Buffy was sitting on the back porch going through her weapons' chest
and taking inventory.  She really loved her birthday present.  It was
large but the wheels made it easily portable, which had certainly
been an advantage tonight.  It was Wednesday night, Dawson's Creek
was on and Buffy's boyfriend and little sister were firmly ensconced
in front of the television. There would be no patrolling with Spike
until it was over.

Once Dawn had found out that Spike watched Dawson's Creek, she had
insisted that he watch it with her every week.  So there they were
comfortably settled on the couch, snarky comments flying fast and
furious, teenaged girl and century-old vampire.  Best friends.  The
oddest of odd couples.

This was another manifestation of the difference between Spike and
Angel.  Angel had always seemed completely bewildered whenever Buffy
or her friends made reference to pop culture.  Spike was completely
up-to-date.  Well, except for the punk look, but since the look
worked for him, Buffy didn't complain.  And Angel had never been
comfortable around Joyce or Dawn.  Spike had loved them both before
he'd ever loved Buffy.

And perhaps that was one of the biggest reasons she lo...  Her mind
shied away from that thought.  Best return to the task as hand.  She
had started going through the chest in the living room, but choruses
of "Keep in down, Slayer.  Trying to watch my story here."  And "Gee,
Buffy, noisy much?" made her give up and remove to the chilly
outdoors. 

Finishing her inventory - she'd need to carve more stakes soon - she
closed the chest and brought it back into the house.  The final
credits were rolling when she wheeled the chest into the living
room.  Spike was headed for the closet to retrieve his duster when
the front door opened and Xander walked in followed by Anya carrying
a Magic Box shopping bag.

"Hey, Buffy," Xander said stiffly as he stepped into the living
room.  "Getting a little careless leaving weapons on the front porch,
aren't you?"

"Huh?"

Xander lifted up the ornate sword he held in his hand.  "This was
leaning against the side of the house next to the front door."

Buffy stared at the sword in confusion.  "I've never seen that sword
before, Xander," she said.  "Spike, did you leave it outside?"

"No.  I've never seen it before either."

Buffy reached out and took the sword from Xander.  As soon as her
hand touched the grip, a red mist shot from the blade, swirled around
the room and disappeared into the wall.  At the same time, the front
door, which had been standing slightly ajar, slammed shut hard enough
to rattle the windows.

"This can't be good," Dawn said shakily.

***

"So, the doors and windows won't open and the phone won't work. 
We're trapped."

"'Fraid so, love.  Whatever it was came out of that sword got us
entombed in this house."

"Entombed?" Dawn said in a scared little voice.

A contrite look immediately crossed Spike's face.  "Now don't you get
all upset, Niblet.  We'll figure out what's going on.  Willow, Tara
and Anya are workin' out what that thing is and how to get the door
open."

Dawn nodded and tried to smile bravely.  Spike gave her an awkward
pat on the back, but he remained close to the girl.  Whatever the
hell it was that had them trapped and was now banging around the
walls like a clumsy poltergeist wasn't going to get near Dawn; Spike
would see to that.

Buffy noted that Spike was guarding Dawn and so she felt free to
concentrate on the puzzle of the sword.  There were runes carved on
the blade and Willow and Anya were trying to decipher them.  The task
was made more difficult since they were also cut off from the
Internet.  Books were spread out over the dining room table, but so
far they'd found nothing to help.  Most of the books they needed were
at The Magic Box.

Tara was attempting to locate a spell they could cast that would
counter the force that kept the doors and windows sealed.  She hoped
that a general release spell would do the trick, but feared they'd
need something much more powerful.  And although they had many spell
components here at the house, including the ones that Anya had
delivered tonight, Tara was sure that they had nothing on hand that
would help.  She swallowed nervously and glanced at her girlfriend. 
Tara was never comfortable around the black arts whereas they
fascinated Willow.  Any spell strong enough to break the binding
force on the house would have to come from the dark side of the
spectrum.  Tara hated the thought of Willow casting a black magic
spell.  She hoped they would find another solution. 

Feeling helpless, she returned to searching through the spellbook.

***

The first attack came after Buffy decided to check on Dawn.  The
younger girl sat curled up in an armchair, her body language
screaming out the tension she felt.  Spike sat next to her on the
armrest, his predator's senses stretched to their fullest.

Buffy stepped away from the table and towards her sister.  As she
passed near a wall, a demon lunged passed her.  It was large and red,
had several horny protuberances along the sides of its head and was
ugly as sin.  It pushed her to the side, catching Buffy by surprise. 
It grabbed at the sword but Buffy was able to knock it aside and beat
it to the weapon.  Before it had a chance to wrestle it from her,
Spike was there knocking it back with a powerful punch in the face. 
The demon flew back and disappeared again into the wall.

"You alright, love?" Spike asked with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Spike.  Where the hell did that thing come from?"

"The wall," Xander answered excitedly.  "It just popped out of the
wall and then back in again after Spike hit it."

Buffy looked at the sword in her hand.  "Do you think that's what the
red mist was that came out of the sword?  That demon?"

"Either that or you've got the world's largest termites, love," Spike
answered.

Buffy smiled a little and then looked over at Anya.  "Know what kind
of demon it is, Anya?"

The ex-vengeance demon shook her head.  "This one's new to me,
Buffy.  I know of a few demons that can walk through walls, but I've
never seen or heard of one like that one before.  I'd guess it's tied
to the sword somehow, so that at least helps in our search."  She
turned to Willow.  "Do you still have that demon catalog?"

Willow nodded and went to fetch it.  Anya sighed as she looked at the
books spread around her.  "If we don't find it there, I don't think
we're going to find it or a translation of the runes in these books. 
They're pretty general.  We really need Giles' research material at
The Magic Box.  Or better yet, Giles."

"Neither of which we can get to," Buffy said in frustration.  "Okay,
well keep searching.  Maybe we'll get lucky.  In the meantime,
everyone stay away from the walls."

"And I think you should stay close to that sword, Buffy, in case the
demon makes another grab for it," Xander said.  Buffy nodded in
acknowledgement.  Things settled down again with only the noise of
the demon in the walls and the soft murmur of conversation from the
research group. 

Tara went into the kitchen to brew some tea for everyone and returned
laden with a heavy tray.  Just as she reached the table, she stumbled
slightly.  Without thinking, Buffy jumped up to help her friend.  As
soon as her back was turned, the demon emerged from the wall again
and this time was successful in grabbing the sword.  It thrust the
blade out and only Buffy's quick Slayer reflexes prevented her from
being skewered.  Kicking out, she managed to hit the demon solidly on
its chest sending it flying back into the living room.  Xander had
been nodding off in a chair and leaped up as the demon landed at his
feet.  Before he'd had a chance to move more than a couple steps
back, the demon bounded to its feet and swung the blade in a powerful
arc right at Xander's unprotected body.

Xander found himself soaring to his right as someone pushed him out
of the way of the blade.  A loud cry of pain immediately followed and
Xander looked over in time to see Spike collapse to the floor.  Blood
was pouring from a deep slash that went from sternum to belt buckle. 

"Spike!" Buffy cried out rushing forward.  Reaching the demon she
ducked under as the demon swung the blade at her, reached up and tore
the sword from its hands.  The demon once again sought refuge in the
walls, but this time Buffy shoved the sword into the wall after it. 
A scream reverberated from the walls and the sword glowed bright red
as the demon was sucked back into the blade.  Buffy pulled the sword
from the wall and broke the blade over her knee.  Immediately, her
ears popped as if there had been a change in air pressure. From
everyone else's reactions, they had experienced the same phenomenon. 
Buffy threw the broken sword to the floor and knelt beside her
wounded lover.

"Spike?"

"'m all right, love.  Just a scratch," Spike gasped out. 

"Dawn!" Buffy yelled.  "Go get some towels.  We need to try to
staunch the bleeding."  Looking up at the two witches who stood white-
faced nearby, she asked, "Do you guys have a spell you can use to
seal this wound?"

The two girls exchanged glances and Tara answered.  "I know a spell
to help seal small cuts, but nothing that big.  A-and besides, I
don't know how a healing spell would work on a vampire.  T-their
bodies aren't really, uh..."

"Not really alive, pet?" Spike finished for her.

Tara blushed and nodded uncomfortably as if ashamed her healing
spells seemed discriminatory.

"'t's alright, luv." Spike gasped out.  "Vampires don't need healing
spells.  I'll be fine."

Tara gave him a small smile and blushed shyly.  She felt terrible
that she had no comfort to offer him.  He was obviously in great pain
though he was trying his best not to show it.

"We need to get this wound closed," Buffy said as she pressed the
thick towels Dawn had brought into the deep laceration.  "He's losing
all his blood."  Looking once again to the gentle witch she
said, "Tara, I think you're the best one here with a needle.  Can you
sew him up?"

"Now wait a minute, Slayer.  I don't want anyone muckin' about with
needles and thread.  It'll seal on its own."

"And how long will that take?  And how much blood will you loose in
the meantime?"

"No sewing!" Spike insisted.

"Spike..." Buffy began to argue.

"We could staple him," Dawn offered.  "I saw them use staples on The
Learning Channel."

"No!" Spike shouted and then grimaced in pain.  "No staples either. 
What is it with you people and piercing my flesh?"

"Damnit, Spike, stop being such a baby," Buffy snapped as she tossed
a blood-soaked towel into the plastic bag Dawn was holding and
pressed another one to the wound.  "We have to do something."  Buffy
noticed that Spike's eyes were starting to glaze over as he continued
to lose blood and it was scaring her.  He may not die from blood
loss, but Buffy wasn't sure what damage it could cause him either.

"Ooh!" Willow said.  "How about glue?  I read an article where
doctors are using Super Glue to seal cuts together."

Buffy looked dubious. "I don't know, Willow, this is a pretty big
cut.  I don't think Super Glue would work."

"I have a glue gun in the car," Xander offered hesitantly.  He'd been
silent since Spike had pushed him out of the way of the attacking
demon.

Spike looked up at Xander.  "Yeah, glue," he said, his voice weaker
than it had been just minutes earlier.  "Glue's good."

"You think it'll work, Xander?" Buffy asked.

Xander shrugged.  "We can try it, Buffy.  We fix the leak, we can
start topping him off again."

Buffy nodded and Xander went to the front door.  Hesitating for a
second, he warily reached out and grasped the doorknob.  Twisting it,
he sighed in relief when the knob turned easily in his hand and the
door swung open.  "Well, that answers that question anyway," he said
before walking out.  "The seal's been broken."

He was back just minutes later with a small case in his hand. 
Kneeling beside Spike, he lifted the lid and removed the glue gun. 
Holding out the cord he requested, "Plug this in at the outlet there,
would you Dawnie?"

Spike's eyes flew open.  "Plug it in?"

Xander smiled apologetically.  "It's a hot glue gun."

Spike sighed in resignation.  "Of course it is."

When the gun was ready, Buffy held the skin together as Xander
applied the glue.  Spike hissed in pain as the hot glue made it way
down his torso.  When they were finished, everyone watched tensely to
see if the glue would hold. 

"It's working," Buffy said in relief.  "You just need to keep still
until your healing takes effect and you'll be good as new."

"Great," Spike ground out.  "I'm going to be layin' here on the floor
for a couple days then, am I?"

"Oh.  No, that wouldn't be good.  I guess we'll have to carry you up
to my bedroom and hope the glue holds.  If not, Xander will have to
redo it."

"Bugger."

Buffy and Xander helped the weakened vampire up the stairs and into
Buffy's bedroom.  As they laid him gently on the bed, they were all
relieved to see that the seal held.

"Good job, Xan," Buffy smiled at her friend.

"Hey, it's how I make my living, Buff," Xander said with a small
smile.

"Buffy," Dawn interrupted handing Buffy a glass.  "This is all the
blood we have in the house."

"I'll go get some more," Xander offered.

"Thanks, Xander," Buffy said in gratitude.  She didn't want to have
to leave Spike right now.  "Martinelli's should still be opened for
the late night crowd."  Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a
bill.  "Here," she said holding the money out to her friend.

"I got it, Buffy," Xander said refusing the cash.  As he started to
leave the bedroom, Spike opened his eyes and said, "Since you're
buying, pick me up a bottle of Jack, too."  At Buffy's stern gaze, he
said imploringly, "Come on, love, I need something to help dull the
pain."

"And an aspirin won't do?" she asked dryly.

Spike just looked at her.  Sighing she turned to tell Xander it was
okay to bring the whiskey but he was already gone.

***

After Spike drank the glass of blood Dawn had brought, Buffy washed
him carefully.  When she had finished, she removed his boots and then
unfastened and pulled his jeans from his slim hips.  She was
surprised to see that he was more than half-erect.  Reaching out, she
gently caressed him and he immediately became fully erect.  Startled
she snatched back her hand and looked up to see Spike's roguish look
of amusement.

"How can you do that?" she asked in amazement.  "You hardly have any
blood left in you."

"Don't need blood," Spike said, his eyes gazing into hers.  "Just
need you lookin' at me, touchin' me."  He smiled at the surprised
look on her face.  "Don't you get it yet, love?  I always want you. 
You're life to me, Buffy, not the blood."

Buffy swallowed the lump in her throat.  Pulling the blankets up to
cover his hips, she sat on the bed beside him, cupped his face
between her hands, leaned in and placed a kiss on his forehead. 
Moving down his face, she rained soft kisses over his eyelids, nose,
cheeks, chin and mouth.  The kiss deepened and Spike entwined the
fingers of his right hand through her hair as his left found and
cupped her breast.  The bedroom door opened and Xander walked in
carrying a sack from the butcher's shop and the bottle of Jack
Daniel's.  He stopped when he took in the intimate moment.  Buffy sat
up instantly, her face a fetching shade of pink.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt," he said uncomfortably.

Spike just smirked.  "Did you bring my drink?"

"Yeah.  Blood and booze," he answered trying to sound off-hand and
not as embarrassed as he felt.  Handing the packages over to Buffy,
he backed out of the room, eyes resolutely averted from Spike's
nether regions.  "I'll be downstairs if you need me, Buffy."

***

Xander hurried back down the stairs wishing with all his heart that
he could get instantaneous amnesia.  Seeing the kiss and the groping
hand was bad enough, but seeing the tented bedclothes, well that was
just wrong.  And how a guy who'd just been nearly gutted could even
get in that condition was beyond Xander.  Just part of the whole
undead gig, Xander assumed.  Nothing to be jealous about.

Glancing into the dining room, he saw that Anya, Willow and Tara were
still trying to track down information on their visitor.  He doubted
he'd be able to tear Anya away anytime soon.  She hated it when a
demon showed up she didn't recognize.  She seemed to take it as a
personal affront.

Walking into the living room, he saw that Dawn was seated on the
floor, legs drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her
legs.  She was staring at the broken pieces of sword that were still
lying on the floor.  She looked up at him as he entered the living
room.

"How's Spike?"

"He seemed pretty, uh, up just now," he answered with a slight blush.

"Good," the girl said with a relieved little smile, oblivious to
Xander's innuendo.  Looking at him out of the corner of her eye, Dawn
said, "You know he saved your life, don't you?"

Xander could only nod his head.  He was well aware of the fact that
if Spike hadn't knocked him out of the way, he would have been the
one lying on the floor with his life's blood pouring from a fatal
wound.  There would have been no gluing him back together.  His mind
kept replaying the scene over and over.  The blade descending, the
instant knowledge that he was going to die, and then a blur as he was
shoved aside, a scream of pain from Spike, and finally the
realization that he was still alive.  He owed Spike his life.  It was
a concept he wasn't yet ready to deal with.

"So what'cha doing, Dawnie?"

"Keeping an eye on this thing until Buffy comes down and takes care
of it.  I don't trust that the demon's dead."

"It may be awhile before she comes back downstairs."

"Well, what do we do about this thing?"

"Wait and see if the girls find out anything, I guess," he answered
sitting down in a chair.  Leaning back and closing his eyes, he
contemplated life, near-death and randy vampires.

***

After Spike drank his fill of blood and the glassful of whiskey he'd
insisted on for the pain, Buffy bandaged him and then stayed by his
side, his hand clasped in hers, until his complete stillness assured
her he was asleep.  After straightening up the bedroom, she leaned
over Spike's sleeping form to brush another kiss across his forehead
and then headed downstairs.

Xander glanced up from his chair when she reached the bottom step. 
Their eyes met briefly and then they both looked away.  Buffy turned
and walked through the dining room towards the kitchen.

"Is Spike okay?"

"Yeah.  He's sleeping now."

She continued on into the kitchen followed by Willow.  "We've located
our demon."  At Buffy's inquiring look, she continued.  "It's
different, I'll say that for it.  It's a mercenary and actually lives
in that sword. Only comes out when summoned to fight an enemy."

Buffy frowned and put the leftover blood in the refrigerator. 
"There's that word 'summoned' again," she said, leaning back against
the sink and crossing her arms over her chest.

"You think Warren had something to do with it?" Willow asked in a
thoughtful voice.

"Think about it, Will.  A mysterious sword shows up on my doorstep
that just happens to contain a demon that seals us in our own house
and tries to kill us all?  We're just lucky that Spike was the only
one hurt.  If he hadn't pushed Xander out of the way..." She
shuddered at the uncompleted thought. 

"Yeah."

Buffy rubbed the back of her neck in an attempt to ease some of her
tension and then gave up.  "It's late, but I think I'd better do a
quick patrol.  I need to work off some aggression anyway."

"Buffy, don't go looking for Warren alone, okay?"

Buffy gave her friend a tight smile.  "Now you're starting to sound
like Spike," she said.

"He's not wrong."

Buffy glanced over to see Xander standing uncomfortably in the
kitchen doorway.

"I'm the Slayer, Xander, I think I can..."

"Get captured by his mind-control device just as easily as any mere
mortal."

"I broke his little toy," Buffy reminded him.

"And he's had plenty of time to make a new one.  Look, Buffy, we're
just saying take backup with you when you go out searching for that
guy."

"Well my backup's kinda laid up right now."

"You have other people that can help, and in this case Spike isn't
your best backup anyway," Xander answered quietly.  "These guys are
human after all."

"Yeah, okay."  Buffy turned to Willow.  "So you up to turning on your
witchy powers and coming out with me tomorrow night?"

"Uh, I meant me, Buffy."

Buffy looked at Xander in surprise.  "You want to patrol with me?"

"Sure.  I wouldn't mind beating Warren up again if we find him."

"'Cause he sent a demon that almost killed you?"

"Buffy!" Willow protested.  "That-that isn't what Xander meant.  He
wants to help like always.  Right, Xan?"

"Is that right, Xander?  We're one big happy family again?  'Cause
I've gotten frostbite from the cold shoulder you've given me these
last few weeks."

Xander flushed and then sighed.  "Look Buffy, I'm still not thrilled
you're with Spike, but your love life holds less interest to me right
now than what happened here tonight.  Things are getting out of
control with Warren and I want to help stop him before someone gets
seriously hurt."

"Someone did get seriously hurt, Xander."

"I know that, Buffy, And I am grateful to the guy for saving my life,
but Spike will recover.  The girls or I and maybe even you wouldn't
have.  That's all I'm saying."

"So if you come out with me to hunt for Warren, are you going to try
to lecture me about my relationship with Spike?"

"No lectures."

"Are you going to be all cold and distant and disapproving?"

"Nope."

"Okay," Buffy sighed stepping away from the sink.  "Meet me here
tomorrow night at dusk.  We'll patrol and then check out the final
dozen or so addresses that're left."

"What about tonight?"

Buffy shook her head.  "Tonight's patrol is going to be fast and
dirty.  I want to get back home to Spike as quickly as possible."

As she left the kitchen to gather her weapons, Willow looked steadily
at Xander.  "You know she's got it bad for him, don't you?"

"Yeah," Xander sighed, "I know."

As Buffy told her friends, she made quick work of patrol that night. 
All she wanted was to finish and get back to Spike to check on him,
make sure he was okay.  She knew she was being silly.  The wound he'd
sustained wasn't mortal for a vampire but he was in pain, and Buffy
wanted to be there for him in case he needed her.

She was aware it wasn't just the wound itself that ate at her.  It
was the knowledge that she had come very close to losing Spike
tonight.  If the demon had swung the sword across instead of down... 
Buffy flinched as she envisioned the blade slicing through Spike's
neck, a look of surprise on his face just before he crumbled to
dust.  She pushed the thought away once more, chiding herself for
melodramatic imaginings.  But she quickened her footsteps nonetheless
and hurried home.

When she got home, she took a quick shower and then slipped into bed
next to Spike.  She curled up beside him being careful not to jostle
him.

"How'd patrol go, love?"

"I'm sorry.  Did I wake you?"

"No, I've been awake for awhile."

"You in a lot of pain?" Buffy asked in concern.

"A bit, but I'm all right."

"You want some more blood?"

"You're all settled in bed, love.  I can wait till morning."

Buffy slipped from the covers and pressed a quick kiss to his
lips.  "I'll be right back."

Spike watched as she left the room and then closed his eyes as
another wave of pain flashed through him.  He knew she'd worry if she
realized just how much he hurt so he was trying his best not to let
her know.  But he couldn't hide it completely and it warmed him that
she'd picked up on his discomfort right away. 

She was back in short order with two large mugs of warmed blood.  She
helped him to sit up enough to drink them and then poured him another
large glass of whiskey to help dull the pain.  When he was finished,
she took the mugs and glass into the bathroom to rinse out and then
returned to bed.  Spike could barely open his eyes as she slipped in
beside him.

"Goodnight, love," he mumbled as he tipped over the edge into sleep.

"Goodnight... love," Buffy whispered.

***

Spike was much improved by the next evening to the point that he was
sitting up in bed supported by pillows.  All four women had been very
solicitous of him, making sure he had a steady supply of blood to
help aid the healing process.  He was especially pleased by Buffy's
concern.  She'd skipped school leaving the house only long enough to
pick up some clothes for him from his crypt and to buy more blood and
even another bottle of Jack Daniel's.  He'd slept most of the day
away, but by evening he was restless.

"You need to stay in bed, Spike.  What if your wound reopens?"

"Buffy, you saw for yourself when you changed the bandage, it's
already knit together.  I need to get out of this bed before I get
bedsores.  You ever see a vampire with bedsores?  No," he answered
before she could respond, "you haven't because vampires don't stay in
bed!"  He finished his statement a little more forcefully then he'd
intended, but he was bored to tears and a bored Spike was a cranky
Spike.

"Fine, Spike.  You want to get up and split open your wound and bleed
all over my house again, that's just fine.  And when you're lying on
the floor all hurt and bleeding and helpless, I'm going to get Tara
to sew you up with a knitting needle.  A wooden one!"

Two stubborn, set faces glared at one another angrily when the
bedroom door opened and Dawn stuck her head in.  "Hey, Mrs. McGinty
down the block just called and said keep the yelling down.  It's
scaring her cats."

"Ha ha, Bit," Spike said sarcastically.  "I'm tryin' to talk some
sense into your hardheaded sister.  I just want to get out of this
bloody bed.  I'm gettin' permanent creases on my bum."

"Thanks for the visual, Spike," Dawn said dryly.  Turning to her
sister who was standing at the foot of the bed with arms folded and
toe tapping, she said, "Look, just let him get up for a while.  It
won't kill him."

"He's going to hurt himself, Dawn."

"I'm not going to bloody hurt myself.  I've been taking care of
myself for a hundred and twenty years, I know how to bloody well take
care of myself."

"So now you don't need me taking care of you?"  Buffy looked at him
with huge hurt eyes.  Dawn rolled her eyes, shook her head and left
the room.

"Now that's not what I said, love," Spike told her instantly
contrite.  "I love you takin' care of me, you know that."   He held a
hand out, coaxing her to come to him.

Buffy moved forward slowly as if reluctant to go to him.  When she
finally came within range, he grasped her hand and tugged until she
was sitting down on the edge of the bed beside him.  He lifted her
chin gently until she was looking at him.  "I'm sorry, love.  I'm an
evil, ungrateful sod.  If it makes you feel better, I'll stay in bed."

Buffy's bottom lip stuck out a tiny bit.  "I just don't want you to
aggravate your wound, Spike."

Spike stared at her mouth and ran his thumb over her bottom lip. 
"Oooh, pouty," he murmured.  "Look at that lip."

Buffy's eyes widened as she remembered those words.  Spike smiled and
leaned forward catching her lip between gentle blunt teeth.  "Gonna
get it."

Buffy giggled as he nibbled at her lip.  "Oh, stop."

"You always tell me to stop," Spike teased, "when you know you don't
mean it."

Buffy smiled, kissed him and then leaned her head on his shoulder. 
"Are you sure you'll be okay if you get up?"

"Positive, love."

Buffy ran her hand gently down over his bandaged stomach and sighed. 
"Okay, I guess you can get up for a little while.  I have to go on
patrol, but the girls can help you if you want to come back to bed."

"Of course, love."

Buffy stood up and went to gather his clothes and Spike gingerly sat
up on the edge of the bed.  A wave of pain flashed through him but
he'd be damned if he'd let Buffy know.  If he had to stay in this
room one minute longer he was going to go completely barmy.

Buffy and Spike were halfway down the stairs when the front door
opened and Xander entered.

"Wow, that was a quick recovery," Xander said in surprise as he
spotted the slowly descending couple.

"He's not recovered, Xander," Buffy said with just a touch of
asperity in her voice.  "Just stubborn."

"I'm fine.  I keep tellin' you, I'm fine," Spike hissed back through
pain-clenched teeth.

"And they're off again," Dawn observed from the living room.

"Huh?"

"They've been arguing for the past hour over whether or not Spike
should get up," Tara informed Xander with a small smile.

"Not an argument, pet," Spike said to the young woman.  He stopped
momentarily at the bottom of the steps as if suddenly unable to walk
and talk at the same time.  "We were just having a bit of a
difference of opinion."

Buffy eyed him anxiously, ready to physically carry him back up the
stairs if he appeared to have caused himself injury.  When he began
to walk into the living room, she stayed right by his side until he
was seated.  Once she had assured herself he was all right, she
turned towards Xander.  "I'll be ready in a minute, Xan."

"Okay, good."  Turning to Spike he said, "Uh, I brought you some more
blood and another bottle of JD.  Thought you might be ready for a
refill."

Spike looked at the young man with appreciation.  "Well now, I
wouldn't say no to a glass," he said reaching for the sack in
Xander's hand.

"You just ate," Dawn said surprised.

"He means a glass of whiskey," Buffy said dryly.  "You have an open
bottle upstairs."

"And now I'll have an open bottle down here.  Convenient, eh?"

"Yeah, convenient," Buffy answered with a roll of her eyes.  Turning
to Dawn she said, "Don't let him drink too much.  He'll just end up
with a pain in his head to go with the pain in his gut."

"Hey!"

"Behave yourself, Spike.  I'll see you when I get home."  Leaning
over, she brushed a quick kiss across his lips and left the house
with Xander.

***

They had just finished checking the second house on their list when
Buffy said, "I think I should find a payphone and call home.  See how
Spike's doing."

Xander looked over at Buffy and said with just a hint of
exasperation, "You know what I think?  I think we should just give it
up for tonight.  You go on home, make sure Spike's okay and then
tomorrow night we take my car, put Spike in the backseat where you
can keep an eye on him and then maybe we can get the rest of that
list checked out."

Buffy stiffened.  "I'm sorry if my concern for Spike is annoying to
you, Xander."

Xander sighed.  "I'm not annoyed, Buffy.  Well okay, I am annoyed,
but only because you've made reference to Spike about every five
minutes since we started out tonight."

"Do I have to remind you that Spike got hurt saving your life?"

"No, you don't have to remind me.  I haven't forgotten.  But geez,
Buffy, Spike's a vampire.  He's already up and out of bed.  I just
don't get why you're so worried."

"I'm worried because, yeah he seems okay, but what if something
happens," Buffy answered sharply.  "What if I'm out here patrolling
and something happens to him and I come home and he's worse or he's
even... even..."  She choked on her words and it was then that Xander
understood.

Taking his friend gently by her shoulders, he said, "Buffy, Spike
isn't Joyce.  He isn't going to suddenly die on you."

Buffy looked at him in shock.  She opened her mouth to answer but no
words came out.  Xander smiled gently at her.  "Come on, Buff.  Let's
go home.  I meant what I said.  We'll just bring Spike with us
tomorrow night.  He can't fight, but maybe he can use that nose of
his to sniff out Warren if we find the right house."

Buffy nodded, still incapable of speech.  With Xander's arm draped
casually over her shoulder they turned in the direction of Revello
Drive.

***

When Buffy came in the back door after bidding Xander goodnight by
his car, she was surprised to see Spike there.

"What are you doing?"

"Just fixing myself a little late night snack." 

"Why didn't one of the girls fix it for you?"

"Because they're all in bed, love.  It's late.  I wasn't ready to go
back to bed yet and told them I'd be fine.  And I am," he added
insistently seeing the frown form on Buffy's face. "I wish you'd stop
fussin', love. 

"Men!" Buffy said in frustration as she went to the refrigerator to
get a bottle of water for herself.  "They get worried you don't love
them if you don't pay enough attention to their hurts and when you do
they get all macho and 'I'm fine, love.  I wish you'd stop
fussin'.'"  Her imitation of Spike's accent was truly horrible.

The microwave beeped but Spike made no move towards it.  He stood
staring at Buffy.  Buffy glanced over at him and then stopped when
she noticed the look on his face.  "What?"

Spike swallowed.  "Do you?"

"Do I what?"

"What you said."

"What did I say?"

Spike only shook his head, a flash of disappointment in his eyes, and
turned away from her to open the microwave door.  Buffy thought back
to what she'd just said.  Men get worried you don't love them if...
Oh.

"Oh."

"'t's all right, love," Spike said, his eyes lowered to the swirling
contents of the mug he was rotating in his hand.  "It's a figure of
speech, I know that."

He was lifting the mug to his lips when he heard her say in a barely
audible voice, "Not this time."

He lowered the mug to look at her, afraid to say anything.  She came
to him and cupped his face in her hand.  "The words aren't easy for
me to say, Spike.  But the feeling, it's here, in my heart."

Spike smiled, put down the mug and pulled her to him.  They held onto
each other, neither speaking.  Buffy wished she could say the words. 
He deserved them.  But at least now he knew how she really felt.  And
perhaps that was more important.

Spike had wanted to make love when they went to bed, of course, but
Buffy had insisted that he wasn't healed enough so they'd ended up
just cuddling and kissing and touching and holding each other until
sleep overcame them.

Spike felt just fine the next day.  His happiness knowing that Buffy
did love him mixed with his rapidly healing body made the vampire
hyperactive and almost giddy.  Buffy couldn't get near him without
his reaching out to touch her, stroke her arm, take her hand, steal a
kiss or drape an arm around her.  She permitted the excessive PDA's
simply because she was feeling a little giddy herself.  She'd passed
a major hurdle in her relationship with Spike last night.  She may
not have completely verbalized her feelings, but she'd acknowledged
them both to Spike and to herself.  She felt ridiculously happy.

She hoped that tonight they'd finally run Warren to ground.  She
wasn't exactly sure what she was going to do about him once they
found him.  Maybe she'd just e-mail Riley.  Ethan Raynes had
certainly ceased to be a problem once Riley's group had arrested
him.  Buffy frowned at the thought.  Did she really want to place
another evil genius into the hands of The Initiative or whatever they
were calling themselves these days?  Maybe Giles would have a better
suggestion.

Anyway, once they took care of that problem, Buffy thought it might
be nice for her and Spike to get away for a couple days, just the two
of them.  Sunnydale would survive if she took a few days off.

***

"Are you ready with that spell yet?"

"Almost.  Don't rush me, okay?  If I make a mistake we may never find
what you want."

"What *we* want, Short Round.  You're in this too, remember?"

Jonathan glanced nervously at Warren.  "Why won't you tell me what
we're going to do once we get there?"

"I did tell you.  There's a lot of cool stuff there, just ripe for
the taking.  We take what we want, sell what we don't need."

"Nothing that will hurt anyone."

"Don't worry about it, Gandhi."

Jonathan turned away with a frown.  He *was* worried.  Warren and
Andrew were still keeping secrets from him, only telling him part of
the scheme.  He needed to find out exactly what they were up to.  And
he had a plan as to how to find out.  He just needed a little time
alone.

Finishing his preparations, he began to cast the spell.  A map of
Sunnydale lay on the floor and as Jonathan passed his right hand over
a talisman he held in his left, a beam of fragmented light erupted
from it, arched over the map and landed on several spots illuminating
them.  One spot glowed brighter than the others.

"That's the best place to enter," Jonathan said unenthusiastically.

"Good," Warren said with satisfaction.  "We'll investigate tonight. 
Take a break, Obi Wan.  Andrew and I will make the final
preparations."

As Jonathan watched Warren walk away he began to mentally make
preparations of his own.

***

Xander was perhaps lucky in that by the time he showed up, the lovey-
doveyness had morphed into bickering over what Spike's role was going
to be that evening.  As the three got into Xander's car, Buffy made
sure that Spike was comfortably settled in the backseat and then
climbed in next to her friend.

Turning around in her seat she reminded Spike, "You are here as an
observer only.  Do not help.  Do not fight.  In fact, do not get out
of the car.  Got it?"

Spike gave her a disgusted look.  "Yeah, Slayer, I got it.  I got it
the previous three hundred times you told me.  Can we just go now?"

Xander hid his smile as he watched Buffy turn back around in a huff. 
He had to admit it was funny watching Buffy act all mother-henny over
a tough-as-nails wiseass vampire.  He did feel kinda sorry for Spike
though.  A guy could only take so much mothering, after all. 
Starting the car, he headed towards their first stop of the evening.

***

Jonathan thought he heard a noise and glanced around nervously. 
Warren and Andrew were out getting supplies and he didn't expect them
back for some time yet.  Reassured he was still alone, he turned back
to Warren's computer terminal.  He'd used a spell he'd been secretly
working on the past few days to hack into the computer and decode
Warren's encrypted file.  The first part of it had been little more
than a journal detailing their recent activities, but this last part
consisted of something entirely different.  It outlined Warren's true
goal for tonight's outing.

The more Jonathan read the more frightened he became.  Scrolling down
the page, he began shaking his head, muttering, "No, no, no, no,
no."  He was so caught up in what he'd discovered that he failed to
hear the footsteps coming up behind him.

"It's not polite to read other people's diaries, Bridget," a voice
said behind him.  Jonathan jumped and swung around to find himself
face-to-face with Warren. 

"You can't be serious about what I just read," Jonathan insisted, his
voice shaking slightly.

"Wrong again.  I'm completely serious."

"I can't let you do that, Warren," he said standing up and trying to
inch around the taller man.

"And I can't let you interfere." 

Warren raised his hand and Jonathan rushed forward and pushed against
him, knocking Warren out of his way.  He started to run, but hadn't
gotten far before he felt a flash of pain rip through his body.  And
then there was only darkness.

***

They were driving down the street when Spike's sharp eyes caught
sight of a black van parked outside a darkened doorway near the far
end of a narrow alley.  They'd been cruising the warehouse district
as the final leg of patrol before beginning the search for Warren.

"Stop the car, Xander," Spike commanded.  The vampire's tone caused
Xander to immediately hit the breaks.

"What is it, Spike?" Buffy asked, her body tensed and ready for
action.

"Back up a bit to the alley entrance," Spike told Xander.  Flashing a
quick glance at Buffy he said, "I spotted a black van down that
alley.  Could be Warren's."

By this time, Xander had reached the alley and stopped the car.  They
all saw it now, little more than a larger, darker shadow among a
myriad of other shadows. 

"You think it's his?"

Spike rolled down the window and took a deep breath.  He shook his
head and said with disgust, "Wind's blowing in the wrong direction. 
I can't pick up any scents except garbage but the model and year's
right.  I say we go investigate."

"Spike, I want you to stay..."

"No."

"Spike..."

"Forget it, Slayer.  If he's there, I'm going with you."

"I told you I didn't want you leaving the car.  You couldn't fight
him anyway, Spike, even if you weren't already hurt."

Spike's eyes took on a frosty, predator's hue.  Buffy looked at his
set cold face, his taunt body and realized she'd have to knock him
out herself to keep him in the car.

"Fine, Spike.  Just try to keep out of the way."  Opening her door,
she exited the car.  Spike followed.  Xander backed the car up so
that it wouldn't be spotted, parked it and joined his two friends.

"Okay, let's be as quiet as we can.  No need to give him warning
we've found him if it is Warren."

The two men nodded and all three made their ways cautiously up the
alley.  "It's his van, all right," Spike growled.  Buffy nodded and
continued leading the way.  They stopped abruptly, plastering
themselves against a wall, when a door suddenly opened and Andrew
stepped out of the building.  He headed for the back of the van,
opened the rear doors and then returned to the building.  It didn't
appear that he'd spotted them so they continued moving stealthily
towards the now opened warehouse door.  Just as they reached it,
Warren's voice came mockingly from behind them, "You know you'd think
you'd be smart enough to check for surveillance cameras."

They whirled around to see their dark-haired nemesis standing with
what appeared to be an automatic rifle pointed at them.  "Actually,
Slayer, I'm glad to see you.  It saves me from having to track you
down."

Buffy eyed him coldly.  "Gee, Warren, if you'd just left a forwarding
address we could have had a reunion sooner."

Warren's smile was equally cold, "I wasn't ready yet.  Now I am." 
While Warren's attention was focused on Buffy, Xander made a dive for
the rifle in his hands.  Swinging the weapon at Xander, Warren
pressed the trigger.  

"NO!" 

Buffy's cry echoed throughout the alley.  Warren was barely able to
swing the gun around quickly enough to also take out the Slayer.  He
was too slow to stop Spike however.  A scream of rage erupted from
the vampire and Warren's body went flying as Spike crashed into him. 
A howl of pain followed and Spike was lying helpless on the ground,
curled into a ball, hands wrapped around his head.  Warren got up
shakily and stood over the shuddering vampire. 

"Hard to believe that once upon a time you were a powerful vampire,"
Warren sneered, "and now look at you.  Pathetic."  Taking aim, he
pulled the trigger a third time.

"NO!"

The demon's ears pricked up at the sound of a woman's shout.  Seconds
later he stood straight up as he heard another shout, deeper this
time, obviously male.  The howl of pain that followed made him wince.

He stood nervously, torn over what to do.  He'd recognized both
voices, but he wasn't sure he wanted to get involved in whatever
trouble they were in.  He wasn't a brave creature.  But Spike had
saved his life, and he wasn't one to let a favor go unreturned.

Looking regretfully at the nest of kittens he'd just located –
Siamese, someone's house pet had obviously gone astray and given
birth here in this abandoned warehouse – he squared his shoulders and
headed in the direction from which the shouts had come.

***

Warren shouldered his weapon and glared at the boy standing in the
doorway.  "Thanks for the help," he snapped sarcastically.

Andrew flinched at his friend's tone.  "It jammed," he squeaked,
holding out his own rifle.  "I couldn't get it to fire."

"Well help me get Harris into the building.  We'll put him with
Jonathan.  Then help me load the other two into the van."

Andrew hastily put his gun on the ground and grabbed Xander's feet as
Warren slipped his hands under Xander's arms and heaved.  Stumbling
occasionally from the dead weight, they managed to make it across the
warehouse floor.  Unceremoniously dropping the limp body to the
floor, they stood a few minutes catching their breath.

"You know what to do, Andrew."

Andrew nodded and followed his leader's orders precisely.

***

Clem stood hidden in the dark watching as two young human males
loaded the Slayer and Spike into the back of a black van, got in and
drove away.  He'd seen the couple lying on the ground when he'd
entered the alley, but he'd been too far away to get to them before
the men had exited the warehouse.  Any thoughts he may have had about
rushing the two humans had been quickly dispensed with when he saw
they were armed with rifles.  He dithered a bit about what to do. 
His car was several blocks away so trying to follow the van was
impossible.  At last, deciding there was only one thing to do, he
turned and left the alley.

***

Dawn was dumping the evening's dirty snack dishes into the sink when
a knock came at the back door.  Surprised, she opened the door
without thinking and let out a shriek of terror when she saw what was
standing there.

Upon hearing Dawn scream, Willow and Tara came running from the
living room.  Tara had snatched up a candlestick on her way past the
dining room table and Willow had summoned a glowing ball of fire that
she held suspended above her hand ready to throw.  The creature at
the door held up its hands in a supplicating manner. 

"No!  Please don't hurt me.  I'm a friend of Spike's," it implored to
the terrified and terrifying women.  It was Dawn who finally
understood what the demon was saying in the midst of all the shouting
and screaming and reached out to stop Willow before she could hurl
the fireball. 

"Wait, Willow.  He says he's a friend of Spike's."

"Yeah?" Willow said suspiciously.  "How do we know you're his friend
and this isn't just a ruse?"

Clem looked baffled.  "I don't know.  Uh, I met the Slayer about a
week ago.  Spike kept her from killing me," he said helpfully.

Dawn tilted her head.  "Are you Clem?"

The demon broke into a huge smile and nodded his head with a rather
disconcerting amount of flapping skin.  "Yes, that's me."

"Okay, Buffy did tell me about you.  Sorry for all the drama. 
Spike's not here though.  He and Buffy are out on patrol."

"No they're not.  They're in trouble.  That's why I'm here."

"Trouble? W-what kind of trouble?" 

Clem looked at the fair-haired woman.  "I heard them yelling and when
I got to them I saw a couple of men loading them into the back of a
van.  They didn't look, uh, conscious."

"A black van?"

Clem flinched slightly from the surge of power he felt emanate from
the red-haired woman.  Scared to silence by her eyes he could only
nod again.

"Warren," Willow seethed.

Dawn felt terror course through her body.  "Warren has them?" she
asked with a trembling voice.

"W-what about Xander?" Tara asked Clem.

"Xander?"

"Another friend of ours.  He was with Buffy and Spike tonight."

Clem shook his head and shrugged.  "I only saw Buffy and Spike."

Dawn made a small noise of distress. 

"Do you know where he took them?" Willow asked.

"No.  I couldn't follow, they were too far away."

"Take me to where you last saw them."

"Sure.  Come on, I have my car out front."

"I'm going with you," Dawn said forcefully.

"No you're not, Dawnie," Willow told the girl.  "You're staying here
with Tara. 

"Willow, this is my sister and my best friend.  I'm going too."

"No, you're not."

Dawn took an involuntary step back when she saw the look on Willow's
face.  She remembered now how Willow had gotten when Glory had brain-
sucked Tara, and for the first time she understood the power that
Willow had at her command.

"Willow, calm down."  Tara's gentle voice reached out to her lover,
attempting to call her back from her fury.  Willow relaxed slightly
and when she turned to Tara, her eyes were green once more.

"I'm okay, sweetie.  Will you stay here with Dawnie?"

"Of course."

"Call Anya and tell her what's happened.  And tell her not to worry. 
I'll find them.  All of them."  Turning to the big demon she said,
"Come on, let's go."

***

"That's Xander's car," Willow said, spotting the car where Xander had
left it parked.

Clem glanced to where Willow pointed and said, "Maybe they already
put him in the van before I got there."

Willow just nodded, concentrating on what she was going to do once
they got to their destination.  She hoped she'd be able to cast a
tracking spell, but if Jonathan had already cast a counter spell, it
might not work.  She wondered if Clem could track scents like Spike
could. At last, Clem stopped the car and Willow got out with a
relieved sigh.  She couldn't imagine what had possessed a demon the
size of Clem to buy a VW Beetle.  Talk about close quarters.

"This is where the van was parked," Clem told her.  "They came out of
that door there."

Willow walked up to the door and tried the handle.  It was locked. 
Glancing at Clem, she asked, "Do you think you can get this opened
for me?"

Clem wrapped his huge paw around the handle and gave a twist.  The
lock broke with a snap and a grating screech.  Clem smiled shyly at
Willow, gave the door a slight push and stepped back to allow her to
enter.  Willow gave him a small smile of thanks and stepped into the
dark, vast open space. 

"Can you see in the dark?" Willow asked.  "Do you see a light switch
anywhere?"

"No, but hold on.  I have a flashlight in my car."  He was back
seconds later and turned on a flashlight that illuminated a wide
swath in front of them.  Willow took the torch from him and started
forward, examining everything in her path.  She jumped slightly when
Clem's hand came down lightly on her shoulder. 

"I heard a noise over there," he said pointing ahead and slightly to
their right.  Willow directed the flashlight beam in the direction
he'd indicated and saw a body lying motionless on the floor.  Her
breath caught in her throat and she heard herself whimper.  And then
the body moved slightly.  Wild with hope, she ran across the room to
drop to her knees beside her trussed up but very much alive friend.

"Xander, oh god, Xander.  Are you okay?"

Xander looked at her and then lowered his eyes to indicate his taped
up mouth. 

"Oh!  Wait, let me get that off."  Reaching for the end of the duct
tape that was stretched across his mouth, she loosened a corner,
grabbed hold and ripped.

"Owwwwwww!  Jesus, Willow, did you have to tear my lips off with the
tape?"

Willow was crying as she hugged her friend.  "I was so afraid when I
saw you lying here.  I thought you were dead."

"Not quite," Xander said, turning his head and spitting out the clump
of Willow's hair that had fallen into his mouth.  "Kinda wished I was
dead when I first came to though.  Man, did I hurt."

As Willow continued hugging him, he added, "Uh, Will?  Do you think
you could get me loose?  My arms hurt and I really got to take a
whiz."

"Oh!  Yes, of course."  Giving Xander an apologetic smile, she sat
back on her heels and bit her lip looking at the mass of duct tape
wrapped around Xander's wrists and ankles.  "I wonder if there's a
knife around here someplace."

Another tap on her shoulder reminded her that she hadn't come alone. 
Xander yipped in surprise when he noticed the odd-looking demon
standing politely behind Willow. 

"Oh, Clem!  I'm sorry.  Xander, this is Clem.  He's a friend of
Spike's and he's the one that brought me here."

"Uh, great.  Hi," Xander said giving Clem a wide-eyed stare.  
"Thanks."

Clem grinned and wiggled his fingers at Xander.  "No problem.  Glad
you're alive."  Looking again to Willow, he said, "I may be able to
help cut that tape."

Willow sat back pushing her hair out of her face.  "That'd be great,
Clem.  Do you have a knife on you?"

"Not exactly," he grinned shyly. Leaning forward, he extended one
clawed finger and with a quick downward movement, slashed the tough
bindings neatly in two.

"Wow," Xander exclaimed.  As Clem deftly took care of the tape around
his ankles, Xander removed the sticky tape from his wrists and shook
out his arms in an attempt to restore circulation.  Willow helped him
stand up and once he was able to walk on his own, she stepped back
and asked, "Okay, what happened here, Xander."

Xander's face took on a angry expression as he spat out, "Warren,
that's what happened.  Son-of-a-bitch shot me with one of those taser
guns like The Initiative had.  Knocked me right out.  Spike spotted
Warren's van in an alley and..."  Suddenly realizing something, he
spun around looking for his missing companions.  "Buffy!  Where is
she?"

"Warren has her and Spike.  Clem saw Warren and Tucker's brother
loading them into their van.  So you don't know where they were
taking them?"

Xander looked stricken.  "No," he said, shaking his head in
emphasis.  "Warren had a gun pointed at us, I went for it, he shot
me, and I was out."

"God that was stupid, Xander," Willow exclaimed.  "Did you know it
was a taser when you went for it?"

Xander looked equal parts embarrassed and insulted.  "No.  But I had
to do something.  I couldn't let that little geek get away with
pointing a gun at us like that."  He shrugged.  "Guess my pseudo-
military training kicked in."

Willow sighed.  "So I guess I'm going to have to try and see if I can
cast a tracking spell to find them.  I hope that creep Jonathan
hasn't done anything to block it."

Turning to Clem she asked, "Clem, would you go back to your car and
bring in the little bag of supplies I brought while I prepare a place
to cast the spell?"

"Sure, Willow.  But..."

"But?"

"Are we going to do anything about that guy over there?"

Looking in the direction of Clem's pointing finger, Willow's eyes
widened as she took in another trussed up young man.

"Jonathan?"