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The next morning when Buffy woke she was laying on the couch with a blanket draped over her, the smell of coffee drifting from the kitchen. She pushed the blanket off of her and walked to the kitchen where she saw Giles seated at the kitchen table reading the morning paper with a cup of tea and Angel sitting on a barstool staring at the wall with an extremely focused expression. His wings were visible and relaxed behind him, his left tucked neatly against his back and the right slightly expanded. All the gauze was off of him and he looked almost completely healed except for the large scar on his chest and back, but that would most likely disappear soon.

Giles looked up and smiled in greeting, "Did you sleep well?"

She nodded distractedly as she looked at Angel who had yet to acknowledge her presence. Figuring he must be very deep in thought she poured herself some coffee and sat down next to Giles. She raised the cup to her lips but jumped when Angel suddenly laughed, the sound joined by another set of male laughter a moment later.

Seeing another man suddenly appear in his kitchen caused Giles to jump and produce a knife out of seemingly nowhere.

Spike eyed the knife, "Won't be needing that, won't do much good anyway. Now what's for breakfast?"

After recovering from the shock of another person appearing out of nowhere Buffy looked at Angel, "Is that what you were doing? Talking to Spike?"

He nodded and smiled at her in greeting as Spike came to stand behind him and gently grab his damaged wing before stretching it out, ignoring him when he hissed in pain.

Giles came to the obvious conclusion that Spike was another angel and watched the pairs interaction carefully. He watched as the bleached blonde man carefully stretched out the wing and began combing his fingers through the midnight colored feathers and gliding his hands over the stitched areas and broken bones. The entire time he was extremely focused while Liam looked relaxed and content only flinching when Spike hit a damaged area. Angel seemed to be oblivious to his and Buffy's stares and after a short time allowed his eyes to slide close as a content noise escaped him.

Spike's fingers worked through the feathers pulling out clumps of debris that they had obviously missed and realigned feathers that were already trying to grow back. Eventually he stepped back, "Did a good job. I'd fix you but I don't have it in me right now."

He shook his head, "Not your job to take care of me William. I'll be fine by tonight."

The younger looking man nodded before clapping his hands together startling Buffy and her watcher. "As I was saying, breakfast?"

Buffy jumped up and began pouring him a cup of coffee as Giles stood and walked over to him, "Rupert Giles."

The man smiled widely and shook his hand, "Spike. So you're the watcher huh?"

"Yes, and you are…"

His chest puffed out proudly, "Commander. Well temporarily anyway until my boy here decides what he wants to be when he grows up." Angel rolled his eyes but remained silent. Buffy placed the cup of coffee on the table and Spike sat down and with a snap of his fingers a large breakfast appeared in front of him. Giles watched him for a moment until Spike looked up with a piece of bacon hanging out of his mouth. "If you have questions just ask. I'm a lot more friendly than peaches."

Giles glanced at Angel who shot Spike a glare before looking back at the young man in front of him. "So you're an angel, are you younger than Liam?"

Spike nodded, "Died in 1873. Only a thousand years old."

Giles scribbled the information down on a piece of paper, "And your name is William? Where did you hail from?"

"Same as you and yes it is but don't call me that. Only the ponce calls me that sometimes."

Giles glanced at Angel as a thought occurred to him. "Angel implied he was different than the other angels, is he different from you?"

Spike's gaze drifted to Angel who was watching the exchange through narrowed eyes. When Spike saw his small nod he turned to face Giles again who noticed the exchange, "Angel is your superior."

The younger man nodded once before going back to his previous question. "None of our brothers look like him at all. Wings and everything are different."

Giles licked his lips nervously, "Could you show me an example?"

Spike shrugged and stood before lifting the back of his shirt and allowing his wings to materialize. Giles quickly approached the man and looked at the appendages carefully. Each wing was completely white and about half as large as Angels. "They're much smaller than Angel's, white too."

"Gee thanks mate."

Giles blushed and tried to correct himself. "I um…. I…." He paused and gathered his thoughts, "I'm just trying to learn more about your species."

Angel's head shot up and he glared at Giles with hard eyes, "We're not animals at the zoo."

Spike looked over to his comrade's face where his eyes were glowing eerily. "Calm down peaches, man meant no harm." He turned and looked at Giles who was still watching Angel with unease. "Don't mind the poof, he's always had something stuck up his…"

"Spike!" Angel growled.

The younger angel grinned, "Anyways. He hasn't told you much about us as a whole has he?"

At Giles and Buffy's headshakes he sighed and grabbed some cookies off of a plate on the counter. "We're the same physically as you are, wings excluded of course. Wings are what connects us to upstairs, lets us communicate, keeps us healthy. Rule number one, never touch an angel's wings."

Angel left the room when Giles and Buffy frowned heavily. Spike felt Angel leave before he sighed, "You touched his didn't you? How many?"

Buffy and Giles both looked sheepish before Buffy answered, "Me, Giles, Willow and Xander."

Spike shook his head, "I get why you all had to and believe me it's better than just leaving them but when humans touch an angel's wings its about the same as demons. Burns 'em. Badly."

Both paled considerably while he continued. "The wings are the most sensitive and the most holy. Angelus' are different. Demons don't affect him at all but humans do."

"Why don't demons affect Angel's wings?"

"Because he's not…" he trailed off. "Actually I really can't answer that, not right to share if he hasn't. No one knows but dear old Dad, my knowing is actually an accident."

Buffy frowned in confusion before she spoke without thinking, "When I touched them it didn't seem like it hurt."

Spike grinned widely, a mischievous look covering his entire face. "Well now that's interesting. You'll have to talk to him about that though."

Buffy looked over to where Angel had been sitting and frowned when she didn't see him. She stood and walked through the house before finding him in his room experimentally expanding his wing. He was so engrossed in what he was doing he didn't hear her enter.

"They're beautiful."

He jumped before looking at her, "They're damaged."

She shrugged and took a step closer, "Doesn't matter they're still beautiful." She walked forward until she was standing in front of him and he allowed his wings to expand halfway, the large appendages almost reaching from one end of the room to the other even though they weren't fully out. Her hands reached out and touched the soft feathers working from the highest point she could reach towards his back and stopped when a shudder rippled through them. She looked at Angel's face and saw that his eyes were closed and his expression looked like pure bliss.

"Please don't stop," he whispered.

Her heart now beating erratically her hands began their ministrations again until she was massaging the bases of the large wings. Without warning Angel grabbed her close and smashed his lips to hers. The kiss was frantic and all consuming, it felt like her entire body was on fire. She ran her hands down his smooth back and eagerly lifted her arms when he lifted her shirt. Pants came next as the two battled for dominance, Angel finally winning when he pinned her to the wall. She moaned when he pressed himself against her and grabbed a handful of feathers as his wings flapped wildly. Suddenly as if someone had thrown a bucket of cold water on them Angel jerked back panting.

He backed away slowly until her was standing a few feet away, "I'm sorry."

She shook her head and took a step forward only to stop when he took a step back. "What's wrong?"

"Buffy, I can't do this. You're so young and innocent and this is bigger than you understand."

She felt small and young and she didn't like it. "Oh yes, my young and feeble mind is too weak to understand things."

She turned to grab her clothes and dressed before heading to the door. Her hand was on the door handle when she stopped at his words. "Spike told you about the wings right? How demons don't affect me yet humans do? That is hurts me when they're touched?"

Buffy turned and frowned at the fact that his pants were back on, even if they were unbuttoned. "Yes."

Angel continued, "But he didn't say why your touch doesn't hurt, did he?"

She waited for him to continue and he did a second later in a voice so quiet she was sure she would have missed his words if it weren't for her slayer hearing. "It doesn't hurt me because you're my mate."

The room was so tense she could barely breath, "Your what?"

He suddenly looked nervous and much smaller than he really was. His wings twitched nervously behind his back as he avoided eye contact. "Every angel has a soul mate and we have no control over who that person is. Sometimes it's other angels, sometimes demons, and sometimes humans. I didn't know you were mine until you touched my wings. Instead of pain your touch provides warmth, security, and trust."

She took a few steps towards him and was pleased when he didn't shy away. "Why didn't you tell me after you knew?"

"Because like I said, you're young and innocent. You have enough you deal with, you don't need me adding to your problems." He looked up and met her eyes, "Buffy I still might be evil, I still haven't chosen where I want to be."

She nodded, "So what happens now with the um.. mate thing?"

Angel turned and sat down on the edge of the bed, "Nothing. I'm not going to put you through that. The bond will fade and you might feel like something's missing for a while but that's it."

She sat down next to him on the bed and watched him carefully, "And what will happen to you?"

He stiffened slightly, "Nothing."

"You're not a very good liar."

A sigh escaped his lips, "Angel's mate for life and can only mate with who's been chosen for them. If I walk away from this I'll continue on without a mate for all eternity. My capacity to love will slowly diminish until all that's left in me is darkness and hate."

Buffy was floored, "And what happens if we mate?"

His eyes darted to hers before he stood, "It doesn't matter because it's not going to happen."

"Why though? What's so bad about it?"

He blew out a frustrated breath. "Buffy you're young don't you want more out of life than this? If we mate that's it. You can never be with anyone else forever. Your soul and my essence will be tied and when one of us inevitably dies the other will slowly descend into madness from the grief. We'd be tied together in every sense of the word."

"How…. how does it work?"

Hope burst forth in him but he kept it carefully contained. "It's a two part process. Both have to accept the mating fully and completely and then they have to complete it… physically. If that happens both are marked but I can't say how because it's different for everyone."

"Oh," she said quietly with a blush. "I feel like everything's happening so fast."

"It is. For you at least." Seeing her knitted eyebrows he sighed. "Buffy I've been waiting for a mate for two thousand years. You've only been alive sixteen."

"Almost seventeen."

He withheld an eye roll. "Fact still remains. Look, I'm not trying to pressure you at all. The only reason I even brought it up is because I didn't want you to be mad at me and if I'm moving to fast with anything just tell me." A sigh escaped him, "I don't want to rush you into anything but I've got a ticking clock, I won't be on earth forever. Just know that no matter what you decide I've really enjoyed my time with you."

The pair sat in an awkward silence until Angel shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Spike's calling me, come on."