Out of the Frying Pan

Now that they had Spike and Rose's attention, and thankfully, Rose's memory back, everyone was full of questions. So many, in fact, that they became an unintelligible cacophony. Angel was about to raise his voice to drown out the rest when he noticed a pair of nodding heads. A glance at the time told him it was well past midnight. No one was going to be thinking straight now anyway.

He gestured silently towards the twins, as they were slowly losing the valiant battle they were fighting against sleep. "I know tomorrow's the weekend," he began quietly.

"But time and apocalypses wait for no one," Wesley finished for him. "When do you want us here?"

Angel considered. "How about ten?" he suggested. "Give everyone a chance to get some sleep." Including, he thought, Spike and Rose, and he was sure it was going to be considerably later before the two of them actually went to sleep, no matter how soon they went to bed. But there were various expressions around the room reflecting the emotions of hard working and stressed people who realized that they were going to have a good chunk of time taken out of their Saturday. Again. He thought they deserved a little compensation for that. "We'll make it a brunch meeting."

"Am I included?" Oz asked quietly. He really would like to be in the loop for a change, even though he knew that he did help fight the good fight by watching the twins and keeping them out of harm's way. Sometimes, it just wasn't the same though.

"Us too, Uncle Angel," came a sleepy mumble from the sofa.

He decided the first question was the easiest one to field. "You're part of the team too, Oz," he assured the werewolf. For the second part of the question, he looked helplessly to Spike and Rose.

Spike rolled his eyes, then threw up his hands in surrender. "Not like they won't find out anyway," he muttered. "'Spose it's easier this way. Besides, you never know, they might come up with something we couldn't." He rose to his feet and picked up Alaric who was just awake enough to protest it.

"Not a baby," he grumbled sleepily. "I can walk."

"Sure you can, sport," Spike soothed. "And we can argue about it tomorrow. Okay?"

"'Kay." Alaric's lashes fluttered briefly, and then, he was asleep.

Rose struggled to her feet with a recumbent Ariel in her arms, and made the rounds, kissing everyone good-night. And hello. Heavens, she had missed them all.

Spike waited at the door with an expression of good natured impatience. As far as he was concerned, the important things were covered. He had Rose back. Rose had her memory back. And he was still the only man she'd ever been with.

Unlife was good.

&&&&&&&&

Corinna scuttled across a carefully drawn symbol which covered the entire top of a small, round table. She seemed to be studying it intently, or at least, so it seemed, from what could be told from her actions.

And that was precisely what she was doing.

She stopped a moment, her forelegs twitched, and she let out a small extremely high-pitched squeal, just within human hearing range. Not that there were any humans there to hear her.

"What is it, my love?" the old man inquired, going over to the table. "Oh, that. Yes dear, I know that it isn't finished. But we need the heart of the sacrifice first. It can only be finished with her heart's blood."

Another squeal from the spider, this one sounding rather imperious. It moved to the edge of the table closest to the Master.

"You're quite insatiable, my dear," the ancient replied with a chuckle. "Very well, there's really nothing to be done at present until we acquire another sacrifice." Another chuckle. "Promise not to hurt me." So saying, the old man seemed to gather in upon himself, dwindle and shrink, until there was not one, but two spiders standing on the table. Whereupon one immediately pounced on the other.

&&&&&&&&

"It was the aura," Richard was telling his campaign manager. "It is absolutely incredible. I've never seen anything like it."

Sharkey seemed unimpressed. "Incredible aura or not," he grunted. "Now, we need a new sacrifice. Do you think she got her memory back or something?"

"I don't know." Richard scratched his head. "Maybe. But there's got to be something more to it than that. She started acting a little freaky before the fund-raiser."

"Since you didn't know her well enough to know what was normal for her," Sharkey pointed out. "Then how can you say that she was acting freaky?"

"Just a feeling." Richard looked at the other man, and felt, as he often had before, that there was more to his manager than met the eye. But what it was, he had absolutely no idea.

"You and your feelings." Sharkey pretended to dismiss the whole idea, but in truth, he was intrigued. Richard was far more sensitive than even he was allowed to know. His hunches and feelings were not to be dismissed lightly. Perhaps he'd better talk this over with his father. And, as usual, father was right. The runt did have his uses.

&&&&&&&&

Everyone was beginning to gather, in, it had been decided for convinces sake, Spike and Rose's apartment.

And Rose was evidently the guest of honor as far as Spike and the twins were concerned. She had barely to twitch a finger and all three of them would be asking what she wanted or needed.

Most of the rest of the fang gang was smiling at the tableau indulgently, between bites. Before the children's little exhibition of the day before, they thought they'd known how devoted the unusual couple were to each other. Now, they really knew.

Finally, Angel decided the socializing part of the meeting had gone on long enough. There was serious business to be attended to after all. He was considering the possibility of suggesting that his godchildren go to their rooms when he looked their way and saw them sitting quietly, hands clasped on their laps, exuding innocence. It didn't fool him for a second.

"All right," he conceded in tones bubbling with laughter. "You guys stay. But only if I get a kiss from my best girl first."

Ariel, all smiles, left her spot by her mother, swarmed up onto Angel's lap, and almost literally plastered his face with kisses before settling into his arms with a decidedly Spike-like grin on her face. "Thank you, Uncle Angel."

"Little minx," Wesley murmured fondly, watching the byplay. At seven, Ariel already had most of the males in the firm wrapped snugly around her little finger.

Alaric took advantage of his sister's removal to snuggle up closer to his mother, who hugged him tight and kissed the top of his head. He was smirking too.

There was another short delay while everyone had a laugh. Then, it was time to get down to business, and they all knew it.

"First things first," Angel said. "Rose, do you have any idea what caused your amnesia?"

Rose shook her head. "I remember the plane getting ready to land," she replied. "I could even see this building, we were so close. Then, the next thing I remember was Richard telling me I'd been hit on the head." She rubbed her forehead in pained memory. "I asked him who he was, and he told me. Then, when I asked him who I was, the nasty, spineless, little creep told me I was his wife and my name is Lily." Rose looked decidedly indignant.

"Can't fault his taste," Spike said, mildly enough. The fact that Rose had never slept with Richard had done wonders for his mood. Almost as much as having Rose herself back. "You're just too much of a temptation, pet."

Those who knew Spike of old just stared open mouthed. Rose looked at him like he'd lost his mind.

"Mind you now," Spike added, blandly ignoring all the looks he was receiving. "We still have to take the conniving, wife-stealing..," his voice was starting to sound heated now. "..,sodding bastard out. Oops, sorry, luv." He sidled closer to Rose, filling the spot that Ariel had vacated and put his arm around her. Almost in a reflexive motion, Rose's head dropped to his shoulder, and her expression took on a look of contentment.

Angel rolled his eyes, but refrained from commenting on it. "Wes," he said, turning to the researcher. "What exactly was that spell supposed to do?"

"Well, if Rose had sung it correctly," Wesley remarked. "And Mr. McDaniels is a fool if he thinks he could have gotten just anyone to do it, the inflections have to be just right. But Rose would be able to do it." He had wandered off a bit, and had to stop to think just where he was. "So, we will assume that Rose would have sung it correctly, as she almost certainly would have done. It would have summoned up a Hramaas demon that would almost certainly have devoured Rose as its first act. Then, in all likelihood, most of the rest of the guests as well. Then, it would have gotten interesting."

Spike made an impatient noise. "Watcher, I sometimes wonder about your sense of the appropriate. How can you sit there and calmly talk about things getting interesting after Rose has just been eaten by a demon?"

"Shut up, Spike," Angel snapped. "Since Rose is alive and well, the being eaten by a demon is very obviously hypothetical. Go on, Wes."

"It seems that once the Hramaas had fed until it reached a certain level of energy," Wesley went on. "It doesn't really specify how much that would be, but once that had happened, it would open a portal to another dimension. I haven't been able to find out which one, yet. I haven't had the right help." The look he gave Rose suggested who he considered the 'right' help.

"I hope nobody had plans for the weekend," Gunn remarked conversationally. "It looks like we're all going to be busy."

"I had plans for the weekend," Spike complained.

"Shut up, Spike," said the entire group, minus Rose and the twins, in unison.

&&&&&&&&

"This is beyond weird," Richard groused. "I've had the best investigative team money can buy working on it, and still, no one can find out anything about Ms. Rose Powers prior to her employment at Wolfram and Hart."

Sharkey grunted, and Richard was left with the impression that the sound was appropriate, considering the source. His campaign manager may have been loaded with political savvy, but he was definitely lacking in the class department.

"There's got to be something, somewhere," Sharkey commented, eyes squinting at the report that Richard had handed him. "She didn't just appear out of thin air ten years ago."

"What if she did?" Richard inquired. "We've been going at this like Rose is just your average, run-of-the-mill human being. But we both know that there's more to the universe than meets the eye. What about Rose as well?"

Sharkey blinked. That particular thought would never have occurred to him. But it did give him food for thought now. What if Rose did appear out of thin air ten years ago? And where or what had she been before then? Time to have another talk with father, he decided.

&&&&&&&&&&

"I'm wondering if there might not have been some sort of spell cast on that dress that you were wearing, Rose," Fred mused. "Do you mind if I take it to the lab for a few tests?"

Rose blushed and looked a bit sheepish. She'd never considered that hideous dress to be evidence of any sort, although now, in retrospect, she supposed that she should have. "I'm sorry, Fred," she mumbled, looking at the floor. "But Spike put that hideous thing in the incinerator this morning. It's probably ashes by now."

Fred looked at Angel expectantly, but said nothing.

"How should I know when they fire up the incinerator?" Angel asked in aggrieved tones. "I have enough to do around here." He picked up the phone. "But I can find out from maintenance"

There was a brief exchange on the phone, and when the CEO hung up, he was getting that stressed look around the eyes again. "That particular incinerator hasn't been operated since the day before yesterday," he informed the group, who'd been eavesdropping shamelessly. "But it's due to start up in about half an hour. And the command sequence is so complex that maintenance isn't sure that they'll be able to get it shut down before it does."

Spike sighed, got up and started to put his duster on. Then, he thought the better of it and hung it back up. If he was going to be crawling around in the tossed out muck, and he strongly suspected that he would be, he didn't want to ruin his trademark.

Angel hung up his jacket as well. "C'mon, Spike," he growled. "You caused this, you can help fix it."

"Oh." Rose suddenly got the picture. "You're not going to go crawling around in the incinerator, are you?" She looked positively aghast. "What if they can't get it shut down and you're not out in time? Surely that awful dress isn't that important?"

"We don't know if it is or not, Rose," Angel said gently. He reflected that he, and probably just about everyone else was ready to cut her an awful lot of slack right now, even though in her marriage, most of them definitely considered Rose to be the brains of the operation. But they all loved her and they'd all missed her. Besides, most of them would far rather vent on Spike anyway. It should be in his job description. "But we do have to cover all the bases." He looked at his grandchilde. "We don't have much time, so we'd better get a move on." He strode out of the room without waiting to see if Spike would follow. He was sure he would, simply because Rose's well-being was involved.

"Later, babe." Spike planted a quick kiss on Rose's lips. "Don't worry, we'll be in and out before anyone flicks their bic on the place." Then, he slipped out too, as aware as Angel that they didn't really have that much time.

Ariel had resumed her place next to Rose, having lost Angel's lap. "Don't worry, mummy," she soothed. "They'll be all right."

"Yeah," Alaric added. "Daddy wouldn't let anything bad happen."

Rose said nothing, but cuddled her children close. Part of her said that Angel and Spike probably had a very good idea of what they were doing, and that they'd been in tighter scrapes than this before and pulled through. And the other part of her just worried that this time might be the one time too many. That maybe, just maybe their luck was finally going to run out.