Still Ensouled 5

The Adventures of Captain Peroxide and Deadboy

The Angel/Spike Zone of the BtVS Writer's Guild

Part V - Catching Up

"Tell me again why the powerful, albeit semi-scary vampire got to stay at the Hyperion with Cordy while I'm charging into battle with you all?" Lorne asked as he, Gunn, Fred, and Wesley followed Angel through a dripping sewer that ran under the Wolfram and Hart building.

"He's not exactly battle ready and you are." Angel answered. "Besides, we’re not here for the monster. We are here for Connor. We get him, we get out. If any of you see the big bad you turn tail and run. I mean run fast. This thing is not going to hurt any of you." Angel pushed open a sewer grate and allowed Wesley to take the lead.

"It's about two hundred meters from here. It was a pretty long drop though. I'm not sure your grappling hook will reach the top." Wesley turned a corner and paused for a moment before taking a turn to the left.

"You sure this is the way?" Gunn asked. "Your info doesn't always pan out, ya know."

"I know where I'm going, and exactly what I need to do to get there." Wesley said. He turned another corner and stopped under a hole in the tunnel’s ceiling.

"How do we know this isn’t just some set up? You ain’t exactly been part of the team lately. We could end up.."

"Shut Up." Angel yelled at the spatting men. "I don't give a rat’s ass what’s going on with you two. Put it away. We’re here to get Connor. You leave your crap here. If either of you put him in more danger by not paying attention I'll kill you myself." With that he grabbed a duffle bag full of rope and leapt up into the hole. Once at the top he threw the rope back down and helped the others up.

Spike and Cordelia sat in the lobby of the Hyperion daring the other to speak first. The vampire lounged comfortably atop the counter, occasionally licking his lips and making a show of staring at Cordelia’s neck.

"You are not drinking from me you creep, so quit making moon eyes at my jugular. I don't know if Buffy goes in for that whole donor thing, but not me, so don't get any ideas." Cordelia said, trying to look more confident than she felt.

"Oh don't worry your pretty little head about ideas, peaches. I'm way beyond ideas. I've had ideas, thoughts, plans, and maps, fancy pencil drawings, trial runs, you name it. I'm thinking I'm ready for the real deal." Spike cocked his head and gave her a look that screamed predator. She began to stand up, but Spike jumped from the counter and in a second had a cold hand on her shoulder, holding her in place.

"Get your hands off of me." She said through gritted teeth. Spike kneeled in front of her and leaned close to whisper in her ear.

"You shouldn’t be worried about my hands." He then took a seat on the sofa, reclining back against the plush velvet. "I'm glad we get to spend this time together." He said, his voice far cheerier than before.

"Oh yeah, we’ll bond for sure." Cordelia said quietly.

"No love, we’ve already bonded." He licked his lips again and continued. "I wish you could see the little hole in my brain as clearly as I can. When I reached through the axis to pull you back into this reality it was almost as if you climbed right through my skull and some pieces of my brain came out with you. Did you feel that?" He did not give her time to respond. "I was so dazed I hardly remember going back to Sunnydale. I remember waking up in a dank basement, thinking I must be at Buffy's, but then I realized I wasn't chained to a wall, so I knew I was somewhere else. I looked around a bit, wandered through halls that never seemed to end, doors that all led to the same little room. So, that's where I planted myself."

"Why didn't you just go back to your crypt or whatever?"

"Loaned it to a friend when I went to Africa, figured he was pretty comfy there."

"What the hell were you doing in Africa?" Cordelia asked with feigned interest.

"Getting my soul, keep up. Figured Angel would have told you." Spike laughed at his own assumption. "No, I guess he wouldn't have talked about my visit too much."

"Not really, but I knew you were here while I was gone. Saw the whole show, but the one downside to living on a higher plane is that you don't always get audio."

"Fascinating, so back to my story, eh? So I'm in the basement and I start seeing people I knew, Drusilla, the Master, Buffy, and others, even Adam-look-at-all-my-parts. They were always there, talking, always talking. Never let me get a moments rest, never let me sleep, never let me feed. I thought it was the soul. I tried to cut it out, did everything short of staking myself. All I wanted was to see Buffy, but she didn't come. I just wandered the room, trying to ignore the voices, and she didn't come."

"Shut up. It's your fault I had to go back there so soon at all." Spike said as he stood up, barely containing the rage he felt.

"How is your screwed up crazy crap my fault?" Cordelia said rising from her chair.

"Because Angel loved you. You sodding idiot. He loved you more than anything, deeper than I've seen him love anyone in years, and you threw it in his face." Spike wanted to kill her, not even to feed, just to end her. "He nearly died a dozen times over for you, and you were completely oblivious."

"I was not oblivious." She said taking a step back as she saw his anger grow.

"They gave you a choice didn't they?"

"The Powers, they gave you the choice. You chose to leave him, and he looked for you. He waited for you. I pulled him from the bloody ocean floor and he still wanted only you."

"Don’t you lie to me!" Cordelia yelled. "I saw you two together. The night I came back. I saw you, so don't you talk to me about the pain he felt. I felt it too!" She sank back onto the chair and began to cry. "He thinks I don't know, but I'm not stupid, Spike."

"So that's all that Connor was? Payback?" Spike asked through his own burgeoning tears.

"God, no. We thought the fucking world was going to end. It was just, it was insane."

"Oh, that I get. I'd shag my pseudo-son in that circumstance too."

"I am not his mother, Spike."

"You're the only mother he knew as a baby, which since I knew his real mum, I'm going to say that's a good thing. You were his father’s, well whatever you were then, you're Maggie May now, so get used to it."

"You really are disgusting aren't you?" Cordelia asked.

"You have no idea." Spike said to himself as much as her.

Wolfram & Hart’s lobby was as still as a graveyard, one that wasn't located in Sunnydale at least. There was not a single person left alive. Blood coated the walls, floors, desks, windows, and everything in between. To call it a massacre would have implied that the people inside had time to realize what was happening before they were in the Beast’s grasp. These people had died by the hundreds in a manner of minutes. Angel stepped over countless bodies, forcing himself to look at each face to make sure it wasn't his son’s.

It didn't take long to make it to the conference room on the third floor. Angel could smell Connor’s scent, but he was long gone by the time they reached the pile of rubble that had covered him when Lilah left

"He was alive when he left this room. We'll take the stairs, search each floor and meet up top."

"Angel?" Fred asked. "What do we do if we come across the demony guy?"

"If you see the Beast don't try to fight him. Just run like hell." Angel made his way down the hall.

"Right, we see the big bad and we make like Alice back down the rabbit hole." Gunn grabbed Fred by the arm and went the opposite direction Angel had gone. Wesley and Lorne followed closely behind.

Angel had just turned a corner on the seventh floor when he caught Connor’s scent. He had no more than taken a step before he felt a body lunging at him. Angel instinctively grabbed his opponent by the throat and slammed him up against a wall.

"Dad." Angel blinked to clear his vision and realized who he was holding.

"Connor!" Angel pulled his son into an embrace them pushed him back inspecting for injuries. "Jesus, I was so worried. What were you thinking coming here?"

"I had to know what I am. I'm connected to this demon." Connor said, brushing Angel's hands off of him to show he was fine. "The Beast and I came from the same place. You know this is my fault."

"No, I don't. All I know is that there are a lot of weird coincidences going on. Look, Connor none of that matters right now. We need to find the others and get out of here." Just as he turned around Angel felt a blow rain down on his neck. He expected to be facing the Beast, but instead saw Gavin Park, although a rather dead looking Gavin.

"Dad, look out." Connor kicked at the lawyer’s knees and knocked him to the ground. No sooner had he hit the floor than he crept back up and made a second lunge at Angel. The vampire easily pushed him back down with a forearm and shoved Connor towards the stairwell. "What was that?"

"What’s a zombie?" Connor asked. As he glanced down the hall he saw several more bodies beginning to stir. "They look dead."

"They are, they're undead."

"No." Angel said punching another zombie. "Zombies are slow moving dimwitted dead things that crave human flesh."

"Like you." Connor said smiling.

"No, not like me." Angel took up his broadsword to decapitate another zombie as it attacked and was immediately come at from another. "There are a lot of them. Let’s find the others and get out of here." The duo entered the stairwell and both started heading upwards.

"Since when does Wesley wear so much cologne?" Connor asked.

"I have no idea what’s up with Wesley. They are all acting bizarre."

"Even for them." They continued their ascent until they reached the ninth floor and heard the rest of the group pinned in a small room, surrounded by several dozen of Wolfram and Hart’s finest. Angel and Connor quickly disposed of several of the zombies before they reached the door. Angel kicked in the door, giving the others a good scare.

"Connor!" Fred exclaimed.

"Angel." Wesley said nonchalantly.

"Wes." Angel nodded. "Any ideas to get out of here?"

"Only two ways out of the building that I know of. Third floor stock room and the lobby."

"We can make that." Connor said.

"Not all of us. Too many dead men walking." Angel thought for a moment. "There is another way."

Angel, Connor, Fred, Wesley, and Gunn instantly appeared in the middle of the hotel lobby, swords at the ready.

"She sent us home." Angel said, looking around the lobby. Spike was on the couch reading and Cordelia... "Oh." Angel made a rushed entrance into his office, with Spike not far behind.

"How the frilly heck did you do that?" Cordelia asked the others, after giving Connor a quick hug.

"We didn't, it was a little girl." Fred answered.

"More precisely, something ancient and evil that likes to dress up like a little girl." Wesley added.

"Was the Beast there?"

"Oh, yeah. Sucked the filling right out of evil-red riding hood." Gunn said.

"Mmm. Lovely." Cordelia said. "I'm gonna go check on Angel."

She walked to the office door, looking through the mini-blinds that were pulled halfway up, and saw Angel and Spike kissing. As she put her hand on the door Spike opened his eyes and stared at her, not breaking the kiss. He closed his eyes again and pulled Angel even closer. Undaunted, Cordelia opened the door. Angel let go of Spike with reluctance and began shuffling papers on the desk.

"I bet." Angel said.

"I'm just glad you all made it home safe."

"Angel, please talk to me. Tell me what I can do to help."

"You can take your new boyfriend and get the hell out of here." He took Spike by the hand and led him out of the office and up the stairs to his room. Spike's smile as he passed Cordelia did not go unnoticed.

People said "Follow them upstairs!" .

Violators will be beaten to death with a shovel

(A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend)