Chapter Ten
AN: I’d always intended to get Spike out of the ship, but was pondering what my explanation might be, not only for how he got his enhanced vamp powers, but how he got the ship and how he would get rid of it.  There may have been unnatural relationships with bug queens involved… and perhaps even some need for Slayer save-age. But the fic would have ended up being much longer that it is now. Then Angearia wrote this great little ficlet about Spike and the bugs and the condition in which he came back from a trip and… there it was. The solution. So this chapter owes everything to Angearia. She kindly gave me permission to use her idea.

            “So, let me get this straight.” Xander leaned back in his chair and stared at Buffy. “You want me to take in this Spike wannabe – who may or may not be some kind of semi-vampire – give him a job, and your old bedroom. Is that it?”

“It doesn’t sound like nearly as good an idea when you put it that way,” Buffy grumbled. “It’s not going to be a problem, is it? I mean, he seems like a nice kid, he’s got no family, and no place to live. And he’s not any kind of a vampire. All that I can see that’s left of Dru’s attempt to turn him is some ability to sense vamps and an attachment to Spike.” She turned her pleading gaze on Dawn. “It’s just until he figures out what he wants to do, or I figure out what to do with him.”

“It looks to me like you already figured that out,” Dawn said, keeping her voice down so the boy sitting in the living room wouldn’t hear her.  “Dump him on us. Why do we have to keep him?”

“He can’t keep staying on my couch,” Buffy protested. “Faith didn’t want to take him back to England with her. What else am I going to do with him?”

“Here’s a thought, let the guy he looks like take care of him. Maybe Spike can make him an honorary bug.”

“I don’t know when Spike’s coming back,” Buffy said, her expression saying more than she meant it to about long he’d been gone. “And even if he was here, he doesn’t have a place to live either. Except for that space ship, and he… he might be giving that up.” Buffy spoke with exaggerated casualness and looked out the window instead of at Dawn and Xander.

They stared at her with equal parts amusement and disbelief. When the silence became uncomfortable, Buffy flushed, saying, “What? He might be. He said—”

She was interrupted by the sound of rapping on the apartment door. Xander stood up. “You expecting anyone?” he asked Dawn and Buffy. When both shook their heads, he picked up a sword from behind the refrigerator before moving into the living room.  Bobby stared at the sword, his eyes darting around as though seeking another way out of the apartment where even the seemingly normal people answered their door with a weapon in hand.

The knocking repeated, louder this time, and Xander and Buffy went to the door while Dawn waited near the couch, as much to give Bobby some confidence, as because she was worried about what might be outside.  She gave him her best reassuring smile and a, “Sorry, this isn’t what it looks like. It’s just that old habits die hard,” while she waited to see what might be knocking on their door.

Xander yanked it open, sword hidden behind his back.  He blinked at the swaying vampire staring back at him and stepped back. “It’s for you,” he said to Buffy as he walked away, adding over his shoulder, “Come in, Fangface.”

Spike stepped through the door and into Buffy’s supporting arms. “What happened to you?”  She guided him to the couch, motioning for Bobby to get out of the way.  Spike sank down gratefully, and rested his head against the back of the couch.  “’lo, Bit,” he said, smiling at Dawn.

“Hi,” she replied. “You’re not going to get blood and icky stuff on my couch, are you?”

“Nah. Blood’s all dried up, wounds are almost healed. I’m just a bit knackered…”

“What happened?” Buffy repeated, looking very much like a slayer in homicidal mode.

“Those responsibilities I had?  Don’t have ‘em anymore. Not really, anyway.”

Xander wandered in with a mug of what looked surprisingly like blood of some sort. He handed it to Spike at the same time as he asked, “So, what, the bugs fired you?”

“In a manner of speaking…” He paused to sniff the liquid and raise an eyebrow at Buffy. She shook her head and looked at Dawn who cleared her throat, saying,  “Just a little something I keep on hand for unexpected guests.”

Spike toasted her with the mug and drank deeply. When he’d had half of it, he set it down and smiled with pleasure.  “Thank you, Bit. Was just what the doctor ordered.”

“So back to the bugs,” Xander said. “Which one did you piss off?”

“All of ‘em,” Spike admitted.  “Turns out they’re tired of popping in and out of here so that I can… They’re tired of having to help out if it’s not a world-ending kind of situation. So, we agreed that I’d give up the ship unless there’s an apocalypse kind of thing going on.”

“Who beat you up?” Buffy was not letting it go.

“Well, here’s the thing, pet. I was sort of the… ruler… of the hive that is the ship. And the only way to stop being the… ruler… was to lose a fight with the next in line to be queen.  So I had to fight Bug Three… and lose… if I wanted to be allowed to stay here.”

“So,” Xander kept his voice carefully under control as he asked, “Bug Three is now the queen of the ship?”

Spike narrowed his eyes at him. “You’d better not be going where I think you are with that, Harris,” he growled.

“Oh, hell yeah, that’s where I’m going with it!” Xander quit trying to keep a straight face.  “The old queen is dead, long live the queen!”  He danced around the room, chanting, “Spike was a queen. Spike was a queen, Spike was….” He stopped when Dawn punched him on the arm and muttered in his ear.

“Fine,” he said. “I’m done.  But admit it,  it had to be said..”

Buffy was staring at Spike.  “So, you threw a fight so you could stop being…” She watched his eyes and swallowed the next word. “So you could stop being the leader?  Then why are you so beat up?”

“Had to make it look good, didn’t we?  Bug Three wanted to be sure nobody else was likely to challenge her, so I had to defend myself. I’m not sure she wasn’t really tryin’ to kill me, now that I think about it….” He shook it off. “Well, no matter, we worked it out; I pretended she’d won, and I was allowed to leave.  They’ll come back with the ship if we need it for something really big, but in the meantime they’re looking for someplace warm and isolated to park it for a while. Mars didn’t suit them.”

“Here? On this planet?” Dawn’s expression showed exactly what she thought of having giant bugs living on the same planet she made her home.

“Not to worry, Bit. They aren’t eager to have everyone on the planet trying to exterminate them. They’ll be far away from anywhere humans live, and very careful not to be seen. It’s not like they can go home,” he added. He picked up his mug and finished it off.  “Thank you, luv. Much appreciated.”

He turned his tired gaze to Bobby, then looked a question at Buffy. She shrugged and gestured at Dawn and Xander.

“We were just talking about him. I feel like I’m kinda responsible for him, and….”

“And I’m going to give him a job. Till he figures out what he wants to do and where he wants to do it.”  Buffy blinked at Xander in surprise, then smiled.

“Thanks, Xan,” she said, kicking Bobby in the ankle until he stuttered out, “Yeah, thanks, bro. I appreciate it.”

“Okay, I am not your ‘bro’,” Xander said firmly. He pointed at Spike. “He is your ‘bro’. I’m just… ‘Boss’ works for me.”

“No problem, du—Boss.”

Xander and Dawn exchange silent communication and then she sighed. “Okay. Here’s the deal. You can stay here until you find someplace else, ‘kay? But it has to be pretty soon, and you have to pay rent. It’s not like we’re adopting you or something.”

Bobby nodded, but looked at Buffy and Spike. “So, you guys don’t want me?” he said, just the faintest trace of a quiver in his voice. “I mean, that’s cool. You’ve got the whole ‘saving the world’ thing going on, and I’d just be in the—”

Buffy stopped him before Spike’s growl could turn into something lethal.
“It’s not that we don’t want you,” she said quickly, squeezing Spike’s arm when she felt him stiffen. “We’ll be around all the time to make sure you’re doing okay. But you’ve seen my apartment. It’s tiny. And I doubt the couch is that comfortable. Here you’d have your own room and—”

“And you guys would have your privacy,” he muttered.

“Exactly,” Spike said before a blushing Buffy could speak up. He slid his eyes to her, and amended, “Not that we need the privacy for anything…. anything….” Dawn coughed so hard Xander had to pat her on the back. Buffy and Spike both glared at her.  “We need to talk, the Slayer and me. Got things to work out. Don’t need a stranger listenin’ to all that—”

“Not to mention,” Xander said, “if Buffy didn’t like the way it was going, you wouldn’t want her having a replacement handy. It might make her stake-happy.” He grinned to show he didn’t mean it, but Buffy responded with great firmness.

“I’m not Dru,” she said quietly. “I know Spike can’t be replaced that easily.” She rested her hand on his thigh, smiling when he covered it with one of his and stared at her with eyes that said everything she needed to hear.  “I’m not Dru,” she repeated, willing him to understand the entire message she was sending – a message that included her complete willingness to keep his grandsire out of her life.

“No,” he whispered, raising her hand to his lips. “No, you aren’t. You’re nothing like her.”

“Okay, okay,” Xander broke into the exchange of meaningful looks going on. “We all get it.  Spike and Buffy, sitting in a tree, blah, blah.”  He gestured at Bobby. “Guess you’re ours for a while, kid.  I don’t think you’d want to be around them anyway.”

Dawn nodded her agreement. “Thing about Spike and Buffy is, it’s not a good idea to be in the way, whether they’re fighting or—” She broke off as they turned identical glowers of disbelief in her direction.  “Or so I’ve heard,” she finished quickly, going to the door and holding it open.  “So, bye now! See you guys tomorrow.”  She smiled and remained holding the door until Buffy and Spike stood up and walked toward it.

“Think we’re being thrown out, love,” he stage-whispered to Buffy.

“Ya think?”  Buffy smiled and pulled Dawn into a sudden hug. “Thank you,” she whispered, then followed Spike out the door.
 
~~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you okay to walk from here to my place?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Glad I don't have to run it, but that blood Dawn was keeping for ‘unexpected guests’ really hit the spot.” He took Buffy’s hand and squeezed it. “Little sis has turned out to be a bit of alright. Nice to know she doesn’t still want to set me on fire.”

Buffy moved closer to him, hanging on to his hand and letting their shoulders brush. “I think going up in flames to save the world earned you a pass for anything else she thinks you’ve done. She just hasn’t had time to tell you so since….”

There was silence, each lost in thoughts about those months after the fall of Sunnydale and before the battle in L.A. Those months when Spike was first trapped in the amulet, then a ghost, and then as alive and solid as someone undead could be. After a moment, he took a deep breath and expelled it forcefully before he spoke.

 “Always thought there’d be time, you know?  Thought I could hang out with Peaches and his gang of do-gooders, fight some evil, get my head on straight, let you enjoy—” When Buffy scoffed he shook his head and smiled. “Well, I thought you were enjoying yourself. Didn’t know about the decoys and all, did I?”

“I guess we were both keeping secrets,” she admitted.  “I just didn’t trust Angel to….” She shrugged. “I guess I just didn’t trust him. Period. Not after he took over that… place. But if I’d known….”

“I was an idiot, love. No excuses.”

“I’m just glad you got out of there before Angel went all Twilight on us.”

“Can thank Blue—Illyria—for that. She dragged me with her when she decided to blink all the demons off to another dimension. Of course, then she left me there with nothing but giant cockroaches for company… It’s a good thing I’m a friendly sort, and that I pick up languages fast.”

“Yeah, well, someday you’re going to have to tell me how you became the ‘queen’ of your own hive and spaceship.”

“Someday. Not today.”

“Not today,” she echoed, releasing his hand to dig out her keys and open the inside door of the building.  They walked up the stairs in silence, Buffy watching for any sign that Spike was struggling with the four flights of stairs. But he seemed fine, his long strides having no trouble keeping up with her shorter, faster, steps.  When they reached her apartment, she opened the door and walked in, collapsing on the couch and sticking her feet up on the coffee table. “We’re home,” she sighed.