A/N: Thank ye all for the reviews.

He wasn't going in today. And it wasn't because he was scared. It was because he didn't want to cause anymore hurt and confusion. It was a selfless act, really. Spike tried to convince himself of this as he sat slumped in his couch with a bowl of Wheetabix with blood on his lap and his eyes fixed on the TV. Going to Wolfram and Hart today would just aggravate the situation and Spike was being courteous and avoiding confrontation. Christ, Angel had turned him into a poof.

Sitting in his basement apartment Spike took in the surroundings vaguely. Lindsey had given him the apartment back when he was pretending to be Doyle. Spike had thought about leaving the apartment on the principle of the thing until he remembered he didn't have principals. So, he stayed and did as he liked here and it was handy because it was close to the office and the grocers.

Spike hated going to the supermarket in L.A. It was times like that when he yearned for a small town like Sunnydale. Back in Sunnyhell if he went to the supermarket at midnight for Wheetabix and smokes there would be few, if any, people there. In L.A there were still droves of people there at midnight and if there was one thing Spike couldn't stand it was people. Back when he had been soulless and chipless he had loved crowds...mainly because they were so tasty. Now, he just liked to stick to himself mostly. It was hard to do that in a city as big as Los Angeles.

Right, thinking about Sunnydale again. About her. Get a life, you wanker.

Spike tried to shake himself out of it. He studied the apartment to take his mind off of that. The brick walls were painted an off-white but you could still see the outline of the bricks through them. The floor was carpeted in dark blue. He had a black couch, a TV and a coffee table to put his feet up on. There was a lamp on a small stand next to the couch, which he had on now because he had no windows.

The whole thing was mostly open-plan, which Spike didn't really understand the appeal of, except for his small bedroom, which was in a separate room. He had a small double bed with dark cobalt blue sheets and not much else was in that room apart from a small dresser for his limited wardrobe and an en suite bathroom.

In the main body of the apartment was a small kitchen area that wasn't so much a kitchen but more a part of the room with a lot of cupboards, a fridge and a microwave. Spike's cupboards were mostly empty except for two boxes of Wheetabix (to give the blood texture); three jars of Burba Weed (to make the blood spicy) and a box of micro-wavable hot chicken wings. In the fridge there were several containers of cold pigs blood that he would heat up in the microwave and then add some Burba Weed too.

Sitting on the couch in only his jeans Spike slurped at the Wheetabix but didn't really taste anything, not even the blood. His mind was far too preoccupied for that. There was a loud knocking on the door and Spike's head snapped to the sound. He put the bowl on the coffee table and stood, cursing.

Pulling on a shirt and running his hand through his hair he walked to the door and really prayed it wasn't her. Angel may have told her where he lived as a revenge act and now she was here to stake him for not telling her.

Spike opened the door and groaned at the sight that greeted him. He leaned against the doorframe and waited for Harmony to speak. The blond vampire was dressed in a white summer dress with pink flowers and pink flip-flop sandals.

"Angel sent me to tell you, and I quote 'Spike, get your ass down here right now you coward' end quote" Harmony beamed "Okay?"

Spike snorted "Tell him to piss off. I'm obviously so needed he sent his best agent down to get me"

Harmony frowned "You're being mean to me again, aren't you?"

"What do you think, Harm?" He smirked.

"I think that I'm gonna tell your Muffy the Vampire Layer where you are so that she can come and get you herself" Harmony grinned "Oh, and you might want to take a shower"

She giggled and turned on her heel walking away.

"Don't you bloody dare!" Spike roared.

"I'd take the advice on the shower, Spikey" She laughed and walked out of sight.

Spike slammed the door shut and let out an almighty bellow, his face vamping out. He stormed to the shower and practically tore his clothes off stepping into it and turning the water to very hot. It burnt his skin and turned it pink but he really didn't care at that moment. Stupid Harmony, Sodding Angel, Bloody Buffy! It became his mantra as he spread some shower gel over him.

Spike closed his eyes and took a long, unneeded breath as he leaned his forehead against the cold tile with the water beating down on him. He took a moment just to gather himself and calm down before he stepped out of the shower and dried off.

Walking into his bedroom he got some clothes out to change into all the while repeating the mantra in his head. He pulled on some clean black jeans, his belt, a dark green T-shirt for some variation and his duster on top of that. Spike checked his pockets to make sure he had his cigarettes, lighter and money and then he picked up his keys and left the apartment still angry.

He needed to get back before Harmony did and was glad he had stolen Angel's Viper and parked it outside the back door to his building. Spike pulled his duster over his head and ran out into the bright sunshine. He unlocked the car by pointing the key at it and pressing a button. Spike wrenched the door open when he reached it and jumped in pulling it closed behind him.

The vampire was glad for the sun-tinted windows as his skin smoked a little and he took a few moments to recover. Then he started the car and peeled out of the lot. He drove down the roads breaking more than a few speed limits and cranking the radio up on his favourite punk rock station.

Spike pulled into the underground parking lot of Wolfram and Hart's building less than ten minutes later. He got out of the car and locked it before walking over to the elevator and getting in. He pressed Angel's floor number and the doors slid closed.

Spike was jittering with nerves but he couldn't let her see that or Angel for that matter. So on the ride up he squared his shoulder and tightened his jaw. He balled his fists and made sure that he got the attitude right. As he reached the floor under Angel's he got himself in the right frame of mind. The key was confidence, act cocky and don't get hurt. Simple as that.

When the elevator reached Angel's floor and the doors slid open Spike stepped out and swaggered over to the office door noting with satisfaction that Harmony was not back at her desk yet. He made it to the shut double doors and hesitated for a moment. Took a breath. It was so quick that no one would have noticed it.

Then Spike pasted a grin on his face and pushed both doors open and swept into the room. Angel, Dawn, Buffy and Gunn were all gathered around Angel's desk looking at papers and all looked up as he entered. Spike had achieved the desired effect.

"Spike, nice of you to show" Angel said with dark eyes.

He shrugged and pulled a cigarette out "You know me, stickler for punctuality"

"Anyway," Buffy said turning her back on Spike to look at Angel "I figure that we should all split up and take the sewers, the streets, the demons haunts. That way we have a better chance of having some kind of sighting of the Kraal's. I think teams is the best way to go"

Spike tried not to show the hurt on his face at being snubbed. She had just breezed right on past him as though he didn't exist. Well, fine Spike decided lighting the fag up and taking a hit two can play that game.

"Agreed" Angel nodded "Okay, so Nina, Wes and I will take the sewers with the swat teams since this is the most likely place to encounter demons. Buffy and Dawn you take these streets here and Spike and Illyria will take the streets adjacent"

Gunn looked at the map "Lorne and I can take the demon bars, try to get some info on these Kraals"

Angel nodded "Good"

"Hang on, why am I stuck with the creature from the Blue Lagoon?" Spike asked, incensed.

"That was Brook Shields" Dawn pointed out.

"Whatever," Spike said looking at Angel "Well?"

Angel came around the desk "Illyria seems to like you"

"Nope, she likes the way I break under her fists" Spike took a drag "That ain't my idea of a good time"

Buffy snorted audibly.

Everyone turned to face her but she just looked around the room as though she hadn't heard anyone.

Gunn turned to Spike "That thing doesn't mind you and it sure as hell ain't mingling with any of us"

"The lady has taste" Spike shrugged.

Angel cleared his throat "Right. So that's settled. Each group gets a radio to contact the rest of us if they see or hear of anything"

He pointed to a box on the table. Spike looked and saw that there was a box with five radios in it sitting on Angel's desk. Spike walked over to the desk and ended up behind Buffy he reached his arm around her to grab one and her back visibly turned rigid. Spike wondered if this was because of their close proximity or because he was a demon and she had reacted instinctually. Probably the latter, knowing his luck.

Spike picked up one of the radios and waved it in front of her face making sure she understood his intentions had been innocent. Yeah, right. Buffy relaxed a little and picked up her own radio as Spike walked back to his previous spot. The Slayer handed the radio to Dawn.

"Always fancied yourself an army boy didn't you?" Spike said to Angel whilst fiddling with a switch.

Angel glowered "Shut up Spike"

"Do we get code names?" Spike asked eagerly.

"Shut up Spike" Angel repeated.

Spike murmured mostly to himself "I think we should get code names"

Angel looked around the room "Is everyone clear on the plan?"

Everyone nodded except for Spike who was too busy playing with the buttons on his radio. Angel rolled up the map that had been spread over his desk and placed an elastic band around it to keep it rolled up.

"Great, so what are we supposed to do until the dead guys can come out to play?" Buffy asked, her voice harder then the joke called for.

Gunn cleared his throat "Well, I'd be happy to give you the tour"

"I don't think –"

"We'd love to!" Dawn nodded "Right, Buffy? Give us a chance to know our enemy"

Angel's eyes widened.

Dawn shook her head "Oh, not you! We can get the basic layout of the place. They have a Wolfram and Hart in Rome, right?"

"Right. The place with the boss woman who said I was the embodiment of handsome" Spike chuckled still mostly to himself.

Buffy snapped her head to look at him "Wait! You've been to Rome?"

Spike looked up slowly.

"Way to go Spike" Angel rubbed his forehead and groaned.

She turned to him "You as well? Both of you!"

Spike shook his head, taking a step up to her "It's not what you think, we had a job to do. It's a very amusing story. There was a head and an explosion –"

"You came to Rome and you still didn't tell me?" She looked at him, face hard "What, were you stalking me again?"

"Oi!" Spike looked indignant.

"And you! You're doing that thing where you can see me but I can't see you again" Buffy looked at a guilty faced Angel.

The platinum-haired vampire shook his head "Technically we didn't see you at all. Well, one far away glimpse. We kept trying to get to you but every time we did something got in the way and then Andrew told us you were in love with The Immortal"

Angel looked at Buffy, stone-faced "Otherwise known as Mr. Eater of Cookies"

Buffy's face softened for a moment then. Then it was gone and placed with another face of pure anger. She looked like she was about to boil over and both Angel and Spike took an unconscious step backwards and they knew it was about to become deadly. Mt. Buffy was about to erupt.

"You could have found me if you had wanted to" Buffy said in a low voice.

"Andrew told us you were happy and we should go –" Angel started.

"Oh, Andrew told you" Buffy folded her arms as she addressed the two vampires "I'm sure he'd be glad to know he has you two as his bitches"

Gunn couldn't stop himself from commenting "Oh, smackdown!" He said then looked sheepish.

Spike stepped into the Slayer "If we were anyone's bitches, it wasn't Andrew's..."

"Oh, and the vampires come out swinging" Gunn said in a slightly lower voice.

Dawn nodded in agreement.

"Me?" Buffy looked at Spike "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that I asked you to follow me around like a lovesick schoolboy. I didn't realize that I encouraged you to stalk me for practically a year of my life! I guess it is all my fault. Please. If you are trying to blame your cowardice on me, Spike, then you need to know that it isn't gonna work that way"

"I didn't ask to fall in love with you!" He growled stepping into her again.

Buffy looked him in the eyes "And I didn't ask you to be in my life in the first place!"

The two of them glared at one another and both balled their fists ready for a fight.

Angel stepped in "This isn't the place for this. I think we should all just calm down and talk this through at another –"

"Oh, I'm sorry, dad" Buffy looked at him and if looks could kill Angel would have been dust "I guess I'll go"

Buffy walked over and to Dawn and picked up her bag slinging it over her shoulder she motioned her sister to follow her as they walked over to the door. The three men left in the room turned to watch her go.

The Slayer turned back "The thing about you two is, you've been around so long I would have thought you could tell the difference between love and the rebound guy"

With that the two girls left the room slamming the door behind them as they went. The three men stared at the door in various degrees of confusion.

"So," Gunn said very slowly "The Immortal was her rebound guy?"

A spark lit in Angel's eyes "She wasn't..."

"...in love with him" Spike finished.

The two vampires looked at each other and something instantly changed between them. They were rivals once again.

A/N: Mwhahahhahaha! cough, wheeze Reviews, please?