Despite the Englishman's distaste for him, Angel came close to hugging Giles when he found him waiting at the warehouse. The past thirty minutes, since Faith and Spike had emerged from the parking garage with not only the hellgod but Lilah Morgan, had been like something out of his worst nightmares.

Spike had shoved a limp Glorificus at him with an absent, "Mind her hands," and started back into the building.

Faith had stopped the vampire with a soft, "Xander said to go to the beta site." Amazingly Spike had stomped back to the waiting vehicle with nothing more than a glare

Angel spent the ride from the pick-up point watching his hyper Childe divide his glares between the hellgod and the lawyer, while Faith worried her blood-red lip between her teeth and mournfully watched the vacant expression on Glorificus' face. Finally she whispered to Lilah, "What's wrong with her?"

Lilah, whose drawn face had transformed to the set cast of a superior smirk the moment she had spotted Angel, said, "I'm not telling you anything."

Spike reached over, not even sparing the lawyer a glance, and squeezed the swelling fingers of Lilah's right hand. She shrieked and fell forward off of the bench seat onto her knees. Looking up at Angel she sobbed out, "Help me."

Angel had had it with Lilah. She wanted to dance with the devil but not pay the price. She was willing to do anything for her employers to maintain her career and her lifestyle, but still wanted to call on him to protect her when the monsters she chose to deal with became too dangerous and too threatening.

"He's a Master vampire in his own right. You chose to deal with him. Your prime concern right now should be not pissing him off," Angel said. He turned his attention to Faith. She seemed... concerned for the welfare of the hellgod.

"She... when we collected her essence, the chosen host wasn't strong enough to survive the spell. We knew that it would diminish the time she could survive in this form, but we didn't anticipate this reaction," Lilah said. Spike had released her broken fingers when she started to answer Faith's question. The lawyer licked her lips and cradled her hand, holding it to her chest.

"Feeding... " Lilah's gaze flicked from the impassive face of the souled vampire to the vacant look of the hellgod. "When she fed, there were unforeseen results. She's been like this ever since."

~~~~~

Lindsey watched the van pull into the warehouse. Dawn hit the switch to lower the door before it had cleared the entrance. The girl made as if to run to the van and was stopped by a firm grip on her shoulder. Mr. Giles seemed oblivious to her dramatic sigh and rolling of eyes. He absently sent her to where Fred and Cordelia were preparing hastily acquired hibachis with a mixture of magical herbs.

"Xander changed the plan, we're keeping her," Spike said as he stalked out of the van. He only lifted an eyebrow at the sight of the recently arrived Englishman. With a nod of his head he left the cargo with Angel and Faith.

Lindsey was shocked to see a battered and rumpled Lilah step down from the van. He was torn between prodding her for information and seeing if he could eavesdrop on the huddle Spike had pulled the little red-headed witch and Giles into. Since Lilah didn't look as if she were going anywhere he slipped closer to the vampire and his humans.

The musician had had no preconceived expectations on just what form the hellgod would take. His liked to think his tenure with the firm had made him unshockable. He wasn't, however, prepared for the sight of the stunningly beautiful woman who was carried across the warehouse by the souled vampire. With perfect posture, she sat where he placed her, like a living work of art, marred only by the vacant expression on her face.

"Oh, dear," Giles turned away from the vampire and walked slowly toward Glorificus. He walked cautiously over to the hellgod and passed a hand back and forth in front of her unfocused eyes. "Well, this changes everything," he said.

"Careful, she ate a lawyer while we were busting her out," Spike drawled. Then, turning to the witches, he added, "You lot get back to the hotel. Red, can you keep an eye on her? I'm going to get Xan."

~~~~~

Thankfully, Giles was the one who would be sorting out the reasons behind the change in Xander's plan, while Angel followed Spike back into the night. Angel had stayed only long enough to confirm that they would all be heading back to the Hyperion, and still his Childe had a wide head start. Scenting Spike's passing on the wind, Angel blocked out all other stimuli and ran through the night hunting his Childe.

He caught up with Spike only because the younger vampire had stopped in the shadow of an abstract sculpture in a courtyard between three buildings. The business district was never deserted but usually quite subdued at this hour. Now, however, the area was painted with the flashing lights of police and EMS vehicles. Less than a block from the burning building, the vampires could have blended in quite well with the crowd of onlookers but chose to remain hidden.

The headquarters of Wolfram and Hart slowly sank into the ground. Lava churned in a perfect rectangle outlining the foundation of the building. The heat given off was tremendous, but suspiciously contained. Trucks parked only meters from the site didn't even have their paint bubble, but the amazed firefighters threw bricks and metal through the sinking windows over the site, only to watch the debris burst into flame at precisely sixteen inches above the foundation.

Angel tore his gaze away from the phenomenon. He turned to Spike and realized his Childe was paying no attention to the melting skyscraper but was concentration on one of the men holding back the crowd. Xander, still dressed as Wolfram and Hart security, was assisting in setting up barricades and taping off the area around the fire trucks and ambulances. Angel marveled as the young man slapped the back of a police officer and shook hands with several of the others.

Jumping the wooden horses used to cordon off the area, Xander strode toward the darkened court yard removing the shirt of his uniform as he walked. He headed straight for the vampires. Spike waited only until the human entered the shadows before pouncing and pinning him to the sculpture. The blond buried his face in his mate's hair and thrust against his thigh. Angel could have sworn he heard Xander whisper 'moonbeam' but dismissed it as unbelievable. Finally, Xander seemed to realize that they weren't alone and chuckled, "If I knew fire got you this hot, I'd destroy stuff more often."

Spike pulled back licking the brunette's neck and said, "I was worried about you, Pet."

Xander smiled softly and brushed back Spike's hair, "And you, Deadboy? Were you worried about me? " Xander asked turning a wicked grin on Angel.

"No, Xander," Angel said. "I was worried about L.A. Think you could leave some of it standing when you go back to Sunnydale?"

~~~~~

Lindsey was relieved that Lilah had given up trying to charm Wesley. Given that efforts the ex-Watcher put into hiding his marked interest in Fred, Lindsey reasoned Lilah didn't have the brains or the virtue that seemed appeal to Wes. Lilah had threatened them with all manner of lawsuits until Lindsey pointed out that she wasn't exactly making a case for them to let her live. When that had failed, she had tried to appeal to Wesley's reason by pointing out that any harm to her would affect Angel's redemption. Cordelia had ended that line of attack by speculating out loud that they didn't really have to harm her to put her in a Habitrail. Lindsey wasn't sure what the term 'Amyizing' meant, but it had brought a speculative gleam to Willow's eyes.

Although they had been overtly cautious around the hellgod upon her arrival, her inactivity had a hard time competing with the rest of the commotion in the lobby. In addition to Lilah's machinations, the witches and Watchers were huddled around the former reception area, dividing their attention between Glorificus and research. Fred had taken Dawn upstairs as the hellgod made the girl nervous. Lindsey was sure that there was more than even the girl knew, given some of the troubled looks exchanged by Giles and Willow. Lorne was called, although Lindsey was unsure how he could read the unresponsive hellgod. Faith was sitting across from Glorificus, looking frustrated. Lindsey was amused by Gunn's attempts to distract the troubled Slayer, wondering if anyone had filled the young man in on Faith's history with his friends.

His guitar remained propped against a nearby chair. He had been fetched as an afterthought when they were going to the warehouse and he hadn't had time to take it to the case he had left upstairs. He sat and absently ran through a few fingerings. He was tired. Tired of watching Miller shoot Faith hostile and suspicious looks. Tired of Finn looking drawn and whipped. Tired of caring what interest the firm had in a hellgod and just what kind of spin Lilah was planning to put on this situation. Lindsey was surprised that he actually wanted the pompous corpse to come back and take over this circus. He wondered why he didn't just head up to his room and use his music to shut out the world.

As dangerous as Glorificus was reputed to be, she certainly wasn't hard on the eyes. He wasn't sure what Spike had meant earlier when he said that the hellgod had eaten a lawyer. Feeling as if he were tempting fate Lindsey started to play the song he would have had he been alone, and sang softly.

Call you up in the middle of the night
Like a firefly without a light
You were there like a blow torch burning
I was a key that could use a little turning

So tired that I couldn't even sleep
So many secrets I couldn't keep
Promised myself I wouldn't weep
One more promise I couldn't keep

It seems no one can help me now
I'm in too deep
There's no way out
This time I have really led myself astray [1]

Lindsey stopped abruptly at the sound of Faith's gasp. He looked up, not into the nearly violet-blue eyes of the hellgod, but to warm hazel eyes of a pretty young woman. She blinked slowly and then looked directly into his eyes. She smiled, a small hesitant smile, before turning a confused look on the rest of the lobby. Her lips parted, as if she would speak and then Glorificus shimmered back into place, still gazing vacantly.

The others had crowded around. They stared unbelievingly at the hellgod.

"Dear God. Spike told us... I just couldn't..." Rupert Giles slowly approached Glorificus.

As he came close, Faith said, "Be careful, Giles. One of the lawyers fell, practically into her lap, and she slipped her hands into his head. He died."

"He died?" Giles looked sharply at Faith.

She nodded and said, "It hurt. He screamed. She screamed too. I think... she was in pain, and Buffy came back, but she didn't stay long. Shortly after Xander went back in, she was replaced by her." Faith finished by nodding at Glorificus.

"What's going on?" Angel's voice came from the entrance.

Lindsey looked over to see the vampire, flanked by Spike and Xander, stepping down into the lobby. Giles and Wesley took him into the library. Xander stopped to talk to Willow before saying he was going up to check on Dawn. Spike sprawled on the stairs, positioning himself between the hellgod and where his mate was.

~~~~~

Xander came out of the bathroom, the towel slung loosely across his hips gaping wide on the side. Willow averted her eyes and he stepped back, blushing.

"I... uh, I... you seemed like you were in a rush to get away," she said, turning pointedly to address the wall.

"I just wanted to check on Dawn," Xander said.

"Well, I just wanted to check on you," she said. Willow shot a quick look over her shoulder at the sound of Xander pulling on his clothing only to catch sight of his ass as he pulled up a pair of silk boxers. "Erp... I... Xan, what is it? You're all nervous and it's not the naked thing 'cause you were anxious as soon as you got here and you weren't naked then."

"Officially not naked now," he said. She turned to face him. He held his arms out demonstrating his attired state. He wore an incredibly large, bright-blue short sleeve shirt over a black tank and khaki shorts. He looked very Xander-like as he looked down at his clothing before peering up through his long bangs at Willow.

"Xander," she said, crossing her arms and meeting his hesitant gaze.

"Will... I," he said as he started to bite his thumbnail.

"It's not the plan. That came off without a hitch, except for the not being able to ditch Glory because it's Buffy. But I thought you would be... Xan help me out here," she said.

"He loves her," Xander whispered.

"He loves you," Willow said.

"I know that... really, more than anything, I know that. But... he loved her first," Xander looked away.

Suddenly he held a warm Willow clasped to him. She squeezed tight and murmured, "Don't be such an ass."

"You tell him, Red," Spike said.

Both humans' reaction proved the Big Bad could do stealth with the best of them. Willow wiped her damp eyes and said, "I'll just check on Dawn. We'll need you both downstairs soon." She shot them a meaningful look before leaving their room.

Spike quietly shut the door and crossed to Xander. He stood right in front of his mate, pinning Xander with an unblinking stare. "So that's what has you clenching your jaw and grinding your teeth," he said softly.

Xander looked away, swallowing uncomfortably. Spike grasped Xander's stubborn chin and gently forced him to maintain eye contact. "You know I can hear it when you're tense. Gonna have to turn you just to keep your teeth from wearing down," Spike whispered.

Xander chuckled, relieved that Spike was willing to tease. He wasn't proud of his jealous nature. He knew his possessiveness had caused more than a few awkward moments with Buffy and Willow. He knew Spike was his. More than the lack of the chip, more than the mark on his neck, the fact that his lover was here, now, sensing his need for reassurance, told him that. He kissed Spike and leaned into him.

Taking a firm grip on Spike's denim clad hips, Xander rested his forehead against the vampire's. "It's just," he said, "she's here, now. I know how much she means to you," Xander started, only to be cut off.

"Us, luv. I loved her. You loved her. She's pack, eh?" Spike offered a wicked smile and ground his pelvis into Xander's. Peppering teasing bites across his lips and nibbling down the human's neck, he paused over the mark. He licked tentatively at first, then struck suddenly, sinking his fangs into the scarred flesh.

Xander moaned and pushed back against his lover until they both thudded against the wall. He swore as he fumbled with the fasteners on Spike's jeans, causing the vampire to chuckle and push back against him until they were both sprawled on the bed. There was a ripping sound as Xander's shorts tore along the zipper. "What is it with you and my clothes? They were neutral, not bright."

"It was an accident," Spike said. He pulled Xander's shirt off over his head instead of attempting the buttons.

"Yeah, yeah," Xander hissed, reaching for the lube. "It's always an accident - but it's always my clothes."

"Take you shopping, I will," Spike murmured, lifting Xander's knees and positioning himself between the tanned, well-muscled legs.

"Oh, God!" Xander gasped. "Anything but that."

"Anything?" Spike leered.

~~~~~

"Dawn's with Fred. She really needs to get some sleep, but this has her, well..." Willow said, coming down the stairs.

"Xander and Spike?" Angel asked.

"They're... talking," Willow sat next to Tara. "They... might be a while."

"Is everything okay?" Tara asked.

"With them? I think so. What's going on with... Glory?" Willow nodded to the still-seated hellgod.

"Well, while you were gone, we noticed a pattern," Tara said

"Pattern?" Willow asked.

Tara said, "Lindsey. Do it again."

"Pardon?" Lindsey seemed distracted by the fact that Angel was looming over him.

"Sing. Please?" Tara stood up and crossed the lobby and sat next to him. "I just want to test something."

Can you help me remember how to smile
Make it somehow all seem worthwhile
How on earth did I get so jaded
Life's mystery seems so faded [1]

Once again Glorificus blurred and was replaced by the young woman. Her hair was darker and straight, her eyes warm, human and focused on him.

I can go where no one else can go
I know what no one else knows
Here I am just drownin' in the rain
With a ticket for a runaway train

And everything seems cut and dry
Day and night, earth and sky
Somehow I just don't believe it. [1]

"Well. That's... interesting," Giles said.

"Very interesting," Lilah added. She lifted her eyebrow and stood. Instantly, she was flanked by Miller and Finn. "Listen, boys, I know you're not going to kill me and you know you're not going to kill me, so you're wasting both our time with the menacing routine."

Willow looked at Angel and said, "I didn't get her name."

"Lilah. She works for Wolfram and Hart. I'm not sure why Xander... kidnapped her," Angel said.

"Because she is going to tell us everything about Glory, why she was brought back, and what this law firm from hell intended to do with her," Willow said.

"And why would I want to do that?" Lilah asked archly.

"Oh, I didn't say you would want to," Willow replied with a small, self-satisfied smile.

*****
Part 16:

Cordelia stood in the doorway to the library. Wes had brought out the prophesy research again and he and Giles apparently hadn't been to bed. Giles seemed engrossed in Spike's translation notes but Wes gave her a weary smile as she passed by to start the morning coffee. Someone had beaten her to the kitchen and the coffee machine burbled a greeting.

Riley poked his head out of the storage area off of the pantry and came out with a new package of paper plates. Two large boxed packages of sweet rolls from Sam's Club were stacked on the table. Cordelia opened one and helped herself to a cinnamon roll while waiting for the coffee to finish brewing.

"Who got breakfast?" she asked, hoping she sounded casual. Riley was pretty much Angel's project and Graham rarely let the young man out of his sight, but the last twenty-four hours had put an unusual amount of stress on all of them. She didn't want to seem as if she didn't trust the recovering addict, but she knew if she were him, she would have been tempted to seek some sort of comfort, or oblivion.

"We... I had trouble sleeping, so I just gave up. I knew we would need something for this horde... Graham drove... I didn't -" he said.

"I wasn't checking up - I just feel bad sticking you guys with the bills. Okay, that's so not me, but I told Angel he could pay for the rest of the week since Graham covered the caterer. Make sure you guys turn in the receipt to be reimbursed," she said, while filling her mug. Sipping the bitter black liquid she continued, "How are you? With all of this."

Riley sagged into a chair and looked up at her, "It's hard. This... you have no idea."

"Seeing Buffy?" Cordy asked.

"Buffy, Faith, Graham dealing with Buffy and Faith," Riley said, "He's pretty stressed."

"How can you tell?" she asked, with a smile.

"Very funny," Riley said.

~~~~~~

Exhausted, Angel watched from the doorway. He worried that the spell Willow had used to gain compliance from the lawyer would tax Lilah beyond her endurance. As she settled into a deeper sleep, Xander shuffled though the neat outline Lindsey had made of Lilah's tale - Xander and the witches had assigned Lindsey the role of both scribe and fact checker while they questioned the reluctant Ms. Morgan. Sweat beaded on Lilah's upper lip but her eyes remained closed. Tara's soothing tones murmured soft reassurances that everything was fine. Her voice seemed to quiet the restless tossing and turning the lawyer had done throughout Xander's inquisition. Willow was carefully rewrapping the large uncut piece of yellow quartz she had used as a focus. Lilah had spilled everything. She had, as if under hypnosis, answered the multitude of questions Xander had thrown at her.

Tara and Willow each took a seat on the sofa, leaning against one another. They had done what Xander referred to as 'the core dump' in one of the unfinished suites on the third floor. They all seemed to be hovering close to the room in which they had placed the Glory-Buffy symbiont, who was now under Spike's watchful attendance.

"Well," Xander said, looking up from the notes, "that's about it. Anyone have any other questions?"

"She'll come after you, you know," Lindsey said. "She's like a pit bull."

"Cordy-like, huh?" Xander said to Lindsey with a wink. "Okay, wipe her clean and have Faith and Gunn dump her near the site," he added to Willow.

"Wipe her clean?" Angel asked, as Xander passed him on his way out into the hall.

Behind him, Angel heard Willow chanting, "Tabula rasa."

~~~~~

Buffy sat back against the headboard of the bed, blinking into the dim. She was aware she had a guardian, silent and still, sitting off to her left. She really hadn't paid attention to the room - now she did. It was large, unfamiliar and furnished like some movie - an old movie. Except old movies were in black and white and even in the subdue glow of the desk lamp she could make out the faded gold brocade on the wall and the washed-out reds of the upholstery.

She must have been sitting a while in the broad bed, which was in an alcove off the better-lit part of the room that was her world, as her bottom felt numb. She couldn't remember how she had gotten here, nor how long she had been staring at the dated furnishings. The bed shared its nook with a sturdy desk and a straight-backed chair on one side, and an overstuffed loveseat next to a small round table on the other. Just outside the arch that sectioned the private portion of the open suite off from its public area were two couches and a chair around a low coffee table. Past that grouping of furniture was a long, low bureau that had a lit lamp with a shade of stained glass. Buffy had been trying to figure out what kind of bug the lampshade's brightly colored pieces were supposed to be portraying but gave up as her eyes drifted to the door next to the bureau. It was of nondescript wood and looked out of place next to the gilded trim and aged splendor of the room. It had a framed yellow strip of paper containing some sort of printing. A sleepy voice of reason in her head told her that meant this was a hotel. An old hotel.

Pleased that she had puzzled out her surroundings, a tiny smile almost made it to her face. She was torn between sitting still longer in her quiet, dim surroundings while trying to figure just how long she had been staring at the room and bolting though that door and running for her life. Deep in her gut some instinct was screaming at her, trying to wake up that sleep voice of reason with dire threats and warnings. Adrenaline, which the sleepy part of her mind ignored like a little sister's whining, had been flooding her system ever since she had realized she wasn't alone in this quiet haven. On her right, lounging in that loveseat, was a dangerous-looking blonde man whose intelligent blue eyes hadn't left her for a moment. Something about his stillness was unnatural. Where Buffy sat quietly thinking, he stayed completely and utterly still. He hadn't moved. He hadn't blinked. He hadn't breathed since she realized he was there. Something stirred in her memory... normally the not-breathing would precede a flurry of movement and violence - but somehow she felt safe with this man. What was up with that?

As the voice of reason and the voice of instinct competed for the attention and vied for a chance to answer that question, the door opened and a girl came in with a silver tray. She set the tray on the bureau, between the lamp and a large ball-like bowl which must have once held flowers. After she shut the door she picked up her burden and brought it to the alcove. As she was placing the tray on the table next to the loveseat, the girl shot Buffy worried glances but spoke to the man.

"I brought coffee and juice and water and milk...she likes juice. I thought maybe one of these might... Well, not this one, of course," the girl handed the man a mug and was reward with a smile. He patted the seat next to him and tucked her under one arm when she sat down. The girl sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. The man's eyes shifted to yellow and ridges sprang forth on his brow as he sipped from the mug.

Buffy didn't turn her head toward the couple, but watched from the corner of her eye. She was busy ignoring the voice of instinct, which was now jumping up and down, waving its arms and screaming 'told you, told you' at the top of its lungs. The voice of reason was noting how the vampire - which this man obviously was - idly stroked the girl's long hair with one hand while draining his 'victim' from a mug which said 'I brood because I know it makes me look good.'

"She's still out of it," the girl said. The vampire only answered with a nod. to the girl's statement. "Do you think her brain was damaged? You know, Glory was never too tightly wrapped."

Glory? Glory. That name seemed to bring reason and instinct both into a fighting stance, but Buffy couldn't remember who Glory was.

The girl sighed. She got up and brought a yummy-smelling mug closer and waved it slowly about eight inches in front of and below Buffy's nose. "Buffy?" The girl hardly whispered and her eyes were tearing. "It's mocha. Smell? You love mocha."

The cup was black with bright pink letters spelling 'Uberangst' and a sad, sighing bunny leaned against the 'U'. The smell stirred the most coherent memories yet. Buffy flashed on a bright sunny day, sitting across from was a bouncing redhead with happy green eyes, who was talking at an incredible rate. Then she was back in the room with the sad girl holding out the good smell. She smiled tentatively at the girl. A wide smile crossed the girl's face and she slowly brought the cup to Buffy's lips. The taste exploded across her tongue. She flashed on another sunny scene. The grass they were sitting on was cool in the shade of an ornamental tree near a red brick building, and a handsome boy with dancing chocolate eyes was laughing as he offered her half his candy bar.

The girl apparently had given up trying to get her to drink more. By the time Buffy gave up on chasing the elusive memories of the redheaded girl and the handsome boy, the girl was back on the loveseat next to the vampire. Buffy had been pulled out of her pondering of the flashes of memory by his slow, dramatic voice. His accented tones wrapped around a story that tugged at her memory as insistently as the coffee had.

"She was down. I had her at my non-existent mercy. I wanted to savor the moment. My third Slayer - struck down on her own ground... I felt like a god. I dove for the kill, ready to sink my fangs in and taste that unparalleled elixir." The vampire was sitting cross-legged and eye-to-eye with the girl, who hung on his every word.

The girl leaned forward in rapt attention, her forehead almost touching the smooth human mask of the dead man. "And then?" she asked with breathless anticipation.

"Then your mum hit me upside the head with and axe and said, 'Get the hell away from my daughter.' Nibblet, you know this story by heart, why do you always act like its the first time you've heard it?" There was laughing affection in the vampire's tone and he smiled openly at the girl.

"I love this story. It's so romantic..." she said.

"It is not sodding romantic," the vampire sneered out the last word and rolled his eyes. "I got me bleeding skull cracked by a pissed-off housewife, the Slayer stopped the feast of St. Vigeous, and the Poof nanced about like the wanker he is. Where's the effin romance in that?"

"It's when Angel gave Xander to you." The girl giggled. Buffy got the impression that the girl was baiting the vampire. Her instinct said she should throw herself between the girl and the monster, but her reason said to wait and see.

Buffy's head seemed to turn of its own volition and she looked as the vampire sputtered out his reply. "Gave!? Dawn, he gave... he wanted us to eat Xander. And not in a good way, I might add. Don't you dare tell the whelp I said that! Besides, Soul Boy really wasn't givin' the boy to me... I knew that. Always could read the Poof like an open book. Great sodding fairycake." The girl raised an eyebrow and smirked at the vampire but said nothing.

Buffy looked back to the door when she heard the knob turn. In walked the boy, the handsome boy from her memory. Only he wasn't a boy. His shoulders were broader, his hair longer and there was a maturity to his face that was new to her. He was a man. How much time had passed since that sunny day under the tree? He was still handsome, but his eyes - though they still held laughter - were shaded by worry and an emotional pain she couldn't fathom.

He walked forward and put his hands in the pockets of his pants as he stood at the foot of her bed. "Hi, Buff."

She blinked and looked into his dark eyes. There was concern and unasked questions in them and she smiled. "Xander," she whispered, before she had even put the name to his face.

His smile was like the sun coming from behind a cloud. The girl, who the vampire - Spike? - had called Dawn, jumped up and grabbed Xander's arm. Dawn bounced up and down while tugging that arm with her, chanting, "She knows you! She knows you!" She stopped her impromptu celebration and turned to Buffy. "Buffy?"

Buffy was busy at the moment. The memory of Xander had been accompanied by a flood of images.

~ Flash~

Xander and her running with Willow, a name she now had for the girl in the other memory, through a cemetery.

~Flash~

Crawling frantically through air vents with monsters hot on their heels.

~Flash~

Xander looking down at her as he pinned her to the floor every muscle in his body vibrating with lust.

~Flash~

The burning pain of air being forced back into her lungs and the sick bile-like taste of death in her mouth.

~Flash~

The rage in Xander's eyes when he threatened to kill her if Willow had been hurt.

~Flash~

Xander, dressed as a soldier, beating the hell out of a pirate who had been about to rape her.

~Flash~

Xander reaching down to pull her up from the watery cage as pain ripped through the claw marks on her legs.

~Flash~

Angry words and a zombie crashing through the front window.

~Flash~

Xander, Larry and another boy laying out explosives in the library.

~Flash~

Her relief of finding Xander in the Bronze when she had been so lost and alone her first days at college.

~Flash~

Four hands placing cards into the center of a circle.

~Flash~

Xander following her from the alley to a warehouse and pulling no punches as his words lay bare her soul.

~Flash~

Xander holding Dawn beside her mother's grave.

~Flash~

Xander repairing a window she had broken.

~Flash~

A wrecking ball knocking the hellgod off her feet.

Buffy blinked. Three faces regarded her with concern. Xander had the scared-looking girl - Dawn, she reminded herself - wrapped in his arms. Buffy smiled. "Xander," she said again. "I remember you. You're my friend."

Xander smiled back. Not the blinding grin he had offered before, that seemed so much more natural to him; instead, a tired but genuine smile. "I am. I have always been and will always be your friend, Buffy." The vampire stepped closer to Dawn and Xander. Something about that seemed odd, but before she could wonder about it Xander asked, "Recognize anyone else?"

"I..." She didn't know what to say. She knew that the other two people were called Spike and Dawn, but did that mean she recognized them? She needed more time. She felt safe now. Unlike the confusing times she had awoken alone in places that felt cold and malignant, this place felt restful and she knew these people would help her until she was less confused. Leaning back, she closed her eyes. She would answer that question when she was more sure of how all the fragments fit together.

~~~~~~~

Gunn handed Faith the binoculars once he saw Lilah emerge from the parking garage. The tiny brunette frowned as she looked all the way across the small park they had parked beside to watch the entrance of the building. They were about a half a mile from the disaster site, close enough that Lilah could walk there if she chose but far enough to be away from the crowds.

Another one of Willow's 'little nudges' had ensured that neither Gunn's truck nor its occupants would register on any surveillance cameras that were in the garage. Forty minutes ago, they had driven through the parking area and slipped Lilah, still unconscious, onto the floor between two parked SUVs.

The destruction of the building, along with it being a holiday weekend, had kept most of the commuter traffic away, but the streets were still alive with people. Faith passed the binoculars back to Gunn and he watched Lilah looking around in a daze at her surroundings. She had no identification, money or cell phone, and Willow had asked them to shadow her until she found someone like a police officer - apparently this memory-wipe spell was untested and Willow had wanted to err on the side of caution. So while they were sure that Lilah would have no memory of what had happened the night before, they were a little unclear on whether she had any idea who she was.

She started to walk in the direction of the site on which the Wolfram and Hart building used to exist. She still cradled her hand to her chest. Gunn started the truck and followed well back at a crawl. Lilah stumbled as she saw, or rather didn't see, the building. She sat down on the sidewalk, mouth open. The pedestrians stepped around her, seemingly torn between offering help and assuming she was homeless. Her well-tailored though rumpled suit tipped off one of the cops working crowd control and she was helped over to one of the emergency vehicles. Gunn saw her shaking her head at the questions she was being asked as they began to examine her.

Gunn grinned at Faith and said, "Mission accomplished."

Her answering smile lit up the cab of the truck.

"So," he asked, feeling suddenly self-conscious. "You want to go back and watch Angel stress over the news, or would you like to go get something to eat?"

"I vote for food," Faith laughed.

~~~~

Being dead, he shouldn't be able to get migraines. Angel sat at his desk, cradling his head in his hands. He had thought he had been prepared. Really. Not that he expected a calm week - Spike always had been poster boy for ADD and Xander had apparently kissed what little sense of self-preservation he had been born with goodbye; add Lindsey's presence to the mix and chaos was a given. Chaos was nothing compared to this.

The first floor of the hotel vibrated with the sound coming from the salle off the lobby. It had originally been the atrium back in the Hyperion's heyday. Boards had replaced the shattered windows over the years, and Angel had turned the open space into a place to train Cordelia with a sword - she had shown interest in the weapon since their ill-fated trip to Pylea. He had been relieved when Xander had snagged his hyperactive Childe and dragged him off to 'play'. Relieved until he realized Id Boy and his mate Destructo Man couldn't do anything quietly, as the current guitar solo gave testament.

He thought he had anticipated the worst. That was the whole point of brooding - to be prepared for every contingency - wasn't it? He had factored in the nebulous prophesy and Lindsey snarking about, Riley's reluctance to face the Scoobies, even Xander's new status as his Childe's mate. None of his careful planning had ended with every network on television endlessly looping the mysterious melting of a downtown LA office building into a perfectly square pile of lava; two, count them, two, Slayers; a hellgod in residence, and a still unsolved prophesy.

Buffy's return had shaken everyone in different ways. Riley was practically invisible. Faith had been wary and defensive; thankfully, Gunn had distracted her and taken her out of the now-crowded hotel and had offered to show her around once they got rid of Lilah. Dawn had worn herself out keeping vigil only to have her existence called into question when Buffy didn't immediately remember her. Angel had been treated to the real story of the Key in Willow-babble and Xander-speak, with Spike's colorfully irate footnotes. He was glad that Cordelia had taken the girl to her place for a lunch and a nap. Cordelia had shown her trademark resilience to Faith's presence and Buffy's resurrection, but she had been watching him. He didn't know if she was waiting for a repeat to his behavior during Darla's return, or just feeling vulnerable. He rather hoped she was feeling as possessive as he had been when they made the trip to Sunnydale and he knew she would be seeing her ex - before he had smelled Spike all over Xander.

Angel got up, intent on telling the mischief twins to turn down the volume. He paused as he passed the door of the library. Giles and Lindsey were at opposite ends of the long table with books - open and being compared or closed with white satin ribbons marking pages - strewn between them. Lindsey was absorbed in a heavy volume which was resting in his lap while he jotted notes on a legal pad. The blunt, black writing didn't seem to say 'kill, kill, kill' and when Angel gave Rupert a questioning look regarding their guest, the Watcher just smiled and shook his head.

"How can you to get any work done with all this noise?" Angel asked.

Giles tucked his amused look back into his notes and Lindsey looked at Angel like he doubted his intelligence, more than usual. Lindsey spoke slowly, as if to a child. "That's Carlos Santana."

Knowing any reply would leave him open to ridicule by the quick-witted ex-lawyer, and doubting his ability to keep from killing the potential participant in the prophesy, Angel continued back to the salle. He stopped just behind Fred, who was lurking in the shadows watching Xander and Spike prowl around each other in slow, predatory steps as they both grinned maniacally. In a blur that was far to quick for a human, Xander swept Spike's legs with his left foot. Spike anticipated the move and jumped over the kick and swung an open-handed strike at Xander's head. Xander leaned back, just under the swing, and continued his leg-sweep a full 360 degrees to catch Spike's ankles as he landed. The vampire came crashing down on top of the human. They landed in a laughing heap. Spike stood and pulled Xander up. Instead of retreating to attack again, they begin mirroring each other; as one pushed the other's hand forward the other rolled his hand into the motion and pushed the other's hand back.

"It's like a dance." Fred whispered.

The guitar solo ended and the words slid out of the speakers of the portable system.

"And if you say this life ain't good enough
I would give my world to lift you up
I could change my life to better suit your mood
Cause you're so smooth

And just like the ocean under the moon
Well that's the same emotion that I get from you
You got the kind of lovin that can be so smooth
Gimme your heart, make it real
Or else forget about it" [1]

On the last line, Xander grabbed Spike's wrist, pulling him off balance and then caught him as he stumbled. They stood, staring into each other's eyes, oblivious to their audience. Xander leaned forward slowly, ghosting a kiss against Spike's lips before burying his face in the blonde's neck. Inhaling deeply, the human then sighed with pleasure, eliciting an answering purr from his mate.

"Xander," Spike whispered.

Xander didn't lift his head. Instead, he sank his teeth into the corded muscle along Spike's neck, causing the vampire to throw back his head and shift to gameface.

"Xander." This time it came out as a moan.

Fred inhaled softly, jarring Angel from the scene in front of them. Her eyes were the size of saucers and Angel could have kicked himself for not stopping it sooner. He cleared his throat loudly. Not, however, loud enough to compete with Carlos Santana.

"You have a room," he said, finally managing to get their attention.

"That we do, luv," Spike said with a smirk and lead his lover out of the salle at a rapid pace.

Fred frowned at Angel and then shrugged. "Dawn's right," she said. "They're so romantic."

*****