The Birthday Present

A/N I've added another pairing to this chapter - Angel/Spike. Alwaysand - thanks for the rev - glad that I'm keeping you guessing! :)


Chapter Twenty-Five

“What the hell…?” said Angel as he pushed Spike roughly away.


Spike immediately curled into a ball, rocking rapidly to and fro. “Been bad, been bad, been bad.” He repeated it like a mantra.


Oh, Christ. “Spike, you haven’t been bad,” said Angel, softly. He reached out to touch him, but Spike whimpered and moved even further away. “Hey, it’s all right. Calm down.”


Spike showed no sign of hearing him, he just continued muttering and rocking.


“Spike, look at me.” Angel’s tone was firm.


Spike’s movement stilled and he reluctantly brought his eyes up to meet Angel’s. Spike bit his lip; almost as if that was the only way that he could stop his words.


“What do you think I’m going to do to you?” asked Angel.


“Hurt me,” said Spike simply.


Angel shook his head. “Why do you think that I would want to hurt you?”


Spike stared at Angel as if he were mad. “Been bad. Owner didn’t like it. My job to make owner happy.”


“Who’s your owner, Spike?”


Spike looked at him uncertainly. “L…Lindsey is…was…I don’t…you’re owner n…now.”


“I’m not your owner; I’m like you,” said Angel.


Spike sat a little straighter. “But…” He shook his head.


“But what, Spike? Tell me.”


“It…you feel like Lindsey, s…so must be o…owner,” replied Spike, letting his eyes fall to his hands, and twisting his fingers together.


What the hell does he mean? Angel racked his brain to think of what he could be referring. He remembered the handbook – the freaking remote control vampire bible. That stupid claiming rite, but it couldn’t have formed any sort of bond. Angel remembered how Spike had bared his teeth at him. What if he had bitten his owner and tasted his blood? Shit! That would make the claim valid. Not as strong as a proper claim, but it would provide a definite link.


“Spike, I want you to try to remember and answer honestly, okay. You won’t be in any trouble. Just tell the truth.” He waited until Spike nodded before continuing. “Did you ever bite Lindsey?”


Spike shook his head so vehemently that his whole body practically shook with it. “No, never bite, Lindsey. I love Lindsey.”


Crap! I thought that’s what it’d be. Angel smiled as another thought occurred to him. “Did you ever taste Lindsey’s blood, even by accident?”


Spike froze and brought his eyes up to Angel’s face. How does he know? He nodded slowly.


Okay, that explains why you still say you love the guy who’s done this to you, and why you thought that I was your new owner – you felt the bond of the sire line. Angel wondered if he could use that to his advantage. He looked at Spike’s trembling figure and silently cursed those who were able to reduce him to this. Angel suddenly knew what he could do to at least get Spike to relax a little.


“Come here, Spike.” Angel moved to the couch, sat down and held his arms open, welcoming the smaller vampire into them.


Spike looked at him in disbelief. Ever since he’d been brought here, any affection he’d offered had been spurned and yet now he was being encouraged to touch this non-owner.


“Come on, Spike, I want to hold you,” said Angel, his voice low and inviting.


Spike didn’t need to be asked again. He managed to go from the chair to the couch in a fluid movement that saw his feet not actually touch the floor at all. Angel couldn’t help but smile sadly at the eagerness that Spike showed as he snuggled into his embrace. He could hear the ‘old’ Spike’s voice now. ‘Get off me, you bleeding great poofter!’ He wondered whether he’d ever hear that Spike again?


“You’re okay,” Angel murmured, his lips brushing Spike’s hair. “You’re safe.”


Spike sighed deeply and clung to Angel, sitting on his lap as if he were a small child with his head resting on Angel’s chest. Angel wrapped his arms around Spike and held him tightly. Soon, Spike fell asleep. He felt safe and, more importantly to his mixed up mind, he thought that he’d finally managed to please his non-owner.


Angel sat there with Spike on his lap for three hours before Spike stirred. Spike moved his body a little and Angel suddenly realised that comforting Spike and holding him maybe hadn’t been the best idea he’d ever had. He could feel Spike’s hard cock pressing against his hip.


“Oh, Christ,” muttered Angel as he felt his own twitch in response.


Angel looked at Spike’s face; it appeared as innocent as it had when he’d first been turned by Drusilla. Angel closed his eyes at the memory of how he’d delighted in robbing the boy of that innocence. Hell, between Darla, Drusilla, and himself, they’d moulded Spike into a different creature as surely as The Initiative had. He and Spike had never been intimate, neither vampire were wired that way. Angel smiled. Well there was that one time… He opened his eyes to be met with a pair of intense blue ones staring deeply into his own.


Angel couldn’t look away. They stared at each other for what seemed like an age. Spike licked his lips and Angel saw the stud glint as Spike’s moist pink tongue moved slowly and sensuously over them. With a sigh, Angel bent his head to Spike’s and placed a tender kiss on them. Spike moaned at his touch and deepened the kiss, his tongue seeking permission to enter Angel’s mouth.


Angel knew that he shouldn’t do this, knew that this was a really, really bad idea, but he hadn’t had any type of sexual encounter since his rescue and his libido wouldn’t be denied. The fact that his preference had always been female seemed irrelevant at the moment. He pushed logical thought out of his mind and just let his instincts take over, seeking solace in his grandchild.


Spike was in heaven. Finally, he had gotten something right. When Angel’s lips parted, he slipped his tongue inside his mouth and put the stud in it to good use. He rubbed his hard cock against Angel, loving the fact that it made Angel groan and shift in his seat. Keeping his lips on Angel’s mouth, Spike’s hand slowly stroked its way down Angel’s chest to his groin. He paused for a second; what if he was wrong to do it again?


“Spike,” muttered Angel in a strangled whisper, and thrust his hips towards the smaller vampire’s touch.


Needing no more encouragement than that, Spike’s hand rubbed across Angel’s trapped cock before unfastening Angel’s pants and releasing it. He broke away from kissing to look down at it. He smiled at Angel and then shuffled backwards along the couch until his mouth could reach its tip. Angel fisted Spike’s hair as his head dipped and he felt Spike’s tongue on his erection for the first time.


Somewhere in his mind, Angel knew that this was all kinds of wrong; they both were acting as they were because of the damage caused by the program, but it felt just so damn good…


Spike concentrated on his job, Angel’s cock was thicker than Lindsey’s and he knew that it would hurt him if it were inside him because the plug was no longer in place. He knew that he wanted it though. His own cock was aching with the need to be touched, but he never should touch it when he was doing this to the owner. He frowned. Said not owner. He shook his head slightly, not wanting to think about that; it hurt to think too much.


Spike’s expertise swiftly brought Angel to a climax. Angel stifled a cry. As he came, he thrust roughly into Spike’s mouth and his body shuddered as Spike swallowed his spendings. Spike continued to lick and suck at Angel’s cock until it softened. He glanced up at the non-owner to make sure that he’d done well.


Angel became aware of Spike staring at him when he came down to earth again. Before he could say anything, Spike had turned around and pulled his pants down, presenting himself in what Angel knew was standard position one. He reached out and stroked Spike’s exposed ass with his left hand and caught his breath as Spike moaned softly and leaned back into his touch.


“No, Spike. I can’t,” said Angel, despite feeling his cock immediately spring back to life. Not for the first time since his capture, Angel cursed the vampire recovery time.


Spike’s blond head twisted around and Angel knew that he was lost as those blue eyes glistened with tears. “Pl…please. I n…need…”


Angel’s fingers traced the cleft between Spike’s buttocks, until he came to a stop at his pucker.


“There’s no plug, Spike. It’ll hurt you. We don’t have any lube.”


Spike looked away again. “Don’t ca…care. Please I need to…to be…full.”


By now, Angel was almost painfully erect. “Oh, Christ, Spike.” He licked the fingers of his right hand and began to probe gently at Spike’s opening. “Got to be quiet, okay?”


Spike turned to look back at Angel, holding his mouth open. For a moment, Angel didn’t know why Spike was doing this and then felt sick to his stomach as he realised that Spike was offering himself for a gag to be fitted. Repulsed, Angel stood up and took a coupled of steps away from the couch. He glanced back when he heard a whimper and saw that the threatened tears were now falling down Spike’s hollow cheeks.


“Been bad?” asked Spike tremulously. “S…sorry.”


Angel closed his eyes. A voice in his head was screaming ‘walk away, walk away’, but instead he walked back to the damaged vampire and gently stroked his back.


“No gag, Spike, but you have to stay quiet, okay?”


Angel couldn’t help but smile as Spike snapped his mouth shut and nodded. He re-slicked his fingers with saliva and this time breeched Spike’s hole. It wasn’t as quite as tight as he expected and shuddered as he knew that Spike must have been very badly damaged before he arrived.


He manoeuvred Spike until he could kneel on the floor with his cock lined up with Spike’s pucker. Angel was going to take him from behind, not willing to see Spike’s face as he fucked him. Spike tensed and emitted a low groan as Angel’s penis slowly entered him, but leaned back and encouraged Angel to move more quickly.


Angel’s fingers dug painfully into the flesh covering Spike’s hips, but Spike didn’t care. He was full again, loved again. He almost came as Angel’s hand grasped his cock and started to pump in time with the thrusts that drove his cock into Spike.


Spike buried his face in the cushion of the couch to keep from making a sound. It hurt but it was a welcome hurt; a familiar hurt. His non-owner loved him. He came in a long shuddering gasp as Angel found a good rhythm and angled his cock to hit Spike’s prostate sensor.


Angel groaned as Spike came. Relishing the power he had over the smaller vampire. For the first time since his capture he felt like he used to. Felt in control. Felt alive – metaphorically speaking. He was so engrossed in bringing himself to a climax with a few more hard thrusts, that he didn’t hear the footsteps on the staircase or the small gasp as Willow saw the two vampires’ activity.


Willow back pedalled quickly and quietly up the stairs, suddenly not hungry for her middle of the night snack. Oh boy! She wondered what Buffy would make of it. Not that she was going to be the one to tell her.


Angel bit the inside of his lip as he came, hard. He rammed into Spike with a force that made Spike whimper a little with pain. Angel collapsed forwards, gasping with the effort; he dropped a kiss on the back of Spike’s neck, feeling guilty of being so rough.


“I’m sorry that I hurt you, Spike,” whispered Angel as he withdrew from his body and saw streaks of blood. What the hell have I done?

He squeezed his eyes shut in shame. He was no better than Spike’s owners. He had taken advantage of the ingrained training that The Initiative had implanted in Spike. The erasure of Spike’s memories made it even worse. Oh, Christ! Angel stood up and went to walk away, needing to clean up but a hand gripped his wrist. He looked down to see that Spike had turned over and was looking at him with those goddamn tortured blue eyes, but a smile was playing on the blond vampire’s lips.


“Was good. Didn’t hurt – not really,” said Spike. “Did I do a good job? Did you like it?”


Angel rubbed Spike’s hair with his free hand. “Yes, I liked it,” said Angel softly. “I liked it a lot.”


Angel felt even worse when Spike’s face split into a grin. Oh yeah, I’ve really helped him to find his identity haven’t I? Shit!


“Um…I’m just going to clean up, pull your pants up, yeah? I’ll use the bathroom upstairs; you can use the one in the basement.”


Spike’s smile faded as Angel said basement, he glanced fearfully towards the kitchen where the door to it was.


“What is it? What’s the matter, Spike?” asked Angel.


Spike shook his head and looked down. He began to tremble. “D…don’t like b…basement.”


Angel knew that he couldn’t let Spike go to use the upstairs bathroom on his own and he was reluctant to take him up with him as it might lead to some awkward questions.


“How about we both use the shower in the basement?”


Predictably, Spike’s smile returned and he licked his lips suggestively. Spike liked showers. “Okay.”


“Come on then,” said Angel.


Spike got up from the couch and went to Angel, catching hold of his hand and grasping it tightly. Angel grimaced at the wet patch on the couch and reached over and turned the cushion upside down so that it didn’t show. He’d have to try to wash it away. He didn’t want to explain that to Buffy.


Angel didn’t miss the fact that Spike got more and more tense as they walked into the basement. He knew that Buffy had said that there was another rescue case in the cage and so wasn’t surprised to see Roger standing near the front of the cage.


“Oh, man, you’re not leaving that little fag down here again are you?” sneered Roger. He laughed out loud as Spike visibly flinched.


Angel vamped out and ran at Roger, his hand whipped between the bars before the other vampire had the chance even to blink. Spike stood back having dropped Angel’s hand when Roger had spoken.


Angel rammed Roger’s head against the bars, unaware that he was mirroring what Roger had done to Spike.


“Don’t you ever speak to him like that again, or so help me God, I’ll dust you,” snarled Angel. “Before the fucking program screwed him up, that vampire,” Angel pointed at Spike, “was a legend! How long were you inside before you were sold?” Roger opened his mouth to speak but Angel silenced him by bashing him against the bars once more. “A couple of months? It took years before William the Bloody was beaten, you bastard.” Angel threw Roger backwards and the vampire landed in a heap near the cot.


A small noise behind him made Angel turn around and he saw that Spike had sat on the floor with his head in his hands, he was shaking violently.


“Spike, are you okay?” Angel rushed to Spike and knelt in front of him.

“Hurts,” Spike moaned, not looking up.


“What does?” asked Angel, hoping that it wasn’t because of what they’d just done on the couch.


“My head,” replied Spike. “I c…can s…see things.” He raised his head and stared at Angel. “You were there. Why d…don’t I remember you if you w…were there?”


“Oh, Spike, they took your memories away. But we knew each other before…before the program got us. We hunted together for over a century.”


Spike closed his eyes tightly as he rode out the pain in his head. Angel took his hand and pulled him to his feet.


“Let’s get that shower, yeah?”


Spike opened his eyes. “Yeah.”


Angel stroked his fingers down Spike’s face. Rage burned in him on Spike’s behalf. He was so badly fucked up. Angel glared at Roger as the pair went to the bathroom. Roger wisely lowered his eyes and kept his mouth shut. He’d heard of William the Bloody – what vampire hadn’t. He was stunned that this slight, weak looking creature was the remains of the legend. Roger also knew now that the tall, dark vampire must be Angelus or Angel he supposed, he knew of the curse of the soul. Roger realised that he was lucky to have survived the wrath of Angel.


Angel stripped Spike of his clothes; he was once more reminded of how damaged Spike was as he stood there like a little boy whilst he was undressed. Angel leaned into the shower and turned on the water, waiting until it was running warm before encouraging Spike inside.


Spike tilted his head on one side and hooked his hand in the waistband of Angel’s pants. “Your turn,” he said as he hesitantly began to unfasten them.


Angel put his hand on Spike’s and was going to rebuff him, but the look on Spike’s face stopped him. The smaller vampire was teetering on the edge of tears once more. Walking away now, after what they had already done would confuse Spike even more.


“It’s okay, Spike, I’m coming in too,” said Angel as he took off his clothes.


Spike went to his knees when Angel stepped under the stream of water. He smiled. Lindsey always liked this. He touched Angel’s balls, stroking them gently before running a feather-light touch down Angel’s cock. This time, Angel listened to that little voice in his head. He cupped Spike’s chin in his right hand and brought his face up until their eyes met.


“No need to do that right now, Spike. Let’s just get clean, okay?”


Spike stared up at him in distress. “B…but –”


“No, Spike. You just did such a good job that I’m too tired,” said Angel. “Stand up.”


Spike got to his feet. “Really?” He smiled. “That good?”


Angel smiled back. “Yeah, that good.”


He picked up the sponge and soap and began to wash Spike. Angel gritted his teeth and willed himself not to be aroused as his bathing of Spike made the blond hard. He turned Spike so that his back was resting against his own front and wrapped his arm around him, firmly grasping Spike’s cock. Spike mewled with pleasure as Angel brought him off for the second time that night.

“You liked that, huh?” said Angel as Spike stood panting, leaning heavily against him.


“Oh, L…um…own…um,” Spike stuttered just remembering in time that this person wasn’t Lindsey and had said that he wasn’t his owner.


Angel’s lips brushed Spike’s ear as he whispered, “Angel, I’m Angel. Do you remember me, Spike?”


Spike winced as his head flared with pain. “Angelus,” he murmured.


“Angel now.”

The confusion and pain were clear to see on Spike’s face. The fragments of memories hurting him as each tiny piece found its way back into its place. Angel let his features vamp out and with a growl sliced his fangs across his wrist, biting back a scream at the pain his coated, sensitised skin made him feel. Still holding Spike from behind he put his wrist up to Spike’s mouth.


“Taste it,” he ordered in a low voice.


Spike hesitated for a moment and then took Angel’s wrist in both of his hands and licked the wound. Angel could feel when the half grown fangs had descended and braced himself as Spike began to nibble and suck at the wound vigorously.


Spike mind was racing as the blood of his grandsire got in to his system. Then the chip fired. Spike yelled and collapsed, almost bringing Angel down with him.


“Spike!”

Angel could only watch in horror as Spike’s body jerked and twitched in response to the pulse of the pain chip. Why had it fired? He turned of the water and wrapped a towel around his waist before easing Spike out of the shower cubicle. Spike’s eyes had rolled back so only the white was visible and he’d bitten his tongue before his face had changed back, blood dribbled down his chin. Angel stroked the stricken vampire’s face.


“Hang in there, Spike. It’ll pass. Oh, please be okay,” Angel was close to tears.


After several minutes, Spike was still in the throes of the chip induced pain, and Angel was beginning to panic. Spike was oblivious to him and so he raced out of the basement and called for Buffy and Willow as he ran through the kitchen. Buffy was at the top of the stairs by the time that Angel was halfway up.


“What’s wrong?”


“It’s Spike, the chip has fired and it’s not looking like its going to stop,” said Angel. “We’ve got to do something.”


Buffy turned around and yelled, “Willow!”


“I’m here,” gasped Willow as she met Buffy on the landing.


“Come on,” said Angel urgently. “Spike needs your help.”


The vampire whirled around and rushed back to the basement, with the girls following on his heels. They stopped short at the sight of the naked vampire, writhing on the floor of the bathroom. Buffy raised an eyebrow at Angel, and then pointedly looked at the towel around his waist.


“What happened? What was he doing when it fired?” she snapped.


Willow knelt beside Spike. “How long has it been firing?”


“I dunno, seems a long time, it should have stopped by now.” Angel chose to answer Willow’s question first.


“What was he doing?” repeated Buffy.


“He was afraid to shower alone and needed to clean up.” Angel hoped that Buffy would just think that Spike had been ‘relieving’ himself – it was a common problem with rescues – and not quiz him further. “He looked like he was in discomfort and so I let him take some of my blood. I thought that maybe it would help since we’re family. Then all of a sudden he cried out and collapsed. The chip shouldn’t fire for him drinking of me. Willow can you help him?”


“I don’t know. I think the best thing for now is for me to use a sleeping spell, then at least he won’t hurt even if the chip keeps firing,” replied Willow.


She started to recite the spell quietly and by the time that she had finished Spike’s twitching had stilled.


“We ought to chain him up. We don’t know what damage this could have done. He could attack once the spell wears off,” said Willow.


“He’s not being chained,” said Buffy and Angel in unison.


Willow looked at them sharply. In view of what she had seen earlier, she worried anew that Buffy’s feeling for Spike could cause trouble.


“Okay, so no chains. We need to get him somewhere more comfortable than the floor then,” said Willow.


“We’ll put him on the couch,” replied Buffy. “Angel, can you give me a hand?”


“It’s all right, Buff, I’ve got him,” said Angel as he scooped Spike up and walked away.


“Oh, right,” said Buffy somewhat after the fact.


She picked up the pants that Spike had been wearing, and then with Willow followed Angel to the living room. She put the pants on Spike with a little help from Angel and then the three of them settled down to watch over him.


He should wake up in an hour, providing that the massive chip fire didn’t dust him first.