Title: Things Past.
Author: Daisy
Email:e.large@talk21.com
Pairing:C/A W/other
Rating: PG13
Category:Angst/Romance
Spoilers: I don't think so but Season 3 to be safe
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy own all apart
from April. She's mine, and Joss, you can't have her,
well, unless you agree to let Angel and Cordy have a happy
ending. my people will call ur people.
Feedback: want it, love it, need it.
Distribution:Want, take, have but be a peach and let me
know.
Note: Right kids, this is set two months after April
Showers and Torn. If u want to understand this one, go
read the other two....you never know, u might like it.
"Somebody Help!" Wesley shouted as he stumbled in to the lobby of the Hyperion Hotel carrying the limp body of a woman in his arms. Gunn came rushing out from behind Cordelia's desk and gasped at the sight before him.
"Oh god, what happened?" Gunn asked as he took Aprils body out of Wesley's weakened arms and laid her down on the lobby sofa.
"We were....we.....ambushed....Holtz....we didn't see them coming...I don't know how we got away." Wesley said in shock. He searched for a pulse in her throat, when he found none he gently brushed her black hair out of her face. There was so much blood, there was a long cut down the side of her throat. A gaping wound in her chest. Her head was laying at an angle it shouldn't. No one could have survived the beating Holtz's lackeys had given her.
"Wes, I'm sorry." Gunn tried to comfort his friend.
"I...." Wesley trailed off, unsure of what he was going to say. Angel, carrying his son, and Cordelia came hurrying down the stairs after hearing the commotion, Angels shirt was on inside out and Cordelias hair looked like she'd just been pulled through a bush backwards. Cordelia opened and closed her mouth silently at the sight before her, shocked to her very core, a sob escaped her throat. Angel barely glimpsed at the scene before him as he carried on towards the kitchen.
"Hey, I'm gonna feed this little guy, anyone hungry?" He called over his shoulder.
"Angel!" Cordelia shouted, outraged at his behaviour.
"What? April? Oh, she's fine. How about pasta?" Wesley struggled to his feet and launched himself at the vampire, but was stopped by Gunn.
"I take it you've all forgotten what April is." Angel smiled at his friends who continued to glare in horror at him. The sound of a ragged intake of breath made Cordelia, Gunn and Wesley turn towards the body of there new friend April. Aprils eyes flew open and she sat bolt upright, breathing heavily. The A.I team stood around dumbfounded, all apart from Angel who had sat down on the steps and was shaking his head and grinning at his beautiful child.
"Oh for godsake!" April exclaimed as she touched her ruined and bloody top. "I only got this last week. So bloody typical. I should just go around in a bin bag from now on. Why do people always kill me when I'm wearing something new? Holtz got away. God dammit!" She grumbled to herself as she got up and stretched. The gang continued to stare and blink at her. "They forgot I can't be killed didn't they?" April nodded her head towards her friends and asked Angel.
"Yep." Angel smiled.
"Wonderful. Don't you guys ever listen to anything. ME IMMORTAL. NO KILL." April said loudly. "I've told ya like a million times." Wesley finally snapped out of his hypnotic state and rushed towards April, hugging her so tightly it lifted her of her feet.
"I thought....." Wesley spoke into her hair and held her close to him.
"Oh Wes...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." April apologised softly to the man that was slowly squeezing her to death. She pulled away a little and kissed him gently on his cheek, she noticed a small gash on his forehead then pulled away a little further.
"Wesley you're hurt!" She scolded him and made him sit down on the sofa where minutes ago she had laid seemingly dead.
"Oh, I'm fine." He touched the cut on his head and winced. "Just a scratch." He smiled at the woman kneeling in front of him. " I um, sorry I panicked. You just looked..." Wesley trailed off, April held his hand and smiled softly at him.
"I'm fine Wes, apart from being annoyed at ruining another shirt, I'm fine." A gentle moment passed between the two.
"Geez, you two, get a room already." Gunn laughed at the pair as he went to get the first aid kit.
"Do you think we could just try and go one day without a trauma? Just for a change?" Cordelia sighed and sat down next to Angel.
"Sorry guys." April apologised again. "Didn't mean to pull you two away from each other." She grinned at Angel and Cordelia's ruffled state. The young seer blushed and looked to Angel for support but all she got from him was a stupid smile.
"You dork." Cordelia laughed at him.
........................................................
That's how it had been for the last two months at Angel Investigations. There was laughter and love and the sweet sound of a baby being cooed over. They had everything and it made Cordelia's chest hurt she was so happy. Once Darla had given birth to little Connor and April had duly despatched her of her head things had become comfortable in the hotel. Yes they now had the threat of Holtz hanging over their heads but so far he hadn't been able to truly hurt the group. April had made sure of that. Wesley and April were growing closer and closer everyday, Gunn and Fred acted like teenagers in the first throes of love and Cordelia and Angel were totally immersed in each other and the baby. They all finally felt like they could breathe and be happy. So when the drunk and slightly sun singed figure of Spike tumbled through the door the day after Aprils dead episode everyone began to hold there breath again.
"Blimey Spike, what have you been drinking? Lighter fluid?" April grimaced as she picked the wasted vampire up off the floor. "When are you gonna learn you can't handle your liquor?" She said quietly to her old and highly inebriated friend.
"Bloody slayer.....thinks she can just use me....not me....im not her lap dog no more!" Spike growled but it sounded more like a wheeze to the surprised A.I team who had stopped there work as soon as the peroxide blonde had stumbled in.
"What are you doing here Spike?" Angel stepped forward in front of his girl and his child, instinctively protective over them.
"Its all your fault!" Spike gestured wildly at Angel. "Your fault she wont be with me.You and your god damn soul....... Oh hello cutie." Spike trailed off when he noticed the curious face of Fred peeping out from behind the solid figure of Gunn. "I don't believe we've ever had the pleasure." Spike moved towards her as smoothly as he could manage in his current state.
"Back off." Gunn stood defiantly in front of his girlfriend.
"Aren't we the big puffed up manly man." Wesley silently loaded and aimed a cross bow at the chest of the British vampire.
"Spike, I suggest you leave....now." "OOOh Watcher. Scary." Spike chuckled and took another swig of bourbon.
"Get out." Wesley advanced on him.
"Go on then Watcher. Put a stake in my heart. Put me out of my misery!" Spike pressed his chest up against the tip of the arrow. Wesley's finger began to inch closer to the trigger.
"Whoa! Stop." April placed her hand on the cross bow, Wesley let her lower it. "Lets all just calm down. Angel....I'm going to take Spike upstairs to lie down."
"April, I don't want him here." Angel stepped forward. April glared at him, daring him to try and stop her.
"He's my friend Angel." April turned her back on him and guided Spike upstairs, practically carrying him.
"Who's the little nipper?" Spike asked her as they went to her room.
"Long story hun."
"So they brought the slayer back, she's been a bit crazy in the head, you two have been doing it like bunnies but now she doesn't want to know you." April summed up everything Spike had been rambling about for the past hour.
"In a nut shell, yeah." Spike sighed and laid back on the bed. His head was starting to spin and April had confiscated his bottle of booze. "I think I'm going to vomit."
"Sleep it off hun," April laid her cool hand on his forehead, a gesture so simple and full of love that it made Spike, William the bloody, co-scourge of Europe, want to cry. "I'll be down stairs. Trying to convince Angel, Wesley and Gunn not to kill you." She kissed him lightly and made her way out of the room. When she had first met Angelus and Spike they were wild, children of the forest, stalking Europe with a hunger that she had never seen before. But now the two vampires that she had both fought and loved were shadows of their former selves, the evilness had been replaced by a longing for humanity. Angels soul and Spikes chip had changed them in ways that April had never thought was possible for vampires. And it's all down to the Slayer. I wonder if she has any idea the pain she can cause. April thought to herself. And now I have to tell Angel she's alive......wonderful. Bloody wonderful
........................................................ Gunn had taken Fred to the cinema on strict instructions from Angel, he tried to get Wesley and Cordelia to go too but they were stubborn and insisted they stay and find out why Spike was here. Cordelia put little Connor down in his carry crib, tucking his teddy next to him. Connor gurgled at her happily. Angel sat silently across the lobby, waiting for April to come down and explain what was going on. Wesley was just as quiet, lost in his own thoughts. He knew April and Spike had been friends but he had a nagging suspicion it was more than that. Wesley could feel the green eyed monster of jealousy creeping up on him. He watched the woman he was slowly falling for walk down the stairs, she had changed her top and was tying up her hair in a messy ponytail. Wesley had never seen anything so lovely.
"April I don't want him here. I don't care what he wants, why he's here. I want him out." Angel growled as he stalked over to April. Cordelia and Wesley sat silently.
"What ever happened to you helping the hopeless. Spike needs our help." She tried to reason with him.
"I don't care, he's not staying anywhere near Connor and Cordy. Chip or no chip, he's dangerous. And your a fool if you can't see that. End of discussion, get him out." Angel turned his back and started to walk over to Cordelia and Wesley, outraged April grabbed his arm and spun him around to face her.
"You have a responsibility towards Spike. He's your childe. He's my friend." April kept her voice low, trying not to lose her temper, she had forgotten how stubborn Angel could be. "You owe me Angel. You owe both me and Spike. I have never asked anything from you Angel, never, even after everything that happened. I could have blamed you, but I didn't. I don't. But if you don't help me help Spike, I'm gone and it won't be like last time, this time you will not ever see me again." April crossed her arms and lifted her chin defiantly at him.
"Don't make me choose between the two of you, I won't do that again." They stared at each other for a long moment, an untold history of pain and betrayal past between them. Cordelia and Wesley looked at each other, both not understanding what April meant. Angel was silent for a long while, anger simmering in his eyes. He let out an unneeded breath and gave in, but he wasn't happy about it and he knew he and April would have to thrash their past out one day, but not now, not in front of Cordy and Wes.
"Fine. He can stay, but if he even looks at anyone wrongly he's dust. I'd better go talk to him."
"Hold on Angel,' April stopped him once again. "There's something else you need to know...."
.....................................................
Cordelia sat rocking Connor slowly in her arms, humming softly to him. Buffy was alive. Cordelia wanted to feel happy but she just couldn't bring herself to be. She couldn't stop thinking that Angel was going to be on the first train back to Sunnyhell. Cordelia had left the lobby as soon as April had told Angel that the Slayer had been brought back. She hadn't wanted to see the look on Angels face. She had been so happy for the last couple of months, she had a family, they were working for the greater good, she finally felt like she had found her place in the world. Cordelia knew Angel would go to Buffy just like she knew the sun would rise in the morning. That was just the way it was. She felt her bubble of happiness slowly start to deflate.
......................................................
Wesley sat alone in his office, drumming his fingers on the desk in a slow but steady rhythm. There was something going on and he didn't like it. He hadn't asked April about her past with Angel and Spike, he didn't really want to know. Today was the first time he had seen them raise there voices at each other and it unsettled him. When you add the fact that he really didn't like the way April rushed to the aid of Spike, it was clear that Wesley was starting a broodfest that Angel would be proud off.
......................................................
Angel sat across from April in the kitchen trying to understand what she was telling him. Buffy was alive. They brought her back. Buffy's alive. He wasn't sure how he was meant to feel. Why hadn't Willow rung and told them? Should he go back to Sunnydale? Did he want to go back to Sunnydale? And where had Cordelia disappeared to?
"Angel are you listening to me?" April interrupted his thoughts.
"What?"
"I said you need to talk to Spike about a few things, about Buffy." April wasn't going to be the one to tell what Spike and Buffy had been doing. "He really needs someone to talk to."
"Cant you..."
"No Angel. You're the only one that he can talk about this with. I have to go see Wes." April got up without another word and left the room.
When Angel let himself into Spikes temporary room the blonde vampire was passed out on the bed, Angel threw a book at the sleeping boy making Spike groan and rub his forehead.
"Sod off." Spike growled. "Spike, get up, we have to talk." Angel sighed and sat in the chair across from him.
"April made you didn't she?" Spike laughed then held his head, hang over....bad. "God I love that woman."
"Why are you here?" Angel cut to the chase.
"What, didn't April not tell you about little miss Buff?"
"Yeah, but that doesn't explain why you come here to my home." Angel was starting to lose patience with him already. He put his head in is hands and stared at the floor.
"Well lets just say you aint the only Vampire that's had a taste of the blonde Slayer." Spike chuckled. Angel was out of his chair and pinning Spikes neck up against the wall before Spike could even blink.
"What the hell are you talking about?!"
"The slayer finally got what she needed......what you weren't man enough to give her." Spike smirked. Angel threw Spike across the room, he crashed with a loud thud into the dresser.
"Your lying." Angel tried to calm himself down but couldn't shake his vamp visage.
"Fraid not. That girl is a natural." Spike lifted himself off the floor and leant himself against the wall so he wouldn't fall over. "You never said she was so......nasty." He grinned wickedly. Angel was pretty sure his brain was going to bleed out of his ears any moment now. He knew that Spike was just trying to get a rise out of him and he refused to allow it.
"So why are you here? Did she realise what a mistake she was making?" Angel managed to spit out, the look on Spikes face let him no that he was spot on. He almost for sorry for the young vampire. Angel collapsed back down on to the chair and chuckled.
"Aren't you going to stake me for defiling the great love of your unlife?" Spike barked at him annoyed that his grand sire found it amusing.
"Give it up Spike. What Buffy does is her business, I'm just worried about her mental state. She must have been pretty screwed up if she was screwing you." He said seriously.
"Angel mate, you have no idea........."
Wesley looked up surprised when April walked into his office.
"Hey there." She smiled as she came around and sat on the edge of his desk.
"Is Angel OK?"
"He's gone up to see Spike, but I think he'll be OK. Came as a bit of a surprise is all." April smoothed the collar of his shirt, a small but intimate gesture. "Where's Cordy?"
"She went to put Connor down, hasn't come back yet." Wesley was worried about her, she had vanished as soon as April had told them about Buffy. He knew what was going through the young girls mind, she was scared that Angel would run back to Buffy.
"Oh dear."
"Yep."
"Should I go talk to her?" April frowned. Wesley shrugged noncommittally. "Wes....what up?" Wesley debated whether or not he should say anything to her. He decided honesty was the best policy.
"April, I know we haven't known each other for long, and I probably don't have a right to ask you this but..... I need to know where your loyalties lie." April pulled her hand away from him and tensed up.
"What do you mean?" She asked cautiously.
"Spike isn't our friend, he's done a lot of dreadful things to Cordelia and the people she loves, I need to know, if it came down to it, where your loyalties would lie."
"I know it's hard for you all to understand, but Spike is very dear to me. Just like you guys are. He hasn't come here to cause trouble. He just....he's just lost at the moment. But if Angel makes him leave, I will go with him."
"Why?" Wesley just couldn't understand her.
"Because things happened....along time ago....things that shouldn't have happened. I can't....' April struggled for words, she felt tears beginning to well in her eyes. Wesley touched her hand softly. "Angel, Spike and I....we are connected to each other, we always will be. Darla and Dru hated it but there's nothing we can do, that's just the way it is." She knew she wasn't making sense by the look of utter confusion plastered on Wesley's face. But Wesley didn't push her, some things were too personal and painful to talk about. In a most uncharacteristic move for the Englishman, Wesley pulled April on to his lap, surprising both of them. He wrapped his arms around the petite woman and just held her.
"You know....you're really something Mr Price." April said as she laid her head on his shoulder. They didn't speak for a long while they just sat there, enjoying the contact. There was so much darkness in their lives, so much loneliness. April had wandered the earth for almost 400 years walking in and out of peoples lives, never really being able to settle. Wesley had spent most of his life struggling for his fathers love and approval and never getting it. Things like that mark a person for life.
"I don't want you to go." Wesley told her quietly.
"I know."
Cordelia stirred as Angel sat down on their bed next to her, she had fallen asleep soon after Connor had. She had distantly heard crashing coming from down the corridor about an hour ago, but then things had gone quiet, all but the muffled voices of the vampire she loved and the vampire she had once feared.
"When do you leave?" Cordelia asked Angel bluntly, she wasn't about to pussyfoot around this, she needed to know.
"For where?"
"Sunnydale of course. Don't act dumb Angel, I know you're going." She tried to act casual, like the thought of him and Buffy in the same room didn't make her want to throw up and die.
"Buffy's......"Angel started only to be abruptly cut off.
"Just go to her Angel. Are you taking Connor? I'm sure she'd love to meet him. I think I'm going to go back to my place, I have some stuff I need to do." Cordelia said in a rambled rush so she wouldn't have to hear Angels 'Buffy will always be in my life, I love her' speech. She quickly got of the bed and straightened her clothes.
"Cordy...."
"Has Spike gone yet, it's probably not a good idea to leave him here with Fred while your gone. Although I'm not sure who would be in danger, him or Fred." She laughed nervously.
"Cordelia, please listen to me." "Why?" Cordelia stopped and spun to face him, her mood changing suddenly. "Are you going to tell me you aren't going. That you're staying here with the people that love and need you? Now, with Holtz watching every move we make!"
"I have to go." Angel lamented. "I told Spike I'd take him back." Cordelia felt anger rise up inside of her.
"I didn't realise you and Spike were such good buddies!"
"Cor....she needs help."
"And we don't? So run back to her....again. Two months ago you said to me, in this very room, that you had moved on from Buffy, that you loved me. But as soon as she breaks a nail off you go....and I realise that I'm being selfish and that Buffy was dead yadda yadda yadda, but there is such a thing as a phone!"
"You don't trust me." Angel scowled.
"I never said that."
"You're being unreasonable."
"I don't care."
"Please try to understand....."
"NO! JUST FREAKIN GO!" Her raised voice caused Connor to let out a loud shocked squeal, Cordellia had momentarily forgotten about the sleeping infant.
"Oh crap." She muttered as she went to pick him up.
"Here, let me take him."
"I'm fine, go pack." Cordelia turned her back on him, letting him know this discussion was over. Angel left the room angry at himself and Cordelia. He kept on walking past April and Wesley and straight out into the night, where hopefully he could find something to pummel.
Angel had left the hotel three hours ago and he wasn't answering his phone. Cordelia refused to let herself worry, she was mad, and she decided to concentrate on that.
"Hey there cheerleader." Spike grinned at her as he walked into the lobby.
"Go away Spike." Cordelia muttered as she stared at the door. "Poofter still not back?"
"Go away Spike." She repeated herself.
"Well he never was to be trusted that one, your better off with out him. Ever thought of going for something a little different, say a blonde vampire with a sexy British accent?"
"Go away Spike."
"You use to be a lot more fun to bitch at." Spike frowned.
"Go...."
"Away Spike, yes I heard the first time. Ignoring it though." He sat down next to the dark haired seer, which made her more than a little uncomfortable, especially as she was holding Angels son.
"Ello ello, who's a cutie, booger boog, booger boog." Spike cooed at the little boy who kicked and waved his arms happily at him. Cordelia was shocked to see William the Bloody making goo goo faces beside her. When did things get so bizarre round here? "Is April around?" He asked her quite civilly.
"Right behind ya kid." April said as she ruffled his hair, she had been watching them since Spike had sat down, it was quite sweet really, she just hoped Angel didn't walk in and see Spike next to his girl. She felt the strong arm of Wesley slip round her waist, she knew it was a macho 'this is my woman' gesture on his behalf but let him do it anyway. It felt nice.
"Huh. Playing with the watcher now April? You're a brave man Wes." Spike smiled. Cordelia and Wesley waited for the cutting remark and when it never came they looked at each other in confusion.
"Have you drugged him?" Cordelia asked April. "He's not usually so......unhomicidal."
"Homicidal? My little Spikeypoo? The mans a kitten really, just got caught up with a bad crowd. Plus I think the chip's had a calming influence on him. Like he's been neutered and all his bites gone. Poor baby." April said, messing with his hair again.
"I am here you know." Spike grumbled.
"We are all well aware of that. Has Angel not come back yet Cordelia?" Wesley asked her seriously.
"I hadn't even realised he was out." Cordelia lied unconvincingly. Connor blew spit bubbles, letting her know that even he knew she was fibbing. Spike crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue, making the baby giggle.
"This kid is a lot more fun than his bleedin father, that's for sure." Spike said to no one in particular.
"Have you tried his mobile?" April asked.
"He's not answering. I expect he's in Sunnydale already." She sighed.
"Better not be, he goes near my girl and it will be the last thing that poof does." Spike growled and started to pace the room.
"Your girl?" Wesley and Cordelia said together.
"Buffy. They have been....having....a relationship." April filled them in as delicately as possible.
"Oh." Was all Wesley could say, Cordelia burst out laughing at the absurdity of it.
"Laugh it up seer, it's no more funny then you and Angelus, or April and the Watcher."
"That's different." Cordelia dismissed him.
"Why? Because of Angels curse, Aprils slayer side? Pfft, we're still demons. Angel and April are just as dark as me, they just don't let you people see it."
"Spike don't." April stopped him before he could say anymore. "That's enough."
"Fine. I need blood." Spike growled and lumbered off to the kitchen.
"What did Spike mean?" Cordelia asked confused for the millionth time today.
"Trust me sugar, you don't want to know." April said unusually serious. She wrapped her arms around Wesley, as though his presence could wash away the memories.
Angel walked into the Hotel to be assaulted with the glares of four worried friends, an angry lover and a bored neutered vampire. He hadn't meant to have been gone so long, but once he'd started walking he couldn't stop. And now he had to deal with the fall out. "Good, you're back." Cordelia marched over to her boyfriend and placed his sleeping child in his arms. "I'm going home."
"Cordelia wait." He blocked her way. She rolled her eyes and tried to dodge passed him, she gave up though when it was clear he wasn't budging.
"Fine." She huffed and went and sat down again. Angel looked around at the people in the room, they were all there, Gunn and Fred had arrived half an hour ago. These people were his future but he still couldn't let go of his past, he knew there was only one way he could.
"I'm going back to Sunnydale." He simply said. Cordelia slumped in resignation. well it was nice while it lasted She thought to her self.
"I have to see Buffy, make sure she's OK, try and talk some sense into her about Spike...."
"Hey!" Spike shouted outraged.
"I can't believe I'm going to say this Spike, but I'm on you're side. I'll do what ever I can to help, I owe you that much." Angel sighed. He looked at Cordelia who was staring miserably at the floor. "Cordy I have to go. You know I do." He implored her.
"It doesn't mean I have to like it." Cordelia sulked.
"Come with me." He asked hopefully.
"I can't Angel, you might be able to up and leave the business but I can't. I won't leave Wes, Gunn and Fred to fight Holtz on their own." Cordelia frowned at him.
"Why can't we all go?" Fred piped up causing every one to turn and look at her. "Well....it was just an idea." She shrugged.
"Ooh family trip." April clapped her hands together happily. "Stella idea Fredalicous!"
"But Holtz...." Cordelia tried to argue.
"Bugger Holtz, if he wants to follow us to Sunnydale right into the lap of a slayer then that's his business. Anyway, it makes sense for us to hightail it outta town for a while." Gunn agreed with his little Texan girlfriend.
"Sounds like a plan." Angel grinned, relieved he wasn't going to have to face Buffy and the scooby gang on his own. "Cordy?" He looked to his girlfriend for confirmation. She still looked unhappy at the idea but not as pissed off as she had.
"You do realise no good will come of this don't you?" Cordelia raised her eyebrows at him.
"C'mon woman, it's Sunnydale time." Spike put his arm around the excheerleader making Angel growl at him in warning.
"Spike, this is the last time I'm going to say this....go...away." She snarled making Spike flinch. Everybody laughed at them, the tension of the last few days starting to ebb away. So it had been decided. They were Sunnydale bound. None of them knew what they would find when they got there, a sullen and confused slayer, a witch with an addiction to magic, an impending marriage, they had no idea. They started to disperse, arrangements were made and bags were packed. There was no going back now. As Angel locked the front door Cordelia slipped her hand into his, letting him no that she was here from him.
"Angel, if we get through this and are still actually talking by the end, will you do something for me?"
"Of course." Angel smiled at her, delighted to have his girl talking to him again.
"Tell me what the hell happened with you, April and Spike way back in the day, cos not knowing is killing me here." Cordy grinned at him not noticing the worried scowl that took over his face.
the end.
"Somebody Help!" Wesley shouted as he stumbled in to the lobby of the Hyperion Hotel carrying the limp body of a woman in his arms. Gunn came rushing out from behind Cordelia's desk and gasped at the sight before him.
"Oh god, what happened?" Gunn asked as he took Aprils body out of Wesley's weakened arms and laid her down on the lobby sofa.
"We were....we.....ambushed....Holtz....we didn't see them coming...I don't know how we got away." Wesley said in shock. He searched for a pulse in her throat, when he found none he gently brushed her black hair out of her face. There was so much blood, there was a long cut down the side of her throat. A gaping wound in her chest. Her head was laying at an angle it shouldn't. No one could have survived the beating Holtz's lackeys had given her.
"Wes, I'm sorry." Gunn tried to comfort his friend.
"I...." Wesley trailed off, unsure of what he was going to say. Angel, carrying his son, and Cordelia came hurrying down the stairs after hearing the commotion, Angels shirt was on inside out and Cordelias hair looked like she'd just been pulled through a bush backwards. Cordelia opened and closed her mouth silently at the sight before her, shocked to her very core, a sob escaped her throat. Angel barely glimpsed at the scene before him as he carried on towards the kitchen.
"Hey, I'm gonna feed this little guy, anyone hungry?" He called over his shoulder.
"Angel!" Cordelia shouted, outraged at his behaviour.
"What? April? Oh, she's fine. How about pasta?" Wesley struggled to his feet and launched himself at the vampire, but was stopped by Gunn.
"I take it you've all forgotten what April is." Angel smiled at his friends who continued to glare in horror at him. The sound of a ragged intake of breath made Cordelia, Gunn and Wesley turn towards the body of there new friend April. Aprils eyes flew open and she sat bolt upright, breathing heavily. The A.I team stood around dumbfounded, all apart from Angel who had sat down on the steps and was shaking his head and grinning at his beautiful child.
"Oh for godsake!" April exclaimed as she touched her ruined and bloody top. "I only got this last week. So bloody typical. I should just go around in a bin bag from now on. Why do people always kill me when I'm wearing something new? Holtz got away. God dammit!" She grumbled to herself as she got up and stretched. The gang continued to stare and blink at her. "They forgot I can't be killed didn't they?" April nodded her head towards her friends and asked Angel.
"Yep." Angel smiled.
"Wonderful. Don't you guys ever listen to anything. ME IMMORTAL. NO KILL." April said loudly. "I've told ya like a million times." Wesley finally snapped out of his hypnotic state and rushed towards April, hugging her so tightly it lifted her of her feet.
"I thought....." Wesley spoke into her hair and held her close to him.
"Oh Wes...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." April apologised softly to the man that was slowly squeezing her to death. She pulled away a little and kissed him gently on his cheek, she noticed a small gash on his forehead then pulled away a little further.
"Wesley you're hurt!" She scolded him and made him sit down on the sofa where minutes ago she had laid seemingly dead.
"Oh, I'm fine." He touched the cut on his head and winced. "Just a scratch." He smiled at the woman kneeling in front of him. " I um, sorry I panicked. You just looked..." Wesley trailed off, April held his hand and smiled softly at him.
"I'm fine Wes, apart from being annoyed at ruining another shirt, I'm fine." A gentle moment passed between the two.
"Geez, you two, get a room already." Gunn laughed at the pair as he went to get the first aid kit.
"Do you think we could just try and go one day without a trauma? Just for a change?" Cordelia sighed and sat down next to Angel.
"Sorry guys." April apologised again. "Didn't mean to pull you two away from each other." She grinned at Angel and Cordelia's ruffled state. The young seer blushed and looked to Angel for support but all she got from him was a stupid smile.
"You dork." Cordelia laughed at him.
........................................................
That's how it had been for the last two months at Angel Investigations. There was laughter and love and the sweet sound of a baby being cooed over. They had everything and it made Cordelia's chest hurt she was so happy. Once Darla had given birth to little Connor and April had duly despatched her of her head things had become comfortable in the hotel. Yes they now had the threat of Holtz hanging over their heads but so far he hadn't been able to truly hurt the group. April had made sure of that. Wesley and April were growing closer and closer everyday, Gunn and Fred acted like teenagers in the first throes of love and Cordelia and Angel were totally immersed in each other and the baby. They all finally felt like they could breathe and be happy. So when the drunk and slightly sun singed figure of Spike tumbled through the door the day after Aprils dead episode everyone began to hold there breath again.
"Blimey Spike, what have you been drinking? Lighter fluid?" April grimaced as she picked the wasted vampire up off the floor. "When are you gonna learn you can't handle your liquor?" She said quietly to her old and highly inebriated friend.
"Bloody slayer.....thinks she can just use me....not me....im not her lap dog no more!" Spike growled but it sounded more like a wheeze to the surprised A.I team who had stopped there work as soon as the peroxide blonde had stumbled in.
"What are you doing here Spike?" Angel stepped forward in front of his girl and his child, instinctively protective over them.
"Its all your fault!" Spike gestured wildly at Angel. "Your fault she wont be with me.You and your god damn soul....... Oh hello cutie." Spike trailed off when he noticed the curious face of Fred peeping out from behind the solid figure of Gunn. "I don't believe we've ever had the pleasure." Spike moved towards her as smoothly as he could manage in his current state.
"Back off." Gunn stood defiantly in front of his girlfriend.
"Aren't we the big puffed up manly man." Wesley silently loaded and aimed a cross bow at the chest of the British vampire.
"Spike, I suggest you leave....now." "OOOh Watcher. Scary." Spike chuckled and took another swig of bourbon.
"Get out." Wesley advanced on him.
"Go on then Watcher. Put a stake in my heart. Put me out of my misery!" Spike pressed his chest up against the tip of the arrow. Wesley's finger began to inch closer to the trigger.
"Whoa! Stop." April placed her hand on the cross bow, Wesley let her lower it. "Lets all just calm down. Angel....I'm going to take Spike upstairs to lie down."
"April, I don't want him here." Angel stepped forward. April glared at him, daring him to try and stop her.
"He's my friend Angel." April turned her back on him and guided Spike upstairs, practically carrying him.
"Who's the little nipper?" Spike asked her as they went to her room.
"Long story hun."
"So they brought the slayer back, she's been a bit crazy in the head, you two have been doing it like bunnies but now she doesn't want to know you." April summed up everything Spike had been rambling about for the past hour.
"In a nut shell, yeah." Spike sighed and laid back on the bed. His head was starting to spin and April had confiscated his bottle of booze. "I think I'm going to vomit."
"Sleep it off hun," April laid her cool hand on his forehead, a gesture so simple and full of love that it made Spike, William the bloody, co-scourge of Europe, want to cry. "I'll be down stairs. Trying to convince Angel, Wesley and Gunn not to kill you." She kissed him lightly and made her way out of the room. When she had first met Angelus and Spike they were wild, children of the forest, stalking Europe with a hunger that she had never seen before. But now the two vampires that she had both fought and loved were shadows of their former selves, the evilness had been replaced by a longing for humanity. Angels soul and Spikes chip had changed them in ways that April had never thought was possible for vampires. And it's all down to the Slayer. I wonder if she has any idea the pain she can cause. April thought to herself. And now I have to tell Angel she's alive......wonderful. Bloody wonderful
........................................................ Gunn had taken Fred to the cinema on strict instructions from Angel, he tried to get Wesley and Cordelia to go too but they were stubborn and insisted they stay and find out why Spike was here. Cordelia put little Connor down in his carry crib, tucking his teddy next to him. Connor gurgled at her happily. Angel sat silently across the lobby, waiting for April to come down and explain what was going on. Wesley was just as quiet, lost in his own thoughts. He knew April and Spike had been friends but he had a nagging suspicion it was more than that. Wesley could feel the green eyed monster of jealousy creeping up on him. He watched the woman he was slowly falling for walk down the stairs, she had changed her top and was tying up her hair in a messy ponytail. Wesley had never seen anything so lovely.
"April I don't want him here. I don't care what he wants, why he's here. I want him out." Angel growled as he stalked over to April. Cordelia and Wesley sat silently.
"What ever happened to you helping the hopeless. Spike needs our help." She tried to reason with him.
"I don't care, he's not staying anywhere near Connor and Cordy. Chip or no chip, he's dangerous. And your a fool if you can't see that. End of discussion, get him out." Angel turned his back and started to walk over to Cordelia and Wesley, outraged April grabbed his arm and spun him around to face her.
"You have a responsibility towards Spike. He's your childe. He's my friend." April kept her voice low, trying not to lose her temper, she had forgotten how stubborn Angel could be. "You owe me Angel. You owe both me and Spike. I have never asked anything from you Angel, never, even after everything that happened. I could have blamed you, but I didn't. I don't. But if you don't help me help Spike, I'm gone and it won't be like last time, this time you will not ever see me again." April crossed her arms and lifted her chin defiantly at him.
"Don't make me choose between the two of you, I won't do that again." They stared at each other for a long moment, an untold history of pain and betrayal past between them. Cordelia and Wesley looked at each other, both not understanding what April meant. Angel was silent for a long while, anger simmering in his eyes. He let out an unneeded breath and gave in, but he wasn't happy about it and he knew he and April would have to thrash their past out one day, but not now, not in front of Cordy and Wes.
"Fine. He can stay, but if he even looks at anyone wrongly he's dust. I'd better go talk to him."
"Hold on Angel,' April stopped him once again. "There's something else you need to know...."
.....................................................
Cordelia sat rocking Connor slowly in her arms, humming softly to him. Buffy was alive. Cordelia wanted to feel happy but she just couldn't bring herself to be. She couldn't stop thinking that Angel was going to be on the first train back to Sunnyhell. Cordelia had left the lobby as soon as April had told Angel that the Slayer had been brought back. She hadn't wanted to see the look on Angels face. She had been so happy for the last couple of months, she had a family, they were working for the greater good, she finally felt like she had found her place in the world. Cordelia knew Angel would go to Buffy just like she knew the sun would rise in the morning. That was just the way it was. She felt her bubble of happiness slowly start to deflate.
......................................................
Wesley sat alone in his office, drumming his fingers on the desk in a slow but steady rhythm. There was something going on and he didn't like it. He hadn't asked April about her past with Angel and Spike, he didn't really want to know. Today was the first time he had seen them raise there voices at each other and it unsettled him. When you add the fact that he really didn't like the way April rushed to the aid of Spike, it was clear that Wesley was starting a broodfest that Angel would be proud off.
......................................................
Angel sat across from April in the kitchen trying to understand what she was telling him. Buffy was alive. They brought her back. Buffy's alive. He wasn't sure how he was meant to feel. Why hadn't Willow rung and told them? Should he go back to Sunnydale? Did he want to go back to Sunnydale? And where had Cordelia disappeared to?
"Angel are you listening to me?" April interrupted his thoughts.
"What?"
"I said you need to talk to Spike about a few things, about Buffy." April wasn't going to be the one to tell what Spike and Buffy had been doing. "He really needs someone to talk to."
"Cant you..."
"No Angel. You're the only one that he can talk about this with. I have to go see Wes." April got up without another word and left the room.
When Angel let himself into Spikes temporary room the blonde vampire was passed out on the bed, Angel threw a book at the sleeping boy making Spike groan and rub his forehead.
"Sod off." Spike growled. "Spike, get up, we have to talk." Angel sighed and sat in the chair across from him.
"April made you didn't she?" Spike laughed then held his head, hang over....bad. "God I love that woman."
"Why are you here?" Angel cut to the chase.
"What, didn't April not tell you about little miss Buff?"
"Yeah, but that doesn't explain why you come here to my home." Angel was starting to lose patience with him already. He put his head in is hands and stared at the floor.
"Well lets just say you aint the only Vampire that's had a taste of the blonde Slayer." Spike chuckled. Angel was out of his chair and pinning Spikes neck up against the wall before Spike could even blink.
"What the hell are you talking about?!"
"The slayer finally got what she needed......what you weren't man enough to give her." Spike smirked. Angel threw Spike across the room, he crashed with a loud thud into the dresser.
"Your lying." Angel tried to calm himself down but couldn't shake his vamp visage.
"Fraid not. That girl is a natural." Spike lifted himself off the floor and leant himself against the wall so he wouldn't fall over. "You never said she was so......nasty." He grinned wickedly. Angel was pretty sure his brain was going to bleed out of his ears any moment now. He knew that Spike was just trying to get a rise out of him and he refused to allow it.
"So why are you here? Did she realise what a mistake she was making?" Angel managed to spit out, the look on Spikes face let him no that he was spot on. He almost for sorry for the young vampire. Angel collapsed back down on to the chair and chuckled.
"Aren't you going to stake me for defiling the great love of your unlife?" Spike barked at him annoyed that his grand sire found it amusing.
"Give it up Spike. What Buffy does is her business, I'm just worried about her mental state. She must have been pretty screwed up if she was screwing you." He said seriously.
"Angel mate, you have no idea........."
Wesley looked up surprised when April walked into his office.
"Hey there." She smiled as she came around and sat on the edge of his desk.
"Is Angel OK?"
"He's gone up to see Spike, but I think he'll be OK. Came as a bit of a surprise is all." April smoothed the collar of his shirt, a small but intimate gesture. "Where's Cordy?"
"She went to put Connor down, hasn't come back yet." Wesley was worried about her, she had vanished as soon as April had told them about Buffy. He knew what was going through the young girls mind, she was scared that Angel would run back to Buffy.
"Oh dear."
"Yep."
"Should I go talk to her?" April frowned. Wesley shrugged noncommittally. "Wes....what up?" Wesley debated whether or not he should say anything to her. He decided honesty was the best policy.
"April, I know we haven't known each other for long, and I probably don't have a right to ask you this but..... I need to know where your loyalties lie." April pulled her hand away from him and tensed up.
"What do you mean?" She asked cautiously.
"Spike isn't our friend, he's done a lot of dreadful things to Cordelia and the people she loves, I need to know, if it came down to it, where your loyalties would lie."
"I know it's hard for you all to understand, but Spike is very dear to me. Just like you guys are. He hasn't come here to cause trouble. He just....he's just lost at the moment. But if Angel makes him leave, I will go with him."
"Why?" Wesley just couldn't understand her.
"Because things happened....along time ago....things that shouldn't have happened. I can't....' April struggled for words, she felt tears beginning to well in her eyes. Wesley touched her hand softly. "Angel, Spike and I....we are connected to each other, we always will be. Darla and Dru hated it but there's nothing we can do, that's just the way it is." She knew she wasn't making sense by the look of utter confusion plastered on Wesley's face. But Wesley didn't push her, some things were too personal and painful to talk about. In a most uncharacteristic move for the Englishman, Wesley pulled April on to his lap, surprising both of them. He wrapped his arms around the petite woman and just held her.
"You know....you're really something Mr Price." April said as she laid her head on his shoulder. They didn't speak for a long while they just sat there, enjoying the contact. There was so much darkness in their lives, so much loneliness. April had wandered the earth for almost 400 years walking in and out of peoples lives, never really being able to settle. Wesley had spent most of his life struggling for his fathers love and approval and never getting it. Things like that mark a person for life.
"I don't want you to go." Wesley told her quietly.
"I know."
Cordelia stirred as Angel sat down on their bed next to her, she had fallen asleep soon after Connor had. She had distantly heard crashing coming from down the corridor about an hour ago, but then things had gone quiet, all but the muffled voices of the vampire she loved and the vampire she had once feared.
"When do you leave?" Cordelia asked Angel bluntly, she wasn't about to pussyfoot around this, she needed to know.
"For where?"
"Sunnydale of course. Don't act dumb Angel, I know you're going." She tried to act casual, like the thought of him and Buffy in the same room didn't make her want to throw up and die.
"Buffy's......"Angel started only to be abruptly cut off.
"Just go to her Angel. Are you taking Connor? I'm sure she'd love to meet him. I think I'm going to go back to my place, I have some stuff I need to do." Cordelia said in a rambled rush so she wouldn't have to hear Angels 'Buffy will always be in my life, I love her' speech. She quickly got of the bed and straightened her clothes.
"Cordy...."
"Has Spike gone yet, it's probably not a good idea to leave him here with Fred while your gone. Although I'm not sure who would be in danger, him or Fred." She laughed nervously.
"Cordelia, please listen to me." "Why?" Cordelia stopped and spun to face him, her mood changing suddenly. "Are you going to tell me you aren't going. That you're staying here with the people that love and need you? Now, with Holtz watching every move we make!"
"I have to go." Angel lamented. "I told Spike I'd take him back." Cordelia felt anger rise up inside of her.
"I didn't realise you and Spike were such good buddies!"
"Cor....she needs help."
"And we don't? So run back to her....again. Two months ago you said to me, in this very room, that you had moved on from Buffy, that you loved me. But as soon as she breaks a nail off you go....and I realise that I'm being selfish and that Buffy was dead yadda yadda yadda, but there is such a thing as a phone!"
"You don't trust me." Angel scowled.
"I never said that."
"You're being unreasonable."
"I don't care."
"Please try to understand....."
"NO! JUST FREAKIN GO!" Her raised voice caused Connor to let out a loud shocked squeal, Cordellia had momentarily forgotten about the sleeping infant.
"Oh crap." She muttered as she went to pick him up.
"Here, let me take him."
"I'm fine, go pack." Cordelia turned her back on him, letting him know this discussion was over. Angel left the room angry at himself and Cordelia. He kept on walking past April and Wesley and straight out into the night, where hopefully he could find something to pummel.
Angel had left the hotel three hours ago and he wasn't answering his phone. Cordelia refused to let herself worry, she was mad, and she decided to concentrate on that.
"Hey there cheerleader." Spike grinned at her as he walked into the lobby.
"Go away Spike." Cordelia muttered as she stared at the door. "Poofter still not back?"
"Go away Spike." She repeated herself.
"Well he never was to be trusted that one, your better off with out him. Ever thought of going for something a little different, say a blonde vampire with a sexy British accent?"
"Go away Spike."
"You use to be a lot more fun to bitch at." Spike frowned.
"Go...."
"Away Spike, yes I heard the first time. Ignoring it though." He sat down next to the dark haired seer, which made her more than a little uncomfortable, especially as she was holding Angels son.
"Ello ello, who's a cutie, booger boog, booger boog." Spike cooed at the little boy who kicked and waved his arms happily at him. Cordelia was shocked to see William the Bloody making goo goo faces beside her. When did things get so bizarre round here? "Is April around?" He asked her quite civilly.
"Right behind ya kid." April said as she ruffled his hair, she had been watching them since Spike had sat down, it was quite sweet really, she just hoped Angel didn't walk in and see Spike next to his girl. She felt the strong arm of Wesley slip round her waist, she knew it was a macho 'this is my woman' gesture on his behalf but let him do it anyway. It felt nice.
"Huh. Playing with the watcher now April? You're a brave man Wes." Spike smiled. Cordelia and Wesley waited for the cutting remark and when it never came they looked at each other in confusion.
"Have you drugged him?" Cordelia asked April. "He's not usually so......unhomicidal."
"Homicidal? My little Spikeypoo? The mans a kitten really, just got caught up with a bad crowd. Plus I think the chip's had a calming influence on him. Like he's been neutered and all his bites gone. Poor baby." April said, messing with his hair again.
"I am here you know." Spike grumbled.
"We are all well aware of that. Has Angel not come back yet Cordelia?" Wesley asked her seriously.
"I hadn't even realised he was out." Cordelia lied unconvincingly. Connor blew spit bubbles, letting her know that even he knew she was fibbing. Spike crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue, making the baby giggle.
"This kid is a lot more fun than his bleedin father, that's for sure." Spike said to no one in particular.
"Have you tried his mobile?" April asked.
"He's not answering. I expect he's in Sunnydale already." She sighed.
"Better not be, he goes near my girl and it will be the last thing that poof does." Spike growled and started to pace the room.
"Your girl?" Wesley and Cordelia said together.
"Buffy. They have been....having....a relationship." April filled them in as delicately as possible.
"Oh." Was all Wesley could say, Cordelia burst out laughing at the absurdity of it.
"Laugh it up seer, it's no more funny then you and Angelus, or April and the Watcher."
"That's different." Cordelia dismissed him.
"Why? Because of Angels curse, Aprils slayer side? Pfft, we're still demons. Angel and April are just as dark as me, they just don't let you people see it."
"Spike don't." April stopped him before he could say anymore. "That's enough."
"Fine. I need blood." Spike growled and lumbered off to the kitchen.
"What did Spike mean?" Cordelia asked confused for the millionth time today.
"Trust me sugar, you don't want to know." April said unusually serious. She wrapped her arms around Wesley, as though his presence could wash away the memories.
Angel walked into the Hotel to be assaulted with the glares of four worried friends, an angry lover and a bored neutered vampire. He hadn't meant to have been gone so long, but once he'd started walking he couldn't stop. And now he had to deal with the fall out. "Good, you're back." Cordelia marched over to her boyfriend and placed his sleeping child in his arms. "I'm going home."
"Cordelia wait." He blocked her way. She rolled her eyes and tried to dodge passed him, she gave up though when it was clear he wasn't budging.
"Fine." She huffed and went and sat down again. Angel looked around at the people in the room, they were all there, Gunn and Fred had arrived half an hour ago. These people were his future but he still couldn't let go of his past, he knew there was only one way he could.
"I'm going back to Sunnydale." He simply said. Cordelia slumped in resignation. well it was nice while it lasted She thought to her self.
"I have to see Buffy, make sure she's OK, try and talk some sense into her about Spike...."
"Hey!" Spike shouted outraged.
"I can't believe I'm going to say this Spike, but I'm on you're side. I'll do what ever I can to help, I owe you that much." Angel sighed. He looked at Cordelia who was staring miserably at the floor. "Cordy I have to go. You know I do." He implored her.
"It doesn't mean I have to like it." Cordelia sulked.
"Come with me." He asked hopefully.
"I can't Angel, you might be able to up and leave the business but I can't. I won't leave Wes, Gunn and Fred to fight Holtz on their own." Cordelia frowned at him.
"Why can't we all go?" Fred piped up causing every one to turn and look at her. "Well....it was just an idea." She shrugged.
"Ooh family trip." April clapped her hands together happily. "Stella idea Fredalicous!"
"But Holtz...." Cordelia tried to argue.
"Bugger Holtz, if he wants to follow us to Sunnydale right into the lap of a slayer then that's his business. Anyway, it makes sense for us to hightail it outta town for a while." Gunn agreed with his little Texan girlfriend.
"Sounds like a plan." Angel grinned, relieved he wasn't going to have to face Buffy and the scooby gang on his own. "Cordy?" He looked to his girlfriend for confirmation. She still looked unhappy at the idea but not as pissed off as she had.
"You do realise no good will come of this don't you?" Cordelia raised her eyebrows at him.
"C'mon woman, it's Sunnydale time." Spike put his arm around the excheerleader making Angel growl at him in warning.
"Spike, this is the last time I'm going to say this....go...away." She snarled making Spike flinch. Everybody laughed at them, the tension of the last few days starting to ebb away. So it had been decided. They were Sunnydale bound. None of them knew what they would find when they got there, a sullen and confused slayer, a witch with an addiction to magic, an impending marriage, they had no idea. They started to disperse, arrangements were made and bags were packed. There was no going back now. As Angel locked the front door Cordelia slipped her hand into his, letting him no that she was here from him.
"Angel, if we get through this and are still actually talking by the end, will you do something for me?"
"Of course." Angel smiled at her, delighted to have his girl talking to him again.
"Tell me what the hell happened with you, April and Spike way back in the day, cos not knowing is killing me here." Cordy grinned at him not noticing the worried scowl that took over his face.
the end.