Karma: Hi, y'll. Sorry about the extreme lateness of this chappie. School has been hell. But I finally updated. I actaully researched this chapter, too. All of the names used in the flashbacks are from The Dark Age, which means, yes, you guessed it. Your voices have been heard and the popular choice has been chosen. Although I was quite surprised, but then again not so much...

Warnings: Implied drug usage. There's like a teeny tiny amount of implied slash in this chapter, but no real actual slash, I think. Actually it reminds me of a lot of the banter between Angel and Spike in season 5 of Angel. So, if you were fine with AtS season 5, you'll have no problem with this chappie. Just have to warn you, anyways. Just like I was supposed to tell y'll that Angel, Buffy and all characters belonging to both shows actually belong to Mutant Enemy and Joss Whedon.

"Huh, Peaches was right." Spike said choosing to ignore Buffy's question.

"Stop calling him that." Buffy scolded.

"Sorry, Slutty, but I can call me sire anything I want to." He said, sounding anything but sorry.

"Wait." Buffy said as a thought hit her. "I thought Drusilla was your sire."

"No, Angelus was." Spike, Willow, Xander and Giles all said in unison.

"Geez, okay." Buffy said, slightly annoyed. "So, Spike, why are you a kitten?"

Spike looked nervously at Willow for a moment before turning his attentions back to Buffy. "Actually, I'd rather know why Rupes is an owl."

"It's obvious." Xander said. "Owls are smart. Giles is smart. Giles is an owl. I wanna know why you're a kitten."

"Are you sure that's why Giles is an owl?" Willow nervously interjected, having a pretty good feeling she knew why Spike was a kitten and not wanting every one to know yet.

Buffy and Xander stared at her like she was insane while Spike sent her a silent, 'Thanks, love.'

Meanwhile, Giles had found himself becoming lost in his own thoughts. 'Why am I an owl?'

--London, 1976--

They seemed to follow him everywhere. The owls. Ripper would look up and they would be there. Watching him. Wait for him. Two of them. Always two. At first he thought it was his father keeping an eye on him, but then he'd take the needle out of his arm and all theories about his father would fly away.

'Snot like I give a sodding fuck about my father, anyways.' Ripper mused as he finished off a bottle of whiskey. 'My father can go sod himself. He can be the sodding watcher. He can be the one who goes without sleep for three weeks because his slayer needs him to research a new demon. But I won't. Destiny is for bleeding idiots. Life is all about living in the now.'

He smiled as he looked around his rat infested flat in the worst part of town. Sure he shared the place with three other guys, but it was better than living the life his father had laid out for him.

"My life." Ripper muttered as he began to sift through the rubbish on the floor. "Only mine. The bleeding owls can go sod themselves!" He yelled as he felt their familiar presence. As soon as he yelled, he heard the sound of hoots and wings flapping. He sighed. He really did hate those owls. They made him feel uncomfortable. "Doesn't mean a sodding thing. Not one thing." He reassured himself as he found the baggie of herbs on the floor. "Perfect."

Just then the front door slammed open, and then slammed shut. "Oi! Ripper! You 'ere?" Ethan Rayne's familiar voice floated through the flat. "Ripper! Come out to play!"

"I'm comin', Ethan!" Ripper called as he fought his way through the molding furniture and piles of rubbish.

"There ya are, Ripper. Come on then, mate. We're late." He said with an impish grin.

"Late for what?" Ripper asked as he pulled a fag out from behind his ear and lit it.

"Randall has the itch." Ethan said simply as he took the fag out of Ripper's hand and took a drag.

Ripper smiled as he took the fag out of Ethan's mouth. "Sounds like a party." He took a drag before handing it back to Ethan.

"Come on, then." Ripper said impatiently as he threw his leather jacket on. "Let's go."

Ethan smiled and wrapped an arm around Ripper's shoulder. "Tonight's gonna be a night we'll never forget."

--End Flashback--
"Who do you think will poof next?" Dawn casually asked Angel.

The vampire looked up from the game of poker he and Anya were playing, and at the teenage girl who was flipping through a fashion magazine. "Poof?" He questioned, used to hearing Cordelia use it as a term for dusting vampires.

"Turn back into humans. Or vampire." Dawn clarified.

Angel shrugged. "Not sure."

"Mine." Anya suddenly declared as she began pulling the poker chips on the table towards her.

"What?" Angel asked turning back towards the ex-vengeance demon.

"My money. I win." Anya simply said as she began to put her chips into piles.

"You cheated." Angel complained. "I was talking to Dawn."

Anya shrugged. "When Xander and Spike taught me they said-"

"Spike?" Angel interjected.

Dawn nodded. "Yeah, Xander tried to teach me and Anya to play, but Spike was a better teacher."

"He taught you to cheat?" Angel asked as he raised an eyebrow.

Anya nodded. "Yes, it makes the game more fun. Let's play with real money."

"No." Angel said as he pushed his cards away from him.

Dawn stopped looking at her magazine and began to watch the animals again. "I hope it's Spike that turns back."

"Dawn." Angel said looking at the girl.

"What?" She innocently asked.

Before Angel could respond, Anya looked up from the cards she was now shuffling. "I hope it's Rupert. He is quite shapely." Angel and Dawn shared matching looks of disgust, but Anya continued. "Although, Spike is very well-built, but he's too short. They say it effects sexual performance. Is it true?" She asked Angel.

"Excuse me?" A shocked Angel coughed out.

Dawn looked between Angel and Anya. "Huh? What? Oh... No?" She chocked out when she realized what Anya was talking about.

"What? You're telling me that you and Spike never had sex?" A skeptical Anya asked.

Angel looked sheepishly at Anya and Dawn. "Well... There was that one time..."

"What?!"
--London, 1976--

"What in the bloody hell was that?" Ripper asked Ethan as they stared at Randall's jerking body.

"Whoa. Man. Total trip." A stoned Thomas said excitedly.

"Randall? Mate? You cool?" Phillip asked Randall.

Just as Phillip spoke, Randall's body stilled. "Baby?" Deirdre asked as she crawled over to her lover. "Baby?" She took him into her arms. "He's not breathing! Why isn't he breathing!" She shrieked.

"Relax, Dee Dee. He's probably just sleeping."

"You breathe when you sleep, Tommy!" She hysterically shouted. "Ripper, what do we do?"

He stared at Deirdre and the body. Ripper couldn't speak. Couldn't move. All he could do was stare at the body of one of his best mates.

"Ripper?" Philip tried.

"Go home, Phil. Take Tommy with you." Ethan answered for Ripper. "You okay, mate?" He asked as he slipped an arm around Ripper's waist.

Meanwhile, Ripper just stared at Deirdre as she clung helplessly to Randall's lifeless body. "Baby, wake up. This isn't funny any more. Wake up and everything will be fine. We'll go down to the diner and watch the lights flash. Then when that dink of a waitress who has the late shift tries to kick us out, we'll give 'er a tail. Just wake up." She begged. "If you love me you'll wake up." She began to cry as she rocked the body in her arms.

The body. It seemed out to Ripper to think of Randall as merely a body. Randall was the first person he had met in London. Well, at least in this part of London. He was one of his best mates. He was the one who introduced him to Ethan. Was. The past tense burned in the back of Ripper's throat.

"Cheer up, mate." Ethan cheerfully said as he spoke softly and directly into Ripper's ear. "It was all in the name of a good time. That's all tha matters."

Ripper suddenly wrenched Ethan's arm off of his waist. "How can you just take Randall's death so easily?" He yelled as he looked around the room, immediately realizing that Thomas and Phillip had already fled. He looked down at the tattoo on his forearm before stumbling backwards. "Gotta get outta 'ere."

"Ripper, wait." Ethan said as he reached for Ripper's arm.

"No!" Ripper shouted as he slapped Ethan's arm away and punched him in the face. "You stupid prat."

Ethan stared after Ripper as he fled into the rain-covered night. "No." He muttered softly. "Don't leave me."

Ripper blindly ran through the rain in a rage. He couldn't think. He wouldn't think. He knew that as soon as he began to think, his mind would wander back to Randall's body. As long as he kept running he was safe. Eventually however, he lost all strength and began to wander aimlessly, not caring what happened to him.

As he walked he became aware of the familiar presence of the owls. He spun around. "What do you want?! Do you want me to go back to him? Do you want me to go back to my father! Quit following me and tell me what in the sodding hell you want!" He looked down the street half expecting some one from the Council to appear.

"Fine! You win! I'll call him tonight! Just leave me alone!" Ripper shouted before turning and walking in the direction of his flat.

Suddenly the owls disappeared and transformed into Ethan Rayne. "G'bye Ripper." He whispered into the rain. "G'bye."

--End Flashback--
"Bloody hell!" Giles suddenly shouted as the memories hit him.

"Did Giles just say bloody hell? Oh my God. He's turning into Spike." Buffy muttered.

Giles ignored his slayer. "The owls. Ethan. How could I have not remembered?"

"The owls? Ethan?" Xander repeated. "I think my theory was a little off."

"You think, whelp?" Spike muttered earning himself a growl from Willow.

"They stopped following me after that night. Ethan." Giles rambled, completely unaware of the other animals. Suddenly there was a flash and Giles the owl was gone.

"Poor Angel and the bit..." Spike muttered.

"What?" Willow asked. "Oh." She added as she realized what Spike meant. "Spike." She whined.

"Hey, some one had to say it, dinnit they, love?"
"Okay, that was- Oh. My. God. EW!" Dawn cried covering her eyes.

"Dawnie, what are you- Sweet Mary and Joseph!" Angel cried as he covered his own eyes.

"What?" Anya asked as she looked where Dawn and Angel had looked. "Hmm... Very shapely."

A very naked Rupert Giles looked at the trio before blushing and quickly grabbing his clothes. "I'll just... Right then..." He said embarrassedly before practically running into the backroom.

"Hmm... Rupert-" Anya began but was cut off by Dawn.

"Do not say what ever you we're gonna say about Giles. It's Giles!" Dawn said before shuddering.

"I was only going to-"

"Anya!"
YAY! My belated update has arrived! Please review and tell me whatcha think. Questions, comments whatever, but keep your flames to yourself. Remember to vote for who you wanna see morph next, because, your wish? My command.
Karma.