Title: I Finally Remembered You. Part 17 – Spike
Author: Xanfan
Rating: R/NC-17 for other chapters
Pairing: Xander/Angel
Summary: AU futurefic. Slash. Xander, not Buffy, had gone to see Angel in "I Will Remember You" Years later, he finally keeps his promise.
Spoilers: All of BtVS & Ats
Warnings: M/M, mild language, more in future chapters
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Words in Italics indicate thoughts.
Spike was curious as hell. He had seen his sire and the whelp leave together earlier, but no auto sounds followed, so he was pretty sure they hadn't gone too far. Where had they gone? What were they doing? Each other? Spike snickered wickedly at his own joke.
He had always thought that Angel and the boy had a thing for each other. He had often smelled the attraction from his sire, in Sunnydale and smelled confusion and attraction from the boy. After Angel left Sunnydale and after the chip, whenever he had seen his sire, the older vampire had smelled of sorrow and loss whenever the boy was there, or even mentioned in conversation.
And last night, when they had seen the boy sweaty and lusted after by all those girls, he had been able to smell Angel's lust above all those girls' teenage hormones. He had also smelt anger coming off his sire, or was it jealousy? The two were often so similar.
And then shock. Spike had realized that Angel was never told that Xander had lost an eye. The conversation he and his sire had afterwards, had been tense.
Not long after they were shown to their respective rooms, Angel had burst through Spike's door.
"When did Xander loose his eye? And why didn't you tell me?" Angel struggled to maintain an even tone of voice.
"It happened not long before the battle, the all mighty Buffy led us into an ambush. We were fighting Caleb and the first's minions. Potentials were falling left and right, and Buffy called for a retreat. The whelp was helping the injured get out, when he saw one of them was about to get put down permanently by the preacher man. You know Xander, he stepped in, and Caleb jabbered at him for a few moments, then… he just…he stuck his thumb in the boy's eye." Spike was lost in his own memories of the moment. "I was across the room helping get Slayers and mini-slayers out and I couldn't stop him. I was able to pull him off before he went after the other eye, but…"
Angel was horrified by the tale. His Boy must have been so scared and suffered so much.
"Why didn't Buffy tell me about this when I came to bring her the amulet?"
"She couldn't even look at the boy or visit him in the hospital; I'm not surprised she didn't tell you. Besides, why should she think you would care? You and the boy have never been what you would call close." Spike said, trying to goad a reaction from Angel, "In fact, some would say that you hate each other."
Angel kept his mouth shut, not falling for Spike's baiting. Then, what the childe had said struck him, "She didn't even go see him in the hospital?" He practically shouted.
Spike didn't smirk, like you would think he might. He too was appalled at is onetime love's callous actions.
"Even I visited the whelp in the hospital. Every time someone came through the door, he would look up in hope that it was her, his supposed best friend, and his face would fall when he realized she wasn't coming." Spike remembered, with sorrow.
Angel looked devastated. He left the room quietly. Not even bothering to slam the door, like he usually did when he left Spike's presence.
Spike still had the occasional nightmare about the boy losing his eye; he often woke up to the boy's bloodcurdling scream ringing in his ears.
He and the boy had developed a pseudo friendship towards the end of Sunnydale and Spike had always regretted not being able to prevent Caleb from destroying the boy's eye.
He hoped that they could resume their friendship. It was one of his fonder memories from that time. They had both enjoyed the biting comments, the other always seemed to have.
Buffy's reaction to Xander's injury had finally cured him of his feelings for her. A woman who deserved to be loved the way Spike loved, would never treat a friend like that. Sometimes, she would look at Xander in such a way, it would seem like she blamed him for getting injured. Like he'd done it to show her up or as a personal affront to her. No, Spike refused to love someone that selfish.
Sure, he had gone along to Rome with Angel and always gave him a hard time about Buffy, but Spike had really just done it to annoy the poof. Sometimes, annoying the older vampire was the only entertainment he had. Of course, it looked like he now had something, someone, else to tease his sire about.
Spike also wanted to know what the hell was going on between his sire and the boy. The lust he could understand, I mean the boy was a nummy treat. But, he was confused by the scents of sorrow and loss Angel always gave off. That just didn't track with what he knew of their relationship. He also sensed it wasn't the normal brooding and angst, that Angel usually indulged in.
Yes, there was a big mystery afoot. And Spike was just the vampire to figure it out. I mean, how else was he going to amuse himself?