Chapter Two

The vampire leapt at him, snarling and catching Spike off guard. He grunted as the blow fell quickly on his shoulder blade. But, he recovered and spun around to hit the demon square in the jaw. The small vampire flew backwards a few feet, but came back, showing his fangs and snarling again. Spike just laughed.

"Always liked it this way, haven't you?" Angelus asked, pressing his leg into William's groin. William closed his eyes and shook his head. Angelus' fingers curled mercilessly around Will's hair, stopping his movements and laughing.

"Stop…" he whispered bravely as his Sire gave his head a violent shove and pressed his bruising lips against his.

"Never," Angelus said, fumbling with the buttons of his trousers. "Never."

The vampire flew backwards, the brick wall shattering against his weight. Spike smiled and removed a stake from his duster pocket, making sure the offending vamp could see that he meant business.

"What's your problem, man?" the downed vamp asked, scrambling to his feet as Spike shrugged and smirked.

"That's a loaded question, mate." he said, leaping forward and plunging the stake into the demon's chest. As the cloud of dust hit him, he turned the vampire's question over in his mind. He wasn't quite sure why, but the vampire was right, what Iwas/I his problem?

Oh, yeah. Angel, he thought, sighing and willing the images of his Sire out of his head. It was no use; the images flooded his consciousness again.

He felt the broken bone of his hip grind against the shattered remnants of his spine. Something crunched and blood splattered around his legs.

"Try not to move, Will." a voice said close to his head. For a moment he wished someone would tell him what was going on or at least touch him so he knew they were there. No one was touching him and felt suddenly alone.

"Ang-Angelus?" he whispered to the darkness. No one answered. He felt something twist in his abdomen and the sound of more bones grinding. He couldn't feel much of the pain, but what he could feel was a dull ache around his thighs.

Something warm touched his stomach and began to trickle down to his ankles.

"Angelus?" he asked again weakly. In reply, he heard the sound of dry twigs snapping and then a jolt of pain radiate up to his neck. His lips contorted into a painful 'O' and tears strained at the corners of his eyes.

"Quiet William. You've caused enough trouble." he heard his Sire shout.

A stinging blow rained down on his cheek and he tasted blood.

"Broken legs." Angelus spat. William thought he must have been shaking his head. "Broken legs is all. You're lucky I don't cane you as well."

With a heavy sigh, he dropped the stake and shook his head. He was sick of feeling this way. He would have to do the one thing he promised himself over and over he wouldn't do.

He'd have to confront the problem.

- - -

Someone cleared their throat and Spike turned around to face a very sour looking Angel. Spike sighed and shifted slightly, beginning to regret his decision of asking him to come to the apartment. What the bloody hell was I thinking? he asked himself, shaking his head.

"Look, if you're gonna go all "corporate glower" on me, then forget it." Spike snapped defensively. That, at least, got Angel to raise and eyebrow for a second. But it was only a second, because his face, once again, became a hard, expressionless block of stone.

"Spike." he said stiffly. It was a warning. Spike knew it all too well.

"Look, we just need to talk, is all. Alright?" Spike replied quickly, narrowing his eyes.

There was a moment of silence, then Angel sighed and nodded. "Alright." he put his hands into his pockets and cleared his throat. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, you wanker," Spike barked quickly, sitting down on the sofa and letting his arms drop between his knees. He could almost hear Angel roll his eyes. This, already, wasn't going well at all and they both knew it. Angel knew that Spike was never one to share what he was feeling and Spike knew that Angel was never one to hear about it.

Spike began to fidget with the edge of the ratty sofa, tapping his foot in frustration. It was clear there Iwas/I a problem and that Angel was probably going to have to beat it out of him. Angel shut his eyes for a moment, gathering himself into some sort of manageable person, then softly sat down next to his Childe. Spike glanced briefly at Angel's position and quickly went back to picking at the sofa's material, pretending Angel wasn't there. He had already run out of things to say and he hadn't even said anything yet.

"Then why am I here?" Angel asked softly, his voice giving nothing away about his emotion. His tone was even and calming. It was the same voice he used with William when things got too confusing for him to handle. The rule was: always keep it simple. Spike hadn't changed much over the years. It was still up to Angel to keep things simple.

"You kissed me." Spike replied, refusing to look at Angel.

"I did." he admitted evenly.

"Why?"

"Because you were hysterical."

There was silence. Spike had stopped moving and fixed his gaze on the floor.

"That's not why," he finally said, chancing a sideways look at the man next to him. Angel's face was a mixture of confusion and guilt. "We both know that."

After another moment, "You're right." he said simply, his voice still even and emotionless, as if he were giving someone an instruction. "I wanted to help you. I needed you to calm down."

"So you were going to fuck me?" Spike sneered bitterly, finally turning to face his Sire. "Contrary to popular belief, I'm not an idiot, Angel. You haven't changed one bit. Soul or no soul, you still think you can control me like you did back then."