Part 1

Spike stood in the back of the bronze watching the six people at the
table. His sire was there, but something was off. He couldn't put
his finger on it but the looks that he kept passing to three of the
others just weren't right. If it wasn't for the fact that the slayer
was sitting there with them he would think that it was Angelus he was
watching, not the soul filled one.

Angel was sitting between the red head and a brunette girl who was
sitting beside a brunette boy, the slayer was next to him and a
purple haired boy was in between the slayer and the red head.

Everyone but the slayer looked like they were having a good time.
She just looked bored. She would look around every once in a while,
like she was looking for someone, and then turn back to those at the
table.

Spike knew that he was taking a big risk being this close. His sire
should be able to feel him and know that his childe was near by.

Spike couldn't understand why his sire was here to begin with. The
slayer was battling him to the death the last time Spike saw them.
How was Angel sitting there chatting it up when the world wasn't
sucked into hell?

Just then his sire looked right in his direction, locked gazes with
him and nodded his head. It was a slight movement, but enough for
Spike to know his presence was know, and the next move was his.
 

Spike couldn't pull his gaze away from his sire, and then Angel
smirked and turned to the red head. Nothing was said from what Spike
could see, but the red head turned in his direction and smiled.

She stood and Spikes mouth dropped open, she was beautiful. She was
dressed in an emerald green slip dress and she carried herself like
she knew she was an eyeful. The last time he saw her she didn't look
comfortable in her own skin, now she looked like she could walk
around without any clothes and be right at home.

She walked over to the two brunettes' and said something and they
looked at her then at Angel and stood with her. They moved to the
dance floor and the three of them danced together over to the corner
where he was hiding in the shadows.

"Angel would like to talk to you," red said. "Meet him at the
mansion tonight at two."

She laughed as the boy spun her around, "And don't let anyone know
that you are in town." The boy looked right in his direction when he
said it.

Spike like most everyone around them watched until the song was over
and they left the dance floor. The three of them were great
together. The two girls were dressed almost alike, with the brunette
in a red dress, and the boy in black jeans and a blue silk shirt.

He wondered what had happened since he left. The last time he was
here the slayer was the leader of the group, now it seemed that the
redhead was. Or was she just speaking for Angel?

That he couldn't understand. Angel always did his own talking. He
didn't go for having someone else talk for him. Something was
definitely going on here. And Spike was going to find out what it
was.

Once they reached the table and sat back down, Angel looked back over
at him and raised an eyebrow.

Spike nodded his head, to let him know that he would meet him, like
requested.

He watched as the group broke up and left. The red head was with the
purple haired boy, the two brunette's left together and the slayer
tried to corner Angel to go with her but he left alone.

Spike slipped out the back, and went to feed.

Part 2

Spike caught up with the group of four in the playground. All but
the purple haired boy was sitting on the swings laughing about
something the other boy had said.

He caught a scent on the breeze and wondered why his sire was
watching them. Glancing around he couldn't feel Angel anywhere.
Moving closer to the scent, he realized that it was coming from the
three teens sitting on the swings.

Any vampire around would smell them and know that they belonged to
someone else and leave them alone. That must be why they weren't
worried about being out here at night. They knew what walked around
in the dark of Sunnyhell.

That still didn't explain why they were carrying the scent of a
master vampire that had a soul though. Or why two of the three had
changed so much since the last time he had seen them.

He would just have to wait until he talked to his sire, and hopefully
he would get some answers then.

He had come back for the red head and the funny boy, but now they
seemed to be under the protection of his sire. Why was it he always
had to want his sire's toys?

He missed his sire and would love to have a relationship with him
again, but with the soul there was no way. Not that he minded, but
his sire seemed ashamed of what he was. And didn't want anything to
do with him.

It hurt to know that his sire hated him, but he wouldn't let them
know that. He had his pride. He just wanted his family back. And
his sire was the head of that family.

He watched the red head look at her watch, and then she stood up and
nodded to the other two.

Spike noticed that the purple haired boy had left sometime, damn he
thought to himself. He had to stop getting lost in thoughts of his
sire like that.

He followed the three that were left at a safe distance, he didn't
know if they could tell he was here or not. But he didn't want them
to know just yet.

Spike realized that they were going to the mansion, and stayed back
just a bit so that his sire wouldn't know that he was here yet. What
the bloody hell was going on here?

He snuck around to the back and watched through the windows as they
all sat in the main room talking. The two brunettes' were on the
couch and the red head was sitting beside Angel by the fireplace.
Suddenly Angel raised his head and glanced in his direction.

"Hello, my boy."

Part 3

Spike watched as the red head stood and walked over to the door
leading to the courtyard where he was. She smiled at him and opened
the door.

"Not that you need it, but come in."

There was something about her that he couldn't figure out and he
didn't like it. He just stood there watching them, not moving to go
inside. He wanted to keep the way clear in case this was a setup and
he had to run. He wouldn't let them stake him. If that's what they
wanted he would be better off out here.

"Now don't be shy, my boy, no one here will hurt you," came the deep
voice of his sire, who hadn't moved from his spot since the red head
had stood.

Spike just shook his head, while staring at the red head. There was
no way he was going in there until he knew what was going on here.

She moved towards him, still smiling. He could see nothing in her
eyes that said she wanted to dust him. But he hadn't lived this long
by taking chances with the slayers mates.

The red head reached out her hand and waited. She was waiting on him
to make the next move.

He watched as she tilted her head to one side as if questioning
him. "Come," she whispered.

What had happened to his cockiness? He was acting like a bloody
idiot in front of these human's. But there was something about this
that just wasn't right and he didn't like it.

The redhead had a presence about her, other than the scent of Angel
that made him uneasy.

Finally deciding to go with it and get this meeting over with, then
maybe he could find out what was going on. Spike put his hand in
hers and let her lead him into the mansion.

Once they were inside she released his hand and moved back over to
sit by Angel. Spike watched as his sire pulled her into his arms
and whispered something to her.

"Evening Deadboy Jr." the boy said with a grin.

"Xander," the brunette said smacking him on the arm. "Seems everyone
has forgotten their manners, so," she said to him as she stood. "I'm
Cordy, this," she said motioning to the boy, "is Xander."

She waved her hand towards the red head, "That's Willow and I believe
you know who he is."

"Yeah, I know who he is. What I don't know is what he is doing
here." Spike told her.

"That's a long story, maybe you would like to sit down for it,"
Xander stated.

"I thought you were the slayer's chums, why are you…" Spike was cut
off by a growl from Angel.

"They are mine."

Part 4

Willow turned to place her hand on Angel's check to soothe him.  Once
he had stopped growling she turned back to Spike.

"Sit down, and we will try to explain."

She waited until he had sat in the chair by the sofa and turned back
to Angel.  "You want me to start or would you like to tell him?"  She
asked softly.

"Being as most of it started while I was in Hell, you start." Angel
sneered.

Willow nodded, "Well you know about Angelus trying to open the portal
to hell, and Buffy having to stop him."  At Spike's nod she
continued, "Well I was trying to do the spell to restore his soul,
when Dru broke into the library.  I ended up in a coma.  When I woke
up I tried again, and this time it worked."

"But it was too late by that time and Buffy ended up sending Angel to
hell instead of Angelus.  Then she decided that she couldn't handle
everything and ran away.  Leaving us here to fight by ourselves."

Willow could feel her hatred for the bottle blonde slayer coming to
the front and took a deep breath, "She finally came back expecting
everything to be the same."

"As if," Cordy said.

Willow smiled at her, "Well anyway, once she came back and decided to
tell us what happened.  That she had sent Angel to hell instead of
Angelus.  The three of us got together and decided to get him out."

"Why would you do that after what he put you through?" Spike
questioned.

"Because we wanted him back," Xander said.

"I thought you hated him, I know that he didn't like you very much."

"Just let her finish," Xander nodded to Willow with a smile.

"So, we managed to find the spell and to get Angel out.  But we
didn't want for him to end up losing his soul all over again, so I
found a spell that would anchor his soul."

At Spike's shocked look she smiled softly, "We gathered up what we
needed and came here to do the spell.  Once he was out we cast the
spell to anchor his soul. And waited for him to wake up."

"When he woke up he wasn't altogether himself, so we nursed him back
to health and that's when we realized that the spell to anchor his
soul had changed him some."

"What do you mean changed him?  He still looks like the same poof to
me," Spike asked.

"Everything is not want it appears, my boy," Angel stated with a grin.

Spiked looked at him and finally understood some of what was going
on. "Angelus!"

Part 5

Angel leaned back against the stones surrounding the fireplace and
pulled Willow back into his arms.  "Not quite," he stated.  "Like
Willow said, I have my soul.  But the spell that she used to anchor
it didn't dispel the demon.  It just made it a little closer to the
surface."

"Meaning what, exactly?" Spike pulled out a cigarette and lit it
up. "You're still the great poof, but you're a little psycho to go
along with it?"

Everyone laughed at that.

"No, it means that I didn't want him to feel all the guilt for what
he had done.  So we did it a little different than what Buffy and
Giles expects," Willow said.

Spike inhaled deeply "Different how?"

"As you know when I was here last time I was a little crazy," Angel
started.

"A little?" Spike snickered.  "Try a lot, peaches."

"Yes, well, remind me to thank you for hitting me over the head with
that crow bar later," Angel smirked.  "They figured out that my
having a soul for almost a hundred years, caused my demon to become
unstable.  So as much as they didn't want to, they gave me back my
soul but took out the guilt clause."

"You three wanted Angelus?" Spiked asked them in astonishment.

"Yes," they said in unison.

"Why?  And what about the slayer?"  Spike flicked his ash on the
floor.

"Ha, she can't even see what is right in front of her!" Xander puts
his arm around Cordy.

"She thinks that I am still her Angel." He shuddered and pulled
Willow closer to him.

"And she will think that right up till the end," Willow said.

"The end?"

Angel looked over at Xander and Cordy, then down at Willow, "Should
we tell him, little one?"

Willow looked over at Spike as if trying to see if he could be
trusted.  He looked right at her not saying anything.  She finally
glanced back at Angel and nodded.

"The end of the game, and her life," Angel stated calmly.

Part 6

“You are going to take out the slayer?” Spike lit up another cigarette.

“Yes and now that you are here we should be able to move up the plans
a little bit.”  Angel stood and walked over to the tray that was sitting on the table.
He poured two glasses of blood and walked over to hand one to Spike.
“You are home, right?”

Spike stared at his sire, wondering if this was all some kind of trap.  He was
having trouble believing all he was been told.  “I have a few questions first.”

Angel smiled and nodded, then walked back over to sit beside Willow, “Go ahead.”

Spike tried to pin the hundred questions running through his brain down, so he
could get some answers.  He figured he would start with the most obvious and go from
there.

Taking a sip from the glass he started, “When did you four become such good mates?”

“While I was Angelus.” Angel shrugged.

Spike almost growled, getting information from his sire was like pulling teeth sometimes.
Angel knew the question he was being asked and like always, he was going
to make Spike come out and ask directly in order to get the answers he wanted.

Well two could play this game and Spike had learned from the best, the man sitting in
front of him. “How?”

Angel smirked at him, “I showed them what they were missing.”

This time Spike did growl, much to the amusement of everyone in the room.

“What cryptic guy is trying to say is, while he was Angelus he showed us what we could
be with a little help from him.”  Cordy stood and moved over to sit with Angel
and Willow.  “And we found that we liked his games and didn’t want to lose him.”

Where was he when all this was happening?  This he never saw, the only thing that
Angelus seemed to be was obsessed with the slayer.  “The four of you?”

“Yep, just one big happy family.”  Xander quipped as he to moved over to where the
others were.

Spiked watched as Angel moved Willow into his lap and Xander took her spot beside
Angel.  They all looked complete together, where did that leave him?  Out of his
sire’s life as usual it seemed.  He thought sadly.

Willow looked up from Angel’s chest.  “Want to be our big brother?”

Spike looked at her shocked, “You want me to join you?”

He couldn’t believe it, there was no way that these human’s could want him after
everything that he had done to them.

“We accepted Angelus, didn’t we?” Willow smiled at him.

Spike almost spit his blood across the room, “Are you reading my mind, pet?”

Spike watched as Willow buried her head in Angel’s chest again, and it looked like
her shoulders were shaking.  Angel tightened his grip on her and started
whispering to the slight girl.  Soon, a light purring filled the room as Angel tried to
comfort the red head.

“She sees things differently now,” Cordy whispered while rubbing Willow’s back.

Spike finished off his blood and set the glass on the table next to him, “How so?”

“She doesn’t see like you or I would.” Xander put his arm around the girl and kissed
the top of her head.

Willow looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “What they are trying to say is
that,” she swallowed hard.

“I’m blind.”

Part 7

Spike sat in stunned silence. He didn't know what to say to that
one. She didn't move like someone who was blind. He finally moved
when his cigarette burned his fingers. Putting it out, he turned to
his sire with a raised eyebrow.

Angel kissed her forehead, then looked at Spike. "After Buffy sent me
to Hell, Willow didn't know what had happened. She couldn't feel me
anymore so she did a spell. Because I was in Hell, it backfired on
her. Now she can't see normally. She can see the aura around things
but she can't really see the things."

Angel stopped as the girl in question sobbed into his shirt. Running
his fingers through her hair trying to soothe her, he continued, "She
can see the aura around you sitting in the aura around the chair, but
she can't see you or the chair."

Spike thought about what was said. He couldn't believe so much had
changed in the last six months. He had come back because he had
wanted Willow and Xander. Something in them called out to him and
now he had a good idea what that was.

Glancing at his sire he stood and walked over to them. He squatted
down in front of them and raised his hand. "May I?"

At his sire's nod, he put his hand on Willow's shoulder. He waited
until she looked up at him. "I would love to be your big brother,
being as you and Xander are the reason I came back to this bloody
town."

"What do you mean you came back for them?" Angel growled.

Spike grinned at Angel. "Don't get your knickers in a bunch. I
won't challenge your claim on them. It seems that was what was
drawing me to them in the first place."

Angel looked hard at him, to see if he was telling the truth, "They
are mine," he growled again.

Willow placed her hand on Angel's cheek and laughed. "But you
share."

Spike watched as Angel look down in her laughing green eyes, and knew
that if it were him, he wouldn't be able to deny her anything. He
would walk in the sun if she looked at him that way and asked him too.

"Can we trust him, little one?" Angel finally whispered.

Willow looked back over at Spike, and stared at him for a moment. "I
don't see anything that says we can't."

Spike just watched them. He was trying to figure out if she would
have really been able to tell if he was lying or not when Willow
laughed.

"Of course I could have, Spike, your aura can't lie to me."

"That's our little witch.' Xander laughed.

Spike looked over at Xander with a cocky grin, "So what's the plan to
take out the slayer?"

"We are," Cordy chirped.

Willow just giggled.

Part 8

Spike stared at the giggling girl like she had gone insane. "How are
you four the way to kill the slayer?"

Willow just laughed harder. Everyone watched her with a smile on
their face.

Once she had herself together, Angel stated, "Well, being as it's
Willow's plan, I will let her tell you."

Willow nodded, "You see, when Angelus was here, Buffy couldn't stake
him because she loved Angel. So we have decided to really blow her
mind. When we take the selfish little whiner out, Angel will have
turned us and she wont be able to do anything but cry about all that
has happened to her."

"Isn't she just evil!" Xander clapped. "I can see her now, crying
because she lost her researchers. And begging Angel here to tell her
that it just isn't so."

"Not like she really cares or anything," Cordy sneered.

"We will take care of her Cordy," Angel growled, glancing down at
Willow. "I promise."

"You know she wouldn't be so bad if she actually paid attention to
what was going on around her." Willow played with the buttons on
Angel's shirt.

"She should have never of left the three of you to fend for
yourselves," Angel snarled. "I can't and won't ever forgive her for
that!"

"We did all right," Willow smiled softly.

Angel glanced tenderly at the small girl in his arms. "That you did,
Little One, that you did."

Angel couldn't believe his luck in finding this petite red head. She
was everything to him, and she had even made sure that her two
friends were protected before she would agree to anything Angelus had
wanted from her.

She had stood up to Angelus and told him how she would have it or he
could just kill her now and never have her. She never showed him an
ounce of fear.

And when she turned that smile of hers on him, he had not been able
to tell her no. So here they sat, one big happy family. And now he
had Spike back into the fold. What more could a demon want?

Angel was pulled out of his thoughts by Spike. "So what do I get to
do?"

Angel saw Willow smile before he turned back to his childe. "You, my
boy, get to lay low and not let the slayer know you are in town.
Then, when the moment is right," Angel paused for effect, "you get to
snap her little neck."
 

The End

read the sequal They All Fall Down

back