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True Colors by TalesofSpike
 
Chapter 2:05
 
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SECTION 2 - ANGEL CITY

I got a buncha boys
We make a lot of noise
Little bit crazy
Playing with chemical toys
We're such bad ass dudes
I almost can't stand it myself
I wanna get the c**bs
In my elegant rags
Make my mom and daddy uptight
I wanna be an intellectual
Heterosexual, Angel City tonight.

(Motorhead, Album 1916)



Chapter 2.05
Tuesday, May 7th, 2002

"Okay, Peaches, are you goin' to tell me and the missus just what is goin' on round here?"

Angel hesitated before answering. "Cordy gets visions from the Powers That Be. She got a vision of a woman in a bar being attacked by-"

The car pulled up at a red light. "That isn't what I mean, Poofter, and you know it. Now are you going to tell me why junior here smells every bit as much like you as he does Darla? And more to the point, how come he's got a heartbeat?"

"Spike, this isn't the time." Angel spoke tersely hoping his tone would deter his grandchilde from further questions, instead as Spike returned his attention to navigating the LA streets Buffy took up his line of questioning.

"No, I think now is the perfect time, Angel. We've got a few minutes before we're going to get to that bar, even the way Will drives. So why don't you tell us? And while you're doing it why don't you tell us what you did with your tame watcher? Cordy seemed to think telling me what happened to him was your job too."

"Alright. Stephen is my son, mine and Darla's, not our childe, our son.-"

"And when we were going out you neglected to mention you had a son the same age as my sister because, say, you really didn't want to worry me with little details like birth control."

"Because he wasn't born till a couple of months ago. It's this whole prophecy thing." Buffy turned in her seat, eyebrow raised in a manner that reminded him far too much of his grandchilde.

"He was born a couple of months ago, and then he was kidnapped and taken to a hell dimension. Wesley was instrumental in the kidnapping, that is why he's no longer welcome at the hotel. As I'm sure you remember from your visit to one, time flows slightly differently in these places. To us he was kidnapped last week, to him it's been considerably longer."

"So that makes it less than a year since you and Darla. Did you go evil again and not tell us?" Buffy pressed him.

"No, that is I went through a bit of a rough patch, but I didn't lose my soul."

"This would be round the time you locked Dru and Darla in a cellar with a bunch of lawyers, and then felt so guilty about it afterwards that you set them on fire. Did you wait till her burns had healed before you slept with her?" Buffy wasn't about to let up.

"Yes, her burns had healed. Look this isn't something I want to explain in front of my son. I'm not proud of what happened. All that he needs to know is that in the end Darla loved him enough that she died so that he could be born."

Spike snorted.

"I know what you think but when she was pregnant it was like she had a soul, because Stephen was inside her, she could love, she loved him. He couldn't be born naturally so she dusted herself so that he could live."

"We're there, kiddies." Spike stepped on the brakes. "Story time's over, for now."

 




 

Lilah and Wesley stood on the balcony looking down at the bar off to the side of the crowded dance-floor. Lilah spoke condescendingly to the former watcher. ".I just needed to know whether or not I was wasting my time. And to prove we're still friends. I'll have her pulled out of there before anything really lethal happens. That way you don't have to torture yourself as to whether or not you did the right thing."

Wes saw movement on the floor below, a block of people in black leather moved as one through the dancers on the floor, accompanied by a youth Wes hasn't seen before. He took a step closer to the railing and watched the scene unfold. "I don't think that will be necessary."

Lilah stepped up next to him and looked down to see Angel along with a shorter man, a youth and a young woman, none of whom she recognised.

 

Angel turned to his son as they walked through the crowd followed by the two blondes. "Well, you wanted to kill a vampire. This might be your chance." He passed him a stake, keeping the movement as unobtrusive as possible. "Here, take this. It's a bit easier than trying to behead someone with a six-inch blade. Just make sure when you use that thing that you go straight for-"

"The heart. I know. My father taught me," Stephen interrupted.

"Yeah," answered his biological father. "I'm sure he did. Look, there are a lot of innocent people in here. Just don't go nailing anybody until they show their game face, okay?"

"Will it look like yours and his did?"

"Yeah." Angel looked across to the bar and recognised Justine.

"So why do you do it?" Stephen's nod included not only his father but Spike.

"Do what?" asked the brunette.

"Why kill them if they're like you?"

"They're not like me, Connor. That's a question for him." Angel tilted his head back over toward Spike.

"I'm not Connor."

Buffy's "spider-sense" was tingling. She counted three including the bartender around the woman that Angel seemed to have noticed at the bar and more interspersed throughout the crowd. With the slightest tilt of her head she and Spike split off toward the bar.

 

"Ready for another?" the bartender asked the redhead. She was half off her barstool, looking past Buffy and Spike as they approached, so Buffy's guess was that somehow she had picked up on Angel.

She turned back slightly to answer the question. "No, I'm done."

The bartender and the two men who had been sitting on either side of her vamped out, the barman grabbing her the arm. "You're not wrong," he said.

"She thinks she's a slayer," one of the vamps beside her remarked. There was a tap on his shoulder.

"Actually, that would be me." Buffy smiled brightly as she staked the gawking vamp. Spike meanwhile vaulted the bar just as the bartender pulled Justine up onto the counter. A stake appeared from out of Spike's sleeve.

"Too bad you're not going to be around long enough to get her autograph," Spike quipped before he drove a stake through his back and into his heart. Justine's struggles managed to knock the third vamp back toward the centre of the dance-floor and Angel deftly spun him round and impaled him on his stake. Stephen watched as he turned to dust.

Buffy pulled Justine down off the counter and pushed her in the direction of the exit. "Go, get your ass out of here, and in future leave the job to the professionals."

Spike picked up a bottle of bourbon and placed it on the countertop in case he had a chance to retrieve it later, before vaulting back onto his original side of the bar again. He and Buffy fell into a perfectly synchronised run back toward the centre of the room. Three vamps moved to close in on Angel who now stood in the middle of a clear space on the dance-floor. Before they could reach him Stephen ran toward him and with an impressive jump landed next to him, taking up a position at his back. Spike and Buffy fell in behind them so that the four made up the sides of a square.

Two went for Angel, one choosing Stephen as the easy option, or so he thought.

"We got any more incomin' or is this it, slayer?"

"There are a couple of shy ones." One of the two on Angel, heard the word slayer and decided to make a bolt for the door. Spike noted that Buffy was using the rather non-aerodynamic Mr Pointy and tossed her one of his stakes.

Seeing two coming in toward the slayer from the opposite side he took a diving roll under her line of sight to come to his feet right in front of the surprised pair. "My guess, you two would be the ones with confidence issues." Spike caught one with a left-handed jab to the nose, which he followed with a roundhouse kick to the temple before grabbing the vamp by the collar and throwing him toward Buffy.

Buffy flipped her new stake in her hand and launched it with an expert aim catching the retreating vampire, square through the heart. The stake fell to the ground and was scooped up by someone at the edge of the crowd. Buffy snapped out a forward kick to land on the jaw of the unfortunate that Spike sent her way, straightening him up long enough for her to drive Mr Pointy through his ribcage and into his heart.

"So did you want this one, pet, or should I just play with him for a bit?" Spike asked as he caught the remaining vamp behind the knee with a low roundhouse kick knocking him off balance.

Buffy noticed the teenager despatch his opponent with apparent ease. "I think maybe you should give him to Stephen. Looks like we missed a few birthdays. Time we made up for it."

"As you wish, pet. Kid! Wanna play?" As he spoke Spike continued to deliver blows that were enough to disorientate his opponent and prevent him mounting an attack of his own. Once he was sure Stephen was aware of the incoming threat, Spike sent the vamp sprawling in his direction.

He turned to watch Stephen in his fight, moving to a position where he could easily intervene if it looked like the boy might be injured, but not about to interfere unless the boy looked like he needed or wanted help. Buffy moved to stand next to him, resting a hand on his shoulder as she also looked on.

"A little help here, guys?" Angel asked. Buffy shrugged and stepped up behind Angel's admittedly skilful opponent, staking him whilst her ex had him distracted. Angel was just about to move to help his son when Stephen swept his opponent to the floor and staked him by himself.

"Were you actually thinking of helping there or were you just going to let my son get hurt?" Angel glowered at the white-blond vamp.

Spike snorted. "Your son was in no danger of getting hurt. As soon as we were down to less than one each he started playing with 'im. He could have dusted 'im five minutes back if he'd wanted to. Kid's damn good."

 

Up on the balcony, Lilah watched the blondes at the bar.

"Angel been recruiting lately?"

"Hardly. I thought your firm would have done enough research on Angel's background for you to recognise that pair. I don't see why I should give you any hints." Wes looked on captivated by how the pair moved together as if one knew what the other were thinking. With any luck Lilah would have her people looking for a pair of fighters who Angel had known in the past, rather than two separate fighters who had become a pair.

The focus of the fight shifted to the centre of the room and Stephen's fighting skills became apparent.

Lilah couldn't help asking, "who's the Boy Wonder? He moves just like-"

"His father," Wes finished for her, the similarity obvious as the two stood side by side.

As the fight drew to a close, Lilah looked up from the dance-floor. "Now tell me your not interested," she said, before she realised she was talking to the air.

 

Buffy slid her arms around Spike's waist, lulling him into a false sense of security. "Did I see you setting up a bottle of bourbon on the bar so you could steal it when the fight was over?"

"Yeah, Ah did." Spike smiled brightly and tried to move toward the bar to retrieve said item before anyone else did, only to find himself working against the power of slayer strength. Realisation suddenly dawned. "Ahh, Sorry, pet. I forgot. Force of habit. You can punish me later in private, so I don't forget again."

"Hmmph, that might make sense if I could think of something that would punish you without punishing me at the same time. Unless I stop you from watching England's World Cup matches," Buffy threatened.

"Would hardly warrant that even if I took the bloody bourbon, slayer. For any decent Englishman that would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. It's in the Geneva Convention. Not allowed."

"Since when have you been a prisoner of war."

"And what else do you call it, love? Haven't been my own man in years." Spike's words were low and laced with honey.

The couple made their way to the back door of the club, pausing in the doorway to watch Angel and Stephen mock sparring in the back alley.

"So you think the kid's good?" Buffy cast an appraising eye over the pair.

"Reckon he's got a damn sight more natural talent than his father. Whoever taught him's not bad, but they were no Giles. A few pointers off Cro Magnon there and he'll be even better."

"Praise indeed. If I didn't know better I'd say you liked him."

"Well, can't say as I've heard him open his mouth yet, but it's not like the kid can help who his parents are. As somebody who lived through twenty years in that household, I kinda feel sorry for the poor bugger," Spike responded. "If it was still Angelus that was around and not the Poof, I'd say whoever kidnapped him did him a favour."

"I wouldn't let him hear you say that," Buffy cautioned.

"Before Robin, there, interfered I think I pretty much earned the right to say what the hell I want, at least I assume it was the kid that knocked me out."

"It was the kid, and I want to know what that bit about vampire etiquette that I'm not supposed to know is."

"Bloody slayer hearing. I think you'll find that neither me nor the Poof are prepared to tell you."

"We'll see. Let's head back. I want to talk to Cordelia some more before I leave."

"I doubt she'll be able to tell you either."

"Not about that, maybe."

The couple took a wide berth round the father and son, not noticing the old man watching from a fire escape up above the alley. When the kid ran past them Spike just thought he was in a hurry to get to the car, or, God forbid, the Brood Monster had lightened up enough to give him a race. When he ran past the car and disappeared into the distance Spike looked back to see what his grandsire's reaction would be. Spike vowed to have some champagne sent to the hotel as soon as he could. The dour old git was actually smiling, a proper decent smile, not one of those half smiles he used to manage once in a blue moon.

"Slayer wants to talk to Vision Girl some more. Think she'll still be around when we drop you back at the hotel?" Spike asked.

"Probably, she likes to hang around until she knows how these things work out. Besides, I think it's time you and I had a nice private chat," the older vampire replied.

Spike turned to Buffy. "Slayer, tell him which order the teeth marks and the engagement ring came in."

"Engagement ring first, teeth marks a few hours later."

"Now tell him why there isn't a matching set on my neck."

"We're waiting on Giles doing some research to make sure the bond won't leave me needing SPF 3000, or allergic to holy water or anything like that," Buffy replied. "Otherwise, you bet I'd get my own back."

"Last time you were enthralled by a vampire, did you know what was going on."

"Well, I didn't know what it was at first, but yeah, I knew it was something and then I found out it was thrall." Buffy wondered how many more of these questions Spike was going to ask.

"How long did it last?"

"Until I tasted his blood."

"Have I ever tried to use a thrall or anything similar on you?" Spike probed.

"No. You'd class that as cheating."

"You don't think that maybe I'm so good at it you don't know what's happening?"

"Yeah, like you'd be better at it than Dracula, besides I bit you hard enough to draw blood on Sunday night. I'd have noticed it being weakened if nothing else," Buffy derided the very premise on which the question was based.

"The defence rests." Spike turned from Buffy to Angel. "Still want that private talk or have we covered everything except the empty threat?"

"It wouldn't be an empty threat."

"Yeah, right. Red or the watcher would do me months before you even knew what was happening. And I wouldn't be able to fight back against either of them. Chip doesn't stop me kicking your ass."

"How did you manage to claim Buffy if that chip's still working?" Angel looked for the hole in Spike's arguments that he knew must exist somewhere.

"It would appear that since she was resurrected Buffy's a bit more special than your average human." Spike's explanation was rather more diplomatic than the one he had given Buffy.

"So you can hurt her?" the older vamp questioned the pair.

"Wouldn't be much good as her sparring partner otherwise," Spike responded, his smirk hinting at more layers of meaning than the obvious. "We done yet?"

"Yeah, for now." The older vamp gave his grudging agreement.

"Good." Spike started the car and headed toward the hotel.

 
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