Spike twisted in the booth and neatly leapt out over the back. Riley, about to rise, suddenly found himself pinned in by Tara who slid into the crowded booth next to him. She gave him a sweet smile. He tried to copy Spike's move but was far too bulky. He looked with astonishment at Buffy at this conspiracy to protect a vampire, and she looked down, confused. Spike hovered, gave Giles a long look then, with a pained expression, swept out.

Giles, his fury almost cracking the veneer he had perfected over so many years, looked at Buffy. 'We need to discuss the Hostile 17 situation. This cannot continue.'

Riley made to speak, but Giles slid into Spike's now empty space and turned to him. 'Hostile 17 has been made harmless to all living creatures, thanks to your organisation. So tell me, what justification would you have for killing him?'

Riley looked at Buffy for support and, after a slight pause, she looked up from the table. 'Yes. I agree. It would be murder.' She didn't turn to Giles; she felt the love and gratitude without needing to see it. Riley looked from Buffy to Giles, from Giles to Xander, from Xander to Willow and Tara, and finally at Anya.

Anya smiled and made a face at him, 'I don't care about the vampire, but you're on a loser with all the others. Take my advice; don't mess with them.'

Riley nodded thoughtfully.

************************************

On the night of the party, Giles arrived at the Bronze with Buffy and Xander; it was so dark and smoky, they could not see the others. Finally, Xander spotted Willow and, shouting this to the others over the noise of the band, they began to make their way towards her. Giles suddenly froze, jostled by the crowd, deafened by the noise.

He was at the bar, leaning on it casually with his back to the room. Giles' eyes travelled over him slowly. The leather was tight, so tight that Giles thought he could see the individual muscles of Spike's thighs. Tucked into the black leather jeans was a crisp white shirt, rolled casually at the sleeves. Each arm dripped with jewellery, every finger and thumb armoured with dull metallic additions. but it was the hair that most drew his attention. It was the hair he had shared his bed with, the hair he had woken up to: long, rumpled, and not especially blond.

Giles took a deep breath and went toward the vampire at the bar.

Spike gave him a brief glance over his shoulder, and his face fell slightly. 'Thought you'd make some effort.'

'To come as I really am? Like you?'

'I am a vampire.'

'Yes. I know.'

Spike whirled on him. 'Do you though? Do you really. Cus I'm tellin' you, human, I..'

'Liking the look, vampire!'

Spike and Giles rolled their eyes as one at Xander's interruption, and then chuckled once more at this small sharing. Spike didn't turn to look at the boy but, keeping his gaze locked with Giles', said with disinterest, 'You come as a clown then, Harris?' At Giles' look, he turned and laughed abruptly at the superhero costume.

The band finished playing for a while, and Buffy came over to get some drinks. Spike rolled his eyes at the tiny, fur-lined dress. 'Why you come as a fairy then?'

She put her hands up to the pair of ice-skating boots slung around her neck and gave him a 'Duh' look.

Spike turned back to Giles to point out that he was the only one who had not revealed anything of himself that night, when a skilful guitar intro started on the stage. It was low, melodic, and unaccompanied. Buffy glanced around briefly but turned back to the simmering argument with Spike. It was only when the singer began that she turned around once more. Xander looked up and tried to see around the mill of people on the floor. Spike just stared down at his drink.

It doesn't matter what I want
It doesn't matter what I need
It doesn't matter if I cry
Don't matter if I bleed
You've been on a road
Don't know where it goes or where it leads

Astounded, Buffy and Xander began to push through to the front. The intense emotion in the voice silenced everyone. A practised, expert guitar solo took them slowly forward, mesmerised.

The haunting voice began again.

It doesn't matter what I want
It doesn't matter what I need
If you've made up your mind to go
I won't beg you to stay
You've been in a cage
Throw you to the wind you fly away

Unbelievably, the voice got more intense, the music more passionate. It sent shivers down spines, made its listeners stand closer to someone loved.

It doesn't matter what I want
It doesn't matter what I need
It doesn't matter if I cry
Doesn't matter if I bleed
Feel the sting of tears
Falling on this face you've loved for years

He finished, ignored the reception of his performance, and pushed through the crowd to the bar. With a slightly shaky hand, Giles allowed Xander to buy him a drink.

'G man! Way'd'go. So. who you come as then? Confused here.'

Giles drank deeply, his hand still shaking, and said, 'Just me.'

'Huh. Didn't recognise it.'

'No, you wouldn't. I started to write it a few weeks ago. when I met someone.'

'Oh! Yeah, I remember. That woman from England.'

Giles continued to stare at Spike. 'Exactly. I began to write it when she was here. '

Xander was thinking deeply, his brow furrowed. 'Okay, so. with her it didn't matter what you wanted?'

'It's not about me. It's how I thought they felt about me. What they did for me.'

A small smirk crossed Giles' face, as Spike began to twist his rings around frantically.

'Geez. She was one of your noble English types..'

Giles laughed. 'I'm not sure they'd like being called noble but, yes, I rather agree with you.'

'Cool. Hey, Buff, think Giles got some in England.'

Spike spluttered his drink and shook his head in amusement. 'Watcher. How's about I give you that info now? 'Way from here. Just us.'

'And you can actually move in those trousers, can you?'

Not caring who was listening, Spike chuckled, and said, 'They come off real easy, mate. For important stuff, I take 'em off. Now, you coming?'

'I'd like to think so.'

It was incredibly quiet and cool when they pushed out into the street. Before they had gone more than a few steps, Giles pushed Spike into an ally and pinned him against a wall.

'I'm going to say this really quickly in case we get bloody interrupted again. Things are different now, Spike. I'm different. I meant what I wrote in that song - you've set me free in so many ways. But of all these new emotions, the most important thing I've learnt is that I can say no. I can feel something, but also know I don't want to feel it. Does that make sense? I have a right to choose, Spike. I will never let you feed from me again. I will never come to your crypt. I will not do things that debase me. NO! Don't look away from me like that; hear me out. Above all, when I came into that bar tonight, know that I burned in lust for you. Do you understand Spike? I've made my choice. I am a man, and I've made my choice.'

Spike stared openly at him, not attempting now to struggle. 'Then know, too, human, that I've done some thinkin'. I am a vampire. I will never let you forget that I'm older than you, stronger than you, faster than you, an' that I am eternal. I will not take baths. I will not dress for fucking dinner. I do not fuckin' kiss. I'll smoke an' swear, and do whatever the hell I like when I like. You will not tell me what to do. You will do as I say. If I could, I'd feed off you, 'til I brought you to me, made you like me. Don't walk away from me, human! Cus you need to hear this. I didn't think anything new 'bout you when you sang tonight. I think of you now, just as I always 'ave. I burn in lust for you.'

Giles slowly came back and leant his forehead to Spike's, closing his eyes to the intimate touch that he had been needing for so long. 'Can we do this? Can we find some common ground?'

Spike twisted his head fractionally, so his lips touched Giles' cheek lightly. 'Seems we 'ad the most important thing in common there, pet.'

'Ah, yes.' Giles hand slid onto the tight leather of Spike's thigh. 'Is lust enough though?'

'No. But it's where we're gonna start again. No games. No fucking others. Just us. Vampire and human.'

'Is that. fucking. a verb or an adjective?'

'He's in LA, pet. I'm here. I can't say it any different.'

'You could.'

'All right. All right. If he'd asked me to stay - an' he didn't - I'd 'ave said no.' Spike chuckled and had the grace to look embarrassed. 'Didn't tell 'im that at the time, course.'

'I slept with her because she needed me to. Do you understand that? And before you ask, it was moderately more successful than before, but I've had more pleasure from a well-executed chord progression.'

Spike bent over and lit a cigarette, the glow from the small flame of his lighter illuminating his pale features. He gave a nod to Giles to follow him and began to walk towards the human's apartment.

Giles jogged to catch up and said with some determination. 'I'm not going to tell anyone I am sleeping with a vampire either. So you can forget that.'

Spike took a long drag then said equally forcibly, 'No one is ever gonna call me an abomination again - for whatever reason.'

'I am not going to besmirch any more National Heritage sites.'

''K. Fair 'nough, but I'm not gonna let you use the fuckin' word besmirch in my presence again. Oh, yeah, an' my food will not be left out on some soddin' windowsill like I was a hedgehog or summit. It'll be paid for by you and put equally 'longside yours in the fridge.'

Giles gritted his teeth. 'You will not relate the plots of gay porn novels to me and, if you do, you will not skip the best bits.'

Spike clenched his jaw. 'You will be treated as a favoured minion until you've done a bit of time; then I'll see 'bout upgrading you to favoured childe.'

Giles strode faster to outpace the vampire. 'You will not recreate unpleasant sexual practices you find on illegal Internet porn sites. You will respect my body at all times.'

Spike flicked his butt in a small arc and pouted at the human's back. 'If you behave yerself as my childe - and remember, minion, I weren't at the crucifixion, but I've killed vamps that were, so stick that in yer perspective pipe and smoke it - I'll grant you certain privileges; ain't thought 'em all through yet, but they'll be good.'

Giles stopped to buy some groceries, keeping a wary eye on Spike. 'You will stop smoking in my bed, and you will stop encouraging me to as well. I will only have sex in the bedroom - either on the bed or against the wall; I'm not prescriptive on that - not in any other room of the house.'

Spike refused to help carry the food. 'When I need a shag, you'll make yerself available in whatever position I tell ya to.'

Arguing these terms and conditions kept them happily occupied until they reached the house. Giles fumbled for his keys, balancing bags around his body. Spike watched him impatiently, tapping his foot on the ground unconsciously. Giles pushed open the door and put the bags on the counter. Spike shed his duster and opened his mouth to speak.

He was practically eaten whole, thrust back against the door, his mouth attacked and plundered by the desperate human. Spike opened his mouth and let Giles in. He wrapped his hands around the warm neck; fingers came into his hair, tugging and pulling on the long, rumpled strands. Giles pressed his thumbs to Spike's eyes and held him in that gentle, intimate embrace as they kissed. They dipped and rose to each other's kisses, mouths wide, tongues eager, clashing.

Giles couldn't breathe, and he made small ragged pants as he held Spike tighter and kissed him some more. One hand slid down to the leather and cupped Spike's backside closer to him. A cool hand slid up inside his shirt, and a nail scratched over his nipple.

Spike felt as if he were alive. His blood almost pounded in his ears as his erection sprung to life from the intimacy of the kissing. He tipped his hips forward slightly and groaned into the kiss at the feel of the human's erection matching his.

At last, Giles staggered away, his eyes wide, a hand to his mouth. Spike looked at his expression and laughed, saying in a teasing, singsong voice, 'This ain't the bedroom, human; you're slidin' back already.'

Giles smirked. 'No kissing for the vampire?'

Spike gave him a furious look and stomped toward the kitchen. Giles caught at his arm. Spike swung back and, once more, they crushed their mouths together, fingers urgently tugging and entwining in hair. In the middle of the room, they kissed and ran their hands over the other's body until, this time, Spike pulled away. He tipped his head on one side, running the back of his hand thoughtfully over his mouth. 'I meant what I said. 'Bout no kissing an' all the rest. So what's this?'

'I meant what I said, too. Decorous love making in the bed, nowhere else. So why do I want to take you here, now, on the floor, using the fresh butter I've just bought? Can you tell me that, wise one who knew someone who was at the crucifixion?'

'Killed 'im, not knew 'im, big difference, and I don't know.' Suddenly, Spike grinned, spun on his heel, and snatched open the door. With a backward, amused glance at Giles' dismayed face, he stepped outside.

''K. 'Ere? Yeah. Mean it all. You come near me and try all that kissy shit, I'll deck ya, chip or no chip.' Theatrically, he stepped inside. 'Come here.' He kissed Giles until the human's lips began to swell, and he had to pull away.

Giles looked at Spike and, with a small blink of acquiescence, he too stepped outside. 'Out here, I shall always remember that I am a watcher, that I am English and that, essentially, I am a quiet, reserved man.' With a small chuckle, he took off his glasses, and stepped over the threshold. 'Strip. Now.'

Eyes wide with surprise and anticipation, Spike slowly pulled his T-shirt over his head and let it drop to the floor. Without turning away from this sight, Giles shut the door behind him and locked it. Naked from the waist up, the tight, black leather jeans and jewellery dully glinting in the soft light, Spike dropped his head to his chest and murmured, 'In 'ere, I'm just yours. I don't want nothin' but you.'

Giles splayed both hands over the naked chest. 'I wish you could see yourself in a mirror, Spike. I feel this burning like a conflagration deep inside my body. What out there will be calm and neutral, observant and detached, in here with you will be almost demonic in my passion for you.'

'When we're out there, I'll rip an' tear through my unlife like I always 'ave. In 'ere? God, Giles, in 'ere I could lie at yer feet like a willin' slave.'

Giles undid the button on Spike's jeans. 'I want you naked, but I want you dressed in leather like this forever. Why all these contradictions, vampire?'

'I don't know, human. I just wanna get outa them, so I can't 'elp you there.'

Giles chuckled and cupped his hand to the back of Spike's neck, pulling him onto his shoulder. 'I am so sorry for everything you went through for me in England. I got lost, Spike, and all I wanted was to find you.'

'I can't be sorry, pet, cus I'm an evil demon, remember? But I just wanna say something..'

'Is it about Angel?'

'Kinda.'

Giles held him away with a smile. 'Can anything ever be 'kinda' about someone like Angel? He is rather. fulsome, no?'

Spike grinned shyly. 'Wish I could talk 'bout 'im to ya sometimes - without ya getting all jealous like. Never told anyone what Angel means to me 'fore.'

'If you emphasise that ludicrous hair style and the fact he definitely weighs more than me, then I might let you.'

Spike fiddled distractedly with his rings for a moment before saying very quietly, 'Do you actually like me. I mean, I know you want me, but do you. like me.'

Giles laughed and punched him lightly in the chest.

Spike looked at him with a small pout. 'What?'

Giles shook his head. 'Nothing, only I was just thinking. how can you not like your best friend? There, now does that satisfy you, insecure vampire? Believe me, like is hardly the word I would use. Now, given that in here, I'm allowed to contradict all the things I said and meant on the way home; get out of those trousers and bend over the couch. It's been eight days, after all.'

Chuckling, Spike did as he was told. He spread his legs wide and bent supply at the waist. 'Bit clinical, ain't it?'

'I thought the use of butter might take the edge off the more medicinal aspects.' Good as his word, Giles unwrapped the butter and began to rub it over the hole he so wanted to be in.

When warm, oily drips began to run down Spike's perineum, Giles sighed, and pressed the smooth tip of his cockhead to the puckered skin. He slid in; it was so warm, so welcoming. 'I've missed this.'

'Yeah.'

Giles put one hand into the hollow that Spike made with the small of his back. His other hand went around to the front of Spike's hip, and he tangled his fingers into the curly hair, pulling on it slightly as he began to ride in and out. Spike moaned softly at the sensation. 'I want to make it good for you, too.'

'Yeah. You are.'

'Tell me when I'm there.'

''K.'

Giles shifted position a little and felt Spike stiffen. The vampire lowed his head onto his chest. 'There. You're there.'

Giles dug his fingers in tighter and began to hit home with every thrust. 'I'm going to cum soon.'

'Yeah, me too.'

He moved his other hand around Spike's hips as well and practically lifted the light form onto him. With a shudder of pleasure, he filled Spike with spill after spill of warm sperm. Spike pushed into the back of the couch as much as he could and came into the soft material, groaning at the relief this cool release gave him.

When they'd finished, Giles pulled Spike to standing, wrapping his arms around his chest, still deeply embedded in the vampire's body. He nuzzled into the side of Spike's neck. 'Like that?'

'Harder.'

'What, like this?' Giles bit with his front teeth, a pinching bite that brought a welt of red to the surface of the pale neck. Spike swore and stretched his neck further, tempting the human to bite him more. It made him swell again and, with a small chuckle against the broken skin, Giles slid his hands down the hard belly and cupped the erection and balls in his hand.

'Bring me off again, Giles.'

'Beg me.'

Spike laughed incredulously. 'What? You're my fucking minion, remember?'

Licking into the almost bleeding wound, Giles said softly, 'That's out there, not in here. In here, we're just us, and I think you can beg very prettily, if you try.'

'You bastard. Okay then. Bring me off. please.'

'Now, vampire, that's not even going to get a flick across the tip. like this.'

'Oh, jeez, yeah, do it again.'

'And.?'

'And fucking please. Fucking pretty please then. That better?'

'No.'

'Giles, please, I'm begging now. For real. I want your hands on me. Warm hands, love, think how that feels to me. A human loving me, it's like a kind of coming alive again. I need you.'

Giles did not reply and his hands stayed still.

'Giles?'

'Err, yes, I think that will do. Sorry.' He bit into the neck until he drew blood and brought Spike to a swift ejaculation, which he caught in his hands. When Spike was empty, as the vampire began to pull away, he pulled him back for a moment, and murmured, 'Thank you.'

Spike shook his head in despair and took hold of Giles' shirt. 'Come on, you old poof. You're jet lagged and gonna get all emotional soon. An' I don't wanna have to cope with that. Bed.'

'You go up. I'm going to make something to eat.'

'Oh, yeah. Make me summit, too.' With that, Spike hopped over the back of the couch and sat watching the TV, still naked.

Giles fastened his jeans and, with a small chuckle, went into the kitchen to examine his groceries. 'Any preferences?'

'Nah. I need a drink.'

'Help yourself.'

'Cool. I'll come here again.'

Giles tried to watch Spike without making it too obvious, but he was perfect, and he could not take his eyes off the slim, muscular form. As Spike stood by the bar pouring them both a drink, Giles smiled slyly to himself. 'Could you put your jeans on? Sorry, but it's a bit odd. naked in the living room.'

'Oh. 'K then.' Spike frowned but did as he was asked. He slid into the leather, sucking in his non-existent belly to do them up. He turned back to the drinks. 'Hey!'

Giles pressed himself against the small, tight backside. 'Hmm.'

'You pervert.'

'I know. I never realised what an effect leather would have on me.'

''S not what the 'orse shagger said.' Spike could have cursed his stupidity when Giles pulled away and went back into the kitchen. He rolled his eyes and followed him in.

'Hey, pet. It were only a joke like.'

Giles turned, surprised. 'What?' He saw Spike's face. 'What? Oh, I wasn't bothered about that! The kettle was boiling. Spike. I am here. She is over there. I've made my choice.'

Spike hopped up onto the counter next to him. 'Tell me 'bout it?'

Giles passed Spike a mug of tea and leant back against the opposite counter. Spike glanced at the mug and then laughed out loud. He showed it to Giles. 'Remember this?'

'"Kiss the Librarian". God. Did I give you that one when you were in the bath?'

'Yep.'

'Freudian, or what?'

'So, you gonna tell me?'

'It was Margaret that did it in the end.'

'The housekeeper? Huh.'

'I was in the bedroom the morning after.. God, sorry.'

'I want you to tell me.'

'All right. The morning after Camilla and I. had sex. and believe me, I know the difference now.'

'Flattery will get you everywhere, by the way. Later tonight.'

'I'll hold you to that. Anyway, I was standing by the window, thinking about things. as you do, and Margaret came in to make the bed..'

'Did she make the bed every day when I was there?'

'Err. I don't know. I suppose so. It's not something I ever thought about. Why?'

Spike chuckled. 'Nothing, pet. Only it explains something. Go on.'

'Well, I was a little upset, I seem to remember. Thinking about everything, you know how it is in the winter when it's always raining, and the house was.. Oh bugger, I was just missing you, that's all.'

Giles looked down at the floor for a moment. 'She came over and handed me the empty bottle of body oil, and said she'd found it under the bed, and did I want it anymore. It rather. undid me.' Giles took a sip of his tea, looking at Spike through lowered lids. 'She told me that if I wanted to have anything worth having, I should look after it better. Which seemed rather odd, given it was just an empty bottle. She didn't mean anything by it, of course; it was just her odd way. But it set me to thinking.'

Spike chuckled. 'Yeah. Course she didn't.'

'So, thinking about the oil..'

'Got you to thinking about me bum and how much you missed it, and me mouth, and every..'

'No. Not at all.'

Spike reared back a little. 'Uh huh. You saying you didn't miss me body?'

'On the contrary, I died a little bit every night at its absence. But I would have withstood that. I think, being English and basically rather reserved, I would have enjoyed punishing myself by missing your body and settling down with Camilla, and making everyone happy. No, I got to thinking about the sex I'd had with her and..' He looked up now, directly at Spike. 'I realised that I wanted you there to tell. I wanted to tell you about having sex with her. However much we'd have shouted and argued and fought, I wanted you there to talk to, to tell. So that's when I got it. It wasn't the sex. It wasn't even loving you - which I did so much, as I said, I died a little without you - it was the friendship. It was just this Spike. It was standing here, now, like this, having tea with you, and able to talk about anything I want to. God, it was just like you said: that sense of it being just the two of us? Saying anything that comes into our heads and knowing it'll be appreciated, thought about. When everything is funnier, everything is more serious, everything profound. Do you remember? Am I making any sense here?'

Spike hopped off the counter and went to fetch his cigarettes. Giles watched the muscles moving and rippling in the leather, still disbelieving that he had this body available to him whenever he wanted. Spike hopped back onto the counter and lit up. With his lungs full of nicotine, he said, 'I need to tell you something.'

*****
Part 21:

Giles' heart gave a small, weak flutter of fear. 'Don't.'

Spike looked up. 'When I caught you snogging that bint..'

'Err, I think I had my cufflink caught in her..'

'Whatever. I kinda lost it for a bit, and I did some vampire stuff.'

'You couldn't kill; what do you..'

'I went back into the ground, pet. I lay with the worms and the crawling things in the earth.'

'Good God! For how long?'

'All that week..'

'No! Oh, bloody hell.' Giles went over and parted Spike's thighs, standing between them. He took Spike's face and held it gently. 'You stupid, stupid vampire. How could you?'

'Yeah, well. I wanted that punishment you just talked 'bout, see? I felt like a demon; so I thought I'd just be one.'

'I just can't bear.. What happened?'

'Oh, a fucking dog tried to dig me up, so it kinda lost its romantic appeal. Anyway. That's not what I wanted to tell you.'

'Oh, God. This is about him, isn't it?'

'Yeah.'

'Don't..'

'Shh. Listen, human. I told ya, I went there to get his help, to do vampire things. An' I did. But I got help I didn't expect.'

'If you tell me I'm going to lose..'

'Will you shut the fuck up? Listen! He helped, cus he weren't you! I couldn't get what I wanted from him. Yeah, he made me scream. in pain, Rupert, in pain. jeez. anyway, he hurt me, an' I wanted that; I hurt him, which was even better; I REALLY wanted that. But it didn't help, see? That's what I'm tryin' to say. I thought he was what I wanted. That what I'd been trying to find with you was just a substitute for what I 'ad with him. Do you get what I'm tryin' to say? Until then, right up to the moment he took me, I thought I was looking for him in you. But the moment he touched me, I was lookin' for you in him. Fuck. I told meself I'd never admit any of this.'

Giles didn't speak for a long time. He couldn't, for his face was pressed into Spike's bare chest, his mouth stilled against the hard pectoral muscles. Spike stroked his hair and smoked quietly over his head. Finally, a muffled voice said, 'Tomorrow, outside, you're not allowed to smoke in here, remember?'

'K, pet. Whatever you say. Tomorrow, out there, you'll be me fucking minion, so seems only fair.'

Giles stood up. 'You and me: conscious choices. It seems incredible.'

'Yeah.' Spike picked up the mug once more, staring thoughtfully at the letters. 'Guess I'd better do what it says then.'

They took a long time obeying the command on the mug. Spike wrapped his legs around Giles' waist, locking them at the ankles, pulling the human to him. Giles put his hands down and held the thin, hard, leather-clad thighs, stroking them slowly up and down, as the kissing made them both swell and harden.

It was only when Giles sensed that Spike was becoming distracted that he pulled away. `What?'

Spike grimaced. `If I tell ya, will you try to get away?'

`Tell me, and I'll let you know.'

Spike sighed but rolled his eyes towards the stove. Giles cursed and grabbed the pan, looking morosely at the soup he'd been trying to heat. `Bloody hell.'

`Come on, I'll give you something else to fill that empty tummy, hey?' Spike smirked and captured Giles once more with his legs. Giles allowed the vampire to pull him back, taking the cool tongue once more into his mouth, running his hands through the soft hair.

Finally, he pulled away, and dragged Spike off the counter. `Bed.'

`Yeah, guess.'

`We have a long day tomorrow - outside.'

`Oh, yeah. Outside.'

The thought of the day to come rather took the edge of Giles' appetite, but he made a valiant effort to swallow when, later that night, Spike filled his mouth with cool sperm. Lying spent in the sweaty, rumpled sheets; denying Spike - as he wanted to - seemed impossible. Spike did not seem to be troubled by similar thoughts. He stretched out in a starfish across the bed: long, pale limbs extended to all corners, and fell into a still, death-like sleep.

Spike left in the early, pre-dawn light, without waking Giles. He shrugged on his duster, opened the door, breathed in the cool, winter air, and stepped out, as the vampire he needed to be.

Giles woke some hours later, groaned at the empty bed, showered, ate some breakfast, and waited for the gang to arrive, which they did, bursting in with their usual cheery enthusiasms: the party, his singing, slaying business, and life in general.

They had just settled down to some research, when the door flew open, and Spike, under a thick blanket, burst in. He chucked the covering to the floor and stationed himself on the steps, taking his time to light a cigarette. Knowing everyone was looking at him, he raised an eyebrow, `What?'

Buffy came over. `I suppose you've got information we desperately need?'

`Nope. `Less you wanna know `bout the stuff bein' nicked from crypts, course.'

Giles came over. `What stuff?'

Spike kept his eyes lowered for a moment then lifted them. It was their first test. He couldn't help a small smile, but no one noticed; he always smiled at the watcher for some reason or another. He held Giles' gaze, as he replied. `Chalice thingy. Got nicked last night `parently. I weren't there - had important business - but I `eard `bout it this mornin'.'

Giles began to grin, so bit his lip and looked away. He focused on Xander - he usually found that stopped him smiling.

Buffy huffed. `I don't trust him, Giles.'

Giles looked at her, suppressing the grin as best he could. `Certainly not. He's lying about something, but I'm not sure what.'

`Hey! Bloody cheek.'

Giles didn't need to look to hear the amused undertone to Spike's interjection, and replied seriously to Buffy. `I think we need to check it out though.'

Buffy shrugged. `K. I'll go.' She eyed Spike. `If you're..'

`Hey, don't shoot the messenger. And I'd come with you like, but..' He waved vaguely at the sunshine outside with his cigarette.

Giles put a hand on her arm. `He might be telling the truth, in which case, I think you should take Xander and Willow with you.'

`Sure.'

Neatly disposing of the children for the morning, Giles and Spike retired to bed once more to catch up on the two hours they had been forced to be apart.

Spike sat against the headboard, still dressed, watching Giles unbuttoning his shirt. `K?'

`What?'

`You.'

`The lying does not come naturally to me, no.'

`Didn't hear any meself.'

`No, I suppose not. The intent was dishonest though.'

`More so, when you were lying to yourself as well.' Giles looked up for a moment, his face thoughtful.

`Do you know, I sometimes think it'll take me more than this one lifetime to really get to know what goes on in that blond head of yours.'

Spike grinned and slipped back into his more casual, I'm-just-a-fuck-up-of-a-vampire style. `So, `appy then?'

Giles let his shirt drop to the floor. `I intend to be in about a minute's time. Take off your jeans and turn over. I want you.'

`Well, seein' you ask so nicely..' Spike raised his hips and, with a smirk, slid his jeans down. He began to unlace his boots but was seized, and flipped over. Laughing, Giles parted the pale cheeks as far as the restricting clothing allowed and bent down to the cool entrance.

`So, I was important business, was I?'

Spike answered by dipping supply at the waist and thrusting his backside up further. Giles gave him a small slap and reached over for a jar of lotion. He was about to run some over Spike's skin, about to ease some into him with an eager finger, when he paused. He turned Spike back over and handed him the jar. `You do it. I want to watch you.'

Spike's eyes widened, and he choked on a small, strangled laugh. `You're bloody joking, right?'

`Not at all. I just want to watch you get ready for me.'

`Hey! Master Vampire here with `is minion!'

`That's outside, remember? Inside, we're..' He trailed off. Spike grinned.

`Oh, this'll be good. Go on..'

`We're..'

`We're.?'

`Oh, shut up.'

``Ow `bout lovers?'

`Lovers? Lovers. Lovers.' Giles squinted as he tried this out for a while. `Lovers. No. Not quite seeing it somehow.'

`Friends that fuck?'

`Friends that fuck? No. Let's say no to that one.'

`Uh huh. Colleagues that cohabit?'

`Shut up, again.'

`Boyfriends?'

`Now.'

`Special friends.'

`Spike, shut up.'

`Come here and make me.'

For a while, Giles did but, halfway through some interesting activity, Spike lifted his face and said, amused. `Friends does it for me.'

Giles, overwhelmed as usual by the intense physical sensations Spike managed to draw out of his body, could barely speak. He merely put a hand to Spike's very rumpled blond hair and nodded.

Giles left Spike sleeping in his bed and spent the afternoon pottering, doing human things that Spike would only have laughed at. When he returned in the early evening, Spike had gone, but the Kiss the Librarian mug had been placed prominently in the middle of the bed, and a large smiley face drawn in pen on the sheet. Giles sighed, and found it amusing that he could do this while grinning.

Having passed the simple test that morning, Giles was determined to put himself through a much more difficult one that evening. He walked over to Buffy's and accompanied her on patrol, discussing the crypt robbing as they went. Giles was amused to discover that Spike had actually been telling the truth. Buffy was in the middle of recounting how she'd found the demons, when a pale, lean figure pushed off from the wall of a crypt. `What's 'appening?'

Giles congratulated himself that he did not look at Spike, however much he wanted to. He tested himself though by saying casually, `Do you have nothing better to do?'

Spike came closer and began to tag along with them. `Might have later tonight, yeah. But now? Nah.'

Feeling very confident, Giles actually turned to him for the first time. He was about make a caustic reply but suddenly said, `Oh, new shirt.'

He was so grateful that it was dark. Buffy and Spike both looked at him with incredulous expressions, Spike clearly biting back a chuckle.

Giles mumbled something crossly and said, `So, just why are you following us?'

Spike gave him a cheeky look. `Just wanted to watch the fun.'

`And that would be.. Oh.' Giles and Buffy looked around at the encircling vampires. Spike smirked.

`That would be. this fun.'

The vampires attacked, and Buffy went immediately into full slayer mode. Giles would have tackled the large vampire that attacked him, but another vampire staked it before it could reach him. This kept happening and, finally, Giles just stood with his arms folded and watched Spike play. He varied his technique: sometimes pinning a fellow vampire to the ground and pushing the stake so hard it embedded in the soft soil; sometimes taking them out from behind before they saw where the attack came from; sometimes holding them close and slipping the stake in, as if they were intimate lovers in a deathly embrace.

When they were finally alone, Buffy turned with blazing eyes to Spike, `Did you set this up?'

`Yeah, sure, like I've got a rent-a-vampire gang I can just command: "Go! Defeat the Slayer and her Watcher". I treat me minions a bit better than that. Don't I, Giles?'

Giles shook his head wearily and began to walk home. Still arguing, Buffy and Spike followed him.

When Spike came over later that night, he came into the living room to find Giles knee deep in boxes. He glanced around, but went up to the human and caught him in a swift embrace. `Upstairs?'

`You are such a bugger, Spike. You left me looking like a complete numpty this evening.'

`Don't care.' Spike went to the bar and poured them both a drink. `You're mine now, and I ain't gonna let you get `urt.'

`Perhaps I should put a sign up: "Beware of the dog - it bites"?'

If he was trying to provoke Spike, it didn't work; the vampire pursed his lips thoughtfully. `Good idea. "Pit Bull lives `ere" What's all this then?' He gave Giles his drink, toeing one of the boxes.

Giles chuckled. `My new computer.'

Spike suddenly showed a rare flash of genuine enthusiasm. He pulled one of the boxes open. `You little darlin'. Let's get it workin'. Why's there more than one box?'

`Ah. right. I was rather waiting for you to help me. But suddenly - I can't think why - I'm beginning to lose faith in your computer expertise.'

`Me what?'

`You're the one who knows all about computers, aren't you?'

Spike stood up and looked at him. `I know `ow to surf for cool porn, yeah. Where's the porn box?'

`So. let me just get this straight. You have absolutely no idea how to put all this together?'

Giles had to give Spike his due, the vampire did toe one or two more boxes thoughtfully. He even lit a cigarette and eyed the handbook lying on the floor for a few minutes. It was a valiant effort but, finally, he admitted defeat and flung himself on the couch with a dismissive wave of his hand. `Just let me know when it's up an' running.'

Giles admitted defeat, too and, the next day, called Willow for help.

Spike arrived half way though the assembly process, throwing his blanket away with his usual disdain. `What's up?'

He ignored the annoyed looks from the younger humans and went over to the boxes. `What you got `ere then, watcher?'

Giles, wondering where he was going with this, answered carefully, `What does it look like?'

`It looks like a fucking abortion. Should'a got someone to `elp.'

`I asked a so-called expert, but he was as much use as a fish on a bicycle.'

`Should'a asked me, mate. I know all `bout computers.'

`Not things I think we'll go into now though.'

`Why not? Might educate the kiddies a bit. Hey, Harris, you ever seen..' Wanting to stifle him with a kiss, Giles contented himself with slapping the manual at him.

`Make yourself useful - silently - or get out.'

Spike grinned and threw himself on the couch, clenching and unclenching his fist teasingly at Giles.

Giles quickly discovered the reason he had not seen a lot of porn: he didn't like it or find it particularly stimulating. It interested him, in a detached sort of way, but he got far more stimulation from watching Spike's enthusiasm for it. He watched Spike as the vampire surfed: leaning back in the chair, his feet up on the desk, smoking slowly. Spike knew he was being watched and, after a few minutes, said, `When I was a lad, you got fucking excited if you saw an ankle.'

`Is..' Giles glanced at the picture on the screen and winced slightly. `Is that better?'

`'S different..'

Within a few days, Giles noticed a change in Spike's interests. Whenever he came to stand behind him and run his hands lightly through Spike's hair or hold his shoulders and massage them, he found Spike switching screens at his approach. When this had happened on and off all one day, he could stay quiet no longer, and said with some bitterness, `You don't value friendship very highly, do you, vampire?'

Spike didn't look around but held the mouse still guiltily. With a sigh, he flicked back to the site he'd been on. Giles perched on the desk and looked at the pictures. He looked at Spike.

Spike shrugged. `I just fucking miss it sometimes. No need to whine to everyone `bout it though.' He closed the site on Hawaii, and the bright, sun-filled pictures disappeared. Giles looked down at his nails for a while. He took off his glasses and polished them. Finally, he just pulled Spike's head into his lap and held him for a while. There was nothing he could say that would make the situation any easier to bear.

******************

There were tests, and then there were. tests. Giles did not particularly want to open his door the following evening to Angel, but he did. Fearful, furious, English and polite, he invited him in.

With a small smirk, Angel came slowly into the room. He looked around and, for a split second, somewhere in his complex split psyche, Giles knew that Angel was enjoying remembering Jenny. If he could have gotten away with it, if he could have done it physically, Giles would have staked the vampire for that tiny flicker of pleasure in those intense eyes. That Giles might have been thinking about a recent flight he had paid for to Los Angeles, had nothing to do with this violent intent at all.

He watched Angel mooch around his apartment. He noted everything the vampire looked at or touched. He saw the way he paused by the computer, watched how he stopped by an open book, noted when he stroked a hand over the bright yellow, librarian mug.

Giles was never too sure just how powerful vampires' senses were, but he had the odd thought that Angel lingered over all the things Spike had touched that day.

He was not going to speak first. That much he had decided. He turned away from Angel and put the kettle on. As he watched it, he tried to recall the little Spike had told him about his trip to LA. Giles could not remember - and it seemed rather critical now - whether Spike had told Angel about them or not. He had the impression that he had not, but wasn't too sure that this was not just desperate fear, winning out over more accurate memory.

At last, Angel finished his slow, arrogant inspection and turned to Giles. He smiled, and a chill ran up the human's spine, making the roots of his hair tingle. 'How are you, Rupert?'

Staking was too good for him. Giles had a brief, but satisfying flash of Angel's probable torments in hell and tried to reply to this provocative question calmly. 'Well, quite well. Why are you here?'

Angel tipped his head on one side. 'You know why, Rupert.'

Giles wasn't that gullible. 'No, actually I don't. Enlighten me.'

Angel smiled, as if enjoying the game. 'I kinda felt like seeing old friends, ya know?'

'Ah. Why come to Sunnydale then?'

Angel's smile slipped off, and he came forward toward the counter. Giles could have staked himself then - however much he had meant not to let Angel intimidate him, he couldn't help a small step back at this approach.

'I want it to end.'

Giles' jaw dropped slightly and, before he could weigh the prudence of his reply, he snapped back, 'Who the hell are you to come here and demand that?'

Angel banged his fist onto the counter, rattling cups. 'He's got no fucking right.'

'Bloody hell! No wonder you're ruddy history. Did you hear that, Angel? History. You two are finished, and I can't say I'm surprised now.'

Angel, in a frightening display of his deceptive speed and power, vaulted the counter and pressed Giles by the throat to the wall. 'You're going to stop it, Giles. I can't. He isn't afraid of me, but you are. You, of all people, should be. Do you remember how it felt, Giles? Do you still wake up and feel parts of me in you? I guess you do. I still think about you sometimes, ya know? When I'm killing something. Makes me feel good. So, you go around there tonight; you do it calmly; you do it any fucking way you like, but you end it. Do you understand me, or do I have to make myself clearer.?'

'I think you've made yerself clear 'nough, Angelus. Fucking let 'im go, or we'll finally get to see which of us is better, won't we?'

Angel turned lazily and looked at Spike in the doorway. 'Fuck off, Spike; this isn't about you.'

Giles let out a small, strangled snort and, best as he could - given a huge, bone-crushing hand was choking him - said, 'It's all about him, Angel. You've lost him. Face it.' This bold declaration over, Giles closed his eyes, and waited to die.

Surprised when the hand was released, he peered nervously out of half-closed lids. Angel was staring at him with a deep frown. 'Riley is fucking Spike, too?'

There was a long pause in the room while all three males rewound, rethought, and regrouped. Spike recovered first and chuckled at the other two, waving his hand dismissively at them. 'Wankers.'

Angel gritted his teeth and looked at Giles. 'He's told you about us?'

Giles shook his head, bemused. 'Shouldn't I have just said that?'

Angel seemed to find this confusing and opened his mouth to reply, but shut it lamely and looked at Spike for support. Spike jerked his head back and shook it a little. 'Don't look at me, mate; you sort it out between ya.'

Angel stepped courteously back from Giles and even made an attempt to straighten the human's shirt for him. Giles smacked his hand away. 'Did you just come into my home and threaten me - imply you were going to torture me again - for someone else's relationship? My, God! You arrogant bastard, Angel.'

Sensing that something good was going to happen, Spike stationed himself on the couch for a good view and lit a cigarette.

Angel lowered his brow again but knew he was badly in the wrong. He backed away a little and glanced down at the floor.

Giles sighed, cursed himself for being such a soft touch, but added more gently, 'You wanted her to have this, Angel. It's why you left.'

Angel didn't lift his head, but he pursed his lips a little. 'Not with him.'

'Angel, would it make any difference who it was? It's what he represents that you can't abide.'

'Like you then, Rupert.' At this, Angel lifted his eyes and turned the full power of his soulful expression on the human. Giles fought it, he cursed inwardly, but he had to admit the seductive intensity of that look.

'Can I just remind everyone, that I am still here?'

As one, Angel and Giles chorused, 'Fuck off, Spike.' They couldn't help small, complicit grins at this, and Giles took a leap of faith. 'Drink?'

Angel seemed very relieved to have an excuse to back out of the small kitchen without loss of face, and nodded, sitting on the other end of the couch.

Giles poured and handed out drinks, and then sat opposite the two vampires on the coffee table.

Spike took a sip, kept his eyes lowered to his glass, but said with a smirk, 'Anyone for a shag then?'

Giles looked at Angel. Angel looked back at him. Giles raised his eyebrows and said, 'Perhaps you'd like him back?'

Angel twitched his lips and went back to studying his glass.

Giles started to feel hot and shook his shoulders slightly, wondering if the heating was set too high. He felt a strange pricking on his skin: pressure, as if a storm was building somewhere. The light in the room almost shifted to a pre-tempest, sickly yellow. Sweat began to prick under his arms and on his forehead, and he put a hand up to remove his glasses.

In the resulting blur, he finally saw clearly. It was the vampires: their preternatural bodies sparking off each other, pheromones pouring into the air, testosterone heating the atmosphere. Giles suddenly felt naked, raw. They both knew his body so well, albeit for different reasons: his weaknesses, his vulnerabilities, his desires, and his needs. He knew them as well. They had all bathed in each other's sweat, tears, blood, spit, and cum. The physicality of the moment threatened to overwhelm him. He couldn't take his eyes off Angel's hands, remembered every moment that they had lain on him, stroked over him before they gave him such unbelievable pain. The eyes still drew him; he felt their seductive influence and feared to look more closely.

It was the final test, and he suddenly saw himself failing. What did he want? Did he really want to bathe once more in that dark body's delights? Did he want to feel Angel in more subtle ways: test his need against that ancient, powerful, male body? Desperate not to allow the thought in, Giles tired to concentrate on silence, but he could not stop it: what he really wanted was to watch Spike with Angel. He wanted to see Spike without restraint. He wanted to see those bodies clash and war for dominance. Even more painfully, another thought slithered in. Giles knew that, for all his protestations to the contrary, Spike wanted it, too. How could he not? Giles' tortured blood called out for this ancient power to claim him once more; Spike's need to be with his sire would be irresistible.

Giles knew what would happen if he let go: if he let them all go upstairs to the place where they could explore such need. They would play together, overtaken by the moment, heedless to the consequences, heedless to the fragile equilibrium he had managed to establish with Spike between their essential incompatibilities.

Giles closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, hoping desperately that this would pass, that he could withstand and, in the darkness, subtle, different needs began to gain dominance. He wanted to hear Spike's voice, and this made him smile. He wanted to hear what Spike thought, and that made him want to laugh. He wanted to lie in Spike's arms later that night and hear the vampire's transparent lies about Angel and tease him for them. He wanted to kiss the man he had come to know beneath that vampire exterior. He wanted Angel to go, so they could be alone. Giles opened his eyes, finished cleaning his glasses and put them back on.

`Was there anything else you wanted, Angel?'

Angel leant back on the couch. Giles noticed he had not touched his drink. Without taking his eyes off the human, Angel said softly, but clearly not to Giles, `He resists well. I had forgotten.'

Spike, also looking at Giles, grinned. `An' he's just been promoted for it. Favoured childe now.'

`Err..'

Angel stood up and stretched. `Remember, childe of mine, twenty years is but a blink of an eye for the eternal.'

`Err.' Giles felt his interjections were feeble, but he wasn't entirely sure that this conversation was about him, and was too embarrassed to clarify the situation.

Angel chuckled and paused by the door, looking at Giles. `Take care to always be as faithful to your new sire as you just have been, human. Treat my loan with respect. Do not displease me.' With that, he left, the soft closing of the door almost painful in the charged atmosphere.

Giles felt something surging through his body, a residual force that he could not dispel. He looked at Spike and saw, with a deep tingle in his spine, that the vampire's eyes were a dilated, deep blue. He stood. Spike stood. Giles grabbed him so hard that Spike's shirt tore. Spike batted his hand away and captured Giles by the back of neck, pulling him into his mouth. They tore at each other's lips, frantically kissing over faces and necks. Giles ripped his glasses off and threw them behind him. Spike snatched at Giles' jeans and, in the scuffle, Giles fell backward over the table, smashing it to fragments. Pumped up with so much sexual tension, Giles didn't care, or notice, if he was hurt, so Spike was free to fall on him with a desperate need. Giles staggered up, trying to remove his clothes. He had one last rational thought and said, `Door,' before all was lost to the power of his need to orgasm in Spike's body. As Spike locked the door, Giles managed to get his jeans off. When Spike turned around, the human stood in the middle of the floor, his erection standing proud, poking through bottom of his shirt. Spike flung himself back at the human, and they crashed into the bookcase. Giles spread-eagled Spike and tore at his jeans, ripping them down to his knees. He tried to enter Spike, couldn't, and pushed him hard, so he bent over the table. He drove himself in the vampire, tearing Spike, the blood making the first pull out exquisite. Spike moaned his delight at the scent of blood and at the pain that flared out and spread through his body. He tried to steady himself as the human rode him, grabbed the table, grabbed anything he could find for support. Music suddenly blared into the room, still full volume from its last playing.

Giles wrenched Spike's hands away from the player and crashed him to the floor, dislodging his penis from the slick anus for a moment. He cursed the lost of sensation and prised Spike apart for another entry. Spike rose and dipped his body to the music, keening his delight at being fucked to the rock rhythm.

Giles laughed at his lover's pleasure and re-entered, hard, fast, and with a need to cum so urgent that his ears began to hum with the pressure. Spike pushed his face into the rug, clawing his fingers, spreading his legs as wide as he could. Giles knelt to his hole and thought about nothing else but release. Finally, it came. He cried out and pulled back a fraction, just to watch his thick shaft pulsate. Spike's rectum begged to be filled, so Giles sent spill after spill of warm sperm in to coat its walls, filling the tight spaces. It began to leak out with his final thrusts, glistening opaquely on the pale skin. He felt an immediate post orgasmic slump, the unnatural tension Angel's body had induced in him dissipating with the release of this fluid.

He fell out of Spike, panting, bleeding from injuries he had not realised he had sustained, exhausted and deafened by someone demanding that he sanctify them. He lay on the mat, relieved it was over. Then a pale face appeared above him. Then eyes, still so dilated and aroused that he hissed slightly in anticipation, blinked slowly. Then a hard object battered against his thigh, a hand lifted his leg.

In his exhaustion and strain, Giles almost said no. but then the vampire was inside him. Exquisitely gently, inch by delightful inch, Spike entered Giles, and the filling was delicious. It took away his tension; it relieved his anxiety. Giles looked up at Spike's face, as the vampire softly rode in and out of him. Spike smiled down at him. Giles breathed out slowly, as he absorbed the incredible fact that the vampire's look had been paternal, that Spike was making love to his new childe, that he had allowed his novice to expend his weak human energy and need against his invulnerable body in order for the childe to lie supine as he was claimed.

The demand to be sanctified stopped, the track changed. Spike paused, waiting. When he began again, he was even gentler, his hands running over Giles' sweating skin softly caressing, his hips just rising and lowering, easing himself in and out of the frail body. As he got closer, he lowered himself to Giles. He grasped the warm shoulders, and laid his forehead on the soft belly. Gripped, embraced, possessed, Giles felt the cool sperm deep in his body, felt the marking, the sharing. Baptised by Spike's release, Giles lay finally complete. His strivings ceased, his flesh retired, nothing of the heat of his desire remained, as that cool balm eased through his body.

Enveloped in the stronger body, utterly safe and calm, Giles let the night slip away from him. When he woke in the morning, he was too stiff to move - too sore to attempt it anyway - but happier than he had been since he had begun this strange journey at those quiet words, `I can help.'

He lifted his head slightly to the blond, rumpled mass on him and wondered if Spike had had some precognition of this moment when he had said those words. Giles realised that Spike was still in him. He chuckled and laid his head back down. He looked around the room with wonder. Furniture was smashed, books lay scattered over the floor, and still the music played on full volume, trapped on its electronically eternal cycle. Giles chuckled and tapped Spike on the back until the vampire grunted an annoyed, `Fuck off.'

He kissed the soft, messy hair and tired again, `Shower? Together?'

`K then.' With a grin Spike rose and held out his hand to Giles. They managed to get him to sitting, and then Spike hefted him to the couch.

`Bloody hell.'

`That'll teach ya to sleep on the floor.'

`I think it was falling through the coffee table actually, but you might be right.'

Spike stood and looked at him. `So, how quickly could you get upstairs then?'

Giles chuckled and shook his head ruefully. `What's the urgency?'

`Nothin', only. Summers, Harris, and Red are `bout to get `ere. I'd say..' He paused as if listening to something, `Twenty seconds.'

Giles looked at the blood and cum stains on the rug first. Then he looked at the broken furniture. Only lastly, did he looked at Spike's nakedness, and then his own.

Spike laughed at the unusually fast movement from someone purporting to be stiff, as he leisurely pulled on his own jeans and T-shirt. As the group arrived and knocked, surprised by the locked door, he was straightening the furniture and pulling a chair over the offending stains.

He turned off the music, unlocked the door, and ushered them in, trying to take their outrage at his presence seriously.

By the time Giles came down, dressed and decent, an argument was raging in the middle of his living room: Spike enjoyably defending himself from accusations that he'd caused the damage, and that Giles was lying somewhere even more damaged, or dead.

Giles covered well by picking from a numerous list of demons that could have caused the damage and claiming that one of them had. Not fully convinced, Buffy allowed herself to be distracted by helping Giles to pick up his books and, within a relatively short time, they were all happily ensconced with their various areas of research.

Giles couldn't concentrate on his reading. He desperately wanted them all to go, so he could talk to Spike. He needed to speak about Angel, to find out why he had come, and what that strange encounter had been about. Most of all, he wanted to talk about what they had done together in the aftermath of Angel's visit: his furious passion, and Spike's blessing.

When he felt calm enough, he looked up. Spike was watching him, his feet up on the desk, swinging his chair lazily on its back legs, smoking. Giles smiled shyly, and Spike twitched his lips in response. Then, with a small rise of one eyebrow, he turned the music back on again, softly this time, the intense rock rhythm only emphasised more by this muting.

Xander looked up and winced. 'Yikes. Oldie music! Off maybe?'

Giles, still staring at Spike, said neutrally, 'It's eternal music, Xander, and I rather like it.'

He suddenly chuckled and stretched back in his chair, happy to read. He didn't want them to leave - Spike would still be there when they did go. He didn't need to talk to Spike now - they would talk later, long into the night.

After a few moments, aware that Spike still watched him, he said apparently to no one in particular, 'Does it ever get any better than this?'

Three puzzled looks greeted this question. He wasn't bothered by them; it was the soft, amused, confident 'Nah' from the direction of the music that made him close his eyes with a small nod of pleasure at this private understanding.

The End