Summary/Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

*****

Chapter 11

"Angel?"

Buffy barely had time to whisper the name before Spike landed a vicious blow to the side of the dark vampire's head, knocking him unconscious. Once the attack had ended, Spike had a chance to see who had jumped him.

"Oh bloody hell! What the hell's he doin' here?" Spike glanced at Buffy and saw that she looked like she was about to pass out. He grabbed hold of her shoulders and forced her to look into his eyes.

"Come on now pet, stay with me. Let's get Peaches and go back to our room, try to sort out what's going on, OK?" Buffy nodded so he released her shoulders and picked the other vampire up in a fireman's hold.

*****

Spike gratefully dropped Angel onto the hotel bed he and Buffy had been using not four hours before. The trip to the hotel room with the unconscious vampire on his shoulder had earned him one or two suspicious looks from passers by and had given him backache for his troubles.

At least Buffy seemed to have gotten over some of the initial shock, now she looked more like she wanted to know what was going on rather than looking like she was going to throw up.

Making sure Angel wasn't going anywhere he crossed the room to where is love was standing and wrapped his arms around her, a gesture she reciprocated.

"Hey goldilocks, what's goin' on in that head of yours?"

"I don't know, really. I mean one minute we're dancing, the next Angel's beating on you. Angel! He's meant to be dead! I saw him die!" tears formed in her eyes as Spike hugged her tighter.

"We both did luv. Suppose we'd better wake him up, try to find out what's going on. Gotta say though, he's got a mean right hook for a bloke that's meant to be three years dead." He was glad to see a small smile appear on Buffy's face before he went into the kitchen to fetch some water which he proceeded to tip onto Angel's face. The vampire woke with a start, sitting bolt upright on the bed.

"What?...Buffy," he smiled at the former Slayer before he spotted the other occupant of the room. "Spike!" He went to lunge fore the blonde vampire but Buffy stepped forward and held him back.

"Angel! There will be no attacking of Spike, understand? Now can you please tell me what the hell is going on?!" Spike decided to throw in his two cents worth.

"Perhaps you could start by explaining why your arse isn't rotting away in some cosy little hell dimension." Buffy sent him a look that clearly said 'shut up' but her lips held a smile that told him she wasn't mad at him.

"Actually Spike," Angel spat the name out as if it had a bitter taste, "a good place to start would be you explaining exactly what you're going with Buffy."

Spike looked at Buffy, clearly passing the buck on this one. Much as he'd love to dangle his and Buffy's relationship in front of his grandsire's nose, he knew that it would only end up hurting Buffy. Angel had been her first love, she had the right to decide what he was told. Buffy took a deep breath, trying to decide what to say. She finally decided to just tell him the truth.

"Look Angel, after the thing with Acathla and you and Dru dying, Spike and me decided to get out of Sunnyhell. We were both hurt and grieving and well one thing lead to another and we ended up together. Know this Angel, I love Spike, he loves me. Now, Spike was right, time for you to start talking."

Angel saw the determination in Buffy's eyes and decided now wasn't the time to discuss her and Spike's relationship. The time would come for that conversation though, he'd be damned again before he gave his love up to his punk of a childe.

"After you left Sunnydale your friends were devastated. They all read the letter you left so they could see why you had gone and your mother made sure they didn't try to find you. She said that it was your decision and they should respect that. Anyway, even though the new Slayer was sent to the Hellmouth, things were getting too much for them so Willow found a spell to get me out of hell so I could help with the slaying."

"So how long were you in hell?"

"From your point of view, about five months. For me it was a lot longer." Spike decided now was as good a time as any to speak up.

"One question Peaches. Why now? Why after three years are you here?" Angel continued to look at Buffy as he answered.

"Buffy, about three months ago your mom started to get headaches. It turns out it was a brain tumour. They've operated but there's still a chance something might happen to her. She wanted to see you again in case." He didn't finish, he didn't need to.

Buffy turned pleading eyes to Spike who was already mentally planning the journey. He just nodded at her unspoken request.

They were going back to the Hellmouth

TBC

AN: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!! BLOODY ENGLISH EDUCATION SYSTEM!!!!!!!!!

Anywho, things are calming down a little in my small corner of the globe and I can finally get back to writing!

Thank you to all those who have put up with the long delays.

I can also report that I have worked out the plot for the rest of this fic and now only need to fill it out. If you are worried that we are nearing the end, we're not even close!

Sorry if the Angel dialogue is out of character. Whenever Angel was on Buffy he tended not to say much and I don't watch Angel the series so I don't know exactly how he speaks. Now Angelus, on the other hand, I am a fan of. He is an interesting character with a unique way of speaking and I think he would be a lot of fun to write. Angel is just boring and broody.

Don't worry, explanations as to what's been going off in Sunnyhell are on their way!

By the way, should be a chap of Wounded out tomorrow.

As always, please review. I just read a strange review for this fic where the reviewer states his dislike of B/S fics and his love of B/X fics. All I can say is: Sorry mate but this was clearly posted as a B/S fic, sorry if you don't like that, there's plenty of B/X out there for you to read.

The Bloody

(PS: You will get to read the letter Buffy left in a later chap!)