The next day, despite a clear, sunny sky, Spike made his way to Giles' apartment. Huddling in the shade hiding under his blanket, he knocked on the door and waited impatiently for the Watcher to answer. Opening the door, Giles glared when he saw who was there.

"Let me in, Giles, before I burst into flames." Giles had worked an uninvite spell on his home the night after Christmas and Spike had not been allowed in since.

"Should you burst into flames, I shall rejoice in your demise," Giles told him coldly.

Spike tilted his head to one side and said, "You know, I'm supposed to be the evil one here, but you're the one destroying your Slayer."

Giles' eyes flashed in fury. "How dare you!"

Spike said as calmly as he could while trying to evade the encroaching rays of sun, "I dare because I'm right and you know it. She loves you, Giles. You're the closest thing she has to a father since that pillock Joyce was married to scarpered off. And now you're going to abandon her too? Ow! Son of a bitch." This last was said as the sunlight hit his hand.

Giles watched in satisfaction as the vampire swiped at his smoking flesh and then with a sigh of resignation stepped back and said, "Come in, you sod."

Spike entered speedily and heaved a sigh of relief as the door was closed against his certain, painful death. Giles walked past him without saying a word, went into the kitchen, poured a couple drinks and returned, handing one to Spike. Spike looked at the drink in surprise, but took it and nodded his thanks.

"I'm not leaving to hurt Buffy or punish her, Spike," Giles told him. "I'm leaving because I'm of no use to her anymore. She relies on you, not me."

"Bollocks, Giles. The girl needs you. Hell, we all need you. You're the one with all the knowledge. Yeah, I know some stuff, but you have the research material and you have the training. Plus," Spike added staring somberly at Giles, "the girl loves you."

"She loves you too, Spike, and that I cannot tolerate. It was bad enough with Angel, but he at least had a soul. What do you have?"

"A heart full of love for her," the vampire told him seriously. Ignoring Giles' grimace of distaste, he stood up and started to pace. "I know that you don't think I can love her without that precious soul you're always nattering on about, but consider this. You never have to worry about me waking up one night and turning evil. I'm already evil, so no surprises there. You don't have to worry about me trying to kill you all in your beds, because the chip prevents that. And you don't have to worry about me suddenly falling out of love with her and hurting her. After all," Spike grinned, "the last relationship I was in lasted over 100 years and I didn't feel a fraction for Dru that I feel for Buffy."

Spike stopped pacing and dropping the grin told the Watcher. "Stay, Giles, she needs you."

Giles looked into the face of the vampire and wavered. It had never been his intention to hurt Buffy. Had he been too pig-headed? The relationship was wrong, but he knew that she was happy. Spike was a strong fighter and fiercely loyal to her. Willow and Xander had even started to accept him.

"I'll think about it some more, Spike, that's all I can promise."

Spike nodded his acceptance. Getting up, he picked up his blanket and prepared to return to his crypt. It was a start. He knew Giles would never truly accept him, but as long as the Watcher remained in Buffy's life, he would put up with the man's dislike. He didn't care about that one way or the other.
He cared only about Buffy.

Giles watched the vampire run from shadow to shadow until he disappeared into the sewers. He wasn't sure what the future held, but he knew he needed to find a new place for himself. The truth was he was bored stiff sitting around all day in his apartment. Perhaps it was time to look for another job. Picking up the morning paper, he opened it to the classified section.

***

Buffy listened to the message on her answering machine with growing trepidation. "Buffy, this is Giles. Please call me as soon as you receive this message."

What more was there to say? Had he already bought his airplane ticket? Didn't he need time to dispose of his belongings first or was he just going to give it all away? Buffy stared at the phone for a long time before, drawing in a deep breath, she picked it up and placed the call.

"Giles, it's Buffy. You wanted me to call you?"

Giles noticed right away the flat, restrained tenor of Buffy's voice. Spike had been right about one thing; he had hurt his Slayer deeply.

"Ah yes, Buffy. I wanted to let you know that it appears I won't be returning to England after all. I've bought The Magic Box and intend to become a shopkeeper."

Silence.

"Buffy, did you hear me? I'm not leaving."

Buffy quietly hung up the phone, sat down on her bed, placed her head in her hands and began to weep. It was this scene that Willow walked in on when she returned to the room after class. Hurrying to Buffy she asked anxiously, "Buffy, what's wrong? Did something happen to Spike? Or, or is it your mother? Please, Buffy, tell me what's wrong."

Hiccuping and sniffing Buffy told her friend, "I just t-talked to Giles and he said he's not leaving." Buffy looked into her friend's joy-filled face and they fell into each other's arms hugging and laughing. Wiping the tears from her face Buffy exclaimed, "God, I haven't cried this much in, well, forever."

"Oh," Willow cried, "we'll have to tell Xander. I know he didn't say much but he was really upset too."

Buffy nodded and then getting up she said, "I'm going to go over to see Giles. You want to come with?"
Willow eagerly agreed and the two girls hurried out of their dorm room

***

Giles was depressed. He didn't know what he had expected when he called Buffy today, but it certainly hadn't been being hung up on. Maybe it had been a mistake to listen to that ridiculous vampire. Buffy had resigned herself to his leaving and now she didn't even care if he stayed or not. As he sat there wallowing in self-pity, the door burst open and two laughing, happy girls entered. Looking up in surprise, he realized what a fool he had been.

The three looked at each other for a long second and then Giles' arms were filled with his surrogate daughters. "I knew you wouldn't leave us, Giles, I just knew it," Willow babbled happily.

The three sat down and Giles explained his business plan. "I looked over the books and was amazed at the profit margin for that place. The location is excellent, I can build up the inventory and there's even a large room in the back that we can make into a training room for you, Buffy. And, although I hate to say this, there's even access to the sewers so that that idiot boyfriend of yours and come and go in relative safety."

Buffy looked at Giles in surprise. "You're going to allow Spike to come to the shop?"

Giles gave Buffy a look of resignation. "I don't approve, Buffy. I will never approve. However, it appears that you've made up that stubborn mind of yours in this matter so I'll have to accept it. Unwillingly, mind you, but I'll accept it." When Buffy's face began to blossom into a smile, Giles leaned forward and said very seriously, "Understand this though, Buffy. If I learn he's feeding from humans, if I learn he's doing anything that will put you or any of us in harm's way, I will take it upon myself to stake him.

"The chip," Buffy began, her smile fading.

"We've discussed this before," Giles stated firmly. "The chip stops him from killing. It does not stop him from feeding or committing any number of other horrors, physical violence being the least of them. I do not place great trust in the chip's ability to hold him in check, nor do I trust his good intentions. You may believe him capable of reason, Buffy, I do not."

Buffy looked directly into her watcher's eye and said just as firmly, "And you understand this, Giles. If I feel you're trying to harm Spike without absolutely solid-gold proof of wrong-doing, I'll stop you by any means necessary."

Watcher and Slayer looked into each other's deadly serious face and nodded understanding of each other's position.

"So, Giles," Willow chirped in trying to break the tension, "tell us more about the business. When are you planning on opening it up? Because we really need to get that store open soon. Tara and I are having a terrible time practicing some of our spells because we can't get the right ingredients around here."

Giles and Buffy relaxed having made their points and entered into the conversation regarding The Magic Box.

"Well I want to do some remodeling before I open as well as order inventory. You could be helpful there, Willow, by letting me know what things you and Tara need. I thought of hiring Xander to help me with the building of shelving and storage cases. He's become quite capable with a hammer since he started working construction."

"Maybe you could hire Spike to help too," Buffy chimed in. At Giles' look of disbelief she added, "Look, Giles, he's super strong so that'd be a help with lifting and stuff, plus Magic Box shopkeepers seem to have a limited shelf-life. He could be like your bodyguard or something. And it would be a legitimate way for him to earn some money."

"It would also mean I would have to be around him all the time. If you remember correctly, Buffy, that was not something I enjoyed tremendously when he was staying here."

Buffy grinned, "Yeah, but you'd be his boss and could order him around and he'd have to do as you say."

Giles did not look convinced, but promised that he'd consider it. Good grief, Spike as an employee. The mind boggled.