By the time Spike left the cave, there were only a couple hours left before dawn. He walked down the hill away from Adam's lair to the road that led into Sunnydale. As soon he was sure that he couldn't be seen from the cave's entrance, he began to run at top speed. He reached Stevenson Hall minutes later. A quick twist of the outer doorknob broke the lock and he entered the darkened lobby. Taking the stairs two at a time, he reached the second floor and ran down the hall to Buffy's room.

His pounding stopped when the door was wrenched open by an angry Buffy. She blinked in surprise when she saw who was banging on her door.

"Spike? What are you doing here?" She opened the door wider and stepped back, allowing him entrance. Willow sat up in bed, her face anxious and her hair a tousled mess.

"Just came from another meeting with Adam, love. I know what his real intentions are."

***

The sun was well up and the gang was once again assembled in Giles's living room. The Watcher looked the worse for wear; his indulgence of the night before was causing him grief this morning.

"Okay, Spike," Buffy ordered. "Tell the others what you told Willow and me."

Spike nodded. "Adam sent one of his minions after me last night. It led me to a cave in the hills where Adam has his lair. Adam isn't just planning on annihilating the human race. He plans on making an army of things like himself. A new life form, he called it. Better, faster and stronger than either humans or demons. Most of his army will just be drones mindlessly obeying orders, but a chosen few will be leaders. And the head of that group is going to be Buffy."

"What?!" Xander asked, shocked.

Giles looked as if he were going to be sick. "How?"

Spike took a cigarette out of his pack and lit it. His fingers were trembling and no one protested as he inhaled a deep drag. "The Initiative's overflowing with demons right now. Those prats have taken in more than they can contain. Adam plans to release them tomorrow night at just the right time - the time I lead Buffy into his trap. Once Buffy's assured him of maximum carnage in the fight between humans and demons, he's going to make sure Buffy's killed." He took another deep drag on his cigarette, walked over to the kitchen counter, and drank the last of the Scotch that remained in the bottle. Crushing his cigarette butt out in a teacup that sat there, he turned back around.

"There's supposed to be a secret laboratory in The Initiative. After she's dead, he's going to sweep up a few choice demon parts and build a better Buffy." He looked at his girlfriend. "Congratulations, love. You're going to get a new dad."

Giles ran his hand through his hair and looked intently at Willow. "Willow, you must crack that code on those disks. There may be something of use in them."

"I hope so, Giles," Buffy said. "But regardless, I have to stop Adam, and I need to do it today. I can't allow him to start his war so he can build his army."

"Yes, Buffy, I'm aware of that."

"No," Spike said emphatically.

"No?" Buffy said.

"You can't go up against him, Buffy. He's too strong; he'll kill you. Unless you want to become The Terminatrix, you have to stay away from him."

"I can't stay away from him, Spike. I have to do my job."

"Oh, don't tell me about your job, Slayer. I know all about your job. You've been trained to take on the monsters so a bunch of self-satisfied gits can sit on their fat asses and pretend they're the ones protecting the world. One Slayer snuffs it and another takes her place, right? You're just a renewable commodity to them, Buffy."

"How dare you?" a cold voice said from behind him.

Spike turned to see a look of icy rage on Giles's face.

"What's your real plan, Spike?" Xander sneered. "Keep Buffy away from Adam so he can complete his plan?"

"My real plan is to keep Buffy alive," he snapped back. "Unlike you lot, I'm not willing to sacrifice her for the greater good."

"Hey!" Willow said angrily. "You just watch yourself, buddy. While you were busy trying to kill her yourself, we were on the front lines helping her."

"Then help her now, Willow. Find a way for her to take out Adam without getting killed herself."

"Do not presume to come in here and tell us to help Buffy," Giles said coldly. He took a step closer to Spike. "Personally, I think the best way to help her right now is to eliminate you."

"All right!" Buffy shouted. "That's enough. Everyone just calm down." She turned to Spike. "I know you're just trying to protect me, Spike, but I'm going to face Adam. It's what I do. My friends will help me. It's what they do."

"Buffy..."

"This discussion is over, Spike." Looking at Willow, she said, "Get to work on that code, Willow."

Willow nodded, opened her laptop and turned it on. Buffy walked into the kitchen and began to make coffee. Spike followed her.

"Buffy, I'm sorry, love. It's just..."

"Hand me the coffee out of the pantry."

He knew she was upset, both by what he'd told her about Adam's plans and by the scene that had just played out. He knew he'd gone about it the wrong way, but these new feelings he had for her were overwhelming what little good sense he had. All he wanted to do was keep her safe so he could have her with him for a long, long time. He didn't care how many others died in her stead as long as she was safe.

But he was beginning to understand that if he wanted the girl, he was going to have to tamp down his own natural selfish tendencies. Being with Buffy meant accepting the whole Slayer package: stubbornness, pride, self-sacrificing heroics and all.

Well, if she was going to take on Adam no matter what he said, he needed to tell her everything. He could at least take one weapon out of Adam's hands.

He handed her the coffee tin and said, "Buffy, there's something else you need to know."

She gripped the counter and said in a slightly shaky voice, "What?"

"When that Forrest creature..."

"Forrest?" Buffy exclaimed, paling visibly.

"Yeah. He was one of those Initiative gits. Did you know him?"

Buffy nodded her head. "I didn't know he was dead."

"Sorry, love," he said though in truth he wasn't sorry for anything that happened to any of the soldiers responsible for his chip. "Anyway, when he found me, he saw us kissing."

Buffy looked at Spike in surprise. "Didn't he tell Adam?"

"Yeah, almost the first words out of his mouth when we walked into Adam's lair. Look, love, I had to cover up the truth, so I told Adam I was just using you, getting some of my own back by having you on yours."

Buffy swallowed and nodded. "Okay."

He took her face in his hands. "That's not how it is, Buffy. I care about you. So much I've turned my back on everything I ever was. I just wanted you to know what I told him in case he says something to you when you finally go up against him. I don't want you doubting me, doubting us. All right?"

Buffy nodded, and he leaned in to kiss her. At first she was stiff in his arms, but then she relaxed and opened her mouth to him. They held each other tightly until Tara said, "You did it!"

They looked over to where Willow was staring in confusion at her computer screen. "I didn't," she protested. "I haven't even finished typing in the new code I was going to try."

Giles walked over and read over Willow's shoulder. "Spike said that Adam wanted us to have this information. Apparently, it was programmed to decrypt on its own."

"Well, poop! I almost had it," Willow pouted. Then looking up sheepishly at Giles, she amended, "I mean, yippee! We have the information."

Giles smiled indulgently at her and continued to read. "Well, this confirms everything Spike just told us. Except the part about you, Buffy," he said glancing up at his Slayer. "Apparently Maggie Walsh's plan was indeed to build an army of cyber-demons. Adam is simply taking her plan and using it for his own ends."

"Does it give us any information we don't have?" Buffy asked as she joined the others at the computer.

"Wait," Willow said, rapidly typing. A schematic of a body came up on the screen with information regarding it to the side. "I think this is the blueprint for Adam. Oh, look!" She pointed to something on the screen. "Here's something we didn't know. His power source. It's a uranium core imbedded in his chest. There, see?" She pointed again, this time to an area on the body's schematic. "It's by his spine."

"Great," Xander said. "We just ask him to lie down quietly while we do some exploratory surgery."

"Maybe we could magic it out. A super-duper uranium core extraction spell," Willow offered. Then she sighed, "I know. I'm reaching."

Giles straightened up. "Perhaps a paralyzing spell." He went over to his bookcase. "I know of one that might work."

"Good," Buffy said. "How long would the spell last?"

Giles found the text he was looking for and took it from the shelf. Riffling through the pages he said, "I don't know, Buffy. Against a normal human, the spell lasts nearly an hour. Against a creature such as Adam? Perhaps only seconds."

"Which kinda tosses out the exploratory surgery plan," Xander said.

"Yeah, but it would give me time to punch my way in and rip the core out."

"That is if you could punch your way through his thick plating, love. I punched him and didn't make a dent."

"Yeah, well Buffy's stronger than you are," Xander said.

"Not by that much," he informed the boy. "We've always been pretty evenly matched in our fights."

"Yeah, right," Xander snorted.

Spike just rolled his eyes in disgust and returned his attention to Buffy. "Even if we both took him on at the same time, I don't think we could punch through his tough hide."

"Too bad we can't give Buffy a power-up," Xander said.

Giles looked up at him from where he sat leafing through his book.

"Yeah, I know. Shut up, Xander," he said apologetically.

"No, actually, that is a brilliant idea."

"It is?" everyone said in unison.

"Yes. There's a spell that we can use to temporarily increase her strength. The only problem is, we need to drain someone else's strength to give to her."

"Mine."

All eyes turned to Spike.

"If you use me," Spike said, "then you'll nearly double Buffy's strength."

Buffy looked at her Watcher. "Giles?"

Giles removed his glasses and stared at Spike thoughtfully.

"You'll be completely helpless while the spell is in effect," Giles warned.

Spike just shrugged.

"You're willing to make yourself that vulnerable?"

"I just said so, didn't I?" Spike said in annoyance.

"Very well then, Spike. I think that may just work."