Rose woke in the middle of the night, and just stopped herself before she jumped out of bed, startled to find that she was there. She must have made some small movement, however, because Spike's arms tightened their protective hold. She snuggled back against him, feeling a warm glow of contentment settle over her. She sighed.

"You all right, babe?" Spike murmured in her ear.

"I'm fine," she hastened to assure him. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"I'm a light sleeper," he replied. "How are your nerves holding out, luv?"

She rolled over so she could return his embrace. "I'm feeling a little embarrassed that I was so jittery earlier," she confessed. "Right now, I feel like I'm in the safest place on earth."

In the dark, she couldn't see the impish grin on his face. "You mean Angel's apartment?" he asked, sounding oh, so innocently amazed.

"No, idiot," she replied. She nuzzled at him in the lightlessness until her lips met his, and time stood still for a few moments. "I mean in your arms," she finished.

"Just teasing, sweetheart." Spike tangled his fingers in her hair and kissed her again. "I love you so much, Rose," he whispered, punctuating his words with quick, soft kisses. "If I didn't already have plenty of reason to, I'd still hate that bitch just for making you feel afraid."

"I'm not feeling afraid now," she murmured softly.

He caught a distinct change in tone. "What are you feeling now, babe?"

"Love. Passion." She found his lips again. "You."

&&&&&&&

Angel met Lorne on his way to his office.

"You're looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed," Lorne observed. "Get some sleep last night?"

Angel looked a little pained. He had a feeling that this was going to end up being one of those running jokes with him as its butt. But, joking or not, he knew that the Pylean felt a real affection for Rose, so he did feel a certain amount of obligation to let him know how she was doing. He forced a grin "Rose was out of it before she got to bed last night," he said. "This whole thing's been wearing on her nerves, so Spike gave her a glass of wine. It put her lights out in pretty short order."

"Poor little lamb," the demon murmured. "If I can make the time today, I'd like to stop by your office and say hello to her."

"Here's something that ought to free up some of your time," Angel remarked. "Although it's not good news. You can drop the screening of the catering staff unless they're on that list that Gunn gave you. Daria planted a listening device on us. She already knows that Rose isn't a ghost anymore."

Lorne's face looked even greener than usual. "I shudder to think what that bounty hunter might do if she got her hands on our Rosebud," he muttered. "Listen, big guy, I know we've all been busting our tail feathers over this thing, but we have got to get that McBride woman declawed, and fast."

"I couldn't agree more," Angel muttered. "I look forward to the day when Daria McBride's name isn't a part of my daily conversation."

&&&&&&&

Spike was entering the ops training room when his sharp vampire's ears caught a click and a faint whooshing sound. He automatically threw himself to one side, just before the crossbow bolt would have dusted him. He looked across the room, and there was one of his men, holding a small handheld crossbow, and looking incredibly innocent. He advanced on the man.

"I was just checking it out and it went off by accident," he rushed through the prefabricated lie without much sincerity. He started looking a little nervous as Spike continued towards him. "It was an accident, just an accident." The last was squeaked out as Spike grabbed him by his collar and lifted him off his feet.

"I believe you," Spike lied. "That's why I'm not going to kill you." The jerk went sailing across the room. "Let's see to it that there aren't any more 'accidents'," Spike suggested. "Or you lot might be having a few accidents of your own."

The ops men looked at each other worriedly. Either the vampire led a charmed life, or he was really as good as he thought he was.

Spike whipped off his shirt. "Do you think four of you could manage to take me?"

&&&&&&&

Wesley handed Fred a file folder. "Here's all the information you need on Sinquaorth demons, Fred," he remarked. "Does this mean you're going to be finished with the robot soon?"

Fred nodded. "Just finishing up with the programming, then the rest is cosmetic work, and that shouldn't take too long," she answered. "I'm wondering if it's all going to be worth the effort, though."

"What do you mean?" Wes asked.

"Well, that talisman was in the lab for a few days," the scientist pointed out. "Daria knows we're building a robot."

"Does she have any idea the form it's going to take, though?" Wesley mused aloud. "And, even if she does, if the robot is realistic enough, she may not have any way of telling whether it's ours, or the genuine article."

"Trust me," Fred said with a grin. "Another Sinquaorth demon won't be able to tell it's not the real deal."

"Then my advice would be not to borrow trouble," the researcher replied. "We've got enough of that as it is." He gathered up some papers. "Sorry to be rude, Fred, but I need to get this up to Rose. I'll be heartily glad when I can get her back in her own department. This whole arrangement is exceedingly awkward."

"For everyone," Fred reminded him. "See ya later."

&&&&&&

Since Rose's secret was out, Angel had decreed that the rest of the staff could forgo the hassle of surreptitiously bringing Rose some lunch. It was easier, but he wished Daria McBride hadn't gotten hold of the information. He looked over at the ex-Power, diligently tapping away at the keys of the computer. He couldn't imagine anyone holding a grudge against her. Hell, she'd even won Harmony over, and Harm had taken an instant dislike to her when she'd arrived. What made the bounty hunter tick? He quelled the desire to take her apart a piece at a time to find out.

Rose got up suddenly and went over to the window and stared out it, looking without really seeing. Angel joined her.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"I just can't seem to concentrate on anything," she admitted. "Wesley will probably be upset with how little I've managed to accomplish today."

"I think he'll understand," Angel said, comfortingly. "He knows the kind of stress you've been under, Rose. Give the guy a little credit."

"I just want this all to be over," she muttered, half to herself. "It seems that no matter what happens, Spike and I seem to have some kind of shadow hanging over us. And I can't help but feel that I'm in some way responsible. That it's some sort of price I have to pay, and keep paying for falling in love with him."

"If the rest of The Powers felt that way, do you think they would have allowed you to be together?" Angel inquired. He put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a friendly squeeze. "I think it's just one of those things. And I can't promise there won't be more of them. Not with both of you working at Wolfram and Hart. This place sort of seems to invite that kind of stuff." He looked down, and saw nothing but the top of her head with it's covering of silky, chestnut colored hair. "But if it was what you think it is, would it be worth it?"

"For Spike?" Her voice was completely incredulous, as if she couldn't imagine that anyone wouldn't be willing to make any number of sacrifices on Spike's behalf. "Of course it would."

"If that's what you think, then that's all that really matters, isn't it?" He looked down at her until she looked back up at him, and even managed a faint smile. And then, just because there was something about her that seemed to invite such things, he gave her a real hug.

"Can't have a girl without you making the moves on her can I?" Spike's voice came from the doorway. But he didn't sound pissed off or anything, just.., Spike.

Rose immediately disengaged from Angel, and went to Spike, drawn to him as if she were a compass needle and he was magnetic north. "You don't really think..," she started.

"Don't be silly," he interrupted, silencing her with a quick kiss. "If I did, right about now, the ponce and I would be going at it hammer and tongs."

Wesley poked his head in the door. "Am I interrupting something?"

Angel shook his head. "Come on in and enjoy the party," he said tiredly.

Spike put in his two cent's worth. "What is this place? Bleeding Grand Central Station?"

Wes looked from one vampire to the other and decided that he didn't have time to find out what was going on. Probably none of his business any. "I just brought this up for Rose." He indicated the papers in his hand. He went over and looked at her computer screen. "You haven't made too much progress today, have you?" he asked mildly.

Rose gave Angel an 'I told you so', look. "I'm sorry, Wesley," she apologized. "I just can't seem to keep my mind on things today."

Wesley gave her a sympathetic look. "I understand, Rose. Just do whatever you can." He tried pulling on a stern face, but didn't quite manage it. "But let's not make a habit of it, shall we?" He left before he saw Angel give Rose back the same look she had given him.

"How are things going in ops?" Angel asked Spike, just to make conversation, and to keep from feeling like he was a fifth wheel. Once again, he thought how glad he'd be to get the two of them out of his place and back to their own.

"I'm starting to see a little improvement," Spike allowed grudgingly. "I think it put a little fear up the wanker's backs when I didn't go poof this morning when they arranged a little accident for me." Belatedly he realized that giving out that information in front of Rose was probably not the smartest move he'd ever made, and a glance down at her horrified face confirmed that.

"They tried to kill you?" Her eyes were wide as saucers. "What happened?"

"They missed," Spike said off-handedly, trying to make light of it for her benefit.

Angel was glowering. "Spike, would you mind hanging around here for a few minutes?" he asked. "I have a little errand to run."

Spike glared at him, pretty sure which way his thoughts were running. "You put me in charge of the department," he reminded his grandsire. "Let me handle it, will you?"

"And I'm still the boss," Angel stated. "I'll be back in a little bit." Without waiting for any further comment, he left the office.

&&&&&&

Black-clad figures were flying around the training room. After Angel was sure that he had their undivided attention, he motioned those that were still capable of movement to gather round him.

"Since you boys seemed to be a little learning disabled," he started. "Let me spell things out for you, again. I put Spike in charge for that reason. Because you can't seem to get it through your heads that you're going to be doing things a little differently now. Besides, that," he added. "There's a very valuable member of the staff, more valuable than any of you, I might add, whose life is linked to Spike's. In other words, if he dies, she dies. If that happened, I'd be very unhappy." He glared around at them to see if they'd gotten the point, and it seemed that they had. Most of them had gone a bit pale. "So, I won't be hearing about any more 'accidents', will I?"

There was a general mumbled dissent, and then, they dispersed and tended to their wounded.

&&&&&&&&

Angel returned to the office with a satisfied look on his face, and he and Spike glared at each other out of habit. But no words were exchanged. Spike gave Rose one last kiss, and left.

Rose had watched the byplay, and decided that she didn't want to know any more about it. She had been unable to pry any more information out of Spike about the incident, and concluded that it was one of those male things and had to do with protecting her and/or her feelings. It was a little irritating at times, but it was also nice to know that they cared about her that much to go to the effort.

But the rest of the day passed slowly for Rose. She really wasn't getting much work done. She tried, but her mind kept wandering away from her work, wondering how Spike was doing, or what Daria McBride was up to. Or even sometimes, what life would be like without all these complications. It was with a sense of relief that she was able to turn off her computer at the end of the day and go to the one place where she felt most truly safe.

To be with Spike.