Title: Thanks with Tears Author: Janet Lynn (janet324@attbi.com) Rating: NC-17 Pairing: W/S/A Thoughts indicated by ~~ Chapter 14 The next afternoon, the entire group sat downstairs trying to finish the translation for Spike to use later that night. Earlier, Spike and Willow had spent a good hour cleaning the mess they made in Angel's sitting room. It took them longer than expected because they got into another popcorn fight and made a bigger mess before they had to clean it up. But at least they had a good time doing it. They all had a nice day, researching, eating and talking. As the sun began to go down, the group got ready to go to work. Angel decided not everyone needed to go on this mission, so Willow, Fred and Cordelia were going to stay at the hotel. Lorne had taken the night off and was off doing his thing. Willow was glad to have to some time alone with the girls of the group. It made for some nice female bonding time. Angel, Wesley, Gunn and Spike made their way to the where the Glu'rath had taken up residence. Wesley looked at Spike and asked, "Are you sure you're ready for this?" "Yeah, mate," Spike replied. "As long as your translation is correct, we shouldn't have a problem." "Yes, well, then we won't have any trouble will we?" Wesley shot back, his ego bruised slightly at the accusation that his translation skills might be lacking. "Ok, boys," Angel scolded. "If you're done, can we get to work?" "Let's do it," Spike said, pushing past the former watcher and heading to the front door. Once inside, the humans went to talk to the owners of the household, while the vampires went in search of the Glu'rath. They were easy enough to find. There were two of them roaming around the upstairs bedroom. They were quite large and slightly transparent. As soon as Spike spotted them, he moved forward to catch their attention. Immediately, he began to speak to them. Angel smiled as he watched his childe talking to the Glu'rath. He was amazing. He seemed so confident and sure of himself as he explained to the demons that the house was actually occupied and they were scaring the humans who lived here. The demons apologized for the intrusion but told Spike they had no other place to go. Spike smiled as he told them he could give them directions to an abandoned warehouse where they could live undisturbed. They thanked Spike and left the house, heading toward the warehouse he had told them about. Angel let out an unneeded breath he didn't realize he was holding as he watched the two creatures leave. Spike turned to look at his sire with a smirk on his face. "Told you I could do it," he said as he walked past him. "Never doubted you, my boy," Angel answered as he followed him into the room where the humans were waiting. Angel smiled at his friends and said, "They're gone." Looking at the relieved clients, he said, "We directed them to another part of town. They shouldn't come back." The clients were very grateful and the talk of payment was beginning to be discussed. Spike was uncomfortable with all the talk about money and such, so he decided he needed to go outside. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his packet of cigarettes and held them up for Angel to see. Angel understood the meaning behind the action and he nodded, letting Spike know it was alright. Spike quickly walked out of the house and sighed. "So this is what it feels like to be one of the good guys," he smirked. He knew he had done a good thing. It just still felt...odd. He walked down to the sidewalk and leaned against the mailbox as he took out a cigarette and inhaled deeply, enjoying the feeling. He leaned his head back, looking at the stars. Lost in his thoughts, Spike never noticed the group of drunk young men heading his way. The blonde vampire was brought out of his thoughts by a rough voice shouting, "Hey guys. Look at the pretty boy all alone." ~Shit~ Spike thought. ~Humans.~ Knowing he couldn't defend himself against the men, Spike decided to retreat back to the house. His way was blocked by a rather large, rather drunk man. "Sod off, you pillocks!" Spike growled at the man in his way. "Oh, he's got a pretty voice too," the apparent leader crowed. "I bet your pretty mouth feels great too." Spike turned quickly to try and catch one of the men off guard, but one of them took a swing at him before he could get past them. Spike shot his hands up the defend himself, but the man was able to connect the punch before his hands were up. He pushed the man away from him, causing the chip to fire. "Bloody hell!" Spike yelled as he collapsed to the ground, clutching his head in pain. "Oh," one of the men teased. "Looks like the pretty boy can't take a punch. I wonder what he can take." The man was leering at him as he began to kick the prone vampire in the ribs. Even though he had been feeding better, Spike was still not up to full strength and with the first kick, he felt a rib give way. He rolled with the kick, trying to get away. With all his strength, he yelled, "Angel!" "Angel, huh?" another man mocked. "Maybe that's his girlfriend." "Or his boyfriend." All four men laughed at that. They all were taking turns beating the blonde who was now simply trying to keep from being pummeled. Between the kicks and the punches, Spike weakly continued to call out for his sire, hoping he would hear him. "Looks like he misses his boyfriend," the leader shouted. He then pulled the vampire up and tried to undo his jeans. "No" Spike protested weakly, trying to keep the man's hands off of him. Two of the other men grabbed Spike's arms to keep him from fighting. As the man opened the front of Spike's pants, he cried out weakly trying to block out what was happening. "I'll bet the pretty boy has a pretty ass," he snickered as he ran his hands around to grab Spike's firm buttocks. "Don't you pretty boy." Spike was about to cry out for his sire again, when suddenly the man was gone. He looked up in time to see the man's neck twist at an unnatural angle. The man fell to the ground at Spike's feet in a heap and Angel was in front of him. "Mine," he growled as he launched himself at the other men. Gunn and Wesley had joined the fight and had beaten the remaining men and watched as they fled down the street. Angel turned and picked up the broken body of his childe, looking over him to check the damage done. "Spike," he asked softly. "Are you okay? What happened?" "Jumped by the bloody pillocks," he spit out. Blood was flowing freely from his split lip and he couldn't see out of his left eye. "Chip fired and I couldn't..." He trailed off as he began to lose consciousness. Angel quickly picked up his childe and yelled at his friends, "Get the car! We need to get to him back to the hotel." Wes and Gunn were off in a second, running to the car and bringing it to where Angel was standing. Quickly, he yanked open the back door and fell in, cradling the blonde in his lap. "Spike," Angel whispered, trying to revive the vampire. "Spike, wake up." The blonde remained unconscious all the way to the hotel. Angel was really worried about his childe. As they stopped in front of the hotel, Angel jumped out of the car and quickly carried the broken vampire inside. Once he burst through the doors, the three girls turned and let out a collective gasp. "What happened?" Willow yelled as she jumped up to help Angel bring Spike to the couch. "He got jumped by some humans," he explained quickly. "Someone go and heat up some blood. At least 3 units, now!" Fred got up and ran into the kitchen to get the blood prepared. Cordelia ran into the office and grabbed the first aid kit they always kept there in case of such emergencies. Angel and Willow were working quickly to remove some of the clothing so they could see how bad the wounds really were. Angel gently trailed his finger down the vampire's ribs, finding three of them broken. His eye was swollen shut and he appeared to have a cracked jaw. Fred walked in quickly with the heated blood and sat it down next to Angel. He picked up the large glass and pressed it to Spike's lips. Slowly, he poured the warm blood in the blonde vampire's mouth and tried to help him swallow it. It took a few moments, but then Spike began to swallow the blood instinctively. Angel sighed in relief as the broken man drank down all the blood. He then reached over and took the first aid kit out of Cordelia's hands and opened it to take out the supplies he needed. As he turned to look back at the man on the couch, he was stopped by Wesley. "Wait," the former watcher said softly. Angel turned around and saw Willow sitting on the arm of the couch by Spike's head. Her eyes were closed and she was quietly chanting. She reached her hand out in front of her and trailed them over Spike's head and chest. Not getting the reaction she was hoping for, she opened her eyes and looked at Angel. "Do you want to help him?" she asked. Angel was frozen for a moment. Willow's eyes were completely black and her voice sounded an octave too low. After just a moments pause, he slowly nodded his head. At the movement from the dark vampire, Willow reached out and grabbed his arm tightly in her hand. Angel jerked at the feeling of the girl's hand digging into his arm and the feeling of power being sucked out of his body. Slowly, he watched with awe as the wounds slowly begin to heal. Once the young witch was satisfied with how the vampire was healed, she let go of Angel's arm and collapsed against the back of the couch. Angel fell on to the floor on his back, gasping for unneeded breath. "What the hell was that?" he asked, looking around to the people watching. "Apparently, Willow used you as a means to strengthen her power to heal Spike," Wesley explained, looking at the redhead for confirmation. Willow nodded weakly as she tried to pull herself into a sitting position. "It's kinda what I do," she stated. "I needed more power, so I took what I needed. Sorry, Angel. I should have warned you." "It's ok Willow," Angel sighed as he sat up and ran his fingers through his hair, trying to shake off the residual feeling the magic left behind. "As long as Spike is ok, I'll do whatever I have to." The dark vampire decided to set about trying to determine how bad the injuries were since Willow had done the spell. His eye was much better, but still closed. His jaw was healed and the blood in his mouth had stopped flowing. As he trailed a finger down the ribs, Spike moaned lightly. "He had some internal injuries," Willow stated quietly when Angel looked at her with a questioning look in his eyes. "I thought they were the most important to heal." "Me too," Angel whispered, reaching up to move a stray piece of hair from her face. "The blood and some sleep should be able to do the rest. Thank you Willow." "We all need some rest," the young redhead said, slowly rising from the couch. "I agree," Angel said, standing and looking at the others in the room. "Let's all get some rest. Gunn, Wes, will you help me get Spike upstairs?" "No problem, man," Gunn said, quickly coming over with Wesley to pick up the still unconscious vampire and taking him upstairs. They quickly took him into his room and placed him on the bed. Angel and Willow followed them into the room and thanked them for all their help before they left. Angel and Willow silently stripped the blonde vampire and covered him in the sheets of his bed to sleep for the night. As they stepped out of the room, Willow grabbed Angel's arm. He looked down at her, wondering what she was thinking. "Are you sure you're alright?" she asked, fear in her eyes. "Yeah, little one," Angel whispered, lazily running his fingers through her hair. "Don't worry about it. Like I said before, you helped Spike, that's all the matters to me." She smiled up at the dark vampire, enjoying the feeling of him touching her. "I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked sleepily. "Yeah," he whispered. "See you tomorrow." He then leaned down and lightly brushed her lips with his own. They looked at each other for a moment before they turned and walked into their own rooms to get some much needed rest. Tbc...