"Man, fuck."

Gunn let himself fall down on the couch, staring at Wesley who'd kneeled down next to their guest. William, Spike was still on the ground, holding on to the pad they'd given him to stop the blood. He didn't seem to be doing much of that though. The man, the former vampire didn't seem to be inclined to do much of anything. He seemed small, too small…

He wasn't sure, but wasn't this guy supposed to be menacing. He had read some of the things about him. Hell he'd read Angel's file a couple of times and Spike was a part of that. But to see him like this, it made him wonder. The guy sure didn't seem like a pychopathic murderlustic madman or any sort of big bad. More like a little lost boy.

"So he had a soul, then he died and now he's human?"

"The Shanshu prophecy."

Spike flinched at Wesley's attempt to touch him.

"It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you."

He touched him again, the former vampire didn't budge this time, but his eyes flashed panic.

"This is incredible really. A vampire restored to human…"

Didn't seem all that incredible to him, more like a joke.
You get to be human, you loose your mind. Or was that lost before?

"I have to get my books, check for references."

"Jesus Wes."

"This could change the meaning of a thousand different prophecies. Every prophecy that we thought was about Angel, a hundred new possibilities. Just the idea that there could be more than one souled vampire… Who's to say that Spike will be the last one? Maybe there's even more."

"More vampires with a soul?"

And Gunn's mind involuntarily flashed back to a little girl's eyes. Alonna's sense of betrayal as he staked her, the one girl that he'd sworn to protect. Forever. And another image shot through his mind of a happy boy's face and his betrayal as they cut him, his face cutting to rage…What the hell was that?

He'd staked Alonna. He'd been so sure it was the right thing to do, that he'd saved her from a fate worse than death. But what if it hadn't been, what if he'd just killed her, murdered her, betrayed her…

Wes was still rambling on about books and prophecies and possibilities… Fred had gone to get a drink and tried to hand it to the former vamp. So that's how it was. A chance and he'd taken it away from Alonna.
He left the room, he really needed to make a call to Randall.

*******

"Mandy, you gave and you gave without taking. And I …"

"Angelcakes please stop. "

Lorne slapped his hands to his ears desperate to give his ears some protection, and not just from the … music, if that's what you could call it. His head was killing him, his ears were ringing and by Aretha's throat, he needed a drink.

Why couldn't that vampire give up on the brooding for a second, just long enough to fill his offices bar with something other than O pos? Even now that the singing had finally mercifully stopped Lorne could still feel the waves of desperation smothering him like a wet blanket. There was the usual brooding guilt, so sexy in the right proportions. A fire of resentment, and of course, guilt, as usual.

But most of all, the one thing filling Angel's mind and immediate future the most was the incredible need to put his hands on the interloper's neck and squeeze him to an inch of his life. Either that or throw him against the wall and shag him into it. Lorne didn't even want to think of the other possibilities that the vampire's mind could come up with.

"I don't like him Lorne. I can't stand him."

"Well…"

"Did you know that he managed to make me want to stake him ten minutes after he came crawling out of his grave? He only survived that first week because I didn't want to deal with one of Dru's crying jigs if I dusted her toy."

"So you could say he annoys you?"

Angel's glare could freeze a fire.

"Angel crumpet. He's not going to go away, you know. And he is family? Isn't he?"

"We can't always choose our family. Well… we can… sometimes. "

Lorne shivered, thinking of his own family for a second. The less said about them, the better.

"But aren't you even the slightest itty bit proud of the kid?"

"Proud?"

"Well… for following you in your footsteps. The soul."

"Saving the world?"
He seemed so childlike as he turned to the green demon.

"Would I really sound like a twelve year old if I said no?"

tbc

Just thought I'd apologize for this taking a bit longer, you can't imagine how hard it is to try and find Lorne and Angel's inner voices…