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Redeeming Ways	By : AtieJen Category: AtS/BtVS Crossovers > Slash - Male/Male Views: 1456 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own AtS or BtVS. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Redeeming Ways
- 1
Redeeming Ways
Title: Redeeming Ways ( Pt1)
Author/Pseudonym: AtieJen
Email: atiejen@ureach.com
Pairing: Giles/Angel
Rating: R
Series: No; WIP

Feedback: Yes Please; This is my first Angel story, so please please tell me what you think.

Archive: Anyone who wants it, but please let me know.

Summary: Whoever thought it would be so easy for Angel to settle in Los Angeles? He can't help keeping at least one tie to his Sunnydale past.

Disclaimer: All the characters and the universe of Angel The Series, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer don't belong to me; Mutant Enemy, Joss Whedon and a whole bunch of people richer than me do. I'm just borrowing them for a while. Will return them as soon as they are washed, wrung out and dried.

Notes: This is still very much a Work-in-progress, The time line is quite early in the ATS series. I also think that AU fits here quite well, Thanks

Beta: Thank you ever so much Nikki for reading it and seeing the potential. And especially to Shara for going the extra mile, I'm grateful.

Author's Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/atiejen

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Redeeming ways.
By AtieJen
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Rupert Giles closed up his shop, "The Magic box", early and went home. He had received another letter today in a nondescript brown envelope that he was sure had come from Angel. This was the fourth letter he'd received from the Vampire with a soul. Somehow, he'd started looking forward to the missives the other man sent. He hadn't sent a reply or even acknowledged receipt of any of them, but the other man had kept on writing.
When the first letter had arrived, the best way to describe his feeling at the time would be one of shock. Considering the circumstances under which Angel had left for LA, Giles would have thought correspondence would be the last thing on the other man’s mind.
He was still unsure of the reason Angel was sending him the letters; but there was one thing he knew he wasn’t going to do, and that was let anyone else know that he was receiving them. That notwithstanding, he had to do something about them soon because he didn’t think he’d be able to stall his friends if he received another letter from Angel. Anya had already noticed the last two and Willow had commented on them but he had managed to put a blank look on his face and shift their speculations on to other things.
He kept the letters in a hidden place in his home and occasionally he brought them out to read again. Before he bought the shop, he’d read them more frequently; mostly out of boredom but also because it was good to see the other man’s words on paper and know what had been going on in Angel’s life. On more than one occasion he’d had to forcibly stop himself calling the hotel in Los Angeles. The argument he always used to stop himself was that he was still unsure of Angel’s intentions in sending him the letters, that he should keep silent and wait until the reason / reasons were made clear to him.
When he reached home, Giles made himself comfortable and chose to read the previous letters before getting to the one in his hands. He retrieved them from the false bottom in one of the shelves in his reading desk. As he picked up the first one, he remembered that he’d received it within three weeks of Angel’s departure from Sunnydale. They were all trying to get themselves organized after the death of the Mayor and his departure had left Buffy in such a tizzy so they had all rallied round to support her. It wasn’t until after the first letter that he’d spared a thought about Angel’s reasons or feelings upon leaving them Sunnydale..
Angel’s return from hell had somehow coincided so closely with the Mayor’s ascension that they hadn’t taken the time to assimilate the effect of his return after the havoc wreaked by Angelus. Angel apparently understood the ramifications of his choosing to leave- it was a good idea, as staying in Sunnydale wasn’t very healthy either for him or for Buffy. What they had all overlooked including Angel himself was that while Buffy had their support, Angel had been all alone. //He's a Vampire; he'll adapt.//They all assummed.
Giles thought to himself that maybe it was at that time that he had started to realise that it was probably a waste of time and emotion to hate Angel for what Angelus had done to him; it was an effort in futility that would not get him anywhere. When he saw Angel, it was hard for him to forgive and forget what the demon had put him through. The fact that it was the same face that he saw in his nightmares didn’t help endear Angel to him. The situation though was slowly getting better and this was partly due to the distance between them introduced by Angel’s departure to LA. And after receiving the letters from Angel, he knew that Angelus wouldn’t do anything like this.
Los Angeles,

Midnight.
Dear Giles,
Greetings to you. How are you and how are the the Scoobies? I hope that they are all okay, including the merry town of Sunnydale. How goes the cleanup in the aftermath of the Mayor’s ascension? I hope it hasn’t inconvenienced a lot of people and I trust that the youths can pick up the pieces of their lives after such a traumatic event. I arrived here in LA safely and initially, I was unsure of how to go about the business of helping people.
Leaving Sunnydale, though necessary, left me in a quandary. There, we knew what had to be done and where the Slayer was needed. We knew how to help and we were ready . How do you go about helping anyone in a city this big, where so many of the people have come for the express purpose of becoming invisible? It wasn’t easy and I won’t tell you otherwise. Fortunately for me, 'The Powers That Be' and their Oracles have sent me a Seer. He is a half breed- part human and part Bracken demon. He is called Doyle, and has visions of people in need. I go to help when needed. It’s slow going but as I help one person at a time, I can give myself the illusion that I am still fighting the good fight.
I don’t think you’d guess correctly if I asked you about who you’d suspect I ran into during my very first case. Yes! It was Cordelia Chase. Surprised? I was. She is still the same girl but I think that the misfortunes about her family have brought her down to earth a little. She is working with us in the office in between her acting jobs and slowly we’re making a difference.
I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to apologize to you for all the things that occurred when I lost my soul. Sometimes, apologies are not enough and I have my dues to pay. What I can tell you is that I will do everything within my power, as a being with a mortal soul can do, to keep the demon contained so that the previous situation doesn’t repeat itself. If I could, I would have stopped it; but I was weak in the face of the demon that dwells in this body and I apologise for your suffering. I couldn’t stop in my weakness. Maybe one day, I’ll look at you and not see that barely hidden fear and hatred that is in your eyes.
It’s midnight and like you know, I do my best work at night so I’ll go patrolling and see what I can do while I wait for 'The Powers That Be'. I may send you this or I may not but it has been good to write and it was a pleasure to know you, Rupert Giles.
I have to go now but before I do, I leave you with this. As you try to rebuild in the face of the recent upheaval, take care of yourself, your charges and your Slayer; She is lucky to have a watcher like you. I should know, Angelus has witnessed some close Slayer/Watcher relationships over the years. None are as close as yours.
It’s the witching hour, when very bad vampires come out to play and the slightly less bad ones like myself come out to slay them.
Until next time,

Angel.
After reading the first letter, Giles wasn’t ashamed to admit that his first thought was that Angel was trying to elicit some sympathy. A second read brought him to the realisation that though the Vampire hadn’t found it easy initially, he was determined to continue with what he was doing. Individual help as opposed to what they did here in Sunnydale was probably a good idea and thankfully a friendly face was there in the shape of Cordelia. Well, thinking again, maybe not. But Angel had some kind of support and some direction so the temptation to run back to Sunnydale would somehow be overcome.

As Giles picked up the second letter, he remembered that it had arrived at a time that he was particularly low in sprits. Things hadn’t been going so well with his Slayer and without the Library to occupy him, he was pretty much on his own with a lot of time doing nothing. He knew that the young ones had to grow away and continue with their lives but he was feeling superfluous and needed some good news. Even though the letter hadn’t contained good news, it was nonetheless comforting to hear from Angel and it served as a reminder that some people had situations worse than his. Giles had some reason for complaining, but he didn’t have cause to dwell on the negatives in his life but rather had cause to be thankful. He started reading.

Los Angeles,

Midnight.

Dear Giles,
Greetings to you. How are you doing? I hope that you are okay. Hopefully better than you wthe the last time I saw you. How are the rest of the group? It was good to see you all the last time I was there. It hadn’t been that long but for some reason, it seemed like longer. Maybe I’ve started getting used to LA, or maybe it’s different this time.
Are you worried that with my reminiscing, I’m thinking of coming back? Put such thoughts out of your mind, I wouldn’t do that to you. Something terrible has happened Giles; My Seer is dead. I still can't believe it. If I say it enough times, then maybe I’ll believe it… but seeing it on paper is going a long way towards driving the point home.
How do I continue Giles? It’s not enough to just patrol like we did in Sunnydale and I think I’ve come to make more enemies than I need while I’ve been here. With no one to watch my back, going out to patrol in a city as big as LA is not a good idea. I think that after working with individuals and small groups since I’ve been here, it is the best approach for LA.
What do I do now? He’d stopped being just my Seer and had become my friend. It was fun watching him ‘like’ Cordelia from a distance. He made the choice to sacrifice his life to save a group of half demons that were being hunted; knocked me out before doing that saying that I was too important to die. What am I too important for? I’ve lived so long that most of those I knew have died off and those that are not dead –“ the un-dead” see me as an outcast, which I must admit I am.
I’m tired of losing friends, Giles. In this short lifetime since I gained my soul, I have already lost what few I’ve had. I hope that 'The Powers That Be' and their Oracles send me another Seer or I’ll be unable to continue. Finding Doyle when I arrived was such a blessing that all I can do is hope that those that sent him will send me another… but he will not be easy to replace. Just like you all in Sunnydale haven’t been easy to replace.
What are you doing now Giles? Your Slayer and her support group are going to college, and you are left staying at home. From what I saw when I was there, you need to get yourself involved in something and possibly more involved in her life so that you’l abl able to continue to guide her. Remember when I said that she was lucky to have you, she still is but you both have to work at keeping that up your effective working relationship.
I keep writing you at the witching hour. This time, it’s just dawned on me that I’ve lost my friend. I don’t know what tomorrow brings. I have to keep fighting Giles; I have dues to pay and evil to fight.
Until next time,

Angel.
The second letter served to remind Giles that even though everything was changing around them, Both he and his slayer had left the council, she was still the Slayer as per her calling and he was still her watcher as the calling he had received since his youth. He couldn’t say that it had been easy, and they had to get to a pretty low place before both Buffy and himself started to admit that they had done wrong in drifting so far apart from each other. Even now, they were still not on the even keel that they had been while the slayer was in high school and he couldn’t say that it was just because she had grown up and moved on, or he had. The break between Buffy and himself, though glossed over, still had the crack below it and he didn’t think that they’d ever get back to how they were before. She was still the most successful slayer in the history of slayers but that could be attributed to the support system she had and not so much to her abilities as a slayer. If it happened that Faith’d had the same support, then maybe things would have turned out differently.

Giles had been extremely sorry to hear about the death of Angel’s Seer. At the time, there was a slight worry that maybe Angel would come back to Sunnydale but like he said, he wouldn’t do that to them. Specifically, he had said he wouldn’t do it to him, Giles. Thinking about it, Giles thought that there must be some round about kind of reasoning which Angel was using but for the life of him, he couldn’t fathom it. He wouldn’t like Angel to be in Sunnydale, that was true but that was because Buffy was beginning to get her life around (what do you mean here? Possibly get her life turned around, or get her life sorted?) and frankly they were no good for each other. At the end of the day, with or without the soul, the vampire was anathema to the slayer. What should be between them should be dislike or at the very least, tolerance and not whatever they called what it was they were doing while she was in high school.

That was the time that he almost called the vampire to offer up his sympathies but somehow, he didn’t get around to it. After a while, he assumed that the Powers That Be had sent him another Seer and thus he was back doing what he did best in the fight of good against evil. When the third letter arrived, its contents had been a surprise to say the least. After Wesley had left Sunnydale, none of them had really thought of the other watcher. Well to be fair, they had their own problems to think about and after dealing with the after-effects of the mayor’s debacle, thoughts of the whereabouts of Wesley took a back seatthe the other things in their lives. After reading, he was glad to know that the other man had landed on his feet. It wasn’t too much of a surprise to learn that he had been fired. To have a Slayer go bad while in your care is the ultimate disgrace for any watcher and Faith was in his care at the time. He picked up the third letter.
Los Angeles,

Midnight.

Dear Giles,
Greetings again. I bet you are getting tired of hearing from me. I don’t know if you even read these. Before I continue, how are you? I hope you are okay. How are your charges? Here’s hoping that they are fine and still fighting. It’s been a while since I wrote but I thought I’d wait until I had something important to say.
You are aware by now that Wesley has joined us here at LA. I guess you could say that The Powers That Be still have something for me to do. The last time I wrote you, I had just lost Doyle and was floundering. My new Seer turned out to be Cordelia and it’s working out okay. It seems that Doyle had somehow passed on his gift to her before he died. I met Wesley not too long afterwards and sine wae was a self-professed “Rogue Demon Hunter”, we thought he might join us and do some demon hunting.
I guess you are also aware that Faith has been here. She was hired to kill me by a law firm that represents demons and is probably run by demons as well. When she got here, she hurt Cordelia and almost killed Wesley by torturing him. She did all within her power to kill me… but she couldn’t. I given her another chance. I remember what I was like before I became a demon and my father expected the worst of me. I did what I could to rise to the occasion and show him the worst of who I was. Faith is in the same position. I know what it’s like to get a second chance even if you don’t think you deserve it. Compared to me, she is just a kid and if I could get a second chance with a demon inside me, then there is nothing to stop her getting one as well. My method may not have been right, as your slayer did her best to inform me, but it got the job done.
Your watcher’s council was sent out to kill her but I didn’t think it was the best way to go. They even went as far as offering Wesley his job back if he could give them to her. I guess a little forgiveness goes a long way. If he could find it in himself to forgive her for what she had done to him, then maybe he could forgive himself for not being the watcher that could guide her. That was something that Buffy didn’t understand. Faith is in prison. She’ll have a long time to think and maybe one day she’ll understand what went wrong and learn to forgive herself; because forgiveness or not, she’ll always live with it. I visit her on occasion, sometimes when I’m down and need someone to pick me up and at other times when I feel she might need someone to support her . We are two people on the road to redemption and as yet unsure if we’ll make it.
Buffy went to great lengths to inform me of the good and happy life that she has made for herself in Sunnydale. I am happy for her. It is good that she is able to move on and get on with her life in a somewhat normal manner. She told me that her boyfriend Riley makes her happy which I think is good for you because a happy slayer is a better slayer.
What about you Giles? Are you happy? It has been a while since Jenny Calendar and I know she made you happy. I am so sorry that Angelus took that away. Perhaps, it is time for you to be happy again.
I hear that Spike is around and has a chip in his head that stops him from hurting humans. That piece of news evoked equal parts of joy and sorrow within me when I heard it. While I am happy that he can no longer take innocent life, I am sad that my childe who was once a master vampire has been reduced to taking bagged meals and can fall prey to any human when it takes his/her fancy- he cannot fight back. No matter what good intentions that you and your charges may have, he is still a vampire and you will unwittingly cause him harm. The history between us is so turbulent that he cannot come to me for help and any offer I make will be rejected off hand as pity. He will conveniently forget that I am almost as much of an outcast as he is. I have no right to ask this but please keep an eye out for him as much as you can or are able to within whatever limits you are comfortable with. I know it goes against what you know as a watcher but please the circumstances are different. He is my Childe. I’ve had to kill one recently and I value those that remain- or should I say Angelus values them- but I recognize that Spike has always had a place in this un-dead heart of ours.
Every time, I think that I might not send you the next letter, and even as I write it, I know that somehow you’ll get to read it. It’s almost as difficult to believe as it is hard to say but I miss you. There are a lot of things about Sunnydale I don’t miss but you I do. I think that sending you the letters has kept you closer to me than any ofthe others and I suppose I know better than to expect that you’ll reply this letter but I hope that you read this. I thought of sending you a drawing but that was Angelus’ calling card. The thought that it might scare you into not reading the next letter stops me from sending you one.
As always, it’s the witching hour and slightly less bad vampires on the road to redemption have to go out and fight.
Until next time,

Angel.
After reading that letter, Giles had gone as far as to pick up the phone and start dialling but couldn’t go through with it. He had heard some of what had happened with Faith’s incarceration from Buffy but the girl had obviously left a lot out of her report. Well, since they didn’t have the formal Watcher-Slayer relationship, certain things took a slide down the drain during communication. Angel thought it was time for him to be happy. He had tried but things didn’t always work out that way. He knew that he still missed Jenny but there was also no purpose to be served by rejecting affection from a new source if and when it was offered. He’d had brief relationships here and there but long-term prospects were slim.
After reading that letter, it occurred to him that they had taken it so much for granted that since Spike had been chipped, he couldn’t do them any harm so basically, ‘anything goes’. He also knew that what Angel said was true. No matter how good their intentions, their purpose was to hunt down and kill vampires and demons so even though they weren’t unkind to him, they still did hurt him and since he could neither hunt nor hurt them back, then it was an easy thing to do. He was glad of the news about Faith. He knew that the other girl hadn’t had a good beginning in life and had a big chip on her shoulder but by the time she had arrived, they had already established a routine and a clique that was hard to break into thus leaving Faith an outsider which was something she had always known. The downfall of the other slayers had been in their separateness from the people they protected. Buffy’s continuing strength lay in the fact she continued to interact with the humans she was working so hard to protect- and when they joined up to help her, it didn’t seem as if the responsibility of the whole world rested with her alone.
Things had changed and moved on since the last letter Angel had sent him. He had gotten himself out of the doldrums and moved on to open the Magic shop. He had a feeling that Angel knew about it but he also wanted to know what the other man had to say. News from LA was pretty non-existent and since he as determined not to call them, he had to wait patiently for the time that Angel decided to write again. He still didn’t know what stubborn streak in Angel convinced him to send letter after letter considering that he thought none of the letters were being read. He didn’t know if he was ever going to call him or even reply but they had become a joy to receive and in some funny way, receiving and reading the letters had kept Angel closer to him as well. He still wasn’t sure how Angel accomplished it, but he missed the lurking vampire with a soul.

Giles decided that it was time to stop reminiscing and read his latest letter. Given the haste with which he was sure he left the shop, he knew that one of the others would be arriving soon and he didn’t want to be interrupted. He made himself a cup of tea and sat down to read.
The Hyperion Hotel,

Midnight.

Dear Rupert,
Greetings to you from the sunny place that is Los Angeles. How are you? I hope that you are well. How is everyone else in Sunnydale? I hope they are fine as well. It has been a long time since I last wrote, and I apologize for that- but things have been happening over here that have almost over taken us and since I’m not sure you read these anyway, my time was spent doing other things. They have settled somewhat and I can now drop you a line. Los Angeles as far as I know is fine, and for those who can enjoy the place, it is the place to be.
It almost wasn’t so and it has been a struggle to keep it going. Life for me has been different since I got here. I don’t think it is so much the place that has changed since I was last here as myself that has changed. It’s really brought back to me that what I found while I was in Sunnydale cannot be put into words and categorized. The best way to describe it would be like giving water to a man who has been in the desert for a long time. He doesn’t particularly care about the source of the water and the consequences of drinking that water; his thirst is the first thing on his mind and has to be quenched.
When I came to Sunnydale, I came looking for redemption. I have since come to discover that redemption cannot be obtained in a brief moment or in a place. It is an uphill struggle and I go through that daily. The story of my past reads like a horror novel and there are dues to be paid.
Recently, I almost lost my way again. Please don’t be alarmed. I am still the Angel you thought you knew; still with the soul. My past as you know is not a pretty one and one of the more ugly parts reared its head once more. I thought I could face it alone and that choice almost brought about my downfall. I thought I had seen the last of my Sire, Darla, but a law firm we were fighting recently resurrected her; don’t ask me how but it was really powerful stuff because I dusted her in Sunnydale.
It was hard enough killing her the first time but at least then, I was doing it to save Buffy. This time, there was no single individual that I had to save from her so I tried to save her instead. She didn’t want to be saved but made a choice to go back and become a vampire rather than be human. I couldn’t save her Rupert. Like it or not, I am a vampire and she gave me this eternal life. For 150 years, we were together and what our demons knew about love, they showed to each other. It wasn’t easy but I ended up having to fight her, Drusilla, and Wolfram and Heart. I thought I could fight this one alone so I fired Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn and in the process, I almost lost them.
Something has changed though; I spent the night with her but woke up not as Angelus but as me, a little bit calmer and more accepting within myself and yet still fighting. Angelus has accepted that I am who I am and I’ve come to accept that he is with me whether I like it or not. We have to some extent come to a meeting of minds where we have acknowledged each other but he is still a demon and I after all have a mortal soul. The other three have forgiven me a little for trying to cut them out of the fight but for me, at the time, I thought it was the best thing to do. Knowing my sire, she’d use anything in her arsenal to fight me and I couldn’t afford to lose any of them. Not after I’d lost Doyle on this road I’m on.
Fighting alone is hard, Rupert. Sometimes, I don’t even know if I am strong enough to continue as I have done. I know that the three I work with support me in some way, but after the break we had, the gulf between us is larger than ever. Before, it was because I am, after all is said and done, a vampire… but now it’s more and I can't seem to breach it. They’ll still support me but we’re not as close as we could be or used to be. I think I’m closer to The Host. A demon that runs a Karaoke club – Don’t Ask!
Now, it’s no longer just about redemption anymore; I don’t think it ever was. The other three don’t work for me anymore, I work for them. It was the condition of our working together after the break. I know that on this road to redemption, I have dues to pay and I’ll gladly pay them for they were committed by the demon that inhabits my body but at the time they were being done, I was unaware; so is it any wonder that sometimes I strain under the of the burden I carry alone?
Enough about me. What has been happening to you? The news filters down to us here about the goings on in Sunnydale and I was really glad to hear that you’d opened up a magic shop. !!!CONGRATULATIONS!!! It’s a big change from the library but it still gives you the opportunity to deal with all those things you love most. You know what I mean, musty old books. A magic shop with access to all things occult, I bet that Ripper would have some fun there if you ever let him out to play. It’s a good place for you and I’m proud of you. You can help Willow with the witchcraft things she needs and have immediate access to help when the demons come out to play. Wish I could see you dealing with your customers one day. I bet you'd be as comfortable there as you were in the library. Did you know I used to watch you and be amazed at the comfort you exuded while you were with your books? That is something that I found difficult. Till now, portraying that kind of comfort in strange surroundings is hard for me. Maybe it has something to do with my being a vampire and having quite a few everyday things not in my favour so I always have to be on the lookout.
Do you read these letters? I wish I knew. I wish I could see your face. Are you happy? Happiness for me is relative Rupert but I’ll find it someday. Else what is the purpose of this redemption I seek? Is my Childe William okay? I hear from the grapevine that he thinks he loves the slayer. I hope that it is not true. I would like to save him the heartache of that futile endeavour and also save you the trouble of worrying about your charge but alas, there is so little that I control. He trusts me less now than he ever did and anything I could possibly say will be interpreted as jealousy, which isn’t the case at all.
Like I asked before, please do what you can to look out for him on my behalf and remember that letting him know that this request has been made would be one of the worst ideas ever made in the history of Bad ideas. I know I didn’t sire him, Angelus did but he is family and part of the only one I had for about half a century. He is the only one that, while he is not quite like me, is as close as possible; after all, what am I? A demon with the soul of a human – never fully accepted as the humans because I am a vampire and never fully accepted by the vampires because of the mortal soul that keeps me separate from them. It seems that despite the illogic of the happiness clause in my curse, the gypsies knew what they were doing when they cursed me with a soul.
I rarely ask about them by name anymore, identifying them just as your charges so how are Willow, Xander, and Buffy? There are a few more of you that I don’t know personally including Willow’s love interest Tara. I hope that they are okay.
I think that this will be the last letter I’ll be sending since I’m not sure that they reach their destination or even serve their purpose. I have kept you close since I left Sunnydale and yet I find that I miss you even more. Isn’t it funny that you, to whom I wasn’t so close while I was there, would be the one person who I’d come to miss the most?
As I think I admonished in my first letter to you, so I do again: While you are busy taking care of others, do not forget to take care of yourself. You are quite a man Rupert Giles, were it possible for me to know you better. But alas, even good things must come to an end. It’s been good knowing you and before I go, I’ll tell you the one reason that I’ve kept on writing even without receiving any sign whatsoever from you; I like you. That’s it; I like you. I like you a lot Rupert Giles but this is as far as I go here. Maybe sometime in the future, you’d be able to forgive me for the past, I look forward to that time.
It’s been good writing to you. I made you my confidante without even knowing it- and I must say, I’ll miss that. As usual, it’s the witching hour and not so good vampires have to go to work.
Please don’t forget that if you ever need me for anything, I’m always a phone call away.
Good bye and Good Luck.

Yours,

Angel.
After Giles put down the letter, a few minutes passed while he tried to make some sense of what he’d just read. Firstly he was sad that this was going to be the last letter he would receive from the vampire in LA, just when he was getting used to them and beginning to expect them. Secondly, it seemed that Angel was remarkably well informed about the things going on in Sunnydale. His first suspect would of course be Spike but the letter inferred that the relationship between the two vampires wasn’t one that would inspire such conversations so he wondered who the source was. Thinking of Spike, there wasn’t a lot he could do about the other vampire. Giles had noticed that the vampire had been keeping his distance from them for a while. He’d started taking more notice of Spikes actions after Angels third letter as per his request. Thirdly, what did Angel mean by ‘I like you’? He guessed that he was looking for the reason Angel was writing and it looked like he had received his reason. Not what he expected, but to be honest, he didn’t know what he had been expecting. He was just getting over hating Angel for what Angelus did and now the other man was expecting a response to quote I like you unquote, not likely. But from what he could gather from the letter, it didn’t seem as if Angel had had an easy time of it lately. To go so far as to fire his colleagues, he must have really been down.
Now that he knew the reason Angel was sending the letters, his own reason for not acknowledging them in any way was nullified so he had to do something. He didn’t know Angel thought of him as a confidant. They hadn’t had that kind of relationship. In fact the only relationship they had had- if you could call it that- had been based on his worrying about how Angel's affair with the slayer would affect her duties. It had made her somewhat stronger but had also given her an Achilles heel, so he had been glad of the break up. From the letters though, it didn’t look like Angel had been pining away for the broken up affair, which was something he had been given to understand. Now that the time had come, maybe it was the moment to call Angel and hear from him all that had been happening. Considering that most of the letters were written in the witching hour, maybe a midnight call would be in order. That being settled, Giles packed up his letters and put them into his desk drawer to put them in the false bottom after his telephone call.

What he was unaware of was the pair of eyes that were staring at him intensely and watching all that he had done. Spike had seen Giles hurry home earlier than he usually did and followed him. He’d been doubly surprised to see the reverent look on the Watcher’s face as he read some letters he’d retrieved from his room. He noted where they were kept and was determined to read them. He waited for a while and saw Giles go into his kitchen to make something to eat. While this was going on, he observed that Willow, Tara, Dawn, Xander and Anya had arrived so he joined them to enter into the house when they were admitted. Without making his actions obvious, Spike waited till the others were occupied with their discussions and Giles was too busy eating to take notice of what he was doing, then he retrieved the letters and went into the toilet to read them. The first surprise he received was when he noticed his Sire’s handwriting on the letters. Thinking to himself that it was going to be interesting to see what the poof had to say, he settled down to read.

When his curiosity had been satisfied, he was still slightly baffled at the nature of the letters. None of them had been aware that Angel had been communicating with Giles and from what the other vampire said, it seems it was a one-way communication. Why wasn’t Giles replying? He knew a little bit about what Angel was referring to in his last letter, as Drusilla had inferred certain things while she was in Sunnydale, but not of of it. So, his Grand-Sire was back and probably wreaking havoc in the un-life of his Sire as she always did. Spike didn’t really have anything against Darla but she had expected Angelus to be at her beck and call, which was what he too had expected. Spike used to think sometimes that Angelus had sired Drusilla for him so that he would have some company whenever Angel was away.
So Angel still called him family. It was a long time from the days they roamed the streets together. That had been the highlight of their un-life. When Angelus left them, they tried to stay together but it didn’t quite work out that way. He didn’t think Angelus knew about what had happened to him and even if he did, he didn’t think that the Vampire with a soul would care but from these letters, it seemed he did. He also understood why Spike couldn’t approach him. Their history was a long and often a turbulent one that couldn’t be easily overcome even if they wanted to… and therein lay the problem. Did they want to – specifically, did he want to?

Opening the door slightly, Spike noticed that not a lot of time had passed since he’d been in the toilet, so everyone was pretty much doing the same as they were doing before he left. He sneaked the letters back. Angelus was right about one thing though, they did hurt him; a lot. As for his love for the slayer, that was a story for another time. He found somewhere to sit and watch them while they ignored him, thinking to himself that if this was the time when William the Bloody was still making his mark, none of them in the room would have been left untouched. Listening more closely, he noticed that Giles was slightly squirming as he tried to duck out of answering Willow’s questions.

“So Giles, I thought you said that you’d be staying late in the shop to get your paperwork ready but you closed as soon as the sun went down. How come?” Willow asked him with genuine puzzlement on her face.
“Oh… nothing, Willow. I just thought of something I needed to do at home and decided to do my paperwork in the morning, that’s all.” Giles answered while trying to look uninterested.
“I hope it had nothing to do with that letter you received this morning.”
“Letter, what letter?”
“Oh you know, the one that arrives once in a while in a brown envelope looking very official. You’d let us know if there was something wrong, right? Because you know I’m still net girl and I can go on the Internet and find out stuff for you if you want me to. The others would help too and I can do spells if you want.” Now, the squirm was quite visible to Spike and he wanted so much to tease the watcher about his discovery.
“My dear Willow, whatever gave you the idea that there is something wrong? I am fine, there isn’t a problem, but thank you for asking.”
It was the strain in the other man’s eyes more than anything that made Spike decide not to tease the watcher further. He decided to play the waiting game and see what, if anything, would evolve as a result of the letters. Also, the watcher had treated him all right since he received his chip. Red, Dawn and Giles were the only ones who had spent some time and effort on him. As for Buffy, she was too busy with Riley and Xander & Anya didn’t often think past sex and their next orgasm. As the interrogation, as he called it, came to close they stood up to leave. Spike couldn’t think of anything to say to the watcher so he said nothing.
Giles thought they’d never leave. He had noticed the way Spike had looked at him before he left. Could it be that he knew something? He didn’t think it was likely, so he shrugged it off. He had been a bit worried with Willow’s questions but thankfully, she broke it off before she could ask the ones he couldn’t and didn’t want to answer. He picked up the letters and went upstairs into his bedroom. Placing them on his bedside table, he went to shower and change. He had enough time to do both and get comfortable before he decided to call Angel. When he had finished, he changed into a pair of shorts and got into bed and covering himself with the coverlet on the bed, he picked up the telephone. He dialled the number he had long memorized and heard a familiar voice answer:
“Hello.” For a moment, he didn’t say anything but then before the other man could say anything else he answered back.
“Hello, Angel, It's me, Rupert Giles.”
TBC
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Redeeming Ways