Spike took another look to the screen showing Buffy still trapped and coughing. This was scary. The Angel part more so, than the Buffy part. And ironic. Did Mariska know what she was playing at? From her smirk, she probably knew it exactly. Was there any going around it? He looked at his Sire for the answer.

Angel was watching Mariska. He looked frozen, puzzled. No, his brain said. "Mariska..." He finally managed hesitantly. Looked like neither of them had the courage not to obey. If Buffy died from the smoke, neither of them would be able to give her artificial respiration.

Mariska made no notice of Angel's mumblings. She went over to Spike and it was her turn to pin Spike face down. She caressed his thighs for a few moments before addressing him, "relax..." Then she waved Angel's naked figure over.

When he was already kneeling down next to Spike, they heard another voice, "now, I want you to go passionately and softly for the first while, then I want blood and I want him to scream," the Immortal embraced Mariska from the back and nuzzled at her ears, "but if either of you fails to come, your toy girl will take her last breath…"

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When Buffy regained consciousness, the first thing she noticed was that the room was completely clear of all smoke. The cold, hard stone was scraping against her skin so she stood up. No problems there, she didn't even have the urge to cough anymore. As she got up she wondered for how long she had been unconscious and she took a wary look around. The wall behind her, towards the exit from where they came from was open, so she took the chance for an escape. On the top of the steps an envelope was placed. It was addressed to Angelus, WH Executive. It wasn't sealed so she could swiftly open it. Never even occurred to her she maybe shouldn't read it cause it wasn't addressed to her. Inside, there was a card with the logo of the Immortal's Hotel. And scribbled on it said "11.30 pm. Atrium Bar. Maybe he wants to meet us there to get his money back."

Just then, she heard the already familiar noise of the walls shuffling. As she turned to see which of the walls was it this time, Angel and Spike appeared coming up the stairs.

"Hey! You two!" She addressed them, "what happened?"

The vampires looked up in the direction of the shout, glanced at each other in confusion, then looked back at the slayer.

"Why? What happened to you?" avoided the question and eye contact Angel.

"I was…trapped for a while in the staircase. I don't know if it wasn't just an automatic mechanism…what about you?" She didn't want to worry the two vampires who loved her.

"Umm, nothing," started Spike. He looked down, embarrassed, "it was a trap too. We didn't find anything in there."

"Well, maybe this," Buffy raised the envelope for the two of them to see.

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"Hey, look!" Spike broke their awkward silent walk towards the bar, "this is the bank we want to investigate!" They stopped in front of a large and imposing building with a wide set of stone steps. Above the entrance, a large sign read, "Mancour Key Bank."

"So what?" Angel shrugged, "what will we achieve by looking around?"

"Hey, you never know. Let's just walk in and look the place over," Spike pushed the issue further.

"Walk in?? I suppose we might need to break in at night. Would you mind acting your age for once?" Angel asked.

"Which age? My body's, or my mind's? Uh, and, if I remember right, when you were my age, you were pretty much into robbing banks," Spike pointed to the door, "besides, it says it has a 24 hour service, can't you read?"

"Even if we find the secret account, we cannot find the means to withdraw from it. We need Mariska's code, and her signature," Angel tried to reason calmly with Spike, just for Buffy's sake. Normally, he would've just ignored him.

"Neither can they. They need your data and signature. Or…Buffy!" Spike lightened up.

"Buffy??" Angel was confused.

"What about me?" Buffy was just as surprised as Angel.

"Will!" Angel's expression turned from puzzlement to revelation," you're a genius! I mean, what? I didn't actually say that! So that's why the Immortal went out with her! Yes, we need Buffy."

"Yes, but…how did you know? I thought I will have tonnes of explaining to do while you think I'm off my head. I thought Dracula was when he told me…"

"Illyria talked about something to do with the dark force of Slayers once. I just don't know what she really wanted with that. It wasn't anything to do with the situation."

"Me? Hey! Why is everybody ignoring me today?" Buffy stomped her feet.

"I'll explain later, Buffy," Angel looked her in the eye now, for the first time after their latest blunder with the Immortal, "we need to run to the bar now. We're going to be late. You just take a good look at Mariska."

"Do I actually wanna see her?"

"Believe me, you do."

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They spotted the two antediluvians immediately a few minutes later in the Atrium Bar. They were sitting on simple chairs in front of a small round table in a quiet, secluded area of the bar. As they drew near, the Immortal stood and rubbed his hands together, "ah, good, good. So you've found each other again?" He smirked, "the money is still all in the bank," he said, "please, sit down. Waiter! Bring my guests whatever they're having!" Angel and Buffy indicated a no.

"Beer," Spike said, taking no notice of the askew looks his companions gave him.

"I'm sure you are wondering what all this is about," the Immortal continued.

"Not really," Angel answered, "I'm sure you'd like to show your appreciation to us, just like every other time we met."

"But you're here. You're still interested."

"Seven hundred million is seven hundred million," Spike mused, picking up his beer.

"And it wasn't stolen," Angel added, more for Buffy's sake, "I didn't rob anybody for it, I didn't kill anybody for it. It was simply a result of a crafty system of mines to tap excess profits from some South African diamond mines. The money is mine, I just kinda misplaced it. Of course I was evil back then and it is understandable that I thought that hiding it with Mariska was a good idea…"

"And I'm just here to find out how to keep my promise of finding your weak points," Buffy told the Immortal.

"Well, the money as you must know is still the Mancour Key Bank in a secret account. It now comes to a sum of nine hundred million pounds. I must admit, we tried to use the codes of your Luxemburg account, but it doesn't work. I suggest we just walk in, write in the codes, share and walk away. Fair dos."

"Wait a minute," Angel reacted, confused, "you know those codes? But the money is not missing from the Luxemburg account."

"Well, yeah, what do I do with a couple of million? I have more myself."

"Wait a minute," Spike reacted now, "you still have a couple of million pounds? Why don't you use it?"

"It's Angelus' money. Evil activities, evil money."

"Stuff me if I'd care! You're a warped miscreant, Peaches!"

Buffy could only voice a few "oh"s here and there. Evil deeds here or there, Angel had his millions and he still let her work for scraps at the Doublemeat Palace. How very noble. There was no forgiveness for that. Spike was the one who was there. Spike was the one who helped. He even tried to earn her money setting up a thick scheme of demon nursery. And given that he was technically supposed to be evil at the time, was quite nice. She stood up, "we really should be on our way..." (I can't believe I had a crush on him! Both of them, actually.) Her two vampires hesitantly followed her.

"I can make things either very pleasurable for you or very hot indeed. Remember that when you are deciding what you do!" The Immortal was shouting after them.

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"So?" Buffy crossed her arms and stepped in front of her two vampires, "what is going on? Angel?"

"I'll explain it at the hotel once we get there. It's a long story and complicated just to understand it like that."

Buffy wasn't happy with that, "no! Explain it now! So tell me now, what is this all about?"

"Okay. It's like this," he conceded, "according to some ancient theory, the reality that shapes the lives of millions of beings is not real. Deception offends many people, except perhaps for committed subjectivists, since many people believe that they want to know, or at least have the right to know, the truth, even if it is terrible. For one person, or a group of people, purposefully to keep others in the dark about some truth is to diminish the respect and authority of those people. It is to act patronizingly and paternalistically. In such situations, a few people decide which truths others can handle, and which they can't…"

"Angel!" Spike intercepted, "we went to see the movie in Sunnydale. And that is not actually the point!"

"What movie?"

"Peaches, you need to go out more. There was a movie trilogy called Matrix based on the ancient Homer theory. And I'm not sure why Peaches here is trying to explain the whole conjecture to you. All you need to know that according to this hypothesis, Slayers can act as anti-virus software in the system. As such they recognise viruses aka vampires and demons and have the means to eliminate them. You're recognising them by identifying their distinct codes, consisting of a jumble of moving numbers.. All you have to do is know that they consist of numbers and not flesh. To see reality is to believe it. To bend reality is to believe…"

"Could both of you just stop for a minute?" Buffy asked them, "why don't you ask me first? I am familiar with this theory and Giles trained me how to use it. I can see your signatures. The numbers you're talking about."

"You can??" both vampires asked simultaneously.

"Well, I'm not saying I agree with the whole "we are in a computer" situation, but I see the world in a different way from you. Your number is 697598237, and yours is 89-3846238964. "

"Bollocks. So I'm just a number to you?"

"No, no, no. I learnt to do this, but this is not how I usually operate. In fact, I haven't seen the use of it since I've first heard about it. And I'm still not quite sure why you seem to think this is relevant now."

"Well, you see, according to Illyria…"

"…and Dracula…"

"if a person chooses an important code number, it somehow appears to be their own personal number of which they themselves are mostly unaware of. My bank pin number for the account is 697598237. If I'm not mistaking, that is the exact number you mentioned about me just a few seconds ago. That is why I was so adamant for you to see Mariska again. Did you get the number?"

"Yes."

"Well, in that case, all we have to do is wait for the bank to open tomorrow morning."

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When Spike woke up he found Buffy next to him in bed with a book in her hands, "what are you reading?"

"Guide to the Italian language," Buffy explained.

Spike looked over at Buffy, "okay...say something about me."

Buffy flipped thorough a few pages before answering, "ameno ensanguinato," she smiled, "just joking...I could describe you as amore. Hey! Io desidero fare l'amore."

"I don't think that's correct, but Buffy...you always want to have sex. Not that I mind…"

Buffy was silent for a long moment, "yeah... you're right on that one. But I meant...there's one thing I'd like to tell you in ..."

"What?"

"Nothing... just go back to sleep. It's quite early for a vampire."

Spike shrugged and closed his eyes again, "ti amo," a whispery voice said in his ear.

Spike opened his eyes to see Buffy beside him.

"Wha'?" he asked uncertainly.

"I love you," Buffy repeated with a smile, "I wanted to tell you, you know, in normal circumstances."

Spike's eyes widened. Spike had to admit, he felt pretty good right now with the confession and all. He took a deep breath to try and cool his blood. It didn't work. He captured Buffy's lips in an intense kiss.

Buffy matched him with equal passion. Her warm hands caressed and teased Spike's body, "I love you," she whispered again, just to make sure Spike got the message this time. They were interrupted by a loud knock at the door.

"Coming!" Buffy put on her bathrobe once again from the chair next to the bed and smoothed her hair down. Newspaper in hand, Angel was standing at the door.

"Hi," Buffy grinned at him from behind the partially opened door praying he will not use his vampire senses just for the once.

"I've come to…never mind," he turned away. Buffy could tell she wasn't praying good enough. Angel through the newspaper in the door, "just look at that." He started to leave when she walked up to him and grabbed his hand, "Angel don't…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…" she said tenderly.

"It's okay. I came to get you away from the Immortal. Not Spike. I actually brought Spike with me. Which, let's face it, wasn't the wisest decision known to mankind. Stump. Besides, I started out with nothing and still have most of it left."

"I'm still sorry. You know, when you bake, you gotta be careful not to burn your food. But I'm still sorry I hurt you."

"Okay. Don't worry about it. We just have to live with it? Get on with our lives?

At least I have a girlfriend."

"You do??" Buffy swallowed.

"I thought that will be the first thing Spike brings up about me…It's not what you and I had. But she cares about me a lot."

Buffy let out a sharp breath, "that's great. It's nice you moved on."

They stared into each other's eyes for what seemed like another eternity, then Angel took his hand out of Buffy's, " and . . . Spike. He would do anything, I mean anything for the ones he loves."

"I know."

"I just wanted you to know that I know that too," he turned and continued down the hall.

"When are we going to the bank?" Buffy shouted after him. As Angel just waved, not even turning back to face her and disappeared behind the corner, she stood there for a couple of seconds then returned to her room.

She opened the door to find Spike staring at the newspaper Angel thrown in the room previously, "we are not going to try out a hotel in every country than I take it?" He turned the newspaper in a way she could see the front page news. It said: Mancour Key Bank Bust. Not Even Wages Will Be Paid.

Buffy shrugged, "this hotel room should be good enough for now," she dropped her bathrobe in front of Spike once again. This time, it wasn't only to tease him.

The End.