Title: Dear Boy

Rating: R

Pairings: Here we go, it's long and broken into groups.

Familial Pairings – Darla/Angelus, Darla/The Master, Angelus/The Master, Darla/Drusilla, Angelus/Drusilla, Angelus/William, Darla/William, Drusilla/William

Relationship Pairings: Angelus/Darla, William/Drusilla, Other/William

Summary: Begins before William was born and goes through all seasons of Buffy and Angel. Major AU. Being full blood Childer of The Master, it's no surprise that Angelus and Darla expect nothing but the best when it came to their own Childer. So why is it, after choosing the perfect female companion for Darla, Angelus had to go and Turn an abused, partially insane geek like William?

Warnings: Very, very, very (and can I stress the word VERY again?) AU! Expect plenty of violence, blood/gore (hello, dealing with vampires!), language, insanity (literal and figurative), OOC-ness, hetero and homo relationships, may be more later.

Author's Note: Sorry but I just noticed this. Angelus is supposed to have a bit of an Irish accent, but I keep forgetting to write it out properly. So whenever Angelus is speaking pretend I wrote it as if he had one. If or when I get a beta for this fic I'll ask them nicely to point out where and how I should change his speech.

Chapter Twenty-Four – Darla 6

London, England

May 14, 1582

Darla sighed for the hundredth time as she caught William's sharp blue eyes on her. Her mate's Childe was fast becoming a nuisance to her, although she supposed it was mostly because she was angry at Angelus for turning a Childe in the first place –and a more than slightly loopy Childe at that - when they were still dealing with Drusilla.

'It probably is unfair to the Childe that I treat him as I do.' She mused. He really was a pretty little thing with his wide blue eyes and curly honey colored hair, sharp defined cheekbones, and thin lithe body. A little too thin, maybe, and definitely too skittish.

She turned away and those eyes were back on her. It really wasn't Angelus' fault, she supposed, or the boy's. Angelus had been looking for a Childe longer than she had, and she had been the first to find one of her own. Darla sighed.

With Angelus out to hunt for the first time in a while, and Drusilla with him, it was a wonder the Childe wasn't still shaking. Or whining. He had been when Angelus first left, but then crammed himself in a corner and seemed to settle. Darla sighed. She set down her book and turned to William.

"Am I really that scary?" She asked him in a neutral tone. William's eyes widened slightly. "I startled you before and I guess I'm sorry about that." Darla said as she leaned back in the armchair. Angelus' armchair, she thought with a smile. He drove her mad sometimes but she wouldn't have any other mate.

"And I suppose I could apologize for my behavior towards you. You aren't the reason for my anger." William tilted his head. "I suppose I'm a bit mad at Angelus – your Sire – for creating a Childe – you – that is on par with Drusilla's insanity." William suddenly shrunk back and Darla sighed. That probably came out wrong, she thought, but at least she was being honest with the Childe.

She studied the Childe intently as he slowly emerged from the corner, encouraged by her silence and lack of threatening looks. Several more heavy feedings would take care of the skeletal frame, and decent exercise would make sure the extra weight would turn into muscle and not fat.

He was now out in the open, standing uncertainly a few feet away from her. She frowned at the ragged clothing he wore. "New clothes, then." She muttered. "But first a bath. And a decent haircut." William tilted his head at her mumblings. He was trembling slightly in nervousness. "It's all right William, you can relax around me. Come, sit by me for a bit."

William slowly inched over and to her surprise, he settled on the floor by her feet. He was trembling quite a bit now, so she didn't move. "When your Sire comes back we'll have him give you a nice bath." She began to speak. "Then I'll give you a decent haircut. It's a pity you wouldn't fit into any of Angelus' things, and I'm certainly not dressing you in women's clothing."

She continued to speak, pondering over the style she should shape his hair into. Occasionally he would nervously nod or shake his head at a suggestion, and eventually he stopped trembling and leaned into her legs. She grimaced a little as he leaned his head – complete with long, matted, greasy, and sweaty hair – onto her knees, but didn't push him away.

Once they decided on a decent style for his hair she moved on to muse about clothing. He rejected her ideas of grandeur with a soft shake of his head, but nodded reluctantly at her suggestion of pressed trousers and crisp shirts. Angelus preferred that style as well, although he always did have a suit or two and some more comfortable clothing he wore on massacres.

It wasn't long before she noticed that William had fallen asleep, and she sighed. "I suppose I can't fault you for being as you are, if Angelus was telling the truth about what he saw and wasn't grossly exaggerating." William didn't stir, even as she touched his cheek with a finger. "But you are definitely having a bath when your Sire gets home."

TBC

Just to clear a few things up -

A vampire belongs to a clan of beings that have the same blood. Much like a human family. There is a male and female head vampire, followed by their Childer. Each vampire is allowed to turn Childer once they reach 100 years of age, but they are only allowed to turn two at a time and only two per hundred years.

When one vampire turns two Childer, those Childer are considered mates. Drusilla calls Spike her brother, but in reality he will be her mate, as Angelus is Darla's. The only acception to this rule is if the Childer turned are of the same gender (unless the Childer wish to become mates) or if there is only one Childer made. In these cases that Childe will be the mate of another vampire's Childer.

Does that make sense?