"I was right the first time" Spike said with a shake of his head, "I can’t do this" he told Buffy, turning to walk away but she wouldn’t let him. Her hand held on tightly to his and would not let go.

"Spike, I know this is hard for you" she said, looking him right in the eye, "but you know it’s the only way" He looked away from her gaze, knowing she was right and hating it.

Three days ago she’d told him that the lead they’d had for bringing down Angel was a dead end, and that the new plan was for him to take her back to where he used to work, to see his old bosses Willow and Tara. They needed to find the girl named Amy who had come into the club the night of Drusilla’s murder. The girl whose bed Spike had ended up in.

Whilst he still believed he had cheated on his lover, Buffy was almost certain there was foul play involved. It didn’t seem plausible that Spike would sleep with this girl and coincidentally on the same night that Dru died. But they were not here to prove whether he was or was not conscious when he ended up in Amy’s bed. The point of this exercise was to track the woman down and have her admit to being with Spike that night, the how and the why were unimportant. If he had an alibi, Spike could not be proved guilty of murder, though Buffy was seriously wondering if this would work now. It was doubtful Amy would prove to be a credible-looking source of information, but they were running out of options. Plus there was always the possibility that a member of staff at the club saw something suspiscious and might come forward. Buffy knew she was clutching at straws but what else was left to do? She had to save Spike, she just had to. She loved him too much now to let him down.

"Just breathe" she told herself as well as Spike as she gripped his hand in hers.

‘Easier said than done’ he was thinking as they went up to the door and walked inside. It was all eerily familiar as he stood looking at the place he’d worked in what seemed like a life time ago. His eyes passed the stools by the bar and his mind’s eye put himself and Amy there, drinking and laughing like they had that fateful night. He looked away in disgust, hating himself so much right now. The only thing stopping him running away like a coward was the almost vice-like grip Buffy had on his hand.

"Spike?" a kindly voice asked behind them and he couldn’t breathe as he turned around and faced Willow.

"Hello, luv" he forced out, shocked when she came at him and hugged him tight. Though he felt so undeserving of her warmth and affection, he let her hold him for a moment. Buffy guessed this was one of the women who’d helped Spike so much when he’d first moved to Sunnydale with Drusilla.

"Where have you been? Tara and me, we were going crazy worrying and then there was a girl on the news and she’d committed suicide and..." she rambled on, feeling guilty when Spike couldn’t look at her anymore.

"Er, Willow?" Buffy checked, glad when the older woman nodded in response, "My name is Buffy Summers" she told her, leaving out any reference to the police on purpose, "Is there some place we could talk, with your partner too if that’s okay"

"Oh, of course" Willow nodded hurrying to fetch Tara from the back.

"See" Buffy whispered as they followed on behind, "She was worried about you. She doesn’t think you did anything wrong"

"She was always too nice for her own good" Spike said sadly, "They both were"

Tara was much like Willow, Buffy realised, not so much in looks but character. They both cared for Spike a lot, despite only having known him a little while. His disappearance had them more worried than angry and to be honest Buffy was having a hard time seeing how either of them could ever be angry at all. They seemed so sweet and she wished Spike would reconsider and tell them why they’d really gone to see them, but he refused and she daren’t push him on it.

"Xander, you’re in charge until we get back" Willow told a young man cleaning glasses behind the bar. He nodded as he watched them disappear into the backroom, wondering how come Spike was back all of a sudden. He never liked the guy much.

"So, where have you been?" Tara asked him, "A-and how have you been?" she smiled at the man she hadn’t seen in months and never with any explanation as to where he’d gone.

"I...Drusilla, she..." he couldn’t find words to tell them until he felt Buffy’s hand cover his on the table. She gave him strength he couldn’t begin to understand, "They found her in our apartment, and I couldn’t...I had to get away" he said a little shakily. Of course he didn’t have to use the word ‘dead’ because they were already wondering if the suicide they’d heard about on the news was her.

"Oh, sweetie, we’re so sorry" Willow told him, knowing she would have reached across the table to him, if his hand were not already firmly in Buffy’s grasp.

"We came here because...there was a girl here the night it happened" the blonde explained awkwardly, "She was talking to Spike and we need to find her"

"Oh, yes, the blonde girl?" Tara checked, remembering her only too well. She and Willow had talked about it when they’d seen the woman with Spike. She looked untrustworthy, they’d noted, and they weren’t happy when the pair left together, but what could they do? Spike was a grown man after all, able of making his own decisions.

"She’s been here twice since we last saw you" Willow told Spike, "She wasn’t making much sense, she was...on something, I think" she said with distaste.

"You think she took drugs?" Buffy verified, launching into semi-police mode.

The two women nodded.

"Sh-She didn’t make a lot of sense" Tara told them, "The first time she came in, we had Xander throw her straight out when she tried to..proposition some of the customers"

"The second time was just last week" Willow continued, "She was saying the weirdest things, about fairies, or maybe it was angels"

Spike’s eyes went wide at that and Buffy was similarly stunned. Of course the ramblings of a drugged-up young woman of questionable reputation didn’t mean much but anything was something right now.

"Do you have any idea where we’d find this girl now?" Buffy asked them, knowing it was unlikely she’d still be in the same apartment she’d taken Spike to all those months ago.

"I’m not sure that she has a home" Tara said sadly and Buffy nodded in understanding, "but, if she does, I don’t think it would be far away...Can I ask why you need to find her?" she said carefully and Spike stared down at the table as he forced out wards to answer her.

"Need her to say I wasn’t there" he mumbled, "When Drusilla...the only one who can say I weren’t there is Amy"

"Oh" Willow gasped in sudden understanding, before the room fell silent again, no-one really knowing what to say.

"I need a fag" Spike muttered a moment later, the chair scraping on the floor sounding overly loud in the quiet surroundings. He was out of the door before they could blink and Buffy was in two minds whether to run after him or not.

"He didn’t want you to know" she told the two women, eyes fixed on his disappearing back, the door left ajar as he’d swung through it.

"But you do" Willow said a little suspiciously, "Know, I mean. It must’ve taken a lot for him to tell you something like that"

"It’s complicated" Buffy admitted, sighing when she realised she’d said too much to keep the rest a secret, "I’m a police officer, LAPD" she told them showing her badge to the women who shared a worried look, "I was...Spike was my undercover mission. I was supposed to, well, charm him I guess, and get a confession"

"A-about Amy?" Tara asked, confused.

"No, about Drusilla" the blonde told them, "He’s suspected of her murder, and before you say he didn’t do it, I know that..." she sighed "It’s a long and complicated story but it comes down to the fact that...that I fell in love with Spike and he fell for me too. We love each other, genuinely, and somebody’s setting him up...I’m trying to be all professional police woman about this and...and I’m just petrified of losing him" she cried, tears running down her cheeks that she hastily wiped away. She didn’t cry, not ever, and yet since she’d fallen in love with Spike she seemed to shed so many tears. She didn’t care, it wasn’t his fault and when all this was over she’d do her level best to make sure they had nothing but smiles and laughter in their lives. They just had to get through this first.

"I wish we could help you" Willow told her, feeling just terrible for both Spike and Buffy by now, "But we just don’t know where this Amy girl is"

"I do" said a voice from the door and all three women looked over to see Xander in the doorway.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to be, Spike thought as he stood outside the club, smoking his third cigarette. It was a filthy habit, Mum always said so, and Dru after her, not to mention Willow and Tara, but wasn’t it always true that the things you enjoy most are the worst for you. Pleasure and pain walked hand in hand, he knew that to be oh so true. Drusilla was the best thing he’d ever had in his life, and yet his world was torn to shreds by her existence within it. Now here was Buffy, a light in his darkness, his reason to be, and yet she could so easily have been his downfall.

"Y’know you really should give those up" said her voice behind him and he smiled stupidly to think she fell into the pattern he’d thought of just moments before.

"Not the first to say it, luv" he said as he crushed the remains of the offending article beneath his boot, "Doubt you’ll be the last either"

She moved to hug him, for no other reason than she just felt compelled to. He still tensed every time she touched him, but he relaxed a lot faster than he used to. Even when all this was over, if they could prove his innocence and get Angel sent down, it was going to take a long time to build complete and utter trust between them, but she couldn’t blame him for that.

"We got a lead" she said, pulling out of his arms and handing him a piece of paper with an address scrawled on it, "A friend of Xander’s got in with a bad crowd. He walked her home one night when she was in a mess. Guess who her room mate was?"

"Amy?" Spike asked, a little stunned by the turn of events.

"Name and description fit" Buffy nodded, "All we have to do now is go and see"

He glanced at the paper in his hands, up at her face, and then beyond her at the building they stood outside of.

"’S funny" he said dreamily, "Bein’ back here...almost like it never happened"

It broke Buffy’s heart to look at him, wishing the clock would go back in time, to a place where he was happy with a woman he loved and he’d never met her. She wanted things to be better for him, truly she did, but she didn’t want to be without him. After all that had happened and what was still to come, she just couldn’t imagine her life without him by her side.

"Oh, pet" he sighed as he looked down at her and saw tears glistening in her eyes, "I didn’t mean..."

"I know" she nodded, forcing a smile, "Things should’ve been different for both us"

He looked at her for a moment, before taking a step forward, leaning down and kissing her softly on the lips. She was hardly aware her eyes had closed until she found she needed to open them again. He hardly ever initiated any contact between them. Buffy sometimes thought he was afraid of rejection if he did, though the idea of her ever not wanting him was ridiculous.

"You have no idea how much you mean to me, do you?" he realised with a slight frown, "Buffy, sweetheart, if only there were words to explain..." he shook his head, frustrated that he couldn’t find those words he spoke of.

"Spike, I don’t need words" she told him, "I know that you love me and you trust me"

"I do" he nodded in agreement, as she forced a slight smile.

"Then let’s go find this girl" she said, sniffing and pulling herself away from him, putting on a brave face as she must.

She had a job to do, fighting for truth and justice. It was her duty, and not just because she had the title and the badge to prove her occupation. It was her duty to her man, the obligation of a woman in love.

"Did I mention how much I hate this?" Spike asked, his hand shaking in Buffy’s as they stood on the doorstep of a very unsavoury apartment in a filthy and unhygienic building on the bad side of town.

"It’ll be worth it" Buffy promised him as she she knocked on the door, and a rough looking brunette opened it, looking pissed off at the interruption to her day.

"Hi, you must be Faith" the blonde said carefully, feeling a little strange not just busting in here, flashing her badge and threatening to arrest anyone who got nasty.

"Who’s askin’?" the young woman asked, looking ready for some kind of fight when she looked at Buffy and a different kind of physical work-out when she looked at Spike.

"We know your friend Xander" Buffy half-lied, since she didn’t know him at all until today, "And we need to talk to your room-mate, Amy"

There was a moment’s pause when the girl who seemed to be Faith looked over the two people on her doorstep before finally stepping back and letting them into the apartment, ever wary of attack.

"Stay there" she said as if she were talking to a dog before disappearing through a door, never fully turning her back on her ‘guests’. There was some thumping and clattering before a young man emerged from what seemed to be a bedroom, clutching his pants and T-shirt in his hands.

"But Faith, I thought..." the guy protested.

"Well, there’s your first mistake" she told him, giving him a shove towards the door, "Don’t think so much" she told him "Thanks for the ride, now get out of my face" she snapped, slamming the door shut behind the him.

Spike and Buffy shared a glance, trying to stay in the centre of the room and not touch any of the less-than-sanitary surroundings.

"Amy’s in there" Faith jerked her thumb back through the door, "To the left" she signalled, "You’re not out of there in five minutes or I hear anything weird, I’m coming in there and you two won’t be walking out" she told them nastily, stressing the word ‘walking’. Buffy wanted to hate the girl but she couldn’t. She’d seen too many before, used and abused, force out on the streets by families or boyfriends that didn’t care enough.

She nodded in understanding as she and Spike went through the door to where they would apparently find Amy. Neither of them expected what they saw as they entered the make-shift bedroom. A young woman, hair streaked blonde and brown lay under the thin covers of the bed, shaking like she was freezing though it was far from cold in the room.

Buffy suspected it was drugs that had done it, or rather the withdrawal from not taking any in a long while. She hated the fact she’d brought Spike here, the look on his face when she glanced over was somewhere between pure horror and terrible guilt as he saw the girl he believed he’d cheated on Drusilla with the night she died.

"Amy?" Buffy ventured, stepping closer to the bed. The fragile-looking girl drew away from the uninvited guest and Buffy now understood why she shook so much. It wasn’t just cold turkey from drugs that was causing it, it was pure fear. Bruises marred a face that was probably once pretty, and further purple marks covered the top of her arm visible where the sheets on the bed had shifted.

"What do you want?" she asked nervously, whole body still twitching.

"Need to know if you remember me, pet" Spike asked gently, feeling terrible for the girl that had clearly been beaten badly by someone and was suffering a great deal. He had no blame for her, he couldn’t. He saw only himself when blame was to be apportioned for the night Dru died. He had betrayed his girl, there was no reason why Amy shouldn’t have offered herself to him, he just never should’ve accepted.

"I don’t...I don’t know you" she said, looking away and Buffy encouraged Spike to step back a second.

"Amy, you don’t have to be afraid of us" she said gently, hoping her training and previous interaction with girls like this might come in handy now, "We’re not accusing you of anything, we don’t want to hurt you it’s just...I need you to tell me if you remember meeting Spike at a bar eight months ago, try to think for me, please"

Amy looked over at the bleached blond, brow creasing as she studied him and he tried not to look at her. Of course she remembered him, and their little charade. She wouldn’t be lying here now, covered in bruises if she hadn’t got involved in a plot against this guy.

"I remember" she said almost too softly, "Sort of, but...I can’t" she squirmed, turning over in the bed so she didn’t have to face him, almost burying herself beneath the covers like a frightened child would. Buffy sighed, glancing back and Spike and wishing she knew how to make this easier for everyone, but there just was no other way, just this.

"Times up, dynamic duo" Faith called as she bust into the room, "Amy didn’t want no visitors anyway, I think you two should get out before I throw you out"

"Come on Buffy, we’re wasting our time" Spike said sadly, turning towards the door, but she shook her head.

"Amy, if Spike goes will you talk to me?" she asked the shivering lump beneath the covers, "Just for a few minutes"

Amy didn’t know what to think. The voice of this Buffy girl was kind and caring and she hadn’t asked anything about Angel yet. Maybe it’d be okay to talk to her about it, she needed to talk to someone. Guilt had wracked her for so long, and if she didn’t confess to someone soon it might be too late. There’d been so many times lately when she wondered if she’d wake up in the morning...

"You want me to throw her out, A?" Faith checked and her friend turned back over in the bed.

"No" she said, "It’s okay Faith, she can stay"

"And Blondie?" she asked, tilting her head towards Spike.

"I’ll be downstairs" he said to Buffy, pushing past the brunette and disappearing. Faith gave Buffy a long, non-trusting look before leaving the two women alone and closing the door. Amy pulled herself up to a near-sitting position in the bed, showing off a few more choice cuts and bruises as she did so.

"Amy" Buffy sighed, "I know this is hard but...I need an honest answer from you, lives might depend on it" she told her, "One night, eight months ago you met Spike in a club. You bought him a couple of drinks, I’m guessing you slipped something in one of them because within the hour he couldn’t even walk a straight line. You took him to a place you called home, he passed out on your bed. You took off his clothes and your own and made him think you slept together. Is that true?" she asked, hoping she didn’t come off to police-officer-ish.

"We did sleep together" she protested weakly, looking away. Buffy steeled herself against the anger that rose inside her before she spoke again.

"Okay, you slept together" she conceded, "But you didn’t have sex with him, did you? You set him up, to make him feel guilty" she pressed, "You set him up for Angel, didn’t you?"

"Yes" Amy suddenly yelled, tears steaming down her face, "Okay, I said it, yes...I didn’t know what he was going to do"

"Angel?" Buffy guessed, "You didn’t know that he’d hurt you?"

"Not me" the young woman shook her head, "Spike’s girlfriend. He said she didn’t belong with Spike, she belonged with him, and if I could keep the guy away it would give him a chance to prove his love for her"

Buffy felt sick as Amy explained what had happened. To finally have some kind of proof that Angel was the monster he seemed to be, it make her feel terrible. It wasn’t exactly helpful for the case, since Amy’s evidence was unlikely to stand up in court, even if the poor girl wasn’t so scared she’d never do it. It was bad enough though just to know her suspicious were true that a man she worked with, looked up to in some ways was such an awful person.

"He showed me a picture and sent me to the bar" the shaking girl went on to say, "He said I didn’t have to sleep with him, just make it look like we’d..." she trailed awkwardly before continuing, "He gave me the stuff, to put in his drink...he said it’d look like he was just sick with something for a while, then he’d black out"

Buffy looked away then, feeling awful. Somehow hearing stories like this was just about bearable, and in her line of work it was necessary for her to ask about and be told such things. It was being in the middle of all this that made it so difficult to take in this time, she guessed.

"I didn’t know what he was going to do" Amy cried, "I’m not this terrible person you think I am...I just did a guy a harmless favour, at least I thought that was what it was" she sobbed.

"It’s okay" Buffy said softly, "I know, it’s not your fault"

"Isn’t it?" Amy laughed humourlessly, "I don’t know...that bastard hates me enough he..." she glanced down at her bruised arms and then away and out of the window.

"Angel did this to you?" she checked and the look Amy gave her told her it was true, though she’d never say the words, she just wouldn’t dare.

Spike hated this part of town, it reminded him too much of days gone by. Hiding in alleys to avoid fights as a teen, and then hiding in the same kind of places in an attempt to see Dru. He closed his eyes briefly, wished it all away, painful memories that he knew as long as he lived would never leave him. In his head he could hear Drusilla’s voice, feel her body close to his as she whispered in his ear, told him he was her saviour, her precious, and how much she loved him. Coming here and seeing Amy, it only made him feel ten times worse.

"Hey" Buffy said behind him as she appeared from the apartment block, "You okay?" she asked, hugging him when it seemed evident he was far from okay.

"What did she say to you?" he asked about Amy and Buffy looked to the ground.

"There’s good news and unfortunately there’s bad news" she admitted, "The bad is that she won’t testify that Angel had her come after you, and to be honest even if she agreed I doubt her word would stand up in court"

"But there’s good news?" he said hopefully, feeling as if he were hanging on by a rope that was slowly snapping, and that this might be the only thread still holding him up.

"Spike" she said, putting a hand to his face, "You didn’t do it, you didn’t betray Drusilla" she told him there in the dim light of the back street, "Amy was ‘employed’ to set you up, to make you think you...but you didn’t" she assured him.

He was surprised to feel tears well up in his eyes, but she wasn’t so shocked to see them. He was bound to be overwhelmed by relief and such, now at least he could let go of some of the guilt that didn’t truly belong to him, and he did so by going into her arms and crying like a child.

It was the next morning as she sat at her desk feeling way beyond miserable that Buffy finally found a way to prove Angel was the sick and twisted lowlife that killed Drusilla Walker. She couldn’t believe how simple it really was when it occurred to her, she figured she must have started over-complicating things lately. It certainly wasn’t unlikely since most parts of her life were so complex it made her head hurt to think about it.

She was in love, for the first time ever she was certain, but the guy she chose was a man she’d been taught to despise. Instead of getting a confession for murder and sending him to jail as was the plan, she’d fallen in love with William ‘Spike’ Blood and realised he wasn’t capable of that which he was accused. Instead her superior officer Liam ‘Angel’ O’Conner was the guilty party and she’d spent the last couple of weeks trying to turn things around on him, all the time lying about that she was really doing and how close she was getting to a confession of guilt from her supposed target.

It was mostly Riley she’d had to lie to, and that was easier. Angel had been away a lot and nobody was certain why. Buffy wondered vaguely if perhaps he knew something or at least suspected, and that was how Amy had come to be beaten as she was and the girl with the fake name of Illyria had refused to admit she’d seen something strange at the apartment the night Dru died.

Unfortunately it seemed today he was back and all full of smiles and leers as usual. He’d been watching her through the internal window room his office to the main one where she sat. For the most part she’d been ignoring him but she knew eventually he’d want to call another little meeting, ask her progress on the Blood case. She was running out of time, Spike was even more so, and still she was coming up with nothing but dead ends.

"Hey, Summers" Riley snapped near her ear, making her physically jump out of her dazed thoughts, "Y’know all these meaningful looks from the boss doesn’t mean he trusts you to do your job" he said nastily, and Buffy knew it was only because he was jealous. He liked her and therefore hated the fact that he had what he saw as competition in Angel, but he also wanted promotion and respect from the boss, which was something it seemed was reserved purely for Miss Summers.

"Screw you, Finn" she snapped turning away from him, "Not that anybody would"

"At least I know how to do my job" he shot back, "You’re such a great under-cover cop" he continued sarcastically, "So great the decision has been finalised, on your next meeting with Blood you’re going in wired"

Buffy was about to yell something obscene when she stopped, not because it occurred to her it would be inappropriate in the office, or because she knew he was right about her work because he wasn’t. She stopped because the cogs in her head turned just far enough to link two things Finn had said. Angel’s attraction to her and the wire.

"Riley" she called, standing and going after him, "Can I ask you something?"

He folded his arms across his chest and looked down at her, waiting for the derogatory comments she was so good at, that only made him want her more because he knew he couldn’t have her.

"Do you trust me?" she asked simply and Riley looked a little wary before he nodded.

"If I tell you something, something important that matters like life or death, I’d like to think I could trust you with that kind of thing" she told him quietly so no-now else heard. They said awful things to each other, but when it came down to it Buffy was pretty certain Riley was someone she could trust if she had to.

"Is this thing with Blood getting more out of hand than you told O’Connor?" he checked, looking excessively worried for her. Buffy was a little surprised by that, convinced up to this point that he only really wanted her for one thing. Maybe he cared more than she’d given him credit for, not that it made a difference now, she was with Spike and wanted to be so forever.

"The case got out of hand" she admitted, "but not how you think" she shook her head, "You were right about that wire, I do need it if this case is gonna get cracked, but we can’t tell Angel"

"I don’t understand" Riley admitted, frowning hard by now.

"Meet me after work" she whispered conspiratorially, "Weatherly Park, by the fountain, and by the time we’re done, you will understand"

Buffy felt sick, ten times more now than she had when she’d met Riley in the park two days before. She hated lying, a strange thing for an under-cover cop, but then her real hate for deception had only occurred this past month or so as she’d fallen in love with an innocent man, a man who’d tortured himself for months over crimes he never committed. All that was going to get solved tonight, if it was the last thing Buffy Summers ever did in this world, and in her heart of hearts she knew it might just be.

She couldn’t tell Spike, couldn’t let him feel the guilt for anything she suffered tonight. It was for his own good as well as hers that she hadn’t told him what she was planning, despite the fact she was doing it all for him.

It was just getting dark out and the streetlights flashed on one by one as she looked out of the window and waited for Angel to arrive. Riley wasn’t far away, she could just make out his car on the other side of the street right before the turning. Angel would be coming from the opposite direction and wouldn’t see him, at least that was the plan. If he came past Riley’s car though it was doubtful he’d realise who it was anyway.

Buffy noticed her palms were sweating and she was shaking all over as she waited. This wasn’t supposed to be so difficult, she hadn’t been half so nervous when she’d had to face Spike, believing him to be a murderer, but then that was all it was. A belief she had, something that somebody had convinced her was true. There was evidence that Angel was guilty of his crimes, not enough concrete fact to stand up in a court of law but enough for Buffy to know she was about to try and charm a confession from a definite killer.

It was bad enough when she’d had to summon up the nerve to tell Riley all, not that she really had given him every detail but still. She’d explained that Spike was not guilty and why she was more certain now than she ever had been. He’d asked how she’d suddenly managed to get information from the bleached blond that seemed so difficult for her to obtain before. Though she never said she loved him or that they’d slept together, she did admit to feeling like she knew him. Riley was in two minds whether to believe his colleauge despite the deep feelings he harboured for her, but she didn’t really have a reason to lie. He had asked her if she was certain she wasn’t being played. She told him it was near impossible given all the supposed evidence, and even if it were all a lie, they’d know after tonight.

So here they were, Buffy exhaled shakily as she reached a hand inside her own top and adjusted the tiny microphone, the wire of which was taped to her body beneath her uncharacteristically skimpy clothes. She didn’t want to look slutty, just a little more womanly and attractive than maybe she normally would when meeting with a work friend. She needed Angel to believe her when she said she liked him, a lot more than she’d ever admitted before. Needed him to trust her enough that when she complimented him on how well he set up Spike for something he didn’t do, O’Connor would come out and admit it. After that, convincing him to confess to the murder couldn’t be that hard, she surmised, though she wouldn’t let her brain wander too far for fear of realising she was doing something insanely stupid.

Buffy’s breath caught in her throat when she saw Angel approach her front door. With a deep breath she adjusted her skirt once again, hating that it wouldn’t reach her knees no matter how she tried, before going to let him in. He had a bottle of wine in his hand and what she assumed he thought was a sexy grin on his face. She felt so sick right now, but she smiled anyway.

"Hey" she said, almost coyly, calling on every acting skill she had.

"Wow" was his only response, "How come you don’t dress like this for work" he asked as his eyes roamed her body, making her feel cheap, "You look amazing"

"Thankyou" she forced out, "Er, come in"

She convinced him to let up his grip on the wine and allow her to go get the corkscrew. In the kitchen she poured a full glass for him and just a little for herslef, making it look as if she’d already downed hers on the way back to the living room where he waited for her.

"So, you said you had some things you needed to say to me, Summers" Angel reminded her as she handed him the glass full of wine, "What’s on your mind?"

"Please, Angel" she said with a smile, almost purring his name "We’re not at work now, you can call me Buffy without the guys thinking I’m getting any special treatment" she emphasised the last two words in such a way, as if to say she wanted some.

"Okay, Buffy" he grinned, liking this game so far, especially the view he was getting from his seat as she sat oppoite on the couch. She crossed her legs and her already short skirt rode up to reveal a couple more inches of flesh, "What’s up, sweetheart?" he asked again.

"Nothing in particular is..up" she shrugged, eyes travelling down his body, "Well, maybe one thing" she said more quietly batting her eyes.

Inside she just wanted to throw up, worse she wanted to die for what she was having to do but it was all for a good cause. She just kept telling herslef how great life could be with Spike if she could just get through this. She would tell him everything afterwards, it wouldn’t matter then. Right now she just had to make Angel comfortable and loose-tongued, although that was definitely not a phrase she’d be saying to the man himself any time soon. There were already far too many dirty little thoughts in his head that she’d rather not imagine, but at least he was at arms length so far, she would do her best to get the information she needed without things progressing too far. She had her doubts that it’d be that easy.

Spike was worried about Buffy. He knew she needed to spend a lot of time at the office and such, not just for appearances sake but also to do further research into his case. He didn’t want to complain about that, of course not, but he missed her a great deal. The last couple of days he’d barely seen her and she pulled away too fast when he tried to touch her this morning. The way she’d said goodbye as she left his apartment had sounded wrong, like it was final or something. He hadn’t noticed til afterwards as he added up all the little instances of strange behaviour. In the end Spike had decided he needed to talk to her and right now. Maybe she was having second thoughts about them getting involved together, maybe her police mates and that wanker, O’Connor, had told her more lies, convincing her that the guilty man in this case had not changed.

Spike was just across the street from the front door to Buffy’s building when a voice call ‘hey’ behind him. He didn’t recognise the bloke that frantically gestured from the car parked beside him.

"You got a problem, mate?" Spike asked warily as he walked over. There was a lot of weird blokes about at this time of night, and not all of them prayed on young girls as some assumed.

"William Blood" the mystery man said a little coldly and Spike frowned.

"Who’s askin’?" he checked, backing up a step, a million panicked thoughts running through his brain.

"I’m not asking" Riley told him, "I know who you are. I’m a colleague of Buffy’s" he explained "a friend too" he added of Spike’s less than happy expression.

"Then what’re you doin’ sittin’ out here in your car, mate?" the bleached blond asked, still not at all comfortable with this situation. Things only got more confusing when he heard familiar female laughter pour from the car. He glanced in the windows but no-one but Riley was there, Buffy’s voice was coming from a speaker on the dash.

"What the bloody hell...?" he frowned.

"Get in the car, I’ll explain" Riley said shortly, and Spike kept a careful eye on this man as he did as he was told for once.

"So, I’m in the car" he said pointedly, "Explain"

"My name’s Detective Finn" the police officer began, "I work with Buffy, I was part of the team involved with solving the Walker murder case"

Spike winced at how cold and clinical Dru’s death was to these official types, just another case, another bunch of paperwork.

"She explained to me how she’d got to know you, how she had evidence that whilst the victim was murd..."

"Drusilla" Spike interrupted quietly, "Your victim had a name, Drusilla" he said giving the other man a look. Riley sighed before continuing.

"Your Drusilla was killed, but not by you. Buffy told me that and I believe her" he confirmed, "She explained about the evidence she’d got not being enough, but being almost one hundred percent certain O’Connor is guilty"

Spike opened his mouth to speak when he heard words through the speakers once again.

"I can’t believe you had me fooled all this time" said Angel’s voice, "You really had me thinking you didn’t like me at all"

"It wouldn’t be very professional for me to be all over you at work" Buffy replied shyly, "Doesn’t mean I didn’t want to be"

Spike screwed his eyes tight shut and looked away, feeling physically sick.

"She’s acting" Riley told the bleached blond as he looked both terribly hurt and angry at the same time, "She’s wearing a wire and...she knows he likes her. She can probably get a confession this way"

"You idiot" Spike sneered, "You let her go it alone with that...that murderous git!" he raved, reaching for the handle to open the car door just as the Riley hit a button that locked it.

"Can’t let you out of here, Blood" he said with a shake of his head, "I can’t risk you screwing this up"

"Doesn’t bother you then?" Spike asked with his best evil sneer, "Bein’ locked in here with a supposed murderer, that alright with you is it?"

"You’re not a murderer" Riley told him, as if he didn’t know, "I have enough faith in Buffy to believe what she says. I trust her judgement of people too"

"So, what?" Spike said frustratedly, "I gotta sit here and listen to her and pissin’ O’Connor get half way to shagging? Not bloody likely" he snapped.

"You don’t get a choice" Riley snapped, "Not if you want to keep out of jail"

Spike turned to look at him then, steely gaze meeting another just the same. He knew Finn was right, but that didn’t mean he hated the situation any the less. He, more than anyone, knew what O’Connor was capable of. If Buffy got caught, maybe even if she didn’t, she could find herself in a whole heap of trouble, or worse. She might not come out of this alive.

Buffy tried not to squirm away too much as Angel sat close to her on the couch, his hand on her bare knee. She tried not to think about the physical contact, tried to imagine it was Spike here with her now just to make it easier to take but it was no use, besides she couldn’t risk that she might say his name by mistake. This was too big a deal for errors.

"I always knew you were sexy as hell, and totally brave" she smiled sexily, finger playing with his shirt where the top few buttons were undone "but imagine my surprise when I realised there was even more to you than that" she said, trying to keep her breathing and her heart rate under control. He was her superioir officer, trained even more intensly than her to spot liars and scenarios in which he was getting set up.

"Man of many layers, that’s me" he said, edging closer to her, his hand ceeping to just above her knee. She swallowed back the bile that rose in her throat, forcing herslef to keep this up just a little longer.

"Brains and brawn in one package, quite a good deal" she said softly, fingers tracing patterns on his skin "and a guy like you, what you did, you must have some brain in there" she said with fake wonderment as her fingers moved up and ran through his hair.

"What I did?" he frowned slightly at her words "What’re you talking about, baby?" he asked, a little distracted by her soft touch.

"The guy you set up" she whispered, getting incredibly close, almost hypnotising him with her lips and eyes "that Blood guy you’ve got me tailing, it’s pure artistry the way you made him feel so bad, he might even admit to a crime he never committed" she smiled as if she might laugh, though inside she was screaming and crying a river.

Angel backed off a little, and she panicked, pushing her body up closer to his til they were a mere inch or two away from touching.

"It’s okay" she promised "I won’t tell. I mean, it’s not like you killed the girl or anything, it’s just someone’s gotta take the blame" she shrugged "and who better than the girls whack-job ex who’s already on our records"

Buffy hated saying these things, hated herself for saying them even though she knew she was just acting. She tried not to wince as Angel’s sweaty hand returned to her leg and the other came up to her face, his fingers running softly over her cheek and pushing her hair behind her ear.

"If you’re so sure Blood didn’t kill her" he said after a moment "why are you still...?"

"Messing with his head?" Buffy interrupted, "Trying to get the confession? Because you want me to" she said leaning forward so she could whisper in his ear and not have to look at his face at the same time "I’ve been hiding what I feel for so long but...you know I’d do anything you asked, Angel" she said as she pulled back to look him in the eye, trying to look as convincing as possible "Anything at all" she said breathlessly before he finally moved in and put his lips to hers with some force.

It was just about as disgusting as Buffy knew it would be. It would’ve been bad enough anyway but after the wonder she knew Spike could evoke in her, he’d spoilt her for anyone else. He was so tender and gentle and yet passionate at the same time, he never failed in making her feel like a goddess when he loved her the way only he could. In comparison, Angel was heavy and awkward and not at all gentle as he pressed her into the csuhions and his hand found it’s way right up her skirt. Buffy couldn’t take anymore.

"Angel?" she gasped, short of breath and not in a good way as she twisted her head away.

"Hmm" he mumbled against her neck where he was currently kissing and sucking like a leech.

"Who do you think really did kill Drusilla Walker?" she said, "I mean, if it’s not Blood it had to be someone right?" she was both relieved and a little worried when his hand stilled it’s movement beneath her skirt and his lips left her neck. He moved off her slightly and looked at her strangely.

"If I knew that why would we be setting him up?" he asked uncertainly and Buffy worried that she’d said too much too soon.

"I don’t know" she said hurriedly, "I was just thinking he must be some guy too, y’know big with the brains and brawn package just like you" she attempted a smile, uncertain if it came out right as he leaned over her, not looking exactly happy. She was in no poistion to get away if he turned nasty and her heart thumped wildly in her chest.

"What’re you saying?" he asked in a low voice and she breathed deeply before finding a sweet smile for him.

"Come on, Angel" she purred, putting a hand to his face "you can tell me if you know" she urged him, "Whisper it in my ear...with all the other dirty little secrets you’ve been dying to share with me" she encouraged as he brought his lips down on hers once again. His hands chose different directions, one tangling in her hair as the other went for a route inside her top. Buffy was too busy trying to squirm away from the worst of his advances she didn’t realise what was happening til it was too late.

"I’ll tell you what you want to know" he breathed in her ear "but first, you answer me one question"

"Anything" she whispered back, glad this was almost over, waiting fro the words that would set Spike free...they never came. Buffy yelped as the tape that held the wire secure was ripped from her skin, and Angel leaned over her, holding the tiny microphone in his hand.

"What the hell is this!" he yelled angrily.

"Buffy!" Riley yelled as he slammed through the front door.

In case of such an emergency Buffy hadn’t locked it properly. She had hoped they could avoid a confrontation like this with Angel, the guy seemed capable of anything, but now he’d found the wire and they’d just have to deal with the consequences as best they could.

Buffy was equal parts stunned, grateful, and frightened half to death when she realised Riley wasn’t alone as he entered the room.

"Spike" she gasped as Angel dragged her off the couch and turned her around, his arm round her throat as he held her back against him.

"Let her go you bastard" the bleached blond demanded, stepping forward. Riley put an arm out to stop him as O’Connor smiled evilly and pulled the gun from inside his jacket.

"You might wanna stay back there, William" he sneered, holding the barrel of the gun to Buffy’s head. To her credit she didn’t scream or cry, just stared at Spike trying to tell him with her eyes alone that it was okay, that he needed to stay back for both their sakes right now.

"You don’t wanna do this O’Connor" Riley told him.

"You giving me orders..." Angel mused, "I’m fairly certain it’s supposed to be the other away around, what with me being your superior and everything"

"A title doesn’t make you superior" Buffy told him, "Riley’s a better man than you"

"Is that so?" said Angel, tightening his grip on her throat just a little to make her panic, "And what about Blood here, you think he’s a better man than me too?"

"He’s the best man I ever met" she yelled, hiding the fear she felt expertly, "You’re nothing but a disgusting low-life murderer"

"Really, Summers" he tutted, "Do you not listen to anything you’re taught. See you can’t go around accusing people without evidence, good solid evidence" he told her, "Innocent til proven guilty, remember?"

"You son of a..." Spike started but Angel cut him off.

"Now, now Willy" he scolded him like a child, "That’s no way to talk in front of a lady"

"Just let her go, damn it!" the bleached blond yelled, pushing Riley aside to advance on the man that held the gun to his girl’s head. The weapon clicked as Angel readied it for firing and held it firmly to Buffy’s temple.

"You think you can stop me?" he laughed, "Even if you could save yourself, you couldn’t save her, just like you couldn’t save Dru"

Spike felt tears in his eyes of both anger and pain as he realised how close he was to losing another that he loved. He had no choice but to back off and Buffy fought valiantly not to cry and show the terrible fear she was feeling.

"Finn" Angel snapped, "Go and get the tape"

"Tape?" Riley pretended not to understand, but that only made Angel angrier.

"The tape recording of tonight, the one connected to the wire, dumb-ass!" he shouted and Riley shared a brief look with Buffy before going out to the car to fetch the tape as instructed. It wasn’t worth another life being lost.

He returned a moment later and Angel instructed him to spool the tape out from it’s plastic container. In the process the tape became so mangled it wouldn’t be of any use anymore and anything even slightly incriminating Angel might have said in the past hours was destroyed.

"Now what?" Buffy asked barely breathing, "You just gonna shoot me for the hell of it? You know you can’t Angel" she told him, in tears by now.

"She’s right, O’Connor" Riley chipped in, "You found us out, the tapes destroyed, it’s done. If you kill us now you’ll definitely go down for murder, no matter what really happened with the Walker case. You can’t cover this up"

"The Walker case" he echoed, looking at Spike, "Sounds cold and sterile, doesn’t it? Not fitting for our girl"
"She was never yours" Spike ground out, "She never was and she never wanted to be"

"Is that what she told you?" Angel smirked, "You should no better, Spike"

"What the bloody hell do you mean by that?" the bleached blond wanted to know and Angel took great delight in explaining.

"You think it was all me coming onto her?" he said, "You really think she never encouraged me, that she didn’t enjoy me chasing her, wanting her til it drove me insane"

"No" Spike shook his head, "No, it was you that drove her insane. She deserved to be happy, deserved a good life, with me"
Angel laughed at that.

"A good life with you" he scoffed, "Living in a nasty little apartment on the bad side of town, shut up in that place all by herself whilst you were out sleeping with whores" he said nastily.

Spike saw red, but managed to be sensible and not attack Angel physically. Buffy meant too much him. He couldn’t screw up now.

"I never cheated on Dru" he said firmly, "You set me up with that Amy bint, make me think I did, make me feel guilty enough that I’d blame myself for...for what you did"

"Yeah, and it worked like a charm" Angel grinned evilly, "If it hadn’t been for our Miss Summers here having trouble keeping her panties on it might even have worked"

"You asshole, son of a bitch..." she screamed, struggling to get away but the gun back at her head made her stop and Angel’s other hand over her mouth kept her quiet.

"When I want your opinion, I’ll ask" he whispered in her ear and she felt sick having to be so close to him. How she’d managed to keep up that charade before she had no idea, and the worst part was it seemed like it was all for nothing, she might be dead before the night was over.

"You admit it" Riley said suddenly, "You killed Drusilla Walker, and set up Blood to cover your tracks"

"Wow, Finn, we might just make a detective out of you yet" Angel smirked, "Took you long enough to catch on, didn’t it?"

"You make me sick" he spat, "And you’re going down for what you did"

"And you really think anybody’s going to take the word of a criminal, his slut of a girlfriend, and the guy that follows her round like a lost puppy dog, over a respected superior officer?"

Buffy bit his fingers to make him move his hand, which he did, distracting him just long enough for Spike to run over and grab the hand that held the gun. Buffy twisted away from her attacker as her lover fought to get the gun away from him. Spike was no stranger to scuffles such as these though never with guns that were likely to go off at any moment. He’d had a few fights where knives were out before though and he’d never lost yet. In moments it was him who had Angel in a headlock, the barrel of the gun pressed to his temple.

"Proper sod you, aren’t ya?" he said, shaking with anger, "Think you’re so damn smart messing with people’s heads" he yelled in his ear, "Well how does it bloody feel having a gun pressed to your own!"

"You think you scare me? You’re an idiot" Angel laughed, and Buffy began to wonder if he truly was insane.

"Spike, don’t" Buffy begged him, knowing she’d be only too happy if Angel died right now, but not like this. Misplaced guilt had almost killed Spike, the real kind was something neither of them could bear to live with.

Pure rage was in the bleached blond’s eyes as he tightened his arm around Angels’ throat, slowly crushing his wind-pipe.

"Killing me won’t solve anything" he squeaked, "Dru will still be dead, I’ll still have got away with it" he forced a chuckle but Buffy was to have the last laugh.

"You really think I’m that stupid, Angel" she spat in his face, "You really think I’d risk myself with just a wire when I know what a perverted jerk you are?" she asked him, "Look around" she gestured and Spike allowed the git to move just enough so he could do as he was told, "The vase, the picture frame, the VCR, I got microphones rigged everywhere I could hide one"

"I destroyed the tape, Buffy" Riley told her sadly.

"Only the one you knew about" she shook her head, "You know that nice, quiet guy back at the station, Daniel Osbourne?" she said smartly, looking right at Angel, "He happens to be a friend of mine, and he’s back there at the station right now, taping every little thing you say"

"You bitch" Angel raged, trying to get free of Spike to come at her. Buffy took a step back as Spike cursed and squeezed the air from Angel’s body once again.

"That’ll be the back-up" Riley commented as he heard sirens in the distance. Buffy frowned, not understanding. "You’re not the only one who’s not stupid" he told her, "When I had to go out to the car for the tape, I radioed in, figured we might need some help"

"Only sod here who needs help is this evil bugger" Spike sneered, sheer fury and adrenaline making him much stronger than Angel right now.

As officers burst into the building he finally gave up his grip in the killer of his former love as Angel was dragged away and hand-cuffed, his rights being read as he was pulled out the door.

"Spike" Buffy cried, falling into his arms and sobbing as he fought not to do the same. They’d been so afraid for each others lives, lived through so much pain, now it was almost over. Riley watched the pair embrace and sighed. How had this all happened, it made his head spin to try and work it out.

William Blood suspected murderer, now practically crying in the arms of the officer sent to frame him for his crime, whilst the chief officer in charge of the case was being dragged kicking and screaming out the front door in shackles by several armed soon to be ex colleagues.

"You won’t get away with this!" he bellowed and Buffy and Spike were holding onto each other’s hands as they went to the door and watched the guilty man be frisked for further weapons.

"No, you’re the one that’s not getting away with it" Buffy told him.

Angel laughed at her, a maniacal, crazy laugh that made her shudder.

"Doesn’t change anything" he told her, "Drusilla’s still just as dead, and that pathetic boy you’re with is still the biggest loser ever to crawl out the gutter!"

Lightening fast Buffy grabbed the gun that Spike still held and levelled it at Angels’ head.

"Buffy, no!" her lover told her as soon as he realised what she was doing, but it was too late she’d already pulled the trigger. The bang of the gun firing shattered the night, but Angel didn’t fall, just laughed.

"You think I’d risk another body on my hands?" he told her as he was bundled into the car. The gun had been filled with blanks.

Angel O’Connor was clearly crazy as well as evil, but that didn’t matter now. One way or another he was going to pay for what he did, locked up where he could never hurt anyone ever again.

"I could’ve..." Buffy began but was too much in shock to finish the sentence. She might’ve killed a man then, without a moments hesitation, and all because she couldn’t bear to hear one more foul-mouthed lie from that bastard about her man.

"But you didn’t" Riley told her as he took the gun from her hands and went over to his colleagues.

Buffy fell into Spike’s arms once again, holding him so tight he could hardly breathe, but he barely noticed. The nightmare was finally over and whilst neither of them could ever forget the torment they had gone through, they had a chance to move on from it now and make a new life together.

"Hello, luv" Spike said gently as he knelt down by the gravestone and traced his fingers along the lettering.

Drusilla Annabel Walker
1982 - 2004

With no real family or friends around at the time of her burial, that was all the small stone said, no fancy inscription or pretty verse, but it wasn’t important.

"Can hardly believe it’s been a year since you left me" Spike sighed, "I know you didn’t want to, and you gotta believe me, pet, I never wanted you to either. You were my world, Dru, and it all came tumbling down around me when I knew you were gone" he fought tears as he laid a bunch of daisies, her favourite flowers, on the ground she lay under.

"I won’t ever forget you, luv" he promised, "Couldn’t even if I wanted to, but I got a shot at happiness now, and we all deserve that, right?"

He got to his feet and took Buffy’s hand in his.

"This is Buffy" he told a woman who wasn’t even there, but the blonde knew he wasn’t insane or crazy, he just needed this closure, "She makes me happy, pet, in ways I didn’t know were possible" he told his old lover’s grave, "You’d have liked her if you’d have known her, she’s a hell of a woman..." his voice wavered with emotion and Buffy squeezed his hand, reassuring him that she was there for him, always.

"I won’t be coming back again, Dru" Spike said firmly, "Doesn’t mean I didn’t love you cos I bloody did, always will somehow, but I have to move on. Wherever you are now I hope you’re happy like you ought to be...Rest in peace, luv" he said finally, before walking away still gripping his girlfriends hand.

"You okay?" she checked as they cleared the cemetery gates.

"Yeah, actually, reckon I am" Spike nodded, stopping walking suddenly, "Buffy, the last year everything’s changed so damn much, not least since I met you" he told her, looking into her eyes, "You brought light back into my life that I thought I’d lost for good. I got my innocence back somehow, I don’t have to feel guilty anymore and that’s all because of you, Buffy" he said, putting a hand to her cheek as tears sprang from her eyes.

"I love you, Spike" she told him, voice shaking with emotion as he leant in close to her.

"I know" he nodded, "and that’s why I had to come here today, say my proper goodbyes to Dru. Now I’m free of all of this, my past, all the bad things that have happened...Buffy" he sighed, "God, I love you. Will you marry me?"

"Yes" she forced out, so overcome by it all and with tears pouring down her face, only this time not from pain, anger, or sadness, just of pure joy.

When he kissed her then and the world spun beautifully out of control, they were just two young people who loved each other unconditionally.

What could be more innocent than that?

The End