"Buffy, may I speak to you?" Giles asked the young Slayer. He ushered her into the library.
"You heard about last night, didn't you?" Buffy sighed. "Who tattled?"
"Angel came to me initially, but Xander gave me some information also." Giles adjusted his glasses. "I wish to learn your recollection of the events."
Buffy sat down in a chair, and she nibbled her lower lip. She hoped she could get through the 'interrogation' without spilling too many of Spike's secrets. "First off, Giles, none of this makes it back to the Council, okay?"
"Sure, Buffy, if that's what you want," Giles nodded. His only purpose in this instance was to help his charge.
"Okay, let me start by saying that the Council's speculation of Spike's life prior to his turning is so far off track it's laughable." Buffy shrugged. "Your friend's spell made me all helpless girl, you know. Angel vamped out, and he scared me. When I ran away I found Spike."
"He tried to kill you, I take it?" Giles asked.
"Of course. That's what we do, isn't it? Try to kill each other?" Buffy gave a wary smile. "Then, I recognized him... well, I recognized William."
"Who recognized William?"
"Elizabeth Anne Addams. She was born in 1866 and died in 1880 at the hands of Angelus." Buffy turned her face away from Giles. "He raped and murdered her while Drusilla turned William. He threw her away like a piece of garbage. I remember everything, Giles."
"E-everything?" the horrified Watcher asked.
Buffy nodded. "I remember all of her pain and anger. Every emotion Angelus forced out of her mind, body, and soul. You see, she followed William after some bitch rejected him, but Drusilla found him first. Then, Angelus found Elizabeth."
"So while under Ethan's spell, you recognized Spike. Did he remember this Elizabeth?"
"Oh, he remembered Lizzie, alright." Buffy nodded. "He never questioned it either. He took it on faith that I was telling the truth."
Above the Watcher and the Slayer, in the stacks, a hidden listener was thinking vicious thoughts about his grandsire. The damned dirty animal had hurt his Lizzie, and now the Slayer was dealing with the after affects. "After that dream, luv," Spike whispered. "I had every reason to believe you."
"I... I don't think I can be alone with Angel again right now," Buffy said softly. "Lizzie's memories are too fresh."
"I understand." Giles pulled Brenna Hassib's card from her pocket, and he laid it on the table in front of Buffy. "This is a number for a demonic therapist. She'll understand anything you need to talk about."
"I'll think about it, Giles." Giles picked up the card. "Hassib? Isn't that the guy who runs the donut shop?"
"I believe so, yes."
"Cool," Buffy replied. She had always thought the guy in the shop was nice the couple of times she had went in there with Xander. Hassib always added a couple of extra donuts to their order. "Oh, Spike mentioned that Angel turned some guy in the 1940's."
"Really?" Giles looked interested. "Let me get my notebook. Did he say anything else?"
"Um, the guy's name was Lawford or Lawton." Buffy went over the conversation in her mind. "Lawson. Sam Lawson. He was a submariner."
"Interesting." Giles wrote the information down in his notebook. "I'll have to look into it."
"Ethan's spell was kinda weird." Buffy shrugged. "Maybe we should spread a tainted candy rumor to explain why the kiddos will be acting like little demons." She chuckled.
Spike was slowly talking himself into a rage. He had saved Lizzie from the likes of Carl Pendergrass, only to have her fall victim to a worse predator. Spike knew he was evil, and he had done some terrible things in his day, but raping little girls wasn't one of them.
"How do you think Spike will react to the situation?" Giles asked with great interest. If the information from the Council was wrong, he had no baseline to compare any of Spike's actions to.
"I don't know about Spike, but let me tell you a little story about William and Lizzie." Buffy gave her Watcher a sad smile. "About a year before they died, just after Lizzie's thirteenth birthday, William caught one of the gentlemen -- and I use that term loosely-- trying something nasty with Lizzie."
"Nasty? You mean he was trying to rape her?" Giles watched as Buffy nodded sadly.
"William punched the guy out." Buffy looked thoughtful. "That's William's reaction. You're the vamp expert, Giles. What do you think Spike will do?"
Giles went to get one of his books. He sat across from Buffy, and he opened the tome. "Vampires are contradictory creatures. On one hand, they're possessive and territorial. On the other, they are rarely interested in anything for more than a few months."
"I think we mostly see the second kind," Buffy muttered.
"Most of the time, yes." Giles nodded in agreement. "Now in Spike's case, most Council references to him put him in the company of one vampiress, Drusilla, childe of Angelus. That's over a hundred years in the company of the same woman."
"So, you're saying Spike's possessive, and he might consider me his territory?"
"Yes, exactly. He'll see Angel's interest in you, Buffy, and Angelus' acts against Lizzie as encroachment on what he considers his."
Buffy nodded in understanding. She felt so much safer with the knowledge that Spike was more similar to William than he probably let on to most people. The Slayer part of her didn't even seem to care that an evil vampire considered her to be his territory. Buffy knew she should not feel that way about Spike, but Lizzie's memories of William softened her heart.
"Buffy, I want you to trust your instincts in this situation," Giles said. His tone was very gently. "If you feel uncomfortable, by all means don't be alone with Angel. As for Spike," Giles' voice dropped off for a moment. "I'll trust you there too, but please be careful."
"Thanks, Giles." Buffy smiled at her Watcher. "I think I will give this therapist a call. Maybe she can help me with deal with some other things, too. This is a lot to take in at once."
Spike slipped out of the library, content that Buffy wouldn't allow herself to be alone with the great poofter. He strolled down the street, deep in thought. He was so brassed off at Angelus at the moment that he almost missed seeing one of the Slayer's friends being harassed.
"Come on, pretty girl," the bully leered at the red-haired girl. He winked at his buddies. "Give me a kiss."
Willow cringed slightly before she said with great defiance, "NO!"
"Don't be like that. Let me show you a good time." The bully stroked the back of his hand down Willow's cheek.
"Leave me alone," Willow cried out.
"Better listen to the girl," Spike growled. He gave the bullies a hard glare.
"S-spike," Willow stammered. She looked first at the bully, and then at the vampire. She surprised herself by stepping closer to the vampire.
"Oh, look at the Billy Idol wanna-be," the head bully scoffed. "Run along, Billy. This isn't any of your business."
"Red's a friend of a friend," Spike drawled calmer than he felt. "Come here, girl."
"S-sure, Spike." Willow inched towards the vampire.
"You're just as scared of him as you are of me," the bully observed.
"Yeah, but if he hurts me, Buffy will smack him around." Willow glanced at Spike to see if she had insulted him, but he just smirked at her. "Actually, he's much scarier than you."
The bully looked down at Willow and Spike from his superior height. He studied the other male, and he decided that the lean, angular man was no challenge. "Huh," he scoffed.
"Spike's stronger than the looks," Willow offered informatively. "He's one of those deformed faced gang members on PCP you always hear about."
"He doesn't have a deformed face." One of the other boys scoffed
Spike pulled his demon forward. "What about now?"
The bully's friends let out a shriek, and they abandoned him to his fate as they ran away. The bully stared at the creature that the puny-looking punk rocker had turned into right before his eyes.
"I... I... " The bully backed away.
"Told you he was scarier."
"I hear about you harrassin' Red here again, and I'll hunt you down. It won't be pretty," Spike snarled the threat.
"Yes, sir." The bully gulped in terror. He turned and followed the path of his friends, feeling lucky to have survived. He vowed to never bother Willow Rosenberg or anyone she hung out with ever again.
"Um, thanks, Spike." Willow eyed the vampire while taking a wary stance.
"No problem, Red." Spike shrugged as he slipped back into his human guise. "I need a favor. It concerns the Slayer."
"Sure, I guess." Willow wondered what the vampire could possibly be asking her about.
"I believe Angelus will make Buffy antsy till she comes to terms with what happened to Lizzie." Spike pulled his cigarettes out of his duster pocket. "I don't trust him. Don't let her be alone with him."
"Do you think he'd hurt her?" Willow asked in sudden horror.
"It's always possible." Spike lit a cigarette. "Now, can I escort you someplace? It wouldn't do for one of the Slayer's friends to get hurt."
"I'm meeting Buffy at the school. We're gonna go over French again. Buffy really sucks at it." Willow gave Spike a shy smile.
Spike chuckled. He remembered back to the first night at the Bronze when Buffy had some real problems with the 'language of love'. On the other hand, he knew Lizzie excelled at languages including French.
"The Slayer might be a touch better now." Spike grinned at Willow. "Let's get a move on."
The vampire and the teenager walked towards the high school. When they arrived at their destination, Spike waited until Willow was inside before he turned to leave.
"What did you do to Willow?" Angel snarled as he stepped out of the shadows to confront Spike.
"Angelus, just the vampire I wanted to see," Spike growled.