"I screwed up again, didn't I?" Angel asked the others, sitting down on a footstool at the coffee table once Spike had left the room. "You know it's odd. For the first few years after Spike came to LA, it was always me walking out on him. Not that it did any good, he hung around like a bad smell. So annoying. I just wished he'd leave me alone - even if it meant taking off after Buffy."

Buffy gave Angel a furtive grin. It had been a long time before she'd even found out Spike was alive, let alone hanging out with Angel in LA only a day-trip away.

"Crazy times, huh?" Xander said.

"I don't think it wasn't a total disaster," Dawn told him. "It's just… things are mixed up. It's not all going to get sorted out in one conversation. There's still a lot of stuff you don't know, like…" Dawn noticed the glare from Buffy. "But you did get him to talk about his feelings. That's progress, right?" she pointed out.

"Maybe," Angel said thoughtfully swirling the mug of undrunk blood. "I don't know what I expect from him, really. I mean, I could be imagining things but I just keep getting the feeling I'm missing something. That he's not… telling me everything, you know? That I could help him if I actually understood. If I could just get to the bottom of it." He drained the mug. No point letting good blood go to waste. "Of course, it would help if he didn't annoy me as much."

"Spike's fine," Buffy assured Angel, brushing away his concerns. "I'm sure he's just tired, like he said. After slaying that slime demon, and all. Speaking of which, I could use some shut-eye myself. It's probably time for us all to head off. Right, Dawn?"

"Right," Dawn said dryly. "Just when Angel, your supposed soulmate, wants to talk to you about, you know, actual stuff. Of course it's time to leave. Makes perfect sense."

"Will?" Buffy motioned.

"Buffy, I probably shouldn't drive, after all the drinkies." Willow conceded. "I'll leave my car here and pick it up tomorrow. Maybe Angel can give us all a lift back to your place?"

"Sure," Angel agreed and they headed out, bidding Xander goodnight.

"Hey, it's been a real blast," he assured them. "I'll come round after work tomorrow, Buff. Catch Angel and Spike before they leave, right?"

"Night, Xander," Buffy nodded. "Thanks for everything. Really."

Back at Buffy's Willow bid them goodnight and disappeared into her room, Angel slumped broodily onto the sofa, and to Buffy's dismay, Dawn, instead of heading to bed, sat down in the living room too. Irritated, Buffy stayed standing.

"Dawn…" she began, not sure how to subtly send her sister to bed without inciting objection. Especially since Dawn was officially on holidays.

"Buffy, I'm a grown-up now, remember? I don't have a bedtime and even if I did, it's not your job to enforce it." She turned sly. "I will go to bed though," she assured, "if you stop dancing around…"

"No one's dancing, Dawn," Buffy sighed. She wished the gang, especially Dawn, would quit worrying about anything happening between her and Angel.

"… the issue, Buffy," Dawn clarified. "I'll leave the room when you promise to: tell Angel." She focussed a hard stare at her sister.

"Tell me what?" Angel asked.

"Nothing," Buffy snapped. "Dawn, that's none of your business."

"Yes, it is Buffy!" Dawn sat forward. She was becoming more adamant. "This isn't just about you and Spike, or even just about you and Spike and Angel. I mean, since we have been talking about guilt and all, do you know how guilty I feel?"

"Why would you feel guilty?" Buffy asked, then changed her mind and snapped, "No, we're not talking about this right now, Dawn!"

"Yes, we are, Buffy!" She whined in that annoying little sister tone. "Didn't you hear what Angel said earlier: that he feels responsible for Spike having a soul? How can you let him take all the responsibility like that? Without knowing? He's worried about Spike. He wants to help him. But how can he understand any of it when he doesn't even know why Spike got his soul returned in the first place?" Dawn pleaded.

"Dawn, I know, okay?" Angel tried to settle her. "I know all about Spike and Buffy. I know they had a 'relationship'," he grudgingly used that word.

"You do?" She doubted her take on the situation only momentarily. "No. Angel, when we were out you said Spike got his soul back for a chance to get into Buffy's pants. I mean, that's not true at all! Is it, Buffy?"

"Sure it is," Angel asserted, and tried to prove how much he knew by summarising the chain of events he had pieced together. "Spike had that chip in his head. He couldn't kill Buffy, so instead the idiot formed some twisted crush on her. His obsessive nature meant he couldn't let it go. Got so desperate he had his soul returned. He and Buffy got together for a bit - never a serious relationship of course, I mean who in their right mind could stand to be around that Spike for long - then he burned up in the hell mouth. End of story. Until he turned up to haunt me in LA." Angel paused. "Dawn, we don't need to go over this." He shuddered. "I'd rather be spared the details, to be honest."

"See Buffy? See how mixed up he's got things?" She turned to Angel. "You don't even realise, Angel, Spike and Buffy had already been sleeping together before he got so desperate that he tried to…"

"Dawn, don't you dare…" Buffy warned threateningly.

Dawn turned to her sister, dropping her voice, "I've never told you, Buffy, but it's my fault Spike came to see you that day. He would have stayed away from you. Maybe he would even have staked himself, or at least left Sunnydale, if I hadn't..."

"What did you do, Dawn?" Buffy sounded horrified, then recovered herself. "It doesn't matter. Dawn, you were a kid. How could any of it possibly be your fault?"

Buffy had meant it to be a rhetorical question but Dawn launched in. "I went to see him. In his crypt. Earlier that evening. On my way to Janice's. He was pouring vodka in his blood like it was gonna wash the world away," she recalled. "He was in such a black mood, but I didn't care. I was so angry at him. At everyone. For screwing everything up. For not talking to me. For not getting along. For being miserable all the time. I told him off. For cheating on you with Anya. I told him how much it'd hurt you. I asked if he truly loved you and he looked at me like…" Dawn shuddered remembering the tortured look in Spikes' eyes. "I just know it never would have happened if it wasn't for me!"

"Dawn, of course what happened wasn't your fault," Buffy tried to tell her, saddened that Dawn could have felt this way for all this time and never told her.

"Buffy, what's she talking about? What wouldn't have happened?" Angel asked more insistently, growing more agitated as he tried to follow their heated conversation.

But Buffy ignored him, fighting back tears. "Dawn, why didn't you ever tell me this?"

"When could I have told you Buffy? With everything going on? And now nobody will talk about it! Not you. Not Xander, or Willow. Not Spike! And Buffy, you and Angel used to be so close, and now it's like there's this insurmountable wall between you."

Buffy and Angel shared a strained glance through that invisible wall.

Dawn continued. "And we've all been hanging out this weekend like we're all just the bestest friends, but it's not true is it? It's all a lie! But it doesn't have to be this way, Buffy. You have to stop keeping secrets to protect people. You don't give any of us the credit that maybe we can actually deal with it, if you just give us a chance."

"Dawn, it's more complicated than that," Buffy sighed. Poor little Dawn, always wanting everyone to be friends and get along, but she never seemed to recognise the myriad of very real dangers and complications that would be let loose if those barriers came down. "And even if it wasn't, it's not my place to tell. If Spike wants to tell Angel then that's up to him…"

"Tell me what?"

"And what if he does, Buffy? What if he does tell Angel? You know he wouldn't be able to tell the whole truth. What led to it? He couldn't if he tried because in his version…" Dawn knew the extent of Spike's adulation for Buffy better than anyone, after all she'd know he was in love with her sister long before any of the others clued onto it. "Buffy, you have to be the one to tell Angel. Not just because you owe it to Angel, but because Spike would never say a single word against you. He wouldn't tell about all the things you did to him. He'd only tell what he did. And Angel would never forgive him."

"What did he do?" Angel asked. "What did Spike do?"

"Nothing. He didn't, even," Buffy shook her head. "He didn't get that far. I stopped him."

"He didn't what?" Angel asked again.

"Rape Buffy," Dawn finally spoke those taboo words she'd been threatening to let slip all weekend.

"Get out, Dawn," Buffy ordered, watching Angel's expression darken.

"Buffy, I'm not a kid. You can't tell me what to… Oh," Dawn faltered as she saw Angel's face change into its demon form and he snarled, revealing threatening fangs.

"On second thoughts maybe someone else needs to get out," Buffy grabbed Angel and steered him towards the front door. "Thanks a lot, Dawn. Just stay inside and lock the door. I guess Angel and I are gonna have a little moonlight tryst after all."