Angel twisted and turned frantically underneath his bed sheets. Despite being a vampire, he never slept like a corpse. In his nearly six centuries of existence, every moment spent asleep was plagued with nightmares. They were the same one as he had when he was human. They were the reason why he always killed the parents before the children. They were the reason he never killed an infant.

His Patrick. His lovely Patrick was moving smoothly against his back, filling him until he felt he would burst. His long, dark and curly hair tickled his shoulder as he bit into the pillow to keep from screaming out his pleasure, to keep from waking anyone. His dark whiskey eyes were hazy and unfocused and his lover, his one and only pounded into him. His Patrick.

Strong hands rubbed his hips and down to the slight swell of Liam's stomach. Their child. Four months from birth. It was a miracle that no one noticed.

Liam was a sight of absolute submissive beauty. His skin was pale and flushed pink and his body was sleek and almost hairless and not overly muscled. His lips were bruised and swollen and his hair was tousled and curling slightly in the ends as they became damp from the heat radiating from their coupling bodies.

Patrick pulled form his body, earning a whine of protest, and turned him around. He entered him softly as he pulled Liam up to a sitting position. They rocked together until they reached their peak, whispering professions of their love. Liam nuzzled his nose into Patrick's neck while coming down from his high. He opened his eyes lazily, lapping at the salty skin of his shoulder. He saw his father standing, shocked, appalled and disgusted in the doorway of his room.

Liam had just been sixteen.

"Father, please no!" Liam pleaded. Tears were running down his face, his amber eyes glistening in the moon light. The thin white summer sheets, carrying the scent of their lovemaking, wrapped around his naked and vulnerable body, curled up on the cold floor.

"It is for the best boy." His father said coldly. "I will arrange for your punishment in the morning. Patrick flipped completely, not wanting Liam to be hurt, not wanting their innocent child hurt.

He never saw Patrick again after that night, when his father and his guards dragged them apart.

He was whipped, refused meals and daylight for a week. It was not much. It should have been worse by his father's standards, Liam knew, but it was enough. Their baby didn't survive.

Every 19th of may to the 27th Angel spent alone, crying, every year, for six hundred years.

"This is most fascinating." Wesley exclaimed from his spot on the couch in the lobby of the Hyperion the next morning.

Cordelia cocked her head. "Not that I'm really interested, but there is nothing else to do."

"It's an old tale from Galway, where Angel was born. It is so sad." He said and dried a tear. "It's about a sixteen year old boy named Liam and his lover Patrick. Liam's father found out about them and tore them apart, quite literally. There is nothing on what happened to Patrick, but I can only assume that he was killed. Liam, however, was whipped, starved and locked up for a week. This is the interesting part; Liam was apparently with child. He miscarried, of course. It is written that he fell into deep depression that he never recovered from, and tried to kill himself several times, but never succeeded for some odd reason. The methods he used are quite fool proof. Anyway, upon his twenty-first birthday, five years later that is, he was found dead in the middle of the streets, apparently with a smile on his face. Though, his grave was dug up and his body disappeared. The legend is that he was cursed to walk the earth for ever, in search of his love."

"Yeah, that's so sad." Cordelia said sarcastically and flipped her hair. "It's too romantic to be true."

"It is actually." Angel said quietly, sitting on the reception desk. "The story is true."

Wesley gaped at Angel. There was absolutely nothing known about Angel's mortal life, except that he grew up in a wealthy family. "Did you know him?"

"Yeah, quite well. Both of them."

"Is all of it true?"

"Yeah, though, he never found him." Angel was refusing to look at them, keeping his eyes steady on his morning paper. Only Wesley could see that his eyes were glassy with tears.

"Tell us about him."

Angel took a shaky breath. "He was a top student and happy kid his entire life, until he reached his teens. A firecracker. He never sat still for a second and it was going on his fathers nerves, so he punished him. He never realised that the way his father treated him wasn't normal until he met Patrick."

"He was abused?"

"Yeah, beyond what you would consider demonic." Angel seemed lost in though, and for the first time his crew noticed how young he looked. Usually he would have the weight of the world adding ten years, but now he seemed young, almost vulnerable. "After he lost the baby, he started cutting in an effortless to take some of the ache away. He drank himself into a stupor at every opportunity he had and tried to fuck the pain away with anyone who was willing. Yet, no one noticed."

"No one but you." Gunn said quietly.

Angel let out a scarily cold bark of laughter, "You're right, no one noticed, except me and his sister."

"So what happened to him?"

"He disappeared. Someone promised him to take the pain away, so he went."

"You let him?"

"He was dying, it was for the best."

"Did it work for him?"

"No, it was never enough."

"Do you still keep in touch?"

"From time to time."

"How is he?"

"Surrounded by people, but never more alone."

The main door opened wide an in walked a tall man with long dark and curly hair and piercing green eyes. All eyes turned on him, but he only had eyes for one of them.

"Hello." He said. His raspy, but husky voice filled the lobby, sending shivers down every back in the room. Cordelia was the first to snap into action.

"Hello, I'm Cordelia Chase, " she said and stuck her hand out, "The guy with the axe is Gunn, the Brit is Wesley and the moody guy is Angel. Who are you and what can I help you with."

"I'm Partick Heart-" Wesley's head snapped up from his book and stared at him. Then something clicked in his brain. Angel's mortal name…"-and I did come here hoping you would solve a rather important case for me, something that has been tearing my heart apart for a few centuries while I was…exiled, but it seems to have solved itself."

"How so? Then why are you here?"

"To recover something that was taken from me."

"The Hyperion is ours. We have legal papers."

"Liam…" he said quietly and moved past her. Angel refused to look at him. Patrick took his hand and entwined their finger. With the other he slipped his fingers underneath his collar, fishing out a thin chain with a ring on it. "After all these years, you still have it." he dropped in to bounce off his chest and tilted Angel's chin. Angel's wet whiskey coloured eyes met Patrick's startling green ones. Without a word he captured his lips in their first kiss for over half a millennia. It was soft and chaste. Patrick grabbed Angel's slim waist and lifted him off the counter effortlessly and put him down on the ground.

To the humans Angel looked like innocence personified there he stood with his lips pink and his cheeks flushed. He had his hands resting on Patrick's chest. Patrick was a bit taller than Angel and for the first time they noticed that Angel was actually quite slight. He just wore confidence well.

"Yo Wes –" Gunn shot a side glance at the Brit. "How old was Angel when he…y'know, turned vampy."

"I believe he has always been a bit vampy." Wesley said distractedly. Gunn rolled his eyes. "But I know what you mean, I…he was twenty-one."

"And his real name?"

"Liam."

"Oh."

Patrick leaned in for a kiss again, but this time Angel met him halfway, stretching up tot meet him. The humans blushed and quietly slipped out of the lobby and into the sunlight, leaving the reunited lovers to themselves.

Epilogue

Angel lay on his side in bed, damp bed sheets tossed aside a long time ago. His breath was heavy and his body slicked with sweat. His heart thudding in his chest. Shanshu.

Patrick Heart was his first and only true love, a senior partner at Wolfram& Heart. The irony. Angel was no longer a vampire, but still immortal. If it weren't for his burning lungs he'd laugh and cheer in joy.

He felt a warm and strong arm slip around his waist and pull him backwards into an even warmer embrace.

"Sweetheart…" was whispered in his ear and a gust of hit breath caressed his neck. A hand slipped down lower and rubbed the slight swell of his tummy. Their child, and there was no one to tear them apart this time.

The End

A/N; i hope you liked it. i haven't posted much in a while, but i've started a few new fics (againsighs and shakes head) that i intend to finish. as you know, i don't post until it's complete so i don't leave my darling readers hanging. please review whether you liked it or not.

I have a short Four Brothers three-shot that will be up in a day or two, so keep a weather eye on the horizon.

Extraho