A/N- Don't worry, there are still absolutely NO vampires and such in this AU. Also, I upped it to an R rating. For violence, sexual things, and language. All that good stuff. ;)

Steve had wispy brown hair and laugh wrinkles on either side of his murky green eyes. He sat at his mahogany desk, smoked his cuban cigar, and listened to his minion's pleas.

"Honest boss, it was gone before we got there... and the alarm was already off, we couldn't do nothing."

Steve was a patient man. No wait, he wasn't. So Steve stood up from his leather chair and picked up his steel gun. Steve shot Frank in the foot. Frank reeled in pain, tears wetting his eyes. He hopped on his good foot, and his hands tended to the bleeding one.

"Boss-- boss, please. We couldn't do nothing. I--"

By then Steve had rounded his desk, Frank bleeding on Steve's snakeskin shoe. His knee shot up and knocked Frank's face back into the marble floor.

Frank looked up to see Steve staring down at him, and his bigger compadre Phil still standing behind. Phil was struggling to look impartial, staring blankly ahead into the dark window behind Steve's desk.

"Why is it so hard to find good help these days, Frank?"

Steve took a few steps to Frank's side, who was whimpering in pain and had fear marring his pale face.

The heel of a snakeskin shoe was stomped into Frank's left hand, purposely grinding it into the marble. More yelps came from the tear-stained Frank, along with incoherent pleads for mercy.

"Aw Frank, you're going to stain the floor with that crap," Steve pointed to Frank's bloody foot.

"Boss, wait-- I can-- I can get the money still. There's lax security next week for this museum.. we can get 5 mil-- easy," he sniffed and tried to hold back the tears that wouldn't stop. Steve paused the motion of his heel, but didn't remove the weight from Frank's hand.

"How are you two lugs supposed to get in, if you can't even rob a fucking bank?"

"Ea-- easy boss. The Slayer."

Steve lifted his foot off Frank's hand.

"Phil, get this dope fixed up. He really should be more careful. And Frank?"

"Yeah boss?"

"Call me Steve," he smiled.

Xander set the bags full of Chinese down at the round wooden table, and took off his coat.

"Buff's undercover again? So what's the lowdown, Xan-man?" Willow asked. Xander distributed the boxs to all the girls and sat down himself.

"You know the rules, Will. Don't even try it," he said.

"Aww, not even a smidgen of top secret information?" she batted her eyelashes, and Xander blushed a bit.

"Fine, a smidgen. Just a smidgen, mind you," he said.

"Yay! Now I feel all illegal," she said.

"Feels kinda tingly, right?" asked Anya, and Willow just shrugged.

"Okay, so you know the case she's been working on this whole time?" asked Xander.

"Yeah, she's completely obsessed," said Cordelia, twirling lo mein unto her chopsticks.

"Well, that's the one she's going undercover for. It's this whole pro thief thing she wants solved," he said.

"Damn, going undercover now must be like-- sex for Buffy," said Cordelia.

"She's having sex?" Anya perked.

"Er-- I don't know. She could I guess, if she wanted to," answered Xander. He reached for a piece of duck from Willow, but she slapped his hand away.

"Good for her. Rich criminals are sexy," said Anya.

Spike shook off the daze and smirked. Buffy went through a second of hesitation as his eyes seemed to pierce her cover, but it quickly faded. It was not unnoticed, however. The detective has not once before in her undercover career felt her nerves twinge like they had. She wondered if it was because he had seen the real Buffy, at the coffee shop. She wondered if it was because the real Buffy had seen him. Then she made the decision to stop wondering, as that would be best. She couldn't, though.

"Hello luv. Buffy, was it?"

She hesitated again. Now he knew her name, too. He must've heard it at Starbucks.

"You two know each other?" asked Angel, slightly tightening his grip around Buffy's waist.

"Nah, just crossed paths once," she finally spoke. This was bad, though. She was good at her job because it was pretending. She leaves Buffy at home and puts on her mask. Nothing she does touches Buffy Summers. Tonight, it seemed, Buffy had followed her to the party. Buffy was peeking out of the mask.

"This is Spike, Buffy. If you don't already know," said Angel.

"What's with this crowd? Nicknames make it easier on the brain?" Buffy asked.

"I left my real name a long time ago, ducks. But if you must know-- it's William Kinney," he offered his hand, and Buffy shook it.

Buffy's stomach did that floppy thing again, and she felt something familiar in this man. Something past the coffee shop. Something that spooked her.

Angel's eyes nearly went wide at hearing the man's real name. He didn't think Spike ever mentioned it to anyone before. Funny how he decided to reveal himself to the first undercover agent that came his way.

"Any good jobs coming your way, Spike?" asked Angel.

"Matter of fact, yeah. Rather not share the specifics, if you don't mind."

"Aw, come on Spike. I'm sure Buffy'll love to hear it."

"Tell me, what's the poofter playing at this time?"

"Nothing. The lady just gets off on these things, ya know?" he winked, moving his hand down to grab Buffy's backside.

She leaned into him and whispered, "Don't push it, or you'll be sharing your cell with a sex offender."

Angel whispered back, "Aw, then we'll have something in common," he licked her ear. That was beyond enough, and she pushed him harshly off her.

"Hey mate, if she doesn't want to, you oblige," Spike intervened. Angel grabbed Buffy's wrist, so tight that it might've bruised.

"Trust me when I say she's got plenty of reason to oblige herself," he smiled, diving in again at Buffy. Spike pulled away Angel by his arm and clenched his jaw.

"Don't touch her," Spike demanded. Angel pulled Buffy's body forcefully towards him, ignoring Spike's warning. Spike pulled Buffy away and punched Angel hard, in the the nose.

"Aw shit! You son of a bitch!" Angel yelled, clutching at his bleeding nose. Spike took Buffy by the hand and ran through the crowd toward the door. He knew Angel had his posse closeby and he couldn't risk what they'd do to the girl.

He halted abruptly when Tito stepped in front of the door, blocking their exit. He breathed hard and quickly considered his options. Tito smiled, however, and opened the door for them to leave.

"Thanks, mate!" Spike yelled, running with Buffy down the alley. Tito closed the door behind him. Angel and a group of men ran to the door a while later.

"Where'd they go, Tit?"

"Where'd who go, Angie?" he asked innocently.