Guilt

Disclaimer: Not mine but they are fun to play with.

Summary: Angel feels guilt and Will feels unworthy.

Reviews: Yes, please, if you can. I know the site is being a bugger about it, or else the last chapter just plain sucked. Either way, I need reviews more than air. Readers Rock but REVIEWERS RULE!!!

A/N: Imzadi, as per your request my dear. Hope I didn't muck it up too bad.

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Wesley and Angel stood over Lindsey, who was seated in the chair next to Angel's desk. He was smirking as if he knew a lot of things they didn't. The former watcher ached to smash the smirk with his fist.

"So you didn't wear the amulet?" Lindsey asked. "That's too bad. It would have solved so many problems for my firm. They really wanted you to be the one to wear it. Who was the unlucky one stupid enough to put it on?"

Angel's eyes glowed amber as he growled. "Wes." He snarled. "Let me kill him."

"No, we have to find out what he knows." Wesley put a calming hand on the vampire's arm. "Now Lindsey, you will refrain from antagonizing the angry vampire. Tell us what that amulet was intended to do." His icy blue eyes warned the lawyer to tell the truth.

"It was supposed to let Angel close the hell mouth and fulfill the prophecy. If he stopped an apocalypse, then he gets his reward and turns human. Presto, one annoying vampire out of our hair." Lindsey smiled as he observed the expression on Angel's face. "That way when the Senior Partners were ready for their own apocalypse, well, it would be that much easier without you to stop it. Two for the price of one, stopping the First and clearing the way for us, easy." He clasped his hands across his abdomen and leaned back, satisfied that he'd caused the enemy so much emotional pain.

"Why did the amulet bring Spike back?" Wes continued his questioning despite his desire to talk to Angel about these revelations.

Lindsey shook his head. "That I don't know, didn't know it had. I do know that the Senior Partners would like their property back. I guess it comes with its own pet vampire now. " He smiled evilly. "So, where is it?"

Wesley smiled even more evilly. "We don't know." He was grateful that Susan had been adamant that they not know where Jake and Spike lived. He had to admit that her instincts in this instance were spot on. "Are you telling me that Spike is tied to the amulet?" He questioned Lindsey.

Lindsey nodded in satisfaction. He was suddenly having a lot of fun. He'd never realized how enjoyable it was to point out to the almighty Angel that he screwed up and did in his own Childe while he was at it.

"How do we release him?" Wes wanted to know.

"I don't know. I don't think you can." Lindsey smirked.

Angel pushed his way past the overwhelming guilt he was experiencing. "Gunn!" He yelled. When Gunn opened the door, Angel pulled Lindsey up by the collar. "Take him to the basement and lock him in the cage. Use the video camera to keep an eye on him. I don't want him to be able to hear any thing. If that means knocking him out, do it." The vampire instructed smiling his own evil smile at the way the lawyer blanched.

"You can't keep me here!" Lindsey yelled as Gunn pulled him out of the office and toward the basement door.

As soon as Angel heard the basement door slam shut, he sank down onto his chair and dropped his head in his hands. He moaned. "What have I done?"

Tapping a finger on his chin, Wesley considered the problem for a moment. Thinking over what Lindsey said, he realized something important. He sat on the corner of the desk and faced Angel. "You let Spike save the world once, now it's your turn. It means that you will be on hand when the Senior Partners make their move towards their own apocalypse. They may even delay it in favor of continuing to try to remove you from their destructive path. What we have to do now is make sure that they do not get their hands on Spike. We have to figure out how to release him from the amulet and get his memory back. It could be that the reason he has such a reaction to your voice and name is because he is connected to the amulet you were meant to wear. I have the feeling that the Senior Partners need that amulet. It could be a vital key to their apocalyptic plans."

Angel looked up at his friend hopefully. "Do you think so?" Wes nodded. "Then we protect Spike, Jake and Susan. Wolfram and Hart cannot find out where they are." The dark vampire made a silent vow not to let his Childe down again.

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Jake and Susan sat at the kitchen table nursing cups of coffee. Will hadn't gotten up yet. It was still only midmorning so they didn't expect to see the vampire for a couple more hours. Susan told her cousin Wesley's last revelation. Jake nodded his head. He'd figured as much. He'd been convinced that Will was special from the beginning. Hearing that the vampire had saved the world came as no surprise. Will was an innocent soul and Jake had vowed to protect him. If that meant that he stayed in Jake's house away from the rest of the world forever so be it. The only drawback to that plan was the resurgence of his memory. It was making him doubt his very existence. It seemed now that they would have to allow the people who loved and missed the vampire access to him. The only problem Jake would see was deciding whether or not it would harm Will to reunite him with his loved ones. The cousins had already decided that Angel was not to come near their friend. They were not willing to expose him to that kind of pain.

A couple of hours later, Jake had already shown the new portraits to Susan. She raved over the larger one. She was in the process of begging her favorite cousin into letting her take the canvases back to LA with her when an amused voice disrupted their mock argument.

"Give it up, Mate. You know she's just gonna wear you down with that whine she gets when she thinks we're being difficult." Will wandered in and kissed Susan on the top of her head, taking the chair next to her. "That's how she got the first three."

Susan bowed her head. "I'm sorry. I just thought that maybe someone who knows you would see them and help you get your memory back. It worked but I never wanted to cause you pain."

"It's all right, Pet." Will was quick to reassure her. "I appreciate the effort. I'd like to know what happened to me, how I got into that bloody amulet in the first place. Finding out how a vampire got into heaven has got to be a good story."

Susan gazed at him in awe. "What?" He asked, suddenly nervous.

"You saved the world." She said quietly.

"Bollocks. Vampires don't save the world, Luv, they destroy it." He protested, unnerved by her pronouncement.

"You also have a soul." Jake added, earning yet another disbelieving stare from Will.

Seeing the truth shining in both pair of gray eyes, the vampire got up and began to pace thoughtfully. "That would certainly explain some things." He stopped and looked at Jake with haunted eyes. "Guess you're right, Mate. I mean, how many souled vampires could there be in this world?"

He moved over to the refrigerator and got out a packet of blood, dumped it into a mug and shoved it into the microwave. His mind struggled to process the new information. He'd saved the world? How? He braced his arms on the counter and bent his head so that his chin nearly rested on his chest. Susan and Jake watched him worriedly. When the microwave beeped he ignored it for a few seconds. He heaved a huge unneeded breath and retrieved the mug. He walked back to the table and sat down again.

He sipped the red fluid slowly, still thinking. Reaching a decision, he looked at both his friends. "I want to meet them." He said. "Those people who know me. I want to meet them. Not the vampire, the others. The girls."

Susan nodded. "They love you a lot." She told him.

His smile was brilliant. "Really?" He glanced up quickly and then back down into his mug, uncertainty shone in his dark blue eyes.

Susan gazed at him. She looked at the handsome face with its sharp cheekbones and full lower lip. Thick dark lashes framed his sapphire eyes and his deep voice with its precise British accent made her knees weak. Her private opinion was that his smile should be declared a lethal weapon. His muscular body clad in his customary snug black t-shirt and equally snug black jeans was something any healthy woman would fantasize about. All in all, this was one luscious package and if she hadn't already loved him as a brother, she would have been willing to risk her heart on him. She envied the woman he was sure to love and, if her instincts were correct, that woman would be Buffy.

She reached over and ran her fingers through his tousled curls, still damp from his shower. "Yes, really." She smiled. She picked up her cup and finished her coffee. "I need to call Wesley and see if we can figure out a safe way to do this."

"Why do we need to worry about safety?" Will wondered.

Jake got up for more coffee. He carried Will's empty mug to the sink and got him a fresh cup for coffee. Taking it and the pot back to the table, he thought about it.

"I get the feeling that we need to." He said, knowing that it wasn't a very satisfactory answer but it was the only one he had. Susan and Will both nodded. They both knew to respect Jake's 'feelings'.

Susan pulled her cell phone and Wesley's card from her jeans pocket. She dialed the cell phone number printed on the small white card. After just a couple of rings the former watcher answered.

"Hi Wes." She greeted him.

"Hello. How are you today?" Wes carefully avoided using her name.

Noting the caution in his voice, she merely answered, "Fine." And waited.

"I need to discuss new developments in your case but not on the phone. We need to meet. There is an email address on my card, if you could contact me on it, I will give you more details." Wes requested.

"Okay." Susan agreed nervously.

"Thank you." The young Englishman hung up abruptly.

"What was that all about?" Will asked. His vampire hearing had caught both sides of the conversation.

"I guess Jake's feeling is on the mark as usual." She said.

They all went into Jake's room to his computer desk and logged onto the Internet. She used the email address on the card to send a quick message to Wesley, careful not to mention any names. Signing the message with a simple 'S'. The answer came back almost immediately asking Susan to meet him at the 'same coffee place'. It was vague enough to confuse anyone who may intercept the message but Wes was aware that Susan would know exactly where he meant. She sent back a message giving him an equally vague answer indicating she would meet him at the same time as before.

Knowing she had to leave in order to meet Wes on time, she kissed both men and left for her meeting.

Will stood at the kitchen door and watched her Jeep as it navigated the gravel driveway. He sent up a thought to whoever it was that listened to vampires for her to be kept safe. He closed the door thoughtfully and turned a steady gaze to Jake.

"I'm not worth it." Will whispered.

Jake's head snapped up. "Don't ever let me hear you say that again." He hissed. "I told you last night, you're special. Now we know why. You saved the world. My God! Do you know what that means?"

Will studied the floor and shook his head.

"It means that you're a hero, a champion. The only reason anyone exists is because of you. You are so worth it." Jake told the startled vampire.

"I have to think." Will said and beat a retreat down to the basement gym.