Life (or Unlife) Goes On

A/N: Thankyou to everyone one who reads and especially those who have reveiwed. Please reveiw. Thankyou to Buffyworld.com for their wonderful transcripts of every episode of Angel and Buffy. Without them this story wouldn't be nearly as accurate
Reveiws:
Jane: Thankyou for the reveiw glad you appreciated having two chapters to read, don't worry they'll be plenty more Xander
Bubbysbub: Again, thanks for the reveiw, hope you have a great trip. Just for you at some point I'll have Xander think over what Lorne said but you might have to wait a couple of chapters. Thanks for the enthusiasm its chatching. Hope you enjoy


Chapter Thirty-Two

Spike’s POV

I wander down the dark, dank and damp corridor wondering where the bleeding hell I am. I can hear cold, unfeeling female laughter, Darla’s laughter. It then merges with that of my dark princess. Suddenly I can hear Thyme screaming, what is Drusilla doing to her? I rush down the corridor trying to find them, I come to an unlocked door and I rush through it intent on stopping Drusilla hurting the girl. Fuck, I’m in the Summer’s bathroom in Sunnydale, Buffy is there wearing that grey bathrobe from the day I… She is curled in the corner sobbing and I can see the bruises I inflicted on her leg. She looks up at me with such loathing and anger.

“Ask me again why I could never love you.” She yells at me and the force of her words sends me reeling back flying through the air until I’m chained in Glory’s penthouse. The hellgod is there, using her fingers to play around with my insides. Cecily appears in front of me, dressed, as she was the day I was turned, she ignores Glory and stares straight at me.

“Your beneath me, William,” is uttered in her perfect English accent and then she bursts into flames and screams in pain. I try to reach for her but can’t as my hands are still chained to the ceiling. Suddenly she disappears but her screams still linger. Then I’m transported to a house in England where I watch myself pull a girl from a coal bin and precede to drain her just enough before violating her. As this happens I can hear the words I uttered to Buffy once echo in my ears.

“Do you know how much blood you can drink from a girl before she'll die? I do. You see, the trick is to drink just enough to know how to damage them just enough so that they'll still cry when you… 'cause it's not worth it if they don't cry.” Tears streaming down my face, I watch the girl cry and beg for me to kill her but I can’t move, I’m frozen there. The scene changes and I’m in an orphanage watching Drusilla and myself killing and torturing the children. I remember this and when I see myself grab a particularly pretty boy I can’t help but scream out knowing what is going to happen next and wishing I could take it all back.

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Xander’s POV

I wake up to screaming and for a moment I am too disorientated to work out where I am. Suddenly something hits me and I find myself on my butt on the floor. I open my eyes and it takes me a moment to realise I’m in Angel’s bedroom. The screaming continues and I look up at the bed where Angel is simultaneously trying to restrain and wake up a screaming thrashing Spike. The door suddenly slams open and the others barge through only to stop in confusion at the scene that greets them. I scramble up onto the bed and watch as a still sleeping Spike tries to buck Angel off him while screaming at the top of his lungs. I look over at the others still in the doorway and nod to say that we will handle this. They leave and I crawl onto the bed where a harassed looking Angel seems at a loss of what to do to wake Spike up.

“Shh Spike, it’s okay. I’ve got you, your safe.” I pry Angel’s hands off of Spike’s wrists and start lightly stroking his cheek. I’ve done this before when he was living in my apartment after he regained his soul. I was always surprised that the police weren’t called when he started screaming like this but then again Sunnydale people were always used to ignoring screams in the night. He stops screaming and slowly his eyes open focusing on me and I smile at him. He quickly takes in his surroundings and then slowly sits up.

“I did it again didn’t I, pet?” I just nod. “Bugger, I thought I was over them.” Angel just hands Spike his cigarettes and then sits next to him while I snuggle in on the other side.

“Want to talk about it?” Angel asks quietly, I learnt a long time ago that Spike wouldn’t answer so I almost fall out of bed when he answers Angel.

“Just your ordinary guilt stuff ‘bout things done while I was soulless.” Angel pulls him into a hug and I drape myself over Spike’s back and watch the two of them kiss softly. Suddenly I’m being lifted so that I’m between them and then we kiss until I have no idea where one of us ends and the other two begin. There are hands on my nipples pulling and twisting the rings in all the right ways making noises continually fall out of my mouth when I am not busy laving Angel’s neck and chest. I don’t know about them but I am so ready to consummate this relationship. I don’t think I can wait for too much longer. This time it is Spike who pulls back.

“I take it my screaming would have brought the cavalry to the door so we can’t plead that we are still asleep and stay up here. We have a busy night guys so I think we had better get started if we ever want to be back here with just the three of us again.” Crap I’d forgotten what tonight was, the funeral and memorial. I start shivering as I think about what everyone will say when they read the inscription I had put on Jessie’s plaque and I have hardly thought about Anya. As cool arms wrap around me I think on how hard it must be for these two as well seeing everyone die around them while they continue existing. They are going to continue to exist after I’m gone whether it’s by an attack or through old age. Angel has lost everyone he first came to LA with, tonight will be hard on him too and here I am selfishly thinking of myself again. Well I’m determined that I am going to stay strong for them. I forcefully still my shaking body and let out a deep breathe. Okay, its time to face the world, I smile at the two vampires I’m desperate to share my bed with and then climb out from between them and saunter to the door, giving them both a good view of my boxer-clad ass.

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Angel’s POV

How many times have the three of us walked downstairs to be greeted by the stares of everyone who is already congregated in the foyer? This time there are a few more faces than usual. Giles is down there along with Dawn and some slayers I don’t know the names of, it doesn’t matter the more the merrier when we go find Drusilla. I have been thinking, that its useless me giving orders in regard to finding Dru. For a start I am her Sire and as such I taught her much of what she knows which means that she knows all the strategies I’ve been using to try and find her. Secondly, everyone around me has had experience of this kind of thing, they know what they are doing and they are definitely not children. Maybe I need to be a bit more democratic; if we put all our heads together we should come up with a solution. Well maybe not those who have just come for the funeral but everyone else should have a say. Walking across the foyer I yell out without slowing my stride,

“Group meeting, my office.” Spike leaves my side and I instinctly know that he is going to heat up some blood, as it seems to have become his job in the past few days. I was shocked at his nightmare earlier but I understand what it can be like when the soul weighs heavy on your mind and all your past deeds come back to haunt you. The surprise was Xander’s acceptance and knowledge of how to wake Spike up. The kind of knowledge only gained after a few practices. I sit in my seat and pull Xander onto my lap. After last night I am reluctant to let the boy out of my sight. This mornings kissing and grouping session even if hands stayed above waist height just highlighted how much I need to take our relationship to the next level. By the response my kisses brought forth I know I’m not the only one feeling this way. It is very likely that by the time we go to sleep again I will have claimed my two boys as mine through carnal acts. A mug is pushed in front of my face and I look up to see Spike sitting on the edge of the desk with his legs across Xander’s lap with everyone else in the core group squished in here as well.

“Okay boss-man, what’s the plan?” Andrew asks from his position on Oz’s lap in one of the comfy chairs that were brought down here for clients. That is a couple I didn’t see coming.

“That’s what I was going to ask you guys. Look she knows me too well to fall for any of my tricks and anyway for AI to work its going to need to be a team effort not me telling everybody what has to be done. Okay, so does anybody have any ideas on how we can flush her out instead of just patrolling every night.”

“Why don’t we use Spike as bait,” suggests Robin but I just glare at him, his Spike-hating obsession is really not healthy.

“And how on earth is that going to work?” Xander asks straight back.

“I don’t know she’s his Sire use the Sire/Childe link to make her think that he is in pain and danger, then she can rush into a trap.” Before I can rebut that insane suggestion Faith slaps him across the back of the head.

“The only way to do that is if Spike was actually in pain and danger,” she comments slowly as if explaining something to a very young child.

“So what’s the problem?” I hear Spike growl and I place my hand on his thigh warning him to stay where he is.

“If your plan had the slightest chance of working Drusilla would have been in Sunnydale when Spike burned up saving the world and everyone who was fighting the Turok-Han which from all accounts includes your self. Which part of we are a team did you not understand? To be a team we need to work together and leave past differences behind if you don’t think you can do that with Spike then I need to know now so that I can advise Giles that he needs to find an elsewhere for you to be.” I glare at Robin and he eventually lowers his head only to raise it again and to stare at me as he stands up.

“You expect me to buddy up to my mother’s killer? There is no way I am ever going to be friends with that murderer. I have restrained my hostility for that thing since we were assigned to LA and I think I’ve been darn tolerant of how much time my girl has been spending with you vamps but you can’t ask anything more of me.”

“YOU VAMPS! MURDERER!” Faith is standing facing Robin and I am scared that she is going to start hitting something. “You do realise that without the support of a vamp I wouldn’t be here? That what Spike did was either when he was soulless or when he was being controlled. Whereas I, your girlfriend, had a soul and full control of my senses when I killed people, humans. You do not have any say on how much time I spend with three of the only people who have ever accepted me, ALL of me. If that is how you feel maybe you need to leave.”

“You’d choose their side over me?”

“Baby, you weren’t listening, I don’t think this is going to work, if that’s how you feel.” She says quietly, dejectedly and it’s as if all the fight has gone out of her.

“Fine, goodbye Faith.” And just like that Robin storms out of the room and Faith collapses into Lorne’s arms.

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A/N: Okay so was getting rid of Robin a good thing or a bad thing?