't know you felt that way." Xander, however, in his sick addled brain, had no idea that he just insulted the woman he was currently seeing.

"Apologise to the ex-vengeance demon Xander!" Eris shouted as she threw another washcloth, only this one was wet and cold after being put in the freezer for a few minutes. Xander apologized sheepishly and allowed Anya to use the new cloth to keep his forehead cool.

Willow, wanting to prove her point, cut back into the conversation, "anyway, he's a spirit, not a demon."

"Yes, and we've never faced this sort of spirit before," Giles snapped back in a frustrated tone, "we really don't know what will kill it," his words started a whirlwind argument where voices clashed over each other in the attempt to become the victor.

"A demon has to do what a demon has to do."

"Again with the killing?"

"oh, right. It's still evil"

"He's evil and we're all sick now!"

"Figuratively speaking, or bind it or whatever. Yes, Willow we all appreciate your perspective."

"Sometimes vengeance is justified."

"You know that I didn't mean you!"

"it's not about perspective."

"Screw perspective, we're all gonna die of syphilis! Xander is more important!"

"Its not right to let a murder go unpunished!"

"I don't think anyone appreciates the truth of the situation!"

"Oh, I think we do"

"You're just saying all this cause you're intimidated by me."

"THIS IS NO GOOD!" everyone immediately stopped arguing and looked at Buffy who had stood up, bowl clutched tightly in her arms. She looked stressed but also slightly embarrassed by her own outburst, "it needs more condensed milk."

She rushed into the kitchen to get away from the chaos, however Giles and Eris was not letting her escape, "Buffy, Xander is in real danger. Are you sure the solution is pie?"

Buffy continued to make her pie without looking up at her mentor, wishing all of this would dissapear and she could focus on her happy family dinner, "over bickering and confusion? I'll take pie."

"Buffy, Xander is more important than a pie," Eris shuffled over to her cousin and forcibly grabbed the bowl. The Slayer tried to grab it back but Giles moved in the way, cutting her off.

"We will find a solution-"

"-and we will have a nice dinner, okay? Both. End of story." Buffy's stressed had reached new limits, but she needed to make the dinner perfect, "I'm going to have Thanksgiving, and it is going to be perfect."

Giles was not giving up, hoping his words could cut through the Slayers thanksgiving obsession, "Hus wont stop. Vengeance is never sated, Buffy, hatred is a cycle. All he will do is kill."

*knock knock knock*

The trio stopped bickering, confusion stretching across their faces. Everyone who was invited to their dinner was in the house, and Giles never got visitors or salesmen at his door. They spared each other a hesitant look, it most likely wasn't Hus but they couldn't take any chances. Buffy had gone to the door first, knowing that if it was something dangerous, she would be the best option.

And she was right, of course, as shortly after opening the door, Spike had appeared. He was cowering under a dirty blanket covered in holes that were caused by him burning in the sun. He looked malnourished, as if he hadn't drank blood in days, his skin looked paler than normal and a slight gauntness to his cheeks and eyes had started to settle in. "Help me," he pleaded weakly, though it fell on deaf ears as Buffy immediately sprung into action and shoved him into the sun, hoping it would finally kill him.

His skin immediately started sizzling and began to turn red, if it wasn't for his quick reaction to put the blanket that fell off back onto him he would have become ash, "what part of help me do you not understand?"

Buffy didn't care for his pittiful words and had no sympathy for the singed vamp, not after everything he had done, "The part where I help you."

"Come on, I'm parboiling out here."

Giles casually sauntered over shortly after motioning for Eris to stay back, hatred simmering just under the surface of his cool exterior. He handed a stake to Buffy, also hoping he would die. "Want me to help make it quicker?" The Slayer's hand was just itching to plunge her stake into his chest and watch him crumble.

"Invite me in!"

"No" Becoming desperate, Spike had tried to charge his way into the room, thinking he could brute force his way inside. The magic, however, that bound vampires to their rules was stronger than brute force, and instead he was flung back to the ground.

He was running out of ideas, and if he didn't get inside he was toast, literally. So ignoring the demonic side of him that recoiled at the idea of appearing weak in front of the Slayer, he said, "look, I'm safe. I can't bite anyone," he looked inside, sparing a quick glance to Eris who looked incredibly uncomfortable before his eyes settled on the ginger witch, "Willow, tell 'em what I did."

"You said you were gonna kill me, then Buffy."

"Yes, bad, but let's skip that part. And get to the part where I couldn't bite you."

"It's true, He had trouble performing."

Spike glared at Eris when he heard her snort whilst trying not to laugh, "yeah, well, it looks like they've done me for good."

Giles moved closer to Spike, mainly to focus more on what the vampire was saying but also to block his view of Eris, "um…what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that Spike had a little trip to the vet and now he doesn't chase the other puppies anymore. I can't bite anything. I can't even hit people."

"So you haven't murdered anybody lately? Let's be best pals!" Buffy very obviously was unphased by this confession, though on the inside there was curiosity gnawing at her.

"I've got information, about the soldier boys you were fighting. I've got the inside scoop," Giles and Buffy looked at each other, trying to decide whether they wanted to bother with him. "Come on, what have you got to be afraid of?"

"Let him in," Eris chimed in, earning her everyone's attention. She looked uncomfortable with being in the same vicinity with Spike, but she knew they needed information, "we need to know about the Military guys."

Buffy looked to her in concern, "are you sure? I don't want to do this to you."

Eris shrugged, "thanks Buff but I'm a big girl, I can handle being around people I fucked and fought," she ignored the intense blue eyes staring at her from under the sizzling blanket, not wanting to take the chance of getting lost in them like she used to.

Buffy stared at her cousin for a few more seconds before agreeing, "fine, but he's not walking around freely."

She ended up dragging Spike into the house and shoved him into a chair, he was too weak to resist and honestly was more focused on getting out of the sun, though he started to regret his decision to ask for help when the Slayer tied him up, "Ow! Bloody hell, woman. You're cutting off my circulation."

"You don't have any circulation," Buffy said with a pleased voice, she was enjoying his predicament immensely.

"Well, it pinches."

"Well get used to it. I have more important things to worry about."

"I came to you in friendship," Buffy gave him one look and he shook his head, "well, all right, seething hatred, but I've got useful information, and I feel I'm being mistreated."

"Oh that must feel just awful," Eris said with sarcasm dripped in venom, her eyes were staring intently into the wall across from her.

Buffy and Spike stared at Eris with different emotions, one with concern and the other in amusement, "So tell me everything you know," Buffy spoke to the vampire, wanting to get this over and done with.

Spike however, had other plans, "I'm too hungry to remember everything."

The Slayer slapped the side of his head and moved over to Giles, and for the rest of the day Spike was ignored by everyone.