Xander hurt.  The inside of his head throbbed,
protesting the Cynon?s
invasion of his mind.  His eyes burned from the tears
he had shed and his
arms and legs were weak with reaction.  He felt
battered inside and out.
When he stumbled outside, he just wanted to get away
from the Cynon and
reach the comfort of Spike?s company.  He called for
the vampire as soon as
he left the crypt.

Spike was at his side in an instant.  ?Are you all
right?  How are you
feeling??  He gently touched Xander?s arm and guided
him over to a low
gravestone so he could sit.

Xander raised his hands to his temples.  ?It hurts,?
he admitted quietly.
?But it always hurts.?  His headache was intensified
by the new information
pressing in on his awareness:  the locations of
various demons, the plans
they?d made, how long he had to find and kill them
before they could hurt
any innocents.  He looked up at Spike, wanting to tell
him what he?d learned
and what they should do next.  Before he could say
anything, he caught sight
of Riley and Graham staring at him.  ?What the hell
are they doing here??

Spike pressed a few aspirin into his hand.  ?They just
showed up.  They
wanted to interrupt, but didn?t get the chance.?

?Are you all right??  Spike could?ve been hurt trying
to stop them.

Spike laughed.  ?You?re asking me that when you?re
the...take your aspirin.?

Xander obediently dry-swallowed the pills, grimacing
at the foul taste.  ?I
don?t know why I bother with these.  They don?t help.?
He knew he was going
to have to deal with Graham and Riley?s presence but
he wasn?t up to it.  He
needed a little while longer to recover first.

?No??  Spike?s fingers were cool against his forehead.

?Not any more.  I?m almost at the point where I?m
willing to try...your
alternative.?  At the last moment he remembered they
had company and he
censored himself.  Spike seemed to dislike the pain
and exhaustion that
shook him every time he went to the Cynon.  After a
few encounters, Spike
went so far as to offer Xander his blood.  Not to turn
him, though;
apparently a vampire?s blood held certainly healing
qualities.  Xander had
refuse the offer when it was first made but he was
almost willing to try it
now.

Spike?s hand moved down to grip his shoulder hard.
?Anything you want, pet.
  Anything.?

Xander thought the blue eyes staring down at him
darkened and that Spike?s
voice sounded eager and almost...husky.  He stared up
at Spike for a moment
before he realized how ridiculous his thoughts were.
Spike was just
offering to help him as a friend.  Imagining that
there was anything else
behind the offer was foolish and dangerous and Xander
already had enough of
both going on in his life at the moment.  He contented
himself with smiling
up at Spike.  ?Thank you.?

Spike squeezed his shoulder again, then shifted to
stand beside him rather
than in front.  He still kept his hand on Xander?s
shoulder, though.

Xander had an unobstructed view of Graham and Riley.
?What are you doing
here??

?That?s what I want to ask you,? Riley said.  ?What
the hell happened to
you?  What?s inside of there??

Xander stared at him steadily.  How had they found him
and Spike?  They
weren?t supposed to meet them for another hour.  ?You
were following me.
You, or a surveillance team you?ve got targeting me.?
It was the only thing
that made sense.  It also explained why the soldiers
hadn?t been all that
surprised to see Spike.  ?How long have I been under
surveillance??

Riley hesitated, then sighed and gave in.  ?Under a
week, I promise you.
There?s surveillance in your apartment and you?ve been
followed to work.
Beyond that, no one?s been able to stick with you when
you?ve gone out on
patrol.?

Spike snarled.  ?You?ve been following us??

Xander laid his hand on Spike?s stomach in a light
restraining touch.
?Standard procedure.  What else would they do if the
situation in dear old
Sunnyhell went to shit??  He turned his attention to
Riley and Graham.  ?I
want it called off.?

?On one condition,? Graham said.  ?What was going on
in there?  What hurt
you??

?I?ve got one more condition, then,? Xander countered.
?I?ll tell you, but
I need your word that you won?t interfere.?

?Fine!? Graham said.  ?What happened??

Xander chose his words carefully.  He really didn?t
want to explain the
whole thing to them.  ?I?ve got an arrangement with a
demon.  He gives me
information about the other demons in town in exchange
for the privilege of
scaring the hell out of me.  It?s not a big deal.?

?You look like you?ve been through hell,? Graham
objected.  ?We?ve got
trained surveillance teams at our disposal.  You don?t
have to do this.?

?Did your surveillance teams know that a pair of
Fritandor demons are
planning on making their home beneath the Second
Street nursery school?
Easy access to snacks for the young ones that are on
the way.?  Xander shook
his head.  ?Your surveillance isn?t going to cut it.
I need him.  We need
him if we?re going to have a chance.?

?I don?t like it.?

?Neither do I.  Neither does Spike.  That doesn?t
change the fact that it?s
our best bet for keeping people alive.  Are you going
to stay out of this??

?Yes,? Graham agreed.

?And pull the surveillance from us,? Spike insisted.
?All of it.?

?So long as you don?t resist us patrolling with you,
that shouldn?t be a
problem,? Riley said.  ?We need to keep open
communication.?

?Fine.?  Xander didn?t like the creepy feeling of
knowing that he?d been
monitored for the past few days without his knowledge.
He understood why it
had been done, but he was glad to know that it was
over.  ?Now that we?ve
got that settled, I guess we should get moving.?

?Are you sure you?re all right?? Spike asked.

?I?m as good as I?m going to get tonight.  I think we
should tackle the
Fritandors tonight.  I don?t want them to establish
themselves and then have
to dig them out later.?  He rose carefully to his
feet, aware of Spike
hovering over him, ready to offer him aid if he needed
it.  He smiled
briefly at the blond man and stretched painfully.
?Let?s go.?

As they walked, Spike stayed close to him, watching
him carefully.  Xander
knew the first time that he showed an overt amount of
pain or weariness the
vampire would insist on taking him home.  Xander
figured it was a leftover
from Spike?s time spent with Drusilla:  the blond man
had definite
tendencies to be a mother hen.  It messed with
Xander?s head, making him
think that Spike cared more than he really did, making
him think that he was
special to Spike instead of realizing that it was just
the way Spike was.

Thanks to the information in his head, finding the
Fritandors was easy.
Getting a chance to fight them wasn?t.  He was willing
to take his chances
and try to take them down, but he never even got
close.  Spike charged into
the fray immediately and took out the male of the pair
before the demons
even knew they were in trouble.  Xander moved to take
on the female but
Graham got there first.  Between the blue-eyed solder
and Spike, Xander and
Riley never had an opportunity to try to land a blow.
The other two men
dispatched the enraged demon in a matter of minutes.
Xander and Riley
exchanged irritated glances, although Xander thought
he saw amusement in
Riley?s gaze as well.

When Spike and Graham fell back to join them, Xander
asked, ?There?s a few
fledges who are aspiring to try to rise above the
level of minions not far
from here.  We could go take care of them.?  His last
words were distorted
by a yawn.

Spike shook his head.  ?No more tonight.  You need to
rest.?

Before Xander could object, Graham agreed with Spike.
?If you?ve got to
work tomorrow, you?re going to need to sleep.?

Finding no support when he looked at Riley, Xander
gave in.  ?Fine.  You two
can use the extra time tonight removing all the bugs
from my apartment.?  He
frowned.  ?Are you watching anyone else??

Riley answered quickly.  ?Not any more.  All teams
will be called off
tonight.?

Xander nodded.  ?Good.?

Walking back to his apartment was an interesting
experience.  Spike and
Graham both walked close to him.  Xander knew what was
going on, of course.
Spike might not say anything, but he had to be nervous
being so close to
members of the Initiative.  He was staying close to
Xander because they were
less likely to make a move on him in front of a
witness.  No doubt Graham
was worried about a vampire being so close to a human,
so he was staying
close to Xander to make sure that Spike didn?t try
anything.

Not that Xander had to accept reality.  As they
walked, he allowed himself
to build a little fantasy:  Spike and Graham were both
attracted to him -
better yet, they were in love with him.  They were
walking close to him
because they couldn?t bear to be too far from him.  It
was silly and
impossible, but it helped to pass the time as they
walked home.  Smiling
quietly to himself, he allowed himself to pretend for
a little while that he
had someone to love and, best of all, that he was
loved in return.

*****