Spike had been expecting something sordid - maybe some horror story of an after hours visit from Angelus during his brief period of freedom.

But this was a bit more complicated than he had expected.

Willow had told the whole story, from start to finish, without any interruptions from Spike. As she ended, she leaned back in his lap to better see his expression.

"You're telling me that Angel, the great poof, lord of the brood and soul boy extraordinaire, fed off you?" Spike said doubtfully.

"No," said Willow calmly.

Spike considered her answer, then growled, saying "I've got no bloody idea what's going on in that head of yours, why don't you just explain it to me."

"It wasn't Angel, it was Angelus."

Spike's eyebrows shot up and he yelped "What! It can't have been, I mean, no, no way."

"Look, I would have thought you of all people would understand. Angel shares that body with his demon. Buffy might like to pretend that having a soul makes Angel somehow less of a vampire; all it really does it make the living space more crowded. Whenever I talked to Angel I could sense Angelus there as well. He might not have joined in, but he was always there, always listening. And that night ... I don't know how, but Angelus wasn't just listening anymore. He was - I can't explain it. but I knew it wasn't Angel."

Spike knew exactly what she meant. Angelus had a seductive charm that the usually cheerless Angel lacked.

"So why did you let him bite you?" Spike asked, still unsure of where this was going.

Willow smiled and looked straight into Spike's eyes. "Has Angelus ever persuaded you to do something?"

Plenty of somethings came immediately to Spike's mind. It was true that when Angelus wanted something there were few demons - and even fewer humans - who could resist him. But he was none too pleased at the idea that Angelus had worked his slimy Irish wiles on Willow.

"Yeah, the git can be quite the charmer when he wants to. But you know he was not going to settle for a quick bite? Angelus is not exactly the restrained type luv. You'd have been lucky to get a quick death."

Willow just rolled her eyes. "Sure, except that I knew Angel was there, and he wouldn't let that happen. So I felt safe. I mean, I knew Angelus was just playing with me, but, I don't know, it was exciting. I mean Angel was always Buffy's, and he treated me like a little sister, but Angelus ... he didn't belong to anyone, and, uh, you know," Willow looked down and fiddled with one of Spike's buttons, "Angelus can be kind of sexy."

Spike snorted. Kind of sexy! That demon could melt the polar caps if he put his mind to it. As casually as possible Spike asked "So you fancied him, eh pet?"

To her relief Willow did not blush at his question. She needed to tell Spike everything, then maybe she could work out how she felt about what was happening between her and Spike - and between the three of them.

"Yes, I did. And when he came back, I mean when Angel was gone and Angelus was free, well, I guess Angel sees it as some kind of torture, Angelus leaving things for me and following me around, but I liked it. It was like, like ..."

"Being courted?"

"Yes. And without all the yucky stuff, you know, the dead bodies of my family and friends. I mean, no doubt that would have come eventually and I would have changed my opinion of the whole thing, but the flowers and poems and everything ... I just thought it was nice."

Spike was confused by what Willow had said. It didn't sound like Angelus' style at all. Even in his early days with Dru, from what Spike had been told anyway, any gift was likely to be of the stomach- turning rather than heart-warming variety.

"But - hang on, I remember Bitchy told me once that during his brief period of freedom Angelus killed all your fish." (Ah hah,) thought Spike, (explain that!)

Willow hesitated, then said to him, "I never told the others this, I mean it's really weird and I knew if I told them that they would all, you know, freak out. But the fish that I found, that Angelus killed, they weren't my fish. I didn't realise at first, but after a minute or two it clicked. But what was I going to do? Tell Buffy, hey look, someone else's dead fish?"

"But what happened to your fish?"

"They were back in the tank when I came home the next day, after spending the night at Buffy's."

This was getting stranger and stranger, thought Spike. "So why the bloody hell did he do that?" snarled the blonde, losing patience with trying to understand Angelus' odd behaviour.

Willow sighed patiently. "Come on Spike! If Angelus terrorised everyone except me, that would be strange, right? But if I get a gift of dead fish, then I'm out of the spotlight. Buffy knows that Angelus is still focusing on her, life goes on..."

"So he was trying to protect you? Luv, you do realise that we are talking about Angelus? Whose last crush was Drusilla? If he was obsessed with you, you would still be tripping over the corpses."

Willow had had enough. "And does it not occur to you that Angelus can learn from his mistakes like the rest of us? Does it seem to you that Angelus was pleased with the idea of being stuck for eternity with a crazed vampire who sang to the stars and talked to dolls?"

Spike could see that Willow had tired of the conversation, but he felt despite all she had told him they hadn't actually gotten to the bottom of it yet.

"OK, let's just go with your Angelus is a puppy dog theory. Why aren't you jumping for joy now that you finally have a chance to shag the great lump?"

Willow stood up. "Don't you understand how the bond works? Angelus will never be free now, the soul is permanent. And if the bond brings them together, who knows if the demon will even exist anymore.

Maybe it will get all squashed into the soul, and next thing we know Buffy and Angel will be buying furniture together and picking out a china service."

Spike had heard enough. He didn't understand it, but he was pretty sure however much Willow kept talking it was not going to make any more sense than it did now. So he decided to head off the headache he could feel brewing from all this heavy thinking.

He grabbed Willow's hips and twisted her, so that she was sitting astride him, and started to gently rock their pelvises together.

"Still sore from last night, Red?" Almost instantaneously he could sense the spicy aroma of her arousal, and he knew that she too was remembering the many, many ways in which she had gained those aches and pains.

Spike slowly slipped his hand between their bodies, lifted her skirt and slid his hand into her panties, running his fingers over her slit as he felt the moisture begin to build. He rubbed back and forth slowly, until he could feel his hand getting coated with her juices and Willow was starting to moan softly.

Then he pulled his hand free, letting her see his glistening fingers before he delicately licked his hand clean, enjoying the taste of her on his tongue.

He felt Willow slide off his lap and onto the floor, kneeling before him as her hands quickly released his throbbing erection from the confines of his trousers. He let his mind empty, feeling pure lust course though him as he was engulfed by the warm, wet mouth of his mate, and all thoughts of conversation left both their minds.

Buffy was really, really pissed off. She had finally found Riley, and after telling him the whole story of Willow's sudden insanity had found him less than sympathetic.

When she demanded that he just come out and say what was on his mind, he actually had the nerve to say he thought she was over-reacting, and that Willow was her friend and she should give her chance to explain.

Buffy had seen red, and even now, several hours later, she could remember what was said next word for word.

"Explain what? Why she is fucking a demon, a killer?"

"She's not the first human to have sex with a vampire, is she Buffy?"

"I can't believe that you are going to compare her fucking our enemy with me and Angel. We loved each other, and Angel had a soul. He helped us. He saved my life."

"And Spike has helped you, and saved your life. Maybe you need to think about why it upsets you so much that Willow has found happiness with a vampire when you couldn't."

"Do you think that Spike and Willow are happy? He is a murderer, a heartless, evil demon. He will use her until he finds someone better then leave without looking back. He doesn't care about her. he doesn't care about anyone except himself."

By this point Buffy had been screaming, and she had not noticed the dawning understanding in Riley's eyes.

"Jealous that he wants her and not you?" he asked without inflection, unsurprised when Buffy picked up a clock from a nearby table and hurled it against the wall. As she slammed the door shut, Riley decided he should be glad that he had been standing out of arm's reach, or it would have been him now lying in pieces on the floor.

Buffy however was beyond caring about Riley, or anyone. She was filled with a sense of injustice. It was not enough that she had been picked to send what was inevitably going to be a short life killing demons and generally having no chance to be normal and have fun.

No, then she had to fall in love with a vampire only to have to send him to hell, and then he came back only to leave her for her "own good", whatever the hell that was supposed to mean.

Then when she finally found a guy she liked - OK, Riley was not exactly Mr Right but he was definitely Mr He'll Do - she discovered that hot, sweaty humans just didn't do it for her the way a cold, hard demon did.

After the whole humiliation of the Spike fiasco, Buffy had managed to retain her composure by focusing on the positive: Spike was a soulless demon who only wanted Dru, Angel was going to spend eternity like a priest, and Riley was better than nothing.

Now she doubted that she would be getting any "quality time" with Riley any time soon. It was also clear that whatever ulterior motives Spike may have, he was nonetheless giving Willow the ride of her life while Buffy was back on her all-work, no-play routine.

Willow! What on earth did Spike see in her? For a moment Buffy wondered if this wasn't all some plot to get at her; maybe Spike was sorry about his rudeness before, and this was his way of letting her know that he was back on the market?

But even Buffy had to admit that seemed a bit far-fetched. Far more likely Willow and Spike were sitting together somewhere laughing about her, while Giles drank tea and told them amusing stories about all her faults.

LBuffy sat down on a park bench, hoping some vamps would come along and give her a chance to relieve some aggression. In the meantime she fished in her backpack for the book she had taken from Giles' place. She was going to get to the bottom of this, and then everyone was going to be very sorry that they had pissed off a Slayer.

The first thing Giles noticed when he returned home after talking to Willow was that the book was gone. His second thought was a very clear idea of who had taken it.

Giles did not know what to do. He couldn't seem to reach Buffy; normally he would have relied on Willow to talk to the Slayer, but that was obviously not going to work this time. Xander was not exactly gifted in the art of communication, and Giles was starting to feel desperate.

He could sense events spiraling out of control and he knew if he didn't do something, and soon, the Slayer was going to become a serious problem for them all.

So, hardly believing it himself, he picked up the phone and dialed, waiting for Cordelia's greeting and surprised to hear instead Angel's voice on the phone.

"Hello Angel, it's Giles."

"Giles! Is everything alright?"

"Ah, well, everyone is fine but we are having some trouble, I think it may help if you could come up to Sunnydale, perhaps tonight?"

"What's going on?" Giles could hear the urgency in Angel's voice.

"Well, in summary, Buffy has found out about Willow and Spike being, ah, together, and she is not taking it well."

Angel knew it must be pretty bad for Giles to call him, so he assured Giles he would be there as soon as possible, left a note for Cordelia and Wesley and headed for his car.

He pulled up in front of Giles' apartment 90 minutes later. He had used his time in the car to reach a number of conclusions, most of which could be summarised as "Cordelia was right".

He needed to make Spike and Willow trust him, and it seemed to him a good starting point would be to show his willingness to protect them - even from his ex-girlfriend if necessary.

Giles opened the door with a look of relief on his face, and ushering Angel inside told him everything that had happened in the 24 hours since they had returned form LA, including Buffy's removal of the book.

Angel could hardly believe what Giles told him. "But surely - Giles, I can't believe Buffy would act like that. It seems very out of character."

"With all due respect, Angel, despite your psat relationship with Buffy I would suggest that perhaps you do not know her very well. She has always had a streak of selfishness, and a tendency to discard people when they are no longer of use to her. She has been distancing herself recently from all her old friends, and is instead getting more involved with the Initiative."

Angel knew all about the Initiative from what had happened to Spike, but he hadn't realised that Buffy was also linked to them. He began to see why Giles had such a strong sense of trouble on the horizon.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked Giles quietly.

"I'm not sure really. I've never seen Buffy so angry; I don't know if there's any point in you trying to talk to her. But if she decides to, well, do anything to Spike, we may need you to stop her."

"Has it really got to that point?" asked Angel, fighting down his rage at the idea of anyone harming his childe.

"Willow says that Buffy had her stake an inch from Spike's heart when Buffy passed out."

"And do you know how that happened?"

"No. I can only assume Willow is starting to acquire some protective powers from the bond or the approach of her powers, but she seems unaware of how, or even if, she did it. Or how she killed the vampire that attacked her, although I have little doubt that it was her."

Angel froze. "What vampire?"

"Ah. Yes. Well..." Giles had assumed Angel knew about that, but found himself repeating the tale Willow had told him a few nights before. Angel felt his demon scream at the thought of some slobbering fledgling feeding off his mate, and wishing that it were still undead so it could learn the true meaning of pain. Again Angel found himself in agreement with his dark half.

"And how did Willow seem when you spoke to her earlier?"

"Surprisingly calm. I think it helps a lot that she has Spike with her, but we all know that this problem won't solve itself. If Buffy cannot be made to see reason, Willow and Spike cannot stay in Sunnydale. It won't be safe for them."

Angel nodded his agreement. "Do they know that I'm here?"

"No," said Giles. "Do you want to call them?"

"Why don't we wait until tomorrow? I think they've probably had enough surprises for one day."

Agreeing with his guest, Giles headed to bed, leaving Angel to spend the hours until dawn listening to the echoes of his mates happiness through their bond.