Be A Man

Sitting on the bench next to his Slayer, Giles frowned.

“Buffy?” He tried, her face reminiscent of a statue. She blinked owlishly and he continued, knowing she was listening. “I spoke to Spike this morning. He told me your mother is faring well after her surgery.” He smiled at her, “I think you should forgo training today, take some time to yourself, and see your mother and sister.” He paused, watching her intently as he continued, “Spike mentioned a trip with Dawn, perhaps you may enjoy going with them?” Achieving the desired reaction, Giles remained silent until she spoke, watching, he could practically see her mind working.

“Giles?” She spoke in a small babyish voice. “Why are you treating Spike like a person?”

“While it would be interesting to share my theories on Spike’s transformation with you at this point, I’m afraid that you need to see Spike as his own person, not in Angel’s shadow before we discuss it in detail.”

Dumbfounded by Giles’ sharp speech, Buffy sat in a daze, not noticing when the older man walked away from her.

Waving goodbye to her mom, Dawn let Spike pull her away as the nurse shut the door behind her. Taking care of Dawn was no chore for Spike but the allure of the blood that sang so sweetly to him from the confines of the hospital was starting to grate on his patience. His previous excuse for not stealing human blood from the store cupboard that was so temptingly located at the end of the corridor had been that Buffy wouldn’t approve but after the way she was refusing to acknowledge how much he had changed his demon was taunting him, trying to goad him into stealing some to quench his thirst so to speak.

Knowing that Buffy would probably be even less accepting of him if she had the slightest clue that what he had done was pretty much all for her, Spike had wisely kept quiet about it all, being thankful that Dawn had realised the same thing.

Fobbing Dawn off with the excuse of having left his door key in Joyce’s room, Spike doubled back to the supply cupboard, slipping in unnoticed, he loaded up his pockets with O Neg. before making his way back to the vending machine where Dawn was waiting.

It wasn’t his fault that Buffy was a stupid hypocritical bint with no real life concepts of what the world was like. Her life obviously revolved around herself and her calling, what she didn’t realise was that her average Joe wanker of a boyfriend would never have a place in that life. Spike would rather stay wherever the hell he was in her life than be as close as the wanker was and realise he could never have her anyway.

Humming to himself, Dawn tagged along behind him as they made their way across town, the glorious sunshine only increasing Spike’s good mood.

Life was definitely good. He had a great apartment, company when he wanted, plenty of money, a pocket full of human blood and Joyce’s operation was a success. What more could a vamp ask for?