They had worked out a plan. Well, it wasn't much of one, but it was something. They had gotten the other demons that were captured to agree to revolt with them, a play on the tactics Spike had used the first time he was caught. Their captors would have to open the barrier sometime... Still, Spike couldn't help but think something was wrong. Why hadn't they been put in their own individual cells while they were all still unconscious? But all he could do was wait with the rest of them.

"So what about souls?" Oz asked out of nowhere.

"Huh?" Lorne looked at him like he suspected the boy was going rabid.

Oz ignored him. "You talked about physical life, but what about what I said earlier? That many culture believe it's the soul that makes you alive?" He looked at Lydia intensely.

For her part, she almost didn't seem to hear the question at first, a bit startled and put out of sorts by the other were's attention. She reminded Spike suddenly of Buffy, how she seemed to jump from attraction to loathing and back again like a pendulum. The thought brought a sad smile to his lips, but no one noticed.

"That's a good question," she said finally. "I guess this whole scenario depends on your definitions of 'life', 'death', and 'souls'. But what I would like to know is, what makes you so sure vamps DON'T have one?"

Angel sputtered. "If they did, I wouldn't have needed a spell to get mine BACK!"

Lydia wagged a finger at him. "That spell was to get your HUMAN soul back. And I, for one, resent the assumption that only human have them. You were half-right, my skinwalking brother. To live take's SPIRIT energy, the lifeforce. A soul is made of spirit energy, but not every body has a soul. Yet a body STILL needs spirit energy. Vamps have that-- they get it in blood just as any other creature gets it in food. It is also in air, and in minerals. It stands to reason that, just as there are different manifestations of earth, in rocks and trees and flesh, there are also different manifestations of spirit energy. Human, wolf, demon. When a vamp is made, their bodies are changed to make them a suitable host for demon energy. Most of the time, the original soul, if there even WAS one, cannot cope, and is driven out by the demon. Other times, the soul manages to adapt to the new surrounding."

Oz's expression was unreadable as he asked, "What do you mean when you say not every body has a soul, yet spirit energy is necessary to live, and souls are made of spirit?"

"Don't mistake the messenger for the message. You can make ice out of water, but is all water ice? Spirit is the power that moves the universe. It is a material that can be shaped. A body is a vessel, into which spirit is poured. Sometimes ice cubes are poured into the vessel too, sometimes not. Sometimes the ice cubes form later, based on the conditions the vessel is exposed to."

"All right, what about the reflection thing? I mean, about vamps not having one?" Oz asked, his voice still almost monotone.

She cocked her head curiously. "Why does everyone assume that mirrors reflect souls? I have seen the reflections of people I have known for certain to be soulless. I have looked in different mirrors and seen myself look completely different in them. Mirrors can lie, and anyway, what we normally see in them, when we aren't scrying, is simply the reflection of light around us. I don't know why we don’t see vampire reflections-- maybe the reflections really ARE there, and we only THINK we don’t see them. Or maybe it's some freaky scientific anomaly dealing with light and their skin. I think the lack of a soul is really the very least likely explanation-- after all, Angel has a soul, and he can't see himself in a mirror."

Angel had a question of his own, "You said that sometimes a soul... gets used to it's surroundings. Is that what happened to me?"

Lydia smiled sadly. "No. What the gypsies did to you was completely ridiculous, punishing your human soul for what your demon soul did. It would be like punishing an innocent who happened to wear the same bowling shoes as a murderer, knowing full well you had the wrong man all along. You are not one with your body anymore, Angel. You are a soul trapped in a suit of armor, rather than being soaked into your body like it was a sponge. The spell allows you to move the body about, and keeps the demon soul at bay."

Angel felt a chill go up his spine at the thought of sharing his body with another soul, and a demon one at that.

She continued. "No, Spike is more of what I had in mind in that respect."

The bleached vamp had only been listening with half an ear until then. He stared at her curiously. "Whaddya mean by that, luv?"

"Well, it's only a guess really. I don’t' really know you, but from the sense I get of you, I'm almost certain your human soul didn't leave."

Spike laughed. "Now that's a good one! No. I don’t think so, luv. A demon even said to me, not long ago, 'Funny, I don't smell a soul on you...' Nah, it's just this sodding chip in my head!"

She shrugged. "I don't think so. The chip couldn't make you loyal, couldn't make you risk yourself for others. But mayhap I am wrong. Or mayhap he had the same prejudice as most beings do, thinking of the word 'soul' as being synonymous with 'human'. See, it's like soda. No matter what it's in, it's the same ingredients, but soda from a bottle tastes different than soda in a can. It takes on a metallic taste in the can. I believe that's what happened to you, Spike. Your human self, as I understand it, was a sort of volunteer in being turned. So I think your soul stayed on, wanting the things that becoming a vamp offered. In effect, your human soul BECAME a demon soul. But not entirely so, more of taking on the 'taste' of your demon shell. So this demon who spoke to you smelled one of his own. You're like a hunter using 'doe juice' to throw off a stag, tricking him into thinking you were like him. What's more, I think you human self is actually making changes to the demon mold, or maybe prevented the change from happening completely. I think you're a new breed of vampire, Spike. I think, if you truly wanted it, you could even turn yourself human again."

There was a shocked silence. Lorne broke it with a girlish giggle.

"Yeah, right! Honey, you do NOT know the Big Bad if you think that!"

She gave Lorne a look that stilled the laughter in his chest instantly. He visibly swallowed. She smiled wolfishly. Lorne remembered she WAS a wolf. It did not make him feel better.

"You, as I understand it, are not at all typical of your species."

"Y'got THAT right, sister!"

"Is it so inconceivable that Spike could be as far from a typical vamp as you are from YOUR kind?"

He couldn't argue with that.

"The ice of your soul is melting, Spike, I can almost see it. It's up to you to change the mold and refreeze it into something else. We can all do it, really, and infinitely. There's no such thing as a last chance."

Spike shivered a little; he hadn't thought of it in terms of souls, but he knew he had changed. To use Lydia's own metaphor, Buffy had melted the ice of his heart. What if the girl was right? Could he become human? What's more, did he want to? If he were human, he could see the sun again, but would he be trading Dawn's life to see it? Could he still protect her? Maybe the answer was to become a new breed of vamp, like she suggested he was becoming already. A good vamp who was at peace with himself (well, at truce, anyway), unlike Angel, who constantly struggled with his true nature, his human soul at war with his vamp shell. Then Spike wondered about the demon soul that was to have inhabited his body. He decided he didn't want to know.

"You seem to know an awful lot for a... what, 18-year-old?" Lorne squinted at her.

She smiled, and it seemed to Spike as if she'd aged a thousand years before his eyes. Yet she didn't really look different at all. "Let's just say wolves have an excellent racial memory. And we've been known to channel gods now and again".

Spike felt his flesh crawl. he's been down that path before, with Glory. he hoped he hadn't found another one, one that was trying to mold him for her own purposes. Yet he didn't FEEL like she was evil. She made him feel... calm. Safe. If she had ever channeled a god, certainly she was going it now, channeling some sort of Mother goddess who was intent on lecturing them and putting them straight on a few things, all while she dusted them off, tucked in their shirt, and cleaned the dirt off their faces with her spit. He hoped she let them out to play soon...

Lorne decided not to touch that one. "So if you're a vampire hunter, why haven't you staked these two?" he asked instead. "I've seen you chat with Angel in the club a few times; you can't tell me you didn't know what he was!"

"I never said I was a vampire slayer, I said my people were renowned for hunting them. Really, it's all a matter of protection. Humans are kin to wolves, so we protect them as pack. It's that simple. Although some of my relatives see vamps as an abomination. It is considered a crime against the gods to kill one's kin, and like it or not, vampires are kin to humans."

"I've known werewolves to kill humans, and take a lot of pleasure in it." Oz told her, although it was hard to tell if he was skeptical of her or not. It seemed he just wanted an explanation.

"Most werefolk nowadays have not been raised among our people, but humans, or only one or two werefolk who were also too far removed from our collective people to know what they are truly doing. They have human mindsets, which they carry with them into the wolf form. Hell, they can't even complete the change!"

For the first time Oz looked genuinely puzzled. "Complete? How do you mean?"

"Have you ever been a full, true wolf?"

"No. I mean, why would I? We AREN'T true wolves."

She smirked. "In the sense that we are not full-blooded wolves, no. But we DO carry wolf blood within us, we are not just some creature that resembles one. Most of the ones raised among men get a little power-trippy when the wolf-out. They can never shake the human desire to hurt and rule, delight in it even. Hence, they never achieve full-wolf form. They are dire-wolves, humanoids with wolf strength and hunger, fur and fangs, but human greed and hate. Even those who are normally gentle humans loose themselves in the power and in the simplicity of the wolf's thoughts. There is no need for a wolf to moralize, they follow their instincts. A human without morals follows their desires. And humans killing humans is a common enough occurrence as it is. No, my friend, it is your humanity that makes you dangerous when the moon is full, not the fact that there is a wolf inside you."

Oz looked like he wanted to deny her, but didn't say a word. Spike supposed that, on his spiritual sojourn, he had learned well that lying to yourself was foolish. He felt his heart go out to the boy; it wasn't easy to come to terms with the monster within one's self. No doubt Oz had thought he already had, and was now learning he had been fighting the wrong part of himself.

"You still don't believe me, do you?" She smiled sadly. The smile seemed to stretch across her face until Spike realized her jaw was expanding. Hair began to sprout all over. In seconds, he saw the wolf he'd met back in Lorne's club. Then she changed back.

For the first time, Spike saw Oz loose control (well, aside from the way he lost it when he wolfed out). His eyes teared, then became waterfalls. His silent sobs spoke volumes to a vamp who knew what grief was. Oz had lost Willow because he could not control the monster within himself, and had just learned that the monster had nothing to do with being a werewolf, but was more of a preconception, a figment of his own mind. He need not have lost his love. Somehow loosing your true love was made all the worse if you could blame it on yourself.

Lydia took the boy in her arms, rocking him gently as she smoothed his hair. The two vamps and Lorne politely drew themselves off to the side a bit. They rest of the crowd was completely oblivious.

Spike looked at Angel accusingly. "Sooooo, I wonder how she learned so much about me..."

Angel shrugged. "I saw her perform at the club after our little encounter. She was curious about us. She'd been raised to think of vampires as disease-carrying pests to be exterminated without thought. But in us she saw more than that, and she wanted to know why. I think meeting us has made her decide NOT to be a vampire hunter. She said that it was high time her people remembered to take each being in the world aside from the rest and judge them on their own merit. She said that her people scoffed at the human tendency to generalize everything, yet apparently were just as heinously guilty of it themselves. I told her not to worry, we all tend to do that. I told her that I had long assumed YOU were evil, and that I would be without my soul, because that's what we are taught. Vamps are evil monsters, end of story." He averted his eyes. Spike thought he saw the man's eyes glittering before he turned away. "But you proved me wrong by being there for Buffy." He laughed ruefully. "You never were a good liar, Spike. What could I do but believe you when you told me that you had loved her? And thinking that you managed to do good things withOUT a soul just made things harder for me, knowing what a monster I was without it. I think now that... if she had lived, you might have been able to make her happy..." His voice crumpled, "when I couldn't."

Spike scoffed and gave his friend-gone-enemy-gone-friend a comforting pat on the shoulder. "You forget all the evil things I did, mate. I'm not called Spike for nothing. And if she's right, I HAD a soul when I did those things! If anything, I'd say that makes me more of a monster than you EVER were. ME. WILLIAM. The poofter who wanted to be a bad boy and run with the big dogs."

The guard that held Cerberus wasn't hurt by the dog's teeth, but he was getting tired of being gnawed on. He gave the mutt a knock on the noggin. The pup let out a yelp and was still.

"'Ey! Don't damage the star!" One of the bosses smacked the demon on the head, but with considerably less force with his puny human strength. The guard flinched all the same. "Sorry boss."

Spike let out a cry of pain, and fell back against the straw that lined the tent.

Angel and Lorne rushed to his side, but couldn't find anything wrong with him. "What's WRONG with him?" Lorne asked, a note of panic in his whining.

"Nicky says Cerberus was hit for misbehaving," Lydia's voice told them. They moved aside a bit and let her and Oz have a look. "Nicky is close enough for me to hear him." She didn't sound happy. "They've been captured," she informed them as she lifted a lid and looked into Spike's eye.

Angel watched pensively. It felt strange to be worried about the younger vamp, who he hadn't really liked even when he didn't have a soul. He supposed it was true that, when you hated someone, eventually you had nowhere left to go but to love (well, like) them instead. He suspected that was what had happened to Spike in regards to Buffy. And he couldn't truly hate someone who loved Buffy (well, except maybe Captain Cardboard).

"Well? Do you know what's wrong?" Lorne asked after waiting a few impatient moments.

She looked at him with an expression of her own, one that asked if he was truly daft. "I told you, Cerberus has been hit."

The three conscious men shared a confused look.

She rolled her eyes. "Spike felt the strike through their bond!"

Oz and Lorne were still baffled, but Angel thought he at least partly understood. He sometimes felt Buffy's pain over great distances. He told himself that the reason he hadn't felt her die was because he'd been in another dimension at the time.

The other two didn't get a chance to question her further. The tent flap opened, and their captors walked in accompanied by three demons. One carried a large metal cage, which he set down in the center of the tent. The other two threw their own burdens, the two familiars, inside it. Nicky tried to run out, but the cage door was slammed in his face. he stomped a foot in frustration. That woke up the dog, and through him, Spike.

The captives all waited for their captors to make an opening in the magic barrier that held them. All but Spike, that was, who threw himself against it in his desire to reach his dog. He bounced off it, knocking over Oz as he flew backward.

Their captives laughed heartily. The taller man, Milton, said to his diminutive companion, "Cor, Nikki, we could use the dog as a carrot to train that one!"

A growl rumbled in Lydia's throat.

"What'sa matta, luv?" Milton asked her, getting as close as the barrier allowed.

"Don't talk to my Nicky like he's a friend of yours!"

Milton gave his friend a perplexed look. "You know this chippie, mate?"

The Russian approached the girl with a lecherous smile. "I should like to hope I vould remember such a pretty face... Maybe I should take her out and get re-acquainted."

And then she understood. The little man's name was Nikki too. She smiled naughtily at him, but not for the reason he thought. She couldn't contain her glee as a plan formed in her mind. Then she pouted at him. "How could you forget the night we shared in St. Petersburg?" She prayed he had actually been there.

His eyes flashed with recognition, or so he thought. "Ah! My little babushka! Forgive dis old drunken fool, de vodka clouds my memory! Of course I remember you now!" Nikki crooked a finger at her. "Come closer to de barrier, my sveet vone."

Smiling still, she stepped up as close as she could. In a moment he had her arm and was dragging her through. She noticed he had a bracelet on that wrist. She could feel the power in it. Being a witch, it was no trouble for her to figure out that it had allowed him to cross over the barrier and pull her through without cutting a door. She knew she could learn more. She let herself be led out.

"Sleep toight, mates. You've all got a hard evenin' ahead of yehs." They could see the light of the predawn as Milton opened the tent flap to leave.

Feeling defeated, the gang sat back down on the hay. Spike leaned against the barrier at the point closest to his canine companion. He looked odd, leaning on nothing. Oz looked like he'd had his heart ripped out. Angel and Lorne looked pretty unsettled themselves. Was Lydia a friend of the Russian? What had just happened?

It was a good thing she hadn't eaten in a while, or Lydia was certain she would be yawning in a technicolour fashion at that moment. She was on the verge of dry-heaving as it was. The Russian had his hands all over her, and was going at her neck like he thought he was a vamp himself and causing the collar he had placed on her to chafe her. She forced herself to return his caresses, trying to block out the rancid smell of his sweat, and the wetness of it.

"Darling," she purred in his ear after a while, "do you think my familiar could be let out?"

"Vhy?" came his muffled voice against her skin. "De little creature is used to being in a cage, yah?"

Not at all, she thought to herself, but she didn't tell him that. She didn't want him to think her Nicky was more than a vampire pet. Instead she told him, "He must be so scared, locked up in that cage with that awful dog!"

"I tink he can hold his own, my dear, but if you please me, I may let you keep him in here vith us later." He started moving his hands under her shirt, but she managed not to cringe. Instead she began to fondle him in an intimate place, causing him to sigh. She complimented him, teased him, distracted him for a while. Then she asked, "Could you at least put the dog in with his master? So my bunny could have the cage to himself, I mean."

He shook his head without removing his lips from her torso. "No, the dog would get out. Animals can pass through barriers like that. Ve don't have another small cage, and I vont chance putting such a prize in vith de other demons, dey might eat him."

She smiled, and he thought it was because she was enjoying his attentions. But then he stopped, and looked her in the eye. She saw suspicion there, and felt the icy claw if fear threaten to rip her heart from the cage of her chest.

"Don't get any ideas, my sveet vone. If you try to set your little friend free, you vill be in for a nasty.. SHOCK..." he laughed and resumed his fondling. "De cage is spelled to electrocute anyvone who interferes vith it but Milton and myself. You vill find that the collar I have given you prevents you from assuming your volf form. And if you try to ESAPE..." he squeezed her chest painfully, "I vill say de vords that vill activate de spell I placed on you, and kill you."

She swallowed in fear, but the action was only for show. She thought to herself that he couldn't speak if she bit his tongue off... or ripped his throat out. He had deluded himself into thinking the danger inside herself lay in her wolf blood... She spoke to her familiar mind to mind, and told him what she had learned, as well as how she thought they might escape.

Nicky told Cerberus what Lydia had told him, and told the dog to tell Spike. Cerberus wouldn't believe the little bunny about the telepathy. The rabbit bit the dog's left forefoot in irritation. The dog yelped.

Spike gave a cry as well, and rubbed his left hand in pain. "Leave off, ya bloody rat! Cerberus, are you gonna let that lil' furball push you around?"

Cerberus noticed curiously how his man-friend had cried out as he did, and rubbed his own hand ass if he too had been hurt. He heard the vamp say, "Stupid lil' git! 'Ow could he fight off vamps and other demon nasties, and be afraid of a lil' bunny?" And then he realised he hadn't heard the words with his ears. Could it be?

**Who are you calling a git?! And what the hell IS a git, anyway?**

Spike blinked and stared at the dog. he looked around to see if anyone else had said it, but how could they when he had only thought the words, not said them aloud. Was one of their fellow captives a mind reader?

**Did you hear me, Spike?** Spike scowled, still eyeing the crowd. "Uh, yeah, but... who are you? WHERE are you?" "Um, Spike, you okay there, buddy?" Lorne asked him.

Angel and Oz looking at him like he had gone nuts. Which was a viable assumption on their part since it seemed like he was talking to himself.

**What do you mean, who and where?!? I'm right in front of you! It's ME!** He turned his eyes back to the cage, and found Cerberus staring at him intently. Could it be? **Cerberus?** he thought tentatively.

The dog wagged his tail, smiling as he looked at the rabbit a moment. **He CAN be taught!** The dog turned his attention back to the vamp. **Listen, Lydia thinks she's found a way to get us all out. She says Oz needs to go wolf, and then he can cross the barrier. He can allow anyone who's touching him to cross too, but he has to change ALL THE WAY, or it wont work! She's going to try to escape, but it would be best if everyone was already out when she got here. We are to wait for her signal, though, when the sun sets.**

**What about you two?**

**She says Angel needs to be the one who lets us out. Whoever tries to open the cage will be electrocuted. It wont kill a vamp, but if YOU do it, then I will be knocked unconscious too, and I need to be able to cross and help everyone escape quickly.** "I cant ask him to do that!"

"Ask who to do what?" Oz asked.

**What's your worry? Sure, it'll hurt, but he'll live! C'mon, we need to get a move-on!**

So Spike reluctantly told them Lydia's plan.

Angel and Oz did not look thrilled, but Lorne was cheery enough for the lot of them. At least until he asked Spike, "Now you're SURE your not just loosing it? The dog really DID talk to you, right?" The others echoed that question in their eyes.

Spike wished he could answer yes with more confidence.

For her part, Lydia had no trouble disposing of Nikki. She let him use her as he pleased, reminding herself all the while that she was doing it for her friends, and picturing Oz in the man's place. They slept for a while, and awoke as the sun was setting. He told her she was to stay put while he took care of business. She begged him for a goodbye kiss. Pretending to french him, she bit his tongue out. While he was choking on his blood and fainting from the pain, she used her human teeth to rip his throat open. She almost gagged on the taste of him; the man had NOT been taking care of himself. She wiped herself clean with his blankets, and put her clothes back on. At the door, she stopped and addressed his corpse as she tore the now-inactive collar off. "Maybe you were human, and I'll pay for this with my karma... But then maybe you were far more a monster than any vampire, and I have just protected my pack." She threw the collar at him, and left.

**Now.** she calmly told her familiar.

***

"I dunno, man..."

"C'MON! You know it's possible, you SAW her.."

"I-I KNOW, but..."

Spike put on his game face and gave Oz a solid punch. It was as if he had punched himself with the pain that shot through his head from the chip. A yelp reminded him that he had hurt Cerberus too. "Sorry boy..." he apologized form the floor.

It had worked, though. Oz had wolfed out. Once the process had begun, he decided he might as well make a go of finishing it. He called on the meditation techniques he had learned, but this time, instead of envisioning himself as a man, he pictured Lydia. How she'd looked as a wolf, how she'd smelled, how much he's wanted to run his fingers through her fur. He had done his best to ignore her at the club because he thought he was just going through what he had once before, when he'd met another female werewolf, that it was just a mating thing. Lydia had asked him about it when the others had gone off for a bit, and she had been comforting him. She told him that she could smell the desire on him, and asked him why he held back. She had listened to his story and even cried when it was done. She held him again, and told him that everyone had to be judged on their own individual merits. She asked him if he would refuse to date a human, and he said no. She pointed out that his relations to others of his kind should be given the same consideration. Then in the next breathe she told him that he should consider asking Willow and Tara if they would be willing to do a three-way mating. He said he thought she liked him. She told him with a smile that she did, but she did not know him enough to love him yet, and would not interfere with his heart. He looked into her eyes and saw the seed of the wisdom she had spoken all night, as well as endless kindness. She seemed to understand him, and everything else in the world too. He saw enough love there for the world. Seeing that, he found it hard to believe she did not think she knew him well enough to love him; he felt he could love her, if he tried.

So he DID try, for her. And he succeeded. He attained the full form. He wished she were there to see it. He didn't love her yet; the church of his heart was still dedicated to Willow. But Willow had abandoned it long ago. He found himself thinking it wouldn't be hard to convert.

He only allowed himself a moment to enjoy his success before he started to lead others across. He took Angel, Lorne, and Spike over first. He went back for more as Angel opened the cage.

Sure enough, there was a surge of power, but he managed to hold on long enough to get the door open. Spike caught him as he fell, and slung him over his shoulder fireman-style.

The animals helped Oz with the transfer, and it took only a minute to get everyone out. Lydia got there just as they were finishing. She'd had no trouble walking through the circus grounds as the demons prepared for the night's shows. Besides, it was inconceivable to them that anyone could walk free who wasn't supposed to. Their bosses were well versed in demon lore, and very good at holding them prisoner.

It was easy for them to dispose of the two guards. Lydia stepped out and told them there was a problem. They followed her back in, and were jumped by the large group of demons inside the tent. She told the newly-freed lot to walk outside as if they had every right to be doing so. Everyone ignored them as they made their way out the gate. All but Lorne, Spike, Angel, OZ, Cerberus, Nicky, and herself were out the gate when the commotion started. Milton came racing for them with a pack of demons. He had found his partner's body. Not that he cared much that the man was dead, but he wasn't about to let his star attractions escape.

He didn't have a choice. Cerberus and Nicky raced towards him. They were unnaturally quick, and tore into him before anyone had even noticed them. With their boss dead, the demons were at a loss as to what to do. Cerberus and Nicky trotted back to their friends, licking their chops. Together, the group walked nonchalantly out the gate. Behind them, all hell literally broke loose as demons that had been held against their will revolted against their captors.

Lorne sighed when they got back to the club and saw the ruins of its interior. "I need to start investing in sturdier materials."

The rest of the gang laughed and offered to help him clean up. Spike ducked behind the bar and grabbed a few bottles. He served up "vampire bloody marys" for himself, Angel, and even Cerberus and Nicky.

"HEY!" Lorne protested.

"Sorry mate, I don’t work on an empty stomach, and I don't work for free," Spike informed him solemnly. At the reprimanding looks the others gave him, he couldn't keep a straight face anymore. "Kidding! Jeez, lighten up! Angel, Oz, you guys should be used to cleaning up after Armageddon, after living in Sunny D. I rather think I've become a bit of an expert m'self," he added ruefully.

"Oh yeah?" Angel asked. He tossed a broom to the bleached vamp. "Prove it."

Spike caught it with a grin and started to pretend he was Darth Maul, complete with game face. The others laughed, then set to work. Angel found a radio in the back, and turned it on. Lydia and Oz worked side by side. Oz stopped and played air guitar on his broom when a song he liked came on, sending Lydia into a fit of giggles. Spike watched them as he swept.

**You miss her.** It wasn't a question.

"Yeah, mate," Spike whispered. "I do."

**I know. I can feel your pain. You're not alone.**

Spike smiled sadly, and reached out to scratch the dog's ear. "I know that, too."