"Buffy," Angel implored.
"I don't want to talk about it, Angel. Just.....let it go." Buffy stomped up to her front door.
"You like him, don't you?"
Buffy stopped and turned to him. "What part of 'don't want to talk about it' is so confusing?" She unlocked the door and stormed in, leaving it open for Angel.
"Buffy! You're home early," Dawn chimed from the living room. Upon seeing her sister's expression, Dawn's immediately went grave. "What happened?"
"Nothing. And I don't want to talk about it." Buffy threw herself onto the couch.
Dawn frowned. "Ooookay." She looked up at Angel as he entered the room. "What did you do? She was fine before you went looking for her."
Angel put up his hand defensively. "I didn't do anything." He couldn't help a little smile escaping. "I just.....informed your sister that her new boyfriend was a vampire. That's all."
Buffy glared up at him. "He's not my boyfriend. And you're just loving this, aren't you?"
Angel shrugged. "C'mon. It's kind of funny, right? I mean, you're the Slayer and you keep being attracted to vampires." When neither of the girls softened their gazes toward him, he just said, "Or not so funny....."
"Alright, you obviously know him. Tell me what you know," Buffy said as Angel sat in a chair across from her.
Angel sighed. "What's to know? Doesn't matter, does it? I can have him out of town tonight, if you want."
"Oh, you have that 'power', do you?" Buffy scoffed.
"Spike and I.....we go way back."
"So tell me about him."
"He's not anything you need to worry about. Only been trouble as long as I've known him."
"Yeah, but you said yourself he's got a soul now. How much trouble can he be?"
"Plenty. Look, just forget about him."
Buffy scowled at Angel. Then she turned to Dawn. "I'm going to bed. Don't stay up too late."
"But I just got here. Thought we could talk or something," Angel said.
Buffy shrugged. "We'll talk tomorrow. Not in the mood." She left Dawn and Angel sitting in uncomfortable silence as she made her way upstairs.
Dawn spoke first. "William's a vampire?" Angel nodded. "But he's got a soul, right?"
"Seems that way, yeah."
"So what's the big?"
Angel frowned. "The 'big', Dawn, is that your sister needs to not be dating vampires. Even ones with souls. She needs to find a normal guy."
Dawn snorted. "Like Riley? He was about as normal as you'll find on the Hellmouth, and look how that ended up."
"Look, you're young. You don't understand that it takes time for people to find the right fit. Sometime it takes a few tries. I'm sure there's someone out there for Buffy. Someone normal, alive, who can make her happy."
"You wish it was you, don't you?"
Angel shrugged. "It can't be me. Not right now anyway. And I'm not going to be so selfish as to ask her to wait."
"Wait for what?" Dawn asked.
Angel shook his head. "Nothing. Just.....who knows what can happen. It's not fair to her to think that I can get my curse lifted or that I can.....that any thing else can happen that would let us be together. And a big part of me knows that even without the curse, I wouldn't be good for her."
Dawn nodded. "Wow, this is the most I've ever heard you talk. Frankly, it's worn me out. I'm going to bed too." She headed toward the stairs.
Angel gave her a half smile. "Night, Dawn."
"Night, Angel." Dawn turned to him. "I know you're looking out for her, but I think she's gonna take this one hard. So maybe try not to make so much with the jokes at this guy's expense. I think she liked him."
Angel nodded. When he heard Dawn's bedroom door close, he slipped out the front door, closing it quietly behind him.
"Spike. Let's you and me have a talk."
William turned to see Angel walking toward him. He shook his head. "Bugger. What do you want, Angelus?"
"I think we should get a few things straight."
William put up his hands. "Hey, the Slayer's yours. I got that. Don't need that trouble anyway. Much as I hate to say it, you coming 'round here tonight's the best bloody thing to happen in a while."
Angel stopped a few feet in front of him. "She's not mine. Not anymore. But she sure as hell won't be yours."
"Don't want her. Thought I made that clear."
'Yeah, well.....Buffy.....she has a way of making guys who don't want her, want her."
William nodded. "I could see how that might happen.....to someone else. Me, I want nothin' to do with her."
"Well, now that we have that cleared up, let's talk about that soul of yours."
"Not in the mood, but thanks for the interest." William turned to walk away.
Angel was in front of him in a flash. "Wasn't a request, boy. Let's talk."
William rolled his eyes. "What do you care, anyway?"
Angel shrugged. "Call it curiosity. I wanna know what's happening with the 'family.'"
William laughed. "Oh, the 'family.' Right. Since when have you cared about the 'family', Angelus? Certainly not since you got your soul."
"Yeah, well, I care now. What happened to Dru?"
William shook his head. "This isn't any of your concern. Now, if you don't mind, this city is short a Slayer tonight. Gotta go fill in the gap."
"Look, you can patrol, fine. But I'm just gonna follow you around and bug you until you tell me."
"Well, maybe I'll snap your neck before you get a chance. Sod. Off."
Angel laughed. "You can try. And we can fight. And we can let all the bad guys win tonight because you didn't want to dish a little gossip with me. Or, I'll help you patrol and we can talk. C'mon, Spike. For old time's sake. We've both got souls now. Looks like we're on the same side. At least in the big, cosmic, good versus evil way."
"Fine! Will you just stop blathering on?"
"Absolutely. But you better start blathering, then."
"Fine, what do you want to know?"
"Drusilla."
William nodded and started to walk deeper into the cemetery. Angel followed beside him. "Thing is, there's a story before hers."
One hour later, Willy's Bar...
Angel frowned. "Wow. I mean, I'd heard rumors that you'd gotten your soul, but man..... So, let me get this straight. You were in D.C. when the government grabbed you. Stuck a chip in your head that didn't let you hurt humans. You escape, Drusilla brings you dead bodies to feed on, but you miss the hunt. You get depressed, Dru sees your heart just isn't in it anymore, and leaves you for a.....Fungus demon?"
William shook his head and slammed back the shot of bourbon he had been holding. "Chaos demon. The second time she left me was the Fungus demon."
Angel took a pull on his beer. "Right, sorry. Chaos demon. So she leaves you for a Chaos demon. You get even more depressed. Then you decide to try and be a badass again and go find her. Tie her up, torture her, get back together, which lasts how long again?"
"A month." William signaled the bartender for another bottle.
"Ok, so that lasts a month. Then, she freaks out with one of her visions and says you're going to betray her. Says you're going to give up everything she gave you, right?" William nodded. "So she leaves you again. This time the Fungus demon. And this time you're completely shattered. Totally depressed, irrecoverably-"
"Yeah, yeah, pit of despair and all that rot."
"So, you're in this pit of despair, and you decide to get a soul? I think I missed my connection somewhere around Tijuana, because that just doesn't make sense."
"Well, it didn't just happen like that, did it? Spent a good year in that.....pit. Waited for Dru to come back to me, but she never did. Got my blood from a butcher shop, which, I gotta say, didn't help my mood. Saw all these tasty little humans running around, with their blood pumping so loud I could hear it and almost taste it. But not a drop for Spike, no sir. Couldn't even get a taste. I even hung out in bad areas waiting for people to get murdered. Fed on them sometimes, but what's the fun in that? I mean, way I figured, if they're not screaming and wriggling and making that blood pump into your mouth, what good is it bein' a vampire?" William opened the new bottle the bartender brought and took a long drink. He offered it to Angel, who waved it off.
Angel nodded wistfully. "Yeah.....blood from a cup sucks....." He frowned. "Not that I want to feed off humans, but....."
"Hey, exactly my point. I couldn't feed off humans, so I decided to try and find something that would take away the urge."
"Urge is always there," Angel mused as he finished off his beer and opened his next.
"Too right," William nodded. "Anyway, I thought I could. Thought I could find a spell or a charm or something that would make the urge go away. God knows I tried everything that first year to get the chip out. Or deactivated. You'd think with all the soddin' magic in the world, something would have been able to fix me. But, well, nothing I ever found, at any rate. So I go to this shaman fella and tell him my problem. He says, the only way he can fix me is to give me a soul. And of course, I tell him to sod off. I didn't have any use for a soul. But then he shows me this.....vision. Vision of what I'll be like if I stayed on the course I was on. Hidin' from humans instead of hunting them. Lurking to feed off corpses. Nothin' I hadn't been doin' already, I tell him. But then he shows how in a few years I'd be crazy. More bug-shaggin' than Dru, if that's possible. And part of me thinks, that's not so bad. I sometimes admired Dru's oblivion. But I knew deep down I didn't want that. Pathetic excuse for a vampire. So I'm considerin' just stakin' myself right there and bein' done with it all. But then he touches my chest and I get this other vision. And a feeling.....It's me fightin' some demon off of a little kid. Demon dies, little kid lives. And.....the feeling.....seein' that kid look at me with gratitude and joy 'stead of fear and loathing.....I'd never felt anything so good. So I decided then and there it's what I wanted. Even though the demon in me was screamin' against it, it's what I did." William paused for a moment, his face darkening. "Wasn't really prepared, though."
Angel shook his head. "I'd imagine not. So, this was how long ago?"
"A year, give or take."
"Still hard, isn't it?"
William looked into his empty shot glass. "Yeah," he said quietly.
Angel nodded. "Look, I should be getting back. You ok to get home?"
"I live upstairs. Think I can find it."
Angel chuckled as he stood and put on his coat. "Not so sure, you never could hold your liquor."
William stood and cocked an eyebrow. "Sorry, you had about a hundred years on me, mate."
Angel turned to go, but when he reached the door he stopped. He turned back to William.
"It's good. Good that you're on our side now. You're a good fighter."
William shrugged and looked at the ground. "Had a good teacher. Till he went all pansy-assed and got a soul."
Angel laughed as he turned to the door again. "Yeah, gotta watch out for those pansy-asses with souls."
William picked up his coat and threw it over his arm. "Willy? What's the damage?"
"Oh, come on, man. You know it's on the house." Willy said with a smile.
William shrugged as he headed out the door. "I may be drunk, but I'm not stupid." Once he was outside, he made his way to the outer stairs and up to his apartment. He fell asleep on his bed wondering if he would remember the heart to heart he'd just had with his grandsire, and desperately hoping he wouldn't.
TBC! R&R please!
