Chapter Six: Bitter


(Sorry. It took longer to write this chapter than the first ones. Don't be pissed off at the end. Keep reviewing. Thanks!)


Spike tried to move, but his whole body screamed with pain. He tried to swallow, but his throat burned. He could only open his eyes and that was painful in its own. He didn't know where he was, how he got there, or why in the bloody hell Angel was there. All he could remember is Buffy. Buffy. Her big, green eyes looking up at him with all the emotion she had as he burned into cinders. That had been the strangest feeling in the world. He had been burned before, he risked bursting into flames every time he ventured out with nothing but an old wool blanket. But that last time was, different. It didn't feel like he was burning at all, instead he felt cool, then weightless, then at complete peace. He remembered he wanted to see this end through, he couldn't leave with Buffy as much as he wanted to, he couldn't. Something was holding him back. Then there was Buffy, urging him to come with him, she didn't say it but he could see it in her eyes. But he didn't go, he stayed, and he died.

He died? Spike looked around again. Angel was hovering above him, concerned look on his face and all. "Angel?" He managed to cough out.

"Spike?" the elder vampire spoke. But Spike's eyes had rolled to the back of his head. A monitor began beeping. A doctor and two nurses rushed over. They checked over him and turned off the monitor. But another began beeping and they began compression's.

"Please wait outside," the doctor told Angel.

"But.." Angel protested but a dark eyed nurse lead him out shutting the door. Angel watched through the glass window. He turned around angrily and kicked a chair sending it flying through another window. He stormed out of the medical center. Earlier, he had sent Fred and Wesley to find out everything they could about Shanshu. The prophecy that would be invoked by the amulet he had given Buffy.

He reached the library in seconds even though it was in another section of the building, thanks to his vampire abilities. "Fred! Wes! What did you find?" He demanded rather than asked.

Wesley shook his head. "I'm sorry Angel," he said. "I'm still where I was before on those translations. 'The vampire will become human.. if his destiny is fulfilled.' That's all."

Fred was busy in front of the screen of a computer laptop. She looked up at Angel, apologetic. "I can't find anything."

Angel slammed his fist down hard on the table. He didn't want to seem anxious, but he was. Spike wasn't exactly his friend or anything. But Angel thought he was dead. Actually dead. Not living dead. Dead dead. When he heard Buffy and her friends had made it out of Sunnydale, he just assumed... Wait, why did he assume Spike had died? Why wasn't it possible to think that Spike had saved the day and got the girl? That's it. He didn't want Spike to do that. He still wanted to be the Champion.

But for now, his main focus would be why Spike was there. "I'm sorry, Fred," he said. "Wes, I just wanna find out what is going on."

"I understand, Angel," the mild-mannered Brit said. "There had to be some explanation for Spike's appearance. I mean I, myself thought Spike was..."

"Dead?" Angel supplied. "Yeah me too." Angel sighed. "I'd better get back down there. Something started beeping and those doctors kicked me out." Wesley nodded curtly and Angel left.

Wesley looked over at Fred who was staring intently at her screen. "Fred? What is it?"

"I think I..." Fred started. She frowned at her screen. "This... This doesn't make sense," she murmured.

"What doesn't?"

"This, " she turned the laptop to Wesley.

"My God," he stared at the screen.

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


"Everything okay?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah," Buffy said. She stared straight ahead. Something wasn't right. She could feel it. It nagged at the back of her mind.

"Hey, this place we're headed to, Wolfram & Hart, what is it?" Xander asked.

"It used to be a evil law firm," Faith explained. "They hired me to take out Angel. Angel must've struck up some sort of mutual agreement with them."

"From what I have heard, their power was dwindling, until they hired new management," Giles said.

"Angel must be the new management, huh?" Xander said. They all were silent until the bus rolled up right in front of an awesome looking building. They all filed out of the bus. Buffy was the last to leave the bus. Xander and Faith helped Robin into an awaiting wheelchair. Giles and Willow whispered respectfully amongst themselves. Buffy closed her eyes. 'This is it,' she told herself. She inhaled deeply.

"Buffy?" Dawn held out her hand for her sister. Buffy smiled and took her younger sister's hand. Together they walked into the building.

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


When Angel returned to the operating room, the nurses had closed the blinds to Spike's room. The beeping alarm was no longer sounding. Angel looked around then grabbed the doctor who had ben working on Spike before as he passed by.

"Mr. Angel!" the doctor said startled.

"What happened?" He demanded.

"Well, uh..." the doctor fixed his coat as Angel let go his grip on the doc's arm. "We managed to stabilize the patient," he said. "But I'm afraid he's not going to be waking up soon. He's suffered major brain trauma and his organs look as if they're rebuilding. It's almost like he's a fetus."

"A fetus?" Angel echoed. Suddenly, something hit him. "Is he human?"

The doctor looked at him, puzzled. "Yes. But it's the strangest thing..."

"What is?"

"He tried to bite one of the nurses."

"Angel!" Gunn burst into the room. All FBI secret agent man. "There are some people here to see you."

"Buffy," Angel turned away from the doctor who scurried away before he could be interrogated by the vampire again. Angel thought fast. He didn't want Buffy to know Spike was here, not yet at least. If Spike was here, then it meant they all thought he was dead too. "Thanks, Gunn. Stay here and don't let anyone in." He told his friend and Gunn nodded and stationed himself in front of Spike's room. Angel quickly walked through the hallways. He went over in his mind of things to say. Lying was his best bet. Couldn't tell about Spike, so he decided to play it dumb.

He arrived at the front lobby of Wolfram & Hart and saw her. She looked fatigued and her eyes were downcast. They all looked pretty tired. Giles looked older, around the eyes. Willow, shy little Willow, she was always Angel's favorite of the Scoobies. She had a different air about her, more confident and almost divine. Xander, he and Xander had never been friends, but they had a mutual understanding. Dawn, she had grown so much, she was an exact replica of Buffy, just taller. There was a small, blond nervous-looking kid that Angel didn't recognize. He inhaled and went to greet them.

"Hey, guys," Angel said sticking his hand s in his pockets. "How's it going?" That seemed to lighten the mood a little. 'Play it cool,' Angel thought. 'Nothing heavy.'

"Hi Angel," Dawn said smiling warmly.

"Hi Dawnie," Angel gave her a hug. He nodded at Xander. "Xander," he said shaking Xander's hand.

"Nice set up you got here, Angel," Xander said looking around. "We stopped by that hotel you were at but, this. This is nice."

"Thanks," Angel said. "I'd like to give you a tour, but I'm pretty sure we'd get lost. I'll get someone to do it though." He looked over at Buffy. She met his gaze for a moment then looked down. 'Hi, Buffy," He said.

"Hi," was all she said. There was an uncomfortable silence until Faith walked up.

"They said Robin was going to be okay. The doctors gave him some drugs for the pain. This place is huge," Faith said then looked over at Angel. "Angel!" She exclaimed and hugged him tightly.

Buffy couldn't help that small twinge at the back of her mind. "Well," Angel smiled at the group. "Come on then, I'll show you around."

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


"So, what happened?" Angel asked. He and Buffy were walking along the hallways together. The rest of the gang had all settled into offices Angel had converted into rooms. Dawn and Willow shared a room. Xander and Andrew, (Angel finally found out his name) against Xander's protests. Giles wanted to room by himself, and no one complained. Faith offered to bunk with Buffy, and to everyone's surprisement, including her own, Buffy accepted. She just didn't want to be in there while Faith was awake. Faith may have helped them destroy the Big Bad, but Buffy wasn't ready to become best friends just yet.

Instead, she opted for a late night stroll with Angel through the grounds of Wolfram & Hart. Angel noticed her shuffling feet and lack of pace and she wasn't being very talkative either. Every time Angel tried to initiate a conversation, he'd get a glum expression, 'uh huhs, and shrugs." He finally got the nerve to ask her how the whole apocalyptic showdown went.

"Hmm?" Buffy hadn't been listening. "What'd you say?"

Angel sighed in that irritated little manner he got, "I asked, what happened?"

"Oh," Buffy looked down as they walked. "You know, encouraging speech, killer Uber Vamps, a mass awakening of every potential slayer..."

"A what?" Angel stopped.

Buffy shrugged and smiled lop-sided, "I came up with a plan and Willow tapped into the power of that scythe thingy that I killed Caleb with, and she did it. She was," Buffy chuckled, "amazing."

Angel stared at Buffy. So that was it, the change in Willow. All that power, all those new lives, she harnessed it all. She became a, goddess. "Wow, Go Will."

"Yeah. Funny, isn't it? Willow and Xander. My Shy Willow, so powerful now. Xander, lost so much..." Buffy choked up at the memory of Caleb, the psychotic preacher, holding her friend up by his neck, lodging his thumb into Xander's eye socket, blood trickling out, running down his face. Spike, of all people, decking Caleb and pulling Xander to safety before he lost his other eye. "He," she continued after regaining her composure, "was so strong. Stronger than me at some points. He's not that boy with the smart ass comeback anymore. Well," she rolled her eyes. "He's still a smart-ass. He's just more mature."

Angel nodded. "What about you? What'd you do?"

Buffy shrugged and began walking again. "What didn't I do? I was all gung-ho and stuff at first, then I let them down and got in the way. I managed to get kicked out by my own sister, came back, fixed the mess they made. Then had the Big Fight, lost people..." She trailed off. "Must've been a Tuesday." She said hallow-voiced.

"Mmm hmm," Angel said. They reached the end of the corridor, turned back around and started back the same way the came. "I'm just glad you guys made it out of there, alive."

"Yeah." Buffy wrapped her arms around herself. She knew Angel was avoiding the subject of Spike. He was probably still upset about having to give the amulet up to him. She pursed her lips in annoyance.

"What?" He asked. "What is it?"

She shook her head. "Nothing."

"Buffy, I can tell something's wrong. I know you." He said.

She turned to face him. "Fine. Why didn't you ask about Spike?"

"What?"

"Why didn't you ask about him?"

"I just figured you know, he didn't make it."

"Uh huh," Buffy said, now she was getting upset . "And what? You figured that 'Hey, he's gone, so now you're the only Champion again'. Is that it?"

Angel rolled his eyes, irritated. "God, what's wrong with you? Last time, you were a little friendlier with your greeting. Now, you're all defensive. Over Spike, no less."

"Hey!" She snapped. "Spike sacrificed himself to save us, to save me."

"Yeah, he's the real big hero."

Buffy stared at Angel with confinement. Then it hit her. "You can't stand it, can you? You're so used to playing the tortured vampire with a soul act that you can't play any other role. So what if Spike has a soul? At least he won't turn into his murderous alter ego when I sleep with him."

Angel's eyes narrowed. That last one hurt. "Buffy, Spike's dead. That's the thing about being a killer and having a soul. The burden becomes too much, and then you're just begging to die. Spike didn't save you, he just found an excuse."

Buffy's blood began to boil. She stepped into Angel, low and menacing, she growled. "He wasn't cursed. He earned his soul." With that she sail stalked away, leaving Angel in the middle of the hallway.