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Chapter Twelve Compliance - or close enough to it.

"How can you be so sure?" Giles peered at them with suspicion, not at all comfortable with how close together they were standing. "That you're fine, obviously, not that no one will ever mention this again."

"Look at us. We're here. In the same room. Standing close together. And we're not... we're not even flirting. We're not even thinking about it, are we, Spike?" She turned just in time to catch him running his eyes up to hers. She glared at him, wondering briefly what he'd been looking at before she turned around. "Are we?" she repeated, in her best "give the right answer or you're dust" tone of voice.

"Yeah, yeah, Slayer. Don't get your knickers in a twist. I don't want to get into them anymore." He shrugged and walked to the easy chair, throwing himself into it. "Tell the man what we came here to tell him."

Giles narrowed his eyes at the sprawling vampire, then remembered all the locking and closing up that had taken place when they first came in. "Yes, by all means. Please tell me why you are visiting me this late in the evening."

"The commandos, the ones that tried to trap me the other night? They were standing guard outside campus, checking out all the blonde girls who came through the gates. At least, I think it was them. These guys were wearing regular Army uniforms, but...."

Giles frowned and glanced at the phone. "Perhaps it is time we told the Council about this situation."

Buffy turned to Spike triumphantly. "See? I told you."

"What do you expect the Council of Wankers to do?" Spike addressed his question to Giles who was checking his watch and doing some mental arithmetic.

"You might be surprised at what the Council can do if one of their slayers is being threatened."

Spike barked out a laugh. "You mean they actually care if something happens to their cannon fodder? Tell me another one, Rupert."

"There is a difference between losing a slayer to the forces of evil and having her ability to do her duty interfered with by ignorant humans," Giles said stiffly. "I suspect they will not be happy to hear that a secret government organization is not only interfering by capturing and releasing vampires, but also by attempting to treat Buffy as another supernatural creature to be studied."

Studiously ignoring Spike's quick glance at his knee and his raised eyebrow, Buffy walked past him to perch on the couch.

"So, what do you want me to do? If I go back to my dorm, they'll know where to find me. They probably know about your place too. That's why we locked the doors and pulled the blinds – but if they know who I am, they probably know who you are too. Riley could have told them, if he remembered meeting you – or even Dr. Inkfel... "

"You'll have to lie low until I can get in contact with the Council. Somewhere they won't think to look for you...."

"No," she said flatly as Spike opened his mouth.

"It's safe now, Slayer," he growled.

She stared at him challengingly. "Is it? Are you sure about that?"

"I'm as sure as you are," he responded with his own challenging stare. "Aren't you sure, pet?"

Buffy turned her back and addressed Giles. "Is it too early to call?"

"A bit. Another hour or two and I should be able to ring someone who can sort this out. The Council has a great many contacts and is more than capable of ensuring complete compliance with their demands. It may take a day or two for the proper authorities to be notified, but I can assure you that at some point, this 'Initiative' is going to be considerably less secret."

"I can't hide out for two days! Giles...."

His intended reply was interrupted by the phone. They all stared at it, Buffy finally saying what they were all thinking, "It's never a good thing for the phone to ring this late at night."

Recovering himself, Giles snatched the still ringing instrument. "Yes?" He moved to the windows, pulling aside the curtains and peering out. He gestured to Spike and Buffy to turn off the lights as he continued, "I see. Yes. Yes, they are here, but we will take action immediately. Thank you, Willow."

In the now darkened room, he walked up to where Spike and Buffy were standing back to back and looking around for the threat.

"That was Willow," Giles said unnecessarily. "It seems that your boyfriend—"

"Former boyfriend," Buffy said, ignoring Spike's "Too bloody right."

"Former boyfriend," Giles agreed with obvious impatience. "Be that as it may, he has called your dorm room to warn you that his organization is planning to capture you tonight. To that end, they have staked out the campus, your dorm and a squad is on its way here to search for you."

"I – we kicked their asses before. I can do it again."

"They are armed with tranquilizing rifles. It won't be necessary for them to engage you in close quarters. You need to leave immediately and hide somewhere safe. And Spike cannot be of much assistance with that chip in his head," he added.

"My crypt, Slayer," Spike said, already moving towards the door. "They don't know it exists."

"How will we know when it's safe to come out? What am I going to eat? What if I need to wash my hair?" Buffy complained even as she followed him to the door. "I can't stay in there for two days!"

"We'll get a message to the watcher somehow. If he drops some things off to the groundskeeper, old Hal will leave them at the door."

Leaving the discussion of how Spike already had a relationship with the groundskeeper for later, Buffy started to open the door, only to have him step in front of her.

"Hold up, Slayer. Let the man with the predator's senses check it out first."

Leaving the door shut, he moved to a window and slid it slightly open, staring out and listening carefully. When he was satisfied, he lowered the sash and nodded.

"Alright, pet, here's the situation. We've got heartbeats over to the left behind that wall. Three or four of them. We've got a black vehicle parked at the end of the lot, heartbeats coming from it. Voices approaching from the other end of the complex, but not close enough yet to worry about. If we can get out of the flat without using the front door..."

"There is a window in the bedroom upstairs. It opens to the back of the building."

Without further conversation, all three of them sprinted up the stairs and into the master bedroom. After Spike had peered out the open window and listened again, he whispered, "After you, Slayer." Buffy slid her legs over the sill and stared down into dark space. "I can't see anything," she grumbled. "You just want me to go first so I break my legs and you don't."

Spike's angry hiss in her ear almost made her fall off as his breath stirred her hair.

"There's nothing down there but grass. A lawn chair, but it's well away from where you'll be landing. Trust me."

"Famous last words. Trust the evil vampire," she said, taking a deep breath and pushing off.

The drop to the promised damp grass was not a dangerous one for a slayer and she was soon crouched safely, looking around for any sign of soldiers. A whisper of air was her only warning that Spike had dropped immediately after her, landing as lightly as a cat to crouch beside her. Without speaking, he grabbed her hand and tugged her away from building. Moving from bush to tree to wall, they made their way out of the apartment complex, only stopping once when a roving patrol almost stumbled upon them.

Spike forced Buffy to the ground, lying atop her and pulling his coat over them as he had when they were spying on Lowell House. Their blond heads were under a low-growing bush which she sincerely hoped didn't hold a nest of spiders. She held her breath, trying very hard to ignore the hard body lying on hers. Spike was so still she shivered slightly at the chilly reminder of what he really was.

As soon as the danger was past, he rolled off and helped her to sit up. He raised his hand and brushed the leaves from her hair. "Are you cold, pet?" he whispered.

"I'm fine," she said, moving into another crouch and motioning for him to lead the way. "Let's get out of here."

They made their way to Restfield cemetery as quickly as they could while still remaining in the shadows and with Spike stopping every few minutes to listen intently before deciding it was safe to move to the next hiding place. By the time they reached the gates to his new home, Buffy was muttering under her breath about soldiers, arrogant professors and what she thought should be happening to them.

He grinned, relaxing a little now that they were away from anyplace they were likely to meet humans.

"Always knew you were a bloodthirsty little bint," he said. "You'd have made a great vampire – if you weren't a slayer."

"A slayer vampire. That's a scary thought," she shuddered.

"You've got no idea, pet. No idea at all."

They slipped into Spike's crypt, carefully closing both doors behind them. By unspoken agreement, they pulled a large stone slab off a sarcophagus and propped it against door.

"Should keep out most nasties," Spike said. "And if not, we'll hear 'em coming."

Buffy looked around the dark room, unable to see anything except what was illuminated by the moonlight coming through the dirty windows.

"I guess we'd..." She stared in the direction of the entrance to the lower level.

"Can't have any light up here," he agreed. "Be safer down there."

Neither one moved to pull up the rug and expose the opening in the floor. After long minutes of throat clearing and foot shuffling, Buffy sighed.

"This is silly. The spell is gone. We're fine. There's no reason why we can't be down there."

"Right you are, pet," he said, moving forward and pulling the rug and plywood back. "Let me go down and do the lights first, yeah?"

He dropped through the opening and was soon calling her to come down. A warm yellow glow flickered from the entrance. When she was standing on the ladder, Buffy paused and reached for the plywood cover, trying to drag it back carefully so as not to dislodge the rug. Suddenly, Spike was pressed up against her back, adding his somewhat longer arms to the task. Between the two of them they quickly had it back into place, hoping that the rug had remained flat and the door wouldn't be visible from the other side.

They remained on the ladder, Buffy unable to move until Spike did, Spike standing behind her with his arms now on either side of her body, holding onto the ladder.

"You said we'd be okay," Buffy breathed, trying to fight the urge to lean back against him.

"What if it wasn't a spell?" he murmured in her ear. "What if I still want you?"

"Then we might be in big trouble..." She gave into the need to feel him again, leaning back and letting him take all their weight on his arms. Immediately, he began to nuzzle her neck, dropping light kisses on it.

"Only if you want to be, love. Got control of myself now. Wouldn't force anything on you." Just as she turned around to face him, he continued, "But we are stuck here for awhile. May as well have something to do, yeah?" He waggled his eyebrows at her and she laughed even as she pushed him away.

"And there it is," she said with a wry smile as she ducked under one arm and dropped to the floor.
"There what is?" Spike's aggrieved question accompanied his own landing.

"The reminder that this is just a way for you to pass the time," she said lightly, moving away and giving him a glare when he made to follow her.

He opened his mouth as if to speak, then shut it again as her body language made clear that she was serious. Nodding, he walked over to the pile of bed parts and began to lay them out on the floor. Buffy sat on the rugs they'd been sprawled on only a few hours before and tried to keep her eyes open as she watched him shed his coat and roll up his sleeves.

In very little time, it seemed, he had put the bed together and was wrestling with the box springs. His arms weren't long enough to get a grip around it and the air was soon filled with curse words – some Buffy understood and some she didn't. After giggling and watching for a few minutes, she gave in and grabbed one side.

"Here," she said. "It'll be easier with two of us."

"'bout bloody time you noticed that." His grumble was belied by the smile of thanks he gave her.

"But you were having so much fun," she teased, following him over to the mattress and picking up one side of it. It was soon deposited on the springs and Spike stood back with a satisfied nod. He pulled up a package of new bed linen and tossed it to Buffy.

"Here you go, Slayer."

"What? What do you mean, here I go? You want me to make your bed? Get real, Spike."

"You'll be the one sleeping on it, won't you? I built the damn thing, least you can do is put the bedding on it."

"Oh."

As she absorbed what he'd said, she realized how late it was getting to be and how sleepy she actually was. Without any more complaining, she began to unfold the new sheets and shake them out. She made no comment about the black color except to mutter that she hoped the dye didn't come off on her clothes. She'd done the bottom sheet and was spreading out the top sheet when Spike appeared on the other side of the bed and silently began to help her smooth it out and tuck it in at the bottom. He held out his hand and she tossed him one of the pillows and the case for it, watching from the corner of her eye as he expertly stuffed the pillow into its case and tossed it back on the bed. Buffy finished her pillow and watched as he threw the down coverlet up in the air to drop softly over the bed.

"I'll just be over here," he said quietly, picking up a candle and carrying it over to the pile of rugs, which, to his vampire senses smelled like Buffy and sex. "Light won't bother you too much will it? I'm not quite ready to sleep yet." He took a book off the floor and settled down with his back against the dirt wall.

Buffy shook her head and blew out the candles he'd left burning in the bed alcove. She was trying to decide what to do about her clothes when he stood up and, with a "Be right back", disappeared into the darkness at the far end of the room. She took advantage of his absence to shed her shoes, socks, jeans and jacket, getting into bed and pulling the covers up. Wishing she'd had time to get a change of clothes, and to replace the underwear Spike had ruined earlier, she tugged her shirt down as far as it would go and closed her eyes. Exhaustion took over and she never heard him return when his ears told him she was safely undressed and in bed.