A/N: As always, thanks to Megan for betaing.


Chapter 6: Dead Man Walking.


Mid morning the next day, Buffy found herself riding the elevator from the basement car park and up into the W&H building. Again.

The last thing she wanted to do was go back into that place, but here she was anyway. The bell for the door dinged signaling her floor and she stepped out of the elevator and into the hub of the building. A few technicians of demon descent saw her entrance and quickly turned on their heels and walked away from her, obviously fearful that she would attack them.

Making a beeline for Angel’s office, she ignored Harmony’s attempts at asking her to stop until her presence was announced. Pushing through the double doors to the office she walked in, instantly becoming the center of attention as six pairs of eyes turned in her direction. Angel, Gunn, Fred, Wesley, Lorne and… a frown marred her brow when she spotted a face she didn’t recognize.

Fred waved as the slayer walked further into the office, smiles greeting her from everyone except the unknown.

“Buffy,” Angel greeted, the surprise of her entrance detectable in his voice. He was leaning against the front of his desk, everyone else standing in a circular pattern.

“Angel,” she replied. “Guys.” She smiled at the faces she knew, her gaze coming to a stop on the unfamiliar face.

“I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Eve,” the woman introduced.

“Buffy,” she replied bluntly.

“So I heard.” The young woman eyed Buffy from head to toe, turning to Angel as she continued to speak, “So she was the Slayer?”

“Am the slayer,” Buffy corrected, folding her arms over her chest. Her gaze flickered over the woman who appeared to be about her age. She was pretty and she obviously had an attitude on her. Unfortunately for Eve, Buffy had dealt with enough bitchiness over the last few months because of the school’s opening and was in no mood for more of it.

“My mistake,” Eve apologised with no sincerity whatsoever.

Buffy pursed her lips, deciding to ignore the stranger. “Angel, you wanted me to come in for a debriefing, but since you are obviously busy right now, I’ll just go and come back later. I wanted to train for a while anyway.”

“Oh! We have a gym and training rooms here you could use,” Fred suggested, smiling brightly.

Nodding in thanks, Buffy looked over her shoulder. “And they would be…”

“I’ll show you,” Gunn offered, making his way to Buffy’s side and pointing towards the door.

“I won’t be too long,” Angel apologised to Buffy with a half smile half frown.

“No rush.”

Buffy and Gunn exited the office.

“She’s a pretty one,” Eve commented. “Didn’t you two date at one time?”

Angel’s gaze became threatening, his eyes clouding over. His expression showed just how much he did not want to be discussing this with the liaison to the Senior Partners and for once Eve didn’t pursue it. Not at all fazed by the glare, she moved towards the desk and perched herself on the corner.

“So kids, let’s get to business.”

~~~

Spike woke from slumber, wiping his bleary eyes with the back of his hand. Throwing back the covers, his feet found the floor and he instantly began moving towards the small bathroom. He smelled like blood and whiskey, having drunk himself into oblivion again last night after his imagination placed Buffy everywhere. He had almost convinced himself that she was here in LA but he knew that to be untrue. She was in London, on the other side of the world.

In a moment of drunken courage he had picked up his telephone and dialed Wolfram and Hart and slurred to someone from research that he needed a number tracked down. The male had acquiesced to his request and found a file that contained a telephone number where Buffy might be reachable, the vampire’s hopes soaring until the rug was pulled out from beneath him. Apparently there was a block on the file that Angel himself had placed upon it, and the only person authorized to remove it was Broody Face himself.

Cursing loudly, Spike had polished off the rest of the liquor, somehow managing to stumble to his small single bed before he passed out.

It was as he was walking to the bathroom now that his right big toe connected with the doorframe. Hopping naked on one foot whilst the slight pain ebbed, he stepped into the cubicle and turned on the taps, hoping a shower would clear his head enough so that he could head into the W&H offices sometime today.

He had a bone to pick with Angel…

~~~

Buffy eyed the impressive training room, liking what she saw. The room was floor to ceiling mirrors on three sides, the fourth a wall of windows that displayed a beautiful view of downtown LA. There were punching bags of several sizes hung from chains attached to the roof in one corner, free weights on a rack along the wall near the door and a large gymnastics horse to the far right. The room afforded a large amount of free space in the center allowing room for tumbling, tai chi, martial arts, basically anything you could thing to do with it.

“This a human only training room?” Buffy asked of Gunn as he stepped into the room behind her.

“This is Angel’s private training room,” the street fighter-come-lawyer explained.

Buffy frowned, “But the windows…”

“Necro-tempered glass,” Gunn informed matter-of-factly. “Like the rest of the windows in the building.”

“Of course.”

Buffy walked around the room, spotting a cabinet to her left and walking over it. Opening the top drawer she found bandages and gloves, presumably for use with the punching bags. Shrugging off her denim jacket-- leaving her dressed in a black singlet and gray sweat pants-- Buffy began to wrap her hands. “You planning on watching?” she questioned good-humouredly when Gunn made no move to leave.

Shrugging his shoulders, he slipped his own jacket off and made himself comfortable by leaning up against one of the mirrors. “A slayer in action? Not something I’m going to pass up on,” he grinned.

Buffy mimicked his shrugging action as she finishing binding her knuckles and approached the bag. “This thing secure?” she asked. “I wouldn’t wanna break something on my first day in here… no hang on, I did that already.”

Gunn laughed at her joke, the sound dying as a gurgle in his throat when, with an impressive leap, Buffy spun a deadly kick at the larger punching bag, causing it to swing wildly. “Damn.”

~~~

Spike stepped out of the lifts and proceeded towards Angel’s office. His fingers danced across his receptionist’s desk as he walked past, a quick “Morning” tossed carelessly over his shoulder as he continued moving.

Harmony’s head shot up at the last second, her mouth gaping like a fish when realization hit her. “You can’t go in there!” she blurted out suddenly. She hadn’t been paying all that much attention to the goings in and out of her boss’s office this morning and for all she knew, Buffy could still be in there. And Angel would literally have her head if Spike walked in on that little surprise.

Spike stopped his forward momentum, turning to lift an eyebrow in question. “And why’s that? Peaches doin’ some business deal he don’t want me to sit in on?”

With a shrug of his shoulders showing just how much he didn’t care, he began moving again.

Harmony darted out from behind her desk, coming to an abrupt stop before him. “No, it’s not about Angel, it’s about us,” she blurted out in desperation. Her gaze flickered to the office door and back again before she turned her attention back to Spike.

You can do this… she mentally encouraged herself. You dated him for months, just use what works…

A scarred brow lifted even higher. “And what exactly about us—and I use the term loosely—” he drawled, “were you referring to?”

“I want you,” she replied breathily, taking a step towards him. Harmony shook her hair over her shoulder as she slipped into the attempted seduction, half hoping he’d take her up on it. “I want you and I want you now.”

Spike stepped backwards as he lifted his hands in defense. “Harm, I thought we’d discussed the fact that this,” his hand pointed from her to him and back again, “was over?”

“We did,” she nodded. “But a girl can change her mind, can’t she?” Harmony prowled closer to him again.

Like a deer caught in the headlights, Spike was frozen for a moment before he snapped out of it. His arms darted forwards and grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her flush against him. He held her like that for a moment, seeing her eyes glaze over with lust before he pivoted their positions so that she was now up against her desk. And he was free to walk right into the office.

He left her side before she even realized what had happened, and when her mind cleared and she did call out, it was too late. The doors to Angel’s office were swinging closed.

Grabbing for her phone she paged her boss. “Spike is on his way to see you boss.”

~~~

Angel’s attention snapped to the opening door, wondering why Buffy would be returning so soon. Except it wasn’t Buffy.

“Spike,” he growled out in annoyance.

“Peaches.”

Fred looked around the room nervously, her gaze turning to Wes who had a similar expression of unease on his face. Spike was here and Buffy was still in the building. She hoped that Angel would handle this little problem. Fred didn’t exactly feel comfortable in lying to someone who had quickly become a friend.

The beep of his telephone sounded and Harmony’s voice filled the room a moment later. “Spike is on his way to see you boss.”

“So I see,” Angel retorted, his displeasure evident. He rolled his eyes and as he reached for the phone. Disconnecting the useless call, he turned his full attention to the bleached annoyance before him. “Why exactly are you here, Spike?”

Spike shrugged his shoulders in nonchalance, not really wanting an audience for the conversation he had planned. “Was patrolling last night. Found some interestin’ blood patterns down by the docks.”

Angel visibly stiffened at the mentioned location. Turning to Eve, he made it clear that their little meeting was over. “That’ll be all for today.”

He had given her explicit directions about Buffy and the fact that she was not to be mentioned in Spike’s presence, he just hoped she followed them. The girl had a tendency for doing things her way.

With pursed lips and a flip of her hair, Eve turned towards the doors. “Don’t forget that we have a conference scheduled for next week in regards to the profit margins of the firm. You know how the Senior Partners love it when they hear costs are down. Catch you later kids.”

Not waiting for a response, she left the room.

Lorne was the first one to pipe up. “Well kiddies, it’s time for me to hit the circuit. Personally, I don’t want to be around when Mr. Happy Face and his protégé here butt heads.” Angel’s expression was black, anger bubbling under the surface that was no doubt caused by Spike’s presence. The green skinned demon turned to Spike and continued before either vampire could interrupt. “That was a compliment by the way sweet-cheeks, not an insult.”

With a dip of his head, he turned on his heel and left the office.

“Protégé my ass,” Spike muttered under his breath.

Angel scowled when he caught the remark. “Spike, I really don’t have time right now to deal with this.” He turned his attention away from the bleach-haired vampire and towards the two remaining key members of his team. “We’ll continue this later,” he informed, referring to the discussion about Buffy that had been in session before Spike’s entrance.

“Didn’t one of you need some help with a case?” he asked, continuing before either of them could deny it. “Take Spike with you; keep him out from under my feet.”

Fred looked to Spike nervously, seeing the anger flashing through his eyes. “That was me,” she jumped in as quickly as possible. Shrugging her shoulders, she laughed to try and lighten the situation, hoping that it sounded more convincing to the others than it did in her mind. “Heavy lifting stuff that I’d prefer not to leave to the techies. Need someone trustworthy, you know?”

Spike’s angered expression seemed to alleviate slightly at Fred’s request. With a nod in her direction, he gave Angel a pointed look expressing that he would be back to finish this later. The scientist and the vampire left walking side by side, Fred talking animatedly about a case she was working on.

The moment they left the room, Angel moved back to his desk and sat down, lifting some papers and shifting through them.

Now that they were alone, Wesley decided to bring up the topic they had been discussing before Spike’s timely arrival. He wasn’t alone in thinking that concealing Buffy’s presence was not a good idea. If Spike found out there would be no saying how he would react. Wesley could only imagine it would not be lightly, and that was just going on the records he had on ‘William the Bloody’s’ past. The last few weeks had shown just how desperately the vampire was in love with Buffy, and he knew that love was a powerful force. People in love could be incredibly dangerous, especially if wronged.

“Angel, do you really think it is best to keep Buffy’s presence secret from Spike?” he asked, continuing quickly when, as he took a few steps towards the desk only to stop when he saw the way Angel had bristled in response to the subject he was trying to broach. “I think that --”

“I don’t pay you to think,” Angel grunted, his focus never leaving the paperwork as he belittled Wesley. “This topic is not open for discussion again.”

Wesley clenched his jaw.

Angel lifted his attention from his paperwork just long enough to make his final point. “I hope I’m making myself clear. This is my decision and this is how it is going to be.”

Knowing there was no point in arguing, Wesley turned on his heel and left the office.

Sighing heavily, Angel returned his attention back to his paperwork. They just didn’t understand…



~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Next chapter! Hope you guys like!