CHAPTER NINETEEN
 
Winston was silent, sipping his drink and watching Giles’s face as best he could without being obvious about it. He watched the younger version of the man he knew as the driving force behind the restructured Slayers and Watcher’s Council as he read and digested the words in front of him. He could see when Giles had reached the end and gone back to start over.  When he’d read the entire fairly short message several times, he sighed and put it down on the table. He picked up his glass, took a long swallow, then met Winston’s curious gaze.
 
“Well. It seems my future self thinks I am a bit too indoctrinated in the Council’s party line and need to be willing to think more independently.  Which, considering that I did not complete Buffy’s Cruciamentum as instructed and quit my position at the time, is a bit disconcerting.”
 
“I’m quite sure, as watchers go, you are more… thoughtful… than most.” Winston said diplomatically. “You have already proven yourself to be somewhat open to working with vampires—”
 
“That was Angel, and I’ve since learned that the Council already knew of his existence and his soul. Which explains their lack of surprise when I reported he was assisting Buffy. What none of us knew, was the soul wasn’t as firmly anchored as we would have hoped. Nor what could happen when Angelus was back in charge. What the Council and I both learned from that disaster was not to trust vampires. I’m a bit disappointed in Buffy, to be honest.”
 
Winston shrugged. “I’m not an expert on their relationship by any means, but I suspect you would find that Spike had a rather difficult time of it before Buffy began to trust him to help her. And a rather longer and even more difficult time before she would trust him with her heart.”  He sighed and took another sip of his drink.
 
“What you are seeing now is a couple with a long and complicated history, one that neither of us has been a part of. From what I know of it, a history that has now permitted them – after horrific sacrifices from each – to be together openly and without fear. I, for one, do not blame them for taking advantage of this time together. Time together which may, if they are successful in their quest to avoid Buffy’s death and resurrection, result in their having a very different future. Once again, they may be sacrificing the relationship at the altar of Buffy’s mission to protect the world. I do not judge them for their need to cling together and try to protect each other as long as is possible.”
 
Giles exhaled loudly. “Which appears to be what my future self is trying to tell me.” He gave Winston a sharp look. “Shall I take that to mean that I have been less than fair to Spike in your time?”
 
“It seems you have, both in my timeline and in the one from which Buffy and Spike were returned. At the moment, those two timelines seem to be not so very different, although that is not likely to continue. Obviously, it is too late to change anything for either of them as far as their memories of your treatment are concerned, but you can certainly try to avoid repeating the same mistakes this time and perhaps give them new memories to carry into the future they are creating.”
 
Giles glared, then slumped into his chair. “You should understand that up to this point, I have been the older and wiser advisor to these children… to Buffy and her friends, do you not?  It is more than a bit disconcerting to suddenly have a more mature Buffy and a souled William the Bloody treating me as if there are things I’m not meant to know. And now, an apparently very skilled mage who seems not much older than the others, but who speaks as if he is only too aware of being more experienced than I.”
 
“You do know that William Pr— Spike— was actually born in the 1850s, do you not? And that he was turned when he was in his mid to late 20s?” Winston paused to frown. “I really must see if I can get him to clear some of these things up for me.” He shook himself. “But I digress. My point is, I believe if you can manage to treat him as an intellectual equal, rather than the somewhat compulsive… and aggressive… vampire I know he appears to be, you may find that he has both a good, if somewhat antiquated, education and a rather well-functioning brain. Much of what you know of him is a deliberate attempt to appear less intelligent and experienced than he actually is. It is the persona he built for himself when he became a vampire.”
 
“Are you saying William the Bloody knows more than you do?”
 
“No. Not in the sense that he has my background in magic or with the Council – both as it is now and as it will be – but he is even older than I am and therefore has experienced more history... and potentially learned from it.”
 
“Even older than you are?”  Giles frowned at the man who appeared to be at least a decade younger than himself.
 
Winston shrugged and changed the subject.  “As long as I am apparently going to be here for the duration, I believe I should find myself a place to live. Do you have any suggestions?”
 
“Where are you now?”
 
“I only just arrived a few days ago, so I am staying at a rather dingy hotel.  I’ve been accustoming myself to driving on the incorrect side of the road, as well as learning my way about this unusual city.”
 
Giles frowned, then said, somewhat reluctantly, “You are, of course, welcome to stay here until you have located somewhere suitable.”
 
“Thank you.” Winston smiled at him. “I appreciate the offer, but I believe I will use the rest of the day to look into some of the flats I have already been investigating. I should get going on that, actually.  I appreciate your sharing your excellent scotch with me, but I shall get out of your hair now.”  He stood up and, as Giles joined him, put out his hand. “I sincerely hope we will become friends in this timeline as we are in mine.”
 
Giles nodded and gave a rueful smile as he took Winston’s hand. “I hope so also. I will endeavor to refrain from being offended at no longer being the oldest and wisest man in the room.”
 
XXXXXX
 
 
As Buffy and Spike strolled in the direction of their new home, he thought aloud, “Need to see if my car is still where it should be and get it out. This walking everywhere is a bloody pain sometimes.”
 
“Where would your car be?”
 
“Either tucked into a shed in the brush near my crypt, or in storage in demon-town. Don’t really remember, to be honest. Probably in storage. I wouldn’t have had the crypt yet in our time, so the car would be somewhere else safe.”
 
“What ever happened to that car?”
 
He shrugged. “I gave it to Clem when I left to get my soul. Had no idea if I was going to be successful, or even survive it, and I had the bike, so I thought he could use it. You had your mum’s vehicle to use if you needed it…. And you wouldn’t have taken it from me anyway, so Clem was the likely candidate.”
 
They reached their building and began to walk around to their basement entrance when the landlord called to them from the office.  He was frowning in clear surprise as he watched Spike walk up the steps with Buffy, his hair shining in the sunlight.  Spike gave him a knowing grin, but said nothing as Max struggled to bite back a question.
 
“Hi Max,” Buffy said. “Did you need us for something?” She cocked her head at the man who couldn’t take his eyes off Spike. “Max?”
 
“Sorry,” he said, visibly wresting his gaze away from the snickering vampire. “Yes, yes I do.”  He pawed through some papers on his desk and said, “Your furniture was delivered. I just wanted to give you the delivery slip so you could check to see it’s all there. This is a pretty good neighborhood, but you never know when doors are propped open and people are carrying things in and out….”
 
“Do you really think somebody… or something… might try to walk off with anything belonging to us?” Spike emphasized the pronoun, just to be sure Max got the picture. Which he did.
 
“Not everyone knows… I mean, Ms. Summers is well known by her… vocation… in some circles, but not necessarily by sight or name. And ditto for her ‘husband’. We’re not close enough to de— the part of town where either of you could be recognized, for that to be my concern. I was thinking more of a more ordinary criminal element that might take advantage of some inattention on the part of the delivery people. I try to keep an eye on things, but I do have other duties.”
 
“It’s okay, Max. We appreciate your concern, and I’ll check right now to be sure it’s all there. It’s mostly big stuff, but there are some lamps and a TV, so—”
 
“If some juvenile delinquent walked off with my telly, there’s going to be bloodshed,” Spike growled, subsiding when Buffy poked him.
 
Max stared at him again, clearly trying to reconcile what he knew Spike to be with his ability to walk around in the daylight. Buffy sighed and shook her head. “Maybe when we know you better,” she said, by way of explanation as they turned to leave.
 
“None of my business, I’m sure,” Max said with a smile. “I was just wondering.”
 
“Wonder away,” Spike said as he walked back out into the sunshine.
 
Buffy rolled her eyes and followed him after giving Max an apologetic shrug. He laughed and waved his hand dismissively, watching them walk down the steps and around to their apartment. When they were out of sight, he went to his office to look up vampires and ways they could become immune to sunlight.
 
 
xxxxxx
 
They entered the apartment to find the deliverymen had pretty much left everything in the middle of the living room. It was barely possible to walk through the wrapped furniture to get to the bedroom. Which was empty, the box spring and mattress they’d ordered still leaning up against the living room wall.
 
“Are they supposed to leave it like this?”
 
“No idea, pet. It’s not like I do a lot of furniture buying.”
 
“Me either – maybe they do more if the person is actually there to tell them what to do with it.” She sighed. “Good thing we’ve both got super strength, huh?”
 
“It is,” he said as he picked up the mattress and struggled through the bedroom door with it. Buffy dragged the box spring in and waited until he was ready to help her with where to put it.
 
“Not a very big room, is it?”  She looked around and discovered there was really only one wall where it made sense to put the head of the bed. “Right here, I guess.”
 
They set the box spring on the floor and ripped off the plastic covering it, then did the same for the mattress before placing it on top.  With them both working, it took little time to get the chest of drawers and nightstands into the bedroom. Buffy tossed the packages of linens on the bed for later and joined Spike in the main room.
 
An hour later, they had a reasonably put together living room/dining room and a somewhat sparser bedroom.
 
“Whoops? I didn’t even think about stuff to cook with or eat off. Or food to eat. We probably should have gone grocery shopping on the way here.”
 
“Think we’ve still got time to hit a grocery store. We walked past one of those big ones that carries everything down the street.”
 
Buffy shrugged. “Yeah, I noticed the parking lot. Dumb me not to think about food then. Hey, maybe we can get some blood for you at the same time. As long as we get stuff that can be frozen, or that keeps, we should be able to stock the fridge and pantry so we don’t go hungry.” She smiled at him. “After trying to keep the hungry hoards full last year, this should be a breeze.”
 
He snorted. “That’s right, I almost forgot you were buying for an army last time we shared a house. You can do this standing on your head.”
 
“So, do we need a list? Dishes, silverware, glasses, cereal, blood, bread, coffee….”
 
“Let’s go, love. We’ll just wing it. It’s not like we have to do everything right off.” He looked around the kitchen. “Did you buy a microwave?”
 
“I thought so.” She peered around. “I don’t see one anywhere. Did you check the receipt?” 
 
“Says there should have been one in the delivery.”
 
“Huh. I wonder if—” She turned as there was a knock on the door and glanced at Spike, who was shaking his head.
 
“No idea, love. Want me to get it?”
 
“No, I’ll get it. Must be Max. Nobody else knows we live here yet.”
 
She opened the door and blinked as she saw Clem standing there holding a big box with a picture of a microwave oven on it.  He looked over her shoulder at Spike, saying, “Spike? I was asked to bring this back. Seems my neighbor’s kid and his friends thought they’d help themselves to some of your stuff. Joe was gonna make the kid bring it back himself, but when he found out where they got it—”
 
“How did he know it was ours?” Buffy narrowed her eyes at Clem, making him flinch and edge toward the door.
 
“Uh. It’s pretty common knowledge that you two were gonna live here, Slayer. Joe and his kids look human, but they aren’t, and word like that gets around the demon world pretty fast.  He was afraid you… or Spike… might kill his boy if he made him bring it back.”
 
Spike shrugged as he took the box from Clem and set it on the counter. “We wouldn’t have killed a kid, but I can guarantee he’d’ve thought twice before stealing again.” 
 
“I’m pretty sure by the time his dad gets through telling him about the Slayer and William the Bloody, that kid won’t even want to leave the house for the next few years.” Clem laughed.  “That’s assuming he’s off being grounded by then. His parents are pretty upset and worried about him.”
 
“Maybe he needed to have the fear of… somebody… put into him. Tell his parents we’re available for scaring their little monsters straight. We work cheap.” Spike grinned to show he wasn’t really serious.
 
Buffy shook her head. “Just tell your – Joe? – that we’re happy to have our microwave back and we appreciate that he was going to have his kid do it. That’s good parenting.”
 
“They’re good people… as g’mash demons go.”
 
As Clem went to the door, Buffy and Spike followed him.
 
“We were just about to hit some stores and pick up some food and drink, or I’d ask you in to visit for a bit.”
 
“No problem. You two newlyweds need your alone time.  We’ll catch up some other time.” Clem waved his wrinkled arm and jogged off toward the part of Sunnydale where something that looked like him wouldn’t have been so unusual.
 
 
 
Buffy and Spike stared after him.
 
“Alone time, huh. I like the sound of that….” He put his arm around her and squeezed. “Almost as much as I like the idea of being newlyweds.”
 
Buffy leaned into him briefly then pushed away. “Food first. Other stuff… later.”
 
“Gonna hold you to that, pet,” he said as he followed her down the street. “I’ll be lookin’ to assert my husbandly—”
 
“Finish that sentence, and the only thing you’ll be asserting is how much you didn’t mean to sound so bossy.”
 
“You’re not behaving like a dutiful little wife, Slayer.”
 
“This telling Max we’re newlyweds is going to come back and bite me on the ass, isn’t?”
 
“Well I might….” He leered at her, then sobered. “Would it be so awful? If we were?”
 
“No, of course not. But I don’t like lying like that. Not to mention, apparently all the demons in Sunnydale now think I’m Mrs. William the Bloody. They’ll probably expect me to go easy on them now.”
 
“I’ve no doubt you’ll set them straight, pet.” He touched her arm as they reached the store.  “Why don’t I go line up a steady supply of blood for myself while you get food for you. There’s a butcher shop just up the street a bit.”
 
“Okay. I guess it’s safe for us to go out alone now. Just don’t do anything stupid.”
 
“If I didn’t know you had good reason for that remark, I’d probably be offended,” he said, kissing her forehead.  “I’ll be back before you know it.”
 
“You better be,” she muttered as he strode off down the street.