Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated w/ anyone from BTVS, and I own nothing. Dammit. =(

Summary: Spike's thoughts during his interaction with Angel during School Hard- the beginning of Season 2. I wrote this right after the first airing, so it's one of my first kinda-fics. Be gentle, I'm not good at writing first person, and I stole almost all of it from Joss's mind! Muah- hahahaha!!

Spoilers: School Hard

Rating: G (In my opinion)

Spike's P.O.V

By Rachel Robles (A.K.A Mirandabc)

It wouldn't be long now. We had the Slayer cornered, that much was obvious. But although I could already picture myself burping her blood, this was the part that I've always hated the most- the waiting. My new co- workers knew I was getting more and more pissed, so they kept their respective distances while they scurried around like the mindless lap dogs they were.

I came around a corner and leaned against the wall, enjoying the sight of one of my simpering morons trying to break open a three-inch-thick door with his shoulder. He turned and nearly wet his pants at the sight of me. Smart moron.   

"The door is uhh… solid." [Oh hell, I'm working with a bloody chemist. Give him a hand ladies and gentlemen, the demon knows his elements.]  I stepped forward and looked him in the eye. "Use your head," I offered helpfully. Then I demonstrated by using his skull to shatter the casing of a fire hatchet. I thrusted it at him and stormed off. [If he doesn't know how to use it, maybe later I'll give him a demonstration with that too.]

I came around another corner and saw two more idiots attempting to stomp another door down. [Bleeding geniuses around every corner. Might as well make use out of one of them.] "You…" I pointed to the nearest one. "…Come with me!" The formerly Korean chick obediently followed, tail placed firmly between her legs. [I'm surprised she doesn't whimper.]

We paused in another hall, and I could tell by a glance that she heard the Slayer too. Now, Slayers are wonderful creatures in my opinion. Sometimes they get such a big head from their accursed talents, and they'll stomp around like blinking rhinos. The first Slayer I killed, that was one of her many no-nos. Right now the current Slayer was still crawling around like a small mouse caught up in the air-ducts. To the human ear, nothing. To trained vampire ears, a dinner bell.

I made a U-turn back to the window where we had made an oh-so-grand entrance earlier and stopped at the debris. I picked up two poles formerly from the window frame and tossed one to the girl. Ignoring her puzzled look I forcefully brushed past her.  

I gave the minion a visual by sticking my pole through the already crappy ceiling. Damn school system. I mean, any place where killers like us could break in without having the donut-munching freaks on our arses has serious problems. Not that it would matter- they'd only be included in the big human buffet still in the works.

I continued to lunge the stick up (hopefully in the Slayer's gut), and my 'assistant' wasn't too thick not to figure it out. We went on like that for a couple of minutes, but getting nowhere. Just when I realized that the Slayer probably went through the ceiling into one of the rooms, I felt new eyes watching me. I assumed it was more hard-labor vamps forgetting why we were at the school in the first place or something irritating like that, so I whirled around to tell them to go back to their posts. That was when I got the biggest shock of my unlife. "Angelus!" I cried in amazement, and threw the rod down.

Maybe I was hallucinating, if Angelus were really here- he'd be the big man on campus, not that runny-nose sniveling kid these locals worked for. But there he was, standing there like the night me and Dru left him and Darla. Well, minus the Darla and plus that kid I had seen the Slayer dancing with when I first saw her. But something was wrong. The kid wasn't bleeding, didn't even look bruised. And standing next to Angelus like the right-hand-lackey I used to be. No, worse even, like a freakin' equal! For a split-second I thought how typical and what a beaut it would have been if Angelus had already turned him, and how much that would hurt the Slayer if she knew. But then that thought vanished, for as he looked at me his heartbeat was coming at me rapid-fire like a terrified rabbit.

Then suddenly the kid was in a headlock. If I had blinked, I would have missed the whole thing. But I didn't. [Hmmm.] Angelus tightened the grip on the kid and grinned that goofy grin I hated. "Spike!" He called to me in greeting.  

[Well, we're off to a lovely start. You know my name, I know yours- let's move on.] But outwardly I said, "I'll be damned," and we enveloped each other in that all-too-mortal-male-bonding-bear-hug thing. [Huh. Now what did Angelus do the last time we ran into each other? Oh right- he tried to spit on me.]

He put a muscular hand on my shoulder and it took every ounce of strength I had not to shake it off. [What the bloody hell is wrong with me?] I should be thrilled to see him, and for a brief second I had been. But something was terribly off.

"I taught you to always guard your perimeter," he tisked at me, "you should have someone out there." [So what, now you're playing mother hen?] I cleared my throat and smiled at him. "I did." [Yeah, what happened to them anyway?] "I'm surrounded by idiots." [Well at least that much is true.]

"What's new with you?" I tried to change the subject. That freaking grin of his got bigger. "Everything." He lisped through his fangs. [Huh. Apparently.] I took a quick glance down at the kid. Still couldn't see a scratch on him. And the fool actually had the nerve to show interest in our conversation! That really would have made my blood pressure jump, if I had any.

I put my full concentration back on Angelus and again switched gears to more urgent matters. "Yeah? Come up against this Slayer yet?" His eyes flickered in and out of focus for a second, as if taken off guard briefly. Something only an ex-Robin would've noticed from a former Batman. In an evil sense of course.

Then the grin broadened even more. "She's cute. Not too bright though. Gave her the puppy-dog-I'm-all-tortured-act," he chuckled, "keeps her off my back when I feed." [Ah, Angelus- you always thought I was rather dense didn't you? I know for a fact that you wouldn't play with a Slayer as if she was another human, the temptation of the feast would kill you before too long. What are you hiding?]

I laughed with him. "People still fall for that Ann Rice routine? What a world!" [Yeah. And you're the turncoat Louise and I'm the freaking Lestat. Now if only some little clue would click into place to prove it.]

The meal spoke up. "I knew you were lying! Undead…liar guy." [Click.] Angelus tightened the hold even more and his eyes flickered to mine so fast that no human eye would've caught it. I pretended to brush it off as the ramblings of a soon-to-be-dead man that went unnoticed. But in all reality I had noted it and filed it away. [Food for thought, thought from food.]

Angelus took the kid out of the headlock and revealed the neck. "Want a bite before we kill her?" I myself had had a double helping of the Duh twins earlier in the evening, so I wasn't starving. But then I felt the mouths of the newly arrived vampires behind me begin to water, so I talked about something else. "Haven't seen you in the killing fields for an age." I watched him frantically fumble for an answer. [Why so jumpy? You'd usually be pissing me off at this point, and you never bothered to explain yourself before.]

"I'm not much for company." He finally said. [And the understatement of the year award goes to…] "No you never were." I stated dully. I kept ignoring the many yellow eyes drilling holes into the back of my head. Seemed Angelus was pretty unsure about their presence though.

I felt that the time had finally come, and decided that there would be no more beating around that damn bush. "So, why so scared of the Slayer?" He blinked. For a moment I saw a residue of my mentor flare up in his eyes, then it was gone as swiftly as it came.  

"Scared?" He growled. [Ooh, I'm all a-tremble with fear. What's changed Angelus? If I had said that to you during the Reconstruction you would've torn out my Pancreas and done the Mexican hat dance on it.]

    I straightened my cocked head a bit and attempted to egg him on. "Yeah, time was you would've taken her out in a heartbeat. Now look at you. I mean, this tortured thing is an act right? You're not really..." I wrinkled my nose and uttered the next word as if it were unthinkable. "…Housebroken?" The hate I use to know so well flickered in and out of his face like a light-switch effect. That was it, nothing more.

He spoke up, but it was nothing compared to the hissy-fits that I remembered. "I saw her kill The Master." [The Master? That bald, old- fashioned wuss?! Am I supposed to be impressed? I'm surprised a Watcher didn't bump him off years ago. Something's definitely up.] Yet he continued as I mulled things over. "Hey, you think you can kill her alone?" [Damn straight.] "Be my guest- I'll just feed and run." He lifted the kid up and seemingly got set to dig in.

    An idea flashed through my mind. Now was the time to know what was what. I stopped him and said, "Now don't be silly. We're old friends, we'll do it together." He just looked at me with a stupid stare. I smiled reassuringly. "Let's drink to it." I said as encouragingly as possible. We both leaned in, fangs bared.     

    I felt a cold chill travel down my spine (which doesn't happen often) and swiveled my eyes upward to look at him. I hadn't imagined it, Angelus- the scourge of Europe- was going to let me have first bite.

    Now, every vampire 'clan' or what have you works first bite differently, but with Angelus and his 'children' (me being a technical member), there's a very specific set of ground rules. Angelus gets first bite, you're screwed. No one has ever argued that little piece of logic with him, least of all me. Angelus gets his fill, you get leftovers, that's always been the run of things.

    But this was very different, this wasn't Angelus. Or at least it wasn't me and Dru's Angelus. This was something more nauseating and overall disturbing. This creature reeked of humanity in some way I couldn't quite put my finger on, yet there was no hiding it. But now there was no doubt in my mind whatsoever that he was one of the Slayer's flunkies.

I knew that the feelings of rage and desertion would come later, but right then I just felt numb. So I did what Angelus would've done in my place and decked him with a terrific punch that sent him and the fake offering flying.

From that moment on, everything got flushed down the bloody loo.