It's All A Question Of Timing ...
Chapter 7

After breakfast one morning Giles announced that he had some disturbing news to pass on to everyone. Having watched the news the day before, he learnt of an earthquake in LA. According to the reporter it had been very localised to one particular area, and fortunately there had only been a few casualties and one main building destroyed.

At this the Scoobys looked at each other. They all knew that this probably meant that there had been a problem involving Angel. Giles confirmed that he had done some research and found out that Angel and his group had taken on The Black Thorn and thus Wolfram and Hart. Giles said that he had tried calling both Angel and Wesley but their phones were going straight to voice-mail. This was not to say that there was anything wrong, probably that they were a bit busy. However Willow agreed that she would fly to LA to find out some details and Giles confirmed he would keep trying to phone.

Buffy didn’t know whether to be sad or relieved that having William meant that she would be staying in London. Although she and Angel were no longer close he was still her first love and, of course, a relative to Spike and thus to William!

That evening while Willow was “somewhere over the Atlantic” Angel phoned Buffy. He told her that they had been correct in their analysis of the situation and although they had not actually won the battle they had done serious damage. He had stayed vague about the actual details, but a phone call like this one is never easy at the best of times. It wasn’t as if they were in regular contact; so for their own private reasons they found that it was easier to stick to a few basic facts and leave it at that.

#

Meanwhile it turned out that Illyria had huge reserves of strength which she was able to draw onto once in this plane of existence. So she managed to destroy many of the advancing demons. She had kept this fact a secret as she didn’t want to feel that she was being exploited, but decided that this had been the right time to draw on those resources.

Gunn had been injured before the actual battle, but had managed to take down a few demons before being killed by a vampire, of all people. Spike saw it happen, but was pleased to see that it was a quick-kill, instead of being turned into the creature that this human warrior had fought against for most of his life.

Wesley never made it to the street. It had been expected really, by Spike, who knew how much he had missed Fred, and how seeing Illyria had made that pain worse. Spike realised that Wesley felt his death approaching by making him promise to take the Diaries to Giles.

Angel was badly mauled by the dragon, but 250 years of unlife had taught him to keep going whatever the odds were. He had taken on this battle voluntarily and realised that he had extra help. He accepted the human help, as he had got used to that in the years since meeting Buffy - but his main support he knew came from his Grand-Childe. He wished that he had let Buffy know about Spike being “alive” – as much as a vampire could be - but knew that however long the three of them lived he would always be jealous of her relationships. He guessed that people would call that petty, as he had a great time with Nina and had loved Cordelia, but he had put Buffy on a pedestal and no amount of time would remove her from that in his eyes.

Spike had always said that he wanted to “go down fighting”. He had lived un-life with the zest for life that he never found in mortality. As a poet he had been a dreamer; but as a vampire he had experienced the full range of emotions in actual fact, rather than fiction.

#

Buffy was glad to be able to go and speak to Giles, Dawn and Xander and to assure them that though the damages had been done, but there had been no major casualties. When the group later found out that Wesley was dead they were astounded to receive further proof as to how impersonal Angel had become. Although Wesley had only been in Sunnydale for a short time it had been in the role of Watcher, so he had been close to both Buffy and Giles. Dawn had even received Buffy’s memories of him, so they all felt that it was a pity that Angel didn’t consider that they would need to mourn his loss.

###

Meanwhile - in a basement flat in LA

"How are you doing?"

"How do you think I am doing, you poof!" replied Spike, as Angel collapsed into the spare comfy chair.

"Yes, about as good as me, I suppose."

"Yeah, but you still got Nina to go to when you feel up to it, haven't you? And Connor?"

"Spike, that is why I am sitting here resting, rather than with either of those two people. Spike you are my Grandchilde and I know that family is important to you. I am sorry that I haven't been able to give you what you have needed over the years. It also seems wrong that Dru always came back to me if she had a chance."

"Well, I always knew she was daft."

"No, don't mock this, I need to say it. I think you should go and see Buffy ..."

"Are you mad?"

"No. I have just spoken to her to let her know what happened here, but I still haven't told her about you. However I wonder if things are still okay with The Immortal because when I said that I must speak to Giles, well it turned out that she was in London. Actually she has been for some time. So go and see her, even if it is to settle things for your own peace of mind. If you still want to be away from her then come back and let's see if that family-thing really is as important as you think"

Spike was silent - as silent as only a vampire can be. Angel let him take his time, and eventually got almost the answer he wanted

"I'll see, time will tell what I decide."


tbc