“There are two of them?  Please, tell me I’m still sleeping, and this is some really bad nightmare caused by consuming an unbalanced pizza-to-snack ratio.”
 
Xander cradled his head in his hands while he muttered non-stop.  Ever since Buffy had informed the Scoobies what had transpired at Restfield Cemetery and that there were indeed two Spikes, Xander’s redundant question served as constant background noise for the last twenty minutes.
 
They tried several times to confirm and console him for his obvious “worst nightmare come true,” yet nothing seemed to placate him.  They decided there was no point in continuing and now were trying their best to ignore him.
 
Anya was on the couch flipping through a dusty tome, while Willow and Giles were back at the bookshelf perusing book titles searching for the most helpful.  Buffy was upstairs after telling the group she wanted to check on William.  She’d been gone for over ten minutes.
 
“Oh for goddess sakes, Xander, will you stop complaining if I prove to you this is not a dream?” 

Anya set aside her book, turned slightly toward Xander, and without warning, roughly grabbed a fold of skin of his upper arm and twisted.  His unmanly yelp seemed to get the reaction she wanted, so she let go, picked up her book, and resumed reading.
 
“Ahn!  What the hell was that for?”  Xander croaked while rubbing the injured area.
 
“I thought pinching was an equally effective method to bring you out of your believed dream-like state.  I’ve seen in the movies that slapping the face is commonly used, but I felt there would’ve been some confusion, since I slap you during our role-playing scenario of naughty nurse and rambling mental-patient.”
 
Xander blanched from his girlfriend’s blunt statement.  With wide eyes he looked over at Willow and Giles.
 
“Um…just forget what Anya—“
 
“Forgotten,” Giles called over his shoulder, while he and Willow busily ignored Anya’s outburst.  A moment later, Buffy made her way down the stairs. 
 
“William is resting comfortably.  Well, he is since I removed these.” Buffy held the pair of handcuffs as far away from her as possible, clasping them between her thumb and forefinger. Then she quickly dropped them on the desk with a loud clank. 

“And on that note, Giles, I so don’t want to know why you own a pair of handcuffs.”  Buffy suppressed a shudder at the thought of her Watcher possessing such a risqué item.  
 
“Xander, why can Buffy discuss sex but I can’t?” Anya fixed her still embarrassed boyfriend with a demanding look that clearly required immediate attention.
 
Despite Xander looking imploringly toward his friends for help, everyone remained silent while they intently watched the interaction between the couple.  Finally, Buffy took pity on Xander and redirected the focus of the group.
 
“All right, now that we’ve had our fun torturing Xander, tell me whatcha guys found.”
 
“Unfortunately, the only additional information I gathered was that Toth is the sole survivor of the Tothric clan.” Giles sighed.  It appeared the inability to find more information was weighing heavily on him.
 
“So you’re telling me that with your wall of books and how wordy you Watchers can be, that’s all you’ve got?” Buffy rounded the couch and headed toward the group.
 
“Buffy, after reviewing the Watcher Diaries and cross-referencing them with my other resources, it appears the size of the Tothric clan rapidly diminished from a combination of lengthy inter-demon wars and a sheer brutality toward their own.  Approximately fifty years ago the Council stopped tracking them in the belief they were no longer a threat.”
 
“Well, it’s not the first time the Council was wrong,” Xander scoffed as he absently rubbed his upper arm.
 
“Giles, since our guy’s a singleton, it proves his bunch fought dirty, and he’s King Pig-pen.  Do the books say any more on how they killed each other off?  Like were they all running around with their blasty sticks using the same hocus pocus he used on Spike?”  Buffy unconsciously paced while she questioned her Watcher.
 
“Maybe there aren’t two Spikes.  Toth could be one of the numerous demons that use magic to take on their victim’s form.  A sort of glamour or what have you.”  Anya’s gaze remained on the book in her lap as she commented casually.  All eyes turned toward her, yet everyone remained silent until Buffy asked for elaboration.
 
“Do you mean the Spike I came across in Restfield is really Toth?”  Buffy’s stomach roiled at the thought of letting Mr. Leather Face touch her and more so from what she had almost done, well, if Riley hadn’t interrupted.
 
“That may be, but it also could be the Spike sleeping upstairs.  Whom I might add, is no longer handcuffed.” Anya looked up from the book and over toward Xander.

“See Xander, I can talk about handcuffs and beds in the same conversation and not be talking about sex.”
 
Buffy stopped pacing, her eyes fixed on Anya.  “No, William’s human. He’s not a demon.  He can go out in the sunlight, and he eats regular food, and…and he sweats—a lot.”
  
“Buffy, when I was a Vengeance Demon, even though I preferred evenings, I went out during the day.  Some of the best ways I exacted vengeance involved using the sun.  There was this one time in 1323 when—“
 
“Ahn, focus please,” Xander urged his girlfriend when he noticed Buffy crossing her arms in obvious irritation from Anya’s attempt to take them down demon- memory lane.
 
“Fine, like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted,” Anya looked pointedly at Xander before returning her gaze to Buffy then continued, “vampires are not the best examples of demons.  They’re hybrids, not full demons.  Also, just like humans, each demon species has its limitations and preferences.”
 
“Okay gottcha, some demons are to-may-toes, some are to-mah-toes, but that doesn’t really tell me anything.  After hours of researching, it appears all we know is that once I kill Toth, I don’t have to worry about any of his equally non-moisturizing buddies trying to avenge his death.  All right, here’s the plan.  Forget researching Toth, and let’s focus on his whammy stick and the magic he used.  Once we find that out, I’ll know which one I’m going after, Spike or…William?”
 
Buffy turned quickly when she felt a familiar presence behind her.  Standing on the stairs and leaning heavily against the wall for support was a bedraggled William.  Gone were his tie, jacket, and vest, and his remaining clothes were heavily rumpled from sleep.  He clearly looked ill, his sallow complexion accentuated the staining of dark purple under his eyes, and his full lips were blanched and cracked. 
 
“Please, pardon my interruption.  I awoke with a terrible pounding in my head and an overwhelming thirst.  If…if I might have some water.”
 
Buffy rushed to William’s aid when he started swaying unsteadily on his feet.  She wrapped her arm around his middle, slowly guiding him downstairs and over to the couch, which Anya and Xander had vacated.
 
Carefully, she helped him get situated before heading into the kitchen to get him the water he requested.  While Buffy searched the cabinets for the biggest glass she could find, Xander, who had followed her into the kitchen, distracted her momentarily.
 
“Buffy, don’t you think it seems a little fishy that William pops up right after you declared you’re going after one of the Spikes?”
 
“Normally I’d agree with you, Xan, but look at him.  Yeah, I’ve acted with the best of them pretending to be sick to get out of doing something.  But there’s no way you can fake that.  He looks worse than you did last Thanksgiving.”  Buffy pulled a pitcher of spring water from the refrigerator and started pouring.
 
“So you think he has something equivalent to mystical syphilis?”  Xander watched Buffy placing the pitcher back on the shelf and closing the refrigerator door.
 
“I have no clue what it is.  All I know there’s something really wrong.” With that she turned and headed back into the living room.
 
Buffy carefully handed the water to a glassy-eyed William.  With shaky hands, he took and cradled the glass, bringing it up slowly to his mouth, while spilling some along the way.  In one go, he gulped the water down.  Once he finished, he briefly sputtered and coughed until he finally settled.
 
With a heavy sigh and in apparent exhaustion, William leaned his head back against the couch and closed his eyes.  Buffy instinctually took the glass from him and held it while she headed over toward the group.
 
“I don’t care how long it takes, we need to find out what the hell is going on with William, and we need to figure it out now.”
 
With that being said, Buffy headed back to the kitchen.  Moments later she returned with another full glass of water and a dampened wash cloth.  She carefully sat on the edge of the couch next to William, and placed the glass at her feet.  With a gentle hand, she began sweeping the washcloth across his brow.
 
The look of utter worry marring Buffy’s features and her tenderness toward the ailing William were all the Scoobies needed to see before they launched back into full research mode.     
 

 
Author’s Notes:

Big thanks to my lovely betas: Sanityfair and Diebirchen

Yes, I know this chapter was rather short, especially with my usual wordyness.  I promise you, there is a method to my madness.  Please let me know what you think!  Thanks ever so! 

Also, I just received notice that I was nominated at the SunnyD award, Round 25, for Vampires Do Not Sparkle!  Big thanks to whomever did that!
 
Tothric clan: Toth was the last of them.  I found that here: http://buffy.wikia.com/wiki/Tothric_Clan
 
Pig-pen is a Snoopy character who is really dirty (physically).  No matter where he walks there’s always a cloud of dust that follows him.  Even in the snow! http://peanuts.wikia.com/wiki/%22Pig-Pen%22
 
Tomaytoes and tomahtoes refer to a line from the song, “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off.” It’s a Gershwin tune used during a 1937 movie Shall We Dance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let%27s_Call_the_Whole_Thing_Off