(Xander's basement. Spike is about to swan dive onto a propped up stake)

SPIKE: Good bye, Dru. See you in hell.

(He misses the stake, smashing the table instead. Xander & Willow enter.)

WILLOW: What are you doing?

SPIKE: Bloody rot. Can't a person knock?

WILLOW: What were you doing?

XANDER: You were trying to stake yourself!

SPIKE: Fag off! It's no concern of yours.

XANDER: Is, too. For one thing that's my shirt you're about to dust. For another, we've shared a lot here. You should have trusted me enough to do it for you.

WILLOW: Xander!

XANDER: What? He wants to die, I want to help.

WILLOW: It's ooky. We know him, we can't just let him poof himself!

SPIKE: Oh, but you can. You know I'd drain you drier than the Sahara if I had half a chance. And besides, I'm beyond pathetic. Stuck in this basement washing skivvies for a blighter I wouldn't have bothered to bite a few months ago.

XANDER: Hey!

SPIKE: I mean, am I even remotely scary anymore? Tell me the truth.

(Willow just looks at him and he jumps at her, curling his hands into claws. )

WILLOW: Well, the shirt is kinda... not very threatening. And the short pants... but you know it could also be because I know you can't bite, which I guess isn't really what you need to hear right now, is it?

SPIKE: Stop, please, just clear out.

XANDER: Fine. But you break anything else while we're gone and you'll be sleeping in the garage, buster.

WILLOW: We can't leave him here like this! We'll have to take him with us to the museum.

SPIKE: Oh, you go on. I won't do anything. I feel better now. Promise.

(Xander puts an arm around Spike's shoulder as they walk towards the steps.)

XANDER: Think of the happy. If we don't find what we're looking for, we face an apocalypse.

SPIKE: Really? You're not just saying that?

• Spike's defanging
• Spike's uneasy truce with the gang
• Xander & Spike

written by: Marti Noxon, David Fury, and Jane Espenson; . Full transcript at:
http://www.studiesinwords.de/67doomed.html