"Gunn, I want you outside, watching the main entrance," Angel said, mapping out their strategy. "As soon as Daria gets there, you follow her in, preferably without being seen. The rest of us will come up through the sewers. Wes, I want you at the top of the stairs, Spike behind the front desk, and I'll be in my old office. Any questions?"

"Yeah. What are we going to do with her when we get her?" Gunn asked. "She's too dangerous to turn over to the cops, but they kind of frown on us taking things into our own hands."

"Only if they catch us," Spike remarked idly. His pose and lazy drawl said he was totally relaxed, until you really looked and noticed that every muscle in his body was taut as a bowstring. He was still extremely unhappy about deliberately using Rose as bait, even if she had volunteered. "I still don't like the idea of leaving Rose alone with that sorry little sod, even if it is only going to be for a few minutes. If he tries anything with her I'm going to turn him inside out."

"You have got to be kidding." Wesley was fiddling around with a few talismans of his own, protection against certain magics. "I saw Josh Maxwell for a few minutes, Spike, and I think you're going to be the main feature in all his nightmares for many years to come. I believe he's far too scared of you to try getting too familiar with Rose. Where is she, by the way?" He started passing the talismans around.

"I'm here, Wesley." Rose came out of the bedroom. She looked, well, she looked like what one might imagine a kidnap victim might look like. Hair disheveled, clothing torn and face dirty, with the bruises on her neck making a very realistic finishing touch. "How do I look?"

"Like somebody ought to be strung up by their balls." Gunn spoke without thinking. "Sorry."

Rose smiled. "I doubt that you can come up with anything I haven't heard before," she remarked. A quick glance at Spike left no doubt as to where she had heard it all.

Wesley went up to Rose and hung one of the talismans around her neck. "Are you sure you want to go through with this, Rose?" he inquired gently. "None of us will think any the less of you if you change your mind. And, as Spike pointed out, there are going to be a few minutes when you're all alone with that Maxwell fellow."

"You'd have easier going talking to a brick wall, Watcher," Spike groused. "Can't talk any sense into her. Believe me, I've tried."

"We're not going to let anything happen to her, Spike," Angel said for the tenth or eleventh time. "And she's not going to be completely unprotected, either." He nodded at Wesley, who produced the self-same little handgun Rose had once shot a demon with.

Wesley handed the gun to Rose. "When you get inside just keep it in your hand," he instructed her. "You're going to have your hands behind your back anyway, so that Daria will think you're tied up. That way, if things go bad, you don't have to worry about freeing yourself or getting to your weapon."

Spike was still sitting on the opposite side of the room, sulking. Rose looked at him, pocketed the gun and went over to him.

"Spike?" He remained as he was, arms crossed, leaning against the window sill and staring off into space. Rose stood right in front of him, and he still acted like he was looking right through her. His composure crumbled, however, when she put her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder. His arms went around her as if he had no choice in the matter, and the stoic, emotionless expression on his face softened and smoothed out the hard lines. He kissed her cheek and pulled her closer.

There was a knock at the door. "What the hell?" Angel muttered. He opened the door to see Fred and Lorne standing there. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Well you don't think you're going to hog all the fun, do you?" Lorne asked easily. The demon was uncharacteristically dressed in a dark colored sweatshirt and slacks, rather than one of his day-glo suits. "I figured that you could always use an extra pair of eyes, to help make sure that things go all right."

"And a getaway driver in case things go wrong," Fred finished. "And don't think you're going to try to talk us out of it, either."

Angel saw the looks on their faces and decided he had about as much chance of changing their minds as Spike had of changing Rose's. Maybe less. "Lorne, you can watch the back. Fred, of course will stay with the van."

"What about the hired help?" Spike inquired over the top of Rose's head. Now that he had hold of her, he didn't seem particularly inclined to let her go.

"Josh?" Angel asked. "He's going in a separate car, with Rose sitting in the front seat, and Gunn hiding in the back to discourage him from getting any ideas."

Spike started scowling again. "You better make sure nothing happens to Rose, lawyer-boy."

"That's the idea," Gunn replied. The only reason he didn't let himself get all riled at the peroxided vamp, especially since he didn't much care for him anyway, was because he knew why Spike was so edgy.

Angel glanced at his watch. "It's about that time," he announced. "Let's get the show on the road, shall we folks?"

"Go on," Spike said. "We'll catch you up in a couple of minutes."

Glances were exchanged, but no one said anything, and they filed out of the room leaving the two lovers alone.

"Spike, it's going to be all right," Rose assured him softly. "If I die, you die. Do you think I'd do this if I thought something would happen to you?"

Spike brushed her hair away from her face. "I still can't help worrying, babe," he whispered. "And you can be hurt a lot without dying." He gave her a long, lingering kiss. "I love you, Rose."

"I love you too, Spike." Gentle fingers reached up to caress his face. "We probably ought to join the others now."

Spike offered her his arm, and she slipped hers through it, their demeanor more of a couple out on a date, than people headed into deadly peril.

&&&&&&

"I don't like this," Josh said for the umpteenth time.

"You don't have to like it." Gunn's voice floated up from the back seat. "You just have to do it. Is he keeping to the route, Rose?"

"So far," Rose answered. Her answers since the trip began had all been equally short. She was starting to show major signs of the jitters. On one hand it would make things look more legit to Daria, but Gunn just hoped that Rose didn't freeze up if things got hairy.

"You gonna be okay, Rose?" Gunn asked. "There's still time for you to back out if you think you can't handle it."

"I want that woman out of the way." It was her first full sentence, and her tones were unlike any Gunn had ever heard from her before. "I want to be sure that she can never hurt Sp.., anyone again."

Gunn grinned, despite being uncomfortably cramped, hidden on the floor of the back seat.

Josh's eyes grew wide. He'd seen Spike and Rose together, but hadn't really made a connection. He glanced at the woman in the passenger's seat. "You're sleeping with that monster?" He sounded like he was going to be sick.

"Spike isn't a monster," Rose snapped. "And keep your eyes on the road. Spike's saved my life more than once. You put me in danger, and just for something as inconsequential as money. Which one of you is the monster?"

Josh was a little taken aback at the vehemence of her answer. Up till now, he'd scarcely heard a word out of her, and all in the gentlest of tones. He hadn't been prepared for that. Or for being told he was more of a monster than someone who had expressed an interest in drinking his blood.

&&&&&&&&

"I don't bleeding like this," Spike said for the umpteenth time.

"And we're all quite aware of that, Spike," Wesley sighed. "Gunn is good. He'll make sure that nothing happens to Rose."

"The only way I'll be sure that nothing is going to happen to Rose is when I have her in my..," Spike stopped short, feeling like he was a half-step away from embarrassing himself. "In my sight," he finished lamely. His hands fidgeted, stroking the handle of the wicked looking axe he was holding. Damn, he wanted a smoke.

Fred reached over and patted his hand. Angel was driving, he never really liked being a passenger, and besides, Fred was just the back-up driver. "We won't let anything happen to her, Spike."

"I want that bitch," Spike growled. "I want her buried in a hole so deep she'd never be able to claw her way out of it."

"Angel." Wesley raised his voice slightly to be heard in the front seat. "Have you decided what we're going to do with Daria McBride once we have her?"

"I vote for handing her over to Spike." Lorne spoke for the first time since they'd started out. "She still probably wouldn't get as much of an ass-kicking as she deserves."

"I don't believe that I just heard that." Fred voiced what just about everyone was thinking. "I could understand it if it was Spike saying it, but that just doesn't sound like you, Lorne."

"Let's just say that Spike isn't the only one that cares about what happens to our Rosebud," Lorne replied. "And I've heard some pretty gruesome stories about what that bounty hunter is capable of."

"That's two votes for me," Spike observed. "Anyone else?"

"The subject's not open to vote," Angel put in. "I've made some.., arrangements."

"What kind of arrangements?" Spike demanded.

"The kind of arrangements that you're not going to find out about till later," his grandsire replied. "Look sharp, people. We're almost there."

&&&&&&&

Daria was humming under her breath, and driving too fast, ducking in and out of traffic. She felt invincible right now. Everything was coming together. Tonight she'd get Rose, and soon, she'd have Spike as well. She was sure of it. And she'd make sure there was something of Rose left for Spike to see when she got him. That would be half the fun. But only about half. She had plenty of fun planned for the vampire too. She went skidding around a corner, leaving tire marks on the street. She had a small arsenal of weapons on her, and a slightly larger arsenal of spells. First, she'd exterminate the weasel. Then, she'd take Rose home and start getting creative. Just the thought of how much she was going to hurt Rose made her nipples so hard they ached. But that felt good too. Life was good.

&&&&&&&&

"We're here," Josh announced. "How do you want me to do this?" He'd been exceedingly polite to Gunn, knowing that the lawyer was sitting right behind him with a gun aimed at his back.

"You get out, and go around to the passenger side and help Rose out," Gunn instructed him. "Remember to act like she's got her hands tied behind her back, because that's the way she's going to hold them. Then, you walk her into the middle of the main lobby and wait there." He paused to gather his thoughts. "And you definitely don't want to try any funny stuff, because you'd have a bunch of unhappy people on your ass like ugly on an ape. Not to mention two pissed off vampires."

"I ain't getting up to anything," Josh promised. "I don't want nobody drinking my blood." The hoodlum had seemed to become almost phobic about the subject.

"I'll be all right, Gunn," Rose murmured. She looked over at Josh. "Well? We're waiting on you, monster."

&&&&&&&

"You lot lived in this place?" Spike muttered.

"Yeah, for a couple of years," Angel replied. They were the last of the WH team to deploy. "Why?"

"Place is creepier than my crypt ever was," the blond vamp observed. "Where's that sorry little bastard and Rose?"

"There they are." Angel pointed out the front doors. "Get into your hiding place. It's almost midnight now. I don't think that Daria is going to be late. She wants Rose too badly."

Spike hopped over the counter with out touching it. He didn't want to leave a handprint in the dust, just in case the bounty hunter noticed. Angel slipped into his old office, leaving the door open a crack. The two vampires could just make out the sound of Wesley's agitated breathing at the top of the stairs.

The front door creaked as Josh opened it, then shoved Rose inside ahead of him. He swung the flashlight he'd been given around the room, but didn't see anyone else. Maybe they weren't here yet. He went to the middle of the lobby as instructed, and stood there waiting with Rose.

As soon as Josh had stopped, while she'd been turning around, Rose had surreptitiously slipped the little hand gun out of her pocket, and now cradled it in her hands, which she held crossed behind her, just like they'd be if she really were Josh's prisoner and he'd tied her up.

"So," Josh whispered to Rose, just to pass the time. "What's the deal with you and the mon.., the vampire? I mean, what's the attraction?"

"He's everything that you're not," Rose shot back, not bothering to lower her voice. Why should she? She was supposed to be here. "He's kind and loving and considerate and intelligent. And he loves me." Her voice softened noticeably on the last sentence.

Spike smiled in the darkness. Most definitely a one of a kind girl, his Rose. It was all he could do to maintain silence and not say out loud how much he loved her. If all went well, though, he figured he'd spend most of the rest of the night doing that. Verbally and non-verbally. Best stop thinking about that now, he chided himself. Need to stay sharp. Need to be ready to take out that bounty hunter bitch.

&&&&&&

The front door creaked open again. "Hello, Josh," Daria purred. "Hello, Rose. Long time no see."