Angel stopped along the way to drop Wesley and Gun off at their respective residences. Then, instead of heading towards Spike's apartment, he pointed the vehicle in the direction of Wolfram and Hart.

"Hey, pouf," Spike protested. "My flat's that way." He pointed.

"You're not going to your place," Angel informed him. "You're going to mine."

Spike was about contradict the statement vigorously, but was silenced by a look from Rose.

"Daria McBride's still out there, isn't she?" Angel had never heard such hard, loathing tones from the phantom before.

"Yes," he replied, hoping the admission didn't spur Rose into some sort of foolhardy action.

"And you do plan to deal with her, don't you?" Rose pressed on.

"If he don't, I will, luv," Spike interjected.

"Oh no you don't," Rose argued. "You are going to stay the hell away from that woman."

Angel was glad they'd finally reached their destination, because this was getting too distracting to be able to concentrate on his driving. And to the best of his knowledge, he'd never heard Rose swear before. Not to mention flat out telling Spike what to do.

For his part, Spike was nearly in a state of shock, because this insubstantial vision on his lap had never spoken to him like this.

"Aren't you overreacting a bit, pet?" he asked a little tentatively, as they started making their way to Angel's penthouse.

Rose gave Spike a long, penetrating look. "She'd make it last a long time, just to get back at me," she murmured, half to herself. Then, in a barely audible whisper. "Please don't make me be responsible for that. I couldn't bear it."

Spike's mouth had been opening to make some sort of reply, but upon hearing the last remark from his sweetie shut it again and thought for a while, then answered, docile as a lamb. "Whatever you say, sweetheart."

Angel was too busy trying to keep his jaw from scraping on the floor to say anything.

&&&&&&&

Daria was way and beyond pissed. She'd just had a call from her client, first, complaining about the merchandise he'd recently acquired, accusing her of perpetrating a fraud against him. She'd had to remind him, repeatedly, that he had personally authenticated it. Then, there was further whining about the fact that his prizes had been stolen away before he could recoup his investment. Daria had replied that security after the transaction was complete was wholly the client's concern. Her job lay solely in obtaining the requested chattels. He still kept moaning about the loss. Daria had said sweetly that she would be happy to negotiate a new deal. But now that the quarry was on the alert, the task would be more difficult, and therefore much more expensive. The client had hung up, still bitching.

But it did bother her. Daria didn't like being outsmarted, and it rankled that that was exactly what had happened. She considered a recapture anyway. She could have her fun with the vampire, and torment the ghost, both aspects equally appealing. Then, when she was finished, she would offer them to the client again at a discount rate. Out of the goodness of her heart. Goodwill advertising. She was forced to acknowledge, however that it would be some time before she even had a prayer of getting that close to either of them again. By which time she would probably have another assignment to deal with. But there had to be a way to get back at them. She'd have to think about it for a while, but she'd come up with something.

&&&&&&&&

"I can understand not going back to my place," Spike grumbled. "But why does it necessarily follow that we have to stay at yours?"

"You don't have to leave the building and make a target of yourself," Angel replied. "Listen, Spike, if you think I enjoy the idea of having you as a roommate, again, you're nuts."

Rose sighed, loudly and slowly, making sure the two vampires got the full effect. "Can't you two boys ever play nice?" she queried. "Would it be too much to ask for you to go for a whole hour without bickering?"

"Probably," Spike answered with an unrepentant grin. He turned back to Angel. "Listen, ponce. I'm still gonna have to get back to my place for a bit. I'm not wearing the same clothes for days on end."

"Can it wait till tomorrow?" Angel inquired. "I don't know about you, but I'm beat. And you're going to have to wait on me, because you are definitely not going alone."

"Should I salute?" Spike remarked cheekily. "Or will a simple 'yes, sir', do? Or perhaps you'd prefer that I grovel at your feet?"

Angel rolled his eyes. "I'm turning in," he announced. "You know where everything is at, or at least you should, by now. Good-night, Rose." He disappeared into his bedroom.

Spike flipped off the retreating figure. "I think I'll have a bedtime snack," he announced. "That stuff I got from the bounty hunter didn't at all agree with me." He headed for the kitchen, with Rose close at his heels.

Spike noticed as he warmed up his sustenance that the silence was getting a little thick. "Thinking deep thoughts, babe?" he asked.

Rose was pointedly not looking at him. She was starting to feel a little ashamed at her outburst. Not, mind you, the emotions that had prompted it, merely the execution of her remarks. "I'm sorry I spoke to you like that, Spike," she muttered. "I had no right to make demands of you like that."

"Bullshit." Spike said, explosively. That caused Rose's head to whip around to look at him, which was why he'd done it. "I know why you reacted like that, luv," he went on his normal tones. "You're concerned that Daria McBride would get her talons into me again, and I can understand that." He cocked his head at her and smiled. "Tell you what, pet, I'll forgive you if you just show me those dimples."

Rose smiled broadly. It was almost a conditioned reflex whenever Spike mentioned her dimples.

Spike finished up and left his used mug sitting on the kitchen counter without even bothering to rinse it out. And it was entirely on purpose, just to piss Angel off. He held out his hand to Rose. "Shall we, luv?" As Rose made show of taking his hand, he reflected that she was much better at this sort of thing than he'd been when he was a specter. But then, Rose had had quite a bit more practice.

As he made his preparations for bed, Rose shimmered and changed into the semblance of one of the nightgowns he'd gotten her, it seemed like forever ago. They settled into the bed, facing each other, as was their custom.

"This is nice," Spike remarked. "I missed this."

"I did too," Rose admitted. She sighed, then snuggled into the pillow, even though her head didn't even make a dent in it. "I know it shouldn't make a difference to me the way I am, but there were times I thought I'd go insane not being able to move around."

"That bounty hunter has a lot to answer for," Spike remarked. "Problem is, I doubt that poncey git has anything in mind nearly serious enough to pay her back properly for what she did to us. Not to mention offing that ops team."

"Can we not talk about her, for a while?" Rose suggested. Her voice still went hard and flat when referring to Daria. "I want to forget about the last few days for a while and just enjoy being near you."

"I think I could deal with that," Spike replied He made a kissing motion with his lips, and Rose followed suit, then lay there and watched him go to sleep.

&&&&&&&

Angel called a meeting of the significant few the next day. "We may have Spike and Rose back," he began. "But the problem is far from being dealt with."

"Think you could refrain from stating the overwhelmingly obvious?" Spike suggested, drawing a glower from his grandsire. Spike ignored him, and turned to Fred. "Did you ever find out why no one missed that ops team, or why their replacements never showed?"

"We've detected traces of a spell," Fred responded. "But if it's the spell that Wes seems to think it is, there's no way that Daria McBride could have cast it, because it can't be cast from a distance."

"And we know where Daria was that night," Rose remarked sourly.

"Sounds like an inside job," Gunn observed. "Hard to believe that one of our loyal employees would take a bribe." Even Rose, who wasn't always at her best with sarcasm got that one.

"The question is, how do we figure out who among all the people that work here is or was in Daria's pay," Wesley stated.

Angel's eyes swiveled towards Lorne. "Now wait a minute, Angel, babe," Lorne protested. "Do you recall how long it took me to screen all the employees? Isn't there any way that you could narrow down the list a bit first?"

"We'll see what we can do," Angel promised him. "We have some time now, since we don't have the urgency of trying to get our people away from the bounty hunter."

"How are we going to draw her out into the open?" Fred asked. "'Cause I kinda doubt that she's going to be sticking her head out anytime soon."

"We could get someone to contact her posing as a potential client," Rose suggested. Then her face fell. "But do we have anyone we can trust with it? It can't be one of us, Daria's seen us all already."

Angel thought of someone he trusted utterly, and who could handle herself in a tight situation. If she had been anywhere nearby, he might have called her and asked.

Spike caught his look and read it correctly. "There's not a lot I'd like better than seein' the Slayer kick Daria McBride's ass," he agreed. "But it ain't happening, so think of something else."

"I have a few contacts," Wesley mused. "But to be honest, I'm not sure I'd trust any of them that far."

"Same here," Gunn muttered. "Everyone I used to think I could count on, I can't. Or they're gone."

"Have you ever heard of sincerity from show biz folks?" asked Lorne.

"And everyone knows us science geeks don't have lives," Fred remarked jokingly. "Everyone I really trust around here is right in this room."

"I think that holds true for just about all of us," Angel observed. "Maybe I'll have another little chat with that Q'lxzr demon and see if I can shake any more information out of it. Even if we did come up with a name, I'd probably need to talk to it to find out how potential clients contact Daria." He looked at Spike. "Want to come along?"

"Thought you'd never ask," Spike remarked. Then, he glanced at Rose. "Maybe you'll want to give the Watcher a hand, pet," he suggested.

Rose opened her mouth to protest, then realized that she wouldn't care to see them roughing up the demon any more than they wanted her for an audience. "All right," she said meekly.

As he was headed for the door, Angel said, "The rest of you see if you can get a line on someone to front for us. Or come up with a better idea."

&&&&&&&

As soon as Angel and Spike entered the aisle between the cells, and that they were there at all said something about the way Wolfram and Hart had done business, the Q'lxzr's voice rang out.

"How long you keep I prisoner, vampire?" it demanded.

"You're free to go any time you like," Angel said casually. "And I was under the impression that it was protective custody. Or are you no longer afraid of Daria McBride?"

"You not have caught bounty hunter yet?" the indignant demon whined, ears twitching. "Am I being stuck here forever?" It caught sight of Spike. "Who this one?"

"It's.., um.., the other vampire," Angel stammered and coughed through the statement.

"That the special vampire?" the Q'lxzr asked in disbelief. "Why bounty hunter want him?"

"If that ain't obvious, I'm sure not telling you," Spike sniffed.

Angel fought back a grin. "It's a long story. Right now, I need some more information about the bounty hunter."

"More money?" the little blue-gray demon suggested hopefully.

"Do we really have to go through that again?" Angel arched an eyebrow at the demon, reminding it of their previous interview.

It sighed. "Have vampire, must have ghost too. Show ghost to I?"

Angel could see Spike starting to come to a boil. Better head that one off. "Maybe," he hedged. "But I need more information first."

"Never saw ghost before," the demon muttered. "If promise to show ghost to I, I answer questions."

Angel looked at Spike, waiting to see how he'd react. Spike finally gave an unhappy, jerking nod. True, in Rose's current state, the demon couldn't do anything to her, but outside of Lorne, Rose had had outstandingly bad luck around demons. "Just don't go gettin' no ideas," he muttered. "She's my girl."

"Vampire own ghost?" the demon asked dubiously.

&&&&&&&

"Would it be of any use to ask if you know anyone that could help us, Rose?" Wesley asked. He'd gone through his entire list of contacts, and couldn't find one he'd trust enough to turn his back on.

Rose got a gleam in her eye and a faint smile curled up the edges of her mouth. "I just had a thought," she murmured. "Wesley, can you find out if Daria still has those wards on the house? If she does, my idea won't work."

"It shouldn't be too difficult," Wes replied. "What have you got in mind, Rose?"

"Someone Daria doesn't know, of course," Rose answered, eyes twinkling merrily. "I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner."

"Rose." Wesley's voice ended half an octave lower than it had started, and he'd made two syllables out of her name.

"Me, of course, silly." Before the researcher could protest the ludicrousness of the idea, Rose suddenly disappeared, and a tall, busty blonde stood in her place. "What do you think?"

"Well I'll be damned," he said in awe. "It just might work."