Return to Innocence
Author: Simon
Email: witchvamp@crosswinds.net
Disclaimer: Joss, WB and Mutant Enemy own everything.
Rating: NC17. Sex and Violence
Pairing: Darla/Spike Willow/Spike
Summary: Angel meets some old friends
Spoilers: To Shanshu in L.A. (S1) Restless (S4)
Feedback: Would be very appreciated

Part 1

A dark windy night in L.A. The night silences
the homeless as they shelter from the relentless cold,
shivering in their eternal misery in the alleyways
nearby Angel Investigations, fruitlessly trying to
gain warmth from the dampened blankets and boxes, whatever
trash they can find from the department stores.

She moved quickly, swooping on her helpless victim, it
was L.A filth, but it was blood. His weak pitiful cry was
drowned out by the rustling of newspapers as they blew
through the alleyway.

Her pure demonic existence confused her more now, it
seemed strangely familiar, she was still confused
as to how, and what the hell she was doing here, she knew
she acted this way on impulse, but the lust that drove
her was gone, she spluttered out the blood, reeling
back from the vile taste she had plunged her teeth
into mere seconds ago. Dropping his feeble body, he cursed
her as he slumped against the wall, smashing his liqeur
bottle. She squealed in disgust as she convulsed violently
against the far wall. The bum muttered at her
in a language she had no understanding of, feeling
lost without a place in this world, she ran out
into the deserted streets.

L.A - Angel Investigations
Wesley sat quietly, his usual watcherish behaviour
still intact, he concentrated deeply on this thoughts,
reflecting on the past week's events. Maybe
Angel would be spared by the powers that be, his destiny
to remain human, and die as a mortal, that struck home
how vulnerable all mortals really are. They had
dealt with deadly demons and vampires over the years
and handled rogue slayers but..

He raised the glass to his lips and slowly gulped
a mouthful of the whisky, never normally touching alcohol,
but they were in over their heads this time, whatever
was in that box was something bigger than they had
ever handled, were they willing to die for this? They
needed help. They needed the slayer.

"Sheesh, get a grip on reality, you, on the hard
stuff?"

Her voice stirred him from his deep and meaningful.

"Oh, Cordelia, what?"

"Give me the bottle Wesley" He futiley handed it over, offering
no resistance, he wasn't in for getting blind drunk.

"Where's Angel?" She continued. Wesley regained
his thoughts and gathered himself.

"Oh he's, well shall we say, slightly indebted
to the fate of delivering tonight's international
exquisite menu"

Cordy adopted her Sunnydale High attitude, standing
in her "in crowd" pose.

"Huh?"

"He went for takeout"

Realising how british Wesley could be, she let this
one go, returning to her pacing, they each had
something on their mind tonight, she however
was thinking of her future at Angel Investigations,
still, L.A was a big step up from Sunnydale.

"Ohhh, right, did he bother to call about the Dopley
case we had to finish tonight? I think not, sometimes
a mobile phone is a waste on him" She wandered off
leaving Wesley to finish his drink.

Angel wrestled with the drivers chair, he paused at the traffic lights
to adjust the cramped space he was confined to, he hated when Cordelia
left the chair inched forward, hundreds of years as an immortal vampire
it amazed him how humanised modern L.A made him feel, he'd been to
hell and back, fought demons, loved a slayer, and now the car behind was
parping it's horn impatiently to get home to their sheltered lifestyle,
naive to the darkness and evil roaming the streets every night
of every year.

Angel drove off, leaving the headlights in the rear mirror far behind, he
sped along, deep in his thoughts. Of all the current case files he
was working on, his thoughts could only focus on whatever was in that
box, cases were all he had to think about he assumed, it was better
than sitting alone in the darkness, many a night in Sunnydale
had involved saving the world several times over in a week, and
dealing with the slayer, memories were painful, but he coped, but now
he just coped with the slightly empty world of L.A, law, ironic that
a vampire like himself was fighting for good. The box. It signified
something, something was coming.

Something shot out of the shadows, glistening slightly in the moonlight,
directly in front of him now, he screeched to a halt as the figure thudded
over the bonnet of his car, Angel winced as whatever it was pounded over
the windscreen and slid over the top, gliding into the air, it fell
to the floor with a sickening thud as he stopped and looked in his mirror.

He closed his eyes and swallowed hard.

Moments passed before he opened his eyes again, glancing in the mirror.

It moved.

Angel got out and carelessly went to aid whatever he had hit, maybe
he should have been more cautious, but this seemed harmless, the build
looked like a young female, probably mortal and harmless. She was up
and walking, more staggering weakly, dazed and confused, into the night.

He caught up with her.

"Miss? Are you ok?"

She timidly turned to him, fear and severe pain in her eyes as they met
his, confusion flooded her face, pain, not physical, but familiar emotional
pain that tormented for years, scaring Angel as he recognised her pain, and
more. She could barely speak, frightened for her life it seemed to Angel.

"Angelus.."

"Darla.."

Part 2

Her face turned to pale fear and horror, her shrilling cries pierced
the night, striking horror and agony into Angel himself, nothing
he had ever dealt with was more terrifying than the look he saw
in her eyes, he knew she was screaming to herself silently, the pain
and memories of all she had killed was flooding her eyes with terrifying
tears.

She broke away and ran sobbing, fleeing into the night, one memory
was too much for her, Angelus had killed her back in Sunnydale.

Angel stood for endless moments, shocked, alone in the deserted night,
disbelieving that even Darla was alive, the one thought that eluded
him was he himself had once died at the hands of Buffy, returning
in the same frightened weak state that the young girl tearing up the
street away from him was now in.

He gathered his wits and ran back to the purring car, the headlight
blaring into the gloom, the door thudded shut with a clunk, shattering
the silence that followed her scream, he scrambled for the mobile, tossing
tonight's dinner aside he looked up to realise no one he called could help,
spinning the car round and speeding off in pursuit was probably the worst
thing he could have done.

Buffy sank slowly into the foam bath, her slender silky body slid easily
through the warm soapy bubbles. Her soft hair gently fell to her
shoulders, she purred blissfully enjoying the relaxing feeling of
hot steam caressing her stressed body.

She'd had more than her fair share of workouts lately, dealing with
The Initiative had drained her physically and emotionally. She yearned
for a normal student life more than ever now. Closing her eyes
she dreamed of her body being touched under the bubbles, her hands
ran over her wet body, pleasuring herself as she bathed herself, a
deep seated need in her soul to please herself sexually had surprisingly
aroused her. She cleansed herself, moving her fingers over her body,
she moaned as her pert breasts sent shudders of pleasure through her.

Her legs parted instinctively, her hand slid easily in between to
touch her warm throbbing sex, the bubbles mixed with the feel of
hot water, increasing the pressure on her clit. She squealed in ecstacy
as she slid a finger inside herself, the familiar scent of sex arose to
her nostrils, breathing it deeply she orgasmed quickly, fulfilling her
sexual hunger, shocked at the name that easily escaped her lips..

"G..iles"

"Oh Xander, you don't love me anymore Xander"

"SHUT UP!"

Spike continued mocking him in his Anya voice, he never did like
inter species relationships, even though she technically wasn't
a demon anymore, but still.. once a demon always a demon, well
Angelus showed spirit for a while, until Red cast her mumbo jumbo
on him again, Spike wanted to stick around, Anya was interesting,
maybe she might become a demon again, this was Sunnydale, does
anyone ever really die?

"Well you're the one who tied me up, again"

"I happen to like my neck sans bites" Xander retorted

"Oh enough with the charade"

Spike shot up quickly, snapping the ropes from his wrists, smashing
the tiny wooden high stool into pieces in one fell swoop.

"You're losing your touch, didn't boy scouts teach you knot tieing?"

Xander jumped up and backed away, glancing for some form of weapon,
eyeing the vampire cautiously, reaching the wall and stopping he
resigns to his expected fate.

"I.. I never went to.. the um.."

"Oh relax, you're the last person I wanna bite" Spike scoffed, he turned
and walked out calling back to Xander, without a clue why he was doing
so, perhaps leaving a message for the infamous Scooby Gang. He knew he'd
be back, he had a soft spot for Red lately, she kinda grew on him. Inter
species or not, he was William the Bloody, he was allowed exception.

"Paying our friend in L.A a little visit, be seeing ya"

Xander breathed a sigh of extreme relief, he'd seen enough demons
and vampires in one confined space to last him a lifetime, still
getting his nerve back from his commando mission at University, back
to life he was still lost with no direction, he was losing it rapidly.

Angel was practically nudging her with his bumper before he noticed
her weaving in and out of his headlights, he lept out of the car to
confront her, or comfort her, he didn't know which was needed.

She reeled back, falling into the gutter, shrieking in despair, a look
of anger and self pity also filled her deep eyes now, barely audible,
she pleaded with him.

"Leave me"

"Don't"

"hurt"

"please"

If Angel had a heart it would surely have broken at this devastating sight,
he had no intention of hurting her now, Angelus was in the distant past,
the poor girl before him couldn't even string a sentence together, how
painfully similar to his own experience.

Gently, slowly, he reached out to touch her hand, comforting her
as her only help in this world, from wherever she had come from, he
had no memory of where he'd come from, just that his return had
a purpose that brought him here to L.A to fight Wolfram & Hart
for a living.

She saw something in his eyes, or something that was missing.

"Not Angelus?"

"No" He whispered

Darla seemed to accept this, knowing that whatever Angel was, he
was no threat to her at this moment, she whimpered softly.

Angel glanced up at his waiting car, the engine still running, turning
back to Darla.

"Let me help you?" As he spoke, a second set of headlights pierced the
gloomy street they alone occupied until now. The squeal of tires spelled
danger for Angel and Darla, the car sped towards them, Angel quickly
urged Darla into the car and spun over the bonnet as the approaching
car hurtled towards a collision, opening fire, rounds emptied into the side
of his car, loud exploding shells filled the night air

Angel hated machine guns, damn he felt so human.

Slamming the accelarator down hard, he roared off into the night,
safety in the dark.

Willow bounced perkily into her dorm room, glancing around,
happily content that Buffy was nowhere in sight, she flopped
onto her bed sighing dramatically for her own benefit.

She was glad things would return to semi-normal around campus,
that was, until she told Buffy she had feelings for Spike, his
brash manly pride, and his wry humor, that always made her smile,
having no clue how to break the news, she sighed dreamily.

Buffy shuffled in quietly, Willow looked up and smiled, she held
her head low, avoiding eye contact with her, she moved over to her
bed, brushing her long locks of hair Buffy stared at the floor
uneasily.

"Buffy what's wrong?"

Willow knew they all felt awkward around each other lately, taking
down the Initiative was no easy feat, even Will herself felt empty
now, but quietly relieved, not to mention glad to be alive...

"I um.. I did nothing.."

She paused, trying to supress anything and everything, she finished
brushing her hair and quickly tied it up, Giles liked it like that..
Riley! She meant Riley, damn.. her thoughts betrayed her.

"Nothing.."

Willow was far from convinced, highly concerned infact, Buffy
was probably having the hardest time of all, how many vampires
might have escaped, more trouble ahead she thought, but this was
something else, something out of place.

"I have to patrol.."

She flickered her eyes up at Will, grabbed her satchel and headed
for the door

"Kill bad guys.. and stuff"

"Buff.." she whined, the door clicked shut behind her. She hoped
bad guys didn't include Spike. Her entire sexuality confused her
now, she wanted Spike more than anything, but the intimacy she'd
felt with Tara was deeply satisfying. Spike! It was well after dusk
now, he'd be around somewhere, she paused waiting for Buffy to leave
the hall before slipping out into the night.

Cordelia was not in the mood for excuses, overloading in bitch
mode actually. She spun around as the door opened. He may be a
vampire but he knew he was welcome at Cordelia's.

Her jaw dropped open, she screamed. Angel stood looking disheveled
in the doorway hanging onto a weak looking..

"DARLA!! oh my god Angel!" She backed away quickly

"Relax"

"Relax? you show up with a walking corpse who's been dead for two
years and you tell me to relax, whatever!"

She slumped down to file her nails.

"Can we come in" Angel asked, reminding her Darla wasn't invited. Wesley
appeared in the room to see what the scream was for

"Goodness, my, I thought she was dead" Wesley eyed the vampire
carefully. "What on earth possesed you to bring her here Angel?"

"She's safe here"

Cordy shot up in defense.

"She's not staying here, I already have one dead roommate"

She paused. "Sorry Dennis"

"Besides, I thought you.. I thought Angelus killed her"

Angel glared at her

"We were shot at, and yes he did, somehow she's back"

Wesley chipped in. "Angel's right, I mean, after all, he did come back
himself.

"Cordelia.." He waited

"YES!"

"Shot at?" Wesley wondered.

Angel helped her in, carefully she curled herself up in a protective
ball on the couch.

"Yeah I'll tell you later, any news on the big box mystery"

"Nothing, I must interperet all my endeavours as you would call it,
dead ends"

"I'll call Willow in the morning" Cordy piped up.

Darla slept quietly.

Angel closed the shutters tightly on the window, not to let any light
in when the sun rose in a few hours, closing the door gently, they left
her alone.