Just Rewards (2)

Plot

Flashback to Spike's destruction in Sunnydale 19 days earlier. In the present, Spike puts on his vampire face and charges Angel. He goes right through him. Spike is surprised. Harmony thinks he's a ghost, though Spike denies it. Wesley says he came from the amulet. Angel says it's the amulet he gave to Buffy. Spike asks about her and Angel says she's in Europe. They start arguing about Buffy and it's revealed that Spike had sex with her. This disgusts Harmony who runs out. Wesley explains Spike was an ally. He says that's all Angel told him. The others assume this means Spike is like Angel, a good guy vampire. Both Angel and Spike deny this. Spike demands to know what has happened to him. Cut to Fred scanning Spike while Lorne talks to Wesley about what a great movie it would make. Fred explains she's head of the science division of Wolfram & Hart. Spike knows of the firm, but is unaware of a science division. Angel says he's in charge of the firm now. Fred says he appears to be a ghost, but there's no ectoplasm. Which means they shouldn't be able to see him. She's also detecting brainwave activity and he's actually radiating heat, just above room temperature. Wesley says Spike is tied to the amulet. He asks if he had a strange sensation when it released its energy. Spike is sarcastic about this (he talks about his skin and bones burning). Fred suggests he might have been sent there by the powers as part of their plan. Spike starts ranting, arguing that he should be allowed to die in peace after saving the world rather than be toyed with by the powers. He vanishes. The others are mystified and Fred asks what he meant about saving the world. Angel admits he did, but downplays Spike's part. Spike reappears. Fred asks where he was. Instead of answering he blames Angel, saying he should have worn the amulet but he chickened out and left town. Spike says he didn't ask for this, that just because he has a soul doesn't mean he wants to suffer and atone. The others are shocked. Angel admits he knew Spike had a soul. The others realize Angel has held back a lot. Spike says Angel is jealous because he's not unique anymore. Angel leaves.

Angel walks down the corridor and meets the mail delivery man, who wears a mask. Spike walks through the wall and claims Angel is running away again. Harmony says Angel has a 3:00 appointment. Spike recognizes that Angel hopes to fight evil from inside the system, but says he and the others are being devoured. He says he knows he's not in control, but neither is Angel. Then a Grox'Lar beast appears and Angel fights it. Spike tries to help, but his fist is immaterial. Angel kills the beast. Harmony explains it was his appointment. Angel says Grox'Lars eat babies. Harmony says just their heads. Gunn explains he was going to negotiate with the beast's clan to get them to stop eating baby's heads. Gunn says it's ok, the Grox'Lar appreciate someone with a strong opening position. He says he should have briefed Angel, but they got side tracked (looking pointedly at Spike). He adds he's been busy with the corporate reforms and has fired 40 people in the last two days. They walk off together. Harmony talks to Spike. She wants to make up, but he just walks off. She says it's too soon, but if he needs to talk, she's there. Then she calls him a slayer loving freak.

Gunn shows Angel a voodoo doll one exemployee made. Spike walks in. An angry employee, Novac, enters. They are shutting down the grave robbing division. Novac says it's a money maker and they can't do that. Angel doesn't care. Novac says they are under contract to provide bodies to Magnus Hainsley. He explains he is one of their oldest and most important clients. Angel tells Novac to tell Hainsley he's no longer a client. Spike says Angel used to be a hero, now he's sending spineless flunkies to do his job. Angel tells him to get out. Spike says he'll gladly leave LA.

That night, Angel asks Wesley if he thinks Spike has really left. Angel says it could have been him. That they gave him the amulet. Wesley asks if he's feeling guilty. Angel doesn't know why they gave him the amulet, knowing he would use it and die, and gave him the LA office. Wesley suggests there may be dissension in their ranks, or maybe there is another player the senior partners don't know of. Or they got what they wanted. Spike returns. He has tried to leave LA, but gets drawn back. Wesley says the amulet is tied to Wolfram & Hart and Spike to the amulet. Harmony comes in and says Novac has returned. Security brings in buckets containing the remains of the lawyer.

Angel tells Harmony to contact Novac's next of kin and to be discreet. It turns out Hainsley is a powerful and well connected necromancer. Angel intends to visit him. Wesley says he should avoid an eye for an eye escalation. Gunn says he knows what to do to hurt Hainsley. Cut to Angel and his cars. He goes to one to find Spike there. Spike says he's really predictable. Angel gets in another car, Spike is there as well. He likes the idea of haunting Angel. They go to Hainsley's. Angel tells the butler he's from Wolfram & Hart. The butler says Hainsley is with a customer and doesn't want to be disturbed. Angel says disturb him anyway. Angel and Spike find a room with dead bodies. Angel realizes it's a show room. Hainsley is with a demon and a dead woman. The demon says in the end he went for looks. The butler tells him about the visitors and Hainsley says to kill them. The butler goes to the showroom to attack them. Angel kills him. He's angry with Spike who claims Angel has it too easy. Angel says he didn't ask for a soul, Spike did. That he had a century of infinite remorse while Spike had three weeks in a basement. Spike vanishes again.

Angel kicks in the door and confronts Hainsley. The woman goes to leave, but Angel knocks her down. He realizes Hainsley puts demons into human bodies, disguising them. He says he's closing him down. Hainsley uses his power against Angel. He says he eats the dead for breakfast and Angel is another plate of bacon and eggs. Spike appears. Hainsley thinks it odd he brought a ghost for backup. Hainsley says he could kill Angel, but the senior partners wouldn't like it. He lets Angel go. Angel opens his cell and tells Gunn to do it. He tells Hainsley his assets have been frozen and he's lost all his resources. He walks out. Spike mocks him and then vanishes, much to Angel's relief. Spike appears in Hainsley's office. Hainsley says he can give him a body if Spike will help him against Angel. Spike says he's come to the right ghost.

At the firm, Wesley explains they can't release Spike from the amulet in the conventional sense. But he does say they could give him the eternal rest he asked for. Spike appears in the hallways. Harmony sees him and says she thought with a soul he might have learnt to open up. She says the leopard can't strange its stripes. He calls her a dink and says it's spots. She's sarcastic and walks off. Spike starts listening in on the others talking. Fred says killing him doesn't seem right. Wesley says he agrees, but leaving him the way he is isn't right either. He says it would be an act of mercy. Angel says he's all for mercy and asks how it can be done. Wesley says the amulet can be destroyed on hallowed ground, like a church or cemetery. Angel says he'll have to sleep on it.

Angel goes to his apartment with the amulet. Spike is there. He tells him he heard the conversation. He tells him Hainsley offered him a deal. He says he doesn't want to continue this way, he wants it to end. Cut to Angel and Spike at a cemetery. Angel is about to destroy the amulet. But he hits himself in the head instead. Hainsley appears. He knocks Angel out. Angel comes to at Hainsley's. He's going to put Spike in Angel's body. Have Spike restore his assets and the grave robbing division. Later, he'll give Spike his own body back. He forms a conduit, channeling Spike's essence into Angel's body. Only Spike doesn't play along. Instead, he takes control of Hainsley's body. This free's Angel. With Spike helping on the inside, Angel fights Hainsley. He sends him flying into a table. Hainsley comes back battling. Angel cuts his head off and we see the Spike ghost within. Spike admits Hainsley was dead after hitting the table, the rest was him. He wanted to get a few licks in.

Next day at the firm, Angel tells Wesley about Spike's plan and how they defeated Hainsley. Wesley says Spike should have shared the plan with the others. Angel says sharing isn't something Spike does very well. Cut to Fred in her office. Spike is there. She asks if she can help him. He says that's the crux of the matter. He says he's slipping. That he feels himself being drawn to hell. She realizes that's where he goes when he vanishes. He asks her to help him.