Things still weren't entirely settled or "okay" with the Scoobies after the fiasco of last week. And the poor communication and treatment from the week before that.

Giles was still coming and going, but he did give an apology, though to be fair, he was the least offending member of the group. He wasn't the one acting like the others, and he didn't put Dawn in danger just because the Scoobies wanted to keep up the silent treatment. And when he heard about what happened, he was his disappointed, silent but angry father figure self, much like my mother toward Buffy, Willow, Xander and Anya, and that was enough to make them feel more than apologetic and ashamed.

After talking to Buffy about how we needed to be on the same page, things weren't quite as distant as they were before. But they still weren't good either, as things were still tense, but we had to keep moving forward as if it wasn't.

Like now for instance, when Giles was planning to take the girls to the desert for training.

At my house, while Willow, Xander and Anya were outside helping the girls get ready to go, Buffy, Dawn and I were sitting on the couch, since Buffy and Giles had already gotten the girls from Buffy's house and now they were here to get the girls from mine.

Giles and Mom walked into the living room. "Are you sure you'll all be all right?"

Mom nodded. "You'll only be gone for two days. I think we've managed a bit longer than that."

Giles looked around nervously. "Right." He stopped when he realized something. "Oh, Dawn, Vi's left her notebook on the mantelpiece. Would you mind running it out to the car?"

Dawn stood, walking over to the fireplace. "Sure."

Giles nodded appreciatively. "While you're at it, you smack her in the head with it and remind her not to leave it lying around."

Dawn walked out the front door with the notebook. "On it."

Mom was getting ready to leave for work. "Rupert, relax. We'll all be fine."

"What Mom said," I agreed.

Giles sat on the coffee table in front of Buffy and me. "I'm just a bit twitchy about leaving you alone again here while-while things are..." He took off his glasses, wiping his brow. "In such a state of flux."

Buffy nodded. " We know. But you should go. This trip is important for the girls to understand the source of their power, and to know how to use it right."

"Do you think they appreciate the gravity of what we're undertaking?" Giles asked. "It's frightening, and it's difficult. And then, apparently, someone told them that the vision quest consists of me driving them to the desert, doing the hokey pokey until a spooky Rasta-mama Slayer arrives and speaks to them in riddles."

Giles looked at me.

Mom raised her eyebrows at me in amusement. "You told the girls that?"

I gave an innocent smile. "That's not exactly how I put it..."

Buffy smirked slightly. "But she's not exactly wrong."

I smirked slightly, relieved that Buffy backed that up, even while knowing she was mostly trying to make up for the last couple weeks.

Giles and Mom shared a bemused look, sighing.

Willow walked in, looking at Mom. "Hey, Layla."

Mom took out some medicine to hand it to Willow. "Hey, Willow. How's Kennedy?"

"Still fluey, but getting better quickly thanks to these," Willow answered. "Bummed about missing the field trip." She looked at Giles. "She says she wants you to meditate extra hard for her and to bring her back some s'mores."

Willow smiled.

Giles looked pained. " Ah yes. S'mores. I'm going to end up singing campfire songs, aren't I?"

I gave him a grin. "Oh, yeah."

Xander and Dawn walked in.

"Giles, you might want to get out there," Xander advised.

Giles sighed. "Oh, God, what?"

"Molly and Rona are fighting over who gets to drive the first leg," Dawn answered.

Mom looked at Giles, teasing. "Bet you wish you renewed that California state driver's license now, huh?"

Giles sighed, tilting his head. "Thank you for that, Layla."

Dawn and I smiled slightly, while Buffy, Willow and Xander looked amused.

Anya walked in. "Rona won. You should probably let Molly out of the trunk." A car horn blared outside. "I never actually realized just how compact Molly really is."

Giles sighed, turning to Buffy and me. "Please be safe while I'm away."

Buffy nodded in agreement. "You too."

"We'll be fine," I told him. "Go."

Giles nodded.

Xander clapped his hands, looking between all of us. "So, are we all good?"

Mom crossed her arms, giving Buffy, Xander, Willow and Anya a look, still not happy with them in the least. "We are if you're done blaming my daughter for a choice you made to bring her back to life and done putting my younger daughter in danger because of a silent treatment that almost got her killed last week."

Giles also gave them a look, since of course he wasn't happy with how they handled things either.

Buffy, Willow, Xander and Anya all looked shamed, rightfully so, awkward and sheepish and apologetic even while things were still tense.

Dawn and I both shared a look, not surprised by Mom standing up for us but relieved that she did and that Giles agreed. All of us just wanted to put it behind us.

"Mom, it's okay," Dawn told her.

"No, it's not," Mom said softly, though firmly, anger still evident over what happened, but she didn't let it take over and make things worse. "I know you all have to focus on fighting The First, but what you did almost got Dawn killed, along with Amanda, because you didn't think to talk to Zoey or me because of issues you were having after you were the ones to bring her back against her will and decided to blame her for your own actions that led to this. I only agreed to all of this because I thought you, as their friends, would have Zo's back and Dawnie's back. But last week, you clearly didn't and it almost cost two girls their lives, including Dawn. Is that how you want to fight in a war? Letting your emotions and personal issues get in the way and risk the lives of your closest friends because you can't handle situations that you brought on?"

Each word made Buffy, Willow, Xander and Anya understand more and it shamed them, and Dawn and I were speechless.

Giles looked like he agreed but he didn't want this to go too far, about to speak, but Mom was already done talking, short and to the point.

"We are sorry," Willow apologized.

"We didn't say that before, but we are," Xander agreed.

"Well, Buffy kind of spoke for us when she apologized to Zoey last week and Zo called us out on that," Anya said. "So all the same to me."

Everyone gave Anya a look.

Buffy sighed. "But that apology was mostly to Zoey, and we should have been saying it to all three of you. You're right, Layla. What happened to Dawn, that was largely on us. And we're sorry."

Willow, Xander and Anya nodded in agreement.

Mom, Dawn and I shared a look, sighing.

Xander gave a sheepish smile. "Are we good?"

I sighed. "Yeah. Let's just move on. We don't have time for things like this, but we need to be on the same page here. The same side."

Giles nodded. "Which is why I don't want this to happen again."

"Don't let it," Mom warned.

We all nodded.

•••••••

Once everyone was gone besides me and Dawn, I walked downstairs into the basement toward where Spike was sitting on a cot, his wrists chained to the wall. "Hey."

"Hey," Spike replied.

I leaned against a beam nearby, arms crossed. "I take it you heard the show earlier."

Spike smirked. "I did. And go, Layla. I would have gone a lot farther than she did, or you did, but her way works, too, I guess."

I chuckled. "Giles is off on the retreat."

Spike nodded. "Give us all a chance for a breather, eh?"

"From Giles?" I asked.

Spike shook his head. "From the constant pitter patter of clomping teenage girly feet."

I nodded, amused. "Yeah, a break will be nice." I pushed away from the beam, walking closer to the cot to sit next to Spike. "I never imagined myself as a mentor, so this is a welcome respite."

Spike nodded barely. "I bet. Especially with how those girls act with you."

I sighed. "It's fine. They're all on the chopping block because of all this mess. And Vi and Molly have been a lot mellower since you talked about it in the crypt in front of the girls. They kinda get it now, but I don't blame them. They're kids and scared and I'm the obvious target about why. But maybe this retreat will help them and give us all the next two days off."

Spike leaned forward. "Good. It's like a bloody war-zone up there, and not in a good way."

"Have you seen the kitchen since they've been here?" I asked.

Spike shrugged. "I'm just trying to stay out of their way."

I glanced at his chains. "I noticed."

Spike looked at his chains. "This is better. Believe me, it's safer."

I frowned. "Okay. But you've been fine. In close contact with the girls."

Spike looked at me. "With you by my side, yeah. You won't let me hurt one of them. And that's the way it's gonna be until we're sure The First is done making me its bitch. Either we're together, or I'm on the leash."

I nodded, biting my lip, hating this entire situation. "We just need to make sure the trigger's deactivated then. We've got a couple of days, lack of pitter-patter and all..."

Spike leaned forward, looking at me earnestly. "Zoey..."

"What?" I asked.

Whatever he was going to say was interrupted when Spike suddenly said, "Ow."

I frowned. "Ow?"

Spike's face contorted, twitching. "Ow, ow, ow!"

Spike leaned back, thrashing against the wall.

I leaned in worriedly, confused and concerned, not knowing what to do to help. "What's wrong?" Spike put his hands to his head. "Spike, what is going on?"

Spike was slightly calmer now. "The chip. God. Why would--?"

Spike suddenly screamed, holding his hands to his head, writhing in intense pain.

•••••••

Later, when Mom was home, talking with me and Dawn.

Dawn was concerned. "Hey. How is he?"

Mom sat down. "Oh, in the 'goes' part of 'comes and goes.'"

Dawn tried to be cheerful to lighten the mood. "Well, there seems to be a definite lack of screaming. That has to be good."

I frowned. "You'd think. Mom, do you have any idea..."

"I'm not a good judge of what would be causing the chip to put Spike through that pain, Zoey," Mom told me. "I don't know anything about the chip or how it was implanted or even how it's supposed to work in terms of medically and scientifically. I'd have to look for myself, but even then, this is government issued from the demon-hunting Initiative. I could make it worse if I try to fiddle with it myself to try and make it better, and even he knows that."

I sighed heavily. "I know. Thanks anyway."

"Zoey, what do you know of the chip?" Dawn asked. "If there's anything you know, maybe it can help Mom help."

I shrugged. "I have no idea. Willow tried to dig up stuff back then, but, you know, turns out, when a secret government agency studies vampires and puts chips in their brains that keep them from hurting people, they don't really build websites. Even with the chip, Spike was able to hurt all those people when he was brainwashed."

"Yeah, but he was under the control of The First," Mom pointed out. "Though, maybe something's wrong with it. The chip is misfiring all on its own? Well, this'll be fun."

Dawn frowned. "Remember when things used to be nice and boring?"

I shrugged. "No."

"What are you going to do?" Dawn asked. "If Mom can't do it without risking making it worse..."

I bit my lip in thought. "I'll have to call up the guys that did this, if there's no other choice. Maybe Riley knows something that can help."

"Do you think Riley would help Spike?" Mom asked.

"He owes me a favor for us helping him when he was here last," I explained. "Even if it's to help Spike, he won't go against his word, so I'm cashing that favor in."

Mom and Dawn both nodded.

Dawn hesitated. "Also, Mom? Thank you. For what you said this morning."

"Seriously," I agreed. "They weren't really hearing what I was saying, so maybe coming from you, they will."

Mom took Dawn and me both by our hands. "They better. Because there's no way I'm letting something stupid and petty like this be the reason my girls get hurt or almost killed again. These are your best friends. They better start acting like it again."

Dawn and I smiled slightly.

•••••••

That night, I went back down to the basement to check on Spike.
Spike was lying on the cot on his back, resting his head on a pillow. His nose was bleeding.

I sat by him.

Spike sighed. "Popped another blood vessel, I think. No need to tell Layla, though. She already helped with the last one."

I handed him a towel. Spike wiped the blood from his nose.

I shook my head. "There's gotta be a reason why the chip is going all wonky. Maybe it's related to the trigger or maybe it has something to do with the new soul."

Spike looked down. "Or maybe I wasn't meant to last this long. One more thing you and I have in common, eh, pet?"

I gave him a look. "Well, we'll fix it. We'll hit serious research mode--"

Spike nodded sarcastically. "Good. Try Behavioral Modification Software Throughout the Ages."

I sighed. "Okay. You're right. Not a book thing. It's a phone thing."

I was hoping to avoid the Initiative if possible, but there really wasn't much other choice.

Spike frowned. "Who you gonna call?" I looked at him funny. "God, that phrase is never gonna be useable again, is it?"

I smirked. "Doubt it."

•••••••

I was talking on the phone while Spike sat on the stairs behind me. "Yes, Agent Finn, Riley. Tell him we're having a problem with Spike's chip. No, his chip. Spike."

Spike shook his head. "Listen, pet?"

I held up a finger while speaking on the phone. "No, no, Finn is his last name. Yeah. Well, did he used to work there and then he got transferred? Oh, is this actually a flower shop, or is this one of those things where I'm supposed to play along to show that I know it's really secret ops? Oh, maybe I shouldn't have said that. Oh, okay, right. Well, if some guy named Finn shows up to buy flowers--Yeah. Thanks." I hung up, turning to Spike. "Wrong number. Or a giant government conspiracy, one or the..." I frowned when I saw that Spike seemed to be recovering from an episode. "Spike?"

Spike was breathing heavily. "This one seemed easier than the others. See? Probably just gonna fade--"

Spike screamed, holding his head again.

This couldn't keep happening.

•••••••

Mom was down here again, helping me with Spike trying to treat his pain, though there wasn't much we could do.

"Spike?" I asked, worried.

Spike groaned in pain, rolling onto his side. "Zoey?"

"I'm right here," I told him.

"The chip fired again?" Mom asked. We nodded. "Did you call..."

"Yeah," I answered. "I think. Maybe they'll call back. Maybe they'll send help."

Mom shook her head, concerned. "Maybe we can't wait. Like I said, not an expert on this chip by any means, but... I think it's killing him. And we don't have time for me to try and figure it out and risk making it worse."

I looked from Mom to Spike, knowing I had to figure out something fast.

•••••••

Spike and I were walking through the woods together in the moonlight, holding flashlights.

"Are you sure you still wanna go back in this place with me?" Spike asked.

"Yeah, I am," I answered. "Dawn is with the Scoobies dealing with a glamored Willow who looks like Warren or whatever the hell is going on. Mom's right about us not having time to figure out that damn chip without making it worse. Might as well do something useful for someone I care about."

At those words, there was a pause as Spike and I locked eyes for a moment. Despite knowing the obvious love he had, given he fought to get his soul back for me and he never hesitated to say how he felt about me, and despite my hesitance to say it too given my own history, it was clear.

Saying that much alone was a lot to take in given he was a vampire and I was a Slayer and everything that happened between him and us and everything else.

But I didn't see the point in not saying I cared about him because that much, and much more, was obvious. To both him and me and beyond.

Everything else was too complicated to get into right now, and we both knew it.

Spike stopped walking. "Here we are."

I nodded. "Yep, here we are." We knelt on the ground. "You think the stuff's still good?"

"I don't know," Spike admitted, digging through the dirt. "Worked pretty good when the Initiative held me captive here. Every time I'd get a little... rambunctious, the chip'd kick in. I feel like my head was gonna explode. They'd dope me up, and everything would be all daffodils and teddy bears. For a couple of hours anyway."

I glanced at him. "Maybe we should search for files and stuff. Find out everything we can about the chip, shelf life."

Spike grabbed a chain in the dirt. "I'll take whatever I can get."

I grabbed the chain Spike was holding. "Ready?"

Spike looked at me, both inches apart as he nodded. "Yeah."

Together, we pulled the chain, hoisting up a metal grate before jumping down through the opening in the ground into a dark hallway of the Initiative headquarters.

•••••••

Spike and I were wandering around the dark hallway, deeper into the complex.

"Be careful," I warned, shining my flashlight on rotting bodies on the floor, realizing they were from Adam's take over years ago. "Oh, God. They just left them."

Spike shined his flashlight on rotting bodies on the floor. "They just sealed the place off. Left everything as it was."

I rolled my eyes, not surprised. "I'm thinking brief stay."

Spike shrugged. "Yeah, you're not wrong." He shined his light on a door. "I think I can get us to the med lab, find the drug, find anything about the chip that Layla can make heads or tails of..."

"So she'll be able to figure out how to help you, if she can," I finished.

Spike walked to the door and opened it, nodding to me. With a slight smirk at him opening the door for me again, I walked through, followed by Spike.

It led to an area lit dimly by red light that led to a large, dark room.

We walked slowly through the room when we heard a noise behind us. We turned our flashlights to investigate, but we didn't see anything there.

•••••••

Spike and I were walking through the large, dark room side by side.

Something made a sound like groaning metal. We both stopped in our tracks, putting our backs together.

"You hear that?" Spike asked.

"Yep," I answered.

We shined our flashlights around the room, but couldn't see anything.

"Think something survived?" Spike asked.

I nodded. "Sounds like."

Spike looked around. "You see where?"

I shook my head. "No, it sounded like it was coming from over there. Whatever it is, it's not--"

Something whooshed behind us. We turned to look, but saw nothing. We continued walking around. From out of nowhere, something grabbed me, and I dropped my flashlight.

Though I couldn't see him in the dark, I could hear the worry in his voice. "Zoey!"

•••••••

The demon in the dark threw me to the ground, lifting me up and punching me twice in the face.
As I couldn't see much in the pitch black of the base, I had to rely on other senses. Able to duck another punch as I kicked the demon in the stomach and punched him in the face.

Spike dragged the demon off of me, but the chip misfired at the worst possible moment, leaving him groaning in pain and holding his head. "Oh, God, no! Not now..."

This gave the demon an opening to grab me again.

I fought him off as I vaguely saw the shape of Spike falling to the floor. "Spike!"

The demon threw me into the wall, as I hit the floor, grabbing Spike by the heel and dragging him out of the room.

•••••••

Knowing that was a pitiful fight given the circumstances of blindness in the dark and because Spike and I were both more worried about each other than the actual fight, I found my flashlight on the floor and immediately went after the demon and Spike. "Spike?"

Once again taking advantage of the dark, the demon pounced on me when I got close. In the beam of the flashlight, I saw a snow shovel nearby and grabbed it to swing it at the demon. He threw me across the room. I got up and kicked at it with both feet, pushing it away. When it came at me again, I thrust the shovel into the demon's chest to impale it and kill it. With a growl, it dropped dead.

Times like these made me glad that Giles taught us to fight (even if not overly badass like usual) in darkness like this that was much darker than nights in the cemetery or even in a crypt.

I dropped the shovel and ran to Spike. "Hey. Are you still with us?" Spike nodded weakly. "That guy was..." The lights came on in the room, and I looked up at a half-dozen army men who were pointing guns at me and Spike. "Just the beginning."

Spike was still lying on the floor. "What's happening?"

A soldier spoke up for the rest. "Miss Francis. Agent Finn reported that you tried to contact him earlier today."

My eyes went wide. "I knew it!" I whispered to Spike. "Government conspiracy."

The soldier waved the other soldiers off, who all put down their guns. "He indicated you might be needing our assistance. We're to provide you anything you need to help assface here." Spike and I stared at him. "Those were his exact words, ma'am."

I muttered to myself. "Sounds like Riley."

•••••••

Now, I was standing outside the examination room where Spike was lying on a table.

The lead soldier came up to me. "Med team tells me they took a look at the chip. You and your mother were right. It's degraded. Leave it as it is much longer, it'll be fatal to him."

I swallowed; the fact that Mom had been right about that didn't make me feel any better, knowing that we didn't know how to fix that. "Okay. So, how long t--"

"Now," the soldier answered.
I breathed out heavily. "Right, of course. Um, what do we do next?"

"Agent Finn said it was your call, ma'am," the soldier explained.

I frowned. "My--what was my call?"

"All decisions regarding Hostile 17 are to be left in your hands," the soldier answered. "This chip... we can either repair it... or remove it."

I blinked in surprise, looking down, taking a deep breath.

That was a shock to me. I had expected them to be able to tell us what Mom could do to help fix it, I didn't expect that they would do it themselves.

Let alone, the option to remove it? I never imagined that to be on the table. I knew that likely it wouldn't have been if it wasn't for Riley and the favor that he owed me for helping him last time...

But the last time, Spike was the one he was after because of the demon eggs, so this was doubly surprising. And made me wonder why they were so willing and able to do this.

But at the same time, it didn't matter why, as long as they were willing to do whatever I said to help Spike.

And I knew either choice was going to be risky. If the chip was repaired, there was nothing stopping it from degrading and all of this happening all over again, and I doubted that they would tell us how Mom could fix it on her own. And this was obviously a one-time only offer because of Riley repaying a debt.

So this wasn't going to be an option in the future if the chip was damaged again.

On the other hand, removing it came with risks because of Spike's trigger with The First. And who he used to be.

But he did have a soul now, he was different and he was fighting to become a better man. I knew that, Mom knew that, Dawn knew that. Even if no one else would accept that, we did. He was helping train Potential Slayers of future generations to fight the evil in the world so that they could survive, kill demons and vampires and face The First and save a lot of other lives including their own, for God's sake.

And despite his history, he did help us save the world once already, along with other times helping, and now he was fighting in a war that he was a victim of against the very evil that brainwashed him into a sleeper, a tool for The First to use against us.

It was a risk. I knew that. And I knew the backlash that was likely to follow from my friends, from Giles. But I also knew how far Spike came. How much he had changed. How we needed him in this battle, and even if they hated it and wanted to deny it, they all knew it too.

I tried to make this decision as logically as I could, and I knew that it was the most logical. Did emotions have an influence over it? Of course they did, I wasn't denying that. But it didn't change the facts.

Either way, that chip was coming out. And I was ready to face whatever backlash came my way because of the decision I made.