Chapter 25: The patrol

Title: Reunion time.

Author: Nikka

Author notes: Hi everyone, If you need to know about summary, rate and all the rest it's all in chapter 1 I'll just remind you that English is not my native tongue so you may find some spelling & grammar mistakes, you're more then welcome to let me know about them but remember you may find them while you read the story. Have fun.

Disclaimer: Angel & Buffy's characters are not my creation (wish they were) they belong to Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt. Other characters that are not familiar from the show do belong to me.

Author's remark: My chapters as of ch 12 will no longer be reproof by Sigma due to the fact that I have no internet and I'm asking someone else to post the remaining chapters for me. I want to take this opportunity and thank sigma for all the help. And I hope you will continue reading my story even without the excellent work sigma has done. Thank you again sigma for all your great work.

It was defiantly one of the weirdest situations she's ever been in. On her right there was Angel on her left Spike and she stock in the middle. They didn't say anything to each other. From time to time she noticed Angel was glancing at Spike and Spike glancing at Angel.

"So." She thought she should be the icebreaker. But no one played along. "It's quite today isn't it? I mean for a typical Sunnydale night." She tired to make conversation.

"I wouldn't know I haven't been here in a while, things changed." Angel said while giving Spike one of his stares. Buffy knew he wasn't talking about Sunnydale.

"Still. I like it when it's quite." She decided to ignore Angel's remark and move on to another topic.

"Well it was quite for a while but for the past few days it's been like a bloody train station." Spike said and gave Angel a look.

"Isn't the weather wonderful today." Buffy was determined to change the subject.

"I think it was quieter when cretin… things stayed away." Angel said ignoring Buffy's attempts to drop the subject.

"That's it." Spike stopped walking and turned facing Angel. "If you have a problem Angel, just say it."

"If I have a problem?! I think you're the one with the problem Spike." Angel answered back.

"You guys, come on." Buffy tried to stop it.

"What's wrong Angel can't face the fact that you're replaceable." Spike teased him.

"Maybe I'm replaceable but at least I'm not pathetic." Angel smiled when he saw the look on Spike's face.

"Stop it, please." Buffy kept on.

"I'm the pathetic one, look at yourself. What is it with you and Sunnydale girls? Or is it the cheerleading that turns you on." Spike laughed just as Angel swing his fist towards his face. Buffy ducked just in time.

And then it started. They fought like two teenaged boys fighting for the girl.

"I'm serious stop it right now or I'll make you stop." She thought if reasoning with them wasn't working maybe threats would do the trick. But no such luck. They didn't care they were to busy putting on their game face and showing off.

"Great". Buffy said to herself just as three vampires jumped out of nowhere. Spike and Angel where to preoccupied with themselves to notice the vampires attacking Buffy.

She started fighting them while calling out for the two morons. At that Point Spike and Angel stopped fighting and noticed she was under attack. The two ran to the rescue just as she dusted the last vampire and fell to the ground.

"Buffy are you okay?" Angel asked concerned.

"Like you care." She snapped at him and rejected his help to get back on her feet. She got up by herself.

"Of course I care. I'm sorry I couldn't help you but you took care of them." Angel defended himself.

"Of course I did, but that's beside the point." Buffy was angry. "If you say you want to help and you say you want to patrol, that's what you do." She spoke to the both of them. "You don't act like children and start a fight about nothing and leave me to fight alone." Spike was about to say something when she raised her finger letting him know she wasn't quiet finished. "And I know I can handle those vampires myself, but you were here and you didn't help, you didn't even notice. And that's what angers me must." Now she was finished.

"I'm sorry Buffy, but if Angel here could deal with his issues we wouldn't be fighting." Spike tried to explain his behavior.

"My issues? How about your issues? And your obsession with Buffy?" Angel returned the blame.

"Enough!" She yelled. "I had enough with you two." She looked at them disappointed. "I'm tired, I'm dirty and I have a people waiting for me. So if you don't mind I think I'll go home." And before one of them could answer. "And I don't need anyone to walk me." And that was that.

"Buffy?" Angel said hesitantly.

"What?" She asked angrily.

"I'm staying at your house so I guess…" Angel looked so innocent as he said that.

"Oh right, I forgot. I guess you can come." Then she turned to Spike. "But not you." She said to him.

"Why not?" he moaned.

"Because I had enough for one night, actually enough for a lifetime. I can't handle another round with you two. I'm exhausted." She did look tired.

"So why he gets to go?" He frowned.

"Because he lives with me." She realized what she said and quickly corrected herself. "Staying at my house that is. He has to." She explained.

"Bye Spike." Angel said with a smirk on his face. Spike was angry.

"Angel stop it!" Buffy snapped at him. "You're not helping." She whispered.

"Buffy I…" Spike tried to convince her one more time.

"Spike please. Just go." She interrupted him.

"Fine I know when I'm not welcomed." Spike said angrily.

"That will be a first." Angel said smiling.

"Angel!" Buffy snapped at him. He was acting like a five years old.

"I'm out of here." Spike said angrily and took off before Buffy had a chance to say anything else.

"Thanks a lot Angel, I really needed that right now." She started walking Angel followed.

"Come on Buffy the guy was asking for it. Besides since when do you care so much about Spike's feelings?" Angel asked.

"Since he helped save Dawn life and all the rests, and fought by their side while I was gone."

"Oh I thought it was the kiss that made you feel all fuzzy for Spike." Angel said sarcastically.

"Oh no you don't." She stopped walking and looked at him.

"I don't what?" Angel asked innocently.

"You don't get to judge me. You lost that right when you left me and fell in love with Cordelia." She was angry with him.

"Why do you have to bring Cordelia into this?" Now he was angry.

"Why do you have to bring Spike into this?" She asked back.

"First of all Spike brought himself Cordelia didn't. She stayed away from all of this. Secondly there's a world of difference between Cordelia and Spike, starting with the fact that she never killed anyone and we all know what Blondie did in his glory days." He raised his voice.

"Maybe she never did but you did in your 'glory days'." She teased him. "And still she managed to love you."

"So did you Buffy need I remind you." He teased her back. "I don't kill people I help them."

"So does Spike." Buffy defended him.

"Because he has to not because he wants to. Without that chip you'll have the old William the Bloody in a heart beat."

Buffy didn't say anything she knew he was right. She knew what Spike really was, what he was capable of. And she knew that although he helps her partly because he cares for her, he mostly does it because demons are the only thing he can hit back without feeling a sharp pain.

"I know." She said and set down on a bench.

"It doesn't seem like you do." Angel wasn't ready to let go so easily.

"What do you want from me? It was just one lousy kiss. It didn't mean anything."

"Are you trying to convince me or you?" His question caught her off guard.

"What?" She asked surprised.

"I might have believed it was only a kiss, a one time deal if it wasn't for your behavior." Angel explained. "I heard you talking back at the house, I saw the way you kissed him. I've noticed the way he looks at you and the way you look at him. He's always around even when he's not needed. Even during the day." Angel looked at her. She looked shocked. "Buffy?" he set next to her on the bench.

"What do you want me to say? That you're right, that there's this wired thing that I can't explain that's happening between the two of us? Is that what you want to hear. Is it Angel?" She raised her voice.

He took her hand in his hand. "I only want the truth. I want you to admit it to yourself. I want you to understand."

"Understand what Angel?" She calmed down a bit.

"What ever it is you need to in order to accept your relationship with him. Deal with it and move on with your life." She didn't say anything so he kept on. "You're here, you're alive again but you're empty. You're like a zombie, moving around, doing what expected of you. But you don't feel. You don't connect. And I think that Spike is a way for you to feel, to connect."

"Connect to what?" Buffy got curious.

"Connect to yourself, to your life, to your friends. Accept the fact that you're alive that your 'heaven' is gone and what you have is this, is life." He looked at her eyes; they were glazed. tears starting running down her cheek. "Spike is not the answer Buffy." He said softly.

"So what is?" Her voice was cracking.

"Living." He reached his hand and wiped the tears away.

They set there for a while not saying anything. Angel held her hand, she felt like he was her lifesaver. She felt like if she let go of his hand she'll fall without knowing the way back.

It was late. Cordelia couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned looking at the clock. Finally she got up and went down stairs.

As she came down the stairs the door opened and Angel came in.

"Hi." He said as he closed the door behind him.

"Where's Buffy?" Cordelia asked when she noticed he was alone.

"She had some where to be." He didn't want to go into the details.

"What are you doing up. It must be after 1:00." He said as he looked at his watch.

"Actually more like two." She corrected him. "I couldn't sleep." She answered his question.

"A vision?" Angel asked worried.

"No. Just couldn't sleep." She said.

"So are you staying down here or…?" Angel asked.

"I'm going up. Try to get some sleep." Angel nodded his head. "Are you coming?" She asked.

"Am I welcomed?" He asked in return.

"I don't know Angel, are you?"

"I worked it out." He said remembering her remark as she left the shop.

"Are you sure?" She was skeptic.

"For now." He said. "That's the best I can offer Cor." He looked at her waiting for a replay.

She started walking up the stairs he stayed put. Then she stopped half way up. "Are you coming?" She asked.

He didn't answer he just followed her up the stairs.

"Go away." Spike yelled at the door when he heard the banging.

The banging didn't stop, so he finally got up and opened the door. "Go away." He said to Buffy who was standing at the door.

Buffy ignored him and walked in. "Just because you can walk in without an invitation doesn't mean you should. It's not nice."

"So what, you're not nice." She replied back.

"You asked me before to go away so now I'm asking the same thing." He said holding the door open.

"Look I know you're angry with me. I only want five minutes, to talk not for sarcasm." Spike looked skeptic. "Come on Spike 5 minutes won't kill you." She smiled.

"Fine. 5 minutes then you leave. Agreed?" He asked.

"Agreed." She set down as he closed the door.

"So what do you want?" He went straight to the point.

"Aren't we the world greatest host?" She teased him.

"You said no sarcasm." He said in a serious tune. He wasn't amused. "So again, what do you want?"

"To explain why I asked you to leave." She answered back without any remarks.

"I know why you asked me to leave, so I don't need an explanation." He set on a chair facing her.

"If you know, why are you acting all offended?" She asked confused.

"Just because I know doesn't mean I accept it or understand it." He looked at her. She actually seemed to care. "What? Are you feeling sorry for poor Spike, in love with the slayer his sworn enemy? Oh how sad." He laughed. "I need your pity Buffy just as much as I need your crappy explanation. Give a dead man a break and leave." He got up turned his back to her and lit a cigarette.

Buffy got up and walked towards the door. She knew she couldn't talk to him not when he's like this. "I'm sorry Spike." She said to him.

"What the bloody hell are you sorry for?" He turned and faced her.

"For not loving you back. It hurts I should know. So I'm sorry." As he heard her say those words all the anger in him disappeared and sadness replaced it.

She walked towards the door opened it and walked out. He didn't try to stop her; he had nothing to say to her. All he wanted right now was to be left alone. He set on the couch, turned on the TV. hoping he'll find something to see that will distract him. Only one thought came to him just now; "I wish passions was on."

TBC.

Hi ppl,

Thank you for your grate reviews. I read all of them and took them into consideration. I made a few changes from the early version of this ch due to your reviews that asked for something in specific. So I hope you'll like it.

As for the other suggestion that I haven't used; it's not that I don't like them, I do. It's just that I didn't feel that those ideas could work on this fic. So please don't think I ignored them, I didn't.

I read all your reviews and try to follow then as best as I can.

So as usual keep reviewing and give your thoughts on how you would like the story to continue.

Thanks Nikka.