Angel was just dragging himself back to his office when Lorne showed up.

"Have you got any idea where Spike is?" the demon asked. "He asked me to do a reading on him earlier, and I gave him the brush-off, since you kind of wanted me to hold off on telling him anything about what I got from Rose. But now I'm wondering if I should have."

"It's too late," Angel muttered, slumping down into a chair. "Spike is at Daria McBride's now."

"What?" Lorne was so shocked that his knees gave way. Luckily, there was a chair behind him. "Which of you is out of his mind?"

"Both of us probably," Angel admitted. "I know I couldn't have talked Spike out of it, but I could have found a way to stop him. However he is wearing a very small, very powerful tracking device. It will even track them if they're taken to another dimension."

"The boy's getting desperate, isn't he?" Lorne asked, forgetting that Spike was actually considerably older than he was. There always was a boyish quality about him. "But why turn himself over to the bounty hunter?"

"So he would know where Rose was," Angel explained. "So he could be with her. This whole situation has been hard on him."

"Look, Angelcakes," Lorne said. "Under normal circumstances, as if we've ever had any of them, I'd probably say it was a great idea. But knowing what I saw the other day, how could you let him go?"

"But what did you really see?" Angel asked. "You saw them going through torment and separation. Isn't that what's been going on already?"

"What I said," Lorne corrected him, "was that I saw their worst fears coming true." He paused to reflect a moment. "And that would still fit, wouldn't it? And as for the separation part, I kind of thought..,"

"You thought that maybe The Powers were going to recall Rose, didn't you?" Angel suggested. "Well, it's a reasonable assumption." A thought occurred to him. "Lorne, what did you see the first time you read Rose? I mean when she did her initial employee screening?"

"Sweetness and light," Lorne replied. "Which the lady definitely has in abundance. Nothing personal though, no previews of coming attractions. It didn't occur to me that there was anything odd about it. I'm afraid I kind of got distracted by her voice. And that song she sang."

"Spike said it sounded like it had been written about him," Angel prompted.

"The way he was at the time, yes," the Pylean agreed. "I hadn't really thought about it recently. Too much going on. Sometimes I'm so busy I'm hard put to remember what day of the week it is." He thought about it for a moment. "I know I've never heard that song before, or since. I'm betting our little Rosebud made it up on the spot."

"You know," Angel remarked. "I know that Rose came here as a result of being generally well disposed towards Spike, but it still beats the hell out of me how she.., why..," He got lost groping for just the right phrase to describe his thoughts.

"You mean why she's so head over heels in love with him," Lorne supplied. "Believe me, that has been one of the hot topics of office gossip. What on earth Rose sees in Spike. So far, no one's come up with a better answer than attraction of opposites, or no accounting for tastes." He got up. "Well, that was the important stuff, I guess. If we're going to descend to office gossip, then it's time for me to get back to the salt mines." He let himself out.

Neither of the rumor mill's conclusions did it for Angel. He sat there musing for a while when he remembered a conversation that he'd had with Spike the previous day. "I wonder if they did talk to him," he said aloud.

&&&&&&&

Daria was irritated at the sound of the doorbell. She was not in the mood for visitors, and her client would contact her before he arrived. She was certainly in no way prepared when she opened the door to see Spike.

"Rumor's going about that you want the matched set," he started out. His face got serious. "You keep us together and you can have it. As long as you keep me with Rose, I won't give you any trouble."

Daria looked at him suspiciously. There was no way she was going to take his surrender on faith. She let him in, then said, "You won't mind me checking you for weapons then, will you?"

Spike heaved a long-suffering sigh and shrugged out of his duster. "Fine, anything you want," he conceded. "Just so long as you don't get overly familiar. I'm not chained up this time."

Daria went through the pockets of his coat, then patted him down with expert hands. She didn't have a prayer of finding the tracking device. The miniscule object had been implanted under the skin of his right foot, just in case she did do a thorough search on him. There was one memory he wouldn't mind giving up. When Fred had implanted the tracker under the sensitive skin of the arch of his foot he had nearly levitated right off the table.

"Convinced you that all I brought was my charming self?" he asked, baby-blue eyes regarding her coolly.

Daria beckoned him to follow her and led him to Rose, who watched in mute horror as Spike sat in a chair indicated by the bounty hunter and was efficiently trussed up. Having done that, she gave Spike a long, hard look, then slapped his face so hard that the chair wobbled, in danger of tipping over. Then, she stalked out of the room.

"Oh, Spike, what have you done?" Rose half-whispered in agonized tones.

"It's all right, luv," he soothed her. "At least now, no matter what, we'll be together."

"I can't let you do this for me," she replied. "Spike, I know you could get free of that if you wanted to. Please, please get away from here while you can."

"I'm not going anywhere, pet," he said, softly but stubbornly. "And to be honest, I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it for me. Because I can't bear being apart from you." He looked into her eyes appealingly. "I know you, babe, you'd do the bloody same thing if the tables were turned."

"It was still a foolish thing to do, my love," she murmured. Both voice and features softened perceptibly. How could she possibly be angry with him? If she had still had bones, they would have turned to water from the loving look he had given her and his declaration of devotion. "But you're right. If the tables were turned, I'd probably do the same thing."

Spike grinned at her. Despite the uncongenial surroundings and the desperation of the situation, he felt considerably cheered just by being near her. "Not to worry, sweetheart. Captain Forehead and crew are still hard at it. They won't let us go without a fight."

She smiled, almost giggled at the way he put things. "You and the way you give everyone nicknames," she murmured. "It's enough to make me wonder what you call me when I'm not around."

"I call you Rose," he replied. The grin turned into a leer. "The nicknames I save for when we're alone together."

Not for the first time, Rose was glad that as a specter, she couldn't blush anymore.

&&&&&&&

A few hours later, Daria went to check on her captives. She wasn't really worried that either of them had escaped. Rose was trapped by the wards, and now that the vampire was in, she had enough traps set that he'd find getting out again hard going. As she neared the door to the room they were in, she heard the rise and fall of voices in conversation. Then, surprisingly, a giggle from the ghost. What the hell? What did she have to laugh about? She crept closer to the door and listened.

"So there we were," said Spike, continuing the narrative Daria had missed the beginning of. "We'd taken out all but one of them, but he was a big bruiser. Made the ponce look a bit undersized. 'Course, he was just a human, but he was pretty damn good for all that. Then, Angelus takes this big swing at the bugger, who manages to duck it. But there was too much momentum in the punch, so my grandsire overbalances and goes face-down in the pig sty." He chuckled at the memory. "The pouf wasn't half pissed. He came up out of the muck and literally tore the bloke's head off." He stopped. "Sorry, pet, I guess I went too far. Should have quit at the funny bit."

"It's all right," Rose replied. "The story wouldn't have been complete without it. Besides, that was before either of you had a soul. I know you didn't have any choice about whether or not you were evil."

"Whatever did I do to deserve you?" he asked. "'Cause if I knew, I'd try doin' it again and see if we could get this mess all straightened out."

Before Rose could make a reply, Daria came in. "Do you mind?" she asked irritably. "Listening to the two of you is enough to make me glad I'm not a diabetic. I'd be in a coma by now."

Spike had just enough freedom of movement to lift his hand. He did so and made a gesture that Rose had become quite familiar with by now. Then, he grinned at Rose, who returned it.

"See here, bounty hunter," Spike said. "Did you make any provisions for feeding me once you got me? Or were you going to starve me and let me be your buyer's problem?" He gave her an appraising look. "You know, I've made it a rule not to feed off humans of late, but in your case I might be persuaded to make an exception to that rule."

Daria disappeared without a word, and returned shortly, carrying an insulated mug. She stole a quick glance at Rose, whose eyes had been pretty much glued to Spike since his arrival. She dipped a finger into the mug. "Just testing the temperature," she explained. Then, she ruined the innocent pose by running her bloodied fingertip over Spike's lips. Finally, a way she could pay that damned ghost back for the attitude she been getting from her since her arrival .

Spike had missed a meal or two, and was hungry enough that he wasn't paying attention to the undercurrents. He reflexively licked his lips. "Wait just a damn minute," he growled, fighting to keep his features under control. "That's human blood."

"Don't let it trouble your delicate conscience, vampire," Daria advised. "I'm not risking a murder charge just to feed you. Let's just say this was an involuntary contribution from a blood bank." She knelt down beside him. "You're still hungry, aren't you?" She held the mug close to his lips, letting the familiar aroma do its work.

Spike looked at Rose. He was feeling half starved, and it did salve his conscience somewhat to know that no one had died to provide him with a meal. But the other side of the coin said that someone might because the blood they needed for a transfusion wasn't there thanks to Daria's theft.

Rose caught the look and correctly interpreted it. "It wouldn't do any good to refuse it now, love," she said softly. "Even if you could talk her into taking it back, it wouldn't be of any use to them." But she still glared at Daria for good measure.

"Okay," he muttered. Daria raised the cup to his mouth, and he gulped down the stuff almost automatically. Couldn't the bitch have put a straw in it or something since he didn't have the use of his hands? Now, his head was clearing, and he realized why she hadn't, and why she'd smeared the blood across his lips. Getting back at Rose for something, trying to make her jealous. He was sure of it when he'd finished, and she pulled out a tissue and unnecessarily dabbed at the corners of his mouth with it.

"Feeling better now?" Daria inquired softly. The look on the ghost's face was positively priceless. As she'd told Spike once before, she did like causing pain, and she didn't much care about the methods necessary. Besides, that damned phantom was getting on her last nerve. She'd be mightily glad when her client came up with the cash and relieved her of that one. The vampire, on the other hand, was a different story. If she hadn't already promised the client she'd deliver him as well, she might just consider keeping him around to play with. For a while.

"Did you want anything more?" she queried, letting her free hand to fall to rest on Spike's thigh, and thereby leaving the interpretation of the word anything open. That drew dirty looks for her from both parties. Having accomplished what she'd intended, she rose to her feet and left, after leaving a lingering caress that felt like it burned right through Spike's jeans.

Rose looked about ready to chew iron and spit nails.

"Steady on, precious," Spike cautioned. "She's just doing it to get to you. You must've managed to piss her off somehow." He gave her one of those looks. "You don't really think that I'd..,"

"Of course not," Rose interrupted. "I trust you, Spike." She looked towards the door that Daria had exited through. "Her, on the other hand..," She deliberately left it hanging.

"So what did you do to put a wild hair up her ass like that?" he asked.

"Well," Rose reflected. "The other day I was singing, to pass the time. For some reason she took exception to that."

"Must be daft to have a problem with your singing," Spike observed. He got a positively evil grin on his face. "I'm about all storied out at the moment, pet. Why don't you sing to me for a bit?"

&&&&&&

Angel walked into Gunn's office with Wesley in tow. He was stepping livelier than he had in days. That in itself was enough to catch the newly-made lawyer's attention. There must be a break in the bounty hunter case that had been giving them all fits.

"You busy, Gunn?" Angel asked innocently. "Or do you think you might have the time for a little field work?"

Gunn grinned. He may be a lawyer now, but that didn't mean that he didn't kind of miss mixing it up a little now and then. "Where's the action?" he asked, removing his tie and jacket.

"Where is not the problem," Wesley informed him. "That's in a condemned warehouse on the waterfront. We still have to find out the when."

"So how do we know that it's going to be soon?" Gunn inquired, feeling the adrenalin rush ebb.

"The surveillance team we had set up outside of Wesley's wards listened in on one of Daria's telephone conversations," Angel explained. "We know that the client is picking up Spike and Rose tonight. I doubt if he'll want to hang on to them too long. He's going to want to get his money back and make a profit, so the sale is probably going to be as soon as he can get the word out."

"So we watch the guy, then crash his sale and kick some butt," Gunn observed. "Count me in."

"Hopefully the butt-kicking aspect will be kept down to a minimum," Wesley said. "But, it never hurts to be prepared."

"Yeah." Gunn's brow wrinkled in thought. "Are we prepared if the money man changes the location of the sale?"

"Fred outdid herself on that one," Angel said. "One of those combination high-tech and magical gadgets. A tracking device that she implanted in Spike. We'll be able to track him and Rose even if they're taken out of the dimension."

"Are we taking a team, or is it just going to be us?" Gunn inquired.

"Just us," Angel said. He headed for the door. "You coming?"

"Hell yes."