'Did you find him?' Gunn asked half an hour later.

'No did you?' Angel said not really paying attention; his mind was still on Buffy and Spike.

'Not a trace', Gunn replied sadly.

'Well at least everyone's ok', Angel continued still in the toneless voice like he was hypnotised.

'Angel are you ok?' 'Gunn asked studying him.

'Great never better you?' Angel said quickly without looking up.

'Angel....' Gunn began seriously.

'Just leave it ok? I'm not fine...I don't think I'll ever be fine, something will always come and screw it up', Angel said bitterly.

'Whoa what's with the feeling sorry for yourself?' Gunn said taken aback.

'Nothing', Angel muttered but Gunn continued to stare at him waiting for an answer so he gave in.

'It's nothing much....it's just I always lose everyone I care about Buffy, Connor, Cordelia, even Fred and you for a little while.'

'Well you got me and Fred back', Gunn said trying to sound cheerful.

'Yeah but what if I hadn't....you know what Gunn I'm tired of loosing everybody.'

'Don't then, don't give up you can still win her', Gunn said finally understanding what had brought on Angel's bad mood. Some of the tight weight in Angel's heart lightened and finally he met Gunn's eyes.

'You really think so?' Angel said quietly.

'I know so, you can't just let her go Angel we all know that Buffy ain't gonna find another boyfriend it's between you and Spike so you can still win, I know how much she means to you.'

'Yeah I know what she meant to me but what about everything that's happened since then.... of course I still love her I mean it's Buffy how can I not?' Angel said desperately.

'Angel listen to me....I lost Fred and I regret it every day but she's with Wesley and I deal but you still have a chance and by God Angel don't throw it away like I did', Gunn said seriously.

'You still have a chance with Fred...' Angel started to say but Gunn merely glared at him and Angel fell silent.

'Ok but what about Nina?' Angel asked.

'You two hardly see each other any more I mean how many times have you seen her since Buffy got here?'

'A couple of times, every now and again.'

'Exactly, I'm not saying you should give up on her just that you should keep your options open because right now we've been really busy that we haven't had that much time to deal with Nina when she wolfs out.'

'But I really like Nina', Angel argued.

'Oh for....make your mind up Angel', Gunn said frustrated.

'But you said keep your options open.'

'Yeah but if your going to be all babyish about it', Gunn started.

'I'm not being babyish', Angel said folding his arms and pouting. Gunn looked at him as if to say if you could see yourself in the mirror you might think otherwise.

'Well who do you want to be with more?' Gunn asked simply.

'I can't answer that', Angel cried disgusted.

'Buffy', Angel said a second later.

'Ok then....'

'No wait Nina....no Buffy....no...' Angel said getting confused.

'Angel!' Gunn said loudly clenching his fists not to loose his temper.

'I don't know I love Buffy and I always will but time's moved on....we've moved on.'

'Yeah you've really moved on, name one serious girlfriend you've had since Buffy', Gunn demanded.

'Er... Cordelia only she wasn't really my girlfriend', Angel muttered. Gunn raised his eyebrow.

'It doesn't matter anyway so she's moved on with her life so have I but I can't move on from her because.....because it's Buffy and once you fall in love with Buffy you can never be cured, just ask Spike', Angel went on.

'How do you feel about Nina?' Gunn asked.

'Um I fancy her but I haven't known her that long she's not Buffy though that's for sure', Angel said stubbornly.

'Angel will you just shut up and listen to yourself (Angel stared) you haven't even given Nina a chance yet, you two could develop into something special but if you keep comparing every relationship you ever have to Buffy then of course your not gonna move on from her (Angel opened his mouth to speak) so what you had with Buffy was special fine but there's more than one girl out there for you Angel, you need to realise that', Gunn said firmly. Angel ran his fingers through his hair and sighed.

'Fine your right.'
Giles hang up the phone having just spoken to Xander.

'What did he say?' Willow asked.

'He's on his way now and then we can all go', Giles replied.

'Good', Willow said a little nervous.

'You're sure the locator spell is right?' Giles checked.

'Yep their hiding in an old warehouse building or something, I've seen it a couple of times with Kennedy its down next to the leisure centre thingy.'

'Oh right.'

'Yeah...' Willow said slowly.
Just at that moment Buffy and Spike walked in interrupting the awkward slience.

'So what's happening?' Buffy asked. Willow explained what was going on and that Xander was on his way.

'Great so as soon as he gets here we go to the warehouse and finish Drusilla off once and for all', Buffy said determinedly.

'And her vampire bodyguards', Willow added.

'Right.'
Buffy and Spike sat down next to each other. Willow and Giles caught each other's eye and they frowned on seeing how close Buffy and Spike were sitting.

'So um how are things going between you two?' Willow asked curiously but anxious of how they were going to react. Buffy caught Spike's eye and they both looked away very quickly. Buffy opened her mouth trying to find the right words but no words came out.

'What do you mean?' Spike asked finally.

'I meant you know...you two, your relationship.....are you boyfriend and girlfriend?' Willow said in a small voice. Spike looked over to Buffy for some sort of answer but she stared blankly back at him glad the spotlight was off her.

'We...um...me and Buffy we're....we're just friends, like always you know well since I got my soul back anyway', Spike replied awkwardly.

'It's just you seem pretty close', Willow said examining them. Buffy and Spike glanced at each other again and they noticed that Buffy was slightly leaning on Spike. As soon as she realised this Buffy sat up properly, blushing furiously.

'What? We're close', Buffy said defensively.

'Depends on what you mean by close', Giles muttered. Buffy scowled at him.

'What, Giles cried, I mean look at you two you're practically lying on each other and ok I admit I'm not the biggest fan of you two together but for God's sake already you obviously love each other so stop with the defensive crap and just get together.'

'We're not defensive anymore, when I was kicked out and Spike came to find me he made this big speech about why he loved me and we slept in each others arms and after that we were a bit defensive until I told Spike that we should stop with the mix signals and we did....but yeah we love each other but we're just taking time making up for the time we lost when I though Spike was dead', Buffy explained. Spike stared at Buffy in awe, pride shimmering in his eyes.
Suddenly Xander walked in to spoil the moment.

'So did I miss anything?' Xander asked cheerfully. No one said anything.
They arrived at the warehouse.

'Everybody ready?' Buffy checked. They all nodded so Buffy proceeded forward, kicking the door down. They crept carefully across the floor aware that it could give way any second. The dust was engulfing them which made it hard to breath.

'God it's so dark, can anyone see anything?' Xander hissed.

'A little bit', Buffy whispered.

'This place is discriminating to people with one eye', Xander muttered. Buffy frowned at him and they continued to explore all corners of the warehouse.

'Looks like they got out before we came', Spike said.

'Ye....' Buffy began to agree but was interrupted by the sound of a punch then a moan of pain as they hit the floor.

'Giles!?' Buffy cried her eyes desperately scanning for where he was lying.

Drusilla came up behind Willow.

'Look at the bright fire, it's gonna burn', she hissed into her ear. Willow spun around her heart pounding but Dru step sided her and knocked her to the floor. Then she pinned her to the floor and leaned forward to bite her.

'BUFFY!', Willow screamed.

'Willow!', Buffy yelled and she darted over to where she'd heard her cry and pulled Drusilla off Willow and sent her flying.

'Willow...willow are you ok?' Buffy said trying to see her.

'She bit me', Willow groaned.

'Are you ok?' Buffy said worriedly.

'She...she took a big bite...she...' Willow's voice trailed off and her head lolled to her side as she lost consciousness.

'Willow!' Buffy cried shaking her.
Elsewhere Spike was battling against Chris.

'Come on is that the best you got', Spike laughed as he punched Chris into the wall. Chris yelled in anger and grabbed Spike around the neck and pushed him into the wall.

'Screw you', Chris spat.

'No thanks mate I don't swing that way', Spike growled and he grabbed Chris's neck and snapped it. He felt Chris fall to the floor next to his feet and he plunged the stake into his heart.
Drusilla was now up on her feet and fighting Buffy, while Xander was fighting with Peter. Giles was tending to Willow and trying to move her out of the way of the fight so she wouldn't get hurt even more. When Peter saw that Chris had been dusted be cried out in frustration and charged at Spike but Spike dodged him but Peter spun around and kicked him. Xander came over to help Spike and dusted Peter from behind. He helped Spike to his feet.

'That wasn't so hard', Xander said cockily. He had spoken too soon.