Spike the. . . Cuddly???

Finally three am rolled around and Xander closed his book and stood, stretching his cramped muscles with a groan. "Well all, we're off. Gotta get up early to keep the two of us in chocolate and Fancy Feast."

Willow and Buffy snickered and Tara smiled.

Giles just looked relieved. The 'Beast' (as the kitten had been dubbed by the watcher) had been following Giles around all evening. It was uncanny how the thing knew just what to get into to annoy him the most. And with the protection of Xander and Buffy both, there was nothing Giles could do but take it. . . and blush bright red when it unearthed the bag of cannabis from the side table near his bed and dragged it out to 'share'. Although he swore it was left overm him his time spent enchanted into his youth, no one believed him, and the Beast tried to eat some! It was the good stuff too!

"Ah, right." He placed his glasses back on and nodded, "Goodnight Xander."

"G'night." He smiled, and then added with a snicker, "Hey Giles, remember, just say no." Xander closed the door right before the cushion hit and laughed. He had been walking for a few minuets when the boy reached up to place a hand over the kitten on his shoulder. "You know, if I made you a pair of wings and a set of horns, you could be my conscience." He teased.

Spike snorted, but it came out sounding more like a sneeze.

"Bless you."

"Mrow." //bloody kitten vocals.//

"You were a good kitten today Spike. You helped out a lot." He stroked the soft fur. But man! I don't know what you have against Giles."

//A bathtub an' chains an' missed passions eps.// "Grrr." Spike winced at the pathetic attempt to growl.

Xander slipped the kitten from his shoulder to cradle it in front of him. "Don't worry about it okay?"

//The whelp doesn't know what I'm sayin' but 'e still understands me.//

A very grown up growl startled them both from their musings

"Spike. . . please tell me that was you."

"Mew." //Not bloody likely in this body.//

"I didn't think so." The slayerette turned toward the shadows on the side of the street and jumped, "Oh shit!" It was the Fradglarn! Xander reached for his stake but the demon batted it out of his hand easily, tearing some of Xander's skin of in the process. "Ouch!"

//Shit! Yer no match for it on yer own! Run!// "Merrowl! Grrr! ckhsss!"

Xander didn't need to speak the language in order to get the message. He grasped the little platinum kitten to his chest and ran. "What did Giles' books say? What did they say? Shit! I knew I should have been paying attention! Uh. . . Iron! They hate iron! Shitshitshitshit where do I fine Iron in Sunnydale?!" He skid around a corner and stumbled to the ground, rolling to his back as he hit to protect the little life in his hands. That fall was all it took for the demon to catch up.

Spike could see the thing advancing on them, he smelled blood from Xander's hands and from his back where he'd hit the gravel and slid a few feet before hitting a fence and stopping. The blood from those strong, work callused hands was staining his fur red. Spike made a decision.

He wriggled out of Xander's strong protective grasp and launched himself at the approaching Fradglarn, sinking sharp little claws and teeth into it face just above it's mouth. The thing roared and tore at the kitten trying to force it off but Spike just dug in deeper. //Run luv! Get out of here!//

Xander panted on the ground and stared in horror at the kitten's battle before getting a good grip and ripping one of the ornate end poles from the fence behind him.

//Damn it! Now is not the time to stop understanding! Run!//

"Spike!" The kid ran all right. He ran right at the injured and furious demon!

//Fucking white hat!// Spike gave a loud screech when the claws finally ripped him away from the thick hide of the monster. He could feel his little body flying through the air but instead of striking concrete he slammed into blood soaked cotton, caught tightly against a human chest. //Xan.//

"Hang on Spike! I'll get you help." He promised, covering the kitten with one hand and brandishing the pole with his other.

The fradglarn charged again and Xander braced himself for an impact that never came. He opened his eyes and looked around but the thing was gone! "Huh?" He looked at the tip of the pole and notice a streak of blue on it. Fradglarn blood! The dark haired boy fell back against the fence and began to laugh hysterically. It was an old, iron, church fence. Iron. "Oh God I will never doubt you're up there even again." He laughed until tears were streaming down his face and stood up once again. "Shock can wait. I need to get you to vet. I'll bang on every vet's door in Sunnydale if I have to. Just hang on Spike."

//Tryin' to pet.// He mewed plaintively and it was enough to reassure the boy. that mew was all he could force out before he lost consciousness.

Xander ran to the nearest vet's house he could think of and started banging on the door. "Hey! Doctor Briant! Hey! Please! We need Help! Please!"

A middle aged man with bed head and a five O'clock shadow opened the door. "What the hell. Kid so you know what time it. . . Holy Shit!" His eyes shot open when he noticed the blood coating the boy in front of him. "What the Hell happened?"

"A. . . it was a wild dog." He sobbed, "Please doc, my kitten. . ."

"A dog. Xander? Xander Harris is that you?"

Xander fell to his knees, unable to fight off the shock anymore. "Please doc. It was a dog. My kitten."

"Come in! Come in! Let me get my clothes on and I'll drive us to the clinic." He bundled Xander up in a blanket and led him to the car. "I haven't seen you since Baby died. Didn't think you would ever get another kitten after her."

Xander didn't answer and the vet looked over with concern. "Xander?" He swore when he realized the blood wasn't just coming from the cat. "Xander you need to get to a hospital. . ."

"My kitten."

"Okay, okay." He pulled out his cellular and hit the speed dial. "Nick? This is Daniel Briant. Yeah I know what time it is, there's an emergency here. I need you to meet me at the clinic. Yeah I know you're a people doctor Nick. It's this kid, he won't go to a hospital until his kitten's okay and he really needs to be looked at. Yeah, we're at the clinic now. Hurry okay?" He opened the door and pulled Xander out, leading him inside. "I need to take the kitten now okay?"

Xander wouldn't move.

"Xander! Xander look at me. I need to take the kitten if we're going to make him better okay?"

"Please."

"Come on. er oer open your hands, come on." Doctor Briant silently swore when he saw the mangled little creature. //Life just can't be kind to you can it Xanny.// "There, that's good. I'm going to take him to the back now and see what I can do okay? What's his name?"

"Spike."

"A doctor is coming in a few minuets okay? Let him fix you up so you can hold Spike when I bring him out okay?"

"Okay." Xander whispered, his eyes were clouded and unseeing, trapped in shock and pain.

"Okay." The doctor took Spike into the operating area and took out his phone again. "Hello? Willow? This is doctor Briant. Do you still hang out with Xander Harris. Yeah, he's here at the office. I know. He came by with a kitten. Yes Spike. They're both in pretty bad shape. . . okay. The door's unlocked, he's in the waiting room. I don't know, Spike's pretty bad. All right. Thank you." He hung up and began to wash his hands. "Let's see what I can do."
_____________________________

The Scoobies slammed into the vet's office and spotted Xander right away. He was sitting, starring off into space while a man in a white shirt stitched, butterflied, and bandaged his hands. "Xander!"

The doctor finished with Xander's injuries and stood. "Hello. I'm Nick Williams."

"Rupert Giles." Giles shook the offered hand, "Is he all right?"

"He's all patched up, it was a wild dog from what I heard. The kitten he had with him is still in surgery, he wouldn't leave without it so Doc Briant called me over to see to Xander here."

"Thank you so much for going out of your way like that."

Nick watched the three girls cuddle and fuss over the boy and smiled, "Not a problem. When I saw who it was I realized why Briant didn't want to force him to go to emergency. This kid must have the worst luck in the world."

Giles blinked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, two kittens, eight years apart, two wild dogs, at least this time the kitten survived to get this far. Last time Briant had to pry the cat from the kid's hands. It broke his heart. This little eleven or twelve year old kid shows up covered in bites and blood holding a half eating kitten and begging the doc to save it." Nick shook his head. "Hope to God that this one's okay."

The watched turned to stare at Xander in horror. The boy had finally fallen asleep leaning against Willow, tears running down his cheeks. "That was the cat he used to have?"

Willow nodded. "Baby was Xander's first real pet. Not counting the sea monkeys. When she died, it took a long time for him to get over it." She looked at the doctor, "Will Spike be okay?"

"I don't know."

Buffy scowled and looked helpless. She hated being helpless!

Giles frowned and cleaned his glasses, "Yes well, Xander cares a great deal for the little beast." He led the doctor to the door and gave him an address to send the bill to. "Thank you for your help." He said ,solemnly "We are all ggrateful"

"Giles," Willow whispered after the door was closed behind doctor Williams, "Xander said Spike attacked the Fradglarn to protect him."

"He attacked it?" Giles froze.

"Yeah. He'll feel so guilty if the kitten dies! We should have never asked him to take it in!"

"Willow. Xander said his kitten attacked the Fradglarn?!"

"Giles? What's wrong?"

"Our research said Fradglarn smelled calming to animals. They would never feel threatened by one. Especially not enough to attack."

"Well Spike obviously felt threatened." Buffy snorted.

The watched mused over this, "What if the kitten has had past experiences with a Fradglarn?"

"But how?"

"As a victim."

Buffy's eyes got wide. "But we tracked down all the missing people and the animals they turned into. We did that before we even knew what the thing was! I mean the animals always stayed close to home!"

"And none of us are missing someone." Willow added.

Tara gasped. "E. . . except s. . . s. . . Spike."

Giles dropped the glasses he was cleaning, "God Lord."