Author's note: It sure took me a hell of a lot time to continue. As I've already said in my profile, I was immensely blocked and had some other stuff to deal with. Sorry for the long wait, you guys. Well, anyways… I'll keep them chapters coming on a weekly basis. I also rearranged the first 5 parts, concerning a few blemishes, so they should be better readable now. Off we go then:

Lisa stepped out of the elevator with the sort of stubborn determination that was characteristic of her when a rather exhausting and long work shift lay ahead of her. She started cursing elaborately when one of her heels got stuck in the elevator door.

"Get out, you stupid little piece of worthless ," Lisa hissed between clenched teeth while pulling effortlessly on her shoe.

The now closing elevator door was bumping softly against her leg, making a protesting humming sound in the process. With a final and rather brutal haul she wrestled the shoe from the elevator's iron grip. Lisa lifted her hand triumphantly, eyeing her now rather jagged looking high heel. The young woman raised her eyebrows critically. Yet another pair of ruined shoes.

Only now it came to her that she had most likely attracted attention to herself. In fact a few people had gathered to overlook her heroic battle with the elevator. Lisa flinched in embarrassment and started hurrying down the hallway.

When she passed the reception area she heard Harmony's evil snigger. Lisa decided her behaviour would be dignified sufficiently by an icy death glare, so she refrained from hissing a sarcastic retort at the blond secretary.

Those embarrassing little accidents happened to her rarely, but since her recent emotional outburst she felt somewhat insecure. The young woman had develop a overall tendency of being extraordinary clumsy. There had already been some casualties. Only this morning she had broken her favourite cup. She was still fuming over that.

"Hey, wait up, love!" she heard a distinctly familiar voice call from behind her when she had just passed Angel's office.

She let out a resigned grunt, but stopped walking nevertheless. It seemed she just couldn't deny her masochistic tendencies. Lisa turned around to mutter a monosyllabic greeting at Spike. She faintly wondered whether the vampire had had the chance to witness her pathetic display of inelegance, but quickly discharged that rather dismal thought. He would have mentioned it by now. Yes, he definitely would have.

"Are you, ok?" he asked tilting his head to the left, while he regarded her critically.

"What!" the young woman jump slightly. The question seemed to have caught her by surprise, though it was not at all unusual. "Yeah, guess so," the answer was accompanied by a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Are you embarrassed because of what happened the other night? Look…"

"Why should I be embarrassed? I just bared my soul to you yesterday evening. No biggy," she fumbled with the rim of her jacket, avoiding his gaze. "You can be quite observant at times, you know," she added under her breath.

"Damn right I am! And by now I know you good enough to see through your little Emma Frost routine," he quipped back.

Despite herself she had to smile. "You read the X-Men?"

"That's beside the point," Spike responded quickly. "We were just talking about how you felt uncomfortable about opening up to me…or better to anyone at all."

"Look, I just don't think that this is the right place or the right time to discuss such matters," she vaguely indicated the direction of the reception desk behind them.

"'cause of her?" Spike pointed over his shoulder. He squinted his eyes together in annoyance and turned around abruptly.

Harmony jumped into motion the second Spike's angry gaze settled on her. The blond secretary meticulously put all effort into pretending to be busy with paper work. Unfortunately she was holding up the papers the wrong way round.

"Daft cow," he muttered knowing fully well that her keen vampire hearing would be able to pick it up.

"What did you just call me!" Harmony squealed in annoyance.

"Well, If you have to know…A daft cow that is even too bloody stupid to pretend not putting her nose into other people's business," Spike retorted swaggering over to her, leaving Lisa to contemplate whether she wanted to witness the ensuing conversation or just comfortably sneak off to her office. She decided on staying. Just relax, lean back and enjoy the show. A satisfied grin spread on her face.

"I'm a daft cow? Well let's see if this daft cow will let you have the parcel-thingy that just arrived for you this morning!" Harmony's voice was threatening to double over with anger. She crossed her arms over her chest and through back her blonde mane with a proud huff that said "that will teach you".

Spike shrugged his shoulders trying to seem nonchalantly, "Won't kill me. Oh, wait I'm already dead." His retort sounded a tad bit weak.

Harmony smiled maliciously, "Oh, come on blondy bear." Blondy bear? Lisa flinched at the sound of that horrid nickname.

"I know you can't wait to find out what this is all about. And that is exactly why I'm doing this." She pulled out the box in question and put it down on the reception desk. It lay there tauntingly, its mysteries waiting to be revealed.

"Just go ahead and open it….Oh, no!" she exclaimed in mock horror. "I totally forgot. You're a pathetic ghost like the one with the Castle and the chains who wanted to scare this family..," she frowned apparently thinking hard.

"That would be the Canterville ghost, you blond-haired bimbo," Spike shook his head unbelievingly.

"Yeah, so I'm a bimbo. At least I'm corporeal."

At that point Lisa decided to give up her role as a silent observer. After all the conversation was beginning to get dull. She stepped up to arguing opponents and took the box from the desk. "Harmony, I'm sure your therapist will be very proud of you. Self acceptance is the first step towards healing."

"Let's see what this is all about," Lisa said and gestured Spike to follow her with a nudge of her head.

The door fell into lock behind them. Neither of them had talked on the way to Lisa's office. An indefinable tension was hanging in the air. What were they supposed to make of this strange parcel? Lisa distractedly switched on the light and threw her back bag on the floor next to her desk. She then pulled the box out from under her coat to have a closer look at it. It merely had the address of the law firm printed on it and Spike's name. Besides that nothing else. No clue about the mystery sender whatsoever. She shook it cautiously, making sure that she didn't damage whatever was inside. No sound could be heard. It felt light as if there was nothing in it. But why should anybody send them an empty parcel?

"Well, should I leave you alone with that box, so you two can get a little more intimate? Maybe get passed first base?" Spike asked sarcastically, pacing back and forth in front of her impatiently.

She didn't react to his mocking tone of voice. "You should know as well as I that around here nothing is as it seems…," she paused. "Since I've been working here I've gotten those odd vibes from this place…I just don't trust those lawyers," the young woman added under her breath.

"Neither do I," he looked at her sincerely.

"This might not be a mere parcel. Or maybe it's just a bad joke. Hell, what do I know? Look, I'm just saying I'm having kind of a strange feeling about this…" Lisa explained looking at him searching for a sign of agreement.

"So do we open it or what?" he looked at her expectantly.

Trust him to ignore not so subtle allusions. He was a hopeless case. She rolled her eyes at him and reached for the letter opener that lay on the table behind her.

"Your wish is my command, but keep in mind that whatever follows now is entirely your fault…entirely! Whether my arms will be ripped off or I get turned into a heap of green ectoplasm. You will be the one to blame."

"Pet…Lisa, I'd gladly take that burden off your slim shoulders and be your knight in shining armour, but I'm incorporeal. Now that you made your point crystal clear, can we finally open this bloody box?"

"Ok," she shrugged and with a fast movement she sliced open the box and was momentarily blinded by a bright flash of light. The carton slipped from her hand and landed on the carpet with a soft thud. Neither of them noticed.

After blinking repeatedly the world finally came back into focus again. "What in Osiris's name was that?" Lisa gasped

"Hell! I don't bloody know either…," Spike was still rubbing his eyes as if being blinded by a gigantic flash light.

"Are you alright?"

"Just feeling a little bit a wobbly. Should be fine in a sec," Spike answered while he instinctively reached out to support himself on the desk. Normally his hand should have grabbed right through, but not this time. It connected with the smooth, cool, wooden surface of the desk and that was oh such a pleasant feeling. As if in shock Spike drew back his hand immediately an look at it incredulously. Could it be after all of this time? Had he really felt this or was it just a figment of his imagination?

"What happened? Is something wrong with your hand?" worry was now clearly evident in her voice. Lisa wasn't able to question him any further, as she was engulfed by a pair of strong arms in a matter of split seconds.

"Guess not," she mumbled into Spike's leather clad shoulder and then it struck her like lightning.

"You are….!" the young woman gasped for air in sheer astonishment of her realization. Never in all time had somebody died, become a ghost, almost slipped into hell and then rematerialized again. "You are corporeal!"

"Funny, love! What made you realize that?" he asked amusedly still not letting go of her.

"Because you're almost breaking my rips…that's why!"

"Sorry, 'bout that. Can't blame a bloke for being happy to have a new custom made flesh and bones."

Lisa stepped back seemingly bussing herself with cleaning of some imaginary dirt from her jacket sleeves. She did it just to annoy him. Old habits die hard. Meanwhile she looked at him from under her lashes curiously.

Spike didn't notice. He was lost in thoughts. His rather limited existence had suddenly been substituted by a sheer abundance of possibilities. All those little niceties he had missed in the passed few months: the taste of blood, decent liquor, the intoxication of a good fight and smoking. God, what wouldn't he give for a fag right now? 'And I wouldn't mind a decent shag either', the voice in the back of his head added for good measure.

"Spike? Hello, anyone there?" Lisa stepped up to the vampire who was apparently lost in thought while a strange grin was playing around the corners of his mouth. This was rarely a sign of something good. She waved her hand in front of his eyes in order to attract his attention and gasped in surprise when he suddenly caught it in midair. His hand felt cool on her skin and made Goosebumps run down her arm. She had completely forgotten he was a vampire and that his body temperature equalled that of the room. Also she wasn't used to him touching her or better letting anyone touch her at all.

Spike abruptly drew her closer. There was an unspoken question in his eyes. What did he want of her?

His soft voice finally broke the tense silence of the room. "I'm not known for being one of the wisest men. I tend to be impatiently and to make a lot of mistakes."

His voice was suddenly right beside her ear. Its tone send shivers down her spine. Lisa had talked a lot to Spike in the past few weeks, but never had his voice sounded anything like this. So low, so seductive. The implication that floated on the undertone of his voice let her imagination run wild. Her breathing was getting more elaborate. Still he didn't let go of her wrist.

"Just tell me to stop. Am I supposed to stop now?"

"Stop what?" the words already sounded dumb when they left her mouth, but she wanted to win some time. She retreated until her back hit the desk behind her. He followed her like a hungry predator, who had circled his prey and was ready to start his final attack.

"You're a smart girl. I'm sure you will figure it out," he responded softly, putting his hands down on the table left and right of her, so she couldn't escape him again. A confident little smirk flitted over his face, when he saw her blush. She sometimes acted so tough, yet now she seemed so innocent.

"No I don't", she answered trying to think of something over than how his lips would feel on hers. Was she going crazy? After all this was Spike…the annoying guy she had come to call her friend. There was too much at risk. Wait! It was time to remind herself how much actually was at risk! Was she really contemplating on giving in? On letting him close? No! No! No! She couldn't bare all this again…Getting emotionally involved meant ending up hurt. Those were the rules burned into her heart by the tears spilled over the death of one too many friend or lover.

"You don't really want this. You are just a starved man….," she said trying to look him in the eyes without trying to think of how close he was standing to her.

"You are just afraid," he whispered into her ear. "All I want is one tiny kiss. No need to get preoccupied, this is not the part where you say 'Yes, I do.'"

His hand slowly wandered up her arm, then over her shoulder and finally settled on the back of her neck, where it traced distracting little patterns. His lips touched the sensitive skin right beside her ear and softly trailed over her cheek to her mouth. Her head stopped working for a moment and her whole body started feeling tingly. She felt him smile against her lips.

"Relax," he murmured in between kisses. His tongue teasingly touched her lips asking for entrance. Lisa couldn't resist anymore, though she had sworn herself she would. It just felt too good. She slightly opened her mouth and let him deepen the kiss. Seemingly against her will her hands wandered up his back and ended up kneading through his blond hair. She never wanted this kiss to end. It made her feel alive for the first time in years.

He grazed her lips with his teeth playfully. "Now, this wasn't so bad, wasn't it?"

"No, it wasn't," her voice sounded husky and slightly foreign in her ears. Luckily she was slowly coming to her senses before this madness could go any further, because that was what it was…madness.

"Stop," she whispered, her voice barely audibly at first.

"Stop!" Lisa finally said determinately.

And so he did and she immediately regretted her words afterwards. Spike raised his hands and stepped back until he leaned against the wall opposite of her. He wrapped his duster around himself tightly, still eying her with this unquenchable hunger in his eyes.

"You…you didn't have to put the whole room between us," Lisa said, still a little bit shaky on her legs. She wasn't entirely sure what to make of the whole situation.

"Yes, I did. Otherwise we would soon do more than just snogging."

"Oh," her fingers where unconsciously touching her lips. Lisa's dark lipstick was slightly smudged. Her eyes had a faraway look to them.

"Are you ok?" Spike asked concernedly.

"There's something wrong," Lisa murmured as if to herself. It was like standing at the shore watching a gigantic wave coming closer and closer. She braced herself for whatever was to come, nevertheless she wasn't prepared sufficiently. It felt like a punch to the stomach when her medial abilities suddenly kicked in.

The room seemed to contract, ready to grind her bones to meal. The orderly pattern of the carpet was substituted by a chaos of lines that moved like angry rattlesnakes. Then a piercing scream broke the threatening silence of the room. As if called to order, reality slipped back into place and temporarily covered the chaos of which she knew that it was still lurking somewhere behind it.