AN: I love reviews. They feed my Spangel soul!

Warning: Angst, Language Short chapter before the weekend.

Chapter 13

Spike sat in front of the TV like she had on many nights over the last few weeks: alone. She felt back up to her normal strength, but Angel would not allow her to fight or perform her past duties. Now, she helped Wesley or Fred with research when needed. But that was few and far between these days. The cohesion of the group seemed to be disintergrating. Everyone was preoccupied with their own departments.

Angel spent many hours in his office. When he returned, he seemed stressed out and angry. He was easily distracted and surprisingly, Spike was not the only one who noticed. Wesley had his own concerns. He relayed to Spike the other day that Angel seemed to be concentrating on demon clients rather that helping the helpless. Wesley had attempted to meet with him over a case of interest and Angel told him that they did not have time for trivial things.

Spike tried to confront Angel, but the dark vampire dodged the concerns or changed the subject all together.

Instead of moping in the penthouse and feeling sorry for herself, tonight Spike decided to go downstairs to Angel's office. Before leaving, she dressed in low-cut pants, a tight shirt that revealed her toned belly, and chunky heeled open toed shoes. Fred and Harmony insisted that she would look hot in the outfit. She checked herself as well as she could and began the journey downstairs.

Spike exited the elevator and watched her Grandsire from behind for a moment before walking up to his desk. Angel sat at the large mahogany structure buried behind mountains of paperwork. He seemed to be intensely reading something, when he sensed Spike in the room. He looked up and nearly groaned when he saw her outfit. Spike pushed some papers aside and sat on his desk. She placed her feet in between his legs as he sat on the large leather chair.

Spike tried to smile. She did not know why she felt so nervous. Angel's features looked drawn. Clearly the stress of the job was impacting him.

"Pet." She hesitated. "I thought..." She dropped her head for a moment. "I thought that maybe we could spend some time together tonight." She gazed around at the desk. "Maybe some of this could wait." She looked at him with hopeful eyes.

Angel looked into those crystal blue eyes and was nearly tempted. But he knew that he had a job to do. Before answering her, he turned his gaze back to his paperwork. "I've got too much to do, Spike." He said with a tinge of anger.

"What is wrong with you?" Spike asked. She was so puzzled by his behavior. She had noticed a worsening over the last month. She felt desperate. "Why can't you talk to me?" She took a deep breath. "This job is killin' you, Angel! And I'm not the only one who's noticed. Do you even care what I think? What they think?" She leaned back a bit when Angel looked up at her. His eyes were cold.

The dark vampire stood up and roughly grasped Spike by the shoulders and swung her legs into his arms. He walked around the desk and proceeded to plop her on the couch. He stood over and menacingly said, "If I gave a shit what people think, I would ask." His tone was so Angelus like that Spike shivered with fright. "I have work to do. So, either sit there and shut up like a good little girl, or go back upstairs. I'll be up later." Angel turned his back to the shocked blond vampire and went back to his desk.

As Spike slowly sat up with teary eyes, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Angel said angrily.

"Hope I'm right on time." An impeccably dressed tall, dark haired man said as he entered.

"You're one minute late." Angel growled as he glanced at his watch. He stood to meet Hamilton.

"Well, hello Spike." Hamilton said as he walked over to the couches to where the blond vampire now stood. "Feeling well, I hope?" He said with a smile.

She did not acknowledge his presence and looked over to Angel who was ignoring her. Hamilton picked up on the look. "I hope I didn't interrupt a lover's quarrel?" He said with a smirk and a tiny laugh as he practically leered at Spike.

"It was nothing." Angel said without emotion.

Spike stood for another moment before willing herself to leave. 'I will not cry in here.' She thought as she walked towards the door and then out. Her voice hitched as she covered her mouth with her hand to stifle the sob that wanted to escape. She leaned back against the closed doors. As she wiped the tears away, she trudged over to Harmony's desk. She stood there for a few minutes; she finally took a took a deep breath and dialed the telephone.

"Harm? Yeah, it's Spike. You up for going out tonight? Yeah...don't care...anywhere loud and with lots of booze...yeah, see if Lorne or Gunn wants to go...sure...I'll leave in a few minutes...alright...see ya soon..." She replaced the receiver and took one more glance back and glared at Angel's office. She snorted and smirked and then made her way down to the garage.

TBC...