Title: We Are Family
Author: Wicked R
Disclaimers: the regular ones.
Genre: General, shortfic.
Rating: G
Universe: after 'Orpheus', AtS; after 'Him', BtVS. Spoilers accordingly. AU by now.
Summary: the fair-haired slayer-vampire couple from Sunnydale gets an unexpected visit from guess who?
Pairing: B/S, A/C.

They didn't have much work to do on the patrol. Was it quiet before hell getting loose again in a couple of days, or just simply quiet? Either way, Buffy and Spike headed home. They were slowly strolling down Revello Drive. Spike, as a gentleman should, walked Buffy home before he went to Xander's to crash. It was an old habit he just kept to. The two fighters didn't talk much, Buffy was still in the middle of figuring out her real feelings for the slim vampire, and Spike didn't expect much from her yet after finally feeling the actual weight of his previous actions. He couldn't bring himself to leave Sunnydale though. He thought about it a lot. The deciding factor was him not wanting to do anything like his Sire did. He viewed him differently now with a soul. He understood almost everything and somewhere in his heart he wished they could be friends again. They just both had to forgive each other. Was that at all possible if Angel learnt about the recent developments between him and his favourite slayer? Right now though, with so many surfacing memories and the current Sunnydale situation, there was no time for sorting out his feelings for his old pal. Life never stopped for that amount of time at the Hellmouth.

Buffy was lost in her reveries about the mysteries in the school basement when Spike stopped in his tracks and exclaimed, "God damn! He's got more front than Blackpool! What's wrong, don't you get any attention back home?"

Buffy looked around and seen no one. She was staring to worry that Spike was talking to his imaginary companions again, but then she saw movement behind the last tree they had passed and Angel stepped out from behind it.

"Who are you stalking now, me or Buffy?" asked the younger vampire.

"You, actually. Hi, Buffy."

The slayer only nodded towards him. She really didn't expect such turn of events without any warning.

"What do you want?" the blond vampire enquired the older one.

"What do I want?? Eee…you called me? I think…I had these dreams that you … were … calling me. Or wait, you must just have messed about with my head for fun," said a confused Angel.

Right enough, Spike burst out laughing. But it so quickly developed into a hysterical, mad, insane chuckle that Angel had to remind himself it wasn't Drusilla he was hearing. By this time Buffy got herself out of her surprise that much to try to explain Spike's behaviour, but the younger vampire suddenly got himself together, "yes. I called you. Like four month ago," he shouted the last words on the top of his voice, "what took you so long?"

"Well, do you expect me to jump at YOUR first request? I would've never came, but there was something so desperate about this call on blood…Besides, I was busy," he closed in on his childe, examining him minutely.

"Hah! You were busy!" Spike exclaimed. Angel stood right next to him by this time and they could clearly smell, feel and sense each other the way only vampires could, "you…WERE busy," concluded Spike, "you were busy being Angelus!"

The older vampire just stared at him, "I thought I lost my mind, getting all the wrong vibes from you, but no…it's really true. Or did I loose my mind?" His reaction was similar to Buffy's own when she realised Spike had a soul. He was slowly digesting the information, and Buffy didn't blame him for it.

Spike burst out into another laugh, but it was more sane sounding this time, "Cordelia. You were fucking Cordelia."

Being Sire and Childe, the mind connection was always there, they just denied it for so long. Sometimes Spike could tell if Angel was in trouble and vice versa, not that they ever gave these things much attention. Buffy had always counted upon the connection being there, at least in her first days together with Spike. She felt closer to Angel when being with Spike. She knew that something was buried deep in there.

Angel stepped back, offended, "do you think I don't know who you f…"

Buffy didn't know which was more disturbing for her, Angel sleeping with Cordelia, or him finding out about her and Spike. Maybe he did know that before, the link between the two former pal vampires was still strong, as it appeared.

"How did you get a soul?"

"I asked for it."

"You ASKED for it? Just like that? And they gave you one?"

Another hysterical laugh, "of course, how would you know? Angelus would never ask for a soul."

"Why would a vampire ask for a soul?"

Spike glanced at Buffy. She was standing there in the middle, between the two men she loved most. Her blonde hair was as smooth as underwater pond grass, her eyebrows were arched in surprise and her oxblood lips were set in a crisp line. She was the flesh incarnate of strength, mystery and danger. In her embrace a man might end up doing anything.

Angel understood at once. He didn't need to use the bond with Spike to figure that one out. He understood.

"Do you want to talk?" he finally asked his childe. He was totally facing him now, shutting Buffy out.

Spike looked into the dark eyes of his Sire. There was no anger in them. Angel had offered the hand he wished for, not just four month ago, but the one that he had lost when Angel got his soul back for the first time. Nothing could stand in their way now. They were not alone in this anymore.

The End.