Disclaimer: All characters and things from ANGEL and BUFFY belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. If they aren't on the show they belong to me.
Summary: Angel and Spike get a chance to get back the people that meant the most to them and the lives they always wanted after the battle against Wolfram and Hart. But can they keep the real past a secret from the only people they want to share it with? A/C S/B
CHAPTER 1
Angel raised his sword high above his head as the rain pelted against his face. "Let's go to work." And with that he took a swing at the first demon from Wolfram and Hart's army that was coming at him.
He knew that the remaining members of Angel Investigations would listen to him. Gunn, Spike, and Illyria were right behind him and he knew they would fight, but the truth was, Angel didn't want to fight anymore. He had no reason left to. His will and his reason left the same moment he realized the only person who had ever really mattered to him was not coming back. Cordelia was dead.
Cordelia was dead and Angel was numb. That's the only reason, he concluded, that the wooden stake being driven into his heart did not sting as much as he thought it would. In fact, he could barely feel it. He could barely feel anything at all without Cordelia around.
Angel closed his eyes, letting go of the world he had lived in for over two hundred years, hoping that when he opened his eyes again, he would be looking up at Cordelia's bright smile. He wanted, more then anything, to just see her again. But when Angel opened his eyes all he saw was white.
Angel lifted his head, searching around and saw nothing. Nothing expect Spike who was laying down a few feet away from him.
"Where in the bloody hell are we?" Spike asked, looking over at Angel.
Angel looked around, realizing they were standing in a white abyss. "Not sure." He stood.
Spike stood also, shaking out his arms. "What do you mean you aren't sure? Someone better tell me where the hell I am. One minute I'm dueling it out with the demon, the next minute I look over and see you turn to ash like it was your damn job, and then I feel my legs get severed from my body and now I am here!"
"You died?" Angel asked.
"Been dead a long time, moron. Just like you." Spike told Angel.
"Ok, no need to get temperamental." Angel growled. "I didn't mean you were dead like a vampire dead, I mean you died in the battle."
"Against Wolfram and Hart? Yeah. Just like you did." Spike said.
Angel nodded, taking a deep breath and looking around again. He was trying to put all the pieces together. "So, we both died, and ended up here." He concluded.
"Boy, you're a rocket scientist." Spike said sarcastically.
"I'm just trying to figure out why the hell I'm stuck with you after I am dead." Angel growled through clenched teeth. "I mean, wasn't I punished enough when you came back from the dead the first time."
"Now who is being temperamental?" Spike mumbled to himself.
"Look, let's just figure out where we are so we can get out of here." Angel said.
"And go where?" Spike asked. "This is it, Angel. We died, it's over, and now we are going to spend eternity in this bloody white room! Damn it! Where the hell am I?"
"You're not anywhere." Darla's voice rose over both Angel and Spike's, causing both vampires to turn and face her.
"Darla?" Angel looked at his ex-lover and the mother of his son.
"Angel." Darla looked at him, and then at Spike. "Spike."
"So is this where all the vampires with a soul end up after they die?" Spike asked Darla. "In this white…wherever we are."
"You're nowhere." Darla told him again. "And I never had a soul of my own." She turned to look at Angel. "I shared Connor's."
Angel looked away at the mention of his son; the son who had only recently begun to remember his true past.
"How can I be nowhere?" Spike asked Darla. "And what are you good now?"
"The sacrifice of my own life for my sons was enough to keep me out of the pits of hell, if you must know, Spike." Darla then looked over at Angel, and then back at Spike. "The Powers have been watching you both. As far as they are concerned you both fulfilled your destinies." Darla told the two vampires in front of her.
Angel clenched his jaw at the mention of the Powers That Be. He was still bitter about Cordelia's death and he blamed them for it. "They think we finally sacrificed enough. Enough good people died for them now?"
Darla knew why Angel was so blunt; she could see the anger in his eyes. "Angel, Cordelia's death was unfortunate…"
"Unfortunate?" Angel laughed bitterly. "That's what you would call it? Unfortunate? It was a damn tragedy that could have been completely avoided if the Powers had wanted it to be."
"The Powers realize what a mistake it was to let Cordelia die now, Angel." Darla told him. "They realize that in the end she mattered more to you then any Shanshu."
Angel remained silent, allowing Darla to continue.
"That's why they decided to give you another chance." Darla looked over at Spike. "Both of you."
"What do you mean?" Spike asked.
"Things did not go exactly according to the Powers plans, many lives were tampered with and things happened that should not have, so the Powers want to make things right. They want to give everyone a second chance." Darla said.
"How?" Angel asked, his eyes narrowing at Darla.
"By redoing it all, with a few differences." Darla grinned slightly at Angel, reminding the dark-haired vampire of Connor's grin, which the boy had clearly gotten from his mother.
"What do you mean redoing it? What differences?" Spike asked.
"Just a different path that reality could have taken, if certain things had happened differently…" Darla's voice seemed to fade as well as the room a very confused Angel and an even more confused Spike stood in.
Angel jolted forward, taking a deep breath as he adjusted to the seat he now found himself in. He realized he was sitting in a chair across from a larger one, a desk between them. It was some type of office. He turned to his left, to see Spike sitting in a chair next to him. Angel tired not to laugh as he took in Spike's outfit; a white sleeveless shirt and a pair of jeans.
"What are you wearing? And where are we?" Angel asked, taking another breath, and realizing something. He had a heartbeat. Angel was alive. His eyes grew wide. "I'm alive!"
"We both are." Spike told him, also taking a deep breath and then looking Angel over. "And I don't know where we are, but what the hell are you bloody wearing?"
Angel looked down at his outfit to see that he was in a pair of jeans and a black tee shirt with a Sunnydale Varsity Football jacket on. When he saw Sunnydale on his jacket, Angel's eyes grew wide as he slowly looked up at Spike. "What the hell?"
Spike read Angel's jacket too, and then looked around the room. "Sunnydale?"
"That's where you too are, gentlemen. Sunnydale High." An older, bald man said as he entered the small office. The man was in a white shirt and blue tie, and made his way around the desk to sit in front of Angel and Spike. "Although sometimes I feel like you two think this place is a damn circus."
"Excuse me?" Angel raised an eyebrow at the man across from him.
"Do not even go there with me, Liam. Like it was hard for any of the teaching staff to figure out that you and William here…" The older man pointed to Spike. "were responsible for the huge trophy case in the hall falling and breaking. Some of the teachers saw you two throwing each other around until the trophy case fell." The man looked over at Angel. "Now, joke or not, I'm sorry Mr. Angel, but I am going to have to suspend you from the football game on Friday night. " He then turned to Spike. "And you, Mr. Bloody are going to be serving detention this weekend." The man looked back and forth between
Angel and Spike, seeing the confused looks on their faces. "Do you two follow what I am saying?"
"Sorry…" Angel snapped out of his trance. "Did you just call me Liam?"