~*-*~

"You did *what*?!"

Gunn was on fire after hearing what Connor had to say.

"Charles, sweetie, calm down."

"What? I am calm. Cool. Collected. I'm a cucumber on ice."

"Good."

Fred was relieved as Gunn sat down, only to be worried again as he jumped up again, still not believing the situation.

"You did *WHAT*?!!"

Spike had previously decided to leave the LA regulars to their business and watch from the side as they worked out their differences. He would only intervene if and when it was necessary. It was necessary.

"Alright, sit. Now Connor's being brave here telling you the truth, and I think you owe it to him to not jump at his throat. Connor?"

"I am really sorry, but I was angry and misguided. Justine abandoned me after what we did, so I cannot punish her for lying to me."

"What did I just say about Vengeance Peach?"

"Sorry. Well, I cannot confront her about it now."

Fred got up and sat beside Connor, who was so upset with himself, he actually appeared to be scared of her as he jumped.

"What I don't understand is how you could lie to us for so long. I mean, you could have told us. You've seen how we've suffered here worrying about him, and you've known where he is the whole time?"

"Like I said, I was punishing him for killing my f... Holtz. He deserved to be punished."

"Angel didn't do anything!"

Gunn was clearly still heated over the whole issue, although Wesley was very quickly coming to terms with the situation.

"Well, he realises this now thanks to Spike over there!"

Connor put his fingers to his mouth as he started to chew at his fingernails. Arguments came few and far between in the Hyperion, in fact the last one was when Wesley came round asking after Connor upon having seen him at a club, and that was a while ago. It was ironic that Connor, a fighter, found tension highly nerve wracking.

"You've left Angel, in a box, having a brood marathon to the point that he's probably insane. I hope you realise that and can live with what you've done."

"Charles, this is not about blame."

"Oh! It is about blame!"

"Gunn, stop it."

Wesley calmed the group down.

"I am really, really sorry. You've been so good to me and I've let you down. And I'm just, sorry."

"That's okay."

"Yeah, it's forgotten now."

"All in the past."

The four of them, Connor, Gunn, Fred and Wesley joined together in a group hug, leaving Spike out on side. Happily out on the side.

"I'm really sorry."

"It's alright. We forgive you."

Spike groaned as the hug went on. He thought he'd left the Scoobs, now he was stuck with SuperScoobs LA Precinct - Cuddlers Extraordinaire.

"As much as I love to see people all happy and soppy and the like, now is not the time! We can do this later. Right now we need to focus on the problem in hand. Getting Angel back. Now I've come up with a plan and it's so crazy it just might work."

Wesley took in this information and thought it over.

"Erm, if I may interrupt. William... Spike, when it comes to your plans they tend to... on record they haven't exactly... well they have a habit of... Basically they're crap."

"Wes, you're not really making me feel so secure here!"

"Gunn, don't worry, my plans work fine."

"Fine? What about the St Vigeous thing in 1998? Or how about the incident in Argentina in 1930? And let's not forget your Gem of Amarra stint of Angel on a spike... That came out wrong."

"All right, all right, maybe they don't, but I don't see anyone else coming up with anything! So here's the deal. Wesley, go and get us some blood. Lots of it too. He's been down there for months, and after being starved for that long he's going to come out as rabid as Angelus."

"Oh God..."

"Fred, Gunn. I need a boat with some kind of retrieval unit or whatever. I don't know boats. Something with a retractable chain thing, put it that way. If this coffin contains Angel it'll be large and heavy, we'll need more than a rope. Don't bother with diving equipment. I'm going down to find the exact location, and I don't exactly need an oxygen tank. Connor and I are going for blowtorches."

"*Blowtorches*?!"

"I welded the casket shut. I didn't want him getting out."

"And there's nothing strange about that!"

Spike clapped his hands and rubbed them together in an attempt to stop Connor getting another earful.

"All right then everyone? Wesley, blood. Fred Gunn, boat. Connor, blow. We meet back up at the beach in an hour. Let's go!"

There was an odd pause there.

"Since when were you in charge? You're not Angel."

"Watcher, I have no intention to be. I just want my sire back."

There was another pause as everyone realised they had a common purpose. Bang. Time to go. Fred headed to the computer on a quest for boat hire, Wesley grabbed some cash for what would be a major blood haul, Connor ran back for his new wallet he was so proud of and Spike grabbed one of Angel's knee length leather coats. 'Twas no match for his duster, but he had left that at Buffy's that night, and clearly he didn't want to return to get it back. Besides, this coat still smelt of Angel, and that helped him not only focus on what he had to do but also give him hope. Here was a soul that Spike needed to save, and this time, it was personal. He adjusted his collar once, twice, and went with Connor out the door. Once outside Connor turned to him with a look of puzzlement on his face.

"Spike?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you one more thing?"

"Shoot. Although not literally..."

"Earlier, when I attacked you. You stopped me. How did you manage that? No one's ever stopped me before, well except..."

"...except Angel huh? It's called experience mate. I have it. Don't be so glum, I'll help you train sometime."

"Really?"

"Promise. And if there's one thing you should know, it's that I don't break promises."

~*-*~


Author's Note: It's Results Day. A-levels suck! I'm not looking forward to getting my results today, so if this chapter isn't so good, put it up to my rather terrified state of mind. I may rewrite it and post another one up. With that in mind, good luck to anyone else who's suffering the same problem and those GCSE people who have this gut stabbing feeling coming up next week. Isn't being a teenager the most wonderful feeling in the world? note extreme sarcasm ...