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Author's Chapter Notes:
well hello there. I struggled a bit with this chappie knowing that I would need to include oc interaction where before Buffy and Spike were both in their own little universe. Just remember we are still dealing with season two Spike and still even if a slightly smarter version a season two Buffy.

Now there is some dialogue from becoming part one and of course the credit for that goes to Joss who penned the episode. What can I say some of the dialogue is to perfect to change. Even if you do change the subtext in regards to the characters.

Please I just want to thank all of you who have taken the time to read this and also the many of you who take the time to review. And while writing for the bstv universe has become my favorite past time rl just doesn't always cooperate. So I'm writing as fast as I can and just want to thank you all again for sticking with me.
He wasn't sure why he let the quiet words slip past his lips. It wasn't due to any conscious thought.

But there wasn't time for him to dwell on that he needed to search out where his sire was now holed up since the Watcher had torched the factory. A fact he'd only known by overhearing the Slayer's little merry band.

Spike knew that Angelus would have picked the place and since his grand sire was a pompous bastard it would probably be something horribly pretentious. The old git would hardly keep himself in an abandoned factory or a crypt. No Angelus would only deal with the finer things in life.

He walked quietly off the Slayer's back porch desperately trying not to think of exactly what he was going to do now. Other then the fact that he could walk on his own he had no idea what he was going to do about getting his love away from the poofter.

He had all the time in the world to figure it out later.

************

Buffy managed to spend a quiet Sunday at home cleaning her mother's house before her return. The hum of the dishwasher and later the vacuum cleaner followed by the washer and the dryer were all the noise needed to distract her from thinking about anything that had happened in the past few months.

There was nothing to do about any of it now just a need for her to concentrate on her little Angelus problem. Everything else would now be blocked out of her subconscious except of course the fact that the semester was ending and she had finals to take.

After taking a quick patrol where she didn't encounter any vamps she knew she curled up on the couch in some sweats grabbed some ice cream and put in a few movies to keep herself focused on not thinking.

Thinking was overrated any way she was sure. There was no point on questioning any of her actions or doubting in her judgments. Besides maybe for once everything would work out.

She should have remembered that they were living on the hellmouth.

*****************

Spike spent the next night trailing the faint scent of his sire through the small town. Her feeding habits being what they were he wasn't surprised as his nose took him past the park and other little tyke attractions. He'd spent the last four hours roaming up and down the streets sniffing discreetly and keeping his eyes open for his grandsire and the blond bint.

Neither was someone he wanted to run into. Instead the night was mostly quiet. And the only encounter he had was with a willowy coed in a dark alley. The meal itself was on the small side but the anticipation had made it all the sweeter. The fresh taste of tapped blood combined with the girl's fear was intoxicating to say the least. Especially after months of bagged blood human or not.

It was in the early hours of the morning that he found himself on the dark quiet street. The neighborhood was filled with darkened large houses now mostly unused. Both the scent of his sire and the poofter were much stronger and he could feel the slight pull of his link with his dark goddess. Not that she was acknowledging it at all.

Spike had no illusions about where he stood in his wicked plum's unlife. Not anymore. After one hundred years of being her slave and being at her beck and call meant nothing. He was and would always be second best to his grandsire.

Which was why he had to get the irritating bastard out of the way.

Once Dru realized her precious daddy was gone for good she would have no choice but to accept him as her love.

It was all really simple.

He didn't care what it took. What it would cost him. But that bastard was going to pay.

Stopping in front of the brown stucco mansion he turned to walk behind the home using every bit of the stealth being a vampire gave him. He moved silently slipping around the back to a window he could peer in.

There wasn't much for him to see the room before him was large and open but there was no one in it. He assumed the two he was looking for were in one of the bedrooms. It was enough to know that this was where they were staying at least for now.

********************
"This is good right? I mean we can curse him again." Cordelia asked.

Buffy wasn't sure what she felt about the disk that Willow held in her hand. On one hand simply putting the soul back in Angelus would make him less of a threat. And really how easy would that be. Not having to fight him.

On the other hand so much had happened since he became Angelus that she was unsure that even with his soul restored that she would be able to look him in the eye ever again.

It wasn't so much the things he had said to her.

It wasn't for the way he had frightened and threatened everyone that she loved.

It wasn't even for the fact that he had violated her by sneaking in her room disrobing her and sinking his fangs in her neck.

But the death of Jenny Calendar and the pain it had caused Giles was something that she could never forget.

And as disturbing as the thought was she was unsure she could ever forget how her once love had treated Spike when he was at his most dependant and harmless.

Those facts bothered her the most and as much as she would like to pretend that she didn't have to deal just yet that there was a little bit of time. She knew different.

"Um well it certainly points that way but the ritual itself requires a greater knowledge of the black arts than I can claim." She looked at her Watcher worriedly.

And while Willow and Giles debated the threat of the magics involved in the spell she couldn't help but surround herself in her conflicting emotions. The fact that patrol last night had not met with a run in from any of the three vamps bothered her. There was also the certain guilt she felt. Down deep some small part of her knew that the arrival of sunset this night had seen Spike claim his first kill in months. A kill she was now responsible for.

Just as she was for Jenny's death.

Her reassurance to Willow felt hollow even to herself.

Which was all the more reason why Xander's words jarred her so much.

"Hi! For those of you who have just tuned in, everyone here is a crazy person. So this spell might restore Angel's humanity? Well here's an interesting angle. Who cares?"

The words left her best friend with such harsh bitterness she was pained to hide the flinch they caused.

"I care." Was all that she could answer him with. She didn't know how to explain any of this to him. Not when she knew he wouldn't understand anyway.

"Is that right?"

Again the words were full of scorn and she felt herself shrink more on the inside.

"Let's not lose our perspective here, Xander." Giles as always was trying to be the voice of reason.

Buffy took in the shocked look of her friend as she stared at Xander. Looking closely at Giles she could see how startled he was at Xander's words too. But underneath that she could see the truth.

Oh he could talk a good game. And he was good with the words that would reassure her. But deep down even he blamed her. Not that she could have controlled the fact that Angelus had lost his soul in the first place. No she wasn't responsible directly for that. But it was her that hadn't killed Angelus when she had the chance. It was her that had left him free to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting populace and left him free to kill the woman her watcher had fallen in love with.

"I'm perspective Guy. Angel's a killer." Buffy felt helpless as her friends usually warm brown eyes hit hers with a bruising intensity she couldn't hide from.

Willow shook her head slightly before speaking. "Xander...."

"It's not that simple." The words came out a harsh whisper around the lump in her throat that she fought against.

"What? All is forgiven? I can't believe you people." His shout of disbelief tore at her heart a bit more.

"Xander has a point." The quiet words came from Cordelia as she stood next to him.

She watched as he turned to Cordelia.

"You know just for once I wish you'd support me and I realize right now that you were and I’m embarrassed so I’m gonna get back to the point Which is that Angel needs to die.

Curing Angel seems to have been Jenny's last wish." the quiet words from her Watcher made her flinch once again.

It was funny how no one noticed.

"Yeah well Jenny's dead."

None of the girls could hold back the quiet gasps at the harsh words.

"Don't you ever speak of her in that tone again!" Buffy watched as the man she loved like a father rounded on her best friend.

She watched helplessly as Xander held his ground against the older man.

"Can't you hear what I’m saying?" He yelled back.

As their voices began to rise in hostility towards one another Buffy felt something snap deep inside of her.

"STOP IT! STOP IT!" She pushed against both of them trying to keep the two men in her life separated.

The moment seemed to freeze and everyone just stopped and stared at each other the pain and anger plain to read on each face in front of her.

She panted hard trying to reign in her runaway thoughts the pain that was overtaking her body. She stepped away from them seeking the only shelter she knew of in the room. Turning desperate eyes towards Willow she knew that soon even this harbor would be denied her.

"What do you want to do?" Willow asked her quietly a soothing hand dropping to her shoulder.

"I don't know. What happened to Angel wasn't his fault." This much she was certain. If any one was at fault for what happened to Angel it was Drusilla. Buffy was sure of that. Even if her own negligence had helped the demented vampiress to get the opportunity to take Angel's soul it was still the direct fault of Spike's Sire.

"Yeah but what happened to Miss Calendar is." Xander's bitter voice made all of them flinch.

Buffy stared at her friend unable to form a coherent thought let alone enough words to make intelligent speech come from her mouth.

"You can paint this any way you want but it seems like you just want to forget about Ms. Calendar's murder just so you can get your boyfriend back."

This time there was no masking the hurt on her face. No it was etched there as surely as if she had been made of granite. Which would have been better because at least stone couldn't feel.

She was unable to get around the lump in her throat so that she could make Xander understand. Unable to think clearly enough to express to him why re-ensouling the rampaging vampire was important.

Was unable to make him understand that although at one time she had loved him she couldn't look into his face any more and not see the monster inside.

Instead she pushed her way through the library doors.

*****************

She had been restless ever since she had left the library and while talking to Willow and getting her support had helped some she still couldn't get passed the hurt Xander's words had caused her.

There was no doubt that she would do her duty if need be with Angelus. She had a firm resolve that she was going to kill the vamp.

No the hurt came from the fact that Xander believed what he said. That he thought she was so callus and cold hearted that she would do all this to let a murder back in their lives.

He was so wrong.

Buffy knew she was just being realistic.

Chances were when everything went down Angelus was not only going to have minions for back up.

No there were still two other Master Vampires in Sunnydale. And while fighting to protect Angelus probably wasn't high on Spike's priority list defending Drusilla was. As for the psycho ho vamp well she was just guessing that she'd be right by her precious daddy's side.

In other words the deck was seriously stacked against her and she knew it.

The curse was a good bet to even out the odds.

************

Buffy moved silently through the dark scenery of the park stake held firmly in her hand.

Unfortunately now that she had a plan, well sort of, for Angelus her troubled thoughts drifted. Drifted right to a certain bleached evil vamp.

With the acknowledgement of his existence came the never ending guilt at having let him go. Guilt that others may be hurt because of her decision.

And yet deep within her she still felt that she had done the right thing. That healing and re-releasing the vamp was what she should have done. She knew that no matter what happened that leaving him in the torturous care of his two family members was not an option.

But how did you do the right thing and still feel so wrong?

She longed for the time when the answers were so simple. Back a few months ago when she could see everything in black and white. Before Angelus. Before Spike slammed into town.

Instead she wrestled with her own twisting insides knowing how much her decisions were affecting others. Knew that there would be a hundred woman like Jenny Calendar that would die because of her.

The knowledge was bitter in her mouth.

**********

After two days of just watching them Spike finally had had enough. They were disgusting the way they fawned all over each other. Making a display of themselves in front of the minions.

No it was time to let them know that the big bad was back.

Completely.

No one was going to stand in his way of getting Dru back. No one.

Angelus' time was running out. And Spike knew that they were warming a seat up for him in a special corner of hell. He'd be happy to send him there.

He slipped quietly through the door rolling his eyes at the unobservant minions.

No wonder the Slayer was able to get the drop on the ones at the factory. They were all mindless.

He made his way to stand in a back corner of the room waiting for one of them to acknowledge his presence. Instead he watched Dru dance around the giant rock in front of the fireplace. Angelus stood not far away a sinister grin sitting on his lips as he stared at the thing.

Barely in the room for a minute Spike was already bored. This wouldn't do at all.

"So redecorating Angelus?" Spike stepped into the light as his Grandsire turned towards his voice. "Have to say don't think you're gonna be on the cover of Better Homes and Gardens any time soon."

"Well well well. And what do we have here?" Angelus stepped closer to him while Dru watched him carefully. "Did the Slayer finally finish with her Florence Nightingale act? Or did you get tired of your staring role as the English Patient?"

Spike refused to be baited. He had enough problems holding his temper watching his Sire and Grandsire interact. He wasn't going to let the Wanker's words get a reaction out of him.

"Got what I needed." He answered simply.

"So I see." Angelus' eyes traveled slowly over his vertical form. "And what brings you to our little lair Willy?"

"My Spike came for his Princess." The sound of little girl wonder in her voice drew his attention like a homing beacon.

"That right?" Angelus said the disdain in his voice clear as ice.

This time Spike turned hateful eyes to Angelus.

"That's right."

The older vampire seemed to consider that for a moment.

"And what makes you think that she would want you?" The sneer on Angelus' face grew as he talked. "Or for that matter that she's even thought about you while you've been gone?"

Spike for once held his tongue. He couldn't let Angelus see any of his insecurities. It didn't matter that the gelled wonder already knew what they were. As long as he didn't expose the fresh pain his words brought him Angelus would move on.

He watched as the brunette grabbed Dru by the arm and dragged her to him sinking his fangs into her neck. It took all of his will power to stay where he was as Dru's moan of pleasure echoed around the room.

Spike took out a cigarette and flipped his trusted Zippo open. Taking a harsh drag he let the nicotine settle into his body wishing he had a working circulatory system so he could really feel it's effects on his nerves.

He needed to bide his time. To wait for the perfect opening to take the fat bastard down. A time that his dark princess would be sufficiently distracted while he took care of daddy.

"So what's with the big fucking rock Peaches?"

"Spike my boy you never did learn your history." Angelus paced forward coming even closer to Spike.

"Let's have a lesson then." He gave a sarcastic roll of his eyes at the posturing of the older vamp.

"Acathla the demon came forth to swallow the world." He moved forward to stand in front of the stone again. "He was killed by a virtuous knight who pierced the demon's heart with a sword before he could draw a breath to perform the act. Acathla turned to stone as demon's sometimes do and was buried." He turned and faced Spike once more. "Where neither man nor demon would want to look. Unless of course they were putting in low rent housing. Boys."

Spike watched the two minions work to pry the stone open with a couple of crowbars watching the maniacal look on his grandsire's face. The eager anticipation was disturbing to say the least and he felt something in his gut clench.

Things were progressing in a direction that would not bode well in the days to come.

The thud of the open rock hitting the floor drew his attention and he couldn't help giving a nervous swallow at the sight. The demon stood tall and massive a sword protruding from it's chest.

He watched as Dru raised her hands in the air and began to sway back and forth.

"He fills my head I can't hear anything else."

Oh he knew where this was going. He thought well hoped that he had been wrong but the overwhelming sight of the stone demon pushed the hope he had out the window where it plummeted to a painful crushing death.

"Let me guess. Someone pulls out the sword..."

"Someone worthy..."

He rolled his eyes at Angelus' interruption.

"The demon wakes up and wackiness ensues." He replied his voice flat.

Drusilla twirled to a stop in front of him and gazed at him with her cold blue eyes.

"He will swallow the world."

The chuckle from his grandsire didn't help with the chill that came from Dru's little announcement.

"And every creature living on the planet will go to hell." An evil smile began to spread on Angelus' face. "My friends we're about to make history. End."





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