“Uh, Slayer? You have any idea where you’re going?” Spike singsonged as he trailed after her. *This is all I bloody do in’it? Follow the bleeding Slayer. Like some poncey children’s song.*

He watched as she stopped abruptly, turning to face him. She had that look on her face. The look that said ‘I am the Slayer, and you *will not* mess with me.’ God, he loved that look. *Sodding Slayer, get out of my head!* “Spike, I am so not in the mood for this. Tell me where you stashed your car and let’s go. We need to help Giles.”

“No Blondie. *You* need to help your Watcher. I don’t need to do nothing of the sort.” He didn’t know who he was kidding. He’d help her. Not because he particularly wanted to, but because there was nothing else for him to do. If he didn’t help they’d probably just tie him up again, maybe in Xander’s basement with ol’ Rupes gone, and wouldn’t that just be a treat? He just liked to make the Slayer sweat. Literally and physically. *Been a long time since we had a bit o’ the rough and tumble.*

She shook her head at him, disbelief on her face. “I said you’d have whatever you want. You want cash? Fine. Name the price. But Spike, I don’t have time for this. Help me find Giles and then we’ll figure it out.” Her face softened, just for an instant, and Spike thought she might even ask for his help. But just as quickly, it was gone, replaced with hard eyes and a firmly set mouth.

That’s all he wanted really. *Is it to hard to just say “Spike, will you please help me?” Treat me like more than a piece of furniture? Stupid bitch!* “Whatever Slayer. Let’s just get this over with.”

The trip to Rupert’s was made in anything but companionable silence. The apartment was in disarray when they arrived. As if Spike expected anything different, he’d heard the way the watchers had barged into the flat. Spike gingerly tested the air with his nose. Sweat and blood suffused his nostrils and as he looked to the Slayer he found her crouched over something on the carpet. Moving to see what she was looking at, he watched as a tear slipped from her cheek into a puddle of blood. Kneeling next to her, Spike inhaled deeply and opened his mouth to speak, when –

“Geez, Spike. Gross much? Giles could be dead and you’re just reveling in the scent of human blood, aren’t you?” Scrubbing the tears out of her eyes, she punched him in the nose, sending him sprawling backwards.

“Bloody hell, woman!” Propping himself up on an elbow, Spike touched his nose gingerly, grimacing when his fingers came away red. “I was going to tell you that that’s not Ripper’s blood.” Standing up, he dusted himself off, and shot a glare at the Slayer, still hunched over the blood puddle. “You know what, you bloody bint. I don’t need this. Find your soddin’ watcher yourself. I’m outta here.” *I don’t need her.* He shook his head. *Who you trying to convince Spike?*

Spike had barely taken two steps toward the door when his arm was seized by the Slayer. Rounding on her, he bit off a curse at the look on her face. Her beautiful face was streaked by tears she hadn’t completely scrubbed away, fresh ones glinting at the corner of her eyes. “What now, Slayer?”

She let go of him, slowly, her eyes meeting his. “Spike. I think, for this, that I need your help.” She glanced down then, as if her admission was too much for her delicate slayer sensibilities to handle. “Maybe this calls for another truce?”

He couldn’t help it. He smirked. “You wanna work with the Big Bad, luv?” He knew he went too far then, when her eyes went from soft to glaring. Letting the grin slide from his face he looked down at her. *She really does look tiny. Just a little slip of a thing, she is.* Meeting her eyes once again, he made his decision. “I’ll help Buffy. A truce if that’s what you want to call it. Just tell me what to do.”

He could see her wavering, as if wondering whether he really meant it. Silently, she nodded, brushing past him slightly as she moved to the door. Spike sighed as he fell in behind her. *What’d you get yourself into this time, you bleedin’ ponce?*

~*~

Turns out, the Desoto was stashed in one of the nearby cemeteries. An abandoned mausoleum was the perfect place for the outdated car to gather more rust. Buffy watched as Spike rolled the car out of the stone building, and set about trying to start the grand heap of scrap metal.

“Is it broken?” Buffy asked hesitantly. They really needed this, it would take forever to track Giles on foot.

“No, Slayer. The cars just been sitting for a while. Give it a sec.” Spike turned the key a few more times before the engine roared to life. “Hop in, luv.”

“I am not your love,” Buffy muttered to herself as she climbed into the car, but her heart wasn’t in it. It reeked of stale cigarettes and booze, but the inside was spacious. And dark. “Spike -?” Before she could get any further with her questions, she was thrown back against the seat - and the vampire sitting next to her - as the car took off at breakneck speeds. Grabbing at the door for purchase, she looked around for a seatbelt, panicking slightly when she didn’t find one.

“Spike!” her voice was shrill and she knew it, but they were going really fast. *If I knew this was how he drove, I would have offered to drive.* The car took a curve to fast, and she once again slid across the bench seat into Spike’s side. *Oh my god, I’m going to die, with only a neutered vampire as a witness.* “Slow down! How can you see anything with this paint? You might survive a car crash, but I don’t want to have to find out if I can.”

“Bugger off, Slayer. Thought you wanted to find your Watcher, yeah? But I’m sure if we slow down, the gents that took ‘im will be right nice. Maybe offer ‘im a spot o’ tea while he’s waiting to be rescued.” He didn’t so much as glance at her, but as he was speaking to her Buffy thought she felt the car slow marginally.

Spike’s window was rolled down, and every once in a while he would slow down while appearing to sniff the air. Letting Spike do his thing, Buffy tried to come up with a plan. *This is all my fault. If I hadn’t been to worried about running into Spike I would have already been at Giles’ apartment.* Giles. Just thinking his name made her want to cry. He was her Watcher, sure, but Buffy had been to the end of the world with him and back, literally, multiple times. And although not everything was peachy keen all the time, she knew she’d be absolutely lost without him. *All my fault.*

She could feel the tears in her eyes, and quickly brought a hand to her face. It wouldn’t do to get all teary eyed now. Just because the only father she’d ever really counted on was missing, didn’t mean that things were going to fall apart. *I’m the Slayer. I fix things, and kill things, and I can fix this.* At least her mother was safe and sou-

“Oh, god! My mother.” Buffy exclaimed suddenly. “I didn’t even call her, what if they have her too?” Looking out the window she read the first street sign she could see, “We have to turn around Spike. Right now!”

She was shouting and she knew it, but she was starting to panic, her mind coming up with all sorts of gruesome possibilities. Which really wasn’t that difficult because in her life Buffy had come to redefine gruesome.

As she was speaking, well shrieking really, Spike had slammed on the breaks, pulling an extremely sharp U-turn, in an extremely crowded intersection. Buffy once again slid across the seat into the vampire, but she barely even noticed. Even the sounds of honking horns and obscenities coming from the drivers they had just cut off couldn’t penetrate her mind. *Please be alright Mommy.*

It couldn’t have been more then a couple minutes later that the Desoto pulled up in front of her house on Revello, but for all her Slayer speed, her rush to the front door seemed to take forever. She felt vaguely comforted by the fact that Spike was right behind her, apparently just as concerned about her mom as she was. As she approached the front door she noticed, with some trepidation, that all the lights in the house seemed to be on. The knob turning smoothly in her hand did nothing to lessen her fears that her mother had been abducted. Or worse.

Throwing the door open, Buffy looked around anxiously for any sign of her mother. She was rooted to the spot however, when her eyes took in the scene before her. She let out a little oomph as Spike barreled into her from behind. Grabbing at her for purchase his hand clutched at her waist, “Wha-.” His words were cut off as he peered over Buffy’s head and into the dining room.

“Oh, bugger.”