Buffy was fairly quiet during the loud, chaotic meal, mostly just observing the behavior of those around her for once. Once the meal was ready for everyone to eat, Giles' vampires all immediately sat down at the table, though she noticed that Julian was a bit hesitant about it. For some reason, the youngest of the group did not seem to be as comfortable with his freedom as the other two had obviously become.

Aaron was by far the most confident of them. He hardly acted as if he had ever been enslaved at all, and joined in the conversation with the humans easily, right down to the good-natured teasing that had always passed so easily among Buffy's little circle of friends.

Mara was not as outspoken as Aaron, but she did not seem the least bit afraid of the humans. She regarded Buffy a bit warily at first, not quite sure what to expect from her. Buffy did her best to put her at ease, joking around with her and drawing her into the conversation, and before long she had relaxed as much with Buffy as she had with everyone else. Buffy found that although the girl was a little on the quiet side, she had a quick, sarcastic wit that was often an unexpected contrast to her huge, innocent doe eyes and delicate features.

Julian hardly said a word the entire time they were eating. He sat next to Giles, and avoided actual contact with anyone else as much as possible. Most of them basically left him alone, but Tara kept trying to catch his attention, or discreetly get him involved in the conversation. Every one of her attempts was promptly shut down by the frightened, insecure little vampire.

At first, Spike had stood awkwardly on the outer edge of the group, not sure what he was supposed to do. He was used to being made to stand near the wall and wait while his masters ate, only being allowed his own meals once he had finished serving them.

Buffy noticed his hesitance as she took her seat, and reached out to take his hand, pulling him gently toward the empty seat beside her. "Come on," she urged him in a whisper. "Sit down."

He did -- because she told him to -- but still seemed quite uncomfortable at first. Gradually, however, he began to relax and enjoy the lively atmosphere that filled the room...although he did not say very much, himself.

After lunch, everyone went their separate ways, but no one went far. Xander and Aaron went back into the living room to watch television, and Anya quickly followed her husband, as usual. Willow and Mara began clearing the table from the meal, putting things away and wiping things down.

When Spike tried to help, they let him, welcoming his assistance gratefully. Buffy joined right in with them as well, wanting it to be clear to Spike that his helping was because he was a part of the group, not because he was a slave.

Buffy noticed suddenly that Tara was not helping them. She didn't mind; after all, Tara had cooked the meal, and they had plenty of help to get the job done. It just seemed odd to her, knowing what she did of Tara, that she was not working with the rest of them. She glanced through the doorway into the living room, and saw why Tara was not in the kitchen.

Tara sat on the sofa with Julian. From where she stood, Buffy could not hear what she was saying, but she could see that she was talking earnestly, meeting the vampire's eyes firmly, trying to make him believe whatever it was she was saying.

Julian kept his eyes downcast, staring at the couch between them as the soft-spoken blonde witch said her piece. When she had finished, he nodded reluctantly, but as he opened his mouth to speak, he was hesitant, afraid, and it was obvious to Buffy that he was not really convinced.

Tara put a gentle, encouraging hand on his knee, leaning in close and speaking softly to him, and after a few moments of gentle coaxing, Julian tried again, this time managing to get the words out.

Well...sort of.

About halfway through, he broke down, tears streaming from his eyes as he struggled to go on, halting, hesitant. Buffy could not hear a word, but it was clear that whatever he was talking about was very difficult for him. Even from across the room, she could see the fear, the desperate insecurity in his dark, expressive eyes.

Tara moved in cautiously closer, putting her hands on his arms in a steadying gesture, and whatever soothing words she spoke seemed to make the vampire's tears flow harder. And then, a moment later, his head was on her shoulder, and she was holding him close to her, lightly rubbing his back and speaking softly to him as he wept.

Suddenly, Buffy became very much aware of the fact that she was staring, watching intently a scene that was very personal, and really none of her business. She turned -- reluctantly -- back toward the kitchen and the others, trying to put it out of her mind. But she could not, not really.

She wondered what terrible things the timid vampire had been through to make him so fearful and vulnerable; she wondered how he had come to trust Tara enough to open up to her when he seemed to keep his distance from everyone else; she wondered specifically what Julian had been telling Tara about that had had him so terribly upset; and what Tara had been able to tell him that had been so helpful to him.

And she wondered if *she* would be able to find the words to help Spike deal with the ghosts of the past that haunted *him*.

By that evening, Buffy had found no answers to the questions forming in her mind, and had picked up a few more at that – but she had no opportunity to ask them. She could not very well ask Giles about his slaves while they were there, right in front of them; it would be ruse to speak about them as if they were not there.

She was surprised when Willow and Tara offered for Giles and his vampires to stay the night at the house. Apparently, when he had first started touring the country giving his lectures and such, Giles had given up his apartment, and mostly stayed in hotels. That had been expensive, he told her, until he began to be in demand as a speaker – and then those who invited him to speak had begun to provide the lodging for him as well.

It had to be nice for him and his group to have the chance to stay in an actual house, among friends, instead of the cold uniformity of a hotel room. Still, Buffy doubted that Willow and Tara had counted on ending up with a half dozen houseguests at once. She wondered how they were going to find room for everyone.

The Scoobies were remarkably resourceful when it came to finding arrangements for everyone, however. Xander and Anya offered to take a few to their house across town, and Aaron immediately accepted the offer.

Giles politely declined, wanting to have a chance to talk to Tara in the morning. She was unofficially his assistant, and a very valued one, when it came to matters of the fledgling abolitionist movement. She was willing to do anything he needed in order to help stop the slavery movement. It had been a long time since he had been able to talk to her at any length about the advances he had been making.

Julian absolutely refused to be separated from the man, and Tara, the only two here that he seemed to trust. Buffy felt a rush of sympathy for the poor, shaken-up little creature, so insecure and fearful all the time. She wondered again what had been done to him to make him that way.

Mara agreed to go with Xander and Anya as well, realizing the limits on the space in Willow and Tara’s house, regardless of their well-intentioned offer, and wanting to do what she could to make things comfortable for the others.

The sofa in the den pulled out into a bed, and they decided that Giles and his faithful slave would sleep in that room, while Buffy and Spike kept the guest room they had been using, and Willow and Tara slept in their room. As the two witches rushed around trying to make sure that everyone had everything they needed to be comfortable for the night, Buffy sat on the couch quietly, waiting.

Spike sat beside her, much more comfortable after this long, pleasant day than she had seen him since she had bought him. She felt a rush of warm affection when she saw that his eyelids were drooping a bit, and his head suddenly dipped forward a bit for a second before he quickly raised it, startled back to wakefulness.

He glanced at her, a little disoriented with his weariness, and she gave him a reassuring smile; she realized that it must have been quite a day for him. He was still recovering from his injuries, and his life had basically turned upside down overnight on him. The poor thing was probably exhausted.

"Come here," she said softly, putting her arm around his shoulder and pulling his head down on her shoulder.

She felt him automatically start to relax against her for just a moment, before he suddenly pulled away from her, his eyes wide and uncertain as he said softly, "No – no, Buffy, it’s okay. I – I’ll just..."

"Spike." Her gentle, firm voice stopped him. "It’s okay. Just relax. You’re tired, and you need to rest." As she spoke, her gentle hands tugged him back into her embrace. "It’s all right, just lean on me."

He really was *so* tired, worn out from the busy, eventful day they had had, and her voice was so soothing and gentle, her arms around him so warm and soft, that his nameless fears began to melt away, and all he wanted was to lose himself in her arms and let the world fall away.

*She *did* tell me to,* he reasoned. *Gotta do as she says.*

So when she pulled his head gently back down onto her shoulder, shifting her position under him to be more comfortable for both of them, he did not resist her, and just relaxed against her as she had told him to.

He was asleep in seconds.

Willow walked back into the living room and smiled at the sight of them. Without a word, she helped Buffy to reposition the sleeping vampire so that he was stretched out on the couch with his head in her lap. That done, Willow took her place in the soft, puffy armchair across from the couch, drawing her legs up under her and leaning back with a sigh.

"It’s been a *long* day," she declared wearily, raising her head to look at her friend again, as Tara walked out of the den to take the seat beside the sofa.

The blonde’s eyes were troubled as she looked over at her lover. "Do you think it’d *really* be breaking the rule about not doing any harm if I just like – blew up Riley’s headquarters with the power of my mind?" she asked, a dark anger in her trembling voice, despite the light words. She glanced at Buffy. "Sorry," she added half-heartedly.

"Don’t be," Buffy advised her, her arm around Spike tightening protectively, her free hand slowly playing though his loose blonde curls in her lap. "I don’t see any harm in that."

"You could *do* that?" Willow asked, her eyebrows raised, prepared to be impressed if her girlfriend confirmed that she had that much power, not phased in the least by the idea of the violence she had suggested.

"No," Tara admitted. "But I’d like to."

"And what brought on this sudden urge to blow things up?" Willow asked, a note of concern in her voice as she searched Tara’s eyes. Tara was usually so gentle and mild, advocating change, but through legal, non-violent means. Something must have happened to make her so upset. "I mean – not that Riley doesn’t deserve to get blowed up. Because he does."

"He *so* does," Buffy agreed quietly, looking down at the peaceful face of the vampire in her lap, soft fingers tracing the line of a nearly healed lash mark on the face she was growing to love.

Tara watched her for a moment, pensive, her eyes softening at the sight of Buffy’s obvious affection for Spike, and the trust that Spike seemed to have somehow developed for her. Buffy *was* trying to make things better, that much was clear.

"Baby?" Willow prompted her, and Buffy’s eyes rose to Tara’s face, becoming self-conscious when she realized that she had been being watched.

Tara gave her a weary, sad sort of smile that was intended to be reassuring, before turning her eyes toward Willow. She was quiet for a moment before she spoke.

"Julian got attacked by a bunch of Riley’s men outside the convention center last night."

"*What*?" Willow sat up straighter, her eyes wide with alarm. "Did they – they didn’t – hurt him, did they?"

Buffy’s eyes were focused intently on Tara as she waited for the other girl’s response. Her expression did not change, but her stomach did a little turn at the thought of Riley’s men hurting the timid, terrified little creature she had just met.

"No," Tara shook her head, looking down at the arm of her chair. "Not really. Just scared him half to death, poor thing." There was a quiet anger in her voice. "I talked to Giles. He said he thinks this is gonna set Julian’s progress back a lot."

"And he was doing so much better!" Willow’s voice was full of dismay.

Tara nodded slowly, her expression grim. She looked up to notice the look of confusion and curiosity in Buffy’s eyes and said, "Giles has been working with him for months now – ever since he bought him – to help him recover from what those monsters did to him."

"His previous owners?" Buffy frowned, puzzled. If that was the case, she wondered, then why was Tara’s rage of the moment directed at Riley’s organization?

Willow and Tara exchanged a look of surprise. "No," Willow said slowly, looking back at her. "The slave trainers."

“The who what-ers?” Buffy asked, no less confused now, and irritated when the witches exchanged another look of disbelief. “What?” she demanded defensively.

Her question was met with silence for a moment; Willow and Tara could hardly believe that Buffy did not know about the slave training facilities. She was *married* to the man who had started them, and yet she seemed utterly clueless of their very existence.

“The slave trainers, Buffy,” Willow said slowly, meeting her friend’s eyes with a certain caution in her own. “Once the vampires are caught and chipped, they train them to be slaves before they’re sold.”

“If you can call rape and torture ‘training’!” Tara added in an angry, disgusted tone.

Buffy’s eyes widened in horror, as she shook her head. “I didn’t know about any training program. I thought they just – you know – caught ‘em, chipped ‘em, sold ‘em,” she explained with an apologetic little shrug for her own ignorance. Her expression became very serious as she added in a small, hesitant voice, “What did they do to him?”

Willow looked down again, uncomfortable and hesitant to answer. “Buffy – it’s bad. Very bad. And – and Riley’s the one who’s in charge of it all. Most of it is his idea, Buffy.” She paused. “Are you sure you want to know?”

“It’s not a matter of *wanting* to know,” Tara broke in, her eyes blazing with righteous fury at the injustices and cruelties they were discussing. “She *needs* to know, Will. All of it.”

Willow nodded her agreement, but did not speak, looking at Buffy questioningly.

Buffy was silent for a long moment. By their behavior, she could tell that the things they were about to tell her were going to change her whole way of thinking – again. She was almost afraid to find out what her husband and his people had done to Julian, to others like him – maybe even to Spike. She looked away from her friend, thinking, her eyes falling on the clock on the endtable.

It was already almost midnight.

She prepared herself mentally for a long night of painful revelations. *You used to stay up later than this all the time, when you were slayer…time to get back in slay-mode, Buffy.*

“Tell me,” she spoke quietly but decisively, meeting Willow’s eyes bravely. “I want to know the truth.”