Still Ensouled 10

The Adventures of Captain Peroxide and Deadboy

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

Chapter X - The Real Team Angel

The sound of dozens of feet hitting the carpet. Every sink in the house running. A toilet flushing. Milk being slopped into a bowl full of something crackling. A can tossed into the recycling bin. Doors shutting. More feet, this time on the stairs. Chattering. Whining. The clang of swords. The pulling back of a crossbow string. A book tossed on the coffee table.

The thought that his head might explode from all the noise crossed Spike's mind.

"Spike, do you want something to drink?" A voice asked from the top of the stairs.

"Yeah, thanks." He reached out for the proffered glass. "Wouldn’t it be ironic if my brain burst now that the chip is gone?"

She laughed. That short little laugh that was all Buffy ever allowed herself. Even a hearty laugh would sound phony coming from that mouth, always so serious. "There is a lot of noise down here, isn’t there?" She asked.

"Nope, no noise down here. Except a bit of a drip over by the washing machine."

"There better not be. You have no idea what I had to do to get these pipes replaced." She looked at the intricate plumbing that lined the basement’s ceiling, realizing seconds later that even after days of mind bending pain Spike knew exactly how to push her buttons.

"Yeah, well, anyway." He tried to think of something useful to say, but settled on silence.

"So, Spike, what are you going to do now? You didn't say how long Angel would let you be gone."

"Let? That wank..." He stopped himself, deciding he was not near ready to tell Buffy that Angelus had been released. "I go back when I'm ready."

"Which will be when, exactly?"

Spike placed a hand in hers, grateful she did not withdraw. He then rested his head back against the cold concrete wall and closed his eyes. "I don't want to leave you." He kept his eyes closed, hoping she would be less tense without him watching her reactions.

"I know you don't, but things have been a lot quieter here, well, metaphorically speaking, at least."

"Even quieter now that I'm not all screamy." He let out a quiet laugh.

"It is calming isn’t it? One less thing to worry about going wrong. Now that the trigger is on hiatus, I mean, I hope..." She slowly pulled her hand from Spike's and turned to face him. "Spike, look at me please."

He opened his eyes and sat up more, looking her in the eyes. "What is it, pet?"

"We really don't know if the trigger is gone do we?" Her look was hard, but at least caring. Spike took small comfort in that.

He spoke slowly, careful to think out his reply. "No, we don't. I wish I could tell you that the voices stopped when the chip came out, but they're still there, a quiet little whisper, always there. Which is why I have to go back to Ang...Los Angeles. I need to be away from you when the First activates me again. I can't risk hurting you." He broke from her stare. "I can't hurt you again."

Her soft hand pulled his gaze back to her own. She left her hand on his cheek, her warm comforting hand. "I know you won’t hurt me. I trust you. Really, I do, William." She leaned in to kiss him. Her lips were soft, not the hard lips he remembered. She did not kiss him to forget her life or to mock him. It was a kiss of friendship, letting him know he was part of the circle. Part of the group.

"I still have to finish what I started in L.A. Then I'll be back, and we’ll kick the big bad’s non-corporeal ass."

"When will you leave?" She asked.

"Not till tonight. Angel's car doesn't have tinted windows." He reminded her and smiled. "I'll come upstairs in a minute, help baby-sit."

"Right, I keep forgetting that's your specialty." With that and a smile of her own Buffy went back upstairs, letting the din float down into the basement when she opened the door, and thankfully closing it back out once the door was shut.

Spike sighed and stood up to put a shirt on. With a pained look at the ceiling he ascended the stairs.

He had left a little later than he had planned on. It had taken hours to get up the nerve to actually point the car at Los Angeles. Hours he had spent driving around Sunnydale, absorbing the fact that he had no little device in his brain to make him behave. Hours spent with the knowledge that he could feed, feed on anyone he wanted to. He watched the girls dressed in black and red streaming out of the Bronze, slightly liquored, easy pickings. He could have any of them. Any he wanted.

He had not gone to the ends of the earth to get a soul only to add to the body count now. So, finally he had steered onto the freeway and started towards L.A. Towards Angelus. He was going back to kill his sire, and he was fully aware of it. There was no longer any doubt in his mind why he felt compelled to go back. Spike had considered freeing Faith. Telling Buffy. Telling Willow. He could have told Giles, although Giles had left Buffy's house in a snit as soon as she told him about the chip situation. But, in the end he decided to tell no one. He kept the knowledge of what the Angel Investigations team had done under wraps, leaving the Sunnydale faction in the dark figuratively, while the L.A. faction was in the dark literally.

Or at least they had been. Spike thought as he neared the Los Angeles city limits and saw that the sun was rising there as well. He pressed his foot down on the pedal harder, making the engine whine. It had not even crossed his mind that the sun would be restored by the time he returned. He should have felt it coming. His senses were a bit fuzzy after his lost weekend, but he still chided himself for letting his most powerful instinct dull.

The Belvedere pulled into the alley beside the Hyperion moments before the sun’s rays turned fatal. Spike hurried inside the lobby, grateful he had stopped his goodbyes in Sunnydale when he did. One more hug and he would have been an immolation-o-gram, not the breath of fresh air he usually was to the Angel gang. He laughed at his own joke, but was cut short by the site of the Slayer staring agape at him.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Faith asked. She looked like she had been beaten six ways from Sunday, and the bandages that covered her body suggested that his first impression was probably right on.

"Lovely to see you too, Faith." Spike said. She looked as though she might take a step forward, but thought better of it when no one else seemed shocked by the vampire's presence.

"Let me guess, you heard daddy was home and came to say hello?" She chided.

"Nope, safe to say daddy’s left the building." He said as he looked around the lobby. "Where’s Wes?"

"In the back, getting some coffee or something."

"Great, see ya.’ He said with sudden abruptness. He went to the back offices to find Wesley and, he hoped, some answers about the sun’s surprise appearance.

"Wesley?" He called out.

"I'm here, Spike." Wesley said standing up from behind a desk with a pile of broken ceramic. "I've been a little jumpy this morning." He said apologetically.

"Not really your style, is it?" Spike asked. "You're Mr. Take Charge. You read my mind out there?"

"Oh, yes, absolutely. About what?" Wesley said with a small laugh.

"Faith. She’ll bring him back alive, or at least she'll try."

"Well, she'll certainly try harder than Connor will." Wesley frowned. "Angelus threw a crossbow bolt at Cordelia while you were gone, and to say he's not happy would be quite the understatement."

"Great, then you wanna catch me up? I mean, it's a dangerous world out there for a vampire. Do I have your slayer friend to thank for that?"

"No, no." He let out another pained laugh. "You have your boyfriend to thank for that."

"Angelus killed it?" Spike sat down on the desk and tried to figure out how he could survive when they had all failed so miserably before.

"Yes, he killed it. Faith said he had some sort of knife, she believes it was forged by the beast for its master. Angelus used its own weapon to kill it." Wesley explained.

"And where is Angelus now? Did Faith bring him back?"

"No, he's still free."

"Well, great, looks like I'm on the hunt then." Spike stood up and crossed the office. He paused mid-stride. "Wes."

"Buffy had the chip removed." He stopped to wait for the ex-watcher’s reaction.

Wesley laughed. "So, you're back on the home team? I imagine Giles did not take that news well."

"Safe to say. So far I'm okay, I just thought you would want to know." They both laughed as Spike emulated Giles’s fast exit from the Summer’s home by exiting the office with a fuming glare over his shoulder.

"Thank you for your honesty, Spike."

"No secrets." He said as he entered the lobby.

"Where you headed?" Faith asked as Spike reentered the room.

"Thought I'd take a walk."

"Yeah, you could really use a tan."

"I could use some company, but it looks like you and m’ sire already had a bit of a tango."

"Not really, he tried to feed me to lava boy, never even threw a punch."

"Don’t lie to me, Faith." Spike said in a hushed voice as he passed the slayer.

"What?" She asked, following his movements.

"I can see the bruises."

"Yeah, that means you have eyes, dumb ass." Faith said rolling her eyes.

"Uh huh. And the children might be daft enough to think that the beast made them, but Angelus has left his fingerprints on me enough times that I recognize the brushstrokes."

"Whatever, he killed the beast, I broke a window and let the sun in, he left. The rest was hardly worth breaking out the good china. That’s all the highlights. " She said curtly. "So, really, where are you going?"

"Gonna check on Fred, then I'm going to patrol the sewers around the hotel real quick, and then I plan on finding a quiet room far away from this lobby and sleeping until sundown." He said as he made for the stairs.

"Where’s he going?" Faith jumped at Gunn’s voice, having forgotten he was still sitting on the lobby’s couch reading a comic.

"To check on Fred." Faith smiled at the jealousy she saw flare on Gunn’s face. "Relax G, I'm sure it's just a quick hello before he goes on patrol."

"Yeah, keep forgetting he's not exactly a lover of all things X chromosome." Gunn said with a triumphant laugh.

"Get out." Faith said a bit loudly.

"What? Like you didn't know he and Angel were all..." He paused realizing she had no idea. He tried not to laugh, but couldn't stop the impulse. "Sorry Faith, figured since you were all so tight you would have known."

"Um, Nope, missed that memo. Although I guess it makes sense."

"What does?" Gunn asked.

"I mean, they were both with Buffy, right?" Faith nodded up the stairs. "Sometimes getting seconds of something is better than firsts of another."

"I guess. But if you think I'd shack up with my ex’s ex just to get some you're nuts." Gunn said with a cringe.

"No, of course not you, but vampires are different. Love, sex, pain, happiness, it's all the same damn thing. Anything to feel warm. It's just a good thing they aren't together now."

"With you there. The last thing we need is for Angelus to find a playmate."

Spike knocked on Fred’s door twice then turned the knob and opened it. He peeked his head in, but didn't see her. "Fred?" He called out. "It's Spike."

"I'm here." She said from across the room, rising in to view. She had been crouched low in an armchair watching television. "Just flipping channels and I found Pollyanna. Don’t you just love it?"

"Oh yeah, it's the berries." He joined her in the sitting area and leaned on the arm of the couch. "Just wanted to say hi before I went out to patrol."

"So, you're feeling better then? Are the headaches gone?"

"Yeah, gone. It was a bit of touch and go for a few days, but Buffy had me fixed up real good." He decided to leave the solution vague not wanting to frighten her.

"I'm so glad you came back." She said. "So, why did you come back? Not that I'm not happy to see you, but you seemed pretty intent on putting some distance between you and Angelus."

"I was, but I know that it’ll be a lot harder to bring him in without my help, so here I am, ready to lend a ..." He paused mid-sentence and looked at the television. There was a little girl and a woman singing.

‘Now, one up.’ The girl had said. ‘Early one morning, just as the sun was rising...’ They sang. ‘I heard a maiden singing, in the valley below.’

"Spike, are you okay?" He heard a quiet voice ask in the distance. He could barely hear the woman he knew was still in the room talking to him, he only heard the other voice.

"Come back, when you're ready to play." It whispered in his ear. So quiet, but so clear. Familiar, liquid voice, dripping honey in his ears. "Are you ready, William?" It whispered.

"I'm ready." He answered.

"What did you say?" He turned to the woman that stood before him now.

"Oh, nothing." He said looking at her intently. "Just give us a quick hug and I'll be off to find Angelus."

"Okay." She took a step forward and let the vampire embrace her. "What will you say to him? When you find him?" She asked, still in his arms.

"That I'm ready to play." He answered as he sank his fangs into her small neck.

People said "Who's Angelus eating?".

Violators will be beaten to death with a shovel

(A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend)