As they entered Wolfram & Hart Dawn tried to wrench herself out of Angel's hold, but his hand kept a firm grip on her upper arm. She had been right. From the moment his surprise wore off he had been railing at her. Lecturing her on the dangers of roaming the city alone, asking her where Buffy was. It didn't really matter because she had been tuning him out the whole time.

At first she had tried to walk away from him, but that was when Angel had seized her and refused to let go, insisting that he take her back to his place so he could keeping an eye on her until he reached Buffy. Dawn was seething anger. Where did he come off, thinking he had a right to play her personal babysitter? At seventeen she felt she didn't need a babysitter. Especially not him.

Finally, She whirled around to face him. "Angel, Let go of me!"

He didn't even look phased by her outburst, just kept leading her down the hall.

"Who do you think you are?!"

"Dawn -"

"Let go of me!" Angel dropped his hand be stayed blocking her escape route. At least he no longer had a death grip on her. "Why did you drag me here anyway?!"

"I'm not letting you out of my sight until I call Buffy."

Dawn's eyes widened a little in fear. Buffy would kill her if Angel made that call. She decided her only option was to beg. Dawn put on her best puppy dog face and pleaded, "No, don't call Buffy. Call Willow, anybody besides my sister. You don't know how angry she'll be. Buffy might actually kill me. Please, call anyone but her."

Angel's features softened a little when he heard the slight trembled of Dawn's voice, but he had to call her sister. "Dawn, I have an obligation -"

"You don't have an obligation to do anything!"

Spike stretched out on the bed in his new suite and grabbed a book off his bedside table. Even after a century he couldn't quell his love of the written word. Very few people knew of his desire to read every book in sight. Only Buffy was aware of that little secret. He might not have even told her if Buffy hadn't caught him at it. It was something he had even kept from Dru. Now that Buffy was gone he didn't plan on letting anyone else close enough to find out. He might not have even told her if Buffy hadn't caught him at it.

He missed her, missed her so much that it was sometimes almost unbearable to exist without her. But he had made his choice. Buffy deserved to live her life to the fullest. How could she do that if he just suddenly decided to pop in and say, "Hey, I'm not dead." It would upset her, throw her now peaceful world out of whack. He couldn't ever do that to her. He loved her too much.

And yet, she had said she loved him. Spike didn't believe her. He knew she cared for him, but love. No, it had just been something that she had said in the moment, because he was about to be a pile of dust. That was all it had been. And Spike was fine with that. He got to go out as a hero, saving the world and all that rot, with the girl he loved finally able to be proud of him. Not a bad way to go.

Spike shook off all the thoughts of Buffy that decided to assault his mind and tried to read his book. He might have actually accomplished the task but just then he heard yelling right outside his door. Not just any yelling either, it was Peaches and some bird. Very interesting.

Hopping off the bed, Spike silently made his way to the door to get a better listen. Whoever this girl was she really didn't like Angel, that was for sure. As the seconds rolled by and the woman's voice escalated higher, Spike began to recognize it. He should have been able to tell who it was sooner, but that didn't really matter because he knew who it was now. Still he just had to see her to believe it.

Swinging open the door to his suite Spike found Angel and a woman standing with her back to him. He knew it was her. Only Summers women smelled like that. "Niblet?"