Daylight was approaching when they pulled up in front of the office. They went inside and Angel carried a sleeping Xander down into his apartment. Doyle pulled the covers down and they tucked the sleeping youth in, and after making sure that he was still resting peacefully, they slipped quietly out of the bedroom. As they made their way to the kitchen, they saw Cordelia heating up a mug of blood for Angel, while the bacon was cooking on the stove.

"We might as well have breakfast here," she said when she saw them looking at her. "How is Xander?"

"I think he'll be alright. He's pretty resilient, if I remember correctly," Angel told her.

"Yeah, I remember." Cordelia sighed. "When you fight with the slayer, you have to be. Especially if you're only human. I remember how sore I would get after a night of patrolling."

"What are you talking about Cordelia? I never remember you patrolling with the gang, except for that one time..." Angel's voice trailed off.

"Oh, you mean that time you found us in the graveyard when you were Angelus and you tried to kill me?" Cordelia asked nonchalantly.

"Yeah," Angel replied. "That was the only time that I saw you doing the patrol thing."

"Well, I did thank you very much. It was the summer before our senior year. You wouldn't remember that because that was when you were in hell and Buffy had run away."

"Again with that one moment in time," Doyle said, shaking his head.

"Wait a minute. You're saying that Buffy just ran off and left the Hellmouth unguarded?" Angel asked.

"She was broken up about sending you to hell. She couldn't deal. When I came back from that rotten trip to Cancun the others were already patrolling, you know trying to keep down the vamp action. I did it to help Xander so he wouldn't get killed, because after Kevin I didn't want to have any more dead boyfriends. Anyway, we all got to wear walkie-talkies and we had code names and everything, but the outfits sucked. I wanted something in Tommy Hilfiger."

While Angel was processing the fact that Buffy had left her friends to handle her duties because of him, and that Giles would actually allow a bunch of kids with no training to do that, Doyle was questioning Cordelia. "What were your code names?" he asked.

"Oh, well let's see Willow was Pink Ranger, Oz was Dr. Evil, mine was Queen Vamp, and Xander's was Nighthawk. Buffy thought that was a stupid name and told Xander that, but I actually got turned on by it. He was always cute when he was being so manly and leading his troops." Cordelia smiled, remembering old times. She didn't notice the look of jealousy that crossed Doyle's face.

"Xander was the leader? I would have thought that Willow would be the one to lead the troops as you called it," Angel said, still stunned by the fact that these young kids had gone head to head with vampires and demons without the slayer. He had always thought the Scoobies were a brave lot, but his respect for them all had just gone up a notch while his respect for Buffy had dropped one. How could she leave them all alone like that? He knew Buffy had been hurt by what she had done, but life still went on and she should have stayed and thrown her grief into her work as the slayer instead of running away and leaving a bunch of innocents to do it for her. He wondered if Buffy had ever even thanked them for that.

"Are you kidding me? Willow got updates from Giles on where the vampires would rise and stuff, but mostly she just tried to taunt the vampires like Buffy always did. Xander was definitely the one in charge. Think about it Angel. Don't you remember how he was on the front line during the fight at graduation?"

Angel thought back and remembered how excited but scared Xander had been when Buffy had told him that he would be instrumental in the attack. He remembered how Xander and the others had gathered all the remaining members of their senior class and had told them what was going to happen. Xander had been totally different those last few days before Angel had left. He had taken charge, planning strategies with Buffy, getting and placing the equipment and explosives that they had managed to steal from the army base they had broken into once again, and basically telling everyone what weapon they would be using and where they were to be seated. Angel had helped the others train the students in everything from archery to hand to hand combat.

"Now I do. He loved to rub it in my face that he was the 'key guy'. I don't know how many arguments Buffy had to break up. She said we sounded like little old ladies." Angel smiled at Cordelia.

"You and I can smile about that now, because we made it through the fight, but there were a lot of our classmates that didn't." Cordelia said sadly. "After you had gone and we were just sitting there, staring at what used to be our school, it started to hit us, you know, what all we had lost. Actually, I think Xander took it the hardest. He blamed himself for the deaths of the ones he put on the front line. I don't know why though. Xander gave everyone a chance to back out, but nobody did. They kinda looked up to him which was weird considering how a lot of them used to pick on him and stuff. But at that moment he wasn't the class clown. He was their leader. It was really neat, well until the killing part came. I remember the look he got on his face when Larry got killed. He was the first one of us to die. It was heartbreaking."

"Who was Larry?" Doyle asked. He was as overwhelmed and interested in this story as Angel appeared to be. Although Angel had been there during the fight, he had been too busy to watch. He had figured that most of the teenagers would run away when they actually saw the big snake, let alone the vampires, but evidently none of them had.

"He was this big football jock that took great pleasure in bullying Xander all through school until Xander found out he was gay. I think Larry had a crush on Xander and if Xander had been comfortable with his sexuality back then, well who knows what might have happened. Larry told me that they had become friends after he confided in Xander. He said Xander was easy to talk to."

"Well, that much is true," Doyle agreed, thinking back to when he had first met Xander. The boy had made him feel like they had been friends their entire life.

"It depends on who you are, I guess," Angel said.

"You have to admit that you weren't very easy to get to know back then. Always popping in with a cryptic message before you mysteriously disappeared. Even if it weren't for the whole Buffy thing, Xander didn't trust you. Plus, you did try to kill him several times." Cordelia pointed out.

"That would be a down side to getting to be friends with any one I would imagine," Doyle looked at Angel and smiled. "But I think he's beginning to think of you as a friend now."

"That's probably because Angel's changed a lot since he left Sunnydale. Back there he was all Mr. Broody Pants and here he's....well Mr. Broody Pants, but with a side of humor." Cordelia set a couple of plates down for her and Doyle and handed Angel a mug of blood.

"Speaking of Sunnydale, does anyone know whether or not Xander has talked to anyone from there since he left? It's been almost three weeks now, and he's never said anything about it," Angel said. He and Cordelia both looked at Doyle.

"What?" Doyle asked looking up from the plate in front of him. "Why are you both staring at me?"

"Well, he does live with you nimrod," Cordelia said. "If anyone would know the answer to our question it would be you."

"As far as I know the answer is no. The last time I talked to Xander about it, he just said that he didn't tell them where he was going, he just left a note for them saying he had to get away and think about everything. He was going to wait a while before he called that Willow girl. He felt if any of them would forgive him it would be her. The way Xander talks, they must be really close. Every time he talks about her, his face lights up and he's just like a big kid in a toy store." Doyle told them.

"Yeah, Xander really loves her. Always has, ever since kindergarten. Maybe even before, but that's how long I've known them anyway. Where you saw one you always saw the other. I don't know what Xander will do if Willow doesn't forgive him. It would break his heart if he lost Giles and Buffy, but Willow - well it would be like losing a part of himself, like an arm or something."

Angel had been listening to them talk as he drank his blood. "Well, if I know Willow like I think I do, she's probably already forgiven him and is worrying herself to death as we speak."

"You think we ought to give her a call and tell her he's been visiting me?" Cordelia asked him.

"No, I think that's up to Xander. He'll call her if he wants her to know."

"Well, I know Willow better than you do and she's gonna be mad as hell at us for not telling her Xander was here." Cordelia said.

"Maybe so, but it's still his decision. Besides, now that he's met this new guy, Xander may not want to leave L.A." Angel said a little hopefully.

"Well, I for one hope he stays. I've gotten used to having him around." Doyle said. "He's got a way of making you laugh even when you don't want to."

"Yeah, it's just like I told Buffy one time. He kind of grows on you like a chia pet." Cordelia said cheerfully.

"What about this new guy? Do you think we should check him out, make sure he's on the up and up. Like a regular guy and not some demon or something." Angel looked at the other two.

"NO, don't you dare Angel. You know your possessive streak is kind of cute most of the time but when it comes to our social lives, it's kind of annoying." Cordelia told him. "And if we want him to stay, or at the most come back and visit often, we can't piss him off by checking out his new love interest. Xander would hate it if we went behind his back and did something like that."

"You're right. But if this guy wants to keep seeing Xander, we get to meet him. And if he hurts Xander, well let's just say things could get very ugly." Angel said, walking over to the couch and laying down. Doyle and Cordelia gave each other a look before they went back to finishing their breakfast.

Late into the afternoon, Xander woke up. Sore and disoriented it took him a few minutes to remember why he was sore and to figure out where he was. Surprised to find himself in Angel's bed he slowly sat up while looking around. When he realized there were two other people in the bed, he jumped up with a scream.

Cordelia and Doyle sat up quickly, having been woken by Xander's scream and Angel came running in ready to fight off whatever had attacked his three friends. When none of them found anyone trying to kill them, they all turned to stare at Xander. He was standing to the side of the bed, holding his sore ribs and aching head. Angel walked over to him and gently put his arm around the shaking boy, leading him back to the bed to sit down.

"Are you alright, did you hurt yourself?" Angel asked, worry in his voice.

"No, I'm not alright. Well, yeah, I guess I'm alright it's just...what are you two doing in the bed with me? Did we have some kind of threesome thing and I just can't remember it due to being abused by an angry mobster? And if we did, did anyone tape it because I would hate to not remember something like that if it was really good,you know." He asked them. "Was it really good?"

"Crude, much." Cordelia huffed. "No, we did not have a threesome thing. You and I are just friends now. And besides that, take a look at all of us. We're still completely dressed, you dope."

"Oh, well yeah I see that now." Xander said sheepishly.

"Besides, I wouldn't share my Princess with anyone else," Doyle told him.

"Get over yourself Doyle. I don't belong to anyone. You don't see "Property of" tattooed on my ass, do you? Well not that any one of the three of you have seen said ass, but if you did it wouldn't have that on it." Cordelia retorted.

"Well, now that we're all awake, maybe we should get to work." Angel told them, trying to change the subject.

"Not me. I've got an audition in a couple of hours for a commercial." Cordelia said, getting up from the bed and heading for the door.

"But Cordy, you're apartment is only like 20 minutes away," Doyle said.

"It takes me 45 minutes to look my very best, and then I've got to get over to the studio." She looked at him like he had just told her that aliens had landed.

"Sorry. I forgot how long it takes women to get ready for anything." Doyle turned back to the vampire. "I'm in. What's on the agenda today?"

"Well, unless you've had any visions there's only the waiting for a client to come in."

"Sounds fascinating." Doyle started to follow Angel from the room. "What about you, Xander? You coming with us?"

"No, he's staying in bed for the rest of the day, just like the paramedics said." When Xander went to protest, Angel frowned at him. "I mean it, Xander. Don't argue about this."

"Yes, sir." Xander saluted the vampire. As they were all leaving, Xander called out, "Can I at least get up to use the bathroom and the telephone? While the telephone is not a necessity, the bathroom is unless you want a water bed."

Angel just shook his head. "Yes, you can go to the bathroom. Then when you're done there's a plate of food out in the refrigerator for you. Eat it before you start calling anyone. And don't stay on the phone for very long. I want you back in that bed." When they all looked at him, he added, "For sleeping."

"Thanks for clarifying that. It sounds much better now." Xander said, smiling. It made him feel good that someone cared about his welfare, even if it was Deadboy.

After everyone left, Xander got up and made his way to the bathroom. After relieving himself and cleaning up, he walked out to the kitchen and put his plate in the microwave to heat it up. As he sat down to eat, he realized that bed did seem like a good idea at the moment. His head was still pounding and his ribs didn't feel that good either. He decided that the phone calls could wait until later. Looking around, he found a thing of painkillers and took a couple before heading over to the couch and laying down. He was soon asleep, the pills having done the trick.

Angel walked into the room, having come down to check on the boy and to retrieve a book from his desk. He smiled when he saw that Xander hadn't even made it back to the bed. He gently picked Xander up and took him to his room, laying him on the bed and tucking him in. Angel studied the young man's face before he reached down to push back the bangs from Xander's forehead. He looked so innocent and childlike in sleep that Angel couldn't help but lean down and kiss the boy on his forehead. Then he whispered, "Sleep well, Xander. I promise you I won't let you get hurt again, at least not while you're with me." Angel stared at the sleeping boy for a moment longer before retrieving his book and going back up to his office.

Meanwhile, back in Sunnydale, Spike stood on a hill watching as the slayer chased down a fledge vampire. He had come back to this godforsaken place to do two things, kill the slayer and claim his boy. Spike had searched the town over, but as yet had not found any trace of the dark haired, brown eyed boy that had been consuming his thoughts ever since Spike saw him in L.A. with Angel.

Spike had found this very unusual. Xander never strayed too far from his pals, especially Willow. He had followed both Willow and Buffy for two weeks now and had seen nothing of Xander. Maybe the boy had stayed in L.A., Spike thought. Well, he would just have to make his way back there as soon as he was finished killing the slayer. Spike listened as she went through her usual taunting banter while fighting the vampire. No, she was definitely not as quick-witted as his boy.

"Thanks for the relocate. I perform better without an audience," Spike heard Buffy say as she caught up with the vampire. They started fighting and Spike had to admit that she was good at what she did. It would be a challenge to take this slayer down, but Spike always did like a good challenge.

"You're thinking what? A little helpless co-ed before bed," Buffy was saying as she waited for the vampire she was fighting to get back up. After knocking the vampire around for a little while, Buffy raised her stake, just as she was saying, "You know very well if you eat this late you're going to get heartburn." And with that said she staked the fledge.

As the vampire stood looking at his chest, right before he turned to dust, Buffy added, "Get it? Heartburn?" Spike shrugged. How lame was that? He saw Buffy look at the place where the vampire had turned to dust before walking off, muttering, "That's it? That's all I get? One lame ass vamp with no appreciation for my pain stakingly thought out puns. I don't think the forces of darkness are even trying. I mean, you could make a little effort here. Give me something to work with."

That was her problem, Spike thought as he watched her leave. She put too much thought into being witty, whereas Xander just said whatever came into his head. He liked that Xander never really thought about what he was saying, just went with the flow, said what he thought. Spike admired that in people, well some people anyway. At this moment, however, he was just plain pissed. Weeks of searching for Xander without any luck was putting him in a bad mood. Not to mention seeing Buffy after losing his ring. How dare she take his ring and give it to Angel. Even though he knew his boy would be upset at the loss of his friend, Spike had to kill her. It was like a mission statement. It had to be done, and he was just the vampire to do it.

"Watch your mouth, little girl. You should know better than to tempt the fates that way. Cause the Big Bad is back, and this time..." he never finished the sentence as he felt a jolt of electricity course through his body, making him fall to the ground unconscious.

Spike felt his senses coming back to him as he lay on what felt to him, like a cold, concrete floor. "Slayer," he muttered, "I'm going to kill you...you're not so tough...I'll kill you...gonna kill you and find my boy...Xander," he said coming fully awake at the thought of the brunette. Spike got up and looked around. He was in a room, brightly lit with sterile looking walls, all except for in front of him. He got up, disoriented, and walked to the glass. As he leaned on it to look around, it zapped him, knocking him backwards. Spike's eyes filled with horror as he saw what looked like doctors in lab coats walking past him. Where the bloody hell was he?

Spike paced back and forth around his cell. This was frustrating as hell. He wanted answers and he wanted them now. Just as he was about to scream out, venting his anger to anyone that would listen, he heard a buzz coming from above him. Spike looked up just in time to see a bag of blood drop to the floor. Knowing he was hungry, he reached down and picked up the bag ripping into it with his teeth. As he was getting ready to drink, he heard a voice from a cell next to him. "Don't drink it. It's drugged."

Spike looked at the bag and rolled his eyes. Shit, could this day or night or whatever the hell it was, get any worse? "Uh, huh," he said as he threw the bag to the floor. Who are you, mate?" Spike asked in the direction the voice had come from.

"I'm a rat. I'm a lab rat, just like the others. They're going to kill us you know." the voice said in terror.

Spike walked over to the wall that was separating him from the vampire on the other side. "Yeah, how are they going to do that?"

"Well, they starve you, and when you're ready to bite your own arm, they shoot out one of those packets. You drink, and the next thing, you're gone. That's when they do the experiments."

"And they are," Spike urged the other vampire on, wanting to know who THEY were and what kind of experiments he was talking about. He was beginning to get a little nervous. When he got no answer, he started guessing, "The government? The Nazis? A major cosmetics company?"

"Who cares? All I know is one minute I'm running from the slayer and her gang and the next minute I'm here."

"The slayer. I knew it, I knew it." Spike yelled, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration. How did he know she was behind this? Then his mind filtered through what the other vampire had said. The slayer and her gang. Spike was just about to ask about Xander when he heard the vampire talking to him.

"She took apart my crew and led me straight to these guys," he said.

"She set me up too," Spike hit the glass wall and got a jolt for his troubles. All thoughts of Xander left his mind for a moment as he concentrated on his hatred for the slayer. "I always worried what would happen when that bitch got some funding. She's wised up a bit," Spike told the other vampire. His anger rose another notch. He looked up at the ceiling, yelling, "Fine. I'll take her apart. I don't care how brilliant she thinks she is."

After a few moments, he began to calm down. "By the way, you said the slayer and her gang took you out? What gang?" Spike asked, pretending he didn't know who ran with the girl.

"You don't know about them? Sunday, that was our leader. She had the slayer good and scared. We had fought her a few days ago and she seemed like such a lame ass, you know. She even ran from us. We went to her dorm room and stole all her stuff. Made it look like she couldn't handle the college life and all, so no one would miss her. We thought we had her on the ropes."

Spike was surprised to hear that Buffy had actually run from this Sunday bird. Even though he hated the girl, he couldn't imagine someone as cocky as Buffy running from a few vampires. "Get on with the story, mate," he urged.

"Well, that night we were sitting around, going through her junk and stuff and making fun of it. All of the sudden, the slayer comes crashing in from above us. She still looked a little scared, though not as bad as the first time we had seen her. She was telling all these lame jokes and getting mad at us over stealing her stuff and Sunday was egging her on. Then boom, the door crashes open and her little group comes running in, led by some dark headed dude. Some red haired girl staked one of my buds while the dark headed guy staked the other. All of a sudden, hell broke loose. The slayer started standing up to Sunday and the next thing I know Sunday is dead and I'm running for my life."

Spike had to grin at the image of Xander leading the charge and the two teenagers staking the vampires. His boy was always throwing himself headlong into the fray, with Willow close behind. He always knew that while Buffy was good at what she did, without her little friends she wouldn't have lasted on the Hellmouth as long as she had. "So there were two of them helping the slayer then?"

"No, there were three. There was a short guy with spiked hair, too."

Spike's brain flashed a memory. L.A. The boy in the van that held the crossbows on him while Xander looked for the ring. What had Xander called him? Oh, yeah, Oz. Spike wondered who this guy was. Then he remembered Harmony talking about Red and her boyfriend, Oz. How she wanted Spike to kill them after she tried to eat Willow and had been stopped.

His mind came back as he heard the other vampire continuing his story. "I hid in the shadows while they left. They were carrying all the slayer's stuff back to her room. The dark headed guy was walking with her, calling dibs on our rowing machine and then I heard him ask her if she thought college was scary anymore and the slayer said something about being able to deal now. They looked pretty chummy, cause she was smiling at him. I think they may be going out or something. That's all I remember before I felt this pain and passed out. Then I found myself here."

Spike started to growl at those words. "There's no fucking way that they are dating. They're just friends. She was going out with some ponce." Spike thought for a minute before asking, "How long have you been in here?" Maybe he could figure out when the other vampire had seen Xander.

"How should I know? I've been trapped in this place for like forever." the vampire shot back. "All I know was, it was right after college semester started. We had just started eating the freshmen."

That was no help then. That meant Xander was spotted with Buffy before he went to L.A. A smile crossed his face. That meant the two of them weren't together, because if they had of been she would never have dated that Parker guy in the first place. Who in their right mind would give up a tasty morsel like his boy for that anyway? He guessed the slayer was really stupid after all. Xander had been her friend for almost 4 years now and she hadn't snapped him up yet. Stupid girl. Her loss was his gain, Spike thought smugly.

He looked at the blood on the floor and his quick mind came up with an escape plan. Carefully he hid the blood packet in his coat pocket and lay down on the floor. If these people thought he was unconscious maybe they would be stupid enough to come for him and then he would make his escape.

After an hour or so had passed Spike heard a noise and sneaking a peek he saw a couple of the doctors stop outside his cell with a stretcher. He lay still as one of them opened the cell door. *Patience, Spike*. Soon it would be over, he could kill the slayer and find Willow. Spike was tired of following them. It was time for a game of 20 questions and Spike knew that if anyone knew where Xander was, it would be Willow.

The doctors approached him, kneeling down and lifting him up off the cold floor. They dragged him over to the stretcher and threw him up on it. Spike lay still as they started to strap him in and when he felt the pressure on his chest he opened his eyes, grabbing the man's hand and digging his fingers into the doctor's throat. The man looked at him in total fear. Good.

"Sorry. Can't stay. Got to go see a couple of girls." He kicked up off the stretcher, knocking the doctor off his feet. Warning alarms started ringing and he looked around frantically trying to figure out which way to go. The other doctor attacked and Spike hit him, knocking the man over the stretcher he had been lying on earlier. He rolled over the stretcher and grabbed the man, intent on making these people pay for keeping him from his plans.

All of a sudden, a massive jolt of pain to his brain almost dropped Spike to his knees. He felt the doctor push him towards the cell where the vampire that he had been talking to earlier was being held. The doctor threw Spike up against the door and started trying to choke him. Evidently these doctors didn't know anything about vampires or they would know that vampires don't breathe, thus trying to choke one of them was useless.

He heard the doctor yelling for someone to get him some kind of serum and then the other vampire was screaming at Spike. "Let me out!"

"Bit busy right now," Spike told him, trying to figure out what the hell had happened to him.

"Look, I know where the exit is. You spring me, you're free. If you don't, you're dead."

Spike made up his mind to help the other vampire, at least long enough for him to make his way out of the long, white halls. He knocked the doctor's arms away while turning him around to shove him into the other doctor who was approaching with a needle. The needle entered the first doctors neck and he went down with a thud. Better him than me.Spike changed into vamp face and eyed the other terrified doctor. Spike grabbed the doctor and threw him to the floor before looking through the pockets of the other doctor, finding the card that would unlock the vampire's cell door.

"This way," the vampire shouted as he started to lead Spike out of the hallway. Spike turned and saw the other vampires and assorted demons still being held captive in their cells and felt a pang of remorse that he didn't have enough time to free them, too. He saw the defeated looks of some, while others were looking hopeful. Spike turned and followed the other vampire out of the hallway, all thoughts going to killing the slayer and finding Xander.

They ran to the end of the hallway and as they were approaching a door, it started to shut. Spike hit the floor and slid under right before it shut behind him. They ran around a corner but could not get through the next door before it slid shut in front of them. They turned and were starting to head the other way when Spike saw a bunch of military looking guys coming out of an elevator with gas masks on.

"New plan. We split up." Spike told the other vampire, before throwing him into the men coming out of the elevator. "You go that way," Spike said as the men held the other vampire and Spike again hit the floor and slid under the next door, hoping and praying that this was the way out of this hellhole. He made his way through the corridor and it seemed like years before he found an exit leading out into the fresh air and daylight. Spike grabbed his coat and pulled it over his head as he raced to a building that was near the campus.

He knew that those soldier guys would be looking for him and he didn't have much time. Spike looked around and saw a sewer entrance not far from where he was standing. He again threw his coat over his head, and feeling the sun burning into his flesh Spike raced over to the sewer, opening it and dropping down. He began threading his way through the sewers, finding a place to hide until it was dark.

A few hours later, after the sun set Spike made his way to the lair that he and Harmony shared. He walked in to find Harmony hanging up a picture of a unicorn and listening to some awful bubblegum pop music. Spike hated having to see her again, but he needed to get some weapons if he was going to off the slayer. He walked in and Harmony turned around. When she saw him her face lit up.

"Spike? Spike is that really you?" she asked walking towards him. He strode confidently over to her side.

"It's me baby. Your man is back."

Spike was surprised when he felt the slap across the face that Harmony had dished out. What the bleeding hell was going on? Then he remembered how he had staked her when she had found the Gem of Amara. Okay. Time to work the Spike charm on her.

"Bastard!" Harmony screamed at him. "You dumped me, and staked me, and hurt me and left me----"

This was going to be a little harder than he had thought. "I know, sugar but you're forgetting one other thing I did. I missed you." Spike said, giving her a version of his own puppy dog eyes.

"Really?" Harmony was beginning to come around already. Huh, that puppy dog look does work and not only for Xander. He opened his arms as if to take her into an embrace. She jumped over and wrapped her arms around Spike, hugging him tightly. "Oh, just don't ever do that to me again."

Spike hugged her briefly before pushing her gently away. He didn't want to have anything to do with Harmony anymore, but he had to make her think he did until he could get his weapons gathered.

"Oh, never my little...foam latte," Spike said, trying hard to come up with some sweet words to say. "Your Blondie Bear is here to stay," he added as he made his way to the weapons standing against the far wall.

"Well, where have you been?" Harmony asked, before adding, "No, wait don't tell me. I'm just glad you're back. And this time it's for good, right?"

Spike picked up the nearest axe and started twirling it in his hands. "Oh, forever and ever, my petite crème broulette," he said casually, as he threw the axe back down on the floor and started looking around the lair for something else. It wouldn't do to enter the campus holding a big axe. He didn't want to alert the slayer to his presence until he had her in his sights.

"Ooooh, Italian," Spike heard Harmony saying, as he picked up a long knife. Shit, the girl was such a ditz.

"Uh, yeah," he said offhandedly. "And get used to it," Spike threw the knife back down on the dresser and started hunting around the lair once again. "Big Daddy's home and we're going to go wherever you want, do whatever you want, kill whoever you want. Starting with the slayer." Spike picked up another weapon and looked at it, before tossing it to the side. "And after that, it's all you and me my..." he patted his pockets, looking for his smokes, "little mentholated pack of smokes."

"Spikey," Harmony said, coming up to Spike and grabbing his coat before rubbing her hands up his chest and through his hair. "let's leave the slayer alone. You know she'll only slap you around and I can do that."

Harmony grabbed his head, pulling him towards her for a kiss and Spike felt a pain in his head again. What had those bastards done to him? "Ow, no, see, ow, the head luv, watch the head," Spike warned as she pushed him onto the bed and got on top of him.

"Oh, my poor Spikey, does your head hurt? I'll make the pain go away though. And when we're done we can go find Xander Harris and kill him, okay? Or maybe Willow? Just not the slayer."

Spike stiffened at her words. He sat up quickly, almost knocking her to the floor. "Why do you want to kill Xander?" Spike asked.

"Because we got into a hair pulling contest not long ago and he tricked me into letting him go. Now I want revenge on him." Harmony tried to nibble on Spike's ear. "Besides, you know I hated him even when I was human. He thought he could be popular by dating Cordy but he was just a stupid geek with awful clothes. We all made fun of him."

Spike felt anger rising at Harmony's words. He decided then and there to kill everyone who had ever made fun of his pet. Then he started to smile as he remembered Harmony's words about a hair pulling contest and Xander tricking her. "How did Xander trick you, Harm?" he asked trying to sound nonchalant.

"It was a long time ago, right after you staked me. I went out into the cemetery and was going to burn all your stuff and he snuck up on me. I slapped him, he kicked me, I hit him and then we started fighting. I grabbed his hair and he grabbed mine and then I told him I was going to bite him."

"But you didn't?" Spike said, knowing the answer to that question. He knew that the time frame meant that it was before he saw Xander in L.A. and therefore the boy was alright. Now Spike was just curious to find out how they had both walked away without Xander dying or Harmony being staked. Although Spike couldn't stand the girl, he knew that Harmony was strong. "Did the slayer or his other pals gang up on you," Spike asked with false concern.

"No, Xander told me to cut it out. Then he said we should both stop. I told him I would if he would and he said on the count of three. After he counted to three we both let go and then Xander said it was nice catching up and he left."

Spike couldn't help the laugh that escaped him. Only Xander would use Harmony's stupidity and his own wit to get away from the vampire. Spike was laughing as he said aloud, "Only you, pet. Only you".

"What? Are you talking to me, Spike?" Harmony asked in confusion.

"No, I was talking about Xander," Spike said before he thought. He saw the look of confusion leave Harmony's face and one of rage take its place.

"You don't care about me, do you? You care about Xander Harris. Oh, euw, you like Xander Harris? You freak. You big, dumb freak! If you would rather have stupid Xander Harris over me then just get out!" Harmony screamed, pushing Spike off the bed.

Spike got up off the floor and looked at her in disgust. "Xander's worth 10 of you Harmony. I'm going to go kill the slayer and then I'm going to find the boy and make him mine." Spike said leaving Harmony to her screaming fit.

A few hours later Spike made his way into the school's office and quickly scanned the computer looking for Buffy's name in the lists of residents living on campus. He soon found her listed under Stevenson Hall, Room 214. "Hello, slayer." Spike said leaning back in satisfaction. Soon the slayer would be dead and hopefully, her friend would be there too. Then Spike could find out where Xander was and find him. Maybe he would turn Willow into a vampire also. That would make his boy happy, and Spike did have a soft spot for the little witch. After all, she had stood up to him when he kidnapped Xander and Willow that time.

Spike got up and made his way to Stevenson Hall. He found Room 214 and knocked on the door, looking around. He heard Willow's voice say "Come In." and he smiled to himself. When would the girl learn that you didn't say "come in" on the Hellmouth without seeing who was at the door.

Spike smiled as he walked through the door. Willow was lying on her bed listening to music. She jumped up off the bed when she saw who she had let in. "Spike, uh, what do you want?" Willow asked, trembling in fear. "A spell? I can do that."

Spike walked around the room and saw her making a run for the door. Spike grabbed her and pushed her against the nightstand next to the desk as she yipped in terror.

"I'll give you a choice. Now I'm gonna kill you, no choice in that," Spike told her thoughtfully as he approached Willow. "But, I can let you stay dead, or bring you back to be like me," Spike told her, changing into vamp face. He thought he was being awfully nice, because there really was no choice. No, after he found the slayer and questioned Willow, he was definitely going to turn her, for his boy.

"What are you doing here? Did you come to kill Buffy?" the girl asked not answering his question. Spike knew that she was trying to buy herself time until the slayer came back from wherever she was.

"That's one of the reasons I'm here," Spike said, looking around the room. "But it appears we have a little time to kill, no pun intended of course till she gets back. While we're waiting, you can do me a big favor."

"Wh-wh-what kind of favor?" Willow stuttered.

"I want you to tell me where your little friend Xander is. I haven't seen him hanging around with you lot lately."

Willow looked at him, all the terror leaving her face as she glared at him. "Why do you want to know where Xander is? What are you going to do to him?"

"It's nice to know that my pet has a friend like you," Spike said, meaning every word of what he said.

"Your pet? Xander's not your pet or anyone else's and I'm not going to tell you where he is because I don't know myself and even if I did I wouldn't tell you," Willow babbled nervously.

"He is my pet. He was given to me by Angel at the school that night I crashed the party. I've waited too long to take my sire up on his offer. And what do you mean you don't know where he is?" Spike asked, as Willow's words crashed through his brain. If Willow didn't know where he was, no one would.

"The last time I saw him was a few weeks ago. He left town after he came back with Oz from L.A. We haven't seen him since," Willow said, sadness pouring off of her in waves. Spike knew she was telling him the truth. "What do you mean, Angel gave Xander to you? He never told us about that. I am so going to kill Angel when I see him." Willow muttered angrily, all thoughts of fear leaving her at the thought of Angel giving Xander to Spike.

"Go ahead and do Angel in, I don't care. However, I want to know why Xander isn't in town. Did you all do something to him, because if you did I will have to kill each and every one of you. I was going to do that anyway, but I can always make it much more unpleasant." Spike told the girl angrily.

"Xander wouldn't want me to be a vampire," Willow shot back. "Just cause we all had a fight doesn't mean he's forgotten about us. Xander loves us and he'll be back when he's ready, just like Buffy came back that time."

"So the slayer reamed the boy out for lying to her, did she? She always took him for granted. All of you did. But I won't. When I find him, he'll be taken care of for eternity. I won't throw Xander out like you all did."

"We didn't throw him out. We were just upset, that's all. Friends do fight, you know...or maybe you don't." Willow told him.

"Well, I guess I've wasted enough time here. I'll just get on with it then and after I've killed the slayer, we'll go and find Xander together," Spike said, getting ready to bite Willow.

"I'll scream," she threatened.

"Bonus," Spike laughed as he went to bite her. He put his hand over Willow's mouth and turned up the music to muffle her screams. Spike threw Willow on the bed and went to bite her as she hit at him as hard as she could. Just as Spike was about to bite her, he felt that jolt of pain in his head again and he fell backwards off the bed. Spike jumped up to make sure that Willow couldn't run, only to find that she had backed up against the headboard and was looking at him in astonishment.

Spike sat down on the end of the bed and tried to figure out what the soldier boys had done to him. "I don't understand. This sort of thing's never happened to me before," he said putting his head in his hands.

"Maybe you were nervous," Willow suggested.

"I felt alright when I started." Spike took a much unneeded breath before he suggested, "Let's try again." He lunged at the girl and again felt the jolt of pain. He rolled back on the bed and then determinately lunged again, getting the same pain in his head. Spike jumped up off the bed and kicked the trash can across the room in frustration.

"Damnit." Spike yelled before he began pacing the floor in front of Willow. She looked up at him, fear again on her face.

"Maybe you're trying too hard," Willow said, rising to sit on the side of the bed. "Doesn't this happen to every vampire?"

"Not to me it doesn't!" Spike was livid. If he couldn't turn Willow then how was he ever going to turn Xander when he found him.

"It's me, isn't it?" Willow asked sadly.

Spike stopped and looked at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, you came here to kill Buffy and you were looking for Xander and when you couldn't find either one of them, you settled. You didn't want to bite me. I just happened to be around."

"Oh, piffle." Spike snorted.

"I know I'm not the kind of girl vamps like to sink their teeth into. It's always like oooh, you're like a sister to me or oh, you're such a good friend, you know like Xander always told me when I wanted him."

"Don't be ridiculous. I'd bite you in a heartbeat." Spike assured her as he sat down next to Willow on the bed. "And so would Xander if he were a vampire."

"Really?" she asked.

"Thought about it."

"When?"

Spike turned to the girl and smiled. "Remember last year? You had on that fuzzy pink number with the lilac underneath," Spike raised his eyebrow and looked at her. "You remember. When I kidnapped you and Xander. I was going to turn you both."

Spike didn't know why he was telling Willow all of this, but he was startled to see the girl smiling at him. "Really? I never would have guessed. You played the bloodlust kinda cool." Willow said.

"Yeah, I hate being obvious, all fangy and grrrrr. It takes the mystery out."

"But if you could?

"If I could, yeah."

"You know this doesn't make you any less terrifying," Willow reassured him.

"Don't patronize me," Spike said petulantly. "I'm only 126."

"You're being too hard on yourself. Why don't we wait a half an hour and try again?" Willow suggested before she realized what she was saying. Even if Spike couldn't bite her it didn't mean he couldn't hurt her in some way. "Or--" She picked up the lamp beside of the bed and before Spike noticed what she was doing, Willow hit him with the lamp and lunged for the door.

Spike cursed at himself. He was so busy mourning the fact that he wouldn't be able to kill Buffy or turn Xander and Willow that he hadn't noticed what she was doing until it was almost too late. As Willow grabbed for the door, Spike heard other humans outside and as they busted down the door, he pushed Willow into them, knocking them all onto the floor. Spike grabbed the gun of one of the soldiers and pushed him into the wall.

Spike grabbed another soldier and went to bite him, but was jolted again. As he screamed out in pain, someone but a pillowcase over his head and dragged him backwards before he almost got away. There were too many of them though and between that and the pain in his head, they soon had him subdued. Spike heard a voice command, "Bag it and tag it." He heard them arguing over whether or not to take Willow with them and Spike took that moment to break free of the ropes that they had tied him up with.

One of the soldiers pushed Spike up against the wall and he saw a fire extinguisher next to him. Spike broke the glass and punched the soldier with it and as he turned around, Spike saw another one of the soldiers taking aim at him. He put the fire extinguisher in front of him and the bullet hit it with a clang, spewing white fog all through the hallway. Then Spike heard the slayer's voice saying, "Contain this."

All hell broke less as Buffy started beating up the soldiers. Spike looked on in surprise for a moment. So she wasn't in on this little commando thing? Well, he would think about that later. Spike ran to the nearest window and crashed through it, falling to the ground below. He ran away from the dorm, intent on getting the hell out of Sunnydale and away from those soldiers before they did anything else to him.

Spike decided he would go to L.A. as that was the last place he had seen Xander. Maybe the poof would know where Xander was. Spike knew that he couldn't hurt Angel, but Angel didn't know that. Besides, he didn't have to confront Angel, Spike could just stake the place out. If Xander was in L.A. he would eventually turn up on Angel's doorstep. One thing Spike knew for sure. He would get his car, find Xander, wherever he was, and if he couldn't turn Xander he would just have to seduce him. And Spike had every confidence in himself that he could do just that.