It's Not Enough

By:  Morrigan


A/N:  Thanks again to Blacknblue2 for her beta work and for offering her suggestions as well.  This chapter takes us through some of the events of "Lies my parents Told Me, ending with a different twist.  I realize that this story has been dragging a bit, so far, but I assure you that it has been to build my setting and it will eventually be Spuffy.

As always, reviews are craved.  The more, the merrier.  Please leave one!  Hope you enjoy this one!  :)

Disclaimer:  All characters belong to Joss Whedon and ME...  Damn!



Dawn was so freakin' tired.  She had just started to fall into a really good sleep, when her crazy ass sister came crashing through her room and pulled her up out of the bed, all but crushing her with hugs and kisses and giving thanks to God that she was still alive.

Some hurried explanations, mad dashes around the house, and a couple of phone calls later, she now found herself back in the basement, watching while Giles and Willow prepared to perform some sort of spell on Spike, who was now chained to the wall.

"Get these soddin' things off of me!"

Spike glared at the Watcher, casting another one to the other gentleman leaning casually against the stairwell.

"And what are you doin' here?  Come to watch the show?"  Spike asked him.

"I thought you could use some support," came Wood's reply.

Why the hell Buffy had called him, Spike had no idea.  He wasn't lost on the fact that Buffy's new *boss* didn't like him.  Even a blind man could see it.  Spike dropped his arms to his sides, causing the chains to rattle loudly against the cot's frame.

Dawn looked from Spike to Buffy and then followed Spikes hateful looks to the man who was standing by the stairs, on which she was sitting.  Why *was* he here? He didn't look concerned for Spike in the least.  He looked like he enjoyed seeing Spike this way.  And seeing him stare at her friend, with that smug look on his face, made her sick.

Dawn got up and started back up the stairs.  Principal Wood might have Buffy fooled, but Dawn didn't trust him a bit!

Spike's screams followed her, shortly after.


*  *  *  *  *


Robin felt exhilarated   For years he had trained and dedicated his life to finding the monster that had murdered his mother, dreaming of the day that he would find him and be able to exact his revenge.  His time had come!

He had stood by, in Buffy's basement and seen Spike turn, before his very eyes; all traces of his *soulful* self stripped away to reveal what he really and truly was, underneath the disguise.  An animal.

He watched, after he changed back into his human mask, how Buffy had quickly gone to un-chain him, her eyes brimming with worry for that filthy demon.

Buffy told Giles that he was being stupid and that she wouldn't allow him to keep Spike chained up.  Spike just got up, curled his lip at Giles and roughly shouldered past Robin, all without Buffy's notice, before dutifully following her up the stairs like a tame little dog.  And Robin wanted to put him down, like the dog he was.

 He had stopped Giles before he could follow everyone back into the main house.  Giles was Buffy's watcher.  He would listen to reason.

Giles had taken Buffy out to distract her, while Robin led Spike to his *sanctuary* under the false reason that he would stay with Spike until Buffy got back.  Of course, this was just so that Spike wouldn't be left alone in the house until they figured out how to remove Spike's trigger.  That's what they told them, anyway.  But Robin and Giles had a plan.

Now, as he circled Spike, in the center of the room, looking into the hateful golden eyes of his mother's killer, he wondered how Buffy could be so blind?  She was the slayer, just as his mother had been!  And Spike was a vampire!  Not some brave soldier that would help her win this war.

Spike was evil.  Spike was dangerous.  But when Robin was through with him, Spike would be dust.

'It's a bitch, when things don't turn out the way you had planned,' a weary and beaten Robin thought, as a very rational and in control Spike slid back into game face and sank his fangs into Robin's neck.

As the vampire began to drain him, the last thing he saw was his mother, shaking her head and reminding him that she had told him to hide, before he slipped into the darkness.


*  *  *  *  *


Buffy found Spike as he was exiting the shed.  She was winded from sprinting all the way from the graveyard, where she had left Giles.  She couldn't believe that Giles had intentionally distracted her so that he could have Spike killed!  She felt such relief at seeing that he was alive!  She wanted to throw her arms around him.  She shouted his name, as she raced the rest of the way to his side.

"Are you hurt?"

Without thinking, she reached out to him, wanting to check for injuries, but the set of his jaw and the cold look in his eyes stopped her dead in her tracks.  He turned back to the shed and pushed the door open, motioning for her to look
inside.

Robin Wood was slumped against the wall...  one of many that was completely covered with crosses.  His face was ashen and his neck oozed from where he had been bitten.  She turned back to Spike, questioning with her eyes.

"I gave him a pass...  On account that I killed his mum."

Spike told her, stepping back as if he was going to walk away, before turning again and pointing back through the door.

"If he ever so much as looks at me again, I'll kill 'im!"

And with those parting words, he turned and stormed off into the night.

Buffy had been left to pick up the pieces.  But disgusted as she was with what Giles and Wood had done, she didn't intend to.

She sympathized with Robin about his mother, but let him know that under no uncertain terms was she willing to put up with his vendettas.

"If you try anything like this again," she said, "He'll kill you.  And more importantly..."

She looked into Robin's eyes with firm resolve.

"I'll let him."

Before, she too, turned and walked out the door, leaving him alone.

Buffy walked stiffly back to Revello drive.

'Twice in one day,' she kept thinking.  'Twice in one day, I was tricked, and wasn't around when I should have been.  This stops now!'

Buffy had been a student, a friend, an employee and a girl.  And what had that got her?  Her teacher and her boss had betrayed her, her friends turned their backs and her love interest was...  alive.  Well, sort of, anyway.  And, 'Did I just think the *L* word?'

She wiped at her eyes with her sleeve, before stuffing her hands into her pockets and marching faster, toward her house.

'It doesn't matter now.  I'm THE slayer.  The one and only.  It's time I handled things that way.  On my own.'

She marched up the stairs to her room, only to be blocked by Giles waiting for her, in the hallway.

"Buffy," He began.  "I know you don't understand right now but..."

"He's alive."  She stated.  "Spike's alive."

He continued to stand in front of her door, telling her that it didn't change anything, and that Spike was still a threat and reminded her that he was still her teacher.

"No."  She said, meeting his eyes with seething anger.  "No, I think you've taught me all I need to know."

Giles looked sad and hurt, but he still wouldn't move.  Frustrated at not being able to be alone or even to get into her own room and feeling cornered by the one person she really didn't want to have to see right now, she turned and walked back downstairs to the only person she felt she could trust.

Spike.