Pairing: W/S
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: Joss owns all the people and the places, I am making them do different things, is all.
Distro: NHA, WLS, Redssoulmates, WWOMB, Mystifying Dreams, and anyone else I've given permission to.
Summary: Willow seems to be the one who would have gone back for him first.
Thank you Kat for the wonderful beta!
A/N: It's been a while. If you need to refresh your memories, the previous stories can be found at http://www.redssoulmates.com/spike/femailofthespecies/couldwewanderseries1.html
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Hyperion was dark. The vampire opened the front door going inside first, letting senses expand. Not picking up anything that presented a danger he stepped aside and Willow walked in behind him, sticking close to his side.
The ride to Los Angeles started out cheerful and chatty, but as they approached their destination, Spike had become quiet and introspective. Willow tried to cajole him out of the mood, but his monosyllabic responses grew tiresome and she gave up. Now he was crackling with energy, but still did not have much to say. She knew it was because of Angel. His sire did not know about the soul. Willow was pretty certain she was the only person he had told. She felt a rush of pride at being his confidant and vowed to be worthy. No one else saw fit to trust her anymore which made her even more grateful for his faith in her.
"Where is he?" she whispered.
The lights suddenly went on.
"He's right here," Angel replied from the walkway overlooking the lobby. A young thin girl came up behind him, pushing glasses up on her bird-like nose.
"Peaches, good to see you." Spike tried niceties first.
"What do you want, Spike? And what are you doing with him, Willow?" He came down the stairs slowly, his eyes darting between the two of them as if he was not sure who was the greater threat.
"Hi, Angel. Spike and I.I mean we. we're kinda running away."
"Are not!" Spike huffed. "We are not bloody running away," he protested, looking at her incredulously, his voice taking on that hoarse quality it gained when he was put out.
Angel sighed and looked up at Fred. "Go on to back to bed, Fred. It's okay."
"Who are they?" she asked, not ready to leave the excitement yet.
"A friend..and family," he added reluctantly and through clenched teeth.
Knowing that was all she was likely to get from him right now, she disappeared into the hotel for parts unknown.
"Willow, have you gone evil again?" He asked, frustrated and tired.
"What? No!"
"Now why are you asking the girl that, Peaches? You know she's sorry for what happened." Spike had come up next to her and was rubbing her back.
"I can't think of another reason why she's with you, Spike. She knows you're a killer." Angel spoke, frowning at the scene unfolding before him. Why was Spike coddling her?
"It's okay. I get why he's asking and no I am not evil." She refrained from sticking her tongue out at Angel, but really wanted to. "For the record, when that happens I get all veiny and black haired and it's pretty scary. Or so I'm told, but that's not gonna happen because I've learned how to.relax and other cool stuff."
Angel just glared at them both for a moment before turning and heading upstairs. He called out behind him. "Let's find you somewhere to sleep."
~~~*~~~
Angel, in his infinite wisdom, put them in separate rooms, Spike's being far away from his and Willow's. After Spike retrieved their things from the car, Willow changed into her pajamas and slipped out to sleep with Spike. He was in bed already, waiting for her to arrive apparently, before turning out the light. She knew he didn't need it and rarely used one unless reading to her.
"How'd you know I'd come to you?" she asked as she snuggled in next to him.
He draped his arm over her, resting it on her hip as he nuzzled into her hair and neck. "Big place like this, you're not sleeping alone.You smell good," he added distractedly.
"You feel good."
They lay talking quietly, making and discarding plans with light-hearted amusement.
"Well, Vegas is just bad. It's called Sin City, Spike."
"Yeah and that's why we should go. I can properly debauch you and you won't feel guilty because you can blame it on the town. 'Sides, I can win us a lot of money, playing poker."
Her eyes lit up. She was not money-hungry like Anya, but the prospect of him beating the odds and living high off the hog for a while intrigued her. "Can you? Will you teach me?"
"Yeah, I'll teach you, but when I'm working you can't be there." His tone was serious.
"Why not?" she pouted. They had not even made a real plan to go there and she was already trying to get her way. She was adorable.
"Because you, my sweet, are a distraction. I'll be using all my senses and can't concentrate like that if I see you sitting there licking your lips and breathy and excited over a good hand. Plus sometimes the management insists that I leave, when my luck is too good. I don't want you around for that." If he needed to get out of there quickly, Willow would be a liability.
"We'll see." She was not sure if she was going to let him put her on some shelf.
And so went the rest of the night with them falling asleep a short time before sunrise, Willow comfortably nestled in his strong and protective arms.
~~~*~~~
The absence of Willow's heartbeat in her room sent Angel looking. She was easy to find, he could hear and smell her on the other side of the door, along with Spike. They were both still sleeping and he had the urge to barge in and screw with them, but refrained. The air was clear of the scent of sex. He would just have a talk with his childe once the blonde got up.
That took hours.
His guests did not grace him with their presence until nearly three in the afternoon.
As his childe descended the stairs, the wild tuffs of hair threw Angel. Spike was not one for letting his natural curls show. Therefore he was not as ready with his attack as he had planned. Instead, a question escaped him.
"William, what's wrong?"
Spike stopped in his tracks. No one else even noticed anything amiss. The tiny brunette from the night before was buried in a book and there was a tall dark-skinned male who was preoccupied with cleaning an axe that appeared to be made of a tire rim, but he could be sure. He continued going down the stairs.
"Nothing's wrong. And why are you calling me that?" He frowned. He had not been William to Angelus for a long time and that was fine with him.
Angel had to think about what he had said and upon realizing, he muttered an apology.
"So.Where's Willow?"
"Taking a shower. Have you lost your vampiric senses? Can't you hear her for yourself?" He was testy and Angel decided there was no use talking with him as long as he had an audience to entertain.
He walked into his office, Wesley's old office.quickly he shut down that thought. The man pulled him out of the ocean and that counted for a lot. Didn't it?
After a few minutes Spike followed as he suspected he would. Angel was at his desk pretending to work.
"Have a seat, Spike," he ordered, not looking up yet. Surprisingly, the blonde did as told. Angel gazed at his childe.
"What's wrong, Spike? You're moodier than usual. You've taken up with a human, a witch and. your hair isn't combed."
The younger vampire laughed. "Yeah, that all adds up to something evil. You've got me, doc. I give up," he replied as he settled into the chair for what he suspected would be a long lecture.
Angel ignored him. He had years of practice and excelled at it. "Okay, let's start with the easy questions. Why are you and Willow here?"
Spike wanted to keep dodging his sire's inquiries and in the past had done so for hours until Angelus took to beating it out of him. Even that did not always work. Yet he saw in Angel a chance to figure out this thing inside him and maybe have some sort of relationship with his sire now that they had this thing, virus, parasite, in common.
"Things aren't going so well for her in Sunnydale.for either of us really. They don't trust her. Treat her different now, and not better different. It's cold there for her. And I did something.makes it impossible to be around them anymore.
"I know what you did, Spike."
Blue eyes shot up to meet brown and his first inclination was to run, far, far away.
"What do you know?"
"I know that you supposedly tried to rape her."
"I did try."
"Uh huh." Angel stood and began to pace. "I know you, Spike. I taught you. If you were really bent on doing it, we would be talking about rape and not attempted rape. I'm not sure what you and Buffy got up to, but it's over. She's fine and you're fine."
Spike was stunned, but recovered quickly. "We came here so that you would know she was with me by choice. We know Buffy will call you to bring me in and teach me some manners, but truth is we want to go away for a while and see who we are together."
"Do you love her, Spike?" This was too real a possibility to ignore. The blonde was love's self-proclaimed bitch.
"I don't know. I think I love her as a person." He had been looking down, but glanced up at his sire, with a small smirk. It was pure William and made Angel's heart ache for his lost boy. "She's bloody amazing and I want her to be happy."
It was only a matter of days, maybe hours, before he got that call demanding that he find and stake Spike for the good of all humanity. He got something like it about once a month, until recently. Which brought him full circle.
"Spike.Look, you and Willow.I can't stop that. She's a big girl and I thought she was gay, but hey.stranger things. But I'm not letting you out of here. Not out of this room until you tell me what's happened to you. I can feel it all over you, boy. I'm your Sire, no matter how we pretend I'm not and you can't fool me."
~~~*~~~
Spike got Angel some water. He was choking, although how someone who didn't need to breath could choke was beyond his understanding.
"A soul?" he squawked and cleared his throat. "A soul? Why Spike?"
"I didn't do it on purpose, you git. Wanted the chip removed, to be what I was, but the soddin' demon went back a little too far. Not specific enough, was I?"
Laughter erupted from the brunette and Spike saw red. He charged his sire head on, swinging at him wildly, while Angel blocked the blows easily. His boy was hurt and working it out, not trying to harm him. But he could not stop laughing so Spike kept swinging, until they were both spent and sprawled on the floor. Eventually, Spike gave in and chuckled a bit, there was a twisted humor in it all that he had to appreciate.
"So."
"So." Spike replied, sitting up.
"Where are you gonna go?"
"Not sure. Just plan to roam around, but not too far in case they need us back on the Hellmouth. We do plan to hit Vegas so I can win a fortune for us to spend," he said, happy that they had discussed this the night before.
"You can stay here, you know."
Spike blinked, but gave no other indication that he was surprised. "Nah, she doesn't want to see them and they'll come. Don't want you lying for us either. Fuck up your bloody redemption and I'll never hear the end of it." He pouted. Angel gave a tiny smile that felt huge inside.
"Well, you can make pit stops, check in every week or so." He offered.
Spike turned and faced Angel, really seeing him for the first time. His sire was reaching out to him, maybe wanting to build something new. "Yeah, I suppose we can do that. It'll keep us from getting too far away then?"
"Yeah, it will."
There was a soft knock and the door opened. Green eyes glanced around, full of caution, until they spied the pair on the floor. She smiled brightly. "Hey guys."
"Did you sleep well?" Angel asked, realizing that she must be on vampire time.
"Oh yeah, the bed was very comfortable and big with me in it all by myself and all those covers and pillows, lots of pillows."
"One of which is called Spike?" Angel joked.
"What? Uh I ."
"No worries, luv. Peaches and I had a nice chat."
"You did? And did you boys play nice?" She sauntered up to Spike and sunk to her knees next to him.
"Yeah, we're getting along"
"Spike tells me you're going to Vegas."
"Oh, yeah and he's gonna teach me how to play poker and he going to win lots of money so we can stay in really nice places."
"Yeah, well watch out. He's been black-listed."
~~~*~~~
After much arguing Angel convinced them to call Buffy and Xander. Spike, of course, accused Angel of trying to make things easier on himself with Buffy, but in the end relented and helped convince Willow to call. She was the real holdout and it took a lot of talking, pleading and yelling before she agreed and picked up the "damn phone".
"Buffy?"
"Hey Wills. What's up?"
"I just wanted to, um, let you know that I'm leaving for a while." She cringed just a bit, expecting an outburst.
"What? Leaving? Why?"
"Things aren't right.you know that. I just want some time to get myself together."
"No, you had time. England was time, right?.I'm coming over. We just need to talk things out."
"No.I've already gone, Buffy, so don't bother."
"What.you left without saying goodbye?"
Willow could hear the tears in her friend's voice and almost caved, almost said she was coming back. Almost.
"I'm saying goodbye now.I couldn't see you, or Xander. I would never be able to leave if I saw you."
"Oh Willow, what's happened to us?"
"I did some things.we all did some things I suppose, but mine were kinda life altering."
"I'm sorry, Wills."
"I know.me too. But I'm coming back and you can call me if you need me."
"Oh, where will you be?"
"I'm not sure. We will just go wherever, I guess."
"We?" Silence. "Where's Spike?"
Her friend's tone suddenly changed. The vampires heard it too. Angel was a bit surprised by the venom in it. Spike was resolved.
"He's with me. I made him come along."
"Well, bring him back."
"No, Buffy. I won't. You.I can't trust you with him. You'll.do something."
"Damn right. I'll put a stake through his skinny ass and be done with it."
Willow sighed. "Look, it's Spike's cell. I know you know the number. If you need us call, we'll never be more than a day away at the most."
"Willow! He's dangerous!"
"Yeah, well in case you haven't noticed, so am I."
"It's not the same!"
"Oh, isn't it? Buffy, I loved someone so much that I killed people and tried to kill all of you. I wanted to at the time and I am not sorry that I killed Warren or Rack. He loved you so much that he did something stupid too. At least he left the world out of it."
"Willow."
"Tell Xander I'll call him when he's home from work. I love you Buffy.
"I love you too Willow. Please don't.just please call, a lot, okay?"
"I promise. Bye Buffy."
~~~*~~~
She hung up the phone slowly and collapsed in Spike's waiting arms, her body shaking with heart-wrenching sobs. He just held her and cooed soothingly while she got it all out. Angel watched for a moment, but found it too private a moment and felt like he was intruding. So he made an excuse of getting a supply blood for Spike to take and left them in the office.
Time passed, neither knew how much, and she finally sat up, looking at his wet shirt with a pout.
"I made you all soggy." She giggled a little as he wiped her tears away.
"It's all right, pet. Got three others just like it." He smiled at her, tiny lines in the corner of his eyes letting her know it was real. He was real.
"That was harder than I thought." She stood. "But I'm glad I did it. And I'm glad we're going. I wanna leave as soon as the sun sets."
"Yeah? No regrets then?" he asked, standing up as well.
"No regrets." She leaned into him and stole a kiss. It was quick and sweet and full of promise. "I hear Las Vegas is open all night, every night. Perfect for vampires with exceptional gambling abilities."
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