Graham sighed blissfully and opened the passenger door
to the vehicle.
Humming to himself, he climbed inside.

?Are you sure you don?t want to drive?? Riley asked.

Graham just grinned and shook his head.

?Right.  Distracted.  I should?ve known.?  Riley got
behind the wheel with a
rueful smile.

?You should?ve,? Graham agreed.  Riley knew he was in
no shape for
concentrating on the road.  Oh, he could have done it
if it had been
necessary, but he really didn?t want to.  They?d just
finished staking out
Xander at his current job.

God bless construction work.

Riley had seemed bored most of the time they had spent
watching the
construction site of a new set of tract of housing,
but Graham had been
enthralled.  Xander had walked around in faded jeans
and a button down
shirt, carrying lumbar and tools.  He had been quiet,
but had laughed and
joked around with the other workers when they spoke to
him.  He seemed
popular, always ready to lend a hand if it was needed
before anyone could
even ask.  Graham hadn?t been able to hear anything
that was said, but the
smiles on the faces of the men around Xander made him
wish he could.

As the day had grown warmer, Xander shed his shirt and
just wore a white
undershirt.  Riley had made a show of waving his hand
in front of Graham?s
face to break his concentration.  Graham smacked the
offending hand away; it
was blocking his view of Xander.  The dark-haired
man?s face had been set in
lines of concentration as he had focused on sawing
boards down to size and
plotting out angles and distances for walls and
foundations.  The afternoon
sun had summoned up a sheen of moisture that covered
Xander?s skin and his
body had gleamed as he worked the day away.

Graham closed his eyes, picturing Xander once more.
The image that rose in
his mind wasn?t perfect:  Xander had only really
spoken when spoken to, and
his eyes had been dark with weariness.  It wasn?t the
same exhaustion as
they had seen in the girls, but Graham still didn?t
like it.  He asked
Riley, ?Did you notice how tired he looked??

?What, you did?? Riley asked with exaggerated
surprise.  ?I would?ve thought
you were too busy staring at his ass.?

Graham glared at him.  ?I didn?t *just* look at his
ass.?

?True.  The rest of the time, you were making sheep?s
eyes at the rest of
him.?

?Only you would make a comment about sheep?s eyes.  I
guess that unhealthy
obsession you developed with them back on the farm
never really - hey!?
They were going to have to clean up the car.  There
were too many pieces of
paper lying about that Riley could ball up and throw
at him.

?He should head straight home,? Riley said, mind back
on the mission.
?We?ll connect with the surveillance team there and
see if we can find out
what?s got him so worn out.?  They couldn?t risk
following him too closely
themselves for fear of being spotted, so another team
would handle that
until he reached his house.  Graham and Riley crammed
themselves inside a
different surveillance van just as the sun started to
go down.

Graham watched the video screens with interest,
wanting to see what Xander?s
apartment looked like.  It didn?t have much in the way
of furniture in the
living room or two bedrooms and it was cluttered as
though Xander hadn?t had
time to do any real cleaning.  It wasn?t dirty; it
just wasn?t neat.  It
looked as though Xander hadn?t been spending much time
there...Graham
resolutely ignored that line of thought.  No thinking
about Xander spending
all his time with Anya for him.  He?d just think about
Xander in a tank top
some more instead.

The sound of the van?s radio crackling to life
startled him out of his
reverie.  //Harris has been joined by an unknown
individual.  They?re both
enroute to his apartment.//

?Copy that,? Riley acknowledged.  ?It?s probably
Anya,? he said quietly,
glancing at Graham.

?Probably,? Graham agreed, keeping his tone neutral.
No need to broadcast
his crush to the techies, now was there?  He watched
the monitor more
closely and was rewarded after several minutes by
seeing Xander enter the
apartment closely followed by...Hostile 17?

Graham heard Riley swear and instantly sympathized.
He?d heard Riley
complain about Spike and the way the vampire was
sniffing around Buffy more
times than he could count.  He remembered Spike from
his incarceration
within the Initiative compound, when he was just
Hostile 17 awaiting
chip-insertion.  He?d noticed the vampire because of
his amazing eyes and
lean body, feeling the insistent pull of lust even as
he?d reminded himself
that the man was evil.  What the hell was he doing
with Xander?

Neither man said anything.  Xander dropped his tools
on the floor and headed
for the bathroom, the only room without a camera in
it, while Spike walked
into the kitchen.  While Xander showered and changed
his clothes, Spike
pulled a bag of liquid out of the refrigerator and
poured it into a
saucepan, as well as stuck a frozen dinner in the
microwave.  By the time
Xander returned, hair damp and wearing clean clothes,
Spike had the dinner
waiting for him on the counter.  Xander took it with a
quiet thank you and
wolfed it down.  Spike watched him, sipping the heated
liquid that he?d
poured into a mug.

Blood, Graham realized.  Spike kept blood in Xander?s
refrigerator.  And
made Xander dinner!  What the hell was this?  Riley
was no help; he looked
even more confused then Graham felt.  They both stared
at the screen, trying
to understand what was happening.

Spike watched Xander over the rim of his mug.  ?Maybe
you should stay in
tonight.  You look tired.?

Xander licked his fork clean and shook his head.
?We?ve got work to do.  No
rest for the weary.?  He threw out his dinner box and
opened one of the
drawers in the kitchen and pulled out a pair of stakes
and a handgun.  ?No
rest for the wicked, either,? he said, shrugging on a
jacket.  ?Let?s go.?

Spike tossed back the rest of his blood.  Wiping the
back of his hand across
his mouth, he followed Xander out the door.

?Where the hell are they going?? Graham asked.
?Xander just spent the last
ten hours at work!?  He grasped the door handle to the
van?s side door,
waiting for the all clear signal.  As soon as the tech
nodded, he and Riley
hit the street.  They kept their distance, not wanting
either man ahead to
notice them.  Neither of them spoke; focused on the
mission, Graham pushed
his concern to the side to deal with later.

Xander and Spike moved with purpose; they weren?t out
on the random
wandering patrols that Riley had described as being
the usual for Buffy?s
friends.  The two men walked quickly toward their
goal:  one of Sunnydale?s
many cemeteries.  Once inside, they slowed down,
speaking in quiet tones to
each other.

Graham shook his head.  They were an open invitation
to attack.

He should have remembered what thinking thoughts like
that in Sunnydale
could do.  Five figures appeared from the shadows,
circling Xander and
Spike.  Graham eyed Riley, waiting for a signal that
they should intervene.
Riley shook his head so Graham went back to watching,
muscles tense.  If
Xander looked like he was in trouble, he was going in.
He was sure Riley
would be right beside him.

Xander and Spike separated, turning to keep the beings
surrounding them in
sight.  The five strangers vamped out as they closed
in.  Xander immediately
pulled out the stakes he had stashed away, Spike
vamped out, and the fight
was on.  Xander staked one of the vampires immediately
and fended off
another with his stake, while Spike dusted two others
before they could
react.  Spike barely paused before leaping upon a
third, knocking it to the
ground and snapping its neck before thrusting a stake
into its heart.  The
blond man was on his feet immediately and moved in on
the remaining vampire.
  Obviously frightened, the final attacker hesitated,
giving Xander the
opportunity to stake it cleanly.

Graham watched as Spike spoke intently to Xander.  It
didn?t make any real
sense, but it looked as though Spike was protecting
Xander.  Not just making
sure that he didn?t die, which would have made sense
from the situation
Riley had explained:  Spike had to keep him alive or
else Buffy would kill
him.  Spike had gone beyond that, though.  He had
hurried the killing of the
vampires he?d faced, not taking any time to toy with
them or enjoy the
carnage.  Not only that, but now he was checking
Xander over carefully, damn
near fussing over him to make sure that he hadn?t been
hurt.  It was
impossible, but it looked like Spike cared about
Xander, that he was
actually worried about whether Xander was injured or
not.

Graham consciously relaxed his hands, loosening the
fists he hadn?t realized
he?d made.  He didn?t like seeing Xander in danger; he
liked seeing Spike
practically fawn over him even less.  Spike had to
have some sort of plan,
one that would ultimately end up hurting Xander.  It
might relate back to
the vampire?s obsession with Buffy, the one that made
Riley crazy every time
he talked about it.  Whatever it was, Graham wasn?t
just going to stand by
and let the blond bastard use Xander.  He?d find a way
to work it into
mission parameters: he wasn?t going to let Xander be
hurt.

Riley?s hand on his shoulder forced Graham out of his
brooding reverie.
Graham nodded sharply to indicate that his head was
back in the game.  He
watched as Spike argued with Xander, their voices too
low for him to know
over what.  Whatever it was, Xander refused to go
along with Spike.  The
vampire lit a cigarette, his jerky movements
telegraphing his irritation
clearly.  He wasn?t angry enough to leave Xander,
though; the two men
continued walking deeper into the cemetery together.
Graham and Riley
drifted along behind them, waiting to see what
happened next.

The demon that arose slavering from behind a tomb came
as a complete
surprise to Graham.  He immediately pulled out his
side arm, as did Riley
beside.  Of course, that was after he took a few steps
back and successfully
managed not to soil himself.  He clamped down on his
panic, smoothly
shifting into battle mode.  His emotions faded away
and he became the
soldier he?d trained so long to be:  calculating and
cool and efficient.  It
was this calm that allowed him to notice a few things,
even as the demon
rose to its true height and loomed large in the
moonlight.

First, Spike and Xander didn?t really seem surprised
by the demon?s
appearance.  Neither man wasted anytime with surprised
exclamations or
panic;  instead, Xander retreated a few paces and
pulled out the handgun
he?d retrieved at his apartment.  At the same time,
Spike launched himself
at the demon, not hesitating for a moment as he tore
at the creature with
clawed hands.

Second, Spike was definitely protecting Xander.  The
vampire was pitting
himself against a demon, a creature that he could
injure and torment as much
as he liked without any repercussions from the chip
inside his head.  Riley
had spent hours talking about the reasons why he
loathed Spike, so Graham
knew quite a bit about him.  He knew that Spike should
have been inflicting
as much damage on the demon as possible, drawing out
its pain as he
concentrated on enjoying the torture.  Instead, he was
working as quickly as
he could to kill the demon, glancing back at Xander
whenever he could,
checking on the dark-haired man to be sure that he was
all right.

Graham and Riley held their positions.  So long as
Spike and Xander were in
no real danger, they had no reason to break cover and
compromise the
mission.  That didn?t mean that Graham wasn?t burning
to interfere, to pull
Xander away from both the demon and the vampire, but
he stayed true to his
training and didn?t reveal himself.

Spike kicked the demon once more in the head then
leapt away from it, giving
Xander a clear shot at it.  Holding his weapon with
surprising
professionalism, Xander fired two shots.  With a
wailing sigh, the demon
collapsed, its skull shattered by the two bullets.
Spike nodded approvingly
toward Xander.  The two men spoke quietly, then walked
quickly out of the
cemetery, heading back to Xander?s apartment.

Graham and Riley continued to follow them at a
distance.  After watching the
two men enter the apartment building, Graham led the
way to the surveillance
van.  He sat down and scooted closer to the wall of
television screens,
needing to see what was coming next.

Xander put away the stakes, then reloaded and stored
the gun.  He then
disappeared into the bathroom again and once more
emerged with damp hair,
wearing a pair of blue flannel pants and nothing else.
He yawned hugely.
?Night, Spike.?

?Night, Whelp.?  Spike was sprawled across the couch
flipping through a
magazine.

Xander walked into his bedroom and flopped down onto
the bed, sighing as he
wriggled around on the sheets.  After finding a
comfortable position, he
fell asleep almost immediately.

As soon as Xander disappeared, the vampire tossed the
magazine onto the
table and rose to his feet.  He began to move about
the apartment, quietly
putting used dishes in the dishwasher, shifting
Xander?s tools off to the
side so they were no longer a hazard, and just in
general neatening the
apartment.

?I wonder if he does windows,? the tech commented.

Graham exchanged a confused glance with Riley.  What
the hell was going on?
Spike was now Xander?s houseboy?  He didn?t like this
at all.  Spike wasn?t
acting at all like the vampire Graham remembered from
his confinement within
the Initiative base.  There, he?d been coiled energy
personified, muttering
scorching curses and always looking for a chance to
escape.  Riley had told
him tales of Spike gleefully reveling in violence, and
yet the blond man was
picking up the apartment of a supposed foe.  And since
when was Xander
comfortable about having Spike in his apartment?  They
were wishing each
other good night like they were Waltens instead of
enemies.  Graham
impatiently motioned for the tech to turn up the
volume.

Spike finished with his cleaning.  For a moment he
stood in the middle of
the apartment, shifting his weight as if in
indecision.  The moment passed
and he walked silently across the room to Xander?s
bedroom door.  He paused
outside, head cocked to the side as though listening.
After a few moments
he slowly pushed the door open and went inside.

Graham?s muscles tensed as he readied himself to move.
He knew Spike was
chipped, knew that he couldn?t hurt Xander, but he
couldn?t relax.  The
moment it looked as though Spike was going to do
anything to harm Xander,
Graham was going to be out of the van and up the
stairs to stop him.

Spike stood in the doorway, staring down at Xander.
His gaze roamed over
the sleeping man?s body, tracing the lines of his
back, the way one of his
legs hung off the bed.  He stood like that for long
minutes, then walked
toward Xander.  He reached out and lifted Xander?s
leg, gently maneuvering
it back onto the bed before pulling the blanket up to
cover him.  He brushed
his fingertips over the exposed skin of Xander?s
shoulder, then silently
left the room.  He walked over to the other bedroom,
shed his clothes and
fell into bed himself.

After neither man moved for a half-hour, the tech
leaned back in his chair.
?Show?s over.  Harris will sleep for another five
hours and then get up for
work, and this Spike guy will sleep for most of the
day.  Then he?ll either
leave wearing a protective layer for the sun or wait
for Harris to come
home.?

Graham nodded and he and Riley exited the van.  As
they drove back toward
base, Riley looked over at him.  ?Weird.?

?Weird is putting it mildly.  Since when is Spike
Xander?s guardian angel??

?I think Tyndal needs to hear about this.?

Graham agreed.  As soon as the returned to base, they
reported to the major.
  Tyndal received them in his office, listening to
their observations
without comment.  He nodded slowly as they fell
silent.  ?I think you men
are right.  Harris and this Spike?s actions are out of
character, based on
all the intelligence we?ve gathered on them.  It needs
to be looked into.?

?I have a theory, sir,? Graham volunteered.  After
Tyndal nodded his
encouragement, he continued.  ?I believe that Willow
and Tara?s spell is
keeping any more HSTs from entering the Sunnydale
area, but that doesn?t
explain why the ones already present are more under
control.  I think that
Harris and Spike are responsible for the restoration
of order.?

?Or at least play a large part in it,? Riley added.

Tyndal considered their words.  ?I agree.  Tomorrow, I
want you to initiate
contact with Harris.  If he?s part of the reason the
situation here hasn?t
completely gone to hell, then I want you to help him.
We need the Hellmouth
stable for the sake of national security and I?m not
willing to rely on the
efforts of one civilian and an HST.?  He shuffled some
of the papers on his
desk.  ?For the time being, avoid contact with
Summers.    Until we
understand why she?s abandoned her work as the Slayer
I don?t want her
involved.?

Graham and Riley snapped salutes at the major and were
dismissed.  As they
walked toward their quarters, Graham watched Riley
carefully.  He?d just
been ordered to stay away from his ex.  Graham had no
idea what to say, so
he settled for sneaking glances at his friend at every
opportunity.

Finally, Riley couldn?t take it anymore.  ?I?m fine,
Graham.  I?m not happy,
but I?m fine.?

Graham nodded slowly.  Riley had never been able to
lie to him, not about
anything that really mattered.  ?Just checking.?

?I know.?  A sudden grin lit the light-haired man?s
face.  ?Actually, I
should be worried about you.  After all, tomorrow
you?re going to be meeting
Xander.?

Graham froze, his shirt half-pulled over his head.  He
glared at Riley.
?You fuck.?

Riley?s grin was unrepentant.  ?We?ve been ordered to
contact him.  To work
closely with him.?

Graham threw his shirt at Riley.  ?Now I?m never going
to get to sleep.?

Riley pulled the shirt off his head and tossed it back
at him.  ?Just don?t
be too loud, all right?  I need my beauty rest.?

?No amount of rest is going to help that mug of
yours.?  Graham fell easily
into the pattern of bickering, but his heat wasn?t in
it.  He was going to
see Xander tomorrow.  He was going to talk to him and
be near him and not
have to stalk him...

He was never going to get to sleep.

*****