Gods And Monsters

Chapter Seventy-four:

Strolling between the headstones in a dark cemetery the following night, Giles led the routine patrol with Buffy, Kennedy, and Amanda. The newest Potential, a young Chinese woman, also accompanied them.

"It was uh, extraordinary good luck, of course." Giles explained, referring to when he miraculously managed to avoid being decapitated by one of the Bringers who were murdering Watchers in London. "And–and, uh, training— years of training. Chao-Ahn, keep up. You're new here, Chao-Ahn, so take note. Remember about training. But I honestly feel the largest part of it was instinct. Instinct, and–and reflexes. There's a sort of wary watchfulness I've developed over the years. It's like another sense—"

His lecture was brought to an abrupt end when, out of nowhere, he was knocked to the ground by none other than Spike.

"Spike!" Buffy called out, worried.

"Hey!" Spike and Giles exclaimed simultaneously, scrambling away from one another.

"You're not in pain." Giles observed, still speaking in unison with Spike, who said at the same time: "You're not the first." 

"What?" Giles asked, confused.

"Anya said you were the first. Said you were evil. You're supposed to be all go-through-able." Spike stood upright, joining Buffy's side.

Hauling himself onto his feet, Giles stared at Spike with dumbfounded irritation. "Then what the hell did you tackle me for, you berk? What's that supposed to do?"

"I, uh, I didn't think of that." Spike confessed sheepishly.

"More importantly, you just hit me. Why didn't your chip go off?" Giles demanded.

Spike bowed his head slightly, averting his eyes. "Yeah, well..."

"Well, uh, when Hel and Spike were at the Initiative..." Buffy intervened, trailing off and glancing sidelong at Spike for assistance with her explanation.

Spike looked over at her. "There was a choice."

She redirected her gaze to Giles. "Right. Either repair the chip, or remove it."

"You had it remov– you removed the chip?" Giles blurted in disbelief, eyes wide.

Buffy smiled tentatively, trying her very best to look innocent. "Yeah."

"Had to make a choice." Spike interjected.

"It really is okay." She added.

"What's a chip?" Amanda inquired, utterly lost.

"They removed the chip?" Kennedy remarked, incredulous.

Chao-Ahn posed a question in Chinese, her words unintelligible to the English-speakers around her.

While everyone else continued patrolling, Spike made his way back to the house. Sauntering into the kitchen through the back door, he decided to brew himself a tea. Then, mug in hand, he set out in search of Hel. He found her in no time at all, sitting alone at the dining room table.

She was huddled over her first cup of coffee, her mind miles away as she stared vacantly at the mustard-yellow mug clasped between her slender white hands. Her dark hair was not yet tamed, tumbling past her shoulder in bed-head curls. She wore a pair of black and white striped pyjama shorts and one of his button-up shirts, which was much too large for her.

Wordlessly, Spike took the seat opposite her. Together they sat in companionable silence, sipping from their mugs.

Buffy, Kennedy, Amanda, Chao-Ahn, and Giles returned shortly. The Potentials filed into the kitchen for a quick bite to eat before bed, while Buffy and Giles separated from the group to have a private discussion about the state of their makeshift army in the living room. At around eleven-thirty, Xander and Willow dropped by the house for a visit, not long after the Potentials had gone to bed.