Buffy and Gunn were already inside when Angel and Connor entered, Dawn trailing behind them. The first thing Angel noticed was Lorne, sitting in the chair near the main desk, eyes glazed and mouth open.

"God Fred, what did you do to him?" Angel wondered, looking at Lorne worriedly. Fred smiled nervously.

"I had to test the potion on someone and it couldn't be a human. It worked, I just don't know when it wears off, that's all."

"But it will wear off, right?" Connor asked. Fred again, smiled nervously.

"Yea, I think so. Shouldn't we be getting to work? I mean that Brillcrall demon isn't going to question itself!"

"She's right." Angel agreed, suddenly all business. "Fred, why don't you stay up here and try to figure out the time limit on this potion or reverse it all together."

"I'll help her." Dawn offered. She wanted to be of use to the gang, but she had seen that demon in the basement and wasn't too keen on being anywhere near it, sedated or not.

"I'll stay up here too." Connor declared, his eyes daring Angel or Buffy to challenge him. "Just in case Adamson has any ideas about sending his henchmen in. Someone should stand guard."

"Good idea." Angel nodded, realizing that forcing Connor to be in his presence any further would push away whatever sort of bond they may have begun to cultivate outside. "You stay on guard. Cordy, maybe you should..."

"No!" Cordelia interrupted firmly. Angel looked at her in surprise. "I know what you're going to say Angel and I'm not going to do it. I'm not staying up here while you guys go question this thing. I'm sick of being treated as if I'm in the way or worse, helpless. I'm part of this team, and I'm going downstairs with you guys."

"Cordy, I didn't mean to imply you were helpless..." Angel stuttered, a little shocked at the depth of hurt and anger he saw in her eyes. Had he been treating her as an inconvenience since this thing began? Had he been deliberately keeping her away from Buffy so as to assuage his own guilt at the realization that what he had been feeling for Cordelia recently paled in comparison to the overwhelming strength of his feelings for Buffy?

"Angel, can we do this later? We might not have much time." Buffy's voice was soft and tightly controlled. Angel glanced at her in concern, knowing that she was battling some emotions herself. He wished he could ask her what was wrong, touch her cheek, anything to show his strength was hers if she needed it, but instead he simply smiled and headed towards the basement, Buffy, Cordelia and Gunn following close behind.

If the Brillcrall demon had been in a bad mood earlier when they were torturing it, it had only managed to increase ten fold in the half hour or so that they group had been gone. It snarled, and snapped and struggled with all the strength it contained to break free.

"Angel? How we gonna get that thing to take his medicine?" Gunn wondered as he watched the demon's snarls get louder and more animal like the closer they got. "I don't think he's just gonna open up and say 'ahh', even if we tell him that the spoon's an airplane."

"You're right," Angel agreed. "We're going to have to knock him unconscious. Buffy, do you want to do the honours, or shall I?"

Buffy, sharing his train of thought, had already picked up a large, pipe that lay in the corner and began advancing towards the demon.

"It'll be my pleasure, really." She said with a grim smile.

"Careful," Angel cautioned uselessly. Before he knew it, Buffy had hefted the pipe over her head and hit the demon with just enough force to knock him out. Smiling, she looked to the others proudly.

"Sometimes I really enjoy this job."

"Why didn't you use the tranquilizer?" Cordelia wondered, looking towards the location of the gun laying on the table. Buffy's smile vanished and she looked a little embarrassed.

"Guess I got carried away."

"You still got it done," Gunn replied with a shrug. "Angel hand me the potion. I'll feed it to him."

Angel tossed the vile to Gunn, who opened it, and poured the contents into the unconscious demon's mouth.

It took another fifteen minutes for the demon to recover, and when it did so Buffy, Angel, Gunn and Cordelia were relieved that the potion did indeed work the way they had hoped. They began the questioning immediately, hoping to get as much out of the beast as possible.

"You were hired by a man named James Adamson," Angel began, his tone purely business like. "Why?"

"He wanted me to take out a daycare center," the Brillcrall replied. "Needed someone who would follow orders and work cheaply."

"Why a daycare center?" Buffy asked, "why would he want twelve children dead?"

"All I know is that it's part of something larger." The Brillcrall intoned. "Something he's been working on for a while. There are stages to his plan and my daycare job was just the first. It had to be a sacrifice of heartbreaking proportions. He figured the daycare qualified."

"He wasn't wrong," Cordelia murmured, struck by the cruelty of the act.

"Did he have any other jobs for you in the future?" Gunn asked, trying to put all the pieces of this sick puzzle together.

"He did," the Brillcrall confirmed, "but he hadn't told me what they were yet. He said he would contact me when the time was right. That's why I was living in that warehouse."

"Is there anything else you can tell us about Adamson's plan?" Angel asked the demon, growing more and more frustrated by the second that the Brillcrall didn't have any actual information that would be of use to them. Was this what they had gone through all this trouble for? A vague statement of 'this is just the beginning'?

"That is all I know." The Brillcrall repeated. "I didn't ask for any details and he didn't give any. It was how our contract worked."

"Smart." Angel muttered to himself more than anyone else.

"He's covered his tracks well," Buffy agreed. "I know what you're thinking Angel, but this wasn't useless. We caught the thing that murdered those kids, that's something. It looks like he's told us everything he can. I say we kill him now."

"I'm for it." Gunn said darkly. "Where's the weapon you guys put the whammy on?"

"Here," Cordelia said, handing it to Angel. "You have to get him in the neck, otherwise it won't work."

Angel turned and without any ceremony whatsoever handed it to Buffy. He didn't say anything, but Buffy understood the meaning in his eyes. You came here to kill it not me, they seemed to say, this is your reward.

Buffy nodded and without a word, drove the knife into the neck of the demon with all the strength she possessed. In his dazed state, the demon didn't even scream. His body convulsed for a moment or two and then surprisingly, melted into a puddle of what looked like green slime.

"Gross," she heard Cordelia mutter. "It's times like these that help you appreciate vampires. I mean, you kill one of them in the house, all you need is a dust buster. This thing is going to need a mop, and maybe some disinfectant to get the smell out."

"Cleaning him up is the easy part." Buffy murmured quietly. "I'll do it."

"I'll help," Angel offered. It wasn't really a two person job, but Angel felt the sudden urge to be near her, without anyone else around. They hadn't been alone together since he asked her to stay in the hotel and although it was awkward, in some ways it was peaceful when it was just the two of them, despite whatever lingered between them emotionally.

Gunn caught the significance in Angel's offer and turned to Cordelia.

"Let's get upstairs and see if the others need a hand with anything. They should be up in a bit."

Cordelia followed Gunn reluctantly, not liking the look in Angel's eyes as he stared at Buffy one little bit. He had never looked at her that way...never.