Once at the Summer's house, Spike supported Joyce while Buffy unlocked the door. The woman visibly sighed with relief the moment she crossed the threshold.

"It's nice to be home," she admitted.

"Nice to know you are home, Mum," Spike said.

"Do you want to get in bed, Mom?" Dawn asked.

"I..."

Buffy turned on the foyer light and Joyce shielded her eyes. "Oh that light. Oh, Buffy no, it's too bright. It's too bright! It's too bright!" she cried, starting to panic.

"Okay, Mom..." Buffy said, hurrying to turn off the light.

"Buffy it hurts, it hurts! It hurts my eyes!"

Buffy looked at a loss, not understanding.

"It's all the lights, pet. Even the ones in the other rooms. Gotta turn them off. You go ahead and turn off the lights upstairs while I help Mum up and Nibblet turns off the lights down here," Spike told them.

"O... okay..." Buffy agreed, getting flustered.

The girls scattered, hurrying to turn off the lights and Joyce started to calm down. Spike steadied her and took her by the elbow, guiding her to the stairs.

"'S alright Mum, I can see in the dark. I won't let you stumble," he whispered soothingly.

"Okay."

Slowly, they made their way up the stairs. Buffy met them at the top, offering her hand.

"Here we go. It's okay now."

Together they helped Joyce into her room and Spike let Buffy take it from there. He waited until she came out of the bedroom before setting phase two of his plan in motion.

"Gonna patrol, Slayer. I'll check in tomorrow and see how things are," he lied.

She gave him a nod and he gave her a smile. Dawn was coming up the stairs as he was going down.

"I'm off to keep SunnyHell safe from my friends, Bit. I'll see you tomorrow," he quipped, passing her on the stairs.

"Goodnight, Spike. Thanks for your help."

"Nite, Bit."

He detoured through the kitchen and picked up a large knife from the butcher block on the counter. He remembered that Space Roach could be killed by severing its spinal cord, or whatever it had in the place of a spine. Tucking the knife into his duster, he left the house to stand sentry. When Space Roach came crawling, he'd be ready to squash it before it could come anywhere near Joyce or the girls. He did a few sweeps of the block and the neighborhood but no extraterrestrial bugs revealed themselves. He returned to stand sentry, taking his place behind 'his' tree, and waited.

The night passed. Spike heard the television playing in the living room. There was a brief commotion a while later that appeared to be Joyce having another fit of dementia, but the girls got her back to bed. Shortly thereafter, Spike heard Buffy in the kitchen. She had turned on the radio and was playing salsa music. Confused, he approached the back door and peered in through the window. There he saw Buffy crying at the sink, water on, music baring to hide her tears. Feeling like an intruder, and not sure of he could keep his presence secret much longer because the urge to comfort her was so strong, he backed off the porch and stood on the edge of the lawn.

A moment later he heard the first scream, followed closely by a second.

It took him a moment to register that it was coming from inside the house, but then he heard another scream. It was Dawn's scream and he would recognize her voice anywhere. Realization hit him like a brick and he cursed.

'Damn thing is already in the house!'

No longer worried about Buffy seeing him, he burst into the house.

"Buffy!" he yelled as he raced through the house, headed for the stairs.

"Spike! What?" he heard her say, but he didn't stop. Dawn's screams were in his ears and he was insane with panic and rage.

He took the steps three at a time, moving as if the very legions of Hell itself were on his heels, and barreled for Joyce's bedroom. He found Dawn trying to help a writhing Joyce clear her face of viscous goo.

"Dawn!" he hollered.

"Spike! The bed! It's under the bed!" Dawn screamed.

Just then the creature skittered out from under the bed, leaping up and crossing over Joyce's legs. Dawn screamed again and Spike roared. He lunged for the demon, but it leaped up. Spike spun, swinging with his fist and hit its hard shell, slamming it towards the doorway... and into Buffy who'd come running after Spike.

"Buffy!" Dawn yelled.

Buffy ducked, kicking out with one foot, at the creature, but she missed and it skittered down the hall.

"Oh my god. Mom!" she cried, turning and rushing to her mom's side.

"She's all right Slayer, but Space Roach is still in the house!" Spike said.

Buffy briefly checked on her mom then nodded. "Dawn, stay here, close the window, lock to door. Don't come out until I say it's okay."

Dawn, traumatized, her face streaked with tears, gave a shaky nod.

"Where'd it go?" she demanded of Spike.

"Down the hall," he replied, pulling out the knife.

"Where'd you get that?" Buffy asked, recognizing it as hers.

"Your kitchen," he answered absently, tracking the demon.

Buffy would have questioned him more, but he suddenly took off, leaping down the stairs in a single bound. She tore after him and found him slashing at the beast as it tried to climb the wall. Grabbing the broom, she slammed it down. It shrieked as it fell and spit more goo, striking her in the face. Repulsed, she swiped the mucus off her, but in doing so, turned her back. The creature jumped on her.

"Slayer!" Spike howled.

Buffy was threatened and instinct, already triggered by the threat to Joyce and Dawn, went into overdrive. Roaring, the demon coming forth, Spike grabbed the demon and slammed it against the kitchen wall. It spit goo into his eyes and used his momentary blindness to climb the wall again. He snarled with rage and leaped after it, brandishing the knife in one hand.

With a strike that was powerful enough to slam through the drywall, he skewered the Space Roach and yanked it down, gouging the wall as he did so. The Space Roach screamed and writhed, trying to get away, but it couldn't use its spit because Spike had it pinned face down. He hacked once, then twice, holding the demon down with his free hand, and sliced through the hard shell, slashing with unfettered fury.

'Die you bloody piece of shit! You'll never hurt my girls again!'

The red rage was tempered by Buffy's hand on his wrist.

"Spike, it's dead," she said, her eyes wide and shell-shocked.

Coming back to himself, his demon face melting into his human features, he looked down to see that he had hacked the bug to bits. He was breathing hard, the adrenaline rush ebbing from his body, leaving him numb, and dropped the knife from his nerveless fingers. Slowly, he shifted himself away from what was left of the body and slumped back against the counter. Buffy was staring at him in shock, but he shook his head, his eyes closing.

"Go check on Mum and the Bit," he rasped, still breathing hard.

She silently obeyed, and he let himself relax. The kill had been oddly satisfying, the one bloody thing he'd been able to do since he'd been sent back, but he worried that he might have given away too much. He heard Buffy come back downstairs and felt her staring at him, but he couldn't look at her.

Whatever questions she might have asked him were abruptly cut off, however, when Riley arrived with a team of Commandos. He used the distraction to stumble out, escaping her piercing gaze.

Unfortunately, it was a brief reprieve, and his actions hadn't gone as unnoticed as he thought.