The Birthday Present

A/N - Angel/Spike in this chapter. Thanks for the rev Alwaysand :)

Chapter Twenty-Six


Oz startled awake with a yell. He stared wildly around the room, momentarily disoriented. His breathing was coming in gasps, and he was aware of the wolf within protesting at his terror. He ran a hand over his face as he remembered where he was.


Oh, Christ!


His face was slick with sweat. Oz glanced at Lindsey who was still in the armchair opposite, and was relieved to see that his shouting hadn’t woken him up. Oz stood up on shaking legs and walked to where he’d left his keys. He couldn’t stay there a moment longer. He closed his eyes and forced himself to take longer, slower breaths before he slipped quietly outside and down to his car.


Oz opened the door and climbed in behind the wheel. He moaned and leaned forwards until his forehead was touching the steering wheel. Although he tried, he couldn’t suppress the memory of the nightmare that had forced him from his sleep. He’d been captured and was chained to a bench whilst white-coated technicians worked on him. He shuddered at the thought of the huge plug that was being forced inside him. He clenched his buttocks and squeezed his eyes shut.


Just a dream. It was just a dream.


He glanced up at the window to Lindsey’s apartment. He knew that the things in the dream had happened because of what he’d learned about the program that The Initiative used on vampires. He’d seen, first hand, the damage that it could do. Spike had been so badly abused at their hands.


“Lindsey, what the fuck were you thinking?” Oz muttered.


He wished that he’d never seen his friend’s ‘toy’ box. With a sigh, he straightened up and turned on the ignition. A glance at his watch told him that it was still only the early hours of the morning. He couldn’t bear to go home and so he put the car into drive and headed to Buffy’s house on Revello Drive. If no one was up, he decided that he’d wait in the car until they were.


The streets were empty as he drove along. Oz drove quickest when he was happy and he was certainly not feeling happy right now so he posed no threat to the speed limits. It was only four more nights to the full moon and to be safe, he always went to Willow’s for a day either side of it. He always felt more aware of the world around him as the time of his change neared. Oz knew that couldn’t see Lindsey over the next few days, he was sure that the wolf would make its presence felt and that he’d not be able to keep his cool with him. He had once gotten so riled up that the change had happened in the daytime, and he couldn’t afford to have that happen again. Not with The Initiative in town.


There was a car in the drive when Oz got there, so he parked on the street and was pleased to see that lights were still blazing in the lounge. He walked up the path and rapped lightly at the door.

Willow, Angel and Buffy stared at the door when they heard the knocking.


“Who could that be at this time in the morning?” asked Willow nervously.


Their eyes all fell to the vampire still sleeping on the couch. Had The Initiative found him?


Buffy stood up and walked towards the door.


“Buffy, don’t,” said Angel. “What if it’s them? I won’t let them take him. They can take me instead. I’ll draw them away.” He stood and followed her.


“Oh, for God’s sake, Angel, drama much?” said Buffy. “No one is going anywhere.”


“But what if it is them and they see him?” Angel protested.


There was another rap on the door, this time a little louder.


Buffy sighed. “You really think that we don’t know what we’re doing, don’t you? We have done this before.” She nodded to Willow. “Ready?”


“Ready,” replied Willow with a smile.


“What?” said Angel glancing from one to the other. “What are you talking about?”


“Just stay beside Spike and keep quiet, no matter what happens,” Buffy ordered.


She grinned as he obediently stepped back. Perhaps some good came out of the program after all. It still took some getting used to when Angel meekly did as he was told. Her smile faltered as she glanced at Spike. No. Strike that. Nothing good at all.


Oz was just about to give up and go back to his car when the door opened a crack. Buffy peered cautiously around the edge of the door.


“It’s only me,” said Oz. “I couldn’t sleep and thought that I’d come here and see how Spike is. That’s okay isn’t it? If not, I’ll…um…well, I’ll go home.”


Oz knew that he was babbling but couldn’t stop. He needed to be with these people who knew what he now knew. He couldn’t face being alone or going to classes that day and pretending that everything was normal.


Buffy opened the door wide enough for him to step inside. “It’s okay, Oz, you’re more than welcome. Come in, we’re just in the lounge.”


Oz walked in and followed her to the lounge room. He turned to her.


“I thought you said ‘we’? Where’s Willow?”


Angel opened his mouth to speak but was silenced by a look from the witch.


“She is here,” said Buffy with a smile. “And so are Spike and another ex-rescue, Angel.”


This time, even Willow’s glare couldn’t keep Angel quiet. “Is that all I am to you now? A freaking ex-rescue case?” he snapped.


Oz jumped about a foot in the air. His already shredded nerves had him halfway back to the door before he even realised that he’d moved.


Buffy leapt after him and grabbed his arm. “Oz, it’s okay.”


“Okay?” yelled Oz. “How come I just heard a voice and there’s no one in the room?” He tried to shake free from Buffy grip.


“But they are here – look.” Buffy pulled him around so that he was facing the lounge.


Oz couldn’t believe his eyes. There was Willow, Spike was laid flat out on the couch, and a ridiculously tall, dark haired man, who was obviously the one who had spoken.


“But – I don’t understand.” He stared at Willow, hoping that she might explain what was going on.


Willow opened her mouth to speak but Angel beat her to it.


“My God, Willow, you did it? You cloaked the room? I never knew that you had that much power.”


Willow smiled sweetly. “There’s quite a lot that you don’t know about me, Angel.”


Oz shook his head. “Are you trying to say that Willow made you three invisible? It’s not possible. Well, obviously it is but…”


“Why don’t you sit down, Oz,” said Buffy from behind him.


“Good idea,” he said and flopped down in the nearest armchair. It was too much to take in.


As Buffy walked past Angel to go to sit in another armchair, he grabbed her arm roughly enough to make him wince as he got a sharp jolt from the chip. “After all we’ve been through, you just call me ‘an ex-rescue?” he hissed.


Buffy pulled her arm out of Angel’s grasp. “This so isn’t the time to talk about this. But you walked away, Angel. You, not me.”

She scowled at him and continued to the chair. Angel sighed. She was right. He had been the one to leave. But it still hurt to think that she was now over him. He remembered what he’d been thinking on the drive over, of how hard it was to see the pain in her eyes and know that he’d caused it. Now, selfishly, he wanted her to be hurting still. He didn’t want her to move on, even if he couldn’t be with her.


“Coffee, anyone?” said Willow, a little too brightly as she tried to ease the tension between the former lovers.


Before anyone could answer, a soft moan from the couch indicated that Spike was beginning to stir.


“Spike,” said Angel. He was kneeling by Spike’s head in an instant. “Oh, please God, let him be okay.”


Oz straightened in his seat. “Why wouldn’t he be okay? Has something happened to him?”


“His pain chip fired earlier and wouldn’t stop,” Willow explained.


“What? Why didn’t you call me? You promised,” said Oz.


“It was the middle of the night, Oz,” said Willow. “There was nothing that you could do. We’re not sure what is going on. I used a sleeping spell on him in the hope that when he wakes up that the chip will have stopped firing.”


“Why don’t you just remove the chip, or short it out or something?” asked Oz.


Angel glanced at Oz over his shoulder. “Because if the vamps don’t have the chip, Buffy would have to stake them.”


“Angel! That is so not true!” said Willow.


“Really?” said Angel. He turned his attention back to Spike and stroked the blond’s forehead gently. A gesture not lost on Buffy.


“Yes, really,” said Buffy. “You know that we tried to block the chip when we first started doing this.”


“What happened?” asked Oz.


“It killed them,” said Willow softly. “We tried three times, in three different ways, but the result was the same. The vampires dusted before they came around from the sleeping spell.”


Oz glanced fearfully at Spike, who was lying quietly again.


“He should be okay, Oz. It wasn’t the spell that killed them.”


“But if the chip keeps firing…?” said Oz.


Willow shook her head slightly. “Honestly? We don’t know.”


“We don’t even know why it fired at all,” added Buffy.


“What was he doing when it did?” asked Oz.


Buffy cast a look at Angel, with raised eyebrows. “That’s what we’d really like to know.”


Angel stood up and turned to face her. “For God’s sake, Buffy. I already told you. I let Spike feed from me. I thought that it might help him.”


“Oh, and you both just happened to be naked at the time?” snapped Buffy.


Oh, boy! Willow stood up. “Time for that coffee, I think! Buffy, will you help me please?”


Reluctantly, Buffy got up and walked to the kitchen with her.


Oz didn’t know where to look. The tension between Buffy and Angel almost made the hair on his neck stand up.


“Um…did the chip fire because he was drinking your blood?” he asked.


“I’m not sure. It shouldn’t matter with me being a vamp. It’s only humans that normally makes it fire,” replied Angel.


Spike groaned again and slowly moved his arms until his hands were holding his head.


“Does that mean it’s still hurting?” asked Oz anxiously.


“I don’t know. I hope not – your head hurts like hell for some time after a maximum strength firing, so I hope it’s just that.”


“Shall I go and get Willow and Buffy?” said Oz.


Angel nodded. If the chip was still firing he wanted Willow to repeat her sleeping spell. When he was sure that Oz couldn’t see him, he brushed his lips against Spike’s cheek.


“Spike, are you all right? Please be okay.”


Spike’s eyes fluttered open. He squinted a little at the brightness of the overhead light. His eyes focussed on Angel’s and they widened as Angel gently placed a kiss on his lips.


Spike sat up sharply. “What the fuck are you doing?” he roared and pushed Angel away with all of his might. Angel flew backwards and landed with a clatter on the hearth of the fireplace.


Buffy raced into the room with Willow and Oz just behind her. They came to a halt when they saw Spike standing over Angel as he lay on the floor. Spike was in his vampiric face and was baring his teeth at Angel and growling.


“Spike. You’re okay,” said Buffy.


Spike turned to stare at her, head tilted on one side, his yellow eyes hostile. “Oh, yeah. I’m just peachy,” he snarled sarcastically.


He stepped back as Angel began to struggle to his feet.


“Did he bite you?” Willow asked Angel.


“No, he just hit me across the room – isn’t that enough?” snapped Angel.


He stood up and rubbed his chin. Thanks to the coating the punch hurt more than it should but no bruises would show. He glanced at Spike and realised why Willow had asked it. Spike had blood trickling from the left side of his mouth.


“I’m here! You can ask me what I sodding did! Don’t act like I’m not bloody here!” Spike snarled at Willow.


Buffy, Oz, Willow and Angel all exchanged glances. This didn’t sound much like the broken creature that had been here before the sleeping spell.


Spike wiped the blood from his chin with the back of his hand and then licked it off with relish. He ran his tongue over his teeth and growled when he felt that his long fang on the top left side was growing at an odd angle and had cut the inside of his mouth.


“Fuck it,” he said quietly.


“Wow, your fangs have grown back,” exclaimed Willow.


Spike looked confused at her words and his face faded back to human. He backed up further and sat on the couch with a bump as his legs hit it and he overbalanced. He glanced at Angel.


“Keep him away from me,” he muttered.


He began to shake violently and buried his head in his hands.


“Spike, talk to us. What’s going on?” asked Buffy as she walked over to him and knelt in front of him.


She reached out and touched his knee with her right hand. Spike shuddered and moved along the couch to avoid her touch.


“Don’t,” he muttered.


“Don’t what?” asked Buffy.


“Touch me,” said Spike. He raised his head and met her eye. “I don’t want to be touched.”


“Okay, no touching. Check,” replied Buffy.


Spike tensed as Willow and Oz went to sit down in armchairs, but his eyes followed Angel who walked towards the couch, then thought better of it when he saw the expression on Spike’s face. He leant against the wall next to the fireplace. Only when Angel was stationary did Spike return his gaze to Buffy.


“What’s going on, Spike? Can you tell me what you’re feeling?” coaxed Buffy gently. Something had definitely changed in the blond vampire and she needed to know what.


“What’s it to you, Slayer?” asked Spike, his voice harsh.


“We’ve been over this before, Spike. Don’t you remember? What do you remember?”


Spike didn’t answer for some time but they all waited patiently. Oz was struck by the fact that Spike was no longer stuttering or stammering. In all the time he’d known him he had done it.


“That place,” said Spike, his voice so low that even Buffy could hardly hear it. “I know what’s been done to me. By them. By Lindsey and his fucking father. And by him.” He glared at Angel. He switched his eyes back to Buffy. “You said I’d be safe. That no one would hurt me. But you let him come here and do just the same as the others.” His features vamped out and he hissed at Angel.


Buffy twisted round to face Angel. His expression was one of horror. She suddenly realised why the two vampires had been naked.


“Oh, my God, Angel. You took advantage of him! You knew exactly what traumas he’s been through and yet you still abused him!”


Oz listened with his mouth agape; he wished that he’d just gone home instead of getting in the middle of this. Willow, leaned forwards in her chair. She hoped that they could all calm down, but was ready for action if they didn’t.


“It wasn’t abuse, Buffy. It was love,” stated Angel.


“Love!” Spike snorted. “How is it love if I thought that you were my fucking owner? If I thought that I’d be brain fried if I didn’t do what you said?” He winced as his distorted tooth snagged on the inside of his mouth once more.


“I didn’t ask you to get hard and rub against me,” retorted Angel.


Buffy stood up. It was more than she had wanted to hear. “That’s enough, Angel. I think that you’d better leave. You’re not making things any better – you’re making them worse.”

“But –”


Angel’s words were cut off as Oz ran at him and punched him as hard as he could. The closeness of his change added to his strength. Angel crashed against a side table and a vase smashed on the floor as he fell.


“Enough!” yelled Willow.


Buffy, Angel and Oz all found themselves unable to move. Spike took advantage of the fact that he was unaffected by going to the corner furthest away from the others. He wrapped his arms around himself and watched them fearfully, allowing his features to fade to human once more.

“Willow, let me go,” yelled Buffy, glaring at the feet that she couldn’t move.


Angel had vamped out and was growling quietly. Oz was terrified; he’d never been subjected to magic before. He struggled to hold the wolf at bay.


“You can all stay where you are until you promise me that the hitting and the yelling will stop. You’re scaring Spike.”


Three pairs of eyes turned to look at Spike, who hunched his shoulders and dropped his gaze to his feet. He wrapped his arms around his bare torso, as if trying to cover his nakedness.


Where was the fire that he’d just had? He’d looked strong, but now he was back to looking like the frightened victim that he’d been before the sleeping spell.


“I won’t say anything to upset him, Willow,” said Angel, letting his human features return.


“Damn straight you won’t,” said Buffy firmly. You’re leaving.”


“I am not!”


“Yes, you are,” said Spike quietly, not looking up. “Please leave. I can’t, I c…can’t st…stand it.”


He let his body slide down the wall until his backside hit the floor, then he wrapped his arms around his knees and put his head down, hiding his face.


“Oh, Spike,” said Willow softly. She waved a hand and the spell preventing the others from moving disappeared. Angel leapt to his feet and took two steps towards the huddled figure of Spike before Oz stepped in front of him.


“Don’t make me hit you again, man. You heard him, he want’s you gone,” Oz said, having to bend his head right back to look Angel in the eye.


Angel opened his mouth to protest but then looked at Spike crouched against the wall and shut it with a sigh. He held his hands up. “Okay. I’ll leave. But let me leave some of my blood for him. It’s helped his fangs grow back. It might help make him well again.”


“It might also make the chip fire again,” said Buffy.


“We don’t know that that’s what caused it,” retorted Angel.


“Oh, sweet Goddess, will the two of you shut up!” said Willow. “This is so not helping.” She looked at Oz. “You had better calm down. It’s too near to the full moon to get so angry. You know what might happen.”


Oz nodded and began to apply the calming breathing techniques that she had taught him.


Angel glanced at him. A wolf? The little guy’s a werewolf? He once again rued the fact that The Initiative’s coating dulled his senses. He hadn’t picked up on it at all. When he turned his attention back to Willow, she was staring at him.


“You had better leave, Angel. You can do the blood letting if you like. I can’t see how drinking your blood could have made the chip fire, but I can’t promise that we’ll use it.”


Angel nodded; he stepped around Oz and walked into the kitchen. As he passed Spike he cast a look in his direction but the blond vampire didn’t move. His heart was heavy as he walked away.


Buffy smiled as she watched Angel leave and walked towards Spike.


“Buffy, can you go and take Roger some blood? He must be getting hungry.”


One look at Willow’s face and Buffy knew better than to object. “Okay,” she said with a sigh.


“Do you want me to leave too?” asked Oz.


“No.”


Willow and Oz stared at Spike. He hadn’t moved but his voice had been clear.


“You want me to stay?” asked Oz. He knew that he shouldn’t but he couldn’t help feeling a little smug that it was he that Spike wanted to stay.


“Y…yes,” said Spike.


“Why?” asked Willow gently.


“S…safe,” replied Spike.


*~*~*~*


In the kitchen Angel and Buffy glared at each other but didn’t speak as Angel reopened the wound on his wrist and let his blood drip into a mug. He had to clench his fist repeatedly to encourage the flow; the lack of a heart beat not helping.


Buffy pulled out a bag of blood from the refrigerator and put it in the microwave. When it ‘pinged’, she opened the door and took the warn blood out.


“Buffy,” said Angel quietly. “Are we okay?”


“What?” Buffy kept her voice low but its tone was harsh. “How can I be, when I know what you did to Spike?”


Angel closed his eyes for a second, mentally counting to ten. “It’s no different to what you want to do with him. Don’t deny it. I’ve seen how you look at him. It’s how you used to look at me.”


“I don’t believe you. Is that why you did what you did with him? Because you’re jealous of me having feelings for him?”


Angel pointed at her. “So you admit it. You do have feelings for him.”


“I feel sorry for him, Angel. The guy is a total mess. How could I think of anything but getting him well again?”


“Sure, whatever,” said Angel, knowing that it would annoy her. “I can smell it on you Buffy. The arousal when you’re near him. Hell, I can smell it now and you’re only talking about him.”


“Get out!”


“He won’t want you Buffy. That place breaks you and some parts can’t be mended.”


With that Angel turned and walked away. Buffy flinched as he closed the front door.


“Well, least I know why Angel didn’t want me anymore.” She stifled a sob and went down to the basement to feed Roger.