*Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews everyone. I really had a blast writing this chapter, and it's a little longer then usual. Enjoy!

The wide smile on Buffy’s face faded as she and Spike walked into Xander’s basement, letting the door shut loudly behind them. With a start both Xander and Willow went sprawling onto the floor in their mad scramble away from the window. Willow’s face was bright red and Xander was glaring at her, confusion and anger showing clearly on his face.

Hopping up quickly, Willow dusted herself off and then turned toward her and Spike. “Buffy I swear I didn’t do another spell. I mean. I did a spell. But it was the locator spell. And you *told* me to do that spell. So you can’t be mad at me.”

Laughing, Buffy dropped Spike’s hand, “Of course you didn’t do a spell Willow. Spike and I - ”

Willow cut her off, “oh no. It’s the same as before. She doesn’t think it’s a spell, so you think you’re actually in love again. Buffy I’m going to fix it. Just as soon as we get Giles, you’ll see.”

Xander started in next. “It has to be a spell, Buff. I mean, that’s the only time you’ve sucked face with evil undead here, and Willow and I saw him propose to you again! It’ll be okay, we promise.”

Buffy turned to look at Spike when she heard him let out an exasperated sigh, “Will you two just listen for a minute. There. Is. No. Spell. Buffy and I were dodging commandos out there and-”

“And you just happened to take a make out break?” Xander interrupted.

“No, you git. It turns out that the Slayer’s latest boy toy here is one of those soldier boys. We were *pretending* to be engaged so that they wouldn’t think I was a vampire. Geez, you’re serious Slayer? These are the good guys?” With a snort Spike hoisted himself up on the dryer. Pulling out a pack of cigarettes and lighting one quickly, before continuing his argument with Xander.

Buffy’s mind was spinning as everyone was arguing all around her. Sitting in the relative safety of Xander’s basement she took stock of her situation. *I kissed Spike.* Her heart seemed to speed up and she was sure everyone could hear it pounding in her chest, but she didn’t care. She wanted to do the snoopy dance, she was so excited. *I kissed Spike. But, wait. He didn’t kiss back. Did he? I didn’t give him a chance to. He sooo would have if it had lasted longer then two seconds. He wants to kiss me right? I *liked* kissing him. Oh my god, I am going insane! FOCUS BUFFY. Evil vampire kisses, or saving Giles?*

Lost in her admittedly rambling train of thought, she didn’t realize that the yelling had trailed off and that everyone was staring at her. Trying to wipe the goofy grin off her face, she drew herself up. *It’s Slayer time.*

*Wow. That was just incredibly lame. Focus, Buffy. PLEASE,* she pleaded with herself.

“Okay, guys. Here’s the sitch. We didn’t find Giles, because we had to go check on my mom. She’s fine, and she’s going to check in here tomorrow morning. When we got back here, the place was surrounded by commandos, and we did the only thing we could think of. Riley already thinks that Spike and I are engaged because of the spell Willow *did* do, and this way, we could avoid a fight. A fight, by the way, I am so not in the right frame of mind for.”

Holding up a hand, she cut off any protests that Xander and Willow might have thrown at her. “Now, did you find Giles with the locator spell?”

Willow nodded, and turned toward where she had spread out a map of Sunnydale on Xander’s coffee table. “I did it twice to make sure they weren’t moving. And it seems that they’re settled over on Thompson Street.” Making a face, Willow swallowed hard. “You know that house that you had to fight that crazy vampire in last year?”

Buffy groaned as she looked at where Willow was pointing on the map. “Okay, so maybe this is another test. Like the cruciamentum.” Pacing back and forth, she let herself think out loud. “Last year that stupid council took my powers away, maybe now they’re taking my Watcher away? God, I hate these people.” Smiling wickedly, she looked at Spike. “I wonder if your chip will let you kill people if I say it’s okay?”

Shaking her head furiously she plopped down onto the sofa. “Okay, so we can storm the place. I mean, how hard can a bunch of Watchers be to take down? And they don’t know Spike is chipped, so you can come with and be all intimidating and British. Wait, they’re probably used to British people. You’ll just have to be all growly at them. I mean, Wesley freaked out just from a *glimpse* of Angel and that was before he knew he was a vampire. And Spike, you’re scarier then Angel is for sure.”

In the midst of her monologue Buffy failed to see the confused looks being exchanged by the two humans and one vampire occupying the basement with her. She could save Giles. They knew where he was now, and they knew who took him. It would be okay.

Jumping to her feet suddenly, Buffy spun towards Willow. “Oh, genius idea here! Willow, do you still have that tranquilizer gun?” When Willow responded that she did have it, Buffy was positively beaming. “Great, then here is the plan.”

Outlining her idea to the Scoobies, and Spike *Can’t forget Spike.* Buffy was feeling much more in power then she had all night. *We’ll rescue Giles and be back here before sun up. Then I’m going to figure out why I’m all emotional Buffy, and why exactly Spike is looking at me like that.*

Blushing furiously at the look he was giving her, she turned away, quickly. She knew that there was a stash of weapons somewhere. Her eyes alighted on the weapons chest that seemed to be a permanent staple of all her friends’ homes, and she made her way toward it. *Crossbow, crossbow, where is that crossbow.* But she could feel her eyes on his and it made her fumble, dropping a quiver full of bolts all over the floor.

“Shit.” Bending down swiftly to pick them up, she was surprised when Spike’s cool hand covered hers. “Don’t worry about it, Buffy,” he said seriously. “We’ll find him.”

*Oh god, he’s misreading me. He thinks I’m nervous about Giles. Not about what happened in the car. And outside the car.* Looking at him closely, she started. His blue eyes were on hers and for a second she just knelt there, the forgotten bolts scattered around her, as she studied his face. *I wonder what he’s thinking right now.*

Buffy didn’t have time to wonder long, before Xander was calling out to her. “Uh, Buffy. There’s someone outside. And I think they’re going to come to the door.”

“Shit!” looking around quickly she realized that there were weapons strewn everywhere. “Quick! Hide the weapons. In the chest!”

Scrambling quickly the four of them managed to throw any incriminating object under Xander’s bed, and then flipped on the television, trying to look casual. Just as they were sitting down, there was a quick knock at the door.

Buffy motioned for Xander to open it, and then leaned back onto the love seat, trying to seem as if she was at ease, when in reality the calm, which had been so elusive tonight, was quickly slipping away.

Xander opened the door widely, so that they could all see who was knocking at 1:30 in the morning. Buffy, Willow and Spike’s eyes all widened in recognition as Riley, dressed in black pants and a black turtleneck stood in the doorway.

“Buffy? Willow?” he asked, apparent confusion on his face. “Is this your house? I thought you lived in the dorms.”

Buffy stood up, and walked towards the door a ways. She stopped when she neared Spike, who was once again sitting on top of the dryer. “We do. This is Xander’s place. We were just having an impromptu get together.”

“What can we help you with, mate?” Spike asked, slipping gracefully off the dryer, in order to stand behind Buffy. She felt his arm around her shoulder, and smiled again, letting out a small sigh of contentment as she leaned back against him. “We were actually on the way out. Xander here, was taking us out for a pint, ain’t that right, pet?”

Buffy hated to see the look of hurt that flashed across Riley’s face when he watched her and Spike. But it couldn’t be helped. *No one steals my vampires but me. Oh geez. Did I really just think that? God, that’s it. I am certifiable.*

“I was just wondering if I could use your phone to call a tow truck. I have a flat and no spare, and since I saw the light on down here, I figured someone was still awake.” Riley applied. For all the world sounding as if that was the truth.

Xander drew the door back all the way, and then motioned Riley inside, before shutting it firmly behind him. “Phone is on the coffee table.”

For a moment there was a very uncomfortable silence, the only sound that of the television. Xander, Willow, Buffy, and Spike all stared unabashedly as he made his phone call. Buffy could tell that he was uncomfortable with all their scrutiny, but she didn’t care.

When Riley had placed the phone back on the receiver he looked up at all of them, shifting nervously. “Well, thanks everyone. I guess I’ll just go wait outside for the tow.” Walking slowly to the doorway, he paused, hand on the knob. “Are you sure things are alright? It seems a little… tense in here.”

Buffy was about to speak, but Willow beat her to it. “Oh, everything’s really great Riley. Xander’s just a little cranky ‘cuz Buffy and Spike made up and are engaged again.”

“Willow!” Xander shouted, face turning red.

*Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Willow.* Buffy thought, just glad that Willow hadn’t blown their cover.

“Well, you are,” she replied. “That’s what the drinks are for. We’re going to celebrate. We’d invite you along, but it’s pretty much just the old gang from high school.” Shrugging her shoulders apologetically she shifted her gaze to Buffy and Spike. “And aren’t they just the cutest thing? Oh, sure. They fight and they fight, but they really just love each other deep down.”

Giggling Willow looked at Xander. “Why, underneath all that leather and bleach, Spike’s really just a big ol’ teddy bear. He even cries on my shoulder when he gets all upset.”

Buffy felt Spike stiffen and had to fight to suppress a giggle herself. Turning around to face him, she wrapped her arms around his waist, glancing up at him, eyes glittering with mischief. The glare he was shooting Willow was absolutely priceless.

“Don’t worry, honey. We still know you’re big and bad. And I still love you.”

Buffy could actually *hear* Xander rolling his eyes behind her and she laughed.

“But Riley, you don’t want to miss you’re tow truck, and we should probably get going before all the bars close.” Buffy turned around again, drawing Spike’s arms firmly around her waist, so she could lean into him. “I’m sure I’ll see you on campus sometime.”

Walking out the door, Xander finally spoke. “Yeah, and we’ll make sure you’re invited to the engagement party.”

As soon as he was out the door, the Slayer and her three friends broke into fits of giggles. “Did you see his face?” Willow gasped out.

“Whose? Riley’s or Spike’s?” Xander asked, holding his ribs from laughing. “Can we do that more often?”

Buffy tried to bring herself under control, and thought she was doing a successful job of it until she looked at Spike. He was standing in the same spot, glowering at everyone, doing a great job of looking every inch the dangerous predator. She couldn’t manage to get her gigging under control.

“Is that all I am to you, Slayer? A joke?” His words for her ears alone, and despite the situation, his voice sobered her. He was dead serious.

“What? Spike, no.” His expression was unreadable, but he seemed hurt.

“No, I think that’s exactly what I am. You all get your rocks off by laughing at my misfortune.”

Stepping towards him, she was surprised when he moved away from her. “Listen, Spike. It was funny because you are anything *but* a cuddly teddy bear. You are a scary demon teddy bear. And it’s even funnier because you are so much the better man in this situation and we *totally* rubbed it in Riley’s face.”

She offered him a tentative smile and took another step forward. This time he didn’t walk away. “See, good funny.”

He was looking at her suspiciously, but the hurt seemed to be gone from his face, replaced by something she couldn’t quite read. Studying her face intently, he finally broke eye contact, mumbling, “if you say so Slayer.”

Buffy watched as Spike began throwing weapons in a duffle bag. “Can we get moving, then? We got a watcher to find, don’t we?”

With those words, all the laughter died off and they got down to business.

*We’re coming, Giles.*


~*~

Riley Finn crouched down low behind the bushes he was using as a cover. He had three other men stationed around the house, and they all thought he was crazy for dragging them on this pointless stakeout. But something wasn’t right here, and he knew it.

Watching as the four friends made their way out the basement door, laughing and joking, he wanted to scream. That Spike guy opened the car door for Buffy, who reached up on tiptoes to give him a quick kiss before sliding in the car. While Willow and the other guy climbed into the backseat speaking to low for him to make out their words. For all the world, they looked just like a group of people going out for the evening.

But he *knew* something was wrong. Something was off about the whole situation and he intended to find out.

As the car pulled out of the driveway, he signaled to his men to let them know that they would be following.

There was no way Buffy would willingly be with a guy like that, and Riley was sure he could break whatever hold he had on her.