Buffy came up behind her mother. “What’s up Giles?” She tried to keep her voice light as she addressed her watcher, she knew he was here to nag her about Spike again and she just was NOT in the mood for this right now.
 
“Buffy, I wish to speak to you about Spike, I went by his crypt and he was not there. I assume you are aware of this?” Giles craned his neck to try to see into the house past the two Summer’s women who were effectively blocking the doorway.
 
Buffy affected a look of shock. “No, really, wow I guess he must have gone out hunting and is killing half the town right now…Giles we MUST put a stop to him! Bad evil vampire that he is!”
 
Giles let out a sigh of frustration, “yes, well I am glad to see you are taking this seriously!”
 
“Giles, chill ok, of course I know he is gone, what did you think he was going to get up and walk away by himself? Did you see his injuries? He is here, Mom and I brought him home.”
 
“Yes well surprisingly that was my first assumption, however I really must protest. Buffy have you given any thought to this, not only are you endangering yourself you are also putting your mother in considerable danger.”
 
“What, Spike is going to murder us in our beds? Is that what you are implying? Giles he isn’t even conscious yet, how much harm do you think he is going to do, also even once he does wake up, broken legs, smashed ribs, broken collar bone…yeah real dangerous scary vampire! But Giles, here’s the biggy, ok … even if he was all healed he still isn’t gonna hurt us ok. What can’t you get about this, Spike loves me, he is NOT gonna hurt me, he is not gonna hurt Mom, he likes my mom. He is NOT going to hurt anyone Giles. God, why can’t you just get that?”
 
“Why, probably because he is a vampire Buffy, vampires do not love, they do not have feelings, they are evil, they have no soul.”
 
“A soul, that’s what this is about? Gee Giles forgive me if I’m not on the whole the soul is everything bandwagon. Angel has a soul, did you see what he did, did you get a good look at Spike, or hear the things Angel was saying about me being his property? Last I checked Giles, Hitler had a soul, didn’t he? Or Charles Manson, or Jack the Ripper. Or hey what about John Doe who woke up one morning and decided he couldn’t take it any more so he shot his wife and kids and then himself! No Spike doesn’t have a soul but he is a good man and he does love me and he won’t hurt me and I’m sorry Giles but obviously everything you THINK you know about vampires is just a load of bull because vampires can love and they do feel!”
 
“Buffy, I can see the point you are making in regards to the soul, and yes, people with souls do do bad things, unforgivable things. Which only makes what I am saying more pertinent, if it is difficult enough to do the correct thing with the benefit of a soul for guidance it is indubitably more difficult if not impossible without such assistance.” Giles removed his glasses and subconsciously began to clean them, drawing a deep breath he continued on with what he hoped was the convincing argument he had been going over in his head for the last several hours.
 
“Furthermore as you have seen fit to bring up the subject of Spike’s injuries. I feel I must point out that his injuries are, what can only be described as, horrendous. The pain the creature must be undergoing would be colossal. It may take months maybe even years for his injuries to heal and even then I cannot imagine that he would regain full use of his limbs and would surely be left deformed and in constant torment. I feel I must point out that it is surely the most caring and humane thing possible to put the poor creature out of its misery….”
 
“WHAT?” Buffy was furious, how could he possibly be using emotional blackmail to try to get her to murder her boyfriend? “How dare you, how could you possibly….”
 
“Buffy.” Her mother interjected. “Calm down honey, it’s ok, no one is going to harm Spike.” She looked pointedly at Giles. “Mr Giles, while I am perfectly well aware that you are Buffy’s watcher, I am her mother and this is my home. Spike is guest in my home and Buffy and I will see to his care. You needn’t concern yourself for his welfare, I can assure you we will make every effort to assure his comfort. Now if you don’t mind , I am afraid I shall have to ask you to leave, we have things to do. Goodnight.” With that she closed the door on the astonished face of the usually unflappable watcher.
 
Once the door was safely closed Joyce turned and folded her daughter into her embrace. “It’s ok honey, we will take care of him.” She paused for a moment and then continued on, her voice a little less assured. “He will be alright, won’t he?”
 
“Yeah Mom, I think he will, I could hear his bones moving and his wounds and bruises are definitely mending. I don’t know how long it would have taken him to recover if he wasn’t getting my blood though, especially seeing he couldn’t even hunt they way he is.” Buffy allowed herself a small shudder at the thought of Spike hunting and then quickly dismissed the image. “He is definitely getting stronger, he fed properly last time, not just me dribbling blood in his mouth.” She gave her mom a hopeful smile. “I’m gonna go back down and check on him, why don’t you go on up to bed, I’ll probably stay down there and watch him.”
 
“All right Buffy, if you need any help or you want me to watch him for a while so you can get some sleep just let me know.” Joyce turned towards the stairs then stopped turning back to her daughter, ‘why don’t you pull out another one of the camp beds, they are in with the rest of the camping gear on the lower shelf near the dryer. I’ll bring you some blankets and a pillow, that way you can at least get some rest, but you will be able to hear if he wakes up.”
 
“Yeah that’s a good idea, thanks Mom, I’ll do that!”
 
Going over to Spike’s bed just to check on him first before looking for the camping gear Buffy was delighted to see a pair of shining gold eyes staring at her. Dropping to the floor beside his head she reached out and gently stroked the soft curls away from his forehead. “Hey, I wondered when you were gonna wake up.” She lent over a placed a soft kiss on his still swollen lips.
 
“Heard you talking to the watcher pet.” His voice was so quiet she could barely hear him. “You an’ your mum. Thankyou love, the things you said, the things your mum said….” His voice trailed away and he turned his face aside, embarrassed.
 
“Shh, don’t be silly.” She soothed him with her voice and gentle strokes. Looking up she asked, “so how come the bumpies?”
 
“Oh, it helps with the pain, I can get rid of them though.”
 
“No, no I didn’t mean it like that, Spike, I love you, bumps and all! I just wondered, you know, I thought maybe it was so you could see better or something.”
 
Spike laughed then coughed as the laugh jarred his healing ribs. “No love, I can see just fine. It just raises my pain threshold is all.”
 
“How are your legs? I wasn’t sure if they needed splinting, but I could hear your ribs moving into place and I figured your legs would do the same thing? I can splint them though if it would help.”
 
“No love, they’ll mend by themselves. Gonna have to ask you to put my shoulder back in though, but that can wait for a while, let some bones mend first. Legs are getting better, at this rate they should be mostly usable by the mornin’.”
 
“Well they’ll get better quicker if you feed, I am so glad you are awake the whole cutting my wrist open with scissors was getting so old!” Buffy rolled her eyes.
 
Spike couldn’t help the smile her antics brought, God he loved this girl! She held her left wrist to his mouth and played gently with the curls falling softly across his forehead with the other hand. As Spikes fangs gently pierced her flesh and he began to take gentle pulls of blood she let out a quiet moan, lowering her head to rest on her right arm as it lay across the bed she stared into the beautiful gold eyes of her lover and allowed all her love for him to show in her face and her eyes.
 
Joyce paused halfway down the stairs, blankets and pillow in her arms temporarily forgotten as she watched the fearsome being below feeding on the lifeblood of her only child. She knew she should be horrified, should reach for the nearest weapon and beat the creature away from her daughter, protect her offspring at all costs. However as she watched the proceedings all she could see was the gentleness, the love, the devotion the pair felt for each other. Shaking herself from her reverie she proceeded down the stairs, keeping her voice calm as if the event before her was normal and commonplace she announced, “I brought your blankets and pillow, I see our patient is awake, good to see you recovering Spike!”
 
Buffy turned with surprise at her mothers voice. Spike had noticed her on the stairs, seen her steel herself then continue on. Gently releasing Buffy’s wrist and licking the small wound closed he looked up at Buffy’s mum. “Yeah thanks to you ladies I am.”
 
“Well I’m off to bed, I’ll see you two in the morning, Buffy here are your things, would you like me to get that bed out for you?”
 
“Um, no, it’s ok Mom, I’ll get it, you go on up to bed.” Getting up she moved to her mom and gave her a grateful hug and a kiss goodnight. “Hopefully Spike will be moving about by the morning!”
 
Buffy went over to the shelf her mom had indicated earlier and got out another camp bed which she set up as close to Spikes as possible. As she set about making up her bed Spike watched her, a content smile on his now almost healed lips. He allowed his face to change back to his usual human features as Buffy’s blood worked it’s miracle on his body, healing him and easing the pain.
 
She lay down on her side on her bed and reached over entwining her fingers with Spikes where they lay resting against his abdomen.  Looking in his eyes she smiled. He was healing quite noticeably now, the burns on his face all but gone, his mouth no longer swollen and split. The purple bruising that had covered his body had faded to a sickly yellow and his ribs no longer made the horrible grinding noises they had been making so she assumed they were back in their correct places now. He healed much faster than she did even with her slayer healing, mind you, she allowed herself a brief moment of smugness, it was her blood that was allowing him to heal so rapidly!
 
“So love, I kinda missed the end of the show, what happened to the great poof?” He raised his scarred eyebrow in inquiry.
 
“I told him to get out of my town and never show his face again or I’d kill him, I think he got the message!”
 
“Have to admit, would have loved to hear you dusted the bastard, but runnin him outta town ‘s pretty damn good!” Spike attempted to stifle a yawn.
 
“You should get some sleep baby. If you wake up and I’m asleep, wake me up, ok!” Buffy gave him the ‘I’m serious’ look.
 
“Ok love, I will…promise!” He raised their intertwined hands to his lips, kissing her fingers tenderly and nuzzling against her hand before allowing their hands to fall back to his side. “You get some sleep too sweetheart. I love you Buffy.” His eyes captured hers.
 
“I love you too Spike, I was so scared, when I realised what Angel was up to I was so terrified I wouldn’t get to you in time.”
 
“S’all right love, you did, knew you would…don’t know how, I just knew you’d come.” yawning again he again told her to get some sleep, closing his eyes he drifted off.
 
*********************
 
Their night was spent alternating between dozing for short periods and then Spike feeding some more. Each time he woke Buffy noticed the huge level of improvement in his injuries. By the time the sun was rising only the faintest shadows of bruises marred his lovely alabaster skin. His collarbone and ribs were completely healed, the breaks in his right leg had knitted but were still fragile, his left knee was healing but still quite painful. He had managed to sit up and pull the sweat pants on.
 
“Ok love, time to fix this arm.”
 
“What? Oh…um…you sure?”
 
“Gotta be put back in pet, won’t do that by itself. You can help me, or if it bothers you, go on up and have yourself some breakfast and I can use a doorframe to pop it back in.”
 
“No. It’s ok…just tell me what to do.” Buffy smiled bravely at him.
 
Spike walked her through putting his dislocated arm back into place, in the end it was a lot easier than she had thought it would be, easier for her that is. Spike on the other hand had firmly wedged a wooden stake lengthways in his mouth to bite down on and keep from screaming out and terrifying her mother. By the time his arm was safely back in it’s socket Buffy had one less usable stake as Spike’s teeth had bitten almost all the way through it.
 
Sitting down on the bed next to him and snuggling close Buffy soothed him with soft caresses and loving words. Turning in his embrace she sought out his lips, gentle at first then deeper and more passionate. Breaking away for much needed breath Buffy turned her head, exposing her neck as she drew his face gently towards her. Moaning with pleasure as his tongue lapped lovingly at her pulse. He nuzzled closer kissing and licking, sucking and nibbling, worrying gently at the racing pulse beneath his hungry mouth. Allowing his face to shift he slipped razor sharp fangs through soft tender skin. Waves of pleasure and love engulfed them both as he gently fed on the glorious nectar
that flooded his mouth and his senses. With a desperate groan of longing he withdrew and licked tenderly at the wound, closing and healing while at the same time prolonging the contact they both ached for. Wrapping his arms around her he drew her closer to his body as she seemed to melt into him, both of them craving as much contact as possible.
 
They clung to each other for an eternity before sounds of movement in the kitchen above drifted down to them. Reluctantly separating they tidied themselves up just as Joyce made an appearance in the doorway above.
 
 
*******************
 
Later that morning Buffy made her way into the school library, coat wrapped bundle in hand. The library was vacant apart from her tweed clad watcher. Marching up to his desk she unwrapped the bundle and carefully placed the sword on the desk in front of him.
 
“Here’s the sword Spike gave me, he has no idea what the runes mean, they were on the original that he got the guy to use as the pattern to make it from. You can look them up, work out what it means and when you are done I want my sword back, in the same condition it was given to you ok!”
 
She turned to leave the room, after a few steps she stopped, turning back to her watcher. “Oh and in case you were wondering, Spike is much better, thankyou. Almost completely healed in fact. Now I am going back home I will see you tomorrow.”
 
“Buffy.” Giles voice was hesitant as he called after her. As she stopped and looked at him he continued. “Thankyou Buffy, I will look into it if only for the fact that if Spike is unaware of the meaning of these runes it is quite possible they could be dangerous in some way, unlikely but possible and it is always best to be careful.” Removing his glasses and cleaning them, as he always did when nervous or agitated, he continued “I would like to apologise, I have given your words a great deal of thought and I can see that you were not completely wrong in your evaluation of the necessity of a soul. It is just that the concept of a vampire that chooses to be good, to not hunt or kill, well it was inconceivable to me. I am willing to accept that I may well have been wrong in everything I have up to now held to be true. I hope for both our sakes that you are correct in your assessment of Spike. Well…that’s all I wanted to say, I hope you can forgive me and understand that anything I have said or done was only done out of a wish to protect you.”
 
Without answering Buffy launched herself at her watcher, throwing herself into his arms. “Thankyou Giles, you have no idea what that means to me. You’ll see, he IS a good man Giles I know it and you will too, you just have to give him a chance. I better go before Principal Snyder sees me or no way is he gonna believe Mom’s call about me being sick.”
 
With that Buffy turned and rushed out of the library and home feeling happier than she could remember being in a long time.