Title : Tuneless
Series: Samian Wine and Pyrrhic Dances Stories 07
Author: Surnia
Rating: R
Pairing: Spike/Willow Buffy/Giles(sort of)
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer was created by Joss Whedon and is owned by 20th Century FOX. No copyright infringement is intended

Willow collected various supplies and headed out of the house. She was quite pleased that her parents were away. She could stay with Spike without having to make up excuses or use her friends as a cover. She had a container for some of his blood and tomorrow she'd cast the protection spell with Giles. She chuckled to herself, thinking of her taste in men since her crush on Xander: a werewolf, a Watcher and now a vampire. It just seems to get more and more exotic. Was it because of all the magic? Or just her cutting loose?

Whatever it was, she was certain that Spike was sincere and the only worry was making sure that he didn't decide to turn her into his *eternal* companion. This spell would take care of that. She would have to find out whether it wore off or not and had to be repeated.

She hurried across town to Spike's place. He had promised to do some cleaning before she arrived. And eating. She shivered, wondering if she could convince him to drink animal's blood like Angel, or at least to find a way of accessing a blood bank. Somehow she doubted it. Maybe there was a spell?

Arriving at the apartment he had most likely dubiously acquired, she took out the key he had given her and let herself in. "Spike?" she said. No answer. He was out. Hunting? She shivered and switched on the lights. Very dim. She'd have to do something about that. Must be because of vampire night vision. She looked around. He had cleaned the place - or had some poor minion clean the place. At least the floor wasn't covered in magazines and empty bottles. There were even a double of ashtrays. She went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. How sweet! He'd got some supplies. Looking closer, she wasn't so sure. Lots of bottles of wine. Champagne. Strawberries. Milk. Oysters? Not very practical. Typical male. Typical male *vampire", she reminded herself.

She opened a cupboard. Scotch. Malt whiskey. Tequila. Vodka. Rum. Chocolate liqueur. Several bottles of bitter. Ale. Guinness. She shook her head. If he wasn't already dead she would worry about his health given all the cigarettes and booze he consumed. She would definitely have to give him a list unless they went shopping together. Or do it herself.

She headed for the bedroom and switched on the lights - even dimmer, with red bulbs. Black satin sheets. Nice. He'd been busy. She flopped on the bed and then turned over on her stomach and opened the bedside cabinet - and gulped. His shopping for some things was very imaginative. Those restraints were definitely going to have to wait under *after* the protection spell.

She grinned. She'd been doing some shopping too. First she took out the container for Spike's blood and a small knife and put them on top of the cabinet. Then she got into the deep purple teddy she'd purchased earlier. Looking at the colours in the room, she wondered whether the visual spectrum of vampires was different. She'd have to research it. And she'd have ample opportunity. As she turned back the sheets, she heard the door opening and promptly positioned herself reclining on the bed.

Spike came in and sniffed thehair, "Pet?"

She giggled and came to the bedroom and looked in - and grinned when he saw her. She put her hands behind her and grabbed hold of a bar on the iron bedstead and remarked, "You've been busy, I see."

Shucking the duster from his shoulders and letting it fall on the ground, he started to unbutton his shirt, "Not half as busy as I'm going to be," he said.

****

The following morning, Giles was not in a good mood. In fact, he was suffering from a raging hangover. When Synder came into the library to try to off-load some extra paperwork on him, a simple glance from Giles was enough to send him scurrying for safety. Giles had kept a look-out earlier and when he saw Willow arrive - alive and well - he retreated to his office to nurse his head. Damn. When he was younger, that amount of liquor wouldn't have given him a hangover. He was also wondering if Buffy had anything demeaning planned for him. Like mentioning certain things in front of Xander. Oh God, having to endure the resulting Xanderisms was not to be imagined - or endured. Maybe he could feed him to Spike in a pinch. No, no. File that thought in the bin.

Aspirin. Water. Coffee. No. Coffee later. Aspirin and water and a rest. Ow. Bloody Hell. Give me strength.

Bang. Oh God, it must be Buffy. Wonderful. He braced himself.

She gave him a look and smirked. "Hangover there, Giles? Drinking will do that to you." He muttered something under his breath. "What? Didn't catch that."

"It happens. Can we talk later? Once my head returns to a more or less normal size?"

"Okay. But I'm going to expect some slack from you in return!"

Bang. Ow. One day she'll learn not to bang doors. Maybe even in my lifetime. Ow.

***

By the time school was over, Giles' head was beginning to return to normal. Never again, he said to himself. Bang. He sighed and looked up: Buffy and Willow.

Looking around to make sure that there wasn't anyone else around, Willow held up two small bottles with red liquid. "Lookey, lookey! We can do the spell!" Giles motioned to a chair and Willow sat down. Giles came over and examined her neck. Buffy asked, "Are you two still up close and personal?"

"I'm just checking to see if she's been bitten again."

"Spike BIT you! You didn't tell me that!" Buffy exclaimed.

"More of a love bite," Willow said. She grinned up at Giles, "And how do you know that it would have been my neck he bit?" Giles looked shocked and Willow said, "I'm just teasing."

"Glad to hear it. Should I start clucking now or later? Willow, I just want to keep you alive and not undead."

"So we can do the spell?"

He nodded, "It's best to do it just before sunset. It will have a stronger effect. Do you want to chance performing it here or do it somewhere else?"

She thought a moment, "Can we do it at your place?"

He shrugged, "If you like. We're less likely to be interrupted by unexpected visitors."

"Great! I'll see you there. I need to buy some groceries."

"Spike's cupboard is bare, is it?" Buffy asked.

"Except for strawberries and champagne and an endless variety of booze," she said with a grin as she left.

"Great. Just great. Now he's plying her with alcohol," Giles grumbled.

"I think he's already plied," Buffy said. "I'm coming to the casting. Come on, let's train now."

"Just what my head needs," he said, heading for the cage to get his body protection. Emerging while checking the straps, he said, "Go a little easy, Buffy. I'm slower than usual today and please, do try and avoid the head."

Buffy sniffed with amusement, "Learned your lesson about the demon drink, eh?"

"Very amusing. Let's start."

Buffy went easy on her suffering Watcher, but the truth is that he was not up to much in the way of defence. It went on for some minutes until she delivered a roundhouse kick which caused him to loose his balance and he went down with a crash. When he didn't get up immediately, she knelt beside him and said, "Giles? Are you okay?"

"Why don't you just bury me now?" he groaned.

"You're really not up to this today, are you?"

"Not really." He sat up and, pulling off the straps, rubbed his head.

She noticed a little blood on the corner of his mouth. Without thinking, she reached over and wiped it with her finger. Sitting back, she absentmindedly licked her finger. "Are you really okay?"

He rubbed his mouth, "Bit my lip when I went down."

"There are much better things to do with lips," she quipped. They looked at each other. Both blushed and looked away immediately.

"Yes, well. Perhaps we had better curtail this session. I'm not going to give you much of a work-out in my current state."

"Okay. See you later for Willow's spell."

He nodded and groaned again. A holiday. A holiday would be much appreciated. No Hellmouth. No complications. No vampires, werewolves, demons, tolls, Council, charming witches, beautiful Slayers. Damn. Feeling another twinge from his head, he lay back down. What was it he had heard them talking about? Anywhere but here. Pretty much what they used to do when the summer in England turned out to be cold, damp and dismal yet again. It usually involved Spain, Greece, Malta, North Africa, the Caribbean. Now he'd settle for anywhere *away* from the complications here. Kew Gardens. Tea at the Maids of Honour. Regent's Park. Rose Gardens. Anything uncomplicated.

He sat up. Nothing for it. Running away - one way or another - usually led to casualties. Not that not running away didn't either. Duty calls. He'd just check on the supplies for the spell and go home and lay down quietly in a darkened room for awhile. He rubbed his head. Unfortunately, the Hellmouth was not the best place to get legless.

***

Willow and Buffy arrived at Giles' apartment together. Giles had already cleared a place in the centre of the room and was completing the marking out of a pentagram inside a circle. Buffy looked dubiously at the circle, "This isn't going to be naked magic thing, is it? Because if it is..."

"It's not," Giles said. "Willow's going to do the spell inside the circle and we're - or I'm - carrying the burning herbs around the circle. Fully clothed."

"What do I do?"

"Watch?"

"I thought that was your job?"

"Perhaps it will give you some empathy for my situation."

Buffy snorted, "You've been doing more than just watching of late." Giles glanced at her and they both looked suddenly uncomfortable.

"Yes, well, one must be flexible."

Noticing the awkwardness, Willow looked at them curiously and said, "Look, I realise you're worried about me and Spike, but it's my choice. And I really will be okay."

"Right, let's get on with it then," Giles said, fetching a small crucible from the other side of the room and positioning it in the circle. "You've got the blood and the other ingredients - holy water, powdered herb mixture, rowan shavings?"

"Yeah, I've checked and double-checked."

"Good." He brought over a bundle of herbs and Willow happily waved a lighter at him as she ignited the special oil to heat the crucible. She nodded and Giles lit the herb bundle and started to walk around the circle with it while Willow started to chant, glancing at the page with her. She poured some oil in the censor and continued chanting. She added her blood and then the ground herbs and some holy water, eventually adding Spike's.The mixture started to boil furiously and then separated into two distinct parts divided by a line of liquid. There was a loud pop and the lot vanished.

Willow sighed, "Well, that's that."

Buffy said, "That was your blood and Spike's blood separating?"

Willow nodded and said, "It'll be like my blood was laced with holy water as far as he's concerned."

"Does that mean he'll dust if he drinks it?"

"No, it'll taste foul and he'll just spit it up. Or if he swallows it, he'll get a stomach ache."

"Cool."

Willow leapt up, "This is so cool! I can't wait to see how it works." She reached up and kissed Giles on the cheek, "Thank you so much, Giles. You're the best!"

She grabbed her things and rushed out. Giles rubbed his cheek and remarked under his breath, "Second best, I would think."

Buffy looked at him, "I heard that."

"So?"

"It's not true."

"Well, at least in this instance it is." He smudged the circle with a cloth tp break it and then sat down on the carpet, looking balefully at the floor. "Let's just hope it works. I really do not want Willow to join the ranks of the undead."

"Me neither." She sat down beside him and said, "You're not going to start drinking again, are you?"

"No, I had quite enough yesterday." He rubbed his head and added, "and my head's still sore."

She moved behind him and started to massage his temples. "I didn't help it much in training, did I?"

"My fault entirely," he said, closing his eyes, enjoying the feeling of the massage.

She dropped her hands to his shoulders and started to knead them, feeling how tense they were. "I sometimes forget that you don't have Slayer healing. You always seem to jump back so well."

"Stubborn streak."

"Can't keep a good man down."

He snorted. "I don't know how much the 'good' really applies to me."

She stopped a moment and said, "Negative much? Good does apply to you."

He snorted again and said, "Perhaps in comparison with Ethan or our beloved principal."

"As well as being really negative, you're really tense. Maybe that's making the headache worse. Lie down on your stomach."

He did so, cradling his head in his forearms. She started to massage his back and shoulders. He sighed in contentment. She said, "You know, if you were a cat, you'd be purring about now. I expect a really good sparring session tomorrow in return for doing this."

"Whatever," he murmured.

As she continued, she noticed his breathing growing deeper. She looked over at his face. Sound asleep. Sweet, she thought. Looking around, she spotted an afghan and put it over him. She decided to let him sleep and come back and check on him after patrol. Spending the entire night on the floor probably wouldn't improve his mood.

After a sweep through the cemeteries, she made her way back through the playground where she heard someone screaming. Racing to a dark corner, she saw Drusilla about to bite a girl she vaguely recognised from school. Buffy grabbed Drusilla and, pulling her away from the girl, punched her in the face.

"Slayer," Drusilla spat. "It's the nasty little Slayer."

Without taking her eyes off Drusilla, Buffy ordered the girl behind her, "Run!" She didn't need to be told twice. When the girl had gone, she said "It's not nice to see you again, Drusilla."

"Ill met by moonlight," Drusilla giggled.

"What?" Buffy asked.

With a snarl, Drusilla suddenly lunged at her, scratching at her with her nails. As Buffy dodged her charge, she felt her nails score a trail down her side. She winced, turned and delivered a punch and then kicked Drusilla in the side.

Drusilla staggered a little and glared madly at Buffy. "Nasty Slayer. I'm going to scratch your eyes out and make everything all dark for you before I kill you." She giggled madly. "Or maybe I'll play with you a little before I kill you. I liked playing with your Watcher. I'll play with him again after I kill you. It will be such fun. He's very tasty. Maybe I'll make him one of us and he can drain the little witch."

"Skanky demented bitch!" Buffy snarled, lashing out at her. Drusilla dodged her.

They circled each other, Drusilla baiting her about Angel and Giles, Buffy silently getting more and more furious, looking for an opening. After one particular explicit barb about Giles, Buffy swung a kick at her, but Drusilla caught her leg and threw her to the ground. The thought occurred to Buffy that Drusilla was actually a very good fighter. But before Drusilla could follow up her advantage Angel appeared on the scene, grabbed Drusilla and punched her in the face.

Drusilla went down and held her face, giving Angel a wide-eyed innocent look. He yanked her up by the hair and banged her face into one of the uprights of the swings a couple of times and then backhanded her, knocking her to the ground. "I told you to leave her alone!" he shouted at her.

"I'm sorry, my Angel," she whimpered, "but she took away my supper."

"I don't care," he said, kicking her in the ribs. "Go home. NOW!"

She picked herself up, leaned in and kissed him and then staggered off. Buffy was completely shocked at his behaviour.

"Sorry," he said a little sheepishly.

"Was that necessary?"

"The violence? Yes. It's the only thing she seems to understand. I have to make sure she's under control."

"And this is helping her?"

"I can't think of anything else. Know any shrinks that take homicidal vampires? I was hoping she'd go back to Spike."

"Spike's moved on."

"Moved on?"

"To Willow?"

"Willow! Spike and Willow? Are you all mad? How can you or Giles allow it! Spike is a killer. Even if he's in love with her, he'll vamp her!"

"She's done a spell to protect herself and she's assured us that she's safe. Have you ever tried to stop Willow from doing something she wants to do?"

"Right. I'm going to speak to both of them. Especially Spike."

"And?

"Tell him that if he harms her I'll rip out his spine and stake him with it!"

"Colourful."

"He'll understand."

"Fine, go sort out your demented whore and I'll just go about my business."

He looked somewhat crestfallen. "Buffy, I'm really sorry about this."

"Yeah, sure. It's tragic."

He looked at her side in concern. "You had better do something about those cuts on your side. The smell of blood is liable to attract every vampire within range."

She touched her side and winced. "I'm gonna check on Giles and I'll sort it out there."

"Is he all right?"

"Yeah, except for a hangover. Fell asleep after Willow's spell and I don't want him to spend the night on the floor. Makes for a cranky Giles."

"Buffy? I'm really sorry about this business with Drusilla."

"Are you sure you don't want me to stake her for you? That would solve the problem."

He shook his head and left. Kicking a can, she turned and headed back to Giles'.

She quietly let herself in and discovered Giles was no longer on the floor and had cleared away the remnants of the spell. He was pottering about in the kitchen.

"Hey, you're up again."

"Yes, thank you, and my head is much better. How was patrol?"

He stepped into the room and noticed the state of her top, shredded on one side and stained with blood. "My God, Buffy, what happened?"

"Drusilla's nails," she said with a wince, using one hand to pull the top away from the abrasions.

"Drusilla?"

"Yeah, she was trying to feed. I stopped her. Then Angel turned up and knocked her about and she left." She looked up at him and said, "She made a lot of cracks about you. Said you were tasty."

"Oh." He came across the room and knelt to examine her side. "That's going to need cleaning up. More like claws than nails. Sit on that chair."

Buffy sat down while he went to get the first aid kit and some disinfectant. He came back and knelt beside her again, lifting the bottom edge of the top to look at the scratches again. "You're going to have to take this off. Oh. Umm," he looked perplexed and not a little embarrassed.

"Get me a towel," she said.

He quickly went into the bathroom and came back with a towel which he handed to her. She made a gesture with her hand for him to turn away. "Yes. Right. Of course," he said, turning around and waiting.

Buffy pulled off her ruined clothing and covered her chest with the towel. "Okay, Doctor Giles. The patient is ready."

He turned around and examined the exposed scratches. "Well, it's not as bad as it looks. With Slayer healing, it will probably heal quickly, but I want to make sure it's not infected."

"Yeah, no telling where her claws have been."

He put some disinfectant on some cotton wool and started to clean the cuts. "Ow! That stings!" she said reproachfully.

He chuckled. "It's only a little disinfectant. I should think that getting kicked by a vampire or demon would hurt more."

"That's in the heat of battle. This is just - ow!"

Working his way from her back, he cleaned up the scratches one by one. The last one had actually caught the side of her breast. He paused, embarrassed again. "Umm, this last one is..."

She looked over and pulled the towel slightly away. "I'd really hate for that one to get infected," she remarked in a slightly strangled voice.

"So would I ... er .. I mean for any of the scratches to get infected." He gingerly dabbed at it.

"Just do it," she said.

"Right," he said. Concentrate. Scratch. Disinfectant.

He finished and said, "Right. Done. Right as rain."

"Leave it to the English to think rain's right," she said.

He looked up at her with a smile. She was drawn to his mouth again and suddenly came off the chair to kneel in front of him and grabbed his head and kissed him. The towel dropped and he was suddenly conscious of her breasts pressing against him. He returned the kiss, running his hands up the smooth skin of her back. Her injuries had renewed his constant gnawing fear that one day she wouldn't come back from patrol, and he released all that energy back to her.

Sense seeped through again. What are you doing, old man? She's probably experiencing a shock reaction. Stop. Stop it now. She's in love with Angel. It's a reaction to seeing Angel with Drusilla. Stop. He pulled back and looked down. Catching a clear view of her naked breasts, he blinked, closed his eyes and looked elsewhere. Anywhere.

He hastily snatched up the towel and handed it back to her with his eyes averted. "Y-you'd better get dressed. Go home and get some rest so the scratches heal. Sorry."

Holding the towel against her, she was bewildered, "Sorry? What? Why?"

"You're obviously not yourself. Best get home and rest."

She looked slightly hurt and rejected, and went to get a top from the spare clothes she kept there. When she came back, Giles was standing, still keeping his eyes on the floor. He glanced up and then resumed his study of the floor. "So I'll see you tomorrow, then."

She frowned at him, confused by the sudden change, "Yeah, sure."

Closing the door after her, he closed his eyes and shook his head, then started to hit the door with it. "When did things become so complicated?" he remarked out loud to the empty room. Maybe he needed some time off. Away from the Hellmouth. A cold shower was definitely in order. This wasn't meant to happen.

A ROCKY BROW