Chapter One: The Games We've Played 'Till Now Are At An End

"When did Angel say he'd be back?" Fred asked, looking up from her computer. Angel was out and had left her and Charles in charge of the office.

"He didn't say," Gunn said. "Just said he had some things to do." He moved up behind her and began to kiss her neck. "And that means we have the place to ourselves."

"Charles," Fred protested. "What if someone comes in?"

"No one's been in all night," Gunn told her. "So why don't we take advantage of it?" Finally Fred nodded and returned his kiss.

Suddenly they broke apart at the sound of the door opening. They looked up and saw a lithe figure dressed in black come through the door. He walked limply to the desk and stared at them.

Gunn eyed him, "Uh can we help you?"

"No," Spike said. "No one can help me."

"Why don't you sit down?" Fred asked.

Spike looked around, wondering what she meant. Finally he walked over and sat down in the middle of the floor.

Fred and Gunn walked over to him, "Why are you here?" Fred asked, trying again to get some kind of answer from Spike.

"You know," Spike said, looking up at them, "I've been trying to figure out that same thing. Should have been dead long time ago but no, I had to have immortality. And for what? WHAT?" He shouted. "So that I can live like this?"

Gunn pulled Fred away from Spike, "Who is this guy?"

"I don't know," Fred said. "But I don't think he's human."

"Vampire?" Gunn suggested. "If he is then why is he here? Doesn't he know what this place is?" He nudged Spike with his foot. "Hey, what are you doing here?"

Spike looked up. Fred noticed his eyes were clearer than they'd been a moment ago. "Angel."

"You know Angel?" Fred asked.

"Sure I know Peaches," Spike said, lapsing back into madness. "Known him for a hundred years, my bloody Yoda he was."

"Okay," Gunn said quietly to Fred. "Two things, this guys isn't human and he's crazy."

"Yeah," Fred agreed. "But he seems to know Angel."

"Yeah," Gunn agreed. "But how? If he's someone from Angel's past then we're probably in for some trouble."

"I don't think he's going to hurt us," Fred said. "If he wanted to he would have already."

Gunn grabbed the phone, "I'm calling Angel and getting him back here, find out who this guy is." He dialed Angel's cell phone and listened to it ring, "Come on Angel, pick up."

Across town Angel stared at his ringing phone in annoyance.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" Cordelia asked. Angel had stopped by to see how she was doing. Connor had been out and Angel and Cordelia had started talking.

Angel looked at Cordelia, nodded and answered his phone, "Hello?"

"Angel," Gunn said. "I think you should get back here."

"Why?" Angel asked. "What's wrong?"

"There's some crazy guy here looking for you." Gunn glanced over at Spike. Spike was now staring off into space and muttering to himself.

"Do you know who it is?" Angel asked, annoyed at being called away from Cordelia.

"No," Gunn said. "But he knows you. So you gonna be back soon?"

"Can't it wait?" Angel asked.

"No," Gunn said. "There's a crazy English vampire sitting on the floor right now and he wants to see you."

Angel froze, "Did you say English?"

"Yeah," Gunn said. "And he had all these weird names for you, something about Peaches and Yoda."

Angel swore quietly. Cordelia looked at him in surprise. Angel ignored her and said, "Don't let him out of your sight. I'll be right there." He hung up the phone and stood up.

"What's wrong?" Cordelia asked.

"I need to get back," Angel said.

"I'll come with you," Cordelia said.

"No," Angel said.

"Why not?" Cordelia asked. "If it's about danger, I've already faced it before and I know how to defend myself." She grabbed an ax, "So who are we after?"

Angel started walking towards his car, Cordelia following him. Angel turned around and grabbed her shoulders, "You're staying here."

"Why?" Cordelia persisted.

"Because," Angel said. "If it's who I think it is than I don't want you anywhere near him."

"I'll be fine," Cordelia said. She jumped into the car. "Let's go."

Angel got in too. He didn't have time to argue with her. If it was Spike back at the hotel then he had to get back before Spike hurt someone. The last time Spike had come to L.A. it hadn't gone well and Angel wasn't going to let anything happen to Fred, Gunn or Cordelia because of his centuries long feud with Spike.

"Do you normally drive this fast?" Cordelia asked, grabbing onto the door as Angel drove as fast as he could towards the hotel.

Angel didn't answer. He just pulled up in front of the hotel and ran inside. He hurried down the steps, stopped and looked around. Fred and Gunn were standing in the middle of the lobby. There was no sign of Spike anywhere. "Where is he?" Angel asked.

"Over there," Fred gestured to a dark corner. "He crawled over there right after we called you and he won't come out."

"What?" Angel asked. "He didn't try to hurt you or anything?"

"No," Gunn said. "It was weird. He came in here, sat down and started muttering to himself. Only thing that made sense was that he wanted to see you."

Angel looked over the where Spike was. Spike was sitting in the corner, his knees pulled up to his chest, his eyes were closed and he was muttering to himself. Angel carefully walked over to Spike. He knelt down next to him, "Spike, what are you doing here?"

Spike opened his eyes and looked at Angel, "Angel?"

"Spike, what's going on?" Angel asked. Something wasn't right here. This wasn't Spike. The Spike he knew, had created and despised was a fighter, never one to sit still. This Spike was behaving more like Drusilla in her least sane moments.

Suddenly Spike jumped to his feet, startling everyone. He started pacing around the room. Angel noticed, absently, that he wasn't wearing his precious duster. Spike stopped pacing and looked at Angel. Spike's face had changed from vacant insanity to angry insanity.

"Why didn't you tell me?!" Spike yelled at Angel. Fred jumped and moved slightly behind Gunn. Angel didn't move. Spike got right in Angel's face and yelled again, "Why didn't you bloody tell me?" Angel didn't flinch. Spike let out a cry of disgust and resumed walked around the lobby, muttering to himself. He kept this up for a while before he started yelling at Angel again. "You taught me everything! From the moment I clawed my way out of that coffin! You taught me how to fight, feed, everything, even about the Slayer.." Spike let out a sound that was half laugh half cry and fell on his knees. "I didn't mean to, I swear, she did this to me, you know how she is."

Gunn looked at Angel, "So how do you know this guy?"

Angel looked at Spike. Spike was still kneeling on the floor, his face buried in his hands. He was quiet for now.

"His name is Spike," Angel said.

"Is he family?" Gunn asked.

Angel nodded, "Drusilla's his sire."

"That crazy?" Gunn said, surprised.

"Who's Drusilla?" Fred asked, trying to follow.

Spike's head popped up at Drusilla's name, "That stupid, bloody bitch, this is her fault too! If she hadn't left me then I never would have.." His voice trailed off, he grabbed his head and started chanting, "Shut up!" hysterically.

Cordelia picked that moment to walk into the hotel. She saw Spike, lost in his own madness and said, "I thought we were after someone dangerous."

"He is," Angel said. "When he's in his right mind."

"So why's he acting crazy?" Fred asked.

"I don't know," Angel said.

"Maybe it's a vamp thing," Gunn suggested. "His sire was crazy, maybe it gets passed down."

"No," Angel said. "Dru was already crazy when I turned her." He studied Spike. What could have happened to make Spike lose his mind? Nothing Spike said made any sense. Then a thought occurred to him. He walked over to Spike and pulled him to his feet. "Okay Spike, game's over. You're not fooling anyone. So what are you doing here and don't lie to me."

"She made me come," Spike said. "She told me to come, that you'd help."

"Who?" Angel asked, still trying to make sense of Spike's ramblings. "Drusilla?'

"Where?" Spike asked, looking around for a place to hide. "Where is she? She can't see me like this. She'll know right away what's happened."

Angel made an annoyed sound, "Spike, stop it. No one's buying it. So drop the Drusilla act and tell me what's going on."

"Here," Spike said, looking around in his pockets. "She sent a pass, to explain." He kept looking for the note Buffy had sent but he couldn't find it. "Where is it? Where the bloody hell did it go?"

Angel looked at Fred, "Go get Lorne. He might be able to find out what's going on." Fred nodded and ran up the stairs.

Gunn looked at Spike, who was still searching for his pass, "You think he's faking?"

"He might be. He and Drusilla were together for over a hundred years. He had to have learned a few things from her but something else might be going on too. This isn't Spike's way. He prefers a good brawl to sneaking around. If he was after me he'd just come out and attack."

"So either he's getting a lot smarter or he's really crazy," Cordelia said.

Angel nodded, "We just have to figure out which one it is."