Ouch ouch ouch

Angel ran through the park, ignoring the looks humans and demons alike gave him. Every time his coat caught a gust of wind and billowed out it revealed the sword he was holding to his side, but he ignored that, trying to find Spike.

He was backtracking Drusilla, going from her final resting place to wherever she'd met Spike. For some reason he was worried about Spike.

Worried. About Spike.

His thoughts and emotions about Spike were always jumbled, confused-even painful. Spike, the vampire he'd trained and let loose. Spike, the Slayer of Slayers. Spike, his GrandChilde. Spike, the vampire who loved the Slayer. Spike, the vampire with the soul.

He remembered that time, back in the school, when he'd seen Spike for the first time in a century. Spike, as dangerous as any vampire who ever lived. He'd been terrified. Petrified. Spike had nearly killed Buffy-and then he'd lost his soul.

The nightmare that never left him. He'd been Spike's ally then; Spike, the most vicious and dangerous vampire of all, his ally. And Spike had betrayed him.

Even then, when Angel was evil and Spike was evil, Spike had saved the world.

What the hell was wrong with Angel?

And now. . .now everything was so confused. His instincts told him Spike was his Childe-but other, newer instincts told him Spike was a vampire, a demon, and not to be trusted at all. And Spike's love for Buffy-Angel's first love, his best love-that made everything even harder.

But he and Spike had fought demons together now, yet again confusing him. And then Spike had brought him a message from Cordelia-it was like Angel was in his own personal hell, where no matter what he did everything came back to Spike. Spike, the closest thing Angel had to a son-except his own son, of course. Spike, the closest thing Angel had to an arch-enemy-except his arch-enemy, of course.

So here he was, confused, unable to even fathom his own emotions, let alone deal with them, and he was running trying to find Spike with a sword.

He wasn't even sure whether he would use the sword on Spike or on anyone who menaced him.

Angel decided right then that he would return to LA. Within the day. No matter how hellish and awful it was over there, it had to be better than this.

Especially better than the little happy swell of pride he got when he was around Spike. Because being proud of Spike-that was just wrong.

Then he found Spike. Or, rather, he found the place Spike had been attacked.

Complete with an I-beam stained with Spike's blood. And a trail of blood leading away from it to Spike, who was only ten feet away, but still crawling towards Buffy's house with determination. Even though he had a gaping hole in his stomach.

Angel swallowed against the sudden nausea that assailed him. "Spike! Are you all right?" He dropped his sword and moved closer.

"Dru. . . she's after Buffy." Coughed Spike. "Got to. . ."

"It's okay, Spike. Buffy got her." Said Angel quietly, kneeling over the wounded vampire. "I've got to get you to the mansion. I have blood there."

"Buffy's!" Insisted Spike. Angel hesitated, then lifted the other vampire, ignoring the scream of agony the movement ripped out of Spike.

"She'd better have blood there." Muttered Angel, starting towards Buffy's, leaving his sword there on the ground.

*****************

Buffy glanced at Faith, and nodded. They slipped into Giles' house silently, their eyes searching for Xander.

He wasn't there. They hurried up the stairs, where they found Anya pinned to the wall by a chest of drawers. She looked more than a little squashed. Her head was lolling limply against the wall, and Buffy checked her.

"Still alive." She told Faith.

"Good." Said Faith noncommitally. "Looks like Xan took the place apart."

Buffy nodded, looking around. "Giles? We've got a problem."

Giles shuffled in, the three spellcasters behind him. "Oh dear." He swallowed. "Buffy, if he escaped, he's doubtless in the tunnels right now. That's where the Master would feel most at home."

Buffy nodded, glancing at Faith. "All right. We'd better get going after him; no good giving him a big head start."

"What'll you do when you find him?" Asked Jonathan. "I mean, this is the Master, but it's also Xander. You can't just stake him!"

"Well, since we're talking about a vampire possessing a live body-a stake might not kill the Master, only Xander." Said Giles carefully.

Willow nodded. "Yeah. This is no time for the Slayer's to be all lone- wolfy. We're coming to."

Jonathan glanced at her, surprised, and smiled. "Right. Absolutely right." He said softly.

"What about Spike and Angel?" Asked Faith. "Should we wait for them to catch up?" Buffy shrugged, glancing at Giles.

"It would be nice to have their help, but it may take a while, and I fear time is short." Said Giles.

Buffy frowned. "All right. We're going underground."

**********

Angel lowered Spike to the floor. "I hope that stain comes out." He said. "Try not to bleed so much."

"Slayer's always. . . cleaning blood off the floor." Said Spike. "She's . . .used to it."

"Well, if you stuck around long enough to clean up your messes, you'd know blood's harder than most slime's to clean out of the floor." Said Angel pragmatically. "Now hold still. I'll get you some blood."

"I'm already healing." Groaned Spike. "Just give me a minute."

"A month, and a lot of blood." Said Angel. "You're worse off than you think."

"Been worse." Said Spike. Angel snorted, heading for the kitchen.

Spike levered himself up on his elbows. "Where is everyone? And what happened to the door?"

"Drusilla happened to the door." Said Angel. "And the Master possessed Xander's body; turns out Ethan Rayne is a vampire." Spike pondered this for a minute. Then he growled, low, under his breath. "You never met the Master, did you?" Asked Angel.

"No." Said Spike. "But I know he killed Buffy."

*************

Dawn sat down on one of the beds. It was probably Faith's bed, or maybe Willow's-she could tell it wasn't Jonathan's. His blankets were bedecked with Han Solo and Princess Leia. And Spike's was clearly the four poster with black silk hangings.

She had been sent to the school, since it was the place they thought least likely Xander would know about. Assuming Xander's mind was open to the Master, who was now possessing him.

And, for some reason, they were all worried he'd try to use her. Her royal Keyness.

So here she was, out on the sidelines while everybody else fought for their lives.

She kicked her feet out and sighed, looking around the sparsely decorated room. It was. . . a cellar. A cellar with beds and a TV. And a refrigerator. Besides that, nothing.

She was getting bored already, so she starting snooping. First she looked under all of their beds. Under Jonathan's she found a box of magical paraphernalia; under Spike's she found a notebook filled with really atrocious poetry. But it was under Faith's bed she got the real surprise.

She stared in awe at the photo album. There was no label, except a picture of Jonathan on the front. It had obviously been taken without his knowledge; and he was apparently shadowboxing.

Then Dawn leaned closer, and realized that he had been really boxing. With a Vampire.

She opened the album. Inside were pictures of Willow, Faith, and Jonathan- all with noticeable gaps in the picture where Spike had obviously been standing. Some of the pictures included Scoobies-and there was one of her hugging thin air.

She chuckled, closing the book and replacing it. Apparently Faith had a fuzzy side. One she hid very assiduously.

Of course, who didn't know she had a fuzzy side? She was hanging around with Jonathan and Willow all the time, wasn't she? And Spike too. It was, Dawn reflected, one of the strangest teams she could possibly have imagined.

At the same time, there was a certain rightness to it. They were all clawing their way back to goodness-clawing their way past evil, trauma and heartbreak. Even Jonathan.

They'd all been villains-even Big Bad's. Now they were Redemptionists.

And mostly geeky Redemptionists.

***********************

Spike gulped down the blood. "Where's Buffy?" He demanded.

"I don't know." Said Angel. He glanced at the clock on the wall, which was singed, but still ticking away. "They've only been gone a few hours. Give them some time to find Xander and exorcise the Master."

Spike grunted, levering himself into a sitting position, which tore most of his healing wounds open. "I'm worried about this Rayne bloke. He's bad news."

"Don't worry." Said Angel. "Buffy has Faith with her. And all the other Scoobies and Redemptionists and what-not."

"And the Wizard?" Asked Spike dully, sinking back a little.

"Yes, him too." Said Angel, taking half a step back.

"The one you say is half-demon now." Said Spike flatly.

"Well, yeah."

"The one who beat Chun-after I couldn't, after Buffy couldn't. . . you let him go off with them?!" He stood up quickly, so fast Angel couldn't stop him. His face was a mask of pain, but his eyes were filled with a dark rage. "Let's go."

"Not so fast. He's not-"

Spike punched Angel so hard Angel lost his footing, falling flat on his back. "I don't want to hear his excuses or problems! I want to get him away from Buffy, right now!" Growled Spike.