Buffy headed back to her room after finishing her shower, nearly dancing with joy that her plans were already bearing fruit. She had no doubt that the Initiative had got to Spike, and now Willow was wishing she hadn't treated her friends so badly.

Buffy figured she would now have the perfect opportunity to remind Willow of how much she needed Buffy as her friend. No doubt losing her demon boyfriend would make her a bit more like the old Willow, Buffy's faithful sidekick, the Slayer decided happily.

She saw the message light blinking and listened to Xander's message. She tried to decide what it meant as she dried her hair. Maybe Willow had decided to come here and apologise? Or, more likely, she was going to see Giles instead. Putting down the hairdryer, Buffy called Giles, only to get the machine. She hung up without leaving a message, tapping her fingers slowly on the desk.

So Giles and Willow were both unaccounted for? Buffy decided not to worry about it; they would eventually come to her, and anyway the Council guy would be here tonight and he could track Giles down for her.

Buffy realised she would have to wait around the dorm until the council's helper turned up, so with a groan she pulled out some text books. (Might as well get something done) she thought morosely, and she started to read.

Her mood would have worsened considerably if she had known that the Council had not taken her phone call seriously - at least not in the way she intended. After much discussion it was decided that clearly the Slayer was trying to lure the Council to Sunnydale for her own reasons. But it was equally clear that her story was untrue.

The Council had convened to discuss the call, and had concluded that someone had told the Slayer enough of the truth - such as the name of the book and the triangular nature of the Servant bond (if such creatures even existed, which most of the Council doubted) to make her story sound credible. But unfortunately for the conspirators there were a few pertinent facts that they did not know.

Firstly the book in question was leather-bound, not metallic; no doubt the Slayer and her allies had hoped that as the book in question had been missing for many years the Council would be fooled, but they had reckoned without the Council's extensive records, which clearly stated the size and appearance of the book.

Secondly, while little was known about the nature of the Servants, all existing references were clear on the point that no demon would ever be countenanced as a partner to a Servant. Such a suggestion was preposterous.

So the Council was left with the puzzle of why the Slayer would be trying to draw them to Sunnydale. If her motives were friendly, for example that she had realised her mistake in breaking from the Council and wanted to rejoin them, then she would surely have simply asked them to come without concocting such an elaborate story.

Which left them facing the conclusion that not only was this Slayer operating without the supervision of the Council, but she was now assisting some person - or thing - who was trying to harm the Council.

They still monitored the activities of the Slayer, and had been alarmed by her increasing involvement with the military operation in the area. However until the rogue Slayer Faith either regained consciousness or died, they had little choice but to accept Buffy as the best available option.

But now ... it was one thing to allow Buffy to operate independently while she continued to perform her sacred duty, even if the Council might not entirely approve of the way she carried out those duties. But for the Sayer to actively turn against the Council could not be countenanced.

And so an operative had been sent to meet with the Slayer, and try to discover exactly what she was trying to accomplish, and who she was working with - or for. The Council ended its meeting somberly, saddened that it now seemed they had not one but two rogue Slayers on their hands.

Cordelia surveyed the scene in front of her; enough weirdness there to keep any therapist busy for years, she decided.

Giles was clutching the book in his hands, looking more pleased than a mother with her firstborn child. Spike had his arms around Willow, who looked like she wasn't far from tears. And Angel was watching the pair with an even grimmer version of his usual brooding expression.

(Well) thought Cordelia, (I've got my work cut out for me here.) "Angel, I need to talk to you privately" she stated haughtily, dragging him with her to the kitchen. She looked him up and down, noticing that he wouldn't meet her eyes.

"Come on, tell me everything."

At Angel's blank look, Cordelia injected a note of steel into her voice. "Have you spoken to Willow?"

Angel shook his head, and seeing his obvious depression at the mere mention of Willow, Cordelia decided not to pursue that line of questioning.

"OK, what about Spike?" Cordelia was relieved to see a half smile break through the gloom of Angel's expression.

"We've, ah, sorted some things out. Spike is happy to come to LA and stay with me - if Willow wants to."

(Go girl!) thought Cordelia t oherself. It looked like the shy redhead had finally got her groove on. Cordelia was almost envious: (I mean, those are two delicious specimens of undead perfection.)

But she didn't envy Willow having to put up with Angel's broodiness and Spike's manic nature. (Oh well, maybe they'll balance each other out) Cordelia mused before deciding that she needed to solve the Willow Problem before worrying about the next issue, ensuring that her workplace remained as angst free as possible.

Turning to Angel, who for once had noticed Cordelia retreating into her thoughts, she patted his arm reassuringly. "Don't worry," she said, "one down and one to go."

Then she moved back into the main room with Angel trailing curiously behind. Looking at the others, Cordelia could see that they were already going stir crazy, and there were still several hours to go before dusk.

"Well, the vamps are grounded until sunset, but I'm going to head off now. I can give Wesley an update. Giles, why don't you stay here with the undead, and I can take Willow and the book to LA now. You can all come later."

Giles and Spike began to argue with her: Giles wanted to keep the book, and Spike wasn't keen on letting Willow out of his sight with so many potential enemies around.

"Hey, you know the book and Willow will both be safer in LA. I'd take you too Giles, but it's only a two-seater" Cordelia lied smoothly. "Look, keep my cell phone," she said magnanimously, handing it to Angel. "I'll call as soon as we reach the office, OK?"

And without waiting for any more arguments, Cordelia pulled a grateful but bewildered Willow towards the door as she seized the slender silver book from Giles with her free hand.

"Bye" said Willow softly with a little wave as Cordelia pushed the door shut behind them, and the pair headed downstairs to the car. Willow raised an eyebrow as she slid into the passenger seat.

"For a two-seater this car seems to have a pretty generous back seat," Willow noted dryly, curious as to why Cordelia didn't want Giles to come with them.

Cordelia smiled, then looked at the nervous girl next to her. "I thought it would be better without Giles, you know, give us a chance to talk about ... things."

Willow swallowed audibly. She and Cordelia had never exactly been friends, especially after the whole Xander thing. She wasn't really sure if she'd feel very comfortable about talking to Cordelia, but then again she didn't seem to have a lot of options at the moment. Even Willow recognised that despite his many strengths, relationship advice wasn't really one of Spike's talents.

Shifting in her seat, Willow looked over at Cordelia and repeated faintly, "Things?"

"Look," said Cordelia briskly, "we were never friends at school, but I'm not the same person I was then and I'm sure you're not either. And Angel is a friend of mine, so I want him to be happy. Plus, if you all end up staying in LA we'll be working together so I am aiming at a great big happy family thing rather than a lots of brooding and tension thing, which seems to be what you have now."

Willow couldn't help but agree that she too would be happier with lower levels of tension.

"So," Cordelia continued, "this is your chance. I mean, tell me everything and I'll tell you what I think. You three make a good - well, couple in a three of you kind of way, you know what I mean. And I for one think you could do way worse than Angel. I mean, OK, the wardrobe needs work and he can be kind of sullen, but you know a lot of women like that whole strong silent type thing."

Cordelia looked over at Willow, and seeing that she was starting to relax a little decided to move a bit closer to the point.

"So you and Spike then, what's he like?"

Willow couldn't hold back the grin that sprang to her lips. "Spike is, well you know, he never says anything sweet exactly, but he's so, so, uh, non-demony. I mean he's a really, really good lover, plus he's affectionate in a hugging and touching all the time way. And he's very protective ... I don't know why, but I just like that, it makes me feel safe to know he's looking out for me."

Cordelia rolled her eyes at Willow's sappy expression - that girl really had it bad. "So it doesn't bother you that he's a soulless evil killer?" Cordelia asked conversationally.

Willow smiled. "Nope. Does that make me a bad person? Anyway, he's not actually killing people at the moment. I guess I'll just cross my fingers that the chip stays in. Although it's not all good. I mean, because of the chip he can't protect himself from Buffy and the Initiative."

Seeing that Willow's mood was about to head back to borderline miserable, Cordelia asked, "So what were you upset about before?"

Willow paused before answering. "Well, Spike bit me without the chip going off, and Giles thinks its because the chip doesn't recognise me as human anymore."

Cordelia waited for the rest. "And? That's it? I mean, if you were human you would be mortal, and Spike would hardly be much of a boyfriend then. Anyway, aren't you glad he can bite you?"

Willow blushed before nodding.

"Well then. So what else was wrong?"

Cordelia seemed to be pretty good at his whole advice thing, so Willow kept going.

"Hmm, well, OK, Spike told me that he had sex with a girl, you know, a human girl, recently, and he tried to bite her, and, well, I was just, you know..."

"Jealous?"

"Uh, yeah."

Cordelia made a face. "You are not going to tell me that Spike strikes you as the celibate type, are you?"

Willow snorted.

"Exactly. I mean, you two weren't together then, so what does it matter?"

Willow chewed her lip before blurting out one of her fears about her new relationship. "Well, you know that vampires don't have any, you know, inhibitions. I mean how do I know what Spike thinks is normal?

Maybe he expects to still be able to, ah, shag anyone he wants."

Cordelia thought about that. "Well, have you talked to Spike about it?" Catching Willow's shamefaced look, Cordelia groaned.

"Willow! Honestly, you're worse than Angel. Look, Spike is obviously crazy about you, and he seems like the possessive type. I'm sure he wants you all to himself, and that he will be spending too much time with you to look at anyone else."

"He had sex with Angel this morning, and I was only gone an hour. Plus we spent all last night, you know, together. So it doesn't seem to me like he's expecting a one-on-one kind of relationship."

"Wow, did Angel and Spike really have sex this morning?"

Willow was drawn from her thoughts by the amused look on Cordelia's face.

"And that's funny why?" Willow asked peevishly.

"Okay, since you're telling all, you should know that Angel and I had a heart-to-heart the other day, and I told him to work things out with Spike. I guess I just expected it to involve more talking."

Cordelia shook her head. "I can't believe that Angel. He told me at the apartment that he and Spike "sorted some things out". Hah! I swear, even undead men do all their thinking below the waist."

Still shaking her head at her boss' idea of building trust, Cordelia suddenly asked, "Did Spike tell you they had sex?"

"No," said Willow sadly. "But I could tell because of the bond and plus Spike has a huge bite mark on his neck."

"Not exactly masters of discretion then?" mocked Cordelia, drawing a giggle from Willow.

"Okay," said Cordelia, her serious tone reminding Willow of what they had been talking about, "but Angel isn't exactly anyone, is he? I mean, do you mind Angel and Spike being together when you're not there?"

Willow thought about it, and said slowly, "Honestly, I do and I don't. I mean, I totally don't mind about Angel and Spike having sex, because there is the bond between them plus the vampire sire/childe thing, so I can understand them wanting to be together. But, I don't know, I just wonder if Angel takes Spike back, if there will still be a place for me. I mean, they have such a history together, I don't know. I don't want to lose Spike," Willow concluded forlornly.

Cordelia decided she needed to use all her concentration to sort this out, so she pulled off the freeway at the next rest stop.

Looking Willow in the eyes, Cordelia said to her, "Let's change topic for a moment. If I said to you that there was a way that Angel could be released from the bond and replaced with someone else, would you do it? Is there someone apart from Angel that you would want to be bound to?"

"No," sighed Willow.

"And if I told you that the bond could be changed, so just you and Spike were affected, and Angel was free, would you do it? Would you rather be just with Spike?"

Willow looked confused. "I don't know!" she moaned.

"How about this," said Cordelia, working her way to the centre of the problem. "Do you think you can love more than one person at a time? Do you think that just because Spike can love Angel, it means he loves you less?"

Seeing that Willow was listening intently, Cordelia plowed on. "The problem you've got is you and Angel."

At Willow's startled look, Cordelia patiently explained. "Look, you and Spike love each other, Angel and Spike love, or the demon equivalent, each other. But until you and Angel sort out your feelings, the triangle is all lop-sided. I mean if you believed that Angel loved you as much as he did Spike, would you still mind about them being together?"

Running her fingers through her hair, Willow felt like screaming. "I don't know, I don't know!"

Cordelia could tell the redhead was getting close to breaking, and if she started crying Cordelia would lose her chance to work out the rest of the puzzle - plus Angel would be upset if he found out. So Cordelia backed off - a little.

Starting the car again, she said to Willow, "Why don't you tell me all about you and Angel." And then she drove as she listened to Willow tell her the same story as Angel about their past, but with a very different emphasis.

As Cordelia parked the car Willow was nearly finished her tale, which had suffered somewhat from Willow's tendency to ramble when upset. Cordelia ushered her into Angel's office as Willow mumbled the end of her history.

Relieved to see that Wesley was not there, Cordelia whisked Willow downstairs.

"OK, look, I'm going to say my piece, then I'll leave you to get some rest before the vamps arrive. To tell you the truth, you look like you could use some sleep. Anyway, here is my question: when Angel bit you, during the whole great friends period, you knew it was Angelus, right?"

"Yes."

"But you weren't scared because?"

"Well, I knew that Angel wouldn't let me get hurt."

"Right. So really, that was the both of them, wasn't it? I mean, the Angelus excitement, Angel safety double act. It was the combination that you liked, right?"

"Yeees," said Willow, seeing where Cordelia was going.

"Well, duh! I mean, why can't you like them both? Just because Bitchy drooled over the soul and hated the demon, I mean, how healthy is that? You don't need to feel like you have to choose. I mean, if you can want Angel and Spike, then why not Angel and Angelus? Besides, Angel told me that both of them - or both of him, I guess - well, you know what I mean. Anyway I asked him who was it at the whole sex ritual thing, and he couldn't answer, because it was both."

Deciding she had given Willow enough to think about, Cordelia promised to wait upstairs until Willow felt like company, and headed for the lift.

(I am getting so good at this) Cordelia decided, hoping that Willow would come upstairs soon; there was still plenty of time before the malls closed. Then Cordelia sat down and concentrated on the next problem: Willow's new look.

Spike watched Cordelia drag Willow out of the apartment with a frown on his face. As soon as the door was closed, Spike turned to Angel and said: "What the hell was that all about?"

To his surprise it was Giles who answered. "Girl talk," said the ex- Watcher succinctly, having become used to the mysteries of female interaction after his years with Buffy and the Scooby Gang.

Personally he rather thought it would do Willow the world of good to have a sympathetic female to talk to - although he found it a little difficult to cast Cordelia Chase in the role of the Gentle Listener.

Giles was also not overly pleased with the idea of spending the rest of the day cooped up in a small, dirty apartment with two vampires. He could always go back to his place and get his Citroen ... but Giles knew it was an unnecessary risk, so he tried to concentrate on ways to make it until dusk.

"I don't suppose either of you has a pack of cards?" he asked hopefully.

Several hours later it was hard to tell which of the trio was more pleased when the sun finally set and they were able to head towards LA. Cordelia had called as promised and assured Angel that she and Willow had arrived safely, but apart from that the hours had passed slowly.

Angel had tried to spend the time productively by testing out how the bond worked. At first he had focused on Spike, trying to send emotions or memories to the blonde through the link, until Spike had crossed the room and grabbed his throat, growling "Sod off!"

Which, Angel supposed, was a result, although not exactly the one he had been looking for.

So instead he had turned to Willow, picturing her in his mind as he located her echo in his head. He sensed - arousal. Angel repressed his groan, remembering that he was not alone. He also fought down the suspicious anger of his demon, who was demanding to know why its mate was aroused without him, or Spike, being the cause of it.

Angel vividly remembered the wave of emotion that Willow had sent at he and Spike that morning; the lingering effects of that rush of love and desire were still floating in his mind, stopping him from worrying too much about Willow 's present activities.

He imagined for a moment that Willow had been directing those emotions at him, not Spike, then felt guilty for wishing that Willow had chosen him instead of Spike. He knew Spike, and while the vampire would probably never admit it, maybe even to himself, he was at least as besotted with Willow as she was with him, and Angel could sense Spike's happiness at being chosen first for once, instead of always being second best.

However much he might regret his own relationship with Willow, he was honestly happy that his grand-childe had finally found someone who cared for him the way he deserved.

Shaking his head to clear his melancholy thoughts, Angel tried to focus on Willow, and send her snapshots of his feelings: his happiness and acceptance of her relationship with Spike, his own love of Spike, and lastly his own feelings for her, and the desire that both he and his demon felt for her.

Angel tried to keep his thoughts fairly tame, but soon felt his traitorous demon flood his mind with memories of the ritual, of the sharing of blood and the delicious taste of Willow, of the three of them declaring themselves as bond mates and sealing their pact with a union of their bodies that even now made Angel shift uncomfortably as his trousers tightened.

Angel sensed that Willow had felt his contact, but as he tried to draw closer to her in his mind he suddenly felt cut off, as though a door had slammed in his face.

That had been hours ago, and as Angel sped as fast as legally possible towards LA he swore that Willow would find it a lot more difficult to cut him off when he was face to face with her.

It was time he had a talk to the little redhead. There was no way he was letting her - or Spike - leave him, so Angel had decided it was time to play his trump card and turn on the charm. (She won't know what hit her) Angel gloated, pleased to see the lights of LA appear on the horizon.