Title: Where We Belong

Authors: angelspike69 and anamcara420

Pairing: Angel/Spike

Rating: Adult. This story contains M/M sex. If that isn't your cup of tea then go away now and don't read any farther.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, Angel and Spike don't belong to us. If they did, they'd be following up all their fighting and snarking with each other with lots of manly shagging.

Spoilers: None, unless you haven't seen Angel the Series at all. This story goes totally AU after the screen darkened in "Not Fade Away" and Angel utter those immortal words: "Let's go to work."

Feedback: AngelSpike69 (marinersgal69@msn.com) and Anamcara420 (ldelrossi@excite.com)

Notes #1: Would like to extend our sincere thanks to Makd for her beta of the story. You are the best sweetie!!!!! Previous chapters can be found at http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=angelspike69&keyword=Where+We+Belong&filter=all.

Summary: Two young men awaken from comas, their pasts lost to them. They meet by chance and are drawn to each other. Images of their forgotten lives begin to assault their minds and reveal they are somehow deeply connected although they do not understand how that could be.

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Chapter 9

As the men slept entangled together in each other's arms, the rain and wind raged outside of the hotel. Lightning split the sky but Liam and William slept on – dreamless.

Suddenly the air in the bedroom pulsed and a spectral figure shimmered into sight. The air quivered and collapsed around the ghostly shape as the being shuddered into solid form. A man stood at the foot of the bed staring at the peacefully sleeping humans. He hated what he had to do to the man that he had called a friend for many years.

"Angel," he whispered and waited. When the man didn't stir he repeated, "Angel."

Liam shivered. He had heard a voice in his head; a voice he recognized. He opened his eyes and rubbed them into focus. When he glanced to the end of the bed, he stiffened and blinked.

"Angel." The man said again.

Liam sat up abruptly, loosening his arms from William. The younger man groaned as he fell away from the warm body that had held him. He opened his eyes and stared at Liam. He sat up suddenly, stunned by the shock on his lover's face. He reached out to touch Liam and cringed at the rigidity of his body. William turned his head to see what had frightened him and his mouth fell open in surprise.

"Wesley?" Liam asked quietly as kinetic images crowded his sleep-fogged brain. Wesley... sitting with books piled around him...determined...planning the attack in Pylea...Wesley...his betrayal..."the father will kill the son...stealing...his baby son. Liam trembled as he remembered trying to smother the man in his hospital bed after Holtz took Connor to Quo'torth. Wesley rescuing him from his watery prison...loving Fred and losing her...trying to help Illyria adjust to the world...Wesley saying goodbye silently before he went off to...to die.

William watched helplessly as Liam's body shook and tears spilled from his eyes.

"Wesley?" Liam whispered.

"Yes, Angel." The man replied.

"It's Liam, mate." Spike growled as he clutched Liam's arm.

"No, Spike. It's Angel." Wesley responded.

"It's William, you ponce," he snarled. Visions crashed into his soporific psyche and he shook his head to clear his mind...Wesley...in his office, surrounded by books...a soft-spoken man of quiet strength...devastated when Fred died...following Illyria as she leaked her energy throughout the building...Wesley allowing him to help track her.

"Percy?" Spike asked, cocking his head in confusion.

The man smiled at William. "Yes, Spike, you called me Percy."

"What...you died...who?" William sputtered.

"I've been sent..."

William looked over at Liam and saw that he was unable to speak. "By whom...for what? You're sending these visions?" William asked harshly as he gently placed his hand on Liam's arm.

"You both awoke in hospital two years ago with no memory of who you were." He went on when neither of the men responded. "Angel, you put on your Claddagh ring and the images began. Spike, you tried on your torn leather coat and saw visions of things you didn't understand."

William and Liam stared at the man silently, their bodies rigid, their hands entwined.

Wesley continued. "Once you met each other, the images intensified; glimpses of your past lives that you did not remember. You, Angel, were a 250-year-old vampire, cursed with a soul. You became a champion of the Powers that Be, seeking atonement for years of vicious murder and mayhem. You, Spike, were a 140 year old vampire who sought a soul because you loved the slayer and wanted to help her battle the forces of darkness."

"Vampires?" William squeaked and Wesley nodded.

"You, Angel, made a deal with the devil to save your son and came to work at Wolfram and Hart. Spike saved the world in Sunnydale and the Senior Partners plucked him from death and brought him under their aegis, hoping to manipulate both of you into the side of evil."

"Didn't work, did it?" William smirked.

Wesley smiled again. "No, Spike, it didn't. You battled the Senior Partners and their minions. When you killed the dragon, Angel, one of the most powerful Senior Partners was destroyed. The battle ended. The hordes retreated. You both shanshued."

"Shanshued?" Liam and William spoke in unison as their eyes widened in shock.

William closed his eyes momentarily and his brutal battle with Liam in the crumbling theatre crashed into view. He saw the golden cup...Mountain Dew. He snorted. "Shanshu...that prophecy...that fake prophecy...with the fake cup?"

"The prophecy is real. The cup was misdirection created by Lindsey and Eve. He wanted you to kill each other...or at least Spike to kill Angel. He thought only Angel could shanshu." Wesley responded.

"Wait...both of us were to become human?" William asked trying to comprehend what the man standing at the end of the bed was saying.

"When you willingly sacrificed yourself in Sunnydale, the shanshu became your destiny too. There was concern when Angel made his deal with Wolfram & Hart, that he would be corrupted and lost and would never achieve shanshu."

"Those PTBs don't know him at all do they?" William growled. "Hedging their bets with me, yeah?"

Wesley nodded at the frenetic younger ex-vampire who refused to be intimidated. "Angel was not corrupted, although he wavered precariously because of Connor. He managed to work for good even in the 'belly of the beast' as you said, Spike but the Powers thought he needed help – you –to keep him..."

"You sodding ponce! He didn't need me to keep him from falling into darkness. The PTBs better get their crystal ball cleaned. He's been working for good for a long time, even before they...they sent Doyle." William interrupted.

Liam turned to look at William, a sad smile on his beautiful face. He lifted William's hand and placed a kiss in the palm. The younger man returned the smile and touched Liam's face.

"Ahem." Wesley said and both of the men turned back to look at him. "This is the problem. You were never meant to see each other again."

"Why? The battle's over. We're human." William answered.

Wesley sighed. "Becoming human was your reward for your self-sacrifices, your strength in the countless conflicts against evil but..." He stopped speaking and William and Liam waited expectantly.

"You were to remain apart – forever. That is the price of the gift of your humanity."

"Price? Bugger that. All of the battles were a price. My death was a price. The loss of Liam's son was a price. The death of all of our friends, including you was a price! Haven't we paid enough? How much more must we pay?" William demanded.

Finally Liam spoke, quietly but with a voice of steel as memories became clearer. "I read the prophecy in one of Wolfram & Hart's books – the books that can reveal anything. It said that the vampire with a soul becomes human as a reward for all of the battles against the powers of darkness. It didn't say there was any other price."

Wesley looked at his old friend sadly. "The prophecy was written and altered over 4,000 years. The exact wording...the text wasn't...it would have been fine if you hadn't met again. We don't know how this happened. How you came together."

"Fate." William hissed. "So the PTBs aren't the only powers that be, yeah?"

Wesley grimaced. "Human beings always have free will. But no one expected you to...connect. The powers expected your anger and hatred of each other in your past would...would keep you away from each other."

"So we met...so what? What's the sodding big deal?" William asked.

"There is a caveat to the shanshu."

"A loophole." Liam spoke, his fury resonating in his voice.

"Yes..."

"Buggering hell!. What is the sodding loophole?" William shouted.

"Sex. Love." Liam whispered.

Wesley nodded. "If you had remained just friends, artist and writer, it would not have been perfect, but it would have been accepted. You...you cannot be..."

"Lovers?" Liam asked sardonically.

"You can never be that way together..."

William interrupted. "Already have been, ponce."

"That's why I'm here. You cannot remain human if you...if you stay together."

"Why? There was no mention of anything like that in the prophecy." Liam asked quietly.

"Because it was not expected. No one thought you'd be together like this. If you choose to remain...together...you will lose your humanity. You will become vampires again." Wesley answered.

"Will we have souls?" Liam asked.

"Yes. But you will no longer... you won't be protected by the Powers..."

William jumped up from the bed and stalked to Wesley who backed up several steps at the naked vampire's approach. "Protected? Protected?" He shouted. "When the bloody hell were we ever protected? Didn't see the powers in Sunnydale when I was fighting the First! Didn't see them in that alley when we defeated the Senior Partners!"

"They...they..."

William interrupted again, his anger a living thing. "Yeah, Percy...even you know they never protected either one of us. Sent us on impossible missions...destroyed our friends. Protection. Fucking hell – NO!"

Liam stood and stalked next to William, his eyes blazing, his mouth twisted in a snarl. "And they're still protecting us...they want us to...to give up...to be alone...unloved...alone." He staggered as his emotions overpowered him. He couldn't imagine life without William. He needed William. He loved William.

William caught his friend and glared at Wesley.

The man backed up again, his face a mask of sadness. "I'm sorry...I am truly sorry. I wish...I wish I could...I'm dead Angel...I am just a messenger." He straightened. "It's your choice. It is always your choice. You must decide. I will return...tomorrow...I'm sorry." The air shimmered and Wesley disappeared.

William and Liam stood in silence for a long moment. Suddenly a kaleidoscope of images burst into their minds, colliding quickly into each other. Liam stumbled back and sat on the bed, holding his head in his hands. William moaned and fell against him.

The scenes from his life as Angelus, the vampire, slipped chaotically through his brain. Darla...standing in the alley...she bit him...he clawed out of a grave...a vampire...he killed his little sister...his parents...his village...he was a monster...Drusilla...he drove her crazy...made her a vampire...convent...nuns...their habits ripped, their necks torn and bleeding...William crying in an alley...biting him...reaching for his hand as it thrust up through the dirt...countless victims...their necks bloodied and broken...Holtz...killing his family...Darla abandoning him in a burning barn for Holtz to kill...Yorkshire...a mob...hiding in a mine...Paris...St. Petersburg...Romania...the gypsy girl...Darla throwing him out...his filthy soul...starving...unable to feed...lonely...China...crawling back to Darla...he couldn't...he couldn't eat the baby...lost...alone...he was a monster...New York...hiding in sewers...rats...Chicago...Montana...New York...lonely...Whistler...Sunnydale...Buffy...Angelus...breaking her heart...leaving...L.A...Doyle...Cordelia...Wesley...Gunn...Fred...Connor...Holtz...Wolfam & Hart...the amulet...Spike...Illyria...the alley...the dragon.

At the same time, William's mind was ravaged with flickering images of his life as a human, then as Spike, a vampire. Angelus...biting him as he cried...clawing out...Angelus waiting...Drusilla...loving her...wanting...the mob chasing them...hiding underground...Paris...Rome...hanging in chains...the Immortal...Vienna...the little boys...singing...then screaming, their throats ripped open and bloody...St. Petersburg...blood on the snow...Romania...searching for Angelus...the gypsy camp...Angelus gone...China...the slayer...Angelus...gone again...searching...New York...the slayer...Budapest...the mob...Drusilla ill...Sunnydale...Angelus...Angel...a soul...the slayer...Buffy...helping her kill Angel...abandoned...Sunnydale...the chip...Buffy...loving the slayer...Dawn...Buffy died...came back...hurt...hurt Buffy...Africa...bugs and fire...his soul returned...Sunnydale...the First...the slayers...ubervamps...the amulet...Los Angeles...Angel...the alley...

Both vampires moaned as the visions of their horrific pasts tormented them. When the images finally stopped, Liam and William were clinging to each other, their faces awash with tears, their naked bodies wracked with spasms. Liam pulled away and stood, grabbing a blanket to cover his nakedness. He staggered to a window and looked at the brightening sky; his thoughts in turmoil, his heart pounding.

His heart...it would not beat if...William, still naked, joined Liam. He wrapped his arms around the shaking man before him and rested his chin on the powerful shoulders.

"No more...no more sun." Liam whispered.

"'S'allright. I get sunburned." William replied.

Liam turned around to face him and William gasped at the pain, confusion and despair he saw etched on his lover's beautiful face and in his dark eyes. Liam looked at William; memorizing every line and contour of the face of the man he...he loved...the man he had to give up.

"So...vampires. I like black...I like the night...I write books about vampires." William said with a grin.

"No!" Liam hissed.

"No? What do you mean, luv?" William put his hands on Liam's chest. "Liam?"

The larger man twisted out of William's grasp and stalked away. "It's Angel, Spike."

William cringed at Liam's tone but followed him and put his arms around him again, resting the side of his face against the broad, muscular back. "Angel...Liam...doesn't matter..."

"It matters," Liam interrupted, pulling away again.

The smaller man swallowed the panic that threatened to overwhelm him. "Liam." He stalked over and stood in front of the larger man. He cupped his hand on Liam's chin and forced the man to look at him. The tears pooling in his lover's eyes broke his heart. He stepped back, fury coursing through him. "No...you're not...No!"

"William...Spike...I...I...love you. I won't...I can't let you become a...a demon." Liam whispered.

"Can't let me? You can't let me?" He yelled. "You have no say Liam! I'm...what...140 years old. I choose, yeah?"

"Will..." Liam began, his voice breaking.

"No! You...you left...you are not leaving me again...you...we're weren't supposed to meet again but we did. The Fates...the Fates allowed it...told those pompous PTBs to bugger off!"

Liam was stunned by William's angry outburst. "Will...you remember...being a demon was hard...your heart..."

"Bloody hell! So it didn't beat! It...it still loved...you...Drusilla...Buffy...Dawn...Fred...you. It still hurt!"

The two men stared at each other; their feelings racing across their faces; their still beating hearts splintering.

"You...you don't...you don't want me?" William asked in a trembling voice as he lowered his head.

Liam's heart shattered at the pain he had caused the man he loved. He walked to William and lifted his head, groaning at the tears he saw glittering. He kissed the full lips that quivered and traced his face with his fingers – the scarred eyebrow, the sharp cheekbones, the soft skin.

"God, Will...I want you...more than anything. I just...I can't ask you to become...a demon."

"Don't have to ask." The writer muttered, reveling in Liam's caresses.

"Will think...we'll outlive everyone...people will be afraid of us...they'll...they could stake us...we can't...we can't walk on the beach in sunlight. We can't go to the pier!" He finished lamely.

William caught his lover's hand and kissed the palm. "So we'll go out at night. I almost always wear black and I look better in the dark anyway, makes my eyes glimmer more brightly."

He fluttered his lashes and Liam burst out laughing despite his concern.

William continued speaking. "We'll have our souls, yeah? We won't hurt anyone. Our friends...our true friends will still be our friends. Patrick, Torah, Matt, Sam. We'll make new friends. I know that kid, at the college, Colin, thinks vampires are cool. Joss wrote two shows with vampires as the main characters. I don't think for one minute that vampires are the only demons in L.A. or New York for that matter."

He wiggled his eyebrows and yanked off the blanket covering Liam's naked body. He leered at the man blushing before him. "Eternity, yeah? Eternity to fuck that gorgeous body every day and night? Buggering hell. Sounds perfect to me."

Liam laughed again, his eyes wide open in wonder at the man before him.

"See...you don't laugh much...unless I'm with you, ponce. You need me...keep you happy." He reached out and grabbed Liam, pulling him close. He stretched one hand around, traced the cleft of the larger man's ass and winked. "Happy and well-fucked!"

Liam laughed again but quickly sobered. "I do...I do need you...but..."

"But nothing. We'll have an eternity to write and paint. We'll be rich and famous and rich." William grinned and then turned serious. "You don't suppose those sodding PTBs will want us to...to be their champions again do you? Don't want to fight anymore." He smirked. "Want to write...and fuck and watch you paint...and fuck...daily...nightly...forever."

Liam searched William's smiling face and the brilliant blue eyes that took his breath away. "Are you...are you sure?"

William didn't answer. He pushed Liam back onto the bed and stared down at the gorgeous body beneath him. His cock immediately twitched to life. Liam's hardened in answer. William climbed on the bed and knelt above Liam. He licked his lips and bent down. He kissed up Liam's powerful thighs and brushed his lips over his already weeping cock. He sucked the larger man's balls into his mouth as Liam moaned above him and reached for him.

William ignored the man's pleas. His licked the sensitive creases on Liam's upper thighs and burrowed his face in the dark thatch of curls. He swirled his tongue in Liam's navel and kissed up his chest, latching on to one hardened nipple. As he sucked one, he tweaked the other. He straddled the man panting below him and leaned down to lick and nip his sensitive neck. Liam thrust up his hips.

"Will...Will..."

He twirled his tongue in Liam's ear and the other man moaned pitifully. William licked along the creases of Liam's mouth and then thrust his tongue inside, mapping it for his own. He sat up and stared down at the quivering man totally in his power. Liam opened his eyes and William hissed at the lust and need he saw smoldering in their dark depths.

He licked his lips and reached for the Vaseline on the table. He slicked his fingers and gently massaged Liam's pucker. The larger man's eyes widened at the new sensation and his body shivered with need and anticipation. William slipped one finger inside and Liam gasped. He withdrew and then thrust in a second finger and Liam arched off the bed.

"Will...I..."

"I know...I want ...I want you to feel how...how good it feels." William answered as he watched his lover's face flash with desire and...fear. He held his breath, afraid that Liam would refuse. Angelus had never allowed it. He would never give up control.

Finally Liam nodded, but his body stiffened involuntarily.

"Relax, luv. You know I'd never hurt you, yeah?" William lowered his head to kiss him, licking his lips open again and thrusting inside. He withdrew and kissed along Liam's jaw and neck. He opened his mouth and began to suck on Liam's neck and the man moaned his name. William rose and looked down. The larger man stared back; his eyes almost black with desire. He whispered, "Yes."

William reached for a condom packet on the bedside table. He opened it and quickly slid it on, coating the outside with Vaseline. Liam's virginal ass would be very tight and he didn't want his lover's first experience to be too painful. He covered his fingers with more slick and quickly pushed two fingers inside, thrusting his tongue into the man's mouth in concert. He withdrew his fingers and added a third shoving them deeper. When he scraped Liam's prostate, the man howled. He removed his fingers. He swirled his tongue into Liam's navel, then kissed just above the thatch of curls. He licked the length of Liam's cock as the man arched and bucked his hips. William grasped Liam's legs and raised them, bending them until his feet pressed into the bed. He moved up and knelt between his legs. He stared down at Liam, seeing desire and fear. He smiled and leaned in, slowly pushing his cock into Liam's pucker, watching the other man close his eyes and moan. He continued entering slowly until his dick was fully embedded. He kissed open Liam's mouth and as he thrust his tongue inside, he pushed deeper into his tight channel, hitting his prostate.

"Oh God! Oh God!" Liam moaned.

William lifted Liam's leg up further and thrust in deeper again and again. Liam rocked and groaned beneath him; arching his body, begging for more. William stopped moving and the man opened his eyes in silent question. William smiled and lifted both of Liam's legs up on his shoulders, and then thrust quickly, rubbing his stomach against Liam's weeping cock, providing friction. The man beneath him cried out, urging him deeper. William forgot gentleness in his own need and pounded into Liam arching, screaming, "Liam," as his seed erupted. Liam quickly followed into orgasm, calling "William," as he spurted hot semen on both over both of them. William collapsed on top of Liam and his softened penis slipped out. He lifted up and looked down at Liam's flushed face.

William smiled. "Good yeah?"

"God, yes. Oh God."

William rolled off onto his back sated and exhausted. Liam rolled onto his side, lifting himself up on one arm so he could look at the man who had taken him into heights of ecstasy that he had never known.

He blushed and whispered. "Will...?"

William opened his eyes when Liam paused and quirked his eyebrow in question.

Liam blushed again and looked down at William's chest, unable to look at his face. "Will we...will we do this..."

The writer laughed and lifted Liam's face. "Will I fuck you into the mattress like this for eternity?"

Liam blushed again although a smile twitched at the corners of his mouth. "Hell yeah, luv and you'll fuck me." William stopped speaking suddenly. He swallowed, frowned and sat up, turning his body away from Liam.

"What is it Will?"

"If we're vampires...Angelus...I remember sex with Angelus...he was always in control. He fucked. I...I was fucked...he never let..."

Liam got off the bed and knelt between William's legs. He reached for his lover's chin and lifted his head so he could stare into the depths of the brilliant blue eyes he wanted to see for the rest of his eternal life. "I am not Angelus and you are not Spike. We have been human and we are Liam and William. There is no master; there is no one in control. If there is any control, it is with you. You are...you are brave and daring, unafraid of new experiences. You make me feel desirable...loved. I need that. I want...want to follow you into new challenges." He lowered his dark eyes and grasped William's wrist and then stared deeply into the face of the man he adored. "As long as you hold my hand."

William's breath hitched and his heart leapt at Liam's words. He reached for Liam's hand and caressed the back. He turned it over and kissed the palm and the tips of the artist's talented fingers. "Always luv, always."

The two men crawled onto the bed together, exhausted physically and emotionally. They lay together and fell into a dreamless sleep, secure and unafraid.

TBC