Cordelia and David had rejoined the group, helping Wesley and Gunn set up the materials for the spell. Willow, Angel, and Spike had gone to the kitchen to make sure one last time that they were ready for what was about to happen.

"Are we ready?" Wesley asked the other three people in the room.

Cordelia and Gunn nodded their heads in affirmation while David Nabbit seemed to be bouncing around excitedly at finally being able to help his new friends.

"Okay, Cordelia, you need to sit here, across from me. Gunn, over there, on her right. Mr. Nabbit. . . David, please sit on her left." Wesley directed the small group.

Once everybody was sitting where they were supposed to, Wesley called out to the next room, and waited for Angel, Willow and Spike to join them.

*-*-*-*

"Are you sure about this?" Angel asked Willow carefully. He knew he wanted this, more than he thought he could want anything. His soul being bound to the woman he loved, while his demon would be bound to his childe. His favorite Childe. Oh how he had missed William.

Willow smiled reassuringly. "I'm sure. I want to stay." She turned to look at Spike who was watching the exchange carefully. "We want to stay."

Angel looked over at Spike and raised an eyebrow in question.

"Oh, Bloody Hell, Peaches, why do you have to make everything so difficult?" he asked exasperated.

Angel's lips quirked slightly, recognizing that that was the best he could hope for in reassurance from Spike.

"They're waiting." Willow spoke softly, silently questioning whether he was ready.

"Lets go then." Angel entered the room in question and felt a sense of extreme anticipation hit him. Soon, everything would be different.

He would be bonded to both Willow and Spike, quite possibly for eternity. His demon wouldn't plague him with the struggle anymore, however it would be much closer to the surface. How would that change him? How would that change his relationship to those people in this room? Those people he considered friends, and in some cases, family?

Wesley instructed the three to sit in a circle inside the circle they had already made. He handed a dagger and a medium sized bowl to Willow. "You first."

Willow smiled slightly as she took the knife. She cut herself before anyone even realized what she was doing.

"Easy, Luv." Spike told her gently as he watched her blood drip into the bowl. He could smell the intoxicating aroma as it wafted through the room. It was strong, and powerful, and utterly Willow.

Angel could smell it too. It was arousing his demon as he watched Spike take the knife and slice into his pale skin, adding his vampire blood to the bowl. His demon howled in anticipation as the scent of the mixture hit his nostrils.

Spike's blue eyes locked with Angel's brown as he handed the weapon and bowl over to Angel. The older vampire took it hesitatingly at first, knowing this was his last chance to back out. What did he want to? Sure it would change his life, but more than that, it would change the lives of the two people he loved more than life itself. Was that fair to them? His demon roared at him, telling him to be selfish for once in his souled existence. He wasn't condemning them to an eternity of darkness, just an eternity with him. That wasn't so bad. Angel agreed.

He took the tip of the blade and cut into his skin, watching as his blood started to drip into the bowl. As his blood mixed with theirs, a new scent seemed to overwhelm his senses. He heard Wesley and the others start to chant as he brought the bowl to his lips. He felt his demon roar as the power of the blood washed over him.

Turning towards Spike, Angel held the bowl out. Spike's hands reached out and together they guided the bowl to the younger vampire's lips as Angel spoke the words which would forever change him.

"To you, I bind my demon. For now, for eternity."

Spike repeated the words before allowing Angel to take full possession of the bowl.

Angel turned to Willow, who had been watching the exchange in fascination. She couldn't help the anticipation that was beginning to overwhelm her. She wasn't concerned about the ritual itself, or about the blood she had to ingest. Wesley had assured her it was harmless to the baby. But the magnitude of what they were undertaking was enormous. This was her life. Forever changed by the two men she loved though, beyond reason. The two men, she knew, despite their constant protests to the contrary, loved each other deeply as well.

Willow reached out with her hands and clasped the outside rim of the bowl. Wesley continued to chant with their friends as they guided the bowl to her mouth. As the thick liquid slid down her throat, Angel spoke the words which would connect them together for all time.

"To you, I bind my Soul, for now, for eternity."

As the empty bowl was placed on the ground, and the chant was completed; there was a bright light that engulfed the three of them. It circled them in a swirl of colors, moving from one vampire to the other, and then through Willow, and back again.

Soon it was all over, and the room was enveloped in silence.

*-*-*-*

"Well," David said, sitting back. "How does everyone feel?"

Willow stood up and stretched. She edged at the circle of salt with her toe, breaking the circle. "I don't feel any different. Do you two?"

"I still hate Peaches here," Spike nodded, standing up. He walked past Willow, going to the kitchen to get blood.

"I just want to sit in a corner and read. Away from him," Angel said, nodding his head towards the kitchen where Spike went.

Willow sighed. "Didn't work."

"But I saw all the swirling lights and all that," David said, disappointed.

"It's ok, David," Cordelia said. "Sometimes spells just don't work at all."

Willow wrung her hands. "Or, they work wrong," she said softly, remembering her luck with the My Will Be Done spell.

Angel put his hand on Willow's shoulder. "It's going to be ok, Willow. I'm sure nothing bad will happen. Though, I still think it's funny that Spike had to go fall in love with the Slayer."

"Yea," Spike said, sticking his head out from around the corner. "She was bloody marvelous to shag." He smirked, knowing his sire would hurt for days over that thought.

Cordelia winced. < Great, > she thought. < He's gonna brood. . .why is he smiling? >

Angel grinned at his childe, a hint of mischievousness dancing in his brown eyes. "You know, Spike, I can say, other than myself, I think you are the only vampire to ever shag a Slayer. I have an excuse, having the soul and all. And of all the vampires in the world, you, the Big Bad, slept with the Slayer."

Spike's mouth dropped open, as did everyone else's. "You aren't upset?"

Willow frowned, crossing her arms. She looked at Spike. "You slept with Buffy? She didn't tell me that."

"What?" Spike asked, looking at Willow. "Slept with Buffy? Oh, god no! I didn't sleep with Buffy at all! I was just saying that to upset him. . .and he didn't get upset."

"William, my boy, I've been around for over two centuries. Buffy may have been a beautiful girl, but she's moved on, and so have I. Besides, she'll be dead soon. She is the Slayer." He glanced at Willow. "I know she's your friend, and I'm sorry, Wills, but it's the truth."

Everyone stared at him. "What?" he asked.

"Bloody insane if you ask me," Spike muttered, walking back into the kitchen.

"You aren't upset?" Cordelia asked.

"Over the Slayer?" Angel laughed, causing everyone's eyebrows to rise. Then his laughter stopped. "Oh, Christ. I'm not upset." He looked around, a look of fear in his eyes. "I should be upset, right?"

"You should go into spiraling depression for days," Cordelia said. "Brood endlessly, driving us nuts."

Angel crossed his arms, a frown on his face. "I just don't. . .feel it. I mean, she's the *Slayer*. What the hell was I thinking?"

"Who's Buffy? What's a Slayer?" David interrupted.