Subject: [Forging_Ghost] Drabble: Touches A/S Date: Sat, 12 Jun 2004 22:16:19 -0700 From: "Janet L. Frye-Stottmann" Wow. I think I may have actually reached the end of the drabble requests I ask for a while ago. If anyone has any other ideas you want to throw my way as a request for a drabble, please do so. I always enjoy a good challenge. This is for Luba, who sent me 5 requests, so I strung them all together with a related theme. I hope it works. Requests listed at the end. Touches For Luba He stared at the bowed blonde head before him. Beneath the bleached strands, soft skin and hard bone was hidden a tiny piece of silicone and wire that hurt his childe worse than anything he could ever imagine. And it was killing him knowing there was nothing he could do about it. Spike had called him and pleaded, begged and finally called on the ancient rite of blood, requiring his sire to help heal him even though he hated to do it. For Spike, it was a sign of weakness to ask for help, especially from Angel. No matter who or what he beat up or bribed, the dark vampire could not find the answers he was looking for. So here he sat, watching over his beautiful boy as he slept. And slowly, his fingers moved in to stroke the scalp. A single fingertip found the tiny scar and Angel shuddered. *********** He stared at the shaking figure huddled on the dirty floor underneath the newly built high school. He wanted to hold the crying man, wanted to take away the pain and heal his wounded newly acquired soul. But he couldn't. Spike, and his own pride, wouldn't let him. He used to be special, unique, an aberration in the vampire community. Not now. Now there were two. Angel remembered what it had been like when he was first ensouled. It hurt. The pain was unbelievable. He felt every death, every rape, every hit he ever delivered was dealt back on him in full. He never remembered the gentle touches, soft kisses, or overwhelming passion. That was better creatures than him, than them. He wished he could take his childe, body and soul, and make him his own once again, but he couldn't. So he reached out and squeezed the too thin shoulder and Angel whispered gentle words of comfort on deaf ears. *********** He stared at the figure staring back him, his arms crossed over his chest defiantly. Spike was not going to accept this, no matter what Angel said. He was not a victim. If he wanted a victim, Angel could look at Buffy, but not at Spike. She was the one he hurt, the one he almost... Angel had told Spike that what she did to him was no better than what he tried to do to her. The brutal fucking and beating was her way of dealing, that he couldn't argue with, but it still didn't make it right and it didn't make his pain any less important because she was the slayer and he a vampire. She said she wanted to stop, but she didn't. She hurt him time and time again, demanding and taking. He came to her once and stopped himself before he... Spike refused to see, refused to believe the words Angel said. He wasn't the victim, he couldn't be. He was bad and evil and he deserved everything he got and more. And he continued to believe until the strong arms of his sire wrapped him up tight and made it safe again for him to believe. And they both cried. *********** Angel stood in shock, phone still cradled in his hand. She was gone. Just moments before, she had been in his arms kissing him and now he knows that was her body he saw in that hospital bed the day before. The Powers gave him back his Cordelia for just one day, to get him back on track, to remind him of his mission. Spike watched from the doorway, not knowing for sure what to do. Would his attempts to comfort his sire be wanted or did he even have that right at all? He shifted lightly on his feet, wanting to help in some way, any way. Angel caught the slight movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to see his childe, watching, waiting. He tried to say something, but what could he say? The pain of this loss, another soldier down in the fight, radiated though his chest and his closed eyes against it. Suddenly his arms were full. Where before there had been a warm, soft body, there was now a hard, cool one. Holding him, touching him. Soft lips touched and Angel sighed into the long forgotten comfort. And they kissed. *********** His son had just walked away. He had given up so much, more than he thought he could bear. So many people lost; Doyle, Cordelia, Darla, Fred, and Connor. The worst part was that he had lost his son, not once but twice. The happy, chubby faced babe gone through a portal to hell and the angry, bitter young man in a massive spell done at his own bidding. Seeing him again, knowing that he has a good life, Angel knew he should be happy. That's all a parent truly wants for their children. Their happiness and safety. But Connor would never truly be safe as long as there were those out there that knew he was the chosen one, the human child of two vampires. He watched his son walk out of his office and out of his life before turning to close himself in his office. Now he was truly alone. Or he would have been. Leaning against his desk was his childe. Spike didn't say a word. He simply turned and walked to the elevator, leading the dark vampire to his apartment without uttering a single word. Once they were in the seclusion of his home, Angel felt hands on him. Familiar hands that freed his clothing from his body, bringing a long forgotten need to the fore. Gentle brushes of fingertips and lips and tongue made him groan and pant and beg for more. Spike slowly made love to each part of the larger man, making him remember, helping him forget. Afterward, they laid together, silently soaking in each other's presence, touching every bit of flesh they could reach without moving. And they knew, in these touches they could heal each other and become whole. ~~The End~ Luba requested: 1) angel helping spike cope with being chipped 2) angel helping spike deal with being souled 3) angel helping spike acknowledge how buffy abused spike 4) spike helping angel mourn/accept cordelia dying 5) spike helping angel with giving up connor