Xander sat next to Rom and watched as Oz moved between the three laptop computers he had set up. The were-wolf would type something on one, read the response on the next and then frown at the pictures on the third. Oz never spoke, or acknowledged them in any way. The only thing that existed for him was his computers.

Giles entered the room and turned shocked eyes to Xander when he saw Oz sitting there. Xander shrugged and pointed at the empty chair next to him. Once Giles had seated himself, Xander leaned over and whispered, "The General contracted Oz to try and fix Spike's chip."

"Has he found anything?" The Englishman asked.

Xander shrugged again, "He hasn't said anything."

"Xander," Giles whispered, not wanting to disturb Oz while he was working, "can I speak to you outside, please. And Sgt. Montoya also, if he would be willing."

Xander nodded and the three men left the room. Xander led them to his quarters and shut the door. "Rom, this is Rupert Giles, former Watcher and librarian extraordinaire. Giles, this is Sgt. Romulus Montoya, he's one of the squad's medics."

"Sgt., I wanted to apologize for what was done to you. It was uncalled for and inexcusable." Giles said, sincerely.

Rom grinned at him, "I'm healing. It's one of the perks of being a vampire."

Giles removed his glasses and polished them absently, Xander grinned when he saw the familiar action. "Yes. About that, would you be willing to tell me just how that occurred? I know that Spike is your Sire, but..."

Xander squeezed Rom's shoulder, "I haven't had a chance to tell Rom what we found out yet, but as for Spike being his Sire, part of our arrangement with the blonde menace was that he would never have to worry about feeding. We supply him with all the human blood he can possibly handle. And before you go off, Giles, every man in the squad volunteered to donate to the cause. Having a vampire on our side was something everyone could get behind. And since he's been feeding from us...well, when Rom got hurt, Spike fed him and he turned."

Giles eyes went wide and he stuttered, "N, n, no biting?"

Xander frowned at him, "Giles, Spike can't bite, remember?"

Giles polished his glasses frantically, "Was there anything unusual about the turning process?"

"Well, first Spike asked Rom if he wanted to be turned, Rom said yes and Spike fed Rom a lot of blood, I mean a whole lot." Xander said.

Rom nodded, "He stayed with me every minute and pushed as much whole blood into me as he could and he made sure to feed me a lot of his own too, why?"

"That would mean that Spike isn't just your Sire..." Giles started to say.

"He's also your liege." came a softly accented voice.

Xander cringed, "Mags, hi, I was going to call. Honest. But I've been really busy."

Maggie raised one brow and said, "I'm sure you were, Xander." She then dropped her bag on the ground and reached out to hug Rom. "Welcome to the family, dear. I'm delighted that you decided to join us. I know it was a difficult decision to make."

Rom returned the hug and asked, "What do you mean, Maggie?"

The woman turned to Xander and said, "You haven't told him yet? What have you been doing?"

Xander sighed and rubbed his eyes, "Maggie, I've had a really shitty couple of days. We're trying to get the Nexus installed, I just had to arrest one of my oldest friends for murder, Spike is in a coma or something, I just haven't had time. Besides, I don't really understand it all, I thought Spike would do a better job of explaining things to him."

"I'm sorry, Xander, I'm just worried about William. Sit down, everyone, and I'll explain what is going on."

Giles extended his hand, "How do you do? I'm Rupert Giles."

Maggie looked at the hand and then into Giles' eyes, apparently she liked what she saw. "Margaret McGlumphy, but everyone calls me Maggie. I'm Xander's keeper. I'm also William's, or as you say, Spike's, great to infinity niece." She said, shaking his hand.

Giles sat down with a thump. "Spike's niece? I didn't know he had any family."

Maggie settled in the chair next to Rom and took his hand in hers. "Yes, a sister. She knew William had been turned and made sure that all of her descendants knew of him. There are even several men in the family that were named after him."

Rom tugged on Maggie's hand, "Really? So I'm part of the family now?"

"Yes, Rom. With you, William has started his own line, following the old ways, that is why he is Sire and Liege. I'll explain everything in detail to you later, but for now know this...you are now part of the Bloodwell line, our family is your family. I've told them about you, and they're all anxious to meet you. But it also works both ways, your family is now ours, and falls under William's protection. And we take very good care of our family, Rom."

Giles was doing his fish out of water impression and Xander started laughing. "I guess you know what she's talking about, Giles."

"Yes, yes I do. And I must say...I don't know what to say. Congratulations, Sgt. Montoya, Ms. McGlumphy, I've very pleased for both of you. But, Ms. McGlumphy, won't this cause problems with Sgt. Montoya's position with the Army?"

"I don't see why it would. And there are ways to ensure a conflict doesn't arise."

"What are you talking about, Mags?" Xander asked crossly.

"Because William is Rom's Sire and Liege, Rom answers to him first. Before you or anyone else in the chain of command." Maggie said.

Xander shrugged, "I figured that out when Spike make Rom his Childe, I'm not worried about it right now. We have other problems."

A knock sounded at the door and Xander shouted, "Come!"

Oz stuck his head in the door and did a double take when he saw Giles. "Rupert, been a long time. Xander, I've figured some things out."

Xander followed Oz back into the infirmary, the others close on his heels. Once they were all seated, Oz pointed to the computer with the weird pictures shooting across the screen. "Did you ever wonder just how the chip worked, Xander?"

"I just thought it was some kind of programming." Xander said with a shrug.

Oz nodded, "It is, but, how does the program know when Spike hurts a human and not a demon?" Oz hit a couple of keys and the pictures changed.

Rom leaned forward and stared at them for a second before saying, "It looks like brain waves."

"It is." Oz said. "The entire program is based on pattern recognition. Each thought has it's own particular pattern, the original programmers must have done a lot of tests on Spike before fitting him with the chip. The program reads the incoming brain waves, if the pattern matches, it activates the pain receptors in the brain. They also installed a fail-safe; that's what's wrong with him. Now, almost every pattern that comes in is filtered and sent back out as a flat line. Spike can hear, and he can feel, but that's it. He can't even see."

"Good heavens, that's barbaric!" Giles said.

Oz nodded, "Yep."

"Can you fix it?" Xander asked.

"I think so. It'll take me a while to get set up. I'm going to have to rewrite the program while it's active, not easy, but not impossible. But I need to know exactly which patterns are which. I figured out hearing and touch." Oz typed a command line into the computer and the display changed. "See this line? It spikes every time I say something, that's hearing. This is touch." Oz laid his hand on Spike's arm and everyone could see the pattern change.

Xander nodded, "What do you need, Oz?"

"Well, I need to reactive sight and I'll need an EEG setup and some one who can use it. I'll deconstruct the fail-safe piece by piece, but, how far do you want me to go?"

"What do you mean, Oz?" Xander asked.

"Do you want me to disable the not harming humans part?"

Xander jumped, he hadn't expected that. "You can do that?"

Oz shrugged, "Yeah. I just have to find the patterns and change the program. He wouldn't be able to kill, not on purpose anyway. That pattern is dead-locked. If I mess with it, the program deletes itself, but he will be able to fight."

Xander thought about it and decided the risks were worth it. "Do it."

Next Part