Chapter 19

                A few hours later, Angel went looking for Spike and found him in a bar, a few blocks away from the hotel.

            Spike hadn't been drinking himself, crazy, Angel noticed, happily.  He sure as hell didn't want to drag a drunken Spike back to the hotel.  Nor would any of them have liked to deal with Spike's hangovers.  The poor boy was miserable after a drinking binge and everyone around him would be too.

            Angel sat next to Spike and ordered himself a drink.

            Spike didn't even glance at him.

            It wasn't that he was trying to ignore him, not that he would mind that.  His mind was so busy; it barely had a thought of him being there.

            Angel decided to break into his reverie.

            "Dawn said that she wasn't going to wait up for you."

            "Good."

            "Wanna tell me what she was doing?  Or why you were running?"

            "No."  

            From the sullenness of that remark, Angel knew it had to be blackmail worthy.  Damn, if only there was a good way to get it out of either Spike or Dawn, but he knew they were both stubborn and loyal enough not to say anything.

            Angel decided to try anyway.

            "She was chasing you, wasn't she?"

            Angel got no answer, but he decided to try again.

            "What about that shriek, what was that about?"

            Spike clenched his jaw, and narrowed his eye, muscles twitching, but still he said nothing.

            Angel thought, must be damn good.  Look at the way he's clenched up.

            He decided to give his childe a break; he'd just torture him more later.

            "Anyway, Dawn told me to tell you not to forget the rules.  Whatever that means?"

            Angel looked at him hopefully; one last taunt wouldn't hurt him.

            "Uh huh," was all Spike gave away.

            Angel shrugged and decided to get down to business.

            "Did Dru happen to tell you where they were set up?"

            Spike sighed silently.  'Good, the poncy bugger wasn't going to bother him too much about what had happened back at the hotel.  If only Buffy hadn't of jumped out in front of him, he wouldn't have stopped.  But he had, and Dawn had caught up with him for a second and ran her hand around his waist giving him a good-sized tickle before he was able to wriggle away from her and resume his flight.  He had tried to hold it in, but one high shriek had escaped.  And it sounded like all of them 'ad heard it.' 

            'But, on the bright side', he thought, 'since Angel wasn't trying to torture him to death over it, he must not know who let that shriek out.  Nor did Dawn tell them what's going on, it seems.'

            He smiled a bit at the thought, and then answered Angel.

            "No...she just said L.A, so I figure they're still camped out somewhere around here."

            "I know where they're not.  Darla and Dru fled Wolfram and Hart, so who knows where they are.  But according to my sources, they're not terrorizing the  public anymore.  They must be in hiding."

            "Well then I guess we'll have to flush them out, won't we."

            "Seems like."

            Both boys cradled their drinks, each avoiding looking at the other.

            Buffy had told Angel, the last time he had seen her, that Spike had some sort of weird fascination for her.  She had even said that he thought he was in love with her.

            Angel, now remembering their conversation, stared at Spike.

            Spike, knowing his sire's gaze was locked on him, simply avoided looking at him.

            If he had wanted to fight him, then he was all up for that.

            As for talking, he was sure Buffy had previously mentioned his chaining her up, maybe even his declaration of love, so he knew he was either going to get a lecture or a warning.  And he really wasn't interested in either.

            Angel, however, knew why his childe was ignoring/avoiding him now, so he told him,

            "Last time I was in Sunnydale, Buffy and I had a talk."

            "Really?  How nice for you."

            Angel ignored him.

            "We talked about her feelings on her mom's death, the thing going on with Glory and her sister, and ....you."

            Spike said nothing.

            "It's not some sort of game, with you, is it?"

            "No."

            "You really care for her, don't you?"
            "With all my bleeding heart."

            "I thought you loved Dru?"

            "I did...I do.  But it's not the same.  Dru was my Black Queen, my own Princess.  But...even though she likes me and she liked having me around, I knew she didn't truly love me.  It was always you for her, her precious Angelus. I knew it, but after you got your soul, I was the one who was there for her.  I took care of her and she let me.  It was our own little hell and we loved it.  But that whole time, I knew she didn't love me, not like I wanted her too.  I loved her though.  I still do.  But, where Dru was dark, Buffy was/is even, light. 

            I loved Dru for over a hundred years.  We did everything together and while I was happy with her, I wasn't overwhelmed with her/by her.  She saved me from a miserable existence, and I was beyond grateful to her.  Now, I'm even more grateful to her, for if she and you hadn't of changed me, I wouldn't have ever met Buffy."

            Spike stopped to take a drink.

            Angel remained silent first, then asked,

            "When did you know you loved Buffy?"

            Spike laughed.

            "Six months ago."

            "Really?"
            "Yeah...tried like hell not to, though.  I mean before, well....I told you already how Dru made me happy, but she didn't overwhelm me, right?  Well...Buffy overwhelmed me.  Right from the first. 

            "Sure, I thought it was all about me needing to kill her.  Add another Slayer to my belt.  And Dru had asked me too.  Stuff like that.  But that wasn't it.  I became obsessed.  More so with her than any of the other Slayers I had ever faced. Do you know I even sent one of my minions out to videotape her.  I was convinced, and I convinced others, it was so I could learn her moves, to kill her.  But that wasn't it.  Not really.  Not now that I really know my feelings for her, I know it for what it really was.  Even back then, I was admiring her.  I loved the way she fought, graceful, like poetry in motion.

            And the way she moved.

            And the way she quipped when she slayed. 

            Now here's a worthy opponent, I thought.  And that was the first time I met her, but you wanna know what my first thought, when I first saw her, was?"

            "What?"
            Spike took a drink, and then said,

            "I didn't have one."

            "What?  I don't understand." Angel asked confused.

            "I didn't have a thought when I first saw her.  That's how completely she overwhelmed me.  I couldn't think, I couldn't do anything.  I'm glad I didn't need to breathe, for I would have forgotten how. 

            There I was, in the Bronze, looking for the Slayer the 'Annoying One' and Dru had both asked me to get rid of.  I wanted to check her out before I killed her, get an insight on how good she was, if she had any weaknesses I could use to my advantage, maybe even see how she fought and the like.  I don't know how I knew she'd be at that club that night, but I knew she would be.  I walked into the club, and her essence flowed over me and I just stopped.  I didn't even see the front of her and I was acting all weird.

            Then the 'Whelp' came to the table and  pulled her and Red onto the dance floor to dance with him.  I still remember the song that played.  'Stupid Thing,' by Nickel.  Do you know I later went to get that CD, but I couldn't then think of the reason why, except that I liked that song.  I still have it somewhere, I made sure I kept it close, but I didn't know why at the time, obviously. 

            But, back to that night... I watched her move on the dance floor, and I almost collapsed, I thought my heart had started beating again, only to stop again."

            "She wasn't dancing closely with Xander was she?"
            "No... She wasn't.  She was in between both Xander and Willow.  Xander was flopping around on the right side and Willow was dancing stiffly next to her on the left side.  But, Buffy, she was swaying gracefully in the middle.  God, she was so beautiful.  In my mind, the dances were all for me.  Like she knew I was there, watching her and was calling me to her with her movements."

            "But I thought you hated her."

            "I didn't have any hate in me right then, see...I had forgotten my duty.  I only wanted her.  I only wanted to be closer to her.  So I walked closer.  I'm shocked I didn't bump into anyone on that crowded dance floor, for I never took my eyes off her.  I had no thought on my mind except getting closer to her, to hold her close.  Thinking back on it, I suppose I loved her from first sight."

            "Wow."

            "Yeah.  It wasn't until it finally penetrated my brain that this was the slayer that my hatred for her showed back up.  But I think I was more angry at myself then her.  How dare she ruin my happiness with Dru?  Can you imagine how I thought, being loyal like I am, thinking I didn't want to really be with Dru anymore.  Hell, if she had of given me half a chance, I'd have told my unlife to sod off.  That's how badly I had it.  Then I got mad again.  How dare she make me want her?  Her, the destroyer of my kind.  It didn't matter if I thought she was pretty, beautiful, wonderful, my Princess had said kill her, and by doing so, I thought I could take myself back to the times when only Dru and I had existed.

            But I should have known it had changed.

            Do you know if I really wanted to, I could have killed her that night I showed up at Parent Teacher night?"

            "You think so?"

            "I know so.  See after you and the Whelp had run outside being chased by my minions, we faced off.  I was nicer, even though I threatened to kill her, to her, than I had ever been to any other Slayer.  Or person in general.  Me, nice.  William the Bloody...nice.  I didn't understand it, but I couldn't help it either.  I told her how I'd do her a personal favor and kill her quick, so it wouldn't hurt. 

            She wasn't even afraid of me, or if she was, she sure didn't show it.

            I loved her a bit more for that.

            Then we fought, and it was like dancing.

            Yeah, I was going to kill her, but I had a few chances, when I could have jumped in and gone for the quick kill.  Anyone else, I would have...but I couldn't kill her.  No matter what I told myself, I didn't really want to.

            Then her mother jumped out of nowhere and hit me in the head with an ax, just as I was standing over her with a 4 X 4 block of wood.  Now if I really had wanted to kill her.  I would have done it much before then and then sucked her mom dry for daring to try and stop me, but I didn't.  I just muttered, "Women," jumped up, and ran off into the night.  I just left, I didn't even try to get them later when I could have.  I even found it courageous that her mother would do that for her, although I wasn't really focusing on it then.

            Later I, after getting rid of the 'Annoying One,' I went to Dru and after telling her about the Slayer with friends and family, I took her downstairs and shagged her silly.  But in the back of my mind....was the Slayer.

            When I found out that you and her were a couple.  I was even more angry.  How dare you have what I want?  How dare I want the girl that would want to be with you? How dare she be with anyone other than me?  My anger was uncontrollable, even though I was with Dru and still believed I loved her, I still didn't want her to be with anyone else, especially you, and that's why I was so violent, then. Now I know why I was acting that way.  Even then, I couldn't see her with anyone other than me.

            Do you know that guy that she had come from her old school, her ex-boyfriend years back?"
            "Yeah I remember him.  He tried to turn her over to you so he could be immortal."

            "Yeah, cause he was dying.  Well, I wanted to torture him silly, cause of how he was treating her.  But I knew, the worst thing for him, after the whole thing, was to let him be a fledgling and let her dust him."

            "I remember that night."

            "Yeah.  Do you know, sometimes I would sneak out, when Dru was sleeping, preoccupied, or having tea parties with bloody Ms. Edith, and just watch the Slayer."

            "You were stalking her?"

            "No...I was watching her.  She never even knew I was there.  Sometimes you were there with her, but you never sensed me either.  But even when you were there, you never mattered to me and it wasn't until you kissed her that I would get mad and storm off.  I was only there to watch her.  I told you, she overwhelmed me, consumed me."

            "I never knew."

            "I stayed out of your range.  Sometimes, I would be on my way back to Dru, and I would be so angry over what I had seen, which was usually you and her cuddling and kissing, that I would growl and stake a few fledglings for the hell of it.  Then I would start to terrorize people in the streets, but I wouldn't kill them.  Just scare the hell out of them."

            Angel was in shock, but contrary to what he thought, he wasn't mad.  Spike was spilling out his soul, well, he would be if he had one, and Angel wasn't fully convinced that Spike hadn't been able to retain a bit of his original when he had been turned.  For Spike had always seemed different than most and even after having been just turned, he still had some morals that other fledglings seemed to have abandoned.

            He waited for Spike to continue, cause he was sure he wasn't done yet.

            "Then, after ya'll shagged, and you became 'evil' Angelus once again, I was even angrier than before.  Because I cared that you had had, touched, loved, the girl I wanted so desperately.  Then, besides my anger, I started to feel bad for her.  I felt  sorry for her.  But again, she impressed me.  No matter how much you hurt her, she never gave in to you.  Never gave into the pain she was obviously feeling.  It made me love her even more.

            Then Dru saw her beloved evil Daddy was back, and I was pissed off because not only had you had the beautiful slayer I wanted so badly, but then you became a fucking pillock again, and tried to torture me by being with Dru.  I told you I knew she didn't love me, but even though I had a thing for the Slayer, I still believed I loved Dru.  But I wasn't as upset about you taking her away as I was that you had stolen the innocence from Buffy."

            "Is that why you hated me so much?"

            "Part of."

            "What was the rest?"
            "Years of feeling abandoned after you got your soul and left us.  I would have put up with you and your soul.  Just like I put up with Dru's insanity & that bloody Ms. Edith doll.  But you left us."

            "Darla made me go Spike.  She told me that my soul sickened her.  How dare I care for 'those people' I had tortured & used as meals.  Besides, I thought you wouldn't be able to abide me with a soul.  I was so ashamed of the life I had led, the life you were still, then, living.  I figured you would all hate me more if I had stayed."

            "Well...it made you a 'Poncy Poof', but it didn't make you but so repulsive."

            Angel laughed.          

            "I guess...it didn't."

            The two men were silent while they pondered over what each had said, and the feelings between them.

            Then Angel asked," You were telling me about those dreams.  How did you know you loved her?"

            "You really don't want to hear this."

            "Actually I do."

            "Fine....first, in my dreams, I was always killing her somehow, some way.  Then after awhile, the dreams changed.  We'd still be fighting, but, I no longer wanted to kill her.  It was like we were involved in some primal dance, but I no longer wanted to be the 'victor'.  The dreams changed again, we would be fighting, but then after one of our quips, one of us would say something really funny, and we would be laughing.  Actually sinking down to the floor, holding our stomachs, laughing.  I always remember seeing her with you, when I had been watching you too together before you turned into Angelus.  Sometimes, she would be smiling or laughing.  And I wanted her to smile or laugh at me...she smiled, then I smiled.  She laughed, then I laughed.  Of course, this was so weird to me.  I think I got...hmm, shall we say, surlier.  Sometimes it made me have a violent need to bang someone's head in.  I didn't brood, for you had the market on that."

            Angel slightly cuffed him upside the head.

            "Go on," was all he said,

            Spike smiled.

            "Anyway, I had her laughing, in my dreams, with me.  They were the best times in my unlife, but that was probably cause around that time, I was stuck in that bloody wheelchair.  At least, that's what I told myself."

            Angel nodded, and gestured for him to go on.

            A waitress came up and brought them two more drinks.

            When she had left, Spike continued.

            "Well, as you know.  Once I was able to walk, I began to watch her again.  I saw you, in Angelus state, taunting her.  It angered me.  But, I didn't want you to know I cared...for I knew your demon side would take joy in torturing me, for that's what you were trying to do by taking Dru from me.

            Anyway, you tried to bring Acathla forward, ending the world, and I couldn't let you do that."

            "I always wondered why you had stopped me, my other self, that is?"
            "It was for her, I didn't want to live in a world without her.  I told her it was for Dru, but it wasn't, not really.  If it had been for Dru, I'd have let the world be sucked into hell...cause that's what Dru really wanted at that time.  It was for her.  I couldn't imagine the world without her being in it.  So I couldn't let you go on with it.  So I made a truce with her.  Now don't get me wrong, I was still willing to work it out with Dru, but I knew you had to be out of the way to do that.  So, I decided to go to the Slayer.  I offered, me and Dru, for you.

            You should have seen her.  I saved her from a police officer, and she was all trying to stake me.  I was having a bit of difficulty at first doing what I was supposed to do.  It was strange to be so near to her, to see her beauty up close.  I was evil, yes, but I wanted to touch her, etc.  I got a small lucky break when she lunged at me, trying to beat me before staking me.  I grabbed her in my arms, thinking, she's so small, and pulling her back telling her to hold on a minute. 

            I remember we had a discussion on why she would ever want to help me and why I should even want to help her.  

            I told her I wanted Dru back, and in my mind, then, I did.  It wasn't a lie.  But, at the same time.  I was coming to my mortal enemy.  It was a bit of a shock on the system to say the least.  

            Do you know she insulted Dru, called her a big ho...and in my mind, I agreed.  Just for a second.  Then the rest of my mind, and my loyalty caught up with me, and I punched her for that.  But my punch, it wasn't even a hard or painful one, she just shook it off.  I didn't want to hurt her, just let her know I wouldn't take any foul talking about the one I was supposed to love.

            She told me she hated me....and I told her that I was all she had.

            I couldn't even pretend that I hated her back.  I couldn't even say it.  I thought I was going crazy. 

            Thankfully, she didn't notice.  And then we walked back to her house, trying to get inside before it was known on the streets that a slayer and a vampire was working together.  The entire way, we kept staring at each other.  Her with confusion & wariness.  Me with barely controlled excitement, as well as some wariness.  She was the Slayer and I was a vampire, you know, but I thought her honorable enough not to push a stake in my back.  But, her lack of trust in me, gave me more lack of true trust in her.

            That's when I met her mom, then she annoyed me a bit, but that was because it was such a shock finding out that she was a Slayer.  But, even after her mom knew what I was, and that I'd tried to kill her daughter before, she still treated me like a man.  It was a bit...odd to say the least.  But I liked her.  We had a small conversation before Buffy returned from talking to Willow, who was in the hospital.  And I was able to look around a bit of the Slayer's house.  I had never imagined the inside of it before.

            Anyway, I got back to the mansion, after making a deal with Buffy, and the rest, you kind of know.

            But, you wanted to know about how I felt about her.

            Do you know, on the way to Brazil, or just away from Sunnydale, for I didn't know where we'd be going then.

            I almost turned the car around and came back for her.  I turned the car and started back several times.  But, then Dru started waking up...and I had my hands full trying to keep her quiet, and getting her the hell out of there.

            I heard later, through the vampire grape vine, that she had sent you to hell...and with your soul intact. 

            I felt so bad for her.  And my love for her grew some more.  It had to have been the most courageous thing done, from anyone I know.  She loved you more than life, and she had to sacrifice you to save the world.  I wished she had felt that way about me.

            Anyway, Dru became more distant, sometimes calling for her daddy, and I began to ignore her.  And then I caught her cheating...with a bloody Chaos demon.  Have you ever met a chaos demon?  They're all slime and antlers, it's disgusting.  But she told me he was a great lover.  Like I really wanted to know that.  I couldn't give a damn since I wasn't bending over for him. She told me that I was 'Full of the Slayer.'

I knew I had her on my mind all the time, but I didn't think I was full of her.  Then Dru blew my mind when she told me, 'I see her all around you, laughing.' I knew she knew, then.  She knew that Buffy was always in my mind.  That Buffy was all I wanted.  That even though I had tried to keep Dru at the center of my unbeating heart, I had failed.

            She asked me then, why didn't I push her away.  I told her that I had.  And that I did it for her pushed Buffy away, but then I caught her cheating with other creatures. 

            She told me that she had to have her pleasures and that I tasted like ashes.

            I'm still not sure what the ashes referred to.  But...

            It was one of the reasons I returned to Sunnyhell.

            The Slayer.  It was always the Slayer.  Not some sodding love spell, like I had told you both. 

            The love spell.  Do you know?  I said it was for Dru, but really, it was partially for me.  I wanted to go back to the days when things were simple for me.  Back to when I loved Dru with all my heart.  So I wanted a love spell, to get my old lover to come back to me and for me to go back to my old lover as well. 

            Then I told myself, if it wasn't just the love spell, cause I wasn't really sure it would work on Dru, at least, I wasn't when I was finally sober again, it was to kill you both. 

Because you had put me in the bloody situation in the first place.

            But I knew that wasn't it.  I wanted to see her...not kill her."

            Spike was silent for a moment, nursing his drink.

            When Angel was about to tell him to continue, he did, without prompting.

            "It wasn't until after I was chipped, and I kept coming to see her, being rescued by her, realizing that I could fight demons with her, helping her for money, etc., that my dreams of her got more ...loving.  Before, I was just shagging and fighting her.  Sort of using her for my pleasures only.  Then, I wanted her.  I wanted to kiss her.  Coddle her.  Let her tell me about her day.  Let her listen to mine.  Pleasure her as much as she pleasured me.

            It was driving me mad.

            Then Red's spell almost completely did me in."

            "What spell?"

            "You mean they never told you?"
            "No."

            "Hmmm....well...for one day, one blessed, lovely day, the Slayer and I were engaged to be married."

            "What the hell?"

            "Calm down and I'll tell you what happened."

            Angel sat back down.

            "Willow let loose an 'I will it so spell.'  She was so distraught over 'Wolf Boy' leaving that she couldn't think straight.  So she figured that spell would help her get over her emotions quicker, so she could go back to being herself, and not a moopy, crying, mooning girl.  Anyway, most of her spells for that day backfired, and put most of us in...weird situations.  She made Giles blind...she made me and Buffy want to get married...and she made Xander a demon magnet."

            "Oh!"

            "That day was pure heaven for me, I was me, but I was able to treat her like I'd always wanted to.  Like a lover, like an equal, like my mate.  Truth be told, I was sorry when the spell ended, I would have liked it go on forever.  Although, I had to play it off as if I hated that I had been loving her.  I always wondered what we would have done if no one had been around but us when the spell had lifted.  Would we have given the same reactions, or would we have tried again, to see how we felt knowing the spell was gone."

            Angel shook his head, trying to clear it from the shock he'd just received.

            Catching a glimpse of his sire's expression he simply said,

            "Don't ask, I'm not going to tell you."

            Angel nodded, hearing the steel in his childe's voice.  He knew whatever had happened between them that day was going to be an 'only we know' moment.

            "Anyway, after the spell...came Riley.  And I was pissed over the fact that she had chosen him.  That boy was much more a ponce than you would ever be.  He bloody well got on my nerves.  Not to mention that it was his government 'lab monkeys' who were to blame for the sodding, neutering chip in my skull.  But it wasn't just that, although that would have been enough for me to really hate him.  He had the Slayer, and didn't know how to treat her right.  Always had to be the strong one.  What the  hell did she need a strong one for, she's strong enough for both of them. He had to be the hero.  She had been a hero for much bloody longer, and she never even tried to lord it over anyone.  That boy made me want to heave.  And the devotion she gave him.  I think she piled it on, cause she knew she would never love him like she wanted to. 

            And he knew it.  Which, I think, is why he eventually left.

            Anyway, my dreams, well....they were getting more and more intense and then one night, after one of my botched attempts to get this damned chip out of my head, I was so overwhelmed by Buffy, I dragged Harmony back to my lair, shagged her, and tried to get to sleep.

            Only to be plagued by a dream of Buffy coming into my crypt, hours later.  We quipped for a bit.  Then she pulled out a stake, told me she was done.  She had finally had all she was gonna take from me.

            My words to her were, 'Do it.  Just Bloody kill me.'  I told her I was tired of seeing her everyday, everywhere I go, every time I turn around.  I told her to end my torment.  I told her to take me out of a world that had her in it.  I ripped off my shirt, and told her to do it.  She stepped towards me, stake raised, I raised my chin, but didn't try to stop her, but she didn't move.  My control snapped and in my dream, I pulled her towards me and ravaged her mouth. Kissing her lovingly.  She pulled back from me and I was panting.  I wanted nothing more than to grab her again.  But I knew the choice was hers.

            She came back up to me, haltingly, pulling my head down to meet her lips.  I began kissing her all over again.

            She told me she wanted me.

            And I told her I loved her.  I told her I loved her so much.

            Then I woke up.  I knew...I knew then."

            Spike shook his head ruefully. 

            "Want to know what my first thought/phrase was?"

            Angel gave him a small sympathetic smile, then asked, cause he was curious," What?"
            "Oh god no...Please no."

            Angel laughed.  "I can see that."

            "I thought my world had come to an end.  I loved the Slayer.  I was in love with the bloody Slayer.  I had turned into my ponce of a sire. I wanted to die then."

            Angel laughed.

            Spike told him to be quiet.

            Angel laughed again, then quieted down.    

            "Okay...I'm good.  Go on."

            Spike shot him an evil look, but continued anyway,

            "After that, I tried like hell not to love her...but I was already caught.  No matter how hard I fought it.  She was once being attached by some Lei-ach demons, and I had gotten wind of the attack from Harmony.  I had at first gone to just watch the end of the Slayer, but...I couldn't let them kill her.  I had to help her.  I didn't have any control.  I knew my unlife would never be the same again.

            "No matter how she treated me.  I kept running back for more.  She was like the sun for me.  Something I wanted to look at, and bathe in...but I can't.  I thought I couldn't reach her.  I still can't.  But...doesn't keep me from trying.  I'll probably try until the day I die.  I love her that much."

            Angel looked at his watch and then told Spike

            "Thanks for sharing."

            "Thanks for not beating me to a bloody pulp for sharing."

            "Don't thank me yet....violence may come later, I'm not happy about you being with her, I love her too, but..."

            "I understand."

            "Come on...it's time to head back to the group and make a plan on how to find Darla, etc."

            "Okay."

            The two vamps headed out into the night, side by side.  For once, neither one thinking about beating the other into a pulp.  Just thinking of the enjoyable night, and the girl they both loved.            

            They made it to the hotel and walked in, and then headed up to their own rooms, to get some much-needed sleep so they'd be refreshed enough to start their hunt tomorrow. 

                                                                        TBC…