Another thing Angel's suddenly keen on preventing: the Groosalugg from sweeping in and stealing his thunder. That night at the ballet had forced him to wake up and get with the program, only to be two seconds to late to a reveal that would've changed everything. The first of a series of missed opportunities between them. He'd stop Jasmine from pushing her into a position where she'd be able to take control of her body and seize that opportunity before anyone else had the chance to do it.

Happiness was no longer an issue. Seeing everything in his life even out and be the way it ought to be won't trigger the clause in a curse that's no longer applicable now that he's human and becoming Angelus no longer a risk.

"I lost a lot of people during those years, Cordy. Not just Connor. Would you believe that at the end of it all, before I figured out how to make things right, that the only ones of us left standing were me and Spike?"

Connor was dead, Wesley was a ghost, Illyria was lost, and Gunn was a vampire. In the end, the two heroes left were two men with the rockiest history of all. And before time reset, after he let Gunn behead him, Spike stood alone.

He hated that and was immensely glad the bleached blonde would have zero recollection of it.