*~*~*~*~
Buffy’s shower didn’t last nearly long enough. The water had cooled far too fast. Xander had adjusted the water heater to be more ‘economical’, but that meant a five minute hot shower was about all you could have before you ventured into lukewarm, then cold.

She sighed when she opened the curtain and reached for a clean towel. There were none. Her teeth were chattering as she wrung her hair, and stepped out onto the cold linoleum. Her clothes were trashed on the floor. She would have to run for it and hope that Giles and Xander stayed downstairs.

Pulling the door open a few inches, she peered into the hallway, craning her neck to check for sounds. When she heard nothing, she dashed across the hallway and into her room. Her eyes widened when she found Spike sitting on her bed, staring at her with a mixture of shock and ... oh my god, open appraisal. Her mouth dropped open and she grabbed the closest thing to her, a small square pillow that barely covered her midrift.

“What the hell are you doing?” Buffy cried, trying to fit all her unmentionable places behind the little pillow. She could feel her face turning scarlet and it pissed her off to no end.

Spike tore his gaze away, something that caused actual physical pain, and stood, turning his back to her. He waited until he heard drawers opening and closing and the sound of clothing being yanked on. “Can I turn around?” he asked after a few seconds.

“Why the hell not! You saw everything already.” She snapped, zipping her jeans. “Why are you in my room?”

“I wanted to see if you were okay.”

“Well, you came. You saw.”

“No, love. I saw. Almost came. Not quite.”

Her eyes widened as she processed his words. “You’re a pig.”

He had expected to see her in pajamas, but she was dressed in tight faded jeans and a strappy little top that showed enough skin to be x-rated. “Where are you going?”

“Out.”

“You can’t go to the Lair again. I mean it. Those blokes will have me killed if you keep showing up there.”

“Maybe I should stay there twenty four hours a day then.”

“Haha.” He watched as she dug through a drawer and pulled out a pair of socks, then slipped into her knee boots. “There’s a demon in town. Attacked Xander.”

“Okay.”

“Okay? You don’t want to know about it?”

“There’s always going to be another demon. And nine times out of ten it’s going to attack Xander. Did he try to sleep with this one? That’s normally how it goes.”

“I don’t think Belzor leans that way.” He said, then added, “I can’t understand why *anyone* would lean that way.”

The jacket that she was pulling from a hanger dropped to the floor at the mention of the name. Spike noticed her reaction and took a step toward her. “You’ve heard of him.”

She scooped the coat up and threw it on the bed, then moved to the vanity where she dragged a brush through her hair. “I thought you had to see Dawn.”

“I did and -”

She turned the hair dryer on, cutting him off. He leaned back against the wall, prepared to wait her out. Maybe he could convince Giles to explain that he, Spike, was now the ‘looker after’. She pointedly pulled several stakes and a bottle of Holy Water from the dresser drawer. He scowled at her and went back downstairs. She could have the small battle, he thought. He would win the war.

*~*~*~

“At any rate, Spike has agreed to step in and assume a few of my responsibilities and -”

“WHAT!?” Xander shouted, leaping to his feet suddenly. He had put the frozen dinner back in the freezer and had taken out a large roll of ground beef. He dropped the latter on his foot and hopped around for a second. “Ow!”

“Yay!” Dawn said, then frowned. “Uhm, not yay to you Xander because that had to hurt like a bitch, but yay-”

“Language, ‘bit.” Spike attempted to look severe, but wound up grinning at her. It was only her opinion that mattered. Well, hers and Buffy’s, but something told him that he wouldn’t care much for what the Slayer would think of the little arrangement with Giles.

The watcher, for his part, appeared immune to Xander’s flailing and to the fact that Willow’s bottom jaw had landed somewhere around their feet. “Children,” he began. “Spike is admittedly not my first choice, but the council has decided not to adhere to the very rules that they put into place and will not be sending another watcher for Buffy. Spike has extensive knowledge of demon species and can certainly help her in battle in a much larger capacity than I was ever able to.”

“But he’s *Spike*.” Xander pointed at the platinum haired, mud coated vampire. “He’s a *vampire*. And if that chip stops working-”

“Buffy will kill me.” Spike shrugged. “If the chip stops working the Slayer will slay. Giles is right, I can help. She talks to me and she won’t-”

Xander opened his mouth to protest again, but Giles held up his hand, getting to his feet. “That’s enough, Xander.” He stared at each of the people in the room, mulling his words. When he finally spoke, his tone was harsh. “You think I want to leave? That I wanted to ask Spike to help her? In case any of you have failed to notice, Buffy has chosen to spend quite a bit of time in his company since she has returned. It’s possible that, given the hell dimension she was very likely kept in, she is drawn to his demonic side. That she finds comfort in what she grew familiar with.”

“Or she simply likes me.” Spike hated how blind they all were, hated that he knew her secrets.

“Or she lost her mind while she was there,” Xander snapped. “She doesn’t need him! None of us do!”

“Stop!” Dawn cried. “Have any of you looked at her lately? Really looked? She’s miserable! And if Spike can get her to talk about hell or what happened to her there then there is no bad in that. We don’t relate to her in any way anymore because we have never seen the kind of evil she probably did for over *four months*. Spike has. He’s even done it and-”

Spike gritted his teeth. “Stop trying to defend me, love.”

“All I’m saying is that out of all of us ... Spike actually has a shot at getting her to snap out of it. He won’t back off like we do. He’s rude and mean and-” Dawn glanced at the vampire and pasted a sweet smile on her face. “Well, you are, but that’s not always a bad thing. It will take someone strong to get through to Buffy. Stronger than us.”

“And it’s been decided.” Giles removed his glasses and absently cleaned them. To Spike, he added, “And you *will* keep me posted through a journal or through letters as to what is transpiring. Or you won’t live to tell about it.”

“Oh, bloody hell!” Spike growled.

“It’s okay. I can set you up with an online journal and give Giles access to read it.”

“What would you call it, Will? Pathetic waste of space?” Xander snapped. “Or how about ‘I am just biding my time to kill you all in your sleep dot com’?”

Giles glanced heavenward as if praying for patience. “Spike, I’d like a word with you in private please.”

Spike stood, ignoring the plethora of other vile names that Xander was rambling off, and followed the man onto the front porch. He pulled the door behind him and said, “Thanks for that in there. I mean-”

Giles moved quickly and was standing toe to toe with the vampire before the door actually snapped closed. “Make no mistake, Spike, I am well aware of what you are and what you are capable of. If you hurt her-”

“I can’t bloody hurt her and you know it!”

“I’m not talking about physical pain! I’m talking about the mind games you can play with her. If you do anything untoward or cause her any unnecessary grief-”

“I get the point.”

“I don’t think you do. Granted, without your chip you could best me and you do have an extensive knowledge of the demon world, but so do I? There are a million ways to make a vampire suffer, Spike, and I know them all. It would be fair to say that a few of them would turn your hair for you.”

Spike simply returned the man’s gaze, saying nothing.

Giles nodded. “You understand me, yes?”

“Alarmingly well,” Spike replied. “Now let’s see if you can return the favor and understand *me*. Much as I hate to admit it, I have a fondness for the Slayer-”

“You think you’re in love with her.”

“I *am* in love with her. And I adore her kid sister. I can tolerate her little pals and I can jump in with the research and the fighting, but at the end of the day, I’m doing this because of Buffy and not because you asked me to. I’m doing this because she needs it and because I *want* to be there.”

“Nonsense. You have no soul.”

“With her I do.”

“Spike, if you think doing this will make her love you-”

“She will never love me. And I’m okay with that. What I’m not okay with is this self destruction thing that she keeps doing and I won’t have it.” The vampire shook his head. “You go set up house with your girl and leave mine to me.”

“She is not your girl. And if you take advantage of her in any way-”

One side of Spike’s mouth tugged up in a semblence of a smile. “I know. Big bad daddy will slay the evil wrongdoer. I got it the first time.”

“Then let’s let the third time be the charm.” Giles stepped impossibly close and pushed Spike back against the house. “I lost my job once for loving her. You’ll lose your life if you don’t love her enough.”

“I. Think. I. Get. The. Point. Yet again.”

“Good. Carry on, then.” Giles stepped away, smoothing the vampire’s rumpled jacket. “And do consider buying something a little more ... practical ... when you get paid.”

******