"I don't know what you want me to say," Spike growled, "but I can guarantee you I can't tell you anything you don't already know."

"I disagree with you on that, William, and I think you know a great deal more than you give yourself credit for. But first, I'm really tired of you not focusing. In my hand, I have eye drops that will give you perfect vision again. So, if you would tilt your head back; that's a good Spikey."

Of course, Spike wasn't given a choice, and he silently cursed the large thing that had his neck in a vice grip.

"There, can you see us now?"

Tears began to roll down his cheeks from the sting of the eye drops, but what stung more was the visage before him. William the Bloody had seen many things. He had seen fashions change, hemlines raised, equality achieved, and safety laws for children come when he thought he never would. William had lived through genocides and world wars. But the shock of his captors rang truer and deeper than all this.

She was glad to finally be seen clearly, as though Spike being able to see her made everything authentic. "That's right. It's me. Were you expecting Amy?"

Spike's breath seemed to be taken away. "How could you do this? Any of it?"

She smacked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "Don't you think the better question is how? That little spell of Willow's to bring all the slayers to power at once forced my hand even though I just had no idea. Once I was the top and there was nowhere else to go."

"But we had to stop the first evil; you agreed so yourself."

Her hair and hips swung as she worked her own maniacal ego into the equation. "Agreed? You think I agreed to fall in love with two vampires and an army man? Do you think I agreed to watch friends fall apart and die right in my face? No, destiny agreed for me at the trial of my life. Try going to heaven and hell, Spike. It's a real bitch."

"But you, you were good."

She tapped her foot on the ground. "Well, everyone had a price. And mine was Angel. Tell me Spike, how long were they together before he left? Was Angel cheating on me with Xander?"

Spike shook his head at Buffy. "Angel's not like that; Angelus might have been but Angel was too much of a coward. Buffy, all this for a lover's spat? You must have really gone off the deep end in your little midlife country town?"

He felt the force of a hammer come onto his chest and knock him back. The dusty ceiling shook as he reeled. "Don't you dare demean my mistress," the hired goon growled. He had Angel's strength, but like before none of the spirit.

Spike just ignored the pain; it was getting routine enough. "All these years Buffy, why couldn't you have just talked to someone about this? Good people are dead and even more could die."

"Who cares about them? I'm entitled; after all I've saved the world many times and I even had to sing once while doing it. Sure, I had to live in a dusty pit of a town and wear gingham for awhile, but that's what you go through for pure revenge."

"Buffy, love, you were always a little off but now you've gone completely round the twist. You can't help what's happened as much as I can't help what happened to me at the Initiative. Circumstances, lives, fate all go beyond our control Buffy."

"Don't tell me about circumstances," she screeched. "You don't know about circumstances. He was going to marry me."

Spike blinked. All these years and she was still convinced of that. "No, Buffy, he was never going to marry you. "

"Xander, it's all been a trap but it always is. All the things that have happened to lead us up to this point might be fate, or destiny or the Powers that Be, call it whatever you want, but it's all happened. We're here right now and the can of worms is open. So let me prove that no matter what; nothing really changed after I left."

Xander growled on the inside, "Well things changed for me like you couldn't believe."

Angel's right hand grabbed the middle of Xander's back and as much as the younger man struggled and as much as Angel was weak; there was a hunger to prove and say things that Angel hadn't desired to feel or let himself feel.

"It doesn't matter why I left unless it matters to you. I left out of fear; after Connor appeared I vowed not to let anymore time be wasted. And that should have included you; I won't let you hurt yourself anymore, especially not over me."

Angel grabbed a now shaking Xander with his left hand, placing it on Xander's shoulder. Xander couldn't stop himself from moving inward as Angel seemed to pull themselves together. They kissed for the first time in many years. The memories flooded back as Xander tried to release the frozen tears from his eyes. Angel had a way of sinking into your skin as you kissed him. They were locked lip to lip and when Angel let go, forehead to forehead.

Xander's kiss had remnants of the same sweetness Angel remembered, but there was something deeper to it now than ever before. Xander couldn't allow himself to feel all of this. His body wanted to; wanted to be held securely by Angel. But time had a savage hold on Xander's heart and the seeds of despair and confusion had corrupted whatever he chose to feel. The entire scene wasn't a glossy, dense love fest like Angel had wanted to picture upon being reunited with Xander.

And Xander, for his part, was still pretty adamant about some things. "I'm not your true love."

"That gem doesn't know what it's talking about."

"I...I tried to kill. For Christ's sake, Angel, I watched it happen! "

"It doesn't matter. Maybe you never succeeded in killing me, but I died for you on the inside after Sunnydale. And I've never been the same since the time we..."

Xander put a flat fist on Angel's chest, pulling his forehead away. "Stop, you have to stop this. You have to stop torturing my mind."

"I'm not."

"No, Angel, you have to be. I'm stronger than you now. You know the saying keep your friends close and your enemies closer? We'll that's what you did to me."

Angel took a step back. Surely Xander must have felt something in that kiss. He had given everything to it to try and prove himself.

"You've been lying to everyone to get everything you want, but now I see you for what you are." Xander's anger caused the hammer to begin to glow as he lowered it at his side in a defensive stance while his hands shook, still reeling with pain from the gem's manipulation; ready to charge.

His eyes began to glow a fierce white and his body began to hum.

"You're the worst kind of demon, Angel. You're the unassuming deceiver. I don't care what's happened in the past; I can't allow you to leave this building and misguide any others. This must end, Deadboy. You've had long enough. You've failed at redeeming yourself."

The good grunted. "Baby, I'm bored of this, can I please just finish the job?"

Buffy looked in admiration at her flat-lifed hunk. "No, tall dark and stupid; we have to wait for Xander to destroy Angel. That will hurt him worse than anything. Then we'll stake him; knowing he's lost his sire and he's helpless again."

Spike was taken aback. "Why would Xander destroy Angel? He loves Angel."

Buffy smiled. "Love is such a fleeting emotion. Especially when you feel double-crossed and suspect the one you love of treachery." Buffy scooped up her goon in a sloppy kiss. "Isn't that right, Liam, honey?"

Spike suppressed the gag he was feeling. He knew he had heard Buffy correctly, but there was so much that he didn't want to believe was really happening. Then Buffy had one of her famous 180 turn arounds. "Oh, I have a fun idea! Let's see what's on TV. Maybe there's a fight on!"

Spike had to find some way to stop all this, it was becoming painfully clear. This game had gone into overtime and everyone's life was at cost if Xander lost control of his mind and gave it to the primal energy of that hammer he had fought in the caves to retrieve. It really could mean the end of his world, and William wasn't sure there would be anyone to really bring Xander back. He didn't have a mate or even a best friend anymore.

It could mean judgment day for everyone, and that was not a pretty picture. Spike struggled with his manacles, but there was still no avail to it. His only hope was that the PTB knew what was going on and could turn this favorable for him before the world was destroyed. There was far too much at stake.

Buffy turned her back on Spike to use a large orb kept near her chair; which he assumed she used as her throne. A purple gem hung at her neck and she removed it to touch the orb. Shimmering glass focused into a deep blue haze and then clearer and clearer it came. Spike gasped as Buffy extended the orb to the center of the room and then used a mirror to create a far larger image. He watched helplessly as Xander and Angel came into focus on the mirror. Spike shivered and began to look around. Secretly he wondered if it was already too late.