"Wil?"

"Yes, Alex. It's me. What happened?"

"Spike. Spike was here."

"How, when? I - I don't understand."

Alex sighed and ran a hand through his hair. How do you tell someone that their demon is popping out to say hello after a thirty year absence?

"I don't know Wil, I came here to warn you about Anya and when I got here you were just standing behind the counter, eyes closed and jaw clenched. I spoke to you and then Spike said 'What the bloody hell do you want Harris?' and then I guess I fainted, pretty girly of me, and then you were here when I opened my eyes."

Wil stood and began to pace, this was unexpected. Sure he missed his demon, wanted to be able to interact with him again, but if he was unaware of Spikes' presence how could he control him?

"Hold on, did you say Anya was here?"

"Yeah, I ran into her earlier. She's in town on business."

"Lovely, just what Sunnydale needs, another demon."

"That's what I was thinking too. She wants to see me again before she leaves."

"Do you.... Are you.... I mean it's Anya."

"Gods no! I mean yeah, I was gonna marry her at one point but she's not who I want to be with. I want you Wil."

"Even with Spike popping out at random intervals?"

"Could be interesting. Be kinda funny to see how he'd react to finding himself kissing me."

"You, have a truly wicked streak in you."

Alex grinned at Wil.

"You don't know the half of it yet."

Alex stood and walked toward Wil. He reached a hand out and gently pulled the other man toward him. He brushed his lips over Wils' before pulling away slightly.

"Someday, soon I hope, you'll get to see just how truly wicked I really am."

"Yes, I -I'd like that. But I think, until I can sort out this Spike thing, that we should continue to wait."

"Of course. I told you, no rush."

Alex left soon after that to finish his quest for an apartment. Wil continued to work, not having any more strange bouts of anger or impatience. He chalked it up to Spikes' influence earlier and left it at that. He was troubled however at how the demon would react to his relationship with Alex. Spike was not against having sex with humans, or even males for that matter, it was the fact that Wil was falling in love with Alex - Xander - that would be the problem.

Alex finally found a decent apartment, it was partially furnished and had a fridge, stove, microwave, and a dishwasher. All he needed was bedroom furniture. He thought about taking some of Buffy's things from storage but decided against it. He didn't want to be reminded of that time in his life while laying in bed at night, hopefully with Wil at some point. He wondered if the vampire would still be able to smell Buffy and Dawn on their belongings, as far as Alex knew, no one else had touched any of it in thirty years.

Alex phoned the storage company and made arrangements to come by the following evening after dusk. He would ask Wil if he wanted to accompany him when he saw him later tonight. For now, he just wanted to get some dinner and see how Wil was doing. Not necessarily in that order.

When Alex entered the book store that evening, things were a bit tense between him and the vampire. Alex was dreading bringing up the trip to the storage area tomorrow, he didn't know what it would do to Wil, or to Spike for that matter. He hoped it wouldn't make things worse.

Wil was afraid that Spike would take over again and hurt Alex. With the chip not working, he would have nothing stopping him. His only comfort was the fact that Spike hadn't seemed to realize he was unchipped when he had popped out earlier. Wil was assuming that the demon had suppressed the memories of the slayers death, that and the past thirty or so years. If that were the case, Alex would be safe for now, but what would happen when Spike remembered?

"Hey Wil."

"Good evening Alex, did you have any luck finding a flat?"

"Yeah, not too far from work either. I need to get some furniture but otherwise it's okay."

"That's good."

There was a long stretch of uncomfortable silence before Alex finally spoke up.

"Uh, look Wil. I ah, I made an appointment to go by the storage warehouse tomorrow night. I have Buffys' things, hers and Dawns, and I guess Joyce’s' as well. I kept everything, I don't know why but I did. Do you want to go with me?"

Wil looked at Alex, but didn't speak. He wasn't sure why Alex wanted him to go. If it was for moral support he could understand, but there seemed to be something else on Alex’s' mind when he asked.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you asking me to come with you? Do you need emotional support or is it something else?"

"Both. I would ask you regardless but I was thinking of Spike as well. I thought it might help, you know?"

Wil did know. It was actually a very good idea, perhaps Spike would respond to being around the slayers things. Anything had to be better than having him 'pop out' unexpectedly.

"I will go with you."

"Wil? Is something wrong? You seem kinda.... distant."

" I'm sorry Alex, I don't mean to sound so distant I'm just having somewhat of an identity crisis."

"Because of what happened today, with Spike?"

"Precisely. For the last twenty-eight years I've been alone, I've missed his company. I thought that I would never feel him again, never be able to talk with him. You wouldn't understand the connection I feel to him, you couldn't possibly."

"No, I couldn't. But I'd like to hear about it. Will you tell me?"

Wil thought about talking to Alex, he might be the only person who could possibly understand what Wil had to deal with as he knew the demon personally.

"Alright, but not here. Would you come upstairs with me?"