Chapter 20
Once again thanks to all my reviews. Tobert you ARE special and I look forward to more suggestions from you. So I was sitting around watching a DVD tonight and to my shock I saw Emma Caulfield on the movie Darkness Falls. How I loved the Anya character! I'm thinking of my next fic to be about Anya and her pre human days. Anyway I hope you all like this chappie. I haven't heard much response on the last 3 chapters so I hope everyone's OK with what's happened so far. Just as an added tidbit to a review I got, I never said this would end up a Spike/Buffy fic. I said Spike/Buffy in the beginning and ending a Buffy/Wesley fic. I am still torn about the Wesley thing but I in no way, shape, or form plan to bring Spike back in this story. He will be a ghost and dream visitor only. Sorry.
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Preview: Angel gets a visitor.
Angel had been staring at the wall for about 3 hours. Cordelia was shackled in the other room. He couldn't believe how in a couple of short days his life could go completely to Hell.
"Hey I've been to Hell before." Angel thought "Maybe Buffy shoved me into Hell again and I wasn't aware of it."
In the short time Buffy and the Slayers had arrived his ex-girlfriend tried to kill him, Wesley abandoned him for the scone and tea group, his friends refused to return home and Cordelia tried to kill both Buffy and Dawn and had been taken completely over by a demon. Angel groaned and put his head in his hands.
"So soulboy?" A familiar voice asked "Bollixed everything up again?"
Angel's head whipped up and stared into the face of Spike.
"Wha.. How? Spike?" He stammered out.
"Well yeah." Spike smirked at him "Who else?"
"Not to sound rude Spike but aren't you.." Angel started to say before being cut off by a sigh from Spike
"Dead. Yeah." Spike said impatiently "Look, don't have a lot of time here. Want to try getting with the program?"
"Uh sure." Angel said "but would you care explaining how you're here?"
"Let's just say the Powers have a nasty sense of humor." Spike said irritably "You think I enjoy spending time with you now that I'm dust? I could barely stomach you for my unlife."
"Well then what are you doing here?" Angel asked a bit testily himself. Even dead Spike still rubbed him the wrong way.
"Trying to get past the 10 pounds of hair gel to your brain you prat" Spike said.
Angels hands automatically went up to his hair before he could stop them.
"Like you can talk peroxide boy." He muttered.
"Come with me." Spike said
"To where?" Angel asked suspiciously. "I can't just leave Cordelia shackled up in my lobby and take off with you."
"Look down you ponce." Spike sighed. Angel looked down at his sleeping self on the chair.
"Now come on. Times a awastin." Spike smirked.
Angel blinked. He was standing in the main foyer of the new Council.
"What are we doing here?" He asked Spike.
"You seem to think that everyone has turned their back on you Angel." Spike said turning to look Angel in the eye. "You think even your friends have abandoned you and have a new leader."
"Well they are here aren't they?" Angel said angrily "Not at home trying to help Cordelia like they should be."
Spike stared at Angel in utter disbelief before responding.
"My god. Red asked the perfect question. Are you really that blind?"
Angel started to look offended before Spike threw him through a wall into a library of some sort. The Watchers were still pouring over books. Dawn and Andrew were talking to Gunn while making marks on a map of LA. Fred and Xander were refilling some of the many cups of coffee that were scattered over the table. Giles was passed out, a notebook under his head and a pencil still in his hand.
"If you weren't so utterly blind you'd see they are trying to help you." Spike said "These people, many of them who don't know Cordelia, are passing up sleep to try to help a vampire that many of them agree was one of the most dangerous in history. You think your friends abandoned you. Look at them. They are working with these people to try to help Cordelia. Not to mention Dawn who, by the way, was attacked by Cordelia not that many hours ago."
Angel looked around a little uncomfortably. It was true he was feeling a little abandoned by his friends and he thought they didn't care about Cordy. He started to feel a little guilty. Spike saw it and had to say something
"Well, I see there are a few brain cells left upstairs mate." He said. "Bought time you started using them."
"But why haven't they asked for my help?" Angel asked a little bitterly "I was the leader you know. Now it's..."
Angel stopped himself before saying what he intended. Spike looked at him in understanding before finishing for him
"Now it's Buffy." He said gently. I understand mate. She is a strong leader who asks for opinions from the people she works with. Makes it hard when you just give orders. I understand that. I do. But I have to ask you this Soul Boy. What kind of leader have you been lately?"
Angel considered this carefully for a minute.
"Not a very good one." He said honestly. "I've been so wrapped up in myself and Connor I haven't really led at all."
"You do understand that they don't remember Connor don't you?" Spike said pointedly. "They have no idea why you aren't leading them. There is also the new bonding thing going on here that you don't seem to want to be part of."
Angel looked around to see what Spike meant by bonding. He watched Xander say something to Fred that made her throw back her head and laugh like he had never seen her laugh before. He watched Gunn get distracted from his conversation with Dawn and Andrew everytime that redheaded Watcher that came by the hotel earlier walked by. He walked into another room and saw Lorne comforting a Slayer who was crying over losing friends in the battle with the First. He smiled when Lorne made the girl stop crying and laugh at his rendition of the Kermit song.
"Your right Spike." Angel said "I have missed all of this."
"Happens to the best of us" Spike said cheerily "I mean bloody hell, how many times did I screw up in my life, or unlife." he corrected. "But this wasn't the only thing that bothered you."
"What do you mean?" Angel asked before he ended up in a bedroom staring down at a sleeping Buffy and Wesley.
"I knew it!" He said angrily "I knew they were sleeping together."
"Hey Oh Soulful One." Spike said "If anyone should be upset it's me. And I'm not. Watch."
Angel calmed down and watched Buffy twitch and moan in her sleep obviously having a nightmare. He watched Wesley wake up and murmur soothing things to her and finally when she woke up crying, hold her until she fell back to sleep.
"You see, he's trying to help her." Spike said to Angel "And Wesley is trying to work through his own hurt at the same time."
"Over Lilah?" Angel asked
"Some of it." Spike answered "Some of it is him recognizing that for a while he turned into someone he hated. I can understand that." He muttered.
With one last loving look for Buffy, Spike turned away from the bed. Angel saw the pain and wish to be able to touch her again written on his face.He could understand that. Once again he wondered how one tiny women could make so many love her. And he had no doubt that she loved all the men in her life, not the same love, but love just the same. Angel thought about why he left all those years ago. It was necessary and if he had to do it again he would, but maybe that's why he couldn't love anyone again the same way. Maybe he wasn't meant to. He had been trying for a while to make Cordelia the fill in Buffy. It wasn't fair to either of them. For him because Cordelia could never be Buffy and maybe it was that she was a part of the Sunnydale world he knew that he latched onto. It wasn't fair to Cordelia because she expected the same love given to her that he gave to Buffy. He knew that if they had ever slept together and he kept his soul she would be resentful.
Angel sighed and turned to Spike.
"It never gets easier does it?" He asked ruefully
Spike laughed before saying
"It could be worse. You could be hanging around a bunch of bloody annoying angels all day. You would think once you die, you wouldn't be tempted to break necks once a day."
Angel returned the laugh before sobering when he realized he was back in his office looking at himself sleeping.
"So I guess your going now?" He asked.
"Yeah I gotta head back." Spike said before smirking "Guess your own your own now. Maybe now that your heads been pulled out of your arse you might not screw up as badly. And they call you a champion? Bloody overrated one if you ask me." Spike said before Angel was slammed into his body.
"He always has to get the last word." Angel chuckled before stretching. "I think I'm a darn good champion." He said before walking over to the phone. He was going to call Giles. It was time he joined the team.
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OK Review or suggestions are always appreciated. Hope you liked this chapter.
Once again thanks to all my reviews. Tobert you ARE special and I look forward to more suggestions from you. So I was sitting around watching a DVD tonight and to my shock I saw Emma Caulfield on the movie Darkness Falls. How I loved the Anya character! I'm thinking of my next fic to be about Anya and her pre human days. Anyway I hope you all like this chappie. I haven't heard much response on the last 3 chapters so I hope everyone's OK with what's happened so far. Just as an added tidbit to a review I got, I never said this would end up a Spike/Buffy fic. I said Spike/Buffy in the beginning and ending a Buffy/Wesley fic. I am still torn about the Wesley thing but I in no way, shape, or form plan to bring Spike back in this story. He will be a ghost and dream visitor only. Sorry.
.........................................................
Preview: Angel gets a visitor.
Angel had been staring at the wall for about 3 hours. Cordelia was shackled in the other room. He couldn't believe how in a couple of short days his life could go completely to Hell.
"Hey I've been to Hell before." Angel thought "Maybe Buffy shoved me into Hell again and I wasn't aware of it."
In the short time Buffy and the Slayers had arrived his ex-girlfriend tried to kill him, Wesley abandoned him for the scone and tea group, his friends refused to return home and Cordelia tried to kill both Buffy and Dawn and had been taken completely over by a demon. Angel groaned and put his head in his hands.
"So soulboy?" A familiar voice asked "Bollixed everything up again?"
Angel's head whipped up and stared into the face of Spike.
"Wha.. How? Spike?" He stammered out.
"Well yeah." Spike smirked at him "Who else?"
"Not to sound rude Spike but aren't you.." Angel started to say before being cut off by a sigh from Spike
"Dead. Yeah." Spike said impatiently "Look, don't have a lot of time here. Want to try getting with the program?"
"Uh sure." Angel said "but would you care explaining how you're here?"
"Let's just say the Powers have a nasty sense of humor." Spike said irritably "You think I enjoy spending time with you now that I'm dust? I could barely stomach you for my unlife."
"Well then what are you doing here?" Angel asked a bit testily himself. Even dead Spike still rubbed him the wrong way.
"Trying to get past the 10 pounds of hair gel to your brain you prat" Spike said.
Angels hands automatically went up to his hair before he could stop them.
"Like you can talk peroxide boy." He muttered.
"Come with me." Spike said
"To where?" Angel asked suspiciously. "I can't just leave Cordelia shackled up in my lobby and take off with you."
"Look down you ponce." Spike sighed. Angel looked down at his sleeping self on the chair.
"Now come on. Times a awastin." Spike smirked.
Angel blinked. He was standing in the main foyer of the new Council.
"What are we doing here?" He asked Spike.
"You seem to think that everyone has turned their back on you Angel." Spike said turning to look Angel in the eye. "You think even your friends have abandoned you and have a new leader."
"Well they are here aren't they?" Angel said angrily "Not at home trying to help Cordelia like they should be."
Spike stared at Angel in utter disbelief before responding.
"My god. Red asked the perfect question. Are you really that blind?"
Angel started to look offended before Spike threw him through a wall into a library of some sort. The Watchers were still pouring over books. Dawn and Andrew were talking to Gunn while making marks on a map of LA. Fred and Xander were refilling some of the many cups of coffee that were scattered over the table. Giles was passed out, a notebook under his head and a pencil still in his hand.
"If you weren't so utterly blind you'd see they are trying to help you." Spike said "These people, many of them who don't know Cordelia, are passing up sleep to try to help a vampire that many of them agree was one of the most dangerous in history. You think your friends abandoned you. Look at them. They are working with these people to try to help Cordelia. Not to mention Dawn who, by the way, was attacked by Cordelia not that many hours ago."
Angel looked around a little uncomfortably. It was true he was feeling a little abandoned by his friends and he thought they didn't care about Cordy. He started to feel a little guilty. Spike saw it and had to say something
"Well, I see there are a few brain cells left upstairs mate." He said. "Bought time you started using them."
"But why haven't they asked for my help?" Angel asked a little bitterly "I was the leader you know. Now it's..."
Angel stopped himself before saying what he intended. Spike looked at him in understanding before finishing for him
"Now it's Buffy." He said gently. I understand mate. She is a strong leader who asks for opinions from the people she works with. Makes it hard when you just give orders. I understand that. I do. But I have to ask you this Soul Boy. What kind of leader have you been lately?"
Angel considered this carefully for a minute.
"Not a very good one." He said honestly. "I've been so wrapped up in myself and Connor I haven't really led at all."
"You do understand that they don't remember Connor don't you?" Spike said pointedly. "They have no idea why you aren't leading them. There is also the new bonding thing going on here that you don't seem to want to be part of."
Angel looked around to see what Spike meant by bonding. He watched Xander say something to Fred that made her throw back her head and laugh like he had never seen her laugh before. He watched Gunn get distracted from his conversation with Dawn and Andrew everytime that redheaded Watcher that came by the hotel earlier walked by. He walked into another room and saw Lorne comforting a Slayer who was crying over losing friends in the battle with the First. He smiled when Lorne made the girl stop crying and laugh at his rendition of the Kermit song.
"Your right Spike." Angel said "I have missed all of this."
"Happens to the best of us" Spike said cheerily "I mean bloody hell, how many times did I screw up in my life, or unlife." he corrected. "But this wasn't the only thing that bothered you."
"What do you mean?" Angel asked before he ended up in a bedroom staring down at a sleeping Buffy and Wesley.
"I knew it!" He said angrily "I knew they were sleeping together."
"Hey Oh Soulful One." Spike said "If anyone should be upset it's me. And I'm not. Watch."
Angel calmed down and watched Buffy twitch and moan in her sleep obviously having a nightmare. He watched Wesley wake up and murmur soothing things to her and finally when she woke up crying, hold her until she fell back to sleep.
"You see, he's trying to help her." Spike said to Angel "And Wesley is trying to work through his own hurt at the same time."
"Over Lilah?" Angel asked
"Some of it." Spike answered "Some of it is him recognizing that for a while he turned into someone he hated. I can understand that." He muttered.
With one last loving look for Buffy, Spike turned away from the bed. Angel saw the pain and wish to be able to touch her again written on his face.He could understand that. Once again he wondered how one tiny women could make so many love her. And he had no doubt that she loved all the men in her life, not the same love, but love just the same. Angel thought about why he left all those years ago. It was necessary and if he had to do it again he would, but maybe that's why he couldn't love anyone again the same way. Maybe he wasn't meant to. He had been trying for a while to make Cordelia the fill in Buffy. It wasn't fair to either of them. For him because Cordelia could never be Buffy and maybe it was that she was a part of the Sunnydale world he knew that he latched onto. It wasn't fair to Cordelia because she expected the same love given to her that he gave to Buffy. He knew that if they had ever slept together and he kept his soul she would be resentful.
Angel sighed and turned to Spike.
"It never gets easier does it?" He asked ruefully
Spike laughed before saying
"It could be worse. You could be hanging around a bunch of bloody annoying angels all day. You would think once you die, you wouldn't be tempted to break necks once a day."
Angel returned the laugh before sobering when he realized he was back in his office looking at himself sleeping.
"So I guess your going now?" He asked.
"Yeah I gotta head back." Spike said before smirking "Guess your own your own now. Maybe now that your heads been pulled out of your arse you might not screw up as badly. And they call you a champion? Bloody overrated one if you ask me." Spike said before Angel was slammed into his body.
"He always has to get the last word." Angel chuckled before stretching. "I think I'm a darn good champion." He said before walking over to the phone. He was going to call Giles. It was time he joined the team.
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OK Review or suggestions are always appreciated. Hope you liked this chapter.
