**

Spike took a long drag on his cigarette before throwing down the stub and
crushing it with his booted foot. He then began to bang on the door in
front of him. He waited two seconds before banging on it some more. Finally
the door swung open to reveal a disheveled and shirtless Angel glaring at
him.

"Took you long enough, Peaches." Spike said with a smirk.

Angel frowned but managed to hide his surprise at finding his childe in LA
and at his apartment. "What the hell do you want now, Spike? I’ve destroyed
the Gem of Amarra so if that’s your-"

"Yeah yeah. I heard. You just had to pull the bloody matyr gag, didn’t you?
You couldn’t just keep it in a safe place. Nooo! You just had to go and do
something dramatic! Bloody hell!" Spike cursed out loud.

Angel just sighed, shook his head and began to close the door when Spike
put his hand out to stop him. "Hey! Woah! A little courtesy here? After all
I come bearing you a message from your little bushy tailed bunny."

Angel paused and gave Spike an incredulous look. "Excuse me?"

"Buffy? Ok. I take it that the Watcher didn’t call you and tell you about
my little situation? Figures! The bollock! Probably planned it so that I
will have to spend the next fucking hour explaining and then finally having
to convince you to call the jerk wad himself and confirm it. He’s still mad
at me for that bloody vase of his that I broke! And this is his idea of
revenge! If I had known I would have broke those other antwacky stuff of-"

"SPIKE!"

Spike glared at Angel for being interrupted. "What!"

"Either explain why you are here or get the hell out of here." Angel ground
out, frustrated at having been woken up. He had gone two days without sleep
due to a case and had just laid down to rest when the thunderous knocking
woke him up. Seeing Spike only helped worsen his urge to kill something.

Spike looked at him for a long minute and then shrugged. "Mind if I come in
first, Peaches?"

Angel started to refuse but Spike cut in. "It’s going to be sunrise soon
and I don’t fancy standing here and getting my arse burnt."

Angel sighed and moved away from the door as he let Spike in. Spike looked
around and snorted at Angel’s décor, then immediately made himself
comfortable on the couch. Angel closed the apartment door and warily
followed Spike, sitting opposite him. He arched an eyebrow, gesturing to
Spike to start explaining.

"It all started after I left here from my last visit. By the way, how did
the wounds heal?" Spike asked with a self-satisfied grin.

Angel glared at him. "Don’t try my patience, Spike. It has a very short
tether when it comes to you."

"I’m flattered. Where was I? So I went to Sunnydale to pay you back for the
Amarra deal by sending you little Slayer bits. You know, fingers, toes,
etc. etc. I figured that’s a decent payback."

Angel smirked. "But Buffy kicked your ass, didn’t she?"

"No, you wanker! The Initiative got me. They are a bunch of right Charlies
belonging to the military that attack demons and vampires. They messed with
my head and now I can’t do a decent bit of violence on any humans."

"Do you really expect me to-"

"Let me finish, Soulboy! After that de-fanging they pulled on me, I went to
the Slayer for help. I still don’t know what I was thinking when I went to
her but she took me in. Probably because of Red."

"Willow?" Angels asked.

"That’s what I said! Red! Red has a soft spot for anything that breathes.
She probably made the Slayer take me in."

"Even if this fairy tale of yours was true, which I know it isn’t, I doubt
you would ever admit that Buffy did you a favor by taking you in. Then
again why would she help you?"

"Whatever. Are you going to let me finish or not? They took me in, took a
lot of cheap shots at me while they were at it, even made me snog with the
bloody Slayer!" Spike ranted as he made a face of disgust.

Angel tensed and frowned. "You kissed Buffy? She didn’t tell-" he caught
himself before finishing the sentence.

"What?" Spike asked.

Angel looked away and stood up. "You disappoint me Spike. I would have
thought that you could come up with a better story than this. Do you
honestly expect me to believe that Buffy would help you?"

Spike rolled his eyes. 'Call her up and ask her! Then again, maybe you
shouldn’t. The chit has finally gotten a life of her own. She’s even
humping a new boy. Riley Fish or Gill or something. You are old news, old
man! That’s probably why she didn’t tell you any of this. Spike said with a
smirk as he reached for a cigarette. "Hurts doesn’t it?" he asked gleefully
while toying with the stick of smoke.

Angel stared at Spike for a while and then walked into his room.

"Where are you going?" Spike yelled after him.

Angel didn’t answer. Spike just shrugged and began to look around Angel’s
apartment. He headed for the fridge and his eyes lit up when he spied
packages of blood in the lower shelves. Spike immediately began to help
himself.

After a few long minutes, Angel joined him in the kitchen. "I talked to
Buffy. She confirmed what you said."

Spike demon face faded as his human face appeared. "I told you."

Angel frowned at the mess that Spike at made in his kitchen. "But she also
said that you went MIA yesterday and didn’t even tell any of them. You lied
about carrying some message from Buffy. So what the hell do you want from
me, Spike?"

I’m getting to do that." Spike replied as he sauntered back into the living
room. "I hear you are working as some kind of detective? Is that true?"

"What of it?"

"I need your help, pillock! I want you to find a way to take this chip out
of my head. Plus I can’t stay on the Hellmouth without those GI Joes trying
to nail my ass. I want to stay here."

Angel was silent for a while as if in shock, then he shook his head.
"That’s not going to happen so, see you around and try not to get staked
before I get a chance to do it myself. Goodbye, Spike." Angel said,
dismissively and started to head for the door.

Spike reached out to grab Angel’s arm. "You owe me, Angelus!" he hissed.

Angel pulled free abruptly and looked at Spike through narrowed eyes. "How
do you figure that?"

"You made me what I am! You have an obligation!"

"Get a new excuse, Spike. That one’s getting old. Besides, you’ve made my
life hell long enough to make me regret ever turning you."

For a moment, Angel thought he saw a flash of hurt in the blue eyes. But it
was gone so fast that Angel dismissed it as his imagination. "Besides, have
you forgotten the torture bit?" Angel asked, bitterly.

Spike was silent for a while. His expression was serious as he asked in a
cold and deadly voice, "I haven’t. Have you, Angelus?"

Angel met Spike’s heated gaze. Spike stood directly in front of his sire
until he was in Angel’s face. "You keep giving me the same crap about how I
tortured you. But how about how you tortured me before your little trip to
Hell? Have you forgotten all those times when you came back to the lair
from one of your run-ins with the bloody Slayer and you threw me out of the
wheelchair and buggered me for hours non-stop? All those times when you
beat me to a pulp and starved me until I was almost dust? Those times when
you fucked Dru right before my eyes and then made those idiot minions have
a go at me? All those weeks of pain and torture. Does it make up for your
own one night of torture?" Spike spat out.

Angel looked away guiltily and went to take a seat on the couch. Resting
his elbows on his knees, he rested his forehead in his hands. He never
forgot the things he had done as Angelus. He just couldn’t. If Buffy was
one of his foremost regrets, Spike was right beside her. That was why he
had arranged his deal with Buffy.

Angel looked at Spike who was clenching his jaws and staring into space.
His azure blue eyes were in turmoil as he was obviously trying to rein in
his anger. Angel remembered all too well the first time he had reunited
with Spike and Drusilla as Angelus after losing his soul. They had been
happy to see him. Both of them. Then it began to change for Spike. The
demon couldn’t stand the weakness in his favorite childe and it was
determined to teach him a lesson for getting himself in that helpless
position. It started with Drusilla. Angelus would flaunt his ownership of
the dark, insane, vampiress in front of Spike. Then, as all it got from
Spike was hostile acceptance, he turned his attention to other forms of
punishment. Angelus took great pleasure from dominating Spike. Spike had
got it right when he said that Angelus had taken out his frustration with
the Slayer, out on Spike. Every time Buffy ruined one of his plans, Spike
would bear the brunt of his anger.

Angel watched Spike as he casually sat down on one of the armchair and
propped his legs up on the table. He knew that the younger vampire didn’t
expect an answer for his questions but Angel wanted to say
something-anything to make him understand how much he wanted to take those
times back. "No. It doesn’t make up for all that. I’m sorr-"

"Whatever. Don’t go broody on me now, Peaches. I don’t care about that now.
So does this mean I get to stay or not?" Spike asked with an arch of his
eyebrows, knowing his sire’s answer only too well.

Angel closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Spike was right.
He did owe him. More than he could pay. "Fine. But once the chip come out,
you are out of here too," Angel stated matter-of-factly.

Spike grinned. "Sure thing, Dad! Like I would want to stay around you
longer than I have to. So-" Spike jumped up and began to walk towards the
room, "Where do I sleep? Do you have an entertainment system here? Is this
pad soundproof? It better be. I like my music loud. And don’t play any of
that Vivaldi crap while I’m here. That guy was killed for a reason!" Spike
droned on as he went exploring Angel’s apartment.

Angel yearningly looked at the covered window. Maybe sunlight wasn’t as bad
as it was purported to be.

***

End of Part 1.
 

Next

Return