Spike followed closely behind Angel as they followed the Granith down the quite hallways of Worlfram and Hart. "And the plan is?" He asked the older vampire.

"We go in and take care of those responsible - this meeting is supposedly a congragulatory one." Angel spoke in hushed tones his game face coming forward.

"That's your plan?" Spike asked raising his eyebrow.

"Yeah, that's it, problem with that?"

"No, not all." Spike's game face appeared as the Granith stopped in front of a closed door and grunted.
"This is it?"

"Yes, this is the room you want." The hulking creature answered.

"On the count of three?' Angel pressed his shoulder to the closed door, "One..two..."

Before the number three could come out of his mouth, Spike charged past him crashing the door open. Angel quickly followed him into the room.

The room held a table surounded by several men in suits, wineglasses and half empty plates sat on the table. Large demons of different varieties lined the walls. The older man at the head of the table stood, "Welcome gentleman." He raised his wineglass as if to toast the two intruders as the ldemons lining the walls stepped forward to surround them.

Spike looked at Angel and shook his head, "What was that about Wesley and overreacting?"

Angel nodded back at him, "Scared of a little fight?"

"Never." Spike answered as both vampires turned and started swinging, they had knocked out a couple demons a piece when the man spoke again. "If you don't take a seat you won't get to hear the tragic story about your brother and sister in law."

Spike dropped his fists and turned towards the man, "Tell me!" He shouted, "Tell me who's responsible for their deaths!"

"Sit," He motioned towards two empty chairs, "You too." The man nodded at Angel.

The vampires each took a seat as the older man continued, "I am Steven Randall, the new leader at Wolfram and Hart. You're brother in law was making our job very difficult Mr.....Mr..?" He gave a questioning look to Spike.

"Just Spike." The blond vampire answered in a steely voice.

"Well, Spike, your friend Angel over there makes our job hard enough by taking out our clients before they can even get a fair trial......Chris Jameson made it even worse for us, our clients that did survive to go to court were going to jail.....for a very long time. It was just unaccepatable. Something had to be done." Mr. Randall stood.

"So you had a hit put out on Chris and Dawn?" Spike asked between clenched teeth.

"Actually it wasn't my idea, it was Mr. Deaton's over there." Randall nodded towards a tall man with very thick glasses, "It was an excellent idea, " He walked over to Spike and bent closer, 'He got a promotion out of the deal."

Spike was out of the chair in two seconds,as he lunged for Randall, several demons were on him and Angel at the same time, holding them tightly in the chairs. "Temper Mr. Spike. Don't you want to hear the rest of the story? Those two..." He pointed towards two weasly faced demons, "Did the job for us, your sister in law was not part of the original deal- just a bonus!"

Spike and Angel both bucked against their captors at his words, but were held down by renforcements.

"Which leads us to this beautiful moment.......we had no idea that by taking out one of our top two problems it would lead to the demise of the other. We can get rid of Angel now........something we've wanted to do for a very long time. And if I'm not mistaken," He switched on a tv mounted on the wall, "That's the Slayer comng to rescue her man.....or is it men?" Steven Randall was enjoying the fear on Spike and Angels faces as they watched Buffy walking down the halls, caustiously opening doors. "We get the Slayer too, a red letter day for the firm."

Angel turned to Spike, "I suppose this isn't a good time to say I told you so."

Spike glared at Angel and began to mouth a count under his breah, "One...two...."

Both vampires bucked hard and overturned their seats, demons scattered as they both came up fighting.

Lawyers flew under the table and towards the exit as Spike and Angel took on the small army in the room.
Fist and fangs flew as they narrowed the opposition, Spike turned to Angel and pointed towards Deaton - the man behind the plan to get rid of Chris, he walked menacing towards the man who was cowered under the large table. He pulled him out from the table by the neck his hands closing around the mans throat. "This is going to be quick, only because I don't have the time to make you suffer as you should." Spike spoke vehemently.

He never saw Mr. Randal behind him, stake raised.
Angel finished off the last demon with a quick twist of it's thick neck. He dropped it in time to see the stake plunging into Spike's back as Deaton fell back on the table his eyes wide as he tried to crawl back under the table.

Angel made quick work of Randall and soon his unconcious body joined the others on the floor. He gently lay Spike out on his stomach on the floor. One of the lawyers made a move to leave the room but a short growl kept him in his place as Angel examined Spike's injury.

***
Buffy walked slowly down the long corridor placing her ear caustiously to each door before she opened it.
Her anger at Spike and Angel both grew with each step. How dare they? Just who did Spike think he was lying to her? There marriage was built on truthfulness even when it wasnt' pretty. How could he just....argh! It gave her a headache just thinking about it!

Her angry reverie was soon interrupted by the sounds of a fight in the next room down the hall. She ran
and flung the door open to find Angel kneeling among the bodies of several demons and several cowering lawyers looks of terror on each of their faces. A quck scan of the room and she didn't see Spike......until her eyes lowered to the ground, she recognized the scuffed boots on the body Angel was kneeling over. "Spike!" She cried as she knelt beside Angel her view partially obscured by the large vampire.

"Buffy, you're going to have to help me here." Angel turned to her, his voice eerily calm.

"What? What is it?" She asked fear causing her voice to rise.

Angel sat back then and she could see Spike fully, he lay facedown on the floor a stake imbedded in his back only centimieters from his heart. Blood seeped from around the rough wood and covered his shirt in an abstact design. Buffy gulped, "Can you?" She looked from the stake to Angel.

"If you hold him still, I think I can get it out without a problem. He's unconcious and I'm afraid he'll come to in the middle of the operation and the movement could be...fatal." Angel remained calm as he watched Buffy's eyes widen and fill with tears, "Come on Buffy, you can do this."

She nodded her head as she positioned herself at Spike's head, her small strong hands holding his shoulders tightly. Spike's eyes flickered open, full of pain and questions, "Don't move, baby. Stay still."
She whispered to him.

Spike grimaced om pain, his eyes quickly turned back to Buffy, his words were soft "Love you."

"Love you too, now be still, Angel's going to take that stake out." Buffy kept her hands firmly on her husbands shoulders, "Then we're gonna talk."

Angel almost felt sorry for the wounded vamp...almost. The talk part was probably going to hurt worse then the stake removal. He had tried to warn Spike. "That sounds fun." Angel told him as he got a good grip on the stake.

"You're not getting off scot free either." Buffy gave him a hard look, 'Now get this stake out of my husband, please."

With both hands steady on the stake Angel pulled it straight out of Spike's back. he breathed a sigh of relief as he threw the stake in the corner and realized Spike was not dust. Spike was trying to sit up while Buffy fussed over him. When he finally got up she threw her arms around him and held tightly, "You stupid vampire! How could you do this? How could you risk this without letting me know??? It's not just me anymore - do you want Jake to lose another parent?"

TBC