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No such thing as coincidences	By : All4Spike Category: AtS/BtVS Crossovers > Threesomes/Moresomes > Angel(us)/Buffy/Spike(William) > Angel(us)/Buffy/Spike(William) Views: 6097 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS), nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 6
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- 8
Chapter seven

Spike took a deep unnecessary breath and faced Wesley. “Go on then, tell me the worst.”

“Well this is how the translation works out Spike, although there are a couple of points that are still a bit puzzling.” Wesley began reading from his notebook.

‘The Champion of the Summer Slayer, her Pale Aurelian Knight, will fight by her side and guard her back.

“I think it’s obvious that the ‘Summer Slayer’ is you, Buffy, as your surname is Summers. Spike, you belong to the Order of Aurelius and you say you watch Buffy’s back, I think this must mean you are her ‘Pale Knight’.”

For love of his Lady he will, in the time of the greatest Evil, give his Life and Soul in a pillar of Golden Fire and Sunlight, as together they destroy the Mouth of Hell.’

“I know you don’t have a soul Spike, that’s the first puzzle, but it seems that at some point the two of you will team up to destroy the Hellmouth, and in the process, Spike, you’ll die… again. However the last part is what is confusing me most.” Wes continued,

‘After his Sacrifice he will become a shining Champion of Light and will stand with an Angel to oppose the Hordes of Hell.’

“I’m not sure how you can become a Champion of Light if you’ve already given your life to close the Hellmouth.”

“Trust me Wesley, that bit’s not a problem, I just know!” Buffy insisted. “He’ll be coming back, it seems to happen a lot around here.” She reached out and took Spike’s hand. “So you’re to be my Champion? How do you feel about that then Spikey?”

Spike was stunned. He sat and stared at Wesley, then faced a smiling Buffy, then turned to regard Angel who was frowning down at him. “Me?” he asked, his voice catching slightly in his throat.

Angel replied “Well I don’t see how it can be me. It says at the end that her Champion will stand with an Angel, and I think that’s probably me. After all you are the one fighting beside our ‘Summer Slayer’ here. I can’t see any other member of the Order of Aurelius popping up to take your place can you?”

“I need a drink!” Spike croaked.

Wesley opened a desk drawer, took out a new bottle of brandy and several shot glasses and poured each of them a drink. Spike swallowed his down in one gulp and held his glass out for a refill. He put his hand over Buffy’s empty glass when she did the same thing. “Slayer plus booze, badness ensues, remember pet?” She smiled and nodded, surrendering her glass to him.

“It doesn’t say ‘they close the Hellmouth’ Wesley? You’re sure it says ‘they destroy the Hellmouth?” Buffy asked. “Not the same thing at all. ‘Destroys’ means gone for good… Sunnydale not Hellmouthy any more... ever.”

Wesley shrugged, “That’s what it says all right Buffy, there’s no doubt.”

Buffy’s face lit up in a glorious smile. “Well what do you know? I wonder when all this is supposed to happen?”

“Wesley, how come it says I’m going to give my life and soul? I’m not going to have any sodding gypsies cursing me thank you very much… I’d be no good to my Slayer or my little Key going nuts for a few decades as Angel did …” Spike spluttered, half his second drink going down the wrong way as he remembered something. “Besides, the loophole in that bloody curse would bugger everything up! Doesn’t take much to make me happy, just being around Buffy and the Bit could set me off, never mind trying to keep the Slayer happy!” He then thought of something that had been said earlier, and turned to Buffy, “Talking about Dawnie pet, a natural affinity between Slayer and Vampires, that’s what they said. Niblet was made out of you. That’s something you might want to keep in mind, ’specially since the events on Halloween.”

Buffy raised her eyebrows, rolled her eyes and sighed, “Oh no, that’s all we need, more Summers girl vampire boyfriend wackiness!” Spike just chuckled.

Giles had been contemplating Spike thoughtfully, and as the conversation lulled he quietly asked, “Would you even want a soul Spike? That is if you could have one without going insane for years, and the ‘moment of perfect happiness’ clause?”

“Anything to make the Slayer’s life easier Rupert, you should know that by now. Despite what you’ve told us she still feels bad being with me ’cos I have no soul, she’s told me that often enough. She’d feel better if I had one. She might feel able to trust me completely then, which she doesn’t now,” he turned back to Buffy, “that’s right, isn’t it love?”

It was Buffy’s turn to be stunned. She just nodded, her eyes locked on his.

Giles wrote in his notebook saying, “So… there’s yet another research topic to add to the agenda. How do we give a vampire a soul with no conditional clauses attached?” He frowned and muttered. “I’ve never heard of such a thing!”

“There’s an ancient legend, something about a demon somewhere in Africa who does deals and grants wishes, but I don’t know any details Rupert.” Spike suggested, “That might be a place to start looking. The Council of Wankers wouldn’t be able to help with this one though, would they? You know this isn’t the first priority though Rupert, now you’ve told us this sort of thing has happened before the Slayer needn’t feel so disgusted with herself while we wait. We’ll start investigating when the Portal stuff is all sorted, yeah?”

“You don’t know what you’re asking William, the memories, the guilt, none of it is easy to live with you know.” Angel spoke very quietly, his hand resting on Spike’s shoulder. “I went through it all alone. I think that, more than anything, was what drove me mad. I had no guide, no anchor until I accepted the Mission to help Buffy. If you do get your soul back don’t try to go it alone. Let me know, and I’ll help if I can.”

“If you can cope with it Liam, I expect I can, don’t you?” Spike replied as quietly, then he smirked slightly, “Just as long as I don’t get all boring and broody... like you…”

Angel frowned and backed off slightly, allowing his hand to drop from Spike’s shoulder.

Buffy spoke seriously, “Spike already has his Mission, Angel, he’s my Pale Knight, he guards my back. He’s also Dawn’s Protector. When he has his soul he’ll be my Champion. That means he won’t be alone. He has me and Dawn, we’ll help him, we’ll be his anchor and his guide.”

Spike smiled gratefully at her, “Well, we’ll just have to wait and see if it’s possible first, won’t we pet? No point getting all excited until then.”

There was a short silence as they all started to come to terms with what had been decided here. It had great significance for all of them. Wesley was the first to speak. “Angel, has Lorne arrived yet? We should really hear from him before moving on to the next order of business.”

“Yes Wes, I heard him come in a few minutes ago.” Angel stuck his head out into the area behind the reception desk and called Lorne over.

“You lovely folk ready to hear from me now?” Lorne asked, breezing in, a large glass full of something blue in his hand. This time he was wearing a bright scarlet suit with a hot pink shirt and a Kelly green tie. The effect was rather startling. He crossed the room to stand beside Wesley.

Angel turned to him, “We’ve told Spike and Buffy about the prophecy Wesley found Lorne, but I think he needs to hear what you told us about your reading of him too.”
“Well if you’ve told him the prophecy already, Angel, things might have changed, he may have already decided on a new course. I think he should sing again. Just to double check.”
“This doesn’t involve dancing and burning does it?” Buffy asked nervously, “Because we’ve already played that scene.”

“Different demon pet, it’s okay” Spike reassured her, “What should I sing then, Jolly Green?”

“Anything you like Blondie, just sing!”

Spike thought for a few moments, then chose the song he had become most familiar with over the past year.

“Early one morning just as the sun was rising,
I heard a maiden sing in the valley below.
O, don’t deceive me, O, never leave me,
How could you use a poor maiden so?”

“Is that enough for you? Or should I go on?” Spike asked.

Lorne stood and stared at him for a few seconds, then asked “Buffy, could you sing a few bars of something for me please?”

“Me… sing? Oh I don’t know… Buffy and singing… not really mixy things at all…”

“Just a few bars, anything at all Sugar Pie.”

Buffy nervously chanted:
“Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.”

“I don’t suppose you could sing something together could you? This ‘Pale Knight’ prophecy ties you two gorgeous blondes together. I’d like to see how that works…”

Spike and Buffy looked at each other doubtfully, Spike couldn’t help thinking they didn’t exactly have the same taste in music. Then he had a brainwave, “Our little duet from the dancing demon’s spell love, right at the end…”

Buffy blushed, took a deep breath and started off:

“I touch the fire and it freezes me.
I look into it and it's black
This isn't real
But I just want to feel”

At the appropriate moment Spike joined in:

“I died...
So many years ago.
But you can make me feel”

Lorne rested his hip on the corner of the desk and took a big swig from his glass. “Well now, we’ve got a lot going on here, one current Champion,” he nodded to Buffy, “One future Champion,” he nodded to Spike, “A Champion’s Champion no less, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of one of those before! We have two honest to goodness heroes here!” He took a deep breath and addressed Angel, “Remember the Pylean word Kyerumption, Angel? That’s what is happening here. They met as mortal enemies, and have come together, destined to save the world.”

He turned back to Buffy and Spike, “Death doesn’t appear to mean much to either of you, you’ve both died and come back, and you are both likely to do so again! Astonishing! You are inextricably linked together, I can’t see you parting in this lifetime. Love will keep you together... there should be a song! It’s not a smooth road by any means however, it’s never going to be boring around you two! Now then, Spike, you are on the right path, just keep going the way you are and all should turn out fine. Try not to get distracted from your goals, there is a major transformation due for you soon. You’re going to save the World at least twice more.”

“Buffy, you’ve been through some hard times, but things are certainly looking up, although given your Chosen One status you know there will be a rocky path ahead. You’re also due for at least a couple more World savings... I expect this prophesied shared destruction of the Hellmouth counts for one each for you.” He turned and looked around the room, “I suggest that anyone who has been trying to keep these two apart should stop now, it’s not going to work, and could bring an end to the World as we know it!”

Spike sat and basked in the glory of this statement for a few seconds, but was brought up short by a low rumbling growl from behind him. He winced, and stood up, turning to face Angel, who was glaring at him. “Let’s get it over with,” he sighed. He stepped closer, until the two vampires were nose to nose, at which point both morphed to game faces, coming to rest with their foreheads pressed together.

Buffy asked, confused, “What’s going on?”

Spike held one forefinger up in a ‘just a moment’ gesture, but remained focussed on Angel. His own growl rose to match Angel’s and for a few seconds the two vampires growled in harmony, making the glasses on the desk vibrate. Slowly Angel’s growl became softer, while Spike’s rose to a crescendo and continued for about five seconds after Angel’s had faded away to nothing. Spike then cut his growl off suddenly and there was a moment of dead silence before the two vampires separated and stepped back from each other, both blinking as if dazed as they changed back to their human faces. They maintained eye contact until they had grasped each other’s hands in a double handshake, at which point they broke away and resumed their original places, Spike sitting next to Buffy and Angel standing behind them. He stood a bit closer now though, laying a hand gently on each of their shoulders. Both vampires looked rather embarrassed and slightly shaken.

Angel growled “You know what you have to do,” to Spike.

“No!” he replied, “I’d never…”

“You have to, you know that” Angel insisted.

Spike groaned and scrubbed his face with both hands.

“So I’m guessing this is all a vampire thing?” Buffy asked in a rather snippy tone. When neither Angel nor Spike answered her she ordered, “’Splainy!”

Spike turned and regarded Angel seriously, “You never explained the significance to her did you?”

“I was a bit distracted with dying at the time, then I had to get her to the hospital, then we were a bit busy with the Mayor’s Ascension.” Angel sheepishly replied. “Besides, I supposed Giles would know all about it.”

“I don’t know, any little excuse… Wait a minute, there was an Ascension? Why do I miss all the good stuff?” Spike paused and considered what he was going to have to do, and the possible consequences. “Get all the Scoobies and Dawn in here Giles, they’ll need to understand what’s happening and why.”

Giles was as confused as Buffy, “Even I don’t understand what’s going on Spike!”

“Bloody Council, all they ever wanted to know is how to kill vampires, they never bothered to find out anything about us beyond that,” Spike muttered. He sighed dramatically, then continued, “If I’m officially going to be one of the good guys, I might as well go the whole sodding hog.” Then to Giles and Wesley he instructed, “Get your notebooks out Watchers, when the Scoobies get here we’ll begin ‘Vampire lore 101’.”

A few minutes later the office was crowded as Xander, Willow, Tara and Dawn settled themselves on chairs brought in for them. Spike suggested, “Tell them about this new prophecy Wes, that’ll give them the background, explain the whys and wherefores.”

After the explanations it took a few minutes for the comments and questions to die down, and Spike chose to stay out of it, but something Buffy said to Dawn made him change his mind and interrupt. “Slayer? You can’t promise Dawnie I’ll come back to you after the Hellmouth thing, we don’t know whether I’ll be able to. Don’t promise what you might not be able to deliver.”

Buffy looked shocked. “You won’t want to come back to us?”

“Of course I’ll want to love, you must know that, but I may not be able to. The prophecy says when I come back as a Champion of Light I’ll be standing with Angel to oppose the Hordes of Hell…” he drifted off into a bit of a daze, “…sounds as if it’ll be a good scrap, I’ll be looking forward to that…” then he shook himself slightly and continued, “It doesn’t say we’ll be together love, it might not be possible. It makes it clear I’ll be coming back, but it doesn’t say how long I’ll be gone. It might be ten minutes, or it might be hundreds of years.” He explained gently, putting his hand over hers, “Angel will obviously still be here Buffy as I’m to stand beside him. You… might not be.”

Buffy stared at him in shock. “Oh,” she said, very quietly.

Dawn’s distraught voice dropped into the silence, “How long have we got together?”

Wesley replied, “Nobody knows, dear, the prophecy doesn’t come with a set schedule, that’s not how these things work. The destruction of the Hellmouth might be soon, or many years from now. There’s no way of telling.”

“Then we have to make the most of every day!” Dawn cried, beginning to sob pitifully. Spike reached out to take her hand, at which she threw herself out of her chair and knelt at his feet, burying her face in his stomach and throwing her arms around his waist.
Highly embarrassed, Spike stroked her hair and softly murmured what he hoped were comforting words to her, and Buffy leaned over to offer a slightly soggy hug. “Come on now Niblet,” Spike said finally, lifting Dawn’s face from his lap, cupping her face in his hands and brushing her tears away with his thumbs, “There’s stuff to explain, Vampire stuff, very important.”

When Dawn had recovered her composure she wouldn’t return to her seat, instead she settled on the floor in front of Buffy and Spike, leaning back against their legs. Spike unconsciously continued patting and stroking her hair in an effort to comfort her.

“Right then,” Spike began. He turned to Buffy and pointed to the scar on her neck. “That is where Angel fed from you when he was dying isn’t it love?” he asked. Buffy put her hand up to brush her fingers over the silver mark on her neck, and nodded. “To you, it’s just a scar, it’s a fond reminder of when you saved your lover’s life. Right?” Buffy nodded again, looking up at Angel as they both remembered the terrible time when Faith had poisoned him.

“To a vampire it’s a lot more than that, love.” Spike continued, “It’s a mark showing that a vampire has fed from you, has staked a claim on you. Any vampire seeing that scar, other than stupid youngsters who know no better, will assume that Angelus claimed you as his property. They believe that if they touch you they’ll have to answer to him. It’s a Vampire thing.”

Buffy was indignant, “Property? I’m nobody’s property!”

“To the vampire world you are, pet. First the Master marked you. When you killed him any claim he had on you was erased. Then when you forced Angel to feed from you his bite marked you as his. How many times did you have to hit him to make him mad enough to bite you? I’ll bet you practically had to kill him yourself didn’t you?”

Buffy nodded sadly, “he kept refusing to bite me, but he was dying! Only the blood of a Slayer could cure him… I had to save him!”

“He knew what his claim mark on you would mean love, even as he was dying he knew that he’d be seen as responsible for you, and as he was intending to leave he wouldn’t be there to take care of you. Incidentally, if Angel ever goes all Angelus again, steer well clear of him,” Spike turned to Wesley, “if you need to get someone in to deal with Angelus, get Faith… or me. Don’t call Buffy!”

Wesley frowned, “Why ever not?”

“Angelus sees that mark, and he knows Buffy belongs to him.”

Angel growled, “Spike... there’s no need…”

“There’s every need Angel, they have to know.” Spike insisted, and turned to Buffy, “If Angelus gets his hands on you Slayer, it won’t be pleasant. Last time Angel lost his soul, you weren’t wearing his mark. He played with you, taunted you to punish you for making him feel human. He tried to hurt your friends to cause you pain, but he didn’t come after you personally. It wouldn’t be like that now. More than anything else Angelus likes pain. That mark would show him you belong to him to do with as he pleases. He’ll take you and dish out pain such as you can’t imagine.”

“He’d kill me?” Buffy asked, looking up at Angel nervously.

“Not until you’ve begged him to, and maybe not even then. You’d wish he would though. Just stay away from him. Understand?” Buffy nodded again, sadly.

“Now about this claim business,” Spike continued. “I’ve been breaking the rules, Slayer, and I knew it. I do that a lot when I think I can get away with it, but it can get me into trouble. When Angel found out we’ve been together his demon will have gone nuts. He’ll have had to give it a severe talking to and make it resist doing two things. First he’ll have talked himself out of killing me on sight for trespassing on his property. Then he’ll have talked himself out of renewing his claim on you to wipe out my touch.” He looked back at Angel. “I suspect the main reason I escaped a dusty end was because when the news reached him he’d already learned about Lorne’s reading.”

Angel had the good grace to look a bit sheepish as he nodded.

“Now then Slayer, every demon in Sunnydale knows about us. So far…”

“How do they know?” Buffy interrupted.

“I know… I know… ‘I swear to God if you tell anyone about last night I will kill you.’ I didn’t forget. I haven’t told anyone, I didn’t need to, I’ve been going around with your scent all over me.” He smirked, “Even when you’re invisible you can’t help but leave your scent on me, and in turn I’ve been leaving my scent on you. What we’ve been doing is obvious to any demon with a nose. Anyway… since I’ve been patrolling with you I’ve been getting into a few good fights and I’ve had a couple of beatings for breaking the rules and killing other demons, it just isn’t done. They’ve been leaving the other for some sign from Angelus. If I go back from here alive….”

Xander suddenly cried out, “Oh my God!” He stood up and flapped his hands as he jigged about, “When you were invisible, Buffy… when I went to Spike’s crypt looking for you… you were… Spike was… that explains why… Oh my God! Invisible Buffy naked in Spike’s bed! I so didn’t want to know that… can I not know that any more? Please? Willow, can you do that forgetting thing on me? Erase the picture that just came into my mind? Bad picture… naked Spike badness… Oh my God…!”

Reacting to Xander’s outburst and the laughter it caused by raising one eyebrow, Angel calmly asked Buffy, “You were invisible? How did that happen?”

Blushing madly, Buffy turned to answer him, “Trio of Nerds who have generally been pains in my ass lately stole a big diamond to make an invisibility ray… I got zapped by mistake… Slayer took a holiday, Buffy went out to play… Spike chucked me out of his crypt because I was only there because I could pretend I wasn’t there… general Buffybadness all round…” She turned back to Spike, “I managed to sort out Dreadful Doris from Social Services though, so she won’t be bothering us again for a long time.”

“Please can we get back to the point?” Giles asked firmly. “You were saying Spike, if you go back from here alive…?”

A grinning Spike tried to gather the thread of his argument, “Oh… right… yes… If I go back alive and I team up with the Slayer it will be obvious that Angel has abdicated any authority over me, and is ignoring his claim on the Slayer. That means I’ll be dead, and the Slayer will be fair game. As far as they’re concerned if Angel allows me to have her despite his claim on her, anybody can have her. It won’t be pretty. Also, Angel will have lost any respect he has left in the demon community. He’s the Elder of the Order of Aurelius now both The Master and Darla are gone, so he can’t afford that. We have to do it properly, the old way.”

Angel took over the explanation. “Spike needs to make his own mark on Buffy. He has to stake his claim to protect both of them. He needs to cover my mark with his own. It has to be clear to all that I have ceded my claim to Spike, that Buffy is now his property and I have no further claim to her.” He squeezed Buffy’s shoulder gently, “it’s a Vampire thing, Buffy. No insult intended.”

Buffy looked back up at him angrily, “That’s what you were doing just now? Transferring the claim?”

“That was the civilised ‘all by mutual consent’ way Slayer. The other way, when the original claim holder objects, would be by mortal combat, all fists and fangs. That method would defeat our purpose, although if Angel gets desouled after I’ve marked you he’ll be certain to come after me. Angel may reluctantly be agreeing to the transfer now, but as Angelus he never would. Look at it like this pet,” Spike explained, “in human terms it’s like the ex vetting the new boyfriend and giving his approval, Angel has kind of given us his blessing. It’s only because of the prophecy, and so you’ll be as safe as possible. It’s all about the Mission, he doesn’t really want to give you up. I’m going to be leaving my mark on you when we do the Portal thing anyway, it’s just that the first time I have to make sure I bite directly over Angel’s mark, and he has to witness it. It’s traditional vampire etiquette, that’s all. There’s no rush, but we should get it done before we go back to Sunnydale. It’s the only way to keep either of us even remotely safe.”

Buffy gave Spike a long look, and then raised an eyebrow at Giles. “What do you think Giles? It sounds logical the way they explain it, have you heard anything about this sort of thing before?”

Giles removed his glasses and gave them a good polish to give himself time to think. When he replaced them on his nose he replied, “I thought I was a vampire expert, Buffy, but I’m just beginning to learn how much I don’t know. I think we must accept this is necessary. Both Angel and Spike seem to have your best interests at heart so it looks as if we have to trust them in this matter.”

Buffy sighed in resignation, brushed her hair back to bare her neck, and leaned over towards Spike.

Spike reared back away from her, hands held out in denial, “Not like this Slayer, it’s private. Just you, me and Angel. We’ll sort out a time and place later.”

Giles looked puzzled again. “Spike, if it’s such a private matter, why did you want everyone to hear about it?”

“Well Rupert, if we had turned up one day, the Slayer with an extra bite mark on her neck and me with a silly grin on my face, what would you have done?”

“Ah... yes… I see your point.”

“Some people have a habit of not giving a fella the benefit of the doubt, and reach for the stake first and ask questions second,” Spike winked at a frowning Xander, “just thought a little explanation and forewarning might be in order.”

The meeting broke up, and everyone began drifting off to do other things, quietly exchanging comments and opinions on the new developments. Fred called to Xander to come and look at yet another email from Anya. There was the umpteenth version of the seating plan for the wedding reception to approve, and a matter of accommodation for visiting relatives to be addressed. Gunn was preparing to chauffeur Buffy, Dawn, Willow and Tara on another shopping spree. Once more Buffy needed some new clothes and replacement footwear, and was making full use of her credit card while she could. She would worry about paying the bill… later. It was apparently impossible for young ladies to go clothes shopping alone, particularly when the vitally important question of selecting shoes was involved. After all, as they insisted, they had to take advantage of the extra variety of stores available in LA... didn’t they? Giles and Wesley stayed in the office to study the print-out of the latest batch of material from the Council, Lorne went off to continue doing whatever he had been doing, and Spike and Angel found themselves at a loose end.

“Fancy a drink?” Angel asked.

“God yes!” Spike replied with a hint of desperation in his voice. “The world’s turning upside-down, I’m starting to get seriously freaked out.” The two vampires made their way up to Angel’s room, where Spike was gratified to find that Angel had a couple of large bottles of good whisky stored. They took possession of one each, and settled down in comfy chairs to get methodically drunk.

After a long silence Spike suddenly burst into hysterical giggles, “I’m goin’ to be a bleedin’ Champion of Light! Can’t quite get my head around that.” It took a few minutes of hiccupping and spluttering before he could speak coherently again, then he asked Angel, “How’s that working out for you? Good steady work is it?”

“Not steady. I can safely say it’s very unsteady. Not boring though, lots of serious wackiness and occasional mind blowing terror, but never boring.”

“That’s good, I don’t do boring. If I’d wanted boring I could never have fallen for the Slayer. Never a good idea for a demon to fall for the Slayer. Goes against the natural order of things. She’s got to have some special Slayer mojo.”

“Tell me about it… You didn’t fall for those other Slayers though did you?” Angel reminded him, “You didn’t have any trouble killing them!”

“That’s true, and I couldn’t sense them as clearly either. I wonder what the difference is?”

“It’s Buffy.” Angel shrugged, “It’s just Buffymagic. She does something to you.”

“Yeah,” Agreed Spike, gesturing with the half empty bottle he was clutching. “She’s something special all right, never met anyone like her, living or undead. Half the time she’s bloody infuriating, the other half she’s just adorable.” He thought for a few moments, “Well, perhaps three quarters of the time she’s infuriating and a quarter of the time she’s adorable.” He considered for a little while longer, “When she’s not dead that is, when she’s dead it’s just... bad. We’ll have to find a way to stop her from doing that again. It’s not a healthy habit to get into.”

“You will look after her, won’t you? You’ll have me to answer to if you let her die again.”

“Course I will, that’s what I do.” Spike replied, blinking and nodding. “Besides, if she dies again, it’ll likely be because I’m already dust and can’t do anything about it. I’ve got no interest in unliving without her anyway.” He frowned, pondering that statement. “Except for the Bit… I’d still need to take care of my Dawnie. Like last time.”

“You know I’m not giving up on her don’t you?” Angel asked after a long period of silence punctuated only by slurping and gulping noises. “We’re destined to be together one day.” He wagged a slightly unsteady finger at Spike to emphasise his determination.

“We’ll just see about that,” Spike challenged, “You’ve got that pesky soul curse. I’m not going to have anything to do with curses, when I get my sodding soul it’s going to be permanent! Going to make damned sure of that! Just wait and see which one of us she wants then!” He had a horrible thought. “What if she gives up on us both and chooses somebody else entirely? Some dorky human, like soldier-boy? What if I’m gone too long and she’s not here when I come back? Or you never get rid of the catch in your bloody curse?”

Angel had an even worse thought, “What if I can’t get the soul fixed, and you go poof and vanish for a hundred years and she ends up with yet another vamp? Can’t deny the girl’s got a thing for the undead, how are we going to make sure she doesn’t start branching out?”

“Got to figure out a way to keep her in the family.” Spike insisted very deliberately, dropping his empty bottle beside his chair and going weaving around the room prospecting in drawers and cupboards for another. “Very important, families.”

Angel just nodded, very slowly, just in case his head fell off.

Finding no more bottles, Spike decided not to make the effort to cross the acres of floor back to his chair and he settled down to sit on the lovely comfortable carpet. “We all right now then, Peaches? You and me? You’re not going to keep popping up in Sunnyhell to do the jealous ex thing are you? We’re going to be busy Portalling and Hellmouthing all over the place you know… doubt if there’s going to be a lot of spare time for hissy fits and squabbling over my lovely Lady…”

“Our lovely Lady,” Angel insisted, “eventually to be my lovely Lady.”

“Never gonna happen,” Spike mumbled, as he very slowly keeled over.

“I saw her first.” Angel muttered grumpily, just before his chin fell forward on his chest and his empty bottle thudded to the floor between his feet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spike decided his head must have exploded when he wasn’t looking, there was so much pain. Either that or his chip had gone on overload. There was also a thunderous booming close by which was vibrating through his entire frame. He opened his bleary eyes and saw where he was… lying slumped on the floor in a hotel room. Oh yes, Angel’s hotel. Angel’s room. There was a vague memory floating about in the back of his mind that they’d been talking about Buffy, and oh that’s right… there had been whisky. A lot of whisky.
He looked around for the bottle, in the hope that a hair of the dog would help make the pain go away and the memories return. Unfortunately all he could see was two empty bottles, and the well-known figure of a big dark vampire slumped in an armchair. As he struggled into a sitting position the booming resolved into someone knocking on the door. “Urgh irgh,” he grunted, although in his mind it had started out as ‘come in’.

Lorne poked his head around the door, “Angel? It’s that time big guy… where are you?”
Spike grunted and pointed.

Lorne came all the way into the room and stood examining the inanimate figure of the dark vampire with dismay. “Oh dear, this won’t do at all! What have you done to him Blondie?”

“Me? I’ve done nuffing… it was the Great Big Poof who did it to me! ’Twas his booze!” Spike groaned and held his head between his hands. “I think my head’s broken.”

The green demon stood considering the two drunken vampires for a few seconds then came to a decision, “Coffee… lots of very strong very black coffee. I think that’s the only remedy here.”

Spike looked up again with a look of pure horror, “You don’t want to give Granddad lots of coffee Greenie, it gives him the jitters something rotten!”

“Better jittery than comatose… and I think that goes for you too. I’m going to need you both clear headed as soon as possible, time is marching on.”

“Watcha talkin’ about?”

“He didn’t tell you? I thought that was why you came up here together, to join forces to plot your moves and devise your strategy!”

“Nope, we killed a couple of bottles and talked about my Slayer…” Spike recalled the gist of their discussion and corrected himself, “That is… our Slayer.” He reconsidered and decided he had been right the first time, “Nope, definitely my Slayer.” He went over in his mind what the green demon had just said. “Strategy for what?”

“The party of course!” At Spike’s blank look Lorne became impatient, “You mean he didn’t say anything about it at all? What was he thinking? He was supposed to recruit you to help him divert Buffy away from the hotel while we made the preparations!”

“Sorry mate, I haven’t a clue what you’re goin’ on about… party you say? I like a good party… but why does Buffy need to be out of the way?”

“It was her twenty first birthday last week wasn’t it? I understand that is a special celebration for humans. Angel said he was sorry he’d missed it so asked me to organise a party for her… a surprise party. Unsurprisingly the main feature of surprise parties consists of the preparations being completed without the knowledge of the guest of honour, in this case Buffy. This means she needs to be kept away from the lobby while we bring in all the decorations and refreshments and set up the lights and music system.”

“And that’s today? Now? Bloody Angel, that’s just typical, why did he decide to go and get us both drunk today of all days? He’s even worse at holding his liquor than I am!” Spike staggered to his feet and tottered over to the still unconscious figure in the chair. “Come on Granddad… wakey wakey rise and shine!” He roughly shook Angel by the shoulder, and when that achieved precisely nothing he began slapping, then punching the older vampire in the face.

Lorne stepped in and shoved Spike back, “Well that’s not going to help, knocking him out is exactly the opposite of what we need!”

“Tell you what my friend, if you want to keep the Slayer out of the lobby for an hour or so what better way than getting her in here to help sober the Old Poof up… she’s the only one strong enough to manage a drunken Angel…” Spike tripped over his own feet and landed awkwardly on his backside… “…or me for that matter…”

“Hmmm… that might just work,” Lorne agreed, and he left the room.

Just over an hour later a very irritated Buffy was finally getting a profusely apologetic Angel and a whining Spike full of lame excuses to a stage when they weren’t actively trying to kill each other. Each of them was constantly accusing the other of trying to poison them. Every time a strange noise threatened to attract Buffy’s attention back downstairs one of the vampires had managed to fall over, or begin a new argument so as to distract her. They were now both full of very strong black coffee, and both had throbbing headaches that were not really helped by the overdoses of caffeine.

Dawn, who had been running in and out with pots of coffee and ice bags for sore heads, appeared at the door once more. “Buffy, I think these two idiots can look after themselves now.” She gave both vampires a dirty look, which transformed into a very knowing wink when Buffy was looking the other way. “Why don’t you and I go back to our room and freshen up?”

After Buffy and Dawn had gone Spike hissed at Angel, “Why didn’t you tell me about the party you stupid great pillock? You nearly ruined the whole thing by getting us both drunk!”

“Forgot all about it… well that it was today anyway. We’d better get cleaned up, once Dawn has got Buffy into her new outfit we should be down there ready to do the whole ‘Surprise!’ thing.”

“She’s got another new outfit? She’ll love that!”

“Yes, since none of the Sunnydale crowd had party clothes with them Fred and Lorne had some help from Willow and Tara picking new clothes out. Even for you Spike, go look in your room.”

Half an hour later a freshly showered Spike arrived in the lobby wearing a midnight blue suit, a sapphire blue silk shirt, a silver tie and a pair of shiny new black oxford shoes. He felt slightly uncomfortable, self-conscious and very overdressed. He had persuaded Willow to trim the singed bits from his hair and had ‘borrowed’ a pot of hair gel from Angel, so at last he had managed to smooth down his wayward curls, although he was very aware he needed a trim and a bleach job.

The lobby was decorated with thousands of tiny fairy lights in white, lilac and several shades of blue, and there were big bunches of shiny lilac, blue and silver balloons with trailing ribbons scattered about. There was a big banner suspended from the balcony wishing Buffy a happy 21st birthday, and the reception area had been transformed into a bar and buffet. Lorne had set up his sound system on the raised area just inside the front door with the inevitable microphone and karaoke machine. He was dressed, conservatively for him, in a royal blue suit with a pale lemon shirt and bright red tie.

Just as Spike was considering bailing out of the party all together, Willow and Tara appeared with Giles. Willow was wearing a sleeveless deep green floor length dress with an embroidered pattern of silver leaves arrayed across the bodice, and Tara was wearing a similar styled dress in a rich russet, with a deep border of golden floral embroidery around the hem. Giles had on a very smart charcoal grey three piece suit with a brilliant white shirt and a bow tie. Spike immediately lost his feeling of being overdressed. He approached Giles, “Nice suit Rupert, Savile Row?”

“That’s right Spike, how on earth could you tell?”

“I had a few in the forties and fifties, it’s easy to recognise the distinctive cut and quality when you have worn them yourself.” Once more Spike smugly found himself delighting in the sight of Giles gaping at a surprising new facet of his history.

A few minutes later Xander came down stairs in a smart grey suit with a cream silk shirt and blue and green paisley pattern tie. Gunn and Fred closely followed him, Gunn in a black suit, white silk shirt and burgundy tie and Fred in the strapless burgundy brocade and lace creation she had recently worn to the ballet.

Wesley and Angel came next, both in black suits and ivory silk shirts, Wesley’s tie was violet, Angel’s navy. They paused on the balcony, keeping an eye open along the corridor. For about five minutes everyone milled about aimlessly, and then Angel gave a little wave to Lorne and he and Wes descended the last few stairs into the lobby.

As Buffy and Dawn arrived at the top of the last flight of stairs down to the lobby Dawn fell back a couple of steps and allowed Buffy to proceed alone. She took one puzzled look around, then Lorne played a fanfare and everyone shouted ‘Surprise!’ and started calling out ‘Happy Birthday’ and singing ‘For she’s a jolly good fellow’ rather disjointedly. Angel stepped forward and took the hand of the blushing birthday girl who was wearing a deep lavender brocade strapless gown, and led her down to the lobby. Dawn followed in her buttercup yellow satin. The music began and lively chatter broke out as food and drinks began circulating.

A very pleasant hour or two passed with people talking and dancing, although Spike still didn’t really feel as if he fit in so he was mostly just watching as people enjoyed the music and laughter, the food and drink. It was turning into a good party with various people being persuaded to sing at the karaoke microphone. Angel didn’t join in, much to the relief of everyone who had heard him sing before, and neither did Willow or Buffy.

Spike considered having a go, but after looking through the list of songs on the machine he decided against it. Lorne sang quite a lot in an attempt to encourage the others and Giles finally consented to sing a couple of ballads which were well received, then Fred and Gunn sang a couple of duets which were broken up by a great deal of giggling. Wesley sang a duet with Dawn, and then Tara sang a sweet love song to Willow that had Lorne nearly in tears for some reason. After that he reverted to playing recorded music.

As the evening wore on Lorne started playing some older dance tunes, and couples began to dance in a more formal manner. Dawn sidled up to Spike when a waltz number began and pleaded with him to dance with her so she could show Buffy her new skill. He agreed readily and after a slightly shaky start when Dawn tried to lead off with the wrong foot the pair began gliding around the floor in a classic waltz style, both wearing wide grins of delight as gradually all the other couples drifted to the edge of the room to watch. As the dance appeared to have become a bit of a demonstration Spike decided to show off a bit, and with whispered instructions to his young partner he began to add a few more intricate steps and as the music ended he bent Dawn back into a dramatic dip, from which she rose flushed and out of breath, laughing gaily.

They had finished up next to where Angel and Buffy were standing talking, and Angel commented to Spike, “That brings back memories, Vienna wasn’t it? About 1890?”

“Something like that… while Dru and I danced the nights away you and Darla were dining out on the party-goers. I remember we ‘borrowed’ a lovely big townhouse for a few weeks that summer from one of your little indiscretions…” Both vampires went rather quiet for a while as they remembered their former partners and the period when the four of them had travelled across Europe leaving a trail of dead bodies behind them.

Meanwhile Dawn was excitedly urging Buffy to dance with Spike, and when another waltz began a few minutes later Spike held out his hand invitingly and asked, “You gonna take a turn around the floor with me then Slayer?”

Buffy shook her head and said, “I can’t do that sort of dancing…”

“Yes you can love, all you need to do is feel the beat in the music and follow my lead. It’s just like fighting, once you get into the rhythm it comes naturally, your Slayer instincts should make it simple for you. It might be easier if you start out with your eyes closed.”

Dawn shoved her reluctant sister forward into his arms, and as he counted under his breath to give her the beat, “one two three, one two three,” Spike swept Buffy out into the centre of the floor and they twirled and spun round and round, although this time other couples joined them to mimic their moves and Spike had to concentrate a bit harder not to crash into anyone. Spike thrilled at the feeling of Buffy in his arms in public that he had been looking forward to for so long, and exulted in the way she picked up the dance steps almost instantly as he knew she would. She was as light as a feather in his arms.

All too soon the dance ended, and a smiling Buffy retreated from him to talk with Willow and Tara, and once more Spike was left standing apart. He didn’t mind though, he had danced with each of his girls, and that made the party a raging success as far as he was concerned so he relaxed, leaning against the wall of the office with a cigarette between his fingers and a glass of good brandy, taking occasional small sips. The effects of the earlier whisky binge hadn’t quite faded, his head was still throbbing slightly and his hands were trembling from the after effects of the copious amounts of coffee Lorne had forced down his throat, so he was being careful.

Time passed slowly, the music becoming slower and quieter late into the evening, and as he watched the revellers he gradually became aware of a growing discomfort. The hair on the back of his neck was standing on end and he was tensing up, as if ready for a fight. He closed his eyes and tested the air for scent. There was definitely something wrong, although he couldn’t place the reason why he thought so.

He straightened up and prowled slowly around the room, checking on his people. They all seemed to be well and in good spirits, there was no scent of fear or sickness among them. He returned to his former position, puzzled. He sent out his vampire senses. He located his Slayer and Grandsire easily, but no other vampires. That wasn’t the problem then. Buffy was standing beside the weapons cabinet chatting with Angel who was holding Connor, and he marvelled that he felt only the faintest whiff of jealousy at their closeness. He was astonished that a simple little ritual could have had such an enormous effect on the balance of the relationships among Angel, Buffy and himself. Still, he couldn’t relax.

He gulped down the last of the brandy, put the glass down and dropped the stub of his cigarette into it, and then deliberately began to move towards his Slayer to tell her of his unease, when abruptly the sense of imminent danger became far stronger and he flashed into game face without a thought. “Turn the music off!” he roared to Lorne, “Now! There’s something……” He couldn’t put words to his fears, he just knew that there was going to be a fight, and he had to be ready. He paced out into the centre of the floor, disturbing Tara and Willow, Xander and Dawn, and Fred and Gunn who had been dancing and were now milling about, taken aback by his actions and the sudden quiet. He turned in a slow circle, trying to locate the source of the danger.

“What’s the matter Spike?” Buffy approached him rather warily, not accustomed to seeing Spike’s game face except in a combat setting.

“I feel danger coming love… there’s something….” He was suddenly galvanised into motion. He crossed to where Dawn and Xander were standing, grabbed Dawn by the shoulders and shepherded her over to the reception desk. “Down behind the desk, Niblet, make like a black hole, you’re not there, quiet as a mouse, don’t move.”

“But Spike….” Dawn protested.

“Mind me Dawn…stay there!” He brushed past a confused Wesley and Giles who were standing picking at the snacks, and put his hand on Buffy’s shoulder, “stay with Dawnie, Slayer. You’re the Holder… go hold. If they get past me you know what to do.”

“If who gets past you Spike? I don’t understand!”

“Neither do I Slayer, I just know there’s something bad coming. Don’t like this feeling at all! Arm yourself and go stand by Dawn.” He desperately tried to concentrate on the sensations he was picking up in an attempt to identify the threat, but all he knew was that danger was coming, and it was getting closer. He slipped his suit jacket off and tossed it onto the reception desk, ripped his tie off and unbuttoned the collar of his shirt then realised he was unarmed. “Sword!” he barked, holding his left hand out ready. A few moments later a sword hilt was shoved into his grasp, but it felt all wrong, lifeless. He dropped it and it clanged to the floor. “My sword!” he insisted.

“What’s going on Spike?” Angel asked as he handed over the jewelled sword. He had passed Connor to Lorne, in case there really was going to be a fight.

“No idea Angel old mate, just stand ready.” Angel picked up the sword that Spike had dropped and stood at his side, weapon poised. Spike was amused to see his grandsire’s hand was shaking more than his own. It was evident that he had been correct, coffee still had a similar effect on the older vampire that it did on him. He felt strangely reassured by the fact.

Immediately the Portal sword was firmly in his grasp, Spike felt its power surge through him. His vision was clearer, his sense of smell and his hearing were more acute, and he began to sense movement in front of him, something was coming in through the front door of the hotel, causing barely visible ripples and shimmers in the air as it flowed around the karaoke equipment. He snarled, and flung himself forward, sword raised. He swung his weapon making contact with something solid, and instantly became oblivious to everything but the fight.

He moved like lightning, leaping and spinning with the sword whistling as it cut through the air, meaty thunks and screams indicating where he had struck accurately. Occasionally something got in too close for him to be able to use the sword, and he resorted to his fangs. A throat was torn out here, a chest ripped open there, and he felt his demon exulting in the flow of blood, urging him on to wilder exertions as he moved faster and faster, fighting with demonic ferocity. He could faintly hear human screams and shouts from behind him, but he couldn’t afford to pay any attention to them, he couldn’t allow himself to become distracted.

It seemed to him that only moments had passed before the silence and lack of motion around him indicated there were no more enemies living, and he began to relax. Then he felt something coming up behind him, something warm and living, something smelling of fresh human blood. Food! He spun in a flash, his right arm going around a pair of warm, sweet smelling shoulders to clamp them to his chest. His fangs were poised to strike at the curve of the bare neck in front of him, when he heard a small squeak, a very familiar squeak, and the world suddenly stopped. His demon was screaming at him to feed, but there was something holding him back, the sound was wrong and the scent was wrong. This was family, not food.

Spike made an enormous effort and focussed his eyes. He saw a mass of copper coloured hair immediately under his nose, Willow. She was standing quite still, but trembling slightly and giving off a faint whiff of nervousness, but not fear. His demon was still insisting on feeding, but this instinct was finely balanced by Spike’s conscious desire to protect ‘his’ people, of whom Willow was one. He couldn’t move for fear of upsetting the balance in case the demon won the contest. He closed his eyes and gulped. “Red, call Slayer” he croaked. “Problem.”

Spike waited, tense and unmoving as he continued to struggle internally with his demon. He was completely unaware of his surroundings, until he felt Buffy standing beside him. “Problem,” he repeated.

“What’s wrong Spike?” She asked. She gave off a scent of concern, rather than fear, which was just as well, fear would have made the demon happy and excited, would have made it stronger.

“Demon wants to feed,” Spike growled, “Scents fresh blood. Can’t let go.”

“But it’s not Willow’s blood, she’s not injured!” Buffy protested.

“Is hers…” He insisted, and thought for a second, “not injury?”

“Huh?” Buffy took a moment to understand, “Oh! I get it. What can I do? Should I hit you?”

“No! Demon likes a fight, gets him excited.” He felt his growling deepen as the demon inside him began to struggle against his constraints. “Need to hurry pet. Stake me.”

“Don’t be an idiot!” Buffy retorted scathingly. “Why isn’t the chip stopping you?”

Spike tried to think. It was very hard to concentrate with the demon so close to the surface. “Dunno… Something different… Sword?” He guessed. “Take sword.”

He felt Buffy take his left hand and try to wrest the sword from his grasp. He was unable to open his hand, his demon was insisting it was his own special sword, it was part of him and he couldn’t bear to release it. “You have to let go Spike,” she insisted.

He felt himself beginning to drool onto Willow’s neck. His fangs were itching to bury themselves in her flesh. His demon was still clamouring for food and he began to panic. “Can’t,” he grunted, and thought for a moment. “Break fingers.” He started chanting to his demon, desperately trying to hold it back “Family, not food… Family, not food... Family, not food…”

He distantly felt sharp jabs of pain in his left hand as one by one his fingers were snapped away from the hilt of the sword. Then he sensed a sudden loss of power and was overcome by exhaustion as it left his possession. Instantly he was struck by a blaze of white hot pain in his skull, which caused him to scream and collapse in a heap clutching at his head, releasing his hold on Willow as he did so. Everything went black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Spike slowly began to become aware of his surroundings again the pain was starting to fade. He was able to open his eyes slightly and take in a blurred impression of what was going on around him. The hotel lobby resembled an abattoir. The carnage was terrible. There was blood and other bodily fluids sprayed everywhere, and there were piles of mangled demon bodies heaped up in several places as people moved about, starting to clear up the mess. He became conscious of warm arms hugging him around his shoulders and he flared his nostrils to catch a scent over the overpowering smell of blood, Dawn was with him.

“You okay Bit?” he whispered hoarsely.

“Yes Spike, you saved me, you saved us all.”

Spike took a moment to process this information, then “Red? I didn’t hurt her did I?”

“You frightened her a little Spike, but Willow’s fine. She knew you wouldn’t hurt her.”

“Could have Bit, came really close. Never a good idea to forget what I am. You have to promise to stake me if I come that close again.”

“Never going to happen,” Insisted Buffy’s voice. She came to sit on the other side of him from Dawn. “Can you tell me what just happened Spike?” She took his left hand and gently began to massage the broken bones back into place.

“The sword…” he began, then paused to order his thoughts. “I felt something wrong, something bad coming, but couldn’t figure out what. I tried to prepare to fight but I didn’t know what the enemy was until I held the sword. The sword let me see where they were, they made the air shimmer. I couldn’t actually see them or smell them at all, but I could feel them. The power in the sword let my demon loose, brought him up to the surface to help me fight. Then I couldn’t shove the bugger back down quick enough to resist grabbing Willow, she smelled like food. Greedy sodding demon wanted to feed after the fight, all excited after spilling so much blood.”

He paused to swallow and take a couple of deep unneeded breaths, his head was throbbing he had the disgusting taste of demon blood in his mouth and he was still having trouble concentrating. “I think the power in the sword somehow knocked the chip out. Slayer? Have to tell people to steer clear of me after fights until I can beat my demon down again, or else drop the sword. ’Specially if they’re hurt, or it’s that time…you know...”

“I’ll do that Spike. But haven’t you realised what you’ve just done? Your demon…”

“Nearly ate the little witch… never forgive myself” Spike interrupted mournfully.

“No Spike... well... yes… you nearly did, but that’s not what I mean. Listen to me! Your demon was in full fighting mode with the mojo from the sword driving it on, urging you to kill, to feed. The chip wasn’t working, and you still stopped yourself from hurting Willow. You controlled your demon yourself! I’m so proud of you. Don’t worry, when you are fighting with the Portal sword we won’t let you hurt anyone you’re not supposed to.” Buffy paused for a few moments, then asked, “What were you saying as I was trying to get it away from you? I couldn’t quite make it out.”

“Was I saying that out loud? I was trying to get my damned stupid demon to stop its screaming for blood, telling it Red was family, not food. It didn’t understand. Demon only wants three things to make it happy, family doesn’t come into it. Demon’s even thicker than me… if that’s possible.” He managed a weak chuckle.

“You think of Willow as family?” Buffy asked, surprised.

“Not me love, you. You and Dawn think of Willow, Harris, Tara, Anya and the Watcher as family. Like you said in the Magic Box that time Tara’s dad wanted to take her away. You wouldn’t be happy if anything happened to them, so I try to look after them for you.”

“Oh, I see… Spike? What are the three things?”

“Demon’s really simple, all it wants to satisfy it is to be able to feed, fight and fu… um… well, you know. Not necessarily in that order.” Spike grinned rather sheepishly, and both Summers sisters laughed.

He rested his head back against the wall, relaxing with his two girls beside him as he waited out the fading pain in his head. His Slayer had said she was proud of him. He’d actually done something right for once. The feeling of achievement was overwhelming and as he gloried in it he felt his eyes moisten. An idea came to him, “Promise me something Slayer?”

“What Spike?” the soft voice asked.

“Please tell me you won’t have any more birthday parties? They never end well… we’ll just have to find another way to celebrate.” After a few seconds he looked down at himself, he was soaked in blood. He picked daintily at his sodden silk shirt, peeling it away from his chest, and complained theatrically, “Ruined my lovely new outfit.”

The three of them began to giggle slightly hysterically. Although Dawn didn’t realise it Buffy and Spike both knew the form of celebration he was referring to, and their joined hands squeezed each other gently, Buffy taking care not to disturb his healing bones.

The pain was almost gone and now he knew everyone was safe, so despite his tiredness when Angel came to crouch in front of him he was able to focus clearly. “Well Spike, I’ve seen a few fights in my time, but I’ve never seen anything like that before. Those things, whatever they are, were invisible while you were fighting them. We thought you’d gone crazy! We only figured out what was happening when mangled dead bodies started materialising in front of us. How on earth did you do that?”

“Magic sword, Angel old man.” Spike suddenly grinned from ear to ear. “That was so bloody cool!” He looked around again wearily, “How many were there? I feel as if I was only fighting for a few seconds but I’m totally knackered... I need a drink.”

A hand materialised from nowhere passing him a glass. A gentle sniff allowed Spike to say “Thanks Wes,” and he gratefully sipped the brandy.

Angel continued, “It looks as if there were about twenty of them Spike, nasty things with lots of teeth and some very fancy long knives. We didn’t need to do a thing. You were moving so fast even I could only see a blur, and you finished them all off in just a few minutes. I’m impressed. Are you injured at all?”

Spike hadn’t considered that. He tried to sense his body, but was too exhausted. “I don’t think so, too tired to feel anything. I’ve this mashed hand, but that’s down to the Slayer getting the sword from me.” He had a disturbing idea, “So... I assumed they were after Dawnie, my little Key, but I’ve just thought, could they have been after your Connor instead?”

“Oh… that’s possible. I don’t know which would be worse. We can’t automatically assume either one of them was the target.”

“More things to research, we’ll get busy trying to find out what they were and why they were invisible Spike.” Giles said from somewhere close. “I think it’s time you went and had a shower or something to get rid of all that blood and then got some rest, you’ve earned it. We’ll see to the clean-up down here, you did all the hard work for us.”

Spike couldn’t disagree with that, and tried to stand. His head was swimming and he wobbled and staggered, but he quickly found Angel’s strong arms supporting him and together they slowly made their way upstairs to the same old bathroom again, Buffy fluttering in their wake. As Angel stripped Spike’s blood-soaked shirt and trousers off him, checking for any possible wounds, Buffy ran him a bath, deciding that he wouldn’t be able to stand upright long enough for a shower.

Miraculously there wasn’t a scratch on Spike’s body, so when Angel helped him into the tub the pink tinge that immediately stained the water wasn’t his own blood. Everything became a bit hazy for Spike after that. He felt hands washing him but the heat soothed him and he was soon dozing. He roused slightly as he became aware of the scent of warm blood under his nose and was able to drink the offered meal unaided, but after that there was only warmth and comfort.
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No such thing as coincidences