Homeward Bound

By Buddy

Love’s Splendour.

With splendour of love’s praise and contentment,

Do I view the stream pass my face?

As sparkle of stars dancing upon a merry brook,

Beats this heart within.

Dare with me to step the way of the wind,

As love be a flame fanned into being.

Once a great wall,

Now a great fortress reaching to the sky.

We have built it you and I,

The cause of love’s magnificent golden.

Forever as a banner to the world see it burn,

And glow out on the wind of time shining and streaming.

As wet roofs beneath the lamplight,

Radiant as colour of a rainbow.

Fierce as a stormy sea,

Feel the different moods of love.

Hair’s fragrance, warm moist eyes,

Caress of touch, soft sighs.

These be the jewels released as turns the key,

To open the high places of my heart.

Take my hand and draw me,

Through the gate of your desire.

See before you love’s trust,

To time indefinite.

Kate.

http://www.geocities.com/KPOETRYUK/KATIE.html

Ok, I know, I know. But I could just imagine Xander reading it to Spike, if he liked poetry.

"Shoot me, stuff me, mount me!" Xander - The Pack

********************************************************************************************

Friday afternoon somewhere on a construction site.

Xander made his way back to the mobile hut he was currently working from and marvelled at how quickly the last three weeks had gone by. Giles had come back to Sunnydale and even though they didn’t know how permanent it was, he had rented another apartment on a 6 months lease.

Both gangs had pooled information; Wesley and Giles were still deciphering the last parts of the ‘Tiberius Manifesto‘ and poring over the ‘Book of Aurelius‘. Neither party were keen to give up their prize and so it had entailed a lot of to-ing and fro-ing for Giles between LA and Sunnydale.

Once translated, The ‘Tiberius Manifesto’ was fairly easy to understand. The ‘Book of Aurelius’ however was proving to be more difficult, it was cryptic and overblown. They did know they would need an army, because the chances were that’s exactly what they were gonna face.

In Sunnydale they had kept watch for signs of Warren and his nerd friends. Xander had been patrolling one night about two weeks ago with Spike and Buffy and they had run into Jonathan and Andrew. They only caught Jonathan. In all fairness though Andrew had sprayed mace in Xander and Spike’s eyes before taking off with Buffy on their heels. Lying on the floor with what felt like hot coals in his eyes didn’t prevent Xander from hearing Spike’s curses or wanting to run after them and make them pay.

He had tried, but he couldn’t really see where he was going and had fallen into an open grave. Spike had pulled him out blindly, and they had both sat with tears streaming down their faces trying to see where Buffy had gone. They could see her shape vaguely a short distance away and had no trouble picking up dialogue as she chased after them.

"I’ve killed Master vampires and I’ve got a database of the most difficult to kill demons I’ve faced and defeated. So how come a couple of ‘twits’ like you keep getting away?"

Xander had smiled despite his pain when he heard her use one of Giles’ favourite words. He was used to it falling from Spike’s lips but it still sounded funny hearing British slang with a Southern Californian accent. He heard Andrew whining next.

"Do you seriously think you can out run the Slayer?"

"I don’t need to .. run faster .. than Buffy …I only need to run faster than you!" Then he had fallen over with an undignified yelp and Buffy had grabbed him.

"I guess you have to actually stay on your feet to do that, huh Jonathan."

All four of them had watched Andrew’s disappearing back. Spike had lurched to his feet and ran after him, rubbing his eyes to clear them, and Buffy dragged Jonathan over to Xander.

"What is your deal man? I thought you learned your lesson after the incident with the ‘make me a God so all will worship at my feet’ spell." Jonathan had hung his head in defeat and what looked suspiciously like relief.

Spike hadn’t found Andrew, he decided that he must have used ‘some kinda mojo’ on him for him to get away so easily. Buffy had surprised Spike by agreeing with him. Jonathan had agreed to turned himself in without a fight but up to now had refused to give them any information about Gavin Park, or why exactly he wanted the Book of Aurelius. He had however readily spilled Warren and Andrew’s names to the cops and there was an APB put out for their arrest.

There was no sign of Big Daddy and his pals. They had disappeared back into the woodwork as quickly as they had arrived. Things had been fairly quiet for the last week and he was looking forward to finishing the day out and going home to Spike. He missed him terribly all the time he was at work and it was getting harder every day to get up and leave him.

Spike had been much happier since the chip was deactivated. He felt like he’d ‘got his rocks back’, and although they didn’t know for sure if humans could even kill him any more, it was a relief for the two of them that he could defend himself and not have to test that possibility.

Xander knew where Spike was hiding, he’d known instinctively before he even noticed the blinds were pulled against the glare of the afternoon sun, he just wondered how the hell he’d got there in broad daylight. And it wouldn’t be a problem, him being here, as Xander was the only member of the crew in this part of the site. But then Spike knew that. He took his hard hat off as he walked through the cabin door and put it on the desk, ran his hands through his hair and stared at the door to the bathroom.

He could smell the pheromones coming from Spike and considered the possibility that he might have started without him. Now that was a far from unpleasant thought. Spike’s hand gripping his hard shaft, sliding the foreskin up and over the crown, fondling his balls with the other. The blissful look he got on his face, the deep crease on his forehead as his pleasure mounted, the false need to breath as he panted slowly but then more quickly as his orgasm approached.

"Xander? Are you gonna look at the door all afternoon?"

Xander grinned and walked over to it. He turned the knob and pushed it inwards, opening it on a newly bleached blonde bombshell wearing a smug grin the size of Japan and nothing else. Xander walked towards him impatient to be crushed against the smooth steel of his body.

"Not only do you have blonde roots, you cut it too." Spike wrapped his arms around him and kicked the door shut behind him.

"Well I was fed up of Buffy taking the piss. She kept going on about ringlets and how nice I would look in one of Drusilla’s dresses!"

Xander kissed him and reached for his cock. He stroked him slowly and expertly, and explored the inside of his mouth with his tongue. He was suddenly very aware of his clothes and the fact he was still wearing them, did he really only have on two layers ? It was too many and they were preventing him from feeling Spike’s skin against his own. He pulled away from him reluctant to let him go even to strip off.

"It looks nice, I like it when it looks like we’ve just had sex. I would vote for more Spike bed hair, you know, if there was a poll. Who cut it?"

"Tara. I bleached it maself." Xander was down to his boxer shorts now and Spike leaned back against the washbasin his eyes taking in his every move.

"Ok, the burning question is how did you get here? There’s no tunnel access so far as I know and the sun’s a big fat orange in the sky." Spike answered him by retrieving his blanket from the corner and tossing it on the floor.

"Willow dropped me off."

"And you’re getting home how?" Spike wrapped his arms around his waist again and pulled him near.

"I reckon by the time I’m done with you it’ll be dark anyway. Either that or you‘ll be ready to come home. Except we have to go to the Magic Box, there‘s somethin‘ evil and nasty afoot."

"What I don’t even get to shower first?" Spike buried his nose in the hollow of Xander’s throat and inhaled deeply.

"’Sthat a problem Pet? I like it when we meet the others and you smell like me. It makes Buffy’s nose twitch and Angel gets this vacant look on his face, you just know that Buffy’s gonna be in fer it later."

"Eew, so don’t wanna be foreplay for Buffy and Angel’s sexcapades!"

"It’s nothin’ personal, Zelda and Red have the same effect on him."

He knelt down lithely and divested Xander of his shorts. He ran his hands up the insides of his thighs and followed the trail with his tongue. Xander shivered with pleasure, happy to be teased. He turned, reached over and locked the door; there wasn’t much chance of the other guys coming up this end of the site, but there was always sod’s law. And he didn’t feel like being outed because someone had discovered his lover buried in his ass.

Spike nuzzled his pubic hair and licked down the crease of his thigh. He nipped him from hip to knee, changing pressure from one bite to the next, sometimes gentle, sometimes painful, before switching sides and working his way back up the other side. He eyed his erection appreciatively and thought not for the first time how different a circumcised cock looked; in his opinion a barbaric tradition he was glad he had escaped. He teased the tip with his tongue, tasting precum and generating more as he stroked the fine hair on the back of Xander’s calves.

Xander loved this surprise, Spike had been threatening to come into work for about the last three weeks now and he had been scared that he was going to test the walking under the sun theory. Sunnydale had enjoyed a very long summer and even though the nights were drawing in now, the days were bright and cheerful and … where was he?

It was a little hard to remember because Spike was gently handling his balls and engulfing his hard length , wrapping a cool tongue around him and massaging, sucking up and down, and swallowing around him whilst he still grew. He dragged him to his knees and assaulted his lips, allowing him to taste himself and ignoring his cock completely. Tease.

Xander stroked across Spike’s nipples, playing with them until they almost disappeared into a hard nub. Spike fingered the scar at the side of his throat, the one that so closely resembled his own and Xander’s already hard cock became turgid. A wave of blood thirst swept over him and he nipped Spike’s tongue with blunt teeth before letting him go and allowing him to see his features change.

Spike’s pupils dilated until all the colour that was left was a thin line of azure tingeing the black. He didn’t know what it was exactly that made him feel so turned on when his Boy changed, ready to feed, or fuck, or fight, but he suspected that it may have a lot to do with the fact he was the cause. The fact he had activated the transformation and got Xander all hot; brought out his otherworldliness, his hybrid.

That and the fact that presently they seemed to be the only two Hybrids in existence. Giles’ words, and there had been an ominous ring to them, especially when he had suggested they do their utmost to keep it from the Watcher’s Council. Xander’s eyes glittered possessively and Spike bared his throat; he laved at the mark enjoying the effect he was having as he made a meal of this sensitive spot.

He savoured him like he was a succulent piece of fruit after he hadn’t eaten or drank for days. He slid his fangs into him slowly and lapped at the spill before drawing deeply. As he ran his hand over Spike’s rigid shaft he felt fangs pierce his own throat, and was barely aware that Spike had clasped cool fingers around his cock. Caresses were an after thought, feeding better than foreplay.

As always they both knew when they had taken enough and retracted their fangs instinctively. They crushed each other,s mouths and feasted on the taste of blood coating their lips and tongue. Spike turned Xander round roughly and pushed him forward. He bit into his own wrist and coated his cock with the blood that spilled and entered him.

He held his hips as he thrust into him and wished he could be everywhere at once. In him, on him, around him. He closed his eyes and pictured Xander’s face and the expression he knew he would be wearing. He reached under him and dragged a nail along the underside of his cock root to tip, his finger finding his weeping slit much like a draught victim finding water. He used it to coat him, sliding up and down his length, and then faster as he increased his pace and Xander thrust back against him.

This was Xander‘s nirvana. Fucking Spike’s fist and rocking back to fuck himself on his cock. The sensation of Spike sliding into him, faster and faster, bolts of pleasure exploding each time he swept past his sensitive nub, and all the time aware of Spike pressed up against his back. He fit like a glove and he could feel the crest of the wave approach, and oh god, why could he hear voices?

Spike either didn’t hear them or didn’t care because he voiced his orgasm with a snarl and reached forward to bite into Xander’s shoulder, tipping him over the edge and into a climax that was too intense to stifle. It all went quiet for a moment apart from the laboured sound of Xander’s breathing and Spike’s emotionally inspired replica.

Spike slipped from inside his lover’s ass and pulled him upright so he could embrace him. He had heard voices but doubted very much that their owners had heard them. He pulled the blanket up around them when he saw that Xander’s flesh had goosed and then leaned in to kiss him. It was hot and needy and lacking in tenderness and he was working up to the idea of round two when they heard voices again, much closer this time.

"I saw him come back up here, besides there’s his hard hat. He must be in the John. I could have sworn some red-haired chick dropped someone off outside here about 15 minutes ago. He looked like a monk or something."

"What?" An incredulous voice, which Xander knew, belonged to Dwight.

"Well he either was a monk or a guy with a blanket on his head, go figure, either one’s bizarre."

"I thought I heard something."

"Well if he’s in the John, maybe you did."

Spike looked at Xander clearly amused. Xander kissed the smirk from his lips and bit his bottom lip painfully. It was quite a turn on to do this with only the door between the two of them and his work buddies. They would get bored before he did, that was for sure. Spike thrust his fingers into Xander’s tumbled, sweaty locks and gripped them viciously at the roots as he returned the onslaught on his lips.

"Harris? You in there?"

"Don’t be a dweeb Cromwell, what d’ya think he’s doing in there, humping his holy man or something.?"

"Well he does give off a kinda gay vibe don’tcha think?"

"I know if he is in there, he now knows what you think of him, lame brain. Come on we’ll have to come back later, it can wait." They heard the voices fade into the distance and Xander came up for air.

"It’s a good thing I locked the door."

"You mean it’s a good job they didn’t try the door Love, or they would have known you were in here and waited for you to come out."

"I would have just sauntered out eventually and …"

"People with a gay vibe don’t saunter, they mince."

"You’re a funny guy Spike, and just in case I sounded like Oz then, and you couldn’t tell, that was sarcasm. And I so do not give off a gay vibe, I’m full of manliness and testosterone!"

"Yeah, you and James Dean!"

"Ok, you mock, I’ll spout stereotypes. Maybe I should just run after them and explain that socially constructed labels don’t apply to me any more. And I do not mince!"

"You sound like Red. Are we gonna debate this or can you think of something more interesting to do?"

Spike smiled up into Xander’s face his eyes alive with such wicked mischief that Xander fell in love with him all over again. This being who had taken over and become the centre of his universe. Even Giles had been very philosophical about the whole thing, citing destiny, fate, working together under extreme circumstances, the fact he’d always suspected there was a ‘particular type of vibe’ between them anyway.

Xander had also picked up something from him that felt oddly like relief and he was sure he was the only one who had noticed. Perhaps because for some reason he cared what Giles thought and he had been watching him more closely than the others were.

It hadn’t stop Giles’ satirical comments though, in fact he’d wondered quite loudly and to Buffy’s disgust if he might get a shot at Spike himself in the future, unless someone was next on the list before him. Spike and Xander had both growled at him for that remark and he hadn’t been quite so flippant about them since. At least not around the two of them and Xander suspected that Giles would accept a lot of unconventional shenanigans if it had the potential to save the world.

"You know I can always find something more interesting to do with you. Even watching paint dry is more interesting with you."

"Not really what I had in mind Xander." Spike drew the blanket tighter and enjoyed the smooshing together of body parts. He stroked his hair back from his brow.

"I want you inside me. And I want to see your face. Tell me you love me."

"I love you Spike, but that word doesn’t cover it, it barely comes close to describing what I feel for you."

Xander stroked Spike’s reawakened cock and wished they had something more original than blood for lubrication. He lay back and Spike draped himself over him, kissing and nibbling his face, neck and shoulders before straddling him and impaling himself on Xander’s erect penis, proving that lube wasn’t always a necessity.

While Xander pumped him, he rode him hard and fast, all the time looking at his face for signs of pending orgasm and stopping each time he looked like he was getting close. It was exquisite torture and when Spike finally allowed Xander to come he felt drained, a wobbling mass of flesh without bones, barely aware for a while that Spike continued is own quest for satisfaction. He watched through hooded eyes as Spike rose up and down, his muscles defined by exertion. He squeezed and pumped him faster, urging him on until Spike’s face contorted with pleasure and he splashed his hand with hot semen and collapsed forward onto his chest.

It didn’t fully register at first, what exactly it was that felt different, and his thought processes weren’t firing at optimum speed. Spike playing tonsil hockey didn’t help, or the fact he was sliding up and down his arms with feather light strokes and playing again with his hair and sliding around on his belly, lubricated by spent come. Hey wait a minute …

"Spike!" Spike broke off the assault on his earlobe and looked at him with surprise.

"What is it?"

Xander tried to sit up but was impeded by the fact the Spike was still surrounding his far from waning erection and had most of his body weight pressed on his chest. He slid a hand between them and felt the drying stickiness in amazement.

"Didn’t you feel it?"

"As a matter of fact I bit through my lip, you may have noticed the blood and the swelling!"

"No, I don’t mean that. When you came it was hot, not room temperature or just a little warm and certainly not cold. It was hot."

"Hmm."

"Is that it? Is that all you have to say?"

"No, actually I was gonna go with fantastic shag Love, fancy another go?"

"This is, well it’s weird. You’re still changing and can you just say ‘strange development‘?"

In Xander’s book this was up there with him not needing to take a dump any more, though the weirdest part about that particular change in his physiology was that he did still have to take a piss! Would Spike have that to look forward to any time soon?

"Don’t get too hung up on it Love, I don’t think anything’s going to top having a reflection." He paused a moment and raised his eyebrows. "Unless you count getting a sun tan and living for eternity as possibilities."

Xander felt Spike’s arms and chest and his everywhere, searching for signs of unusual warmth. His flesh felt like it always did after they made love, warmed by his, but there was still no tell tale blush and light veins still speckled it’s expanse. Spike suddenly needed a smoke and a drink, fuelled by the look on Xander’s face. Xander had a point, his transformation did seem to be stepping up a gear and this was downright peculiar.

"I’m not discussing this particular turn up with the Scooby Gang, I’ll tell you that for nothing. I can just see the expression on her Highness‘s face and I‘d have to kill Rupert because .. Well actually no, it might be worth it to see the look on his face. "

Xander relaxed. He wrapped his arms around Spike’s shoulders and drew him close for a kiss. His mouth was sore from all the kissing they had already done because they both needed a shave. Spike’s lip had been bleeding but the swelling was already going down, he kissed him tenderly, touching the wound with the tip of his tongue, helping it to heal. He nuzzled his neck and whispered into his ear.

"Don’t worry Gorgeous, this is our stuff, the others don’t need to know." And then more loudly.

"I’ll tell you what though, I’m freezing my ass off here, the effects of the atmosphere on my body temperature still has repercussions , you know?"

Spike eased himself off Xander and sat him in his lap and then reached for the blanket to wrap around them both again. He felt sated and happy and ready to take the latest change in his stride. He looked into Xander’s face, a twinkle in his eyes.

"I’m not sure what it means exactly, but given what the prophecy has in store for Buffy and Angel, I’m glad I’m not still shagging women, I’m far too long in the tooth to start practicing birth control."

Xander gaped at him and Spike took advantage of his open mouth and slipped his tongue inside. When he finally allowed him to take in air Xander asked him the question that wouldn’t stop plaguing his brain.

"Did you ever want to have kids? Before you were turned?"

Spike smiled at him, a suspicion dawning in his mind as to where these questions were leading.

"Only in the generic sense. You know the drill, ‘one day I’ll get a good job, get married, have kids‘. Nothing more than that."

"So there was no one special when you were human then?"

"Only one. She despised me."

Spike snuggled into Xander’s body until he felt like he was in his lap instead of the other way round. Xander thought for a moment and Spike could practically see the little wheels as they turned.

"So when you died, you were a virgin!"

Spike’s mind turned to his early days as a fledgling vampire. He had learned from Angelus and Drusilla what it was he had missed out on as a human and soon made up for lost time.

"’Spect you’re gonna take the piss now aren’t you?"

"No, I’m not especially as it in no way affects your performance." Spike waggled his eyebrows and grinned smugly. "So, d’ya have any regrets about not having children?"

"May as well ask me if I have any regrets about dying. It’s not important any more, it just is. I really don’t mind. What about you? You’ll never have children now, how does that make you feel?"

"I fancy myself as more of a favourite uncle type. That way I get to give them back when they become obnoxious, which from what I can gather is about 90 per cent of the time. I will enjoy Buffy and Angel’s offspring, should it come to pass. And you know, I can’t really see Willow being stalled by the fact she’s gay if she and Tara decided to have kids. Perhaps we could be donors." Spike laughed at the idea.

"Not too sure they want what it is we’d be donating Love. We should get dressed, your work pals will be back soon and much as I like to stay in here and have a gay old time of it, pun most definitely intended, I think you should try to keep yer job, if not yer dignity."

"How can I break it to them?" Spike pulled his head back in surprise.

"You mean you want to tell them?"

"Well not everything, I thought I might keep the vampire/hybrid stuff out of the mix. If you’re gonna turn up unannounced like this I have to have a cover story."

"Xander you and me being together is the story."

"See, it’s genius, they’ll never guess it’s the truth." Spike pushed Xander to his feet and stood up himself to get dressed.

"You sound like Drusilla, it’s very unnerving, cut it out." Xander circled his waist and grinned at him

"You haven’t kissed me for a least ten minutes. Could you kiss me?"

Spike moved forward and nibbled on his bottom lip, swept his tongue across it and darted it into the moist warmth of his mouth. Xander enjoyed the slippery feel of their tongues duelling and only stopped when his teeth began to chatter from the cold.

"You’re cold Love, you should get dressed."

He planted his lips gently on Xander’s closed mouth before moving away to grab his own clothes. Xander picked up his pants and decided to wash himself down in the sink before dressing. Spike watched him amused as he had a strip wash before putting his clothes back on.

"We could have left early you know and swung by the apartment before going to the Magic Box." Xander looked at him as though looking over a pair of spectacles.

"Well I still have some stuff that I have to do after that welcome and incredibly delightful interruption. I have to call people and chase up some materials. I’ll meet you out there."

He nodded towards the outer office and kissed Spike again before opening the door. A short time later Spike came out of the bathroom and Xander stifled a grin because he smelt of soap and Xander. He finished talking to the person on the other end of the phone and hung up.

"So what’re we facing this time? Demons, rampaging warlocks, don’t tell Will I said that part."

"Big Daddy and his minions have been spotted in Sunnydale."

"What, did Buffy see him? No because he’d be dust now, or at least tied to a chair! Who then?"

"Giles."

Spike lit a cigarette and drew on it deeply, narrowing his eyes as he blew out a billow of blue smoke. Xander loved this visual, it was so Spike. It just didn’t happen as often as it used to, but Spike swore that was mainly because he didn’t ‘have time to smoke with all the shagging’.

"He spotted him last night when he went back to his apartment. Apparently he stood a distance away from his front door and nodded to him as he went in. He didn’t try to attack or anythin’, he just stood there as though he was watching him in the house safely."

"What’s up with that? You don’t think he’s just found out we live in Sunnydale do you?"

"According to Giles, it was as though he was waiting for him to show up. Bizarre when you think about it, Giles has only been back two weeks and already he has groupies."

"He helped us."

"And for that I’m grateful, but you still have to ask yourself why?"

"I thought I might just ask them if they wanna be in our gang."

Spike sat on the edge of the desk and started to fiddle about with the stuff scattered across the surface. Xander picked up the receiver and started to dial another number. He sat back in his chair and poked his tongue out at Spike, who stared at it mesmerised. Now there was a very talented tongue. He crushed out his cigarette, half smoked.

He heard the approach of footsteps and murmured voices and he threw an unreadable look in Xander’s direction. Xander shrugged his shoulders and started talking to whoever had picked up at the other end of the phone. The door was pushed open and two guys walked in and looked curiously at Spike.

"Hey."

"Hello."

"Hey man."

The two guys in front of him were an odd combination. One of them , the youngest was a reasonably good-looking chap but he was carrying the early onset of middle-aged spread. He had a pleasant face but Spike pegged him as somewhere around five years younger than he actually looked. This must be Dwight, Xander had spoken about him.

The other fellow had the face of a bloodhound. It was heavily creased and all the folds drooped down towards his feet, overlapping each other as though they were in a fight to reach the floor. His hair was steel grey and stuck up like a trashed ‘Brillo’ pad. He was short for a man, about 5’4" tall and skinnier than a burger house fry, but he beamed up at Spike and he thought he must be the most affable looking chap he’d ever met. He proved how deceptive appearances can be when he opened his mouth.

"You must be the boyfriend then? It’s much easier today than it was when I was a young man, all the queer boys that dared to show their faces in my neighbourhood were run outta town"

Dwight’s mouth fell open and he looked at Spike in complete sympathy. Xander quickly said goodbye to whoever he was talking to and hung up the phone. Spike merely narrowed his eyes at him and tried to decide if there was any rancour in his tone.

"Guys, I can see you already started the introductions. Spike meet Dwight and Cromwell. Dwight, Cromwell, meet Spike, my ‘boyfriend’." Xander spread his hands in a presenting gesture.

Dwight’s mouth fell open again and Cromwell stuck his hand out, grabbed Spike’s and pumped it up and down firmly.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance Spike, we just need to talk a few minutes to your guy here and then we’ll be outta your hair." His eyes slid slyly towards the bathroom door.

"You know we came by earlier, must have been before you came back."

Dwight stood pointedly on Cromwell’s toe and shook Spike’s hand. Spike started to fell like an extra in a movie, ‘cos this sure as hell never happened to him in his real life. Xander stood and walked around the desk towards them both.

"What can I do you for guys? I hope it’s not time off, ‘cos no can do, we’re flat out until Thanksgiving weekend."

"Nah, we came to tell you that Brendan Moorhouse is falling down on the job again, literally. They took him to the ER about 2 hours ago, it was a nasty fall, looks like he’s broken his leg and dislocated his elbow. Say, his nephew’s queer, you probably know him."

This was too much for Spike and he barked out a short laugh and got up from Xander’s desk shaking his head. He retrieved a smoke from his pocket and lit it, enjoying the inhalation and the taste, and wanting something to focus on unless his fist started to twitch.

"You know you’re not really supposed to smoke around here Spike." Dwight said to him apologetically.

"Don’t worry, us ‘queer boys’ are exempt from the rules."

Xander put his hands across his face and took a deep breath. He had expected uncomfortable silences or outright embarrassment when he told people at work about him and Spike, not for one of them to announce it and for it to turn into such a farce.

"Ok, so we’re a man down then, I’ll get onto a temp agency right away. Dwight did you want something else or ..."

"We need you over the other side, there’s a problem with the new apprentice."

"What kind of problem?" Cromwell attempted to open his mouth and Dwight stood on his toe again so he shut it with a snap."

"Turns out it’s a girl."

"Yes, it’s a girl, a woman. What you didn’t know?"

"Not exactly, she wears baggy clothes and she don’t say much. Until now; she took offence at the language around her from some of the other guys, says it’s sex discrimination and she threatened to go to the union if they don’t clean up their act."

"What they were swearing?"

"Not so much, they were talking about their conquests in a ribald manner, I don’t think they realised she was female or they would have been more careful."

"How could they not realise?" Xander looked at Dwight with growing exasperation.

"Xander she was introduced to us as Charlie. And what with the baggy shirts and skinny hips."

"Ok, point taken. Spike will you be alright for a while?"

"Don’t mind me, I’ll just saunter off to the hospital and look up Brendan’s nephew. He’s sure to recognise me from the club."

He grinned at Xander and ached to kiss him goodbye. His eyes widened in surprise when Xander walked over to him and dipped his head down to brush his lips with his own. Dwight’s mouth fell open and Cromwell stood on his toe.

~*~

Friday evening - The Magic Box.

Xander bounded into the Magic Box like an exuberant puppy, Spike following closely on his heels. Angel and Buffy were seated at the table with Giles and Dawn. Willow and Tara were both behind the counter, Tara was cashing up and Willow was filling in paperwork.

They all looked up as Xander and Spike neared the table, Buffy, Dawn and Giles smiled a greeting and Angel dipped his head back down as he finished sketching something on the white tablet of paper in front of him. A box of doughnuts lay open on the table and there was still about a half dozen waiting to be eaten. Xander looked at Angel pointedly.

"Ya see? Scooby meetings and exposition equals snacks. What do you guys call yourselves any way? ‘The Bat Pack‘? ‘Overbite and Underfed‘?"

He snagged a doughnut with chocolate coating, devoured it in three greedy bites and took another one before sitting down next to Dawn. Spike walked around to see what Angel was drawing and nodded his head, definitely their vampire. Angel looked up and scowled at Xander.

"We’re called Angel Investigations, but you can call me Sir." Spike and Xander exchanged a grin.

Willow called over to them.

"Hey you guys. Save me a doughnut."

"And me, I’m starved, maybe we should get pizza?" Tara said hopefully. Buffy looked at Spike and Xander.

"What’s so funny guys?"

"We made a bet to see which one of us could get Angel to bite first. I win."

He grinned again, the truth was that whoever won this bet they both received the prize because they had thought up new and exciting forfeits. Tara was still waiting for an answer and looking at everyone pointedly. Buffy rolled her eyes and ignored Spike and Xander.

"Dawnie? Giles? Pizza?"

"Sounds good to me. Don’t forget you promised me a trip to the mall tomorrow, Spike are you still coming with us?"

"Sure thing Little Bit, as long as Angel’s paying, wouldn’t miss it for the world. So Pea.. Angel, what’s up with the hair? Oh, wait a minute, you can’t see it yet." Angel flipped him the bird.

"Dawn have you cleared it with Willow and Tara to have the afternoon off?"

"Yes Buffy, I did, Xander’s filling in for me." Xander smiled at her and whispered in her ear.

"Just watch your wallet around Spike or he’ll spend it all for you."

"Oi! I don’t need to spend Dawn’s, I have yours." Spike pulled it out of his back pocket and laughed at Xander’s expression.

"Thieving, pretending to grope me guy."

"Is anyone still interested in the reason we came here? Giles is this right?" Angel glowered.

"Yes, it’s a very good likeness, I’d say. Xander is this the same creature you saw?"

"That’s him. So Giles, what’s the story?"

"It was most bizarre. I wasn’t sure whether to run or bow when I saw him standing there. He had three others with him, they stood silently by his side like eerie sentinels. There was a kind of majestic quality about him. I presumed it was the same group the two of you had encountered before."

"I’m ordering pizza." Tara said disgruntled at still being ignored. Willow smiled at her and glared at everyone else.

"Just get the usual Tara; Angel do you want anything? ‘Cos you don‘t always eat ... food."

"I’ll have a side order of garlic bread," he deadpanned.

"That can be arranged mister." She tried to look stern , but failed when she saw the startled look cross his face. Buffy laughed.

"Willow’s not shy any more, just in case you didn’t notice. Also, much less babble." Willow beamed.

"I’m the Man. Yay for me."

"I always wondered which one of you two ..."

"Xander! Gay jokes are only really funny if the person telling them isn’t gay."

"Didn’t you know? Apparently we’re not gay, we’re queer, ask Cromwell." Spike said with relish.

"Who’s Cromwell? Is he the one who wrote that thesis on socially constructed labels and the need for members of that society to categorise people in neat little boxes, because that way they’re definable and therefore less threatening?" Spike stared at her open mouthed for a moment.

"Nooo, he’s that guy who works with Xander, has a cleaning implement in place of hair."

"Besides Willow, I think you wrote that particular paper."

She raised her head and pointedly looked away. Tara smothered a smile and Giles sighed heavily, honestly it was like they were all still in high school sometimes!

He shook his head at Spike as he went over to Xander and sat astride his knee facing him. He licked the chocolate from the side of his mouth and leaned in for a kiss. Giles coughed and Dawn snorted as Xander’s arms snaked around his waist and held him closer. Spike’s eyes were twinkling with mischief again and Xander’s heart melted when Spike moved his head back to look at him. All this and rewards if Giles’ face was anything to go by.

"Oh for goodness sake’s you two, could you just put each other down for a minute and pay attention to the matter at hand."

Buffy swatted Spike’s head as she got up and walked by them to start her usual research mode pacing . Spike smirked smugly, got off Xander’s knee and clapped him a high five.

"Giles’ feathers are most definitely ruffled, it only took two minutes. You win, except I win too." Giles ignored Xander and turned to Angel.

"Does he look familiar to you? Spike mentioned he might be an Ancient." Everyone burst out laughing and Giles’ looked flustered for a moment.

"You know what I mean. I simply wondered if you have spotted him any where else, in the past perhaps?"

"Ok, that’s enough guys. Stop picking on Angel and Giles or I’ll dus ... stop you from having pizza."

Everyone started talking at once, except Dawn and Xander who were still laughing. Buffy gave up and sat on Angel’s knee. She kissed the tip of his nose.

"Have you ever seen him before?"

Angel shifted her closer so she could feel the jut of his rapidly growing erection, he was constantly hard for her and they certainly hadn’t finished making up for lost time. Her eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat, she looked around quickly to see if anyone was paying any attention to them. Nobody was and she pressed herself closer to him, her eyes on his face, watching the swirl of his irises and the dilation of his pupils.

"I haven’t."

"What?" Oh, you haven’t seen him. Maybe it’s no big, it’s not as if he’s hurt anybody. Yet anyway. Perhaps we should patrol, we can take ‘Mork and Mindy’ with us and see if we can find him, them. What do you say?"

"I say that no matter where I am, here or LA the funny never stops coming. We had to clear a vamp nest out from the hospital yesterday? Well it was actually under the ER in an old storeroom. You would think that these places would get checked from time to time. Cordelia had a vision and she could actually see them sneaking up the stairs for dinner."

"Says a lot for the state of our health system. What happened to the janitor, or the security guard?"

"I think he was first on the menu."

"I’m willing to bet that wasn’t listed in his job description."

They were all crowding ‘round the table now, except Tara who was on the phone. Giles asked Spike to go over what he knew about the Schliklar demon again.

"They’re peaceable creatures, I’m stumped as to why one would be working with a vampire. Not that Big Daddy has proven to be your average vampire."

"They’re fully integrated in to human society, it costs them a lot because they have to use a glamour to hide their true faces, and to sustain that constantly takes a lot of effort." Angel told them.

"What do they look like in their natural state?"

Giles fiddled with the drawing Angel had done. It was truly remarkable, he felt sure that Angel wouldn’t have any trouble making money from his artistic abilities if he wasn’t so busy being a Warrior for the Powers. Or a vampire. Although technically that shouldn’t stop him, there were ways around sunlight hours.

"They’re beautiful actually, they look like fairies or sprites, the Disney variety that is, but without the wings." Xander scrutinised Spike’s face to check if he was messing with them all.

"Why do they have to use a glamour then?" Willow asked, a puzzled look on her face.

"Because, ducks, they’re silver." Willow’s frown cleared and she dimpled.

"They sound adorable. Is their hair silver too?"

"No, as a matter of fact it’s the same colour as yours. There’s a good chance you’ll see for yourself should you ever run into one. Demons and witches can usually see through the disguise." Willow beamed.

"That’d be neat." Her eyes went wide. "Unless I’m on my own at the time and my seeing it involves seeing Big Daddy too. Is it male or female, do they even have a sex or a gender?"

"The one I saw was male, he must have a mate around somewhere, they don’t normally do solitary." Tara came over to the table and stood next to Willow with her arms folded .

"I saw one once, I think, I didn’t know what it was at the time and I didn’t tell anyone in case they thought I was nuts. But I’m pretty sure that’s what it was. It knew I could see it’s true face too. Mainly because I couldn’t stop staring."

Giles looked over at Angel and was pleased that he didn’t flinch when their eyes locked. Eyes full of understanding and remorse, Angel looked quickly away. He no longer had nightmares from which he would wake full of abject terror but he did still hear the taunts of Angelus from time to time, and remember his torture at his hands in all its bone crunching detail. He found it very unnerving that he should find himself in such close proximity with his alter ego once again.

In the short time since he had arrived back in the US he had spent more time in his company than he had since Angel left for LA, and he could tell that he had come in to his own. He seemed to stand at Buffy’s side in way that he never did before. Her equal, no longer keeping to the shadows, figuratively speaking, or fighting the forces of evil simply to be near her.

They would need that the two of them, as would the world. He’d pondered the ramifications of this Bonding Ritual until his head felt like a lead weight. He didn’t like it one bit, Buffy would be sacrificing a great deal, not least her ideals. But then Giles didn’t know what they were any more. He felt old suddenly and impatient with himself. He forced his mind back to the discussion.

"So you’re certain that of the two females with him, one at least was a vampire?"

"No question about it Rupert. I couldn’t tell for sure about the other one, it seemed human."

"Why do you keep calling him that? It sounds funky!"

Dawn was bored. She didn’t see what the big deal was anyway. It wasn’t as though anybody had been killed or even hurt because of this vampire. Besides she wanted to go round to see Janice and talk about the new guy in their class. That and watch movies and eat popcorn and plan what she would wear for her shopping trip the next day.

"Well it’s certainly an improvement on ‘Watcher‘, especially as you always manage to make it sound like an insult. Perhaps if we ever become friends Spike, you will call me Giles?"

"Yeah, well don’t hold yer breath." Spike smirked at him. Buffy slid off Angel’s lap and started pacing again.

"So, we have two vampires in town who seem to want to help us in some way, but not talk to us for some reason. They have a human, possibly, and a Schliklar demon working with them, which is odd, much like the rest of it really. So I vote Pizza and patrol. Spike, Xander, you with us?"

"Of course Buffy, we’re your right hand men."

"We’ll come too." Tara offered.

"Which leaves Dawn .."

"I have to go to Janice’s, slumber party remember?"

"Right, Giles would you ..?"

"I’ll drop her off and I’ll spend some time trying to find a connection between these unlikely comrades."

He got up to make a phone call. Dawn followed Willow and Tara behind the counter and collected her weeks wage’s. The pizza arrived and Buffy got up to pay for it. Spike grabbed Xander’s hand under the table and surprised a smile from him.

"I can’t believe you told those wankers at work about us."

"Is that a complaint Spike?"

"No, it made me feel ..."

Spike was suddenly aware of Angel’s scrutiny and looked over to see if he was taking the piss. There was a little smirk playing around his lips but his eyes were full of warmth. Spike felt giddy, he wanted to scowl at Angel but he recognised the moment for what it was and smiled back at him instead.

"What? It made you feel ...?" Xander said anxiously moving his head slowly from side to side.

"Special. I feel like you don’t want to hide me any more than you have to and that will make life a lot easier."

Angel leaned forward in his chair and looked at the sketch he had done. It reminded him of the old paintings he had stashed away at the hotel of Spike, Drusilla and Darla and he wondered if Spike would want any of them. He hadn’t looked at them since the last time Darla had been in town and then he had only been interested in the portraits of her. His eyes flickered from Spike to Buffy and he felt very grateful that the old and the new were allowed to mesh.

He decided to give Cordelia a call when Giles had finished on the phone and see if there was any progress with Anya. When he had returned to LA the first time after Anya had arrived, he hadn’t been sure what to expect. All he did know was they were in the business of saving souls and Anya was silently crying for help. Well maybe not silently, she was actually very articulate; just not about the things that were troubling her most. She didn’t seem to be in any rush to leave Cordelia’s apartment, although she did pull a vanishing act from time to time. But he didn’t believe she was cursing anybody.

He had suspicions that she’d been inactive for a while, he couldn’t smell death or carnage on her, in fact all he picked up from her was miserable confusion, which she masked very well behind old Cordy like humour. He had also detected a very familiar smell from her occasionally, he just couldn’t put his finger on where he recognised it from.

"Pizza for everybody."

Buffy brought over two huge pizza boxes and plonked them on the table. Tara was the there first pushing Spike and Xander’s hands out of the way and biting into a piece of pie to prove to her stomach that her throat hadn’t been cut. It growled loudly in appreciation.

~*~

Friday night - Xander and Spike’s apartment, post battle.

"Bloody hell, what’s the use of bleedin’ accelerated healing powers if you’re still gonna feel your bones break when you’re dropped on a headstone."

"Spike, keep still, and stop being such a baby, nothing’s broken, you’re just pissed because Angel called you Childe in front of everybody."

"Wanker."

"He was joking, since when couldn’t you take a joke." Xander finished strapping his shoulder.

"Since he hasn’t had the right to call me that for the last hundred years."

"He won’t do it again."

"How d’you know?" Xander grimaced.

"We all got the message when you pulled that vampire’s arms off and beat him to a bloody pulp before staking him. I’m glad Dawn wasn’t with us. Actually it was impressive in a grotesque art kinda way. Remind me to never piss ya off."

Xander put his first aid supplies down, lay back on the couch and pulled Spike carefully towards him. Spike lay his head on his chest and gently stroked his jean clad thigh. Xander lay his arm across his chest careful not to put pressure on his injured side.

"You know we kinda asked for it any way. We did give him a hard time earlier. Which was fun, but you shouldn’t dish it out if you can’t take it."

"There are limits." Spike grumbled but the ire had gone from his voice. "Besides he didn’t say anything to you."

"Nooo, you obviously weren’t in earshot when he asked when he could start calling me ‘Deadboy’, seeing as I’m one of the family now. And, and he asked if I would be willing to meet the rest of you, said he wouldn’t have any problem locating Darla or Drusilla.

The freaky thing was, all the way through it he smiled this terrible smile and I had to ask Willow if he still had his soul because he was grinning like a less pleasant version of himself." Xander tried to grin but his facial muscles felt too slack. A wave of tiredness swept over him and he actually nodded off for a couple of seconds, then came to with a jerk.

"He messed with us big time Pet, guess you’re right, we deserved it. Won’t stop me getting my own back though. I might start following him and Buffy every time they leave the room, just to make sure I interrupt any shagging they might be planning." Spike moved his head until it was more comfortable on Xander’s chest.

"I’m tired let’s go to bed." His body ached and he thought if he slept on a feather bed it would still be too hard on his bones.

"Don’t want to move, I’m comfy here. I have my favourite blanket." Spike squeezed his leg and heaved out a sigh.

"In a minute then. We’ll just rest here for a bit."

"Spike?"

"Yeah Love."

"D’ya think he really knows where Drusilla and Darla are?" Spike opened his eyes and turned an amused glance up at him.

"Worried are you?"

"No, I can hold my own these days. It’s just wiggy thinking about the two of them out there. I still can’t believe that Darla came back. Guess it’s just the famous ones."

"Yeah." Spike chuckled. "You have to be affiliated to the Scourge of Europe. Actually that’s not funny, I might be next on the list."

"You’re not a vampire any more numb nut." Spike giggled, pleasantly tired.

"I know, I have a reflection and everythin’. An’ I could have sproglets probably. Wonder what they‘d look like?" Spike’s voice started to slur slightly with increasing tiredness. No answer.

"Xander?"

"What?" Xander sat up quickly, immediately on Hellmouth alert , and nearly knocked Spike off the couch.

"Ow!"

"I’m sorry Gorgeous, come on let’s go to bed."

"Do I have to brush ma teeth?"

"Not tonight, the bathrooms too far away. Can’t believe I’m doing Dawnster duty tomorrow, without the Dawn part. It’ll be nice catching up with Willow. Tara’s not coming in." Xander held Spike’s hand and pulled him, eyes half closed to the bedroom.

"I have money. Buy you both something nice. My treat."

"S’always your treat." Spike mumbled.

He dropped his jeans and climbed into bed naked. Xander soon followed suit and leaving his clothes in a pile on the floor got in next to him away from his injured side. Spike turned and wrapped his body round his and planted a soft kiss on his lips.

"Night Pet. Love you."

"Love you more."

Within minutes they were asleep, Spike’s chest only rising because it was on top of Xander’s. Buffy and Angel opened the door slowly, careful not to wake them.

"I thought they’d never shut up and go to bed. And then I was afraid they wouldn‘t go to sleep." Buffy whispered.

"We’d better be quick or they’ll sense us here." Angel pointed a digital camera at them and clicked off a few shots. They left as silently as they arrived.

~*~

Saturday morning - The Mall, LA

"Have you any idea how good it is to shop with someone who knows what they’re doing? I mean it’s a shame that that someone has to nip off from time to time to kill or maim people but I choose to only see the upside."

Cordelia flashed Anya a brilliant smile and pretended she didn’t see the hurt that passed across her face. She turned to the racks of dresses that she couldn’t afford and rifled through them like a predator seeking out the weak before the kill. Expertly her hands settled on a haute couture number by Christian Lacroix.

And she didn’t care if she never had anywhere to wear it, she would invent somewhere.

"Do you really think you can carry orange because it’s not everybody’s colour?"

"It’s not for me it’s for you."

"Oh."

For once Anya was at a loss for words. Cordelia was being nice and supportive even though she believed that she was still exacting the vengeance. The problem was that she hadn’t been able to do that since the last time she had seen Xander. It wasn’t for his benefit it was for her own. Seeing Xander had just reminded her of all the things she had liked about being human.

True it sucked in the ‘getting your heart broken department’ but she had learned that was more down to human failing than out right malice. She was proud of the person she had become before the disaster that was her non-wedding and vengeance just felt ...wrong. It hurt her and made her feel bad about herself and she didn’t know how she was going to get out of it but she hated it very much. And now there were other complications.

She had managed to get away with it so far but she knew eventually it would catch up to her, both from the human world and D’Hoffryn and the demon world. Every time Cordelia had thought she had a job on, she was really somewhere else doing something so much more interesting and pleasurable.

"Whadd’ya think? I’ll find somewhere we can go, get dressed up, show off, mingle with the rich and famous."

"Is this an attempt on your part to forget how you feel about Angel, because if it is then I think you’re doing the right thing. If it’s for me you shouldn’t bother, I have what I need, and anything else I want won’t be made better by riches or fame or sex with especially attractive people."

Cordelia decided to ignore the Angel dig. In fact she had spent the better part of the last three weeks doing just that for fear that she would say the wrong thing and Angel would wind up with an extra ass instead of a head and a harmonica instead of a soul. It wasn’t as though she had told Anya how she felt about Angel, but she was irritatingly perceptive.

If Cordelia was honest with herself, and that was something she always made a point of being, Anya was very much like she was herself pre LA and she felt this compelling need to take care of her. To guide her towards the right path and back to .. well at least non-vengeance.. She had waited for a vision, something that would help her in her quest and nothing had happened. She had even tried to take her to ‘Caritas’, only to be ‘handled’ expertly away from the idea of Anya singing by Lorne.

It didn’t make any sense, but she knew there was something she could do and she would find it. Anya was looking at her as though she was expecting something and she realised that she had asked her a question and was merely waiting for an answer.

"I’m sorry, wool gathering, what did you say?"

"I asked if you knew when he was coming back this time and if he would be bringing Buffy with him."

"No and no. You know I wish.."

"Don’t!"

"Oh god, I meant wouldn’t it be nice if money wasn’t a problem and we could just buy out the store?"

Cordelia’s heart was racing, what had she been thinking? More to the point why did Anya stop her? Wesley, Fred and Gunn were still very skittish around her, in fact if Gunn had hair he would probably pull it out in frustration.

"Why are we helping a vengeance demon?" He’d wanted to know when Angel had returned from Sunnydale. Angel had turned on him quite impatiently.

"For the same reason we help anybody. She needs guidance to get her back on her true path."

"We don’t know that, Cordy ain’t had no vision and she don’t seem to be making any progress that I can see. Look I don’t really have a problem with her, just so long as she stays away from me. I like my body parts where they are."

"Anyanka is the Patron Saint of Scorned women Gunn, as long as you treat Fred right, you shouldn’t have any worries." Gunn had bristled at Wesley’s tone and left the office in a hurry and quite a bit of tension behind.

Fred had put him out of his misery a couple of days later by telling him she didn‘t want to be involved with him any more. She’d told Cordy there had been relief on both sides when they discovered they both felt the same way about the relationship. Now Cordelia was waiting with bated breath for Wesley to make his move, she hoped he would show some of that famous British decorum. She snorted out loud and Anya looked up curiously.

"You know Anya sometimes I can’t believe I’m the same woman I used to be in Sunnydale!"

~*~

Saturday morning - The Mall, Sunnydale.

Buffy hitched her purse up for about the millionth time and held on more tightly to Angel’s hand. She knew he was watching the little girl too, she was adorable. Blonde bangs touched the top of her eyebrows that framed wide-spaced navy blue eyes. She had an aquiline nose topped off with a cute button and rose bud lips. She would have looked like an angel if it wasn’t for the smudge of chocolate on her cheek and the calculated mischief dancing in her eyes.

"Do I really have to have it cut mommy?"

"Yes Honey, it takes too long to care for, this length. Don’t worry you’ll still be able to put it in bunches."

Her bottom lip trembled slightly and she looked bravely over at Buffy and Angel before blurting out.

"When you cut my hair will it be bold?" Her mother laughed.

"No Harper, I already told you, you’ll still be able to have bunches, ok?"

"If I’m brave, can I have a doggy drink?" Buffy saw the startled and amused realisation when it dawned on her mother‘s face what she meant.

"Oh, you mean a Slush Puppy." She laughed at her again.

"That’s a definite deal honey, ok?"

"Ok. I’m ready then Mommy"

Buffy smiled at her indulgently. Would their child be like this? What sort of child would they make? It wouldn’t be human that much she did know, nor would it happen any time soon. It wasn’t as though she could just drop everything to have a baby. Or that it was even possible yet.

Angel smiled at the almost miniature version of Buffy. He’d existed for 274 years counting his life before he was turned and this was the first time he’d seriously considered the possibility of having a child of his own. His eyes locked with Buffy’s and they shared a moment of simultaneous clarity. If there had been any doubts about the Bonding, here was a good reason to lay them to rest.

Angel thought of Buffy’s increasing eagerness to drink from him and instantly he was hard. He felt his own resolve crumble, the last time he had drunk from her she had tasted delicious. Her blood was full of excitement and want and lust for him and it felt like she was simmering, ready at any time to come to the boil. He knew that when the time was truly right he wouldn’t be able to stop her.

"Come on John Boy, let’s go find the bleached menace and my 16 year old surrogate daughter."

"Would that be the bleached menace you leave in charge of your surrogate daughter?"

"Like you haven’t got a few euphemisms handy to explain your wayward Childe."

"Names maybe, an explanation? Not if I live to be 500 years old."

"Ok, bad choice of words but you know what I mean." Angel smiled at Buffy as they headed out of the store and back into the mall.

"Do you know how weird this is?"

"Which part? The part where you and I get to shop at the mall, or the part where you get to take me home and ravish me afterwards?"

"Well, both of those things but I mean the whole shebang. I’m at the same mall as Spike for heaven’s sake and he’s shopping with Dawn! Actually he’s probably shoplifting with Dawn, they both have terrible track records."

"Yeah I wonder just who’s corrupting who? Oh god you don’t think they’re really stealing do you, because we’ve only just finished paying for the last lot."

"Relax Buffy, I’m only kidding. I’m actually marvelling at Spike’s redemption, not so much that he’s proved it’s attainable so much as the fact that I get to witness it."

Buffy looked up at him sharply. She checked his expression and tried to gauge his mood. He really had seemed hung up on the whole Spike being good without the benefit of a soul issue.

"Sure I mean he’s changed and everything, but do you really think that mean’s he redeemed himself? Most of the good he’s done has been down to the chip or because he had an ulterior motive. Now he’s got Xander to keep him reigned in."

Angel knew Buffy was trying to make him feel better. She couldn’t, but then she didn’t need to any more, he was reconciled to it and he had a theory that helped. Spike was the only being apart from Buffy he had ever loved and he had been a very human vampire even when he was at his worst. That was the reason he had loved him and it went a long way to explaining the Spike of today.

"In case you haven’t noticed, Spike doesn’t seem too hung up on all the things he did when he was evil. You’re different, you’re trying to atone for your past and you‘re actually sorry for what you did."

Angel steered her in to the nearest coffee house and ordered them both a steaming mug of cappuccino. Buffy sat across from him and waited for him to speak.

"I’ve thought about this a lot over the past month and I have a theory about the difference between me and Spike." Buffy looked at him, opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again

"You know that when a person is changed, becomes a vampire the only things that remain are their memories and certain personality traits." Buffy nodded.

"Well I think that it’s the demon that determines what characteristics stay and which don’t. That’s gonna depend on the way the person felt about them to some extent, if they liked or felt happy about certain aspects of themselves it’s more likely to be a comfortable quality for the demon to adopt. Is this making any sense?"

"Is this anything to do with you being a ‘wastrel and a scoundrel’ before you were turned?"

"It was worse than that actually, I didn’t listen to my father at all and couldn’t understand why he didn’t have any respect for me. The truth was I didn’t command any respect, I wouldn’t work and I spent all my time drinking and whoring around."

Buffy rolled her eyes at him and grimaced.

"Can I just say how much I love these revealy types of conversation? Not." Angel looked at her steadily, it was important to him that she listened to this, it was important there was a possibility he could be right.

"I’m listening."

"I think my demon picked up on the negative aspects of my character and tried to destroy all the things that had made me dissatisfied and unhappy, totally renouncing the humanity within. Any of my good qualities were twisted and used to its advantage."

"What you mean your charm and your devastatingly good looks?" Buffy smiled at him.

"Angelus was a charmer in the beginning, before he had a soul stuffed in here with him to keep him company and drive him insane."

" And you’re saying that you think Spike’s demon adopted his humanity?"

"Well it’s not quite as simple as that. William was a very nice man, he may have been bewildered by other people’s actions at times but it didn’t stop him from being basically a good person, towing the party line. I think being changed emancipated him quite radically and for a while he was unstoppable, doing all the things that William could never, would never do. But once his demon had examined his memory stores and had a taste of how he had felt, I think it took some of his characteristics on board.

Oh he was still a demon, don’t get me wrong, some of the things that he and Drusilla got up to were incredibly violent and totally bereft of humanity, Angelus taught them well. But if there was one thing the demon coveted, it was William’s capacity to love."

"Angelus wanted that too didn’t he? To be the object of his devotion?" Angel suddenly felt uncomfortable and couldn’t meet her eyes for a moment.

"Buffy I.."

Buffy saw the look on Angel’s face and decided to let him off the hook, for now at least. She was curious about the two of them and the thought of them together stirred such a mixture of powerful emotions. She was jealous of their history but she could almost understand it. It did very strange things to her heart rate each time she copped the visual, but she couldn’t dwell on that now, or ever.

"It’s ok, that part’s a bit off topic. We can talk about that another time. If ever you want to that is."

"Any way, I had my soul restored and my humanity, and with it guilt and the need for atonement. I hadn’t done those things but I remember them in all their horror and I can still feel the satisfaction that accompanied every single evil act. I had to fight to subjugate the demon and re-impose my will."

"So for you it’s an ongoing battle between two egos, whereas with Spike it’s been more of a development, an evolution if you like. Powered by a - and I use the term loosely - ‘good’ demon?"

"I think that the demon, Spike, has become those dominant parts of William along the way. I know there’s more than a little of something that’s totally ‘Spike’ if you like, but in the end I think the demon that took him over was willing to be submerged under the aspects of William’s personality that made it feel good."

"Don’t forget he was still evil until the government put a chip in his head."

"But don’t you see Buffy, that’s what gives the most weight to my argument." Buffy looked at him incredulous.

"How?"

"It’s since the chip implant that he’s developed the most humanity. I don’t know that he will ever see the need for regret or atonement about the things he did before. Looking backwards all he will see is improvement. The brutal aspects of his character have been tamed and his human traits have grown and it could have gone the other way."

"But he hated the chip, he couldn’t wait to get it out."

"Why d’you think that was exactly? I mean he could have killed any one of you at any time, there are plenty of mercenaries out there willing to make a fast buck and make a name for themselves. He didn’t even need them to kill me if he’d really wanted to, he could have done it himself. He hated the chip because he couldn’t defend himself, it was humiliating, but still he grew in his capacity to love regardless of that fact." Buffy weighed up all that Angel had said and nodded slowly.

"You must have picked up on some of it, you did turn to him, trust him more than anyone for a time."

"I see it’s not fair to compare your situation with Spike’s, you’re both doing the best that you can with the hand you were dealt. But trust not really a word I would associate with Spike!"

"There must have been something? Or is this off-topic and should be examined at a later date?" They shared a look of amusement.

"Noo. I can tell you that I think he’s mostly proven to be a man of his word when it comes to me and Dawn, and now Xander. And I think that’s true of the rest of the gang now. I think he has a strong sense of honour. Of course if you ever tell him this I will have to leave America. I also think you’re right about the way he feels.

I do think he truly loves . In fact it’s better than the way a lot of humans love. True, it’s raw and needy and possessive but for the one he loves it can be considered an absolute. He’s not a hero in the strictest sense of the word because he wouldn’t sacrifice Xander to save the world, but he would sacrifice the world to save Xander."

They shared another look, this time of deep understanding, one warrior to another, full of remembered pain and sadness.

"Lucky for us our next sacrifice doesn’t include me impaling you on a sword and sending you to a hell dimension. Maybe I’m not such a hero any more. I just couldn’t do that again."

"No, this time you just have to give up your humanity."

"It’ll be alright, I’ll do the same as Xander did, I’ll take a leaf out of Spike’s book. Angel do you think Spike will have his soul restored, as part of the transformation?"

"It’s not important, I really don’t think he needs it."

"Oh." Angel sighed heavily.

"Do I think he has what it takes to fight in the upcoming apocalypse? I can only assume that The Powers know what they’re doing and he won’t be asked to choose."

Buffy watched people pass by the window, they had no idea how close they came to losing their existence or how often. She could hardly believe she was the ‘thin blue line’ between them and the evil out there, just her and her trusty slayerettes. She had spent so long fighting her destiny as the Slayer that she couldn’t really pinpoint the precise moment she had accepted it. Accepting it didn’t make it that much easier, but having Angel by her side did.

"It must be your birthday. Happy 500th." Angel grinned at her.

" Ok, so maybe I do have an explanation for his character, just not his taste in music, or clothes! You know, I wanted to think about babies and this is kind of ruining the mood." Angel looked sheepish as if he shouldn’t admit it. Buffy blushed with pleasure.

"Babies huh?"

"Well it’s a future I’ve never been allowed to consider before, I like it."

"Come on let’s go find the others. If I grin any wider my head will fall off." Buffy grabbed her bags and they stood up, both grinning like idiots.

"Have you noticed ...? Is it me or is everybody really watching us these days."

"No, it’s not you, they are really watching us, especially Giles and Wesley. I feel like an experiment, it’s all very unnerving, I keep looking around to see if Professor Walsh is lurking in the shadows."

"Professor Walsh, the Initiative right?"

"Oh yeah, she was kinda like Adolf Eichman but without the sanity."

"Maybe we should go away for a while."

"You mean away away? Not Sunnydale or Los Angeles away?"

"Well away from everyone else at least, the troops are coming along fine in the training department, even Willow’s kicking some serious ass now."

"Did you see her last night? She staked two vamps without breaking a sweat and executed this back flip thingy in time to pull Tara out of the way of a serious punch to the face. She hates training so much, I think she channels her hatred of it into the actual slaying."

"I always knew she had it in her, remember vampire Willow?"

"Yeah yeah, you’re just remembering the leather." Angel smirked as they left the café and Buffy rolled her eyes at him.

"D’you think she wears that stuff for Tara?"

"I try not to think too much about my friends sex lives. If it wasn’t for Spike and Xander, I could pretend they didn’t have one. Maybe we should go find Dawn and Spike, my guess is they‘re either in a music store or she‘s been really evil and dragged him to the cosmetics counter."

"At least we can check security mirrors for Spike these days, actually that should curb any thieving impulses that might be lingering."

"Does it piss you off?"

"What the fact that Spike has a reflection?"

"Ha huh."

"Why do you guys all think I’m so vain? I can live without a reflection, I’ve managed for the last 248 years without one haven’t I? Besides I like sneaking up on people."

"You do realise you may not have a choice in this matter, it’s seems to be part of the transformation package." Angel’s eyes dropped to Buffy’s throat and he couldn’t help but lick his lips.

"About going away, d’you think we could swing that?" Buffy sensed his sudden change in mood and couldn’t believe how hot she suddenly felt.

"I think you can count on it."

~*~

Saturday morning - The Mall, Sunnydale

Spike rifled through the ‘70’s section of CD’s. I didn’t seem right somehow that you could get The Ramones or The Sex Pistols on Compact Disc, they belonged on vinyl. On the other hand it was a good job you could get them on CD, other wise he’d be hunting for a turntable as well as LP’s.

He turned to the vinyl anyway for the sake of nostalgia and wondered if he could get Xander to buy him a turntable for Christmas. He pulled out a 12 inch copy of ‘Nowhere Girl’ by B Movie. Now here was a find, Drusilla had loved this song and he would sing it to her and stalk her round whatever mausoleum or crypt they were living in at the time.

She hadn’t really known why she had loved it so much but Spike did. All the lyrics could easily be referring to the girl she was before Angelus had turned her. Of course he hadn’t known that girl himself, but Angelus had loved describing how he had stalked her, broken her, drove her insane and then turned her. The memory of that girl was still in there somewhere, it’s just that no one knew how to reach her, least of all Dru. Spike got the shop assistant to put it on and he grabbed the headphones.

Nowhere girl you’re living in a dream,

Nowhere girl you stay behind the scenes,

Nowhere girl you never go outside,

Nowhere girl cause you prefer to hide.

Every day, every night

In that old familiar light

You hang up when I call you at home.

And I try to get through

And I try to talk to you

But there’s something stopping me from getting through.

He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Bollocks! Dawn, you scared me half to death!"

Dawn stood with her arms folded and merely raised an eyebrow.

"Foul mouth much. And Spike? Already dead remember"

"I’m sorry pet you startled me, I was reminiscing. What you got there?" He nodded at the CD’s she had in her hands. She fanned them out like a hand of cards.

"Pink, Christina Aguilera, Nelly, Kelly bleedin’ Clarkson? Are you outta your mind or simply tone deaf?"

"Says the guy who listen to Johnny Rotten scream about the Queen."

"As a matter of fact it’s Sid Vicious and they might not be the most melodious band in the world but at least they had attitude. I can just about cope with Pink, she’s hot and has attitude in spades, but the others Nibblet, well they’re just sad."

Dawn flared her nostrils out and looked at him with a steady gaze.

"Says the guy who boinked my sister. How sad is that?"

Spike spluttered out something that sounded a lot like

‘HowthehelldidyoufindoutaboutthatanddoesBuffyknowyouknow?’

"Don’t worry Spike, you have much better taste these days. Are you getting that?"

He followed her pointed look at the turntable. Would Xander understand if he did? He wasn’t quite so territorial as he had been, maybe he would understand that Spike was just collecting mementos.

"Yeah I reckon’ I am. Have you done?"

"Ha huh. We should pay for these and then I’ll buy you hot chocolate, with marshmallows. Also, I haven’t forgotten about the movie, we should go see something really violent."

"Some other time eh pet?"

"Well I didn’t actually mean today. You’re missing him aren’t you. He should have come with us, except then I couldn’t have come."

"No he wanted to spend some time with Red. And I’ve missed you, I wanted to come."

"I think it’s really cool about you guys, it’s cool about Buffy and Angel too. Tara and Willow have worked stuff out and all my friends are happy for a change. Next time we should bring him with us."

"Are you scared Dawn? About any of this prophecy stuff, or me and Xander Bonding. What it means for Buffy?" Dawn shook her head vigorously.

"All I wanted was for Buffy to be happy she’s back and for it have some meaning for her personally without all the slaying and stuff. It’s just ironic that it’s the Slaying that’s going make it possible."

Spike took the vinyl off the turntable carefully, put it back in it’s sleeve and handed it to the cashier. He took all the CD’s from Dawn’s hands and paid for them.

"Xander’s treat, he gave us money to spend." Dawn beamed at him.

"In that case I have money to spend on lipstick, come on Spike this is the best part." They left the store and made their way towards Starbucks.

"So you don’t feel weird around us at all?"

"Why would I? It’s you and Xander, besides it’s cool when he morphs and it’s handy when I need heavy furniture moving around in my room."

"Like now for instance?"

"You read my mind."

"No Dawn, I read your lips."

"I wonder what Angel and Buffy are up to?"

"They’re probably arguing over where they go first, men’s or ladies wear."

"Why do you always do that?"

"What?"

"Pretend you don’t like Angel."

"Who says I’m pretending?"

"Everybody." Spike scowled at her.

"It’s not that I dislike him, it’s just there’s so much material to work with if I feel like takin’ the piss." Dawn shook her head at him

"We’re a family, I like that. It usually means there’s someone around, which is way better than when there’s not."

"Things alright between you and big sis?"

"They’re cool. She treats me more like a grown-up since we started the training. It’s still fun to get up her nose from time to time, but she doesn’t always notice these days with her one track Angel mind."

"Now who’s pretending? You love her more than anyone else in the world."

"Ok, I do, but it’s not much more than I love all you guys."

Spike closed his eyes against a tidal wave of emotion and tried hard to dislodge the lump in his throat. If he thought hard about all the rewards he was getting for doing sweet bugger all he could get really scared. Scared because everything has a price and for the things he was getting now, he hadn’t even begun to pay.

~*~

Saturday night - Giles’ apartment.

Giles looked around the den and gave a satisfied nod; it would do. They weren’t bothering with dinner tonight, it was too late really so they had decided it would be better if they ate before they met. He presumed his guest would have, he was too nervous. Silly really, considering how long they had known one another. He characteristically swept his hair back from his brow and reached for his glasses.

He gave a self depreciating smile and was pleased no one was present, when for the countless time, his hands closed on nothing. Maybe a drink would relax him. He felt better about the situation now, obstacles had been cleared and other people were too busy with their own preoccupations to give the matter anything resembling a hard time. Well, that was except for the last remaining stumbling block. He was working on it, but it had to be her decision.

He poured a whiskey and put Lynard Skynard on the CD player. Perhaps a bit before her time, but love was all about sharing wasn’t it? The whiskey warmed his tongue and burned his throat as it went down. He took the bottle with him and slouched on the couch. It was just as well that transport wasn’t a problem.

He sensed the change in the air around him before he saw anything. Then he smiled at the vision before him and got to his feet. He put his glass down and took her in his arms. He’d missed her more than he could have imagined. He kissed her lightly and drew back to look into her face.

"Hello Anya, I’m so glad you‘re here."

"Hello Baby, I’ve missed you too."

~*~

Saturday night -The Bronze.

Angel didn’t see her so much as feel her presence. The moment she stood next to him his nostrils were assaulted by a heady blast of perfume and he felt a gravitational pull in her direction. He turned towards her and looked down into blue eyes framed by smoky kohl. Her cheekbones were high and dusted with blusher, and her lips shimmered with red gloss.

She stood about 5’4" tall and was dressed head to toe in black. Her shirt was fitted to curves that made him think of Faith and there was a bare inch of belly exposed above tight fitting flared trousers. A thick silver pendant nestled in the hollow of her throat and small silver hoop earrings dangled amidst dark brown hair; the club lights picked out shine and revealed even darker, richer streaks.

He shook his head, he never normally noticed this much detail even on Buffy, he just knew that she looked pretty, or hot, or both. He couldn’t help the smile he directed at her, it lifted his whole face and she appeared to be mocking his scrutiny. A little flustered he moved away and turned his attention back to the bar.

He could still feel her close proximity and his personal space felt invaded, but when he looked to see if she had followed him, he saw that she too had moved away and was propping up the bar sipping a Bombay Sapphire. Angel frowned, what was a ‘Bombay Sapphire‘? The bartender arrived to serve him and Angel was pulled out of his musings.

"What can I get ya?" Angel swivelled his head towards him and gave him an expression of momentary confusion.

"Drinks? Right, I’ll have three cokes, two bottled beers, and a single malt." He grimaced. "And a plate of spicy chicken wings."

He felt her presence leave the vicinity like someone had turned off the fire in a cold room. His feet were moving before he could acknowledge what he was doing and he didn’t really know where they were taking him but he missed the warmth. He walked as if in a dream towards the gents’ bathroom when he saw her disappear into the gloom. He didn’t think to question his actions he just knew he had to find her.

He heard a low husky laugh that went straight to his groin and gripped him with pubescent hardness. His skin began to ache and he knew that if he didn’t find her soon he would be in serious pain. He found her and let out the oxygen he wasn’t aware he was holding. She was leaning against the wall, a small smile on her half parted lips. The music became muted and the voices from the people nearby seemed to bounce away from his ears.

Angel breathed a sigh of relief and strode over to her. He slid his arm around her waist and pulled her roughly towards him. She looked at him with a flash of triumph right before he dipped his head down and plundered her lips. The kiss felt electric and Angel’s toes curled when he deepened it. He slid his tongue into her mouth and stroked his hand lightly across one breast.

The areola was big and flat against his fingertips and he moaned into her mouth when he felt it shrink under his touch. He thrust a thigh in between her legs and applied friction to her pubis, sliding his hand over her buttocks and digging cruel, needy fingers into her hips. It was unsatisfactory, he needed to be closer so he picked her up and wrapped her legs around his waist and pressed his engorged member close to her soft mound.

Then her hands were on his chest, sliding over pectorals, she pinched his nipples and pushed herself forward onto him, using the wall as leverage so she could create much needed friction. Angel thrust his hand inside her shirt, desperate to feel skin. He pushed aside the frilly wisp of her bra and roughly massaged the full weight that fell into his hand. Her tongue made trails down his throat and he wondered how quickly he could be inside her. Until she swept across the juncture of his throat and shoulders.

Angel stilled for a minute as Buffy’s image flashed through his mind and he realised what he was doing. He just couldn’t remember getting here or who he was with. He put her down unsteadily and looked with confusion into her beautiful upturned face. His cock was throbbing painfully and even now he felt an instinctive pull back towards her, to bury himself in her hot core.

A hand on his shoulder and he was being turned around roughly. His demon visage chased away his human countenance and he looked into another pair of yellow eyes with a warning growl. He felt her move away from him and reached out a hand to stop her, but Xander pulled him quickly away.

"Angel man, what the fuck are you doing?"

Xander’s features shifted as a crowd of women walked towards them to go into the bathroom. He pulled Angel to the side and looked to where he had just been standing. The woman who had been draped around him a few minutes ago had vanished.

"I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say someone put the mojo on you because there’s no way you’d do that to Buffy of your own free will. Even though she was seriously hot. Am I drooling by the way? ‘Cos you should tell me, I’m having trouble with the whole mind, body connection thing at the moment!"

Angel had his head down and he felt terribly sick. He ran a shaky hand over his mouth and relaxed his features when he touched his fangs.

"I don’t know what happened .. I was .. At the bar getting drinks for us and the next thing I know I’m here and oh god! What happened?"

"I have no idea pal, and I seriously wouldn’t want to be in your shoes when you tell Buffy. You know you have to tell Buffy right?"

"I do. I do?"

"Sure you do, anything that can get you that steeped in the action needs investigating and stopping, and did I mention she was hot? Where’d she go now?"

Angel shifted uncomfortably, his erection would not go away despite his shame and embarrassment and he had no idea how he was going to walk back over to Buffy. Xander took in the miserable look on Angel’s face, the smell of arousal and the hard to miss bulge in the front of his trousers. He actually felt really bad for the guy. Despite the hot action he had just had, and did he really just think about hot action involving someone other than Spike? He nodded towards the gents bathroom.

"Go and sort yourself out ok? I’ll go and get the drinks and tell Buffy I found you." Angel nodded.

"I already ordered the drinks and Spike’s wings, the barman’s probably really pissed at me."

"Don’t worry. I’ll see you when you’ve ...collected your thoughts."

Angel took a last look around for … Oh god, he didn’t even know her name. Even when he was evil he’d learn their name before having sex with them. Ok, he hadn’t had sex with her technically but it was only the fact she had laved the spot he’d mentally reserved for Buffy that had pulled him to his senses. He doubted very much that Xander alone could have stopped him without bloodshed. He tried to pull himself together and walked into the bathroom.

Xander watched Angel leave and scanned the area for any signs of the woman who had been seriously macking on Angel only minutes earlier. He didn’t know where, but he was pretty sure he had seen her before. He had felt an unusual pull as soon as he’d got close to this end of the club and had stood transfixed at the sight before his eyes.

Open-mouthed at first, he’d thought he must be seeing things. Then it became a show, just for him, and the electricity coming off the two of them sent shivers down his spine and he felt himself grow hard. Moving forward he had put out a hand that wasn’t meant to stop them, he had wanted to be a part of it. So didn’t want to dwell on that too much!

Someone had banged into the back of him, rudely bringing him to his senses. He followed through on the gesture just as Angel put the woman back on her feet. He swung him round, as disturbed for himself as he was for Angel, and his countenance had slipped. He had forgotten where they both were for a minute as they’d confronted one another in game face, and he had basked in the thrill of facing Angel this way without fear.

He wandered over to the bar and paid a pissed off looking bartender who was scanning the area for Angel. He grinned at the chicken wings but the grin faded when he thought of Spike. All the shit he had given him, all the jealousy he had felt and all it took for his cock to wander was the sight of a demon, a very attractive demon who could weave a wicked spell. He supposed she must be a demon, spewing pheromones and thrall and man was she hot!

A cool hand sneaked around his waist and he instinctively leaned into it. He felt guilty. He hadn’t done anything, not really, but he still felt guilty, if that had been Spike enjoying the floor show! He paid the barman before turning round and planting a hard kiss on Spike’s mouth. Spike raised an eyebrow at the public display of affection and then frowned when he saw the look on Xander’s face.

"We got trouble Gorgeous, ‘I‘m heading for the hills‘ kinda trouble! Where’s Buffy?"

"She’s still looking for Angel have you seen him?"

"Oh yeah, a little more of him than I wanted to. Can you just say apocalypse?"

"What?"

"When Buffy’s finds out what he just did, I’m thinking end of the world scenario." Xander picked up the tray and Spike grabbed his chicken.

"Xander wait a minute. What’s going on?"

"Hot chick, action, pre-groiny. Probably a demon."

"You’re ‘avin’ me on."

"No I’m not. Angel was macking on some chick like sex was going out of style. She radiated pheromones like microwaves, it effected me too." Spike stood with his mouth agape.

"What do you mean, did you ..?"

"I didn’t do anything. But I have to admit I wanted to." He hung his head down and waited for the tirade.

"So, she’s workin’ the charm. A new kid on the block I expect?"

Spike started munching on chicken and Xander wasn’t sure if he was grateful or miffed that he hadn’t reacted more forcibly. He scanned the immediate vicinity still on the look-out for her and spotted Buffy coming towards them.

"Hey guys, did you find Angel, Xander?"

"I did. He’s in the bathroom."

"What? Is he sick?" Concern clouded Buffy’s face.

"Not in the strictest sense of the word. And certainly no more than usual." Buffy looked at him exasperated.

"What is going on? You guys looked seriously wigged. Well actually Spike looks like he always does when he’s stuffing his face, but Xander you look like you’ve seen .. Willow performing magic." Xander’s eyes darted around to see if there was any sign of Angel emerging from the bathroom.

"Well Buffy, looks as though .."

"Spike!" Spike threw him a look that managed to be chagrined and innocent at the same time.

"I wasn’t going to say anything."

Buffy began to suspect they were both on something and then Angel appeared by her side. He looked more in control than when Xander had last seen him, but still more than a little ruffled.

"There you are. What’s going on?" Angel’s eyes locked with Xander’s for a moment and then he turned to Buffy.

"I think we have a problem." Spike snickered. Angel scowled at him and grabbed Buffy’s hand.

"I .. There was a woman, she may have been a demon. She made me .. We did things .." Buffy’s eyes got wider and wider as he spoke.

"What kind of things exactly?"

"He was getting‘ down and dirty with her apparently. Looks like we have some type of thrall demon in our midst." Angel punched Spike’s arm.

"Ow! I’m only trying to help you get the words out mate. At this bloody rate we’ll be ’ere ’til Giles gets a shag." Buffy looked around as if she could make her appear just by looking for her.

"What did she look like exactly?"

"Does that matter? It‘s not a contest, I .. she was pre .. but not .." Angel felt out of his depth here.

"I mean so we can find her."

"What’re going to do, Slay her?"

"That was the plan Spike, it’s what I do remember?"

Buffy avoided looking at Angel for the moment. Old insecurities reared their ugly head and she was furious with him and jealous. She knew she was being unreasonable, it wasn’t as though he had done it willingly, she just needed a moment to get a grip.

Angel was starting to feel better, physically anyway, and he tried to remember why it was that he had found her more alluring than any of the other attractive women he’d come across over the years. Ok, that was definitely a bad move, he was hard and uncomfortable again now.

"You can’t just go off and Slay her Buffy, you don’t even know if she’s evil."

"Xander, stop being reasonable, I have an axe to grind. Did she affect either of you?" Spike and Xander exchanged a look.

"Spike didn’t see her, but I did. There’s no way round it Buffy, she was seriously hot. I don’t just mean she looked hot."

"Is this supposed to make me feel better?" She blasted Xander with the full force of an irritated glare.

"I mean she gave off heat and she sort of pulled you in like gravity."

Angel gripped Buffy’s hand tight when she tried to pull away from him. She looked up at him and saw the miserable look on his face and the anger went out of her. She gave him a small smile.

"We should go and look, see where she went."

"I’m pretty certain that she’s gone. I can’t sense her at all."

"Maybe she’s just not turning on the charm any more."

"Maybe we should go and sit down, tell the others was happened and try to put things into perspective. Spike and Xander are right Buffy, we don’t really know what we’re dealing with."

She nodded. Xander carried the drinks over to the table where Willow and Tara were sitting. They both waved.

"Hey guys you’ve been gone ages. Did you get some vampire action?" All four of them looked at her in surprise and Willow shook her head when she realised how that sounded.

"I mean, did you have to go and slay some vampires, is that what took you so long?"

"Willow, what do you know about demons that can seduce you with pheromones at the drop of a hat?"

"I could narrow that down to about a thousand."

"Yes, please tell us everything you know ‘cos I don’t want this chick any where near Spike!"

"What chick?, woman are you talking about?"

Buffy sat down beside her and quickly filled her in on what had happened and Willow looked from Buffy to Angel for signs of tension. Angel mostly just looked embarrassed and Buffy seemed to be hiding behind Slayer mode, she was all business.

"I don’t think she’s a demon at all. She sounds like a Nymph."

"A what? You have got to be kidding me!"

"I’m serious. Wood Nymphs are a type of elemental. She fit’s the physical description almost perfectly. They’re rarely taller than 5’6" and the brown hair and green eyes are a reflection of their natural habitat, you know all those trees? From what I remember they’re always female and they have a penchant for seduction."

"Her eyes were blue."

"Maybe she’s a modern kinda gal and wears coloured contact lenses, I don’t know I could be wrong but she seems to fit the profile."

"So you’re saying they come out of the woods just for the hot lovin’"

"Xander, could you shut up with colourful reminders, the visual is already permanently fixed in my mind."

"Ok, sorry."

"There’s no other way to ensure their continued existence. They tend to breed with humans or elves."

"Elves are real?" Buffy’s eyes were like saucers.

"Why would an elemental try to seduce a vampire then?"

"She’s not saying the only reason they try to seduce people is to get pregnant, where do you think the word nymphomaniac comes from?"

Tara risked a look at Angel and mercifully her blush was covered in the dim lights. Angel was just pleased that the sick feeling had gone entirely and thinking about her didn’t affect him physically any more. He drew Buffy away from the others.

"I’m sorry."

"It wasn’t your fault."

"I still feel terrible about it."

"Angel what stopped you exactly?"

"You did." He pointed to the juncture of his head and shoulders.

"She touched me here, the place I’ve reserved for you. That‘s was broke the spell"

Buffy closed her eyes against the mixed images that tried to crowd into her brain. Another female touching Angel in the very place she had started to hunger for was replaced by an image of herself fastening her lips over a bloody wound. She had tasted his blood once.

Post battle he had sat in the kitchen at Rovello Drive whilst she dressed his chest wounds. They were nasty, he had taken a deep slice from a sword whilst fighting a couple of male Nibu demons. The wounds had bled profusely for a while despite there being nothing to actually pump the blood from his system. She couldn’t help herself, she had dipped her hand into the trail oozing down his torso and sucked it off.

Cool and syrupy, it had tasted surprisingly pleasant and Angel had watched her with a mixture of emotions on his face as she reached out for more. Just as she had lowered her head to lap at it with her tongue, Dawn had entered the kitchen and the moment had been broken.

Buffy stepped closer to him and lifted her head up for a kiss. Angel’s lips parted hungrily and he mashed his mouth down on hers, clacking teeth and bruising her in his attempts to replace the taste in his mouth with Buffy’s. She threaded her fingers into his hair and pulled him closer, oblivious for the moment of the others standing close by.

"So not making wisecracks here." Buffy broke away and looked over at Xander who was standing with Spike’s back to him, his arms around his waist.

"That would make a nice change. I’m going to dance." She clasped Angel’s hand and pulled him over to the dance floor.

"Ok, if that demon, or nymph thing whatever tries to smoosh body parts with you, it’s gonna cost you more than a kiss and a dance to make me feel better." Spike turned around to face him.

"Will it involve pain and sex of some kind?" Xander gave him a pointed look.

"Just checking whether or not I should seek her out." Xander stared at him.

"We could use you as bait, we haven’t had bait since Cordy left."

"Or, maybe we could take the fishing trip somewhere else and you could be bait." Xander’s eyes widened comically.

"Please tell me that is not part of the forfeit! I don‘t think I‘m up to hooks yet." He paused for a moment. "Dance with me?" He pulled Spike close to him and kissed his forehead.

"We’re having a right coming out party aren’t we Love?"

"I don’t think anybody here cares, who are we compared to the denizens of hell?"

"Only the ones who have to kick their asses!"

Spike allowed himself to be led onto the dance floor. He felt eternally grateful that his arms were bare as Xander slid his hands up and down the expanse of them whilst they swayed to the soft strains created with lovers in mind. He looked up into soft brown eyes filled with such feeling just for him that he couldn’t contain the emotion that welled up inside him and it spilled out. Energy that fuelled his auric field, radiating out through all the layers of the subtle bodies and reaching out to Xander’s.

Tara gasped as she looked over at them and she pointed before she could stop herself. Willow watched mesmerised at the iridescent light that spilled from Spike and surrounded the two of them.

"I wouldn’t mind being around when they both do that at the same time."

"D’you suppose we ...?"

"You can actually have a picture taken of your auric field with specialist equipment of course, but we should check it out at one of those mind, body and spirit fairs."

"Come on, let’s dance."

~*~

Saturday night - outside The Bronze

Fleur S`elu watched intently as the small group of people left The Bronze. True she was really here only as a part of the mission, but she had … appetites. The souled vampire had tasted so good, all that passion that ran as deep as a well, and only now beginning to be tapped. She looked intently at the female he had marked, she had power, she must be The Chosen One. For some reason though she hadn’t staked her own claim, that would cause murmurs in the inner circle.

The Wicca’s held no attraction for her, not only were they female, not her preferred sexual possibility, but the link between them on a physical and auric level was forged by thick tight bonds. She couldn’t come between them if she tried.

Fleur was not an evil being, she was aligned with The Powers, she just found it difficult sometimes to defy her nature. In truth she was a lot like a child, once she had eyed the candy, she couldn’t rest until she’d eaten it. Her eyes alighted on a shock of white hair, slid off and then flew back to it. She recognised him from a few weeks ago, this was who she was really looking for.

He was poetry in motion, exuding fluid energy. She drew it to herself, surrounding herself with it and breathing it in. Here he was, the Slayer’s Captain, not a vampire but the Hybrid. No soul here, but he was drenched in humanity. Where was his Bonded? She scanned the crowd and shortly the door to the club opened again, discharging the young man who had torn her away from her other conquest. He put his arm around the Hybrid’s shoulders.

He too radiated immense energy, quick but still a little clumsy, she breathed him in and he tasted of spice and earth. Her eyes sliding back to the shock of blond hair she believed she’d found a weak link. The cords connecting these two were strong but not as strong as those between the Wicca’s; as they had suspected the transformation wasn’t yet complete. All she needed was the opportunity and she believed that either one of them could be hers.

Her eyes widened suspiciously as the blonde broke away from the group and walked in the opposite direction. He took out a pack of cigarettes, lit one and disappeared down a side street without a backward glance. The others were laughing and joking which seemed rather odd considering the recent exploits of one of their number. The Slayer must have a very forgiving nature, but surely they had suspected there was more to it than a lover who had strayed?

Curiosity got the better of her and she followed him, swaying as she walked, her hips rocking gently from side to side. A few passers by stopped and stared at her and she revelled in the attention directed her way. Maybe she could have one of these, but they didn’t seem anywhere near so interesting. She turned down the alley and threw up a protective ward against unwanted intruders. And he was there, almost as if he was waiting for her. He leaned casually against a wall about halfway down and he watched her with measured glance as she walked towards him.

"Hello cutie."

Spike recognised her, she was one of the three who had been in the box at The Town Hall with Big Daddy. But he didn’t recall her fighting alongside him and Xander against the humans who attacked them in Carlton. He felt the air shift and thicken with pheromones as they poured from her. He concentrated on the picture of Xander he held firmly in his head but the sensations she was causing were overwhelming. Oh yeah, this was a choice plan!

His felt his control dissolve , slipping away like water through his fingers and he started walking towards the place where she had stopped to wait for him. He crushed her to him and she sighed in triumph and pleasure as his mouth covered hers. The inside of his mouth was cool and tasted faintly of tobacco, spices and beer, she nipped gently at his bottom lip and the tongue he offered. His hands roamed her body with hard pressure, quickly moving from one part of her to another as though he couldn’t get all that he wanted from her fast enough.

There shouldn’t be any interruptions down here, even the Wicca’s would have trouble breaking the ward should they come back. She reached for the front of his jeans, tracing the bulge that strained to be free with the heel of her hand. Spike thrust his hand between her legs, holding her sex and kneading, creating delicious friction against her clitoris. She released him from his restraints and sliding a hand around his hardening member stroked him until he was fully erect.

Spike groaned, this felt good, a small warm hand massaging his length, skilfully, instinctively knowing what he liked. A soft hand with slim tapered fingers and long rounded nails, that reached down to lightly graze his balls before continuing it’s earlier manipulations. A heady smell of strong perfume filled his nostrils, cutting through the heavy aroma of pheromones.

It registered suddenly that this may be a threat, he knew something felt wrong. He couldn’t feel work roughened calluses scraping his flesh nor detect the familiar scents of spice and earth. This was a diminutive stature that didn’t engulf him, nor did it fit and reassure him by it’s presence. The blood beneath the surface of this skin was alien to him, not offering sustenance or belonging, something else was missing; where was Xander’s love?

She wanted him inside her but this was so good and there would be time for more later. Hips bucking against him she came hard, barely registering the way his features morphed. She stroked him faster, mesmerised by the glint in golden eyes and the gleam of his fangs until he leaned in to bite her neck. She drew back in horror and tried to push him away from her. He growled and fought to keep her still, pining her arms with his body and one arm, he pulled her head to the side to expose her neck.

She dropped the ward in desperation, hoping now that they would find them. An angered Hybrid or Slayer was preferable to this. She struggled, slamming the heel of one boot down on his foot and used all her innate power to force him away from her. She withdrew her pheromones and grimaced at Spike’s bewildered face, his features returning to their human state. She turned towards the sound of heavily footsteps to see they were all here running towards them.

Xander ignored her completely and stood in front of Spike so the others couldn’t see he was exposed. He wrapped his arms around him and prayed that they had reached them in time. Please, oh please say that he hadn’t gone too far, this was all his own stupid fault!

"Bloody hell! What kept you?"

Buffy grabbed Fleur S`elu around the throat and lifting her off her feet pinned her to the wall. Pheromones began to spill again and Buffy slapped her hard. Willow touched Buffy’s shoulder gently, afraid she would get carried away.

"Maybe you should put her down Buffy, she can’t talk if she can’t breathe."

Buffy released her and Angel, Willow and Tara all stood ready to stop her if she tried to make a run for it. Fleur rubbed at her throat and gasped to take in air. She could taste blood and she licked it from the side of her mouth.

"Who are you?" Buffy demanded.

"I’m Fleur S`elu of the Frelul Clan." she told them in cultured tones, much like Giles when he first came to Sunnydale.

"Gypsies?" Angel asked with growing trepidation. She shook her head.

"No, we are Elementals. Please, I know I have angered you, but I mean none of you any harm."

Xander felt his fist twitch but he registered a certain amount of shame at the fierce need to exact physical revenge for the emotional trauma this was going to cause them all.

"Well you’ve caused us plenty lady, so god help us all if ever you do mean it."

Spike clung to Xander aware of the cold around his exposed cock. He managed to tuck himself away without unwanted attention, all eyes were on this bloody Fleur creature. What the hell happened? One minute he was running the show and the next thing he could remember was blood lust. He checked out her neck that was mercifully free of bite marks. He was reassured by Xander’s closeness, he didn’t take his hands off him for a minute, letting him know that he didn’t blame him for whatever had taken place.

"I didn’t shag ‘er, if you’re worried at all." He whispered so the others couldn’t hear. "It did get a bit hairy though and I think she had a jolly time of it." Xander shushed him with a brief kiss.

"We tried to get to you as soon as she followed, but we couldn’t get past the mojo. Are you ok?"

"I think I’ll feel a lot better if we can swing by the cemetery and kill something on the way home. Then I’m collecting my forfeit."

They both turned back and faced the others as Buffy broke the tension.

"Talk. Why are you picking on us especially?" Buffy folded her arms and waited.

"Picking on you? I was sent to watch you, to make sure that events were unfolding as they should."

"Didn’t your mother ever tell you that you can look but you can’t touch? And for the record, I don’t need watching, I already have a Watcher thank you and he’s working out just fine. But then I suspect you already know that . Who sent you?"

"I’m not a liberty to say" Fleur lifted her head up in resolve, unconsciously mimicking Buffy’s determination.

"Well missy, you’ve been very free with the liberty taking so far, why are you getting all coy now?"

Angel looked at Fleur remembering how she had tasted, how she had felt under his ministrations and how much he had wanted to be buried inside her, riding her until both of them fell into screaming oblivion. He licked his lips and retreated a few feet.

He looked over a Spike and Xander and wondered how close it had been. He guessed that Spike must have moved in to feed and scared her into dropping the ward. Xander had his arms around him and a miserable look on his face, but Angel didn’t doubt that it was directed at Fleur and not Spike.

"I cannot tell you. If you kill me, I will die knowing that I didn’t betray my leader."

"Don’t go all noble and full of honour on me now, and who said anything about killing you? You’re not that important honey, now I suggest you ..."

"Just let her go Buffy."

Angel had moved to stand by her side and Buffy was glad he’d interrupted because her smart remarks were sadly lacking when she was this emotionally involved. Angel had simply realised that they could probably found out more if they let her go and then followed her. Buffy nodded and stepped aside. She risked a look at Spike and Angel before she left.

"Put your eyes, back in your head, or ..." Fleur put her hand up.

"Your jealousy is powerful but unattractive. Use your power more wisely and claim your intended, or all will be lost."

She sashayed away leaving them all open-mouthed and feeling very tired.

~*~

Saturday night -LA Women’s Penitentiary.

Faith opened her eyes and was instantly alert. There was no way her cell mate had made that particular noise, she knew her noises. Every groan, snort and creak of the bedsprings, hell she usually caused ‘em. She stifled a grin, this wasn’t the time for reliving those memories, no matter how pleasant they were, something wasn’t right.

She looked around the room, eyes darting with clear vision in the dark. She couldn’t see anything unusual but she still got out of bed very slowly; it wouldn’t be the first time she’d dusted a vampire in this place. The hairs at her nape prickled and she swung around on her feet. Nothing there. Grace was asleep in the top bunk and snoring softly.

Faith turned back to the window when moonlight appeared from behind a cloud. A full moon, she wondered if Oz was howling at it. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and assumed battle position. She gasped softly, her cell door was slightly open and that could only mean that she was in for it from the screws or they’d been paid to look the other way by a pissed off inmate. Dammit, she hadn’t had trouble for ages.

Another movement and then a hand covered her mouth. She swung her fist and connected with thin air before her hand was caught and held. She tried to twist round to see who it was but didn’t recognise the face of her attacker. The hand was replaced by a cloth covered in ether and soon Faith’s struggles slowed down, then ceased altogether. Later she would have no recollection of her liberation.

~*~

Post Bronze -The forfeit.

Spike arched into the pressure of Xander’s hands on his back as they kneaded muscle and brought warmth to his skin. He dragged his tongue roughly across the scratches and weals that he had recently sustained, and pressed the head of his cock against his anus. Unlubricated he pushed his way in, and as skin tore, the smell of blood assaulted his nostrils with cock hardening sweetness.

Spike’s head felt like a mass of confused synapses as his brain tried to isolate the pleasure from the pain. He simply gave up in the end and allowed it to wash over him, thrusting back against the intrusion again and again, revelling in the feel of being taken this way.

Close to the edge, he felt Xander stiffen and flood his insides with hot seed before pulling straight out of him. His balls ached in protest and his untouched cock twitched as Xander turned him over and started to bite his nipples and belly, drawing out blood and lapping it up. He pushed his legs up roughly and plunged his tongue into his bleeding hole.

He fisted his cock with cruel slowness, fucking him with his tongue, delighting in the whimpers he elicited. Spike bit his tongue, his eyes flashing yellow with desire and his need to come and his fangs descended as blood filled his mouth. He felt the onset of his climax and tried to thrust harder into Xander’s fist, but Xander held him down with his free hand and dragged his fangs across his perineum.

Spike’s pleasure built from the base of his feet, hot coils wound around his legs and travelled slowly up to his balls. Rapturous heat burst from deep inside him as Xander probed his prostate, and he was drenched in pleasure from the inside out. Xander pumped him slowly through his orgasm, drawing it out so that twice his belly and chest were spattered with come.

Before he had chance to register the relief, Xander yanked his head up, cupping the back of his neck, and pressing his mouth to his throat, urged him to drink. The moment Spike bit into his throat, Xander was lost in the welcome sensation of teeth tearing flesh, and the hard pull as blood that gushed was sucked from his veins. The taste of Spike’s blood pouring down his own throat quietened the low growl that had started deep in his chest and instead he began to purr.

Spike clamped his jaws down hard and sucked greedily at the blood that pumped easily into his mouth. This was better than pig’s blood, this was better than human blood, hell it was even better than Slayer’s blood. The blood of his Bonded, changing him, sustaining him, giving him new life.

There was a roaring in Xander’s ears and he couldn’t find the source. It beat like a steady drum, thump, thump, thump and without knowing why he reached out a hand to Spike’s chest. There it was and he didn’t know how; when Spike had fallen over the precipice his heart had started beating.

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