Hey! Sorry! Has been awhile, I know. Hope you guys still want this L I'm on a bit of a roll on this one so expect more! I've done a bit of Things Happen but not enough for a chapter! Sorry! Will be up soon and thank you for all the lovely mails!!!

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---Lyrics between these lines----
Savage Garden – I don't know you anymore

~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~

"Henry?"

"Yes, Master."

"Pack my bags, we have to go back to the castle. There is some unrest."

"Shall we send minions forward?"

"No. We must all return. And we are so close. But I've waited this long, I can wait longer. We should be done at the castle fairly quickly anyway. I expect to back in America within a week at least."

"Yes Master. I will make arrangements."

~~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

--I would like to visit you for a while

Get away and out of this city—

Angel made his way towards where he knew Spike's apartment was. The fear building up inside the older vampire was slowly being subjected to sharp pangs of nervousness as the block came into view.  Glancing up, Angel saw that Spike's lights were on.

*He's home. Dammit*

--Maybe I shouldn't have called but someone had to
be the first to break--

The door was opened after a few seconds and Spike's sleepy face contorted almost humorously as the blond realised that his sire was standing in front of him.

"What do you want?"

The words were harsh, brutal and carried little hope for Angel's mission to end in success.

"I-"

"Is it Connor?" Spike lost his confident physicality and the younger vampire's eyebrows furrowed in expectation and questioning.

"No, no. He's fine."

There was silence.

Spike sighed. "So, again, Peaches. Why. Are. You. Here?"

Angel had expected something different. Something more. Not this. What was this? Indifference? Boredom? There was nothing to work with.

"I wanted to talk to you."

-- We can go sit on your back porch
Relax--

Spike lit up a cigarette and closed the door behind him. Holding the fag between his lips, the jean clad vampire felt through his pockets for the keys. Angel took a moment to study his childe. The jeans were unexpected and endearingly homey. The classic black tee and Docs complimented them. Deep-rooted nostalgia crept into the dark-haired vampire's body at the sight of those Docs. So long ago. More determined than before, Angel followed his childe, all the while forming a plan to nudge the gap that had grown between them.

Leading his unexpected visitor down to the front of the apartment complex, Spike slouched onto a bench and looked up at Angel.

-- Talk about anything
It don't matter--

"I wanted to thank you for looking after Connor." Angel said.

"Bull."

Angel smirked and gave his childe a pointed look. "…and say that I think we should try and get along better for him. Its hard for him to see two people he respects being on hostile terms."

-- I'll be courageous if you can pretend that you've
forgiven me--

"I love Connor."

"I know." Angel stressed his words, hoping in some way that Spike would magically understand what the older vampire had not been able to say.

"I'd do anything to make life easier for 'im. But I can't pretend to bloody love you again. He respects me for who I am, funnily enough, mate. Who-I-am fuckin' hates you."

"I know." Angel was proud of the confidence that echoed in his words despite the choking guilt that had shot through him. "But I'm here. Can we try to gain some common ground? Make it possible to be civil at least?"

"You can't stay with me. I 'ave no control over anything else you do. Bugger off, shag Clem, do whatever you want."

Standing, the blond walked past, power and age and hostility exuding from every pore. Despite the farewell, Angel could not help smile. Angelus could not help smirking.

That was *his* damn cool childe.

~**~*~*~*~**~***~*~*~*~*~****~*~*~*~*~**~*

Angel whistled as he walked towards the apartment. He had decided to stay in town for a while and follow Cordelia's advice. Wanting to keep Buffy out of it, the ensouled vamp had got a small room a few minutes away.

"Bloody hell!"

Angel grinned in a decidedly Angelus way and walked into the apartment. He had realised that Spike would need proof of the older vamp's acceptance of the demon and was surprised to note that 'acting like Angelus' was simply relaxing himself.

"I don't recall asking you in, Peaches."

"I don't recall ever listening to you."

Angel smirked and took in the apartment. It was different from what he'd expected and, irritatingly, he heard himself speak.

--Because I don't know you anymore--

"Your tastes have changed a lot."

Spike didn't even bother replying and sent his sire a pointed look before collapsing into the sofa and watching the 'Passions' double bill.

--I don't recognise this place –

Sighing, Angel moved around the heaped childe before him and pulled out the plug for the TV.

"So that's where Connor got the habit." The older vampire commented.

"Put the fucking plug back in you Poof!"

"No."

Spike stood, a pissed off and deadly expression contorting his features. Angel was just about to try and calm him down when the dark-haired vampire saw the wall behind Spike.

"Wow."

Spike stopped and furrowed his eyebrows. "Wha'?"

The younger vampire watched as his Sire's eyes almost seemed to glass over as he took in the pictures lining the wall. There were shots of the entire Sunnydale gang, Buffy, Dawn – a few of Joyce, Willow and Xander, most with and some without Spike also. A few newer ones had Connor in them also and along with these there were several paintings hung also, some obviously bought, a few that Angel recognised as his Childe's work, and a few miscellaneous ones.

--The picture frames have changed and

so has your name --

"This is amazing, Will-" Angel remembered his childe's reaction to his old name and quickly amended his words, "Spike…sorry."

"Thanks."

Silence. Angel desperately searched his mind for something to say, anything to fill the stretching silence that cackled and heightened his guilt.

--We don't talk much anymore—

"What are these ones?" Angel said finally, pointing to the few that he didn't recognise.

Spike paused and then spoke. "The Bit's a bittof an artist. She did those two there, gave 'em to me so I could spruce up the place when I first got it."

"And the others?"

"One was a gift from someone else…" Spike stopped for a moment and seemed caught up in a memory that Angelus found he could not share.

"The other two are from the old collections, when I travelled." The blond finished.

"Travelled?"

"After you left."

The words practically echoed and Angel could sense that he should say something, anything – apologise, ask forgiveness…this was the opening to do the right thing.

--We keep running from the pain—

But, almost at the same time, Spike started for the kitchen and Angel began asking about Dawn. It wasn't Spike who needed to start the conversation and Angel hadn't been able to face up to it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Master Palaseé wished to bid you a safe journey."

"Thank him profusely for his kind attention while we have stayed here and invite him to Monte Carlo in a few months."

"Yes, Master."

"We should be able to get to Sunnydale in four days, see to it that there are adequate lodgings there, please."

"Yes, Master."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

--I know I let you down
Again and again--

Angel sighed. It had been a couple of days of persistent attention and he had yet to get Spike to warm up in the slightest. The blond vampire seemed irritated but other than that, devoid of any emotion.

"So, you're patrolling now?"

"Yes."

They walked along in a silence only broken by the random sounds of a vampire being dusted. Spike had had to move a little for a more energetic one, but it seemed to be a pretty slow night.

"I'm going to the Bronze." Spike stated and made his way towards the club. Angel sighed and followed, mentally calculating if Cordelia would let him back into the hotel yet.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~**~*~*~

--So maybe I shouldn't have called
Was it too soon to tell?—

"Hey Spike."

"Hello, luv."

Angel watched as Spike greeted Buffy and a guy who the older vampire didn't recognise.

"Angel?" she seemed surprised and a little worried.

"Yeah, I just came to visit Spike."

"He came to bloody annoy me."

Buffy quickly took her date to the dance floor, leaving the two vampires to sort out their issues. She sensed that something was going on and her instinct told her that it would be – if she were lucky – only a little violent.

--Oh what the hell It doesn't really matter
How do you redefine something that never really
had a name? --

"Fine, Spike. I'm just trying to make the effort here for Connor and you haven't co operated once. What do you want me to do?"

Angel's outburst hadn't seemed to affect Spike in any way.

"You want to be my Sire again?"

"I am you're Sire, boy."

Angel leaned dangerously close to Spike, who was forced to step back from the growling vampire in front of him and the younger vampire found himself pushed against a column.

"Whatever you may feel, there's blood between us. I made you, I cared for you-"

"And you fucking abandoned me too, Angel. You fucking left and I've had me to be everything for me for a long long time. You don't have any fucking rights over me anymore. You're not ma fucking Sire. You're an Outcast and you were replaced."

"You can't replace a Sire."

"Feel it yourself you fucking pillock."

Before Spike knew what had happened, Angel had pulled the blonde's wrist to his fangs and was drinking from it. A few milliseconds passed and Angel staggered backwards, blood dripping from his teeth.

"Who the fuck was it?" Angel spat.

Spike sneered and stormed out into the night.

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