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Our United Front

"I can't believe you sent them off with Deadboy!" Xander was acting like his usual raving lunatic self.

"Xander, I hardly think that a few days in Dawns pleasant company will give Angel a moment of perfect Happiness. I'm sure his soul will remain properly miserable until this whole Glory thing is over." Buffy and the gang sat strung around the kitchen table. It was time to get down to business. They had one Hell God to destroy and Buffy wanted it done and over with as soon as possible. She needed to get her family back home. She needed to go back to school and study hard. And she really needed to sort out what was going on between her and one bleached menace.

"She had to give him something to do, so he didn't get all broody when Buffy tossed him out on his ear for her current Vamp of the week." Buffy was up and halfway across the room to break Faith's face before she regained control of herself. She stood in the middle of the kitchen and took several deep calming breaths, turned and walked back to her seat with as much dignity as she could manage. Just because she was the Slayer didn't give her the right to go around clawing people's eyes out. Even when they deserved it. She shot Faith a look of deepest loathing, and then blushed wondering if anyone would guess that she had borrowed the look from Spike.

"If we can get to business please, I'd like to have my family returned to me as soon as possible." Buffy placed her hands primly in her lap and turned to Giles. "What have you learned about my bond with Spike? I still don't understand how it helps us. The woman's kicked both our sorry butts."

"That Bint did not kick my butt!" Spike exclaimed, jumping to his feet again. Apparently drugs made him jumpy. Come to think of it he was always pretty animated. He began to pace around the small space of the kitchen and Buffy bit back the desire to snap at him to sit down. "She had help; if she'd been alone I could have taken her."

Even injured he walked with a sexy strut. All fluid grace and gangster strut. She'd tried to tell him he shouldn't put so much weight on that knee but he had waved her off saying it was half healed already. He was so stubborn.

"I can't wait till we find her. I'm gonna rip her soddin head off. I'm going to bash her bloody teeth in. I'm gonna…"

"Enough Spike, what we need is information." He turned and gave her his trademark smirk. He looked her from head to toe in a slow, purely indecent way, and then took out his cigarettes. Faith stretched her hands over her head in a feline move bursting with sexuality. Spike didn't seem to notice and Buffy felt a strong burst of affection for him. He looked at her inquisitively, his head tilted to one side, eyes staring right into her soul. She blushed and looked away.

"I think we all ought to just mount up, go in there guns blazing, and just slay her." Faith was now twisting in her chair in a slow sexy way. Spike was looking at her but he didn't seem to notice her twisting about. Her voice dropped to a slower, sultrier pitch. "I mean really, me and B could take her. Plus we got her pet Vamp there. Tonight's as good as any other night. Take her by surprise."

"Summers," Spike said with a false air of serenity and a lecherous snide twist of his lips. "She's really just taking up space here and annoying you, Can't I just eat her?"

Argument broke out all over the kitchen. Faith jumped up in outrage, Xander about tripped over himself jumping to defend her. Anya was banging her fist into Xander's arm in a fit of jealousy. Willow and Giles were both trying to restore peace. Spike was right in the thick of it, of course. Buffy took deep calming breaths. Buffy counted slowly to ten. Buffy jumped up and screamed at everyone to "Shut Up."

"You!" She pointed at Xander. "Are going to stay out of it, sit down!" Xander plopped into the nearest chair, eyes goggled. "You!" She directed her Ms. Pointy finger at Anya. "Are going to sit by him and make sure he behaves." Anya's triumphant look made Buffy want to yell at her some more, but there were juicier targets begging for attention. Her finger homed in on Faith. "You are going to quit antagonizing Spike. I don't have the time or the patience to baby-sit. One more comment about him being my pet and I'll let him eat you." She spun around to face Spike, the catalyst. Standing there, completely relaxed, with such a smug look. Like the cat who ate the canary. "Quit being so smug!" She snapped. He grinned at her. "Remember you are a guest here and don't threaten my friends."

"Oi come on Pet, Was just a bit of sport. I bet the bint tastes like motor oil anyway. Sides she's the one can't keep her soddin gob shut." Faith sputtered in the background and Buffy held up one hand to forestall anything she might have to say.

"Spike! Now is not the time for this. I want Glory dead, and sitting around arguing like toddlers is not going to make it happen."

"You're no fun." He groused. He finally got around to lighting the cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. Buffy found herself momentarily hypnotized by his hands as he casually lifted his silver lighter, flipped the latch, lit his smoke, and tucked the piece back in his skin tight jeans. He felt her relax and gave her a small sexy smile, eyes going to her mouth with an almost hungry look. "All right then, on with the meeting. Gods to kill, bunnies to rescue, heroic things need doing."

Buffy flopped back in her chair with a sigh. Spike moved closer to her, almost instinctively but didn't touch her. He was breathing in time with her again. She liked that he got so in tune with her that he mirrored her breaths without realizing it. "Giles, Willow, Please tell me you know something useful?"

"Not as much as we would like to know Buffy, there really isn't a lot of information on Glory in our texts." Giles paused and gave her a kind look. "We believe that she is trapped in this dimension by accident. The key is an inter-dimensional portal; she could use it to travel to her own hell dimension. The problem is that we would all be sucked in with her. There are only certain times of the year that Glory will be powerful enough to activate the key. This phase of the moons she is most powerful, within about two weeks her power will begin to wane and we might have a change at defeating her. If we can keep the key out of her hands until then…"

"Chit's not gonna come calling for tea when she's under power Rupes. She's gonna drop out of sight until the next time she comes into her own." Spike interrupted.

"I was going to suggest, Spike, that we locate her and watch her. She'll be frantic to find the key, it will be a year before we hit this equinox again, and she'll be distracted. We can watch her and attack the second she turns tail to run." Buffy nodded. It made sense. But there was a lot of room for error, and two weeks was a long time for her family to be gone. She met Spike's eyes for a minute and found comfort there.

"What about the mating bond? Have you found any relevant information about how that's supposed to help us?" Really it made no sense. The bond affected no one except for them. How on earth was it supposed to help defeat a hell god?

"I'm sorry Buffy. It's very clear that the bond is necessary to success in defeating this evil but the texts give to indication as to the how or the why of it. My guess would be that the bond insures that Spike is on our side, without it he certainly would not be sitting in on this meeting, much less…"

Buffy found herself distracted by Faith again. She was leaning back in her chair, legs crossed daintily and looking up at Spike from under her lashes. Buffy was so not imagining it. She was flirting with him! And he was completely ignoring her. Too completely not to know exactly what she was doing. One thing about Spike was that he was always aware of his surroundings. It unnerved her sometimes. She watched him smoke for several seconds, taking in his relaxed pose, before mentally slapping herself and returning to the conversation at hand. Giles was rambling on about obscure passages and gesturing seriously. Willow was hanging on his every word. Ayna was groping Xander under the table; she couldn't see anything but he was wearing that now familiar glazed look in his eye. But then again it could have been Faith that caused his Zoning out. She had produced a sucker and was working it like a French whore.

Spike pulled himself up onto the island and examined his nails. He wore the look of supreme boredom convincingly. Giles occasionally shot him irritated looks, which would soon be followed by a disapproving scowl from Willow. But Buffy knew him too well. Spike was an observer of people. He watched all the time. And she had an advantage. His mind was drawn tight as a bowstring. She had no doubt that he was mentally filing every word that fell from Giles's lips. He noticed her noticing and ran his tongue over his teeth in a decidedly suggestive way. Really, he had no discretion to speak of. Buffy tossed her hair and rolled her eyes, turning back to Giles. She crossed her legs demurely, deliberately letting her skirt ride up her thighs. Spike's sexual awareness shot through the roof. He was so easy.

"So the great plan is to sit on our duffs and do nothing? Slayer lets go kill things." Spike growled. To the casual observer Spike was beginning to get impatient with the conversation and his boredom was getting to him. Buffy knew damn good and well he wanted to get her alone. Giles directed a very dirty look at Spike for interrupting and began to talk again. Buffy frowned. Even if she was trying to follow him what good did it do her to know about 7 equinox's? She just needed to kill Glory. And she definitely was not in with the wait two weeks and hope she runs plan.

"Giles," She interrupted, deliberately spinning a curl around her forefinger. She could tell by Faith's murderous glare that Spike's hot gaze was on her. "We need to come up with something more in the now to do about Glory. I was thinking that she needs to be found and ambushed."

"Rupes, does all your blathering contain any timeline on when we defeat the little woman?" Spike pushed himself off the counter and sauntered back into her personal space. Buffy's skin broke out in a rash of goose bumps. He didn't touch her, but he was close enough to touch her, she wanted him to touch her. Maybe they should nix the chatter and go kill things. Could everyone read it on her face, her rampant lust for a vampire? Her Vampire. When this was all over she was going to have her own padded room at the local metal institution. Not surprisingly Sunnydale had a rather large well funded center.

"No one wants to hear your opinion. No one cares what you have to say." Xander said vehemently. Spike growled affectionately at him and everyone at the table stiffened again. Buffy bit her lip to keep from laughing. Spike of course was completely horrified by the affection factor. Poor Baby. He brushed his fingers under her hair across the nape of her neck and Buffy lost her train of thought.

"There is no apparent timeline. This event could take place tomorrow or next year. Also whether or not the key is directly involved is not at all apparent. Only that the key must be protected. Now, if we could get back to my research…In about 9 days we will be past the peak of…."

Blah Blah Blah…Buffy felt restless and tired at the same time. Did that make any sense? "Giles, I'm sorry but it's late. Do you want to stay in the guest room? Willow can have mom's room and Xander and Anya can have Dawns room. Faith do you mind crashing on the couch again?"

"What the whole Brady Bunch is staying here? What are you doing, stocking snacks for your lover?" Faith groused, her face now drawn into an angry petulant pout. She obviously wasn't used to being ignored. Spike's good humor evaporated instantly. Every muscle in his body tightened and he rolled onto the balls of his feet, his whole body vibrated with pre-fight tension. To the rest of the room he looked cocky and restless bouncing around like a three year old. She knew different now, he was ready to spring across the room and do some serious damage. She reached out one slender hand and laid it on Spike's taut forearm. He literally trembled under her fingers but he held himself in check. She found herself impressed with his restraint. He was still high as a kite but still he managed to reign in his murderous impulses. She was really turned on.

"Buffy, don't you think it's a bit impractical for us all to stay here. Glory certainly wouldn't see a reason to target any of us." Giles began before Spike interrupted again, and Buffy had a horrified moment of clarity. She was no longer feeling extreme irritation, she felt exasperated fondness. Oh, she had it so bad.

"Rupes, anyone with a brain would go after the Slayer's family and friends. It's no secret on the hell mouth that she's fiercely loyal and protective. Nothing would stop Summers from going after you guys, which is why for the most part the lot of you walk about unmolested."

"Unmolested! I seem to remember being kidnapped by a certain bleached Vampire and…"

"Please, not all of us fear the Slayer, just most. And you're still around to annoy the populace. Quit being such a Nancy boy."

"If you call me Rupes again…"

"I can't stay here tonight…"

"B's been too soft, let's go outside and I'll teach you fear."

"Baby I am the Slayer of Slayer's. Fear is my game little girl."

God, why did she even try to keep the peace? Her mom was out of town. She ought to just pour baby oil in the floor and let them have at it. Buffy let the arguing flow over her head and softly banged her head into the top of the table. The sound of confrontation escalated into outraged shrieks and shouting. Buffy rolled her forehead on the cold comforting surface and thought calming thoughts.

When she stood up she had to let out a piercing whistle to get everyone's attention. "You're all staying here. I can't protect you all if you're all spread out."

"Buffy you really can't expect us to re-arrange our lives based on some delusional paranoia from a bleached killer."

"I wouldn't dream of making you re-arrange your life in any way to make it easier for me. I mean I only gave up any chance of any normalness to risk my life every night for a bunch of ungrateful…"

"Oh all right, we'll stay." Anya Interrupted. "So long as you realize that there will be no cessation of orgasms despite staying in your sister's virginal room."

It was going to be a long night. Please, Please let this Glory woman fall off a cliff. "Spike and I are going out to kill things." She announced without fanfare and breezed out of the room without looking back. She had no doubt that he would be at her heels.







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