I don't own BTVS or Angel but I'm working it out with some people, so that
I can lease one or the other. That is, if I can afford it after I'm done
moving. If not I'm going to seek out a rich, eccentric husband, who is
willing to humor me and my whims. I don't own the guys in this story, but I
sure would if I was given the opportunity. Anyway, Joss is my sunshine on a
cloudy day and you are each a little piece of rainbow that brightens up my
life. So, without further ado...
On with the show.
::The Dalliance of the Eagles- I Sing the Body Electric::
"No. I'm sorry, Spike, but I don't think John Cleese is qualified to be the President of the United States." Angel grinned at his childe, who was excitedly talking about his ideas to save the U.S., by employing old English comedians to do the jobs of the nation's politicians.
"Yes, that may be so, Angel, but think logically. Were the last three Presidents qualified for the job? No, but they still did it. So, if we are going to have an unqualified man in office, he might as well be an interesting public speaker. That way we will feel compelled to watch those 'special bulletins from the White House', instead of throwing empty beer bottles at the television and busting up the screen." Spike took a gulp of his beer and sighed. "The beer tastes like piss and yet... I don't care."
"That happens when you you've been made a target." Angel frowned. He hated that Spike was in trouble. He hated that his family was in trouble. He hated having to send Connor away. He hated sending Skittles away. He hated that Penn was alive and he hated that he had died in the first place. Why was life so difficult, even after death?
"Come on, Sire. Be serious. I've been a target since I was fourteen years old. I hadn't grown into my hands or feet; my arms were too long, my cheeks to sharp, and I wrote bloody awful poetry. You think of Penn as a big evil. I think of him as a big bully." Spike shrugged. "I've had my share of bullies, ta. I'm not gonna' let Penn get me scared, just cause he wants to upset you. That would feed his ego a little more than is to my liking."
"I hate that you were picked on, as a human. It makes me wish that we had spent more time killing those maggots when I had the chance." Angel slumped into his chair.
"Angel!" Spike grinned. "Bad vampire, no blood!"
Angel shrugged. " I don't have to feel guilty over their souls, do I? Most of them died from old age or disease, anyway. The others..."
"Got spikes through their skulls." Spike stared at the ceiling. "I'm supposed to carry the guilt over 'em."
"Try not to. You'll lose your sense of humor." Angel watched Spike lean his head back further and smiled. "You should watch out who you bear your neck to. You might get bit."
"I'm going to invent vampire repellent: a little mixture of garlic and holy water. If I add Colloidal Silver it could get rid of the werewolves, too." Spike looked up at his Sire with a grin. "Do you think I could patent it?"
"Maybe." Angel grinned. "But you couldn't wear it. The holy water would make you sizzle and the garlic would make you susceptible to attack by any Italian woman worth her salt."
Spike scoffed. "You aren't very good at making jokes, I hope you know."
"Who's joking?" Angel smiled, as Spike made a show of rolling his eyes and waving an arm at his Sire. "I've tasted Italian women. I know."
"You know nothing. Italian women don't taste like garlic. They taste like... basil. So good." Spike smiled. "I like Southern girls. They have cute accents and they taste like sweet potatoes."
"No." Angel disagreed. "Spanish girls are best. They're spicy and sweet."
"We're sick, you know?" Spike stated, with a sigh. "Cordelia would beat your ass, if she heard you talking like that."
"Oh, and she wouldn't beat yours?" Angel asked, as he got out of his seat and turned off the TV, which had turned blue and started buzzing.
"No. She expects this sort of talk out of me. Not you, though. You've seemed to have sunk to my level." Spike grinned proudly.
Angel shook his head. Spike looked like he had just won the lottery and it was being paid in cigarettes. "To tell the truth, I've always been on this level. I just talk more when you're around."
"So I'm a good influence on you? I'm sure..." Spike started but was interrupted by a knock at the door. "Who is it?!" Spike huffed. He hated being interrupted.
"It's Gunn. Is it safe to come in there?"
"Yeah. Wait a sec." Spike got up from his seat and went over to the door, so he could unlock it for Gunn. "Come in." He said as he made his way back to his seat.
"Is there a reason that you two are hiding out in here with the door locked?" Gunn asked from his place in the doorway. "Cause if you two are busy I could leave and come back later. I'd hate to be interrupting something."
"No, you're only busting up a reminiscing session." Spike gave the young man a fake smile. "Have a seat. Take a chair."
Gunn walked in and took a look around. He rarely came into Angel's room, but he knew that the vampire usually kept it really clean. At the moment, tapes were spread out on the ground in front of the television and beer cans were scattered around the waste paper basket, as if someone had been shooting them at the can and missed. "'Reminiscing session' mean party in vampire?"
"What are you doing here? I thought you had taken a sabbatical." Spike looked the man up and down. If it was possible, he seemed to be even more cocky looking than last time he saw him. "Did you some good." He said, with a grin.
"Yeah, I feel rested. I knew that you and Angel could hold down the fort." Gunn grinned at Spike and shrugged. "I got some free time and now I'm ready for action."
"Seems that you got plenty of that while you were away. You smell like women's perfume and... lightning. Does that make sense?" Spike spared Angel a glance and caught a knowing look on his face. He figured he would just let it slide and ask his Sire about it later. "Never mind. I probably don't want to know."
"Hey, I've been waiting in the car for a while and I don't feel like I'm getting' any closer to an ice cream." Fred walked into the room, while untangling a strand of her hair from her overall strap. She looked up and saw Spike, Angel, and Gunn all staring at her. "What?"
Spike leaned his elbows on his knees and rested his chin on his fists. "You are precious." Without knowing it, Spike had inadvertently spoke the thought of the other two men in the room.
"I'm not precious." Fred blushed and looked everywhere but at Spike. "I'm a goof-ball. I have a hard time keeping my bra straps straight." Fred looked up, horrified. "I didn't mean to say that."
"Don't fret, puppet." Spike shrugged. "We all say things we don't mean to say." Spike could see that Fred was still embarrassed, so he changed the subject. "So, how's the princess doing? She feeling any better?" Spike smiled at Fred, as she nibbled at her nails nervously. She *was* a precious girl. He wished that she could be around more, but she seemed dedicated to taking care of Cordelia, until her strength was back one hundred percent.
"Yeah, she's feeling lots better. You know her strength is coming back more and more every day. She's still kinda' weirded out by the whole you and Spike thing, though." Fred nodded and shrugged. "She says that she can't get over the fact that you two can get over what's between you."
"What's between us?" Angel asked, interested.
Spike quirked a brow and grinned at the flustered girl. His Sire was anything but tactful.
"I... I... I don't... She said that... I'm not sure." Fred sighed and looked over at Spike. The blonde vampire kept looking at her like she was a puppy or something. She felt like he might reach out and pet her at any moment and she wasn't sure she hated the idea, as much as she should. "You're his childe."
"Yeah, pet." Spike grinned and leaned forward a little, in his seat. "I'm his childe."
Fred took a breath and let it out slowly. Wow, Spike's eyes were blue. "Do you have to obey him?"
"No." "Yes." Spike and Angel seemed to have different opinions, which pulled an amused laugh out of Gunn, who was leaning against the wall, rather quietly.
"No." Spike tried to clear up the misunderstanding, while sending his Sire a scowl.
"He's supposed to." Angel interpreted his answer. "Doesn't mean he does."
"Don't sound so pouty, Sir Mopes-a-lot. It's not like I ever did obey you." Spike looked up at his Sire and caught the grin that was spreading across his features. "Now, stop with the smug look. I only obeyed you when it was good for me and you know it."
"Uh-huh." Angel's grin grew wide.
"She said that you tried to kill Angel." Fred looked down at her feet, so that she wouldn't have to look Spike in the eyes.
"He did." Angel agreed.
"Never did!" Spike was aghast. He had done no such thing. "Yeah, I was pissed. I had you tortured, sure-- but never did I try to kill you. If I had, you would be dead." Spike confided in his Sire.
"Uh-huh." Angel laughed when Spike stuck his tongue out at him and turned away.
"Stupid pouf. Soddin' humorin' wanker. Nasty bad stupid dumb gaffer..." Spike mumbled under his breath. "See, cupcake, I had him stabbed to little pieces with hot pokers, cause he stole something that belonged to me. Seems he threw it away, too. Stupid." He hissed the last word under his breath.
Angel ignored the insults Spike muttered. He knew that he probably shouldn't comment where the Ring of Amara was concerned. He hadn't stolen it, but he had thrown it away and sometimes he felt as stupid over that, as Spike seemed to think he was.
Fred didn't know what to say. Cordelia told her about the Spike she remembered: a soulless killer, with a crazy vampire girlfriend. It also seemed that both were sired by Angelus, Angel's evil counterpart. Things were so confusing here, at Angel Investigations. Sometimes she wondered why she hadn't gone back to Texas with her parents, when she had the chance. Then, she would look at Angel with his kind eyes and warm smile-okay, frown- -- and she would remember the feelings she had carried for her hero. Then, there was Gunn. She sighed mentally and looked up to find Spike staring at her, worriedly. "What?"
"Are you okay? You seemed to be somewhere else just now." Spike's concern was written across his brows and reached toward his mouth. He hated to see little women worrying over things. He hated it when Dru would worry, albeit she was worried that elves would steal her hairbrushes and build a metropolis out of 'em. He hated it when Dawn would worry about her sister and vice versa.
"Yeah, well, I was just thinking about things. I have trouble concentrating on things not Science related." Fred bounced her head side to side and sighed. [Egad!] "I would probably pay better attention to you if you were reading out of a Biology book, or something."
"You're a lil' bit crazy aren't cha'?"
Fred grinned at the vampire and nodded. "A little."
Gunn took the two in and narrowed his gaze. "Maybe we should get back to Cordelia. Connor can't keep her busy for long, without the two of them going silent. The kitten helps, but not..."
"ANGEL!"
Angel and Spike jumped up from their seats and headed toward the door, with Gunn and Fred on their heals. They reached the staircase and looked down at Lorne who stood in the lobby.
"You might want to come down here, Sugar. You too, Spike." If it was possible, Lorne looked even greener than usual. He saw Fred and Gunn walk into veiw and smiled weakly. "You may want to stay back with Gunn, Freddie- pie."
Fred took Lorne's advice and stood behind Gunn. She knew better than to rush into anything around here.
Gunn was about to die. He wanted to be down there, in the middle of the action. What was down there that was so interesting, anyway?
Spike got downstairs first and grimaced. "Dear, God."
"Penn." Angel exhaled a breath he didn't know he was holding. He walked over to the couch and looked down at the girl, lying on her side. She had crosses carved all over her face and arms and her belly was cut open, entrails missing.
"Deja vu." Spike looked over at Wesley who was leaning against the couches back watching the lifeless girl. "You find her?"
Wesley looked up at Spike and nodded. "She was leaned against the door. I thought she was drunk, but I was wrong."
"Holy sh... Damn!" Gunn groaned from behind the group of men. "She's dead, right?"
"Oh, my... oh my, God." Fred gasped and grabbed onto the closest 'person' before she could swoon. It just happened to be Spike.
Spike ignored the young woman, as he watched his Sire lift the young woman's hair and gaze at the scar on her neck. "So, what does this mean. You know, other than Penn is in town?"
Angel thought for a moment and smiled, grimly. "It means that we better get ready." Angel dropped the girl's hair and shook his head. "Seems that we have a family feud on our hands."
TBC
--Thanks for the reviews guys. You're the best. Okay, I want you guys to know that any grammatical error in my story is not because of my ignorance in the English language. It is actually because I have very little time to type, lately, and I don't have a proofreader (Beta). I guess that is sloppy of me and I apologize. My muse is not the most important thing to me when it comes to stories. To tell the truth, he is quite... pissy. We argue incessantly. Also, I guess I should tell you all that Cordy hasn't been in this story because a) I don't think I'm good at writing Cordelia and b) I feel that after all that has gone on, she probably just wanted to stay out of the way at Angel Investigations for a while. I know I would. Oh well, I can change it. I guess that's it for now.-
-'I Sing the Body Electric' is a poem by the incomparable Walt Whitman. You should probably only read it if you are a mature and responsible reader. Others should skip it. *shrug* You know who you are, most likely.-
On with the show.
::The Dalliance of the Eagles- I Sing the Body Electric::
"No. I'm sorry, Spike, but I don't think John Cleese is qualified to be the President of the United States." Angel grinned at his childe, who was excitedly talking about his ideas to save the U.S., by employing old English comedians to do the jobs of the nation's politicians.
"Yes, that may be so, Angel, but think logically. Were the last three Presidents qualified for the job? No, but they still did it. So, if we are going to have an unqualified man in office, he might as well be an interesting public speaker. That way we will feel compelled to watch those 'special bulletins from the White House', instead of throwing empty beer bottles at the television and busting up the screen." Spike took a gulp of his beer and sighed. "The beer tastes like piss and yet... I don't care."
"That happens when you you've been made a target." Angel frowned. He hated that Spike was in trouble. He hated that his family was in trouble. He hated having to send Connor away. He hated sending Skittles away. He hated that Penn was alive and he hated that he had died in the first place. Why was life so difficult, even after death?
"Come on, Sire. Be serious. I've been a target since I was fourteen years old. I hadn't grown into my hands or feet; my arms were too long, my cheeks to sharp, and I wrote bloody awful poetry. You think of Penn as a big evil. I think of him as a big bully." Spike shrugged. "I've had my share of bullies, ta. I'm not gonna' let Penn get me scared, just cause he wants to upset you. That would feed his ego a little more than is to my liking."
"I hate that you were picked on, as a human. It makes me wish that we had spent more time killing those maggots when I had the chance." Angel slumped into his chair.
"Angel!" Spike grinned. "Bad vampire, no blood!"
Angel shrugged. " I don't have to feel guilty over their souls, do I? Most of them died from old age or disease, anyway. The others..."
"Got spikes through their skulls." Spike stared at the ceiling. "I'm supposed to carry the guilt over 'em."
"Try not to. You'll lose your sense of humor." Angel watched Spike lean his head back further and smiled. "You should watch out who you bear your neck to. You might get bit."
"I'm going to invent vampire repellent: a little mixture of garlic and holy water. If I add Colloidal Silver it could get rid of the werewolves, too." Spike looked up at his Sire with a grin. "Do you think I could patent it?"
"Maybe." Angel grinned. "But you couldn't wear it. The holy water would make you sizzle and the garlic would make you susceptible to attack by any Italian woman worth her salt."
Spike scoffed. "You aren't very good at making jokes, I hope you know."
"Who's joking?" Angel smiled, as Spike made a show of rolling his eyes and waving an arm at his Sire. "I've tasted Italian women. I know."
"You know nothing. Italian women don't taste like garlic. They taste like... basil. So good." Spike smiled. "I like Southern girls. They have cute accents and they taste like sweet potatoes."
"No." Angel disagreed. "Spanish girls are best. They're spicy and sweet."
"We're sick, you know?" Spike stated, with a sigh. "Cordelia would beat your ass, if she heard you talking like that."
"Oh, and she wouldn't beat yours?" Angel asked, as he got out of his seat and turned off the TV, which had turned blue and started buzzing.
"No. She expects this sort of talk out of me. Not you, though. You've seemed to have sunk to my level." Spike grinned proudly.
Angel shook his head. Spike looked like he had just won the lottery and it was being paid in cigarettes. "To tell the truth, I've always been on this level. I just talk more when you're around."
"So I'm a good influence on you? I'm sure..." Spike started but was interrupted by a knock at the door. "Who is it?!" Spike huffed. He hated being interrupted.
"It's Gunn. Is it safe to come in there?"
"Yeah. Wait a sec." Spike got up from his seat and went over to the door, so he could unlock it for Gunn. "Come in." He said as he made his way back to his seat.
"Is there a reason that you two are hiding out in here with the door locked?" Gunn asked from his place in the doorway. "Cause if you two are busy I could leave and come back later. I'd hate to be interrupting something."
"No, you're only busting up a reminiscing session." Spike gave the young man a fake smile. "Have a seat. Take a chair."
Gunn walked in and took a look around. He rarely came into Angel's room, but he knew that the vampire usually kept it really clean. At the moment, tapes were spread out on the ground in front of the television and beer cans were scattered around the waste paper basket, as if someone had been shooting them at the can and missed. "'Reminiscing session' mean party in vampire?"
"What are you doing here? I thought you had taken a sabbatical." Spike looked the man up and down. If it was possible, he seemed to be even more cocky looking than last time he saw him. "Did you some good." He said, with a grin.
"Yeah, I feel rested. I knew that you and Angel could hold down the fort." Gunn grinned at Spike and shrugged. "I got some free time and now I'm ready for action."
"Seems that you got plenty of that while you were away. You smell like women's perfume and... lightning. Does that make sense?" Spike spared Angel a glance and caught a knowing look on his face. He figured he would just let it slide and ask his Sire about it later. "Never mind. I probably don't want to know."
"Hey, I've been waiting in the car for a while and I don't feel like I'm getting' any closer to an ice cream." Fred walked into the room, while untangling a strand of her hair from her overall strap. She looked up and saw Spike, Angel, and Gunn all staring at her. "What?"
Spike leaned his elbows on his knees and rested his chin on his fists. "You are precious." Without knowing it, Spike had inadvertently spoke the thought of the other two men in the room.
"I'm not precious." Fred blushed and looked everywhere but at Spike. "I'm a goof-ball. I have a hard time keeping my bra straps straight." Fred looked up, horrified. "I didn't mean to say that."
"Don't fret, puppet." Spike shrugged. "We all say things we don't mean to say." Spike could see that Fred was still embarrassed, so he changed the subject. "So, how's the princess doing? She feeling any better?" Spike smiled at Fred, as she nibbled at her nails nervously. She *was* a precious girl. He wished that she could be around more, but she seemed dedicated to taking care of Cordelia, until her strength was back one hundred percent.
"Yeah, she's feeling lots better. You know her strength is coming back more and more every day. She's still kinda' weirded out by the whole you and Spike thing, though." Fred nodded and shrugged. "She says that she can't get over the fact that you two can get over what's between you."
"What's between us?" Angel asked, interested.
Spike quirked a brow and grinned at the flustered girl. His Sire was anything but tactful.
"I... I... I don't... She said that... I'm not sure." Fred sighed and looked over at Spike. The blonde vampire kept looking at her like she was a puppy or something. She felt like he might reach out and pet her at any moment and she wasn't sure she hated the idea, as much as she should. "You're his childe."
"Yeah, pet." Spike grinned and leaned forward a little, in his seat. "I'm his childe."
Fred took a breath and let it out slowly. Wow, Spike's eyes were blue. "Do you have to obey him?"
"No." "Yes." Spike and Angel seemed to have different opinions, which pulled an amused laugh out of Gunn, who was leaning against the wall, rather quietly.
"No." Spike tried to clear up the misunderstanding, while sending his Sire a scowl.
"He's supposed to." Angel interpreted his answer. "Doesn't mean he does."
"Don't sound so pouty, Sir Mopes-a-lot. It's not like I ever did obey you." Spike looked up at his Sire and caught the grin that was spreading across his features. "Now, stop with the smug look. I only obeyed you when it was good for me and you know it."
"Uh-huh." Angel's grin grew wide.
"She said that you tried to kill Angel." Fred looked down at her feet, so that she wouldn't have to look Spike in the eyes.
"He did." Angel agreed.
"Never did!" Spike was aghast. He had done no such thing. "Yeah, I was pissed. I had you tortured, sure-- but never did I try to kill you. If I had, you would be dead." Spike confided in his Sire.
"Uh-huh." Angel laughed when Spike stuck his tongue out at him and turned away.
"Stupid pouf. Soddin' humorin' wanker. Nasty bad stupid dumb gaffer..." Spike mumbled under his breath. "See, cupcake, I had him stabbed to little pieces with hot pokers, cause he stole something that belonged to me. Seems he threw it away, too. Stupid." He hissed the last word under his breath.
Angel ignored the insults Spike muttered. He knew that he probably shouldn't comment where the Ring of Amara was concerned. He hadn't stolen it, but he had thrown it away and sometimes he felt as stupid over that, as Spike seemed to think he was.
Fred didn't know what to say. Cordelia told her about the Spike she remembered: a soulless killer, with a crazy vampire girlfriend. It also seemed that both were sired by Angelus, Angel's evil counterpart. Things were so confusing here, at Angel Investigations. Sometimes she wondered why she hadn't gone back to Texas with her parents, when she had the chance. Then, she would look at Angel with his kind eyes and warm smile-okay, frown- -- and she would remember the feelings she had carried for her hero. Then, there was Gunn. She sighed mentally and looked up to find Spike staring at her, worriedly. "What?"
"Are you okay? You seemed to be somewhere else just now." Spike's concern was written across his brows and reached toward his mouth. He hated to see little women worrying over things. He hated it when Dru would worry, albeit she was worried that elves would steal her hairbrushes and build a metropolis out of 'em. He hated it when Dawn would worry about her sister and vice versa.
"Yeah, well, I was just thinking about things. I have trouble concentrating on things not Science related." Fred bounced her head side to side and sighed. [Egad!] "I would probably pay better attention to you if you were reading out of a Biology book, or something."
"You're a lil' bit crazy aren't cha'?"
Fred grinned at the vampire and nodded. "A little."
Gunn took the two in and narrowed his gaze. "Maybe we should get back to Cordelia. Connor can't keep her busy for long, without the two of them going silent. The kitten helps, but not..."
"ANGEL!"
Angel and Spike jumped up from their seats and headed toward the door, with Gunn and Fred on their heals. They reached the staircase and looked down at Lorne who stood in the lobby.
"You might want to come down here, Sugar. You too, Spike." If it was possible, Lorne looked even greener than usual. He saw Fred and Gunn walk into veiw and smiled weakly. "You may want to stay back with Gunn, Freddie- pie."
Fred took Lorne's advice and stood behind Gunn. She knew better than to rush into anything around here.
Gunn was about to die. He wanted to be down there, in the middle of the action. What was down there that was so interesting, anyway?
Spike got downstairs first and grimaced. "Dear, God."
"Penn." Angel exhaled a breath he didn't know he was holding. He walked over to the couch and looked down at the girl, lying on her side. She had crosses carved all over her face and arms and her belly was cut open, entrails missing.
"Deja vu." Spike looked over at Wesley who was leaning against the couches back watching the lifeless girl. "You find her?"
Wesley looked up at Spike and nodded. "She was leaned against the door. I thought she was drunk, but I was wrong."
"Holy sh... Damn!" Gunn groaned from behind the group of men. "She's dead, right?"
"Oh, my... oh my, God." Fred gasped and grabbed onto the closest 'person' before she could swoon. It just happened to be Spike.
Spike ignored the young woman, as he watched his Sire lift the young woman's hair and gaze at the scar on her neck. "So, what does this mean. You know, other than Penn is in town?"
Angel thought for a moment and smiled, grimly. "It means that we better get ready." Angel dropped the girl's hair and shook his head. "Seems that we have a family feud on our hands."
TBC
--Thanks for the reviews guys. You're the best. Okay, I want you guys to know that any grammatical error in my story is not because of my ignorance in the English language. It is actually because I have very little time to type, lately, and I don't have a proofreader (Beta). I guess that is sloppy of me and I apologize. My muse is not the most important thing to me when it comes to stories. To tell the truth, he is quite... pissy. We argue incessantly. Also, I guess I should tell you all that Cordy hasn't been in this story because a) I don't think I'm good at writing Cordelia and b) I feel that after all that has gone on, she probably just wanted to stay out of the way at Angel Investigations for a while. I know I would. Oh well, I can change it. I guess that's it for now.-
-'I Sing the Body Electric' is a poem by the incomparable Walt Whitman. You should probably only read it if you are a mature and responsible reader. Others should skip it. *shrug* You know who you are, most likely.-
