Spike took a deep breath to settle his nerves, as he stepped out the front door of Buffy’s house into the gathering darkness. He was unusually quiet as he followed Giles down the sidewalk toward their destination – a place he had hoped to never go again – lost in his own troubling thoughts.

The way that Giles had described his plan to him, it really seemed that it might work. Spike had been surprised to find that the Watcher had actually put a lot of thought and effort into this plan, and had been laying the groundwork for parts of it for a very long time now, since long before he had returned to Sunnydale.

Spike was actually quite impressed.

But the plan was still tricky, one that could easily end in disaster if they were not extremely careful. And when Giles had warned him that it would require sacrifice on his part – well, he had bloody well meant it!

*It’s worth it,* Spike told himself firmly. *To take Faith down – to make her pay…* A determination came over him, as he added mentally, *…to protect Buffy.*

He still wanted his own personal vengeance against Faith, but now, he was beginning to find that it was not his only reason for doing this. He knew that a large part of him would always love Drusilla, always cherish the memories of the century they had spent together. And that part of him still cried out for justice on her behalf, still longed to avenge her death.

But now, against his better judgment, he had to admit that he was slowly, tentatively, relinquishing his heart to someone else – of all the bloody bints in the world, a Slayer, no less! Never had he expected to find comfort and healing for his ravaged heart in the arms of his mortal enemy. But he was finding himself each day more and more concerned with Buffy, her opinions, her feelings – her safety.

At this point, he realized, he was going along with Giles’ plan to defeat Faith as much for Buffy as for Dru.

An uneasy feeling settled low in his stomach, and he began to wonder again just what form his sacrifice would end up taking. He had the general idea down, but there were so many variables, he thought with a sense of dread forming in him. Whatever it was that he would be required to do, he just hoped that Buffy would understand.

Giles turned and gave him a calm, speculative look as their destination came into sight. Spike only met his thoughtful, penetrating gaze for a few moments, before looking down, self-conscious under the quiet, perceptive scrutiny of the Watcher.

“Spike,” Giles said softly. “This is going to work.”

“I know.” Spike did not look up as he replied, his voice low and dark.

“It won’t last long,” Giles reassured him. “But it’s got to be done. It’s our best chance at defeating her…quite possibly our only chance…”

“I *know* that, Watcher,” Spike snapped, giving him an irritated glare before looking away again.

Giles studied his face for a moment, the tense carriage of his body, the troubled expression in his averted eyes. When he spoke, his words froze Spike in his tracks.

“How long have you and Buffy been involved?”

Spike looked sharply up at him, his eyes wide and incredulous…and a little bit afraid. “Why would you think…I mean, what would give you the idea…oh…bloody buggering hell…” he gave up, resting his head in one hand for a moment before looking back to the Watcher, meeting his piercing eyes with resignation. “A week? Less…a few days is all. But I’m not going to hurt her, Watcher! I really care about Buffy, so you can stop trying to think of which soddin’ spell in your arsenal is the most bloody painful to use on me! I’m not going to…”

“Spike.” The single, softly spoken word stopped Spike’s nervous rant short, and he met Giles’ calm, laughing eyes with his own, anxious and uncertain. “Buffy is an adult. She can make her own decisions. I’ve no intentions of harming you.”

Spike let out a deep breath he had not realized he was holding.

“At least not until Faith is dead,” Giles added evenly, his back to Spike as he started walking again.

Spike had started to follow him but stopped short, staring at him dubiously.

“A joke, Spike,” Giles said, turning back to him with a patient smile. “Just a joke.”

“Bloody well better be,” Spike muttered, as they made their way up the walkway. “Here I am risking my bloody unlife and limb, just to *save* the Slayer and her soddin’ Scoobie gang who mostly want me dead anyway…*really* dead not just…”

He was again cut off, this time by a simple raised hand from the Watcher, and he looked up to see that they had reached their goal. Spike slowly drew in a deep, shaky breath as he looked up at the rather intimidating door before them, that was unfortunately very familiar to him. They had arrived at their destination.

Faith’s mansion.

His voice low to disguise the slight tremor that had risen in it, Spike went on as Giles boldly rang the doorbell. “This had better work…I don’t fancy going through all this just to have it blow up in our…”

“Spike,” Giles said patiently, turning to face him. “Look at me.”

Spike obeyed with a puzzled frown. “Why? What…”

With a smile, Giles raised a hand and ran it quickly across Spike’s forehead, murmuring a few brief words in Latin as he did. Spike immediately stopped talking, a look of confusion coming across his face as he searched the Watcher’s calm blue eyes, then glanced around, seeming a bit puzzled.

“What…why did you…?” he began slowly.

“Quiet,” Giles spoke in a tone that was soft but authoritative, turning away from Spike toward the door, just as it was opened by a suspiciously frowning minion.

And Spike was quiet.

The minion who answered the door looked incredulous at the nerve of the older man who had dared to simply walk up to the door and ring the bell, and looked on the verge of laughter…until he saw Spike standing there beside him.

He moved forward as if to attack, but his progress was instantly halted by Giles’ raised hand, erecting an invisible barrier that sent the vampire staggering backward with a little cry of pain. He righted himself and stared at the older man standing there, who was obviously not as harmless as he seemed.

“You’d be wise not to try that again,” Giles said calmly as, followed by Spike, he stepped right through the doorway – and the invisible barrier that had stopped the vampire – and into the foyer, with a confident air about him that said he was not the least bit afraid.

Faith’s minion couldn’t quite say the same for himself.

“Y-you can’t just come in here!” he protested feebly, well aware that he could not do much to stop the stranger and his magics. “You can’t bring *him* in here! The Slayer’s gonna be really mad!” The vampire sounded pathetically like a small child threatening to tattle.

“On the contrary, I’m sure she’ll be quite pleased to see us both,” Giles smirked a little as he headed directly up the stairs toward Faith’s personal quarters.

The vampire took a step forward as if to make a token attempt to stop them, but then faltered, realizing it was useless – and he really was not all that eager to tangle with what was apparently a very powerful wizard.

Unimpeded, Giles and Spike made their way directly to Faith’s room, where Giles knocked boldly on the door.

“Yeah, just a second!” Faith’s voice snapped from the other side of the door, sounding to be in a slightly more irritable and nasty mood than usual.

After a few moments, she yanked the door open, a challenging look on her face as she looked at her visitors. Her eyes widened in shock at the sight of them, looking between the Watcher and her ex-lover turned enemy slowly, with disbelief.

Then, her expression slowly changed from surprise to satisfaction, as her features relaxed into a sly smile. “Giles,” she greeted him with a nod. “Come in.”

Spike stood there in the doorway for a moment, a puzzled frown on his face as he watched the Watcher calmly enter the room. Giles turned slightly to see him still standing there and said quietly, “Come on in, Spike.”

His movements automatic, Spike obeyed, stepping through the doorway, his eyes expressing alarm as he looked closely at the Watcher. “What…how does she know…?” he began hesitantly, the words coming out halting and with a bit of a struggle, as if he was trying to think through a dense fog that clouded his mind.

“Silence,” Giles spoke calmly, dismissively, looking immediately to Faith without even waiting to see if Spike obeyed.

He did.

Faith’s eyebrows raised in surprise as she took in Spike’s very un-Spikelike behavior. She leaned back slightly, her head tilted slightly down as she gave him a slow up and down look, her smile widening at the confusion in his eyes. It seemed as if Giles’ actions had taken him completely off guard; his expression was one of question…but he did not say a word.

Giles had ordered him to silence.

“Wow,” Faith remarked, unable to keep from sounding impressed. ‘That’s some spell, man. So he’ll do absolutely *anything* you tell him to do?” As she spoke she slowly circled the vampire in a predatory way.

Spike just stood there, watching her warily with wide eyes, the confusion in them quickly changing to fear.

Giles nodded, a cold smile of satisfaction on his face. “Yes, just as I said. Until I repeat the incantation and deactivate the spell, at which point he will not even remember any of this. Then, when I want him to be subject to my will again, I simply repeat the incantation and re-activate the spell. His cooperation from this point on should not be a problem.”

Spike’s gaze shifted suddenly from Faith to Giles, a look of shock and betrayal in his eyes. As slow realization of the Watcher’s deception seemed to sink in, fury mingled with fear and he started toward Giles menacingly.

“Stop,” Giles ordered without hesitation, a flash of anger the only change in his calm expression. “Stay right there.”

Immediately Spike halted in his tracks, his expression one of helpless, frustrated fury. Everything about his body language, his face, said that he wanted nothing more than to tear the man who had just betrayed him to pieces…but could not overcome the magic that bound him to that same man’s will.

Faith’s eyes widened in disbelief for a moment, and her smile became a genuine laugh. “*That*…is freakin’ *awesome*, man!” she admitted to Giles through her laughter, shaking her head a little as she looked at Spike, standing there, breathing hard, a trapped expression on his face as it seemed to slowly sink in just how thoroughly buggered he really was.

“This is so cool!” she exclaimed, actually bouncing a little on her heels like an excited little girl. “So, the ritual’s gonna be no problem, because he’ll do anything I tell him to do…”

“Anything *I* tell him to do,” Giles corrected her mildly.

She shot him a look, her eyebrows raised in challenge, opening her mouth to speak. Suddenly, she seemed to think better of it and looked back at Spike with a shrug. “Whatever,” she said. “Either way. Gets the job done, doesn’t it?”

Giles nodded slowly, turning his attention toward Spike as well. “That it does,” he conceded quietly.

“Of course,” Faith mused, her voice low as she stepped slowly toward Spike, her eyes meeting his with a cold, vindictive smile. “You could always tell him to do what *I* say…that could be fun…”

As she spoke she reached a hand to lightly stroke down his cheek, and Spike jerked away from her, his jaw set in anger and defiance that he could not enforce – because although he pulled away from her touch, he stood as if rooted where he was, frozen by Giles’ order not to move from that spot.

“Oh, yes,” Giles replied with mild sarcasm. “Quite amusing. Until you order him to turn on me.”

Faith’s smile faltered for a moment, her eyes darting to the older man for a moment, before returning to Spike, trying to cover for the fact that she had considered doing just exactly that. “Now why would I want to do that?” she asked softly, most of her attention still focused on the vampire she was tormenting, as her hands slipped around his waist, pulling him closer to her. He shoved her hands away vehemently, but could do little else to resist her.

“Indeed,” Giles agreed. “As with my death would also end the spell that binds him. And you would no longer have a compliant, controllable vampire to carry out your ritual.”

Faith’s eyes shot back to his, anger flashing there with that revelation. So she really could not kill the man, as she had intended – not and have her plans work out as she wanted.

“Not to mention the fact that I could dust him with a thought before he could touch me,” Giles reminded her casually, but his eyes were hard as they met hers. He was telling her clearly that he was not a man to be trifled with.

Faith returned his gaze for a moment before shrugging and turning back to Spike. “Exactly,” she replied. “So there should be no reason why you wouldn’t let me…test out this little spell.” She ran her hand through Spike’s hair enticingly, and he pulled away, until she gripped it hard, holding his head in place, her mouth set in anger at his continued resistance.

Spike could not speak, could not move, but his eyes met Giles in a beseeching look, pleading silently with him not to grant Faith’s request.

“No, no reason,” Giles agreed with a smile. “Except that you might be inclined to lose your temper…and if you do so and slay him, then you lose your willing consort for the ritual.”

“You could always make me another one,” she pointed out.

“Not exactly, my dear,” Giles corrected her. “For this particular control spell, the vampire must willingly allow the magics to be used. I managed to convince Spike to allow it,” he remarked with a smile at the remembered deception. His smile faded as he shook his head and warned her, “It might not be so easy to convince another.”

Her mouth formed a pout as she argued, “So I won’t stake him. Plenty of other ways I can teach this bad boy a lesson.” Her voice was a low, menacing purr as she leaned in close to him to speak.

“I’m afraid I can’t allow that, Faith,” Giles said quietly, his smile disappearing completely, a note of impatience in his voice.

Faith turned toward him, releasing Spike suddenly, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why not? If this spell is really as complete as you say it is, it shouldn’t be a problem. Unless there’s something going on here that I don’t know about.”

Giles did not say anything, but he drew a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment before looking at her again with an expression of forced patience. “There is nothing wrong with the spell, Faith, I assure you. The moment we leave here and I deactivate the spell, he will not remember any of this. Therefore your wisest option is to allow him to go on, presumably in Buffy’s service, until the time for the ritual. She’ll continue looking for the vampire who’s helping you, and never realize that he’s right under her very roof the entire time.” He paused for a moment before repeating slowly, “There is nothing wrong with the spell.”

“Then let me see that for myself,” she said slowly, her mouth forming a sly smile. “I’ll have him run along home in the morning.” She paused, turning back toward Spike with a cruel smile. “Just for one…night…” She looked up at Giles, still facing Spike as she spoke in a harder voice, “Just to put my mind at ease.”

Her suspicion was clear in the set of her jaw, her dark eyes flashing fire.

Giles stared at her for a moment before letting out a weary sigh. “Very well, then. But don’t send him home. He’d still remember tonight when next he saw Buffy. I’ll return for him in the morning.” And without a backward glance he turned to go.

“Um…Giles?” she said, stopping him, and he turned to face her curious smirk.

“What?” he frowned, puzzled. “Oh…oh, yes…um…Spike, do as Faith says,” he gave the order in an offhand, careless way, then turned again to go.

Faith’s smirk was triumphant as she turned back to Spike, whose eyes were closed in bitter acceptance of the fate that had just been cast on him, and called over her shoulder to Giles, “Thanks. You didn’t let me down, man. You delivered my vampire, just as promised.”

Giles’ expression was dark as he walked out the door, closing it with a cold finality. “Yes,” he muttered to himself. “Just as promised.”