Disclaimer: Stargate: SG-1 and all related concepts are the property of MGM, while the character of Spike belongs to Joss Whedon and James Marsters, among other people (Also, the original idea for this series came from Jedi Buttercup's 'An Unexpected Gift', so I don't own it either, although I have put my own spin on things, and have been given his full permission to use his idea)

Feedback: I'd appreciate it, of course

AN: This is a sequel to 'The Ghost in the Team', which featured Spike joining SG-1 in Season Ten after the amulet containing his essence was discovered by Riley after the fall of Sunnydale and sent to the SGC; if you want more details, you MUST read the preceding story before this one.

The Old One

It might have taken over a month to be sure that everything had been neatly resolved, but it had finally been confirmed; the Ori were dead.

With confirmation that even the Doci was unable to make contact with the Ori from his seat in Cori Celestis, and the bloodied body of Adria serving as further evidence that the Ori weren't infallible gods, the Ori's former worshipers had been far more willing to accept the SGC's explanation for the true nature of their 'gods'. It would take a while for them to adjust to the rapid shift that their society had experienced, but Tomin had appeared to be willing to take on a leader role when he returned, recognising the distinction between the message that Origin could have on its own and the Ori's attempts to pervert that image, and he had already started trying to 'convert' some of his crew to share his views and consider his new perspective. Vala's last parting with Tomin had been awkward, but he had accepted her decision to remain in this galaxy with SG-1. He had even spoken with Spike after learning about Vala's new relationship with the vampire, accepting Spike's word that he would take care of her- even if Spike noted that Vala would be taking care of him just as much- and expressing gratitude that Vala had found someone.

As for Spike and Vala, their relationship was still progressing at a tentative rate compared to some of Spike's past liaisons- their half-nude make-out sessions in that closet after the Sangraal was activated was the closest they'd come to actually having sex so far- but Spike was actually rather content with that; considering he mess that he'd made of things with Buffy, the vampire felt that it might do him some good to try and establish a more platonic bond this time around before diving into something deeper.

Speaking of relationships, the recent shift in Sam and Daniel's relationship had actually gone done fairly well with those concerned, despite the obvious potential questions it had raised. The discovery that the SGC's chief scientist and chief archaeologist were now in a relationship had sparked off a few questions and objections from the SGC's supervising officials, but with their reputations taken into account, coupled with the support of Generals O'Neill and Hammond, it had been decided that the two of them could remain on SG-1 for a probationary period at least, to confirm how their relationship affected their judgement (Spike had noted that O'Neill seemed a bit on edge when discussing the topic of the relationship, but had decided not to press it; he'd done it in Sunnydale when he first fought Buffy and Angel after the poof's soul was restored, but there were some things he knew to leave alone now).

With the threat of war now taken off the table and all precautions taken to protect Spike while offworld, the vampire had actually been surprised at how easily he had settled into his new routine. Even his diet had been less of an issue than he'd expected; he had taken to feeding from the SGC infirmary's nearly-expired donated blood, which actually saved the SGC a surprising amount of money by preventing them having to incinerate it as they brought in new stock. It wasn't overly appetising, but it was still better quality than the animal blood he'd been forced to rely on in Sunnydale, and he had an unspoken understanding with his teammates that he could feed in combat so long as he didn't make a habit of it and was certain nobody would need to talk to his victims later.

For the next couple of weeks, however, the entirety of SG-1 was on stand-down, taking a well-deserved time out after the stress of the last few weeks; taking point during their talks with the remaining Ori soldiers on their last two battlecruisers had not been an easy task after they had essentially killed their gods, even with Tomin serving as an intermediary. With the galaxy at peace once again, Teal'c had gone back to Dakara to talk with some of the Jaffa about their plans for the future, particularly regarding their continued alliance with Earth after Spike had single-handedly saved Dakara, while Mitchell was using the leave opportunity to attend his high school reunion.

With nothing else demanding their immediate attention, Sam, Daniel and Vala had agreed to accompany Spike in investigating the card he'd received from the mysterious 'Doyle' shortly after his return to corporeal form. Initially Vala had been the only one coming, but when Spike had told them more about Angel and his business in Los Angeles, Sam and Daniel had both expressed an interest in coming along, Daniel for the chance to learn more about the supernatural and Sam for the opportunity to analyse more examples of magic than what Spike had managed to show them so far. After making arrangements for a couple of weeks off- both scientists wanted time to talk with Angel and his friends, regardless of how long it might take Spike to find his target- the four of them had set off for the city, checking into a hotel and renting a car before setting off to investigate the card.

As the car pulled up outside the address listed on the card, Spike's hopes at finding answers faltered as he took in the sight in front of them; the apartment block he was looking at had clearly not been habited for a while, and when they went to the apartment indicated on the card, all they found was a sparsely furnished basement flat that didn't even have an invitation barrier.

"Why would anyone want you to come here?" Vala asked, looking at Spike in confusion as he walked through the apartment, taking in his surroundings as his three teammates stood in the main living area.

"No idea," Spike said, shaking his head in frustration. "Maybe he wanted to set me up with a place while I carried out his 'missions'?"

"I'm still not clear on how anyone could actually claim to see the future," Vala said. "I mean, even the Ori never claimed that…"

"Well, seeing the future is always a complicated thing to predict; sometimes what you do to avert your vision ends up causing it," Sam said. "We had an experience with that a few years back; Daniel's temporary replacement while he was Ascended, Jonas Quinn, ended up gaining the ability to see the future after a Goa'uld experimented on him, and we theorised that it was allowing him to determine possible futures based on him processing particular patterns, but the visions also resulted in a tumour from the excess brain tissue he was developing."

"Ah," Spike said. "Not a good thing, eh?"

"The tumour would have killed Jonas if he hadn't been operated on in time," Sam confirmed, before she continued her original explanation. "The point is that Jonas was able to change the outcome of at least one vision when he had it in time and was able to warn us about it later, but another vision he had may have actually created the circumstances that led to what he saw; he foresaw me being injured and came to stop me going through the Stargate on our next mission, but I ended up getting hurt while carrying out some repair work back at the base instead."

"And didn't you end up fulfilling a local prophecy about the natives being freed from their god because Jonas's last vision was averted?" Daniel asked, looking thoughtfully at Sam. "I mean, I read about it in one of Jonas's reports when I was catching up on the year I was away…"

"Yeah… I try not to think about that too much," Sam admitted, looking back at Spike. "No offence intended, but even if Merlin confirmed that magic is possible, I don't see how prophecies and the like can be valid on a world that wasn't affected by that experiment he told you about…"

"Something to think about later," Spike said, looking around the room in frustration for a moment before he sighed and shrugged. "Well, this is a dead-end, so we should probably check in with Peaches; if he doesn't know something, he might be able to lead us to who does."

"Uh… 'Peaches'?" Daniel repeated.

"That's… Angel, right?" Sam asked, looking at Spike for confirmation. "The… first vampire with a soul?"

"That's 'im," Spike said, nodding at Sam before he shrugged, ignoring the habitual temptation to insult Angel; he'd moved on from those days. "Anyway, I've got a bar or two I can check out, but I'll need to drop in on my own first; lips'll be looser if we don't have people there wonderin' when I'll be offerin' you all 'round."

"Offering us…?" Daniel said uncertainly.

"Kind of bars I'll be checkin' out could have a tendency to prefer humans as a course rather than guests," Spike said bluntly. "Might risk it if you knew more about this side of the tracks, but you'd be out of your depth and you'd show it; easier to go it alone right now."

His three friends were clearly not entirely satisfied with Spike's explanation, but the grim resignation on their faces at least showed that they were willing to accept his decision in this regard even if they didn't entirely like it.

Walking into the chosen bar, Spike just hoped that his 'disguise' of a tweed suit and Stetson hat held up (And the sooner he got out of this, the better; his new friends might be too polite to actually laugh, but they clearly found his current look far too amusing for his taste). He hadn't been in Los Angeles for some time, and his activities in Sunnydale since getting the chip had generally been comparatively low-key considering that he'd killed most of the vampires who learned about his new allegiances, but he'd made enough of a reputation before arriving in Sunnydale to leave him inclined to take care.

Still, with the new suit, and the obvious bonus that any demons here probably thought he was dead if they knew anything about what he'd been up to back on the Hellmouth, he thought he'd get through this all right…

After taking a couple of drinks and exchanging words with some of his fellow customers, Spike studied the surroundings for a short while before his gaze settled on a somewhat overweight demon with thick arms, long claws, and three large horns on his head. Putting down his latest drink, Spike walked over to sit beside the other demon, taking a moment to let his new companion look at him before he spoke.

"Heard you've got your ear to the ground on recent events," he said at last.

"I know people who know people," the demon replied. "Why'd you ask?"

"Looking for the vamp formerly known as Angelus," Spike said briefly. "Where is he?"

"That vampire?" the demon said, looking at Spike in surprise. "I thought everyone knew-"

"I've been busy last few months; contacts fell to the side," Spike clarified, fixing his gaze on the demon. "Where is he?"

"You don't know where Angel is?" the demon said, smiling slightly at the question. "I'd have thought every vampire knew that; he's running Wolfram & Hart."

Spike blinked.

"Wolfram & Hart?" he repeated. "As in, the law firm that represents most of the evil on this plane?"

"Bingo," the demon confirmed. "He took over after that whole Jasmine thing a few months back; nobody's clear on why, so don't ask…"

Spike wasn't even really paying attention to the demon at this point, his thoughts consumed by the questions that he'd just been presented with.

Angel working for Wolfram & Hart? OK, it wasn't like he'd spent a lot of time with his grandsire since the guy had relocated here, but he knew what the first vampire with a soul was capable of, and taking charge of the bad guys with his soul was not on that list…

On the bright side, he knew that he wasn't dealing with Angelus; Angelus would probably just have slaughtered the firm and moved on if they tried to give him any kind of authority to tie him down somewhere. His grandsire might be the better planner, willing to draw out his time playing with his food to make it really enjoyable, but he'd never enjoyed it when people made him stay somewhere.

The only question was whether Angel had finally gone over the edge, or if he had some kind of weird plan that Spike just didn't know about right now…

His next move already decided on, Spike stood up and walked out of the bar, ignoring the demon's attempt to say something else; whatever Angel's reasons for being at Wolfram & Hart, if anyone knew anything about this 'Doyle' guy, Angel probably either knew something already or knew someone who would.

On the bright side, getting into the building shouldn't be too difficult; Wolfram & Hart might be evil, but they weren't about to just kill people for walking into the office. If he could just get in there and find out if Angel knew anything about 'Doyle', then he and his new team could get back to their vacation…

AN 2: Sorry that Angel and his team didn't appear here; they'll be showing up in the next chapter, I assure you… and that's when things get really interesting…