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Call for Help	By : LittleTenshi Category: AtS/BtVS Crossovers > Slash - Male/Male > Spike(William)/Xander > Spike(William)/Xander Views: 2254 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own BtVS or AtS. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Call for Help
- 2-Chap 2
- 1
- 2
Titel: CALL FOR HELP

"A more or less normal day of the L.A.-crew is suddenly interrupted..."

Details: This story is placed after Buffy Season 7 and during Angel Season 5 - but I never saw that one! So it's probably AU!
There will be some of my own characters - but no Mary-Sues! Promise!
This will be a m/m (slash) story - Spike/Xander once I get there! Don't like? Don't read!!
This is mostly meant to make you laugh, but it will also mention blood and torture - there are demons all around! Duh! So it's probalbly NC17! And again: Don't like? Don't read!! (Warings will be given at the beginning of each chapter! This chapter? Pain-free!! Or at least not worse than a tv-episode!)
Disclaimer: Buffy and Co. belong to Joss and Co.!
Beta-ed by the most wounderfull Joolz! Dedicated to Druffine! Sweety, we are t*! You know... ^_^
+++ Call For Help +++
+++ Chapter 1-one +++

+++ Miracles +++

Angel leaned against the front-counter of the Hyperion, he knew an encouragement speech would be the right thing to do now, but he hadn't found the words yet.
Wesley was bending over a book on the other side of the counter, re-reading details; that was nothing Angel had the patience for right now.
Gunn was sharpening swords next to the weapons cabinet. There weren't a lot of weapons left, and Angel suspected Gunn just tried to occupy his hands.
Spike leaned against the counter only a few feet away from Angel. The blonde was smoking and staring at the floor unblinkingly.
Angel could have said the blonde brooded, but that would be the pot calling the kettle black.
Lorne sat in the lobby. The green demon was uncharacteristically silent.
Angel let his eyes rest on the office clock and sighed.
"We've got 24 hours left, why don't you all head home and do..." ...whatever one should do in the last 24 hours of one's life.
"Did you reach Cleveland?" Wesley asked and looked up from his book. Nobody was leaving.
"No, just their machine." Angel rubbed the bridge of his nose. He had left a note on Buffy's machine, hoped the Slayer would at least call back.
It didn't look like it...
"Ah, cheer up already!" Gunn ordered. Angel cast him a look that said: how can I? I gave up around last week...
Sighing, the dark vampire placed his elbows on the counter and then hid his face in his hands.
"I think we could use a miracle now..." he muttered and Spike was about to reply, when the hotel front doors burst open.
All heads flew up and turned in the direction of the night outside where a voice yelled:
"Ladies and Gentle-demons, welcome to the Hyperion! It has lots of rooms without furniture, a downstairs kitchen, old decor, and if there is something tall, dark and broody then we’re gonna call it Angel!"
A man sauntered into the lobby. He wore black boots, not unlike Spike's Doc Martins, dark blue jeans and a white button-down shirt that was partially hidden underneath a dark blue denim jacket. His hair was dark brown, shaggy and pulled back into a little ponytail. One of his eyes was dark brown too, the other covered with a black eye patch.
"Hi!" The man grinned. "You called the cavalry?"
Whilst he strolled over to Angel, whose mouth had dropped open, other people started to spill into the lobby.
Two demons, one looking like an angel without wings, the other like he had had an accident with something acid, carried a big wooden chest, swords and axes sticking out of it. They set it down with a heavy 'thump'.
An elf, with really pointy ears and long blond hair came in, carrying an armload of crossbows, plain bows and loads of arrows.
A tiger - surely demonic because he was twice the normal size - trotted in and curled himself up on the floor, followed by a panther just slightly smaller.
The next demon had four arms and a third eye on his forehead. He carried medical stuff, and wore a white shirt with a big red cross on the chest and the word 'Doc' written across.
All eyes turned towards the young man, who was still grinning, when he reached the counter and stepped between Spike and Angel, opposite to Wes.
Spike had forgotten his fag, Wesley was clutching his book and Angel’s mouth was still wide open.
Nobody spoke a word.
Suddenly a pair of pale arms wrapped around the newcomer's neck and the smiling face of a dark haired girl appeared over his shoulder.
"Daddy's looking like a fish!!" she squealed, mimicking the movement of a fish-mouth with her hands. Then she laughed and stared to twirl around the lobby. Lorne eyed her critically.
The dark haired man had his eyes on the girl too. "Uhm... Vince, could you...?"
A vampire, giving off the vibe of age, dressed all in black, left those gathered by the doors and went to the girl. He bowed politely before her, then put his left arm around her waist, took her right hand in his and started to waltz through the lobby with her.
"That's not what I meant..." the man between Spike and Angel complained.
"Huh! Since when did we ever do what you want us to?" A light-brown haired youth piped up from his place next to the sword-box. He was dressed like a hunter ready for battle, armed with a lot of stakes. He had a little fairy on his shoulder.
"Too true..." The dark haired man turned toward Angel, pointing at the still open mouth. "Deadboy, you're letting the flies in." He turned towards Wesley. "Hi, Wes! Nice hairdo! Not so Watcher-ly anymore."
Wesley looked ready to faint, Angel still had his mouth open and Spike went down on his knees - howling with laughter!
Spike's forehead was resting on the floor, he was laughing so hard his whole body shook and a new voice piped up. "Is he going crazy again? God, I so hope he‘s not, 'cause that would be awful, and I know what I'm talking about 'cause I was there." The youth carried an open cooler with blood bags and food.
Everybody - except Spike - stared at him and he blushed, raised the cooler and squeaked: "Kitchen?" He was pointed in five different directions.
Finally Angel managed to close his mouth and gasp out a weak: "Xander?"
The man with the eye patch turned towards him. "Deadboy."
Angel swallowed. "Xander..."
"Deadboy."
Spike laughed harder.
Angel tried again. "Xander..."
"Deadboy." "...What happened to your face?" Xander eyed him critically. "Last time I checked it was fine..."
"Daddy still looks like a fish!" Drusilla explained, whilst she and her companion waltzed by.
All eyes were on the pair whilst the 'Doc' helped someone sit down on a couch, who looked like he was sick and leaked a magic-vibe.
The doors got pulled close and a voice reported: "All in, headcount done!"
Oz, red and blue stripes in his dark blond hair, walked from the doors he had closed toward Xander. "What's with him?" he asked, pointing toward Spike who had calmed down a bit, but was still on the ground. Xander shrugged. "Must be a vamp-thing..."
Angel's eyes were still a little wide. "Xander..."
"Deadboy!" Xander's head whipped around to look at the vampire. Angel could only gesture helplessly with one hand towards the group of demons gathered in his lobby.
Xander grinned. "Deadboy, my Gang! Gang, this is Angel!!"
A chorus of "Hi Angel!" rose, only Drusilla yelled: "Hi Daddy!"
Spike started to laugh again.

+++ Dragons +++

Spike sat opposite to him and simply grinned.
It annoyed the hell out of Angel.
Ok, so he was pissed.
Ok, he had slain his dragon but he was still pissed, because it had been Xander Harris – of all people on this planet – that helped him.
Xander had been ‘holding the dragon down’ so Angel could slay it.
And that pissed Angel off.
He should have been able to do it all on his own.
On the other hand…
Angel glanced at the mighty dragon's head which they had barely managed to drag through the hotel doors.
Well, having some help with such a giant thing was good.
Now Angel's and Xander's Gangs were sprawled in the lobby, Doc was running around, fussing over them and patching up the wounded.
Angel's eyes followed the self-assigned medic towards the youth that just got his shoulder bandaged.
The boy was Connor; Angel had no doubt of that. Even when everyone else forgot about the boy, he still remembered him so clearly.
And it had been a dead give-away when the boy had taken a look at Lorne, scrunched up his face and asked: “Do I know you?”
The little fairy that always stuck with Connor reminded Angel of a male Tinkerbell (book verse). Shining with a bright pink light, the little creature had fluttering wings on his back. It also called itself Tink and had the tendency to give snarky remarks.
The dark vampire turned his head and scanned the rest of the group. Drusilla, for example, was more out of it than ever. She, Doc and the sick magician – Ethan or something – had stayed behind.
When Spike had tried to lure his Dark Princes into the bloody battle, she had only told him that her star, deep inside of her, didn’t like something like that. That got Spike very confused.
Angel let his gaze wander some more and rested it on Shasha, the true heaven-sent angel, whose wings had been broken off and were now re-growing slowly. He was a sight to behold, his hair all golden locks, his eyes crystal blue and his face, the most beautiful – he had been the cruelest on the battlefield…
Next to him was the demon that looked like his left side had been dipped into acid. The skin was burned – in a demonic way – and turned into a dark black. A bit like when you get a little wound and it heals over with a scab. Even the demon‘s face was half covered with this black crust. Angel couldn’t recall his name but it sounded so much like ‘Hatshu’ that he was temped to say ‘bless you’ whenever someone called the burned demon with the dark blue hair.
Vincent, the vampire that Angel had thought was old, seemed even older. He spoke with a Rumanian accent that reminded him of Dracula. Xander sure thought the same, 'cause every time when ‘Vince’ spoke up unexpectedly, the human would cringe – a little.
The Panther, Ink, and the Tiger, Rei, had changed into their half-human forms which meant they now resembled lean, but well muscled, humans with swishing tails and cat-ears sticking out of their hair.
Ink was a bit shorter, with yellow eyes and dark black hair/fur, while Ray had blond hair with dark brown tiger-stripes all over it and his tail. His eyes were a glowing green.
The elf – whom Angel was temped to call ‘Legolas’ (movie verse) – seemed to be called ‘Cutie’, ‘cause every time someone called that, the elf would answer.
It had surprised Angel to no extent to see Andrew – whom he had heard of from Spike – following them into battle. After he saw the boy's first Summon, Angel was very glad to have him with them.
Gunn had held himself very well against all those demons, and Cutie seemed to have taken a liking to him.
Wesley was already running around with a notepad and a pen, collecting information from all those different demons.
Lorne sat in their middle, blending in perfectly, telling Wesley for the fifth time that he came from a place called Pylea, and no, he did not eat humans.
Opposite to him, sat a grinning Spike and that annoyed the hell out of Angel.
“Ok, Spike”, he gave in, “what do you want?”
“Simply admit it!” Spike grinned from ear to ear.
“Admit what?” Angel growled. “Admit that the whelp saved your broody ass, Peaches!”
“Angel, it wouldn’t be nice to kill the vamp that saved the world!” Xander settled down between the two vamps, mostly to keep Angel from killing Spike right now.
Angel smiled at the boy. “Xander…”
“Deadboy.”
Spike snickered. Angel ignored him.
“It was very brave of you to help us out. Thank you.” Xander shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I was thinking ‘I’ll scratch your back if you’ll scratch mine’ here.”
“Need help?” Spike eyed him. “Please, if I can help you in any way…” Angel began.
“Just a place to stay and lie low for a few days.” Xander interrupted him. “Promise we’ll be gone in a week.”
“Please, stay as long as you want!” Angel insisted. “There’s plenty of room here!”
“Yeah,” Spike snickered again. “Plenty of rooms - but no beds!”
A new thought crossed Angel's mind, while he had an internal debate with Angelus on why Spike couldn’t be staked right now.
“Is someone after you?” he asked, head turned to Xander.
Xander smiled. “Yeah, kind of…”
“Kind of?” Spike lit a new cigarette.
“Well, I think we shook them off, but I can’t be sure.”
“I hope you don’t mind,” Angel had raised an eyebrow, “but who can chase around a group of demons that can slay dragons and avert apocalypses?”
Xander grinned. “Well, they’re mean, green, start with an “I” and make Master-Vampires run screaming for their mommies. Go figure it out!”
He stood up and went over to his group, telling an overexcited, up-and-down-hopping Wesley that his home was earth and his race was called ‘humans’.

+++ Lawyers +++

A few hours later the lobby had emptied. Angel suspected it was around midday and he was left alone, sitting on the counter, brooding over one thing and another.
Well, he wasn’t all alone. The dragon‘s head still lay at one side of the lobby, eyes closed, half hidden in the shadows; it looked like there was a whole dragon asleep in his hotel.
Angel could also hear some sounds around the hotel.
The purr-like snore the two demon-cats gave off, for example. They had taken Wesley’s office as their new place. The rest of the Group was either upstairs or in the kitchen.
Angel's head came up as he heard the clicking sound of heels on the outside steps. Funny, he could hear that, but not Xander approaching yesterday.
Lilah Morgan was leading a group of four men in suits toward the Hyperion. The guys behind her were quite sure that Angel was dead, or rather dust, right now. They knew for sure that the apocalypse had been averted, but they seemed to be very sure about Angel's death too.
Lilah felt tempted to think the same. ‘Go to the Hyperion, count those dead, and then go home’.
Shoulders straight, Miss Morgan pushed the doors open and entered the Lobby.
First thing she saw was Angel, drumming his heels against the front-counter. She gave a shriek.
Next thing she saw was a dragon's head lying around in the lobby. She gave a louder shriek.
Pressing her hand against her heart, Lilah tried to catch her breath and slow her heart down again. The four men in suits stared at Angel and the dragon, quite confused.
Angel jumped off the counter. “Hey, you came to collect the corpse? Or to congratulate me on my victory?”
“I’ll vote for the victory-thing…” Lilah muttered under her breath then stepped closer up to Angel, walking a wide arc around the dragon's head.
“Nice trophy,” she said. “Thanks!” Angel felt like grinning and did so. “It was an unfair battle – they had no chance against us.”
Lilah gave him a sour smile.
“Can I do anything for our champion now?” her voice sounded cold. “As a reward?”
Angel smiled. “I want to see Connor.”
Lilah raised an eyebrow. “Connor? Whom you gave to caring, normal parents, so that he could have a carefree, normal life?” “Yes, exactly, that Connor. I just want to drive by his house and check if he’s fine.”
The female lawyer shrugged her shoulders. “Sure, can be done. If you bring a camera you can take some photos.”
Before Angel could reply to that, two voices came from the kitchen and Conner and Andrew crossed the Lobby to go upstairs.
“Hi boys!” Angel greeted with a smile.
“Hi Angel!” Andrew waved.
“Bye Angel!” Connor waved and both climbed upstairs, discussing if it was easier to learn French or Klingon.
Grinning, Angel turned to Lilah and slapped his hand onto her shoulder. “I’ll make sure to bring a camera and some extra films.”
Lilah just swallowed heavily.
Feet coming down the stairs made both look in to that direction, Angel's hand still on Lilah’s shoulder.
“Hey Deadboy, new girlfriend?” A rather sleepy Xander made his way downstairs, left hand on the rail, careful steps, and eye-patch in place.
“Xander, this is Lilah Morgan, lawyer at Wolfram and Hart.” Xander reached the two, rubbing the sleep out of his right eye.
“Nice to meet you.” He extended his hand to her after hiding a yawn behind it. “I’m Xander Harris from Sunnydale.”
Lilah’s eyes got wide. “A knife named Kathy!” she whispered and started shaking Xander's hand rather enthusiastic.
“Huh?” both Angel and Xander looked confused.
Before anymore could be said, the four men had finished examining the dragon and spoke up.
“We came to a conclusion.” Number one said.
The others turned towards them. Angel‘s hand still on Lilah’s shoulder, Lilah’s hand still wrapped around Xander's.
“This dragon is not real.” Number two said. “Merely a fake.” Number three nodded.
“There was no fight last night.” Number four explained. “We merely miscalculated the date and time.” Number one nodded. “The apocalypse is still to come.” Number four agreed. “We have to research the right time, date and place.” Number three said.
There was a moment of silence.
Then Xander got angry. “Miscalculated, no fight, fake dragon my ass!! Someone hand me my crossbow!! NOW!”
The hotel doors fell shut behind the four lawyers leaving in a hurry.
Lilah still held Xander's hand.
“What’s with the commotion down here?” Gunn came sauntering down the stairs. “Oh, Lilah…” The dark man went emotionless.
“Gunn.” Lilah nodded her head. “I assume you had no casualties?”
“No,” Angel squeezed Lilah's shoulder a bit. “all home and safe.”
A strange humming made them look upstairs and Wesley chose that moment to appear.
Humming, hopping like a little girl, arms swinging wide back and forth, he crossed the high gallery.
He had looked like little red-riding-hood going to her Grandma.
Silence fell over the Lobby.
Xander looked at Angel. Angel tried to look reassuring. “I’ve got shackles downstairs…”
Gunn – only halfway down the stairs – held up a hand. “I’ll… investigate on that…”
Xander turned to him. “The shackles or Wesley?”
“Both,” mumbled Gunn and went back upstairs, following the ex-watcher.
Lilah turned frightened eyes to Angel.
The vampire shrugged his shoulders. “I only said we all got home safe. I didn’t mention sane.”
“Maybe I should…” Lilah Morgan ran as fast as her high heels would carry her.

+++ Families +++

Later that evening, everybody was up and moving around the hotel.
Wesley had calmed down and gotten over his ‘high’.
“Stoned on information…” Spike had whispered to Xander, and the young man had laughed.
Angel was still pondering – brooding, really – the idea of approaching Xander on the Connor matter. He had no clue if him claiming father-ship over Connor would be welcome right now.
The decision was taken from him, when Xander walked over to him and asked for a few moments alone.
“Sure!” Angel led Xander outside, Connor following.
“Angel, this might sound a bit strange,” Xander pushed Conner in front of him, “but does our Stephen here look familiar to you?” Angel just looked confused. “Stephen?”
“You know, the thing is …” Connor tugged at his sleeve, looking down. “I know I’m adopted and I really hated those jerks, so I ran away with Xander. But I keep having these visions – like a memory – of a green guy – just like Lorne – who sings to me, and of a vamp – with yellow eyes and fangs and brown hair – who grins down at me and makes funny faces and…” Connor trailed off.
“I didn’t knew babbling was infectious.” Angel said to Xander. “Yeah, that’s Sunnydale-me rubbing off on him…” Xander ruffled Connor's hair.
Angel looked down at the boy – Stephen – and smiled, ready to tell the truth. “It’s a long story.”
“We got time.” Connor replied, indicating that Xander was staying too.
So Angel took a deep breath. “You’re my son. Mine and Darla's…”
Xander piped up. “Darla? As in Dust-Darla?”
Angel grinned. “Darla as in My-Dusted-Sire-Brought-Back-To-Life-By-W&H-Darla.”
“Ah.”
“So my mom's called Darla. And she is – where?” “She dusted herself, giving birth.”
“Oh!” Connor looked stricken.
“I named you Connor, by the way, not Stephen. We lived here and every one of my team loved you. But you got kidnapped and taken away to a hell-dimension I couldn’t get in. When you got back out you were 16 already – 'cause time was running more quickly in that dimension – and still in danger. So I made a deal with W&H who promised me a good home for you.”
Ok, so it was the edited version of the story, but who cared!?
Xander left a few moments later, leaving Connor and Angel to themselves, 'cause they obviously needed it.
Crossing the lobby Xander arrived in just the right time for a proper cup of tea!
At least that was what Wesley said, handing a cup over to him. The warning looks shot by Gunn and Spike made sure he didn’t decline it, but took a sip bravely.
“So, mate, who told ya?” Spike lit a cigarette.
“Who told me what?” Xander asked, confused.
“Well, first of all, it was kind of surprising to see you here. But a most pleasant surprise!” Wesley sipped his tea.
“We hotwired the Cleveland machine, so I could hear important messages too. Faith and the Slayeretts have gotten a bit lazy since Buffy and Dawn left for Rome.”
“U can hotwire an answering machine?” Gunn looked very astonished. Xander shook his head laughing. “No, not me. Shasha. He can hotwire nearly anything. He has a kink for electronics.”
“Why would a heaven-born creature like him develop a kink for electronics?” Wesley nearly dropped his cup.
“Cause they’ve got no electricity up there?” Xander shrugged his shoulders, both eyebrows raised.
Spike laughed.
“He even repaired my microwave by poking three forks into the back and kicking the thing once.” Xander explained. “But I think the kick was just to show-off.”
Spike laughed harder, Gunn joined him.
When he could speak again, Spike lit his next cigarette. “’S nice mate, but not what I meant. I meant who told ya I was back?”
Xander shrugged his shoulders again. “Nobody! Was quite a surprise when I came in yesterday. Nearly made me forget my speech.”
Everybody stared at him. “Nobody told you?” Wesley nearly dropped his cup again. “But… but…”
“Nibblet never told ya?” Spike had his fag dangling from his lips, looking astonished. “No, but I’m glad you told her. She was so upset when she noticed she had lost the bracelet you gave her.”
“Wait a minute!” Gunn put his hand up. “The whole town went down and that girl was upset about jewellery? Was it at least expensive?”
Xander laughed. “No, it wasn’t. But she was upset about losing all the pictures of her mom, too, if that calms you.”
“U Sunnydale lot are strange!” Gunn explained and went to get himself something real to drink.
Emptying his cup, Xander remembered a question which had been bugging him. “Hm, which reminds me: where’s Cordy? Haven’t seen my favourite cheerleader yet. I thought she worked here too. Or did you chase her off to her posh Hollywood apartment before the big fight?”
Spike and Wesley exchanged looks – both willing the other to explain the absence of Cordelia to Xander.
“Nobody told ya?” Spike started to hate Buffy a little more with every passing moment. They had told her! Couldn’t she at least have told Xander too?
“Xander…” Wesley placed a hand on the other men’s shoulder. “Cordelia fell into a coma over a year ago and died after a while…”
“Oh…” A deep hurt settled into Xander's eye and made itself comfortable there. Spike hated this.
He ground his fag out and placed an arm around Xander's shoulders.
“’T‘s not that bad, pet. She was good…” He had no real words right now.
Xander gave a weak smile and patted Spike's hand that lay on his shoulder. Wesley had removed his to take the tea-cup away from Xander.
“’T‘s all right, pet.” Spike tried again. “Still got da Demon-bint left…” He grinned.
“Oh…” Xander looked up, his eye a little wet. “Oh! No, no… Anya died during the battle… She never made it out…”
Now Spike really had no words left. He grabbed the young man into a bone-crushing hug and simply held on while Xander placed his head on Spike's shoulder and his arms around his waist.
After a moment, Spike felt – and heard – his sire and one of Xander's boys coming up to them. But he didn’t look up from where his head rested against Xander's neck.
“What’s with them?” Angel asked, a little confused note in his voice.
Wesley gave a small sigh. “We just had to tell him that Cordelia is no longer amongst us – and he had to tell us, that a girl named Anya didn’t survive the battle of Sunnydale…”
“Anya? Anyanka? His wife?” Angel asked with a little disbelief. Wesley's eyes got a little wider. “His wife?”
“Yeah,” Connor nodded. “Anya. Anyanka, vengeance-demon and Xander's wife. Buried in a deep hole with many others. He’s probably thinking about Cassidy too.”
“Who’s Cassidy?” Spike was tempted to let go of Xander just to turn and glare at his sire. Couldn’t the big poof smell the hurt, the fear, the tears?
Xander rested his chin on Spike's shoulder, so he could look at the others. “Cassidy was a teen we met. 14, going to school, having friends, hanging out at the mall, never saw more of the world than the city she lived in… We lost her too…”
“Demon?” Wesley asked full of pity. Xander nodded a bit. “Yeah, she was… But a totally harmless one…”
Wesley cleared his throat while Spike started to grin against Xander's neck.
“I think he meant if a demon got her…” Angel replied. Xander gave a suffering sigh, stepped out of Spike's embrace and mumbled: “The same thing we’re still running from got her… Simply killed little innocent her…”
“It always gets the innocent ones first…” Wesley sighed too.
“Yeah!” Connor spoke up. “Like little innocent me! I just learned that I got kidnapped as a baby! I mean: who kidnaps babies?”
“Yeah, their diapers stink!” Spike chimed up, smiling. Xander smiled too and tapped a finger against Spike‘s nose. “Not a good - !”
He stopped abruptly, eye going wide, face going pale, lips pressing close and forming a thin white line.
Spike and Angel both heard Xander's heartbeat speeding up – fast, faster, high speed. Spike noticed the waves of fear-pain-fear-pain coming from Xander.
“Xanny? Pet?”
“Shit!!” Connor darted forward and grabbed Xander's right arm. “Help me sit him down!” Spike grabbed the left arm and pushed Xander down on the ground, crouching down next to him.
“Shit, Xanny, breathe!” Connor commanded and rubbed his hand over the older man's back, giving a pat now and then.
“What’s wrong with him?” Angel crouched down too and a little fear had crept into his voice.
“Pain wave.” Connor said. “If we’re lucky it’s just a bad one and he stays like this – breathe, Xanny – if not it will be a worse one…”
“How do we notice?” There was a little panic in Spike's voice. Never before had he seen Xander go down in so much pain. Ok, maybe once, with his eye…
As if he had waited for this line, Xander opened his mouth, sucked in much needed air – and let out a scream.
It was long, shrill, suffering, and heart-wrenching and every Banshee would have been jealous.
Angel, Wesley and Spike became absolutely terrified. No human being should be able to scream in pain like that.
Connor just sat there, letting Xander hold his arm in a bruising grip and pressed his free hand to Xander's back.
When he was done, Xander fell silent, taking shuddering breaths, heart still beating a mile per minute. Then his eye rolled up in his head and he sank unconscious against Connor.
It took five minutes of total silence before Spike found his voice again. “What the bloody fucking hell was THAT?!”

+++ Apocalypses or Visitors +++

It was still early in the night, but the hotel had quietened down.
Xander had been carried upstairs and tucked into bed. The two giant cats had followed. And the rest of the Gang adjoined to the upstairs rooms too. Only Connor stayed with Angel, while the dark vampire explained the whole story to Wesley, Gunn, Lorne and Spike. Ok, so Angel told them an edited version again. But he finally felt good around Wesley once more, and he didn’t want to give that up again.
Of course, Conner was immediately welcomed into the team and invited to stay as long as he wanted.
Spike was about to say something to his new ‘uncle’ when two cars pulled up into the hotel driveway.
“Who’s that?” Gunn craned his neck a little and Lorne took off into Wesley's office, closing the door behind him. “Customers?” Wesley guessed.
Conner squinted his eyes a little. “I see a small blond woman and a guy in a brown suit…” Angel raised an eyebrow, then squinted his eyes too to take a better look. His eyes flew open with surprise.
“It’s Buffy and Giles! And Dawn too!”
“Is that bad news, or do I just have to get more rooms clear?” Gunn turned to Wesley. “Could be bad news… More apocalypses…” Spike pondered. “Maybe they are on a holiday!” Wesley offered.
Outside, an argument was going on, which Dawn broke up by all but running into the lobby.
“Nibblet!!” Spike made two steps and had his arms full of the light brown-haired girl seconds after.
“Spike!!” Dawn happily hugged the blond vampire, arms around his neck. “It’s so good to see you!”
Then she pulled back a little and hit Spike full force – which really wasn’t much for the vamp – into his chest with a fist. “Don’t you dare to ever go up in flames again!” she yelled and Spike laughed.
“Not if I can help it, Nibblet!”
Willow was the next who got into the lobby. “Hi,” she greeted, smiling a little. “did we come at a bad time?”
“Absolutely not!” Wesley took her hand and she was greeted by everyone.
Buffy and Giles finally came in too. Another man and a woman were trailing behind.
“Good evening!” Giles greeted formally, while Buffy just smiled and waved and said “Hi Angel!”
While Angel hugged the petite woman, Spike preferred to keep one of his arms around Dawn, lighting a new fag with the other hand. He had the creepy feeling that he knew the new pair that came with Buffy.
“How are you?” Angel wanted to know, when Buffy did let go of him. “Oh, I’m just fine! Came back from Rome a few weeks ago. Italy is wonderful.”
“I’d prefer Paris or even bloody Prague…” Spike whispered to Dawn, who of course knew all the stories about William the Bloody and the Dark Princess, having heard them first hand from said vampire.
Buffy then took a step back and gestured to the two people behind her. “Angel, do you remember Riley Finn and his wife?”
Angel looked up. “Well, I remember Finn, didn’t know he was married.” Politely he extended his hand. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Finn.” She laughed a little and shook his hand. “Please just call me Sam.”
Sure enough Riley and Angel didn’t shake hands. “Well, I can’t say I’m overly joyous to see you, but welcome to Angel Investigations. How can we help you?” It’s hard to shake off a routine…
“Oi!” Spike complained. “We’re so not helpin’ these jerks!”
“Nice to see you too, Hostile 17!” Riley countered, smiling broadly from ear to ear.
Spike grinned back just like that. “Commando-boy, you do know that the bloody chip is gone, don’t you?” His grin got even wider.
Riley's eyebrows shot up and his eyes went wide. “It is?”
“Yupp!!” Spike vamped out. “One happy lil’ vamp here! – Oofff…”
Dawn had – very forcefully – placed her sharp elbow underneath Spike's ribs. “Oh, cut it out already…”
Spike de-vamped and glared at the teen in his arms. “Well, don’t hit me then, hit ‘im!”
“Uhm, Riley…” his wife glared at him and pointed towards Spike.
“Nah, it’s ok – or at least so I’ve been told.” Riley glared at Buffy.
The Slayer just shrugged her shoulders. “It’s fine really. They are both on a non-human diet.”
“Both?” Sam stared at Dawn in shock.
“Not her, me!” Angel explained, slightly angry – why was nobody telling anybody anything anymore these days? – and vamped out, just for the show of it.
Sam raised both eyebrows.
A tugging at his shirt made Angel lose his vamp-face and look down to Connor.
“Who are they?” the boy asked, pointing a thumb towards Buffy, Riley and Willow.
“Oh, well this is Buffy, the Slayer,” Angel gestured his hand around, “and that is her best friend Willow, one powerful witch, and Buffy's sister Dawn, Riley and Sam Finn and…” He trailed off and started to look around for Giles.
The ex-librarian had wandered off with Wesley and they were now having a discussion over a couple of books. Angel gestured towards him. “And that would be Mr. Rupert Giles, a watcher, just like Wesley.”
“Figures…” Connor mumbled and leaned against Angel, who started to smile happily.
“Buffy, Dawn, Willow, this is Connor – my son!” Pride was rolling off of him in a huge wave. Spike grinned.
Buffy looked a bit offended. “Do I want to know since when Vampires can have children?”
“Since last Wednesday…” Connor replied with a smug little smile.
“Connor!”
“Sorry! Hey, what am I supposed to say? I’ve got no clue when I was born! Or where…” The boy pouted and poked out his lower lip a bit.
Angel melted like ice in the sunshine. “Ah, it’s ok!” He patted his son's head. “Why don’t you go and sit on the counter with Spike and Dawn?”
“Sure!” Being a good little child, Connor turned and hopped onto the counter. Followed shortly by Dawn who was lifted up by Spike.
“How’s that possible?” Willow‘s interest had perked up. “And: who’s the mother?” Buffy glared a little. Well, it wasn’t her, so why should she care?
“Magic and Darla.” Angel replied evenly.
“Darla? But wasn’t she dust?” Willow remembered the blond vampire all too well.
“It’s a rather long story – and you didn’t come here to hear it. Why are you here anyway?”
Buffy smiled sweetly at him. “Riley needs help and he called me. And because I know that you can help me, we came here…” She stroked her hand up and down his shirt-clad arm.
“Ah, but when I called you last week and asked you to help with the latest apocalypse you couldn’t even call me back?” Angel was getting pissed, little by little.
The bleached-blond girl just shrugged. “Sorry. Nice dragon by the way. So, this problem: there’s a group of demons attacking random groups of students and we can’t find any kind of pattern. So we thought you could help.” Her hand was still stroking.
“'Cause I’m such an experienced demon and demon-fighter…” Angel's smile was getting sarcastic. Buffy patted his arm. “Exactly! We brought some files, can we sit down somewhere?”
All of a sudden Angel's smile became mean – in an Angelus-kind-of-way and Spike flinched a little.
“Well, I could agree to help you – on ONE condition – or maybe two…”
The smile Buffy wore could have fired-up a bedside table-lamp. “Sure, we agree to anything!”
“We do?” Willow and Riley asked in unison.
“Yes, we do! What is it then?”
Angel’s smile got a little more Angelus-like and Spike was ready to grab Dawn and run for it.
“I want you all to sing Karaoke!”
++ T.B.C. ++
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