I think it should go without saying that I don't own Angel, BTVS, or any of
the characters in this story, but I guess I have to say it anyway. I don't
own Angel, BTVS, or any of the characters in this story.
Anyway, this story can be read as a stand alone (or not), as long as you know that Spike is a part of the Angel Investigations family. I'd like to thank everyone who read 'The Dalliance of the Eagles' and ask you to *please* review and tell me what you think of this idea. Either encourage my genius or discourage my insanity. (Hehe. A joke.) Anyway, thanks bunches and...
On with the show.
::Carpe Diem- House of Cards::
"Hey, Angel. You gonna' take all day, cause we're wasting daylight." Spike sat there staring at his hand. Three queens, and two kings stared back at him.
"Daylight that we would spend doing what? Sunbathing? Just shut up and let me think." Angel looked over his cards and took a good look at his childe, then at Wesley and Gunn. "Hmm... Go fish."
"Oh!" Spike slammed his hand of cards down on the table. "Play right, Angel! That's no more funny now, than when you did it the first two times."
Wesley smirked over at Gunn, who was chuckling under his breath.
Angel pointed over at the two men, with a smile. "They seem to think it's funny."
"They just think that that stupid cow lick look, you got going, is funny." Spike picked his cards back up and sighed. "Come on, Angelus. Be a sport. It's your turn."
Angel ran his fingers through his 'bangs' and shook his head, when he realized what he was doing. "Gimme two." Angel put down two cards and waited for Gunn to pass him a couple more off the top of the deck. Angel picked up the cards and made them the part of his makeshift fan.
"Not a flicker on your face. How did I let you talk me into playing cards with you, Mister Impassive?" Spike looked back at his cards and groaned.
"One." Gunn said, as he put down a card and slipped another off the top of the deck.
"I'll take two." Wesley threw his cards over to the side and waited for Gunn to deal him two more. "Thank you."
"No problem." Gunn smiled, as he sat back on the two back legs of his chair. "It's nice to have the women-folk gone and to just hang out."
"What's that?" Lorne asked, as he made his way in the room.
"Gunn was just saying how it was nice that we guys got some time together, while you girls went shopping." Spike smiled up at the demon and cocked his head to the side. "What happened? Aren't you supposed to be out picking up some pumps or something?"
Lorne grinned widely and pulled his glass up to his lips. "Spike, darling, you can bite my emerald green..."
"Whoa!" Gunn looked up at Lorne and shook his head. "There's no reason to get nasty with each other."
Lorne shrugged and walked over toward the couch. He was resigned to watching the boys play a little bit of poker. He had a hunch that one of the two vampires, at the table, was cheating and he was pretty sure it wasn't Angel. He decided he would like to see how the game panned out.
Spike threw down a buck and placed his cards, facedown, on the table. "A dollar hand, my friends."
"Ah... big spender." Angel looked at his hand and back up at Spike, so he could study his face. "I see your dollar..." Angel threw a buck in the pot. "...and raise you two." Angel tossed two more dollars in, with the first.
Gunn looked at his hand and then at the pot. "Hmm."
"Come on, Gunn. Make hay while the sun shines." Spike muttered.
"If that's a reference to slavery I'm going to kick your ass, bleach boy." Gunn picked up a five dollar bill and threw it in. "My hand's, at least, worth five dollars." He stated, as he put all four chair legs down on the ground.
"It was not a racial reference. It means..." Spike waved his hand in the air, as he searched for the right words. "Strike while the iron's hot." Spike put his hand down, when he caught the look of uncertainty on Gunn's face. "Carpe diem. Seize the day? Ring *any* bells?"
Gunn rest his elbows on the table, put his two hands together, fingers intertwined, pointers forming a steeple. "If you don't quit talking to me like I'm stupid, I'll ring *your* bell. Got me?"
"Yup." Spike saluted Gunn, from his temple, and grinned. "That was a very mum thing to say, by the way."
"I fold..." Wesley placed his cards down on the table and slumped in his chair. "...and I have to agree with Spike. That was a very mum thing to say."
"What do you mean by that?" Gunn looked between the two British men, with a certain mixture of interest and confusion.
"I mean... Well, let me give an example. Mum, can I have another piece of cake? Oh, William, I'll give you a piece of my hand if you ask again." Spike put on a charming falsetto, as he made his point. After a moment, he peaked at his cards and nodded. "I see the bet." He threw out a five and sat back in his seat.
"Hey, have you heard this one? Mum, may I please drive the car? Wesley Wyndham Price, I'll drive the car you!" Wesley cleared his throat and looked down at the table. "No? I guess my mother was the only one who was crazy, then."
Spike grinned at the Englishman and nodded. "Perhaps. I liked my mum."
"A little too much." Angel muttered, as he threw out a five. "I'll see the bet."
"What do you bloody well mean by that?" Spike glared at his Sire.
"You turned her, Spike. You think Dru didn't tell me about the mother-in- law, being on your honey moon?" Angel shook his head. "Big mistake."
"You killed your mum! Your whole family, for that matter, and anyone who met them." Spike cast accusing eyes on Angel.
"I killed her, Spike. I didn't make her into a vampire. For one thing, I didn't want anyone around that was going to nag me, for my whole un-life. No one wants their mom hanging over their shoulder, for the rest of forever. Well, except for little British momma's boys."
Spike jumped across the table and tackled Angel to the ground. "You trying to start a fight, Sire?" Spike had a hold of Angel's collar and slammed his head into the hardwood floor.
Angel used his weight to flip the two of them over, so he was lying on top. He yanked his head back, successfully pulling Spike's grip loose, and went to grab Spike's arms before he could hit him anywhere painful. "I'm not saying she wasn't a nice lady or that she wasn't pretty enough." Spike bucked widely, trying to fight the grip his Sire had on him. "It's just that Dru turned *you* so that you could keep her company, not so *you and your mom* could keep her company."
Spike stopped squirming and fell still. "If you were so disgusted, then why didn't you kill me at the beginning."
"Cause I didn't find it disgusting. I thought it was cute." Angel let his grip go, when he thought Spike wouldn't hit him. It was a bad idea. Spike struck out and caught Angel's chin with his fist. Angel swore and spit out a small amount of blood, as he got up off of his childe.
Spike jumped up from the cold ground and walked over to the table, so he could take his seat. "Shouldn't we show our cards, now?" Spike picked up his hand and looked at the other two men at the table. Gunn was, little less than, gaping at him and Wesley's eyes had grown to the size of saucers.
Angel crawled over to the table, on his knees, and wiped his lip with his shirtsleeve. He looked at the blood smear and shook his head. "Another ruined shirt, Spike. You know what that means?"
Spike shrugged. "You going shopping again?"
"No, I'm going to be walking around half-naked, cause I'm tired of spending money on shirts." Angel pulled himself up into his chair and settled into the seat. "You feeling better?"
"What?" Spike put his hand back down on the table and looked at Angel with obvious disbelief.
"You were being pissy. I wanted you to blow off some steam." Angel grabbed some skittles out of the bowl on the table and popped them in his mouth. "Worked." He said around the mouthful of candy.
"You're an ass." Spike grumbled, as he flipped over his cards. "Full house."
Angel nodded, as he flipped his cards over. "Royal Flush."
Gunn threw his hand down and sighed. "I was bluffing."
"Badly." Spike stated, with a smirk.
"I could actually smell the bluff on you." Angel agreed.
"Oh, well color me surprised." Spike grabbed at his chest, over his unbeating heart and feigned a gasp. "You have a strange fetish there, Sire."
"No more strange than any of yours." Angel smiled darkly at his childe. "If you really want to get into this, I think I could bring up quite a few peculiarities of your own."
Lorne grinned and leaned forward in his chair. "Oh, please do."
Spike put his hands up. "Show some mercy, Angel. You taught me better than that. You don't declare war on someone that you can't possibly beat."
Angel nodded and collected his winnings from the middle of the table. "Which is why you should never have suggested poker as a good game for us to play. You can't beat me."
Spike chuckled in, what could only be described as, a sinister fashion. "Angel's not just an ass. He's an 'ass man'."
Angel's head snapped up.
Spike nodded. "He likes small muscular behinds. Doesn't matter what they're attached to."
Angel's mouth hung open. From the look on Spike's face, it seemed that he was going to talk some more. That could not end well. Angel picked up his cards and tossed them in Spike's face.
"Come on, guys. This is supposed to be a friendly game of poker. Not a vicious game of 52 pick-up." Gunn groaned and bent out of his chair to pick up the cards.
"Watch out Gunn. It may be just a little too tempting, when you wave it around in the air, like that. He'll pinch it. I've seen him do it!" Spike laughed, when Gunn shot up in his seat. "You didn't even get the cards."
"You said he was going to pinch me." Gunn shot a glance between Spike and Angel. Angel shook his head and Spike just laughed some more.
Spike decided to soothe the young man's fears, a little. "No, you're not really in danger, Gunn. You're too butch for 'im and a little too ebony. He likes 'em pretty and blonde."
Lorne nodded. "Like you?"
"Well, of course like m... No!" Spike sneered at the demon. "You sickie!"
"Just a question, Mister Protest Too Much." Lorne leaned over and picked his drink up off the ground, next to the couch.
"Reference to Shakespeare?" Wesley asked, amusedly.
"Yup." Lorne said, as he took a sip.
"Very good." Wesley sighed and sat back in his chair. "How did this game turn out like this?"
"Turn out like what?" Angel asked, as he straightened the bills in his hand.
Wesley stroked his upper lip and smiled softly. "With Spike questioning his sexuality and you winning all of our money."
"I'm not questioning my sexuality! I don't have to question something I know the answer to! I sleep with girls. Lots of girls, for that matter!" Spike shrieked, in horror.
"Since when? Since Buffy?" Angel asked, stubbornly. "Who has there been?"
"Well, I'm waiting for a special someone. You know, unless Darla comes back from the dead. That's the exception. I got to jump her bones if she comes into town. That's what souled vampires do, right?"
"Dru told me that Spike liked candles during foreplay." Angel eyes flashed yellow for a moment. "They didn't even have to be lit."
"Oh, hell!" Gunn groaned. "I don't even want to guess what you meant by that!"
Wesley stifled a laugh and glanced over at Lorne. The demon seemed a little redder, than he remembered him being.
Spike gasped and shook his head, before letting out a, less than manly, squeak. "Angel likes wearing lacy things against his skin. Says it feels sexy."
Angel quirked a brow and sniffed the air. "Spike likes to spray women's perfume around the room and then twirl in it. He looks and smells like a little girl, when he does it. Pretty and innocent, like. Kinda' smells like one now."
"Angel used to get drunk, eat oysters, and then throw the shells off of tall building, at the people below."
"Spike used to get drunk and pass out, cause he couldn't hold his liquor."
"My liquor? I could hold *my* liquor, well enough. It was *your* liquor that got me so pissed! Might as well been drinking gasoline. My insides coulda' ignited, if I had been eating Mexican."
"Mexican what?" Angel asked with a grin.
"Well, I'm not talking chimichangas." Spike said with a laugh.
"Umm... Excuse me?" A small voice made the men turn around and take notice of a young woman standing in the Hyperion doorway. "Is this Angel Investigations?"
Angel jumped up from his seat and walked over to the women, offering his hand. "This is Angel Investigations. I'm Angel. Is there any way we can help you?"
"Damn it. We're on a vacation. Didn't he put the sign out on the door, like I told him to?" Spike muttered, just loud enough for the woman to hear.
The girl paled, as she took Angel's hand, and looked as if she was ready to faint. "I was told by a friend, that if anyone could help me, you could, but I can leave if it will be a problem." She gave a little sigh, let Angel's hand go, and started to back away.
"It's all right. Don't listen to him." Angel smiled invitingly. "What can we help you with?" Angel heard the girl's heartbeat pound just a little bit faster.
"It's my son." The woman pulled a wallet out of her purse and flipped through the picture booklet. She pulled out a picture of a little boy and handed it to Angel. "My friend Missy took him to the zoo early this morning and I haven't seen them since."
"Kidnapper?" Spike turned to face the woman, his brow furrowed in concentration.
"Werewolf." The lady pointed out the door. "It's the day before the full moon. She should have had him home hours ago. She would never forgive herself if... I would never forgive myself..." The woman broke into sobs.
Angel patted the woman's shoulder sympathetically. "I know what you're going through. I have a son of my own. He's eighteen now. He was taken as a child."
"Did you get him back?" The lady wiped the tears from her eyes, as Angel offered her a nod and a smile. "My little boy has to be okay. You will find him won't you?"
"We will do everything we can to find your son. Andrew?" Angel read the name off of the back of the picture.
The woman nodded. "He likes to be called Andy. Kids are so temperamental at that age. I thought five was a difficult year, then six came around."
"Wait until he's a teenager." Angel shared a smile with the woman and continued. "If you will just give me your number, I can contact you when something comes up."
The woman gave Angel a card out of her purse. "My names on the top. That's my cell, fax, beeper, home, and work number. If you can't reach me on any of those, try the number scribbled on the back. You will always be able to reach me at that number."
Angel nodded, as he stared at the card.
"I should be getting home. Please contact me if you hear anything. Anything at all." The woman was already walking back toward the door, shoving items down in her purse. She turned back toward the gang and smiled, weakly. "I assure you, if you find my little boy there will be no end to my gratitude." The woman chewed on her bottom lip and sighed, before heading out the doorway, into the night.
"If we find little Adam, there better be no end to her pocket book." Spike said, as he slumped down in his chair.
"Spike!" Both Angel and Wesley exclaimed.
"What?" Spike looked over at Gunn, for moral support. "I was just saying what was on everyone's mind, right?"
Gunn shook his head. He was half amused, half put off by Spike's display of indifference.
"What?!" Spike pushed himself up out of his seat. "I was trying to lighten the mood you ponces." Spike walked away from the sources of his annoyance, toward the stairs. "Angel can call me a British mama's boy and you all get a big laugh. I don't get you soddin' gits." Spike muttered all the way up the stairs.
Angel watched Spike make his journey up the staircase and then looked back at the card in his hand. He flipped it over and read the back. "Huh."
"What's that Angel Cakes?" Lorne stood up from his seat and sauntered over to Angel's side. He looked over the vampire's shoulder and took the card hostage. He flipped it over and studied both sides, trying to see what Angel found so interesting. Without even realizing it, he broke out in a grin. "Well, ain't that just peachy."
"What's that?" Wesley asked. His interest was obviously piqued, from the peculiar way both Lorne and Angel were acting.
Gunn fidgeted in his chair. He hated being left out on the action, even if it wasn't exactly action packed. "Yeah, guys, what's up?"
"It's seems little Miss Muffin's name is actually Amelie McDonald. So, in essence, we are looking for little Andrew McDonald." Lorne suppressed a grin and continued. "On the back of the card there is a number and the name written in, what can only be called chicken scratch, above it is... Lindsey."
"You're kidding." Wesley's jaw grew slack and Gunn just shook his head. "As in, Lindsey McDonald?"
"Are we ever going to be through with those... those?" Gunn couldn't find the right word, but when he did he knew it would be a doozy.
Spike's approach was a little less than stealthy, as he stomped down the hall and leaned over the stair railing. "Oh, and another thing, Angel..." Spike realized something was off, the moment he saw Angel's eyes. They were sullen, with just a slight mix of anger and revulsion. Nothing should cause that look but me, Spike thought to himself. "What's wrong?"
Angel shrugged. "We're going to be sucked into the pit of hell."
"Oh." Spike nodded a second and seemed to give the comment some thought. "Well, that's nice."
TBC
-Well, this seems to be another story, doesn't it? Oh well. Please review. It will really give me a boost (or deflation) in confidence.-
--This story is called Carpe Diem, which is Latin for 'seize the day'. The subtitle was called House of Cards, cause... the whole chapter dealt with... cards. *nods slowly* Yup. Sometimes it's our simplest ideas that are our funniest mistakes. You can quote me on that.--
Anyway, this story can be read as a stand alone (or not), as long as you know that Spike is a part of the Angel Investigations family. I'd like to thank everyone who read 'The Dalliance of the Eagles' and ask you to *please* review and tell me what you think of this idea. Either encourage my genius or discourage my insanity. (Hehe. A joke.) Anyway, thanks bunches and...
On with the show.
::Carpe Diem- House of Cards::
"Hey, Angel. You gonna' take all day, cause we're wasting daylight." Spike sat there staring at his hand. Three queens, and two kings stared back at him.
"Daylight that we would spend doing what? Sunbathing? Just shut up and let me think." Angel looked over his cards and took a good look at his childe, then at Wesley and Gunn. "Hmm... Go fish."
"Oh!" Spike slammed his hand of cards down on the table. "Play right, Angel! That's no more funny now, than when you did it the first two times."
Wesley smirked over at Gunn, who was chuckling under his breath.
Angel pointed over at the two men, with a smile. "They seem to think it's funny."
"They just think that that stupid cow lick look, you got going, is funny." Spike picked his cards back up and sighed. "Come on, Angelus. Be a sport. It's your turn."
Angel ran his fingers through his 'bangs' and shook his head, when he realized what he was doing. "Gimme two." Angel put down two cards and waited for Gunn to pass him a couple more off the top of the deck. Angel picked up the cards and made them the part of his makeshift fan.
"Not a flicker on your face. How did I let you talk me into playing cards with you, Mister Impassive?" Spike looked back at his cards and groaned.
"One." Gunn said, as he put down a card and slipped another off the top of the deck.
"I'll take two." Wesley threw his cards over to the side and waited for Gunn to deal him two more. "Thank you."
"No problem." Gunn smiled, as he sat back on the two back legs of his chair. "It's nice to have the women-folk gone and to just hang out."
"What's that?" Lorne asked, as he made his way in the room.
"Gunn was just saying how it was nice that we guys got some time together, while you girls went shopping." Spike smiled up at the demon and cocked his head to the side. "What happened? Aren't you supposed to be out picking up some pumps or something?"
Lorne grinned widely and pulled his glass up to his lips. "Spike, darling, you can bite my emerald green..."
"Whoa!" Gunn looked up at Lorne and shook his head. "There's no reason to get nasty with each other."
Lorne shrugged and walked over toward the couch. He was resigned to watching the boys play a little bit of poker. He had a hunch that one of the two vampires, at the table, was cheating and he was pretty sure it wasn't Angel. He decided he would like to see how the game panned out.
Spike threw down a buck and placed his cards, facedown, on the table. "A dollar hand, my friends."
"Ah... big spender." Angel looked at his hand and back up at Spike, so he could study his face. "I see your dollar..." Angel threw a buck in the pot. "...and raise you two." Angel tossed two more dollars in, with the first.
Gunn looked at his hand and then at the pot. "Hmm."
"Come on, Gunn. Make hay while the sun shines." Spike muttered.
"If that's a reference to slavery I'm going to kick your ass, bleach boy." Gunn picked up a five dollar bill and threw it in. "My hand's, at least, worth five dollars." He stated, as he put all four chair legs down on the ground.
"It was not a racial reference. It means..." Spike waved his hand in the air, as he searched for the right words. "Strike while the iron's hot." Spike put his hand down, when he caught the look of uncertainty on Gunn's face. "Carpe diem. Seize the day? Ring *any* bells?"
Gunn rest his elbows on the table, put his two hands together, fingers intertwined, pointers forming a steeple. "If you don't quit talking to me like I'm stupid, I'll ring *your* bell. Got me?"
"Yup." Spike saluted Gunn, from his temple, and grinned. "That was a very mum thing to say, by the way."
"I fold..." Wesley placed his cards down on the table and slumped in his chair. "...and I have to agree with Spike. That was a very mum thing to say."
"What do you mean by that?" Gunn looked between the two British men, with a certain mixture of interest and confusion.
"I mean... Well, let me give an example. Mum, can I have another piece of cake? Oh, William, I'll give you a piece of my hand if you ask again." Spike put on a charming falsetto, as he made his point. After a moment, he peaked at his cards and nodded. "I see the bet." He threw out a five and sat back in his seat.
"Hey, have you heard this one? Mum, may I please drive the car? Wesley Wyndham Price, I'll drive the car you!" Wesley cleared his throat and looked down at the table. "No? I guess my mother was the only one who was crazy, then."
Spike grinned at the Englishman and nodded. "Perhaps. I liked my mum."
"A little too much." Angel muttered, as he threw out a five. "I'll see the bet."
"What do you bloody well mean by that?" Spike glared at his Sire.
"You turned her, Spike. You think Dru didn't tell me about the mother-in- law, being on your honey moon?" Angel shook his head. "Big mistake."
"You killed your mum! Your whole family, for that matter, and anyone who met them." Spike cast accusing eyes on Angel.
"I killed her, Spike. I didn't make her into a vampire. For one thing, I didn't want anyone around that was going to nag me, for my whole un-life. No one wants their mom hanging over their shoulder, for the rest of forever. Well, except for little British momma's boys."
Spike jumped across the table and tackled Angel to the ground. "You trying to start a fight, Sire?" Spike had a hold of Angel's collar and slammed his head into the hardwood floor.
Angel used his weight to flip the two of them over, so he was lying on top. He yanked his head back, successfully pulling Spike's grip loose, and went to grab Spike's arms before he could hit him anywhere painful. "I'm not saying she wasn't a nice lady or that she wasn't pretty enough." Spike bucked widely, trying to fight the grip his Sire had on him. "It's just that Dru turned *you* so that you could keep her company, not so *you and your mom* could keep her company."
Spike stopped squirming and fell still. "If you were so disgusted, then why didn't you kill me at the beginning."
"Cause I didn't find it disgusting. I thought it was cute." Angel let his grip go, when he thought Spike wouldn't hit him. It was a bad idea. Spike struck out and caught Angel's chin with his fist. Angel swore and spit out a small amount of blood, as he got up off of his childe.
Spike jumped up from the cold ground and walked over to the table, so he could take his seat. "Shouldn't we show our cards, now?" Spike picked up his hand and looked at the other two men at the table. Gunn was, little less than, gaping at him and Wesley's eyes had grown to the size of saucers.
Angel crawled over to the table, on his knees, and wiped his lip with his shirtsleeve. He looked at the blood smear and shook his head. "Another ruined shirt, Spike. You know what that means?"
Spike shrugged. "You going shopping again?"
"No, I'm going to be walking around half-naked, cause I'm tired of spending money on shirts." Angel pulled himself up into his chair and settled into the seat. "You feeling better?"
"What?" Spike put his hand back down on the table and looked at Angel with obvious disbelief.
"You were being pissy. I wanted you to blow off some steam." Angel grabbed some skittles out of the bowl on the table and popped them in his mouth. "Worked." He said around the mouthful of candy.
"You're an ass." Spike grumbled, as he flipped over his cards. "Full house."
Angel nodded, as he flipped his cards over. "Royal Flush."
Gunn threw his hand down and sighed. "I was bluffing."
"Badly." Spike stated, with a smirk.
"I could actually smell the bluff on you." Angel agreed.
"Oh, well color me surprised." Spike grabbed at his chest, over his unbeating heart and feigned a gasp. "You have a strange fetish there, Sire."
"No more strange than any of yours." Angel smiled darkly at his childe. "If you really want to get into this, I think I could bring up quite a few peculiarities of your own."
Lorne grinned and leaned forward in his chair. "Oh, please do."
Spike put his hands up. "Show some mercy, Angel. You taught me better than that. You don't declare war on someone that you can't possibly beat."
Angel nodded and collected his winnings from the middle of the table. "Which is why you should never have suggested poker as a good game for us to play. You can't beat me."
Spike chuckled in, what could only be described as, a sinister fashion. "Angel's not just an ass. He's an 'ass man'."
Angel's head snapped up.
Spike nodded. "He likes small muscular behinds. Doesn't matter what they're attached to."
Angel's mouth hung open. From the look on Spike's face, it seemed that he was going to talk some more. That could not end well. Angel picked up his cards and tossed them in Spike's face.
"Come on, guys. This is supposed to be a friendly game of poker. Not a vicious game of 52 pick-up." Gunn groaned and bent out of his chair to pick up the cards.
"Watch out Gunn. It may be just a little too tempting, when you wave it around in the air, like that. He'll pinch it. I've seen him do it!" Spike laughed, when Gunn shot up in his seat. "You didn't even get the cards."
"You said he was going to pinch me." Gunn shot a glance between Spike and Angel. Angel shook his head and Spike just laughed some more.
Spike decided to soothe the young man's fears, a little. "No, you're not really in danger, Gunn. You're too butch for 'im and a little too ebony. He likes 'em pretty and blonde."
Lorne nodded. "Like you?"
"Well, of course like m... No!" Spike sneered at the demon. "You sickie!"
"Just a question, Mister Protest Too Much." Lorne leaned over and picked his drink up off the ground, next to the couch.
"Reference to Shakespeare?" Wesley asked, amusedly.
"Yup." Lorne said, as he took a sip.
"Very good." Wesley sighed and sat back in his chair. "How did this game turn out like this?"
"Turn out like what?" Angel asked, as he straightened the bills in his hand.
Wesley stroked his upper lip and smiled softly. "With Spike questioning his sexuality and you winning all of our money."
"I'm not questioning my sexuality! I don't have to question something I know the answer to! I sleep with girls. Lots of girls, for that matter!" Spike shrieked, in horror.
"Since when? Since Buffy?" Angel asked, stubbornly. "Who has there been?"
"Well, I'm waiting for a special someone. You know, unless Darla comes back from the dead. That's the exception. I got to jump her bones if she comes into town. That's what souled vampires do, right?"
"Dru told me that Spike liked candles during foreplay." Angel eyes flashed yellow for a moment. "They didn't even have to be lit."
"Oh, hell!" Gunn groaned. "I don't even want to guess what you meant by that!"
Wesley stifled a laugh and glanced over at Lorne. The demon seemed a little redder, than he remembered him being.
Spike gasped and shook his head, before letting out a, less than manly, squeak. "Angel likes wearing lacy things against his skin. Says it feels sexy."
Angel quirked a brow and sniffed the air. "Spike likes to spray women's perfume around the room and then twirl in it. He looks and smells like a little girl, when he does it. Pretty and innocent, like. Kinda' smells like one now."
"Angel used to get drunk, eat oysters, and then throw the shells off of tall building, at the people below."
"Spike used to get drunk and pass out, cause he couldn't hold his liquor."
"My liquor? I could hold *my* liquor, well enough. It was *your* liquor that got me so pissed! Might as well been drinking gasoline. My insides coulda' ignited, if I had been eating Mexican."
"Mexican what?" Angel asked with a grin.
"Well, I'm not talking chimichangas." Spike said with a laugh.
"Umm... Excuse me?" A small voice made the men turn around and take notice of a young woman standing in the Hyperion doorway. "Is this Angel Investigations?"
Angel jumped up from his seat and walked over to the women, offering his hand. "This is Angel Investigations. I'm Angel. Is there any way we can help you?"
"Damn it. We're on a vacation. Didn't he put the sign out on the door, like I told him to?" Spike muttered, just loud enough for the woman to hear.
The girl paled, as she took Angel's hand, and looked as if she was ready to faint. "I was told by a friend, that if anyone could help me, you could, but I can leave if it will be a problem." She gave a little sigh, let Angel's hand go, and started to back away.
"It's all right. Don't listen to him." Angel smiled invitingly. "What can we help you with?" Angel heard the girl's heartbeat pound just a little bit faster.
"It's my son." The woman pulled a wallet out of her purse and flipped through the picture booklet. She pulled out a picture of a little boy and handed it to Angel. "My friend Missy took him to the zoo early this morning and I haven't seen them since."
"Kidnapper?" Spike turned to face the woman, his brow furrowed in concentration.
"Werewolf." The lady pointed out the door. "It's the day before the full moon. She should have had him home hours ago. She would never forgive herself if... I would never forgive myself..." The woman broke into sobs.
Angel patted the woman's shoulder sympathetically. "I know what you're going through. I have a son of my own. He's eighteen now. He was taken as a child."
"Did you get him back?" The lady wiped the tears from her eyes, as Angel offered her a nod and a smile. "My little boy has to be okay. You will find him won't you?"
"We will do everything we can to find your son. Andrew?" Angel read the name off of the back of the picture.
The woman nodded. "He likes to be called Andy. Kids are so temperamental at that age. I thought five was a difficult year, then six came around."
"Wait until he's a teenager." Angel shared a smile with the woman and continued. "If you will just give me your number, I can contact you when something comes up."
The woman gave Angel a card out of her purse. "My names on the top. That's my cell, fax, beeper, home, and work number. If you can't reach me on any of those, try the number scribbled on the back. You will always be able to reach me at that number."
Angel nodded, as he stared at the card.
"I should be getting home. Please contact me if you hear anything. Anything at all." The woman was already walking back toward the door, shoving items down in her purse. She turned back toward the gang and smiled, weakly. "I assure you, if you find my little boy there will be no end to my gratitude." The woman chewed on her bottom lip and sighed, before heading out the doorway, into the night.
"If we find little Adam, there better be no end to her pocket book." Spike said, as he slumped down in his chair.
"Spike!" Both Angel and Wesley exclaimed.
"What?" Spike looked over at Gunn, for moral support. "I was just saying what was on everyone's mind, right?"
Gunn shook his head. He was half amused, half put off by Spike's display of indifference.
"What?!" Spike pushed himself up out of his seat. "I was trying to lighten the mood you ponces." Spike walked away from the sources of his annoyance, toward the stairs. "Angel can call me a British mama's boy and you all get a big laugh. I don't get you soddin' gits." Spike muttered all the way up the stairs.
Angel watched Spike make his journey up the staircase and then looked back at the card in his hand. He flipped it over and read the back. "Huh."
"What's that Angel Cakes?" Lorne stood up from his seat and sauntered over to Angel's side. He looked over the vampire's shoulder and took the card hostage. He flipped it over and studied both sides, trying to see what Angel found so interesting. Without even realizing it, he broke out in a grin. "Well, ain't that just peachy."
"What's that?" Wesley asked. His interest was obviously piqued, from the peculiar way both Lorne and Angel were acting.
Gunn fidgeted in his chair. He hated being left out on the action, even if it wasn't exactly action packed. "Yeah, guys, what's up?"
"It's seems little Miss Muffin's name is actually Amelie McDonald. So, in essence, we are looking for little Andrew McDonald." Lorne suppressed a grin and continued. "On the back of the card there is a number and the name written in, what can only be called chicken scratch, above it is... Lindsey."
"You're kidding." Wesley's jaw grew slack and Gunn just shook his head. "As in, Lindsey McDonald?"
"Are we ever going to be through with those... those?" Gunn couldn't find the right word, but when he did he knew it would be a doozy.
Spike's approach was a little less than stealthy, as he stomped down the hall and leaned over the stair railing. "Oh, and another thing, Angel..." Spike realized something was off, the moment he saw Angel's eyes. They were sullen, with just a slight mix of anger and revulsion. Nothing should cause that look but me, Spike thought to himself. "What's wrong?"
Angel shrugged. "We're going to be sucked into the pit of hell."
"Oh." Spike nodded a second and seemed to give the comment some thought. "Well, that's nice."
TBC
-Well, this seems to be another story, doesn't it? Oh well. Please review. It will really give me a boost (or deflation) in confidence.-
--This story is called Carpe Diem, which is Latin for 'seize the day'. The subtitle was called House of Cards, cause... the whole chapter dealt with... cards. *nods slowly* Yup. Sometimes it's our simplest ideas that are our funniest mistakes. You can quote me on that.--