Disclaimer: Didn't create the characters, but i treat most of them better than Joss...so don't complain...I'm not making any money out of this so please don't sue me.

Beta'd by AtheneHahn, with special thanks to Maryperk for her advice and help.

by Jackofspikes

Chapter 10

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Spike followed the three girls back into the front of the Magic Box. His step was as light as his heart. He didn't think things could get better. He finally had a direction. He had a side to fight on. He had the tentative beginnings of acceptance, maybe friendship, from the Scoobies. In Xander he might have found his very first male human friend. In Giles, a fellow academic, someone William would like to come out and converse with. He had made his decision, now it was time to let the others know.

"Ah...can I say somethin' before Anya gets started?" Spike asked hesitantly, his voice devoid of its usual brash confidence.

"Of course, Spike. Please..." Giles motioned the suddenly shy vampire to speak.

Looking to the rest of the group and seeing nothing but interest, Spike took a deep breath and a leap of faith. "You've all been right good to me tonight and I know we've got a lot of history and all, but, if you're willin', I'd like to ask for a chance to prove myself to you all. I'd like to try to be better than I am. More than I am. I'd like to join the white hats, not just when you need me, but all the time. I can help with research when it's needed and I can patrol with the slayer every night, maybe even be able to give her a night off when she needs it...if she'll let me. I know it won't be easy and I'll make mistakes, so you'll prolly need a lot of patience with me. But, if you'll help me, I know I can do this."

Xander replied immediately, "I'm in, fang face."

"You can count on us," Willow offered and Tara nodded in agreement.

"If it's going to save time on research, I'm all for it." Anya smiled guilelessly.

"I, for one, will be delighted to know that that some as skilled as you is supporting my slayer." Giles looked to Buffy for her opinion.

The Slayer made her stance, "One rule, Spike; if you're in doubt, ask." At his nod of acceptance, Buffy turned her attention to Anya. "You were gonna tell us about the council changes?"

"There's not much to tell. About five hundred years ago the council went through some major changes. They changed their policies on just about everything. Oh don't get me wrong, it wasn't just swoosh bang - changes, it started slowly about fifty years before the changes became policy." Anya looked around at her audience, glowing in the attention. "Before that time, the council had a really good support system for its slayers. The watcher was there, but there was also a whole team of people whose sole purpose was to do research for the slayer. All on the council's payroll," Anya turned to Giles and said, "That really was a bad decision, Giles; taking away the slayer's support group. But Buffy has us, so I really think you should say something to the council about re-instating that particular policy, and we should be paid for our contribution to the cause."

The earnestness with which Anya stated her argument had Giles stifling his grin and answering the girl with equal seriousness. "None of us actually work for the council, Anya. So I doubt very much that they'd listen to any suggestions I had regarding changing policies."

"Was the support system the only policy they changed, Anya?" Buffy had a really strong feeling that Riley and Angel weren't going to be the only ones that she was pissed at.

"Oh no, they introduced the new tradition of the Cruciamentum and then taught the new slayers that demons were evil soulless things, so that the guidelines were very clear, black and white. Slayers kill demons, with no exceptions." Anya stopped talking and looked directly at Giles, "You shouldn't feel guilty about what you've taught her though, Giles. The head of the council made the decision that most of this should also be kept from the new watchers, so those that knew about the changes all agreed to hide all the previous material and keep their knowledge to themselves; the new stuff was what the new watchers were taught. Only the new head of the council was told the whole truth and that was by the retiring head of the council."

"But, why?" Giles looked shell-shocked. He couldn't understand what anyone would achieve by these actions.

"Control," Buffy replied, furiously. Every fibre of her body was telling her the same thing; the older a slayer got the less she listened to the orders of the council, and the council liked to be in control.

"Not entirely," Anya responded matter-of-factly to Buffy's suggestion, "Although, that was a part of it. No, the council was trying to stop a prophecy that they'd found."

"A prophecy, you say?" Giles asked, tiredly. He really was getting to old for this. He'd not only found out that everything he'd ever believed was wrong, that the institution he'd dedicated most of his life to was flawed, but that now they had any number of prophesies to deal with.

Willow looked at Anya curiously, "How do you know all this, Anya? I mean, wouldn't the council have made sure that this sort of stuff didn't get out. 'Cause, gotta say, if you're gonna go to all that trouble to keep a secret, wouldn't letting it out, sorta be of the bad?"

"The whole thing started out as a vengeance spell." She shrugged nonchalantly; absolutely oblivious to the ramifications of her bland statement.

"Oh splendid, more good news." Giles commented in droll humour. When Spike quietly chuckled in response to his comment, Giles found himself looking forward to sharing his humour with another Brit. 'Bloody colonials never could take a joke'.

Xander looked over at his oft times embarrassingly blunt girlfriend and realised that she was happy, truly happy, and he hadn't seen her this happy with the group in, well, ever. "Ahn, honey, wanna tell about the vengeance spell?"

"It wasn't really much of a spell as vengeance spells go. It was a simple wish made by the head of the council at the time. He wanted all watchers to believe that all demons were inherently evil. I think a demon killed someone in his family and that's why he was granted vengeance."

"But, you said the changes in the council started because of a prophecy?" Spike tried to get some clarity. This working with the white hats was bloody difficult. How they managed to make sense of things was totally beyond him.

Looking at the vampire, Anya tried to clear up his confusion, "Well, you see the prophecy stated that the council would be vanquished when the slayer and the champion joined. The champion was described as a demon that had been redeemed. So the council thought that if the slayer could be taught to hate all demons, she'd never allow one to get close enough to her so the prophecy could be fulfilled. The vengeance wish got all the watchers on side and the Cruciamentum got rid of slayers that the council thought were getting too old. They believed that the older a slayer was, the more likely she was to recognise that not all demons are bad. If a slayer made it through the ritual and she wasn't killed by a demon, she'd be killed off by some sort of council induced accident."

"Good lord," Giles was horrified. Not only did his slayer have to face untold dangers on a nightly basis, she had to now be concerned about her safety from the institution that was supposed to support her, or rather, they would if she hadn't quit.

"The fruition of the prophecy requires more than just a slayer though. It requires a slayer that not only understands her origins, but can tap into all her powers." Penny added quietly.

"Huh?" Buffy eloquently expressed her confusion.

"Buffy, if you are supposed to be a protector pitted against all malevolent supernatural beings, why are you called the vampire slayer?"