FanFiction Archive

Understanding

Part 6

Willow fought back a smile at the way Angel and Spike pointedly ignored each other as they approached the Summers-Rosenberg residence. As she unlocked the door, she turned to them and raised her eyebrows. "Can I trust you two to behave when we're inside? It's not like we have a lot of money to pay for any damages if you two get making with the testosterone," she warned, half in jest, half in seriousness. 'The last thing I need are extra bills for fixing furniture,' she said to herself. 'And I bet neither of them would be too happy helping me clean up either.'

The two sighed loudly in unison. Dawn giggled a little at how similar they sounded but wiped any traces of humor from her face when both sets of eyes turned to her. She gave both an innocent look as she pushed past them and entered her home. "Yeah, I don't want my allowance cut back just to pay for a stupid lamp you two broke because you were being all macho-y," the teen declared as she hung her light jacket up.

"I'll behave," Angel promised. He continued, muttering to himself, "Though I know Spike doesn't know how."

"Hey, Peaches! I heard that, you wanker!" The blond protested, scowling at his grandsire. Seeing the disapproving glares from both Dawn and Willow, he rolled his eyes and held his right hand up as if he were swearing an oath. "I promise I won't do anything physical to the Poof," he said before letting his hand drop. "Though if he doesn't stop with the nancy boy comments, I'll be forced to defend myself intellectually. And we both know who'll win that contest of minds!"

Angel sniggered behind a hand as he rolled his eyes at his grandchilde's boasts. `Spike will always be William, no matter how hard he tries not to be.' He noted. Suddenly, he groaned as a sharp elbow connected with his gut. He looked up into the stern face of Willow.

"Angel, be nice," she all but growled as she gestured for both the vampires to enter. As Willow shut the door, she prayed to her Goddess that the two would behave. 'Please let them be good!' She said mentally, hoping that her deity would hear her.

Angel looked at the clock on the mantelpiece as the four entered the living room. "Isn't it about time for bed, Dawn?" He asked. 'If Dawn goes to bed, there's no reason for Spike to stay,' he reasoned. 'And then Willow and I will have time alone to talk.'

Dawn snorted. "Angel, it's only ten o'clock!" She said in the superior tone of a teenager who knows she's right. "And besides, it's the weekend, so I can sleep in tomorrow. I am fifteen you know, I'm not a child."

"Yeah, Peaches, get with the twenty-first century! Kids today can stay up past nine o'clock," Spike put in, flopping down on the couch. Dawn immediately claimed the seat next to him while Willow sat in the chair. "I mean, we realize for someone as old as you, it might be hard to remember the little details, but you should at least try!" Spike continued maliciously.

Angel scowled at Spike before choosing the chair next to the redhead. "You're one to talk, William," Angel said in a warning tone.

Spike shook his head violently. "Don't get into that 'William' crap, Angelus. I'm not William anymore!" He snapped.

"And I'm not Angelus anymore," Angel countered.

"Ha," Spike said, giving the older vampire a disbelieving look. Angel merely raised an eyebrow in response. Spike continued, "We all heard about your little affair with the dark side, so don't pretend you're a knight-in-shining-armor."

Angel winced and looked at his hands. "And who told you that?" He asked shortly, glancing up quickly as he asked. 'Was it Wesley? Or Cordelia? I'm going to have to sit her down and have a little chat about privacy,' he promised himself.

Willow decided it was time to intervene. "Cordelia did. And don't you get all mad about it either," she told the brunette, shaking a finger in warning. "She was asking Giles if there could be some magical reason for you being all... depressed. She was trying to help."

"What Red means is, the cheerleader was afraid Angelus was on his way back," Spike put in. 'Ha, take that you wanker,' the blond thought.

Angel snapped his head around to look at the blond in horror. "I told them it was me, not Angelus!" He growled, looking decidedly displeased.

Spike glowered. "Yeah, I'm sure that knowing it was her best friend and not his evil double that killed those lawyers was a great comfort to her."

"Hey, I didn't-" Angel began to say, his expression somewhere between outrage and guilt.

"No, Dru and Darla did. But you let them, Angel," Willow said quietly. She sighed before putting on her resolve face "But that's in the past, so let's talk about something else, alright?"

"But couldn't he do that again?" Dawn asked from her position on the couch. When the three sets of eyes turned to her, she blushed and looked uncomfortable. "What I meant is - can't he still become Angelus? So we don't know if it's just in the past or if it's in the future, too."

Angel sighed and nodded, running a hand through his hair. "Unfortunately, we haven't found a way to make my soul permanent yet. Wes was looking prior to my... problems but since then we've had other things to deal with."

"Other things?" Dawn asked in confusion. "What's more important than that?"

Angel cleared his throat. "Well, Cordelia was transported to Pylea, a demon dimension. So we had to go there to get her back and to help overthrow their oppressive government. It treated humans as cows, slaves," he finished in an offhand way. "And then... we heard about things here. So we haven't had a lot of free time recently."

Willow shifted in her chair. "Well, um . actually," she began tentatively, "I've kinda been on the lookout for anything that might help with anchoring your soul, too."

Angel looked at her in surprise. "You have?" He asked, his face showing his shock. 'She's been doing that with all she's had to deal with?' He thought to himself incredulously. He felt guilty that while he claimed to have no free time to research, Willow, who had more to do than he did, had been finding a spare moment to do it.

"You don't think she wants to see your evil half again, do you? None of us do," Spike informed him. "The Angelus you turned into a few years ago is a bloody nonce!"

Willow scowled at Spike. "Actually, I was looking for a way for him to be happy and safe knowing that Angelus couldn't be brought back," she said. She shrugged. "I haven't found anything that both would work and doesn't require things we can't get. All the ones I've found say they need 'blood of a dozen virgins set in moonlight for three days' and stuff like that." She threw a pillow at Spike when she saw the leer on his face. "And no, we're not going to find twelve virgins, Spike. Ew!"

Spike grinned unrepentantly, leaning back against the sofa as he began to mentally reminisce. "Ah, I miss the good old days. Before I had the chip, I could kill for weeks on end. Virgins, whores, it didn't matter. The blood tasted marvelous when it was fresh. Though, to be truthful, nothing beats virgin's blood."

"Um, ew. And way too much information," Dawn said, becoming pale. She stuck her tongue out at Spike to emphasize her point.

Spike was contrite when he saw Dawn's face. "Sorry, pet. Didn't mean to upset you," he apologized as Angel looked at him in shock. "What?"

Angel shook his head. "Nothing," he answered, putting on an impassive face. 'Could Spike really have changed? And if not, what's he playing at?' He asked himself as he studied the blond out of the corner of his eye.

Willow cleared her throat. "So, Angel, how long are you staying?"

"I'll probably leave tomorrow evening. I could make it back to LA now, but I could use a little time away," he said. He glanced at her. "You don't mind, do you?"

Willow smiled. "I invited you to stay, didn't I? Of course I don't mind!"

"I do," Spike grumbled. "But nobody seems to be asking my opinion."

"No, we're not," the other three occupants of the room agreed simultaneously.

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