"Angel!"  Cordelia walked out of her bedroom and into the kitchen where her boss was standing.  "If it's not today, I will shoot you."

Angel looked innocently at his friend.  "What?"

"You know what!  Tell Buffy about Spike!  We reach LA harbor in two days."

"Cordy, we've hid Spike for over eleven weeks, I think we can hide him for two more days."

"NO!"

"Cordy, you have no say in this."

"Oh, don't even go there.  I am fully prepared to go and drag him into her cabin if I have to.  He would be more than happy to."

"What?"

"He loves her and hasn't seen her since the spring."

"Who?"  Both Angel and Cordy swung around to see Spike walk into the small kitchen.  Hair tousled, shirt undone and rubbing his eyes, like he had just woken up.

"What?"  Cordy looked questionably at Spike, while Angel just stared at his former enemy.  He couldn't get images of Spike and Buffy, together out of his head.

"Who loves who and hasn't seen her since spring?"

"Oh...well, uh...Buffy...and you."  As Cordy said this, Spike was suddenly very much awake.

"What?"

"We know about what happened between you and Buffy last year."

"Oh."  Spike's face fell and he got a glass of blood out of the fridge.  "What about it?"

"What do you mean, what about it?"  Angel started to heat up.  "You think it's just nothing that you and Buffy slept together and then you raped her!"

"Angel"  Cordy warned Angel.

Spike set his glass down, raised up to his height in front of Angel.  "Well mate, you'd better get your facts straight.  I didn't rape the girl, I tired to make her love me, something that considering who she is, I should have known was impossible.  That may be the one thing in my whole unlife I regret.  Now, get off my back, you poof.  What happened between Buffy and me stays between me and Buffy."

Cordy stepped in between Angel and Spike before the conversation got anymore heated.  "Hey, guys, stop!  Look, Angel get the ring and lets go for a walk.  Spike, stay here and calm down."  Cordy ushered Angel out of the room and out of the suite.

Feeling like if he stayed in the suite one more minute, he would burst, Spike sneaked out of the suite and down into the theatre room.

Spike looked around, people were sitting at the different screen around the room.  "Like a bloody boring reading around here." Spike muttered as he scanned the room.

"And you know so much about those right!"  Spike swung around to see Buffy standing arms crossed in front of him.  Spike was still stunned at her beauty.  The tiny blond was dressed in a small white jump suit, with a jeweled heart on her left pant leg just under the jacket.

"Buffy."

"Hi Spike."  Buffy surprised him again by coming up and giving him a hug.  When she backed away, she was smiling.  "How have you been?"

"What?  What are you doing here?"

"What?  Oh, sorry I'm on holiday."

"You've been on this cruise ship all summer?"

"Yep!"

"So, you know about Angel?"

"Yep!"

"Me?"

"Sort of!  I just happened to be coming down to watch the Meg Ryan marathon, when I saw you."

"After...after last spring...I didn't think..."

"Actually, I've been wanting to talk to you ever since you left."

"Really?"  Spike grinned.

Buffy smiled knowingly.  "Yeah, there are some things we need to talk about.  Why don't we go and have some lunch?"

"Sure."  Spike followed Buffy out of the theatre room, smiling like he used to.

After the waiter came and took their orders, Buffy and Spike looked at each other, before Buffy spoke.

"After you left, some things happened."

"What kind of things."  Spike sipped his wine while keeping his eyes on Buffy, whose face was now grim.

"That night, after you left, I went out and foiled the traraka's big plan.  Warren got away, but Andrew and Jonathan didn't.  They both turned themselves in.  The next morning, Xander and I were kind of making up..."

"You got in a fight?"

"He was really mad after he saw you and Anya together, then found out about me and you.  He came later to make up with me, but saw your coat on the banister.  He came upstairs, thinking you and I were back together, and found only me sitting in the bathroom.  He pieced it together.  Anyways, the next morning, we made up.  But just after we had, Warren came with a gun.  He shot me and some wild shots.  Xander was able to call an ambulance, and Willow came later and saved me.  But..."  Buffy's voice trailed off here, as tears formed in her eyes.

"What?"  Spike was starting to get worried.

"One of the wild shots, Tara and Willow had just gotten back together, and one of the shots, it went through the bedroom window and shot...shot..."

"Willow?"  Spike's unbeating heart, broke for red.

"No, Tara."  As Buffy looked up at Spike, his heart broke again.  He had always liked the shy witch.  "It tore Will apart, she drank up every bit of dark magic she could.  She beat Giles down when he came back to stop her, I couldn't even stop her."

"It wasn't your fault."

"Sometimes I wonder?  Anyways, she went to end the world, but believe it or not, Xander was the one to save her.  She's in England with Giles now for the summer.  Dawn is in Spain for the next year with my dad and stepmother Anna.  Xander and Anya are back in Sunnydale with Faith.  Xander and Anya are back together.  Faith's out now, and going to stay in Sunnydale with us.  Oz is coming back to Sunnydale with Giles, Willow and Michaela Tomasi --a watcher-- in two weeks."

"Whole gangs back together again."  Spike sipped his wine again.

"Almost."  Buffy dried her eyes and looked at Spike.  "I want you to come back with me after the cruise is over.  Giles said that after the summer, we'd start looking for you, but..."

"I'm right here."

"Yeah.  So will you come?"

"Buffy, there's something I have to tell you.  I have a..."

"Soul.  I know."

"How?"

"I can feel it.  Call it a seventh sense."  Buffy Smiled.  "So?"

"I think Angel might have wanted me to..."

"When did you ever start doing what he said to do?"  Spike grinned at Buffy.  And to his happiness, she smiled back.

"By the way, I have a present from Willow for you."  Buffy reached into her pocket and pulled out a small black box and handed to Spike, smiling at his confusion.

                                                                      * * * *

"Don't let Spike get to you Angel."  Cordy and Angel had been walking around the deck for the past hour, and it hadn't helped Angel's temper at all.

"I can't help it, Cord.  I just can't get that picture out of my mind…"

"You never even saw them together."

"I know, but all the same."

"Angel, you just need to…"  Cordelia stopped talking and walking.  Angel stopped as well and looked in the direction of Cordy's eyes. 

Angel could have dropped dead for the second time in his life at the sight he saw.  Buffy and Spike were walking towards him, in direct sunlight no less.  They both were walking with confidence.  Angel recognized the determined look in both their eyes from when he had each fought with them before.  Just as Angel finished being stunned, the two reached him and Cordy.

"Hi Angel."  Buffy had one of her special smiles on her face, one that he hadn't seen in a long time.  "Cordy."

"Hey mate."  Spike seemed more cocky then ever.  "Look who I bumped into."  Spike messed Buffy's hair, and in turn, she playfully jabbed him in the gut.  To Angel, they looked like best friends.

"Ok, I'm confused."  Cordy blinked and shook her head.  "What's going on?"

"Spike's agreed to go back to Sunnydale after the cruise."  Buffy beamed like a little kid at Christmas.

"What?"  Angel was getting angrier by the minute.

"That's right."  Spike beamed.  "I'm gonna be the protector of the Scooby's while our little slayer is in LA with you blokes."  Angel and Cordy's mouths both fell open.

"What?"

"Yeah, didn't Wes tell you?"  Buffy's smile got a little wider.  "Wes has been re-instated, he's gonna be my watcher.  I'm coming to LA to live with Wes for a while, and work for him."

"You mean, not listen to him at all?"  Spike grinned and received another jab from Buffy.

"As I was saying, Wes is talking to George and Myles right now.  They're sorting out the finishing details.  Hey Angel, Wes tells me you own the evil law firm now.  What's that about?"

But Angel stayed silent.  He just stared at Buffy, a weird look on his face.  After a long silence, Angel turned and strode away, Cordy followed quickly after him.  Buffy looked at Spike.

"Now really understanding why you call him a frustrated poof."

"Don't forget brooding bag of fluff."

"No, of course not.  Come on, let's go find Wes."