The Crypt: With the Tide by Salustra and Cathelin

Summary: A response to Ghostsforge's Challenge #30, which begins, "In a turn of events that cause Angel's painful memories of Connor to surface, Spike is pulled into Qur-Toth..." In this chapter, Spike gets his memories back, and consequences ensue.

Disclaimer: I don't own Spike or anything else from ME... though I really wish I could. Just having a little fun, guys.

Distribution: Go ahead. I'd like to know where it's going if you can drop me a line.

"What though the sea with waves continual
Does eat the earth, it is no more at all:
Nor is the earth the less, or loseth aught,
For whatsoever from one place doth fall,
Is with the tide unto another brought:
For there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought." --Dante

Feeling a little down, his stomach churning, Angel leads Spike down the corridor towards the lab, their fingers threaded together. For once he hadn't cared what his employees thought and had kept firm hold of his childe, letting him cuddle up to him in the elevator and glaring at everyone who dared to look sideways at them.

Spike can feel the tangled emotions in his Sire and he has looked up more than once with puzzled eyes and soft sounds, trying to soothe him. As they approach the lab, he rubs against Angel, feeling his anxiety grow.

They step into the lab together. Fred bounces over, almost squealing as she sees Spike. "Spike!" Spike grins and purrs, wrapping an arm around Fred and pulling her close. His other hand doesn't leave Angel's, so the three of them are all but pulled together.

Attempting to pull himself out of the doldrums, Angel pats Fred's back gently. "How's everything going?"

"Ah, good. Okay then." After clearing his throat, he moves away from the two of them. "So ah, what do you need me to do?"

"Just sit and watch. It'll just take a minute." Fred guides Spike over into the center of a ring of laser reflectors. She powers up a generator and a laser appears, reflecting around to form an intricate grid. Then she flips another switch and there is an electrical crackle in the air.

Spike shudders as the current runs through him, his eyes going wide as he is suddenly flooded with memories, all the bits and pieces connecting. He cries out and collapses to his knees. Fred switches off both machines.

Angel watches in panic as, to his eyes, his childe is electrocuted. "Spike!" He dashes over to the younger vampire, dropping to his knees beside him.

Spike looks up at Angel, then down at the soft leathers, then back up at Angel. "Angel, what the bloody hell...?" Then the rest of it comes together. Angel can almost see the realization hitting his eyes. Spike is stock still, shock overpowering him from so much rushing in at once.

"I...er..." Angel stutters for a moment before shooting to his feet. "Er... welcome back. Fred...fixed your memories then." He backs away a step. "I guess I'd better go...let her check you over. I ought to get back to work." With that Angel disappears from the room, with vampire speed. A faint, "Thanks Fred!" sounds in his wake.

Spike is still kneeling there, looking shocked and confused, as Fred approaches to check him over.

As Angel heads for his office, Harmony jumps to her feet. "Did it work? Everybody's just dying to know."

"Yes." He says shortly. His tone is quite reasonable, in contrast to the yellow-eyed glare he gives the young vampire as he passes her. Entering his office, he closes it behind him with forced gentleness.

Spike has some time to get himself together, answering Fred's questions as he lets his mind try and make sense of what has happened. And he can't. He doesn't know why Angel acted like he did. The longer he turns it over, the more he knows he needs to go up and confront Angel. Confronting, at least, is something Spike is good at.

Angel buries himself beneath the pile of paperwork that has built up on his desk, refusing to let his thoughts wander to his childe and ignoring the sick feeling in his gut.

Spike charges past Harmony, ignoring her, throwing open Angel's office door, and then slamming it behind him. "What the bloody hell were you playing at?"

"Nothing." Angel answers with patently false casualness, without looking up from the contract in front of him.

With a huge sigh, Angel raises his head, but instead of looking at Spike, he stares at the wall over his shoulder. "Spike. Do we have to do this now? I've got all this work to do." He gestures around him at the piles of paper on his desk. "Fred has sorted out your memories, so no doubt you have things you want to do."

"Yes. What I want to do is figure out what is going on." Spike walks up and shoves the piles of paper onto the floor.

"Yes, Spike. Your pain-in-the-arse childe. All I do is make you mad, we've barely said a civil word to each other in over a century, so what the fuck have you been playing at sleeping with me?"

"I haven't be playing at anything." Angel snarls, finally looking up at him, his eyes barely less yellow than when he spoke to Harmony earlier. "What does it matter anyway? You've got your memories back. No doubt you'll be back to your annoying, guttermouthed pain-in-my-ass self in no time."

"Figures. " Spike snorts. "Bet you'd've preferred to keep me like that. Couldn't argue with you, must've been a bloody dream come true for you."

Wrapping his hand around Spike's throat, Angel stands up and glares down into his face. "I don't know, you still managed to do whatever the fuck you wanted even with no memories."

"So it was some dreadful hardship for you then? You just sleeping with me out of pity or somesuch?"

"Oh for fuck's sake." Angel sneers, pushing Spike away from him. "Here we go with the 'poor you' shit."

"Stepping on your territory, I know, you poor tortured broody bastard. Heaven forbid anyone else should even suggest they've suffered anything."

"That's not it..." Angel starts. "Oh feck it all." Storming over to his elevator, he presses the button, sliding between the doors as soon as they part enough and slamming his hand down on the 'close door' button.

Spike shoots his arm in, pulling the doors back open, shoving himself inside. "Not getting away that easy."

Snarling again, Angel slams him up against the wall. "What!? What is it that you want from me?"

"I want a fucking explanation, you sodding bastard." Spike pants needlessly as Angel holds him against the wall, his eyes as gold as his Sire's.

"Why?" Angel cries, stepping away and throwing his hands in the air. "It doesn't matter. Things are back to normal."

"They sure as bloody hell aren't! I remember everything. Five hundred bloody years alone in that hell, I remember it all." Spike moves over to his bag, pulling out the worn leather book. "Did you even look at what I wrote while I still remembered who I was? No, too busy fucking me. Well maybe you can use it for light reading some evening when you need a laugh. I leave it for you." Spike turns and heads for the elevator, taking the bag with him, leaving the book on the table for Angel.

With an incoherent snarling growl, Angel picks up the nearest object, a vase, and throws it. It smashes spectacularly against the closed elevator doors, just missing Spike's head.

Spike stops in Angel's office just long enough to grab a couple of bottles of his private stock. He stalks out the door. Harmony flutters up. "What happened, blondie bear?" He snarls at her, making her whimper and back away, and continues stalking off down the hall.

Wesley is finally the one brave enough to go up in the elevator, after Harmony calling around desperately. There had been loud crashes coming from the penthouse, but they had stopped a while before. Wesley stands nervously as the elevator doors open. The room in front of him trashed - furniture battered, glass and pottery smashed to smithereens.

"Angel?" He calls out, his voice a little tentative. There's no answer, this part of the penthouse silent. Wesley steps carefully through the penthouse, moving first to the bedroom, then around the apartment. He finally hears noises coming from the guest room, and ventures closer.

"You like that don't you bitch?" Angel whispers, leaning over to speak in Eve's ear. His hand is tangled in her hair, pulling her head back as he drives into her from behind.

With a quiet snarl, Angel pulls away, letting Eve slump to the floor. Pulling up his trousers, he does them up as he strides to the door. Opening it, he leans against the doorpost. "Wesley." He says with slow deliberateness. "Nope. Everything's fine, why wouldn't it be?" He asks, words ever so slightly slurred.

"Well for one thing the rest of the apartment looks like a horde of F'yarl demons invaded. For another, Spike snarled at several secretaries and disappeared somewhere in the building. And also, Gunn informs me the Senior Partners have sent a few inquiries as to Eve's whereabouts." Wesley doesn't let his eyes look at her prone form, but he can see the welts on her with his peripheral vision, as well as the glint of metal on her naked body.

"Eve?" Angel says, sounding far too perky for a broody Champion. The bit about the blonde woman is about the only part of Wesley's words that sunk in. Maybe that second bottle of whisky hadn't been necessary. "Nah, she's fine and dandy. Aren't you Evie?" The question is directed towards the quivering heap of female flesh on the floor.

Eve whimpers in response. Wesley clears his throat again as the heavy smell of whiskey comes from Angel. "You're drunk," he states flatly.

"Am I?" Angel questions blithely, pushing away from the doorpost and sauntering over to the chest of drawers.

"Unless you've merely bathed in whiskey, yes," Wesley says. Eve looks over, seeing Angel move back to the chest, and moans pitifully, trying vainly to push up off the floor. Angel hums vaguely in reply as he starts to dig through the drawers of the chest again. Wesley moves over to Angel and tries to get his attention. "Are you going to tell me what is going on or do I need to go find Spike?"

"What's going on?" Angel looks at him and blinks, pausing in his search with a huge black dildo in his hand. "Nothing's going on."

Wesley grabs Angel's shoulder. "You have Eve naked and...and...I don't know how much you've done with her, and you've destroyed the entire penthouse, and you are trying to tell me nothing is going on?"

"Well *something's* going on I suppose." Angel shrugs. "But it's nothing to worry about. Eve's here of her own free will."

"Nothing to worry about." Wesley repeats, almost to himself. "Perhaps I need to go down to Medical. One of us is obviously nutters."

"Are you feeling alright Wes?" Angel asks, frowning a little with worry. He goes to put a hand on his shoulder, stops, looks at the dildo in his hand, drops it and then continues the abortive move to pat Wesley's shoulder comfortingly.

Wesley's eyes widen. "Now I *definitely* know something is wrong." He starts backing out the door of the guestroom.

"I'll....I'll go find Spike." Wesley heads back towards the elevator, noticing the leather book lying on the table near the elevator. He scoops it up, noticing it's the only thing in the living room left intact, and steps into the elevator going down.

Spike looks at the second bottle of whiskey. There's not much left in it, and he contemplates sneaking back to Angel's office to get more. Really he should have cleaned him out while he was there, this promises to be an extended bender. Worse than when Dru left him. At least being a ghost had taught him the ins and outs of the building. He knows where he can hide and the damn cameras won't see him.

Typically, as soon as he thinks that, he hears footsteps approaching. Wesley is heading his way. After spending two hours searching fruitlessly, he'd gone and asked the psychics for a clue as to Spike's whereabouts. After another half hour, he'd finally worked out where Spike should, hopefully be. At least he'd had chance to glance through the book he found in the penthouse - it seems to be a journal that Spike kept while he was in Quor'toth.

Spike curses softly. "Watcher. Shoulda figured. What, some dirty work needs doing? I don't work for him anymore."

"And now you've found me. Have any more booze on you? I've nearly finished all this."

"No." Wesley says, rolling his eyes slightly. "What is it with the two of you and drink?"

Spike chuckles bitterly. "Says the man who keeps a stock of Glenlivet in his bottom desk drawer."

Valiantly ignoring that, Wesley looks around before sitting beside him. "Well at least *you* haven't provided a huge job for Maintenance too."

Spike lets the silence draw out a long moment, swigging down the last of his whiskey. "Awright, I'll bite. What was strange?"

"Well. Everything in the main part of the penthouse was broken or shattered, or torn. All except," Wesley pauses casually. "One small table and the book sitting on it."

Spike looks intently at Wesley, then shakes his head, settling back. "Probably just overlooked it."

"Oh I don't think so. Didn't there used to be that lamp on that table. The one with the expensive glass shade?"

"Could be. M'not sure." Spike shrugs. "I just dropped it on the nearest table before I left."

"Hmm. Well the lamp is obliterated. But not a single piece of the glass littering the table was actually *on* the book." Shaking his head slightly, Wesley changed the subject. "Oh, do you know what's going on with Eve?"

"Yeah. Another toy for my Sire. She pushed him too far and he found a better way of getting even than violence."

"I dunno how the Senior Partners work. But she agreed to it all." Spike's gaze darkens. "He has a way of doing that."

Shifting uncomfortable, Wesley hums non-commitally. "So, care to tell me why the two of you are both so upset?"

"I'll tell you why I am if you can tell me why he is. He won't tell me a bloody thing. I'm sure he liked it better when I wasn't talking. Wanker never would answer a straight question."

"Well, that's something I found out. He wouldn't tell me either. Then again, that might have been the booze." Wesley rolls his eyes, as he remembers the how little success he had at prying information out of Angel.

Spike sighs and looks over at Wesley. "Booze, eh? That's supposed to be *my* thing." He chuckles harshly. "The long and the short is, I've ended up on the short end again. Always do. With him, with Dru, with...well pretty much everyone except Harm. I owe her an apology." He tries to push up from the floor, slipping a bit on the smooth polished surface and landing hard on his ass in a sprawl.

"Easy. Harmony will be most upset if you go looking for her with a bruised backside," Wesley teases with a grin.

"I'm not sure what you mean about being on the short end though?" Wesley says, raising an eyebrow.

"You said that little book was there? Read it. Then ask Fred how quick he buggered out of the lab once I remembered who I was. You'll get the notion soon enough."

"I know." Spike says. "But the book is me. M'tired of loving people who don't love me back, Watcher. Dead tired. He's just unhappy cause he lost William again. He made me, made Spike, but he only loves what he destroyed." Spike makes a growling noise in his throat. "Sod it, I've gone all poetic again, and I *hate* that. M'going to find Harmony, then I'm stealing a car and leaving."

"He couldn't have made it any plainer. Ran out the second I knew who I was, then when I confronted him about what he'd been playing at, he wouldn't tell me a bloody thing. Just went back to treating me like before, like nothing had happened."

"Oh, don't pull that oh-so-knowing-Watcher crap on me. I know he does. But I chased after him, and he just kept running. Bout time someone ran after me." Spike pushes up from the floor, more successfully this time. "But he won't." Spike pushes past Wesley and heads down the corridor.

Spike keeps moving, heading down the to the elevator, back to the floor where Angel's office is. He approaches, slowly, not wanting to spook Harmony after the way he'd snarled earlier.

Tilting her head sideways, Harmony squints at her computer screen. She's not sure that word looks right at all.

"Yeah. M'sorry about earlier." He ducks his head a bit. "M'pretty much just sorry, full stop. Give a goodbye kiss, eh, pet?"

"Goodbye?" She asks, blinking with confusion. "You're not going back to that basement are you? I think the lease was up."

"No. Just leaving. Just wanted to say m'sorry for the shoddy way I did you. M'having a rare moment of self-revelation today." He lifts a hand to cup her cheek, his jaw tightening a bit, his throat tightening.

"Why not? I don't work here. And if I do, someone owes me about five hundred years hazard pay." He chuckles mirthlesslessly as she moves towards him.

"You've got Lorne. And Fred's a friendly sort. You and I, we never talked much." He quirks his lips a bit as he looks up and down her.

Giggling a little and blushing, she looks downwards. "But they're both so busy..."

"Sorry pet. I just can't. Can't stay here anymore." He leans in and kisses her cheek.

"But..." Sniffling as he eyes fill, she throws her arms around. "Please don't go Spikey."

"Aww, pet, you'll break my heart, really you will. I'll let you know where I land. I promise."

He holds her close, nuzzling her neck, kissing her tenderly. "I'd only end up hurting you again, pet. You'll make some lucky demon a wonderful wife someday. You deserve better than I could give you."

Clinging to him, Harmony sniffles again, trying not to cry. Spike stays there with her a long moment, before very gently disentangling himself. He kisses her palms, one at a time. "I'll call, pet, I promise. A real promise."

"Oh..okay." She nods, giving him a teary smile. Spike heads off towards the garage. He still knows where the extra keys to the Viper are. He smiles as he takes them, sliding into the slick vehicle, and cruising off into the day, shielded by the special glass.

As soon as Spike walks away, Harmony retreats to the ladies room, not coming out for a good hour. As far as she's concerned the Angel can deal with his damn phone calls himself.

Tapping lightly on the window of Fred's office, Wesley waits for her to notice him. Fred looks up from her papers, and smiles as she sees Wesley. She gestures for him to come inside.

"Thanks for double-checking the calculations for me. I was just worried I'd mess something up."

She puts out a hand to cover his, curling her fingers around it. "Come down for anything in particular?"

"Unfortunately yes." Wesley nods, turning his hand beneath hers to link their fingers.

"I would have liked to have been able to say that I just came down to see you. But," He sighs and grimaces a little. "It's Angel and Spike. As usual."

"By being his usual self and avoiding the issue of what happened between him and Spike, Angel has upset Spike to the point that he says he's going to leave." Wesley shakes his head sadly.

She giggles. "Spike. I have yet to figure out how to talk sense to Angel. He listens to you more than me."

"Well at the moment, Angel isn't listening to me at all." Wesley sighs. "Spike went looking for Harmony to apologize."

"Apologize?" Fred furrows her brow. "Well I'll go there then. You want to come with me? Maybe Angel's in a better mood by now."

"Angel's drunk? Oh, this is not good." Fred gets up, pulling Wes close against her with their clasped hands. "C'mon." Wesley's hand comes up automatically to steady himself, resting lightly on her hip. Fred moves in easily against him, and the two of them head off towards Angel's office. They find a somewhat red-eyed Harmony. "What's wrong, Harm?" Fred asks.

"Spikey's left." Harmony replies, rubbing her nose and blinking to stop herself from crying again.

"Oh dear." Wesley murmurs, dismayed. "I'm not sure that I should go upstairs after all then."

Fred makes a little noise in her throat. "Maybe I'd better." She heads for the door of Angel's office.

"Um...perhaps I should go up first?" He replies flushing at the memory of what was happening in the penthouse when he left a few hours earlier. Though surely Angel wouldn't still be... amusing himself with Eve?

"Oh is that where she's been for the last couple of days?" Harmony asks curiously, and more than a little innocently considering she's a vampire.

Shrugging, Wesley avoids her eyes. "Don't ask me." Fred sets her mouth and heads to the door of Angel's office, opening it, crossing to the elevator.

After a moment's hesitation, Harmony follows, figuring she may as well find out the gossip first hand.

A few minutes later they are up in Angel's suite. Harmony and Fred both gape at the devastation. "Wow, completely out of hand," Harmony mutters.

"Um. I'll go and check the bedrooms shall I?" Wesley asks, avoiding their eyes. Fred keeps looking dumbly about and nods.

"Um. Ok." Picking his way through the chaos, Wesley heads back to the bedrooms. This time he's relieved to find Angel in his own room, alone. "Er...Angel? Are you awake?"

Sighing quietly, Angel turns over, rubbing his temple as he sits up. "I am now. What is it?"

Nodding, Wesley backs out of the room. Fred looks over at Wesley as he comes back. "Well?"

"He'll be out in a minute. He was lying down. Looks like he has sobered up after all."

In the guest room, Eve is still in uncomfortable accommodations. Angel had gagged her before leaving, getting tired of her pleading. Her status as liaison meant she'd heal, faster than a human would, but it didn't stop it from hurting. She hears the voices in the outer room, but doesn't draw attention to herself. She's humiliated enough at Wesley seeing her earlier.

Buttoning his shirt, Angel comes out into the room. Looking up he falters as he takes in the mess. Fred sees his expression. She steps forward, her expression gentle and concerned. "You ok, Angel?"

"Yes. When are you going to stop being stupid and tell Spike how you feel about him?"

"You heard me, mister. Did you know he's left? Probably because he doesn't think you love him. Stupid men, honestly." She gives a little sideward glance at Wesley without even realizing she's done so.

"Yes. Tell him, Harmony." Fred shoves Harmony forward a bit. Harmony swallows hard and stammers. "I-it's true."

"Fuck!" Angel snarls, looking around for something to break. But of course, there isn't anything. Harmony flinches and shrinks back. Even Fred is taken aback at Angel's vehemence of response.

"Not too long ago." Wesley answers quietly, hoping his calmness will affect Angel. "I assume he took one of the cars from the car pool."

Harmony shrinks back a bit more, hoping Angel won't question her too closely. She doesn't like it when he's this mad and has nothing inanimate to take it out on.

"Right. Right." Angel nods, looking around again. "Harmony!" He barks, far louder than necessary.

She stops, and turns then edges over towards the phone, trying to circle a bit wide around him to get to it, wanting to stay out of arm's reach of him.

"Is there anything I can do?" Wesley asks Angel, still sounding calm and reasonable.

Running his hands through his hair, Angel sighs deeply. "I don't know. Do you have any ideas where he might be heading?"

"Not really. I mean, he wouldn't still be thinking about going to find Buffy, would he?" Fred furrows her brow. Harmony makes her calls, speaking low into the phone.

Freezing, Angel stares at them for a moment. "Shit!" He growls turning around and punching the wall.

Harmony jumps again and squeaks as the movement and sound startle her. Fred's eyes widen. "Angel, calm down, this isn't helping anything!"

Taking a deep breath, Angel snarls under his breath. "You're right. You're right." Breathing deeply, he pulls his fist out of the hole in the wall.

Angel looks down at his knuckles. "Not really." Lifting his hand, he licks at the blood smearing his fingers.

Harmony gets off the phone. "He took the Viper, about an hour ago. They're getting tracking on it now."

"Good." Angel nods, closing his eyes, still breathing deeply. "I'll head down to the garage then. They can keep me updated as I follow."

"Umm, Angel?" Harmony says, her voice still shaky and tentative. "There's nothing else down there as fast as the Viper. You probably won't be able to catch up til he stops."

"Go on, Angel. Don't think about it, just follow. You'll regret it if you don't." Fred's gaze brushes over Wesley again as she speaks.

"Or you could try phoning the viper." Wesley points out reasonably. Opening his eyes, Angel glares at him.

The phone rings again and Harmony flinches, her nerves still on edge. She picks it up. "Angel's penthouse." She listens. "Uh-huh, ok, uh-huh." She looks over at Angel. "The Viper's stopped, somewhere outside Barstow. Right on the border with Nevada.

"Right. Fine. Tell them I'm going to head that way in the Z8 and to tell me if he heads out again." Angel tells her, striding into his bedroom for some shoes.

Coming back into the room ready to go, Angel smiles weakly at Wesley and Fred. "Thanks you guys."

Hearing the click of the phone as Harmony hangs up, he silently moves over to her, making her jump as she turns around to find him behind her.

Lowering his voice he tells her. "Eve's in the guest bedroom. She's now a Pet." He can't help but smirk a little.

Her eyes widen. "Yes, Boss." She shivers at that. Fred looks over at Wes, her eyes questioning him. Wesley flushes and avoids Fred's eyes.

Leaning into Harmony, Angel lowers his voice further, "Clean her up and feed her. Get her some fitting outfits." Out of sight of the humans across the room, Angel cups the young vampire's breast, giving it a squeeze.

Harmony whimpers very softly and nods. "Yes boss." She barely stops herself from using the word Master instead.

"I'll let you play a little. There are toys in the chest of drawers. Try not to do any damage that she can't heal." Angel grins evilly. "Remember, don't call her by name. Pet or Bitch will do. Have fun." With a quick pinch of her hard nipple he turns and walks towards the elevator. Harmony blinks a bit in shock and then heads for the guest bedroom.

"I'll see you when Spike and I get back." Angel smiles at Wesley and Fred, ushering them into the elevator before him.

Spike is sitting in the Viper. He opens the door as soon as night falls, the mountains making dark come just that much sooner. He leaves the keys in the car, he's not coming back to it. He picks up the bag and heads out into the desert, towards the line of hills. There's a cave he set up long ago, a hideyhole, with a tiny spring-fed pool inside. And there's enough game in the hills and desert to keep him fed on blood. He had come here before, when Dru left him the second time, to forget. Maybe it would help him this time. He moves silently, almost tracklessly, across the hard-packed earth.

Less than two hours later, Angel pulls up beside the Viper. Looking around he curses as he realizes that the car park was too far outside of the main town to tell where Spike had gone. Getting out of the car, he heads over to the Viper to see if there's any clue.

There's no clue in the Viper itself. Spike hadn't taken any of the supplies Angel kept in the trunk for emergencies, and the cell phone is still in the cradle.

"Shit." Angel mumbles and looks around again. Looks like Spike must have walked into town from here. The closest structure to where the Viper is located is a big truck stop, with a diner and tiny motel rooms for truckers to rest a few hours. With a sigh Angel gets back into the car and drives up the road to see if anyone saw Spike pass.

An hour later, Angel storms out of the last of Barstow's motels. He's asked at the front desk in every motel and hotel in town, and there's been no sign of Spike at any of them. Climbing yet again back into the car, Angel drives back out of town to the car park where the Viper has been left. Looks like he'll have to do this the hard way. Damned childe.

Out in the desert, Spike reaches the cave. He steps inside. It's deep enough to be cool in the heat of the desert. There's a little army cot there, and a chest. He opens the chest. Inside he stocked some bottles of whiskey and a few survival supplies, as well as a bedroll. He pulls it out and unrolls it directly on the cool stone floor of the cave. He strips out of the skin, preparing to sleep away the day when it comes in a few hours.

Walking around the Viper with his eyes closed, Angel takes a series of deep breathes to find out which direction Spike's scent comes from the strongest. Coming to a stop, he opens his eyes. "Oh for fuck sake." Dismayed he looks out over the expanse of desert, and the hills beyond.

Spike's naked now, and washes away some of the grit with the cool water. He looks longingly over at the whiskey, but decides not to drink any. There's also a strong urge to weep like a woman, but he can't really manage that sober. The only thing he can do is be here and deal with his feelings. God, he hates that. But he knows given any way to run away from them, he will. He lays back on top of the bedroll, staring at the vaguely phosphorescent crystals in the ceiling.

Cursing Angel sighs before starting to trudge up the hill. When he got hold of Spike, he was going to tan the brat's hide for leading him on this chase.

Inside the cave, Spike sits up. He can hear the tread of shoes rasping over the ground. He reaches out his senses, to see if he needs to defend himself. It might just be some hunters or hikers going into the hills.

Spike hears the voice, and there's an involuntarily smile at hearing the curse, and the familiar accent. Without thinking about his state of undress, he comes to the mouth of the cave. The moonlight glints off his pale skin, his long hair half-covering his nakedness as it flows over him. He sees Angel not too far away.

Looking up, Angel stumbles to as stop at the sight of Spike, his mouth dropping open as his cock comes to sudden attention.

Spike takes in a breath. He didn't really expect Angel to follow him, not out here, and he suddenly doesn't know what to do, or say. He stands still in the pre-dawn hush, and just looks at him for a long moment before ducking back into the cave.

Blinking as Spike disappears, Angel snaps his mouth shut and starts moving again, faster now. Within a few minutes he's standing in the mouth of the cave. "Spike?" Spike is sitting, knees drawn up, on the bedroll.

"C'mon in, Angel." There's a tentative tone in his voice, unsure of why Angel is here, or even what he's really feeling at the moment. There's a tumult of emotions and thoughts that is almost overwhelming.

Sighing, Angel scrubs his hands over his face. "I truly don't understand why you think that."

"I remember what happened. You called me Will. Sweet Will. S'him you want, not me. You ran away the minute I was back."

"I...I..." Sighing deeply, Angel drops down to sit on the empty cot. "Spike. You *are* William...Will."

Spike snorts. "You don't really think that. I'm the pain-in-the-arse, foul-mouthed troublesome childe you don't want. I almost wish I could forget what I know. I was so bloody happy."

"Spike." Angel sighs. "You *are* a pain-in-the-arse - because you insist on trying to wind me up. You're foul-mouthed because of that stupid accent you put on." Another sigh. "But you've always been troublesome, since the night I turned you."

Spike sighs and stares at the folds of the bedroll. "Hurt too much. You held me this morning, you wanted me, you needed me. I just couldn't take going back to like it was before."

Closing his eyes, Angel tilts his head to look up at the roof of the cave. "Spike." He whispers. Clearing his throat, he starts again. "Spike, do you remember when you came out of the pendant."

"Exactly. So strangely enough, that's kind of what I expected to happen when you got you're memories back."

"So what *do* you want? I mean, really. Because I honestly don't know. I can't figure you out, I never could."

Flushing, Angel coughs to clear his throat. "Well that's true. But I doubt that's to do with how well you know me."

"Maybe. I still don't know what you want. I know what Dru wanted, what Buffy wanted. They wanted you. I couldn't be you. God knows I tried."

"You want to know what I want?" Angel asks, jumping to his feet and starting to pace. "You really want to know?"

"I want the Senior Partners to fuck off die in the most painful of ways." Angel bites out. "I want to know that Buffy is safe and well. I want to see Wesley finally get his ass in gear and ask Fred out. I want to not have to drag myself out of bed during the day. But do you know what I want the most?"

Spike is suddenly a blur of motion, almost knocking Angel over as he wraps around him. "All you had to do was ask. Stubborn bloody wanker." He chuckles and kisses Angel hard.

Taken aback, it takes Angel a moment before he realizes what's happening. With a moan, he wraps his arms around Spike, automatically taking control of the kiss. Spike melts against Angel, into the kiss, the embrace. When he finally comes up from the kiss, he grins wickedly. "You do realize we're trapped in here for the day?"

"Good. Because I'd really like a chance to remind you why you love me." Spike rubs against him, the grin growing more wicked still.

"Really?" Angel asks, returning his attention to the younger vampire. "And how do you intend to do that?"

"I'll start by getting you naked and we'll go from there." Spike chuckles, reaching for the buttons on Angel's shirt.

"Trust me. I've thought about this for a *long* time." Spike smiles and purrs, his eyes locked on Angel's. It seems he is home at last. Lost for so long, and now found again.