Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters belonging to the show are not my creation. I take no credit for them.

Author's Notes: My thanks to DreamsofSpike for being a great beta, and to everyone who has encouraged this fic so far.
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“Awww…Giles…that’s so sweet.” Willow and Giles stood in front of the cage in the library, the young witch looking on with wide eyes and a wide smile.

Inside the cage was practically a nest of stolen blankets, and wrapped up in the center were two naked, but bundled vampires. Drusilla was wrapped up in Spike’s protective embrace.

“Yes, of course Willow.” Giles removed his glasses with a put-upon sigh. “They’re cuddly vampires.”

The red head blushed and looked away from the entwined lovers, then moved away from the cage and back to the table to idly sort through some of the books stacked there.

“You should be off,” Giles advised her. “Class will start at any moment. I can begin the research, or at least begin to narrow things down until you return.”

“But what about Buffy?” Willow looked up at him with worried eyes. “She’s coming by soon, and-“

“And is just as capable of sneaking into school as she is sneaking out.” The librarian gave her a stern look. “We do not need anyone drawing attention to themselves by skipping class.”

Willow nodded reluctantly, looking sullen. “I’m worried about her, Giles…everything she’s going through…”

Giles sighed as he took a seat at the table. “Buffy is the Slayer…she is strong, resourceful, determined…”

“She’s also a teenage girl who’s been thrown out of school and her home, chased by cops, and is being asked to kill her boyfriend.”

“Yes, well, there’s that…” Giles sighed heavily, polishing his glasses before slipping them back on and studying the girl in front of him. “She’ll make it through, Willow. We’ll be here to guide her.”

Willow tried for a smile, but just couldn’t manage. Sighing, she gathered up her books. “I hope you’re right…” She made her way to the library door, stopping to spare another glance at the two vampires locked in the cage before heading out.

“Now that was a load of presumptuous bollocks.”

Giles jumped at the unexpected words, then straightened himself self-consciously. He glowered towards the cage.

Spike was watching him, only one eye cracked open. An arm was still draped around Drusilla.

“It’s none of your business, Spike.”

The vampire grinned. He gently untangled himself from his lover, leaning down to brush his lips gently against hers. He then pulled his jeans on, covering at least half his body before sauntering to the door of the cage and leaning against it casually.

“While it’s mine and Drusilla’s unlives on the line, I’m afraid it is, mate.”

“I am not your mate.” Giles turned his attention to one of the heavy tomes in front of him.

Spike poked his fingers through the holes in the cage door, waving them at the watcher. “Gonna let me out to stretch my legs, or what?”

Giles returned his gaze to the irritating vampire. “Let…let you out?”

“That’s what…what I said.” Spike mocked him.

“You’re in a public school…in broad daylight…and you expect to be let out?”

He shrugged. “Don’t see the harm in a walk.”

“Don’t see the…?” Giles stood abruptly, glaring at the bleached blonde. “If you think for a *moment* that I’m going to let you out to feast on the students in this school –“

“Who said anything about feasting? I got the soddin’ bagged blood for a reason, you pillock.” Spike snarled. “And you’ve got it out there!” He pointed behind the counter, where they had hooked up a mini fridge to store Spike and Drusilla’s meals.

“And I can bring that to you. There’s no reason at all that you need to leave that cage.”

Spike narrowed his eyes, his good mood obviously beginning to fade. “Listen here, Watcher. I made a deal with the Slayer, and I know full-well what that means. I’m not going to be giving her any reason to stake me when Drusilla’s on the line. I’m going to be a good little vamp until we don’t need each other any more.” His eyes began to turn yellow, showing the demon waiting underneath. “But I am *not* going to be told where I can go, and when. I’ll follow your no-killing rules, but when I want to leave the room, I’ll leave the bloody room. When I want to stretch my legs, that’s what I’m going to do. I’ll eat when I like, go where I please, shag when I want, and if I’m treated as a prisoner instead of a business partner, I might get a tad brassed off.”

Giles moved uncomfortably closer to the cage, taking a cross and a stake with him. “I don’t trust you.”

The vampire snorted. “That’s statin’ the obvious. But then again, I did save your life.” He grinned devilishly.

“Don’t remind me.”

Spike glanced at the cross and stake in his hands. “It’ll be enough of a reminder if Angelus gets his hands on you again. Just think, you escaped from him…he’ll be mighty brassed about that. You stake me, he gets my strength, defeats your slayer, and gets you back to torture somemore, and I’m not there to save your arse this time.” He tsked the watcher as he shook his head.

The Watcher sighed in irritation as he took the keys from his pocket. “A very melodramatic method of trying to get what you want…”

He shrugged. “Well, I could just make a real big ruckus until someone came in wanting to know what was goin’ on…and then you’d have to explain why two strangers were locked up in the library…”

Giles rolled his eyes. “A vampire threatening to scream for help. How very intimidating.”

“Hey!”

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Buffy moved as quietly as she could, trying to stay out of sight. She had taken a back entrance to the school, making sure to avoid as many students and teachers as possible. She felt a pang of regret as she heard the bell go off. From right outside the door, she could hear the sounds of students filing through the halls to go to their next classes. She had never wanted more to just be a part of school in her whole life. She wanted to be in that crowd, complaining about teachers, or books, or homework…

She waited until there was mostly silence once again before she crept away from the door and made her way to a window. The corridor she planned to slip into was usually empty. She opened the window and climbed in feet first, peering out into the back parking lot to make sure no one had seen her. Buffy then lowered the window as quietly as she could.

“You know, some girls your age sneak *out* of school at this hour.”

Buffy’s heartbeat skyrocketed, and she whirled around to face her unexpected company with a yelp. When she saw a smug smirk on the face of the bleached blond vampire, she glared.

“But here’s the Slayer, the only teenager trying to sneak *in*.”

“What are you doing here?” she tried to whisper, but even that came out louder than she’d like.

He put on an innocent look. “This is where you insisted on keeping me.”

“I insist on keeping you in the *library*. This is not the library. This is you waltzing in the middle of the school, where anyone could see you.”

Spike tilted his head, studying the Slayer. She stood in the small patch of sunlight in front of the window, bathed and glowing. Her green eyes sparked with anger that she barely kept in check. Her golden hair was like a halo, yet her pink tank top and her blue jeans were wrinkled, and the duffel bag over her shoulder made her look like a common run away.

The vampire snorted at the thought. Common, the Slayer was not.

“That wasn’t waltzing,” he insisted. “This-“ He suddenly wrapped an arm around Buffy’s waist, ignoring the brief sizzling of his arm from the sunlight, then took her hand and spun her around the hall. “Is waltzing.”

When the vampire released her after a few turns, Buffy stumbled back. She stared at him in wide-eyed surprised, not at all sure how to react to his sudden friendliness.

“You’re giddy,” she pointed out wearily. “Why are you giddy? If you’ve done *anything* to my friends –“

“Relax, Slayer,” Spike grinned. “Your friends are fine. Watcher boy’s in the library,” he pointed towards the library. “And the witch and the whelp are in their classes.” He pointed over his shoulder.

“Then why are you giddy?”

He shrugged. “Got laid,” he held up three fingers. “Three times last night. Can’t a bloke be happy his lady’s forgiven him?”

Buffy made a face, unable to hide her disgust. “Come on, I’m not supposed to be seen. Being thrown out of school before I can even sneak back in would be of the bad.”

She led the way down the hall, being careful to avoid teachers and a miserable short troll that liked to patrol the halls, looking for people to expel. She caught Spike occasionally lingering to peer curiously into a classroom now and again, and tugged him forward by the sleeve of his duster.

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Giles looked up quickly when he heard the doors swing open. He sighed in relief when he saw Buffy half dragging an irate Spike behind her.

“Buffy, good, I’m glad to see you’ve made it in without incident.”

“I wouldn’t say without any incident.” She glared at the vampire beside her, but he only gave her a devilish grin in return.

“Was there a problem?” Giles peered suspiciously at the vampire, noticing his uncanny ease around his Slayer.

Buffy shrugged. “Not so much.” She made her way over to the table and unzipped her duffel bag, then poured out the contents. Five brand new walkie-talkies spilled out.

Giles raised an eyebrow in question.

“I picked these up last night,” Buffy explained. “From now on we don’t go *anywhere* without them. I don’t want Angel and his goons coming in here for whatever they please. If I’m away, you’re vulnerable. Then again, if there are hundreds of fledges out there for me to deal with, I might be vulnerable. We need a way to communicate when I’m not here.”

The watcher noticed the still-attached price tag on one of them, but chose to ignore it. “Agreed. Wise thinking, Buffy.”

The small blonde whirled around towards the vampire watching them. “And *you*,” she pointed at Spike, who tried to pass off another innocent expression. “You’re going to be patrolling with me. Tonight. No arguing, no fighting me on it. You’re going to help me fight.”

Spike made his way towards the cage, opening it casually. He stepped inside before turning to face the Slayer. The grin on his face took the two watching him by surprise. “Sure, pet. Looking forward to it.”

Buffy stared at him with mouth wide open, unable to really think of what to say in return. Spike ignored her fish gape and laid himself down beside Dru, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close. Neither of them noticed one of her dark eyes opening, then narrowing in the Slayer’s direction.