Chapter 4.12
Tuesday, May 14th, 2002

"Spike, you cannot be serious. For one thing Riley isn't going to come anywhere on your say so," Buffy argued.

"Not a problem. I'm not going to be the one doing the asking."

"What do you mean?" The slayer stood so that Spike's pacing was interrupted when the two of them ended up nose to nose.

"I mean, pet, that if Anya here's willing to play along, then Harris will do the asking... And he's going to be real convincing."

"I don't follow."

"Neither do I... yet. But I'm sure that between all the brains we've got here we can come up with some story that'll bring Soldier Boy a runnin'. Somethin' along the whole thrall line. The sort of thing that the pair of them are all too ready to believe in the first place." Neither one of the couple would back down and their voices were getting louder with every round the argument went through, despite the fact that their faces if anything were getting closer.

"You're talking about using one of my friends, and you might as well just paint a bullseye over your heart. It's stupid. You're stupid. If we have to put up with cameras and listeny things from now to doomsday, then we do, because that plan is so not leaving this room... Not to mention the fact that, say you did convince Xander, then he would just come after you himself."

Spike glowered at the love of his life. "Thanks for the vote of no confidence, precious. You really think, chip or no chip, that the carpenter could get the job done?"

"I really think that one way or the other someone I care about would get hurt."

"For crying out loud! He couldn't lay a finger on me that I didn't let him. We could dance from now till next year and I could stay out his bloody way, and if he didn't fetch the bloody orbs before he came looking for me, then he'd be even stupider than I give him credit for."

"We're not doing it."

"Why? Because the almighty slayer says so? I don't see anybody else throwing out any better ideas on what to do about Big, Scarred and Stupid."

"Maybe if you would shut your mouth for two seconds, then they might have a chance."

Spike held up his hand index finger raised. It was so far in Buffy's face that if she'd actually tried to focus on it she would have gone cross-eyed. After a second, his middle finger was raised to join it, completing that old British gesture that dates back to when William the Conqueror vowed to cut off the bow fingers of every Saxon archer he captured. "I don't hear a rousing chorus of responses, slayer."

"Guys?" Clem tried to intervene. "You're going to wake up Rosa. And nobody would get hurt if you were like Spike's bodyguard. I mean like you guys seem to be more or less inseparable anyway and neither Xander nor this Riley guy would hurt you to get at Spike, least that's how it seems."

"And I still say no," Buffy stood firm, pushing Spike's hand out of her way with her arm, reluctant to initiate any flesh to flesh contact when their emotions were running so high in public.

"And I say hell no," Spike refused to be nursemaided.

"Good, well, that's settled then. Until we come up with a better plan or we get a decent lead with the research, then we might as well pack in for now."

"The only thing that's settled is that I'm not going to be bloody babysat like some soddin' three-year-old."

"Then stop acting like one."

"Me? A year ago, you wouldn't have even blinked at the idea of using me for bait. Hell, a month ago, even. How am I supposed to keep that promise I made you last year, if you're too busy trying to wrap me in cotton wool?"

"I'm not. I just don't see that what we'd gain is worth it compared to what we could lose."

"What we gain is our lives back. Don't you think your sister and your friends have got a right to a vote in this? Do you really think Anya likes the thought that Finn and whoever he's with know how often her and Harris have sex, or Red and Glinda for that matter? Do you think Bit's thrilled by the fact that she can never actually know for sure that any phone conversation she has is private, that there could be someone taping every bitch and moan she made to lover boy this morning? Or that they know when she's on the rag?"

"Enough, Spike. There's no need for that."

Buffy could see her sister's mortified face.

"No, you wouldn't want to think about the truth, would you? Strangers can know all our most intimate secrets, but we have to pretend ignorance. You can't make this decision for everybody, Buffy. I swore to protect your sister with my life. You took that promise. That doesn't just mean standing in the way if someone's trying to kill her. That means not letting some bastard make her life so it's not worth living.

I've already been in one of their cages, and I'm not going to lie back and let them treat our lives like some soddin' fifth grade ant farm that they can sit back and observe and poke a bloody stick in when they feel like it."

"Stop being such a drama queen. For all we know, that pile of rubbish that's in the bin might have been the only bug they had in the whole house."

"Even you don't really believe that, Goldilocks. They. Knew. Even though you never let me in your room. Even though that thing was shut away in your dresser drawer. They. Knew. Your sister might not have known. Your so-called best friends didn't know, but. They. Did."

Anya stood up walking over to stand to one side of the glaring couple. "What exactly is it that you want me to do, Spike?"

"All I'm asking is that you don't mention this bit of the conversation to Harris. You don't have to lie to him, and we're not asking you to do the setting up. If you want, we can time it so that you're up in LA. Just let him follow his natural inclination when it comes to looking for an explanation for things. That's it."

"Okay," the former demon seemed to consider this. "But why do you want to involve him in the first place? I mean why not just cook up something for the cameras and the listening devices?"

"Truth? We don't know how much of what's going on they do see and hear. It's going to look kind of forced if we play out the same scene half a dozen times in case they didn't pick up on it. And I don't kid myself that I can lie well enough to fool them all the time. But I can make Harris believe I'm just using Buffy, because when all's said and done that's what he wants to believe. So, all it'll take is a little nudge and everything's back to conforming with his view of the world. And he can talk to Finn till he's blue in the face and Soldier Boy won't catch him in a lie, because as far as he's concerned he's telling the truth."

"I still don't like it," Buffy said, her voice lowered once more to a conversational level.

"Look, I can see where you're both coming from," Dawn mediated. "But for now, my vote would be to wait. At least until we see what Tara and Willow come up with on the magic front. If we have to, then we go with it, but I think it should be a last resort. And I think the extra time might give us a chance to iron the kinks out."

"I'd go along with that," Willow offered.

Tara nodded her agreement. Buffy's gaze turned to Anya. The blonde hesitated but then nodded. "Maybe if it comes to that, it'll make him think twice before he makes the same mistake again."

"Well, I guess we're both outvoted, pet..." Spike's eyes searched Buffy's face for a cue to her mood.

"Fine," Buffy almost spat. She wasn't used to living in a democracy, not on a small scale anyway and the change wasn't one to which she was adapting well.

"It's kinda early for a bachelor party, anyway." Clem added scratching at an ear with his hand. "And I'm not really sure who we would invite."

"I was thinkin' about every demon from here to LA with a grudge against the Initiative. After all we don't know how many guys Finn might decide to bring with him."

"That sounds like you're ready to start a war, mi amigo. And in wars people get hurt." Marie looked at the vampire appraisingly.

"Marie, no one says you have to be any part of this. You've got the munchkin to look out for and she's already short one parent. But I didn't start this war. I didn't even revive it. Finn could have been in and out with enough troops to do what he theoretically wanted to do, and none of us would have been any the wiser. He chose to interfere in our lives. Now it's time to pay the consequences."

"Spike, you can't kill him." Buffy suddenly realised just how high the stakes had risen in this game.

"C'mon, pet. You know I can't even touch him." Spike's features twisted into a bitter grimace.

"I'm not just talking about you personally. You put troops in the same room as a bunch of demons with grudges and there's going to be bloodshed."

"And that idea's meant to upset me. Vampire. Remember? Pardon me if I don't sing a chorus of 'Don't Cry for Me, Argentina' over a bloke that stuck a stake through my heart."

Spike's hand rummaged in his coat pocket for a second or two before he threw his car keys to Anya. "Take it back to your place when you've dropped the others off. I'll swing by the shop sometime and pick the keys up."

"Where're you going?" Dawn asked.

"Wherever my feet take me," the vampire replied as he swept from the room.

Hiya Sam (if that is actually your name),

Hope you and Riley are well (again, if there really is a you and Riley). Things have been interesting here on the Hellmouth. I'm sure you already know that S and B are engaged, that X left A but then convinced her to run off for a Vegas wedding and that T and I are back together.

You see, when we had a chance to look at the evidence after the fact, we realised that all or some of us had to have been under surveillance for some time, and that Riley had obviously had access to that surveillance. So, I want you to pass on this message to him. Stop the surveillance now. If you don't, we will assume that your intentions are hostile. I think we've proved often enough over the years that we can deal with things for ourselves without outside interference, and unless you continue to provoke us we don't constitute a threat. I also think, given our achievements last summer, if you think about it you'll realise that we're not the sort of people you want to piss off.

If either of you ever set foot in S again, this will also be construed as a hostile act. I don't think even B could stop S rounding up every demon in a two hundred-mile radius that has a grudge against the Initiative. To be honest, I'm not entirely convinced that he wouldn't be justified. You tried to play mind games with us all, but especially with B and him. You tried to destroy what little happiness she had found. Be aware that S is no longer viewed as a nuisance to be tolerated. He is one of us. If you act against him, you act against us all.

I think it would be for the best if this were the last communication between us. Believe me when I say that I wish you both well so long as you stay away from us and ours.

W.

Willow bounced the e-mail around some so that no one could prove where it had originated. Sam and Riley would know and that was enough. What they might choose to do about it was a different matter, but hopefully Riley would realise that discretion was the better part of valour in this instance. Willow didn't know anything else she could do to prevent this ending in a bloodbath.