Angel called for everyone to meet at his office, after having a fight with Buffy on whether they should tell everyone about it or not. Buffy won, of course.

Everyone showed up except for Spike. Angel was peeved that Spike would ignore his orders for so long, but he wasn't here to annoy Angel, so whatever. "There's something we need to discuss," Angel announced.

"Los Angeles has a Hellmouth," Buffy blurted, ruining Angel's moment.

"Whoa, whoa," Lorne said, "Wasn't your little sunny one the one and only?"

"No," Buffy answered, "There was the one in Sunnydale, but we found another in Cleveland a few years ago."

"So this is pretty routine for you guys?" Gunn asked.

Buffy and Dawn looked at each other sadly, remembering when they closed the Cleveland Hellmouth, they'd lost a lot of people and it had taken the whole Slayerette army to get it closed.

"Nothing about a Hellmouth is ever routine," Buffy said gravely.

"We lost Kennedy," Dawn muttered. Poor Willow had lost Tara and Kennedy. She hoped things would go better this time.

"So a few people take the fall," Gunn said. Angel tried to warn Gunn with his eyes, Buffy was starting to tense up. "That's standard for a big project like a Hellmouth." Buffy-speech-time, Angel thought.

"Oh, no," Dawn sighed, sensing that Gunn was about to have his head chopped off.

"Standard?" Buffy asked flatly. "When is death ever standard?"

"In business, death is sometimes necessary," Gunn explained. Angel wished Gunn would shut up because Buffy's eyes grew sharp as daggers.

"Necessary?" Buffy asked again, "You can't just say it like you want death. You can't just accept that people are going to die. You have to do everything you can to prevent it. Some might die during battle, I admit. But you can't plan on it. People have died closing the Hellmouths. But death cannot ever be standard." Buffy finished and watched as no one knew what to say. A few minutes silence went by.

"I agree with Buffy-kins," Lorne said, breaking the silence.

"I wish for my pet…" Illyria said quietly. Everyone wondered what she meant.

"So what's your plan on closing the Hellmouth?" Wesley asked Angel.

Before Angel could answer, Conner interrupted. "I think Buffy would head this operation," He said, business-like. Buffy smirked at him, he was winning her favor. Dawn smiled at him too.

"We need to scout the building above the Hellmouth. Once that's done we'll talk teams and station," Buffy announced.

"Who's scouting?" Gunn asked Buffy. Did they all forget that Angel was the CEO?

"I don't know. What do you think, Angel?" Buffy said, turning to him.

"Buffy, you should definitely go, take Conner and Gunn with you," Angel told her. She nodded. Angel gave her the address and dismissed the meeting.

…

Two days. The longest Spike had been gone without telling someone was four days. Illyria wondered if this was cause for worry.

Illyria knew from Fred's memories that Spike closed the Sunnydale Hellmouth. Was he necessary to close the Los Angeles Hellmouth? No, the blonde woman said they closed another one without him. So why did she wish for Spike so badly.

Spike, she decided, was like violence, he was something she needed…but why did she need anything but violence she pondered. She, a god, never needed, that was a human thing. So why? She liked to hit Spike. His words often confused her, but she wanted his words to come to her then. She wanted to hit Spike.

…

Illyria spotted Lorne sitting at a table in the lounge so she sat across from him. He looked at her awkwardly.

"Uh, hey there…Blue," he said, using Spike's nickname for her. But his words mattered not to her.

"I have want for Spike," She told him flat out.

"Okay," Lorne said, not understanding why Illyria would tell him this.

"I, the mighty God Illyria, have want for something other than death and violence," She insisted.

Lorne cracked a smile, "Ok, baby Blue, maybe you don't know Spike that well."

"Why?" Illyria asked.

"Why?" He repeated. She nodded and stared at him. "Well, you haven't been here long and…"

"No," She said, her patience wearing thin, "Why do I have want for him?"

"Oh…" Lorne said, surprised. "I guess you like the boy."

"Impossible," Illyria said immediately. "He is a half…thing…. I am the-"

"Mighty god Illyria. I know," Lorne said. Then more softly added, "Even a god can fall in love, baby Blue." She titled her head, something Spike rubbed off on her. "How 'bout a song, huh?" Lorne asked.

"What? Why?" Illyria asked.

"So I know if you really like him, silly," Lorne said. Illyria could smell him getting more comfortable talking about love and singing. "Just a few bars, come on."

Illyria did not want to sing. Either she didn't want to know how she felt about Spike, or she was just fed up with the green demon, probably both. But she got up and left, sensing his relief at her departure.

…Many seconds and hours later…

Dawn sat on her bed. It had been three days since Dawn and Conner's date. And he hadn't asked her on another one. He was probably busy with the Hellmouth. Buffy already took Conner and Gunn to explore some meat place, they came back and now Buffy and Angel have been planning things for the Hellmouth.

Dawn wondered if they could use Spike again to close it. She hadn't seen him in a while. Maybe he left for good now, right when the real fighting started too, how typical of him.

…

The papers looked good, but Angel knew it would be different in action. The plans had Buffy, Angel, Illyria and Spike positioned right in the Hellmouth, with Lorne, Gunn and Wesley using spells to help them in the next room. Buffy called Willow and she said she'd fly in to help. Conner and Dawn were positioned outside, as guards. As CEO, Angel also had lots of men available set up around the meat factory to slay what Buffy called Uber-Vamps.

Now Angel called a meeting to tell everybody. Again, everybody but Spike showed up. What the hell was with him. Everyone accepted their positions and Angel told them where to meet the next night to start closing it.

"We can't," Illyria opposed.

"And why not?" Angel asked, sighing. It was going so well that he didn't want any problems now.

"Spike has not returned yet," Illyria reported, "He is one of the champions. We cannot continue without him." Angel cursed in his head. The last meeting Spike was at was on Thursday.

"Okay, has anyone seen Spike since Thursday?" Angel asked everyone. They all shook their heads. It was now Monday. Five days and still not back, something was wrong. Spike loved to hang around and be an ass. He wouldn't just leave, especially with Cero supposedly in town. Spike at least would have told Illyria.

"Something's definitely wrong," Wesley said. 'Obviously," Everyone else said mentally.

"Could this be cause by Cero?" Illyria asked, spelling out Angel's exact thoughts. Everyone was silent and looked back to Angel who stared down at the table, deep in thought.

Illyria quietly wondered if Cero was hurting Spike. She hoped not. "What will Cero do to Spike?" Illyria asked.

Angel frowned. "Torture," he replied.

"Someone is hurting Spike?" Illyria asked angrily.

"Probably," Angel told her. Illyria stared down. Spike was her pet. Only she could hit him. How dare this Cero steal her Spike.

"Hey, baby Blue, cool it on the flames, huh?" Illyria looked up at Lorne. He was cringing at her anger. He could sense it without Illyria having to sing. Good, Illyria wanted her wrath to be known. She got up and stalked to the door.

"Hey," Angel barked, "Where you going?"

"Spike is mine," She yelled behind her.

Angel let her go. Maybe she would kill Cero for him while she was gone. Buffy was happy that at least someone wanted Spike back, Spike deserved to be found by someone other than Buffy. "Should I send for a search party?" Wesley asked.

"No," Angel said.

"Angel," Buffy sighed. Now was not the time to hold a grudge.

"We'll wait on Willow. She can do a search spell for us. She's better than any spell caster we have," Angel said. He still frowned at the table. Buffy looked at Angel approvingly. "Not even Spike deserves what Cero can do," Angel muttered. That Angel would say something like that made Buffy scared for Spike.

…

Harmony let herself into the basement. Cero told her not to come in here by herself, but she was evil, so hey. She looked at Spike, just laying there. More like twitching in his sleep.

She crouched beside him and ran her hand along the burn marks and cuts. Cero planned to carve Spike up before he stopped. But Harmony wondered if Cero would stake Spike or leave him tied up under the ground somewhere.

Harmony felt a little bad for Spike. His entire existence just sucked. She found a bottle of tequila and gave Spike some, it would ease the pain a bit.

…

Illyria knocked down the door to Spike's apartment. It was empty, as she thought it would be. Five days. Too long to find his scent anywhere. She smelled it here, though. All over the place.

She found an old shirt of hit and inhaled his scent deeply. Alcohol and cigarettes. Illyria wasn't totally against Spike smelling this way. She stomped out, not bothering to fix the door. She would find Spike if she had to burn down all of L.A. to do it.

…

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