I don't own 'Angel' or 'BTVS', but if I did it I would take Spike, Angel, Wesley, and Connor. That's it. I would take them. They would be mine and I would take them! Ah! Anyway, they are not mine and I can't take them because of that stupid restraining order. Yes, I have to order my body to restrain itself from moving to LA and making the boys mine. Anyway...

On with the show.

::The Dalliance of the Eagles- Curiosity::

"Stupid, stupid man." Spike grumbled, as he popped a peppermint in his mouth and bit into it. He wasn't sure whether he meant himself or Angel. After being beat to the hotel, the night before, Angel had declared that Spike owed him a reward. After a lot of grumbling, Spike had agreed. Now, he wished he had fought just a little harder. If he had, then maybe he would be smoking a very satisfying cigarette, instead of eating a little mint diskette that carried little to no satisfaction along with it.

He remembered the argument so vividly that he still felt Angel's words bite into him. "Why should I quit smoking, Angel?" He had asked. It hadn't really mattered what Angel thought; there was hardly anything that would make him stop his favorite vice. "It's not like I can die from it or anything."

"Yeah, that's true." Angel agreed. "But you could kill Connor." Angel stared at Spike levelly, as the younger vampire gaped. "He has a hard enough time as it is, without having to die of lung cancer."

Spike didn't know what to say. It's not like he had assumed that the kid was immortal or anything. Maybe he had just thought of him not being susceptible to things, such as illness. "Well, I don't wanna' kill the kid. He's kinda' growin' on me."

Angel smiled. "Good. You want a patch or gum or something?"

Spike narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Would a patch even work? You know it has to go into the blood system and seeing as how it's all borrowed blood, anyway." Spike shrugged. He was stumped. "You know, the boy could still use a dog."

Angel looked thoughtful. "I'll think about it."

Spike knew that was going to be the best he could do for the time being, so he let it go. "I was just thinking... Don't look so amused, Angelus." Spike sighed. "I'm really not sure that the smoking is addiction, so much as habit."

"Yeah, well, bad habits can be hard to break."

Did Angel know what he was talking about, when he said that! Spike had already found himself biting on pen tops, eating hard candy, chewing on his fingernails, and talking his teeth out of eating the inner walls of his cheeks. "Got a blasted oral fixation, now, and it's all that pouf's fault."

"What's that?" Wesley was standing in Spike's doorway, looking at the vampire, who was so casually sprawled on the bed. "May I come in?"

"You may enter." Spike let out a chuckled and sighed. "I've always wanted to say that, in just that tone. Oh, how the tables turn, when you aren't paying attention." Spike lifted himself up, until he was leaning on his elbows and grinning at the British man, who was taking a seat in the armchair, across from his bed. "Got any gum?"

Wesley shook his head. "Since when do you chew gum?"

Spike settled back on his bed. "Since I'm not allowed to chew necks or smoke my ciggies. You are lucky I'm not coming over to your apartment and eating you out of house and home."

Wesley shrugged, which was totally lost on Spike, seeing as how he was staring at the ceiling. "You're always welcome to come by."

Spike sat up with a grin. "Was that an invitation?"

Wesley returned the grin, with one of his own. "Yes, I believe it was."

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen! I bet I'll have all of the others inviting me into their places next." Spike grabbed at his nightstand and yanked open a drawer, pulling out a handful of Skittles.

Wesley raised an eyebrow and laughed. "What other treasures do you have in there, Spike?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." He said, as he popped a couple of red Skittles in his mouth. "Want some? I don't like the green ones."

"I thought the green ones were supposed to be the best." Wesley held out his palm, while Spike deposited some of his stash.

"That's M&M's. They're hot. You know with the lips and the legs and heals." Spike said as he finished chewing.

"M&Ms have legs and heals? Since when?" Wesley was confused at the turn in conversation, although, when he thought about it, most of his and Spike's conversations were pretty confusing. Why should this one be any different?

"Don't you ever watch television?" Spike asked amusedly. Wesley was a pretty smart guy. Kind of reminded him of Angel. Smart in so many ways and, as far as pop culture was concerned, they were so very lost. "You know, bright picture boxes, with all the noise? Mine saved my life a couple of times. Would have died of boredom, without it. Plus there was that time I killed a Varnagra demon by strangling it with the... Wesley what's so funny?"

Wesley covered his face with his hands and tried to fight the laughter that was bubbling to the surface.

"If you are laughing about the word Vanagra, I am going to go find Angel and beg him to stake me good and proper." Spike shook his head, at the absurdity of it all. "I would have thought this was above you."

Wesley laughed all the more, during Spike's rant. "It's not that, I swear." He said in between bursts of laughter. After gaining back a minute amount of composure, Wesley pointed at the nightstand.

Spike looked over at his nightstand and gasped. "What in the bleedin' world are you doin' here?" Spike turned over onto his stomach and reached over to pick up a little kitten that sat on the small table by his bed, staring at him. "I can't believe I didn't sense you."

"It was eating your Skittles, a moment ago."

That cleared up the laughing fit, Spike mused. Spike took the opportunity to thump the kitten on the nose. "Eatin' my Skittles. Should be ashamed of yourself. Wesley had the decency to wait until they was offered to him. You should learn a lesson from this."

Connor burst into the room. "Spike have you seen a... Oh." Connor smiled at the black and white kitten snuggling into Spike's torso. "You found Cat."

"Cat?" Spike asked, a bit confused.

"Angel got him for me." Connor walked over and lifted the small animal from Spike's grasp. "I'm calling him Cat until I can figure out a good name for him."

"Call him Thief or Glutton. We found him choking down my Skittles." Spike crossed his arms over his chest and huffed. He wasn't really angry. He was bored and acting angry was helping alleviate the boredom, for a while.

"Skittles..." Connor smiled. "I like it. Would you like to be called Skittles?" Connor asked the little fuzz ball, curled up in his arms.

"He doesn't look like a Skittles" Wesley stood up and walked over to where the boy stood, with his cat. "He's kind of colorless."

"Then the name will be ironic." Connor stiffened his jaw. "Plus, it will remind Spike of the first time he met Cat and it will remind me of the look of annoyance Spike wore, after the fact."

Wesley nodded in amusement. "It was pretty funny."

"Watch it, Wes. I don't have any ciggies to soften the blow. I'm kinda' wanting to eat your pet, Con." Spike would have given anything for his Sire to see the look of outrage on Connor's face. It was so like Angel. Not that Angel could even remember his own face, after so long without a reflection. But still.

Connor hugged Cat, or Skittles, to his chest and scowled at the blonde vampire. "You wouldn't, would you?"

"No." Spike answered truthfully. "Cat blood tastes like rat's and lead. I don't touch the stuff. Kitty Cat is safe. Well, that is, until he eats some of my stash again and then it's personal."

Connor nodded. Evidently, the boy wasn't worried about the threat. Spike said he wouldn't hurt him. So, he wouldn't hurt him. "Skittles and I are going for a walk. Then, he's going to bed. I'm pretty sure I can train him, if I'm patient enough." Connor nuzzled the little animal, as it batted at his face, playfully. "I don't think we should de-claw him. Seems kind of mean. Like taking away a vampire's fangs."

"Except your kitten isn't a vicious killer... yet." Two dark heads turned toward Spike and the vampire shrugged. "This is LA. It's not like it hasn't happened before."

Connor nodded. "Well, Skittles is going to be a vicious mouse hunter, nothing more." Connor lifted Skittles up in the air and grinned at him. "I think we should go. It's getting late." With that, Connor turned around and made his way out the door, cat in tow.

Spike laughed quietly. "It's funny."

"What?" Wesley looked down at the vampire, on the bed, curiously.

"I give a little, Angel gives a little." Spike shrugged. "Angelus was never so generous."

Wesley sighed and looked up at the ceiling. Would he ever come to understand the people/demon's he lived and worked with? "What are you talking about, now, Spike?"

Spike pointed at the door. "Cat. I made a sort of pact with Angel. I would stop smoking for the boy's sake and he would get the boy a pet." Spike frowned. "Of course, I said he should have a dog, but I'm sure I can allow it to slide, seeing as how Angel's being all accommodating."

Wesley nodded. He didn't really understand what the Sire/Childe relationship with vampires implied, or the emotions that revolved around it, but he was pretty sure that Angel had just gained points on an invisible meter and/or he had tipped a magical scale in his favor.

Spike grinned at the range of emotions that flitted across Wesley's face, as he reached into his nightstand and pulled back empty handed. "I'm gonna' eat it! That little kitten finished off me last Skittle!" Spike jumped up from his bed and bolted out the door in a blind fury.

Wesley laughed, as he visualized a scale catapulting Angel and Skittles the Cat into an untold future.

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"If it had been a puppy, I would have understood! But the cat ate my Skittles. Cats don't eat Skittles!" Spike yelled at his Sire.

The dark man just sat there, placidly, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "So Connor likes him?"

Spike frowned at Angel and fought hard not to roll his eyes. "Yes. He likes the cat. He actually named it Skittles. The stupid thing is going to be taunting me for the rest of its life."

Angel finally let the smile he had been holding back break through. He couldn't help it. The idea that Connor had taken to his new pet fast enough, to already give it a name, almost made his heart beat. "How long do kittens live?" Angel went back to shuffling papers. He was trying to look busy, even though he was dreadfully bored. Why else would he humor Spike's ranting for so long?

"About a year and a half..." Angel's head snapped up, his eyes wide. "Then they become cats. Big evil cats with sharp claws and teeth." Spike put his hands up, pantomiming claws and he bared blunt teeth.

Angel chuckled happily and sighed. "I'm not getting rid of Skittles. Connor likes him and since you seem to know so much about cats I want you to help take care of him."

Spike's jaw dropped open, but he wasn't able to voice what he thought. It seemed that Angelus' conditioning had stuck around a little.

Angel raised an eyebrow at his Childe expression. The boy had amazing restraint. "Go ahead and say it."

"What?" Spike asked, feigning innocence.

"You were going to call me a poof and tell me sod off and take care of my own bleedin' cat." Angel looked up at his outraged childe and grinned. "Is that right?"

"That was the worst put on accent, I have ever heard. You ever do that again and I'll pop you in the jaw. I don't care if you hit me back or not." Spike nodded to emphasize his statement.

"But was that what you were going to say?" Angel insisted.

"No, I was going to call you a ponce, tell you to wank off, and then proceed in eating the bloody cat." Spike bit the insides of his cheeks in agitation and it almost made him look hollow.

Angel took in the effect and grinned. "Have you ever thought about having your picture done?"

Spike shook his head. "Why?" Suddenly, Spike wasn't so comfortable with the easy grins Angel was wearing lately. "What's going on in your head?"

"I'm bored. Sit down." Angel pointed at the chair in front of his desk

"I think I'll go find Cat and feed..."

"Sit down." Angel put on his Sire voice and searched the desk drawers for pencils and paper.

Spike took a chair and fidgeted nervously. "So, how long has it been since you drew someone?"

"I have pictures of Connor, as a baby, Cordelia, asleep, Wesley, reading, Fred and Gunn, whispering to each other, Lorne, drinking a Tequila... Where is my charcoal?" Angel opened another drawer and pulled out a box. "Here we go." Spike started to get up from his seat and Angel pinned him with a glare. "Don't move, unless I say so."

"So, you want me to pose?" Spike bit his bottom lip, self-consciously.

Angel looked up and smiled. "Stay."

Spike wanted to protest, but he knew better. He just sat there, slumped slightly, lip trapped in between blunt teeth, and eyebrows drawn together.

Angel sat there sketching for minutes on end. He was suddenly very glad that vampires didn't have to breathe. Spike was being very still and he was happy with the results he was producing. Angel stopped sketching and nodded at Spike. "That's enough. I have a rough sketch done and I can finish it."

Spike was curious, but he knew Angel wouldn't let him see the sketch until it was finished. "So, I can go?"

Angel nodded and went back to work on the picture.

"All right, then." Spike got up from his chair and headed out the door. Was Angel going crazy? The last time he had been drawn, he was William the Bloody and Angel was Angelus and Dru was sitting in the corner tied to a chair, laughing hysterically. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. After making his way through the lobby, he groaned. "Screw this, I need a cigarette." Spike grabbed his coat and head out the door, in search of a convenient store.

TBC

(Okay, I'm not quite sure what is going on in Joss World, but here I am going crazy. Two more weeks of Buffy and Angel's going to be on it next week? Ah! Not just that! If I have one more person volunteer me to do manual labor, I am going to pick up my cat and leave this town. Okay, I'm going to go outside and drown in the flood, now. Please don't forget to review.)

-This chapter was subtitled 'Curiosity' because it is a good poem, by Alastair Reid, about... you guessed it, cats. Well, kind of. Anyway, I like cats, so sue me. No, don't! I'm poor. I really am.-