Title: Thanks with Tears Author: Janet Lynn (janet324@attbi.com) Rating: NC-17 Pairing: W/S/A Thoughts indicated by ~~ Chapter 13 After Spike had smoked and showered, he went back downstairs to help the Angel Investigations crew. He couldn't believe he was here again. First the Scoobies, now the Fang Gang. He shook his head at the irony. He was surprised to hear an argument taking place between the normally peaceful group. "I would do it but they won't listen to me," Wesley was explaining to the obviously upset vampire. "But I can't do the pronunciations," Angel was glowering back at the former watcher. Willow was between them with a large book in her hands. "Maybe I could do a spell..." "No!" both men yelled back at her. Spike decided he needed to figure out what was going on. "Oi! What's all the shouting about here?" All three people turned and stared at Spike for a moment. ~Wow~ Willow thought looking at the man standing on the bottom step. He was dressed in a pair of blue jeans hanging low on his hips, the midnight blue shirt she had bought was hanging open, revealing a vast expanse of pale flesh and his hair was still wet from the shower, tussled and curly. ~He really knows how to make an entrance.~ Wesley was the first to regain the ability to speak. "We have a case that needs help and we have a sort of predicament," he started to explain. "The apparent poltergeist case we had is actually a family of Glu'rath demons. They are a..." "I know what they are," Spike interrupted, not wanting to have everything explained to him. "They are interdimensional creatures who can't sense the presence of humans and humans can't see them, so they appear like ghosts. Right?" "Yes, actually," Wesley stumbled, surprised that the blonde vampire knew so much about the demons. "They can only be spoken to by supernatural creatures in their own tongue. I can decipher their language but they will not acknowledge me and Angel refuses to try." "I did not refuse to try," Angel countered. "I just can't get the pronunciation right and if you say one syllable wrong, you can offend them." "Yeah," Spike interjected. "They can be a pretty sensitive bunch. They're normally peaceful, but will put up quite a fight if ya piss them off." "So we are at an impasse," Wesley sighed. "I can do it," Spike whispered. All three people looked sharply at the blonde who was now staring at the floor, ignoring the surprised looks on their faces. "You know how to talk to them?" Willow asked, awe in her voice. "Yeah," Spike smirked as he looked at her. "Do you really think I spent all that time at the watcher's and didn't take a peak at some of his more interesting books?" Willow giggled at the reminder from earlier. Spike really was full of surprises. ~I wonder what else he's hiding~ she thought. "Very well, then," Wesley said, straightening himself. "I say we take the text and head over there straight away. The sooner we rid the house of these creatures, the sooner we can get paid." "Just one problem, mate," Spike said as he walked toward the table and the large book Willow had just lain on the table before them. "I can speak it, but I can't read it. You'd have to give me a full translation before we go over there." "Very well," Wesley replied. "I'll get to work on it now. It should only take me a few hours. We'll plan on going over tomorrow." Angel looked at his childe concerned. "Spike," he whispered quietly. "Are you sure you want to do this? I mean you've only been here a short time. I don't want you to do anything that you're not comfortable with. Are you ready to be around other people?" "I want to do this, Angel," the blonde replied with a smile. "I need to be helpful, ok?" Willow smiled at the surprised look on the older vampire's face. It was going to take him a while to get used to this new Spike. "Alright, let's get to work." The four people set about translating the text for Spike, when Gunn and Fred burst in through the front door. "Angel, man. We got trouble." Gunn said. "What's up?" Angel asked, rising from his seat next to Spike. "Fred and I found a nest of vamps just on the other side of Sunset," the young man explained as he started to pull items out of the weapons cabinet. "I'd say there were about a dozen or so. Looks like they are luring kids there saying it's a rave and then slowly draining them." Angel shook his head. It never ceased to amaze him the things some evil things did to hurt people. "Alright, let's load up." Willow, Spike and Wesley all began to stand from the table. Angel looked around at them and shook his head. "Not you two," he said to Willow and Spike. I need you two to stay here." "Why?" Spike began indignantly. "You don't think I can hold my own?" Angel reached over and laid his hand on Spike's shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly. "It's not that Spike, but there will be humans there and you can't fight them with your chip, remember? Besides, you haven't been in a battle since, you know, the soul. I think we need to wait until we are sure you are more stable for you to go out, ok? Besides, I don't want either you or Willow to be alone here. I want you to look out for each other." Spike nodded. What Angel said made sense, but he didn't have to like it. Satisfied that they were going to stay, Angel turned towards the weapons cabinet and began to pull out what he needed to take on the vampires they were going to encounter. Turning back to Willow and Spike, he said, "Take care. We shouldn't be too long." Spike simply snorted at him as the rest of the group made their way out the door and into the night. "Well," Willow sighed after she was sure they were gone. "I guess we should get back to translating this mess." Spike shifted in his chair. "What's the point, Red?" he complained. "I can't read that and the watcher'll just come back and redo the whole thing." Willow thought for a moment. Spike was probably right. Knowing Wesley, he would go through the whole thing and change what she did anyway. "Ok," she said, squinting at the vampire across the table from her. "So what did you have in mind?" Spike smirked and said, "Peaches has a fairly nice set up in his sitting room. We could have a movie night. Just you and me." Interesting, a movie night with Spike. "Ok, you get the drinks and I'll pop us a mess of popcorn." "Extra butter," Spike said, jumping up from chair, glad that the redhead had agreed to his distraction. "How many sodas you want?" "Two" Willow giggled as they fought their way through the kitchen door. "Any more than that and I'll never get to sleep." The two chatted comfortably as they gathered up the supplies they needed for their leisure activities and headed upstairs. They walked into the vampire's suite and got comfortable. They had a small spat deciding what movie to watch, but finally they made a decision and settled down for a nice evening. *** ~Four and a half hours~ he growled entering the hotel. ~I can't believe it took us four and a half hours to clean out that nest.~ It turned out there were quite a few more than a dozen vampires at the warehouse they were using as a nest and not many of the humans there were happy about the party being broken up. Angel was really glad that Spike hadn't come with them. He might have gotten hurt. He had decided since it was so late, he would let the others go home for the night. Looking around the foyer, the vampire was surprised to find it empty. He had expected Spike and Willow to still be doing the research thing, but they were no where to be seen. "Spike? Willow?" he called out, wondering if they were still downstairs. Not receiving a response, he reached out with his senses to see if he could locate the two missing people. He realized they must be upstairs. Quietly, he made his way to his suite. He could make out sounds coming from the room, so he gently opened the door and silently made his way into the sitting room. A huge smile spread across his face at the sight in front of him. Willow was sitting on the couch, her head rolled back as she slept quietly. Spike lay on the couch with his head in her lap. Willow's tiny hand was tangled in the curly locks which she would gently tease every few moments. Angel quietly made his way over to the sleeping duo. Trying not to wake them, he looked over the destruction they had caused. Empty soda cans and an empty bowl lay around the couch. Popcorn was scattered around the floor, obviously left over from a popcorn fight. On the coffee table, a mug with blood sat with small pieces of popcorn floating in it. ~Spike must still be dipping his popcorn in his blood~ Angel shuttered at the thought. He hated to move them, they looked so peaceful. But if he didn't move them, they would both be sore in the morning. He needed to decide what would be the best way to wake them. He leaned over the back of the couch and gently traced the redhead's ear with his lips before whispering in a perfect imitation of Spike, "Luv, time to wake up." "Mmm, Spike" Willow whispered at the cold breath on her ear. She tightened her fingers in the soft hair and moved her head to get better access to those teasing lips on her ear. "Not quite, pet," Angel whispered with a smirk, enjoying the reaction he was getting from the young girl. He was surprised by her reaction to his imitation of his childe, but he wasn't going to get into that now. "Shh, you'll wake me childe now. Let's not do that." Willow's eyes shot open as she realized she wasn't dreaming. She turned her head and looked right into the deep brown eyes of her friend. "Angel," she whispered, trying not to disturb the vampire in her lap. "Since when did you become such a tease?" "Apparently when you showed up," Angel smirked at her. "So what did you two do while we were gone?" "Well, we decided to do the movie thing since we weren't invited to play," she pouted for extra emphasis. "Willow," Angel started seriously. "It's not that I didn't want you to come with us, it just was better that way. There were a lot of humans there and Spike could have gotten hurt." The redhead looked down at the man asleep in her lap and she gently ran her finger through his hair, enjoying the soft curls. She didn't want him to get hurt either. He meant a lot to her, for some unknown reason. "Yeah," she whispered. "I understand." "So," Angel said. "What did you guys watch." "Well, first we watched 'Scooby Doo'" the girl said, trying to hold back the giggle that threatened the escape. "We decided that we would each pick a movie and we wouldn't complain. He wasn't really happy with my choice." Angel snickered under his breath. He knew that would be something Spike would just hate. "How did you like it?" "It was kinda lame," Willow replied. "But Spike kept going on and on about the girl who played Daphne, so I guess he was alright with it." "What did Spike pick?" Angel asked curiously. Spike had an interesting taste in film and he wondered what Willow thought. "Oddly," she replied, shaking her head. "He picked 'The Age of Innocence'. I never picked Spike for a romantic." "It's a throw back to his Victorian days," Angel said, with a smile as he remembered the endless hang-ups the blonde vampire held onto for ages. "Believe it or not, he always was a softy way down inside. I think that's why he tried so hard to be the 'Big Bad' all the time." Willow giggled at the tone the dark vampire used calling Spike the 'Big Bad' and then tried to stifle the yawn that rose to the surface. "Guess I'm a little tired." "I don't blame you," Angel said rising from his spot behind the couch. "It is really late. Let me get Spike up and into bed." With a gentleness Willow never knew existed, Angel knelt down in front of the sleeping vampire and picked him up. He carried him to the bed in the other room and laid him down before covering him gently with the sheet. Angel turned to Willow and whispered, "You can stay here with us tonight, if you'd like." The dark vampire indicated the large bed and smiled at the surprised girl. Willow didn't know what to think. ~Is Angel just being nice or does he really want me to sleep in the same bed as the two of them?~ "The bed is big enough for all of us and I'm sure Spike wouldn't mind." Angel was surprising himself, being so forward with Willow. It just seemed right her staying with them. "That's ok, Angel," Willow said, finally able to form actual words. "My room is just on the other side of the hall. I think I'll just go in there, ok?" "Ok," Angel said, as he watched the girl back up towards the sitting room and the door to the hall. "But tomorrow, you and Spike have to clean up that mess." Willow giggled as she remember the popcorn fight she and Spike had gotten into. Spike had told her that Angel was a neat freak and would complain about the mess. He was right. "Good night, Angel," the redhead whispered as she slipped out the door. "Good night, Willow," the vampire replied after her. Once she had left the room, he stripped down to his boxers and climbed into his bed, pulling his childe into his embrace before drifting off to sleep. Tbc...