Devlin drives his convertible east on Wilshire Boulevard, towards the downtown loop. As he sits at a traffic light, he hears a slight rustle to his right. He looks over and sees Spike in the front passenger seat. "I'm flattered," Dev says. "I didn't think I was the one you would be looking for tonight."

"You're not. Have you seen her?"

"Twice. That's odd. Figured she's look you up first."

"She'll find me when she's good and ready. Until then, I don't think it's wise to surprise her."

"Something you should have told Angel."

"Wut wus that?" Dev's so eager to tell the tale that he fails to notice the light turn green until the man behind him honks. He gives him the finger and takes off.

"Usually I kill a man for disrespecting me on the road. Remember that rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike where I killed that guy in front of his children? You were somewhat impressed. Though you couldn't understand why I let the children live."

"She met up with Angel?"

"I met up with her, saved a couple lives. He met up with us, and tried to kill me for my good deed. Jealousy, I suppose. Really stupid move, since it made us both his enemies, and you know how formidable we are as a duo."

"You didn't kill him?"

"Didn't need to. Poor sap couldn't walk after we were through with him."

"You don't say," Spike replies, trying to conceal his glee, as well as his paternal pride in his offspring.

"I just did. But that was about it for the sibling bonding. Leks wants me to go with her on some jihad against Buffy. But I'm happy where I am. I really don't see the need to start a global insurgency so long as the Slayer Queen stays away from my Slayer. Sis didn't take it too well. She makes it sound awful apocalyptic out there. A Slayer round every alley. That sorta thing. But I think she can take care of herself. Don't you?"

"If she stays careful. But you know how much she hates doing that."

"Otherwise, why would she come here? Unless she was confident you'd never stake her. Even though it would save human lives." Spike reaches into his coat pocket with his left hand, pulls out his stake and jabs it towards Dev's heart. Devlin grabs Spike's left wrist with his right hand as he keeps his left hand on the wheel while still driving.

"Wut makes you think I won't stake you?"

"I save human lives."

"For how long?"

"I've lasted five months without killing. I stopped having cravings two months ago. On the other hand, I still do crave Debbie."

"You can crave both. I did."

"Yeah, well, we're different. You've always known that I was never in it for the blood lust. Is there somewhere you'd like me to drive you?" He looks to his right and sees that Spike's gone. Devlin stops his car right there on the road and runs after Spike's scent. He grabs him from behind on a side street and they both go down. "I wasn't finished."

"I'm sure you had a whole sonnet prepared about your Sacred Superior Slayer Love."

"Not about Deb. About Leks. Seeing her again, after having met a certain someone else, made me realize something. Elektra looks an awful lot like Dawn." Given all the things he's done with and to Elektra, Spike's more than a little grossed out. He tries to hide this by laughing.

"You're completely off your bird. They look nothing alike."

"Picture them side-by-side. Now tell me I'm wrong."

"You are."

"No I'm not. Just wanted to give you something to think about, considering how much time you must have spent around her - before getting your soul. Don't tell me it never crossed your mind." Spike strikes Dev with the back of his right hand, and Dev goes down. "You're right. Elektra's heels over head for you. That Dawn girl probably never even had a crush on you." Spike turns and walks away. Devlin chuckles, then remembers his car's in the middle of a busy street and dashes back towards it.

"I hope you understand," Spike says to a glum Devlin the night after Alexa rose. He's just explained why Dev has to ditch Meg.

"You don't like me hanging around humans."

"Not at all. But you're a big brother now. You have responsibilities. Who's going to be there to look after her when your mum and I are off hunting?"

"No one was there to look after me."

"But you're not a risk taker. Elektra is. She needs a down-to-earth guy to keep her from going off the rails." Devlin gets the subtext: she's exciting, he's boring.

"It's called natural selection, dad. Survival of the fittest. Maybe she's not fit. None of your others were."

"Elektra's special. She's the baby girl your mum always wanted."

"Perfect. She's the heir, I'm the spare."

"Hey Dev, Devlin. Don't say that." Spike puts his right hand to Dev's face. "Come on son." He rubs his hair. Dev smiles. Calling him "son" always does the trick. "We wouldn't have even considered having her if you hadn't turned out so well." Tears start to well up in Dev's eyes. Spike slaps him with his left hand, stands up and walks away in disgust. "Grow up. Boy's don't cry." Dev lies down. Elektra runs over and leaps on top of him, bouncing on her knees.

"Did you hear? We're going to 54!"

"Studio 54?" He pushes her off the bed. She hits the floor and bounds right up again. "What!?," Dev yells when he rises to his feet. "Spike, I thought you hated that place?"

"But Elektra wants to go. And tonight's her choice."

"Come on!," he whines. "Disco sucks. And coke's worse. You'll be up three days straight. And you know how jittery that stuff makes mom."

"She'll be careful, son. I've reminded her to eat someone who's had both coke and ludes. Then it all evens out."

"I hate that place."

"I thought you've never been?"

"Because I hate it."

"How can you know you hate it if you've never gone there?," Elektra asks.

"Girl has a point," Spike adds.

"Then I guess I'll be making my own fun tonight." Dru come out in a black sleeveless, backless gown. She spins around, her long straight hair bouncing off her bare skin, her skirt flying up. Dev smiles. His knees wobble. "Dancing it is."

The four of them wait outside the club. Alexa flirts with the cute boys who pass by. Spike and Dev have to hold her hands to make sure she doesn't attack someone in line. "Just imagine how jumpy she'll be after she drains her first cokehead," Dev jokes to Spike. Spike's altered his usual ensemble for the evening, wearing an unbuttoned, tucked-in white shirt with a butterfly collar over a black t-shirt. Over top of that is his long black jack. He has his left arm around Dru, who hangs onto him. Elektra's to his left, and Devlin's to her left, too far away from the object of his desire. Dev's got on a blue suit with a white shirt and white shoes. He feels his hair to make sure it's not sticking up, and altogether looks very self-conscious, contrasting with his much cooler family members.

"You look adorable, Devy," Dru whispers to him. "Good enough to eat." He almost thinks he hears his heart thump. He starts actually having fantasies about being in the club he loathes. Spike's off in some corner with Elektra, and he's on the dance-floor, spinning and dipping Drusilla like John Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever." Next thing he knows, the man behind the rope is pointing in their direction.

"You three can go in." They start to leave him, but Dev holds onto Elektra's hand.

"We're together. The four of us."

"You three can go in." Elektra lets go of his hand and they separate.

"Sorry," Spike offers as he looks over his shoulder. Devlin goes bumpy and growls. The doorman's used to rejected people resorting to violence. Even the undead variety. He doesn't even blink as the crowd screams. A bouncer standing behind the rope holds out a crucifix and spritzes Devlin with holy water. He snarls and runs away alone and humiliated. New York City can be so cruel, even to its cruelest inhabitants.

Spike sits at the bar in a strip club. Elektra enters. She wears white leather pants, a red belly shirt, a short blue denim jacket and black boots. The men turn away from the strippers to look at her. Several whistle. One howls. One of them stands up and looks down at her as she walks by. "Can't wait to see you up on that pole, honey." Without losing a step, Leks grabs his teeth with her left hand and yanks his jaw out of its socket. He falls down, grabs his mouth and tries to tries to scream, but just warbles. A man in front of her gets the message and tries to back away. She puts her right index and middle fingers up his nostrils and lifts him two feet in the air before dropping him as he screams for mercy. She turns to the bar, stands in front of Spike, takes off her jacket and tosses it on a man's head.

"You look well," he tells her. She just stands there, expressionless. "How many years has it been?," he adds after a few more seconds of awkward silence. She steps towards him.

"Every time I see your face I get all wet between my legs," she sings as she slowly pushes him back into the bar. "Every time you pass me by I heave a sigh and cry," she coos, smiling as she tries to grind into Spike's pelvis. Elektra knew how to get a man's attention. It takes Spike a few seconds to respond.

"Liz Phair."

"I can continue the song if you want. Every time I see your face I think of thoughts unpure, unchaste. I want to - "

"That's okay, pet." She leans her head inwards, rubbing her right cheek against his left cheek while sucking his earlobe and smelling his hair. "Happy to see me, then?" She grabs his butt and works her hands round front. It takes him a second to realize she's looking for something, and he reaches into his coat pocket for the stake. She takes her hands out and grabs both of his, biting down on his earlobe until it bleeds. "Ow!" She sucks a few drops of blood before looking him in the eyes.

"Bad daddy." She squeezes his left wrist and tries to break his arm. He lets go of the stake. She stares at him with her big blue eyes as she slowly takes a step back, keeping her hands on the bar on either side of him.

"You've been in town twenty four hours. And only now you come for me? I'm insulted."

"I was waiting for you to come to me." She leans in, licks his neck and smells his chest, grabbing both his wrists in case he thinks of trying anything. "You know how good my grip is," she says with a naughty smirk. Spike does his darndest to think unsexy thoughts, which is rather difficult in a strip club, especially while you're getting a free lap dance. Leks runs her hands down the arms of his jacket. "It's a little more wrinkled. But I still love the feel." She grabs his lapels. "And I can still smell Nikki. Can you?" She grabs his groin with her right hand and squeezes. Spike grimaces in intense pain. "You hypocrite. You can't keep acting bad when you stop being bad." She loosens her grip. Spike's relieved, then worried by what she's trying to do. "Is this better?" Spike grabs her right hand with his left and pulls it away.

"Did you honestly expect this to work?"

"Hey bartender. One beer and a strawberry daiquiri. Now." He drops his other orders out of fear. Elektra grabs Spike's pack of smokes, pickpockets his lighter and bums one. "I'm trying to make you uncomfortable. In that, I've clearly succeeded. Haven't I?" As she fondles his coat, Spike recalls her walking into his bedroom long ago, wearing nothing but that coat. He shakes his head and tries to get that image out of his head.

"You've always gotten what you've wanted from men."

"Not always. Not from you." The bartender gives them the drinks.

"Hey miss. No smoking."

"Either I smoke this cigarette, or I stick it through your eyeball." He can tell she's serious, and backs off.

"I'm not the real reason you're here, am I?"

"That's a complicated question, and I'm a simple girl."

"That's wut you like all the boys to think." She grinds into him again.

"Boys don't think. Except with this." He pushes her away.

"And Slayers?"

"No difference. They're all just looking for someone to stick it in," she says with a giggle. "What would Freud have said about them? I know what he would have said about you." She sips her drink.

"Let's not get obvious. At least not with our words." Elektra's always obvious with her body, though she likes to conceal her thoughts, which to her are far more intimate.

"So this new girl, does she mother you like mum did? Like Buffy must've? Cause I know that's what you like. I know that's why we could never work."

"New girl?" He gulps down his beer. "You've got me confused with another ensouled vampire."

"A far less attractive one? I don't think so. No, I do think you're way hotter. But I also think you're lying. Who's been fucking my multi-platinum hunk?" Spike puts his right hand through her hair and leans her head back.

"I don't know. Who's been tupping my blue-eyed beauty?"

"No one you should be jealous of. That's the problem of starting with you, Spike. I set my standards way too high. Let's face it, how many vamps are there who can hold a candle to you?"

"Shall we continue this outside? Otherwise, soon I'm going to have to start putting bills in your clothing."

"Not cool," she replies with a glare. Elektra sips some more of her drink. "Just let me finish. You know you're paying." Spike laughs.

"You could get anyone in this place to buy you a free drink, and you choose me. I'm touched," he quips.

"What can I say? I love playing men for saps." She grabs her jacket, puts it on, and takes a huge wad of cash out of her right pocket for a second, just to show she doesn't need his charity.

"Still robbing your victims?"

"And getting great deals for their stuff. The fences cut me a lot of slack. Mostly because they know I can kill them."

"So you can afford a one-way ticket out of here?"

"Don't worry. I'm through with this town. For now. The vampires here are such pushovers. No offense. I need a challenge."

They finish their drinks and head out the back door, Elektra walking behind him and holding both his hands to keep him from reaching for anything. Once they're outside, he throws her into the wall and takes his stake in his left hand.

"Not fair." He goes for her heart, she rolls to the left and Spike grabs her throat with his right hand. "You used to take your time. Why not tie me up and have some fun before getting rid of me?" She grabs his right arm with both hands, pulls it away from her throat and slams his chest into the wall. "I've learned a few things since our last time. Spike tries a left elbow. She leans back out of the way, but this gives him the chance to breaks free, push her back and turn around. He goes bumpy. So does she. "Does this make it easier?"

"With me, you were always easy," Spike rudely jokes. He blocks a right roundhouse kick. She blocks left and right punches. He blocks a right hook and lands one of his own.

"Is that why you jilted me for that dumb blonde?"

"Buffy is hardly dumb."

"I wasn't talking about her. I was talking about the vampire named for an Elton John song."

"Wait. You don't mean . . . she was what? How do you know?"

"It's a stupid name. It needs a stupid reason. The the two of us could have killed Buffy. But you and Harmony couldn't. She added nothing. And you knew that. Mum was right. You loved that Slayer all along." Elektra tries a cartwheel kick. Spike dodges to his right, pivots and lands a right hook kick to her stomach. She sweeps his legs and tries to run away. He grabs her right ankle and pulls her down. They both get up. Elektra takes out a three inch-wide throwing star from her back pocket and waves it in her left hand.

"You came prepared. Dev taught you well."

"I learn from my elders. He'd be forty six. I'd be forty two. Maybe with a couple kids and a house in Chatham. That's what you saved me from, Spike. The mediocrity of college and career and love and family. Well, not family. I still have that." He reaches for her left hand. She pulls it back and slashes for his left arm. He pulls that back and lands a right cross. "Course, it's a little dysfunctional now, what with daddy trying to kill me." She slashes with her razor-sharp star to keep his stake at bay. Spike knows she could cut off a hand with that. He's seen her do it, and he doesn't want to endure amputation. Again. Elektra can tell he's frustrated and stops slashing.

"Careful now. You let me live, I'm taking Buffy down." Spike smiles.

"Sounds like I don't need to kill you after all. Someone else will take care of that."

"Love you too, dad." She grabs his lapels, pulls him close, kisses him on the lips for three seconds, pushes him back, does a back flip and races off. The push made Spike off-balance, thus delaying his pursuit for a crucial second or two, which is all she needs. Elektra's always been very fast, even for a vampire. She gallops off with long, graceful, seemingly effortless strides. Spike decides to pack it in for the night. The girl got the message.

"Kids. They grow up so fast."

Elektra races all the way up the Hollywood hills and takes a panoramic look down at the valley. "What is wrong, with the men, in my family!?," she screams out into the night.

When Spike arrives home, he gets a surprise in the form of Angel, Gunn, Wes and Fred. Angel sits on the couch, his knee bandaged and his leg propped up. "Well aren't I a popular chap tonight."

"Throwing stars," Angel begins. "You could have told me about that."

"Yeah. It's kind of her thing. Dev taught her a good vampire always needs an exit strategy. So I suppose you could blame him. Did she put it in your kneecap?," Spike asks with a smile.

"I'm already blaming him. He did defend her."

"The boy has honor."

"What does honor have to do with it?," an outraged Fred inquires.

"He took an oath to defend her."

"Since when did vampires take oaths?," Angel asks.

"You're right. It was Dev's idea. He made it up. He's always been a strange boy."

"I thought you said he was on our side?," Gunn asks.

"He is."

"By aiding a mass murderer?," Wesley asks.

"If she attacks a person, he'll stop her. If someone attacks her, he'll defend her."

"So, he wants her to stay alive, but to starve?," Fred inquires, exposing the weakness of this reasoning.

"Did you finally catch up with her?," Angel asks.

"I did. We exchanged words. And punches. I didn't do anything rash. Unlike some of us. The girl's had her fun. She's moving on. What more could you want?"

"Her dead."

"If it's any consolation, she's gunning for Slayers in general and Buffy in particular. It's only a matter of time before she gets what's coming to her."

"Buffy, or the vampire?," Fred asks innocently enough.