In the Name of Love

By Tales of Spike

Spoilers: Story started just prior to As You Were and runs through to the end of Hells Bells. From there on the story goes AU, so Normal Again, Entropy etc. haven't happened and won't.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Joss and his friends own everything and everyone.

Feedback: I'd really like feedback, I get all insecure without it and start to think no one's reading this crap I produce, so bring it on at Sandy.Osborne@blueyonder.co.uk.

Chapter 16

As Spike had suspected getting into the building had been easy. He'd arrived about eleven o'clock and made his way up the fire escape, stopping for a cigarette whenever anyone from the building might spot his upward movement. When he got to the floor he wanted, he simply had a few cigarettes and waited. When someone came out, he threw away the remains of his cigarette, grabbed the door before it could shut and walked in. Perhaps the suit hadn't been such a waste of money after all.

About a quarter of the floor-space was taken up by the administration workers and junior staff working for the lawyers who had offices on this floor. Their work area was divided up using five foot high partitions, so that each desk was walled off on three sides, possibly to provide some privacy, but more likely to make it more difficult for the junior workers to talk to each other. Spike picked an area where he couldn't see or hear anyone working. He scanned a few of the cubicles, before he picked one where the arrangement of the furniture provided an area where he could wait out an hour or two without being easily seen. He pulled a paperback from his pocket and settling into his spot in the corner of the cubicle, he read until the last person on that floor was leaving to go home. As the lights were switched off he moved through the shadows, getting as close as he dared to the final departing employee. As far as he could tell, the employee did nothing to activate any alarm before he left. Spike moved quickly to the light switches and flashed the lights on and off a couple of times before moving to the back door.

Giles who had been waiting for the signal made his way up the fire escape and in through the door which Spike opened for him. The pair had hidden again until the guard completed his rounds. Spike had spotted several sensors for the alarm system, concentrated around the exits, which seemed to pick up infrared, but he had been able to ensure that his movements would mask Giles'. Scanning through the nameplates on the office doors taking up three of the walls, he wasn't surprised that the name he wanted was on the door of one of the corner suites.

Giles worked on picking the lock of the office door. He was more than a little out of practice and it was taking some time. "Refresh my memory as to why I'm doing this again?"

"Because, Watcher, from what little I've heard about your youthful indiscretions, you're probably as good at it as I am, and my superior senses make me better qualified as look-out."

"No, I mean why am I here at two in the morning, with you, trying to break into this particular office, out of all the possibles."

"Call it a hunch, Ripper."

It was more than a hunch. He'd phoned the firm this morning and managed to trick the firm's receptionist into telling him which partner dealt with Quentin Travers affairs. He'd pretended that Travers had recommended his lawyer to him, but he'd forgotten the name. He even had an appointment set up for the week after next, but somehow he didn't think he'd be keeping it. Of course, theoretically even confirming that Quentin Travers was a client had been a breach of client confidentiality, but he wasn't going to complain.

Once Giles got the door open, Spike checked the room for alarm sensors before the older man entered.

"Check the secretary's desk, see if she's got some sort of list of client names and addresses. I'll try the filing cabinets."

Spike was relieved to find that the filing cabinets were unlocked and he quickly located a file with Quentin Travers name on it. He had hoped to find surveillance photographs and other materials, but all that the file contained was copies of correspondence between Travers and the firm. The letters were enough to confirm his suspicions.

Ronnie had bought the contract when it came up for sale. When she had submitted her thesis, it had been included as supporting documentation. Although it rightfully belonged to her, personally, Quentin Travers as the chairman of the committee reviewing the thesis had procured the document and passed it on to the lawyers. He had used the firm as agents when hiring the Order of Taraka, being unwilling to deal with them directly. It also told him that Isobel had been right. Sunnydale wasn't the only place he'd had people under surveillance.

Giles had come through from the outer office whilst Spike was still skimming through the file. Seeing the expression on the vampire's face he waited for Spike to finish reading before he interrupted.

"There are two or three people whose names I recognise on this list. They all work for the council."

"Don't worry. I think we've got our man. His address could be quite useful though." Spike passed the file to Giles. "I think they must have some other stuff stored somewhere else though. Photos, detective's reports and things like that. I'm going to have a look around on this floor. If we're lucky they'll be here rather than some centralised storeroom. Stay in the office away from all the sensors. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Spike did a quick circuit of the rooms on that floor but was unable to find what he wanted. He made a note of the information he wanted from the secretary's records and then got Giles to put the list back where it came from. The file on Quentin Travers he kept in its entirety. Until they had reason to use that particular file they would never even notice there was one missing. Fortunately the lock on the office was a Yale type, so it was easy to lock it again when they had finished.

Spike headed for the side of the building where the stairwell was situated but hadn't gone far before he signalled to Giles to hide. The two moved into cover with seconds to spare before the security guard appeared again to do his rounds. He walked a slow circuit of the floor, checking all the office doors were locked. He panned his flashlight around the partitioned area in a half-hearted manner before moving back to the stairs. As soon as he'd gone Spike moved silently over to the door leading to the stairwell. Listening carefully he determined when the guard had moved onto the floor above. He motioned Giles over and the two moved down to the floor one above the entry level before the guard had time to finish his patrol of the floor above.

"I assume you have some plan for us getting out of here?" Giles whispered.

"Well, Watcher, that depends on how much detail you want before you call something a plan." He sighed and raised his eyebrow. "The alarms on the doors are probably live by now. I'm hoping we can find a window that we can get out of without it being too obvious, and if need be if we do trip an alarm at least they shouldn't realise which office we've been in."

He moved toward the back of the building and was soon rewarded when he found a window that he could open. Unfortunately all the ones near to the fire escape had been nailed shut several coats of paint previously, but those where the fire escape didn't provide easy access hadn't been sealed. Spike checked for some sort of connection to the alarm system, but found none. He opened the window and looked out. There was a strip of grass about four feet wide between the building and the car park.

"I think even you should be able to manage that, if you hang by your fingers and drop. I'll go second, that way I can hopefully push the window shut before I jump." He stood back to let the watcher through.

Giles looked out the window. "You never did give me a good reason why I'm here with you." He slid one leg through the opening and sitting on the sill pulled the other through.

"Because, Rupert, I thought you'd be a bit more understanding about my killing your boss if you were there when I found the evidence against him." Spike replied to the figure who was now brushing himself off after landing on the grass below.

Spike pulled himself through the window, and balanced on the ledge while he tried to push the window shut. At first he didn't think it was going to move but when it did it shut with a slamming sound and Spike lost his footing and landed on his back half on the grass below, half on the car park. Pausing only to check the file was still tucked in his waistband he grabbed Giles arm and pulled him along behind as he ran to get clear of the area in case one of the guards investigated.

* * * * *

"You knew before we went in there that it was Quentin Travers." The watcher sounded more than a little annoyed.

"Let's just say I had some very strong suspicions, but no actual proof."

"So now that you have proof what do you intend to do?"

"Try again tomorrow. See if I can find the rest of it. The surveillance footage."

"And then?"

"Then Mr Travers and I are going to have ourselves a little confrontation…"

Spike poured a large measure of whisky each and passed one to the watcher.

"You plan to kill him."

"Well, I could try taking him out for a nice meal, maybe talk him round to my point of view, but somehow I don't see that as a permanent solution." Spike sighed. "Of course I'm going to kill him. It's him or me, which one do you think I'm going to choose?"

"Are you even sure that killing him will stop the Tarakans? The lawyers may see it carried through even if something happens to him."

"Even Dru and Darla couldn't manage a whole firm of lawyers in one sitting. I'll just have to try it this way first."

"Buffy wouldn't approve of murder."

"You think I haven't considered that? I just can't think of another way to settle this, and unless you have some sort of plan I suggest you drop the subject, or maybe you'd rather stake me yourself?"

The remark was made more in jest than as a serious proposition but Spike watched the man and knew that every instinct within him said the vampire should die. That human life, whoever it may be, would always be worth more than the existence of an undead fiend. A few months of co-operation meant next to nothing compared to the mindset developed over his entire adult life.

Spike realised that the man he'd come to respect still regarded him as vermin. He absorbed the pain, as he had so often since he crossed paths with Buffy and her friends. "You've got the best part of two days to make up your mind, Rupert. I can't hurt you. You know that if anything happened to you it would all but finish her. It's been bad enough for her just knowing you're so far away… I guess you'll have to do what your conscience dictates."

Spike knocked back the remains of his drink and then topped up both their glasses. Bravado won out over prudence. "Maybe I should make the decision a bit easier for you. Can't have you making a choice like this without having all the facts. I figured she might want to tell you, but I suppose the situation demands that I do the honours. Buffy and I came to an agreement before I left Sunnydale. To put it formally, she has agreed to let me pay court to her."

Giles' face turned a shade nearer to purple and Spike once again threw back the drink in his glass. "How could you think you would ever deserve a girl like that?"

"I don't think there's a bloody man alive or otherwise who will ever deserve to even walk the same planet as her, but I do think I could make her happy. The girl needs a man who can stand next to her, not hide behind her. She needs someone who can support her, not someone she has to protect, and she needs someone who can understand the darkness inside her and not condemn her for it. Now, maybe I just helped you decide that I'm the one who has to die, but I'm not going to have it said that I hid what was happening from you. If you can't stand the thought of my hands on your precious daughter then maybe you better just take this and get it over with."

Spike pulled a stake from the waistband of his trousers and sent it spinning across the desk between the two.

* * * * *

"Hey, Buffster!" Xander pushed the back door open. "Anybody, the school shuttle service is here!" He wandered through to the living room in search of the house's occupants, just as Buffy came down the stairs, her hair still wet from the shower.

"Hi. We all slept in. Dawn'll be down in a minute. D'you want some coffee?"

"Coffee is good. Caffeine makes me not asleep. What's with the florist shop? Have you been keeping secrets or is Richard getting paid more than I am?"

"N-no secrets and no Richard. I mean I told Willow and Tara and Dawn but you were kind of not here, b-but I thought someone would have told you."

Xander poured two coffees from the pot on the counter. "It's no big, Buff. Things have been, well…" He shrugged, and gave a half smile that didn't reach his eyes. "It's nice one of us is happy, I just wish it didn't seem so much like we have to take it in turns. So spill. Who is Mr Right and how d'ya meet him?"

"Em, well he saw me dust a vamp outside the Bronze and then he introduced himself and said he'd see me Saturday, but as I recall he turned up a day early for Parent Teacher Night."

"Spike. You're kidding me right. You cannot be saying that you're seeing that freak. Angel was bad enough but at least he had a soul. All Spike has is a little bit of plastic. How could you bear to let him touch you? He's a fucking vampire. They're all psychotic murderers, yet he's infamous even to them and you're going to let him put his hands on you. You think the boy-scout act'll keep up when that chip of his stops working. You think he'll still be sending flowers when he's got you to open your legs for him. You used to be creeped out by his twisted little obsession now you-"

Xander was cut off by a scream almost in the ultrasonic range.

"Get out, get out." Dawn had made it downstairs in time to catch the end of this tirade. "If you're going to come in here and insult people we care about then you can just go right back out again. When Buffy was gone Spike was the only person that was really there for me whenever I needed him. He doesn't have some twisted obsession. He's in love with Buffy and the sooner you get that clear the happier everyone is going to be, but if you can't, just stay away from this house and the people in it."

"Dawn." Both Buffy and Xander tried to calm the teenager.

"Dawn, I know Spike kept you company and whatnot but you can't forget that he's a soulless killer."

"Yeah, he hasn't changed at all has he, Xander?" Dawn's voice was heavy with sarcasm. "You've killed more people than he has in the last year than he has. You and your singing, dancing demon that you were going to let take me or Buffy if you hadn't been cornered into confessing. But you've got a soul so you must be all right. He hasn't so that makes him evil. Well, maybe that makes me evil too, did you ever think of that. Did you ever wonder, maybe making a body and some memories isn't so tricky, but a soul, how can a blob of energy have a soul? Did anyone ever check? That's it, I'm a little clepto. It must be because I'm evil and soulless.

I'm the teenager, but you're the one who needs to grow up. I would say that you can care about Anya and she went round wreaking vengeance for ten times as long as Spike's been a vampire but then you've treated her like shit too. You're a hypocrite; no one's any good unless they're human. Well, I know that Spike would die to protect me or Buffy or probably even to protect the rest of you and I seem to recall something from RE about greater love hath no man but that he'd give up his life for another. Spike would give up his life for us. You can't even give up your prejudices."

Having temporarily run out of things to say on the subject Dawn stormed out of the front door.

"Buffy, you know I'm just trying to help you see things clearly. You can't want to be with that thing."

"Xander, Dawn was right. You may have helped bring me back from the dead, but that doesn't give you the right to tell me how to run my life, and if you want to call yourself my friend don't even think about taking this up with Spike, but if you do don't be surprised if he gives as good as he gets. Go away and think about this and if you really can't come to terms with it then I guess Dawn's right and you're not welcome in this house."

She opened the back door and waited for him to leave.

'Oh God. How often has it been me making the remarks about Spike being soulless? How often have I said stuff like that in front of Dawn?'

End of chapter 16